"And I shall be," said Adele, "if—" She leaned forward in anxiety. She had come to the real necessity of Helene Vauquier's plan. "If we abandon as quite laughable the cupboard door and the string across it; if, in a word, mademoiselle consents that we tie her hand and foot and fasten her securely in a chair. Such restraints are usual in the experiments of which I have read. Was there not a medium called Mlle. Cook who was secured in this way, and then remarkable things, which I could not believe, were supposed to have happened?"
"Certainly I permit it," said Celia, with indifference; and Mme. Dauvray cried enthusiastically:
"Ah, you shall believe to-night in those wonderful things!"
Adele Tace leaned back. She drew a breath. It was a breath of relief.
"Then we will buy the cord in Aix," she said.
"We have some, no doubt, in the house," said Mme. Dauvray.
Adele shook her head and smiled.
"My dear madame, you are dealing with a sceptic. I should not be content."
Celia shrugged her shoulders.
"Let us satisfy Mme. Rossignol," she said.