"It was."
"Well, I don"t wonder they thought he was crazy. The whole statement is preposterous."
"But that is not all," I hastened to say. "Under rigid conditions scales were depressed without contact, and a flower, separating itself from a bouquet, pa.s.sed through a solid table."
Miller made a gesture of angry disgust. "To save the reputation of a really great scientist, don"t quote any more of that insane dreaming."
"I didn"t know any one but campers in "Lily Dale" could be so bug-house," added Howard.
I went on. "Crookes might have induced his brother scientists at least to listen to his report had he stopped with this. But he proceeded to say that he had witnessed the magic birth of a sentient, palpable, intelligent human being, who walked about in his household, conversing freely, while the medium, from whom the spirit form sprang, lay in the cabinet like one dead. It was his account of this "spirit," who called herself "Katie King," that caused the whole scientific world to jeer at the great chemist as a man gone mad."
"We have a right to draw the line between Crookes the chemist and Crookes the befuddled dupe," insisted Miller.
Mrs. Cameron drew a long breath. "Do you mean to say that this "Katie King" phantom actually _talked_ with the people in the room? Does Sir William Crookes say that?"
"Yes. Over and over again he declares that "Katie King" appeared as real as any one else in his house. He becomes quite lyrical in description of her beauty. She was like a pearl in her purity. Her flesh seemed a sublimation of ordinary human flesh. And the grace of her manner was so extraordinary that Lady Crookes and all who saw her became deeply enamoured of her. She allowed some of them to kiss her, and Crookes himself was permitted to grasp her hand and walk up and down the room with her."
"How was she dressed?" asked Mrs. Brush.
"There! Now we are getting at the essentials," I exclaimed. "Usually in white with a turban."
"Did she look like the medium?"
"She was utterly unlike Miss Cook in several physical details. She was half a head taller, her face was broader, her ears had not been pierced, and she was free from certain facial scars that Miss Cook bore; and once when Miss Cook was suffering from a severe cold, Sir William tested "Katie King"s" lungs and found them in perfect health. On several occasions he and several of his friends, among them eminent scientists, saw "Katie" and the medium together, and at last succeeded in photographing them both on the same plate, although never with Miss Cook"s face exposed, because of the danger, to one in a trance, from the shock of a flash-light."
"I don"t take any stock in that excuse," said Howard. "But go on, I like this."
"For months the great chemist brought all his skill to bear on Miss Cook"s mediumship without detecting any fraud or finding any solution of the mystery. The sittings, which took place in his own library, were under his own conditions, and he had the a.s.sistance of several young and clever physicists, and yet he could not convict Miss Cook of double-dealing. The story of the final seance, when "Katie King"
announced her departure, is as affecting as a scene in a play. She had said that her real name was "Annie Morgan," but that in the spirit world she was known as "Katie King." She came, she said, to do a certain work, and now, after three years, that work was done, and she must return to the spirit world."
"What was that work?"
"To convince the world of the spirit life, I imagine. "When the time came for "Katie" to take her farewell," writes Crookes, "I asked that she would let me see the last of her. Accordingly when she had called each of the company up to her and had spoken a few words in private, she gave some general directions for the future guidance and protection of Miss Cook. From these, which were taken down in shorthand, I quote the following: "Mr. Crookes has done very well throughout, and I leave Florrie [the medium], with the greatest confidence, in his hands."
Having concluded her directions, "Katie" invited me into the cabinet with her, and allowed me to remain until the end.""
"Touching confidence!" interrupted Harris.
""After closing the curtain she conversed with me for some time, and then walked across to where Miss Cook was lying senseless on the floor.
Stooping over her, "Katie" touched her and said: "Wake up, Florrie, wake up! I must leave you now."
""Miss Cook then woke, and tearfully entreated "Katie" to stay a little time longer.
"""My dear, I can"t; my work is done. G.o.d bless you," "Katie" replied, and then continued speaking to Miss Cook for several minutes. For several minutes the two were conversing with each other, till at last Miss Cook"s tears prevented her speaking. Following "Katie"s"
instructions, I then came forward to support Miss Cook, who was falling onto the floor, sobbing hysterically. I looked round, but the white-robed "Katie" had gone, never to return to the earth-plane.""
I glanced about the table at my silent listeners, and added: "Could anything be more dramatic than this sad farewell? Evidently the fourth dimension is both near and very far."
All the women were deeply impressed with this story, but to Miller it was as idle as the blowing of the wind. "The man was duped. It is absolutely impossible to think that he was not grossly deceived."
"Wait a moment," said I. "I defy you or any man to remain unchanged by it. The world is just catching up to this brave pioneer. At that time there were very few scientific men in the metapsychical field. Sir William stood almost alone. But public sentiment changed rapidly as the years pa.s.sed. The English Society for Psychical Research was formed, and one by one Wallace, Lodge, and other scientific men were convinced of the truth of these phenomena. In Europe, as early as 1853, the work was taken up in the true scientific spirit, and Professor Marc Thury and the Count de Gasparin completely demonstrated the fact of telekinesis; and at about the same time that the Dialectical Society was getting into action, Flammarion, the astronomer, took up his study of the subject.
But it was not until 1891 that anything like Crookes"s searching a.n.a.lysis was made of a medium. This important sitting--a sitting which marks an epoch in science--took place in Milan, and was attended, among others, by Lombroso and Richet. For the first time, so far as is known, a flash-light photograph was taken of a table floating in the air."
At this moment the bell rang, and Mrs. Cameron exclaimed: "There! that may be your wonder-worker."
I looked at my watch. "I shouldn"t wonder. She is a prompt little person."
III
We trooped into the sitting-room, where Mrs. Smiley, a plain little woman with a sweet mouth and bright black eyes, was awaiting us. She was perceptibly abashed by the keen glances that the men directed upon her, but her manners were those of one natively thoughtful and refined. She made an excellent impression on every one.
"Did you bring your magic horn, Mrs. Smiley?" I asked, to relieve her embarra.s.sment.
"Oh yes!" she answered, brightly. "I carry that just as a fiddler carries his fiddle--ready for a tune at any moment."
She brought a large package from the foot of the sofa and gave it to me.
I took it, but turned it over to Miller. "Here, open this parcel yourself, Mr. Scientist. I want you to be satisfied as to its character."
Miller undid the package as cautiously as if it were an infernal machine. As the paper opened and fell away, a short, truncated cone of tin was disclosed, with another smaller one loosely held within it. The two sections, when adjusted, made a plain megaphone, about twenty-four inches in length and some five inches in diameter at the larger end.
"What do you do with that?" asked Mrs. Cameron.
In a perfectly matter-of-fact way Mrs. Smiley replied: "Many of the spirit voices are very faint, and cannot be heard without this horn. I am what they call a "trumpet medium,"" she added, in further explanation.
"Do you mean to say spirits speak through that horn?"
"Yes. That is my "phone.""
The ladies looked at one another, and Harris said: "Isn"t it rather absurd to expect an immaterial mouth to speak through a tin tube, like the grocer"s boy?"
She smiled composedly. "I suppose it seems so to you, but to me it just happens."
I set briskly to work arranging the library for the circle. In the middle of the room I placed a plain oaken table, which had been procured specially for the sitting. On this I stood the tin horn, upright on its larger end; beside it I laid a pad, a pencil, and a small slate.
"Mrs. Smiley, you are to sit here," I said, drawing an arm-chair to the end of the table nearest the wall. She took her seat submissively; and looking around upon my fellow-members with a full knowledge of what was in their minds, I remarked: "If all goes well to-night, this little woman, alone and unaided, except by this megaphone, will utterly confound you. We have had many sittings. We understand each other perfectly. I am going to treat her as if she were an unconscious trickster. I am going to use every effort to discover how she accomplishes these mysterious results, and Miller is to be notably remorseless. We are going to concede (for the present) the dim light required. I don"t like this, but Mrs. Smiley is giving us every other condition, and as this is but a trial sitting, we grant it." I turned to Miller. "The theory is that light acts in direct opposition to the psychic force, weakening it unaccountably. Nevertheless, darkness is not absolutely essential. Maxwell secured many convincing movements in the light, and no doubt we shall be able to do so later."
"Who is Maxwell?" asked Miss Brush.
"Dr. Joseph Maxwell, Deputy Attorney-General of the Court of Appeals at Bordeaux and Doctor of Medicine. He is a noted experimenter with psychic forces. Indeed, he has the power himself. Now, Mrs. Smiley, I wish to begin my tests by tying your wrists to the arms of your chair. May I do so?"
"Certainly," she cheerfully answered. "You may padlock me, or put me in an iron cage, if you please. I leave it all to you."
"Well, there is a certain virtue in knotting a silk thread, for the reason that it is almost impossible to untie, even in the light, and to break it, we will agree, invalidates the sitting. For to-night we will use the thread. Miller, will you watch me?"
"With the greatest pleasure in the world," he answered, "and as a scientist I am going to treat you as a possible confederate."