The Medium

Chapter 7, Part 1

"Nope. Like I said, she came up to me round that corner and gave me the money. Twenty shillings!" She chuckled so hard it turned into a racking cough.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

She nodded then wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "Twenty shillings! Still can't believe it. Course she could prob'ly 'ford it and more."

"Afford it?" I echoed.

"But she was as poor as dirt," Celia said, waving her hand at the woman as if to say "like you".

The peddler didn't seem to notice the slight. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"But her clothes were a motley collection of rags," Celia persisted. "Nothing matched and most of it had holes in one place or another. Even her boots were odd and worn out."

The woman tapped her nose again. "Aye, but she spoke like you two. A toff, she was, I'll bet ya."

Celia tilted her head to the side. "Nonsense. She dropped her aitches and savaged her vowels. She most certainly was not a toff as you put it. Or like us."

"She most cert'ly was!"

Before the disagreement heated up, I thanked the peddler for her time and gave her the coins. She relinquished the bracelet with a smile.

Celia shut the door on her rasping chuckle. "She doesn't know what she's talking about. The woman who sold me the amulet had the most atrocious East End accent."

"Perhaps it was part of her disguise," I said. "Perhaps she wanted you to think she was from the East End. Or at least didn't want you to know she was a lady."

Lucy entered the hallway from the front drawing room, a rag and bowl of paste in hand for polishing the fireplace. She kept close to the wall, as far away from me as possible. Although she now spoke to me without her voice shaking, she was still wary. Her eyes never left me when we were in the same room, as if she didn't dare look elsewhere in case I summoned a ghost while she wasn't looking.

I held up the bracelet to assess my purchase. It was very thin but the links had a pleasing shape to them, despite the coating of filth. "Would you clean it up for me please, Lucy?"

"Yes, Miss Chambers." She stretched out her hand as far as she could reach but leaned back slightly.

I handed her the bracelet without getting too close. "You may keep it if you like."

She gasped. "Oh, Miss Chambers!" Her fingers closed around the chain and she clasped it to her breast. "Really?"

I nodded. "Think of it as a welcoming gift."

Lucy thanked me, twice, then trotted down the hallway to the basement stairs.

"Do you intend to bribe her into not being afraid of you?" Celia asked when she was out of earshot.

I sighed. "Do you think it might work?"

"Yes, but only after several more gifts." She squeezed my hand. "And we cannot afford such extravagances. We can't really afford that bracelet but if it helps us send the demon back then I don' begrudge its expense. So now what do we do about the amulet woman?"

I sighed. "I don't know."

"But you're supposed to be a 'smart girl'," she teased, echoing the peddler.

"Stop it. I don't know what to do. I could ask Jacob."

She let go of my hand and her mouth tightened. "If you must."

"You don't want him here do you?"

She made her way into the front drawing room and beckoned me to follow. "I don't mind him," she said carefully. "I just worry about him coming and going so freely. None of the other ghosts have ever done so before."