Quicksilver - Amanda Quick [57]
Virginia picked up her cup. “You wondered if that might be true.”
“Yes. For Mama’s sake I tried to pretend that I was no longer using my other sight, but on a couple of occasions I felt I absolutely had to tell her what I had seen.”
Virginia sipped some tea and lowered the cup. “Your talent is a form of intuition that allows you to tell a great deal about another person’s character.”
“Yes, exactly,” Elizabeth said eagerly. “For example, a couple of months ago I was visiting a friend, Sophy Wheeler, when her elder sister’s fiancé arrived at the house. He was shown into the library to discuss the marriage settlements with Mr. Wheeler. Before they closed the door I saw the two men talking. I opened my other senses, and I knew at once that the fiancé was lying about the state of his finances.”
“What did you do?”
“I did not say anything to Sophy, but when I went home, I told Mama. At first she said it was none of our affair. But I knew she was concerned. The next day she went to see Mrs. Wheeler. She told her that she’d heard rumors about the fiancé’s finances and that it might be wise to make a few inquiries. The next thing we knew, Mr. Wheeler announced that the fiancé was nothing but a fortune hunter. The marriage was called off. After that, Mama has paid more attention to my warnings. But she still insists that I not talk about my abilities with others.”
“I must tell you that I think your mother’s advice is sound,” Virginia said. “Generally speaking, unless one is in the business, as I am, it is not a good idea to talk about one’s paranormal senses with those who do not possess them. People are likely to think that you are odd, to say the least.”
“But the public is fascinated with the paranormal,” Elizabeth insisted. “They come to hear lectures here at the Institute and to watch practitioners give demonstrations. They hire consultants like you.”
“Just because people are fascinated with the paranormal, it does not follow that they accept it as normal, if you see what I mean. People in your world will look at you askance if you claim to have psychical abilities. At best you will be considered eccentric, and that is not a good thing for a young lady of your rank and station.”
Elizabeth flushed a deep red. “Forgive me. I never meant to bring up such a delicate subject.”
“I was merely stating a fact. That does not mean that there are not a number of psychically talented people who move in your world, just as your father did. But they tend to keep quiet about their abilities. Some of them belong to a very respectable but secretive organization known as the Arcane Society, however.”
“I have never heard of it.”
“It maintains museums and conducts serious research into the paranormal.”
“How does it differ from this Institute?” Elizabeth asked.
“Arcane is considerably more exclusive in the sense that all of their members actually possess genuine talents. I’m afraid the same cannot be said for many of my colleagues here at the Institute.”
Elizabeth looked troubled. “But your talent is real. Why don’t you join Arcane?”
“The Society frowns on those of us who must use our abilities to make a living. They believe we give the public a poor impression of the paranormal because there are so many frauds in our ranks.”
“For my part, I am very happy to discover that I have a sister who also possesses a psychical talent,” Elizabeth said. “I have felt so very alone.”
“I remember how hard it was for me after Mama and Papa were killed. I was sent away to boarding school. It was a very good school, and everyone was quite pleasant, but none of the teachers took the paranormal seriously. I felt that I had to keep my own abilities secret.”
“You must have been very lonely,” Elizabeth said.
“That was the year that I came into my own talent. I had no one I could talk to about the things I was seeing in mirrors, but at least I knew something of what to expect because Mama and Papa had prepared me. I am sorry that you had no one you could talk to this past year.”
Elizabeth glanced