"I do."
"Yet they have advised you to put your money into the hands of a
swindler."
"Her Voices seem to have done this, yes, sir; but she herself has never
advised in any way."
"You distinguish between the Voices of your friend and her own
personality, do you?"
"I do, yes, sir."
The prosecuting attorney inserted a sneering word. "Your honor, Mrs.
Joyce is known to be credulous and under the influence of this
trickster. She is not a competent witness. She has permitted herself to
be deluded to the point where she will not believe anything ill of her
medium. Thomas Aiken is not the only one ready to press this charge
against the defendant. Four others to my knowledge stand ready to
testify to this woman's uncanny power for deluding and defrauding. My
client finds herself stripped of her little fortune and helpless in her
declining years. The acting of this medium is criminal, and we demand
that she be punished."
The judge turned his musing eyes upon Mrs. Ollnee's pale face. "Have you
anything further to say, Mrs. Ollnee?"
"I have never been guilty of any deception, your honor. I claim no
wisdom for myself. If it is true that the traction company is a fraud,
then it must be that lying spirits have spoken impersonating my husband
and my father."
"That is a subterfuge," interposed the young woman, Miss Aiken. "She is
responsible for her Voices."
"You accept money for your services, do you not?" the judge asked of
Mrs. Ollnee.
"Not now, no sir."
"Did you formerly?"
"Yes, sir, after my husband died, I was forced to do so in order to
educate my son."
"Is this your son?"
"Yes, sir."
The judge addressed himself to Victor. "What do you know of your
mother's power as a medium? Do you share her faith?"
Victor felt the burning eyes of the angry girl upon him as he replied:
"I know very little about it, your honor. I have been away to school
ever since I was ten years old."
"Mrs. Joyce, you are a believer in Mrs. Ollnee's powers?"
"I am, a firm believer."
"You've had no reason to doubt the genuineness of these messages?"
"Up to the present time I have not."
"You will lose heavily in this traction swindle, if it is a swindle,
will you not?"
"If it has failed, yes, sir."
"Does that shake your faith in the medium?"
"Not in the slightest, your honor. It is a well-known fact that lying
spirits sometimes interpose."
During this interrogation, which had proceeded in conversational tone,
they had all remained standing before the judge, whose speculative eyes
wandered from face to face with growing interest. At last he said to the
prosecuting attorney: "From your own statement of it, this case is not
to be tried here. I do not feel myself competent at this time to pass
upon the questions involved."
"She shall not escape," said Miss Aiken, with bitter menace.