The Come Back Page 7

  CHAPTER VII

  The Tobacco Pouch

  It was doubtless owing to Benjamin Crane's attitude regarding his son'sdeath that the home did not present more the aspect of a house ofmourning. Both Crane and his wife were not only resigned to Peter'sfate, but they seemed positively happy in what they believed to becontinued communion with his spirit.

  As Mrs. Crane said, "When Peter was a child the gypsies said he would goaway and be lost, but he would return to us. He has done so, he is doingso--why should we grieve? He tells us he is happy and contented in hisnew sphere of existence, therefore, we are, too."

  "That's all very well," Carlotta Harper would respond, "but I don't lookat it that way at all. I want my Peter Boots back again in the flesh.I'm not contented at all with a lot of spirit talk communicated througha paid medium!"

  "Don't say paid medium, as if the paying detracted from her worth,"Benjamin Crane chid the girl. "Of course, we pay Madame Parlato for hertime--why should we not? It's the best money I ever spent! And you're amedium yourself, Carlotta. You hate to acknowledge it, but you are. Yourwork with the Ouija Board is perfectly marvelous, and I have proved tomy own satisfaction that you never use the least fraud."

  "Indeed, I don't," said Carlotta, earnestly, "but what's the use? Whatdo I care to have Peter talk on that wooden board--if it _is_ Peter--Iwant him, himself!"

  Carlotta was passing through strange moods. Living alone with hermother, their home seemed far more a house of mourning than the Cranes'.

  The girl grieved deeply for Peter. Though not definitely engaged, sheknew their betrothal would have been sealed on his return. And nothaving the comfort that the Cranes so gladly accepted, she sorrowed forher lost love.

  Her success with the Ouija Board was a matter of mystery to her motherand to all who knew of it. It seemed that she must be a medium, orpossess some occult power, for whenever she placed her finger-tips onthe little board it immediately began to move, and told such remarkablethings that there was occasion for surprise. Nor did Carlotta move theboard of her own volition. It was easily seen that she did not "push" orurge it in any direction. The most careful scrutiny could not onlydiscern no effort of hers, but could not fail to be convinced that shemade none. Her friends came often to beg her to give them a session.Her fame spread until it began to annoy her.

  Gilbert Blair talked to her about it.

  "You know, Carly," he said, "it's not really a message from a spirit youget, it's----"

  "It's what, Gilbert?" she asked, smiling. "Don't you tell me it's fraudon my part, because it isn't."

  "No, I don't think it's conscious fraud, but----"

  "But you don't know what it is, do you?" the girl smiled at him, andBlair, looking deep in her eyes, said: "No, I don't know what it is, andI don't care. But I care about you. Carly, dear, can't you learn to loveme? I'm not as good a chap as Peter--dear old Peter. But I love you--oh,girl, how I love you!"

  "The Ouija Board said that Peter wanted me to turn my affections towardKit Shelby."

  "It didn't! did it? Then that proves that it was no real message fromPeter! He would rather you'd turn toward me."

  "How do you know?"

  "Oh, we used to talk about you up in the snows of Labrador. And Peterloved you lots, but he knew I did, too, and we agreed that the best manshould win. I don't mean the best man, but the one who stood best inyour heart. And now--oh, Carly, if you only would----"

  "Not yet, Gilbert--don't let's talk about it yet."

  "But Peter's been dead nearly six months, and you weren't actuallyengaged, you know----"

  "How do you know that?"

  "Peter told me, oh, we were confidential up there. And, now, Peter'sgone, and try, won't you, Carly, try to love me. Shelby isn't in my way,is he?"

  "I don't know--he wants to be."

  "Of course he does! But I won't give up to him! Peter was different. Hewas a wonder, that chap!"

  "Indeed, he was. And I care too much for his memory to think about anyone else--yet."

  "But some day, Carly--dear, some day?"

  "Some day we'll see about it. Gilbert, what do you think of that mediumthe Cranes go to all the time?"

  "Absolute rubbish."

  "I think that, too. But she's doing queer stunts. She's begunmaterializing things."

  "What sort of things?"

  "I don't know exactly. Flowers, I believe, and hands and faces."

  "You know all the legerdemain people do that."

  "That's no argument, Gilbert, and you know it. The charlatans can do allthe things that the real mediums do. The question is not whether thefakers can do them, but whether the real mediums can."

  "Meaning whether the real mediums are real or not?"

  "Yes, that's what I mean. If ever there was a real one. I think MadameParlato is one. But I'm not sure. She does the Cranes a lot of good.They believe----"

  "Not Julie."

  "Oh, no, Julie hates the whole business. I think she'd be convinced,though, except for Mr. Thorpe. He's such a skeptic that he influencesJulie."

  "I _thought_ Thorpe was rather interested in that direction."

  "Well, rather! Why, they've been exclusively interested in each otherall winter."

  "Thorpe's a close-mouthed chap. We live together, but we seldom exchangeconfidences. I like him pretty well, but----"

  "But what?"

  "I oughtn't to say it, but I don't altogether trust him. We're workingfor a prize, you know, the Callender medal, and sometimes I've imaginedthat he----"

  "I know, he steals your ideas."

  "Well, I wouldn't put it so bluntly, but he is an unconsciouskleptomaniac, I think. He watches my drawing--I go astray sometimes tomislead him--and next thing I know he incorporates the same motive inhis own sketches. I wouldn't say this to any one else, but I'm a littleworried about it. Not so much about his taking my stuff as the fear thatsome one will think I've taken his."

  "How's your work progressing?"

  "Well--if Thorpe lets me alone."

  "Can't you lock yourself in?"

  "Oh, no; we use the same studio, and if I seemed fearful he would beangry at once. He's a strange nature, Thorpe. Morbid and secretive, yeta good friend and a first-rate living companion. You see, we've separatebedrooms, of course, but we've only the one big room that's studio andsitting-room combined. We have to use it together, but as our friendsare pretty much the same bunch, we get along all right. We have lockersand all that, but I hate to lock up my sketches when I go out. It looksas if I didn't trust him."

  "Well, you don't."

  "No; but I can't tell him so. Nor do I want to hint it--at least notuntil I find some definite proof. Get out your Ouija Board, Carly, andsee if it will tell us anything."

  "Oho, you believe in it fast enough when you want to use it?"

  But a trial of the occult only brought Blair the advice to beware of afriend who might be at heart an enemy. To be careful of his plans andsketches, for there was some one near who might be guilty of deceit.

  All of which Blair knew before.

  * * * * *

  The sessions which the Cranes held with Madame Parlato increased inimportance and interest.

  She had succeeded in materializing the face and form of their son totheir satisfaction of his identity. They told remarkable tales of seeingand hearing Peter Boots, until Julie ran out of the room lest she voiceher disapproval too strongly. For Julie Crane, though an absoluteunbeliever in Madame Parlato and all her works, was a devoted daughter,and would do nothing to disturb the happiness her parents felt in the_seances_ with the medium.

  But one performance fairly staggered the group of listeners to whom theCranes recounted it.

  They returned from the medium's to find the young people sitting roundthe hospitable Crane fireside. It was mid March and the weather stillallowed of the cheerful open fire.

  Carlotta was there and Shelby, and Blair and Thorpe, with Julie, ofcourse, made up the little party.

&n
bsp; "The most marvelous yet!" Benjamin Crane exclaimed, as he drew near thefire. "Julie, dear, if you don't want to hear, run away, for I must tellabout it."

  But Julie stayed, and her parents told the story.

  It seemed the medium had promised them something very definite by way ofproof, and she had certainly kept her promise.

  The materialization of Peter had taken place, and, as the spirit formslowly dissolved and faded from their view, there was left behind, lyingon the table, an object that had not been there before.

  It was a tobacco pouch, old and worn, and bearing Peter's initials.

  Julie looked at it with horror-stricken eyes, as her father produced itfrom his pocket.

  "Why," she gasped, "it's the one I gave him on his birthday."

  "Not really!" cried Shelby, and both he and Blair leaned eagerly forwardto look.

  "It's the one he always carried with him in Labrador," Blair said, withan expression of blank wonderment. "How did it get down here?"

  "I offer no explanation, save the true one," Benjamin Crane said,seriously. "That is, as you see, a real object. It is Peter's property.You, Blair, recognize it. Do you, Shelby?"

  "I do," Shelby replied, his eyes staring at the thing.

  "Julie recognized it at once," went on Crane. "So there's no doubt ofits identity. Now, I submit that it would be impossible for MadameParlato to have come by this in any natural way, therefore it issupernatural."

  "Supernatural!" McClellan Thorpe exclaimed, with utter scorn in hisvoice. "How could that be, sir?"

  "It was materialized by my son, Peter," Crane returned, looking atThorpe, calmly. "That may seem incredible to you, but it is not soincredible as any other explanation you may offer. You cannot think mywife or I would misstate what happened, can you? You cannot assume thatMadame Parlato obtained this in any underhanded way, for you cannotconceive of any way in which she _could_ do so. Then, what do yousuggest?"

  "Anything, but that Peter brought it!" Thorpe cried.

  "Ah, yes; anything but the truth. You glibly say 'anything,' but I askyou to suggest what you mean in that 'anything,' and you fail to reply."

  "There is nothing to suggest," Blair said; "I confess myself utterly ata loss to suggest anything. To my certain knowledge Peter had that onhis person when he died! Why, that morning he had given me a pipeful outof it, and had then returned it to his pocket! My explanation is thatPeter is alive!"

  "I wish that were the true one," said Benjamin Crane, fervently, "but ifyou'll think a minute, Gilbert, you'll realize that if Peter were alivehe would come to us in the flesh, and not send his tobacco pouch by amedium."

  "Indeed, he would!" agreed Carlotta, "much as I'd love to believe Peteralive, this episode contradicts such a belief, not proves it!"

  "That's right," said Shelby, thoughtfully; "I, too, can believe anythingrather than that the medium caused the materialization of this thing,but----"

  "The medium didn't cause it, exactly," broke in Mrs. Crane's gentlevoice; "you see, we had begged Peter so hard for a material proof thathe promised to try to give it to us. And at last he succeeded. It ismiraculous, of course, but no more miraculous than the strange thingsrecorded in the Bible. You see, I hold that the day of miracles is notpast."

  Shelby said gravely, "You must be right, for there's surely no otherexplanation. I, too, saw this in Peter's hand that last day we weretogether. I can't believe he's alive----"

  "Of course not!" interrupted Blair, "if he were, he'd have no use formediums! Whatever is the truth, it's not that Peter's alive! I only wishit might be, but as Carlotta says, this thing contradicts such a theory.I'm beaten. I see no light at all."

  Benjamin Crane smiled. "You boys admit you see no explanation yet yourefuse to accept the obvious and only one possible. But I'm not going totry to persuade you, I've no reason to do so. It all means little toyou, but it is as the breath of life to me and to Peter's mother. Itrust that some day Julie will be convinced of these truths, but that isfor her to decide. I shall add this revelation to my book, by way of anappendix. It's too late to incorporate it in the body of the work."

  Benjamin Crane's book had been a work of absorbing interest to him ifnot to his friends. He was entirely obsessed by the whole matter ofSpiritism, and his book, following the style of a celebrated work of asimilar nature in England, was even now in the publisher's hands.

  The book was a memorial to Peter and an account of the experiences ofhis parents during the sessions with the medium. Crane possessed apleasant, convincing style, and the book was well written and of a realinterest quite apart from the question of the reader's belief in itsmatter.

  * * * * *

  When the volume was published, and that was early in April, it became animmediate success. Not the least of the reasons for this was theastounding account of the materialization of the tobacco pouch, detailedexactly as Benjamin Crane had told the story the night of theoccurrence.

  The book went like wildfire. Edition after edition was sold, andBenjamin Crane found himself famous. The benign old gentleman took hisnotoriety calmly, and refused to see the people who thronged to his doorunless they were personal acquaintances. He had to engage secretariesand other assistants, but his methodical and efficient mind easily copedwith all such matters. Mrs. Crane, too, was serenely indifferent to thepublicity of it all, and pursued her simple ways of life undisturbed.

  But Julie was angry at it all. Her life, she said, was spoiled by beingknown as the daughter of a demented monomaniac.

  Her father smiled at her and told her she would change her views someday, and her mother scolded her now and then, but mostly ignored thesubject when talking with her.

  Julie found sympathy in the views of McClellan Thorpe.

  Neither of these two would believe in the materialization of the tobaccopouch, yet neither of them could arrive at any satisfactory explanationof the incident.

  "Of course, it's Peter's pouch," Julie would say; "but it came to thatwoman by some natural means. Maybe, somebody found it up there inLabrador and brought it home----"

  "No," Thorpe would object, "in that case it would be weather-worn anddefaced, and, too, nobody would have any reason to find it, bring ithome, and give it to Madame Parlato! No, Carly, that won't do."

  "Maybe he had two--duplicates," Carly suggested once. But inquiries ofthe Crane family proved that was not so. It was the very one Julie hadgiven her brother, she was sure of that.

  And so that mystery remained unexplained, save by the acceptance of amiracle.

  A very material result of the success of Crane's book was a large amountof money that came to him from its royalties. Some of this he decided touse in fitting out an expedition to recover his son's body.

  This, he decreed, was to be under the direction of Shelby and Blair, whoknew just how it should be conducted. With his usual efficiency, Cranemade all the arrangements and then told the young men about what he haddone.

  They agreed to go, but Shelby advised first that he write to Joshua,their old guide, as to their reception.

  This was done, but the reply received caused a halt in the preparations.

  For the letter, which Shelby brought over for Crane to read, ran thus:

  "DEAR MISTER SHELBY:

  "I think youd better not try to take back the boddy of Mister Peter. We berried it verry deep and it better remain here. Anny way, you cant mannage it till late summer. Say about August or so."

  "However, Mr. Crane," Shelby said, "if you say so, we can go ahead inspite of Joshua's letter. He's a good guide, but he always was a bitdictatorial."

  "No," Benjamin Crane said, "I believe in taking advice from one who isundoubtedly good authority. We'll postpone the plan until August."

  When Blair was told of it he was rather relieved, for he was busy withhis prize drawings and he didn't want to leave town.

  "Let's see the letter," he said to Shelby.

  "I haven't it, Blair. I left it with Mr. Cr
ane. But I've told you thegist of it."

  "All right, Kit," and Blair went on with his work.

  It was the next night at the Crane house that Mr. Crane again spoke ofhis disappointment at not putting through his hoped-for expedition.

  "You see, Kit," he said to Shelby, "I want to write another book, and Iwant it to be about the recovery of Peter's body."

  "Oh, don't do that, Mr. Crane," Shelby said, impulsively; "it would beanti-climax. You've done a big thing, and scored a success. Another bookwould spoil it all."

  "I don't think so," said Crane, not at all annoyed at Shelby's attitude."Anyway, I hate to give up my plan. See here, Shelby, are you sure thatman Joshua wrote the letter you got?"

  "Why, yes. What makes you ask that?"

  "Only because it's in a big sprawly hand, and once Blair showed me aletter from Joshua, which he's kept as a memento, and it was in a smallcramped hand."

  "That's queer. But I expect Joshua might have got somebody to write forhim. Those half-breeds are not very scholarly, you know. However, ifthere's any doubt about it, the matter must be looked into. Do you meanthat maybe we can go now, after all? But I can't help thinking thatJoshua wrote that. I know he's not very strong on spelling!"

  "Well, Blair will know. You ask him for that letter he has of Joshua's."

  "All right, Mr. Crane, I will. I'll see him to-night. There's a dinneron at the Club, and he'll be there. You know he's in a fair way, Ithink, to get that Callender prize."

  "I hope so, I'm sure. A rising young architect, Blair is, and I hope hewins it. I suppose he wouldn't want to go to Labrador until that matteris settled?"

  "No, probably not. But the award will be made this month."

  "And he's in a fair way to get it?"

  "Looks that way to me. His sketches are fine, though I haven't seen hisfinished work. Thorpe's a close second, I imagine."

  "I suppose I'd rather see Thorpe get it, but don't tell Blair that. Aman is naturally interested in his future son-in-law."

  "Oh, it's gone as far as that, has it?"

  "Yes, but it's not announced yet. So say nothing till Julie tells youto. She's a dear girl, but as hard as adamant where belief in the occultis concerned."

  "She and Thorpe are at one there."

  "Yes, that helped the affair along, I fancy. But it's all right. Juliecan think what she likes. Peter used to hate the subject, too."

  "I know it. We touched on it now and then, but he usually veered off tosomething else at once."

  "What do you think about the pouch, Shelby? I'm not sure I ever askedyou."

  "I don't think, Mr. Crane. I mean I can't explain the thing by naturalmeans, and I'm unable to believe in the supernatural. What more can Isay?"

  "Nothing. I suppose most people are like that. Thank heaven. I'm made sothat I can believe!"