Mr Scarletti's Ghost (16 page)

‘You are too kind, professor,' said Mina, who did not believe for a moment that Mrs Gaskin would be so forgiving. ‘Might I ask after the health of Miss Eustace? I would be mortified if I have endangered her delicate constitution.'

‘She is entirely recovered,' he reassured her, ‘and has taken no ill-effects that would prevent her from undertaking further demonstrations.'

‘Oh, that is such a great relief to me!' said Mina with an extravagant display of sincerity. ‘I would very much like to call upon her to offer my apologies in person. If you could supply me with her address, I will send her a note.'

He smiled, thinly. ‘I will make your sentiments known when next I see her, but Miss Eustace does not receive visitors. Even Mrs Gaskin and I do not call on her. The address of her lodgings is therefore not a matter for public information.'

His tone was kindly but firm, and Mina understood that she would receive no further information on that point. ‘Please do reassure Miss Eustace that she has in me a most devoted admirer, and one who hopes to be favoured with personal messages from those loved ones who have departed this earthly life. I trust and hope therefore that I will continue to be permitted to attend Miss Eustace's demonstrations?'

The professor's eyes took on a distant look, and he lowered his head so as not to meet her eager gaze. ‘Ah, as to that, if it was simply my own wishes I would have no objection at all, but Miss Eustace feels, and my dear lady wife also feels, that in view of what occurred, which of course we all accept was the purest accident, that your presence might induce a certain – anxiety and thereby create a disturbance in the flow of energy which might prevent any future manifestations.'

‘I understand, of course,' said Mina. ‘I would not want to be responsible for obstructing the proceedings which would be a great hindrance to the truth being revealed. I know, however, that my mother would be honoured to receive Miss Eustace at our home, and I do hope that she will not be disappointed. If I ask her to write to you on the subject, would be so kind as to pass her letter to Miss Eustace?

‘I will certainly do so,' said the professor, who seemed relieved that she had taken the rebuff with such equanimity. He afforded her a hearty smile, and clasped his hands together. ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?' he added in a tone that suggested that if there was not, the interview was at an end.

Mina thought quickly, realising that if she was to acquire any more information she must direct the conversation another way.

‘If I might ask you a question?'

He had been about to rise from his seat, but sank back again, resuming his position. ‘But of course!'

‘I know that you have seen Phoebe, Miss Eustace's wonderful spirit guide on other occasions but have you ever touched or been touched by her?'

‘Well – I –' he puffed out his cheeks with thought. ‘She has on one occasion laid her hand on my sleeve, but that is all.'

‘I see. And have any other sitters touched her?'

‘Er – no – well, Miss Eustace has always said that if any forms should appear it means grave danger to her if they are grasped and so I have always warned the sitters against it in the strongest possible terms. Phoebe does sometimes offer a light touch as she did to Mr Clee, but no more than that.'

‘How interesting,' said Mina. ‘So it appears that I am the first person to have anything other than the most superficial contact with her.'

He stared at her. ‘Well, yes, so it appears.'

‘Perhaps,' Mina ventured, ‘my experience could be of some value. I have been told that you are making a scientific study of Miss Eustace and her phenomena. I cannot, of course, offer anything more than my humble observations, and you may do with them as you please.'

‘I would be most interested to hear them,' said the professor.

‘What I felt,' said Mina, ‘very fleetingly, was that there was a form underneath the glowing cloud, a form, if you will pardon me, barely clothed, almost in a state of nature, and most undoubtedly female.'

Professor Gaskin's substantial eyebrows gave a noticeable twitch as if they were about to take flight.

‘The delineations of the body were quite unmistakable,' Mina assured him. ‘A youthful figure, a miracle of both science and art, which I am sure if we were able to see it without its draperies would dazzle us with its beauty. How Miss Eustace was able to produce such a phenomenon in so short a time is quite mysterious to me.'

‘Really?' said Professor Gaskin, who was clearly giving the description some very intense thought.

‘Now that I have given the events further consideration I can see that, despite my interruption, the evening was a success. I attended quite unsure of what was to be revealed and came away with a most profound sense that something of very great importance had occurred. And of course Mr Clee, who came hoping to expose a fraud, now seems to be utterly converted!'

‘As is so often the case, in my experience,' said Professor Gaskin. ‘Even the most hardened sceptics will have their eyes opened to the truth if they were only to stop criticising what others report and go and see for themselves. I have to confess that when I first went to see Miss Eustace in London I was not prepared to be convinced, but I was obliged to conclude against all my previous prejudices, that the phenomena produced by Miss Eustace are genuine, and worthy of serious academic study. I have tried to impress this upon many of my friends in the scientific world, but I am afraid so far without result.'

Mina was about to make an observation concerning the findings of the Dialectical Society but stopped herself just in time. The more ignorant she appeared the more she would learn. ‘And are you the
only
man of science studying these phenomena?' she asked.

‘There are others, but for the most part they are going about it in quite the wrong way and will not listen to my protests. All they try to do is look for trickery, and since there is no trickery to discover, their work is wasted.' He shook his head despairingly. ‘I was able to satisfy myself from the very beginning that I was observing preternormal events under circumstances that absolutely precluded trickery of any kind. Having disposed of that question, I then addressed myself to the important concerns. What I hope to do is discover and describe new laws of science that will explain what we are undoubtedly experiencing. I have been corresponding with Dr William Crookes, a Fellow of the Royal Society, who is, as far as I can see, the only man of note who is willing to entertain the idea that the phenomena are real and should be studied. In the last year he has been conducting experiments with a Mr Home, but has not thus far published his results. He has recently given me to understand, however, that Mr Home has provided irrefutable evidence of genuine psychic phenomena under rigorous test conditions.' The professor was not as pleased with this result as he might have been, and Mina concluded that he would have been very much happier if the success had not gone to another man.

‘I have heard astounding things of Mr Home,' said Mina.

‘Oh, I think that Crookes has been very fortunate to secure him,' said Gaskin with a grimace that left Mina in no doubt that it was Crookes's espousal of Home that had led him to seek out a rival exponent.

‘If you publish your findings first, then the acclaim will be all yours,' said Mina. ‘Are you close to success? I do hope so. If you write a book I should certainly want to purchase a copy.'

‘Oh, I would like to say that I have made significant progress, but that, I am afraid, would be overstating my achievements to date. Still, I am well aware that a debate that has been raging for many years will not be resolved in a matter of weeks or even months. I am, after all, asking men of science to entirely remould their ideas. Not, I fear, an easy task. All I can do at present is accumulate evidence, but I am confident that there will come a time when it is so overwhelming that truth will triumph.' He sighed. ‘But I believe Mr Crookes will have priority. I am told that the next edition of the
Quarterly Journal of Science
will include an article describing his experiments, with findings that will astonish the world.'

‘He must be most gratified that such a highly reputable publication has consented to publish a piece on spiritualism,' observed Mina.

‘Ah, well,' said Professor Gaskin with a hint of awkwardness, ‘you see, there was no difficulty about that since he is the editor.'

Mina made no comment but resolved to obtain a copy. ‘I hope that Mr Crookes has discovered the answer to such mysteries as how Miss Eustace was able to lift the table without touching it. What is your opinion on that point?'

The professor, more comfortable now he saw that he was in the presence of a true enthusiast, leaned back in his chair, rested his hands in his lap and stared at the ceiling. ‘I call it vital energy, something the medium is able to exert at a distance from her body. It is quite invisible to most people, of course, and even she is unable to explain it. I imagine it to be like a thread, very fine and strong, that she can throw from her fingertips and use it to grasp and control objects.' He smiled indulgently and leaned forward with a conspiratorial air. ‘Would you believe that sceptics who have not, of course, been present at such demonstrations, and therefore have no entitlement to comment on them at all, have declared that all those who claim to have witnessed these phenomena have been labouring under a delusion or a hallucination? But such things have been observed times without number by men and women of the best education and highest reputation. The very idea that persons of breeding and intelligence should be suffering from an overheated imagination is patently absurd.'

‘Your theory of a fine thread has a great deal to recommend it,' said Mina. ‘Has she always been able to do this? I would be interested in learning her history.'

‘I have been told,' said the professor, ‘that she comes from a respectable family and first discovered her mediumistic powers when she was just fourteen. The phenomena then took the form merely of raps, which appeared not to come from any human intelligence, but as time passed she found that she was able to receive messages and it later became apparent that these came from persons who were in spirit. She did not undertake demonstrations, and her family it seems were ashamed of her and did not court publicity; on the contrary they kept her abilities hidden in case she should be classed as a lunatic and bring shame upon them.'

Mina listened attentively, but did not interrupt the story. If it was true, and even if the rappings had been no more than the product of youthful imagination and a craving for notoriety, she could understand Miss Eustace's wish to escape the displeasure of her family and become greater than she was.

‘One day,' the professor went on, ‘– this was when she was about twenty – a lady who was a stranger to her came and said that she had received a message from a spirit telling her that she should call upon Miss Eustace who she would discover was a very powerful medium, and that the spirit, which was of her late husband, would only fully manifest itself through her agency. Miss Eustace was astonished by this, but the lady entreated her to make the attempt, which was a great success. Even so, Miss Eustace would not go on. She realised that to travel that path would direct her life in a way that she did not wish it to proceed, a way that would be very hard for her. She was then engaged to be married to a young man of good family and felt that her future lay with him. Unfortunately, before they could marry, he passed from this life, and her grief was so profound that her family thought she would soon join her beloved. It was then that Phoebe first came to her, bringing the shade of her intended, who said that she must in future devote herself to opening the eyes of unbelievers.'

‘She has certainly opened my eyes,' said Mina, with her sweetest smile.

Mina returned home feeling almost sorrowful at how simple it was for a young woman of no more than the usual education to deceive a man celebrated for his intelligence and learning. Mina assured her mother that she had humbled herself before Professor Gaskin and that Miss Eustace might yet grace their home. Leaving her mother to write the desired letter, Mina wrote to Edward, expressing her earnest hopes that Miss Hooper was fully recovered from her cold, and asking him to send her the next edition of the
Quarterly Journal of Science.

After luncheon she returned to Dr Hamid's baths, where she found the proprietor in his office, a neat room adorned with portraits of his wife and children, and beautifully scented with a display of dried herbs. He was not displeased to see her, and quickly pulled up a chair, providing it with a cushion so that she could face him across the desk in comfort.

‘You will be pleased to know,' she told him, ‘that I have just called upon Professor Gaskin to apologise for my error. Nevertheless I am to be excluded from future séances, rather like a disreputable gentleman who has been expelled from his club for improper behaviour; but I knew I risked that, and I may in time be readmitted if I play my part as a true believer. Will you continue to go?'

‘I will,' said Dr Hamid, opening a bottle of mineral water and pouring a glass for them both. ‘Do try this flavour; it is very good. I am not so determined a sceptic as you, although I do have my reservations, but I must admit, I also have hope.'

Mina sipped the water, which was pink and tasted of berries and spice. ‘
My
greatest hope is that Mr Home may find himself where he belongs, in prison, instead of as he is at present, deluding another person. This time, it is not a lady being cheated of her fortune but a noted scientist, a Mr Crookes, who is being fleeced of his reputation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and editor of a respected journal, and ought to know better.'

‘I have read your booklet about Mr Home and can only agree,' Dr Hamid admitted. ‘This is not a fellow in whom we can place any trust. But our concern is Miss Eustace. Just because we have reason to suspect one medium of fraud, does that mean they are all dishonest? Can you be sure that Miss Eustace is of Mr Home's ilk?'