Mrs. Joyce urged him to tell what had passed between them, and he replied:
"I can't do it. All I can say is this: he believes mother is honest, and that she has some strange power. He will defend her in court; but he intends to study into the whole business very closely, and he wants us to help him."
"Of course we'll help him," responded Mrs. Joyce, readily.
Mrs. Ollnee went to the heart of the problem. "Just what does he want to do, Victor?"
"It is necessary to prove absolutely that you have nothing to do with these phenomena."
"But I do have everything to do with them," she replied; "that's what being a medium means. However, I know what he needs better than you do. He wants to prove that the messages are supra-normal. Very well, I am ready for any test."
"It will be a fierce one, mother. He intends to use electricity and machines for recording movements and instantaneous photography."
"I am willing, provided he will proceed in co-operation with your father and Watts."
"He will never do that," declared Victor. "He will not begin by granting the very thing he's trying to prove."
It was upon this most solemn conference that Leo descended, pale and restrained, and though Victor sprang up with new-born love in his face, she did not flush with responding warmth. Her mood of the moonlit walk had utterly vanished, and he found himself checked, chilled, and thrust down from his high place of exaltation.