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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c89c8f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68903 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68903) diff --git a/old/68903-0.txt b/old/68903-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 808adaf..0000000 --- a/old/68903-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10055 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Land of mist, by Arthur Conan -Doyle - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Land of mist - -Author: Arthur Conan Doyle - -Release Date: September 4, 2022 [eBook #68903] -Last Updated: August 9, 2023 - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND OF MIST *** - - - - - THE LAND OF MIST - - A. CONAN DOYLE - - - - - The Land of Mist - - By A. CONAN DOYLE - - AUTHOR OF - - “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “Danger, and - Other Stories,” “The Lost World,” “Memoirs of - Sherlock Holmes,” “Tales of Sherlock Holmes,” - “The Valley of Fear,” etc. - - [Illustration: colophon] - - - A. L. BURT COMPANY - Publishers New York - - Published by arrangement with George H. Doran Company - Printed in U. S. A. - - COPYRIGHT, 1926, - BY A. CONAN DOYLE - - - THE LAND OF MIST - --Q-- - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - - TO THE - REVEREND GEORGE VALE OWEN - AS A TOKEN OF - SYMPATHY, ADMIRATION, AND FRIENDSHIP - - JANUARY, 1926 - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER PAGE - -I IN WHICH OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS -MAKE A START 11 - -II WHICH DESCRIBES AN EVENING IN STRANGE -COMPANY 21 - -III IN WHICH PROFESSOR CHALLENGER GIVES -HIS OPINION 40 - -IV WHICH DESCRIBES SOME STRANGE DOINGS IN -HAMMERSMITH 46 - -V WHERE OUR COMMISSIONERS HAVE A REMARKABLE -EXPERIENCE 77 - -VI IN WHICH THE READER IS SHOWN THE -HABITS OF A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL 98 - -VII IN WHICH THE NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL GETS -WHAT THE BRITISH LAW CONSIDERS TO BE -HIS DESERTS 116 - -VIII IN WHICH THREE INVESTIGATORS COME -UPON A DARK SOUL 131 - -IX WHICH INTRODUCES SOME VERY PHYSICAL -PHENOMENA 155 - -X DE PROFUNDIS 166 - -XI WHERE SILAS LINDEN COMES INTO HIS OWN 184 - -XII THERE ARE HEIGHTS AND THERE ARE -DEPTHS 198 - -XIII IN WHICH PROFESSOR CHALLENGER GOES -FORTH TO BATTLE 212 - -XIV IN WHICH CHALLENGER MEETS A STRANGE -COLLEAGUE 230 - -XV IN WHICH TRAPS ARE LAID FOR A GREAT -QUARRY 243 - -XVI IN WHICH CHALLENGER HAS THE EXPERIENCE -OF HIS LIFETIME 257 - -XVII WHERE THE MISTS CLEAR AWAY 274 - -APPENDIX 280 - - - - -THE LAND OF MIST - - - - -CHAPTER I - -IN WHICH OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS MAKE A START - - -The great Professor Challenger has been--very improperly and -imperfectly--used in fiction. A daring author placed him in impossible -and romantic situations in order to see how he would react to them. He -reacted to the extent of a libel action, an abortive appeal for -suppression, a riot in Sloane Street, two personal assaults, and the -loss of his position as lecturer upon Physiology at the London School of -Sub-Tropical Hygiene. Otherwise, the matter passed more peaceably than -might have been expected. - -But he was losing something of his fire. Those huge shoulders were a -little bowed. The spade-shaped Assyrian beard showed tangles of grey -amid the black, his eyes were a trifle less aggressive, his smile less -self-complacent, his voice as monstrous as ever but less ready to roar -down all opposition. Yet he was dangerous, as all around him were -painfully aware. The volcano was not extinct, and constant rumblings -threatened some new explosion. Life had much yet to teach him, but he -was a little less intolerant in learning. - -There was a definite date for the change which had been wrought in him. -It was the death of his wife. That little bird of a woman had made her -nest in the big man’s heart. He had all the tenderness and chivalry -which the strong can have for the weak. By yielding everything she had -won everything, as a sweet-natured, tactful woman can. And when she died -suddenly from virulent pneumonia following influenza, the man staggered -and went down. He came up again, smiling ruefully like the stricken -boxer, and ready to carry on for many a round with Fate. But he was not -the same man, and if it had not been for the help and comradeship of his -daughter Enid, he might never have rallied from the blow. She it was -who, with clever craft, lured him into every subject which would excite -his combative nature and infuriate his mind, until he lived once more in -the present and not the past. It was only when she saw him turbulent in -controversy, violent to pressmen, and generally offensive to those -around him, that she felt he was really in a fair way to recovery. - -Enid Challenger was a remarkable girl and should have a paragraph to -herself. With the raven-black hair of her father, and the blue eyes and -fresh colour of her mother, she was striking, if not beautiful, in -appearance. She was quiet, but she was very strong. From her infancy she -had either to take her own part against her father, or else to consent -to be crushed and to become a mere automaton worked by his strong -fingers. She was strong enough to hold her own in a gentle, elastic -fashion, which bent to his moods and reasserted itself when they were -past. Lately she had felt the constant pressure too oppressive and she -had relieved it by feeling out for a career of her own. She did -occasional odd jobs for the London press, and did them in such fashion -that her name was beginning to be known in Fleet Street. In finding -this opening she had been greatly helped by an old friend of her -father--and possibly of the reader--Mr. Edward Malone of the _Daily -Gazette_. - -Malone was still the same athletic Irishman who had once won his -international cap at Rugby, but life had toned him down also, and made -him a more subdued and thoughtful man. He had put away a good deal when -at last his football-boots had been packed away for good. His muscles -may have wilted and his joints stiffened, but his mind was deeper and -more active. The boy was dead and the man was born. In person he had -altered little, but his moustache was heavier, his back a little -rounded, and some lines of thought were tracing themselves upon his -brow. Post-war conditions and new world problems had left their mark. -For the rest he had made his name in journalism and even to a small -degree in literature. He was still a bachelor, though there were some -who thought that his hold on that condition was precarious, and that -Miss Enid Challenger’s little white fingers could disengage it. -Certainly they were very good chums. - -It was a Sunday evening in October, and the lights were just beginning -to twinkle out through the fog which had shrouded London from early -morning. Professor Challenger’s flat at Victoria West Gardens was upon -the third floor, and the mist lay thick upon the windows, while the low -hum of the attenuated Sunday traffic rose up from an invisible highway -beneath, which was outlined only by scattered patches of dull radiance. -Professor Challenger sat with his thick, bandy legs outstretched to the -fire, and his hands thrust deeply into his trouser pockets. His dress -had a little of the eccentricity of genius, for he wore a -loose-collared shirt, a large knotted maroon-coloured silk tie, and a -black velvet smoking-jacket, which, with his flowing beard, gave him the -appearance of an elderly and Bohemian artist. On one side of him ready -for an excursion, with bowl hat, short-skirted dress of black, and all -the other fashionable devices with which women contrive to deform the -beauties of nature, there sat his daughter, while Malone, hat in hand, -waited by the window. - -“I think we should get off, Enid. It is nearly seven,” said he. - -They were writing joint articles upon the religious denominations of -London, and on each Sunday evening they sallied out together to sample -some new one and get copy for the next week’s issue of the _Gazette_. - -“It’s not till eight, Ted. We have lots of time.” - -“Sit down, sir! Sit down!” boomed Challenger, tugging at his beard as -was his habit if his temper was rising. “There is nothing annoys me more -than having anyone standing behind me. A relic of atavism and the fear -of a dagger, but still persistent. That’s right. For heaven’s sake put -your hat down! You have a perpetual air of catching a train.” - -“That’s the journalistic life,” said Malone. “If we don’t catch the -perpetual train we get left. Even Enid is beginning to understand that. -But still, as you say, there is time enough.” - -“How far have you got?” asked Challenger. - -Enid consulted a business-like little reporter’s notebook. - -“We have done seven. There was Westminster Abbey for the Church in its -most picturesque form, and Saint Agatha for the High Church, and Tudor -Place for the Low. Then there was the Westminster Cathedral for -Catholics, Endell Street for Presbyterians, and Gloucester Square for -Unitarians. But to-night we are trying to introduce some variety. We are -doing the Spiritualists.” - -Challenger snorted like an angry buffalo. - -“Next week the lunatic asylums, I presume,” said he. “You don’t mean to -tell me, Malone, that these ghost people have got churches of their -own.” - -“I’ve been looking into that,” said Malone. “I always look up cold facts -and figures before I tackle a job. They have over four hundred -registered churches in Great Britain.” - -Challenger’s snorts now sounded like a whole herd of buffaloes. - -“There seems to me to be absolutely no limit to the inanity and -credulity of the human race. _Homo sapiens! Homo idioticus!_ Whom do -they pray to--the ghosts?” - -“Well, that’s what we want to find out. We should get some copy out of -them. I need not say that I share your view entirely, but I’ve seen -something of Atkinson of St. Mary’s Hospital lately. He is a rising -surgeon, you know.” - -“I’ve heard of him--cerebro-spinal.” - -“That’s the man. He is level-headed and is looked on as an authority on -psychic research, as they call the new science which deals with these -matters.” - -“Science, indeed!” - -“Well, that is what they call it. He seems to take these people -seriously. I consult him when I want a reference, for he has the -literature at his fingers’ end. ‘Pioneers of the Human Race’--that was -his description.” - -“Pioneering them to Bedlam,” growled Challenger. “And literature! What -literature have they?” - -“Well, that was another surprise. Atkinson has five hundred volumes, but -complains that his psychic library is very imperfect. You see, there is -French, German, Italian, as well as our own.” - -“Well, thank God all the folly is not confined to poor old England. -Pestilential nonsense!” - -“Have you read it up at all, Father?” asked Enid. - -“Read it up! I, with all my interests and no time for one-half of them! -Enid, you are too absurd.” - -“Sorry, Father. You spoke with such assurance, I thought you knew -something about it.” - -Challenger’s huge head swung round and his lion’s glare rested upon his -daughter. - -“Do you conceive that a logical brain, a brain of the first order, needs -to read and to study before it can detect a manifest absurdity? Am I to -study mathematics in order to confute the man who tells me that two and -two are five? Must I study physics once more and take down my -_Principia_ because some rogue or fool insists that a table can rise in -the air against the law of gravity? Does it take five hundred volumes to -inform us of a thing which is proved in every police-court when an -impostor is exposed? Enid, I am ashamed of you!” - -His daughter laughed merrily. - -“Well, Dad, you need not roar at me any more. I give in. In fact, I have -the same feeling that you have.” - -“None the less,” said Malone, “some good men support them. I don’t see -that you can laugh at Lodge and Crookes and the others.” - -“Don’t be absurd, Malone. Every great mind has its weaker side. It is a -sort of reaction against all the good sense. You come suddenly upon a -vein of positive nonsense. That is what is the matter with these -fellows. No, Enid, I haven’t read their reasons, and I don’t mean to, -either; some things are beyond the pale. If we re-open all the old -questions, how can we ever get ahead with the new ones? This matter is -settled by common sense, the law of England, and by the universal assent -of every sane European.” - -“So that’s that!” said Enid. - -“However,” he continued, “I can admit that there are occasional excuses -for misunderstandings upon the point.” He sank his voice, and his great -grey eyes looked sadly up into vacancy. “I have known cases where the -coldest intellect--even my own intellect--might, for a moment, have been -shaken.” - -Malone scented copy. - -“Yes, sir?” - -Challenger hesitated. He seemed to be struggling with himself. He wished -to speak, and yet speech was painful. Then, with an abrupt, impatient -gesture, he plunged into his story: - -“I never told you, Enid. It was too--too intimate. Perhaps too absurd. I -was ashamed to have been so shaken. But it shows how even the best -balanced may be caught unawares.” - -“Yes, sir?” - -“It was after my wife’s death. You knew her, Malone. You can guess what -it meant to me. It was the night after the cremation ... horrible, -Malone, horrible! I saw the dear little body slide down, down--and then -the glare of flame and the door clanged to.” His great body shook and he -passed his big, hairy hand over his eyes. - -“I don’t know why I tell you this; the talk seemed to lead up to it. It -may be a warning to you. That night--the night after the cremation--I -sat up in the hall. She was there,” he nodded at Enid. “She had fallen -asleep in a chair, poor girl. You know the house at Rotherfield, Malone. -It was in the big hall. I sat by the fireplace, the room all draped in -shadow, and my mind draped in shadow also. I should have sent her to -bed, but she was lying back in her chair and I did not wish to wake her. -It may have been one in the morning--I remember the moon shining through -the stained-glass window. I sat and I brooded. Then suddenly there came -a noise.” - -“Yes, sir?” - -“It was low at first--just a ticking. Then it grew louder and more -distinct--it was a clear rat-tat-tat. Now comes the queer coincidence, -the sort of thing out of which legends grow when credulous folk have the -shaping of them. You must know that my wife had a peculiar way of -knocking at a door. It was really a little tune which she played with -her fingers. I got into the same way so that we could each know when the -other knocked. Well, it seemed to me--of course my mind was strained and -abnormal--that the taps shaped themselves into the well-known rhythm of -her knock. I couldn’t localise it. You can think how eagerly I tried. It -was above me, somewhere on the woodwork. I lost sense of time. I daresay -it was repeated a dozen times at least.” - -“Oh, Dad, you never told me!” - -“No, but I woke you up. I asked you to sit quiet with me for a little.” - -“Yes, I remember that.” - -“Well, we sat, but nothing happened. Not a sound more. Of course it was -a delusion. Some insect in the wood; the ivy on the outer wall. My own -brain furnished the rhythm. Thus do we make fools and children of -ourselves. But it gave me an insight. I saw how even a clever man could -be deceived by his own emotions.” - -“But how do you know, sir, that it was _not_ your wife?” - -“Absurd, Malone! Absurd, I say! I tell you I saw her in the flames. What -was there left?” - -“Her soul, her spirit.” - -Challenger shook his head sadly. - -“When the dear body dissolved into its elements--when its gases went -into the air and its residue of solids sank into a grey dust--it was the -end. There was no more. She had played her part, played it beautifully, -nobly. It was done. Death ends all, Malone. This soul-talk is the -Animism of savages. It is a superstition, a myth. As a physiologist I -will undertake to produce crime or virtue by vascular control or -cerebral stimulation. I will turn a Jekyll into a Hyde by a surgical -operation. Another can do it by a psychological suggestion. Alcohol will -do it. Drugs will do it. Absurd, Malone, absurd! As the tree falls, so -does it lie. There is no next morning ... night--eternal night ... and -long rest for the weary worker.” - -“Well, it’s a sad philosophy.” - -“Better a sad than a false one.” - -“Perhaps so. There is something virile and manly in facing the worst. I -would not contradict. My reason is with you.” - -“But my instincts are against!” cried Enid. “No, no, never can I believe -it.” She threw her arms round the great bull neck. “Don’t tell me, -daddy, that you with all your complex brain and wonderful self are a -thing with no more life hereafter than a broken clock!” - -“Four buckets of water and a bagful of salts,” said Challenger as he -smilingly detached his daughter’s grip. “That’s your daddy, my lass, and -you may as well reconcile your mind to it. Well, it’s twenty to eight. -Come back, if you can, Malone, and let me hear your adventures among the -insane.” - - - - -CHAPTER II - -WHICH DESCRIBES AN EVENING IN STRANGE COMPANY - - -The love-affair of Enid Challenger and Edward Malone is not of the -slightest interest to the reader, for the simple reason that it is not -of the slightest interest to the writer. The unseen, unnoticed lure of -the unborn babe is common to all youthful humanity. We deal in this -chronicle with matters which are less common and of higher interest. It -is only mentioned in order to explain those terms of frank and intimate -comradeship which the narrative discloses. If the human race has -obviously improved in anything--in Anglo-Celtic countries, at least--it -is that the prim affectations and sly deceits of the past are lessened, -and that young men and women can meet in an equality of clean and honest -comradeship. - -A taxi took the adventurers down Edgware Road and into the side-street -called “Helbeck Terrace.” Halfway down, the dull line of brick houses -was broken by one glowing gap, where an open arch threw a flood of light -into the street. The cab pulled up and the man opened the door. - -“This is the Spiritualist Church, sir,” said he. Then, as he saluted to -acknowledge his tip, he added in the wheezy voice of the man of all -weathers: “Tommy-rot, I call it, sir.” Having eased his conscience thus -he climbed into his seat and a moment later his red rear-lamp was a -waning circle in the gloom. Malone laughed. - -“_Vox populi_, Enid. That is as far as the public has got at the -present.” - -“Well, it is as far as we have got, for that matter.” - -“Yes, but we are prepared to give them a show. I don’t suppose Cabby is. -By Jove, it will be hard luck if we can’t get in!” - -There was a crowd at the door and a man was facing them from the top of -the step, waving his arms to keep them back. - -“It’s no good, friends. I am very sorry, but we can’t help it. We’ve -been threatened twice with prosecution for over-crowding.” He turned -facetious. “Never heard of an Orthodox Church getting into trouble for -that. No, sir, no.” - -“I’ve come all the way from ’Ammersmith,” wailed a voice. The light beat -upon the eager, anxious face of the speaker, a little woman in black -with a baby in her arms. - -“You’ve come for clairvoyance, Mam,” said the usher, with intelligence. -“See here, give me the name and address and I will write you, and Mrs. -Debbs will give you a sitting gratis. That’s better than taking your -chance in the crowd when, with all the will in the world, you can’t all -get a turn. You’ll have her to yourself. No, sir, there’s no use -shovin’.... What’s that?... Press?” - -He had caught Malone by the elbow. - -“Did you say Press? The Press boycott us, sir. Look at the weekly list -of services in a Saturday’s _Times_ if you doubt it. You wouldn’t know -there was such a thing as Spiritualism.... What paper, sir?... ‘The -_Daily Gazette_.’ Well, well, we are getting on. And the lady, too?... -Special article--my word! Stick to me, sir, and I’ll see what I can do. -Shut the doors, Joe. No use, friends. When the building fund gets on a -bit we’ll have more room for you. Now, miss, this way, if you please.” - -This way proved to be down the street and round a side-alley which -brought them to a small door with a red lamp shining above it. - -“I’ll have to put you on the platform--there’s no standing room in the -body of the hall.” - -“Good gracious!” cried Enid. - -“You’ll have a fine view, miss, and maybe get a readin’ for yourself if -you’re lucky. It often happens that those nearest the medium get the -best chance. Now, sir, in here!” - -Here was a frowsy little room with some hats and top-coats draping the -dirty, white-washed walls. A thin, austere woman, with eyes which -gleamed from behind her glasses, was warming her gaunt hands over a -small fire. With his back to the fire in the traditional British -attitude was a large, fat man with a bloodless face, a ginger moustache -and curious, light-blue eyes--the eyes of a deep-sea mariner. A little -bald-headed man with huge horn-rimmed spectacles, and a very handsome -and athletic youth in a blue lounge-suit, completed the group. - -“The others have gone on the platform, Mr. Peeble. There’s only five -seats left for ourselves.” It was the fat man talking. - -“I know, I know,” said the man who had been addressed as Peeble, a -nervous, stringy, dried-up person as he now appeared in the light. “But -this is the Press, Mr. Bolsover. _Daily Gazette_--special article.... -Malone the name, and Challenger. This is Mr. Bolsover, our President. -This is Mrs. Debbs of Liverpool, the famous clairvoyante. Here is Mr. -James, and this tall young gentleman is Mr. Hardy Williams, our -energetic secretary. Mr. Williams is a nailer for the buildin’ fund. -Keep your eye on your pockets if Mr. Williams is around.” - -They all laughed. - -“Collection comes later,” said Mr. Williams, smiling. - -“A good, rousing article is our best collection,” said the stout -president. “Ever been to a meeting before, sir?” - -“No,” said Malone. - -“Don’t know much about it, I expect.” - -“No, I don’t.” - -“Well, well, we must expect a slating. They get it from the humorous -angle at first. We’ll have you writing a very comic account. I never -could see anything very funny in the spirit of one’s dead wife, but it’s -a matter of taste and of knowledge also. If they don’t know, how can -they take it seriously? I don’t blame them. We were mostly like that -ourselves once. I was one of Bradlaugh’s men, and sat under Joseph -MacCabe until my old Dad came and pulled me out.” - -“Good for him!” said the Liverpool medium. - -“It was the first time I found I had powers of my own. I saw him like I -see you now.” - -“Was he one of us in the body?” - -“Knew no more than I did. But they come on amazin’ at the other side if -the right folk get hold of them.” - -“Time’s up!” said Mr. Peeble, snapping his watch. “You are on the right -of the chair, Mrs. Debbs. Will you go first? Then you, Mr. Chairman. -Then you two and myself. Get on the left, Mr. Hardy Williams, and lead -the singin’. They want warmin’ up and you can do it. Now then, if _you_ -please!” - -The platform was already crowded, but the newcomers threaded their way -to the front amid a decorous murmur of welcome. Mr. Peeble shoved and -exhorted and two end seats emerged upon which Enid and Malone perched -themselves. The arrangement suited them well, for they could use their -notebooks freely behind the shelter of the folk in front. - -“What is your reaction?” whispered Enid. - -“Not impressed as yet.” - -“No, nor I,” said Enid, “but it’s very interesting all the same.” - -People who are in earnest are always interesting, whether you agree with -them or not, and it was impossible to doubt that the people were -extremely earnest. The hall was crammed, and as one looked down one saw -line after line of upturned faces, curiously alike in type, women -predominating, but men running them close. That type was not -distinguished nor intellectual, but it was undeniably healthy, honest -and sane. Small trades-folk, male and female shop-walkers, better class -artisans, lower middle-class women worn with household cares, occasional -young folk in search of a sensation--these were the impressions which -the audience conveyed to the trained observation of Malone. - -The fat president rose and raised his hand. - -“My friends,” said he, “we have had once more to exclude a great number -of people who’d desired to be with us to-night. It’s all a question of -the building-fund, and Mr. Williams on my left will be glad to hear from -any of you. I was in a hotel last week and they had a notice hung up in -the reception bureau. ‘No cheques accepted.’ That’s not the way Brother -Williams talks. You just try him.” - -The audience laughed. The atmosphere was clearly that of the -lecture-hall rather than of the Church. - -“There’s just one more thing I want to say before I sit down. I’m not -here to talk. I’m here to hold this chair down and I mean to do it. It’s -a hard thing I ask. I want Spiritualists to keep away on Sunday nights. -They take up the room that inquirers should have. You can have the -morning service. But it’s better for the cause that there should be room -for the stranger. You’ve had it. Thank God for it. Give the other man a -chance.” The president plumped back into his chair. - -Mr. Peeble sprang to his feet. He was clearly the general utility man -who emerges in every society and probably becomes its autocrat. With his -thin, eager face and darting hands he was more than a live wire--he was -a whole bundle of live wires. Electricity seemed to crackle from his -finger-tips. - -“Hymn One!” he shrieked. - -A harmonium droned and the audience rose. It was a fine hymn and lustily -sung: - - “The world hath felt a quickening breath - From Heaven’s eternal shore, - And souls triumphant over death - Return to earth once more.” - -There was a ring of exultation in the voices as the refrain rolled out: - - “For this we hold our Jubilee - For this with joy we sing, - ‘Oh Grave, where is thy victory, - Oh Death, where is thy sting?’” - -Yes, they were in earnest, these people. And they did not appear to be -mentally weaker than their fellows. And yet both Enid and Malone felt a -sensation of great pity as they looked at them. How sad to be deceived -upon so intimate a matter as this, to be duped by impostors who used -their most sacred feelings and their beloved dead as counters with which -to cheat them. What did they know of the laws of evidence, of the cold, -immutable decrees of scientific law? Poor earnest, honest, deluded -people! - -“Now!” screamed Mr. Peeble. “We shall ask Mr. Munro from Australia to -give us the invocation.” - -A wild-looking old man with a shaggy beard and slumbering fire in his -eyes rose up and stood for a few seconds with his gaze cast down. Then -he began a prayer, very simple, very unpremeditated. Malone jotted down -the first sentence: “Oh, Father, we are very ignorant folk and do not -well know how to approach you, but we will pray to you the best we know -how.” It was all cast in that humble key. Enid and Malone exchanged a -swift glance of appreciation. - -There was another hymn, less successful than the first, and the chairman -then announced that Mr. James Jones of North Wales would now deliver a -trance address which would embody the views of his well-known control, -Alasha the Atlantean. - -Mr. James Jones, a brisk and decided little man in a faded check suit, -came to the front and, after standing a minute or so as if in deep -thought, gave a violent shudder and began to talk. It must be admitted -that save for a certain fixed stare and vacuous glazing of the eye there -was nothing to show that anything save Mr. James Jones of North Wales -was the orator. It has also to be stated that if Mr. Jones shuddered at -the beginning it was the turn of his audience to shudder afterwards. -Granting his own claim, he had proved clearly that an Atlantean spirit -might be a portentous bore. He droned on with platitudes and -ineptitudes while Malone whispered to Enid that if Alasha was a fair -specimen of the population it was just as well that his native land was -safely engulfed in the Atlantic Ocean. When, with another rather -melodramatic shudder, he emerged from his trance, the chairman sprang to -his feet with an alacrity which showed that he was taking no risks lest -the Atlantean should return. - -“We have present with us to-night,” he cried, “Mrs. Debbs, the -well-known clairvoyante of Liverpool. Mrs. Debbs is, as many of you -know, richly endowed with several of those gifts of the spirit of which -Saint Paul speaks, and the discerning of spirits is among them. These -things depend upon laws which are beyond our control, but a sympathetic -atmosphere is essential, and Mrs. Debbs will ask for your good wishes -and your prayers while she endeavours to get into touch with some of -those shining ones on the other side who may honour us with their -presence to-night.” - -The president sat down and Mrs. Debbs rose amid discreet applause. Very -tall, very pale, very thin, with an aquiline face and eyes shining -brightly from behind her gold-rimmed glasses, she stood facing her -expectant audience. Her head was bent. She seemed to be listening. - -“Vibrations!” she cried at last. “I want helpful vibrations. Give me a -verse on the harmonium, please.” - -The instrument droned out “Jesus, Lover of my soul.” The audience sat in -silence, expectant and a little awed. The hall was not too well lit and -dark shadows lurked in the corners. The medium still bent her head as if -her ears were straining. Then she raised her hand and the music stopped. - -“Presently! Presently! All in good time,” said the woman, addressing -some invisible companion. Then to the audience, “I don’t feel that the -conditions are very good to-night. I will do my best and so will they. -But I must talk to you first.” - -And she talked. What she said seemed to the two strangers to be absolute -gabble. There was no consecutive sense in it, though now and again a -phrase or sentence caught the attention. Malone put his stylo in his -pocket. There was no use reporting a lunatic. A Spiritualist next him -saw his bewildered disgust and leaned towards him. - -“She’s tuning in. She’s getting her wave length,” he whispered. “It’s -all a matter of vibration. Ah, there you are!” - -She had stopped in the very middle of a sentence. Her long arm and -quivering forefinger shot out. She was pointing at an elderly woman in -the second row. - -“You! Yes, you, with the red feather. No, not you. The stout lady in -front. Yes, you! There is a spirit building up behind you. It is a man. -He is a tall man--six foot maybe. High forehead, eyes grey or blue, a -long chin, brown moustache, lines on his face. Do you recognise him, -friend?” - -The stout woman looked alarmed, but shook her head. - -“Well, see if I can help you. He is holding up a book--brown book with a -clasp. It’s a ledger same as they have in offices. I get the words -‘Caledonian Insurance.’ Is that any help?” - -The stout woman pursed her lips and shook her head vigorously. - -“Well, I can give you a little more. He died after a long illness. I get -chest trouble--asthma.” - -The stout woman was still obdurate, but a small, angry, red-faced -person, two places away from her, sprang to her feet. - -“It’s my ’usband, ma’am. Tell ’im I don’t want to ’ave any more dealin’s -with him.” She sat down with decision. - -“Yes, that’s right. He moves to you now. He was nearer the other. He -wants to say he’s sorry. It doesn’t do, you know, to have hard feelings -to the dead. Forgive and forget. It’s all over. I get a message for you. -It is: ‘Do it and my blessings go with you!’ Does that mean anything to -you?” - -The angry woman looked pleased and nodded. - -“Very good.” The clairvoyante suddenly darted out her finger towards the -crowd at the door. “It’s for the soldier.” - -A soldier in khaki, looking very much amazed, was in the front of the -knot of people. - -“Wot’s for me?” he asked. - -“It’s a soldier. He has a corporal’s stripes. He is a big man with -grizzled hair. He has a yellow tab on his shoulders. I get the initials -J. H. Do you know him?” - -“Yes--but he’s dead,” said the soldier. - -He had not understood that it was a Spiritualistic Church, and the whole -proceedings had been a mystery to him. They were rapidly explained by -his neighbours. “My Gawd!” cried the soldier, and vanished amid a -general titter. In the pause Malone could hear the constant mutter of -the medium as she spoke to someone unseen. - -“Yes, yes, wait your turn! Speak up, woman! Well, take your place near -him. How should I know? Well, I will if I can.” She was like a janitor -at the theatre marshalling a queue. - -Her next attempt was a total failure. A solid man with bushy -side-whiskers absolutely refused to have anything to do with an elderly -gentleman who claimed kinship. The medium worked with admirable -patience, coming back again and again with some fresh detail, but no -progress could be made. - -“Are you a Spiritualist, friend?” - -“Yes, for ten years.” - -“Well, you know there are difficulties.” - -“Yes, I know that.” - -“Think it over. It may come to you later. We must just leave it at that. -I am only sorry for your friend.” - -There was a pause during which Enid and Malone exchanged whispered -confidences. - -“What do you make of it, Enid?” - -“I don’t know. It confuses me.” - -“I believe it is half guess-work and the other half a case of -confederates. These people are all of the same church and naturally they -know each other’s affairs. If they don’t know they can enquire.” - -“Someone said it was Mrs. Debbs’ first visit.” - -“Yes, but they could easily coach her up. It is all clever quackery and -bluff. It _must_ be, for just think what is implied if it is not.” - -“Telepathy, perhaps.” - -“Yes, some element of that also. Listen! She is off again.” - -Her next attempt was more fortunate. A lugubrious man at the back of the -hall readily recognised the description and claims of his deceased wife. - -“I get the name Walter.” - -“Yes, that’s me.” - -“She called you Walt?” - -“No.” - -“Well, she calls Wat now. ‘Tell Wat to give my love to the children.’ -That’s how I get it. She is worrying about the children.” - -“She always did.” - -“Well, they don’t change. Furniture. Something about furniture. She says -you gave it away. Is that right?” - -“Well, I might as well.” - -The audience tittered. It was strange how the most solemn and the comic -were eternally blended--strange and yet very natural and human. - -“She has a message: ‘The man will pay up and all will be well. Be a good -man, Wat, and we will be happier here than ever we were on earth.’” - -The man put his hand over his eyes. As the seeress stood irresolute the -tall young secretary half rose and whispered something in her ear. The -woman shot a swift glance over her left shoulder in the direction of the -visitors. - -“I’ll come back to it,” said she. - -She gave two more descriptions to the audience, both of them rather -vague, and both recognised with some reservations. It was a curious fact -that her details were such as she could not possibly see at the -distance. Thus, dealing with a form which she claimed had built up at -the far end of the hall, she could none the less give the colour of the -eyes and small points of the face. Malone noted the point as one which -he could use for destructive criticism. He was just jotting it down when -the woman’s voice sounded louder and, looking up, he found that she had -turned her head and her spectacles were flashing in his direction. - -“It is not often I give a reading from the platform,” said she, her face -rotating between him and the audience, “but we have friends here -to-night, and it may interest them to come in contact with the spirit -people. There is a presence building up behind the gentleman with a -moustache--the gentleman who sits next to the young lady. Yes, sir, -behind you. He is a man of middle size, rather inclined to shortness. He -is old, over sixty, with white hair, curved nose and a white, small -beard of the variety that is called goatee. He is no relation, I gather, -but a friend. Does that suggest anyone to you, sir?” - -Malone shook his head with some contempt. “It would fit nearly any old -man,” he whispered to Enid. - -“We will try to get a little closer. He has deep lines on his face. I -should say he was an irritable man in his lifetime. He was quick and -nervous in his ways. Does that help you?” - -Again Malone shook his head. - -“Rot! Perfect rot,” he muttered. - -“Well, he seems very anxious so we must do what we can for him. He holds -up a book. It is a learned book. He opens it and I see diagrams in it. -Perhaps he wrote it--or perhaps he taught from it. Yes, he nods. He -taught from it. He was a teacher.” - -Malone remained unresponsive. - -“I don’t know that I can help him any more. Ah! there is one thing. He -has a mole over his right eyebrow.” - -Malone started as if he had been stung. - -“One mole?” he cried. - -The spectacles flashed round again. - -“Two moles--one large, one small.” - -“My God!” gasped Malone. “It’s Professor Summerlee!” - -“Ah, you’ve got it. There’s a message: Greetings to old----’ It’s a -long name and begins with a C. I can’t get it. Does it mean anything?” - -“Yes.” - -In an instant she had turned and was describing something or someone -else. But she had left a badly-shaken man upon the platform behind her. - -It was at this point that the orderly service had a remarkable -interruption which surprised the audience as much as it did the two -visitors. This was the sudden appearance beside the chairman of a tall, -pale-faced, bearded man dressed like a superior artisan, who held up his -hand with a quietly impressive gesture as one who was accustomed to -exert authority. He then half turned and said a word to Mr. Bolsover. - -“This is Mr. Miromar of Dalston,” said the Chairman. “Mr. Miromar has a -message to deliver. We are always glad to hear from Mr. Miromar.” - -The reporters could only get a half-view of the newcomer’s face, but -both of them were struck by his noble bearing and by the massive outline -of his head which promised very unusual intellectual power. His voice -when he spoke rang clearly and pleasantly through the hall. - -“I have been ordered to give the message wherever I think that there are -ears to hear it. There are some here who are ready for it, and that is -why I have come. They wish that the human race should gradually -understand the situation so that there shall be the less shock or panic. -I am one of several who are chosen to carry the news.” - -“A lunatic, I’m afraid!” whispered Malone, scribbling hard upon his -knee. There was a general inclination to smile among the audience. And -yet there was something in the man’s manner and voice which made them -hang on every word. - -“Things have now reached a climax. The very idea of progress has been -made material. It is progress to go swiftly, to send swift messages, to -build new machinery. All this is a diversion of real ambition. There is -only one real progress--spiritual progress. Mankind gives it a lip -tribute but presses on upon its false road of material science. - -“The Central Intelligence recognised that amid all the apathy there was -also much honest doubt which had outgrown old creeds and had a right to -fresh evidence. Therefore fresh evidence was sent--evidence which made -the life after death as clear as the sun in the heavens. It was laughed -at by scientists, condemned by the churches, became the butt of the -newspapers and was discarded with contempt. That was the last and -greatest blunder of humanity.” - -The audience had their chins up now. General speculations were beyond -their mental horizon. But this was very clear to their comprehension. -There was a murmur of sympathy and applause. - -“The thing was now hopeless. It had got beyond all control. Therefore -something sterner was needed since Heaven’s gift had been disregarded. -The blow fell. Ten million men were laid dead upon the ground. Twice as -many were mutilated. That was God’s first warning to mankind. But it was -vain. The same dull materialism prevailed as before. Years of grace were -given, and save the stirrings of the spirit seen in such churches as -these, no change was anywhere to be seen. The nations heaped up fresh -loads of sin and sin must ever be atoned for. Russia became a cesspool. -Germany was unrepentant of her terrible materialism which had been the -prime cause of the war. Spain and Italy were sunk in alternate atheism -and superstition. France had no religious ideal. Britain was confused -and distracted, full of wooden sects which had nothing of life in them. -America had abused her glorious opportunities and instead of being the -loving younger brother to a stricken Europe she held up all economic -reconstruction by her money claims; she dishonoured the signature of her -own president, and she refused to join that League of Peace which was -the one hope of the future. All have sinned, but some more than others, -and their punishment will be in exact proportion. - -“And that punishment comes soon. These are the exact words I have been -asked to give you. I read them lest I should in any way garble them.” - -He took a slip of paper from his pocket and read: - -“‘What we want is, not that folk should be frightened, but that they -should begin to change themselves--to develop themselves on more -spiritual lines. We are not trying to make people nervous, but to -prepare while there is yet time. The world cannot go on as it has done. -It would destroy itself if it did. Above all we must sweep away the dark -cloud of theology which has come between mankind and God.’” - -He folded up the paper and replaced it in his pocket. - -“That is what I have been asked to tell you. Spread the news where there -seems to be a window in the soul. Say to them, ‘Repent! Reform! the Time -is at hand.’” - -He had paused and seemed about to turn. The spell was broken. The -audience rustled and leaned back in its seats. Then a voice came from -the back. - -“Is this the end of the world, mister?” - -“No,” said the stranger, curtly. - -“Is it the Second Coming?” asked another voice. - -“Yes.” - -With quick, light steps he threaded his way among the chairs on the -platform and stood near the door. When Malone next looked round he was -gone. - -“He is one of these Second-coming fanatics,” he whispered to Enid. -“There are a lot of them--Christadelphians, Russellites, Bible Students -and what-not. But he was impressive.” - -“Very,” said Enid. - -“We have, I am sure, been very interested in what our friend has told -us,” said the chairman. “Mr. Miromar is in hearty sympathy with our -movement even though he cannot be said actually to belong to it. I am -sure he is always welcome upon our platforms. As to his prophecy, it -seems to me the world has had enough trouble without our anticipating -any more. If it is as our friend says, we can’t do much to mend the -matter. We can only go about our daily jobs, do them as well as we can, -and await the event in full confidence of help from above. If it’s the -Day of Judgment to-morrow,” he added, smiling, “I mean to look after my -provision store at Hammersmith to-day. We shall now continue with the -service.” - -There was a vigorous appeal for money and a great deal about the -building-fund from the young secretary. “It’s a shame to think that -there are more left in the street than in the building on a Sunday -night. We all give our services. No one takes a penny. Mrs. Debbs is -here for her bare expenses. But we want another thousand pounds before -we can start. There is one brother here who mortgaged his house to help -us. That’s the spirit that wins. Now let us see what you can do for us -to-night.” - -A dozen soup-plates circulated, and a hymn was sung to the accompaniment -of much chinking of coin. Enid and Malone conversed in undertones. - -“Professor Summerlee died, you know, at Naples last year.” - -“Yes, I remember him well.” - -“And ‘old C.’ was, of course, your father.” - -“It was really remarkable.” - -“Poor old Summerlee. He thought survival was an absurdity. And here he -is--or here he seems to be.” - -The soup-plates returned--it was mostly brown soup, unhappily, and they -were deposited on the table where the eager eye of the secretary -appraised their value. Then the little shaggy man from Australia gave a -benediction in the same simple fashion as the opening prayer. It needed -no Apostolic succession or laying-on of hands to make one feel that his -words were from a human heart and might well go straight to a Divine -one. Then the audience rose and sang their final farewell hymn--a hymn -with a haunting tune and a sad, sweet refrain of “God keep you safely -till we meet once more.” Enid was surprised to feel the tears running -down her cheeks. These earnest, simple folk with their direct methods -had wrought upon her more than all the gorgeous service and rolling -music of the cathedral. - -Mr. Bolsover, the stout president, was in the waiting-room and so was -Mrs. Debbs. - -“Well, I expect you are going to let us have it,” he laughed. “We are -used to it, Mr. Malone. We don’t mind. But you will see the turn some -day. These articles may rise up in judgment.” - -“I will treat it fairly, I assure you.” - -“Well, we ask no more.” - -The medium was leaning with her elbow on the mantelpiece, austere and -aloof. - -“I am afraid you are tired,” said Enid. - -“No, young lady, I am never tired in doing the work of the spirit -people. They see to that.” - -“May I ask,” Malone ventured, “whether you ever knew Professor -Summerlee?” - -The medium shook her head. - -“No, sir, no. They always think I know them. I know none of them. They -come and I describe them.” - -“How do you get the message?” - -“Clairaudient. I hear it. I hear them all the time. The poor things all -want to come through and they pluck at me and pull me and pester me on -the platform. ‘Me next--me--me!’ That’s what I hear. I do my best, but I -can’t handle them all.” - -“Can you tell me anything of that prophetic person?” asked Malone of the -chairman. Mr. Bolsover shrugged his shoulders with a deprecating smile. - -“He is an Independent. We see him now and again as a sort of comet -passing across us. By the way, it comes back to me that he prophesied -the war. I’m a practical man myself. Sufficient for the day is the evil -thereof. We get plenty in ready cash without any bills for the future. -Well, good night! Treat us as well as you can.” - -“Good night,” said Enid. - -“Good night,” said Mrs. Debbs. “By the way, young lady, you are a medium -yourself. Good night!” - -And so they found themselves in the street once more inhaling long -draughts of the night air. It was sweet after that crowded hall. A -minute later they were in the rush of the Edgware Road and Malone had -hailed a cab to carry them back to Victoria Gardens.[A] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -IN WHICH PROFESSOR CHALLENGER GIVES HIS OPINION - - -Enid had stepped into the cab and Malone was following when his name was -called and a man came running down the street. He was tall, middle-aged, -handsome and well-dressed, with the clean-shaven, self-confident face of -the successful surgeon. - -“Hullo, Malone! Stop!” - -“Why, it’s Atkinson. Enid, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Atkinson of -St. Mary’s about whom I spoke to your father. Can we give you a lift? We -are going towards Victoria.” - -“Capital!” The surgeon followed them into the cab. “I was amazed to see -you at a Spiritualist meeting.” - -“We were only there professionally. Miss Challenger and I are both on -the Press.” - -“Oh, really! The _Daily Gazette_, I suppose, as before. Well, you will -have one more subscriber, for I shall want to see what you made of -to-night’s show.” - -“You’ll have to wait till next Sunday. It is one of a series.” - -“Oh, I say, I can’t wait as long as that. What _did_ you make of it?” - -“I really don’t know. I shall have to read my notes carefully to-morrow -and think it over, and compare impressions with my colleague here. She -has the intuition, you see, which goes for so much in religious -matters.” - -“And what is your intuition, Miss Challenger?” - -“Good--oh, yes, good! But, dear me, what an extraordinary mixture!” - -“Yes, indeed, I have been several times and it always leaves the same -mixed impression upon my own mind. Some of it is ludicrous, and some of -it might be dishonest, and yet again some of it is clearly wonderful.” - -“But you are not on the Press. Why were _you_ there?” - -“Because I am deeply interested. You see, I am a student of psychic -matters and have been for some years. I am not a convinced one but I am -sympathetic, and I have sufficient sense of proportion to realise that -while I seem to be sitting in judgment upon the subject it may in truth -be the subject which is sitting in judgment upon me.” - -Malone nodded appreciation. - -“It is enormous. You will realise that as you get to close grips with -it. It is half a dozen great subjects in one. And it is all in the hands -of these good humble folk who, in the face of every discouragement and -personal loss, have carried it on for more than seventy years. It is -really very like the rise of Christianity. It was run by slaves and -underlings until it gradually extended upwards. There were three hundred -years between Cæsar’s slave and Cæsar getting the light.” - -“But the preacher!” cried Enid in protest. - -Mr. Atkinson laughed. - -“You mean our friend from Atlantis. What a terrible bore the fellow was! -I confess I don’t know what to make of performances like that. -Self-deception, I think, and the temporary emergence of some fresh -strand of personality which dramatises itself in this way. The only -thing I am quite sure of is that it is not really an inhabitant of -Atlantis who arrives from his long voyage with this awful cargo of -platitudes. Well, here we are!” - -“I have to deliver this young lady safe and sound to her father,” said -Malone. “Look here, Atkinson, don’t leave us. The Professor would really -like to see you.” - -“What, at this hour! Why, he would throw me down the stairs.” - -“You’ve been hearing stories,” said Enid. “Really it is not so bad as -that. Some people annoy him, but I am sure you are not one of them. -Won’t you chance it?” - -“With that encouragement, certainly.” And the three walked down the -bright outer corridor to the lift. - -Challenger, clad now in a brilliant blue dressing-gown, was eagerly -awaiting them. He eyed Atkinson as a fighting bulldog eyes some canine -stranger. The inspection seemed to satisfy him, however, for he growled -that he was glad to meet him. - -“I’ve heard of your name, sir, and of your rising reputation. Your -resection of the cord last year made some stir, I understand. But have -you been down among the lunatics also?” - -“Well, if you call them so,” said Atkinson with a laugh. - -“Good Heavens, what else could I call them? I remember now that my young -friend here” (Challenger had a way of alluding to Malone as if he were a -promising boy of ten) “told me you were studying the subject.” He roared -with offensive laughter. “‘The proper study of mankind is spooks,’ eh, -Mr. Atkinson?” - -“Dad really knows nothing about it, so don’t be offended with him,” -said Enid. “But I assure you, Dad, you would have been interested.” She -proceeded to give a sketch of their adventures, though interrupted by a -running commentary of groans, grunts and derisive jeers. It was only -when the Summerlee episode was reached that Challenger’s indignation and -contempt could no longer be restrained. The old volcano blew his head -off and a torrent of red-hot invective descended upon his listeners. - -“The blasphemous rascals!” he shouted. “To think that they can’t let -poor old Summerlee rest in his grave. We had our differences in his time -and I will admit that I was compelled to take a moderate view of his -intelligence, but if he came back from the grave he would certainly have -something worth hearing to say to us. It is an absurdity--a wicked, -indecent absurdity upon the face of it. I object to any friend of mine -being made a puppet for the laughter of an audience of fools. They -didn’t laugh! They must have laughed when they heard an educated man, a -man whom I have met upon equal terms, talking such nonsense. I say it -_was_ nonsense. Don’t contradict me, Malone. I won’t have it! His -message might have been the postscript of a schoolgirl’s letter. Isn’t -that nonsense, coming from such a source? Are you not in agreement, Mr. -Atkinson? No! I had hoped better things from you.” - -“But the descriptions?” - -“Good Heavens, where are your brains? Have not the names of Summerlee -and Malone been associated with my own in some peculiarly feeble fiction -which attained some notoriety? Is it not also known that you two -innocents were doing the Churches week by week? Was it not patent that -sooner or later you would come to a Spiritualist gathering? Here was a -chance for a convert! They set a bait and poor old gudgeon Malone came -along and swallowed it. Here he is with the hook still stuck in his -silly mouth. Oh, yes, Malone, plain speaking is needed and you shall -have it.” The Professor’s black mane was bristling and his eyes glaring -from one member of the company to another. - -“Well, we want every view expressed,” said Atkinson. “You seem very -qualified, sir, to express the negative one. At the same time I would -repeat in my own person the words of Thackeray. He said to some -objector: ‘What you say is natural, but if you had seen what I have seen -you might alter your opinion.’ Perhaps some time you will be able to -look into the matter, for your high position in the scientific world -would give your opinion great weight.” - -“If I have a high place in the scientific world as you say, it is -because I have concentrated upon what is useful and discarded what is -nebulous or absurd. My brain, sir, does not pare the edges. It cuts -right through. It has cut right through this and has found fraud and -folly.” - -“Both are there at times,” said Atkinson, “and yet ... and yet! Ah, -well, Malone, I’m some way from home and it is late. You will excuse me, -Professor. I am honoured to have met you.” - -Malone was leaving also and the two friends had a few minutes’ chat -before they went their separate ways, Atkinson to Wimpole Street and -Malone to South Norwood, where he was now living. - -“Grand old fellow!” said Malone, chuckling. “You must never get offended -with him. He means no harm. He is splendid.” - -“Of course he is. But if anything could make me a real out-and-out -Spiritualist it is that sort of intolerance. It is very common, though -it is generally cast rather in the tone of the quiet sneer than of the -noisy roar. I like the latter best. By the way, Malone, if you care to -go deeper into this subject I may be able to help you. You’ve heard of -Linden?” - -“Linden, the professional medium. Yes, I’ve been told he is the greatest -blackguard unhung.” - -“Ah, well, they usually talk of them like that. You must judge for -yourself. He put his knee-cap out last winter and I put it in again, and -that has made a friendly bond between us. It’s not always easy to get -him, and of course a small fee, a guinea I think, is usual, but if you -wanted a sitting I could work it.” - -“You think him genuine?” - -Atkinson shrugged his shoulders. - -“I daresay they all take the line of least resistance. I can only say -that I have never detected him in fraud. You must judge for yourself.” - -“I will,” said Malone. “I am getting hot on this trail. And there is -copy in it, too. When things are more easy I’ll write to you, Atkinson, -and we can go more deeply into the matter.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -WHICH DESCRIBES SOME STRANGE DOINGS IN HAMMERSMITH - - -The article by the Joint Commissioners (such was their glorious title) -aroused interest and contention. It had been accompanied by a -depreciating leaderette from the sub-editor which was meant to calm the -susceptibilities of his orthodox readers, as who should say; “These -things have to be noticed and seem to be true, but of course you and I -recognise how pestilential it all is.” Malone found himself at once -plunged into a huge correspondence, for and against, which in itself was -enough to show how vitally the question was in the minds of men. All the -previous articles had only elicited a growl here or there from a -hide-bound Catholic or from an iron-clad Evangelical, but now his -post-bag was full. Most of them were ridiculing the idea that psychic -forces existed and many were from writers who, whatever they might know -of psychic forces, had obviously not yet learned to spell. The -Spiritualists were in many cases not more pleased than the others, for -Malone had--even while his account was true--exercised a journalist’s -privilege of laying an accent on the more humorous sides of it. - -One morning in the succeeding week Mr. Malone was aware of a large -presence in the small room wherein he did his work at the office. A -page-boy, who preceded the stout visitor, had laid a card on the corner -of the table which bore the legend ‘James Bolsover, Provision Merchant, -High Street, Hammersmith.’ It was none other than the genial president -of last Sunday’s congregation. He wagged a paper accusingly at Malone, -but his good-humoured face was wreathed in smiles. - -“Well, well,” said he. “I told you that the funny side would get you.” - -“Don’t you think it a fair account?” - -“Well, yes, Mr. Malone, I think you and the young woman have done your -best for us. But, of course, you know nothing and it all seems queer to -you. Come to think of it, it would be a deal queerer if all the clever -men who leave this earth could not among them find some way of getting a -word back to us.” - -“But it’s such a stupid word sometimes.” - -“Well, there are a lot of stupid people leave the world. They don’t -change. And then, you know, one never knows what sort of message is -needed. We had a clergyman in to see Mrs. Debbs yesterday. He was -broken-hearted because he had lost his daughter. Mrs. Debbs got several -messages through that she was happy and that only his grief hurt her. -‘That’s no use,’ said he. ‘Anyone could say that. That’s not my girl.’ -And then suddenly she said: ‘But I wish to goodness you would not wear a -Roman collar with a coloured shirt.’ That sounded a trivial message, but -the man began to cry. ‘That’s her,’ he sobbed. ‘She was always chipping -me about my collars.’ It’s the little things that count in this -life--just the homely, intimate things, Mr. Malone.” - -Malone shook his head. - -“Anyone would remark on a coloured shirt and a clerical collar.” - -Mr. Bolsover laughed. “You’re a hard proposition. So was I once, so I -can’t blame you. But I called here with a purpose. I expect you are a -busy man and I know that I am, so I’ll get down to the brass tacks. -First, I wanted to say that all our people that have any sense are -pleased with the article. Mr. Algernon Mailey wrote me that it would do -good, and if he is pleased we are all pleased.” - -“Mailey the barrister?” - -“Mailey, the religious reformer. That’s how he will be known.” - -“Well, what else?” - -“Only that we would help you if you and the young lady wanted to go -further in the matter. Not for publicity, mind you, but just for your -own good--though we don’t shrink from publicity, either. I have physical -phenomena séances at my own home without a professional medium, and if -you would like....” - -“There’s nothing I would like so much.” - -“Then you shall come--both of you. I don’t have many outsiders. I -wouldn’t have one of those psychic research people inside my doors. Why -should I go out of my way to be insulted by all their suspicions and -their traps? They seem to think that folk have no feelings. But you have -some ordinary common sense. That’s all we ask.” - -“But I don’t believe. Would that not stand in the way?” - -“Not in the least. So long as you are fair-minded and don’t disturb the -conditions, all is well. Spirits out of the body don’t like disagreeable -people any more than spirits in the body do. Be gentle and civil, same -as you would to any other company.” - -“Well, I can promise that.” - -“They are funny sometimes,” said Mr. Bolsover, in reminiscent vein. “It -is as well to keep on the right side of them. They are not allowed to -hurt humans, but we all do things we’re not allowed to do, and they are -very human themselves. You remember how _The Times_ correspondent got -his head cut open with the tambourine in one of the Davenport Brothers’ -séances. Very wrong, of course, but it happened. No friend ever got his -head cut open. There was another case down Stepney way. A money-lender -went to a séance. Some victim that he had driven to suicide got into the -medium. He got the money-lender by the throat and it was a close thing -for his life. But I’m off, Mr. Malone. We sit once a week and have done -for four years without a break. Eight o’clock Thursdays. Give us a day’s -notice and I’ll get Mr. Mailey to meet you. He can answer questions -better than I. Next Thursday! Very good.” And Mr. Bolsover lurched out -of the room. - -Both Malone and Enid Challenger had, perhaps, been more shaken by their -short experience than they had admitted, but both were sensible people -who agreed that every possible natural cause should be exhausted--and -very thoroughly exhausted--before the bounds of what is possible should -be enlarged. Both of them had the utmost respect for the ponderous -intellect of Challenger and were affected by his strong views, though -Malone was compelled to admit in the frequent arguments in which he was -plunged that the opinion of a clever man who has had no experience is -really of less value than that of the man in the street who has actually -been there. - -These arguments, as often as not, were with Mervin, editor of the -psychic paper _Dawn_, which dealt with every phase of the occult, from -the lore of the Rosicrucians to the strange regions of the students of -the Great Pyramid, or of those who uphold the Jewish origin of our -blonde Anglo-Saxons. Mervin was a small, eager man with a brain of a -high order, which might have carried him to the most lucrative heights -of his profession had he not determined to sacrifice worldly prospects -in order to help what seemed to him to be a great truth. As Malone was -eager for knowledge and Mervin was equally keen to impart it, the -waiters at the Literary Club found it no easy matter to get them away -from the corner-table in the window at which they were wont to lunch. -Looking down at the long, grey curve of the Embankment and the noble -river with its vista of bridges, the pair would linger over their -coffee, smoking cigarettes and discussing various sides of this most -gigantic and absorbing subject, which seemed already to have disclosed -new horizons to the mind of Malone. - -There was one warning given by Mervin which aroused impatience amounting -almost to anger in Malone’s mind. He had the hereditary Irish objection -to coercion and it seemed to him to be appearing once more in an -insidious and particularly objectionable form. - -“You are going to one of Bolsover’s family séances,” said Mervin. “They -are, of course, well known among our people, though few have been -actually admitted, so you may consider yourself privileged. He has -clearly taken a fancy to you.” - -“He thought I wrote fairly about them.” - -“Well, it wasn’t much of an article, but still among the dreary, -purblind nonsense that assails us, it did show some traces of dignity -and balance and sense of proportion.” - -Malone waved a deprecating cigarette. - -“Bolsover séances and others like them are, of course, things of no -moment to the real psychic. They are like the rude foundations of a -building which certainly help to sustain the edifice, but are forgotten -when once you come to inhabit it. It is the higher superstructure with -which we have to do. You would think that the physical phenomena were -the whole subject--those and a fringe of ghosts and haunted houses--if -you were to believe the cheap papers who cater for the sensationalist. -Of course, these physical phenomena have a use of their own. They rivet -the attention of the inquirer and encourage him to go further. -Personally, having seen them all, I would not go across the road to see -them again. But I would go across many roads to get high messages from -the beyond.” - -“Yes, I quite appreciate the distinction, looking at it from your point -of view. Personally, of course, I am equally agnostic as to the messages -and the phenomena.” - -“Quite so. St. Paul was a good psychic. He makes the point so neatly -that even his ignorant translators were unable to disguise the real -occult meanings as they have succeeded in doing in so many cases.” - -“Can you quote it?” - -“I know my New Testament pretty well, but I am not letter-perfect. It is -the passage where he says that the gift of tongues, which was an obvious -sensational thing, was for the uninstructed, but that prophecies, that -is real spiritual messages, were for the elect. In other words that an -experienced Spiritualist has no need of phenomena.” - -“I’ll look that passage up.” - -“You will find it in Corinthians, I think. By the way, there must have -been a pretty high average of intelligence among those old congregations -if Paul’s letters could have been read aloud to them and thoroughly -comprehended.” - -“That is generally admitted, is it not?” - -“Well, it is a concrete example of it. However, I am down a side-track. -What I wanted to say to you is that you must not take Bolsover’s little -spirit circus too seriously. It is honest as far as it goes, but it goes -a mighty short way. It’s a disease, this phenomena hunting. I know some -of our people, women mostly, who buzz around séance rooms continually, -seeing the same thing over and over, sometimes real, sometimes, I fear, -imitation. What the better are they for that as souls or as citizens or -any other way? No, when your foot is firm on the bottom rung don’t mark -time on it, but step up to the next rung and get firm upon that.” - -“I quite get your point. But I’m still on the solid ground.” - -“Solid!” cried Mervin. “Good Lord! But the paper goes to press to-day -and I must get down to the printer. With a circulation of ten thousand -or so we do things modestly, you know--not like you plutocrats of the -daily press. I am practically the staff.” - -“You said you had a warning.” - -“Yes, yes, I wanted to give you a warning.” Mervin’s thin, eager face -became intensely serious. “If you have any ingrained religious or other -prejudices which may cause you to turn down this subject after you have -investigated it, then don’t investigate at all--for it is dangerous.” - -“What do you mean--dangerous?” - -“They don’t mind honest doubt, or honest criticism, but if they are -badly treated they are dangerous.” - -“Who are ‘they’?” - -“Ah, who are they? I wonder. Guides, controls, psychic entities of some -kind. Who the agents of vengeance--or I should say justice--are, is -really not essential. The point is that they exist.” - -“Oh, rot, Mervin!” - -“Don’t be too sure of that.” - -“Pernicious rot! These are the old theological bogies of the Middle Ages -coming up again. I am surprised at a sensible man like you!” - -Mervin smiled--he had a whimsical smile--but his eyes, looking out from -under bushy yellow brows, were as serious as ever. - -“You may come to change your opinion. There are some queer sides to this -question. As a friend I put you wise to this one.” - -“Well, put me wise, then.” - -Thus encouraged, Mervin went into the matter. He rapidly sketched the -career and fate of a number of men who had, in his opinion, played an -unfair game with these forces, become an obstruction, and suffered for -it. He spoke of judges who had given prejudiced decisions against the -cause, of journalists who had worked up stunt cases for sensational -purposes and to throw discredit on the movement; of others who had -interviewed mediums to make game of them, or who, having started to -investigate, had drawn back alarmed, and given a negative decision when -their inner soul knew that the facts were true. It was a formidable -list, for it was long and precise, but Malone was not to be driven. - -“If you pick your cases I have no doubt one could make such a list about -any subject. Mr. Jones said that Raphael was a bungler, and Mr. Jones -died of angina pectoris. Therefore it is dangerous to criticise Raphael. -That seems to be the argument.” - -“Well, if you like to think so.” - -“Take the other side. Look at Morgate. He has always been an enemy, for -he is a convinced materialist. But he prospers--look at his -professorship.” - -“Ah, an honest doubter. Certainly. Why not?” - -“And Morgan who at one time exposed mediums.” - -“If they were really false he did good service.” - -“And Falconer who has written so bitterly about you?” - -“Ah, Falconer! Do you know anything of Falconer’s private life? No. -Well, take it from me he has got his dues. He doesn’t know why. Some day -these gentlemen will begin to compare notes and then it may dawn on -them. But they get it.” - -He went on to tell a horrible story of one who had devoted his -considerable talents to picking Spiritualism to pieces though really -convinced of its truth, because his worldly ends were served thereby. -The end was ghastly--too ghastly for Malone. - -“Oh, cut it out, Mervin!” he cried impatiently. “I’ll say what I think, -no more and no less, and I won’t be scared by you or your spooks into -altering my opinions.” - -“I never asked you to.” - -“You got a bit near it. What you have said strikes me as pure -superstition. If what you say is true you should have the police after -you.” - -“Yes, if we did it. But it is out of our hands. However, Malone, for -what it’s worth I have given you the warning and you can now go your -way. Bye-bye! You can always ring me up at the office of _Dawn_.” - -If you want to know if a man is of the true Irish blood there is one -infallible test. Put him in front of a swing-door with “Push” or “Pull” -printed upon it. The Englishman will obey like a sensible man. The -Irishman, with less sense but more individuality, will at once and with -vehemence do the opposite. So it was with Malone. Mervin’s well-meant -warning simply raised a rebellious spirit within him, and when he called -for Enid to take her to the Bolsover séance he had gone back several -degrees in his dawning sympathy for the subject. Challenger bade them -farewell with many gibes, his beard projecting forward and his eyes -closed with upraised eyebrows, as was his wont when inclined to be -facetious. - -“You have your powder-bag, my dear Enid. If you see a particularly good -specimen of ectoplasm in the course of the evening don’t forget your -father. I have a microscope, chemical reagents and everything ready. -Perhaps even a small _poltergeist_ might come your way. Any trifle would -be welcome.” - -His bull’s bellow of laughter followed them into the lift. - -The provision merchant’s establishment of Mr. Bolsover proved to be a -euphemism for an old-fashioned grocer’s shop, in the most crowded part -of Hammersmith. The neighbouring church was chiming out the -three-quarters as the taxi drove up, and the shop was full of people, so -Enid and Malone walked up and down outside. As they were so engaged -another taxi drove up and a large, untidy-looking, ungainly bearded man -in a suit of Harris tweed stepped out of it. He glanced at his watch and -then began to pace the pavement. Presently he noted the others and came -up to them. - -“May I ask if you are the journalists who are going to attend the -séance?... I thought so. Old Bolsover is terribly busy so you were wise -to wait. Bless him, he is one of God’s saints in his way.” - -“You are Mr. Algernon Mailey, I presume?” - -“Yes. I am the gentleman whose credulity is giving rise to considerable -anxiety upon the part of my friends, as one of the rags remarked the -other day.” His laugh was so infectious that the others were bound to -laugh also. Certainly, with his athletic proportions, which had run a -little to seed but were still notable, and with his virile voice and -strong if homely face, he gave no impression of instability. - -“We are all labelled with some stigma by our opponents,” said he. “I -wonder what yours will be.” - -“We must not sail under false colours, Mr. Mailey,” said Enid. “We are -not yet among the believers.” - -“Quite right. You should take your time over it. It is infinitely the -most important thing in the world, so it is worth taking time over. I -took many years myself. Folk can be blamed for neglecting it, but no one -can be blamed for being cautious in examination. Now I am all out for -it, as you are aware, because I _know_ it is true. There is such a -difference between believing and knowing. I lecture a good deal. But I -never want to convert my audience. I don’t believe in sudden -conversions. They are shallow, superficial things. All I want is to put -the thing before the people as clearly as I can. I just tell them the -truth and why we know it is the truth. Then my job is done. They can -take it or leave it. If they are wise they will explore along the paths -that I indicate. If they are unwise they miss their chance. I don’t want -to press them or to proselytise. It’s their affair, not mine.” - -“Well, that seems a reasonable view,” said Enid, who was attracted by -the frank manner of their new acquaintance. They were standing now in -the full flood of light cast by Bolsover’s big plate-glass window. She -had a good look at him, his broad forehead, his curious grey eyes, -thoughtful and yet eager, his straw-coloured beard which indicated the -outline of an aggressive chin. He was solidity personified--the very -opposite of the fanatic whom she had imagined. His name had been a good -deal in the papers lately as a protagonist in the long battle, and she -remembered that it had never been mentioned without an answering snort -from her father. - -“I wonder,” she said to Malone, “what would happen if Mr. Mailey were -locked up in a room with Dad!” - -Malone laughed. “There used to be a schoolboy question as to what would -occur if an irresistible force were to strike an invincible obstacle.” - -“Oh, you are the daughter of Professor Challenger,” said Mailey with -interest. “He is a big figure in the scientific world. What a grand -world it would be if it would only realise its own limitations.” - -“I don’t quite follow you.” - -“It is this scientific world which is at the bottom of much of our -materialism. It has helped us in comfort--if comfort is any use to us. -Otherwise it has usually been a curse to us, for it has called itself -progress and given us a false impression that we are making progress, -whereas we are really drifting very steadily backwards.” - -“Really I can’t quite agree with you there, Mr. Mailey,” said Malone, -who was getting restive under what seemed to him dogmatic assertion. -“Look at wireless. Look at the S.O.S. call at sea. Is that not a benefit -to mankind?” - -“Oh, it works out all right sometimes. I value my electric reading-lamp, -and that is a product of science. It gives us, as I said before, comfort -and occasionally safety.” - -“Why, then, do you depreciate it?” - -“Because it obscures the vital thing--the object of life. We were not -put into this planet in order that we should go fifty miles an hour in a -motor-car, or cross the Atlantic in an airship, or send messages either -with or without wires. These are the mere trimmings and fringes of life. -But these men of science have so riveted our attention on these fringes -that we forget the central object.” - -“I don’t follow you.” - -“It is not how fast you go that matters, it is the object of your -journey. It is not how you send a message, it is what the value of the -message may be. At every stage this so-called progress may be a curse, -and yet as long as we use the word we confuse it with real progress and -imagine that we are doing that for which God sent us into the world.” - -“Which is?” - -“To prepare ourselves for the next phase of life. There is mental -preparation and spiritual preparation, and we are neglecting both. To be -in old age better men and women, more unselfish, more broadminded, more -genial and tolerant, that is what we are for. It is a soul factory and -it is turning out a bad article. But---- Hullo!” he burst into his -infectious laugh. “Here I am delivering my lecture in the street. Force -of habit, you see. My son says that if you press the third button of my -waistcoat I automatically deliver a lecture. But here is the good -Bolsover to your rescue.” - -The worthy grocer had caught sight of them through the window and came -bustling out, untying his white apron. - -“Good evening, all! I won’t have you waiting in the cold. Besides -there’s the clock, and time’s up. It does not do to keep them waiting. -Punctuality for all--that’s my motto and theirs. My lads will shut up -the shop. This way, and mind the sugar-barrel.” - -They threaded their way amid boxes of dried fruits and piles of cheese, -finally passing between two great casks which hardly left room for the -grocer’s portly form. A narrow door beyond opened into the residential -part of the establishment. Ascending the narrow stair, Bolsover threw -open a door and the visitors found themselves in a considerable room in -which a number of people were seated round a large table. There was Mrs. -Bolsover herself, large, cheerful and buxom like her husband. Three -daughters were all of the same pleasing type. There was an elderly woman -who seemed to be some relation, and two other colourless females who -were described as neighbours and Spiritualists. The only other man was a -little grey-headed fellow with a pleasant face and quick, twinkling -eyes, who sat at a harmonium in the corner. - -“Mr. Smiley, our musician,” said Bolsover. “I don’t know what we could -do without Mr. Smiley. It’s vibrations, you know. Mr. Mailey could tell -you about that. Ladies, you know Mr. Mailey, our very good friend. And -these are two enquirers--Miss Challenger and Mr. Malone.” - -The Bolsover family all smiled genially, but the nondescript elderly -person rose to her feet and surveyed them with an austere face. - -“You’re very welcome here, you two strangers,” she said. “But we would -say to you that we want outward reverence. We respect the shining ones -and we will not have them insulted.” - -“I assure you we are very earnest and fairminded,” said Malone. - -“We’ve had our lesson. We haven’t forgotten the Meadows’ affair, Mr. -Bolsover.” - -“No, no, Mrs. Seldon. That won’t happen again. We were rather upset over -that,” Bolsover added, turning to the visitors. “That man came here as -our guest, and when the lights were out he poked the other sitters with -his finger so as to make them think it was a spirit hand. Then he wrote -the whole thing up as an exposure in the public Press, when the only -fraudulent thing present had been himself.” - -Malone was honestly shocked. “I can assure you we are incapable of such -conduct.” - -The old lady sat down, but still regarded them with a suspicious eye. -Bolsover bustled about and got things ready. - -“You sit here, Mr. Mailey. Mr. Malone, will you sit between my wife and -my daughter? Where would the young lady like to sit?” - -Enid was feeling rather nervous. “I think,” said she, “that I would like -to sit next Mr. Malone.” - -Bolsover chuckled and winked at his wife. - -“Quite so. Most natural, I am sure.” They all settled into their places. -Mr. Bolsover had switched off the electric light, but a candle burned in -the middle of the table. Malone thought what a picture it would have -made for a Rembrandt. Deep shadows draped it in, but the yellow light -flickered upon the circle of faces--the strong, homely, heavy features -of Bolsover, the solid line of his family circle, the sharp, austere -countenance of Mrs. Seldon, the earnest eyes and yellow beard of Mailey, -the worn, tired faces of the two Spiritualist women, and finally the -firm, noble profile of the girl who sat beside him. The whole world had -suddenly narrowed down to that one little group, so intensely -concentrated upon its own purpose. - -On the table there was scattered a curious collection of objects, which -had all the same appearance of tools which had long been used. There was -a battered brass speaking-trumpet, very discoloured, a tambourine, a -musical-box, and a number of smaller objects. “We never know what they -may want,” said Bolsover, waving his hand over them. “If Wee One calls -for a thing and it isn’t there she lets us know about it--oh, yes, -something shocking!” - -“She has a temper of her own has Wee One,” remarked Mrs. Bolsover. - -“Why not, the pretty dear?” said the austere lady. “I expect she has -enough to try it with researchers and what-not. I often wonder she -troubles to come at all.” - -“Wee One is our little girl guide,” said Bolsover. “You’ll hear her -presently.” - -“I do hope she will come,” said Enid. - -“Well, she never failed us yet, except when that man Meadows clawed hold -of the trumpet and put it outside the circle.” - -“Who is the medium?” asked Malone. - -“Well, we don’t know ourselves. We all help, I think. Maybe I give as -much as anyone. And mother, she is a help.” - -“Our family is a co-operative store,” said his wife, and everyone -laughed. - -“I thought one medium was necessary.” - -“It is usual but not necessary,” said Mailey in his deep, authoritative -voice. “Crawford showed that pretty clearly in the Gallagher séances -when he proved, by weighing chairs, that everyone in the circle lost -from half to two pounds at a sitting, though the medium, Miss Kathleen, -lost as many as ten or twelve. Here the long series of sittings---- How -long, Mr. Bolsover?” - -“Four years unbroken.” - -“The long series has developed everyone to some extent, so that there is -a high average output from each, instead of an extraordinary amount from -one.” - -“Output of what?” - -“Animal magnetism, ectoplasm--in fact, power. That is the most -comprehensive word. The Christ used that word. ‘Much power has gone out -of me.’ It is ‘dunamis’ in the Greek, but the translators missed the -point and translated it ‘virtue.’ If a good Greek scholar who was also a -profound occult student were to re-translate the New Testament, we -should get some eye-openers. Dear old Ellis Powell did a little in that -direction. His death was a loss to the world.” - -“Aye, indeed,” said Bolsover in a reverent voice. “But now, before we -get to work, Mr. Malone, I want you just to note one or two things. You -see the white spots on the trumpet and the tambourine? Those are -luminous points so that we can see where they are. The table is just our -dining-table, good British oak. You can examine it if you like. But -you’ll see things that won’t depend upon the table. Now, Mr. Smiley, out -goes the light and we’ll ask you for ‘Rock of Ages.’” - -The harmonium droned in the darkness and the circle sang. They sang very -tunefully, too, for the girls had fresh voices and true ears. Low and -vibrant, the solemn rhythm became most impressive when no sense but that -of hearing was free to act. Their hands, according to instructions, were -laid lightly upon the table, and they were warned not to cross their -legs. Malone, with his hand touching Enid’s, could feel the little -quiverings which showed that her nerves were highly strung. The homely, -jovial voice of Bolsover relieved the tension. - -“That should do it,” he said. “I feel as if the conditions were good -to-night. Just a touch of frost in the air, too. I’ll ask you now to -join with me in prayer.” - -It was effective, that simple, earnest prayer in the darkness--an inky -darkness which was only broken by the last red glow of a dying fire. - -“Oh, great Father of us all,” said the voice. “You who are beyond our -thoughts and who yet pervade our lives, grant that all evil may be kept -from us this night and that we may be privileged to get in touch, if -only for an hour, with those who dwell upon a higher plane than ours. -You are our Father as well as theirs. Permit us, for a short space, to -meet in brotherhood, that we may have an added knowledge of that eternal -life which awaits us, and so be helped during our years of waiting in -this lower world.” He ended with the “Our Father,” in which all joined. -Then they sat in expectant silence. Outside was the dull roar of traffic -and the occasional ill-tempered squawk of a passing car. Inside there -was absolute stillness. Enid and Malone felt every sense upon the alert -and every nerve on edge as they gazed out into the gloom. - -“Nothing doing, Mother,” said Bolsover at last. “It’s the strange -company. New vibrations. They have to tune them in to get harmony. Give -us another tune, Mr. Smiley.” - -Again the harmonium droned. It was still playing when a woman’s voice -cried: “Stop! Stop! They are here!” - -Again they waited without result. - -“Yes! Yes! I heard Wee One. She is here, right enough. I’m sure of it.” - -Silence again, and then it came--such a marvel to the visitors, such a -matter of course to the circle. - -“Gooda evenin’!” cried a voice. - -There was a burst of greeting and of welcoming laughter from the circle. -They were all speaking at once. “Good evening, Wee One!” “There you are, -dear!” “I knew you would come!” “Well done, little girl guide!” - -“Gooda evenin’, all!” replied the voice. “Wee One so glad see Daddy and -Mummy and the rest. Oh, what a big man with beard! Mailey, Mister -Mailey, I meet him before. He big Mailey, I little femaley. Glad see -you, Mr. Big Man.” - -Enid and Malone listened with amazement, but it was impossible to be -nervous in face of the perfectly natural way in which the company -accepted it. The voice was very thin and high--more so than any -artificial falsetto could produce. It was the voice of a female child. -That was certain. Also that there was no female child in the room unless -one had been smuggled in after the light went out. That was possible. -But the voice seemed to be in the middle of the table. How could a child -get there? - -“Easy get there, Mr. Gentleman,” said the voice, answering his unspoken -thought. “Daddy strong man. Daddy lift Wee One on to table. Now I show -what Daddy not able to do.” - -“The trumpet’s up!” cried Bolsover. - -The little circle of luminous paint rose noiselessly into the air. Now -it was swaying above their heads. - -“Go up and hit the ceiling!” cried Bolsover. - -Up it went and they heard the metallic tapping above them. Then the high -voice came from above: - -“Clever Daddy! Daddy got fishing-rod and put trumpet up to ceiling. But -how Daddy make the voice, eh? What you say, pretty English Missy? Here -is present from Wee One.” - -Something soft dropped on Enid’s lap. She put her hand down and felt it. - -“It’s a flower--a chrysanthemum. Thank you, Wee One!” - -“An apport?” asked Mailey. - -“No, no, Mr. Mailey,” said Bolsover. “They were in the vase on the -harmonium. Speak to her, Miss Challenger. Keep the vibrations going.” - -“Who are you, Wee One?” asked Enid, looking up at the moving spot above -her. - -“I am little black girl. Eight-year-old little black girl.” - -“Oh, come, dear,” said mother in her rich, coaxing voice. “You were -eight when you came to us first, and that was years ago.” - -“Years ago to you. All one time to me. I to do my job as eight-year -child. When job done then Wee One become Big One all in one day. No time -here, same as you have. I always eight year old.” - -“In the ordinary way they grow up exactly as we do here,” said Mailey. -“But if they have a special bit of work for which a child is needed, -then as a child they remain. It’s a sort of arrested development.” - -“That’s me. ‘Rested envelopment,’” said the voice proudly. “I learn good -English when big man here.” - -They all laughed. It was the most genial, free-and-easy association -possible. Malone heard Enid’s voice whispering in his ear. - -“Pinch me from time to time, Edward--just to make me sure that I am not -in a dream.” - -“I have to pinch myself, too.” - -“What about your song, Wee One?” asked Bolsover. - -“Oh, yes, indeeda! Wee One sing to you.” She began some simple song, but -faded away in a squeak, while the trumpet clattered on to the table. - -“Ah, power run down!” said Mailey. “I think a little more music will set -us right. ‘Lead Kindly Light,’ Smiley.” - -They sang the beautiful hymn together. As the verse closed an amazing -thing happened--amazing, at least, to the novices, though it called for -no remark from the circle. - -The trumpet still shone upon the table, but two voices, those apparently -of a man and a woman broke out in the air above them and joined very -tunefully in the singing. The hymn died away and all was silence and -tense expectancy once more. - -It was broken by a deep male voice from the darkness. It was an educated -English voice, well modulated, a voice which spoke in a fashion to which -the good Bolsover could never attain. - -“Good evening, friends. The power seems good to-night.” - -“Good evening, Luke. Good evening!” cried everyone. “It is our teaching -guide,” Bolsover explained. “He is a high spirit from the sixth sphere -who gives us instruction.” - -“I may seem high to you,” said the voice. “But what am I to those who in -turn instruct me! It is not _my_ wisdom. Give me no credit. I do but -pass it on.” - -“Always like that,” said Bolsover. “No swank. It’s a sign of his -height.” - -“I see you have two enquirers present. Good evening, young lady! You -know nothing of your own powers or destiny. You will find them out. -Good evening, sir, you are on the threshold of great knowledge. Is there -any subject upon which you would wish me to say a few words? I see that -you are making notes.” - -Malone had, as a fact, disengaged his hand in the darkness and was -jotting down in shorthand the sequence of events. - -“What shall I speak of?” - -“Of love and marriage,” suggested Mrs. Bolsover, nudging her husband. - -“Well, I will say a few words on that. I will not take long, for others -are waiting. The room is crowded with spirit people. I wish you to -understand that there is one man, and only one, for each woman, and one -woman only for each man. When those two meet they fly together and are -one through all the endless chain of existence. Until they meet all -unions are mere accidents which have no meaning. Sooner or later each -couple becomes complete. It may not be here. It may be in the next -sphere where the sexes meet as they do on earth. Or it may be further -delayed. But every man and every woman has his or her affinity and will -find it. Of earthly marriages perhaps one in five is permanent. The -others are accidental. Real marriage is of the soul and spirit. Sex -actions are a mere external symbol which mean nothing and are foolish, -or even pernicious, when the thing which they should symbolise is -wanting. Am I clear?” - -“Very clear,” said Mailey. - -“Some have the wrong mate here. Some have no mate, which is more -fortunate. But all will sooner or later get the right mate. That is -certain. Do not think that you will necessarily have your present -husband when you pass over.” - -“Gawd be praised! Gawd be thanked!” cried a voice. - -“No. Mrs. Melder, it is love--real love--which unites us here. He goes -his way. You go yours. You are on separate planes, perhaps. Some day you -will each find your own, when your youth has come back as it will over -here.” - -“You speak of love. Do you mean sexual love?” asked Mailey. - -“Where are we gettin’ to!” murmured Mrs. Bolsover. - -“Children are not born here. That is only on the earth plane. It was -this aspect of marriage to which the great Teacher referred when he -said: ‘There will be neither marriage nor giving in marriage.’ No! It is -purer, deeper, more wonderful, a unity of souls, a complete merging of -interests and knowledge without a loss of individuality. The nearest you -ever get to it is the first high passion, too beautiful for physical -expression, when two high-souled lovers meet upon your plane. They find -lower expression afterwards, but they will always in their hearts know -that the first delicate, exquisite soul-union was the more lovely. So it -is with us. Any questions?” - -“If a woman loves two men equally, what then?” asked Malone. - -“It seldom happens. She nearly always knows which is really nearest to -her. If she really did so then it would be a proof that neither was the -real affinity, for he is bound to stand high above all. Of course, if -she....” - -The voice trailed off and the trumpet fell. - -“Sing ‘Angels are hoverin’ round’!” cried Bolsover. “Smiley, hit that -old harmonium. The vibrations are at zero.” - -Another bout of music, another silence, and then a most dismal voice. -Never had Enid heard so sad a voice. It was like clods on a coffin. At -first it was a deep mutter. Then it was a prayer--a Latin prayer -apparently--for twice the word _Domine_ sounded and once the word -_peccavimus_. There was an indescribable air of depression and -desolation in the room. “For God’s sake, what is it?” cried Malone. - -The circle was equally puzzled. - -“Some poor chap out of the lower spheres, I think,” said Bolsover. -“Orthodox folk say we should avoid them. I say we should hurry up and -help them.” - -“Right, Bolsover!” said Mailey, with hearty approval. “Get on with it, -quick!” - -“Can we do anything for you, friend?” - -There was silence. - -“He doesn’t know. He doesn’t understand the conditions. Where is Luke? -He’ll know what to do.” - -“What is it, friend?” asked the pleasant voice of the guide. - -“There is some poor fellow here. We want to help him.” - -“Ah! yes, yes, he has come from the outer darkness,” said Luke in a -sympathetic voice. “He doesn’t know. He doesn’t understand. They come -over here with a fixed idea, and when they find the real thing is quite -different from anything they have been taught by the Churches, they are -helpless. Some adapt themselves and they go on. Others don’t, and they -just wander on unchanging, like this man. He was a cleric, and a very -narrow, bigoted one. This is the growth of his own mental seed sown -upon earth--sown in ignorance and reaped in misery.” - -“What is amiss with him?” - -“He does not know he is dead. He walks in the mist. It is all an evil -dream to him. He has been years so. To him it seems an eternity.” - -“Why do you not tell him--instruct him?” - -“We cannot. We----” - -The trumpet crashed. - -“Music, Smiley, music! Now the vibrations should be better.” - -“The higher spirits cannot reach earth-bound folk,” said Mailey. “They -are in very different zones of vibration. It is we who are near them and -can help them.” - -“Yes, you! you!” cried the voice of Luke. - -“Mr. Mailey, speak to him. You know how!” The low mutter had broken out -again in the same weary monotone. - -“Friend, I would have a word with you,” said Mailey in a firm, loud -voice. The mutter ceased and one felt that the invisible presence was -straining its attention. “Friend, we are so sorry at your condition. You -see us and you wonder why we do not see you. You have passed on. You are -in the other world. But you do not know it, because it is not as you -expected. You have not been received as you imagined. It is because you -imagined wrong. Understand that all is well, and that God is good, and -that all happiness is awaiting you if you will but raise your mind and -pray for help, and above all think less of your own condition and more -of those other poor souls who are round you.” - -There was a silence and Luke spoke again. - -“He has heard you. He wants to thank you. He has some glimmer now of -his condition. It will grow within him. He wants to know if he may come -again.” - -“Yes! Yes!” cried Bolsover. “We have quite a number who report progress -from time to time. God bless you, friend. Come as often as you can.” The -mutter had ceased and there seemed to be a new feeling of peace in the -air. The high voice of Wee One was heard. - -“Plenty power still left. Red Cloud here. Show what he can do, if Daddy -likes.” - -“Red Cloud is our Indian control. He is usually busy when any purely -physical phenomena have to be done. You there, Red Cloud?” - -Three loud thuds, like a hammer on wood, sounded from the darkness. - -“Good evening, Red Cloud!” - -A new voice, slow, staccato, laboured, sounded above them. - -“Good day, Chief! How the squaw? How the papooses? Strange faces in -wigwam to-night.” - -“Seeking knowledge, Red Cloud. Can you show what you can do?” - -“I try. Wait a little. Do all I can.” - -Again there was a long hush of expectancy. Then the novices were faced -once more with the miraculous. - -There came a dull glow in the darkness. It was apparently a wisp of -luminous vapour. It whisked across from one side to the other and then -circled in the air. By degrees it condensed into a circular disc of -radiance about the size of a bull’s-eye lantern. It cast no reflection -round it and was simply a clean-cut circle in the gloom. Once it -approached Enid’s face and Malone saw it clearly from the side. - -“Why, there is a hand holding it!” he cried, with sudden suspicion. - -“Yes, there is a materialised hand,” said Mailey. “I can see it -clearly.” - -“Would you like it to touch you, Mr. Malone?” - -“Yes, if it will.” - -The light vanished and an instant afterwards Malone felt pressure upon -his own hand. He turned it palm upwards and clearly felt three fingers -laid across it, smooth, warm fingers of adult size. He closed his own -fingers and the hand seemed to melt away in his grasp. - -“It has gone!” he gasped. - -“Yes! Red Cloud is not very good at materialisations. Perhaps we don’t -give him the proper sort of power. But his lights are excellent.” - -Several more had broken out. They were of different types, slow-moving -clouds and little dancing sparks like glowworms. At the same time both -visitors were conscious of a cold wind which blew upon their faces. It -was no delusion, for Enid felt her hair stream across her forehead. - -“You feel the rushing wind,” said Mailey. “Some of these lights would -pass for tongues of fire, would they not? Pentecost does not seem such a -very remote or impossible thing, does it?” - -The tambourine had risen in the air, and the dot of luminous paint -showed that it was circling round. Presently it descended and touched -their heads each in turn. Then with a jingle it quivered down upon the -table. - -“Why a tambourine? It seems always to be a tambourine,” remarked Malone. - -“It is a convenient little instrument,” Mailey explained. “The only one -which shows automatically by its noise where it is flying. I don’t know -what other I could suggest except a musical-box.” - -“Our box here flies round something amazin’,” said Mrs. Bolsover. “It -thinks nothing of winding itself up in the air as it flies. It’s a heavy -box, too.” - -“Nine pounds,” said Bolsover. “Well, we seem to have got to the end of -things. I don’t think we shall get much more to-night. It has not been a -bad sitting--what I should call a fair average sitting. We must wait a -little before we turn on the light. Well, Mr. Malone, what do you think -of it? Let’s have any objections now before we part. That’s the worst of -you inquirers, you know. You often bottle things up in your own mind and -let them loose afterwards, when it would have been easy to settle it at -the time. Very nice and polite to our faces, and then we are a gang of -swindlers in the report.” - -Malone’s head was throbbing and he passed his hand over his heated brow. - -“I am confused,” he said, “but impressed. Oh, yes, certainly impressed. -I’ve read of these things, but it is very different when you see them. -What weighs most with me is the obvious sincerity and sanity of all you -people. No one could doubt that.” - -“Come. We’re gettin’ on,” said Bolsover. - -“I try to think the objections which would be raised by others who were -not present. I’ll have to answer them. First, there is the oddity of it -all. It is so different to our preconceptions of spirit people.” - -“We must fit our theories to the facts,” said Mailey. “Up to now we have -fitted the facts to our theories. You must remember that we have been -dealing to-night--with all respect to our dear good hosts--with a -simple, primitive, earthly type of spirit, who has his very definite -uses, but is not to be taken as an average type. You might as well take -the stevedore whom you see on the quay as being a representative -Englishman.” - -“There’s Luke,” said Bolsover. - -“Ah, yes, he is, of course, very much higher. You heard him and could -judge. What else, Mr. Malone?” - -“Well, the darkness! Everything done in darkness. Why should all -mediumship be associated with gloom?” - -“You mean all physical mediumship. That is the only branch of the -subject which needs darkness. It is purely chemical, like the darkness -of the photographic room. It preserves the delicate physical substance -which, drawn from the human body, is the basis of these phenomena. A -cabinet is used for the purpose of condensing this same vaporous -substance and helping it to solidify. Am I clear?” - -“Yes, but it is a pity all the same. It gives a horrible air of deceit -to the whole business.” - -“We get it now and again in the light, Mr. Malone,” said Bolsover. “I -don’t know if Wee One is gone yet. Wait a bit! Where are the matches?” -He lit the candle which set them all blinking after their long darkness. -“Now let us see what we can do.” - -There was a round wooden platter or circle of wood lying among the -miscellaneous objects littered over the table to serve as playthings for -the strange forces. Bolsover stared at it. They all stared at it. They -had risen but no one was within three feet of it. - -“Please, Wee One, please!” cried Mrs. Bolsover. - -Malone could hardly believe his eyes. The disc began to move. It -quivered and then rattled upon the table, exactly as the lid of a -boiling pot might do. - -“Up with it, Wee One!” They were all clapping their hands. - -The circle of wood, in the full light of the candle, rose upon edge and -stood there shaking as if trying to keep its balance. - -“Give three tilts, Wee One.” - -The disc inclined forward three times. Then it fell flat and remained -so. - -“I am so glad you have seen that,” said Mailey. “There is Telekenesis in -its simplest and most decisive form.” - -“I could not have believed it!” cried Enid. - -“Nor I,” said Malone. “I have extended my knowledge of what is possible. -Mr. Bolsover, you have enlarged my views.” - -“Good, Mr. Malone!” - -“As to the power at the back of these things I am still ignorant. As to -the things themselves I have now and henceforward not the slightest -doubt in the world. I _know_ that they are true. I wish you all good -night. It is not likely that Miss Challenger or I will ever forget the -evening that we have spent under your roof.” - -It was like another world when they came out into the frosty air, and -saw the taxis bearing back the pleasure seekers from theatre or cinema -palace. Mailey stood beside them while they waited for a cab. - -“I know exactly how you feel,” he said, smiling. “You look at all these -bustling, complacent people, and you marvel to think how little they -know of the possibilities of life. Don’t you want to stop them? Don’t -you want to tell them? And yet they would only think you a liar or a -lunatic. Funny situation, is it not?” - -“I’ve lost all my bearings for the moment.” - -“They will come back to-morrow morning. It is curious how fleeting these -impressions are. You will persuade yourselves that you have been -dreaming. Well, good-bye--and let me know if I can help your studies in -the future.” - -The friends--one could hardly yet call them lovers--were absorbed in -thought during their drive home. When he reached Victoria Gardens Malone -escorted Enid to the door of the flat, but he did not go in with her. -Somehow the jeers of Challenger which usually rather woke sympathy -within him would now get upon his nerves. As it was he heard his -greeting in the hall. - -“Well, Enid. Where’s your spook? Spill him out of the bag on the floor -and let us have a look at him.” - -His evening’s adventure ended as it had begun, with a bellow of laughter -which pursued him down the lift. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -WHERE OUR COMMISSIONERS HAVE A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE - - -Malone sat at the side table of the smoking-room of the Literary Club. -He had Enid’s impressions of the séance before him--very subtle and -observant they were--and he was endeavouring to merge them in his own -experience. A group of men were smoking and chatting round the fire. -This did not disturb the journalist, who found, as many do, that his -brain and his pen worked best sometimes when they were stimulated by the -knowledge that he was part of a busy world. Presently, however, somebody -who observed his presence brought the talk round to psychic subjects, -and then it was more difficult for him to remain aloof. He leaned back -in his chair and listened. - -Polter, the famous novelist, was there, a brilliant man with a subtle -mind, which he used too often to avoid obvious truth and to defend some -impossible position for the sake of the empty dialectic exercise. He was -holding forth now to an admiring, but not entirely a subservient -audience. - -“Science,” said he, “is gradually sweeping the world clear of all these -old cobwebs of superstition. The world was like some old, dusty attic, -and the sun of science is bursting in, flooding it with light, while the -dust settles gradually to the floor.” - -“By science,” said someone maliciously, “you mean, of course, men like -Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Barrett, Lombroso, -Richet, and so forth.” - -Polter was not accustomed to be countered, and usually became rude. - -“No, sir, I mean nothing so preposterous,” he answered, with a glare. -“No name, however eminent, can claim to stand for science so long as he -is a member of an insignificant minority of scientific men.” - -“He is, then, a crank,” said Pollifex, the artist, who usually played -jackal to Polter. - -The objector, one Millworthy, a free-lance of journalism, was not to be -so easily silenced. - -“Then Galileo was a crank in his day,” said he. “And Harvey was a crank -when he was laughed at over the circulation of the blood.” - -“It’s the circulation of the _Daily Gazette_ which is at stake,” said -Marrible, the humorist of the club. “If they get off their stunt I don’t -suppose they care a tinker’s curse what is truth or what is not.” - -“Why such things should be examined at all, except in a police court, I -can’t imagine,” said Polter. “It is a dispersal of energy, a -misdirection of human thought into channels which lead nowhere. We have -plenty of obvious, material things to examine. Let us get on with our -jobs.” - -Atkinson, the surgeon, was one of the circle, and had sat silently -listening. Now he spoke. - -“I think the learned bodies should find more time for the consideration -of psychic matters.” - -“Less,” said Polter. - -“You can’t have less than nothing. They ignore them altogether. Some -time ago I had a series of cases of telepathic _rapport_ which I wished -to lay before the Royal Society. My colleague Wilson, the zoologist, -also had a paper which he proposed to read. They went in together. His -was accepted and mine rejected. The title of his paper was ‘The -Reproductive System of the Dung-Beetle.’” - -There was a general laugh. - -“Quite right, too,” said Polter. “The humble dung-beetle was at least a -fact. All this psychic stuff is not.” - -“No doubt you have good grounds for your views,” chirped the mischievous -Millworthy, a mild youth with a velvety manner. “I have little time for -solid reading, so I should like to ask you which of Dr. Crawford’s three -books you consider the best?” - -“I never heard of the fellow.” - -Millworthy simulated intense surprise. - -“Good Heavens, man! Why, he is _the_ authority. If you want pure -laboratory experiments those are the books. You might as well lay down -the law about zoology and confess that you had never heard of Darwin.” - -“This is not science,” said Polter, emphatically. - -“What is really not science,” said Atkinson, with some heat, “is the -laying down of the law on matters which you have not studied. It is talk -of that sort which has brought me to the edge of Spiritualism, when I -compare this dogmatic ignorance with the earnest search for truth -conducted by the great Spiritualists. Many of them took twenty years of -work before they formed their conclusions.” - -“But their conclusions are worthless because they are upholding a formed -opinion.” - -“But each of them fought a long fight before he formed that opinion. I -know a few of them, and there is not one who did not take a lot of -convincing.” - -Polter shrugged his shoulders. - -“Well, they can have their spooks if it makes them happier, so long as -they let me keep my feet firm on the ground.” - -“Or stuck in the mud,” said Atkinson. - -“I would rather be in the mud with sane people than in the air with -lunatics,” said Polter. “I know some of these Spiritualist people and I -believe that you can divide them equally into fools and rogues.” - -Malone had listened with interest and then with a growing indignation. -Now he suddenly took fire. - -“Look here, Polter,” he said, turning his chair towards the company, “it -is fools and dolts like you which are holding back the world’s progress. -You admit that you have read nothing of this, and I’ll swear that you -have seen nothing. Yet you use the position and the name which you have -won in other matters in order to discredit a number of people who, -whatever they may be, are certainly very earnest and very thoughtful.” - -“Oh,” said Polter, “I had no idea you had got so far. You don’t dare to -say so in your articles. You _are_ a Spiritualist then. That rather -discounts your views, does it not?” - -“I am not a Spiritualist, but I am an honest inquirer, and that is more -than you have ever been. You call them rogues and fools, but, little as -I know, I am sure that some of them are men and women whose boots you -are not worthy to clean.” - -“Oh, come, Malone!” cried one or two voices, but the insulted Polter was -on his feet. “It’s men like you who empty this club,” he cried, as he -swept out. “I shall certainly never come here again to be insulted.” - -“I say, you’ve done it, Malone!” - -“I felt inclined to help him out with a kick. Why should he ride -roughshod over other people’s feelings and beliefs? He has got on and -most of us haven’t, so he thinks it’s a condescension to come among us.” - -“Dear old Irishman!” said Atkinson, patting his shoulder. “Rest, -perturbed spirit, rest! But I wanted to have a word with you. Indeed, I -was waiting here because I did not want to interrupt you.” - -“I’ve had interruptions enough!” cried Malone. “How could I work with -that damned donkey braying in my ear?” - -“Well, I’ve only a word to say. I’ve got a sitting with Linden, the -famous medium of whom I spoke to you, at the Psychic College to-night. I -have an extra ticket. Would you care to come?” - -“Come? I should think so!” - -“I have another ticket. I should have asked Polter if he had not been so -offensive. Linden does not mind sceptics, but objects to scoffers. Whom -should I ask?” - -“Let Miss Enid Challenger come. We work together, you know.” - -“Why, of course I will. Will you let her know?” - -“Certainly.” - -“It’s at seven o’clock to-night. The Psychic College. You know the place -down at Holland Park.” - -“Yes, I have the address. Very well, Miss Challenger and I will -certainly be there.” - - * * * * * - -Behold the pair, then, upon a fresh psychic adventure. They picked -Atkinson up at Wimpole Street, and then traversed that long, roaring, -rushing driving belt of the great city which extends through Oxford -Street and Bayswater to Notting Hill and the stately Victorian houses of -Holland Park. It was at one of these that the taxi drew up, a large, -imposing building, standing back a little from the road. A smart maid -admitted them, and the subdued light of the tinted hall-lamp fell upon -shining linoleum and polished wood-work with the gleam of white marble -statuary in the corner. Enid’s female perceptions told her of a -well-run, well-appointed establishment, with a capable direction at the -head. This direction took the shape of a kindly Scottish lady who met -them in the hall and greeted Mr. Atkinson as an old friend. She was, in -turn, introduced to the journalists as Mrs. Ogilvy. Malone had already -heard how her husband and she had founded and run this remarkable -institute, which is the centre of psychic experiment in London, at a -very great cost, both in labour and in money, to themselves. - -“Linden and his wife have gone up,” said Mrs. Ogilvy. “He seems to think -that the conditions are favourable. The rest are in the drawing-room. -Won’t you join them for a few minutes?” - -Quite a number of people had gathered for the séance, some of them old -psychic students who were mildly interested; others, beginners who -looked about them with rather startled eyes, wondering what was going to -happen next. A tall man was standing near the door who turned and -disclosed the tawny beard and open face of Algernon Mailey. He shook -hands with the newcomers. - -“Another experience, Mr. Malone? Well, I thought you gave a very fair -account of the last. You are still a neophyte, but you are well within -the gates of the temple. Are you alarmed, Miss Challenger?” - -“I don’t think I could be while you were around,” she answered. - -He laughed. - -“Of course, a materialisation séance is a little different to any -other--more impressive, in a way. You’ll find it very instructive, -Malone, as bearing upon psychic photography and other matters. By the -way, you should try for a psychic picture. The famous Hope works -upstairs.” - -“I always thought that that at least was fraud.” - -“On the contrary, I should say it was the best established of all -phenomena, the one which leaves the most permanent proof. I’ve been a -dozen times under every possible test condition. The real trouble is, -not that it lends itself to fraud, but that it lends itself to -exploitation by that villainous journalism which cares only for a -sensation. Do you know anyone here?” - -“No, we don’t.” - -“The tall, handsome lady is the Duchess of Rossland. Then, there are -Lord and Lady Montnoir, the middle-aged couple near the fire. Real good -folk and among the very few of the aristocracy who have shown -earnestness and moral courage in this matter. The talkative lady is Miss -Badley, who lives for séances, a jaded Society woman in search of new -sensations--always visible, always audible and always empty. I don’t -know the two men. I heard someone say they were researchers from the -University. The stout man with the lady in black is Sir James -Smith--they lost two boys in the war. The tall, dark person is a weird -man named Barclay, who lives, I understand, in one room and seldom comes -out save for a séance.” - -“And the man with the horn glasses?” - -“That is a pompous ass named Weatherby. He is one of those who wander -about on the obscure edges of Masonry, talking with whispers and -reverence of mysteries where no mystery is. Spiritualism, with its very -real and awful mysteries, is, to him, a vulgar thing because it brought -consolation to common folk, but he loves to read papers on the Palladian -Cultus, ancient and accepted Scottish rites, and Baphometic figures. -Eliphas Levi is his prophet.” - -“It sounds very learned,” said Enid. - -“Or very absurd. But, hullo! Here are mutual friends.” - -The two Bolsovers had arrived, very hot and frowsy and genial. There is -no such leveller of classes as spiritualism, and the charwoman with -psychic force is the superior of the millionaire who lacks it. The -Bolsovers and the aristocrats fraternised instantly. The Duchess was -just asking for admission to the grocer’s circle, when Mrs. Ogilvy -bustled in. - -“I think everyone is here now,” she said. “It is time to go upstairs.” - -The séance room was a large, comfortable chamber on the first floor, -with a circle of easy chairs, and a curtain-hung divan which served as a -cabinet. The medium and his wife were waiting there. Mr. Linden was a -gentle, large-featured man, stoutish in build, deep-chested, -clean-shaven, with dreamy, blue eyes and flaxen, curly hair which rose -in a pyramid at the apex of his head. He was of middle age. His wife was -rather younger, with the sharp, querulous expression of the tired -housekeeper, and quick, critical eyes, which softened into something -like adoration when she looked at her husband. Her rôle was to explain -matters and to guard his interests while he was unconscious. - -“The sitters had better just take their own places,” said the medium. -“If you can alternate the sexes it is as well. Don’t cross your knees, -it breaks the current. If we have a materialisation, don’t grab at it. -If you do, you are liable to injure me.” - -The two sleuths of the Research Society looked at each other knowingly. -Mailey observed it. - -“Quite right,” he said. “I have seen two cases of dangerous haemorrhage -in the medium brought on by that very cause.” - -“Why?” asked Malone. - -“Because the ectoplasm used is drawn from the medium. It recoils upon -him like a snapped elastic band. Where it comes through the skin you get -a bruise. Where it comes from mucous membrane you get bleeding.” - -“And when it comes from nothing, you get nothing,” said the researcher -with a grin. - -“I will explain the procedure in a few words,” said Mrs. Ogilvy, when -everyone was seated. “Mr. Linden does not enter the cabinet at all. He -sits outside it, and as he tolerates red light you will be able to -satisfy yourselves that he does not leave his seat. Mrs. Linden sits on -the other side. She is there to regulate and explain. In the first place -we would wish you to examine the cabinet. One of you will also please -lock the door on the inside and be responsible for the key.” - -The cabinet proved to be a mere tent of hangings, detached from the wall -and standing on a solid platform. The reseachers ferreted about inside -it and stamped on the boards. All seemed solid. - -“What is the use of it?” Malone whispered to Mailey. - -“It serves as a reservoir and condensing place for the ectoplasmic -vapour from the medium, which would otherwise diffuse over the room.” - -“It has been known to serve other purposes also,” remarked one of the -researchers, who overheard the conversation. - -“That’s true enough,” said Mailey philosophically. “I am all in favour -of caution and supervision.” - -“Well, it seems fraud-proof on this occasion, if the medium sits -outside.” The two researchers were agreed on this. - -The medium was seated on one side of the little tent, his wife on the -other. The light was out, and a small red lamp near the ceiling was just -sufficient to enable outlines to be clearly seen. As the eye became -accustomed to it some detail could also be observed. - -“Mr. Linden will begin by some clairvoyant readings,” said Mrs. Linden. -Her whole attitude, seated beside the cabinet with her hands on her lap -and the air of a proprietor, made Enid smile, for she thought of Mrs. -Jarley and her waxworks. - -Linden, who was not in trance, began to give clairvoyance. It was not -very good. Possibly the mixed influence of so many sitters of various -types at close quarters was too disturbing. That was the excuse which he -gave himself when several of his descriptions were unrecognised. But -Malone was more shocked by those which were recognised, since it was so -clear that the word was put into the medium’s mouth. It was the folly of -the sitter rather than the fault of the medium, but it was disconcerting -all the same. - -“I see a young man with brown eyes and a rather drooping moustache.” - -“Oh, darling, darling, have you then come back!” cried Miss Badley. “Oh, -has he a message?” - -“He sends his love and does not forget.” - -“Oh, how evidential! It is so exactly what the dear boy would have said! -My first lover, you know,” she added, in a simpering voice to the -company. “He never fails to come. Mr. Linden has brought him again and -again.” - -“There is a young fellow in khaki building upon the left. I see a symbol -over his head. It might be a Greek cross.” - -“Jim--it is surely Jim!” cried Lady Smith. - -“Yes. He nods his head.” - -“And the Greek cross is probably a propeller,” said Sir James. “He was -in the Air Service, you know.” - -Malone and Enid were both rather shocked. Mailey was also uneasy. - -“This is not good,” he whispered to Enid. “Wait a bit! You will get -something better.” - -There were several good recognitions, and then someone resembling -Summerlee was described for Malone. This was wisely discounted by him, -since Linden might have been in the audience on the former occasion. -Mrs. Debbs’ exhibition seemed to him far more convincing than that of -Linden. - -“Wait a bit!” Mailey repeated. - -“The medium will now try for materialisations,” said Mrs. Linden. “If -the figures appear I would ask you not to touch them, save by request. -Victor will tell you if you may do so. Victor is the medium’s control.” - -The medium had settled down in his chair and he now began to draw long, -whistling breaths with deep intakes, puffing the air out between his -lips. Finally he steadied down and seemed to sink into a deep coma, his -chin upon his breast. Suddenly he spoke, but it seemed that his voice -was better modulated and more cultivated than before. - -“Good evening, all!” said the voice. - -There was a general murmur of “Good evening, Victor.” - -“I am afraid that the vibrations are not very harmonious. The sceptical -element is present, but not, I think, predominant, so that we may hope -for results. Martin Lightfoot is doing what he can.” - -“That is the Indian control,” Mailey whispered. - -“I think that if you would start the gramophone it would be helpful. A -hymn is always best, though there is no real objection to secular music. -Give us what you think best, Mrs. Ogilvy.” - -There was the rasping of a needle which had not yet found its grooves. -Then “Lead, Kindly Light” was churned out. The audience joined in in a -subdued fashion. Mrs. Ogilvy then changed it to “O, God, our help in -ages past.” - -“They often change the records themselves,” said Mrs. Ogilvy, “but -to-night there it not enough power.” - -“O, yes,” said the voice. “There _is_ enough power, Mrs. Ogilvy, but we -are anxious to conserve it all for the materialisations. Martin says -they are building up very well.” - -At this moment the curtain in front of the cabinet began to sway. It -bellied out as if a strong wind were behind it. At the same time a -breeze was felt by all who were in the circle, together with a sensation -of cold. - -“It is quite chilly,” whispered Enid, with a shiver. - -“It is not a subjective feeling,” Mailey answered. “Mr. Harry Price has -tested it with thermometric readings. So did Professor Crawford.” - -“My God!” cried a startled voice. It belonged to the pompous dabbler in -mysteries, who was suddenly faced with a real mystery. The curtains of -the cabinet had parted and a human figure had stolen noiselessly out. -There was the medium clearly outlined on one side. There was Mrs. -Linden, who had sprung to her feet, on the other. And, between them, the -little black, hesitating figure, which seemed to be terrified at its own -position. Mrs. Linden soothed and encouraged it. - -“Don’t be alarmed, dear. It is all quite right. No one will hurt you.” - -“It is someone who has never been through before,” she explained to the -company. “Naturally it seems very strange to her. Just as strange as if -we broke into their world. That’s right, dear. You are gaining strength, -I can see. Well done!” - -The figure was moving forward. Everyone sat spell bound, with staring -eyes. Miss Badley began to giggle hysterically. Weatherby lay back in -his chair, gasping with horror. Neither Malone nor Enid felt any fear, -but were consumed with curiosity. How marvellous to hear the humdrum -flow of life in the street outside and to be face to face with such a -sight as that. - -Slowly the figure moved round. Now it was close to Enid and between her -and the red light. Stooping, she could get the silhouette sharply -outlined. It was that of a little, elderly woman, with sharp, clear-cut -features. - -“It’s Susan!” cried Mrs. Bolsover. “Oh, Susan, don’t you know me?” - -The figure turned and nodded her head. - -“Yes, yes, dear, it is your sister Susie,” cried her husband. “I never -saw her in anything but black. Susan, speak to us!” - -The head was shaken. - -“They seldom speak the first time they come,” said Mrs. Linden, whose -rather blasé, businesslike air was in contrast to the intense emotion of -the company. “I’m afraid she can’t hold together long. Ah, there! She -has gone!” - -The figure had disappeared. There had been some backward movement -towards the cabinet, but it seemed to the observers that she sank into -the ground before she reached it. At any rate, she was gone. - -“Gramophone, please!” said Mrs. Linden. Everyone relaxed and sat back -with a sigh. The gramophone struck up a lively air. Suddenly the -curtains parted, and a second figure appeared. - -It was a young girl, with flowing hair down her back. She came forward -swiftly and with perfect assurance to the centre of the circle. - -Mrs. Linden laughed in a satisfied way. - -“Now you will get something good,” she said. “Here is Lucille.” - -“Good evening, Lucille!” cried the Duchess. “I met you last month, you -will remember, when your medium came to Maltraver Towers.” - -“Yes, yes, lady, I remember you. You have a little boy, Tommy, on our -side of life. No, no, not dead, lady! We are far more alive than you -are. All the fun and frolic are with us!” She spoke in a high, clear -voice and perfect English. - -“Shall I show you what we do over here?” She began a graceful, gliding -dance, while she whistled as melodiously as a bird. “Poor Susan could -not do that. Susan has had no practice. Lucille knows how to use a -built-up body.” - -“Do you remember me, Lucille?” asked Mailey. - -“I remember you, Mr. Mailey. Big man with yellow beard.” - -For the second time in her life Enid had to pinch herself hard to -satisfy herself that she was not dreaming. Was this graceful creature, -who had now sat down in the centre of the circle, a real -materialisation of ectoplasm, used for the moment as a machine for -expression by a soul that had passed, or was it an illusion of the -senses, or was it a fraud? There were the three possibilities. An -illusion was absurd when all had the same impression. Was it fraud? But -this was certainly not the little old woman. She was inches taller and -fair, not dark. And the cabinet was fraud-proof. It had been -meticulously examined. Then it was true. But if it were true, what a -vista of possibilities opened out. Was it not far the greatest matter -which could claim the attention of the world! - -Meanwhile, Lucille had been so natural and the situation was so normal -that even the most nervous had relaxed. The girl answered most -cheerfully to every question, and they rained upon her from every side. - -“Where did you live, Lucille?” - -“Perhaps I had better answer that,” interposed Mrs. Linden. “It will -save the power. Lucille was bred in South Dakota in the United States, -and passed over at the age of fourteen. We have verified some of her -statements.” - -“Are you glad you died, Lucille?” - -“Glad for my own sake. Sorry for mother.” - -“Has your mother seen you since?” - -“Poor mother is a shut box. Lucille cannot open the lid.” - -“Are you happy?” - -“Oh, yes, so gloriously happy.” - -“Is it right that you can come back?” - -“Would God allow it if it were not right? What a wicked man you must be -to ask!” - -“What religion were you?” - -“We were Roman Catholics.” - -“Is that the right religion?” - -“All religions are right if they make you better.” - -“Then it does not matter.” - -“It is what people do in daily life, not what they believe.” - -“Tell us more, Lucille.” - -“Lucille has little time. There are others who wish to come. If Lucille -uses too much power, the others have less. Oh, God is very good and -kind! You poor people on earth do not know how good and kind He is -because it is grey down there. But it is grey for your own good. It is -to give you your chance to earn all the lovely things which wait for -you. But you can only tell how wonderful He is when you get over here.” - -“Have you seen him?” - -“Seen him! How could you see God? No, no, He is all round us and in us -and in everything, but we do not see Him. But I have seen the Christ. -Oh, He was glorious, glorious! Now, good-bye--good-bye!” She backed -towards the cabinet and sank into the shadows. - -Now came a tremendous experience for Malone. A small, dark, rather broad -figure of a woman appeared slowly from the cabinet. Mrs. Linden -encouraged her and then came across to the journalist. - -“It is for you. You can break the circle. Come up to her.” - -Malone advanced and peered awestruck into the face of the apparition. -There was not a foot between them. Surely that large head, that solid, -square outline was familiar! He put his face still nearer--it was almost -touching. He strained his eyes. It seemed to him that the features were -semi-fluid, moulding themselves into a shape, as if some unseen hand -was modelling them in putty. - -“Mother!” he cried. “Mother!” - -Instantly the figure threw up both her hands in a wild gesture of joy. -The motion seemed to destroy her equilibrium and she vanished. - -“She had not been through before. She could not speak,” said Mrs. -Linden, in her businesslike way. “It was your mother.” - -Malone went back, half-stunned, to his seat. It is only when these -things come to one’s own address that one understands their full force. -His mother! Ten years in her grave and yet standing before him. Could he -_swear_ it was his mother? No, he could not. Was he morally certain that -it was his mother? Yes, he was morally certain. He was shaken to the -core. - -But other wonders diverted his thoughts. A young man had emerged briskly -from the cabinet and had advanced to the front of Mailey, where he had -halted. - -“Hullo, Jock! Dear old Jock!” said Mailey. “My nephew,” he explained to -the company. “He always comes when I am with Linden.” - -“The power is sinking,” said the lad, in a clear voice. “I can’t stay -very long. I am so glad to see you, Uncle. You know, we can see quite -clearly in this light, even if you can’t.” - -“Yes, I know you can. I say, Jock. I wanted to tell you that I told your -mother I had seen you. She said her Church taught her it was wrong.” - -“I know. And that I was a demon. Oh, it is rotten, rotten, rotten, and -rotten things will fall!” His voice broke in a sob. - -“Don’t blame her, Jock, she believes this.” - -“No, no, I don’t blame her! She will know better some day. The day is -coming soon when all truth will be manifest and all these corrupt -Churches will be swept off the earth with their cruel doctrines and -their caricatures of God.” - -“Why, Jock, you are becoming quite a heretic!” - -“Love, Uncle! Love! That is all that counts. What matter what you -believe if you are sweet and kind and unselfish as the Christ was of -old?” - -“Have you seen Christ?” asked someone. - -“Not yet. Perhaps the time may come.” - -“Is He not in Heaven, then?” - -“There are many heavens. I am in a very humble one. But it is glorious, -all the same.” - -Enid had thrust her head forward during this dialogue. Her eyes had got -used to the light and she could see more clearly than before. The man -who stood within a few feet of her was not human. Of that she had no -doubt whatever, and yet the points were very subtle. Something in his -strange, yellow-white colouring as contrasted with the faces of her -neighbours. Something, also, in the curious stiffness of his carriage, -as of a man in very rigid stays. - -“Now, Jock,” said Mailey, “give an address to the company. Tell them a -few words about your life.” - -The figure hung his head, exactly as a shy youth would do in life. - -“Oh, Uncle, I can’t.” - -“Come, Jock, we love to listen to you.” - -“Teach the folk what death is,” the figure began. “God wants them to -know. That is why He lets us come back. It is nothing. You are no more -changed than if you went into the next room. You can’t believe you are -dead. I didn’t. It was only when I saw old Sam that I knew, for I was -certain that he was dead, anyhow. Then I came back to mother. And”--his -voice broke--“she would not receive me.” - -“Never mind, dear old Jock,” said Mailey. “She will learn wisdom.” - -“Teach them the truth! Teach it to them! Oh, it is so much more -important than all the things men talk about. If papers for one week -gave as much attention to psychic things as they do to football, it -would be known to all. It is ignorance which stands----” - -The observers were conscious of a sort of flash towards the cabinet, but -the youth had disappeared. - -“Power run down,” said Mailey. “Poor lad, he held on to the last. He -always did. That was how he died.” - -There was a long pause. The gramophone started again. Then there was a -movement of the curtains. Something was emerging. Mrs. Linden sprang up -and waved the figure back. The medium for the first time stirred in his -chair and groaned. - -“What is the matter, Mrs. Linden?” - -“Only half-formed,” she answered. “The lower face had not materialised. -Some of you would have been alarmed. I think that we shall have no more -to-night. The power has sunk very low.” - -So it proved. The lights were gradually turned on. The medium lay with a -white face and a clammy brow in his chair, while his wife sedulously -watched over him, unbuttoning his collar and bathing his face from a -water-glass. The company broke into little groups, discussing what they -had seen. - -“Oh, wasn’t it thrilling!” cried Miss Badley. “It really was most -exciting. But what a pity we could not see the one with the -semi-materialised face.” - -“Thank you, I have seen quite enough,” said the pompous mystic, all the -pomposity shaken out of him. - -“I confess that it has been rather too much for my nerves.” - -Dr. Atkinson found himself near the psychic researchers. “Well, what do -you make of it?” he asked. - -“I have seen it better done at Maskelyne’s Hall,” said one. - -“Oh, come, Scott!” said the other. “You’ve no right to say that. You -admitted that the cabinet was fraud-proof.” - -“Well, so do the committees who go on the stage at Maskelyne’s.” - -“Yes, but it is Maskelyne’s own stage. This is not Linden’s own stage. -He has no machinery.” - -“_Populus vult decipi_,” the other answered, shrugging his shoulders. “I -should certainly reserve judgment.” He moved away with the dignity of -one who cannot be deceived, while his more rational companion still -argued with him as they went. - -“Did you hear that?” said Atkinson. “There is a certain class of psychic -researcher who is absolutely incapable of receiving evidence. They -misuse their brains by straining them to find a way round when the road -is quite clear before them. When the human race advances into its new -kingdom, these intellectual men will form the absolute rear.” - -“No, no,” said Mailey, laughing. “The bishops are predestined to be the -rearguard. I see them all marching in step, a solid body, with their -gaiters and cassocks--the last in the whole world to reach spiritual -truth.” - -“Oh, come,” said Enid, “that is too severe. They are all good men.” - -“Of course they are. It’s quite physiological. They are a body of -elderly men, and the elderly brain is sclerosed and cannot record new -impressions. It’s not their fault, but the fact remains. You are very -silent, Malone.” - -But Malone was thinking of a little, squat, dark figure which waved its -hands in joy when he spoke to it. It was with that image in his mind -that he turned from this room of wonders and passed down into the -street. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -IN WHICH THE READER IS SHOWN THE HABITS OF A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL - - -We will now leave that little group with whom we have made our first -exploration of these grey and ill-defined, but immensely important, -regions of human thought and experiences. From the researchers we will -turn to the researched. Come with me and we will visit Mr. Linden at -home, and will examine the lights and shades which make up the life of a -professional medium. - -To reach him we will pass down the crowded thoroughfare of Tottenham -Court Road, where the huge furniture emporia flank the way, and we will -turn into a small street of drab houses which leads eastwards towards -the British Museum. Tullis Street is the name and 40 the number. Here it -is, one of a row, flat-faced, dull-coloured and commonplace, with railed -steps leading up to a discoloured door, and one front-room window, in -which a huge gilt-edged Bible upon a small round table reassures the -timid visitor. With the universal pass-key of imagination we open the -dingy door, pass down a dark passage and up a narrow stair. It is nearly -ten o’clock in the morning and yet it is in his bedroom that we must -seek the famous worker of miracles. The fact is that he has had, as we -have seen, an exhausting sitting the night before, and that he has to -conserve his strength in the mornings. - -At the moment of our inopportune, but invisible, visit he was sitting -up, propped by the pillows, with a breakfast-tray upon his knees. The -vision he presented would have amused those who have prayed with him in -the humble Spiritualist temples, or had sat with awe at the séances -where he had exhibited the modern equivalents of the gifts of the -Spirit. He looked unhealthily pallid in the dim morning light, and his -curly hair rose up in a tangled pyramid above his broad, intellectual -brow. The open collar of his night-shirt displayed a broad, bull’s neck, -and the depth of his chest and spread of his shoulders showed that he -was a man of considerable personal strength. He was eating his breakfast -with avidity while he conversed with the little, eager, dark-eyed wife -who was seated on the side of the bed. - -“And you reckon it a good meeting, Mary?” - -“Fair to middling, Tom. There was two of them researchers raking round -with their feet and upsetting everybody. D’ye think those folk in the -Bible would have got their phenomena if they had chaps of that sort on -the premises? ‘Of one accord,’ that’s what they say in the Book.” - -“Of course!” cried Linden heartily. “Was the Duchess pleased?” - -“Yes, I think she was very pleased. So was Mr. Atkinson, the surgeon. -There was a new man there called Malone of the Press. Then Lord and Lady -Montnoir got evidence and so did Sir James Smith and Mr. Mailey.” - -“I wasn’t satisfied with the clairvoyance,” said the medium. “The silly -idiots kept on putting things into my mind. ‘That’s surely my Uncle -Sam,’ and so forth. It blurs me so that I can see nothing clear.” - -“Yes, and they think they are helping! Helping to muddle you and -deceive themselves. I know the kind.” - -“But I went under nicely and I am glad there were some fine -materialisations. It took it out of me, though. I’m a rag this morning.” - -“They work you too hard, dear. I’ll take you to Margate and build you -up.” - -“Well, maybe at Easter we could do a week. It would be fine. I don’t -mind readings and clairvoyance, but the physicals do try you. I’m not as -bad as Hallows. They say he just lies white and gasping on the floor -after them.” - -“Yes,” cried the woman bitterly. “And then they run to him with whiskey, -and so they teach him to rely on the bottle and you get another case of -a drunken medium. I know them. You keep off it, Tom!” - -“Yes, one of our trade should stick to soft drinks. If he can stick to -vegetables, too, he’s all the better, but I can’t preach that while I am -wolfin’ up ham and eggs. By Gosh, Mary! it’s past ten and I have a -string of them comin’ this morning. I’m going to make a bit to-day.” - -“You give it away as quick as you make it, Tom.” - -“Well, some hard cases come my way. So long as we can make both ends -meet what more do we want? I expect _they_ will look after us all -right.” - -“They have let down a lot of other poor mediums who did good work in -their day.” - -“It’s the rich folk that are to blame, not the Spirit-people,” said Tom -Linden hotly. “It makes me see red when I remember these folk, Lady This -and Countess That, declaring all the comfort they have had, and then -leaving those who gave it to die in the gutter or rot in the workhouse. -Poor old Tweedy and Soames and the rest all living on old-age pensions -and the papers talking of the money that mediums make, while some damned -conjuror makes more than all of us put together by a rotten imitation -with two tons of machinery to help him.” - -“Don’t worry, dear,” cried the medium’s wife, putting her thin hand -caressingly upon the tangled mane of her man. “It all comes level in -time and everybody pays the price for what they have done.” - -Linden laughed loudly. “It’s my Welsh half that comes out when I flare -up. Let the conjurors take their dirty money and let the rich folk keep -their purses shut. I wonder what they think money is for. Paying death -duties is about the only fun some of them seem to get out of it. If I -had their money....” - -There was a knock at the door. - -“Please, sir, your brother Silas is below.” - -The two looked at each other with some dismay. - -“More trouble,” said Mrs. Linden sadly. - -Linden shrugged his shoulders. “All right, Susan!” he cried. “Tell him -I’ll be down. Now, dear, you keep him going and I’ll be with you in a -quarter of an hour.” - -In less time than he named he was down in the front-room--his consulting -room--where his wife was evidently having some difficulty in making -agreeable conversation with their visitor. He was a big, heavy man, not -unlike his elder brother, but with all the genial chubbiness of the -medium coarsened into pure brutality. He had the same pile of curly -hair, but he was clean-shaven with a heavy, obstinate jowl. He sat by -the window with his huge freckled hands upon his knees. A very important -part of Mr. Silas Linden lay in those hands, for he had been a -formidable professional boxer, and at one time was fancied for the -welter-weight honours of England. Now, as his stained tweed suit and -frayed boots made clear, he had fallen on evil days, which he -endeavoured to mitigate by cadging on his brother. - -“Mornin’, Tom,” he said in a husky voice. Then as the wife left the -room: “Got a drop of Scotch about? I’ve a head on me this morning. I met -some of the old set last night down at ‘The Admiral Vernon.’ Quite a -reunion it was--chaps I hadn’t seen since my best ring days.” - -“Sorry, Silas,” said the medium, seating himself behind his desk. “I -keep nothing in the house.” - -“Spirits enough, but not the right sort,” said Silas. “Well, the price -of a drink will do as well. If you’ve got a Bradbury about you I could -do with it, for there’s nothing coming my way.” - -Tom Linden took a pound from his desk. - -“Here you are, Silas. So long as I have any you have your share. But you -had two pounds last week. Is it gone?” - -“Gone! I should say so!” He put the note in his pocket. “Now, look here, -Tom, I want to speak to you very serious as between man and man.” - -“Yes, Silas, what is it?” - -“You see that!” He pointed to a lump on the back of his hand. “That’s a -bone! See? It will never be right. It was when I hit Curly Jenkins third -round and outed him at the N.S.C. I outed myself for life that night. I -can put up a show fight and exhibition bout, but I’m done for the real -thing. My right has gone west.” - -“It’s a hard case, Silas.” - -“Damned hard! But that’s neither here nor there. What matters is that -I’ve got to pick up a living and I want to know how to do it. An old -scrapper don’t find many openings. Chucker-out at a pub with free -drinks. Nothing doing there. What I want to know, Tom, is what’s the -matter with my becoming a medium?” - -“A medium?” - -“Why the devil should you stare at me! If it’s good enough for you it’s -good enough for me.” - -“But you are _not_ a medium.” - -“Oh, come! Keep that for the newspapers. It’s all in the family, and -between you an’ me, how dy’e do it?” - -“I don’t do it. I do nothing.” - -“And get four or five quid a week for it. That’s a good yarn. Now you -can’t fool me, Tom. I’m not one o’ those duds that pay you a thick ’un -for an hour in the dark. We’re on the square, you an’ me. How d’ye do -it?” - -“Do what?” - -“Well, them raps, for example. I’ve seen you sit there at your desk, as -it might be, and raps come answerin’ questions over yonder on the -bookshelf. It’s damned clever--fair puzzles ’em every time. How d’ye get -them?” - -“I tell you I don’t. It’s outside myself.” - -“Rats! You can tell me, Tom. I’m Griffiths, the safe man. It would set -me up for life if I could do it.” - -For the second time in one morning the medium’s Welsh strain took -control. - -“You’re an impudent, blasphemous rascal, Silas Linden. It’s men like you -who come into our movement and give it a bad name. You should know me -better than to think that I am a cheat. Get out of my house, you -ungrateful rascal!” - -“Not too much of your lip,” growled the ruffian. - -“Out you go, or I’ll put you out, brother or no brother.” - -Silas doubled his great fists and looked ugly for a moment. Then the -anticipation of favours to come softened his mood. - -“Well, well, no harm meant,” he growled, as he made for the door. “I -expect I can make a shot at it without your help.” His grievance -suddenly overcame his prudence as he stood in the doorway. “You damned, -canting, hypocritical box-of-tricks. I’ll be even with you yet.” - -The heavy door slammed behind him. - -Mrs. Linden had run in to her husband. - -“The ’ulking blackguard!” she cried. “I ’eard ’im. What did ’e want?” - -“Wanted me to put him wise to mediumship. Thinks it’s a trick of some -sort that I could teach him.” - -“The foolish lump! Well, it’s a good thing, for he won’t dare show his -face here again.” - -“Oh, won’t he?” - -“If he does I’ll slap it for him. To think of his upsettin’ you like -this. Why, you’re shakin’ all over.” - -“I suppose I wouldn’t be a medium if I wasn’t high strung. Someone said -we were poets, only more so. But it’s bad just when work is beginning.” - -“I’ll give you healing.” - -She put her little, work-worn hands over his high forehead and held them -there in silence. - -“That’s better!” said he. “Well done, Mary. I’ll have a cigarette in the -kitchen. That will finish it.” - -“No, there’s someone here.” She had looked out of the window. “Are you -fit to see her? It’s a woman.” - -“Yes, yes. I am all right now. Show her in.” - -An instant later a woman entered, a pale, tragic figure in black, whose -appearance told its own tale. Linden motioned her to a chair away from -the light. Then he looked through his papers. - -“You are Mrs. Blount, are you not? You had an appointment.” - -“Yes--I wanted to ask----” - -“Please ask me nothing. It confuses me.” - -He was looking at her with the medium’s gaze in his light, grey -eyes--that gaze which looks round and through a thing rather than at it. - -“You have been wise to come, very wise. There is someone beside you who -has an urgent message which could not be delayed. I get a name ... -Francis ... yes, Francis.” - -The woman clasped her hands. - -“Yes, yes, it is the name.” - -“A dark man, very sad, very earnest--oh, so earnest. He will speak. He -must speak! It is urgent. He says, ‘Tink-a-bell.’ Who is Tink-a-bell?” - -“Yes, yes, he called me so. Oh, Frank, Frank, speak to me! Speak!” - -“He is speaking. His hand is on your head. ‘Tink-a-bell,’ he says. ‘If -you do what you purpose doing it will make a gap that it will take many -years to cross.’ Does that mean anything?” - -She sprang from her chair. “It means everything. Oh, Mr. Linden, this -was my last chance. If this had failed--if I found that I had really -lost him I meant to go and seek him. I would have taken poison this -night.” - -“Thank God that I have saved you. It is a terrible thing, madame, to -take one’s life. It breaks the law of Nature, and Nature’s laws cannot -be broken without punishment. I rejoice that he has been able to save -you. He has more to say to you. His message is, ‘If you will live and do -your duty I will for ever be by your side, far closer to you than ever I -was in life. My presence will surround and guard both you and our three -babes.’” - -It was marvellous the change! The pale, worn woman who had entered the -room was now standing with flushed cheeks and smiling lips. It is true -that tears were pouring down her face, but they were tears of joy. She -clapped her hands. She made little convulsive movements as if she would -dance. - -“He’s not dead! He’s not dead! How can he be dead if he can speak to me -and be closer to me than ever? Oh, it’s glorious! Oh, Mr. Linden, what -can I do for you? You have saved me from shameful death! You have -restored my husband to me! Oh, what a Godlike power you have!” - -The medium was an emotional man and his own tears were moist upon his -cheeks. - -“My dear lady, say no more. It is not I. I do nothing. You can thank God -Who in His mercy permits some of His mortals to discern a spirit or to -carry a message. Well, well, a guinea is my fee, if you can afford it. -Come back to me if ever you are in trouble.” - -“I am content now,” she cried, drying her eyes, “to await God’s will and -to do my duty in the world until such time as it shall be ordained that -we unite once more.” - -The widow left the house walking on air. Tom Linden also felt that the -clouds left by his brother’s visit had been blown away by this joyful -incident, for there is no happiness like giving happiness and seeing -the beneficent workings of one’s own power. He had hardly settled down -in his chair, however, before another client was ushered in. This time -it was a smartly-dressed, white-spatted, frock-coated man of the world, -with a bustling air as of one to whom minutes are precious. - -“Mr. Linden, I believe? I have heard, sir, of your powers. I am told -that by handling an object you can often get some clue as to the person -who owned it?” - -“It happens sometimes. I cannot command it.” - -“I should like to test you. I have a letter here which I received this -morning. Would you try your powers upon that?” - -The medium took the folded letter, and, leaning back in his chair, he -pressed it upon his forehead. He sat with his eyes closed for a minute -or more. Then he returned the paper. - -“I don’t like it,” he said. “I get a feeling of evil. I see a man -dressed all in white. He has a dark face. He writes at a bamboo table. I -get a sensation of heat. The letter is from the tropics.” - -“Yes, from Central America.” - -“I can tell you no more.” - -“Are the spirits so limited? I thought they knew everything.” - -“They do not know everything. Their power and knowledge are as closely -limited as ours. But this is not a matter for the spirit people. What I -did then was psychometry, which, so far as we know, is a power of the -human soul.” - -“Well, you are right as far as you have gone. This man, my -correspondent, wants me to put up the money for the half-share in an -oil boring. Shall I do it?” - -Tom Linden shook his head. - -“These powers are given to some of us, sir, for the consolation of -humanity and for a proof of immortality. They were never meant for -worldly use. Trouble always comes of such use, trouble to the medium and -trouble to the client. I will not go into the matter.” - -“Money’s no object,” said the man, drawing a wallet from his inner -pocket. - -“No, sir, nor to me. I am poor, but I have never ill-used my gift.” - -“A fat lot of use the gift is, then!” said the visitor, rising from his -chair. “I can get all the rest from the parsons who are licensed, and -you are not. There is your guinea, but I have not had the worth of it.” - -“I am sorry, sir, but I cannot break a rule. There is a lady beside -you--near your left shoulder--an elderly lady....” - -“Tut! tut!” said the financier, turning towards the door. - -“She wears a large gold locket with an emerald cross upon her breast.” - -The man stopped, turned and stared. - -“Where did you pick that up?” - -“I see it before me now.” - -“Why, dash it, man, that was what my mother always wore! D’you tell me -you can see her?” - -“No, she is gone.” - -“What was she like? What was she doing?” - -“She _was_ your mother. She said so. She was weeping.” - -“Weeping! My mother! Why, she is in heaven if ever a woman was. They -don’t weep in heaven!” - -“Not in the imaginary heaven. They do in the real heaven. It is only we -who ever make them weep. She left a message.” - -“Give it me!” - -“The message was: ‘Oh, Jack! Jack! you are drifting ever further from my -reach.’” - -The man made a contemptuous gesture. - -“I was a damned fool to let you have my name when I made the -appointment. You have been making enquiries. You don’t take me in with -your tricks. I’ve had enough of it--more than enough!” - -For the second time that morning the door was slammed by an angry -visitor. - -“He didn’t like his message,” Linden explained to his wife. “It was his -poor mother. She is fretting over him. Lord! if folk only knew these -things it would do them more good than all the forms and ceremonies.” - -“Well, Tom, it’s not your fault if they don’t,” his wife answered. -“There are two women waiting to see you. They have not an introduction -but they seem in great trouble.” - -“I’ve a bit of a headache. I haven’t got over last night. Silas and I -are the same in that. Our night’s work finds us out next morning. I’ll -just take these and no more, for it is bad to send anyone sorrowin’ away -if one can help it.” - -The two women were shown in, both of them austere figures dressed in -black, one a stern-looking person of fifty, the other about half that -age. - -“I believe your fee is a guinea,” said the elder, putting that sum upon -the table. - -“To those who can afford it,” Linden answered. As a matter of fact, the -guinea often went the other way. - -“Oh, yes, I can afford it,” said the woman. “I am in sad trouble and -they told me maybe you could help me.” - -“Well, I will if I can. That’s what I am for.” - -“I lost my poor husband in the war--killed at Ypres he was. Could I get -in touch with him?” - -“You don’t seem to bring any influence with you. I get no impression. I -am sorry, but we can’t command these things. I get the name Edmund. Was -that his name?” - -“No.” - -“Or Albert?” - -“No.” - -“I am sorry, but it seems confused--cross vibrations, perhaps and a -mix-up of messages like crossed telegraph wires.” - -“Does the name Pedro help you?” - -“Pedro! Pedro! No, I get nothing. Was Pedro an elderly man?” - -“No, not elderly.” - -“I can get no impression.” - -“It was about this girl of mine that I really wanted advice. My husband -would have told me what to do. She has got engaged to a young man, a -fitter by trade, but there are one or two things against it and I want -to know what to do.” - -“Do give us some advice,” said the young woman, looking at the medium -with a hard eye. - -“I would if I could, my dear. Do you love this man?” - -“Oh, yes, he’s all right.” - -“Well, if you don’t feel more than that about him, I should leave him -alone. Nothing but unhappiness comes of such a marriage.” - -“Then you see unhappiness waiting for her?” - -“I see a good chance of it. I think she should be careful.” - -“Do you see anyone else coming along?” - -“Everyone, man or woman, meets his mate sometime somewhere.” - -“Then she will get a mate?” - -“Most certainly she will.” - -“I wonder if I should have any family?” asked the girl. - -“Nay, that’s more than I can say.” - -“And money--will she have money? We are down-hearted, Mr. Linden, and we -want a little----” - -At this moment there came a most surprising interruption. The door flew -open and little Mrs. Linden rushed into the room with pale face and -blazing eyes. - -“They are policewomen, Tom. I’ve had a warning about them. It’s only -just come. Get out of this house, you pair of snivelling hypocrites. Oh, -what a fool! What a fool I was not to recognise what you were.” - -The two women had risen. - -“Yes, you are rather late, Mrs. Linden,” said the senior. “The money has -passed.” - -“Take it back! Take it back! It’s on the table.” - -“No, no, the money has passed. We have had our fortune told. You will -hear more of this, Mr. Linden.” - -“You brace of frauds! You talk of frauds when it is you who are the -frauds all the time! He would not have seen you if it had not been for -compassion.” - -“It is no use scolding us,” the woman answered. “We do our duty and we -did not make the law. So long as it is on the Statute Book we have to -enforce it. We must report the case at headquarters.” - -Tom Linden seemed stunned by the blow, but when the policewomen had -disappeared, he put his arms round his weeping wife and consoled her as -best he might. - -“The typist at the police office sent down the warning,” she said. “Oh, -Tom, it is the second time!” she cried. “It means gaol and hard labour -for you.” - -“Well, dear, so long as we are conscious of having done no wrong and of -having done God’s work to the best of our power, we must take what comes -with a good heart.” - -“But where were they? How could they let you down so? Where was your -guide?” - -“Yes, Victor,” said Tom Linden, shaking his head at the air above him, -“where were you? I’ve got a crow to pick with you. You know, dear,” he -added, “just as a doctor can never treat his own case, a medium is very -helpless when things come to his own address. That’s the law. And yet I -should have known. I was feeling in the dark. I had no inspiration of -any sort. It was just a foolish pity and sympathy that led me on when I -had no sort of a real message. Well, dear Mary, we will take what’s -coming to us with a brave heart. Maybe they have not enough to make a -case, and maybe the beak is not as ignorant as most of them. We’ll hope -for the best.” - -In spite of his brave words the medium was shaking and quivering at the -shock. His wife had put her hands upon him and was endeavouring to -steady him, when Susan, the maid, who knew nothing of the trouble, -admitted a fresh visitor into the room. It was none other than Edward -Malone. - -“He can’t see you,” said Mrs. Linden, “the medium is ill. He will see no -one this morning.” - -But Linden had recognised his visitor. - -“This is Mr. Malone, my dear, of the _Daily Gazette_. He was with us -last night. We had a good sitting, had we not, sir?” - -“Marvellous!” said Malone. “But what is amiss?” - -Both husband and wife poured out their sorrows. - -“What a dirty business!” cried Malone, with disgust. “I am sure the -public does not realise how this law is enforced, or there would be a -row. This agent-provocateur business is quite foreign to British -justice. But in any case, Linden, you are a real medium. The law was -made to suppress false ones.” - -“There are no real mediums in British law,” said Linden ruefully. “I -expect the more real you are the greater the offence. If you are a -medium at all and take money you are liable. But how can a medium live -if he does not take money? It’s a man’s whole work and needs all his -strength. You can’t be a carpenter all day and a first-class medium in -the evening.” - -“What a wicked law! It seems to be deliberately stifling all physical -proofs of spiritual power.” - -“Yes, that is just what it is. If the Devil passed a law it would be -just that. It is supposed to be for the protection of the public and yet -no member of the public has ever been known to complain. Every case is a -police trap. And yet the police know as well as you or I that every -Church charity garden-party has got its clairvoyante or its -fortune-teller.” - -“It does seem monstrous. What will happen now?” - -“Well, I expect a summons will come along. Then a police court case. -Then fine or imprisonment. It’s the second time, you see.” - -“Well, your friends will give evidence for you and we will have a good -man to defend you.” - -Linden shrugged his shoulders. - -“You never know who are your friends. They slip away like water when it -comes to the pinch.” - -“Well, I won’t for one,” said Malone, heartily. “Keep me in touch with -what is going on. But I called because I had something to ask you.” - -“I am sorry, but I am really not fit,” Linden held out a quivering hand. - -“No, no, nothing psychic. I simply wanted to ask you whether the -presence of a strong sceptic would stop all your phenomena?” - -“Not necessarily. But, of course, it makes everything more difficult. If -they will be quiet and reasonable we can get results. But they know -nothing, break every law, and ruin their own sittings. There was old -Sherbank, the doctor, the other day. When the raps came on the table he -jumped up, put his hand on the wall, and cried, ‘Now then, put a rap on -the palm of my hand within five seconds.’ Because he did not get it he -declared it was all humbug and stamped out of the room. They will not -admit that there are fixed laws in this as in everything else.” - -“Well, I must confess that the man I am thinking of might be quite as -unreasonable. It is the great Professor Challenger.” - -“Oh, yes, I’ve heard he is a hard case.” - -“Would you give him a sitting?” - -“Yes, if you desired it.” - -“He won’t come to you or to any place you name. He imagines all sorts of -wires and contrivances. You might have to come down to his country -house.” - -“I would not refuse if it might convert him.” - -“And when?” - -“I can do nothing until this horrible affair is over. It will take a -month or two.” - -“Well, I will keep in touch with you till then. When all is well again -we shall make our plans and see if we can bring these facts before him -as they have been brought before me. Meanwhile, let me say how much I -sympathise. We will form a committee of your friends and all that can -will surely be done.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -IN WHICH THE NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL GETS WHAT THE BRITISH LAW CONSIDERS TO -BE HIS DESERTS - - -Before we pursue further the psychic adventures of our hero and heroine, -it would be well to see how the British law dealt with that wicked man, -Mr. Tom Linden. - -The two policewomen returned in triumph to Bardsley Square Station where -Inspector Murphy, who had sent them, was waiting for their report. -Murphy was a jolly-looking, red-faced, black-moustached man who had a -cheerful, fatherly way with women which was by no means justified by his -age or virility. He sat behind his official table, his papers strewn in -front of him. - -“Well, girls,” he said as the two women entered, “what luck?” - -“I think it’s a go, Mr. Murphy,” said the elder policewoman. “We have -the evidence you want.” - -The Inspector took up a written list of questions from his desk. - -“You ran it on the general lines that I suggested?” he asked. - -“Yes. I said my husband was killed at Ypres.” - -“What did he do?” - -“Well, he seemed sorry for me.” - -“That, of course, is part of the game. He’ll be sorry for himself before -he is through with it. He didn’t say, ‘You are a single woman and never -had a husband?’” - -“No.” - -“Well, that’s one up against his spirits, is it not? That should impress -the court. What more?” - -“He felt round for names. They were all wrong.” - -“Good!” - -“He believed me when I said that Miss Bellinger here was my daughter.” - -“Good again! Did you try the Pedro stunt?” - -“Yes, he considered the name, but I got nothing.” - -“Ah, that’s a pity. But, anyhow, he did not know that Pedro was your -Alsatian dog. He considered the name. That’s good enough. Make the jury -laugh and you have your verdict. Now about fortune-telling? Did you do -what I suggested?” - -“Yes, I asked about Amy’s young man. He did not give much that was -definite.” - -“Cunning devil! He knows his business.” - -“But he did say that she would be unhappy if she married him.” - -“Oh, he did, did he? Well, if we spread that a little we have got all we -want. Now sit down and dictate your report while you have it fresh. Then -we can go over it together and see how we can put it best. Amy must -write one, also.” - -“Very good, Mr. Murphy.” - -“Then we shall apply for the warrant. You see, it all depends upon which -magistrate it comes before. There was Mr. Dalleret who let a medium off -last month. He is no use to us. And Mr. Lancing has been mixed up with -these people. Mr. Melrose is a stiff materialist. We could depend on him -and have timed the arrest accordingly. It would never do to fail to get -our conviction.” - -“Couldn’t you get some of the public to corroborate?” - -The Inspector laughed. - -“We are supposed to be protecting the public, but between you and me -none of the public have ever yet asked to be protected. There are no -complaints. Therefore it is left to us to uphold the law as best we can. -As long as it is there we have got to enforce it. Well, good-bye, girls! -Let me have the report by four o’clock.” - -“Nothing for us, I suppose?” said the elder woman, with a smile. - -“You wait, my dear. If we get twenty-five pounds fine it has got to go -somewhere--Police Fund, of course, but there may be something over. -Anyhow, you go and cough it up and then we shall see.” - - * * * * * - -Next morning a scared maid broke into Linden’s modest study. “Please, -sir, it’s an officer.” - -The man in blue followed hard at her heels. - -“Name of Linden?” said he, and handing a folded sheet of foolscap he -departed. - -The stricken couple who spent their lives in bringing comfort to others -were sadly in need of comfort themselves. She put her arm round his neck -while they read the cheerless document: - - TO THOMAS LINDEN of 40, Tullis Street, N.W. - - Information has been laid this day by Patrick Murphy, Inspector of - Police, that you the said Thomas Linden on the 10th day of November - at the above dwelling did profess to Henrietta Dresser and to Amy - Bellinger to tell fortunes to deceive and impose on certain of His - Majesty’s subjects, to wit those above mentioned. You are - therefore summoned to appear before the Magistrate of the Police - Court in Bardsley Square on Wednesday next, the 17th, at the hour - of 11 in the forenoon to answer to the said information. - - Dated the 10th day of November. - - (_Signed_) B. J. WITHERS. - - -On the same afternoon Mailey called upon Malone and they sat in -consultation over this document. Then they went together to see -Summerway Jones, an acute solicitor and an earnest student of psychic -affairs. Incidentally, he was a hard rider to hounds, a good boxer, and -a man who carried a fresh-air flavour into the mustiest law chambers. He -arched his eyebrows over the summons. - -“The poor devil has not an earthly!” said he. “He’s lucky to have a -summons. Usually they act on a warrant. Then the man is carted right -off, kept in the cells all night, and tried next morning with no one to -defend him. The police are cute enough, of course, to choose either a -Roman Catholic or a materialist as the magistrate. Then, by the -beautiful judgment of Chief Justice Lawrence--the first judgment, I -believe, that he delivered in that high capacity--the profession of -mediumship or wonder-working is in itself a legal crime, whether it be -genuine or no, so that no defence founded upon good results has a look -in. It’s a mixture of religious persecution and police blackmail. As to -the public they don’t care a damn! Why should they? If they don’t want -their fortune told, they don’t go. The whole thing is the most absolute -bilge and a disgrace to our legislature.” - -“I’ll write it up,” said Malone, glowing with Celtic fire. “What do you -call the Act?” - -“Well, there are two Acts, each more putrid than the other, and both -passed long before Spiritualism was ever heard of. There is the -Witchcraft Act dating from George the Second. That has become too -absurd, so they only use it as a second string. Then there is the -Vagrancy Act of 1824. It was passed to control the wandering gipsy folk -on the roadside, and was never intended, of course, to be used like -this.” He hunted among his papers. “Here is the beastly thing. ‘Every -person professing to tell fortunes or using any subtle craft, means or -device to deceive and impose on any of His Majesty’s subjects shall be -deemed a rogue and a vagabond,’ and so on and so forth. The two Acts -together would have roped in the whole Early Christian movement just as -surely as the Roman persecution did.” - -“Lucky there are no lions now,” said Malone. - -“Jackasses!” cried Mailey. “That’s the modern substitute. But what are -we to do?” - -“I’m damned if I know!” said the solicitor, scratching his head. “It’s -perfectly hopeless!” - -“Oh, dash it all!” cried Malone, “we can’t give it up so easily. We know -the man is an honest man.” - -Mailey turned and grasped Malone’s hand. - -“I don’t know if you call yourself a Spiritualist yet,” he said, “but -you are the kind of chap we want. There are too many white-livered folk -in our movement who fawn on a medium when all is well, and desert him at -the first breath of an accusation. But, thank God! there are a few -stalwarts. There is Brookes and Rodwin and Sir James Smith. We can put -up a hundred or two among us.” - -“Right-o!” said the solicitor, cheerily. “If you feel like that we will -give you a run for your money.” - -“How about a K.C.?” - -“Well, they don’t plead in police courts. If you’ll leave it in my hands -I fancy I can do as well as anyone, for I’ve had a lot of these cases. -It will keep the costs down, too.” - -“Well, we are with you. And we will have a few good men at our back.” - -“If we do nothing else we shall ventilate it,” said Malone. “I believe -in the good old British public. Slow and stupid, but sound at the core. -They will not stand for injustice if you can get the truth into their -heads.” - -“They damned well need trepanning before you can get it there,” said the -solicitor. “Well, you do your bit and I’ll do mine and we will see what -comes to it.” - - * * * * * - -The fateful morning arrived and Linden found himself in the dock facing -a spruce, middle-aged man with rat-trap jaws, Mr. Melrose, the -redoubtable police magistrate. Mr. Melrose had a reputation for severity -with fortune-tellers and all who foretold the future, though he spent -the intervals in his court by reading up the sporting prophets, for he -was an ardent follower of the Turf, and his trim, fawn-coloured coat and -rakish hat were familiar objects at every race meeting which was within -his reach. He was in no particularly good humour this morning as he -glanced at the charge-sheet and then surveyed the prisoner. Mrs. Linden -had secured a position below the dock, and occasionally extended her -hand to pat that of the prisoner which rested on the edge. The court was -crowded and many of the prisoner’s clients had attended to show their -sympathy. - -“Is this case defended?” asked Mr. Melrose. - -“Yes, your worship,” said Summerway Jones. “May I, before it opens, make -an objection?” - -“If you think it worth while, Mr. Jones.” - -“I beg to respectfully request your ruling before the case is proceeded -with. My client is not a vagrant, but a respectable member of the -community, living in his own house, paying rates and taxes, and on the -same footing as every other citizen. He is now prosecuted under the -fourth section of the Vagrancy Act of 1824, which is styled, ‘An Act for -punishing idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds.’ The -Act was intended, as the words imply, to restrain lawless gipsies and -others, who at that time infested the country. I ask your Worship to -rule that my client is clearly not a person within the purview of this -Act or liable to its penalties.” - -The Magistrate shook his head. - -“I fear, Mr. Jones, that there have been too many precedents for the Act -to be now interpreted in this limited fashion. I will ask the solicitor -prosecuting on behalf of the Commissioner of Police to put forward his -evidence.” - -A little bull of a man with side-whiskers and a raucous voice sprang to -his feet. - -“I call Henrietta Dresser.” - -The elder policewoman popped up in the box with the alacrity of one who -is used to it. She held an open notebook in her hand. - -“You are a policewoman, are you not?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“I understand that you watched the prisoner’s home the day before you -called on him?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“How many people went in?” - -“Fourteen, sir.” - -“Fourteen people. And I believe the prisoner’s average fee is ten and -sixpence.” - -“Yes.” - -“Seven pounds in one day! Pretty good wages when many an honest man is -content with five shillings.” - -“These were the tradespeople!” cried Linden. - -“I must ask you not to interrupt. You are already very efficiently -represented,” said the Magistrate severely. - -“Now, Henrietta Dresser,” continued the prosecutor, wagging his -pince-nez. “Let us hear what occurred when you and Amy Bellinger visited -the prisoner.” - -The policewoman gave an account which was in the main true, reading it -from her book. She was not a married woman, but the medium had accepted -her statement that she was. He had fumbled with several names and had -seemed greatly confused. The name of a dog--Pedro--had been submitted to -him, but he had not recognised it as such. Finally, he had answered -questions as the future of her alleged daughter, who was, in fact, no -relation to her, and had foretold that she would be unhappy in her -marriage. - -“Any questions, Mr. Jones?” asked the Magistrate. - -“Did you come to this man as one who needed consolation? And did he -attempt to give it?” - -“I suppose you might put it so.” - -“You professed deep grief, I understand.” - -“I tried to give that impression.” - -“You do not consider that to be hypocrisy?” - -“I did what was my duty.” - -“You saw no signs of psychic power, or anything abnormal?” asked the -prosecutor. - -“No, he seemed a very nice, ordinary sort of man.” - -Amy Bellinger was the next witness. She appeared with her notebook in -her hand. - -“May I ask, your worship, whether it is in order that these witnesses -should read their evidence?” asked Mr. Jones. - -“Why not?” queried the Magistrate. “We desire the exact facts, do we -not?” - -“_We_ do. Possibly Mr. Jones does not,” said the prosecuting solicitor. - -“It is clearly a method of securing that the evidence of these two -witnesses shall be in accord,” said Jones. “I submit that these accounts -are carefully prepared and collated.” - -“Naturally, the police prepare their case,” said the Magistrate. “I do -not see that you have any grievance, Mr. Jones. Now, witness, let us -hear your evidence.” - -It followed on the exact lines of the other. - -“You asked questions about your fiancé? You had no fiancé,” said Mr. -Jones. - -“That is so.” - -“In fact, you both told a long sequence of lies?” - -“With a good object in view.” - -“You thought the end justifies the means?” - -“I carried out my instructions.” - -“Which were given you beforehand?” - -“Yes, we were told what to ask.” - -“I think,” said the Magistrate, “that the policewomen have given their -evidence very fairly and well. Have you any witnesses for the defence, -Mr. Jones?” - -“There are a number of people in court, your worship, who have received -great benefit from the mediumship of the prisoner. I have subpœnaed one -woman who was, by her own account, saved from suicide that very morning -by what he told her. I have another man who was an atheist, and had lost -all belief in future life. He was completely converted by his experience -of psychic phenomena. I can produce men of the highest eminence in -science and literature who will testify to the real nature of Mr. -Linden’s powers.” - -The Magistrate shook his head. - -“You must know, Mr. Jones, that such evidence would be quite beside the -question. It has been clearly laid down by the ruling of the Lord Chief -Justice and others that the law of this country does not recognise -supernatural powers of any sort whatever, and that a pretence of such -powers where payment is involved constitutes a crime in itself. -Therefore your suggestion that you should call witnesses could not -possibly lead to anything save a wasting of the time of the court. At -the same time, I am, of course, ready to listen to any observations -which you may care to make after the solicitor for the prosecution has -spoken.” - -“Might I venture to point out, your worship,” said Jones, “that such a -ruling would mean the condemnation of any sacred or holy person of whom -we have any record, since even holy persons have to live, and have -therefore to receive money.” - -“If your refer to Apostolic times, Mr. Jones,” said the Magistrate -sharply, “I can only remind you that the Apostolic age is past and also -that Queen Anne is dead. Such an argument is hardly worthy of your -intelligence. Now, sir, if you have anything to add....” - -Thus encouraged the prosecutor made a short address, stabbing the air at -intervals with his pince-nez as if every stab punctured afresh all -claims of the spirit. He pictured the destitution among the -working-classes, and yet charlatans, by advancing wicked and blasphemous -claims, were able to earn a rich living. That they had real powers was, -as had been observed, beside the question, but even that excuse was -shattered by the fact that these policewomen, who had discharged an -unpleasant duty in a most exemplary way, had received nothing but -nonsense in return for their money. Was it likely that other clients -fared any better? These parasites were increasing in number, trading -upon the finer feelings of bereaved parents, and it was high time that -some exemplary punishment should warn them that they would be wise to -turn their hands to some more honest trade. - -Mr. Summerway Jones replied as best he might. He began by pointing out -that the Acts were being used for a purpose for which they were never -intended. (“That point has been already considered!” snapped the -Magistrate.) The whole position was open to criticism. The convictions -were secured by evidence from agents-provocateurs, who, if any crime had -been committed, were obviously inciters to it and also participants. The -fines obtained were often deflected for purposes in which the police had -a direct interest. - -“Surely, Mr. Jones, you do not mean to cast a reflection upon the -honesty of the police!” - -The police were human, and were naturally inclined to stretch a point -where their own interests were affected. All these cases were -artificial. There was no record at any time of any real complaint from -the public or any demand for protection. There were frauds in every -profession, and if a man deliberately invested and lost a guinea in a -false medium he had no more right to protection than the man who -invested his money in a bad company on the stock market. Whilst the -police were wasting time upon such cases, and their agents were weeping -crocodile tears in the character of forlorn mourners, many other -branches of real crime received far less attention than they deserved. -The law was quite arbitrary in its action. Every big garden-party, even, -as he had been informed, every police fête was incomplete without its -fortune-teller or palmist. Some years ago the _Daily Mail_ had raised an -outcry against fortune-tellers. That great man, the late Lord -Northcliffe, had been put in the box by the defence, and it had been -shown that one of his other papers was running a palmistry column, and -that the fees received were divided equally between the palmist and the -proprietors. He mentioned this in no spirit which was derogatory to the -memory of this great man, but merely as an example of the absurdity of -the law as it was now administered. Whatever might be the individual -opinion of members of that court, it was incontrovertible that a large -number of intelligent and useful citizens regarded this power of -mediumship as a remarkable manifestation of the power of spirit, making -for the great improvement of the race. Was it not a most fatal policy in -these days of materialism to crush down by law that which in its higher -manifestation might work for the regeneration of mankind? As to the -undoubted fact that information received by the policewomen was -incorrect and that their lying statements were not detected by the -medium, it was a psychic law that harmonious conditions were essential -for true results, and that deceit on one side produced confusion on the -other. If the court would for a moment adopt the Spiritualistic -hypothesis, they would realise how absurd it would be to expect that -angelic hosts would descend in order to answer the questions of two -mercenary and hypocritical inquirers. - -Such, in a short synopsis, was the general line of Mr. Summerway Jones’ -defence which reduced Mrs. Linden to tears and threw the magistrate’s -clerk into a deep slumber. The Magistrate himself rapidly brought the -matter to a conclusion. - -“Your quarrel, Mr. Jones, seems to be with the law, and that is outside -my competence. I administer it as I find it, though I may remark that I -am entirely in agreement with it. Such men as the defendant are the -noxious fungi which collect on a corrupt society, and the attempt to -compare their vulgarities with the holy men of old, or to claim similar -gifts, must be reprobated by all right-thinking men. - -“As to you, Linden,” he added, fixing his stern eyes upon the prisoner, -“I fear that you are a hardened offender since a previous conviction has -not altered your ways. I sentence you, therefore, to two months’ hard -labour without option of a fine.” - -There was a scream from Mrs. Linden. - -“Good-bye, dear, don’t fret,” said the medium, glancing over the side of -the dock. An instant later he had been hurried down to the cell. - -Summerway Jones, Mailey and Malone met in the hall, and Mailey -volunteered to escort the poor stricken woman home. - -“What had he ever done but bring comfort to all?” she moaned. “Is there -a better man living in the whole great City of London?” - -“I don’t think there is a more useful one,” said Mailey. “I’ll venture -to say that the whole of Crockford’s Directory with the Archbishops at -their head could not prove the things of religion as I have seen Tom -Linden prove them, or convert an atheist as I have seen Linden convert -him.” - -“It’s a shame! A damned shame!” said Malone, hotly. - -“The touch about vulgarity was funny,” said Jones. “I wonder if he -thinks the Apostles were very cultivated people. Well, I did my best. I -had no hopes, and it has worked out as I thought. It is pure waste of -time.” - -“Not at all,” Malone answered. “It has ventilated an evil. There were -reporters in court. Surely some of them have some sense. They will note -the injustice.” - -“Not they,” said Mailey. “The Press is hopeless. My God, what a -responsibility these people take on themselves, and how little they -guess the price that each will pay! I know. I have spoken with them -while they were paying it.” - -“Well, I for one will speak out,” said Malone, “and I believe others -will also. The Press is more independent and intelligent than you seem -to think.” - -But Mailey was right, after all. When he had left Mrs. Linden in her -lonely home and had reached Fleet Street once more, Malone bought a -_Planet_. As he opened it a scare head-line met his eye: - - IMPOSTOR IN THE POLICE COURT - - _Dog Mistaken for Man._ - WHO WAS PEDRO? - Exemplary Sentence. - -He crumpled the paper up in his hand. - -“No wonder these Spiritualists feel bitterly,” he thought. “They have -good cause.” - -Yes, poor Tom Linden had a bad press. He went down into his miserable -cell amid universal objurgation. The _Planet_, an evening paper which -depended for its circulation upon the sporting forecasts of Captain -Touch-and-go, remarked upon the absurdity of forecasting the future. -_Honest John_, a weekly journal which had been mixed up with some of the -greatest frauds of the century, was of opinion that the dishonesty of -Linden was a public scandal. A rich country rector wrote to _The Times_ -to express his indignation that anyone should profess to sell the gifts -of the spirit. The _Churchman_ remarked that such incidents arose from -the growing infidelity, while the _Freethinker_ saw in them a reversion -to superstition. Finally Mr. Maskelyne showed the public, to the great -advantage of his box office, exactly how the swindle was perpetrated. So -for a few days Tom Linden had what the French call a “succes -d’execration.” Then the world moved on and he was left to his fate. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -IN WHICH THREE INVESTIGATORS COME UPON A DARK SOUL - - -Lord Roxton had returned from Central African heavy game shooting, and -had at once carried out a series of Alpine ascents which had satisfied -and surprised everyone except himself. - -“Top of the Alps is becomin’ a perfect bear-garden,” said he. “Short of -Everest there don’t seem to be any decent privacy left.” - -His advent into London was acclaimed by a dinner given in his honour at -the Travellers’ by the Heavy Game Society. The occasion was private and -there were no reporters, but Lord Roxton’s speech was fixed _verbatim_ -in the minds of all his audience and has been imperishably preserved. He -writhed for twenty minutes under the flowery and eulogistic periods of -the president, and rose himself in the state of confused indignation -which the Briton feels when he is publicly approved. “Oh, I say! By -Jove! What!” was his oration, after which he resumed his seat and -perspired profusely. - -Malone was first aware of Lord Roxton’s return through McArdle, the -crabbed old red-headed news editor, whose bald dome projected further -and further from its ruddy fringe as the years still found him slaving -at the most grinding of tasks. He retained his keen scent of what was -good copy, and it was this sense of his which caused him one winter -morning to summon Malone to his presence. He removed the long glass -tube which he used as a cigarette-holder from his lips, and he blinked -through his big round glasses at his subordinate. - -“You know that Lord Roxton is back in London?” - -“I had not heard.” - -“Aye, he’s back. Dootless you’ve heard that he was wounded in the war. -He led a small column in East Africa and made a wee war of his own till -he got an elephant bullet through his chest. Oh, he’s done fine since -then, or he couldn’t be climbin’ these mountains. He’s a deevil of a man -and aye stirring up something new.” - -“What is the latest?” asked Malone, eyeing a slip of paper which McArdle -was waving between his finger and thumb. - -“Well, that’s where he impinges on you. I was thinking maybe you could -hunt in couples, and there would be copy in it. There’s a leaderette in -the _Evening Standard_.” He handed it over. It ran thus: - - “A quaint advertisement in the columns of a contemporary shows that - the famous Lord John Roxton, third son of the Duke of Pomfret, is - seeking fresh worlds to conquer. Having exhausted the sporting - adventures of this terrestrial globe, he is now turning to those of - the dim, dark and dubious regions of psychic research. He is in the - market apparently for any genuine specimen of a haunted house, and - is open to receive information as to any violent or dangerous - manifestation which called for investigation. As Lord John Roxton - is a man of resolute character and one of the best revolver shots - in England, we would warn any practical joker that he would be - well-advised to stand aside and leave this matter to those who are - said to be as impervious to bullets as their supporters are to - common sense.” - -McArdle gave his dry chuckle at the concluding words. - -“I’m thinking they are getting pairsonal there, friend Malone, for if -you are no a supporter, you’re well on the way. But are you no of the -opeenion that this chiel and you between you might put up a spook and -get two racy columns off him?” - -“Well, I can see Lord Roxton,” said Malone. “He’s still, I suppose, in -his old rooms in the Albany. I would wish to call in any case, so I can -open this up as well.” - -Thus it was that in the late afternoon just as the murk of London broke -into dim circles of silver, the pressman found himself once more walking -down Vigo Street and accosting the porter at the dark entrance of the -old-fashioned chambers. Yes, Lord John Roxton was in, but a gentleman -was with him. He would take a card. Presently he returned with word that -in spite of the previous visitor, Lord Roxton would see Malone at once. -An instant later, he had been ushered into the old luxurious rooms with -their trophies of war and of the chase. The owner of them with -outstreched hand was standing at the door, long, thin, austere, with the -same gaunt, whimsical, Don Quixote face as of old. There was no change -save that he was more aquiline, and his eyebrows jutted more thickly -over his reckless, restless eyes. - -“Hullo, young fellah!” he cried. “I was hopin’ you’d draw this old -covert once more. I was comin’ down to the office to look you up. Come -in! Come in! Let me introduce you to the Reverend Charles Mason.” - -A very tall, thin clergyman, who was coiled up in a large basket chair, -gradually unwound himself and held out a bony hand to the newcomer. -Malone was aware of two very earnest and human grey eyes looking -searchingly into his, and of a broad, welcoming smile which disclosed a -double row of excellent teeth. It was a worn and weary face, the tired -face of the spiritual fighter, but it was very kindly and companionable, -none the less. Malone had heard of the man, a Church of England vicar, -who had left his model parish and the church which he had built himself -in order to preach freely the doctrines of Christianity, with the new -psychic knowledge super-added. - -“Why, I never seem to get away from the Spiritualists!” he exclaimed. - -“You never will, Mr. Malone,” said the lean clergyman, chuckling. “The -world never will until it has absorbed this new knowledge which God has -sent. You can’t get away from it. It is too big. At the present moment -in this great city there is not a place where men or women meet that it -does not come up. And yet you would not know it from the Press.” - -“Well, you can’t level that reproach at the _Daily Gazette_,” said -Malone. “Possibly you may have read my own descriptive articles.” - -“Yes, I read them. They are at least better than the awful sensational -nonsense which the London Press usually serves up, save when they ignore -it altogether. To read a paper like _The Times_ you would never know -that this vital movement existed at all. The only editorial allusion to -it that I can ever remember was in a leading article when the great -paper announced that it would believe in it when it found it could, by -means of it, pick out more winners on a race-card than by other means.” - -“Doosed useful, too,” said Lord Roxton. “It’s just what I should have -said myself. What!” - -The clergyman’s face was grave and he shook his head. - -“That brings me back to the object of my visit,” he said. He turned to -Malone. “I took the liberty of calling upon Lord Roxton in connection -with his advertisement to say that if he went on such a quest with a -good intention, no better work could be found in the world, but if he -did it out of a love of sport, following some poor earth-bound soul in -the same spirit as he followed the white rhinoceros of the Lido, he -might be playing with fire.” - -“Well, padre, I’ve been playin’ with fire all my life and that’s nothin’ -new. What I mean--if you want me to look at this ghost business from the -religious angle, there’s nothin’ doin’, for the Church of England that I -was brought up in fills my very modest need. But if it’s got a spice of -danger, as you say, then it’s worth while. What!” - -The Rev. Charles Mason smiled his kindly, toothsome grin. - -“Incorrigible, is he not?” he said to Malone. “Well, I can only wish you -a fuller comprehension of the subject.” He rose as if to depart. - -“Wait a bit, padre!” cried Lord Roxton, hurriedly. “When I’m explorin’, -I begin by ropin’ in a friendly native. I expect you’re just the man. -Won’t you come with me?” - -“Where to?” - -“Well, sit down and I’ll tell you.” He rummaged among a pile of letters -on his desk. “Fine selection of spooks!” he said. “I got on the track of -over twenty by the first post. This is an easy winner, though. Read it -for yourself. Lonely house, man driven mad, tenants boltin’ in the -night, horrible spectre. Sounds all right--what!” - -The clergyman read the letter with puckered brows. “It seems a bad -case,” said he. - -“Well, suppose you come along. What! Maybe you can help clear it up.” - -The Rev. Mr. Mason pulled out a pocket-almanac. “I have a service for -ex-Service men on Wednesday, and a lecture the same evening.” - -“But we could start to-day.” - -“It’s a long way.” - -“Only Dorsetshire. Three hours.” - -“What is your plan?” - -“Well, I suppose a night in the house should do it.” - -“If there is any poor soul in trouble it becomes a duty. Very well, I -will come.” - -“And surely there is room for me,” pleaded Malone. - -“Of course there is, young fellah! What I mean--I expect that old, -red-headed bird at the office sent you round with no other purpose. Ah, -I thought so. Well, you can write an adventure that is not perfect bilge -for a change--what! There’s a train from Victoria at eight o’clock. We -can meet there, and I’ll have a look in at old man Challenger as I -pass.” - -They dined together in the train and after dinner reassembled in their -first-class carriage, which is the snuggest mode of travel which the -world can show. Roxton, behind a big black cigar, was full of his visit -to Challenger. - -“The old dear is the same as ever. Bit my head off once or twice in his -own familiar way. Talked unadulterated tripe. Says I’ve got -brain-softenin’ if I could think there was such a thing as a real spook. -‘When you’re dead you’re dead.’ That’s the old man’s cheery slogan. -Surveyin’ his contemporaries, he said, extinction was a doosed good -thing! ‘It’s the only hope of the world,’ said he. ‘Fancy the awful -prospect if they survived.’ Wanted to give me a bottle of chlorine to -chuck at the ghost. I told him that if my automatic was not a -spook-stopper, nothin’ else would serve. Tell me, padre, is this the -first time you’ve been on Solfari after this kind of game?” - -“You treat the matter too lightly, Lord John,” said the clergyman, -gravely. “You have clearly had no experience of it. In answer to your -question I may say that I have several times tried to help in similar -cases.” - -“And you take it seriously?” asked Malone, making notes for his article. - -“Very, very seriously.” - -“What do you think these influences are?” - -“I am no authority upon the general question. You know Algernon Mailey, -the barrister, do you not? He could give you facts and figures. I -approach the subject rather perhaps from the point of view of instinct -and emotion. I remember Mailey lecturing on Professor Bozzano’s book on -ghosts where over five hundred well-authenticated instances were given, -every one of them sufficient to establish an _a priori_ case. There is -Flammarion, too. You can’t laugh away evidence of that kind.” - -“I’ve read Bozzano and Flammarion, too,” said Malone, “but it is your -own experience and conclusions that I want.” - -“Well, if you quote me, remember that I do not look on myself as a great -authority on psychic research. Wiser brains than mine may come along -and give some other explanation. Still, what I have seen has led me to -certain conclusions. One of them is to think that there is some truth in -the theosophical idea of shells.” - -“What is that?” - -“They imagined that all spirit bodies near the earth were empty shells -or husks from which the real entity had departed. Now, of course, we -know that a general statement of that sort is nonsense, for we could not -get the glorious communications which we do get from anything but high -intelligences. But we also must beware of generalisations. They are not -_all_ high intelligences. Some are so low that I think the creature is -purely external and is an appearance rather than a reality.” - -“But why should it be there?” - -“Yes, that is the question. It is usually allowed that there is the -natural body, as St. Paul called it, which is dissolved at death, and -the etheric or spiritual body which survives and functions upon an -etheric plane. Those are the essential things. But we may really have as -many coats as an onion and there may be a mental body which may shed -itself at any spot where great mental or emotional strain has been -experienced. It may be a dull automatic simulacrum and yet carry -something of our appearance and thoughts.” - -“Well,” said Malone, “that would to some extent get over the difficulty, -for I could never imagine that a murderer or his victim could spend -whole centuries re-acting the old crime. What would be the sense of it?” - -“Quite right, young fellah,” said Lord Roxton. “There was a pal of mine, -Archie Soames, the gentleman Jock, who had an old place in Berkshire. -Well, Nell Gwynne had lived there once, and he was ready to swear he met -her a dozen times in the passage. Archie never flinched at the big jump -at the Grand National, but, by Jove! he flinched at those passages after -dark. Doosed fine woman she was and all that, but dash it all! What I -mean--one has to draw the line--what!” - -“Quite so!” the clergyman answered. “You can’t imagine that the real -soul of a vivid personality like Nell could spend centuries walking -those passages. But if by chance she had ate her heart out in that -house, brooding and fretting, one could think that she might have cast a -shell and left some thought-image of herself behind her.” - -“You said you had experiences of your own.” - -“I had one before ever I knew anything of Spiritualism. I hardly expect -that you will believe me, but I assure you it is true. I was a very -young curate up in the north. There was a house in the village which had -a _poltergeist_, one of those very mischievous influences which cause so -much trouble. I volunteered to exorcise it. We have an official form of -exorcism in the Church, you know, so I thought that I was well-armed. I -stood in the drawing-room which was the centre of the disturbances, with -all the family on their knees beside me, and I read the service. What do -you think happened?” - -Mason’s gaunt face broke into a sweetly humorous laugh. “Just as I -reached Amen, when the creature should have been slinking away abashed, -the big bearskin hearthrug stood up on end and simply enveloped me. I am -ashamed to say that I was out of that house in two jumps. It was then -that I learned that no formal religious proceeding has any effect at -all.” - -“Then what has?” - -“Well, kindness and reason may do something. You see, they vary greatly. -Some of these earthbound or earth-interested creatures are neutral, like -these simulacra or shells that I speak of. Others are essentially good -like these monks of Glastonbury, who have manifested so wonderfully of -late years and are recorded by Bligh Bond. They are held to earth by a -pious memory. Some are mischievous children like the _poltergeists_. And -some--only a few, I hope--are deadly beyond words, strong, malevolent -creatures too heavy with matter to rise above our earth plane--so heavy -with matter that their vibrations may be low enough to affect the human -retina and to become visible. If they have been cruel, cunning brutes in -life, they are cruel and cunning still with more power to hurt. It is -evil monsters of this kind who are let loose by our system of capital -punishment, for they die with unused vitality which may be expended upon -revenge.” - -“This Dryfont spook has a doosed bad record,” said Lord Roxton. - -“Exactly. That is why I disapprove of levity. He seems to me to be the -very type of the creature I speak of. Just as an octopus may have his -den in some ocean cave, and come floating out a silent image of horror, -to attack a swimmer, so I picture such a spirit lurking in the dark of -the house which he curses by his presence, and ready to float out upon -all whom he can injure.” - -Malone’s jaw began to drop. - -“I say!” he exclaimed, “have we no protection?” - -“Yes, I think we have. If we had not, such a creature could devastate -the earth. Our protection is that there are white forces as well as -dark ones. We may call them ‘guardian angels’ as the Catholics do, or -‘guides’ or ‘controls,’ but whatever you call them, they really do exist -and they guard us from evil on the spiritual plane.” - -“What about the chap who was driven mad, padre? Where was your guide -when the spook put the rug around you? What?” - -“The power of our guards may depend upon our own worthiness. Evil may -always win for a time. Good wins in the end. That’s my experience in -life.” - -Lord Roxton shook his head. - -“If good wins, then it runs a doosed long waitin’ race, and most of us -never live to see the finish. Look at those rubber devils that I had a -scrap with up the Putomayo River. Where are they? What! Mostly in Paris -havin’ a good time. And the poor niggers they murdered. What about -them?” - -“Yes, we need faith sometimes. We have to remember that we don’t see the -end. ‘To be continued in our next’ is the conclusion of every -life-story. That’s where the enormous value of the other world accounts -come in. They give us at least one chapter more.” - -“Where can I get that chapter?” asked Malone. - -“There are many wonderful books, though the world has not yet learned to -appreciate them--records of the life beyond. I remember one -incident--you may take it as a parable, if you like--but it is really -more than that. The dead rich man pauses before the lovely dwelling. His -sad guide draws him away. ‘It is not for you. It is for your gardener.’ -He shows him a wretched shack. ‘You gave us nothing to build with. It -was the best that we could do.’ That may be the next chapter in the -story of your rubber millionaires.” - -Roxton laughed grimly. - -“I gave some of them a shack that was six foot long and two foot deep,” -said he. “No good shakin’ your head, padre. What I mean--I don’t love my -neighbour as myself, and never shall. I hate some of ’em like poison.” - -“Well, we should hate sin, and for my own part, I have never been strong -enough to separate sin from the sinner. How can I preach when I am as -human and weak as anyone?” - -“Why, that’s the only preachin’ I could listen to,” said Lord Roxton. -“The chap in the pulpit is over my head. If he comes down to my level I -have some use for him. Well, it strikes me we won’t get much sleep -to-night. We’ve just an hour before we reach Dryfont. Maybe we had -better use it.” - -It was past eleven o’clock of a cold, frosty night when the party -reached their destination. The station of the little watering-place was -almost deserted, but a small, fat man in a fur overcoat ran forward to -meet them, and greeted them warmly. - -“I am Mr. Belchamber, owner of the house. How do you do, gentlemen? I -got your wire, Lord Roxton, and everything is in order. It is indeed -kind of you to come down. If you can do anything to ease my burden I -shall indeed be grateful.” - -Mr. Belchamber led them across to the little Station Hotel where they -partook of sandwiches and coffee, which he had thoughtfully ordered. As -they ate he told them something of his troubles. - -“It isn’t as if I was a rich man, gentleman. I am a retired grazier and -all my savings are in three houses. That is one of them, the Villa -Maggiore. Yes, I got it cheap, that’s true. But how could I think there -was anything in this story of the mad doctor?” - -“Let’s have the yarn,” said Lord Roxton, munching at a sandwich. - -“He was there away back in Queen Victoria’s time. I’ve seen him myself. -A long, stringy, dark-faced kind of man, with a round back and a queer, -shuffling way of walking. They say he had been in India all his life, -and some thought he was hiding from some crime, for he would never show -his face in the village and seldom came out till after dark. He broke a -dog’s leg with a stone, and there was some talk of having him up for it, -but the people were afraid of him and no one would prosecute. The little -boys would run past, for he would sit glowering and glooming in the -front window. Then one day he didn’t take the milk in, and the same the -next day, and so they broke the door open, and he was dead in his -bath--but it was a bath of blood for he had opened the veins of his arm. -Tremayne was his name. No one here forgets it.” - -“And you bought the house?” - -“Well, it was re-papered and painted and fumigated, and done up outside. -You’d have said it was a new house. Then, I let it to Mr. Jenkins of the -Brewery. Three days he was in it. I lowered the rent, and Mr. Beale, the -retired grocer, took it. It was he who went mad--clean mad--after a week -of it. And I’ve had it on my hands ever since--sixty pounds out of my -income, and taxes to pay on it, into the bargain. If you gentlemen can -do anything, for God’s sake do it! If not, it would pay me to burn it -down.” - -The Villa Maggiore stood about half a mile from the town on the slope of -a low hill. Mr. Belchamber conducted them so far, and even up to the -hall door. It was certainly a depressing place, with a huge, gambrel -roof which came down over the upper windows and nearly obscured them. -There was a half-moon, and by its light they could see that the garden -was a tangle of scraggy, winter vegetation, which had, in some places, -almost overgrown the path. It was all very still, very gloomy and very -ominous. - -“The door is not locked,” said the owner. “You will find some chairs and -a table in the sitting-room on the left of the hall. I had a fire lit -there, and there is a bucketful of coals. You will be pretty -comfortable, I hope. You won’t blame me for not coming in, but my nerves -are not so good as they were.” With a few apologetic words, the owner -slipped away, and they were alone with their task. - -Lord Roxton had brought a strong electric torch. On opening the mildewed -door, he flashed a tunnel of light down the passage, uncarpeted and -dreary, which ended in a broad, straight, wooden staircase leading to -the upper floor. There were doors on either side of the passage. That on -the right led into a large, cheerless, empty room, with a derelict -lawn-mower in one corner and a pile of old books and journals. There was -a corresponding room upon the left which was a much more cheery -apartment. A brisk fire burned in the grate, there were three -comfortable chairs, and a deal table with a water carafe, a bucket of -coals, and a few other amenities. It was lit by a large oil-lamp. The -clergyman and Malone drew up to the fire, for it was very cold, but Lord -Roxton completed his preparations. From a little hand-bag he extracted -his automatic pistol, which he put upon the mantelpiece. Then he -produced a packet of candles, placing two of them in the hall. Finally -he took a ball of worsted and tied strings of it across the back -passage and across the opposite door. - -“We will have one look round,” said he, when his preparations were -complete. “Then we can wait down here and take what comes.” - -The upper passage led at right angles to left and right from the top of -the straight staircase. On the right were two large, bare, dusty rooms, -with the wall-paper hanging in strips and the floor littered with -scattered plaster. On the left was a single large room in the same -derelict condition. Out of it was the bathroom of tragic memory, with -the high, zinc bath still in position. Great splotches of red lay within -it, and though they were only rust stains, they seemed to be terrible -reminders from the past. Malone was surprised to see the clergyman -stagger and support himself against the door. His face was ghastly white -and there was moisture on his brow. His two comrades supported him down -the stairs, and he sat for a little, as one exhausted, before he spoke. - -“Did you two really feel nothing?” he asked. “The fact is that I am -mediumistic myself and very open to psychic impressions. This particular -one was horrible beyond description.” - -“What did you get, padre?” - -“It is difficult to describe these things. It was a sinking of my heart, -a feeling of utter desolation. All my senses were affected. My eyes went -dim. I smelt a terrible odour of putrescence. The strength seemed to be -sapped out of me. Believe me, Lord Roxton, it is no light thing which we -are facing to-night.” - -The sportsman was unusually grave. “So I begin to think,” said he. “Do -you think you are fit for the job?” - -“I am sorry to have been so weak,” Mr. Mason answered. “I shall -certainly see the thing through. The worse the case, the more need for -my help. I am all right now,” he added, with his cheery laugh, drawing -an old charred briar from his pocket. “This is the best doctor for -shaken nerves. I’ll sit here and smoke till I’m wanted.” - -“What shape do you expect it to take?” asked Malone of Lord Roxton. - -“Well, it is something you can see. That’s certain.” - -“That’s what I cannot understand, in spite of all my reading,” said -Malone. “These authorities are all agreed that there is a material -basis, and that this material basis is drawn from the human body. Call -it ectoplasm, or what you like, it is human in origin, is it not?” - -“Certainly,” Mason answered. - -“Well, then are we to suppose that this Dr. Tremayne builds up his own -appearance by drawing stuff from me and you?” - -“I think, so far as I understand it, that in most cases a spirit does -so. I believe that when the spectator feels that he goes cold, that his -hair rises and the rest of it, he is really conscious of this draft upon -his own vitality which may be enough to make him faint or even to kill -him. Perhaps he was drawing on me then.” - -“Suppose we are not mediumistic? Suppose we give out nothing?” - -“There is a very full case that I read lately,” Mr. Mason answered. “It -was closely observed--reported by Professor Neillson of Iceland. In that -case the evil spirit used to go down to an unfortunate photographer in -the town, draw his supplies from him, and then come back and use them. -He would openly say, ‘Give me time to get down to So-and-so. Then I will -show you what I can do.’ He was a most formidable creature and they had -great difficulty in mastering him.” - -“Strikes me, young fellah, we have taken on a larger contract than we -knew,” said Lord Roxton. “Well, we’ve done what we could. The passage is -well lit. No one can come at us except down the stair without breaking -the worsted. There is nothing more we can do except just to wait.” - -So they waited. It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on -the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from -one to two and from two to three. Outside an owl was hooting most -dismally in the darkness. The villa was on a by-road, and there was no -human sound to link them up with life. The padre lay dozing in his -chair. Malone smoked incessantly. Lord Roxton turned over the pages of a -magazine. There were the occasional strange tappings and creakings which -come in the silence of the night. Nothing else until.... - -Someone came down the stair. - -There could not be a doubt of it. It was a furtive, and yet a clear -footstep. Creak! Creak! Creak! Then it had reached the level. Then it -had reached their door. They were all sitting erect in their chairs, -Roxton grasping his automatic. Had it come in? The door was ajar, but -had not further opened. Yet all were aware of a sense that they were not -alone, that they were being observed. It seemed suddenly colder, and -Malone was shivering. An instant later the steps were retreating. They -were low and swift--much swifter than before. One could imagine that a -messenger was speeding back with intelligence to some great master who -lurked in the shadows above. - -The three sat in silence, looking at each other. - -“By Jove!” said Lord Roxton at last. His face was pale but firm. Malone -scribbled some notes and the hour. The clergyman was praying. - -“Well, we are up against it,” said Roxton after a pause. “We can’t leave -it at that. We have to go through with it. I don’t mind tellin’ you, -padre, that I’ve followed a wounded tiger in a thick jungle and never -had quite the feelin’ I’ve got now. If I’m out for sensations, I’ve got -them. But I’m going upstairs.” - -“We will go, too,” cried his comrades, rising from their chairs. - -“Stay here, young fellah! And you, too, padre. Three of us make too much -noise. I’ll call you if I want you. My idea is just to steal out and -wait quiet on the stair. If that thing, whatever it was, comes again, it -will have to pass me.” - -All three went into the passage. The two candles were throwing out -little circles of light, and the stair was dimly illuminated, with heavy -shadows at the top. Roxton sat down half-way up the stair, pistol in -hand. He put his finger to his lips and impatiently waved his companions -back to the room. Then they sat by the fire, waiting, waiting. - -Half an hour, three-quarters--and then, suddenly it came. There was a -sound as of rushing feet, the reverberation of a shot, a scuffle and a -heavy fall, with a loud cry for help. Shaking with horror, they rushed -into the hall. Lord Roxton was lying on his face amid a litter of -plaster and rubbish. He seemed half-dazed as they raised him, and was -bleeding where the skin had been grazed from his cheek and hands. -Looking up the stair, it seemed that the shadows were blacker and -thicker at the top. - -“I’m all right,” said Roxton, as they led him to his chair. “Just give -me a minute to get my wind and I’ll have another round with the -devil--for if this is not the devil, then none ever walked the earth.” - -“You shan’t go alone this time,” said Malone. - -“You never should,” added the clergyman. “But tell us what happened.” - -“I hardly know myself. I sat, as you saw, with my back to the top -landing. Suddenly I heard a rush. I was aware of something dark right on -the top of me. I half-turned and fired. The next instant I was chucked -down as if I had been a baby. All that plaster came showering down after -me. That’s as much as I can tell you.” - -“Why should we go further in the matter?” said Malone. “You are -convinced that this is more than human, are you not?” - -“There is no doubt of that.” - -“Well, then you have had your experience. What more can you want?” - -“Well, I, at least, want something more,” said Mr. Mason. “I think our -help is needed.” - -“Strikes me that _we_ shall need the help,” said Lord Roxton, rubbing -his knee. “We shall want a doctor before we get through. But I’m with -you, padre. I feel that we must see it through. If you don’t like it, -young fellah----” - -The mere suggestion was too much for Malone’s Irish blood. - -“I am going up alone!” he cried, making for the door. - -“No, indeed. I am with you.” The clergyman hurried after him. - -“And you don’t go without me!” cried Lord Roxton, limping in the rear. - -They stood together in the candle-lit, shadow-draped passage. Malone had -his hand on the balustrade and his foot on the lower step, when it -happened. - -What was it? They could not tell themselves. They only knew that the -black shadows at the top of the staircase had thickened, had coalesced, -had taken a definite, batlike shape. Great God! They were moving! They -were rushing swiftly and noiselessly downwards! Black, black as night, -huge, ill-defined, semi-human and altogether evil and damnable. All -three men screamed and blundered for the door. Lord Roxton caught the -handle and threw it open. It was too late; the thing was upon them. They -were conscious of a warm, glutinous contact, of a purulent smell, of a -half-formed, dreadful face and of entwining limbs. An instant later all -three were lying half-dazed and horrified, hurled outwards on to the -gravel of the drive. The door had shut with a crash. - -Malone whimpered and Roxton swore, but the clergyman was silent as they -gathered themselves together, each of them badly shaken and bruised, but -with an inward horror which made all bodily ill seem insignificant. -There they stood in a little group in the light of the sinking moon, -their eyes turned upon the black square of the door. - -“That’s enough,” said Roxton, at last. - -“More than enough,” said Malone. “I wouldn’t enter that house again for -anything Fleet Street could offer.” - -“Are you hurt?” - -“Defiled, degraded--oh, it was loathsome!” - -“Foul!” said Roxton. “Foul! Did you get the reek of it? And the purulent -warmth?” - -Malone gave a cry of disgust. “Featureless--save for the dreadful eyes! -Semi-materialised! Horrible!” - -“What about the lights?” - -“Oh, damn the lights! Let them burn. I am not going in again!” - -“Well, Belchamber can come in the morning. Maybe he is waiting for us -now at the inn.” - -“Yes, let us go to the inn. Let us get back to humanity.” - -Malone and Roxton turned away, but the clergyman stood fast. He had -drawn a crucifix from his pocket. - -“You can go,” said he. “I am going back.” - -“What! Into the house?” - -“Yes, into the house.” - -“Padre, this is madness! It will break your neck. We were all like -stuffed dolls in its clutch.” - -“Well, let it break my neck. I am going.” - -“You are not! Here, Malone, catch hold of him!” - -But it was too late. With a few quick steps, Mr. Mason had reached the -door, flung it open, passed in and closed it behind him. As his comrades -tried to follow, they heard a creaking clang upon the further side. The -padre had bolted them out. There was a great slit where the letter-box -had been. Through it Lord Roxton entreated him to return. - -“Stay there!” said the quick, stern voice of the clergyman. “I have my -work to do. I will come when it is done.” - -A moment later he began to speak. His sweet, homely, affectionate -accents rang through the hall. They could only hear snatches outside, -bits of prayer, bits of exhortation, bits of kindly greeting. Looking -through the narrow opening, Malone could see the straight, dark figure -in the candle-light, its back to the door, its face to the shadows of -the stair, the crucifix held aloft in its right hand. - -His voice sank into silence and then there came one more of the miracles -of this eventful night. A voice answered him. It was such a sound as -neither of the auditors had heard before--a guttural, rasping, croaking -utterance, indescribably menacing. What it said was short, but it was -instantly answered by the clergyman, his tone sharpened to a fine edge -by emotion. His utterance seemed to be exhortation and was at once -answered by the ominous voice from beyond. Again and again, and yet -again came the speech and the answer, sometimes shorter, sometimes -longer, varying in every key of pleading, arguing, praying, soothing, -and everything save upbraiding. Chilled to the marrow, Roxton and Malone -crouched by the door, catching snatches of that inconceivable dialogue. -Then, after what seemed a weary time, though it was less than an hour, -Mr. Mason, in a loud, full, exultant tone, repeated the “Our Father.” -Was it fancy, or echo, or was there really some accompanying voice in -the darkness beyond him. A moment later the light went out in the -left-hand window, the bolt was drawn, and the clergyman emerged carrying -Lord Roxton’s bag. His face looked ghastly in the moonlight, but his -manner was brisk and happy. - -“I think you will find everything here,” he said, handing over the bag. - -Roxton and Malone took him by either arm and hurried him down to the -road. - -“By Jove! You don’t give us the slip again!” cried the nobleman. -“Padre, you should have a row of Victoria Crosses.” - -“No, no, it was my duty. Poor fellow, he needed help so badly. I am but -a fellow-sinner and yet I was able to give it.” - -“You did him good?” - -“I humbly hope so. I was but the instrument of the higher forces. The -house is haunted no longer. He promised. But I will not speak of it now. -It may be easier in days to come.” - -The landlord and the maids stared at the three adventurers in amazement -when, in the chill light of the winter dawn, they presented themselves -at the inn once more. Each of them seemed to have aged five years in the -night. Mr. Mason, with the reaction upon him, threw himself down upon -the horsehair sofa in the humble coffee-room and was instantly asleep. - -“Poor chap! He looks pretty bad!” said Malone. Indeed, his white, -haggard face and long, limp limbs might have been those of a corpse. - -“We will get a cup of hot tea into him,” Lord Roxton answered, warming -his hands at the fire, which the maid had just lit. “By Jove! We shall -be none the worse for some ourselves. Well, young fellah, we’ve got what -we came for. I’ve had my sensation, and you’ve had your copy.” - -“And he has had the saving of a soul. Well, we must admit that our -objects seem very humble compared to his.” - - * * * * * - -They caught the early train to London, and had a carriage to themselves. -Mason had said little and seemed to be lost in thought. Suddenly, he -turned to his companions. - -“I say, you two, would you mind joining me in prayer?” - -Lord Roxton made a grimace. “I warn you, padre, I am rather out of -practice.” - -“Please kneel down with me. I want your aid.” - -They knelt down, side by side, the padre in the middle. Malone made a -mental note of the prayer. - -“Father, we are all Your children, poor, weak, helpless creatures, -swayed by Fate and circumstance. I implore You that You will turn eyes -of compassion upon the man, Rupert Tremayne, who wandered far from You, -and is now in the dark. He has sunk deep, very deep, for he had a proud -heart which would not soften, and a cruel mind, which was filled with -hate. But now he would turn to the light, and so I beg help for him and -for the woman, Emma, who, for the love of him, has gone down into the -darkness. May she raise him, as she had tried to do. May they both break -the bonds of evil memory which tie them to earth. May they, for -to-night, move up towards that glorious light which sooner or later -shines upon even the lowest.” - -They rose from their knees. - -“That’s better!” cried the Padre, thumping his chest with his bony hand, -and breaking out into his expansive, toothsome grin. “What a night! Good -Lord, what a night!”[B] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -WHICH INTRODUCES SOME VERY PHYSICAL PHENOMENA - - -Malone seemed destined to be entangled in the affairs of the Linden -family, for he had hardly seen the last of the unfortunate Tom before he -became involved in a very much more unpleasant fashion with his -unsavoury brother. - -The episode began by a telephone ring in the morning and the voice of -Algernon Mailey at the far end of the wire. - -“Are you clear for this afternoon?” - -“At your service.” - -“I say, Malone, you are a hefty man. You played Rugger for Ireland, did -you not? You don’t mind a possible rough-and-tumble, do you?” - -Malone grinned over the receiver. - -“You can count me in.” - -“It may really be rather formidable. We shall have possibly to tackle a -prizefighter.” - -“Right-o!” said Malone, cheerfully. - -“And we want another man for the job. Do you know any fellow who would -come along just for the sake of the adventure. If he knows anything -about psychic matters, all the better.” - -Malone puzzled for a moment. Then he had an inspiration. - -“There is Roxton,” said he. “He’s not a chicken, but he is a useful man -in a row. I think I could get him. He has been keen on your subject -since his Dorsetshire experience.” - -“Right! Bring him along! If he can’t come, we shall have to tackle the -job ourselves. Forty-one, Belshaw Gardens, S.W. Near Earl’s Court -Station. Three p.m. Right!” - -Malone at once rang up Lord Roxton, and soon heard the familiar voice. - -“What’s that, young fellah?... A scrap? Why, certainly. What!... I mean -I had a golf match at Richmond Deer Park, but this sounds more -attractive. What! Very good. I’ll meet you there.” - -And so it came about that at the hour of three, Mailey, Lord Roxton and -Malone found themselves seated round the fire in the comfortable -drawing-room of the barrister. His wife, a sweet and beautiful woman, -who was his helpmate in his spiritual as well as in his material life, -was there to welcome them. - -“Now, dear, you are not on in this act,” said Mailey. “You will retire -discreetly into the wings. Don’t worry if you hear a row.” - -“But I do worry, dear. You’ll get hurt.” - -Mailey laughed. - -“I think your furniture may possibly get hurt. You have nothing else to -fear, dear. And it’s all for the good of the Cause. That always settles -it,” he explained, as his wife reluctantly left the room. “I really -think she would go to the stake for the Cause. Her great, loving, -womanly heart knows what it would mean for this grey earth if people -could get away from the shadow of death and value this great happiness -that is to come, By Jove! she is an inspiration to me.... Well,” he went -on with a laugh, “I must not get on to that subject. We have something -very different to think of--something as hideous and vile as she is -beautiful and good. It concerns Tom Linden’s brother.” - -“I’ve heard of the fellow,” said Malone. “I used to box a bit and I am -still a member of the N.S.C. Silas Linden was very nearly Champion in -the Welters.” - -“That’s the man. He is out of a job and thought he would take up -mediumship. Naturally I and other Spiritualists took him seriously, for -we all love his brother, and these powers often run in families, so that -his claim seemed reasonable. So we gave him a trial last night.” - -“Well, what happened?” - -“I suspected the fellow from the first. You understand that it is hardly -possible for a medium to deceive an experienced Spiritualist. When there -is deception it is at the expense of outsiders. I watched him carefully -from the first, and I seated myself near the cabinet. Presently he -emerged clad in white. I broke the contact by prearrangement with my -wife who sat next me, and I felt him as he passed me. He was, of course, -in white. I had a pair of scissors in my pocket and I snipped off a bit -from the edge.” - -Mailey drew a triangular piece of linen from his pocket. - -“There it is, you see. Very ordinary linen. I have no doubt the fellow -was wearing his nightgown.” - -“Why did you not have a show-up at once?” asked Lord Roxton. - -“There were several ladies there, and I was the only really able-bodied -man in the room.” - -“Well, what do you propose?” - -“I have appointed that he come here at three-thirty. He is due now. -Unless he has noticed the small cut in his linen, I don’t think he has -any suspicion why I want him.” - -“What will you do?” - -“Well, that depends on him. We have to stop him at any cost. That is the -way our Cause gets bemired. Some villain who knows nothing about it -comes into it for money and so the labours of honest mediums get -discounted. The public very naturally brackets them all together. With -your help I can talk to this fellow on equal terms which I certainly -could not do if I were alone. By Jove! here he is!” - -There was a heavy step outside. The door was opened and Silas Linden, -fake medium and ex-prizefighter, walked in. His small piggy grey eyes -under their shaggy brows looked round with suspicion at the three men. -Then he forced a smile and nodded to Mailey. - -“Good day, Mr. Mailey. We had a good evening last night, had we not?” - -“Sit down, Linden,” said Mailey, indicating a chair. “It’s about last -night that I want to talk to you. You cheated us.” - -Silas Linden’s heavy face flushed red with anger. - -“What’s that?” he cried, sharply. - -“You cheated us. You dressed up and pretended to be a spirit.” - -“You are a damned liar!” cried Linden. “I did nothing of the sort.” - -Mailey took the rag of linen from his pocket and spread it on his knee. - -“What about that?” he asked. - -“Well, what about it?” - -“It was cut out of the white gown you wore. I cut it out myself as you -stood in front of me. If you examine the gown you will find the place. -It’s no use, Linden. The game is up. You can’t deny it.” - -For a moment the man was completely taken aback. Then he burst into a -stream of horrible profanity. - -“What’s the game?” he cried, glaring round him. “Do you think I am easy -and that you can play me for a sucker? Is it a frame-up, or what? You’ve -chose the wrong man for a try-on of that sort.” - -“There is no use being noisy or violent, Linden,” said Mailey quietly. -“I could bring you up in the police court to-morrow. I don’t want any -public scandal, for your brother’s sake. But you don’t leave this room -until you have signed a paper that I have here on my desk.” - -“Oh, I don’t, don’t I? Who will stop me?” - -“We will.” - -The three men were between him and the door. - -“You will! Well, try that!” He stood before them with rage in his eyes -and his great hands knotted. “Will you get out of the way?” - -They did not answer, but they all three gave the fighting snarl which is -perhaps the oldest of all human expressions. The next instant Linden was -upon them, his fists flashing out with terrific force. Mailey, who had -boxed in his youth, stopped one blow, but the next beat in his guard and -he fell with a crash against the door. Lord Roxton was hurled to one -side, but Malone, with a footballer’s instinct, ducked his head and -caught the prizefighter round the knees. If a man is too good for you on -his feet, then put him on his back, for he cannot be scientific there. -Over went Linden, crashing through an armchair before he reached the -ground. He staggered to one knee and got in a short jolt to the chin, -but Malone had him down again and Roxton’s bony hand had closed upon his -throat. Silas Linden had a yellow streak in him and he was cowed. - -“Let up!” he cried. “That’s enough!” - -He lay now spread-eagled upon his back. Malone and Roxton were bending -over him. Mailey had gathered himself together, pale and shaken after -his fall. - -“I’m all right!” he cried, in answer to a feminine voice at the other -side of the door. “No, not yet, dear, but we shall soon be ready for -you. Now, Linden, there’s no need for you to get up, for you can talk -very nicely where you are. You’ve got to sign this paper before you -leave the room.” - -“What is the paper?” croaked Linden, as Roxton’s grip upon his throat -relaxed. - -“I’ll read it to you.” - -Mailey took it from the desk and read aloud. - - “‘I, Silas Linden, hereby admit that I have acted as a rogue and a - scoundrel by simulating to be a spirit, and I swear that I will - never again in my life pretend to be a medium. Should I break this - oath, then this signed confession may be used for my conviction in - the police court.’” - -“Will you sign that?” - -“No, I am damned if I will!” - -“Shall I give him another squeeze?” asked Lord Roxton. “Perhaps I could -choke some sense into him--what!” - -“Not at all,” said Mailey. “I think that his case now would do good in -the police court, for it would show the public that we are determined to -keep our house clean. I’ll give you one minute for consideration, -Linden, and then I ring up the police.” - -But it did not take a minute for the impostor to make up his mind. - -“All right,” said he in a sulky voice, “I’ll sign.” - -He was allowed to rise with a warning that if he played any tricks he -would not get off so lightly the second time. But there was no kick left -in him and he scrawled a big, coarse “Silas Linden” at the bottom of the -paper without a word. The three men signed as witnesses. - -“Now, get out!” said Mailey, sharply. “Find some honest trade in future -and leave sacred things alone!” - -“Keep your bloody cant to yourself!” Linden answered, and so departed, -grumbling and swearing, into the outer darkness from which he had come. -He had hardly passed before Mrs. Mailey had rushed into the room to -reassure herself as to her husband. Once satisfied as to this she -mourned over her broken chair, for like all good women she took a -personal pride and joy in every detail of her little _ménage_. - -“Never mind, dear. It’s a cheap price to pay in order to get that -blackguard out of the movement. Don’t go away, you fellows. I want to -talk to you.” - -“And tea is just coming in.” - -“Perhaps something stronger would be better,” said Mailey, and indeed, -all three were rather exhausted, for it was sharp while it lasted. -Roxton, who had enjoyed the whole thing immensely, was full of vitality, -but Malone was shaken and Mailey had narrowly escaped serious injury -from that ponderous blow. - -“I have heard,” said Mailey, as they all settled down round the fire, -“that this blackguard has sweated money out of poor Tom Linden for -years. It was a form of blackmail, for he was quite capable of -denouncing him. By Jove!” he cried, with sudden inspiration, “that would -account for the police raid. Why should they pick Linden out of all the -mediums in London? I remember now that Tom told me the fellow had asked -to be taught to be a medium, and that he had refused to teach him.” - -“Could he teach him?” asked Malone. - -Mailey was thoughtful over this question. “Well, perhaps he could,” he -said at last. “But Silas Linden as a false medium would be very much -less dangerous than Silas Linden as a true medium.” - -“I don’t follow you.” - -“Mediumship can be developed,” said Mrs. Mailey. “One might almost say -it was catching.” - -“That was what the laying-on of hands meant in the early Church,” Mailey -explained. “It was the conferring of thaumaturgic powers. We can’t do it -now as rapidly as that. But if a man or woman sits with the desire of -development, and especially if that sitting is in the presence of a real -medium, the chance is that powers will come.” - -“But why do you say that would be worse than false mediumship?” - -“Because it could be used for evil. I assure you, Malone, that the talk -of black magic and of evil entities is not an invention of the enemy. -Such things do happen and centre round the wicked medium. You can get -down into a region which is akin to the popular idea of witchcraft. It -is dishonest to deny it.” - -“Like attracts like,” explained Mrs. Mailey, who was quite as capable an -exponent as her husband. “You get what you deserve. If you sit with -wicked people you get wicked visitors.” - -“Then there is a dangerous side to it?” - -“Do you know anything on earth which has not a dangerous side if it is -mishandled and exaggerated? This dangerous side exists quite apart from -orthodox Spiritualism, and our knowledge is the surest way to -counteract it. I believe that the witchcraft of the Middle Ages was a -very real thing, and that the best way to meet such practices is to -cultivate the higher powers of the spirit. To leave the thing entirely -alone is to abandon the field to the forces of evil.” - -Lord Roxton interposed in an unexpected way. - -“When I was in Paris last year,” said he, “there was a fellah called La -Paix who dabbled in the black magic business. He held circles and the -like. What I mean, there was no great harm in the thing, but it wasn’t -what you would call very spiritual, either.” - -“It’s a side that I as a journalist would like to see something of, if I -am to report impartially upon this subject,” said Malone. - -“Quite right!” Mailey agreed. “We want all the cards on the table.” - -“Well, young fellah, if you give me a week of your time and come to -Paris, I’ll introduce you to La Paix,” said Roxton. - -“It is a curious thing, but I also had a Paris visit in my mind for our -friend here,” said Mailey. “I have been asked over by Dr. Maupuis of the -Institute Métapsychique to see some of the experiments which he is -conducting upon a Galician medium. It is really the religious side of -this matter which interests me, and that is conspicuously wanting in the -minds of these scientific men of the Continent but for accurate, careful -examination of the psychic facts they are ahead of anyone except poor -Crawford of Belfast, who stood in a class by himself. I promised Maupuis -to run across, and he has certainly been having some wonderful--in some -respects, some rather alarming results.” - -“Why alarming?” - -“Well, his materialisations lately have not been human at all. That is -confirmed by photographs. I won’t say more, for it is best that, if you -go, you should approach it with an open mind.” - -“I shall certainly go,” said Malone. “I am sure my chief would wish it.” - -Tea had arrived to interrupt the conversation in the irritating way that -our bodily needs intrude upon our higher pursuits. But Malone was too -keen to be thrown off his scent. - -“You speak of these evil forces. Have you ever come in contact with -them?” - -Mailey looked at his wife and smiled. - -“Continually,” he said. “It is part of our job. We specialise on it.” - -“I understood that when there was an intrusion of that kind you drove it -away.” - -“Not necessarily. If we can help any lower spirit we do so, and we can -only do it by encouraging it to tell us its troubles. Most of them are -not wicked. They are poor, ignorant, stunted creatures who are suffering -the effects of the narrow and false views which they have learned in -this world. We try to help them--and we do.” - -“How do you know that you do?” - -“Because they report to us afterwards and register their progress. Such -methods are often used by our people. They are called ‘rescue circles.’” - -“I have heard of rescue circles. Where could I attend one? This thing -attracts me more and more. Fresh gulfs seem always opening. I would take -it as a great favour if you would help me to see this fresh side of it.” - -Mailey became thoughtful. - -“We don’t want to make a spectacle of these poor creatures. On the -other hand, though we can hardly claim you yet as a Spiritualist, you -have treated the subject with some understanding and sympathy.” He -looked enquiringly at his wife, who smiled and nodded. - -“Ah, you have permission. Well then, you must know that we run our own -little rescue circle, and that at five o’clock to-day we have our weekly -sitting. Mr. Terbane is our medium. We don’t usually have anyone else -except Mr. Charles Mason, the clergyman. But if you both care to have -the experience, we shall be very happy if you will stay. Terbane should -be here immediately after tea. He is a railway-porter, you know, so his -time is not his own. Yes, psychic power in its varied manifestations is -found in humble quarters, but surely that has been its main -characteristic from the beginning--fishermen, carpenters, tent-makers, -camel drivers, these were the prophets of old. At this moment some of -the highest psychic gifts in England lie in a miner, a cotton operative, -a railway-porter, a bargeman and a charwoman. Thus does history repeat -itself, and that foolish beak, with Tom Linden before him, was but Felix -judging Paul. The old wheel goes round.” - - - - -CHAPTER X - -DE PROFUNDIS - - -They were still having tea when Mr. Charles Mason was ushered in. -Nothing draws people together into such intimate soul-to-soul -relationship as psychic quest, and thus it was that Roxton and Malone, -who had only known him in the one episode, felt more near to this man -than to others with whom they had associated for years. This close vital -comradeship is one of the outstanding features of such communion. When -his loosely-built, straggling, lean, clerical figure appeared, with that -gaunt, worn face illuminated by its human grin and dignified by its -earnest eyes, through the doorway, they both felt as if an old friend -had entered. His own greeting was equally cordial. - -“Still exploring!” he cried, as he shook them by the hand. “We will hope -your new experiences will not be so nerve-racking as our last.” - -“By Jove, padre!” said Roxton. “I’ve worn out the brim of my hat taking -it off to you since then.” - -“Why, what did he do?” asked Mrs. Mailey. - -“No, no!” cried Mason. “I tried in my poor way to guide a darkened soul. -Let us leave it at that. But that is exactly what we are here for now, -and what these dear people do every week of their lives. It was from Mr. -Mailey here that I learned how to attempt it.” - -“Well, certainly we have plenty of practice,” said Mailey. “You have -seen enough of it, Mason, to know that.” - -“But I can’t get the focus of this at all!” cried Malone. “Could you -clear my mind a little on the point? I accept for the moment your -hypothesis, that we are surrounded by material earth-bound spirits who -find themselves under strange conditions which they don’t understand, -and who want counsel and guidance. That more or less expresses it, does -it not?” - -The Maileys both nodded their agreement. - -“Well, their dead friends and relatives are presumably on the other side -and cognisant of their benighted condition. They know the truth. Could -they not minister to the wants of these afflicted ones far better than -we can?” - -“It is a most natural question,” Mailey answered. “Of course we put that -objection to them and we can only accept their answer. They appear to be -actually anchored to the surface of this earth, too heavy and gross to -rise. The others are, presumably, on a spiritual level and far separated -from them. They explain that they are much nearer to us and that they -are cognisant of us, but not of anything higher. Therefore it is we who -can reach them best.” - -“There was one poor dear dark soul----” - -“My wife loves everybody and everything,” Mailey explained. “She is -capable of talking of the poor dear devil.” - -“Well, surely they are to be pitied and loved!” cried the lady. “This -poor fellow was nursed along by us week by week. He had really come from -the depths. Then one day he cried in rapture, ‘My mother has come! My -mother is here!’ We naturally said, ‘But why did she not come before?’ -‘How could she,’ said he, ‘when I was in so dark a place that she could -not see me?’” - -“That’s very well,” said Malone, “but so far as I can follow your -methods it is some guide or control or higher spirit who regulates the -whole matter and brings the sufferer to you. If he can be cognisant, one -would think other higher spirits could also be.” - -“No, for it is his particular mission,” said Mailey. “To show how marked -the divisions are I can remember one occasion when we had a dark soul -here. Our own people came through and did not know he was there until we -called their attention to it. When we said to the dark soul, ‘Don’t you -see our friends beside you?’ he answered, ‘I can see a light but nothing -else.’” - -At this point the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Mr. -John Terbane from Victoria Station, where his mundane duties lay. He was -dressed now in civil garb and appeared as a pale, sad-faced, -clean-shaven, plump-featured man with dreamy, thoughtful eyes, but no -other indication of the remarkable uses to which he was put. - -“Have you my record?” was his first question. - -Mrs. Mailey, smiling, handed him an envelope. “We kept it all ready for -you but you can read it at home. You see,” she explained, “poor Mr. -Terbane is in trance and knows nothing of the wonderful work of which he -is the instrument, so after each sitting my husband and I draw up an -account for him.” - -“Very much astonished I am when I read it,” said Terbane. - -“And very proud, I should think,” added Mason. - -“Well, I don’t know about that,” Terbane answered humbly. “I don’t see -that the tool need be proud because the worker happens to use it. Yet -it is a privilege, of course.” - -“Good old Terbane!” said Mailey, laying his hand affectionately on the -railwayman’s shoulder. “The better the medium the more unselfish. That -is my experience. The whole conception of a medium is one who gives -himself up for the use of others, and that is incompatible with -selfishness. Well, I suppose we had better get to work or Mr. Chang will -scold us.” - -“Who is he?” asked Malone. - -“Oh, you will soon make the acquaintance of Mr. Chang! We need not sit -round the table. A semicircle round the fire does very well. Lights -half-down. That is all right. You’ll make yourself comfortable, Terbane. -Snuggle among the cushions.” - -The medium was in the corner of a comfortable sofa, and had fallen at -once into a doze. Both Mailey and Malone sat with note books upon their -knees awaiting developments. - -They were not long in coming. Terbane suddenly sat up, his dreamy self -transformed into a very alert and masterful individuality. A subtle -change had passed over his face. An ambiguous smile fluttered upon his -lips, his eyes seemed more oblique and less open, his face projected. -The two hands were thrust into the sleeves of his blue lounge jacket. - -“Good evening,” said he, speaking crisply and in short staccato -sentences. “New faces! Who these?” - -“Good evening, Chang,” said the master of the house. “You know Mr. -Mason. This is Mr. Malone who studies our subject. This is Lord Roxton -who has helped me to-day.” - -As each name was mentioned, Terbane made a sweeping Oriental gesture of -greeting, bringing his hand down from his forehead. His whole bearing -was superbly dignified and very different from the humble little man who -had sat down a few minutes before. - -“Lord Roxton!” he repeated. “An English milord! I knew Lord--Lord -Macart. No! I cannot say it. Alas! I called him ‘foreign devil’ then. -Chang, too, had much to learn.” - -“He is speaking of Lord Macartney. That would be over a hundred years -ago. Chang was a great living philosopher then,” Mailey explained. - -“Not lose time!” cried the control. “Much to do to-day! Crowd waiting. -Some new, some old. I gather strange folk in my net. Now I go.” He sank -back among the cushions. - -A minute elapsed, then he suddenly sat up. - -“I want to thank you,” he said, speaking perfect English. “I came two -weeks ago. I have thought over all you said. The path is lighter.” - -“Were you the spirit who did not believe in God?” - -“Yes, yes! I said so in my anger. I was so weary--so weary. Oh, the -time, the endless time, the grey mist, the heavy weight of remorse! -Hopeless! Hopeless! And you brought me comfort, you and this great -Chinese spirit. You gave me the first kind words I have had since I -died!” - -“When was it that you died?” - -“Oh! It seems an eternity. We do not measure as you do. It is a long, -horrible dream without change or break.” - -“Who was king in England?” - -“Victoria was queen. I had attuned my mind to matter and so it clung to -matter. I did not believe in a future life. Now I know that I was all -wrong, but I could not adapt my mind to new conditions.” - -“Is it bad where you are?” - -“It is all--all grey. That is the awful part of it. One’s surroundings -are so horrible.” - -“But there are many more. You are not alone.” - -“No, but they know no more than I. They, too scoff and doubt and are -miserable.” - -“You will soon get out.” - -“For God’s sake, help me to do so!” - -“Poor soul!” said Mrs. Mailey in her sweet, caressing voice, a voice -which could bring every animal to her side. “You have suffered much. But -do not think of yourself. Think of these others. Try to bring one of -them up and so you will best help yourself.” - -“Thank you, lady, I will. There is one here whom I brought. He has heard -you. We will go on together. Perhaps some day we may find the light.” - -“Do you like to be prayed for?” - -“Yes, yes, indeed I do!” - -“I will pray for you,” said Mason. “Could you say the ‘Our Father’ now?” -He uttered the old universal prayer, but before he had finished Terbane -had collapsed again among the cushions. He sat up again as Chang. - -“He come on well,” said the control. “He give up time for others who -wait. That is good. Now I have hard case. Ow!” - -He gave a comical cry of disapprobation and sank back. - -Next moment he was up, his face long and solemn, his hands palm to palm. - -“What is this?” he asked in a precise and affected voice. “I am at a -loss to know what right this Chinese person has to summon me here. -Perhaps you can enlighten me.” - -“It is that we may perhaps help you.” - -“When I desire help, sir, I ask for it. At present I do not desire it. -The whole proceeding seems to me to be a very great liberty. So far as -this Chinaman can explain it, I gather that I am the involuntary -spectator of some sort of religious service.” - -“We are a spiritualistic circle.” - -“A most pernicious sect. A most blasphemous proceeding. As a humble -parish priest I protest against such desecrations.” - -“You are held back, friend, by those narrow views. It is you who suffer. -We want to relieve you.” - -“Suffer? What do you mean, sir?” - -“You realise that you have passed over?” - -“You are talking nonsense!” - -“Do you realise that you are dead?” - -“How can I be dead when I am talking to you?” - -“Because you are using this man’s body.” - -“I have certainly wandered into an asylum.” - -“Yes, an asylum for bad cases. I fear you are one of them. Are you happy -where you are?” - -“Happy? No, sir. My present surroundings are perfectly inexplicable to -me.” - -“Have you any recollection of being ill?” - -“I was very ill indeed.” - -“So ill that you died.” - -“You are certainly out of your senses.” - -“How do you know you are not dead?” - -“Sir, I must give you some religious instruction. When one dies and has -led an honourable life, one assumes a glorified body and one associates -with the angels. I am now in exactly the same body as in life, and I am -in a very dull, drab place. Such companions as I have are not such as I -have been accustomed to associate with in life, and certainly no one -could describe them as angels. Therefore your absurd conjecture may be -dismissed.” - -“Do not continue to deceive yourself. We wish to help you. You can never -progress until you realise your position.” - -“Really you try my patience too far. Have I not said----?” - -The medium fell back among the cushions. An instant later the Chinese -control, with his whimsical smile and his hands tucked away in his -sleeves, was talking to the circle. - -“He good man--fool man--learn sense soon. Bring him again. Not waste -more time. Oh, my God! My God! Help! Mercy! Help!” - -He had fallen full length upon the sofa, face upwards, and his cries -were so terrible that the little audience all sprang to their feet. “A -saw! A saw! Fetch a saw!” yelled the medium. His voice sank into a moan. - -Even Mailey was agitated. The rest were horrified. - -“Someone has obsessed him. I can’t understand it. It may be some strong -evil entity.” - -“Shall I speak to him?” asked Mason. - -“Wait a moment! Let it develop. We shall soon see.” - -The medium writhed in agony. “Oh, my God! Why don’t you fetch a saw!” he -cried. “It’s here across my breast-bone. It is cracking! I feel it! -Hawkin! Hawkin! Pull me from under! Hawkin! Push up the beam! No, no, -that’s worse! And it’s on fire! Oh, horrible! Horrible!” - -His cries were blood-curdling. They were all chilled with horror. Then -in an instant the Chinaman was blinking at them with his slanting eyes. - -“What you think of that, Mister Mailey?” - -“It was terrible, Chang. What was it?” - -“It was for him,” nodding towards Malone. “He want newspaper story, I -give him newspaper story. He will understand. No time ’splain now. Too -many waiting. Sailor man come next. Here he comes!” - -The Chinaman was gone, and a jovial, puzzled grin passed over the face -of the medium. He scratched his head. - -“Well, damn me,” said he. “I never thought I would take orders from a -Chink, but he says ‘hist!’ and by crums you’ve got to hist and no back -talk either. Well, here I am. What did you want?” - -“We wanted nothing.” - -“Well, the Chink seemed to think you did, for he slung me in here.” - -“It was you that wanted something. You wanted knowledge.” - -“Well, I’ve lost my bearings, that’s true. I know I am dead ’cause I’ve -seen the gunnery lootenant, and he was blown to bits before my eyes. If -he’s dead I’m dead and all the rest of us, for we are over to the last -man. But we’ve got the laugh on our sky-pilot, for he’s as puzzled as -the rest of us. Damned poor pilot, I call him. We’re all taking our own -sounding now.” - -“What was your ship?” - -“The _Monmouth._” - -“She that went down in battle with the German?” - -“That’s right. South American waters. It was clean hell. Yes, it was -hell.” There was a world of emotion in his voice. “Well,” he added more -cheerfully, “I’ve heard our mates got level with them later. That is -so, sir, is it not?” - -“Yes, they all went to the bottom.” - -“We’ve seen nothing of them this side. Just as well, maybe. We don’t -forget nothing.” - -“But you must,” said Mailey. “That’s what is the matter with you. That -is why the Chinese control brought you through. We are here to teach -you. Carry our message to your mates.” - -“Bless your heart, sir, they are all here behind me.” - -“Well, then, I tell you and them that the time for hard thoughts and -worldly strife is over. Your faces are to be turned forward, not back. -Leave this earth which still holds you by the ties of thought and let -all your desire be to make yourself unselfish and worthy of a higher, -more peaceful, more beautiful life. Can you understand?” - -“I hear you, sir. So do they. We want steering, sir, for, indeed, we’ve -had wrong instructions, and we never expected to find ourselves cast -away like this. We had heard of heaven and we had heard of hell, but -this don’t seem to fit in with either. But this Chinese gent, says time -is up, and we can report again next week. I thank you, sir, for self and -company. I’ll come again.” - -There was silence. - -“What an incredible conversation!” gasped Malone. “If I were to put down -that man’s sailor talk and slang as emanating from a world of spirits, -what would the public say?” - -Mailey shrugged his shoulders. - -“Does it matter what the public says? I started as a fairly sensitive -person, and now a tank takes as much notice of small shot as I do of -newspaper attacks. They honestly don’t even interest me. Let us just -stick fast to truth as near as we can get it, and leave all else to find -its own level.” - -“I don’t pretend to know much of these things,” said Roxton, “but what -strikes me most is that these folk are very decent ordinary people. -What? Why should they be wanderin’ about in the dark, and hauled up here -by this Chinaman when they’ve done no partic’lar harm in life?” - -“It is the strong earth tie and the absence of any spiritual nexus in -each case,” Mailey explained. “Here is a clergyman with his mind -entangled with formulas and ritual. Here is a materialist who has -deliberately attuned himself to matter. Here is a seaman brooding over -revengeful thoughts. They are there by the million million.” - -“Where?” asked Malone. - -“Here,” Mailey answered. “Actually on the surface of the earth. Well, -you saw it for yourself, I understand, when you went down to -Dorsetshire. That was on the surface, was it not? That was a very gross -case, and that made it more visible and obvious, but it did not change -the general law. I believe that the whole globe is infested with the -earthbound, and that when a great cleansing comes, as is prophesied, it -will be for their benefit as much as for that of the living.” - -Malone thought of the strange visionary Miromar and his speech at the -Spiritualistic Church on the first night of his quest. - -“Do you then believe in some impending event?” he asked. - -Mailey smiled. “That is rather a large subject to open up,” he said. “I -believe--But here is Mr. Chang again!” - -The control joined in the conversation. - -“I heard you. I sit and listen,” said he. “You speak now of what is to -come. Let it be! Let it be! The Time is not yet. You will be told when -it is good that you know. Remember this. All is best. Whatever come all -is best. God makes no mistakes. Now others here who wish your help, I -leave you.” - -Several spirits came through in quick succession. One was an architect -who said that he had lived at Bristol. He had not been an evil man, but -had simply banished all thoughts of the future. Now he was in the dark -and needed guidance. Another had lived in Birmingham. He was an educated -man but a materialist. He refused to accept the assurances of Mailey, -and was by no means convinced that he was really dead. Then came a very -noisy and violent man of a crudely-religious and narrowly-intolerant -type, who spoke repeatedly of “the blood.” - -“What is this ribald nonsense?” he asked several times. - -“It is not nonsense. We are here to help,” said Mailey. - -“Who wants to be helped by the devil?” - -“Is it likely that the devil would wish to help souls in trouble?” - -“It is part of his deceit. I tell you it is of the devil! Be warned! I -will take no further part in it.” - -The placid, whimsical Chinaman was back like a flash. “Good man. Foolish -man,” he repeated once more. “Plenty time. He learn better some day. Now -I bring bad case--very bad case. Ow!” - -He reclined his head in the cushion and did not raise it as the voice, a -feminine voice, broke out: - -“Janet! Janet!” - -There was a pause. - -“Janet, I say! Where is the morning tea? Janet! This is intolerable! I -have called you again and again! Janet!” The figure sat up, blinking and -rubbing his eyes. - -“What is this?” cried the voice. “Who are you? What right have you here? -Are you aware that this is my house?” - -“No, friend, this is my house.” - -“Your house! How can it be your house when this is my bedroom? Go away -this moment!” - -“No, friend. You do not understand your position.” - -“I will have you put out. What insolence! Janet! Janet! Will no one look -after me this morning?” - -“Look round you, lady. Is this your bedroom?” - -Terbane looked round with a wild stare. - -“It is a room I never saw in my life. Where am I? What is the meaning of -it? You look like a kind lady. Tell me, for God’s sake, what is the -meaning of it? Oh, I am so terrified! So terrified! Where are John and -Janet?” - -“What do you last remember?” - -“I remember speaking severely to Janet. She is my maid, you know. She -has become so very careless. Yes, I was very angry with her. I was so -angry that I was ill. I went to bed feeling very ill. They told me that -I should not get excited. How can one help getting excited? Yes, I -remember being breathless. That was after the light was out. I tried to -call Janet. But why should I be in another room?” - -“You passed over in the night?” - -“Passed over? Do you mean I died?” - -“Yes, lady, you died.” - -There was a long silence. Then there came a shrill scream. “No, no, no! -It is a dream! A nightmare! Wake me! Wake me! How can I be dead? I was -not ready to die! I never thought of such a thing. If I am dead, why am -I not in heaven or hell? What is this room? This room is a real room.” - -“Yes, lady, you have been brought here and allowed to use this man’s -body----” - -“A man?” She convulsively felt the coat and passed her hand over the -face. “Yes, it is a man. Oh, I am dead! I am dead! What shall I do?” - -“You are here that we may explain to you. You have been, I judge, a -worldly woman--a society woman. You have lived always for material -things.” - -“I went to church. I was at St. Saviour’s every Sunday.” - -“That is nothing. It is the inner daily life that counts. You were -material. Now you are held down to the world. When you leave this man’s -body you will be in your own body once more and in your old -surroundings. But no one will see you. You will remain there unable to -show yourself. Your body of flesh will be buried. You will still -persist, the same as ever.” - -“What am I to do? Oh, what can I do?” - -“You will take what comes in a good spirit and understand that it is for -your cleansing. We only clear ourselves of matter by suffering. All will -be well. We will pray for you.” - -“Oh, do! Oh, I need it so! Oh my God!...” The voice trailed away. - -“Bad case,” said the Chinaman, sitting up. “Selfish woman! Bad woman! -Live for pleasure. Hard on those around her. She have much to suffer. -But you put her feet on the path. Now my medium tired. Plenty waiting, -but no more to-day.” - -“Have we done good, Chang?” - -“Plenty good. Plenty good.” - -“Where are all these people, Chang?” - -“I tell you before.” - -“Yes, but I want these gentlemen to hear.” - -“Seven spheres round the world, heaviest below, lightest above. First -sphere is on the earth. These people belong to that sphere. Each sphere -is separate from the other. Therefore it is easier for you to speak with -these people than for those in any other sphere.” - -“And easier for them to speak to us?” - -“Yes. That why you should be plenty careful when you do not know to whom -you talk. Try the spirits.” - -“What sphere do you belong to, Chang?” - -“I came from Number Four sphere.” - -“Which is the first really happy sphere?” - -“Number Three. Summerland. Bible book called it the third heaven. Plenty -sense in Bible book, but people do not understand.” - -“And the seventh heaven?” - -“Ah! That is where the Christs are. All come there at last--you, me, -everybody.” - -“And after that?” - -“Too much question, Mr. Mailey. Poor old Chang not know so much as that. -Now good-bye! God bless you! I go.” - -It was the end of the sitting of the rescue circle. A few minutes later -Terbane was sitting up smiling and alert, but with no apparent -recollection of anything which had occurred. He was pressed for time and -lived afar, so that he had to make his departure, unpaid save by the -blessing of those whom he had helped. Modest little unvenal man, where -will he stand when we all find our real places in the order of creation -upon the further side? - -The circle did not break up at once. The visitors wanted to talk and the -Maileys to listen. - -“What I mean,” said Roxton, “it’s doosed interestin’ and all that, but -there is a sort of variety-show element in it. What! Difficult to be -sure it’s really real, if you take what I mean.” - -“That is what I feel also,” said Malone. “Of course on its face value it -is simply unspeakable. It is a thing so great that all ordinary -happenings become commonplace. That I grant. But the human mind is very -strange. I’ve read the case Moreton Prince examined, and Miss Beauchamp -and the rest; also the results of Charcot, the great Nancy hypnotic -school. They could turn a man into anything. The mind seems to be like a -rope which can be unravelled into its various threads. Then each thread -is a different personality which may take dramatic form, and act and -speak as such. That man is honest, and he could not normally produce -these effects. But how do we know that he is not self-hypnotised, and -that under those conditions one strand of him becomes Mr. Chang and -another becomes a sailor and another a society lady, and so forth?” - -Mailey laughed. “Every man his own Cinquevalli,” said he, “but it is a -rational objection and has to be met.” - -“We have traced some of the cases,” said Mrs. Mailey. “There is not a -doubt of it--names, addresses, everything.” - -“Well, then we have to consider the question of Terbane’s normal -knowledge. How can you possibly know what he has learned? I should -think a railway-guard is particularly able to pick up such information.” - -“You have seen one sitting,” Mailey answered. “If you had been present -at as many as we and noted the cumulative effect of the evidence you -would not be sceptical.” - -“That is very possible,” Malone answered. “And I daresay my doubts are -very annoying to you. And yet one is bound to be brutally honest in a -case like this. Anyhow, whatever the ultimate cause, I have seldom spent -so thrilling an hour. Heavens! If it only _is_ true, and if you had a -thousand circles instead of one, what regeneration would result?” - -“That will come,” said Mailey in his patient, determined fashion. “We -shall live to see it. I am sorry the thing has not forced conviction -upon you. However, you must come again.” - -But it so chanced that a further experience became unnecessary. -Conviction came in a full flood and in a strange fashion that very -evening. Malone had hardly got back to the office, and was seated at his -desk drawing up some sort of account from his notes of all that had -happened in the afternoon, when Mailey burst into the room, his yellow -beard bristling with excitement. He was waving an _Evening News_ in his -hand. Without a word he seated himself beside Malone and turned the -paper over. Then he began to read: - - - ACCIDENT IN THE CITY - - “This afternoon shortly after five o’clock, an old house, said to - date from the fifteenth century, suddenly collapsed. It was - situated between Lesser Colman Street and Elliott Square and next - door to the Veterinary Society’s Headquarters. Some preliminary - crackings warned the occupants and most of them had time to escape. - Three of them, however, James Beale, William Moorson, and a woman - whose name has not been ascertained, were caught by the falling - rubbish. Two of these seem to have perished at once, but the third, - James Beale, was pinned down by a large beam and loudly demanded - help. A saw was brought, and one of the occupants of the house, - Samuel Hawkin, showed great gallantry in an attempt to free the - unfortunate man. Whilst he was sawing the beam, however, a fire - broke out among the debris around him, and though he persevered - most manfully, and continued until he was himself badly scorched, - it was impossible for him to save Beale, who probably died from - suffocation. Hawkin was removed to the London Hospital, and it is - reported to-night that he is in no immediate danger.” - -“That’s that!” said Mailey, folding up the paper. “Now Mr. Thomas -Didymus. I leave you to your conclusions,” and the enthusiast vanished -out of the office as precipitately as he had entered.[C] - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -WHERE SILAS LINDEN COMES INTO HIS OWN - - -Silas Linden, prizefighter and fake-medium, had had some great days in -his life--days crowded with incidents for good or evil. There was the -time when he had backed Rosalind at 100 to 1 in the Oaks and had spent -twenty-four hours of brutal debauchery on the strength of it. There was -the day also when his favourite right upper-cut had connected in most -accurate and rhythmical fashion with the protruded chin of Bull Wardell -of Whitechapel, whereby Silas put himself in the way of a Lonsdale Cup -and a try for the championship. But never in all his varied career had -he such a day as this supreme one, so it is worth our while to follow -him to the end of it. Fanatical believers have urged that it is -dangerous to cross the path of spiritual things when the heart is not -clean. Silas Linden’s name might be added to their list of examples, but -his cup of sin was full and overflowing before the judgment fell. - -He emerged from the room of Algernon Mailey with every reason to know -that Lord Roxton’s grip was as muscular as ever. In the excitement of -the struggle he had hardly realised his injuries, but now he stood -outside the door with his hand to his bruised throat and a hoarse stream -of oaths pouring through it. His breast was aching also where Malone had -planted his knee, and even the successful blow which had struck Mailey -down had brought retribution, for it had jarred that injured hand of -which he had complained to his brother. Altogether, if Silas Linden was -in a most cursed temper, there was a very good reason for his mood. - -“I’ll get you one at a time,” he growled, looking back with his angry -pig’s eyes at the outer door of the flats. “You wait, my lads, and see!” -Then with sudden purpose he swung off down the street. - -It was to the Bardsley Square Police Station that he made his way, and -he found the jovial, rubicund, black-moustached Inspector Murphy seated -at his desk. - -“Well, what do _you_ want?” asked the Inspector in no very friendly -voice. - -“I hear you got that medium right and proper.” - -“Yes, we did. I learn he was your brother.” - -“That’s neither here nor there. I don’t hold with such things in any -man. But you got your conviction. What is there for me in it?” - -“Not a shilling!” - -“What? Wasn’t it I that gave the information? Where would you have been -if I had not given you the office?” - -“If there had been a fine we might have allowed you something. We would -have got something, too, Mr. Melrose sent him to gaol. There is nothing -for anybody.” - -“So you say. I’m damned sure you and those two women got something out -of it. Why the hell should I give away my own brother for the sake of -the likes of you? You’ll find your own bird next time.” - -Murphy was a choleric man with a sense of his own importance. He was not -to be bearded thus in his own seat of office. He rose with a very red -face. - -“I’ll tell you what, Silas Linden, I could find my own bird and never -move out of this room. You had best get out of this quick, or you may -chance to stay here longer than you like. We’ve had complaints of your -treatment of those two children of yours, and the children’s protection -folk are taking an interest. Look out that we don’t take an interest, -too.” - -Silas Linden flung out of the room with his temper hotter than ever, and -a couple of rum-and-waters on his way home did not help to appease him. -On the contrary, he had always been a man who grew more dangerous in his -cups. There were many of his trade who refused to drink with him. - -Silas lived in one of a row of small brick houses named Bolton’s Court, -lying at the back of Tottenham Court Road. His was the end house of a -cul-de-sac, with the side wall of a huge brewery beyond. These dwellings -were very small, which was probably the reason why the inhabitants, both -adults and children, spent most of their time in the street. Several of -the elders were out now, and as Silas passed under the solitary -lamp-post, they scowled at his thick-set figure, for though the morality -of Bolton’s Court was of no high order, it was none the less graduated -and Silas was at zero. A tall Jewish woman, Rebecca Levi, thin, aquiline -and fierce-eyed, lived next to the prizefighter. She was standing at her -door now, with a child holding her apron. - -“Mr. Linden,” she said as he passed, “them children of yours want more -care than they get. Little Margaret was in here to-day. That child don’t -get enough to eat.” - -“You mind your own business, curse you!” growled Silas. “I’ve told you -before now not to push that long, sheeny beak of yours into my affairs. -If you was a man I’d know better how to speak to you.” - -“If I was a man maybe you wouldn’t dare to speak to me so. I says it’s a -shame, Silas Linden, the way them children is treated. If it’s a -police-court case, I’ll know what to say.” - -“Oh, go to hell!” said Silas, and kicked open his own unlatched door. A -big, frowsy woman with a shock of dyed hair and some remains of a florid -beauty, now long over-ripe, looked out from the sitting-room door. - -“Oh, it’s you, is it?” said she. - -“Who did you think it was? The Dook of Wellington?” - -“I thought it was a mad bullock maybe got strayin’ down the lane, and -buttin’ down our door.” - -“Funny, ain’t you?” - -“Maybe I am, but I hain’t got much to be funny about. Not a shillin’ in -the ’ouse, nor so much as a pint o’ beer, and these damned children of -yours for ever upsettin’ me.” - -“What have they been a-doin’ of?” asked Silas with a scowl. When this -worthy pair could get no change out of each other, they usually united -their forces against the children. He had entered the sitting-room and -flung himself down in the wooden armchair. - -“They’ve been seein’ Number One again.” - -“How d’ye know that?” - -“I ’eard ’im say somethin’ to ’er about it. ‘Mother was there,’ ’e says. -Then afterwards ’e ’ad one o’ them sleepy fits.” - -“It’s in the family.” - -“Yes, it is,” retorted the woman. “If you ’adn’t sleepy fits you’d get -some work to do, like other men.” - -“Oh, shut it, woman! What I mean is, that my brother Tom gets them fits, -and this lad o’ mine is said to be the livin’ image of his uncle. So he -had a trance, had he? What did you do?” - -The woman gave an evil grin. - -“I did what you did.” - -“What, the sealin’-wax again?” - -“Not much of it. Just enough to wake ’im. It’s the only way to break ’im -of it.” - -Silas shrugged his shoulders. - -“‘Ave a care, my lass! There is talk of the p’lice, and if they see -those burns, you and I may be in the dock together.” - -“Silas Linden, you are a fool! Can’t a parent c’rect ’is own child?” - -“Yes, but it ain’t _your_ own child, and stepmothers has a bad name, -see? There’s that Jew woman next door. She saw you when you took the -clothes’ rope to little Margery last washin’-day. She spoke to me about -it and again to-day about the food.” - -“What’s the matter with the food? The greedy little bastards! They had a -’unch of bread each when I ’ad my dinner. A bit of real starvin’ would -do them no ’arm, and I would ’ave less sauce.” - -“What, has Willie sauced you?” - -“Yes, when ’e woke up.” - -“After you’d dropped the hot sealin’-wax on him?” - -“Well, I did it for ’is good, didn’t I? It was to cure ’im of a bad -’abit.” - -“Wot did he say?” - -“Cursed me good and proper, ’e did. All about his mother--wot ’is mother -would do to me. I’m dam’ well sick of ’is mother!” - -“Don’t say too much about Amy. She was a good woman.” - -“So you say now, Silas Linden, but by all accounts you ’ad a queer way -of showin’ it when she was alive.” - -“Hold your jaw, woman! I’ve had enough to vex me to-day without you -startin’ your tantrums. You’re jealous of the grave. That’s wot’s the -matter with you.” - -“And ’er brats can insult me as they like--me that ’as cared for you -these five years.” - -“No, I didn’t say that. If he insulted you, it’s up to me to deal with -him. Where’s that strap? Go, fetch him in!” - -The woman came across and kissed him. - -“I’ve only you, Silas.” - -“Oh hell! don’t muck me about. I’m not in the mood. Go and fetch Willie -in. You can bring Margery also. It takes the sauce out of her also, for -I think she feels it more than he does.” - -The woman left the room, but was back in a moment. - -“’E’s off again!” said she. “It fair gets on my nerves to see him. Come -’ere, Silas! ’Ave a look!” - -They went together into the back kitchen. A small fire was smouldering -in the grate. Beside it, huddled up in a chair, sat a fair-haired boy of -ten. His delicate face was upturned to the ceiling. His eyes were -half-closed, and only the whites visible. There was a look of great -peace upon his thin, spiritual features. In the corner a poor little -cowed mite of a girl, a year or two younger, was gazing with sad, -frightened eyes at her brother. - -“Looks awful, don’t ’e?” said the woman. “Don’t seem to belong to this -world. I wish to God ’e’d make a move for the other. ’E don’t do much -good ’ere.” - -“Here, wake up!” cried Silas. “None of your foxin’! Wake up! D’ye hear?” -He shook him roughly by the shoulder, but the boy still slumbered on. -The backs of his hands, which lay upon his lap, were covered with bright -scarlet blotches. - -“My word, you’ve dropped enough hot wax on him. D’you mean to tell me, -Sarah, it took all that to wake him?” - -“Maybe I dropped one or two extra for luck. ’E does aggravate me so that -I can ’ardly ’old myself. But you wouldn’t believe ’ow little ’e can -feel when ’e’s like that. You can ’owl in ’is ear. It’s all lost on ’im. -See ’ere!” - -She caught the lad by the hair and shook him violently. He groaned and -shivered. Then he sank back into his serene trance. - -“Say!” cried Silas, stroking his stubbled chin as he looked thoughtfully -at his son, “I think there is money in this if it is handled to rights. -Wot about a turn on the halls, eh? ’The Boy Wonder or How is it Done?’ -There’s a name for the bills. Then folk know his uncle’s name, so they -will be able to take him on trust.” - -“I thought you was goin’ into the business yourself.” - -“That’s a wash-out,” snarled Silas. “Don’t you talk of it. It’s -finished.” - -“Been caught out already?” - -“I tell you not to talk about it, woman!” the man shouted. “I’m just in -the mood to give you the hidin’ of your life, so don’t you get my goat, -or you’ll be sorry.” He stepped across and pinched the boy’s arm with -all his force. “By Cripes, he’s a wonder! Let us see how far it will -go.” - -He turned to the sinking fire and with the tongs he picked out a -half-red ember. This he placed on the boy’s head. There was a smell of -burning hair, then of roasting flesh, and suddenly, with a scream of -pain, the boy came back to his senses. - -“Mother! Mother!” he cried. The girl in the corner took up the cry. They -were like two lambs bleating together. - -“Damn your mother!” cried the woman, shaking Margery by the collar of -her frail black dress. “Stop squallin’, you little stinker!” She struck -the child with her open hand across the face. Little Willie ran at her -and kicked her shins until a blow from Silas knocked him into the -corner. The brute picked up a stick and lashed the two cowering -children, while they screamed for mercy, and tried to cover their little -bodies from the cruel blows. - -“You stop that!” cried a voice in the passage. - -“It’s that blasted Jewess!” said the woman. She went to the kitchen -door. “What the ’ell are you doing in our ’ouse? ’Op it, quick, or it -will be the worse for you!” - -“If I hear them children cry out once more, I’m off for the police.” - -“Get out of it! ’Op it, I tell you!” The frowsy stepmother bore down in -full sail, but the lean, lank Jewess stood her ground. Next instant they -met. Mrs. Silas Linden screamed, and staggered back with blood running -down her face where four nails had left as many red furrows. Silas, with -an oath, pushed his wife out of the way, seized the intruder round the -waist, and slung her bodily through the door. She lay in the roadway -with her long gaunt limbs sprawling about like some half-slain fowl. -Without rising, she shook her clenched hands in the air and screamed -curses at Silas, who slammed the door and left her, while neighbours ran -from all sides to hear particulars of the fray. Mrs. Linden, staring -through the front blind, saw with some relief that her enemy was able -to rise and to limp back to her own door, whence she could be heard -delivering a long shrill harangue as to her wrongs. The wrongs of a Jew -are not lightly forgotten, for the race can both love and hate. - -“She’s all right, Silas. I thought maybe you ’ad killed ’er.” - -“It’s what she wants, the damned canting sheeny. It’s bad enough to have -her in the street without her daring to set foot inside my door. I’ll -cut the hide off that young Willie. He’s the cause of it all. Where is -he?” - -“They ran up to their room. I heard them lock the door.” - -“A lot of good that will do them.” - -“I wouldn’t touch ’em now, Silas. The neighbours is all up and about and -we needn’t ask for trouble.” - -“You’re right!” he grumbled. “It will keep till I come back.” - -“Where are you goin’?” - -“Down to the Admiral Vernon. There’s a chance of a job as sparrin’ -partner to Long Davis. He goes into training on Monday and needs a man -of my weight.” - -“Well, I’ll expect you when I see you. I get too much of that pub of -yours. I know what the Admiral Vernon means.” - -“It means the only place in God’s earth where I get any peace or rest,” -said Silas. - -“A fat lot I get--or ever ’ave ’ad since I married you.” - -“That’s right. Grouse away!” he growled. “If grousin’ made a man happy, -you’d be the champion.” He picked up his hat and slouched off down the -street, his heavy tread resounding upon the great wooden flap which -covered the cellars of the brewery. - - * * * * * - -Up in a dingy attic two little figures were seated on the side of a -wretched straw-stuffed bed, their arms enlacing each other, their cheeks -touching, their tears mingling. They had to cry in silence, for any -sound might remind the ogre downstairs of their existence. Now and again -one would break into an uncontrollable sob, and the other would whisper, -“Hush! Hush! Oh hush!” Then suddenly they heard the slam of the outer -door and that heavy tread booming over the wooden flap. They squeezed -each other in their joy. Perhaps when he came back he might kill them, -but for a few short hours at least they were safe from him. As to the -woman, she was spiteful and vicious, but she did not seem so deadly as -the man. In a dim way they felt that he had hunted their mother into her -grave and might do as much for them. - -The room was dark save for the light which came through the single dirty -window. It cast a bar across the floor, but all round was black shadow. -Suddenly the little boy stiffened, clasped his sister with a tighter -grip, and stared rigidly into the darkness. - -“She’s coming!” he muttered. “She’s coming!” - -Little Margery clung to him. - -“Oh, Willie, is it mother?” - -“It is a light--a beautiful yellow light. Can you not see it, Margery?” - -But the little girl, like all the world, was without vision. To her all -was darkness. - -“Tell me, Willie,” she whispered, in a solemn voice. She was not really -frightened, for many times before had the dead mother returned in the -watches of the night to comfort her stricken children. - -“Yes, yes, she is coming now. Oh, mother! Mother!” - -“What does she say, Willie?” - -“Oh, she is beautiful. She is not crying. She is smiling. It is like the -picture we saw of the angel. She looks so happy. Dear, dear mother! Now -she is speaking. ‘It is over,’ she says. ‘It is all over.’ She says it -again. Now she beckons with her hand. We are to follow. She has moved to -the door.” - -“Oh, Willie, I dare not.” - -“Yes, yes, she nods her head. She bids us fear nothing. Now she has -passed through the door. Come, Margery, come, or we shall lose her.” - -The two little mites crept across the room and Willie unlocked the door. -The mother stood at the head of the stair beckoning them onwards. Step -by step they followed her down into the empty kitchen. The woman seemed -to have gone out. All was still in the house. The phantom still beckoned -them on. - -“We are to go out.” - -“Oh, Willie, we have no hats.” - -“We must follow, Madge. She is smiling and waving.” - -“Father will kill us for this.” - -“She shakes her head. She says we are to fear nothing. Come!” - -They threw open the door and were in the street. Down the deserted court -they followed the gleaming, gracious presence, and through a tangle of -low streets, and so out into the crowded rush of Tottenham Court Road. -Once or twice amid all that blind torrent of humanity, some man or -woman, blessed with the precious gift of discernment, would start and -stare as they were aware of an angel presence and of two little -white-faced children who followed behind, the boy with fixed, absorbed -gaze, the girl glancing ever in terror over her shoulder. Down the long -street they passed, then again amid the humbler dwellings, and so at -last to a quiet drab line of brick houses. On the step of one the spirit -had halted. - -“We are to knock,” said Willie. - -“Oh, Willie, what shall we say? We don’t know them.” - -“We are to knock,” he repeated, stoutly. Rat-tat! - -“It’s all right, Madge. She is clapping her hands and laughing.” - -So it was that Mrs. Tom Linden, sitting lonely in her misery and -brooding over her martyr in gaol, was summoned suddenly to the door, and -found two little apologetic figures outside it. A few words, a rush of -woman’s instinct, and her arms were round the children. These battered -little skiffs, who had started their life’s voyage so sadly, had found a -harbour of peace where no storm should vex them more. - - * * * * * - -There were some strange happenings in Bolton’s Court that night. Some -folk thought they had no relation to each other. One or two thought they -had. The British Law saw nothing and had nothing to say. - -In the second last house, a keen, hawklike face peered from behind a -window-blind into the darkened street. A shaded candle was behind that -fearful face, dark as death, remorseless as the tomb. Behind Rebecca -Levi stood a young man whose features showed that he sprang from the -same Oriental race. For an hour--for a second hour--the woman had sat -without a word, watching, watching.... At the entrance to the court -there was a hanging lamp which cast a circle of yellow light. It was on -this pool of radiance that her brooding eyes were fixed. - -Then suddenly she saw what she had waited for. She started and hissed -out a word. The young man rushed from the room and into the street. He -vanished through a side door into the brewery. - -Drunken Silas Linden was coming home. He was in a gloomy, sulken state -of befuddlement. A sense of injury filled his mind. He had not gained -the billet he sought. His injured hand had been against him. He had hung -about the bar waiting for drinks and had got some, but not enough. Now -he was in a dangerous mood. Woe to the man, woman or child who crossed -his path! He thought savagely of the Jewess who lived in that darkened -house. He thought savagely of all his neighbours. They would stand -between him and his children, would they? He would show them. The very -next morning he would take them both out into the street and strap them -within an inch of their lives. That would show them all what Silas -Linden thought of their opinion. Why should he not do it now? If he were -to waken the neighbours up with the shrieks of his children, it would -show them once for all that they could not defy him with impunity. The -idea pleased him. He stepped more briskly out. He was almost at his door -when.... - -It was never quite clear how it was that the cellar-flap was not -securely fastened that night. The jury were inclined to blame the -brewery, but the coroner pointed out that Linden was a heavy man, that -he might have fallen on it if he were drunk, and that all reasonable -care had been taken. It was an eighteen-foot fall upon jagged stones, -and his back was broken. They did not find him till next morning, for, -curiously enough, his neighbour, the Jewess, never heard the sound of -the accident. The doctor seemed to think that death had not come -quickly. There were horrible signs that he had lingered. Down in the -darkness, vomiting blood and beer, the man ended his filthy life with a -filthy death. - -One need not waste words or pity over the woman whom he had left. -Relieved from her terrible mate, she returned to that music-hall stage -from which he, by force of his virility and bull-like strength, had -lured her. She tried to regain her place with: - - “Hi! Hi! Hi! I’m the _dernier cri_, - The girl with the cart-wheel hat,” - -which was the ditty which had won her her name. But it became too -painfully evident that she was anything but the _dernier cri_, and that -she could never get back. Slowly she sank from big halls to small halls, -from small halls to pubs, and so ever deeper and deeper, sucked into the -awful, silent quicksands of life which drew her down and down until that -vacuous painted face and frowsy head were seen no more. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THERE ARE HEIGHTS AND THERE ARE DEPTHS - - -The Institut Métapsychique was an imposing stone building in the Avenue -Wagram with a door like a baronial castle. Here it was that the three -friends presented themselves late in the evening. A footman showed them -into a reception-room where they were presently welcomed by Dr. Maupuis -in person. The famous authority on psychic science was a short broad man -with a large head, a clean-shaven face, and an expression in which -worldly wisdom and kindly altruism were blended. His conversation was in -French with Mailey and Roxton, who both spoke the language well, but he -had to fall back upon broken English with Malone, who could only utter -still more broken French in reply. He expressed his pleasure at their -visit, as only a graceful Frenchman can, said a few words as to the -wonderful qualities of Panbek, the Galician medium, and finally led the -way downstairs to the room in which the experiments were to be -conducted. His air of vivid intelligence and penetrating sagacity had -already shown the strangers how preposterous were those theories which -tried to explain away his wonderful results by the supposition that he -was a man who was the easy victim of impostors. - -Descending a winding stair they found themselves in a large chamber -which looked at first glance like a chemical laboratory, for shelves -full of bottles, retorts, test-tubes, scales and other apparatus lined -the walls. It was more elegantly furnished, however, than a mere -workshop, and a large massive oak table occupied the centre of the room -with a fringe of comfortable chairs. At one end of the room was a large -portrait of Professor Crookes, which was flanked by a second of -Lombroso, while between them was a remarkable picture of one of Eusapia -Palladino’s séances. Round the table there was gathered a group of men -who were talking in low tones, too much absorbed in their own -conversation to take much notice of the newcomers. - -“Three of these are distinguished visitors like yourselves,” said Dr. -Maupuis. “Two others are my laboratory assistants, Dr. Sauvage and Dr. -Buisson. The others are Parisians of note. The Press is represented -to-day by Monsieur Forte, sub-editor of the _Matin_. The tall, dark man -who looks like a retired general you probably know.... Not? That is -Professor Charles Richet, our honoured _doyen_, who has shown great -courage in this matter, though he has not quite reached the same -conclusion as you, Monsieur Mailey. But that also may come. You must -remember that we have to show policy, and that the less we mix this with -religion, the less trouble we shall have with the Church, which is still -very powerful in this country. The distinguished-looking man with the -high forehead is the Count de Grammont. The gentleman with the head of a -Jupiter and the white beard is Flammarion, the astronomer. Now, -gentleman,” he added, in a louder voice, “if you will take your places -we shall get to work.” - -They sat at random round the long table, the three Britons keeping -together. At one end a large photographic camera was reared aloft. Two -zinc buckets also occupied a prominent position upon a side table. The -door was locked and the key given to Professor Richet. Dr. Maupuis sat -at one end of the table with a small middle-aged man, moustached, -bald-headed and intelligent, upon his right. - -“Some of you have not met Monsieur Panbek,” said the doctor. “Permit me -to present him to you. Monsieur Panbek, gentlemen, has placed his -remarkable powers at our disposal for scientific investigation, and we -all owe him a debt of gratitude. He is now in his forty-seventh year, a -man of normal health, of a neuroarthritic disposition. Some -hyper-excitability of his nervous system is indicated, and his reflexes -are exaggerated, but his blood-pressure is normal. The pulse is now at -seventy-two, but rises to one hundred under trance conditions. There are -zones of marked hyper-æsthesia on his limbs. His visual field and -pupillary reaction is normal. I do not know that there is anything to -add.” - -“I might say,” remarked Professor Richet, “that the hyper-sensibility is -moral as well as physical. Panbek is impressionable and full of emotion, -with the temperament of the poet and all those little weaknesses, if we -may call them so, which the poet pays as a ransom for his gifts. A great -medium is a great artist and is to be judged by the same standards.” - -“He seems to me, gentlemen, to be preparing you for the worst,” said the -medium with a charming smile, while the company laughed in sympathy. - -“We are sitting in the hopes that some remarkable materialisations which -we have recently had may be renewed in such a form that we may get a -permanent record of them.” Dr. Maupuis was talking in his dry, -unemotional voice. “These materialisations have taken very unexpected -forms of late, and I would beg the company to repress any feelings of -fear, however strange these forms may be, as a calm and judicial -atmosphere is most necessary. We shall now turn out the white light and -begin with the lowest degree of red light until the conditions will -admit of further illumination.” - -The lamps were controlled from Dr. Maupuis’ seat at the table. For a -moment they were plunged in utter darkness. Then a dull red glow came in -the corner, enough to show the dim outlines of the men round the table. -There was no music and no religious atmosphere of any sort. The company -conversed in whispers. - -“This is different to your English procedure,” said Malone. - -“Very,” Mailey answered. “It seems to me that we are wide open to -anything which may come. It’s all wrong. They don’t realise the danger.” - -“What danger can there be?” - -“Well, from my point of view, it is like sitting at the edge of a pond -which may have harmless frogs in it, or may have man-eating crocodiles. -You can’t tell what may come.” - -Professor Richet, who speaks excellent English, overheard the words. - -“I know your views, Mr. Mailey,” said he. “Don’t think that I treat them -lightly. Some things which I have seen make me appreciate your -comparison of the frog and the crocodile. In this very room I have been -conscious of the presence of creatures which could, if moved to anger, -make our experiments seem rather hazardous. I believe with you that evil -people here might bring an evil reflection into our circle.” - -“I am glad, sir, that you are moving in our direction,” said Mailey, -for like everyone else he regarded Richet as one of the world’s great -men. - -“Moving, perhaps, and yet I cannot claim to be altogether with you yet. -The latent powers of the human incarnate spirit may be so wonderful that -they may extend to regions which seem at present to be quite beyond -their scope. As an old materialist, I fight every inch of the ground, -though I admit that I have lost several lines of trenches. My -illustrious friend Challenger still holds his front intact, as I -understand.” - -“Yes, sir,” said Malone, “and yet I have some hopes----” - -“Hush!” cried Maupuis in an eager voice. - -There was dead silence. Then there came a sound of uneasy movement with -a strange flapping vibration. - -“The bird!” said an awestruck whisper. - -There was silence and then once again came the sound of movement and an -impatient flap. - -“Have you all ready, Réne?” asked the doctor. - -“All is ready.” - -“Then shoot!” - -The flash of the luminant mixture filled the room, while the shutter of -the camera fell. In that sudden glare of light the visitors had a -momentary glimpse of a marvellous sight. The medium lay with his head -upon his hands in apparent insensibility. Upon his rounded shoulders -there was perched a huge bird of prey--a large falcon or an eagle. For -one instant the strange picture was stamped upon their retinas even as -it was upon the photographic plate. Then the darkness closed down again, -save for the two red lamps, like the eyes of some baleful demon lurking -in the corner. - -“My word!” gasped Malone. “Did you see it?” - -“A crocodile out of the pond,” said Mailey. - -“But harmless,” added Professor Richet. “The bird has been with us -several times. He moves his wings, as you have heard, but otherwise is -inert. We may have another and a more dangerous visitor.” - -The flash of the light had, of course, dispelled all ectoplasm. It was -necessary to begin again. The company may have sat for a quarter of an -hour when Richet touched Mailey’s arm. - -“Do you smell anything, Monsieur Mailey?” - -Mailey sniffed the air. - -“Yes, surely, it reminds me of our London Zoo.” - -“There is another more ordinary analogy. Have you been in a warm room -with a wet dog?” - -“Exactly,” said Mailey. “That is a perfect description. But where is the -dog?” - -“It is not a dog. Wait a little! Wait!” - -The animal smell became more pronounced. It was overpowering. Then -suddenly Malone became conscious of something moving round the table. In -the dim red light he was aware of a mis-shapen figure, crouching, -ill-formed, with some resemblance to man. He silhouetted it against the -dull radiance. It was bulky, broad, with a bullet-head, a short neck, -heavy, clumsy shoulders. It slouched slowly round the circle. Then it -stopped, and a cry of surprise, not unmixed with fear, came from one of -the sitters. - -“Do not be alarmed,” said Dr. Maupuis’ quiet voice. “It is the -Pithecanthropus. He is harmless.” Had it been a cat which had strayed -into the room the scientist could not have discussed it more calmly. - -“It has long claws. It laid them on my neck,” cried a voice. - -“Yes, yes. He means it as a caress.” - -“You may have my share of his caresses!” cried the sitter in a quavering -voice. - -“Do not repulse him. It might be serious. He is well disposed. But he -has his feelings, no doubt, like the rest of us.” - -The creature had resumed its stealthy progress. Now it turned the end of -the table and stood behind the three friends. Its breath came in quick -puffs at the back of their necks. Suddenly Lord Roxton gave a loud -exclamation of disgust. - -“Quiet! Quiet!” said Maupuis. - -“It’s licking my hand!” cried Roxton. - -An instant later Malone was aware of a shaggy head extended between Lord -Roxton and himself. With his left hand he could feel long, coarse hair. -It turned towards him, and it needed all his self-control to hold his -hand still when a long soft tongue caressed it. Then it was gone. - -“In heaven’s name, what is it?” he asked. - -“We have been asked not to photograph it. Possibly the light would -infuriate it. The command through the medium was definite. We can only -say that it is either an ape-like man or a man-like ape. We have seen it -more clearly than to-night. The face is Simian, but the brow is -straight; the arms long, the hands huge, the body covered with hair.” - -“Tom Linden gave us something better than that,” whispered Mailey. He -spoke low but Richet caught the words. - -“All nature is the field of our study, Mr. Mailey. It is not for us to -choose. Shall we classify the flowers but neglect the fungi?” - -“But you admit it is dangerous.” - -“The X-rays were dangerous. How many martyrs lost their arms, joint by -joint, before those dangers were realised. And yet it was necessary. So -it is with us. We do not know yet what it is that we are doing. But if -we can indeed show the world that this Pithecanthropus can come to us -from the Invisible, and depart again as it came, then the knowledge is -so tremendous that even if he tore us to pieces with those formidable -claws, it would none the less be our duty to go forward with our -experiments.” - -“Science can be heroic,” said Mailey. “Who can deny it? And yet I have -heard these very scientific men tell us that we imperil our reason when -we try to get in touch with spiritual forces. Gladly would we sacrifice -our reason, or our lives, if we could help mankind. Should we not do as -much for spiritual advance as they for material?” - -The lights had been turned up and there was a pause for relaxation -before the great experiment of the evening was attempted. The men broke -into little groups, chatting in hushed tones over their recent -experience. Looking round at the comfortable room with its up-to-date -appliances, the strange bird and the stealthy monster seemed like -dreams. And yet they had been very real, as was shown presently by the -photographer, who had been allowed to leave and now rushed excitedly -from the adjacent dark room waving the plate which he had just developed -and fixed. He held it up against the light, and there, sure enough, was -the bald head of the medium sunk between his hands, and crouching -closely over his shoulders the outline of that ominous figure. Dr. -Maupuis rubbed his little fat hands with glee. Like all pioneers he had -endured much persecution from the Parisian Press, and every fresh -phenomenon was another weapon for his own defence. - -“_Nous marchons! Hein! Nous marchons!_” he kept on repeating, while -Richet, lost in thought, answered mechanically: - -“_Oui, mon ami, vous marchez!_” - -The little Galician was sitting nibbling a biscuit with a glass of red -wine before him. Malone went round to him and found that he had been in -America and could talk a little English. - -“Are you tired? Does it exhaust you?” - -“In moderation, no. Two sittings a week. Behold my allowance. The doctor -will allow no more.” - -“Do you remember anything?” - -“It comes to me like dreams. A little here--a little there.” - -“Has the power always been with you?” - -“Yes, yes, ever since a child. And my father, and my uncle. Their talk -was of visions. For me, I would go and sit in the woods and strange -animals would come round me. It did me such a surprise when I found that -the other children could not see them.” - -“_Est ce que vous êtes prêtes?_” asked Dr. Maupuis. - -“_Parfaitement_,” answered the medium, brushing away the crumbs. The -doctor lit a spirit-lamp under one of the zinc buckets. - -“We are about to co-operate in an experiment, gentlemen, which should, -once and for all, convince the world as to the existence of these -ectoplasmic forms. Their nature may be disputed, but their objectivity -will be beyond doubt from now onwards unless my plans miscarry. I would -first explain these two buckets to you. This one, which I am warming, -contains paraffin, which is now in process of liquefaction. This other -contains water. Those who have not been present before must understand -that Panbek’s phenomena occur usually in the same order, and that at -this stage of the evening we may expect the apparition of the old man. -To-night we lie in wait for the old man, and we shall, I hope, -immortalise him in the history of psychic research. I resume my seat, -and I switch on the red light, Number Three, which allows of greater -visibility.” - -The circle was now quite visible. The medium’s head had fallen forward -and his deep snoring showed that he was already in trance. Every face -was turned towards him, for the wonderful process of materialisation was -going on before their very eyes. At first it was a swirl of light, -steam-like vapour which circled round his head. Then there was a waving, -as of white diaphanous drapery, behind him. It thickened. It coalesced. -It hardened in outline and took definite shape. There was a head. There -were shoulders. Arms grew out from them. Yes, there could not be a doubt -of it--there was a man, an old man, standing behind the chair. He moved -his head slowly from side to side. He seemed to be peering in indecision -towards the company. One could imagine that he was asking himself, -“Where am I, and what am I here for?” - -“He does not speak, but he hears and has intelligence,” said Dr. -Maupuis, glancing over his shoulder at the apparition. “We are here, -sir, in the hope that you will aid us in a very important experiment. -May we count upon your co-operation?” - -The figure bowed its head in assent. - -“We thank you. When you have attained your full power, you will, no -doubt, move away from the medium.” - -The figure again bowed, but remained motionless. It seemed to Malone -that it was growing denser every moment. He caught glimpses of the face. -It was certainly an old man, heavy-faced, long-nosed, with a curiously -projecting lower lip. Suddenly with a brusque movement it stood clear -from Panbek and stepped out into the room. - -“Now, sir,” said Maupuis in his precise fashion. “You will perceive the -zinc bucket upon the left. I would beg you to have the kindness to -approach it and to plunge your right hand into it.” - -The figure moved across. He seemed interested in the buckets, for he -examined them with some attention. Then he dipped one of his hands into -that which the doctor had indicated. - -“Excellent!” cried Maupuis, his voice shrill with excitement. “Now, sir, -might I ask you to have the kindness to dip the same hand into the cold -water of the other bucket.” - -The form did so. - -“Now, sir, you would bring our experiment to complete success if you -would lay your hand upon the table, and while it is resting there you -would yourself dematerialise and return into the medium.” - -The figure bowed its comprehension and assent. Then it slowly advanced -towards the table, stooped over it, extended its hand--and vanished. The -heavy breathing of the medium ceased, and he moved uneasily as if about -to wake. Maupuis turned on the white light, and threw up his hands with -a loud cry of wonder and joy which was echoed by the company. - -On the shining wooden surface of the table there lay a delicate -yellow-pink glove of paraffin, broad at the knuckles, thin at the wrist, -two of the fingers bent down to the palm. Maupuis was beside himself -with delight. He broke off a small bit of wax from the wrist and handed -it to an assistant, who hurried from the room. - -“It is final!” he cried. “What can they say now? Gentlemen, I appeal to -you. You have seen what occurred. Can any of you give any rational -explanation of that paraffin mould, save that it was the result of -dematerialisation of the hand within it?” - -“I can see no other solution,” Richet answered. “But you have to do with -very obstinate and very prejudiced people. If they cannot deny it, they -will probably ignore it.” - -“The Press is here and the Press represents the public,” said Maupuis. -“For the Press Engleesh, Monsieur Malone,” he went on in his broken way. -“Is it that you can see any answer?” - -“I can see none,” Malone answered. - -“And you, monsieur?” addressing the representative of the _Matin_. - -The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders. - -“For us who had the privilege of being present it was indeed -convincing,” said he, “and yet you will certainly be met with -objections. They will not realise how fragile this thing is. They will -say that the medium brought it on his person and laid it upon the -table.” - -Maupuis clapped his hands triumphantly. His assistant had just brought -him a slip of paper from the next room. - -“Your objection is already answered,” he cried, waving the paper in the -air. “I had foreseen it and I had put some cholesterine among the -paraffin in the zinc pail. You may have observed that I broke off a -corner of the mould. It was for purpose of chemical analysis. This has -now been done. It is here and cholesterine has been detected.” - -“Excellent!” said the French journalist. “You have closed the last hole. -But what next?” - -“What we have done once we can do again,” Maupuis answered. “I will -prepare a number of these moulds. In some cases I will have fists and -hands. Then I will have plaster casts made from them. I will run the -plaster inside the mould. It is delicate, but it can be done. I will -have dozens of them so created, and I will send them broadcast to every -capital in the world that people may see with their own eyes. Will that -not at last convince them of the reality of our conclusions?” - -“Do not hope for too much, my poor friend,” said Richet, with his hand -upon the shoulder of the enthusiast. “You have not yet realised the -enormous _vis inertiæ_ of the world. But as you have said, ‘_Vous -marchez--vous marchez toujours_.’” - -“And our march is regulated,” said Mailey. “There is a gradual release -to accommodate it to the receptivity of mankind.” - -Richet smiled and shook his head. - -“Always transcendental, Monsieur Mailey! Always seeing more than meets -the eye and changing science into philosophy! I fear you are -incorrigible. Is your position reasonable?” - -“Professor Richet,” said Mailey, very earnestly, “I would beg you to -answer the same question. I have a deep respect for your talents and -complete sympathy with your caution, but have you not come to the -dividing of the ways? You are now in the position that you admit--you -must admit--that our intelligent apparition in human form, built up from -the substance which you have yourself named ectoplasm, can walk the room -and carry out instructions while the medium lay senseless under our -eyes, and yet you hesitate to assert that spirit has an independent -existence. Is that reasonable?” - -Richet smiled and shook his head. Without answering, he turned to bid -farewell to Dr. Maupuis, and to offer him his congratulations. A few -minutes later the company had broken up and our friends were in a taxi -speeding towards their hotel. - -Malone was deeply impressed with what he had seen, and he sat up half -the night drawing up a full account of it for the Central News, with the -names of those who had endorsed the results--honourable names which no -one in the world could associate with folly or deception. - -“Surely, surely, this will be a turning-point and an epoch.” So ran his -dream. Two days later he opened the great London dailies one after the -other. Columns about football. Columns about golf. A full page as to the -value of shares. A long and earnest correspondence in _The Times_ about -the habits of the lapwing. Not one word in any of them as to the wonders -which he had seen and reported. Mailey laughed at his dejected face. - -“A mad world, my masters,” said he. “A crazy world! But the end is not -yet!”[D] - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -IN WHICH PROFESSOR CHALLENGER GOES FORTH TO BATTLE - - -Professor Challenger was in a bad humour, and when that was so his -household were made aware of it. Neither were the effects of his wrath -confined to those around him, for most of those terrible letters which -appeared from time to time in the Press, flaying and scarifying some -unhappy opponent, were thunderbolt flashes from an offended Jove who sat -in sombre majesty in his study-throne on the heights of a Victoria flat. -Servants would hardly dare to enter the room where, glooming and -glowering, the maned and bearded head looked up from his papers as a -lion from a bone. Only Enid could dare him at such a time, and even she -felt occasionally that sinking of the heart which the bravest of tamers -may experience as he unbars the gate of the cage. She was not safe from -the acridity of his tongue, but at least she need not fear physical -violence, which was well within the possibilities for others. - -Sometimes these Berserk fits of the famous Professor arose from material -causes. “Hepatic, sir, hepatic!” he would explain in extenuation after -some aggravated assault. But on this particular occasion he had a very -definite cause for discontent. It was Spiritualism! - -He never seemed to get away from the accursed superstition--a thing -which ran counter to the whole work and philosophy of his lifetime. He -attempted to pooh-pooh it, to laugh at it, to ignore it with contempt, -but the confounded thing would insist upon obtruding itself once more. -On Monday he would write it finally off his books, and before Saturday -he would be up to his neck in it again. And the thing was so absurd! It -seemed to him that his mind was being drawn from the great pressing -material problems of the Universe in order to waste itself upon Grimm’s -fairy tales or the ghosts of a sensational novelist. - -Then things grew worse. First Malone, who had in his simple fashion been -an index figure representing the normal clear-headed human being, had in -some way been bedevilled by these people and had committed himself to -their pernicious views. Then Enid, his ewe-lamb, his one real link with -humanity, had also been corrupted. She had agreed with Malone’s -conclusions. She had even hunted up a good deal of evidence of her own. -In vain he had himself investigated a case and proved beyond a shadow of -a doubt that the medium was a designing villain who brought messages -from a widow’s dead husband in order to get the woman into his power. It -was a clear case and Enid admitted it. But neither she nor Malone would -allow any general application. “There are rogues in every line of life,” -they would say. “We must judge every movement by the best and not by the -worst.” - -All this was bad enough, but worse still was in store. He had been -publicly humiliated by the Spiritualists--and that by a man who admitted -that he had had no education and would in any other subject in the world -have been seated like a child at the Professor’s feet. And yet in -public debate ... but the story must be told. - -Be it known then that Challenger, greatly despising all opposition and -with no knowledge of the real strength of the case to be answered, had, -in a fatal moment, actually asserted that he would descend from Olympus -and would meet in debate any representative whom the other party should -select. “I am well aware,” he wrote, “that by such condescension I, like -any other man of science of equal standing, run the risk of giving a -dignity to these absurd and grotesque aberrations of the human brain -which they could otherwise not pretend to claim, but we must do our duty -to the public, and we must occasionally turn from our serious work and -spare a moment in order to sweep away those ephemeral cobwebs which -might collect and become offensive if they were not dispersed by the -broom of Science.” Thus, in a most self-confident fashion, did Goliath -go forth to meet his tiny antagonist, an ex-printer’s assistant and now -the editor of what Challenger would describe as an obscure print devoted -to matters of the spirit. - -The particulars of the debate are public property, and it is not -necessary to tell in any great detail that painful event. It will be -remembered that the great man of Science went down to the Queen’s Hall -accompanied by many rationalist sympathisers who desired to see the -final destruction of the visionaries. A large number of these poor -deluded creatures also attended, hoping against hope that their champion -might not be entirely immolated upon the altar of outraged Science. -Between them the two factions filled the hall, and glared at each other -with as much enmity as did the Blues and the Greens a thousand years -before in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. There on the left of the -platform were the solid ranks of those hard and unbending rationalists -who look upon the Victorian agnostics as credulous, and refresh their -faith by the periodical perusal of the _Literary Gazette_ and the -_Freethinker_. - -There, too, was Dr. Joseph Baumer, the famous lecturer upon the -absurdities of religion, together with Mr. Edward Mould, who has -insisted so eloquently upon man’s claim to ultimate putridity of the -body and extinction of the soul. On the other side Mailey’s yellow beard -flamed like an oriflamme. His wife sat on one side of him and Mervin, -the journalist, on the other, while dense ranks of earnest men and women -from the Queen Square Spiritual Alliance, from the Psychic College, from -the Stead Bureau, and from the outlying churches, assembled in order to -encourage their champion in his hopeless task. The genial faces of -Bolsover, the grocer, with his Hammersmith friends, Terbane, the railway -medium, the Reverend Charles Mason with his ascetic features, Tom -Linden, now happily released from bondage, Mrs. Linden, the Crewe -circle, Dr. Atkinson, Lord Roxton, Malone, and many other familiar faces -were to be picked out amid that dense wall of humanity. Between the two -parties, solemn and stolid and fat, sat Judge Gaverson of the King’s -Bench, who had consented to preside. It was an interesting and -suggestive fact that in this critical debate at which the very core or -vital centre of real religion was the issue, the organised churches were -entirely aloof and neutral. Drowsy and semi-conscious, they could not -discern that the live intellect of the nation was really holding an -inquisition upon their bodies to determine whether they were doomed to -the extinction towards which they were rapidly drifting, or whether a -resuscitation in other forms was among the possibilities of the future. - -In front, on one side, with his broad-browed disciples behind him, sat -Professor Challenger, portentous and threatening, his Assyrian beard -projected in his most aggressive fashion, a half-smile upon his lips, -and his eyelids drooping insolently over his intolerant grey eyes. On -the corresponding position on the other side was perched a drab and -unpretentious person over whose humble head Challenger’s hat would have -descended to the shoulders. He was pale and apprehensive, glancing -across occasionally in apologetic and deprecating fashion at his leonine -opponent. Yet those who knew James Smith best were the least alarmed, -for they were aware that behind his commonplace and democratic -appearance there lay a knowledge of his subject, practical and -theoretical, such as few living men possessed. The wise men of the -Psychical Research Society are but children in psychic knowledge when -compared with such practicing Spiritualists as James Smith--men whose -whole lives are spent in various forms of communion with the unseen. -Such men often lose touch with the world in which they dwell and are -useless for its everyday purposes, but the editorship of a live paper -and the administration of a wide-spread scattered community had kept -Smith’s feet solid upon earth, while his excellent natural faculties, -incorrupted by useless education, had enabled him to concentrate upon -the one field of knowledge which offers in itself a sufficient scope for -the greatest human intellect. Little as Challenger could appreciate it, -the contest was really one between a brilliant discursive amateur and a -concentrated highly-specialised professional. - -It was admitted on all sides that Challenger’s opening half-hour was a -magnificent display of oratory and argument. His deep organ voice--such -a voice as only a man with a fifty-inch chest can produce--rose and fell -in a perfect cadence which enchanted his audience. He was born to sway -any assembly--an obvious leader of mankind. In turn he was descriptive, -humorous and convincing. He pictured the natural growth of animism among -savages cowering under the naked sky, unable to account for the beat of -the rain or the roar of the thunder, and seeing a benevolent or -malicious intelligence behind those operations of Nature which Science -had now classified and explained. - -Hence on false premises was built up that belief in spirits or invisible -beings outside ourselves, which by some curious atavism was re-emerging -in modern days among the less educated strata of mankind. It was the -duty of Science to resist retrogressive tendencies of the sort, and it -was a sense of that duty which had reluctantly drawn him from the -privacy of his study to the publicity of this platform. He rapidly -sketched the movement as depicted by its maligners. It was a most -unsavoury story as he told it, a story of cracking toe joints, of -phosphorescent paint, of muslin ghosts, of a nauseous sordid commission -trade betwixt dead men’s bones on one side, and widows’ tears upon the -other. These people were the hyenas of the human race who battened upon -the graves. (Cheers from the rationalists and ironical laughter from the -Spiritualists.) They were not all rogues. (“Thank you, Professor!” from -a stentorian opponent.) But the others were fools (laughter). Was it -exaggeration to call a man a fool who believed that his grandmother -could rap out absurd messages with the leg of a dining-room table? Had -any savages descended to so grotesque a superstition? These people had -taken dignity from death and had brought their own vulgarity into the -serene oblivion of the tomb. It was a hateful business. He was sorry to -have to speak so strongly, but only the knife or the cautery could deal -with so cancerous a growth. Surely man need not trouble himself with -grotesque speculations as to the nature of life beyond the grave. We had -enough to do in this world. Life was a beautiful thing. The man who -appreciated its real duties and beauties would have sufficient to employ -him without dabbling in pseudo sciences which had their roots in frauds, -exposed already a hundred times and yet finding fresh crowds of foolish -devotees whose insane credulity and irrational prejudice made them -impervious to all argument. - -Such is a most bald and crude summary of this powerful opening argument. -The materialists roared their applause; the Spiritualists looked angry -and uneasy, while their spokesman rose, pale but resolute, to answer the -ponderous onslaught. - -His voice and appearance had none of those qualities which made -Challenger magnetic, but he was clearly audible and made his points in a -precise fashion like a workman who is familiar with his tools. He was so -polite and so apologetic at first that he gave the impression of having -been cowed. He felt that it was almost presumptuous upon one who had so -little advantage of education to measure mental swords for an instant -with so renowned an antagonist, one whom he had long revered. It seemed -to him, however, that in the long list of the Professor’s -accomplishments--accomplishments which had made him a household word -throughout the world--there was one missing, and unhappily it was just -this one upon which he had been tempted to speak. He had listened to -that speech with admiration so far as its eloquence was concerned, but -with surprise, and he might almost say with contempt, when he analysed -the assertions which were contained in it. It was clear that the -Professor had prepared his case by reading all the anti-Spiritualist -literature which he could lay his hands upon--a most tainted source of -information--while neglecting the works of those who spoke from -experience and conviction. - -All this talk of cracking joints and other fraudulent tricks was -mid-Victorian in its ignorance, and as to the grandmother talking -through the leg of a table he, the speaker, could not recognise it as a -fair description of Spiritualistic phenomena. Such comparisons reminded -one of the jokes about the dancing frogs which impeded the recognition -of Volta’s early electrical experiments. They were unworthy of Professor -Challenger. He must surely be aware that the fraudulent medium was the -worst enemy of Spiritualism, that he was denounced by name in the -psychic journals whenever he was discovered, and that such exposures -were usually made by the Spiritualists themselves who had spoken of -“human hyenas” as indignantly as his opponent had done. One did not -condemn banks because forgers occasionally used them for nefarious -purposes. It was wasting the time of so chosen an audience to descend to -such a level of argument. Had Professor Challenger denied the religious -implications of Spiritualism while admitting the phenomena, it might -have been harder to answer him, but in denying everything he had placed -himself in an absolutely impossible position. No doubt Professor -Challenger had read the recent work of Professor Richet, the famous -physiologist. That work extended over thirty years. Richet had verified -all the phenomena. - -Perhaps Professor Challenger would inform the audience what personal -experience he had himself had which gave him the right to talk of -Richet, or Lombroso, or Crookes, as if they were superstitious savages. -Possibly his opponent had conducted experiments in private of which the -world knew nothing. In that case he should give them to the world. Until -he did so it was unscientific and really indecent to deride men hardly -inferior in scientific reputation to himself, who actually had done such -experiments and laid them before the public. - -As to the self-sufficiency of this world, a successful Professor with a -eupeptic body might take such a view, but if one found oneself with -cancer of the stomach in a London garret, one might question the -doctrine that there was no need to yearn for any state of being save -that in which we found ourselves. - -It was a workmanlike effort illustrated with facts, dates and figures. -Though it rose to no height of eloquence it contained much which needed -an answer. And the sad fact emerged that Challenger was not in a -position to answer. He had read up his own case but had neglected that -of his adversary, accepting too easily the facile and specious -presumptions of incompetent writers who handled a matter which they had -not themselves investigated. Instead of answering, Challenger lost his -temper. The lion began to roar. He tossed his dark mane and his eyes -glowed, while his deep voice reverberated through the hall. Who were -these people who took refuge behind a few honoured but misguided names? -What right had they to expect serious men of science to suspend their -labours in order to waste time in examining their wild surmises? Some -things were self-evident and did not require proof. The onus of proof -lay with those who made the assertions. If this gentleman, whose name is -unfamiliar, claims that he can raise spirits, let him call one up now -before a sane and unprejudiced audience. If he says that he receives -messages, let him give us the news in advance of the general agencies. -(“It has often been done!” from the Spiritualists.) “So you say, but I -deny it. I am too accustomed to your wild assertions to take them -seriously.” (Uproar, and Judge Gaverson upon his feet.) If he claims -that he has higher inspiration, let him solve the Peckham Rye murder. If -he is in touch with angelic beings, let him give us a philosophy, which -is higher than mortal mind can evolve. This false show of science, this -camouflage of ignorance, this babble about ectoplasm and other mythical -products of the psychic imagination was mere obscurantism, the bastard -offspring of superstition and darkness. Wherever the matter was probed -one came upon corruption and mental putrescence. Every medium was a -deliberate impostor. (“You are a liar!” in a woman’s voice from the -neighbourhood of the Lindens.) The voices of the dead had uttered -nothing but childish twaddle. The asylums were full of the supporters of -the cult and would be fuller still if everyone had his due. - -It was a violent but not an effective speech. Evidently the great man -was rattled. He realised that there was a case to be met and that he had -not provided himself with the material wherewith to meet it. Therefore -he had taken refuge in angry words and sweeping assertions which can -only be safely made when there is no antagonist present to take -advantage of them. The Spiritualists seemed more amused than angry. The -materialists fidgeted uneasily in their seats. Then James Smith rose for -his last innings. He wore a mischievous smile. There was quiet menace in -his whole bearing. - -He must ask, he said, for a more scientific attitude from his -illustrious opponent. It was an extraordinary fact that many scientific -men, when their passions and prejudices were excited, showed a ludicrous -disregard for all their own tenets. Of these tenets there was none more -rigid than that a subject should be examined before it was condemned. We -have seen of late years, in such matters as wireless or heavier-than-air -machines, that the most unlikely things may come to pass. It is most -dangerous to say _a priori_ that a thing is impossible. Yet this was the -error into which Professor Challenger had fallen. He had used the fame -which he had rightly won in subjects which he had mastered in order to -cast discredit upon a subject which he had not mastered. The fact that a -man was a great physiologist and physicist did not in itself make him an -authority upon psychic science. - -It was perfectly clear that Professor Challenger had not read the -standard works upon the subject on which he posed as an authority. Could -he tell the audience what the name of Schrenck Notzing’s medium was? He -paused for a reply. Could he then tell the name of Dr. Crawford’s -medium? Not? Could he tell them who had been the subject of Professor -Zollner’s experiments at Leipzig? What, still silent! But these were the -essential points of the discussion. He had hesitated to be personal, but -the Professor’s robust language called for corresponding frankness upon -his part. Was the Professor aware that this ectoplasm which he derided -had been examined lately by twenty German professors--the names were -here for reference--and that all had testified to its existence? How -could Professor Challenger deny that which these gentlemen asserted? -Would he contend that they also were criminals or fools? The fact was -that the Professor had come to this hall entirely ignorant of the facts -and was now learning them for the first time. He clearly had no -perception that Psychic Science had any laws whatever, or he would not -have formulated such childish requests as that an ectoplasmic figure -should manifest in full light upon this platform when every student was -aware that ectoplasm was soluble in light. As to the Peckham Rye murder -it had never been claimed that the angel world was an annex to Scotland -Yard. It was mere throwing of dust in the eyes of the public for a man -like Professor Challenger---- - -It was at this moment that the explosion occurred. Challenger had -wriggled in his chair. Challenger had tugged at his beard. Challenger -had glared at the speaker. Now he suddenly sprang to the side of the -chairman’s table with the bound of a wounded lion. That gentleman had -been lying back half asleep with his fat hands clutched across his ample -paunch, but at this sudden apparition he gave a convulsive start which -nearly carried him into the orchestra. - -“Sit down, sir! Sit down!” he cried. - -“I refuse to sit down,” roared Challenger. “Sir, I appeal to you as -chairman! Am I here to be insulted? These proceedings are intolerable. I -will stand it no longer. If my private honour is touched I am justified -in taking the matter into my own hands.” - -Like many men who override the opinions of others, Challenger was -exceedingly sensitive when anyone took a liberty with his own. Each -successive incisive sentence of his opponent had been like a barbed -bandarillo in the flanks of a foaming bull. Now, in speechless fury, he -was shaking his huge hairy fist over the chairman’s head in the -direction of his adversary, whose derisive smile stimulated him to more -furious plunges with which he butted the fat president along the -platform. The assembly had in an instant become a pandemonium. Half the -rationalists were scandalised, while the other half shouted “Shame! -Shame!” as a sign of sympathy with their champion. The Spiritualists had -broken into derisive shouts, while some rushed forward to protect their -champion from physical assault. - -“We must get the old dear out,” said Lord Roxton to Malone. “He’ll be -had for manslaughter if we don’t. What I mean, he’s not -responsible--he’ll sock someone and be lagged for it.” - -The platform had become a seething mob while the auditorium was little -better. Through the crush Malone and Roxton elbowed their way until they -reached Challenger’s side, and partly by judicious propulsion, partly by -artful persuasion they got him, still bellowing his grievances, out of -the building. There was a perfunctory vote to the chairman, and the -meeting broke up in riot and confusion. “The whole episode,” remarked -_The Times_ next morning, “was a deplorable one, and forcibly -illustrates the danger of public debates where the subjects are such as -to inflame the prejudices of either speakers or audience. Such terms as -‘Microcephalous idiot!’ or ‘Simian survival!’ when applied by a -world-renowned Professor to an opponent, illustrate the lengths to which -such disputants may permit themselves to go.” - - * * * * * - -Thus by a long interpolation we have got back to the fact that Professor -Challenger was in the worst of humours as he sat with the -above-mentioned copy of _The Times_ in his hand and a heavy scowl upon -his brow. And yet it was that very moment that the injudicious Malone -had chosen in order to ask him the most intimate question which one man -can address to another. - -Yet perhaps it is hardly fair to our friend’s diplomacy to say that he -had “chosen” the moment. He had really called in order to see for -himself that a man for whom, in spite of his eccentricities, he had a -deep reverence and affection, had not suffered from the events of the -night before. On that point he was speedily reassured. - -“Intolerable!” roared the Professor, in a tone so unchanged that he -might have been at it all night. “You were there yourself, Malone. In -spite of your inexplicable and misguided sympathy for the fatuous views -of these people, you must admit that the whole conduct of the -proceedings was intolerable, and that my righteous protest was more than -justified. It is possible that when I threw the chairman’s table at the -President of the Psychic College, I passed the bounds of decorum, but -the provocation had been excessive. You will remember that this Smith or -Brown person--his name is most immaterial--dared to accuse me of -ignorance and of throwing dust in the eyes of the audience.” - -“Quite so,” said Malone, soothingly. “Never mind, Professor. You got in -one or two pretty hard knocks yourself.” - -Challenger’s grim features unbent and he rubbed his hands with glee. - -“Yes, yes, I fancy that some of my thrusts went home. I imagine that -they will not be forgotten. When I said that the asylums would be full -if every man of them had his due, I could see them wince. They all -yelped, I remember, like a kennelful of puppies. It was their -preposterous claim that I should read their hare-brained literature -which caused me to display some little heat. But I hope, my boy, that -you have called round this morning in order to tell me that what I said -last night has had some effect upon your own mind, and that you have -reconsidered these views which are, I confess, a considerable tax upon -our friendship.” - -Malone took his plunge like a man. - -“I had something else in my mind when I came here,” said he. “You must -be aware that your daughter Enid and I have been thrown together a good -deal of late. To me, sir, she has become the one woman in the world, and -I shall never be happy until she is my wife. I am not rich, but a good -sub-editorship has been offered to me and I could well afford to marry. -You have known me for some time and I hope you have nothing against me. -I trust, therefore, that I may count upon your approval in what I am -about to do.” - -Challenger stroked his beard and his eyelids drooped dangerously over -his eyes. - -“My perceptions,” said he, “are not so dull that I should have failed to -observe the relations which have been established between my daughter -and yourself. This question, however, has become entangled with that -other which we were discussing. You have both, I fear, imbibed this -poisonous fallacy which I am more and more inclined to devote my life to -extirpating. If only on the ground of eugenics, I could not give my -sanction to a union which was built up on such a foundation. I must ask -you, therefore, for a definite assurance that your views have become -more sane. I shall ask the same from her.” - -And so Malone suddenly found himself also enrolled among the noble army -of martyrs. It was a hard dilemma, but he faced it like the man that he -was. - -“I am sure, sir, that you would not think the better of me if I allowed -my views as to truth, whether they be right or wrong, to be swayed by -material considerations. I cannot change my opinions even to win Enid. I -am sure that she would take the same view.” - -“Did you not think I had the better last night?” - -“I thought your address was very eloquent.” - -“Did I not convince you?” - -“Not in the face of the evidence of my own senses.” - -“Any conjuror could deceive your senses.” - -“I fear, sir, that my mind is made up on this point.” - -“Then my mind is made up also,” roared Challenger, with a sudden glare. -“You will leave this house, sir, and you will return when you have -regained your sanity.” - -“One moment!” said Malone. “I beg, sir, that you will not be -precipitate. I value your friendship too much to risk the loss of it if -it can, in any way, be avoided. Possibly if I had your guidance, I would -better understand these things that puzzle me. If I should be able to -arrange it would you mind being present personally at one of these -demonstrations so that your own trained powers of observation may throw -a light upon the things that have puzzled me.” - -Challenger was enormously open to flattery. He plumed and preened -himself now like some great bird. - -“If, my dear Malone, I can help you to get this taint--what shall we -call it?--_microbus spiritualensis_--out of your system, I am at your -service. I shall be happy to devote a little of my spare time to -exposing those specious fallacies to which you have fallen so easy a -victim. I would not say that you are entirely devoid of brains, but that -your good nature is liable to be imposed upon. I warn you that I shall -be an exacting enquirer and bring to the investigation those laboratory -methods of which it is generally admitted that I am a master.” - -“That is what I desire.” - -“Then you will prepare the occasion and I shall be there. But meanwhile -you will clearly understand that I insist upon a promise that this -connection with my daughter shall go no further.” - -Malone hesitated. - -“I give my promise for six months,” he said at last. - -“And what will you do at the end of that time?” - -“I will decide when the time comes,” Malone answered diplomatically, and -so escaped from a dangerous situation with more credit than at one time -seemed probable. - -It chanced that as he emerged upon the landing, Enid, who had been -engaged in her morning’s shopping, appeared in the lift. Malone’s easy -Irish conscience allowed him to think that the six months need not start -on the instant, so he persuaded Enid to descend in the lift with him. It -was one of those lifts which are handled by whoever uses them, and on -this occasion it so happened that, in some way best known to Malone, it -stuck between the landing-stages, and in spite of several impatient -rings it remained stuck for a good quarter of an hour. When the -machinery resumed its functions, and when Enid was able at last to -reach her home and Malone the street, the lovers had prepared themselves -to wait for six months with every hope of a successful end to their -experiment.[E] - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -IN WHICH CHALLENGER MEETS A STRANGE COLLEAGUE - - -Professor Challenger was not a man who made friends easily. In order to -be his friend you had also to be his dependent. He did not admit of -equals. But as a patron he was superb. With his Jovian air, his colossal -condescension, his amused smile, his general suggestion of the god -descending to the mortal, he could be quite overpowering in his -amiability. But he needed certain qualities in return. Stupidity -disgusted him. Physical ugliness alienated him. Independence repulsed -him. He coveted the man whom all the world would admire but who in turn -would admire the superman above him. Such a man was Dr. Ross Scotton, -and for this reason he had been Challenger’s favourite pupil. - -And now he was sick unto death. Dr. Atkinson of St. Mary’s, who has -already played some minor part in this record, was attending him, and -his reports were increasingly depressing. The illness was that dread -disease, disseminated sclerosis, and Challenger was aware that Atkinson -was no alarmist when he said that a cure was a most remote and unlikely -possibility. - -It seemed a terrible instance of the unreasonable nature of things that -a young man of science, capable before he reached his prime of two such -works as “The Embryology of the Sympathetic Nervous System” and “The -Fallacy of the Obsonic Index,” should be dissolved into his chemical -elements with no personal or spiritual residue whatever. And yet the -Professor shrugged his huge shoulders, shook his massive head and -accepted the inevitable. Every fresh message was worse than the last, -and, finally, there was an ominous silence. Challenger went down once to -his young friend’s lodging in Gower Street. It was a racking experience, -and he did not repeat it. The muscular cramps, which are characteristic -of the complaint were tying the sufferer into knots, and he was biting -his lips to shut down the screams which might have relieved his agony at -the expense of his manhood. He seized his mentor by the hand as a -drowning man seizes a plank. - -“Is it really as you have said? Is there no hope beyond the six months -of torture which I see lying before me? Can you with all your wisdom and -knowledge see no spark of light or life in the dark shadow of eternal -dissolution?” - -“Face it, my boy, face it!” said Challenger. “Better to look facts in -the face than to console oneself with fancies.” - -Then the lips parted and the long-pent scream burst forth. Challenger -rose and rushed from the room. - -But now an amazing development occurred. It began by the appearance of -Miss Delicia Freeman. - -One morning there came a knock at the door of the Victoria flat. The -austere and taciturn Austin looking out at the level of his eyes -perceived nothing at all. On glancing downwards, however, he was aware -of a small lady, whose delicate face and bright bird-like eyes were -turned upwards to his own. - -“I want to see the Professor,” said she, diving into her handbag for a -card. - -“Can’t see you,” said Austin. - -“Oh, yes, he can,” the small lady answered serenely. There was not a -newspaper office, a statesman’s sanctum, or a political chancellory -which had ever presented a barrier strong enough to hold her back where -she believed that there was good work to be done. - -“Can’t see you,” repeated Austin. - -“Oh, but really I must, you know,” said Miss Freeman, and made a sudden -dive past the butler. With unerring instinct she made for the door of -the sacred study, knocked, and forthwith entered. - -The lion head looked up from behind a desk littered with papers. The -lion eyes glared. - -“What is the meaning of this intrusion?” the lion roared. The small lady -was, however, entirely unabashed. She smiled sweetly at the glowering -face. - -“I am so glad to make your acquaintance,” she said. “My name is Delicia -Freeman.” - -“Austin!” shouted the Professor. The butler’s impassive face appeared -round the angle of the door. “What is this, Austin? How did this person -get here?” - -“I couldn’t keep her out,” wailed Austin. “Come miss, we’ve had enough -of it.” - -“No, no! You must not be angry--you really must not,” said the lady -sweetly. “I was told that you were a perfectly terrible person, but -really you are rather a dear.” - -“Who are you? What do you want? Are you aware that I am one of the most -busy men in London?” - -Miss Freeman fished about in her bag once more. She was always fishing -in that bag, extracting sometimes a leaflet on Armenia, sometimes a -pamphlet on Greece, sometimes a note on Zenana Missions, and sometimes -a psychic manifesto. On this occasion it was a folded bit of -writing-paper which emerged. - -“From Dr. Ross Scotton,” she said. - -It was hastily folded and roughly scribbled--so roughly as to be hardly -legible. Challenger bent his heavy brows over it. - - “Please, dear friend and guide, listen to what this lady says. I - know it is against all your views. And yet I had to do it. You said - yourself that I had no hope. I have tested it and it works. I know - it seems wild and crazy. But any hope is better than no hope. If - you were in my place you would have done the same. Will you not - cast out prejudice and see for yourself? Dr. Felkin comes at 3. - - - “J. ROSS SCOTTON.” - - -Challenger read it twice over and sighed. The brain was clearly involved -in the lesion: “He says I am to listen to you. What is it? Cut it as -short as you can.” - -“It’s a spirit doctor,” said the lady. - -Challenger bounded in his chair. - -“Good God, am I never to get away from this nonsense!” he cried. “Can -they not let this poor devil lie quiet on his deathbed but they must -play their tricks upon him?” - -Miss Delicia clapped her hands and her quick little eyes twinkled with -joy. - -“It’s _not_ his deathbed. He is going to get well.” - -“Who said so?” - -“Dr. Felkin. He never is wrong.” - -Challenger snorted. - -“Have you seen him lately?” she asked. - -“Not for some weeks.” - -“But you wouldn’t recognise him. He is nearly cured.” - -“Cured! Cured of diffused sclerosis in a few weeks!” - -“Come and see.” - -“You want me to aid and abet in some infernal quackery. The next thing, -I should see my name on this rascal’s testimonials. I know the breed. If -I did come I should probably take him by the collar and throw him down -the stair.” - -The lady laughed heartily. - -“He would say with Aristides: ‘Strike but hear me.’ You will hear him -first, however, I am sure. Your pupil is a real chip of yourself. He -seems quite ashamed of getting well in such an unorthodox way. It was I -who called Dr. Felkin in against his wish.” - -“Oh, you did, did you? You took a great deal upon yourself.” - -“I am prepared to take any responsibility, so long as I _know_ I am -right. I spoke to Dr. Atkinson. He knows a little of psychic matters. He -is far less prejudiced than most of you scientific gentlemen. He took -the view that when a man was dying in any case it could matter little -what you did. So Dr. Felkin came.” - -“And pray how did this quack doctor proceed to treat the case?” - -“That is what Dr. Ross Scotton wants you to see.” She looked at a watch -which she dragged from the depths of the bag. “In an hour he will be -there. I’ll tell your friend you are coming. I am sure you would not -disappoint him. Oh!” She dived into the bag again. “Here is a recent -note upon the Bessarabian question. It is much more serious than people -think. You will just have time to read it before you come. So good-bye, -dear Professor, and _au revoir_!” - -She beamed at the scowling lion and departed. - -But she had succeeded in her mission, which was a way she had. There was -something compelling in the absolutely unselfish enthusiasm of this -small person who would, at a moment’s notice, take on anyone from a -Mormon elder to an Albanian brigand, loving the culprit and mourning the -sin. Challenger came under the spell, and shortly after three he stumped -his way up the narrow stair and blocked the door of the humble bedroom -where his favourite pupil lay stricken. Ross Scotton lay stretched upon -the bed in a red dressing-gown, and his teacher saw, with a start of -surprised joy, that his face had filled out and that the light of life -and hope had come back into his eyes. - -“Yes, I’m beating it!” he cried. “Ever since Felkin held his first -consultation with Atkinson I have felt the life force stealing back into -me. Oh, chief, it is a fearful thing to lie awake at night and feel -these cursed microbes nibbling away at the very roots of your life! I -could almost hear them at it. And the cramps when my body--like a badly -articulated skeleton--would all get twisted into one rigid tangle! But -now, except some dyspepsia and urticaria of the palms, I am free from -pain. And all on account of this dear fellow here who has helped me.” - -He motioned with his hand as if alluding to someone present. Challenger -looked round with a glare, expecting to find some smug charlatan behind -him. But no doctor was there. A frail young woman, who seemed to be a -nurse, quiet, unobtrusive, and with a wealth of brown hair, was dozing -in a corner. Miss Delicia, smiling demurely, stood in the window. - -“I am glad you are better, my dear boy,” said Challenger. “But do not -tamper with your reason. Such a complaint has its natural systole and -diastole.” - -“Talk to him, Dr. Felkin. Clear his mind for him,” said the invalid. - -Challenger looked up at the cornice and round at the skirting. His pupil -was clearly addressing some doctor in the room and yet none was visible. -Surely his aberration had not reached the point when he thought that -actual floating apparitions were directing his cure. - -“Indeed, it needs some clearing,” said a deep and virile voice at his -elbow. He bounded round. It was the frail young woman who was talking. - -“Let me introduce you to Dr. Felkin,” said Miss Delicia, with a -mischievous laugh. - -“What tomfoolery is this!” cried Challenger. - -The young woman rose and fumbled at the side of her dress. Then she made -an impatient gesture with her hand. - -“Time was, my dear colleague, when a snuff-box was as much part of my -equipment as my phlebotomy case. I lived before the days of Laennec, and -we carried no stethoscope, but we had our little chirurgical battery, -none the less. But the snuff-box was a peace-offering, and I was about -to offer it to you, but, alas! it has had its day.” - -Challenger stood with staring eyes and dilated nostrils while this -speech was delivered. Then he turned to the bed. - -“Do you mean to say that this is your doctor--that you take the advice -of this person?” - -The young girl drew herself up very stiffly. - -“Sir, I will not bandy words with you. I perceive very clearly that you -are one of those who have been so immersed in material knowledge that -you have had no time to devote to the possibilities of the spirit.” - -“I certainly have no time for nonsense,” said Challenger. - -“My dear chief!” cried a voice from the bed. “I beg you to bear in mind -how much Dr. Felkin has already done for me. You saw how I was a month -ago, and you see how I am now. You would not offend my best friend.” - -“I certainly think, Professor, that you owe dear Dr. Felkin an apology,” -said Miss Delicia. - -“A private lunatic asylum!” snorted Challenger. Then, playing up to his -part, he assumed the ponderous elephantine irony which was one of his -most effective weapons in dealing with recalcitrant students. - -“Perhaps, young lady--or shall I say elderly and most venerable -Professor?--you will permit a mere raw earthly student, who has no more -knowledge than this world can give, to sit humbly in a corner and -possibly to learn a little from your methods and your teachings.” The -speech was delivered with his shoulders up to his ears, his eyelids over -his eyes, and his palms extended in front--an alarming statue of -sarcasm. Dr. Felkin, however, was striding, with heavy and impatient -steps, about the room and took little notice. - -“Quite so! Quite so!” he said carelessly. “Get into the corner and stay -there. Above all stop talking, as this case calls for all my faculties.” -He turned with a masterful air towards the patient. “Well, well, you are -coming along. In two months you will be in the class-room.” - -“Oh, it is impossible!” cried Ross Scotton, with a half sob. - -“Not so. I guarantee it. I do not make false promises.” - -“I’ll answer for that,” said Miss Delicia. “I say, dear Doctor, do tell -us who you were when you were alive.” - -“Tut! tut! The unchanging woman. They gossiped in my time and they -gossip still. No, no! We will have a look at our young friend here. -Pulse! The intermittent beat has gone. That is something gained. -Temperature ... obviously normal. Blood-pressure--still higher than I -like. Digestion--much to be desired. What you moderns call a -hunger-strike would not be amiss. Well, the general conditions are -tolerable. Let us see the local centre of the mischief. Pull your shirt -down, sir! Lie on your face. Excellent!” She passed her fingers with -great force and precision down the upper part of the spine, and then dug -in her knuckles with a sudden force which made the sufferer yelp. “That -is better! There is--as I have explained--a slight want of alignment in -the cervical vertebræ which has, as I perceive it, the effect of -lessening the foramina through which the nerve roots emerge. This has -caused compression, and as these nerves are really the conductors of -vital force, it has upset the whole equilibrium of the parts supplied. -My eyes are the same as your clumsy X-rays, and I clearly perceive that -the position is almost restored and the fatal constriction removed. I -hope, sir,” to Challenger, “that I make the pathology of this -interesting case intelligible to you.” - -Challenger grunted his general hostility and disagreement. - -“I will clear up any little difficulties which may linger in your mind. -But, meantime, my dear lad, you are a credit to me and I rejoice in your -progress. You will present my compliments to my colleague of earth, Dr. -Atkinson, and tell him that I can suggest nothing more. The medium is a -little weary, poor girl, so I will not remain longer to-day.” - -“But you said you would tell us who you were.” - -“Indeed, there is little to say. I was a very undistinguished -practitioner. I sat under the great Abernethy in my youth and perhaps -imbibed something of his methods. When I passed over in early middle age -I continued my studies and was permitted, if I could find some suitable -means of expression, to do something to help humanity. You understand, -of course, that it is only by serving and self-abnegation that we -advance in the higher world. This is my service, and I can only thank -kind Fate that I was able to find in this girl a being whose vibrations -so correspond with my own that I can easily assume control of her body.” - -“And where is she?” asked the patient. - -“She is waiting beside me and will presently re-enter her own frame. As -to you, sir,” turning to Challenger, “you are a man of character and -learning, but you are clearly embedded in that materialism which is the -special curse of your age. Let me assure you that the medical -profession, which is supreme upon earth for the disinterested work of -its members, has yielded too much to the dogmatism of such men as you, -and has unduly neglected that spiritual element in man which is far more -important than your herbs and your minerals. There is a life-force, sir, -and it is in the control of this life-force that the medicine of the -future lies. If you shut your mind to it it can only mean that the -confidence of the public will turn to those who are ready to adopt every -means of cure, whether they have the approval of your authorities or -not.” - -Never could young Ross Scotton forget that scene. The Professor, the -master, the supreme chief, he who had to be addressed with bated breath, -sat with half-opened mouth and staring eyes, leaning forward in his -chair, while in front of him the slight young woman, shaking her mop of -brown hair and wagging an admonitory forefinger, spoke to him as a -father speaks to a refractory child. So intense was her power that -Challenger, for the instant, was constrained to accept the situation. He -gasped and grunted, but no retort came to his lips. The girl turned away -and sat down on a chair. - -“He is going,” said Miss Delicia. - -“But not yet gone,” replied the girl with a smile. “Yes, I must go, for -I have much to do. This is not my only medium of expression and I am due -in Edinburgh in a few minutes. But be of good heart, young man. I will -set my assistant with two extra batteries to increase your vitality so -far as your system will permit. As to you, sir,” to Challenger, “I would -implore you to beware of the egotism of brain and the self-concentration -of intellect. Store what is old, but be ever receptive to what is new, -and judge it not as you may wish it, but as God has designed it.” - -She gave a deep sigh and sank back in her chair. There was a minute of -dead silence while she lay with her head upon her breast. Then with -another sigh and a shiver she opened a pair of very bewildered blue -eyes. - -“Well, has he been?” she asked in a gentle feminine voice. - -“Indeed, yes!” cried the patient. “He was great. He says I shall be in -the class-room in two months.” - -“Splendid! Any directions for me?” - -“Just the special message as before. But he is going to put on two new -spirit batteries if I can stand it.” - -“My word, he won’t be long now!” Suddenly the girl’s eyes lit on -Challenger and she stopped in confusion. - -“This is Nurse Ursula,” said Miss Delicia. “Nurse, let me present you to -the famous Professor Challenger.” - -Challenger was great in his manner towards women, especially if the -particular woman happened to be a young and pretty girl. He advanced now -as Solomon may have advanced to the Queen of Sheba, took her hand and -patted her hair with patriarchal assurance. - -“My dear, you are far too young and charming for such deceit. Have done -with it for ever. Be content to be a bewitching nurse and resign all -claim to the higher functions of doctor. Where, may I ask, did you pick -up all this jargon about cervical vertebræ and posterior foramina?” - -Nurse Ursula looked helplessly round as one who finds herself suddenly -in the clutches of a gorilla. - -“She does not understand a word you say!” cried the man on the bed. “Oh, -chief, you must make an effort to face the real situation! I know what a -readjustment it means. In my small way I have had to undergo it myself. -But, believe me, you see everything through a prism instead of through -plate-glass until you understand the spiritual factor.” - -Challenger continued his paternal attentions though the frightened lady -had begun to shrink from him. - -“Come now,” said he, “who was the clever doctor with whom you acted as -nurse--the man who taught you all these fine words? You must feel that -it is hopeless to deceive me. You will be much happier, dear child, when -you have made a clean breast of it all, and when we can laugh together -over the lecture which you inflicted upon me.” - -An unexpected interruption came to check Challenger’s exploration of the -young woman’s conscience or motives. The invalid was sitting up, a vivid -red patch against his white pillows, and he was speaking with an energy -which was in itself an indication of his coming cure. - -“Professor Challenger!” he cried, “you are insulting my best friend. -Under this roof at least she shall be safe from the sneers of scientific -prejudice. I beg you to leave the room if you cannot address Nurse -Ursula in a more respectful manner.” - -Challenger glared, but the peacemaking Delicia was at work in a moment. - -“You are far too hasty, dear Dr. Ross Scotton!” she cried. “Professor -Challenger has had no time to understand this. You were just as -sceptical yourself at first. How can you blame him?” - -“Yes, yes, that is true,” said the young doctor. “It seemed to me to -open the door to all the quackery in the Universe--indeed it does, but -the fact remains.” - -“‘One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see.’” quoted Miss -Delicia. “Ah, Professor, you may raise your eyebrows and shrug your -shoulders, but we’ve dropped something into your big mind this afternoon -which will grow and grow until no man can see the end of it.” She dived -into the bag. “There is a little slip here ‘Brain _versus_ Soul.’ I do -hope, dear Professor, that you will read it and then pass it on.” - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -IN WHICH TRAPS ARE LAID FOR A GREAT QUARRY - - -Malone was bound in honour not to speak of love to Enid Challenger, but -looks can speak, and so their communications had not broken down -completely. In all other ways he adhered closely to the agreement, -though the situation was a difficult one. It was the more difficult -since he was a constant visitor to the Professor, and now that the -irritation of the debate was over, a very welcome one. The one object of -Malone’s life was to get the great man’s sympathetic consideration of -those psychic subjects which had gained such a hold upon himself. This -he pursued with assiduity, but also with great caution, for he knew that -the lava was thin and that a fiery explosion was always possible. Once -or twice it came and caused Malone to drop the subject for a week or two -until the ground seemed a little more firm. - -Malone developed a remarkable cunning in his approaches. One favourite -device was to consult Challenger upon some scientific point--on the -zoological importance of the Straits of Banda, for example, or the -Insects of the Malay Archipelago, and lead him on until Challenger in -due course would explain that our knowledge on the point was due to -Alfred Russel Wallace. “Oh, really! To Wallace the Spiritualist!” Malone -would say in an innocent voice, on which Challenger would glare and -change the topic. - -Sometimes it was Lodge that Malone would use as a trap. “I suppose you -think highly of him.” - -“The first brain in Europe,” said Challenger. - -“He is the greatest authority on ether, is he not?” - -“Undoubtedly.” - -“Of course, I only know him by his psychic works.” - -Challenger would shut up like a clam. Then Malone would wait a few days -and remark casually: “Have you ever met Lombroso!” - -“Yes, at the Congress at Milan.” - -“I have been reading a book of his.” - -“Criminology, I presume?” - -“No, it was called ‘After Death--What?’” - -“I have not heard of it.” - -“It discusses the psychic question.” - -“Ah, a man of Lombroso’s penetrating brain would make short work of the -fallacies of these charlatans.” - -“No, it is written to support them.” - -“Well, even the greatest mind has its inexplicable weakness.” Thus with -infinite patience and cunning did Malone drop his little drops of reason -in the hope of slowly wearing away the casing of prejudice, but no very -visible effects could be seen. Some stronger measure must be adopted and -Malone determined upon direct demonstration. But how, when, and where? -Those were the all-important points upon which he determined to consult -Algernon Mailey. One spring afternoon found him back in that -drawing-room where he had once rolled upon the carpet in the embrace of -Silas Linden. He found the Rev. Charles Mason, and Smith, the hero of -the Queen’s Hall debate, in deep consultation with Mailey upon a subject -which may seem much more important to our descendants that those topics -which now bulk large in the eyes of the public. It was no less than -whether the psychic movement in Britain was destined to take a -Unitarian or a Trinitarian course. Smith had always been in favour of -the former, as had the old leaders of the movement and the present -organised Spiritualist Churches. On the other hand, Charles Mason was a -loyal son of the Anglican Church, and was the spokesman of a host of -others, including such weighty names as Lodge and Barrett among the -laymen, or Wilberforce, Haweis and Chambers among the clergy, who clung -fast to the old teachings while admitting the fact of spirit -communication. Mailey stood between the two parties, and, like the -zealous referee in a boxing-match who separates the two combatants, he -always took a chance of getting a knock from each. Malone was only too -glad to listen, for now that he realised that the future of the world -might be bound up in this movement, every phase of it was of intense -interest to him. Mason was holding forth in his earnest, but -good-humoured, way as he entered. - -“The people are not ready for a great change. It is not necessary. We -have only to add our living knowledge, and direct communion of the -saints to the splendid liturgy and traditions of the Church, and you -will have a driving-force which will revitalise all religion. You can’t -pull a thing up from the roots like that. Even the early Christians -found that they could not, and so they made all sorts of concessions to -the religions around them.” - -“Which was exactly what ruined them,” said Smith. “That was the real end -of the Church in its original strength and purity.” - -“It lasted, anyhow.” - -“But it was never the same from the time that villain Constantine laid -his hands on it.” - -“Oh, come!” said Mailey. “You must not write down the first Christian -emperor as a villain.” - -But Smith was a forthright, uncompromising, bull-doggy antagonist. “What -other name will you give to a man who murdered half his own family?” - -“Well, his personal character is not the question. We were talking of -the organisation of the Christian Church.” - -“You don’t mind my frankness, Mr. Mason?” - -Mason smiled his jolly smile. “So long as you grant me the existence of -the New Testament I don’t care what you do. If you were to prove that -our Lord was a myth, as that German Drews tried to do, it would not in -the least affect me so long as I could point to that body of sublime -teaching. It must have come from somewhere, and I adopt it and say, -‘That is my creed.’” - -“Oh, well, there is not so much between us on that point,” said Smith. -“If there is any better teaching I have not seen it. It is good enough -to go on with, anyhow. But we want to cut out the frills and -superfluities. Where did they all come from? They were compromises with -many religions, so that our friend C. could get uniformity in his -world-wide Empire. He made a patchwork quilt of it. He took an Egyptian -ritual--vestments, mitre, crozier, tonsure, marriage ring--all Egyptian. -The Easter ceremonies are pagan and refer to the vernal equinox. -Confirmation is mithraism. So is baptism, only it was blood instead of -water. As to the sacrificial meal....” - -Mason put his fingers in his ears. “This is some old lecture of yours,” -he laughed. “Hire a hall, but don’t obtrude it in a private house. But -seriously, Smith, all this is beside the question. If it is true it will -not affect my position at all, which is that we have a great body of -doctrine which is working well, and which is regarded with veneration by -many people, your humble servant included, and that it would be wrong -and foolish to scrap it. Surely you must agree.” - -“No, I don’t,” Smith answered, setting his obstinate jaw. “You are -thinking too much of the feelings of your blessed church-goers. But you -have also to think of the nine people out of ten who never enter into a -church. They have been choked off by what they, including your humble -servant, consider to be unreasonable and fantastic. How will you gain -them while you continue to offer them the same things, even though you -mix spirit-teaching with it? If, however, you approach these agnostic or -atheistic ones, and say to them: ‘I quite agree that all this is unreal -and is tainted by a long history of violence and reaction. But here we -have something pure and new. Come and examine it!’ In that way I could -coax them back into a belief in God and in all the fundamentals of -religion without their having to do violence to their reason by -accepting your theology.” - -Mailey had been tugging at his tawny beard while he listened to these -conflicting counsels. Knowing the two men he was aware that there was -not really much between them, when one got past mere words, for Smith -revered the Christ as a God-like man, and Mason as a man-like God, and -the upshot was much the same. At the same time he knew that their more -extreme followers on either side were in very truth widely separated, so -that compromise became impossible. - -“What I can’t understand,” said Malone, “is why you don’t ask your -spirit friends these questions and abide by their decisions.” - -“It is not so simple as you think,” Mailey answered. “We all carry on -our earthly prejudices after death, and we all find ourselves in an -atmosphere which more or less represents them. Thus each would echo his -old views at first. Then in time the spirit broadens out and it ends in -a universal creed which includes only the brotherhood of man and the -fatherhood of God. But that takes time. I have heard most furious bigots -talking through the veil.” - -“So have I, for that matter,” said Malone, “and in this very room. But -what about the materialists? They at least cannot remain unchanged.” - -“I believe their mind influences their state and that they lie inert for -ages sometimes, under their own obsession that nothing can occur. Then -at last they wake, realise their own loss of time, and, finally, in many -cases get to the head of the procession, since they are often men of -fine character and influenced by lofty motives, however mistaken in -their views.” - -“Yes, they are often among the salt of the earth,” said the clergyman -heartily. - -“And they offer the very best recruits for our movement,” said Smith. -“There comes such a reaction when they find by the evidence of their own -senses that there really is intelligent force outside themselves, that -it gives them an enthusiasm that makes them ideal missionaries. You -fellows who have a religion and then add to it cannot even imagine what -it means to the man who has a complete vacuum and suddenly finds -something to fill it. When I meet some poor earnest chap feeling out -into the darkness I just yearn to put it into his hand.” - -At this stage tea and Mrs. Mailey appeared together. But the -conversation did not flag. It is one of the characteristics of those who -explore psychic possibilities that the subject is so many-sided and the -interest so intense that when they meet together they plunge into the -most fascinating exchange of views and experiences. It was with some -difficulty that Malone got the conversation round to that which had been -the particular object of his visit. He could have found no group of men -more fit to advise him, and all were equally keen that so great a man as -Challenger should have the best available. - -Where should it be? On that they were unanimous. The large séance room -of the Psychic College was the most select, the most comfortable, in -every way the best appointed in London. When should it be? The sooner -the better. Every Spiritualist and every medium would surely put any -engagement aside in order to help on such an occasion. - -“Who should the medium be? Ah! There was the rub. Of course, the -Bolsover circle would be ideal. It was private and unpaid, but Bolsover -was a man of quick temper and Challenger was sure to be very insulting -and annoying. The meeting might end in riot and fiasco. Such a chance -should not be taken. Was it worth while to take him over to Paris? But -who would take the responsibility of letting loose such a bull in Dr. -Maupuis’ china-shop? - -“He would probably seize Pithecanthropus by the throat and risk every -life in the room,” said Mailey. “No, no, it would never do.” - -“There is no doubt that Banderby is the strongest physical medium in -England,” said Smith. “But we all know what his personal character is. -You could not rely upon him.” - -“Why not?” asked Malone. “What’s the matter with him?” - -Smith raised his hand to his lips. - -“He has gone the way that many a medium has gone before him.” - -“But surely,” said Malone, “that is a strong argument against our cause. -How can a thing be good if it leads to such a result?” - -“Do you consider poetry to be good?” - -“Why, of course I do!” - -“Yet Poe was a drunkard, and Coleridge an addict, and Byron a rake, and -Verlaine a degenerate. You have to separate the man from the thing. The -genius has to pay a ransom for his genius in the instability of his -temperament. A great medium is even more sensitive than a genius. Many -are beautiful in their lives. Some are not. The excuse for them is -great. They practise a most exhausting profession and stimulants are -needed. Then they lose control. But their physical mediumship carries on -all the same.” - -“Which reminds me of a story about Banderby,” said Mailey. “Perhaps you -have not seen him, Malone. He is a funny figure at any time--a little, -round, bouncing man who has not seen his own toes for years. When drunk -he is funnier still. A few weeks ago I got an urgent message that he was -in the bar of a certain hotel, and too far gone to get home unassisted. -A friend and I set forth to rescue him. We got him home after some -unsavoury adventures, and what would the man do but insist upon holding -a séance. We tried to restrain him, but the trumpet was on a side-table, -and he suddenly switched off the light. In an instant the phenomena -began. Never were they more powerful. But they were interrupted by -Princeps, his control, who seized the trumpet and began belabouring him -with it. ‘You rascal! You drunken rascal! How dare you! How dare you!’ -The trumpet was all dinted with the blows. Banderby ran bellowing out -of the room, and we took our departure.” - -“Well, it wasn’t the medium that time, at any rate,” said Mason. “But -about Professor Challenger--it would never do to risk the chance.” - -“What about Tom Linden?” asked Mrs. Mailey. - -Mailey shook his head. - -“Tom has never been quite the same since his imprisonment. These fools -not only persecute our precious mediums, but they ruin their powers. It -is like putting a razor into a damp place and then expecting it to have -a fine edge.” - -“What! Has he lost his powers?” - -“Well, I would not go so far as that. But they are not so good as they -were. He sees a disguised policeman in every sitter and it distracts -him. Still he is dependable so far as he goes. Yes, on the whole we had -better have Tom.” - -“And the sitters?” - -“I expect Professor Challenger may wish to bring a friend or two of his -own.” - -“They will form a horrible block of vibrations. We must have some of our -own sympathetic people to counteract it. There is Delicia Freeman. She -would come. I would come myself. You would come, Mason?” - -“Of course I would.” - -“And you, Smith?” - -“No, no! I have my paper to look after, three services, two burials, one -marriage, and five meetings all next week.” - -“Well, we can easily get one or two more. Eight is Linden’s favourite -number. So now, Malone, you have only to get the great man’s consent and -the date.” - -“And the spirit confirmation,” said Mason, seriously. “We must take our -partners into consultation.” - -“Of course we must, padre. That is the right note to strike. Well, -that’s settled, Malone, and we can only await the event.” - -As it chanced, a very different event was awaiting Malone that evening, -and he came upon one of those chasms which unexpectedly open across the -path of life. When, in his ordinary routine, he reached the office of -the _Gazette_, he was informed by the commissionaire that Mr. Beaumont -desired to see him. Malone’s immediate superior was the old Scotch -subeditor, Mr. McArdle, and it was rare indeed for the supreme editor to -cast a glimpse down from that peak whence he surveyed the kingdoms of -the world, or to show any cognisance of his humble fellow-workers upon -the slopes beneath him. The great man, clean-shaven, prosperous and -capable, sat in his palatial sanctum amid a rich assortment of old oak -furniture and sealing-wax-red leather. He continued his letter when -Malone entered, and only raised his shrewd, grey eyes after some minutes -interval. - -“Ah, Mr. Malone, good evening! I have wanted to see you for some little -time. Won’t you sit down? It is in reference to these articles on -psychic matters which you have been writing. You opened them in a tone -of healthy scepticism, tempered by humour, which was very acceptable -both to me and to our public. I regret, however, to observe that your -view changed as you proceeded, and that you have now assumed a position -in which you really seem to condone some of these practises. That, I -need not say, is not the policy of the _Gazette_, and we should have -discontinued the articles had it not been that we had announced a -series by an impartial investigator. We have had to continue, but the -tone must change.” - -“What do you wish me to do, sir?” - -“You must get the funny side of it again. That is what our public loves. -Poke fun at it all. Call up the maiden aunt and make her talk in an -amusing fashion. You grasp my meaning?” - -“I am afraid, sir, it has ceased to seem funny in my eyes. On the -contrary, I take it more and more seriously.” - -Beaumont shook his solemn head. - -“So, unfortunately, do our subscribers.” He had a small pile of letters -upon the desk beside him and he took one up. - -“Look at this. ‘I had always regarded your paper as a God-fearing -publication, and I would remind you that such practises as your -correspondent seems to condone are expressly forbidden both in Leviticus -and Deuteronomy. I should share your sin if I continued to be a -subscriber.’” - -“Bigoted ass!” muttered Malone. - -“So he may be, but the penny of a bigoted ass is as good as any other -penny. Here is another letter: ‘Surely in this age of free-thought and -enlightenment you are not helping a movement which tries to lead us back -to the exploded idea of angelic and diabolic intelligences outside -ourselves. If so, I must ask you to cancel my subscription.’” - -“It would be amusing, sir, to shut these various objectors up in a room -and let them settle it among themselves.” - -“That may be, Mr. Malone, but what I have to consider is the circulation -of the _Gazette_.” - -“Don’t you think, sir, that possibly you underrate the intelligence of -the public, and that behind these extremists of various sorts there is -a vast body of people who have been impressed by the utterances of so -many great and honourable witnesses? Is it not our duty to keep these -people abreast of the real facts without making fun of them?” - -Mr. Beaumont shrugged his shoulders. - -“The Spiritualists must fight their own battle. This is not a propaganda -newspaper, and we make no pretense to lead the public on religious -beliefs.” - -“No, no, I only meant as to the actual facts. Look how systematically -they are kept in the dark. When, for example, did one ever read an -intelligent article upon ectoplasm in any London paper? Who would -imagine that this all-important substance has been examined and -described and endorsed by men of science with innumerable photographs to -prove their words?” - -“Well, well,” said Beaumont, impatiently. “I am afraid I am too busy to -argue the question. The point of this interview is that I have had a -letter from Mr. Cornelius to say that we must at once take another -line.” - -Mr. Cornelius was the owner of the _Gazette_, having become so, not from -any personal merit, but because his father left him some millions, part -of which he expended upon this purchase. He seldom was seen in the -office himself, but occasionally a paragraph in the paper recorded that -his yacht had touched at Mentone and that he had been seen at the Monte -Carlo tables, or that he was expected in Leicestershire for the season. -He was a man of no force of brain or character, though occasionally he -swayed public affairs by a manifesto printed in larger type upon his own -front page. Without being dissolute, he was a free liver, living in a -constant luxury which placed him always on the edge of vice and -occasionally over the border. Malone’s hot blood flushed to his head as -he thought of this trifler, this insect, coming between mankind and a -message of instruction and consolation descending from above. And yet -those clumsy, childish fingers could actually turn the tap and cut off -the divine stream, however much it might break through in other -quarters. - -“So that is final, Mr. Malone,” said Beaumont, with the manner of one -who ends an argument. - -“Quite final!” said Malone. “So final that it marks the end of my -connection with your paper. I have a six month’s contract. When it ends, -I go!” - -“Please yourself, Mr. Malone.” Mr. Beaumont went on with his writing. - -Malone, with the flush of battle still upon him, went into McArdle’s -room and told him what had happened. The old Scotch sub-editor was very -perturbed. - -“Eh, man, it’s that Irish blood of yours. A drop o’ Scotch is a good -thing, either in your veins or at the bottom o’ a glass. Go back, man, -and say you have reconseedered!” - -“Not I! The idea of this man Cornelius, with his pot-belly and red face, -and--well, you know all about his private life--the idea of such a man -dictating what folk are to believe, and asking me to make fun of the -holiest thing on this earth!” - -“Man, you’ll be ruined!” - -“Well, better men than I have been ruined over this cause. But I’ll get -another job.” - -“Not if Cornelius can stop you. If you get the name of an insubordinate -dog there is no place for you in Fleet Street.” - -“It’s a damned shame!” cried Malone. “The way this thing has been -treated is a disgrace to journalism. It’s not Britain alone. America is -worse. We seem to have the lowest, most soulless folk that ever lived on -the Press--good-hearted fellows too, but material to a man. And these -are the leaders of the people! It’s awful!” - -McArdle put a fatherly hand upon the young man’s shoulder. - -“Weel, weel, lad, we take the world as we find it. We didn’t make it and -we’re no reesponsible. Give it time! Give it time! We’re a’ in such a -hurry. Gang hame, noo, think it over, remember your career, that young -leddy of yours, and then come back and eat the old pie that all of us -have to eat if we are to keep our places in the world.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -IN WHICH CHALLENGER HAS THE EXPERIENCE OF HIS LIFETIME - - -So now the nets were set and the pit was dug and the hunters were all -ready for the great quarry, but the question was whether the creature -would allow himself to be driven in the right direction. Had Challenger -been told that the meeting was really held in the hope of putting -convincing evidence before him as to the truth of spirit intercourse -with the aim of his eventual conversion, it would have roused mingled -anger and derision in his breast. But the clever Malone, aided and -abetted by Enid, still put forward the idea that his presence would be a -protection against fraud, and that he would be able to point out to them -how and why they had been deceived. With this thought in his mind, -Challenger gave a contemptuous and condescending consent to the proposal -that he should grace with his presence a proceeding which was, in his -opinion, more fitted to the stone cabin of a neolithic savage than to -the serious attention of one who represented the accumulated culture and -wisdom of the human race. - -Enid accompanied her father, and he also brought with him a curious -companion who was strange both to Malone and to the rest of the company. -This was a large, raw-boned Scottish youth, with a freckled face, a huge -figure, and a taciturnity which nothing could penetrate. No question -could discover where his interests in psychic research might lie, and -the only positive thing obtained from him was that his name was Nicholl. -Malone and Mailey went together to the rendezvous at Holland Park, where -they found awaiting them Delicia Freeman, the Rev. Charles Mason, Mr. -and Mrs. Ogilvy of the College, Mr. Bolsover of Hammersmith, and Lord -Roxton, who had become assiduous in his psychic studies, and was rapidly -progressing in knowledge. There were nine in all, a mixed, inharmonious -assembly, from which no experienced investigator could expect great -results. On entering the séance room Linden was found seated in the -arm-chair, his wife beside him, and was introduced collectively to the -company, most of whom were already his friends. Challenger took up the -matter at once with the air of a man who will stand no nonsense. - -“Is this the medium?” he asked, eyeing Linden with much disfavour. - -“Yes.” - -“Has he been searched?” - -“Not yet.” - -“Who will search him?” - -“Two men of the company have been selected.” - -Challenger sniffed his suspicions. - -“Which men?” he asked. - -“It is suggested that you and your friend, Mr. Nicholl, shall do so. -There is a bedroom next door.” - -Poor Linden was marched off between them in a manner which reminded him -unpleasantly of his prison experiences. He had been nervous before but -this ordeal and the overpowering presence of Challenger made him still -more so. He shook his head mournfully at Mailey when he reappeared. - -“I doubt we will get nothing to-day. Maybe it would be wise to postpone -the sitting,” said he. - -Mailey came round and patted him on the shoulder, while Mrs. Linden took -his hand. - -“It’s all right, Tom,” said Mailey. “Remember that you have a bodyguard -of friends round you who won’t see you ill used.” Then Mailey spoke to -Challenger in a sterner way than was his wont. “I beg you to remember, -sir, that a medium is as delicate an instrument as any to be found in -your laboratories. Do not abuse it. I presume that you found nothing -compromising upon his person?” - -“No, sir, I did not. And as a result he assures us that we will get -nothing to-day.” - -“He says so because your manner has disturbed him. You must treat him -more gently.” - -Challenger’s expression did not promise any amendment. His eyes fell -upon Mrs. Linden. - -“I understand that this person is the medium’s wife. She should also be -searched.” - -“That is a matter of course,” said the Scotsman Ogilvy. “My wife and -your daughter will take her out. But I beg you, Professor Challenger, to -be as harmonious as you can, and to remember that we are all as -interested in the results as you are, so that the whole company will -suffer if you should disturb the conditions.” - -Mr. Bolsover, the grocer, rose with as much dignity as if he were -presiding at his favourite temple. - -“I move,” said he, “that Professor Challenger be searched.” - -Challenger’s beard bristled with anger. - -“Search me! What do you mean, sir?” - -Bolsover was not to be intimidated. - -“You are here not as our friend but as our enemy. If you was to prove -fraud it would be a personal triumph for you--see? Therefore I, for one, -says as you should be searched.” - -“Do you mean to insinuate, sir, that I am capable of cheating?” -trumpeted Challenger. - -“Well, Professor, we are all accused of it in turn,” said Mailey -smiling. “We all feel as indignant as you are at first, but after a time -you get used to it. I’ve been called a liar, a lunatic--goodness knows -what. What does it matter?” - -“It is a monstrous proposition,” said Challenger, glaring all round him. - -“Well, sir,” said Ogilvy, who was a particularly pertinacious Scot. “Of -course, it is open to you to walk out of the room and leave us. But if -you sit, you must sit under what we consider to be scientific -conditions. It is not scientific that a man who is known to be bitterly -hostile to the movement should sit with us in the dark with no check as -to what he may have in his pockets.” - -“Come, come!” cried Malone. “Surely we can trust to the honour of -Professor Challenger.” - -“That’s all very well,” said Bolsover. “I did not observe that Professor -Challenger trusted so very much to the honour of Mr. and Mrs. Linden.” - -“We have cause to be careful,” said Ogilvy. “I can assure you that there -are frauds practised on mediums just as there are frauds practised by -mediums. I could give you plenty of examples. No, sir, you will have to -be searched.” - -“It won’t take a minute,” said Lord Roxton. “What I mean young Malone -here and I could give you a once over in no time.” - -“Quite so, come on!” said Malone. - -And so Challenger, like a red-eyed bull with dilating nostrils, was led -from the room. A few minutes later, all preliminaries being completed, -they were seated in the circle and the séance had begun. - -But already the conditions had been destroyed. Those meticulous -researchers who insist upon tying up a medium until the poor creature -resembles a fowl trussed for roasting, or who glare their suspicions at -him before the lights are lowered, do not realise that they are like -people who add moisture to gunpowder and then expect to explode it. They -ruin their own results, and then when those results do not occur imagine -that their own astuteness, rather than their own lack of understanding, -has been the cause. - -Hence it is that at humble gatherings all over the land, in an -atmosphere of sympathy and of reverence, there are such happenings as -the cold man of “Science” is never privileged to see. - -All the sitters felt churned up by the preliminary altercation, but how -much more did it mean to the sensitive centre of it all! To him the room -was filled with conflicting rushes and eddies of psychic power, whirling -this way or that, and as difficult for him to navigate as the rapids -below Niagara. He groaned in his despair. Everything was mixed and -confused. He was beginning as usual with his clairvoyance, but names -buzzed in his etheric ears without sequence or order. The word “John” -seemed to predominate, so he said so. Did “John” mean anything to -anyone? A cavernous laugh from Challenger was the only reply. Then he -had the surname of Chapman. Yes, Mailey had lost a friend named Chapman. -But it was years ago, and there seemed no reason for his presence, nor -could he furnish his Christian name. “Budworth”--no; no one would own to -a friend named Budworth. Definite messages came across, but they seemed -to have no reference to the present company. Everything was going -amiss, and Malone’s spirits sank to zero. Challenger sniffed so loudly -that Ogilvy remonstrated. - -“You make matters worse, sir, when you show your feelings,” said he. “I -can assure you that in ten years of constant experience I have never -known the medium so far out, and I attribute it entirely to your own -conduct.” - -“Quite so,” said Challenger with satisfaction. - -“I am afraid it is no use, Tom,” said Mrs. Linden. “How are you feeling -now, dear? Would you wish to stop?” - -But Linden, under all his gentle exterior, was a fighter. He had in -another form those same qualities which had brought his brother within -an ace of the Lonsdale Belt. - -“No, I think, maybe, it is only the mental part that is confused. If I -am in trance I’ll get past that. The physicals may be better. Anyhow -I’ll try.” - -The lights were turned lower until they were a mere crimson glimmer. The -curtain of the cabinet was drawn. Outside it on the one side, dimly -outlined to his audience, Tom Linden, breathing stertorously in his -trance, lay back in a wooden arm-chair. His wife kept watch and ward at -the other side of the cabinet. - -But nothing happened. - -Quarter of an hour passed. Then another quarter of an hour. The company -was patient, but Challenger had begun to fidget in his seat. Everything -seemed to have gone cold and dead. Not only was nothing happening, but -somehow all expectation of anything happening seemed to have passed -away. - -“It’s no use!” cried Mailey at last. - -“I fear not,” said Malone. - -The medium stirred and groaned; he was waking up. Challenger gave an -ostentatious yawn. - -“Is not this a waste of time?” he asked. - -Mrs. Linden was passing her hand over the medium’s head and brow. His -eyes had opened. - -“Any results?” he asked. - -“It’s no use, Tom. We shall have to postpone.” - -“I think so, too,” said Mailey. - -“It is a great strain upon him under these adverse conditions,” remarked -Ogilvy, looking angrily at Challenger. - -“I should think so,” said the latter with a complacent smile. - -But Linden was not to be beaten. - -“The conditions are bad,” said he. “The vibrations are all wrong. But -I’ll try inside the cabinet. It concentrates the force.” - -“Well, it’s the last chance,” said Mailey. “We may as well try it.” - -The arm-chair was lifted inside the cloth tent and the medium followed, -drawing the curtain behind him. - -“It condenses the ectoplasmic emanations,” Ogilvy explained. - -“No doubt,” said Challenger. “At the same time, in the interests of -truth, I must point out that the disappearance of the medium is most -regrettable.” - -“For goodness sake don’t start wrangling again,” cried Mailey with -impatience. “Let us get some results, and then it will be time enough to -discuss their value.” - -Again there was a weary wait. Then came some hollow groanings from -inside the cabinet. The Spiritualists sat up expectantly. - -“That’s ectoplasm,” said Ogilvy. “It always causes pain on emission.” - -The words were hardly out of his mouth when the curtains were torn open -with sudden violence and a rattling of all the rings. In the dark -aperture there was outlined a vague white figure. It advanced slowly and -with hesitation into the centre of the room. In the red-tinted gloom all -definite outline was lost, and it appeared simply as a moving white -patch in the darkness. With the deliberation which suggested fear it -came, step by step, until it was opposite the Professor. - -“Now!” he bellowed in his stentorian voice. - -There was a shout, a scream, a crash. “I’ve got him!” roared someone. -“Turn up the lights!” yelled another. “Be careful! You may kill the -medium!” cried a third. The circle was broken. Challenger rushed to the -switch and put on all the lights. The place was so flooded with radiance -that it was some seconds before the bewildered and half-blinded -spectators could see the details. - -When they had recovered their sight and their balance, the spectacle was -a deplorable one for the majority of the company. Tom Linden, looking -white, dazed, and ill, was seated upon the ground. Over him stood the -huge young Scotsman who had borne him to earth; while Mrs. Linden, -kneeling beside her husband, was glaring up at his assailant. There was -silence as the company surveyed the scene. It was broken by Professor -Challenger. - -“Well, gentlemen, I presume that there is no more to be said. Your -medium has been exposed as he deserved to be. You can see now the nature -of your ghosts. I must thank Mr. Nicholl, who, I may remark, is the -famous football player of that name, for the prompt way in which he has -carried out his instructions.” - -“I collared him low,” said the tall youth. “He was easy.” - -“You did it very effectively. You have done public service by helping to -expose a heartless cheat. I need not say that a prosecution will -follow.” - -But Mailey now intervened and with such authority that Challenger was -forced to listen. - -“Your mistake is not unnatural, sir, though the course which you adopted -in your ignorance is one which might well have been fatal to the -medium.” - -“My ignorance, indeed! If you speak like that I warn you that I will -look upon you not as dupes, but as accomplices.” - -“One moment, Professor Challenger. I would ask you one direct question, -and I ask for an equally direct reply. Was not the figure which we all -saw before this painful episode a white figure?” - -“Yes, it was.” - -“You see now that the medium is entirely dressed in black. Where is the -white garment?” - -“It is immaterial to me where it is. No doubt his wife and himself are -prepared for all eventualities. They have their own means of secreting -the sheet, or whatever it may have been. These details can be explained -in the police court.” - -“Examine now. Search the room for anything white.” - -“I know nothing of the room. I can only use my common sense. The man is -exposed masquerading as a spirit. Into what corner or crevice he has -thrust his disguise is a matter of small importance.” - -“On the contrary, it is a vital matter. What you have seen has not been -an imposture, but has been a very real psychic phenomenon.” - -Challenger laughed. - -“Yes, sir, a very real phenomenon. You have seen a transfiguration which -is the half-way state of materialisation. You will kindly realise that -spirit guides, who conduct such affairs, care nothing for your doubts -and suspicions. They set themselves to get certain results, and if they -are prevented by the infirmities of the circle from getting them one way -they get them in another without consulting your prejudice or -convenience. In this case being unable, owing to the evil conditions -which you have yourself created, to build up an ectoplasmic form, they -wrapped the unconscious medium in an ectoplasmic covering and sent him -forth from the cabinet. He is as innocent of imposture as you are.” - -“I swear to God,” said Linden, “that from the time I entered the cabinet -until I found myself upon the floor I knew nothing.” He had staggered to -his feet and was shaking all over in his agitation, so that he could not -hold the glass of water which his wife had brought him. - -Challenger shrugged his shoulders. - -“Your excuses,” he said, “only open up fresh abysses of credulity. My -own duty is obvious, and it will be done to the uttermost. Whatever you -have to say will, no doubt, receive such consideration as it deserves -from the magistrate.” Then Professor Challenger turned to go as one who -has triumphantly accomplished that for which he came. “Come, Enid!” said -he. - -And now occurred a development so sudden, so unexpected, so dramatic, -that no one present will ever cease to have it in vivid memory. - -No answer was returned to Challenger’s call. - -Everyone else had risen to their feet. Only Enid remained in her chair. -She sat with her head on one shoulder, her eyes closed, her hair partly -loosened--a model for a sculptor. - -“She is asleep,” said Challenger. “Wake up, Enid. I am going.” - -There was no response from the girl. Mailey was bending over her. - -“Hush! Don’t disturb her! She is in trance.” - -Challenger rushed forward. “What have you done? Your infernal -hankey-pankey has frightened her. She has fainted.” - -Mailey had raised her eyelid. - -“No, no, her eyes are turned up. She is in trance. Your daughter, sir, -is a powerful medium.” - -“A medium! You are raving. Wake up, girl! Wake up!” - -“For God’s sake leave her! You may regret it all your life if you don’t. -It is not safe to break abruptly into the mediumistic trance.” - -Challenger stood in bewilderment. For once his presence of mind had -deserted him. Was it possible that his child stood on the edge of some -mysterious precipice and that he might push her over? - -“What shall I do?” he asked helplessly. - -“Have no fear. All will be well. Sit down! Sit down, all of you. Ah! she -is about to speak.” - -The girl had stirred. She had sat straight in her chair. Her lips -trembled. One hand was outstretched. - -“For him!” she cried, pointing to Challenger. “He must not hurt my Medi. -It is a message. For him.” - -There was breathless silence among the persons who had gathered round -the girl. - -“Who speaks?” asked Mailey. - -“Victor speaks, Victor. He shall not hurt my Medi. I have a message. For -him!” - -“Yes, yes. What is the message?” - -“His wife is here.” - -“Yes!” - -“She says that she has been once before. That she came through this -girl. It was after she was buried. She knock and he hear her knocking, -but not understand.” - -“Does this mean anything to you, Professor Challenger?” - -His great eyebrows were bunched over his suspicious, questioning eyes, -and he glared like a beast at bay from one to the other of the faces -round him. There was a trick--a vile trick. They had suborned his own -daughter. It was damnable. He would expose them, every one. No, he had -no questions to ask. He could see through it all. She had been won over. -He could not have believed it of her, and yet it must be so. She was -doing it for Malone’s sake. A woman would do anything for a man she -loved. Yes, it was damnable. Far from being softened he was more -vindictive than ever. His furious face, his broken words, expressed his -convictions. - -Again the girl’s arm shot out, pointing in front of her. - -“Another message!” - -“To whom?” - -“To him. The man who wanted to hurt my Medi. He must not hurt my Medi. A -man here--two men--wish to give him a message.” - -“Yes, Victor, let us have it.” - -“First man’s name is....” The girl’s head slanted and her ear was -upturned, as if listening. “Yes, yes, I have it! It is -Al--Al--Aldridge.” - -“Does that mean anything to you?” - -Challenger staggered. A look of absolute wonder had come upon his face. - -“Who is the second man?” he asked. - -“Ware. Yes, that is it. Ware.” - -Challenger sat down suddenly. He passed his hand over his brow. He was -deadly pale. His face was clammy with sweat. - -“Do you know them?” - -“I knew two men of those names.” - -“They have messages for you,” said the girl. - -Challenger seemed to brace himself for a blow. - -“Well, what is it?” - -“Too private. Not speak, all these people here.” - -“We shall wait outside,” said Mailey. “Come, friends, let the Professor -have his message.” - -They moved towards the door leaving the man seated in front of his -daughter. An unwonted nervousness seemed suddenly to seize him. “Malone, -stay with me!” - -The door closed and the three were left together. - -“What is the message?” - -“It is about a powder.” - -“Yes, yes.” - -“A grey powder?” - -“Yes.” - -“The message that men want to say is: ‘You did not kill us.’” - -“Ask them then--ask them--how did they die?” His voice was broken and -his great frame was quivering with his emotion. - -“They die disease.” - -“What disease?” - -“New--new.... What that?... Pneumonia.” - -Challenger sank back in his chair with an immense sigh of relief. “My -God!” he cried, wiping his brow. Then: - -“Call in the others, Malone.” - -They had waited on the landing and now streamed into the room. -Challenger had risen to meet them. His first words were to Tom Linden. -He spoke like a shaken man whose pride for the instant was broken. - -“As to you, sir, I do not presume to judge you. A thing has occurred to -me which is so strange, and also so certain, since my own trained senses -have attested it, that I am not prepared to deny any explanation which -has been offered of your previous conduct. I beg to withdraw any -injurious expressions I may have used.” - -Tom Linden was a true Christian in his character. His forgiveness was -instant and sincere. - -“I cannot doubt that my daughter has some strange power which bears out -much which you, Mr. Mailey, have told me. I was justified in my -scientific scepticism, but you have to-day offered me some -incontrovertible evidence.” - -“We all go through the same experience, Professor. We doubt, and then in -turn we are doubted.” - -“I can hardly conceive that my word will be doubted upon such a point,” -said Challenger, with dignity. “I can truly say that I have had -information to-night which no living person upon this earth was in a -position to give. So much is beyond all question.” - -“The young lady is better,” said Mrs. Linden. - -Enid was sitting up and staring round her with bewildered eyes. - -“What has happened, Father? I seem to have been asleep.” - -“All right, dear. We will talk of that later. Come home with me now. I -have much to think over. Perhaps you will come back with us, Malone. I -feel that I owe you some explanation.” - - * * * * * - -When Professor Challenger reached his flat, he gave Austin orders that -he was on no account to be disturbed, and he led the way into his -library, where he sat in his big arm-chair with Malone upon his left and -his daughter upon his right. He had stretched out his great paw and -enclosed Enid’s small hand. - -“My dear,” he said, after a long silence, “I cannot doubt that you are -possessed of a strange power, for it has been shown to me to-night with -a fullness and a clearness which is final. Since you have it I cannot -deny that others may have it also, and the general idea of mediumship -has entered within my conceptions of what is possible. I will not -discuss the question, for my thoughts are still confused upon the -subject, and I will need to thrash the thing out with you, young Malone, -and with your friends, before I can get a more definite idea. I will -only say that my mind has received a shock, and that a new avenue of -knowledge seems to have opened up before me.” - -“We shall be proud indeed,” said Malone, “if we can help you.” - -Challenger gave a wry smile. - -“Yes, I have no doubt that a headline in your paper, ‘Conversion of -Professor Challenger’ would be a triumph. I warn you that I have not got -so far.” - -“We certainly would do nothing premature and your opinions may remain -entirely private.” - -“I have never lacked the moral courage to proclaim my opinions when they -are formed, but the time has not yet come. However, I have received two -messages to-night, and I can only ascribe to them an extra-corporeal -origin. I take it for granted, Enid, that you were indeed insensible.” - -“I assure you, Father, that I knew nothing.” - -“Quite so. You have always been incapable of deceit. First there came a -message from your mother. She assured me that she had indeed produced -those sounds which I heard and of which I have told you. It is clear now -that you were the medium and that you were not in sleep but in trance. -It is incredible, inconceivable, grotesquely wonderful--but it would -seem to be true.” - -“Crookes used almost those very words,” said Malone. “He wrote that it -was all ‘perfectly impossible and absolutely true.’” - -“I owe him an apology. Perhaps I owe a good many people an apology.” - -“None will ever be asked for,” said Malone. “These people are not made -that way.” - -“It is the second case which I would explain.” The Professor fidgeted -uneasily in his chair. “It is a matter of great privacy--one to which I -have never alluded, and which no one on earth could have known. Since -you heard so much you may as well hear all. - -“It happened when I was a young physician, and it is not too much to say -that it cast a cloud over my life--a cloud which has only been raised -to-night. Others may try to explain what has occurred by telepathy, by -subconscious mind action, by what they will, but I cannot doubt--it is -impossible to doubt--that a message has come to me from the dead. - -“There was a new drug under discussion at that time. It is useless to -enter into details which you would be incapable of appreciating. Suffice -it that it was of the datura family which supplies deadly poisons as -well as powerful medicines. I had received one of the earliest -specimens, and I desired my name to be associated with the first -exploration of its properties. I gave it to two men, Ware and Aldridge. -I gave it in what I thought was a safe dose. They were patients, you -understand, in my ward in a public hospital. Both were found dead in the -morning. - -“I had given it secretly. None knew of it. There was no scandal for they -were both very ill, and their death seemed natural. But in my own heart -I had fears. I believed that I had killed them. It has always been a -dark background to my life. You heard yourselves to-night that it was -from the disease, and not from the drug that they died.” - -“Poor Dad!” whispered Enid, patting the great hirsute hand. “Poor Dad! -What you must have suffered!” - -Challenger was too proud a man to stand pity, even from his own -daughter. He pulled away his hand. - -“I worked for science,” he said. “Science must take risks. I do not know -that I am to blame. And yet--and yet--my heart is very light to-night.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -WHERE THE MISTS CLEAR AWAY - - -Malone had lost his billet and had found his way in Fleet Street blocked -by the rumour of his independence. His place upon the staff had been -taken by a young and drunken Jew, who had at once won his spurs by a -series of highly humorous articles upon psychic matters, peppered with -assurances that he approached the subject with a perfectly open and -impartial mind. His final device of offering five thousand pounds if the -spirits of the dead would place the three first horses in the coming -Derby, and his demonstration that ectoplasm was in truth the froth of -bottled porter artfully concealed by the medium, are newspaper stunts -which are within the recollection of the reader. - -But the path which closed on one side had opened on the other. -Challenger, lost in his daring dreams and ingenious experiments, had -long needed an active, clear-headed man to manage his business -interests, and to control his world-wide patents. There were many -devices, the fruits of his life’s work, which brought in income, but had -to be carefully watched and guarded. His automatic alarm for ships in -shallow waters, his device for deflecting a torpedo, his new and -economical method of separating nitrogen from the air, his radical -improvements in wireless transmission and his novel treatment of -pitchblende, were all moneymakers. Enraged by the attitude of -Cornelius, the Professor placed the management of all these in the hands -of his prospective son-in-law, who diligently guarded his interests. - -Challenger himself had altered. His colleagues, and those about him, -observed the change without clearly perceiving the cause. He was a -gentler, humbler and more spiritual man. Deep in his soul was the -conviction that he, the champion of scientific method and of truth, had, -in fact, for many years been unscientific in his methods and a -formidable obstruction to the advance of the human soul through the -jungle of the unknown. It was this self-condemnation which had wrought -the change in his character. Also, with characteristic energy, he had -plunged into the wonderful literature of the subject, and as, without -the prejudice which had formerly darkened his brain, he read the -illuminating testimony of Hare, de Morgan, Crookes, Lombroso, Barrett, -Lodge and so many other great men, he marvelled that he could ever for -one instant have imagined that such a consensus of opinion could be -founded upon error. His violent and whole-hearted nature made him take -up the psychic cause with the same vehemence, and even occasionally the -same intolerance with which he had once denounced it, and the old lion -bared his teeth and roared back at those who had once been his -associates. His remarkable article in the _Spectator_ began, “The obtuse -incredulity and stubborn unreason of the prelates who refused to look -through the telescope of Galileo and to observe the moons of Jupiter, -has been far transcended in our own days by those noisy -controversialists, who rashly express extreme opinions upon those -psychic matters which they have never had either the time, or the -inclination to examine”; while in a final sentence he expressed his -conviction that his opponents, “did not in truth represent the thought -of the twentieth century, but might rather be regarded as mental fossils -dug from some early Pliocene horizon.” Critics raised their hands in -horror, as is their wont, against the robust language of the article, -though violence of attack has for so many years been condoned in the -case of those who are in opposition. So we may leave Challenger, his -black mane slowly turning to grey, but his great brain growing ever -stronger and more virile as it faced such problems as the future had in -store--a future which had ceased to be bounded by the narrow horizon of -death, and which now stretched away into the infinite possibilities and -developments of continued survival of personality, character and work. - - * * * * * - -The marriage had taken place. It was a quiet function, but no prophet -could ever have foretold the guests whom Enid’s father had assembled in -the Whitehall Rooms. They were a happy crowd, all welded together by the -opposition of the world, and united in one common knowledge. There was -the Rev. Charles Mason, who had officiated at the ceremony, and if ever -a saint’s blessing consecrated a union, so it had been that morning. Now -in his black garb with his cheery, toothsome smile, he was moving about -among the crowd carrying peace and kindliness with him. The -yellow-bearded Mailey, the old warrior, scarred with many combats and -eager for more, stood beside his wife, the gentle squire who bore his -weapons and nerved his arm. There was Dr. Maupuis from Paris, trying to -make the waiter understand that he wanted coffee, and being presented -with toothpicks, while the gaunt Lord Roxton viewed his efforts with -cynical amusement. There, too, was the good Bolsover with several of -the Hammersmith circle, and Tom Linden with his wife, and Smith, the -fighting bull-dog from the north, and Dr. Atkinson, and Mervin the -psychic editor with his kind wife, and the two Ogilvies, and little Miss -Delicia with her bag and her tracts, and Dr. Ross Scotton, now -successfully cured, and Dr. Felkin who had cured him so far as his -earthly representative, Nurse Ursula, could fill his place. All these -and many more were visible to our two-inch spectrum of colour, and -audible to our four octaves of sound. How many others, outside those -narrow limitations, may have added their presence and their -blessing--who shall say? - - * * * * * - -One last scene before we close the record. It was in a sitting-room of -the Imperial Hotel at Folkestone. At the window sat Mr. and Mrs. Edward -Malone gazing westwards down Channel at an angry evening sky. Great -purple tentacles, threatening forerunners from what lay unseen and -unknown beyond the horizon, were writhing up towards the zenith. Below -the little Dieppe boat was panting eagerly homewards. Far out the great -ships were keeping mid-channel as scenting danger to come. The vague -threat of that menacing sky acted subconsciously upon the minds of both -of them. - -“Tell me, Enid,” said Malone, “of all our wonderful psychic experiences, -which is now most vivid in your mind?” - -“It is curious that you should ask, Ned, for I was thinking of it at -that moment. I suppose it was the association of ideas with that -terrible sky. It was of Miromar I was thinking, the strange mystery man -with his words of doom.” - -“And so was I.” - -“Have you heard of him since?” - -“Once and once only. It was on a Sunday morning in Hyde Park. He was -speaking to a little group of men. I mixed with the crowd and listened. -It was the same warning.” - -“How did they take it? Did they laugh?” - -“Well, you have seen and heard him. You could not laugh, could you?” - -“No, indeed. But you don’t take it seriously, Ned, do you? Look at the -solid old earth of England. Look at our great hotel and the people on -the Lees, and the stodgy morning papers and all the settled order of a -civilised land. Do you really think that anything could come to destroy -it all?” - -“Who knows? Miromar is not the only one who says so.” - -“Does he call it the end of the world?” - -“No, no, it is the rebirth of the world--of the true world, the world as -God meant it to be.” - -“It is a tremendous message. But what is amiss? Why should so dreadful a -Judgment fall?” - -“It is the materialism, the wooden formalities of the churches, the -alienation of all spiritual impulses, the denial of the Unseen, the -ridicule of this new revelation--these are the causes according to him.” - -“Surely the world has been worse before now?” - -“But never with the same advantages--never with the education and -knowledge and so-called civilisation, which should have led it to higher -things. Look how everything has been turned to evil. We got the -knowledge of airships. We bomb cities with them. We learn how to steam -under the sea. We murder seamen with our new knowledge. We gain command -over chemicals. We turn them into explosives or poison gases. It goes -from worse to worse. At the present moment every nation upon earth is -plotting secretly how it can best poison the others. Did God create the -planet for this end, and is it likely that He will allow it to go on -from bad to worse?” - -“Is it you or Miromar who is talking now?” - -“Well, I have myself been brooding over the matter, and all my thoughts -seem to justify his conclusions. I read a spirit message which Charles -Mason wrote. It was: ‘The most dangerous condition for a man or a nation -is when his intellectual side is more developed than his spiritual.’ Is -that not exactly the condition of the world to-day?” - -“And how will it come?” - -“Ah, there I can only take Miromar’s word for it. He speaks of a -breaking of all the phials. There is war, famine, pestilence, -earthquake, flood, tidal waves--all ending in peace and glory -unutterable.” - -The great purple streamers were right across the sky. A dull crimson -glare, a lurid angry glow, was spreading in the west. Enid shuddered as -she watched it. - -“One thing we have learned,” said he. “It is that two souls, where real -love exists, go on and on without a break through all the spheres. Why, -then, should you and I fear death, or anything which life or death can -bring?” - -She smiled and put her hand in his. - -“Why, indeed?” said she. - - -THE END - - - - -APPENDIX - - -NOTE ON CHAPTER II - -CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPIRITUALISTIC CHURCHES - -This phenomenon, as exhibited in Spiritualistic churches or temples, as -the Spiritualists usually call them, varies very much in quality. So -uncertain is it that many congregations have given it up entirely, as it -had become rather a source of scandal than of edification. On the other -hand there are occasions, the conditions being good, the audience -sympathetic and the medium in good form, when the results are nothing -short of amazing. I was present on one occasion when Mr. Tom Tyrell of -Blackburn, speaking in a sudden call at Doncaster--a town with which he -was unfamiliar--got not only the descriptions but even the names of a -number of people which were recognised by the different individuals to -whom he pointed. I have known Mr. Vout Peters also to give forty -descriptions in a foreign city (Liége) where he had never been before, -with only one failure which was afterwards explained. Such results are -far above coincidence. What their true _raison d’être_ may be has yet to -be determined. It has seemed to me sometimes that the vapour which -becomes visible as a solid in ectoplasm, may in its more volatile -condition fill the hall, and that a spirit coming within it may show up -as an invisible shooting star comes into view when it crosses the -atmosphere of the earth. No doubt the illustration is only an analogy -but it may suggest a line of thought. - -I remember being present on two occasions in Boston, Massachusetts, when -clergymen gave clairvoyance from the steps of the altar, and with -complete success. It struck me as an admirable reproduction of those -apostolic conditions when they taught “not only by words but also by -power.” All this has to come back into the Christian religion before it -will be revitalised and restored to its pristine power. It cannot, -however, be done in a day. We want less faith and more knowledge. - - -NOTE ON CHAPTER IX - -EARTHBOUND SPIRITS - -This chapter may be regarded as sensational, but as a fact there is no -incident in it for which chapter and verse may not be given. The -incident of Nell Gwynne, mentioned by Lord Roxton, was told me by -Colonel Cornwallis West as having occurred in a country house of his -own. Visitors had met the wraith in the passages and had afterwards, -when they saw the portrait of Nell Gwynne which hung in a sitting-room, -exclaimed, “Why, there is the woman I met.” - -The adventure of the terrible occupant of the deserted house is taken -with very little change from the experience of Lord St. Audries in a -haunted house near Torquay. This gallant soldier told the story himself -in _The Weekly Dispatch_ (Dec., 1921), and it is admirably retold in -Mrs. Violet Tweedale’s “Phantoms of the Dawn.” As to the conversation -carried on between the clergyman and the earthbound spirit, the same -authoress has described a similar one when recording the adventures of -Lord and Lady Wynford in Glamis Castle (“Ghosts I Have Seen,” p. 175). - -Whence such a spirit draws its stock of material energy is an unsolved -problem. It is probably from some mediumistic individual in the -neighbourhood. In the extremely interesting case quoted by the Rev. -Charles Mason in the narrative and very carefully observed by the -Psychic Research Society of Reykjavik in Iceland, the formidable -earthbound creature proclaimed how it got its vitality. The man was in -life a fisherman of rough and violent character who had committed -suicide. He attached himself to the medium, followed him to the séances -of the Society, and caused indescribable confusion and alarm, until he -was exorcised by some such means as described in the story. A long -account appeared in the “Proceedings of the American Society of Psychic -Research,” and also in the organ of the Psychic College, “Psychic -Science,” for January, 1925. Iceland, it may be remarked, is very -advanced in psychic science, and in proportion to its population or -opportunities is probably ahead of any other country. The Bishop of -Reykjavik is President of the Psychic Society, which is surely a lesson -to our own prelates whose disassociation from the study of such matters -is little less than a scandal. The matter relates to the nature of the -soul and to its fate in the Beyond, yet there are I believe fewer -students of the matter among our spiritual guides than among any other -profession. - - -NOTE ON CHAPTER X - -RESCUE CIRCLES - -The scenes in this chapter are drawn very closely either from personal -experience or from the reports of careful and trustworthy experimenters. -Among the latter are Mr. Tozer of Melbourne, and Mr. McFarlane of -Southsea, both of whom have run methodical circles for the purpose of -giving help to earthbound spirits. Detailed accounts of experiences -which I have personally had in the former circles are to be found in -chapters IV and VI: of my “Wanderings of a Spiritualist.” I may add that -in my own domestic circle, under my wife’s mediumship, we have been -privileged to bring hope and knowledge to some of these unhappy beings. - -Full reports of a number of these dramatic conversations are to be found -in the last hundred pages of the late Admiral Usborne Moore’s “Glimpses -of the Next State.” It should be said that the Admiral was not -personally present at these sittings, but that they were carried out by -people in whom he had every confidence, and that they were confirmed by -sworn affidavits of the sitters. “The high character of Mr. Leander -Fisher,” says the Admiral, “is sufficient voucher for their -authenticity.” The same may be said of Mr. E. G. Randall, who has -published many such cases. He is one of the leading lawyers of Buffalo, -while Mr. Fisher is a Professor of Music in that city. - -The natural objection is that, granting the honesty of the -investigators, the whole experience may be in some way subjective and -have no relation to real facts. Dealing with this the Admiral says: “I -made enquiries as to whether any of the spirits thus brought to -understand that they had entered a new state of consciousness had been -satisfactorily identified. The reply was that many had been discovered, -but after several had been verified it was considered useless to go on -searching for the relatives and places of abode in earth life of the -remainder. Such enquiries involved much time and labour, and always -ended with the same result.” In one of the cases cited (_op. cit._ p. -524) there is the prototype of the fashionable woman who died in her -sleep as depicted in the text. In all these instances the returning -spirit did not realise that its earth life was over. - -The case of the clergyman and of the sailor from the “Monmouth” both -occurred in my presence at the circle of Mr. Tozer. - -The dramatic case where the spirit of a man (it was the case of several -men in the original) manifested at the very time of the accident which -caused their death, and where the names were afterwards verified in the -newspaper report, is given by Mr. E. G. Randall. Another example given -by that gentleman may be added for the consideration of those who have -not realised how cogent is the evidence, and how necessary for us to -reconsider our views of death. It is in “The Dead Have Never Died” (p. -104). - -“I recall an incident that will appeal to the purely materialistic. I -was one of my father’s executors, and after his dissolution and the -settlement of his estate, speaking to me from the next plane, he told me -one night that I had overlooked an item that he wanted to mention to me. - -“I replied: ‘Your mind was ever centred on the accumulation of money. -Why take up the time that is so limited with the discussion of your -estate. It has already been divided.’ - -“‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘I know that, but I worked too hard for my money to -have it lost, and there is an asset remaining that you have not -discovered.’ - -“‘Well,’ I said, ‘if that be true, tell me about it.’ - -“He answered: ‘Some years before I left I loaned a small sum of money to -Susan Stone, who resided in Pennsylvania, and I took from her a -promissory note upon which, under the laws of that State, I was entitled -to enter a judgment at once without suit. I was somewhat anxious about -the loan, so, before its maturity, I took the note and filed it with the -prothonotary at Erie, Pennsylvania, and he entered judgment, which -became a lien on her property. In my books of account there was no -reference to that note or judgment. If you will go to the prothonotary’s -office in Erie, you will find the judgment on record, and I want you to -collect it. There are many things that you don’t know about, and this is -one of them.’ - -“I was much surprised at the information thus received, and naturally -sent for a transcript of that judgment. I found it entered Oct. 21, -1896, and with that evidence of the indebtedness I collected from the -judgment debtor seventy dollars with interest. I question if anyone knew -of that transaction besides the makers of the note and the prothonotary -at Erie. Certainly I did not know about it. I had no reason to suspect -it. The psychic present at that interview could not have known about the -matter, and I certainly collected the money. My father’s voice was -clearly recognisable on that occasion, as it has been on hundreds of -others, and I cite this instance for the benefit of those who measure -everything from a monetary standpoint.” - -The most striking, however, of all these posthumous communications are -to be found in “Thirty Years Among the Dead,” by Dr. Wickland of Los -Angeles. This, like many other valuable books of the sort, can only be -obtained in Great Britain at the Psychic Bookshop in Victoria Street, S. -W. - -Dr. Wickland and his heroic wife have done work which deserves the very -closest attention from the alienists of the world. If he makes his -point, and the case is a strong one, he not only revolutionises all our -ideas about insanity, but he cuts deep also into our views of -criminology, and may well show that we have been punishing as criminals -people who were more deserving of commiseration than of censure. - -Having framed the view that many cases of mania were due to obsession -from undeveloped entities, and having found out by some line of enquiry, -which is not clear to me, that such entities are exceedingly sensitive -to static electricity when it is passed through the body which they have -invaded, he founded his treatment with remarkable results upon this -hypothesis. The third factor in his system was the discovery that such -entities were more easily dislodged if a vacant body was provided for -their temporary reception. Therein lies the heroism of Mrs. Wickland, a -very charming and cultivated lady, who sits in hypnotic trance beside -the subject ready to receive the invader when he is driven forth. It is -through the lips of this lady that the identity and character of the -undeveloped spirit are determined. - -The subject having been strapped to the electric chair--the strapping is -very necessary as many are violent maniacs--the power is turned on. It -does not affect the patient, since it is static in its nature, but it -causes acute discomfort to the parasitical spirit, who rapidly takes -refuge in the unconscious form of Mrs. Wickland. Then follow the amazing -conversations which are chronicled in this volume. The spirit is -cross-questioned by the doctor, is admonished, instructed, and finally -dismissed either in the care of some ministering spirit who -superintends the proceedings, or relegated to the charge of some sterner -attendant who will hold him in check should he be unrepentant. - -To the scientist who is unfamiliar with psychic work such a bald -statement sounds wild, and I do not myself claim that Dr. Wickland has -finally made out his case, but I do say that our experiences at rescue -circles bear out the general idea, and that he has admittedly cured many -cases which others have found intractable. Occasionally there is very -cogent confirmation. Thus in the case of one female spirit who bitterly -bewailed that she had not taken enough carbolic acid the week before, -the name and address being correctly given (_op. cit._ p. 39). - -It is not apparently everyone who is open to this invasion, but only -those who are in some peculiar way psychic sensitives. The discovery, -when fully made out, will be one of the root facts of the psychology and -jurisprudence of the future. - - -NOTE ON CHAPTER XII - -The experience of the young Frenchman and the letters or messages quoted -are extracts from a long series in the curious little book called “Le -Livre Pratique des Esprits.” It has been introduced because I have -endeavoured, in drawing a sketch of Spiritualism as I have known it, to -introduce the less pleasing shadows which intrude occasionally into the -light. Such practices, I need not say, would be condemned by any -ordinary Spiritualist, but it cannot be denied that their possibility is -disquieting and opens up unpleasant lines of speculation. They are, -however, so exceptional that it may well be doubted whether the -Frenchman was not self-deceived even if he was not drawing upon his -imagination. - - -NOTE ON CHAPTER XIII - -DR. MAUPUIS’ EXPERIMENT - -The Dr. Maupuis of the narrative is, as every student of psychic -research will realise, the late Dr. Geley, whose splendid work on this -subject will ensure his permanent fame. His was a brain of the first -order, coupled with a moral courage which enabled him to face with -equanimity the cynicism and levity of his critics. With rare judgment he -never went further than the facts carried him, and yet never flinched -from the furthest point which his reason and the evidence would justify. -By the munificence of Mr. Jean Meyer he had been placed at the head of -the Institut Métapsychique, admirably equipped for scientific work, and -he got the full value out of that equipment. When a British Jean Meyer -makes his appearance he will get no return for his money if he does not -choose a progressive brain to drive his machine. The great endowment -left to the Stanford University of California has been practically -wasted, because those in charge of it were not Geleys or Richets. - -The account of Pithecanthropus is taken from the “Bulletin de -l’Institut Métapsychique.” A well-known lady has described to me how the -creature pressed between her and her neighbours, and how she placed her -hand upon his shaggy skin. An account of this séance is to be found in -Geley’s “L’Ectoplasmie et la Clairvoyance” (Felix Alcau), p. 345. On -page 296 is a photograph of the strange bird of prey upon the medium’s -head. It would take the credulity of a MacCabe to imagine that all this -is imposture. - -These various animal types may assume very bizarre forms. In an -unpublished manuscript by Colonel Ochorowitz, which I have been -privileged to see, some new developments are described which are not -only formidable but also unlike any creature with which we are -acquainted. - -Since animal forms of this nature have materialised under the mediumship -both of Kluski and of Guzik, their formation would seem to depend rather -upon one of the sitters than upon either of the mediums, unless we can -disconnect them entirely from the circle. It is usually an axiom among -Spiritualists that the spirit visitors to a circle represent in some way -the mental and spiritual tendency of the circle. Thus in nearly forty -years of experience I have never heard an obscene or blasphemous word at -a séance because such séances have been run in a reverent and religious -fashion. The question therefore may arise whether sittings which are -held for purely scientific and experimental purposes, without the least -recognition of their extreme religious significance, may not evoke less -desirable manifestations of psychic force. The high character, however, -of men like Richet and Geley ensure that the general tendency shall be -good. - -It might be argued that a subject with such possibilities had better be -left alone. The answer seems to be that these manifestations are, -fortunately, very rare, whereas the daily comfort of spirit intercourse -illumines thousands of lives. We do not abandon exploration because the -land explored contains some noxious creatures. To abandon the subject -would be to hand it over to such forces of evil as chose to explore it -while depriving ourselves of that knowledge which would aid us in -understanding and counteracting their results. - - * * * * * - -_The greatest pleasure in life is that of reading. Why not then own the -books of great novelists when the price is so small_ - - -¶ _Of all the amusements which can possibly be imagined for a -hard-working man, after his daily toil, or in its intervals, there is -nothing like reading an entertaining book. It calls for no bodily -exertion. It transports him into a livelier, and gayer, and more -diversified and interesting scene, and while he enjoys himself there he -may forget the evils of the present moment. Nay, it accompanies him to -his next day’s work, and gives him something to think of besides the -mere mechanical drudgery of his every-day occupation--something he can -enjoy while absent, and look forward with pleasure to return to._ - - _Ask your dealer for a list of the titles in Burt’s Popular Priced - Fiction_ - - -_In buying the books bearing the A. L. Burt Company imprint you are -assured of wholesome, entertaining and instructive reading_ - - * * * * * - -_THE BEST OF RECENT FICTION AT A POPULAR PRICE_ - - -=Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.= Frank L. Packard. -=Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.= A. Conan Doyle. -=Affair at Flower Acres, The.= Carolyn Wells. -=Affinities and Other Stories.= Mary Roberts Rinehart. -=After House, The.= Mary Roberts Rinehart. -=Against the Winds.= Kate Jordan. -=Alcatraz.= Max Brand. -=Alias Richard Power.= William Allison. -=All the Way by Water.= Elizabeth Stancy Payne. -=Amateur Gentleman, The.= Jeffery Farnol. -=Amateur Inn, The.= Albert Payson Terhune. -=Anna the Adventuress.= E. Phillips Oppenheim. -=Anne’s House of Dreams.= L. M. Montgomery. -=Anybody But Anne.= Carolyn Wells. -=Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian. -=Arthur Stringer. -=Around Old Chester.= Margaret Deland. -=Arrant Rover, The.= Berta Ruck. -=Athalie.= Robert W. Chambers. -=At the Mercy of Tiberius.= Augusta Evans Wilson. -=At Sight of Gold.= Cynthia Lombardi. -=Auction Block, The.= Rex Beach. -=Aunt Jane of Kentucky.= Eliza C. Hall. -=Awakening of Helena Ritchie.= Margaret Deland. - -=Bab: a Sub-Deb.= Mary Roberts Rinehart. -=Bar 20.= Clarence E. Mulford. -=Bar 20 Days.= Clarence E. Mulford. -=Bar-20 Three.= Clarence E. Mulford. -=Barrier, The.= Rex Beach. -=Bars of Iron, The.= Ethel M. Dell. -=Bat Wing.= Sax Rohmer. -=Beasts of Tarzan, The.= Edgar Rice Burroughs. -=Beautiful and Damned, The.= F. Scott Fitzgerald. -=Beauty.= Rupert Hughes. -=Behind Locked Doors.= Ernest M. Poate. -=Bella Donna.= Robert Hichens. (Photoplay Ed.). -=Beloved Traitor, The.= Frank L. Packard. -=Beloved Vagabond, The.= Wm. J. Locke. -=Beloved Woman, The.= Kathleen Norris. -=Beltane the Smith.= Jeffery Farnol. -=Betrayal, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim. -=Beyond the Frontier.= Randall Parrish. -=Big Timber.= Bertrand W. Sinclair. -=Black Bartlemy’s Treasure.= Jeffery Farnol. -=Black Buttes.= Clarence E. Mulford. -=Black Cæsar’s Clan.= Albert Payson Terhune. -=Black Gold.= Albert Payson Terhune. -=Black Is White.= George Barr McCutcheon. -=Black Oxen.= Gertrude Atherton. (Photoplay Ed.). -=Blue Circle, The.= Elizabeth Jordan. -=Bob, Son of Battle.= Alfred Olivant. -=Box With Broken Seals, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim. -=Brandon of the Engineers.= Harold Bindloss. -=Breaking Point, The.= Mary Roberts Rinehart. -=Bridge of Kisses.= Berta Ruck. -=Bring Me His Ears.= Clarence E. Mulford. -=Broad Highway, The.= Jeffery Farnol. -=Broken Barriers.= Meredith Nicholson. -=Brown Study, The.= Grace S. Richmond. -=Buck Peters, Ranchman.= Clarence E. Mulford. -=Bush-Rancher, The.= Harold Bindloss. - -=Cabbages and Kings.= O. Henry. -=Cabin Fever.= B. M. Bower. -=Calling of Dan Matthews, The.= Harold Bell Wright. -=Cape Cod Stories.= Joseph C. Lincoln. -=Cap’n Dan’s Daughter.= Joseph C. Lincoln. -=Cap’n Eri.= Joseph C. Lincoln. -=Cap’n Warren’s Wards.= Joseph C. Lincoln. -=Carnac’s Folly.= Gilbert Parker. -=Cat’s Paw, The.= Natalie Sumner Lincoln. -=Cattle.= Winnifred Eaton. -=Certain People of Importance.= Kathleen Norris. -=Chief Legatee, The.= Anna Katharine Green. -=Cinema Murder, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim. -=City of Lilies, The.= Anthony Pryde and R. K. Weehes. -=City of Peril, The.= Arthur Stringer. -=Clipped Wings.= Rupert Hughes. -=Clue of the New Pin, The.= Edgar Wallace. -=Colorado Jim.= George Goodchild. -=Coming of Cassidy, The.= Clarence E. Mulford. -=Coming of the Law, The.= Chas. A. Seltzer. -=Communicating Door, The.= Wadsworth Camp. -=Comrades of Peril.= Randall Parrish. -=Conquest of Canaan, The.= Booth Tarkington. -=Contraband.= Clarence Budington Kelland. -=Court of Inquiry, A.= Grace S. Richmond. -=Crimson Blotter, The.= Isabel Ostrander. -=Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.= Rex Beach. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[A] See Appendix. - -[B] See Appendix on Chapter IX. - -[C] See Appendix. - -[D] See Appendix. - -[E] See Appendix. - - - - Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - - Monsieur Forte, sub-editer=> Monsieur Forte, sub-editor {pg 199} - - “And you, monsieur?” addressing the representative of the _Matin_.=> -“And you, monsieur?” addressing the representative of the _Matin_. {pg - 209} - - practicing Spirtualists=> practicing Spiritualists {pg 216} - - unerring insinct=> unerring instinct {pg 232} - - Profesor Challenger has had=> Professor Challenger has had {pg 242} - -But about Professer Challenger=> But about Professor Challenger {pg 251} - - raison d’etre=> raison d’être {pg 280} - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND OF MIST *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Land of mist</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Arthur Conan Doyle</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 4, 2022 [eBook #68903]<br>Last Updated: August 9, 2023</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND OF MIST ***</div> -<hr class="full"> - -<p class="c"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" -height="550" alt="[The image of -the book's cover is unavailable.]"></a> -</p> - -<table style="border: 2px black solid;margin:auto auto;max-width:50%; -padding:1%;"> -<tr><td> - -<p class="c"><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents.</a></p> -<p class="c">Some typographical errors have been corrected; -<a href="#transcrib">a list follows the text</a>.</p> -<p class="c">(etext transcriber's note)</p></td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="c"> -THE LAND OF MIST<br> -——————<br> -A. CONAN DOYLE</p> - -<div class="bbox"> -<div class="bboxx"> - -<h1>The Land of Mist</h1> -<hr class="tp"> -<p class="c">By A. CONAN DOYLE<br> -</p> - -<hr> - -<p class="c">AUTHOR OF -<br> -“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “Danger, and<br> -Other Stories,” “The Lost World,” “Memoirs of<br> -Sherlock Holmes,” “Tales of Sherlock Holmes,”<br> -“The Valley of Fear,” etc.<br> -<br> -<img src="images/colophon.png" -style="margin:2em auto;" -width="80" -alt=""><br> -</p> -<hr class="tp"> -<p class="c"> -A. L. BURT COMPANY<br> -Publishers <span style="margin-left: 4em;">New York</span><br> -<br> -Published by arrangement with George H. Doran Company<br> -Printed in U. S. A.<br> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="c"><small> -COPYRIGHT, 1926,<br> -BY A. CONAN DOYLE<br> -<br> -<br> -THE LAND OF MIST<br> -—Q—<br> -PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</small><br> -<br><br><br><br> -TO THE<br> -REVEREND GEORGE VALE OWEN<br> -AS A TOKEN OF<br> -SYMPATHY, ADMIRATION, AND FRIENDSHIP<br> -</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>JANUARY, 1926</p> - -<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> -<table> -<tr><td><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td> </td> -<td><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">In Which Our Special Commissioners Make a Start</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_11">11</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">Which Describes an Evening in Strange Company</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_21">21</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">In Which Professor Challenger Gives His Opinion</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_40">40</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">Which Describes Some Strange Doings in Hammersmith</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_46">46</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">Where Our Commissioners Have a Remarkable Experience</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_77">77</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">In Which the Reader Is Shown the Habits of a Notorious Criminal</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_98">98</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">In Which the Notorious Criminal Gets What the British Law Considers to Be His Deserts</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_116">116</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">In Which Three Investigators Come upon a Dark Soul</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_131">131</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">Which Introduces Some Very Physical Phenomena</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_155">155</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">De Profundis</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_166">166</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">Where Silas Linden Comes into His Own</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_184">184</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">There Are Heights and There Are Depths</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_198">198</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap">In Which Professor Challenger Goes Forth to Battle</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_212">212</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><span class="smcap">In Which Challenger Meets a Strange Colleague</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_230">230</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><span class="smcap">In Which Traps Are Laid for a Great Quarry</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_243">243</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><span class="smcap">In Which Challenger Has the Experience of His Lifetime</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_257">257</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII</a></td><td class="pdd"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><span class="smcap">Where the Mists Clear Away</span></a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_274">274</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a></span></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_280">280</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_11">{11}</a></span></p> - -<p class="c">THE LAND OF MIST</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS MAKE A START</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE great Professor Challenger has been—very improperly and -imperfectly—used in fiction. A daring author placed him in impossible -and romantic situations in order to see how he would react to them. He -reacted to the extent of a libel action, an abortive appeal for -suppression, a riot in Sloane Street, two personal assaults, and the -loss of his position as lecturer upon Physiology at the London School of -Sub-Tropical Hygiene. Otherwise, the matter passed more peaceably than -might have been expected.</p> - -<p>But he was losing something of his fire. Those huge shoulders were a -little bowed. The spade-shaped Assyrian beard showed tangles of grey -amid the black, his eyes were a trifle less aggressive, his smile less -self-complacent, his voice as monstrous as ever but less ready to roar -down all opposition. Yet he was dangerous, as all around him were -painfully aware. The volcano was not extinct, and constant rumblings -threatened some new explosion. Life had much yet to teach him, but he -was a little less intolerant in learning.</p> - -<p>There was a definite date for the change which<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_12">{12}</a></span> had been wrought in him. -It was the death of his wife. That little bird of a woman had made her -nest in the big man’s heart. He had all the tenderness and chivalry -which the strong can have for the weak. By yielding everything she had -won everything, as a sweet-natured, tactful woman can. And when she died -suddenly from virulent pneumonia following influenza, the man staggered -and went down. He came up again, smiling ruefully like the stricken -boxer, and ready to carry on for many a round with Fate. But he was not -the same man, and if it had not been for the help and comradeship of his -daughter Enid, he might never have rallied from the blow. She it was -who, with clever craft, lured him into every subject which would excite -his combative nature and infuriate his mind, until he lived once more in -the present and not the past. It was only when she saw him turbulent in -controversy, violent to pressmen, and generally offensive to those -around him, that she felt he was really in a fair way to recovery.</p> - -<p>Enid Challenger was a remarkable girl and should have a paragraph to -herself. With the raven-black hair of her father, and the blue eyes and -fresh colour of her mother, she was striking, if not beautiful, in -appearance. She was quiet, but she was very strong. From her infancy she -had either to take her own part against her father, or else to consent -to be crushed and to become a mere automaton worked by his strong -fingers. She was strong enough to hold her own in a gentle, elastic -fashion, which bent to his moods and reasserted itself when they were -past. Lately she had felt the constant pressure too oppressive and she -had relieved it by feeling out for a career of her own. She did -occasional odd jobs for the London press, and did them in such fashion -that her name was beginning<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_13">{13}</a></span> to be known in Fleet Street. In finding -this opening she had been greatly helped by an old friend of her -father—and possibly of the reader—Mr. Edward Malone of the <i>Daily -Gazette</i>.</p> - -<p>Malone was still the same athletic Irishman who had once won his -international cap at Rugby, but life had toned him down also, and made -him a more subdued and thoughtful man. He had put away a good deal when -at last his football-boots had been packed away for good. His muscles -may have wilted and his joints stiffened, but his mind was deeper and -more active. The boy was dead and the man was born. In person he had -altered little, but his moustache was heavier, his back a little -rounded, and some lines of thought were tracing themselves upon his -brow. Post-war conditions and new world problems had left their mark. -For the rest he had made his name in journalism and even to a small -degree in literature. He was still a bachelor, though there were some -who thought that his hold on that condition was precarious, and that -Miss Enid Challenger’s little white fingers could disengage it. -Certainly they were very good chums.</p> - -<p>It was a Sunday evening in October, and the lights were just beginning -to twinkle out through the fog which had shrouded London from early -morning. Professor Challenger’s flat at Victoria West Gardens was upon -the third floor, and the mist lay thick upon the windows, while the low -hum of the attenuated Sunday traffic rose up from an invisible highway -beneath, which was outlined only by scattered patches of dull radiance. -Professor Challenger sat with his thick, bandy legs outstretched to the -fire, and his hands thrust deeply into his trouser pockets. His dress -had a little of the eccentricity of genius, for he wore a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_14">{14}</a></span> -loose-collared shirt, a large knotted maroon-coloured silk tie, and a -black velvet smoking-jacket, which, with his flowing beard, gave him the -appearance of an elderly and Bohemian artist. On one side of him ready -for an excursion, with bowl hat, short-skirted dress of black, and all -the other fashionable devices with which women contrive to deform the -beauties of nature, there sat his daughter, while Malone, hat in hand, -waited by the window.</p> - -<p>“I think we should get off, Enid. It is nearly seven,” said he.</p> - -<p>They were writing joint articles upon the religious denominations of -London, and on each Sunday evening they sallied out together to sample -some new one and get copy for the next week’s issue of the <i>Gazette</i>.</p> - -<p>“It’s not till eight, Ted. We have lots of time.”</p> - -<p>“Sit down, sir! Sit down!” boomed Challenger, tugging at his beard as -was his habit if his temper was rising. “There is nothing annoys me more -than having anyone standing behind me. A relic of atavism and the fear -of a dagger, but still persistent. That’s right. For heaven’s sake put -your hat down! You have a perpetual air of catching a train.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the journalistic life,” said Malone. “If we don’t catch the -perpetual train we get left. Even Enid is beginning to understand that. -But still, as you say, there is time enough.”</p> - -<p>“How far have you got?” asked Challenger.</p> - -<p>Enid consulted a business-like little reporter’s notebook.</p> - -<p>“We have done seven. There was Westminster Abbey for the Church in its -most picturesque form, and Saint Agatha for the High Church, and Tudor -Place for the Low. Then there was the Westminster Cathedral for -Catholics, Endell Street for Pres<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_15">{15}</a></span>byterians, and Gloucester Square for -Unitarians. But to-night we are trying to introduce some variety. We are -doing the Spiritualists.”</p> - -<p>Challenger snorted like an angry buffalo.</p> - -<p>“Next week the lunatic asylums, I presume,” said he. “You don’t mean to -tell me, Malone, that these ghost people have got churches of their -own.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been looking into that,” said Malone. “I always look up cold facts -and figures before I tackle a job. They have over four hundred -registered churches in Great Britain.”</p> - -<p>Challenger’s snorts now sounded like a whole herd of buffaloes.</p> - -<p>“There seems to me to be absolutely no limit to the inanity and -credulity of the human race. <i>Homo sapiens! Homo idioticus!</i> Whom do -they pray to—the ghosts?”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s what we want to find out. We should get some copy out of -them. I need not say that I share your view entirely, but I’ve seen -something of Atkinson of St. Mary’s Hospital lately. He is a rising -surgeon, you know.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve heard of him—cerebro-spinal.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the man. He is level-headed and is looked on as an authority on -psychic research, as they call the new science which deals with these -matters.”</p> - -<p>“Science, indeed!”</p> - -<p>“Well, that is what they call it. He seems to take these people -seriously. I consult him when I want a reference, for he has the -literature at his fingers’ end. ‘Pioneers of the Human Race’—that was -his description.”</p> - -<p>“Pioneering them to Bedlam,” growled Challenger. “And literature! What -literature have they?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_16">{16}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Well, that was another surprise. Atkinson has five hundred volumes, but -complains that his psychic library is very imperfect. You see, there is -French, German, Italian, as well as our own.”</p> - -<p>“Well, thank God all the folly is not confined to poor old England. -Pestilential nonsense!”</p> - -<p>“Have you read it up at all, Father?” asked Enid.</p> - -<p>“Read it up! I, with all my interests and no time for one-half of them! -Enid, you are too absurd.”</p> - -<p>“Sorry, Father. You spoke with such assurance, I thought you knew -something about it.”</p> - -<p>Challenger’s huge head swung round and his lion’s glare rested upon his -daughter.</p> - -<p>“Do you conceive that a logical brain, a brain of the first order, needs -to read and to study before it can detect a manifest absurdity? Am I to -study mathematics in order to confute the man who tells me that two and -two are five? Must I study physics once more and take down my -<i>Principia</i> because some rogue or fool insists that a table can rise in -the air against the law of gravity? Does it take five hundred volumes to -inform us of a thing which is proved in every police-court when an -impostor is exposed? Enid, I am ashamed of you!”</p> - -<p>His daughter laughed merrily.</p> - -<p>“Well, Dad, you need not roar at me any more. I give in. In fact, I have -the same feeling that you have.”</p> - -<p>“None the less,” said Malone, “some good men support them. I don’t see -that you can laugh at Lodge and Crookes and the others.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t be absurd, Malone. Every great mind has its weaker side. It is a -sort of reaction against all the good sense. You come suddenly upon a -vein of positive nonsense. That is what is the matter with these<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_17">{17}</a></span> -fellows. No, Enid, I haven’t read their reasons, and I don’t mean to, -either; some things are beyond the pale. If we re-open all the old -questions, how can we ever get ahead with the new ones? This matter is -settled by common sense, the law of England, and by the universal assent -of every sane European.”</p> - -<p>“So that’s that!” said Enid.</p> - -<p>“However,” he continued, “I can admit that there are occasional excuses -for misunderstandings upon the point.” He sank his voice, and his great -grey eyes looked sadly up into vacancy. “I have known cases where the -coldest intellect—even my own intellect—might, for a moment, have been -shaken.”</p> - -<p>Malone scented copy.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir?”</p> - -<p>Challenger hesitated. He seemed to be struggling with himself. He wished -to speak, and yet speech was painful. Then, with an abrupt, impatient -gesture, he plunged into his story:</p> - -<p>“I never told you, Enid. It was too—too intimate. Perhaps too absurd. I -was ashamed to have been so shaken. But it shows how even the best -balanced may be caught unawares.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir?”</p> - -<p>“It was after my wife’s death. You knew her, Malone. You can guess what -it meant to me. It was the night after the cremation ... horrible, -Malone, horrible! I saw the dear little body slide down, down—and then -the glare of flame and the door clanged to.” His great body shook and he -passed his big, hairy hand over his eyes.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know why I tell you this; the talk seemed to lead up to it. It -may be a warning to you. That night—the night after the cremation—I -sat up in the hall. She was there,” he nodded at Enid. “She had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_18">{18}</a></span> fallen -asleep in a chair, poor girl. You know the house at Rotherfield, Malone. -It was in the big hall. I sat by the fireplace, the room all draped in -shadow, and my mind draped in shadow also. I should have sent her to -bed, but she was lying back in her chair and I did not wish to wake her. -It may have been one in the morning—I remember the moon shining through -the stained-glass window. I sat and I brooded. Then suddenly there came -a noise.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir?”</p> - -<p>“It was low at first—just a ticking. Then it grew louder and more -distinct—it was a clear rat-tat-tat. Now comes the queer coincidence, -the sort of thing out of which legends grow when credulous folk have the -shaping of them. You must know that my wife had a peculiar way of -knocking at a door. It was really a little tune which she played with -her fingers. I got into the same way so that we could each know when the -other knocked. Well, it seemed to me—of course my mind was strained and -abnormal—that the taps shaped themselves into the well-known rhythm of -her knock. I couldn’t localise it. You can think how eagerly I tried. It -was above me, somewhere on the woodwork. I lost sense of time. I daresay -it was repeated a dozen times at least.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Dad, you never told me!”</p> - -<p>“No, but I woke you up. I asked you to sit quiet with me for a little.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I remember that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we sat, but nothing happened. Not a sound more. Of course it was -a delusion. Some insect in the wood; the ivy on the outer wall. My own -brain furnished the rhythm. Thus do we make fools and children of -ourselves. But it gave me an insight. I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_19">{19}</a></span> saw how even a clever man could -be deceived by his own emotions.”</p> - -<p>“But how do you know, sir, that it was <i>not</i> your wife?”</p> - -<p>“Absurd, Malone! Absurd, I say! I tell you I saw her in the flames. What -was there left?”</p> - -<p>“Her soul, her spirit.”</p> - -<p>Challenger shook his head sadly.</p> - -<p>“When the dear body dissolved into its elements—when its gases went -into the air and its residue of solids sank into a grey dust—it was the -end. There was no more. She had played her part, played it beautifully, -nobly. It was done. Death ends all, Malone. This soul-talk is the -Animism of savages. It is a superstition, a myth. As a physiologist I -will undertake to produce crime or virtue by vascular control or -cerebral stimulation. I will turn a Jekyll into a Hyde by a surgical -operation. Another can do it by a psychological suggestion. Alcohol will -do it. Drugs will do it. Absurd, Malone, absurd! As the tree falls, so -does it lie. There is no next morning ... night—eternal night ... and -long rest for the weary worker.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s a sad philosophy.”</p> - -<p>“Better a sad than a false one.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps so. There is something virile and manly in facing the worst. I -would not contradict. My reason is with you.”</p> - -<p>“But my instincts are against!” cried Enid. “No, no, never can I believe -it.” She threw her arms round the great bull neck. “Don’t tell me, -daddy, that you with all your complex brain and wonderful self are a -thing with no more life hereafter than a broken clock!”</p> - -<p>“Four buckets of water and a bagful of salts,” said<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_20">{20}</a></span> Challenger as he -smilingly detached his daughter’s grip. “That’s your daddy, my lass, and -you may as well reconcile your mind to it. Well, it’s twenty to eight. -Come back, if you can, Malone, and let me hear your adventures among the -insane.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_21">{21}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br><br> -<small>WHICH DESCRIBES AN EVENING IN STRANGE COMPANY</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE love-affair of Enid Challenger and Edward Malone is not of the -slightest interest to the reader, for the simple reason that it is not -of the slightest interest to the writer. The unseen, unnoticed lure of -the unborn babe is common to all youthful humanity. We deal in this -chronicle with matters which are less common and of higher interest. It -is only mentioned in order to explain those terms of frank and intimate -comradeship which the narrative discloses. If the human race has -obviously improved in anything—in Anglo-Celtic countries, at least—it -is that the prim affectations and sly deceits of the past are lessened, -and that young men and women can meet in an equality of clean and honest -comradeship.</p> - -<p>A taxi took the adventurers down Edgware Road and into the side-street -called “Helbeck Terrace.” Halfway down, the dull line of brick houses -was broken by one glowing gap, where an open arch threw a flood of light -into the street. The cab pulled up and the man opened the door.</p> - -<p>“This is the Spiritualist Church, sir,” said he. Then, as he saluted to -acknowledge his tip, he added in the wheezy voice of the man of all -weathers: “Tommy-rot, I call it, sir.” Having eased his conscience thus -he climbed into his seat and a moment later his red rear-lamp was a -waning circle in the gloom. Malone laughed.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_22">{22}</a></span></p> - -<p>“<i>Vox populi</i>, Enid. That is as far as the public has got at the -present.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it is as far as we have got, for that matter.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but we are prepared to give them a show. I don’t suppose Cabby is. -By Jove, it will be hard luck if we can’t get in!”</p> - -<p>There was a crowd at the door and a man was facing them from the top of -the step, waving his arms to keep them back.</p> - -<p>“It’s no good, friends. I am very sorry, but we can’t help it. We’ve -been threatened twice with prosecution for over-crowding.” He turned -facetious. “Never heard of an Orthodox Church getting into trouble for -that. No, sir, no.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve come all the way from ’Ammersmith,” wailed a voice. The light beat -upon the eager, anxious face of the speaker, a little woman in black -with a baby in her arms.</p> - -<p>“You’ve come for clairvoyance, Mam,” said the usher, with intelligence. -“See here, give me the name and address and I will write you, and Mrs. -Debbs will give you a sitting gratis. That’s better than taking your -chance in the crowd when, with all the will in the world, you can’t all -get a turn. You’ll have her to yourself. No, sir, there’s no use -shovin’.... What’s that?... Press?”</p> - -<p>He had caught Malone by the elbow.</p> - -<p>“Did you say Press? The Press boycott us, sir. Look at the weekly list -of services in a Saturday’s <i>Times</i> if you doubt it. You wouldn’t know -there was such a thing as Spiritualism.... What paper, sir?... ‘The -<i>Daily Gazette</i>.’ Well, well, we are getting on. And the lady, too?... -Special article—my word! Stick to me, sir, and I’ll see what I can do. -Shut the doors, Joe. No use, friends.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_23">{23}</a></span> When the building fund gets on a -bit we’ll have more room for you. Now, miss, this way, if you please.”</p> - -<p>This way proved to be down the street and round a side-alley which -brought them to a small door with a red lamp shining above it.</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to put you on the platform—there’s no standing room in the -body of the hall.”</p> - -<p>“Good gracious!” cried Enid.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have a fine view, miss, and maybe get a readin’ for yourself if -you’re lucky. It often happens that those nearest the medium get the -best chance. Now, sir, in here!”</p> - -<p>Here was a frowsy little room with some hats and top-coats draping the -dirty, white-washed walls. A thin, austere woman, with eyes which -gleamed from behind her glasses, was warming her gaunt hands over a -small fire. With his back to the fire in the traditional British -attitude was a large, fat man with a bloodless face, a ginger moustache -and curious, light-blue eyes—the eyes of a deep-sea mariner. A little -bald-headed man with huge horn-rimmed spectacles, and a very handsome -and athletic youth in a blue lounge-suit, completed the group.</p> - -<p>“The others have gone on the platform, Mr. Peeble. There’s only five -seats left for ourselves.” It was the fat man talking.</p> - -<p>“I know, I know,” said the man who had been addressed as Peeble, a -nervous, stringy, dried-up person as he now appeared in the light. “But -this is the Press, Mr. Bolsover. <i>Daily Gazette</i>—special article.... -Malone the name, and Challenger. This is Mr. Bolsover, our President. -This is Mrs. Debbs of Liverpool, the famous clairvoyante. Here is Mr. -James, and this tall young gentleman is Mr. Hardy Williams, our -energetic secretary. Mr. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page_24">{24}</a></span>Williams is a nailer for the buildin’ fund. -Keep your eye on your pockets if Mr. Williams is around.”</p> - -<p>They all laughed.</p> - -<p>“Collection comes later,” said Mr. Williams, smiling.</p> - -<p>“A good, rousing article is our best collection,” said the stout -president. “Ever been to a meeting before, sir?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Malone.</p> - -<p>“Don’t know much about it, I expect.”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well, we must expect a slating. They get it from the humorous -angle at first. We’ll have you writing a very comic account. I never -could see anything very funny in the spirit of one’s dead wife, but it’s -a matter of taste and of knowledge also. If they don’t know, how can -they take it seriously? I don’t blame them. We were mostly like that -ourselves once. I was one of Bradlaugh’s men, and sat under Joseph -MacCabe until my old Dad came and pulled me out.”</p> - -<p>“Good for him!” said the Liverpool medium.</p> - -<p>“It was the first time I found I had powers of my own. I saw him like I -see you now.”</p> - -<p>“Was he one of us in the body?”</p> - -<p>“Knew no more than I did. But they come on amazin’ at the other side if -the right folk get hold of them.”</p> - -<p>“Time’s up!” said Mr. Peeble, snapping his watch. “You are on the right -of the chair, Mrs. Debbs. Will you go first? Then you, Mr. Chairman. -Then you two and myself. Get on the left, Mr. Hardy Williams, and lead -the singin’. They want warmin’ up and you can do it. Now then, if <i>you</i> -please!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_25">{25}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The platform was already crowded, but the newcomers threaded their way -to the front amid a decorous murmur of welcome. Mr. Peeble shoved and -exhorted and two end seats emerged upon which Enid and Malone perched -themselves. The arrangement suited them well, for they could use their -notebooks freely behind the shelter of the folk in front.</p> - -<p>“What is your reaction?” whispered Enid.</p> - -<p>“Not impressed as yet.”</p> - -<p>“No, nor I,” said Enid, “but it’s very interesting all the same.”</p> - -<p>People who are in earnest are always interesting, whether you agree with -them or not, and it was impossible to doubt that the people were -extremely earnest. The hall was crammed, and as one looked down one saw -line after line of upturned faces, curiously alike in type, women -predominating, but men running them close. That type was not -distinguished nor intellectual, but it was undeniably healthy, honest -and sane. Small trades-folk, male and female shop-walkers, better class -artisans, lower middle-class women worn with household cares, occasional -young folk in search of a sensation—these were the impressions which -the audience conveyed to the trained observation of Malone.</p> - -<p>The fat president rose and raised his hand.</p> - -<p>“My friends,” said he, “we have had once more to exclude a great number -of people who’d desired to be with us to-night. It’s all a question of -the building-fund, and Mr. Williams on my left will be glad to hear from -any of you. I was in a hotel last week and they had a notice hung up in -the reception bureau. ‘No cheques accepted.’ That’s not the way Brother -Williams talks. You just try him.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_26">{26}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The audience laughed. The atmosphere was clearly that of the -lecture-hall rather than of the Church.</p> - -<p>“There’s just one more thing I want to say before I sit down. I’m not -here to talk. I’m here to hold this chair down and I mean to do it. It’s -a hard thing I ask. I want Spiritualists to keep away on Sunday nights. -They take up the room that inquirers should have. You can have the -morning service. But it’s better for the cause that there should be room -for the stranger. You’ve had it. Thank God for it. Give the other man a -chance.” The president plumped back into his chair.</p> - -<p>Mr. Peeble sprang to his feet. He was clearly the general utility man -who emerges in every society and probably becomes its autocrat. With his -thin, eager face and darting hands he was more than a live wire—he was -a whole bundle of live wires. Electricity seemed to crackle from his -finger-tips.</p> - -<p>“Hymn One!” he shrieked.</p> - -<p>A harmonium droned and the audience rose. It was a fine hymn and lustily -sung:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“The world hath felt a quickening breath<br></span> -<span class="i3">From Heaven’s eternal shore,<br></span> -<span class="i1">And souls triumphant over death<br></span> -<span class="i3">Return to earth once more.”<br></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind">There was a ring of exultation in the voices as the refrain rolled out:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“For this we hold our Jubilee<br></span> -<span class="i3">For this with joy we sing,<br></span> -<span class="i1">‘Oh Grave, where is thy victory,<br></span> -<span class="i3">Oh Death, where is thy sting?’<span class="lftspc">”</span><br></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Yes, they were in earnest, these people. And they did not appear to be -mentally weaker than their fellows. And yet both Enid and Malone felt a -sensation of great pity as they looked at them. How sad<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_27">{27}</a></span> to be deceived -upon so intimate a matter as this, to be duped by impostors who used -their most sacred feelings and their beloved dead as counters with which -to cheat them. What did they know of the laws of evidence, of the cold, -immutable decrees of scientific law? Poor earnest, honest, deluded -people!</p> - -<p>“Now!” screamed Mr. Peeble. “We shall ask Mr. Munro from Australia to -give us the invocation.”</p> - -<p>A wild-looking old man with a shaggy beard and slumbering fire in his -eyes rose up and stood for a few seconds with his gaze cast down. Then -he began a prayer, very simple, very unpremeditated. Malone jotted down -the first sentence: “Oh, Father, we are very ignorant folk and do not -well know how to approach you, but we will pray to you the best we know -how.” It was all cast in that humble key. Enid and Malone exchanged a -swift glance of appreciation.</p> - -<p>There was another hymn, less successful than the first, and the chairman -then announced that Mr. James Jones of North Wales would now deliver a -trance address which would embody the views of his well-known control, -Alasha the Atlantean.</p> - -<p>Mr. James Jones, a brisk and decided little man in a faded check suit, -came to the front and, after standing a minute or so as if in deep -thought, gave a violent shudder and began to talk. It must be admitted -that save for a certain fixed stare and vacuous glazing of the eye there -was nothing to show that anything save Mr. James Jones of North Wales -was the orator. It has also to be stated that if Mr. Jones shuddered at -the beginning it was the turn of his audience to shudder afterwards. -Granting his own claim, he had proved clearly that an Atlantean spirit -might be a portentous bore. He droned on with platitudes and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_28">{28}</a></span> -ineptitudes while Malone whispered to Enid that if Alasha was a fair -specimen of the population it was just as well that his native land was -safely engulfed in the Atlantic Ocean. When, with another rather -melodramatic shudder, he emerged from his trance, the chairman sprang to -his feet with an alacrity which showed that he was taking no risks lest -the Atlantean should return.</p> - -<p>“We have present with us to-night,” he cried, “Mrs. Debbs, the -well-known clairvoyante of Liverpool. Mrs. Debbs is, as many of you -know, richly endowed with several of those gifts of the spirit of which -Saint Paul speaks, and the discerning of spirits is among them. These -things depend upon laws which are beyond our control, but a sympathetic -atmosphere is essential, and Mrs. Debbs will ask for your good wishes -and your prayers while she endeavours to get into touch with some of -those shining ones on the other side who may honour us with their -presence to-night.”</p> - -<p>The president sat down and Mrs. Debbs rose amid discreet applause. Very -tall, very pale, very thin, with an aquiline face and eyes shining -brightly from behind her gold-rimmed glasses, she stood facing her -expectant audience. Her head was bent. She seemed to be listening.</p> - -<p>“Vibrations!” she cried at last. “I want helpful vibrations. Give me a -verse on the harmonium, please.”</p> - -<p>The instrument droned out “Jesus, Lover of my soul.” The audience sat in -silence, expectant and a little awed. The hall was not too well lit and -dark shadows lurked in the corners. The medium still bent her head as if -her ears were straining. Then she raised her hand and the music stopped.</p> - -<p>“Presently! Presently! All in good time,” said<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_29">{29}</a></span> the woman, addressing -some invisible companion. Then to the audience, “I don’t feel that the -conditions are very good to-night. I will do my best and so will they. -But I must talk to you first.”</p> - -<p>And she talked. What she said seemed to the two strangers to be absolute -gabble. There was no consecutive sense in it, though now and again a -phrase or sentence caught the attention. Malone put his stylo in his -pocket. There was no use reporting a lunatic. A Spiritualist next him -saw his bewildered disgust and leaned towards him.</p> - -<p>“She’s tuning in. She’s getting her wave length,” he whispered. “It’s -all a matter of vibration. Ah, there you are!”</p> - -<p>She had stopped in the very middle of a sentence. Her long arm and -quivering forefinger shot out. She was pointing at an elderly woman in -the second row.</p> - -<p>“You! Yes, you, with the red feather. No, not you. The stout lady in -front. Yes, you! There is a spirit building up behind you. It is a man. -He is a tall man—six foot maybe. High forehead, eyes grey or blue, a -long chin, brown moustache, lines on his face. Do you recognise him, -friend?”</p> - -<p>The stout woman looked alarmed, but shook her head.</p> - -<p>“Well, see if I can help you. He is holding up a book—brown book with a -clasp. It’s a ledger same as they have in offices. I get the words -‘Caledonian Insurance.’ Is that any help?”</p> - -<p>The stout woman pursed her lips and shook her head vigorously.</p> - -<p>“Well, I can give you a little more. He died after a long illness. I get -chest trouble—asthma.”</p> - -<p>The stout woman was still obdurate, but a small,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_30">{30}</a></span> angry, red-faced -person, two places away from her, sprang to her feet.</p> - -<p>“It’s my ’usband, ma’am. Tell ’im I don’t want to ’ave any more dealin’s -with him.” She sat down with decision.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s right. He moves to you now. He was nearer the other. He -wants to say he’s sorry. It doesn’t do, you know, to have hard feelings -to the dead. Forgive and forget. It’s all over. I get a message for you. -It is: ‘Do it and my blessings go with you!’ Does that mean anything to -you?”</p> - -<p>The angry woman looked pleased and nodded.</p> - -<p>“Very good.” The clairvoyante suddenly darted out her finger towards the -crowd at the door. “It’s for the soldier.”</p> - -<p>A soldier in khaki, looking very much amazed, was in the front of the -knot of people.</p> - -<p>“Wot’s for me?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“It’s a soldier. He has a corporal’s stripes. He is a big man with -grizzled hair. He has a yellow tab on his shoulders. I get the initials -J. H. Do you know him?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—but he’s dead,” said the soldier.</p> - -<p>He had not understood that it was a Spiritualistic Church, and the whole -proceedings had been a mystery to him. They were rapidly explained by -his neighbours. “My Gawd!” cried the soldier, and vanished amid a -general titter. In the pause Malone could hear the constant mutter of -the medium as she spoke to someone unseen.</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, wait your turn! Speak up, woman! Well, take your place near -him. How should I know? Well, I will if I can.” She was like a janitor -at the theatre marshalling a queue.</p> - -<p>Her next attempt was a total failure. A solid man<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_31">{31}</a></span> with bushy -side-whiskers absolutely refused to have anything to do with an elderly -gentleman who claimed kinship. The medium worked with admirable -patience, coming back again and again with some fresh detail, but no -progress could be made.</p> - -<p>“Are you a Spiritualist, friend?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, for ten years.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you know there are difficulties.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know that.”</p> - -<p>“Think it over. It may come to you later. We must just leave it at that. -I am only sorry for your friend.”</p> - -<p>There was a pause during which Enid and Malone exchanged whispered -confidences.</p> - -<p>“What do you make of it, Enid?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. It confuses me.”</p> - -<p>“I believe it is half guess-work and the other half a case of -confederates. These people are all of the same church and naturally they -know each other’s affairs. If they don’t know they can enquire.”</p> - -<p>“Someone said it was Mrs. Debbs’ first visit.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but they could easily coach her up. It is all clever quackery and -bluff. It <i>must</i> be, for just think what is implied if it is not.”</p> - -<p>“Telepathy, perhaps.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, some element of that also. Listen! She is off again.”</p> - -<p>Her next attempt was more fortunate. A lugubrious man at the back of the -hall readily recognised the description and claims of his deceased wife.</p> - -<p>“I get the name Walter.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s me.”</p> - -<p>“She called you Walt?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Well, she calls Wat now. ‘Tell Wat to give<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_32">{32}</a></span> my love to the children.’ -That’s how I get it. She is worrying about the children.”</p> - -<p>“She always did.”</p> - -<p>“Well, they don’t change. Furniture. Something about furniture. She says -you gave it away. Is that right?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I might as well.”</p> - -<p>The audience tittered. It was strange how the most solemn and the comic -were eternally blended—strange and yet very natural and human.</p> - -<p>“She has a message: ‘The man will pay up and all will be well. Be a good -man, Wat, and we will be happier here than ever we were on earth.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>The man put his hand over his eyes. As the seeress stood irresolute the -tall young secretary half rose and whispered something in her ear. The -woman shot a swift glance over her left shoulder in the direction of the -visitors.</p> - -<p>“I’ll come back to it,” said she.</p> - -<p>She gave two more descriptions to the audience, both of them rather -vague, and both recognised with some reservations. It was a curious fact -that her details were such as she could not possibly see at the -distance. Thus, dealing with a form which she claimed had built up at -the far end of the hall, she could none the less give the colour of the -eyes and small points of the face. Malone noted the point as one which -he could use for destructive criticism. He was just jotting it down when -the woman’s voice sounded louder and, looking up, he found that she had -turned her head and her spectacles were flashing in his direction.</p> - -<p>“It is not often I give a reading from the platform,” said she, her face -rotating between him and the audience, “but we have friends here -to-night, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_33">{33}</a></span> it may interest them to come in contact with the spirit -people. There is a presence building up behind the gentleman with a -moustache—the gentleman who sits next to the young lady. Yes, sir, -behind you. He is a man of middle size, rather inclined to shortness. He -is old, over sixty, with white hair, curved nose and a white, small -beard of the variety that is called goatee. He is no relation, I gather, -but a friend. Does that suggest anyone to you, sir?”</p> - -<p>Malone shook his head with some contempt. “It would fit nearly any old -man,” he whispered to Enid.</p> - -<p>“We will try to get a little closer. He has deep lines on his face. I -should say he was an irritable man in his lifetime. He was quick and -nervous in his ways. Does that help you?”</p> - -<p>Again Malone shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Rot! Perfect rot,” he muttered.</p> - -<p>“Well, he seems very anxious so we must do what we can for him. He holds -up a book. It is a learned book. He opens it and I see diagrams in it. -Perhaps he wrote it—or perhaps he taught from it. Yes, he nods. He -taught from it. He was a teacher.”</p> - -<p>Malone remained unresponsive.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know that I can help him any more. Ah! there is one thing. He -has a mole over his right eyebrow.”</p> - -<p>Malone started as if he had been stung.</p> - -<p>“One mole?” he cried.</p> - -<p>The spectacles flashed round again.</p> - -<p>“Two moles—one large, one small.”</p> - -<p>“My God!” gasped Malone. “It’s Professor Summerlee!”</p> - -<p>“Ah, you’ve got it. There’s a message: Greetings to old——’ It’s a -long name and begins with a C. I can’t get it. Does it mean anything?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_34">{34}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>In an instant she had turned and was describing something or someone -else. But she had left a badly-shaken man upon the platform behind her.</p> - -<p>It was at this point that the orderly service had a remarkable -interruption which surprised the audience as much as it did the two -visitors. This was the sudden appearance beside the chairman of a tall, -pale-faced, bearded man dressed like a superior artisan, who held up his -hand with a quietly impressive gesture as one who was accustomed to -exert authority. He then half turned and said a word to Mr. Bolsover.</p> - -<p>“This is Mr. Miromar of Dalston,” said the Chairman. “Mr. Miromar has a -message to deliver. We are always glad to hear from Mr. Miromar.”</p> - -<p>The reporters could only get a half-view of the newcomer’s face, but -both of them were struck by his noble bearing and by the massive outline -of his head which promised very unusual intellectual power. His voice -when he spoke rang clearly and pleasantly through the hall.</p> - -<p>“I have been ordered to give the message wherever I think that there are -ears to hear it. There are some here who are ready for it, and that is -why I have come. They wish that the human race should gradually -understand the situation so that there shall be the less shock or panic. -I am one of several who are chosen to carry the news.”</p> - -<p>“A lunatic, I’m afraid!” whispered Malone, scribbling hard upon his -knee. There was a general inclination to smile among the audience. And -yet there was something in the man’s manner and voice which made them -hang on every word.</p> - -<p>“Things have now reached a climax. The very idea of progress has been -made material. It is prog<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_35">{35}</a></span>ress to go swiftly, to send swift messages, to -build new machinery. All this is a diversion of real ambition. There is -only one real progress—spiritual progress. Mankind gives it a lip -tribute but presses on upon its false road of material science.</p> - -<p>“The Central Intelligence recognised that amid all the apathy there was -also much honest doubt which had outgrown old creeds and had a right to -fresh evidence. Therefore fresh evidence was sent—evidence which made -the life after death as clear as the sun in the heavens. It was laughed -at by scientists, condemned by the churches, became the butt of the -newspapers and was discarded with contempt. That was the last and -greatest blunder of humanity.”</p> - -<p>The audience had their chins up now. General speculations were beyond -their mental horizon. But this was very clear to their comprehension. -There was a murmur of sympathy and applause.</p> - -<p>“The thing was now hopeless. It had got beyond all control. Therefore -something sterner was needed since Heaven’s gift had been disregarded. -The blow fell. Ten million men were laid dead upon the ground. Twice as -many were mutilated. That was God’s first warning to mankind. But it was -vain. The same dull materialism prevailed as before. Years of grace were -given, and save the stirrings of the spirit seen in such churches as -these, no change was anywhere to be seen. The nations heaped up fresh -loads of sin and sin must ever be atoned for. Russia became a cesspool. -Germany was unrepentant of her terrible materialism which had been the -prime cause of the war. Spain and Italy were sunk in alternate atheism -and superstition. France had no religious ideal. Britain was confused -and distracted, full of wooden sects which had nothing of life in them.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_36">{36}</a></span> -America had abused her glorious opportunities and instead of being the -loving younger brother to a stricken Europe she held up all economic -reconstruction by her money claims; she dishonoured the signature of her -own president, and she refused to join that League of Peace which was -the one hope of the future. All have sinned, but some more than others, -and their punishment will be in exact proportion.</p> - -<p>“And that punishment comes soon. These are the exact words I have been -asked to give you. I read them lest I should in any way garble them.”</p> - -<p>He took a slip of paper from his pocket and read:</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>What we want is, not that folk should be frightened, but that they -should begin to change themselves—to develop themselves on more -spiritual lines. We are not trying to make people nervous, but to -prepare while there is yet time. The world cannot go on as it has done. -It would destroy itself if it did. Above all we must sweep away the dark -cloud of theology which has come between mankind and God.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>He folded up the paper and replaced it in his pocket.</p> - -<p>“That is what I have been asked to tell you. Spread the news where there -seems to be a window in the soul. Say to them, ‘Repent! Reform! the Time -is at hand.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>He had paused and seemed about to turn. The spell was broken. The -audience rustled and leaned back in its seats. Then a voice came from -the back.</p> - -<p>“Is this the end of the world, mister?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said the stranger, curtly.</p> - -<p>“Is it the Second Coming?” asked another voice.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>With quick, light steps he threaded his way among<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_37">{37}</a></span> the chairs on the -platform and stood near the door. When Malone next looked round he was -gone.</p> - -<p>“He is one of these Second-coming fanatics,” he whispered to Enid. -“There are a lot of them—Christadelphians, Russellites, Bible Students -and what-not. But he was impressive.”</p> - -<p>“Very,” said Enid.</p> - -<p>“We have, I am sure, been very interested in what our friend has told -us,” said the chairman. “Mr. Miromar is in hearty sympathy with our -movement even though he cannot be said actually to belong to it. I am -sure he is always welcome upon our platforms. As to his prophecy, it -seems to me the world has had enough trouble without our anticipating -any more. If it is as our friend says, we can’t do much to mend the -matter. We can only go about our daily jobs, do them as well as we can, -and await the event in full confidence of help from above. If it’s the -Day of Judgment to-morrow,” he added, smiling, “I mean to look after my -provision store at Hammersmith to-day. We shall now continue with the -service.”</p> - -<p>There was a vigorous appeal for money and a great deal about the -building-fund from the young secretary. “It’s a shame to think that -there are more left in the street than in the building on a Sunday -night. We all give our services. No one takes a penny. Mrs. Debbs is -here for her bare expenses. But we want another thousand pounds before -we can start. There is one brother here who mortgaged his house to help -us. That’s the spirit that wins. Now let us see what you can do for us -to-night.”</p> - -<p>A dozen soup-plates circulated, and a hymn was sung to the accompaniment -of much chinking of coin. Enid and Malone conversed in undertones.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_38">{38}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Professor Summerlee died, you know, at Naples last year.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I remember him well.”</p> - -<p>“And ‘old C.’ was, of course, your father.”</p> - -<p>“It was really remarkable.”</p> - -<p>“Poor old Summerlee. He thought survival was an absurdity. And here he -is—or here he seems to be.”</p> - -<p>The soup-plates returned—it was mostly brown soup, unhappily, and they -were deposited on the table where the eager eye of the secretary -appraised their value. Then the little shaggy man from Australia gave a -benediction in the same simple fashion as the opening prayer. It needed -no Apostolic succession or laying-on of hands to make one feel that his -words were from a human heart and might well go straight to a Divine -one. Then the audience rose and sang their final farewell hymn—a hymn -with a haunting tune and a sad, sweet refrain of “God keep you safely -till we meet once more.” Enid was surprised to feel the tears running -down her cheeks. These earnest, simple folk with their direct methods -had wrought upon her more than all the gorgeous service and rolling -music of the cathedral.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bolsover, the stout president, was in the waiting-room and so was -Mrs. Debbs.</p> - -<p>“Well, I expect you are going to let us have it,” he laughed. “We are -used to it, Mr. Malone. We don’t mind. But you will see the turn some -day. These articles may rise up in judgment.”</p> - -<p>“I will treat it fairly, I assure you.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we ask no more.”</p> - -<p>The medium was leaning with her elbow on the mantelpiece, austere and -aloof.</p> - -<p>“I am afraid you are tired,” said Enid.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_39">{39}</a></span></p> - -<p>“No, young lady, I am never tired in doing the work of the spirit -people. They see to that.”</p> - -<p>“May I ask,” Malone ventured, “whether you ever knew Professor -Summerlee?”</p> - -<p>The medium shook her head.</p> - -<p>“No, sir, no. They always think I know them. I know none of them. They -come and I describe them.”</p> - -<p>“How do you get the message?”</p> - -<p>“Clairaudient. I hear it. I hear them all the time. The poor things all -want to come through and they pluck at me and pull me and pester me on -the platform. ‘Me next—me—me!’ That’s what I hear. I do my best, but I -can’t handle them all.”</p> - -<p>“Can you tell me anything of that prophetic person?” asked Malone of the -chairman. Mr. Bolsover shrugged his shoulders with a deprecating smile.</p> - -<p>“He is an Independent. We see him now and again as a sort of comet -passing across us. By the way, it comes back to me that he prophesied -the war. I’m a practical man myself. Sufficient for the day is the evil -thereof. We get plenty in ready cash without any bills for the future. -Well, good night! Treat us as well as you can.”</p> - -<p>“Good night,” said Enid.</p> - -<p>“Good night,” said Mrs. Debbs. “By the way, young lady, you are a medium -yourself. Good night!”</p> - -<p>And so they found themselves in the street once more inhaling long -draughts of the night air. It was sweet after that crowded hall. A -minute later they were in the rush of the Edgware Road and Malone had -hailed a cab to carry them back to Victoria Gardens.<a id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_40">{40}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH PROFESSOR CHALLENGER GIVES HIS OPINION</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">E</span>NID had stepped into the cab and Malone was following when his name was -called and a man came running down the street. He was tall, middle-aged, -handsome and well-dressed, with the clean-shaven, self-confident face of -the successful surgeon.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, Malone! Stop!”</p> - -<p>“Why, it’s Atkinson. Enid, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Atkinson of -St. Mary’s about whom I spoke to your father. Can we give you a lift? We -are going towards Victoria.”</p> - -<p>“Capital!” The surgeon followed them into the cab. “I was amazed to see -you at a Spiritualist meeting.”</p> - -<p>“We were only there professionally. Miss Challenger and I are both on -the Press.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, really! The <i>Daily Gazette</i>, I suppose, as before. Well, you will -have one more subscriber, for I shall want to see what you made of -to-night’s show.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to wait till next Sunday. It is one of a series.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I say, I can’t wait as long as that. What <i>did</i> you make of it?”</p> - -<p>“I really don’t know. I shall have to read my notes carefully to-morrow -and think it over, and compare impressions with my colleague here. She -has the intuition, you see, which goes for so much in religious -matters.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_41">{41}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“And what is your intuition, Miss Challenger?”</p> - -<p>“Good—oh, yes, good! But, dear me, what an extraordinary mixture!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed, I have been several times and it always leaves the same -mixed impression upon my own mind. Some of it is ludicrous, and some of -it might be dishonest, and yet again some of it is clearly wonderful.”</p> - -<p>“But you are not on the Press. Why were <i>you</i> there?”</p> - -<p>“Because I am deeply interested. You see, I am a student of psychic -matters and have been for some years. I am not a convinced one but I am -sympathetic, and I have sufficient sense of proportion to realise that -while I seem to be sitting in judgment upon the subject it may in truth -be the subject which is sitting in judgment upon me.”</p> - -<p>Malone nodded appreciation.</p> - -<p>“It is enormous. You will realise that as you get to close grips with -it. It is half a dozen great subjects in one. And it is all in the hands -of these good humble folk who, in the face of every discouragement and -personal loss, have carried it on for more than seventy years. It is -really very like the rise of Christianity. It was run by slaves and -underlings until it gradually extended upwards. There were three hundred -years between Cæsar’s slave and Cæsar getting the light.”</p> - -<p>“But the preacher!” cried Enid in protest.</p> - -<p>Mr. Atkinson laughed.</p> - -<p>“You mean our friend from Atlantis. What a terrible bore the fellow was! -I confess I don’t know what to make of performances like that. -Self-deception, I think, and the temporary emergence of some fresh -strand of personality which dramatises itself in this way. The only -thing I am quite sure of is that it<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_42">{42}</a></span> is not really an inhabitant of -Atlantis who arrives from his long voyage with this awful cargo of -platitudes. Well, here we are!”</p> - -<p>“I have to deliver this young lady safe and sound to her father,” said -Malone. “Look here, Atkinson, don’t leave us. The Professor would really -like to see you.”</p> - -<p>“What, at this hour! Why, he would throw me down the stairs.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve been hearing stories,” said Enid. “Really it is not so bad as -that. Some people annoy him, but I am sure you are not one of them. -Won’t you chance it?”</p> - -<p>“With that encouragement, certainly.” And the three walked down the -bright outer corridor to the lift.</p> - -<p>Challenger, clad now in a brilliant blue dressing-gown, was eagerly -awaiting them. He eyed Atkinson as a fighting bulldog eyes some canine -stranger. The inspection seemed to satisfy him, however, for he growled -that he was glad to meet him.</p> - -<p>“I’ve heard of your name, sir, and of your rising reputation. Your -resection of the cord last year made some stir, I understand. But have -you been down among the lunatics also?”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you call them so,” said Atkinson with a laugh.</p> - -<p>“Good Heavens, what else could I call them? I remember now that my young -friend here” (Challenger had a way of alluding to Malone as if he were a -promising boy of ten) “told me you were studying the subject.” He roared -with offensive laughter. “<span class="lftspc">‘</span>The proper study of mankind is spooks,’ eh, -Mr. Atkinson?”</p> - -<p>“Dad really knows nothing about it, so don’t be<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_43">{43}</a></span> offended with him,” -said Enid. “But I assure you, Dad, you would have been interested.” She -proceeded to give a sketch of their adventures, though interrupted by a -running commentary of groans, grunts and derisive jeers. It was only -when the Summerlee episode was reached that Challenger’s indignation and -contempt could no longer be restrained. The old volcano blew his head -off and a torrent of red-hot invective descended upon his listeners.</p> - -<p>“The blasphemous rascals!” he shouted. “To think that they can’t let -poor old Summerlee rest in his grave. We had our differences in his time -and I will admit that I was compelled to take a moderate view of his -intelligence, but if he came back from the grave he would certainly have -something worth hearing to say to us. It is an absurdity—a wicked, -indecent absurdity upon the face of it. I object to any friend of mine -being made a puppet for the laughter of an audience of fools. They -didn’t laugh! They must have laughed when they heard an educated man, a -man whom I have met upon equal terms, talking such nonsense. I say it -<i>was</i> nonsense. Don’t contradict me, Malone. I won’t have it! His -message might have been the postscript of a schoolgirl’s letter. Isn’t -that nonsense, coming from such a source? Are you not in agreement, Mr. -Atkinson? No! I had hoped better things from you.”</p> - -<p>“But the descriptions?”</p> - -<p>“Good Heavens, where are your brains? Have not the names of Summerlee -and Malone been associated with my own in some peculiarly feeble fiction -which attained some notoriety? Is it not also known that you two -innocents were doing the Churches week by week? Was it not patent that -sooner or later you would come to a Spiritualist gathering? Here was a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_44">{44}</a></span> -chance for a convert! They set a bait and poor old gudgeon Malone came -along and swallowed it. Here he is with the hook still stuck in his -silly mouth. Oh, yes, Malone, plain speaking is needed and you shall -have it.” The Professor’s black mane was bristling and his eyes glaring -from one member of the company to another.</p> - -<p>“Well, we want every view expressed,” said Atkinson. “You seem very -qualified, sir, to express the negative one. At the same time I would -repeat in my own person the words of Thackeray. He said to some -objector: ‘What you say is natural, but if you had seen what I have seen -you might alter your opinion.’ Perhaps some time you will be able to -look into the matter, for your high position in the scientific world -would give your opinion great weight.”</p> - -<p>“If I have a high place in the scientific world as you say, it is -because I have concentrated upon what is useful and discarded what is -nebulous or absurd. My brain, sir, does not pare the edges. It cuts -right through. It has cut right through this and has found fraud and -folly.”</p> - -<p>“Both are there at times,” said Atkinson, “and yet ... and yet! Ah, -well, Malone, I’m some way from home and it is late. You will excuse me, -Professor. I am honoured to have met you.”</p> - -<p>Malone was leaving also and the two friends had a few minutes’ chat -before they went their separate ways, Atkinson to Wimpole Street and -Malone to South Norwood, where he was now living.</p> - -<p>“Grand old fellow!” said Malone, chuckling. “You must never get offended -with him. He means no harm. He is splendid.”</p> - -<p>“Of course he is. But if anything could make me a real out-and-out -Spiritualist it is that sort of in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_45">{45}</a></span>tolerance. It is very common, though -it is generally cast rather in the tone of the quiet sneer than of the -noisy roar. I like the latter best. By the way, Malone, if you care to -go deeper into this subject I may be able to help you. You’ve heard of -Linden?”</p> - -<p>“Linden, the professional medium. Yes, I’ve been told he is the greatest -blackguard unhung.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, well, they usually talk of them like that. You must judge for -yourself. He put his knee-cap out last winter and I put it in again, and -that has made a friendly bond between us. It’s not always easy to get -him, and of course a small fee, a guinea I think, is usual, but if you -wanted a sitting I could work it.”</p> - -<p>“You think him genuine?”</p> - -<p>Atkinson shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“I daresay they all take the line of least resistance. I can only say -that I have never detected him in fraud. You must judge for yourself.”</p> - -<p>“I will,” said Malone. “I am getting hot on this trail. And there is -copy in it, too. When things are more easy I’ll write to you, Atkinson, -and we can go more deeply into the matter.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_46">{46}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br><br> -<small>WHICH DESCRIBES SOME STRANGE DOINGS IN HAMMERSMITH</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE article by the Joint Commissioners (such was their glorious title) -aroused interest and contention. It had been accompanied by a -depreciating leaderette from the sub-editor which was meant to calm the -susceptibilities of his orthodox readers, as who should say; “These -things have to be noticed and seem to be true, but of course you and I -recognise how pestilential it all is.” Malone found himself at once -plunged into a huge correspondence, for and against, which in itself was -enough to show how vitally the question was in the minds of men. All the -previous articles had only elicited a growl here or there from a -hide-bound Catholic or from an iron-clad Evangelical, but now his -post-bag was full. Most of them were ridiculing the idea that psychic -forces existed and many were from writers who, whatever they might know -of psychic forces, had obviously not yet learned to spell. The -Spiritualists were in many cases not more pleased than the others, for -Malone had—even while his account was true—exercised a journalist’s -privilege of laying an accent on the more humorous sides of it.</p> - -<p>One morning in the succeeding week Mr. Malone was aware of a large -presence in the small room wherein he did his work at the office. A -page-boy, who preceded the stout visitor, had laid a card on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_47">{47}</a></span> corner -of the table which bore the legend ‘James Bolsover, Provision Merchant, -High Street, Hammersmith.’ It was none other than the genial president -of last Sunday’s congregation. He wagged a paper accusingly at Malone, -but his good-humoured face was wreathed in smiles.</p> - -<p>“Well, well,” said he. “I told you that the funny side would get you.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you think it a fair account?”</p> - -<p>“Well, yes, Mr. Malone, I think you and the young woman have done your -best for us. But, of course, you know nothing and it all seems queer to -you. Come to think of it, it would be a deal queerer if all the clever -men who leave this earth could not among them find some way of getting a -word back to us.”</p> - -<p>“But it’s such a stupid word sometimes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, there are a lot of stupid people leave the world. They don’t -change. And then, you know, one never knows what sort of message is -needed. We had a clergyman in to see Mrs. Debbs yesterday. He was -broken-hearted because he had lost his daughter. Mrs. Debbs got several -messages through that she was happy and that only his grief hurt her. -‘That’s no use,’ said he. ‘Anyone could say that. That’s not my girl.’ -And then suddenly she said: ‘But I wish to goodness you would not wear a -Roman collar with a coloured shirt.’ That sounded a trivial message, but -the man began to cry. ‘That’s her,’ he sobbed. ‘She was always chipping -me about my collars.’ It’s the little things that count in this -life—just the homely, intimate things, Mr. Malone.”</p> - -<p>Malone shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Anyone would remark on a coloured shirt and a clerical collar.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Bolsover laughed. “You’re a hard proposi<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_48">{48}</a></span>tion. So was I once, so I -can’t blame you. But I called here with a purpose. I expect you are a -busy man and I know that I am, so I’ll get down to the brass tacks. -First, I wanted to say that all our people that have any sense are -pleased with the article. Mr. Algernon Mailey wrote me that it would do -good, and if he is pleased we are all pleased.”</p> - -<p>“Mailey the barrister?”</p> - -<p>“Mailey, the religious reformer. That’s how he will be known.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what else?”</p> - -<p>“Only that we would help you if you and the young lady wanted to go -further in the matter. Not for publicity, mind you, but just for your -own good—though we don’t shrink from publicity, either. I have physical -phenomena séances at my own home without a professional medium, and if -you would like....”</p> - -<p>“There’s nothing I would like so much.”</p> - -<p>“Then you shall come—both of you. I don’t have many outsiders. I -wouldn’t have one of those psychic research people inside my doors. Why -should I go out of my way to be insulted by all their suspicions and -their traps? They seem to think that folk have no feelings. But you have -some ordinary common sense. That’s all we ask.”</p> - -<p>“But I don’t believe. Would that not stand in the way?”</p> - -<p>“Not in the least. So long as you are fair-minded and don’t disturb the -conditions, all is well. Spirits out of the body don’t like disagreeable -people any more than spirits in the body do. Be gentle and civil, same -as you would to any other company.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I can promise that.”</p> - -<p>“They are funny sometimes,” said Mr. Bolsover, in reminiscent vein. “It -is as well to keep on the right<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_49">{49}</a></span> side of them. They are not allowed to -hurt humans, but we all do things we’re not allowed to do, and they are -very human themselves. You remember how <i>The Times</i> correspondent got -his head cut open with the tambourine in one of the Davenport Brothers’ -séances. Very wrong, of course, but it happened. No friend ever got his -head cut open. There was another case down Stepney way. A money-lender -went to a séance. Some victim that he had driven to suicide got into the -medium. He got the money-lender by the throat and it was a close thing -for his life. But I’m off, Mr. Malone. We sit once a week and have done -for four years without a break. Eight o’clock Thursdays. Give us a day’s -notice and I’ll get Mr. Mailey to meet you. He can answer questions -better than I. Next Thursday! Very good.” And Mr. Bolsover lurched out -of the room.</p> - -<p>Both Malone and Enid Challenger had, perhaps, been more shaken by their -short experience than they had admitted, but both were sensible people -who agreed that every possible natural cause should be exhausted—and -very thoroughly exhausted—before the bounds of what is possible should -be enlarged. Both of them had the utmost respect for the ponderous -intellect of Challenger and were affected by his strong views, though -Malone was compelled to admit in the frequent arguments in which he was -plunged that the opinion of a clever man who has had no experience is -really of less value than that of the man in the street who has actually -been there.</p> - -<p>These arguments, as often as not, were with Mervin, editor of the -psychic paper <i>Dawn</i>, which dealt with every phase of the occult, from -the lore of the Rosicrucians to the strange regions of the students of -the Great Pyramid, or of those who uphold the Jewish<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_50">{50}</a></span> origin of our -blonde Anglo-Saxons. Mervin was a small, eager man with a brain of a -high order, which might have carried him to the most lucrative heights -of his profession had he not determined to sacrifice worldly prospects -in order to help what seemed to him to be a great truth. As Malone was -eager for knowledge and Mervin was equally keen to impart it, the -waiters at the Literary Club found it no easy matter to get them away -from the corner-table in the window at which they were wont to lunch. -Looking down at the long, grey curve of the Embankment and the noble -river with its vista of bridges, the pair would linger over their -coffee, smoking cigarettes and discussing various sides of this most -gigantic and absorbing subject, which seemed already to have disclosed -new horizons to the mind of Malone.</p> - -<p>There was one warning given by Mervin which aroused impatience amounting -almost to anger in Malone’s mind. He had the hereditary Irish objection -to coercion and it seemed to him to be appearing once more in an -insidious and particularly objectionable form.</p> - -<p>“You are going to one of Bolsover’s family séances,” said Mervin. “They -are, of course, well known among our people, though few have been -actually admitted, so you may consider yourself privileged. He has -clearly taken a fancy to you.”</p> - -<p>“He thought I wrote fairly about them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it wasn’t much of an article, but still among the dreary, -purblind nonsense that assails us, it did show some traces of dignity -and balance and sense of proportion.”</p> - -<p>Malone waved a deprecating cigarette.</p> - -<p>“Bolsover séances and others like them are, of course, things of no -moment to the real psychic. They<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_51">{51}</a></span> are like the rude foundations of a -building which certainly help to sustain the edifice, but are forgotten -when once you come to inhabit it. It is the higher superstructure with -which we have to do. You would think that the physical phenomena were -the whole subject—those and a fringe of ghosts and haunted houses—if -you were to believe the cheap papers who cater for the sensationalist. -Of course, these physical phenomena have a use of their own. They rivet -the attention of the inquirer and encourage him to go further. -Personally, having seen them all, I would not go across the road to see -them again. But I would go across many roads to get high messages from -the beyond.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I quite appreciate the distinction, looking at it from your point -of view. Personally, of course, I am equally agnostic as to the messages -and the phenomena.”</p> - -<p>“Quite so. St. Paul was a good psychic. He makes the point so neatly -that even his ignorant translators were unable to disguise the real -occult meanings as they have succeeded in doing in so many cases.”</p> - -<p>“Can you quote it?”</p> - -<p>“I know my New Testament pretty well, but I am not letter-perfect. It is -the passage where he says that the gift of tongues, which was an obvious -sensational thing, was for the uninstructed, but that prophecies, that -is real spiritual messages, were for the elect. In other words that an -experienced Spiritualist has no need of phenomena.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll look that passage up.”</p> - -<p>“You will find it in Corinthians, I think. By the way, there must have -been a pretty high average of intelligence among those old congregations -if Pau<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_52">{52}</a></span>l’s letters could have been read aloud to them and thoroughly -comprehended.”</p> - -<p>“That is generally admitted, is it not?”</p> - -<p>“Well, it is a concrete example of it. However, I am down a side-track. -What I wanted to say to you is that you must not take Bolsover’s little -spirit circus too seriously. It is honest as far as it goes, but it goes -a mighty short way. It’s a disease, this phenomena hunting. I know some -of our people, women mostly, who buzz around séance rooms continually, -seeing the same thing over and over, sometimes real, sometimes, I fear, -imitation. What the better are they for that as souls or as citizens or -any other way? No, when your foot is firm on the bottom rung don’t mark -time on it, but step up to the next rung and get firm upon that.”</p> - -<p>“I quite get your point. But I’m still on the solid ground.”</p> - -<p>“Solid!” cried Mervin. “Good Lord! But the paper goes to press to-day -and I must get down to the printer. With a circulation of ten thousand -or so we do things modestly, you know—not like you plutocrats of the -daily press. I am practically the staff.”</p> - -<p>“You said you had a warning.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, I wanted to give you a warning.” Mervin’s thin, eager face -became intensely serious. “If you have any ingrained religious or other -prejudices which may cause you to turn down this subject after you have -investigated it, then don’t investigate at all—for it is dangerous.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean—dangerous?”</p> - -<p>“They don’t mind honest doubt, or honest criticism, but if they are -badly treated they are dangerous.”</p> - -<p>“Who are ‘they’?”</p> - -<p>“Ah, who are they? I wonder. Guides, controls, psychic entities of some -kind. Who the agents of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_53">{53}</a></span> vengeance—or I should say justice—are, is -really not essential. The point is that they exist.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, rot, Mervin!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t be too sure of that.”</p> - -<p>“Pernicious rot! These are the old theological bogies of the Middle Ages -coming up again. I am surprised at a sensible man like you!”</p> - -<p>Mervin smiled—he had a whimsical smile—but his eyes, looking out from -under bushy yellow brows, were as serious as ever.</p> - -<p>“You may come to change your opinion. There are some queer sides to this -question. As a friend I put you wise to this one.”</p> - -<p>“Well, put me wise, then.”</p> - -<p>Thus encouraged, Mervin went into the matter. He rapidly sketched the -career and fate of a number of men who had, in his opinion, played an -unfair game with these forces, become an obstruction, and suffered for -it. He spoke of judges who had given prejudiced decisions against the -cause, of journalists who had worked up stunt cases for sensational -purposes and to throw discredit on the movement; of others who had -interviewed mediums to make game of them, or who, having started to -investigate, had drawn back alarmed, and given a negative decision when -their inner soul knew that the facts were true. It was a formidable -list, for it was long and precise, but Malone was not to be driven.</p> - -<p>“If you pick your cases I have no doubt one could make such a list about -any subject. Mr. Jones said that Raphael was a bungler, and Mr. Jones -died of angina pectoris. Therefore it is dangerous to criticise Raphael. -That seems to be the argument.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you like to think so.”</p> - -<p>“Take the other side. Look at Morgate. He has<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_54">{54}</a></span> always been an enemy, for -he is a convinced materialist. But he prospers—look at his -professorship.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, an honest doubter. Certainly. Why not?”</p> - -<p>“And Morgan who at one time exposed mediums.”</p> - -<p>“If they were really false he did good service.”</p> - -<p>“And Falconer who has written so bitterly about you?”</p> - -<p>“Ah, Falconer! Do you know anything of Falconer’s private life? No. -Well, take it from me he has got his dues. He doesn’t know why. Some day -these gentlemen will begin to compare notes and then it may dawn on -them. But they get it.”</p> - -<p>He went on to tell a horrible story of one who had devoted his -considerable talents to picking Spiritualism to pieces though really -convinced of its truth, because his worldly ends were served thereby. -The end was ghastly—too ghastly for Malone.</p> - -<p>“Oh, cut it out, Mervin!” he cried impatiently. “I’ll say what I think, -no more and no less, and I won’t be scared by you or your spooks into -altering my opinions.”</p> - -<p>“I never asked you to.”</p> - -<p>“You got a bit near it. What you have said strikes me as pure -superstition. If what you say is true you should have the police after -you.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, if we did it. But it is out of our hands. However, Malone, for -what it’s worth I have given you the warning and you can now go your -way. Bye-bye! You can always ring me up at the office of <i>Dawn</i>.”</p> - -<p>If you want to know if a man is of the true Irish blood there is one -infallible test. Put him in front of a swing-door with “Push” or “Pull” -printed upon it. The Englishman will obey like a sensible man. The -Irishman, with less sense but more individuality, will<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_55">{55}</a></span> at once and with -vehemence do the opposite. So it was with Malone. Mervin’s well-meant -warning simply raised a rebellious spirit within him, and when he called -for Enid to take her to the Bolsover séance he had gone back several -degrees in his dawning sympathy for the subject. Challenger bade them -farewell with many gibes, his beard projecting forward and his eyes -closed with upraised eyebrows, as was his wont when inclined to be -facetious.</p> - -<p>“You have your powder-bag, my dear Enid. If you see a particularly good -specimen of ectoplasm in the course of the evening don’t forget your -father. I have a microscope, chemical reagents and everything ready. -Perhaps even a small <i>poltergeist</i> might come your way. Any trifle would -be welcome.”</p> - -<p>His bull’s bellow of laughter followed them into the lift.</p> - -<p>The provision merchant’s establishment of Mr. Bolsover proved to be a -euphemism for an old-fashioned grocer’s shop, in the most crowded part -of Hammersmith. The neighbouring church was chiming out the -three-quarters as the taxi drove up, and the shop was full of people, so -Enid and Malone walked up and down outside. As they were so engaged -another taxi drove up and a large, untidy-looking, ungainly bearded man -in a suit of Harris tweed stepped out of it. He glanced at his watch and -then began to pace the pavement. Presently he noted the others and came -up to them.</p> - -<p>“May I ask if you are the journalists who are going to attend the -séance?... I thought so. Old Bolsover is terribly busy so you were wise -to wait. Bless him, he is one of God’s saints in his way.”</p> - -<p>“You are Mr. Algernon Mailey, I presume?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I am the gentleman whose credulity is giv<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_56">{56}</a></span>ing rise to considerable -anxiety upon the part of my friends, as one of the rags remarked the -other day.” His laugh was so infectious that the others were bound to -laugh also. Certainly, with his athletic proportions, which had run a -little to seed but were still notable, and with his virile voice and -strong if homely face, he gave no impression of instability.</p> - -<p>“We are all labelled with some stigma by our opponents,” said he. “I -wonder what yours will be.”</p> - -<p>“We must not sail under false colours, Mr. Mailey,” said Enid. “We are -not yet among the believers.”</p> - -<p>“Quite right. You should take your time over it. It is infinitely the -most important thing in the world, so it is worth taking time over. I -took many years myself. Folk can be blamed for neglecting it, but no one -can be blamed for being cautious in examination. Now I am all out for -it, as you are aware, because I <i>know</i> it is true. There is such a -difference between believing and knowing. I lecture a good deal. But I -never want to convert my audience. I don’t believe in sudden -conversions. They are shallow, superficial things. All I want is to put -the thing before the people as clearly as I can. I just tell them the -truth and why we know it is the truth. Then my job is done. They can -take it or leave it. If they are wise they will explore along the paths -that I indicate. If they are unwise they miss their chance. I don’t want -to press them or to proselytise. It’s their affair, not mine.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that seems a reasonable view,” said Enid, who was attracted by -the frank manner of their new acquaintance. They were standing now in -the full flood of light cast by Bolsover’s big plate-glass window. She -had a good look at him, his broad forehead,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_57">{57}</a></span> his curious grey eyes, -thoughtful and yet eager, his straw-coloured beard which indicated the -outline of an aggressive chin. He was solidity personified—the very -opposite of the fanatic whom she had imagined. His name had been a good -deal in the papers lately as a protagonist in the long battle, and she -remembered that it had never been mentioned without an answering snort -from her father.</p> - -<p>“I wonder,” she said to Malone, “what would happen if Mr. Mailey were -locked up in a room with Dad!”</p> - -<p>Malone laughed. “There used to be a schoolboy question as to what would -occur if an irresistible force were to strike an invincible obstacle.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you are the daughter of Professor Challenger,” said Mailey with -interest. “He is a big figure in the scientific world. What a grand -world it would be if it would only realise its own limitations.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t quite follow you.”</p> - -<p>“It is this scientific world which is at the bottom of much of our -materialism. It has helped us in comfort—if comfort is any use to us. -Otherwise it has usually been a curse to us, for it has called itself -progress and given us a false impression that we are making progress, -whereas we are really drifting very steadily backwards.”</p> - -<p>“Really I can’t quite agree with you there, Mr. Mailey,” said Malone, -who was getting restive under what seemed to him dogmatic assertion. -“Look at wireless. Look at the S.O.S. call at sea. Is that not a benefit -to mankind?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it works out all right sometimes. I value my electric reading-lamp, -and that is a product of science. It gives us, as I said before, comfort -and occasionally safety.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_58">{58}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, do you depreciate it?”</p> - -<p>“Because it obscures the vital thing—the object of life. We were not -put into this planet in order that we should go fifty miles an hour in a -motor-car, or cross the Atlantic in an airship, or send messages either -with or without wires. These are the mere trimmings and fringes of life. -But these men of science have so riveted our attention on these fringes -that we forget the central object.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t follow you.”</p> - -<p>“It is not how fast you go that matters, it is the object of your -journey. It is not how you send a message, it is what the value of the -message may be. At every stage this so-called progress may be a curse, -and yet as long as we use the word we confuse it with real progress and -imagine that we are doing that for which God sent us into the world.”</p> - -<p>“Which is?”</p> - -<p>“To prepare ourselves for the next phase of life. There is mental -preparation and spiritual preparation, and we are neglecting both. To be -in old age better men and women, more unselfish, more broadminded, more -genial and tolerant, that is what we are for. It is a soul factory and -it is turning out a bad article. But—— Hullo!” he burst into his -infectious laugh. “Here I am delivering my lecture in the street. Force -of habit, you see. My son says that if you press the third button of my -waistcoat I automatically deliver a lecture. But here is the good -Bolsover to your rescue.”</p> - -<p>The worthy grocer had caught sight of them through the window and came -bustling out, untying his white apron.</p> - -<p>“Good evening, all! I won’t have you waiting in the cold. Besides -there’s the clock, and time’s up.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_59">{59}</a></span> It does not do to keep them waiting. -Punctuality for all—that’s my motto and theirs. My lads will shut up -the shop. This way, and mind the sugar-barrel.”</p> - -<p>They threaded their way amid boxes of dried fruits and piles of cheese, -finally passing between two great casks which hardly left room for the -grocer’s portly form. A narrow door beyond opened into the residential -part of the establishment. Ascending the narrow stair, Bolsover threw -open a door and the visitors found themselves in a considerable room in -which a number of people were seated round a large table. There was Mrs. -Bolsover herself, large, cheerful and buxom like her husband. Three -daughters were all of the same pleasing type. There was an elderly woman -who seemed to be some relation, and two other colourless females who -were described as neighbours and Spiritualists. The only other man was a -little grey-headed fellow with a pleasant face and quick, twinkling -eyes, who sat at a harmonium in the corner.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Smiley, our musician,” said Bolsover. “I don’t know what we could -do without Mr. Smiley. It’s vibrations, you know. Mr. Mailey could tell -you about that. Ladies, you know Mr. Mailey, our very good friend. And -these are two enquirers—Miss Challenger and Mr. Malone.”</p> - -<p>The Bolsover family all smiled genially, but the nondescript elderly -person rose to her feet and surveyed them with an austere face.</p> - -<p>“You’re very welcome here, you two strangers,” she said. “But we would -say to you that we want outward reverence. We respect the shining ones -and we will not have them insulted.”</p> - -<p>“I assure you we are very earnest and fairminded,” said Malone.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_60">{60}</a></span></p> - -<p>“We’ve had our lesson. We haven’t forgotten the Meadows’ affair, Mr. -Bolsover.”</p> - -<p>“No, no, Mrs. Seldon. That won’t happen again. We were rather upset over -that,” Bolsover added, turning to the visitors. “That man came here as -our guest, and when the lights were out he poked the other sitters with -his finger so as to make them think it was a spirit hand. Then he wrote -the whole thing up as an exposure in the public Press, when the only -fraudulent thing present had been himself.”</p> - -<p>Malone was honestly shocked. “I can assure you we are incapable of such -conduct.”</p> - -<p>The old lady sat down, but still regarded them with a suspicious eye. -Bolsover bustled about and got things ready.</p> - -<p>“You sit here, Mr. Mailey. Mr. Malone, will you sit between my wife and -my daughter? Where would the young lady like to sit?”</p> - -<p>Enid was feeling rather nervous. “I think,” said she, “that I would like -to sit next Mr. Malone.”</p> - -<p>Bolsover chuckled and winked at his wife.</p> - -<p>“Quite so. Most natural, I am sure.” They all settled into their places. -Mr. Bolsover had switched off the electric light, but a candle burned in -the middle of the table. Malone thought what a picture it would have -made for a Rembrandt. Deep shadows draped it in, but the yellow light -flickered upon the circle of faces—the strong, homely, heavy features -of Bolsover, the solid line of his family circle, the sharp, austere -countenance of Mrs. Seldon, the earnest eyes and yellow beard of Mailey, -the worn, tired faces of the two Spiritualist women, and finally the -firm, noble profile of the girl who sat beside him. The whole world had -suddenly narrowed down to that one little group, so intensely -concentrated upon its own purpose.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_61">{61}</a></span></p> - -<p>On the table there was scattered a curious collection of objects, which -had all the same appearance of tools which had long been used. There was -a battered brass speaking-trumpet, very discoloured, a tambourine, a -musical-box, and a number of smaller objects. “We never know what they -may want,” said Bolsover, waving his hand over them. “If Wee One calls -for a thing and it isn’t there she lets us know about it—oh, yes, -something shocking!”</p> - -<p>“She has a temper of her own has Wee One,” remarked Mrs. Bolsover.</p> - -<p>“Why not, the pretty dear?” said the austere lady. “I expect she has -enough to try it with researchers and what-not. I often wonder she -troubles to come at all.”</p> - -<p>“Wee One is our little girl guide,” said Bolsover. “You’ll hear her -presently.”</p> - -<p>“I do hope she will come,” said Enid.</p> - -<p>“Well, she never failed us yet, except when that man Meadows clawed hold -of the trumpet and put it outside the circle.”</p> - -<p>“Who is the medium?” asked Malone.</p> - -<p>“Well, we don’t know ourselves. We all help, I think. Maybe I give as -much as anyone. And mother, she is a help.”</p> - -<p>“Our family is a co-operative store,” said his wife, and everyone -laughed.</p> - -<p>“I thought one medium was necessary.”</p> - -<p>“It is usual but not necessary,” said Mailey in his deep, authoritative -voice. “Crawford showed that pretty clearly in the Gallagher séances -when he proved, by weighing chairs, that everyone in the circle lost -from half to two pounds at a sitting, though the medium, Miss Kathleen, -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_62">{62}</a></span>lost as many as ten or twelve. Here the long series of sittings—— How -long, Mr. Bolsover?”</p> - -<p>“Four years unbroken.”</p> - -<p>“The long series has developed everyone to some extent, so that there is -a high average output from each, instead of an extraordinary amount from -one.”</p> - -<p>“Output of what?”</p> - -<p>“Animal magnetism, ectoplasm—in fact, power. That is the most -comprehensive word. The Christ used that word. ‘Much power has gone out -of me.’ It is ‘dunamis’ in the Greek, but the translators missed the -point and translated it ‘virtue.’ If a good Greek scholar who was also a -profound occult student were to re-translate the New Testament, we -should get some eye-openers. Dear old Ellis Powell did a little in that -direction. His death was a loss to the world.”</p> - -<p>“Aye, indeed,” said Bolsover in a reverent voice. “But now, before we -get to work, Mr. Malone, I want you just to note one or two things. You -see the white spots on the trumpet and the tambourine? Those are -luminous points so that we can see where they are. The table is just our -dining-table, good British oak. You can examine it if you like. But -you’ll see things that won’t depend upon the table. Now, Mr. Smiley, out -goes the light and we’ll ask you for ‘Rock of Ages.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>The harmonium droned in the darkness and the circle sang. They sang very -tunefully, too, for the girls had fresh voices and true ears. Low and -vibrant, the solemn rhythm became most impressive when no sense but that -of hearing was free to act. Their hands, according to instructions, were -laid lightly upon the table, and they were warned not to cross their -legs. Malone, with his hand touching Enid’s, could feel the little -quiverings which showed that her nerves<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_63">{63}</a></span> were highly strung. The homely, -jovial voice of Bolsover relieved the tension.</p> - -<p>“That should do it,” he said. “I feel as if the conditions were good -to-night. Just a touch of frost in the air, too. I’ll ask you now to -join with me in prayer.”</p> - -<p>It was effective, that simple, earnest prayer in the darkness—an inky -darkness which was only broken by the last red glow of a dying fire.</p> - -<p>“Oh, great Father of us all,” said the voice. “You who are beyond our -thoughts and who yet pervade our lives, grant that all evil may be kept -from us this night and that we may be privileged to get in touch, if -only for an hour, with those who dwell upon a higher plane than ours. -You are our Father as well as theirs. Permit us, for a short space, to -meet in brotherhood, that we may have an added knowledge of that eternal -life which awaits us, and so be helped during our years of waiting in -this lower world.” He ended with the “Our Father,” in which all joined. -Then they sat in expectant silence. Outside was the dull roar of traffic -and the occasional ill-tempered squawk of a passing car. Inside there -was absolute stillness. Enid and Malone felt every sense upon the alert -and every nerve on edge as they gazed out into the gloom.</p> - -<p>“Nothing doing, Mother,” said Bolsover at last. “It’s the strange -company. New vibrations. They have to tune them in to get harmony. Give -us another tune, Mr. Smiley.”</p> - -<p>Again the harmonium droned. It was still playing when a woman’s voice -cried: “Stop! Stop! They are here!”</p> - -<p>Again they waited without result.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_64">{64}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes! Yes! I heard Wee One. She is here, right enough. I’m sure of it.”</p> - -<p>Silence again, and then it came—such a marvel to the visitors, such a -matter of course to the circle.</p> - -<p>“Gooda evenin’!” cried a voice.</p> - -<p>There was a burst of greeting and of welcoming laughter from the circle. -They were all speaking at once. “Good evening, Wee One!” “There you are, -dear!” “I knew you would come!” “Well done, little girl guide!”</p> - -<p>“Gooda evenin’, all!” replied the voice. “Wee One so glad see Daddy and -Mummy and the rest. Oh, what a big man with beard! Mailey, Mister -Mailey, I meet him before. He big Mailey, I little femaley. Glad see -you, Mr. Big Man.”</p> - -<p>Enid and Malone listened with amazement, but it was impossible to be -nervous in face of the perfectly natural way in which the company -accepted it. The voice was very thin and high—more so than any -artificial falsetto could produce. It was the voice of a female child. -That was certain. Also that there was no female child in the room unless -one had been smuggled in after the light went out. That was possible. -But the voice seemed to be in the middle of the table. How could a child -get there?</p> - -<p>“Easy get there, Mr. Gentleman,” said the voice, answering his unspoken -thought. “Daddy strong man. Daddy lift Wee One on to table. Now I show -what Daddy not able to do.”</p> - -<p>“The trumpet’s up!” cried Bolsover.</p> - -<p>The little circle of luminous paint rose noiselessly into the air. Now -it was swaying above their heads.</p> - -<p>“Go up and hit the ceiling!” cried Bolsover.</p> - -<p>Up it went and they heard the metallic tapping above them. Then the high -voice came from above:<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_65">{65}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Clever Daddy! Daddy got fishing-rod and put trumpet up to ceiling. But -how Daddy make the voice, eh? What you say, pretty English Missy? Here -is present from Wee One.”</p> - -<p>Something soft dropped on Enid’s lap. She put her hand down and felt it.</p> - -<p>“It’s a flower—a chrysanthemum. Thank you, Wee One!”</p> - -<p>“An apport?” asked Mailey.</p> - -<p>“No, no, Mr. Mailey,” said Bolsover. “They were in the vase on the -harmonium. Speak to her, Miss Challenger. Keep the vibrations going.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you, Wee One?” asked Enid, looking up at the moving spot above -her.</p> - -<p>“I am little black girl. Eight-year-old little black girl.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, come, dear,” said mother in her rich, coaxing voice. “You were -eight when you came to us first, and that was years ago.”</p> - -<p>“Years ago to you. All one time to me. I to do my job as eight-year -child. When job done then Wee One become Big One all in one day. No time -here, same as you have. I always eight year old.”</p> - -<p>“In the ordinary way they grow up exactly as we do here,” said Mailey. -“But if they have a special bit of work for which a child is needed, -then as a child they remain. It’s a sort of arrested development.”</p> - -<p>“That’s me. ‘Rested envelopment,’<span class="lftspc">”</span> said the voice proudly. “I learn good -English when big man here.”</p> - -<p>They all laughed. It was the most genial, free-and-easy association -possible. Malone heard Enid’s voice whispering in his ear.</p> - -<p>“Pinch me from time to time, Edward—just to make me sure that I am not -in a dream.”</p> - -<p>“I have to pinch myself, too.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_66">{66}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“What about your song, Wee One?” asked Bolsover.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, indeeda! Wee One sing to you.” She began some simple song, but -faded away in a squeak, while the trumpet clattered on to the table.</p> - -<p>“Ah, power run down!” said Mailey. “I think a little more music will set -us right. ‘Lead Kindly Light,’ Smiley.”</p> - -<p>They sang the beautiful hymn together. As the verse closed an amazing -thing happened—amazing, at least, to the novices, though it called for -no remark from the circle.</p> - -<p>The trumpet still shone upon the table, but two voices, those apparently -of a man and a woman broke out in the air above them and joined very -tunefully in the singing. The hymn died away and all was silence and -tense expectancy once more.</p> - -<p>It was broken by a deep male voice from the darkness. It was an educated -English voice, well modulated, a voice which spoke in a fashion to which -the good Bolsover could never attain.</p> - -<p>“Good evening, friends. The power seems good to-night.”</p> - -<p>“Good evening, Luke. Good evening!” cried everyone. “It is our teaching -guide,” Bolsover explained. “He is a high spirit from the sixth sphere -who gives us instruction.”</p> - -<p>“I may seem high to you,” said the voice. “But what am I to those who in -turn instruct me! It is not <i>my</i> wisdom. Give me no credit. I do but -pass it on.”</p> - -<p>“Always like that,” said Bolsover. “No swank. It’s a sign of his -height.”</p> - -<p>“I see you have two enquirers present. Good evening, young lady! You -know nothing of your own<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_67">{67}</a></span> powers or destiny. You will find them out. -Good evening, sir, you are on the threshold of great knowledge. Is there -any subject upon which you would wish me to say a few words? I see that -you are making notes.”</p> - -<p>Malone had, as a fact, disengaged his hand in the darkness and was -jotting down in shorthand the sequence of events.</p> - -<p>“What shall I speak of?”</p> - -<p>“Of love and marriage,” suggested Mrs. Bolsover, nudging her husband.</p> - -<p>“Well, I will say a few words on that. I will not take long, for others -are waiting. The room is crowded with spirit people. I wish you to -understand that there is one man, and only one, for each woman, and one -woman only for each man. When those two meet they fly together and are -one through all the endless chain of existence. Until they meet all -unions are mere accidents which have no meaning. Sooner or later each -couple becomes complete. It may not be here. It may be in the next -sphere where the sexes meet as they do on earth. Or it may be further -delayed. But every man and every woman has his or her affinity and will -find it. Of earthly marriages perhaps one in five is permanent. The -others are accidental. Real marriage is of the soul and spirit. Sex -actions are a mere external symbol which mean nothing and are foolish, -or even pernicious, when the thing which they should symbolise is -wanting. Am I clear?”</p> - -<p>“Very clear,” said Mailey.</p> - -<p>“Some have the wrong mate here. Some have no mate, which is more -fortunate. But all will sooner or later get the right mate. That is -certain. Do not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_68">{68}</a></span> think that you will necessarily have your present -husband when you pass over.”</p> - -<p>“Gawd be praised! Gawd be thanked!” cried a voice.</p> - -<p>“No. Mrs. Melder, it is love—real love—which unites us here. He goes -his way. You go yours. You are on separate planes, perhaps. Some day you -will each find your own, when your youth has come back as it will over -here.”</p> - -<p>“You speak of love. Do you mean sexual love?” asked Mailey.</p> - -<p>“Where are we gettin’ to!” murmured Mrs. Bolsover.</p> - -<p>“Children are not born here. That is only on the earth plane. It was -this aspect of marriage to which the great Teacher referred when he -said: ‘There will be neither marriage nor giving in marriage.’ No! It is -purer, deeper, more wonderful, a unity of souls, a complete merging of -interests and knowledge without a loss of individuality. The nearest you -ever get to it is the first high passion, too beautiful for physical -expression, when two high-souled lovers meet upon your plane. They find -lower expression afterwards, but they will always in their hearts know -that the first delicate, exquisite soul-union was the more lovely. So it -is with us. Any questions?”</p> - -<p>“If a woman loves two men equally, what then?” asked Malone.</p> - -<p>“It seldom happens. She nearly always knows which is really nearest to -her. If she really did so then it would be a proof that neither was the -real affinity, for he is bound to stand high above all. Of course, if -she....”</p> - -<p>The voice trailed off and the trumpet fell.</p> - -<p>“Sing ‘Angels are hoverin’ round’!” cried Bol<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_69">{69}</a></span>sover. “Smiley, hit that -old harmonium. The vibrations are at zero.”</p> - -<p>Another bout of music, another silence, and then a most dismal voice. -Never had Enid heard so sad a voice. It was like clods on a coffin. At -first it was a deep mutter. Then it was a prayer—a Latin prayer -apparently—for twice the word <i>Domine</i> sounded and once the word -<i>peccavimus</i>. There was an indescribable air of depression and -desolation in the room. “For God’s sake, what is it?” cried Malone.</p> - -<p>The circle was equally puzzled.</p> - -<p>“Some poor chap out of the lower spheres, I think,” said Bolsover. -“Orthodox folk say we should avoid them. I say we should hurry up and -help them.”</p> - -<p>“Right, Bolsover!” said Mailey, with hearty approval. “Get on with it, -quick!”</p> - -<p>“Can we do anything for you, friend?”</p> - -<p>There was silence.</p> - -<p>“He doesn’t know. He doesn’t understand the conditions. Where is Luke? -He’ll know what to do.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, friend?” asked the pleasant voice of the guide.</p> - -<p>“There is some poor fellow here. We want to help him.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! yes, yes, he has come from the outer darkness,” said Luke in a -sympathetic voice. “He doesn’t know. He doesn’t understand. They come -over here with a fixed idea, and when they find the real thing is quite -different from anything they have been taught by the Churches, they are -helpless. Some adapt themselves and they go on. Others don’t, and they -just wander on unchanging, like this man. He was a cleric, and a very -narrow, bigoted one. This is the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_70">{70}</a></span> growth of his own mental seed sown -upon earth—sown in ignorance and reaped in misery.”</p> - -<p>“What is amiss with him?”</p> - -<p>“He does not know he is dead. He walks in the mist. It is all an evil -dream to him. He has been years so. To him it seems an eternity.”</p> - -<p>“Why do you not tell him—instruct him?”</p> - -<p>“We cannot. We——”</p> - -<p>The trumpet crashed.</p> - -<p>“Music, Smiley, music! Now the vibrations should be better.”</p> - -<p>“The higher spirits cannot reach earth-bound folk,” said Mailey. “They -are in very different zones of vibration. It is we who are near them and -can help them.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you! you!” cried the voice of Luke.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Mailey, speak to him. You know how!” The low mutter had broken out -again in the same weary monotone.</p> - -<p>“Friend, I would have a word with you,” said Mailey in a firm, loud -voice. The mutter ceased and one felt that the invisible presence was -straining its attention. “Friend, we are so sorry at your condition. You -see us and you wonder why we do not see you. You have passed on. You are -in the other world. But you do not know it, because it is not as you -expected. You have not been received as you imagined. It is because you -imagined wrong. Understand that all is well, and that God is good, and -that all happiness is awaiting you if you will but raise your mind and -pray for help, and above all think less of your own condition and more -of those other poor souls who are round you.”</p> - -<p>There was a silence and Luke spoke again.</p> - -<p>“He has heard you. He wants to thank you. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_71">{71}</a></span> has some glimmer now of -his condition. It will grow within him. He wants to know if he may come -again.”</p> - -<p>“Yes! Yes!” cried Bolsover. “We have quite a number who report progress -from time to time. God bless you, friend. Come as often as you can.” The -mutter had ceased and there seemed to be a new feeling of peace in the -air. The high voice of Wee One was heard.</p> - -<p>“Plenty power still left. Red Cloud here. Show what he can do, if Daddy -likes.”</p> - -<p>“Red Cloud is our Indian control. He is usually busy when any purely -physical phenomena have to be done. You there, Red Cloud?”</p> - -<p>Three loud thuds, like a hammer on wood, sounded from the darkness.</p> - -<p>“Good evening, Red Cloud!”</p> - -<p>A new voice, slow, staccato, laboured, sounded above them.</p> - -<p>“Good day, Chief! How the squaw? How the papooses? Strange faces in -wigwam to-night.”</p> - -<p>“Seeking knowledge, Red Cloud. Can you show what you can do?”</p> - -<p>“I try. Wait a little. Do all I can.”</p> - -<p>Again there was a long hush of expectancy. Then the novices were faced -once more with the miraculous.</p> - -<p>There came a dull glow in the darkness. It was apparently a wisp of -luminous vapour. It whisked across from one side to the other and then -circled in the air. By degrees it condensed into a circular disc of -radiance about the size of a bull’s-eye lantern. It cast no reflection -round it and was simply a clean-cut circle in the gloom. Once it -approached Enid’s face and Malone saw it clearly from the side.</p> - -<p>“Why, there is a hand holding it!” he cried, with sudden suspicion.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_72">{72}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, there is a materialised hand,” said Mailey. “I can see it -clearly.”</p> - -<p>“Would you like it to touch you, Mr. Malone?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, if it will.”</p> - -<p>The light vanished and an instant afterwards Malone felt pressure upon -his own hand. He turned it palm upwards and clearly felt three fingers -laid across it, smooth, warm fingers of adult size. He closed his own -fingers and the hand seemed to melt away in his grasp.</p> - -<p>“It has gone!” he gasped.</p> - -<p>“Yes! Red Cloud is not very good at materialisations. Perhaps we don’t -give him the proper sort of power. But his lights are excellent.”</p> - -<p>Several more had broken out. They were of different types, slow-moving -clouds and little dancing sparks like glowworms. At the same time both -visitors were conscious of a cold wind which blew upon their faces. It -was no delusion, for Enid felt her hair stream across her forehead.</p> - -<p>“You feel the rushing wind,” said Mailey. “Some of these lights would -pass for tongues of fire, would they not? Pentecost does not seem such a -very remote or impossible thing, does it?”</p> - -<p>The tambourine had risen in the air, and the dot of luminous paint -showed that it was circling round. Presently it descended and touched -their heads each in turn. Then with a jingle it quivered down upon the -table.</p> - -<p>“Why a tambourine? It seems always to be a tambourine,” remarked Malone.</p> - -<p>“It is a convenient little instrument,” Mailey explained. “The only one -which shows automatically by its noise where it is flying. I don’t know -what other I could suggest except a musical-box.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_73">{73}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Our box here flies round something amazin’,” said Mrs. Bolsover. “It -thinks nothing of winding itself up in the air as it flies. It’s a heavy -box, too.”</p> - -<p>“Nine pounds,” said Bolsover. “Well, we seem to have got to the end of -things. I don’t think we shall get much more to-night. It has not been a -bad sitting—what I should call a fair average sitting. We must wait a -little before we turn on the light. Well, Mr. Malone, what do you think -of it? Let’s have any objections now before we part. That’s the worst of -you inquirers, you know. You often bottle things up in your own mind and -let them loose afterwards, when it would have been easy to settle it at -the time. Very nice and polite to our faces, and then we are a gang of -swindlers in the report.”</p> - -<p>Malone’s head was throbbing and he passed his hand over his heated brow.</p> - -<p>“I am confused,” he said, “but impressed. Oh, yes, certainly impressed. -I’ve read of these things, but it is very different when you see them. -What weighs most with me is the obvious sincerity and sanity of all you -people. No one could doubt that.”</p> - -<p>“Come. We’re gettin’ on,” said Bolsover.</p> - -<p>“I try to think the objections which would be raised by others who were -not present. I’ll have to answer them. First, there is the oddity of it -all. It is so different to our preconceptions of spirit people.”</p> - -<p>“We must fit our theories to the facts,” said Mailey. “Up to now we have -fitted the facts to our theories. You must remember that we have been -dealing to-night—with all respect to our dear good hosts—with a -simple, primitive, earthly type of spirit, who has his very definite -uses, but is not to be taken as an average type. You might as well take -the stevedore whom you<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_74">{74}</a></span> see on the quay as being a representative -Englishman.”</p> - -<p>“There’s Luke,” said Bolsover.</p> - -<p>“Ah, yes, he is, of course, very much higher. You heard him and could -judge. What else, Mr. Malone?”</p> - -<p>“Well, the darkness! Everything done in darkness. Why should all -mediumship be associated with gloom?”</p> - -<p>“You mean all physical mediumship. That is the only branch of the -subject which needs darkness. It is purely chemical, like the darkness -of the photographic room. It preserves the delicate physical substance -which, drawn from the human body, is the basis of these phenomena. A -cabinet is used for the purpose of condensing this same vaporous -substance and helping it to solidify. Am I clear?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but it is a pity all the same. It gives a horrible air of deceit -to the whole business.”</p> - -<p>“We get it now and again in the light, Mr. Malone,” said Bolsover. “I -don’t know if Wee One is gone yet. Wait a bit! Where are the matches?” -He lit the candle which set them all blinking after their long darkness. -“Now let us see what we can do.”</p> - -<p>There was a round wooden platter or circle of wood lying among the -miscellaneous objects littered over the table to serve as playthings for -the strange forces. Bolsover stared at it. They all stared at it. They -had risen but no one was within three feet of it.</p> - -<p>“Please, Wee One, please!” cried Mrs. Bolsover.</p> - -<p>Malone could hardly believe his eyes. The disc began to move. It -quivered and then rattled upon the table, exactly as the lid of a -boiling pot might do.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_75">{75}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Up with it, Wee One!” They were all clapping their hands.</p> - -<p>The circle of wood, in the full light of the candle, rose upon edge and -stood there shaking as if trying to keep its balance.</p> - -<p>“Give three tilts, Wee One.”</p> - -<p>The disc inclined forward three times. Then it fell flat and remained -so.</p> - -<p>“I am so glad you have seen that,” said Mailey. “There is Telekenesis in -its simplest and most decisive form.”</p> - -<p>“I could not have believed it!” cried Enid.</p> - -<p>“Nor I,” said Malone. “I have extended my knowledge of what is possible. -Mr. Bolsover, you have enlarged my views.”</p> - -<p>“Good, Mr. Malone!”</p> - -<p>“As to the power at the back of these things I am still ignorant. As to -the things themselves I have now and henceforward not the slightest -doubt in the world. I <i>know</i> that they are true. I wish you all good -night. It is not likely that Miss Challenger or I will ever forget the -evening that we have spent under your roof.”</p> - -<p>It was like another world when they came out into the frosty air, and -saw the taxis bearing back the pleasure seekers from theatre or cinema -palace. Mailey stood beside them while they waited for a cab.</p> - -<p>“I know exactly how you feel,” he said, smiling. “You look at all these -bustling, complacent people, and you marvel to think how little they -know of the possibilities of life. Don’t you want to stop them? Don’t -you want to tell them? And yet they would only think you a liar or a -lunatic. Funny situation, is it not?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_76">{76}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I’ve lost all my bearings for the moment.”</p> - -<p>“They will come back to-morrow morning. It is curious how fleeting these -impressions are. You will persuade yourselves that you have been -dreaming. Well, good-bye—and let me know if I can help your studies in -the future.”</p> - -<p>The friends—one could hardly yet call them lovers—were absorbed in -thought during their drive home. When he reached Victoria Gardens Malone -escorted Enid to the door of the flat, but he did not go in with her. -Somehow the jeers of Challenger which usually rather woke sympathy -within him would now get upon his nerves. As it was he heard his -greeting in the hall.</p> - -<p>“Well, Enid. Where’s your spook? Spill him out of the bag on the floor -and let us have a look at him.”</p> - -<p>His evening’s adventure ended as it had begun, with a bellow of laughter -which pursued him down the lift.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_77">{77}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br><br> -<small>WHERE OUR COMMISSIONERS HAVE A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">M</span>ALONE sat at the side table of the smoking-room of the Literary Club. -He had Enid’s impressions of the séance before him—very subtle and -observant they were—and he was endeavouring to merge them in his own -experience. A group of men were smoking and chatting round the fire. -This did not disturb the journalist, who found, as many do, that his -brain and his pen worked best sometimes when they were stimulated by the -knowledge that he was part of a busy world. Presently, however, somebody -who observed his presence brought the talk round to psychic subjects, -and then it was more difficult for him to remain aloof. He leaned back -in his chair and listened.</p> - -<p>Polter, the famous novelist, was there, a brilliant man with a subtle -mind, which he used too often to avoid obvious truth and to defend some -impossible position for the sake of the empty dialectic exercise. He was -holding forth now to an admiring, but not entirely a subservient -audience.</p> - -<p>“Science,” said he, “is gradually sweeping the world clear of all these -old cobwebs of superstition. The world was like some old, dusty attic, -and the sun of science is bursting in, flooding it with light, while the -dust settles gradually to the floor.”</p> - -<p>“By science,” said someone maliciously, “you mean,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_78">{78}</a></span> of course, men like -Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Barrett, Lombroso, -Richet, and so forth.”</p> - -<p>Polter was not accustomed to be countered, and usually became rude.</p> - -<p>“No, sir, I mean nothing so preposterous,” he answered, with a glare. -“No name, however eminent, can claim to stand for science so long as he -is a member of an insignificant minority of scientific men.”</p> - -<p>“He is, then, a crank,” said Pollifex, the artist, who usually played -jackal to Polter.</p> - -<p>The objector, one Millworthy, a free-lance of journalism, was not to be -so easily silenced.</p> - -<p>“Then Galileo was a crank in his day,” said he. “And Harvey was a crank -when he was laughed at over the circulation of the blood.”</p> - -<p>“It’s the circulation of the <i>Daily Gazette</i> which is at stake,” said -Marrible, the humorist of the club. “If they get off their stunt I don’t -suppose they care a tinker’s curse what is truth or what is not.”</p> - -<p>“Why such things should be examined at all, except in a police court, I -can’t imagine,” said Polter. “It is a dispersal of energy, a -misdirection of human thought into channels which lead nowhere. We have -plenty of obvious, material things to examine. Let us get on with our -jobs.”</p> - -<p>Atkinson, the surgeon, was one of the circle, and had sat silently -listening. Now he spoke.</p> - -<p>“I think the learned bodies should find more time for the consideration -of psychic matters.”</p> - -<p>“Less,” said Polter.</p> - -<p>“You can’t have less than nothing. They ignore them altogether. Some -time ago I had a series of cases of telepathic <i>rapport</i> which I wished -to lay before the Royal Society. My colleague Wilson, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_79">{79}</a></span> zoologist, -also had a paper which he proposed to read. They went in together. His -was accepted and mine rejected. The title of his paper was ‘The -Reproductive System of the Dung-Beetle.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>There was a general laugh.</p> - -<p>“Quite right, too,” said Polter. “The humble dung-beetle was at least a -fact. All this psychic stuff is not.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt you have good grounds for your views,” chirped the mischievous -Millworthy, a mild youth with a velvety manner. “I have little time for -solid reading, so I should like to ask you which of Dr. Crawford’s three -books you consider the best?”</p> - -<p>“I never heard of the fellow.”</p> - -<p>Millworthy simulated intense surprise.</p> - -<p>“Good Heavens, man! Why, he is <i>the</i> authority. If you want pure -laboratory experiments those are the books. You might as well lay down -the law about zoology and confess that you had never heard of Darwin.”</p> - -<p>“This is not science,” said Polter, emphatically.</p> - -<p>“What is really not science,” said Atkinson, with some heat, “is the -laying down of the law on matters which you have not studied. It is talk -of that sort which has brought me to the edge of Spiritualism, when I -compare this dogmatic ignorance with the earnest search for truth -conducted by the great Spiritualists. Many of them took twenty years of -work before they formed their conclusions.”</p> - -<p>“But their conclusions are worthless because they are upholding a formed -opinion.”</p> - -<p>“But each of them fought a long fight before he formed that opinion. I -know a few of them, and there is not one who did not take a lot of -convincing.”</p> - -<p>Polter shrugged his shoulders.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_80">{80}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Well, they can have their spooks if it makes them happier, so long as -they let me keep my feet firm on the ground.”</p> - -<p>“Or stuck in the mud,” said Atkinson.</p> - -<p>“I would rather be in the mud with sane people than in the air with -lunatics,” said Polter. “I know some of these Spiritualist people and I -believe that you can divide them equally into fools and rogues.”</p> - -<p>Malone had listened with interest and then with a growing indignation. -Now he suddenly took fire.</p> - -<p>“Look here, Polter,” he said, turning his chair towards the company, “it -is fools and dolts like you which are holding back the world’s progress. -You admit that you have read nothing of this, and I’ll swear that you -have seen nothing. Yet you use the position and the name which you have -won in other matters in order to discredit a number of people who, -whatever they may be, are certainly very earnest and very thoughtful.”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” said Polter, “I had no idea you had got so far. You don’t dare to -say so in your articles. You <i>are</i> a Spiritualist then. That rather -discounts your views, does it not?”</p> - -<p>“I am not a Spiritualist, but I am an honest inquirer, and that is more -than you have ever been. You call them rogues and fools, but, little as -I know, I am sure that some of them are men and women whose boots you -are not worthy to clean.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, come, Malone!” cried one or two voices, but the insulted Polter was -on his feet. “It’s men like you who empty this club,” he cried, as he -swept out. “I shall certainly never come here again to be insulted.”</p> - -<p>“I say, you’ve done it, Malone!”</p> - -<p>“I felt inclined to help him out with a kick. Why<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_81">{81}</a></span> should he ride -roughshod over other people’s feelings and beliefs? He has got on and -most of us haven’t, so he thinks it’s a condescension to come among us.”</p> - -<p>“Dear old Irishman!” said Atkinson, patting his shoulder. “Rest, -perturbed spirit, rest! But I wanted to have a word with you. Indeed, I -was waiting here because I did not want to interrupt you.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve had interruptions enough!” cried Malone. “How could I work with -that damned donkey braying in my ear?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve only a word to say. I’ve got a sitting with Linden, the -famous medium of whom I spoke to you, at the Psychic College to-night. I -have an extra ticket. Would you care to come?”</p> - -<p>“Come? I should think so!”</p> - -<p>“I have another ticket. I should have asked Polter if he had not been so -offensive. Linden does not mind sceptics, but objects to scoffers. Whom -should I ask?”</p> - -<p>“Let Miss Enid Challenger come. We work together, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Why, of course I will. Will you let her know?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly.”</p> - -<p>“It’s at seven o’clock to-night. The Psychic College. You know the place -down at Holland Park.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I have the address. Very well, Miss Challenger and I will -certainly be there.”</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>Behold the pair, then, upon a fresh psychic adventure. They picked -Atkinson up at Wimpole Street, and then traversed that long, roaring, -rushing driving belt of the great city which extends through Oxford -Street and Bayswater to Notting Hill and the stately Victorian houses of -Holland Park. It was at one of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_82">{82}</a></span> these that the taxi drew up, a large, -imposing building, standing back a little from the road. A smart maid -admitted them, and the subdued light of the tinted hall-lamp fell upon -shining linoleum and polished wood-work with the gleam of white marble -statuary in the corner. Enid’s female perceptions told her of a -well-run, well-appointed establishment, with a capable direction at the -head. This direction took the shape of a kindly Scottish lady who met -them in the hall and greeted Mr. Atkinson as an old friend. She was, in -turn, introduced to the journalists as Mrs. Ogilvy. Malone had already -heard how her husband and she had founded and run this remarkable -institute, which is the centre of psychic experiment in London, at a -very great cost, both in labour and in money, to themselves.</p> - -<p>“Linden and his wife have gone up,” said Mrs. Ogilvy. “He seems to think -that the conditions are favourable. The rest are in the drawing-room. -Won’t you join them for a few minutes?”</p> - -<p>Quite a number of people had gathered for the séance, some of them old -psychic students who were mildly interested; others, beginners who -looked about them with rather startled eyes, wondering what was going to -happen next. A tall man was standing near the door who turned and -disclosed the tawny beard and open face of Algernon Mailey. He shook -hands with the newcomers.</p> - -<p>“Another experience, Mr. Malone? Well, I thought you gave a very fair -account of the last. You are still a neophyte, but you are well within -the gates of the temple. Are you alarmed, Miss Challenger?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think I could be while you were around,” she answered.</p> - -<p>He laughed.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_83">{83}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Of course, a materialisation séance is a little different to any -other—more impressive, in a way. You’ll find it very instructive, -Malone, as bearing upon psychic photography and other matters. By the -way, you should try for a psychic picture. The famous Hope works -upstairs.”</p> - -<p>“I always thought that that at least was fraud.”</p> - -<p>“On the contrary, I should say it was the best established of all -phenomena, the one which leaves the most permanent proof. I’ve been a -dozen times under every possible test condition. The real trouble is, -not that it lends itself to fraud, but that it lends itself to -exploitation by that villainous journalism which cares only for a -sensation. Do you know anyone here?”</p> - -<p>“No, we don’t.”</p> - -<p>“The tall, handsome lady is the Duchess of Rossland. Then, there are -Lord and Lady Montnoir, the middle-aged couple near the fire. Real good -folk and among the very few of the aristocracy who have shown -earnestness and moral courage in this matter. The talkative lady is Miss -Badley, who lives for séances, a jaded Society woman in search of new -sensations—always visible, always audible and always empty. I don’t -know the two men. I heard someone say they were researchers from the -University. The stout man with the lady in black is Sir James -Smith—they lost two boys in the war. The tall, dark person is a weird -man named Barclay, who lives, I understand, in one room and seldom comes -out save for a séance.”</p> - -<p>“And the man with the horn glasses?”</p> - -<p>“That is a pompous ass named Weatherby. He is one of those who wander -about on the obscure edges of Masonry, talking with whispers and -reverence of mysteries where no mystery is. Spiritualism, with its<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_84">{84}</a></span> very -real and awful mysteries, is, to him, a vulgar thing because it brought -consolation to common folk, but he loves to read papers on the Palladian -Cultus, ancient and accepted Scottish rites, and Baphometic figures. -Eliphas Levi is his prophet.”</p> - -<p>“It sounds very learned,” said Enid.</p> - -<p>“Or very absurd. But, hullo! Here are mutual friends.”</p> - -<p>The two Bolsovers had arrived, very hot and frowsy and genial. There is -no such leveller of classes as spiritualism, and the charwoman with -psychic force is the superior of the millionaire who lacks it. The -Bolsovers and the aristocrats fraternised instantly. The Duchess was -just asking for admission to the grocer’s circle, when Mrs. Ogilvy -bustled in.</p> - -<p>“I think everyone is here now,” she said. “It is time to go upstairs.”</p> - -<p>The séance room was a large, comfortable chamber on the first floor, -with a circle of easy chairs, and a curtain-hung divan which served as a -cabinet. The medium and his wife were waiting there. Mr. Linden was a -gentle, large-featured man, stoutish in build, deep-chested, -clean-shaven, with dreamy, blue eyes and flaxen, curly hair which rose -in a pyramid at the apex of his head. He was of middle age. His wife was -rather younger, with the sharp, querulous expression of the tired -housekeeper, and quick, critical eyes, which softened into something -like adoration when she looked at her husband. Her rôle was to explain -matters and to guard his interests while he was unconscious.</p> - -<p>“The sitters had better just take their own places,” said the medium. -“If you can alternate the sexes it is as well. Don’t cross your knees, -it breaks the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_85">{85}</a></span> current. If we have a materialisation, don’t grab at it. -If you do, you are liable to injure me.”</p> - -<p>The two sleuths of the Research Society looked at each other knowingly. -Mailey observed it.</p> - -<p>“Quite right,” he said. “I have seen two cases of dangerous haemorrhage -in the medium brought on by that very cause.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked Malone.</p> - -<p>“Because the ectoplasm used is drawn from the medium. It recoils upon -him like a snapped elastic band. Where it comes through the skin you get -a bruise. Where it comes from mucous membrane you get bleeding.”</p> - -<p>“And when it comes from nothing, you get nothing,” said the researcher -with a grin.</p> - -<p>“I will explain the procedure in a few words,” said Mrs. Ogilvy, when -everyone was seated. “Mr. Linden does not enter the cabinet at all. He -sits outside it, and as he tolerates red light you will be able to -satisfy yourselves that he does not leave his seat. Mrs. Linden sits on -the other side. She is there to regulate and explain. In the first place -we would wish you to examine the cabinet. One of you will also please -lock the door on the inside and be responsible for the key.”</p> - -<p>The cabinet proved to be a mere tent of hangings, detached from the wall -and standing on a solid platform. The reseachers ferreted about inside -it and stamped on the boards. All seemed solid.</p> - -<p>“What is the use of it?” Malone whispered to Mailey.</p> - -<p>“It serves as a reservoir and condensing place for the ectoplasmic -vapour from the medium, which would otherwise diffuse over the room.”</p> - -<p>“It has been known to serve other purposes also,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_86">{86}</a></span>” remarked one of the -researchers, who overheard the conversation.</p> - -<p>“That’s true enough,” said Mailey philosophically. “I am all in favour -of caution and supervision.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it seems fraud-proof on this occasion, if the medium sits -outside.” The two researchers were agreed on this.</p> - -<p>The medium was seated on one side of the little tent, his wife on the -other. The light was out, and a small red lamp near the ceiling was just -sufficient to enable outlines to be clearly seen. As the eye became -accustomed to it some detail could also be observed.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Linden will begin by some clairvoyant readings,” said Mrs. Linden. -Her whole attitude, seated beside the cabinet with her hands on her lap -and the air of a proprietor, made Enid smile, for she thought of Mrs. -Jarley and her waxworks.</p> - -<p>Linden, who was not in trance, began to give clairvoyance. It was not -very good. Possibly the mixed influence of so many sitters of various -types at close quarters was too disturbing. That was the excuse which he -gave himself when several of his descriptions were unrecognised. But -Malone was more shocked by those which were recognised, since it was so -clear that the word was put into the medium’s mouth. It was the folly of -the sitter rather than the fault of the medium, but it was disconcerting -all the same.</p> - -<p>“I see a young man with brown eyes and a rather drooping moustache.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, darling, darling, have you then come back!” cried Miss Badley. “Oh, -has he a message?”</p> - -<p>“He sends his love and does not forget.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, how evidential! It is so exactly what the dear boy would have said! -My first lover, you know,” she added, in a simpering voice to the -com<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_87">{87}</a></span>pany. “He never fails to come. Mr. Linden has brought him again and -again.”</p> - -<p>“There is a young fellow in khaki building upon the left. I see a symbol -over his head. It might be a Greek cross.”</p> - -<p>“Jim—it is surely Jim!” cried Lady Smith.</p> - -<p>“Yes. He nods his head.”</p> - -<p>“And the Greek cross is probably a propeller,” said Sir James. “He was -in the Air Service, you know.”</p> - -<p>Malone and Enid were both rather shocked. Mailey was also uneasy.</p> - -<p>“This is not good,” he whispered to Enid. “Wait a bit! You will get -something better.”</p> - -<p>There were several good recognitions, and then someone resembling -Summerlee was described for Malone. This was wisely discounted by him, -since Linden might have been in the audience on the former occasion. -Mrs. Debbs’ exhibition seemed to him far more convincing than that of -Linden.</p> - -<p>“Wait a bit!” Mailey repeated.</p> - -<p>“The medium will now try for materialisations,” said Mrs. Linden. “If -the figures appear I would ask you not to touch them, save by request. -Victor will tell you if you may do so. Victor is the medium’s control.”</p> - -<p>The medium had settled down in his chair and he now began to draw long, -whistling breaths with deep intakes, puffing the air out between his -lips. Finally he steadied down and seemed to sink into a deep coma, his -chin upon his breast. Suddenly he spoke, but it seemed that his voice -was better modulated and more cultivated than before.</p> - -<p>“Good evening, all!” said the voice.</p> - -<p>There was a general murmur of “Good evening, Victor.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_88">{88}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I am afraid that the vibrations are not very harmonious. The sceptical -element is present, but not, I think, predominant, so that we may hope -for results. Martin Lightfoot is doing what he can.”</p> - -<p>“That is the Indian control,” Mailey whispered.</p> - -<p>“I think that if you would start the gramophone it would be helpful. A -hymn is always best, though there is no real objection to secular music. -Give us what you think best, Mrs. Ogilvy.”</p> - -<p>There was the rasping of a needle which had not yet found its grooves. -Then “Lead, Kindly Light” was churned out. The audience joined in in a -subdued fashion. Mrs. Ogilvy then changed it to “O, God, our help in -ages past.”</p> - -<p>“They often change the records themselves,” said Mrs. Ogilvy, “but -to-night there it not enough power.”</p> - -<p>“O, yes,” said the voice. “There <i>is</i> enough power, Mrs. Ogilvy, but we -are anxious to conserve it all for the materialisations. Martin says -they are building up very well.”</p> - -<p>At this moment the curtain in front of the cabinet began to sway. It -bellied out as if a strong wind were behind it. At the same time a -breeze was felt by all who were in the circle, together with a sensation -of cold.</p> - -<p>“It is quite chilly,” whispered Enid, with a shiver.</p> - -<p>“It is not a subjective feeling,” Mailey answered. “Mr. Harry Price has -tested it with thermometric readings. So did Professor Crawford.”</p> - -<p>“My God!” cried a startled voice. It belonged to the pompous dabbler in -mysteries, who was suddenly faced with a real mystery. The curtains of -the cabinet had parted and a human figure had stolen noiselessly out. -There was the medium clearly outlined on one<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_89">{89}</a></span> side. There was Mrs. -Linden, who had sprung to her feet, on the other. And, between them, the -little black, hesitating figure, which seemed to be terrified at its own -position. Mrs. Linden soothed and encouraged it.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be alarmed, dear. It is all quite right. No one will hurt you.”</p> - -<p>“It is someone who has never been through before,” she explained to the -company. “Naturally it seems very strange to her. Just as strange as if -we broke into their world. That’s right, dear. You are gaining strength, -I can see. Well done!”</p> - -<p>The figure was moving forward. Everyone sat spell bound, with staring -eyes. Miss Badley began to giggle hysterically. Weatherby lay back in -his chair, gasping with horror. Neither Malone nor Enid felt any fear, -but were consumed with curiosity. How marvellous to hear the humdrum -flow of life in the street outside and to be face to face with such a -sight as that.</p> - -<p>Slowly the figure moved round. Now it was close to Enid and between her -and the red light. Stooping, she could get the silhouette sharply -outlined. It was that of a little, elderly woman, with sharp, clear-cut -features.</p> - -<p>“It’s Susan!” cried Mrs. Bolsover. “Oh, Susan, don’t you know me?”</p> - -<p>The figure turned and nodded her head.</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, dear, it is your sister Susie,” cried her husband. “I never -saw her in anything but black. Susan, speak to us!”</p> - -<p>The head was shaken.</p> - -<p>“They seldom speak the first time they come,” said Mrs. Linden, whose -rather blasé, businesslike air was in contrast to the intense emotion of -the company.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_90">{90}</a></span> “I’m afraid she can’t hold together long. Ah, there! She -has gone!”</p> - -<p>The figure had disappeared. There had been some backward movement -towards the cabinet, but it seemed to the observers that she sank into -the ground before she reached it. At any rate, she was gone.</p> - -<p>“Gramophone, please!” said Mrs. Linden. Everyone relaxed and sat back -with a sigh. The gramophone struck up a lively air. Suddenly the -curtains parted, and a second figure appeared.</p> - -<p>It was a young girl, with flowing hair down her back. She came forward -swiftly and with perfect assurance to the centre of the circle.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Linden laughed in a satisfied way.</p> - -<p>“Now you will get something good,” she said. “Here is Lucille.”</p> - -<p>“Good evening, Lucille!” cried the Duchess. “I met you last month, you -will remember, when your medium came to Maltraver Towers.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, lady, I remember you. You have a little boy, Tommy, on our -side of life. No, no, not dead, lady! We are far more alive than you -are. All the fun and frolic are with us!” She spoke in a high, clear -voice and perfect English.</p> - -<p>“Shall I show you what we do over here?” She began a graceful, gliding -dance, while she whistled as melodiously as a bird. “Poor Susan could -not do that. Susan has had no practice. Lucille knows how to use a -built-up body.”</p> - -<p>“Do you remember me, Lucille?” asked Mailey.</p> - -<p>“I remember you, Mr. Mailey. Big man with yellow beard.”</p> - -<p>For the second time in her life Enid had to pinch herself hard to -satisfy herself that she was not dreaming. Was this graceful creature, -who had now sat<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_91">{91}</a></span> down in the centre of the circle, a real -materialisation of ectoplasm, used for the moment as a machine for -expression by a soul that had passed, or was it an illusion of the -senses, or was it a fraud? There were the three possibilities. An -illusion was absurd when all had the same impression. Was it fraud? But -this was certainly not the little old woman. She was inches taller and -fair, not dark. And the cabinet was fraud-proof. It had been -meticulously examined. Then it was true. But if it were true, what a -vista of possibilities opened out. Was it not far the greatest matter -which could claim the attention of the world!</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Lucille had been so natural and the situation was so normal -that even the most nervous had relaxed. The girl answered most -cheerfully to every question, and they rained upon her from every side.</p> - -<p>“Where did you live, Lucille?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I had better answer that,” interposed Mrs. Linden. “It will -save the power. Lucille was bred in South Dakota in the United States, -and passed over at the age of fourteen. We have verified some of her -statements.”</p> - -<p>“Are you glad you died, Lucille?”</p> - -<p>“Glad for my own sake. Sorry for mother.”</p> - -<p>“Has your mother seen you since?”</p> - -<p>“Poor mother is a shut box. Lucille cannot open the lid.”</p> - -<p>“Are you happy?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, so gloriously happy.”</p> - -<p>“Is it right that you can come back?”</p> - -<p>“Would God allow it if it were not right? What a wicked man you must be -to ask!”</p> - -<p>“What religion were you?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_92">{92}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“We were Roman Catholics.”</p> - -<p>“Is that the right religion?”</p> - -<p>“All religions are right if they make you better.”</p> - -<p>“Then it does not matter.”</p> - -<p>“It is what people do in daily life, not what they believe.”</p> - -<p>“Tell us more, Lucille.”</p> - -<p>“Lucille has little time. There are others who wish to come. If Lucille -uses too much power, the others have less. Oh, God is very good and -kind! You poor people on earth do not know how good and kind He is -because it is grey down there. But it is grey for your own good. It is -to give you your chance to earn all the lovely things which wait for -you. But you can only tell how wonderful He is when you get over here.”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen him?”</p> - -<p>“Seen him! How could you see God? No, no, He is all round us and in us -and in everything, but we do not see Him. But I have seen the Christ. -Oh, He was glorious, glorious! Now, good-bye—good-bye!” She backed -towards the cabinet and sank into the shadows.</p> - -<p>Now came a tremendous experience for Malone. A small, dark, rather broad -figure of a woman appeared slowly from the cabinet. Mrs. Linden -encouraged her and then came across to the journalist.</p> - -<p>“It is for you. You can break the circle. Come up to her.”</p> - -<p>Malone advanced and peered awestruck into the face of the apparition. -There was not a foot between them. Surely that large head, that solid, -square outline was familiar! He put his face still nearer—it was almost -touching. He strained his eyes. It seemed to him that the features were -semi-fluid,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_93">{93}</a></span> moulding themselves into a shape, as if some unseen hand -was modelling them in putty.</p> - -<p>“Mother!” he cried. “Mother!”</p> - -<p>Instantly the figure threw up both her hands in a wild gesture of joy. -The motion seemed to destroy her equilibrium and she vanished.</p> - -<p>“She had not been through before. She could not speak,” said Mrs. -Linden, in her businesslike way. “It was your mother.”</p> - -<p>Malone went back, half-stunned, to his seat. It is only when these -things come to one’s own address that one understands their full force. -His mother! Ten years in her grave and yet standing before him. Could he -<i>swear</i> it was his mother? No, he could not. Was he morally certain that -it was his mother? Yes, he was morally certain. He was shaken to the -core.</p> - -<p>But other wonders diverted his thoughts. A young man had emerged briskly -from the cabinet and had advanced to the front of Mailey, where he had -halted.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, Jock! Dear old Jock!” said Mailey. “My nephew,” he explained to -the company. “He always comes when I am with Linden.”</p> - -<p>“The power is sinking,” said the lad, in a clear voice. “I can’t stay -very long. I am so glad to see you, Uncle. You know, we can see quite -clearly in this light, even if you can’t.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know you can. I say, Jock. I wanted to tell you that I told your -mother I had seen you. She said her Church taught her it was wrong.”</p> - -<p>“I know. And that I was a demon. Oh, it is rotten, rotten, rotten, and -rotten things will fall!” His voice broke in a sob.</p> - -<p>“Don’t blame her, Jock, she believes this.”</p> - -<p>“No, no, I don’t blame her! She will know better some day. The day is -coming soon when all truth<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_94">{94}</a></span> will be manifest and all these corrupt -Churches will be swept off the earth with their cruel doctrines and -their caricatures of God.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Jock, you are becoming quite a heretic!”</p> - -<p>“Love, Uncle! Love! That is all that counts. What matter what you -believe if you are sweet and kind and unselfish as the Christ was of -old?”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen Christ?” asked someone.</p> - -<p>“Not yet. Perhaps the time may come.”</p> - -<p>“Is He not in Heaven, then?”</p> - -<p>“There are many heavens. I am in a very humble one. But it is glorious, -all the same.”</p> - -<p>Enid had thrust her head forward during this dialogue. Her eyes had got -used to the light and she could see more clearly than before. The man -who stood within a few feet of her was not human. Of that she had no -doubt whatever, and yet the points were very subtle. Something in his -strange, yellow-white colouring as contrasted with the faces of her -neighbours. Something, also, in the curious stiffness of his carriage, -as of a man in very rigid stays.</p> - -<p>“Now, Jock,” said Mailey, “give an address to the company. Tell them a -few words about your life.”</p> - -<p>The figure hung his head, exactly as a shy youth would do in life.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Uncle, I can’t.”</p> - -<p>“Come, Jock, we love to listen to you.”</p> - -<p>“Teach the folk what death is,” the figure began. “God wants them to -know. That is why He lets us come back. It is nothing. You are no more -changed than if you went into the next room. You can’t believe you are -dead. I didn’t. It was only when I saw old Sam that I knew, for I was -certain that he was dead, anyhow. Then I came back to mother. And”—his -voice broke—“she would not receive me.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_95">{95}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, dear old Jock,” said Mailey. “She will learn wisdom.”</p> - -<p>“Teach them the truth! Teach it to them! Oh, it is so much more -important than all the things men talk about. If papers for one week -gave as much attention to psychic things as they do to football, it -would be known to all. It is ignorance which stands——”</p> - -<p>The observers were conscious of a sort of flash towards the cabinet, but -the youth had disappeared.</p> - -<p>“Power run down,” said Mailey. “Poor lad, he held on to the last. He -always did. That was how he died.”</p> - -<p>There was a long pause. The gramophone started again. Then there was a -movement of the curtains. Something was emerging. Mrs. Linden sprang up -and waved the figure back. The medium for the first time stirred in his -chair and groaned.</p> - -<p>“What is the matter, Mrs. Linden?”</p> - -<p>“Only half-formed,” she answered. “The lower face had not materialised. -Some of you would have been alarmed. I think that we shall have no more -to-night. The power has sunk very low.”</p> - -<p>So it proved. The lights were gradually turned on. The medium lay with a -white face and a clammy brow in his chair, while his wife sedulously -watched over him, unbuttoning his collar and bathing his face from a -water-glass. The company broke into little groups, discussing what they -had seen.</p> - -<p>“Oh, wasn’t it thrilling!” cried Miss Badley. “It really was most -exciting. But what a pity we could not see the one with the -semi-materialised face.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, I have seen quite enough,” said the pompous mystic, all the -pomposity shaken out of him.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_96">{96}</a></span></p> - -<p>“I confess that it has been rather too much for my nerves.”</p> - -<p>Dr. Atkinson found himself near the psychic researchers. “Well, what do -you make of it?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I have seen it better done at Maskelyne’s Hall,” said one.</p> - -<p>“Oh, come, Scott!” said the other. “You’ve no right to say that. You -admitted that the cabinet was fraud-proof.”</p> - -<p>“Well, so do the committees who go on the stage at Maskelyne’s.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but it is Maskelyne’s own stage. This is not Linden’s own stage. -He has no machinery.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Populus vult decipi</i>,” the other answered, shrugging his shoulders. “I -should certainly reserve judgment.” He moved away with the dignity of -one who cannot be deceived, while his more rational companion still -argued with him as they went.</p> - -<p>“Did you hear that?” said Atkinson. “There is a certain class of psychic -researcher who is absolutely incapable of receiving evidence. They -misuse their brains by straining them to find a way round when the road -is quite clear before them. When the human race advances into its new -kingdom, these intellectual men will form the absolute rear.”</p> - -<p>“No, no,” said Mailey, laughing. “The bishops are predestined to be the -rearguard. I see them all marching in step, a solid body, with their -gaiters and cassocks—the last in the whole world to reach spiritual -truth.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, come,” said Enid, “that is too severe. They are all good men.”</p> - -<p>“Of course they are. It’s quite physiological. They are a body of -elderly men, and the elderly brain<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_97">{97}</a></span> is sclerosed and cannot record new -impressions. It’s not their fault, but the fact remains. You are very -silent, Malone.”</p> - -<p>But Malone was thinking of a little, squat, dark figure which waved its -hands in joy when he spoke to it. It was with that image in his mind -that he turned from this room of wonders and passed down into the -street.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_98">{98}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH THE READER IS SHOWN THE HABITS OF A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">W</span>E will now leave that little group with whom we have made our first -exploration of these grey and ill-defined, but immensely important, -regions of human thought and experiences. From the researchers we will -turn to the researched. Come with me and we will visit Mr. Linden at -home, and will examine the lights and shades which make up the life of a -professional medium.</p> - -<p>To reach him we will pass down the crowded thoroughfare of Tottenham -Court Road, where the huge furniture emporia flank the way, and we will -turn into a small street of drab houses which leads eastwards towards -the British Museum. Tullis Street is the name and 40 the number. Here it -is, one of a row, flat-faced, dull-coloured and commonplace, with railed -steps leading up to a discoloured door, and one front-room window, in -which a huge gilt-edged Bible upon a small round table reassures the -timid visitor. With the universal pass-key of imagination we open the -dingy door, pass down a dark passage and up a narrow stair. It is nearly -ten o’clock in the morning and yet it is in his bedroom that we must -seek the famous worker of miracles. The fact is that he has had, as we -have seen, an exhausting sitting the night before, and that he has to -conserve his strength in the mornings.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_99">{99}</a></span></p> - -<p>At the moment of our inopportune, but invisible, visit he was sitting -up, propped by the pillows, with a breakfast-tray upon his knees. The -vision he presented would have amused those who have prayed with him in -the humble Spiritualist temples, or had sat with awe at the séances -where he had exhibited the modern equivalents of the gifts of the -Spirit. He looked unhealthily pallid in the dim morning light, and his -curly hair rose up in a tangled pyramid above his broad, intellectual -brow. The open collar of his night-shirt displayed a broad, bull’s neck, -and the depth of his chest and spread of his shoulders showed that he -was a man of considerable personal strength. He was eating his breakfast -with avidity while he conversed with the little, eager, dark-eyed wife -who was seated on the side of the bed.</p> - -<p>“And you reckon it a good meeting, Mary?”</p> - -<p>“Fair to middling, Tom. There was two of them researchers raking round -with their feet and upsetting everybody. D’ye think those folk in the -Bible would have got their phenomena if they had chaps of that sort on -the premises? ‘Of one accord,’ that’s what they say in the Book.”</p> - -<p>“Of course!” cried Linden heartily. “Was the Duchess pleased?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I think she was very pleased. So was Mr. Atkinson, the surgeon. -There was a new man there called Malone of the Press. Then Lord and Lady -Montnoir got evidence and so did Sir James Smith and Mr. Mailey.”</p> - -<p>“I wasn’t satisfied with the clairvoyance,” said the medium. “The silly -idiots kept on putting things into my mind. ‘That’s surely my Uncle -Sam,’ and so forth. It blurs me so that I can see nothing clear.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and they think they are helping! Helping<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_100">{100}</a></span> to muddle you and -deceive themselves. I know the kind.”</p> - -<p>“But I went under nicely and I am glad there were some fine -materialisations. It took it out of me, though. I’m a rag this morning.”</p> - -<p>“They work you too hard, dear. I’ll take you to Margate and build you -up.”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe at Easter we could do a week. It would be fine. I don’t -mind readings and clairvoyance, but the physicals do try you. I’m not as -bad as Hallows. They say he just lies white and gasping on the floor -after them.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” cried the woman bitterly. “And then they run to him with whiskey, -and so they teach him to rely on the bottle and you get another case of -a drunken medium. I know them. You keep off it, Tom!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, one of our trade should stick to soft drinks. If he can stick to -vegetables, too, he’s all the better, but I can’t preach that while I am -wolfin’ up ham and eggs. By Gosh, Mary! it’s past ten and I have a -string of them comin’ this morning. I’m going to make a bit to-day.”</p> - -<p>“You give it away as quick as you make it, Tom.”</p> - -<p>“Well, some hard cases come my way. So long as we can make both ends -meet what more do we want? I expect <i>they</i> will look after us all -right.”</p> - -<p>“They have let down a lot of other poor mediums who did good work in -their day.”</p> - -<p>“It’s the rich folk that are to blame, not the Spirit-people,” said Tom -Linden hotly. “It makes me see red when I remember these folk, Lady This -and Countess That, declaring all the comfort they have had, and then -leaving those who gave it to die in the gutter or rot in the workhouse. -Poor old Tweedy and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_101">{101}</a></span> Soames and the rest all living on old-age pensions -and the papers talking of the money that mediums make, while some damned -conjuror makes more than all of us put together by a rotten imitation -with two tons of machinery to help him.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry, dear,” cried the medium’s wife, putting her thin hand -caressingly upon the tangled mane of her man. “It all comes level in -time and everybody pays the price for what they have done.”</p> - -<p>Linden laughed loudly. “It’s my Welsh half that comes out when I flare -up. Let the conjurors take their dirty money and let the rich folk keep -their purses shut. I wonder what they think money is for. Paying death -duties is about the only fun some of them seem to get out of it. If I -had their money....”</p> - -<p>There was a knock at the door.</p> - -<p>“Please, sir, your brother Silas is below.”</p> - -<p>The two looked at each other with some dismay.</p> - -<p>“More trouble,” said Mrs. Linden sadly.</p> - -<p>Linden shrugged his shoulders. “All right, Susan!” he cried. “Tell him -I’ll be down. Now, dear, you keep him going and I’ll be with you in a -quarter of an hour.”</p> - -<p>In less time than he named he was down in the front-room—his consulting -room—where his wife was evidently having some difficulty in making -agreeable conversation with their visitor. He was a big, heavy man, not -unlike his elder brother, but with all the genial chubbiness of the -medium coarsened into pure brutality. He had the same pile of curly -hair, but he was clean-shaven with a heavy, obstinate jowl. He sat by -the window with his huge freckled hands upon his knees. A very important -part of Mr. Silas Linden lay in those hands, for he had been a -formidable<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_102">{102}</a></span> professional boxer, and at one time was fancied for the -welter-weight honours of England. Now, as his stained tweed suit and -frayed boots made clear, he had fallen on evil days, which he -endeavoured to mitigate by cadging on his brother.</p> - -<p>“Mornin’, Tom,” he said in a husky voice. Then as the wife left the -room: “Got a drop of Scotch about? I’ve a head on me this morning. I met -some of the old set last night down at ‘The Admiral Vernon.’ Quite a -reunion it was—chaps I hadn’t seen since my best ring days.”</p> - -<p>“Sorry, Silas,” said the medium, seating himself behind his desk. “I -keep nothing in the house.”</p> - -<p>“Spirits enough, but not the right sort,” said Silas. “Well, the price -of a drink will do as well. If you’ve got a Bradbury about you I could -do with it, for there’s nothing coming my way.”</p> - -<p>Tom Linden took a pound from his desk.</p> - -<p>“Here you are, Silas. So long as I have any you have your share. But you -had two pounds last week. Is it gone?”</p> - -<p>“Gone! I should say so!” He put the note in his pocket. “Now, look here, -Tom, I want to speak to you very serious as between man and man.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Silas, what is it?”</p> - -<p>“You see that!” He pointed to a lump on the back of his hand. “That’s a -bone! See? It will never be right. It was when I hit Curly Jenkins third -round and outed him at the N.S.C. I outed myself for life that night. I -can put up a show fight and exhibition bout, but I’m done for the real -thing. My right has gone west.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a hard case, Silas.”</p> - -<p>“Damned hard! But that’s neither here nor there. What matters is that -I’ve got to pick up a living and I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_103">{103}</a></span> want to know how to do it. An old -scrapper don’t find many openings. Chucker-out at a pub with free -drinks. Nothing doing there. What I want to know, Tom, is what’s the -matter with my becoming a medium?”</p> - -<p>“A medium?”</p> - -<p>“Why the devil should you stare at me! If it’s good enough for you it’s -good enough for me.”</p> - -<p>“But you are <i>not</i> a medium.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, come! Keep that for the newspapers. It’s all in the family, and -between you an’ me, how dy’e do it?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t do it. I do nothing.”</p> - -<p>“And get four or five quid a week for it. That’s a good yarn. Now you -can’t fool me, Tom. I’m not one o’ those duds that pay you a thick ’un -for an hour in the dark. We’re on the square, you an’ me. How d’ye do -it?”</p> - -<p>“Do what?”</p> - -<p>“Well, them raps, for example. I’ve seen you sit there at your desk, as -it might be, and raps come answerin’ questions over yonder on the -bookshelf. It’s damned clever—fair puzzles ’em every time. How d’ye get -them?”</p> - -<p>“I tell you I don’t. It’s outside myself.”</p> - -<p>“Rats! You can tell me, Tom. I’m Griffiths, the safe man. It would set -me up for life if I could do it.”</p> - -<p>For the second time in one morning the medium’s Welsh strain took -control.</p> - -<p>“You’re an impudent, blasphemous rascal, Silas Linden. It’s men like you -who come into our movement and give it a bad name. You should know me -better than to think that I am a cheat. Get out of my house, you -ungrateful rascal!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_104">{104}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Not too much of your lip,” growled the ruffian.</p> - -<p>“Out you go, or I’ll put you out, brother or no brother.”</p> - -<p>Silas doubled his great fists and looked ugly for a moment. Then the -anticipation of favours to come softened his mood.</p> - -<p>“Well, well, no harm meant,” he growled, as he made for the door. “I -expect I can make a shot at it without your help.” His grievance -suddenly overcame his prudence as he stood in the doorway. “You damned, -canting, hypocritical box-of-tricks. I’ll be even with you yet.”</p> - -<p>The heavy door slammed behind him.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Linden had run in to her husband.</p> - -<p>“The ’ulking blackguard!” she cried. “I ’eard ’im. What did ’e want?”</p> - -<p>“Wanted me to put him wise to mediumship. Thinks it’s a trick of some -sort that I could teach him.”</p> - -<p>“The foolish lump! Well, it’s a good thing, for he won’t dare show his -face here again.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, won’t he?”</p> - -<p>“If he does I’ll slap it for him. To think of his upsettin’ you like -this. Why, you’re shakin’ all over.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose I wouldn’t be a medium if I wasn’t high strung. Someone said -we were poets, only more so. But it’s bad just when work is beginning.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll give you healing.”</p> - -<p>She put her little, work-worn hands over his high forehead and held them -there in silence.</p> - -<p>“That’s better!” said he. “Well done, Mary. I’ll have a cigarette in the -kitchen. That will finish it.”</p> - -<p>“No, there’s someone here.” She had looked out<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_105">{105}</a></span> of the window. “Are you -fit to see her? It’s a woman.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes. I am all right now. Show her in.”</p> - -<p>An instant later a woman entered, a pale, tragic figure in black, whose -appearance told its own tale. Linden motioned her to a chair away from -the light. Then he looked through his papers.</p> - -<p>“You are Mrs. Blount, are you not? You had an appointment.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—I wanted to ask——”</p> - -<p>“Please ask me nothing. It confuses me.”</p> - -<p>He was looking at her with the medium’s gaze in his light, grey -eyes—that gaze which looks round and through a thing rather than at it.</p> - -<p>“You have been wise to come, very wise. There is someone beside you who -has an urgent message which could not be delayed. I get a name ... -Francis ... yes, Francis.”</p> - -<p>The woman clasped her hands.</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, it is the name.”</p> - -<p>“A dark man, very sad, very earnest—oh, so earnest. He will speak. He -must speak! It is urgent. He says, ‘Tink-a-bell.’ Who is Tink-a-bell?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, he called me so. Oh, Frank, Frank, speak to me! Speak!”</p> - -<p>“He is speaking. His hand is on your head. ‘Tink-a-bell,’ he says. ‘If -you do what you purpose doing it will make a gap that it will take many -years to cross.’ Does that mean anything?”</p> - -<p>She sprang from her chair. “It means everything. Oh, Mr. Linden, this -was my last chance. If this had failed—if I found that I had really -lost him I meant to go and seek him. I would have taken poison this -night.”</p> - -<p>“Thank God that I have saved you. It is a terrible<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_106">{106}</a></span> thing, madame, to -take one’s life. It breaks the law of Nature, and Nature’s laws cannot -be broken without punishment. I rejoice that he has been able to save -you. He has more to say to you. His message is, ‘If you will live and do -your duty I will for ever be by your side, far closer to you than ever I -was in life. My presence will surround and guard both you and our three -babes.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>It was marvellous the change! The pale, worn woman who had entered the -room was now standing with flushed cheeks and smiling lips. It is true -that tears were pouring down her face, but they were tears of joy. She -clapped her hands. She made little convulsive movements as if she would -dance.</p> - -<p>“He’s not dead! He’s not dead! How can he be dead if he can speak to me -and be closer to me than ever? Oh, it’s glorious! Oh, Mr. Linden, what -can I do for you? You have saved me from shameful death! You have -restored my husband to me! Oh, what a Godlike power you have!”</p> - -<p>The medium was an emotional man and his own tears were moist upon his -cheeks.</p> - -<p>“My dear lady, say no more. It is not I. I do nothing. You can thank God -Who in His mercy permits some of His mortals to discern a spirit or to -carry a message. Well, well, a guinea is my fee, if you can afford it. -Come back to me if ever you are in trouble.”</p> - -<p>“I am content now,” she cried, drying her eyes, “to await God’s will and -to do my duty in the world until such time as it shall be ordained that -we unite once more.”</p> - -<p>The widow left the house walking on air. Tom Linden also felt that the -clouds left by his brother’s visit had been blown away by this joyful -incident, for there<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_107">{107}</a></span> is no happiness like giving happiness and seeing -the beneficent workings of one’s own power. He had hardly settled down -in his chair, however, before another client was ushered in. This time -it was a smartly-dressed, white-spatted, frock-coated man of the world, -with a bustling air as of one to whom minutes are precious.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Linden, I believe? I have heard, sir, of your powers. I am told -that by handling an object you can often get some clue as to the person -who owned it?”</p> - -<p>“It happens sometimes. I cannot command it.”</p> - -<p>“I should like to test you. I have a letter here which I received this -morning. Would you try your powers upon that?”</p> - -<p>The medium took the folded letter, and, leaning back in his chair, he -pressed it upon his forehead. He sat with his eyes closed for a minute -or more. Then he returned the paper.</p> - -<p>“I don’t like it,” he said. “I get a feeling of evil. I see a man -dressed all in white. He has a dark face. He writes at a bamboo table. I -get a sensation of heat. The letter is from the tropics.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, from Central America.”</p> - -<p>“I can tell you no more.”</p> - -<p>“Are the spirits so limited? I thought they knew everything.”</p> - -<p>“They do not know everything. Their power and knowledge are as closely -limited as ours. But this is not a matter for the spirit people. What I -did then was psychometry, which, so far as we know, is a power of the -human soul.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you are right as far as you have gone. This man, my -correspondent, wants me to put up the money<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_108">{108}</a></span> for the half-share in an -oil boring. Shall I do it?”</p> - -<p>Tom Linden shook his head.</p> - -<p>“These powers are given to some of us, sir, for the consolation of -humanity and for a proof of immortality. They were never meant for -worldly use. Trouble always comes of such use, trouble to the medium and -trouble to the client. I will not go into the matter.”</p> - -<p>“Money’s no object,” said the man, drawing a wallet from his inner -pocket.</p> - -<p>“No, sir, nor to me. I am poor, but I have never ill-used my gift.”</p> - -<p>“A fat lot of use the gift is, then!” said the visitor, rising from his -chair. “I can get all the rest from the parsons who are licensed, and -you are not. There is your guinea, but I have not had the worth of it.”</p> - -<p>“I am sorry, sir, but I cannot break a rule. There is a lady beside -you—near your left shoulder—an elderly lady....”</p> - -<p>“Tut! tut!” said the financier, turning towards the door.</p> - -<p>“She wears a large gold locket with an emerald cross upon her breast.”</p> - -<p>The man stopped, turned and stared.</p> - -<p>“Where did you pick that up?”</p> - -<p>“I see it before me now.”</p> - -<p>“Why, dash it, man, that was what my mother always wore! D’you tell me -you can see her?”</p> - -<p>“No, she is gone.”</p> - -<p>“What was she like? What was she doing?”</p> - -<p>“She <i>was</i> your mother. She said so. She was weeping.”</p> - -<p>“Weeping! My mother! Why, she is in heaven if ever a woman was. They -don’t weep in heaven!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_109">{109}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Not in the imaginary heaven. They do in the real heaven. It is only we -who ever make them weep. She left a message.”</p> - -<p>“Give it me!”</p> - -<p>“The message was: ‘Oh, Jack! Jack! you are drifting ever further from my -reach.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>The man made a contemptuous gesture.</p> - -<p>“I was a damned fool to let you have my name when I made the -appointment. You have been making enquiries. You don’t take me in with -your tricks. I’ve had enough of it—more than enough!”</p> - -<p>For the second time that morning the door was slammed by an angry -visitor.</p> - -<p>“He didn’t like his message,” Linden explained to his wife. “It was his -poor mother. She is fretting over him. Lord! if folk only knew these -things it would do them more good than all the forms and ceremonies.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Tom, it’s not your fault if they don’t,” his wife answered. -“There are two women waiting to see you. They have not an introduction -but they seem in great trouble.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve a bit of a headache. I haven’t got over last night. Silas and I -are the same in that. Our night’s work finds us out next morning. I’ll -just take these and no more, for it is bad to send anyone sorrowin’ away -if one can help it.”</p> - -<p>The two women were shown in, both of them austere figures dressed in -black, one a stern-looking person of fifty, the other about half that -age.</p> - -<p>“I believe your fee is a guinea,” said the elder, putting that sum upon -the table.</p> - -<p>“To those who can afford it,” Linden answered. As a matter of fact, the -guinea often went the other way.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_110">{110}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I can afford it,” said the woman. “I am in sad trouble and -they told me maybe you could help me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I will if I can. That’s what I am for.”</p> - -<p>“I lost my poor husband in the war—killed at Ypres he was. Could I get -in touch with him?”</p> - -<p>“You don’t seem to bring any influence with you. I get no impression. I -am sorry, but we can’t command these things. I get the name Edmund. Was -that his name?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Or Albert?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“I am sorry, but it seems confused—cross vibrations, perhaps and a -mix-up of messages like crossed telegraph wires.”</p> - -<p>“Does the name Pedro help you?”</p> - -<p>“Pedro! Pedro! No, I get nothing. Was Pedro an elderly man?”</p> - -<p>“No, not elderly.”</p> - -<p>“I can get no impression.”</p> - -<p>“It was about this girl of mine that I really wanted advice. My husband -would have told me what to do. She has got engaged to a young man, a -fitter by trade, but there are one or two things against it and I want -to know what to do.”</p> - -<p>“Do give us some advice,” said the young woman, looking at the medium -with a hard eye.</p> - -<p>“I would if I could, my dear. Do you love this man?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, he’s all right.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you don’t feel more than that about him, I should leave him -alone. Nothing but unhappiness comes of such a marriage.”</p> - -<p>“Then you see unhappiness waiting for her?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_111">{111}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I see a good chance of it. I think she should be careful.”</p> - -<p>“Do you see anyone else coming along?”</p> - -<p>“Everyone, man or woman, meets his mate sometime somewhere.”</p> - -<p>“Then she will get a mate?”</p> - -<p>“Most certainly she will.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder if I should have any family?” asked the girl.</p> - -<p>“Nay, that’s more than I can say.”</p> - -<p>“And money—will she have money? We are down-hearted, Mr. Linden, and we -want a little——”</p> - -<p>At this moment there came a most surprising interruption. The door flew -open and little Mrs. Linden rushed into the room with pale face and -blazing eyes.</p> - -<p>“They are policewomen, Tom. I’ve had a warning about them. It’s only -just come. Get out of this house, you pair of snivelling hypocrites. Oh, -what a fool! What a fool I was not to recognise what you were.”</p> - -<p>The two women had risen.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you are rather late, Mrs. Linden,” said the senior. “The money has -passed.”</p> - -<p>“Take it back! Take it back! It’s on the table.”</p> - -<p>“No, no, the money has passed. We have had our fortune told. You will -hear more of this, Mr. Linden.”</p> - -<p>“You brace of frauds! You talk of frauds when it is you who are the -frauds all the time! He would not have seen you if it had not been for -compassion.”</p> - -<p>“It is no use scolding us,” the woman answered. “We do our duty and we -did not make the law. So long as it is on the Statute Book we have to -enforce it. We must report the case at headquarters.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_112">{112}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Tom Linden seemed stunned by the blow, but when the policewomen had -disappeared, he put his arms round his weeping wife and consoled her as -best he might.</p> - -<p>“The typist at the police office sent down the warning,” she said. “Oh, -Tom, it is the second time!” she cried. “It means gaol and hard labour -for you.”</p> - -<p>“Well, dear, so long as we are conscious of having done no wrong and of -having done God’s work to the best of our power, we must take what comes -with a good heart.”</p> - -<p>“But where were they? How could they let you down so? Where was your -guide?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Victor,” said Tom Linden, shaking his head at the air above him, -“where were you? I’ve got a crow to pick with you. You know, dear,” he -added, “just as a doctor can never treat his own case, a medium is very -helpless when things come to his own address. That’s the law. And yet I -should have known. I was feeling in the dark. I had no inspiration of -any sort. It was just a foolish pity and sympathy that led me on when I -had no sort of a real message. Well, dear Mary, we will take what’s -coming to us with a brave heart. Maybe they have not enough to make a -case, and maybe the beak is not as ignorant as most of them. We’ll hope -for the best.”</p> - -<p>In spite of his brave words the medium was shaking and quivering at the -shock. His wife had put her hands upon him and was endeavouring to -steady him, when Susan, the maid, who knew nothing of the trouble, -admitted a fresh visitor into the room. It was none other than Edward -Malone.</p> - -<p>“He can’t see you,” said Mrs. Linden, “the medium is ill. He will see no -one this morning.”</p> - -<p>But Linden had recognised his visitor.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_113">{113}</a></span></p> - -<p>“This is Mr. Malone, my dear, of the <i>Daily Gazette</i>. He was with us -last night. We had a good sitting, had we not, sir?”</p> - -<p>“Marvellous!” said Malone. “But what is amiss?”</p> - -<p>Both husband and wife poured out their sorrows.</p> - -<p>“What a dirty business!” cried Malone, with disgust. “I am sure the -public does not realise how this law is enforced, or there would be a -row. This agent-provocateur business is quite foreign to British -justice. But in any case, Linden, you are a real medium. The law was -made to suppress false ones.”</p> - -<p>“There are no real mediums in British law,” said Linden ruefully. “I -expect the more real you are the greater the offence. If you are a -medium at all and take money you are liable. But how can a medium live -if he does not take money? It’s a man’s whole work and needs all his -strength. You can’t be a carpenter all day and a first-class medium in -the evening.”</p> - -<p>“What a wicked law! It seems to be deliberately stifling all physical -proofs of spiritual power.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that is just what it is. If the Devil passed a law it would be -just that. It is supposed to be for the protection of the public and yet -no member of the public has ever been known to complain. Every case is a -police trap. And yet the police know as well as you or I that every -Church charity garden-party has got its clairvoyante or its -fortune-teller.”</p> - -<p>“It does seem monstrous. What will happen now?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I expect a summons will come along. Then a police court case. -Then fine or imprisonment. It’s the second time, you see.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_114">{114}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Well, your friends will give evidence for you and we will have a good -man to defend you.”</p> - -<p>Linden shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“You never know who are your friends. They slip away like water when it -comes to the pinch.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I won’t for one,” said Malone, heartily. “Keep me in touch with -what is going on. But I called because I had something to ask you.”</p> - -<p>“I am sorry, but I am really not fit,” Linden held out a quivering hand.</p> - -<p>“No, no, nothing psychic. I simply wanted to ask you whether the -presence of a strong sceptic would stop all your phenomena?”</p> - -<p>“Not necessarily. But, of course, it makes everything more difficult. If -they will be quiet and reasonable we can get results. But they know -nothing, break every law, and ruin their own sittings. There was old -Sherbank, the doctor, the other day. When the raps came on the table he -jumped up, put his hand on the wall, and cried, ‘Now then, put a rap on -the palm of my hand within five seconds.’ Because he did not get it he -declared it was all humbug and stamped out of the room. They will not -admit that there are fixed laws in this as in everything else.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I must confess that the man I am thinking of might be quite as -unreasonable. It is the great Professor Challenger.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I’ve heard he is a hard case.”</p> - -<p>“Would you give him a sitting?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, if you desired it.”</p> - -<p>“He won’t come to you or to any place you name. He imagines all sorts of -wires and contrivances. You might have to come down to his country -house.”</p> - -<p>“I would not refuse if it might convert him.”</p> - -<p>“And when?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_115">{115}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I can do nothing until this horrible affair is over. It will take a -month or two.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I will keep in touch with you till then. When all is well again -we shall make our plans and see if we can bring these facts before him -as they have been brought before me. Meanwhile, let me say how much I -sympathise. We will form a committee of your friends and all that can -will surely be done.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_116">{116}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH THE NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL GETS WHAT THE BRITISH LAW CONSIDERS TO BE HIS DESERTS</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">B</span>EFORE we pursue further the psychic adventures of our hero and heroine, -it would be well to see how the British law dealt with that wicked man, -Mr. Tom Linden.</p> - -<p>The two policewomen returned in triumph to Bardsley Square Station where -Inspector Murphy, who had sent them, was waiting for their report. -Murphy was a jolly-looking, red-faced, black-moustached man who had a -cheerful, fatherly way with women which was by no means justified by his -age or virility. He sat behind his official table, his papers strewn in -front of him.</p> - -<p>“Well, girls,” he said as the two women entered, “what luck?”</p> - -<p>“I think it’s a go, Mr. Murphy,” said the elder policewoman. “We have -the evidence you want.”</p> - -<p>The Inspector took up a written list of questions from his desk.</p> - -<p>“You ran it on the general lines that I suggested?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes. I said my husband was killed at Ypres.”</p> - -<p>“What did he do?”</p> - -<p>“Well, he seemed sorry for me.”</p> - -<p>“That, of course, is part of the game. He’ll be sorry for himself before -he is through with it. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_117">{117}</a></span> didn’t say, ‘You are a single woman and never -had a husband?’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s one up against his spirits, is it not? That should impress -the court. What more?”</p> - -<p>“He felt round for names. They were all wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Good!”</p> - -<p>“He believed me when I said that Miss Bellinger here was my daughter.”</p> - -<p>“Good again! Did you try the Pedro stunt?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, he considered the name, but I got nothing.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, that’s a pity. But, anyhow, he did not know that Pedro was your -Alsatian dog. He considered the name. That’s good enough. Make the jury -laugh and you have your verdict. Now about fortune-telling? Did you do -what I suggested?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I asked about Amy’s young man. He did not give much that was -definite.”</p> - -<p>“Cunning devil! He knows his business.”</p> - -<p>“But he did say that she would be unhappy if she married him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he did, did he? Well, if we spread that a little we have got all we -want. Now sit down and dictate your report while you have it fresh. Then -we can go over it together and see how we can put it best. Amy must -write one, also.”</p> - -<p>“Very good, Mr. Murphy.”</p> - -<p>“Then we shall apply for the warrant. You see, it all depends upon which -magistrate it comes before. There was Mr. Dalleret who let a medium off -last month. He is no use to us. And Mr. Lancing has been mixed up with -these people. Mr. Melrose is a stiff materialist. We could depend on him -and have timed the arrest accordingly. It would never do to fail to get -our conviction.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_118">{118}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t you get some of the public to corroborate?”</p> - -<p>The Inspector laughed.</p> - -<p>“We are supposed to be protecting the public, but between you and me -none of the public have ever yet asked to be protected. There are no -complaints. Therefore it is left to us to uphold the law as best we can. -As long as it is there we have got to enforce it. Well, good-bye, girls! -Let me have the report by four o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing for us, I suppose?” said the elder woman, with a smile.</p> - -<p>“You wait, my dear. If we get twenty-five pounds fine it has got to go -somewhere—Police Fund, of course, but there may be something over. -Anyhow, you go and cough it up and then we shall see.”</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>Next morning a scared maid broke into Linden’s modest study. “Please, -sir, it’s an officer.”</p> - -<p>The man in blue followed hard at her heels.</p> - -<p>“Name of Linden?” said he, and handing a folded sheet of foolscap he -departed.</p> - -<p>The stricken couple who spent their lives in bringing comfort to others -were sadly in need of comfort themselves. She put her arm round his neck -while they read the cheerless document:</p> - -<div class="blockquott"><p class="c"> -<span class="smcap">To Thomas Linden</span> of 40, Tullis Street, N.W.<br> -</p> - -<p>Information has been laid this day by Patrick Murphy, Inspector of -Police, that you the said Thomas Linden on the 10th day of November -at the above dwelling did profess to Henrietta Dresser and to Amy -Bellinger to tell fortunes to deceive and impose on certain of His -Majesty’s subjects, to wit those above mentioned. You<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_119">{119}</a></span> are -therefore summoned to appear before the Magistrate of the Police -Court in Bardsley Square on Wednesday next, the 17th, at the hour -of 11 in the forenoon to answer to the said information.</p> - -<p class="c"> -Dated the 10th day of November.<br> -<span style="margin-left: 8em;">(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">B. J. Withers</span>.</span><br> -</p></div> - -<p>On the same afternoon Mailey called upon Malone and they sat in -consultation over this document. Then they went together to see -Summerway Jones, an acute solicitor and an earnest student of psychic -affairs. Incidentally, he was a hard rider to hounds, a good boxer, and -a man who carried a fresh-air flavour into the mustiest law chambers. He -arched his eyebrows over the summons.</p> - -<p>“The poor devil has not an earthly!” said he. “He’s lucky to have a -summons. Usually they act on a warrant. Then the man is carted right -off, kept in the cells all night, and tried next morning with no one to -defend him. The police are cute enough, of course, to choose either a -Roman Catholic or a materialist as the magistrate. Then, by the -beautiful judgment of Chief Justice Lawrence—the first judgment, I -believe, that he delivered in that high capacity—the profession of -mediumship or wonder-working is in itself a legal crime, whether it be -genuine or no, so that no defence founded upon good results has a look -in. It’s a mixture of religious persecution and police blackmail. As to -the public they don’t care a damn! Why should they? If they don’t want -their fortune told, they don’t go. The whole thing is the most absolute -bilge and a disgrace to our legislature.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_120">{120}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I’ll write it up,” said Malone, glowing with Celtic fire. “What do you -call the Act?”</p> - -<p>“Well, there are two Acts, each more putrid than the other, and both -passed long before Spiritualism was ever heard of. There is the -Witchcraft Act dating from George the Second. That has become too -absurd, so they only use it as a second string. Then there is the -Vagrancy Act of 1824. It was passed to control the wandering gipsy folk -on the roadside, and was never intended, of course, to be used like -this.” He hunted among his papers. “Here is the beastly thing. ‘Every -person professing to tell fortunes or using any subtle craft, means or -device to deceive and impose on any of His Majesty’s subjects shall be -deemed a rogue and a vagabond,’ and so on and so forth. The two Acts -together would have roped in the whole Early Christian movement just as -surely as the Roman persecution did.”</p> - -<p>“Lucky there are no lions now,” said Malone.</p> - -<p>“Jackasses!” cried Mailey. “That’s the modern substitute. But what are -we to do?”</p> - -<p>“I’m damned if I know!” said the solicitor, scratching his head. “It’s -perfectly hopeless!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, dash it all!” cried Malone, “we can’t give it up so easily. We know -the man is an honest man.”</p> - -<p>Mailey turned and grasped Malone’s hand.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know if you call yourself a Spiritualist yet,” he said, “but -you are the kind of chap we want. There are too many white-livered folk -in our movement who fawn on a medium when all is well, and desert him at -the first breath of an accusation. But, thank God! there are a few -stalwarts. There is Brookes and Rodwin and Sir James Smith. We can put -up a hundred or two among us.”</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” said the solicitor, cheerily. “If you<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_121">{121}</a></span> feel like that we will -give you a run for your money.”</p> - -<p>“How about a K.C.?”</p> - -<p>“Well, they don’t plead in police courts. If you’ll leave it in my hands -I fancy I can do as well as anyone, for I’ve had a lot of these cases. -It will keep the costs down, too.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we are with you. And we will have a few good men at our back.”</p> - -<p>“If we do nothing else we shall ventilate it,” said Malone. “I believe -in the good old British public. Slow and stupid, but sound at the core. -They will not stand for injustice if you can get the truth into their -heads.”</p> - -<p>“They damned well need trepanning before you can get it there,” said the -solicitor. “Well, you do your bit and I’ll do mine and we will see what -comes to it.”</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>The fateful morning arrived and Linden found himself in the dock facing -a spruce, middle-aged man with rat-trap jaws, Mr. Melrose, the -redoubtable police magistrate. Mr. Melrose had a reputation for severity -with fortune-tellers and all who foretold the future, though he spent -the intervals in his court by reading up the sporting prophets, for he -was an ardent follower of the Turf, and his trim, fawn-coloured coat and -rakish hat were familiar objects at every race meeting which was within -his reach. He was in no particularly good humour this morning as he -glanced at the charge-sheet and then surveyed the prisoner. Mrs. Linden -had secured a position below the dock, and occasionally extended her -hand to pat that of the prisoner which rested on the edge. The court was -crowded and many of the prisoner’s clients had attended to show their -sympathy.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_122">{122}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Is this case defended?” asked Mr. Melrose.</p> - -<p>“Yes, your worship,” said Summerway Jones. “May I, before it opens, make -an objection?”</p> - -<p>“If you think it worth while, Mr. Jones.”</p> - -<p>“I beg to respectfully request your ruling before the case is proceeded -with. My client is not a vagrant, but a respectable member of the -community, living in his own house, paying rates and taxes, and on the -same footing as every other citizen. He is now prosecuted under the -fourth section of the Vagrancy Act of 1824, which is styled, ‘An Act for -punishing idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds.’ The -Act was intended, as the words imply, to restrain lawless gipsies and -others, who at that time infested the country. I ask your Worship to -rule that my client is clearly not a person within the purview of this -Act or liable to its penalties.”</p> - -<p>The Magistrate shook his head.</p> - -<p>“I fear, Mr. Jones, that there have been too many precedents for the Act -to be now interpreted in this limited fashion. I will ask the solicitor -prosecuting on behalf of the Commissioner of Police to put forward his -evidence.”</p> - -<p>A little bull of a man with side-whiskers and a raucous voice sprang to -his feet.</p> - -<p>“I call Henrietta Dresser.”</p> - -<p>The elder policewoman popped up in the box with the alacrity of one who -is used to it. She held an open notebook in her hand.</p> - -<p>“You are a policewoman, are you not?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p>“I understand that you watched the prisoner’s home the day before you -called on him?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir.”</p> - -<p>“How many people went in?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_123">{123}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Fourteen, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Fourteen people. And I believe the prisoner’s average fee is ten and -sixpence.”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Seven pounds in one day! Pretty good wages when many an honest man is -content with five shillings.”</p> - -<p>“These were the tradespeople!” cried Linden.</p> - -<p>“I must ask you not to interrupt. You are already very efficiently -represented,” said the Magistrate severely.</p> - -<p>“Now, Henrietta Dresser,” continued the prosecutor, wagging his -pince-nez. “Let us hear what occurred when you and Amy Bellinger visited -the prisoner.”</p> - -<p>The policewoman gave an account which was in the main true, reading it -from her book. She was not a married woman, but the medium had accepted -her statement that she was. He had fumbled with several names and had -seemed greatly confused. The name of a dog—Pedro—had been submitted to -him, but he had not recognised it as such. Finally, he had answered -questions as the future of her alleged daughter, who was, in fact, no -relation to her, and had foretold that she would be unhappy in her -marriage.</p> - -<p>“Any questions, Mr. Jones?” asked the Magistrate.</p> - -<p>“Did you come to this man as one who needed consolation? And did he -attempt to give it?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose you might put it so.”</p> - -<p>“You professed deep grief, I understand.”</p> - -<p>“I tried to give that impression.”</p> - -<p>“You do not consider that to be hypocrisy?”</p> - -<p>“I did what was my duty.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_124">{124}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“You saw no signs of psychic power, or anything abnormal?” asked the -prosecutor.</p> - -<p>“No, he seemed a very nice, ordinary sort of man.”</p> - -<p>Amy Bellinger was the next witness. She appeared with her notebook in -her hand.</p> - -<p>“May I ask, your worship, whether it is in order that these witnesses -should read their evidence?” asked Mr. Jones.</p> - -<p>“Why not?” queried the Magistrate. “We desire the exact facts, do we -not?”</p> - -<p>“<i>We</i> do. Possibly Mr. Jones does not,” said the prosecuting solicitor.</p> - -<p>“It is clearly a method of securing that the evidence of these two -witnesses shall be in accord,” said Jones. “I submit that these accounts -are carefully prepared and collated.”</p> - -<p>“Naturally, the police prepare their case,” said the Magistrate. “I do -not see that you have any grievance, Mr. Jones. Now, witness, let us -hear your evidence.”</p> - -<p>It followed on the exact lines of the other.</p> - -<p>“You asked questions about your fiancé? You had no fiancé,” said Mr. -Jones.</p> - -<p>“That is so.”</p> - -<p>“In fact, you both told a long sequence of lies?”</p> - -<p>“With a good object in view.”</p> - -<p>“You thought the end justifies the means?”</p> - -<p>“I carried out my instructions.”</p> - -<p>“Which were given you beforehand?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we were told what to ask.”</p> - -<p>“I think,” said the Magistrate, “that the policewomen have given their -evidence very fairly and well. Have you any witnesses for the defence, -Mr. Jones?”</p> - -<p>“There are a number of people in court, your wor<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_125">{125}</a></span>ship, who have received -great benefit from the mediumship of the prisoner. I have subpœnaed one -woman who was, by her own account, saved from suicide that very morning -by what he told her. I have another man who was an atheist, and had lost -all belief in future life. He was completely converted by his experience -of psychic phenomena. I can produce men of the highest eminence in -science and literature who will testify to the real nature of Mr. -Linden’s powers.”</p> - -<p>The Magistrate shook his head.</p> - -<p>“You must know, Mr. Jones, that such evidence would be quite beside the -question. It has been clearly laid down by the ruling of the Lord Chief -Justice and others that the law of this country does not recognise -supernatural powers of any sort whatever, and that a pretence of such -powers where payment is involved constitutes a crime in itself. -Therefore your suggestion that you should call witnesses could not -possibly lead to anything save a wasting of the time of the court. At -the same time, I am, of course, ready to listen to any observations -which you may care to make after the solicitor for the prosecution has -spoken.”</p> - -<p>“Might I venture to point out, your worship,” said Jones, “that such a -ruling would mean the condemnation of any sacred or holy person of whom -we have any record, since even holy persons have to live, and have -therefore to receive money.”</p> - -<p>“If your refer to Apostolic times, Mr. Jones,” said the Magistrate -sharply, “I can only remind you that the Apostolic age is past and also -that Queen Anne is dead. Such an argument is hardly worthy of your -intelligence. Now, sir, if you have anything to add....<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_126">{126}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Thus encouraged the prosecutor made a short address, stabbing the air at -intervals with his pince-nez as if every stab punctured afresh all -claims of the spirit. He pictured the destitution among the -working-classes, and yet charlatans, by advancing wicked and blasphemous -claims, were able to earn a rich living. That they had real powers was, -as had been observed, beside the question, but even that excuse was -shattered by the fact that these policewomen, who had discharged an -unpleasant duty in a most exemplary way, had received nothing but -nonsense in return for their money. Was it likely that other clients -fared any better? These parasites were increasing in number, trading -upon the finer feelings of bereaved parents, and it was high time that -some exemplary punishment should warn them that they would be wise to -turn their hands to some more honest trade.</p> - -<p>Mr. Summerway Jones replied as best he might. He began by pointing out -that the Acts were being used for a purpose for which they were never -intended. (“That point has been already considered!” snapped the -Magistrate.) The whole position was open to criticism. The convictions -were secured by evidence from agents-provocateurs, who, if any crime had -been committed, were obviously inciters to it and also participants. The -fines obtained were often deflected for purposes in which the police had -a direct interest.</p> - -<p>“Surely, Mr. Jones, you do not mean to cast a reflection upon the -honesty of the police!”</p> - -<p>The police were human, and were naturally inclined to stretch a point -where their own interests were affected. All these cases were -artificial. There was no record at any time of any real complaint from -the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_127">{127}</a></span> public or any demand for protection. There were frauds in every -profession, and if a man deliberately invested and lost a guinea in a -false medium he had no more right to protection than the man who -invested his money in a bad company on the stock market. Whilst the -police were wasting time upon such cases, and their agents were weeping -crocodile tears in the character of forlorn mourners, many other -branches of real crime received far less attention than they deserved. -The law was quite arbitrary in its action. Every big garden-party, even, -as he had been informed, every police fête was incomplete without its -fortune-teller or palmist. Some years ago the <i>Daily Mail</i> had raised an -outcry against fortune-tellers. That great man, the late Lord -Northcliffe, had been put in the box by the defence, and it had been -shown that one of his other papers was running a palmistry column, and -that the fees received were divided equally between the palmist and the -proprietors. He mentioned this in no spirit which was derogatory to the -memory of this great man, but merely as an example of the absurdity of -the law as it was now administered. Whatever might be the individual -opinion of members of that court, it was incontrovertible that a large -number of intelligent and useful citizens regarded this power of -mediumship as a remarkable manifestation of the power of spirit, making -for the great improvement of the race. Was it not a most fatal policy in -these days of materialism to crush down by law that which in its higher -manifestation might work for the regeneration of mankind? As to the -undoubted fact that information received by the policewomen was -incorrect and that their lying statements were not detected by the -medium, it was a psychic law that harmonious conditions were essential -for true<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_128">{128}</a></span> results, and that deceit on one side produced confusion on the -other. If the court would for a moment adopt the Spiritualistic -hypothesis, they would realise how absurd it would be to expect that -angelic hosts would descend in order to answer the questions of two -mercenary and hypocritical inquirers.</p> - -<p>Such, in a short synopsis, was the general line of Mr. Summerway Jones’ -defence which reduced Mrs. Linden to tears and threw the magistrate’s -clerk into a deep slumber. The Magistrate himself rapidly brought the -matter to a conclusion.</p> - -<p>“Your quarrel, Mr. Jones, seems to be with the law, and that is outside -my competence. I administer it as I find it, though I may remark that I -am entirely in agreement with it. Such men as the defendant are the -noxious fungi which collect on a corrupt society, and the attempt to -compare their vulgarities with the holy men of old, or to claim similar -gifts, must be reprobated by all right-thinking men.</p> - -<p>“As to you, Linden,” he added, fixing his stern eyes upon the prisoner, -“I fear that you are a hardened offender since a previous conviction has -not altered your ways. I sentence you, therefore, to two months’ hard -labour without option of a fine.”</p> - -<p>There was a scream from Mrs. Linden.</p> - -<p>“Good-bye, dear, don’t fret,” said the medium, glancing over the side of -the dock. An instant later he had been hurried down to the cell.</p> - -<p>Summerway Jones, Mailey and Malone met in the hall, and Mailey -volunteered to escort the poor stricken woman home.</p> - -<p>“What had he ever done but bring comfort to all?” she moaned. “Is there -a better man living in the whole great City of London?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think there is a more useful one,” said<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_129">{129}</a></span> Mailey. “I’ll venture -to say that the whole of Crockford’s Directory with the Archbishops at -their head could not prove the things of religion as I have seen Tom -Linden prove them, or convert an atheist as I have seen Linden convert -him.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a shame! A damned shame!” said Malone, hotly.</p> - -<p>“The touch about vulgarity was funny,” said Jones. “I wonder if he -thinks the Apostles were very cultivated people. Well, I did my best. I -had no hopes, and it has worked out as I thought. It is pure waste of -time.”</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” Malone answered. “It has ventilated an evil. There were -reporters in court. Surely some of them have some sense. They will note -the injustice.”</p> - -<p>“Not they,” said Mailey. “The Press is hopeless. My God, what a -responsibility these people take on themselves, and how little they -guess the price that each will pay! I know. I have spoken with them -while they were paying it.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I for one will speak out,” said Malone, “and I believe others -will also. The Press is more independent and intelligent than you seem -to think.”</p> - -<p>But Mailey was right, after all. When he had left Mrs. Linden in her -lonely home and had reached Fleet Street once more, Malone bought a -<i>Planet</i>. As he opened it a scare head-line met his eye:</p> - -<p class="c"> -IMPOSTOR IN THE POLICE COURT<br> -———<br> -<i>Dog Mistaken for Man.</i><br> -WHO WAS PEDRO?<br> -Exemplary Sentence.<br> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_130">{130}</a></span></p> - -<p>He crumpled the paper up in his hand.</p> - -<p>“No wonder these Spiritualists feel bitterly,” he thought. “They have -good cause.”</p> - -<p>Yes, poor Tom Linden had a bad press. He went down into his miserable -cell amid universal objurgation. The <i>Planet</i>, an evening paper which -depended for its circulation upon the sporting forecasts of Captain -Touch-and-go, remarked upon the absurdity of forecasting the future. -<i>Honest John</i>, a weekly journal which had been mixed up with some of the -greatest frauds of the century, was of opinion that the dishonesty of -Linden was a public scandal. A rich country rector wrote to <i>The Times</i> -to express his indignation that anyone should profess to sell the gifts -of the spirit. The <i>Churchman</i> remarked that such incidents arose from -the growing infidelity, while the <i>Freethinker</i> saw in them a reversion -to superstition. Finally Mr. Maskelyne showed the public, to the great -advantage of his box office, exactly how the swindle was perpetrated. So -for a few days Tom Linden had what the French call a “succes -d’execration.” Then the world moved on and he was left to his fate.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_131">{131}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH THREE INVESTIGATORS COME UPON A DARK SOUL</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">L</span>ORD ROXTON had returned from Central African heavy game shooting, and -had at once carried out a series of Alpine ascents which had satisfied -and surprised everyone except himself.</p> - -<p>“Top of the Alps is becomin’ a perfect bear-garden,” said he. “Short of -Everest there don’t seem to be any decent privacy left.”</p> - -<p>His advent into London was acclaimed by a dinner given in his honour at -the Travellers’ by the Heavy Game Society. The occasion was private and -there were no reporters, but Lord Roxton’s speech was fixed <i>verbatim</i> -in the minds of all his audience and has been imperishably preserved. He -writhed for twenty minutes under the flowery and eulogistic periods of -the president, and rose himself in the state of confused indignation -which the Briton feels when he is publicly approved. “Oh, I say! By -Jove! What!” was his oration, after which he resumed his seat and -perspired profusely.</p> - -<p>Malone was first aware of Lord Roxton’s return through McArdle, the -crabbed old red-headed news editor, whose bald dome projected further -and further from its ruddy fringe as the years still found him slaving -at the most grinding of tasks. He retained his keen scent of what was -good copy, and it was this sense of his which caused him one winter -morning to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_132">{132}</a></span> summon Malone to his presence. He removed the long glass -tube which he used as a cigarette-holder from his lips, and he blinked -through his big round glasses at his subordinate.</p> - -<p>“You know that Lord Roxton is back in London?”</p> - -<p>“I had not heard.”</p> - -<p>“Aye, he’s back. Dootless you’ve heard that he was wounded in the war. -He led a small column in East Africa and made a wee war of his own till -he got an elephant bullet through his chest. Oh, he’s done fine since -then, or he couldn’t be climbin’ these mountains. He’s a deevil of a man -and aye stirring up something new.”</p> - -<p>“What is the latest?” asked Malone, eyeing a slip of paper which McArdle -was waving between his finger and thumb.</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s where he impinges on you. I was thinking maybe you could -hunt in couples, and there would be copy in it. There’s a leaderette in -the <i>Evening Standard</i>.” He handed it over. It ran thus:</p> - -<div class="blockquott"><p>“A quaint advertisement in the columns of a contemporary shows that -the famous Lord John Roxton, third son of the Duke of Pomfret, is -seeking fresh worlds to conquer. Having exhausted the sporting -adventures of this terrestrial globe, he is now turning to those of -the dim, dark and dubious regions of psychic research. He is in the -market apparently for any genuine specimen of a haunted house, and -is open to receive information as to any violent or dangerous -manifestation which called for investigation. As Lord John Roxton -is a man of resolute character and one of the best revolver shots -in England, we<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_133">{133}</a></span> would warn any practical joker that he would be -well-advised to stand aside and leave this matter to those who are -said to be as impervious to bullets as their supporters are to -common sense.”</p></div> - -<p>McArdle gave his dry chuckle at the concluding words.</p> - -<p>“I’m thinking they are getting pairsonal there, friend Malone, for if -you are no a supporter, you’re well on the way. But are you no of the -opeenion that this chiel and you between you might put up a spook and -get two racy columns off him?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I can see Lord Roxton,” said Malone. “He’s still, I suppose, in -his old rooms in the Albany. I would wish to call in any case, so I can -open this up as well.”</p> - -<p>Thus it was that in the late afternoon just as the murk of London broke -into dim circles of silver, the pressman found himself once more walking -down Vigo Street and accosting the porter at the dark entrance of the -old-fashioned chambers. Yes, Lord John Roxton was in, but a gentleman -was with him. He would take a card. Presently he returned with word that -in spite of the previous visitor, Lord Roxton would see Malone at once. -An instant later, he had been ushered into the old luxurious rooms with -their trophies of war and of the chase. The owner of them with -outstreched hand was standing at the door, long, thin, austere, with the -same gaunt, whimsical, Don Quixote face as of old. There was no change -save that he was more aquiline, and his eyebrows jutted more thickly -over his reckless, restless eyes.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, young fellah!” he cried. “I was hopin’ you’d draw this old -covert once more. I was comin’ down to the office to look you up. Come -in! Come<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_134">{134}</a></span> in! Let me introduce you to the Reverend Charles Mason.”</p> - -<p>A very tall, thin clergyman, who was coiled up in a large basket chair, -gradually unwound himself and held out a bony hand to the newcomer. -Malone was aware of two very earnest and human grey eyes looking -searchingly into his, and of a broad, welcoming smile which disclosed a -double row of excellent teeth. It was a worn and weary face, the tired -face of the spiritual fighter, but it was very kindly and companionable, -none the less. Malone had heard of the man, a Church of England vicar, -who had left his model parish and the church which he had built himself -in order to preach freely the doctrines of Christianity, with the new -psychic knowledge super-added.</p> - -<p>“Why, I never seem to get away from the Spiritualists!” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“You never will, Mr. Malone,” said the lean clergyman, chuckling. “The -world never will until it has absorbed this new knowledge which God has -sent. You can’t get away from it. It is too big. At the present moment -in this great city there is not a place where men or women meet that it -does not come up. And yet you would not know it from the Press.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you can’t level that reproach at the <i>Daily Gazette</i>,” said -Malone. “Possibly you may have read my own descriptive articles.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I read them. They are at least better than the awful sensational -nonsense which the London Press usually serves up, save when they ignore -it altogether. To read a paper like <i>The Times</i> you would never know -that this vital movement existed at all. The only editorial allusion to -it that I can ever remember was in a leading article when the great -paper announced that it would believe in it when it found it<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_135">{135}</a></span> could, by -means of it, pick out more winners on a race-card than by other means.”</p> - -<p>“Doosed useful, too,” said Lord Roxton. “It’s just what I should have -said myself. What!”</p> - -<p>The clergyman’s face was grave and he shook his head.</p> - -<p>“That brings me back to the object of my visit,” he said. He turned to -Malone. “I took the liberty of calling upon Lord Roxton in connection -with his advertisement to say that if he went on such a quest with a -good intention, no better work could be found in the world, but if he -did it out of a love of sport, following some poor earth-bound soul in -the same spirit as he followed the white rhinoceros of the Lido, he -might be playing with fire.”</p> - -<p>“Well, padre, I’ve been playin’ with fire all my life and that’s nothin’ -new. What I mean—if you want me to look at this ghost business from the -religious angle, there’s nothin’ doin’, for the Church of England that I -was brought up in fills my very modest need. But if it’s got a spice of -danger, as you say, then it’s worth while. What!”</p> - -<p>The Rev. Charles Mason smiled his kindly, toothsome grin.</p> - -<p>“Incorrigible, is he not?” he said to Malone. “Well, I can only wish you -a fuller comprehension of the subject.” He rose as if to depart.</p> - -<p>“Wait a bit, padre!” cried Lord Roxton, hurriedly. “When I’m explorin’, -I begin by ropin’ in a friendly native. I expect you’re just the man. -Won’t you come with me?”</p> - -<p>“Where to?”</p> - -<p>“Well, sit down and I’ll tell you.” He rummaged among a pile of letters -on his desk. “Fine selection of spooks!” he said. “I got on the track of -over<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_136">{136}</a></span> twenty by the first post. This is an easy winner, though. Read it -for yourself. Lonely house, man driven mad, tenants boltin’ in the -night, horrible spectre. Sounds all right—what!”</p> - -<p>The clergyman read the letter with puckered brows. “It seems a bad -case,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Well, suppose you come along. What! Maybe you can help clear it up.”</p> - -<p>The Rev. Mr. Mason pulled out a pocket-almanac. “I have a service for -ex-Service men on Wednesday, and a lecture the same evening.”</p> - -<p>“But we could start to-day.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a long way.”</p> - -<p>“Only Dorsetshire. Three hours.”</p> - -<p>“What is your plan?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I suppose a night in the house should do it.”</p> - -<p>“If there is any poor soul in trouble it becomes a duty. Very well, I -will come.”</p> - -<p>“And surely there is room for me,” pleaded Malone.</p> - -<p>“Of course there is, young fellah! What I mean—I expect that old, -red-headed bird at the office sent you round with no other purpose. Ah, -I thought so. Well, you can write an adventure that is not perfect bilge -for a change—what! There’s a train from Victoria at eight o’clock. We -can meet there, and I’ll have a look in at old man Challenger as I -pass.”</p> - -<p>They dined together in the train and after dinner reassembled in their -first-class carriage, which is the snuggest mode of travel which the -world can show. Roxton, behind a big black cigar, was full of his visit -to Challenger.</p> - -<p>“The old dear is the same as ever. Bit my head off once or twice in his -own familiar way. Talked un<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_137">{137}</a></span>adulterated tripe. Says I’ve got -brain-softenin’ if I could think there was such a thing as a real spook. -‘When you’re dead you’re dead.’ That’s the old man’s cheery slogan. -Surveyin’ his contemporaries, he said, extinction was a doosed good -thing! ‘It’s the only hope of the world,’ said he. ‘Fancy the awful -prospect if they survived.’ Wanted to give me a bottle of chlorine to -chuck at the ghost. I told him that if my automatic was not a -spook-stopper, nothin’ else would serve. Tell me, padre, is this the -first time you’ve been on Solfari after this kind of game?”</p> - -<p>“You treat the matter too lightly, Lord John,” said the clergyman, -gravely. “You have clearly had no experience of it. In answer to your -question I may say that I have several times tried to help in similar -cases.”</p> - -<p>“And you take it seriously?” asked Malone, making notes for his article.</p> - -<p>“Very, very seriously.”</p> - -<p>“What do you think these influences are?”</p> - -<p>“I am no authority upon the general question. You know Algernon Mailey, -the barrister, do you not? He could give you facts and figures. I -approach the subject rather perhaps from the point of view of instinct -and emotion. I remember Mailey lecturing on Professor Bozzano’s book on -ghosts where over five hundred well-authenticated instances were given, -every one of them sufficient to establish an <i>a priori</i> case. There is -Flammarion, too. You can’t laugh away evidence of that kind.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve read Bozzano and Flammarion, too,” said Malone, “but it is your -own experience and conclusions that I want.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you quote me, remember that I do not look on myself as a great -authority on psychic research.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_138">{138}</a></span> Wiser brains than mine may come along -and give some other explanation. Still, what I have seen has led me to -certain conclusions. One of them is to think that there is some truth in -the theosophical idea of shells.”</p> - -<p>“What is that?”</p> - -<p>“They imagined that all spirit bodies near the earth were empty shells -or husks from which the real entity had departed. Now, of course, we -know that a general statement of that sort is nonsense, for we could not -get the glorious communications which we do get from anything but high -intelligences. But we also must beware of generalisations. They are not -<i>all</i> high intelligences. Some are so low that I think the creature is -purely external and is an appearance rather than a reality.”</p> - -<p>“But why should it be there?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that is the question. It is usually allowed that there is the -natural body, as St. Paul called it, which is dissolved at death, and -the etheric or spiritual body which survives and functions upon an -etheric plane. Those are the essential things. But we may really have as -many coats as an onion and there may be a mental body which may shed -itself at any spot where great mental or emotional strain has been -experienced. It may be a dull automatic simulacrum and yet carry -something of our appearance and thoughts.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Malone, “that would to some extent get over the difficulty, -for I could never imagine that a murderer or his victim could spend -whole centuries re-acting the old crime. What would be the sense of it?”</p> - -<p>“Quite right, young fellah,” said Lord Roxton. “There was a pal of mine, -Archie Soames, the gentle<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_139">{139}</a></span>man Jock, who had an old place in Berkshire. -Well, Nell Gwynne had lived there once, and he was ready to swear he met -her a dozen times in the passage. Archie never flinched at the big jump -at the Grand National, but, by Jove! he flinched at those passages after -dark. Doosed fine woman she was and all that, but dash it all! What I -mean—one has to draw the line—what!”</p> - -<p>“Quite so!” the clergyman answered. “You can’t imagine that the real -soul of a vivid personality like Nell could spend centuries walking -those passages. But if by chance she had ate her heart out in that -house, brooding and fretting, one could think that she might have cast a -shell and left some thought-image of herself behind her.”</p> - -<p>“You said you had experiences of your own.”</p> - -<p>“I had one before ever I knew anything of Spiritualism. I hardly expect -that you will believe me, but I assure you it is true. I was a very -young curate up in the north. There was a house in the village which had -a <i>poltergeist</i>, one of those very mischievous influences which cause so -much trouble. I volunteered to exorcise it. We have an official form of -exorcism in the Church, you know, so I thought that I was well-armed. I -stood in the drawing-room which was the centre of the disturbances, with -all the family on their knees beside me, and I read the service. What do -you think happened?”</p> - -<p>Mason’s gaunt face broke into a sweetly humorous laugh. “Just as I -reached Amen, when the creature should have been slinking away abashed, -the big bearskin hearthrug stood up on end and simply enveloped me. I am -ashamed to say that I was out of that house in two jumps. It was then -that I learned that no<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_140">{140}</a></span> formal religious proceeding has any effect at -all.”</p> - -<p>“Then what has?”</p> - -<p>“Well, kindness and reason may do something. You see, they vary greatly. -Some of these earthbound or earth-interested creatures are neutral, like -these simulacra or shells that I speak of. Others are essentially good -like these monks of Glastonbury, who have manifested so wonderfully of -late years and are recorded by Bligh Bond. They are held to earth by a -pious memory. Some are mischievous children like the <i>poltergeists</i>. And -some—only a few, I hope—are deadly beyond words, strong, malevolent -creatures too heavy with matter to rise above our earth plane—so heavy -with matter that their vibrations may be low enough to affect the human -retina and to become visible. If they have been cruel, cunning brutes in -life, they are cruel and cunning still with more power to hurt. It is -evil monsters of this kind who are let loose by our system of capital -punishment, for they die with unused vitality which may be expended upon -revenge.”</p> - -<p>“This Dryfont spook has a doosed bad record,” said Lord Roxton.</p> - -<p>“Exactly. That is why I disapprove of levity. He seems to me to be the -very type of the creature I speak of. Just as an octopus may have his -den in some ocean cave, and come floating out a silent image of horror, -to attack a swimmer, so I picture such a spirit lurking in the dark of -the house which he curses by his presence, and ready to float out upon -all whom he can injure.”</p> - -<p>Malone’s jaw began to drop.</p> - -<p>“I say!” he exclaimed, “have we no protection?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I think we have. If we had not, such a creature could devastate -the earth. Our protection<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_141">{141}</a></span> is that there are white forces as well as -dark ones. We may call them ‘guardian angels’ as the Catholics do, or -‘guides’ or ‘controls,’ but whatever you call them, they really do exist -and they guard us from evil on the spiritual plane.”</p> - -<p>“What about the chap who was driven mad, padre? Where was your guide -when the spook put the rug around you? What?”</p> - -<p>“The power of our guards may depend upon our own worthiness. Evil may -always win for a time. Good wins in the end. That’s my experience in -life.”</p> - -<p>Lord Roxton shook his head.</p> - -<p>“If good wins, then it runs a doosed long waitin’ race, and most of us -never live to see the finish. Look at those rubber devils that I had a -scrap with up the Putomayo River. Where are they? What! Mostly in Paris -havin’ a good time. And the poor niggers they murdered. What about -them?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we need faith sometimes. We have to remember that we don’t see the -end. ‘To be continued in our next’ is the conclusion of every -life-story. That’s where the enormous value of the other world accounts -come in. They give us at least one chapter more.”</p> - -<p>“Where can I get that chapter?” asked Malone.</p> - -<p>“There are many wonderful books, though the world has not yet learned to -appreciate them—records of the life beyond. I remember one -incident—you may take it as a parable, if you like—but it is really -more than that. The dead rich man pauses before the lovely dwelling. His -sad guide draws him away. ‘It is not for you. It is for your gardener.’ -He shows him a wretched shack. ‘You gave us nothing to build with. It -was the best that we could do.’ That may<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_142">{142}</a></span> be the next chapter in the -story of your rubber millionaires.”</p> - -<p>Roxton laughed grimly.</p> - -<p>“I gave some of them a shack that was six foot long and two foot deep,” -said he. “No good shakin’ your head, padre. What I mean—I don’t love my -neighbour as myself, and never shall. I hate some of ’em like poison.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we should hate sin, and for my own part, I have never been strong -enough to separate sin from the sinner. How can I preach when I am as -human and weak as anyone?”</p> - -<p>“Why, that’s the only preachin’ I could listen to,” said Lord Roxton. -“The chap in the pulpit is over my head. If he comes down to my level I -have some use for him. Well, it strikes me we won’t get much sleep -to-night. We’ve just an hour before we reach Dryfont. Maybe we had -better use it.”</p> - -<p>It was past eleven o’clock of a cold, frosty night when the party -reached their destination. The station of the little watering-place was -almost deserted, but a small, fat man in a fur overcoat ran forward to -meet them, and greeted them warmly.</p> - -<p>“I am Mr. Belchamber, owner of the house. How do you do, gentlemen? I -got your wire, Lord Roxton, and everything is in order. It is indeed -kind of you to come down. If you can do anything to ease my burden I -shall indeed be grateful.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Belchamber led them across to the little Station Hotel where they -partook of sandwiches and coffee, which he had thoughtfully ordered. As -they ate he told them something of his troubles.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t as if I was a rich man, gentleman. I am a retired grazier and -all my savings are in three houses. That is one of them, the Villa -Maggiore. Yes, I got<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_143">{143}</a></span> it cheap, that’s true. But how could I think there -was anything in this story of the mad doctor?”</p> - -<p>“Let’s have the yarn,” said Lord Roxton, munching at a sandwich.</p> - -<p>“He was there away back in Queen Victoria’s time. I’ve seen him myself. -A long, stringy, dark-faced kind of man, with a round back and a queer, -shuffling way of walking. They say he had been in India all his life, -and some thought he was hiding from some crime, for he would never show -his face in the village and seldom came out till after dark. He broke a -dog’s leg with a stone, and there was some talk of having him up for it, -but the people were afraid of him and no one would prosecute. The little -boys would run past, for he would sit glowering and glooming in the -front window. Then one day he didn’t take the milk in, and the same the -next day, and so they broke the door open, and he was dead in his -bath—but it was a bath of blood for he had opened the veins of his arm. -Tremayne was his name. No one here forgets it.”</p> - -<p>“And you bought the house?”</p> - -<p>“Well, it was re-papered and painted and fumigated, and done up outside. -You’d have said it was a new house. Then, I let it to Mr. Jenkins of the -Brewery. Three days he was in it. I lowered the rent, and Mr. Beale, the -retired grocer, took it. It was he who went mad—clean mad—after a week -of it. And I’ve had it on my hands ever since—sixty pounds out of my -income, and taxes to pay on it, into the bargain. If you gentlemen can -do anything, for God’s sake do it! If not, it would pay me to burn it -down.”</p> - -<p>The Villa Maggiore stood about half a mile from the town on the slope of -a low hill. Mr. Belchamber<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_144">{144}</a></span> conducted them so far, and even up to the -hall door. It was certainly a depressing place, with a huge, gambrel -roof which came down over the upper windows and nearly obscured them. -There was a half-moon, and by its light they could see that the garden -was a tangle of scraggy, winter vegetation, which had, in some places, -almost overgrown the path. It was all very still, very gloomy and very -ominous.</p> - -<p>“The door is not locked,” said the owner. “You will find some chairs and -a table in the sitting-room on the left of the hall. I had a fire lit -there, and there is a bucketful of coals. You will be pretty -comfortable, I hope. You won’t blame me for not coming in, but my nerves -are not so good as they were.” With a few apologetic words, the owner -slipped away, and they were alone with their task.</p> - -<p>Lord Roxton had brought a strong electric torch. On opening the mildewed -door, he flashed a tunnel of light down the passage, uncarpeted and -dreary, which ended in a broad, straight, wooden staircase leading to -the upper floor. There were doors on either side of the passage. That on -the right led into a large, cheerless, empty room, with a derelict -lawn-mower in one corner and a pile of old books and journals. There was -a corresponding room upon the left which was a much more cheery -apartment. A brisk fire burned in the grate, there were three -comfortable chairs, and a deal table with a water carafe, a bucket of -coals, and a few other amenities. It was lit by a large oil-lamp. The -clergyman and Malone drew up to the fire, for it was very cold, but Lord -Roxton completed his preparations. From a little hand-bag he extracted -his automatic pistol, which he put upon the mantelpiece. Then he -produced a packet of candles, placing two of them in the hall. Finally -he took a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_145">{145}</a></span> ball of worsted and tied strings of it across the back -passage and across the opposite door.</p> - -<p>“We will have one look round,” said he, when his preparations were -complete. “Then we can wait down here and take what comes.”</p> - -<p>The upper passage led at right angles to left and right from the top of -the straight staircase. On the right were two large, bare, dusty rooms, -with the wall-paper hanging in strips and the floor littered with -scattered plaster. On the left was a single large room in the same -derelict condition. Out of it was the bathroom of tragic memory, with -the high, zinc bath still in position. Great splotches of red lay within -it, and though they were only rust stains, they seemed to be terrible -reminders from the past. Malone was surprised to see the clergyman -stagger and support himself against the door. His face was ghastly white -and there was moisture on his brow. His two comrades supported him down -the stairs, and he sat for a little, as one exhausted, before he spoke.</p> - -<p>“Did you two really feel nothing?” he asked. “The fact is that I am -mediumistic myself and very open to psychic impressions. This particular -one was horrible beyond description.”</p> - -<p>“What did you get, padre?”</p> - -<p>“It is difficult to describe these things. It was a sinking of my heart, -a feeling of utter desolation. All my senses were affected. My eyes went -dim. I smelt a terrible odour of putrescence. The strength seemed to be -sapped out of me. Believe me, Lord Roxton, it is no light thing which we -are facing to-night.”</p> - -<p>The sportsman was unusually grave. “So I begin to think,” said he. “Do -you think you are fit for the job?”</p> - -<p>“I am sorry to have been so weak,” Mr. Mason<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_146">{146}</a></span> answered. “I shall -certainly see the thing through. The worse the case, the more need for -my help. I am all right now,” he added, with his cheery laugh, drawing -an old charred briar from his pocket. “This is the best doctor for -shaken nerves. I’ll sit here and smoke till I’m wanted.”</p> - -<p>“What shape do you expect it to take?” asked Malone of Lord Roxton.</p> - -<p>“Well, it is something you can see. That’s certain.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I cannot understand, in spite of all my reading,” said -Malone. “These authorities are all agreed that there is a material -basis, and that this material basis is drawn from the human body. Call -it ectoplasm, or what you like, it is human in origin, is it not?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” Mason answered.</p> - -<p>“Well, then are we to suppose that this Dr. Tremayne builds up his own -appearance by drawing stuff from me and you?”</p> - -<p>“I think, so far as I understand it, that in most cases a spirit does -so. I believe that when the spectator feels that he goes cold, that his -hair rises and the rest of it, he is really conscious of this draft upon -his own vitality which may be enough to make him faint or even to kill -him. Perhaps he was drawing on me then.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose we are not mediumistic? Suppose we give out nothing?”</p> - -<p>“There is a very full case that I read lately,” Mr. Mason answered. “It -was closely observed—reported by Professor Neillson of Iceland. In that -case the evil spirit used to go down to an unfortunate photographer in -the town, draw his supplies from him, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_147">{147}</a></span> then come back and use them. -He would openly say, ‘Give me time to get down to So-and-so. Then I will -show you what I can do.’ He was a most formidable creature and they had -great difficulty in mastering him.”</p> - -<p>“Strikes me, young fellah, we have taken on a larger contract than we -knew,” said Lord Roxton. “Well, we’ve done what we could. The passage is -well lit. No one can come at us except down the stair without breaking -the worsted. There is nothing more we can do except just to wait.”</p> - -<p>So they waited. It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on -the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from -one to two and from two to three. Outside an owl was hooting most -dismally in the darkness. The villa was on a by-road, and there was no -human sound to link them up with life. The padre lay dozing in his -chair. Malone smoked incessantly. Lord Roxton turned over the pages of a -magazine. There were the occasional strange tappings and creakings which -come in the silence of the night. Nothing else until....</p> - -<p>Someone came down the stair.</p> - -<p>There could not be a doubt of it. It was a furtive, and yet a clear -footstep. Creak! Creak! Creak! Then it had reached the level. Then it -had reached their door. They were all sitting erect in their chairs, -Roxton grasping his automatic. Had it come in? The door was ajar, but -had not further opened. Yet all were aware of a sense that they were not -alone, that they were being observed. It seemed suddenly colder, and -Malone was shivering. An instant later the steps were retreating. They -were low and swift—much swifter than before. One could imagine that a -messenger was speeding back with intelligence to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_148">{148}</a></span> some great master who -lurked in the shadows above.</p> - -<p>The three sat in silence, looking at each other.</p> - -<p>“By Jove!” said Lord Roxton at last. His face was pale but firm. Malone -scribbled some notes and the hour. The clergyman was praying.</p> - -<p>“Well, we are up against it,” said Roxton after a pause. “We can’t leave -it at that. We have to go through with it. I don’t mind tellin’ you, -padre, that I’ve followed a wounded tiger in a thick jungle and never -had quite the feelin’ I’ve got now. If I’m out for sensations, I’ve got -them. But I’m going upstairs.”</p> - -<p>“We will go, too,” cried his comrades, rising from their chairs.</p> - -<p>“Stay here, young fellah! And you, too, padre. Three of us make too much -noise. I’ll call you if I want you. My idea is just to steal out and -wait quiet on the stair. If that thing, whatever it was, comes again, it -will have to pass me.”</p> - -<p>All three went into the passage. The two candles were throwing out -little circles of light, and the stair was dimly illuminated, with heavy -shadows at the top. Roxton sat down half-way up the stair, pistol in -hand. He put his finger to his lips and impatiently waved his companions -back to the room. Then they sat by the fire, waiting, waiting.</p> - -<p>Half an hour, three-quarters—and then, suddenly it came. There was a -sound as of rushing feet, the reverberation of a shot, a scuffle and a -heavy fall, with a loud cry for help. Shaking with horror, they rushed -into the hall. Lord Roxton was lying on his face amid a litter of -plaster and rubbish. He seemed half-dazed as they raised him, and was -bleeding where the skin had been grazed from his cheek and hands. -Looking up the stair, it seemed that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_149">{149}</a></span> the shadows were blacker and -thicker at the top.</p> - -<p>“I’m all right,” said Roxton, as they led him to his chair. “Just give -me a minute to get my wind and I’ll have another round with the -devil—for if this is not the devil, then none ever walked the earth.”</p> - -<p>“You shan’t go alone this time,” said Malone.</p> - -<p>“You never should,” added the clergyman. “But tell us what happened.”</p> - -<p>“I hardly know myself. I sat, as you saw, with my back to the top -landing. Suddenly I heard a rush. I was aware of something dark right on -the top of me. I half-turned and fired. The next instant I was chucked -down as if I had been a baby. All that plaster came showering down after -me. That’s as much as I can tell you.”</p> - -<p>“Why should we go further in the matter?” said Malone. “You are -convinced that this is more than human, are you not?”</p> - -<p>“There is no doubt of that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then you have had your experience. What more can you want?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I, at least, want something more,” said Mr. Mason. “I think our -help is needed.”</p> - -<p>“Strikes me that <i>we</i> shall need the help,” said Lord Roxton, rubbing -his knee. “We shall want a doctor before we get through. But I’m with -you, padre. I feel that we must see it through. If you don’t like it, -young fellah——”</p> - -<p>The mere suggestion was too much for Malone’s Irish blood.</p> - -<p>“I am going up alone!” he cried, making for the door.</p> - -<p>“No, indeed. I am with you.” The clergyman hurried after him.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_150">{150}</a></span></p> - -<p>“And you don’t go without me!” cried Lord Roxton, limping in the rear.</p> - -<p>They stood together in the candle-lit, shadow-draped passage. Malone had -his hand on the balustrade and his foot on the lower step, when it -happened.</p> - -<p>What was it? They could not tell themselves. They only knew that the -black shadows at the top of the staircase had thickened, had coalesced, -had taken a definite, batlike shape. Great God! They were moving! They -were rushing swiftly and noiselessly downwards! Black, black as night, -huge, ill-defined, semi-human and altogether evil and damnable. All -three men screamed and blundered for the door. Lord Roxton caught the -handle and threw it open. It was too late; the thing was upon them. They -were conscious of a warm, glutinous contact, of a purulent smell, of a -half-formed, dreadful face and of entwining limbs. An instant later all -three were lying half-dazed and horrified, hurled outwards on to the -gravel of the drive. The door had shut with a crash.</p> - -<p>Malone whimpered and Roxton swore, but the clergyman was silent as they -gathered themselves together, each of them badly shaken and bruised, but -with an inward horror which made all bodily ill seem insignificant. -There they stood in a little group in the light of the sinking moon, -their eyes turned upon the black square of the door.</p> - -<p>“That’s enough,” said Roxton, at last.</p> - -<p>“More than enough,” said Malone. “I wouldn’t enter that house again for -anything Fleet Street could offer.”</p> - -<p>“Are you hurt?”</p> - -<p>“Defiled, degraded—oh, it was loathsome!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_151">{151}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Foul!” said Roxton. “Foul! Did you get the reek of it? And the purulent -warmth?”</p> - -<p>Malone gave a cry of disgust. “Featureless—save for the dreadful eyes! -Semi-materialised! Horrible!”</p> - -<p>“What about the lights?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, damn the lights! Let them burn. I am not going in again!”</p> - -<p>“Well, Belchamber can come in the morning. Maybe he is waiting for us -now at the inn.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, let us go to the inn. Let us get back to humanity.”</p> - -<p>Malone and Roxton turned away, but the clergyman stood fast. He had -drawn a crucifix from his pocket.</p> - -<p>“You can go,” said he. “I am going back.”</p> - -<p>“What! Into the house?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, into the house.”</p> - -<p>“Padre, this is madness! It will break your neck. We were all like -stuffed dolls in its clutch.”</p> - -<p>“Well, let it break my neck. I am going.”</p> - -<p>“You are not! Here, Malone, catch hold of him!”</p> - -<p>But it was too late. With a few quick steps, Mr. Mason had reached the -door, flung it open, passed in and closed it behind him. As his comrades -tried to follow, they heard a creaking clang upon the further side. The -padre had bolted them out. There was a great slit where the letter-box -had been. Through it Lord Roxton entreated him to return.</p> - -<p>“Stay there!” said the quick, stern voice of the clergyman. “I have my -work to do. I will come when it is done.”</p> - -<p>A moment later he began to speak. His sweet, homely, affectionate -accents rang through the hall.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_152">{152}</a></span> They could only hear snatches outside, -bits of prayer, bits of exhortation, bits of kindly greeting. Looking -through the narrow opening, Malone could see the straight, dark figure -in the candle-light, its back to the door, its face to the shadows of -the stair, the crucifix held aloft in its right hand.</p> - -<p>His voice sank into silence and then there came one more of the miracles -of this eventful night. A voice answered him. It was such a sound as -neither of the auditors had heard before—a guttural, rasping, croaking -utterance, indescribably menacing. What it said was short, but it was -instantly answered by the clergyman, his tone sharpened to a fine edge -by emotion. His utterance seemed to be exhortation and was at once -answered by the ominous voice from beyond. Again and again, and yet -again came the speech and the answer, sometimes shorter, sometimes -longer, varying in every key of pleading, arguing, praying, soothing, -and everything save upbraiding. Chilled to the marrow, Roxton and Malone -crouched by the door, catching snatches of that inconceivable dialogue. -Then, after what seemed a weary time, though it was less than an hour, -Mr. Mason, in a loud, full, exultant tone, repeated the “Our Father.” -Was it fancy, or echo, or was there really some accompanying voice in -the darkness beyond him. A moment later the light went out in the -left-hand window, the bolt was drawn, and the clergyman emerged carrying -Lord Roxton’s bag. His face looked ghastly in the moonlight, but his -manner was brisk and happy.</p> - -<p>“I think you will find everything here,” he said, handing over the bag.</p> - -<p>Roxton and Malone took him by either arm and hurried him down to the -road.</p> - -<p>“By Jove! You don’t give us the slip again!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_153">{153}</a></span>” cried the nobleman. -“Padre, you should have a row of Victoria Crosses.”</p> - -<p>“No, no, it was my duty. Poor fellow, he needed help so badly. I am but -a fellow-sinner and yet I was able to give it.”</p> - -<p>“You did him good?”</p> - -<p>“I humbly hope so. I was but the instrument of the higher forces. The -house is haunted no longer. He promised. But I will not speak of it now. -It may be easier in days to come.”</p> - -<p>The landlord and the maids stared at the three adventurers in amazement -when, in the chill light of the winter dawn, they presented themselves -at the inn once more. Each of them seemed to have aged five years in the -night. Mr. Mason, with the reaction upon him, threw himself down upon -the horsehair sofa in the humble coffee-room and was instantly asleep.</p> - -<p>“Poor chap! He looks pretty bad!” said Malone. Indeed, his white, -haggard face and long, limp limbs might have been those of a corpse.</p> - -<p>“We will get a cup of hot tea into him,” Lord Roxton answered, warming -his hands at the fire, which the maid had just lit. “By Jove! We shall -be none the worse for some ourselves. Well, young fellah, we’ve got what -we came for. I’ve had my sensation, and you’ve had your copy.”</p> - -<p>“And he has had the saving of a soul. Well, we must admit that our -objects seem very humble compared to his.”</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>They caught the early train to London, and had a carriage to themselves. -Mason had said little and seemed to be lost in thought. Suddenly, he -turned to his companions.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_154">{154}</a></span></p> - -<p>“I say, you two, would you mind joining me in prayer?”</p> - -<p>Lord Roxton made a grimace. “I warn you, padre, I am rather out of -practice.”</p> - -<p>“Please kneel down with me. I want your aid.”</p> - -<p>They knelt down, side by side, the padre in the middle. Malone made a -mental note of the prayer.</p> - -<p>“Father, we are all Your children, poor, weak, helpless creatures, -swayed by Fate and circumstance. I implore You that You will turn eyes -of compassion upon the man, Rupert Tremayne, who wandered far from You, -and is now in the dark. He has sunk deep, very deep, for he had a proud -heart which would not soften, and a cruel mind, which was filled with -hate. But now he would turn to the light, and so I beg help for him and -for the woman, Emma, who, for the love of him, has gone down into the -darkness. May she raise him, as she had tried to do. May they both break -the bonds of evil memory which tie them to earth. May they, for -to-night, move up towards that glorious light which sooner or later -shines upon even the lowest.”</p> - -<p>They rose from their knees.</p> - -<p>“That’s better!” cried the Padre, thumping his chest with his bony hand, -and breaking out into his expansive, toothsome grin. “What a night! Good -Lord, what a night!”<a id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_155">{155}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br><br> -<small>WHICH INTRODUCES SOME VERY PHYSICAL PHENOMENA</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">M</span>ALONE seemed destined to be entangled in the affairs of the Linden -family, for he had hardly seen the last of the unfortunate Tom before he -became involved in a very much more unpleasant fashion with his -unsavoury brother.</p> - -<p>The episode began by a telephone ring in the morning and the voice of -Algernon Mailey at the far end of the wire.</p> - -<p>“Are you clear for this afternoon?”</p> - -<p>“At your service.”</p> - -<p>“I say, Malone, you are a hefty man. You played Rugger for Ireland, did -you not? You don’t mind a possible rough-and-tumble, do you?”</p> - -<p>Malone grinned over the receiver.</p> - -<p>“You can count me in.”</p> - -<p>“It may really be rather formidable. We shall have possibly to tackle a -prizefighter.”</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” said Malone, cheerfully.</p> - -<p>“And we want another man for the job. Do you know any fellow who would -come along just for the sake of the adventure. If he knows anything -about psychic matters, all the better.”</p> - -<p>Malone puzzled for a moment. Then he had an inspiration.</p> - -<p>“There is Roxton,” said he. “He’s not a chicken, but he is a useful man -in a row. I think I could get<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_156">{156}</a></span> him. He has been keen on your subject -since his Dorsetshire experience.”</p> - -<p>“Right! Bring him along! If he can’t come, we shall have to tackle the -job ourselves. Forty-one, Belshaw Gardens, S.W. Near Earl’s Court -Station. Three p.m. Right!”</p> - -<p>Malone at once rang up Lord Roxton, and soon heard the familiar voice.</p> - -<p>“What’s that, young fellah?... A scrap? Why, certainly. What!... I mean -I had a golf match at Richmond Deer Park, but this sounds more -attractive. What! Very good. I’ll meet you there.”</p> - -<p>And so it came about that at the hour of three, Mailey, Lord Roxton and -Malone found themselves seated round the fire in the comfortable -drawing-room of the barrister. His wife, a sweet and beautiful woman, -who was his helpmate in his spiritual as well as in his material life, -was there to welcome them.</p> - -<p>“Now, dear, you are not on in this act,” said Mailey. “You will retire -discreetly into the wings. Don’t worry if you hear a row.”</p> - -<p>“But I do worry, dear. You’ll get hurt.”</p> - -<p>Mailey laughed.</p> - -<p>“I think your furniture may possibly get hurt. You have nothing else to -fear, dear. And it’s all for the good of the Cause. That always settles -it,” he explained, as his wife reluctantly left the room. “I really -think she would go to the stake for the Cause. Her great, loving, -womanly heart knows what it would mean for this grey earth if people -could get away from the shadow of death and value this great happiness -that is to come, By Jove! she is an inspiration to me.... Well,” he went -on with a laugh, “I must not get on to that subject. We have some<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_157">{157}</a></span>thing -very different to think of—something as hideous and vile as she is -beautiful and good. It concerns Tom Linden’s brother.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve heard of the fellow,” said Malone. “I used to box a bit and I am -still a member of the N.S.C. Silas Linden was very nearly Champion in -the Welters.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the man. He is out of a job and thought he would take up -mediumship. Naturally I and other Spiritualists took him seriously, for -we all love his brother, and these powers often run in families, so that -his claim seemed reasonable. So we gave him a trial last night.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what happened?”</p> - -<p>“I suspected the fellow from the first. You understand that it is hardly -possible for a medium to deceive an experienced Spiritualist. When there -is deception it is at the expense of outsiders. I watched him carefully -from the first, and I seated myself near the cabinet. Presently he -emerged clad in white. I broke the contact by prearrangement with my -wife who sat next me, and I felt him as he passed me. He was, of course, -in white. I had a pair of scissors in my pocket and I snipped off a bit -from the edge.”</p> - -<p>Mailey drew a triangular piece of linen from his pocket.</p> - -<p>“There it is, you see. Very ordinary linen. I have no doubt the fellow -was wearing his nightgown.”</p> - -<p>“Why did you not have a show-up at once?” asked Lord Roxton.</p> - -<p>“There were several ladies there, and I was the only really able-bodied -man in the room.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what do you propose?”</p> - -<p>“I have appointed that he come here at three-thirty. He is due now. -Unless he has noticed the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_158">{158}</a></span> small cut in his linen, I don’t think he has -any suspicion why I want him.”</p> - -<p>“What will you do?”</p> - -<p>“Well, that depends on him. We have to stop him at any cost. That is the -way our Cause gets bemired. Some villain who knows nothing about it -comes into it for money and so the labours of honest mediums get -discounted. The public very naturally brackets them all together. With -your help I can talk to this fellow on equal terms which I certainly -could not do if I were alone. By Jove! here he is!”</p> - -<p>There was a heavy step outside. The door was opened and Silas Linden, -fake medium and ex-prizefighter, walked in. His small piggy grey eyes -under their shaggy brows looked round with suspicion at the three men. -Then he forced a smile and nodded to Mailey.</p> - -<p>“Good day, Mr. Mailey. We had a good evening last night, had we not?”</p> - -<p>“Sit down, Linden,” said Mailey, indicating a chair. “It’s about last -night that I want to talk to you. You cheated us.”</p> - -<p>Silas Linden’s heavy face flushed red with anger.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” he cried, sharply.</p> - -<p>“You cheated us. You dressed up and pretended to be a spirit.”</p> - -<p>“You are a damned liar!” cried Linden. “I did nothing of the sort.”</p> - -<p>Mailey took the rag of linen from his pocket and spread it on his knee.</p> - -<p>“What about that?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Well, what about it?”</p> - -<p>“It was cut out of the white gown you wore. I cut it out myself as you -stood in front of me. If you examine the gown you will find the place. -It’s no<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_159">{159}</a></span> use, Linden. The game is up. You can’t deny it.”</p> - -<p>For a moment the man was completely taken aback. Then he burst into a -stream of horrible profanity.</p> - -<p>“What’s the game?” he cried, glaring round him. “Do you think I am easy -and that you can play me for a sucker? Is it a frame-up, or what? You’ve -chose the wrong man for a try-on of that sort.”</p> - -<p>“There is no use being noisy or violent, Linden,” said Mailey quietly. -“I could bring you up in the police court to-morrow. I don’t want any -public scandal, for your brother’s sake. But you don’t leave this room -until you have signed a paper that I have here on my desk.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t, don’t I? Who will stop me?”</p> - -<p>“We will.”</p> - -<p>The three men were between him and the door.</p> - -<p>“You will! Well, try that!” He stood before them with rage in his eyes -and his great hands knotted. “Will you get out of the way?”</p> - -<p>They did not answer, but they all three gave the fighting snarl which is -perhaps the oldest of all human expressions. The next instant Linden was -upon them, his fists flashing out with terrific force. Mailey, who had -boxed in his youth, stopped one blow, but the next beat in his guard and -he fell with a crash against the door. Lord Roxton was hurled to one -side, but Malone, with a footballer’s instinct, ducked his head and -caught the prizefighter round the knees. If a man is too good for you on -his feet, then put him on his back, for he cannot be scientific there. -Over went Linden, crashing through an armchair before he reached the -ground. He staggered to one knee and got in a short jolt to the chin, -but Malone had him down again and Roxton’s bony hand had closed upon his -throat. Silas Linden<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_160">{160}</a></span> had a yellow streak in him and he was cowed.</p> - -<p>“Let up!” he cried. “That’s enough!”</p> - -<p>He lay now spread-eagled upon his back. Malone and Roxton were bending -over him. Mailey had gathered himself together, pale and shaken after -his fall.</p> - -<p>“I’m all right!” he cried, in answer to a feminine voice at the other -side of the door. “No, not yet, dear, but we shall soon be ready for -you. Now, Linden, there’s no need for you to get up, for you can talk -very nicely where you are. You’ve got to sign this paper before you -leave the room.”</p> - -<p>“What is the paper?” croaked Linden, as Roxton’s grip upon his throat -relaxed.</p> - -<p>“I’ll read it to you.”</p> - -<p>Mailey took it from the desk and read aloud.</p> - -<div class="blockquott"><p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>I, Silas Linden, hereby admit that I have acted as a rogue and a -scoundrel by simulating to be a spirit, and I swear that I will -never again in my life pretend to be a medium. Should I break this -oath, then this signed confession may be used for my conviction in -the police court.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p></div> - -<p>“Will you sign that?”</p> - -<p>“No, I am damned if I will!”</p> - -<p>“Shall I give him another squeeze?” asked Lord Roxton. “Perhaps I could -choke some sense into him—what!”</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” said Mailey. “I think that his case now would do good in -the police court, for it would show the public that we are determined to -keep our house clean. I’ll give you one minute for consideration, -Linden, and then I ring up the police.”</p> - -<p>But it did not take a minute for the impostor to make up his mind.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_161">{161}</a></span></p> - -<p>“All right,” said he in a sulky voice, “I’ll sign.”</p> - -<p>He was allowed to rise with a warning that if he played any tricks he -would not get off so lightly the second time. But there was no kick left -in him and he scrawled a big, coarse “Silas Linden” at the bottom of the -paper without a word. The three men signed as witnesses.</p> - -<p>“Now, get out!” said Mailey, sharply. “Find some honest trade in future -and leave sacred things alone!”</p> - -<p>“Keep your bloody cant to yourself!” Linden answered, and so departed, -grumbling and swearing, into the outer darkness from which he had come. -He had hardly passed before Mrs. Mailey had rushed into the room to -reassure herself as to her husband. Once satisfied as to this she -mourned over her broken chair, for like all good women she took a -personal pride and joy in every detail of her little <i>ménage</i>.</p> - -<p>“Never mind, dear. It’s a cheap price to pay in order to get that -blackguard out of the movement. Don’t go away, you fellows. I want to -talk to you.”</p> - -<p>“And tea is just coming in.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps something stronger would be better,” said Mailey, and indeed, -all three were rather exhausted, for it was sharp while it lasted. -Roxton, who had enjoyed the whole thing immensely, was full of vitality, -but Malone was shaken and Mailey had narrowly escaped serious injury -from that ponderous blow.</p> - -<p>“I have heard,” said Mailey, as they all settled down round the fire, -“that this blackguard has sweated money out of poor Tom Linden for -years. It was a form of blackmail, for he was quite capable of -denouncing him. By Jove!” he cried, with sudden inspiration, “that would -account for the police raid.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_162">{162}</a></span> Why should they pick Linden out of all the -mediums in London? I remember now that Tom told me the fellow had asked -to be taught to be a medium, and that he had refused to teach him.”</p> - -<p>“Could he teach him?” asked Malone.</p> - -<p>Mailey was thoughtful over this question. “Well, perhaps he could,” he -said at last. “But Silas Linden as a false medium would be very much -less dangerous than Silas Linden as a true medium.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t follow you.”</p> - -<p>“Mediumship can be developed,” said Mrs. Mailey. “One might almost say -it was catching.”</p> - -<p>“That was what the laying-on of hands meant in the early Church,” Mailey -explained. “It was the conferring of thaumaturgic powers. We can’t do it -now as rapidly as that. But if a man or woman sits with the desire of -development, and especially if that sitting is in the presence of a real -medium, the chance is that powers will come.”</p> - -<p>“But why do you say that would be worse than false mediumship?”</p> - -<p>“Because it could be used for evil. I assure you, Malone, that the talk -of black magic and of evil entities is not an invention of the enemy. -Such things do happen and centre round the wicked medium. You can get -down into a region which is akin to the popular idea of witchcraft. It -is dishonest to deny it.”</p> - -<p>“Like attracts like,” explained Mrs. Mailey, who was quite as capable an -exponent as her husband. “You get what you deserve. If you sit with -wicked people you get wicked visitors.”</p> - -<p>“Then there is a dangerous side to it?”</p> - -<p>“Do you know anything on earth which has not a dangerous side if it is -mishandled and exaggerated? This dangerous side exists quite apart from -orthodox<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_163">{163}</a></span> Spiritualism, and our knowledge is the surest way to -counteract it. I believe that the witchcraft of the Middle Ages was a -very real thing, and that the best way to meet such practices is to -cultivate the higher powers of the spirit. To leave the thing entirely -alone is to abandon the field to the forces of evil.”</p> - -<p>Lord Roxton interposed in an unexpected way.</p> - -<p>“When I was in Paris last year,” said he, “there was a fellah called La -Paix who dabbled in the black magic business. He held circles and the -like. What I mean, there was no great harm in the thing, but it wasn’t -what you would call very spiritual, either.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a side that I as a journalist would like to see something of, if I -am to report impartially upon this subject,” said Malone.</p> - -<p>“Quite right!” Mailey agreed. “We want all the cards on the table.”</p> - -<p>“Well, young fellah, if you give me a week of your time and come to -Paris, I’ll introduce you to La Paix,” said Roxton.</p> - -<p>“It is a curious thing, but I also had a Paris visit in my mind for our -friend here,” said Mailey. “I have been asked over by Dr. Maupuis of the -Institute Métapsychique to see some of the experiments which he is -conducting upon a Galician medium. It is really the religious side of -this matter which interests me, and that is conspicuously wanting in the -minds of these scientific men of the Continent but for accurate, careful -examination of the psychic facts they are ahead of anyone except poor -Crawford of Belfast, who stood in a class by himself. I promised Maupuis -to run across, and he has certainly been having some wonderful—in some -respects, some rather alarming results.”</p> - -<p>“Why alarming?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_164">{164}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Well, his materialisations lately have not been human at all. That is -confirmed by photographs. I won’t say more, for it is best that, if you -go, you should approach it with an open mind.”</p> - -<p>“I shall certainly go,” said Malone. “I am sure my chief would wish it.”</p> - -<p>Tea had arrived to interrupt the conversation in the irritating way that -our bodily needs intrude upon our higher pursuits. But Malone was too -keen to be thrown off his scent.</p> - -<p>“You speak of these evil forces. Have you ever come in contact with -them?”</p> - -<p>Mailey looked at his wife and smiled.</p> - -<p>“Continually,” he said. “It is part of our job. We specialise on it.”</p> - -<p>“I understood that when there was an intrusion of that kind you drove it -away.”</p> - -<p>“Not necessarily. If we can help any lower spirit we do so, and we can -only do it by encouraging it to tell us its troubles. Most of them are -not wicked. They are poor, ignorant, stunted creatures who are suffering -the effects of the narrow and false views which they have learned in -this world. We try to help them—and we do.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know that you do?”</p> - -<p>“Because they report to us afterwards and register their progress. Such -methods are often used by our people. They are called ‘rescue circles.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“I have heard of rescue circles. Where could I attend one? This thing -attracts me more and more. Fresh gulfs seem always opening. I would take -it as a great favour if you would help me to see this fresh side of it.”</p> - -<p>Mailey became thoughtful.</p> - -<p>“We don’t want to make a spectacle of these poor<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_165">{165}</a></span> creatures. On the -other hand, though we can hardly claim you yet as a Spiritualist, you -have treated the subject with some understanding and sympathy.” He -looked enquiringly at his wife, who smiled and nodded.</p> - -<p>“Ah, you have permission. Well then, you must know that we run our own -little rescue circle, and that at five o’clock to-day we have our weekly -sitting. Mr. Terbane is our medium. We don’t usually have anyone else -except Mr. Charles Mason, the clergyman. But if you both care to have -the experience, we shall be very happy if you will stay. Terbane should -be here immediately after tea. He is a railway-porter, you know, so his -time is not his own. Yes, psychic power in its varied manifestations is -found in humble quarters, but surely that has been its main -characteristic from the beginning—fishermen, carpenters, tent-makers, -camel drivers, these were the prophets of old. At this moment some of -the highest psychic gifts in England lie in a miner, a cotton operative, -a railway-porter, a bargeman and a charwoman. Thus does history repeat -itself, and that foolish beak, with Tom Linden before him, was but Felix -judging Paul. The old wheel goes round.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_166">{166}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br><br> -<small>DE PROFUNDIS</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HEY were still having tea when Mr. Charles Mason was ushered in. -Nothing draws people together into such intimate soul-to-soul -relationship as psychic quest, and thus it was that Roxton and Malone, -who had only known him in the one episode, felt more near to this man -than to others with whom they had associated for years. This close vital -comradeship is one of the outstanding features of such communion. When -his loosely-built, straggling, lean, clerical figure appeared, with that -gaunt, worn face illuminated by its human grin and dignified by its -earnest eyes, through the doorway, they both felt as if an old friend -had entered. His own greeting was equally cordial.</p> - -<p>“Still exploring!” he cried, as he shook them by the hand. “We will hope -your new experiences will not be so nerve-racking as our last.”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, padre!” said Roxton. “I’ve worn out the brim of my hat taking -it off to you since then.”</p> - -<p>“Why, what did he do?” asked Mrs. Mailey.</p> - -<p>“No, no!” cried Mason. “I tried in my poor way to guide a darkened soul. -Let us leave it at that. But that is exactly what we are here for now, -and what these dear people do every week of their lives. It was from Mr. -Mailey here that I learned how to attempt it.”</p> - -<p>“Well, certainly we have plenty of practice,” said<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_167">{167}</a></span> Mailey. “You have -seen enough of it, Mason, to know that.”</p> - -<p>“But I can’t get the focus of this at all!” cried Malone. “Could you -clear my mind a little on the point? I accept for the moment your -hypothesis, that we are surrounded by material earth-bound spirits who -find themselves under strange conditions which they don’t understand, -and who want counsel and guidance. That more or less expresses it, does -it not?”</p> - -<p>The Maileys both nodded their agreement.</p> - -<p>“Well, their dead friends and relatives are presumably on the other side -and cognisant of their benighted condition. They know the truth. Could -they not minister to the wants of these afflicted ones far better than -we can?”</p> - -<p>“It is a most natural question,” Mailey answered. “Of course we put that -objection to them and we can only accept their answer. They appear to be -actually anchored to the surface of this earth, too heavy and gross to -rise. The others are, presumably, on a spiritual level and far separated -from them. They explain that they are much nearer to us and that they -are cognisant of us, but not of anything higher. Therefore it is we who -can reach them best.”</p> - -<p>“There was one poor dear dark soul——”</p> - -<p>“My wife loves everybody and everything,” Mailey explained. “She is -capable of talking of the poor dear devil.”</p> - -<p>“Well, surely they are to be pitied and loved!” cried the lady. “This -poor fellow was nursed along by us week by week. He had really come from -the depths. Then one day he cried in rapture, ‘My mother has come! My -mother is here!’ We naturally said, ‘But why did she not come before?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_168">{168}</a></span>’ -‘How could she,’ said he, ‘when I was in so dark a place that she could -not see me?’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“That’s very well,” said Malone, “but so far as I can follow your -methods it is some guide or control or higher spirit who regulates the -whole matter and brings the sufferer to you. If he can be cognisant, one -would think other higher spirits could also be.”</p> - -<p>“No, for it is his particular mission,” said Mailey. “To show how marked -the divisions are I can remember one occasion when we had a dark soul -here. Our own people came through and did not know he was there until we -called their attention to it. When we said to the dark soul, ‘Don’t you -see our friends beside you?’ he answered, ‘I can see a light but nothing -else.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>At this point the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Mr. -John Terbane from Victoria Station, where his mundane duties lay. He was -dressed now in civil garb and appeared as a pale, sad-faced, -clean-shaven, plump-featured man with dreamy, thoughtful eyes, but no -other indication of the remarkable uses to which he was put.</p> - -<p>“Have you my record?” was his first question.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Mailey, smiling, handed him an envelope. “We kept it all ready for -you but you can read it at home. You see,” she explained, “poor Mr. -Terbane is in trance and knows nothing of the wonderful work of which he -is the instrument, so after each sitting my husband and I draw up an -account for him.”</p> - -<p>“Very much astonished I am when I read it,” said Terbane.</p> - -<p>“And very proud, I should think,” added Mason.</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t know about that,” Terbane answered humbly. “I don’t see -that the tool need be<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_169">{169}</a></span> proud because the worker happens to use it. Yet -it is a privilege, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Good old Terbane!” said Mailey, laying his hand affectionately on the -railwayman’s shoulder. “The better the medium the more unselfish. That -is my experience. The whole conception of a medium is one who gives -himself up for the use of others, and that is incompatible with -selfishness. Well, I suppose we had better get to work or Mr. Chang will -scold us.”</p> - -<p>“Who is he?” asked Malone.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you will soon make the acquaintance of Mr. Chang! We need not sit -round the table. A semicircle round the fire does very well. Lights -half-down. That is all right. You’ll make yourself comfortable, Terbane. -Snuggle among the cushions.”</p> - -<p>The medium was in the corner of a comfortable sofa, and had fallen at -once into a doze. Both Mailey and Malone sat with note books upon their -knees awaiting developments.</p> - -<p>They were not long in coming. Terbane suddenly sat up, his dreamy self -transformed into a very alert and masterful individuality. A subtle -change had passed over his face. An ambiguous smile fluttered upon his -lips, his eyes seemed more oblique and less open, his face projected. -The two hands were thrust into the sleeves of his blue lounge jacket.</p> - -<p>“Good evening,” said he, speaking crisply and in short staccato -sentences. “New faces! Who these?”</p> - -<p>“Good evening, Chang,” said the master of the house. “You know Mr. -Mason. This is Mr. Malone who studies our subject. This is Lord Roxton -who has helped me to-day.”</p> - -<p>As each name was mentioned, Terbane made a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_170">{170}</a></span> sweeping Oriental gesture of -greeting, bringing his hand down from his forehead. His whole bearing -was superbly dignified and very different from the humble little man who -had sat down a few minutes before.</p> - -<p>“Lord Roxton!” he repeated. “An English milord! I knew Lord—Lord -Macart. No! I cannot say it. Alas! I called him ‘foreign devil’ then. -Chang, too, had much to learn.”</p> - -<p>“He is speaking of Lord Macartney. That would be over a hundred years -ago. Chang was a great living philosopher then,” Mailey explained.</p> - -<p>“Not lose time!” cried the control. “Much to do to-day! Crowd waiting. -Some new, some old. I gather strange folk in my net. Now I go.” He sank -back among the cushions.</p> - -<p>A minute elapsed, then he suddenly sat up.</p> - -<p>“I want to thank you,” he said, speaking perfect English. “I came two -weeks ago. I have thought over all you said. The path is lighter.”</p> - -<p>“Were you the spirit who did not believe in God?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes! I said so in my anger. I was so weary—so weary. Oh, the -time, the endless time, the grey mist, the heavy weight of remorse! -Hopeless! Hopeless! And you brought me comfort, you and this great -Chinese spirit. You gave me the first kind words I have had since I -died!”</p> - -<p>“When was it that you died?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! It seems an eternity. We do not measure as you do. It is a long, -horrible dream without change or break.”</p> - -<p>“Who was king in England?”</p> - -<p>“Victoria was queen. I had attuned my mind to matter and so it clung to -matter. I did not believe in a future life. Now I know that I was all -wrong,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_171">{171}</a></span> but I could not adapt my mind to new conditions.”</p> - -<p>“Is it bad where you are?”</p> - -<p>“It is all—all grey. That is the awful part of it. One’s surroundings -are so horrible.”</p> - -<p>“But there are many more. You are not alone.”</p> - -<p>“No, but they know no more than I. They, too scoff and doubt and are -miserable.”</p> - -<p>“You will soon get out.”</p> - -<p>“For God’s sake, help me to do so!”</p> - -<p>“Poor soul!” said Mrs. Mailey in her sweet, caressing voice, a voice -which could bring every animal to her side. “You have suffered much. But -do not think of yourself. Think of these others. Try to bring one of -them up and so you will best help yourself.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, lady, I will. There is one here whom I brought. He has heard -you. We will go on together. Perhaps some day we may find the light.”</p> - -<p>“Do you like to be prayed for?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, indeed I do!”</p> - -<p>“I will pray for you,” said Mason. “Could you say the ‘Our Father’ now?” -He uttered the old universal prayer, but before he had finished Terbane -had collapsed again among the cushions. He sat up again as Chang.</p> - -<p>“He come on well,” said the control. “He give up time for others who -wait. That is good. Now I have hard case. Ow!”</p> - -<p>He gave a comical cry of disapprobation and sank back.</p> - -<p>Next moment he was up, his face long and solemn, his hands palm to palm.</p> - -<p>“What is this?” he asked in a precise and affected voice. “I am at a -loss to know what right this<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_172">{172}</a></span> Chinese person has to summon me here. -Perhaps you can enlighten me.”</p> - -<p>“It is that we may perhaps help you.”</p> - -<p>“When I desire help, sir, I ask for it. At present I do not desire it. -The whole proceeding seems to me to be a very great liberty. So far as -this Chinaman can explain it, I gather that I am the involuntary -spectator of some sort of religious service.”</p> - -<p>“We are a spiritualistic circle.”</p> - -<p>“A most pernicious sect. A most blasphemous proceeding. As a humble -parish priest I protest against such desecrations.”</p> - -<p>“You are held back, friend, by those narrow views. It is you who suffer. -We want to relieve you.”</p> - -<p>“Suffer? What do you mean, sir?”</p> - -<p>“You realise that you have passed over?”</p> - -<p>“You are talking nonsense!”</p> - -<p>“Do you realise that you are dead?”</p> - -<p>“How can I be dead when I am talking to you?”</p> - -<p>“Because you are using this man’s body.”</p> - -<p>“I have certainly wandered into an asylum.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, an asylum for bad cases. I fear you are one of them. Are you happy -where you are?”</p> - -<p>“Happy? No, sir. My present surroundings are perfectly inexplicable to -me.”</p> - -<p>“Have you any recollection of being ill?”</p> - -<p>“I was very ill indeed.”</p> - -<p>“So ill that you died.”</p> - -<p>“You are certainly out of your senses.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know you are not dead?”</p> - -<p>“Sir, I must give you some religious instruction. When one dies and has -led an honourable life, one assumes a glorified body and one associates -with the angels. I am now in exactly the same body as in life, and I am -in a very dull, drab place. Such compan<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_173">{173}</a></span>ions as I have are not such as I -have been accustomed to associate with in life, and certainly no one -could describe them as angels. Therefore your absurd conjecture may be -dismissed.”</p> - -<p>“Do not continue to deceive yourself. We wish to help you. You can never -progress until you realise your position.”</p> - -<p>“Really you try my patience too far. Have I not said——?”</p> - -<p>The medium fell back among the cushions. An instant later the Chinese -control, with his whimsical smile and his hands tucked away in his -sleeves, was talking to the circle.</p> - -<p>“He good man—fool man—learn sense soon. Bring him again. Not waste -more time. Oh, my God! My God! Help! Mercy! Help!”</p> - -<p>He had fallen full length upon the sofa, face upwards, and his cries -were so terrible that the little audience all sprang to their feet. “A -saw! A saw! Fetch a saw!” yelled the medium. His voice sank into a moan.</p> - -<p>Even Mailey was agitated. The rest were horrified.</p> - -<p>“Someone has obsessed him. I can’t understand it. It may be some strong -evil entity.”</p> - -<p>“Shall I speak to him?” asked Mason.</p> - -<p>“Wait a moment! Let it develop. We shall soon see.”</p> - -<p>The medium writhed in agony. “Oh, my God! Why don’t you fetch a saw!” he -cried. “It’s here across my breast-bone. It is cracking! I feel it! -Hawkin! Hawkin! Pull me from under! Hawkin! Push up the beam! No, no, -that’s worse! And it’s on fire! Oh, horrible! Horrible!”</p> - -<p>His cries were blood-curdling. They were all chilled with horror. Then -in an instant the China<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_174">{174}</a></span>man was blinking at them with his slanting eyes.</p> - -<p>“What you think of that, Mister Mailey?”</p> - -<p>“It was terrible, Chang. What was it?”</p> - -<p>“It was for him,” nodding towards Malone. “He want newspaper story, I -give him newspaper story. He will understand. No time ’splain now. Too -many waiting. Sailor man come next. Here he comes!”</p> - -<p>The Chinaman was gone, and a jovial, puzzled grin passed over the face -of the medium. He scratched his head.</p> - -<p>“Well, damn me,” said he. “I never thought I would take orders from a -Chink, but he says ‘hist!’ and by crums you’ve got to hist and no back -talk either. Well, here I am. What did you want?”</p> - -<p>“We wanted nothing.”</p> - -<p>“Well, the Chink seemed to think you did, for he slung me in here.”</p> - -<p>“It was you that wanted something. You wanted knowledge.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve lost my bearings, that’s true. I know I am dead ’cause I’ve -seen the gunnery lootenant, and he was blown to bits before my eyes. If -he’s dead I’m dead and all the rest of us, for we are over to the last -man. But we’ve got the laugh on our sky-pilot, for he’s as puzzled as -the rest of us. Damned poor pilot, I call him. We’re all taking our own -sounding now.”</p> - -<p>“What was your ship?”</p> - -<p>“The <i>Monmouth.</i>”</p> - -<p>“She that went down in battle with the German?”</p> - -<p>“That’s right. South American waters. It was clean hell. Yes, it was -hell.” There was a world of emotion in his voice. “Well,” he added more -cheer<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_175">{175}</a></span>fully, “I’ve heard our mates got level with them later. That is -so, sir, is it not?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, they all went to the bottom.”</p> - -<p>“We’ve seen nothing of them this side. Just as well, maybe. We don’t -forget nothing.”</p> - -<p>“But you must,” said Mailey. “That’s what is the matter with you. That -is why the Chinese control brought you through. We are here to teach -you. Carry our message to your mates.”</p> - -<p>“Bless your heart, sir, they are all here behind me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, I tell you and them that the time for hard thoughts and -worldly strife is over. Your faces are to be turned forward, not back. -Leave this earth which still holds you by the ties of thought and let -all your desire be to make yourself unselfish and worthy of a higher, -more peaceful, more beautiful life. Can you understand?”</p> - -<p>“I hear you, sir. So do they. We want steering, sir, for, indeed, we’ve -had wrong instructions, and we never expected to find ourselves cast -away like this. We had heard of heaven and we had heard of hell, but -this don’t seem to fit in with either. But this Chinese gent, says time -is up, and we can report again next week. I thank you, sir, for self and -company. I’ll come again.”</p> - -<p>There was silence.</p> - -<p>“What an incredible conversation!” gasped Malone. “If I were to put down -that man’s sailor talk and slang as emanating from a world of spirits, -what would the public say?”</p> - -<p>Mailey shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“Does it matter what the public says? I started as a fairly sensitive -person, and now a tank takes as much notice of small shot as I do of -newspaper at<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_176">{176}</a></span>tacks. They honestly don’t even interest me. Let us just -stick fast to truth as near as we can get it, and leave all else to find -its own level.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t pretend to know much of these things,” said Roxton, “but what -strikes me most is that these folk are very decent ordinary people. -What? Why should they be wanderin’ about in the dark, and hauled up here -by this Chinaman when they’ve done no partic’lar harm in life?”</p> - -<p>“It is the strong earth tie and the absence of any spiritual nexus in -each case,” Mailey explained. “Here is a clergyman with his mind -entangled with formulas and ritual. Here is a materialist who has -deliberately attuned himself to matter. Here is a seaman brooding over -revengeful thoughts. They are there by the million million.”</p> - -<p>“Where?” asked Malone.</p> - -<p>“Here,” Mailey answered. “Actually on the surface of the earth. Well, -you saw it for yourself, I understand, when you went down to -Dorsetshire. That was on the surface, was it not? That was a very gross -case, and that made it more visible and obvious, but it did not change -the general law. I believe that the whole globe is infested with the -earthbound, and that when a great cleansing comes, as is prophesied, it -will be for their benefit as much as for that of the living.”</p> - -<p>Malone thought of the strange visionary Miromar and his speech at the -Spiritualistic Church on the first night of his quest.</p> - -<p>“Do you then believe in some impending event?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Mailey smiled. “That is rather a large subject to open up,” he said. “I -believe—But here is Mr. Chang again!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_177">{177}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The control joined in the conversation.</p> - -<p>“I heard you. I sit and listen,” said he. “You speak now of what is to -come. Let it be! Let it be! The Time is not yet. You will be told when -it is good that you know. Remember this. All is best. Whatever come all -is best. God makes no mistakes. Now others here who wish your help, I -leave you.”</p> - -<p>Several spirits came through in quick succession. One was an architect -who said that he had lived at Bristol. He had not been an evil man, but -had simply banished all thoughts of the future. Now he was in the dark -and needed guidance. Another had lived in Birmingham. He was an educated -man but a materialist. He refused to accept the assurances of Mailey, -and was by no means convinced that he was really dead. Then came a very -noisy and violent man of a crudely-religious and narrowly-intolerant -type, who spoke repeatedly of “the blood.”</p> - -<p>“What is this ribald nonsense?” he asked several times.</p> - -<p>“It is not nonsense. We are here to help,” said Mailey.</p> - -<p>“Who wants to be helped by the devil?”</p> - -<p>“Is it likely that the devil would wish to help souls in trouble?”</p> - -<p>“It is part of his deceit. I tell you it is of the devil! Be warned! I -will take no further part in it.”</p> - -<p>The placid, whimsical Chinaman was back like a flash. “Good man. Foolish -man,” he repeated once more. “Plenty time. He learn better some day. Now -I bring bad case—very bad case. Ow!”</p> - -<p>He reclined his head in the cushion and did not raise it as the voice, a -feminine voice, broke out:</p> - -<p>“Janet! Janet!<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_178">{178}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>There was a pause.</p> - -<p>“Janet, I say! Where is the morning tea? Janet! This is intolerable! I -have called you again and again! Janet!” The figure sat up, blinking and -rubbing his eyes.</p> - -<p>“What is this?” cried the voice. “Who are you? What right have you here? -Are you aware that this is my house?”</p> - -<p>“No, friend, this is my house.”</p> - -<p>“Your house! How can it be your house when this is my bedroom? Go away -this moment!”</p> - -<p>“No, friend. You do not understand your position.”</p> - -<p>“I will have you put out. What insolence! Janet! Janet! Will no one look -after me this morning?”</p> - -<p>“Look round you, lady. Is this your bedroom?”</p> - -<p>Terbane looked round with a wild stare.</p> - -<p>“It is a room I never saw in my life. Where am I? What is the meaning of -it? You look like a kind lady. Tell me, for God’s sake, what is the -meaning of it? Oh, I am so terrified! So terrified! Where are John and -Janet?”</p> - -<p>“What do you last remember?”</p> - -<p>“I remember speaking severely to Janet. She is my maid, you know. She -has become so very careless. Yes, I was very angry with her. I was so -angry that I was ill. I went to bed feeling very ill. They told me that -I should not get excited. How can one help getting excited? Yes, I -remember being breathless. That was after the light was out. I tried to -call Janet. But why should I be in another room?”</p> - -<p>“You passed over in the night?”</p> - -<p>“Passed over? Do you mean I died?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, lady, you died.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_179">{179}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>There was a long silence. Then there came a shrill scream. “No, no, no! -It is a dream! A nightmare! Wake me! Wake me! How can I be dead? I was -not ready to die! I never thought of such a thing. If I am dead, why am -I not in heaven or hell? What is this room? This room is a real room.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, lady, you have been brought here and allowed to use this man’s -body——”</p> - -<p>“A man?” She convulsively felt the coat and passed her hand over the -face. “Yes, it is a man. Oh, I am dead! I am dead! What shall I do?”</p> - -<p>“You are here that we may explain to you. You have been, I judge, a -worldly woman—a society woman. You have lived always for material -things.”</p> - -<p>“I went to church. I was at St. Saviour’s every Sunday.”</p> - -<p>“That is nothing. It is the inner daily life that counts. You were -material. Now you are held down to the world. When you leave this man’s -body you will be in your own body once more and in your old -surroundings. But no one will see you. You will remain there unable to -show yourself. Your body of flesh will be buried. You will still -persist, the same as ever.”</p> - -<p>“What am I to do? Oh, what can I do?”</p> - -<p>“You will take what comes in a good spirit and understand that it is for -your cleansing. We only clear ourselves of matter by suffering. All will -be well. We will pray for you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, do! Oh, I need it so! Oh my God!...” The voice trailed away.</p> - -<p>“Bad case,” said the Chinaman, sitting up. “Selfish woman! Bad woman! -Live for pleasure. Hard on those around her. She have much to suffer.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_180">{180}</a></span> -But you put her feet on the path. Now my medium tired. Plenty waiting, -but no more to-day.”</p> - -<p>“Have we done good, Chang?”</p> - -<p>“Plenty good. Plenty good.”</p> - -<p>“Where are all these people, Chang?”</p> - -<p>“I tell you before.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but I want these gentlemen to hear.”</p> - -<p>“Seven spheres round the world, heaviest below, lightest above. First -sphere is on the earth. These people belong to that sphere. Each sphere -is separate from the other. Therefore it is easier for you to speak with -these people than for those in any other sphere.”</p> - -<p>“And easier for them to speak to us?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. That why you should be plenty careful when you do not know to whom -you talk. Try the spirits.”</p> - -<p>“What sphere do you belong to, Chang?”</p> - -<p>“I came from Number Four sphere.”</p> - -<p>“Which is the first really happy sphere?”</p> - -<p>“Number Three. Summerland. Bible book called it the third heaven. Plenty -sense in Bible book, but people do not understand.”</p> - -<p>“And the seventh heaven?”</p> - -<p>“Ah! That is where the Christs are. All come there at last—you, me, -everybody.”</p> - -<p>“And after that?”</p> - -<p>“Too much question, Mr. Mailey. Poor old Chang not know so much as that. -Now good-bye! God bless you! I go.”</p> - -<p>It was the end of the sitting of the rescue circle. A few minutes later -Terbane was sitting up smiling and alert, but with no apparent -recollection of anything which had occurred. He was pressed for time and -lived afar, so that he had to make his departure,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_181">{181}</a></span> unpaid save by the -blessing of those whom he had helped. Modest little unvenal man, where -will he stand when we all find our real places in the order of creation -upon the further side?</p> - -<p>The circle did not break up at once. The visitors wanted to talk and the -Maileys to listen.</p> - -<p>“What I mean,” said Roxton, “it’s doosed interestin’ and all that, but -there is a sort of variety-show element in it. What! Difficult to be -sure it’s really real, if you take what I mean.”</p> - -<p>“That is what I feel also,” said Malone. “Of course on its face value it -is simply unspeakable. It is a thing so great that all ordinary -happenings become commonplace. That I grant. But the human mind is very -strange. I’ve read the case Moreton Prince examined, and Miss Beauchamp -and the rest; also the results of Charcot, the great Nancy hypnotic -school. They could turn a man into anything. The mind seems to be like a -rope which can be unravelled into its various threads. Then each thread -is a different personality which may take dramatic form, and act and -speak as such. That man is honest, and he could not normally produce -these effects. But how do we know that he is not self-hypnotised, and -that under those conditions one strand of him becomes Mr. Chang and -another becomes a sailor and another a society lady, and so forth?”</p> - -<p>Mailey laughed. “Every man his own Cinquevalli,” said he, “but it is a -rational objection and has to be met.”</p> - -<p>“We have traced some of the cases,” said Mrs. Mailey. “There is not a -doubt of it—names, addresses, everything.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then we have to consider the question of Terbane’s normal -knowledge. How can you possibly<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_182">{182}</a></span> know what he has learned? I should -think a railway-guard is particularly able to pick up such information.”</p> - -<p>“You have seen one sitting,” Mailey answered. “If you had been present -at as many as we and noted the cumulative effect of the evidence you -would not be sceptical.”</p> - -<p>“That is very possible,” Malone answered. “And I daresay my doubts are -very annoying to you. And yet one is bound to be brutally honest in a -case like this. Anyhow, whatever the ultimate cause, I have seldom spent -so thrilling an hour. Heavens! If it only <i>is</i> true, and if you had a -thousand circles instead of one, what regeneration would result?”</p> - -<p>“That will come,” said Mailey in his patient, determined fashion. “We -shall live to see it. I am sorry the thing has not forced conviction -upon you. However, you must come again.”</p> - -<p>But it so chanced that a further experience became unnecessary. -Conviction came in a full flood and in a strange fashion that very -evening. Malone had hardly got back to the office, and was seated at his -desk drawing up some sort of account from his notes of all that had -happened in the afternoon, when Mailey burst into the room, his yellow -beard bristling with excitement. He was waving an <i>Evening News</i> in his -hand. Without a word he seated himself beside Malone and turned the -paper over. Then he began to read:</p> - -<div class="blockquott"><p class="c">ACCIDENT IN THE CITY</p> - -<p>“This afternoon shortly after five o’clock, an old house, said to -date from the fifteenth century, suddenly collapsed. It was -situated between<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_183">{183}</a></span> Lesser Colman Street and Elliott Square and next -door to the Veterinary Society’s Headquarters. Some preliminary -crackings warned the occupants and most of them had time to escape. -Three of them, however, James Beale, William Moorson, and a woman -whose name has not been ascertained, were caught by the falling -rubbish. Two of these seem to have perished at once, but the third, -James Beale, was pinned down by a large beam and loudly demanded -help. A saw was brought, and one of the occupants of the house, -Samuel Hawkin, showed great gallantry in an attempt to free the -unfortunate man. Whilst he was sawing the beam, however, a fire -broke out among the debris around him, and though he persevered -most manfully, and continued until he was himself badly scorched, -it was impossible for him to save Beale, who probably died from -suffocation. Hawkin was removed to the London Hospital, and it is -reported to-night that he is in no immediate danger.”</p></div> - -<p>“That’s that!” said Mailey, folding up the paper. “Now Mr. Thomas -Didymus. I leave you to your conclusions,” and the enthusiast vanished -out of the office as precipitately as he had entered.<a id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_184">{184}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br><br> -<small>WHERE SILAS LINDEN COMES INTO HIS OWN</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">S</span>ILAS LINDEN, prizefighter and fake-medium, had had some great days in -his life—days crowded with incidents for good or evil. There was the -time when he had backed Rosalind at 100 to 1 in the Oaks and had spent -twenty-four hours of brutal debauchery on the strength of it. There was -the day also when his favourite right upper-cut had connected in most -accurate and rhythmical fashion with the protruded chin of Bull Wardell -of Whitechapel, whereby Silas put himself in the way of a Lonsdale Cup -and a try for the championship. But never in all his varied career had -he such a day as this supreme one, so it is worth our while to follow -him to the end of it. Fanatical believers have urged that it is -dangerous to cross the path of spiritual things when the heart is not -clean. Silas Linden’s name might be added to their list of examples, but -his cup of sin was full and overflowing before the judgment fell.</p> - -<p>He emerged from the room of Algernon Mailey with every reason to know -that Lord Roxton’s grip was as muscular as ever. In the excitement of -the struggle he had hardly realised his injuries, but now he stood -outside the door with his hand to his bruised throat and a hoarse stream -of oaths pouring through it. His breast was aching also where Malone had -planted his knee, and even the successful blow which had struck Mailey -down had brought retribution, for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_185">{185}</a></span> it had jarred that injured hand of -which he had complained to his brother. Altogether, if Silas Linden was -in a most cursed temper, there was a very good reason for his mood.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get you one at a time,” he growled, looking back with his angry -pig’s eyes at the outer door of the flats. “You wait, my lads, and see!” -Then with sudden purpose he swung off down the street.</p> - -<p>It was to the Bardsley Square Police Station that he made his way, and -he found the jovial, rubicund, black-moustached Inspector Murphy seated -at his desk.</p> - -<p>“Well, what do <i>you</i> want?” asked the Inspector in no very friendly -voice.</p> - -<p>“I hear you got that medium right and proper.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we did. I learn he was your brother.”</p> - -<p>“That’s neither here nor there. I don’t hold with such things in any -man. But you got your conviction. What is there for me in it?”</p> - -<p>“Not a shilling!”</p> - -<p>“What? Wasn’t it I that gave the information? Where would you have been -if I had not given you the office?”</p> - -<p>“If there had been a fine we might have allowed you something. We would -have got something, too, Mr. Melrose sent him to gaol. There is nothing -for anybody.”</p> - -<p>“So you say. I’m damned sure you and those two women got something out -of it. Why the hell should I give away my own brother for the sake of -the likes of you? You’ll find your own bird next time.”</p> - -<p>Murphy was a choleric man with a sense of his own importance. He was not -to be bearded thus in his own seat of office. He rose with a very red -face.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you what, Silas Linden, I could find my<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_186">{186}</a></span> own bird and never -move out of this room. You had best get out of this quick, or you may -chance to stay here longer than you like. We’ve had complaints of your -treatment of those two children of yours, and the children’s protection -folk are taking an interest. Look out that we don’t take an interest, -too.”</p> - -<p>Silas Linden flung out of the room with his temper hotter than ever, and -a couple of rum-and-waters on his way home did not help to appease him. -On the contrary, he had always been a man who grew more dangerous in his -cups. There were many of his trade who refused to drink with him.</p> - -<p>Silas lived in one of a row of small brick houses named Bolton’s Court, -lying at the back of Tottenham Court Road. His was the end house of a -cul-de-sac, with the side wall of a huge brewery beyond. These dwellings -were very small, which was probably the reason why the inhabitants, both -adults and children, spent most of their time in the street. Several of -the elders were out now, and as Silas passed under the solitary -lamp-post, they scowled at his thick-set figure, for though the morality -of Bolton’s Court was of no high order, it was none the less graduated -and Silas was at zero. A tall Jewish woman, Rebecca Levi, thin, aquiline -and fierce-eyed, lived next to the prizefighter. She was standing at her -door now, with a child holding her apron.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Linden,” she said as he passed, “them children of yours want more -care than they get. Little Margaret was in here to-day. That child don’t -get enough to eat.”</p> - -<p>“You mind your own business, curse you!” growled Silas. “I’ve told you -before now not to push that long, sheeny beak of yours into my affairs. -If you was a man I’d know better how to speak to you.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_187">{187}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“If I was a man maybe you wouldn’t dare to speak to me so. I says it’s a -shame, Silas Linden, the way them children is treated. If it’s a -police-court case, I’ll know what to say.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, go to hell!” said Silas, and kicked open his own unlatched door. A -big, frowsy woman with a shock of dyed hair and some remains of a florid -beauty, now long over-ripe, looked out from the sitting-room door.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s you, is it?” said she.</p> - -<p>“Who did you think it was? The Dook of Wellington?”</p> - -<p>“I thought it was a mad bullock maybe got strayin’ down the lane, and -buttin’ down our door.”</p> - -<p>“Funny, ain’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Maybe I am, but I hain’t got much to be funny about. Not a shillin’ in -the ’ouse, nor so much as a pint o’ beer, and these damned children of -yours for ever upsettin’ me.”</p> - -<p>“What have they been a-doin’ of?” asked Silas with a scowl. When this -worthy pair could get no change out of each other, they usually united -their forces against the children. He had entered the sitting-room and -flung himself down in the wooden armchair.</p> - -<p>“They’ve been seein’ Number One again.”</p> - -<p>“How d’ye know that?”</p> - -<p>“I ’eard ’im say somethin’ to ’er about it. ‘Mother was there,’ ’e says. -Then afterwards ’e ’ad one o’ them sleepy fits.”</p> - -<p>“It’s in the family.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is,” retorted the woman. “If you ’adn’t sleepy fits you’d get -some work to do, like other men.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, shut it, woman! What I mean is, that my brother Tom gets them fits, -and this lad o’ mine is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_188">{188}</a></span> said to be the livin’ image of his uncle. So he -had a trance, had he? What did you do?”</p> - -<p>The woman gave an evil grin.</p> - -<p>“I did what you did.”</p> - -<p>“What, the sealin’-wax again?”</p> - -<p>“Not much of it. Just enough to wake ’im. It’s the only way to break ’im -of it.”</p> - -<p>Silas shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">’</span>Ave a care, my lass! There is talk of the p’lice, and if they see -those burns, you and I may be in the dock together.”</p> - -<p>“Silas Linden, you are a fool! Can’t a parent c’rect ’is own child?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but it ain’t <i>your</i> own child, and stepmothers has a bad name, -see? There’s that Jew woman next door. She saw you when you took the -clothes’ rope to little Margery last washin’-day. She spoke to me about -it and again to-day about the food.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with the food? The greedy little bastards! They had a -’unch of bread each when I ’ad my dinner. A bit of real starvin’ would -do them no ’arm, and I would ’ave less sauce.”</p> - -<p>“What, has Willie sauced you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, when ’e woke up.”</p> - -<p>“After you’d dropped the hot sealin’-wax on him?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I did it for ’is good, didn’t I? It was to cure ’im of a bad -’abit.”</p> - -<p>“Wot did he say?”</p> - -<p>“Cursed me good and proper, ’e did. All about his mother—wot ’is mother -would do to me. I’m dam’ well sick of ’is mother!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t say too much about Amy. She was a good woman.”</p> - -<p>“So you say now, Silas Linden, but by all accounts you ’ad a queer way -of showin’ it when she was alive.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_189">{189}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Hold your jaw, woman! I’ve had enough to vex me to-day without you -startin’ your tantrums. You’re jealous of the grave. That’s wot’s the -matter with you.”</p> - -<p>“And ’er brats can insult me as they like—me that ’as cared for you -these five years.”</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t say that. If he insulted you, it’s up to me to deal with -him. Where’s that strap? Go, fetch him in!”</p> - -<p>The woman came across and kissed him.</p> - -<p>“I’ve only you, Silas.”</p> - -<p>“Oh hell! don’t muck me about. I’m not in the mood. Go and fetch Willie -in. You can bring Margery also. It takes the sauce out of her also, for -I think she feels it more than he does.”</p> - -<p>The woman left the room, but was back in a moment.</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">’</span>E’s off again!” said she. “It fair gets on my nerves to see him. Come -’ere, Silas! ’Ave a look!”</p> - -<p>They went together into the back kitchen. A small fire was smouldering -in the grate. Beside it, huddled up in a chair, sat a fair-haired boy of -ten. His delicate face was upturned to the ceiling. His eyes were -half-closed, and only the whites visible. There was a look of great -peace upon his thin, spiritual features. In the corner a poor little -cowed mite of a girl, a year or two younger, was gazing with sad, -frightened eyes at her brother.</p> - -<p>“Looks awful, don’t ’e?” said the woman. “Don’t seem to belong to this -world. I wish to God ’e’d make a move for the other. ’E don’t do much -good ’ere.”</p> - -<p>“Here, wake up!” cried Silas. “None of your foxin’! Wake up! D’ye hear?” -He shook him roughly by the shoulder, but the boy still slumbered<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_190">{190}</a></span> on. -The backs of his hands, which lay upon his lap, were covered with bright -scarlet blotches.</p> - -<p>“My word, you’ve dropped enough hot wax on him. D’you mean to tell me, -Sarah, it took all that to wake him?”</p> - -<p>“Maybe I dropped one or two extra for luck. ’E does aggravate me so that -I can ’ardly ’old myself. But you wouldn’t believe ’ow little ’e can -feel when ’e’s like that. You can ’owl in ’is ear. It’s all lost on ’im. -See ’ere!”</p> - -<p>She caught the lad by the hair and shook him violently. He groaned and -shivered. Then he sank back into his serene trance.</p> - -<p>“Say!” cried Silas, stroking his stubbled chin as he looked thoughtfully -at his son, “I think there is money in this if it is handled to rights. -Wot about a turn on the halls, eh? ’The Boy Wonder or How is it Done?’ -There’s a name for the bills. Then folk know his uncle’s name, so they -will be able to take him on trust.”</p> - -<p>“I thought you was goin’ into the business yourself.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a wash-out,” snarled Silas. “Don’t you talk of it. It’s -finished.”</p> - -<p>“Been caught out already?”</p> - -<p>“I tell you not to talk about it, woman!” the man shouted. “I’m just in -the mood to give you the hidin’ of your life, so don’t you get my goat, -or you’ll be sorry.” He stepped across and pinched the boy’s arm with -all his force. “By Cripes, he’s a wonder! Let us see how far it will -go.”</p> - -<p>He turned to the sinking fire and with the tongs he picked out a -half-red ember. This he placed on the boy’s head. There was a smell of -burning hair, then<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_191">{191}</a></span> of roasting flesh, and suddenly, with a scream of -pain, the boy came back to his senses.</p> - -<p>“Mother! Mother!” he cried. The girl in the corner took up the cry. They -were like two lambs bleating together.</p> - -<p>“Damn your mother!” cried the woman, shaking Margery by the collar of -her frail black dress. “Stop squallin’, you little stinker!” She struck -the child with her open hand across the face. Little Willie ran at her -and kicked her shins until a blow from Silas knocked him into the -corner. The brute picked up a stick and lashed the two cowering -children, while they screamed for mercy, and tried to cover their little -bodies from the cruel blows.</p> - -<p>“You stop that!” cried a voice in the passage.</p> - -<p>“It’s that blasted Jewess!” said the woman. She went to the kitchen -door. “What the ’ell are you doing in our ’ouse? ’Op it, quick, or it -will be the worse for you!”</p> - -<p>“If I hear them children cry out once more, I’m off for the police.”</p> - -<p>“Get out of it! ’Op it, I tell you!” The frowsy stepmother bore down in -full sail, but the lean, lank Jewess stood her ground. Next instant they -met. Mrs. Silas Linden screamed, and staggered back with blood running -down her face where four nails had left as many red furrows. Silas, with -an oath, pushed his wife out of the way, seized the intruder round the -waist, and slung her bodily through the door. She lay in the roadway -with her long gaunt limbs sprawling about like some half-slain fowl. -Without rising, she shook her clenched hands in the air and screamed -curses at Silas, who slammed the door and left her, while neighbours ran -from all sides to hear particulars of the fray. Mrs. Linden, staring -through the front<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_192">{192}</a></span> blind, saw with some relief that her enemy was able -to rise and to limp back to her own door, whence she could be heard -delivering a long shrill harangue as to her wrongs. The wrongs of a Jew -are not lightly forgotten, for the race can both love and hate.</p> - -<p>“She’s all right, Silas. I thought maybe you ’ad killed ’er.”</p> - -<p>“It’s what she wants, the damned canting sheeny. It’s bad enough to have -her in the street without her daring to set foot inside my door. I’ll -cut the hide off that young Willie. He’s the cause of it all. Where is -he?”</p> - -<p>“They ran up to their room. I heard them lock the door.”</p> - -<p>“A lot of good that will do them.”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t touch ’em now, Silas. The neighbours is all up and about and -we needn’t ask for trouble.”</p> - -<p>“You’re right!” he grumbled. “It will keep till I come back.”</p> - -<p>“Where are you goin’?”</p> - -<p>“Down to the Admiral Vernon. There’s a chance of a job as sparrin’ -partner to Long Davis. He goes into training on Monday and needs a man -of my weight.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ll expect you when I see you. I get too much of that pub of -yours. I know what the Admiral Vernon means.”</p> - -<p>“It means the only place in God’s earth where I get any peace or rest,” -said Silas.</p> - -<p>“A fat lot I get—or ever ’ave ’ad since I married you.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right. Grouse away!” he growled. “If grousin’ made a man happy, -you’d be the champion.” He picked up his hat and slouched off down the -street,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_193">{193}</a></span> his heavy tread resounding upon the great wooden flap which -covered the cellars of the brewery.</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>Up in a dingy attic two little figures were seated on the side of a -wretched straw-stuffed bed, their arms enlacing each other, their cheeks -touching, their tears mingling. They had to cry in silence, for any -sound might remind the ogre downstairs of their existence. Now and again -one would break into an uncontrollable sob, and the other would whisper, -“Hush! Hush! Oh hush!” Then suddenly they heard the slam of the outer -door and that heavy tread booming over the wooden flap. They squeezed -each other in their joy. Perhaps when he came back he might kill them, -but for a few short hours at least they were safe from him. As to the -woman, she was spiteful and vicious, but she did not seem so deadly as -the man. In a dim way they felt that he had hunted their mother into her -grave and might do as much for them.</p> - -<p>The room was dark save for the light which came through the single dirty -window. It cast a bar across the floor, but all round was black shadow. -Suddenly the little boy stiffened, clasped his sister with a tighter -grip, and stared rigidly into the darkness.</p> - -<p>“She’s coming!” he muttered. “She’s coming!”</p> - -<p>Little Margery clung to him.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Willie, is it mother?”</p> - -<p>“It is a light—a beautiful yellow light. Can you not see it, Margery?”</p> - -<p>But the little girl, like all the world, was without vision. To her all -was darkness.</p> - -<p>“Tell me, Willie,” she whispered, in a solemn voice. She was not really -frightened, for many times before had the dead mother returned in the -watches of the night to comfort her stricken children.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_194">{194}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, she is coming now. Oh, mother! Mother!”</p> - -<p>“What does she say, Willie?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, she is beautiful. She is not crying. She is smiling. It is like the -picture we saw of the angel. She looks so happy. Dear, dear mother! Now -she is speaking. ‘It is over,’ she says. ‘It is all over.’ She says it -again. Now she beckons with her hand. We are to follow. She has moved to -the door.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Willie, I dare not.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, she nods her head. She bids us fear nothing. Now she has -passed through the door. Come, Margery, come, or we shall lose her.”</p> - -<p>The two little mites crept across the room and Willie unlocked the door. -The mother stood at the head of the stair beckoning them onwards. Step -by step they followed her down into the empty kitchen. The woman seemed -to have gone out. All was still in the house. The phantom still beckoned -them on.</p> - -<p>“We are to go out.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Willie, we have no hats.”</p> - -<p>“We must follow, Madge. She is smiling and waving.”</p> - -<p>“Father will kill us for this.”</p> - -<p>“She shakes her head. She says we are to fear nothing. Come!”</p> - -<p>They threw open the door and were in the street. Down the deserted court -they followed the gleaming, gracious presence, and through a tangle of -low streets, and so out into the crowded rush of Tottenham Court Road. -Once or twice amid all that blind torrent of humanity, some man or -woman, blessed with the precious gift of discernment, would start and -stare as they were aware of an angel presence and of two little -white-faced children who followed behind, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_195">{195}</a></span> boy with fixed, absorbed -gaze, the girl glancing ever in terror over her shoulder. Down the long -street they passed, then again amid the humbler dwellings, and so at -last to a quiet drab line of brick houses. On the step of one the spirit -had halted.</p> - -<p>“We are to knock,” said Willie.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Willie, what shall we say? We don’t know them.”</p> - -<p>“We are to knock,” he repeated, stoutly. Rat-tat!</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Madge. She is clapping her hands and laughing.”</p> - -<p>So it was that Mrs. Tom Linden, sitting lonely in her misery and -brooding over her martyr in gaol, was summoned suddenly to the door, and -found two little apologetic figures outside it. A few words, a rush of -woman’s instinct, and her arms were round the children. These battered -little skiffs, who had started their life’s voyage so sadly, had found a -harbour of peace where no storm should vex them more.</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>There were some strange happenings in Bolton’s Court that night. Some -folk thought they had no relation to each other. One or two thought they -had. The British Law saw nothing and had nothing to say.</p> - -<p>In the second last house, a keen, hawklike face peered from behind a -window-blind into the darkened street. A shaded candle was behind that -fearful face, dark as death, remorseless as the tomb. Behind Rebecca -Levi stood a young man whose features showed that he sprang from the -same Oriental race. For an hour—for a second hour—the woman had sat -without a word, watching, watching.... At the entrance to the court -there was a hanging lamp which cast a circle of yellow light. It was on -this pool of radiance that her brooding eyes were fixed.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_196">{196}</a></span></p> - -<p>Then suddenly she saw what she had waited for. She started and hissed -out a word. The young man rushed from the room and into the street. He -vanished through a side door into the brewery.</p> - -<p>Drunken Silas Linden was coming home. He was in a gloomy, sulken state -of befuddlement. A sense of injury filled his mind. He had not gained -the billet he sought. His injured hand had been against him. He had hung -about the bar waiting for drinks and had got some, but not enough. Now -he was in a dangerous mood. Woe to the man, woman or child who crossed -his path! He thought savagely of the Jewess who lived in that darkened -house. He thought savagely of all his neighbours. They would stand -between him and his children, would they? He would show them. The very -next morning he would take them both out into the street and strap them -within an inch of their lives. That would show them all what Silas -Linden thought of their opinion. Why should he not do it now? If he were -to waken the neighbours up with the shrieks of his children, it would -show them once for all that they could not defy him with impunity. The -idea pleased him. He stepped more briskly out. He was almost at his door -when....</p> - -<p>It was never quite clear how it was that the cellar-flap was not -securely fastened that night. The jury were inclined to blame the -brewery, but the coroner pointed out that Linden was a heavy man, that -he might have fallen on it if he were drunk, and that all reasonable -care had been taken. It was an eighteen-foot fall upon jagged stones, -and his back was broken. They did not find him till next morning, for, -curiously enough, his neighbour, the Jewess, never heard the sound of -the accident. The doctor seemed to think that death had not come -quickly. There were hor<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_197">{197}</a></span>rible signs that he had lingered. Down in the -darkness, vomiting blood and beer, the man ended his filthy life with a -filthy death.</p> - -<p>One need not waste words or pity over the woman whom he had left. -Relieved from her terrible mate, she returned to that music-hall stage -from which he, by force of his virility and bull-like strength, had -lured her. She tried to regain her place with:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Hi! Hi! Hi! I’m the <i>dernier cri</i>,<br></span> -<span class="i1">The girl with the cart-wheel hat,”<br></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind">which was the ditty which had won her her name. But it became too -painfully evident that she was anything but the <i>dernier cri</i>, and that -she could never get back. Slowly she sank from big halls to small halls, -from small halls to pubs, and so ever deeper and deeper, sucked into the -awful, silent quicksands of life which drew her down and down until that -vacuous painted face and frowsy head were seen no more.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_198">{198}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br><br> -<small>THERE ARE HEIGHTS AND THERE ARE DEPTHS</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE Institut Métapsychique was an imposing stone building in the Avenue -Wagram with a door like a baronial castle. Here it was that the three -friends presented themselves late in the evening. A footman showed them -into a reception-room where they were presently welcomed by Dr. Maupuis -in person. The famous authority on psychic science was a short broad man -with a large head, a clean-shaven face, and an expression in which -worldly wisdom and kindly altruism were blended. His conversation was in -French with Mailey and Roxton, who both spoke the language well, but he -had to fall back upon broken English with Malone, who could only utter -still more broken French in reply. He expressed his pleasure at their -visit, as only a graceful Frenchman can, said a few words as to the -wonderful qualities of Panbek, the Galician medium, and finally led the -way downstairs to the room in which the experiments were to be -conducted. His air of vivid intelligence and penetrating sagacity had -already shown the strangers how preposterous were those theories which -tried to explain away his wonderful results by the supposition that he -was a man who was the easy victim of impostors.</p> - -<p>Descending a winding stair they found themselves in a large chamber -which looked at first glance like a chemical laboratory, for shelves -full of bottles, retorts, test-tubes, scales and other apparatus lined -the walls.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_199">{199}</a></span> It was more elegantly furnished, however, than a mere -workshop, and a large massive oak table occupied the centre of the room -with a fringe of comfortable chairs. At one end of the room was a large -portrait of Professor Crookes, which was flanked by a second of -Lombroso, while between them was a remarkable picture of one of Eusapia -Palladino’s séances. Round the table there was gathered a group of men -who were talking in low tones, too much absorbed in their own -conversation to take much notice of the newcomers.</p> - -<p>“Three of these are distinguished visitors like yourselves,” said Dr. -Maupuis. “Two others are my laboratory assistants, Dr. Sauvage and Dr. -Buisson. The others are Parisians of note. The Press is represented -to-day by Monsieur Forte, sub-editor of the <i>Matin</i>. The tall, dark man -who looks like a retired general you probably know.... Not? That is -Professor Charles Richet, our honoured <i>doyen</i>, who has shown great -courage in this matter, though he has not quite reached the same -conclusion as you, Monsieur Mailey. But that also may come. You must -remember that we have to show policy, and that the less we mix this with -religion, the less trouble we shall have with the Church, which is still -very powerful in this country. The distinguished-looking man with the -high forehead is the Count de Grammont. The gentleman with the head of a -Jupiter and the white beard is Flammarion, the astronomer. Now, -gentleman,” he added, in a louder voice, “if you will take your places -we shall get to work.”</p> - -<p>They sat at random round the long table, the three Britons keeping -together. At one end a large photographic camera was reared aloft. Two -zinc buckets also occupied a prominent position upon a side table. The -door was locked and the key given to Professor<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_200">{200}</a></span> Richet. Dr. Maupuis sat -at one end of the table with a small middle-aged man, moustached, -bald-headed and intelligent, upon his right.</p> - -<p>“Some of you have not met Monsieur Panbek,” said the doctor. “Permit me -to present him to you. Monsieur Panbek, gentlemen, has placed his -remarkable powers at our disposal for scientific investigation, and we -all owe him a debt of gratitude. He is now in his forty-seventh year, a -man of normal health, of a neuroarthritic disposition. Some -hyper-excitability of his nervous system is indicated, and his reflexes -are exaggerated, but his blood-pressure is normal. The pulse is now at -seventy-two, but rises to one hundred under trance conditions. There are -zones of marked hyper-æsthesia on his limbs. His visual field and -pupillary reaction is normal. I do not know that there is anything to -add.”</p> - -<p>“I might say,” remarked Professor Richet, “that the hyper-sensibility is -moral as well as physical. Panbek is impressionable and full of emotion, -with the temperament of the poet and all those little weaknesses, if we -may call them so, which the poet pays as a ransom for his gifts. A great -medium is a great artist and is to be judged by the same standards.”</p> - -<p>“He seems to me, gentlemen, to be preparing you for the worst,” said the -medium with a charming smile, while the company laughed in sympathy.</p> - -<p>“We are sitting in the hopes that some remarkable materialisations which -we have recently had may be renewed in such a form that we may get a -permanent record of them.” Dr. Maupuis was talking in his dry, -unemotional voice. “These materialisations have taken very unexpected -forms of late, and I would beg the company to repress any feelings of -fear, however<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_201">{201}</a></span> strange these forms may be, as a calm and judicial -atmosphere is most necessary. We shall now turn out the white light and -begin with the lowest degree of red light until the conditions will -admit of further illumination.”</p> - -<p>The lamps were controlled from Dr. Maupuis’ seat at the table. For a -moment they were plunged in utter darkness. Then a dull red glow came in -the corner, enough to show the dim outlines of the men round the table. -There was no music and no religious atmosphere of any sort. The company -conversed in whispers.</p> - -<p>“This is different to your English procedure,” said Malone.</p> - -<p>“Very,” Mailey answered. “It seems to me that we are wide open to -anything which may come. It’s all wrong. They don’t realise the danger.”</p> - -<p>“What danger can there be?”</p> - -<p>“Well, from my point of view, it is like sitting at the edge of a pond -which may have harmless frogs in it, or may have man-eating crocodiles. -You can’t tell what may come.”</p> - -<p>Professor Richet, who speaks excellent English, overheard the words.</p> - -<p>“I know your views, Mr. Mailey,” said he. “Don’t think that I treat them -lightly. Some things which I have seen make me appreciate your -comparison of the frog and the crocodile. In this very room I have been -conscious of the presence of creatures which could, if moved to anger, -make our experiments seem rather hazardous. I believe with you that evil -people here might bring an evil reflection into our circle.”</p> - -<p>“I am glad, sir, that you are moving in our direc<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_202">{202}</a></span>tion,” said Mailey, -for like everyone else he regarded Richet as one of the world’s great -men.</p> - -<p>“Moving, perhaps, and yet I cannot claim to be altogether with you yet. -The latent powers of the human incarnate spirit may be so wonderful that -they may extend to regions which seem at present to be quite beyond -their scope. As an old materialist, I fight every inch of the ground, -though I admit that I have lost several lines of trenches. My -illustrious friend Challenger still holds his front intact, as I -understand.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir,” said Malone, “and yet I have some hopes——”</p> - -<p>“Hush!” cried Maupuis in an eager voice.</p> - -<p>There was dead silence. Then there came a sound of uneasy movement with -a strange flapping vibration.</p> - -<p>“The bird!” said an awestruck whisper.</p> - -<p>There was silence and then once again came the sound of movement and an -impatient flap.</p> - -<p>“Have you all ready, Réne?” asked the doctor.</p> - -<p>“All is ready.”</p> - -<p>“Then shoot!”</p> - -<p>The flash of the luminant mixture filled the room, while the shutter of -the camera fell. In that sudden glare of light the visitors had a -momentary glimpse of a marvellous sight. The medium lay with his head -upon his hands in apparent insensibility. Upon his rounded shoulders -there was perched a huge bird of prey—a large falcon or an eagle. For -one instant the strange picture was stamped upon their retinas even as -it was upon the photographic plate. Then the darkness closed down again, -save for the two red lamps, like the eyes of some baleful demon lurking -in the corner.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_203">{203}</a></span></p> - -<p>“My word!” gasped Malone. “Did you see it?”</p> - -<p>“A crocodile out of the pond,” said Mailey.</p> - -<p>“But harmless,” added Professor Richet. “The bird has been with us -several times. He moves his wings, as you have heard, but otherwise is -inert. We may have another and a more dangerous visitor.”</p> - -<p>The flash of the light had, of course, dispelled all ectoplasm. It was -necessary to begin again. The company may have sat for a quarter of an -hour when Richet touched Mailey’s arm.</p> - -<p>“Do you smell anything, Monsieur Mailey?”</p> - -<p>Mailey sniffed the air.</p> - -<p>“Yes, surely, it reminds me of our London Zoo.”</p> - -<p>“There is another more ordinary analogy. Have you been in a warm room -with a wet dog?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” said Mailey. “That is a perfect description. But where is the -dog?”</p> - -<p>“It is not a dog. Wait a little! Wait!”</p> - -<p>The animal smell became more pronounced. It was overpowering. Then -suddenly Malone became conscious of something moving round the table. In -the dim red light he was aware of a mis-shapen figure, crouching, -ill-formed, with some resemblance to man. He silhouetted it against the -dull radiance. It was bulky, broad, with a bullet-head, a short neck, -heavy, clumsy shoulders. It slouched slowly round the circle. Then it -stopped, and a cry of surprise, not unmixed with fear, came from one of -the sitters.</p> - -<p>“Do not be alarmed,” said Dr. Maupuis’ quiet voice. “It is the -Pithecanthropus. He is harmless.” Had it been a cat which had strayed -into the room the scientist could not have discussed it more calmly.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_204">{204}</a></span></p> - -<p>“It has long claws. It laid them on my neck,” cried a voice.</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes. He means it as a caress.”</p> - -<p>“You may have my share of his caresses!” cried the sitter in a quavering -voice.</p> - -<p>“Do not repulse him. It might be serious. He is well disposed. But he -has his feelings, no doubt, like the rest of us.”</p> - -<p>The creature had resumed its stealthy progress. Now it turned the end of -the table and stood behind the three friends. Its breath came in quick -puffs at the back of their necks. Suddenly Lord Roxton gave a loud -exclamation of disgust.</p> - -<p>“Quiet! Quiet!” said Maupuis.</p> - -<p>“It’s licking my hand!” cried Roxton.</p> - -<p>An instant later Malone was aware of a shaggy head extended between Lord -Roxton and himself. With his left hand he could feel long, coarse hair. -It turned towards him, and it needed all his self-control to hold his -hand still when a long soft tongue caressed it. Then it was gone.</p> - -<p>“In heaven’s name, what is it?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“We have been asked not to photograph it. Possibly the light would -infuriate it. The command through the medium was definite. We can only -say that it is either an ape-like man or a man-like ape. We have seen it -more clearly than to-night. The face is Simian, but the brow is -straight; the arms long, the hands huge, the body covered with hair.”</p> - -<p>“Tom Linden gave us something better than that,” whispered Mailey. He -spoke low but Richet caught the words.</p> - -<p>“All nature is the field of our study, Mr. Mailey. It is not for us to -choose. Shall we classify the flowers but neglect the fungi?<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_205">{205}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“But you admit it is dangerous.”</p> - -<p>“The X-rays were dangerous. How many martyrs lost their arms, joint by -joint, before those dangers were realised. And yet it was necessary. So -it is with us. We do not know yet what it is that we are doing. But if -we can indeed show the world that this Pithecanthropus can come to us -from the Invisible, and depart again as it came, then the knowledge is -so tremendous that even if he tore us to pieces with those formidable -claws, it would none the less be our duty to go forward with our -experiments.”</p> - -<p>“Science can be heroic,” said Mailey. “Who can deny it? And yet I have -heard these very scientific men tell us that we imperil our reason when -we try to get in touch with spiritual forces. Gladly would we sacrifice -our reason, or our lives, if we could help mankind. Should we not do as -much for spiritual advance as they for material?”</p> - -<p>The lights had been turned up and there was a pause for relaxation -before the great experiment of the evening was attempted. The men broke -into little groups, chatting in hushed tones over their recent -experience. Looking round at the comfortable room with its up-to-date -appliances, the strange bird and the stealthy monster seemed like -dreams. And yet they had been very real, as was shown presently by the -photographer, who had been allowed to leave and now rushed excitedly -from the adjacent dark room waving the plate which he had just developed -and fixed. He held it up against the light, and there, sure enough, was -the bald head of the medium sunk between his hands, and crouching -closely over his shoulders the outline of that ominous figure. Dr. -Maupuis rubbed his little fat hands with glee. Like all pioneers he had -endured much persecution from<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_206">{206}</a></span> the Parisian Press, and every fresh -phenomenon was another weapon for his own defence.</p> - -<p>“<i>Nous marchons! Hein! Nous marchons!</i>” he kept on repeating, while -Richet, lost in thought, answered mechanically:</p> - -<p>“<i>Oui, mon ami, vous marchez!</i>”</p> - -<p>The little Galician was sitting nibbling a biscuit with a glass of red -wine before him. Malone went round to him and found that he had been in -America and could talk a little English.</p> - -<p>“Are you tired? Does it exhaust you?”</p> - -<p>“In moderation, no. Two sittings a week. Behold my allowance. The doctor -will allow no more.”</p> - -<p>“Do you remember anything?”</p> - -<p>“It comes to me like dreams. A little here—a little there.”</p> - -<p>“Has the power always been with you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, ever since a child. And my father, and my uncle. Their talk -was of visions. For me, I would go and sit in the woods and strange -animals would come round me. It did me such a surprise when I found that -the other children could not see them.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Est ce que vous êtes prêtes?</i>” asked Dr. Maupuis.</p> - -<p>“<i>Parfaitement</i>,” answered the medium, brushing away the crumbs. The -doctor lit a spirit-lamp under one of the zinc buckets.</p> - -<p>“We are about to co-operate in an experiment, gentlemen, which should, -once and for all, convince the world as to the existence of these -ectoplasmic forms. Their nature may be disputed, but their objectivity -will be beyond doubt from now onwards unless my plans miscarry. I would -first explain these two buckets to you. This one, which I am warming, -contains paraffin, which is now in process of liquefaction. This other -contains water. Those who have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_207">{207}</a></span> not been present before must understand -that Panbek’s phenomena occur usually in the same order, and that at -this stage of the evening we may expect the apparition of the old man. -To-night we lie in wait for the old man, and we shall, I hope, -immortalise him in the history of psychic research. I resume my seat, -and I switch on the red light, Number Three, which allows of greater -visibility.”</p> - -<p>The circle was now quite visible. The medium’s head had fallen forward -and his deep snoring showed that he was already in trance. Every face -was turned towards him, for the wonderful process of materialisation was -going on before their very eyes. At first it was a swirl of light, -steam-like vapour which circled round his head. Then there was a waving, -as of white diaphanous drapery, behind him. It thickened. It coalesced. -It hardened in outline and took definite shape. There was a head. There -were shoulders. Arms grew out from them. Yes, there could not be a doubt -of it—there was a man, an old man, standing behind the chair. He moved -his head slowly from side to side. He seemed to be peering in indecision -towards the company. One could imagine that he was asking himself, -“Where am I, and what am I here for?”</p> - -<p>“He does not speak, but he hears and has intelligence,” said Dr. -Maupuis, glancing over his shoulder at the apparition. “We are here, -sir, in the hope that you will aid us in a very important experiment. -May we count upon your co-operation?”</p> - -<p>The figure bowed its head in assent.</p> - -<p>“We thank you. When you have attained your full power, you will, no -doubt, move away from the medium.”</p> - -<p>The figure again bowed, but remained motionless.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_208">{208}</a></span> It seemed to Malone -that it was growing denser every moment. He caught glimpses of the face. -It was certainly an old man, heavy-faced, long-nosed, with a curiously -projecting lower lip. Suddenly with a brusque movement it stood clear -from Panbek and stepped out into the room.</p> - -<p>“Now, sir,” said Maupuis in his precise fashion. “You will perceive the -zinc bucket upon the left. I would beg you to have the kindness to -approach it and to plunge your right hand into it.”</p> - -<p>The figure moved across. He seemed interested in the buckets, for he -examined them with some attention. Then he dipped one of his hands into -that which the doctor had indicated.</p> - -<p>“Excellent!” cried Maupuis, his voice shrill with excitement. “Now, sir, -might I ask you to have the kindness to dip the same hand into the cold -water of the other bucket.”</p> - -<p>The form did so.</p> - -<p>“Now, sir, you would bring our experiment to complete success if you -would lay your hand upon the table, and while it is resting there you -would yourself dematerialise and return into the medium.”</p> - -<p>The figure bowed its comprehension and assent. Then it slowly advanced -towards the table, stooped over it, extended its hand—and vanished. The -heavy breathing of the medium ceased, and he moved uneasily as if about -to wake. Maupuis turned on the white light, and threw up his hands with -a loud cry of wonder and joy which was echoed by the company.</p> - -<p>On the shining wooden surface of the table there lay a delicate -yellow-pink glove of paraffin, broad at the knuckles, thin at the wrist, -two of the fingers bent down to the palm. Maupuis was beside himself -with delight. He broke off a small bit of wax from<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_209">{209}</a></span> the wrist and handed -it to an assistant, who hurried from the room.</p> - -<p>“It is final!” he cried. “What can they say now? Gentlemen, I appeal to -you. You have seen what occurred. Can any of you give any rational -explanation of that paraffin mould, save that it was the result of -dematerialisation of the hand within it?”</p> - -<p>“I can see no other solution,” Richet answered. “But you have to do with -very obstinate and very prejudiced people. If they cannot deny it, they -will probably ignore it.”</p> - -<p>“The Press is here and the Press represents the public,” said Maupuis. -“For the Press Engleesh, Monsieur Malone,” he went on in his broken way. -“Is it that you can see any answer?”</p> - -<p>“I can see none,” Malone answered.</p> - -<p>“And you, monsieur?” addressing the representative of the <i>Matin</i>.</p> - -<p>The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“For us who had the privilege of being present it was indeed -convincing,” said he, “and yet you will certainly be met with -objections. They will not realise how fragile this thing is. They will -say that the medium brought it on his person and laid it upon the -table.”</p> - -<p>Maupuis clapped his hands triumphantly. His assistant had just brought -him a slip of paper from the next room.</p> - -<p>“Your objection is already answered,” he cried, waving the paper in the -air. “I had foreseen it and I had put some cholesterine among the -paraffin in the zinc pail. You may have observed that I broke off a -corner of the mould. It was for purpose of chemical analysis. This has -now been done. It is here and cholesterine has been detected.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_210">{210}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Excellent!” said the French journalist. “You have closed the last hole. -But what next?”</p> - -<p>“What we have done once we can do again,” Maupuis answered. “I will -prepare a number of these moulds. In some cases I will have fists and -hands. Then I will have plaster casts made from them. I will run the -plaster inside the mould. It is delicate, but it can be done. I will -have dozens of them so created, and I will send them broadcast to every -capital in the world that people may see with their own eyes. Will that -not at last convince them of the reality of our conclusions?”</p> - -<p>“Do not hope for too much, my poor friend,” said Richet, with his hand -upon the shoulder of the enthusiast. “You have not yet realised the -enormous <i>vis inertiæ</i> of the world. But as you have said, ‘<i>Vous -marchez—vous marchez toujours</i>.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“And our march is regulated,” said Mailey. “There is a gradual release -to accommodate it to the receptivity of mankind.”</p> - -<p>Richet smiled and shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Always transcendental, Monsieur Mailey! Always seeing more than meets -the eye and changing science into philosophy! I fear you are -incorrigible. Is your position reasonable?”</p> - -<p>“Professor Richet,” said Mailey, very earnestly, “I would beg you to -answer the same question. I have a deep respect for your talents and -complete sympathy with your caution, but have you not come to the -dividing of the ways? You are now in the position that you admit—you -must admit—that our intelligent apparition in human form, built up from -the substance which you have yourself named ectoplasm, can walk the room -and carry out instructions while the medium lay senseless under our -eyes, and yet you hesi<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_211">{211}</a></span>tate to assert that spirit has an independent -existence. Is that reasonable?”</p> - -<p>Richet smiled and shook his head. Without answering, he turned to bid -farewell to Dr. Maupuis, and to offer him his congratulations. A few -minutes later the company had broken up and our friends were in a taxi -speeding towards their hotel.</p> - -<p>Malone was deeply impressed with what he had seen, and he sat up half -the night drawing up a full account of it for the Central News, with the -names of those who had endorsed the results—honourable names which no -one in the world could associate with folly or deception.</p> - -<p>“Surely, surely, this will be a turning-point and an epoch.” So ran his -dream. Two days later he opened the great London dailies one after the -other. Columns about football. Columns about golf. A full page as to the -value of shares. A long and earnest correspondence in <i>The Times</i> about -the habits of the lapwing. Not one word in any of them as to the wonders -which he had seen and reported. Mailey laughed at his dejected face.</p> - -<p>“A mad world, my masters,” said he. “A crazy world! But the end is not -yet!”<a id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_212">{212}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH PROFESSOR CHALLENGER GOES FORTH TO BATTLE</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">P</span>ROFESSOR CHALLENGER was in a bad humour, and when that was so his -household were made aware of it. Neither were the effects of his wrath -confined to those around him, for most of those terrible letters which -appeared from time to time in the Press, flaying and scarifying some -unhappy opponent, were thunderbolt flashes from an offended Jove who sat -in sombre majesty in his study-throne on the heights of a Victoria flat. -Servants would hardly dare to enter the room where, glooming and -glowering, the maned and bearded head looked up from his papers as a -lion from a bone. Only Enid could dare him at such a time, and even she -felt occasionally that sinking of the heart which the bravest of tamers -may experience as he unbars the gate of the cage. She was not safe from -the acridity of his tongue, but at least she need not fear physical -violence, which was well within the possibilities for others.</p> - -<p>Sometimes these Berserk fits of the famous Professor arose from material -causes. “Hepatic, sir, hepatic!” he would explain in extenuation after -some aggravated assault. But on this particular occasion he had a very -definite cause for discontent. It was Spiritualism!</p> - -<p>He never seemed to get away from the accursed superstition—a thing -which ran counter to the whole<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_213">{213}</a></span> work and philosophy of his lifetime. He -attempted to pooh-pooh it, to laugh at it, to ignore it with contempt, -but the confounded thing would insist upon obtruding itself once more. -On Monday he would write it finally off his books, and before Saturday -he would be up to his neck in it again. And the thing was so absurd! It -seemed to him that his mind was being drawn from the great pressing -material problems of the Universe in order to waste itself upon Grimm’s -fairy tales or the ghosts of a sensational novelist.</p> - -<p>Then things grew worse. First Malone, who had in his simple fashion been -an index figure representing the normal clear-headed human being, had in -some way been bedevilled by these people and had committed himself to -their pernicious views. Then Enid, his ewe-lamb, his one real link with -humanity, had also been corrupted. She had agreed with Malone’s -conclusions. She had even hunted up a good deal of evidence of her own. -In vain he had himself investigated a case and proved beyond a shadow of -a doubt that the medium was a designing villain who brought messages -from a widow’s dead husband in order to get the woman into his power. It -was a clear case and Enid admitted it. But neither she nor Malone would -allow any general application. “There are rogues in every line of life,” -they would say. “We must judge every movement by the best and not by the -worst.”</p> - -<p>All this was bad enough, but worse still was in store. He had been -publicly humiliated by the Spiritualists—and that by a man who admitted -that he had had no education and would in any other subject in the world -have been seated like a child at the Professor’s feet.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_214">{214}</a></span> And yet in -public debate ... but the story must be told.</p> - -<p>Be it known then that Challenger, greatly despising all opposition and -with no knowledge of the real strength of the case to be answered, had, -in a fatal moment, actually asserted that he would descend from Olympus -and would meet in debate any representative whom the other party should -select. “I am well aware,” he wrote, “that by such condescension I, like -any other man of science of equal standing, run the risk of giving a -dignity to these absurd and grotesque aberrations of the human brain -which they could otherwise not pretend to claim, but we must do our duty -to the public, and we must occasionally turn from our serious work and -spare a moment in order to sweep away those ephemeral cobwebs which -might collect and become offensive if they were not dispersed by the -broom of Science.” Thus, in a most self-confident fashion, did Goliath -go forth to meet his tiny antagonist, an ex-printer’s assistant and now -the editor of what Challenger would describe as an obscure print devoted -to matters of the spirit.</p> - -<p>The particulars of the debate are public property, and it is not -necessary to tell in any great detail that painful event. It will be -remembered that the great man of Science went down to the Queen’s Hall -accompanied by many rationalist sympathisers who desired to see the -final destruction of the visionaries. A large number of these poor -deluded creatures also attended, hoping against hope that their champion -might not be entirely immolated upon the altar of outraged Science. -Between them the two factions filled the hall, and glared at each other -with as much enmity as did the Blues and the Greens a thousand years -before in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. There<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_215">{215}</a></span> on the left of the -platform were the solid ranks of those hard and unbending rationalists -who look upon the Victorian agnostics as credulous, and refresh their -faith by the periodical perusal of the <i>Literary Gazette</i> and the -<i>Freethinker</i>.</p> - -<p>There, too, was Dr. Joseph Baumer, the famous lecturer upon the -absurdities of religion, together with Mr. Edward Mould, who has -insisted so eloquently upon man’s claim to ultimate putridity of the -body and extinction of the soul. On the other side Mailey’s yellow beard -flamed like an oriflamme. His wife sat on one side of him and Mervin, -the journalist, on the other, while dense ranks of earnest men and women -from the Queen Square Spiritual Alliance, from the Psychic College, from -the Stead Bureau, and from the outlying churches, assembled in order to -encourage their champion in his hopeless task. The genial faces of -Bolsover, the grocer, with his Hammersmith friends, Terbane, the railway -medium, the Reverend Charles Mason with his ascetic features, Tom -Linden, now happily released from bondage, Mrs. Linden, the Crewe -circle, Dr. Atkinson, Lord Roxton, Malone, and many other familiar faces -were to be picked out amid that dense wall of humanity. Between the two -parties, solemn and stolid and fat, sat Judge Gaverson of the King’s -Bench, who had consented to preside. It was an interesting and -suggestive fact that in this critical debate at which the very core or -vital centre of real religion was the issue, the organised churches were -entirely aloof and neutral. Drowsy and semi-conscious, they could not -discern that the live intellect of the nation was really holding an -inquisition upon their bodies to determine whether they were doomed to -the extinction towards which they were rapidly drifting, or whether a -resuscitation<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_216">{216}</a></span> in other forms was among the possibilities of the future.</p> - -<p>In front, on one side, with his broad-browed disciples behind him, sat -Professor Challenger, portentous and threatening, his Assyrian beard -projected in his most aggressive fashion, a half-smile upon his lips, -and his eyelids drooping insolently over his intolerant grey eyes. On -the corresponding position on the other side was perched a drab and -unpretentious person over whose humble head Challenger’s hat would have -descended to the shoulders. He was pale and apprehensive, glancing -across occasionally in apologetic and deprecating fashion at his leonine -opponent. Yet those who knew James Smith best were the least alarmed, -for they were aware that behind his commonplace and democratic -appearance there lay a knowledge of his subject, practical and -theoretical, such as few living men possessed. The wise men of the -Psychical Research Society are but children in psychic knowledge when -compared with such practicing Spiritualists as James Smith—men whose -whole lives are spent in various forms of communion with the unseen. -Such men often lose touch with the world in which they dwell and are -useless for its everyday purposes, but the editorship of a live paper -and the administration of a wide-spread scattered community had kept -Smith’s feet solid upon earth, while his excellent natural faculties, -incorrupted by useless education, had enabled him to concentrate upon -the one field of knowledge which offers in itself a sufficient scope for -the greatest human intellect. Little as Challenger could appreciate it, -the contest was really one between a brilliant discursive amateur and a -concentrated highly-specialised professional.</p> - -<p>It was admitted on all sides that Challenger’s open<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_217">{217}</a></span>ing half-hour was a -magnificent display of oratory and argument. His deep organ voice—such -a voice as only a man with a fifty-inch chest can produce—rose and fell -in a perfect cadence which enchanted his audience. He was born to sway -any assembly—an obvious leader of mankind. In turn he was descriptive, -humorous and convincing. He pictured the natural growth of animism among -savages cowering under the naked sky, unable to account for the beat of -the rain or the roar of the thunder, and seeing a benevolent or -malicious intelligence behind those operations of Nature which Science -had now classified and explained.</p> - -<p>Hence on false premises was built up that belief in spirits or invisible -beings outside ourselves, which by some curious atavism was re-emerging -in modern days among the less educated strata of mankind. It was the -duty of Science to resist retrogressive tendencies of the sort, and it -was a sense of that duty which had reluctantly drawn him from the -privacy of his study to the publicity of this platform. He rapidly -sketched the movement as depicted by its maligners. It was a most -unsavoury story as he told it, a story of cracking toe joints, of -phosphorescent paint, of muslin ghosts, of a nauseous sordid commission -trade betwixt dead men’s bones on one side, and widows’ tears upon the -other. These people were the hyenas of the human race who battened upon -the graves. (Cheers from the rationalists and ironical laughter from the -Spiritualists.) They were not all rogues. (“Thank you, Professor!” from -a stentorian opponent.) But the others were fools (laughter). Was it -exaggeration to call a man a fool who believed that his grandmother -could rap out absurd messages with the leg of a dining-room table? Had -any savages de<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_218">{218}</a></span>scended to so grotesque a superstition? These people had -taken dignity from death and had brought their own vulgarity into the -serene oblivion of the tomb. It was a hateful business. He was sorry to -have to speak so strongly, but only the knife or the cautery could deal -with so cancerous a growth. Surely man need not trouble himself with -grotesque speculations as to the nature of life beyond the grave. We had -enough to do in this world. Life was a beautiful thing. The man who -appreciated its real duties and beauties would have sufficient to employ -him without dabbling in pseudo sciences which had their roots in frauds, -exposed already a hundred times and yet finding fresh crowds of foolish -devotees whose insane credulity and irrational prejudice made them -impervious to all argument.</p> - -<p>Such is a most bald and crude summary of this powerful opening argument. -The materialists roared their applause; the Spiritualists looked angry -and uneasy, while their spokesman rose, pale but resolute, to answer the -ponderous onslaught.</p> - -<p>His voice and appearance had none of those qualities which made -Challenger magnetic, but he was clearly audible and made his points in a -precise fashion like a workman who is familiar with his tools. He was so -polite and so apologetic at first that he gave the impression of having -been cowed. He felt that it was almost presumptuous upon one who had so -little advantage of education to measure mental swords for an instant -with so renowned an antagonist, one whom he had long revered. It seemed -to him, however, that in the long list of the Professor’s -accomplishments—accomplishments which had made him a household word -throughout the world—there was one missing, and unhappily it was just -this one upon which<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_219">{219}</a></span> he had been tempted to speak. He had listened to -that speech with admiration so far as its eloquence was concerned, but -with surprise, and he might almost say with contempt, when he analysed -the assertions which were contained in it. It was clear that the -Professor had prepared his case by reading all the anti-Spiritualist -literature which he could lay his hands upon—a most tainted source of -information—while neglecting the works of those who spoke from -experience and conviction.</p> - -<p>All this talk of cracking joints and other fraudulent tricks was -mid-Victorian in its ignorance, and as to the grandmother talking -through the leg of a table he, the speaker, could not recognise it as a -fair description of Spiritualistic phenomena. Such comparisons reminded -one of the jokes about the dancing frogs which impeded the recognition -of Volta’s early electrical experiments. They were unworthy of Professor -Challenger. He must surely be aware that the fraudulent medium was the -worst enemy of Spiritualism, that he was denounced by name in the -psychic journals whenever he was discovered, and that such exposures -were usually made by the Spiritualists themselves who had spoken of -“human hyenas” as indignantly as his opponent had done. One did not -condemn banks because forgers occasionally used them for nefarious -purposes. It was wasting the time of so chosen an audience to descend to -such a level of argument. Had Professor Challenger denied the religious -implications of Spiritualism while admitting the phenomena, it might -have been harder to answer him, but in denying everything he had placed -himself in an absolutely impossible position. No doubt Professor -Challenger had read the recent work of Professor Richet, the famous -physiologist. That work extended<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_220">{220}</a></span> over thirty years. Richet had verified -all the phenomena.</p> - -<p>Perhaps Professor Challenger would inform the audience what personal -experience he had himself had which gave him the right to talk of -Richet, or Lombroso, or Crookes, as if they were superstitious savages. -Possibly his opponent had conducted experiments in private of which the -world knew nothing. In that case he should give them to the world. Until -he did so it was unscientific and really indecent to deride men hardly -inferior in scientific reputation to himself, who actually had done such -experiments and laid them before the public.</p> - -<p>As to the self-sufficiency of this world, a successful Professor with a -eupeptic body might take such a view, but if one found oneself with -cancer of the stomach in a London garret, one might question the -doctrine that there was no need to yearn for any state of being save -that in which we found ourselves.</p> - -<p>It was a workmanlike effort illustrated with facts, dates and figures. -Though it rose to no height of eloquence it contained much which needed -an answer. And the sad fact emerged that Challenger was not in a -position to answer. He had read up his own case but had neglected that -of his adversary, accepting too easily the facile and specious -presumptions of incompetent writers who handled a matter which they had -not themselves investigated. Instead of answering, Challenger lost his -temper. The lion began to roar. He tossed his dark mane and his eyes -glowed, while his deep voice reverberated through the hall. Who were -these people who took refuge behind a few honoured but misguided names? -What right had they to expect serious men of science to suspend their -labours in order to waste time in examining their<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_221">{221}</a></span> wild surmises? Some -things were self-evident and did not require proof. The onus of proof -lay with those who made the assertions. If this gentleman, whose name is -unfamiliar, claims that he can raise spirits, let him call one up now -before a sane and unprejudiced audience. If he says that he receives -messages, let him give us the news in advance of the general agencies. -(“It has often been done!” from the Spiritualists.) “So you say, but I -deny it. I am too accustomed to your wild assertions to take them -seriously.” (Uproar, and Judge Gaverson upon his feet.) If he claims -that he has higher inspiration, let him solve the Peckham Rye murder. If -he is in touch with angelic beings, let him give us a philosophy, which -is higher than mortal mind can evolve. This false show of science, this -camouflage of ignorance, this babble about ectoplasm and other mythical -products of the psychic imagination was mere obscurantism, the bastard -offspring of superstition and darkness. Wherever the matter was probed -one came upon corruption and mental putrescence. Every medium was a -deliberate impostor. (“You are a liar!” in a woman’s voice from the -neighbourhood of the Lindens.) The voices of the dead had uttered -nothing but childish twaddle. The asylums were full of the supporters of -the cult and would be fuller still if everyone had his due.</p> - -<p>It was a violent but not an effective speech. Evidently the great man -was rattled. He realised that there was a case to be met and that he had -not provided himself with the material wherewith to meet it. Therefore -he had taken refuge in angry words and sweeping assertions which can -only be safely made when there is no antagonist present to take -advantage of them. The Spiritualists seemed more amused than<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_222">{222}</a></span> angry. The -materialists fidgeted uneasily in their seats. Then James Smith rose for -his last innings. He wore a mischievous smile. There was quiet menace in -his whole bearing.</p> - -<p>He must ask, he said, for a more scientific attitude from his -illustrious opponent. It was an extraordinary fact that many scientific -men, when their passions and prejudices were excited, showed a ludicrous -disregard for all their own tenets. Of these tenets there was none more -rigid than that a subject should be examined before it was condemned. We -have seen of late years, in such matters as wireless or heavier-than-air -machines, that the most unlikely things may come to pass. It is most -dangerous to say <i>a priori</i> that a thing is impossible. Yet this was the -error into which Professor Challenger had fallen. He had used the fame -which he had rightly won in subjects which he had mastered in order to -cast discredit upon a subject which he had not mastered. The fact that a -man was a great physiologist and physicist did not in itself make him an -authority upon psychic science.</p> - -<p>It was perfectly clear that Professor Challenger had not read the -standard works upon the subject on which he posed as an authority. Could -he tell the audience what the name of Schrenck Notzing’s medium was? He -paused for a reply. Could he then tell the name of Dr. Crawford’s -medium? Not? Could he tell them who had been the subject of Professor -Zollner’s experiments at Leipzig? What, still silent! But these were the -essential points of the discussion. He had hesitated to be personal, but -the Professor’s robust language called for corresponding frankness upon -his part. Was the Professor aware that this ectoplasm which he derided -had been examined lately by twenty German professors—the names were -here<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_223">{223}</a></span> for reference—and that all had testified to its existence? How -could Professor Challenger deny that which these gentlemen asserted? -Would he contend that they also were criminals or fools? The fact was -that the Professor had come to this hall entirely ignorant of the facts -and was now learning them for the first time. He clearly had no -perception that Psychic Science had any laws whatever, or he would not -have formulated such childish requests as that an ectoplasmic figure -should manifest in full light upon this platform when every student was -aware that ectoplasm was soluble in light. As to the Peckham Rye murder -it had never been claimed that the angel world was an annex to Scotland -Yard. It was mere throwing of dust in the eyes of the public for a man -like Professor Challenger——</p> - -<p>It was at this moment that the explosion occurred. Challenger had -wriggled in his chair. Challenger had tugged at his beard. Challenger -had glared at the speaker. Now he suddenly sprang to the side of the -chairman’s table with the bound of a wounded lion. That gentleman had -been lying back half asleep with his fat hands clutched across his ample -paunch, but at this sudden apparition he gave a convulsive start which -nearly carried him into the orchestra.</p> - -<p>“Sit down, sir! Sit down!” he cried.</p> - -<p>“I refuse to sit down,” roared Challenger. “Sir, I appeal to you as -chairman! Am I here to be insulted? These proceedings are intolerable. I -will stand it no longer. If my private honour is touched I am justified -in taking the matter into my own hands.”</p> - -<p>Like many men who override the opinions of others, Challenger was -exceedingly sensitive when anyone took a liberty with his own. Each -successive incisive sentence of his opponent had been like a barbed -ban<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_224">{224}</a></span>darillo in the flanks of a foaming bull. Now, in speechless fury, he -was shaking his huge hairy fist over the chairman’s head in the -direction of his adversary, whose derisive smile stimulated him to more -furious plunges with which he butted the fat president along the -platform. The assembly had in an instant become a pandemonium. Half the -rationalists were scandalised, while the other half shouted “Shame! -Shame!” as a sign of sympathy with their champion. The Spiritualists had -broken into derisive shouts, while some rushed forward to protect their -champion from physical assault.</p> - -<p>“We must get the old dear out,” said Lord Roxton to Malone. “He’ll be -had for manslaughter if we don’t. What I mean, he’s not -responsible—he’ll sock someone and be lagged for it.”</p> - -<p>The platform had become a seething mob while the auditorium was little -better. Through the crush Malone and Roxton elbowed their way until they -reached Challenger’s side, and partly by judicious propulsion, partly by -artful persuasion they got him, still bellowing his grievances, out of -the building. There was a perfunctory vote to the chairman, and the -meeting broke up in riot and confusion. “The whole episode,” remarked -<i>The Times</i> next morning, “was a deplorable one, and forcibly -illustrates the danger of public debates where the subjects are such as -to inflame the prejudices of either speakers or audience. Such terms as -‘Microcephalous idiot!’ or ‘Simian survival!’ when applied by a -world-renowned Professor to an opponent, illustrate the lengths to which -such disputants may permit themselves to go.”</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>Thus by a long interpolation we have got back to the fact that Professor -Challenger was in the worst<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_225">{225}</a></span> of humours as he sat with the -above-mentioned copy of <i>The Times</i> in his hand and a heavy scowl upon -his brow. And yet it was that very moment that the injudicious Malone -had chosen in order to ask him the most intimate question which one man -can address to another.</p> - -<p>Yet perhaps it is hardly fair to our friend’s diplomacy to say that he -had “chosen” the moment. He had really called in order to see for -himself that a man for whom, in spite of his eccentricities, he had a -deep reverence and affection, had not suffered from the events of the -night before. On that point he was speedily reassured.</p> - -<p>“Intolerable!” roared the Professor, in a tone so unchanged that he -might have been at it all night. “You were there yourself, Malone. In -spite of your inexplicable and misguided sympathy for the fatuous views -of these people, you must admit that the whole conduct of the -proceedings was intolerable, and that my righteous protest was more than -justified. It is possible that when I threw the chairman’s table at the -President of the Psychic College, I passed the bounds of decorum, but -the provocation had been excessive. You will remember that this Smith or -Brown person—his name is most immaterial—dared to accuse me of -ignorance and of throwing dust in the eyes of the audience.”</p> - -<p>“Quite so,” said Malone, soothingly. “Never mind, Professor. You got in -one or two pretty hard knocks yourself.”</p> - -<p>Challenger’s grim features unbent and he rubbed his hands with glee.</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, I fancy that some of my thrusts went home. I imagine that -they will not be forgotten. When I said that the asylums would be full -if every<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_226">{226}</a></span> man of them had his due, I could see them wince. They all -yelped, I remember, like a kennelful of puppies. It was their -preposterous claim that I should read their hare-brained literature -which caused me to display some little heat. But I hope, my boy, that -you have called round this morning in order to tell me that what I said -last night has had some effect upon your own mind, and that you have -reconsidered these views which are, I confess, a considerable tax upon -our friendship.”</p> - -<p>Malone took his plunge like a man.</p> - -<p>“I had something else in my mind when I came here,” said he. “You must -be aware that your daughter Enid and I have been thrown together a good -deal of late. To me, sir, she has become the one woman in the world, and -I shall never be happy until she is my wife. I am not rich, but a good -sub-editorship has been offered to me and I could well afford to marry. -You have known me for some time and I hope you have nothing against me. -I trust, therefore, that I may count upon your approval in what I am -about to do.”</p> - -<p>Challenger stroked his beard and his eyelids drooped dangerously over -his eyes.</p> - -<p>“My perceptions,” said he, “are not so dull that I should have failed to -observe the relations which have been established between my daughter -and yourself. This question, however, has become entangled with that -other which we were discussing. You have both, I fear, imbibed this -poisonous fallacy which I am more and more inclined to devote my life to -extirpating. If only on the ground of eugenics, I could not give my -sanction to a union which was built up on such a foundation. I must ask -you, therefore, for a definite<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_227">{227}</a></span> assurance that your views have become -more sane. I shall ask the same from her.”</p> - -<p>And so Malone suddenly found himself also enrolled among the noble army -of martyrs. It was a hard dilemma, but he faced it like the man that he -was.</p> - -<p>“I am sure, sir, that you would not think the better of me if I allowed -my views as to truth, whether they be right or wrong, to be swayed by -material considerations. I cannot change my opinions even to win Enid. I -am sure that she would take the same view.”</p> - -<p>“Did you not think I had the better last night?”</p> - -<p>“I thought your address was very eloquent.”</p> - -<p>“Did I not convince you?”</p> - -<p>“Not in the face of the evidence of my own senses.”</p> - -<p>“Any conjuror could deceive your senses.”</p> - -<p>“I fear, sir, that my mind is made up on this point.”</p> - -<p>“Then my mind is made up also,” roared Challenger, with a sudden glare. -“You will leave this house, sir, and you will return when you have -regained your sanity.”</p> - -<p>“One moment!” said Malone. “I beg, sir, that you will not be -precipitate. I value your friendship too much to risk the loss of it if -it can, in any way, be avoided. Possibly if I had your guidance, I would -better understand these things that puzzle me. If I should be able to -arrange it would you mind being present personally at one of these -demonstrations so that your own trained powers of observation may throw -a light upon the things that have puzzled me.”</p> - -<p>Challenger was enormously open to flattery. He plumed and preened -himself now like some great bird.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_228">{228}</a></span></p> - -<p>“If, my dear Malone, I can help you to get this taint—what shall we -call it?—<i>microbus spiritualensis</i>—out of your system, I am at your -service. I shall be happy to devote a little of my spare time to -exposing those specious fallacies to which you have fallen so easy a -victim. I would not say that you are entirely devoid of brains, but that -your good nature is liable to be imposed upon. I warn you that I shall -be an exacting enquirer and bring to the investigation those laboratory -methods of which it is generally admitted that I am a master.”</p> - -<p>“That is what I desire.”</p> - -<p>“Then you will prepare the occasion and I shall be there. But meanwhile -you will clearly understand that I insist upon a promise that this -connection with my daughter shall go no further.”</p> - -<p>Malone hesitated.</p> - -<p>“I give my promise for six months,” he said at last.</p> - -<p>“And what will you do at the end of that time?”</p> - -<p>“I will decide when the time comes,” Malone answered diplomatically, and -so escaped from a dangerous situation with more credit than at one time -seemed probable.</p> - -<p>It chanced that as he emerged upon the landing, Enid, who had been -engaged in her morning’s shopping, appeared in the lift. Malone’s easy -Irish conscience allowed him to think that the six months need not start -on the instant, so he persuaded Enid to descend in the lift with him. It -was one of those lifts which are handled by whoever uses them, and on -this occasion it so happened that, in some way best known to Malone, it -stuck between the landing-stages, and in spite of several impatient -rings it remained stuck for a good quarter of an hour. When the -machinery re<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_229">{229}</a></span>sumed its functions, and when Enid was able at last to -reach her home and Malone the street, the lovers had prepared themselves -to wait for six months with every hope of a successful end to their -experiment.<a id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_230">{230}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH CHALLENGER MEETS A STRANGE COLLEAGUE</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">P</span>ROFESSOR CHALLENGER was not a man who made friends easily. In order to -be his friend you had also to be his dependent. He did not admit of -equals. But as a patron he was superb. With his Jovian air, his colossal -condescension, his amused smile, his general suggestion of the god -descending to the mortal, he could be quite overpowering in his -amiability. But he needed certain qualities in return. Stupidity -disgusted him. Physical ugliness alienated him. Independence repulsed -him. He coveted the man whom all the world would admire but who in turn -would admire the superman above him. Such a man was Dr. Ross Scotton, -and for this reason he had been Challenger’s favourite pupil.</p> - -<p>And now he was sick unto death. Dr. Atkinson of St. Mary’s, who has -already played some minor part in this record, was attending him, and -his reports were increasingly depressing. The illness was that dread -disease, disseminated sclerosis, and Challenger was aware that Atkinson -was no alarmist when he said that a cure was a most remote and unlikely -possibility.</p> - -<p>It seemed a terrible instance of the unreasonable nature of things that -a young man of science, capable before he reached his prime of two such -works as “The Embryology of the Sympathetic Nervous System” and “The -Fallacy of the Obsonic Index,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_231">{231}</a></span>” should be dissolved into his chemical -elements with no personal or spiritual residue whatever. And yet the -Professor shrugged his huge shoulders, shook his massive head and -accepted the inevitable. Every fresh message was worse than the last, -and, finally, there was an ominous silence. Challenger went down once to -his young friend’s lodging in Gower Street. It was a racking experience, -and he did not repeat it. The muscular cramps, which are characteristic -of the complaint were tying the sufferer into knots, and he was biting -his lips to shut down the screams which might have relieved his agony at -the expense of his manhood. He seized his mentor by the hand as a -drowning man seizes a plank.</p> - -<p>“Is it really as you have said? Is there no hope beyond the six months -of torture which I see lying before me? Can you with all your wisdom and -knowledge see no spark of light or life in the dark shadow of eternal -dissolution?”</p> - -<p>“Face it, my boy, face it!” said Challenger. “Better to look facts in -the face than to console oneself with fancies.”</p> - -<p>Then the lips parted and the long-pent scream burst forth. Challenger -rose and rushed from the room.</p> - -<p>But now an amazing development occurred. It began by the appearance of -Miss Delicia Freeman.</p> - -<p>One morning there came a knock at the door of the Victoria flat. The -austere and taciturn Austin looking out at the level of his eyes -perceived nothing at all. On glancing downwards, however, he was aware -of a small lady, whose delicate face and bright bird-like eyes were -turned upwards to his own.</p> - -<p>“I want to see the Professor,” said she, diving into her handbag for a -card.</p> - -<p>“Can’t see you,” said Austin.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_232">{232}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, he can,” the small lady answered serenely. There was not a -newspaper office, a statesman’s sanctum, or a political chancellory -which had ever presented a barrier strong enough to hold her back where -she believed that there was good work to be done.</p> - -<p>“Can’t see you,” repeated Austin.</p> - -<p>“Oh, but really I must, you know,” said Miss Freeman, and made a sudden -dive past the butler. With unerring instinct she made for the door of -the sacred study, knocked, and forthwith entered.</p> - -<p>The lion head looked up from behind a desk littered with papers. The -lion eyes glared.</p> - -<p>“What is the meaning of this intrusion?” the lion roared. The small lady -was, however, entirely unabashed. She smiled sweetly at the glowering -face.</p> - -<p>“I am so glad to make your acquaintance,” she said. “My name is Delicia -Freeman.”</p> - -<p>“Austin!” shouted the Professor. The butler’s impassive face appeared -round the angle of the door. “What is this, Austin? How did this person -get here?”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t keep her out,” wailed Austin. “Come miss, we’ve had enough -of it.”</p> - -<p>“No, no! You must not be angry—you really must not,” said the lady -sweetly. “I was told that you were a perfectly terrible person, but -really you are rather a dear.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you? What do you want? Are you aware that I am one of the most -busy men in London?”</p> - -<p>Miss Freeman fished about in her bag once more. She was always fishing -in that bag, extracting sometimes a leaflet on Armenia, sometimes a -pamphlet on Greece, sometimes a note on Zenana Missions, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_233">{233}</a></span> sometimes -a psychic manifesto. On this occasion it was a folded bit of -writing-paper which emerged.</p> - -<p>“From Dr. Ross Scotton,” she said.</p> - -<p>It was hastily folded and roughly scribbled—so roughly as to be hardly -legible. Challenger bent his heavy brows over it.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“Please, dear friend and guide, listen to what this lady says. I -know it is against all your views. And yet I had to do it. You said -yourself that I had no hope. I have tested it and it works. I know -it seems wild and crazy. But any hope is better than no hope. If -you were in my place you would have done the same. Will you not -cast out prejudice and see for yourself? Dr. Felkin comes at 3.</p> - -<p class="r"> -“<span class="smcap">J. Ross Scotton.</span>”<br> -</p></div> - -<p>Challenger read it twice over and sighed. The brain was clearly involved -in the lesion: “He says I am to listen to you. What is it? Cut it as -short as you can.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a spirit doctor,” said the lady.</p> - -<p>Challenger bounded in his chair.</p> - -<p>“Good God, am I never to get away from this nonsense!” he cried. “Can -they not let this poor devil lie quiet on his deathbed but they must -play their tricks upon him?”</p> - -<p>Miss Delicia clapped her hands and her quick little eyes twinkled with -joy.</p> - -<p>“It’s <i>not</i> his deathbed. He is going to get well.”</p> - -<p>“Who said so?”</p> - -<p>“Dr. Felkin. He never is wrong.”</p> - -<p>Challenger snorted.</p> - -<p>“Have you seen him lately?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Not for some weeks.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_234">{234}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“But you wouldn’t recognise him. He is nearly cured.”</p> - -<p>“Cured! Cured of diffused sclerosis in a few weeks!”</p> - -<p>“Come and see.”</p> - -<p>“You want me to aid and abet in some infernal quackery. The next thing, -I should see my name on this rascal’s testimonials. I know the breed. If -I did come I should probably take him by the collar and throw him down -the stair.”</p> - -<p>The lady laughed heartily.</p> - -<p>“He would say with Aristides: ‘Strike but hear me.’ You will hear him -first, however, I am sure. Your pupil is a real chip of yourself. He -seems quite ashamed of getting well in such an unorthodox way. It was I -who called Dr. Felkin in against his wish.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you did, did you? You took a great deal upon yourself.”</p> - -<p>“I am prepared to take any responsibility, so long as I <i>know</i> I am -right. I spoke to Dr. Atkinson. He knows a little of psychic matters. He -is far less prejudiced than most of you scientific gentlemen. He took -the view that when a man was dying in any case it could matter little -what you did. So Dr. Felkin came.”</p> - -<p>“And pray how did this quack doctor proceed to treat the case?”</p> - -<p>“That is what Dr. Ross Scotton wants you to see.” She looked at a watch -which she dragged from the depths of the bag. “In an hour he will be -there. I’ll tell your friend you are coming. I am sure you would not -disappoint him. Oh!” She dived into the bag again. “Here is a recent -note upon the Bessarabian question. It is much more serious than people -think.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_235">{235}</a></span> You will just have time to read it before you come. So good-bye, -dear Professor, and <i>au revoir</i>!”</p> - -<p>She beamed at the scowling lion and departed.</p> - -<p>But she had succeeded in her mission, which was a way she had. There was -something compelling in the absolutely unselfish enthusiasm of this -small person who would, at a moment’s notice, take on anyone from a -Mormon elder to an Albanian brigand, loving the culprit and mourning the -sin. Challenger came under the spell, and shortly after three he stumped -his way up the narrow stair and blocked the door of the humble bedroom -where his favourite pupil lay stricken. Ross Scotton lay stretched upon -the bed in a red dressing-gown, and his teacher saw, with a start of -surprised joy, that his face had filled out and that the light of life -and hope had come back into his eyes.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’m beating it!” he cried. “Ever since Felkin held his first -consultation with Atkinson I have felt the life force stealing back into -me. Oh, chief, it is a fearful thing to lie awake at night and feel -these cursed microbes nibbling away at the very roots of your life! I -could almost hear them at it. And the cramps when my body—like a badly -articulated skeleton—would all get twisted into one rigid tangle! But -now, except some dyspepsia and urticaria of the palms, I am free from -pain. And all on account of this dear fellow here who has helped me.”</p> - -<p>He motioned with his hand as if alluding to someone present. Challenger -looked round with a glare, expecting to find some smug charlatan behind -him. But no doctor was there. A frail young woman, who seemed to be a -nurse, quiet, unobtrusive, and with a wealth of brown hair, was dozing -in a corner. Miss Delicia, smiling demurely, stood in the window.</p> - -<p>“I am glad you are better, my dear boy,” said<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_236">{236}</a></span> Challenger. “But do not -tamper with your reason. Such a complaint has its natural systole and -diastole.”</p> - -<p>“Talk to him, Dr. Felkin. Clear his mind for him,” said the invalid.</p> - -<p>Challenger looked up at the cornice and round at the skirting. His pupil -was clearly addressing some doctor in the room and yet none was visible. -Surely his aberration had not reached the point when he thought that -actual floating apparitions were directing his cure.</p> - -<p>“Indeed, it needs some clearing,” said a deep and virile voice at his -elbow. He bounded round. It was the frail young woman who was talking.</p> - -<p>“Let me introduce you to Dr. Felkin,” said Miss Delicia, with a -mischievous laugh.</p> - -<p>“What tomfoolery is this!” cried Challenger.</p> - -<p>The young woman rose and fumbled at the side of her dress. Then she made -an impatient gesture with her hand.</p> - -<p>“Time was, my dear colleague, when a snuff-box was as much part of my -equipment as my phlebotomy case. I lived before the days of Laennec, and -we carried no stethoscope, but we had our little chirurgical battery, -none the less. But the snuff-box was a peace-offering, and I was about -to offer it to you, but, alas! it has had its day.”</p> - -<p>Challenger stood with staring eyes and dilated nostrils while this -speech was delivered. Then he turned to the bed.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say that this is your doctor—that you take the advice -of this person?”</p> - -<p>The young girl drew herself up very stiffly.</p> - -<p>“Sir, I will not bandy words with you. I perceive very clearly that you -are one of those who have been so immersed in material knowledge that -you have had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_237">{237}</a></span> no time to devote to the possibilities of the spirit.”</p> - -<p>“I certainly have no time for nonsense,” said Challenger.</p> - -<p>“My dear chief!” cried a voice from the bed. “I beg you to bear in mind -how much Dr. Felkin has already done for me. You saw how I was a month -ago, and you see how I am now. You would not offend my best friend.”</p> - -<p>“I certainly think, Professor, that you owe dear Dr. Felkin an apology,” -said Miss Delicia.</p> - -<p>“A private lunatic asylum!” snorted Challenger. Then, playing up to his -part, he assumed the ponderous elephantine irony which was one of his -most effective weapons in dealing with recalcitrant students.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps, young lady—or shall I say elderly and most venerable -Professor?—you will permit a mere raw earthly student, who has no more -knowledge than this world can give, to sit humbly in a corner and -possibly to learn a little from your methods and your teachings.” The -speech was delivered with his shoulders up to his ears, his eyelids over -his eyes, and his palms extended in front—an alarming statue of -sarcasm. Dr. Felkin, however, was striding, with heavy and impatient -steps, about the room and took little notice.</p> - -<p>“Quite so! Quite so!” he said carelessly. “Get into the corner and stay -there. Above all stop talking, as this case calls for all my faculties.” -He turned with a masterful air towards the patient. “Well, well, you are -coming along. In two months you will be in the class-room.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it is impossible!” cried Ross Scotton, with a half sob.</p> - -<p>“Not so. I guarantee it. I do not make false promises.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_238">{238}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I’ll answer for that,” said Miss Delicia. “I say, dear Doctor, do tell -us who you were when you were alive.”</p> - -<p>“Tut! tut! The unchanging woman. They gossiped in my time and they -gossip still. No, no! We will have a look at our young friend here. -Pulse! The intermittent beat has gone. That is something gained. -Temperature ... obviously normal. Blood-pressure—still higher than I -like. Digestion—much to be desired. What you moderns call a -hunger-strike would not be amiss. Well, the general conditions are -tolerable. Let us see the local centre of the mischief. Pull your shirt -down, sir! Lie on your face. Excellent!” She passed her fingers with -great force and precision down the upper part of the spine, and then dug -in her knuckles with a sudden force which made the sufferer yelp. “That -is better! There is—as I have explained—a slight want of alignment in -the cervical vertebræ which has, as I perceive it, the effect of -lessening the foramina through which the nerve roots emerge. This has -caused compression, and as these nerves are really the conductors of -vital force, it has upset the whole equilibrium of the parts supplied. -My eyes are the same as your clumsy X-rays, and I clearly perceive that -the position is almost restored and the fatal constriction removed. I -hope, sir,” to Challenger, “that I make the pathology of this -interesting case intelligible to you.”</p> - -<p>Challenger grunted his general hostility and disagreement.</p> - -<p>“I will clear up any little difficulties which may linger in your mind. -But, meantime, my dear lad, you are a credit to me and I rejoice in your -progress. You will present my compliments to my colleague of earth, Dr. -Atkinson, and tell him that I can suggest<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_239">{239}</a></span> nothing more. The medium is a -little weary, poor girl, so I will not remain longer to-day.”</p> - -<p>“But you said you would tell us who you were.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, there is little to say. I was a very undistinguished -practitioner. I sat under the great Abernethy in my youth and perhaps -imbibed something of his methods. When I passed over in early middle age -I continued my studies and was permitted, if I could find some suitable -means of expression, to do something to help humanity. You understand, -of course, that it is only by serving and self-abnegation that we -advance in the higher world. This is my service, and I can only thank -kind Fate that I was able to find in this girl a being whose vibrations -so correspond with my own that I can easily assume control of her body.”</p> - -<p>“And where is she?” asked the patient.</p> - -<p>“She is waiting beside me and will presently re-enter her own frame. As -to you, sir,” turning to Challenger, “you are a man of character and -learning, but you are clearly embedded in that materialism which is the -special curse of your age. Let me assure you that the medical -profession, which is supreme upon earth for the disinterested work of -its members, has yielded too much to the dogmatism of such men as you, -and has unduly neglected that spiritual element in man which is far more -important than your herbs and your minerals. There is a life-force, sir, -and it is in the control of this life-force that the medicine of the -future lies. If you shut your mind to it it can only mean that the -confidence of the public will turn to those who are ready to adopt every -means of cure, whether they have the approval of your authorities or -not.”</p> - -<p>Never could young Ross Scotton forget that scene.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_240">{240}</a></span> The Professor, the -master, the supreme chief, he who had to be addressed with bated breath, -sat with half-opened mouth and staring eyes, leaning forward in his -chair, while in front of him the slight young woman, shaking her mop of -brown hair and wagging an admonitory forefinger, spoke to him as a -father speaks to a refractory child. So intense was her power that -Challenger, for the instant, was constrained to accept the situation. He -gasped and grunted, but no retort came to his lips. The girl turned away -and sat down on a chair.</p> - -<p>“He is going,” said Miss Delicia.</p> - -<p>“But not yet gone,” replied the girl with a smile. “Yes, I must go, for -I have much to do. This is not my only medium of expression and I am due -in Edinburgh in a few minutes. But be of good heart, young man. I will -set my assistant with two extra batteries to increase your vitality so -far as your system will permit. As to you, sir,” to Challenger, “I would -implore you to beware of the egotism of brain and the self-concentration -of intellect. Store what is old, but be ever receptive to what is new, -and judge it not as you may wish it, but as God has designed it.”</p> - -<p>She gave a deep sigh and sank back in her chair. There was a minute of -dead silence while she lay with her head upon her breast. Then with -another sigh and a shiver she opened a pair of very bewildered blue -eyes.</p> - -<p>“Well, has he been?” she asked in a gentle feminine voice.</p> - -<p>“Indeed, yes!” cried the patient. “He was great. He says I shall be in -the class-room in two months.”</p> - -<p>“Splendid! Any directions for me?”</p> - -<p>“Just the special message as before. But he is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_241">{241}</a></span> going to put on two new -spirit batteries if I can stand it.”</p> - -<p>“My word, he won’t be long now!” Suddenly the girl’s eyes lit on -Challenger and she stopped in confusion.</p> - -<p>“This is Nurse Ursula,” said Miss Delicia. “Nurse, let me present you to -the famous Professor Challenger.”</p> - -<p>Challenger was great in his manner towards women, especially if the -particular woman happened to be a young and pretty girl. He advanced now -as Solomon may have advanced to the Queen of Sheba, took her hand and -patted her hair with patriarchal assurance.</p> - -<p>“My dear, you are far too young and charming for such deceit. Have done -with it for ever. Be content to be a bewitching nurse and resign all -claim to the higher functions of doctor. Where, may I ask, did you pick -up all this jargon about cervical vertebræ and posterior foramina?”</p> - -<p>Nurse Ursula looked helplessly round as one who finds herself suddenly -in the clutches of a gorilla.</p> - -<p>“She does not understand a word you say!” cried the man on the bed. “Oh, -chief, you must make an effort to face the real situation! I know what a -readjustment it means. In my small way I have had to undergo it myself. -But, believe me, you see everything through a prism instead of through -plate-glass until you understand the spiritual factor.”</p> - -<p>Challenger continued his paternal attentions though the frightened lady -had begun to shrink from him.</p> - -<p>“Come now,” said he, “who was the clever doctor with whom you acted as -nurse—the man who taught you all these fine words? You must feel that -it is hopeless to deceive me. You will be much happier, dear child, when -you have made a clean breast of it all,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_242">{242}</a></span> and when we can laugh together -over the lecture which you inflicted upon me.”</p> - -<p>An unexpected interruption came to check Challenger’s exploration of the -young woman’s conscience or motives. The invalid was sitting up, a vivid -red patch against his white pillows, and he was speaking with an energy -which was in itself an indication of his coming cure.</p> - -<p>“Professor Challenger!” he cried, “you are insulting my best friend. -Under this roof at least she shall be safe from the sneers of scientific -prejudice. I beg you to leave the room if you cannot address Nurse -Ursula in a more respectful manner.”</p> - -<p>Challenger glared, but the peacemaking Delicia was at work in a moment.</p> - -<p>“You are far too hasty, dear Dr. Ross Scotton!” she cried. “Professor -Challenger has had no time to understand this. You were just as -sceptical yourself at first. How can you blame him?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, that is true,” said the young doctor. “It seemed to me to -open the door to all the quackery in the Universe—indeed it does, but -the fact remains.”</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see.’<span class="lftspc">”</span> quoted Miss -Delicia. “Ah, Professor, you may raise your eyebrows and shrug your -shoulders, but we’ve dropped something into your big mind this afternoon -which will grow and grow until no man can see the end of it.” She dived -into the bag. “There is a little slip here ‘Brain <i>versus</i> Soul.’ I do -hope, dear Professor, that you will read it and then pass it on.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_243">{243}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH TRAPS ARE LAID FOR A GREAT QUARRY</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">M</span>ALONE was bound in honour not to speak of love to Enid Challenger, but -looks can speak, and so their communications had not broken down -completely. In all other ways he adhered closely to the agreement, -though the situation was a difficult one. It was the more difficult -since he was a constant visitor to the Professor, and now that the -irritation of the debate was over, a very welcome one. The one object of -Malone’s life was to get the great man’s sympathetic consideration of -those psychic subjects which had gained such a hold upon himself. This -he pursued with assiduity, but also with great caution, for he knew that -the lava was thin and that a fiery explosion was always possible. Once -or twice it came and caused Malone to drop the subject for a week or two -until the ground seemed a little more firm.</p> - -<p>Malone developed a remarkable cunning in his approaches. One favourite -device was to consult Challenger upon some scientific point—on the -zoological importance of the Straits of Banda, for example, or the -Insects of the Malay Archipelago, and lead him on until Challenger in -due course would explain that our knowledge on the point was due to -Alfred Russel Wallace. “Oh, really! To Wallace the Spiritualist!” Malone -would say in an innocent voice, on which Challenger would glare and -change the topic.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_244">{244}</a></span></p> - -<p>Sometimes it was Lodge that Malone would use as a trap. “I suppose you -think highly of him.”</p> - -<p>“The first brain in Europe,” said Challenger.</p> - -<p>“He is the greatest authority on ether, is he not?”</p> - -<p>“Undoubtedly.”</p> - -<p>“Of course, I only know him by his psychic works.”</p> - -<p>Challenger would shut up like a clam. Then Malone would wait a few days -and remark casually: “Have you ever met Lombroso!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, at the Congress at Milan.”</p> - -<p>“I have been reading a book of his.”</p> - -<p>“Criminology, I presume?”</p> - -<p>“No, it was called ‘After Death—What?’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“I have not heard of it.”</p> - -<p>“It discusses the psychic question.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, a man of Lombroso’s penetrating brain would make short work of the -fallacies of these charlatans.”</p> - -<p>“No, it is written to support them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, even the greatest mind has its inexplicable weakness.” Thus with -infinite patience and cunning did Malone drop his little drops of reason -in the hope of slowly wearing away the casing of prejudice, but no very -visible effects could be seen. Some stronger measure must be adopted and -Malone determined upon direct demonstration. But how, when, and where? -Those were the all-important points upon which he determined to consult -Algernon Mailey. One spring afternoon found him back in that -drawing-room where he had once rolled upon the carpet in the embrace of -Silas Linden. He found the Rev. Charles Mason, and Smith, the hero of -the Queen’s Hall debate, in deep consultation with Mailey upon a subject -which may seem much more important to our descendants that those topics -which now bulk large in the eyes of the public. It was no less than -whether<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_245">{245}</a></span> the psychic movement in Britain was destined to take a -Unitarian or a Trinitarian course. Smith had always been in favour of -the former, as had the old leaders of the movement and the present -organised Spiritualist Churches. On the other hand, Charles Mason was a -loyal son of the Anglican Church, and was the spokesman of a host of -others, including such weighty names as Lodge and Barrett among the -laymen, or Wilberforce, Haweis and Chambers among the clergy, who clung -fast to the old teachings while admitting the fact of spirit -communication. Mailey stood between the two parties, and, like the -zealous referee in a boxing-match who separates the two combatants, he -always took a chance of getting a knock from each. Malone was only too -glad to listen, for now that he realised that the future of the world -might be bound up in this movement, every phase of it was of intense -interest to him. Mason was holding forth in his earnest, but -good-humoured, way as he entered.</p> - -<p>“The people are not ready for a great change. It is not necessary. We -have only to add our living knowledge, and direct communion of the -saints to the splendid liturgy and traditions of the Church, and you -will have a driving-force which will revitalise all religion. You can’t -pull a thing up from the roots like that. Even the early Christians -found that they could not, and so they made all sorts of concessions to -the religions around them.”</p> - -<p>“Which was exactly what ruined them,” said Smith. “That was the real end -of the Church in its original strength and purity.”</p> - -<p>“It lasted, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“But it was never the same from the time that villain Constantine laid -his hands on it.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_246">{246}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Oh, come!” said Mailey. “You must not write down the first Christian -emperor as a villain.”</p> - -<p>But Smith was a forthright, uncompromising, bull-doggy antagonist. “What -other name will you give to a man who murdered half his own family?”</p> - -<p>“Well, his personal character is not the question. We were talking of -the organisation of the Christian Church.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mind my frankness, Mr. Mason?”</p> - -<p>Mason smiled his jolly smile. “So long as you grant me the existence of -the New Testament I don’t care what you do. If you were to prove that -our Lord was a myth, as that German Drews tried to do, it would not in -the least affect me so long as I could point to that body of sublime -teaching. It must have come from somewhere, and I adopt it and say, -‘That is my creed.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“Oh, well, there is not so much between us on that point,” said Smith. -“If there is any better teaching I have not seen it. It is good enough -to go on with, anyhow. But we want to cut out the frills and -superfluities. Where did they all come from? They were compromises with -many religions, so that our friend C. could get uniformity in his -world-wide Empire. He made a patchwork quilt of it. He took an Egyptian -ritual—vestments, mitre, crozier, tonsure, marriage ring—all Egyptian. -The Easter ceremonies are pagan and refer to the vernal equinox. -Confirmation is mithraism. So is baptism, only it was blood instead of -water. As to the sacrificial meal....”</p> - -<p>Mason put his fingers in his ears. “This is some old lecture of yours,” -he laughed. “Hire a hall, but don’t obtrude it in a private house. But -seriously, Smith, all this is beside the question. If it is true it will -not affect my position at all, which is that we have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_247">{247}</a></span> a great body of -doctrine which is working well, and which is regarded with veneration by -many people, your humble servant included, and that it would be wrong -and foolish to scrap it. Surely you must agree.”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t,” Smith answered, setting his obstinate jaw. “You are -thinking too much of the feelings of your blessed church-goers. But you -have also to think of the nine people out of ten who never enter into a -church. They have been choked off by what they, including your humble -servant, consider to be unreasonable and fantastic. How will you gain -them while you continue to offer them the same things, even though you -mix spirit-teaching with it? If, however, you approach these agnostic or -atheistic ones, and say to them: ‘I quite agree that all this is unreal -and is tainted by a long history of violence and reaction. But here we -have something pure and new. Come and examine it!’ In that way I could -coax them back into a belief in God and in all the fundamentals of -religion without their having to do violence to their reason by -accepting your theology.”</p> - -<p>Mailey had been tugging at his tawny beard while he listened to these -conflicting counsels. Knowing the two men he was aware that there was -not really much between them, when one got past mere words, for Smith -revered the Christ as a God-like man, and Mason as a man-like God, and -the upshot was much the same. At the same time he knew that their more -extreme followers on either side were in very truth widely separated, so -that compromise became impossible.</p> - -<p>“What I can’t understand,” said Malone, “is why you don’t ask your -spirit friends these questions and abide by their decisions.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_248">{248}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“It is not so simple as you think,” Mailey answered. “We all carry on -our earthly prejudices after death, and we all find ourselves in an -atmosphere which more or less represents them. Thus each would echo his -old views at first. Then in time the spirit broadens out and it ends in -a universal creed which includes only the brotherhood of man and the -fatherhood of God. But that takes time. I have heard most furious bigots -talking through the veil.”</p> - -<p>“So have I, for that matter,” said Malone, “and in this very room. But -what about the materialists? They at least cannot remain unchanged.”</p> - -<p>“I believe their mind influences their state and that they lie inert for -ages sometimes, under their own obsession that nothing can occur. Then -at last they wake, realise their own loss of time, and, finally, in many -cases get to the head of the procession, since they are often men of -fine character and influenced by lofty motives, however mistaken in -their views.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, they are often among the salt of the earth,” said the clergyman -heartily.</p> - -<p>“And they offer the very best recruits for our movement,” said Smith. -“There comes such a reaction when they find by the evidence of their own -senses that there really is intelligent force outside themselves, that -it gives them an enthusiasm that makes them ideal missionaries. You -fellows who have a religion and then add to it cannot even imagine what -it means to the man who has a complete vacuum and suddenly finds -something to fill it. When I meet some poor earnest chap feeling out -into the darkness I just yearn to put it into his hand.”</p> - -<p>At this stage tea and Mrs. Mailey appeared together. But the -conversation did not flag. It is one of the characteristics of those who -explore psychic<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_249">{249}</a></span> possibilities that the subject is so many-sided and the -interest so intense that when they meet together they plunge into the -most fascinating exchange of views and experiences. It was with some -difficulty that Malone got the conversation round to that which had been -the particular object of his visit. He could have found no group of men -more fit to advise him, and all were equally keen that so great a man as -Challenger should have the best available.</p> - -<p>Where should it be? On that they were unanimous. The large séance room -of the Psychic College was the most select, the most comfortable, in -every way the best appointed in London. When should it be? The sooner -the better. Every Spiritualist and every medium would surely put any -engagement aside in order to help on such an occasion.</p> - -<p>“Who should the medium be? Ah! There was the rub. Of course, the -Bolsover circle would be ideal. It was private and unpaid, but Bolsover -was a man of quick temper and Challenger was sure to be very insulting -and annoying. The meeting might end in riot and fiasco. Such a chance -should not be taken. Was it worth while to take him over to Paris? But -who would take the responsibility of letting loose such a bull in Dr. -Maupuis’ china-shop?</p> - -<p>“He would probably seize Pithecanthropus by the throat and risk every -life in the room,” said Mailey. “No, no, it would never do.”</p> - -<p>“There is no doubt that Banderby is the strongest physical medium in -England,” said Smith. “But we all know what his personal character is. -You could not rely upon him.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?” asked Malone. “What’s the matter with him?”</p> - -<p>Smith raised his hand to his lips.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_250">{250}</a></span></p> - -<p>“He has gone the way that many a medium has gone before him.”</p> - -<p>“But surely,” said Malone, “that is a strong argument against our cause. -How can a thing be good if it leads to such a result?”</p> - -<p>“Do you consider poetry to be good?”</p> - -<p>“Why, of course I do!”</p> - -<p>“Yet Poe was a drunkard, and Coleridge an addict, and Byron a rake, and -Verlaine a degenerate. You have to separate the man from the thing. The -genius has to pay a ransom for his genius in the instability of his -temperament. A great medium is even more sensitive than a genius. Many -are beautiful in their lives. Some are not. The excuse for them is -great. They practise a most exhausting profession and stimulants are -needed. Then they lose control. But their physical mediumship carries on -all the same.”</p> - -<p>“Which reminds me of a story about Banderby,” said Mailey. “Perhaps you -have not seen him, Malone. He is a funny figure at any time—a little, -round, bouncing man who has not seen his own toes for years. When drunk -he is funnier still. A few weeks ago I got an urgent message that he was -in the bar of a certain hotel, and too far gone to get home unassisted. -A friend and I set forth to rescue him. We got him home after some -unsavoury adventures, and what would the man do but insist upon holding -a séance. We tried to restrain him, but the trumpet was on a side-table, -and he suddenly switched off the light. In an instant the phenomena -began. Never were they more powerful. But they were interrupted by -Princeps, his control, who seized the trumpet and began belabouring him -with it. ‘You rascal! You drunken rascal! How dare you! How dare you!’ -The trumpet was all dinted with the blows. Banderby<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_251">{251}</a></span> ran bellowing out -of the room, and we took our departure.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it wasn’t the medium that time, at any rate,” said Mason. “But -about Professor Challenger—it would never do to risk the chance.”</p> - -<p>“What about Tom Linden?” asked Mrs. Mailey.</p> - -<p>Mailey shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Tom has never been quite the same since his imprisonment. These fools -not only persecute our precious mediums, but they ruin their powers. It -is like putting a razor into a damp place and then expecting it to have -a fine edge.”</p> - -<p>“What! Has he lost his powers?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I would not go so far as that. But they are not so good as they -were. He sees a disguised policeman in every sitter and it distracts -him. Still he is dependable so far as he goes. Yes, on the whole we had -better have Tom.”</p> - -<p>“And the sitters?”</p> - -<p>“I expect Professor Challenger may wish to bring a friend or two of his -own.”</p> - -<p>“They will form a horrible block of vibrations. We must have some of our -own sympathetic people to counteract it. There is Delicia Freeman. She -would come. I would come myself. You would come, Mason?”</p> - -<p>“Of course I would.”</p> - -<p>“And you, Smith?”</p> - -<p>“No, no! I have my paper to look after, three services, two burials, one -marriage, and five meetings all next week.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we can easily get one or two more. Eight is Linden’s favourite -number. So now, Malone, you have only to get the great man’s consent and -the date.”</p> - -<p>“And the spirit confirmation,” said Mason, seri<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_252">{252}</a></span>ously. “We must take our -partners into consultation.”</p> - -<p>“Of course we must, padre. That is the right note to strike. Well, -that’s settled, Malone, and we can only await the event.”</p> - -<p>As it chanced, a very different event was awaiting Malone that evening, -and he came upon one of those chasms which unexpectedly open across the -path of life. When, in his ordinary routine, he reached the office of -the <i>Gazette</i>, he was informed by the commissionaire that Mr. Beaumont -desired to see him. Malone’s immediate superior was the old Scotch -subeditor, Mr. McArdle, and it was rare indeed for the supreme editor to -cast a glimpse down from that peak whence he surveyed the kingdoms of -the world, or to show any cognisance of his humble fellow-workers upon -the slopes beneath him. The great man, clean-shaven, prosperous and -capable, sat in his palatial sanctum amid a rich assortment of old oak -furniture and sealing-wax-red leather. He continued his letter when -Malone entered, and only raised his shrewd, grey eyes after some minutes -interval.</p> - -<p>“Ah, Mr. Malone, good evening! I have wanted to see you for some little -time. Won’t you sit down? It is in reference to these articles on -psychic matters which you have been writing. You opened them in a tone -of healthy scepticism, tempered by humour, which was very acceptable -both to me and to our public. I regret, however, to observe that your -view changed as you proceeded, and that you have now assumed a position -in which you really seem to condone some of these practises. That, I -need not say, is not the policy of the <i>Gazette</i>, and we should have -discontinued the articles had it not been that we had an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_253">{253}</a></span>nounced a -series by an impartial investigator. We have had to continue, but the -tone must change.”</p> - -<p>“What do you wish me to do, sir?”</p> - -<p>“You must get the funny side of it again. That is what our public loves. -Poke fun at it all. Call up the maiden aunt and make her talk in an -amusing fashion. You grasp my meaning?”</p> - -<p>“I am afraid, sir, it has ceased to seem funny in my eyes. On the -contrary, I take it more and more seriously.”</p> - -<p>Beaumont shook his solemn head.</p> - -<p>“So, unfortunately, do our subscribers.” He had a small pile of letters -upon the desk beside him and he took one up.</p> - -<p>“Look at this. ‘I had always regarded your paper as a God-fearing -publication, and I would remind you that such practises as your -correspondent seems to condone are expressly forbidden both in Leviticus -and Deuteronomy. I should share your sin if I continued to be a -subscriber.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“Bigoted ass!” muttered Malone.</p> - -<p>“So he may be, but the penny of a bigoted ass is as good as any other -penny. Here is another letter: ‘Surely in this age of free-thought and -enlightenment you are not helping a movement which tries to lead us back -to the exploded idea of angelic and diabolic intelligences outside -ourselves. If so, I must ask you to cancel my subscription.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“It would be amusing, sir, to shut these various objectors up in a room -and let them settle it among themselves.”</p> - -<p>“That may be, Mr. Malone, but what I have to consider is the circulation -of the <i>Gazette</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you think, sir, that possibly you underrate the intelligence of -the public, and that behind these<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_254">{254}</a></span> extremists of various sorts there is -a vast body of people who have been impressed by the utterances of so -many great and honourable witnesses? Is it not our duty to keep these -people abreast of the real facts without making fun of them?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Beaumont shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“The Spiritualists must fight their own battle. This is not a propaganda -newspaper, and we make no pretense to lead the public on religious -beliefs.”</p> - -<p>“No, no, I only meant as to the actual facts. Look how systematically -they are kept in the dark. When, for example, did one ever read an -intelligent article upon ectoplasm in any London paper? Who would -imagine that this all-important substance has been examined and -described and endorsed by men of science with innumerable photographs to -prove their words?”</p> - -<p>“Well, well,” said Beaumont, impatiently. “I am afraid I am too busy to -argue the question. The point of this interview is that I have had a -letter from Mr. Cornelius to say that we must at once take another -line.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Cornelius was the owner of the <i>Gazette</i>, having become so, not from -any personal merit, but because his father left him some millions, part -of which he expended upon this purchase. He seldom was seen in the -office himself, but occasionally a paragraph in the paper recorded that -his yacht had touched at Mentone and that he had been seen at the Monte -Carlo tables, or that he was expected in Leicestershire for the season. -He was a man of no force of brain or character, though occasionally he -swayed public affairs by a manifesto printed in larger type upon his own -front page. Without being dissolute, he was a free liver, living in a -constant luxury which placed him<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_255">{255}</a></span> always on the edge of vice and -occasionally over the border. Malone’s hot blood flushed to his head as -he thought of this trifler, this insect, coming between mankind and a -message of instruction and consolation descending from above. And yet -those clumsy, childish fingers could actually turn the tap and cut off -the divine stream, however much it might break through in other -quarters.</p> - -<p>“So that is final, Mr. Malone,” said Beaumont, with the manner of one -who ends an argument.</p> - -<p>“Quite final!” said Malone. “So final that it marks the end of my -connection with your paper. I have a six month’s contract. When it ends, -I go!”</p> - -<p>“Please yourself, Mr. Malone.” Mr. Beaumont went on with his writing.</p> - -<p>Malone, with the flush of battle still upon him, went into McArdle’s -room and told him what had happened. The old Scotch sub-editor was very -perturbed.</p> - -<p>“Eh, man, it’s that Irish blood of yours. A drop o’ Scotch is a good -thing, either in your veins or at the bottom o’ a glass. Go back, man, -and say you have reconseedered!”</p> - -<p>“Not I! The idea of this man Cornelius, with his pot-belly and red face, -and—well, you know all about his private life—the idea of such a man -dictating what folk are to believe, and asking me to make fun of the -holiest thing on this earth!”</p> - -<p>“Man, you’ll be ruined!”</p> - -<p>“Well, better men than I have been ruined over this cause. But I’ll get -another job.”</p> - -<p>“Not if Cornelius can stop you. If you get the name of an insubordinate -dog there is no place for you in Fleet Street.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a damned shame!” cried Malone. “The way this thing has been -treated is a disgrace to journal<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_256">{256}</a></span>ism. It’s not Britain alone. America is -worse. We seem to have the lowest, most soulless folk that ever lived on -the Press—good-hearted fellows too, but material to a man. And these -are the leaders of the people! It’s awful!”</p> - -<p>McArdle put a fatherly hand upon the young man’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>“Weel, weel, lad, we take the world as we find it. We didn’t make it and -we’re no reesponsible. Give it time! Give it time! We’re a’ in such a -hurry. Gang hame, noo, think it over, remember your career, that young -leddy of yours, and then come back and eat the old pie that all of us -have to eat if we are to keep our places in the world.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_257">{257}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br><br> -<small>IN WHICH CHALLENGER HAS THE EXPERIENCE OF HIS LIFETIME</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">S</span>O now the nets were set and the pit was dug and the hunters were all -ready for the great quarry, but the question was whether the creature -would allow himself to be driven in the right direction. Had Challenger -been told that the meeting was really held in the hope of putting -convincing evidence before him as to the truth of spirit intercourse -with the aim of his eventual conversion, it would have roused mingled -anger and derision in his breast. But the clever Malone, aided and -abetted by Enid, still put forward the idea that his presence would be a -protection against fraud, and that he would be able to point out to them -how and why they had been deceived. With this thought in his mind, -Challenger gave a contemptuous and condescending consent to the proposal -that he should grace with his presence a proceeding which was, in his -opinion, more fitted to the stone cabin of a neolithic savage than to -the serious attention of one who represented the accumulated culture and -wisdom of the human race.</p> - -<p>Enid accompanied her father, and he also brought with him a curious -companion who was strange both to Malone and to the rest of the company. -This was a large, raw-boned Scottish youth, with a freckled face, a huge -figure, and a taciturnity which nothing could penetrate. No question -could discover where his<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_258">{258}</a></span> interests in psychic research might lie, and -the only positive thing obtained from him was that his name was Nicholl. -Malone and Mailey went together to the rendezvous at Holland Park, where -they found awaiting them Delicia Freeman, the Rev. Charles Mason, Mr. -and Mrs. Ogilvy of the College, Mr. Bolsover of Hammersmith, and Lord -Roxton, who had become assiduous in his psychic studies, and was rapidly -progressing in knowledge. There were nine in all, a mixed, inharmonious -assembly, from which no experienced investigator could expect great -results. On entering the séance room Linden was found seated in the -arm-chair, his wife beside him, and was introduced collectively to the -company, most of whom were already his friends. Challenger took up the -matter at once with the air of a man who will stand no nonsense.</p> - -<p>“Is this the medium?” he asked, eyeing Linden with much disfavour.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Has he been searched?”</p> - -<p>“Not yet.”</p> - -<p>“Who will search him?”</p> - -<p>“Two men of the company have been selected.”</p> - -<p>Challenger sniffed his suspicions.</p> - -<p>“Which men?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“It is suggested that you and your friend, Mr. Nicholl, shall do so. -There is a bedroom next door.”</p> - -<p>Poor Linden was marched off between them in a manner which reminded him -unpleasantly of his prison experiences. He had been nervous before but -this ordeal and the overpowering presence of Challenger made him still -more so. He shook his head mournfully at Mailey when he reappeared.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_259">{259}</a></span></p> - -<p>“I doubt we will get nothing to-day. Maybe it would be wise to postpone -the sitting,” said he.</p> - -<p>Mailey came round and patted him on the shoulder, while Mrs. Linden took -his hand.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Tom,” said Mailey. “Remember that you have a bodyguard -of friends round you who won’t see you ill used.” Then Mailey spoke to -Challenger in a sterner way than was his wont. “I beg you to remember, -sir, that a medium is as delicate an instrument as any to be found in -your laboratories. Do not abuse it. I presume that you found nothing -compromising upon his person?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir, I did not. And as a result he assures us that we will get -nothing to-day.”</p> - -<p>“He says so because your manner has disturbed him. You must treat him -more gently.”</p> - -<p>Challenger’s expression did not promise any amendment. His eyes fell -upon Mrs. Linden.</p> - -<p>“I understand that this person is the medium’s wife. She should also be -searched.”</p> - -<p>“That is a matter of course,” said the Scotsman Ogilvy. “My wife and -your daughter will take her out. But I beg you, Professor Challenger, to -be as harmonious as you can, and to remember that we are all as -interested in the results as you are, so that the whole company will -suffer if you should disturb the conditions.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Bolsover, the grocer, rose with as much dignity as if he were -presiding at his favourite temple.</p> - -<p>“I move,” said he, “that Professor Challenger be searched.”</p> - -<p>Challenger’s beard bristled with anger.</p> - -<p>“Search me! What do you mean, sir?”</p> - -<p>Bolsover was not to be intimidated.</p> - -<p>“You are here not as our friend but as our enemy.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_260">{260}</a></span> If you was to prove -fraud it would be a personal triumph for you—see? Therefore I, for one, -says as you should be searched.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to insinuate, sir, that I am capable of cheating?” -trumpeted Challenger.</p> - -<p>“Well, Professor, we are all accused of it in turn,” said Mailey -smiling. “We all feel as indignant as you are at first, but after a time -you get used to it. I’ve been called a liar, a lunatic—goodness knows -what. What does it matter?”</p> - -<p>“It is a monstrous proposition,” said Challenger, glaring all round him.</p> - -<p>“Well, sir,” said Ogilvy, who was a particularly pertinacious Scot. “Of -course, it is open to you to walk out of the room and leave us. But if -you sit, you must sit under what we consider to be scientific -conditions. It is not scientific that a man who is known to be bitterly -hostile to the movement should sit with us in the dark with no check as -to what he may have in his pockets.”</p> - -<p>“Come, come!” cried Malone. “Surely we can trust to the honour of -Professor Challenger.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all very well,” said Bolsover. “I did not observe that Professor -Challenger trusted so very much to the honour of Mr. and Mrs. Linden.”</p> - -<p>“We have cause to be careful,” said Ogilvy. “I can assure you that there -are frauds practised on mediums just as there are frauds practised by -mediums. I could give you plenty of examples. No, sir, you will have to -be searched.”</p> - -<p>“It won’t take a minute,” said Lord Roxton. “What I mean young Malone -here and I could give you a once over in no time.”</p> - -<p>“Quite so, come on!” said Malone.</p> - -<p>And so Challenger, like a red-eyed bull with dilat<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_261">{261}</a></span>ing nostrils, was led -from the room. A few minutes later, all preliminaries being completed, -they were seated in the circle and the séance had begun.</p> - -<p>But already the conditions had been destroyed. Those meticulous -researchers who insist upon tying up a medium until the poor creature -resembles a fowl trussed for roasting, or who glare their suspicions at -him before the lights are lowered, do not realise that they are like -people who add moisture to gunpowder and then expect to explode it. They -ruin their own results, and then when those results do not occur imagine -that their own astuteness, rather than their own lack of understanding, -has been the cause.</p> - -<p>Hence it is that at humble gatherings all over the land, in an -atmosphere of sympathy and of reverence, there are such happenings as -the cold man of “Science” is never privileged to see.</p> - -<p>All the sitters felt churned up by the preliminary altercation, but how -much more did it mean to the sensitive centre of it all! To him the room -was filled with conflicting rushes and eddies of psychic power, whirling -this way or that, and as difficult for him to navigate as the rapids -below Niagara. He groaned in his despair. Everything was mixed and -confused. He was beginning as usual with his clairvoyance, but names -buzzed in his etheric ears without sequence or order. The word “John” -seemed to predominate, so he said so. Did “John” mean anything to -anyone? A cavernous laugh from Challenger was the only reply. Then he -had the surname of Chapman. Yes, Mailey had lost a friend named Chapman. -But it was years ago, and there seemed no reason for his presence, nor -could he furnish his Christian name. “Budworth”—no; no one would own to -a friend named Budworth. Definite messages came across, but they seemed -to have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_262">{262}</a></span> no reference to the present company. Everything was going -amiss, and Malone’s spirits sank to zero. Challenger sniffed so loudly -that Ogilvy remonstrated.</p> - -<p>“You make matters worse, sir, when you show your feelings,” said he. “I -can assure you that in ten years of constant experience I have never -known the medium so far out, and I attribute it entirely to your own -conduct.”</p> - -<p>“Quite so,” said Challenger with satisfaction.</p> - -<p>“I am afraid it is no use, Tom,” said Mrs. Linden. “How are you feeling -now, dear? Would you wish to stop?”</p> - -<p>But Linden, under all his gentle exterior, was a fighter. He had in -another form those same qualities which had brought his brother within -an ace of the Lonsdale Belt.</p> - -<p>“No, I think, maybe, it is only the mental part that is confused. If I -am in trance I’ll get past that. The physicals may be better. Anyhow -I’ll try.”</p> - -<p>The lights were turned lower until they were a mere crimson glimmer. The -curtain of the cabinet was drawn. Outside it on the one side, dimly -outlined to his audience, Tom Linden, breathing stertorously in his -trance, lay back in a wooden arm-chair. His wife kept watch and ward at -the other side of the cabinet.</p> - -<p>But nothing happened.</p> - -<p>Quarter of an hour passed. Then another quarter of an hour. The company -was patient, but Challenger had begun to fidget in his seat. Everything -seemed to have gone cold and dead. Not only was nothing happening, but -somehow all expectation of anything happening seemed to have passed -away.</p> - -<p>“It’s no use!” cried Mailey at last.</p> - -<p>“I fear not,” said Malone.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_263">{263}</a></span></p> - -<p>The medium stirred and groaned; he was waking up. Challenger gave an -ostentatious yawn.</p> - -<p>“Is not this a waste of time?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Linden was passing her hand over the medium’s head and brow. His -eyes had opened.</p> - -<p>“Any results?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“It’s no use, Tom. We shall have to postpone.”</p> - -<p>“I think so, too,” said Mailey.</p> - -<p>“It is a great strain upon him under these adverse conditions,” remarked -Ogilvy, looking angrily at Challenger.</p> - -<p>“I should think so,” said the latter with a complacent smile.</p> - -<p>But Linden was not to be beaten.</p> - -<p>“The conditions are bad,” said he. “The vibrations are all wrong. But -I’ll try inside the cabinet. It concentrates the force.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s the last chance,” said Mailey. “We may as well try it.”</p> - -<p>The arm-chair was lifted inside the cloth tent and the medium followed, -drawing the curtain behind him.</p> - -<p>“It condenses the ectoplasmic emanations,” Ogilvy explained.</p> - -<p>“No doubt,” said Challenger. “At the same time, in the interests of -truth, I must point out that the disappearance of the medium is most -regrettable.”</p> - -<p>“For goodness sake don’t start wrangling again,” cried Mailey with -impatience. “Let us get some results, and then it will be time enough to -discuss their value.”</p> - -<p>Again there was a weary wait. Then came some hollow groanings from -inside the cabinet. The Spiritualists sat up expectantly.</p> - -<p>“That’s ectoplasm,” said Ogilvy. “It always causes pain on emission.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_264">{264}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The words were hardly out of his mouth when the curtains were torn open -with sudden violence and a rattling of all the rings. In the dark -aperture there was outlined a vague white figure. It advanced slowly and -with hesitation into the centre of the room. In the red-tinted gloom all -definite outline was lost, and it appeared simply as a moving white -patch in the darkness. With the deliberation which suggested fear it -came, step by step, until it was opposite the Professor.</p> - -<p>“Now!” he bellowed in his stentorian voice.</p> - -<p>There was a shout, a scream, a crash. “I’ve got him!” roared someone. -“Turn up the lights!” yelled another. “Be careful! You may kill the -medium!” cried a third. The circle was broken. Challenger rushed to the -switch and put on all the lights. The place was so flooded with radiance -that it was some seconds before the bewildered and half-blinded -spectators could see the details.</p> - -<p>When they had recovered their sight and their balance, the spectacle was -a deplorable one for the majority of the company. Tom Linden, looking -white, dazed, and ill, was seated upon the ground. Over him stood the -huge young Scotsman who had borne him to earth; while Mrs. Linden, -kneeling beside her husband, was glaring up at his assailant. There was -silence as the company surveyed the scene. It was broken by Professor -Challenger.</p> - -<p>“Well, gentlemen, I presume that there is no more to be said. Your -medium has been exposed as he deserved to be. You can see now the nature -of your ghosts. I must thank Mr. Nicholl, who, I may remark, is the -famous football player of that name, for the prompt way in which he has -carried out his instructions.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_265">{265}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“I collared him low,” said the tall youth. “He was easy.”</p> - -<p>“You did it very effectively. You have done public service by helping to -expose a heartless cheat. I need not say that a prosecution will -follow.”</p> - -<p>But Mailey now intervened and with such authority that Challenger was -forced to listen.</p> - -<p>“Your mistake is not unnatural, sir, though the course which you adopted -in your ignorance is one which might well have been fatal to the -medium.”</p> - -<p>“My ignorance, indeed! If you speak like that I warn you that I will -look upon you not as dupes, but as accomplices.”</p> - -<p>“One moment, Professor Challenger. I would ask you one direct question, -and I ask for an equally direct reply. Was not the figure which we all -saw before this painful episode a white figure?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it was.”</p> - -<p>“You see now that the medium is entirely dressed in black. Where is the -white garment?”</p> - -<p>“It is immaterial to me where it is. No doubt his wife and himself are -prepared for all eventualities. They have their own means of secreting -the sheet, or whatever it may have been. These details can be explained -in the police court.”</p> - -<p>“Examine now. Search the room for anything white.”</p> - -<p>“I know nothing of the room. I can only use my common sense. The man is -exposed masquerading as a spirit. Into what corner or crevice he has -thrust his disguise is a matter of small importance.”</p> - -<p>“On the contrary, it is a vital matter. What you have seen has not been -an imposture, but has been a very real psychic phenomenon.”</p> - -<p>Challenger laughed.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_266">{266}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes, sir, a very real phenomenon. You have seen a transfiguration which -is the half-way state of materialisation. You will kindly realise that -spirit guides, who conduct such affairs, care nothing for your doubts -and suspicions. They set themselves to get certain results, and if they -are prevented by the infirmities of the circle from getting them one way -they get them in another without consulting your prejudice or -convenience. In this case being unable, owing to the evil conditions -which you have yourself created, to build up an ectoplasmic form, they -wrapped the unconscious medium in an ectoplasmic covering and sent him -forth from the cabinet. He is as innocent of imposture as you are.”</p> - -<p>“I swear to God,” said Linden, “that from the time I entered the cabinet -until I found myself upon the floor I knew nothing.” He had staggered to -his feet and was shaking all over in his agitation, so that he could not -hold the glass of water which his wife had brought him.</p> - -<p>Challenger shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“Your excuses,” he said, “only open up fresh abysses of credulity. My -own duty is obvious, and it will be done to the uttermost. Whatever you -have to say will, no doubt, receive such consideration as it deserves -from the magistrate.” Then Professor Challenger turned to go as one who -has triumphantly accomplished that for which he came. “Come, Enid!” said -he.</p> - -<p>And now occurred a development so sudden, so unexpected, so dramatic, -that no one present will ever cease to have it in vivid memory.</p> - -<p>No answer was returned to Challenger’s call.</p> - -<p>Everyone else had risen to their feet. Only Enid remained in her chair. -She sat with her head on one<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_267">{267}</a></span> shoulder, her eyes closed, her hair partly -loosened—a model for a sculptor.</p> - -<p>“She is asleep,” said Challenger. “Wake up, Enid. I am going.”</p> - -<p>There was no response from the girl. Mailey was bending over her.</p> - -<p>“Hush! Don’t disturb her! She is in trance.”</p> - -<p>Challenger rushed forward. “What have you done? Your infernal -hankey-pankey has frightened her. She has fainted.”</p> - -<p>Mailey had raised her eyelid.</p> - -<p>“No, no, her eyes are turned up. She is in trance. Your daughter, sir, -is a powerful medium.”</p> - -<p>“A medium! You are raving. Wake up, girl! Wake up!”</p> - -<p>“For God’s sake leave her! You may regret it all your life if you don’t. -It is not safe to break abruptly into the mediumistic trance.”</p> - -<p>Challenger stood in bewilderment. For once his presence of mind had -deserted him. Was it possible that his child stood on the edge of some -mysterious precipice and that he might push her over?</p> - -<p>“What shall I do?” he asked helplessly.</p> - -<p>“Have no fear. All will be well. Sit down! Sit down, all of you. Ah! she -is about to speak.”</p> - -<p>The girl had stirred. She had sat straight in her chair. Her lips -trembled. One hand was outstretched.</p> - -<p>“For him!” she cried, pointing to Challenger. “He must not hurt my Medi. -It is a message. For him.”</p> - -<p>There was breathless silence among the persons who had gathered round -the girl.</p> - -<p>“Who speaks?” asked Mailey.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_268">{268}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Victor speaks, Victor. He shall not hurt my Medi. I have a message. For -him!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes. What is the message?”</p> - -<p>“His wife is here.”</p> - -<p>“Yes!”</p> - -<p>“She says that she has been once before. That she came through this -girl. It was after she was buried. She knock and he hear her knocking, -but not understand.”</p> - -<p>“Does this mean anything to you, Professor Challenger?”</p> - -<p>His great eyebrows were bunched over his suspicious, questioning eyes, -and he glared like a beast at bay from one to the other of the faces -round him. There was a trick—a vile trick. They had suborned his own -daughter. It was damnable. He would expose them, every one. No, he had -no questions to ask. He could see through it all. She had been won over. -He could not have believed it of her, and yet it must be so. She was -doing it for Malone’s sake. A woman would do anything for a man she -loved. Yes, it was damnable. Far from being softened he was more -vindictive than ever. His furious face, his broken words, expressed his -convictions.</p> - -<p>Again the girl’s arm shot out, pointing in front of her.</p> - -<p>“Another message!”</p> - -<p>“To whom?”</p> - -<p>“To him. The man who wanted to hurt my Medi. He must not hurt my Medi. A -man here—two men—wish to give him a message.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Victor, let us have it.”</p> - -<p>“First man’s name is....” The girl’s head slanted and her ear was -upturned, as if listening. “Yes, yes, I have it! It is -Al—Al—Aldridge.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_269">{269}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Does that mean anything to you?”</p> - -<p>Challenger staggered. A look of absolute wonder had come upon his face.</p> - -<p>“Who is the second man?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Ware. Yes, that is it. Ware.”</p> - -<p>Challenger sat down suddenly. He passed his hand over his brow. He was -deadly pale. His face was clammy with sweat.</p> - -<p>“Do you know them?”</p> - -<p>“I knew two men of those names.”</p> - -<p>“They have messages for you,” said the girl.</p> - -<p>Challenger seemed to brace himself for a blow.</p> - -<p>“Well, what is it?”</p> - -<p>“Too private. Not speak, all these people here.”</p> - -<p>“We shall wait outside,” said Mailey. “Come, friends, let the Professor -have his message.”</p> - -<p>They moved towards the door leaving the man seated in front of his -daughter. An unwonted nervousness seemed suddenly to seize him. “Malone, -stay with me!”</p> - -<p>The door closed and the three were left together.</p> - -<p>“What is the message?”</p> - -<p>“It is about a powder.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes.”</p> - -<p>“A grey powder?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“The message that men want to say is: ‘You did not kill us.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“Ask them then—ask them—how did they die?” His voice was broken and -his great frame was quivering with his emotion.</p> - -<p>“They die disease.”</p> - -<p>“What disease?”</p> - -<p>“New—new.... What that?... Pneumonia.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_270">{270}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Challenger sank back in his chair with an immense sigh of relief. “My -God!” he cried, wiping his brow. Then:</p> - -<p>“Call in the others, Malone.”</p> - -<p>They had waited on the landing and now streamed into the room. -Challenger had risen to meet them. His first words were to Tom Linden. -He spoke like a shaken man whose pride for the instant was broken.</p> - -<p>“As to you, sir, I do not presume to judge you. A thing has occurred to -me which is so strange, and also so certain, since my own trained senses -have attested it, that I am not prepared to deny any explanation which -has been offered of your previous conduct. I beg to withdraw any -injurious expressions I may have used.”</p> - -<p>Tom Linden was a true Christian in his character. His forgiveness was -instant and sincere.</p> - -<p>“I cannot doubt that my daughter has some strange power which bears out -much which you, Mr. Mailey, have told me. I was justified in my -scientific scepticism, but you have to-day offered me some -incontrovertible evidence.”</p> - -<p>“We all go through the same experience, Professor. We doubt, and then in -turn we are doubted.”</p> - -<p>“I can hardly conceive that my word will be doubted upon such a point,” -said Challenger, with dignity. “I can truly say that I have had -information to-night which no living person upon this earth was in a -position to give. So much is beyond all question.”</p> - -<p>“The young lady is better,” said Mrs. Linden.</p> - -<p>Enid was sitting up and staring round her with bewildered eyes.</p> - -<p>“What has happened, Father? I seem to have been asleep.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_271">{271}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“All right, dear. We will talk of that later. Come home with me now. I -have much to think over. Perhaps you will come back with us, Malone. I -feel that I owe you some explanation.”</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>When Professor Challenger reached his flat, he gave Austin orders that -he was on no account to be disturbed, and he led the way into his -library, where he sat in his big arm-chair with Malone upon his left and -his daughter upon his right. He had stretched out his great paw and -enclosed Enid’s small hand.</p> - -<p>“My dear,” he said, after a long silence, “I cannot doubt that you are -possessed of a strange power, for it has been shown to me to-night with -a fullness and a clearness which is final. Since you have it I cannot -deny that others may have it also, and the general idea of mediumship -has entered within my conceptions of what is possible. I will not -discuss the question, for my thoughts are still confused upon the -subject, and I will need to thrash the thing out with you, young Malone, -and with your friends, before I can get a more definite idea. I will -only say that my mind has received a shock, and that a new avenue of -knowledge seems to have opened up before me.”</p> - -<p>“We shall be proud indeed,” said Malone, “if we can help you.”</p> - -<p>Challenger gave a wry smile.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I have no doubt that a headline in your paper, ‘Conversion of -Professor Challenger’ would be a triumph. I warn you that I have not got -so far.”</p> - -<p>“We certainly would do nothing premature and your opinions may remain -entirely private.”</p> - -<p>“I have never lacked the moral courage to proclaim my opinions when they -are formed, but the time has not yet come. However, I have received two<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_272">{272}</a></span> -messages to-night, and I can only ascribe to them an extra-corporeal -origin. I take it for granted, Enid, that you were indeed insensible.”</p> - -<p>“I assure you, Father, that I knew nothing.”</p> - -<p>“Quite so. You have always been incapable of deceit. First there came a -message from your mother. She assured me that she had indeed produced -those sounds which I heard and of which I have told you. It is clear now -that you were the medium and that you were not in sleep but in trance. -It is incredible, inconceivable, grotesquely wonderful—but it would -seem to be true.”</p> - -<p>“Crookes used almost those very words,” said Malone. “He wrote that it -was all ‘perfectly impossible and absolutely true.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>“I owe him an apology. Perhaps I owe a good many people an apology.”</p> - -<p>“None will ever be asked for,” said Malone. “These people are not made -that way.”</p> - -<p>“It is the second case which I would explain.” The Professor fidgeted -uneasily in his chair. “It is a matter of great privacy—one to which I -have never alluded, and which no one on earth could have known. Since -you heard so much you may as well hear all.</p> - -<p>“It happened when I was a young physician, and it is not too much to say -that it cast a cloud over my life—a cloud which has only been raised -to-night. Others may try to explain what has occurred by telepathy, by -subconscious mind action, by what they will, but I cannot doubt—it is -impossible to doubt—that a message has come to me from the dead.</p> - -<p>“There was a new drug under discussion at that time. It is useless to -enter into details which you would be incapable of appreciating. Suffice -it that it was of the datura family which supplies deadly poisons<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_273">{273}</a></span> as -well as powerful medicines. I had received one of the earliest -specimens, and I desired my name to be associated with the first -exploration of its properties. I gave it to two men, Ware and Aldridge. -I gave it in what I thought was a safe dose. They were patients, you -understand, in my ward in a public hospital. Both were found dead in the -morning.</p> - -<p>“I had given it secretly. None knew of it. There was no scandal for they -were both very ill, and their death seemed natural. But in my own heart -I had fears. I believed that I had killed them. It has always been a -dark background to my life. You heard yourselves to-night that it was -from the disease, and not from the drug that they died.”</p> - -<p>“Poor Dad!” whispered Enid, patting the great hirsute hand. “Poor Dad! -What you must have suffered!”</p> - -<p>Challenger was too proud a man to stand pity, even from his own -daughter. He pulled away his hand.</p> - -<p>“I worked for science,” he said. “Science must take risks. I do not know -that I am to blame. And yet—and yet—my heart is very light to-night.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_274">{274}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br><br> -<small>WHERE THE MISTS CLEAR AWAY</small></h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">M</span>ALONE had lost his billet and had found his way in Fleet Street blocked -by the rumour of his independence. His place upon the staff had been -taken by a young and drunken Jew, who had at once won his spurs by a -series of highly humorous articles upon psychic matters, peppered with -assurances that he approached the subject with a perfectly open and -impartial mind. His final device of offering five thousand pounds if the -spirits of the dead would place the three first horses in the coming -Derby, and his demonstration that ectoplasm was in truth the froth of -bottled porter artfully concealed by the medium, are newspaper stunts -which are within the recollection of the reader.</p> - -<p>But the path which closed on one side had opened on the other. -Challenger, lost in his daring dreams and ingenious experiments, had -long needed an active, clear-headed man to manage his business -interests, and to control his world-wide patents. There were many -devices, the fruits of his life’s work, which brought in income, but had -to be carefully watched and guarded. His automatic alarm for ships in -shallow waters, his device for deflecting a torpedo, his new and -economical method of separating nitrogen from the air, his radical -improvements in wireless transmission and his novel treatment of -pitchblende, were all moneymakers. Enraged by the attitude of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_275">{275}</a></span> -Cornelius, the Professor placed the management of all these in the hands -of his prospective son-in-law, who diligently guarded his interests.</p> - -<p>Challenger himself had altered. His colleagues, and those about him, -observed the change without clearly perceiving the cause. He was a -gentler, humbler and more spiritual man. Deep in his soul was the -conviction that he, the champion of scientific method and of truth, had, -in fact, for many years been unscientific in his methods and a -formidable obstruction to the advance of the human soul through the -jungle of the unknown. It was this self-condemnation which had wrought -the change in his character. Also, with characteristic energy, he had -plunged into the wonderful literature of the subject, and as, without -the prejudice which had formerly darkened his brain, he read the -illuminating testimony of Hare, de Morgan, Crookes, Lombroso, Barrett, -Lodge and so many other great men, he marvelled that he could ever for -one instant have imagined that such a consensus of opinion could be -founded upon error. His violent and whole-hearted nature made him take -up the psychic cause with the same vehemence, and even occasionally the -same intolerance with which he had once denounced it, and the old lion -bared his teeth and roared back at those who had once been his -associates. His remarkable article in the <i>Spectator</i> began, “The obtuse -incredulity and stubborn unreason of the prelates who refused to look -through the telescope of Galileo and to observe the moons of Jupiter, -has been far transcended in our own days by those noisy -controversialists, who rashly express extreme opinions upon those -psychic matters which they have never had either the time, or the -inclination to examine”; while in a final sentence he expressed his -conviction that his oppo<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_276">{276}</a></span>nents, “did not in truth represent the thought -of the twentieth century, but might rather be regarded as mental fossils -dug from some early Pliocene horizon.” Critics raised their hands in -horror, as is their wont, against the robust language of the article, -though violence of attack has for so many years been condoned in the -case of those who are in opposition. So we may leave Challenger, his -black mane slowly turning to grey, but his great brain growing ever -stronger and more virile as it faced such problems as the future had in -store—a future which had ceased to be bounded by the narrow horizon of -death, and which now stretched away into the infinite possibilities and -developments of continued survival of personality, character and work.</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>The marriage had taken place. It was a quiet function, but no prophet -could ever have foretold the guests whom Enid’s father had assembled in -the Whitehall Rooms. They were a happy crowd, all welded together by the -opposition of the world, and united in one common knowledge. There was -the Rev. Charles Mason, who had officiated at the ceremony, and if ever -a saint’s blessing consecrated a union, so it had been that morning. Now -in his black garb with his cheery, toothsome smile, he was moving about -among the crowd carrying peace and kindliness with him. The -yellow-bearded Mailey, the old warrior, scarred with many combats and -eager for more, stood beside his wife, the gentle squire who bore his -weapons and nerved his arm. There was Dr. Maupuis from Paris, trying to -make the waiter understand that he wanted coffee, and being presented -with toothpicks, while the gaunt Lord Roxton viewed his efforts with -cynical amusement. There, too, was the good<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_277">{277}</a></span> Bolsover with several of -the Hammersmith circle, and Tom Linden with his wife, and Smith, the -fighting bull-dog from the north, and Dr. Atkinson, and Mervin the -psychic editor with his kind wife, and the two Ogilvies, and little Miss -Delicia with her bag and her tracts, and Dr. Ross Scotton, now -successfully cured, and Dr. Felkin who had cured him so far as his -earthly representative, Nurse Ursula, could fill his place. All these -and many more were visible to our two-inch spectrum of colour, and -audible to our four octaves of sound. How many others, outside those -narrow limitations, may have added their presence and their -blessing—who shall say?</p> - -<p>  </p> - -<p>One last scene before we close the record. It was in a sitting-room of -the Imperial Hotel at Folkestone. At the window sat Mr. and Mrs. Edward -Malone gazing westwards down Channel at an angry evening sky. Great -purple tentacles, threatening forerunners from what lay unseen and -unknown beyond the horizon, were writhing up towards the zenith. Below -the little Dieppe boat was panting eagerly homewards. Far out the great -ships were keeping mid-channel as scenting danger to come. The vague -threat of that menacing sky acted subconsciously upon the minds of both -of them.</p> - -<p>“Tell me, Enid,” said Malone, “of all our wonderful psychic experiences, -which is now most vivid in your mind?”</p> - -<p>“It is curious that you should ask, Ned, for I was thinking of it at -that moment. I suppose it was the association of ideas with that -terrible sky. It was of Miromar I was thinking, the strange mystery man -with his words of doom.”</p> - -<p>“And so was I.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_278">{278}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Have you heard of him since?”</p> - -<p>“Once and once only. It was on a Sunday morning in Hyde Park. He was -speaking to a little group of men. I mixed with the crowd and listened. -It was the same warning.”</p> - -<p>“How did they take it? Did they laugh?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you have seen and heard him. You could not laugh, could you?”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed. But you don’t take it seriously, Ned, do you? Look at the -solid old earth of England. Look at our great hotel and the people on -the Lees, and the stodgy morning papers and all the settled order of a -civilised land. Do you really think that anything could come to destroy -it all?”</p> - -<p>“Who knows? Miromar is not the only one who says so.”</p> - -<p>“Does he call it the end of the world?”</p> - -<p>“No, no, it is the rebirth of the world—of the true world, the world as -God meant it to be.”</p> - -<p>“It is a tremendous message. But what is amiss? Why should so dreadful a -Judgment fall?”</p> - -<p>“It is the materialism, the wooden formalities of the churches, the -alienation of all spiritual impulses, the denial of the Unseen, the -ridicule of this new revelation—these are the causes according to him.”</p> - -<p>“Surely the world has been worse before now?”</p> - -<p>“But never with the same advantages—never with the education and -knowledge and so-called civilisation, which should have led it to higher -things. Look how everything has been turned to evil. We got the -knowledge of airships. We bomb cities with them. We learn how to steam -under the sea. We murder seamen with our new knowledge. We gain command -over chemicals. We turn them into explosives or poison gases. It goes -from worse to worse. At<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_279">{279}</a></span> the present moment every nation upon earth is -plotting secretly how it can best poison the others. Did God create the -planet for this end, and is it likely that He will allow it to go on -from bad to worse?”</p> - -<p>“Is it you or Miromar who is talking now?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I have myself been brooding over the matter, and all my thoughts -seem to justify his conclusions. I read a spirit message which Charles -Mason wrote. It was: ‘The most dangerous condition for a man or a nation -is when his intellectual side is more developed than his spiritual.’ Is -that not exactly the condition of the world to-day?”</p> - -<p>“And how will it come?”</p> - -<p>“Ah, there I can only take Miromar’s word for it. He speaks of a -breaking of all the phials. There is war, famine, pestilence, -earthquake, flood, tidal waves—all ending in peace and glory -unutterable.”</p> - -<p>The great purple streamers were right across the sky. A dull crimson -glare, a lurid angry glow, was spreading in the west. Enid shuddered as -she watched it.</p> - -<p>“One thing we have learned,” said he. “It is that two souls, where real -love exists, go on and on without a break through all the spheres. Why, -then, should you and I fear death, or anything which life or death can -bring?”</p> - -<p>She smiled and put her hand in his.</p> - -<p>“Why, indeed?” said she.</p> - -<p class="fint">THE END</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_280">{280}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX</h2> - -<p class="c">NOTE ON CHAPTER II</p> - -<p class="c">CLAIRVOYANCE IN SPIRITUALISTIC CHURCHES</p> - -<div class="sml"> -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">This</span> phenomenon, as exhibited in Spiritualistic churches or temples, as -the Spiritualists usually call them, varies very much in quality. So -uncertain is it that many congregations have given it up entirely, as it -had become rather a source of scandal than of edification. On the other -hand there are occasions, the conditions being good, the audience -sympathetic and the medium in good form, when the results are nothing -short of amazing. I was present on one occasion when Mr. Tom Tyrell of -Blackburn, speaking in a sudden call at Doncaster—a town with which he -was unfamiliar—got not only the descriptions but even the names of a -number of people which were recognised by the different individuals to -whom he pointed. I have known Mr. Vout Peters also to give forty -descriptions in a foreign city (Liége) where he had never been before, -with only one failure which was afterwards explained. Such results are -far above coincidence. What their true <i>raison d’être</i> may be has yet to -be determined. It has seemed to me sometimes that the vapour which -becomes visible as a solid in ectoplasm, may in its more volatile -condition fill the hall, and that a spirit coming within it may show up -as an invisible shooting star comes into view when it crosses the -atmosphere of the earth. No doubt the illustration is only an analogy -but it may suggest a line of thought.</p> - -<p>I remember being present on two occasions in Boston, Massachusetts, when -clergymen gave clairvoyance from the steps of the altar, and with -complete success. It struck me as an admirable reproduction of those -apostolic conditions when they taught “not only by words but also by -power.” All this has to come back into the Christian religion before it -will be revitalised and restored to its pristine power. It cannot, -however, be done in a day. We want less faith and more knowledge.</p> -</div> - -<p class="c">NOTE ON CHAPTER IX</p> - -<p class="c">EARTHBOUND SPIRITS</p> - -<div class="sml"> -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">This</span> chapter may be regarded as sensational, but as a fact there is no -incident in it for which chapter and verse may not be given. The -incident of Nell Gwynne, mentioned by Lord Roxton, was told me<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_281">{281}</a></span> by -Colonel Cornwallis West as having occurred in a country house of his -own. Visitors had met the wraith in the passages and had afterwards, -when they saw the portrait of Nell Gwynne which hung in a sitting-room, -exclaimed, “Why, there is the woman I met.”</p> - -<p>The adventure of the terrible occupant of the deserted house is taken -with very little change from the experience of Lord St. Audries in a -haunted house near Torquay. This gallant soldier told the story himself -in <i>The Weekly Dispatch</i> (Dec., 1921), and it is admirably retold in -Mrs. Violet Tweedale’s “Phantoms of the Dawn.” As to the conversation -carried on between the clergyman and the earthbound spirit, the same -authoress has described a similar one when recording the adventures of -Lord and Lady Wynford in Glamis Castle (“Ghosts I Have Seen,” p. 175).</p> - -<p>Whence such a spirit draws its stock of material energy is an unsolved -problem. It is probably from some mediumistic individual in the -neighbourhood. In the extremely interesting case quoted by the Rev. -Charles Mason in the narrative and very carefully observed by the -Psychic Research Society of Reykjavik in Iceland, the formidable -earthbound creature proclaimed how it got its vitality. The man was in -life a fisherman of rough and violent character who had committed -suicide. He attached himself to the medium, followed him to the séances -of the Society, and caused indescribable confusion and alarm, until he -was exorcised by some such means as described in the story. A long -account appeared in the “Proceedings of the American Society of Psychic -Research,” and also in the organ of the Psychic College, “Psychic -Science,” for January, 1925. Iceland, it may be remarked, is very -advanced in psychic science, and in proportion to its population or -opportunities is probably ahead of any other country. The Bishop of -Reykjavik is President of the Psychic Society, which is surely a lesson -to our own prelates whose disassociation from the study of such matters -is little less than a scandal. The matter relates to the nature of the -soul and to its fate in the Beyond, yet there are I believe fewer -students of the matter among our spiritual guides than among any other -profession.</p> -</div> - -<p class="c">NOTE ON CHAPTER X</p> - -<p class="c">RESCUE CIRCLES</p> - -<div class="sml"> -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">The</span> scenes in this chapter are drawn very closely either from personal -experience or from the reports of careful and trustworthy experimenters. -Among the latter are Mr. Tozer of Melbourne, and Mr. McFarlane of -Southsea, both of whom have run methodical circles for the purpose of -giving help to earthbound spirits. Detailed accounts of experiences -which I have personally had in the former circles are to be found in -chapters IV and VI: of my “Wanderings of a Spiritualist.” I may add that -in my own domestic circle, under my wife’s mediumship, we have been -privileged to bring hope and knowledge to some of these unhappy beings.</p> - -<p>Full reports of a number of these dramatic conversations are to be found -in the last hundred pages of the late Admiral Usborne<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_282">{282}</a></span> Moore’s “Glimpses -of the Next State.” It should be said that the Admiral was not -personally present at these sittings, but that they were carried out by -people in whom he had every confidence, and that they were confirmed by -sworn affidavits of the sitters. “The high character of Mr. Leander -Fisher,” says the Admiral, “is sufficient voucher for their -authenticity.” The same may be said of Mr. E. G. Randall, who has -published many such cases. He is one of the leading lawyers of Buffalo, -while Mr. Fisher is a Professor of Music in that city.</p> - -<p>The natural objection is that, granting the honesty of the -investigators, the whole experience may be in some way subjective and -have no relation to real facts. Dealing with this the Admiral says: “I -made enquiries as to whether any of the spirits thus brought to -understand that they had entered a new state of consciousness had been -satisfactorily identified. The reply was that many had been discovered, -but after several had been verified it was considered useless to go on -searching for the relatives and places of abode in earth life of the -remainder. Such enquiries involved much time and labour, and always -ended with the same result.” In one of the cases cited (<i>op. cit.</i> p. -524) there is the prototype of the fashionable woman who died in her -sleep as depicted in the text. In all these instances the returning -spirit did not realise that its earth life was over.</p> - -<p>The case of the clergyman and of the sailor from the “Monmouth” both -occurred in my presence at the circle of Mr. Tozer.</p> - -<p>The dramatic case where the spirit of a man (it was the case of several -men in the original) manifested at the very time of the accident which -caused their death, and where the names were afterwards verified in the -newspaper report, is given by Mr. E. G. Randall. Another example given -by that gentleman may be added for the consideration of those who have -not realised how cogent is the evidence, and how necessary for us to -reconsider our views of death. It is in “The Dead Have Never Died” (p. -104).</p> - -<p>“I recall an incident that will appeal to the purely materialistic. I -was one of my father’s executors, and after his dissolution and the -settlement of his estate, speaking to me from the next plane, he told me -one night that I had overlooked an item that he wanted to mention to me.</p> - -<p>“I replied: ‘Your mind was ever centred on the accumulation of money. -Why take up the time that is so limited with the discussion of your -estate. It has already been divided.’</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Yes,’ he answered, ‘I know that, but I worked too hard for my money to -have it lost, and there is an asset remaining that you have not -discovered.’</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Well,’ I said, ‘if that be true, tell me about it.’</p> - -<p>“He answered: ‘Some years before I left I loaned a small sum of money to -Susan Stone, who resided in Pennsylvania, and I took from her a -promissory note upon which, under the laws of that State, I was entitled -to enter a judgment at once without suit. I was somewhat anxious about -the loan, so, before its maturity, I took the note and filed it with the -prothonotary at Erie, Pennsyl<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_283">{283}</a></span>vania, and he entered judgment, which -became a lien on her property. In my books of account there was no -reference to that note or judgment. If you will go to the prothonotary’s -office in Erie, you will find the judgment on record, and I want you to -collect it. There are many things that you don’t know about, and this is -one of them.’</p> - -<p>“I was much surprised at the information thus received, and naturally -sent for a transcript of that judgment. I found it entered Oct. 21, -1896, and with that evidence of the indebtedness I collected from the -judgment debtor seventy dollars with interest. I question if anyone knew -of that transaction besides the makers of the note and the prothonotary -at Erie. Certainly I did not know about it. I had no reason to suspect -it. The psychic present at that interview could not have known about the -matter, and I certainly collected the money. My father’s voice was -clearly recognisable on that occasion, as it has been on hundreds of -others, and I cite this instance for the benefit of those who measure -everything from a monetary standpoint.”</p> - -<p>The most striking, however, of all these posthumous communications are -to be found in “Thirty Years Among the Dead,” by Dr. Wickland of Los -Angeles. This, like many other valuable books of the sort, can only be -obtained in Great Britain at the Psychic Bookshop in Victoria Street, S. -W.</p> - -<p>Dr. Wickland and his heroic wife have done work which deserves the very -closest attention from the alienists of the world. If he makes his -point, and the case is a strong one, he not only revolutionises all our -ideas about insanity, but he cuts deep also into our views of -criminology, and may well show that we have been punishing as criminals -people who were more deserving of commiseration than of censure.</p> - -<p>Having framed the view that many cases of mania were due to obsession -from undeveloped entities, and having found out by some line of enquiry, -which is not clear to me, that such entities are exceedingly sensitive -to static electricity when it is passed through the body which they have -invaded, he founded his treatment with remarkable results upon this -hypothesis. The third factor in his system was the discovery that such -entities were more easily dislodged if a vacant body was provided for -their temporary reception. Therein lies the heroism of Mrs. Wickland, a -very charming and cultivated lady, who sits in hypnotic trance beside -the subject ready to receive the invader when he is driven forth. It is -through the lips of this lady that the identity and character of the -undeveloped spirit are determined.</p> - -<p>The subject having been strapped to the electric chair—the strapping is -very necessary as many are violent maniacs—the power is turned on. It -does not affect the patient, since it is static in its nature, but it -causes acute discomfort to the parasitical spirit, who rapidly takes -refuge in the unconscious form of Mrs. Wickland. Then follow the amazing -conversations which are chronicled in this volume. The spirit is -cross-questioned by the doctor, is admonished, instructed, and finally -dismissed either in the care of some minister<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_284">{284}</a></span>ing spirit who -superintends the proceedings, or relegated to the charge of some sterner -attendant who will hold him in check should he be unrepentant.</p> - -<p>To the scientist who is unfamiliar with psychic work such a bald -statement sounds wild, and I do not myself claim that Dr. Wickland has -finally made out his case, but I do say that our experiences at rescue -circles bear out the general idea, and that he has admittedly cured many -cases which others have found intractable. Occasionally there is very -cogent confirmation. Thus in the case of one female spirit who bitterly -bewailed that she had not taken enough carbolic acid the week before, -the name and address being correctly given (<i>op. cit.</i> p. 39).</p> - -<p>It is not apparently everyone who is open to this invasion, but only -those who are in some peculiar way psychic sensitives. The discovery, -when fully made out, will be one of the root facts of the psychology and -jurisprudence of the future.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="c">NOTE ON CHAPTER XII</p> - -<div class="sml"> -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">The</span> experience of the young Frenchman and the letters or messages quoted -are extracts from a long series in the curious little book called “Le -Livre Pratique des Esprits.” It has been introduced because I have -endeavoured, in drawing a sketch of Spiritualism as I have known it, to -introduce the less pleasing shadows which intrude occasionally into the -light. Such practices, I need not say, would be condemned by any -ordinary Spiritualist, but it cannot be denied that their possibility is -disquieting and opens up unpleasant lines of speculation. They are, -however, so exceptional that it may well be doubted whether the -Frenchman was not self-deceived even if he was not drawing upon his -imagination.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="c">NOTE ON CHAPTER XIII</p> - -<p class="c">DR. MAUPUIS’ EXPERIMENT</p> - -<div class="sml"> -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">The</span> Dr. Maupuis of the narrative is, as every student of psychic -research will realise, the late Dr. Geley, whose splendid work on this -subject will ensure his permanent fame. His was a brain of the first -order, coupled with a moral courage which enabled him to face with -equanimity the cynicism and levity of his critics. With rare judgment he -never went further than the facts carried him, and yet never flinched -from the furthest point which his reason and the evidence would justify. -By the munificence of Mr. Jean Meyer he had been placed at the head of -the Institut Métapsychique, admirably equipped for scientific work, and -he got the full value out of that equipment. When a British Jean Meyer -makes his appearance he will get no return for his money if he does not -choose a progressive brain to drive his machine. The great endowment -left to the Stanford University of California has been practically -wasted, because those in charge of it were not Geleys or Richets.</p> - -<p>The account of Pithecanthropus is taken from the “Bulletin de<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_285">{285}</a></span> -l’Institut Métapsychique.” A well-known lady has described to me how the -creature pressed between her and her neighbours, and how she placed her -hand upon his shaggy skin. An account of this séance is to be found in -Geley’s “L’Ectoplasmie et la Clairvoyance” (Felix Alcau), p. 345. On -page 296 is a photograph of the strange bird of prey upon the medium’s -head. It would take the credulity of a MacCabe to imagine that all this -is imposture.</p> - -<p>These various animal types may assume very bizarre forms. In an -unpublished manuscript by Colonel Ochorowitz, which I have been -privileged to see, some new developments are described which are not -only formidable but also unlike any creature with which we are -acquainted.</p> - -<p>Since animal forms of this nature have materialised under the mediumship -both of Kluski and of Guzik, their formation would seem to depend rather -upon one of the sitters than upon either of the mediums, unless we can -disconnect them entirely from the circle. It is usually an axiom among -Spiritualists that the spirit visitors to a circle represent in some way -the mental and spiritual tendency of the circle. Thus in nearly forty -years of experience I have never heard an obscene or blasphemous word at -a séance because such séances have been run in a reverent and religious -fashion. The question therefore may arise whether sittings which are -held for purely scientific and experimental purposes, without the least -recognition of their extreme religious significance, may not evoke less -desirable manifestations of psychic force. The high character, however, -of men like Richet and Geley ensure that the general tendency shall be -good.</p> - -<p>It might be argued that a subject with such possibilities had better be -left alone. The answer seems to be that these manifestations are, -fortunately, very rare, whereas the daily comfort of spirit intercourse -illumines thousands of lives. We do not abandon exploration because the -land explored contains some noxious creatures. To abandon the subject -would be to hand it over to such forces of evil as chose to explore it -while depriving ourselves of that knowledge which would aid us in -understanding and counteracting their results.</p> -</div> - -<div class="bbox"> -<div class="bboxx"> -<p><i>The greatest pleasure in life is that of reading. Why not then own the -books of great novelists when the price is so small</i></p> - -<hr class="tp"> -<p>¶ <i>Of all the amusements which can possibly be imagined for a -hard-working man, after his daily toil, or in its intervals, there is -nothing like reading an entertaining book. It calls for no bodily -exertion. It transports him into a livelier, and gayer, and more -diversified and interesting scene, and while he enjoys himself there he -may forget the evils of the present moment. Nay, it accompanies him to -his next day’s work, and gives him something to think of besides the -mere mechanical drudgery of his every-day occupation—something he can -enjoy while absent, and look forward with pleasure to return to.</i></p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Ask your dealer for a list of the titles in Burt’s Popular Priced -Fiction</i></p></div> - -<hr class="tp"> - -<p><i>In buying the books bearing the A. L. Burt Company imprint you are -assured of wholesome, entertaining and instructive reading</i></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="cun"><i>THE BEST OF RECENT FICTION AT A POPULAR PRICE</i></p> - -<p class="nind"> -<b>Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.</b> Frank L. Packard.<br> -<b>Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.</b> A. 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Chambers.<br> -<b>At the Mercy of Tiberius.</b> Augusta Evans Wilson.<br> -<b>At Sight of Gold.</b> Cynthia Lombardi.<br> -<b>Auction Block, The.</b> Rex Beach.<br> -<b>Aunt Jane of Kentucky.</b> Eliza C. Hall.<br> -<b>Awakening of Helena Ritchie.</b> Margaret Deland.<br> -<br> -<b>Bab: a Sub-Deb.</b> Mary Roberts Rinehart.<br> -<b>Bar 20.</b> Clarence E. Mulford.<br> -<b>Bar 20 Days.</b> Clarence E. Mulford.<br> -<b>Bar-20 Three.</b> Clarence E. Mulford.<br> -<b>Barrier, The.</b> Rex Beach.<br> -<b>Bars of Iron, The.</b> Ethel M. Dell.<br> -<b>Bat Wing.</b> Sax Rohmer.<br> -<b>Beasts of Tarzan, The.</b> Edgar Rice Burroughs.<br> -<b>Beautiful and Damned, The.</b> F. Scott Fitzgerald.<br> -<b>Beauty.</b> Rupert Hughes.<br> -<b>Behind Locked Doors.</b> Ernest M. Poate.<br> -<b>Bella Donna.</b> Robert Hichens. (Photoplay Ed.).<br> -<b>Beloved Traitor, The.</b> Frank L. Packard.<br> -<b>Beloved Vagabond, The.</b> Wm. J. 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Mulford.<br> -<b>Broad Highway, The.</b> Jeffery Farnol.<br> -<b>Broken Barriers.</b> Meredith Nicholson.<br> -<b>Brown Study, The.</b> Grace S. Richmond.<br> -<b>Buck Peters, Ranchman.</b> Clarence E. Mulford.<br> -<b>Bush-Rancher, The.</b> Harold Bindloss.<br> -<br> -<b>Cabbages and Kings.</b> O. Henry.<br> -<b>Cabin Fever.</b> B. M. Bower.<br> -<b>Calling of Dan Matthews, The.</b> Harold Bell Wright.<br> -<b>Cape Cod Stories.</b> Joseph C. Lincoln.<br> -<b>Cap’n Dan’s Daughter.</b> Joseph C. Lincoln.<br> -<b>Cap’n Eri.</b> Joseph C. Lincoln.<br> -<b>Cap’n Warren’s Wards.</b> Joseph C. Lincoln.<br> -<b>Carnac’s Folly.</b> Gilbert Parker.<br> -<b>Cat’s Paw, The.</b> Natalie Sumner Lincoln.<br> -<b>Cattle.</b> Winnifred Eaton.<br> -<b>Certain People of Importance.</b> Kathleen Norris.<br> -<b>Chief Legatee, The.</b> Anna Katharine Green.<br> -<b>Cinema Murder, The.</b> E. Phillips Oppenheim.<br> -<b>City of Lilies, The.</b> Anthony Pryde and R. K. Weehes.<br> -<b>City of Peril, The.</b> Arthur Stringer.<br> -<b>Clipped Wings.</b> Rupert Hughes.<br> -<b>Clue of the New Pin, The.</b> Edgar Wallace.<br> -<b>Colorado Jim.</b> George Goodchild.<br> -<b>Coming of Cassidy, The.</b> Clarence E. Mulford.<br> -<b>Coming of the Law, The.</b> Chas. A. Seltzer.<br> -<b>Communicating Door, The.</b> Wadsworth Camp.<br> -<b>Comrades of Peril.</b> Randall Parrish.<br> -<b>Conquest of Canaan, The.</b> Booth Tarkington.<br> -<b>Contraband.</b> Clarence Budington Kelland.<br> -<b>Court of Inquiry, A.</b> Grace S. Richmond.<br> -<b>Crimson Blotter, The.</b> Isabel Ostrander.<br> -<b>Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.</b> Rex Beach.<br> -</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> See <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> See <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a> on Chapter IX.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> See <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> See <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> See <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>.</p></div> - -</div> - -<table style="padding:2%;border:3px dotted gray;" -id="transcrib"> -<tr><th>Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:</th></tr> -<tr><td> -<p>Monsieur Forte, sub-editer=> Monsieur Forte, sub-editor {pg 199}</p> - -<p>“And you, monsieur?” addressing the representative of the <i>Matin</i>.=> -“And you, monsieur?” addressing the representative of the <i>Matin</i>. {pg -209}</p> - -<p class="nind">practicing Spirtualists=> practicing Spiritualists {pg 216}</p> - -<p class="nind">unerring insinct=> unerring instinct {pg 232}</p> - -<p>Profesor Challenger has had=> Professor Challenger has had {pg 242}</p> - -<p>But about Professer Challenger=> But about Professor Challenger {pg 251}</p> - -<p class="nind">raison d’etre=> raison d’être {pg 280}</p> -</td></tr></table> - - -<hr class="full"> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAND OF MIST ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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