E. F. Benson

“ Finally, deeply dyed with fraud, and that in crude, garish colors, were the spirit-rappings, the playing of musical boxes, the appearance of materialized spirits, the smell of incense that heralded Cardinal Newman, all that bag of conjuring tricks, in fact, which disgraces and makes a laughing-stock of the impostors who profess to be able to bring the seen world into connection with the unseen world. But to do Waghorn justice, he did not often employ those crude contrivances, for his telepathic and thought-reading gifts were far more convincing to his sitters. ”

“ There they sat while Richard, breathing deeply and moaning in his simulated trance, was the mouthpiece of Mentu and told them things which, but for his indubitable gift of thought-reading, it was impossible for him to know; or, if the power was not coming through properly, they listened, hardly less thrilled, to spirit-rappings and musical boxes and unverifiable information about the conditions of life where the mortal coil hampers no longer. ”

“ Thereafter the flood of sun and certain mental impressions poured over him in spate of sunlit waters.
"She wants to know about the boy whose hair is in the locket. He is not a boy now. He is, according to earth's eyes, a grown man. There is a D; I see a D. Not Dick, not David. There is a Y. It is Denys. Not Saint Denys, not French. English Denys—Denys Bristow."
He paused a moment, and heard Mrs. Gardner whisper:
"Yes; that is right."
Waghorn gave vent to Mentu's jovial laugh.
"She says it is right," he said. "How should not Mentu be right? ”

“ Often when the mere thought-reading, as you call it, is flowing along most smoothly, I feel that if only I could abandon my whole consciousness a little more completely, something, somebody, would really take control of me. ”

“ I shall lose my position if it happens often; nobody will pay my fees only to hear spirit-rappings and generalities."
"They 're better than nothing," said Julia.
"Very little. They help to fill up, but I hate using them. Don't you remember, when we began investigating, just you and I alone, how often we seemed on the verge of genuine supernatural manifestations? They appeared to be just round the corner."
"Yes; but we never turned the corner. We never got beyond mere thought-reading." ”

“ They were a pleasant, handsome pair of young people, gifted with a manner that, if anything, disarmed suspicion too much, and while futile old gentlemen found it quite agreeable to sit in the dark holding Julia's firm, cool hand, similarly constituted old ladies were the recipients of thrilling emotions when they held Richard's, the touch of which, they declared, was strangely electric. ”

“ Perhaps Mentu is right, too, when he says that Denys is her brother? Yes; that is Margaret Bristow who sits here. Not Margaret Bristow. Margaret—"
Waghorn saw the name quite clearly, but yet he hesitated. It was not Gardner at all. Then it struck him for the first time that nothing was more likely than that Mrs. Gardner had adopted a pseudonym. He went on:
"Margaret Forsyth is Denys's sister. Margaret wants to know about Denys. Denys is coming. He will be here in a moment. He has spoken of his sister before. He did not call her Margaret. ”

“ Fraudulent also, as coming from the intelligence of discarnate spirits, were the pieces of information he gave as to the conditions under which those who had "passed over" still lived, and it was here that he chiefly brought consolation to the credulous, for he represented the dead as happy and busy, and full of spiritual activities. ”

“ It was so like Denys to think of them, too."
To Waghorn this meant nothing whatever; she might have been speaking Hebrew to him. But Julia, as she often did, answered for him.
"My brother knows nothing of what happened in his trance," she said.
Mrs. Forsyth got up.
"I will go straight home," she said. "I feel sure that I shall find just what Denys described. May I telephone to you about it at once?"
"Yes, pray do," said Julia. "We shall be most anxious to hear."
Richard got up to show her out, but having regained his feet, he staggered, and collapsed into his chair again. Mrs. ”