Quicksilver - Amanda Quick [19]
“No offense, sir, but I trust you will understand that I know less about you than I know about Arcane or J & J.”
He smiled. “By the time this affair is concluded, we will know each other very well, Miss Dean. Meanwhile, I give you my word that I am not going to ruin your career, nor will I allow J & J to do so.”
“Hmm.”
“You do not believe me?”
“I’m not sure what to believe,” she said. “There is the matter of your reputation. Only last week you exposed another medium in the press.”
“I admit that I did expose a couple of mediums in order to establish my credentials as a legitimate researcher,” he said. “I can see that it was not the wisest course of action, because now you do not trust me. If it matters, I can tell you that I chose the two mediums because practitioners who claim to speak to the dead annoy me far more than those who pretend to levitate or read minds.”
“Why is that?”
“The levitators and mind readers are harmless entertainers, for the most part. They are guilty only of parlor tricks. But the mediums practice a cruel deception.”
She drummed the fingers of one hand on the desk. “As it happens, I agree with you. Nevertheless, that does not give you the right to interfere in the business affairs of others who are merely trying to make an honest living. Well, mostly honest.”
“Believe me, exposing practitioners is not my goal in this affair. I posed as a researcher who investigates psychical phenomena in order to provide myself with a cover that I could use to enter your world.”
“I see.”
“Your colleagues affiliated with the Leybrook Institute may not trust me, but by now they are convinced that I am a researcher.”
“It is almost impossible to prove the existence of psychical talent. There are no instruments that can measure or record that kind of energy. I doubt if I convinced any of your associates who were present at the Pomeroy reading.”
“They were not my associates. And I am aware that you feel you were tricked into doing that reading for Lady Pomeroy and those Arcane investigators.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Did you arrange for that test?”
“No, Miss Dean. Believe it or not, what I intended that night was a proper introduction. I asked Lady Pomeroy to request a reading so that I could meet you. I knew that she had always had some questions about her husband’s death. I swear to you that I did not know that she intended to invite several researchers from the Society to watch you at work.”
She studied him for a long time with her haunting eyes.
“I believe you,” she said at last.
It was as if a mountain had been lifted off his shoulders.
“Thank you,” he said.
“I almost walked out that evening without doing the reading,” Virginia said. “I have a strict rule when it comes to dealing with those who want to conduct research on me. I always refuse to cooperate in any sort of test. But on a whim, I decided to go through with that reading.”
“Because of Lady Pomeroy?”
“I could tell that she truly did have questions about Lord Pomeroy’s death. But that was not the reason I stayed to read the mirror.”
“You did the reading because of me, didn’t you?”
“I think so, yes.”
“Why?”
“I sensed that you were a man of considerable talent,” Virginia said. “I thought, perhaps, that if you witnessed me at work you might comprehend that my talent was real, also. I suppose it was a challenge of some kind.”
“So you broke your own rule that day. Because of me.”
She smiled coolly. “In my experience, breaking the rules that I have established for myself is almost always a mistake.”
“I have had the same experience.”
“Have you ever broken your own rules, Mr. Sweetwater?”
“It seems I am shattering a number of them in this case.”
An odd silence descended. The housekeeper’s footsteps sounded in the hall. Mrs. Crofton opened the door and brought in the tea tray. She looked at Virginia.
“Shall I pour, madam?”
“Yes, thank you, Mrs. Crofton,” Virginia said.
Mrs. Crofton poured two cups of tea and handed them out. She left the room, unobtrusively closing the door. It seemed to Owen