"And ... and what"s the good of it?"
The medium smiled a little.
"That"s a question we soon cease to ask. You must remember that we hardly know anything at all yet. But one thing seems more and more certain the more we investigate, and that is that our point of view is not the only one, nor even the princ.i.p.al one. Christianity, I fancy, says the same thing, does it not? The "glory of G.o.d," whatever that may be, comes before even the "salvation of souls.""
Laurie wrenched his attention once more to a focus.
"Then I was in danger?" he said.
"Certainly. We are always in danger--"
"You mean, if I hadn"t prayed--"
"Ah! that is another question.... But, in short, if you hadn"t succeeded in getting past--well, you"d have failed."
Again there fell a silence.
It seemed to Laurie as if his world were falling about him. Yet he was far from sure whether it were not all an illusion. But the extreme quietness and confidence of this man in enunciating these startling theories had their effect. It was practically impossible for the boy to sit here, still nervous from his experience, and hear, unmoved, this apparently reasonable and connected account of things that were certainly incomprehensible on any other hypothesis. His remembrance of the very startling uniqueness of his dream was still vivid.... Surely it all fitted in ... yet....
"But there is one thing," broke in the medium"s quiet voice. "Should you ever experience this kind of thing again, I should recommend you not to pray. Just exercise your own individuality; a.s.sert yourself; don"t lean on another. You are quite strong enough."
"You mean--"
"I mean exactly what I say. What is called Prayer is really an imaginative concession to weakness. Take the short cut, rather. a.s.sert your own--your own individuality."
Laurie changed his att.i.tude. He uncrossed his feet and sat up a little.
"Oh! pray if you want to," said the medium. "But you must remember, Mr. Baxter, that you are quite an exceptional person. I a.s.sure you that you have no conception of your own powers. I must say that I hope you will take the strong line." He paused. "These _seances_, for instance. Now that you know a little more of the dangers, are you going to turn back?"
His overhung kindly eyes looked out keenly for an instant at the boy"s restless face.
"I don"t know," said Laurie; "I must think...."
He got up.
"Look here, Mr. Vincent," he said, "it seems to me you"re extraordinarily--er--extraordinarily plausible. But I"m even now not quite sure whether I"m not going mad. It"s like a perfectly mad dream--all these things one on the top of the other."
He paused, looking sharply at the elder man, and away again.
"Yes?"
Laurie began to finger a pencil that lay on the chimney-shelf.
"You see what I mean, don"t you?" he said. "I"m not disputing--er--your point of view, nor your sincerity. But I do wish you would give me another proof or two."
"You haven"t had enough?"
"Oh! I suppose I have--if I were reasonable. But, you know, it all seems to me as if you suddenly demonstrated to me that twice two made five."
"But then, surely no proof--"
"Yes; I know. I quite see that. Yet I want one--something quite absolutely ordinary. If you can do all these things--spirits and all the rest--can"t you do something ever so much simpler, that"s beyond mistake?"
"Oh, I daresay. But wouldn"t you ask yet another after that?"
"I don"t know."
"Or wouldn"t you think you"d been hypnotized?"
Laurie shook his head.
"I"m not a fool," he said.
"Then give me that pencil," said the medium, suddenly extending his hand.
Laurie stared a moment. Then he handed over the pencil.
On the little table by the arm-chair, a couple of feet from Laurie, stood the whisky apparatus and a box of cigarettes. These the medium, without moving from his chair, lifted off and set on the floor beside him, leaving the woven-gra.s.s surface of the table entirely bare. He then laid the pencil gently in the center--all without a word. Laurie watched him carefully.
"Now kindly do not speak one word or make one movement," said the man peremptorily. "Wait! You"re perfectly sure you"re not hypnotized, or any other nonsense?"
"Certainly not."
"Just go round the room, look out of the window, poke the fire--anything you like."
"I"m satisfied," said the boy.
"Very good. Then kindly watch that pencil."
The medium leaned a little forward in his chair, bending his eyes steadily upon the little wooden cylinder lying, like any other pencil, on the top of the table. Laurie glanced once at him, then back again. There it lay, common and ordinary.
For at least a minute nothing happened at all, except that from the intentness of the elder man there seemed once more to radiate out that curious air of silence that Laurie was beginning to know so well--that silence that seemed impenetrable to the common sounds of the world and to exist altogether independent of them. Once and again he glanced round at the ordinary-looking room, the curtained windows, the dull furniture; and the second time he looked back at the pencil he was almost certain that some movement had just taken place with it. He resolutely fixed his eyes upon it, bending every faculty he possessed into one tense att.i.tude of attention. And a moment later he could not resist a sudden movement and a swift indrawing of breath; for there, before his very eyes, the pencil tilted, very hesitatingly and quiveringly, as if pulled by a spider"s thread. He heard, too, the tiny tap of its fall.
He glanced at the medium, who jerked his head impatiently, as if for silence. Then once more the silence came down.
A minute later there was no longer the possibility of a doubt.
There before the boy"s eyes, as he stared, white-faced, with parted lips, the pencil rose, hesitated, quivered; but, instead of falling back again, hung so for a moment on its point, forming with itself an acute angle with the plane of the table in an entirely impossible position; then, once more rising higher, swung on its point in a quarter circle, and after one more pause and quiver, rose to its full height, remained poised one instant, then fell with a sudden movement, rolled across the table and dropped on the carpet.
The medium leaned back, drawing a long breath.
"There," he said; and smiled at the bewildered young man.
"But--but--" began the other.
"Yes, I know," said the man. "It"s startling, isn"t it? and indeed it"s not as easy as it looks. I wasn"t at all sure--"
"But, good Lord, I saw--"