CHAPTER XVII
THE AFTERNOON OF TUESDAY
Mme. Dauvray and Celia found Adele Rossignol, to give Adele Tace thename which she assumed, waiting for them impatiently in the garden ofan hotel at Annecy, on the Promenade du Paquier. She was a tall, lithewoman, and she was dressed, by the purse and wish of Helene Vauquier,in a robe and a long coat of sapphire velvet, which toned down thecoarseness of her good looks and lent something of elegance to herfigure.
"So it is mademoiselle," Adele began, with a smile of raillery, "who isso remarkably clever."
"Clever?" answered Celia, looking straight at Adele, as though throughher she saw mysteries beyond. She took up her part at once. Since forthe last time it had got to be played, there must be no fault in theplaying. For her own sake, for the sake of Mme. Dauvray's happiness,she must carry it off to-night with success. The suspicions of AdeleRossignol must obtain no verification. She spoke in a quiet and mostserious voice. "Under spirit-control no one is clever. One does thebidding of the spirit which controls."
"Perfectly," said Adele in a malicious tone. "I only hope you will seeto it, mademoiselle, that some amusing spirits control you this eveningand appear before us."
"I am only the living gate by which the spirit forms pass from therealm of mind into the world of matter," Celia replied.
"Quite so," said Adele comfortably. "Now let us be sensible and dine.We can amuse ourselves with mademoiselle's rigmaroles afterwards."
Mme. Dauvray was indignant. Celia, for her part, felt humiliated andsmall. They sat down to their dinner in the garden, but the rain beganto fall and drove them indoors. There were a few people dining at thesame hour, but none near enough to overhear them. Alike in the gardenand the dining-room, Adele Tace kept up the same note of ridicule anddisbelief. She had been carefully tutored for her work. She was able tocite the stock cases of exposure--"LES FRERES Davenport," as she calledthem, Eusapia Palladino and Dr. Slade. She knew the precautions whichhad been taken to prevent trickery and where those precautions hadfailed. Her whole conversation was carefully planned to one end, and toone end alone. She wished to produce in the minds of her companions socomplete an impression of her scepticism that it would seem the mostnatural thing in the world to both of them that she should insist uponsubjecting Celia to the severest tests. The rain ceased, and they tooktheir coffee on the terrace of the hotel. Mme. Dauvray had been reallypained by the conversation of Adele Tace. She had all the missionaryzeal of a fanatic.
"I do hope, Adele, that we shall make you believe. But we shall. Oh, Iam confident we shall." And her voice was feverish.
Adele dropped for the moment her tone of raillery.
"I am not unwilling to believe," she said, "but I cannot. I aminterested--yes. You see how much I have studied the subject. But Icannot believe. I have heard stories of how these manifestations areproduced--stories which make me laugh. I cannot help it. The tricks areso easy. A young girl wearing a black frock which does not rustle--itis always a black frock, is it not, because a black frock cannot beseen in the dark?--carrying a scarf or veil, with which she can makeany sort of headdress if only she is a little clever, and shod in apair of felt-soled slippers, is shut up in a cabinet or placed behind ascreen, and the lights are turned down or out--" Adele broke off with acomic shrug of the shoulders. "Bah! It ought not to deceive a child."
Celia sat with a face which WOULD grow red. She did not look, but nonethe less she was aware that Mme. Dauvray was gazing at her with aperplexed frown and some return of her suspicion showing in her eyes.Adele Tace was not content to leave the subject there.
"Perhaps," she said, with a smile, "Mlle. Celie dresses in that way fora seance?"
"Madame shall see to-night," Celia stammered, and Camille Dauvray rathersternly repeated her words.
"Yes, Adele shall see to-night. I myself will decide what you shallwear, Celie."
Adele Tace casually suggested the kind of dress which she would prefer.
"Something light in colour with a train, something which will hiss andwhisper if mademoiselle moves about the room--yes, and I think one ofmademoiselle's big hats," she said. "We will have mademoiselle asmodern as possible, so that, when the great ladies of the past appearin the coiffure of their day, we may be sure it is not Mlle. Celie whorepresents them."
"I will speak to Helene," said Mme. Dauvray, and Adele Tace was content.
There was a particular new dress of which she knew, and it was verydesirable that Mlle. Celie should wear it to-night. For one thing, ifCelia wore it, it would help the theory that she had put it on becauseshe expected that night a lover; for another, with that dress therewent a pair of satin slippers which had just come home from a shoemakerat Aix, and which would leave upon soft mould precisely the sameimprints as the grey suede shoes which the girl was wearing now.
Celia was not greatly disconcerted by Mme. Rossignol's precautions. Shewould have to be a little more careful, and Mme. de Montespan would bea little longer in responding to the call of Mme. Dauvray than most ofthe other dead ladies of the past had been. But that was all. She was,however, really troubled in another way. All through dinner, at everyword of the conversation, she had felt her reluctance towards thisseance swelling into a positive disgust. More than once she had feltdriven by some uncontrollable power to rise up at the table and cry outto Adele:
"You are right! It IS trickery. There is no truth in it."
But she had mastered herself. For opposite to her sat her patroness,her good friend, the woman who had saved her. The flush upon Mme.Dauvray's cheeks and the agitation of her manner warned Celia how muchhung upon the success of this last seance. How much for both of them!
And in the fullness of that knowledge a great fear assailed her. Shebegan to be afraid, so strong was her reluctance, that she would notbring her heart into the task. "Suppose I failed to-night because Icould not force myself to wish not to fail!" she thought, and shesteeled herself against the thought. To-night she must not fail. Forapart altogether from Mme. Dauvray's happiness, her own, it seemed, wasat stake too.
"It must be from my lips that Harry learns what I have been," she saidto herself, and with the resolve she strengthened herself.
"I will wear what you please," she said, with a smile. "I only wishMme. Rossignol to be satisfied."
"And I shall be," said Adele, "if--" She leaned forward in anxiety. Shehad come to the real necessity of Helene Vauquier's plan. "If weabandon as quite laughable the cupboard door and the string across it;if, in a word, mademoiselle consents that we tie her hand and foot andfasten her securely in a chair. Such restraints are usual in theexperiments of which I have read. Was there not a medium called Mlle.Cook who was secured in this way, and then remarkable things, which Icould not believe, were supposed to have happened?"
"Certainly I permit it," said Celia, with indifference; and Mme.Dauvray cried enthusiastically:
"Ah, you shall believe to-night in those wonderful things!"
Adele Tace leaned back. She drew a breath. It was a breath of relief.
"Then we will buy the cord in Aix," she said.
"We have some, no doubt, in the house," said Mme. Dauvray.
Adele shook her head and smiled.
"My dear madame, you are dealing with a sceptic. I should not becontent."
Celia shrugged her shoulders.
"Let us satisfy Mme. Rossignol," she said.
Celia, indeed, was not alarmed by this last precaution. For her it wasa test less difficult than the light-coloured rustling robe. She hadappeared upon so many platforms, had experienced too often the bunglingefforts of spectators called up from the audience, to be in any fear.There were very few knots from which her small hands and supple fingershad not learnt long since to extricate themselves. She was aware howmuch in all these matters the personal equation counted. Men who might,perhaps, have been able to tie knots from which she could not get freewere always too uncomfortable and self-conscious, or too afraid ofhurting her white arms and wrists, to do it. W
omen, on the other hand,who had no compunctions of that kind, did not know how.
It was now nearly eight o'clock; the rain still held off.
"We must go," said Mme. Dauvray, who for the last half-hour had beencontinually looking at her watch.
They drove to the station and took the train. Once more the rain camedown, but it had stopped again before the train steamed into Aix atnine o'clock.
"We will take a cab," said Mme. Dauvray: "it will save time."
"It will do us good to walk, madame," pleaded Adele. The train wasfull. Adele passed quickly out from the lights of the station in thethrong of passengers and waited in the dark square for the others tojoin her. "It is barely nine. A friend has promised to call at theVilla Rose for me after eleven and drive me back in a motor-car toGeneva, so we have plenty of time."
They walked accordingly up the hill, Mme. Dauvray slowly, since she wasstout, and Celia keeping pace with her. Thus it seemed natural thatAdele Tace should walk ahead, though a passer-by would not have thoughtshe was of their company. At the corner of the Rue du Casino Adelewaited for them and said quickly:
"Mademoiselle, you can get some cord, I think, at the shop there," andshe pointed to the shop of M. Corval. "Madame and I will go slowly on;you, who are the youngest, will easily catch us up." Celia went intothe shop, bought the cord, and caught Mme. Dauvray up before shereached the villa.
"Where is Mme. Rossignol?" she asked.
"She went on," said Camille Dauvray. "She walks faster than I do."
They passed no one whom they knew, although they did pass one whorecognised them, as Perrichet had discovered. They came upon Adele,waiting for them at the corner of the road, where it turns down towardthe villa.
"It is near here--the Villa Rose?" she asked.
"A minute more and we are there."
They turned in at the drive, closed the gate behind them, and walked upto the villa.
The windows and the glass doors were closed, the latticed shuttersfastened. A light burned in the hall.
"Helene is expecting us," said Mme. Dauvray, for as they approached shesaw the front door open to admit them, and Helene Vauquier in thedoorway. The three women went straight into the little salon, which wasready with the lights up and a small fire burning. Celia noticed thefire with a trifle of dismay. She moved a fire-screen in front of it.
"I can understand why you do that, mademoiselle," said Adele Rossignol,with a satirical smile. But Mme. Dauvray came to the girl's help.
"She is right, Adele. Light is the great barrier between us and thespirit-world," she said solemnly.
Meanwhile, in the hall Helene Vauquier locked and bolted the frontdoor. Then she stood motionless, with a smile upon her face and a heartbeating high. All through that afternoon she had been afraid that someaccident at the last moment would spoil her plan, that Adele Tace hadnot learned her lesson, that Celie would take fright, that she wouldnot return. Now all those fears were over. She had her victims safewithin the villa. The charwoman had been sent home. She had them toherself. She was still standing in the hall when Mme. Dauvray calledaloud impatiently:
"Helene! Helene!"
And when she entered the salon there was still, as Celia was able torecall, some trace of her smile lingering upon her face.
Adele Rossignol had removed her hat and was taking off her gloves. Mme.Dauvray was speaking impatiently to Celia.
"We will arrange the room, dear, while Helene helps you to dress. Itwill be quite easy. We shall use the recess."
And Celia, as she ran up the stairs, heard Mme. Dauvray discussing withher maid what frock she should wear. She was hot, and she took ahurried bath. When she came from her bathroom she saw with dismay thatit was her new pale-green evening gown which had been laid out. It wasthe last which she would have chosen. But she dared not refuse it. Shemust still any suspicion. She must succeed. She gave herself intoHelene's hands. Celia remembered afterwards one or two points whichpassed barely heeded at the time. Once while Helene was dressing herhair she looked up at the maid in the mirror and noticed a strange andrather horrible grin upon her face, which disappeared the moment theireyes met. Then again, Helene was extraordinarily slow andextraordinarily fastidious that evening. Nothing satisfied her, neitherthe hang of the girl's skirt, the folds of her sash, nor thearrangement of her hair.
"Come, Helene, be quick," said Celia. "You know how madame hates to bekept waiting at these times. You might be dressing me to go to meet mylover," she added, with a blush and a smile at her own prettyreflection in the glass; and a queer look came upon Helene Vauquier'sface. For it was at creating just this very impression that she aimed.
"Very well, mademoiselle," said Helene. And even as she spoke Mme.Dauvray's voice rang shrill and irritable up the stairs.
"Celie! Celie!"
"Quick, Helene," said Celia. For she herself was now anxious to havethe seance over and done with.
But Helene did not hurry. The more irritable Mme. Dauvray became, themore impatient with Mlle. Celie, the less would Mlle. Celie dare torefuse the tests Adele wished to impose upon her. But that was not all.She took a subtle and ironic pleasure to-night in decking out hervictim's natural loveliness. Her face, her slender throat, her whiteshoulders, should look their prettiest, her grace of limb and figureshould be more alluring than ever before. The same words, indeed, wererunning through both women's minds.
"For the last time," said Celia to herself, thinking of these horribleseances, of which to-night should see the end.
"For the last time," said Helene Vauquier too. For the last time shelaced the girl's dress. There would be no more patient and carefulservice for Mlle. Celie after to-night. But she should have it and tospare to-night. She should be conscious that her beauty had never madeso strong an appeal; that she was never so fit for life as at themoment when the end had come. One thing Helene regretted. She wouldhave liked Celia--Celia, smiling at herself in the glass--to knowsuddenly what was in store for her! She saw in imagination the colourdie from the cheeks, the eyes stare wide with terror.
"Celie! Celie!"
Again the impatient voice rang up the stairs, as Helene pinned thegirl's hat upon her fair head. Celie sprang up, took a quick step ortwo towards the door, and stopped in dismay. The swish of her longsatin train must betray her. She caught up the dress and tried again.Even so, the rustle of it was heard.
"I shall have to be very careful. You will help me, Helene?"
"Of course, mademoiselle. I will sit underneath the switch of the lightin the salon. If madame, your visitor, makes the experiment toodifficult, I will find a way to help you," said Helene Vauquier, and asshe spoke she handed Celia a long pair of white gloves.
"I shall not want them," said Celia.
"Mme. Dauvray ordered me to give them to you," replied Helene.
Celia took them hurriedly, picked up a white scarf of tulle, and randown the stairs. Helene Vauquier listened at the door and heardmadame's voice in feverish anger.
"We have been waiting for you, Celie. You have been an age."
Helene Vauquier laughed softly to herself, took out Celia's white frockfrom the wardrobe, turned off the lights, and followed her down to thehall. She placed the cloak just outside the door of the salon. Then shecarefully turned out all the lights in the hall and in the kitchen andwent into the salon. The rest of the house was in darkness. This roomwas brightly lit; and it had been made ready.