party machinery and a weak stance on the issue of importation of New Zealand butter, had meant King had to work extra hard at the campaign. At an exhausting pace he had thundered to the West and back with his lieutenant, Québécois Ernest Lapointe.
One of the few moments of peace had been at dawn yesterday as the train passed through Kitchener. King remembered the town when it was called Berlin. He grew excited when, in the half dark, he thought he saw a familiar white gate. “Wake up!” he had cried to his travelling companion. “That’s Woodside! That’s where I was a boy. Such a happy boyhood,” he’d gushed as the pines and poplars whizzed by, “the basis for my present position.” Once a boy from Berlin had dreamed of being the prime minister of the Dominion of Canada. “Most of my dreams have been realized,” he had murmured.
“With the exception of my sister, Mrs. Lay, my family is gone now,” King had informed his seatmate. He had looked out the window at the shadows pierced weakly by the day’s new sun. “Only somehow,” he’d added, “it feels as though they are quite near by, guiding me.”
Now, the memory of their voices quieted the other cries in his head. “Shame! Shame!” softened into the sh-sh-sh of the wheels on the track, and for a few minutes, King fell back to dream.
East Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa
July 29, 1930
“I would like to extend my sincere congratulations, Mr. Bennett.”
King watched as Bennett sat down on the sofa. He looked fatter and flabbier than King had remembered.
“I am glad that the contest is over and that we remained civil,” King told his rival. “I must say, however, I regret the personal comments about the war period when I was looking after my family.”
“I wasn’t in the war either,” the new prime minister confessed. Bennett, who was also a bachelor, had different reasons for not enlisting. “I’m missing two toes. Besides, Borden said he needed me at home.”
As the conversation turned to the details of handing over the reins of power, King found himself realizing that he was glad to throw onto Bennett’s shoulders the need to find a solution for unemployment. He guessed the man would go to pieces from the strain. There were, the former prime minister sensed, more difficult times to come. His party had achieved a fine record of government. When the Tory period ended, surely the Liberals would have a long lease of power.
Looking out the window, Willie noticed two little girls on the lawn, playing. King suddenly felt unburdened. Now he would have more time for literature and gardening at Kingsmere. Finally, he would be able to devote himself more fully to his personal investigations of spiritual phenomena.
Laurier House
February 24, 1932
The third floor was totally silent. As instructed, the servants and secretaries left their employer and his two female guests to themselves. Pat lay outside the door of the book room and growled when anyone came near.
The room, an oversized closet where books and government papers were stored, was darkened with quilts until it was almost black. King, Joan Patteson, a friend named Mrs. Fulford, and the spiritualist Mrs. Etta Wriedt sat on chairs with a silver-coloured trumpet placed on the floor between them.
The small, white-haired medium in a grey silk dress requested sweetly, “Let us speak the Lord’s Prayer.”
After the four prayed devoutly, Wriedt closed her eyes and slipped into a trancelike state.
King had been very excited a few days before when he had experienced his first seance with Wriedt. Mrs. Fulford, Senator Fulford’s widow, had invited him to her Brockville home to see the Detroit medium. King had been astounded at the parade of spirits who had communicated with him through Wriedt’s tin trumpet. Grandfather, Sir Wilfrid, Bert, Father, and Mother had spoken to him and answered his questions, there was no mistaking. Just as Lady Byng, Mrs. Fulford and many others had assured him, now he had proof that he could communicate directly with those in heaven!
King had immediately invited Wriedt to come to Ottawa. Rex very badly wanted his friend, Joan, to experience the marvels he had witnessed. He was sure that there were spirits waiting to speak to her, too.
A noise from the flared end of the trumpet made the two seekers almost stop breathing. To Joan it seemed like a strange gasping sound, but very feeble. It’s as if a person is emerging from ether, Joan thought, or perhaps like a radio before it becomes quite “heated up.” Joan was too frightened to make any observations out loud.
Miraculously, a woman’s voice began to speak. It was indistinguishable at first, and then came more clearly.
This is Isabel. Both Willie and Joan felt their breath coming more quickly. Is Joan Patteson here?
“Yes, Mrs. King,” Joan squeaked, astonished.
I am happy to meet you, at last, the voice went on strongly. You have done so much for my beloved son. I have long wanted to meet you and thank you. Also, I have good news for you.
“For me?” Joan asked incredulously.
Your daughter is here. She has grown up and is a beautiful girl. She will speak to you in a minute.
“Oh my!” Joan could hardly bear the elation at hearing the voice of one who had never spoken on Earth. The daughter she missed so much. Then a worried question came to her. “Who looks after her in Heaven?”
Oh, my dear, there is a kindergarten here for little children, Isabel’s voice informed. They are well cared for. We teach them all kinds of wonderful things – and even all about the parents they left behind and who love them on earth.
Joan felt enraptured. She had always sensed that her lost child was safe and cared for, but it was so wonderful to be certain.
She’s named after you, isn’t she? Isabel asked.
Joan stiffened. This was incorrect. The child’s name was Alison Rose, but the family had called her…
But we call her Nancy, the voice quickly continued.
Joy flooded back through Joan’s body. It was her daughter!
Your father and mother will speak to you also. But my time is short. I wish to speak now to my son.
The trumpet rolled across the floor. It stopped, rapping King on the shins. He picked it up.
My dear, most devoted son. You have been so kind to me. I have felt your love, even here.
“Mother?” King asked.
Yes, Billy, it is your mother. Father is here too and Grandfather. They are very proud of you. We are all here watching you. Now here is Grandfather.
King exhaled. A shudder of relief coursed through him.
I am William Lyon Mackenzie. Mrs.
