have given me! No! I
have never mentioned that sister, even to Mrs Stratton, kind and good as
she has been" (by this time I had spoken of Mrs Stratton's denial of the
sister's existence). "I could not speak of her to _anyone_. She was the
cause of the greatest sorrow in my life; _but no one upon earth knew
this except Mr Stainton Moses_. I was engaged to him at the time, and he
was the natural person to turn to in my deep tribulation. No one else
ever heard of the circumstances."

At this second sitting of mine Mr Stainton Moses spoke also of a
valuable watch he had possessed, and expressed some regret that it had
not been given to Mrs Lane at the time of his death.

I knew nothing at all about any watch of his, but on appealing to one of
his executors, an old friend of mine, found there was such a watch,
which had been a presentation one, and was of considerable value. Upon
the death of Mr Moses it had been given (quite with the approval of Mrs
Lane) to the son of a very old and esteemed friend.

This executor also told me, as a curious coincidence, that when I was
staying with the excitable sensitive in Sussex Gardens, mentioned in a
previous chapter, and he and his wife had come to tea with me one
afternoon (to be introduced to this remarkable lady), she had given him
a similar message about the same watch, purporting to come from Stainton
Moses.

I remember perfectly well having asked Mr and Mrs Harrington to come to
tea with me one afternoon to meet my eccentric landlady, and I also
remember his having a long talk with her whilst his wife and I were
immersed in our own conversation. But I heard no details of this talk.
He had merely said how much interested he had been in meeting Mrs
Peters, and that she evidently had some mediumistic power.

It was certainly curious that the watch should have been mentioned,
first in Sussex Gardens, London, and six years later in Arlington
Heights, Boston, and that on each occasion the same wish with regard to
it should have been expressed!

During this Arlington Heights sitting (the second one), Mr Moses also
referred to an MS., of which I knew nothing at the time. This allusion
also was verified by his other executor, the late Mr Alaric Watts, upon
my return to England.

* * * * *

During this visit to America I also came across a Mr Knapton Thompson, a
hard-headed Yorkshire man, who had invented a new kind of smokeless
combustion stove,