2
Seance at Seagate House
Morgan Willis and his new friend Mr. Maxwell made the journey
out toward the seaward end of Long Island, where the state's richest
families had long built mansions to display their wealth and live
in comfort. Compared to the narrow concrete streets of New York
City it seemed another country. Here curved pleasant country roads
in fresh air tasting of the sea, behind was often dirt and squalor
and the desperate passions and greed of a modern urban Metropolis.
Here the rich could easily forget the ways great wealth is often
built, in dangerous city sweatshops or grim country mines and
oil fields. Here removed from such sights of misery, in a park
like setting, men might live like gods.
Morgan turned his car off the county road and in at the great
Iron gate of Seagate House. He drove up a long winding road through
a park-like lawn. The road ended in a semicircular drive with
its apex at the marble steps of Seagate House. Seagate House and
its white granite facade was not unattractive in the setting sunlight.
Sitting before the wide stairway was another car, a long black
limousine, that Morgan recognized as his Aunt Agatha's town car.
Out of the limousine came two women, Morgan's Aunt Agatha and
Mavis Martin. Anger flared in Morgan for a moment as he spotted
Mavis Martin with Aunt Agatha but he held it in check. "Mavis
the Mystic" some called her, she stood out strikingly compared
to his aunt. The two women were a study in contrasts. Old and
young. Agatha short and broad in her plain dark, but flower designed
dress and Mavis slim and erect and all in perfect black, like
some sort of Spiritualist Nun.
Morgan and Mr. Maxwell alighted and Morgan approached his Aunt
not quite getting a greeting out. Agatha looked at him in icy
tension. "I really didn't expect you, Morgan." she admitted.
"And who's this?" she asked looking intently at Mr.
Maxwell.
Maxwell bowed to her in the old world style. Morgan stammered
out "Just a friend." he flushed and sought to get a
better grip on
himself, he needed a cold nerve to get through this. "I'm
sorry Aunt Agatha if I've been ... well, distant. I really regret
all this has caused such a rift between us, but ..."
Agatha nodded. "We're each the only family we have left."
she said and began to unbend her stiffness. "But Morgan,"
she almost cried "you know what I want most."
Morgan sighed. "Yes, you want Seagate House." he looked
away "Well ... I'm willing to discuss it."
Mavis Martin who had held herself back as the two Willis's faced
each other now stepped forward and extended her hand to Morgan.
"I'm glad to finally meet you, Morgan." she said smiling,
a toothy, predatory smile. Her tight face was an undermined age,
there was still some youth in her eyes but her hair was white.
He eyed him coyly, "Why have you resisted all my invitations
in the past?" she looked intently "And why is it different
this time?"
Morgan could not look Mavis in the eye "I'm here for Aunt
Agatha." he stammered "and well ... by my father's will
I own Seagate
House."
Mavis was a mask of pleasantness but there was something narrow
and penetrating in her eyes. Morgan did not believe the stories
of Mavis's Occult powers but one needn't have the power to read
minds to know a lie when it is badly told. He searched for something
to say that had some truth in it, if not the whole truth. "And
then there was my friend Maxwell here. I thought perhaps ... "
then Morgan stammered again, how was he to explain Maxwell?
Mavis had a good nose when something was up, Morgan was troubled,
but that could be explained by his strained relations with Agatha.
Looking from Morgan to Mr. Maxwell, if he was trouble he seemed
weak enough. Maxwell was a rather non descript man, still somewhat
in the style of the 19th Century, wearing a goatee and tight vest
with hanging watch chain. Maxwell himself had a trace of the Old
World, second generation American, no doubt, thought Mavis. He
probably still knew the Old language. "Mr. Maxwell."
Mavis greeted Maxwell warmly, as if meeting an old friend. "Why
has Morgan brought you here tonight? He has told you, I hope,
what we are going to be about tonight, hasn't he?"
Morgan broke in "uh ... really Mrs. Martin, I would rather
you didn't do any of that occult sort of stuff here tonight ...
can't we
just sit down peacefully and discuss the situation and ..."
Mavis reached out her hand and rested it on Morgan's hand. It
was a friendly gesture but it silenced him cold. "Morgan,
I can't
disappoint your Aunt now can I?"
She turned her gaze back to Maxwell as if ordering him to speak.
Maxwell looked away abashed and took an apologetic tone "I
think Morgan wanted me and my curiosity about you here to give
him courage to face his Aunt, but now it is I who's losing his
courage." he smiled a crooked grin and bowed as if making
ready to leave. "Forgive my intrusion on what perhaps should
be left to family members." he would've turned but Mavis
looked at him so intently.
"You said you were curious. Why is that? You don't strike
me as a man who believes in the sort of things I do, in Spirits
and the Other side. Yet you seem too polite to just to have come
to scoff at us."
"Really, I'm too embarrassed to explain now," he begged
off only intriguing Mavis more. "Forgive me, but I feel foolish
now."
Again Maxwell stood back intending to leave but Mavis now turned
from Morgan and reached out and put her hand on Maxwell's hand.
He looked away immediately.
"Don't be afraid Mr. Maxwell. I sense there is something
you are not telling me."
Maxwell squirmed. "Please, I am just a foolish aging man.
I am lonely and missing my late wife a great deal, such talk of
Spirits and
communication ... of lost loved ones speaking again ... I was
not really curious, I was just being foolish. Morgan should never
have given in to my questions and brought me here. I am only wasting
both your and my time."
To someone other than Mavis the way Maxwell backed off and denied
interest would have been a bit insulting but she instead grinned
her toothy grin and reached and put her hand on Maxwell's shoulder.
He shuddered almost cringing. He shielded his eyes. Was that a
tear Mavis detected in those averted eyes?
"Don't be afraid Mr. Maxwell. The feelings of loss are
the very motivating force for the communications between this
and the next
world." she said in warm terms "In our grief we feel
as if they are still with us. We are almost surprised if we look
up to where we felt
them standing and they are not there. I bring the message that
those feelings are not lies. We cannot see them in this world
but they are
there reaching out to us from the world beyond"
Mavis took Mr. Maxwell's arm. He still would not look at her
but it did not deter her. "Come in with us Mr. Maxwell."
she said standing forward and walking up the marble staircase
to the house. "I feel this house has unique vibrations. Truly,
I think I can feel all of this splendid house's long history.
Tonight shall be such a great opportunity for us all."
The house was not dark. The Servants opened the way for them and
bowed as they passed into the hallway. Maxwell marveled at the
regalness of the display. The men's hats and the women's coats
were taken by a prim maid with a mole on her cheek. She wore a
starched uniform like something out of a museum's collection of
Victorian costumes. Aunt Agatha murmured instructions to a tall
thin butler wearing tails. All the time Mavis would not let go
of Maxwell's arm and she looked up at the high ceilings of the
house with an expression on her face like a little girl opening
her presents on Christmas morning.
Morgan entered and looked cross at the Butler "You're not
Shepard"
Agatha chimed back "Shepard was old and deserved to retire.
I was lucky to find Thomas here. He's a very good man."
Thomas did a stately bow to Agatha "Thank you, Madam."
and she beamed at him.
Morgan was unconvinced. "Where did you find him?"
"From Mavis." Smiled Aunt Agatha. "She knows
all the best people, you know, and Thomas here was once the head
man to the household of a Duchess!"
Morgan turned as he passed a side archway and approached where
several bags were set "Here, what's this?"
Mavis let Maxwell's arm go and walked to Morgan. "They're
my bags."
Morgan's jaw dropped, "Yours?" he asked incredulous.
He glared at Agatha "Aunt, I let you stay after Father died
but don't tell me you're moving her in here too?"
Agatha strode forward "And why shouldn't I have a companion?
Your Father is gone and I'm alone. Mavis would help keep some
life in this big house."
Morgan looked at Mavis, at her severe face and her being dressed
in black, she was not life but a black crow, one way or another
she was living off death, but he dared not say how he felt. "Aunt,
please be reasonable."
She looked proudly at Morgan "I am being reasonable, I
would like to fill this big empty house full of people, people
who believe as we do." she said standing side by side with
Mavis. "Think of it." she beamed "this big house
put to a noble purpose, for the good of
humanity, a center for Psychic research."
Morgan turned on Mavis. "You've put this idea in her head."
Mavis looked surprised "Me? No, I was not at all sure about
this idea when Agatha suggested it. She is a good hearted generous
woman. But now that I'm here ..." she said looking again
to the high ceilings. "It does seem as shame to leave this
house empty as she
tells me you would prefer"
Morgan seethed but he didn't explode instead they all were distracted
by Maxwell who stood apart, further up into the hallway.
"Here now what's this?" Maxwell said calling to Morgan.
Morgan was annoyed that Maxwell would demand his attention at
a moment like this, but then he'd been trained always to be polite
since boyhood. "What is it, Maxwell?"
Maxwell indicated the great painting that hung in the hall,
it was of an eighteenth century man. The man in the painting was
mature
but broad shouldered with a rugged face and white hair. He had
on a white shirt, a red sash and a tricorn hat. He was seemingly
facing
into a storm and stoically persevering the elements. At his elbow
was a sextant and a small telescope and in the sash was the hit
of a
flintlock pistol. "Quite an impressive figure." remarked
Maxwell. "Rather looks like a Cinema version of a Sea Captain."
The picture captured Morgan's attention as well "Oh, that's
Captain Black, he was indeed a sea captain in his youth, although
I
think that represents him in his retired days, dressed as he wished
to be remembered, as a seaman. His fortunes built the first wing
of this house. And if you believe the legends he was a bloody
Pirate whose ghost still walks down by the cove -- the locals
call the shore behind the house "Ghost Cove".
"Really?" remarked Maxwell, his eyes wide.
Morgan smiled "No, not really. The family version of it
is with his maritime connections he brought supplies ashore here
to aide
General Washington in the Revolutionary War -- Washington was
terribly beaten in his New York campaigns. It was the Tory long
islanders of his day who spread the fantastic stories of his Pirate
days in retaliation, to ruin his name. He died like Alexander
Hamilton in a duel in the political struggles after the war. The
duel was on the cove's shore where the legend says he still walks
- but as far as I
know only fools and pranksters have ever actually seen him."
Morgan was startled to find Mavis at his elbow.
"A ghost!" she gasped wide-eyed. She then pulled her
hands up before her and closed her eyes "Yes! The air here
nearly vibrates with the closeness of the Other Side." She
reached out to take Agatha's hand. "You were right, dear
Aggie, this house would make a wonderful place to research the
Psychic realm." Mavis beamed "I feel there is a great
future in store for this house to match its great history."
She turned to Morgan. "If you do not stand in the way."
Morgan was appalled. He would've liked to turn the woman out
of his house at that moment. But with Agatha at her side that
would only end in an awful and difficult scene. For his aunts
sake again he swallowed his anger.
Almost in total retreat Morgan led Maxwell and the others into
the wide sitting room only to find a table and chairs in the center
of
the room and before the leading position sat a large crystal ball.
"What in the name of ... " Morgan reflexively stammered.
Agatha caught him before he could curse. "Please, Morgan,
don't blaspheme."
Mavis was suddenly bristling as if contemplating banishing Morgan
as an infidel, which in turn made Morgan's efforts to remain calm
all the more difficult.
Agatha tried to smooth the situation. "Morgan, please try
to understand how we felt."
"Who? You and my father? Or you and her?" he said
unable to control himself. "You didn't comfort him in his
dying months, you
weighed him down with all this, your superstitious obsession with
death."
Morgan said it but he immediately regretted it, he still loved
his Aunt and didn't want to hurt her, though he hated how she
badgered his Father in his final days with this nonsense. But
it hadn't hurt her, she shrugged it off with a smile. "Your
young Morgan, you don't understand that death always weighs down
the elderly. I tried my best to give your father hope."
With that she and Mavis found their places at the table as if
they were leisurely sitting to dinner. Mavis sat in the leading
chair
before the crystal ball and began to direct the proceedings. "Sit
by me, Mr. Maxwell" Mavis smiled "and you, Morgan, can
sit by your Aunt."
Morgan was slack jawed in amazement but shook himself out of
it. "I can't stay" he said shaking his head, then added
sarcastically,
"besides wouldn't the presence of an Unbeliever disrupt what
your trying to do?"
Mavis smiled predatorily "If that were all, yes, but ...
" She looked to Agatha. "The death in this family is
still so fresh, your aunt wants so much to try to communicate
to her brother, to see that her efforts to help him were not in
vain -- that he has found the
peace in death he lacked in life. It would add to the emotional
force of our attempts if you who are also grieving for the same
person would join us. Even with your unsure mind you still hold
the feelings for your father in your heart."
Morgan sighed in complete surrender, feeling like a little boy
again before his aunt, he dutifully took his place at her side.
"Then we shall begin." said Mavis and on cue the servants
closed the last shade and extinguished the lights. Morgan was
momentarily confused by the total darkness but as his eyes grew
used to the dark he realized there was a faint glow coming from
the crystal ball, he could see the outline of Mavis' face and
nothing else.
"We will join hands." she intoned. Thanks to the blackness
of Mavis's clothes her face seemed to float above the crystal,
her eyes
were closed and she seemed in a state of rapture. "Ah! Can
you hear it? If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of
the sea from
the cove behind the house. The waves breaking on the shore sound
like a great heartbeat at rest." she sighed "how utterly
perfect this
setting is!"
Mavis began to hum to herself and breathed deeply, but Morgan
felt like a fool. He tried to comfort himself in the touch of
his
aunt's soft hand.
"I will try now to seek my Spirit guide." she said
explaining "to do that I need only open myself up, to feel
deeply this house and all
the history it still holds, the personal history of recent inhabitants
and, going back in time, the history of all the souls this house
has
seen." she stopped herself short "I know, why don't
I reach out to Captain Black, if he is truly a ghost, a restless
soul ever seeking to
return to this his home, then we may be able to invoke his spirit."
Mavis was silent for what seemed an eternity but then Morgan
became confused and disoriented, he thought he could see through
the wall to the great picture of Captain Black in the hall. Then
he realized while it was still the same pose what he saw was fuller,
more
three dimensional. The figure did not waver in its pose but still
seemed to float toward and around them, an almost impossible movement.
He nearly called out in his surprise but Agatha held his hand
so tightly, it was her way to say she saw the same entity. Then,
just as suddenly, the apparition faded away.
"Yes, the way is opening!" she sighed and at her head
appeared a floating tambourine and horn. "These are ancient
symbols of the way, as they sound so shall we hear from Beyond."
They suddenly came to life and shook and bellowed in a half-distorted
way, real but unreal.
"We must now reach into ourselves if the loved ones on
the Other side are to know of our presence. Please, Morgan, give
us some words about your father." she pleaded.
Morgan felt a rush of feelings, how could he speak of his Father
in a moment like this? It was unfair. His precious personal feelings
were to be a part of all this? Yet, the feelings did come despite
his misgivings and he tried to say them as plainly as he could.
"My
father? My father was an old man. He'd had a child, me, too late
in life. All he wanted was to see that son get on in the world
before his time to go." It was the truth but there was more.
"What he wanted was a son to be the sort of Pillar of the
community he admired. He meant well ... and deserved a better
son than he got."
Mavis murmured "You are too hard on yourself."
Morgan felt his father's loss suddenly very terribly, "I
wish I had had the courage to face him while he still lived, then
he wouldn't
have needed to lean on his sister as much as he did. If anyone
is at fault for his being left to his sister and her beliefs,
it was me."
Even in the disembodied mask of a face that showed above the
Crystal Morgan could still read Mavis's triumph at her getting
that
outburst out of him, and Morgan hated her for it more than ever.
"Mr. Maxwell" Mavis intoned. "Tell us of your
wife?"
He stammered "My Sophie? What can I say? What is there
to tell?" he tried to find some words. "She was a plain
girl. She had no
pretenses. She said she loved sewing buttons on my coat and cooking
my meals." he faltered "I don't know what else to say."
"Yes, you do" smiled Mavis.
Maxwell was silent for a long time then murmured "I loved
her. She was a simple girl, not clever or flashy ... and I miss
her."
Suddenly, in the darkness there was a new glow, a shape at first
barely discernable took form. A woman stood before them that seemed
to radiate a subtle glow.
"Who is there?" whispered Mavis. "Who approaches
us from the darkness?"
The apparition didn't move or speak.
"What do you seek with us?"
The face of the apparition was still obscure, it could be anyone
old or young. A female voice murmured "My dear one"
then muttered a few words in a foreign tongue. It was an uncanny
sound, like an echo that made Morgan shiver.
Maxwell stood up from his chair. He gasped and blubbered pitifully
"Sophie! Is that you, Sophie!" tears were streaming
down his
face.
The apparition seemed to sigh and moved forward as if to approach
Maxwell, then as quickly as it appeared it faded away.
Maxwell sat back in his chair heavily, like a rag doll thrown
back into a box.
Mavis pleaded with Maxwell "Your hand Mr. Maxwell, your
hand! We must keep in contact!"
He gave her his hand. Morgan could not see this, he could not
see them that well in the weak glow of the crystal, but it seemed
Maxwell sat up in his chair again and gave Mavis his hand.
"What happened?" asked Maxwell bewildered. "Why
did she come and go so quickly? What does it mean?"
Mavis smiled benignly "You must be patient, Mr. Maxwell.
The way is no more easy for those we love than it is for us. It
will take time to make the way more clear, then perhaps ... "
she soothed.
Perhaps what? Morgan wondered.
Maxwell stared at Mavis "You will help me? What must I
do?"
"Patience" she cooed "I'll do what I can, of
course ... but now is not the time to talk."
She gathered herself again closing her eyes and humming to herself.
She sighed and looked wistful "Is that another I sense
hanging back? Afraid to come out of the darkness?" she shook
her head "what does the dead have to fear from the living?
Come forth, and show us your presence."
There was nothing but darkness and silence.
Mavis's face tightened "Harold Willis, come forth from
the darkness, I know it is you."
Another glow came, this time more formless and vague.
Agatha spoke up "Harold? Is that you?"
Morgan could see that his aunt was crying, she started to rise.
Morgan was unsure, should he restrain her?
"Harold" called out Agatha Willis "Harold, I
need you. I need you to tell me and Morgan what to do. What to
do with this house."
The glow began to fade but from it rose up the horn and tambourine
again, shivering and moaning.
Mavis gave a great sigh. "We are losing our grasp. The
way is closing again."
"Harold?" pleaded Aunt Agatha but no voice answered.
Mavis called out "Captain Black I beseech you, help us
keep the way open."
The image of Captain Black came and went. He looked out at them
impassively and faded away.
Mavis shook her head and spoke. "Time is the enemy of us
all. We come to this world and soon we are gone, the touch of
our loved ones is gone in moment." she proclaimed "We
have lost the connection."
The tambourine and horn now were soundless and fading.
Then suddenly, absurdly, the horn fell and bounced on the floor.
There was a scrambling and sounds of a struggle. A girl in the
darkness screamed in panic. A rough voice cried out "Elsie
he has a ... "
Mavis' face contorted in fear and anger.
A bright light stabbed into their eyes. Morgan struggled, blinking
to see. Someone had turned on a light and stood silhouetted
in the glare holding a revolver.
"Stay where you are. " came a resounding voice. "I
have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it."
Morgan had known but still it had come so suddenly, it was Maxwell.
Mavis dumbstruck looked down at the hand she still held and
found she was holding a dummy hand. She dropped it as if it were
a dead rat.
Maxwell strode forward and faced Mavis "Your are losing
the connection" he mocked. "You don't know how true
that is." he snarled at her "You've lost it."
All eyes at first were on Maxwell then Agatha rose and looked
about the now lighted room. There before her stood the butler
dressed as Captain Black and the Maid in a white gown a tambourine
in her hand. "What does this mean?"
Maxwell answered. "It means you've been conned. This Seance
is a phoney and so is Madam Mavis here." Maxwell smirked
at Morgan. "I think, Morgan, Mavis won't be getting Seagate
House after all."
Agatha sat and buried her face in her hands.
"Who are you?" asked Mavis looking daggers into Maxwell.
Maxwell bowed and a business card seemed to jump into his fingers.
"My card." he said with a flourish.
Mavis looked at it as if she'd forgotten how to read the letters.
Then her face turned sour as if she held a diseased object.
Maxwell brought his face within inches of hers "You're
good, Madame Mavis, you really know how to milk the suckers."
he admitted "If it all weren't so cruel and underhanded I
could almost admire your showmanship."
"What happens now?" asked Mavis coldly.
Maxwell straightened "Nothing really, I wouldn't want to
drag this good lady's family name through the scandals in the
newspapers if I were to take you all to the police." he smiled
"Let's just say it's time for you to fade away."
Mavis looked to her confederates and as one they rose to leave.
Maxwell taunted them as they left. "Do come to see me next
time your in town, I'm appearing nightly at the Cosmopolitan Theater.
Perhaps we could meet again and compare notes on stagecraft."
Agatha looked up from her tears to the card Mavis had left on
the table. It read simply: The Mysterious Audini - Magician.
