, 1881-05-11

CSh OHC GOuCAAFCd " &dlu StNdA u
ence over Mrs. Hart avies--a woman
over whom il seems to be easy to gam iudu-
ence, il you do not happen to be one of
her husbands-and then makes use OF this
Influence for the very practical purpose of
getting hold of her Jewels. But merely
to get hold of them is not enough for her.
She wishes to make her possession of them
strictly and unmistakabIy legal, and with
this view she persuades Mrs. Hart-Davies
to execute a deed Of gift iu her favour.
Tbs curious document shows plainly
that the trainers of it were not quite easy
about what they were d DING. There 10 an
evident desire to combst by anticipation
the suspicious which they foresaw might
arise, if the donor should repent of her
generosity, and take a legal opinion
as TO the effect of the gilt. In it Mr.
Hart-Davies la made to assign sundry rea-
sons for making the gift OF the Jewels ia
this particular way. I" | have executed this
deed,' she says in effect, . first because |
wish Mrs. Fletcher not to be annoyed by
questions as TO her right to these Jewels:
and next, because | wish 30 say that no
persuasion has been used to in duce me TO
give her The jewels. On the contrary it ia
| Tho have had to persuade her to accept
them" If Mrs, Fletcher had not obtained
this deed Of gift, and taken the further
precautions OF disposing the Jewels as @oon
as they had come into her hands, it is
difficult 10 see what evidence there would
have been against her. The lewels would
not have been forthcoming, and the Jury
would have had nothing TO go upon but
Mrs. Hart DAvies's assertion that she bad
given them to Mrs. Fletcher for a particu-
lar reason. The productions of the deed
of gift made all the difference in the world
to the strength of the case. 1t proved the
giving and acceptance OF the Jewels, and
though the deed does not say what the
reasons are which have induced Mrs. Hart
Davies to make Mrs Fletcher so handsome
a present, the references to these myster-
i0us reasons which it does contain can
very we'll DO pieced out by other evidence.
The truth, probably, 10 that Mrs. Fletcher
and her associates thought that a good deal
more might be made OF Mrs. Hdrt-Davies,
and SO Were anxious not to part company
from her. II they had sold the jewels
they would have lost all hold upon her,
aimee one motive at all events, Of making
them over to Mrs. Fletcher seems to have
been their alleged mystical virtues. As
they could not turn the Jewels into money
without risking the loss OF the other pro.
psrty which Mrs. Hart-Davies had to
dispose of, they thought it best to make
their bold on them as secuge as possible, and
in their anxiety TO do this efiectualiy they
set the trap into which Mrs. Fletcher has
now fallen. The supposed virtues of the
jewels, like the supposed strength OF
David Copperfeld's glass OF ale, made
them dangerous TO any o0e except certain
exceptionally endowed person.. Mrs.
Fletcher could wear them, aud not be ia
any dauger OF passing into the spirit-lite
before her time. Mrs. Hart-Davles could
only do so at the risk OF d premature
reunion with her mother,-a reunion
which neither parent nor child seems to
have In the least desired. Mrs. Fletcher
and her companions seem to nave made
the mistake; common to cbarlatans, OF
over-estimating the folly OF thelr dups.
They thought, perhaps, that Mrs, Hart
Davies would continue to be a Spirituallst,
and that being SO, she would necessarily
remain in their power. This calculation
has turned out to be only halt correct.
Mrs. Hart Davies has contin ued . Spiritual
ist-at least, she has only exchanged belief
ia spiritualism proper for b elief in spiritu-