lighted by two large lamps shaded in red; there were two tables, one an ordinary, large library table, the other three-legged and small and light. A number of chairs were arranged in a rough circle about a big leather, reclining chair with comfortably upholstered arms and back. Evidently this was the séance room.
"Will you all be seated?" the maid invited and departed.
Ethel remained standing, and Barney and her cousin did likewise. She had not seen this room when she had called in the afternoon, and the solemnity of the place affected her more than she had expected. Here in these chairs often had sat serious, grief-stricken mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, sons and daughters, seeking as she had come to seek, some word from their dead. Many other visitors came lightly, perhaps, without any inclination toward belief, but solely to amuse themselves or to condemn and disprove. Bennet illustrated their attitude to her by picking up the three-legged table and tossing it into the air:
"This is for the spooks to kick around, I suppose."
Mrs. Davol entered rather ponderously and spoke to Ethel.
The medium wore a plain, gray, woollen dress which closely fitted the ample lines of her figure. Ethel noticed that Mrs. Davol wore no corset; her sleeves fitted her arms and were tight at the wrist; her hands were ringless. Ethel was conscious of making this examination of the medium's person as though inspecting a prestidigitator before a performance; and Mrs. Davol, conscious of the scrutiny, said agreeably:
"Lookin' for levers and wire-hooks, dearie? Well, I don't use 'em at all. No need to, even when I work
