“Your mother?” Elizabeth echoed in alarm. “Is she ill?”

“Oddly, no,” Anna said with a frown. “You knew she took to her bed after David died. I think her heart was truly broken.”

“She came to my wedding,” Elizabeth reminded her.

“And she would sometimes go to church, but until recently, she rarely left her bedroom.”

“But recently?”

Anna sighed. “Recently, she has discovered a medium.”

Elizabeth blinked in surprise. “You mean, a fortune-teller?”

“Oh, she’s far more than a fortune-teller. She conducts séances.”

Elizabeth knew a little about séances and what she knew wasn’t good. “Does she make the table move and do the spirits knock in coded raps to convey messages?”

“I have no idea, but Mother is convinced this woman, this Madame Ophelia,” Anna added in disgust, “can contact David.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yes, oh dear,” Anna agreed.

For a long moment, the two friends silently considered this very disturbing situation.

Then Elizabeth found something comforting to say. “I know it must be upsetting to you, but if it gives her some peace to think that—”

“You don’t think this woman can really talk to David, do you?” Anna asked in outrage.

“Of course not. It’s all a con.”

Anna brightened at once. “Then you know all about it?”

“Not much. I may have been raised by a con artist, but even he had standards. Bilking little old ladies out of their last pennies is beneath him. But I do know it’s a con.”

“It’s also more than just a few pennies,” Anna said gravely.

“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked, newly alarmed.

Before Anna could answer, Lucy knocked at the door and brought in a tray bearing two glasses of lemonade and a plate of cookies. Elizabeth insisted Anna drink some of the lemonade before continuing. “You must be parched after walking over here.”

That made Anna smile at last. “Hardly. One of the best parts of you finally marrying Gideon is that now you only live a few blocks away.”

Elizabeth could think of other wonderful reasons to be glad she and Gideon were married, but she knew Anna didn’t want to hear about that part of married life. “It is nice being so close to you. Now tell me what you meant about it being more than pennies.”

Anna’s smile vanished again. “Madame Ophelia charges twenty dollars for each session.”

Elizabeth winced. “That does seem expensive.”

“And Mother has been going to see her three times a week.” Three visits a week would cost as much as an average man would earn in a week, but Madame Ophelia most certainly catered only to the wealthy members of society. Her high prices would keep the riffraff away.

“Good heavens.”

“Yes, good heavens. You do know that we aren’t really rich, don’t you?”