The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Jewel of Seven Stars, by Bram Stoker
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Title: The Jewel of Seven Stars
Author: Bram Stoker
Release Date: February 1, 2003 [eBook #3781]
[Most recently updated: October 6, 2021]
Language: English
Produced by: Sue Asscher. HTML version by Al Haines.
Revised by Richard Tonsing.
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JEWEL OF SEVEN STARS ***
The Jewel of Seven Stars
by
Bram Stoker
To Eleanor and Constance Hoyt
Contents
I A Summons in the Night
II Strange Instructions
III The Watchers
IV The Second Attempt
V More Strange Instructions
VI Suspicions
VII The Traveller’s Loss
VIII The Finding of the Lamps
IX The Need of Knowledge
X The Valley of the Sorcerer
XI A Queen’s Tomb
XII The Magic Coffer
XIII Awaking From the Trance
XIV The Birth-Mark
XV The Purpose of Queen Tera
XVI The Cavern
XVII Doubts and Fears
XVIII The Lesson of the “Ka”
XIX The Great Experiment
Chapter I
A Summons in the Night
It all seemed so real that I could hardly imagine that it had ever
occurred before; and yet each episode came, not as a fresh step in the
logic of things, but as something expected. It is in such a wise that
memory plays its pranks for good or ill; for pleasure or pain; for weal
or woe. It is thus that life is bittersweet, and that which has been
done becomes eternal.
Again, the light skiff, ceasing to shoot through the lazy water as when
the oars flashed and dripped, glided out of the fierce July sunlight
into the cool shade of the great drooping willow branches—I standing
up in the swaying boat, she sitting still and with deft fingers
guarding herself from stray twigs or the freedom of the resilience of
moving boughs. Again, the water looked golden-brown under the canopy
of translucent green; and the grassy bank was of emerald hue. Again,
we sat in the cool shade, with the myriad noises of nature both without
and within our bower merging into that drowsy hum in whose sufficing
environment the great world with its disturbing trouble, and its more
disturbing joys, can be effectually forgotten. Again, in that blissful
solitude the young girl lost the convention of her prim, narrow
upbringing, and told me in a natural, dreamy way of the loneliness of
her new life. With an undertone of sadness she made me feel how in that
spacious home each one of the household was isolated by the personal
magnificence of her father and herself; that there confidence had no
altar, and sympathy no shrine; and that there even her father’s face
was as distant as the old country life seemed now. Once more, the
wisdom of my manhood and the experience of my years laid themselves at
the girl’s feet. It was seemingly their own doing; for the individual
“I” had no say in the matter, but only just obeyed imperative orders.
And once again the flying seconds multiplied themselves endlessly. For
it is in the arcana of dreams that existences merge and renew
themselves, change and yet keep the same—like the soul of a musician
in a fugue. And so memory swooned, again and again, in sleep.
It seems that there is never to be any perfect rest. Even in Eden the
snake rears its head among the laden boughs of the Tree of Knowledge.
The silence of the dreamless night is broken by the roar of the
avalanche; the hissing of sudden floods; the clanging of the engine
bell marking its sweep through a sleeping American town; the clanking
of distant paddles over the sea.... Whatever it is, it is breaking the
charm of my Eden. The canopy of greenery above us, starred with
diamond-points of light, seems to quiver in the ceaseless beat of
paddles; and the restless bell seems as though it would never cease....
All at once the gates of Sleep were thrown wide open, and my waking
ears took in the cause of the disturbing sounds. Waking existence is
prosaic enough—there was somebody knocking and ringing at someone’s
street door.
I was pretty well accustomed in my Jermyn Street chambers to passing
sounds; usually I did not concern myself, sleeping or waking, with the
doings, however noisy, of my neighbours. But this noise was too
continuous, too insistent, too imperative to be ignored. There was
some active intelligence behind that ceaseless sound; and some stress
or need behind the intelligence. I was not altogether selfish, and at
the thought of someone’s need I was, without premeditation, out of bed.
Instinctively I looked at my watch. It was just three o’clock; there
was a faint edging of grey round the green blind which darkened my
room. It was evident that the knocking and ringing were at the door of
our own house; and it was evident, too, that there was no one awake to
answer the call. I slipped on my dressing-gown and slippers, and went
down to the hall door. When I opened it there stood a dapper groom,
with one hand pressed unflinchingly on the electric bell whilst with
the other he raised a ceaseless clangour with the knocker. The instant
he saw me the noise ceased; one hand went up instinctively to the brim
of his hat, and the other produced a letter from his pocket. A neat
brougham was opposite the door, the horses were breathing heavily as
though they had come fast. A policeman, with his night lantern still
alight at his belt, stood by, attracted to the spot by the noise.
“Beg pardon, sir, I’m sorry for disturbing you, but my orders was
imperative; I was not to lose a moment, but to knock and ring till
someone came. May I ask you, sir, if Mr. Malcolm Ross lives here?”
“I am Mr. Malcolm Ross.”
“Then this letter is for you, sir, and the bro’am is for you too, sir!”
I took, with a strange curiosity, the letter which he handed to me. As
a barrister I had had, of course, odd experiences now and then,
including sudden demands upon my time; but never anything like this. I
stepped back into the hall, closing the door to, but leaving it ajar;
then I switched on the electric light. The letter was directed in a
strange hand, a woman’s. It began at once without “dear sir” or any
such address:
“You said you would like to help me if I needed it; and I believe you
meant what you said. The time has come sooner than I expected. I am
in dreadful trouble, and do not know where to turn, or to whom to
apply. An attempt has, I fear, been made to murder my Father; though,
thank God, he still lives. But he is quite unconscious. The doctors
and police have been sent for; but there is no one here whom I can
depend on. Come at once if you are able to; and forgive me if you can.
I suppose I shall realise later what I have done in asking such a
favour; but at present I cannot think. Come! Come at once! MARGARET
TRELAWNY.”
Pain and exultation struggled in my mind as I read; but the mastering
thought was that she was in trouble and had called on me—me! My
dreaming of her, then, was not altogether without a cause. I called
out to the groom:
“Wait! I shall be with you in a minute!” Then I flew upstairs.
A very few minutes sufficed to wash and dress; and we were soon driving
through the streets as fast as the horses could go. It was market
morning, and when we got out on Piccadilly there was an endless stream
of carts coming from the west; but for the rest the roadway was clear,
and we went quickly. I had told the groom to come into the brougham
with me so that he could tell me what had happened as we went along.
He sat awkwardly, with his hat on his knees as he spoke.
“Miss Trelawny, sir, sent a man to tell us to get out a carriage at
once; and when we was ready she come herself and gave me the letter and
told Morgan—the coachman, sir—to fly. She said as I was to lose not
a second, but to keep knocking till someone come.”
“Yes, I know, I know—you told me! What I want to know is, why she
sent for me. What happened in the house?”
“I don’t quite know myself, sir; except that master was found in his
room senseless, with the sheets all bloody, and a wound on his head. He
couldn’t be waked nohow. Twas Miss Trelawny herself as found him.”
“How did she come to find him at such an hour? It was late in the
night, I suppose?”
“I don’t know, sir; I didn’t hear nothing at all of the details.”
As he could tell me no more, I stopped the carriage for a moment to let
him get out on the box; then I turned the matter over in my mind as I
sat alone. There were many things which I could have asked the
servant; and for a few moments after he had gone I was angry with
myself for not having used my opportunity. On second thought, however,
I was glad the temptation was gone. I felt that it would be more
delicate to learn what I wanted to know of Miss Trelawny’s surroundings
from herself, rather than from her servants.
We bowled swiftly along Knightsbridge, the small noise of our
well-appointed vehicle sounding hollowly in the morning air. We turned
up the Kensington Palace Road and presently stopped opposite a great
house on the left-hand side, nearer, so far as I could judge, the
Notting Hill than the Kensington end of the avenue. It was a truly
fine house, not only with regard to size but to architecture. Even in
the dim grey light of the morning, which tends to diminish the size of
things, it looked big.
Miss Trelawny met me in the hall. She was not in any way shy. She
seemed to rule all around her with a sort of high-bred dominance, all
the more remarkable as she was greatly agitated and as pale as snow.
In the great hall were several servants, the men standing together near
the hall door, and the women clinging together in the further corners
and doorways. A police superintendent had been talking to Miss
Trelawny; two men in uniform and one plain-clothes man stood near him.
As she took my hand impulsively there was a look of relief in her eyes,
and she gave a gentle sigh of relief. Her salutation was simple.
“I knew you would come!”
The clasp of the hand can mean a great deal, even when it is not
intended to mean anything especially. Miss Trelawny’s hand somehow
became lost in my own. It was not that it was a small hand; it was
fine and flexible, with long delicate fingers—a rare and beautiful
hand; it was the unconscious self-surrender. And though at the moment
I could not dwell on the cause of the thrill which swept me, it came
back to me later.
She turned and said to the police superintendent:
“This is Mr. Malcolm Ross.” The police officer saluted as he answered:
“I know Mr. Malcolm Ross, miss. Perhaps he will remember I had the
honour of working with him in the Brixton Coining case.” I had not at
first glance noticed who it was, my whole attention having been taken
with Miss Trelawny.
“Of course, Superintendent Dolan, I remember very well!” I said as we
shook hands. I could not but note that the acquaintanceship seemed a
relief to Miss Trelawny. There was a certain vague uneasiness in her
manner which took my attention; instinctively I felt that it would be
less embarrassing for her to speak with me alone. So I said to the
Superintendent:
“Perhaps it will be better if Miss Trelawny will see me alone for a few
minutes. You, of course, have already heard all she knows; and I shall
understand better how things are if I may ask some questions. I will
then talk the matter over with you if I may.”
“I shall be glad to be of what service I can, sir,” he answered
heartily.
Following Miss Trelawny, I moved over to a dainty room which opened
from the hall and looked out on the garden at the back of the house.
When we had entered and I had closed the door she said:
“I will thank you later for your goodness in coming to me in my
trouble; but at present you can best help me when you know the facts.”
“Go on,” I said. “Tell me all you know and spare no detail, however
trivial it may at the present time seem to be.” She went on at once:
“I was awakened by some sound; I do not know what. I only know that it
came through my sleep; for all at once I found myself awake, with my
heart beating wildly, listening anxiously for some sound from my
Father’s room. My room is next Father’s, and I can often hear him
moving about before I fall asleep. He works late at night, sometimes
very late indeed; so that when I wake early, as I do occasionally, or
in the grey of the dawn, I hear him still moving. I tried once to
remonstrate with him about staying up so late, as it cannot be good for
him; but I never ventured to repeat the experiment. You know how stern
and cold he can be—at least you may remember what I told you about
him; and when he is polite in this mood he is dreadful. When he is
angry I can bear it much better; but when he is slow and deliberate,
and the side of his mouth lifts up to show the sharp teeth, I think I
feel—well, I don’t know how! Last night I got up softly and stole to
the door, for I really feared to disturb him. There was not any noise
of moving, and no kind of cry at all; but there was a queer kind of
dragging sound, and a slow, heavy breathing. Oh! it was dreadful,
waiting there in the dark and the silence, and fearing—fearing I did
not know what!
“At last I took my courage a deux mains, and turning the handle as
softly as I could, I opened the door a tiny bit. It was quite dark
within; I could just see the outline of the windows. But in the
darkness the sound of breathing, becoming more distinct, was appalling.
As I listened, this continued; but there was no other sound. I pushed
the door open all at once. I was afraid to open it slowly; I felt as
if there might be some dreadful thing behind it ready to pounce out on
me! Then I switched on the electric light, and stepped into the room.
I looked first at the bed. The sheets were all crumpled up, so that I
knew Father had been in bed; but there was a great dark red patch in
the centre of the bed, and spreading to the edge of it, that made my
heart stand still. As I was gazing at it the sound of the breathing
came across the room, and my eyes followed to it. There was Father on
his right side with the other arm under him, just as if his dead body
had been thrown there all in a heap. The track of blood went across
the room up to the bed, and there was a pool all around him which
looked terribly red and glittering as I bent over to examine him. The
place where he lay was right in front of the big safe. He was in his
pyjamas. The left sleeve was torn, showing his bare arm, and stretched
out toward the safe. It looked—oh! so terrible, patched all with
blood, and with the flesh torn or cut all around a gold chain bangle on
his wrist. I did not know he wore such a thing, and it seemed to give
me a new shock of surprise.”
She paused a moment; and as I wished to relieve her by a moment’s
divergence of thought, I said:
“Oh, that need not surprise you. You will see the most unlikely men
wearing bangles. I have seen a judge condemn a man to death, and the
wrist of the hand he held up had a gold bangle.” She did not seem to
heed much the words or the idea; the pause, however, relieved her
somewhat, and she went on in a steadier voice:
“I did not lose a moment in summoning aid, for I feared he might bleed
to death. I rang the bell, and then went out and called for help as
loudly as I could. In what must have been a very short time—though it
seemed an incredibly long one to me—some of the servants came running
up; and then others, till the room seemed full of staring eyes, and
dishevelled hair, and night clothes of all sorts.
“We lifted Father on a sofa; and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grant, who
seemed to have her wits about her more than any of us, began to look
where the flow of blood came from. In a few seconds it became apparent
that it came from the arm which was bare. There was a deep wound—not
clean-cut as with a knife, but like a jagged rent or tear—close to the
wrist, which seemed to have cut into the vein. Mrs. Grant tied a
handkerchief round the cut, and screwed it up tight with a silver
paper-cutter; and the flow of blood seemed to be checked at once. By
this time I had come to my senses—or such of them as remained; and I
sent off one man for the doctor and another for the police. When they
had gone, I felt that, except for the servants, I was all alone in the
house, and that I knew nothing—of my Father or anything else; and a
great longing came to me to have someone with me who could help me.
Then I thought of you and your kind offer in the boat under the
willow-tree; and, without waiting to think, I told the men to get a
carriage ready at once, and I scribbled a note and sent it on to you.”
She paused. I did not like to say just then anything of how I felt. I
looked at her; I think she understood, for her eyes were raised to mine
for a moment and then fell, leaving her cheeks as red as peony roses.
With a manifest effort she went on with her story:
“The Doctor was with us in an incredibly short time. The groom had met
him letting himself into his house with his latchkey, and he came here
running. He made a proper tourniquet for poor Father’s arm, and then
went home to get some appliances. I dare say he will be back almost
immediately. Then a policeman came, and sent a message to the station;
and very soon the Superintendent was here. Then you came.”
There was a long pause, and I ventured to take her hand for an instant.
Without a word more we opened the door, and joined the Superintendent
in the hall. He hurried up to us, saying as he came:
“I have been examining everything myself, and have sent off a message
to Scotland Yard. You see, Mr. Ross, there seemed so much that was odd
about the case that I thought we had better have the best man of the
Criminal Investigation Department that we could get. So I sent a note
asking to have Sergeant Daw sent at once. You remember him, sir, in
that American poisoning case at Hoxton.”
“Oh yes,” I said, “I remember him well; in that and other cases, for I
have benefited several times by his skill and acumen. He has a mind
that works as truly as any that I know. When I have been for the
defence, and believed my man was innocent, I was glad to have him
against us!”
“That is high praise, sir!” said the Superintendent gratified: “I am
glad you approve of my choice; that I did well in sending for him.”
I answered heartily:
“Could not be better. I do not doubt that between you we shall get at
the facts—and what lies behind them!”
We ascended to Mr. Trelawny’s room, where we found everything exactly
as his daughter had described.
There came a ring at the house bell, and a minute later a man was shown
into the room. A young man with aquiline features, keen grey eyes, and
a forehead that stood out square and broad as that of a thinker. In
his hand he had a black bag which he at once opened. Miss Trelawny
introduced us: “Doctor Winchester, Mr. Ross, Superintendent Dolan.”
We bowed mutually, and he, without a moment’s delay, began his work.
We all waited, and eagerly watched him as he proceeded to dress the
wound. As he went on he turned now and again to call the
Superintendent’s attention to some point about the wound, the latter
proceeding to enter the fact at once in his notebook.
“See! several parallel cuts or scratches beginning on the left side of
the wrist and in some places endangering the radial artery.
“These small wounds here, deep and jagged, seem as if made with a blunt
instrument. This in particular would seem as if made with some kind of
sharp wedge; the flesh round it seems torn as if with lateral pressure.”
Turning to Miss Trelawny he said presently:
“Do you think we might remove this bangle? It is not absolutely
necessary, as it will fall lower on the wrist where it can hang
loosely; but it might add to the patient’s comfort later on.” The poor
girl flushed deeply as she answered in a low voice:
“I do not know. I—I have only recently come to live with my Father;
and I know so little of his life or his ideas that I fear I can hardly
judge in such a matter. The Doctor, after a keen glance at her, said
in a very kindly way:
“Forgive me! I did not know. But in any case you need not be
distressed. It is not required at present to move it. Were it so I
should do so at once on my own responsibility. If it be necessary
later on, we can easily remove it with a file. Your Father doubtless
has some object in keeping it as it is. See! there is a tiny key
attached to it....” As he was speaking he stopped and bent lower,
taking from my hand the candle which I held and lowering it till its
light fell on the bangle. Then motioning me to hold the candle in the
same position, he took from his pocket a magnifying-glass which he
adjusted. When he had made a careful examination he stood up and
handed the magnifying-glass to Dolan, saying as he did so:
“You had better examine it yourself. That is no ordinary bangle. The
gold is wrought over triple steel links; see where it is worn away. It
is manifestly not meant to be removed lightly; and it would need more
than an ordinary file to do it.”
The Superintendent bent his great body; but not getting close enough
that way knelt down by the sofa as the Doctor had done. He examined
the bangle minutely, turning it slowly round so that no particle of it
escaped observation. Then he stood up and handed the magnifying-glass
to me. “When you have examined it yourself,” he said, “let the lady
look at it if she will,” and he commenced to write at length in his
notebook.
I made a simple alteration in his suggestion. I held out the glass
toward Miss Trelawny, saying:
“Had you not better examine it first?” She drew back, slightly raising
her hand in disclaimer, as she said impulsively:
“Oh no! Father would doubtless have shown it to me had he wished me to
see it. I would not like to without his consent.” Then she added,
doubtless fearing lest her delicacy of view should give offence to the
rest of us:
“Of course it is right that you should see it. You have to examine and
consider everything; and indeed—indeed I am grateful to you...”
She turned away; I could see that she was crying quietly. It was
evident to me that even in the midst of her trouble and anxiety there
was a chagrin that she knew so little of her father; and that her
ignorance had to be shown at such a time and amongst so many strangers.
That they were all men did not make the shame more easy to bear, though
there was a certain relief in it. Trying to interpret her feelings I
could not but think that she must have been glad that no woman’s
eyes—of understanding greater than man’s—were upon her in that hour.
When I stood up from my examination, which verified to me that of the
Doctor, the latter resumed his place beside the couch and went on with
his ministrations. Superintendent Dolan said to me in a whisper:
“I think we are fortunate in our doctor!” I nodded, and was about to
add something in praise of his acumen, when there came a low tapping at
the door.
Chapter II
Strange Instructions
Superintendent Dolan went quietly to the door; by a sort of natural
understanding he had taken possession of affairs in the room. The rest
of us waited. He opened the door a little way; and then with a gesture
of manifest relief threw it wide, and a young man stepped in. A young
man clean-shaven, tall and slight; with an eagle face and bright, quick
eyes that seemed to take in everything around him at a glance. As he
came in, the Superintendent held out his hand; the two men shook hands
warmly.
“I came at once, sir, the moment I got your message. I am glad I still
have your confidence.”
“That you’ll always have,” said the Superintendent heartily. “I have
not forgotten our old Bow Street days, and I never shall!” Then,
without a word of preliminary, he began to tell everything he knew up
to the moment of the newcomer’s entry. Sergeant Daw asked a few
questions—a very few—when it was necessary for his understanding of
circumstances or the relative positions of persons; but as a rule
Dolan, who knew his work thoroughly, forestalled every query, and
explained all necessary matters as he went on. Sergeant Daw threw
occasionally swift glances round him; now at one of us; now at the room
or some part of it; now at the wounded man lying senseless on the sofa.
When the Superintendent had finished, the Sergeant turned to me and
said:
“Perhaps you remember me, sir. I was with you in that Hoxton case.”
“I remember you very well,” I said as I held out my hand. The
Superintendent spoke again:
“You understand, Sergeant Daw, that you are put in full charge of this
case.”
“Under you I hope, sir,” he interrupted. The other shook his head and
smiled as he said:
“It seems to me that this is a case that will take all a man’s time and
his brains. I have other work to do; but I shall be more than
interested, and if I can help in any possible way I shall be glad to do
so!”
“All right, sir,” said the other, accepting his responsibility with a
sort of modified salute; straightway he began his investigation.
First he came over to the Doctor and, having learned his name and
address, asked him to write a full report which he could use, and which
he could refer to headquarters if necessary. Doctor Winchester bowed
gravely as he promised. Then the Sergeant approached me and said sotto
voce:
“I like the look of your doctor. I think we can work together!”
Turning to Miss Trelawny he asked:
“Please let me know what you can of your Father; his ways of life, his
history—in fact of anything of whatsoever kind which interests him, or
in which he may be concerned.” I was about to interrupt to tell him
what she had already said of her ignorance in all matters of her father
and his ways, but her warning hand was raised to me pointedly and she
spoke herself.
“Alas! I know little or nothing. Superintendent Dolan and Mr. Ross
know already all I can say.”
“Well, ma’am, we must be content to do what we can,” said the officer
genially. “I’ll begin by making a minute examination. You say that you
were outside the door when you heard the noise?”
“I was in my room when I heard the queer sound—indeed it must have
been the early part of whatever it was which woke me. I came out of my
room at once. Father’s door was shut, and I could see the whole landing
and the upper slopes of the staircase. No one could have left by the
door unknown to me, if that is what you mean!”
“That is just what I do mean, miss. If every one who knows anything
will tell me as well as that, we shall soon get to the bottom of this.”
He then went over to the bed, looked at it carefully, and asked:
“Has the bed been touched?”
“Not to my knowledge,” said Miss Trelawny, “but I shall ask Mrs.
Grant—the housekeeper,” she added as she rang the bell. Mrs. Grant
answered it in person. “Come in,” said Miss Trelawny. “These gentlemen
want to know, Mrs. Grant, if the bed has been touched.”
“Not by me, ma’am.”
“Then,” said Miss Trelawny, turning to Sergeant Daw, “it cannot have
been touched by any one. Either Mrs. Grant or I myself was here all
the time, and I do not think any of the servants who came when I gave
the alarm were near the bed at all. You see, Father lay here just
under the great safe, and every one crowded round him. We sent them
all away in a very short time.” Daw, with a motion of his hand, asked
us all to stay at the other side of the room whilst with a
magnifying-glass he examined the bed, taking care as he moved each fold
of the bedclothes to replace it in exact position. Then he examined
with his magnifying-glass the floor beside it, taking especial pains
where the blood had trickled over the side of the bed, which was of
heavy red wood handsomely carved. Inch by inch, down on his knees,
carefully avoiding any touch with the stains on the floor, he followed
the blood-marks over to the spot, close under the great safe, where the
body had lain. All around and about this spot he went for a radius of
some yards; but seemingly did not meet with anything to arrest special
attention. Then he examined the front of the safe; round the lock, and
along the bottom and top of the double doors, more especially at the
places of their touching in front.
Next he went to the windows, which were fastened down with the hasps.
“Were the shutters closed?” he asked Miss Trelawny in a casual way as
though he expected the negative answer, which came.
All this time Doctor Winchester was attending to his patient; now
dressing the wounds in the wrist or making minute examination all over
the head and throat, and over the heart. More than once he put his
nose to the mouth of the senseless man and sniffed. Each time he did
so he finished up by unconsciously looking round the room, as though in
search of something.
Then we heard the deep strong voice of the Detective:
“So far as I can see, the object was to bring that key to the lock of
the safe. There seems to be some secret in the mechanism that I am
unable to guess at, though I served a year in Chubb’s before I joined
the police. It is a combination lock of seven letters; but there seems
to be a way of locking even the combination. It is one of Chatwood’s;
I shall call at their place and find out something about it.” Then
turning to the Doctor, as though his own work were for the present
done, he said:
“Have you anything you can tell me at once, Doctor, which will not
interfere with your full report? If there is any doubt I can wait, but
the sooner I know something definite the better.” Doctor Winchester
answered at once:
“For my own part I see no reason in waiting. I shall make a full
report of course. But in the meantime I shall tell you all I
know—which is after all not very much, and all I think—which is less
definite. There is no wound on the head which could account for the
state of stupor in which the patient continues. I must, therefore,
take it that either he has been drugged or is under some hypnotic
influence. So far as I can judge, he has not been drugged—at least by
means of any drug of whose qualities I am aware. Of course, there is
ordinarily in this room so much of a mummy smell that it is difficult
to be certain about anything having a delicate aroma. I dare say that
you have noticed the peculiar Egyptian scents, bitumen, nard, aromatic
gums and spices, and so forth. It is quite possible that somewhere in
this room, amongst the curios and hidden by stronger scents, is some
substance or liquid which may have the effect we see. It is possible
that the patient has taken some drug, and that he may in some sleeping
phase have injured himself. I do not think this is likely; and
circumstances, other than those which I have myself been investigating,
may prove that this surmise is not correct. But in the meantime it is
possible; and must, till it be disproved, be kept within our purview.”
Here Sergeant Daw interrupted:
“That may be, but if so, we should be able to find the instrument with
which the wrist was injured. There would be marks of blood somewhere.”
“Exactly so!” said the Doctor, fixing his glasses as though preparing
for an argument. “But if it be that the patient has used some strange
drug, it may be one that does not take effect at once. As we are as
yet ignorant of its potentialities—if, indeed, the whole surmise is
correct at all—we must be prepared at all points.”
Here Miss Trelawny joined in the conversation:
“That would be quite right, so far as the action of the drug was
concerned; but according to the second part of your surmise the wound
may have been self-inflicted, and this after the drug had taken effect.”
“True!” said the Detective and the Doctor simultaneously. She went on:
“As however, Doctor, your guess does not exhaust the possibilities, we
must bear in mind that some other variant of the same root-idea may be
correct. I take it, therefore, that our first search, to be made on
this assumption, must be for the weapon with which the injury was done
to my Father’s wrist.”
“Perhaps he put the weapon in the safe before he became quite
unconscious,” said I, giving voice foolishly to a half-formed thought.
“That could not be,” said the Doctor quickly. “At least I think it
could hardly be,” he added cautiously, with a brief bow to me. “You
see, the left hand is covered with blood; but there is no blood mark
whatever on the safe.”
“Quite right!” I said, and there was a long pause.
The first to break the silence was the Doctor.
“We shall want a nurse here as soon as possible; and I know the very
one to suit. I shall go at once to get her if I can. I must ask that
till I return some of you will remain constantly with the patient. It
may be necessary to remove him to another room later on; but in the
meantime he is best left here. Miss Trelawny, may I take it that
either you or Mrs. Grant will remain here—not merely in the room, but
close to the patient and watchful of him—till I return?”
She bowed in reply, and took a seat beside the sofa. The Doctor gave
her some directions as to what she should do in case her father should
become conscious before his return.
The next to move was Superintendent Dolan, who came close to Sergeant
Daw as he said:
“I had better return now to the station—unless, of course, you should
wish me to remain for a while.”
He answered, “Is Johnny Wright still in your division?”
“Yes! Would you like him to be with you?” The other nodded reply.
“Then I will send him on to you as soon as can be arranged. He shall
then stay with you as long as you wish. I will tell him that he is to
take his instructions entirely from you.”
The Sergeant accompanied him to the door, saying as he went:
“Thank you, sir; you are always thoughtful for men who are working with
you. It is a pleasure to me to be with you again. I shall go back to
Scotland Yard and report to my chief. Then I shall call at Chatwood’s;
and I shall return here as soon as possible. I suppose I may take it,
miss, that I may put up here for a day or two, if required. It may be
some help, or possibly some comfort to you, if I am about, until we
unravel this mystery.”
“I shall be very grateful to you.” He looked keenly at her for a few
seconds before he spoke again.
“Before I go have I permission to look about your Father’s table and
desk? There might be something which would give us a clue—or a lead
at all events.” Her answer was so unequivocal as almost to surprise
him.
“You have the fullest possible permission to do anything which may help
us in this dreadful trouble—to discover what it is that is wrong with
my Father, or which may shield him in the future!”
He began at once a systematic search of the dressing-table, and after
that of the writing-table in the room. In one of the drawers he found
a letter sealed; this he brought at once across the room and handed to
Miss Trelawny.
“A letter—directed to me—and in my Father’s hand!” she said as she
eagerly opened it. I watched her face as she began to read; but seeing
at once that Sergeant Daw kept his keen eyes on her face, unflinchingly
watching every flitting expression, I kept my eyes henceforth fixed on
his. When Miss Trelawny had read her letter through, I had in my mind
a conviction, which, however, I kept locked in my own heart. Amongst
the suspicions in the mind of the Detective was one, rather perhaps
potential than definite, of Miss Trelawny herself.
For several minutes Miss Trelawny held the letter in her hand with her
eyes downcast, thinking. Then she read it carefully again; this time
the varying expressions were intensified, and I thought I could easily
follow them. When she had finished the second reading, she paused
again. Then, though with some reluctance, she handed the letter to the
Detective. He read it eagerly but with unchanging face; read it a
second time, and then handed it back with a bow. She paused a little
again, and then handed it to me. As she did so she raised her eyes to
mine for a single moment appealingly; a swift blush spread over her
pale cheeks and forehead.
With mingled feelings I took it, but, all said, I was glad. She did
not show any perturbation in giving the letter to the Detective—she
might not have shown any to anyone else. But to me.... I feared to
follow the thought further; but read on, conscious that the eyes of
both Miss Trelawny and the Detective were fixed on me.
“MY DEAR DAUGHTER, I want you to take this letter as an
instruction—absolute and imperative, and admitting of no deviation
whatever—in case anything untoward or unexpected by you or by others
should happen to me. If I should be suddenly and mysteriously stricken
down—either by sickness, accident or attack—you must follow these
directions implicitly. If I am not already in my bedroom when you are
made cognisant of my state, I am to be brought there as quickly as
possible. Even should I be dead, my body is to be brought there.
Thenceforth, until I am either conscious and able to give instructions
on my own account, or buried, I am never to be left alone—not for a
single instant. From nightfall to sunrise at least two persons must
remain in the room. It will be well that a trained nurse be in the
room from time to time, and will note any symptoms, either permanent or
changing, which may strike her. My solicitors, Marvin & Jewkes, of 27B
Lincoln’s Inn, have full instructions in case of my death; and Mr.
Marvin has himself undertaken to see personally my wishes carried out.
I should advise you, my dear Daughter, seeing that you have no relative
to apply to, to get some friend whom you can trust to either remain
within the house where instant communication can be made, or to come
nightly to aid in the watching, or to be within call. Such friend may
be either male or female; but, whichever it may be, there should be
added one other watcher or attendant at hand of the opposite sex.
Understand, that it is of the very essence of my wish that there should
be, awake and exercising themselves to my purposes, both masculine and
feminine intelligences. Once more, my dear Margaret, let me impress on
you the need for observation and just reasoning to conclusions,
howsoever strange. If I am taken ill or injured, this will be no
ordinary occasion; and I wish to warn you, so that your guarding may be
complete.
“Nothing in my room—I speak of the curios—must be removed or
displaced in any way, or for any cause whatever. I have a special
reason and a special purpose in the placing of each; so that any moving
of them would thwart my plans.
“Should you want money or counsel in anything, Mr. Marvin will carry
out your wishes; to the which he has my full instructions.”
“ABEL TRELAWNY.”
I read the letter a second time before speaking, for I feared to betray
myself. The choice of a friend might be a momentous occasion for me.
I had already ground for hope, that she had asked me to help her in the
first throe of her trouble; but love makes its own doubtings, and I
feared. My thoughts seemed to whirl with lightning rapidity, and in a
few seconds a whole process of reasoning became formulated. I must not
volunteer to be the friend that the father advised his daughter to have
to aid her in her vigil; and yet that one glance had a lesson which I
must not ignore. Also, did not she, when she wanted help, send to
me—to me a stranger, except for one meeting at a dance and one brief
afternoon of companionship on the river? Would it not humiliate her to
make her ask me twice? Humiliate her! No! that pain I could at all
events save her; it is not humiliation to refuse. So, as I handed her
back the letter, I said:
“I know you will forgive me, Miss Trelawny, if I presume too much; but
if you will permit me to aid in the watching I shall be proud. Though
the occasion is a sad one, I shall be so far happy to be allowed the
privilege.”
Despite her manifest and painful effort at self-control, the red tide
swept her face and neck. Even her eyes seemed suffused, and in stern
contrast with her pale cheeks when the tide had rolled back. She
answered in a low voice:
“I shall be very grateful for your help!” Then in an afterthought she
added:
“But you must not let me be selfish in my need! I know you have many
duties to engage you; and though I shall value your help highly—most
highly—it would not be fair to monopolise your time.”
“As to that,” I answered at once, “my time is yours. I can for today
easily arrange my work so that I can come here in the afternoon and
stay till morning. After that, if the occasion still demands it, I can
so arrange my work that I shall have more time still at my disposal.”
She was much moved. I could see the tears gather in her eyes, and she
turned away her head. The Detective spoke:
“I am glad you will be here, Mr. Ross. I shall be in the house myself,
as Miss Trelawny will allow me, if my people in Scotland Yard will
permit. That letter seems to put a different complexion on everything;
though the mystery remains greater than ever. If you can wait here an
hour or two I shall go to headquarters, and then to the safe-makers.
After that I shall return; and you can go away easier in your mind, for
I shall be here.”
When he had gone, we two, Miss Trelawny and I, remained in silence. At
last she raised her eyes and looked at me for a moment; after that I
would not have exchanged places with a king. For a while she busied
herself round the extemporised bedside of her father. Then, asking me
to be sure not to take my eyes off him till she returned, she hurried
out.
In a few minutes she came back with Mrs. Grant and two maids and a
couple of men, who bore the entire frame and furniture of a light iron
bed. This they proceeded to put together and to make. When the work
was completed, and the servants had withdrawn, she said to me:
“It will be well to be all ready when the Doctor returns. He will
surely want to have Father put to bed; and a proper bed will be better
for him than the sofa.” She then got a chair close beside her father,
and sat down watching him.
I went about the room, taking accurate note of all I saw. And truly
there were enough things in the room to evoke the curiosity of any
man—even though the attendant circumstances were less strange. The
whole place, excepting those articles of furniture necessary to a
well-furnished bedroom, was filled with magnificent curios, chiefly
Egyptian. As the room was of immense size there was opportunity for the
placing of a large number of them, even if, as with these, they were of
huge proportions.
Whilst I was still investigating the room there came the sound of
wheels on the gravel outside the house. There was a ring at the hall
door, and a few minutes later, after a preliminary tap at the door and
an answering “Come in!” Doctor Winchester entered, followed by a young
woman in the dark dress of a nurse.
“I have been fortunate!” he said as he came in. “I found her at once
and free. Miss Trelawny, this is Nurse Kennedy!”
Chapter III
The Watchers
I was struck by the way the two young women looked at each other. I
suppose I have been so much in the habit of weighing up in my own mind
the personality of witnesses and of forming judgment by their
unconscious action and mode of bearing themselves, that the habit
extends to my life outside as well as within the court-house. At this
moment of my life anything that interested Miss Trelawny interested me;
and as she had been struck by the newcomer I instinctively weighed her
up also. By comparison of the two I seemed somehow to gain a new
knowledge of Miss Trelawny. Certainly, the two women made a good
contrast. Miss Trelawny was of fine figure; dark, straight-featured.
She had marvellous eyes; great, wide-open, and as black and soft as
velvet, with a mysterious depth. To look in them was like gazing at a
black mirror such as Doctor Dee used in his wizard rites. I heard an
old gentleman at the picnic, a great oriental traveller, describe the
effect of her eyes “as looking at night at the great distant lamps of a
mosque through the open door.” The eyebrows were typical. Finely
arched and rich in long curling hair, they seemed like the proper
architectural environment of the deep, splendid eyes. Her hair was
black also, but was as fine as silk. Generally black hair is a type of
animal strength and seems as if some strong expression of the forces of
a strong nature; but in this case there could be no such thought.
There were refinement and high breeding; and though there was no
suggestion of weakness, any sense of power there was, was rather
spiritual than animal. The whole harmony of her being seemed complete.
Carriage, figure, hair, eyes; the mobile, full mouth, whose scarlet
lips and white teeth seemed to light up the lower part of the face—as
the eyes did the upper; the wide sweep of the jaw from chin to ear; the
long, fine fingers; the hand which seemed to move from the wrist as
though it had a sentience of its own. All these perfections went to
make up a personality that dominated either by its grace, its
sweetness, its beauty, or its charm.
Nurse Kennedy, on the other hand, was rather under than over a woman’s
average height. She was firm and thickset, with full limbs and broad,
strong, capable hands. Her colour was in the general effect that of an
autumn leaf. The yellow-brown hair was thick and long, and the
golden-brown eyes sparkled from the freckled, sunburnt skin. Her rosy
cheeks gave a general idea of rich brown. The red lips and white teeth
did not alter the colour scheme, but only emphasized it. She had a
snub nose—there was no possible doubt about it; but like such noses in
general it showed a nature generous, untiring, and full of good-nature.
Her broad white forehead, which even the freckles had spared, was full
of forceful thought and reason.
Doctor Winchester had on their journey from the hospital, coached her
in the necessary particulars, and without a word she took charge of the
patient and set to work. Having examined the new-made bed and shaken
the pillows, she spoke to the Doctor, who gave instructions; presently
we all four, stepping together, lifted the unconscious man from the
sofa.
Early in the afternoon, when Sergeant Daw had returned, I called at my
rooms in Jermyn Street, and sent out such clothes, books and papers as
I should be likely to want within a few days. Then I went on to keep
my legal engagements.
The Court sat late that day as an important case was ending; it was
striking six as I drove in at the gate of the Kensington Palace Road.
I found myself installed in a large room close to the sick chamber.
That night we were not yet regularly organised for watching, so that
the early part of the evening showed an unevenly balanced guard. Nurse
Kennedy, who had been on duty all day, was lying down, as she had
arranged to come on again by twelve o’clock. Doctor Winchester, who
was dining in the house, remained in the room until dinner was
announced; and went back at once when it was over. During dinner Mrs.
Grant remained in the room, and with her Sergeant Daw, who wished to
complete a minute examination which he had undertaken of everything in
the room and near it. At nine o’clock Miss Trelawny and I went in to
relieve the Doctor. She had lain down for a few hours in the afternoon
so as to be refreshed for her work at night. She told me that she had
determined that for this night at least she would sit up and watch. I
did not try to dissuade her, for I knew that her mind was made up.
Then and there I made up my mind that I would watch with her—unless,
of course, I should see that she really did not wish it. I said
nothing of my intentions for the present. We came in on tiptoe, so
silently that the Doctor, who was bending over the bed, did not hear
us, and seemed a little startled when suddenly looking up he saw our
eyes upon him. I felt that the mystery of the whole thing was getting
on his nerves, as it had already got on the nerves of some others of
us. He was, I fancied, a little annoyed with himself for having been
so startled, and at once began to talk in a hurried manner as though to
get over our idea of his embarrassment:
“I am really and absolutely at my wits’ end to find any fit cause for
this stupor. I have made again as accurate an examination as I know
how, and I am satisfied that there is no injury to the brain, that is,
no external injury. Indeed, all his vital organs seem unimpaired. I
have given him, as you know, food several times and it has manifestly
done him good. His breathing is strong and regular, and his pulse is
slower and stronger than it was this morning. I cannot find evidence
of any known drug, and his unconsciousness does not resemble any of the
many cases of hypnotic sleep which I saw in the Charcot Hospital in
Paris. And as to these wounds”—he laid his finger gently on the
bandaged wrist which lay outside the coverlet as he spoke, “I do not
know what to make of them. They might have been made by a
carding-machine; but that supposition is untenable. It is within the
bounds of possibility that they might have been made by a wild animal
if it had taken care to sharpen its claws. That too is, I take it,
impossible. By the way, have you any strange pets here in the house;
anything of an exceptional kind, such as a tiger-cat or anything out of
the common?” Miss Trelawny smiled a sad smile which made my heart ache,
as she made answer:
“Oh no! Father does not like animals about the house, unless they are
dead and mummied.” This was said with a touch of bitterness—or
jealousy, I could hardly tell which. “Even my poor kitten was only
allowed in the house on sufferance; and though he is the dearest and
best-conducted cat in the world, he is now on a sort of parole, and is
not allowed into this room.”
As she was speaking a faint rattling of the door handle was heard.
Instantly Miss Trelawny’s face brightened. She sprang up and went over
to the door, saying as she went:
“There he is! That is my Silvio. He stands on his hind legs and
rattles the door handle when he wants to come into a room.” She opened
the door, speaking to the cat as though he were a baby: “Did him want
his movver? Come then; but he must stay with her!” She lifted the
cat, and came back with him in her arms. He was certainly a
magnificent animal. A chinchilla grey Persian with long silky hair; a
really lordly animal with a haughty bearing despite his gentleness; and
with great paws which spread out as he placed them on the ground.
Whilst she was fondling him, he suddenly gave a wriggle like an eel and
slipped out of her arms. He ran across the room and stood opposite a
low table on which stood the mummy of an animal, and began to mew and
snarl. Miss Trelawny was after him in an instant and lifted him in her
arms, kicking and struggling and wriggling to get away; but not biting
or scratching, for evidently he loved his beautiful mistress. He
ceased to make a noise the moment he was in her arms; in a whisper she
admonished him:
“O you naughty Silvio! You have broken your parole that mother gave
for you. Now, say goodnight to the gentlemen, and come away to
mother’s room!” As she was speaking she held out the cat’s paw to me
to shake. As I did so I could not but admire its size and beauty.
“Why,” said I, “his paw seems like a little boxing-glove full of
claws.” She smiled:
“So it ought to. Don’t you notice that my Silvio has seven toes, see!”
she opened the paw; and surely enough there were seven separate claws,
each of them sheathed in a delicate, fine, shell-like case. As I
gently stroked the foot the claws emerged and one of them
accidentally—there was no anger now and the cat was purring—stuck
into my hand. Instinctively I said as I drew back:
“Why, his claws are like razors!”
Doctor Winchester had come close to us and was bending over looking at
the cat’s claws; as I spoke he said in a quick, sharp way:
“Eh!” I could hear the quick intake of his breath. Whilst I was
stroking the now quiescent cat, the Doctor went to the table and tore
off a piece of blotting-paper from the writing-pad and came back. He
laid the paper on his palm and, with a simple “pardon me!” to Miss
Trelawny, placed the cat’s paw on it and pressed it down with his other
hand. The haughty cat seemed to resent somewhat the familiarity, and
tried to draw its foot away. This was plainly what the Doctor wanted,
for in the act the cat opened the sheaths of its claws and made
several reefs in the soft paper. Then Miss Trelawny took her pet away.
She returned in a couple of minutes; as she came in she said:
“It is most odd about that mummy! When Silvio came into the room
first—indeed I took him in as a kitten to show to Father—he went on
just the same way. He jumped up on the table, and tried to scratch and
bite the mummy. That was what made Father so angry, and brought the
decree of banishment on poor Silvio. Only his parole, given through
me, kept him in the house.”
Whilst she had been gone, Doctor Winchester had taken the bandage from
her father’s wrist. The wound was now quite clear, as the separate
cuts showed out in fierce red lines. The Doctor folded the
blotting-paper across the line of punctures made by the cat’s claws,
and held it down close to the wound. As he did so, he looked up
triumphantly and beckoned us over to him.
The cuts in the paper corresponded with the wounds in the wrist! No
explanation was needed, as he said:
“It would have been better if master Silvio had not broken his parole!”
We were all silent for a little while. Suddenly Miss Trelawny said:
“But Silvio was not in here last night!”
“Are you sure? Could you prove that if necessary?” She hesitated
before replying:
“I am certain of it; but I fear it would be difficult to prove. Silvio
sleeps in a basket in my room. I certainly put him to bed last night;
I remember distinctly laying his little blanket over him, and tucking
him in. This morning I took him out of the basket myself. I certainly
never noticed him in here; though, of course, that would not mean much,
for I was too concerned about poor father, and too much occupied with
him, to notice even Silvio.”
The Doctor shook his head as he said with a certain sadness:
“Well, at any rate it is no use trying to prove anything now. Any cat
in the world would have cleaned blood-marks—did any exist—from his
paws in a hundredth part of the time that has elapsed.”
Again we were all silent; and again the silence was broken by Miss
Trelawny:
“But now that I think of it, it could not have been poor Silvio that
injured Father. My door was shut when I first heard the sound; and
Father’s was shut when I listened at it. When I went in, the injury
had been done; so that it must have been before Silvio could possibly
have got in.” This reasoning commended itself, especially to me as a
barrister, for it was proof to satisfy a jury. It gave me a distinct
pleasure to have Silvio acquitted of the crime—possibly because he was
Miss Trelawny’s cat and was loved by her. Happy cat! Silvio’s
mistress was manifestly pleased as I said:
“Verdict, ‘not guilty!’” Doctor Winchester after a pause observed:
“My apologies to master Silvio on this occasion; but I am still puzzled
to know why he is so keen against that mummy. Is he the same toward
the other mummies in the house? There are, I suppose, a lot of them.
I saw three in the hall as I came in.”
“There are lots of them,” she answered. “I sometimes don’t know
whether I am in a private house or the British Museum. But Silvio
never concerns himself about any of them except that particular one. I
suppose it must be because it is of an animal, not a man or a woman.”
“Perhaps it is of a cat!” said the Doctor as he started up and went
across the room to look at the mummy more closely. “Yes,” he went on,
“it is the mummy of a cat; and a very fine one, too. If it hadn’t been
a special favourite of some very special person it would never have
received so much honour. See! A painted case and obsidian eyes—just
like a human mummy. It is an extraordinary thing, that knowledge of
kind to kind. Here is a dead cat—that is all; it is perhaps four or
five thousand years old—and another cat of another breed, in what is
practically another world, is ready to fly at it, just as it would if
it were not dead. I should like to experiment a bit about that cat if
you don’t mind, Miss Trelawny.” She hesitated before replying:
“Of course, do anything you may think necessary or wise; but I hope it
will not be anything to hurt or worry my poor Silvio.” The Doctor
smiled as he answered:
“Oh, Silvio would be all right: it is the other one that my sympathies
would be reserved for.”
“How do you mean?”
“Master Silvio will do the attacking; the other one will do the
suffering.”
“Suffering?” There was a note of pain in her voice. The Doctor smiled
more broadly:
“Oh, please make your mind easy as to that. The other won’t suffer as
we understand it; except perhaps in his structure and outfit.”
“What on earth do you mean?”
“Simply this, my dear young lady, that the antagonist will be a mummy
cat like this one. There are, I take it, plenty of them to be had in
Museum Street. I shall get one and place it here instead of that
one—you won’t think that a temporary exchange will violate your
Father’s instructions, I hope. We shall then find out, to begin with,
whether Silvio objects to all mummy cats, or only to this one in
particular.”
“I don’t know,” she said doubtfully. “Father’s instructions seem very
uncompromising.” Then after a pause she went on: “But of course under
the circumstances anything that is to be ultimately for his good must
be done. I suppose there can’t be anything very particular about the
mummy of a cat.”
Doctor Winchester said nothing. He sat rigid, with so grave a look on
his face that his extra gravity passed on to me; and in its
enlightening perturbation I began to realise more than I had yet done
the strangeness of the case in which I was now so deeply concerned.
When once this thought had begun there was no end to it. Indeed it
grew, and blossomed, and reproduced itself in a thousand different
ways. The room and all in it gave grounds for strange thoughts. There
were so many ancient relics that unconsciously one was taken back to
strange lands and strange times. There were so many mummies or mummy
objects, round which there seemed to cling for ever the penetrating
odours of bitumen, and spices and gums—“Nard and Circassia’s balmy
smells”—that one was unable to forget the past. Of course, there was
but little light in the room, and that carefully shaded; so that there
was no glare anywhere. None of that direct light which can manifest
itself as a power or an entity, and so make for companionship. The
room was a large one, and lofty in proportion to its size. In its
vastness was place for a multitude of things not often found in a
bedchamber. In far corners of the room were shadows of uncanny shape.
More than once as I thought, the multitudinous presence of the dead and
the past took such hold on me that I caught myself looking round
fearfully as though some strange personality or influence was present.
Even the manifest presence of Doctor Winchester and Miss Trelawny could
not altogether comfort or satisfy me at such moments. It was with a
distinct sense of relief that I saw a new personality in the room in
the shape of Nurse Kennedy. There was no doubt that that business-like,
self-reliant, capable young woman added an element of security to such
wild imaginings as my own. She had a quality of common sense that
seemed to pervade everything around her, as though it were some kind of
emanation. Up to that moment I had been building fancies around the
sick man; so that finally all about him, including myself, had become
involved in them, or enmeshed, or saturated, or.... But now that she had
come, he relapsed into his proper perspective as a patient; the room
was a sick-room, and the shadows lost their fearsome quality. The only
thing which it could not altogether abrogate was the strange Egyptian
smell. You may put a mummy in a glass case and hermetically seal it so
that no corroding air can get within; but all the same it will exhale
its odour. One might think that four or five thousand years would
exhaust the olfactory qualities of anything; but experience teaches us
that these smells remain, and that their secrets are unknown to us.
Today they are as much mysteries as they were when the embalmers put
the body in the bath of natron....
All at once I sat up. I had become lost in an absorbing reverie. The
Egyptian smell had seemed to get on my nerves—on my memory—on my very
will.
At that moment I had a thought which was like an inspiration. If I was
influenced in such a manner by the smell, might it not be that the sick
man, who lived half his life or more in the atmosphere, had gradually
and by slow but sure process taken into his system something which had
permeated him to such degree that it had a new power derived from
quantity—or strength—or....
I was becoming lost again in a reverie. This would not do. I must
take such precaution that I could remain awake, or free from such
entrancing thought. I had had but half a night’s sleep last night; and
this night I must remain awake. Without stating my intention, for I
feared that I might add to the trouble and uneasiness of Miss Trelawny,
I went downstairs and out of the house. I soon found a chemist’s shop,
and came away with a respirator. When I got back, it was ten o’clock;
the Doctor was going for the night. The Nurse came with him to the
door of the sick-room, taking her last instructions. Miss Trelawny sat
still beside the bed. Sergeant Daw, who had entered as the Doctor went
out, was some little distance off.
When Nurse Kennedy joined us, we arranged that she should sit up till
two o’clock, when Miss Trelawny would relieve her. Thus, in accordance
with Mr. Trelawny’s instructions, there would always be a man and a
woman in the room; and each one of us would overlap, so that at no time
would a new set of watchers come on duty without some one to tell of
what—if anything—had occurred. I lay down on a sofa in my own room,
having arranged that one of the servants should call me a little before
twelve. In a few moments I was asleep.
When I was waked, it took me several seconds to get back my thoughts so
as to recognise my own identity and surroundings. The short sleep had,
however, done me good, and I could look on things around me in a more
practical light than I had been able to do earlier in the evening. I
bathed my face, and thus refreshed went into the sick-room. I moved
very softly. The Nurse was sitting by the bed, quiet and alert; the
Detective sat in an arm-chair across the room in deep shadow. He did
not move when I crossed, until I got close to him, when he said in a
dull whisper:
“It is all right; I have not been asleep!” An unnecessary thing to
say, I thought—it always is, unless it be untrue in spirit. When I
told him that his watch was over; that he might go to bed till I should
call him at six o’clock, he seemed relieved and went with alacrity. At
the door he turned and, coming back to me, said in a whisper:
“I sleep lightly and I shall have my pistols with me. I won’t feel so
heavy-headed when I get out of this mummy smell.”
He too, then, had shared my experience of drowsiness!
I asked the Nurse if she wanted anything. I noticed that she had a
vinaigrette in her lap. Doubtless she, too, had felt some of the
influence which had so affected me. She said that she had all she
required, but that if she should want anything she would at once let me
know. I wished to keep her from noticing my respirator, so I went to
the chair in the shadow where her back was toward me. Here I quietly
put it on, and made myself comfortable.
For what seemed a long time, I sat and thought and thought. It was a
wild medley of thoughts, as might have been expected from the
experiences of the previous day and night. Again I found myself
thinking of the Egyptian smell; and I remember that I felt a delicious
satisfaction that I did not experience it as I had done. The
respirator was doing its work.
It must have been that the passing of this disturbing thought made for
repose of mind, which is the corollary of bodily rest, for, though I
really cannot remember being asleep or waking from it, I saw a
vision—I dreamed a dream, I scarcely know which.
I was still in the room, seated in the chair. I had on my respirator
and knew that I breathed freely. The Nurse sat in her chair with her
back toward me. She sat quite still. The sick man lay as still as the
dead. It was rather like the picture of a scene than the reality; all
were still and silent; and the stillness and silence were continuous.
Outside, in the distance I could hear the sounds of a city, the
occasional roll of wheels, the shout of a reveller, the far-away echo
of whistles and the rumbling of trains. The light was very, very low;
the reflection of it under the green-shaded lamp was a dim relief to
the darkness, rather than light. The green silk fringe of the lamp had
merely the colour of an emerald seen in the moonlight. The room, for
all its darkness, was full of shadows. It seemed in my whirling
thoughts as though all the real things had become shadows—shadows
which moved, for they passed the dim outline of the high windows.
Shadows which had sentience. I even thought there was sound, a faint
sound as of the mew of a cat—the rustle of drapery and a metallic
clink as of metal faintly touching metal. I sat as one entranced. At
last I felt, as in nightmare, that this was sleep, and that in the
passing of its portals all my will had gone.
All at once my senses were full awake. A shriek rang in my ears. The
room was filled suddenly with a blaze of light. There was the sound of
pistol shots—one, two; and a haze of white smoke in the room. When my
waking eyes regained their power, I could have shrieked with horror
myself at what I saw before me.
Chapter IV
The Second Attempt
The sight which met my eyes had the horror of a dream within a dream,
with the certainty of reality added. The room was as I had seen it
last; except that the shadowy look had gone in the glare of the many
lights, and every article in it stood stark and solidly real.
By the empty bed sat Nurse Kennedy, as my eyes had last seen her,
sitting bolt upright in the arm-chair beside the bed. She had placed a
pillow behind her, so that her back might be erect; but her neck was
fixed as that of one in a cataleptic trance. She was, to all intents
and purposes, turned into stone. There was no special expression on
her face—no fear, no horror; nothing such as might be expected of one
in such a condition. Her open eyes showed neither wonder nor interest.
She was simply a negative existence, warm, breathing, placid; but
absolutely unconscious of the world around her. The bedclothes were
disarranged, as though the patient had been drawn from under them
without throwing them back. The corner of the upper sheet hung upon
the floor; close by it lay one of the bandages with which the Doctor
had dressed the wounded wrist. Another and another lay further along
the floor, as though forming a clue to where the sick man now lay.
This was almost exactly where he had been found on the previous night,
under the great safe. Again, the left arm lay toward the safe. But
there had been a new outrage, an attempt had been made to sever the arm
close to the bangle which held the tiny key. A heavy “kukri”
knife—one of the leaf-shaped knives which the Gurkhas and others of
the hill tribes of India use with such effect—had been taken from its
place on the wall, and with it the attempt had been made. It was
manifest that just at the moment of striking, the blow had been
arrested, for only the point of the knife and not the edge of the blade
had struck the flesh. As it was, the outer side of the arm had been
cut to the bone and the blood was pouring out. In addition, the former
wound in front of the arm had been cut or torn about terribly, one of
the cuts seemed to jet out blood as if with each pulsation of the
heart. By the side of her father knelt Miss Trelawny, her white
nightdress stained with the blood in which she knelt. In the middle of
the room Sergeant Daw, in his shirt and trousers and stocking feet, was
putting fresh cartridges into his revolver in a dazed mechanical kind
of way. His eyes were red and heavy, and he seemed only half awake,
and less than half conscious of what was going on around him. Several
servants, bearing lights of various kinds, were clustered round the
doorway.
As I rose from my chair and came forward, Miss Trelawny raised her eyes
toward me. When she saw me she shrieked and started to her feet,
pointing towards me. Never shall I forget the strange picture she
made, with her white drapery all smeared with blood which, as she rose
from the pool, ran in streaks toward her bare feet. I believe that I
had only been asleep; that whatever influence had worked on Mr.
Trelawny and Nurse Kennedy—and in less degree on Sergeant Daw—had not
touched me. The respirator had been of some service, though it had not
kept off the tragedy whose dire evidences were before me. I can
understand now—I could understand even then—the fright, added to that
which had gone before, which my appearance must have evoked. I had
still on the respirator, which covered mouth and nose; my hair had been
tossed in my sleep. Coming suddenly forward, thus enwrapped and
dishevelled, in that horrified crowd, I must have had, in the strange
mixture of lights, an extraordinary and terrifying appearance. It was
well that I recognised all this in time to avert another catastrophe;
for the half-dazed, mechanically-acting Detective put in the cartridges
and had raised his revolver to shoot at me when I succeeded in
wrenching off the respirator and shouting to him to hold his hand. In
this also he acted mechanically; the red, half-awake eyes had not in
them even then the intention of conscious action. The danger, however,
was averted. The relief of the situation, strangely enough, came in a
simple fashion. Mrs. Grant, seeing that her young mistress had on only
her nightdress, had gone to fetch a dressing-gown, which she now threw
over her. This simple act brought us all back to the region of fact.
With a long breath, one and all seemed to devote themselves to the most
pressing matter before us, that of staunching the flow of blood from
the arm of the wounded man. Even as the thought of action came, I
rejoiced; for the bleeding was very proof that Mr. Trelawny still lived.
Last night’s lesson was not thrown away. More than one of those
present knew now what to do in such an emergency, and within a few
seconds willing hands were at work on a tourniquet. A man was at once
despatched for the doctor, and several of the servants disappeared to
make themselves respectable. We lifted Mr. Trelawny on to the sofa
where he had lain yesterday; and, having done what we could for him,
turned our attention to the Nurse. In all the turmoil she had not
stirred; she sat there as before, erect and rigid, breathing softly and
naturally and with a placid smile. As it was manifestly of no use to
attempt anything with her till the doctor had come, we began to think
of the general situation.
Mrs. Grant had by this time taken her mistress away and changed her
clothes; for she was back presently in a dressing-gown and slippers,
and with the traces of blood removed from her hands. She was now much
calmer, though she trembled sadly; and her face was ghastly white.
When she had looked at her father’s wrist, I holding the tourniquet,
she turned her eyes round the room, resting them now and again on each
one of us present in turn, but seeming to find no comfort. It was so
apparent to me that she did not know where to begin or whom to trust
that, to reassure her, I said:
“I am all right now; I was only asleep.” Her voice had a gulp in it as
she said in a low voice:
“Asleep! You! and my Father in danger! I thought you were on the
watch!” I felt the sting of justice in the reproach; but I really
wanted to help her, so I answered:
“Only asleep. It is bad enough, I know; but there is something more
than an “only” round us here. Had it not been that I took a definite
precaution I might have been like the Nurse there.” She turned her
eyes swiftly on the weird figure, sitting grimly upright like a painted
statue; and then her face softened. With the action of habitual
courtesy she said:
“Forgive me! I did not mean to be rude. But I am in such distress and
fear that I hardly know what I am saying. Oh, it is dreadful! I fear
for fresh trouble and horror and mystery every moment.” This cut me to
the very heart, and out of the heart’s fulness I spoke:
“Don’t give me a thought! I don’t deserve it. I was on guard, and yet
I slept. All that I can say is that I didn’t mean to, and I tried to
avoid it; but it was over me before I knew it. Anyhow, it is done now;
and can’t be undone. Probably some day we may understand it all; but
now let us try to get at some idea of what has happened. Tell me what
you remember!” The effort to recollect seemed to stimulate her; she
became calmer as she spoke:
“I was asleep, and woke suddenly with the same horrible feeling on me
that Father was in great and immediate danger. I jumped up and ran,
just as I was, into his room. It was nearly pitch dark, but as I
opened the door there was light enough to see Father’s nightdress as he
lay on the floor under the safe, just as on that first awful night.
Then I think I must have gone mad for a moment.” She stopped and
shuddered. My eyes lit on Sergeant Daw, still fiddling in an aimless
way with the revolver. Mindful of my work with the tourniquet, I said
calmly:
“Now tell us, Sergeant Daw, what did you fire at?” The policeman
seemed to pull himself together with the habit of obedience. Looking
around at the servants remaining in the room, he said with that air of
importance which, I take it, is the regulation attitude of an official
of the law before strangers:
“Don’t you think, sir, that we can allow the servants to go away? We
can then better go into the matter.” I nodded approval; the servants
took the hint and withdrew, though unwillingly, the last one closing
the door behind him. Then the Detective went on:
“I think I had better tell you my impressions, sir, rather than recount
my actions. That is, so far as I remember them.” There was a mortified
deference now in his manner, which probably arose from his
consciousness of the awkward position in which he found himself. “I
went to sleep half-dressed—as I am now, with a revolver under my
pillow. It was the last thing I remember thinking of. I do not know
how long I slept. I had turned off the electric light, and it was
quite dark. I thought I heard a scream; but I can’t be sure, for I
felt thick-headed as a man does when he is called too soon after an
extra long stretch of work. Not that such was the case this time.
Anyhow my thoughts flew to the pistol. I took it out, and ran on to
the landing. Then I heard a sort of scream, or rather a call for help,
and ran into this room. The room was dark, for the lamp beside the
Nurse was out, and the only light was that from the landing, coming
through the open door. Miss Trelawny was kneeling on the floor beside
her father, and was screaming. I thought I saw something move between
me and the window; so, without thinking, and being half dazed and only
half awake, I shot at it. It moved a little more to the right between
the windows, and I shot again. Then you came up out of the big chair
with all that muffling on your face. It seemed to me, being as I say
half dazed and half awake—I know, sir, you will take this into
account—as if it had been you, being in the same direction as the
thing I had fired at. And so I was about to fire again when you pulled
off the wrap.” Here I asked him—I was cross-examining now and felt at
home:
“You say you thought I was the thing you fired at. What thing?” The
man scratched his head, but made no reply.
“Come, sir,” I said, “what thing; what was it like?” The answer came
in a low voice:
“I don’t know, sir. I thought there was something; but what it was, or
what it was like, I haven’t the faintest notion. I suppose it was
because I had been thinking of the pistol before I went to sleep, and
because when I came in here I was half dazed and only half awake—which
I hope you will in future, sir, always remember.” He clung to that
formula of excuse as though it were his sheet-anchor. I did not want
to antagonise the man; on the contrary I wanted to have him with us.
Besides, I had on me at that time myself the shadow of my own default;
so I said as kindly as I knew how:
“Quite right! Sergeant. Your impulse was correct; though of course in
the half-somnolent condition in which you were, and perhaps partly
affected by the same influence—whatever it may be—which made me sleep
and which has put the Nurse in that cataleptic trance, it could not be
expected that you would pause to weigh matters. But now, whilst the
matter is fresh, let me see exactly where you stood and where I sat.
We shall be able to trace the course of your bullets.” The prospect of
action and the exercise of his habitual skill seemed to brace him at
once; he seemed a different man as he set about his work. I asked Mrs.
Grant to hold the tourniquet, and went and stood where he had stood and
looked where, in the darkness, he had pointed. I could not but notice
the mechanical exactness of his mind, as when he showed me where he had
stood, or drew, as a matter of course, the revolver from his pistol
pocket, and pointed with it. The chair from which I had risen still
stood in its place. Then I asked him to point with his hand only, as I
wished to move in the track of his shot.
Just behind my chair, and a little back of it, stood a high buhl
cabinet. The glass door was shattered. I asked:
“Was this the direction of your first shot or your second?” The answer
came promptly.
“The second; the first was over there!”
He turned a little to the left, more toward the wall where the great
safe stood, and pointed. I followed the direction of his hand and came
to the low table whereon rested, amongst other curios, the mummy of the
cat which had raised Silvio’s ire. I got a candle and easily found the
mark of the bullet. It had broken a little glass vase and a tazza of
black basalt, exquisitely engraved with hieroglyphics, the graven lines
being filled with some faint green cement and the whole thing being
polished to an equal surface. The bullet, flattened against the wall,
lay on the table.
I then went to the broken cabinet. It was evidently a receptacle for
valuable curios; for in it were some great scarabs of gold, agate,
green jasper, amethyst, lapis lazuli, opal, granite, and blue-green
china. None of these things happily were touched. The bullet had gone
through the back of the cabinet; but no other damage, save the
shattering of the glass, had been done. I could not but notice the
strange arrangement of the curios on the shelf of the cabinet. All the
scarabs, rings, amulets, &c. were arranged in an uneven oval round an
exquisitely-carved golden miniature figure of a hawk-headed God crowned
with a disk and plumes. I did not wait to look further at present, for
my attention was demanded by more pressing things; but I determined to
make a more minute examination when I should have time. It was evident
that some of the strange Egyptian smell clung to these old curios;
through the broken glass came an added whiff of spice and gum and
bitumen, almost stronger than those I had already noticed as coming
from others in the room.
All this had really taken but a few minutes. I was surprised when my
eye met, through the chinks between the dark window blinds and the
window cases, the brighter light of the coming dawn. When I went back
to the sofa and took the tourniquet from Mrs. Grant, she went over and
pulled up the blinds.
It would be hard to imagine anything more ghastly than the appearance
of the room with the faint grey light of early morning coming in upon
it. As the windows faced north, any light that came was a fixed grey
light without any of the rosy possibility of dawn which comes in the
eastern quarter of heaven. The electric lights seemed dull and yet
glaring; and every shadow was of a hard intensity. There was nothing
of morning freshness; nothing of the softness of night. All was hard
and cold and inexpressibly dreary. The face of the senseless man on
the sofa seemed of a ghastly yellow; and the Nurse’s face had taken a
suggestion of green from the shade of the lamp near her. Only Miss
Trelawny’s face looked white; and it was of a pallor which made my
heart ache. It looked as if nothing on God’s earth could ever again
bring back to it the colour of life and happiness.
It was a relief to us all when Doctor Winchester came in, breathless
with running. He only asked one question:
“Can anyone tell me anything of how this wound was gotten?” On seeing
the headshake which went round us under his glance, he said no more,
but applied himself to his surgical work. For an instant he looked up
at the Nurse sitting so still; but then bent himself to his task, a
grave frown contracting his brows. It was not till the arteries were
tied and the wounds completely dressed that he spoke again, except, of
course, when he had asked for anything to be handed to him or to be
done for him. When Mr. Trelawny’s wounds had been thoroughly cared
for, he said to Miss Trelawny:
“What about Nurse Kennedy?” She answered at once:
“I really do not know. I found her when I came into the room at
half-past two o’clock, sitting exactly as she does now. We have not
moved her, or changed her position. She has not wakened since. Even
Sergeant Daw’s pistol-shots did not disturb her.”
“Pistol-shots? Have you then discovered any cause for this new
outrage?” The rest were silent, so I answered:
“We have discovered nothing. I was in the room watching with the
Nurse. Earlier in the evening I fancied that the mummy smells were
making me drowsy, so I went out and got a respirator. I had it on when
I came on duty; but it did not keep me from going to sleep. I awoke to
see the room full of people; that is, Miss Trelawny and Sergeant Daw,
being only half awake and still stupefied by the same scent or
influence which had affected us, fancied that he saw something moving
through the shadowy darkness of the room, and fired twice. When I rose
out of my chair, with my face swathed in the respirator, he took me for
the cause of the trouble. Naturally enough, he was about to fire
again, when I was fortunately in time to manifest my identity. Mr.
Trelawny was lying beside the safe, just as he was found last night;
and was bleeding profusely from the new wound in his wrist. We lifted
him on the sofa, and made a tourniquet. That is, literally and
absolutely, all that any of us know as yet. We have not touched the
knife, which you see lies close by the pool of blood. Look!” I said,
going over and lifting it. “The point is red with the blood which has
dried.”
Doctor Winchester stood quite still a few minutes before speaking:
“Then the doings of this night are quite as mysterious as those of last
night?”
“Quite!” I answered. He said nothing in reply, but turning to Miss
Trelawny said:
“We had better take Nurse Kennedy into another room. I suppose there
is nothing to prevent it?”
“Nothing! Please, Mrs. Grant, see that Nurse Kennedy’s room is ready;
and ask two of the men to come and carry her in.” Mrs. Grant went out
immediately; and in a few minutes came back saying:
“The room is quite ready; and the men are here.” By her direction two
footmen came into the room and, lifting up the rigid body of Nurse
Kennedy under the supervision of the Doctor, carried her out of the
room. Miss Trelawny remained with me in the sick chamber, and Mrs.
Grant went with the Doctor into the Nurse’s room.
When we were alone Miss Trelawny came over to me, and taking both my
hands in hers, said:
“I hope you won’t remember what I said. I did not mean it, and I was
distraught.” I did not make reply; but I held her hands and kissed
them. There are different ways of kissing a lady’s hands. This way
was intended as homage and respect; and it was accepted as such in the
high-bred, dignified way which marked Miss Trelawny’s bearing and every
movement. I went over to the sofa and looked down at the senseless
man. The dawn had come much nearer in the last few minutes, and there
was something of the clearness of day in the light. As I looked at the
stern, cold, set face, now as white as a marble monument in the pale
grey light, I could not but feel that there was some deep mystery
beyond all that had happened within the last twenty-six hours. Those
beetling brows screened some massive purpose; that high, broad forehead
held some finished train of reasoning, which the broad chin and massive
jaw would help to carry into effect. As I looked and wondered, there
began to steal over me again that phase of wandering thought which had
last night heralded the approach of sleep. I resisted it, and held
myself sternly to the present. This was easier to do when Miss
Trelawny came close to me, and, leaning her forehead against my
shoulder, began to cry silently. Then all the manhood in me woke, and
to present purpose. It was of little use trying to speak; words were
inadequate to thought. But we understood each other; she did not draw
away when I put arm protectingly over her shoulder as I used to do with
my little sister long ago when in her childish trouble she would come
to her big brother to be comforted. That very act or attitude of
protection made me more resolute in my purpose, and seemed to clear my
brain of idle, dreamy wandering in thought. With an instinct of
greater protection, however, I took away my arm as I heard the Doctor’s
footstep outside the door.
When Doctor Winchester came in he looked intently at the patient before
speaking. His brows were set, and his mouth was a thin, hard line.
Presently he said:
“There is much in common between the sleep of your Father and Nurse
Kennedy. Whatever influence has brought it about has probably worked
the same way in both cases. In Kennedy’s case the coma is less marked.
I cannot but feel, however, that with her we may be able to do more and
more quickly than with this patient, as our hands are not tied. I have
placed her in a draught; and already she shows some signs, though very
faint ones, of ordinary unconsciousness. The rigidity of her limbs is
less, and her skin seems more sensitive—or perhaps I should say less
insensitive—to pain.”
“How is it, then,” I asked, “that Mr. Trelawny is still in this state
of insensibility; and yet, so far as we know, his body has not had such
rigidity at all?”
“That I cannot answer. The problem is one which we may solve in a few
hours; or it may need a few days. But it will be a useful lesson in
diagnosis to us all; and perhaps to many and many others after us, who
knows!” he added, with the genuine fire of an enthusiast.
As the morning wore on, he flitted perpetually between the two rooms,
watching anxiously over both patients. He made Mrs. Grant remain with
the Nurse, but either Miss Trelawny or I, generally both of us,
remained with the wounded man. We each managed, however, to get bathed
and dressed; the Doctor and Mrs. Grant remained with Mr. Trelawny
whilst we had breakfast.
Sergeant Daw went off to report at Scotland Yard the progress of the
night; and then to the local station to arrange for the coming of his
comrade, Wright, as fixed with Superintendent Dolan. When he returned
I could not but think that he had been hauled over the coals for
shooting in a sick-room; or perhaps for shooting at all without certain
and proper cause. His remark to me enlightened me in the matter:
“A good character is worth something, sir, in spite of what some of
them say. See! I’ve still got leave to carry my revolver.”
That day was a long and anxious one. Toward nightfall Nurse Kennedy so
far improved that the rigidity of her limbs entirely disappeared. She
still breathed quietly and regularly; but the fixed expression of her
face, though it was a calm enough expression, gave place to fallen
eyelids and the negative look of sleep. Doctor Winchester had, towards
evening, brought two more nurses, one of whom was to remain with Nurse
Kennedy and the other to share in the watching with Miss Trelawny, who
had insisted on remaining up herself. She had, in order to prepare for
the duty, slept for several hours in the afternoon. We had all taken
counsel together, and had arranged thus for the watching in Mr.
Trelawny’s room. Mrs. Grant was to remain beside the patient till
twelve, when Miss Trelawny would relieve her. The new nurse was to sit
in Miss Trelawny’s room, and to visit the sick chamber each quarter of
an hour. The Doctor would remain till twelve; when I was to relieve
him. One or other of the detectives was to remain within hail of the
room all night; and to pay periodical visits to see that all was well.
Thus, the watchers would be watched; and the possibility of such events
as last night, when the watchers were both overcome, would be avoided.
When the sun set, a strange and grave anxiety fell on all of us; and in
our separate ways we prepared for the vigil. Doctor Winchester had
evidently been thinking of my respirator, for he told me he would go
out and get one. Indeed, he took to the idea so kindly that I
persuaded Miss Trelawny also to have one which she could put on when
her time for watching came.
And so the night drew on.
Chapter V
More Strange Instructions
When I came from my room at half-past eleven o’clock I found all well
in the sick-room. The new nurse, prim, neat, and watchful, sat in the
chair by the bedside where Nurse Kennedy had sat last night. A little
way off, between the bed and the safe, sat Dr. Winchester alert and
wakeful, but looking strange and almost comic with the respirator over
mouth and nose. As I stood in the doorway looking at them I heard a
slight sound; turning round I saw the new detective, who nodded, held
up the finger of silence and withdrew quietly. Hitherto no one of the
watchers was overcome by sleep.
I took a chair outside the door. As yet there was no need for me to
risk coming again under the subtle influence of last night. Naturally
my thoughts went revolving round the main incidents of the last day and
night, and I found myself arriving at strange conclusions, doubts,
conjectures; but I did not lose myself, as on last night, in trains of
thought. The sense of the present was ever with me, and I really felt
as should a sentry on guard. Thinking is not a slow process; and when
it is earnest the time can pass quickly. It seemed a very short time
indeed till the door, usually left ajar, was pulled open and Dr.
Winchester emerged, taking off his respirator as he came. His act,
when he had it off, was demonstrative of his keenness. He turned up
the outside of the wrap and smelled it carefully.
“I am going now,” he said. “I shall come early in the morning; unless,
of course, I am sent for before. But all seems well tonight.”
The next to appear was Sergeant Daw, who went quietly into the room and
took the seat vacated by the Doctor. I still remained outside; but
every few minutes looked into the room. This was rather a form than a
matter of utility, for the room was so dark that coming even from the
dimly-lighted corridor it was hard to distinguish anything.
A little before twelve o’clock Miss Trelawny came from her room.
Before coming to her father’s she went into that occupied by Nurse
Kennedy. After a couple of minutes she came out, looking, I thought, a
trifle more cheerful. She had her respirator in her hand, but before
putting it on, asked me if anything special had occurred since she had
gone to lie down. I answered in a whisper—there was no loud talking
in the house tonight—that all was safe, was well. She then put on her
respirator, and I mine; and we entered the room. The Detective and the
Nurse rose up, and we took their places. Sergeant Daw was the last to
go out; he closed the door behind him as we had arranged.
For a while I sat quiet, my heart beating. The place was grimly dark.
The only light was a faint one from the top of the lamp which threw a
white circle on the high ceiling, except the emerald sheen of the shade
as the light took its under edges. Even the light only seemed to
emphasize the blackness of the shadows. These presently began to seem,
as on last night, to have a sentience of their own. I did not myself
feel in the least sleepy; and each time I went softly over to look at
the patient, which I did about every ten minutes, I could see that Miss
Trelawny was keenly alert. Every quarter of an hour one or other of
the policemen looked in through the partly opened door. Each time both
Miss Trelawny and I said through our mufflers, “all right,” and the
door was closed again.
As the time wore on, the silence and the darkness seemed to increase.
The circle of light on the ceiling was still there, but it seemed less
brilliant than at first. The green edging of the lamp-shade became
like Maori greenstone rather than emerald. The sounds of the night
without the house, and the starlight spreading pale lines along the
edges of the window-cases, made the pall of black within more solemn
and more mysterious.
We heard the clock in the corridor chiming the quarters with its silver
bell till two o’clock; and then a strange feeling came over me. I
could see from Miss Trelawny’s movement as she looked round, that she
also had some new sensation. The new detective had just looked in; we
two were alone with the unconscious patient for another quarter of an
hour.
My heart began to beat wildly. There was a sense of fear over me. Not
for myself; my fear was impersonal. It seemed as though some new
person had entered the room, and that a strong intelligence was awake
close to me. Something brushed against my leg. I put my hand down
hastily and touched the furry coat of Silvio. With a very faint
far-away sound of a snarl he turned and scratched at me. I felt blood
on my hand. I rose gently and came over to the bedside. Miss
Trelawny, too, had stood up and was looking behind her, as though there
was something close to her. Her eyes were wild, and her breast rose and
fell as though she were fighting for air. When I touched her she did
not seem to feel me; she worked her hands in front of her, as though
she was fending off something.
There was not an instant to lose. I seized her in my arms and rushed
over to the door, threw it open, and strode into the passage, calling
loudly:
“Help! Help!”
In an instant the two Detectives, Mrs. Grant, and the Nurse appeared on
the scene. Close on their heels came several of the servants, both men
and women. Immediately Mrs. Grant came near enough, I placed Miss
Trelawny in her arms, and rushed back into the room, turning up the
electric light as soon as I could lay my hand on it. Sergeant Daw and
the Nurse followed me.
We were just in time. Close under the great safe, where on the two
successive nights he had been found, lay Mr. Trelawny with his left
arm, bare save for the bandages, stretched out. Close by his side was
a leaf-shaped Egyptian knife which had lain amongst the curios on the
shelf of the broken cabinet. Its point was stuck in the parquet floor,
whence had been removed the blood-stained rug.
But there was no sign of disturbance anywhere; nor any sign of any one
or anything unusual. The Policemen and I searched the room accurately,
whilst the Nurse and two of the servants lifted the wounded man back to
bed; but no sign or clue could we get. Very soon Miss Trelawny
returned to the room. She was pale but collected. When she came close
to me she said in a low voice:
“I felt myself fainting. I did not know why; but I was afraid!”
The only other shock I had was when Miss Trelawny cried out to me, as I
placed my hand on the bed to lean over and look carefully at her father:
“You are wounded. Look! look! your hand is bloody. There is blood on
the sheets!” I had, in the excitement, quite forgotten Silvio’s
scratch. As I looked at it, the recollection came back to me; but
before I could say a word Miss Trelawny had caught hold of my hand and
lifted it up. When she saw the parallel lines of the cuts she cried out
again:
“It is the same wound as Father’s!” Then she laid my hand down gently
but quickly, and said to me and to Sergeant Daw:
“Come to my room! Silvio is there in his basket.” We followed her,
and found Silvio sitting in his basket awake. He was licking his paws.
The Detective said:
“He is there sure enough; but why licking his paws?”
Margaret—Miss Trelawny—gave a moan as she bent over and took one of
the forepaws in her hand; but the cat seemed to resent it and snarled.
At that Mrs. Grant came into the room. When she saw that we were
looking at the cat she said:
“The Nurse tells me that Silvio was asleep on Nurse Kennedy’s bed ever
since you went to your Father’s room until a while ago. He came there
just after you had gone to master’s room. Nurse says that Nurse
Kennedy is moaning and muttering in her sleep as though she had a
nightmare. I think we should send for Dr. Winchester.”
“Do so at once, please!” said Miss Trelawny; and we went back to the
room.
For a while Miss Trelawny stood looking at her father, with her brows
wrinkled. Then, turning to me, as though her mind were made up, she
said:
“Don’t you think we should have a consultation on Father? Of course I
have every confidence in Doctor Winchester; he seems an immensely
clever young man. But he is a young man; and there must be men who
have devoted themselves to this branch of science. Such a man would
have more knowledge and more experience; and his knowledge and
experience might help to throw light on poor Father’s case. As it is,
Doctor Winchester seems to be quite in the dark. Oh! I don’t know what
to do. It is all so terrible!” Here she broke down a little and cried;
and I tried to comfort her.
Doctor Winchester arrived quickly. His first thought was for his
patient; but when he found him without further harm, he visited Nurse
Kennedy. When he saw her, a hopeful look came into his eyes. Taking a
towel, he dipped a corner of it in cold water and flicked on the face.
The skin coloured, and she stirred slightly. He said to the new
nurse—Sister Doris he called her:
“She is all right. She will wake in a few hours at latest. She may be
dizzy and distraught at first, or perhaps hysterical. If so, you know
how to treat her.”
“Yes, sir!” answered Sister Doris demurely; and we went back to Mr.
Trelawny’s room. As soon as we had entered, Mrs. Grant and the Nurse
went out so that only Doctor Winchester, Miss Trelawny, and myself
remained in the room. When the door had been closed Doctor Winchester
asked me as to what had occurred. I told him fully, giving exactly
every detail so far as I could remember. Throughout my narrative,
which did not take long, however, he kept asking me questions as to who
had been present and the order in which each one had come into the
room. He asked other things, but nothing of any importance; these were
all that took my attention, or remained in my memory. When our
conversation was finished, he said in a very decided way indeed, to
Miss Trelawny:
“I think, Miss Trelawny, that we had better have a consultation on this
case.” She answered at once, seemingly a little to his surprise:
“I am glad you have mentioned it. I quite agree. Who would you
suggest?”
“Have you any choice yourself?” he asked. “Any one to whom your Father
is known? Has he ever consulted any one?”
“Not to my knowledge. But I hope you will choose whoever you think
would be best. My dear Father should have all the help that can be
had; and I shall be deeply obliged by your choosing. Who is the best
man in London—anywhere else—in such a case?”
“There are several good men; but they are scattered all over the world.
Somehow, the brain specialist is born, not made; though a lot of hard
work goes to the completing of him and fitting him for his work. He
comes from no country. The most daring investigator up to the present
is Chiuni, the Japanese; but he is rather a surgical experimentalist
than a practitioner. Then there is Zammerfest of Uppsala, and Fenelon
of the University of Paris, and Morfessi of Naples. These, of course,
are in addition to our own men, Morrison of Aberdeen and Richardson of
Birmingham. But before them all I would put Frere of King’s College.
Of all that I have named he best unites theory and practice. He has no
hobbies—that have been discovered at all events; and his experience is
immense. It is the regret of all of us who admire him that the nerve
so firm and the hand so dexterous must yield to time. For my own part
I would rather have Frere than any one living.”
“Then,” said Miss Trelawny decisively, “let us have Doctor Frere—by
the way, is he ‘Doctor’ or ‘Mister’?—as early as we can get him in the
morning!”
A weight seemed removed from him, and he spoke with greater ease and
geniality than he had yet shown:
“He is Sir James Frere. I shall go to him myself as early as it is
possible to see him, and shall ask him to come here at once.” Then
turning to me he said:
“You had better let me dress your hand.”
“It is nothing,” I said.
“Nevertheless it should be seen to. A scratch from any animal might
turn out dangerous; there is nothing like being safe.” I submitted;
forthwith he began to dress my hand. He examined with a
magnifying-glass the several parallel wounds, and compared them with
the slip of blotting-paper, marked with Silvio’s claws, which he took
from his pocket-book. He put back the paper, simply remarking:
“It’s a pity that Silvio slips in—and out—just when he shouldn’t.”
The morning wore slowly on. By ten o’clock Nurse Kennedy had so far
recovered that she was able to sit up and talk intelligibly. But she
was still hazy in her thoughts; and could not remember anything that
had happened on the previous night, after her taking her place by the
sick-bed. As yet she seemed neither to know nor care what had happened.
It was nearly eleven o’clock when Doctor Winchester returned with Sir
James Frere. Somehow I felt my heart sink when from the landing I saw
them in the hall below; I knew that Miss Trelawny was to have the pain
of telling yet another stranger of her ignorance of her father’s life.
Sir James Frere was a man who commanded attention followed by respect.
He knew so thoroughly what he wanted himself, that he placed at once on
one side all wishes and ideas of less definite persons. The mere flash
of his piercing eyes, or the set of his resolute mouth, or the lowering
of his great eyebrows, seemed to compel immediate and willing obedience
to his wishes. Somehow, when we had all been introduced and he was
well amongst us, all sense of mystery seemed to melt away. It was with
a hopeful spirit that I saw him pass into the sick-room with Doctor
Winchester.
They remained in the room a long time; once they sent for the Nurse,
the new one, Sister Doris, but she did not remain long. Again they
both went into Nurse Kennedy’s room. He sent out the nurse attendant
on her. Doctor Winchester told me afterward that Nurse Kennedy, though
she was ignorant of later matters, gave full and satisfactory answers
to all Doctor Frere’s questions relating to her patient up to the time
she became unconscious. Then they went to the study, where they
remained so long, and their voices raised in heated discussion seemed
in such determined opposition, that I began to feel uneasy. As for
Miss Trelawny, she was almost in a state of collapse from nervousness
before they joined us. Poor girl! she had had a sadly anxious time of
it, and her nervous strength had almost broken down.
They came out at last, Sir James first, his grave face looking as
unenlightening as that of the sphinx. Doctor Winchester followed him
closely; his face was pale, but with that kind of pallor which looked
like a reaction. It gave me the idea that it had been red not long
before. Sir James asked that Miss Trelawny would come into the study.
He suggested that I should come also. When we had entered, Sir James
turned to me and said:
“I understand from Doctor Winchester that you are a friend of Miss
Trelawny, and that you have already considerable knowledge of this
case. Perhaps it will be well that you should be with us. I know you
already as a keen lawyer, Mr. Ross, though I never had the pleasure of
meeting you. As Doctor Winchester tells me that there are some strange
matters outside this case which seem to puzzle him—and others—and in
which he thinks you may yet be specially interested, it might be as
well that you should know every phase of the case. For myself I do not
take much account of mysteries—except those of science; and as there
seems to be some idea of an attempt at assassination or robbery, all I
can say is that if assassins were at work they ought to take some
elementary lessons in anatomy before their next job, for they seem
thoroughly ignorant. If robbery were their purpose, they seem to have
worked with marvellous inefficiency. That, however, is not my
business.” Here he took a big pinch of snuff, and turning to Miss
Trelawny, went on: “Now as to the patient. Leaving out the cause of his
illness, all we can say at present is that he appears to be suffering
from a marked attack of catalepsy. At present nothing can be done,
except to sustain his strength. The treatment of my friend Doctor
Winchester is mainly such as I approve of; and I am confident that
should any slight change arise he will be able to deal with it
satisfactorily. It is an interesting case—most interesting; and
should any new or abnormal development arise I shall be happy to come
at any time. There is just one thing to which I wish to call your
attention; and I put it to you, Miss Trelawny, directly, since it is
your responsibility. Doctor Winchester informs me that you are not
yourself free in the matter, but are bound by an instruction given by
your Father in case just such a condition of things should arise. I
would strongly advise that the patient be removed to another room; or,
as an alternative, that those mummies and all such things should be
removed from his chamber. Why, it’s enough to put any man into an
abnormal condition, to have such an assemblage of horrors round him,
and to breathe the atmosphere which they exhale. You have evidence
already of how such mephitic odour may act. That nurse—Kennedy, I
think you said, Doctor—isn’t yet out of her state of catalepsy; and
you, Mr. Ross, have, I am told, experienced something of the same
effects. I know this”—here his eyebrows came down more than ever, and
his mouth hardened—“if I were in charge here I should insist on the
patient having a different atmosphere; or I would throw up the case.
Doctor Winchester already knows that I can only be again consulted on
this condition being fulfilled. But I trust that you will see your
way, as a good daughter to my mind should, to looking to your Father’s
health and sanity rather than to any whim of his—whether supported or
not by a foregoing fear, or by any number of “penny dreadful”
mysteries. The day has hardly come yet, I am glad to say, when the
British Museum and St. Thomas’s Hospital have exchanged their normal
functions. Good-day, Miss Trelawny. I earnestly hope that I may soon
see your Father restored. Remember, that should you fulfil the
elementary condition which I have laid down, I am at your service day
or night. Good-morning, Mr. Ross. I hope you will be able to report
to me soon, Doctor Winchester.”
When he had gone we stood silent, till the rumble of his carriage
wheels died away. The first to speak was Doctor Winchester:
“I think it well to say that to my mind, speaking purely as a
physician, he is quite right. I feel as if I could have assaulted him
when he made it a condition of not giving up the case; but all the same
he is right as to treatment. He does not understand that there is
something odd about this special case; and he will not realise the knot
that we are all tied up in by Mr. Trelawny’s instructions. Of
course—” He was interrupted by Miss Trelawny:
“Doctor Winchester, do you, too, wish to give up the case; or are you
willing to continue it under the conditions you know?”
“Give it up! Less now than ever. Miss Trelawny, I shall never give it
up, so long as life is left to him or any of us!” She said nothing,
but held out her hand, which he took warmly.
“Now,” said she, “if Sir James Frere is a type of the cult of
Specialists, I want no more of them. To start with, he does not seem
to know any more than you do about my Father’s condition; and if he
were a hundredth part as much interested in it as you are, he would not
stand on such punctilio. Of course, I am only too anxious about my
poor Father; and if I can see a way to meet either of Sir James Frere’s
conditions, I shall do so. I shall ask Mr. Marvin to come here today,
and advise me as to the limit of Father’s wishes. If he thinks I am
free to act in any way on my own responsibility, I shall not hesitate
to do so.” Then Doctor Winchester took his leave.
Miss Trelawny sat down and wrote a letter to Mr. Marvin, telling him of
the state of affairs, and asking him to come and see her and to bring
with him any papers which might throw any light on the subject. She
sent the letter off with a carriage to bring back the solicitor; we
waited with what patience we could for his coming.
It is not a very long journey for oneself from Kensington Palace
Gardens to Lincoln’s Inn Fields; but it seemed endlessly long when
waiting for someone else to take it. All things, however, are amenable
to Time; it was less than an hour all told when Mr. Marvin was with us.
He recognised Miss Trelawny’s impatience, and when he had learned
sufficient of her father’s illness, he said to her:
“Whenever you are ready I can go with you into particulars regarding
your Father’s wishes.”
“Whenever you like,” she said, with an evident ignorance of his
meaning. “Why not now?” He looked at me, as to a fellow man of
business, and stammered out:
“We are not alone.”
“I have brought Mr. Ross here on purpose,” she answered. “He knows so
much at present, that I want him to know more.” The solicitor was a
little disconcerted, a thing which those knowing him only in courts
would hardly have believed. He answered, however, with some hesitation:
“But, my dear young lady—Your Father’s wishes!—Confidence between
father and child—”
Here she interrupted him; there was a tinge of red in her pale cheeks
as she did so:
“Do you really think that applies to the present circumstances, Mr.
Marvin? My Father never told me anything of his affairs; and I can
now, in this sad extremity, only learn his wishes through a gentleman
who is a stranger to me and of whom I never even heard till I got my
Father’s letter, written to be shown to me only in extremity. Mr. Ross
is a new friend; but he has all my confidence, and I should like him to
be present. Unless, of course,” she added, “such a thing is forbidden
by my Father. Oh! forgive me, Mr. Marvin, if I seem rude; but I have
been in such dreadful trouble and anxiety lately, that I have hardly
command of myself.” She covered her eyes with her hand for a few
seconds; we two men looked at each other and waited, trying to appear
unmoved. She went on more firmly; she had recovered herself:
“Please! please do not think I am ungrateful to you for your kindness
in coming here and so quickly. I really am grateful; and I have every
confidence in your judgment. If you wish, or think it best, we can be
alone.” I stood up; but Mr. Marvin made a dissentient gesture. He was
evidently pleased with her attitude; there was geniality in his voice
and manner as he spoke:
“Not at all! Not at all! There is no restriction on your Father’s
part; and on my own I am quite willing. Indeed, all told, it may be
better. From what you have said of Mr. Trelawny’s illness, and the
other—incidental—matters, it will be well in case of any grave
eventuality, that it was understood from the first, that circumstances
were ruled by your Father’s own imperative instructions. For, please
understand me, his instructions are imperative—most imperative. They
are so unyielding that he has given me a Power of Attorney, under which
I have undertaken to act, authorising me to see his written wishes
carried out. Please believe me once for all, that he intended fully
everything mentioned in that letter to you! Whilst he is alive he is
to remain in his own room; and none of his property is to be removed
from it under any circumstances whatever. He has even given an
inventory of the articles which are not to be displaced.”
Miss Trelawny was silent. She looked somewhat distressed; so, thinking
that I understood the immediate cause, I asked:
“May we see the list?” Miss Trelawny’s face at once brightened; but it
fell again as the lawyer answered promptly—he was evidently prepared
for the question:
“Not unless I am compelled to take action on the Power of Attorney. I
have brought that instrument with me. You will recognise, Mr.
Ross”—he said this with a sort of business conviction which I had
noticed in his professional work, as he handed me the deed—“how
strongly it is worded, and how the grantor made his wishes apparent in
such a way as to leave no loophole. It is his own wording, except for
certain legal formalities; and I assure you I have seldom seen a more
iron-clad document. Even I myself have no power to make the slightest
relaxation of the instructions, without committing a distinct breach of
faith. And that, I need not tell you, is impossible.” He evidently
added the last words in order to prevent an appeal to his personal
consideration. He did not like the seeming harshness of his words,
however, for he added:
“I do hope, Miss Trelawny, that you understand that I am
willing—frankly and unequivocally willing—to do anything I can,
within the limits of my power, to relieve your distress. But your
Father had, in all his doings, some purpose of his own which he did not
disclose to me. So far as I can see, there is not a word of his
instructions that he had not thought over fully. Whatever idea he had
in his mind was the idea of a lifetime; he had studied it in every
possible phase, and was prepared to guard it at every point.
“Now I fear I have distressed you, and I am truly sorry for it; for I
see you have much—too much—to bear already. But I have no
alternative. If you want to consult me at any time about anything, I
promise you I will come without a moment’s delay, at any hour of the
day or night. There is my private address,” he scribbled in his
pocket-book as he spoke, “and under it the address of my club, where I
am generally to be found in the evening.” He tore out the paper and
handed it to her. She thanked him. He shook hands with her and with
me and withdrew.
As soon as the hall door was shut on him, Mrs. Grant tapped at the door
and came in. There was such a look of distress in her face that Miss
Trelawny stood up, deadly white, and asked her:
“What is it, Mrs. Grant? What is it? Any new trouble?”
“I grieve to say, miss, that the servants, all but two, have given
notice and want to leave the house today. They have talked the matter
over among themselves; the butler has spoken for the rest. He says as
how they are willing to forego their wages, and even to pay their legal
obligations instead of notice; but that go today they must.”
“What reason do they give?”
“None, miss. They say as how they’re sorry, but that they’ve nothing
to say. I asked Jane, the upper housemaid, miss, who is not with the
rest but stops on; and she tells me confidential that they’ve got some
notion in their silly heads that the house is haunted!”
We ought to have laughed, but we didn’t. I could not look in Miss
Trelawny’s face and laugh. The pain and horror there showed no sudden
paroxysm of fear; there was a fixed idea of which this was a
confirmation. For myself, it seemed as if my brain had found a voice.
But the voice was not complete; there was some other thought, darker
and deeper, which lay behind it, whose voice had not sounded as yet.
Chapter VI
Suspicions
The first to get full self-command was Miss Trelawny. There was a
haughty dignity in her bearing as she said:
“Very well, Mrs. Grant; let them go! Pay them up to today, and a
month’s wages. They have hitherto been very good servants; and the
occasion of their leaving is not an ordinary one. We must not expect
much faithfulness from any one who is beset with fears. Those who
remain are to have in future double wages; and please send these to me
presently when I send word.” Mrs. Grant bristled with smothered
indignation; all the housekeeper in her was outraged by such generous
treatment of servants who had combined to give notice:
“They don’t deserve it, miss; them to go on so, after the way they have
been treated here. Never in my life have I seen servants so well
treated or anyone so good to them and gracious to them as you have
been. They might be in the household of a King for treatment. And now,
just as there is trouble, to go and act like this. It’s abominable,
that’s what it is!”
Miss Trelawny was very gentle with her, and smothered her ruffled
dignity; so that presently she went away with, in her manner, a lesser
measure of hostility to the undeserving. In quite a different frame of
mind she returned presently to ask if her mistress would like her to
engage a full staff of other servants, or at any rate try to do so.
“For you know, ma’am,” she went on, “when once a scare has been
established in the servants’ hall, it’s wellnigh impossible to get rid
of it. Servants may come; but they go away just as quick. There’s no
holding them. They simply won’t stay; or even if they work out their
month’s notice, they lead you that life that you wish every hour of the
day that you hadn’t kept them. The women are bad enough, the huzzies;
but the men are worse!” There was neither anxiety nor indignation in
Miss Trelawny’s voice or manner as she said:
“I think, Mrs. Grant, we had better try to do with those we have.
Whilst my dear Father is ill we shall not be having any company, so
that there will be only three now in the house to attend to. If those
servants who are willing to stay are not enough, I should only get
sufficient to help them to do the work. It will not, I should think,
be difficult to get a few maids; perhaps some that you know already.
And please bear in mind, that those whom you get, and who are suitable
and will stay, are henceforth to have the same wages as those who are
remaining. Of course, Mrs. Grant, you well enough understand that
though I do not group you in any way with the servants, the rule of
double salary applies to you too.” As she spoke she extended her long,
fine-shaped hand, which the other took and then, raising it to her
lips, kissed it impressively with the freedom of an elder woman to a
younger. I could not but admire the generosity of her treatment of her
servants. In my mind I endorsed Mrs. Grant’s sotto voce remark as she
left the room:
“No wonder the house is like a King’s house, when the mistress is a
Princess!”
“A Princess!” That was it. The idea seemed to satisfy my mind, and to
bring back in a wave of light the first moment when she swept across my
vision at the ball in Belgrave Square. A queenly figure! tall and
slim, bending, swaying, undulating as the lily or the lotos. Clad in a
flowing gown of some filmy black material shot with gold. For ornament
in her hair she wore an old Egyptian jewel, a tiny crystal disk, set
between rising plumes carved in lapis lazuli. On her wrist was a broad
bangle or bracelet of antique work, in the shape of a pair of spreading
wings wrought in gold, with the feathers made of coloured gems. For
all her gracious bearing toward me, when our hostess introduced me, I
was then afraid of her. It was only when later, at the picnic on the
river, I had come to realise her sweet and gentle, that my awe changed
to something else.
For a while she sat, making some notes or memoranda. Then putting them
away, she sent for the faithful servants. I thought that she had
better have this interview alone, and so left her. When I came back
there were traces of tears in her eyes.
The next phase in which I had a part was even more disturbing, and
infinitely more painful. Late in the afternoon Sergeant Daw came into
the study where I was sitting. After closing the door carefully and
looking all round the room to make certain that we were alone, he came
close to me.
“What is it?” I asked him. “I see you wish to speak to me privately.”
“Quite so, sir! May I speak in absolute confidence?”
“Of course you may. In anything that is for the good of Miss
Trelawny—and of course Mr. Trelawny—you may be perfectly frank. I
take it that we both want to serve them to the best of our powers.” He
hesitated before replying:
“Of course you know that I have my duty to do; and I think you know me
well enough to know that I will do it. I am a policeman—a detective;
and it is my duty to find out the facts of any case I am put on,
without fear or favour to anyone. I would rather speak to you alone,
in confidence if I may, without reference to any duty of anyone to
anyone, except mine to Scotland Yard.”
“Of course! of course!” I answered mechanically, my heart sinking, I
did not know why. “Be quite frank with me. I assure you of my
confidence.”
“Thank you, sir. I take it that what I say is not to pass beyond
you—not to anyone. Not to Miss Trelawny herself, or even to Mr.
Trelawny when he becomes well again.”
“Certainly, if you make it a condition!” I said a little more stiffly.
The man recognised the change in my voice or manner, and said
apologetically:
“Excuse me, sir, but I am going outside my duty in speaking to you at
all on the subject. I know you, however, of old; and I feel that I can
trust you. Not your word, sir, that is all right; but your discretion!”
I bowed. “Go on!” I said. He began at once:
“I have gone over this case, sir, till my brain begins to reel; but I
can’t find any ordinary solution of it. At the time of each attempt no
one has seemingly come into the house; and certainly no one has got
out. What does it strike you is the inference?”
“That the somebody—or the something—was in the house already,” I
answered, smiling in spite of myself.
“That’s just what I think,” he said, with a manifest sigh of relief.
“Very well! Who can be that someone?”
“‘Someone, or something,’ was what I said,” I answered.
“Let us make it ‘someone,’ Mr. Ross! That cat, though he might have
scratched or bit, never pulled the old gentleman out of bed, and tried
to get the bangle with the key off his arm. Such things are all very
well in books where your amateur detectives, who know everything before
it’s done, can fit them into theories; but in Scotland Yard, where the
men aren’t all idiots either, we generally find that when crime is
done, or attempted, it’s people, not things, that are at the bottom of
it.”
“Then make it ‘people’ by all means, Sergeant.”
“We were speaking of ‘someone,’ sir.”
“Quite right. Someone, be it!”
“Did it ever strike you, sir, that on each of the three separate
occasions where outrage was effected, or attempted, there was one
person who was the first to be present and to give the alarm?”
“Let me see! Miss Trelawny, I believe, gave the alarm on the first
occasion. I was present myself, if fast asleep, on the second; and so
was Nurse Kennedy. When I woke there were several people in the room;
you were one of them. I understand that on that occasion also Miss
Trelawny was before you. At the last attempt I was Miss Trelawny
fainted. I carried her out and went back. In returning, I was first;
and I think you were close behind me.”
Sergeant Daw thought for a moment before replying:
“She was present, or first, in the room on all the occasions; there was
only damage done in the first and second!”
The inference was one which I, as a lawyer, could not mistake. I
thought the best thing to do was to meet it half-way. I have always
found that the best way to encounter an inference is to cause it to be
turned into a statement.
“You mean,” I said, “that as on the only occasions when actual harm was
done, Miss Trelawny’s being the first to discover it is a proof that
she did it; or was in some way connected with the attempt, as well as
the discovery?”
“I didn’t venture to put it as clear as that; but that is where the
doubt which I had leads.” Sergeant Daw was a man of courage; he
evidently did not shrink from any conclusion of his reasoning on facts.
We were both silent for a while. Fears began crowding in on my own
mind. Not doubts of Miss Trelawny, or of any act of hers; but fears
lest such acts should be misunderstood. There was evidently a mystery
somewhere; and if no solution to it could be found, the doubt would be
cast on someone. In such cases the guesses of the majority are bound
to follow the line of least resistance; and if it could be proved that
any personal gain to anyone could follow Mr. Trelawny’s death, should
such ensue, it might prove a difficult task for anyone to prove
innocence in the face of suspicious facts. I found myself
instinctively taking that deferential course which, until the plan of
battle of the prosecution is unfolded, is so safe an attitude for the
defence. It would never do for me, at this stage, to combat any
theories which a detective might form. I could best help Miss Trelawny
by listening and understanding. When the time should come for the
dissipation and obliteration of the theories, I should be quite willing
to use all my militant ardour, and all the weapons at my command.
“You will of course do your duty, I know,” I said, “and without fear.
What course do you intend to take?”
“I don’t know as yet, sir. You see, up to now it isn’t with me even a
suspicion. If any one else told me that that sweet young lady had a
hand in such a matter, I would think him a fool; but I am bound to
follow my own conclusions. I know well that just as unlikely persons
have been proved guilty, when a whole court—all except the prosecution
who knew the facts, and the judge who had taught his mind to
wait—would have sworn to innocence. I wouldn’t, for all the world,
wrong such a young lady; more especial when she has such a cruel weight
to bear. And you will be sure that I won’t say a word that’ll prompt
anyone else to make such a charge. That’s why I speak to you in
confidence, man to man. You are skilled in proofs; that is your
profession. Mine only gets so far as suspicions, and what we call our
own proofs—which are nothing but ex parte evidence after all. You
know Miss Trelawny better than I do; and though I watch round the
sick-room, and go where I like about the house and in and out of it, I
haven’t the same opportunities as you have of knowing the lady and what
her life is, or her means are; or of anything else which might give me
a clue to her actions. If I were to try to find out from her, it would
at once arouse her suspicions. Then, if she were guilty, all
possibility of ultimate proof would go; for she would easily find a way
to baffle discovery. But if she be innocent, as I hope she is, it
would be doing a cruel wrong to accuse her. I have thought the matter
over according to my lights before I spoke to you; and if I have taken
a liberty, sir, I am truly sorry.”
“No liberty in the world, Daw,” I said warmly, for the man’s courage
and honesty and consideration compelled respect. “I am glad you have
spoken to me so frankly. We both want to find out the truth; and there
is so much about this case that is strange—so strange as to go beyond
all experiences—that to aim at truth is our only chance of making
anything clear in the long-run—no matter what our views are, or what
object we wish to achieve ultimately!” The Sergeant looked pleased as
he went on:
“I thought, therefore, that if you had it once in your mind that
somebody else held to such a possibility, you would by degrees get
proof; or at any rate such ideas as would convince yourself, either for
or against it. Then we would come to some conclusion; or at any rate
we should so exhaust all other possibilities that the most likely one
would remain as the nearest thing to proof, or strong suspicion, that
we could get. After that we should have to—”
Just at this moment the door opened and Miss Trelawny entered the room.
The moment she saw us she drew back quickly, saying:
“Oh, I beg pardon! I did not know you were here, and engaged.” By the
time I had stood up, she was about to go back.
“Do come in,” I said; “Sergeant Daw and I were only talking matters
over.”
Whilst she was hesitating, Mrs. Grant appeared, saying as she entered
the room: “Doctor Winchester is come, miss, and is asking for you.”
I obeyed Miss Trelawny’s look; together we left the room.
When the Doctor had made his examination, he told us that there was
seemingly no change. He added that nevertheless he would like to stay
in the house that night if he might. Miss Trelawny looked glad, and
sent word to Mrs. Grant to get a room ready for him. Later in the day,
when he and I happened to be alone together, he said suddenly:
“I have arranged to stay here tonight because I want to have a talk
with you. And as I wish it to be quite private, I thought the least
suspicious way would be to have a cigar together late in the evening
when Miss Trelawny is watching her father.” We still kept to our
arrangement that either the sick man’s daughter or I should be on watch
all night. We were to share the duty at the early hours of the
morning. I was anxious about this, for I knew from our conversation
that the Detective would watch in secret himself, and would be
particularly alert about that time.
The day passed uneventfully. Miss Trelawny slept in the afternoon; and
after dinner went to relieve the Nurse. Mrs. Grant remained with her,
Sergeant Daw being on duty in the corridor. Doctor Winchester and I
took our coffee in the library. When we had lit our cigars he said
quietly:
“Now that we are alone I want to have a confidential talk. We are
‘tiled,’ of course; for the present at all events?”
“Quite so!” I said, my heart sinking as I thought of my conversation
with Sergeant Daw in the morning, and of the disturbing and harrowing
fears which it had left in my mind. He went on:
“This case is enough to try the sanity of all of us concerned in it.
The more I think of it, the madder I seem to get; and the two lines,
each continually strengthened, seem to pull harder in opposite
directions.”
“What two lines?” He looked at me keenly for a moment before replying.
Doctor Winchester’s look at such moments was apt to be disconcerting.
It would have been so to me had I had a personal part, other than my
interest in Miss Trelawny, in the matter. As it was, however, I stood
it unruffled. I was now an attorney in the case; an amicus curiae in
one sense, in another retained for the defence. The mere thought that
in this clever man’s mind were two lines, equally strong and opposite,
was in itself so consoling as to neutralise my anxiety as to a new
attack. As he began to speak, the Doctor’s face wore an inscrutable
smile; this, however, gave place to a stern gravity as he proceeded:
“Two lines: Fact and—Fancy! In the first there is this whole thing;
attacks, attempts at robbery and murder; stupefyings; organised
catalepsy which points to either criminal hypnotism and thought
suggestion, or some simple form of poisoning unclassified yet in our
toxicology. In the other there is some influence at work which is not
classified in any book that I know—outside the pages of romance. I
never felt in my life so strongly the truth of Hamlet’s words:
‘There are more things in Heaven and earth....
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’
“Let us take the ‘Fact’ side first. Here we have a man in his home;
amidst his own household; plenty of servants of different classes in
the house, which forbids the possibility of an organised attempt made
from the servants’ hall. He is wealthy, learned, clever. From his
physiognomy there is no doubting that he is a man of iron will and
determined purpose. His daughter—his only child, I take it, a young
girl bright and clever—is sleeping in the very next room to his.
There is seemingly no possible reason for expecting any attack or
disturbance of any kind; and no reasonable opportunity for any outsider
to effect it. And yet we have an attack made; a brutal and remorseless
attack, made in the middle of the night. Discovery is made quickly;
made with that rapidity which in criminal cases generally is found to
be not accidental, but of premeditated intent. The attacker, or
attackers, are manifestly disturbed before the completion of their
work, whatever their ultimate intent may have been. And yet there is
no possible sign of their escape; no clue, no disturbance of anything;
no open door or window; no sound. Nothing whatever to show who had
done the deed, or even that a deed has been done; except the victim,
and his surroundings incidental to the deed!
“The next night a similar attempt is made, though the house is full of
wakeful people; and though there are on watch in the room and around it
a detective officer, a trained nurse, an earnest friend, and the man’s
own daughter. The nurse is thrown into a catalepsy, and the watching
friend—though protected by a respirator—into a deep sleep. Even the
detective is so far overcome with some phase of stupor that he fires
off his pistol in the sick-room, and can’t even tell what he thought he
was firing at. That respirator of yours is the only thing that seems
to have a bearing on the ‘fact’ side of the affair. That you did not
lose your head as the others did—the effect in such case being in
proportion to the amount of time each remained in the room—points to
the probability that the stupefying medium was not hypnotic, whatever
else it may have been. But again, there is a fact which is
contradictory. Miss Trelawny, who was in the room more than any of
you—for she was in and out all the time and did her share of permanent
watching also—did not seem to be affected at all. This would show
that the influence, whatever it is, does not affect generally—unless,
of course, it was that she was in some way inured to it. If it should
turn out that it be some strange exhalation from some of those Egyptian
curios, that might account for it; only, we are then face to face with
the fact that Mr. Trelawny, who was most of all in the room—who, in
fact, lived more than half his life in it—was affected worst of all.
What kind of influence could it be which would account for all these
different and contradictory effects? No! the more I think of this form
of the dilemma, the more I am bewildered! Why, even if it were that
the attack, the physical attack, on Mr. Trelawny had been made by some
one residing in the house and not within the sphere of suspicion, the
oddness of the stupefyings would still remain a mystery. It is not
easy to put anyone into a catalepsy. Indeed, so far as is known yet in
science, there is no way to achieve such an object at will. The crux
of the whole matter is Miss Trelawny, who seems to be subject to none
of the influences, or possibly of the variants of the same influence at
work. Through all she goes unscathed, except for that one slight
semi-faint. It is most strange!”
I listened with a sinking heart; for, though his manner was not
illuminative of distrust, his argument was disturbing. Although it was
not so direct as the suspicion of the Detective, it seemed to single
out Miss Trelawny as different from all others concerned; and in a
mystery to be alone is to be suspected, ultimately if not immediately.
I thought it better not to say anything. In such a case silence is
indeed golden; and if I said nothing now I might have less to defend,
or explain, or take back later. I was, therefore, secretly glad that
his form of putting his argument did not require any answer from
me—for the present, at all events. Doctor Winchester did not seem to
expect any answer—a fact which, when I recognised it, gave me
pleasure, I hardly knew why. He paused for a while, sitting with his
chin in his hand, his eyes staring at vacancy, whilst his brows were
fixed. His cigar was held limp between his fingers; he had apparently
forgotten it. In an even voice, as though commencing exactly where he
had left off, he resumed his argument:
“The other horn of the dilemma is a different affair altogether; and if
we once enter on it we must leave everything in the shape of science
and experience behind us. I confess that it has its fascinations for
me; though at every new thought I find myself romancing in a way that
makes me pull up suddenly and look facts resolutely in the face. I
sometimes wonder whether the influence or emanation from the sick-room
at times affects me as it did the others—the Detective, for instance.
Of course it may be that if it is anything chemical, any drug, for
example, in vaporeal form, its effects may be cumulative. But then,
what could there be that could produce such an effect? The room is, I
know, full of mummy smell; and no wonder, with so many relics from the
tomb, let alone the actual mummy of that animal which Silvio attacked.
By the way, I am going to test him tomorrow; I have been on the trace
of a mummy cat, and am to get possession of it in the morning. When I
bring it here we shall find out if it be a fact that racial instinct
can survive a few thousand years in the grave. However, to get back to
the subject in hand. These very mummy smells arise from the presence
of substances, and combinations of substances, which the Egyptian
priests, who were the learned men and scientists of their time, found
by the experience of centuries to be strong enough to arrest the
natural forces of decay. There must be powerful agencies at work to
effect such a purpose; and it is possible that we may have here some
rare substance or combination whose qualities and powers are not
understood in this later and more prosaic age. I wonder if Mr.
Trelawny has any knowledge, or even suspicion, of such a kind? I only
know this for certain, that a worse atmosphere for a sick chamber could
not possibly be imagined; and I admire the courage of Sir James Frere
in refusing to have anything to do with a case under such conditions.
These instructions of Mr. Trelawny to his daughter, and from what you
have told me, the care with which he has protected his wishes through
his solicitor, show that he suspected something, at any rate. Indeed,
it would almost seem as if he expected something to happen.... I wonder
if it would be possible to learn anything about that! Surely his
papers would show or suggest something.... It is a difficult matter to
tackle; but it might have to be done. His present condition cannot go
on for ever; and if anything should happen there would have to be an
inquest. In such case full examination would have to be made into
everything.... As it stands, the police evidence would show a murderous
attack more than once repeated. As no clue is apparent, it would be
necessary to seek one in a motive.”
He was silent. The last words seemed to come in a lower and lower tone
as he went on. It had the effect of hopelessness. It came to me as a
conviction that now was my time to find out if he had any definite
suspicion; and as if in obedience to some command, I asked:
“Do you suspect anyone?” He seemed in a way startled rather than
surprised as he turned his eyes on me:
“Suspect anyone? Any thing, you mean. I certainly suspect that there
is some influence; but at present my suspicion is held within such
limit. Later on, if there be any sufficiently definite conclusion to
my reasoning, or my thinking—for there are not proper data for
reasoning—I may suspect; at present however—”
He stopped suddenly and looked at the door. There was a faint sound as
the handle turned. My own heart seemed to stand still. There was over
me some grim, vague apprehension. The interruption in the morning,
when I was talking with the Detective, came back upon me with a rush.
The door opened, and Miss Trelawny entered the room.
When she saw us, she started back; and a deep flush swept her face.
For a few seconds she paused; at such a time a few succeeding seconds
seem to lengthen in geometrical progression. The strain upon me, and,
as I could easily see, on the Doctor also, relaxed as she spoke:
“Oh, forgive me, I did not know that you were engaged. I was looking
for you, Doctor Winchester, to ask you if I might go to bed tonight
with safety, as you will be here. I feel so tired and worn-out that I
fear I may break down; and tonight I would certainly not be of any
use.” Doctor Winchester answered heartily:
“Do! Do go to bed by all means, and get a good night’s sleep. God
knows! you want it. I am more than glad you have made the suggestion,
for I feared when I saw you tonight that I might have you on my hands a
patient next.”
She gave a sigh of relief, and the tired look seemed to melt from her
face. Never shall I forget the deep, earnest look in her great,
beautiful black eyes as she said to me:
“You will guard Father tonight, won’t you, with Doctor Winchester? I
am so anxious about him that every second brings new fears. But I am
really worn-out; and if I don’t get a good sleep, I think I shall go
mad. I will change my room for tonight. I’m afraid that if I stay so
close to Father’s room I shall multiply every sound into a new terror.
But, of course, you will have me waked if there be any cause. I shall
be in the bedroom of the little suite next the boudoir off the hall. I
had those rooms when first I came to live with Father, and I had no
care then.... It will be easier to rest there; and perhaps for a few
hours I may forget. I shall be all right in the morning. Good-night!”
When I had closed the door behind her and come back to the little table
at which we had been sitting, Doctor Winchester said:
“That poor girl is overwrought to a terrible degree. I am delighted
that she is to get a rest. It will be life to her; and in the morning
she will be all right. Her nervous system is on the verge of a
breakdown. Did you notice how fearfully disturbed she was, and how red
she got when she came in and found us talking? An ordinary thing like
that, in her own house with her own guests, wouldn’t under normal
circumstances disturb her!”
I was about to tell him, as an explanation in her defence, how her
entrance was a repetition of her finding the Detective and myself alone
together earlier in the day, when I remembered that that conversation
was so private that even an allusion to it might be awkward in evoking
curiosity. So I remained silent.
We stood up to go to the sick-room; but as we took our way through the
dimly-lighted corridor I could not help thinking, again and again, and
again—ay, and for many a day after—how strange it was that she had
interrupted me on two such occasions when touching on such a theme.
There was certainly some strange web of accidents, in whose meshes we
were all involved.
Chapter VII
The Traveller’s Loss
That night everything went well. Knowing that Miss Trelawny herself
was not on guard, Doctor Winchester and I doubled our vigilance. The
Nurses and Mrs. Grant kept watch, and the Detectives made their visit
each quarter of an hour. All night the patient remained in his trance.
He looked healthy, and his chest rose and fell with the easy breathing
of a child. But he never stirred; only for his breathing he might have
been of marble. Doctor Winchester and I wore our respirators, and
irksome they were on that intolerably hot night. Between midnight and
three o’clock I felt anxious, and had once more that creepy feeling to
which these last few nights had accustomed me; but the grey of the
dawn, stealing round the edges of the blinds, came with inexpressible
relief, followed by restfulness, went through the household. During
the hot night my ears, strained to every sound, had been almost
painfully troubled; as though my brain or sensoria were in anxious
touch with them. Every breath of the Nurse or the rustle of her dress;
every soft pat of slippered feet, as the Policeman went his rounds;
every moment of watching life, seemed to be a new impetus to
guardianship. Something of the same feeling must have been abroad in
the house; now and again I could hear upstairs the sound of restless
feet, and more than once downstairs the opening of a window. With the
coming of the dawn, however, all this ceased, and the whole household
seemed to rest. Doctor Winchester went home when Sister Doris came to
relieve Mrs. Grant. He was, I think, a little disappointed or
chagrined that nothing of an exceptional nature had happened during his
long night vigil.
At eight o’clock Miss Trelawny joined us, and I was amazed as well as
delighted to see how much good her night’s sleep had done her. She was
fairly radiant; just as I had seen her at our first meeting and at the
picnic. There was even a suggestion of colour in her cheeks, which,
however, looked startlingly white in contrast with her black brows and
scarlet lips. With her restored strength, there seemed to have come a
tenderness even exceeding that which she had at first shown to her sick
father. I could not but be moved by the loving touches as she fixed
his pillows and brushed the hair from his forehead.
I was wearied out myself with my long spell of watching; and now that
she was on guard I started off to bed, blinking my tired eyes in the
full light and feeling the weariness of a sleepless night on me all at
once.
I had a good sleep, and after lunch I was about to start out to walk to
Jermyn Street, when I noticed an importunate man at the hall door. The
servant in charge was the one called Morris, formerly the “odd man,”
but since the exodus of the servants promoted to be butler pro tem.
The stranger was speaking rather loudly, so that there was no
difficulty in understanding his grievance. The servant man was
respectful in both words and demeanour; but he stood squarely in front
of the great double door, so that the other could not enter. The first
words which I heard from the visitor sufficiently explained the
situation:
“That’s all very well, but I tell you I must see Mr. Trelawny! What is
the use of your saying I can’t, when I tell you I must. You put me
off, and off, and off! I came here at nine; you said then that he was
not up, and that as he was not well he could not be disturbed. I came
at twelve; and you told me again he was not up. I asked then to see
any of his household; you told me that Miss Trelawny was not up. Now I
come again at three, and you tell me he is still in bed, and is not
awake yet. Where is Miss Trelawny? ‘She is occupied and must not be
disturbed!’ Well, she must be disturbed! Or some one must. I am here
about Mr. Trelawny’s special business; and I have come from a place
where servants always begin by saying No. ‘No’ isn’t good enough for
me this time! I’ve had three years of it, waiting outside doors and
tents when it took longer to get in than it did into the tombs; and
then you would think, too, the men inside were as dead as the mummies.
I’ve had about enough of it, I tell you. And when I come home, and
find the door of the man I’ve been working for barred, in just the same
way and with the same old answers, it stirs me up the wrong way. Did
Mr. Trelawny leave orders that he would not see me when I should come?”
He paused and excitedly mopped his forehead. The servant answered very
respectfully:
“I am very sorry, sir, if in doing my duty I have given any offence.
But I have my orders, and must obey them. If you would like to leave
any message, I will give it to Miss Trelawny; and if you will leave
your address, she can communicate with you if she wishes.” The answer
came in such a way that it was easy to see that the speaker was a
kind-hearted man, and a just one.
“My good fellow, I have no fault to find with you personally; and I am
sorry if I have hurt your feelings. I must be just, even if I am
angry. But it is enough to anger any man to find himself in the
position I am. Time is pressing. There is not an hour—not a
minute—to lose! And yet here I am, kicking my heels for six hours;
knowing all the time that your master will be a hundred times angrier
than I am, when he hears how the time has been fooled away. He would
rather be waked out of a thousand sleeps than not see me just at
present—and before it is too late. My God! it’s simply dreadful,
after all I’ve gone through, to have my work spoiled at the last and be
foiled in the very doorway by a stupid flunkey! Is there no one with
sense in the house; or with authority, even if he hasn’t got sense? I
could mighty soon convince him that your master must be awakened; even
if he sleeps like the Seven Sleepers—”
There was no mistaking the man’s sincerity, or the urgency and
importance of his business; from his point of view at any rate. I
stepped forward.
“Morris,” I said, “you had better tell Miss Trelawny that this
gentleman wants to see her particularly. If she is busy, ask Mrs.
Grant to tell her.”
“Very good, sir!” he answered in a tone of relief, and hurried away.
I took the stranger into the little boudoir across the hall. As we
went he asked me:
“Are you the secretary?”
“No! I am a friend of Miss Trelawny’s. My name is Ross.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Ross, for your kindness!” he said. “My name
is Corbeck. I would give you my card, but they don’t use cards where
I’ve come from. And if I had had any, I suppose they, too, would have
gone last night—”
He stopped suddenly, as though conscious that he had said too much. We
both remained silent; as we waited I took stock of him. A short,
sturdy man, brown as a coffee-berry; possibly inclined to be fat, but
now lean exceedingly. The deep wrinkles in his face and neck were not
merely from time and exposure; there were those unmistakable signs
where flesh or fat has fallen away, and the skin has become loose. The
neck was simply an intricate surface of seams and wrinkles, and
sun-scarred with the burning of the Desert. The Far East, the Tropic
Seasons, and the Desert—each can have its colour mark. But all three
are quite different; and an eye which has once known, can thenceforth
easily distinguish them. The dusky pallor of one; the fierce red-brown
of the other; and of the third, the dark, ingrained burning, as though
it had become a permanent colour. Mr. Corbeck had a big head, massive
and full; with shaggy, dark red-brown hair, but bald on the temples.
His forehead was a fine one, high and broad; with, to use the terms of
physiognomy, the frontal sinus boldly marked. The squareness of it
showed “ratiocination”; and the fulness under the eyes “language”. He
had the short, broad nose that marks energy; the square chin—marked
despite a thick, unkempt beard—and massive jaw that showed great
resolution.
“No bad man for the Desert!” I thought as I looked.
Miss Trelawny came very quickly. When Mr. Corbeck saw her, he seemed
somewhat surprised. But his annoyance and excitement had not
disappeared; quite enough remained to cover up any such secondary and
purely exoteric feeling as surprise. But as she spoke he never took his
eyes off her; and I made a mental note that I would find some early
opportunity of investigating the cause of his surprise. She began with
an apology which quite smoothed down his ruffled feelings:
“Of course, had my Father been well you would not have been kept
waiting. Indeed, had not I been on duty in the sick-room when you
called the first time, I should have seen you at once. Now will you
kindly tell me what is the matter which so presses?” He looked at me
and hesitated. She spoke at once:
“You may say before Mr. Ross anything which you can tell me. He has my
fullest confidence, and is helping me in my trouble. I do not think
you quite understand how serious my Father’s condition is. For three
days he has not waked, or given any sign of consciousness; and I am in
terrible trouble about him. Unhappily I am in great ignorance of my
Father and his life. I only came to live with him a year ago; and I
know nothing whatever of his affairs. I do not even know who you are,
or in what way your business is associated with him.” She said this
with a little deprecating smile, all conventional and altogether
graceful; as though to express in the most genuine way her absurd
ignorance.
He looked steadily at her for perhaps a quarter of a minute; then he
spoke, beginning at once as though his mind were made up and his
confidence established:
“My name is Eugene Corbeck. I am a Master of Arts and Doctor of Laws
and Master of Surgery of Cambridge; Doctor of Letters of Oxford; Doctor
of Science and Doctor of Languages of London University; Doctor of
Philosophy of Berlin; Doctor of Oriental Languages of Paris. I have
some other degrees, honorary and otherwise, but I need not trouble you
with them. Those I have named will show you that I am sufficiently
feathered with diplomas to fly into even a sick-room. Early in
life—fortunately for my interests and pleasures, but unfortunately for
my pocket—I fell in with Egyptology. I must have been bitten by some
powerful scarab, for I took it bad. I went out tomb-hunting; and
managed to get a living of a sort, and to learn some things that you
can’t get out of books. I was in pretty low water when I met your
Father, who was doing some explorations on his own account; and since
then I haven’t found that I have many unsatisfied wants. He is a real
patron of the arts; no mad Egyptologist can ever hope for a better
chief!”
He spoke with feeling; and I was glad to see that Miss Trelawny
coloured up with pleasure at the praise of her father. I could not
help noticing, however, that Mr. Corbeck was, in a measure, speaking as
if against time. I took it that he wished, while speaking, to study
his ground; to see how far he would be justified in taking into
confidence the two strangers before him. As he went on, I could see
that his confidence kept increasing. When I thought of it afterward,
and remembered what he had said, I realised that the measure of the
information which he gave us marked his growing trust.
“I have been several times out on expeditions in Egypt for your Father;
and I have always found it a delight to work for him. Many of his
treasures—and he has some rare ones, I tell you—he has procured
through me, either by my exploration or by purchase—or—or—otherwise.
Your Father, Miss Trelawny, has a rare knowledge. He sometimes makes
up his mind that he wants to find a particular thing, of whose
existence—if it still exists—he has become aware; and he will follow
it all over the world till he gets it. I’ve been on just such a chase
now.”
He stopped suddenly, as suddenly as though his mouth had been shut by
the jerk of a string. We waited; when he went on he spoke with a
caution that was new to him, as though he wished to forestall our
asking any questions:
“I am not at liberty to mention anything of my mission; where it was
to, what it was for, or anything at all about it. Such matters are in
confidence between Mr. Trelawny and myself; I am pledged to absolute
secrecy.”
He paused, and an embarrassed look crept over his face. Suddenly he
said:
“You are sure, Miss Trelawny, your Father is not well enough to see me
today?”
A look of wonderment was on her face in turn. But it cleared at
once;—she stood up, saying in a tone in which dignity and graciousness
were blended:
“Come and see for yourself!” She moved toward her father’s room; he
followed, and I brought up the rear.
Mr. Corbeck entered the sick-room as though he knew it. There is an
unconscious attitude or bearing to persons in new surroundings which
there is no mistaking. Even in his anxiety to see his powerful friend,
he glanced for a moment round the room, as at a familiar place. Then
all his attention became fixed on the bed. I watched him narrowly, for
somehow I felt that on this man depended much of our enlightenment
regarding the strange matter in which we were involved.
It was not that I doubted him. The man was of transparent honesty; it
was this very quality which we had to dread. He was of that
courageous, fixed trueness to his undertaking, that if he should deem
it his duty to guard a secret he would do it to the last. The case
before us was, at least, an unusual one; and it would, consequently,
require more liberal recognition of bounds of the duty of secrecy than
would hold under ordinary conditions. To us, ignorance was
helplessness. If we could learn anything of the past we might at least
form some idea of the conditions antecedent to the attack; and might,
so, achieve some means of helping the patient to recovery. There were
curios which might be removed.... My thoughts were beginning to whirl
once again; I pulled myself up sharply and watched. There was a look
of infinite pity on the sun-stained, rugged face as he gazed at his
friend, lying so helpless. The sternness of Mr. Trelawny’s face had not
relaxed in sleep; but somehow it made the helplessness more marked. It
would not have troubled one to see a weak or an ordinary face under
such conditions; but this purposeful, masterful man, lying before us
wrapped in impenetrable sleep, had all the pathos of a great ruin. The
sight was not a new one to us; but I could see that Miss Trelawny, like
myself, was moved afresh by it in the presence of the stranger. Mr.
Corbeck’s face grew stern. All the pity died away; and in its stead
came a grim, hard look which boded ill for whoever had been the cause
of this mighty downfall. This look in turn gave place to one of
decision; the volcanic energy of the man was working to some definite
purpose. He glanced around at us; and as his eyes lighted on Nurse
Kennedy his eyebrows went up a trifle. She noted the look, and glanced
interrogatively at Miss Trelawny, who flashed back a reply with a
glance. She went quietly from the room, closing the door behind her.
Mr. Corbeck looked first at me, with a strong man’s natural impulse to
learn from a man rather than a woman; then at Miss Trelawny, with a
remembrance of the duty of courtesy, and said:
“Tell me all about it. How it began and when!” Miss Trelawny looked
at me appealingly; and forthwith I told him all that I knew. He
seemed to make no motion during the whole time; but insensibly the
bronze face became steel. When, at the end, I told him of Mr. Marvin’s
visit and of the Power of Attorney, his look began to brighten. And
when, seeing his interest in the matter, I went more into detail as to
its terms, he spoke:
“Good! Now I know where my duty lies!”
With a sinking heart I heard him. Such a phrase, coming at such a
time, seemed to close the door to my hopes of enlightenment.
“What do you mean?” I asked, feeling that my question was a feeble one.
His answer emphasized my fears:
“Trelawny knows what he is doing. He had some definite purpose in all
that he did; and we must not thwart him. He evidently expected
something to happen, and guarded himself at all points.”
“Not at all points!” I said impulsively. “There must have been a weak
spot somewhere, or he wouldn’t be lying here like that!” Somehow his
impassiveness surprised me. I had expected that he would find a valid
argument in my phrase; but it did not move him, at least not in the way
I thought. Something like a smile flickered over his swarthy face as
he answered me:
“This is not the end! Trelawny did not guard himself to no purpose.
Doubtless, he expected this too; or at any rate the possibility of it.”
“Do you know what he expected, or from what source?” The questioner
was Miss Trelawny.
The answer came at once: “No! I know nothing of either. I can
guess...” He stopped suddenly.
“Guess what?” The suppressed excitement in the girl’s voice was akin
to anguish. The steely look came over the swarthy face again; but there
was tenderness and courtesy in both voice and manner as he replied:
“Believe me, I would do anything I honestly could to relieve you
anxiety. But in this I have a higher duty.”
“What duty?”
“Silence!” As he spoke the word, the strong mouth closed like a steel
trap.
We all remained silent for a few minutes. In the intensity of our
thinking, the silence became a positive thing; the small sounds of life
within and without the house seemed intrusive. The first to break it
was Miss Trelawny. I had seen an idea—a hope—flash in her eyes; but
she steadied herself before speaking:
“What was the urgent subject on which you wanted to see me, knowing
that my Father was—not available?” The pause showed her mastery of
her thoughts.
The instantaneous change in Mr. Corbeck was almost ludicrous. His
start of surprise, coming close upon his iron-clad impassiveness, was
like a pantomimic change. But all idea of comedy was swept away by the
tragic earnestness with which he remembered his original purpose.
“My God!” he said, as he raised his hand from the chair back on which
it rested, and beat it down with a violence which would in itself have
arrested attention. His brows corrugated as he went on: “I quite
forgot! What a loss! Now of all times! Just at the moment of
success! He lying there helpless, and my tongue tied! Not able to
raise hand or foot in my ignorance of his wishes!”
“What is it? Oh, do tell us! I am so anxious about my dear Father!
Is it any new trouble? I hope not! oh, I hope not! I have had such
anxiety and trouble already! It alarms me afresh to hear you speak so!
Won’t you tell me something to allay this terrible anxiety and
uncertainty?”
He drew his sturdy form up to his full height as he said:
“Alas! I cannot, may not, tell you anything. It is his secret.” He
pointed to the bed. “And yet—and yet I came here for his advice, his
counsel, his assistance. And he lies there helpless.... And time is
flying by us! It may soon be too late!”
“What is it? what is it?” broke in Miss Trelawny in a sort of passion
of anxiety, her face drawn with pain. “Oh, speak! Say something!
This anxiety, and horror, and mystery are killing me!” Mr. Corbeck
calmed himself by a great effort.
“I may not tell you details; but I have had a great loss. My mission,
in which I have spent three years, was successful. I discovered all
that I sought—and more; and brought them home with me safely.
Treasures, priceless in themselves, but doubly precious to him by whose
wishes and instructions I sought them. I arrived in London only last
night, and when I woke this morning my precious charge was stolen.
Stolen in some mysterious way. Not a soul in London knew that I was
arriving. No one but myself knew what was in the shabby portmanteau
that I carried. My room had but one door, and that I locked and
bolted. The room was high in the house, five stories up, so that no
entrance could have been obtained by the window. Indeed, I had closed
the window myself and shut the hasp, for I wished to be secure in every
way. This morning the hasp was untouched.... And yet my portmanteau
was empty. The lamps were gone! ... There! it is out. I went to Egypt
to search for a set of antique lamps which Mr. Trelawny wished to
trace. With incredible labour, and through many dangers, I followed
them. I brought them safe home.... And now!” He turned away much
moved. Even his iron nature was breaking down under the sense of loss.
Miss Trelawny stepped over and laid her hand on his arm. I looked at
her in amazement. All the passion and pain which had so moved her
seemed to have taken the form of resolution. Her form was erect, her
eyes blazed; energy was manifest in every nerve and fibre of her being.
Even her voice was full of nervous power as she spoke. It was apparent
that she was a marvellously strong woman, and that her strength could
answer when called upon.
“We must act at once! My Father’s wishes must be carried out if it is
possible to us. Mr. Ross, you are a lawyer. We have actually in the
house a man whom you consider one of the best detectives in London.
Surely we can do something. We can begin at once!” Mr. Corbeck took
new life from her enthusiasm.
“Good! You are your Father’s daughter!” was all he said. But his
admiration for her energy was manifested by the impulsive way in which
he took her hand. I moved over to the door. I was going to bring
Sergeant Daw; and from her look of approval, I knew that Margaret—Miss
Trelawny—understood. I was at the door when Mr. Corbeck called me
back.
“One moment,” he said, “before we bring a stranger on the scene. It
must be borne in mind that he is not to know what you know now, that
the lamps were the objects of a prolonged and difficult and dangerous
search. All I can tell him, all that he must know from any source, is
that some of my property has been stolen. I must describe some of the
lamps, especially one, for it is of gold; and my fear is lest the
thief, ignorant of its historic worth, may, in order to cover up his
crime, have it melted. I would willingly pay ten, twenty, a hundred, a
thousand times its intrinsic value rather than have it destroyed. I
shall tell him only what is necessary. So, please, let me answer any
questions he may ask; unless, of course, I ask you or refer to either
of you for the answer.” We both nodded acquiescence. Then a thought
struck me and I said:
“By the way, if it be necessary to keep this matter quiet it will be
better to have it if possible a private job for the Detective. If once
a thing gets to Scotland Yard it is out of our power to keep it quiet,
and further secrecy may be impossible. I shall sound Sergeant Daw
before he comes up. If I say nothing, it will mean that he accepts the
task and will deal with it privately.” Mr. Corbeck answered at once:
“Secrecy is everything. The one thing I dread is that the lamps, or
some of them, may be destroyed at once.” To my intense astonishment
Miss Trelawny spoke out at once, but quietly, in a decided voice:
“They will not be destroyed; nor any of them!” Mr. Corbeck actually
smiled in amazement.
“How on earth do you know?” he asked. Her answer was still more
incomprehensible:
“I don’t know how I know it; but know it I do. I feel it all through
me; as though it were a conviction which has been with me all my life!”
Chapter VIII
The Finding of the Lamps
Sergeant Daw at first made some demur; but finally agreed to advise
privately on a matter which might be suggested to him. He added that I
was to remember that he only undertook to advise; for if action were
required he might have to refer the matter to headquarters. With this
understanding I left him in the study, and brought Miss Trelawny and
Mr. Corbeck to him. Nurse Kennedy resumed her place at the bedside
before we left the room.
I could not but admire the cautious, cool-headed precision with which
the traveller stated his case. He did not seem to conceal anything,
and yet he gave the least possible description of the objects missing.
He did not enlarge on the mystery of the case; he seemed to look on it
as an ordinary hotel theft. Knowing, as I did, that his one object was
to recover the articles before their identity could be obliterated, I
could see the rare intellectual skill with which he gave the necessary
matter and held back all else, though without seeming to do so.
“Truly,” thought I, “this man has learned the lesson of the Eastern
bazaars; and with Western intellect has improved upon his masters!” He
quite conveyed his idea to the Detective, who, after thinking the
matter over for a few moments, said:
“Pot or scale? that is the question.”
“What does that mean?” asked the other, keenly alert.
“An old thieves’ phrase from Birmingham. I thought that in these days
of slang everyone knew that. In old times at Brum, which had a lot of
small metal industries, the gold- and silver-smiths used to buy metal
from almost anyone who came along. And as metal in small quantities
could generally be had cheap when they didn’t ask where it came from,
it got to be a custom to ask only one thing—whether the customer
wanted the goods melted, in which case the buyer made the price, and
the melting-pot was always on the fire. If it was to be preserved in
its present state at the buyer’s option, it went into the scale and
fetched standard price for old metal.
“There is a good deal of such work done still, and in other places than
Brum. When we’re looking for stolen watches we often come across the
works, and it’s not possible to identify wheels and springs out of a
heap; but it’s not often that we come across cases that are wanted.
Now, in the present instance much will depend on whether the thief is a
good man—that’s what they call a man who knows his work. A
first-class crook will know whether a thing is of more value than
merely the metal in it; and in such case he would put it with someone
who could place it later on—in America or France, perhaps. By the
way, do you think anyone but yourself could identify your lamps?”
“No one but myself!”
“Are there others like them?”
“Not that I know of,” answered Mr. Corbeck; “though there may be others
that resemble them in many particulars.” The Detective paused before
asking again: “Would any other skilled person—at the British Museum,
for instance, or a dealer, or a collector like Mr. Trelawny, know the
value—the artistic value—of the lamps?”
“Certainly! Anyone with a head on his shoulders would see at a glance
that the things were valuable.”
The Detective’s face brightened. “Then there is a chance. If your
door was locked and the window shut, the goods were not stolen by the
chance of a chambermaid or a boots coming along. Whoever did the job
went after it special; and he ain’t going to part with his swag without
his price. This must be a case of notice to the pawnbrokers. There’s
one good thing about it, anyhow, that the hue and cry needn’t be given.
We needn’t tell Scotland Yard unless you like; we can work the thing
privately. If you wish to keep the thing dark, as you told me at the
first, that is our chance.” Mr. Corbeck, after a pause, said quietly:
“I suppose you couldn’t hazard a suggestion as to how the robbery was
effected?” The Policeman smiled the smile of knowledge and experience.
“In a very simple way, I have no doubt, sir. That is how all these
mysterious crimes turn out in the long-run. The criminal knows his
work and all the tricks of it; and he is always on the watch for
chances. Moreover, he knows by experience what these chances are likely
to be, and how they usually come. The other person is only careful; he
doesn’t know all the tricks and pits that may be made for him, and by
some little oversight or other he falls into the trap. When we know
all about this case, you will wonder that you did not see the method of
it all along!” This seemed to annoy Mr. Corbeck a little; there was
decided heat in his manner as he answered:
“Look here, my good friend, there is not anything simple about this
case—except that the things were taken. The window was closed; the
fireplace was bricked up. There is only one door to the room, and that
I locked and bolted. There is no transom; I have heard all about hotel
robberies through the transom. I never left my room in the night. I
looked at the things before going to bed; and I went to look at them
again when I woke up. If you can rig up any kind of simple robbery out
of these facts you are a clever man. That’s all I say; clever enough
to go right away and get my things back.” Miss Trelawny laid her hand
upon his arm in a soothing way, and said quietly:
“Do not distress yourself unnecessarily. I am sure they will turn up.”
Sergeant Daw turned to her so quickly that I could not help remembering
vividly his suspicions of her, already formed, as he said:
“May I ask, miss, on what you base that opinion?”
I dreaded to hear her answer, given to ears already awake to suspicion;
but it came to me as a new pain or shock all the same:
“I cannot tell you how I know. But I am sure of it!” The Detective
looked at her for some seconds in silence, and then threw a quick
glance at me.
Presently he had a little more conversation with Mr. Corbeck as to his
own movements, the details of the hotel and the room, and the means of
identifying the goods. Then he went away to commence his inquiries,
Mr. Corbeck impressing on him the necessity for secrecy lest the thief
should get wind of his danger and destroy the lamps. Mr. Corbeck
promised, when going away to attend to various matters of his own
business, to return early in the evening, and to stay in the house.
All that day Miss Trelawny was in better spirits and looked in better
strength than she had yet been, despite the new shock and annoyance of
the theft which must ultimately bring so much disappointment to her
father.
We spent most of the day looking over the curio treasures of Mr.
Trelawny. From what I had heard from Mr. Corbeck I began to have some
idea of the vastness of his enterprise in the world of Egyptian
research; and with this light everything around me began to have a new
interest. As I went on, the interest grew; any lingering doubts which
I might have had changed to wonder and admiration. The house seemed to
be a veritable storehouse of marvels of antique art. In addition to
the curios, big and little, in Mr. Trelawny’s own room—from the great
sarcophagi down to the scarabs of all kinds in the cabinets—the great
hall, the staircase landings, the study, and even the boudoir were full
of antique pieces which would have made a collector’s mouth water.
Miss Trelawny from the first came with me, and looked with growing
interest at everything. After having examined some cabinets of
exquisite amulets she said to me in quite a naive way:
“You will hardly believe that I have of late seldom even looked at any
of these things. It is only since Father has been ill that I seem to
have even any curiosity about them. But now, they grow and grow on me
to quite an absorbing degree. I wonder if it is that the collector’s
blood which I have in my veins is beginning to manifest itself. If so,
the strange thing is that I have not felt the call of it before. Of
course I know most of the big things, and have examined them more or
less; but really, in a sort of way I have always taken them for
granted, as though they had always been there. I have noticed the same
thing now and again with family pictures, and the way they are taken
for granted by the family. If you will let me examine them with you it
will be delightful!”
It was a joy to me to hear her talk in such a way; and her last
suggestion quite thrilled me. Together we went round the various rooms
and passages, examining and admiring the magnificent curios. There was
such a bewildering amount and variety of objects that we could only
glance at most of them; but as we went along we arranged that we should
take them seriatim, day by day, and examine them more closely. In the
hall was a sort of big frame of floriated steel work which Margaret
said her father used for lifting the heavy stone lids of the
sarcophagi. It was not heavy and could be moved about easily enough.
By aid of this we raised the covers in turn and looked at the endless
series of hieroglyphic pictures cut in most of them. In spite of her
profession of ignorance Margaret knew a good deal about them; her year
of life with her father had had unconsciously its daily and hourly
lesson. She was a remarkably clever and acute-minded girl, and with a
prodigious memory; so that her store of knowledge, gathered
unthinkingly bit by bit, had grown to proportions that many a scholar
might have envied.
And yet it was all so naive and unconscious; so girlish and simple.
She was so fresh in her views and ideas, and had so little thought of
self, that in her companionship I forgot for the time all the troubles
and mysteries which enmeshed the house; and I felt like a boy again....
The most interesting of the sarcophagi were undoubtedly the three in
Mr. Trelawny’s room. Of these, two were of dark stone, one of porphyry
and the other of a sort of ironstone. These were wrought with some
hieroglyphs. But the third was strikingly different. It was of some
yellow-brown substance of the dominating colour effect of Mexican onyx,
which it resembled in many ways, excepting that the natural pattern of
its convolutions was less marked. Here and there were patches almost
transparent—certainly translucent. The whole chest, cover and all,
was wrought with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of minute hieroglyphics,
seemingly in an endless series. Back, front, sides, edges, bottom, all
had their quota of the dainty pictures, the deep blue of their
colouring showing up fresh and sharply edged in the yellow stone. It
was very long, nearly nine feet; and perhaps a yard wide. The sides
undulated, so that there was no hard line. Even the corners took such
excellent curves that they pleased the eye. “Truly,” I said, “this
must have been made for a giant!”
“Or for a giantess!” said Margaret.
This sarcophagus stood near to one of the windows. It was in one
respect different from all the other sarcophagi in the place. All the
others in the house, of whatever material—granite, porphyry,
ironstone, basalt, slate, or wood—were quite simple in form within.
Some of them were plain of interior surface; others were engraved, in
whole or part, with hieroglyphics. But each and all of them had no
protuberances or uneven surface anywhere. They might have been used
for baths; indeed, they resembled in many ways Roman baths of stone or
marble which I had seen. Inside this, however, was a raised space,
outlined like a human figure. I asked Margaret if she could explain it
in any way. For answer she said:
“Father never wished to speak about this. It attracted my attention
from the first; but when I asked him about it he said: ‘I shall tell
you all about it some day, little girl—if I live! But not yet! The
story is not yet told, as I hope to tell it to you! Some day, perhaps
soon, I shall know all; and then we shall go over it together. And a
mighty interesting story you will find it—from first to last!’ Once
afterward I said, rather lightly I am afraid: ‘Is that story of the
sarcophagus told yet, Father?’ He shook his head, and looked at me
gravely as he said: ‘Not yet, little girl; but it will be—if I
live—if I live!’ His repeating that phrase about his living rather
frightened me; I never ventured to ask him again.”
Somehow this thrilled me. I could not exactly say how or why; but it
seemed like a gleam of light at last. There are, I think, moments when
the mind accepts something as true; though it can account for neither
the course of the thought, nor, if there be more than one thought, the
connection between them. Hitherto we had been in such outer darkness
regarding Mr. Trelawny, and the strange visitation which had fallen on
him, that anything which afforded a clue, even of the faintest and most
shadowy kind, had at the outset the enlightening satisfaction of a
certainty. Here were two lights of our puzzle. The first that Mr.
Trelawny associated with this particular curio a doubt of his own
living. The second that he had some purpose or expectation with regard
to it, which he would not disclose, even to his daughter, till
complete. Again it was to be borne in mind that this sarcophagus
differed internally from all the others. What meant that odd raised
place? I said nothing to Miss Trelawny, for I feared lest I should
either frighten her or buoy her up with future hopes; but I made up my
mind that I would take an early opportunity for further investigation.
Close beside the sarcophagus was a low table of green stone with red
veins in it, like bloodstone. The feet were fashioned like the paws of
a jackal, and round each leg was twined a full-throated snake wrought
exquisitely in pure gold. On it rested a strange and very beautiful
coffer or casket of stone of a peculiar shape. It was something like a
small coffin, except that the longer sides, instead of being cut off
square like the upper or level part were continued to a point. Thus it
was an irregular septahedron, there being two planes on each of the two
sides, one end and a top and bottom. The stone, of one piece of which
it was wrought, was such as I had never seen before. At the base it
was of a full green, the colour of emerald without, of course, its
gleam. It was not by any means dull, however, either in colour or
substance, and was of infinite hardness and fineness of texture. The
surface was almost that of a jewel. The colour grew lighter as it
rose, with gradation so fine as to be imperceptible, changing to a fine
yellow almost of the colour of “mandarin” china. It was quite unlike
anything I had ever seen, and did not resemble any stone or gem that I
knew. I took it to be some unique mother-stone, or matrix of some gem.
It was wrought all over, except in a few spots, with fine
hieroglyphics, exquisitely done and coloured with the same blue-green
cement or pigment that appeared on the sarcophagus. In length it was
about two feet and a half; in breadth about half this, and was nearly a
foot high. The vacant spaces were irregularly distributed about the
top running to the pointed end. These places seemed less opaque than
the rest of the stone. I tried to lift up the lid so that I might see
if they were translucent; but it was securely fixed. It fitted so
exactly that the whole coffer seemed like a single piece of stone
mysteriously hollowed from within. On the sides and edges were some
odd-looking protuberances wrought just as finely as any other portion
of the coffer which had been sculptured by manifest design in the
cutting of the stone. They had queer-shaped holes or hollows,
different in each; and, like the rest, were covered with the
hieroglyphic figures, cut finely and filled in with the same blue-green
cement.
On the other side of the great sarcophagus stood another small table of
alabaster, exquisitely chased with symbolic figures of gods and the
signs of the zodiac. On this table stood a case of about a foot square
composed of slabs of rock crystal set in a skeleton of bands of red
gold, beautifully engraved with hieroglyphics, and coloured with a blue
green, very much the tint of the figures on the sarcophagus and the
coffer. The whole work was quite modern.
But if the case was modern what it held was not. Within, on a cushion
of cloth of gold as fine as silk, and with the peculiar softness of old
gold, rested a mummy hand, so perfect that it startled one to see it.
A woman’s hand, fine and long, with slim tapering fingers and nearly as
perfect as when it was given to the embalmer thousands of years before.
In the embalming it had lost nothing of its beautiful shape; even the
wrist seemed to maintain its pliability as the gentle curve lay on the
cushion. The skin was of a rich creamy or old ivory colour; a dusky
fair skin which suggested heat, but heat in shadow. The great
peculiarity of it, as a hand, was that it had in all seven fingers,
there being two middle and two index fingers. The upper end of the
wrist was jagged, as though it had been broken off, and was stained
with a red-brown stain. On the cushion near the hand was a small
scarab, exquisitely wrought of emerald.
“That is another of Father’s mysteries. When I asked him about it he
said that it was perhaps the most valuable thing he had, except one.
When I asked him what that one was, he refused to tell me, and forbade
me to ask him anything concerning it. ‘I will tell you,’ he said, ‘all
about it, too, in good time—if I live!’”
“If I live!” the phrase again. These three things grouped together,
the Sarcophagus, the Coffer, and the Hand, seemed to make a trilogy of
mystery indeed!
At this time Miss Trelawny was sent for on some domestic matter. I
looked at the other curios in the room; but they did not seem to have
anything like the same charm for me, now that she was away. Later on
in the day I was sent for to the boudoir where she was consulting with
Mrs. Grant as to the lodgment of Mr. Corbeck. They were in doubt as to
whether he should have a room close to Mr. Trelawny’s or quite away
from it, and had thought it well to ask my advice on the subject. I
came to the conclusion that he had better not be too near; for the
first at all events, he could easily be moved closer if necessary.
When Mrs. Grant had gone, I asked Miss Trelawny how it came that the
furniture of this room, the boudoir in which we were, was so different
from the other rooms of the house.
“Father’s forethought!” she answered. “When I first came, he thought,
and rightly enough, that I might get frightened with so many records of
death and the tomb everywhere. So he had this room and the little
suite off it—that door opens into the sitting-room—where I slept last
night, furnished with pretty things. You see, they are all beautiful.
That cabinet belonged to the great Napoleon.”
“There is nothing Egyptian in these rooms at all then?” I asked, rather
to show interest in what she had said than anything else, for the
furnishing of the room was apparent. “What a lovely cabinet! May I
look at it?”
“Of course! with the greatest pleasure!” she answered, with a smile.
“Its finishing, within and without, Father says, is absolutely
complete.” I stepped over and looked at it closely. It was made of
tulip wood, inlaid in patterns; and was mounted in ormolu. I pulled
open one of the drawers, a deep one where I could see the work to great
advantage. As I pulled it, something rattled inside as though rolling;
there was a tinkle as of metal on metal.
“Hullo!” I said. “There is something in here. Perhaps I had better
not open it.”
“There is nothing that I know of,” she answered. “Some of the
housemaids may have used it to put something by for the time and
forgotten it. Open it by all means!”
I pulled open the drawer; as I did so, both Miss Trelawny and I started
back in amazement.
There before our eyes lay a number of ancient Egyptian lamps, of
various sizes and of strangely varied shapes.
We leaned over them and looked closely. My own heart was beating like
a trip-hammer; and I could see by the heaving of Margaret’s bosom that
she was strangely excited.
Whilst we looked, afraid to touch and almost afraid to think, there was
a ring at the front door; immediately afterwards Mr. Corbeck, followed
by Sergeant Daw, came into the hall. The door of the boudoir was open,
and when they saw us Mr. Corbeck came running in, followed more slowly
by the Detective. There was a sort of chastened joy in his face and
manner as he said impulsively:
“Rejoice with me, my dear Miss Trelawny, my luggage has come and all my
things are intact!” Then his face fell as he added, “Except the lamps.
The lamps that were worth all the rest a thousand times....” He
stopped, struck by the strange pallor of her face. Then his eyes,
following her look and mine, lit on the cluster of lamps in the drawer.
He gave a sort of cry of surprise and joy as he bent over and touched
them:
“My lamps! My lamps! Then they are safe—safe—safe! ... But how, in
the name of God—of all the Gods—did they come here?”
We all stood silent. The Detective made a deep sound of in-taking
breath. I looked at him, and as he caught my glance he turned his eyes
on Miss Trelawny whose back was toward him.
There was in them the same look of suspicion which had been there when
he had spoken to me of her being the first to find her father on the
occasions of the attacks.
Chapter IX
The Need of Knowledge
Mr. Corbeck seemed to go almost off his head at the recovery of the
lamps. He took them up one by one and looked them all over tenderly,
as though they were things that he loved. In his delight and
excitement he breathed so hard that it seemed almost like a cat
purring. Sergeant Daw said quietly, his voice breaking the silence
like a discord in a melody:
“Are you quite sure those lamps are the ones you had, and that were
stolen?”
His answer was in an indignant tone: “Sure! Of course I’m sure.
There isn’t another set of lamps like these in the world!”
“So far as you know!” The Detective’s words were smooth enough, but
his manner was so exasperating that I was sure he had some motive in
it; so I waited in silence. He went on:
“Of course there may be some in the British Museum; or Mr. Trelawny may
have had these already. There’s nothing new under the sun, you know,
Mr. Corbeck; not even in Egypt. These may be the originals, and yours
may have been the copies. Are there any points by which you can
identify these as yours?”
Mr. Corbeck was really angry by this time. He forgot his reserve; and
in his indignation poured forth a torrent of almost incoherent, but
enlightening, broken sentences:
“Identify! Copies of them! British Museum! Rot! Perhaps they keep a
set in Scotland Yard for teaching idiot policemen Egyptology! Do I
know them? When I have carried them about my body, in the desert, for
three months; and lay awake night after night to watch them! When I
have looked them over with a magnifying-glass, hour after hour, till my
eyes ached; till every tiny blotch, and chip, and dinge became as
familiar to me as his chart to a captain; as familiar as they doubtless
have been all the time to every thick-headed area-prowler within the
bounds of mortality. See here, young man, look at these!” He ranged
the lamps in a row on the top of the cabinet. “Did you ever see a set
of lamps of these shapes—of any one of these shapes? Look at these
dominant figures on them! Did you ever see so complete a set—even in
Scotland Yard; even in Bow Street? Look! one on each, the seven forms
of Hathor. Look at that figure of the Ka of a Princess of the Two
Egypts, standing between Ra and Osiris in the Boat of the Dead, with
the Eye of Sleep, supported on legs, bending before her; and Harmochis
rising in the north. Will you find that in the British Museum—or Bow
Street? Or perhaps your studies in the Gizeh Museum, or the
Fitzwilliam, or Paris, or Leyden, or Berlin, have shown you that the
episode is common in hieroglyphics; and that this is only a copy.
Perhaps you can tell me what that figure of Ptah-Seker-Ausar holding
the Tet wrapped in the Sceptre of Papyrus means? Did you ever see it
before; even in the British Museum, or Gizeh, or Scotland Yard?”
He broke off suddenly; and then went on in quite a different way:
“Look here! it seems to me that the thick-headed idiot is myself! I
beg your pardon, old fellow, for my rudeness. I quite lost my temper
at the suggestion that I do not know these lamps. You don’t mind, do
you?” The Detective answered heartily:
“Lord, sir, not I. I like to see folks angry when I am dealing with
them, whether they are on my side or the other. It is when people are
angry that you learn the truth from them. I keep cool; that is my
trade! Do you know, you have told me more about those lamps in the
past two minutes than when you filled me up with details of how to
identify them.”
Mr. Corbeck grunted; he was not pleased at having given himself away.
All at once he turned to me and said in his natural way:
“Now tell me how you got them back?” I was so surprised that I said
without thinking:
“We didn’t get them back!” The traveller laughed openly.
“What on earth do you mean?” he asked. “You didn’t get them back!
Why, there they are before your eyes! We found you looking at them
when we came in.” By this time I had recovered my surprise and had my
wits about me.
“Why, that’s just it,” I said. “We had only come across them, by
accident, that very moment!”
Mr. Corbeck drew back and looked hard at Miss Trelawny and myself;
turning his eyes from one to the other as he asked:
“Do you mean to tell me that no one brought them here; that you found
them in that drawer? That, so to speak, no one at all brought them
back?”
“I suppose someone must have brought them here; they couldn’t have come
of their own accord. But who it was, or when, or how, neither of us
knows. We shall have to make inquiry, and see if any of the servants
know anything of it.”
We all stood silent for several seconds. It seemed a long time. The
first to speak was the Detective, who said in an unconscious way:
“Well, I’m damned! I beg your pardon, miss!” Then his mouth shut like
a steel trap.
We called up the servants, one by one, and asked them if they knew
anything of some articles placed in a drawer in the boudoir; but none
of them could throw any light on the circumstance. We did not tell
them what the articles were; or let them see them.
Mr. Corbeck packed the lamps in cotton wool, and placed them in a tin
box. This, I may mention incidentally, was then brought up to the
detectives’ room, where one of the men stood guard over them with a
revolver the whole night. Next day we got a small safe into the house,
and placed them in it. There were two different keys. One of them I
kept myself; the other I placed in my drawer in the Safe Deposit vault.
We were all determined that the lamps should not be lost again.
About an hour after we had found the lamps, Doctor Winchester arrived.
He had a large parcel with him, which, when unwrapped, proved to be the
mummy of a cat. With Miss Trelawny’s permission he placed this in the
boudoir; and Silvio was brought close to it. To the surprise of us
all, however, except perhaps Doctor Winchester, he did not manifest the
least annoyance; he took no notice of it whatever. He stood on the
table close beside it, purring loudly. Then, following out his plan,
the Doctor brought him into Mr. Trelawny’s room, we all following.
Doctor Winchester was excited; Miss Trelawny anxious. I was more than
interested myself, for I began to have a glimmering of the Doctor’s
idea. The Detective was calmly and coldly superior; but Mr. Corbeck,
who was an enthusiast, was full of eager curiosity.
The moment Doctor Winchester got into the room, Silvio began to mew and
wriggle; and jumping out of his arms, ran over to the cat mummy and
began to scratch angrily at it. Miss Trelawny had some difficulty in
taking him away; but so soon as he was out of the room he became quiet.
When she came back there was a clamour of comments:
“I thought so!” from the Doctor.
“What can it mean?” from Miss Trelawny.
“That’s a very strange thing!” from Mr. Corbeck.
“Odd! but it doesn’t prove anything!” from the Detective.
“I suspend my judgment!” from myself, thinking it advisable to say
something.
Then by common consent we dropped the theme—for the present.
In my room that evening I was making some notes of what had happened,
when there came a low tap on the door. In obedience to my summons
Sergeant Daw came in, carefully closing the door behind him.
“Well, Sergeant,” said I, “sit down. What is it?”
“I wanted to speak to you, sir, about those lamps.” I nodded and
waited: he went on: “You know that that room where they were found
opens directly into the room where Miss Trelawny slept last night?”
“Yes.”
“During the night a window somewhere in that part of the house was
opened, and shut again. I heard it, and took a look round; but I could
see no sign of anything.”
“Yes, I know that!” I said; “I heard a window moved myself.”
“Does nothing strike you as strange about it, sir?”
“Strange!” I said; “Strange! why it’s all the most bewildering,
maddening thing I have ever encountered. It is all so strange that one
seems to wonder, and simply waits for what will happen next. But what
do you mean by strange?”
The Detective paused, as if choosing his words to begin; and then said
deliberately:
“You see, I am not one who believes in magic and such things. I am for
facts all the time; and I always find in the long-run that there is a
reason and a cause for everything. This new gentleman says these
things were stolen out of his room in the hotel. The lamps, I take it
from some things he has said, really belong to Mr. Trelawny. His
daughter, the lady of the house, having left the room she usually
occupies, sleeps that night on the ground floor. A window is heard to
open and shut during the night. When we, who have been during the day
trying to find a clue to the robbery, come to the house, we find the
stolen goods in a room close to where she slept, and opening out of it!”
He stopped. I felt that same sense of pain and apprehension, which I
had experienced when he had spoken to me before, creeping, or rather
rushing, over me again. I had to face the matter out, however. My
relations with her, and the feeling toward her which I now knew full
well meant a very deep love and devotion, demanded so much. I said as
calmly as I could, for I knew the keen eyes of the skilful investigator
were on me:
“And the inference?”
He answered with the cool audacity of conviction:
“The inference to me is that there was no robbery at all. The goods
were taken by someone to this house, where they were received through a
window on the ground floor. They were placed in the cabinet, ready to
be discovered when the proper time should come!”
Somehow I felt relieved; the assumption was too monstrous. I did not
want, however, my relief to be apparent, so I answered as gravely as I
could:
“And who do you suppose brought them to the house?”
“I keep my mind open as to that. Possibly Mr. Corbeck himself; the
matter might be too risky to trust to a third party.”
“Then the natural extension of your inference is that Mr. Corbeck is a
liar and a fraud; and that he is in conspiracy with Miss Trelawny to
deceive someone or other about those lamps.”
“Those are harsh words, Mr. Ross. They’re so plain-spoken that they
bring a man up standing, and make new doubts for him. But I have to go
where my reason points. It may be that there is another party than
Miss Trelawny in it. Indeed, if it hadn’t been for the other matter
that set me thinking and bred doubts of its own about her, I wouldn’t
dream of mixing her up in this. But I’m safe on Corbeck. Whoever else
is in it, he is! The things couldn’t have been taken without his
connivance—if what he says is true. If it isn’t—well! he is a liar
anyhow. I would think it a bad job to have him stay in the house with
so many valuables, only that it will give me and my mate a chance of
watching him. We’ll keep a pretty good look-out, too, I tell you.
He’s up in my room now, guarding those lamps; but Johnny Wright is
there too. I go on before he comes off; so there won’t be much chance
of another house-breaking. Of course, Mr. Ross, all this, too, is
between you and me.”
“Quite so! You may depend on my silence!” I said; and he went away to
keep a close eye on the Egyptologist.
It seemed as though all my painful experiences were to go in pairs, and
that the sequence of the previous day was to be repeated; for before
long I had another private visit from Doctor Winchester who had now
paid his nightly visit to his patient and was on his way home. He took
the seat which I proffered and began at once:
“This is a strange affair altogether. Miss Trelawny has just been
telling me about the stolen lamps, and of the finding of them in the
Napoleon cabinet. It would seem to be another complication of the
mystery; and yet, do you know, it is a relief to me. I have exhausted
all human and natural possibilities of the case, and am beginning to
fall back on superhuman and supernatural possibilities. Here are such
strange things that, if I am not going mad, I think we must have a
solution before long. I wonder if I might ask some questions and some
help from Mr. Corbeck, without making further complications and
embarrassing us. He seems to know an amazing amount regarding Egypt
and all relating to it. Perhaps he wouldn’t mind translating a little
bit of hieroglyphic. It is child’s play to him. What do you think?”
When I had thought the matter over a few seconds I spoke. We wanted
all the help we could get. For myself, I had perfect confidence in
both men; and any comparing notes, or mutual assistance, might bring
good results. Such could hardly bring evil.
“By all means I should ask him. He seems an extraordinarily learned
man in Egyptology; and he seems to me a good fellow as well as an
enthusiast. By the way, it will be necessary to be a little guarded as
to whom you speak regarding any information which he may give you.”
“Of course!” he answered. “Indeed I should not dream of saying
anything to anybody, excepting yourself. We have to remember that when
Mr. Trelawny recovers he may not like to think that we have been
chattering unduly over his affairs.”
“Look here!” I said, “why not stay for a while: and I shall ask him to
come and have a pipe with us. We can then talk over things.”
He acquiesced: so I went to the room where Mr. Corbeck was, and
brought him back with me. I thought the detectives were pleased at his
going. On the way to my room he said:
“I don’t half like leaving those things there, with only those men to
guard them. They’re a deal sight too precious to be left to the police!”
From which it would appear that suspicion was not confined to Sergeant
Daw.
Mr. Corbeck and Doctor Winchester, after a quick glance at each other,
became at once on most friendly terms. The traveller professed his
willingness to be of any assistance which he could, provided, he added,
that it was anything about which he was free to speak. This was not
very promising; but Doctor Winchester began at once:
“I want you, if you will, to translate some hieroglyphic for me.”
“Certainly, with the greatest pleasure, so far as I can. For I may
tell you that hieroglyphic writing is not quite mastered yet; though we
are getting at it! We are getting at it! What is the inscription?”
“There are two,” he answered. “One of them I shall bring here.”
He went out, and returned in a minute with the mummy cat which he had
that evening introduced to Silvio. The scholar took it; and, after a
short examination, said:
“There is nothing especial in this. It is an appeal to Bast, the Lady
of Bubastis, to give her good bread and milk in the Elysian Fields.
There may be more inside; and if you will care to unroll it, I will do
my best. I do not think, however, that there is anything special.
From the method of wrapping I should say it is from the Delta; and of a
late period, when such mummy work was common and cheap. What is the
other inscription you wish me to see?”
“The inscription on the mummy cat in Mr. Trelawny’s room.”
Mr. Corbeck’s face fell. “No!” he said, “I cannot do that! I am, for
the present at all events, practically bound to secrecy regarding any
of the things in Mr. Trelawny’s room.”
Doctor Winchester’s comment and my own were made at the same moment. I
said only the one word “Checkmate!” from which I think he may have
gathered that I guessed more of his idea and purpose than perhaps I had
intentionally conveyed to him. He murmured:
“Practically bound to secrecy?”
Mr. Corbeck at once took up the challenge conveyed:
“Do not misunderstand me! I am not bound by any definite pledge of
secrecy; but I am bound in honour to respect Mr. Trelawny’s confidence,
given to me, I may tell you, in a very large measure. Regarding many
of the objects in his room he has a definite purpose in view; and it
would not be either right or becoming for me, his trusted friend and
confidant, to forestall that purpose. Mr. Trelawny, you may know—or
rather you do not know or you would not have so construed my remark—is
a scholar, a very great scholar. He has worked for years toward a
certain end. For this he has spared no labour, no expense, no personal
danger or self-denial. He is on the line of a result which will place
him amongst the foremost discoverers or investigators of his age. And
now, just at the time when any hour might bring him success, he is
stricken down!”
He stopped, seemingly overcome with emotion. After a time he recovered
himself and went on:
“Again, do not misunderstand me as to another point. I have said that
Mr. Trelawny has made much confidence with me; but I do not mean to
lead you to believe that I know all his plans, or his aims or objects.
I know the period which he has been studying; and the definite
historical individual whose life he has been investigating, and whose
records he has been following up one by one with infinite patience.
But beyond this I know nothing. That he has some aim or object in the
completion of this knowledge I am convinced. What it is I may guess;
but I must say nothing. Please to remember, gentlemen, that I have
voluntarily accepted the position of recipient of a partial confidence.
I have respected that; and I must ask any of my friends to do the same.”
He spoke with great dignity; and he grew, moment by moment, in the
respect and esteem of both Doctor Winchester and myself. We understood
that he had not done speaking; so we waited in silence till he
continued:
“I have spoken this much, although I know well that even such a hint as
either of you might gather from my words might jeopardise the success
of his work. But I am convinced that you both wish to help him—and
his daughter,” he said this looking me fairly between the eyes, “to the
best of your power, honestly and unselfishly. He is so stricken down,
and the manner of it is so mysterious that I cannot but think that it
is in some way a result of his own work. That he calculated on some
set-back is manifest to us all. God knows! I am willing to do what I
can, and to use any knowledge I have in his behalf. I arrived in
England full of exultation at the thought that I had fulfilled the
mission with which he had trusted me. I had got what he said were the
last objects of his search; and I felt assured that he would now be
able to begin the experiment of which he had often hinted to me. It is
too dreadful that at just such a time such a calamity should have
fallen on him. Doctor Winchester, you are a physician; and, if your
face does not belie you, you are a clever and a bold one. Is there no
way which you can devise to wake this man from his unnatural stupor?”
There was a pause; then the answer came slowly and deliberately:
“There is no ordinary remedy that I know of. There might possibly be
some extraordinary one. But there would be no use in trying to find
it, except on one condition.”
“And that?”
“Knowledge! I am completely ignorant of Egyptian matters, language,
writing, history, secrets, medicines, poisons, occult powers—all that
go to make up the mystery of that mysterious land. This disease, or
condition, or whatever it may be called, from which Mr. Trelawny is
suffering, is in some way connected with Egypt. I have had a suspicion
of this from the first; and later it grew into a certainty, though
without proof. What you have said tonight confirms my conjecture, and
makes me believe that a proof is to be had. I do not think that you
quite know all that has gone on in this house since the night of the
attack—of the finding of Mr. Trelawny’s body. Now I propose that we
confide in you. If Mr. Ross agrees, I shall ask him to tell you. He is
more skilled than I am in putting facts before other people. He can
speak by his brief; and in this case he has the best of all briefs, the
experience of his own eyes and ears, and the evidence that he has
himself taken on the spot from participators in, or spectators of, what
has happened. When you know all, you will, I hope, be in a position to
judge as to whether you can best help Mr. Trelawny, and further his
secret wishes, by your silence or your speech.”
I nodded approval. Mr. Corbeck jumped up, and in his impulsive way
held out a hand to each.
“Done!” he said. “I acknowledge the honour of your confidence; and on
my part I pledge myself that if I find my duty to Mr. Trelawny’s wishes
will, in his own interest, allow my lips to open on his affairs, I
shall speak so freely as I may.”
Accordingly I began, and told him, as exactly as I could, everything
that had happened from the moment of my waking at the knocking on the
door in Jermyn Street. The only reservations I made were as to my own
feeling toward Miss Trelawny and the matters of small import to the
main subject which followed it; and my conversations with Sergeant Daw,
which were in themselves private, and which would have demanded
discretionary silence in any case. As I spoke, Mr. Corbeck followed
with breathless interest. Sometimes he would stand up and pace about
the room in uncontrollable excitement; and then recover himself
suddenly, and sit down again. Sometimes he would be about to speak,
but would, with an effort, restrain himself. I think the narration
helped me to make up my own mind; for even as I talked, things seemed
to appear in a clearer light. Things big and little, in relation of
their importance to the case, fell into proper perspective. The story
up to date became coherent, except as to its cause, which seemed a
greater mystery than ever. This is the merit of entire, or collected,
narrative. Isolated facts, doubts, suspicions, conjectures, give way
to a homogeneity which is convincing.
That Mr. Corbeck was convinced was evident. He did not go through any
process of explanation or limitation, but spoke right out at once to
the point, and fearlessly like a man:
“That settles me! There is in activity some Force that needs special
care. If we all go on working in the dark we shall get in one
another’s way, and by hampering each other, undo the good that any or
each of us, working in different directions, might do. It seems to me
that the first thing we have to accomplish is to get Mr. Trelawny waked
out of that unnatural sleep. That he can be waked is apparent from the
way the Nurse has recovered; though what additional harm may have been
done to him in the time he has been lying in that room I suppose no one
can tell. We must chance that, however. He has lain there, and
whatever the effect might be, it is there now; and we have, and shall
have, to deal with it as a fact. A day more or less won’t hurt in the
long-run. It is late now; and we shall probably have tomorrow a task
before us that will require our energies afresh. You, Doctor, will
want to get to your sleep; for I suppose you have other work as well as
this to do tomorrow. As for you, Mr. Ross, I understand that you are
to have a spell of watching in the sick-room tonight. I shall get you
a book which will help to pass the time for you. I shall go and look
for it in the library. I know where it was when I was here last; and I
don’t suppose Mr. Trelawny has used it since. He knew long ago all
that was in it which was or might be of interest to him. But it will
be necessary, or at least helpful, to understand other things which I
shall tell you later. You will be able to tell Doctor Winchester all
that would aid him. For I take it that our work will branch out pretty
soon. We shall each have our own end to hold up; and it will take each
of us all our time and understanding to get through his own tasks. It
will not be necessary for you to read the whole book. All that will
interest you—with regard to our matter I mean of course, for the whole
book is interesting as a record of travel in a country then quite
unknown—is the preface, and two or three chapters which I shall mark
for you.”
He shook hands warmly with Doctor Winchester who had stood up to go.
Whilst he was away I sat lonely, thinking. As I thought, the world
around me seemed to be illimitably great. The only little spot in
which I was interested seemed like a tiny speck in the midst of a
wilderness. Without and around it were darkness and unknown danger,
pressing in from every side. And the central figure in our little
oasis was one of sweetness and beauty. A figure one could love; could
work for; could die for...!
Mr. Corbeck came back in a very short time with the book; he had found
it at once in the spot where he had seen it three years before. Having
placed in it several slips of paper, marking the places where I was to
read, he put it into my hands, saying:
“That is what started Mr. Trelawny; what started me when I read it; and
which will, I have no doubt, be to you an interesting beginning to a
special study—whatever the end may be. If, indeed, any of us here may
ever see the end.”
At the door he paused and said:
“I want to take back one thing. That Detective is a good fellow. What
you have told me of him puts him in a new light. The best proof of it
is that I can go quietly to sleep tonight, and leave the lamps in his
care!”
When he had gone I took the book with me, put on my respirator, and
went to my spell of duty in the sick-room!
Chapter X
The Valley of the Sorcerer
I placed the book on the little table on which the shaded lamp rested
and moved the screen to one side. Thus I could have the light on my
book; and by looking up, see the bed, and the Nurse, and the door. I
cannot say that the conditions were enjoyable, or calculated to allow
of that absorption in the subject which is advisable for effective
study. However, I composed myself to the work as well as I could. The
book was one which, on the very face of it, required special attention.
It was a folio in Dutch, printed in Amsterdam in 1650. Some one had
made a literal translation, writing generally the English word under
the Dutch, so that the grammatical differences between the two tongues
made even the reading of the translation a difficult matter. One had
to dodge backward and forward among the words. This was in addition to
the difficulty of deciphering a strange handwriting of two hundred
years ago. I found, however, that after a short time I got into the
habit of following in conventional English the Dutch construction; and,
as I became more familiar with the writing, my task became easier.
At first the circumstances of the room, and the fear lest Miss Trelawny
should return unexpectedly and find me reading the book, disturbed me
somewhat. For we had arranged amongst us, before Doctor Winchester had
gone home, that she was not to be brought into the range of the coming
investigation. We considered that there might be some shock to a
woman’s mind in matters of apparent mystery; and further, that she,
being Mr. Trelawny’s daughter, might be placed in a difficult position
with him afterward if she took part in, or even had a personal
knowledge of, the disregarding of his expressed wishes. But when I
remembered that she did not come on nursing duty till two o’clock, the
fear of interruption passed away. I had still nearly three hours
before me. Nurse Kennedy sat in her chair by the bedside, patient and
alert. A clock ticked on the landing; other clocks in the house
ticked; the life of the city without manifested itself in the distant
hum, now and again swelling into a roar as a breeze floating westward
took the concourse of sounds with it. But still the dominant idea was
of silence. The light on my book, and the soothing fringe of green
silk round the shade intensified, whenever I looked up, the gloom of
the sick-room. With every line I read, this seemed to grow deeper and
deeper; so that when my eyes came back to the page the light seemed to
dazzle me. I stuck to my work, however, and presently began to get
sufficiently into the subject to become interested in it.
The book was by one Nicholas van Huyn of Hoorn. In the preface he told
how, attracted by the work of John Greaves of Merton College,
Pyramidographia, he himself visited Egypt, where he became so
interested in its wonders that he devoted some years of his life to
visiting strange places, and exploring the ruins of many temples and
tombs. He had come across many variants of the story of the building
of the Pyramids as told by the Arabian historian, Ibn Abd Alhokin, some
of which he set down. These I did not stop to read, but went on to the
marked pages.
As soon as I began to read these, however, there grew on me some sense
of a disturbing influence. Once or twice I looked to see if the Nurse
had moved, for there was a feeling as though some one were near me.
Nurse Kennedy sat in her place, as steady and alert as ever; and I came
back to my book again.
The narrative went on to tell how, after passing for several days
through the mountains to the east of Aswan, the explorer came to a
certain place. Here I give his own words, simply putting the
translation into modern English:
“Toward evening we came to the entrance of a narrow, deep valley,
running east and west. I wished to proceed through this; for the sun,
now nearly down on the horizon, showed a wide opening beyond the
narrowing of the cliffs. But the fellaheen absolutely refused to enter
the valley at such a time, alleging that they might be caught by the
night before they could emerge from the other end. At first they would
give no reason for their fear. They had hitherto gone anywhere I
wished, and at any time, without demur. On being pressed, however,
they said that the place was the Valley of the Sorcerer, where none
might come in the night. On being asked to tell of the Sorcerer, they
refused, saying that there was no name, and that they knew nothing. On
the next morning, however, when the sun was up and shining down the
valley, their fears had somewhat passed away. Then they told me that a
great Sorcerer in ancient days—‘millions of millions of years’ was the
term they used—a King or a Queen, they could not say which, was buried
there. They could not give the name, persisting to the last that there
was no name; and that anyone who should name it would waste away in
life so that at death nothing of him would remain to be raised again in
the Other World. In passing through the valley they kept together in a
cluster, hurrying on in front of me. None dared to remain behind. They
gave, as their reason for so proceeding, that the arms of the Sorcerer
were long, and that it was dangerous to be the last. The which was of
little comfort to me who of this necessity took that honourable post.
In the narrowest part of the valley, on the south side, was a great
cliff of rock, rising sheer, of smooth and even surface. Hereon were
graven certain cabalistic signs, and many figures of men and animals,
fishes, reptiles and birds; suns and stars; and many quaint symbols.
Some of these latter were disjointed limbs and features, such as arms
and legs, fingers, eyes, noses, ears, and lips. Mysterious symbols
which will puzzle the Recording Angel to interpret at the Judgment Day.
The cliff faced exactly north. There was something about it so
strange, and so different from the other carved rocks which I had
visited, that I called a halt and spent the day in examining the rock
front as well as I could with my telescope. The Egyptians of my
company were terribly afraid, and used every kind of persuasion to
induce me to pass on. I stayed till late in the afternoon, by which
time I had failed to make out aright the entry of any tomb, for I
suspected that such was the purpose of the sculpture of the rock. By
this time the men were rebellious; and I had to leave the valley if I
did not wish my whole retinue to desert. But I secretly made up my
mind to discover the tomb, and explore it. To this end I went further
into the mountains, where I met with an Arab Sheik who was willing to
take service with me. The Arabs were not bound by the same
superstitious fears as the Egyptians; Sheik Abu Some and his following
were willing to take a part in the explorations.
“When I returned to the valley with these Bedouins, I made effort to
climb the face of the rock, but failed, it being of one impenetrable
smoothness. The stone, generally flat and smooth by nature, had been
chiselled to completeness. That there had been projecting steps was
manifest, for there remained, untouched by the wondrous climate of that
strange land, the marks of saw and chisel and mallet where the steps
had been cut or broken away.
“Being thus baffled of winning the tomb from below, and being
unprovided with ladders to scale, I found a way by much circuitous
journeying to the top of the cliff. Thence I caused myself to be
lowered by ropes, till I had investigated that portion of the rock face
wherein I expected to find the opening. I found that there was an
entrance, closed however by a great stone slab. This was cut in the
rock more than a hundred feet up, being two-thirds the height of the
cliff. The hieroglyphic and cabalistic symbols cut in the rock were so
managed as to disguise it. The cutting was deep, and was continued
through the rock and the portals of the doorway, and through the great
slab which formed the door itself. This was fixed in place with such
incredible exactness that no stone chisel or cutting implement which I
had with me could find a lodgment in the interstices. I used much
force, however; and by many heavy strokes won a way into the tomb, for
such I found it to be. The stone door having fallen into the entrance
I passed over it into the tomb, noting as I went a long iron chain
which hung coiled on a bracket close to the doorway.
“The tomb I found to be complete, after the manner of the finest
Egyptian tombs, with chamber and shaft leading down to the corridor,
ending in the Mummy Pit. It had the table of pictures, which seems
some kind of record—whose meaning is now for ever lost—graven in a
wondrous colour on a wondrous stone.
“All the walls of the chamber and the passage were carved with strange
writings in the uncanny form mentioned. The huge stone coffin or
sarcophagus in the deep pit was marvellously graven throughout with
signs. The Arab chief and two others who ventured into the tomb with
me, and who were evidently used to such grim explorations, managed to
take the cover from the sarcophagus without breaking it. At which they
wondered; for such good fortune, they said, did not usually attend such
efforts. Indeed they seemed not over careful; and did handle the
various furniture of the tomb with such little concern that, only for
its great strength and thickness, even the coffin itself might have
been injured. Which gave me much concern, for it was very beautifully
wrought of rare stone, such as I had no knowledge of. Much I grieved
that it were not possible to carry it away. But time and desert
journeyings forbade such; I could only take with me such small matters
as could be carried on the person.
“Within the sarcophagus was a body, manifestly of a woman, swathed with
many wrappings of linen, as is usual with all mummies. From certain
embroiderings thereon, I gathered that she was of high rank. Across
the breast was one hand, unwrapped. In the mummies which I had seen,
the arms and hands are within the wrappings, and certain adornments of
wood, shaped and painted to resemble arms and hands, lie outside the
enwrapped body.
“But this hand was strange to see, for it was the real hand of her who
lay enwrapped there; the arm projecting from the cerements being of
flesh, seemingly made as like marble in the process of embalming. Arm
and hand were of dusky white, being of the hue of ivory that hath lain
long in air. The skin and the nails were complete and whole, as though
the body had been placed for burial over night. I touched the hand and
moved it, the arm being something flexible as a live arm; though stiff
with long disuse, as are the arms of those faqueers which I have seen
in the Indees. There was, too, an added wonder that on this ancient
hand were no less than seven fingers, the same all being fine and long,
and of great beauty. Sooth to say, it made me shudder and my flesh
creep to touch that hand that had lain there undisturbed for so many
thousands of years, and yet was like unto living flesh. Underneath the
hand, as though guarded by it, lay a huge jewel of ruby; a great stone
of wondrous bigness, for the ruby is in the main a small jewel. This
one was of wondrous colour, being as of fine blood whereon the light
shineth. But its wonder lay not in its size or colour, though these
were, as I have said, of priceless rarity; but in that the light of it
shone from seven stars, each of seven points, as clearly as though the
stars were in reality there imprisoned. When that the hand was lifted,
the sight of that wondrous stone lying there struck me with a shock
almost to momentary paralysis. I stood gazing on it, as did those with
me, as though it were that faded head of the Gorgon Medusa with the
snakes in her hair, whose sight struck into stone those who beheld. So
strong was the feeling that I wanted to hurry away from the place. So,
too, those with me; therefore, taking this rare jewel, together with
certain amulets of strangeness and richness being wrought of
jewel-stones, I made haste to depart. I would have remained longer,
and made further research in the wrappings of the mummy, but that I
feared so to do. For it came to me all at once that I was in a desert
place, with strange men who were with me because they were not
over-scrupulous. That we were in a lone cavern of the dead, an hundred
feet above the ground, where none could find me were ill done to me,
nor would any ever seek. But in secret I determined that I would come
again, though with more secure following. Moreover, was I tempted to
seek further, as in examining the wrappings I saw many things of
strange import in that wondrous tomb; including a casket of eccentric
shape made of some strange stone, which methought might have contained
other jewels, inasmuch as it had secure lodgment in the great
sarcophagus itself. There was in the tomb also another coffer which,
though of rare proportion and adornment, was more simply shaped. It
was of ironstone of great thickness; but the cover was lightly cemented
down with what seemed gum and Paris plaster, as though to insure that
no air could penetrate. The Arabs with me so insisted in its opening,
thinking that from its thickness much treasure was stored therein, that
I consented thereto. But their hope was a false one, as it proved.
Within, closely packed, stood four jars finely wrought and carved with
various adornments. Of these one was the head of a man, another of a
dog, another of a jackal, and another of a hawk. I had before known
that such burial urns as these were used to contain the entrails and
other organs of the mummied dead; but on opening these, for the
fastening of wax, though complete, was thin, and yielded easily, we
found that they held but oil. The Bedouins, spilling most of the oil
in the process, groped with their hands in the jars lest treasure
should have been there concealed. But their searching was of no avail;
no treasure was there. I was warned of my danger by seeing in the eyes
of the Arabs certain covetous glances. Whereon, in order to hasten
their departure, I wrought upon those fears of superstition which even
in these callous men were apparent. The chief of the Bedouins ascended
from the Pit to give the signal to those above to raise us; and I, not
caring to remain with the men whom I mistrusted, followed him
immediately. The others did not come at once; from which I feared that
they were rifling the tomb afresh on their own account. I refrained to
speak of it, however, lest worse should befall. At last they came.
One of them, who ascended first, in landing at the top of the cliff
lost his foothold and fell below. He was instantly killed. The other
followed, but in safety. The chief came next, and I came last. Before
coming away I pulled into its place again, as well as I could, the slab
of stone that covered the entrance to the tomb. I wished, if possible,
to preserve it for my own examination should I come again.
“When we all stood on the hill above the cliff, the burning sun that
was bright and full of glory was good to see after the darkness and
strange mystery of the tomb. Even was I glad that the poor Arab who
fell down the cliff and lay dead below, lay in the sunlight and not in
that gloomy cavern. I would fain have gone with my companions to seek
him and give him sepulture of some kind; but the Sheik made light of
it, and sent two of his men to see to it whilst we went on our way.
“That night as we camped, one of the men only returned, saying that a
lion of the desert had killed his companion after that they had buried
the dead man in a deep sand without the valley, and had covered the
spot where he lay with many great rocks, so that jackals or other
preying beasts might not dig him up again as is their wont.
“Later, in the light of the fire round which the men sat or lay, I saw
him exhibit to his fellows something white which they seemed to regard
with special awe and reverence. So I drew near silently, and saw that
it was none other than the white hand of the mummy which had lain
protecting the Jewel in the great sarcophagus. I heard the Bedouin tell
how he had found it on the body of him who had fallen from the cliff.
There was no mistaking it, for there were the seven fingers which I had
noted before. This man must have wrenched it off the dead body whilst
his chief and I were otherwise engaged; and from the awe of the others
I doubted not that he had hoped to use it as an Amulet, or charm.
Whereas if powers it had, they were not for him who had taken it from
the dead; since his death followed hard upon his theft. Already his
Amulet had had an awesome baptism; for the wrist of the dead hand was
stained with red as though it had been dipped in recent blood.
“That night I was in certain fear lest there should be some violence
done to me; for if the poor dead hand was so valued as a charm, what
must be the worth in such wise of the rare Jewel which it had guarded.
Though only the chief knew of it, my doubt was perhaps even greater;
for he could so order matters as to have me at his mercy when he would.
I guarded myself, therefore, with wakefulness so well as I could,
determined that at my earliest opportunity I should leave this party,
and complete my journeying home, first to the Nile bank, and then down
its course to Alexandria; with other guides who knew not what strange
matters I had with me.
“At last there came over me a disposition of sleep, so potent that I
felt it would be resistless. Fearing attack, or that being searched in
my sleep the Bedouin might find the Star Jewel which he had seen me
place with others in my dress, I took it out unobserved and held it in
my hand. It seemed to give back the light of the flickering fire and
the light of the stars—for there was no moon—with equal fidelity; and
I could note that on its reverse it was graven deeply with certain
signs such as I had seen in the tomb. As I sank into the
unconsciousness of sleep, the graven Star Jewel was hidden in the
hollow of my clenched hand.
“I waked out of sleep with the light of the morning sun on my face. I
sat up and looked around me. The fire was out, and the camp was
desolate; save for one figure which lay prone close to me. It was that
of the Arab chief, who lay on his back, dead. His face was almost
black; and his eyes were open, and staring horribly up at the sky, as
though he saw there some dreadful vision. He had evidently been
strangled; for on looking, I found on his throat the red marks where
fingers had pressed. There seemed so many of these marks that I
counted them. There were seven; and all parallel, except the thumb
mark, as though made with one hand. This thrilled me as I thought of
the mummy hand with the seven fingers.
“Even there, in the open desert, it seemed as if there could be
enchantments!
“In my surprise, as I bent over him, I opened my right hand, which up
to now I had held shut with the feeling, instinctive even in sleep, of
keeping safe that which it held. As I did so, the Star Jewel held
there fell out and struck the dead man on the mouth. Mirabile dictu
there came forth at once from the dead mouth a great gush of blood, in
which the red jewel was for the moment lost. I turned the dead man
over to look for it, and found that he lay with his right hand bent
under him as though he had fallen on it; and in it he held a great
knife, keen of point and edge, such as Arabs carry at the belt. It may
have been that he was about to murder me when vengeance came on him,
whether from man or God, or the Gods of Old, I know not. Suffice it,
that when I found my Ruby Jewel, which shone up as a living star from
the mess of blood wherein it lay, I paused not, but fled from the
place. I journeyed on alone through the hot desert, till, by God’s
grace, I came upon an Arab tribe camping by a well, who gave me salt.
With them I rested till they had set me on my way.
“I know not what became of the mummy hand, or of those who had it.
What strife, or suspicion, or disaster, or greed went with it I know
not; but some such cause there must have been, since those who had it
fled with it. It doubtless is used as a charm of potence by some
desert tribe.
“At the earliest opportunity I made examination of the Star Ruby, as I
wished to try to understand what was graven on it. The symbols—whose
meaning, however, I could not understand—were as follows...”
Twice, whilst I had been reading this engrossing narrative, I had
thought that I had seen across the page streaks of shade, which the
weirdness of the subject had made to seem like the shadow of a hand.
On the first of these occasions I found that the illusion came from the
fringe of green silk around the lamp; but on the second I had looked
up, and my eyes had lit on the mummy hand across the room on which the
starlight was falling under the edge of the blind. It was of little
wonder that I had connected it with such a narrative; for if my eyes
told me truly, here, in this room with me, was the very hand of which
the traveller Van Huyn had written. I looked over at the bed; and it
comforted me to think that the Nurse still sat there, calm and wakeful.
At such a time, with such surrounds, during such a narrative, it was
well to have assurance of the presence of some living person.
I sat looking at the book on the table before me; and so many strange
thoughts crowded on me that my mind began to whirl. It was almost as
if the light on the white fingers in front of me was beginning to have
some hypnotic effect. All at once, all thoughts seemed to stop; and
for an instant the world and time stood still.
There lay a real hand across the book! What was there to so overcome
me, as was the case? I knew the hand that I saw on the book—and loved
it. Margaret Trelawny’s hand was a joy to me to see—to touch; and yet
at that moment, coming after other marvellous things, it had a
strangely moving effect on me. It was but momentary, however, and had
passed even before her voice had reached me.
“What disturbs you? What are you staring at the book for? I thought
for an instant that you must have been overcome again!” I jumped up.
“I was reading,” I said, “an old book from the library.” As I spoke I
closed it and put it under my arm. “I shall now put it back, as I
understand that your Father wishes all things, especially books, kept
in their proper places.” My words were intentionally misleading; for I
did not wish her to know what I was reading, and thought it best not to
wake her curiosity by leaving the book about. I went away, but not to
the library; I left the book in my room where I could get it when I had
had my sleep in the day. When I returned Nurse Kennedy was ready to go
to bed; so Miss Trelawny watched with me in the room. I did not want
any book whilst she was present. We sat close together and talked in a
whisper whilst the moments flew by. It was with surprise that I noted
the edge of the curtains changing from grey to yellow light. What we
talked of had nothing to do with the sick man, except in so far that
all which concerned his daughter must ultimately concern him. But it
had nothing to say to Egypt, or mummies, or the dead, or caves, or
Bedouin chiefs. I could well take note in the growing light that
Margaret’s hand had not seven fingers, but five; for it lay in mine.
When Doctor Winchester arrived in the morning and had made his visit to
his patient, he came to see me as I sat in the dining-room having a
little meal—breakfast or supper, I hardly knew which it was—before I
went to lie down. Mr. Corbeck came in at the same time; and we resumed
out conversation where we had left it the night before. I told Mr.
Corbeck that I had read the chapter about the finding of the tomb, and
that I thought Doctor Winchester should read it, too. The latter said
that, if he might, he would take it with him; he had that morning to
make a railway journey to Ipswich, and would read it on the train. He
said he would bring it back with him when he came again in the evening.
I went up to my room to bring it down; but I could not find it
anywhere. I had a distinct recollection of having left it on the little
table beside my bed, when I had come up after Miss Trelawny’s going on
duty into the sick-room. It was very strange; for the book was not of
a kind that any of the servants would be likely to take. I had to come
back and explain to the others that I could not find it.
When Doctor Winchester had gone, Mr. Corbeck, who seemed to know the
Dutchman’s work by heart, talked the whole matter over with me. I told
him that I was interrupted by a change of nurses, just as I had come to
the description of the ring. He smiled as he said:
“So far as that is concerned, you need not be disappointed. Not in Van
Huyn’s time, nor for nearly two centuries later, could the meaning of
that engraving have been understood. It was only when the work was
taken up and followed by Young and Champollion, by Birch and Lepsius
and Rosellini and Salvolini, by Mariette Bey and by Wallis Budge and
Flinders Petrie and the other scholars of their times that great
results ensued, and that the true meaning of hieroglyphic was known.
“Later, I shall explain to you, if Mr. Trelawny does not explain it
himself, or if he does not forbid me to, what it means in that
particular place. I think it will be better for you to know what
followed Van Huyn’s narrative; for with the description of the stone,
and the account of his bringing it to Holland at the termination of his
travels, the episode ends. Ends so far as his book is concerned. The
chief thing about the book is that it sets others thinking—and acting.
Amongst them were Mr. Trelawny and myself. Mr. Trelawny is a good
linguist of the Orient, but he does not know Northern tongues. As for
me I have a faculty for learning languages; and when I was pursuing my
studies in Leyden I learned Dutch so that I might more easily make
references in the library there. Thus it was, that at the very time
when Mr. Trelawny, who, in making his great collection of works on
Egypt, had, through a booksellers’ catalogue, acquired this volume with
the manuscript translation, was studying it, I was reading another
copy, in original Dutch, in Leyden. We were both struck by the
description of the lonely tomb in the rock; cut so high up as to be
inaccessible to ordinary seekers: with all means of reaching it
carefully obliterated; and yet with such an elaborate ornamentation of
the smoothed surface of the cliff as Van Huyn has described. It also
struck us both as an odd thing—for in the years between Van Huyn’s
time and our own the general knowledge of Egyptian curios and records
has increased marvellously—that in the case of such a tomb, made in
such a place, and which must have cost an immense sum of money, there
was no seeming record or effigy to point out who lay within. Moreover,
the very name of the place, ‘the Valley of the Sorcerer’, had, in a
prosaic age, attractions of its own. When we met, which we did through
his seeking the assistance of other Egyptologists in his work, we
talked over this as we did over many other things; and we determined to
make search for the mysterious valley. Whilst we were waiting to start
on the travel, for many things were required which Mr. Trelawny
undertook to see to himself, I went to Holland to try if I could by any
traces verify Van Huyn’s narrative. I went straight to Hoorn, and set
patiently to work to find the house of the traveller and his
descendants, if any. I need not trouble you with details of my
seeking—and finding. Hoorn is a place that has not changed much since
Van Huyn’s time, except that it has lost the place which it held
amongst commercial cities. Its externals are such as they had been
then; in such a sleepy old place a century or two does not count for
much. I found the house, and discovered that none of the descendants
were alive. I searched records; but only to one end—death and
extinction. Then I set me to work to find what had become of his
treasures; for that such a traveller must have had great treasures was
apparent. I traced a good many to museums in Leyden, Utrecht, and
Amsterdam; and some few to the private houses of rich collectors. At
last, in the shop of an old watchmaker and jeweller at Hoorn, I found
what he considered his chiefest treasure; a great ruby, carven like a
scarab, with seven stars, and engraven with hieroglyphics. The old man
did not know hieroglyphic character, and in his old-world, sleepy life,
the philological discoveries of recent years had not reached him. He
did not know anything of Van Huyn, except that such a person had been,
and that his name was, during two centuries, venerated in the town as a
great traveller. He valued the jewel as only a rare stone, spoiled in
part by the cutting; and though he was at first loth to part with such
an unique gem, he became amenable ultimately to commercial reason. I
had a full purse, since I bought for Mr. Trelawny, who is, as I suppose
you know, immensely wealthy. I was shortly on my way back to London,
with the Star Ruby safe in my pocket-book; and in my heart a joy and
exultation which knew no bounds.
“For here we were with proof of Van Huyn’s wonderful story. The jewel
was put in security in Mr. Trelawny’s great safe; and we started out on
our journey of exploration in full hope.
“Mr. Trelawny was, at the last, loth to leave his young wife whom he
dearly loved; but she, who loved him equally, knew his longing to
prosecute the search. So keeping to herself, as all good women do, all
her anxieties—which in her case were special—she bade him follow out
his bent.”
Chapter XI
A Queen’s Tomb
“Mr. Trelawny’s hope was at least as great as my own. He is not so
volatile a man as I am, prone to ups and downs of hope and despair; but
he has a fixed purpose which crystallises hope into belief. At times I
had feared that there might have been two such stones, or that the
adventures of Van Huyn were traveller’s fictions, based on some
ordinary acquisition of the curio in Alexandria or Cairo, or London or
Amsterdam. But Mr. Trelawny never faltered in his belief. We had many
things to distract our minds from belief or disbelief. This was soon
after Arabi Pasha, and Egypt was no safe place for travellers,
especially if they were English. But Mr. Trelawny is a fearless man;
and I almost come to think at times that I am not a coward myself. We
got together a band of Arabs whom one or other of us had known in
former trips to the desert, and whom we could trust; that is, we did
not distrust them as much as others. We were numerous enough to
protect ourselves from chance marauding bands, and we took with us
large impedimenta. We had secured the consent and passive co-operation
of the officials still friendly to Britain; in the acquiring of which
consent I need hardly say that Mr. Trelawny’s riches were of chief
importance. We found our way in dhahabiyehs to Aswan; whence, having
got some Arabs from the Sheik and having given our usual backsheesh, we
set out on our journey through the desert.
“Well, after much wandering and trying every winding in the
interminable jumble of hills, we came at last at nightfall on just such
a valley as Van Huyn had described. A valley with high, steep cliffs;
narrowing in the centre, and widening out to the eastern and western
ends. At daylight we were opposite the cliff and could easily note the
opening high up in the rock, and the hieroglyphic figures which were
evidently intended originally to conceal it.
“But the signs which had baffled Van Huyn and those of his time—and
later, were no secrets to us. The host of scholars who have given
their brains and their lives to this work, had wrested open the
mysterious prison-house of Egyptian language. On the hewn face of the
rocky cliff we, who had learned the secrets, could read what the Theban
priesthood had had there inscribed nearly fifty centuries before.
“For that the external inscription was the work of the priesthood—and
a hostile priesthood at that—there could be no living doubt. The
inscription on the rock, written in hieroglyphic, ran thus:
“‘Hither the Gods come not at any summons. The “Nameless One” has
insulted them and is for ever alone. Go not nigh, lest their vengeance
wither you away!’
“The warning must have been a terribly potent one at the time it was
written and for thousands of years afterwards; even when the language
in which it was given had become a dead mystery to the people of the
land. The tradition of such a terror lasts longer than its cause. Even
in the symbols used there was an added significance of alliteration.
‘For ever’ is given in the hieroglyphics as ‘millions of years’. This
symbol was repeated nine times, in three groups of three; and after
each group a symbol of the Upper World, the Under World, and the Sky.
So that for this Lonely One there could be, through the vengeance of
all the Gods, resurrection in neither the World of Sunlight, in the
World of the Dead, or for the soul in the region of the Gods.
“Neither Mr. Trelawny nor I dared to tell any of our people what the
writing meant. For though they did not believe in the religion whence
the curse came, or in the Gods whose vengeance was threatened, yet they
were so superstitious that they would probably, had they known of it,
have thrown up the whole task and run away.
“Their ignorance, however, and our discretion preserved us. We made an
encampment close at hand, but behind a jutting rock a little further
along the valley, so that they might not have the inscription always
before them. For even that traditional name of the place: ‘The Valley
of the Sorcerer’, had a fear for them; and for us through them. With
the timber which we had brought, we made a ladder up the face of the
rock. We hung a pulley on a beam fixed to project from the top of the
cliff. We found the great slab of rock, which formed the door, placed
clumsily in its place and secured by a few stones. Its own weight kept
it in safe position. In order to enter, we had to push it in; and we
passed over it. We found the great coil of chain which Van Huyn had
described fastened into the rock. There were, however, abundant
evidences amid the wreckage of the great stone door, which had revolved
on iron hinges at top and bottom, that ample provision had been
originally made for closing and fastening it from within.
“Mr. Trelawny and I went alone into the tomb. We had brought plenty of
lights with us; and we fixed them as we went along. We wished to get a
complete survey at first, and then make examination of all in detail.
As we went on, we were filled with ever-increasing wonder and delight.
The tomb was one of the most magnificent and beautiful which either of
us had ever seen. From the elaborate nature of the sculpture and
painting, and the perfection of the workmanship, it was evident that
the tomb was prepared during the lifetime of her for whose
resting-place it was intended. The drawing of the hieroglyphic
pictures was fine, and the colouring superb; and in that high cavern,
far away from even the damp of the Nile-flood, all was as fresh as when
the artists had laid down their palettes. There was one thing which we
could not avoid seeing. That although the cutting on the outside rock
was the work of the priesthood, the smoothing of the cliff face was
probably a part of the tomb-builder’s original design. The symbolism
of the painting and cutting within all gave the same idea. The outer
cavern, partly natural and partly hewn, was regarded architecturally as
only an ante-chamber. At the end of it, so that it would face the east,
was a pillared portico, hewn out of the solid rock. The pillars were
massive and were seven-sided, a thing which we had not come across in
any other tomb. Sculptured on the architrave was the Boat of the Moon,
containing Hathor, cow-headed and bearing the disk and plumes, and the
dog-headed Hapi, the God of the North. It was steered by Harpocrates
towards the north, represented by the Pole Star surrounded by Draco and
Ursa Major. In the latter the stars that form what we call the ‘Plough’
were cut larger than any of the other stars; and were filled with gold
so that, in the light of torches, they seemed to flame with a special
significance. Passing within the portico, we found two of the
architectural features of a rock tomb, the Chamber, or Chapel, and the
Pit, all complete as Van Huyn had noticed, though in his day the names
given to these parts by the Egyptians of old were unknown.
“The Stele, or record, which had its place low down on the western
wall, was so remarkable that we examined it minutely, even before going
on our way to find the mummy which was the object of our search. This
Stele was a great slab of lapis lazuli, cut all over with hieroglyphic
figures of small size and of much beauty. The cutting was filled in
with some cement of exceeding fineness, and of the colour of pure
vermilion. The inscription began:
“‘Tera, Queen of the Egypts, daughter of Antef, Monarch of the North
and the South.’ ‘Daughter of the Sun,’ ‘Queen of the Diadems’.
“It then set out, in full record, the history of her life and reign.
“The signs of sovereignty were given with a truly feminine profusion of
adornment. The united Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt were, in
especial, cut with exquisite precision. It was new to us both to find
the Hejet and the Desher—the White and the Red crowns of Upper and
Lower Egypt—on the Stele of a queen; for it was a rule, without
exception in the records, that in ancient Egypt either crown was worn
only by a king; though they are to be found on goddesses. Later on we
found an explanation, of which I shall say more presently.
“Such an inscription was in itself a matter so startling as to arrest
attention from anyone anywhere at any time; but you can have no
conception of the effect which it had upon us. Though our eyes were
not the first which had seen it, they were the first which could see it
with understanding since first the slab of rock was fixed in the cliff
opening nearly five thousand years before. To us was given to read
this message from the dead. This message of one who had warred against
the Gods of Old, and claimed to have controlled them at a time when the
hierarchy professed to be the only means of exciting their fears or
gaining their good will.
“The walls of the upper chamber of the Pit and the sarcophagus Chamber
were profusely inscribed; all the inscriptions, except that on the
Stele, being coloured with bluish-green pigment. The effect when seen
sideways as the eye caught the green facets, was that of an old,
discoloured Indian turquoise.
“We descended the Pit by the aid of the tackle we had brought with us.
Trelawny went first. It was a deep pit, more than seventy feet; but it
had never been filled up. The passage at the bottom sloped up to the
sarcophagus Chamber, and was longer than is usually found. It had not
been walled up.
“Within, we found a great sarcophagus of yellow stone. But that I need
not describe; you have seen it in Mr. Trelawny’s chamber. The cover of
it lay on the ground; it had not been cemented, and was just as Van
Huyn had described it. Needless to say, we were excited as we looked
within. There must, however, be one sense of disappointment. I could
not help feeling how different must have been the sight which met the
Dutch traveller’s eyes when he looked within and found that white hand
lying lifelike above the shrouding mummy cloths. It is true that a
part of the arm was there, white and ivory like.
“But there was a thrill to us which came not to Van Huyn!
“The end of the wrist was covered with dried blood! It was as though
the body had bled after death! The jagged ends of the broken wrist
were rough with the clotted blood; through this the white bone,
sticking out, looked like the matrix of opal. The blood had streamed
down and stained the brown wrappings as with rust. Here, then, was
full confirmation of the narrative. With such evidence of the
narrator’s truth before us, we could not doubt the other matters which
he had told, such as the blood on the mummy hand, or marks of the seven
fingers on the throat of the strangled Sheik.
“I shall not trouble you with details of all we saw, or how we learned
all we knew. Part of it was from knowledge common to scholars; part we
read on the Stele in the tomb, and in the sculptures and hieroglyphic
paintings on the walls.
“Queen Tera was of the Eleventh, or Theban Dynasty of Egyptian Kings
which held sway between the twenty-ninth and twenty-fifth centuries
before Christ. She succeeded as the only child of her father, Antef.
She must have been a girl of extraordinary character as well as
ability, for she was but a young girl when her father died. Her youth
and sex encouraged the ambitious priesthood, which had then achieved
immense power. By their wealth and numbers and learning they dominated
all Egypt, more especially the Upper portion. They were then secretly
ready to make an effort for the achievement of their bold and
long-considered design, that of transferring the governing power from a
Kingship to a Hierarchy. But King Antef had suspected some such
movement, and had taken the precaution of securing to his daughter the
allegiance of the army. He had also had her taught statecraft, and had
even made her learned in the lore of the very priests themselves. He
had used those of one cult against the other; each being hopeful of
some present gain on its own part by the influence of the King, or of
some ultimate gain from its own influence over his daughter. Thus, the
Princess had been brought up amongst scribes, and was herself no mean
artist. Many of these things were told on the walls in pictures or in
hieroglyphic writing of great beauty; and we came to the conclusion
that not a few of them had been done by the Princess herself. It was
not without cause that she was inscribed on the Stele as ‘Protector of
the Arts’.
“But the King had gone to further lengths, and had had his daughter
taught magic, by which she had power over Sleep and Will. This was
real magic—“black” magic; not the magic of the temples, which, I may
explain, was of the harmless or “white” order, and was intended to
impress rather than to effect. She had been an apt pupil; and had gone
further than her teachers. Her power and her resources had given her
great opportunities, of which she had availed herself to the full. She
had won secrets from nature in strange ways; and had even gone to the
length of going down into the tomb herself, having been swathed and
coffined and left as dead for a whole month. The priests had tried to
make out that the real Princess Tera had died in the experiment, and
that another girl had been substituted; but she had conclusively proved
their error. All this was told in pictures of great merit. It was
probably in her time that the impulse was given in the restoring the
artistic greatness of the Fourth Dynasty which had found its perfection
in the days of Chufu.
“In the Chamber of the sarcophagus were pictures and writings to show
that she had achieved victory over Sleep. Indeed, there was everywhere
a symbolism, wonderful even in a land and an age of symbolism.
Prominence was given to the fact that she, though a Queen, claimed all
the privileges of kingship and masculinity. In one place she was
pictured in man’s dress, and wearing the White and Red Crowns. In the
following picture she was in female dress, but still wearing the Crowns
of Upper and Lower Egypt, while the discarded male raiment lay at her
feet. In every picture where hope, or aim, of resurrection was
expressed there was the added symbol of the North; and in many
places—always in representations of important events, past, present,
or future—was a grouping of the stars of the Plough. She evidently
regarded this constellation as in some way peculiarly associated with
herself.
“Perhaps the most remarkable statement in the records, both on the
Stele and in the mural writings, was that Queen Tera had power to
compel the Gods. This, by the way, was not an isolated belief in
Egyptian history; but was different in its cause. She had engraved on
a ruby, carved like a scarab, and having seven stars of seven points,
Master Words to compel all the Gods, both of the Upper and the Under
Worlds.
“In the statement it was plainly set forth that the hatred of the
priests was, she knew, stored up for her, and that they would after her
death try to suppress her name. This was a terrible revenge, I may
tell you, in Egyptian mythology; for without a name no one can after
death be introduced to the Gods, or have prayers said for him.
Therefore, she had intended her resurrection to be after a long time
and in a more northern land, under the constellation whose seven stars
had ruled her birth. To this end, her hand was to be in the
air—‘unwrapped’—and in it the Jewel of Seven Stars, so that wherever
there was air she might move even as her Ka could move! This, after
thinking it over, Mr. Trelawny and I agreed meant that her body could
become astral at command, and so move, particle by particle, and become
whole again when and where required. Then there was a piece of writing
in which allusion was made to a chest or casket in which were contained
all the Gods, and Will, and Sleep, the two latter being personified by
symbols. The box was mentioned as with seven sides. It was not much of
a surprise to us when, underneath the feet of the mummy, we found the
seven-sided casket, which you have also seen in Mr. Trelawny’s room.
On the underneath part of the wrapping—linen of the left foot was
painted, in the same vermilion colour as that used in the Stele, the
hieroglyphic symbol for much water, and underneath the right foot the
symbol of the earth. We made out the symbolism to be that her body,
immortal and transferable at will, ruled both the land and water, air
and fire—the latter being exemplified by the light of the Jewel Stone,
and further by the flint and iron which lay outside the mummy wrappings.
“As we lifted the casket from the sarcophagus, we noticed on its sides
the strange protuberances which you have already seen; but we were
unable at the time to account for them. There were a few amulets in
the sarcophagus, but none of any special worth or significance. We
took it that if there were such, they were within the wrappings; or
more probably in the strange casket underneath the mummy’s feet. This,
however, we could not open. There were signs of there being a cover;
certainly the upper portion and the lower were each in one piece. The
fine line, a little way from the top, appeared to be where the cover
was fixed; but it was made with such exquisite fineness and finish that
the joining could hardly be seen. Certainly the top could not be moved.
We took it, that it was in some way fastened from within. I tell you
all this in order that you may understand things with which you may be
in contact later. You must suspend your judgment entirely. Such
strange things have happened regarding this mummy and all around it,
that there is a necessity for new belief somewhere. It is absolutely
impossible to reconcile certain things which have happened with the
ordinary currents of life or knowledge.
“We stayed around the Valley of the Sorcerer, till we had copied
roughly all the drawings and writings on the walls, ceiling and floor.
We took with us the Stele of lapis lazuli, whose graven record was
coloured with vermilion pigment. We took the sarcophagus and the
mummy; the stone chest with the alabaster jars; the tables of
bloodstone and alabaster and onyx and carnelian; and the ivory pillow
whose arch rested on ‘buckles’, round each of which was twisted an
uraeus wrought in gold. We took all the articles which lay in the
Chapel, and the Mummy Pit; the wooden boats with crews and the ushaptiu
figures, and the symbolic amulets.
“When coming away we took down the ladders, and at a distance buried
them in the sand under a cliff, which we noted so that if necessary we
might find them again. Then with our heavy baggage, we set out on our
laborious journey back to the Nile. It was no easy task, I tell you, to
bring the case with that great sarcophagus over the desert. We had a
rough cart and sufficient men to draw it; but the progress seemed
terribly slow, for we were anxious to get our treasures into a place of
safety. The night was an anxious time with us, for we feared attack
from some marauding band. But more still we feared some of those with
us. They were, after all, but predatory, unscrupulous men; and we had
with us a considerable bulk of precious things. They, or at least the
dangerous ones amongst them, did not know why it was so precious; they
took it for granted that it was material treasure of some kind that we
carried. We had taken the mummy from the sarcophagus, and packed it
for safety of travel in a separate case. During the first night two
attempts were made to steal things from the cart; and two men were
found dead in the morning.
“On the second night there came on a violent storm, one of those
terrible simooms of the desert which makes one feel his helplessness.
We were overwhelmed with drifting sand. Some of our Bedouins had fled
before the storm, hoping to find shelter; the rest of us, wrapped in
our bournous, endured with what patience we could. In the morning,
when the storm had passed, we recovered from under the piles of sand
what we could of our impedimenta. We found the case in which the mummy
had been packed all broken, but the mummy itself could nowhere be
found. We searched everywhere around, and dug up the sand which had
piled around us; but in vain. We did not know what to do, for Trelawny
had his heart set on taking home that mummy. We waited a whole day in
hopes that the Bedouins, who had fled, would return; we had a blind
hope that they might have in some way removed the mummy from the cart,
and would restore it. That night, just before dawn, Mr. Trelawny woke
me up and whispered in my ear:
“‘We must go back to the tomb in the Valley of the Sorcerer. Show no
hesitation in the morning when I give the orders! If you ask any
questions as to where we are going it will create suspicion, and will
defeat our purpose.’
“‘All right!” I answered. “But why shall we go there?’ His answer
seemed to thrill through me as though it had struck some chord ready
tuned within:
“‘We shall find the mummy there! I am sure of it!’ Then anticipating
doubt or argument he added:
“‘Wait, and you shall see!’ and he sank back into his blanket again.
“The Arabs were surprised when we retraced our steps; and some of them
were not satisfied. There was a good deal of friction, and there were
several desertions; so that it was with a diminished following that we
took our way eastward again. At first the Sheik did not manifest any
curiosity as to our definite destination; but when it became apparent
that we were again making for the Valley of the Sorcerer, he too showed
concern. This grew as we drew near; till finally at the entrance of
the valley he halted and refused to go further. He said he would await
our return if we chose to go on alone. That he would wait three days;
but if by that time we had not returned he would leave. No offer of
money would tempt him to depart from this resolution. The only
concession he would make was that he would find the ladders and bring
them near the cliff. This he did; and then, with the rest of the
troop, he went back to wait at the entrance of the valley.
“Mr. Trelawny and I took ropes and torches, and again ascended to the
tomb. It was evident that someone had been there in our absence, for
the stone slab which protected the entrance to the tomb was lying flat
inside, and a rope was dangling from the cliff summit. Within, there
was another rope hanging into the shaft of the Mummy Pit. We looked at
each other; but neither said a word. We fixed our own rope, and as
arranged Trelawny descended first, I following at once. It was not
till we stood together at the foot of the shaft that the thought
flashed across me that we might be in some sort of a trap; that someone
might descend the rope from the cliff, and by cutting the rope by which
we had lowered ourselves into the Pit, bury us there alive. The
thought was horrifying; but it was too late to do anything. I remained
silent. We both had torches, so that there was ample light as we
passed through the passage and entered the Chamber where the
sarcophagus had stood. The first thing noticeable was the emptiness of
the place. Despite all its magnificent adornment, the tomb was made a
desolation by the absence of the great sarcophagus, to hold which it
was hewn in the rock; of the chest with the alabaster jars; of the
tables which had held the implements and food for the use of the dead,
and the ushaptiu figures.
“It was made more infinitely desolate still by the shrouded figure of
the mummy of Queen Tera which lay on the floor where the great
sarcophagus had stood! Beside it lay, in the strange contorted
attitudes of violent death, three of the Arabs who had deserted from
our party. Their faces were black, and their hands and necks were
smeared with blood which had burst from mouth and nose and eyes.
“On the throat of each were the marks, now blackening, of a hand of
seven fingers.
“Trelawny and I drew close, and clutched each other in awe and fear as
we looked.
“For, most wonderful of all, across the breast of the mummied Queen lay
a hand of seven fingers, ivory white, the wrist only showing a scar
like a jagged red line, from which seemed to depend drops of blood.”
Chapter XII
The Magic Coffer
“When we recovered our amazement, which seemed to last unduly long, we
did not lose any time carrying the mummy through the passage, and
hoisting it up the Pit shaft. I went first, to receive it at the top.
As I looked down, I saw Mr. Trelawny lift the severed hand and put it
in his breast, manifestly to save it from being injured or lost. We
left the dead Arabs where they lay. With our ropes we lowered our
precious burden to the ground; and then took it to the entrance of the
valley where our escort was to wait. To our astonishment we found them
on the move. When we remonstrated with the Sheik, he answered that he
had fulfilled his contract to the letter; he had waited the three days
as arranged. I thought that he was lying to cover up his base
intention of deserting us; and I found when we compared notes that
Trelawny had the same suspicion. It was not till we arrived at Cairo
that we found he was correct. It was the 3rd of November 1884 when we
entered the Mummy Pit for the second time; we had reason to remember
the date.
“We had lost three whole days of our reckoning—out of our
lives—whilst we had stood wondering in that chamber of the dead. Was
it strange, then, that we had a superstitious feeling with regard to
the dead Queen Tera and all belonging to her? Is it any wonder that it
rests with us now, with a bewildering sense of some power outside
ourselves or our comprehension? Will it be any wonder if it go down to
the grave with us at the appointed time? If, indeed, there be any
graves for us who have robbed the dead!” He was silent for quite a
minute before he went on:
“We got to Cairo all right, and from there to Alexandria, where we were
to take ship by the Messagerie service to Marseilles, and go thence by
express to London. But
‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice and men Gang aft agley.’
At Alexandria, Trelawny found waiting a cable stating that Mrs.
Trelawny had died in giving birth to a daughter.
“Her stricken husband hurried off at once by the Orient Express; and I
had to bring the treasure alone to the desolate house. I got to London
all safe; there seemed to be some special good fortune to our journey.
When I got to this house, the funeral had long been over. The child
had been put out to nurse, and Mr. Trelawny had so far recovered from
the shock of his loss that he had set himself to take up again the
broken threads of his life and his work. That he had had a shock, and
a bad one, was apparent. The sudden grey in his black hair was proof
enough in itself; but in addition, the strong cast of his features had
become set and stern. Since he received that cable in the shipping
office at Alexandria I have never seen a happy smile on his face.
“Work is the best thing in such a case; and to his work he devoted
himself heart and soul. The strange tragedy of his loss and gain—for
the child was born after the mother’s death—took place during the time
that we stood in that trance in the Mummy Pit of Queen Tera. It seemed
to have become in some way associated with his Egyptian studies, and
more especially with the mysteries connected with the Queen. He told
me very little about his daughter; but that two forces struggled in his
mind regarding her was apparent. I could see that he loved, almost
idolised her. Yet he could never forget that her birth had cost her
mother’s life. Also, there was something whose existence seemed to
wring his father’s heart, though he would never tell me what it was.
Again, he once said in a moment of relaxation of his purpose of silence:
“‘She is unlike her mother; but in both feature and colour she has a
marvellous resemblance to the pictures of Queen Tera.’
“He said that he had sent her away to people who would care for her as
he could not; and that till she became a woman she should have all the
simple pleasures that a young girl might have, and that were best for
her. I would often have talked with him about her; but he would never
say much. Once he said to me: ‘There are reasons why I should not
speak more than is necessary. Some day you will know—and understand!’
I respected his reticence; and beyond asking after her on my return
after a journey, I have never spoken of her again. I had never seen
her till I did so in your presence.
“Well, when the treasures which we had—ah!—taken from the tomb had
been brought here, Mr. Trelawny arranged their disposition himself.
The mummy, all except the severed hand, he placed in the great
ironstone sarcophagus in the hall. This was wrought for the Theban
High Priest Uni, and is, as you may have remarked, all inscribed with
wonderful invocations to the old Gods of Egypt. The rest of the things
from the tomb he disposed about his own room, as you have seen.
Amongst them he placed, for special reasons of his own, the mummy hand.
I think he regards this as the most sacred of his possessions, with
perhaps one exception. That is the carven ruby which he calls the
‘Jewel of Seven Stars’, which he keeps in that great safe which is
locked and guarded by various devices, as you know.
“I dare say you find this tedious; but I have had to explain it, so
that you should understand all up to the present. It was a long time
after my return with the mummy of Queen Tera when Mr. Trelawny
re-opened the subject with me. He had been several times to Egypt,
sometimes with me and sometimes alone; and I had been several trips, on
my own account or for him. But in all that time, nearly sixteen years,
he never mentioned the subject, unless when some pressing occasion
suggested, if it did not necessitate, a reference.
“One morning early he sent for me in a hurry; I was then studying in
the British Museum, and had rooms in Hart Street. When I came, he was
all on fire with excitement. I had not seen him in such a glow since
before the news of his wife’s death. He took me at once into his room.
The window blinds were down and the shutters closed; not a ray of
daylight came in. The ordinary lights in the room were not lit, but
there were a lot of powerful electric lamps, fifty candle-power at
least, arranged on one side of the room. The little bloodstone table
on which the heptagonal coffer stands was drawn to the centre of the
room. The coffer looked exquisite in the glare of light which shone on
it. It actually seemed to glow as if lit in some way from within.
“‘What do you think of it?’ he asked.
“‘It is like a jewel,’ I answered. ‘You may well call it the
‘sorcerer’s Magic Coffer’, if it often looks like that. It almost
seems to be alive.’
“‘Do you know why it seems so?’
“‘From the glare of the light, I suppose?’
“‘Light of course,’ he answered, ‘but it is rather the disposition of
light.’ As he spoke he turned up the ordinary lights of the room and
switched off the special ones. The effect on the stone box was
surprising; in a second it lost all its glowing effect. It was still a
very beautiful stone, as always; but it was stone and no more.
“‘Do you notice anything about the arrangement of the lamps?’ he asked.
“‘No!’
“‘They were in the shape of the stars in the Plough, as the stars are
in the ruby!’ The statement came to me with a certain sense of
conviction. I do not know why, except that there had been so many
mysterious associations with the mummy and all belonging to it that any
new one seemed enlightening. I listened as Trelawny went on to explain:
“‘For sixteen years I have never ceased to think of that adventure, or
to try to find a clue to the mysteries which came before us; but never
until last night did I seem to find a solution. I think I must have
dreamed of it, for I woke all on fire about it. I jumped out of bed
with a determination of doing something, before I quite knew what it
was that I wished to do. Then, all at once, the purpose was clear
before me. There were allusions in the writing on the walls of the tomb
to the seven stars of the Great Bear that go to make up the Plough; and
the North was again and again emphasized. The same symbols were
repeated with regard to the “Magic Box”, as we called it. We had
already noticed those peculiar translucent spaces in the stone of the
box. You remember the hieroglyphic writing had told that the jewel
came from the heart of an aerolite, and that the coffer was cut from it
also. It might be, I thought, that the light of the seven stars,
shining in the right direction, might have some effect on the box, or
something within it. I raised the blind and looked out. The Plough was
high in the heavens, and both its stars and the Pole Star were straight
opposite the window. I pulled the table with the coffer out into the
light, and shifted it until the translucent patches were in the
direction of the stars. Instantly the box began to glow, as you saw it
under the lamps, though but slightly. I waited and waited; but the sky
clouded over, and the light died away. So I got wires and lamps—you
know how often I use them in experiments—and tried the effect of
electric light. It took me some time to get the lamps properly placed,
so that they would correspond to the parts of the stone, but the moment
I got them right the whole thing began to glow as you have seen it.
“‘I could get no further, however. There was evidently something
wanting. All at once it came to me that if light could have some
effect there should be in the tomb some means of producing light, for
there could not be starlight in the Mummy Pit in the cavern. Then the
whole thing seemed to become clear. On the bloodstone table, which has
a hollow carved in its top, into which the bottom of the coffer fits, I
laid the Magic Coffer; and I at once saw that the odd protuberances so
carefully wrought in the substance of the stone corresponded in a way
to the stars in the constellation. These, then, were to hold lights.
“‘Eureka!’ I cried. ‘All we want now is the lamps.’” I tried placing
the electric lights on, or close to, the protuberances. But the glow
never came to the stone. So the conviction grew on me that there were
special lamps made for the purpose. If we could find them, a step on
the road to solving the mystery should be gained.
“‘But what about the lamps?’ I asked. ‘Where are they? When are we to
discover them? How are we to know them if we do find them? What—’
“He stopped me at once:
“‘One thing at a time!’ he said quietly. ‘Your first question contains
all the rest. Where are these lamps? I shall tell you: In the tomb!’
“‘In the tomb!’ I repeated in surprise. ‘Why you and I searched the
place ourselves from end to end; and there was not a sign of a lamp.
Not a sign of anything remaining when we came away the first time; or
on the second, except the bodies of the Arabs.’
“Whilst I was speaking, he had uncoiled some large sheets of paper
which he had brought in his hand from his own room. These he spread
out on the great table, keeping their edges down with books and
weights. I knew them at a glance; they were the careful copies which
he had made of our first transcripts from the writing in the tomb.
When he had all ready, he turned to me and said slowly:
“‘Do you remember wondering, when we examined the tomb, at the lack of
one thing which is usually found in such a tomb?’
“‘Yes! There was no serdab.’
“The serdab, I may perhaps explain,” said Mr. Corbeck to me, “is a sort
of niche built or hewn in the wall of a tomb. Those which have as yet
been examined bear no inscriptions, and contain only effigies of the
dead for whom the tomb was made.” Then he went on with his narrative:
“Trelawny, when he saw that I had caught his meaning, went on speaking
with something of his old enthusiasm:
“‘I have come to the conclusion that there must be a serdab—a secret
one. We were dull not to have thought of it before. We might have
known that the maker of such a tomb—a woman, who had shown in other
ways such a sense of beauty and completeness, and who had finished
every detail with a feminine richness of elaboration—would not have
neglected such an architectural feature. Even if it had not its own
special significance in ritual, she would have had it as an adornment.
Others had had it, and she liked her own work to be complete. Depend
upon it, there was—there is—a serdab; and that in it, when it is
discovered, we shall find the lamps. Of course, had we known then what
we now know or at all events surmise, that there were lamps, we might
have suspected some hidden spot, some cachet. I am going to ask you to
go out to Egypt again; to seek the tomb; to find the serdab; and to
bring back the lamps!’”
“‘And if I find there is no serdab; or if discovering it I find no
lamps in it, what then?’ He smiled grimly with that saturnine smile of
his, so rarely seen for years past, as he spoke slowly:
“‘Then you will have to hustle till you find them!’
“‘Good!’ I said. He pointed to one of the sheets.
“‘Here are the transcripts from the Chapel at the south and the east.
I have been looking over the writings again; and I find that in seven
places round this corner are the symbols of the constellation which we
call the Plough, which Queen Tera held to rule her birth and her
destiny. I have examined them carefully, and I notice that they are
all representations of the grouping of the stars, as the constellation
appears in different parts of the heavens. They are all astronomically
correct; and as in the real sky the Pointers indicate the Pole Star, so
these all point to one spot in the wall where usually the serdab is to
be found!’
“‘Bravo!’ I shouted, for such a piece of reasoning demanded applause.
He seemed pleased as he went on:
“‘When you are in the tomb, examine this spot. There is probably some
spring or mechanical contrivance for opening the receptacle. What it
may be, there is no use guessing. You will know what best to do, when
you are on the spot.’
“I started the next week for Egypt; and never rested till I stood again
in the tomb. I had found some of our old following; and was fairly
well provided with help. The country was now in a condition very
different to that in which it had been sixteen years before; there was
no need for troops or armed men.
“I climbed the rock face alone. There was no difficulty, for in that
fine climate the woodwork of the ladder was still dependable. It was
easy to see that in the years that had elapsed there had been other
visitors to the tomb; and my heart sank within me when I thought that
some of them might by chance have come across the secret place. It
would be a bitter discovery indeed to find that they had forestalled
me; and that my journey had been in vain.
“The bitterness was realised when I lit my torches, and passed between
the seven-sided columns to the Chapel of the tomb.
“There, in the very spot where I had expected to find it, was the
opening of a serdab. And the serdab was empty.
“But the Chapel was not empty; for the dried-up body of a man in Arab
dress lay close under the opening, as though he had been stricken down.
I examined all round the walls to see if Trelawny’s surmise was
correct; and I found that in all the positions of the stars as given,
the Pointers of the Plough indicated a spot to the left hand, or south
side, of the opening of the serdab, where was a single star in gold.
“I pressed this, and it gave way. The stone which had marked the front
of the serdab, and which lay back against the wall within, moved
slightly. On further examining the other side of the opening, I found
a similar spot, indicated by other representations of the
constellation; but this was itself a figure of the seven stars, and
each was wrought in burnished gold. I pressed each star in turn; but
without result. Then it struck me that if the opening spring was on
the left, this on the right might have been intended for the
simultaneous pressure of all the stars by one hand of seven fingers.
By using both my hands, I managed to effect this.
“With a loud click, a metal figure seemed to dart from close to the
opening of the serdab; the stone slowly swung back to its place, and
shut with a click. The glimpse which I had of the descending figure
appalled me for the moment. It was like that grim guardian which,
according to the Arabian historian Ibn Abd Alhokin, the builder of the
Pyramids, King Saurid Ibn Salhouk placed in the Western Pyramid to
defend its treasure: ‘A marble figure, upright, with lance in hand;
with on his head a serpent wreathed. When any approached, the serpent
would bite him on one side, and twining about his throat and killing
him, would return again to his place.’
“I knew well that such a figure was not wrought to pleasantry; and that
to brave it was no child’s play. The dead Arab at my feet was proof of
what could be done! So I examined again along the wall; and found here
and there chippings as if someone had been tapping with a heavy hammer.
This then had been what happened: The grave-robber, more expert at his
work than we had been, and suspecting the presence of a hidden serdab,
had made essay to find it. He had struck the spring by chance; had
released the avenging ‘Treasurer’, as the Arabian writer designated
him. The issue spoke for itself. I got a piece of wood, and, standing
at a safe distance, pressed with the end of it upon the star.
“Instantly the stone flew back. The hidden figure within darted
forward and thrust out its lance. Then it rose up and disappeared. I
thought I might now safely press on the seven stars; and did so. Again
the stone rolled back; and the ‘Treasurer’ flashed by to his hidden
lair.
“I repeated both experiments several times; with always the same
result. I should have liked to examine the mechanism of that figure of
such malignant mobility; but it was not possible without such tools as
could not easily be had. It might be necessary to cut into a whole
section of the rock. Some day I hope to go back, properly equipped,
and attempt it.
“Perhaps you do not know that the entrance to a serdab is almost always
very narrow; sometimes a hand can hardly be inserted. Two things I
learned from this serdab. The first was that the lamps, if lamps at
all there had been, could not have been of large size; and secondly,
that they would be in some way associated with Hathor, whose symbol,
the hawk in a square with the right top corner forming a smaller
square, was cut in relief on the wall within, and coloured the bright
vermilion which we had found on the Stele. Hathor is the goddess who
in Egyptian mythology answers to Venus of the Greeks, in as far as she
is the presiding deity of beauty and pleasure. In the Egyptian
mythology, however, each God has many forms; and in some aspects Hathor
has to do with the idea of resurrection. There are seven forms or
variants of the Goddess; why should not these correspond in some way to
the seven lamps! That there had been such lamps, I was convinced. The
first grave-robber had met his death; the second had found the contents
of the serdab. The first attempt had been made years since; the state
of the body proved this. I had no clue to the second attempt. It
might have been long ago; or it might have been recently. If, however,
others had been to the tomb, it was probable that the lamps had been
taken long ago. Well! all the more difficult would be my search; for
undertaken it must be!
“That was nearly three years ago; and for all that time I have been
like the man in the Arabian Nights, seeking old lamps, not for new, but
for cash. I dared not say what I was looking for, or attempt to give
any description; for such would have defeated my purpose. But I had in
my own mind at the start a vague idea of what I must find. In process
of time this grew more and more clear; till at last I almost overshot
my mark by searching for something which might have been wrong.
“The disappointments I suffered, and the wild-goose chases I made,
would fill a volume; but I persevered. At last, not two months ago, I
was shown by an old dealer in Mossul one lamp such as I had looked for.
I had been tracing it for nearly a year, always suffering
disappointment, but always buoyed up to further endeavour by a growing
hope that I was on the track.
“I do not know how I restrained myself when I realised that, at last, I
was at least close to success. I was skilled, however, in the finesse
of Eastern trade; and the Jew-Arab-Portugee trader met his match. I
wanted to see all his stock before buying; and one by one he produced,
amongst masses of rubbish, seven different lamps. Each of them had a
distinguishing mark; and each and all was some form of the symbol of
Hathor. I think I shook the imperturbability of my swarthy friend by
the magnitude of my purchases; for in order to prevent him guessing
what form of goods I sought, I nearly cleared out his shop. At the end
he nearly wept, and said I had ruined him; for now he had nothing to
sell. He would have torn his hair had he known what price I should
ultimately have given for some of his stock, that perhaps he valued
least.
“I parted with most of my merchandise at normal price as I hurried
home. I did not dare to give it away, or even lose it, lest I should
incur suspicion. My burden was far too precious to be risked by any
foolishness now. I got on as fast as it is possible to travel in such
countries; and arrived in London with only the lamps and certain
portable curios and papyri which I had picked up on my travels.
“Now, Mr. Ross, you know all I know; and I leave it to your discretion
how much, if any of it, you will tell Miss Trelawny.”
As he finished a clear young voice said behind us:
“What about Miss Trelawny? She is here!”
We turned, startled; and looked at each other inquiringly. Miss
Trelawny stood in the doorway. We did not know how long she had been
present, or how much she had heard.
Chapter XIII
Awaking From the Trance
The first unexpected words may always startle a hearer; but when the
shock is over, the listener’s reason has asserted itself, and he can
judge of the manner, as well as of the matter, of speech. Thus it was
on this occasion. With intelligence now alert, I could not doubt of
the simple sincerity of Margaret’s next question.
“What have you two men been talking about all this time, Mr. Ross? I
suppose, Mr. Corbeck has been telling you all his adventures in finding
the lamps. I hope you will tell me too, some day, Mr. Corbeck; but
that must not be till my poor Father is better. He would like, I am
sure, to tell me all about these things himself; or to be present when
I heard them.” She glanced sharply from one to the other. “Oh, that
was what you were saying as I came in? All right! I shall wait; but I
hope it won’t be long. The continuance of Father’s condition is, I
feel, breaking me down. A little while ago I felt that my nerves were
giving out; so I determined to go out for a walk in the Park. I am
sure it will do me good. I want you, if you will, Mr. Ross, to be with
Father whilst I am away. I shall feel secure then.”
I rose with alacrity, rejoicing that the poor girl was going out, even
for half an hour. She was looking terribly wearied and haggard; and the
sight of her pale cheeks made my heart ache. I went to the sick-room;
and sat down in my usual place. Mrs. Grant was then on duty; we had
not found it necessary to have more than one person in the room during
the day. When I came in, she took occasion to go about some household
duty. The blinds were up, but the north aspect of the room softened the
hot glare of the sunlight without.
I sat for a long time thinking over all that Mr. Corbeck had told me;
and weaving its wonders into the tissue of strange things which had
come to pass since I had entered the house. At times I was inclined to
doubt; to doubt everything and every one; to doubt even the evidences
of my own five senses. The warnings of the skilled detective kept
coming back to my mind. He had put down Mr. Corbeck as a clever liar,
and a confederate of Miss Trelawny. Of Margaret! That settled it!
Face to face with such a proposition as that, doubt vanished. Each
time when her image, her name, the merest thought of her, came before
my mind, each event stood out stark as a living fact. My life upon her
faith!
I was recalled from my reverie, which was fast becoming a dream of
love, in a startling manner. A voice came from the bed; a deep,
strong, masterful voice. The first note of it called up like a clarion
my eyes and my ears. The sick man was awake and speaking!
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
Whatever ideas any of us had ever formed of his waking, I am quite sure
that none of us expected to see him start up all awake and full master
of himself. I was so surprised that I answered almost mechanically:
“Ross is my name. I have been watching by you!” He looked surprised
for an instant, and then I could see that his habit of judging for
himself came into play.
“Watching by me! How do you mean? Why watching by me?” His eye had
now lit on his heavily bandaged wrist. He went on in a different tone;
less aggressive, more genial, as of one accepting facts:
“Are you a doctor?” I felt myself almost smiling as I answered; the
relief from the long pressure of anxiety regarding his life was
beginning to tell:
“No, sir!”
“Then why are you here? If you are not a doctor, what are you?” His
tone was again more dictatorial. Thought is quick; the whole train of
reasoning on which my answer must be based flooded through my brain
before the words could leave my lips. Margaret! I must think of
Margaret! This was her father, who as yet knew nothing of me; even of
my very existence. He would be naturally curious, if not anxious, to
know why I amongst men had been chosen as his daughter’s friend on the
occasion of his illness. Fathers are naturally a little jealous in
such matters as a daughter’s choice, and in the undeclared state of my
love for Margaret I must do nothing which could ultimately embarrass
her.
“I am a Barrister. It is not, however, in that capacity I am here; but
simply as a friend of your daughter. It was probably her knowledge of
my being a lawyer which first determined her to ask me to come when she
thought you had been murdered. Afterwards she was good enough to
consider me to be a friend, and to allow me to remain in accordance
with your expressed wish that someone should remain to watch.”
Mr. Trelawny was manifestly a man of quick thought, and of few words.
He gazed at me keenly as I spoke, and his piercing eyes seemed to read
my thought. To my relief he said no more on the subject just then,
seeming to accept my words in simple faith. There was evidently in his
own mind some cause for the acceptance deeper than my own knowledge.
His eyes flashed, and there was an unconscious movement of the
mouth—it could hardly be called a twitch—which betokened
satisfaction. He was following out some train of reasoning in his own
mind. Suddenly he said:
“She thought I had been murdered! Was that last night?”
“No! four days ago.” He seemed surprised. Whilst he had been speaking
the first time he had sat up in bed; now he made a movement as though
he would jump out. With an effort, however, he restrained himself;
leaning back on his pillows he said quietly:
“Tell me all about it! All you know! Every detail! Omit nothing!
But stay; first lock the door! I want to know, before I see anyone,
exactly how things stand.”
Somehow his last words made my heart leap. “Anyone!” He evidently
accepted me, then, as an exception. In my present state of feeling for
his daughter, this was a comforting thought. I felt exultant as I went
over to the door and softly turned the key. When I came back I found
him sitting up again. He said:
“Go on!”
Accordingly, I told him every detail, even of the slightest which I
could remember, of what had happened from the moment of my arrival at
the house. Of course I said nothing of my feeling towards Margaret,
and spoke only concerning those things already within his own
knowledge. With regard to Corbeck, I simply said that he had brought
back some lamps of which he had been in quest. Then I proceeded to
tell him fully of their loss, and of their re-discovery in the house.
He listened with a self-control which, under the circumstances, was to
me little less than marvellous. It was impassiveness, for at times his
eyes would flash or blaze, and the strong fingers of his uninjured hand
would grip the sheet, pulling it into far-extending wrinkles. This was
most noticeable when I told him of the return of Corbeck, and the
finding of the lamps in the boudoir. At times he spoke, but only a few
words, and as if unconsciously in emotional comment. The mysterious
parts, those which had most puzzled us, seemed to have no special
interest for him; he seemed to know them already. The utmost concern
he showed was when I told him of Daw’s shooting. His muttered comment:
“stupid ass!” together with a quick glance across the room at the
injured cabinet, marked the measure of his disgust. As I told him of
his daughter’s harrowing anxiety for him, of her unending care and
devotion, of the tender love which she had shown, he seemed much moved.
There was a sort of veiled surprise in his unconscious whisper:
“Margaret! Margaret!”
When I had finished my narration, bringing matters up to the moment
when Miss Trelawny had gone out for her walk—I thought of her as “Miss
Trelawny,” not as “Margaret” now, in the presence of her father—he
remained silent for quite a long time. It was probably two or three
minutes; but it seemed interminable. All at once he turned and said to
me briskly:
“Now tell me all about yourself!” This was something of a floorer; I
felt myself grow red-hot. Mr. Trelawny’s eyes were upon me; they were
now calm and inquiring, but never ceasing in their soul-searching
scrutiny. There was just a suspicion of a smile on the mouth which,
though it added to my embarrassment, gave me a certain measure of
relief. I was, however, face to face with difficulty; and the habit of
my life stood me in good stead. I looked him straight in the eyes as I
spoke:
“My name, as I told you, is Ross, Malcolm Ross. I am by profession a
Barrister. I was made a Q. C. in the last year of the Queen’s reign.
I have been fairly successful in my work.” To my relief he said:
“Yes, I know. I have always heard well of you! Where and when did you
meet Margaret?”
“First at the Hay’s in Belgrave Square, ten days ago. Then at a picnic
up the river with Lady Strathconnell. We went from Windsor to Cookham.
Mar—Miss Trelawny was in my boat. I scull a little, and I had my own
boat at Windsor. We had a good deal of conversation—naturally.”
“Naturally!” there was just a suspicion of something sardonic in the
tone of acquiescence; but there was no other intimation of his feeling.
I began to think that as I was in the presence of a strong man, I
should show something of my own strength. My friends, and sometimes my
opponents, say that I am a strong man. In my present circumstances,
not to be absolutely truthful would be to be weak. So I stood up to
the difficulty before me; always bearing in mind, however, that my
words might affect Margaret’s happiness through her love for her
father. I went on:
“In conversation at a place and time and amid surroundings so pleasing,
and in a solitude inviting to confidence, I got a glimpse of her inner
life. Such a glimpse as a man of my years and experience may get from
a young girl!” The father’s face grew graver as I went on; but he said
nothing. I was committed now to a definite line of speech, and went on
with such mastery of my mind as I could exercise. The occasion might
be fraught with serious consequences to me too.
“I could not but see that there was over her spirit a sense of
loneliness which was habitual to her. I thought I understood it; I am
myself an only child. I ventured to encourage her to speak to me
freely; and was happy enough to succeed. A sort of confidence became
established between us.” There was something in the father’s face
which made me add hurriedly:
“Nothing was said by her, sir, as you can well imagine, which was not
right and proper. She only told me in the impulsive way of one longing
to give voice to thoughts long carefully concealed, of her yearning to
be closer to the father whom she loved; more en rapport with him; more
in his confidence; closer within the circle of his sympathies. Oh,
believe me, sir, that it was all good! All that a father’s heart could
hope or wish for! It was all loyal! That she spoke it to me was
perhaps because I was almost a stranger with whom there was no previous
barrier to confidence.”
Here I paused. It was hard to go on; and I feared lest I might, in my
zeal, do Margaret a disservice. The relief of the strain came from her
father.
“And you?”
“Sir, Miss Trelawny is very sweet and beautiful! She is young; and her
mind is like crystal! Her sympathy is a joy! I am not an old man, and
my affections were not engaged. They never had been till then. I hope
I may say as much, even to a father!” My eyes involuntarily dropped.
When I raised them again Mr. Trelawny was still gazing at me keenly.
All the kindliness of his nature seemed to wreath itself in a smile as
he held out his hand and said:
“Malcolm Ross, I have always heard of you as a fearless and honourable
gentleman. I am glad my girl has such a friend! Go on!”
My heart leaped. The first step to the winning of Margaret’s father
was gained. I dare say I was somewhat more effusive in my words and my
manner as I went on. I certainly felt that way.
“One thing we gain as we grow older: to use our age judiciously! I
have had much experience. I have fought for it and worked for it all
my life; and I felt that I was justified in using it. I ventured to
ask Miss Trelawny to count on me as a friend; to let me serve her
should occasion arise. She promised me that she would. I had little
idea that my chance of serving her should come so soon or in such a
way; but that very night you were stricken down. In her desolation and
anxiety she sent for me!” I paused. He continued to look at me as I
went on:
“When your letter of instructions was found, I offered my services.
They were accepted, as you know.”
“And these days, how did they pass for you?” The question startled me.
There was in it something of Margaret’s own voice and manner; something
so greatly resembling her lighter moments that it brought out all the
masculinity in me. I felt more sure of my ground now as I said:
“These days, sir, despite all their harrowing anxiety, despite all the
pain they held for the girl whom I grew to love more and more with each
passing hour, have been the happiest of my life!” He kept silence for
a long time; so long that, as I waited for him to speak, with my heart
beating, I began to wonder if my frankness had been too effusive. At
last he said:
“I suppose it is hard to say so much vicariously. Her poor mother
should have heard you; it would have made her heart glad!” Then a
shadow swept across his face; and he went on more hurriedly.
“But are you quite sure of all this?”
“I know my own heart, sir; or, at least, I think I do!”
“No! no!” he answered, “I don’t mean you. That is all right! But you
spoke of my girl’s affection for me ... and yet...! And yet she has
been living here, in my house, a whole year.... Still, she spoke to you
of her loneliness—her desolation. I never—it grieves me to say it,
but it is true—I never saw sign of such affection towards myself in
all the year!...” His voice trembled away into sad, reminiscent
introspection.
“Then, sir,” I said, “I have been privileged to see more in a few days
than you in her whole lifetime!” My words seemed to call him up from
himself; and I thought that it was with pleasure as well as surprise
that he said:
“I had no idea of it. I thought that she was indifferent to me. That
what seemed like the neglect of her youth was revenging itself on me.
That she was cold of heart.... It is a joy unspeakable to me that her
mother’s daughter loves me too!” Unconsciously he sank back upon his
pillow, lost in memories of the past.
How he must have loved her mother! It was the love of her mother’s
child, rather than the love of his own daughter, that appealed to him.
My heart went out to him in a great wave of sympathy and kindliness. I
began to understand. To understand the passion of these two great,
silent, reserved natures, that successfully concealed the burning
hunger for the other’s love! It did not surprise me when presently he
murmured to himself:
“Margaret, my child! Tender, and thoughtful, and strong, and true, and
brave! Like her dear mother! like her dear mother!”
And then to the very depths of my heart I rejoiced that I had spoken so
frankly.
Presently Mr. Trelawny said:
“Four days! The sixteenth! Then this is the twentieth of July?” I
nodded affirmation; he went on:
“So I have been lying in a trance for four days. It is not the first
time. I was in a trance once under strange conditions for three days;
and never even suspected it till I was told of the lapse of time. I
shall tell you all about it some day, if you care to hear.”
That made me thrill with pleasure. That he, Margaret’s father, would
so take me into his confidence made it possible.... The business-like,
every-day alertness of his voice as he spoke next quite recalled me:
“I had better get up now. When Margaret comes in, tell her yourself
that I am all right. It will avoid any shock! And will you tell
Corbeck that I would like to see him as soon as I can. I want to see
those lamps, and hear all about them!”
His attitude towards me filled me with delight. There was a possible
father-in-law aspect that would have raised me from a death-bed. I was
hurrying away to carry out his wishes; when, however, my hand was on
the key of the door, his voice recalled me:
“Mr. Ross!”
I did not like to hear him say “Mr.” After he knew of my friendship
with his daughter he had called me Malcolm Ross; and this obvious
return to formality not only pained, but filled me with apprehension.
It must be something about Margaret. I thought of her as “Margaret”
and not as “Miss Trelawny”, now that there was danger of losing her. I
know now what I felt then: that I was determined to fight for her
rather than lose her. I came back, unconsciously holding myself erect.
Mr. Trelawny, the keen observer of men, seemed to read my thought; his
face, which was set in a new anxiety, relaxed as he said:
“Sit down a minute; it is better that we speak now than later. We are
both men, and men of the world. All this about my daughter is very new
to me, and very sudden; and I want to know exactly how and where I
stand. Mind, I am making no objection; but as a father I have duties
which are grave, and may prove to be painful. I—I”—he seemed
slightly at a loss how to begin, and this gave me hope—“I suppose I am
to take it, from what you have said to me of your feelings towards my
girl, that it is in your mind to be a suitor for her hand, later on?”
I answered at once:
“Absolutely! Firm and fixed; it was my intention the evening after I
had been with her on the river, to seek you, of course after a proper
and respectful interval, and to ask you if I might approach her on the
subject. Events forced me into closer relationship more quickly than I
had to hope would be possible; but that first purpose has remained
fresh in my heart, and has grown in intensity, and multiplied itself
with every hour which has passed since then.” His face seemed to
soften as he looked at me; the memory of his own youth was coming back
to him instinctively. After a pause he said:
“I suppose I may take it, too, Malcolm Ross”—the return to the
familiarity of address swept through me with a glorious thrill—“that
as yet you have not made any protestation to my daughter?”
“Not in words, sir.” The arriere pensee of my phrase struck me, not by
its own humour, but through the grave, kindly smile on the father’s
face. There was a pleasant sarcasm in his comment:
“Not in words! That is dangerous! She might have doubted words, or
even disbelieved them.”
I felt myself blushing to the roots of my hair as I went on:
“The duty of delicacy in her defenceless position; my respect for her
father—I did not know you then, sir, as yourself, but only as her
father—restrained me. But even had not these barriers existed, I
should not have dared in the presence of such grief and anxiety to have
declared myself. Mr. Trelawny, I assure you on my word of honour that
your daughter and I are as yet, on her part, but friends and nothing
more!” Once again he held out his hands, and we clasped each other
warmly. Then he said heartily:
“I am satisfied, Malcolm Ross. Of course, I take it that until I have
seen her and have given you permission, you will not make any
declaration to my daughter—in words,” he added, with an indulgent
smile. But his face became stern again as he went on:
“Time presses; and I have to think of some matters so urgent and so
strange that I dare not lose an hour. Otherwise I should not have been
prepared to enter, at so short a notice and to so new a friend, on the
subject of my daughter’s settlement in life, and of her future
happiness.” There was a dignity and a certain proudness in his manner
which impressed me much.
“I shall respect your wishes, sir!” I said as I went back and opened
the door. I heard him lock it behind me.
When I told Mr. Corbeck that Mr. Trelawny had quite recovered, he began
to dance about like a wild man. But he suddenly stopped, and asked me
to be careful not to draw any inferences, at all events at first, when
in the future speaking of the finding of the lamps, or of the first
visits to the tomb. This was in case Mr. Trelawny should speak to me
on the subject; “as, of course, he will,” he added, with a sidelong
look at me which meant knowledge of the affairs of my heart. I agreed
to this, feeling that it was quite right. I did not quite understand
why; but I knew that Mr. Trelawny was a peculiar man. In no case could
one make a mistake by being reticent. Reticence is a quality which a
strong man always respects.
The manner in which the others of the house took the news of the
recovery varied much. Mrs. Grant wept with emotion; then she hurried
off to see if she could do anything personally, and to set the house in
order for “Master”, as she always called him. The Nurse’s face fell:
she was deprived of an interesting case. But the disappointment was
only momentary; and she rejoiced that the trouble was over. She was
ready to come to the patient the moment she should be wanted; but in
the meantime she occupied herself in packing her portmanteau.
I took Sergeant Daw into the study, so that we should be alone when I
told him the news. It surprised even his iron self-control when I told
him the method of the waking. I was myself surprised in turn by his
first words:
“And how did he explain the first attack? He was unconscious when the
second was made.”
Up to that moment the nature of the attack, which was the cause of my
coming to the house, had never even crossed my mind, except when I had
simply narrated the various occurrences in sequence to Mr. Trelawny.
The Detective did not seem to think much of my answer:
“Do you know, it never occurred to me to ask him!” The professional
instinct was strong in the man, and seemed to supersede everything else.
“That is why so few cases are ever followed out,” he said, “unless our
people are in them. Your amateur detective never hunts down to the
death. As for ordinary people, the moment things begin to mend, and
the strain of suspense is off them, they drop the matter in hand. It
is like sea-sickness,” he added philosophically after a pause; “the
moment you touch the shore you never give it a thought, but run off to
the buffet to feed! Well, Mr. Ross, I’m glad the case is over; for
over it is, so far as I am concerned. I suppose that Mr. Trelawny
knows his own business; and that now he is well again, he will take it
up himself. Perhaps, however, he will not do anything. As he seemed to
expect something to happen, but did not ask for protection from the
police in any way, I take it that he don’t want them to interfere with
an eye to punishment. We’ll be told officially, I suppose, that it was
an accident, or sleep-walking, or something of the kind, to satisfy the
conscience of our Record Department; and that will be the end. As for
me, I tell you frankly, sir, that it will be the saving of me. I
verily believe I was beginning to get dotty over it all. There were
too many mysteries, that aren’t in my line, for me to be really
satisfied as to either facts or the causes of them. Now I’ll be able
to wash my hands of it, and get back to clean, wholesome, criminal
work. Of course, sir, I’ll be glad to know if you ever do light on a
cause of any kind. And I’ll be grateful if you can ever tell me how
the man was dragged out of bed when the cat bit him, and who used the
knife the second time. For master Silvio could never have done it by
himself. But there! I keep thinking of it still. I must look out and
keep a check on myself, or I shall think of it when I have to keep my
mind on other things!”
When Margaret returned from her walk, I met her in the hall. She was
still pale and sad; somehow, I had expected to see her radiant after
her walk. The moment she saw me her eyes brightened, and she looked at
me keenly.
“You have some good news for me?” she said. “Is Father better?”
“He is! Why did you think so?”
“I saw it in your face. I must go to him at once.” She was hurrying
away when I stopped her.
“He said he would send for you the moment he was dressed.”
“He said he would send for me!” she repeated in amazement. “Then he is
awake again, and conscious? I had no idea he was so well as that! O
Malcolm!”
She sat down on the nearest chair and began to cry. I felt overcome
myself. The sight of her joy and emotion, the mention of my own name
in such a way and at such a time, the rush of glorious possibilities
all coming together, quite unmanned me. She saw my emotion, and seemed
to understand. She put out her hand. I held it hard, and kissed it.
Such moments as these, the opportunities of lovers, are gifts of the
gods! Up to this instant, though I knew I loved her, and though I
believed she returned my affection, I had had only hope. Now, however,
the self-surrender manifest in her willingness to let me squeeze her
hand, the ardour of her pressure in return, and the glorious flush of
love in her beautiful, deep, dark eyes as she lifted them to mine, were
all the eloquences which the most impatient or exacting lover could
expect or demand.
No word was spoken; none was needed. Even had I not been pledged to
verbal silence, words would have been poor and dull to express what we
felt. Hand in hand, like two little children, we went up the staircase
and waited on the landing, till the summons from Mr. Trelawny should
come.
I whispered in her ear—it was nicer than speaking aloud and at a
greater distance—how her father had awakened, and what he had said;
and all that had passed between us, except when she herself had been
the subject of conversation.
Presently a bell rang from the room. Margaret slipped from me, and
looked back with warning finger on lip. She went over to her father’s
door and knocked softly.
“Come in!” said the strong voice.
“It is I, Father!” The voice was tremulous with love and hope.
There was a quick step inside the room; the door was hurriedly thrown
open, and in an instant Margaret, who had sprung forward, was clasped
in her father’s arms. There was little speech; only a few broken
phrases.
“Father! Dear, dear Father!”
“My child! Margaret! My dear, dear child!”
“O Father, Father! At last! At last!”
Here the father and daughter went into the room together, and the door
closed.
Chapter XIV
The Birth-Mark
During my waiting for the summons to Mr. Trelawny’s room, which I knew
would come, the time was long and lonely. After the first few moments
of emotional happiness at Margaret’s joy, I somehow felt apart and
alone; and for a little time the selfishness of a lover possessed me.
But it was not for long. Margaret’s happiness was all to me; and in
the conscious sense of it I lost my baser self. Margaret’s last words
as the door closed on them gave the key to the whole situation, as it
had been and as it was. These two proud, strong people, though father
and daughter, had only come to know each other when the girl was grown
up. Margaret’s nature was of that kind which matures early.
The pride and strength of each, and the reticence which was their
corollary, made a barrier at the beginning. Each had respected the
other’s reticence too much thereafter; and the misunderstanding grew to
habit. And so these two loving hearts, each of which yearned for
sympathy from the other, were kept apart. But now all was well, and in
my heart of hearts I rejoiced that at last Margaret was happy. Whilst
I was still musing on the subject, and dreaming dreams of a personal
nature, the door was opened, and Mr. Trelawny beckoned to me.
“Come in, Mr. Ross!” he said cordially, but with a certain formality
which I dreaded. I entered the room, and he closed the door again. He
held out his hand, and I put mine in it. He did not let it go, but
still held it as he drew me over toward his daughter. Margaret looked
from me to him, and back again; and her eyes fell. When I was close to
her, Mr. Trelawny let go my hand, and, looking his daughter straight in
the face, said:
“If things are as I fancy, we shall not have any secrets between us.
Malcolm Ross knows so much of my affairs already, that I take it he
must either let matters stop where they are and go away in silence, or
else he must know more. Margaret! are you willing to let Mr. Ross see
your wrist?”
She threw one swift look of appeal in his eyes; but even as she did so
she seemed to make up her mind. Without a word she raised her right
hand, so that the bracelet of spreading wings which covered the wrist
fell back, leaving the flesh bare. Then an icy chill shot through me.
On her wrist was a thin red jagged line, from which seemed to hang red
stains like drops of blood!
She stood there, a veritable figure of patient pride.
Oh! but she looked proud! Through all her sweetness, all her dignity,
all her high-souled negation of self which I had known, and which never
seemed more marked than now—through all the fire that seemed to shine
from the dark depths of her eyes into my very soul, pride shone
conspicuously. The pride that has faith; the pride that is born of
conscious purity; the pride of a veritable queen of Old Time, when to
be royal was to be the first and greatest and bravest in all high
things. As we stood thus for some seconds, the deep, grave voice of her
father seemed to sound a challenge in my ears:
“What do you say now?”
My answer was not in words. I caught Margaret’s right hand in mine as
it fell, and, holding it tight, whilst with the other I pushed back the
golden cincture, stooped and kissed the wrist. As I looked up at her,
but never letting go her hand, there was a look of joy on her face such
as I dream of when I think of heaven. Then I faced her father.
“You have my answer, sir!” His strong face looked gravely sweet. He
only said one word as he laid his hand on our clasped ones, whilst he
bent over and kissed his daughter:
“Good!”
We were interrupted by a knock at the door. In answer to an impatient
“Come in!” from Mr. Trelawny, Mr. Corbeck entered. When he saw us
grouped he would have drawn back; but in an instant Mr. Trelawny had
sprung forth and dragged him forward. As he shook him by both hands,
he seemed a transformed man. All the enthusiasm of his youth, of which
Mr. Corbeck had told us, seemed to have come back to him in an instant.
“So you have got the lamps!” he almost shouted. “My reasoning was
right after all. Come to the library, where we will be alone, and tell
me all about it! And while he does it, Ross,” said he, turning to me,
“do you, like a good fellow, get the key from the safe deposit, so that
I may have a look at the lamps!”
Then the three of them, the daughter lovingly holding her father’s arm,
went into the library, whilst I hurried off to Chancery Lane.
When I returned with the key, I found them still engaged in the
narrative; but Doctor Winchester, who had arrived soon after I left,
was with them. Mr. Trelawny, on hearing from Margaret of his great
attention and kindness, and how he had, under much pressure to the
contrary, steadfastly obeyed his written wishes, had asked him to
remain and listen. “It will interest you, perhaps,” he said, “to learn
the end of the story!”
We all had an early dinner together. We sat after it a good while, and
then Mr. Trelawny said:
“Now, I think we had all better separate and go quietly to bed early.
We may have much to talk about tomorrow; and tonight I want to think.”
Doctor Winchester went away, taking, with a courteous forethought, Mr.
Corbeck with him, and leaving me behind. When the others had gone Mr.
Trelawny said:
“I think it will be well if you, too, will go home for tonight. I want
to be quite alone with my daughter; there are many things I wish to
speak of to her, and to her alone. Perhaps, even tomorrow, I will be
able to tell you also of them; but in the meantime there will be less
distraction to us both if we are alone in the house.” I quite
understood and sympathised with his feelings; but the experiences of
the last few days were strong on me, and with some hesitation I said:
“But may it not be dangerous? If you knew as we do—” To my surprise
Margaret interrupted me:
“There will be no danger, Malcolm. I shall be with Father!” As she
spoke she clung to him in a protective way. I said no more, but stood
up to go at once. Mr. Trelawny said heartily:
“Come as early as you please, Ross. Come to breakfast. After it, you
and I will want to have a word together.” He went out of the room
quietly, leaving us together. I clasped and kissed Margaret’s hands,
which she held out to me, and then drew her close to me, and our lips
met for the first time.
I did not sleep much that night. Happiness on the one side of my bed
and Anxiety on the other kept sleep away. But if I had anxious care, I
had also happiness which had not equal in my life—or ever can have.
The night went by so quickly that the dawn seemed to rush on me, not
stealing as is its wont.
Before nine o’clock I was at Kensington. All anxiety seemed to float
away like a cloud as I met Margaret, and saw that already the pallor of
her face had given to the rich bloom which I knew. She told me that
her father had slept well, and that he would be with us soon.
“I do believe,” she whispered, “that my dear and thoughtful Father has
kept back on purpose, so that I might meet you first, and alone!”
After breakfast Mr. Trelawny took us into the study, saying as he
passed in:
“I have asked Margaret to come too.” When we were seated, he said
gravely:
“I told you last night that we might have something to say to each
other. I dare say that you may have thought that it was about Margaret
and yourself. Isn’t that so?”
“I thought so.”
“Well, my boy, that is all right. Margaret and I have been talking,
and I know her wishes.” He held out his hand. When I wrung it, and
had kissed Margaret, who drew her chair close to mine, so that we could
hold hands as we listened, he went on, but with a certain
hesitation—it could hardly be called nervousness—which was new to me.
“You know a good deal of my hunt after this mummy and her belongings;
and I dare say you have guessed a good deal of my theories. But these
at any rate I shall explain later, concisely and categorically, if it
be necessary. What I want to consult you about now is this: Margaret
and I disagree on one point. I am about to make an experiment; the
experiment which is to crown all that I have devoted twenty years of
research, and danger, and labour to prepare for. Through it we may
learn things that have been hidden from the eyes and the knowledge of
men for centuries; for scores of centuries. I do not want my daughter
to be present; for I cannot blind myself to the fact that there may be
danger in it—great danger, and of an unknown kind. I have, however,
already faced very great dangers, and of an unknown kind; and so has
that brave scholar who has helped me in the work. As to myself, I am
willing to run any risk. For science, and history, and philosophy may
benefit; and we may turn one old page of a wisdom unknown in this
prosaic age. But for my daughter to run such a risk I am loth. Her
young bright life is too precious to throw lightly away; now especially
when she is on the very threshold of new happiness. I do not wish to
see her life given, as her dear mother’s was—”
He broke down for a moment, and covered his eyes with his hands. In an
instant Margaret was beside him, clasping him close, and kissing him,
and comforting him with loving words. Then, standing erect, with one
hand on his head, she said:
“Father! mother did not bid you stay beside her, even when you wanted
to go on that journey of unknown danger to Egypt; though that country
was then upset from end to end with war and the dangers that follow
war. You have told me how she left you free to go as you wished; though
that she thought of danger for you and feared it for you, is proved
by this!” She held up her wrist with the scar that seemed to run
blood. “Now, mother’s daughter does as mother would have done herself!”
Then she turned to me:
“Malcolm, you know I love you! But love is trust; and you must trust
me in danger as well as in joy. You and I must stand beside Father in
this unknown peril. Together we shall come through it; or together we
shall fail; together we shall die. That is my wish; my first wish to my
husband that is to be! Do you not think that, as a daughter, I am
right? Tell my Father what you think!”
She looked like a Queen stooping to plead. My love for her grew and
grew. I stood up beside her; and took her hand and said:
“Mr. Trelawny! in this Margaret and I are one!”
He took both our hands and held them hard. Presently he said with deep
emotion:
“It is as her mother would have done!”
Mr. Corbeck and Doctor Winchester came exactly at the time appointed,
and joined us in the library. Despite my great happiness I felt our
meeting to be a very solemn function. For I could never forget the
strange things that had been; and the idea of the strange things which
might be, was with me like a cloud, pressing down on us all. From the
gravity of my companions I gathered that each of them also was ruled by
some such dominating thought.
Instinctively we gathered our chairs into a circle round Mr. Trelawny,
who had taken the great arm-chair near the window. Margaret sat by him
on his right, and I was next to her. Mr. Corbeck was on his left, with
Doctor Winchester on the other side. After a few seconds of silence Mr.
Trelawny said to Mr. Corbeck:
“You have told Doctor Winchester all up to the present, as we arranged?”
“Yes,” he answered; so Mr. Trelawny said:
“And I have told Margaret, so we all know!” Then, turning to the
Doctor, he asked:
“And am I to take it that you, knowing all as we know it who have
followed the matter for years, wish to share in the experiment which we
hope to make?” His answer was direct and uncompromising:
“Certainly! Why, when this matter was fresh to me, I offered to go on
with it to the end. Now that it is of such strange interest, I would
not miss it for anything which you could name. Be quite easy in your
mind, Mr. Trelawny. I am a scientist and an investigator of phenomena.
I have no one belonging to me or dependent on me. I am quite alone,
and free to do what I like with my own—including my life!” Mr.
Trelawny bowed gravely, and turning to Mr. Corbeck said:
“I have known your ideas for many years past, old friend; so I need ask
you nothing. As to Margaret and Malcolm Ross, they have already told me
their wishes in no uncertain way.” He paused a few seconds, as though
to put his thoughts or his words in order; then he began to explain his
views and intentions. He spoke very carefully, seeming always to bear
in mind that some of us who listened were ignorant of the very root and
nature of some things touched upon, and explaining them to us as he
went on:
“The experiment which is before us is to try whether or no there is any
force, any reality, in the old Magic. There could not possibly be more
favourable conditions for the test; and it is my own desire to do all
that is possible to make the original design effective. That there is
some such existing power I firmly believe. It might not be possible to
create, or arrange, or organise such a power in our own time; but I
take it that if in Old Time such a power existed, it may have some
exceptional survival. After all, the Bible is not a myth; and we read
there that the sun stood still at a man’s command, and that an ass—not
a human one—spoke. And if the Witch at Endor could call up to Saul
the spirit of Samuel, why may not there have been others with equal
powers; and why may not one among them survive? Indeed, we are told in
the Book of Samuel that the Witch of Endor was only one of many, and
her being consulted by Saul was a matter of chance. He only sought one
among the many whom he had driven out of Israel; ‘all those that had
Familiar Spirits, and the Wizards.’ This Egyptian Queen, Tera, who
reigned nearly two thousand years before Saul, had a Familiar, and was
a Wizard too. See how the priests of her time, and those after it
tried to wipe out her name from the face of the earth, and put a curse
over the very door of her tomb so that none might ever discover the
lost name. Ay, and they succeeded so well that even Manetho, the
historian of the Egyptian Kings, writing in the tenth century before
Christ, with all the lore of the priesthood for forty centuries behind
him, and with possibility of access to every existing record, could not
even find her name. Did it strike any of you, in thinking of the late
events, who or what her Familiar was?” There was an interruption, for
Doctor Winchester struck one hand loudly on the other as he ejaculated:
“The cat! The mummy cat! I knew it!” Mr. Trelawny smiled over at him.
“You are right! There is every indication that the Familiar of the
Wizard Queen was that cat which was mummied when she was, and was not
only placed in her tomb, but was laid in the sarcophagus with her.
That was what bit into my wrist, what cut me with sharp claws.” He
paused. Margaret’s comment was a purely girlish one:
“Then my poor Silvio is acquitted! I am glad!” Her father stroked her
hair and went on:
“This woman seems to have had an extraordinary foresight. Foresight
far, far beyond her age and the philosophy of her time. She seems to
have seen through the weakness of her own religion, and even prepared
for emergence into a different world. All her aspirations were for the
North, the point of the compass whence blew the cool invigorating
breezes that make life a joy. From the first, her eyes seem to have
been attracted to the seven stars of the Plough from the fact, as
recorded in the hieroglyphics in her tomb, that at her birth a great
aerolite fell, from whose heart was finally extracted that Jewel of
Seven Stars which she regarded as the talisman of her life. It seems
to have so far ruled her destiny that all her thought and care circled
round it. The Magic Coffer, so wondrously wrought with seven sides, we
learn from the same source, came from the aerolite. Seven was to her a
magic number; and no wonder. With seven fingers on one hand, and seven
toes on one foot. With a talisman of a rare ruby with seven stars in
the same position as in that constellation which ruled her birth, each
star of the seven having seven points—in itself a geological
wonder—it would have been odd if she had not been attracted by it.
Again, she was born, we learn in the Stele of her tomb, in the seventh
month of the year—the month beginning with the Inundation of the Nile.
Of which month the presiding Goddess was Hathor, the Goddess of her own
house, of the Antefs of the Theban line—the Goddess who in various
forms symbolises beauty, and pleasure, and resurrection. Again, in
this seventh month—which, by later Egyptian astronomy began on October
28th, and ran to the 27th of our November—on the seventh day the
Pointer of the Plough just rises above the horizon of the sky at Thebes.
“In a marvellously strange way, therefore, are grouped into this
woman’s life these various things. The number seven; the Pole Star,
with the constellation of seven stars; the God of the month, Hathor,
who was her own particular God, the God of her family, the Antefs of
the Theban Dynasty, whose Kings’ symbol it was, and whose seven forms
ruled love and the delights of life and resurrection. If ever there
was ground for magic; for the power of symbolism carried into mystic
use; for a belief in finites spirits in an age which knew not the
Living God, it is here.
“Remember, too, that this woman was skilled in all the science of her
time. Her wise and cautious father took care of that, knowing that by
her own wisdom she must ultimately combat the intrigues of the
Hierarchy. Bear in mind that in old Egypt the science of Astronomy
began and was developed to an extraordinary height; and that Astrology
followed Astronomy in its progress. And it is possible that in the
later developments of science with regard to light rays, we may yet
find that Astrology is on a scientific basis. Our next wave of
scientific thought may deal with this. I shall have something special
to call your minds to on this point presently. Bear in mind also that
the Egyptians knew sciences, of which today, despite all our
advantages, we are profoundly ignorant. Acoustics, for instance, an
exact science with the builders of the temples of Karnak, of Luxor, of
the Pyramids, is today a mystery to Bell, and Kelvin, and Edison, and
Marconi. Again, these old miracle-workers probably understood some
practical way of using other forces, and amongst them the forces of
light that at present we do not dream of. But of this matter I shall
speak later. That Magic Coffer of Queen Tera is probably a magic box
in more ways than one. It may—possibly it does—contain forces that
we wot not of. We cannot open it; it must be closed from within. How
then was it closed? It is a coffer of solid stone, of amazing
hardness, more like a jewel than an ordinary marble, with a lid equally
solid; and yet all is so finely wrought that the finest tool made today
cannot be inserted under the flange. How was it wrought to such
perfection? How was the stone so chosen that those translucent patches
match the relations of the seven stars of the constellation? How is
it, or from what cause, that when the starlight shines on it, it glows
from within—that when I fix the lamps in similar form the glow grows
greater still; and yet the box is irresponsive to ordinary light
however great? I tell you that that box hides some great mystery of
science. We shall find that the light will open it in some way:
either by striking on some substance, sensitive in a peculiar way to
its effect, or in releasing some greater power. I only trust that in
our ignorance we may not so bungle things as to do harm to its
mechanism; and so deprive the knowledge of our time of a lesson handed
down, as by a miracle, through nearly five thousand years.
“In another way, too, there may be hidden in that box secrets which,
for good or ill, may enlighten the world. We know from their records,
and inferentially also, that the Egyptians studied the properties of
herbs and minerals for magic purposes—white magic as well as black.
We know that some of the wizards of old could induce from sleep dreams
of any given kind. That this purpose was mainly effected by hypnotism,
which was another art or science of Old Nile, I have little doubt. But
still, they must have had a mastery of drugs that is far beyond
anything we know. With our own pharmacopoeia we can, to a certain
extent, induce dreams. We may even differentiate between good and
bad—dreams of pleasure, or disturbing and harrowing dreams. But these
old practitioners seemed to have been able to command at will any form
or colour of dreaming; could work round any given subject or thought in
almost any was required. In that coffer, which you have seen, may rest
a very armoury of dreams. Indeed, some of the forces that lie within
it may have been already used in my household.” Again there was an
interruption from Doctor Winchester.
“But if in your case some of these imprisoned forces were used, what
set them free at the opportune time, or how? Besides, you and Mr.
Corbeck were once before put into a trance for three whole days, when
you were in the Queen’s tomb for the second time. And then, as I
gathered from Mr. Corbeck’s story, the coffer was not back in the tomb,
though the mummy was. Surely in both these cases there must have been
some active intelligence awake, and with some other power to wield.”
Mr. Trelawny’s answer was equally to the point:
“There was some active intelligence awake. I am convinced of it. And
it wielded a power which it never lacks. I believe that on both those
occasions hypnotism was the power wielded.”
“And wherein is that power contained? What view do you hold on the
subject?” Doctor Winchester’s voice vibrated with the intensity of his
excitement as he leaned forward, breathing hard, and with eyes staring.
Mr. Trelawny said solemnly:
“In the mummy of the Queen Tera! I was coming to that presently.
Perhaps we had better wait till I clear the ground a little. What I
hold is, that the preparation of that box was made for a special
occasion; as indeed were all the preparations of the tomb and all
belonging to it. Queen Tera did not trouble herself to guard against
snakes and scorpions, in that rocky tomb cut in the sheer cliff face a
hundred feet above the level of the valley, and fifty down from the
summit. Her precautions were against the disturbances of human hands;
against the jealousy and hatred of the priests, who, had they known of
her real aims, would have tried to baffle them. From her point of
view, she made all ready for the time of resurrection, whenever that
might be. I gather from the symbolic pictures in the tomb that she so
far differed from the belief of her time that she looked for a
resurrection in the flesh. It was doubtless this that intensified the
hatred of the priesthood, and gave them an acceptable cause for
obliterating the very existence, present and future, of one who had
outraged their theories and blasphemed their gods. All that she might
require, either in the accomplishment of the resurrection or after it,
were contained in that almost hermetically sealed suite of chambers in
the rock. In the great sarcophagus, which as you know is of a size
quite unusual even for kings, was the mummy of her Familiar, the cat,
which from its great size I take to be a sort of tiger-cat. In the
tomb, also in a strong receptacle, were the canopic jars usually
containing those internal organs which are separately embalmed, but
which in this case had no such contents. So that, I take it, there was
in her case a departure in embalming; and that the organs were restored
to the body, each in its proper place—if, indeed, they had ever been
removed. If this surmise be true, we shall find that the brain of the
Queen either was never extracted in the usual way, or, if so taken out,
that it was duly replaced, instead of being enclosed within the mummy
wrappings. Finally, in the sarcophagus there was the Magic Coffer on
which her feet rested. Mark you also, the care taken in the
preservance of her power to control the elements. According to her
belief, the open hand outside the wrappings controlled the Air, and the
strange Jewel Stone with the shining stars controlled Fire. The
symbolism inscribed on the soles of her feet gave sway over Land and
Water. About the Star Stone I shall tell you later; but whilst we are
speaking of the sarcophagus, mark how she guarded her secret in case of
grave-wrecking or intrusion. None could open her Magic Coffer without
the lamps, for we know now that ordinary light will not be effective.
The great lid of the sarcophagus was not sealed down as usual, because
she wished to control the air. But she hid the lamps, which in
structure belong to the Magic Coffer, in a place where none could find
them, except by following the secret guidance which she had prepared
for only the eyes of wisdom. And even here she had guarded against
chance discovery, by preparing a bolt of death for the unwary
discoverer. To do this she had applied the lesson of the tradition of
the avenging guard of the treasures of the pyramid, built by her great
predecessor of the Fourth Dynasty of the throne of Egypt.
“You have noted, I suppose, how there were, in the case of her tomb,
certain deviations from the usual rules. For instance, the shaft of
the Mummy Pit, which is usually filled up solid with stones and
rubbish, was left open. Why was this? I take it that she had made
arrangements for leaving the tomb when, after her resurrection, she
should be a new woman, with a different personality, and less inured to
the hardships that in her first existence she had suffered. So far as
we can judge of her intent, all things needful for her exit into the
world had been thought of, even to the iron chain, described by Van
Huyn, close to the door in the rock, by which she might be able to
lower herself to the ground. That she expected a long period to elapse
was shown in the choice of material. An ordinary rope would be
rendered weaker or unsafe in process of time, but she imagined, and
rightly, that the iron would endure.
“What her intentions were when once she trod the open earth afresh we
do not know, and we never shall, unless her own dead lips can soften
and speak.”
Chapter XV
The Purpose of Queen Tera
“Now, as to the Star Jewel! This she manifestly regarded as the
greatest of her treasures. On it she had engraven words which none of
her time dared to speak.
“In the old Egyptian belief it was held that there were words, which,
if used properly—for the method of speaking them was as important as
the words themselves—could command the Lords of the Upper and the
Lower Worlds. The ‘hekau’, or word of power, was all-important in
certain ritual. On the Jewel of Seven Stars, which, as you know, is
carved into the image of a scarab, are graven in hieroglyphic two such
hekau, one above, the other underneath. But you will understand better
when you see it! Wait here! Do not stir!”
As he spoke, he rose and left the room. A great fear for him came over
me; but I was in some strange way relieved when I looked at Margaret.
Whenever there had been any possibility of danger to her father, she
had shown great fear for him; now she was calm and placid. I said
nothing, but waited.
In two or three minutes, Mr. Trelawny returned. He held in his hand a
little golden box. This, as he resumed his seat, he placed before him
on the table. We all leaned forward as he opened it.
On a lining of white satin lay a wondrous ruby of immense size, almost
as big as the top joint of Margaret’s little finger. It was carven—it
could not possibly have been its natural shape, but jewels do not show
the working of the tool—into the shape of a scarab, with its wings
folded, and its legs and feelers pressed back to its sides. Shining
through its wondrous “pigeon’s blood” colour were seven different
stars, each of seven points, in such position that they reproduced
exactly the figure of the Plough. There could be no possible mistake
as to this in the mind of anyone who had ever noted the constellation.
On it were some hieroglyphic figures, cut with the most exquisite
precision, as I could see when it came to my turn to use the
magnifying-glass, which Mr. Trelawny took from his pocket and handed to
us.
When we all had seen it fully, Mr. Trelawny turned it over so that it
rested on its back in a cavity made to hold it in the upper half of the
box. The reverse was no less wonderful than the upper, being carved to
resemble the under side of the beetle. It, too, had some hieroglyphic
figures cut on it. Mr. Trelawny resumed his lecture as we all sat with
our heads close to this wonderful jewel:
“As you see, there are two words, one on the top, the other underneath.
The symbols on the top represent a single word, composed of one
syllable prolonged, with its determinatives. You know, all of you, I
suppose, that the Egyptian language was phonetic, and that the
hieroglyphic symbol represented the sound. The first symbol here, the
hoe, means ‘mer’, and the two pointed ellipses the prolongation of the
final r: mer-r-r. The sitting figure with the hand to its face is what
we call the ‘determinative’ of ‘thought’; and the roll of papyrus that
of ‘abstraction’. Thus we get the word ‘mer’, love, in its abstract,
general, and fullest sense. This is the hekau which can command the
Upper World.”
Margaret’s face was a glory as she said in a deep, low, ringing tone:
“Oh, but it is true. How the old wonder-workers guessed at almighty
Truth!” Then a hot blush swept her face, and her eyes fell. Her
father smiled at her lovingly as he resumed:
“The symbolisation of the word on the reverse is simpler, though the
meaning is more abstruse. The first symbol means ‘men’, ‘abiding’, and
the second, ‘ab’, ‘the heart’. So that we get ‘abiding of heart’, or
in our own language ‘patience’. And this is the hekau to control the
Lower World!”
He closed the box, and motioning us to remain as we were, he went back
to his room to replace the Jewel in the safe. When he had returned and
resumed his seat, he went on:
“That Jewel, with its mystic words, and which Queen Tera held under her
hand in the sarcophagus, was to be an important factor—probably the
most important—in the working out of the act of her resurrection.
From the first I seemed by a sort of instinct to realise this. I kept
the Jewel within my great safe, whence none could extract it; not even
Queen Tera herself with her astral body.”
“Her ‘astral body’? What is that, Father? What does that mean?” There
was a keenness in Margaret’s voice as she asked the question which
surprised me a little; but Trelawny smiled a sort of indulgent parental
smile, which came through his grim solemnity like sunshine through a
rifted cloud, as he spoke:
“The astral body, which is a part of Buddhist belief, long subsequent
to the time I speak of, and which is an accepted fact of modern
mysticism, had its rise in Ancient Egypt; at least, so far as we know.
It is that the gifted individual can at will, quick as thought itself,
transfer his body whithersoever he chooses, by the dissolution and
reincarnation of particles. In the ancient belief there were several
parts of a human being. You may as well know them; so that you will
understand matters relative to them or dependent on them as they occur.
“First there is the ‘Ka’, or ‘Double’, which, as Doctor Budge explains,
may be defined as ‘an abstract individuality of personality’ which was
imbued with all the characteristic attributes of the individual it
represented, and possessed an absolutely independent existence. It was
free to move from place to place on earth at will; and it could enter
into heaven and hold converse with the gods. Then there was the ‘Ba’,
or ‘soul’, which dwelt in the ‘Ka’, and had the power of becoming
corporeal or incorporeal at will; ‘it had both substance and form....
It had power to leave the tomb.... It could revisit the body in the
tomb ... and could reincarnate it and hold converse with it.’ Again
there was the ‘Khu’, the ‘spiritual intelligence’, or spirit. It took
the form of ‘a shining, luminous, intangible shape of the body.’...
Then, again, there was the ‘Sekhem’, or ‘power’ of a man, his strength
or vital force personified. These were the ‘Khaibit’, or ‘shadow’, the
‘Ren’, or ‘name’, the ‘Khat’, or ‘physical body’, and ‘Ab’, the
‘heart’, in which life was seated, went to the full making up of a man.
“Thus you will see, that if this division of functions, spiritual and
bodily, ethereal and corporeal, ideal and actual, be accepted as exact,
there are all the possibilities and capabilities of corporeal
transference, guided always by an unimprisonable will or intelligence.”
As he paused I murmured the lines from Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound”:
“‘The Magnus Zoroaster....
Met his own image walking in the garden.’”
Mr. Trelawny was not displeased. “Quite so!” he said, in his quiet
way. “Shelley had a better conception of ancient beliefs than any of
our poets.” With a voice changed again he resumed his lecture, for so
it was to some of us:
“There is another belief of the ancient Egyptian which you must bear in
mind; that regarding the ushaptiu figures of Osiris, which were placed
with the dead to its work in the Under World. The enlargement of this
idea came to a belief that it was possible to transmit, by magical
formulae, the soul and qualities of any living creature to a figure
made in its image. This would give a terrible extension of power to
one who held the gift of magic.
“It is from a union of these various beliefs, and their natural
corollaries, that I have come to the conclusion that Queen Tera
expected to be able to effect her own resurrection, when, and where,
and how, she would. That she may have held before her a definite time
for making her effort is not only possible but likely. I shall not
stop now to explain it, but shall enter upon the subject later on.
With a soul with the Gods, a spirit which could wander the earth at
will, and a power of corporeal transference, or an astral body, there
need be no bounds or limits to her ambition. The belief is forced upon
us that for these forty or fifty centuries she lay dormant in her
tomb—waiting. Waiting with that ‘patience’ which could rule the Gods
of the Under World, for that ‘love’ which could command those of the
Upper World. What she may have dreamt we know not; but her dream must
have been broken when the Dutch explorer entered her sculptured cavern,
and his follower violated the sacred privacy of her tomb by his rude
outrage in the theft of her hand.
“That theft, with all that followed, proved to us one thing, however:
that each part of her body, though separated from the rest, can be a
central point or rallying place for the items or particles of her
astral body. That hand in my room could ensure her instantaneous
presence in the flesh, and its equally rapid dissolution.
“Now comes the crown of my argument. The purpose of the attack on me
was to get the safe open, so that the sacred Jewel of Seven Stars could
be extracted. That immense door of the safe could not keep out her
astral body, which, or any part of it, could gather itself as well
within as without the safe. And I doubt not that in the darkness of
the night that mummied hand sought often the Talisman Jewel, and drew
new inspiration from its touch. But despite all its power, the astral
body could not remove the Jewel through the chinks of the safe. The
Ruby is not astral; and it could only be moved in the ordinary way by
the opening of the doors. To this end, the Queen used her astral body
and the fierce force of her Familiar, to bring to the keyhole of the
safe the master key which debarred her wish. For years I have
suspected, nay, have believed as much; and I, too, guarded myself
against powers of the Nether World. I, too, waited in patience till I
should have gathered together all the factors required for the opening
of the Magic Coffer and the resurrection of the mummied Queen!” He
paused, and his daughter’s voice came out sweet and clear, and full of
intense feeling:
“Father, in the Egyptian belief, was the power of resurrection of a
mummied body a general one, or was it limited? That is: could it
achieve resurrection many times in the course of ages; or only once,
and that one final?”
“There was but one resurrection,” he answered. “There were some who
believed that this was to be a definite resurrection of the body into
the real world. But in the common belief, the Spirit found joy in the
Elysian Fields, where there was plenty of food and no fear of famine.
Where there was moisture and deep-rooted reeds, and all the joys that
are to be expected by the people of an arid land and burning clime.”
Then Margaret spoke with an earnestness which showed the conviction of
her inmost soul:
“To me, then, it is given to understand what was the dream of this
great and far-thinking and high-souled lady of old; the dream that held
her soul in patient waiting for its realisation through the passing of
all those tens of centuries. The dream of a love that might be; a love
that she felt she might, even under new conditions, herself evoke. The
love that is the dream of every woman’s life; of the Old and of the
New; Pagan or Christian; under whatever sun; in whatever rank or
calling; however may have been the joy or pain of her life in other
ways. Oh! I know it! I know it! I am a woman, and I know a woman’s
heart. What were the lack of food or the plenitude of it; what were
feast or famine to this woman, born in a palace, with the shadow of the
Crown of the Two Egypts on her brows! What were reedy morasses or the
tinkle of running water to her whose barges could sweep the great Nile
from the mountains to the sea. What were petty joys and absence of
petty fears to her, the raising of whose hand could hurl armies, or
draw to the water-stairs of her palaces the commerce of the world! At
whose word rose temples filled with all the artistic beauty of the
Times of Old which it was her aim and pleasure to restore! Under whose
guidance the solid rock yawned into the sepulchre that she designed!
“Surely, surely, such a one had nobler dreams! I can feel them in my
heart; I can see them with my sleeping eyes!”
As she spoke she seemed to be inspired; and her eyes had a far-away
look as though they saw something beyond mortal sight. And then the
deep eyes filled up with unshed tears of great emotion. The very soul
of the woman seemed to speak in her voice; whilst we who listened sat
entranced.
“I can see her in her loneliness and in the silence of her mighty
pride, dreaming her own dream of things far different from those around
her. Of some other land, far, far away under the canopy of the silent
night, lit by the cool, beautiful light of the stars. A land under
that Northern star, whence blew the sweet winds that cooled the
feverish desert air. A land of wholesome greenery, far, far away.
Where were no scheming and malignant priesthood; whose ideas were to
lead to power through gloomy temples and more gloomy caverns of the
dead, through an endless ritual of death! A land where love was not
base, but a divine possession of the soul! Where there might be some
one kindred spirit which could speak to hers through mortal lips like
her own; whose being could merge with hers in a sweet communion of soul
to soul, even as their breaths could mingle in the ambient air! I know
the feeling, for I have shared it myself. I may speak of it now, since
the blessing has come into my own life. I may speak of it since it
enables me to interpret the feelings, the very longing soul, of that
sweet and lovely Queen, so different from her surroundings, so high
above her time! Whose nature, put into a word, could control the forces
of the Under World; and the name of whose aspiration, though but graven
on a star-lit jewel, could command all the powers in the Pantheon of
the High Gods.
“And in the realisation of that dream she will surely be content to
rest!”
We men sat silent, as the young girl gave her powerful interpretation
of the design or purpose of the woman of old. Her every word and tone
carried with it the conviction of her own belief. The loftiness of her
thoughts seemed to uplift us all as we listened. Her noble words,
flowing in musical cadence and vibrant with internal force, seemed to
issue from some great instrument of elemental power. Even her tone was
new to us all; so that we listened as to some new and strange being
from a new and strange world. Her father’s face was full of delight.
I knew now its cause. I understood the happiness that had come into
his life, on his return to the world that he knew, from that prolonged
sojourn in the world of dreams. To find in his daughter, whose nature
he had never till now known, such a wealth of affection, such a
splendour of spiritual insight, such a scholarly imagination, such...
The rest of his feeling was of hope!
The two other men were silent unconsciously. One man had had his
dreaming; for the other, his dreams were to come.
For myself, I was like one in a trance. Who was this new, radiant
being who had won to existence out of the mist and darkness of our
fears? Love has divine possibilities for the lover’s heart! The wings
of the soul may expand at any time from the shoulders of the loved one,
who then may sweep into angel form. I knew that in my Margaret’s
nature were divine possibilities of many kinds. When under the shade
of the overhanging willow-tree on the river, I had gazed into the
depths of her beautiful eyes, I had thenceforth a strict belief in the
manifold beauties and excellences of her nature; but this soaring and
understanding spirit was, indeed, a revelation. My pride, like her
father’s, was outside myself; my joy and rapture were complete and
supreme!
When we had all got back to earth again in our various ways, Mr.
Trelawny, holding his daughter’s hand in his, went on with his
discourse:
“Now, as to the time at which Queen Tera intended her resurrection to
take place! We are in contact with some of the higher astronomical
calculations in connection with true orientation. As you know, the
stars shift their relative positions in the heavens; but though the
real distances traversed are beyond all ordinary comprehension, the
effects as we see them are small. Nevertheless, they are susceptible
of measurement, not by years, indeed, but by centuries. It was by this
means that Sir John Herschel arrived at the date of the building of the
Great Pyramid—a date fixed by the time necessary to change the star of
the true north from Draconis to the Pole Star, and since then verified
by later discoveries. From the above there can be no doubt whatever
that astronomy was an exact science with the Egyptians at least a
thousand years before the time of Queen Tera. Now, the stars that go
to make up a constellation change in process of time their relative
positions, and the Plough is a notable example. The changes in the
position of stars in even forty centuries is so small as to be hardly
noticeable by an eye not trained to minute observances, but they can be
measured and verified. Did you, or any of you, notice how exactly the
stars in the Ruby correspond to the position of the stars in the
Plough; or how the same holds with regard to the translucent places in
the Magic Coffer?”
We all assented. He went on:
“You are quite correct. They correspond exactly. And yet when Queen
Tera was laid in her tomb, neither the stars in the Jewel nor the
translucent places in the Coffer corresponded to the position of the
stars in the Constellation as they then were!”
We looked at each other as he paused: a new light was breaking upon
us. With a ring of mastery in his voice he went on:
“Do you not see the meaning of this? Does it not throw a light on the
intention of the Queen? She, who was guided by augury, and magic, and
superstition, naturally chose a time for her resurrection which seemed
to have been pointed out by the High Gods themselves, who had sent
their message on a thunderbolt from other worlds. When such a time was
fixed by supernal wisdom, would it not be the height of human wisdom to
avail itself of it? Thus it is”—here his voice deepened and trembled
with the intensity of his feeling—“that to us and our time is given
the opportunity of this wondrous peep into the old world, such as has
been the privilege of none other of our time; which may never be again.
“From first to last the cryptic writing and symbolism of that wondrous
tomb of that wondrous woman is full of guiding light; and the key of
the many mysteries lies in that most wondrous Jewel which she held in
her dead hand over the dead heart, which she hoped and believed would
beat again in a newer and nobler world!
“There are only loose ends now to consider. Margaret has given us the
true inwardness of the feeling of the other Queen!” He looked at her
fondly, and stroked her hand as he said it. “For my own part I
sincerely hope she is right; for in such case it will be a joy, I am
sure, to all of us to assist at such a realisation of hope. But we
must not go too fast, or believe too much in our present state of
knowledge. The voice that we hearken for comes out of times strangely
other than our own; when human life counted for little, and when the
morality of the time made little account of the removing of obstacles
in the way to achievement of desire. We must keep our eyes fixed on
the scientific side, and wait for the developments on the psychic side.
“Now, as to this stone box, which we call the Magic Coffer. As I have
said, I am convinced that it opens only in obedience to some principle
of light, or the exercise of some of its forces at present unknown to
us. There is here much ground for conjecture and for experiment; for
as yet the scientists have not thoroughly differentiated the kinds, and
powers, and degrees of light. Without analysing various rays we may, I
think, take it for granted that there are different qualities and
powers of light; and this great field of scientific investigation is
almost virgin soil. We know as yet so little of natural forces, that
imagination need set no bounds to its flights in considering the
possibilities of the future. Within but a few years we have made such
discoveries as two centuries ago would have sent the discoverers to
the flames. The liquefaction of oxygen; the existence of radium, of
helium, of polonium, of argon; the different powers of Roentgen and
Cathode and Bequerel rays. And as we may finally prove that there are
different kinds and qualities of light, so we may find that combustion
may have its own powers of differentiation; that there are qualities in
some flames non-existent in others. It may be that some of the
essential conditions of substance are continuous, even in the
destruction of their bases. Last night I was thinking of this, and
reasoning that as there are certain qualities in some oils which are
not in others, so there may be certain similar or corresponding
qualities or powers in the combinations of each. I suppose we have all
noticed some time or other that the light of colza oil is not quite the
same as that of paraffin, or that the flames of coal gas and whale oil
are different. They find it so in the light-houses! All at once it
occurred to me that there might be some special virtue in the oil which
had been found in the jars when Queen Tera’s tomb was opened. These
had not been used to preserve the intestines as usual, so they must
have been placed there for some other purpose. I remembered that in
Van Huyn’s narrative he had commented on the way the jars were sealed.
This was lightly, though effectually; they could be opened without
force. The jars were themselves preserved in a sarcophagus which,
though of immense strength and hermetically sealed, could be opened
easily. Accordingly, I went at once to examine the jars. A little—a
very little of the oil still remained, but it had grown thick in the
two and a half centuries in which the jars had been open. Still, it
was not rancid; and on examining it I found it was cedar oil, and that
it still exhaled something of its original aroma. This gave me the idea
that it was to be used to fill the lamps. Whoever had placed the oil
in the jars, and the jars in the sarcophagus, knew that there might be
shrinkage in process of time, even in vases of alabaster, and fully
allowed for it; for each of the jars would have filled the lamps half a
dozen times. With part of the oil remaining I made some experiments,
therefore, which may give useful results. You know, Doctor, that cedar
oil, which was much used in the preparation and ceremonials of the
Egyptian dead, has a certain refractive power which we do not find in
other oils. For instance, we use it on the lenses of our microscopes
to give additional clearness of vision. Last night I put some in one
of the lamps, and placed it near a translucent part of the Magic
Coffer. The effect was very great; the glow of light within was fuller
and more intense than I could have imagined, where an electric light
similarly placed had little, if any, effect. I should have tried
others of the seven lamps, but that my supply of oil ran out. This,
however, is on the road to rectification. I have sent for more cedar
oil, and expect to have before long an ample supply. Whatever may
happen from other causes, our experiment shall not, at all events, fail
from this. We shall see! We shall see!”
Doctor Winchester had evidently been following the logical process of
the other’s mind, for his comment was:
“I do hope that when the light is effective in opening the box, the
mechanism will not be impaired or destroyed.”
His doubt as to this gave anxious thought to some of us.
Chapter XVI
The Cavern
In the evening Mr. Trelawny took again the whole party into the study.
When we were all attention he began to unfold his plans:
“I have come to the conclusion that for the proper carrying out of what
we will call our Great Experiment we must have absolute and complete
isolation. Isolation not merely for a day or two, but for as long as
we may require. Here such a thing would be impossible; the needs and
habits of a great city with its ingrained possibilities of
interruption, would, or might, quite upset us. Telegrams, registered
letters, or express messengers would alone be sufficient; but the great
army of those who want to get something would make disaster certain.
In addition, the occurrences of the last week have drawn police
attention to this house. Even if special instructions to keep an eye
on it have not been issued from Scotland Yard or the District Station,
you may be sure that the individual policeman on his rounds will keep
it well under observation. Besides, the servants who have discharged
themselves will before long begin to talk. They must; for they have,
for the sake of their own characters, to give some reason for the
termination of a service which has I should say a position in the
neighbourhood. The servants of the neighbours will begin to talk, and,
perhaps the neighbours themselves. Then the active and intelligent
Press will, with its usual zeal for the enlightenment of the public and
its eye to increase of circulation, get hold of the matter. When the
reporter is after us we shall not have much chance of privacy. Even if
we were to bar ourselves in, we should not be free from interruption,
possibly from intrusion. Either would ruin our plans, and so we must
take measures to effect a retreat, carrying all our impedimenta with
us. For this I am prepared. For a long time past I have foreseen such
a possibility, and have made preparation for it. Of course, I had no
foreknowledge of what has happened; but I knew something would, or
might, happen. For more than two years past my house in Cornwall has
been made ready to receive all the curios which are preserved here.
When Corbeck went off on his search for the lamps I had the old house
at Kyllion made ready; it is fitted with electric light all over, and
all the appliances for manufacture of the light are complete. I had
perhaps better tell you, for none of you, not even Margaret, knows
anything of it, that the house is absolutely shut out from public
access or even from view. It stands on a little rocky promontory
behind a steep hill, and except from the sea cannot be seen. Of old it
was fenced in by a high stone wall, for the house which it succeeded
was built by an ancestor of mine in the days when a great house far
away from a centre had to be prepared to defend itself. Here, then, is
a place so well adapted to our needs that it might have been prepared
on purpose. I shall explain it to you when we are all there. This
will not be long, for already our movement is in train. I have sent
word to Marvin to have all preparation for our transport ready. He is
to have a special train, which is to run at night so as to avoid
notice. Also a number of carts and stone-wagons, with sufficient men
and appliances to take all our packing-cases to Paddington. We shall
be away before the Argus-eyed Pressman is on the watch. We shall today
begin our packing up; and I dare say that by tomorrow night we shall be
ready. In the outhouses I have all the packing-cases which were used
for bringing the things from Egypt, and I am satisfied that as they
were sufficient for the journey across the desert and down the Nile to
Alexandria and thence on to London, they will serve without fail
between here and Kyllion. We four men, with Margaret to hand us such
things as we may require, will be able to get the things packed safely;
and the carrier’s men will take them to the trucks.
“Today the servants go to Kyllion, and Mrs. Grant will make such
arrangements as may be required. She will take a stock of necessaries
with her, so that we will not attract local attention by our daily
needs; and will keep us supplied with perishable food from London.
Thanks to Margaret’s wise and generous treatment of the servants who
decided to remain, we have got a staff on which we can depend. They
have been already cautioned to secrecy, so that we need not fear gossip
from within. Indeed, as the servants will be in London after their
preparations at Kyllion are complete, there will not be much subject
for gossip, in detail at any rate.
“As, however, we should commence the immediate work of packing at once,
we will leave over the after proceedings till later when we have
leisure.”
Accordingly we set about our work. Under Mr. Trelawny’s guidance, and
aided by the servants, we took from the outhouses great packing-cases.
Some of these were of enormous strength, fortified by many thicknesses
of wood, and by iron bands and rods with screw-ends and nuts. We
placed them throughout the house, each close to the object which it was
to contain. When this preliminary work had been effected, and there
had been placed in each room and in the hall great masses of new hay,
cotton-waste and paper, the servants were sent away. Then we set about
packing.
No one, not accustomed to packing, could have the slightest idea of
the amount of work involved in such a task as that in which in we were
engaged. For my own part I had had a vague idea that there were a large
number of Egyptian objects in Mr. Trelawny’s house; but until I came to
deal with them seriatim I had little idea of either their importance,
the size of some of them, or of their endless number. Far into the
night we worked. At times we used all the strength which we could
muster on a single object; again we worked separately, but always under
Mr. Trelawny’s immediate direction. He himself, assisted by Margaret,
kept an exact tally of each piece.
It was only when we sat down, utterly wearied, to a long-delayed supper
that we began to realised that a large part of the work was done. Only
a few of the packing-cases, however, were closed; for a vast amount of
work still remained. We had finished some of the cases, each of which
held only one of the great sarcophagi. The cases which held many
objects could not be closed till all had been differentiated and packed.
I slept that night without movement or without dreams; and on our
comparing notes in the morning, I found that each of the others had had
the same experience.
By dinner-time next evening the whole work was complete, and all was
ready for the carriers who were to come at midnight. A little before
the appointed time we heard the rumble of carts; then we were shortly
invaded by an army of workmen, who seemed by sheer force of numbers to
move without effort, in an endless procession, all our prepared
packages. A little over an hour sufficed them, and when the carts had
rumbled away, we all got ready to follow them to Paddington. Silvio
was of course to be taken as one of our party.
Before leaving we went in a body over the house, which looked desolate
indeed. As the servants had all gone to Cornwall there had been no
attempt at tidying-up; every room and passage in which we had worked,
and all the stairways, were strewn with paper and waste, and marked
with dirty feet.
The last thing which Mr. Trelawny did before coming away was to take
from the great safe the Ruby with the Seven Stars. As he put it safely
into his pocket-book, Margaret, who had all at once seemed to grow
deadly tired and stood beside her father pale and rigid, suddenly
became all aglow, as though the sight of the Jewel had inspired her.
She smiled at her father approvingly as she said:
“You are right, Father. There will not be any more trouble tonight.
She will not wreck your arrangements for any cause. I would stake my
life upon it.”
“She—or something—wrecked us in the desert when we had come from the
tomb in the Valley of the Sorcerer!” was the grim comment of Corbeck,
who was standing by. Margaret answered him like a flash:
“Ah! she was then near her tomb from which for thousands of years her
body had not been moved. She must know that things are different now.”
“How must she know?” asked Corbeck keenly.
“If she has that astral body that Father spoke of, surely she must
know! How can she fail to, with an invisible presence and an intellect
that can roam abroad even to the stars and the worlds beyond us!” She
paused, and her father said solemnly:
“It is on that supposition that we are proceeding. We must have the
courage of our convictions, and act on them—to the last!”
Margaret took his hand and held it in a dreamy kind of way as we filed
out of the house. She was holding it still when he locked the hall
door, and when we moved up the road to the gateway, whence we took a
cab to Paddington.
When all the goods were loaded at the station, the whole of the workmen
went on to the train; this took also some of the stone-wagons used for
carrying the cases with the great sarcophagi. Ordinary carts and
plenty of horses were to be found at Westerton, which was our station
for Kyllion. Mr. Trelawny had ordered a sleeping-carriage for our
party; as soon as the train had started we all turned into our cubicles.
That night I slept sound. There was over me a conviction of security
which was absolute and supreme. Margaret’s definite announcement:
“There will not be any trouble tonight!” seemed to carry assurance with
it. I did not question it; nor did anyone else. It was only
afterwards that I began to think as to how she was so sure. The train
was a slow one, stopping many times and for considerable intervals. As
Mr. Trelawny did not wish to arrive at Westerton before dark, there was
no need to hurry; and arrangements had been made to feed the workmen at
certain places on the journey. We had our own hamper with us in the
private car.
All that afternoon we talked over the Great Experiment, which seemed to
have become a definite entity in our thoughts. Mr. Trelawny became
more and more enthusiastic as the time wore on; hope was with him
becoming certainty. Doctor Winchester seemed to become imbued with
some of his spirit, though at times he would throw out some scientific
fact which would either make an impasse to the other’s line of
argument, or would come as an arresting shock. Mr. Corbeck, on the
other hand, seemed slightly antagonistic to the theory. It may have
been that whilst the opinions of the others advanced, his own stood
still; but the effect was an attitude which appeared negative, if not
wholly one of negation.
As for Margaret, she seemed to be in some way overcome. Either it was
some new phase of feeling with her, or else she was taking the issue
more seriously than she had yet done. She was generally more or less
distraite, as though sunk in a brown study; from this she would recover
herself with a start. This was usually when there occurred some marked
episode in the journey, such as stopping at a station, or when the
thunderous rumble of crossing a viaduct woke the echoes of the hills or
cliffs around us. On each such occasion she would plunge into the
conversation, taking such a part in it as to show that, whatever had
been her abstracted thought, her senses had taken in fully all that had
gone on around her. Towards myself her manner was strange. Sometimes
it was marked by a distance, half shy, half haughty, which was new to
me. At other times there were moments of passion in look and gesture
which almost made me dizzy with delight. Little, however, of a marked
nature transpired during the journey. There was but one episode which
had in it any element of alarm, but as we were all asleep at the time
it did not disturb us. We only learned it from a communicative guard in
the morning. Whilst running between Dawlish and Teignmouth the train
was stopped by a warning given by someone who moved a torch to and fro
right on the very track. The driver had found on pulling up that just
ahead of the train a small landslip had taken place, some of the red
earth from the high bank having fallen away. It did not however reach
to the metals; and the driver had resumed his way, none too well
pleased at the delay. To use his own words, the guard thought “there
was too much bally caution on this ‘ere line!’”
We arrived at Westerton about nine o’clock in the evening. Carts and
horses were in waiting, and the work of unloading the train began at
once. Our own party did not wait to see the work done, as it was in
the hands of competent people. We took the carriage which was in
waiting, and through the darkness of the night sped on to Kyllion.
We were all impressed by the house as it appeared in the bright
moonlight. A great grey stone mansion of the Jacobean period; vast and
spacious, standing high over the sea on the very verge of a high cliff.
When we had swept round the curve of the avenue cut through the rock,
and come out on the high plateau on which the house stood, the crash
and murmur of waves breaking against rock far below us came with an
invigorating breath of moist sea air. We understood then in an instant
how well we were shut out from the world on that rocky shelf above the
sea.
Within the house we found all ready. Mrs. Grant and her staff had
worked well, and all was bright and fresh and clean. We took a brief
survey of the chief rooms and then separated to have a wash and to
change our clothes after our long journey of more than four-and-twenty
hours.
We had supper in the great dining-room on the south side, the walls of
which actually hung over the sea. The murmur came up muffled, but it
never ceased. As the little promontory stood well out into the sea,
the northern side of the house was open; and the due north was in no
way shut out by the great mass of rock, which, reared high above us,
shut out the rest of the world. Far off across the bay we could see
the trembling lights of the castle, and here and there along the shore
the faint light of a fisher’s window. For the rest the sea was a dark
blue plain with an occasional flicker of light as the gleam of
starlight fell on the slope of a swelling wave.
When supper was over we all adjourned to the room which Mr. Trelawny
had set aside as his study, his bedroom being close to it. As we
entered, the first thing I noticed was a great safe, somewhat similar
to that which stood in his room in London. When we were in the room
Mr. Trelawny went over to the table, and, taking out his pocket-book,
laid it on the table. As he did so he pressed down on it with the palm
of his hand. A strange pallor came over his face. With fingers that
trembled he opened the book, saying as he did so:
“Its bulk does not seem the same; I hope nothing has happened!”
All three of us men crowded round close. Margaret alone remained calm;
she stood erect and silent, and still as a statue. She had a far-away
look in her eyes, as though she did not either know or care what was
going on around her.
With a despairing gesture Trelawny threw open the pouch of the
pocket-book wherein he had placed the Jewel of Seven Stars. As he sank
down on the chair which stood close to him, he said in a hoarse voice:
“My God! it is gone. Without it the Great Experiment can come to
nothing!”
His words seemed to wake Margaret from her introspective mood. An
agonised spasm swept her face; but almost on the instant she was calm.
She almost smiled as she said:
“You may have left it in your room, Father. Perhaps it has fallen out
of the pocket-book whilst you were changing.” Without a word we all
hurried into the next room through the open door between the study and
the bedroom. And then a sudden calm fell on us like a cloud of fear.
There! on the table, lay the Jewel of Seven Stars, shining and
sparkling with lurid light, as though each of the seven points of each
the seven stars gleamed through blood!
Timidly we each looked behind us, and then at each other. Margaret was
now like the rest of us. She had lost her statuesque calm. All the
introspective rigidity had gone from her; and she clasped her hands
together till the knuckles were white.
Without a word Mr. Trelawny raised the Jewel, and hurried with it into
the next room. As quietly as he could he opened the door of the safe
with the key fastened to his wrist and placed the Jewel within. When
the heavy doors were closed and locked he seemed to breathe more freely.
Somehow this episode, though a disturbing one in many ways, seemed to
bring us back to our old selves. Since we had left London we had all
been overstrained; and this was a sort of relief. Another step in our
strange enterprise had been effected.
The change back was more marked in Margaret than in any of us. Perhaps
it was that she was a woman, whilst we were men; perhaps it was that
she was younger than the rest; perhaps both reasons were effective,
each in its own way. At any rate the change was there, and I was
happier than I had been through the long journey. All her buoyancy,
her tenderness, her deep feeling seemed to shine forth once more; now
and again as her father’s eyes rested on her, his face seemed to light
up.
Whilst we waited for the carts to arrive, Mr. Trelawny took us through
the house, pointing out and explaining where the objects which we had
brought with us were to be placed. In one respect only did he withhold
confidence. The positions of all those things which had connection
with the Great Experiment were not indicated. The cases containing them
were to be left in the outer hall, for the present.
By the time we had made the survey, the carts began to arrive; and the
stir and bustle of the previous night were renewed. Mr. Trelawny stood
in the hall beside the massive ironbound door, and gave directions as
to the placing of each of the great packing-cases. Those containing
many items were placed in the inner hall where they were to be unpacked.
In an incredibly short time the whole consignment was delivered; and
the men departed with a douceur for each, given through their foreman,
which made them effusive in their thanks. Then we all went to our own
rooms. There was a strange confidence over us all. I do not think
that any one of us had a doubt as the quiet passing of the
remainder of the night.
The faith was justified, for on our re-assembling in the morning we
found that all had slept well and peaceably.
During that day all the curios, except those required for the Great
Experiment, were put into the places designed for them. Then it was
arranged that all the servants should go back with Mrs. Grant to London
on the next morning.
When they had all gone Mr. Trelawny, having seen the doors locked, took
us into the study.
“Now,” said he when we were seated, “I have a secret to impart; but,
according to an old promise which does not leave me free, I must ask
you each to give me a solemn promise not to reveal it. For three
hundred years at least such a promise has been exacted from everyone to
whom it was told, and more than once life and safety were secured
through loyal observance of the promise. Even as it is, I am breaking
the letter, if not the spirit of the tradition; for I should only tell
it to the immediate members of my family.”
We all gave the promise required. Then he went on:
“There is a secret place in this house, a cave, natural originally but
finished by labour, underneath this house. I will not undertake to say
that it has always been used according to the law. During the Bloody
Assize more than a few Cornishmen found refuge in it; and later, and
earlier, it formed, I have no doubt whatever, a useful place for
storing contraband goods. ‘Tre Pol and Pen’, I suppose you know, have
always been smugglers; and their relations and friends and neighbours
have not held back from the enterprise. For all such reasons a safe
hiding-place was always considered a valuable possession; and as the
heads of our House have always insisted on preserving the secret, I am
in honour bound to it. Later on, if all be well, I shall of course
tell you, Margaret, and you too, Ross, under the conditions that I am
bound to make.”
He rose up, and we all followed him. Leaving us in the outer hall, he
went away alone for a few minutes; and returning, beckoned us to follow
him.
In the inside hall we found a whole section of an outstanding angle
moved away, and from the cavity saw a great hole dimly dark, and the
beginning of a rough staircase cut in the rock. As it was not pitch
dark there was manifestly some means of lighting it naturally, so
without pause we followed our host as he descended. After some forty
or fifty steps cut in a winding passage, we came to a great cave whose
further end tapered away into blackness. It was a huge place, dimly
lit by a few irregular slits of eccentric shape. Manifestly these
were faults in the rock which would readily allow the windows to be
disguised. Close to each of them was a hanging shutter which could
be easily swung across by means of a dangling rope. The sound of
the ceaseless beat of the waves came up muffled from far below. Mr.
Trelawny at once began to speak:
“This is the spot which I have chosen, as the best I know, for the
scene of our Great Experiment. In a hundred different ways it fulfils
the conditions which I am led to believe are primary with regard to
success. Here, we are, and shall be, as isolated as Queen Tera herself
would have been in her rocky tomb in the Valley of the Sorcerer, and
still in a rocky cavern. For good or ill we must here stand by our
chances, and abide by results. If we are successful we shall be able
to let in on the world of modern science such a flood of light from the
Old World as will change every condition of thought and experiment and
practice. If we fail, then even the knowledge of our attempt will die
with us. For this, and all else which may come, I believe we are
prepared!” He paused. No one spoke, but we all bowed our heads
gravely in acquiescence. He resumed, but with a certain hesitancy:
“It is not yet too late! If any of you have a doubt or misgiving, for
God’s sake speak it now! Whoever it may be, can go hence without let or
hindrance. The rest of us can go on our way alone!”
Again he paused, and looked keenly at us in turn. We looked at each
other; but no one quailed. For my own part, if I had had any doubt as
to going on, the look on Margaret’s face would have reassured me. It
was fearless; it was intense; it was full of a divine calm.
Mr. Trelawny took a long breath, and in a more cheerful, as well as in
a more decided tone, went on:
“As we are all of one mind, the sooner we get the necessary matters in
train the better. Let me tell you that this place, like all the rest
of the house, can be lit with electricity. We could not join the wires
to the mains lest our secret should become known, but I have a cable
here which we can attach in the hall and complete the circuit!” As he
was speaking, he began to ascend the steps. From close to the entrance
he took the end of a cable; this he drew forward and attached to a
switch in the wall. Then, turning on a tap, he flooded the whole vault
and staircase below with light. I could now see from the volume of
light streaming up into the hallway that the hole beside the staircase
went direct into the cave. Above it was a pulley and a mass of strong
tackle with multiplying blocks of the Smeaton order. Mr. Trelawny,
seeing me looking at this, said, correctly interpreting my thoughts:
“Yes! it is new. I hung it there myself on purpose. I knew we should
have to lower great weights; and as I did not wish to take too many
into my confidence, I arranged a tackle which I could work alone if
necessary.”
We set to work at once; and before nightfall had lowered, unhooked, and
placed in the positions designated for each by Trelawny, all the great
sarcophagi and all the curios and other matters which we had taken with
us.
It was a strange and weird proceeding, the placing of those wonderful
monuments of a bygone age in that green cavern, which represented in
its cutting and purpose and up-to-date mechanism and electric lights
both the old world and the new. But as time went on I grew more and
more to recognise the wisdom and correctness of Mr. Trelawny’s choice.
I was much disturbed when Silvio, who had been brought into the cave in
the arms of his mistress, and who was lying asleep on my coat which I
had taken off, sprang up when the cat mummy had been unpacked, and flew
at it with the same ferocity which he had previously exhibited. The
incident showed Margaret in a new phase, and one which gave my heart a
pang. She had been standing quite still at one side of the cave
leaning on a sarcophagus, in one of those fits of abstraction which had
of late come upon her; but on hearing the sound, and seeing Silvio’s
violent onslaught, she seemed to fall into a positive fury of passion.
Her eyes blazed, and her mouth took a hard, cruel tension which was new
to me. Instinctively she stepped towards Silvio as if to interfere in
the attack. But I too had stepped forward; and as she caught my eye a
strange spasm came upon her, and she stopped. Its intensity made me
hold my breath; and I put up my hand to clear my eyes. When I had done
this, she had on the instant recovered her calm, and there was a look
of brief wonder on her face. With all her old grace and sweetness she
swept over and lifted Silvio, just as she had done on former occasions,
and held him in her arms, petting him and treating him as though he
were a little child who had erred.
As I looked a strange fear came over me. The Margaret that I knew
seemed to be changing; and in my inmost heart I prayed that the
disturbing cause might soon come to an end. More than ever I longed at
that moment that our terrible Experiment should come to a prosperous
termination.
When all had been arranged in the room as Mr. Trelawny wished he turned
to us, one after another, till he had concentrated the intelligence of
us all upon him. Then he said:
“All is now ready in this place. We must only await the proper time to
begin.”
We were silent for a while. Doctor Winchester was the first to speak:
“What is the proper time? Have you any approximation, even if you are
not satisfied as to the exact day?” He answered at once:
“After the most anxious thought I have fixed on July 31!”
“May I ask why that date?” He spoke his answer slowly:
“Queen Tera was ruled in great degree by mysticism, and there are so
many evidences that she looked for resurrection that naturally she
would choose a period ruled over by a God specialised to such a
purpose. Now, the fourth month of the season of Inundation was ruled
by Harmachis, this being the name for ‘Ra’, the Sun-God, at his rising
in the morning, and therefore typifying the awakening or arising. This
arising is manifestly to physical life, since it is of the mid-world of
human daily life. Now as this month begins on our 25th July, the
seventh day would be July 31st, for you may be sure that the mystic
Queen would not have chosen any day but the seventh or some power of
seven.
“I dare say that some of you have wondered why our preparations have
been so deliberately undertaken. This is why! We must be ready in
every possible way when the time comes; but there was no use in having
to wait round for a needless number of days.”
And so we waited only for the 31st of July, the next day but one, when
the Great Experiment would be made.
Chapter XVII
Doubts and Fears
We learn of great things by little experiences. The history of ages is
but an indefinite repetition of the history of hours. The record of a
soul is but a multiple of the story of a moment. The Recording Angel
writes in the Great Book in no rainbow tints; his pen is dipped in no
colours but light and darkness. For the eye of infinite wisdom there
is no need of shading. All things, all thoughts, all emotions, all
experiences, all doubts and hopes and fears, all intentions, all wishes
seen down to the lower strata of their concrete and multitudinous
elements, are finally resolved into direct opposites.
Did any human being wish for the epitome of a life wherein were
gathered and grouped all the experiences that a child of Adam could
have, the history, fully and frankly written, of my own mind during the
next forty-eight hours would afford him all that could be wanted. And
the Recorder could have wrought as usual in sunlight and shadow, which
may be taken to represent the final expressions of Heaven and Hell.
For in the highest Heaven is Faith; and Doubt hangs over the yawning
blackness of Hell.
There were of course times of sunshine in those two days; moments when,
in the realisation of Margaret’s sweetness and her love for me, all
doubts were dissipated like morning mist before the sun. But the
balance of the time—and an overwhelming balance it was—gloom hung
over me like a pall. The hour, in whose coming I had acquiesced, was
approaching so quickly and was already so near that the sense of
finality was bearing upon me! The issue was perhaps life or death to
any of us; but for this we were all prepared. Margaret and I were one
as to the risk. The question of the moral aspect of the case, which
involved the religious belief in which I had been reared, was not one
to trouble me; for the issues, and the causes that lay behind them,
were not within my power even to comprehend. The doubt of the success
of the Great Experiment was such a doubt as exists in all enterprises
which have great possibilities. To me, whose life was passed in a
series of intellectual struggles, this form of doubt was a stimulus,
rather than deterrent. What then was it that made for me a trouble,
which became an anguish when my thoughts dwelt long on it?
I was beginning to doubt Margaret!
What it was that I doubted I knew not. It was not her love, or her
honour, or her truth, or her kindness, or her zeal. What then was it?
It was herself!
Margaret was changing! At times during the past few days I had hardly
known her as the same girl whom I had met at the picnic, and whose
vigils I had shared in the sick-room of her father. Then, even in her
moments of greatest sorrow or fright or anxiety, she was all life and
thought and keenness. Now she was generally distraite, and at times in
a sort of negative condition as though her mind—her very being—was
not present. At such moments she would have full possession of
observation and memory. She would know and remember all that was going
on, and had gone on around her; but her coming back to her old self had
to me something the sensation of a new person coming into the room. Up
to the time of leaving London I had been content whenever she was
present. I had over me that delicious sense of security which comes
with the consciousness that love is mutual. But now doubt had taken
its place. I never knew whether the personality present was my
Margaret—the old Margaret whom I had loved at the first glance—or the
other new Margaret, whom I hardly understood, and whose intellectual
aloofness made an impalpable barrier between us. Sometimes she would
become, as it were, awake all at once. At such times, though she would
say to me sweet and pleasant things which she had often said before,
she would seem most unlike herself. It was almost as if she was
speaking parrot-like or at dictation of one who could read words or
acts, but not thoughts. After one or two experiences of this kind, my
own doubting began to make a barrier; for I could not speak with the
ease and freedom which were usual to me. And so hour by hour we
drifted apart. Were it not for the few odd moments when the old
Margaret was back with me full of her charm I do not know what would
have happened. As it was, each such moment gave me a fresh start and
kept my love from changing.
I would have given the world for a confidant; but this was impossible.
How could I speak a doubt of Margaret to anyone, even her father! How
could I speak a doubt to Margaret, when Margaret herself was the theme!
I could only endure—and hope. And of the two the endurance was the
lesser pain.
I think that Margaret must have at times felt that there was some cloud
between us, for towards the end of the first day she began to shun me a
little; or perhaps it was that she had become more diffident that usual
about me. Hitherto she had sought every opportunity of being with me,
just as I had tried to be with her; so that now any avoidance, one of
the other, made a new pain to us both.
On this day the household seemed very still. Each one of us was about
his own work, or occupied with his own thoughts. We only met at meal
times; and then, though we talked, all seemed more or less preoccupied.
There was not in the house even the stir of the routine of service.
The precaution of Mr. Trelawny in having three rooms prepared for each
of us had rendered servants unnecessary. The dining-room was solidly
prepared with cooked provisions for several days. Towards evening I
went out by myself for a stroll. I had looked for Margaret to ask her
to come with me; but when I found her, she was in one of her apathetic
moods, and the charm of her presence seemed lost to me. Angry with
myself, but unable to quell my own spirit of discontent, I went out
alone over the rocky headland.
On the cliff, with the wide expanse of wonderful sea before me, and no
sound but the dash of waves below and the harsh screams of the seagulls
above, my thoughts ran free. Do what I would, they returned
continuously to one subject, the solving of the doubt that was upon me.
Here in the solitude, amid the wide circle of Nature’s force and
strife, my mind began to work truly. Unconsciously I found myself
asking a question which I would not allow myself to answer. At last
the persistence of a mind working truly prevailed; I found myself face
to face with my doubt. The habit of my life began to assert itself,
and I analysed the evidence before me.
It was so startling that I had to force myself into obedience to
logical effort. My starting-place was this: Margaret was changed—in
what way, and by what means? Was it her character, or her mind, or her
nature? for her physical appearance remained the same. I began to
group all that I had ever heard of her, beginning at her birth.
It was strange at the very first. She had been, according to Corbeck’s
statement, born of a dead mother during the time that her father and
his friend were in a trance in the tomb at Aswan. That trance was
presumably effected by a woman; a woman mummied, yet preserving as we
had every reason to believe from after experience, an astral body
subject to a free will and an active intelligence. With that astral
body, space ceased to exist. The vast distance between London and
Aswan became as naught; and whatever power of necromancy the Sorceress
had might have been exercised over the dead mother, and possibly the
dead child.
The dead child! Was it possible that the child was dead and was made
alive again? Whence then came the animating spirit—the soul? Logic
was pointing the way to me now with a vengeance!
If the Egyptian belief was true for Egyptians, then the “Ka” of the
dead Queen and her “Khu” could animate what she might choose. In such
case Margaret would not be an individual at all, but simply a phase of
Queen Tera herself; an astral body obedient to her will!
Here I revolted against logic. Every fibre of my being resented such a
conclusion. How could I believe that there was no Margaret at all; but
just an animated image, used by the Double of a woman of forty
centuries ago to its own ends...! Somehow, the outlook was brighter to
me now, despite the new doubts.
At least I had Margaret!
Back swung the logical pendulum again. The child then was not dead.
If so, had the Sorceress had anything to do with her birth at all? It
was evident—so I took it again from Corbeck—that there was a strange
likeness between Margaret and the pictures of Queen Tera. How could
this be? It could not be any birth-mark reproducing what had been in
the mother’s mind; for Mrs. Trelawny had never seen the pictures. Nay,
even her father had not seen them till he had found his way into the
tomb only a few days before her birth. This phase I could not get rid
of so easily as the last; the fibres of my being remained quiet. There
remained to me the horror of doubt. And even then, so strange is the
mind of man, Doubt itself took a concrete image; a vast and
impenetrable gloom, through which flickered irregularly and
spasmodically tiny points of evanescent light, which seemed to quicken
the darkness into a positive existence.
The remaining possibility of relations between Margaret and the mummied
Queen was, that in some occult way the Sorceress had power to change
places with the other. This view of things could not be so lightly
thrown aside. There were too many suspicious circumstances to warrant
this, now that my attention was fixed on it and my intelligence
recognised the possibility. Hereupon there began to come into my mind
all the strange incomprehensible matters which had whirled through our
lives in the last few days. At first they all crowded in upon me in a
jumbled mass; but again the habit of mind of my working life prevailed,
and they took order. I found it now easier to control myself; for
there was something to grasp, some work to be done; though it was of a
sorry kind, for it was or might be antagonistic to Margaret. But
Margaret was herself at stake! I was thinking of her and fighting for
her; and yet if I were to work in the dark, I might be even harmful to
her. My first weapon in her defence was truth. I must know and
understand; I might then be able to act. Certainly, I could not act
beneficently without a just conception and recognition of the facts.
Arranged in order these were as follows:
Firstly: the strange likeness of Queen Tera to Margaret who had been
born in another country a thousand miles away, where her mother could
not possibly have had even a passing knowledge of her appearance.
Secondly: the disappearance of Van Huyn’s book when I had read up to
the description of the Star Ruby.
Thirdly: the finding of the lamps in the boudoir. Tera with her
astral body could have unlocked the door of Corbeck’s room in the
hotel, and have locked it again after her exit with the lamps. She
could in the same way have opened the window, and put the lamps in the
boudoir. It need not have been that Margaret in her own person should
have had any hand in this; but—but it was at least strange.
Fourthly: here the suspicions of the Detective and the Doctor came
back to me with renewed force, and with a larger understanding.
Fifthly: there were the occasions on which Margaret foretold with
accuracy the coming occasions of quietude, as though she had some
conviction or knowledge of the intentions of the astral-bodied Queen.
Sixthly: there was her suggestion of the finding of the Ruby which her
father had lost. As I thought now afresh over this episode in the
light of suspicion in which her own powers were involved, the only
conclusion I could come to was—always supposing that the theory of the
Queen’s astral power was correct—that Queen Tera being anxious that
all should go well in the movement from London to Kyllion had in her
own way taken the Jewel from Mr. Trelawny’s pocket-book, finding it of
some use in her supernatural guardianship of the journey. Then in some
mysterious way she had, through Margaret, made the suggestion of its
loss and finding.
Seventhly, and lastly, was the strange dual existence which Margaret
seemed of late to be leading; and which in some way seemed a
consequence or corollary of all that had gone before.
The dual existence! This was indeed the conclusion which overcame all
difficulties and reconciled opposites. If indeed Margaret were not in
all ways a free agent, but could be compelled to speak or act as she
might be instructed; or if her whole being could be changed for another
without the possibility of any one noticing the doing of it, then all
things were possible. All would depend on the spirit of the
individuality by which she could be so compelled. If this
individuality were just and kind and clean, all might be well. But if
not! ... The thought was too awful for words. I ground my teeth with
futile rage, as the ideas of horrible possibilities swept through me.
Up to this morning Margaret’s lapses into her new self had been few and
hardly noticeable, save when once or twice her attitude towards myself
had been marked by a bearing strange to me. But today the contrary was
the case; and the change presaged badly. It might be that that other
individuality was of the lower, not of the better sort! Now that I
thought of it I had reason to fear. In the history of the mummy, from
the time of Van Huyn’s breaking into the tomb, the record of deaths
that we knew of, presumably effected by her will and agency, was a
startling one. The Arab who had stolen the hand from the mummy; and the
one who had taken it from his body. The Arab chief who had tried to
steal the Jewel from Van Huyn, and whose throat bore the marks of seven
fingers. The two men found dead on the first night of Trelawny’s taking
away the sarcophagus; and the three on the return to the tomb. The
Arab who had opened the secret serdab. Nine dead men, one of them
slain manifestly by the Queen’s own hand! And beyond this again the
several savage attacks on Mr. Trelawny in his own room, in which, aided
by her Familiar, she had tried to open the safe and to extract the
Talisman jewel. His device of fastening the key to his wrist by a
steel bangle, though successful in the end, had wellnigh cost him his
life.
If then the Queen, intent on her resurrection under her own conditions
had, so to speak, waded to it through blood, what might she not do were
her purpose thwarted? What terrible step might she not take to effect
her wishes? Nay, what were her wishes; what was her ultimate purpose?
As yet we had had only Margaret’s statement of them, given in all the
glorious enthusiasm of her lofty soul. In her record there was no
expression of love to be sought or found. All we knew for certain was
that she had set before her the object of resurrection, and that in it
the North which she had manifestly loved was to have a special part.
But that the resurrection was to be accomplished in the lonely tomb in
the Valley of the Sorcerer was apparent. All preparations had been
carefully made for accomplishment from within, and for her ultimate
exit in her new and living form. The sarcophagus was unlidded. The oil
jars, though hermetically sealed, were to be easily opened by hand; and
in them provision was made for shrinkage through a vast period of time.
Even flint and steel were provided for the production of flame. The
Mummy Pit was left open in violation of usage; and beside the stone
door on the cliff side was fixed an imperishable chain by which she
might in safety descend to earth. But as to what her after intentions
were we had no clue. If it was that she meant to begin life again as a
humble individual, there was something so noble in the thought that it
even warmed my heart to her and turned my wishes to her success.
The very idea seemed to endorse Margaret’s magnificent tribute to her
purpose, and helped to calm my troubled spirit.
Then and there, with this feeling strong upon me, I determined to warn
Margaret and her father of dire possibilities; and to await, as well
content as I could in my ignorance, the development of things over
which I had no power.
I returned to the house in a different frame of mind to that in
which I had left it; and was enchanted to find Margaret—the old
Margaret—waiting for me.
After dinner, when I was alone for a time with the father and daughter,
I opened the subject, though with considerable hesitation:
“Would it not be well to take every possible precaution, in case the
Queen may not wish what we are doing, with regard to what may occur
before the Experiment; and at or after her waking, if it comes off?”
Margaret’s answer came back quickly; so quickly that I was convinced
she must have had it ready for some one:
“But she does approve! Surely it cannot be otherwise. Father is
doing, with all his brains and all his energy and all his great
courage, just exactly what the great Queen had arranged!”
“But,” I answered, “that can hardly be. All that she arranged was in a
tomb high up in a rock, in a desert solitude, shut away from the world
by every conceivable means. She seems to have depended on this
isolation to insure against accident. Surely, here in another country
and age, with quite different conditions, she may in her anxiety make
mistakes and treat any of you—of us—as she did those others in times
gone past. Nine men that we know of have been slain by her own hand or
by her instigation. She can be remorseless if she will.” It did not
strike me till afterwards when I was thinking over this conversation,
how thoroughly I had accepted the living and conscious condition of
Queen Tera as a fact. Before I spoke, I had feared I might offend Mr.
Trelawny; but to my pleasant surprise he smiled quite genially as he
answered me:
“My dear fellow, in a way you are quite right. The Queen did
undoubtedly intend isolation; and, all told, it would be best that her
experiment should be made as she arranged it. But just think, that
became impossible when once the Dutch explorer had broken into her
tomb. That was not my doing. I am innocent of it, though it was the
cause of my setting out to rediscover the sepulchre. Mind, I do not
say for a moment that I would not have done just the same as Van Huyn.
I went into the tomb from curiosity; and I took away what I did, being
fired with the zeal of acquisitiveness which animates the collector.
But, remember also, that at this time I did not know of the Queen’s
intention of resurrection; I had no idea of the completeness of her
preparations. All that came long afterwards. But when it did come, I
have done all that I could to carry out her wishes to the full. My
only fear is that I may have misinterpreted some of her cryptic
instructions, or have omitted or overlooked something. But of this I
am certain; I have left undone nothing that I can imagine right to be
done; and I have done nothing that I know of to clash with Queen Tera’s
arrangement. I want her Great Experiment to succeed. To this end I
have not spared labour or time or money—or myself. I have endured
hardship, and braved danger. All my brains; all my knowledge and
learning, such as they are; all my endeavours such as they can be, have
been, are, and shall be devoted to this end, till we either win or lose
the great stake that we play for.”
“The great stake?” I repeated; “the resurrection of the woman, and the
woman’s life? The proof that resurrection can be accomplished; by
magical powers; by scientific knowledge; or by use of some force which
at present the world does not know?”
Then Mr. Trelawny spoke out the hopes of his heart which up to now he
had indicated rather than expressed. Once or twice I had heard Corbeck
speak of the fiery energy of his youth; but, save for the noble words
of Margaret when she had spoken of Queen Tera’s hope—which coming from
his daughter made possible a belief that her power was in some sense
due to heredity—I had seen no marked sign of it. But now his words,
sweeping before them like a torrent all antagonistic thought, gave me a
new idea of the man.
“‘A woman’s life!’ What is a woman’s life in the scale with what we
hope for! Why, we are risking already a woman’s life; the dearest life
to me in all the world, and that grows more dear with every hour that
passes. We are risking as well the lives of four men; yours and my
own, as well as those two others who have been won to our confidence.
‘The proof that resurrection can be accomplished!’ That is much. A
marvellous thing in this age of science, and the scepticism that
knowledge makes. But life and resurrection are themselves but items in
what may be won by the accomplishment of this Great Experiment.
Imagine what it will be for the world of thought—the true world of
human progress—the veritable road to the Stars, the itur ad astra of
the Ancients—if there can come back to us out of the unknown past one
who can yield to us the lore stored in the great Library of Alexandria,
and lost in its consuming flames. Not only history can be set right,
and the teachings of science made veritable from their beginnings; but
we can be placed on the road to the knowledge of lost arts, lost
learning, lost sciences, so that our feet may tread on the indicated
path to their ultimate and complete restoration. Why, this woman can
tell us what the world was like before what is called ‘the Flood’; can
give us the origin of that vast astounding myth; can set the mind back
to the consideration of things which to us now seem primeval, but which
were old stories before the days of the Patriarchs. But this is not
the end! No, not even the beginning! If the story of this woman be
all that we think—which some of us most firmly believe; if her powers
and the restoration of them prove to be what we expect, why, then we
may yet achieve a knowledge beyond what our age has ever known—beyond
what is believed today possible for the children of men. If indeed
this resurrection can be accomplished, how can we doubt the old
knowledge, the old magic, the old belief! And if this be so, we must
take it that the ‘Ka’ of this great and learned Queen has won secrets
of more than mortal worth from her surroundings amongst the stars. This
woman in her life voluntarily went down living to the grave, and came
back again, as we learn from the records in her tomb; she chose to die
her mortal death whilst young, so that at her resurrection in another
age, beyond a trance of countless magnitude, she might emerge from her
tomb in all the fulness and splendour of her youth and power. Already
we have evidence that though her body slept in patience through those
many centuries, her intelligence never passed away, that her resolution
never flagged, that her will remained supreme; and, most important of
all, that her memory was unimpaired. Oh, what possibilities are there
in the coming of such a being into our midst! One whose history began
before the concrete teaching of our Bible; whose experiences were
antecedent to the formulation of the Gods of Greece; who can link
together the Old and the New, Earth and Heaven, and yield to the known
worlds of thought and physical existence the mystery of the Unknown—of
the Old World in its youth, and of Worlds beyond our ken!”
He paused, almost overcome. Margaret had taken his hand when he spoke
of her being so dear to him, and held it hard. As he spoke she
continued to hold it. But there came over her face that change which I
had so often seen of late; that mysterious veiling of her own
personality which gave me the subtle sense of separation from her. In
his impassioned vehemence her father did not notice; but when he
stopped she seemed all at once to be herself again. In her glorious
eyes came the added brightness of unshed tears; and with a gesture of
passionate love and admiration, she stooped and kissed her father’s
hand. Then, turning to me, she too spoke:
“Malcolm, you have spoken of the deaths that came from the poor Queen;
or rather that justly came from meddling with her arrangements and
thwarting her purpose. Do you not think that, in putting it as you have
done, you have been unjust? Who would not have done just as she did?
Remember she was fighting for her life! Ay, and for more than her
life! For life, and love, and all the glorious possibilities of that
dim future in the unknown world of the North which had such enchanting
hopes for her! Do you not think that she, with all the learning of her
time, and with all the great and resistless force of her mighty nature,
had hopes of spreading in a wider way the lofty aspirations of her
soul! That she hoped to bring to the conquering of unknown worlds, and
using to the advantage of her people, all that she had won from sleep
and death and time; all of which might and could have been frustrated
by the ruthless hand of an assassin or a thief. Were it you, in such
case would you not struggle by all means to achieve the object of your
life and hope; whose possibilities grew and grew in the passing of
those endless years? Can you think that that active brain was at rest
during all those weary centuries, whilst her free soul was flitting
from world to world amongst the boundless regions of the stars? Had
these stars in their myriad and varied life no lessons for her; as they
have had for us since we followed the glorious path which she and her
people marked for us, when they sent their winged imaginations circling
amongst the lamps of the night!”
Here she paused. She too was overcome, and the welling tears ran down
her cheeks. I was myself more moved than I can say. This was indeed my
Margaret; and in the consciousness of her presence my heart leapt. Out
of my happiness came boldness, and I dared to say now what I had feared
would be impossible: something which would call the attention of Mr.
Trelawny to what I imagined was the dual existence of his daughter. As
I took Margaret’s hand in mine and kissed it, I said to her father:
“Why, sir! she couldn’t speak more eloquently if the very spirit of
Queen Tera was with her to animate her and suggest thoughts!”
Mr. Trelawny’s answer simply overwhelmed me with surprise. It
manifested to me that he too had gone through just such a process of
thought as my own.
“And what if it was; if it is! I know well that the spirit of her
mother is within her. If in addition there be the spirit of that great
and wondrous Queen, then she would be no less dear to me, but doubly
dear! Do not have fear for her, Malcolm Ross; at least have no more
fear than you may have for the rest of us!” Margaret took up the
theme, speaking so quickly that her words seemed a continuation of her
father’s, rather than an interruption of them.
“Have no special fear for me, Malcolm. Queen Tera knows, and will
offer us no harm. I know it! I know it, as surely as I am lost in the
depth of my own love for you!”
There was something in her voice so strange to me that I looked quickly
into her eyes. They were bright as ever, but veiled to my seeing the
inward thought behind them as are the eyes of a caged lion.
Then the two other men came in, and the subject changed.
Chapter XVIII
The Lesson of the “Ka”
That night we all went to bed early. The next night would be an
anxious one, and Mr. Trelawny thought that we should all be fortified
with what sleep we could get. The day, too, would be full of work.
Everything in connection with the Great Experiment would have to be
gone over, so that at the last we might not fail from any unthought-of
flaw in our working. We made, of course, arrangements for summoning aid
in case such should be needed; but I do not think that any of us had
any real apprehension of danger. Certainly we had no fear of such
danger from violence as we had had to guard against in London during
Mr. Trelawny’s long trance.
For my own part I felt a strange sense of relief in the matter. I had
accepted Mr. Trelawny’s reasoning that if the Queen were indeed such as
we surmised—such as indeed we now took for granted—there would not be
any opposition on her part; for we were carrying out her own wishes to
the very last. So far I was at ease—far more at ease than earlier in
the day I should have thought possible; but there were other sources of
trouble which I could not blot out from my mind. Chief amongst them
was Margaret’s strange condition. If it was indeed that she had in her
own person a dual existence, what might happen when the two existences
became one? Again, and again, and again I turned this matter over in my
mind, till I could have shrieked out in nervous anxiety. It was no
consolation to me to remember that Margaret was herself satisfied, and
her father acquiescent. Love is, after all, a selfish thing; and it
throws a black shadow on anything between which and the light it
stands. I seemed to hear the hands go round the dial of the clock; I
saw darkness turn to gloom, and gloom to grey, and grey to light
without pause or hindrance to the succession of my miserable feelings.
At last, when it was decently possible without the fear of disturbing
others, I got up. I crept along the passage to find if all was well
with the others; for we had arranged that the door of each of our rooms
should be left slightly open so that any sound of disturbance would be
easily and distinctly heard.
One and all slept; I could hear the regular breathing of each, and my
heart rejoiced that this miserable night of anxiety was safely passed.
As I knelt in my own room in a burst of thankful prayer, I knew in the
depths of my own heart the measure of my fear. I found my way out of
the house, and went down to the water by the long stairway cut in the
rock. A swim in the cool bright sea braced my nerves and made me my
old self again.
As I came back to the top of the steps I could see the bright sunlight,
rising from behind me, turning the rocks across the bay to glittering
gold. And yet I felt somehow disturbed. It was all too bright; as it
sometimes is before the coming of a storm. As I paused to watch it, I
felt a soft hand on my shoulder; and, turning, found Margaret close to
me; Margaret as bright and radiant as the morning glory of the sun! It
was my own Margaret this time! My old Margaret, without alloy of any
other; and I felt that, at least, this last and fatal day was well
begun.
But alas! the joy did not last. When we got back to the house from a
stroll around the cliffs, the same old routine of yesterday was
resumed: gloom and anxiety, hope, high spirits, deep depression, and
apathetic aloofness.
But it was to be a day of work; and we all braced ourselves to it with
an energy which wrought its own salvation.
After breakfast we all adjourned to the cave, where Mr. Trelawny went
over, point by point, the position of each item of our paraphernalia.
He explained as he went on why each piece was so placed. He had with
him the great rolls of paper with the measured plans and the signs and
drawings which he had had made from his own and Corbeck’s rough notes.
As he had told us, these contained the whole of the hieroglyphics on
walls and ceilings and floor of the tomb in the Valley of the Sorcerer.
Even had not the measurements, made to scale, recorded the position of
each piece of furniture, we could have eventually placed them by a
study of the cryptic writings and symbols.
Mr. Trelawny explained to us certain other things, not laid down on the
chart. Such as, for instance, that the hollowed part of the table was
exactly fitted to the bottom of the Magic Coffer, which was therefore
intended to be placed on it. The respective legs of this table were
indicated by differently shaped uraei outlined on the floor, the head
of each being extended in the direction of the similar uraeus twined
round the leg. Also that the mummy, when laid on the raised portion in
the bottom of the sarcophagus, seemingly made to fit the form, would
lie head to the West and feet to the East, thus receiving the natural
earth currents. “If this be intended,” he said, “as I presume it is, I
gather that the force to be used has something to do with magnetism or
electricity, or both. It may be, of course, that some other force,
such, for instance, as that emanating from radium, is to be employed.
I have experimented with the latter, but only in such small quantity as
I could obtain; but so far as I can ascertain the stone of the Coffer
is absolutely impervious to its influence. There must be some such
unsusceptible substances in nature. Radium does not seemingly manifest
itself when distributed through pitchblende; and there are doubtless
other such substances in which it can be imprisoned. Possibly these
may belong to that class of “inert” elements discovered or isolated by
Sir William Ramsay. It is therefore possible that in this Coffer, made
from an aerolite and therefore perhaps containing some element unknown
in our world, may be imprisoned some mighty power which is to be
released on its opening.”
This appeared to be an end of this branch of the subject; but as he
still kept the fixed look of one who is engaged in a theme we all
waited in silence. After a pause he went on:
“There is one thing which has up to now, I confess, puzzled me. It may
not be of prime importance; but in a matter like this, where all is
unknown, we must take it that everything is important. I cannot think
that in a matter worked out with such extraordinary scrupulosity such a
thing should be overlooked. As you may see by the ground-plan of the
tomb the sarcophagus stands near the north wall, with the Magic Coffer
to the south of it. The space covered by the former is left quite bare
of symbol or ornamentation of any kind. At the first glance this would
seem to imply that the drawings had been made after the sarcophagus had
been put into its place. But a more minute examination will show that
the symbolisation on the floor is so arranged that a definite effect is
produced. See, here the writings run in correct order as though they
had jumped across the gap. It is only from certain effects that it
becomes clear that there is a meaning of some kind. What that meaning
may be is what we want to know. Look at the top and bottom of the
vacant space, which lies West and East corresponding to the head and
foot of the sarcophagus. In both are duplications of the same
symbolisation, but so arranged that the parts of each one of them are
integral portions of some other writing running crosswise. It is only
when we get a coup d’oeil from either the head or the foot that you
recognise that there are symbolisations. See! they are in triplicate
at the corners and the centre of both top and bottom. In every case
there is a sun cut in half by the line of the sarcophagus, as by the
horizon. Close behind each of these and faced away from it, as though
in some way dependent on it, is the vase which in hieroglyphic writing
symbolises the heart—‘Ab’ the Egyptians called it. Beyond each of
these again is the figure of a pair of widespread arms turned upwards
from the elbow; this is the determinative of the ‘Ka’ or ‘Double’. But
its relative position is different at top and bottom. At the head of
the sarcophagus the top of the ‘Ka’ is turned towards the mouth of the
vase, but at the foot the extended arms point away from it.
“The symbolisation seems to mean that during the passing of the Sun
from West to East—from sunset to sunrise, or through the Under World,
otherwise night—the Heart, which is material even in the tomb and
cannot leave it, simply revolves, so that it can always rest on ‘Ra’
the Sun-God, the origin of all good; but that the Double, which
represents the active principle, goes whither it will, the same by
night as by day. If this be correct it is a warning—a caution—a
reminder that the consciousness of the mummy does not rest but is to be
reckoned with.
“Or it may be intended to convey that after the particular night of the
resurrection, the ‘Ka’ would leave the heart altogether, thus typifying
that in her resurrection the Queen would be restored to a lower and
purely physical existence. In such case what would become of her
memory and the experiences of her wide-wandering soul? The chiefest
value of her resurrection would be lost to the world! This, however,
does not alarm me. It is only guess-work after all, and is
contradictory to the intellectual belief of the Egyptian theology, that
the ‘Ka’ is an essential portion of humanity.” He paused and we all
waited. The silence was broken by Doctor Winchester:
“But would not all this imply that the Queen feared intrusion of her
tomb?” Mr. Trelawny smiled as he answered:
“My dear sir, she was prepared for it. The grave-robber is no modern
application of endeavour; he was probably known in the Queen’s own
dynasty. Not only was she prepared for intrusion, but, as shown in
several ways, she expected it. The hiding of the lamps in the serdab,
and the institution of the avenging ‘treasurer’ shows that there was
defence, positive as well as negative. Indeed, from the many
indications afforded in the clues laid out with the most consummated
thought, we may almost gather that she entertained it as a possibility
that others—like ourselves, for instance—might in all seriousness
undertake the work which she had made ready for her own hands when the
time should have come. This very matter that I have been speaking of
is an instance. The clue is intended for seeing eyes!”
Again we were silent. It was Margaret who spoke:
“Father, may I have that chart? I should like to study it during the
day!”
“Certainly, my dear!” answered Mr. Trelawny heartily, as he handed it
to her. He resumed his instructions in a different tone, a more
matter-of-fact one suitable to a practical theme which had no mystery
about it:
“I think you had better all understand the working of the electric
light in case any sudden contingency should arise. I dare say you have
noticed that we have a complete supply in every part of the house, so
that there need not be a dark corner anywhere. This I had specially
arranged. It is worked by a set of turbines moved by the flowing and
ebbing tide, after the manner of the turbines at Niagara. I hope by
this means to nullify accident and to have without fail a full supply
ready at any time. Come with me and I will explain the system of
circuits, and point out to you the taps and the fuses.” I could not
but notice, as we went with him all over the house, how absolutely
complete the system was, and how he had guarded himself against any
disaster that human thought could foresee.
But out of the very completeness came a fear! In such an enterprise as
ours the bounds of human thought were but narrow. Beyond it lay the
vast of Divine wisdom, and Divine power!
When we came back to the cave, Mr. Trelawny took up another theme:
“We have now to settle definitely the exact hour at which the Great
Experiment is to be made. So far as science and mechanism go, if the
preparations are complete, all hours are the same. But as we have to
deal with preparations made by a woman of extraordinarily subtle mind,
and who had full belief in magic and had a cryptic meaning in
everything, we should place ourselves in her position before deciding.
It is now manifest that the sunset has an important place in the
arrangements. As those suns, cut so mathematically by the edge of the
sarcophagus, were arranged of full design, we must take our cue from
this. Again, we find all along that the number seven has had an
important bearing on every phase of the Queen’s thought and reasoning
and action. The logical result is that the seventh hour after sunset
was the time fixed on. This is borne out by the fact that on each of
the occasions when action was taken in my house, this was the time
chosen. As the sun sets tonight in Cornwall at eight, our hour is to
be three in the morning!” He spoke in a matter-of-fact way, though
with great gravity; but there was nothing of mystery in his word or
manner. Still, we were all impressed to a remarkable degree. I could
see this in the other men by the pallor that came on some of their
faces, and by the stillness and unquestioning silence with which the
decision was received. The only one who remained in any way at ease
was Margaret, who had lapsed into one of her moods of abstraction, but
who seemed to wake up to a note of gladness. Her father, who was
watching her intently, smiled; her mood was to him a direct
confirmation of his theory.
For myself I was almost overcome. The definite fixing of the hour
seemed like the voice of Doom. When I think of it now, I can realise
how a condemned man feels at his sentence, or at the sounding of the
last hour he is to hear.
There could be no going back now! We were in the hands of God!
The hands of God...! And yet...! What other forces were arrayed? ...
What would become of us all, poor atoms of earthly dust whirled in the
wind which cometh whence and goeth whither no man may know. It was not
for myself.... Margaret...!
I was recalled by Mr. Trelawny’s firm voice:
“Now we shall see to the lamps and finish our preparations.”
Accordingly we set to work, and under his supervision made ready the
Egyptian lamps, seeing that they were well filled with the cedar oil,
and that the wicks were adjusted and in good order. We lighted and
tested them one by one, and left them ready so that they would light at
once and evenly. When this was done we had a general look round; and
fixed all in readiness for our work at night.
All this had taken time, and we were I think all surprised when as we
emerged from the cave we heard the great clock in the hall chime four.
We had a late lunch, a thing possible without trouble in the present
state of our commissariat arrangements. After it, by Mr. Trelawny’s
advice, we separated; each to prepare in our own way for the strain of
the coming night. Margaret looked pale and somewhat overwrought, so I
advised her to lie down and try to sleep. She promised that she would.
The abstraction which had been upon her fitfully all day lifted for the
time; with all her old sweetness and loving delicacy she kissed me
good-bye for the present! With the sense of happiness which this gave
me I went out for a walk on the cliffs. I did not want to think; and I
had an instinctive feeling that fresh air and God’s sunlight, and the
myriad beauties of the works of His hand would be the best preparation
of fortitude for what was to come.
When I got back, all the party were assembling for a late tea. Coming
fresh from the exhilaration of nature, it struck me as almost comic
that we, who were nearing the end of so strange—almost monstrous—an
undertaking, should be yet bound by the needs and habits of our lives.
All the men of the party were grave; the time of seclusion, even if it
had given them rest, had also given opportunity for thought. Margaret
was bright, almost buoyant; but I missed about her something of her
usual spontaneity. Towards myself there was a shadowy air of reserve,
which brought back something of my suspicion. When tea was over, she
went out of the room; but returned in a minute with the roll of drawing
which she had taken with her earlier in the day. Coming close to Mr.
Trelawny, she said:
“Father, I have been carefully considering what you said today about
the hidden meaning of those suns and hearts and ‘Ka’s’, and I have been
examining the drawings again.”
“And with what result, my child?” asked Mr. Trelawny eagerly.
“There is another reading possible!”
“And that?” His voice was now tremulous with anxiety. Margaret spoke
with a strange ring in her voice; a ring that cannot be, unless there
is the consciousness of truth behind it:
“It means that at the sunset the ‘Ka’ is to enter the ‘Ab’; and it is
only at the sunrise that it will leave it!”
“Go on!” said her father hoarsely.
“It means that for this night the Queen’s Double, which is otherwise
free, will remain in her heart, which is mortal and cannot leave its
prison-place in the mummy-shrouding. It means that when the sun has
dropped into the sea, Queen Tera will cease to exist as a conscious
power, till sunrise; unless the Great Experiment can recall her to
waking life. It means that there will be nothing whatever for you or
others to fear from her in such way as we have all cause to remember.
Whatever change may come from the working of the Great Experiment,
there can come none from the poor, helpless, dead woman who has waited
all those centuries for this night; who has given up to the coming hour
all the freedom of eternity, won in the old way, in hope of a new life
in a new world such as she longed for...!” She stopped suddenly. As
she had gone on speaking there had come with her words a strange
pathetic, almost pleading, tone which touched me to the quick. As she
stopped, I could see, before she turned away her head, that her eyes
were full of tears.
For once the heart of her father did not respond to her feeling. He
looked exultant, but with a grim masterfulness which reminded me of the
set look of his stern face as he had lain in the trance. He did not
offer any consolation to his daughter in her sympathetic pain. He only
said:
“We may test the accuracy of your surmise, and of her feeling, when the
time comes!” Having said so, he went up the stone stairway and into his
own room. Margaret’s face had a troubled look as she gazed after him.
Strangely enough her trouble did not as usual touch me to the quick.
When Mr. Trelawny had gone, silence reigned. I do not think that any
of us wanted to talk. Presently Margaret went to her room, and I went
out on the terrace over the sea. The fresh air and the beauty of all
before helped to restore the good spirits which I had known earlier in
the day. Presently I felt myself actually rejoicing in the belief that
the danger which I had feared from the Queen’s violence on the coming
night was obviated. I believed in Margaret’s belief so thoroughly that
it did not occur to me to dispute her reasoning. In a lofty frame of
mind, and with less anxiety than I had felt for days, I went to my room
and lay down on the sofa.
I was awaked by Corbeck calling to me, hurriedly:
“Come down to the cave as quickly as you can. Mr. Trelawny wants to
see us all there at once. Hurry!”
I jumped up and ran down to the cave. All were there except Margaret,
who came immediately after me carrying Silvio in her arms. When the
cat saw his old enemy he struggled to get down; but Margaret held him
fast and soothed him. I looked at my watch. It was close to eight.
When Margaret was with us her father said directly, with a quiet
insistence which was new to me:
“You believe, Margaret, that Queen Tera has voluntarily undertaken to
give up her freedom for this night? To become a mummy and nothing
more, till the Experiment has been completed? To be content that she
shall be powerless under all and any circumstances until after all is
over and the act of resurrection has been accomplished, or the effort
has failed?” After a pause Margaret answered in a low voice:
“Yes!”
In the pause her whole being, appearance, expression, voice, manner had
changed. Even Silvio noticed it, and with a violent effort wriggled
away from her arms; she did not seem to notice the act. I expected
that the cat, when he had achieved his freedom, would have attacked the
mummy; but on this occasion he did not. He seemed too cowed to
approach it. He shrunk away, and with a piteous “miaou” came over and
rubbed himself against my ankles. I took him up in my arms, and he
nestled there content. Mr. Trelawny spoke again:
“You are sure of what you say! You believe it with all your soul?”
Margaret’s face had lost the abstracted look; it now seemed illuminated
with the devotion of one to whom is given to speak of great things.
She answered in a voice which, though quiet, vibrated with conviction:
“I know it! My knowledge is beyond belief!” Mr. Trelawny spoke again:
“Then you are so sure, that were you Queen Tera herself, you would be
willing to prove it in any way that I might suggest?”
“Yes, any way!” the answer rang out fearlessly. He spoke again, in a
voice in which was no note of doubt:
“Even in the abandonment of your Familiar to death—to annihilation.”
She paused, and I could see that she suffered—suffered horribly.
There was in her eyes a hunted look, which no man can, unmoved, see in
the eyes of his beloved. I was about to interrupt, when her father’s
eyes, glancing round with a fierce determination, met mine. I stood
silent, almost spellbound; so also the other men. Something was going
on before us which we did not understand!
With a few long strides Mr. Trelawny went to the west side of the cave
and tore back the shutter which obscured the window. The cool air blew
in, and the sunlight streamed over them both, for Margaret was now by
his side. He pointed to where the sun was sinking into the sea in a
halo of golden fire, and his face was as set as flint. In a voice
whose absolute uncompromising hardness I shall hear in my ears at times
till my dying day, he said:
“Choose! Speak! When the sun has dipped below the sea, it will be too
late!” The glory of the dying sun seemed to light up Margaret’s face,
till it shone as if lit from within by a noble light, as she answered:
“Even that!”
Then stepping over to where the mummy cat stood on the little table,
she placed her hand on it. She had now left the sunlight, and the
shadows looked dark and deep over her. In a clear voice she said:
“Were I Tera, I would say ‘Take all I have! This night is for the Gods
alone!’”
As she spoke the sun dipped, and the cold shadow suddenly fell on us.
We all stood still for a while. Silvio jumped from my arms and ran
over to his mistress, rearing himself up against her dress as if asking
to be lifted. He took no notice whatever of the mummy now.
Margaret was glorious with all her wonted sweetness as she said sadly:
“The sun is down, Father! Shall any of us see it again? The night of
nights is come!”
Chapter XIX
The Great Experiment
If any evidence had been wanted of how absolutely one and all of us had
come to believe in the spiritual existence of the Egyptian Queen, it
would have been found in the change which in a few minutes had been
effected in us by the statement of voluntary negation made, we all
believed, through Margaret. Despite the coming of the fearful ordeal,
the sense of which it was impossible to forget, we looked and acted as
though a great relief had come to us. We had indeed lived in such a
state of terrorism during the days when Mr. Trelawny was lying in a
trance that the feeling had bitten deeply into us. No one knows till
he has experienced it, what it is to be in constant dread of some
unknown danger which may come at any time and in any form.
The change was manifested in different ways, according to each nature.
Margaret was sad. Doctor Winchester was in high spirits, and keenly
observant; the process of thought which had served as an antidote to
fear, being now relieved from this duty, added to his intellectual
enthusiasm. Mr. Corbeck seemed to be in a retrospective rather than a
speculative mood. I was myself rather inclined to be gay; the relief
from certain anxiety regarding Margaret was sufficient for me for the
time.
As to Mr. Trelawny he seemed less changed than any. Perhaps this was
only natural, as he had had in his mind the intention for so many years
of doing that in which we were tonight engaged, that any event
connected with it could only seem to him as an episode, a step to the
end. His was that commanding nature which looks so to the end of an
undertaking that all else is of secondary importance. Even now, though
his terrible sternness relaxed under the relief from the strain, he
never flagged nor faltered for a moment in his purpose. He asked us
men to come with him; and going to the hall we presently managed to
lower into the cave an oak table, fairly long and not too wide, which
stood against the wall in the hall. This we placed under the strong
cluster of electric lights in the middle of the cave. Margaret looked
on for a while; then all at once her face blanched, and in an agitated
voice she said:
“What are you going to do, Father?”
“To unroll the mummy of the cat! Queen Tera will not need her Familiar
tonight. If she should want him, it might be dangerous to us; so we
shall make him safe. You are not alarmed, dear?”
“Oh no!” she answered quickly. “But I was thinking of my Silvio, and
how I should feel if he had been the mummy that was to be unswathed!”
Mr. Trelawny got knives and scissors ready, and placed the cat on the
table. It was a grim beginning to our work; and it made my heart sink
when I thought of what might happen in that lonely house in the
mid-gloom of the night. The sense of loneliness and isolation from the
world was increased by the moaning of the wind which had now risen
ominously, and by the beating of waves on the rocks below. But we had
too grave a task before us to be swayed by external manifestations:
the unrolling of the mummy began.
There was an incredible number of bandages; and the tearing sound—they
being stuck fast to each other by bitumen and gums and spices—and the
little cloud of red pungent dust that arose, pressed on the senses of
all of us. As the last wrappings came away, we saw the animal seated
before us. He was all hunkered up; his hair and teeth and claws were
complete. The eyes were closed, but the eyelids had not the fierce
look which I expected. The whiskers had been pressed down on the side
of the face by the bandaging; but when the pressure was taken away they
stood out, just as they would have done in life. He was a magnificent
creature, a tiger-cat of great size. But as we looked at him, our
first glance of admiration changed to one of fear, and a shudder ran
through each one of us; for here was a confirmation of the fears which
we had endured.
His mouth and his claws were smeared with the dry, red stains of recent
blood!
Doctor Winchester was the first to recover; blood in itself had small
disturbing quality for him. He had taken out his magnifying-glass and
was examining the stains on the cat’s mouth. Mr. Trelawny breathed
loudly, as though a strain had been taken from him.
“It is as I expected,” he said. “This promises well for what is to
follow.”
By this time Doctor Winchester was looking at the red stained paws.
“As I expected!” he said. “He has seven claws, too!” Opening his
pocket-book, he took out the piece of blotting-paper marked by Silvio’s
claws, on which was also marked in pencil a diagram of the cuts made on
Mr. Trelawny’s wrist. He placed the paper under the mummy cat’s paw.
The marks fitted exactly.
When we had carefully examined the cat, finding, however, nothing
strange about it but its wonderful preservation, Mr. Trelawny lifted it
from the table. Margaret started forward, crying out:
“Take care, Father! Take care! He may injure you!”
“Not now, my dear!” he answered as he moved towards the stairway. Her
face fell. “Where are you going?” she asked in a faint voice.
“To the kitchen,” he answered. “Fire will take away all danger for the
future; even an astral body cannot materialise from ashes!” He signed
to us to follow him. Margaret turned away with a sob. I went to her;
but she motioned me back and whispered:
“No, no! Go with the others. Father may want you. Oh! it seems like
murder! The poor Queen’s pet...!” The tears were dropping from under
the fingers that covered her eyes.
In the kitchen was a fire of wood ready laid. To this Mr. Trelawny
applied a match; in a few seconds the kindling had caught and the
flames leaped. When the fire was solidly ablaze, he threw the body of
the cat into it. For a few seconds it lay a dark mass amidst the
flames, and the room was rank with the smell of burning hair. Then the
dry body caught fire too. The inflammable substances used in embalming
became new fuel, and the flames roared. A few minutes of fierce
conflagration; and then we breathed freely. Queen Tera’s Familiar was
no more!
When we went back to the cave we found Margaret sitting in the dark.
She had switched off the electric light, and only a faint glow of the
evening light came through the narrow openings. Her father went
quickly over to her and put his arms round her in a loving protective
way. She laid her head on his shoulder for a minute and seemed
comforted. Presently she called to me:
“Malcolm, turn up the light!” I carried out her orders, and could see
that, though she had been crying, her eyes were now dry. Her father
saw it too and looked glad. He said to us in a grave tone:
“Now we had better prepare for our great work. It will not do to leave
anything to the last!” Margaret must have had a suspicion of what was
coming, for it was with a sinking voice that she asked:
“What are you going to do now?” Mr. Trelawny too must have had a
suspicion of her feelings, for he answered in a low tone:
“To unroll the mummy of Queen Tera!” She came close to him and said
pleadingly in a whisper:
“Father, you are not going to unswathe her! All you men...! And in
the glare of light!”
“But why not, my dear?”
“Just think, Father, a woman! All alone! In such a way! In such a
place! Oh! it’s cruel, cruel!” She was manifestly much overcome. Her
cheeks were flaming red, and her eyes were full of indignant tears.
Her father saw her distress; and, sympathising with it, began to
comfort her. I was moving off; but he signed to me to stay. I took it
that after the usual manner of men he wanted help on such an occasion,
and man-like wished to throw on someone else the task of dealing with a
woman in indignant distress. However, he began to appeal first to her
reason:
“Not a woman, dear; a mummy! She has been dead nearly five thousand
years!”
“What does that matter? Sex is not a matter of years! A woman is a
woman, if she had been dead five thousand centuries! And you expect
her to arise out of that long sleep! It could not be real death, if
she is to rise out of it! You have led me to believe that she will
come alive when the Coffer is opened!”
“I did, my dear; and I believe it! But if it isn’t death that has been
the matter with her all these years, it is something uncommonly like
it. Then again, just think; it was men who embalmed her. They didn’t
have women’s rights or lady doctors in ancient Egypt, my dear! And
besides,” he went on more freely, seeing that she was accepting his
argument, if not yielding to it, “we men are accustomed to such things.
Corbeck and I have unrolled a hundred mummies; and there were as many
women as men amongst them. Doctor Winchester in his work has had to
deal with women as well of men, till custom has made him think nothing
of sex. Even Ross has in his work as a barrister...” He stopped
suddenly.
“You were going to help too!” she said to me, with an indignant look.
I said nothing; I thought silence was best. Mr. Trelawny went on
hurriedly; I could see that he was glad of interruption, for the part
of his argument concerning a barrister’s work was becoming decidedly
weak:
“My child, you will be with us yourself. Would we do anything which
would hurt or offend you? Come now! be reasonable! We are not at a
pleasure party. We are all grave men, entering gravely on an
experiment which may unfold the wisdom of old times, and enlarge human
knowledge indefinitely; which may put the minds of men on new tracks of
thought and research. An experiment,” as he went on his voice
deepened, “which may be fraught with death to any one of us—to us all!
We know from what has been, that there are, or may be, vast and unknown
dangers ahead of us, of which none in the house today may ever see the
end. Take it, my child, that we are not acting lightly; but with all
the gravity of deeply earnest men! Besides, my dear, whatever feelings
you or any of us may have on the subject, it is necessary for the
success of the experiment to unswathe her. I think that under any
circumstances it would be necessary to remove the wrappings before she
became again a live human being instead of a spiritualised corpse with
an astral body. Were her original intention carried out, and did she
come to new life within her mummy wrappings, it might be to exchange a
coffin for a grave! She would die the death of the buried alive! But
now, when she has voluntarily abandoned for the time her astral power,
there can be no doubt on the subject.”
Margaret’s face cleared. “All right, Father!” she said as she kissed
him. “But oh! it seems a horrible indignity to a Queen, and a woman.”
I was moving away to the staircase when she called me:
“Where are you going?” I came back and took her hand and stroked it as
I answered:
“I shall come back when the unrolling is over!” She looked at me long,
and a faint suggestion of a smile came over her face as she said:
“Perhaps you had better stay, too! It may be useful to you in your
work as a barrister!” She smiled out as she met my eyes: but in an
instant she changed. Her face grew grave, and deadly white. In a far
away voice she said:
“Father is right! It is a terrible occasion; we need all to be serious
over it. But all the same—nay, for that very reason you had better
stay, Malcolm! You may be glad, later on, that you were present
tonight!”
My heart sank down, down, at her words; but I thought it better to say
nothing. Fear was stalking openly enough amongst us already!
By this time Mr. Trelawny, assisted by Mr. Corbeck and Doctor
Winchester, had raised the lid of the ironstone sarcophagus which
contained the mummy of the Queen. It was a large one; but it was none
too big. The mummy was both long and broad and high; and was of such
weight that it was no easy task, even for the four of us, to lift it
out. Under Mr. Trelawny’s direction we laid it out on the table
prepared for it.
Then, and then only, did the full horror of the whole thing burst upon
me! There, in the full glare of the light, the whole material and
sordid side of death seemed staringly real. The outer wrappings, torn
and loosened by rude touch, and with the colour either darkened by dust
or worn light by friction, seemed creased as by rough treatment; the
jagged edges of the wrapping-cloths looked fringed; the painting was
patchy, and the varnish chipped. The coverings were evidently many,
for the bulk was great. But through all, showed that unhidable human
figure, which seems to look more horrible when partially concealed than
at any other time. What was before us was Death, and nothing else.
All the romance and sentiment of fancy had disappeared. The two elder
men, enthusiasts who had often done such work, were not disconcerted;
and Doctor Winchester seemed to hold himself in a business-like
attitude, as if before the operating-table. But I felt low-spirited,
and miserable, and ashamed; and besides I was pained and alarmed by
Margaret’s ghastly pallor.
Then the work began. The unrolling of the mummy cat had prepared me
somewhat for it; but this was so much larger, and so infinitely more
elaborate, that it seemed a different thing. Moreover, in addition to
the ever present sense of death and humanity, there was a feeling of
something finer in all this. The cat had been embalmed with coarser
materials; here, all, when once the outer coverings were removed, was
more delicately done. It seemed as if only the finest gums and spices
had been used in this embalming. But there were the same surroundings,
the same attendant red dust and pungent presence of bitumen; there was
the same sound of rending which marked the tearing away of the
bandages. There were an enormous number of these, and their bulk when
opened was great. As the men unrolled them, I grew more and more
excited. I did not take a part in it myself; Margaret had looked at me
gratefully as I drew back. We clasped hands, and held each other hard.
As the unrolling went on, the wrappings became finer, and the smell
less laden with bitumen, but more pungent. We all, I think, began to
feel it as though it caught or touched us in some special way. This,
however, did not interfere with the work; it went on uninterruptedly.
Some of the inner wrappings bore symbols or pictures. These were done
sometimes wholly in pale green colour, sometimes in many colours; but
always with a prevalence of green. Now and again Mr. Trelawny or Mr.
Corbeck would point out some special drawing before laying the bandage
on the pile behind them, which kept growing to a monstrous height.
At last we knew that the wrappings were coming to an end. Already the
proportions were reduced to those of a normal figure of the manifest
height of the Queen, who was more than average height. And as the end
drew nearer, so Margaret’s pallor grew; and her heart beat more and
more wildly, till her breast heaved in a way that frightened me.
Just as her father was taking away the last of the bandages, he
happened to look up and caught the pained and anxious look of her pale
face. He paused, and taking her concern to be as to the outrage on
modesty, said in a comforting way:
“Do not be uneasy, dear! See! there is nothing to harm you. The Queen
has on a robe.—Ay, and a royal robe, too!”
The wrapping was a wide piece the whole length of the body. It being
removed, a profusely full robe of white linen had appeared, covering
the body from the throat to the feet.
And such linen! We all bent over to look at it.
Margaret lost her concern, in her woman’s interest in fine stuff. Then
the rest of us looked with admiration; for surely such linen was never
seen by the eyes of our age. It was as fine as the finest silk. But
never was spun or woven silk which lay in such gracious folds,
constrict though they were by the close wrappings of the mummy cloth,
and fixed into hardness by the passing of thousands of years.
Round the neck it was delicately embroidered in pure gold with tiny
sprays of sycamore; and round the feet, similarly worked, was an
endless line of lotus plants of unequal height, and with all the
graceful abandon of natural growth.
Across the body, but manifestly not surrounding it, was a girdle of
jewels. A wondrous girdle, which shone and glowed with all the forms
and phases and colours of the sky!
The buckle was a great yellow stone, round of outline, deep and curved,
as if a yielding globe had been pressed down. It shone and glowed, as
though a veritable sun lay within; the rays of its light seemed to
strike out and illumine all round. Flanking it were two great
moonstones of lesser size, whose glowing, beside the glory of the
sunstone, was like the silvery sheen of moonlight.
And then on either side, linked by golden clasps of exquisite shape,
was a line of flaming jewels, of which the colours seemed to glow.
Each of these stones seemed to hold a living star, which twinkled in
every phase of changing light.
Margaret raised her hands in ecstasy. She bent over to examine more
closely; but suddenly drew back and stood fully erect at her grand
height. She seemed to speak with the conviction of absolute knowledge
as she said:
“That is no cerement! It was not meant for the clothing of death! It
is a marriage robe!”
Mr. Trelawny leaned over and touched the linen robe. He lifted a fold
at the neck, and I knew from the quick intake of his breath that
something had surprised him. He lifted yet a little more; and then he,
too, stood back and pointed, saying:
“Margaret is right! That dress is not intended to be worn by the dead!
See! her figure is not robed in it. It is but laid upon her.” He
lifted the zone of jewels and handed it to Margaret. Then with both
hands he raised the ample robe, and laid it across the arms which she
extended in a natural impulse. Things of such beauty were too precious
to be handled with any but the greatest care.
We all stood awed at the beauty of the figure which, save for the face
cloth, now lay completely nude before us. Mr. Trelawny bent over, and
with hands that trembled slightly, raised this linen cloth which was of
the same fineness as the robe. As he stood back and the whole glorious
beauty of the Queen was revealed, I felt a rush of shame sweep over me.
It was not right that we should be there, gazing with irreverent eyes
on such unclad beauty: it was indecent; it was almost sacrilegious!
And yet the white wonder of that beautiful form was something to dream
of. It was not like death at all; it was like a statue carven in ivory
by the hand of a Praxiteles. There was nothing of that horrible
shrinkage which death seems to effect in a moment. There was none of
the wrinkled toughness which seems to be a leading characteristic of
most mummies. There was not the shrunken attenuation of a body dried in
the sand, as I had seen before in museums. All the pores of the body
seemed to have been preserved in some wonderful way. The flesh was
full and round, as in a living person; and the skin was as smooth as
satin. The colour seemed extraordinary. It was like ivory, new ivory;
except where the right arm, with shattered, blood-stained wrist and
missing hand had lain bare to exposure in the sarcophagus for so many
tens of centuries.
With a womanly impulse; with a mouth that drooped with pity, with eyes
that flashed with anger, and cheeks that flamed, Margaret threw over
the body the beautiful robe which lay across her arm. Only the face
was then to be seen. This was more startling even than the body, for
it seemed not dead, but alive. The eyelids were closed; but the long,
black, curling lashes lay over on the cheeks. The nostrils, set in
grave pride, seemed to have the repose which, when it is seen in life,
is greater than the repose of death. The full, red lips, though the
mouth was not open, showed the tiniest white line of pearly teeth
within. Her hair, glorious in quantity and glossy black as the raven’s
wing, was piled in great masses over the white forehead, on which a few
curling tresses strayed like tendrils. I was amazed at the likeness to
Margaret, though I had had my mind prepared for this by Mr. Corbeck’s
quotation of her father’s statement. This woman—I could not think of
her as a mummy or a corpse—was the image of Margaret as my eyes had
first lit on her. The likeness was increased by the jewelled ornament
which she wore in her hair, the “Disk and Plumes”, such as Margaret,
too, had worn. It, too, was a glorious jewel; one noble pearl of
moonlight lustre, flanked by carven pieces of moonstone.
Mr. Trelawny was overcome as he looked. He quite broke down; and when
Margaret flew to him and held him close in her arms and comforted him,
I heard him murmur brokenly:
“It looks as if you were dead, my child!”
There was a long silence. I could hear without the roar of the wind,
which was now risen to a tempest, and the furious dashing of the waves
far below. Mr. Trelawny’s voice broke the spell:
“Later on we must try and find out the process of embalming. It is not
like any that I know. There does not seem to have been any opening cut
for the withdrawing of the viscera and organs, which apparently remain
intact within the body. Then, again, there is no moisture in the
flesh; but its place is supplied with something else, as though wax or
stearine had been conveyed into the veins by some subtle process. I
wonder could it be possible that at that time they could have used
paraffin. It might have been, by some process that we know not, pumped
into the veins, where it hardened!”
Margaret, having thrown a white sheet over the Queen’s body, asked us
to bring it to her own room, where we laid it on her bed. Then she
sent us away, saying:
“Leave her alone with me. There are still many hours to pass, and I do
not like to leave her lying there, all stark in the glare of light.
This may be the Bridal she prepared for—the Bridal of Death; and at
least she shall wear her pretty robes.”
When presently she brought me back to her room, the dead Queen was
dressed in the robe of fine linen with the embroidery of gold; and all
her beautiful jewels were in place. Candles were lit around her, and
white flowers lay upon her breast.
Hand in hand we stood looking at her for a while. Then with a sigh,
Margaret covered her with one of her own snowy sheets. She turned
away; and after softly closing the door of the room, went back with me
to the others who had now come into the dining-room. Here we all began
to talk over the things that had been, and that were to be.
Now and again I could feel that one or other of us was forcing
conversation, as if we were not sure of ourselves. The long wait was
beginning to tell on our nerves. It was apparent to me that Mr.
Trelawny had suffered in that strange trance more than we suspected, or
than he cared to show. True, his will and his determination were as
strong as ever; but the purely physical side of him had been weakened
somewhat. It was indeed only natural that it should be. No man can go
through a period of four days of absolute negation of life without
being weakened by it somehow.
As the hours crept by, the time passed more and more slowly. The other
men seemed to get unconsciously a little drowsy. I wondered if in the
case of Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck, who had already been under the
hypnotic influence of the Queen, the same dormancy was manifesting
itself. Doctor Winchester had periods of distraction which grew longer
and more frequent as the time wore on.
As to Margaret, the suspense told on her exceedingly, as might have
been expected in the case of a woman. She grew paler and paler still;
till at last about midnight, I began to be seriously alarmed about her.
I got her to come into the library with me, and tried to make her lie
down on a sofa for a little while. As Mr. Trelawny had decided that
the experiment was to be made exactly at the seventh hour after sunset,
it would be as nearly as possible three o’clock in the morning when the
great trial should be made. Even allowing a whole hour for the final
preparations, we had still two hours of waiting to go through, and I
promised faithfully to watch her and to awake her at any time she might
name. She would not hear of it, however. She thanked me sweetly and
smiled at me as she did so; but she assured me that she was not sleepy,
and that she was quite able to bear up. That it was only the suspense
and excitement of waiting that made her pale. I agreed perforce; but I
kept her talking of many things in the library for more than an hour;
so that at last, when she insisted on going back to her father’s room I
felt that I had at least done something to help her pass the time.
We found the three men sitting patiently in silence. With manlike
fortitude they were content to be still when they felt they had done
all in their power. And so we waited.
The striking of two o’clock seemed to freshen us all up. Whatever
shadows had been settling over us during the long hours preceding
seemed to lift at once; and we went about our separate duties alert and
with alacrity. We looked first to the windows to see that they were
closed, and we got ready our respirators to put them on when the time
should be close at hand. We had from the first arranged to use them
for we did not know whether some noxious fume might not come from the
magic coffer when it should be opened. Somehow, it never seemed to
occur to any of us that there was any doubt as to its opening.
Then, under Margaret’s guidance, we carried the mummied body of Queen
Tera from her room into her father’s, and laid it on a couch. We put
the sheet lightly over it, so that if she should wake she could at once
slip from under it. The severed hand was placed in its true position
on her breast, and under it the Jewel of Seven Stars which Mr. Trelawny
had taken from the great safe. It seemed to flash and blaze as he put
it in its place.
It was a strange sight, and a strange experience. The group of grave
silent men carried the white still figure, which looked like an ivory
statue when through our moving the sheet fell back, away from the
lighted candles and the white flowers. We placed it on the couch in
that other room, where the blaze of the electric lights shone on the
great sarcophagus fixed in the middle of the room ready for the final
experiment, the great experiment consequent on the researches during a
lifetime of these two travelled scholars. Again, the startling
likeness between Margaret and the mummy, intensified by her own
extraordinary pallor, heightened the strangeness of it all. When all
was finally fixed three-quarters of an hour had gone, for we were
deliberate in all our doings. Margaret beckoned me, and I went out
with her to bring in Silvio. He came to her purring. She took him up
and handed him to me; and then did a thing which moved me strangely and
brought home to me keenly the desperate nature of the enterprise on
which we were embarked. One by one, she blew out the candles carefully
and placed them back in their usual places. When she had finished she
said to me:
“They are done with now. Whatever comes—life or death—there will be
no purpose in their using now.” Then taking Silvio into her arms, and
pressing him close to her bosom where he purred loudly, we went back to
the room. I closed the door carefully behind me, feeling as I did so a
strange thrill as of finality. There was to be no going back now.
Then we put on our respirators, and took our places as had been
arranged. I was to stand by the taps of the electric lights beside the
door, ready to turn them off or on as Mr. Trelawny should direct.
Doctor Winchester was to stand behind the couch so that he should not
be between the mummy and the sarcophagus; he was to watch carefully
what should take place with regard to the Queen. Margaret was to be
beside him; she held Silvio ready to place him upon the couch or beside
it when she might think right. Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck were to
attend to the lighting of the lamps. When the hands of the clock were
close to the hour, they stood ready with their linstocks.
The striking of the silver bell of the clock seemed to smite on our
hearts like a knell of doom. One! Two! Three!
Before the third stroke the wicks of the lamps had caught, and I had
turned out the electric light. In the dimness of the struggling lamps,
and after the bright glow of the electric light, the room and all
within it took weird shapes, and all seemed in an instant to change.
We waited with our hearts beating. I know mine did, and I fancied I
could hear the pulsation of the others.
The seconds seemed to pass with leaden wings. It were as though all
the world were standing still. The figures of the others stood out
dimly, Margaret’s white dress alone showing clearly in the gloom. The
thick respirators which we all wore added to the strange appearance.
The thin light of the lamps showed Mr. Trelawny’s square jaw and strong
mouth and the brown shaven face of Mr. Corbeck. Their eyes seemed to
glare in the light. Across the room Doctor Winchester’s eyes twinkled
like stars, and Margaret’s blazed like black suns. Silvio’s eyes were
like emeralds.
Would the lamps never burn up!
It was only a few seconds in all till they did blaze up. A slow,
steady light, growing more and more bright, and changing in colour from
blue to crystal white. So they stayed for a couple of minutes without
change in the coffer; till at last there began to appear all over it a
delicate glow. This grew and grew, till it became like a blazing
jewel, and then like a living thing whose essence of life was light.
We waited and waited, our hearts seeming to stand still.
All at once there was a sound like a tiny muffled explosion and the
cover lifted right up on a level plane a few inches; there was no
mistaking anything now, for the whole room was full of a blaze of
light. Then the cover, staying fast at one side rose slowly up on the
other, as though yielding to some pressure of balance. The coffer
still continued to glow; from it began to steal a faint greenish smoke.
I could not smell it fully on account of the respirator; but, even
through that, I was conscious of a strange pungent odour. Then this
smoke began to grow thicker, and to roll out in volumes of ever
increasing density till the whole room began to get obscure. I had a
terrible desire to rush over to Margaret, whom I saw through the smoke
still standing erect behind the couch. Then, as I looked, I saw Doctor
Winchester sink down. He was not unconscious; for he waved his hand
back and forward, as though to forbid any one to come to him. At this
time the figures of Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck were becoming
indistinct in the smoke which rolled round them in thick billowy
clouds. Finally I lost sight of them altogether. The coffer still
continued to glow; but the lamps began to grow dim. At first I thought
that their light was being overpowered by the thick black smoke; but
presently I saw that they were, one by one, burning out. They must
have burned quickly to produce such fierce and vivid flames.
I waited and waited, expecting every instant to hear the command to
turn up the light; but none came. I waited still, and looked with
harrowing intensity at the rolling billows of smoke still pouring out
of the glowing casket, whilst the lamps sank down and went out one by
one.
Finally there was but one lamp alight, and that was dimly blue and
flickering. The only effective light in the room was from the glowing
casket. I kept my eyes fixed toward Margaret; it was for her now that
all my anxiety was claimed. I could just see her white frock beyond
the still white shrouded figure on the couch. Silvio was troubled; his
piteous mewing was the only sound in the room. Deeper and denser grew
the black mist and its pungency began to assail my nostrils as well as
my eyes. Now the volume of smoke coming from the coffer seemed to
lessen, and the smoke itself to be less dense. Across the room I saw
something white move where the couch was. There were several
movements. I could just catch the quick glint of white through the
dense smoke in the fading light; for now the glow of the coffer began
quickly to subside. I could still hear Silvio, but his mewing came
from close under; a moment later I could feel him piteously crouching
on my foot.
Then the last spark of light disappeared, and through the Egyptian
darkness I could see the faint line of white around the window blinds.
I felt that the time had come to speak; so I pulled off my respirator
and called out:
“Shall I turn up the light?” There was no answer; so before the thick
smoke choked me, I called again but more loudly:
“Mr. Trelawny, shall I turn up the light?” He did not answer; but from
across the room I heard Margaret’s voice, sounding as sweet and clear
as a bell:
“Yes, Malcolm!” I turned the tap and the lamps flashed out. But they
were only dim points of light in the midst of that murky ball of smoke.
In that thick atmosphere there was little possibility of illumination.
I ran across to Margaret, guided by her white dress, and caught hold of
her and held her hand. She recognised my anxiety and said at once:
“I am all right.”
“Thank God!” I said. “How are the others? Quick, let us open all the
windows and get rid of this smoke!” To my surprise, she answered in a
sleepy way:
“They will be all right. They won’t get any harm.” I did not stop to
inquire how or on what ground she formed such an opinion, but threw up
the lower sashes of all the windows, and pulled down the upper. Then I
threw open the door.
A few seconds made a perceptible change as the thick, black smoke began
to roll out of the windows. Then the lights began to grow into
strength and I could see the room. All the men were overcome. Beside
the couch Doctor Winchester lay on his back as though he had sunk down
and rolled over; and on the farther side of the sarcophagus, where they
had stood, lay Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck. It was a relief to me to
see that, though they were unconscious, all three were breathing
heavily as though in a stupor. Margaret still stood behind the couch.
She seemed at first to be in a partially dazed condition; but every
instant appeared to get more command of herself. She stepped forward
and helped me to raise her father and drag him close to a window.
Together we placed the others similarly, and she flew down to the
dining-room and returned with a decanter of brandy. This we proceeded
to administer to them all in turn. It was not many minutes after we
had opened the windows when all three were struggling back to
consciousness. During this time my entire thoughts and efforts had
been concentrated on their restoration; but now that this strain was
off, I looked round the room to see what had been the effect of the
experiment. The thick smoke had nearly cleared away; but the room was
still misty and was full of a strange pungent acrid odour.
The great sarcophagus was just as it had been. The coffer was open,
and in it, scattered through certain divisions or partitions wrought in
its own substance, was a scattering of black ashes. Over all,
sarcophagus, coffer and, indeed, all in the room, was a sort of black
film of greasy soot. I went over to the couch. The white sheet still
lay over part of it; but it had been thrown back, as might be when one
is stepping out of bed.
But there was no sign of Queen Tera! I took Margaret by the hand and
led her over. She reluctantly left her father to whom she was
administering, but she came docilely enough. I whispered to her as I
held her hand:
“What has become of the Queen? Tell me! You were close at hand, and
must have seen if anything happened!” She answered me very softly:
“There was nothing that I could see. Until the smoke grew too dense I
kept my eyes on the couch, but there was no change. Then, when all
grew so dark that I could not see, I thought I heard a movement close
to me. It might have been Doctor Winchester who had sunk down overcome;
but I could not be sure. I thought that it might be the Queen waking,
so I put down poor Silvio. I did not see what became of him; but I
felt as if he had deserted me when I heard him mewing over by the door.
I hope he is not offended with me!” As if in answer, Silvio came
running into the room and reared himself against her dress, pulling it
as though clamouring to be taken up. She stooped down and took him up
and began to pet and comfort him.
I went over and examined the couch and all around it most carefully.
When Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck recovered sufficiently, which they
did quickly, though Doctor Winchester took longer to come round, we
went over it afresh. But all we could find was a sort of ridge of
impalpable dust, which gave out a strange dead odour. On the couch lay
the jewel of the disk and plumes which the Queen had worn in her hair,
and the Star Jewel which had words to command the Gods.
Other than this we never got clue to what had happened. There was just
one thing which confirmed our idea of the physical annihilation of the
mummy. In the sarcophagus in the hall, where we had placed the mummy
of the cat, was a small patch of similar dust.
* * * * *
In the autumn Margaret and I were married. On the occasion she wore
the mummy robe and zone and the jewel which Queen Tera had worn in her
hair. On her breast, set in a ring of gold make like a twisted lotus
stalk, she wore the strange Jewel of Seven Stars which held words to
command the God of all the worlds. At the marriage the sunlight
streaming through the chancel windows fell on it, and it seemed to glow
like a living thing.
The graven words may have been of efficacy; for Margaret holds to them,
and there is no other life in all the world so happy as my own.
We often think of the great Queen, and we talk of her freely. Once,
when I said with a sigh that I was sorry she could not have waked into
a new life in a new world, my wife, putting both her hands in mine and
looking into my eyes with that far-away eloquent dreamy look which
sometimes comes into her own, said lovingly:
“Do not grieve for her! Who knows, but she may have found the joy she
sought? Love and patience are all that make for happiness in this
world; or in the world of the past or of the future; of the living or
the dead. She dreamed her dream; and that is all that any of us can
ask!”
THE END
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