"Do you suppose it would be possible for me to see her again?"
"You mean, to try another seance?"
"I would esteem it a great favor."
"I can’t answer for her, Monsieur Jean. As I explained at the time, it causes her distress if anything goes wrong. She was very much upset."
"I realize that. I am thoroughly prepared now, and can give you my word that nothing of the sort will happen again. Whatever comes, I will take it, as you Americans say."
"Perhaps," suggested Lanny, "you might prefer to sit with her alone?"
"If she will trust me, that would be better. You may tell her that I will pay her generously."
"I would beg you not to mention that. We have a financial arrangement with her, and her time is ours."
"Surely it would be proper for me to pay a portion of the cost?"
"There is no need to raise the question. The amount is small— and you may not get the results you want."
"If I should get them, and if I might see her now and then, you will surely let me make some financial arrangement?"
"We can talk about that by and by. First, I will see if I can persuade her to give you another sitting."
"You have not told her about me?"
"I haven’t told anybody. You remember I wrote you that that was my intention."
"You have been very kind, Lanny, and I shall never forget it."
XI
It wasn’t an easy matter to persuade Madame Zyszynski. She was still angry with "that rude old gentleman." What he had done to her was unforgivable. But Lanny told her that the rude old gentleman had been extremely unhappy, and something had come from Tecumseh which had broken him down; it had taken him nearly a year to get over it. But now he was penitent, and had given his word, and Lanny felt sure he would keep it. Madame was used to trusting Lanny—she was a lonely old woman, and had adopted him as her son in her imagination. Now she said she would give Monsieur Jean another chance to behave, but first Lanny must explain to him the physical shock which he had caused her, that she had been ill and depressed for days, and so on. Tecumseh would doubtless be extremely angry, and would scold the sitter without the least regard to his dignity.
Lanny dutifully went back and delivered these messages; and the armament king of Europe solemnly agreed to humble his pride before the chieftain of the Iroquois. Lanny said: "I don’t know what he really is, but he acts like a personage, and you have to treat him that way. You have given him offense, and you will have to pretend that you are petitioning for pardon." Lanny said it with a smile, but the Knight Commander and Grand Officer was serious; he replied that if it would get him a message from the source desired he would submit to torture from real Indians.
So Lanny took him down to his studio, and showed him some of Marcel’s paintings on the walls—though he probably didn’t have much mind for art just then. The medium came in, and said: "Bon jour, monsieur" Zaharoff answered: "Bon jour, madame" and they seated themselves in the two chairs which Lanny had moved into place for them. He waited until he saw the woman going into her trance successfully; then he went out, closing the studio door behind him.
Beauty and Irma had been in to Cannes for shopping. They came back; and of course it would no longer be possible to keep the secret from them. No need to, anyhow, for the matter would doubtless be settled this time; the duquesa would "come through," or Zaharoff would give up. Lanny took them into his mother’s room and told them who had attended Madame’s seance in Dieppe. Both the ladies were excited, for Zaharoff was the same kind of royalty as Irma, and sovereigns do not often meet their social equals. "Oh, do you think he’ll stay for dinner?" inquired Beauty.
Anyhow, the ladies would dress; but not too much, for Monsieur Jean wouldn’t be dressed. Lanny explained the reason for the name. Then he walked up and down on the loggia in front of the villa, watching the sun set behind the dark mountains across the Golfe Juan. Many times he had watched it, as far back as his memory went. He had seen war come, and vessels burning and sinking in that blue expanse of water. He had watched the tangled fates of human beings woven on these grounds; love and hate, jealousy and greed, suffering and fear; he had seen people dancing, laughing and chatting, and more than once crying. Marcel had sat here with his burned-off face, meeting his friends in the protecting darkness. Here, too, Kurt had played his music, Rick had outlined his plays, and Robbie had negotiated big munitions- deals. Now Lanny walked, waiting to hear if the spirit of a noble Spanish lady was going to speak to her Greek husband through the personality of an American redskin, dead a couple of centuries and using the vocal cords of a Polish peasant woman who had been a servant in the home of a Warsaw merchant. One thing you could say about life, it provided you with variety!
XII
The old man came up from the studio alone, walking with his head thrust forward, as he always did, as if smelling his way. Lanny went to meet him, and he said, with unwonted intensity: "My boy, this is really a disturbing thing!"
"You got some results?"
"I got what certainly seemed results. Tell me, are you convinced of this woman’s honesty?"
"We are all convinced of that."
"How long have you known her?"
"For some eighteen months."
"You think she is really in a trance when she pretends to be?"
"She would have to be a skilled actress if that were not true; we have watched her closely, and we don’t think she is intelligent enough to fool us."
"You are sure she doesn’t know who I am?"
"I can’t imagine how she could have found out. No one but my father knew about the matter, and you know that my father is not a loose talker. When you wrote me the appointment, I took the precaution to tear up your letter and throw it into the sea."
"Lanny, it was just as if my wife was sitting in the next room, sending me messages. You can understand how important this is to me."
"It is important to all of us, for we all get communications like that."
"She reminded me of things from my childhood, and from hers; things we both knew but which nobody else knows—at least, not that I can think of."
They went inside, for it grows chilly on the Riviera the moment the sun is down. The old man wanted to know all that Lanny thought about these phenomena, the most mysterious which confront the modern thinker. When Lanny told him of the books of Geley and Osty, Zaharoff took out his notebook and jotted down the names; also the two great volumes of Pierre Janet—he promised to study them all. His education had been neglected, but now he would try to find out about the subconscious mind and its powers, so different from those of a munitions king! He had missed a great deal, and was only beginning to be aware of it when life was ebbing.
The ladies came in: two most elegant ladies, about whom he had heard; concerning Irma nothing but good. He was extraordinarily courteous; he hoped for a favor from them, and asked it as a humble petitioner: would they graciously permit Madame Zyszynski to visit him in Monte Carlo if he would send his car for her and send her back? Beauty said: "Why, certainly. That is, of course, if Madame is willing, and I am sure she will be."
"We got along all right this time," said Zaharoff. And Lanny, not untrained in observation, perceived that the old spider, likewise not untrained, was watching for some hint of the fact that Beauty knew of the earlier fiasco. Since Beauty didn’t know what had happened on that occasion, it was easy for her to appear innocent. Not that >t would have been difficult, anyhow!