"Celia, you goose!" Margaret said softly. "You don't really expect anything to happen do you?" She took the seat on her sister's left, and Peter sat down beside her.
Mrs. Bosanquet turned the central lamp out, and lowered the wick of the one that stood on a table by the fireplace, until only a tiny flame showed. Then she groped her way to the empty chair between her nephews and sat down.
"Oh, isn't it dark and horrible?" shuddered Celia.
"You'll get used to it," Margaret said soothingly. "Already I can just see, vaguely. What do we have to do, Aunt Lilian?"
Mrs. Bosanquet, happy in having induced them to take part in the seance, at once assumed the role of preceptress. "First, you must be quite comfortable in your chairs," she said.
"That knocks me out," Charles interrupted. "No one could be comfortable in a chair like this. There are already three knobs pressing into my spine."
By the time he had solemnly tested three other chairs, and decided in favour of a Queen Anne upholstered chair with slim wooden arms, even Celia had begun to giggle.
With unimpaired patience Mrs. Bosanquet started again. "Now, are you all settled?"
"Yes," Margaret said, before Charles had time to speak. "Go on, Aunt, what next?"
"We all lay just the tips of our fingers on the board, taking care not to press or lean on it."