Then, looking straight before her, and in a low, plaintive voice, which seemed to float on hidden depths of grief, she told her story.
It appeared that 'Lias had been 'queer' a good while before the adventure of the Pool.

But, according to his wife, 'he wor that cliver on his good days, foak could mak shift wi him on his bad days;' the school still prospered, and money was still plentiful.
Then, all of a sudden, the moorland villages round were overtaken by an epidemic of spirit-rapping and table-turning.

'It wor sperrits here, sperrits there, sperrits everywhere--t' warld wor gradely swarmin wi 'em,' said Margaret bitterly.

It was all started, apparently, by a worthless 'felly' from Castleton, who had a great reputation as a medium, and would come over on summer evenings to conduct seances at Frimley and the places near.

'Lias, already in an excitable, overworked state, was bitten by the new mania, and could think of nothing else.
One night he and the Castleton medium fell talking about Jenny Crum, the witch of Kinder Scout, and her Easter Eve performances.
The medium bet 'Lias a handsome sum that he would not dare face her.