“But we are going to do that,” put in Natalie. “I’m crazy to see the whole performance, but I’m scared, too. I wish Joyce would promise not to go on with it if any one of us doesn’t like it.”
“She won’t promise that,” said Beatrice. “Joyce is bound to see it through. I don’t know what she expects from it, but she has no fear, that’s certain.”
Orienta had stipulated that the séance take place in the studio, saying that the influences of the place would go far toward producing favourable conditions for her.
So they awaited her there, at the appointed time, and within a few minutes of the hour she arrived. Pausing in the hall to lay off her wraps, Orienta then glided into the great room where her group of auditors were assembled. This time she wore a robe of dark green, as full and flowing as the white one. There was no suggestion of Greek drapery, but an Oriental style of billowing folds that would have been hard to imitate. A jade bracelet showed beneath the flowing sleeve and a jade ring was on one finger of the long, psychic hand.
“May I look at it?” said Natalie, as they sat a moment, before beginning the séance.
“Certainly. It is my talisman,—my charm. Without it, I could do nothing.”
“Really? How wonderful!” and the girl looked earnestly at the carven stone. “Your power is occult, then?”
“I think it must be. Yet I would not be classed with the people who go by the general title of mediums. They are, usually, frauds.”
Orienta made this statement simply, as if speaking of some matter unconnected with her own work or claims. She gave the impression that if fraudulent “mediums” wished to impose upon the gullible public, it was of no interest to her, but she declined to be considered one of them. And so secure was she in her own sincerity, she deemed it unnecessary to emphasise or insist upon it.
“What is your wish?” she asked, at length. “Will you try me first on some outside matters or shall we proceed at once to the question of the mystery we seek to solve?”