Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1856-04-11
WHOLE NUMBER l21s:

at Smiths eloquence. and At the rev.
olution In his whole tone and manner.
viii give but a faint idea OF the truth.
| was perfectly mb.founded. Ihad
not word to say. II appeared ns IL
he and had changed places. A
month since he was the credulous be-
lever in every ghost story, and / was
the stoutest Of unbelieving skeplics
But now
Just nt this moment who should
make his Appearance but Sykea. tho
.man Of MI others that, 1T this juncture,
| had the least desire to sec. In fact
I wished him In California. or any
where else. His entrance made but
little interruption. and tried to change
the subject. but 10 vain. Smith con-
inued
at may be true that Sykes here
is your best earthly friend"-sykes
pricked up his eafs--''and il may be
true. as the rappcrs have declared,
that your uncle Is dead"
''Har' exclaimed Sykes. dead.
hcy?" Then leering upon me with
his CLASSY grey eye. "How you miss
cd il. didn't you?"
"Nonsense.'. l cried; "he is no
more dead than / am. But l must go;"
and rising, I shook Smith heartily by
the hand, and bade him good night
He whispered IN my ear, They who
put their trust In the Lord shall never
be confounded! &
"i'm going your way said Sykes,
rising ut the same time.
80 suppose" l muttered; and
when We were in the street l told him
l was not going directly home. bat
wanted to call At a certain place in an
opposite discction.
"Thats lucky" he replied. II
have an errand in this same neigh
borhood." II was now seven o'clock,
the hour appointed for the meeting Of
a very select circle. | had promised
to be there. Something seemed to i'm.
press nv mind with the belief that this
night would give me certainty on the
one great subject. Perhaps Il was
the fact that. on the night previous.
We had had some very startling reve-
lations from a French spirit. who call.
ed himself Talleyrnnd. How he was
able 10 rap out such good English.
am not able to explain, nor is II nec-
essary to advert 70 those communica-
tons which had no direct bearing on
my own great secret proposed 70
Monsieur Talleyrand this question:
Is uncle Jerry In the spirit-land /?
For some time there was no answer
Then We hada confused rapping, which
was unintelligible. One Of the party
said II must be French; but he was
snuhbed into silence very soon. Al
length We received these letttrs, I o.
m orrow night
"An absurd answer" said /.
"Not as ALL" was our mediums rc-
ply. "Thcre are many spheres in the
interior, aud the spirit must neccssari-
ly make long journeys and many in.
quirers, before he can give positive
answer TO your question. He means
that by tomorrow night you will re.
ceiye the desired Information"
"very goed.' said |. although !
thoughtit strange that In the interior
they had no books. such ss are kept
in our mundane hotels, In which 70 reg
ister arrivals.
or course, then. Notwithstanding
Smiths exhortation. I was very anx.
ious to know the result Of Talleyrand's =
search; and but for tho pertinacity Of
"my hest friend on EARTH" should
have gone directly 20 the meeting
But 10 take Sykes there. aud let him
into the secret-ihe thought was un-
besrable. He walked along by my
side and said nothing. think. in the
frame Of mind in which 1 then was.
that II he had insinuated anything
about insurance, or uncle Jerry, ]
should have knocked him down. Hs
spoke only IN monosyllables IN answer
| to the very few questions proposed
on the most common place subjects
As TO leaving me. that was altogether
out of the question.
went from place to place, hoping
to tire him out. but in vain. Atlengih
e;ybt wa arrived at nv own door,
To NV surprise the house was brill
iantly lighted up. / entered quietly
with NV night.kev. Sykes at nv heels,
An ,obstreperous peal Of laughter
| from the dininu-rocm saluted our ears.