Isis turned from the crystal, looking a little weary. She raised her pale eyes to Avice’s anxious face, and said, “Will you obey?”
“I don’t know. How can I call a detective? I am pretty sure my advisers will not approve of calling another detective on the case, for it is a case. A criminal affair.”
Avice found herself talking to the clairvoyant as if she had known her a long time. It seemed as if she had. She could not have said that she liked the personality of Isis, but neither did she dislike it. She seemed to Avice more of a force than a person. She seemed to have no particular individuality, rather to be merely a mouthpiece for otherwise unavailable knowledge.
Avice rose to go. “That is all?” she said.
“That is all, but will you not consent to save this man?”
“Is there no hope else?”
“None. It rests with you. You will agree to call Mr. Stone?”
Compelled by the glance, almost hypnotic, that the seeress bent upon her, Avice said “Yes,” involuntarily.
“You promise?”
“I promise.”