Her cold stare turned on George and I felt sorry for him. To his credit, he didn't flinch. He was probably used to her. "I'm going out for the rest of the day." She strode to the door, her broad skirts rippling like waves in time to her vigorous walk.
"Sorry," George said when she was gone. He glanced around the room. "Is he terribly mad now?"
All the blood drained from my face and plunged to my toes. "Uh...who?" I felt like a fool for even asking. He knew about Jacob. Of course he did. He was a clever man and I was hopeless at lying and keeping secrets. "He's gone," I said, answering my own question.
"Tell me when he returns so I can apologize."
"I didn't realize it was that obvious. How did you work out he was here?"
He smiled. "You are the pre-eminent spirit medium in London, you used his name as an introduction to me and you kept looking at certain spots about the room as if you were listening to someone speak. Oh, and you picked out the most useful book on demonology without even browsing the spines first."
I bit my lip and the blood returned to my cheeks with a vengeance. Now I knew why I was a terrible liar-because being caught out gave me such an awful feeling that I preferred not to risk it, hence the lack of practice. "I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Culvert. It was very wrong of me to mislead you."
"You agreed to call me George."
"George, as I said, I'm very sorry. Can you forgive me?"
He grinned and he had the same beautiful smile as his mother, although his was by far the more spectacular because of its sincerity. "Of course, although I'm not sure there's anything to forgive. Not telling me about Beaufort's ghost was understandable. I imagine not everyone is so...believing in your abilities."
"Not everyone, no. Not even all of the people who pay us to perform séances in their drawing rooms. I'm afraid we are still very much seen as a novelty act. A harmless entertainment for ladies."
"You're not entirely thought of in that light, let me assure you. Some are beginning to take you seriously. I'd heard about you and your sister at one of my Society for Supernatural Activity meetings. One of the members had witnessed a séance you conducted and was convinced you were genuine. I wanted to see for myself and tried to convince Mother to have you perform here for her friends while I watched on but she'd have none of the paranormal. She said she'd had enough of that nonsense when Father was alive."