“There is here in New Orleans a young man named Bender who calls himself a medium. He is a worthless fellow, and I have several times caught him cheating. But he nevertheless gives me glimpses of spiritual powers. There are some plain cases in which cheating is impossible. For instance, if without throwing out any previous hint, however remote, I think of twenty different persons in succession, my knowledge of whom is a secret in my own brain, and if I say to a medium, ‘Of what person am I thinking now?’ and if the medium instantly, without hesitation or inquiry, gives me the right reply twenty times in succession, I may reasonably conclude—may I not?—that the power is what it appears to be, and that the medium gets his knowledge through a faculty which, if not preternatural, is very rare, and is denied as possible by science. Well, this test has been fulfilled, not once only, but more than fifty different times.[[37]]
“I got Madame Volney’s consent to bring Bender to the house. After he had showed her his wonderful powers of thought-reading, we put the hand of the white slave in his, and bade him tell us her name. He wrote with great rapidity, Clara Aylesford Berwick. We asked her father’s name. In a moment the medium’s limbs twitched and writhed, his eyeballs rolled up so that their natural expression was lost, and he extended his arm as if in pain. Then suddenly dropping the girl’s hand he drew up the sleeve from his right arm, and there, in crimson letters on the white skin were the words Henry Berwick.[[38]]
“Now whether this is the right name or not I do not know. I presume that it is; though it is rarely safe to trust a medium in such cases. The child’s name I have heard you say was Clara Berwick. I have never spoken or written it except to yourself. Still Bender may have got the father’s name,—the surname at least,—from my mind. But if the name Henry is right, where did he get that? I am not aware of ever having known the father’s name. The check he once gave you for me you never showed me, but cashed it yourself. Still I shall not too positively claim that the name was communicated preternaturally; for experience has convinced me it may have been in my mind without my knowing it. Every thought of our lives is probably photographed on our brains, never to be obliterated. Let me study, then, to multiply my good thoughts. But in whatever way Bender got the name, whether from my mind or from a spirit, the fact is interesting and important in either case.
“The effect upon Clara (for so we now all call her) of this singular event was such as to convince her instantaneously that the name was right, and that she is the child of Henry Berwick. As soon as the medium had gone, she asked me if I could not find out who Mr. Berwick was. I then told her the story of the Pontiac, down to the recent confession of Quattles, and my own search for Colonel Delancy Hyde. All my little group of hearers—Madame Volney, Esha, and Clara—were deeply interested, as you may suppose, in the narrative. Clara was much moved when she learnt that the same Mr. Vance, whose acquaintance she had made, was the one who had known the parents, and was now seeking for their daughter. She has a serene conviction that she is the identical child. When I read what you had written about different colored eyes, she simply said, ‘Look, Peek!’ And there they were,—blue and gray!
“Mr. Ratcliff’s house is in the charge of his lawyer, Mr. Semmes, who keeps a very strict eye over all outgoings and incomings. Esha has his confidence, but he distrusts both Clara and Madame Volney. By pretending that I am her half-brother, Esha enables me to come and go unsuspected. The medium, Bender, was introduced as a chiropedist. Clara never goes out without a driver and footman, who are agents and spies of Semmes. It does not matter at present; for it would be difficult in the existing state of affairs to remove Clara out of the city without running great risk of detection and pursuit. I have sometimes thought of putting her in a boat and rowing down the river to Pass à l’Outre; but the hazard would be serious.
“As it is important to collect all the proofs possible for Clara’s identification, it was at first agreed among the women that Esha should call, as if in the interests of Mr. Ratcliff, on Mrs. Gentry, the teacher, and get from that lady all the facts, dates, and memorials that may have a bearing on Clara’s history. But, on reflection, I concluded it would be better to put the matter in the hands of a lawyer who could take down in legal form, with the proper attestation, all that Mrs. Gentry might have to communicate. Mr. Winslow had given me a letter of introduction to Mr. Jasper, his confidential adviser, and a loyal man. To him I went and explained what I wanted. He at once gave the business his attention. With two suitable witnesses he called on Mrs. Gentry and took down her deposition. I had told him to procure, if possible, some articles of dress that belonged to the child when first brought to the house. This he succeeded in doing. A little undershirt and frock,—a child’s petticoat and pocket-handkerchief,—were among the articles, and they were all marked in white silk, C. A. B. Mrs. Gentry said that her own oath as to the clothes could be confirmed by Esha’s. Esha was accordingly sent for, and she came, and, being duly sworn, identified the clothes as those the child had on when first left at the house; which clothes Esha had washed, and the child had subsequently worn. This testimony being duly recorded, the clothes were done up carefully in a paper package, to which the seals of all the gentlemen present were attached; and then the package was placed in a small leather trunk which was locked.
“I should mention one circumstance that adds fresh confirmation. In telling Miss Clara what Quattles had confessed (the details of which you give in that important letter you handed me) I alluded to the pair of sleeve-buttons. ‘Was there any mark upon them?’ she asked. ‘Yes, the initials C. A. B.’ She instantly drew forth from her bosom another pair, the counterpart probably of that described in your letter, and on one of the buttons were the same characters! Can we resist such evidences?
“Let me mention another extraordinary development. Madame Volney does not scruple to resort to all the stratagems justifiable in war to get information from the enemy. Mr. Semmes is an old fox, but not so cunning as to guard against an inspection of his papers by means of duplicate keys. In one of the drawers of the library he deposits his letters. In looking them over the other day, Madame V. found one from Mr. Semmes’s brother in New York, in which the fact is disclosed that this house, hired by Mr. Ratcliff, belonged to Miss Clara’s father, and ought, if the inheritance had not been fraudulently intercepted, to be now her property! Said Miss Clara to me when she learnt the fact, ‘Peek, if I am ever rich, you shall have a nice little cottage overlooking my garden.’ Ah! Mr. Vance, I thought of Naomi, and wondered if she would be living to share the promised fortune.
“I have a vague fear of this Mr. Semmes. Under the affectation of great frankness, he seems to me one of those men who make it a rule to suspect everybody. I have warned the women to take heed to their conversation; to remember that walls have ears. I rely much on Esha. She has, thus far, been too deep for him. He has several times tried to throw her off her guard; but has not yet succeeded. He is evidently distrustful and disposed to lay traps for us.
“It appears that Mr. Ratcliff’s plan, at the time you intercepted him in his career, and had him sent North, was to offer marriage to this young girl he claims to hold as a slave. Marriage with him would plainly be as hateful to her as any other species of relation; and my present wish is to put her as soon as possible beyond his reach, lest he should any time unexpectedly return. Madame Volney is so confident in her power to save her, that Clara’s anxieties seem to be much allayed; and now that she fully believes she is no slave, but the legitimate child of honorable parents, she cultivates an assurance as to her safety, which I hope is not the precursor of misfortune. The money which Mr. Winslow left in my hands for her use would be sufficient to enable us to carry out some effectual scheme of escape; but Madame Volney does not agree with me as to the importance of an immediate attempt. Will Ratcliff come back? That is the question I now daily ask myself.