"Do you really want to?" she questioned me, in her thrilling voice.

My soul said: "It's all rubbish--but suppose there is something in it,
after all?"

And I said aloud:

"Yes."

"Come, then."

We passed through the room with the red Japanese lantern, and lo! the
next room was perfectly dark save for an oval of white light which
fell slantingly on a black marble table. The effect was rather
disconcerting at first; but the explanation was entirely simple. The
light came from an electric table-lamp (with a black cardboard shade
arranged at an angle) which stood on the table. As my eyes grew
accustomed to the obscurity I discovered two chairs.

"Sit down," said Emmeline.

And she and I each took one of the chairs, at opposite sides of the
table.

Emmeline was magnificently attired. As I looked at her in the dimness
across the table, she drummed her fingers on the marble, and then she
bent her face to glance within the shade of the lamp, and for a second
her long and heavy, yet handsome, features were displayed to the
minutest part in the blinding ray of the lamp, and the next second
they were in obscurity again. It was uncanny. I was impressed; and all