The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-12-01
DANGEROUS COMPANY.

lt Is very remarKaDle, SAID my
uncle, as Mr.. Gregory left the room.
1t is very mysterious" said Lily,
with strong emphasis on the adverb
"To me-" observed an elderly lady
boarder, sit appears to be something
worse than mysterious f; and, without
making any assertions, 1 would at least
caution you, my dear, against any closer
intimacy with one who seems so often
to be possessed of information in a
manner of which there is no conceivable
natural explanation"
1t reminds me most" said the Rev.
Mr. Briggs, "of certain cases, un-
doubtedly ll.authenticated, in which
the existence of the so-called second
sight has been 6emonst rated in very
singular manner"
"And," added my uncle, although
many of the prof srors of spiritualism
have been proved impostors, it by no
means follows that all"
eyes, yes" br'.kc i'll our lady fliend,
" but We al know that people once had
dealings wi h familiar spirits, and
never could find any proof that this
kind of thing had ever ceased, and
therefore, as l said before, ] very
strongly caution you"
Hush T. cried several voices. "Here
he comes"
My uncle, my cousin, Lily and
were staying at clearinghouse at the
seaside, and among somewhat-nu,
merous company was certain Mr..
Gregory. We had made his acquaint-
ance on the night of our arrival in q
rather comical manner. He was pass
ing our rom just as Lilly was calling
to me in tone OF woful despair that
she had broken the key in the lock and
could not get out. Through the key
hole he had volunteered his services as
an amateur lock picker, and released us
from our Imprisonment.
This Introduction had served quite as
well as much moro formal one would
have done to inaugurate what promised
to be pleasant seaside acquaintance.
Now on first sight he certainly presented
very little appearance of being q sus-
picious or dangerous character. He
was young man of some twenty-five
years of age, with bright, frank ex-
preston and CLEAN of mischief in his
eyes. He was exceedingly intelligent
and well.informed, and though rather
retiring in the mixed company of our
establishment, could, we discovered,
sing well, read we'll, and talk we'll.
Without intruding himself upon us, he
had made himself very agreeable to us
two girls; and we had surmised that he
was young professional man suffering
from overwork, who had come down to
recruit his health. But we are often
warned against Judging from appear.
ances, and he had during the past few
days manifested a very remarkable
power of clairvoyance or second sight, OF
whatever else you like to call it, which
had created great sensation among us.
On the previous day, for instance, my
uncle had met gentleman at the station
and had brought him home to dinner.
We saw them walking slowly up the
garden together in conversation, and
Lily had exclaimed.
"Who on earth is this." .-.
Mr.. Gregory looked and said:
."Hls name is Smith, and he is return
ing to town by the midnight train"
"You know him?" I said
"Never saw him in my life before, u
was the answer.
Sure enough his name proved to be
Smith, and he returned to town that
night after long private interview with
my uncle nor had he, he told us in
answer to our inquiries, ever seen OF
heard of Mr.. Gregory before.
On Saturday morning also the Rev.
Mr.. Briggs, taking walk on the beach,
meditating on his Sunday text, had en-,
o,untered Mr.. Gregory, who volunteered
information as to the said text, with
chapter and verse all correct, to the
petrifaction of the reverend gentleman
On another occasion, when oul
elderly lady friend mentioned that she
had been out making small purchase
Mr.. Gregory informed me soto voce
that bottle of hairwash constituted
the purchase in question. This com.
munication was very unfortunately
overheard. Its correctness was not al
the time definitely established, but il
was shortly after this that she first pro
pounded her own particular theory on
the subject, which she put forward
with renewed confidence in the conver.
sation given above, after fresh dis
play of the unholy phenomenon as she
called it. This was the occasion thereof