The death of Geoffrey Garwood was a closed case so far as the Philadelphia police were concerned. The funeral was over, and Maude Garwood was back in her home. But the unfortunate widow lacked neither companionship nor solace.
Her nephew, Richard Terry, had arrived from Texas in time for the funeral. He had promised to remain for an extended visit. He was Maude Garwood's only living relative, and his presence kept her free from loneliness.
As for solace, Maude Garwood received that from Anita Marie. She had often consulted the medium privately for advice, despite Anita Marie's pretext in the circle that Maude Garwood was scarcely more than a chance visitor.
Maude Garwood had poured out her sudden grief to Anita Marie, and had been cheered by words of comfort.
With only two persons upon whom she felt she could rely, it was only natural that the widow would tell one or the other. Hence, the second evening after Dick Terry's arrival, she told her nephew of the wonderful medium who had been such a help in time of trouble.
Aunt and nephew were at dinner when Maude Garwood first mentioned the name of Anita Marie.
"Dick," she said confidingly, "I don't know how I could have borne this misfortune but for Anita Marie's sympathy."
Dick, brown and husky as one of the steers in his native state, looked up in surprise when he heard the name.
"Who is Anita Marie?" he questioned.
"A wonderful woman, Dick," declared Maude Garwood. "She has psychic powers. She can see into the other world."
"A fortune teller?" demanded Dick, in a hostile tone.
"Don't speak that way, Dick," reproved the aunt. "Anita Marie is not a fortune teller. How I dislike that term! Anita Marie is a psychic — a medium who communes with the spirits."
"They're all alike to me," grunted Dick. "A bunch of fakers! Those buzzards don't last long down in Texas. I don't like to hear this, Aunt Maude."
"Why not, Dick?"
"Because you're a rich woman, Aunt Maude. Most of Uncle Geoffrey's estate belongs to you. You're the kind of person that swindlers would be after. But they're not going to get far while I'm around!"
"You talk like your Uncle Geoffrey," sighed Maude Garwood.
"Did Uncle Geoffrey know that you went to see this spirit woman?" questioned Dick.
"Yes," said the aunt, "and he always objected. I can't understand why, Dick. Anita Marie told me some wonderful things facts that she could not have learned from any one else. Only spirits could have told her, Dick."
The young man grunted disdainfully. Then he noted the far-away look in his aunt's eyes. He realized immediately that her belief in the supernatural was more deep set than a fleeting fancy. It would not be wise, Dick decided, to voice his contempt of spirit mediums. He could accomplish more by pretending to humor Maude Garwood's whim.
"Well," he said gruffly, "I'm open to conviction on anything, Aunt Maude. But at the same time, I'm no child. I've seen so much hokum in my life that I go around with my eyes open.
I'm not going to stand by while you lose your money."
"I know that, Dick," said Maude Garwood gently. "I have great confidence in you. But I hope you will not be narrow in your view, as Geoffrey was.
"I told him advice that I had heard Anita Marie give to others as well as to myself. Ways that people could make a great deal of money. But poor Geoffrey would never risk a single penny, and he forbid me to do so."
"Hm-m-m," thought Dick. "They've been working already!" But he did not express the thought aloud.
"I am going to visit Anita Marie tonight," declared Maude Garwood. "She holds her seances only twice a week. On other nights, she may be consulted for a reasonable fee."
"All right if I come along?" questioned Dick pleasantly.
"Yes, indeed," replied Maude Garwood. "I should like to have you meet Anita Marie. If you could only understand, Dick! I think you will, after you have seen this wonderful woman."
After dinner, Maude Garwood summoned the limousine, and she and her nephew rode to Anita Marie's home.
Dick remained taciturn; he listened thoughtfully to his aunt's elated description of Anita Marie. He realized that Maude Garwood regarded the medium as a sort of superior being, and he did not like it. The large seance room was dark. Maude Garwood and her nephew were ushered into a small reception room. Dick Terry glanced suspiciously at the sharp-faced maid. When the visitors were alone, Maude Garwood became confidential.
"I was here, Dick," she explained, "the night that your Uncle Geoffrey had his accident. I had received a wonderful message, Dick. But it was interrupted by a horrible laugh that came through the room." The woman paused and shuddered as she recollected that terrifying occasion.
"Do you know, Dick," she said, "it must have been a warning! A warning that my husband was dying! I have wondered about that since.
"I asked Anita Marie if it could have been a warning. She said she thought perhaps it might have been. She says that the spirits know everything."
"I guess they do," observed Dick. "The question is, do they tell what they know?"
"One was telling me that night," said the aunt. "A spirit named Little Flower was giving me a message from the higher plane. A spirit there was telling me that money could be made by investing in a stock called Coronado Copper—"
"That's a racket," growled Dick, unable to repress his disdain. "What's the idea of this Little Flower stuff?"
"Little Flower is the medium's control," declared Maude Garwood solemnly. "When Anita Marie enters a trance, Little Flower can take her place. She talks with the spirits, and tells what they say."
"It wouldn't suit me," objected Dick. "I'd like to see the person I'm talking to — whether it's a human being or a spook. Listen, Aunt Maude. You must use good judgment now. Promise me that you won't do anything foolish—"
Terry ended his sentence as Anita Marie entered the room, and gazed shrewdly at her visitors. Dick, rising, faced the medium.
He instinctively disliked her, and Anita Marie observed that fact. She threw a defiant, withering glance toward the young man.
Looking at his aunt's face, Dick observed an expression of total rapture. Maude Garwood seemed cheered by the very presence of Anita Marie.
The medium sat before her, and took the widow's hands. She addressed all her remarks to the believer, and Dick, watching from the side of the room, felt an increased opposition.
"All is well, dear student," declared Anita Marie, in her raspy voice. "The spirits have encouraging words for you. They're agoin' to help you, poor dear."
Dick experienced an immediate resentment. The sight of his aunt, intelligent and refined, listening to this encouragement from an ignorant, untutored woman, was more than he could stand.
"Just how are the spirits going to assist my aunt?" he demanded. Until now, Anita Marie had ignored Dick as though he had been a child. When he spoke, she glowered in his direction. Her words became defiant.
"Young man!" she reprimanded. "Young man, beware! If you're agoin' to hamper this poor, grief-stricken woman, you're amakin' a great mistake. You can't argue with me, young man."
"You are doing the arguing, right now," objected Dick.
Anita was furious. Her eyes were wild with rage. Only the presence of Maude Garwood restrained her from uttering oaths and imprecations.
"Dick!" exclaimed the widow. "You mustn't be unfair to Anita Marie. She is trying to help me."
"The young man is a skeptic," declared Anita Marie, in a cold, harsh voice. "He is one of them who make trouble. They think because the spirits will not talk when they are around, that the spirits cannot talk.
"They are fools! Fools!" — she spat the word with a frenzy— "fools! They frighten the spirits away. They drive them away — yes— and sometimes they bring evil spirits that lie like they lie." The heavy woman calmed gradually after she had loosed her feelings. Because Dick refrained from further response, she fancied, egotistically, that she had withered him. Ignoring the intruder, Anita Marie turned again to Maude Garwood.
"You remember what Little Flower told you?" she questioned. "You do as Little Flower tells. Little Flower is atryin' to help you."
"I know it, Anita Marie!" exclaimed Maude Garwood in a voice choked with emotion. "I know it — but I am so afraid. You know how my husband was. He would not believe. I wonder what he would think. I told you that over the telephone, Anita Marie."
"Your dear husband will think the same as you do, now," declared the medium impressively. "He is on the spirit plane, too. Perhaps he can talk to you through Little Flower."
"You believe he could?"
Maude Garwood's tone was breathless.
"Yes," declared Anita Marie. "Little Flower could talk with him. But there are skeptical people" — she glared at Dick as she spoke— "who might not believe. I'm atryin' to help you, poor lady. I've been atalkin' with Little Flower. She says your husband is in the higher plane."
"Let me talk to him through Little Flower!"
"No. I'm not agoin' to try. I'm agoin' to let you talk right to him — to your husband. You know what I was atellin' you about the man from India—"
"Yes — yes!"
"He is in this country now. He has come to New York. Little Flower has been atellin' me that mebbe Rajah Brahman can help you. He is a great man, missis. Mebbe he can bring your husband to talk to you—"
"Wonderful!" cried Maude Garwood.
She turned to Dick Terry.
"Do you hear that, Dick?" she questioned. "Anita Marie says that Rajah Brahman can bring your Uncle Geoffrey back to the earthly plane. That would convince you that this is real. Wouldn't it, Dick?"
"Perhaps," said Dick noncommittally.
"You must go soon to see Rajah Brahman," declared Anita Marie. "He is the leader of our circles. If he knows that you come from me, he will do all he can to help you.
"Take your nephew" — she stared triumphantly at Dick — "and let him see what the spirits can do, when the master is acallin' them!"
Anita Marie stood up to indicate that the interview was ended. Dick waited until his aunt was standing before he performed the courtesy of rising. Maude Garwood was opening her pocketbook, but Anita Marie stopped her with a sweeping gesture.
"I'm achargin' you nothin', missis," she announced, looking sidewise at Dick as she spoke. "I'm atryin' to help you. I'm adoin' good to others. There's no charge for what I'm atellin' you." The maid came in with Dick's hat. The sudden appearance of the servant made Dick presume that the maid had been listening while he had been talking alone with his aunt, and that Anita Marie had received relayed word of the situation before she had entered the room.
"Thank you, Anita Marie," declared Maude Garwood. "I shall visit Rajah Brahman as soon as he is ready to receive me. You have helped me wonderfully, Anita Marie."
Accompanied by her nephew, Maude Garwood left the house. Dick Terry stared back as he went down the steps. He could see the bulky form of the medium, behind the curtained window of the door. Inside the house, Anita Marie was glowering. She was giving way to the suppressed rage which she felt toward the unwelcome visitor who had accompanied her client. She called to the maid.
"Pack up my bag!" she ordered roughly. "I'm agoin' to New York tonight. I'm not agoin' to wait no longer."
The maid hurried away, and the medium marched up the stairs. Hardly had her heavy footfalls died before there was a motion in the dim hall. From an obscure spot, a tall, black-clad figure emerged. A soft laugh sounded from unseen lips. It was an echo — almost noiseless— of those sardonic tones that had thrown consternation into Anita Marie's seance room, last Saturday night. The sinister figure glided across the hall and noiselessly opened the door. As the tall form vanished through the opening, it seemed to melt away. A believer — had one been present — would have sworn that a spirit form had de-materialized itself.
The weird stranger was gone; the only trace of his farther progress was the appearance of a fleeting splotch of blackness as it drifted past the glare of a lamp-post on the street. The Shadow had seen. The Shadow had heard. The Shadow had departed.