Vance separated Lee from
the electric switch.
"I must ask you," said Vance, "to keep the sears I have assigned
to you. With us tonight are both favorable and unfavorable
influences. And what I have tried to do in placing you, is to
obtain the best psychic results." He moved to the door and
looked into the hall, then turned, and with uplifted arm
silently demanded attention.
"Miss Vera," he announced. Followed closely, like respectful
courtiers, by Mannie and Mrs. Vance, Vera appeared in the
doorway, walked a few feet into the room, and stood motionless.
As though already in a trance, she moved slowly, without
volition, like a somnambulist. Her head was held high, but her
eyes were dull and unseeing. Her arms hung limply. She wore an
evening gown of soft black stuff, that clung to her like a lace
shawl, and which left her throat and arms bare. In spite of the
clash of interests, of antagonism, of mutual distrust, there was
no one present to whom the sight of the young girl did not bring
an uneasy thrill. The nature of the thing she proposed to do,
contrasted with the loveliness of her face, which seemed to mock
at the possibility of deceit; something in her rapt, distant
gaze, in the dignity of her uplifted head, in her air of
complete detachment from her surroundings, caused even the most
skeptical to question if she might not possess the power she
claimed, to feel for a moment the approach of the supernatural.
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