It was easy to say that where there was so much smoke there must be fire.
And what she believed, she believed strongly and with a perfect conviction that no other view could be right.

Just as her faith in Louis Napoleon survived the _coup d'etat_, and even Villafranca, so her belief in communications with the spirit world was proof against any exposure of fraud on the part of the mediums.

Not that she was guilty of the absurdities which marked many of the devotees of spiritualism.

She had a great horror of submitting herself to mesmeric influences.

She recognised that very many of the supposed revelations of the spirits were trivial, perhaps false; but to the fact that communications did exist she adhered constantly.
It is not of much interest now to discuss the ethics or the metaphysics of the 'rapping spirits;' but the subject deserves more than a passing mention in the life of Mrs.Browning, because it has been said, and apparently with authority, that 'the only serious difference which ever arose between Mr.Browning and his wife referred to the subject of spiritualism.'[15] It is quite certain that Mr.Browning did not share his wife's belief in spiritualism; a reference to 'Sludge the Medium' is sufficient to establish his position in the matter.