‘Lady Dunkley,’ said Mina humbly, ‘it is very kind of you to spare a little of your time to speak to me.’
‘Not at all,’ replied that lady, who had a ready smile. ‘Were you well acquainted with my aunt?’
‘It is my great regret that I was not,’ Mina admitted, ‘but of course here in Brighton, she was generally famed and revered for her devotion to the poor and afflicted. There was, I have learned recently, another more unusual matter that concerned her, and I hope to be able to continue her work in that area.’
‘That is very good of you, and it would be much appreciated,’ said Lady Dunkley, supplying a small card. ‘Please do let me know if there is any way in which I can assist.’
‘Thank you,’ said Mina. ‘For the moment, I require only one small piece of information. Mrs Apperley very recently expressed her doubts about the activities of spirit mediums here in Brighton, who she felt were preying on the bereaved and doing great harm. In the case of one such lady whose name it might not be politic to mention, she thought she had encountered her once before, in London. Did she perhaps mention this to you?’
‘I am afraid not,’ said Lady Dunkley. ‘We have been abroad for the last six months and I have not seen my aunt to speak to her in that time. In London, you say?’ She shook her head. ‘My aunt did not in any case visit London very frequently. After she passed eighty travel was very difficult for her. The last time to my knowledge that she was in London was almost two years ago for the christening of my grandson.’
‘If I may be so bold,’ asked Mina, ‘when precisely did that take place?’
Lady Dunkley was clearly a little startled at the way the conversation had turned. She hesitated, and the ready smile faded, but after a few moments, as Mina had anticipated, accommodated the wishes of the little woman with the misshapen body who stood before her. ‘It was in the early part of September 1869.’
‘Do you think it possible that your aunt did go to a spirit medium during that visit?’ Mina asked.
Lady Dunkley was even further taken aback by that question, and Mina feared that her boldness had made her venture too far. ‘I can only say,’ replied the lady, carefully, ‘that it was a subject she did once mention to me as a great curiosity, in that it was a subject of conversation in society, but I am afraid I cannot advise you further.’
Mina thanked the lady warmly and departed. Once home, she packaged up the manuscript of her recently completed story to send to Mr Greville, and included a letter advising him that she had been reading about spirit mediums with the idea of writing a new story to feature one who was guilty of a terrible crime. She had been told of a scandal in London regarding a lady who had been conducting séances in the capital, most probably in September 1869 and had been detected in fraud and sent to prison. Unfortunately she did not have the lady’s name, but hoped Mr Greville might know of, or be able to discover something about the incident.
Since Eliza’s death Mina had not seen a great deal of Dr Hamid, although they occasionally met briefly when she visited the baths. After the confidences they had shared, which had seemed to add warmth to their friendship, he had made no more attempts to initiate a conversation, and she wondered if he had regretted his openness. On her next visit to the baths Mina mentioned this to Anna, saying that she hoped she had said nothing to offend her brother. Anna smiled sadly.
‘The fault is not yours,’ she said. ‘I am sorry to say that Daniel has been receiving visits from Miss Eustace, two so far and I believe another is planned.’
‘You mean he has paid her for private consultations?’ said Mina, both concerned and disappointed.
‘I am afraid so. I would prefer it if he did not, but I could not dissuade him.’
‘Do you feel he takes any benefit from these consultations?’ asked Mina. ‘They may all be fraud, but if he finds some comfort in them then maybe – just for a short while –’
‘It is hard to be sure,’ said Anna, although her worried expression betrayed her feelings. ‘You may imagine how it was for him to lose both a wife and a sister within months of each other. He looks for hope and it is hard to reason with him. He knows I do not approve and declines to speak to me on the subject. I think he knows very well that you would be of the same opinion as I, and it is for that reason he avoids speaking to you.’
‘I am pleased to hear it,’ said Mina, after some thought. ‘It shows that he still retains a healthy doubt in what he is doing. Had he been convinced that he was right he would have been so armoured with certainty as to be impregnable to all argument and would be eager to try and convince me, too.’
‘I am wondering if he has been warned that you are a bad influence best avoided,’ said Anna, awkwardly.
‘Oh, I do hope so!’ said Mina. ‘What could be more fascinating? I shall see him at once.’
‘What will you say?’ asked Anna.
‘If you will permit me, I will be bold with him and ask what messages he has received,’ said Mina. ‘Miss Eustace in her private consultations convinces people that she is genuine by providing personal details of the departed, things which it would seem only their closest family and friends know. Everything else Miss Eustace does, be it ringing bells or raising tables off the floor, can be put down to conjuring tricks. Even the believers in such phenomena who put them down to a supernatural force are not convinced that there is an actual guiding intelligence causing them; they think it is some form of energy produced by the medium, and not the actual spirits of the dead. The private séances, however, leave us with only two possibilities – that Miss Eustace is genuinely bringing messages from the departed or that she is an outright fraud with some secret means of finding out information. Perhaps there might be something in what your brother has experienced that will help us decide.’ She paused. ‘I do not wish to add to his burdens; only tell me I am wrong and I will go.’
‘You are very welcome to try,’ said Anna. ‘What you learn may do good. Sometimes people will confide in friends what they will not tell their most intimate family.’
‘That is true,’ said Mina. ‘My mother claims to have seen my father’s ghost and received messages from him of a private nature, but will tell me no more than that. Perhaps I should interview her great friend Mrs Bettinson, or her dressmaker, who will no doubt have all the details.’
When Mina knocked on the door of Dr Hamid’s office she was careful not to speak, since if he was avoiding her, hearing her voice would have given him the opportunity to plead some other appointment. She knew that he was kindly and would not thoughtlessly turn anyone away even if he was busy, and as she expected, he bade her enter. As soon as she saw him, his little guilty hesitation tainted with poorly concealed dismay showed that her surmise was correct; he was ashamed of himself for consulting Miss Eustace, but was unable to give up the visits, and thought that Mina was there to scold him.
They made the usual polite enquiries after each other’s health and Mina asked about purchasing some mineral water. He tried to divert her to the lady at the reception desk, but Mina said, ‘I will see about it on my way out, but I have more important matters to discuss.’
‘If this is to be a long consultation, then perhaps—’ he began.
‘No, this cannot wait for another time,’ she said. ‘You know, I think, some of what I have come here to say, but I beg you to hear me out. I understand that you have attended private consultations with Miss Eustace, and I do not blame you for that, neither do I ask you to do anything other than what you feel will benefit you.’
‘But you have a mission in mind, or you would not be here,’ he said, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.
‘Of course I do,’ said Mina, ‘and an important one. You may hold in your hands the whole secret of whether or not Miss Eustace is genuine.’
‘But supposing,’ he said, ‘I do not care whether she is or not?’
‘Today you may care nothing at all,’ said Mina. ‘Today, if someone was to offer you conclusive proof that sh
e is a fraud you would prefer not to know. Another day may be different, and then we may talk of this again. The difference between us is that I care very much, but I promise you that whatever the answer is, whatever the truth may prove to be, I will accept it.’
There was a long pause as he stared at his pen, which he had laid aside when Mina entered. He looked as though he very much wanted to take up the pen again and work on his papers, anything other than engage in the conversation she so earnestly wished for. He needed to choose, thought Mina, between his previous accepted view of the world, untrammelled by emotion, and a comfort that he knew in his heart was really an illusion; but he was not yet ready to make that choice. He seemed on the verge of taking the easy path and saying that he did not want to speak on the subject that so consumed his visitor, but as he gazed on Mina, there was a very slight sad smile, the capitulation of a man who saw his inevitable fate.
‘I – received a message from Eliza,’ he said at last. ‘She said that she was in no pain, and I was grateful for that. I know that any charlatan might have invented such a message, but there was one detail about the seat and the nature of the pain that suggested to me that the message could only have come from Eliza. It was something she only ever spoke of to Anna and myself. What more can I say?’
It was a small point, but a convincing one, and she had to admit it took some of the energy from her campaign. He looked so dejected that she decided not to press him further, and wished him well.
She returned home to study the most recent edition of the Gazette and found that the arrival of a new medium in Brighton had encouraged a renewal of correspondence on the subject of spiritualism, some of which was from Professor Gaskin, and some from Mr Bradley, who wholeheartedly supported the world of the spirit as a very real, holy and beneficial phenomenon.
One correspondent, who declined to mention his or her name but hid behind the nom de plume of FAIR SPEECH, advanced the theory that only some of the manifestations at séances were honest but that proving one instance of fakery did not mean the medium concerned was a fraud. Even genuine mediums might find their powers failing them on occasion, and having to meet the expectation of their admiring audiences they were sometimes obliged to resort to a little trickery in order to provide a performance. This, thought Mina, was yet another argument that meant that even a medium caught out in a blatant cheat could escape exposure. The poor hard-pressed and exhausted medium, anxious to please the public, was thereby transformed from a charlatan to an object of sympathy.
In this curious war between the believers and the sceptics, the medium, she realised, was always bound to win. Even a temporary setback could be overcome and the beloved of the spirits would rise again stronger than before. The reason was obvious – the sceptic was a creature of the intellect, using sense and calm reasoning, whereas the supporters of the mediums were led by their emotions; more than that, their passionate need to believe in a more immediate afterlife than promised by scripture, the continued happy existence of loved ones they had lost, and their own immortality. Attack that, and one attacked the fundamental human desire to deny death, a fortress that appeared unassailable.
The one thing that might weaken the power of the mediums was the thing that Mina had been told would never happen – war within their number, which might lead to incaution and therefore revelations that might not otherwise have been made. But mediums, like conjurers, knew each other’s secrets, perhaps even exchanged them, and supported each other when needed, and an attack on one was an attack on them all. A betrayal could easily rebound to the detriment of the accuser. Mina realised that if she wanted a war between the mediums she would have to start one herself.
Nineteen
It was a difficult path to tread, but after some thought she felt she had the answer. It was useless to make accusations of fraud, she could see that now, unless she had some very compelling evidence, which was not as yet in her possession, but there was another course she might take. Mina took up her pen and wrote a letter, which she decided to send to all the Brighton newspapers.
Sir
I have been a spiritualist for many years and have followed with some interest the correspondence on this subject in your pages. There are, as your readers will be aware, two ladies currently residing in Brighton who have been conducting séances. Both have impressed the populace with their sincerity, and the manifestations produced have been of the very highest order; nevertheless I feel strongly motivated to express my concerns regarding the demonstrations by the most recent arrival in this town. The medium who has been holding séances during the last few weeks is a lady of unquestionable respectability, who has always conducted herself with great modesty, and there has been nothing in either her deportment or her exhibitions that could arouse concern. The same, however, cannot be said of the lady who is newly arrived. The apparition which comes at her command and flies about the room in such a remarkable way may well be clad in a manner appropriate to the regions of the spirit, from which she comes, but such a sight is not to be tolerated in a drawing room, especially where there are ladies of quality present. Rumour has it, and I earnestly hope that this is rumour and nothing more, that these demonstrations are largely patronised by single gentlemen, and not a few married gentlemen who ought to know better. Is this true? I hope your readers will enlighten me.
Yours truly
A SPIRITUALIST
Brighton
Mina thought the letter to be of sufficient interest, provoking without being actually actionable, to be taken up by at least one if not all the newspapers in Brighton, but that was only the first part of her plan. She carefully prepared two more letters, which she would send once the first was published.
Sir
I read with considerable concern the attack upon the character of Miss Foxton, who although not named, was undoubtedly the subject of A SPIRITUALIST’s letter in your last issue. The writer claims to have been interested in spiritualism for many years but is quite ignorant of the manifestations that with the natural innocence of the newborn babe may appear. He – or is it a she? – with no understanding of these phenomena, chooses to insult Miss Foxton, who cannot be at fault in this matter. I suggest that A SPIRITUALIST write at once to withdraw the unfounded remarks, which include the vilest of rumours. I do not profess to know who the author might be, but do I perhaps detect a motive for the attack – i.e. professional jealousy?
Yours truly
BRIGHTONIAN
Kemp Town
Sir
I feel I must protest in the strongest possible terms against the tone and insinuations of the letter from A SPIRITUALIST published in your recent edition. The identity and motives of the author are no mystery to me. A fawning acolyte of Miss Eustace, seeking to enhance his own fame by attaching himself to the lady, has misguidedly sought to add to her reputation by insulting another medium. Should material of this nature be tolerated in a respectable publication? I do not believe it should.
I have personally attended the séances of both the ladies referred to and consider them to be of equal merit and interest.
Yours truly
A BELIEVER
Brighton
Mina posted the first letter and awaited developments. She had no concern about mounting an attack on Miss Foxton, which could only add to that young lady’s fame, and she might make of it what she could. Miss Eustace, if she read the newspapers, which Mina felt sure she did, if only to be well acquainted with events and personalities in Brighton, would not appreciate until the second letter was published that it was she who was suspected of having written the first. Whether or not Mr Clee would recognise himself as the ‘fawning acolyte’ of her third letter she did not know. The accusation of indecency had a second purpose for Mina; it ensured that her mother, and quite probably those of her friends who knew Richard by sight, would continue to avoid Miss Foxton’s séances.
Mina received a kind letter from Mr Greville, who thanked her for her new story, which he agreed to pub
lish, but could not immediately recall having seen any item of news about the imprisonment of a medium for fraud. It was the kind of event that might have received only a paragraph, if that, in any reputable paper. He promised, however, that when he had the opportunity he would look into it further.
Mina’s mother returned home, reporting that Enid was fully recovered from a mild attack of hysteria. Curiously, the natural disappointment that must have followed her daughter’s recent discovery that she was not, as she had thought, about to become a mother again, had aided rather than delayed her return to health. Mr Inskip, confident that Enid was now well, had just gone abroad to undertake the negotiation of a property purchase by a reclusive nobleman, a loss which the abandoned wife was facing with commendable fortitude.
By the time Louisa Scarletti was preparing to plunge back into Brighton life, the letter denouncing Miss Foxton had appeared in the Brighton Herald, and was read with the triumphant declaration that she had always known there was something not quite right about Miss Foxton.
‘I have heard,’ said Mina, who was rather enjoying stirring the bubbling pot of suspicion, ‘that the two ladies are deadly rivals and dislike each other intensely. I would have thought that there was room enough in Brighton for two spirit mediums, but they do not see it that way. I believe that the letter was written by an admirer of Miss Eustace – not the lady herself who I am quite certain is above such things – who misguidedly seeks to harm Miss Foxton’s reputation in order to elevate his or her favourite. And you may not yet have heard this, since you have not been in town, but there is a rumour being spread about Brighton that Miss Eustace has once been in prison for fraud. It surely cannot be true!’
Mina waited for her mother’s shocked reaction to this news, but to her surprise she only said, ‘And what if it were? That is just the kind of thing that might be an endorsement rather than proof of fraud.’
It took Mina a moment or two to understand that her mother had already heard the story, and dismissed it. ‘Do you mean to say you already knew of it? Is it true?’
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