Chapter 35 The Séance
Prince Edward Island
With Owen's book written and off to his editor, Owen and Leslie enjoyed their respite on Prince Edward Island. They biked around Four Winds. They sailed. They joined Anne and Gilbert Blythe for evening lemonade on Ingleside's veranda.
Nobody had ever accused of Gilbert Blythe of slacking. However, that summer Gilbert was busier than ever. Gilbert's roster of patients was significantly larger than Dick Parker's. Nobody commented publicly on this out of politeness. Still, everybody knew.
Susan claimed that this was because Dr. Parker got into arguments with patients.
Miss Cordelia said that Gilbert was just, hands down, a better doctor.
Anne suspected that Gilbert had significantly more patients than Dr. Parker because Gilbert spoke French better than Dr. Parker. (Even though Dr. Parker had relatives living in Montreal.)
Anne never said this to Susan because Susan was a little bit of a snot about the native French speakers who lived in Four Winds.
"What do you have against the Acadians, Susan?" Anne dared to ask shortly after she and Gilbert hired Susan.
"Bah!" Susan replied. Anne dropped the matter. From that time on, she avoided the mention of native French speakers around Susan.
The Acadians who sailed, fished, and farmed within travelling distance of Glen St. Mary came to Gilbert because he understood them. On many an occasion, Anne picked up the phone or answered the door to inquiries in French.
Le médecin est-il disponible ?
Gilbert was a busy man. He rarely had time for social calls that he considered "frivolous and foolish." His definition of "frivolous and foolish" included the seances that some of the fashionable houses on the island.
And yet, Gilbert and Anne found themselves attending one such séance hosted at the Charlottetown residence of one of Owen and Leslie Ford's social connections.
"Why is there a coffin in Mrs. Oglethorpe's drawing room?" Anne asked Leslie as the Oglethorpe housekeeper led them into Judge Gaylord and Sarah Oglethorpe's house.
The simple pine box sat in the middle of the room next to the mahogany coffee table.
"Hush!" said Leslie, as they heard footsteps approach the drawing room.
The Blythes and the Fords stood up, expecting Sarah Oglethorpe. Instead, Bridget, the serving girl, brought in a silver tray with china cups and served tea.
"Mrs. Oglethorpe said to tell you that she will be downstairs shortly," she said to the guests, then left the room.
"Well," Anne said to Leslie as they sat down, "Do you suppose that there is anything inside?"
A tabby cat climbed into Leslie's lap, then climbed up the front of her dress, sat on her bosom, and rubbed its rear end in her face.
"Sisyphus!" Leslie said. The cat attempted to jump into Leslie's lap again, and she stood up.
"Well," Anne said to her, "since you are up again, we may as well look inside that box."
Gilbert said, "Anne-girl, I think that you should leave well enough alone."
"Oh, Gilbert," Anne said. "You're hilarious."
Anne and Leslie each listed a side of the box's lid, and it came right off.
The box held a figure wrapped in white sheets.
"A mummy," Anne said. "You know, like that story by Mr. Poe."
Although Mr. Poe died years ago and it was now the 1890's, some rich fashionable people still brought mummies into their homes for unwrapping parties.
"I bet that it's just a box of white sheets," Leslie said, not bothering to speculate why Mrs. Oglethorpe would allow a coffin-shaped pine box full of sheets to sit in her drawing room.
Sisyphus climbed into the box started to paw at the sheets.
"He's sitting on it!"
Leslie scooped Sisyphus out of the box. Sisyphus squirmed out of Leslie's arms, and then started to jump back into the box. Leslie and Anne closed the lid over the box.
"Ah-choo!"
The Blythes and the Fords looked at one another.
Finally, Leslie said, "That was the cat. Excuse me, I need to ask Bridget something,"
She took off as fast as a lady could and left the others in the drawing room with the pine box.
There is absolutely nothing in that coffin – no, not coffin. Pine box. Nothing in that box. Don't look at that pine coffin-shaped box.
Anne examined the room where Sarah Oglethorpe formally received visitors. Cream wallpaper bearing a peacock design of sage green, and gold covered the walls. Prussian blue damask curtains trimmed in gold fringe adorned the picture window. A valance of the same color trimmed the stained-glass valance.
Anne turned around to the photographs in round silver frames hanging behind the settee.
Leslie had indicated that the one hanging on the right was Sarah Oglethorpe's father. He wore a military uniform and a monocle, and he had sideburns. What was his Christian name? Will? Didn't Leslie say that he had defended Canada from the Fenian raids in the 1860's?
The one on the left was Judge Oglethorpe's father, Dr. Wallace Oglethorpe. The man who once owned this house. Leslie had told her that the Oglethorpe family had literal skeletons in its closets in addition to the figurative ones – the skeletons from Dr. Oglethorpe's medical practice were stored in the butler's pantry off the dining room.
"Whoosh."
What was that? Another sneeze perhaps, or a groan from the coffin – err, pine box?
It must be a log cracking in the marble fireplace.
Oh, what a lovely mahogany over-mantle? Two plates, one made of glass lettered "1876 Centennial Exposition" and a white china plate stenciled with "World's Exposition, Chicago, 1893" sat on stands on the mantle, in front of a gold-framed mirror.
Did the cover of the pine coffin – box - just move slightly?
Leslie returned and said, "It seems that Judge Oglethorpe is very fond of one of his clerks, a Mr. Morrison. Mr. Morrison's brother collapsed and died in front of Mr. Morrison last night, and they were not able to arrange to ship the brother to Halifax for burial until tomorrow morning, so Judge Oglethorpe agreed to keep the body here."
"In the drawing room?"
"Shh!" Leslie said. "It is a very delicate matter. Of course, Mrs. Oglethorpe is not happy. Bridget said that she was in hysterics this afternoon. Don't you dare mention the coffin. We are to pretend that we don't see it. Judge Oglethorpe is very firm about keeping it here. His word is final. He slapped Mrs. Oglethorpe and told her that if she didn't stop crying, then he would give her something to cry about. He told Mrs. Oglethorpe that it would fit right in with tonight's séance-."
The group heard footsteps coming down the stairs. The group stood straight up, hands folded, shoulders back.
Sarah Oglethorpe entered the room with another woman. Mrs. Oglethorpe presented the other woman to the group.
Mrs. Oglethorpe said, "This is Miss Miller. I have heard much about her abilities as a medium, as you have doubtless heard much about me and my husband. Unfortunately, Judge Oglethorpe will not be able to join us tonight. He has been called away on – urgent business. "
Mrs. Oglethorpe led the group into her dining room. The gas chandelier was dark. Candles lined the mantle of that room's fireplace. The center of the dining room table held three candles as well.
She motioned for us to sit. Anne's corset cut into my back. Susan had pulled the stays too tight, before Anne herself had pinned her own onyx brooch too tightly at the stiff high velvet collar of her best dress.
Mrs. Oglethorpe said, "I have a great number of dear departed family with whom I wish to make contact before we walk together again in the next life."
"Mrs. Oglethorpe, ma'am," Miss Miller began, "It is my utmost wish to prove that I am an honest medium and my contact with the spirit world involves no trickery. Therefore, would you please appoint somebody to bind my ankles and wrists with this rope that I hold?"
Mrs. Oglethorpe mentioned for Bridget, who dutifully tied the rope around Miss Miller's ankles and wrists, leaving enough slack in the wrists so that she could join the others in clasping their hands in a circle.
"Relax. Take a deep breath and close your eyes," Miss Miller said, and then she led everybody in the Lord's Prayer, and then as they all sung, "Nearer My God to Thee."
Miss Miller said, "Is there a spirit from the other world present? Rap twice if the answer is yes."
Rap. Rap.
Anne knew the trick because Maggie Fox confessed in front of a New York Academy of Music auditorium in 1888 that she and her sister Kate faked "spirit rapping" at their own seances. The Fox sisters produced the raps by cracking the joints of her large toes. They practiced the trick since adolescence. Soon they became so skilled at the trick that they could produce raps loud enough for large audiences to hear. All without removing their boots.
Maggie Fox's public revelation had been printed in all the major North American newspapers at the time.
Perhaps Mrs. Oglethorpe had missed seeing that story?
Mrs. Oglethorpe said, "You have summoned a spirit!"
Rap. Rap.
Miss Miller said, "I hear that there is a newspaper man in this room who also writes books."
"That would be me," said Owen.
Miss Miller said, "The spirits tell me that you will sail to the Klondike to join the gold rush of '97."
"There's gold in the Klondike?" Owen asked.
"Hush," said Miss Miller.
She continued, "The spirits tell me that you will write a book about your time in the Klondike. Later you will travel to Japan to cover the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. You will work for William Randolph Hearst. The Japanese will arrest you twice and release you twice. You will be sent back to Seoul. Then you will travel with the Imperial Japanese Army. You will witness the Battle of the Yalu. The Japanese will arrest you a third time and release you a third time."
Miss Miller than said, "You will write several books and stories that readers consider hurtful. You won't suffer any consequences from these in your lifetime. Your fame and reputation will just grow. You will gather great acclaim. However, in a hundred years from now or so, people will still be so upset at all the hurtful things that you wrote. They will remove a sculpture of you from the Yukon."
Owen said, "Tell me about these books and stories that I wrote! You know, so that I can, er, know what to avoid."
Miss Miller said, "I will ask the spirits, Mr. London."
Leslie said, "Mr. London?"
Miss Miller said, "I am speaking to Mr. London here, am I not? This is Jack London, is this not?"
Owen said, "Yes! Yes, this is Jack London. Tell me about these books and stories that I write. Anything. Anything at all."
Leslie said, "Owen! Miss Miller, my husband here is not Jack London. He is the writer Owen Ford."
Miss Miller said, "Oh, Owen Ford! Mr. Ford, the spirits tell me that you will also travel to Japan in a few years."
Owen said, "Will I also have a sculpture of my likeness in the Yukon?"
Miss Miller said, "That I cannot say."
Miss Miller said, "The spirits tell me that they have a message for a Dr. Gilbert Blythe."
"That would be me," said Gilbert.
Miss Miller said, "I have a message for you from your grandmother – from your mother's mother. It's a spirit writing message, though. Can somebody please put that pen that sits in front of me in my mouth? I already have paper set in front of me for just this purpose."
Bridget put the pen in Miss Miller's mouth.
Miss Miller wrote. The message said, "My grandson, always be true to your church and your community."
"Aye," said Gilbert. "Thank you, ma'am."
Miss Miller dropped the pen from her mouth.
Then Miss Miller said, "A voice speaks to me now. Something about – the 1876 Centennial Exposition."
Mrs. Oglethorpe said, "My dear late father took us to Philadelphia to see the Centennial Exposition."
Miss Miller said, "The presence says something about a Will. Does anybody know a Will?"
Mrs. Oglethorpe remained silent.
Miss Miller said, "This is about hard feelings surrounding a will."
"My poor dear father's will." Mrs. Oglethorpe said. "The whole ordeal was quite dreadful!"
"Yes," I said. "I sense – ma'am, I sense your father. He is now telling me something about – about the Fenian raids!"
"Papa defended Canada from the Fenian raids!"
"Yes," Miss Miller said. "I see him as he was then – he wears a monocle, and he has sideburns."
"It's Papa!"
"So this is the fraud!" said a voice from the doorway of the dining room.
"Judge Oglethorpe!" said Leslie. Everybody had opened their eyes and turned their faces to the large man swaying from side to side as he walked toward the table. His ascot hung untied around his neck.
"Judge Oglethorpe!" Bridget said, rising to take his coat.
"Husband!" said Mrs. Oglethorpe. "You are home early tonight."
"I wanted to meet the – the harlot who came here tonight to hoodwink you," Judge Oglethorpe said. He leaned on the table over Anne, his other hand grabbing Miss Miller's chin. He smelled of booze and a woman's perfume.
"Tell me, my dear – tell me the location of Captain Kidd's hidden gold. We can go down to the shore tonight and dig it up."
"Husband!" said Mrs. Oglethorpe. "My father was here. We were speaking with my father before you interrupted us." Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Judge Oglethorpe moved his hand Miss Miller's mouth.
"Or how about this – tell me where they buried the missing Jacobite treasure?" His fingernails dug into Miss Miller's cheeks.
"Or better yet – why don't you resurrect the dead man in the drawing room?"
"Get your hands off her!" Gilbert jumped up and grabbed the judge's arm.
The judge began to hiccup.
"Tell me, my dear – how much did my wife pay you tonight to deceive her?"
Shouting and pounding came from the other room.
"A ghost! A ghost!"
Bridget stood in the doorway screaming.
"Now what is the meaning of all of this?" said Judge Oglethorpe. He had by then released Miss Miller and backed away from her, at Gilbert's request.
Bridget burst into tears. "Please, sir! Ma'am! The man from the coffin is risen! I saw him sit up in the coffin, and then he climbed out!"
Thud! Bang!
From the next room came the sound of items falling onto the floor and of metal striking metal.
Clang! Thud!
A fully dressed man with a white face and white hair appeared in the doorway leading from the drawing room, holding a burlap sack in one hand and a knife in the other.
Mrs. Oglethorpe fled the room.
Gilbert said, "Anne! Run!"
Anne and Leslie fled the room. Judge Oglethorpe stumbled out of the room. Owen followed them, then turned around to assist Gilbert.
Gilbert blocked Miss Miller with his body as he worked to cut her rope binding.
From the back of the house, Gilbert heard jiggling, a woman (Mrs. Oglethorpe?) screaming about a latch, a door opening, the shuffling of feet, and then the door slamming shut.
The white-faced man pointed the gun at Gilbert. Then he turned away and opened the china closet built into the dining room wall. He filled his burlap sack with the family's silverware and their collection of brass candlestick holders. The man walked across the dining room. He stopped at the door to the butler's pantry right outside the dining room and began to open it.
A skeleton fell out of it and onto the man.
"Hiss!"
Sisyphus pounced on the man from behind as he batted the skeleton away from him.
In the man's struggle with the skeleton and the cat, he tripped and struck his head on the corner of the table.
The man collapsed on the floor, eyes closed, motionless. His hands loosened their grips on the sack and his gun.
Items from the sack spilled on the floor.
A rounded object rolled toward Gilbert and landed face up at Gilbert's feet. It was the portrait of Sarah Oglethorpe's father.
Gilbert pounced on the white-faced man and held him down. Owen assisted Gilbert. The pair soon had the white-faced man found.
The woman ran to the neighbors' residence and called the authorities.
In a very short while, Gilbert and Owen turned the man over the Charlottetown authorities.
Later that week . . .
Leslie said to Anne, "I spoke with Mrs. Oglethorpe. Apparently, the judge's employee Mr. Morrison had blackmailed him into doing Morrison's bidding for quite some time. The Morrison brothers schemed to commit a robbery at the Oglethorpe house. So, they faked the death of one of the brothers and arranged to have him brought into the Oglethorpe house. Mr. Morrison the employee ordered the judge to keep the box inside the Oglethorpe residence overnight. Morrison ordered the judge to keep visitors out of the house's downstairs during this time. As a back-up plan, the Morrison brother hiding in that box painted his face white so that anyone who discovered him intruding would mistake him for a ghost and flee. The plan completely fell apart when the judge went on a bender and became too inebriated to keep Mrs. Oglethorpe from having guests over for her seance that night."
Leslie concluded, "Dr. Blythe and my Owen were the heroes who completely saved the Oglethorpe family and their guests from harm and woe that night. The Morrison brothers are now sitting in jail awaiting trial."
Anne sighed. "Well, at least the man in the box was NOT a ghost risen from the dead!"
Leslie said, "So, what did Gilbert think about the note written by his grandmother?"
Anne said, "Leslie, that was NOT a message from Gilbert's mother's mother from the spirit world!"
Leslie said, "But how can you be so positive in your denial, Anne?"
Anne said, "Gilbert's maternal grandmother couldn't write notes in English."
Leslie said, "Come again? Gilbert's grandmother couldn't write notes?"
Anne said, "She couldn't write notes in English, Leslie. Gilbert's maternal grandmother couldn't write notes in English. Her native language was French. Leslie, Gilbert's maternal grandparents were Acadian."
Leslie said, "Oh, indeed?"
Anne said, "Don't say a word about this to Susan. Susan doesn't know. We don't talk about this much because – well, because people aren't very nice about it. The people in Avonlea weren't very nice about Acadians, either. Everyone referred to Gilbert's mother as Mrs. John Blythe so that they wouldn't have to use her French name."
Leslie said, "Oh, I am sorry that people were unkind."
Anne said, "It's a touchy subject in our family. The reason that my foster mother, Marilla, had a falling-out with Gilbert's father all those years ago was because Marilla said something about Gilbert's mother and her family. Gilbert's father wasn't courting Gilbert's mother at the time, but they were friends. Gilbert's father got very upset when Marilla said what she said about Gilbert's mother. "
Leslie said, "Wow."
Anne said, "Yeah. Anyway, that's why Gilbert was so much better at speaking French than the rest of us. Also, that's why his name is Gilbert. He was named after a relative on his mother's side of the family."
Leslie said, "Wow. And here, this whole time, I thought that the both of you came completely from solid Presbyterian stock. And here I come to find out that Gilbert had Catholic grandparents! How did Gilbert's mother's family and his father's family agree to let Gilbert's parents marry?"
Anne said, "Well, Gilbert's parents didn't exactly marry with the full and complete blessings of both of their respective families, Leslie."
Leslie said, "Oh. I am so sorry."
Anne said, "It is what it is. If Gilbert were part of this conversation, he would say the same thing. It just is what it is. But let me now change the subject. Has Owen heard back from his editor about his book?"
Leslie said, "Most of the feedback that Owen received was positive. The editor is pushing back on something, though. Owen wants readers to feel and breathe the culture of the American South. So, he visited places not advertised to other tourists. He attended Sunday services at a black church local to the cave. Many of the older church members there were born as slaves. Owen wrote about his visit in the book. His editor disagrees and wants to take all mention of the church out of the book."
Anne said, "Oh."
Leslie continued, "The thing is, Anne, Mark Twain's work has greatly inspired Owen. Owen was just blown away with how Twain handled Huck Finn and his friend Jim. That's why he spent as much time as he did writing about the church. His editor disagrees."
Anne said, "Wow. I certainly hope that everything works out in a way that pleases everyone."
Later, Anne told Gilbert about the conversation with Leslie about Owen's visit to the black church.
Anne said, "I must tell you, Gil, that I personally disagree with Owen's decision to visit a black church and then write about it in his travel book. A community's church should be their safe space. Owen treated them as if he was a tourist – which he was – and they were performers working solely for his entertainment, which they weren't."
Gilbert said, "Christine Stuart and I once visited a black church in Nova Scotia, Anne-girl."
Anne said, "That doesn't make it right, Gilbert."
Anne continued, "Just because you can write about something doesn't mean that you should write about it."