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Vera, the Medium by Richard Harding Davis
page 51 of 144 (35%)
fashioned brick houses with high steps. As the seeker after
truth entered the front hall, he saw before him the stairs to
the second story; on his right, the folding doors of the "front
parlor," and at the far end of the hall, a single door that led
to what was, in the old days, before this row of houses had been
converted into offices, the family dining room. To Vera the
Vances had given the use of this room as a "reception parlor."
The visitor first entered the room on his right, from it passed
through another pair of folding doors to the reception parlor,
and then, when his audience was at an end, departed by the
single door to the hall, and so, to the street.

The reception parlor bore but little likeness to a cave of
mystery. There were no shaded lights, no stuffed alligator, no
Indian draperies, no black cat. On a table, in the centre, under
a heavy and hideous chandelier with bronze gas jets, was a green
velvet cushion. On this nestled an innocent ball of crystal.
Beside it lay the ivory knitting needle with which Vera pointed
out, in the hand of the visitor, those lines that showed he
would be twice married, was of an ambitious temperament, and
would make a success upon the stage. In a corner stood a wooden
cabinet that resembled a sentry box on wheels. It was from this,
on certain evenings, before a select circle of spiritualists,
that Vera projected the ghosts of the departed. Hanging inside
the cabinet was a silver-gilt crown and a cloak of black velvet,
lined with purple silk and covered in gold thread with signs of
the zodiac.

Save that these stage properties illustrated the taste of Mabel
Vance, the room was of no interest. It held a rubber plant, a
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