e frilly shirt.

He spoke of his dear friend "Mrs Jencken," whom he considered the only
reliable medium, and showed us some sheets full of hieroglyphics, which
he said were messages obtained through her influence from "his dear
wife."

It was all so much Greek to me in those days, and only true sympathy
with the poor old man's evident loneliness and adoration of his wife's
memory prevented my making merry over the extraordinary delusions of the
old gentleman, when my companion and I had left his rooms in Sussex
villas.

Later, I lived during two years with Mrs Lankester and her daughters
whilst looking after an invalid brother in London; and I need scarcely
point out that constant intercourse with Professor Ray Lankester in his
mother's house was not calculated to encourage any psychic proclivities,
even had these latter not been entirely latent with me at that time.

I heard a great deal about the "Slade exposure," both from Professor
Lankester and his friend Dr Donkin, who often came to us with him. When
arranging my American tour in 1885, Mrs Lankester kindly gave me an
introduction to Mrs Edna Hall, an old friend of theirs, who had been
living in their house during the whole period of the Slade trial. This
lady--an American--lived permanently in Boston, and curiously enough (in
view of the preceding facts) it was she who persuaded Miss Greenlow and
me to attend our first _seance_ in Boston. Mrs Edna Hall had honoured
Mrs Lankester's introduction most hospitably; but she was too busy a
woman to do as much for us as her kindness suggested, and she had
therefore introduced us to another friend--Mrs Maria Porter--a most
picturesque, clever, and characteristic figure in Boston society in the
eighties.

Both these ladies accompanied us to the "Sisters Berry." Mrs Edna Hall
had no sort of illusions on the subject. She said quite frankly that she
only took us there because it was a feature of American life which we
ought not to miss, and which would probably amuse us, if only by showing
the gullibility of Human Nature.

One is always apt to read past experiences in the light of present
convictions. Fortunately, I kept a diary at the time, and have a
faithful record of what took place, and, which is still more valuable,
of the impressions formed at the time.

The extracts connected with this _seance_ in Boston, and later
experiences in New York, are taken partly from my record at the time and
partly from the chapter