I had never seen him alive.

It may all have been a humbug, as I was prepared to believe it; but I assure you it was a curious business, and I haven't got over the impression which it made on me, yet.

I'm not given to believing in things that claim to be supernatural, but I will admit that what I saw that night was very strange.

Humbug or no humbug, what she saw seemed to comfort my poor friend more than all the religions or philosophies ever revealed or invented could have done.

You see, these are so vague, even when we try to believe them, and that was so plain." A silence followed Mrs.Slater's words, during which she sat with an absent expression of countenance and a faraway look, as if recalling in fancy the scene which she had described.