“And now hear me.  I am, as you must have already found out, an impostor; that is, I am what is called a religious adventuress—­a new term, I grant, and perhaps only applicable to a very few.  My aunt was considered, by a certain sect, to be a great prophetess, which I hardly need tell you, was all nonsense; nevertheless, there are hundreds who believed in her, and do so now.  Brought up with my aunt, I soon found out what fools and dupes may be made of mankind by taking advantage of their credulity.  She had her religious inspirations, her trances, and her convulsions, and I was always behind the scenes:  she confided in me, and I may say that I was her only confidant.  You cannot, therefore, wonder at my practising that deceit to which I have been brought up from almost my infancy.  In person I am the exact counterpart of what my aunt was at my age, equally so in figure, although my figure is now disguised to resemble that of a woman of her age.  I often had dressed myself in my aunt’s clothes, put on her cap and front, and then the resemblance was very striking.  My aunt fell sick and died, but she promised the disciples that she would re-appear to them, and they believed her.  I did not.  She was buried, and by many her return was anxiously expected.  It occurred to me about a week afterwards that I might contrive to deceive them.  I dressed in my aunt’s clothes, I painted and disguised my face as you have seen, and the deception was complete, even to myself, as I surveyed my countenance in the glass.  I boldly set off in the evening to the tabernacle, which I knew they still frequented—­came into the midst of them, and they fell down and worshipped me as a prophetess risen from the dead; deceived, indeed, by my appearance, but still more deceived by their own credulity.  For two years I have been omnipotent with them; but there is one difficulty which shakes the faith of the new converts, and new converts I must have, Japhet, as the old ones die, or I should not be able to fee my physician.  It is this:  by habit I can almost throw myself into a stupor or a convulsion, but to do that effectually, to be able to carry on the deception for so long a time, and to undergo the severe fatigue attending such violent exertion, it is necessary that I have recourse to stimulants—­do you understand?”

“I do,” replied I; “I have more than once thought you under the influence of them towards the evening.  I’m afraid that you take more than is good for your health.”

“Not more than I require for what I have to undergo to keep up the faith of my disciples; but there are many who waver, some who doubt, and I find that my movements are watched.  I cannot trust the woman in this house.  I think she is a spy set upon me, but I cannot remove her, as this house, and all which it contains, are not mine, but belong to the disciples in general.  There is another woman, not far off, who is my rival; she calls me an impostor, and says that she is the true prophetess, and that I am not one.  This will be rather difficult for her to prove,” continued she, with a mocking smile.  “Beset as I am, I require your assistance, for you must be aware that it is rather discreditable to a prophetess, who has risen from the dead, to be seen all day at the gin-shop, yet without stimulants now, I could not exist.”