Part 6 (1/2)
”Well,” interposed Mrs Jefferson eagerly, ”and did you have any manifestation?”
”Oh, yes,” laughed the gouty sufferer grimly, ”a very material one indeed. By some accident the medium knocked down the screen just after we'd seen a spirit face floating _above_ it. In the confusion some one struck a light, and there was our medium--standing on the chair without his coat, and wrapping some transparent India muslin about himself, which had been dipped in phosphorus I believe, so that it gave out a curious s.h.i.+mmering light in the dark. You may suppose I never went in for materialistic _seances_ again.”
”Still,” said Mrs Jefferson, ”although you may have been tricked, it doesn't stand to reason that spiritualism _is_ trickery. I've come from the very core and centre of it--so to speak. I've been at more _seances_ than I could count, and I've seen tests applied that _prove_ the manifestations are genuine. Still there are heaps of professional mediums who are not to be depended on, I grant. If you want to know the truth of spiritualism, you can always work it out for yourself. That's quite possible, only it's a deal of trouble.”
”I don't believe in it,” reiterated Mrs Masterman stubbornly. ”All mediums are cheats and humbugs.”
”Oh!” said Mrs Jefferson. ”If it comes to exceptions laying down the rule, where are we? The other day a clergyman was taken before the courts for drunkenness, but I suppose you're not going to say all clergymen are drunkards. A doctor poisoned a patient by mistake, but surely we're not to cla.s.s our dear medical men as poisoners and murderers on that account. It's just the same with any abnormal or extraordinary facts that set up a new theory for investigation.
Impostors are sure to creep in, and the lazy and the indifferent and the sceptical call their exposure 'results.' Depend on it we don't half investigate subjects now-a-days, and we suffer for it by giving place and opportunity for the development of a certain cla.s.s of beings who prey on our credulity, and make profit out of our indolence and superst.i.tion.”
”There's something in spiritualism, you bet,” drawled the nasal voice of Mr Ray Jefferson. ”I've had messages written to me, and things said that no third person could possibly have known about.”
”Ah, slate writing,” sneered Mrs Masterman. ”I've seen that too. Just another trick.”
”How do you explain that?” asked Mrs Jefferson quickly.
”Well, this way. I went to two or three different mediums so as to test them all. I found they had no objections to bringing your own slates and writing your own questions, but while they held the slate under the table they kept you talking to distract your attention, and from time to time they got convulsive jerks and movements by which it was quite possible for them to see what was written. Then you heard a scratching (the medium probably had a little bit of pencil in his finger-nail), and your answer was given you. Well, let that pa.s.s for what it's worth, but I always noticed the medium asked if I wouldn't like a message, and when I said 'yes,' he brought out _his own slate_.”
”But,” said Mrs Jefferson, ”didn't he let you examine it first?”
”Oh yes, and wiped it over with a damp cloth. Then it was held under the table, and in a few seconds covered with 'spirit-writing.' But I found out afterwards that you can buy slates with a _false cover_, this cover fits within the frame and is exactly like the other side of the slate, but, _your spirit-message is already written_, a touch makes the cover drop off, the medium covers it with his foot in case you should look under the table, out comes the slate, and there you are!”
”On,” said Mrs Jefferson angrily, ”it's plain you've only been to the charlatans and impostors of spiritualism. Why, I've had a message written in a _locked_ slate while I held the key and held the slate too.
What do you say to that?”
”I've only your word for it,” said Mrs Masterman sarcastically. ”My slates were never locked.”
”And I've only _your_ word for what you've told us,” answered Mrs Jefferson with rising wrath. ”I suppose my evidence may be as trustworthy.”
”Well,” interposed another voice, ”my view of spiritualism is, that it's an intensely humiliating idea after you've done with this world to be at the beck and call of any other human being who can make you go through a variety of tricks, as if you were a performing dog, in order to convince people still in the body that there is another life. If that other life permits us to come back here and play tambourines, and knock furniture about, and write silly and ambiguous messages on slates, I don't-- myself--think it's a very desirable one.”
This view of the question produced a blank silence. It proceeded from a gentleman who was supposed to be a little ”odd”--partly because he spoke seldom, and then with a startling originality, on any subject of discussion.
Mr and Mrs Ray Jefferson looked at one another, somewhat dismayed.
Mrs Masterman smiled triumphantly, the young poet murmured something vague about the inestimable beauty of sublime ”mysteries,” but the subject was temporarily extinguished. The only side hitherto considered had been the 'phenomenal,' and people--once the idea was originated-- felt really inclined to think that after all, when they quitted the earth plane, it would not be a very elevating prospect to find themselves dragged back to give _seances_ and perform tricks like a French poodle in order to convince their friends and relatives that they were _still in existence_!
The conversation only went on in subdued murmurs, and presently there was a feminine move towards the drawing-room.
Once there the great subject as to whether Madame Zairoff would or would not appear that evening, was again freely discussed. That it was an equally interesting probability to the sterner s.e.x was soon made evident by the unusual alacrity with which they joined the circle. They broke up into groups and knots, scattered through the length of the handsome, brilliantly lighted room, but a curious restlessness was apparent; no one settled down to cards or music. Even the ”odd” individual moved about and dropped cynical remarks along the route of his progress, instead of sitting down to backgammon as was his wont. A few other misguided individuals, of the male s.e.x, offered and accepted bets _sotto voce_ on the chances of the Unknown appearing.
At last, when expectation had been strained almost to breaking point, it was set at rest. The doors were thrown open, and, lightly leaning on Colonel Estcourt's arm, appeared Mrs Jefferson's much talked of, and beautiful ”Mystery.”
CHAPTER EIGHT.
SURPRISE.
An involuntary hush fell upon the whole a.s.semblage. Not a man or woman there but felt their breath come a little quicker, their hearts beat with suppressed excitement, as that perfect figure, with its magical indolent grace, swept slowly through the room and into their midst.