He had not really meant anything bad about the womans family. He had merely been shocked when it registered on him that the young lady he had thought he caught red-handed aiding a medium had in fact been the daughter of a duke, a gently reared young woman of good lineage and a hefty fortune. He had simply blurted out the name by which her family was largely regarded in London society. The mad Morelands...they must be mad, indeed, he thought, if they found nothing wrong with letting one of their daughters traipse about London alone at night, attending séances and confronting charlatans. It seemed a risky business.
Her having a business surprised him less. He had seen enough wives and daughters helping to conduct family businessesor widows left to run one on their ownin his time in the United States. It was, however, somewhat startling to find a young, unmarried lady in England doing so, especially one from one of the most noble families in the country. Her family, he would have thought, would have moved heaven and earth to keep her from doing so.
But, he supposed, the reason they had not lay in the very epithet that had slipped off his tongue. The Morelands, while not actually legally mad, were generally considered to be, well, off. The old duke, Miss Morelands grandfather, had been famous for his various bizarre and intense health treatments, which had ranged from mud baths to foul-smelling restorative drinks to being wrapped in wet sheets for hours at a timethe latter of which was generally considered to have been what sent the man at a relatively young age into his last, fatal bout of pneumonia. He had spent much of his life traveling in England and the Continent, consulting with quacks and chasing the latest fads. His wife, it was said, had a peculiar tendency to talk about her ancestors as if she had daily conversations with them. The dukes younger brother, the present dukes uncle, was reputed to spend much of his time playing with tin soldiers.
The present Duke of Broughton, Miss Morelands father, was obsessed with some sort of ancient subjectStephen wasnt sure what, though he had it vaguely in his mind that the man collected statues and broken bits of pots and things. And he had married a woman well-known for her unusual views on social reform, women, marriage and children. Even more horrifying to London society was the fact that the current duchess had not been born to the nobility, being merely the daughter of country gentry. There were several Moreland children, most of them younger than Stephen was, and he did not know much about them, having left the country before most of them were old enough to enter society, but from everything he had heard from his mother and friends, he had gotten the impression that they were an odd lot.
What he had seen of Miss O. Q. Moreland certainly had done nothing to change that impression. She was decidedly peculiargoing out alone in the evening to attend séances, sneaking through darkened rooms to pounce on a fraudulent medium and expose her practices, even carrying on a business of doing such things!
Stephen idly rubbed his thumb over the engraved letters of her card. Investigator of Psychic Phenomena. He couldnt help but smile a little, thinking of her feisty stance, hands on hips, looking up at him with those big brown eyes that looked as though they should be soft and melting but were instead fierce. Small and dainty, yet looking as if she were ready to take on any opponent.
He remembered the odd feeling that had gone through him when the light had been turned on and he had first looked at her. He had thought her a part of the mediums act, helping to hoodwink an innocent public. Yet when he looked at her, something had shot through him, some strange current of emotion and physical attraction that jarred and surprised him. It had been something like desire...and yet something more, as well, something he could not remember ever feeling before.
Frowning, he turned and started to walk away, but the man who had been beside him at the séance came out the front door at that moment and hurried down the steps toward him, saying, St. Leger!
Stephen turned, surprised. Capshaw. I thought you must have decided to stay.
The other man made a face. I doubt that I would have been welcome, frankly, after the scene you made. But I had to do what I could to calm down Colonel Franklin. I told him that you were my cousin and a gentleman and would not spread scurrilous lies about him.
I dont give a damn about that pompous colonel, St. Leger said, grimacing.
What were you doing, by the way? Mr. Capshaw went on curiously. Did you go there to expose the medium? I must say, I didnt think it sounded like your sort of entertainment.
Hardly. But I wasnt planning to do anything. It was just that when I heard her rustling about in the dark, I could not resist the opportunity to catch one of the charlatans red-handed. He shrugged. I went merely toI dont know, see what sort of thing they do. Try to understand what their hold is on otherwise rational people.
There are more than a few who believe in it, Capshaw commented. Ive seen one medium who did things that, well, frankly left me wondering. He glanced over at his friend. Dont you ever think that maybe its a possibility? That people can speak to us from the other side?
It strikes me as highly unlikely, Stephen said shortly. If they could, surely they would tell us something more important than the wretched pap these mediums put out. And why do they spend their time knocking on things? One would think that they would have better things to do with their time than play parlor tricks.
Mr. Capshaw chuckled. That sounds like you.
They are playing on peoples grief, St. Leger went on grimly. Using it to gain money.
His friend glanced at him. He had heard that Lady St. Leger, Stephens mother, had been attending the séances of a popular Russian medium, and the anger in his friends voice confirmed his suspicion. Stephens older brother had died almost a year earlier, and their mother was said to be still mired in grief over his death.
Sometimes, Capshaw said carefully, it helps a person get through it, thinking that they can contact their loved one.
It helps the damned medium acquire money, St. Leger growled. And how do you know it helps them? What if it just keeps them in that same painful place, constantly mourning their loss, never getting on with their lives?
He stopped and looked at his companion. I thought Mother was getting better, that she was not so wrapped up in sorrow as when I first came home. And when she wanted to take Belinda to London, it seemed a good sign. But then she fell in with this Valenskaya woman, and now she seems deeper in mourning than ever. I told myself the same things you said, that it didnt matter if it wasnt real, that it would help soothe her. What did it matter if she went to a few séances? But when Belinda wrote me and said that Mother had given this medium her emerald ring out of gratitude for all shed done... Father gave her that ring! I have never seen it off her hand until now. Obviously this woman is exercising great power over her. Thats why I came to London. And it didnt help my fears any when I saw Mother, either. She is forever talking about what this woman says, she and Belinda both, and it all sounds like the most blatant nonsense. Yet they seem to swallow it without a moments thought.
Capshaw gave him a sympathetic glance, but, as Stephen knew, there was little he could say to help him.
If only I could prove to her that the woman is a fraud! Stephen went on. His thoughts went then to Miss Moreland of the snapping brown eyes and the business card, but he pushed her aside immediately. A man could hardly ask a woman to get rid of his problems for him, after all, and, besides, he could not expose his mother to the embarrassment. Besides, the woman was probably as peculiar as everyone said all her family were.