«I've come all the way from 'Ammersmith,» wailed a voice. The light beat upon the eager, anxious face of the speaker, a little woman in black with a baby in her arms.
«You've come for clairvoyance, Mam,» said the usher, with intelligence. «See here, give me the name and address and I will write you, and Mrs. Debbs will give you a sitting gratis. That's better than taking your chance in the crowd when, with all the will in the world, you can't all get a turn. You'll have her to yourself. No, sir, there's no use shovin' . . . What's that? . . . Press?»
He had caught Malone by the elbow.
«Did you say Press? The Press boycott us, sir. Look at the weekly list of services in a Saturday's Times if you doubt it. You wouldn't know there was such a thing as Spiritualism…. What paper, sir? … 'The Daily Gazette.' Well, well, we are getting on. And the lady, too? . . . Special article – my word! Stick to me, sir, and I'll see what I can do. Shut the doors, Joe. No use, friends. When the building fund gets on a bit we'll have more room for you. Now, Miss, this way, if you please.»
This way proved to be down the street and round a side-alley which brought them to a small door with a red lamp shining above it.
«I'll have to put you on the platform – there's no standing room in the body of the hall.»
«Good gracious!» cried Enid.
«You'll have a fine view, Miss, and maybe get a readin' for yourself if your lucky. It often happens that those nearest the medium get the best chance. Now, sir, in here!»
Here was a frowsy little room with some hats and top-coats draping the dirty, white-washed walls. A thin, austere woman, with eyes which gleamed from behind her glasses, was warming her gaunt hands over a small fire. With his back to the fire in the traditional British attitude was a large, fat man with a bloodless face, a ginger moustache and curious, light-blue eyes – the eyes of a deep-sea mariner. A little bald-headed man with huge horn- rimmed spectacles, and a very handsome and athletic youth in a blue lounge-suit completed the group.
«The others have gone on the platform, Mr. Peeble. There's only five seats left for ourselves.» It was the fat man talking.
«I know, I know,» said the man who had been addressed as Peeble, a nervous, stringy, dried-up person as he now appeared in the light. « But this is the Press, Mr. Bolsover. Daily Gazette special article…. Malone, the name, and Challenger. This is Mr. Bolsover, our President. This is Mrs. Debbs of Liverpool, the famous clairvoyante. Here is Mr. James, and this tall young gentleman is Mr. Hardy Williams, our energetic secretary. Mr. Williams is a nailer for the buildin' fund. Keep your eye on your pockets if Mr. Williams is around.»
They all laughed.
«Collection comes later,» said Mr. Williams, smiling.
«A good, rousing article is our best collection,» said the stout president. «Ever been to a meeting before, sir?»
«No,» said Malone.
«Don't know much about it, I expect.»
«No, I don't.»
«Well, well, we must expect a slating. They get it from the humorous angle at first. We'll have you writing a very comic account. I never could see anything very funny in the spirit of one's dead wife, but it's a matter of taste and of knowledge also. If they don't know, how can they take it seriously? I don't blame them. We were mostly like that ourselves once. I was one of Bradlaugh's men, and sat under Joseph MacCabe until my old Dad came and pulled me out.»
«Good for him!» said the Liverpool medium.
«It was the first time I found I had powers of my own. I saw him like I see you now.»
«Was he one of us in the body?»
«Knew no more than I did. But they come on amazin' at the other side if the right folk get hold of them.»
«Time's up!» said Mr. Peeble, snapping his watch. «You are on the right of the chair, Mrs. Debbs. Will you go first? Then you, Mr. Chairman. Then you two and myself. Get on the left, Mr. Hardy Williams, and lead the singin'. They want warmin' up and you can do it. Now then, if you please!»
The platform was already crowded, but the newcomers threaded their way to the front amid a decorous murmur of welcome. Mr. Peeble shoved and exhorted and two end seats emerged upon which Enid and Malone perched themselves. The arrangement suited them well, for they could use their notebooks freely behind the shelter of the folk in front.
«What is your reaction?» whispered Enid.
«Not impressed as yet.»
«No, nor I,» said Enid, «but it's very interesting all the same.»
People who are in earnest are always interesting, whether you agree with them or not, and it was impossible to doubt that these people were extremely earnest. The hall was crammed, and as one looked down one saw line after line of upturned faces, curiously alike in type, women predominating, but men running them close. That type was not distinguished nor intellectual, but it was undeniably healthy, honest and sane. Small trades-folk, male and female shopwalkers, better class artisans, lower middle-class women worn with household cares, occasional young folk in search of a sensation – these were the impressions which the audience conveyed to the trained observation of Malone.
The fat president rose and raised his hand.
«My friends,» said he, «we have had once more to exclude a great number of people who desired to be with us to-night. It's all a question of the building fund, and Mr. Williams on my left will be glad to hear from any of you I was in a hotel last week and they had a notice hung up in the reception bureau: 'No cheques accepted'. That's not the way Brother Williams talks. You just try him.»
The audience laughed. The atmosphere was clearly that of the lecture-hall rather than of the Church.
«There's just one more thing I want to say before I sit down. I'm not here to talk. I'm here to hold this chair down and I mean to do it. It's a hard thing I ask. I want Spiritualists to keep away on Sunday nights. They take up the room that inquirers should have. You can have the morning service. But its better for the cause that there should be room for the stranger. You've had it. Thank God for it. Give the other man a chance.» The president plumped back into his chair.
Mr. Peeble sprang to his feet. He was clearly the general utility man who emerges in every society and probably becomes its autocrat. With his thin, eager face and darting hands he was more than a live wire – he was a whole bundle of live wires. Electricity seemed to crackle from his fingertips.
«Hymn One!» he shrieked.
A harmonium droned and the audience rose. It was a fine hymn and lustily sung:
«The world hath felt a quickening breath From Heaven's eternal shore, And souls triumphant over death Return to earth once more.»
There was a ring of exultation in the voices as the refrain rolled out:
«For this we hold our Jubilee For this with joy we sing, Oh Grave, where is thy victory Oh Death, where is thy sting?»
Yes, they were in earnest, these people. And they did not appear to be mentally weaker than their fellows. And yet both Enid and Malone felt a sensation of great pity as they looked at them. How sad to be deceived upon so intimate a matter as this, to be duped by impostors who used their most sacred feelings and their beloved dead as counters with which to cheat them. What did they know of the laws of evidence, of the cold, immutable decrees of scientific law? Poor earnest, honest, deluded people!
«Now!» screamed Mr. Peeble. «We shall ask Mr. Munro from Australia to give us the invocation.»
A wild-looking old man with a shaggy beard and slumbering fire in his eyes rose up and stood for a few seconds with his gaze cast down. Then he began a prayer, very simple, very unpremeditated. Malone jotted down the first sentence: «Oh, Father, we are very ignorant folk and do not well know how to approach you, but we will pray to you the best we know how.» It was all cast in that humble key. Enid and Malone exchanged a swift glance of appreciation.
There was another hymn, less successful than the first, and the chairman then announced that Mr. James Jones of North Wales would now deliver a trance address which would embody the views of his well-known control, Alasha the Atlantean.
