The judge, worn by the ceaseless stream of diseased, ineffectual, and halting humanity passing daily before his eyes, gazed in surprise and growing interest upon this group of handsome and well-dressed people while the prosecuting attorney presented the claims of the complaining witness, charging the defendant with conspiring to rob or defraud one, Mary Aiken. "Where is Mrs. Aiken?" asked the judge. "She is too ill to appear, your honor," replied the prosecuting attorney, "but her granddaughter is here prepared to give in detail the story of how the defendant, who professes to be a medium, induced her aged and infirm grandmother to withdraw her money from certain investments in her native town and put them into the hands of another--namely, the absconding president of the People's Bank, thereby impoverishing her. Thomas Aiken, the complainant, charges that the said defendant, Lucile Ollnee, has by her uncanny powers obtained large sums of money, and that she should be punished as a swindler." The judge studied the faces of the witnesses before him, then asked, "What have you to say to this, Mrs. Ollnee?" "It is false," she replied. The prosecution put in a word. "You will not deny that you advised these investments?" "I advised nothing," she retorted. "What my controls advised I only know in a general way." "What do you mean by 'controls'?" inquired the judge. "I am a spirit medium, and sometimes a trance medium," she replied, facing him steadily. "Those whom men call the dead speak through me." "In what way?" "Partly by writing, partly by means of voices." "Do you mean to say that the dead speak in voices audible to others than yourself?" "Yes, your honor, they often speak so loud that any one may hear them. For the most part they whisper." The prosecution again struck in. "These voices are a part of the trick, a part of her method of luring her victims on to do her will." The judge turned to the complainant, Thomas Aiken, a dark-faced, sullen young man. "Have you heard these voices, Mr. Aiken?" "No, sir; I never had a seance; but my sister has had a number of interviews with this woman. I know that in spite of the advice of her friends my grandmother has been induced to give away her money to this woman and to that scoundrel, Pettus. We have been robbed by her. It amounts to that, and we intend to stop it." The judge turned back to Mrs. Ollnee. "Do you wish to be tried here and now on this charge?" Mr. Bartol interposed. "No, your honor, we do not. This case is a very peculiar one. My client is a lady, as you may see, and should never have been brought into this court in this fashion. That she is a medium is probably true; but there is no evidence of deceit on her part. She assures me of her absolute faith in these Voices, and her manner carries conviction. Her friends believe in her also. She claims to be nothing more than the means of communication between this world and the world of the dead."