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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Prepared by Jeetender B Chandna <jeetender@usa.net> + + + + + +Vera, The Medium + +by Richard Harding Davis + + + +Part I + +Happy in the hope that the news was "exclusive", the Despatch +had thrown the name of Stephen Hallowell, his portrait, a +picture of his house, and the words, "At Point of Death!" across +three columns. The announcement was heavy, lachrymose, bristling +with the melancholy self-importance of the man who "saw the +deceased, just two minutes before the train hit him." + +But the effect of the news fell short of the effort. Save that +city editors were irritated that the presidents of certain +railroads figured hastily on slips of paper, the fact that an +old man and his millions would soon be parted, left New York +undisturbed. + +In the early 80's this would not have been so. Then, in the +uplifting of the far West, Stephen Hallowell was a national +figure, in the manoeuvres of the Eastern stock market an active, +alert power. In those days, when a man with a few millions was +still listed as rich, his fortune was considered colossal. + +A patent coupling-pin, the invention of his brother-in-law, had +given him his start, and, in introducing it, and in his efforts +to force it upon the new railroads of the West, he had obtained +a knowledge of their affairs. From that knowledge came his +wealth. That was twenty years ago. Since then giants had arisen +in the land; men whose wealth made the fortune of Stephen +Hallowell appear a comfortable competence, his schemes and +stratagems, which, in their day, had bewildered Wall Street, as +simple as the trading across the counter of a cross-roads store. +For years he had been out of it. He had lost count. Disuse and +ill health had rendered his mind feeble, made him at times +suspicious, at times childishly credulous. Without friends, +along with his physician and the butler, who was also his nurse, +he lived in the house that in 76, in a burst of vanity, he had +built on Fifth Avenue. Then the house was a "mansion," and its +front of brown sandstone the outward sign of wealth and fashion. +Now, on one side, it rubbed shoulders with the shop of a man +milliner, and across the street the houses had been torn down +and replaced by a department store. Now, instead of a sombre +jail-like facade, his outlook was a row of waxen ladies, who, +before each change of season, appeared in new and gorgeous +raiment, and, across the avenue, for his approval, smiled +continually. + +"It is time you moved, Stephen," urged his friend and lawyer, +Judge Henry Gaylor. "I can get you twice as much for this lot as +you paid for both it and the house." + +But Mr. Hallowell always shook his head. " Where would I go, +Henry?" he would ask. "What would I do with the money? No, I +will live in this house until I am carried out of it." + +With distaste, the irritated city editors "followed up" the +three-column story of the Despatch. + +"Find out if there's any truth in that," they commanded. "The +old man won't see you, but get a talk out of Rainey. And see +Judge Gaylor. He's close to Hallowell. Find out from him if that +story didn't start as a bear yarn in Wall Street." + +So, when Walsh of the Despatch was conducted by Garrett, the +butler of Mr. Hallowell, upstairs to that gentlemen's library, +he found a group of reporters already entrenched. At the door +that opened from the library to the bedroom, the butler paused. +"What paper shall I say?" he asked. + +"The Despatch," Walsh told him. + +The servant turned quickly and stared at Walsh. + +He appeared the typical butler, an Englishman of over forty, +heavily built, soft- moving, with ruddy, smooth-shaven cheeks +and prematurely gray hair. But now from his face the look of +perfunctory politeness had fallen; the subdued voice had changed +to a snarl that carried with it the accents of the Tenderloin. + +"So, you're the one, are you?" the man muttered. + +For a moment he stood scowling; insolent, almost threatening, +and then, once more, the servant opened the door and noiselessly +closed it behind him. + +The transition had been so abrupt, the revelation so unexpected, +that the men laughed. + +"I don't blame him!" said young Irving. "I couldn't find a +single fact in the whole story. How'd your people get it -- +pretty straight?" + +"Seemed straight to us," said Walsh. + +"Well, you didn't handle it that way," returned the other. "Why +didn't you quote Rainey or Gaylor? It seems to me if a man's on +the point of death" -- he lowered his voice and glanced toward +the closed door -- "that his private doctor and his lawyer might +know something about it." + +Standing alone with his back to the window was a reporter who +had greeted no one and to whom no one had spoken. + +Had he held himself erect he would have been tall, but he stood +slouching lazily, his shoulders bent, his hands in his pockets. +When he spoke his voice was in keeping with the indolence of his +bearing. It was soft, hesitating, carrying with it the courteous +deference of the South. Only his eyes showed that to what was +going forward he was alert and attentive. + +"Is Dr. Rainey Mr. Hallowell's family doctor?" he asked. + + +Irving surveyed him in amused superiority. + +"He is!" he answered. You been long in New York?" he asked. + +Upon the stranger the sarcasm was lost, or he chose to ignore +it, for he answered simply, "No, I'm a New Orleans boy. I've +just been taken on the Republic." + +"Welcome to our city," said Irving. "What do you think of our +Main Street?" + +From the hall a tall portly man entered the room with the +assurance of one much at home here and, with an exclamation, +Irving fell upon him. + +"Good morning, Judge," he called. He waved at him the clipping +from the Despatch. "Have you seen this?" + +Judge Gaylor accepted the slip of paper gingerly, and in turn +moved his fine head pompously toward each of the young men. Most +of them were known to him, but for the moment he preferred to +appear too deeply concerned to greet them. With an expression of +shocked indignation, he recognized only Walsh. + +"Yes, I have seen it," he said, "and there is not a word of +truth in it! Mr. Walsh, I am surprised! You, of all people!" + +"We got it on very good authority," said the reporter. + +"But why not call me up and get the facts?" demanded the Judge. +"I was here until twelve o'clock, and -- " + +"Here!" interrupted Irving. "Then he did have a collapse?" + +Judge Gaylor swung upon his heel. + +"Certainly not," he retorted angrily. "I was here on business, +and I have never known his mind more capable, more alert." He +lifted his hands with an enthusiastic gesture. "I wish you could +have seen him!" + +"Well," urged Irving, "how about our seeing him now?" + +For a moment Judge Gaylor permitted his annoyance to appear, but +he at once recovered and, murmuring cheerfully, "Certainly, +certainly; I'll try to arrange it," turned to the butler who had +re-entered the room. + +"Garett," he inquired, "is Mr. Hallowell awake yet?" As he asked +the question his eyebrows rose; with an almost imperceptible +shake of the head he signaled for an answer in the negative. + +"Well, there you are!" the Judge exclaimed heartily. "I can't +wake him, even to oblige you. In a word, gentlemen, Stephen +Hallowell has never been in better health, mentally and bodily. +You can say that from me -- and that's all there is to say." + +"Then, we can say," persisted Irving, "that you say, that +Walsh's story is a fake?" + +"You can say it is not true," corrected Gaylor. "That's all, +gentlemen." The audience was at an end. The young men moved +toward the hall and Judge Gaylor turned to the bedroom. As he +did so, he found that the new man on the Republic still held his +ground. + + +"Could I have a word with you, sir?" the stranger asked. The +reporters halted jealously. Again Gaylor showed his impatience. + +"About Mr. Hallowell's health?" he demanded. "There's nothing +more to say." + +"No, it's not about his health," ventured the reporter. + +"Well, not now. I am very late this morning." The Judge again +moved to the bedroom and the reporter, as though accepting the +verdict, started to follow the others. As he did so, as though +in explanation or as a warning he added: "You said to always +come to you for the facts." The lawyer halted, hesitated. "What +facts do you want?" he asked. The reporter bowed, and waved his +broad felt hat toward the listening men. In polite embarrassment +he explained what he had to say could not be spoken in their +presence. + +Something in the manner of the stranger led Judge Gaylor to +pause. He directed Garrett to accompany the reporters from the +room. Then, with mock politeness, he turned to the one who +remained. "I take it, you are a new comer in New York +journalism. What is your name?" he asked. + +"My name is Homer Lee," said the Southerner. "I am a New Orleans +boy. I've been only a month in your city. Judge," he began +earnestly, but in a voice which still held the drawl of the +South, "I met a man from home last week on Broadway. He belonged +to that spiritualistic school on Carondelet Street. He knows all +that's going on in the spook world, and he tells me the ghost +raisers have got their hooks into the old man pretty deep. Is +that so?" + +The bewilderment of Judge Gaylor was complete and, without +question, genuine. + +"I don't know what you mean," he said. + +"My informant tells me," continued the reporter, "that Mr. +Hallowell has embraced -- if that's what you call it -- +spiritualism." + +Gaylor started forward. + +"What!" he roared. + +Unmoved, the other regarded the Judge keenly. + +"Spiritualism," he repeated, "and that a bunch of these mediums +have got him so hypnotized he can't call his soul his own, or +his money, either. Is that true?" + +Judge Gaylor's outburst was overwhelming. That it was genuine +Mr. Lee, observing him closely, was convinced. + +"Of all the outrageous, ridiculous" -- the judge halted, gasping +for words -- "and libelous statements!" he went on. "If you +print that," he thundered, "Mr. Hallowell will sue your paper +for half a million dollars. Can't you see the damage you would +do? Can't your people see that if the idea got about that he was +unable to direct his own affairs, that he was in the hands of +mediums, it would invalidate everything he does? After his +death, every act of his at this time, every paper he had signed, +would be suspected, and -- and" -- stammered the Judge as his +imagination pictured what might follow -- "they might even +attack his will!" He advanced truculently. "Do you mean to +publish this libel?" + +Lee moved his shoulders in deprecation. "I'm afraid we must," he +said. + +"You must!" demanded Gaylor. "After what I've told you? Do you +think I'm lying to you?" + +"No," said the reporter; "I don't think you are. Looks more like +you didn't know." + +"Not know? I?" Gaylor laughed hysterically. "I am his lawyer. I +am his best friend! Who will you believe?" He stepped to the +table and pressed an electric button, and Garrett appeared in +the hall. "Tell Dr. Rainey I want to see him," Gaylor commanded, +"and return with him." + +As they waited, Judge Gaylor paced quickly to and fro. "I've had +to deny some pretty silly stories about Mr. Hallowell," he said, +"but of all the absurd, malicious - - There's some enemy back of +this; some one in Wall Street is doing this. But I'll find him +-- I'll -- " he was interrupted by the entrance of the butler +and Dr. Rainey, Mr. Hallowell's personal physician. + +Rainey was a young man with a weak face, and knowing, shifting +eyes that blinked behind a pair of eyeglasses. To conceal an +indecision of character of which he was quite conscious, he +assumed a manner that, according to whom he addressed, was +familiar or condescending. At one of the big hospitals he had +been an ambulance surgeon and resident physician, later he had +started upon a somewhat doubtful career as a medical "expert." +Only two years had passed since the police and the reporters of +the Tenderloin had ceased calling him "Doc." In a celebrated +criminal case in which Gaylor had acted as chief counsel, he had +found Rainey complaisant and apparently totally without the +moral sense. And when in Garrett he had discovered for Mr. +Hallowell a model servant, he had also urged upon his friend, +for his resident physician, his protege Rainey. + +Still at white heat, the older man began abruptly: "This +gentleman is from the Republic. He is going to publish a story +that Mr. Hallowell has fallen under the influence of mediums, +clairvoyants; that everything he does is on advice from the +spirit world -- " he turned sharply upon Lee. "Is that right?" +The reporter nodded. + +"You can see the effect of such a story. It would invalidate +every act of Mr. Hallowell's!" + +Dr. Rainey laughed offensively. + +"It might," he said, "but who'd believe it?" + +"He believes it!" cried Gaylor, "or he pretends to believe it. +Tell him!" he commanded. "He won't believe me. Does Mr. +Hallowell associate with mediums, and spirits -- and spooks?" + +Again the young doctor laughed. + +"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "It's not worth answering, Judge. +You ought to treat it with silent contempt." From behind his +glasses he winked at the reporter with a jocular, intimate +smile. He was adapting himself to what he imagined was his +company. "Where did you pick up that pipe dream?" he asked. + +Without answering, the Southerner regarded him steadily with +inquiring, interested eyes. The doctor coughed nervously and +turned to Judge Gaylor. In the manner of a cross-examination +Gaylor called up his next witness. + +"Garrett, does any one visit Mr. Hallowell without your +knowledge?" he asked. You may not open the door for him, but you +know every one who gets in to see Mr. Hallowell, do you not?" + +"Every one, sir." + +"Do you admit any mediums, palm-readers, or people of that +sort?" + +"Certainly not," returned the butler. + +"Dr. Rainey," he added, "would not permit it, sir." + +Gaylor stamped his foot with impatience. + +"Do you admit any one," he demanded, "without Dr. Rainey's +permission?" + +"No, sir!" The reply could not have rung with greater emphasis. +Triumphantly, Gaylor, with a wave of the hand, as though saying, +"Take the witness," turned to Lee. "There you are," he cried. +"Now, are you satisfied?" + +The reporter moved slowly toward the door. "I am satisfied," he +said, "that the man doesn't admit any one without Dr. Rainey's +permission." + +Indignantly, as though to intercept him, Judge Gaylor stepped +forward. Both Rainey and himself spoke together. + +"What do you mean by that?" Rainey demanded. + +"Are you trying to be insolent, sir?" cried the Judge. + +Lee smiled pleasantly. "I had no intention of being insolent," +he said. "We have the facts -- I only came to give you a chance +to explain them." + +Gaylor lost all patience. + +"What facts?" he shouted. "What facts? That mediums come here?" + +"Yes," said Lee. + +"When?" Gaylor cried. "Tell me that! When?" + +Lee regarded the older man thoughtfully. + +"Well, today is Thursday," he said. "They were here Monday +morning, and Tuesday morning -- and -- the one they call Vera -- +will be here in half an hour." + +Rainey ran across the room, stretching out eager, detaining +hands. + +"See here!" he begged. "We can fix this!" + +"Fix it?" said the reporter. "Not with me, you can't." He turned +to the door and found Garrett barring his exit. He halted, fell +back on his heels, and straightened his shoulders. For the first +time they saw how tall he was. + +"Get out of my way," he said. The butler hesitated and fell +back. Lee walked into the hall. + +"I'll leave you gentlemen to fight it out among you," he said. +"It's a better story than I thought." + +As he descended to the floor below, the men remained motionless. +The face of Judge Gaylor seemed to have grown older. When the +front door closed, he turned and searched the countenance of +each of his companions. The butler had dropped into a chair +muttering and beating his fist into his open palm. + +Gaylor's voice was hardly louder than a whisper. "Is this true?" +he asked. + +Like a cur dog pinned in a corner and forced to fight, Rainey +snarled at him evilly. "Of course it's true," he said. + +"You've let these people see him!" cried Gaylor. "After I +forbade it? After I told you what would happen?" + +"He would see them," Rainey answered hotly. "Twas better I +chose them than -- " + +Gaylor raised his clenched hands and took a sudden step forward. +The Doctor backed hastily against the library table. "Don't you +come near me!" he stammered. "Don't you touch me." + +"And you've lied to me!" cried Gaylor. "You've deceived me. You +-- you jailbirds -- you idiots." His voice rose hysterically. +"And do you think," he demanded fiercely, "I'll help you now?" + +"No!" said the butler. + +The word caught the Judge in the full rush of his anger. He +turned stupidly as though he had not heard aright. "What?" he +asked. From the easy chair the butler regarded him with sullen, +hostile eyes. + +"No!" he repeated. "We don't think you'll help us. You never +meant to help us. You've never thought of any one but yourself." + +The face of the older man was filled with reproach. + +"Jim!" he protested. + +"Don't do that!" commanded the butler sharply. "I've told you +not to do that." + +The Judge moved his head slowly in amazement. The tone of +reproach was still in his voice. + +"I thought you could understand," he said. "It doesn't matter +about him. But you! You should have seen what I was doing!" + +"I saw what you were doing," the butler replied. "Buying stocks, +buying a country place. You didn't wait for him to die. What +were we getting?" + +With returning courage, Rainey nodded vigorously. + +"That's right, all right," he protested. "What were we getting?" + +"What were you getting?" demanded Gaylor, eagerly. "If you'd +only left him to me, till he signed the new will, you'd have had +everything. It only needs his signature." + +"Yes," interrupted Garrett contemptuously; that's all it needs." + +"Oh, he'd have signed it!" cried Gaylor. "But what's it worth +now! Nothing! Thanks to you two -- nothing! They'll claim undue +influence, they'll claim he signed it under the influence of +mediums -- of ghosts." His voice shook with anger and distress. +"You've ruined me!" he cried. "You've ruined me." + +He turned and paced from them, his fingers interlacing, his +teeth biting upon his lower lip. The two other men glanced at +each other uncomfortably; their silence seemed to assure Gaylor +that already they regretted what they had done. He stood over +Garrett, and for an instant laid his hand upon his shoulder. His +voice now was sane and cold. + +"I've worked three years for this," he said. "And for you, too, +Jim. You know that. I've worked on his vanity, on his fear of +death, on his damn superstition. When he talked of restitution, +of giving the money to his niece, I asked Why?' I said, Leave it +for a great monument to your memory. Isn't it better that ten +million dollars should be spent in good works in your name than +that it should go to a chit of a child to be wasted by some +fortune hunter? And -- then -- I evolved the Hallowell +Institute, university, hospital, library, all under one roof, +all under one direction; and I would have been the director. We +should have handled ten millions of dollars! I'd have made you +both so rich," he cried savagely, "that in two years you'd have +drunk yourselves into a mad-house. And you couldn't trust me! +You've filled this house with fakes and palm-readers. And, now, +every one will know just what he is -- a senile, half-witted old +man who was clay in my hands, clay in my hands -- and you've +robbed me of him, you've robbed me of him!" His voice, broken +with anger and disappointment, rose in an hysterical wail. As +though to meet it a bell rang shrilly. Gaylor started and stood +with eyes fixed on the door of the bedroom. The three men eyed +each other guiltily. + +The butler was the first to recover. With mask-like face he +hastened noiselessly across the room. In his tones of usual +authority, Gaylor stopped him. + +"Tell Mr. Hallowell," he directed, "that his niece and District +Attorney Winthrop will be here any moment. Ask him if he wishes +me to see them, or if he will talk to them himself?" + +When the faithful servant had entered the bedroom Gaylor turned +to Rainey. + +"When do these mediums come today?" he asked. + +Rainey stared sulkily at the floor. + +"I think they're here now -- downstairs," he answered. Garrett +generally hides them there till you're out of the house." + +"Indeed," commented Gaylor dryly. "After Winthrop and Miss +Coates have gone, I want to talk with your friends." + +"Now, see here, Judge," whined Rainey; "don't make trouble. It +isn't as bad as you think. The old man's only investigating -- " + +"Hush!" commanded the Judge. + +From the bedroom, leaning on the butler's arm, Stephen +Hallowell came stumbling toward them and, with a sigh, sank into +an invalid's chair that was placed for him between the fire and +the long library table.. He was a very feeble, very old man, +with a white face, and thin, white hair, but with a mouth and +lower jaw as hard and uncompromising as those of a skull. His +eyes, which were strangely brilliant and young-looking, peered +suspiciously from under ragged white eyebrows. But when they +fell upon the doctor, the eyes became suddenly credulous, +pleading, filled with self-pity. + +"I'm a very sick man, Doctor," said Mr. Hallowell. + +Judge Gaylor bustled forward cheerily. "Nonsense, Stephen, +nonsense," he cried; "you look a different man this morning. +Doesn't he, Doctor?" + +"Sure he does!" assented Rainey. "Little sleep was all he +needed." Mr. Hallowell shook his head petulantly. "Not at all!" +he protested. "That was a very serious attack. This morning my +head hurts -- hurts me to think -- " + +"Perhaps," said Gaylor, "you'd prefer that I talked to your +niece." + +"No!" exclaimed the invalid excitedly. "I want to see her +myself. I want to tell her, once and for all -- " He checked +himself and frowned at the Doctor. "You needn't wait," he said. +"And Doctor," he added meaningly, "after these people go, you +come back." + +With a conscious glance at the Judge, Rainey nodded and left +them. + +"No," continued the old man; "I want to talk to my niece myself. +But I don't want to talk to Winthrop. He's too clever a young +man, Winthrop. In the merger case, you remember -- had me on the +stand for three hours. Made me talk too." The mind of the old +man suddenly veered at a tangent. "How the devil can Helen +retain him?" he demanded peevishly. "She can't retain him. She +hasn't any money. And he's District Attorney too. It's against +the law. Is he doing it as a speculation? Does he want to marry +her?" + +Judge Gaylor laughed soothingly. + +"Heavens, no!" he said. "She's in his office, that's all. When +she took this craze to be independent of you, he gave her a +position as secretary, or as stenographer, or something. She's +probably told him her story, her side of it, and he's helping +her out of charity.:" The Judge smiled tolerantly. "He does that +sort of thing, I believe." + +The old man struck the library table with his palm. "I wish he'd +mind his own business," he cried. "It's my money. She has no +claim to it, never had any claim --" + +The Judge interrupted quickly. + +"That's all right, Stephen; that's all right," he said. "Don't +excite yourself. Just get what you're to say straight in your +mind and stick to it. Remember," he went on, as though coaching +a child in a task already learned, "there never was a written +agreement. + +"No!" muttered Hallowell. "Never was!" + +"Repeat this to yourself," commanded the Judge. "The +understanding between you and your brother-in-law was that if +you placed his patent on the market, for the first five years +you would share the profits equally. After the five years, all +rights in the patent became yours. It was unfortunate," +commented the Judge dryly, "that your brother-in-law and your +sister died before the five years were up, especially as the +patent did not begin to make money until after five years. +Remember -- until after five years." + +"Until after five years," echoed Mr. Hallowell. "It was over six +years," he went on excitedly, "before it made a cent. And, then, +it was my money -- and anything I give my niece is charity. +She's not entitled -- " + +Garrett appeared at the door. "Miss Coates," he announced, "and +Mr. Winthrop." Judge Gaylor raised a hand for silence, and as +Mr. Hallowell sank back in his chair, Helen Coates, the only +child of Catherine Coates, his sister, and the young District +Attorney of New York came into the library. Miss Coates was a +woman of between twenty-five and thirty, capable, and self- +reliant. She had a certain beauty of a severe type, but an +harassed expression about her eyes made her appear to be always +frowning. At times, in a hardening of the lower part of her +face, she showed a likeness to her uncle. Like him, in speaking, +also, her manner was positive and decided. + +In age the young man who accompanied her was ten years her +senior, but where her difficulties had made her appear older +than she really was, the enthusiasm with which he had thrown +himself against those of his own life, had left him young. + +The rise of Winthrop had been swift and spectacular. Almost as +soon as he graduated from the college in the little "up-state" +town where he had been educated, and his family had always +lived, he became the prosecuting attorney of that town, and +later, at Albany, represented the district in the Assembly. From +Albany he entered a law office in New York City, and in the +cause of reform had fought so many good fights that on an +independent ticket, much to his surprise, he had been lifted to +the high position he now held. No more in his manner than in his +appearance did Winthrop suggest the popular conception of his +role. He was not professional, not mysterious. Instead, he was +sane, cheerful, tolerant. It was his philosophy to believe that +the world was innocent until it was proved guilty. + +He was a bachelor and, except for two sisters who had married +men of prominence in New York and who moved in a world of +fashion into which he had not penetrated, he was alone. + +When the visitors entered, Mr. Hallowell, without rising, +greeted his niece cordially. + +"Ah, Helen! I am glad to see you," he called, and added +reproachfully, "at last." + +"How do you do, sir?" returned Miss Helen stiffly. With marked +disapproval she bowed to Judge Gaylor. + +"And our District Attorney," cried Mr. Hallowell. "Pardon my not +rising, won't you? I haven't seen you, sir, since you tried to +get the Grand Jury to indict me." He chucked delightedly. "You +didn't succeed," he taunted. + +Winthrop shook hands with him, smiling, "Don't blame me," he +said, "I did my best. I'm glad to see you in such good spirits, +Mr. Hallowell. I feared, by the Despatch -- " + +"Lies, lies," interrupted Hallowell curtly. "You know Judge +Gaylor?" + +As he shook hands, Winthrop answered that the Judge and he were +old friends; that they knew each other well. + +"Know each other so well!" returned the Judge, "that we ought to +be old enemies." + +The younger man nodded appreciatively. "That's true!" he +laughed, "only I didn't think you'd admit it." + +With light sarcasm Mr. Hallowell inquired whether Winthrop was +with them in his official capacity. + +"Oh, don't suggest that!" begged Winthrop; "you'll be having me +indicted next. No sir, I am here without any excuse whatsoever. +I am just interfering as a friend of this young lady." + +"Good," commented Hallowell. "I'd be sorry to have my niece +array counsel against me -- especially such distinguished +counsel. Sit down, Helen." + +Miss Coates balanced herself on the edge of a chair and spoke in +cool, business-like tones, "Mr. Hallowell," she began, "I came." + +"Mr. Hallowell?" objected her uncle. + +"Uncle Stephen," Miss Coates again began, "I wish to be as brief +as possible. I asked you to see me today because I hoped that by +talking things over we might avoid lawsuits and litigation." + +Mr. Hallowell nodded his approval. "Yes," he said encouragingly. + +"I have told Mr. Winthrop what the trouble is," Miss Coates went +on, "and he agrees with me that I have been very unjustly +treated -- " + +"By whom?" interrupted Hallowell. + +"By you," said his niece. + +"Wait, Helen," commanded the old man. "Have you also told Mr. +Winthrop," he demanded, "that I have made a will in your favor? +That, were I to die tonight, you would inherit ten millions of +dollars? Is that the injustice of which you complain?" + +Judge Gaylor gave an exclamation of pleasure. + +"Good!" he applauded. "Excellent!" + +Hallowell turned indignantly to Winthrop. "And did she tell you +also," he demanded, "that for three years I have urged her to +make a home in this house? That I have offered her an income as +large as I would give my own daughter, and that she has refused +both offers. And what's more" -- in his excitement his voice +rose hysterically -- "by working publicly for her living she has +made me appear mean and uncharitable, and -- " + +"That's just it," interrupted Miss Coates. "It isn't a question +of charity." + +"Will you allow me?" said Winthrop soothingly. "Your niece +contends, sir," he explained, "that this money you offered her +is not yours to offer. She claims it belongs to her. That it's +what should have been her father's share of the profits on the +Coates-Hallowell coupling pin. But, as you have willed your +niece so much money, although half of it is hers already, I +advised her not to fight. Going to law is an expensive business. +But she has found out -- and that's what brings me uptown this +morning -- that you intend to make a new will, and leave all her +money and your own to establish the Hallowell Institute. Now," +Winthrop continued, with a propitiating smile, "Miss Coates also +would like to be a philanthropist, in her own way, with her own +money. And she wishes to warn you that, unless you deliver up +what is due her, she will proceed against you." + +Judge Gaylor was the first to answer. + +"Mr. Winthrop," he said impressively, "I give you my word, there +is not one dollar due Miss Coates, except what Mr. Hallowell +pleases to give her. " + +Miss Coates contradicted him sharply. "That is not so," she +said. She turned to her uncle, "You and my father," she +declared, "agreed in writing you would share the profits +always." Mr. Hallowell looked from his niece to his lawyer. The +lawyer, eyeing him apprehensively, nodded. With the patient +voice of one who tried to reason with an unreasonable child, Mr. +Hallowell began. "Helen," he said, "I have told you many times +there never was such an agreement. There was a verbal -- " + +"And I repeat, I saw it," said Miss Coates. + +"When?" asked Hallowell. + +"I saw it first when I was fifteen," answered the young woman +steadily, "and two years later, before mother died, she showed +it to me again. It was with father's papers." + +"Miss Coates," asked the Judge, "where is this agreement now?" + +For a moment Miss Coates hesitated. Her dislike for Gaylor was +so evident that, to make it less apparent, she lowered her eyes. +"My uncle should be able to tell you," she said evenly. "He was +my father's executor. But, when he returned my father's papers" +-- she paused and then, although her voice fell to almost a +whisper, continued defiantly, "the agreement was not with them." + +There was a moment's silence. To assure himself the others had +heard as he did, Mr. Hallowell glanced quickly from Winthrop to +Gaylor. He half rose from his chair and leaned across the table. + +"What!" he demanded. His niece looked at him steadily. + +"You heard what I said," she answered. + +The old man leaned farther forward. + +"So!" he cried; "so! I am not only doing you an injustice, but I +am a thief! Mr. Winthrop," he cried appealingly, "do you +appreciate the seriousness of this?" + +Winthrop nodded cheerfully. "It's certainly pretty serious," he +assented. + +"It is so serious," cried Mr. Hallowell, "that I welcome you +into this matter. Now, we will settle it once and forever." He +turned to his niece. "I have tried to be generous," he cried; "I +have tried to be kind, and you insult me in my own house." He +pressed the button that summoned the butler from the floor +below. "Gentlemen, this interview is at an end. From now on this +matter is in the hands of my lawyer. We will settle this in the +courts." + +With an exclamation of pleasure that was an acceptance of his +challenge, Miss Coates rose. + +"That is satisfactory to me," she said. Winthrop turned to Mr. +Hallowell. + +"Could I have a few minutes talk with Judge Gaylor now?" he +asked. "Not as anybody's counsel," he explained; "just as an old +enemy of his?" + +"Well, not here," protested the old man querulously. "I'm -- I'm +expecting some friends here. Judge, take Mr. Winthrop to the +drawing room downstairs." He turned to Garrett, who had appeared +in answer to his summons, and told him to bring Dr. Rainey to +the library. The butler left the room and, as Gaylor and +Winthrop followed, the latter asked Miss Coates if he might +expect to see her at the "Office." She told him that she was now +on her way there. Without acknowledging the presence of her +uncle, she had started to follow the others, when Mr. Hallowell +stopped her. + +After they were alone, for a moment he sat staring at her, his +eyes filled with dislike and with a suggestion of childish +spite. "I might as well tell you," he began, "that after what +you said this morning, I will never give you a single dollar of +my money." + +The tone in which his niece replied to him was no more +conciliatory than his own. "You cannot give it to me," she +answered, "because it is not yours to give." As though to add +impressiveness to what she was about to say, or to prevent his +interrupting her, she raised her hand. So interested in each +other were the old man and the girl that neither noticed the +appearance in the door of Dr. Rainey and the butler, who halted, +hesitating, waiting permission to enter. + +"That money belongs to me," said Miss Coates slowly, "and as +sure as my mother is in Heaven and her spirit is guiding me, +that money will be given me." + +In the pause that followed, a swift and singular change came +over the face of Mr. Hallowell. He stared at his niece as though +fascinated. His lower lip dropped in awe. The look of hostility +gave way to one of intense interest. His voice was hardly louder +than a whisper. + +"What do you mean?" he demanded. + +The girl looked at him, uncomprehending. "What do I mean?" she +repeated. + +"When you said," he stammered eagerly, "that the spirit of your +mother was guiding you, what did you mean?" + +In the doorway, Rainey and the butler started. Each threw the +other a quick glance of concern. + +"Why," exclaimed the girl impatiently, "her influence, her +example, what she taught me." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the old man. He leaned back with an air almost +of disappointment. + +"When she was alive?" he said. + +"Of course," answered the girl. + +"Of course," repeated the uncle. "I thought you meant -- " He +looked suspiciously at her and shook his head. "Never mind," he +added. "Well," he went on cynically, striving to cover up the +embarrassment of the moment, "your mother's spirit will probably +feel as deep an interest in her brother as in her daughter. We +shall see, we shall see which of us two she is going to help." +He turned to Garrett and Rainey in the hall. "Take my niece to +the door, Garrett," he directed. + +As soon as Miss Coates had disappeared, Hallowell turned to +Rainey, his face lit with pleased and childish anticipation. + +"Well," he whispered eagerly, "is she here?" + +Rainey nodded and glanced in the direction opposite to the one +Miss Coates had taken. "She's been waiting half an hour. And the +Professor too." + +"Bring them at once," commanded Mr. Hallowell excitedly. "And +then shut the door -- and -- and tell the Judge I can't see him +-- tell him I'm too tired to see him. Understand?" + +Rainey peered cautiously over the railing of the stairs to the +first floor, and then beckoned to some one who apparently was +waiting at the end of the hall. + +"Miss Vera, sir," he announced, "and Professor Vance." + +Although but lately established in New York, the persons Dr. +Rainey introduced had already made themselves comparatively +well-known. For the last six weeks as "headliners" at one of the +vaudeville theatres, and as entertainers at private houses, +under the firm name of "The Vances," they had been giving an +exhibition of code and cipher signaling. They called it mind +reading. During the day, at the house of Vance and his wife, the +girl, as "Vera, the Medium," furnished to all comers memories of +the past or news of the future. In their profession, in all of +its branches, the man and the girl were past masters. They knew +it from the A, B, C of the dream book to the post-graduate work +of projecting from a cabinet the spirits of the dead. As the +occasion offered and paid best, they were mind readers, +clairvoyants, materializing mediums, test mediums. From them, a +pack of cards, a crystal globe, the lines of the human hand, +held no secrets. They found lost articles, cast horoscopes, gave +advice in affairs of the heart, of business and speculation, +uttered warnings of journeys over seas and against a smooth- +shaven stranger. They even stooped to foretell earthquakes, or +caused to drop fluttering from the ceiling a letter straight +from the Himalayas. Among those who are the gypsies of the +cities, they were the aristocrats of their calling, and to them +that calling was as legitimate a business as is, to the roadside +gypsy, the swapping of horses. The fore-parents of each had +followed that same calling, and to the children it was +commonplace and matter-of-fact. It held no adventure, no moral +obloquy. + +"Prof." Paul Vance was a young man of under forty years. He +looked like a fox. He had red eyes, alert and cunning, a long, +sharp-pointed nose, a pointed red beard, and red eyebrows that +slanted upward. His hair, standing erect in a pompadour, and his +uplifted eyebrows gave him the watchful look of the fox when he +hears suddenly the hound baying in pursuit. But no one had ever +successfully pursued Vance. No one had ever driven him into a +corner from which, either pleasantly, or with raging +indignation, he was not able to free himself. Seven years before +he had disloyally married out of the "profession" and for no +other reason than that he was in love with the woman he married. +She had come to seek advice from the spirit world in regard to +taking a second husband. After several visits the spirit world +had advised Vance to advise her to marry Vance. + +She did so, and though the man was still in love with his wife, +he had not found her, in his work, the assistance he had hoped +she might be. She still was a "believer"; in the technical +vernacular of her husband -- "a dope." Not even the intimate +knowledge she had gained behind the scenes could persuade her +that Paul, her husband, was not in constant communication with +the spirit world, or that, if he wished, he could not read the +thoughts that moved slowly through her pretty head. + +At the time of his marriage, the girl Vera, then a child of +fourteen, had written to Vance for help. She was ill, without +money, and asked for work. To him she was known as the last of a +long line of people who had always been professional mediums and +spiritualists, and, out of charity and from a sense of noblesse +oblige to one of the elect of the profession, Vance had made her +his assistant. He had never regretted having done so. The bread +cast upon the waters was returned a thousandfold. From the +first, the girl brought in money. And his wife, the older of the +two, had welcomed her as a companion. After a fashion the Vances +had adopted her. In the advertisements she was described as +their "ward." + +Vera now was twenty-one, tall, wonderfully graceful, and of the +most enchanting loveliness. Her education had been cosmopolitan. +In the largest cities of America she had met persons of every +class -- young women, old women, mothers with married sons and +daughters; women of society as it is exploited in the Sunday +supplements; school girls, shop girls, factory girls -- all had +told her their troubles; and men of every condition had come to +scoff and had remained to express, more or less offensively, +their admiration. Some of the younger of these, after a first +visit, returned the day following, and each begged the beautiful +priestess of the occult to fly with him, to live with him, to +marry him. When this happened Vera would touch a button, and +"Mannie" Day, who admitted visitors, and later, in the hall, +searched their hats and umbrellas for initials, came on the run +and threw the infatuated one out upon a cold and unfeeling +sidewalk. + +So Vera had seen both the seamy side of life and, in the drawing +rooms where Vance and she exhibited their mind reading tricks, +had been made much of by great ladies and, for an hour as brief +as Cinderella's, had looked upon a world of kind and well-bred +people. Since she was fourteen, for seven years, this had been +her life -- a life as open to the public as the life of an +actress, as easy of access as that of the stenographer in the +hotel lobby. As a result, the girl had encased herself in a +defensive armor of hardness and distrust, a protection which was +rendered futile by the loveliness of her face, by the softness +of her voice, by the deep, brooding eyes, and the fine forehead +on which, like a crown, rested the black waves of her hair. + +In her work Vera accepted, without question, the parts to which +Vance assigned her. When in their mummeries they were +successful, she neither enjoyed the credulity of those they had +tricked nor was sobered with remorse. In the world Vance found a +certain number of people with money who demanded to be fooled. +It was his business and hers to meet that demand. If ever the +conscience of either stirred restlessly, Vance soothed it by the +easy answer that if they did not take the money some one else +would. It was all in the day's work. It was her profession. + +As she entered the library of Mr. Hallowell, which, with Vance, +she already had visited several times, she looked like a child +masquerading in her mother's finery. She suggested an ingenue +who had been suddenly sent on in the role of the Russian +adventuress. Her slight girl's figure was draped in black lace. +Her face was shaded by a large picture hat, heavy with drooping +ostrich feathers; around her shoulders was a necklace of jade, +and on her wrists many bracelets of silver gilt. When she moved +they rattled. As the girl advanced, smiling, to greet Mr. +Hallowell, she suddenly stopped, shivered slightly, and threw +her right arm across her eyes. Her left arm she stretched over +the table. + +"Give me your hand!" she commanded. Dubiously, with a watchful +glance at Vance, Mr. Hallowell leaned forward and took her hand. + +"You have been ill," cried the girl; "very ill -- I see you -- I +see you in a kind of faint -- very lately." Her voice rose +excitedly. "Yes, last night." + +Mr. Hallowell protested with indignation. "You read that in the +morning paper," he said. + +Vera lowered her arm from her eyes and turned them reproachfully +on him. + +"I don't read the Despatch," she answered. + +Mr. Hallowell drew back suspiciously. "I didn't say it was the +Despatch," he returned. + +Vance quickly interposed. "You don't have to say it," he +explained with glibness; "you thought it. And Vera read your +thoughts. You were thinking of the Despatch, weren't you? Well, +there you are! It's wonderful!" + +"Wonderful? Nonsense!" mocked Mr. Hallowell. "She did read it in +the paper or Rainey told her." + +The girl shrugged her shoulders patiently. "If you would rather +find out you were ill from the newspapers than from the spirit +world," she inquired, "why do you ask me here?" + +"I ask you here, young woman," exclaimed Hallowell, sinking back +in his chair, "because I hoped you would tell me something I +can't learn from the newspapers. But you haven't been able to do +it yet. My dear young lady," exclaimed the old man wistfully, "I +want to believe, but I must be convinced. No tricks with me! I +can explain how you might have found out everything you have +told me. Give me a sign!" He beat the flat of his hand upon the +table. "Show me something I can't explain!" + +"Mr. Hallowell is quite right, Vera," said Vance. "He is +entering what is to him a new world, full of mysteries, and that +caution which in this world has made him so successful -- " + +With an exclamation, Hallowell cut short the patter of the +showman. + +"Yes, yes," he interrupted petulantly; "I tell you, I want to +believe. Convince me." + +Considering the situation with pursed lips and thoughtful eyes, +Vera gazed at the old man, frowning. Finally she asked, "Have +you witnessed out demonstrations of mind reading?" + +Mr. Hallowell snorted. "Certainly not," he replied; "it's a +trick!" + +"A trick!" cried the girl indignantly, "to read a man's mind -- +to see right through your forehead, through your skull, into +your brain? Is that a trick?" She turned sharply to Vance. "Show +him!" she commanded; "show him!" She crossed rapidly to the +window and stood looking down into the street, with her back to +the room. + +Vance, with his back turned to Vera, stood close to the table, +on the other side of which Hallowell was reclining in his arm +chair. Vance picked up a pen holder. + +"Think of what I have in my hand, please," he said. "What is +this, Vera?" he asked. The girl, gazing from the window at the +traffic in the avenue below her, answered with indifference, "A +pen holder." + +"Yes, what about it?" snapped Vance. + +"Gold pen holder," Vera answered more rapidly. "Much engraving +-- initials S. H. -- Mr. Hallowell's initials -- " + +"There is a date too. Can you -- " + +"December -- " Vera hesitated. + +"Go on," commanded Vance. + +"Twenty-five, one, eight, eight, six; one thousand eight hundred +and eighty-six." She moved her shoulders impatiently. + +"Oh, tell him to think of something difficult," she said. + +From behind Mr. Hallowell's chair Rainey signaled to Vance to +take from the table a photograph frame of silver which held the +picture of a woman. + +Vance picked it up, holding it close to him. + +"What have I here, Vera?" he asked. + +Hallowell, seeing what Vance held in his hand, leaned forward. +"Put that down!" he commanded. But Vera had already begun to +answer. + +"A picture, a picture of a young woman. Ask him to think of who +it is and I will tell him." + +At the words Mr. Hallowell hesitated, frowned, and then nodded. + +"It is his sister," called Vera. "Her name was -- I seem to get +a Catherine -- yes, that's it; Catherine Coates. She is no +longer with us. She passed into the spirit world three years +ago." The girl turned suddenly and approached the table, holding +her head high, as though offended. + +"How do you explain that trick?" she demanded. + +Mr. Hallowell moved uneasily in his chair. "Oh, the picture's +been on my desk each time you've been here," he answered +dubiously. "Rainey could have told you." + +"As a matter of fact, I didn't," said Rainey. + +Hallowell's eyes lightened with interest. "Didn't you?" he +asked. He turned to Vera. "If you can read my mind," he +challenged -- "you," he added, pointing at Vance, "keep out of +this now -- tell me of what I am thinking." As Vance drew back, +Rainey and himself exchanged a quick glance of apprehension, but +the girl promptly closed her eyes, and at once, in a dull, +measured tone, began to speak. + +"You were thinking you would like to ask a question of some one +in the spirit," she recited. "But you are afraid. You do not +trust me. You will wait until I give you a sign; then you will +ask that question of some one dear to you, who has passed +beyond, and she will answer, and your troubles will be at an +end." She opened her eyes and stared at Mr. Hallowell like one +coming out of a dream. "What did I say?" she asked. "Was I +right?" + +Hallowell slank back in his chair, shaking his head. + +"Yes," he began grudgingly, "but -- " + +With an eagerness hardly concealed, Vance interrupted. + +"What is the question you wish to ask?" he begged. + +With a frown of suspicion, Hallowell turned from him to Rainey. + +"I don't think I ought to let them know," he questioned; "do +you?" But his attention was sharply diverted. + +Vera, in a hushed and solemn voice, called for silence. + +"My control," she explained -- her tone was deep and awestruck +-- "is trying to communicate with me." + +Vance gave an exclamation of concern. The prospect of the +phenomena Vera promised seemed to fill him with delightful +expectations. "Be very quiet," he cautioned, "do not disturb +her." + +Deeply impressed, Mr. Hallowell struggled from his chair. +Unaided, he moved to below the table and leaning against it +looked, with unwilling but fascinated interest, at Vera's +uplifted face. + +"Some one in the spirit," Vera chanted, in an unemotional, +drugged voice, "wishes to speak to Mr. Hallowell. Give me your +hand." + +"Quick!" directed Vance, "give her your hand. Take her hand." + +"Yes, he is here," Vera continued. "A woman has a message for +you, she is standing close beside you. She is holding out her +arms. And she is trying, so hard, to tell you something. What is +it?" the girl questioned. "Oh, what is it? Tell me," she begged. +"Can't you tell me?" + +Hallowell eyed her greedily, waiting almost without breathing +for her words. The hand with which he held hers crushed her +rings into her fingers. + +"What sort?" -- whispered the old man. "What sort of a woman?" + +With eyes still closed, swaying slightly and with abrupt +shudders running down her body, the girl continued in dull, +fateful tones. + +"She is a fair woman; about forty-five. She is speaking. She +calls to you, Brother, brother." Vera's voice rose excitedly. +"It is the woman in the picture; your sister! Catherine! I see +it written above her head -- Catherine. In letters of light." +She turned suddenly and fiercely. "Ask her your question!" she +commanded. "Ask her your question, now!" + +By the sudden swaying forward of Vance and Rainey, in the intent +look in their eyes, it was evident that a crisis had approached. +But Mr. Hallowell, terrified and trembling, shrank back. His +voice broke hysterically. "No, no!" he pleaded. Both anger and +disappointment showed in the face of Vance and Rainey; but the +girl, as though detached from any human concerns, continued +unmoved. "I see another figure," she recited. "A young girl, but +she is of this world. I seem to get an H. Yes. Helen, in letters +of fire." + +"My niece, Helen!" Hallowell whispered hoarsely. + +"Yes, your niece," chanted the girl. Her voice rose and +thrilled. "And I see much gold," she cried. "Between the two +women, heaps of gold. Everywhere I look I see gold. And, now, +the other woman, your sister, is trying to speak to you. Listen! +She calls to you, Brother!" + +So centered was the interest of those in the room, so compelling +the sound of the girl's voice, that, unnoticed, the sliding +doors to the library were slipped apart. Unobserved, Judge +Gaylor and Winthrop halted in the doorway. To the Judge the +meaning of the scene was instantly apparent. His face flushed +furiously. Winthrop, uncomprehending, gazed unconcerned over +Gaylor's shoulder. The voice of Vera rose hysterically to her +climax. + +"She bids me tell you," Vera cried; " Tell my brother -- " + +Gaylor swept toward her. + +"What damned farce is this?" he shouted. + +The effect of the interruption was instant and startling. Mr. +Hallowell, who, in the last few minutes, had believed he was +listening to a voice from the dead, collapsed upon the shoulder +of Rainey, who sprang to support him. Like a somnambulist +wrenched from sleep, Vera gave a scream of fright, half genuine, +half assumed, and swayed as though about to fall. Vance caught +her in his arms. He turned on Gaylor, his cunning red eyes +flashing evilly. + +"You brute!" he cried, "you might have killed her." + +Between her sobs, Vera, her head upon the shoulder of Vance, +whispered a question. As quickly, under cover of muttered +sympathy, Vance answered: "Gaylor. The Judge." + +Still slightly swaying, Vera stood upright. She passed her hand +vaguely before her eyes. "Where am I?" she asked feebly. "Where +am I?" + +Gaylor shook his fist at the girl. + +"You know where you are!" he thundered; "and you know where +you're going -- you're going to jail!" + +In the hush that followed Vera drew herself to her full height. +She regarded Gaylor wonderingly, haughtily, as though he were +some drunken intruder from the street. + +"Are you speaking to me?" she asked. + +"Yes, to you," shouted the lawyer. "You're an imposter, and a +swindler, and -- and -- " + +Winthrop pushed between them. + +"Yes, and she's a woman," he said briskly. "If you want a row, +talk to the man." + +To this point the scene had brought to Vera no emotion save the +excitement that is felt by the one who is struggling to escape. +The appearance of a champion added a new interest. Through no +fault of her own, she had learned by experience that to the one +man who annoyed her there always were six to spring to her +protection. So the glance she covertly turned upon Winthrop was +one less of gratitude than curiosity. + +But at the first sight of him the girl started, her eyes lit +with recognition, her face flushed. And then, although the man +was in no way regarding her, her eyes filled, and in +mortification and dismay she blushed crimson. + +His anger still unsatisfied, Gaylor turned upon Vance. + +"And you," he cried; "you're going to jail too. I'll drive -- " + +The voice of Mr. Hallowell, shaken with pain and distress, rose +feebly, beseechingly. "Henry!" he begged. "I can't stand it!" + +"Judge Gaylor!" thundered Rainey, "I won't be responsible if you +keep this up." + +With an exclamation of remorse, Vera ran to the side of the old +man. With Rainey on his other hand, she raised him upright upon +his feet. + +"Lean on me," begged the girl breathlessly. "I'm very strong. +Lean on me." + +Mr. Hallowell shook his head. "No, child," he protested, "not +you." He turned to his old friend. "You help me, Henry," he +begged. + +With the authority of the medical man, Rainey waved Vance into +the bedroom. "Close those windows," he ordered. "You help me!" +he commanded of Gaylor. "Put your arm under him." + +Mr. Hallowell, protesting feebly and leaning heavily upon the +two men, stumbled into the bedroom , and the door was shut +behind him. + +For a moment the girl and the man stood in silence, and then, as +though suddenly conscious of her presence, Winthrop turned and +smiled. + +The girl did not answer his smile. From under the shadow of the +picture hat and the ostrich feathers her eyes regarded him +searchingly, watchfully. + +For the first time, Winthrop had the chance to observe her. He +saw that she was very young, that her clothes cruelly disguised +her, that she was only a child masquerading as a brigand, that +her face was distractingly lovely. Having noted this, the fact +that she had driven several grown men to abuse and vituperation +struck him as being extremely humorous; nor did he try to +conceal his amusement. But the watchfulness in the eyes of the +girl did not relax. + +"I'm afraid I interfered with your seance," said the District +Attorney. + +The girl regarded him warily, like a fencer fixing her eyes on +those of her opponent. There was a pause which lasted so long +that had the silence continued it would have been rude. "Well," +the girl returned at last, timidly, "that's what the city +expects you to do, is it not?" + +Winthrop laughed. "How did you know who I was?" he asked, and +then added quickly, "Of course, you're a mind reader." + +For the first time the girl smiled. Winthrop found it a charming +smile, wistful and confiding. + +"I don't have to ask the spirit world," she said, "to tell me +who is District Attorney of New York." + +"Yes," said the District Attorney; "yes, I suppose you have to +be pretty well acquainted with some of the laws -- those about +mediums?" + +"If you knew as much about other laws," began Vera, "as I do +about the law -- " She broke off and again smiled upon him. + +"Then you probably know," said Winthrop, "that what our excited +friend said to you just now is legally quite true?" + +The smile passed from the face of the girl. She looked at the +young man with fine disdain, as a great lady might reprove with +a glance the man who snapped a camera at her. "Yes?" she asked. +"Well, what are you going to do about it -- arrest me?" Mocking +him, in a burlesque of melodrama, she held out her arms. "Don't +put the handcuffs on me," she begged. + +Winthrop found her impudence amusing; and, with the charm of her +novelty, he was conscious of a growing conviction that, +somewhere, they had met before; that already at a crisis she had +come into his life. + +"I won't arrest you," he said with a puzzled smile, "on one +condition." + +"Ah!" mocked Vera; "he is generous." + +"And the condition is," Winthrop went on seriously, "that you +tell me where we met before?" + +The girl's expression became instantly mask-like. To learn if he +suspected where it was that they had met, she searched his face +quickly. She was reassured that of the event he had no real +recollection. + +"That's rather difficult, isn't it," she continued lightly, +"when you consider I've been giving exhibitions of mind readings +for the last six weeks on Broadway, and in the homes of people +you probably know?" + +"No," Winthrop exclaimed eagerly, "it wasn't in a theatre, and +it wasn't in a private house. It was -- " he shook his head +helplessly, and looked at her for assistance. "You don't know, +do you?" + +The girl regarded him steadily. "How should I?" she said. And +then, as though decided upon a course of action of the wisdom of +which she was uncertain, she laughed uneasily. + +"But the spirits would know," she said. "I might ask them." + +"Do!" cried Winthrop, delightedly. "How much would that be?" + +As though to reprove his flippancy, the girl frowned. With a +nervous tremor, which this time seemed genuine enough, she threw +back her head, closed her eyes, and laid her arm across her +forehead. + +Winthrop, unobserved, watched her with a smile, partly of +amusement, partly on account of her beauty, of admiration. + +"I see -- a court room," said the girl. "It is very mean and +bare. It is somewhere up the State; in a small town. Outside, +there are trees, and the sun is shining, and people are walking +in a public park. Inside, in the prisoner's dock, there is a +girl. She has been arrested -- for theft. She has pleaded +guilty! And I see -- that she has been very ill -- that she is +faint from shame -- and fear -- and lack of food. And there is a +young lawyer. He is defending her; he is asking the judge to be +merciful, because this is her first offence, because she stole +the cloak to get money to take her where she had been promised +work. Because this is his first case." + +Winthrop gave a gasp of disbelief. + +"You don't mean to tell me -- " he cried. + +"Hush!" commanded the girl. "And he persuades the judge to let +her go," she continued quickly, her voice shaking, "and he and +the girl walk out of the court house together. And he talks to +her kindly, and gives her money to pay her way to the people who +have promised her work." + +Vera dropped her arm, and stepping back, faced Winthrop. Through +her tears her eyes were flashing proudly, gratefully; the +feeling that shook her made her voice vibrate. The girl seemed +proud of her tears, proud of her debt of gratitude. + +"And I've never forgotten you," she said, her voice eager and +trembling, "and what you did for me. And I've watched you come +to this city, and fight it, and fight it, until you made them +put you where you are." She stopped to control her voice, and +smiled at him. "And that's why I knew you were District +Attorney," she said; "and please -- " she fumbled in the mesh +purse at her waist and taking a bill from it, threw it upon the +table. "And please, there's the money I owe you, and -- and -- I +thank you -- and goodbye." She turned and almost ran from him +toward the door to the hall. + +"Stop!" cried Winthrop. + +Poised for flight, the girl halted, and looked back. + +"When can I see you again?" said the man. The tone made it less +a question than a command. + +In a manner as determined as his own, the girl shook her head. + +"No!" she said. + +"I must!" returned the man. + +Again the girl shook her head, definitely, finally. + +"It won't help you in your work," she pleaded, "to come to see +me." + +"I must!" repeated Winthrop simply. + +The eyes of the girl met his, appealingly, defiantly. + +"You'll be sorry," said the girl. + +Winthrop laughed an eager, boyish laugh. When he spoke the +tenseness in his voice had gone. His tone was confident, +bantering. + +"Then I will not come to see you," he said. + +Uncertain, puzzled, Vera looked at him in distress. She thought +he was mocking her. + +"No?" she questioned. + +"I'll come to see Vera, the medium," he explained. + +Vera frowned, and then, in happy embarrassment, smiled +wistfully. + +"Oh, well," she stammered; "of course, if you're coming to +consult me professionally -- my hours are from four to six." + +"I'll be there," cried the District Attorney. + +Vera leaned forward eagerly. + +"What day will you come?" she demanded. + +"What day!" exclaimed the young man indignantly. "Why, this +day!" + +Vera gave a guilty, frightened laugh. + +"Oh, will you?" she exclaimed delightedly. She clasped her +fingers in a gesture of dismay. "Oh, I hope you won't be sorry!" +she cried. + +For some moments the District Attorney of New York stood looking +at the door through which she had disappeared. + +Part II + +The home of the Vances was in Thirty-fifth Street, nearly +opposite the Garrick Theatre. It was one of a row of old- +fashioned brick houses with high steps. As the seeker after +truth entered the front hall, he saw before him the stairs to +the second story; on his right, the folding doors of the "front +parlor," and at the far end of the hall, a single door that led +to what was, in the old days, before this row of houses had been +converted into offices, the family dining room. To Vera the +Vances had given the use of this room as a "reception parlor." +The visitor first entered the room on his right, from it passed +through another pair of folding doors to the reception parlor, +and then, when his audience was at an end, departed by the +single door to the hall, and so, to the street. + +The reception parlor bore but little likeness to a cave of +mystery. There were no shaded lights, no stuffed alligator, no +Indian draperies, no black cat. On a table, in the centre, under +a heavy and hideous chandelier with bronze gas jets, was a green +velvet cushion. On this nestled an innocent ball of crystal. +Beside it lay the ivory knitting needle with which Vera pointed +out, in the hand of the visitor, those lines that showed he +would be twice married, was of an ambitious temperament, and +would make a success upon the stage. In a corner stood a wooden +cabinet that resembled a sentry box on wheels. It was from this, +on certain evenings, before a select circle of spiritualists, +that Vera projected the ghosts of the departed. Hanging inside +the cabinet was a silver-gilt crown and a cloak of black velvet, +lined with purple silk and covered in gold thread with signs of +the zodiac. + +Save that these stage properties illustrated the taste of Mabel +Vance, the room was of no interest. It held a rubber plant, a +red velvet rocking chair, across the back of which Mrs. Vance +had draped a Neapolitan scarf; an upright piano, upon which +Emmanuel Day, or, as he was known to the cross-roads of Broadway +and Forty-second street, "Mannie" Day, provoked the most +marvelous rag-time, an enlarged photograph in crayon, of +Professor Vance, in a frock coat and lawn tie, a china bull dog, +coquettishly decorated with a blue bow, and, on the mantel +piece, two tall beer steins and a hand telephone. From the long +windows one obtained a view of the iron shutters of the new +department store in Thirty-fourth Street, and of a garden, just +large enough to contain a sumach tree, a refrigerator, and the +packing-case in which the piano had arrived. + +After leaving Winthrop, without waiting for Vance, Vera had +returned directly to the house in Thirty-fifth Street, and +locked herself in her room. And although "Mannie" Day had +already ushered two visitors into the front room, Vera had not +yet come downstairs. In consequence, Mabel Vance was in +possession of the reception parlor. + +Mrs. Vance was plump, pink-and-blonde, credulous and vulgar, but +at all times of the utmost good humor. Her admiration for Vera +was equaled only by her awe of her. On this particular +afternoon, although it already was after five o'clock, Mrs. +Vance still wore a short dressing sack, open at the throat, and +heavy with somewhat soiled lace. But her blonde hair was freshly +"marcelled," and her nails pink and shining. In the absence of +Vera, she was making a surreptitious and guilty use of the +telephone. From the fact that in her left hand she held the +morning telegraph open at the "previous performances" of the +horses, and that the page had been cruelly lacerated by a hat +pin, it was fair to suppose that whoever was at the other end of +the wire, was tempting her with the closing odds at the races. + +In her speculations, she was interrupted by "Mannie" Day, who +entered softy through the door from the hall. + +"Mannie" Day was a youth of twenty-four. It was his heart's +desire to be a "Broadwayard." He wanted to know all of those, +and to be known only by those, who moved between the giant +pillars that New York threw into the sky to mark her progress +North. + +He knew the soiled White Way as the oldest inhabitant knows the +single street of the village. He knew it from the Rathskellers +underground, to the roof gardens in the sky; in his firmament +the stars were the electric advertisements over Long Acre +Square, his mother earth was asphalt, the breath of his nostrils +gasolene, the telegraph was his Bible. His grief was that no one +in the Tenderloin would take him seriously; would believe him +wicked, wise, predatory. They might love him, they might laugh +with him, they might clamor for his company, in no flat that +could boast a piano, was he not, on his entrance, greeted with a +shout; but the real Knights of the Highway treated him always as +the questioning, wide-eyed child. In spite of his after-midnight +pallor, in spite of his honorable scars of dissipation, it was +his misfortune to be cursed with a smile that was a perpetual +plea of "not guilty." + +"What can you expect?" an outspoken friend, who made a living as +a wireless wire tapper, had once pointed out to him. "That smile +of yours could open a safe. It could make a show girl give up +money! It's an alibi for everything from overspeeding to +murder." + +Mannie, as he listened, flushed with mortification. From that +moment he determined that his life should be devoted to giving +the lie to that smile, to that outward and visible sign of +kindness, good will, and innate innocence. As yet, he had not +succeeded. + +He interrupted Mabel at the telephone to inquire the whereabouts +of Vera. "There's two girls in there, now," he said, "waiting to +have their fortunes doped." + +"Let'em wait!" exclaimed Mabel. "Vera's upstairs dressing." In +her eyes was the baleful glare of the plunger. "What was that +you give me in the third race?" + +At the first touch of the ruling passion, what interest Mannie +may have felt for the impatient visitors vanished. "Not in the +third," he corrected briskly. "Keene entry win the third." + +Mabel appealed breathlessly to the telephone. "What price the +Keene entry in the third?" She turned to Mannie with reproachful +eyes. "Even money!" she complained. + +"That's what I told you," retorted Mannie. He lowered his voice, +and gazed apprehensively toward the front parlor. "If you want a +really good thing," he whispered hoarsely, "ask Joe what +Pompadour is in the fifth!" Mabel laughed scornfully, +disappointedly. + +"Pompadour!" she mocked. + +"That's right!" cried the expert. "That's the one daily hint +from Paris today. Joe will give you thirty to one." + +Upon the defenseless woman he turned the full force of his +accursed smile. "Put five on for me, Mabel?" he begged. + +With unexpected determination of character Mabel declared +sharply that she would do nothing of the sort. + +"Two, then?" entreated the boy. + +"Where," demanded Mabel unfeelingly, "is the twenty you owe me +now?" + +The abruptness of this unsportsmanlike blow below the belt +caused Mannie to wince. + +"How do I know where it is?" he protested. "As long as you +haven't got it, why do you care where it is?" He heard the door +from the hall open and, turning, saw Vera. He appealed to her. +"Vera," he cried, "You'll loan me two dollars? I stand to win +sixty. I'll give you thirty." + +Vera looked inquiringly at Mabel. "What is it, Mabel,:" she +asked, "a hand book?" + +Mrs. Vance nodded guiltily. + +"Mannie!" exclaimed Vera gently but reproachfully, "I told you I +wouldn't loan you any more money till you paid Mabel what you've +borrowed." + +"How can I pay Mabel what I borrowed," demanded Mannie, if I +can't borrow the money from you to pay her? Only two dollars, +Vera!" + +Vera nodded to Mabel. + +Mabel, at the phone, called, "Two dollars on Pompadour -- to -- +win -- for Mannie Day," and rang off. + +"That makes thirty for you," exclaimed Mannie enthusiastically, +"and twenty I owe to Mabel, and that leaves me ten." + +Mrs. Vance, no longer occupied in the whirlpool of speculation, +for the first time observed that Vera had changed her matronly +robe of black lace for a short white skirt and a white +shirtwaist. She noted also that there was a change in Vera's +face and manner. She gave an impression of nervous eagerness, of +unrest. Her smile seemed more appealing, wistful, girlish. She +looked like a child of fourteen. + +But Mabel was concerned more especially with the robe of virgin +white. + +For the month, which was July, the costume was appropriate, but, +in the opinion of Mabel, in no way suited to the priestess of +the occult and the mysterious. + +"Why, Vera!" exclaimed Mrs. Vance, "whatever have you got on? +Ain't you going to receive visitors? There's ten dollars waiting +in there now." + +In sudden apprehension, Vera looked down at her spotless +garments. + +"Don't I look nice?" she begged. + +"Of course you look nice, dearie," Mabel assured her, "but you +don't look like no fortune teller." + +"If you want to know what you look like," said Mannie sternly, +"you look like one of the waiter girls at Childs's -- that's +what you look like." + +"And your crown!" exclaimed Mabel, "and your kimono. Ain't you +going to wear your kimono?" + +She hastened to the cabinet and produced the cloak of black +velvet and spangles, and the silver-gilt crown. + +"No, I am not!" declared Vera. She wore the frightened look of a +mutinous child. "I -- I look so -- foolish in them!" + +Such heresy caused Mannie to gasp aloud; "You look grand in +them," he protested; "don't she, Mabel?" + +"Sure she does," assented that lady. + +"And your junk?" demanded Mannie, referring to the jade necklace +and the gold- plated bracelets. His eyes opened in sympathy. +"You haven't pawned them, have you?" + +"Pawned them?" laughed Vera; "I couldn't get anything on them!" +As the only masculine point of view available, she appealed to +Mannie wistfully. "Don't you like me better this way, Mannie?" +she begged. + +But that critic protested violently. + +"Not a bit like it," he cried. "Now, in the gold tiara and the +spangled opera cloak," he differentiated, "you look like a +picture postal card! You got Lotta Faust's blue skirt back to +Levey's. But not in the white goods!" He shook his head sadly, +firmly. "You look, now, like you was made up for a May-day +picnic in the Bronx, and they'd picked on you to be Queen of the +May." + +Mabel carried the much-admired opera cloak to Vera, and held it +out, tempting her. "You'll wear it, just to please me and +Mannie, won't you, dearie?" she begged. Vera retreated before it +as though it held the germs of contagion. + +"I will not," she rebelled. "I hate it! When I have that on, I +feel -- mean. I feel as mean as though I were picking pennies +out of a blind man's hat." Mannie roared with delight. + +"Gee!" he shouted, "but that's a hot one." + +"Besides," said Vera consciously, "I'm -- I'm expecting some +one." + +The manner more than the words thrilled Mabel with the most +joyful expectations. + +She exclaimed excitedly. "A gentleman friend, Vera?" she asked. + +That Vera shunned all young men had been to Mabel a source of +wonder and of pride. Even when the young men were the friends of +her husband and of herself, the preoccupied manner with which +Vera received them did not provoke in Mabel any resentment. It +rather increased her approbation. Although horrified at the +recklessness of the girl, she had approved even when Vera +rejected an offer of marriage from a wine agent. + +Secretly, for a proper alliance for her, Mabel read the society +columns in search of eligible, rich young men. Finding that they +invariably married eligible, rich young women, she had lately +determined that Vera's destiny must be an English duke. + +Still if, as she hoped, Vera had chosen for herself, Mabel felt +assured that the man would prove worthy, and a good match. A +good match meant one who owned not only a runabout, but a +touring car. + +"It's a man from home," said Vera. "Home?" queried Mannie. + +"From up the State," explained Vera, "from Geneva. It's -- Mr. +Winthrop." + +With an exclamation of alarm, Mannie started upright. +"Winthrop!" he cried; then with a laugh of relief he sank back. +"Gee! You give me a scare," he cried. "I thought you meant the +District Attorney." + +Mabel laughed sympathetically. + +"I thought so too," she admitted. + +"I do mean the District Attorney," said the girl. + +"Vera!" cried Mabel. + +"Winthrop -- coming here?" demanded Mannie. + +"I met him at Mr. Hallowell's this morning," said Vera. "Didn't +Paul tell you?" + +"Paul ain't back yet," said Mannie. "I wish he was!" His lower +jaw dropped in dazed bewilderment. "Winthrop -- coming here?" he +repeated. "And they're all coming here!" he exclaimed excitedly. +"Paul just phoned me. They've taken Gaylor in with them, and +we're all working together now on some game for tonight. And +Winthrop's coming here!" He shook his head decidedly, +importantly. As the only man of the family present, he felt he +must meet this crisis. "Paul won't stand for it!" he declared. + +"Well, Paul will just have to stand for it!" retorted Mrs. +Vance. + +With a murmur of sympathy she crossed to Vera. "I'm not going to +see our Vera disappointed," she announced. "She never sees no +company. Vera, if Mr. Winthrop comes when that bunch is here, +I'll show him into the front parlor." + +Vera sat down in front of the piano and let her fingers drop +upon the keys. The look of eagerness and anticipation had left +her eyes. + +"Oh, I don't know," she said, "that I want to see him -- now." + +With complete misunderstanding, Mannie demanded truculently, +"Why not?" His loyalty to Vera gave him courage, in her behalf, +to face even a District Attorney. "He doesn't think he's coming +here to make trouble for you, does he?" + +Vera shook her head and, bending over the piano, struck a few +detached chords. + +"Oh, no," she said consciously; "just to see me -- +professionally -- like everybody else." + +Mabel could no longer withhold her indignation at the obtuseness +of the masculine intellect. + +"My gracious, Mannie!" she exclaimed, "can't you understand he's +coming here to make a call on Vera -- like a gentleman -- not +like no District Attorney." + +Mannie precipitately retreated from his position as champion. + +"Sure, I understand," he protested. + +With the joy that a match-making mother takes in the hunt, Mabel +sank into the plush rocking chair and, rocking violently, turned +upon Vera an eager and excited smile. + +"Think of our Vera knowing Mr. Winthrop socially?" she +exclaimed. "It's grand! And they say his sisters are elegant +ladies. Last winter I read about them at the opera, and it +always printed what they had on. Why didn't you tell me you +knowed him, Vera?" she cried reproachfully. "I tell you +everything!" + +"I don't know him," protested the girl. "I used to see him when +he lived in the same town." + +Mabel, inviting further confidences, ceased rocking and nodded +encouragingly. "Up in Geneva?" she prompted. + +"Yes," said Vera, "I used to see him every afternoon then, when +he played ball on the college nine -- " + +"Who?" demanded Mannie incredulously. + +"Winthrop," said Vera. + +"Did he?" exclaimed Mannie. His tone suggested that he might +still be persuaded that there was good in the man. + +"What'd he play?" he demanded suspiciously. + +"First," said Vera. + +"Did he!" exclaimed Mannie. His tone now was of open +approbation. + +Vera had raised her eyes and turned them toward the windows. +Beyond the soot- stained sumach tree, the fire escapes of the +department store, she saw the sun- drenched campus, the +buttressed chapel, the ancient, drooping elms; and on a canvas +bag, poised like a winged Mercury, a tall straight figure in +gray, dusty flannels. + +"He was awfully good-looking," murmured the girl, "and awfully +tall. He could stop a ball as high as -- that!" She raised her +arm in the air, and then, suddenly conscious, flushed, and +turned to the piano. + +"Go on, tell us," urged Mabel. "So you first met him in Geneva, +did you?" + +"No," corrected Vera, "saw him there. I -- only met him once." + +Mannie interrupted hilariously. + +"I only saw him once, too," he cried, "that was enough for me." + +Vera swiftly spun the piano stool so that she faced him. Her +eyes were filled with concern. + +"You, Mannie!" she demanded anxiously. "What had you done?" + +"Done!" exclaimed Mannie indignantly, "nothing! What'd you think +I'd done? Did you think I was a crook?" + +Vera bowed her shoulders and shivered as though the boy had +cursed at her. She shook her head vehemently and again swung +back to the piano. Stumbling awkwardly, her fingers ran over the +keys in a swift clatter of broken chords. "No," she whispered, +"no, Mannie, no." + +With a laugh of delighted recollection, Mannie turned to Mabel. + +"He raided a poolroom I was working at," he explained. "He +picked me out as a sheet writer because I had my coat off, see? +I told him I had it off because it was too hot for me, and he +says, Young man, if you lie to me, I'll make I a damn sight +hotter!" Mannie threw back his head and shouted uproariously. +"He's all right, Winthrop!" he declared. + +Mabel, having already married Winthrop to Vera in Grace Church, +with herself in the front pew, in a blue silk dress, received +this unexpected evidence of his rare wit with delight. In +ecstasy of appreciation she slapped her knees. + +"Did he say that, Mannie?" she cried. "Wasn't that quick of him! +Did you hear what he said to Mannie, Vera?" she demanded. + +Their mirth was interrupted by the opening and closing of the +front door and, in the hall, the murmur of men's voices. + +Vance opened the door from the hall and entered, followed by +Judge Gaylor and Rainey. With evident pride in her appearance, +Vance introduced the two men to his wife, and then sent her and +Mannie from the room -- the latter with orders to dismiss the +visitors in the front parlor and to admit no others. + +At the door Mrs. Vance turned to Vera and nodded mysteriously. + +"If that party calls," she said with significance, "I'll put him +in the front parlor." With a look of dismay, Vera vehemently +shook her head but, to forestall any opposition, Mrs. Vance +hastily slammed the door behind her. + +In his most courteous manner Judge Gaylor offered the chair at +the head of the centre table to Vera, and at the same table +seated himself. Vance took a place on the piano stool; Rainey +stood with his back to the mantel piece. + +"Miss Vera," Gaylor began impressively, "I desire to apologize +for my language this morning. As Rainey no doubt has told you, I +have opposed you and Professor Vance. But I -- I know when I'm +beaten. Your influence with Mr. Hallowell today -- is greater +than mine. It is paramount. I congratulate you." He smiled +ingratiatingly. "And now," he added, "we are all working in +unison." + +"You've given up your idea of sending me to jail," said Vera. + +"Vera!" exclaimed Vance reprovingly. Judge Gaylor has +apologized. We're all in harmony now." + +"Is that door locked?" asked Gaylor. Vance told him, save Mrs. +Vance, Mannie, and themselves, there was none in the house; and +that he might speak freely. + +"Miss Vera," began the Judge, "we left Mr. Hallowell very much +impressed with the message you gave him this morning. The +message from his dead sister. He wants another message from her. +He wants her to decide how he shall dispose of a very large sum +of money -- his entire fortune." + +"His entire fortune!" exclaimed Vera. "Do you imagine," she +asked, "that Mr. Hallowell will take advice from the spirit +world about that? I don't!" + +"I do," Gaylor answered stoutly, "I know I would." + +"You?" asked Vera incredulously. + +"If I could believe my sister came from the dead to tell me what +to do," said the lawyer, "of course, I'd do it. I'd be afraid +not to. But I don't believe he does. And he believes you can +bring his sister herself before him. He insists that tonight you +hold a seance in his house, and that you materialize the spirit +of his dead sister. So that he can see his sister, and talk with +his sister. Vance says you can do that. Can you?" + +From Vera's face the look of girlishness, of happy anticipation, +had already disappeared. + +"It is my business to do that," the girl answered. She turned to +Vance and, in a matter-of-fact voice, inquired, "What does his +sister look like -- that photograph we used this morning.?" + +"No," Vance answered. "I've a better one, Rainey gave me. Taken +when she was older. Has white hair and a cap and a kerchief +crossed -- so." He drew his hands across his shoulders. "Rainey, +show Miss Vera that picture." + +"Not now," Gaylor commanded. "The important thing now is that +Miss Vera understands the message Mr. Hallowell is to receive +from his sister." + +The two other men nodded quickly in assent. Gaylor turned to +Vera. He spoke slowly, earnestly. + +"Miss Vera," he said, "Mr. Hallowell's present will leaves his +fortune to his niece. He has made another will, which he has not +signed, leaving his fortune to the Hallowell Institute. He will +ask his sister to which of these he should leave his money. You +will tell him -- " he corrected himself instantly. "She will tell +him to give it where it will be of the greatest good to the most +people -- to the Institute." There was a pause. "Do you +understand?" he asked. + +"To the Institute. Not to the niece," Vera answered. Gaylor +nodded gravely. + +"What," asked Vera, "are the fewest words in which that message +could be delivered? I mean -- should she say, You are to endow +the Hallowell Institute, or Brother, you are to give -- Sign +the new will?" With satisfaction the girl gave a sharp shake of +her head, and nodded to Vance. " Destroy the old will. Sign the +new will. That is the best," she said. + +"That's it exactly," Gaylor exclaimed eagerly; "that's +excellent!" Then his face clouded. "I think," he said in a +troubled voice, "we should warn Miss Vera, that to guard himself +from any trickery, Mr. Hallowell insists on subjecting her to +the most severe tests. He -- " + +"That will be all right," said the girl. She turned to Vance +and, in a lower tone but without interest, asked: "What, for +instance?" Vance merely laughed and shrugged his shoulders. The +girl smiled. Nettled, and alarmed at what appeared to be their +overconfidence, Gaylor objected warmly. + +"That's all very well," he cried, "but for instance, he insists +that the entire time you are in the cabinet, you hold a handful +of flour in one hand and of shot in the other" -- he illustrated +with clenched fists -- "which makes it impossible," he +protested, "for you to use your hands." + +The face of the girl showed complete indifference. + +"Not necessarily," she said. + +"But you are to be tied hand and foot," cried the Judge. "And on +top of that," he burst forth indignantly, pointing aggrievedly +at Vance, "he himself proposed this flour-and-shot test. It was +silly, senseless bravado!" + +"Not necessarily," repeated the girl. "He knew that I invented +it." Rainey laughed. Gaylor gave an exclamation of +enlightenment. + +"If it will be of any comfort to you, Judge," said Vance, "I'll +tell you one thing; every test that ever was put to a medium -- +was invented by a medium." + +Vera rose. "If there is nothing more," she said, "I will go and +get the things ready for this evening. Destroy the old will. +Sign the new will." she repeated. She turned suddenly to Vance, +her brow drawn in consideration. "I suppose by this new will," +she asked, "the girl gets nothing?" "Not at all!" exclaimed +Gaylor emphatically. "We don't want her to fight the will. She +gets a million." + +"A million dollars?" demanded Vera. For an instant, as though +trying to grasp the possibilities of such a sum, she stood +staring ahead of her. With doubt in her eyes, and shaking her +head, she turned to Vance. + +"How can one woman spend a million dollars?" she protested. + +"Well, you see, we don't intend to starve her," exclaimed Gaylor +eagerly, "and at the same time the Institute will be benefiting +all humanity. Doing good to -- " + +Vera interrupted him with a sharp, peremptory movement of the +hand. + +"We won't go into that, please," she begged. + +The Judge inclined his head. "I only meant to point out," he +said stiffly, "that you are giving Mr. Hallowell the best +advice, and doing great good." + +For a moment the girl looked at him steadily. On her lips was a +faint smile of disdain, but whether for him or for herself, the +Judge could not determine. + +"I don't know that," the girl said finally. "I don't ask." She +turned to Rainey. "Have you that photograph?" He gave her a +photograph and after, for an instant, studying it in silence, +she returned it to him. + +"It will be quite easy," she said to Vance. She walked to the +door, and instinctively the two men, who were seated, rose. + +"I will see you tonight at Mr. Hallowell's," she said, and, with +a nod, left them. + +"Well," exclaimed Rainey, "you didn't tell her!" + +"I know,"Vance answered. "I decided we'd be wiser to take advice +from my wife. She understands Vera better than I do." He opened +the door to the hall, and called "Mannie! Tell Mabel -- Oh, +Mabel," he corrected, "come here a minute." He returned to his +seat on the piano stool. "She can tell us," he said. + +In expectation of the arrival of Winthrop, Mrs. Vance had +arrayed herself in a light blue frock, and, as though she had +just come in from the street, in such a hat as she considered +would do credit not only to Vera but to herself. + +"Mabel," her husband began, "we're up against a hard +proposition. Hallowell insists that Winthrop and Miss Coates +must come to the seance tonight." + +"Winthrop and Miss Coates!" cried Mabel. In astonishment she +glanced from her husband to Rainey and Gaylor. "Then, it's all +off!" she exclaimed. + +"That's what I say," growled Rainey. + +"We want you to tell us," continued Vance, unmoved, "whether +Vera should know that now, or wait until tonight?" + +"Paul Vance!" almost shrieked his wife, "do you mean to tell me +you're thinking of giving a materialization in front of the +District Attorney! You're crazy!" + +"That's what I tell them," chorused Rainey. + +Gaylor raised his hand for silence. + +"No, Mrs. Vance," he said wearily. "We are not crazy, but," he +added bitterly, "we can't help ourselves. You mediums have got +Mr. Hallowell in such a state that he'll only do what his +sister's spirit tells him. He says, if he's robbing his niece, +his sister will tell him so; if he's to give the money to the +Institute, his sister will tell him that. He says, if Vance is +fair and above-board, he shouldn't be afraid to have his niece +and any friends of hers present. We can't help ourselves." + +"I helped a little," said Vance, "by insisting on having our own +friends there -- told him the spirit could not materialize +unless there were believers present." + +"Did he stand for that?" asked Mabel. + +"Glad to have them," her husband assured her. "They like to +think there are others as foolish as they are. And I'm going to +place Mr. District Attorney," he broke out suddenly and +fiercely, "between two mediums. They'll hold his hands!" + +Already frightened by the possible result of the plot, Rainey, +with a vehemence born of fear, retorted sharply: "Hold his +hands! How're you going to make him hold his tongue, afterward?" + +Gaylor turned upon him savagely. + +"My God, man!" he cried, "we're not trying to persuade the +District Attorney that he's seen a ghost. If your friends can +persuade Stephen Hallowell that he's seen one, the District +Attorney can go to the devil!" + +"Well, he won't!" returned Rainey, "he'll go to law!" + +"Let him!" cried Gaylor defiantly. "Get Hallowell to sign that +will, and I'll go into court with him." + +His bravado was suddenly attacked from an unexpected source. + +"You'll go into court with him, all right," declared Mrs. Vance, +"all of you! And if you don't want him to catch you," she cried, +"you'll clear out, now! He's coming here any minute." + +"Who's coming here?" demanded her husband. + +"Winthrop," returned his wife, "to see Vera." + +"To see Vera!" cried Vance eagerly. "What about? About this +morning?" + +"No," protested Mabel, "to call on her. He's an old friend -- " + +In alarm Rainey pushed into the group of now thoroughly excited +people. "Don't you believe it!" he cried. "If he's coming here, +he's coming to give her the third degree -- " + +The door from the hall suddenly opened, was as suddenly closed, +and Mannie slipped into the room. One hand he held up for +silence; with the other he pointed at the folding doors. + +"Hush!" he warned them. "He's in there! He says he's come to +call on Vera. She says he's come professionally, and I must +bring him in here. I've shut the door into the parlor, and you +can slip upstairs without his seeing you." + +"Upstairs!" gasped Rainey, "not for me!" He appealed to Gaylor +in accents of real alarm. "We must get away from this house," he +declared. "If he finds us here -- " With a gesture of dismay he +tossed his hands in the air. Gaylor nodded. In silence all, save +Mannie, moved into the hall, and halted between the outer and +inner doors of the vestibule. Gaylor turned to Vance. "Are you +going to tell her," he asked, "that he is to be there tonight?" + +"He'll tell her himself, now!" + +"No," corrected Rainey, "he doesn't know yet there's to be a +seance. Hallowell was writing the note when he left." + +"Then," instructed Gaylor, "do not let her know until she +arrives -- until it will be too late for her to back out." + +Vance nodded and, waiting until from the back room he heard the +voices of Mannie and Winthrop, he opened the front door and the +two men ran down the steps into the street. + +While the conspirators were hidden in the vestibule, Mannie had +opened the folding doors, and invited Winthrop to enter the +reception parlor. + +"Miss Vera will be down in a minute," he said. "If you want your +hand read," he added, pointing, "you sit over there." + +As Winthrop approached the centre table, Mannie backed against +the piano. The presence of the District Attorney at such short +range aroused in him many emotions. Alternately he was torn with +alarm, with admiration, with curiosity. He regarded him +apprehensively, with a nervous and unhappy smile. + +About the smile there was something that Winthrop found +familiar, and, with one almost as attractive, he answered it. + +"I think we've met before, haven't we?" he asked pleasantly. + +Mannie nodded. "Yes, sir," he answered promptly. "At Sam +Hepner's old place, on West Forty-fourth street." + +"Why, of course!" exclaimed the District Attorney. + +"Don't you -- don't you remember?" stammered Mannie eagerly. He +was deeply concerned lest the distinguished cross-examiner +should think, that from him of his lurid past he could withhold +anything. "I had my coat off -- and you said you'd make it hot +for me." + +"Did I?" asked Winthrop with an effort at recollection. + +"No, you didn't!" Mannie hastened to reassure him. "I mean, you +didn't make it hot for me." + +Winthrop laughed, and seated himself comfortably beside the +centre table. Well I'm glad of that," he said. "So our relations +are still pleasant, then?" he asked. + +"Sure!" exclaimed Mannie heartily. "I mean -- yes, sir." + +Winthrop mechanically reached for his cigarette case, and then, +recollecting, withdrew his hand. + +"And how are the ponies running?' he asked. + +The interview was filling Mannie with excitement and delight. He +chuckled with pleasure. His fear of the great man was rapidly +departing. Could this, he asked himself, be the "terror to evil- +doers," the man whose cruel questions drove witnesses to tears, +whose "third degree" sent veterans of the underworld staggering +from his confessional box, limp and gasping? + +"Oh, pretty well," said the boy, "seems as if I couldn't keep +away from them. I got a good thing for today -- Pompadour -- in +the fifth. I put all the money on her I could get together," he +announced importantly, and then added frankly, with a laugh, +"two dollars!" The laugh was contagious, and the District +Attorney laughed with him. + +"Pompadour," Winthrop objected, "she's one of those winter track +favorites." + +"I know, but today," declared Mannie, "she win, sure!" Carried +away by his enthusiasm, and by the sympathy of his audience, he +rushed, unheeding, to his fate. "If you'd like to put a little +on," he said, "I can tell you where you can do it." + +The District Attorney stared and laughed. "You mustn't tell me +where you can do it," he said. + +Mannie gave a terrified gasp and, for an instant, clapped his +hands over his lips. "That's right," he cried. "Gee, that's +right! I'm such a crank on all kinds of sport that I clean +forgot!" + +He gazed at the much-dreaded District Attorney with the awe of +the new-born hero-worshipper. "I guess you are, too, hey?" he +protested admiringly. "Vera was telling me you used to be a +great ball tosser." + +In the face of the District Attorney there came a sudden +interest. His eyes lightened. + +"How did she -- " + +"She used to watch you in Geneva," said Mannie, "playing with +the college lads. I -- I," he added consciously, "was a ball +player myself once. Used to pitch for the Interstate League." He +stopped abruptly. + +"Interstate?" said Winthrop encouragingly. "You must have been +good." + +The enthusiasm had departed from the face of the boy. "Yes, he +said, "but -- " he smiled shamefacedly, "but I got taking coke, +and they -- " He finished with a dramatic gesture of the hand as +of a man tossing away a cigarette. + +"Cocaine?" said the District Attorney. + +The boy nodded and, for an instant, the two men eyed each other, +the boy smiling ruefully. The District Attorney shook his head. +"My young friend," he said, "you can never beat that game!" + +Mannie stared at him, his eyes filled with surprise. + +"Don't you suppose," he said simply, "that I know that better +than you do?" With a boy's pride in his own incorrigibility he +went on boastingly: "Oh, yes," he said, "I used to be awful bad! +Cocaine and all kinds of dope, and cigarettes, and whiskey. I +was nearly all in -- with morphine, it was then -- till she took +hold of me, and stopped me." + +"She?" said Winthrop. + +"Vera," said Mannie. "She made me stop. I had to stop. She +started taking it herself." + +"What!" cried Winthrop. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mannie hastily, "I don't mean what you mean -- I +mean she started taking it to make me stop. She says to me, +Mannie, you're killing yourself, and you got to quit it; and if +you don't, every time you take a grain, I'll take two. And she +did! I'd come home, and she'd see what I'd been doing, and she'd +up with her sleeves, and -- " In horrible pantomime, the boy +lifted the cuff of his shirt, and pressed his right thumb +against the wrist of his other arm. At the memory of it, he gave +a shiver and, with a blow, roughly struck the cuff into place. +"God!" he muttered, "I couldn't stand it. I begged, and begged +her not. I cried. I used to get down, in this room, on my knees. +And each time she'd get whiter, and black under the eyes. And -- +and I had to stop. Didn't I?" + +Winthrop moved his head. + +"And now," cried the boy with a happy laugh, "I'm all right!" He +appealed to the older man eagerly, wistfully. "Don't you think +I'm looking better than I did the last time you saw me?" + +Again, without venturing to speak, Winthrop nodded. + +Mannie smiled with pride. "Everybody tells me so," he said. +"Well, she did it. That's what she did for me. And, I can tell +you," he said simply, sincerely, "there ain't anything I +wouldn't do for her. I guess that's right, hey?" he added. + +The eyes of the cruel cross-examiner, veiled under half-closed +lids, were regarding the boy with so curious an expression that +under their scrutiny Mannie, in embarrassment, moved uneasily. +"I guess that's right," he repeated. + +To his surprise, the District Attorney rose from his comfortable +position and, leaning across the table, held out his hand. +Mannie took it awkwardly. + +"That's all right," he said. + +"Sure, it's all right," said the District Attorney. + +From the hall there was the sound of light, quick steps, and +Mannie, happy to escape from a situation he did not understand, +ran to the door. + +"She's coming," he said. He opened the door and, as Vera +entered, he slipped past her and closed it behind him. + +Vera walked directly to the chair at the top of the centre +table. She was nervous, and she was conscious that that fact was +evident. To avoid shaking hands with her visitor, she carried +her own clasped in front of her, with the fingers interlaced. +She tried to speak in her usual suave, professional tone. "How +do you do?" she said. + +But Winthrop would not be denied. With a smile that showed his +pleasure at again seeing her, he advanced eagerly, with his hand +outstretched. "How are you?" he exclaimed. "Aren't you going to +shake hands with me?" he demanded. "With an old friend?" + +Vera gave him her hand quickly, and then, seating herself at the +table, picked up the ivory pointer. + +"I didn't know you were coming as an old friend," she murmured +embarrassedly. "You said you were coming to consult Vera, the +medium." + +"But you said that was the only way I could come," protested +Winthrop. "Don't you remember, you said -- " + +Vera interrupted him. She spoke distantly, formally. "What kind +of a reading do you want?" she asked. "A hand reading, or a +crystal reading?" + +Winthrop leaned forward in his chair, frankly smiling at her. He +made no attempt to conceal the pleasure the sight of her gave +him. His manner was that of a very old and dear friend, who, for +the first time, had met her after a separation of years. + +"Don't want any kind of a reading," he declared. "I want a +talking. You don't seem to understand," he objected, "that I am +making an afternoon call." His good humor was unassailable. +Looking up with a perplexed frown, Vera met his eyes and saw +that he was laughing at her. She threw the ivory pointer down +and, leaning back in her chair, smiled at him. + +"I don't believe," she said doubtfully, "that I know much about +afternoon calls. What would I do, if we were on Fifth Avenue? +Would I give you tea?" she asked, "because," she added hastily, +"there isn't any tea." + +"In that case, it is not etiquette to offer any," said Winthrop +gravely. + +"Then," said Vera, "I'm doing it right, so far?" + +They both laughed; Vera because she still was in awe of him, and +Winthrop because he was happy. + +"You're doing it charmingly," Winthrop assured her. + +"Good!" exclaimed Vera. "Well, now," she inquired, "now we talk, +don't we?" + +"Yes," assented Winthrop promptly, "we talk about you." + +"No, I -- I don't think we do," declared Vera, in haste. "I +think we talk about -- Geneva." She turned to him with real +interest. "Is the town much changed?" she asked. + +As though preparing for a long talk, Winthrop dropped his hat to +the floor and settled himself comfortably. "Well, it is, and it +isn't," he answered. "Haven't you been back lately?" he asked. +Vera looked quickly away from him. + +"I have never been back!" she answered. There was a pause and +when she again turned her eyes to his, she was smiling. "But I +always take the Geneva Times," she said, "and I often read that +you've been there. You're a great man in Geneva." + +Winthrop nodded gravely. + +"Whenever I want to be a great man," he said, "I go to Geneva." + +"Why, yes," exclaimed Vera. "Last June you delivered the oration +to the graduating class," she laughed, "on The College Man in +Politics. Such an original subject! And did you point to +yourself?" she asked mockingly, "as the -- the bright example?" + +"No," protested Winthrop, "I knew they'd see that." + +Much to her relief, Vera found that of Winthrop she was no +longer afraid. + +"Oh!" she protested, "didn't you say, twelve years ago, a humble +boy played ball for Hobart College. That boy now stands before +you? Didn't you say that?" + +"Something like that,"assented the District Attorney. "Oh!" he +exclaimed, "that young man who showed me in here -- your +confederate or fellow-conspirator or lookout man or whatever he +is -- told me you used to be a regular attendant at those +games." + +"I never missed one!" Vera cried. She leaned forward, her eyes +shining, her brows knit with the effort of recollection. + +"I used to tell Aunt," she said, "I had to drive in for the +mail. But that was only an excuse. Aunt had an old buggy, and an +old white horse called Roscoe Conkling. I called him Rocks. He +was blind in one eye, and he would walk on the wrong side of the +road; you had to drive him on one rein." The girl was speaking +rapidly, eagerly. She had lost all fear of her visitor. With +satisfaction Winthrop recognized this; and unconsciously he was +now frankly regarding the face of the girl with a smile of +pleasure and admiration. + +"And I used to tie him to the fence just opposite first base," +Vera went on excitedly, "and shout -- for you!" + +"Don't tell me," interrupted Winthrop, in burlesque excitement, +"that you were that very pretty little girl, with short dresses +and long legs, who used to sit on the top rail and kick and +cheer." + +Vera shook her head sternly. + +"I was," she said, "but you never saw me." + +"Oh, yes, we did," protested Winthrop. "We used to call you our +mascot." + +"No, that was some other little girl," said Vera firmly. "You +never looked at me, and I" -- she laughed, and then frowned at +him reproachfully -- "I thought you were magnificent! I used to +have your pictures in baseball clothes pinned all around my +looking glass, and whenever you made a base hit, I'd shout and +shout -- and you'd never look at me! And one day -- " she +stopped, and as though appalled by the memory, clasped her +hands. "Oh, it was awful!" she exclaimed; "one day a foul ball +hit the fence, and I jumped down and threw it to you, and you +said, Thank you, sis! And I," she cried, "thought I was a young +lady!" + +"Oh! I couldn't have said that," protested Winthrop, "maybe I +said sister." + +"No," declared Vera energetically shaking her head, "not +sister, sis. And you never did look at me; and I used to drive +past your house every day. We lived only a mile below you." + +"Where?" asked Winthrop. + +"On the lake road from Syracuse," said Vera. "Don't you remember +the farm a mile below yours -- the one with the red barn right +on the road? Yes, you do," she insisted, "the cows were always +looking over the fence right into the road." + +"Of course!" exclaimed Winthrop delightedly. "Was that your +house?" + +"Oh, no," protested Vera, "ours was the little cottage on the +other side -- " + +"With poplars round it?" demanded Winthrop. + +"That's it!" cried Vera triumphantly, "with poplars round it." + +"Why, I know that house well. We boys used to call it the +haunted house." + +"That's the one," assented Vera. She smiled with satisfaction. +"Well, that's where I lived until Aunt died," she said. + +"And then, what?" asked Winthrop. + +For a moment the girl did not answer. Her face had grown grave +and she sat motionless, staring beyond her. Suddenly, as though +casting her thoughts from her, she gave a sharp toss of her +head. + +"Then," she said, speaking quickly, "I went into the mills, and +was ill there, and I wrote Paul and Mabel to ask if I could join +them, and they said I could. But I was too ill, and I had no +money -- nothing. And then," she raised her eyes to his and +regarded him steadily, "then I stole that cloak to get the money +to join them, and you -- you helped me to get away, and -- and" +Winthrop broke in hastily. He disregarded both her manner and +the nature of what she had said. + +"And how did you come to know the Vances?" he asked. + +After a pause of an instant, the girl accepted the cue his +manner gave her, and answered as before. + +"Through my aunt," she said. "she was a medium too." + +"Of course!" cried Winthrop. "I remember now. that's why we +called it the haunted house." + +"My aunt," said the girl, regarding him steadily and with, in +her manner, a certain defiance, "was a great medium. All the +spiritualists in that part of the State used to meet at our +house. I've witnessed some wonderful manifestations in that +front parlor." She turned to Winthrop and smiled. "So, you see," +she exclaimed, "I was born and brought up in this business. I am +the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. My grandmother was a +medium, my mother was a medium -- she worked with the Fox +sisters before they were exposed. But, my aunt," she added +thoughtfully, judicially, "was the greatest medium I have ever +seen. She did certain things I couldn't understand, and I know +every trick in the trade -- unless," she explained, "you believe +the spirits helped her." + +Winthrop was observing the girl intently, with a new interest. + +"And you don't believe that?" he asked, quietly. + +"How can I?" Vera said. "I was brought up with them." She shook +her head and smiled. "I used to play around the kitchen stove +with Pocahontas and Alexander the Great, and Martin Luther lived +in our china closet. You see, the neighbors wouldn't let their +children come to our house; so, the only playmates I had were +-- ghosts." She laughed wistfully. "My!" she exclaimed, "I was a +queer, lonely little rat. I used to hear voices and see visions. +I do still," she added. With her elbows on the arms of her +chair, she clasped her hands under her chin and leaned forward. +She turned her eyes to Winthrop and nodded confidentially. + +"Do you know," she said, "sometimes I think people from the +other world do speak to me." + +"But you said," Winthrop objected, "you didn't believe." + +"I know," returned Vera. "I can't!" Her voice was perplexed, +impatient. "Why, I can sit in this chair," she declared +earnestly, "and fill this room with spirit voices and rappings, +and you sitting right there can't see how I do it. And yet, +inspite of all the tricks, sometimes I believe there's something +in it." + +She looked at Winthrop, her eyes open with inquiry. He shook his +head. + +"Yes," insisted the girl. "When these women come to me for +advice, I don't invent what I say to them. It's as though +something told me what to say. I have never met them before, but +as soon as I pass into the trance state I seem to know all their +troubles. And I seem to be half in this world and half in +another world -- carrying messages between them. Maybe," her +voice had sunk to almost a whisper; she continued as though +speaking to herself, "I only think that. I don't know. I +wonder." + +There was a long pause. + +"I wish," began Winthrop earnestly, "I wish you were younger, or +I were older." + +"Why?" asked Vera. + +"Because," said the young man, "I'd like to talk to you -- like +a father." + +Vera turned and smiled on him securely, with frank friendliness. +"Go ahead," she assented, "talk to me like a father." + +Winthrop smiled back at her, and then frowned. + +"You shouldn't be in this business," he said. + +The girl regarded him steadily. + +"What's the matter with the business?" she asked. + +Winthrop felt she had put him upon the defensive, but he did not +hesitate. + +"Well," he said, "there may be some truth in it. But we don't +know that. We do know that there's a lot of fraud and deceit in +it. Now," he declared warmly, "there's nothing deceitful about +you. You're fine," he cried enthusiastically, "you're big! That +boy who was in here told me one story about you that showed -- " + +Vera stopped him sharply. + +"What do you know of me?" she asked bitterly. "The first time +you ever saw me I was in a police court; and this morning -- you +heard that man threaten to put me in jail -- " + +In turn, by abruptly rising from his chair, Winthrop interrupted +her. He pushed the chair out of his way, and, shoving his hands +into his trousers' pockets, began pacing with long, quick +strides up and down the room. "What do I care for that?" he +cried contemptuously. He tossed the words at her over his +shoulder. "I put lots of people in jail myself that are better +than I am. Only, they won't play the game." He halted, and +turned on her. "Now, you're not playing the game. This is a mean +business, taking money from silly girls and old men. You're too +good for that." He halted at the table and stood facing her. +"I've got two sisters uptown," he said. He spoke commandingly, +peremptorily. "And tomorrow I am going to take you to see them. +And we fellow townsmen," he smiled at her appealingly, "will +talk this over, and we'll make you come back to your own +people." + +For a moment the two regarded each other. Then the girl answered +firmly, but with a slight hoarseness in her voice, and in a tone +hardly louder than a whisper: + +"You know I can't do that!" + +"I don't!" blustered Winthrop. "Why not?" + +"Because," said the girl steadily, "of what I did in Geneva." As +though the answer was the one he had feared, the man exclaimed +sharply, rebelliously. + +"Nonsense!" he cried. "You didn't know what you were doing. No +decent person would consider that." + +"They do," said the girl, "they are the very ones who do. And -- +it's been in the papers. Everybody in Geneva knows it. And here +too. And whenever I try to get away from this" -- she stretched +out her hands to include the room about her -- "Someone tells! +Five times, now. She leaned forward appealingly, not as though +asking pity for herself, but as wishing him to see her point of +view. "I didn't choose this business," she protested, "I was +sort of born in it, and," she broke out loyally, "I hate to have +you call it a mean business; but I can't get into any other. +Whenever I have, some man says, That girl in your front office +is a thief." The restraint she put upon herself, the air of +disdain which at all times she had found the most convenient +defense, fell from her. + +"It's not fair!" she cried, "it's not fair." To her +mortification, the tears of self-pity sprang to her eyes, and as +she fiercely tried to brush them away, to her greater anger, +continued to creep down her cheeks. "It was nine years ago," she +protested, "I was a child. I've been punished enough." She +raised her face frankly to his, speaking swiftly, bitterly. + +"Of course, I want to get away!" she cried. "Of course, I want +friends. I've never had a friend. I've always been alone. I'm +tired, tired! I hate this business. I never know how much I hate +it until the chance comes to get away -- and I can't." + +She stopped, but without lowering her head or moving her eyes +from his. + +"This time," said the man quietly, "you're going to get away +from it." + +"I can't," repeated the girl. "you can't help me!" + +Winthrop smiled at her confidently. + +"I'm going to try," he said. + +"No, please!" begged the girl. Her voice was still shaken with +tears. She motioned with her head toward the room behind her. + +"These are my people," she declared defiantly, as though daring +him to contradict her. "And they are good people! They've tried +to be good friends to me, and they've been true to me." + +Winthrop came toward her and stood beside her, so close that he +could have placed his hand upon her shoulder. He wondered, +whimsically, if she knew how cruel she seemed in appealing with +her tears, her helplessness and loveliness to what was generous +and chivalric in him; and, at the same time, by her words, +treating him as an interloper and an enemy. + +"That's all right," he said gently. "But that doesn't prevent my +being a good friend to you, too, does it? Or," he added, his +voice growing tense and conscious -- "my being true to you? My +sisters will be here tomorrow," he announced briskly. + +Vera had wearily dropped her arms upon the table and lowered her +head upon them. From a place down in the depths she murmured a +protest. + +"No," contradicted Winthrop cheerfully, "this time you are going +to win. You'll have back of you, If I do say it, two of the best +women God ever made. Only, now, you must do as I say." There was +a pause. "Will you?" he begged. + +Vera raised her head slowly, holding her hand across her eyes. +There was a longer silence, and then she looked up at him and +smiled pathetically, gratefully, and nodded. "Good!" cried +Winthrop. "No more spooks," he laughed, "no more spirit +rappings." + +Through her tears Vera smiled up at him a wan, broken smile. She +gave a shudder of distaste. "Never!" she whispered. "I promise." +Their eyes met; the girl's looking into his shyly, gratefully; +the man's searching hers eagerly. And suddenly they saw each +other with a new and wonderful sympathy and understanding. +Winthrop felt himself bending toward her. He was conscious that +the room had grown dark, and that he could see only her eyes. +"You must be just yourself," he commanded, but so gently, so +tenderly, that, though he did not know it, each word carried +with it the touch of a caress, "just your sweet, fine, noble +self!" + +Something he read in the girl's uplifted eyes made him draw back +with a shock of wonder, of delight, with an upbraiding +conscience. To pull himself together, he glanced quickly about +him. The day had really grown dark. He felt a sudden desire to +get away; to go where he could ask himself what had happened, +what it was that had filled this unknown, tawdry room with +beauty and given it the happiness of a home. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed nervously, "I had no idea I'd stayed so +long. You'll not let me come again. Goodbye -- until tomorrow." +He turned, holding out his hand, and found that again the girl +had dropped her face upon her arm, and was sobbing quietly, +gently. + +"Oh, what is it?" cried Winthrop. "What have I said?" The catch +in the girl's voice as she tried to check the sobs wrenched his +heart. "Oh, please," he begged, "I've said something wrong? I've +hurt you?" With her face still hidden in her arms, the girl +shook her head. + +"No, no!" she sobbed. Her voice, soft with tears, was a melody +of sweet and tender tones. "It's only -- that I've been so +lonely -- and you've made me happy, happy!" + +The sobs broke out afresh, but Winthrop, now knowing that they +brought to the girl peace, was no longer filled with dismay. + +Her head was bent upon her left arm, her right hand lightly +clasped the edge of the table. With the intention of saying +farewell, Winthrop took her hand in his. The girl did not move. +To his presence she seemed utterly oblivious. In the gathering +dusk he could see the bent figure, could hear the soft, +irregular breathing as the girl wept gently, happily, like a +child sobbing itself to sleep. The hand he held in his neither +repelled nor invited, and for an instant he stood motionless, +holding it uncertainly. It was so delicate, so helpless, so +appealing, so altogether lovable. It seemed to reach up, and, +with warm, clinging fingers, clutch the tendrils of his heart. + +Winthrop bent his head suddenly, and lifting the hand, kissed +it; and then, without again speaking, walked quickly into the +hall and shut the door. In the room the dusk deepened. Through +the open windows came the roar of the Sixth Avenue Elevated, the +insistent clamor of an electric hansom, the murmur of Broadway +at night. The tears had suddenly ceased, but the girl had not +moved. At last, slowly, stiffly, she raised her head. Her eyes, +filled with wonder, with amazement, were fixed upon her hand. +She glanced cautiously about her. Assured she was alone, with +her other hand she lifted the one Winthrop had kissed and held +it pressed against her lips. + +The folding doors were thrown open, letting in a flood of light, +and Mabel Vance, entering swiftly, knelt at the table and bent +her head close to Vera. + +"That woman's in the hall," she whispered, "that niece of +Hallowell's. Paul and Mannie can't get rid of her. Now she's got +hold of Winthrop. She says she will see you. Be careful!" + +Vera rose. That Mabel might not see she had been weeping, she +walked to the piano, covertly drying her eyes. + +"What," she asked dully, "does she want with me?" + +"About tonight," answered Mabel. She exclaimed fiercely, "I told +them there'd be trouble!" + +With Vance upon her heels, Helen Coates came in quickly from the +hall. Her face was flushed, her eyes lit with indignation and +excitement. In her hand she held an open letter. + +As though to protect Vera, both Vance and his wife moved between +her and their visitor, but, disregarding them, Miss Coates at +once singled out the girl as her opponent. + +"You are the young woman they call Vera, I believe," she said. +"I have a note here from Mr. Hallowell telling me you are giving +a seance tonight at his house. That you propose to exhibit the +spirit of my mother. That is an insult to the memory of my +mother and to me. And I warn you, if you attempt such a thing, I +will prevent it." + +There was a pause. When Vera spoke it was in the tone of every- +day politeness. Her voice was even and steady. + +"You have been misinformed," she said, "there will be no seance +tonight." + +Vance turned to Vera, and, in a voice lower than her own, but +sufficiently loud to include Miss Coates, said: "I don't think +we told you that Mr. Hallowell himself insists that this lady +and her friends be present." + +"Her presence makes no difference," said Vera quietly. "There +will be no seance tonight. I will tell you about it later, +Paul," she added. She started toward the door, but Miss Coates +moved as though to intercept her. + +"If you think," she cried eagerly, "you can give a seance to Mr. +Hallowell without my knowing it, you are mistaken." + +Vera paused, and made a slight inclination of her head. + +"That was not my idea," she said. She looked appealingly to +Vance. "Is that not enough, Paul?" she asked. + +"Quite enough!" exclaimed the man. He turned to the visitor and +made a curt movement of the hand toward the open door. + +"There will be a seance tonight," he declared. "At Mr. +Hallowell's. If you wish to protest against it, you can do so +there. This is my house. If you have finished -- " He repeated +the gesture toward the open door. + +"I have not finished," said Miss Coates sharply; "and if you +take my advice, you will follow her example." With a nod of the +head she signified Vera. "When she sees she's in danger, she +knows enough to stop. This is not a question of a few medium's +tricks," she cried, contemptuously. "I know all that you planned +to do, and I intend that tomorrow every one in New York shall +know it too." + +Like a cloak Vera's self-possession fell from her. In alarm she +moved forward. + +"What do you mean?" she demanded. + +"I have had you people followed pretty closely," said Miss +Coates. Her tone was assured. She was confident that of those +before her she was the master, and that of that fact they were +aware. + +"I know," she went on, "just how you tried to impose upon my +uncle -- how you tried to rob me, and tonight I have invited the +reporters to my house to give them the facts." + +With a cry Vera ran to her. + +"No!" she begged, "you won't do that. You must not do that!" + +"Let her talk!" growled Vance. "Let her talk! She's funny." + +"No!" commanded Vera. Her voice rang with the distress. "She +cannot do that!" She turned to Miss Coates. "We haven't hurt +you," she pleaded; "we haven't taken your money. I promise you," +she cried," we will never see Mr. Hallowell again. I beg of you + -- " + +Vance indignantly caught her by the arm and drew her back. "You +don't beg nothing of her!" he cried. + +"I do," Vera answered wildly. She caught Vance's hand in both of +hers. "I have a chance, Paul," she entreated, "don't force me +through it again. I can't stand the shame of it again." Once +more she appealed to the visitor. "Don't!" she begged. "Don't +shame me." + +But the eyes of the older girl, blind to everything save what, +as she saw it, was her duty, showed no consideration. + +Vera's hands, trembling on his arm, drove Vance to deeper anger. +He turned savagely upon Miss Coates. + +"You haven't lost anything yet, have you?" he demanded. "She +hasn't hurt you, has she? If it's revenge you want," he cried +insolently, "why don't you throw vitriol on the girl?" + +"Revenge!" exclaimed Miss Coates indignantly. "It is my duty. My +public duty. I'm not alone in this; I am acting with the +District Attorney. It is our duty." She turned suddenly and +called, "Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Winthrop!" + +For the first time Vera saw, under the gas jet, at the farther +end of the hall, the figures of Mannie and Winthrop. + +"No, no!" she protested, "I beg of you," she cried hysterically. +"I've got a chance. If you print this thing tomorrow, I'll never +have a chance again. Don't take it away from me." Impulsively +her arms reached out in an eager final appeal. "I'm down," she +said simply, "give me a chance to get up." + +When Miss Coates came to give battle to the Vances, she foresaw +the interview might be unpleasant. It was proving even more +unpleasant than she had expected, but her duty seemed none the +less obvious. + +"You should have thought of that," she said, "before you were +found out." + +For an instant Vera stood motionless, staring, unconsciously +holding the attitude of appeal. But when, by these last words, +she recognized that her humiliation could go no further, with an +inarticulate exclamation she turned away. + +"The public has the right to know," declared Miss Coates, "the +sort of people you are. I have the record of each of you -- " + +From the hall Winthrop had entered quickly, but, disregarding +him, Vance broke in upon the speaker, savagely, defiantly. + +"Print em, then!" he shouted, "print em!" + +"I mean to," declared Miss Coates, "yours, and hers, she -- " + +Winthrop placed himself in front of her, shutting her off from +the others. He spoke in an earnest whisper. + +"Don't!" he begged. "She has asked for a chance. Give her a +chance." + +Miss Coates scorned to speak in whispers. + +"She has had a chance," she protested loudly. "She's had a +chance for nine years; and she's chosen to be a charlatan and a +cheat, and -- " The angry woman hesitated, and then flung the +word -- "and a thief!" + +In the silence that followed no one turned toward Vera; but as +it continued unbroken each raised his eyes and looked at her. + +They saw her drawn to her full height; the color flown from her +face, her deep, brooding eyes flashing. She was like one by some +religious fervor lifted out of herself, exalted. When she spoke +her voice was low, tense. It vibrated with tremendous, wondering +indignation. + +"Do you know who I am?" she asked. She spoke like one in a +trance. "Do you know who you are threatening with your police +and your laws? I am a priestess! I am a medium between the souls +of this world and the next. I am Vera -- the Truth! And I mean," +the girl cried suddenly, harshly, flinging out her arm, "that +you shall hear the truth! Tonight I will bring your mother from +the grave to speak it to you!" + +With a swift, sweeping gesture she pointed to the door. "Take +those people away!" she cried. + +The eyes of Winthrop were filled with pity. "Vera!" he said, +"Vera!" + +For an instant, against the tenderness and reproach in his voice +the girl held herself motionless; and then, falling upon the +shoulder of Mrs. Vance, burst into girlish, heart-broken tears. + +"Take them away," she sobbed, "take them away!" + +Mannie Day and Vance closed in upon the visitors, and motioning +them before them, drove them from the room. + + +Part III + +The departure of the District Attorney and Miss Coates left Vera +free to consider how serious, if she carried out her threat, the +consequences might be. But of this chance she did not avail +herself. Instead, with nervous zeal she began to prepare for her +masquerade. It was as though her promise to Winthrop to abandon +her old friends had filled her with remorse, and that she now, +by an extravagance of loyalty, was endeavoring to make amends. + +At nine o'clock, with the Vances, she arrived at the house of +Mr. Hallowell. Already, to the same place, a wagon had carried +the cabinet, a parlor organ, and a dozen of those camp chairs +that are associated with house weddings and funerals; and while, +in the library, Vance and Mannie arranged these to their liking, +on the third floor Vera, with Mrs. Vance, waited for that moment +to arrive when Vance considered her entrance would be the most +effective. + +This entrance was to be made through the doorway that opened +from the hall on the second story into the library. To the right +of this door, in an angle of two walls, was the cabinet, and on +the left, the first of the camp chairs. These had been placed in +a semicircle that stretched across the room, and ended at the +parlor organ. The door from Mr. Hallowell's bedroom opened +directly upon the semicircle at the point most distant from the +cabinet. In the centre of the semicircle Vance had placed the +invalid's arm chair. + +Vance, in his manner as professional and undisturbed as a +photographer focussing his camera and arranging his screens, was +explaining to Judge Gaylor the setting of his stage. The judge +was an unwilling audience. Unlike the showman, for him the +occasion held only terrors. He was driven by misgivings, swept +by sudden panics. He scowled at the cabinet, intruding upon the +privacy of the room where for years, without the aid of +accessories, by his brains alone, he had brought Mr. Hallowell +almost to the point of abject submission to his wishes. He +turned upon Vance with bitter self-disgust. + +"So, I've got down as low as this, have I?" he demanded. + +Vance heard him, undisturbed. + +"I must ask you," he said, briskly, "to help me keep the people +just as I seat them. They will be in this half-circle facing the +cabinet and holding hands. Those we know are against us," he +explained, "will have one of my friends, Professor Strombergk, +or Mrs. Marsh, or my wife, on each side of him. If there should +be any attempt to rush the cabinet, we must get there first. I +will be outside the cabinet working the rappings, the floating +music, and the astral bodies." At the sight of the expression +these words brought to the face of Gaylor, Vance permitted +himself the shadow of a smile. "I can take care of myself," he +went on, "but remember -- Vera must not be caught outside the +cabinet! When the lights go up, she must be found with the ropes +still tied." + +Gaylor turned from him with an exclamation of disgust. + +"Pah!" he muttered. "It's a hell of a business!" + +Vance continued unmoved. "And, another thing," he said, "about +these lights; this switch throws them all off, doesn't it?" He +pressed a button on the left of the door, and the electric +lights in the walls and under a green shade on the library table +faded and disappeared, leaving the room, save for the light from +the hall, in darkness. + +"That's the way we want it," said the showman. + +From the hall Mannie appeared between the curtains that hung +across the doorway. "What are you doing with the lights?" he +demanded. "You want to break my neck? All our people are +downstairs," he announced. + +Vance turned on the lights. At the same moment Rainey came from +the bedroom into the library. It was evident that to sustain his +courage he had been drinking. He made no effort to greet those +in the room, but stood, glaring resentfully at the cabinet and +the row of chairs. + +"Well," exclaimed Vance cheerfully, "if our folks are all here, +we're all right." + +Glancing behind him, Mannie took Vance by the sleeve, and led +him to the centre of the room. + +"No, we're not all right," said the boy, "that Miss Coates has +brought a friend with her. She says Hallowell told her she could +bring a friend. She says this young fellow is her friend. I +think he's a Pink!" + +"What nonsense," exclaimed Gaylor in alarm. "No detective would +force his way into this house." + +"She says," continued Mannie, disregarding Gaylor, and still +addressing Vance, "he's a seeker after the Truth. I'll bet," +declared the boy violently, "he's a seeker after the truth!" + +Garrett came hastily and noiselessly into the room. He nodded +toward Mannie. + +"Has he told you?" he asked. + +"Yes," Gaylor answered, "who is he?" + +"The reporter who was here this morning," Garrett returned. "The +one who threatened -- " + +"That'll do," commanded Gaylor. In the face of this new +complication he again became himself. Suavely and politely he +turned to Vance. "Will you and your friend join Miss Vera," he +asked, "and tell her that we begin in a few minutes?" + +For the first time, aggressively and offensively Rainey broke +his silence. + +"No, we won't begin in a few minutes," he announced, "not by a +damned sight!" + +The explosion was so unexpected that, for an instant, while the +eyes of all were fixed in astonishment upon the speaker, there +was complete silence. Gaylor, still suave, still polite, looked +toward Vance, and motioned him to the door. + +"Will you kindly do as I ask?" he said. With Mannie at his side, +Vance walked quickly from the room. Once in the hall, the boy +laid a detaining hand upon the arm of the older man. + +"If you'll take my advice, which you won't," he said, "we'll all +cut and run now, while we got the chance!" + +In the library, Gaylor turned savagely upon his fellow +conspirator. + +"Well!" he demanded. + +Rainey frowned at him sulkily. "I wash my hands of the whole +thing!" he cried. + +Gaylor dropped his voice to a whisper. + +"What are you afraid of now?: he demanded. "If you're not afraid +of a district attorney, why are you afraid of a reporter?" + +"I'm not afraid of anybody," returned Rainey, thickly. "But, I +don't mean to be a party to no murder!" He paused, shaking his +head portentously. "That man in there," he whispered, nodding +toward the bedroom, "is in no condition to go through this. +After that shock this morning, and last night -- it'll kill him. +His heart's rotten, I tell you, rotten!" + +Garrett snarled contemptuously. + +"How do you know?" he demanded. + +"How do I know?" returned Rainey, fiercely. "I was four years in +a medical college, when you were in jail, you -- " "Stop that!" +cried Gaylor. Glancing fearfully toward the open door, he +interposed between them. + +"Don't take my advice, then," cried Rainey. "Go on! Kill him! +And he won't sign your will. Only, don't say I didn't tell you." + +"Have you told him?" demanded Gaylor. + +"Yes," Rainey answered stoutly. "Told him if he didn't stop +this, he wouldn't live till morning." + +"Are we forcing him to do this?" demanded Gaylor. "No! He's +forcing it on us. My God!" he exclaimed, "do you think I want +this farce? You say, yourself, you told him it would kill him, +and he will go on with it. Then why do you blame us? Can we help +ourselves?" + +The butler had distinguished the sounds of footsteps in the +hall. He fell hastily to rearranging the camp chairs. + +"Hush!" he warned. "Look out!" Gaylor and Rainey had but time to +move apart, when Winthrop entered. He regarded the three men +with a smile of understanding. + +"I beg pardon," he exclaimed, "I am interrupting?" + +Gaylor greeted him with exaggerated heartiness. + +"Ah, it is Mr. Winthrop!" he cried. "Have you come to help us +find out the truth this evening?" + +"I certainly hope not!" said Winthrop brusquely. "I know the +truth about too many people already." He turned to Garrett, who, +unobtrusively, was endeavoring to make his escape. + +"I want to see Miss Vera," he said. + +"Miss Vera," interposed Gaylor. "I'm afraid that's not possible. +She especially asked not to be disturbed before the seance. I'm +sorry." + +Winthrop's manner became suspiciously polite. + +"Yes?" he inquired. "Well, nevertheless I think I'll ask her. +Tell Miss Vera, please," he said to Garrett, "that Mr. Winthrop +would like a word with her here," with significance he added, +"in private." + +In offended dignity, Judge Gaylor moved toward the door. "Dr. +Rainey," he said stiffly, "will you please inform Mr. Hallowell +that his guests are now here, and that I have gone to bring them +upstairs." + +"Yes, but you won't bring them upstairs, please," said Winthrop, +"until you hear from me." + +Gaylor flushed with anger and for a moment appeared upon the +point of mutiny. Then, as though refusing to consider himself +responsible for the manners of the younger man, he shrugged his +shoulders and left the room. + +With even less of consideration than he had shown to Judge +Gaylor, Winthrop turned upon Rainey. + +"How's your patient?" he asked shortly. Rainey was sufficiently +influenced by the liquor he had taken to dare to resent +Winthrop's peremptory tone. His own in reply was designedly +offensive. + +"My patient?" he inquired. + +"Mr. Hallowell," snapped Winthrop, "he's sick, isn't he?" + +"Oh, I don't know," returned the Doctor. + +"You don't know?" demanded Winthrop. "Well, I know. I know if he +goes through this thing tonight, he'll have another collapse. I +saw one this morning. Why don't you forbid it? You're his +medical adviser, aren't you?" + +Rainey remained sullenly silent. + +"Answer me!" insisted the District Attorney. "You are, aren't +you?" + +"I am," at last declared Rainey. + +"Well, then," commanded Winthrop, "tell him to stop this. Tell +him I advise it." + +Through his glasses Rainey blinked violently at the District +Attorney, and laughed. "I didn't know," he said, "that you were +a medical man." + +Winthrop looked at the Doctor so steadily, and for so long +a time, that the eyes of the young man sought the floor and the +ceiling; and his sneer changed to an expression of discomfort. + +"I am not," said Winthrop. "I am the District Attorney of New +York." His tones were cold, precise; they fell upon the +superheated brain of Dr. Rainey like drops from an icicle. + +"When I took over that office," continued Winthrop, "I found a +complaint against two medical students, a failure to report the +death of an old man in a private sanitarium." + +Winthrop lowered his eyes, and became deeply absorbed in the +toe of his boot. "I haven't looked into the papers, yet," he +said. + +Rainey, swaying slightly, jerked open the door of the bedroom. +"I'll tell him," he panted thickly. "I'll tell him to do as you +say." + +"Thank you, I wish you would," said Winthrop. + +At the same moment, from the hall, Garrett announced, "Mrs. +Vance, sir." And Mabel Vance, tremulous and frightened, entered +the room. + +Winthrop approached her eagerly. + +"Ah! Mrs. Vance," he exclaimed, "can I see Miss Vera?" + +Embarrassed and unhappy, Mrs. Vance moved restlessly from +foot to foot, and shook her head. + +"Please, Mr. District Attorney," she begged. "I'm afraid not. +This afternoon upset her so. And she's so nervous and queer +that the Professor thinks she shouldn't see nobody." + +"The Professor?" he commented. His voice was considerate, +conciliatory. "Now, Mrs. Vance," he said, "I've known Miss +Vera ever since she was a little girl, known her longer than +you have, and, I'm her friend, and you're her friend, and -- " + +"I am," protested Mabel Vance tearfully."Indeed I am!" + +"I know you are," Winthrop interrupted hastily. +"You've been more than a friend to her, you've been a sister, +mother, and you don't want any trouble to come to her, do you?" + +"I don't," cried the woman. "Oh!" she exclaimed miserably, "I +told them there'd be trouble!" + +Winthrop laughed reassuringly. + +"Well, there won't be any trouble," he declared, "if I can help +it. And if you want to help her, help me. Persuade her to let +me talk to her. Don't mind what the Professor says." + +"I will," declared Mrs. Vance with determination, "I will." +She started eagerly toward the hall, and then paused and +returned. Her hands were clasped; her round, baby eyes, wet +with tears, were fixed upon Winthrop appealingly. + +"Oh, please," she pleaded, "you're not going to hurt him, are +you? Paul, my husband," she explained, "he's been such a good +husband to me." + +Winthrop laughed uneasily. + +"Why, that'll be all right," he protested. + +"He doesn't mean any harm, insisted Mrs. "Vance, "he's on the +level; true, he is!" + +"Why, of course, of course," Winthrop assented. + +Unsatisfied, Mrs. Vance burst into tears. "It's this spirit +business that makes the trouble!" she cried. "I tell them to cut +it out. Now, the mind reading at the theatre," she sobbed, +"there's no harm in that, is there? And there's twice the money +in it. But this ghost raising" -- she raised her eyes +appealingly, as though begging to be contradicted -- "it's sure +to get him into trouble, isn't it?" + +Winthrop shook his head, and smiled. + +"It may," he said. Mrs. Vance broke into a fresh outburst of +tears. "I knew it," she cried, "I knew it." Winthrop placed +his hand upon her arm and turned her in the direction of +the door. + +"Don't worry,:" he said soothingly. "Go send Miss Vera +here. And," he called after her, "don't worry." + +As Mabel departed upon his errand, Rainey reentered from the +bedroom. He carefully closed the door and halted with his hand +upon the knob, and shook his head. + +"It's no use," he said, "he will go on with it. It's not my +fault," he whined, "I told him it would kill him. I couldn't +make it any stronger than that, could I?" + +Rainey was not looking at Winthrop, but, as though fearful of +interruption, toward the door. His eyes were harassed, furtive, +filled with miserable indecision. Many times before Winthrop had +seen men in such a state. He knew that for the sufferer it +foretold a physical break down, or that he would seek relief in +full confession. To give the man confidence, he abandoned his +attitude of suspicion. + +"That certainly would be strong enough for me," he said +cheerfully. "Did you tell him what I advised?" + +"Yes, yes," muttered Rainey impatiently. "He said you were +invited here to give advice to his niece, not to him." For the +first time his eyes met those of Winthrop boldly. The District +Attorney recognized that the man had taken his fears by the +throat, and had arrived at his decision." + +"See here," exclaimed Rainey, "could I give you some +information?" + +"I'm sure you could," returned Winthrop briskly. "Give it to +me now." + +But Rainey, glancing toward the door, shrank back. Winthrop, +following the direction of his eyes, saw Vera. Impatiently he +waved Rainey away. + +"At the office, tomorrow morning," he commanded. With a sigh of +relief at the reprieve, Rainey slipped back into the bedroom. + +Winthrop had persuaded himself that in seeking to speak with +Vera, he was making only a natural choice between preventing the +girl from perpetrating a fraud, or, later, for that fraud, +holding her to account. But when she actually stood before him, +he recognized how absurdly he had deceived himself. At the mere +physical sight of her, there came to him a swift relief, a +thrill of peace and deep content; and with delighted certainty +he knew that what Vera might do or might not do concerned him +not at all, that for him all that counted was the girl herself. +With something of this showing in his face, he came eagerly +toward her. + +"Vera!" he exclaimed. In the word there was delight, wonder, +tenderness; but if the girl recognized this she concealed her +knowledge. Instead, her eyes looked into his frankly; her manner +was that of open friendliness. + +"Mabel tells me you want to talk to me," she said evenly "but I +don't want you to. I have something I want to say to you. I +could have written it, but this" -- for an instant the girl +paused with her lips pressed together; when she spoke, her voice +carried the firmness and finality of one delivering a verdict -- +"but this," she repeated, "is the last time you shall hear from +me, or see me again." + +Winthrop gave an exclamation of impatience, of indignation. + +"No," returned the girl, "it is quite final. Maybe you will not +want to see me, but -- " + +Winthrop again sharply interrupted her. His voice was filled +with reproach. +"Vera!" he protested. + +"Well," said the girl more gently, "I'm glad to think you do, +but this is the last, and before I go, I -- ". + +"Go!" demanded Winthrop roughly. "Where?" + +"Before I go," continued the girl, "I want to tell you how much +you have helped me -- I want to thank you -- ". + +"You haven't let me thank you," broke in Winthrop, "and, now, +you pretend this is our last meeting. It's absurd!". + +"It is our last meeting," replied the girl. Of the two, for the +moment, she was the older, the more contained. "On the +contrary," contradicted the man. He spoke sharply, in a tone he +tried to make as determined as her own. "Our next meeting will +be in ten minutes -- at my sister's. I have told her about this +afternoon, and about you; and she wants very much to meet you. +She has sent her car for you. It's waiting in front of the +house. Now," he commanded masterfully, "you come with me, and +get in it, and leave all this" -- he gave an angry, contemptuous +wave of the hand toward the cabinet -- "behind you, as," he +added earnestly, "you promised me you would." + +As though closing from sight the possibility he suggested, the +girl shut her eyes quickly, and then opened them again to meet +his. + +"I can't leave these things behind me," she said quietly. + +"I told you so this afternoon. For a moment, you made me think I +could, and I did promise. I didn't need to promise. It's what +I've prayed for. Then, you saw what happened, you saw I was +right. Within five minutes that woman came -- " + + +"That woman had a motive," protested Winthrop. + +"That woman," continued the girl patiently, "or some other +woman. What does it matter? In five minutes, or five days, some +one would have told." She leaned toward him anxiously. "I'm not +complaining," she said; "it's my own fault. It's the life I've +chosen." She hesitated and then as though determined to carry +out a programme she had already laid down for herself, continued +rapidly: "And what I want to tell you, is, that what's best in +that life I owe to you." + +"Vera!" cried the man sharply. + +"Listen!" said the girl. Her eyes were alight, eager. She spoke +frankly, proudly, without embarrassment, without fear of being +misconstrued, as a man might speak to a man. + +"I'd be ungrateful, I'd be a coward," said the girl, "if I went +away and didn't tell you. For ten years I've been counting on +you. I made you a sort of standard. I said, as long as he keeps +to his ideals, I'm going to keep to mine. Maybe you think my +ideals have not been very high, but anyway you've made it easy +for me. Because I'm in this business, because I'm good-looking +enough, certain men" -- the voice of the girl grew hard and cool +-- "have done me the honor to insult me, and it was knowing you, +and that there are others like you, that helped me not to care." +The girl paused. She raised her eyes to his frankly. The look in +them was one of pride in him, of loyalty, of affection. "And +now, since I've met you," she went on, "I find you're just as I +imagined you'd be, just as I'd hoped you'd be." She reached out +her hand warningly, appealingly. "And I don't want you to +change, to let down, to grow discouraged. You can't tell how +many more people are counting on you." She hesitated and, as +though at last conscious of her own boldness, flushed +deprecatingly, like one asking pardon. "You men in high places," +she stammered, "you're like light houses showing the way. You +don't know how many people you are helping. You can't see them. +You can't tell how many boats are following your light, but if +your light goes out, they are wrecked." She gave a sigh of +relief. "That's what I wanted to tell you," she said, "and, so +thank you." She held out her hand. "And, goodby." + +Winthrop's answer was to clasp her hand quickly in both of his, +and draw her toward him. + +"Vera," he begged, "come with me now!" + +The girl withdrew her hand and moved away from him, frowning. +"No," she said, "no, you do not want to understand. I have my +work to do tonight." + +Winthrop gave an exclamation of anger. + +"You don't mean to tell me," he cried, "that you're going on +with this?" + +"Yes," she said, And then in sudden alarm cried: "But not if +you're here! I'll fail if you're here. Promise me, you will not +be here." + +"Indeed," cried the man indignantly, "I will not! But I'll be +downstairs when you need me. And," he added warningly, "you'll +need me." "No," said the girl. "No matter what happens, I tell +you, between us, this is the end." + +"Then," begged the man, "if this is the end, for God's sake, +Vera, as my last request, do not do it!" + +The girl shook her head. "No," she repeated firmly. "I've tried +to get away from it, and each time they've forced me back. Now, +I'll go on with it. I've promised Paul, and the others. And you +heard me promise that woman." + +"But you didn't mean that!" protested the man. "She insulted +you; you were angry. You're angry now, piqued -- " + +"Mr. Winthrop," interrupted the girl, "today you told me I was +not playing the game. You told the truth. When you said this +was a mean business, you were right. But" -- for the first time +since she had spoken her tones were shaken, uncertain -- "I've +been driven out of every other business." She waited until her +voice was again under control, and then said slowly, +definitely, "and, tonight, I am going to show Mr. Hallowell the +spirit of his sister." + +In the eyes of Winthrop the look of pain, of disappointment, of +reproach, was so keen, that the girl turned her own away. + +"No," said the man gently, "you will not do that." + +"You can stop my doing it tonight," returned the girl, "but at +some other time, at some other place, I will do it." + +"You yourself will stop it," said Winthrop. "You are too honest, +too fine, to act such a lie. Why not be yourself?" he begged. +"Why not disappoint these other people who do not know you? Why +disappoint the man who knows you best, who trusts you, who +believes in you -- ". + +"You are the very one," interrupted the girl, "who doesn't know +me. I am not fine; I am not honest. I am a charlatan and a +cheat; I am all that woman called me. And that is why you can't +know me. That's why. I told you, if you did, you would be +sorry." + +"I am not sorry," said Winthrop. + +"You will be," returned the girl, "before the night is over." + +"On the contrary," answered the man quietly, "I shall wait here +to congratulate you -- on your failure." + +"I shall not fail," said the girl. Avoiding his eyes, she turned +from him and, for a moment, stood gazing before her miserably. +Her lips were trembling, her eyes moist with rising tears. Then +she faced him, her head raised defiantly. + +"I have been hounded out of every decent way of living," she +protested hysterically. "I can make thousands of dollars +tonight," she cried, "out of this one." + +Winthrop looked straight into her eyes. His own were pleading, +full of tenderness and pity; so eloquent with meaning that those +of the girl fell before them. + +"That is no answer," said the man. "You know it's not. I tell +you -- you will fail." + +From the hall Judge Gaylor entered noisily. Instinctively the +man and girl moved nearer together, and upon the intruder +Winthrop turned angrily. + +"Well?" he demanded sharply. "I thought you had finished your +talk," protested the Judge. "Mr. Hallowell is anxious to begin." + +Winthrop turned and looked at Vera steadily. For an instant the +eyes of the girl faltered, and then she returned his glance with +one as resolute as his own. As though accepting her verdict as +final, Winthrop walked quickly to the door. "I shall be +downstairs," he said, "when this is over, let me know." + +Gaylor struggled to conceal his surprise and satisfaction. "You +won't be here for the seance?" he exclaimed. + +"Certainly not," cried Winthrop. "I -- " He broke off suddenly. +Without again looking toward Vera, or trying to hide his +displeasure, he left the room. + +Gaylor turned to the girl. He was smiling with relief. + +"Excellent!" he muttered. "Excellent! What was he saying to +you,:" he asked eagerly, "as I came in -- that you would fail?" + +The girl moved past him to the door. "Yes," she answered dully. + +"But you will not!" cried the man. "We're all counting on you, +you know. Destroy the old will. Sign the new will," he quoted. +He came close to her and whispered. "That means thousands of +dollars to you and Vance," he urged. + +The girl turned and regarded him with unhappy, angry eyes. + +"You need not be frightened,:" she answered. For the man before +her and for herself, her voice was bitter with contempt and +self- accusation. "Mr. Winthrop is mistaken. He does not know +me," she said miserably. "I shall not fail." + +For a moment, after she had left him, Gaylor stood motionless, +his eyes filled with concern, and then, with a shrug, as though +accepting either good or evil fortune, he called from the +bedroom Mr. Hallowell, and, from the floor below, the guests of +Hallowell and of Vance. + +As Hallowell, supported by Rainey, sank into the invalid's chair +in the centre of the semicircle, Gaylor made his final appeal. + +"Stephen," he begged, "are you sure you're feeling strong +enough? Won't some other night -- " The old man interrupted him +querulously. + +"No, now!" I want it over," he commanded. "Who knows," he +complained, "how soon it may be before -- " + +The sight of Mannie entering the room with Vance caused him to +interrupt himself abruptly. He greeted the showman with a curt +nod. + +"And who is this?" he demanded. Mannie, to whom a living +millionaire was much more of a disturbing spectacle than the +ghost of Alexander the Great, retreated hastily behind Vance. + +"He is my assistant," Vance explained. "He furnishes the music." +He pushed Mannie toward the organ. + +"Music!" growled Hallowell. "Must there be music?" + +"It is indispensable," protested Vance. "Music, sir, is one of +the strongest psychic influences. It" + +"Nonsense!" cried Hallowell. + +"Tricks," he muttered, "tricks!" + +Vance shrugged his shoulders, and smiled in deprecation. "I am +sorry to find you in a skeptical mood, Mr. Hallowell," he +murmured reprovingly "It will hardly help to produce good +results. Allow me," he begged, "to present two true believers." + +With a wave of the hand he beckoned forward a stout, gray-haired +woman with bulging, near- sighted eyes that rolled meaninglessly +behind heavy gold spectacles. + +"Mrs. Marsh of Lynn, Massachusetts," proclaimed Vance, "of whom +you have heard. Mrs. Marsh," he added, "is probably the first +medium in America. The results she has obtained are quite +wonderful. She alone foretold the San Francisco earthquake, and +the run on the Long Acre Square Bank." + +"I am glad to know you," said Mr. Hallowell. "Pardon my not +rising." + +The old lady curtsied obsequiously. + +"Oh, certainly, Mr. Hallowell," she protested. "Mr. Hallowell," +she went on, rolling the name delightedly on her tongue, "I need +not tell you how greatly we spiritualists rejoice over your +joining the ranks of the believers." + +Hallowell nodded. He was not altogether unimpressed. "Thanks," +he commented dryly. "But I am not quite there yet, madam." + +"We hope," said Vance sententiously, "to convince Mr. Hallowell +tonight." + +"And I am sure, Mr. Hallowell," cried the old lady, "if any one +can do it, little Miss Vera can. Hers is a wonderful gift, sir, +a wonderful gift!" + +"I am glad to hear you say so," returned Hallowell. + +He nodded to her in dismissal, and turned to the next visitor. +"And this gentleman?" he asked. + +"Professor Strombergk," announced Vance, "the distinguished +writer on psychic and occult subjects, editor of The World +Beyond." + +A tall, full-bearded German, in a too-short frock coat, bowed +awkwardly. Upon him, as upon Mannie, had fallen the spell of the +Hallowell fortune. He, who chatted familiarly with departed +popes and emperors, who daily was in communication with Goethe, +Caesar, and Epictetus, thrilled with embarrassment before the +man who had made millions from a coupling pin. + +"And Helen!" Mr. Hallowell cried, as Miss Coates followed the +Professor. "That is all, is it not?" he asked. + +Miss Coates moved aside to disclose the person of the reporter +from the Republic, Homer Lee. + +"I have taken you at your word, uncle," she said., "and have +brought a friend with me." In some trepidation she added; "He is +Mr. Lee, a reporter from the Republic." + +"A reporter!" exclaimed Mr. Hallowell. Disturbed and yet amused +at the audacity of his niece, he shook his head reprovingly. "I +don't think I meant reporters," he remonstrated. + +"You said in your note," returned his niece, "that as I had so +much at stake, I could bring any one I pleased, and the less he +believed in spiritualism, the better. Mr. Lee," she added dryly, +"believes even less than I do." + +"Then it will be all the more of a triumph, if we convince him," +declared Hallowell. "Understand, young man," he proclaimed +loudly, "I am not a spiritualist. I am merely conducting an +investigation. I want the truth. If you, or my niece, detect any +fraud tonight, I want to know it." Including in his speech the +others in the room, he glared suspiciously in turn at each. +"Keep your eyes open," he ordered, "you will be serving me quite +as much as you will Miss Coates." + +Miss Coates and Lee thanked him and, recognizing themselves as +the opposition and in the minority, withdrew for consultation +into a corner of the bay window. + +Vance approached Mr. Hallowell. + +"If you are ready," he said, "we will examine the cabinet. Shall +I wheel it over here, or will you look at it where it is?" + +"If it is to be in that corner during the seance," declared Mr. +Hallowell, "I'll look at it where it is." + +As he struggled from his chair, he turned to Mrs. Marsh, and +nodded his head knowingly. "You see, Mrs. Marsh," he said, "I am +taking no chances." + +"That is quite right, Mr. Hallowell," purred the old lady. "If +there be any doubt in your mind, you must get rid of it, or we +will have no results." + +With a dramatic gesture, Vance swept aside from the opening in +the cabinet the black velvet curtain. "It's a simple affair," he +said indifferently. "As you see, it's open at the top and +bottom. The medium sits inside on that chair, bound hand and +foot." + +In turn, Mr. Hallowell, Mrs. Marsh, Gaylor, Rainey, Professor +Strombergk entered the cabinet. With their knuckles they beat +upon its sides. They moved it to and fro. They dropped to their +knees, and with their fingers tugged at the carpet upon which it +stood. + +Under cover of their questions, in the corner of the bay window, +Miss Coates whispered to Lee; "Don't look now," she warned, "but +later, you will see on the left of that door the switch that +throws on the lights. When I am sure she is outside the cabinet, +when she has told him not to give the money to me, I'll cry +now!' and whichever one of us is seated nearer the switch will +turn on all the lights. I think, "Miss Coates added with, in her +voice, a thrill of triumph not altogether free from a touch of +vindictiveness, "when my uncle sees her caught in the middle of +the room, disguised as his sister -- we will have cured him." + +"It may be," said the man. + +The possibility of success as Miss Coates pointed it out did not +appear to stir in him any great delight. He glanced unwillingly +over his shoulder. "I see the switch," he said. + +Leaning on the arm of Gaylor, Mr. Hallowell returned from the +cabinet to his chair. What he had seen apparently strengthened +his faith and, in like degree, inspired him to greater +enthusiasm. + +"Well," he exclaimed, "there are no trapdoors or false bottoms +about that! If they can project a spirit from that sentry box, +it will be a miracle. For whom are we waiting?" he asked +impatiently. "Where is Winthrop?" + +Judge Gaylor explained that Winthrop preferred to wait +downstairs, and that he had said he would remain there until the +seance was finished. + +"Afraid of compromising his position," commented the old man. +"I'm sorry. I'd like to have him here." He motioned Gaylor to +bend nearer. In a voice that trembled with eagerness and +excitement, he whispered: "Henry, I have a feeling that we are +going to witness a remarkable phenomenon." + +Gaylor's countenance grew preternaturally grave. He nodded +heavily. + +"I have the same feeling, Stephen," he returned. + +Vance raised his hand to command silence. + +"Every one," he called, "except the committee, who are to bind +and tie the medium, will take the place I give him, and remain +in it. Mr. Day will please acquaint Miss Vera and Mrs. Vance +with the fact that we are ready." + +Up to this point Vance had appeared only as a stage manager. He +had been concerned with his groupings, his lights, in assigning +to his confederates the parts they were to play. Now that the +curtain was to rise, as an actor puts on a wig and grease paint, +Vance assumed a certain voice and manner. On the stage the +critics would have called him a convincing actor. He made his +audience believe what he believed. He knew the eloquence of a +pause, the value of a surprised, unintelligible exclamation. One +moment he was as professionally solemn as a "funeral director;" +the next, his voice, his whole frame, would shake with +excitement, in an outburst of fanatic fervor. As it pleased him +he could play Hamlet, tenderly shocked at the sight of his dead +father, or Macbeth, retreating in horror before the ghost of +Banquo. For the moment his manner was that of the undertaker. + +"Now, Mr. Hallowell," he said hoarsely, "please to name those +you wish to serve on the committee." + +Mr. Hallowell waved his arm to include every one in the room. + +"Everybody will serve on the committee," he declared. +"Everything is to be open and above- board. The whole city is +welcome on the committee. I want this to be above suspicion." + +"That is my wish, also, sir," said Vance stiffly. "But a +committee of more than three is unwieldy. Suppose you name two +gentlemen and I one? Or," he shrugged his shoulders, "you can +name all three." + +After a moment of consideration Mr. Hallowell pointed at Lee. "I +choose Mr. -- that young man," he announced, "and Judge Gaylor." + +"I would much rather not, Stephen," Judge Gaylor whispered. + +"I know, Henry," answered the other. "But I ask it of you. It +will give me confidence." He turned to Vance. "You select some +one," he commanded. + +With a bow, Vance designated the tall German. + +"Will Professor Strombergk be acceptable?" he asked. Mr. +Hallowell nodded. + +"Then, the three gentlemen chosen will please come to the +cabinet." + +Vance, his manner now that of a master of ceremonies, assigned +to each person the seat he or she was to occupy. Miss Coates +with satisfaction noted that only Mrs. Vance separated Lee from +the electric switch. + +"I must ask you," said Vance, "to keep the sears I have assigned +to you. With us tonight are both favorable and unfavorable +influences. And what I have tried to do in placing you, is to +obtain the best psychic results." He moved to the door and +looked into the hall, then turned, and with uplifted arm +silently demanded attention. + +"Miss Vera," he announced. Followed closely, like respectful +courtiers, by Mannie and Mrs. Vance, Vera appeared in the +doorway, walked a few feet into the room, and stood motionless. +As though already in a trance, she moved slowly, without +volition, like a somnambulist. Her head was held high, but her +eyes were dull and unseeing. Her arms hung limply. She wore an +evening gown of soft black stuff, that clung to her like a lace +shawl, and which left her throat and arms bare. In spite of the +clash of interests, of antagonism, of mutual distrust, there was +no one present to whom the sight of the young girl did not bring +an uneasy thrill. The nature of the thing she proposed to do, +contrasted with the loveliness of her face, which seemed to mock +at the possibility of deceit; something in her rapt, distant +gaze, in the dignity of her uplifted head, in her air of +complete detachment from her surroundings, caused even the most +skeptical to question if she might not possess the power she +claimed, to feel for a moment the approach of the supernatural. + +The voices of the committee, consulting together, dropped +suddenly to a whisper; the others were instantly silent. + +In his arms Mannie carried silken scarfs, cords, and ropes. In +each hand he held a teacup. One contained flour, the other shot. +Vance took these from him, and Mannie hurriedly slipped into his +chair in front of the organ. + +"Gentlemen," explained Vance, "you will use these ropes and +scarfs to tie the medium. Also, as a further precaution against +the least suspicion of fraud, we will subject her to the most +severe test known. In one hand she will hold this flour; the +other will be filled with shot. This will make it impossible for +her to tamper with the ropes. + +He gave the two cups to Gaylor, and turned to Vera. + +"Are you ready?" he asked. After a pause, the girl slightly +inclined her head. Lee, with one of the scarfs in his hand, +approached her diffidently. He looked unhappily at the slight, +girlish figure, at the fair white arms. In his embarrassment he +appealed to Vance. + +"How would you suggest?" he asked. + +Vance, apparently shocked, hastily drew away. "That would be +most irregular," he protested. + +Apologetically Lee turned to the girl. + +"Would you mind putting your arms behind you?" he asked. He +laced the scarf around her arms, and drew it tightly to her +wrists. + +"Tell me if I hurt you," he murmured, but the girl made no +answer. To what was going forward she appeared as unmindful as +though she were an artist's manikin. + +"Will you take these now?" asked Gaylor, and into her open palms +he poured the flour and shot. "And, now," continued Lee, "will +you go into the cabinet?" As she seated herself, he knelt in +front of her and bound her ankles. From behind her Strombergk +deftly wound the ropes about her body and through the rungs and +back of the chair. + +"Would you mind seeing if you can withdraw your arms?" Lee +asked. The girl raised her shoulders, struggled to free her +hands, and tried to rise. But the efforts were futile. + +"Are the gentlemen satisfied?" demanded Vance. The three men, +who had shown but little heart in the work, and who were now red +and embarrassed, hastily answered in the affirmative. + +"If you are satisfied the ropes are securely fastened," Vance +continued, "you will take your seats." Professor Strombergk, as +he moved to his chair, announced in devout, solemn tones; +"Nothing but spirit hands can move those ropes now." + +From the organ rose softly the prelude to a Moody and Sankey +hymn, and, in keeping with the music, the voice of Vance sank to +a low tone. + +"We will now," he said, "establish the magnetic chain. Each +person will take with his right hand the left wrist of the +person on his or her right." He paused while this order was +being carried into effect. + +"Before I turn out the lights," he continued, "I wish to say a +last word to any skeptic who may be present. I warn him that +any attempt to lay violent hands upon the apparition, or spirit, +may cost the medium her life. From the cabinet the medium +projects the spirit into the circle. An attack upon the spirit, +is an attack upon the medium. There are three or four +well-authenticated cases where the disembodied spirit was cut +off from the cabinet, and the medium died." + +He drew the velvet curtains across the cabinet, and shut Vera +from view. "Are you ready, Mr. Hallowell?" he asked. Mr. +Hallowell, his eyes staring, his lips parted, nodded his head. +The music grew louder. Vance switched off the lights. + +For some minutes, except for the creaking of the pedals of the +organ and the low throb of the music, there was no sound. Then, +from his position at the open door, the voice of Vance commanded +sternly: "No whispering, please. The medium is susceptible to +the least sound." There was another longer pause, until in +hushed expectant tones Vance spoke again. "The air is very +heavily charged with electricity tonight," he said, "you, Mrs. +Marsh, should feel that?" + +"I do, Professor," murmured the medium, "I do. We shall have +some wonderful results!" + +Vance agreed with her solemnly. "I feel influences all about +me," he murmured. + +There came suddenly from the cabinet three sharp raps. These +were instantly answered by other quick rappings upon the library +table. "They are beginning!" chanted the voice of Vance. The +music of the organ ceased. It was at once followed by the notes +of a guitar that seemed to float in space, the strings +vibrating, not as though touched by human hands, but in fitful, +meaningless chords like those of an Aeolian harp. + +"That is Kiowa, your control, Mrs. Marsh," announced Vance +eagerly. "Do you desire to speak to him?" + +"Not tonight," Mrs. Marsh answered. She raised her voice. "Not +tonight, Kiowa," she repeated. "Thank you for coming. Good +night." + +In deep, guttural accents, a man's voice came from the ceiling. +"Good night," it called. With a final, ringing wail, the music +of the guitar suddenly ceased. + +Again rose the swelling low notes of the organ. Above it came +the quick pattering of footsteps. + +The voice of Rainey, filled with alarm, cried, "some one touched +me!" + +"Are you sure your hands are held?" demanded Vance reprovingly. + +"Yes," panted Rainey, "both of them. But something put its hand +on my forehead. It was cold." + +In an excited whisper, a voice in the circle cried, "Look, +look!" and before the eyes of all, a star rose in the darkness. +For a moment it wavered over the cabinet and then fluttered +swiftly across the room and remained stationary above the head +of the German Professor. + +"There is your star, Professor," cried Vance. "When the +Professor is in the circle," he announced proudly, "that star +always appears." + +He was interrupted by a startled exclamation from Lee. + +"Something touched my face," explained the young man +apologetically, "and spoke to me." + +The music sank to a murmur, and the room became alive with +swift, rushing sounds and soft whisperings. + +The voice of Mrs. Marsh, low and eager, could be heard appealing +to an invisible presence. + +"The results are marvelous," chanted Vance, "marvelous! The +medium is showing wonderful power. If any one desires to ask a +question, he should do so now. The conditions will never be +better." He paused expectantly. "Mr. Hallowell," he prompted, +"is it your wish to communicate with any one in the spirit +world?" + +There was a long pause, and then the voice of Mr. Hallowell, +harsh and shaken, answered, "Yes." + +"With whom?" demanded Vance. + +There was again another longer pause, and then, above the +confusion of soft whisperings, the voice of the old man rose in +sharp staccato; "My sister, Catherine Coates." His tone +hardened, became obdurate, final. "But, I must see her, and hear +her speak!" + +Not for an instant did Vance hesitate. In tense, sepulchral +tones, he demanded of the darkness, "Is the spirit of Catherine +Coates present?" + +The whisperings and murmurs ceased. The silence of the room was +broken sharply by three quick raps. "Yes," intoned Vance, "she +is present." + +The voice of Hallowell protested fiercely. "I won't have that! I +want to see her!" + +In the tone of an incantation, Vance spoke again. "Will the +spirit show herself to her brother?" The raps came quickly, +firmly. + +"She answers she will appear before you." + +There was a moment that seemed to stretch interminably, and +then, the eyes of all, straining in the darkness, saw against +the black velvet curtain a splash of white. + +Above the sobbing of the organ, the voice of Mr. Hallowell rang +out in a sharp exclamation of terror. "Who is that!" he +demanded. He spoke as though he dreaded the answer. He threw +himself forward in his chair, peering into the darkness. + +"Is that you, Kate?, he whispered. His voice was both +incredulous and pleading. + +The answer came in feeble, trembling tones. "Yes." + +The voice of Hallowell shook with eagerness. "Do you know me, +your brother, Stephen?" + +"Yes." + +With a cry the old man fell back, groping blindly. He found +Gaylor's arm and clutched it with both hands. + +"My God! It's Kate!" he gasped. "I tell you, Henry, it is Kate!" + +The voice of Vance, deep and hollow like a bell, sounded a note +of warning. "Speak quickly," he commanded. "Her time on earth is +brief." Mr. Hallowell's hold upon the arm of his friend relaxed. +Fearfully and slowly, he bent forward. + +"Kate!" he pleaded; "I must ask you a question. No one else can +tell me." As though gathering courage, he paused, and, with a +frightened sigh, again began. "I am an old man," he murmured, "a +sick man. I will be joining you very soon. what am I to do with +my money? I have made great plans to give it to the poor. Or, +must I give it, as I have given it in my will, to Helen? Perhaps +I did not act fairly to you and Helen. You know what I mean. She +would be rich, but then the poor would be that much the poorer." +The confidence of the speaker was increasing; as though to a +living being, he argued and pleaded. "And I want to do some good +before I go. What shall I do? Tell me." + +There was a pause that lasted so long that those who had held +their breath to listen, again breathed deeply. When the answer +came, it was strangely deprecatory, uncertain, unassured. + +"You," stammered the voice, "you must have courage to do what +you know to be just!" + +For a brief moment, as though surprised, Mr. Hallowell +apparently considered this, and then gave an exclamation of +disappointment and distress. + +"But I don't know," he protested, "that is why I called on you. +I want to go into the next world, Kate," he pleaded, "with clean +hands!" + +"You cannot bribe your way into the next world," intoned the +voice. "If you pity the poor, you must help the poor, not that +you may cheat your way into heaven, but that they may suffer +less. Search your conscience. Have the courage of your +conscience." + +"I don't want to consult my conscience," cried the old man. "I +want you to tell me." He paused, hesitating. Eager to press his +question, his awe of the apparition still restrained him. + +"What do you mean, Kate?" he begged. Am I to give the money +where it will do the most good -- to the Hallowell Institute, or +am I to give it to Helen? Which am I to do?" + +There was another long silence, and then the voice stammered; +"If -- if you have wronged me, or my daughter, or the poor, you +must make restitution." + +The hand of the old man was heard to fall heavily upon the arm +of his chair. His voice rose unhappily. + +"That is no answer, Kate!" he cried. "Did you come from the dead +to preach to me? Tell me -- what am I to do -- leave my money to +Helen, or to the Institute?" + +The cry of the old man vibrated in the air. No voice rose to +answer. "Kate!" he entreated. Still there was silence. "Speak to +me!" he commanded. The silence became eloquent with momentous +possibilities. So long did it endure, that the pain of the +suspense was actual. The voice of Rainey, choked and hoarse with +fear, broke it with an exclamation that held the sound of an +oath. He muttered thickly, "What in the name of -- " + +He was hushed by a swift chorus of hisses. The voice of +Hallowell was again uplifted. + +"Why won't she answer me?" he begged hysterically of Vance. +"Can't you -- can't the medium make her speak?" + +During the last few moments the music from the organ had come +brokenly. The hands upon the keys moved unsteadily, drunkenly. +Now they halted altogether and in the middle of a chord the +music sank and died. Upon the now absolute silence the voice of +Vance, when he spoke, sounded strangely unfamiliar. It had lost +the priest-like intonation. Its confidence had departed. It +showed bewilderment and alarm. + +"I -- I don't understand," stammered the showman. "Ask her +again. Put your question differently." + +Carefully, slowly, giving each word its value, Mr. Hallowell +raised his voice in entreaty. + +"Kate," he cried, "I have made a new will, leaving the money to +the poor. The old will gives it to Helen. Shall I sign the new +will or not? Shall I give the money to Helen, or the Institute? +Answer me! Yes or no." + +Before the eyes of all, the apparition, as though retreating to +the cabinet, swayed backward, then staggered forward. There was +a sob, human, heart-broken, a cry, thrilling with distress; a +tumult of weeping, fierce and uncontrollable. + +They saw the figure tear away the white kerchief and cap, and +trample them upon the floor. They saw the figure hold itself +erect. From it, the voice of Vera cried aloud, in despair. + +"I can't! I can't!" she sobbed. "It's a lie! I am not your +sister! Turn on the lights," the girl cried. "Turn on the +lights!" + +There was a crash of upturned chairs, the sound of men +struggling, and the room was swept with light. In the doorway +Winthrop was holding apart Vance and the reporter. + +In the centre of the room stood Vera, her head bent in shame, +her body shaken and trembling, her hair streaming to her waist. + +As though to punish herself, by putting a climax to her +humiliation, she held out her arms to Helen Coates. "You see," +she cried, "I am a cheat. I am a fraud!" She sank suddenly to +her knees in front of Mr. Hallowell. "Forgive me," she sobbed, +"forgive me!" + +With a cry of angry protest, Winthrop ran to her and lifted her +to her feet. His eyes were filled with pity. But in the eyes of +Mr. Hallowell there was no promise of pardon. With sudden +strength he struggled to his feet and stood swaying, challenging +those before him. His face was white with anger, his jaw closed +against mercy. + +"You've lied to me!" he cried. "You've tried to rob me!" He +swept the room with his eyes. With a flash of intuition, he saw +the trap they had laid for him. "All of you!" he screamed. "It's +a plot!" He shook his fist at the weeping girl. "And you!" he +shouted hysterically, "the law shall punish you!" + +Winthrop drew the girl to him and put his arm about her. + +"I'll do the punishing here," he said. + +With a glad, welcoming cry, the old man turned to him +appealingly, wildly. + +"Yes, you!" he shouted. "you punish them! She plotted to get my +money." + +The girl at Winthrop's side shivered, and shrank from him. He +drew her back roughly and held her close. The sobs that shook +her tore at his heart; the touch of the sinking, trembling body +in his arms filled him with fierce, jubilant thoughts of keeping +the girl there always, of giving battle for her, of sheltering +her against the world. In what she had done he saw only a +sacrifice. In her he beheld only a penitent, who was +self-accused and self-convicted. + +He heard the voice of the old man screaming vindictively, "She +plotted to get my money!" + +Winthrop turned upon him savagely. + +"How did she plot to get it?" he retorted fiercely. "You know, +and I know. I know how your lawyer, your doctor, your servant +plotted to get it!" His voice rose and rang with indignation. +"You all plotted, and you all schemed -- and to what end -- what +was the result?" -- he held before them the fainting figure of +the girl -- "That one poor child could prove she was honest!" + +With his arms still about her, and her hands clinging to him, he +moved with her quickly to the door. When they had reached the +silence of the hall, he took her hands in his, and looked into +her eyes. "Now," he commanded, "you shall come to my sisters!" + +The waiting car carried them swiftly up the avenue. Their way +lay through the park, and the warm, mid-summer air was heavy +with the odor of plants and shrubs. Above them the trees drooped +deep with leaves. Vera, crouched in a corner, had not spoken. +Her eyes were hidden in her hands. But when they had entered the +silent reaches of the park she lowered them and the face she +lifted to Winthrop was pale and wet with tears. The man thought +never before had he seen it more lovely or more lovable. Vera +shook her head dumbly and looked up at him with a troubled +smile. + +"I told you," she murmured remorsefully, "you'd be sorry." + +We don't know that yet," said Winthrop gently, "we'll have all +the rest of our lives to find that out." + +Startled, the girl drew back. In her face was wonder, amazement, +a dawning happiness. + +Without speaking, Winthrop looked at her, entreatingly, +pitifully, beseeching her with his eyes. + +Slowly the girl bent forward and, as he threw out his arms, with +a little sigh of rest and content she crept into them and +pressed her face to his. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Vera the Medium by Richard Harding Davis + |