Mrs. White paled. "Chambers? Miss Emily Chambers?"
George's eyes twinkled behind his glasses. "You know her?"
It would seem my reputation as a medium had preceded me. It was happening more and more lately. Over the last month or two, the mere mention of my name was enough to cause strangers to ogle me, or walk quickly in the opposite direction. I suppose it meant Celia and I were garnering a good reputation for our work, which in turn would generate more appointments for our séances. But I couldn't be as happy as her about the increase in our trade, not if it meant more reactions like that of Mrs. White.
"I would say she knows of me, is that right, Mrs. White?" I asked, trying to allay any fears she might have with a warm smile.
Her hand fluttered to her chest and she gave a nervous little laugh. "Forgive me, yes, I have heard of you, Miss Chambers. Indeed, only this morning the master of our little school, Mr. Blunt, was telling me he was going to contact you." She pursed her lips. "He was very insistent."
"Oh? He wishes to communicate with the dead?"
"I believe so but you'd have to discuss the particulars with him." She clicked her tongue and sighed. "I don't know what's got into him. He's never been interested in the supernatural before."
I glanced at Jacob. He grinned. It was breathtaking, quite literally-the air whooshed out of my lungs and my throat went dry. It was rather a relief to see he'd snapped out of his bad temper too.
I smiled back at him.
"The Misses Chambers have an excellent reputation." George smiled too but I suspect not for the same reasons as us. I hadn't told him about Jacob's haunting of Mr. Blunt. "I highly recommend them. Emily really can communicate with spirits."
Jacob snorted and came to stand beside me. "It seems you have an admirer."
"Indeed, she was just speaking to one outside," George went on. He sounded like a proud older brother. It was rather sweet.
Jacob groaned. "If he tells her my name I might have to throw something."
"Thank you, George," I said quickly. "I'm sure Mrs. White isn't interested."
He opened his mouth to say something but must have caught my don't-you-dare expression because he shut it again.
Mrs. White didn't appear to notice our exchange, or she was too polite to let us think she had. "Your sister left a calling card when she collected Lucy yesterday, you see," she said. I knew the ones. Celia had a habit of leaving them wherever she went so that it acted as a form of advertising. "Mr. Blunt was going to call on you today. I can't think why there's such an urgency." She shrugged.