fe's name I knew was Emily Georgina Anne.)

"Oh! I forgot," he explained; "she never would tell her name before you,
would she? It's the Spirit, you know."

"Oh! that," I said, "it's she that has sent you here. Didn't she tell
you what for?"

"No," he answered, "that's what worries me. All she would say was, 'Go
to Edinburgh--something will happen.'"

"And how long are you going to remain here?" I inquired.

"I don't know," he replied. "I've been here a week already, and Jobstock
writes quite angrily. I wouldn't have come if Maria hadn't been so
urgent. She repeated it three evenings running."

I hardly knew what to do. The little man was so dreadfully in earnest
about the business that one could not argue much with him.

"You are sure," I said, after thinking a while, "that this Maria is a
good Spirit? There are all sorts going about, I'm told. You're sure
this isn't the spirit of some deceased lunatic, playing the fool with
you?"

"I've thought of that," he admitted. "Of course that might be so. If
nothing happens soon I shall almost begin to suspect it."

"Well, I should certainly make some inquiries into its character before I
trusted it any further," I answered, and left him.

About a month later I ran against him outside the Law Courts.

"It was all right about Maria; something did happen in Edinburgh while I
was there. That very morning I met you one of my oldest clients died
quite suddenly at his house at Queensferry, only a few miles outside the
city."

"I'm glad of that," I answered, "I mean, of course, for Maria's sake. It
was lucky you went then."

"Well, not altogether," he replied, "at least, not in a worldly sense. He
left his affairs in a very complicated state, and his eldest son went
straight up to London to consult me about them, and, not finding me
there, and time being important, went to Kebble. I was rather
disappointed when I got back and heard about it."

"Umph!" I said; "she's not a smart spirit, anyway."

"No," he answered, "perhaps not. But, you see, something did really
happen."

After that his affection for "Maria" increased tenfold, while her
attachment to himself became a burden to his friends. She grew too big
for her table, and, dispensing with all mechanical intermediaries, talked
to him direct. She followed him everywhere. Mary's lamb couldn't have
been a bigger nuisance. She would even go with him into the bedroom, and
carry on long conversatio