The Bachelors Read Online Free PDF Page B

séance. Some of these bachelors became regular
members, others attended occasionally and compulsively when the desire to do so
overwhelmed them. ‘My bachelors,’ Marlene called them.
    ‘At
least,’ she said, ‘we are all respectable now; we have no cranks.’
    ‘I hate
cranks,’ Ewart said. ‘Insufferable people.’
    By the
end of that year the Wider Infinity had moved its headquarters to Marlene’s
flat in Bayswater and Patrick and Ewart Thornton had so much become her closest
intimates that very often this trio held private séances which were kept secret
from the rest of the group. ‘Carl and Harry,’ Marlene said, ‘definitely
understand my nature now better than they did in the flesh. Carl of course was
always more evolved. Why does he call Harry by the name of Henry, I wonder?’
    Patrick
said, ‘I’m only the medium,’ and his voice died away on the last syllable.
    ‘But
you’re a genius, Patrick — isn’t he, Ewart?’
    ‘Absolutely.
That was excellent advice that came through from Guide Gabi about my
headmaster. Had his character to a T. He expects me to do mounds of homework.
Well, I___’
    ‘Señor
Gabi is one of my best Guides,’ Patrick murmured. ‘But Henry is coming on.
Through the influence of Carl, he___’
    ‘Why
doesn’t Carl call him Harry?’ Marlene said. ‘He never called him Henry while in
the flesh, he always called him Harry.’
    ‘The
name Henry represents his primary and more noble personality,’ Patrick said
gently. ‘I’m sorry, Marlene, I’m only the medium, I can’t say Harry when I get
Henry.’
    ‘Patrick,
you’re wonderful. It only proves your honesty.’
    She put
a great deal of money into the training of mediums, Patrick Seton being the
principal trainer; she liked most of all to have the more intelligent members,
or those rare few with university degrees, trained as mediums. It gave her a
thrill to see these knowledgeable novices going into, and coming round from,
their first and second feeble trances.
    Eventually
she recruited her young nephew, Tim, whom she had discovered to have no
religion at all. Tim had not enjoined, but she, perceiving his mind, had
promised secrecy about this activity where the family was concerned.
    Meantime
Patrick had made a tremendous advance in divining how matters stood between
Harry and Carl on the other side, and in instructing Marlene, through Harry, how
best to develop her personality.
    At the
first séance to be held by the newly-constructed Circle in Marlene’s flat,
Patrick had gone under in style with a quivering of the lower lip and chin,
upturned eyes and convulsive whinnies. A few threads of ectoplasm, like white
tape in the dim light, proceeded from the corners of his mouth. Then, in a
voice hugely louder than his own he announced,
    ‘I am
now coming in touch with the control. This is control. Henry will speak through
Patrick under the control of Carl.’
    Two or
three of the Circle, as they had sat hand in hand round Patrick, shuffled
slightly at this mention of Carl and Henry, for that particular combine was, in
the experience of the Circle, exclusively interested in the affairs of Marlene
and did not seem aware of the claims of the Wider Infinity as a whole.
    ‘Guide
Henry speaking: my dear wife, there are two on earth who mean a lot to you. You
can depend upon them and especially upon one who will never desert you unto
death. Do not be deceived by appearances. I am well and happy. Do you remember
the Loebl Pass where we stopped at an inn and ate a marvellous omelette?’
    ‘Oh,’
Marlene said.
    ‘Control
lifting,’ Patrick said. ‘Guide Henry is wearing leather shorts and an open-neck
shirt.’
    ‘Oh,
how it takes me back!’ said Marlene when the lights had gone up. ‘Honestly,’
she said to the newer members of the Circle, ‘I have a photograph of Harry on
that holiday wearing his leather shorts and—’
    Later
she said to Ewart and Patrick, ‘I wish they wouldn’t concentrate so much on