The Seance

Helene Vauquier locked the door of the salon upon the inside and
placed the key upon the mantel-shelf, as she had always done
whenever a seance had been held. The curtains had been loosened at
the sides of the arched recess in front of the glass doors, ready
to be drawn across. Inside the recess, against one of the pillars
which supported the arch, a high stool without a back, taken from
the hall, had been placed, and the back legs of the stool had been
lashed with cord firmly to the pillar, so that it could not be
moved. The round table had been put in position, with three chairs
about it. Mme. Dauvray waited impatiently. Celia stood apparently
unconcerned, apparently lost to all that was going on. Her eyes
saw no one. Adele looked up at Celia, and laughed maliciously.

"Mademoiselle, I see, is in the very mood to produce the most
wonderful phenomena. But it will be better, I think, madame," she
said, turning to Mme. Dauvray, "that Mlle. Celie should put on
those gloves which I see she has thrown on to a chair. It will be
a little more difficult for mademoiselle to loosen these cords,
should she wish to do so."

The argument silenced Celia. If she refused this condition now she
would excite Mme. Dauvray to a terrible suspicion. She drew on her
gloves ruefully and slowly, smoothed them over her elbows, and
buttoned them. To free her hands with her fingers and wrists
already hampered in gloves would not be so easy a task. But there
was no escape. Adele Rossignol was watching her with a satiric
smile. Mme. Dauvray was urging her to be quick. Obeying a second
order the girl raised her skirt and extended a slim foot in a
pale-green silk stocking and a satin slipper to match. Adele was
content. Celia was wearing the shoes she was meant to wear. They
were made upon the very same last as those which Celia had just
kicked off upstairs. An almost imperceptible nod from Helene
Vauquier, moreover, assured her.