“Certainly; no meeting would be complete without her,” responded Russell, bowing himself from the room. “Esther will not come if she can avoid it,” said Alice after the Professor had gone. “She feels deeply mortified because of the exhibition she was forced to make of herself at Mr. Jenkinson’s. She herself has no faith in spiritism, even though her mother is so absorbed in it.” “Poor girl, I pity her,” Lissa said. “It is a shame the way her mother misuses her. Letting her have all the care of that large family, while she sits in her easy chair and holds communion with spirits, as she claims.” “Was she always like that,” asked Mrs. Clyne. “I confess she impresses me as being just a little out,” tapping her forehead significantly. “She was quite an invalid when she first came here,” replied Lissa, “and of course the burden of household care fell upon Esther, and since Mrs. McCleary has been in better health she does not seem inclined to shoulder responsibility of any kind, and Esther is cook, housekeeper, and nurse to those children, as entirely as though she were the only woman about the house. She is a delicate girl, too, and must break down soon if she is not relieved of some of her burdens, I’m afraid.” “Mrs. McCleary was all right until she became a convert to this accursed spiritism,” said Mark. “I have known her for years. She used to live near my old home in Iowa, and was a good, capable woman; but she seems now to have no interest in anything that does not come from the other world. If Esther should die and become a spirit she might become an object of her interest and solicitude. I am utterly disgusted with Russell and all of his nonsense about spirit manifestations, and revelations, and the like. In my opinion, all the spirit he communes with is the spirit of evil, his Satanic majesty. I can’t have a bit of faith in the fellow, and I believe Nathan feels as I do about it.” “O, come now,” said Alice, “you are too bad, Mark. Professor Russell certainly believes in his creed himself, and is honest in his convictions, whether they be right or wrong.” “I even doubt that,” replied Mark. “He foretold your coming here to-day. What do you think of that?” asked Alice triumphantly. “I think he probably saw Wish-has-ta, who told him we would certainly come back for him, or possibly he may have seen me in C—— after my arrival. I stopped there several hours. Depend upon it, he learned it from no disembodied spirit.” “And more than that, Mark, he told us about our sister Elsie, and I am sure he could not have heard about her,” Alice continued. “Unless he may have heard you talking about her, with mother or Lissa, lately.” Lissa flushed. “How suspicious you are, Mark. I am sure he might have learned these things through spirit agency, as well as many others which can be explained in no other way.” “How do you know, Alice, that they can be explained in no other way?”