The Land Of Mist - Doyle Arthur Conan - Страница 14

Atkinson, the surgeon, was one of the circle, and had sat silently listening. Now he spoke.

«I think the learned bodies should find more time for the consideration of psychic matters.»

«Less,» said Polter.

«You can't have less than nothing. They ignore them altogether. Some time ago I had a series of cases of telepathic rapport which I wished to lay before the Royal Society. My colleague Wilson, the zoologist, also had a paper which he proposed to read. They went in together. His was accepted and mine rejected. The title of his paper was 'The Reproductive System of the Dung-Beetle'.»

There was a general laugh.

«Quite right, too,» said Polter. «The humble dung-beetle was at least a fact. All this psychic stuff is not.»

«No doubt you have good grounds for your views,» chirped the mischievous Millworthy, a mild youth with a velvety manner. «I have little time for solid reading, so I should like to ask you which of Dr. Crawford's three books you consider the best?»

«I never heard of the fellow.»

Millworthy simulated intense surprise.

«Good Heavens, man! Why, he is the authority. If you want pure laboratory experiments those are the books. You might as well lay down the law about zoology and confess that you had never heard of Darwin.»

«This is not science,» said Polter, emphatically.

«What is really not science,» said Atkinson, with some heat, «is the laying down of the law on matters which you have not studied. It is talk of that sort which has brought me to the edge of Spiritualism, when I compare this dogmatic ignorance with the earnest search for truth conducted by the great Spiritualists. Many of them took twenty years of work before they formed their conclusions.»

«But their conclusions are worthless because they are upholding a formed opinion.»

«But each of them fought a long fight before he formed that opinion. I know a few of them, and there is not one who did not take a lot of convincing.» Polter shrugged his shoulders.

«Well, they can have their spooks if it makes them happier so long as they let me keep my feet firm on the ground.»

«Or stuck in the mud,» said Atkinson.

«I would rather be in the mud with sane people thin in the air with lunatics,» said Polter. «I know some of these Spiritualists people and I believe that you can divide them equally into fools and rogues.»

Malone had listened with interest and then with a growing indignation. Now he suddenly took fire.

«Look here, Polter,» he said, turning his chair towards the company, «it is fools and dolts like you which are holding back the world's progress. You admit that you have read nothing of this, and I'll swear you have seen nothing. Yet you use the position and the name which you have won in other matters in order to discredit a number of people who, whatever they may be, are certainly very earnest and very thoughtful.»

«Oh,» said Polter, «I had no idea you had got so far. You don't dare to say so in your articles. You are a Spiritualist then. That rather discounts your views, does it not?»

«I am not a Spiritualist, but I am an honest inquirer, and that is more than you have ever been. You call them rogues and fools, but, little as I know, I am sure that some of them are men and women whose boots you are not worthy to clean.»

«Oh, come, Malone!» cried one or two voices, but the insulted Polter was on his feet. «It's men like you who empty this club,» he cried, as he swept out. «I shall certainly never come here again to be insulted.»

«I say, you've done it, Malone!»

«I felt inclined to help him out with a kick. Why should he ride roughshod over other people's feelings and beliefs? He has got on and most of us haven't, so he thinks it's a condescension to come among us.»

«Dear old Irishman!» said Atkinson, patting his shoulder. «Rest, perturbed spirit, rest! But I wanted to have a word with you. Indeed, I was waiting here because I did not want to interrupt you.»

«I've had interruptions enough!» cried Malone. «How could I work with that damned donkey braying in my ear?»

«Well, I've only a word to say. I've got a sitting with Linden, the famous medium of whom I spoke to you, at the Psychic College to-night. I have an extra ticket. Would you care to come?»

«Come? I should think so!»

«I have another ticket. I should have asked Polter if he had not been so offensive. Linden does not mind sceptics, but objects to scoffers. Who should I ask?»

«Let Miss Enid Challenger come. We work together, you know.»

«Why, of course I will. Will you let her know?»

«Certainly.»

«It's at seven o'clock to-night. The Psychic College. You know the place down at Holland Park.»

«Yes, I have the address. Very well, Miss Challenger and I will certainly be there.»

Behold the pair, then, upon a fresh psychic adventure. They picked Atkinson up at Wimpole Street, and then traversed that long, roaring rushing, driving belt of the great city which extends through Oxford Street and Bayswater to Notting Hill and the stately Victorian houses of Holland Park. It was at one of these that the taxi drew up, a large, imposing building, standing back a little from the road. A smart maid admitted them, and the subdued light of the tinted hall-lamp fell upon shining linoleum and polished woodwork with the gleam of white marble statuary in the corner. Enid's female perceptions told her of a well-run, well-appointed establishment, with a capable direction at the head. This direction took the shape of a kindly Scottish lady who met them in the hall and greeted Mr. Atkinson as an old friend. She was, in turn, introduced to the journalists as Mrs. Ogilvy. Malone had already heard how her husband and she had founded and run this remarkable institute, which is the centre of psychic experiment in London, at a very great cost, both in labour and in money, to themselves.

«Linden and his wife have gone up,» said Mrs. Ogilvy. «He seems to think that the conditions are favourable. The rest are in the drawing-room. Won't you join them for a few minutes?»

Quite a number of people had gathered for the seance, some of them old psychic students who were mildly interested, others, beginners who looked about them with rather startled eyes, wondering what was going to happen next. A tall man was standing near the door who turned and disclosed the tawny beard and open face of Algernon Mailey. He shook hands with the newcomers.

«Another experience, Mr. Malone? Well, I thought you gave a very fair account of the last. You are still a neophyte, but you are well within the gates of the temple. Are you alarmed, Miss Challenger?»

«I don't think I could be while you were around,» she answered.

He laughed.

«Of course, a materialization seance is a little different to any other – more impressive, in a way. You'll find it very instructive, Malone, as bearing upon psychic photography and other matters. By the way, you should try for a psychic picture. The famous Hope works upstairs.»

«I always thought that that at least was fraud.»

«On the contrary, I should say it was the best established of all phenomena, the one which leaves the most permanent proof. I've been a dozen times under every possible test conditions. The real trouble is, not that it lends itself to fraud, but that it lends itself to exploitation by that villainous journalism which cares only for a sensation. Do you know anyone here?»

«No, we don't.»

«The tall, handsome lady is the Duchess of Rossland. Then, there are Lord and Lady Montnoir, the middle-aged couple near the fire. Real, good folk and among the very few of the aristocracy who have shown earnestness and moral courage in this matter. The talkative lady is Miss Badley, who lives for seances, a jaded Society woman in search of new sensations – always visible, always audible, and always empty. I don't know the two men. I heard someone say they were researchers from the university. The stout man with the lady in black is Sir James Smith – they lost two boys in the war. The tall, dark person, is a weird man named Barclay, who lives, I understand, in one room and seldom comes out save for a seance.»