“As nearly as you could over a telephone wire,” he answered.  “You’re a marvelously clever woman, to think of that,” he added.  Mrs. Markham answered, on the wings of a light laugh: 

“If I appear at all clever by contrast with what you expected to find, it is because I have not let my mind dwell in a half-world, as have so many others of my profession.  That is the tendency.  I have seen no reason why I should not combat it.  I believe, too, that I am the stronger for it in my work.  What was I saying?  Oh, yes—­about the first contact.  Probably the last thought of the disembodied, upon assuming the trance state—­for I believe that the sender of these messages, like the receivers, have to enter an abnormal condition—­is to prove their identity.  That is only natural, is it not?  Would not you do the same?  Think.  And what do they have to offer?  One of those intimate memories of years past which linger so long in the mind.  Take me for example.  What should I offer to—­well, to that one among the disembodied who means most to me?  An adventure in stealing cream from a dairy house!” As though she were carried away by this memory, her face grew soft and serious.  With an outward sweep of her hands and a quick “but then!” she resumed: 

“The best judges of character—­and you must be such a one—­make their mistakes.  Why did you ask that question?”

Norcross, glib and effective as his tongue could be when he directed or traded, found now no better answer than: 

“Because I wanted to know, I suppose.”

“Were this Helen in the flesh—­young and inexperienced as she was—­would you expect her to give you advice in any large affair of business—­would she be basically interested in it?  Interested because it is yours and she loves you, perhaps—­but basically?  We have no proof that natures change out there.  I suppose that isn’t all, either.  Is she, keeping her soul for you in a life which I hope is better—­is she interested in whether or no you make a little more money and position?  I can conceive only one condition in which she would mention your business.  If you were at a crossroads—­if great danger or great deliverance hung on your decision—­she might sense that.  I think they must get it, by some process to which we are blind, from other disembodied spirits.”

“Suppose, then, that—­Martha I think you call her—­had brought some old business associate.  Would he have answered me?”

“Perhaps.  But that does not really explain what is in your mind.  If this business matter which perplexes you were so vital, don’t you suppose that some one of those very associates would have rushed to speak, instead of a dead love?  In that way, I think I can construct an answer—­provided you ask that question in good faith.  It is, probably, not very important whether you sell or no.”

Mrs. Markham rose on this.  Norcross caught the hint in her manner, and rose with her.  A little “oh!” escaped her, and her face lighted.