Article selection from a talk by Annie Besant | Note by H.P.B.
. . . Amongst others who came to her near the close of her stay, there were two people, M. and Madame Coulomb. They were destitute and they were starving. She took them in, fed them and sheltered them, placed them in a position of half housekeeper, half friend, in her house. She kept them there for a considerable time. After a while she was called away from India to Europe. She left the keys of her room with these people. They apparently thought they had got all out of her they could, and some misbehaviour of theirs had already made their tenure of office doubtful. Christian missionaries approached them and offered them money if they would fabricate charges which would discredit Madame Blavatsky in the eyes of the world. Naturally they hated her, for she worked against the missionaries in India, and they were maddened with the success she had had. What Christian missionaries can do in the way of scoundrelly conduct, bribing servants, etc., you, who have some knowledge about similar people here, can imagine. The Coulombs earned their money.1 I do not mind giving the details which the speaker did not appear to like to give. They made up a story about a shrine in the house which had a false back to it. They made up stories about men who went about with bladders on their heads and pretended to be the Masters. . . .
1. The Coulombs “earned their money,” well, this is undeniable. But that they never got it all is as undeniable; those who had not scrupled to bribe did not stop at cheating people who had so well served them.—Ed. [H.P.B.]