"Yes, your name is Mark Ingestrie!"
"It is, indeed. But how you came to know that, sir, is to me most mysterious."
"Oh, I know more than that. The name of the young lady who, you believe, played you such a trick, is Johanna Oakley."
Mark Ingestrie, for it was indeed no other, sprang to his feet, exclaiming—
"Are you man or devil, that you know what I have never breathed to you?"
"Don't be surprised, my young friend. I can tell you a little more than that even. The friend to whom you intrusted your String of Pearls, was named Francis Thornhill; and his dog—let me see—Oh, his large dog was called 'Hector.'"
Mark Ingestrie trembled excessively, and sinking back in his seat, he turned very pale.
"This must be a dream," he said, "or you, sir, get your information from the spirits of the dead."
"Not at all. But have you faith in my inspiration now sufficient to induce you to believe anything that I may tell you?"
"In good truth, I have; and I may well have, for after what you have already told me, your power of knowledge cannot by me be for one moment doubted."