"Your mother was charming. If your father really loved her--"
"He did! I"m sure of that, at first, but these "ghosts" destroyed his home. My mother confessed to me that they tormented my father for his unbelief, and he had to go."
"They are together now, and he believes."
Victor fixed a penetrating look upon her. "Do you really believe that the dead speak to us?"
"I see no reason why they shouldn"t--if they want to. How else can you explain these Voices?"
He shook his head. "I"m afraid these modern Italian scientists are right. The Voices were only "parasitic personalities," nothing else. But let"s not talk of them. I"m tired of the "ghost-room"--all my life I"ve had it--and now I"m going to forget it if I can."
"Hush! Your mother may hear you and grieve."
"If she can hear me she will understand my feeling. I like the world as it is--I don"t want the supernatural thrust into it."
"I think you"re wrong," she said, firmly. "The larger view is that of the scientist who recognizes nothing supernatural in the universe. I would not part with what your mother gave me for huge sums. I"ve had wonderful, thrilling experiences. Remember Altair!"
Altair! Yes, he remembered her, and remembering her he recalled the graceful figure at his bedside and the touch of the faintly clinging lips. That mystery remained the most inexplicable of them all.
While thus he sat, dream-filled and rapt, the girl studied him, and her face changed. "You believe in Altair. What"s more, you love her, and I can"t blame you for it. She is more beautiful than angels. You will not forsake the "ghost-room" so long as you have a hope that she may return."
"You are mistaken," he protested. "Altair is only a dream. I worship her as a figure in a vision. Do you know what I think she was?" Her look questioned, and he went on. "For days I have pondered on her face and figure, in the light of modern science, and I am convinced that she was nothing but a union of my mother"s astral self and you."
She looked at him in startled thought. "What do you mean?"
He explained eagerly. "You must have noticed how much like my mother she was? Her brow was the same--her eyes the same--"
"Yes, they were a little like hers."
"But her mouth and chin were exactly like yours. Her hands were like yours. She held her head exactly as you do--and then she changed; sometimes my mother predominated in her, sometimes you were the stronger."
The girl was deeply affected by the significance of this a.n.a.lysis. "You imagined all that."
He pushed on. "I did not, and, furthermore, Altair never came till you sat with my mother. She never attained such power--so your aunt agrees--till I came into the circle. She represented my conception of my mother and you. I loved my mother, and I admired you--and out of my love and admiration Altair was created."
"That is absurd! If ever a spirit came from heaven, Altair was that one.
Why, she was palpable! I"ve touched her hands."
He said, slowly: "She was beautiful, I confess, so beautiful that on that first night she made even you seem coa.r.s.e and material."
"I felt your disdain," she thrust in, with sudden hurt.
"But that was only for the moment. I could see nothing but her face--so sad, so wistful. But let me ask you something. Did you, the night after our walk on the drive in the moonlight--did you dream of me?"
Her lip curled in a wondering smile. "What a question to ask of me!"
"But did you? Come now, be honest. I have a reason for asking--did you?"
"What is your reason for asking?"
"That night Altair came to my bedside."
Her eyes flashed and she rose to her feet. "You have an Oriental imagination."
"Don"t go--hear me out. It was a beautiful experience."
"Apparently it was. To me your story is insulting."
He lost patience a little, and said bluntly: "You act as if I charged _you_ with something. I say, "Altair" came, and to me her visit was very _significant_ and beautiful, because she testified to me that both you and my mother were thinking of me. It was, in fact, your united astral selves that paid that visit. Altair was your materialized friendship and my mother"s love."
"What a fantastic notion!" she said; but she lingered, held by something new and masterful in his voice.
She added, with some humor: "Be kind enough to imagine that your mother"s "astral self" preponderated in that vision."
"I do, for when Altair stooped to kiss me--"
"Stop!" she cried out, sharply; "you go too far!"
"Leo!" he called, and his voice checked her as quickly as if he had caught her by the arm. "I am not joking; I am very serious. You must remember that I have lost both my mother and Altair--you alone remain--I can"t afford to lose you. You are all I have now. Don"t be angry with me."
She considered him with a return to pity. "Forgive me," she hurriedly retracted. "I am very sorry for you, and I don"t want to seem unfriendly; but it is only a week since we met. What can you know of me in so short a time?"
"I loved you the moment you came into my mother"s room."
"Nonsense. You hated me."
"I did not like the way you treated me; but I never hated you. I was afraid of you."
"If your mother can hear you say that, she is certainly smiling, for she knows you are not afraid of anybody. You"re a very stiff-necked person."
"I know you have a right to laugh at me; but I believe our "guides" have brought us together. I need you--now--and if I dared I"d ask you to wear this." He disclosed a ring in his hand.
She looked at it narrowly. "I know that ring; it was your mother"s. She kept it in a little velvet box together with an old-fashioned locket."
"Yes, it is hers. It isn"t very grand, compared with your own, but I wish you"d put it on and consider it my promissory note."
"_Your_ promissory note!"
"Yes, I promise to buy it back with all the money you have lost through my mother"s advice. Will you wear it for me?"
"Where do you expect to find so much money?"
"Right here, in this great city. Mr. Bartol is to take me into his office. He"s like a father to me already; but I don"t expect him to give me anything. I"m going to work, and I"m going to pay you back the money you have lost."
Extending her little finger, she took the ring daintily on its tip. "All that sounds very romantic; and yet young men do win wealth and fame right here--and why not you?"
"That"s just it. I may be the future monopolizer of air-ships--" The maid, appearing at the moment, announced that a lady wished to see Mr.
Ollnee.