Kitabı oku: «The Bond of Black», sayfa 4
“You know what such refusal means?” he said in a threatening tone.
“Yes – death. Well, I do not fear it. Within me a new love has been awakened. I now love for the first time in all my life.”
“Yet you have already said that in your heart love knows no place.”
“I tell you I love him!” she cried. “He shall not suffer!”
She was evidently referring to me. I held my breath, eager to catch every syllable. Perhaps this man was urging her to kill me!
“The power you possess to work evil is irresistible,” he said briefly.
“Alas! I know it,” she answered. “Those with whom I am in daily contact little dream of who or what I really am, or they would shun me as they would shun a leper.”
“Why should they?” her bony-faced companion asked. “Evil has been dominant in the world for all ages, and the Prince of Darkness has still the ascendency!”
“But is not mine the blackest – the foulest of all crimes?” she shuddered.
“Only one touch,” he urged. “Your hand is fatal.”
“Ah! why do you taunt me thus?” she cried. “Is it not enough that I should be degraded and outcast, overburdened by sin for which I cannot hope for forgiveness, and that my position should be irretrievably lost? Is it not enough that in me all the evils of the world are concentrated, and that I am shut out from happiness for ever?”
“You had your choice,” the man answered. “It is true that you are one unique among the millions of your fellow-creatures. The blackness of your heart is concealed by the purity of your face, and your real being so disguised that none suspect. If your real identity were discovered some prophets would declare that the end of the world was near.” And he laughed coarsely.
“Yes, yes,” she cried quickly. “But do not taunt me. I know too well the far-reaching influence which emanates from me, and the fatal effect of my touch upon all that is held sacred by those who believe in the Supreme. I have striven to do good, and have only wrought evil; I have been charitable, and my efforts have only resulted in bringing disaster upon the needy. Those whom I thought to benefit have rewarded me by curses, because all that I do is the work of the wicked. I have struggled to lead a double life, and have failed. I have tried to counterbalance the evil I am compelled to achieve by doing good works such as might endear me in the eyes of those who believe in the Supreme; but all, alas, has been in vain – all futile. I am now convinced that in my heart there can remain no good feeling, no womanly love, no charitableness towards my fellows.”
“It is only what might be expected,” he said in a dry tone. “Your great beauty is given you to cover your heart. You are soulless.”
“Yes,” she cried. “That is true – only too true. I have no soul, no conscience, no regret!”
She spoke in a hard tone, as though utterly wearied of life. Her voice had lost its music, and her speech was of one in blank despair.
“If you are without regret, then what I have suggested is the more easy of accomplishment,” he said, in a low intense voice. “Remember that no power on earth can withstand your influence.”
“I will not!” she cried, starting up in fierce determination. “Through your evil counsel I have already wrought that which I shall ever regret,” she went on. “I have placed myself beneath the thraldom irrevocably, and have brought upon those who admired me a doom which has destroyed their happiness and wrecked their lives. I have now a lover – a man who, because of my good looks, is infatuated, as others have been.”
“It has been decided!” her companion said, with a calmness that was appalling.
“But I love him!” she declared. “I myself will be his protector!”
“You intend to defy the resolution which has been arrived at?”
“I have no intention of committing further sin,” she said. “I may be an evil-doer and one of the accursed, but none shall say that I deliberately acted in such manner towards one who became fascinated by my beauty. Rather would I disfigure my face by burns or acid in order to render myself ugly and unattractive.”
“No woman would do that of her own free will,” he laughed.
“No ordinary woman could,” she said. “But recollect who I am. Reflect upon my far-reaching influence for evil – an influence which is felt throughout this kingdom. I tell you that rather than continue I would kill myself.”
The man laughed aloud.
“I admit all that,” he said. “If the people of London knew the truth they would, I believe, tear you limb from limb. But they are ignorant; therefore you are but an ordinary girl of more than extraordinary beauty.”
“Which means that my beauty will always ruin those upon whom I may bestow a glance. As my touch is fatal to certain objects of adoration, so is my love-look fatal to those who admire me. No,” she added, after a brief pause, “I have determined to act as this man’s protector, instead of his destroyer.”
“You are relenting,” he observed with sarcasm. “Soon you will proclaim your repentance.”
“No!” she cried fiercely. “I shall never repent, because of you. To you I owe the major part of this evil of which I am possessed, and to you – ”
“It was your choice,” he interrupted, with a brutal laugh. “You accepted the challenge, and gave your soul to the Evil One. Why blame me?”
“At your instigation,” she went on in fierce anger. “To the world I am a pure, ingenuous girl; yet beneath this veil of virtue and purity I work these veritable miracles of evil, possessing a power which ofttimes appals me, an irresistible influence that nothing can withstand. I am unique in the world as possessing this superhuman faculty of being able to impart evil to those with whom I come into contact, be they pure as angels. You taunt me,” she added. “But some day you will crave mercy of me, and then I will show you none – none! I will be hard-hearted as flint – as relentless as you are to-night!”
“You wish to break away from the compact, but you shall not,” the man said firmly, between his teeth. “If you prefer defiance, well and good. But I merely point out that obedience is best.”
She paused. She was, I surmised, deep in reflection.
“Very well,” at last she answered, in a hoarse, unnatural voice. “Now that I have sunk so low I suppose it is impossible to sink further. But recollect that this same influence that I will exert over this, my latest victim, I will one day exert over you. I warn you. One day ere long you will crave pity at my feet.”
“Never from you,” the man said, with a short defiant laugh.
“I have only prophesied once before,” she answered meaningly. “Whether or no that came true you are well aware. In this world of London I am, as yet, unknown, but when the true facts are known this great metropolis will stand aghast in terror. Our positions will then be reversed. You will be the victim, and I triumphant.”
“Proceed,” he laughed. “All this is intensely interesting.”
There was a pause, longer than before.
“Then you declare that I must do this thing?” she asked, in a strange, hollow voice, the voice of one dismayed.
“Yes,” her companion answered; “you must – swiftly and secretly. It is imperative.”
Without further word she rose slowly to her feet, and staggered away down the gravelled path, while her companion, hesitating for a few seconds, rose with a muttered imprecation and strode along after her. A moment later they were out of hearing.
The remainder of their extraordinary conversation was lost to me.
One suspicion alone possessed me. That thin, shabby man had sentenced me to death.
Chapter Six
Two Mysteries
The discovery I had accidentally made was the reverse of reassuring.
Aline had admitted herself possessed of some mysterious power which caused sacred objects to consume, the power of evil which she feared would also fall upon me. I recollected how when she had visited me she had urged me to hate her rather than love her, and I now discerned the reason. She had feared lest her subtle influence upon me should be fatal.
Through the days which passed her strange words rang ever through my ears. She was a woman unique in all the world; a woman who, living in teeming London, was endowed with faculties of abnormal proportions, and possessed an unearthly power utterly unknown to modern science. I thought of the fusing of my crucifix and my Madonna, and shuddered. Her beauty was amazing, but she was a veritable temptress, a deistical daughter of Apollyon.
My first feeling after leaving the Park was one of repugnance; yet on reflection I found myself overcome by fascination, still bewitched by her beautiful face, and eager to meet her once again. Surely nothing maleficent could remain hidden beneath such outward innocence?
Thus I waited long and wearily for her coming, remaining in from day to day, or whenever I went out leaving word with Simes as to where I could be found if she called. In my turbulent state of mind I imagined many strange things.
The more I reflected, the more complicated became the enigma.
At length one morning Simes opened my door suddenly and ushered her in. I flung down my newspaper and rose to meet her, but next instant drew back in surprise and alarm.
She was dressed in an elegant costume of pale grey trimmed with white lace and heavy embroidery of pearls, a dress which could only have been turned out by a first-class house, for it bore a Parisian chic, being modelled in latest style. Her tiny shoes and gloves were of grey suede to match the dress, and beneath her big black hat with ostrich feathers her face looked sweet and winning as a child’s.
But the flush of health had faded. Her cheeks were just as beautiful as they had ever been, but the bloom of youth had died from them, and her complexion was a yellowish brown, like that of a woman of sixty. The light in her blue eyes had faded; they were now dull and leaden.
“At last!” I cried happily. “I am so glad you’ve come, for I’ve waited so long, Aline.”
She allowed her hand to rest in mine, then sank wearily into my armchair without a word.
“You are not well,” I cried, in concern. “What ails you?”
“Nothing!” she gasped. “It is nothing. In a few minutes it will pass.” Then she added, as if on second thought, “Perhaps it was your stairs. The lift is out of order.” And she rested her head upon the back of the chair and looked up at me with pitying eyes.
All life had apparently gone out of her beautiful face. That vivacity that had attracted me had given place to a deep, thoughtful look, as though she were in momentary fear. Her face seemed blanched to the lips.
“May I get you something?” I asked. “Let me give you some brandy,” and taking the bottle from the tantalus I gave her a liqueur-glass full of cognac, which she swallowed at one gulp.
“Why have you not called before?” I inquired, when, at length, she grew less agitated. “I have expected you daily for so long.”
“I’ve been away in the country,” she answered. “But do not think that I have not remembered you.”
“Nearly three weeks have gone by since you were last here,” I said. “It is too cruel of you not to allow me to write to you.”
“No,” she said decisively, “you must not write. You have already promised me, and I know you will not break any compact you make.”
“But I love you, Aline,” I whispered, bending forward to her.
“Yes, alas! I know that,” she responded, rousing herself. “Yet, why carry this folly further?”
“Folly you call it?” I exclaimed regretfully. “Because you cannot love me in return you tell me I am foolish. Since you have been absent I have examined my own heart, and I swear that my love is more than mere admiration. I think of no one in the world besides yourself.”
“No, no,” she said uneasily. “There is some other woman whom you could love far better, a woman who would make you a true and faithful wife.”
“But I can love no one else.”
“Try,” she answered, looking me straight in the face. “Before we met you loved one who reciprocated your affection.”
“Who?”
“You wish me to tell you?” she replied in a hard, bitter tone. “Surely you cannot affect ignorance that you are loved by Muriel Moore?”
“Muriel!” I gasped in amazement. “How did you know?”
She smiled.
“There is but little that escapes me,” she answered. “You loved each other before our romantic meeting, and I, the woman who must necessarily bring evil upon you, have come to separate you. Yet you calmly stand by and invite me to wreck your life! Ah! you cannot know who I am, or you would cast me from your thoughts for over.”
“Then who are you?” I blurted forth, in blank amazement.
“I have already told you. You have, of your own free will, united yourself with me by a declaration of love, and the consequences are therefore upon your own head.”
“Cannot you love like other women?” I demanded. “Have you no heart, no feeling, no soul?”
“No,” she sighed. “Love is forbidden me. Hatred takes its place; a fierce, deadly hatred, in which vengeance is untempered by justice, and fatality is always inevitable. Now that I confess, will you not cast me aside? I have come here to you to urge you to do this ere it is too late.”
“You speak so strangely that I’m bewildered,” I declared. “I have told you of my love, and will not relinquish you.”
“But for the sake of the woman who loves you. She will break her heart.”
“Muriel does not love me,” I answered. “I have spoken no word of affection to her. We were friends – that is all.”
“Reflect! Is it possible for a girl in such a position as Muriel Moore to be your friend without loving you! You are wealthy, she is poor. You give her dinners with champagne at the gayest restaurants; you take her to stalls at theatres, or to a box at the Alhambra; you invite her to these rooms, where she drinks tea, and plays your piano; and it is all so different from her humdrum life at Madame Gabrielle’s. Place yourself for one moment in her position, with a salary of ten shillings a-week and dresses provided by the establishment, leading a life of wearying monotony from nine in the morning till seven at night, trying on bonnets, and persuading ignorant, inartistic women to buy your wares. Would you not be flattered, nay, dazzled, by all these attentions which you show her? Would you not become convinced that your admirer loved you if he troubled himself so much about you?”
Her argument was plain and forcible. I had never regarded the matter in that light.
“Really, Aline,” I said, “I’m beginning to think that you are possessed of some power that is supernatural.”
She laughed – a laugh that sounded strangely hollow.
“I tell you this – I argue with you for your own sake, to save you from the danger which now encompasses you. I would be your protector because you trust me so implicitly, only that is impossible.”
In an instant I recollected her declaration to her bony-faced companion in the Park. Had she actually resolved to kill me?
“Why should I relinquish you in favour of one for whom I have no affection?” I argued.
“Why should you kiss the hand that must smite you?” she asked.
Her lips were bloodless; her face of ashen pallor.
“You are not yourself to-day,” I said. “It is not usual for a woman who is loved to speak as you speak. The love of a man is usually flattering to a woman.”
“I have come to save you, and have spoken plainly.”
“What, then, have I done that I deserve punishment?” I inquired in breathless eagerness.
“You love me.”
“Surely the simple offence of being your lover is not punishable by death?”
“Alas! it is,” she answered hoarsely. “Compelled as I am to preserve my secret, I cannot explain to you. Yet, if I could, the facts would prove so astounding that you would refuse to believe them. Only the graves of those who have loved me – some of them nameless – are sufficient proof of the fatality I bring upon those whom my beauty entrances.”
She raised her head, and her eyes encountered a photograph standing on a table in the window. It was Roddy’s.
“See there!” she said, starting, raising her hand and pointing to it. “Like yourself, that man loved me, and has paid the penalty. He died abroad.”
“No,” I replied quickly. “You are mistaken. That picture is the portrait of a friend; and he’s certainly not dead, for he was here smoking with me last night.”
“Not dead!” she cried, starting up and crossing to it. “Why, he died at Monte Carlo. He committed suicide after losing all he had.”
“No,” I replied, rather amused. “That is the Honourable Roderick Morgan, member of Parliament.”
“Yes, that was the name,” she said aloud to herself. “Roddy Morgan they called him. He lost seven thousand pounds in one day at roulette.”
“He has never to my knowledge been to Monte Carlo,” I observed, standing beside her.
“You’ve not always accompanied him everywhere he has been, I presume?” she said.
“No, but had he been to Monte Carlo he would certainly have told me.”
“Men do not care to speak of losses when they are as absurdly reckless as he was.”
The idea that Roddy had committed suicide at Monte Carlo seemed utterly absurd, nevertheless in order to convince her that he was still very much alive I picked up the paper and pointed to his name in the Parliamentary debate of the previous night.
“It is strange, very strange!” she said, reflecting. “I was in the Rooms when he shot himself. While sitting at one of the tables I saw them carry him away dead.”
“You must have made some mistake,” I suggested.
“I was playing at the same table, and he continued to love me, although I had warned him of the consequences, as I have now warned you. He lost and lost. Each time he played he lost, till every farthing he possessed had gone. Then I turned away, but ere I had left the room there was the sound of a pistol-shot, and he fell across the table dead.”
She had the photograph in her hand, and bent to the light, examining it closely.
“It cannot be the same man,” I said.
“Yes, it is,” she responded. “There can be no mistake, for the ring which secures his cravat is mine. I gave it to him.”
I looked, and there sure enough was an antique ring of curious pattern, through which his soft scarf was threaded.
“It is Etruscan,” she said. “I picked it up in a shop in Bologna.”
I glanced quickly at her. Her face was that of a girl of twenty; yet her speech was that of a woman of the world who had travelled and become utterly weary. The more I saw of her the more puzzled I became.
“Then if the man you knew was the original of that photograph he certainly is not dead. If you wish, I will send my man for him.”
“Ah, no!” she cried, putting up her hand in quick alarm. “He has suffered enough – I have suffered enough. No, no; we must not meet – we cannot. I tell you he is dead – and his body lies unmarked in the suicides’ cemetery at Monte Carlo.”
I shrugged my shoulders, declaring that my statement should be sufficient to convince her.
Quickly, however, she turned to me, and with her gloved hand upon my arm, besought me to release her.
“Hate me!” she implored. “Go to your friend, if he really is alive as you declare, and ask of him my character – who and what I am.”
“I shall never hate you – I cannot!” I declared, bending again towards her and seeking her hand, but she instantly withdrew it, looking into my face with an expression of annoyance.
“You disbelieve me!” she said.
“All that you say is so bewildering that I know not what to believe,” I answered.
“In this room you have, I suppose, discovered certain objects reduced to ashes?” she asked in a hoarse tone.
“Yes, I have,” I answered breathlessly.
“Then let them be sufficient to illustrate the influence of evil which lies within me,” she answered, and after a pause suddenly added: “I came here to fulfil that which the irresistible power has decreed; but I will leave you to reflect. If you have regard for me, then hate me. Transfer your affections to Muriel Moore, the woman who really loves you; the woman who weeps because you refrain from caressing her; the woman who is wearing out her life because of you.”
She held her breath, her lips trembled and her hands quivered, as though the effort of speaking had been too great.
“I love you!” I cried. “I cannot forget you, Aline. I adore you!”
“No, no!” she said, holding up both her hands. “Enough! I only pray that the evil I dread may not befall you. Farewell!” and bowing low she turned, and swept out of the room, leaving me alone, bewildered, dumbfounded.
The words she had uttered were completely confounding. She was apparently possessed of attainments which were supernatural; indeed, she seemed to me as a visitant from the Unknown, so strangely had she spoken; so mysterious had been her allegations regarding Roddy.
For nearly an hour I remained deep in thought, plunged in abject despair. Aline the beautiful had left me, urging me to transfer my affections. The situation was extraordinary. She had, it seemed, gone out of my life for ever.
Suddenly I roused myself. Her extraordinary statement that Roddy had committed suicide at Monte Carlo oppressed me. If she really knew Muriel’s innermost thoughts, then it was quite feasible that she knew more of my friend than I had imagined. Besides, had he not left the theatre hurriedly on catching sight of her? There was a mystery which should be elucidated. Therefore I assumed my hat and coat and went round to Roddy’s chambers in Dover Street, Piccadilly, to endeavour to obtain some explanation of her amazing statement.
He lived in one of those smoke-blackened, old-fashioned houses with deep areas, residences which were occupied by families fifty years ago, but now mostly let out as suites of chambers. The front door with its inner swing-door was, as usual, open, and I passed through and up the stairs to the second floor, where upon the door was a small brass plate bearing my friend’s name.
The door was ajar, and pushing it open I walked in, exclaiming cheerily as was my habit —
“Anybody at home?”
There was no response. Roddy was out, and his man had evidently gone downstairs to obtain something. I walked straight on into the sitting-room, a good-sized, comfortable apartment, which smelt eternally of cigars, for its owner was an inveterate smoker; but as I entered I was surprised to discover Roddy in his old velvet lounge-coat, sitting alone in his chair beside the fire.
“Morning, old chap!” I cried. But he was asleep and did not move.
I crossed the room and shook him by the shoulder to awaken him, at the same moment looking into his face.
It was unusually pale.
In an instant a terrible thought flashed across my mind, and I bent eagerly towards him. He was not asleep, for his eyes were still wide-open, although his chin had sunk upon his breast.
I placed my hand quickly upon his heart, but could detect no movement. I touched his cheek. It was still warm. But his eyes told the appalling truth. They were bloodshot, stony, discoloured, and already glazing. The hideous, astounding fact could not be disguised.
Roddy Morgan was dead!
