The London Séance Society: A Novel

In the morning, Lenna and Vaudeline dress as men to disguise themselves while moving about the Society and the city. Morely confronts them about the evidence of their nighttime activities, and Vaudeline takes the blame. Morely, Beck, Vaudeline, and Lenna go to the home of Mrs. Gray, for whom Volckman performed a séance on the day of his death. Mrs. Gray is initially wary of the group, but she begins to warm to Vaudeline when the medium sits in the same chair that Volckman did and plays with a figurine that the dead man also played with. Vaudeline continues to explore the house, following Volckman’s energy. She, Lenna, and Mrs. Gray go upstairs without Morely and Beck. Mrs. Gray expresses doubts about the validity of the Society’s séances, telling Vaudeline and Lenna that the man who conducted the séance, Mr. Dankworth, tried to sexually assault her after the séance. Fortunately, Volckman caught him. (Mr. Dankworth is also the same medium who conducted Eloise’s séance.) Mrs. Gray also mentions that, as rumors of the Society’s malfeasance spread, so too did rumors of a female accomplice who matches Evie’s description.

After leaving Mrs. Gray, Vaudeline insists on visiting Mrs. Volckman. Beck dismisses her desire to see Volckman’s widow, claiming that the Society and the police have exhausted her with their inquiries. Nonetheless, Vaudeline wants to comfort the widow, so the group heads to Mrs. Volckman’s house. Vaudeline invites Mrs. Volckman to the séance that they will be holding that night, but Mrs. Volckman declines the invitation, saying that she finds Beck and Dankworth to be untrustworthy. She also reveals that neither the Society nor the police have visited her in months, which contradicts Beck’s earlier assertion. The widow warns Lenna and Vaudeline to be wary of Beck.

After leaving Mrs. Volckman’s, Vaudeline directs their carriage driver where to go as they travel. She explains to Morely and Beck that she is following Volckman’s trail of energy from the night of his death. She leads them to a brothel that the Society’s logbook lists as the site of a séance. A man named Peter meets them at the door and immediately recognizes Morely. Lenna converses with a sex worker named Mel, who tells her that the Society held a séance here for Peter’s deceased mother, Betty. Lenna is surprised to learn that Morely attended this séance, which Mel describes as being clearly fraudulent. Mel clarifies that Morely did not just attend—he ran the séance himself.

Morely tries to surveil Lenna and Vaudeline as they talk to the sex workers. Earlier, at Mrs. Gray’s house, he snuck up the back stairs and spied on the women as they talked about the Society. Now, Morely wonders whether Lenna and Vaudeline have realized that he is the fraudster in the Society. In the past, Morely hired fraudulent mediums like Dankworth in order to increase the Society’s profits. He even hired a carriage driver who could not hear or speak so that conversations between fraudulent mediums on the way to séances would never be overheard. He reflects that he must have “gotten sloppy over the years” (175), for he has now become the source of the negative rumors about the Society.

As Lenna reflects on the revelation that Morely led a fraudulent séance, a sex worker named Bea comes downstairs. Bea’s last client did not sufficiently tip her, so she makes an advance on Beck. Morely tries to stop Beck from leaving with Bea, and the argument between the two men attracts the attention of several drunken men in the brothel, who want to see Morely and Beck fight. Morely reluctantly allows the men to lead him outside. Left alone, Vaudeline and Lenna explore the building with Mel’s help and find multiple trick devices used in fraudulent séances. Mel reveals that after the séance, when the sex workers were unable to pay the Society members’ fee, the men demanded free sex as payment instead. Now, Lenna asks Mel about Evie, and Mel confirms that Evie was present for the séance. Mel is surprised to learn that Evie has been killed, given Evie’s connection to the conniving Society.

Morely and Beck take the intoxicated men outside and calm them down. Morely reflects on the bad memories associated with this place, all of which started with his plan to include Evie in the Society’s fraudulent schemes and use her innocence and vulnerability to attract fresh clientele and dispel rumors of the Society’s wrongdoing. Morely approached the topic with Evie on the night they first had sex, and she admitted that she would resort to fraudulent measures if she found herself unable to make enough money as a genuine medium. He proposed that she begin to attend séances and spread positive rumors about the Society. In exchange, he offered her payment and continued access to the Society’s resources. Evie readily agreed, and her first job was at the fraudulent séance in the brothel.

On the carriage ride back to the Society, Lenna states that Evie was her sister and questions Morely about Evie’s involvement with the Society. Morely denies that he ever knew Evie or that Evie attended any Society-run séances. As they leave the carriage, the driver, Bennett, slips Lenna a note that reads, “He lied. You must get away from him” (196).

Morely is annoyed by Lenna’s questions but ultimately dismisses the idea that the women will find out anything that could truly damage the Society. He reflects on how successful Evie’s employment with the Society initially was, and how she began to combat the negative rumors.

Back at the Society, Lenna and Vaudeline go to the library and hypothesize how Evie and Morely might have been involved with each other. They speculate on the possibility that Morely might have been motivated to kill Evie if she had been romantically tied to Volckman. Their conversation is cut short when they realize that Morely has barricaded them in the room. Vaudeline begins to wonder about Morely’s motives and questions why he has been so helpful when all they’ve done is uncover more of his misdeeds. Vaudeline proposes that when Morely comes to retrieve them before the séance that evening, she will meet him in a state of undress to distract him. This will allow Lenna to bludgeon him from behind with a candlestick. Lenna is initially distressed by this plan, but she soon comes to see it as an opportunity to avenge Evie.