"Seeing that Planchette was so familiarly acquainted with my lady friends, I asked it point blank: 'Where is Mary C----?' This was a friend of my early youth and later manhood, who had always seemed to me rather a relative than an acquaintance. To my surprise it answered, 'Nobody knows.'
I supposed I knew, because for twenty years she had lived on the Hudson River in summer, and in New York in the winter.
'Is she happy?' I asked. 'Better be dead,' was the reply.
'Why?' 'Unhappy' was written out at once.
'Is she in fault, or others?' 'Partly herself.'
I now pushed questions in all shapes, but they were evaded. At last I asked, 'How many brothers has she?'
'One,' was the response. 'That,' said I, 'is false;' but not having heard from the family for several years, I asked again, 'How many _did_ she have?' '_Three._' 'Where are the other two?' I continued. 'Dead.'
'What is the name of the living one?' 'John.' I could not recollect that either of them bore this name, but afterward remembered it was that of the eldest. Now I had no means of ascertaining whether this was all true, but convinced it was not, I began to ask ridiculous and vexatious questions, when the answers showed excessive irritation, and finally it wrote '_Devil_.' I then said: 'Who are you?' 'Brother of the Devil.'
'What is your occupation?' 'Tending fires.'
'What are you going to do with me?' 'Broil you.'
Now while I was excessively amused at all this, I noticed that the two young operators were greatly agitated, and begged me to stop. I saw at a glance that the very superstitious feeling that I was endeavoring to ridicule away, was creeping over them, and I desisted.... Another day I asked where a certain gentleman was who failed years ago, taking in his fall a considerable amount of my own funds. I said 'Where is Mr. Green?' 'In Brazil.'
Neither of the operators knew anything about this affair, and the answer, 'Brazil,' was so out of the way and unexpected, that all were surprised. Whether the man was there or not, I could not tell, nor did I know if he ever had been there--indeed, the last time I heard from him he was in New York."
Now, observing that no conscious or intelligent agency in shaping these answers is assigned to the young persons whose hands were upon the board, and who, it appears, did not know anything of the persons concerning whom the inquiries were made, it would, perhaps, as we desire nothing but a true philosophy on this matter, be worth while to look a little critically at the answers and statements that were given, and the further explanations propounded by Mr. H. For convenience, they may be classified as follows: