“It is a great strain upon him under these adverse conditions,” remarked Ogilvy, looking angrily at Challenger.
“I should think so,” said the latter with a complacent smile.
But Linden was not to be beaten.
“The conditions are bad,” said he. “The vibrations are all wrong. But I’ll try inside the cabinet. It concentrates the force.”
“Well, it’s the last chance,” said Mailey. “We may as well try it.”
The arm-chair was lifted inside the cloth tent and the medium followed, drawing the curtain behind him.
“It condenses the ectoplasmic emanations,” Ogilvy explained.
“No doubt,” said Challenger. “At the same time in the interests of truth, I must point out that the disappearance of the medium is most regrettable.”
“For goodness sake, don’t start wrangling again,” cried Mailey with impatience. “Let us get some results, and then it will be time enough to discuss their value.”
Again there was a weary wait. Then came some hollow groanings from inside the cabinet. The Spiritualists sat up expectantly.
“That’s ectoplasm,” said Ogilvy. “It always causes pain on emission.”
The words were hardly out of his mouth when the curtains were torn open with sudden violence and a rattling of all the rings. In the dark aperture there was outlined a vague white figure. It advanced slowly and with hesitation into the centre of the room. In the red-tinted gloom all definite outline was lost, and it appeared simply as a moving white patch in the darkness. With the deliberation which suggested fear it came, step by step, until it was opposite the professor.
“Now!” he bellowed in his stentorian voice.
There was a shout, a scream, a crash. “I’ve got him!” roared someone. “Turn up the lights!” yelled another. “Be careful! You may kill the medium!” cried a third. The circle was broken. Challenger rushed to the switch and put on all the lights. The place was so flooded with radiance that it was some seconds before the bewildered and half-blinded spectators could see the details.
When they had recovered their sight and their balance, the spectacle was a deplorable one for the majority of the company. Tom Linden, looking white, dazed, and ill, was seated upon the ground. Over him stood the huge young Scotsman who had borne him to earth; while Mrs. Linden, kneeling beside her husband, was glaring up at his assailant. There was a silence as the company surveyed the scene. It was broken by Professor Challenger.
“Well, gentlemen, I presume that there is no more to be said. Your medium has been exposed as he deserved to be. You can see now the nature of your ghosts. I must thank Mr. Nicholl, who, I may remark, is the famous football player of that name, for the prompt way in which he has carried out his instructions.”
“I collared him low,” said the tall youth. “He was easy.”
“You did
it very effectively. You have done public service by helping to expose a heartless cheat. I need not say that a prosecution will follow.”
But Mailey now intervened and with such authority that Challenger was forced to listen.
“Your mistake is not unnatural, sir, though the course which you adopted in your ignorance is one which might well have been fatal to the medium.”
“My ignorance indeed! If you speak like that I warn you that I will look upon you not as dupes, but as accomplices.”
“One moment, Professor Challenger. I would ask you one direct question, and I ask for an equally direct reply. Was not the figure which we all saw before this painful episode a white figure?”
“Yes, it was.”
“You see now that the medium is entirely dressed in black. Where is the white garment?”
“It is immaterial to me where it is. No doubt his wife and himself are prepared for all eventualities. They have their own means of secreting the sheet, or whatever it may have been. These details can be explained in the police court.”
“Examine now. Search the room for anything white.”
“I know nothing of the room. I can only use my common sense. The man is exposed masquerading as a spirit. Into what corner or crevice he has thrust his disguise is a matter of small importance.”
“On the contrary, it is a vital matter. What you have seen has not been an imposture, but has been a very real phenomenon.”
Challenger laughed.