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Page 34
"She does not. She is not in a condition to be consulted on the
subject. I am Mayor Packard's emissary. He is very anxious about
his wife." Then as Mr. Searles continued unmoved, I added in a
straightforward manner, and with all the earnestness I felt: "Mrs.
Packard believes herself to have come face to face with an
undoubted specter in the library of the house they have rented from
you. She related the circumstances to her husband and to myself
this very morning. It occurred, according to her story, several
days ago; meantime her manner and appearance have shown a great
change. Mayor Packard is not the only one who has noticed it. The
whole household has been struck by her condition, though no one
knew its cause until to-day. Of course, we do not believe in the
specter; that was pure hallucination on her part. This we no more
doubt than you do."
"Then what do you want here?" he asked, after a moment of harsh
scrutiny.
"Proof which will convince her that it was an hallucination and
without the least basis in any spiritual fact," I returned. "If
you will give me a few minutes of your time, I will explain just
what I mean and also make known to you my wishes. I can wait till
you have finished your business with the gentlemen I see over
there."
He honored me with a look, which for the first time showed any
appreciation of my feelings, and pushing open a door near by,
called out to some one within:
"Here, Robinson, talk with this lady. Her business is not in my
line." Then, turning to me with a quick, "Step in, Madam," he left
me with the greatest abruptness and hurried back to the gentlemen
awaiting him on the other side of the room.
I was considerably taken aback by this move, but knew no other
course than to enter the room he had pointed out and pursue my
conversation with whomever I should find there.
Alas! the gentleman who rose at my entrance was also one of the
tall, thin and nervous type. But he was not without heart, like
the other, as was soon made apparent to me. Very few human faces
are plainer than the one I now searched for the encouragement of
which I stood in such sore need, but also very few faces, handsome
or otherwise, have the attraction of so pleasant a smile. Its
affable greeting was followed by the hasty pushing forward of a
chair and a kind inquiry as to what he could do for me.
My answer woke an immediate interest. "My name is Saunders," I
said. "I am at present an inmate of Mayor Packard's house--a house
belonging to Mr. Searles, and one which has its drawbacks."
The meaning look with which I uttered the last sentence called
forth an answering one. A flash of excitement broke over his
features and he cast a quick glance at the door which fortunately
had swung to at my entrance.
"Has--have they--has anything of a disagreeable nature happened to
any one in this house?" he asked with ill-concealed perturbation.
"I did not expect it during their tenantry, but if such has
occurred, I am obliged to Mrs. Packard for letting me know. She
promised to, you see, and--"
"She promised!" I cried.
"Yes; in joke no doubt, being at the time in a very incredulous
state of mind. She vowed that she would let me know the very day
she saw the lights or encountered anything in the house, which
could be construed into a spiritual visitation. Has such a
manifestation occurred?" he eagerly inquired. "Has it? has it? Am
I to add her name to the list of those who have found the house
uninhabitable?"
"That I am not ready to say," was my cautious response. "Mrs.
Packard, during the period of her husband's candidacy, would
scarcely wish to draw public attention to herself or these
supernatural happenings by any such move. I hope that what I say
to you on this subject will go no further."
"You may rest assured that it will never become public property,"
he assured me. "One person I am bound to tell; but that is all.
That person is too much interested in the house's good name to
spread so damaging a story. An experience, more or less
disagreeable, must have occurred to some member of the family,"
continued Mr. Robinson. "Your presence here assures me of that.
What kind of experience? The--manifestations have not always been
of the same nature."
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