“Spirits from the other side, we call upon you,” Charlotte began in such a dramatic voice that I had to suppress the need to giggle. I wished Belinda had been present so that we could have kicked each other beneath the tablecloth, or that Darcy had been sitting across the table to give me a reassuring wink. “Come to our aid, dear spirits. Lady Hortense, are you present among us?”

A long silence was followed punctuated only by the sound of a grandfather clock, ticking away solemnly somewhere outside in a hallway.

“Are you with us, Lady Hortense? Will you be our guide?”

The candle flickered and I felt a cold draft pass over me. I glanced over my shoulder. The door and the curtains were still closed. I thought I detected the faintest of voices whispering, “Yessss.”

“She’s here,” Charlotte said excitedly. “I knew she’d come. Lady Hortense, we’d first like you to find John Altringham for us. You remember your great-great-grandson, who died so bravely in the war? His son is here with us now. Do you see him? He’d like to hear his father’s voice.”

Again we waited what seemed like an eternity. Then Irene said, “Listen. Someone is laughing.”

We strained to hear and it sounded indeed like distant laughter, very far away.

“It’s Ceddy, having a good laugh at our expense,” Julian whispered.

“That’s not Ceddy’s laugh,” Adrian said.

“That’s Johnnie,” Charlotte said. “Don’t you remember how he loved to laugh, Irene?”

“Yes,” Irene whispered. “Johnnie loved to laugh.”

“Is that you, John?” Charlotte said. “Can you show yourself to us? Can you say something to your son?”

Again we waited but the laughter faded into silence. “It’s no use. He’s choosing not to speak to us,” Charlotte said. “I can feel he’s here. Maybe what he has to say to Jack is private and he doesn’t wish us to overhear.”

“We could try the Ouija board,” Virginia suggested. “Perhaps he is a voiceless spirit. They are sometimes.”

“We could.” Charlotte picked up the planchette. “Jack, put your hand on this with me. And Irene. You are both Johnnie’s relatives. He’ll feel comfortable communicating with you.”

Jack gave me a questioning glance before placing his finger on the little disk. Slowly it started to move across the table. “B . . . U . . . G . . . G . . . E . . . R.” We repeated the letters as the planchette went to them. “O . . . F. . . F.”

“He said, ‘Bugger off,’” Jack said delightedly.

“That definitely sounds like Johnnie,” Irene said. “Always was rude.”

“Anything else you’d like to say, John?” Charlotte asked. But the planchette did not move again. “Apparently not.” She looked around the room. “Let us move along then. The problem of Marcel. Spirits from the other side, we need your help. Tell us what will happen. Tell us what we should do to stop a stranger from taking over Kingsdowne.”