And even in those younger days I would brood and brood
over it, and Dr. Kane would often say to me:

"'Maggie, I see the vampire is hovering over you still.'

"Our whole family was at that time under bondage, as it were, to Ann Leah
Brown. She ruled over us as with a rod of iron.

"All through this dreadful life--from the time when I first realized its
enormity--I protested against it. Dr. Kane, after our marriage, would
never permit me to allude to my old career--he wanted me to forget it. He
hated its publicity.

"But when I was poor after his death, I was driven back to it. I have told
my sister Leah over and again: 'Now that you are rich, why don't you save
your soul?' But she would only fly into a passion. The truth is that
nothing can excuse the work she has done. She entered upon it at the age
of judgment and experience, fully aware of its falsity and evil effect.
She knows that the world cannot forgive her, and I have no hope that she
will ever confess her sin, or offer an atonement for it.

"What can I add to the revelations of those letters? They are proofs of
the mutual knowledge of Dr. Kane and myself that the 'spiritual' rappings
were fraud, and nothing but fraud. And even if he had not been told of the
fact by myself, his opportunities of observation in our household were
unequaled by any granted to others, and his verdict would have been in any
case, therefore, almost as authoritative.

"What fools are they who still pretend to believe against all this
evidence!

"It would hardly seem necessary that I should denounce Spiritualism after
all that others have said against it.

"I have never in my life professed to be a spiritualist, and I have never
believed in Spiritualism, although I have seen it in all its phases, some
of which I am unable to produce myself.

"Even when I was compelled to go back to the 'rappings' for a livelihood,
and when I charged the most exorbitant fees, so that as few people as
possible might be deceived, I had on my cards an emphatic disclaimer of
any occult inspiration."

Mrs. Kane at this point showed the following on the back of one of her
cards:

MRS. KANE DOES NOT CLAIM
ANY SPIRIT POWER; BUT PEOPLE
MUST JUDGE FOR THEMSELVES.

"My poor father and mother," she continued, "both knew before their death
that all that we had practised for so many years was a fraud and a
deception. Mother was greatly troubled about it, and she turned to the
church for comfort. S