The audience sat in suspense, and then abruptly in the silence and the darkness there came the rattle of a tambourine from the empty platform.
Rappings and knockings seemed to flicker round the panels of the hall, and in the place where the door of the cabinet should be there appeared a splash of misty whiteness.

The whiteness shaped itself dimly into the figure of a woman, a face dark and Eastern became visible, and a deep voice spoke in a chant of the Nile and Antony.

Then the vision faded, the tambourines and cymbals rattled again.

The lights were turned up, the door of the cabinet thrown open, and the girl in the black velvet dress was seen fastened upon the bench within.
It was a spiritualistic performance at which Julius Ricardo had been present two years ago.

The young, fair-haired girl in black velvet, the medium, was Celia Harland.
That was the picture which was in Ricardo's mind, and Hanaud's description of Mme.