lf, which is part
of the animating principle of the universe, and, if only its knowledge
can be unsealed, knows all that has passed and all that is passing in
that universe. One day perhaps you will read the works of my compatriot,
Hegel, and there you will find it spoken of."

"You explain nothing."

"I am about to explain, Miss Clifford. Last night I gave to your
sub-conscious self--that which knows all--the strength of liberty, so
that it saw the past as it happened in this place. Already you knew
the story of the dead girl, Benita da Ferreira, and that story you
re-enacted, talking the tongue she used as you would have talked Greek
or any other tongue, had it been hers. It was not her spirit that
animated you, although at the time I called it so for shortness, but
your own buried knowledge, tricked out and furnished by the effort of
your human imagination. That her name, Benita, should have been yours
also is no doubt a strange coincidence, but no more. Also we have no
proof that it was so; only what you said in your trance."

"Perhaps," said Benita, who was in no mood for philosophical argument.
"Perhaps also one day you will see a spirit, Mr. Meyer, and think
otherwise."

"When I see a spirit and know that it is a spirit, then doubtless
I shall believe in spirits. But what is the good of talking of such
things? I do not seek spirits; I seek Portuguese gold. Now, I am sure
you can tell where that gold lies. You would have told us last night,
had not your nervous strength failed you, who are unaccustomed to the
state of trance. Speaking as Benita da Ferreira, you said that you saw
it and described its condition. Then you could, or would, say no more,
and it became necessary to waken you. Miss Clifford, you must let me
mesmerize you once again for a few minutes only, for then we will waste
no time on past histories, and we shall find the gold. Unless, indeed,"
he added by an afterthought, and looking at her sharply, "you know
already where it is; in which case I need not trouble you."

"I do not know, Mr. Meyer. I remember nothing about the gold."

"Which proves my theory. What purported to be the spirit of Benita
da Ferreira said that it had passed the secret on to you, but in your
waking state you do not know that secret. In fact, she did not pass it
on because she had no existence. But in your sub-conscious state you
will know. Therefore I must mesmerize you again. Not at once, but in
a few days' time, when