«Now!» screamed Mr. Peeble. «We shall ask Mr. Munro from Australia to give us the invocation.»
A wild-looking old man with a shaggy beard and slumbering fire in his eyes rose up and stood for a few seconds with his gaze cast down. Then he began a prayer, very simple, very unpremeditated. Malone jotted down the first sentence: «Oh, Father, we are very ignorant folk and do not well know how to approach you, but we will pray to you the best we know how.» It was all cast in that humble key. Enid and Malone exchanged a swift glance of appreciation.
There was another hymn, less successful than the first, and the chairman then announced that Mr. James Jones of North Wales would now deliver a trance address which would embody the views of his well-known control, Alasha the Atlantean.
Mr. James Jones, a brisk and decided little man in a faded check suit, came to the front and, after standing a minute or so as if in deep thought, gave a violent shudder and began to talk. It must be admitted that save for a certain fixed stare and vacuous glazing of the eye there was nothing to show that anything save Mr. James Jones of North Wales was the orator. It has also to be stated that if Mr. Jones shuddered at the beginning it was the turn of his audience to shudder afterwards. Granting his own claim, he had proved clearly that an Atlantean spirit might be a portentous bore. He droned on with platitudes and ineptitudes while Malone whispered to Enid that if Alasha was a fair specimen of the population it was just as well that his native land was safely engulfed in the Atlantic Ocean. When, with another rather melodramatic shudder, he emerged from his trance, the chairman sprang to his feet with an alacrity which showed that he was taking no risks lest the Atlantean should return.
«We have present with us to-night,» he cried, «Mrs. Debbs, the well-known clairvoyante of Liverpool. Mrs. Debbs is, as many of you know, richly endowed with several of those gifts of the spirit of which Saint Paul speaks, and the discerning of spirits is among them. These things depend upon laws which are beyond our control, but a sympathetic atmosphere is essential, and Mrs. Debbs will ask for your good wishes and your prayers while she endeavours to get into touch with some of those shining ones on the other side who may honour us with their presence to-night.»
The president sat down and Mrs. Debbs rose amid discreet applause. Very tall, very pale, very thin, with an aquiline face and eyes shining brightly from behind her gold-rimmed glasses, she stood facing her expectant audience. Her head was bent. She seemed to be listening.
«Vibrations!» she cried at last. «I want helpful vibrations. Give me a verse on the harmonium, please.»
The instrument droned out «Jesu, Lover of my soul.»
The audience sat in silence, expectant and a little awed.
The hall was not too well lit and dark shadows lurked in the corners. The medium still bent her head as if her ears were straining. Then she raised her hand and the music stopped.
«Presently! Presently! All in good time,» said the woman, addressing some invisible companion. Then to the audience, «I don't feel that the conditions are very good to-night. I will do my best and so will they. But I must talk to you first.»
And she talked. What she said seemed to the two strangers to be absolute gabble. There was no consecutive sense in it, though now and again a phrase or sentence caught the attention. Malone put his stylo in his pocket. There was no use reporting a lunatic. A Spiritualist next him saw his bewildered disgust and leaned towards him.
«She's tuning in. She's getting her wave length,» he whispered. «It's all a matter of vibration. Ah, there you are!»
She had stopped in the very middle of a sentence. Her long arm and quivering forefinger shot out. She was pointing at an elderly woman in the second row.
«You! Yes, you, with the red feather. No, not you. The stout lady in front. Yes, you! There is a spirit building up behind you. It is a man. He is a tall man – six foot maybe. High forehead, eyes grey or blue, a long chin brown moustache, lines on his face. Do you recognize him, friend?»
The stout woman looked alarmed, but shook her head.
«Well, see if I can help you. He is holding up a book – brown book with a clasp. It's a ledger same as they have in offices. I get the words 'Caledonian Insurance'. Is that any help?»
The stout woman pursed her lips and shook her head.
«Well, I can give you a little more. He died after a long illness. I get chest trouble – asthma.»
The stout woman was still obdurate, but a small, angry, red-faced person, two places away from her, sprang to her feet.
«It's my 'usband, ma'm. Tell 'im I don't want to 'ave any more dealin's with him.» She sat down with decision.
«Yes, that's right. He moves to you now. He was nearer the other. He wants to say he's sorry. It doesn't do, you know, to have hard feelings to the dead. Forgive and forget. It's all over. I get a message for you. It is: 'Do it and my blessing go with you'! Does that mean anything to you?»
The angry woman looked pleased and nodded.
«Very good.» The clairvoyante suddenly darted out her finger towards the crowd at the door «It's for the soldier.»
A soldier in khaki, looking very much amazed, was in the front of the knot of people.
«Wot's for me?» he asked.
«It's a soldier. He has a corporal's stripes. He is a big man with grizzled hair. He has a yellow tab on his shoulders. I get the initials J. H. Do you know him?»
«Yes – but he's dead,» said the soldier.
He had not understood that it was a Spiritualistic Church, and the whole proceedings had been a mystery to him. They were rapidly explained by his neighbours. «My Gawd!» cried the soldier, and vanished amid a general titter. In the pause Malone could hear the constant mutter of the medium as she spoke to someone unseen.
«Yes, yes, wait your turn! Speak up, woman! Well, take your place near him. How should I know? Well, I will if I can.» She was like a janitor at the theatre marshalling a queue.
Her next attempt was a total failure. A solid man with bushy side-whiskers absolutely refused to have anything to do with an elderly gentleman who claimed kinship. The medium worked with admirable patience, coming back again and again with some fresh detail, but no progress could be made.
«Are you a Spiritualist, friend?»
«Yes, for ten years.»
«Well, you know there are difficulties.»
«Yes, I know that.»
«Think it over. It may come to you later. We must just leave it at that. I am only sorry for your friend.»
There was a pause during which Enid and Malone exchanged whispered confidences.
«What do you make of it, Enid?»
«I don't know. It confuses me.»
«I believe it is half guess-work and the other half a case of confederates. These people are all of the same church, and naturally they know each other's affairs. If they don't know they can inquire.»
«Someone said it was Mrs. Debbs' first visit.»
«Yes but they could easily coach her up. It is all clever quackery and bluff. It must be, for just think what is implied if it is not.»
«Telepathy, perhaps.»
«Yes, some element of that also. Listen! She is off again.»
Her next attempt was more fortunate. A lugubrious man at the back of the hall readily recognized the description and claims of his deceased wife.
«I get the name Walter.»
«Yes, that's me.»
«She called you Wat?»
«No.»
«Well, she calls you Wat now. 'Tell Wat to give my love to the children'. That's how I get it. She is worrying about the children.»