Wilde leaned toward Kate and lowered his voice confidentially. 'I perceive, Miss Ardleigh, that we have hit upon our friend's sore spot. Like Frankenstein, he has created in Holmes a being with eternal life. Like Frankenstein, he cannot be rid of the monster. Such a fate is truly something to fear.'
'Don't see what you're getting at,' Doyle said. He looked around, scowling. 'When's the seance?'
'Ah, yes,' Wilde said. He turned to Mrs. Farnsworth, who had just come up. ' 'I told him there was bound to be table rapping, Florence. When do we begin?'
'I am sorry, gentlemen,' Mrs. Farnsworth said, 'but there is to be no seance this afternoon.'
'No seance!' Doyle protested.
Mrs. Farnsworth smiled. 'If I had known that's what you wanted, Mr. Doyle, we could have arranged something.' Her smile became playful. 'But spirits certainly abound here. They may communicate with you if you make your willingness known. Do be on the lookout.'
'Oh, I shall,' Doyle said with enormous seriousness. 'I shall indeed. No spirit shall get by me!'
Kate was suddenly seized with the urge to laugh.
24
Errors, lite leathers, on the suriace flow; She who would find the truth must Jive helow.
ith a murmured excuse to Aunt Sabrina and the others, Kate left the group and looked around, wondering suddenly why everyone had come. If Beryl Bardwell had expected to witness magical rites or meet unconventional people, she was disappointed, for the men and women crowding the rooms, with the exception of Mrs. Farnsworth and the effete Oscar Wilde, were quite ordinary in their dress and demeanor. The only interesting thing about them, she realized suddenly, was that most of the men wore a cluster of blue feathers in their buttonholes, while the women wore some item of exotic feather jewelry-feathery earrings, a brooch, a pendant.
She looked around her, trying not to stare. What was the significance of all these feathers? Was the feather she had discovered in the seat of the chaise connected to the feathers in this room? Or was it all simply some vast coincidence?
Kate ventured into the dining room, where an elaborate tea was laid out on the sideboard. She put a cucumber sandwich on a china plate, allowed a maid to draw a cup of tea from a large silver urn, and went to stand behind a leafy thicket of potted bamboo, where she could watch and form an opinion
without being observed. Over the next few minutes, she counted no fewer than nine men arrive at the table wearing blue feather boutonnieres in their lapels.
She was distracted from her observations by Mrs. Fams-worth, who appeared at the table with a well-fed gentleman with neatly trimmed gray side-whiskers. Above the whiskers, his cheeks were a mottled red, and his gray brows were drawn together in a scowl. The two of them stood together on the other side of the bamboo, talking intently, so deeply engrossed in what they were saying that they paid little attention to their surroundings. Kate, feeling as invisible as one of the servants, moved a step closer.
'Damned charlatan,' the gentleman exploded furiously. 'How can he behave with such unfraternal ingratitude?' He hunched his shoulders inside his frock coat, and his mouth twisted. 'I have been completely misled.'
The cords of Mrs. Farnsworth's neck tightened, but when she spoke her voice was soft, her touch on the gentleman's arm delicate. 'My dear Wynn, I do understand your dismay. But you must not allow Mathers's churlish behavior to distress you. I am sure that his accusations-'
'Are utterly unfounded!' the man exclaimed. 'Reckless, baseless, unsubstantiated! And I shall prove it.' His voice rose and his side-whiskers trembled with passion. 'I shall prove it, in open court, if need be! I have documents attesting to the antiquity of the manuscripts. A letter from Woodford, an affidavit from the German translator-''
Mrs. Farnsworth made a small mouth. 'But if you so openly answer the man's effrontery, do you not also open our Order to public challenge? That, I fear,' she added with light reproach, 'would be a disaster.'
Mrs. Farnsworth's reproof was casual and the toss of her head perfectly artless. But Kate heard the artful modulations in her tone, and saw that her glance spoke even more subtly. The woman was a skilled actress. And there was a great deal of passion concealed by her art.
The gentleman pulled himself up. ' 'But it will be a disaster if he makes this challenge public and I do not answer him!'
' 'Then we must do all in our power to keep the wretched
man from making the challenge public,' Mrs. Farnsworth said. Her tone was silken, but there was a barely definable edge. 'If the confidence of the members is shaken, or the reputation of the Order tarnished in the eyes of others, we could all be ruined. There will be no public display.' Kate had not the least idea what she meant, but the man appeared to understand and, reluctantly, to agree.
'Ah, very well,' he said disgustedly. His face was flushed with anger and his neck bulged over his stiff wing collar. 'I will agree to say nothing-at this time.' He raised his voice slightly. 'But I cannot promise for the future, Florence. I have my honor to consider, and my good name. If that miscreant Mathers continues to make unprincipled charges against me-'
'My dear, dear Wynn,' Mrs. Farnsworth said with easy affection, 'that is all I ask. A few weeks' reprieve, while I shepherd our fledgling group here in Colchester through its delicate formative phase. Our new temple will be consecrated shortly, and then you may have it out with Mathers and end his absurd challenge to Fraulein Sprengle's warrant and your authority.' She stopped and looked up at the man. Her voice held a brittleness so slight it was almost indiscernible. 'I believe you understand me.'
The man puffed out his cheeks. 'I do, my dear. Yes, of course I do. I certainly do. And I am prepared at any moment to defend-'
'Thank you.' Mrs. Farnsworth smiled lightly, but there was a shadow in her eyes. 'And where are the papers in question?'
A slight frown crossed the gentleman's florid face. 'The papers? They were left with the other historical documents.'
Mrs. Farnsworth's remarkably mobile face darkened into a frown. 'Is that not… dangerous?'
The man made a harrumphing sound. 'I hardly think so. Their significance is not apparent to-'
'You are quite right,' Mrs. Farnsworth said, half to herself. 'Their significance would only be apparent under the most expert examination, and that they will not receive.'' She reached up to touch his cheek with the tip of one finger. It
was the lightest touch and hardly indiscreet, but it revealed a long-standing intimacy. The man impulsively caught her hand and kissed it.
'Thank you, my dear,' he said fervently. 'You have ever been the genius of my better self.'
'Yes,' she said. The man moved away into the crowd, leaving Mrs. Farnsworth standing alone, lost in thought. After a moment she seemed to recollect herself and stepped to the other side of the table, where she smilingly engaged in conversation with Vicar Barfield Talbot, whom Kate had been expecting to see. The vicar, too, was wearing a cluster of blue feathers. Kate waited her chance to slip unobserved out from behind the palm, only to bump immediately into Aunt Sa-brina.
'Ah, here you are, Kathryn,' Aunt Sabrina said. She looked around at the table, heavily laden with silver trays of olives ranked like fish scales, radishes arranged like the rays of the sun, and anchovies interlaced, basket-style, in an elaborate display. There were fine plates piled with meringues, jellies, and crystallized fruits, and the whole was centered with an elegant trifle. 'Is this not a fine repast?' She picked up a small plate and began to help herself.' 'Oh, look-mushrooms, stuffed! I never miss a chance to eat mushrooms in any form.'
At that moment, the vicar said an affectionate farewell to Mrs. Farnsworth and came toward them. 'Good afternoon, my dear Miss Ardleigh,' he said to Aunt Sabrina.
'My dear Vicar,' Aunt Sabrina said warmly. She looped her arm through his and drew him closer. ' 'And of
