"No; she is out, and the girl is out. Will you come in? You probably didn't come to see me."
"But I did come to see you."
She led the way into the long, low sitting-room, with its many doors and its wide fireplace, so familiar that he might have left it yesterday.
"I can't imagine what you want of me," Mrs. Singleton said, waving her hand toward a chair. "The last time I saw you you didn't seem very fond of me."
She seated herself by the side of the fire in a great old-fashioned chair covered with chintz and spreading out wings on either side of her head.
"You are still angry, Alice, I see," he rejoined. "Well, I can't help that. I did what was right. How in the world could you make up your mind to fool those people so?"
"They wanted to be fooled; why not oblige them?"
He regarded her with astonishment. He had expected her to deny that her deception was deliberate, to claim that the manifestations were real. Her frank and cynical speech disconcerted him. He had no reply. She broke into a sneering laugh.
"There," she said, "you didn't come here to talk about that séance.
What did you come for?"
"I came to ask you if you still have Aunt Hannah's desk."