"It was, without doubt, Embury"s spirit," he said, as Aunt Abby finished; "but your imagination has exaggerated and elaborated the facts. For instance, I think the jam and the gasoline are added by your fancy, in order to fill out the full tale of your five senses."
"That"s what I thought," and Fibsy nodded his head. "Raspberry jam!
Oh, gee!" he exploded in a burst of silly laughter.
Marigny looked at him with a new interest. The amber-colored gla.s.ses, turned toward the boy seemed to frighten him, and he began to whimper.
"I didn"t mean any harm," he said, "but raspberry jam was so funny for a ghost to have on him!"
"It would have been," a.s.sented Marigny, "but that, I feel sure, existed only in Miss Ames" fancy. Her mind, upset by the vision, had strange hallucinations, and the jam was one--you know we often have grotesque dreams."
"So we do," agreed Fibsy; "why once I drempt that--"
"Excuse me, young sir, but I"ve no time to listen to your dreams. The seance is at an end, madam. Your companion probably cut it off prematurely--but perhaps not. Perhaps the communication was about over, anyway. Are you satisfied, Miss Ames?"
"Yes, Mr. Marigny. I know the appearance of Mr. Embury was a genuine visitation, for he called me by a peculiar name which no one else ever used, and which you could not possibly know about."
"That is indeed a positive test. I am glad you received what you wished for. The fee is ten dollars, madam."
Aunt Abby paid it willingly enough, and with Fibsy, took her departure.
On reaching home they found Alvord Hendricks there. Mason Elliott had tarried and Fleming Stone, too, was still there. Eunice was awaiting Aunt Abby"s return to have dinner served.
"I thought you"d never come, Auntie," said Eunice, greeting her warmly.
Eunice was in a most pleasant mood, and seemed to have become entirely reconciled to the presence of Stone.
"You will dine here, too, Terence," she said kindly to the boy, who replied, "Yes, ma"am," very respectfully.
"Well, Eunice," Aunt Abby announced, after they were seated at the table, "I"m the criminal, after all."
"You seem pretty cheerful about it," said Hendricks, looking at her in astonishment.
"Well, I wasn"t responsible. I did it under compulsory hypnotism."
"You owned up to it before, Aunt Abby," said Eunice, humoring her; "you said--"
"I know, Eunice, but that time it was to shield you. Now, I know for certain that I did do it, and how it came about."
"Dear Aunt Abby," and Elliott spoke very gently, "don"t you talk about it any more. Your vagaries are tolerated by us, who love you, but Mr.
Stone is bored by them--"
"Not at all," said Fleming Stone; "on the contrary, I"m deeply interested. Tell me all about it, Miss Ames. Where have you been?"
Thus encouraged, Aunt Abby told all.
She described the seance truthfully, Fibsy"s bright eyes--not lack-l.u.s.ter now--darting glances at her and at Stone as the tale proceeded.
"He was the real thing--wasn"t he, McGuire?" Miss Ames appealed to him, at last.
"You bet! Why, if the side wire of his beard hadn"t fetched loose and if his walnut juice complexion hadn"t stopped a mite short of his collar, I"d a took him for a sure-fire Oriental!"
"Don"t be so impertinent, Terence," reproved Stone; "Miss Ames knows better than you do."
"It doesn"t matter that he was made up that way," Aunt Abby said, serenely; "they often do that. But he was genuine, I know, because--why, Eunice, what did Sanford use to call me--for fun--Aunt what?"
"Aunt Westminter Abbey," said Eunice, smiling at the recollection.
"Yes!" triumphantly; "and that"s what Sanford called me to-day when speaking to me through the medium. Isn"t that a proof? How could that man know that?"
"I can"t explain that," declared Elliott, a little shortly, "but it"s all rubbish, and I don"t think you ought to be allowed to go to such places! It"s disgraceful--"
"You hush up, Mason," Miss Ames cried; "I"ll go where I like! I"m not a child. And, too, I wasn"t alone--I had an escort--a very nice one."
She looked kindly at Fibsy.
"Thank you, ma"am," he returned, bobbing his funny red head. "I sure enjoyed myself."
"You didn"t look so; you looked half asleep."
"I always enjoy myself when I"m asleep--and half a loaf is better"n no bed," the boy grinned at her.
"Well, it may all be rubbish," Alvord Hendricks said, musingly; "and it probably is--but there are people, Mason, who don"t think so. Anyway, here"s my idea. If Aunt Abby thinks she poisoned Sanford, under hypnotism--or any other way--for the love of heaven, let it go at that!
If you don"t--suspicion will turn back to Eunice again--and that"s what we want to prevent. Now, no jury would ever convict an old lady--"
"Nor any woman," said Elliott. "But that isn"t the whole thing. I say, Alvord, since Mr. Stone is on the job, suppose we give him full swing--and let him find the real murderer. It wasn"t Eunice!"
His words rang out so vibrantly that Stone gave him a quick glance.
"You"re sure?" he asked, as it seemed, involuntarily.
"I am," responded Elliott, with a satisfied nod of his handsome head.
"But your being sure doesn"t help much, Mason," Eunice said, a despondent look coming into her eyes. "Are you sure, Mr. Stone?"
"I can"t quite answer that question yet, Mrs. Embury," the courteous voice replied. "Remember, I"ve only just begun to look into the matter."
"But you know all about it--from Mr. Shane and Mr. Driscoll."
"I know what they think about it--but that"s a different story."
"You don"t agree with their deductions, then?" asked Hendricks.
"I don"t agree with their premises--therefore--" Stone smiled cryptically, and left the sentence unfinished and ambiguous, which was his deliberate intention.
"We will have coffee in the living-room," said Eunice, as she rose from the table. Always a charming hostess, she was at her best to-night.
Her thin black gown was becoming and made her fair throat and arms seem even whiter by contrast.
She stood back, as the others left the room, and Hendricks, tarrying, too, came close to her.
"Brace up, dear," he said; "it will all come out right. I"m sorry Elliott dragged in this Stone, but--it will be all right, somehow."