“Yes, a special message for Mrs. Darlington, presumably from my spirit contact or whoever it is who speaks through me. Madame Ophelia seemed a bit angry about it, and Mrs. Darlington was terribly confused.”

“Confused about what?”

“It seems my message contradicted another message she had received from her husband.”

Persephone nodded. “I understand he instructed her to invest some money.”

“And what did I tell her? Or rather, what did my spirit tell her to do?”

Persephone shrugged. “As I said, Madame doesn’t discuss these things with me, but I gather that you told her not to invest.”

“I can’t imagine why I would do something like that. I don’t know anything about investing.”

“I don’t think it is a matter of knowing anything about it. Rather, the spirits simply advise us to do or not to do something. They are the ones who know.”

“And it appears my spirit advised her to do something different from what Madame Ophelia’s spirit had advised her to do, but could my spirit have been right and her spirit have been wrong?”

“I think Madame believes that is the case. We have, after all, observed that you are always right, which is why I wanted to know what exactly you saw when you took Mr. Miller’s hand.”

“You make it sound very romantic,” Elizabeth said with a small smile.

“If only it was. You actually did scare me. The look on your face . . .” She shivered slightly.

“I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t scare you for the world,” she lied. “Or Mr. Miller, either.”

“You did tell him to be careful,” Persephone reminded her.

Elizabeth winced at the memory. “I’m sure I overreacted. Did he take what I said seriously?”

“I can’t speak for him, but I do know he is anxious to speak with you again.”

“Oh dear, I was afraid you would say that.”

“Don’t you want to see him?”

“It’s not that. It’s just that I don’t know what I would say to him.”

“Is that really what you are worried about?” Persephone challenged.

“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked uneasily.

“I mean, you saw something. I know you did, and it frightened you almost as much as seeing the wagon accident frightened you.”

“I don’t really remember much of what I saw about the wagon accident,” Elizabeth said. “It happened during the séance.”

“Not all of it did, and you did remember a lot. You said you knew the man would be hit by the wagon and that he would die. You remembered that much, so what did you see that involved Mr. Miller?”

“I . . . Nothing really. I mean, nothing in detail. I just . . . Persephone, you must promise not to tell him this.”

“Why not? If he’s in danger—”

“But I don’t know that he’s really in danger. I just . . . Persephone, all I saw was blood.”

“Blood?” Persephone echoed in alarm.