I held up a warning hand to the others. "You went off into a quiet little trance, that"s all. I was mistaken. Either you are a psychic or you should have been an actress."
As we stood thus confronting one another, Mrs. Cameron came between us, saying, "Do you know, Pauline came and talked with me--"
At the word _Pauline_ the spell seemed to fall again over the bright spirit of Mrs. Harris. Her eyelids drooped, her limbs lost their power, and she sank into her chair as before, a helpless victim, apparently, to the hidden forces. For a moment I was at a loss. I could not believe that she was deceiving us, but it was possible that she was deceiving herself. "In either case, she must be brought out of this," I decided, and, putting my hands on her shoulders, I said: "If there is any "control" here, let them stop this. We want no more of it. Stop it!"
My command was again obeyed, and the psychic slowly came back to herself, and as she did so I said, warningly, to Mrs. Cameron: "Do not utter another word of this in Mrs. Harris"s presence. She seems to be extremely sensitive to hypnotic influence, and I think she had better go out into the air at once."
In rather subdued mood we went below to rejoin the frankly contemptuous members of the party.
"Well, what luck?" cried Howard.
"You all look rather solemn," said Harris. "What about it? Dolly, what have you been doing?"
Mrs. Cameron described the sitting as wonderful, but Mrs. Harris only smiled vaguely, and I said: "Your wife seemed to go into a trance and impersonate a number of individuals. She shows all the signs of a real sensitive."
Harris, who had been studying his wife with half-humorous intentness, now took command. "If you"ve been shamming, you need discipline; and if you haven"t, you need a doctor. I think we"ll go home and have it out,"
he added, and shortly after led her away. "Some nice cool air is what we need," he said at the door.
No sooner were the Harrises out of the door than the women of the party fell upon me.
"What do you think of it, Mr. Garland?" asked Mrs. Cameron.
"If Mrs. Harris were not your friend, and if I had not seen other performances of the same sort, I should instantly say that she was having her joke with us. But I have seen too much of this sort of thing to take it altogether lightly. That"s the way this investigating goes.
One thing corroborates another. "Impersonation" in the case of a public medium may mean nothing--on the part of a psychic like your friend Mrs.
Harris it means a very great deal. In support of this, let me tell you of a similar case. I have a friend, a perfectly trustworthy woman, and of keen intelligence, whose "stunt," as she laughingly calls it, is to impersonate nameless and suffering spirits who have been hurled into outer darkness by reason of their own misdeeds or by some singular chance of their taking off. My friend seems to be able in some way to free these poor "earth-bound souls" and send them flying upward to some heaven. It"s all very creepy," I added, warningly.
"Oh, delightful! Let it be _very_ creepy," called Mrs. Quigg.
"To begin with, my friend is as keen-eyed, as level-headed as any woman I know--the last person in the world to be taken for a "sensitive." I had never suspected it in her; but one night she laughingly admitted having been "in the work" at one time, and I begged for a sitting. We were dining at her house--Jack Ross, a Miss Wilc.o.x, and I, all intimate friends of hers, and she consented. After sitting a few minutes she turned to me and said: "My "guide" is here. Be sure to keep near me; don"t let me fall." She still spoke smilingly, but I could see she was in earnest.
""You see," she explained, "I seem to leave the body and to withdraw a little distance above my chair. From this height I survey my material self, which seems to be animated by an entirely alien influence.
Sometimes my body is moved by these forces to rise and walk about the room. In such cases it is necessary for some friend to follow close behind me, for between the going of "the spirit" and the return of my "astral self" there lies an appreciable interval when my body is as limp as an empty sack. I came very near having a bad fall once."
""I understand," said I. "I"ll keep an eye on you."
"In a few moments a change came over her face. She sank into a curious negative state between trance and reverie. Her lips parted, and a soft voice came from them. She spoke to Miss Wilc.o.x, who sat opposite her: "Sister--I am very happy. I am surrounded by children. It is beautiful here in the happy valley--warm and golden--and oh, the merry children!"
"Miss Wilc.o.x was deeply moved by this message and for a moment could not reply. At length she recovered her voice and asked, "Are you speaking to me?"
""Yes. I am worried about mother. She is sick. Go to her. She needs help. Good-bye!" The smile faded; my friend"s face resumed its impersonal calm.
""Did you recognize the spirit?" I asked.
"Miss Wilc.o.x hesitated, but at last said: "My sister was active in the work of caring for orphan children. But that proves nothing. Anna may have known it--there is no test in this. It may be only mind-reading."
""You are quite right," I replied. "But the message concerning your mother can be tested, can it not?"
"At this moment the face of the psychic squared, and a deep, slow voice came pulsing forth. "Why do you wilfully blind your eyes? The truth will prevail. Mystery is all about you. Why doubt that which would comfort you?"
""Who are you?" I inquired.
""I am Theodore Parker, the psychic"s control," was the answer.
"Soon after this my friend opened her eyes and smiled. "Do you know what you"ve said?" I asked. "Yes, I always have a dim notion of what is going on," she answered, "but why I am moved to speak and act as I do I don"t know. It is just the same when I write automatically. I know when I do it, but I can"t see the connection between my own mind and the writing.
It is as if one lobe of my brain kept watch over the action of the other."
"She now pa.s.sed into another period of immobility and so sat for a long time. Suddenly her face hardened, became coa.r.s.e, common, vicious in line. Flinging out her hand, she struck me in the breast. "What do you want of me?" she demanded, in the voice of a harridan. "What are you all doing here? You"re a nice lot of fools."
""Who are you?" I asked.
""You know who I am," she answered, with a hoa.r.s.e laugh. "A sweet bunch you are! Where"s Jim?"
""Does any one recognize this "party"?" I asked. "Ross, this must be one of your set."
"Ross laughed, and the "influence," thrusting her face close to his, blurted out, menacingly: "Don"t know me, hey? Well, here I am. I wanted a show, and they let me in. What you going to do about it?"
""I reckon you lit in the wrong door-yard," I replied; "n.o.body knows you here. Skiddoo!"
"She made an ugly face at me, and struck at me with her claw-like hand.
"I"d like to smash you!"
""Good-bye," said I. "Get out!" And she was gone.
"Before a word could be spoken, a look of hopeless, heart-piercing woe came over my friend"s face. She began to moan and wring her hands most piteously. "Oh, where am I?" she wailed. "It is so cold, so cold! So cold and dark! Won"t somebody help me? Oh, help me!"
"I gently asked: "Who are you? Can"t you tell us your name?"
""Oh, I don"t know, I can"t tell," moaned the voice. "It"s all so dark and cold and lonely. Please tell me where I am. I"ve lost my name. All is so dark and cold. Oh, pity me! Let me come in. Let me feel your light. I"m freezing! Oh, pity me. I"m so lonely. It"s so dark."
""Come in," I said. "We will help you."
"The hands of the psychic crept timidly up my arm and touched my cheek.
"Thank you! Thank you! Oh, the cheer! Oh, the light!" she cried, ecstatically. "I see! I know! Good-bye!" And with a sigh of ecstasy the voice ceased.
"I can hardly express to you the vivid and yet sombre impression this made upon me. It was as if a chilled and weary bird, having winged its way from the winter"s midnight into a warm room, had been heartened and invigorated, had rushed away confident and swift to the sun-lands of the South.
"One by one other "earth-bound souls" who, from one cause or another, were "unable to find their way upward," came into our ken like chilled and desperate bats condemned to whirl in endless outer darkness and silence--poor, abortive, anomalous shadows, whose voices pleaded piteously for release. Nameless, agonized, bewildered, they clung like moths to the light of our psychic.
"Some of them appeared to be suffering all the terrors of the d.a.m.ned, and as they moaned and pleaded for light, the lovely face of my friend was convulsed with agony and her hands fluttered about like wounded birds. Singular conception! Wonderful power of suggestion!
"At length, with a glad cry, the last of these blind souls saw, sighed with happiness, and seemed to vanish upward, as if into some unfathomable, fourth-dimension heaven. Then the sweet first spirit, the woman with the glad children, returned to say to Miss Wilc.o.x, "Be happy--George _is_ coming back to you."
"After she pa.s.sed, my friend opened her eyes as before, clearly, smilingly, and said, "Have you had enough?"
""Plenty," said I. "You nearly took my eye out in your dramatic fervor.
I must say your ghosts are most unhappy creatures."
"She became very serious. "Please don"t think that these spirits are my affinities. My work is purely philanthropic, so Theodore Parker used to tell mother. It was my duty, he said, to comfort the cheerless, to liberate the earth-bound, and so I had to have these poor creatures waiting around. That"s why I gave it up. It got to be too dreadful. We never could tell what would come next. Murderers and barnburners and every other accursed spirit seemed to be privileged to come into my poor empty house and abuse it, although Parker and his band promised to protect me. I stopped it. I will not sit again," she said, firmly. "I don"t like it. It would be bad enough to be dominated by one"s dead friends, or the dead friends of one"s friends, but to be helpless in the hands of all the demons and suicides and miscreants of the other world is intolerable. And if I am not dominated by dead people, I fear I am acting in response to the minds of vicious living people, and I don"t like that. It"s a dreadful feeling--can"t you see it is?--this being open to every wandering gust of pa.s.sion. I wouldn"t let any one of my children be controlled for the world. Don"t ask me to sit again, and please don"t let my friends know of my "gift.""