"That is my intention," calmly replied Bartol.
"Have the controls consented?" asked Mrs. Joyce.
"Yes," answered Mrs. Ollnee.
Of the further intricacies of Stinchfield's preparation Victor had no
hint, so artfully were they concealed; but he recognized in it all a
kind of humorous skepticism (which the engineer radiated in spite of his
manifest wish to appear respectful); and as his mother entered her
little torture tent Victor said, "You needn't do this if you don't want
to, mother."
"Your father commands it," she replied, submissively.
Stinchfield screwed the cage to the floor and made an attachment to a
small wire which ran along the book-case to a dark corner. Victor was
enough of the physicist to infer that his mother was now surrounded by
an electric current.
Bartol explained: "We are to start in total darkness, and then we intend
to try various degrees and colors of lights. Mrs. Ollnee, how will you
have us sit?"
"I want Victor opposite me, with Leo at his right and Louise at his
left. Mr. Stinchfield will then be able to operate his wires. You, Mr.
Bartol, sit at Leo's right and nearest the cage." Her voice was now
quite firm, and her manner decided. "All sit at the table for a time."
Stinchfield snapped out the lights, one by one, till only two, one red,
the other green, struggled against the darkness. When these went out the
room was perfectly black.
Bartol then said: "In the cabinet behind the medium is a
self-registering column of mercury, a typewriter, and a switch, which
will light a lamp which hangs in the ceiling above the cabinet, and
which has no other connection. The psychic is inclosed in a mesh of
steel wire too fine to permit the putting forth of a finger. If the lamp
is lighted, the column of mercury lifted, or the typewriter keys
depressed, it will be by some supra-normal power of the medium. There
is also on a table just inside the curtains, with paper and pencils, a
small tin trumpet, a bell, and a zither upon it. If possible, we wish to
obtain a written message independent of Mrs. Ollnee."
"It is the unexpected that happens," remarked Mrs. Joyce. "Shall we
clasp hands, Lucy?"
"Yes," answered Mrs. Ollnee.
Victor, reaching for Leo's hand, tingled with something not scientific,
a current of something subtler than electricity which came from her
palm. He thought he detected in her fingers a returning warmth of grasp.
"They are here," announced Mrs. Joyce, after some ten minutes of
silence.
"Who are here?" asked Bartol.
"My band--and many others."
"How can you tell?"
"I hear them." A faint whisper soon distinguished itself, and Mrs. Joyce
reported that Mr. Blodgett was speaking. "He says he realizes the
importance of this test, and that he has summoned all the most powerful
of the spirits within reach, and that they will do all they can. He says
the wire cage is a new condition, but they will meet it. Be patient; the
strain on Lucy is very great, but it cannot be avoided."
In the silence which followed this conversation Leo shuddered and
clutched Victor's hand as if for protection. "The other world is
opening. Don't you feel it?" She whispered. "I can hear the rustle of
wings."
He, growing very tense himself, answered: "I feel only my mother's
anxiety. Are you comfortable, mother?" he asked.
She did not reply, and Mrs. Joyce said, "She is asleep." And all became
silent again.
"Hello!" exclaimed Stinchfield. "Who touched me?"
"No one in the circle," answered Mrs. Joyce, highly elated.
"I certainly felt a hand on my shoulder--there it comes again! Shall I
flash my camera?"
"_Not now!_" came a clear, full whisper, apparently from the cabinet.
"_You would fail now. Wait._"
"Who spoke?" asked Bartol.