The Argosy, Vol. 28

# Called to the Rescue (Serial)

The Argosy, September 1879. Chapter XXV of this serialized narrative concerns Mrs. Archdale and Cecilia Wilmot's visit to Professor Dangerfield, a fashionable spiritualist medium in London during the off-season. Despite Mrs. Archdale's skepticism about theatrical illusion, they attend a private séance in his elaborately staged parlor. Through supernatural or illusionistic means, the Professor's medium—a boy named Paul—conjures visions of Mrs. Archdale's mother and then of a dark man with a child, depicting a shipwreck, an office transaction involving a sealed box, and a dying man's final moments. The revelation deeply agitates Mrs. Archdale, who seeks information about the box's location. The séance ends mysteriously; the Professor vanishes. Subsequently, Mr. Frankland calls on Cecilia with a fern and news from relatives, interrupting Mrs. Archdale's evident distress from the previous evening's experience.