Diary fiction; England -- Fiction; Humorous stories; Men -- England -- Fiction; Middle class -- Fiction; Suburban life -- Fiction
She then hit the table sharply, and said: “Go away, Lina; you are
disagreeable. Go away!” I should think we sat nearly three-quarters of
an hour with nothing happening. My hands felt quite cold, and I
suggested we should stop the séance. Carrie and Mrs. James, as well as
Cummings, would not agree to it. In about ten minutes’ time there was
some tilting towards me. I gave the alphabet, and it spelled out S P O O
F. As I have heard both Gowing and Lupin use the word, and as I could
hear Gowing silently laughing, I directly accused him of pushing the
table. He denied it; but, I regret to say, I did not believe him.
Gowing said: “Perhaps it means ‘Spook,’ a ghost.”
I said: “_You_ know it doesn’t mean anything of the sort.”
Gowing said: “Oh! very well—I’m sorry I ‘spook,’” and he rose from the
table.
No one took any notice of the stupid joke, and Mrs. James suggested he
should sit out for a while. Gowing consented and sat in the arm-chair.
The table began to move again, and we might have had a wonderful séance
but for Gowing’s stupid interruptions. In answer to the alphabet from
Carrie the table spelt “NIPUL,” then the “WARN” three times. We could
not think what it meant till Cummings pointed out that “NIPUL” was Lupin
spelled backwards. This was quite exciting. Carrie was particularly
excited, and said she hoped nothing horrible was going to happen.
Mrs. James asked if “Lina” was the spirit. The table replied firmly,
“No,” and the spirit would not give his or her name. We then had the
message, “NIPUL will be very rich.”
Carrie said she felt quite relieved, but the word “WARN” was again spelt
out. The table then began to oscillate violently, and in reply to Mrs.
James, who spoke very softly to the table, the spirit began to spell its
name. It first spelled “DRINK.”
Gowing here said: “Ah! that’s more in my line.”
I asked him to be quiet as the name might not be completed.
The table then spelt “WATER.”
Gowing here interrupted again, and said: “Ah! that’s _not_ in my line.
_Outside_ if you like, but not inside.”
Carrie appealed to him to be quiet.
The table then spelt “CAPTAIN,” and Mrs. James startled us by crying out,
“Captain Drinkwater, a very old friend of my father’s, who has been dead
some years.”
This was more interesting, and I could not help thinking that after all
there must be something in Spiritualism.
Mrs. James asked the spirit to interpret the meaning of the word “Warn”
as applied to “NIPUL.” The alphabet was given again, and we got the word
“BOSH.”
Gowing here muttered: “So it is.”
Mrs. James said she did not think the spirit meant that, as Captain
Drinkwater was a perfect gentleman, and would never have used the word in
answer to a lady’s question. Accordingly the alphabet was given again.
This time the table spelled distinctly “POSH.” We all thought of Mrs.
Murray Posh and Lupin. Carrie was getting a little distressed, and as it
was getting late we broke up the circle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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