The idea of taking a spirit from a living body and sending it after some one that was dead, in order that some secret might be learned, might pass for a huge joke; but certainly it could not be believed in by any well-balanced mind.

At any rate, such was my conviction.
"I have heard that Mr.Blake has attempted to write a novel," said Voltaire.

"Perhaps he believes my story is made on the same principle." "Scarcely," I replied.

"My novel was a failure.

It caused no sensation at all.