Mr Scarletti's Ghost (5 page)

None of this information was especially troubling to Mina, but what followed was alarming to a considerable degree. In 1866 Jane Lyon, a seventy-five-year-old widow, had asked Home if he could manifest the spirit of her dead husband. Home conducted a number of private séances and received gifts of thirty and fifty pounds. Home then discovered that Mrs Lyon, while living in very modest circumstances, was the mistress of a substantial fortune, and had no relatives. He was easily able to persuade her that her late husband wished her to adopt him as her son, and place him in a financial position in life appropriate to his new rank. Eleven days after their first meeting, Mrs Lyon accompanied Home to her bank and there arranged to sell a block of bonds for twenty-four thousand pounds which she then transferred to her new ‘son'. Home next persuaded Mrs Lyon that her husband wished her to destroy her previous will and make a new one in his favour. He changed his name to Lyon, received a further sum of six thousand pounds, and secured his position by having Mrs Lyon create deeds in his favour, which were stated to be irrevocable.

Gradually, however, Mrs Lyon opened her eyes and saw her terrible folly. She realised that had her husband been living he would never have placed her in such a harmful position, and friends advised her that she was being imposed upon by a fraud. There had been a quarrel between the unhappy woman and her leech, which had not resolved the matter, and she went to the law. The court denounced Home as a cheat and an impostor, and the practice of spiritualism as mischievous nonsense, calculated to delude the vain, the weak, the foolish and the superstitious, and assist the adventurer. The supposedly irrevocable deeds were duly set aside and he was ordered to return her property.

Mina read this dreadful litany of crime with a mounting sense of horror. Messages from the dead, tambourines that played themselves and men who flew about the room she could face with equanimity, but the vile behaviour of a heartless rogue who would use an elderly widow's love for her dead husband to dupe her out of her fortune appalled her.

The extraordinary thing, she learned as she read on, was that Home, far from having been put in prison or drummed out of English society, was still residing in England and practising as a medium. He continued to enjoy the confidence of the public and basked in the attention of eminent scientists. Even a claim that he had been detected in imposture at a séance had been swept aside by his adherents who stated that the light on that occasion had been so dim that it was impossible to tell one way or the other whether fraud had been used. Spiritualists, it seemed, saw everything as marvellous, but were blind to the mundane.

Mrs Browning, the poet's wife, who had received wreaths of flowers from spirit hands at Home's séances and had been told that there were rays of glory pouring from a crown over her head that only the medium could see, had to the end of her life remained unreservedly convinced. When Home's critics denounced him as morally worthless, she had riposted that even if he
was
morally worthless it would not impugn his being a true medium any more than her dentist's ability as a dentist would be held suspect if he were caught shoplifting. Mina at once saw the fatal flaws in this argument. Dentistry was a demonstrable medical skill based on knowledge and dexterity, whereas mediumship was a matter of trust and belief. The point at issue was not whether Home was skilled, but whether he was trustworthy, and on the evidence before her, he clearly was not.

A Professor William Crookes was currently subjecting Home to an impressive array of tests, which Dr Rand earnestly hoped would show the charlatan for what he was, but he was not sanguine that this would be the result. Dr Rand felt, and Mina was obliged to agree, that Professor Crookes's interest was probably aroused by a willingness to believe, which would make him an easy dupe for a fraud of more than twenty years' experience. It was often assumed, declared Rand, that frauds most easily deluded the unintelligent, and that the best witnesses were men of science. In reality the man of science was often the easiest mark since he thought too much and tried to find a beautiful explanation for what he had observed that could be fashioned into a scholarly paper while ignoring the sordid and simple truth.

Since the damning episode with Mrs Lyon, Home had not to anyone's knowledge perpetrated a scheme on a similar scale, but memories were short and believers many. Dr Rand ended his document by issuing a warning, especially to women, against entering into any financial arrangements with Home. Rumours were afoot that the adventurer, who still had youth and celebrity on his side, was looking for a wealthy wife.

Mina was still digesting this information when a great deal of clattering and loud exclamations from downstairs announced that her brother Richard had made one of his impromptu visits. Wondering what he was up to this time, Mina eased herself down the staircase, but had yet to reach the lowest step when she was swept up into his arms and lifted from the ground. ‘How is my best girl?' he asked, planting smacking kisses on her cheeks.

The question may have seemed no more than a brotherly greeting, but she knew that there lay underneath it a real concern for her health. She reassured him that she was well, which of course meant that she was no worse, and importantly, no shorter.

Richard had been favoured with the willowy height and fair hair and complexion of his mother, and the frank and somewhat raffish charm of his father. He was only a year younger than Mina, and the proximity of age meant that they had, until he was sent to school – or to be more accurate a series of schools – been brought up in each other's company. He deposited Mina very carefully on her feet, held her at arm's length and gazed at her affectionately, then smiled and nodded as he saw that she was indeed well.

With his usual excellent timing he had arrived just in time to enjoy luncheon, and as they ate, their mother talked with some enthusiasm of the rarefied circle of which she was now a member, and the accomplishments of Miss Eustace, who was, she thought, not above thirty and with good connections. Edward, she said, with a very pointed glance in Richard's direction, was in a fair way to achieving the hand of Miss Hooper, who would be an ornament to the family, and she looked to have some happy news from him in the near future. Richard smiled, but would not be drawn, and turned the conversation to his business interests, which he described as in a flourishing state but in need of liquid capital to ensure that he became an established success. He spoke vaguely of partners and offices, and clerks but in insufficient detail to enable his listeners to determine the exact nature of his enterprise. One certainty that accompanied all of Richard's schemes was that they were in want of investment, and his mother promised to transfer funds to him the next day. Unlike the depredations of the egregious Mr Home, Richard only asked for small sums that their mother could easily afford, and Mina comforted herself with the fact that the funds were at least going to a loved and undoubtedly loving son and not a lying adventurer.

Later that day Louisa went to take tea with Miss Whinstone and Mrs Bettinson, and Richard and Mina strolled arm-in-arm along the seafront, where gaily coloured posters were advertising the new attractions on the West Pier. Richard was careful to match his long stride to Mina's short steps, and for a time they were happy just to walk and enjoy the sun and tranquil air.

‘Now then,' said Mina after a while, ‘you do not deceive me and I want the truth. What is this business for which you need Mother to supply yet another investment? If it is gambling debts I shall be very annoyed.'

‘Oh, I have been bitten too many times by that horrid monster,' Richard assured her, ‘and have no pleasure in it any more. I am doing what I can to move in the best society and put on a brave show in the hopes of charming myself into a fortune. But it is very costly and dreadful dull work.'

‘I despair of you sometimes!' Mina exclaimed.‘Do you really intend to cheat some unfortunate lady of her fortune with winning smiles?'

‘Oh, as to that, there will be no cheating. If a rich lady wants a young husband to dance attendance on her then she knows what the bargain is. And I would be a model of the type, and act my part to her satisfaction.' He raised his hat and directed his appreciation to two prettily dressed ladies in a passing carriage, who were unable to resist laughing and blushing in return.

Richard, Mina was obliged to admit, had a curious yet consistent idea of morality. She knew that he would never steal from or blatantly defraud anyone, had never borrowed money without the intention of repaying it, although he invariably failed to do so, and was quite incapable of committing an act of unkindness. ‘But you are not yet engaged?' she asked.

‘No, and neither is there any prospect of it at present. There are rich enterprises I have in my sights, but I fear that the odds are against me.'

‘Have the ladies found you out as an adventurer?' she teased. ‘If they are clever they will hold on to their money. If I wanted a handsome face in my drawing room I would purchase a painting. That would be far less trouble than a husband.'

‘The London ladies of fortune are like castles moated about with lawyers,' he said gloomily. ‘If I have no success there then I might come to Brighton for the high season and lurk around the pavilion, where I might discover a dowager duchess taking the air, and win her hand.'

Mina looked at him carefully and saw that for all the outward show of elegance his garments were not as fresh or as fashionable as they needed to be for such an undertaking. ‘I hope you are not in debt for lodgings,' she said, ‘or do you remain with Edward?'

‘Edward vouchsafes me a corner of his attic,' said Richard. ‘He is well, but his talk is all about work. It is a subject for which I feel very little enthusiasm, and I can contribute nothing to the conversation.'

‘That does not bode well for Miss Hooper,' said Mina. ‘A woman should expect her husband to have more than one subject on which he can talk with some authority, preferably several.'

‘I have met the lovely Miss Hooper,' said Richard, ‘and I think she will not be very demanding in the area of conversation. I can see why Edward is so much in love with her; her father is really quite rich. But that china doll kind of beauty has never appealed to me. I like the kind of girl who—' He hesitated.

‘The kind of girl you could not introduce to Mother?' ventured Mina.

He laughed. ‘You have it, my dear.' He squeezed her hand affectionately. ‘But Mina, you must be very dull here. Do you really wish to wait on Mother forever? She has Simmons now, and she can do very well without you, you know. You should think of marrying.'

‘Oh come, now, who would have me?' said Mina with a smile. ‘A miser looking for an unpaid drudge perhaps, who would expect me to be grateful that he has deigned to look at me? No, I shall never marry, and I am perfectly content with that.' She did not say it but sometimes she felt almost fortunate, enjoying unimaginable freedom for a respectable single young lady. No one, seeing the little woman with the crooked body and curious gait, could suppose her to be anything other than honest. No one would press her to marry a tedious man or allow children to command her time and absorb her strength. By not being constrained into the narrow sphere of wife and mother she had discovered that she had the choice of being almost anything else she pleased.

They strolled on a little further. There was a long pause in the conversation, and into the cheerful enjoyment of the early summer weather there crept a grey chill. ‘What is it, Mina?' said Richard. ‘I am not a fool and I can see that something is making you unhappy.'

They stopped walking, and gazed out across the beach to the distant glitter of the sea. Pleasure boats were drawn up on to the shore like the drying carcasses of stranded porpoises, and there was an almost endless line of freshly painted bathing machines ready to trundle into the water, their large wheels and small bodies making them look like colourful spiders.

Mina looked further, to where the bright water met the soft cloudy horizon, then closed her eyes and thought of sea-spirits and mermaids and kings with green hair and enchanted reefs of pearl and coral.

‘Do you still go sea-bathing?' asked Richard. ‘I have heard it is very beneficial.'

‘So all the medical men say, but I have had my fill of medical men and their opinions,' said Mina. ‘I get neither pleasure nor relief from sea-water, warm or cold. There was a time when I bathed once a week when the weather was fine, but that was only to please Mother, and I was able eventually to persuade her not to be too disappointed if I stopped.' She turned to him. ‘I am perfectly well, but if you must know I am concerned about Mother's enthusiasm for Miss Eustace. I am far from convinced that she is not a charlatan preying on the superstitious.'

‘Oh, I have no doubt that she is,' said Richard, airily. ‘These people are all cheats and conjurers, but they provide amusement and I really think they do no harm. There is a new sensation on the West Pier – did you see the posters? Madame Proserpina the fortune teller. Guaranteed genuine. I am sure the crowds will flock to her.'