“That woman’s in the hall,” she whispered, “that niece of Hallowell’s. Paul and Mannie can’t get rid of her. Now she’s got hold of Winthrop. She says she will see you. Be careful!”
Vera rose. That Mabel might not see she had been weeping, she walked to the piano, covertly drying her eyes.
“What,” she asked dully, “does she want with me?”
“About tonight,” answered Mabel. She exclaimed fiercely, “I told them there’d be trouble!”
With Vance upon her heels, Helen Coates came in quickly from the hall. Her face was flushed, her eyes lit with indignation and excitement. In her hand she held an open letter.
As though to protect Vera, both Vance and his wife moved between her and their visitor, but, disregarding them, Miss Coates at once singled out the girl as her opponent.
“You are the young woman they call Vera, I believe,” she said. “I have a note here from Mr. Hallowell telling me you are giving a seance tonight at his house. That you propose to exhibit the spirit of my mother. That is an insult to the memory of my mother and to me. And I warn you, if you attempt such a thing, I will prevent it.”
There was a pause. When Vera spoke it was in the tone of every-day politeness. Her voice was even and steady.
“You have been misinformed,” she said, “there will be no seance tonight.”
Vance turned to Vera, and, in a voice lower than her own, but sufficiently loud to include Miss Coates, said: “I don’t think we told you that Mr. Hallowell himself insists that this lady and her friends be present.”