Saturday, April 13, 5:30 p.m.
“I can’t believe you actually talked with her last night!” Charlie said, as he carried another chair from the dining room to the ballroom of the Mansion House. He and I had press passes for Nell Gramercy’s meeting, but Charlie’s father hadn’t been impressed with our importance. He’d recruited us to set up the room for the event. “You talked with her alone. Without me!”
“I couldn’t exactly ask her to stand outside in the cold while I ran to get you.” I lined up the chairs in the eighth row. “Besides, we weren’t alone. Trusty was with us.”
Charlie parted the drapes and looked out at Main Street. “The crowd that was outside the telegraph office has starting moving this way. Looks like no change in the news from South Carolina.”
“Good. Our front page says the fighting continues. I’ve been worried it would end and we’d have to print a special edition, or change the whole front page.”
Charlie leaned to the right so he could see up Main Street. “I see Owen, over by the town pump. Your idea that he should sell copies in the street before the meeting was brilliant. Four or five people are in line to buy Heralds right now.”
I clapped Charlie on the shoulder. “More money toward what I owe Mr. Shuttersworth! You were right about those interviews, asking people what they thought about the situation down south. People do like to see their names in the newspaper.”
“Good thing we printed extra copies. It’s not every day we have a battle in Charleston and a spiritualist in town, that’s for sure.” Charlie looked around. “Father said we should put seventy chairs in here. I think we’re done.”
“Did you look closely at the room before we started moving the chairs in? You know—to see if Nell or her uncle had changed it in any way?” Nell hadn’t acted as though she was a fraud when we’d talked, but there was no harm in investigating.
“Nothing’s suspicious. The drapes were drawn, and the oil lamps lit. The stove’s full of wood. This room is always set up this way for an evening gathering.”
“What about Nell’s chair and table?”
“They’re the same ones used in the dining room.” Charlie looked around the room again. “I’ll tell Father we’ve finished so he can be sure everything is exactly the way Mr. Allen requested.”
I’d only been on the second floor of the Mansion House a few times. The ballroom was directly across from the dining hall. To the left were doors leading to other, smaller rooms. I peeked into an empty sitting room elegantly wallpapered in bright red-and-blue stripes. Next to it was another parlor, this one painted in green with a pattern of leaves stenciled on the walls. A love seat and several chairs were arranged with two card tables, one of them set for a game of chess. At the very end of the hallway the door of a third room was partially closed. I was about to look in when I heard voices. I stopped, just in time.
I could hear Nell’s voice clearly.
“My headache’s better, thank you, Uncle Horace. But I’m still lightheaded.”
“Horace, you must keep this grand assembly of yours short tonight, or Nell will be worse tomorrow. I cannot believe you engaged private sessions for her on a Sunday. You know without rest her headaches will get worse again.”
“My dear, I’m only doing what’s necessary. We’re stuck in this dreary town until we have enough funds to take us to Nell’s engagement in New York City. That journey will not be inexpensive. Talk of war is filling coaches and inns.”
I moved closer to the door so I wouldn’t miss a thing.
“Why can’t we remain here a while?” Nell was pleading. “I could do one session each day instead of four. That way I could rest as well as support us.”
“We can charge three times as much for your services in a city like New York. Not to mention that in a small town like this one, you’ll quickly run out of customers. Curiosity seekers will disappear. New clients are easier to find in a city.”
I wanted to peek into the room, but was afraid I’d be seen.
Her aunt spoke again. “Still, Horace, you must keep tonight’s session short. For the girl’s sake.”
“Hush, woman; it won’t be long. I’ll tell everyone the truth: Communicating with spirits is wearing for someone so weak and young. If she looks pale and confused, so much the better for the act. If we’re lucky, the people whose questions she doesn’t get to will pay more to come back next week, to get their answers in individual sessions.”
“Perhaps then, Uncle, you will not schedule any sessions on Monday? Please . . . So I can rest?” Nell said. “You know how exhausted I am after I’ve been with the voices, and with four sessions tomorrow—”
“You’re stronger than you think,” her uncle replied. “You always say you won’t be able to continue, but I’ve seen you perform when you could hardly stand up. You can do it. As it is, I’ve scheduled only one Monday meeting so far, and it’s not a spirit circle. You’re to be interviewed by two local boys who call themselves newspapermen. They publish a little weekly paper, and they plan to write an article about you, my dear. All you have to do is be your most charming. If you’re not feeling your best, that’s fine. Another article on your delicacy and sensitivity and being attuned to the spirit world can only bring in more customers.”
“What are the boys’ names?” Nell said.
Was she wondering if I was one of them? I’d told her about the Wiscasset Herald.
“I can’t recall. But they’ll be here tonight, so smile your sweetest at any young men in the audience. They printed up the broadsides for us, so I gave them press passes.”
“I’d like to lie on the couch a little longer to clear my mind before I begin,” said Nell.
“You do that. Sarah, give Nell some of her medicine. It will help the spirits come to you, my dear, and dull your pain. In the meantime, I’ll go down to the lobby to greet your public.”
I raced back to the ballroom to make sure Mr. Allen didn’t catch me listening outside the door.
Charlie was there already.
“Where have you been? Father said the room’s fine, and that we could have cider and molasses cookies in the kitchen while we’re waiting for the meeting to start. But I told him we wanted to be here early to see who comes and what they say. We might be able to quote someone in our article.”
“Charlie,” I said, “we need to talk. Now.”