CHAPTER XX
In the melodramas, the sort which most people laugh at as"old-fashioned" and enjoy thoroughly, there is usually a scene inwhich the hero, or the heroine, or both, are about to be drowned inthe sinking ship or roasted in the loft of the burning building, orbutchered by the attacking savages, or executed by the villain and hisagents. The audience enjoys some delightful thrills while watchingthis situation--whichever it may be--develop, but is spared any acuteanxiety, knowing from experience that just at the last moment therescuing boat, or the heroic firemen, or the troops, or a reprieve fromthe Governor, will arrive and save the leading man or woman and the playfrom a premature end and for another act.
It does not happen as often in real life, at least one cannot countupon it with the certainty of the theater. But when Miss Primrose Cashknocked upon the door of the Phipps' sitting room and delivered hercall to the seance, she was as opportune and nick-of-timey as was evera dramatic Governor's messenger. Certainly that summons of hers was toGalusha Bangs a reprieve which saved him from instant destruction.
Cousin Gussie, who had been on the point of repeating his demand to knowif his relative was ill, turned instead to look toward the door. Martha,whose gaze had been fixed upon her lodger with an intentness whichindicated at least the dawning of a suspicion, turned to look inthe same direction. Galusha, left poised upon the very apex of theexplosion, awaited the moment when the fragments, of which he was one,should begin to fall.
But they did not fall--then. Primmie gave them no opportunity to do so.
"Miss Martha," she cried, "Miss Martha, do you hear me? Zach--he says--"
Her mistress answered. "Yes, yes, Primmie," she said, "I hear you."Then, turning again toward the banker and his relative, she said, "Mr.Cabot, I--did I understand you to say--?"
"Miss Martha!" The voice outside the door was more insistent than ever."Miss Martha, Zach he says we've all hands got to come right straightoff, 'cause if we don't there'll be hell to pay.... My savin' soul, Inever meant to say that, Miss Martha! Zach, he said it, but _I_ nevermeant to. I--I--Oh, my Lord of Isrul! I--I--oh, Miss Martha!"
Further wails of the frightened and repentant one were lost in anecstatic shout of laughter from Mr. Cabot. Martha slowly shook her head.
"Well," she observed, dryly, "I guess likely we'd better go, hadn'twe? If it is as bad as all that I should say we had, sure and certain.Primmie Cash, I'm ashamed of you. Mr. Cabot, we'll finish our talk whenwe come back. What under the sun you can possibly mean I declare I don'tunderstand.... But, there, it will keep. Come, Mr. Bangs."
She led the way from the sitting room. Cabot followed her and,staggering slightly and with a hand still pressed to his forehead,Galusha followed them. He was saved for the time, he realized that, butfor such a very short time. For an hour or two he was to hang in the airand then would come the inevitable crash. When they returned home, afterthe seance was over, Martha would question Cousin Gussie, Cousin Gussiewould answer, then he would be questioned and--and the end would come.Martha would know him for what he was. As they emerged from the Phipps'door into the damp chill and blackness of that October evening, GalushaBangs looked hopelessly up and down and for the first time in monthsyearned for Egypt, to be in Egypt, in Abyssinia, in the middle of thegreat Sahara--anywhere except where he was and where he was fated to be.
The windows of the light keeper's cottage were ablaze as they drew near.Overhead the great stream of radiance from the lantern in the tower shotfar out. There was almost no wind, and the grumble of the surf at thefoot of the bluff was a steady bass monotone.
Zacheus, who had waited to walk over with them, was in a fault-findingstate of mind. It developed that he could not attend the meeting in theparlor; his superior had ordered that he "tend light."
"The old man says I hadn't no business comin' to the other sea-antsthing," said Zach. "Says him and me ain't both supposed never to leavethe light alone. I cal'late he's right, but that don't make it anybetter. There's a whole lot of things that's right that hadn't ought tobe. I presume likely it's right enough for you to play that mouth organof yours, Posy. They ain't passed no law against it yet. But--"
"Oh, be still, Zach Bloomer! You're always talkin' about my playin' themouth organ. I notice you can't play anything, no, nor sing neither."
"You're right, Pansy Blossom. But the difference between you and meis that I know I can't.... Hey? Why, yes, Martha, I shouldn't be a bitsurprised if the fog came in any time. If it does that means I've got totend foghorn as well as light. Godfreys!"
Before they opened the side door of the Hallett home, the buzz of voicesin the parlor was distinctly audible. Lulie heard the door open and metthem in the dining room. She was looking anxious and disturbed. Marthadrew her aside and questioned her concerning her father. Lulie glancedtoward the parlor door and then whispered:
"I don't know, Martha. Father seems queer to-night, awfully queer. Ican't make him out."
"Queer? In what way? He is always nervous and worked up before thesesilly affairs, isn't he?"
"Yes, but I don't mean that, exactly. He has been that way for over aweek. But for the last two days he has been--well, different. He seemsto be troubled and--and suspicious."
"Suspicious? Suspicious of what?"
"I don't know. Of every one."
"Humph! Well, if he would only begin to get suspicious of Marietta andher spirit chasers I should feel like givin' three cheers. But I supposethose are exactly the ones he isn't suspicious of."
Lulie again glanced toward the parlor door.
"I am not so sure," she said. "It seemed to me that he wasn't as cordialto them as usual when they came to-night. He keeps looking at Mariettaand pulling his beard and scowling, the way he does when he is puzzledand troubled. I'm not sure, but I think something came in the mailyesterday noon and another something again to-day which may be the causeof his acting so strangely. I don't know what they were, he wouldn'tanswer when I asked him, but I saw him reading a good deal yesterdayafternoon. And then he came into the kitchen where I was, took the lidoff the cookstove and put a bundle of printed pages on the fire. I askedhim what he was doing and he snapped at me that he was burning the wordsof Satan or something of that sort."
"And couldn't you save enough of the--er--Old Scratch's words to findout what the old boy was talkin' about?"
"No. There was a hot fire. But to-day, when the second package came,I caught a glimpse of the printing on the wrapper. It was from ThePsychical Research Society; I think that was it. There is such asociety, isn't there?"
"I believe so. I... Ssh! Careful, here he is."
Captain Jethro strode across the parlor threshold. He glared beneath hisheavy eyebrows at the couple.
"Lulie," he growled, "don't you know you're keepin' the meetin' waitin'?You are, whether you know it or not. Martha Phipps, come in and setdown. Come on, lively now!"
Martha smiled.
"Cap'n Jeth," she said, "you remind me of father callin' in the cat.You must think you're aboard your old schooner givin' orders. All right,I'll obey 'em. Ay, ay, sir! Come, Lulie."
They entered the parlor, whither Galusha, Mr. Cabot and Primmie hadpreceded them and were already seated. The group in the room was madeup about as on the occasion of the former seance, but it was a triflelarger. The tales of the excitement on the evening when the light keeperthreatened to locate and destroy the "small, dark outsider" had spreadand had attracted a few additional and hopeful souls. Mr. Obed Taylor,driver of the Trumet bake-cart, and a devout believer, had been drawnfrom his home village; Miss Tamson Black, her New Hampshire visitover, was seated in the front row; Erastus Beebe accompanied his sisterOphelia. The Hardings, Abel and Sarah B., were present and accountedfor, and so, too, was Mrs. Hannah Peters.
Galusha Bangs, seated between Miss Cash and the immensely interestedCousin Gussie, gazed dully about the circle. He saw little except a blurof faces; his thoughts were elsewhere, busy in dreadful anticipation ofthe scene he knew he must endure when he and
his cousin and MissPhipps returned to the house of the latter. He did not dare look inher direction, fearing to see once more upon her face the expressionof suspicion which he had already seen dawning there--suspicion of him,Galusha Bangs. He sighed, and the sigh was so near a groan that hisrelative was startled.
"What's the matter, Galusha?" he whispered. "Brace up, old man! you lookas if you were seeing spooks already. Not sick--faint, or anything likethat?"
Galusha blushed. "Eh?" he queried. "Oh--oh, no, no. Quite so, really.Eh? Ah--yes."
Cabot chuckled. "That's a comprehensive answer, at any rate," heobserved. "Come now, be my Who's-Who. For example, what is the name ofthe female under the hat like a--a steamer basket?"
Galusha looked. "That is Miss Hoag, the--ah--medium," he said.
"Oh, I see. Did the spirits build that hat for her?"
Miss Hoag's headgear was intrinsically the same she had worn at theformer seance, although the arrangement of the fruit, flowers, spraysand other accessories was a trifle different. The red cherries, forexample, no longer bobbed at the peak of the roof; they now hungjauntily from the rear eaves, so to speak. The purple grapes had alsomoved and peeped coyly from a thicket of moth-eaten rosebuds. The wearerof this revamped millinery triumph seemed a bit nervous, even anxious,so it seemed to Martha Phipps, who, like Cabot and Galusha, was lookingat her. Marietta kept hitching in her seat, pulling at her gown, andglancing from time to time at the gloomy countenance of Captain Jethro,who, Miss Phipps also noticed, was regarding her steadily and slowlypulling at his beard. This regard seemed to add to Miss Hoag'suneasiness.
The majority of those present were staring at the senior partner ofCabot, Bancroft and Cabot. The object of the attention could not helpbecoming aware of it.
"What are they all looking at me for?" he demanded, under his breath.
Galusha did not hear the question, but Primmie did, and answered it.
"They don't know who you be," she whispered.
"What of it? I don't know who they are, either."
Miss Cash sniffed. "Humph!" she declared, "you wouldn't know much worthknowin' if you did--the heft of 'em.... Oh, my savin' soul, it's a-goin'to begin! Where's my mouth organ?"
But, to her huge disappointment, her services as mouth organist werenot to be requisitioned this time. Captain Hallett, taking charge of thegathering, made an announcement.
"The melodeon's been fixed," he said, "and Miss Black's kind enough tosay she'll play it for us. Take your places, all hands. Come on, now,look alive! Tut, tut, tut! Abe Hardin', for heaven's sakes, can't youpick up your moorin's, or what does ail you? Come to anchor! Set down!"
Mr. Harding was, apparently, having trouble in sitting down. He madeseveral nervous and hurried attempts, but none was successful. Hiswife begged, in one of her stage whispers, to be informed if he'd been"struck deef." "Don't you hear the cap'n talkin' to you?" she demanded.
"Course I hear him," retorted her husband, testily, and in the samecomprehensively audible whisper. "No, I ain't been struck deef--nor dumbneither."
"Humph! You couldn't be struck any dumber than you are. You was borndumb. Set DOWN! Everybody's lookin' at you. I never was so mortified inmy life."
The harassed Abel made one more attempt. He battled savagely with hischair.
"I CAN'T set down," he said. "This everlastin' chair won't set even. Isnum I believe it ain't got but three laigs. There! Now let's see."
He seated himself heavily and with emphasis. Mr. Jim Fletcher, whoseplace was next him, uttered an agonized "Ow!"
"No wonder 'twon't set even, Abe," he snorted. "You've got the otherlaig up onto my foot. Yus, and it's drove half down through it by thistime. Get UP! Whew!"
A ripple of merriment ran around the circle. Every one laughed orventured to smile, every one except the Hardings and Captain Hallettand, of course, Galusha Bangs. The latter's thoughts were not in thelight keeper's parlor. Cousin Gussie leaned over and whispered in hisear:
"Loosh," whispered Mr. Cabot, chokingly, "if the rest of this stuntis as good as the beginning I'll forgive you for handing that fourteenthousand to the mummy-hunters. I wouldn't have missed it for more thanthat."
Captain Jethro, beating the table, drove his guests to order as of oldhe had driven his crews. Having obtained silence and expressed, in a fewstinging words, his opinion of those who laughed, he proceeded with hisarrangements.
"Tamson," he commanded, addressing Miss Black, "go and set there bythe organ. Come, Marietta, you know where your place is, don't you? Setright where you did last time. And don't let's have any more mockery!"he thundered, addressing the company in general. "If I thought for aminute there was any mockery or make-believe in these meetin's, I--I--"He paused, his chest heaving, and then added, impatiently, but in amilder tone, "Well, go on, go on! What are we waitin' for? Douse thoselights, somebody."
Miss Hoag--who had been glancing at the light keeper's face and behavingin the same oddly nervous, almost apprehensive manner which Martha hadnoticed when she entered the parlor--took her seat in the officialchair and closed her eyes. Mr. Beebe turned down the lamps. The ancientmelodeon, recently prescribed for and operated upon by the repairer fromHyannis, but still rheumatic and asthmatic, burst forth in an unhealthyrendition of a Moody and Sankey hymn. The seance for which Galusha Bangshad laid plans and to which he had looked forward hopefully if a littlefearfully--that seance was under way. And now, such was the stunningeffect of the most recent blow dealt him by Fate, he, Galusha, wasscarcely aware of the fact.
The melodeon pumped on and on. The rustlings and shiftings in the circlesubsided and the expectant and shivery hush which Primmie feared andadored succeeded it. Miss Black wailed away at the Moody and Sankeyselection. Miss Hoag's breathing became puffy. She uttered her firstpreliminary groan. Cousin Gussie, being an unsophisticated stranger,was startled, as Mr. Bangs had been at the former seance, but Primmie'swhisper reassured him.
"It's all right," whispered Primmie. "She ain't sick nor nothin'. She'sjust a-slippin' off."
The banker did not understand.
"Slipping off?" he repeated. "Off what?"
"Off into sperit land. In a minute you'll hear her control talkin'Chinee talk.... There! My savin' soul! hear it?... Ain't it awful!"
"Little Cherry Blossom" had evidently been waiting at the transmitter.The husky croak which had so amazed Galusha was again heard.
"How do? How do, everybodee?" hailed Little Cherry Blossom. "I gladeesee-ee you. Yes, indeedee."
Cabot made mental note of the fact that the Blossom spoke her spiritpidgin-English with a marked Down-East accent. Before he had time tonotice more, the control announced that she had a message. The circlestirred in anticipation. Primmie wiggled in fearful ecstasy.
"Listen!" commanded Little Cherry Blossom. "Everybodee harkee. Spiritcomee heree. He say-ee--"
"Ow-ooo-ooo--ooo--OOO!!"
As prophesied by Mr. Zacheus Bloomer, the fog had come in and Zacheus,faithful to his duties as associate guardian of that section of thecoast, had turned loose the great foghorn.
The roar was terrific. The windows rattled and the whole building seemedto shake. The effect upon the group in the parlor, leaning forwardin awed expectation to catch the message from beyond, was upsetting,literally and figuratively. Miss Tamson Black, perched upon the slipperycushion of a rickety and unstable music stool, slid to the floor witha most unspiritual thump and a shrill squeal. Primmie clutched hernext-door neighbor--it chanced to be Mr. Augustus Cabot--by the middleof the waistcoat, and hers was no light clutch. Mr. Abel Harding shoutedseveral words at the top of his lungs; afterward there was some disputeas to just what the exact words were, but none whatever as to their lackof propriety. Almost every one jumped or screamed or exclaimed. OnlyCaptain Jeth Hallett, who had heard that horn many, many times, wasquite unmoved. Even his daughter was startled.
But perhaps the most surprising effect of the mammoth "toot" was thatwhich it produced in the spirit world. It seemed to blow Little Cherry
Blossom completely back to her own sphere, for it was a voice neitherChinese nor ethereal which, coming from Miss Hoag's lips, shriekedwildly: "Oh, my good land of love! Wh--what's that?"
It was only after considerable pounding of the table and repeated ordersfor silence that Captain Jethro succeeded in obtaining it. Then heexplained concerning the foghorn.
"It'll blow every minute from now on, I presume likely," he growled,"but I don't see as that need to make any difference about our goin' onwith this meetin'. That is, unless Marietta minds. Think 'twill botheryou about gettin' back into the trance state, Marietta?"
Erastus Beebe had turned up one of the lamps and it happened to be theone just above Miss Hoag's head. By its light Martha Phipps could seethe medium's face, and it seemed to her--although, as she admittedafterward, perhaps because of subsequent happenings she only imaginedthat it seemed so--it seemed to her that Marietta was torn between anintense desire to give up mediumizing for that evening and a feelingthat she must go on.
"She looked to me," said Martha, "as if she was afraid to go on, butmore afraid to stop."
However, go on she did. She told the light keeper that she guessed shecould get back if Tamson would play a little spell more. Miss Blackagreed to do so, provided she might have a chair instead of a musicstool.
"I wouldn't risk settin' on that plaguy, slippery haircloth thing againfor no mortal soul," declared the irate Tamson, meaning, doubtless, toinclude immortals. A chair was provided, again the lights were dimmed,and the seance resumed, punctuated now at minute intervals by theshattering bellows of the great foghorn.
In a few minutes the messages began to arrive. They were of similarvague import to those of the previous seance and, couched in LittleCherry Blossom's weird gibberish, were vaguer still. Occasionally aspirit seeking identification went away unrecognized, but not often. Forthe most part the identifying details supplied were so general that theywere almost certain to fit a departed relative or friend of someone present. And, as is usual under such circumstances, the would-berecognizer was so pathetically eager to recognize. Even Galusha, dullyinert as he was just then, again felt his indignation stirred by theshabby mockery of it all.
Obed Taylor received a message from his brother Daniel who had diedin infancy. Daniel declared himself very happy. So, too, did OpheliaBeebe's great-aunt Samona, who had "passed over" some time in the'fifties. Aunt Samona was joyful--oh, so joyful. Miss Black's name wascalled.
"Tamson!" croaked Little Cherry Blossom. "Some one heree wantee Tamson."
Miss Black uttered an exclamation of startled surprise. "Good graciousme!" she cried. "Who is it?"
"Namee seem likee--likee Flora--Flora--somethin'," announced thecontrol. The circle rustled in anticipation while Tamson ransacked hermemory.
"Flora?" she repeated. "Flora?"
"Yes--yes. Flora--ah--ah--somethin'. Somethin'--soundee likee somethin'you ring."
"Somethin' I RING. Why, all a body rings is a bell. Hey? My heavensabove, you don't mean Florabel? That ain't the name, is it--Florabel?"
"Yes--yes--yes--yes." Little Cherry Blossom was eagerly certain thatthat was the name.
"Mercy on us! Florabel? You don't mean you've got a message from myniece Florabel Tidditt, do you?"
"Yes--yes--yes--oh, yes!" The control was just as certain that nieceFlorabel was on the wire.
"I don't believe a word of it."
This unusual manner of receiving a message shocked the devout. A murmurof protest arose.
"Now, now, now, Tamson," remonstrated Miss Beebe. "You mustn't talk so.Course you believe it if the control says so."
"I don't neither. Florabel Tidditt ain't dead. She's as well as I be. Ihad a letter from her yesterday."
There was considerable agitation for a few minutes. Then it developedthat the Florabel seeking to communicate was not Miss Tidditt, butanother, a relative so long gone that Tamson had forgotten she everexisted. At length she was brought to the point of admitting thatit seemed as if she had heard of a cousin of her grandmother's namedFlorabel or Annabel or something. The message was not very coherent norparticularly interesting, so the incident ended.
A short time later came the sensation which was to make the eveningmemorable in East Wellmouth's spiritualistic circles. Little CherryBlossom called the name which many had expected and some, Lulie Hallettand Martha Phipps in particular, dreaded to hear.
"Jethro!" croaked the Blossom. "Jethro!"
Captain Hallett had been very quiet, particularly since the Florabelmessage was tangled in transit. Martha could see his shaggy head insilhouette against the dim light of the lamp and had noticed that thathead scarcely moved. The light keeper seemed to be watching the mediumvery intently. Now he spoke.
"Yes?" he said, as if awakened from sleep. "Yes, here I am. What is it?"
"Jethro," cried the control once more. "Jethro, somebodee come speakeeto you.... Julia! Julia!"
Captain Jethro rose from his chair. The loved name had as always aninstant effect. His heavy voice shook as he answered.
"Yes, yes, Julia," he cried. "Here I am, Julia, waitin'--waitin'."
It was pathetic, pitiful. One listener in that circle felt, in spite ofhis own misery, a pang of remorse and a little dread. After all, perhapsit would have been better to--
"Julia," cried the light keeper. "Speak to me. I'm waitin'."
The foghorn boomed just here, but even after the sound had subduedLittle Cherry Blossom seemed to find it difficult to proceed. She--orthe medium--choked, swallowed, and then said:
"Julia got message. Yes, indeedee. Important message, she sayee, forJethro. Jethro must do what she sayee."
The captain's big head nodded vigorously. Martha could see it move, atousled shadow against the light.
"Yes, yes, Julia, of course," he said. "I always do what you say. Youknow I do. Go on."
"Father!" It was Lulie's voice, raised in anxious protest. "Father,please."
Her father sharply ordered her to be quiet.
"Go on, Julia," he persisted. "Tell me what you want me to do."
Again Little Cherry Blossom seemed to have difficulty in articulating.There was a quaver in her voice when she did speak.
"Julia say," she faltered; "Julia sayee 'Jethro, you sell R.P.'"
This was unexpected. It was not at all the message the group oflisteners, with one exception, had anticipated. There was no hint ofNelson Howard here. They did not know what to make of it. Nor, it wasevident, did Jethro Hallett.
"What?" he demanded. "What, Julia? I don't understand."
Little Cherry Blossom cleared her--or the medium's--throat andfalteringly went on.
"Julia sayee 'Jethro, you sell R. P. what you got.' Sellee him what yougot, what he want buyee. You know. You sellee R. P. the stock."
But still it was clear that Captain Jeth did not understand.
"Sell R. P.?" he repeated. "R. P. Who's R. P.? And what... Eh? Do youmean--"
He paused. When he next spoke his tone was quite different. There was adeeper note in it, almost a note of menace.
"R. P.?" he said again. "Does 'R. P.' mean--is that supposed to standfor Horatio Pulcifer? Eh? Does 'R. P.' mean Raish Pulcifer?"
The control did not reply instantly. The light keeper pressed hisquestion.
"Does it?" he demanded.
"Yes... yes," stammered the Blossom. "Yes, Julia say sellee Raish whathe wantee buy."
"Wantee BUY? What have I got he wants to buy?"
"Julia she sayee you know. She say 'De--De--Develop stock.' That's it.Yes, Develop stock. She sayee you sell Raish Develop stock. She sayeeshe wantee you to. You do right then."
The foghorn howled once more. Captain Jethro was standing erect besidehis chair. When, at last, he did speak, his tone was still more tenseand threatening. Even the shallowest mind in that room--and, asMiss Phipps had said, practically every "crank" within ten miles waspresent--even the shallowest realized that something was impending,something ominous.
"Do you mean to say
," demanded Jethro Hallett, speaking very slowly,"that Julia's, my wife's spirit is tellin' me to sell my four hundredshares of Wellmouth Development stock to Raish Pulcifer? Do you meanthat SHE says that?"
Little Cherry Blossom croaked twice, but the second croak was a feeble"Yes."
"SHE says that? Julia, my dead wife, tells me to do that?"
"Yes. Yes--yes--yes. She say you sell Raish four hundred Develop stockand you be so gladee. She be gladee, too. She--"
"STOP!"
The light keeper's shout rang through the room. "Stop!" he shoutedagain. "You--you LIAR!"
The word shot from beneath his teeth and, judging by the effect, mighthave hit almost every individual in the room. There was absolutesilence for just the briefest instant; then a chorus of faint screams,exclamations, startled and indignant protests. Above them all Primmie'scall upon her Lord of Isrul sounded plainly. Captain Jethro paid noheed.
"You liar!" he roared again. "Out of my house, you swindler! You damnedcheat!"
This blast, delivered with the full force of the old skipper'squarter-deck voice, had the effect of completely upsetting the alreadytense nerves of the majority in the circle. Two or three of the womenbegan to cry. Chairs were overturned. There was a babel of cries andconfusion. The light keeper stilled it.
"Be still, all hands!" he shouted. "Turn up them lamps! Turn 'em up!"
Mr. Cabot, although himself somewhat startled and disturbed by theunexpected turn of events, was at least as cool as any one. He reachedover the prostrate heap at his feet--it was Ophelia Beebe hystericallyrepeating: "He's gone crazy! He's gone loony! OH, my soul! OH, my land!WHAT'LL I do?" and the like--and turned up one of the lamps. Obed Taylordid the same with the other.
The sudden illumination revealed Captain Jethro, his face pale, his eyesflashing fire, holding the dumpy Miss Hoag fast in her chair with onehand and with the other brandished above her head like the hammerof Thor. The audience, for the most part, were in various attitudes,indicating alarm and a desire to escape. Mrs. Harding had a stranglehold on her husband's neck and was slowly but inevitably choking him todeath; Mrs. Peters, as well as Miss Beebe, was on the floor; and PrimmieCash was bobbing up and down, flapping her hands and opening her mouthlike a mechanical figure in a shop window. Lulie and Martha Phipps, paleand frightened, were trying to force their way to the captain's side.Galusha Bangs alone remained seated.
The light keeper again commanded silence.
"Look at her!" he cried, pointing his free hand at the cowering figureof the medium. "LOOK at her! The lyin' cheat!"
Marietta was, in a way, worth looking at. She had shrunk as far down inthe chair as the captain's grip would permit, her usually red face wasnow as white as the full moon, which it resembled in some other ways,and she was, evidently, as Primmie said afterwards, "scart to death andsome left over."
Lulie called.
"Father, father," she pleaded. "Please--oh--please!"
Her father paid no attention. It was to Miss Hoag that he continued hisattentions.
"You miserable, swindlin' make-believe!" he growled, his voice shakingwith emotion. "You--you come here and--and pretend--Oh, by The Almighty,if you was a man, if you wasn't the--the poor, pitiful fool that you be,I'd--I'd--"
His daughter had reached his side. "Father," she begged. "Father, for mysake--"
"Be still! Be still, girl!... Marietta Hoag, you answer me. Who put youup to tellin' me to sell that stock to Pulcifer? Who did it? Answer me?"
Marietta tried, but she could do little but gurgle. She gurgled,however, in her natural tones, or a frightened imitation of them. LittleCherry Blossom had, apparently, fluttered to the Chinese spiritland.
"I--I--Oh, my good land!" she wailed.
"Answer!"
"Father--father!" cried Lulie. "Don't talk so! Don't act so!"
"Act so! Be still! Let me alone, Martha Phipps! This woman here is acheat. She's a liar! How do I KNOW? DON'T ask such fool questions. Iknow because--because she says my wife--Julia--my wife--tells me to sellmy four hundred shares of Wellmouth Development stock--"
"Yes, of course. But, perhaps--"
"There ain't any perhaps. You, woman," addressing the cowering medium,"didn't you say that?"
"Yes--oh, yes, Cap'n Jeth, I said it. PLEASE don't!"
"And you pretended my dead wife's spirit said it, didn't you?"
"Yes. Yes, she did. Oh--oh--"
"She did not! Listen, all of you!" with scornful disgust. "Listen! Thatfour hundred shares of Development stock this--this critter here saysJulia knows I've got and wants me to sell to Raish Pulcifer I SOLD twomonths ago. Yes, by the everlastin', I sold 'em! And--eh? Yes, there heis. I sold 'em to that Bangs man there. He knows it. He'll tell you Idid.... And now this swindler, this cheat, she--she--Who put you up toit? Who did? Was it Pulcifer?"
Marietta began to sob. "Ye-es, yes," she faltered. "He--he said he--"
"I thought so. And you pretended 'twas my--my Julia, my wife.... Oh,my God! And you've been pretendin' all the time. 'Twas all cheatin' andlies, wasn't it? She--she never come to you. She never told you nothin'.Ain't it so?"
Poor, publicity-loving, sensation-loving Marietta's nerve was completelygone. She sobbed wildly.
"Oh--oh, I guess so. I--I guess likely 'twas," she wailed. "I--I don'tknow. I only--"
Captain Jethro took his hand from her shoulder. He staggered a little.
"Get out of my house!" he ordered. "Out of my house--all of you. You'reall liars and cheats together.... Oh, Julia! Oh, my Lord above!"
He collapsed in a chair and put his hands to his head. Lulie, the tearsstreaming down her face, tried to comfort him. Martha, also weeping,essayed to help. Cabot, walking over to where his cousin was standing,laid a hand on his arm. Galusha, pale and wan, looking as if the worldhad slipped from under him and he was left hanging in cold space, turneda haggard face in his direction.
"Well, Loosh," said Cousin Gussie, dryly, "I think you and I hadbetter go home, hadn't we? This has been an interesting evening,an--ah--illuminating evening. You appear to be the only person who canadd to the illumination, and--well, don't you think it is time you did?"
Galusha the Magnificent Page 20