human
Martha says, 'I will try,' she gave out finally.
gpt
Quick--with your question--with your lips, not your mind--I am not strong enough now.
human
What was Lallie's real name?
gpt
Helen.
human
Her other name?
gpt
Martha is silent. You are testing me. Tell something you want to know--even advice.
human
Was there ever anyone else?
gpt
Never. She loved you wholly. She was angry over a little thing, just jealousy, during that last quarrel. She had already forgiven. It was only a girl's whim. Do you want advice?
human
Ask her if I shall sell,
gpt
Martha says that she is going away.
human
It is all over for this evening. I suppose the trouble lay in your last question. I am sorry--if you came here looking for business advice--that you got only the things of the affections. To your old love affairs, I had an unusually quick response to-night. She leaned heavily back in her chair.
gpt
Excuse me if I seem tired. There is a kind of inner strain about this which you cannot know--a strain at the core. It does not affect the surface, but it makes you languid.
human
I shall not ask you, she went on,
gpt
As nearly as you could over a telephone wire, he answered.
human
You're a marvelously clever woman, to think of that,
gpt
If I appear at all clever by contrast with what you expected to find, it is because I have not let my mind dwell in a half-world, as have so many others of my profession. That is the tendency. I have seen no reason why I should not combat it. I believe, too, that I am the stronger for it in my work. What was I saying? Oh, yes--about the first contact. Probably the last thought of the disembodied, upon assuming the trance state--for I believe that the sender of these messages, like the receivers, have to enter an abnormal condition--is to prove their identity. That is only natural, is it not? Would not you do the same? Think. And what do they have to offer? One of those intimate memories of years past which linger so long in the mind. Take me for example. What should I offer to--well, to that one among the disembodied who means most to me? An adventure in stealing cream from a dairy house! As though she were carried away by this memory, her face grew soft and serious. With an outward sweep of her hands and a quick
human
The best judges of character--and you must be such a one--make their mistakes. Why did you ask that question?
gpt
Because I wanted to know, I suppose.
human
Were this Helen in the flesh--young and inexperienced as she was--would you expect her to give you advice in any large affair of business--would she be basically interested in it? Interested because it is yours and she loves you, perhaps--but basically? We have no proof that natures change out there. I suppose that isn't all, either. Is she, keeping her soul for you in a life which I hope is better--is she interested in whether or no you make a little more money and position? I can conceive only one condition in which she would mention your business. If you were at a crossroads--if great danger or great deliverance hung on your decision--she might sense that. I think they must get it, by some process to which we are blind, from other disembodied spirits.
gpt
Suppose, then, that--Martha I think you call her--had brought some old business associate. Would he have answered me?
human
Perhaps. But that does not really explain what is in your mind. If this business matter which perplexes you were so vital, don't you suppose that some one of those very associates would have rushed to speak, instead of a dead love? In that way, I think I can construct an answer--provided you ask that question in good faith. It is, probably, not very important whether you sell or no.
gpt
I know who you are, now! she said.
human
You are Robert H. Norcross of the Norcross lines!
gpt
Please do not think I got _that_ by any supernormal means! she added quickly.
human
I mention it only to be frank with you. From the moment I saw you, I was perplexed by a memory and a resemblance. Then, too, I caught the air of big things about you. That attitude which you have just taken solved it all. It is the counterpart of your photograph in last Sunday's _Times_--the full-page snap shot. I must be frank with you or you will not believe me.
gpt
Passing over what I may think of your revelations, he said,
human
If you're coming again, said Mrs. Markham,
gpt
Since this is a--a--professional relation, may I ask how much I owe you?
human
My price is twenty-five dollars a sitting--for those who can afford it.
gpt
You see, she went on as though her mind were still following their discussion,
human
I don't like to talk much with my--patients. I never can know when I may unconsciously steal from what they tell me.
gpt
If I should come again, would Helen tell me more?
human
Perhaps. From the excellent result to-night I should call it likely.
gpt
Then may I come again?
human
Certainly. Will you make an appointment?
gpt
Tuesday night?
human
I had an engagement for Tuesday. Could you come as well on Friday?
gpt
Very well. Say Friday at eight.