ake. Now--he wants it! So, dear heart--my
little girl--won't you----"

"No," said Carlotta.

CHAPTER VII

The Tobacco Pouch

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

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

"That's all very well," Carlotta Harper would respond, "but I don't look
at 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 through
a 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 her
time--why should we not? It's the best money I ever spent! And you're a
medium yourself, Carlotta. You hate to acknowledge it, but you are. Your
work with the Ouija Board is perfectly marvelous, and I have proved to
my own satisfaction that you never use the least fraud."

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

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

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

Her success with the Ouija Board was a matter of mystery to her mother
and to all who knew of it. It seemed that she must be a medium, or
possess some occult power, for whenever she placed her finger-tips on
the little board it immediately began to move, and told such remarkable
things that there was occasion for surprise. Nor did Carlotta move the
board of her own volition. It was easily seen that she did not "push" or
urge it in any direction. The most careful scrutiny could not only
discern no effort of hers, but could not fail to be convinced that she