The Rape of Venice by Dennis Wheatley Page B

haloes. All of us carry with us such an indication of our basic characteristics, as auras vary in colour. Those of born warriors are bright red, those for whom all things grow readily, apple-green. A yellow aura denotes a religious nature and a magenta aura a person given over to evil.’
    â€˜Do you really mean that you can see such auras—that we have them now, about our heads, at the present moment?’
    â€˜Yes; with what is termed “the third eye”. That is the focal point of psychic perception, and it lies beneath the bone in the centre of the forehead. Everyone has it but in most people it is rudimentary. Very few develop it, as I have done by long training, to a state at which I can use it consciously. Both Lady Georgina’s aura and yours are blue, indicating the possession of psychic qualities. Hers is the stronger but, with either of you, I could, in quite a short while, establish a
rapport.’
    Clarissa’s blue eyes lit up. ‘I find the subject fascinating. Would it be asking too much that before you leave Stillwaters you will experiment upon me?’
    He bowed. ‘If you will later name a time and place, I shall be happy to do so, Signorina. But now I must arouse the Princess Sirisha from her trance.’
    Roger had watched the proceedings with a jaundiced eye. His conviction that the Venetian had made use of his wife the previous evening to swindle them at cards filled him with a lively suspicion that this was another case of secret collaboration between the couple; yet he had to admit to himself that the whole procedure had followed the pattern of a skilled mesmerist operating on a medium. In any case, having seen exhibitions of hypnotism by disciples of Dr. Mesmer in Paris, and on one occasion a woman who, while in a trance, had made a shocking spectacle of herself by writhing about in what were obviously erotic paroxysms, he was fully determined to prevent Clarissa exposing herself to anything of that kind.
    He pondered the matter further while Malderini made the passes necessary to bring the Princess back to normal, and it struck him that as the Venetian had spoken to her throughout in her own language, although he appeared to have been giving her only a translation of the written questions, he might instead quite well have been furnishing her with the answers she should make to them. But that did not account for the fact that she had given the answers in four languages of which she was supposed to be entirely ignorant. That meant that, if a deception had been practised, she was as fluent in them as Malderini himself; and it was difficult to believe that if she could speak them she deliberately cut herself off from communication with everyone except her husband, solely to be able to aid him in occasional hoaxes such as this. Furthermore it did not appear,at first sight, that the couple had anything to gain by practising this type of deception.
    That amicable but hardened materialist, Colonel Thursby, also had his suspicions. When the Princess had fully recovered, he said in Italian: ‘We all owe you our thanks, Signora, for having aided your husband in his demonstration.’
    He had hoped that by a spontaneous reply she would give herself away, but her face remained expressionless. Not even a slight movement of her lips suggested that she had been near falling into the trap.
    Malderini turned angrily on the Colonel: ‘You know very well, Sir, that in her normal state my wife understands no language but her own. And I resent your use of the word “aided”. She was no more than an unconscious instrument of which I made use to display my powers.’
    â€˜Your pardon, Signor; your pardon.’ The older man waved an airy hand. ‘Having but a few moments back heard her speak Italian with such fluency, I had temporarily forgot that she was not one. As for my use of the word “aided”, I meant only to thank her for having allowed you to throw