Page 4 of Unforeseen Affairs
“Oh?” Colin said, feeling a pang of apprehension he couldn’t explain.
Miss Sedley watched him eagerly, like a jaguar hiding in the shadows, stalking its prey. Colin tried to avoid looking her in the eye.
“Something suitable for what?” he asked.
It was Mrs. Stone who answered, her voice thin and raspy.
“Why, for the séance.”
Colin turned to his mother, worried. But she seemed perfectly at ease, and apparently of sound mind as she poured another cup for Mrs. Stone.
“A séance, Mama?” he said mildly. “I’d hate for you to—”
“Pah,” she scoffed, waving him off. “Mrs. Stone came very highly recommended! As you can see, she’s nothing like that other medium, the one Captain Pearce engaged. If you’ll recall, I was dubious about her from the start.”
That was the thing, though, wasn’t it? How could one place their trust in any person whose livelihood depended on the believability of their own unverifiable claims? Colin did his best to mask his concern behind what he hoped was a pleasant enough smile.
“Mrs. Stone asks for nothing,” Miss Sedley said. “She wishes only to offer comfort to those who seek her out.”
“Is that so?” Colin asked skeptically.
“Of course,” Miss Sedley replied with confidence. “She’s a true medium.”
Colin heard his mother hum in assent. His heart sank; he knew this path would only lead her to disappointment. And pain.
“And what makes a true medium?” he prodded. His kind, cheerful nature was at odds with his desire to protect his mother.
“A messenger. A vessel. Someone capable of renouncing the self and summoning the immortal human souls of others,” replied Miss Sedley, her voice dropping lower at the wordsimmortal human souls.
Colin thought of how his mother had kept to her rooms for a week after that charlatan of a medium Captain Pearce had engaged had failed to deliver any indication that Bernard could communicate with them. It had crushed her hope—at least temporarily—that his elder brother was anywhere but decomposing in his watery grave.
“And you believe that a person’s soul could be made to remain at the beck and call of the living?”
“Colin!” his mother admonished.
At that, Miss Sedley’s somber expression softened. But only for a moment.
“Yes,” she replied matter-of-factly.
So she wasn’t peculiar because she was a Sedley. Or at least, not entirely. Rather, she was some sort of spiritualist. In earnest.
For some reason, Colin felt a slight disappointment.
Almost as if she could read his mind, Miss Sedley raised a brow.
Colin looked away, unsettled by the whole situation—and especially by her.
Chapter Two
Charlottewatchedtheproceedingswith interest.
“I suppose this means you won’t be in attendance, then?” Mrs. Gearing asked her son, disappointment plain in her voice.
Sir Colin laughed awkwardly.
“You may invite Lieutenant Pearce,” his mother said hopefully. “I’m sure he would be amenable. His mother and father will be there, though they did not wish to speak for him.”
“Beaky?” Sir Colin said, frowning. “He didn’t mention a thing about it.”
