The London Séance Society: A Novel

After receiving confirmation of Vaudeline’s willingness to perform a séance on Volckman’s behalf, Morely passes by the servants’ door into the Society, which reminds him of his interactions with Evie. During that earlier time, she expressed her interest in spiritualism, Vaudeline D’Allaire, and Morely himself. She asked to meet with him privately, implying her potential sexual desire for him. Morely agreed to start meeting secretly with Evie. She would dress as a man, and he would let her into the Society through the servants’ door.

Lenna changes her mind and decides to accompany Vaudeline to London. Lenna tells the medium that in her grief over Evie’s death, she examined her sister’s belongings and discovered a bottle of phosphorous oil. This unsettles Vaudeline, who claims that phosphorous oil is a tool of fraudulent mediums. Lenna is irritated by the implication that her sister might have been studying fraudulent techniques, but Vaudeline diffuses the tension by telling Lenna about the death of one of her lovers, a man named Léon. Vaudeline also tells Lenna that she will have to go her own way once they get to London because the business at the Society will be dangerous. Because she is increasingly attracted to the medium, Lenna finds herself saddened by this exclusion.