“Madame, I stand rebuked,” with a mock respectful bow; “but seriously, though it is treason to say it in so fairy-like a bower, my visit to-day is rather on business than pleasure. I come as ambassador from Mme. de Villiers to endeavor to persuade you, ladies, to come to her this evening, and meet Home, the wonder-working medium, about whom all Paris is talking.”
“Forestalled,” exclaimed Evelyn, gaily; “we were initiated yesterday into some of these weird doings, at the house of an English lady.”
“Indeed,” said D’Arcy, with evident interest—“and what, may I ask, did you witness?”
“Well, we placed ourselves in a circle of about nine persons, and in a few minutes we heard raps; by the alphabet, we were requested to remove the lights, and after we had done so, an accordion, which was lying on the table, ‘discoursed most excellent music,’ no one touching it. Then, by the dim light, we perceived a hand, white and beautifully formed—and this hand presented me with a real geranium, and others of the circle with different flowers.”
“You are, then, favorably disposed toward the subject of spiritualism?” enquired D’Arcy.
“All I saw has deeply impressed me,” replied Evelyn; “and I cannot think it altogether a delusion, for I distinctly felt in my fingers the vibration of the table before each rap, and frequently knew the answer about to be made by the (so-called) spirits, to questions asked by members of the circle.”
“Ah! then you must yourself be a medium?”
“Delightful! There is nothing I should like better. You must explain to us these mysteries, and convert my friend there also, for she is a sad infidel.”
“I suppose,” I rejoined, “I am too matter-of-fact, and have too little imagination to be caught by what I cannot but consider as a mere trick to amuse children, and utterly unworthy rational beings, whether in or out of the body.”
“Pardon me, Miss Mildmay,” said D’Arcy, “but if these knockings, which appear to you so puerile, have been tested and proved not to be tricks, and that such and similar manifestations have been the means of convincing the confirmed sceptic that there is an actual hereafter, it appears to me that the spirits of the departed are rather occupied in a good work, and that we have at least ‘method in our madness.’”