subject--"the more meechin' I feel
about it, spyin' on a good woman an' a great medium like her. Git the
girl away from _her_! Let me tell you, Dr. Blake, your girl's the
luckiest girl in the world, and I don't care if I have to say it right
into your face. If _I'd_ had a chance to develop my mediumship straight
from a great vessel of the spirit like that, I wouldn't be fakin' test
books, and robbin' card cases, and givin' demonstrations to store girls
at a dollar a trance. To learn from Mrs. Markham! She ought to thank
God for the chance."

Then, perceiving that she had left his feelings out of
consideration--noticing by the droop of his eyes how much she had
depressed him--she patted his knee and let a tender smile flutter over
her dimples.

"Of course, Boy," she said, with the sweet patronage of woman, "I don't
take no stock in the notion that the girl has got to put aside earthly
love, and that kind of talk. We've all got our notions and our
places--where we don't follow the spirit guides. Perhaps that's just
Mrs. Markham's weak spot. Maybe her own love affairs was ashes in her
mouth. Come to think of it, I never did know who Mr. Markham was. What
I'm tryin' to tell you is that you've got your pig by the wrong ear,
for you can't expose what's genuine. And I'm ashamed of what I'm doin',
and if I hadn't promised to stay a month, I'd leave this very day." Her
companion made an involuntary motion of alarm.

"Don't be afraid--I'm not goin' to yet. Gettin' the place was easy. You
want a housekeeper stupid and respectable; I was all that. I was
bothered, before I got started, to get the letters of recommendation,
but I got 'em--never mind how. And they were good, too. I'm Mrs.
Granger, as I told you, and I'm a widow. So I took the place away from
a Swede, an Irishwoman, and a French ginny. Right at the start, I found
a line on Mrs. Markham. When she was alone with me, after we come to
terms, she was just as kind and good as any lady in the land. I don't
suppose that means anythin' to you, but it did to me. Big fakirs and
crooks just live their lives in terror, afraid of their own shadows.
They've got to be sweet and kind on the outside, and so they take out
their crossness and irritation on the help. I'd rather be keeper in an
asylum than cook to a burglar. But Mrs. Markham was _fine_--and no airs
and no softness. If the spirit ever hallowed a face, it's hers. I know
you don't like her, and you can't be blamed--her kee