Clue of the Silken Ladder

  CHAPTER 14 _WET PAINT_

  Promptly at two o'clock the following afternoon, Penny and Mrs. Weemspresented themselves at the Hodges' cottage for the appointed seance.Already Mr. Gepper awaited them in the darkened apartment on the secondfloor.

  Penny's glance about the room found everything in the same order as uponthe previous visit, save that an easel with a large black sheet ofartist's paper stood beside the cabinet.

  She moved as if to examine it. Al Gepper intercepted her by saying:

  "Sit here, if you please. Beside Mrs. Weems. I'll call the Hodges andwe'll start at once."

  The medium went to the door and shouted down the stairway. Penny noticedthat he remained where he could watch her every move in a mirror whichhung on the wall. She shrewdly guessed that he was afraid she mightattempt to examine either the cabinet or the easel.

  Mr. and Mrs. Hodges came in response to the call, taking chairs about thecircular table. The gaze which they fastened upon Al Gepper was almostworshipful.

  "Now today I hope to materialize the Spirit of Cousin David," announcedthe medium. "The task will be difficult, as you must realize. After theseance begins I am compelled to request absolute quiet. The slightestmovement may frighten away the Spirits."

  "Why are spirits so timid?" asked Penny.

  "Because their beings are so sensitive that they instantly feel anunfriendly presence," the man responded glibly. "Please hold hands, anduse every precaution that contact is not broken."

  Mrs. Weems took one of Penny's hands and Mr. Hodges the other. Mrs.Hodges sat next to her husband.

  After lowering black curtains over the window blinds to further darkenthe room, the medium returned to his chair. Those at the table wereunable to distinguish his form, and for a time there was no sound savethe scratching music of a phonograph record.

  Presently the medium exhorted the Spirit of Cousin David to appear. Forat least ten minutes there was no indication that communication was to beestablished. Then a cowbell tinkled, causing Mrs. Weems to shake andtremble.

  "Are you there, David?" called the medium.

  The bell jingled violently.

  "We are ready, David," intoned the medium. "Have you a message for us?"

  To Penny's amazement, a pair of shapely white hands slowly materialized,apparently pulling aside the curtain of the cabinet above the medium'shead. In the darkness they glowed with a weird phosphorescent light.

  Next appeared a white-rimmed slate, upon which luminous words werewritten: "I am the Spirit of Cousin David. Is Maud here?"

  "Yes, yes," responded Mrs. Weems, quivering with excitement. "Have you amessage for me?"

  Again the hand wrote: "My happiness in this world beyond is disturbed.Maud, do not squander the money which I gave to you."

  "Squander it?" the housekeeper said aloud. "Why, I've scarcely spent apenny!"

  "A trip to California is ill-advised," wrote the hand. "Invest your moneyin good eight per cent securities. There are many excellentcompanies--the Brantwell Corporation, White and Edwards, the BierkampCompany."

  The slate vanished and once more the jingling of the cowbell denoted thatthe spirit was moving away.

  The medium spoke. "Contact has been broken. Shall we try to reach CousinDavid again?"

  "Oh, please!" pleaded Mrs. Weems. "I don't know what to do now. I'veplanned on the western trip and I can't understand why Cousin Davidshould advise me to give it up."

  "I wouldn't go agin' the Spirits if I was you," advised Mr. Hodges. "Youbetter change your plans, Maud."

  "But how can I be certain that the message came from Cousin David?" thehousekeeper quavered. "Oh, dear, I am so upset! If only I could becertain."

  "Madam, I hope you do not distrust me," said Al Gepper reprovingly.

  "Oh, no, it's not that. I'm just upset."

  "Perhaps, if you actually saw your cousin it would set your mind atrest."

  "Is it possible to see him?"

  "I cannot promise, but we will try. Hold hands again please, and everyoneconcentrate."

  There followed an interval during which the medium pleaded with theSpirit of Cousin David to return and show himself. Suddenly the group wasstartled to see a luminous banjo move high through the air, unsupportedby any hand. It began to play "Down upon the Swanee River."

  Midway through the selection, the music broke off and the banjodisappeared. An instant later Mrs. Hodges uttered a choked cry.

  "The easel! Look at it, Maud!"

  All eyes turned toward the painter's canvas. As the medium focused aflashlight upon it, the face of an elderly man slowly materialized on theblank surface, the picture appearing in red, blue and finally black oilpaint.

  "It _is_ Cousin David!" whispered Mrs. Weems, gripping Penny's hand sotightly that it hurt. "He looks exactly as he did when last I saw him!"

  The medium extinguished his light and again the room was dark. Mrs.Weems' chair creaked as she stirred restlessly. Mr. Hodges' heavybreathing could be plainly heard. There was no other sound. Everyonewaited in tense expectancy, sensing that the climax of the seance was athand.

  Suddenly, behind Al Gepper's chair a spot of ethereal light appeared. AsPenny watched, it grew in size until the figure had assumed theproportions of a man. Then, to her further amazement, it slowly rosetoward the ceiling, hovering above Mrs. Weems' chair.

  Throughout the seance Penny had remained firm in her conviction that themedium had resorted to trickery to produce his startling effects.Although she could not be sure, she thought that several times he hadslipped from his chair to enter the conveniently placed cabinet. She alsobelieved that the only way he could have materialized the ghost was bydonning luminous robes.

  "I'll end his little game once and for all," she thought.

  Deliberately she waited until the ghostly figure floated close to her ownchair. Then with a sudden upward spring, she snatched at it.

  Greatly to her chagrin, her hand encountered nothing solid. With thespeed of lightning, the figure streaked toward the cabinet behind AlGepper's chair and was seen no more.

  Arising, the medium switched on the room lights. His face was white withanger.

  "I warned you to make no move," he said harshly to Penny. "Youdeliberately disobeyed me."

  "Oh, Penny, why did you do it?" wailed Mrs. Weems. "I was so eager to getanother message from Cousin David."

  "His Spirit has been frightened away," announced the medium. "It will beimpossible ever to recall him. For that matter, I shall never againconduct a seance with this young person present. She is a disturbingelement."

  "Oh, Penny, you've ruined everything," said Mrs. Weems accusingly. "Whydo you act so outrageously?"

  Penny started to speak and then changed her mind. Mrs. Weems, theseamstress and her husband, all were gazing at her with deep reproach.She realized that there was nothing she could say which would make themunderstand.

  She arose and walked to the easel. The painting of Cousin David remainedclearly visible. She touched it and then glanced at her finger which borea streak of red.

  The paint was still wet.

  Penny stared at her finger a moment. Lifting her eyes she met thetriumphant gaze of Al Gepper.

  "Not even a skillful artist could have painted a picture so quickly," hesaid with a smirk. "Only a spirit would have the ability. You aredumbfounded, my little one?"

  "No, just plain dumb," answered Penny. "I salute you, Mr. Gepper."

  Without waiting for Mrs. Weems, she turned and went from the house.

  "Now how _did_ he do it?" she muttered. "I saw everything and yet I ammore in the dark than ever. But I am sure of one thing. Unless I workfast, Al Gepper is almost certain to obtain Mrs. Weems' inheritance."