Miss Blossom nodded and left the room; there was laughter in the other chamber. Presently Maitland joined Merton.
‘Look here,’ said Merton, ‘we must be rapid. These children are being cruelly ill-treated and deny it. Will you get into talk with the boy, and ask him if he is fond of his governess, say “Miss Limmer,” and notice what he says and how he says it? Then we must pack them away.’
‘All right,’ said Maitland.
They returned to the children. Miss Blossom retreated to the inner room. Bats simplified matters by falling asleep in the client’s chair. Maitland began by talking about schools. Was Tommy going to Eton?
Tommy did not know. He had a governess at home.
‘Not at a preparatory school yet? A big fellow like you?’
Tommy said that he would like to go to school, but they would not send him.
‘Why not?’
Tommy hesitated, blushed, and ended by saying that they didn’t think it safe, as he walked in his sleep.
‘You will soon grow out of that,’ said Maitland, ‘but it is not very safe at school. A boy I knew was found sound asleep on the roof at school.’
‘He might have fallen off,’ said Tommy.
‘Yes. That’s why your people keep you at home. But in a year or two you will be all right. Know any Latin yet?’
Tommy said that Miss Limmer taught him Latin.
‘Are you and she great friends?’
Tommy’s face and voice altered as before, while he mechanically repeated the tale of the mutual affection which linked him with Miss Limmer.
‘That’s all very jolly,’ said Maitland.
‘Now, Tommy,’ said Merton, ‘we must waken Batsy, and Miss Blossom is going to take you both home. Hope we shall often meet.’
He called Miss Blossom; Batsy kissed both of her new friends. Merton conducted the party to the cab, and settled, in spite of Tommy’s remonstrances, with the cabman, who made a good thing of it, and nodded when told to drive away as soon as he had deposited his charges at their door. Then Merton led Maitland upstairs and offered him a cigar.
‘What do you think of it?’ he asked.
‘Common post-hypnotic suggestion by the governess,’ said Maitland.
‘I guessed as much, but can it really be worked like that? You are not chaffing?’
‘Simplest thing to work in the world,’ said Maitland. ‘A lot of nonsense, however, that the public believes in can’t be done. The woman could not sit down in St. John’s Wood, and “will” Tommy to come to her if he was in the next room. At least she might “will” till she was black in the face, and he would know nothing about it. But she can put him to sleep, and make him say what he does not want to say, in answer to questions, afterwards, when he is awake.’
‘You’re sure of it?’
‘It is as certain as anything in the world up to a certain point.’
‘The girl said something that the boy did not say, more gushing, about his dead mother.’
‘The hypnotised subject often draws a line somewhere.’
‘The woman must be a fiend,’ said Merton.
‘Some of them are, now and then,’ said the author of Clinical Psychology.
* * * * *
Miss Blossom’s cab, the driver much encouraged by Tommy, who conversed with him through the trap in the roof, dashed up to the door of a house close to Lord’s. The horse was going fast, and nearly cannoned into another cab-horse, also going fast, which was almost thrown on its haunches by the driver. Inside the other hansom was a tall man with a pale face under the tan, who was nervously gnawing his moustache. Miss Blossom saw him, Tommy saw him, and cried ‘Father!’ Half-hidden behind a blind of the house Miss Blossom beheld a woman’s face, expectant. Clearly she was Miss Limmer. All the while that they were driving Miss Blossom’s wits had been at work to construct a story to account for the absence and return of the children. Now, by a flash of invention, she called to her cabman, ‘Drive on—fast!’ Major Apsley saw his lost children with their arms round the neck of a wonderfully pretty girl; the pretty girl waved her parasol to him with a smile, beckoning forwards; the children waved their arms, calling out ‘A race! a race!’
What could a puzzled parent do but bid his cabman follow like the wind? Miss Blossom’s cab flew past Lord’s, dived into Regent’s Park, leading by two lengths; reached the Zoological Gardens, and there its crew alighted, demurely waiting for the Major. He leaped from his hansom, and taking off his hat, strode up to Miss Blossom, as if he were leading a charge. The children captured him by the legs. ‘What does this mean, Madam? What are you doing with my children? Who are you?’
‘She’s None-so-pretty,’ said Tommy, by way of introduction.
Miss Blossom bowed with grace, and raising her head, shot two violet rays into the eyes of the Major, which were of a bistre hue. But they accepted the message, like a receiver in wireless telegraphy. No man, let be a Major, could have resisted None-so-pretty at that moment. ‘Come into the gardens,’ she said, and led the way. ‘You would like a ride on the elephant, Tommy?’ she asked Master Apsley. ‘And you, Batsy?’
The children shouted assent.
‘How in the world does she know them?’ thought the bewildered officer.
The children mounted the elephant.
‘Now, Major Apsley,’ said Miss Blossom, ‘I have found your children.’
‘I owe you thanks, Madam; I have been very anxious, but—’
‘It is more than your thanks I want. I want you to do something for me, a very little thing,’ said Miss Blossom, with the air of a supplicating angel, the violet eyes dewy with tears.
‘I am sure I shall be delighted to do anything you ask, but—’
‘Will you promise? It is a very little thing indeed!’ and her hands were clasped in entreaty. ‘Please promise!’
‘Well, I promise.’
‘Then keep your word: it is a little thing! Take Tommy home this instant, let nobody speak to him or touch him—and—make him take a bath, and see him take it.’
‘Take a bath!’
‘Yes, at once, in your presence. Then ask him … any questions you please, but pay extreme attention to his answers and his face, and the sound of his voice. If that is not enough do the same with Batsy. And after that I think you had better not let the children out of your sight for a short time.’
‘These are very strange requests.’
‘And it was by a strange piece of luck that I met you driving home to see if the lost children were found, and secured your attention before it could be pre-engaged.’
‘But where did you find them and why?’
Miss Blossom interrupted him, ‘Here is the address of Dr. Maitland, I have written it on my own card; he can answer some questions you may want to ask. Later I will answer anything. And now in the name of God,’ said the girl reverently, with sudden emotion, ‘you will keep your promise to the letter?’
‘I will,’ said the Major, and Miss Blossom waved her parasol to the children. ‘You must give the poor elephant a rest, he is tired,’ she cried, and the tender-hearted Batsy needed no more to make her descend from the great earth-shaking beast. The children attacked her with kisses, and then walked off, looking back, each holding one of the