Chapter XXXVII. A KNOCK AT THE DOOR

Chapter XXXVIII. A HAND AT CARDS

Chapter XXXIX. THE GAME MADE

Chapter XL. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE SHADOW

Chapter XLI. DUSK

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Chapter XLII. DARKNESS

Chapter XLIII. FIFTY-TWO

Chapter XLIV. THE KNITTING DONE

Chapter XLV. THE FOOTSTEPS DIE OUT FOR EVER

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BOOK THE FIRST

RECALLED TO

LIFE

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Chapter I

THE PERIOD

t was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age

of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of

belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of

Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it

was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had

nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all

going direct the other wayin short, the period was so far like the

present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its

being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of

comparison only.

There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain

face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw

and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. In both

countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State

preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled

for ever.

It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and

seventy-five. Spiritual revelations were conceded to England at

that favoured period, as at this. Mrs. Southcott had recently

attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a

prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded the sublime

appearance by announcing that arrangements were made for the

swallowing up of London and Westminster. Even the Cock-lane

ghost had been laid only a round dozen of years, after rapping out

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its messages, as the spirits of this very year last past

(supernaturally deficient in originality) rapped out theirs. Mere

messages in the earthly order of events had lately come to the

English Crown and People, from a congress of British subjects in

America: which, strange to relate, have proved more important to

the human race than any communications yet received through

any of the chickens of the Cock-lane brood.

France, less favoured on the whole as to matters spiritual than