Mme. Le Fabre, we afterwards learned, had come from Versailles
especially to investigate the matter that was bothering us. She
possessed no mediumistic properties of her own but was a staunch
proponent of spiritualism, believing firmly in immortality and the
omnipotence of “translated” souls.
Professor Herold is most widely known as the inventor of certain
apparatus connected with wireless. But he is also considered the West's
most advanced student of electrical and radio-active subjects.
I was enormously glad to have this man's expert, high-tension knowledge
right on tap.
The remaining member of the quintet which Sir Henry advised me to summon
requires a little explanation. Also, I am obliged to give him a name
not his own; for it is not often that brigadier-generals of the United
States army can openly lend their names to anything so far removed
apparently from militarism as the searching of the occult.
Yet we knew that this man possessed a power that few scientists have
developed; the power of co-ordination, of handling and balancing great
facts and forces, and of deciding promptly how best to meet any given
situation. Not that we looked for anything militaristic out of the Blind
Spot; far from it. We merely knew not what to expect, which was exactly
why we wanted to have him with us; his type of mind is, perhaps, the
most solidly comforting sort that any mystery-bound person can have at
his side.
By the time these five had gathered, Jerome had neither returned
nor telephoned. There was not the slightest trace of Rhamda Avec; no
guessing as to whether he had seen the ad. It was then one o'clock in
the afternoon. Only six hours ago! It doesn't seem possible.
So there were eight of us--three women and five men--who went upstairs
and quietly inspected the all but lifeless form of Ariadne and
afterwards gathered in the library below.
All were thoroughly familiar with the situation. Miss Clarke calmly
commented to the effect that the entire Blind Spot affair was due wholly
and simply to the cumulative effects of so many, many subjects; the
result, in other words, of error.
Dr. Malloy was equally outspoken in his announcement that he proposed
to deal with the matter from the standpoint of psychic aberration. He
mentioned dissociated personalities, group hypnosis, and so on. But he
declared that he was open to conviction, and anxious to get any and all
facts.
Sir Henry had a good deal of difficulty in getting Mme. Le Fabre to
commit herself. Probably she felt that, since Sir Henry had gone on
record as being doubtful of the spiritistic explanation of psychic
phenomena, she might get into a controversy with him. But in the end
she stated that she expected to find our little mystery simply a novel
variation on what was so familiar to her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account