Jenny Telfer Chaplin by Hopes, Sorrow

And no, I don’t find it in the least impertinent ...”
    She fiddled with the handsome emerald ring which she always wore on her left hand and sat with a strange far-away look on her face. Mary thought her employer was about to go into one of her trances but then shaking herself as though coming out of a dream Elenora said: “Sorry. I was miles away. Those upstairs rooms? Not one of them but has unhappy memories for me ...”
    Again Elenora sat in silence before she continued in a voice hardly above a whisper: “To understand what I am about to tell you, you must know that my father was a bully. He always had to be in full control of everything and everybody that crossed his path. Above all he was ruthless in business. My father was a well-respected figure of authority both in Dunoon and Glasgow business circles. After all, to have risen as he did to become a rich and powerful business man having come from nothing – from a hovel in Glasgow’s East End – it stands to reason he must have been a really strong character.
    “One of the rooms upstairs was my father’s study, close to my bedroom, and many a time I’d hear angry words shouted as he berated someone for some real or imagined misdemeanour. Even my mother, on occasion for being too soft with the household staff.
    “It was in that very room that he sent my Murdoch, the love of my life, packing. Murdoch, a newly qualified lawyer, wasn’t good enough for the daughter of Richard Baxter Patten – no one was good enough ... Father decided for me. It would be the Laird or nothing. His word was final. And in the end for me, it was nothing.”
    Mary laid a comforting hand on Elenora’s arm who looked up with a sad little smile.
    “What was a girl to do? When Father discovered Murdoch had given me this ring ...” Elenora indicated the emerald ring, “he took it and had me locked in my bedroom for long months until he had managed to make it impossible for Murdoch to conduct any business, or thrive in any way, in Dunoon. I heard later that Murdoch had moved to Edinburgh and was settled with a wife and family. It could have been me, with children of my own gathered round me. I found the ring in Father’s desk after he died and have worn it ever since.”
     
    A routine was soon established: The guests, all of them from the mainland, started arriving early on Friday evening to be met pierside by Archie. Once escorted into Ivylea, Archie assuming the role of general factotum carried their bags upstairs and announced that a welcoming cup of tea would be available shortly in the drawing room
    As Archie and Mary served the various courses, the guests gradually relaxed and by the time they were seated in the drawing room it was a meeting of friends rather than a roomful of strangers.
    Those guests who were new to spiritual matters invariably were surprised to find that far from oppressive dark rooms presided over by regal unapproachable mediums the ambience of Ivylea was alive with laughter. Some even questioned Elenora on the jollity, shared jokes and ready laughter.
    “Our spirit friends love the sound of genuine happy laughter,” Elenora would explain. “It seems to help them to come through especially when we have a trance session. For those of you who have never before witnessed trance I will point out that you will see a mask-like appearance come over my face. You will see the features of people who have passed and are known to you and others present. It is quite in order to say, hello, to any that you recognise, perhaps even to thank them for the great effort they have made in coming through.”
     
    On one such weekend, Elenora settled herself in her throne-like chair and started off by reassuring her guests.
    “Now, first of all let me calm any concerns. There is nothing to be afraid of; there will be no harmful spirits, no headless ghosts clanking chains behind them.”
    A titter of nervous energy greeted this. At once it was abundantly clear that a display