Diary fiction; England -- Fiction; Humorous stories; Men -- England -- Fiction; Middle class -- Fiction; Suburban life -- Fiction
JUNE 1.—I sat reluctantly at the table in the evening, and I am bound to
admit some curious things happened. I contend they were coincidences,
but they were curious. For instance, the table kept tilting towards me,
which Carrie construed as a desire that I should ask the spirit a
question. I obeyed the rules, and I asked the spirit (who said her name
was Lina) if she could tell me the name of an old aunt of whom I was
thinking, and whom we used to call Aunt Maggie. The table spelled out C
A T. We could make nothing out of it, till I suddenly remembered that
her second name was Catherine, which it was evidently trying to spell. I
don’t think even Carrie knew this. But if she did, she would never
cheat. I must admit it was curious. Several other things happened, and
I consented to sit at another séance on Monday.
JUNE 3.—The laundress called, and said she was very sorry about the
handkerchiefs, and returned ninepence. I said, as the colour was
completely washed out and the handkerchiefs quite spoiled, ninepence was
not enough. Carrie replied that the two handkerchiefs originally only
cost sixpence, for she remembered buying them at a sale at the Holloway
_Bon Marché_. In that case, I insisted that threepence should be
returned to the laundress. Lupin has gone to stay with the Poshs for a
few days. I must say I feel very uncomfortable about it. Carrie said I
was ridiculous to worry about it. Mr. Posh was very fond of Lupin, who,
after all, was only a mere boy.
In the evening we had another séance, which, in some respects, was very
remarkable, although the first part of it was a little doubtful. Gowing
called, as well as Cummings, and begged to be allowed to join the circle.
I wanted to object, but Mrs. James, who appears a good Medium (that is,
if there is anything in it at all), thought there might be a little more
spirit power if Gowing joined; so the five of us sat down.
The moment I turned out the gas, and almost before I could get my hands
on the table, it rocked violently and tilted, and began moving quickly
across the room. Gowing shouted out: “Way oh! steady, lad, steady!” I
told Gowing if he could not behave himself I should light the gas, and
put an end to the séance.
To tell the truth, I thought Gowing was playing tricks, and I hinted as
much; but Mrs. James said she had often seen the table go right off the
ground. The spirit Lina came again, and said, “WARN” three or four
times, and declined to explain. Mrs. James said “Lina” was stubborn
sometimes. She often behaved like that, and the best thing to do was to
send her away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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