Chapter XXX: An Agitated Household

We descended from the train at the Pinelands depot into a bright, sunny morning. And, even above the throbbing of the train, the sighing of released air brakes, I heard the strident cry of those detestable quail. I shook my fist in a paroxysm of unreasonable fury.

Those cursed bobwhite! If it hadn’t been for them and Aunt Mary’s fool complaints, this thing would never have happened.

We climbed into the station’s solitary jitney and had ourselves driven to Fort House.

The family were all at table. Entering the dining room, my eyes fell first upon Miss McGregor; and I was appalled. Her thin face, beneath the crown of snowy hair, was ghastly, greenish pale, and the delicate skin hung in bags beneath her eyes. She had changed startlingly in these last two days. Poor old woman! She was not long for this world, I thought.

Then my thoughts were interrupted by glad, agitated outcries. Dorothy fell upon my neck, weeping, and clutched me tight; and Anne Christie, usually so self-contained, hugged me, too, and ran on to grip Doctor Somers by both hands.

“Oh, Uncle George!” exclaimed Dorothy. “Oh, Peter!” And she put out a hand to him. “We’re so glad you came, so glad you’re back, all three of you! It’s been just terrible here!”

Miss Christie nodded emphatically, and they both wept and hugged us all and dragged us into the dining room and seated us. They were both talking at once, tremulously, frantically glad of our coming. And all this while Aunt Mary sat, rigid, staring at nothing, her face terribly white and old, too much absorbed in her own gloomy thoughts to be either glad or sorry we had returned. But every time the quail whistled outside the windows, she flinched visibly.

“Now, then,” I began, as the tumult subsided a trifle, “what’s all the excitement about? And where’s Rosina?” For Dorothy herself had gone to the kitchen for our coffee and Miss Christie was bringing in the toast.

At that the babble recommenced. “Rosina’s gone--left this morning. Said she couldn’t stand it here. Too many ‘ha’nts and ghostesses’ for her,” the girls answered, both talking at once. “And, oh, how I wish we could all go! It’s been just terrible!”

“Hold on,” said Somers, and the two girls subsided momentarily. “One thing at a time. First, let us assure you, Miss McGregor, that you won’t be annoyed because we came back. The gentlemen, who would have liked to abolish us, are all safe in jail.”

“Oh, goody! Then Lewis is all right?” Dorothy glowed at the idea.

Somers nodded. “He’ll be all right,” he replied evasively.

Miss Christie had turned pale. “And my--my stepfather?”

“Yes, Anne, Rutledge, too. He can’t trouble you now.”

“And did he----”

“No, it wasn’t Rutledge, but he told me where to look. However, that will keep. Now tell us, you first, Anne, what’s wrong here?”

The nurse began obediently. “It’s the Poltergeist. We’ve just been frightened to death! Night before last and last night, too, all over the house. Miss McGregor had sent me out, and I was in the living room with Dorothy, and we heard awful shrieks from the basement. We ran down there, and the Poltergeist had been in Rosina’s room and pulled the bedclothes off her and stuck pins into her legs, and everything. And this morning Rosina packed up and left, two hours ago. Wouldn’t stay to get breakfast, even.”

“That was last night,” Dorothy took up the tale. “On the previous night the Poltergeist was in my room and smeared cold cream all over my dresser and emptied my powder box into the clothes-press and s-stole my wedding dress and s-stuck it in the f-furnace. It’s just r-ruined and spoiled! I don’t believe any other body ever had such a time!”

“And we’re all so frightened--so s-scared that we were just saying if you men didn’t come back--if you-all left us alone any longer, we’d go to the hotel to-night!” Thus the duet continued.

“Humph!” said Somers queerly. “Ghosts again. Perhaps this Poltergeist isn’t as harmless as you said, when I first came down here. So it visited Rosina and you, Dorothy. How about you, Anne? Did you come in for its attentions?”

The nurse nodded, big-eyed. “I sat in the living room last night after Dorothy got me up. She was afraid to go back to bed and we sat in there and dozed off, I reckon. Anyway the first I knew I was right on the floor! The Poltergeist had pulled my chair out from under me, and Dorothy never saw a thing, either!”

“Not one thing!” Dorothy corroborated. “But then I expect I was asleep, too. We’re all just used up, Doctor Somers. Nobody in this house has had two hours of sleep in the last two nights, unless it was Aunt Mary.”

“Humph! And where was Miss McGregor when all these things happened?”

All this while Aunt Mary had sat mute, stonily calm, showing neither pleasure nor annoyance at our return, apparently quite uninterested in the pranks of the Poltergeist. But now she straightened, with a queer, hostile glance at the physician.

“Where was I?” she asked. “Where could I be? I lay helpless in bed, where I’d been put, as a poor old paralytic has to! Lay there all alone, forgotten, as usual! I suppose,” she went on acidly, “I should have risen on my poor, useless limbs and run out to protect three perfectly healthy women?”

“And did the Poltergeist annoy you, too?”

“Never mind! Who cares what happens to me? I’m nothing but a helpless cripple, a drag and a hindrance.” Her white lips worked pitifully. “But I won’t trouble anybody much longer.”

I believed her this time; she looked ghastly. And I pitied her sincerely, in spite of her callous selfishness, her bitter tongue.

Doctor Somers pushed back his plate and rose. “You’ve had a bad time,” he said, taking the old lady’s veined hand. “Does your spine trouble you much to-day? How are the knots in your neck?”

His voice was inimitably gentle, sympathetic, winning. Aunt Mary softened to it at once, and, after he had wheeled her into the sitting room, discussed her ailments for an hour or more in quite her usual manner. The strain of her pale face lessened; a faint color returned to her lips. If this were Doctor Somers’ bedside manner, I thought, he must be a most successful practitioner.

Gradually he led the talk from Aunt Mary’s symptoms and drew her on to discuss the Poltergeist and spiritualism generally. The old lady expressed very positive opinions. She had read widely on the subject, I could see, and her talk was interesting enough. But what Somers’ sudden interest in spiritism might be, I could not fathom.

Presently he spoke of the ouija board. “I have one,” said the old lady. “I’ve had many very important communications through ouija.”

Next, I scarcely know how it was brought about, she had volunteered to give us a demonstration. Miss Christie fetched the ouija board and set it upon her knees. Blindfolded, Aunt Mary put her finger tips on the little three-legged indicator, and Somers, also blinded, followed suit. They sat there, knee to knee, motionless.

“Some one put a question,” directed the old lady sepulchrally.

“Who--who spoiled my wedding dress?” asked Dorothy, a little thrill in her voice.

Under our eyes the indicator began to move slowly, mysteriously, apparently of its own volition. Leaning over my shoulder, Dorothy read the letters it pointed out to the blindfolded operators.

“P-O-L-T-E----Why, Uncle George!” Her excited breath fanned my cheek. “It’s spelling ‘Poltergeist!’”

And so it did. And the queer, superstitious thrill of the unexplained caught hold of us all. We breathed quicker, impressed in spite of ourselves.

“Why does the Poltergeist trouble us?” asked Miss Christie.

Slowly, mysteriously, the ouija board answered. The pointer moved from one letter to another deliberately, surely, as though guided by intelligence instead of by the finger tips of two blindfolded people, of whom one, at least, was surely a skeptic.

“B-E-C-A-U-S-E O-F C-R-I-M-E,” it spelled.

“Oh-h!” gasped Dorothy. “Aunty, quick! Ask it who killed Doctor Gaskell?”

The old lady sat rigid, motionless as a marble statue and as pale. The pointer moved, hesitated, moved again. Her stiffened arms began to tremble.

Then suddenly, from beyond the window, came the strident, insistent call of a quail: “Bob_white_! Bob_white_!”

Aunt Mary screamed. Her hands flew up, clawing at the bandage about her head.

“I--I can’t stand it!” she exclaimed. “It’s driving me mad! Oh, oh, oh!” Her voice rose in a crescendo of agony. “That noise--that noise--it’s killing me!” She drooped in her wheel chair, head on a shoulder, translucent eyelids flickering down, unconscious.

“Humph!” said Somers coolly. “She’s fainted this time.” He felt her pulse, lifted her fallen eyelids to peer at her pupils, tapped her knees. She moved convulsively. “Get water, Anne. We’d better lay her down. No, she’s coming round all right.”

Aunt Mary opened tragic eyes. “Wh-what happened? Oh, I know! If I have to listen to those horrible birds any longer I’ll die!”

“I’ll see to that,” said Somers. “But now you’d better go back to bed. You’re badly upset; I’ll just examine you a bit; then I’ll know just what to do.”

That did not suit, either. “No!” she answered, almost screaming. “No, no, _no_! Get back, get away, don’t touch me! I won’t have it--I won’t be examined--I won’t, I won’t! You’ve been against me every minute, ever since you came,” she went on wildly. “You shan’t touch me, I tell you!”

In her excitement she heaved herself up by her arms, half rising in her chair, as if to flee. But her legs failed her, and she dropped back, panting, helplessly defiant. “Don’t dare to touch me!” she repeated.

“Humph!” said Doctor Somers, rubbing his chin. “Certainly not, dear lady. Don’t distress yourself. I won’t come near you at all. But I can do one thing to help you, anyhow. I’ll borrow a shotgun to-day, and in the morning after breakfast Peter and I will go out together and kill those quail, so they can’t trouble you any more. They must have nested in the bushes back there.”

The old lady looked at him more kindly; but both girls cried out at this offer.

“Oh, no!” said Dorothy.

“Oh, please don’t!” implored the nurse. “Look what happened when Doctor Parker started to do that. He got into just terrible trouble!”

Somers only laughed and rose. “I’ll run down and see Parker,” said he. “You’d better lie down, Miss McGregor.”