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Page 15
Mrs. Rhinehart's letter had been received in the morning, and during the
rest of the day Miss Ludington and Paul seemed quite to forget each other
in their absorption in the thoughts suggested by the approaching event.
They sat abstracted and silent at table, and, on rising, went each their
own way. In the exalted state of their imaginations the enterprise they
had in hand would not bear talking over.
When she retired to bed Miss Ludington found that sleep was out of the
question. About two o'clock in the morning she heard Paul leave his room
and go downstairs. Putting on dressing-gown and slippers she softly
followed him. There was a light in the sitting-room and the door was
ajar. Stepping noiselessly to it she looked in.
Paul was standing before, the fireplace, leaning on the mantelpiece, and
looking up into the eyes of the girl above, smiling and talking softly to
her, Miss Ludington entered the room and laid her hand gently on his arm.
Her appearance did not seem to startle him in the least. "Paul, my dear
boy!" she said, "you had better go to bed,"
"It's no use," he said; "I can't sleep, and I had to come down here and
look at her, Think, just think, aunty, that to-morrow we shall see her."
The young fellow's nervous excitement culminated in a burst of ecstatic
tears, and soon afterwards Miss Ludington induced him to go to bed.
How much more he loved the girl than even she did! She was filled with
dread as she thought of the effect which a disappointment of the hope he
had given himself up to might produce. And what folly, after all, it was
to expect anything but disappointment!
The spectacle of Paul's fatuous confidence had taken hers away.
CHAPTER VI
As the drive over to East Tenth Street was a long one, the carriage had
been ordered at seven o'clock, and soon after tea, of which neither Miss
Ludington nor Paul had been able to take a mouthful, they set out.
"I am afraid we are doing something very wrong and foolish," said Miss
Ludington, feebly, as the carriage rolled down the village street.
During the drive of nearly two hours not another word was said.
The carriage at length drew up before the house in Tenth Street. It stood
in a brick block, and there was no sign of the business pursued within,
except a small white card on the door bearing the words, "Mrs. Legrand.
Materializing, Business, and Test Medium. Clairvoyant."
An old-looking little girl of ten or twelve years of age opened the door.
The child's big black eyes, and long snaky locks falling about a pale
face, gave her an elfish look quite in keeping with the character of the
house. She at once ushered the callers into the front parlour, where a
lady and gentleman were sitting, who proved to be Mrs. Legrand and her
manager and man of business, Dr. Hull.
The latter was a tall person, of highly respectable and even imposing
appearance, to which a high forehead, a pair of gold-bowed spectacles,
and a long white beard considerably added. He looked like a scholar, and
his speech was that of a man of education.
Mrs. Legrand was a large woman, with black hair sprinkled with grey and
worn short like a man's. She had a swarthy complexion, and her eyes were
surrounded by noticeably large dark rings, giving an appearance of
wretched ill-health. Her manner was extremely languid, as of a person
suffering from nervous exhaustion. She kept her eyes half shut, and spoke
as if with an effort,
"Did Mrs. Rhinehart tell you," she said to Miss Ludington, "of the
interest which I feel in your theory, that the souls of our past selves
exist in spirit-land? If my seance to-night realizes your expectations,
spirit science will have taken a great step forward."
"My conviction will remain the same whatever the result may be to night,"
said Miss Ludington.
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