OCR Text |
Show Y -r n (T o a P p MAX RITTEN3ERG THE STRANGE flff A fll Wf HFf" 0"W?Tt -' r CASES OF lVlZ"&Vl liJlVi fewii NC&JUJwAfclLeWiiJkW 77ie Rough Fist of Reason. AT the phrase "spirit photographs," photo-graphs," Magr.uin intcirnpted his client brusquely. "Spirit photographs! ' ' he repeated. re-peated. ".My dear young lady. I ran get them made lor yon seven and sixpence six-pence a doffti, eainnet sie. pliitiuo-m,e, pliitiuo-m,e, finished fifl' with an art mount. "r - a mere question of taking the , kites t h k j ii l; a 'lou olo , exposure. Any rate amateur could turn the trick. When 1 wan on the (h-cult Investigation com-inittee, com-inittee, a couple of years 1 a: k. we hail hundreds of such photographs submitted to ns. Sent, mark you, in perfect good faith. The people who hid them believed them to he indisputable indis-putable evidence of spirit visitations. Piter rubbish! Trii kery, and transparent trans-parent trickery at that: Why, the so-called so-called spirit faces were demonstrably taken from existing pictures or photographs. photo-graphs. The same pose of head, the same turn of expression." Jt was an unusually Ion; speech for Magnum to make." With his quick impatience, his habit of condensing a quart of thought into a thimbleful of crvstalizcd concentrate, he would customarily cus-tomarily have answered an inquiry of nb ions foolishness with an emphatic, em-phatic, "Rubbish:" and allow his tone .u oice to drive home the reason behind the. summary. But in this instance in-stance he felt very strongly and lengthily length-ily on the matter. He was an inveterate invet-erate opponent of superstition or nebulous nebu-lous fancv presented to the world in ; the garments of scienee, and, wherever ' possible, liked to smash a fist into it. His client, a Miss Cicely Cotterell, was a modem young woman, one or those bright-hard college girls who are not abashed by any autnoritativeuess un the part of the man. 1 Sho answered quietly: "I knew you had been on the Occult Investigation committee, and that is why I came to consult you. You -would be able to see at onee' through any of the customary custom-ary trickery anything that had been done beforehand i).y spirit mediums. Hut, before I explain further, tell me this: Do you believe in the possibility of supernatural happenings? ' "There is no supernatural," rctort-erl rctort-erl Magnum, a little discomposed by i this quiet self-assurance. "Anything that happens is ipso facto natural. There is tho supernormal something outside the range of ordinary experience. experi-ence. ' ' , "We mean the same thing, said Miss Cotterell, "though your wording is more accurate." "Go on." "Do you believe that the soul can leave tho body and travel through space? ' ' "Beliefs are outside my province. Science deals with . facts verifiable, repeatable facts. I'd have no quarrel with all that theosophical, astral l'ar-Tago l'ar-Tago if they'd put it forward as theory, instead of assertion. Now my time's " valuable, so come down to your particular particu-lar case." Ho glanced up at a large, boldfaced bold-faced clock which was a conspicuous feature among his plain, workmanlike office appointments. " Mv aunt, Miss Dallas, has been dabbling dab-bling "with thoosophy and spiritualism for a year past. Up to now we have (-'irepnr(led it as a harmless hobby- " 8oiV,'We.f '' interrupted Magnum. ' j "I am representing her family." . Is' "Ami heirs?" asked Magnum pointedly, point-edly, lie had no liking for the modern mod-ern Young women in general, and in regard to Miss C'otuorell in particular he wished to sec her decently subdued. V "I want vou to understand clearly that mv interest in the matter is not mercenary. I'm very fond of my aunt. 1 want lier to live as long as sho can naturally live, happily and peacefully. " ' I don't oaro if she never leaves me a penny. I havo my profession I'm independent. in-dependent. ' ' " School?" "Inspector of factories. However, that's besido tho point. T. was saying that mv interest in the matter was not mercenary. I hate to see her fooled or tricked, that's nil." "And vou want me to expose the trickery. ' ' "Yes. if it is trickery." Miss Cotterell Cot-terell added a. barbed point: "And if vou are able to see through it." That found Magnum in a tender spot He had been about to refuse the re quest, but this doubt of his hhilitiet spurred him to action. "Get down tc (he facts. ' ' he snapped. Miss Cotterell produced from hot f purse-hug a rough-trimmed silver print pad handed it over to tho consultant Tt represented an impression of a worn no's form in a seated position show " inn as through the vai.'iif outlines ot Mi 1 v- ' x v 1 sh fft He had Slivinski stand for the photograph. t p the clothing and to one side and above it another form apparently issuing from the first, smaller and less definite in ontline, Hkp a cloud of vapor. The rest I of the photograph was plain dnrknes3. "My aunt, she explained. "'What is your opinion of the photograph?'' "There are many ways ot faking a print, ' ' answered Magnum cautiously. "I took it myself' was the quiet rcplv. "I exposed the film myself, and developed and printed it myself. i bought nil the supplies without his kiiuwledge of where thev came from." "His? The medium's? ' ' "Mr. Slivinski is not exactly a medi- urn." j "Sounds a tricky name." lle's rather a famous man in the; occult world and leads a psychic society so-ciety in Loudon. lie may be genuinefrankly, genu-inefrankly, 1 don't know. But it" thin photograph of mine is the result of some trickery I want it explained and my aunt, taken away from his influence before she becomes obsessed by it." "Can I see the room where this photograph pho-tograph of yours was luken?" "It was at Slivinski 's own house." "That's awkward. If I went there he would be sure to recognize me. Magnum was under the impression all London would know him by sight. "1 don't thiuk so. Vou might take an assumed name and pass off as an earnest inquirer. He holds weekly meetings meet-ings for his circle. The next gathering is tomorrow night, at nine o'clock." Magnum hunched his bushy eyebrows eye-brows at the strange photograph she had panned to him. so suggestive of an 1 ' astral hodv ' ' leaving the material bodv of Miss Dallas. Li view of the pirl 's explanation of having exposed and developed and prinled it herself, it was something quite beyond his previous pre-vious experiences in the chicanery of spirit mediums. It was no faked him, no faked print. The "cloud of vapor" might conceivably be accounted for by the painting of ' the background wit h concentrated sulphate of quinine, which. , invisible itself to the human eye, would ; yet a fleet a photographic plate. But no such theory would nceount for the unearthly manner in which the body of Miss Dallas gleamed through the vaL'ne outlines of her idothiug. It was ridiculous to suppose that she would h;tve painted herself from head to foot with sulphate of quinine; even granting such a supposition, the drug could not . send ils ultra-violet rays through the lavers of a lady's clothing. i 'The mystery' of it piqued Magnum. ) Was it possible that this was an instance in-stance of the "supernormal" which he - ths readv to admit? Or was it merely t some up-to-date development of the spiritualist's armory of illusion? If so - he felt 'keenly roused to expose the - fraud and dea'l another fist -.blow in the f face of superstition. "I'll come," decided Magnum. "It would be best first to call at my aunt's house," suggested Miss Cotterell. Cot-terell. "She dines at seven. After dinner wc can drive together to Slivinski Sli-vinski 's. " He nodded assent, and announced jhis fee for the investigation. At seven prompt, Magnum's taxi was at the door of the quiet residence on the height of Campden hill, occupied by Miss Dallas. Outside anil inside it suggested leisured dignity of age and am pi v sufficing means. Miss Dai las herself, a woman of sixty, silver-haired, delicatelv framed, almost childlike iu her simplicity of thought in a word, Victorian made a striking contrast to her self-reliant young niece. Miss Dallas belonged essentially to the class of the "leauers," those who must have some stronger will to obey and rely on. Her confidential maid, her niece and no doubt this, fellow Slivinski were at present the dominants in her life. One could imagine that it her supports were suddenly removed she would fall to the ground. This, however, was not Magnum's thought. He was concentrating on the one problem of that strange "astral" photograph. He decided without hesitation hesi-tation that if some fraud hud been perpetrated per-petrated there had been no connivance on the part of Miss Dallas or the confidential con-fidential maid, an elderly woman devoted devot-ed to her interests. It was equally evident evi-dent that Miss Cotterell was sincerely attached to the aunt, and, in her bright- j hard, modern way, anxious to make her happy. The dinner was somewhat of a trial to Magnum, whose, gastronomic tastes ran to ' large porterhouse, steaks or hearty beefsteak pies, solid, substantial puddings and strong cheeses. At Miss Dallas 's table no meat was served, or any heavy dish, and only for Magnum's benefit was wine introduced. She herself her-self drank a bottled table water imported im-ported from the Caucasus and supposed to have very special medicinal qualities, quali-ties, in the manner of all high-priced table waters. "My health has improved so wonderful wonder-ful h' since T came to know Mr. Slivinski," Slivin-ski," she informed Magnum. ' 1 am so glad yon are coming with us to see him. 'His teachings are so restful and so beautifully expressed. I always feel that merely to listen to his voice is to be carried to a higher plane." " I 'm interested in that photograph taken by your niece," responded Magnum, Mag-num, feeling a trifle uncomfortable uu-der uu-der his assumed name of the evening, and wishing to make his status clear. "I'm frankly a skeptic." : "Yes the photograph isn t it won-, won-, d erf ul? I had always felt the truth of Mr. Slivinski s teachings about the 1 astral piano, and now that 1 have the evidence of it in my own person now that I have seen my own astral body emerging from the shell of the material body I am comforted beyond measure. meas-ure. ' ' "I suppose Mr. Slivinski will be building a temple to house the society. soci-ety. ' ' suggested Magnum, groping for the mercenary interest he imputed to the spiritualist. "Something large and eostlv. ' ' "No, I don't think so," returned Miss Dallas. "Our modest little circle cir-cle contents us all. ' ' Disbelief was in Miss Cotterell 's features. fea-tures. She also, worldly wdse, looked for the mercenary motives behind the astral teachings. After dinner,' Miss Dallas's pair-horse pair-horse carriage came to the door the modern motor jarred against her tastes and they drove across London to Slivinski V flat in HampstcV. This was furnished simply and tastefully, nor was there any open evidence of the paraphernalia of the medium. Magnum expected to see the familiar black cabinet cabi-net with black velvet curtains from which the "spirits" usually emerge under un-der cover of a kindly darkness, or the trick pictures on the wall. They were conspicuously absent from the drawing room into which the visitors were shown. About a dozen others of the circle were already present, nearly all women, and this number presently filled out to twenty-five or thirty. "Where did you take the photograph1?" photo-graph1?" whispered Magnum to Miss Cotterell. ' ' Over there, ' ' she answered, pointing point-ing to a side wall papered in a sober, self-colored grayish -green. "Any curtain or screen behind your aunt 's chair? ' ? "Nothing only the bare wall." "Lights down, of course?" "Not entirely. I could see quite plainly. ' ' "Was Slivinski in the room?" "Yes over by the fireplace. "s "All the time vou were exposing the film ? " ' ( Yes. 7 ' ' ' A time exposure: ' ' "He told me to allow five minutes." Anton Slivinski entered to take his seat at an open reading desk raised on a platform and flanked by a pair of palms. He had the face of an ascetic and dreamy, far-away exes. He made his way silently to the desk and sat there in dreamy immobility while a lady at the grand opera played a nocturne of Chopin. Then, without formal preface, he began to read some translated trans-lated work of Indian mysticism. His voice as Miss Dallas had indicated was musical and finely modulated. At tnc conclusion of the reading there was another pianoforte selection, and that was followed by an address from Slivinski. His subject, was "The Cosmic Cos-mic 'onscionsness, ' ' and his thoughts on it were mvstical in the extreme, i vaguely nebulous like a misted scene , from a far-away realm of fancy. To the practical Magnum it was a score of nothing wrapped round and round by j swathing of beautiful, meaningless words, but the audience seemed to find in it some comfort he was totally un- J able to appreciate. They applauded at the finish in a manner of subdued heartiness, heart-iness, as though thevwished to express 1 their thanks, but considered' it indecorous indecor-ous to do so loudly. The gathering broke up into knots and coffee was handed round. Magnum Mag-num edged awav to the side wall, against which the photograph of Miss Dallas had been taken, and scrutinized it for some evidence of trick paneling. He could find nothing to bolster up his suspicions. Presently he was introduced to Slivinski. Sli-vinski. To Magnum's relief and disappointment disap-pointment the mystic did not penetrate his alias, but welcomed him as an earnest earn-est inquirer, with courteous word and offers to elucidate anv point in the lecture which might have caused difficulty dif-ficulty or doubt. Magnum had nothing to ask about the address, which was far too involved in-volved and nebulous to offer opportu-, opportu-, nitv for attack, but he went directly ; at the subject of the mysterious photo-i photo-i graph. "Do not let us lay too much stress j on that," replied Slivinski gently. i "Whv not? It seems to me highly important. As a skeptic, I welcome anv form of material proof." "Ah, vou arc a materialist, and so you value the unessential. I would like you to develop the. thought that the true essential is the existence of an astral bodv, which those of us who have purified the inner vision can see as plainly as vou perceive the material body. The 'photograph tells me nothing new:. I have long since arrived at the purification of the inner vision. My lifework is to train others to the same end. Such a photograph is merely a proof to those who half-believe, and in itself it has no true, value." He was winding words around Magnum'. Mag-num'. The scientist cut into the web with the rejoinder: "Could such a photograph pho-tograph be repeated? Could I, for instance, in-stance, obtain that effect with a camera cam-era ? ' ' ' Undoubtedly you could, under the right conditions. Miss Dallas had very carefully prepared herself with fasting and with prayer, and when I perceived that her aura was in the condition of being able to impress itself on a photographic pho-tographic emulsion which is only rnre-lv rnre-lv in the case of an initiate I asked her niece, who. like yourself, is a materialistic material-istic skeptic, to 'expose a film and so register the condition in a visible form. ' ' "Could T obtain that effect with Miss "1 nr.ift ropcat. sir. that the ne.-cs- ssrv i-ou.lHiiu.s are I 1. 1 rarely chtain- I l..'p. an.t sitr.-e the test was only made j to satistv -Miss llalias 1 cannot see any valid reason lr n-j-caiins it. it would merelv ,iisttess he:, and it could prove 1:0 iiK.ro ihan has already been i nl o-cd.'' ou'.l 1 obtain that effwt in yenr own i.erson.'" icrsisted ';:ittmn. With niyseli. yes. almost at any! time, for 1 have lorn: passed the siae ; of the initial e. ' ' " . . j "Then will you allow me to do sot , ' To w hat end : " "To convince myself." ! " '(tn sincerely wish to be con-j vineed ' ' . , "I am a'.vravs open to conviction. "1 must repeat, sir: Do you fin-cerelv fin-cerelv veish to ne com-inced ? ' ' For ail his gentleness ot speech and eourtesv of niauner. Magnum realized that the mystic was a man of strons; will and determined purpose, lie was forced to answer.- "Yes." "And receiviuc the proof von desire. will vou be prepared to withdraw your doubting, freely and without reservation?" reserva-tion?" Mniimim was little used to ItoiniT cross-examined in that fashion. In his ordinary prof essional work it was he who did the proliiu!;, but in this instance, in-stance, li'ulinji identity under an alias, he was at a disadvantage. " Yes, yes! ' ' he answered impatiently, and, after further fur-ther parleying, an arrangement was made to carry out the test on an evening even-ing of the same week at Slivinski 's flat. iS M"armun neglected no possible precaution pre-caution that occurred to him. He armed himself with a stereoscopic camera instead of a single-lens in-Istrnment; in-Istrnment; he boujrht his supplies with: extreme circumspection, and testad them minutely: he took with hini to the flat a screen to place behind Slivinski, Sliv-inski, backed with a coatinft of metallic me-tallic load, and he had young Meredith, Mere-dith, his laboratorv man, to accom pany him aiicl watch for any discoverable discover-able trickery. lie had Slivjnski stand for the photograph in a part of the room chosen by himself; and, not satisfied sat-isfied with one' exposure, he took three j different photographs with different ex-j posuro times. j Late that night, Magnum and Meredith Mere-dith were eagerly developing the plates and printing them on bromide paper. In silence they surveyed the result through a stereoscopic projector. It show.-'d the figure of Slivinski in full solidity gleaming through the vague outlines of his 'clothing in the same fashion as Miss Pallas, but more strong-lv strong-lv defined a weirdly impressive effect. Tho only important "difference was that "no cloud of vapor" showed to one side. "Damnation!" was Magnum's very unscientific comment. "1 have never heard of such an effect ef-fect before," said Meredith mildly. "Do you think it possible that this is really the aura of the niau?" Magnum began to pace the laboratory, labora-tory, puffing "furiously at his curyfJ briar pipe; and he wentou and on with Ins pacing until the patient Meredith Mere-dith fell asleep at the bench. The scientist awakened him without ce.re-nionv. ce.re-nionv. "I'll take photographs of ourselves our-selves under tho same conditions of lighting." he announced, and proceeded to do so. The result was entirely, negative a mere vague outline of clothing and head. "You'd better go to sleep on the office conch," offered Magnum with belated humanity. "I'll wrestle this out myself." The wash-water dawn of misty Londou, peering in timidly through the grimed skylight of the 'laboratory and shading his eves against the glare of the electrics, found Magnum sleep less, tousled, reeking of rauk tobacco, with smarting tongue and eyelids and harsh skin, perplexed, baffled but not beaten. "There must he some simple explanation!" ex-planation!" he kept repeating to himself. him-self. "Both of them giving the same effect, the old lady and Slivinski Same effect, same cause." The dawn, gathering courage, was now staring uiiwinkingly at the unwashed, un-washed, disreputable figure" of Magnum. St. Paul's boomed out the hour of six, and a host of city churches hastened : to confirm the news. Magnum suddenly , realized that another working day ' had begun. Switching out the lights in the laboratory, he went to the office, - found Meredith heavily asleep, silently replaced a fallen rug over him, and - pinned a notice to the outside of the ) door to state that the young fellow i must not be disturbed. .Magnum's motor mo-tor launch was locked iu a little water kennel at the back of the laboratories. river to est minster, v.nence ne re-paired re-paired to a Turkish bath near Yictoria .street. An hour later, he was lying on a couch in the ccpliug-otT room, combining that process with breakfast and a chat with " You 're looking off color, sir," mentioned men-tioned the bath auenc.ant, who knew-him knew-him well. "You ought to try a half bottle of Koslof l.imati water." " What 's that!" "One of our regular clients, a Russian Rus-sian epiitieman from tho embassy, told me p'.oi:; it. hip! since then I've recommended recom-mended it to a lot of other gentlemen, and thev all find it does them good after " he was about to say. "a night out." but discreetly changed it to "who:: thev 're olT color." "Let me sec it." said Magnum idly. "All these waters are wonder workers, everv sine'ie one of them, if you believe i the a.' vet : Isctnent s. " The attendant brought a small hot-! hot-! tie in . haracteristic dark-blue glass, decorate! with a label ill Russian characters, char-acters, and poured out a tumblerful. "I've seen that stuff before." exclaimed ex-claimed Magnum, "Ijuiie recently. It was at "The embnssv gentleman says it s full of radium, sir. " "How manv bottles have you got hereV asked Magnum sharply. j " Nearlv two dozen. I think." "1 II take them all." "Verv good, sir." said the pleased attendant. This was a perquisite of his own. "Snail I forward them to vour house ? ' ' " "Xo, I'll carrv them with me. ' . . . On the evening of the next day. Magnum was again, by appointment, at Slivinski 's flat. "These are the prints of the photographs photo-graphs 1 took of yourself," said Magnum. Mag-num. The mvstic glanced at them without interest. ' "Thev tell me nothing new," he answered, "though doubtless they would seem wonderful to you. 1 trust vou are now satisfied." ' Mngnuni produced another print. " n.r this is one taken of myself in mv laboratorv. As von will see. I also seem to have a strongly-developed aura. " . . , Slivinski 's brow contracted slightlv as he looked at tho bromide print of Magiuuu. "You are a man of intense personality," he replied, "and oy i raining rain-ing von would pass quickly through the stage of the initiate to the state of the . adept." , ,r ... " nd here." pursued Magnum, is ono of mv office cat, wrapped in an old coat. ' She also seems to havo a stronglv developed aura." The invstic remained silent. "And "finallv," clinched tho triumphant trium-phant Magnum, "here is a photograph of a bottle of tablo wator wrapped m brown paper. Its aura is more powerful power-ful than vours or mine or tho cat s. Koslof Lillian water, tho same as vou' recommended to Miss Dallas. " Slivinski remained stock still for many moments, his dreamy eyes fixed on some far-away vision. . "Well?" asked Magnum Bharply. "What have vou to say for ynuriselH All these photographs correspond to the one taken of Miss Dallas, with the exception of the 'cloud ol vapor effect That wntor contains something new to me. When I've timo to spare I shall investigate it further. "What I have taught is the truth said tho mvstic, "but not provable to the materialistic skeptic. I,et mo beg of vou to let tho matter rest. 'Most decidedly notl " "Faith has wings of gossamor do not crush them with your rough fist of reason." .... "These photographs of mine will bo , placed before Miss Dallas, and she will draw her own conclusions." "You f ool! " flung out Slivinski with sudden white-hot passion. " ou blind fool! " ,. . . That was not the typo of wording to influence Magnum, lie replaced his bromide prints in his pocket, left tho flat sent the result of the investigation' investiga-tion' to Miss Cotterell and turned to his ordinary professional work. It was a week later when Miss Cotterell Cot-terell eaine to see bim at the Upper Thames street office. She was dressed all in black and her foaturos were drawn with pain. . "I wish I'd nevor shown you that photograph or asked you to investigate, investi-gate, ' she told him, with a break, in her voice. "You don't moan that T "Yes; you and I between us have killed my" aunt, and 1 shall never forgive for-give mvself ! " "Good God!" exclaimed the horrified horri-fied Magnum. "1 didn't droam sho "When I told her it brought on a heart attack, and sho nsvor recovered from it. " "It seems incredible that a mere revelation of trickery should produco such a result! " "There was more behind than 1 knew nf." she continued with bitter self-reproach. "An early love affair . . something sue nan hiwhjb cnne ished . . . and Slivinski told her thai when sho came to the stage of the adept she would be. able to meet him again on the astral plane. That wa how his teachings gave her such comfort. com-fort. And 1 chattered her hope. She had nothing more to live for. Oh, why. whv did I ever presume to interfere! in-terfere! ' ' , , "The gossamer wings 01 fnttn, murmured Magnum. |