Humorous stories; London (England) -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
I kept my appointment at nine that night, and the Dentrys’ rather
frowsy maid showed me into the room where I had been on the previous
evening. Two men in evening dress stood by the fireplace. One was
Dentry; the other was a short, solid-looking man with a closely
clipped grey beard. At the table sat an elderly lady in black, with
tight lips and a proud, disapproving face. Dentry thanked me for
coming, and explained that his wife could not be present. “She is,
in fact, taking some of my regular work in order that I may be free.”
The grey-bearded man was introduced to me as Dr. Morning. The
elderly lady, to whom I was not presented, was his wife.
“The doctor and Mrs. Morning are acting for Mr. Wentworth Holding,”
said Dentry. “They are here to find out whether we cheat. I admit
the unfortunate necessity of such an examination, and I may add that
I welcome it. How will you begin, Dr. Morning?”
“With the walls.”
“Certainly,” said Dentry. He changed his position and leaned against
one of the panels. The doctor began with that panel, but neither
there nor in the rest of his thorough examination of the room did he
seem to come across anything of a suspicious character. This part of
the business rather bored me. I wanted to get on and see what would
happen.
The doctor produced several straps with bells attached to them, and
Mrs. Morning fastened a couple of these on my hands and wrists. She
did this without speaking a word to me, and as she tightened the
strap on my wrists she looked as if she wished they had been
handcuffs. The doctor secured Dentry in a similar manner. If either
he or I moved hand or foot the sound of the bells would betray us.
The doctor, Dentry and myself took our seats at the table in the
usual way. Mrs. Morning sat at a little distance. All the lights
were put out, but there was an unlit candle on a little table beside
Mrs. Morning, and she held a box of matches ready in her hand.
Almost immediately Dentry asked, in a clear, loud voice, “Is there
any spirit here present? From a far corner of the room came a low
snarl as of some wild beast.
“The spirit present,” said Dentry, “is an evil spirit. It will be
safer not to go on with the sitting.”
“We will go on, please,” said Dr. Morning.
“Very well,” said Dentry. “I disclaim all responsibility.”
“Of course,” said the doctor. There was distinctly a note of
contempt in his voice.
For a few slow minutes we went on sitting in silence, and then I
heard a crash. Mrs. Morning struck a match and lit the candle at her
side. I could see that the doctor had been thrown violently to the
ground. “All right, all right,” he said to his wife. “I’m not hurt.
Let me have a little more light, please.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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