life. The prim Miss Addington was troubled about her charge, but Beauty, who had been that
way herself, took it more easily. Lanny, too, had been precocious at that age, and so could
understand her. He would try to teach her wisdom, to moderate her worldly desires. He would
talk about her father, endeavoring to make him effective as an influence in her life. The pictures
made him a living presence, but unfortunately Marceline did not know him as a poor painter
on the Cap, working in a pair of stained corduroy trousers and an old blue cap. She knew him as
a man of
conviction that beauty and fame were one. To receive the attentions of other persons was what
she enjoyed. Important persons, if possible—but anyone was better than no one!
IX
Amid this oddly assorted family Parsifal Dingle went on living his quietist life. He had the
firm faith that it was impermissible to argue with people; the only thing was to set an example,
and be certain that in due course it would have its effect. He took no part in any controversy,
and never offered an opinion unless it was asked for. He sought nothing for himself, because, he
said, everything was within him. He went here and there about the place, a friend of the
flowers and the birds and the dogs. He read a great deal, and often closed his eyes; you wouldn't
know whether he was praying or asleep. He was kind to everybody, and treated rich and poor
the same; the servants revered him, having become certain that he was some kind of saint. His
fame spread, and he would be asked to come and heal this person and that. The doctors
resented this, and so did the clergy of the vicinity; it was unsanctioned, a grave violation of the
proprieties.
At least an hour every day Mr. Dingle spent with Madame Zyszynski, and often Beauty was
with him. The spirits possessed the minds of this pair, and the influence of the other world
spread through the little community. Beauty began asking the spirits' advice, and taking it in
all sorts of matters. They told her that these were dangerous times, and to be careful of her
money. The spirit of Marcel told her this, and so did the spirit of the Reverend Blackless—so he
referred to himself. Beauty had never taken his advice while he was living, but assumed he
would be ultra-wise in the beyond. As economy was what Lanny wanted her to practice, he felt
indebted to the shades. Being a talkative person, Beauty told her friends about her "guides," and
Bienvenu acquired- a queerer reputation than it had ever had, even when it was a haunt of
painters, munitions buyers, and extra-marital couples.
Lanny would try his luck with a seance now and then. The character of his spirit life
underwent a change; Marie receded into the background and her place was taken by Marcel and
Great-Great-Uncle Eli Budd. These two friends of his boyhood told him much about
themselves, and held high converse with each other in the limbo where they dwelt; just so had
Lanny imagined them after their death, and it confirmed his idea that he was getting an
ingenious reconstruction of the contents of his own mind. Now and then would appear some
fact which he hadn't known before; but he argued that he might have heard it and forgotten it.
He had had many intimate talks with both his former relatives, and surely couldn't remember
every detail.
His theory was confirmed by the fact that he received a cordial letter from Mr. Ezra
Hackabury, who was trying to keep out of bankruptcy in the town of Reubens, Indiana.
Terrible times, he reported; but he hoped people would still have to have kitchen soap. The
question was being answered in monthly sales reports, and meanwhile Mr. Hackabury pitched
horseshoes behind the barn, as in the old days, and wondered if Lanny had kept up his skill in
this art. When Lanny wrote what the spirits had said, the soapman replied that it was with him
as it had been with Mark Twain: the report of his death was exaggerated. In the course of a
year and a half of intercourse with Tecumseh, Lanny had recorded several cases of the
chieftain's failure to distinguish between the living and the dead, and Lanny drew from this
fact the conclusion which satisfied his own mind—at the same time overlooking a number of
other facts which didn't. In this behavior he had the example of many leading men of science.
X
So passed a pleasant period in the well-cushioned limousine in which Lanny Budd was
rolling through life. He was unhappy about the sufferings of the world, but not so unhappy
that he couldn't eat the excellent meals which the servants of both the villa and the Cottage
prepared; not so unhappy that he couldn't read the manuscripts which Rick sent him, and the
first draft of a
the young Reds who came to bait him—and at the same time to borrow money when they got
into trouble. He spent his own funds, and some of Irma's, playing patron to the social