animals summoned from the occult world an enormous black cat,
that promised to bestow as a perpetual heritage on the sacrificer and
his family, the faculty of second sight, if he would desist from any
further slaughter.

The sacrificer joyfully closed with the bargain, and the ceremony
concluded with much feasting and merriment, in which, however, it is
highly improbable that the phantasms of the poor roasted "toms" took
part.

_Clairvoyance_

Clairvoyance is a branch of occultism in which I have had little
experience, and can, therefore, only refer to in brief. When I was the
Principal of a Preparatory School, I once had on my staff a Frenchman of
the name of Deslys. On recommencing school after the Christmas vacation,
M. Deslys surprised me very much by suddenly observing: "Mr O'Donnell,
did you not stay during the holidays at No. ... The Crescent, Bath?"

"Yes," I replied; "but how on earth do you know?" I had only been there
two days, and had certainly never mentioned my visit either to him or to
anyone acquainted with him.

"Well!" he said, "I'll tell you how I came to know. Hearing from my
friends that Mme. Lepres, a well-known clairvoyante, had just come to
Paris, I went to see her. It is just a week ago to-day. After she had
described, with wonderful accuracy, several houses and scenes with which
I was familiar, and given me several pieces of information about my
friends, which I subsequently found to be correct, I asked her to tell
me where you were and what you were doing. For some moments she was
silent, and then she said very slowly: 'He is staying with a friend at
No. ... The Crescent, Bath. I can see him (it was then three o'clock in
the afternoon) sitting by the bedside of his friend, who has his head
tied up in bandages. Mr O'Donnell is telling him a very droll story
about Lady B----, to whom he has been lately introduced.' She then
stopped, made a futile effort to go on, and after a protracted pause
exclaimed: 'I can see no more--something has happened.' That was all I
found out about you."

"And enough, too, M. Deslys," I responded, "for what she told you was
absolutely true. A week ago to-day I was staying at No. ... The
Crescent, Bath, and at three o'clock in the afternoon I was sitting at
the bedside of my friend, who had injured his head in a fall, and had it
tied up in bandages; and amongst other bits of gossip, I narrated to him
a very amusing anecdote concerning Lady B----, whom I have