ay twice," Mrs. Austen heartlessly retorted
at this woman, the relict of Nicholas Amsterdam, concerning whom a story
had come out and who had died, his friends said, of exposure.

Mrs. Amsterdam turned on Paliser whom she had never seen before. "What
do you say?"

"I am appalled," he answered.

She turned again. "There, Poppet, you hear that? Gimme back my money."

But Miss Bleecker occupied herself with Lennox, who was paying for
Margaret.

Margaret entered the booth where a little old woman, very plainly
dressed, sat at a small deal table. From above hung a light. Beside her
was a vacant chair.

"Sit there, please," the medium, in a low voice, told the girl. "And
now, if you please, your hand."

Margaret, seating herself, removed a glove. The hand in which she then
put hers was soft and warm and she feared that it might perspire. She
looked at the woman who looked at her, sighed, closed her eyes and
appeared to go to sleep. Then, presently, her lips parted and in a voice
totally different from that in which she had just spoken, a voice that
was thin and shrill, words came leapingly.

"You are engaged to be married. Your engagement will be broken. You will
be very unhappy. Later, you will be thankful. Later you will realise
that sorrow is sent to make us nobler than we were."

With an intake of the breath, the medium started, straightened, opened
her eyes.

At the shock of it Margaret had started also. "But----"

The medium, in her former voice, low and gentle, interrupted.

"I can tell you nothing else. I do not know what was said. But I am
sorry if you have had bad news."

Margaret stood up, replacing her glove. She knew, as we all know, that
certain gifted organisms hear combinations of sound to which the rest of
us are deaf. She knew, as many of us also know, that there are other
organisms that can foresee events to which the rest of us are blind. But
she knew too that in the same measure that the auditions of composers
are not always notable, the visions of clairvoyants are not always
exact. The knowledge steadied and partially comforted, but partially
only.

At the entrance, Lennox stood with Miss Bleecker. A little beyond were
Paliser and her mother. Mrs. Amsterdam, minus her money, must have
rushed away.

Poppet Bleecker laughed and questioned: "No horrors?"

Lennox questioned also, but with his eyes.

Margaret hesitated. Then she got it. Taking the girl's hand she patted
it and to Lennox