“She probably does, although she won’t want to take a chance. I expect I’ll see some familiar faces.”

“I can always sit in if you need an extra hand,” Gideon offered, a little ashamed of how much he wanted to see what went on in that back room.

She laughed at him. “Darling, it’s not like a game of cards where we’d need another player.”

“Then you don’t have to have a certain number of people for it to work?”

She gave him a pitying smile. “You don’t really believe it works, do you, darling?”

He winced. “No, of course not,” he said, although for a minute there he might have.

She patted his hand reassuringly. “Quite truthfully, I have no idea how she decides how many people are there. I do know that Madame Ophelia usually has six people and sometimes seven, in addition to herself, but I think that’s probably just the number that fit comfortably around her table.”

“You see, I knew there was a scientific method for determining how many people attended.”

She rewarded him with a peck on the cheek. “And don’t be alarmed by anything you hear tonight.”

“I’ll be as alarmed as I please, thank you very much. I’ll just refrain from rushing to your rescue.”

“That is all I can ask.”

It wasn’t, of course. She often asked a lot more, so this was relatively easy.

Jake was already there when they arrived. He and Persephone were chatting in the far corner while the others sat quietly in the chairs that lined the walls. Gideon recognized the people from the séance where Elizabeth had foreseen the wagon accident. They were all there except for Cybil. He supposed there was a good reason to exclude her. She was probably being conned by Waterson, and Madame Ophelia didn’t want Elizabeth to warn her off the way she had Mrs. Darlington.

Everyone froze when he and Elizabeth walked in, and for a long moment, no one spoke. Then Persephone remembered her manners and came forward. “Mr. and Mrs. Bates, I’m so glad you could come.”

Since Elizabeth had requested this sitting, Gideon couldn’t help smiling at her enthusiasm.

She didn’t seem to notice. “I believe you already met everyone, and you’ll remember Mr. Miller from the other night.”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said with a tentative smile at him.

He nodded but made no move to approach her. He might almost have been afraid of her.

“I’ll see if Madame is ready for you,” Persephone said, scurrying away.

When she was gone, Tilly said, “Persephone told us that poor man died, just like you said he would.”

“I was very sorry to hear it,” Elizabeth said.

“It wasn’t that hard to predict,” Cindy’s father said, not bothering to hide his skepticism. “He was severely injured.”