Quick, Amanda by Wait Until Midnight

of any number of people."
    To his great satisfaction, Caroline did not resist his effort to get her out of the lecture hall. But he had
    miscalculated badly in one regard, he discovered. The gently rounded shape and the enticing, resilient feel
    of her arm through the fabric of her sleeve proved unexpectedly distracting. He had to struggle against a
    sudden urge to tighten his hold and pull her closer. This was the first time he had actually touched her. He
    could not suppress the flicker of excitement that crackled through him.
    She was warm and vivid in a tightly laced green gown trimmed with white at the neck and sleeves. The
    short train of the dress was gracefully hooked up to enable her to walk without sweeping the floor with
    the hem. The design ex-posed the toes of dainty shoes the same color as the gown. A large, delightfully
    frivolous green and gold velvet bow decorated the rear of the dress where the skirts had been drawn up
    and back into a small pouf. Her hair was twisted into an elegant coil. A tiny flower-trimmed hat was
    perched at a rakish angle over one eye.
    She looked good enough to eat, he thought, and he was ravenously hungry.
    He guided her along the corridor, intensely, almost painfully conscious of her femininity. The faint,
    enticing scent of her body mingled with the flowers and herbs of the soap she had used in her bath. The
    fragrance thrilled his senses. He reminded himself that he was too old, was too experienced and had seen
    too much of the dark, raw side of life to be so easily overwhelmed by a woman. But there it was. All
    indications were that he had been struck by lightning.
    They made their way down the main hall of Wintersett House, past an office, a large reception room,
    more lecture halls and a library.
    As far as Adam could determine, only the ground floor
    had been opened to the members of the Society of Psychical Investigations. The floors above were
    closed to the public.
    The mansion was vast, bleak and quite ugly, in his opinion. It had been designed in the Gothic style with
    walls of heavy stone. The rooms were vaulted in the medieval manner. Very little sunlight penetrated the
    interior of the big house.
    Just the sort of atmosphere the members of the Society no doubt thrived on, he thought.
    When they reached the front hall, he saw two gentlemen engaged in serious conversation. The shorter of
    the two was a man of some forty or forty-five years of age. Although he was of less than average height,
    he was fashioned along solid, heavy lines, not unlike the mansion. He projected an intense, scholarly air
    with spectacles, whiskers, a receding hairline and a rumpled coat.
    The short, bespectacled man was brandishing a photo-graph beneath the aristocratic nose of an elegant,
    well-dressed, rather bored-looking gentleman. The taller man was endowed with the sort of
    statue-perfect features that never failed to attract the eyes of the ladies. His jet-black hair was highlighted
    by a startling streak of silver.
    "The tall, distinguished gentleman is Mr. Julian Elsworth," Caroline whispered. "He is the most
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    fashion-able practitioner of psychical powers inLondon at the moment. He gives occasional public
    demonstrations here at Wintersett House, but most of his sittings are conducted in private homes in the
    most exclusive circles"
    She sounded far too enthusiastic about Elsworth, Adam decided.
    "I've heard of him," he allowed. "We've never been introduced."
    "A formal reception in his honor will be held here later this week," she said. "It will be followed by a
    demonstration of his abilities. There is certain to be a very large crowd."
    "And the short gentleman?"
    "That is Mr. Reed. He is the president of the Society for Psychical Investigations and the publisher of
    New Dawn."
    At that moment Elsworth glanced up from the photo-graph that Reed was holding in front of him. He
    gave Adam a brief, considering