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 in the room had witnessed some close friend in manifest agitation.

At the center of the room the medium sat, open-eyed, in the erect, vigorous posture which had distinguished her since entering the trance; her eyes roved from place to place, sometimes resting upon the sitters but more often gazing between them or before them as though observing presences which to others were invisible; but the Voice did not speak.

"I would like to learn whether communication can be obtained," said a smooth, perfectly assured, feminine voice; and Barney saw, not by any motion of her own but by the attention of those seated about her, that Mrs. Lucas Cullen, Junior, was speaking, "from Mrs. Oliver Cullen—Agnes Cullen—who was lost last September on the Gallantic and presumably is dead."

Barney's sinews seemed of themselves to draw taut. This demand plainly was part of the Cullen plan which his mother was there to counter; or rather, it had been part of Lucas Cullen's scheme. When he had nudged his son's wife a few minutes earlier, undoubtedly he had meant her to put this request; but now he did not want it. Jaccard's disturbance had so affected old Lucas that at first he had forgotten that he had given his daughter-in-law the signal; then he had tried to halt her; but too late. Barney saw him sit back irritably; he saw Jaccard, suddenly remembering his client, glance about sharply. Then Barney gazed at the forward row at the darkened end of the room where he believed his mother to be. But either he was mistaken in supposing her there, or this demand was not the one to draw her from concealment. No one moved, and no one spoke but the Voice which announced: