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lucky
to have made such a match."
    Clara politely sipped, unsure of
the way in which Violet spoke of her fiancé through the eyes of her mother's
advice.
    "But you shall meet
Clifford this weekend!" Violet exclaimed, snapping Clara from her
thoughts.  "Please, do say you will come.  It shall be frightfully dull to
endure an entire weekend with no one to be my companion besides Maman."
    "It sounds like quite a
fascinating opportunity," said Clara.  "Tell me, who all will be
joining us?"
    "Well, there is Maman and
I.  Clifford and his father, whom you've already met.  Marguerite Matson, who
is quite the modern woman.  We are not terribly well acquainted, but she has
known Clifford since his university days.  I hope you will not think poorly of
her.  When her husband disappeared, she was the center of a great deal of scandal
and gossip, but Clifford assures me of her good character.  Marguerite is quite
the skeptic, though, and has insisted upon bringing a scientist named Norman Scettico
to point out the supposed error of our ways.  The medium who will be guiding us
on our journey is a man named Wesley Lowenherz.  He is known in all of the spiritual
circles as someone who is quite able to talk to anyone beyond the grave."
    At the sound of Wesley's name,
Clara felt the blood drain from her face and prayed that Violet did not remark
at how remarkably pale she had become.  Horace had said it was quite a coincidence
that she sought him out at the moment she did.  She thought, too, of the coincidence
that this medium, this Wesley Lowenherz, was the spiritualist he employed.  She
had been tortured by her cowardice to speak up in that vaudeville house, and
now she had been invited to spend an entire weekend in Mr. Lowenherz's presence. 
She felt her teacup clatter on her saucer and placed it down upon the table.  "It
sounds like splendid company."
    "I am sure it seems quite
odd that Horace would be so quick to invite you along, but I swear that you
shall find our merry party most pleasant."
    "It does seem rather
strange to go somewhere so far away from town with people I've just become
acquainted..." Clara confessed.
    Violet nodded, this time seemly
to be the one with the sympathy, which struck Clara as quite a different turn
of events.  She spoke, "Each of us has endured great tragedy.  We have
lost loved ones too soon.  Each of us wishes to speak with them, to find this
connection.  Horace is insistent that this home is a place where the veil is quite
thin.  In fact, Mr. Lowenherz was the first to suggest the location and the
company."  Violet stared into her cup, almost embarrassed to broach the
subject with Clara.  "Horace stated that you, yourself, had an experience
of a troubling kind."
    Clara did not know how best to reply. 
"At the risk of sounding like quite a madwoman, I saw a strange figure in
my chambers the other night and do not know what to make of it."
    Violet leaned forward. 
"And that is why you must come!  If you were seeing this figure here,
where there is almost no psychic activity at all, imagine who you might see if
you join us in this other place!  You must come!  Please, tell me that you
will."
    "It could have all been
nothing more than a trick of my mind," protested Clara.
    "And so you must come to
find out if it is just your mind or something more!"
    "But the woman I saw was
here in this house.  Why would I go elsewhere for answers?"
    "Mr. Lowenherz is the most
sought after medium in polite society.  His rates are quite beyond your means,
or even mine."
    Clara did not feel it polite to
point out she had seen him just the other day in a line-up at a vaudeville
house.
    Violet continued, oblivious to
Clara's hesitation.  "It is only through Horace's intervention that we
even have access to him.  It is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and you
really must come to at least see if he has answers for you." 
    Clara was so close to agreeing. 
There was something about Violet which made