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 Supernatural & Occult Fiction

 This is a volume in the Arno Press collection

 Supernatural & Occult Fiction

 Advisory Editors

 R. Reginald Douglas Menville

 See last pages of this volume for a complete list of titles. 

 THE MUMMY AND MISS NITOCRIS

 _A PHANTASY OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION_

 GEORGE GRIFFITH

 ARNO PRESS A New York Times Company 1976

 Editorial Supervision: MARIE STARECK

 Reprint Edition 1976 by Arno Press Inc. 

 Reprinted from a copy in The Library of the University of California, Riverside

 SUPERNATURAL AND OCCULT FICTION

 ISBN for complete set: O-405-08107-3

 See last pages of this volume for titles. 

 Manufactured in the United States of America

 ~Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data~ Griffith, George Chetwynd. The mummy and Miss Nitocris. 

 (Supernatural and occult fiction) Reprint of the 1906? ed. Published by T. W. Laurie, London. 

 I. Title. II. Series. PZ3. G88Mu7 [PR4728. 083] 823'. 8 75-46273 ISBN 0-405-08131-6

 THE MUMMY AND MISS NITOCRIS

 [Illustration]

 _A PHANTASY OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION_

 BY

 GEORGE GRIFFITH

 AUTHOR OF "THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION, " "A HONEYMOON IN SPACE, " "AN ISLAND LOVE STORY, " "A MAYFAIR MAGICIAN, " ETC. , ETC. 

 T. WERNER LAURIE CLIFFORD'S INN, FLEET STREET LONDON

FOREWORD

Certain it should be that, beyond and about this World of Length, andBreadth, and Thickness, there is another World, or State of Existence, consisting of these and another dimension of which only those beings whoare privileged to enter or dwell in it can have any conception. Now, ifthis postulate be granted, it follows that a dweller in this State wouldbe freed from those conditions of Time and Space which bind those beingswho are confined within the limits of Tri-Dimensional Space, orExistence. For example, he would be able to make himself visible orinvisible to us at will by entering into or withdrawing himself fromthis State, and returning into that of Four Dimensions, whither our eyescould not follow him--even though he might be close to us in our senseof nearness. Moreover, he could be in two or more places at once, andcause two bodies to occupy the same space--which to us isinconceivable. Stranger still, he might be both alive and dead at thesame time--since Past, Present, and Future would be all one to him; theworld without beginning or end . .. --From the "GeometricalPossibilities, " of Abd'el Kasir, of Cordoba, circa. 1050 A. D. 

CONTENTS

 CHAP. PAGE

 I. INTRODUCES THE MUMMY 1

 II. BACK TO THE PAST 15

 III. THE DEATH-BRIDAL OF NITOCRIS 27

 IV. THIEVES IN THE NIGHT 36

 V. ACROSS THE THRESHOLD 47

 VI. THE LAW OF SELECTION 60

 VII. MOSTLY POSSIBILITIES 70

 VIII. MISS BRENDA ARRIVES, AND PHADRIG THE EGYPTIAN PROPHESIES 79

 IX. "THE WILDERNESS, " WIMBLEDON COMMON 95

 X. THE STAGE FILLS 101

 XI. THE MARVELS OF PHADRIG 115

 XII. CONTROVERSY AND CONFIDENCES 138

 XIII. OVER THE TEA AND THE TOAST 157

 XIV. "SUPPOSED IMPOSSIBILITIES" 164

 XV. THE ADVANCEMENT OF NITOCRIS--THE RESOLVE OF OSCAROVITCH 176

 XVI. THE MYSTERY OF PRINCE ZASTROW 185

 XVII. M. NICOL HENDRY 199

 XVIII. MURDER BY SUGGESTION 210

 XIX. THE HORUS STONE 220

 XX. THROUGH THE CENTURIES 237

 XXI. WHAT HAPPENED AT TRELITZ 251

 XXII. A TRIP ON THE SOUND 260

 XXIII. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE PROFESSOR 274

 XXIV. THE LUST THAT WAS--AND IS 281

 XXV. THE PASSING OF PHADRIG 290

 XXVI. CAPTAIN MERILL'S COMMISSION 304

 XXVII. THE BRIDAL OF OSCAROVITCH 307

 EPILOGUE 312

THE MUMMY AND MISS NITOCRIS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCES THE MUMMY

"Oh, what a perfectly lovely mummy! Just fancy!--the poor thing--deadhow many years? Something like five thousand, isn't it? And doesn't shelook just like me! I mean, wouldn't she, if we had both been dead aslong?"

As she said this, Miss Nitocris Marmion, the golden-haired, black-eyeddaughter of one of the most celebrated mathematicians and physicists inEurope, stood herself up beside the mummy-case which her father hadreceived that morning from Memphis. 

"Look!" she continued. "I am almost the same height. Just a littletaller, perhaps, but you see her hair is nearly as fair as mine. Ofcourse, you don't know what colour her eyes are--just fancy, Dad! theyhave been shut for nearly five thousand years, perhaps a littlemore--because I think they counted by dynasties then--and yet look atthe features! Just imagine me dead!"

"Just imagine yourself shutting the door on the other side, my dearNiti, " said the Professor, who had risen from the chair, and was facinghis daughter and the Mummy. "I don't want to banish you toounceremoniously, but I really have a lot of work to do to-night, and, asyou might know, Bachelor of Science of London as you are, I have got toworry out as best I can, if I can do it at all, this problem thatHartley sent me about the Forty-seventh Proposition of the first book ofEuclid. "

"Oh yes, " she said, going to his side and putting her hand on to hisshoulder as he stood facing the Mummy; "I have reason enough to rememberthat. And what does Professor Hartley say about it?"

"He says, my dear Niti, " said the Professor, in a voice which hadsomething like a note of awe in it, "that when Pythagoras thought outthat problem--which, of course, is not Euclid's at all--he almost sawacross the horizon of the world that we live in. "

"But that, " she interrupted, "would be something like looking across theedge of time into eternity, and that--well, of course, that is quiteimpossible, even to you, Dad, or Mr Hartley. What does he mean?"

"He doesn't quite mean that, dear, " replied the Professor, still staringstraight at the motionless Mummy as though he half expected the lipswhich had not spoken for fifty centuries to answer the question that wasshaping itself in his mind. "What Hartley means, dear, is this--thatwhen Pythagoras thought out that proposition he had almost reached theborder which divides the world of three dimensions from the world offour. "

"Which, as our dear old friend Euclid would say, is impossible; becauseyou know, Dad, if that were possible, everything else would be. Come, now, Annie is bringing up your whisky and soda. Put away your problemsand take your night-cap, and do get to bed in something like respectabletime. Don't worry your dear old head about forty-seventh propositionsand fourth dimensions and mummies and that sort of thing, even if thisMummy does happen to look a bit like me. Now, good night, and rememberthat the night-cap _is_ to be a night-cap, and when you've put it on youreally must go to bed. You've been thinking a great deal too much thisweek. Good-night, Dad. "

"Good-night, Niti, dear. Don't trouble your head about my thinking. Sufficient unto the brain are the thoughts thereof. Sometimes they aremore than sufficient. Good-night. Sleep well and don't dream, if you canhelp it. "

"And don't _you_ dream, Dad, especially about that wretched proposition. Just have another pipe, and drink your whisky and go to bed. There'ssomething in your eyes that says you want a long night's rest. Good-night now, and sleep well. "

She pulled his head down and kissed him twice on his grey, thin cheek, and then, with a wave of her hand and a laughing nod towards the Mummy, vanished through the closing study door to go and dream her dreams, which were not very likely to be of mummies and fourth dimensionalproblems, and left her father to dream his. 

Then a couple of lines from one of "B. V. 's" poems, which had beenrunning in his head all the evening, came back to him, and he murmuredhalf-unconsciously:

 "'Was it hundreds of years ago, my love, Was it thousands of miles away. .. ?'"

"And why should it not be? Why should you, who were once Ma-Rim[=o]n, priest of Amen-Ra, in the City of Memphis--you who almost stood upon thethreshold of the Inmost Sanctuary of Knowledge: you who, if yourfootsteps had not turned aside into the way of temptation and troddenthe black path of Sin, might even now be dwelling on the Shores ofEverlasting Peace in the Land of Amenti--dost _thou_ dare to ask such aquestion?"

The sudden change of the pronoun seemed to him to put the Clock of Timeback indefinitely. 

He was standing by his desk still facing the Mummy just as his daughterhad left him after saying "good-night. " He was not a man to be easilyastonished. Not only was he one of the best-read amateur Egyptologistsin Europe, but he was also an ex-President of the Royal Society, aMember of the Psychical Research Society, and, moreover, Chairman of arecently appointed Commission on Comparative Insanity, the object ofwhose labours was to determine, if possible, what proportion of peopleoutside asylums were mad or sane according to a standard which, somehow, no one had thought of inventing before--the standard of common-sense. 

The voice, strangely like his daughter's and his dead wife's also, appeared to come from nowhere and yet from everywhere, and it had afaint and far-away echo in it which harmonised most marvellously withother echoes which seemed to come up out of the depths of his own soul. 

Where had he heard it before? Somewhere, certainly. There was nopossibility of mistaking tones which were so irresistibly familiar, and, moreover, why did they bring back to him such distinct memories oftragedies long forgotten, even by him? Why did they instantly drawbefore the windows of his soul a long panorama of vast cities, splendidpalaces, sombre temples, and towering tombs, in which he saw all theseand more with an infinitely greater vividness of form and light andcolour than he had ever been able to do in his most inspired hours ofdream or study?

Had the voice really come from those long-silenced lips of the Mummy ofNitocris, that daughter of the Pharaohs who had so terribly avenged heroutraged love, and after whom he had named the only child of hismarriage?

"It is certainly very strange, " he said, going to his writing-table andtaking up his pipe. "I know that voice, or at least I seem to know it, and it is very like Niti's and her mother's; but where can it have comefrom? Hardly from your lips, my long-dead Royal Egypt, " he went on, going up to the mummy-case and peering through his spectacles into therigid features. He put up his hand and tapped the tightly-drawn lipsvery gently, then turned away with a smile, saying aloud to himself:"No, no, I must have been allowing what they call my scientificimagination to play tricks with me. Perhaps I have been worrying alittle too much about this confounded fourth dimension problem, --and yetthe thing is exceedingly fascinating. If the hand of Science could onlyreach across the frontier line! If we could only see out of the world oflength and breadth and thickness into that other world of these andsomething else, how many puzzles would be solved, how manyimpossibilities would become possible, and how many of the miracleswhich those old Egyptian adepts so seriously claimed to work would looklike the merest commonplaces! Ah well, now for the realities. I supposethat's Annie with the whisky. "

As he turned round the door opened, and he beheld a very strange sight, one which, to a man who had had a less stern mental training than he hadhad, would have been nothing less than terrifying. His daughter came inwith a little silver tray on which there was a small decanter of whisky, a glass, and a syphon of soda-water. 

"Annie has gone to the post, and I thought I might as well bring thismyself, " said Miss Nitocris, walking to the table and putting the traydown on the corner of it. 

Beside her stood another figure as familiar now to his eyes as her'swas, dressed and tired and jewelled in a fashion equally familiar. Savefor the difference in dress, Nitocris, the daughter of Rameses, was theexact counterpart in feature, stature, and colouring of Nitocris, thedaughter of Professor Marmion. In her hands she carried a slender, long-necked jar of brilliantly enamelled earthenware and a golden flagonrichly chased, and glittering with jewels, and these she put down on thetable in exactly the same place as the other Nitocris had put her trayon, and as she did so he heard the voice again, saying:

"Time was, is now, and ever shall be to those for whom Time has ceasedto be--which is a riddle that Ma-Rim[=o]n may even now learn, since hissoul has been purified and his spirit strengthened by earnest devotionthrough many lives to the search for the True Knowledge. "

Both voices had spoken together, the one in English and the other in theancient tongue of Khem, yet he had heard each syllable separately andcomprehended both utterances perfectly. He felt a cold grip of fear athis heart as he looked towards the mummy-case, and, as his fear hadwarned him, it was empty. Then he looked at his daughter, and as theireyes met, she said in the most commonplace tones:

"My dear Dad, what _is_ the matter with you? If advanced people likeourselves believed in any such nonsense, I should be inclined to saythat you had seen a ghost; but I suppose it's only that silly fourthdimension puzzle that's worrying you. Now, look here, you must reallytake your whisky and go to bed. If you go on bothering any longer about'N to the fourth, ' you will have one of your bad headaches to-morrow andwon't be able to finish your address for the Institute. "

She put her hand out and took up the decanter. It passed without anyapparent resistance through the jar. She lifted it from the same place, and poured out the usual modicum of whisky into the glass, which wasstanding just where the flagon was. Then she pressed the trigger of thesyphon, and the familiar hiss of the soda-water brought the Professor, as he thought, back to his senses. 

But no! There could be no doubt about it. There in material form on thecorner of his table was a point-blank, tangible contradiction of theuniversally accepted axiom that two bodies cannot occupy the same space, and that, come from somewhere or nowhere, there were two plainlymaterial objects through which his daughter's hand, without her evenknowing it, had passed as easily as it would have done through a littlecloud of steam. Happily she had no idea of what he had seen and heard, and so for her sake he made a strong effort to control himself, and saidas steadily as he could:

"Thank you, Niti, it is very good of you. Yes, I think I am a littletired to-night. Good-night now, and I promise you that I will be offvery soon; I will just have one more pipe, and drink my whisky, and thenI really will go. Good-night, little woman. We'll have a talk about theMummy in the morning. "

As soon as his daughter had closed the door, Professor Marmion returnedto his writing-table. The decanter of whisky, the tumbler, and thesyphon of soda-water were still standing on the corner of the table, occupying the same space as the enamelled flagon of wine and thedrinking goblet which the long-dead other-self of Miss Nitocris hadplaced on the little silver salver. 

He looked about the room anxiously, with a feeling nearer akin tophysical dread than he had ever experienced before; but his worst fearswere not fulfilled. Nitocris the Queen had vanished and the Mummy wasback in its case, blind, rigid, and silent, as it had been for fiftycenturies. 

For several moments he looked at the hard, grey, fixed features of thewoman who had once been Nitocris, Queen of Middle Egypt, half expecting, after what he had seen, or thought he had seen, that the soul wouldreturn, that the long-closed eyes would open again, and that thelong-silent lips would speak to him. But no! For all the answer that hegot he might as well have been looking upon the granite features of theSphinx itself. He turned away again towards the table, and murmured:

"Ah well! I suppose it was only an hallucination, after all. One ofthese strange pranks that the over-strained intellect sometimes playswith us. Perhaps I have been thinking too much lately. And now I reallythink I had better follow Niti's advice, and take my night-cap and go tobed. "

But as he put out his hand to take the whisky decanter he stopped andpulled it back. 

"What on earth is the matter with me?" he said, putting his hand to hishead. "That decanter is mine--it is the same, and yet it is standing injust the same place as that other thing--and I remember that, too. Lookhere, Franklin Marmion, my friend, if you were not a rather over-workedman I should think you had had a good deal too much to drink. Two bodies_cannot_ occupy the same space. It is ridiculous, impossible!"

As he said the last word, his voice rose a little, and, as it seemed, anecho came back from one of the corners of the room:

"Impossible, impossible?"

There seemed to be a sarcastic note of interrogation after the lastword. 

"Eh? What was that?" and he looked round at the mummy-case. Herlong-dead Majesty was still reclining in it, silent and impassive. 

"Oh, this won't do at all! Hartley and the fourth dimension be hanged!It strikes me that this way madness lies if you only go far enough. I'llhave that night-cap at once and go to bed. "

He put out his hand, took hold of the whisky decanter, and as he drewback his arm he saw that instead he held the enamelled flagon in hisgrasp. 

"Well, well, " he said, looking at it half-angrily, "if it is to be, itmust be. "

He put out his left hand and took hold of the goblet, tilted the flagon, and out of the curved lip there fell a thin stream of wine, whichglittered with a pale ruby radiance in the light of the electric clusterthat hung above his writing-desk. He set the flagon down, and as heraised the goblet to his lips, he heard his own voice saying in theancient language of Khem:

"As was, and is, and ever shall be; ever, yet never--never, yet ever. Nitocris the Queen, in the name of Nebzec I greet thee! From thy hands Itake the gift of the Perfect Knowledge!"

As he drained the goblet he turned towards the mummy-case. It might havebeen fancy, it might have been the effect of that miraculous old wine ofCos which, if he had really drunk it, must now be more than thirtycenturies old: it might have been the result of the hard thinking thathe had been doing now for several days and half-nights; but he certainlythought that the Queen's head suddenly became endowed with life, thatthe eyes opened, and the grey of the parchment skin softened into adelicate olive tinge with a faint rosy blush showing through it. Thebrown, shrivelled lips seemed to fill out, grow red, and smile. Theeyelids lifted, and the eyes of the Nitocris of old looked down on himfor a moment. He shook his head and looked, and there was the Mummy justas it had been when he opened the case. 

"Really, this is strange, almost to the point of bewilderment, " he wenton. "I wonder if there is any more of that wine left?"

He took up the flagon and poured out another goblet, filled and drankit. 

"Yes, " he continued, speaking as though under some strange exultation ofthe mind rather than of the senses, "yes, that is the wine of Cos. Idrank it. I, Ma-Rim[=o]n, the priest-student of the Higher Mysteries; I, whose feet faltered on the threshold of the Place of the Elect, andwhose heart failed him at the portal of the Sanctuary, even thoughAmen-Ra was beckoning me to cross it. "

"Good heavens, what nonsense I am talking! Whatever there was in thatwine or wherever it came from, I think it is quite time I was off, notto old Egypt, but the Land of Nod. It seems to--no, it has not got intomy head; in fact I am beginning to see that, after all, Hartley mightvery possibly be right about that forty-seventh proposition. Well, Iwill do as the Russians say, take my thoughts to bed with me, since themorning is wiser than the evening. It is all very mysterious. Icertainly hope that Annie won't find these things here in the morningwhen she comes to clear up. I wonder what the Museum would give me forthem if they were not, as I think they are, the unsubstantial fabric ofa vision?"

When he got into his room and turned the electric light on, he stoodunder the cluster and held up his closed hand so that the light fellupon a curiously engraved scarab set in a heavy gold ring which had beengiven to him on his last birthday by Lord Lester Leighton, a wealthy andaccomplished young nobleman who had devoted his learned leisure toEgyptian exploration and research. It was he who had sent the Mummy ofQueen Nitocris to the house on Wimbledon Common instead of adding it tohis own collection--not altogether unselfishly, it must be confessed, for he was very much in love with the other Nitocris who was still inthe flesh. 

"Now, " he said, fingering the scarab, "if I was not dreaming, and if bysome mysterious means Her Highness's promise is to be actuallyfulfilled, I ought to be able to take this ring off without opening myhand. Certainly, any fourth dimensional being could do it. "

As he spoke he pulled at the setting of the scarab--and, to hisamazement, the ring came off whole. There was no scar on his finger--nobreak in the ring. 

"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, staring with something like fear in hiseyes, first at his hand, and then at the ring. "Then it _is_ true!" Hewas silent for a full minute; then he put the ring down on thedressing-table and whispered: "What a terrible power--and what an awfulresponsibility! Well, thank God, I am a fairly honest man!"

As he undressed he was conscious of a curious sense of reminiscencewhich he had never experienced before. His brain was not only perfectlyclear, but almost abnormally active, and yet the current of his thoughtsappeared to be turned backward instead of forward. The things of his ownlife, the life that he was then living, seemed to drift behind him. Thefacts which he had learned in his long and minute study of Egyptianhistory came up in his mind, no longer as facts learned from books andmonuments, wall-paintings, and hieroglyphics, but as living entities. Heseemed to know, not by memory, but of immediate knowledge. It was thedifference between the reading of the story, say, of a battle, andactually taking part in it. He got into bed, and turned over on hisright side, saying:

"Well, this is all very extraordinary. I wonder what it all means? Thankgoodness, I am sleepy enough, and sleep is the best of all medicines. Ishould not wonder if I were to dream of Memphis again to-night. Awonderfully beautiful mummy that, quite unique--and Nitocris, too. Good-night, Nitocris, my royal mistress that might have been!Good-night!"

CHAPTER II

BACK TO THE PAST

The City of a Hundred Kings, vast and sombre, stretched away into thedim, soft distance of the moonlit night to right and left and far behindhim. In front lay the broad, smooth, silver-gleaming Nile, thenapproaching its full flood-time, and looking like a wide, shining roadout of the shadows through the light and into the shadows again--symbolof the visible present coming invisibly out of the domains of the past, and fading away into the still more hazy domain of the unknown future. Symbol, too, in its countless ripples under the fresh north wind, of thegenerations of Man drifting endlessly down the Stream of Time. 

He was standing in the dark shadows of a huge pylon at one end of thebroad white terrace of the palace of Pepi in Memphis--he, Ma-Rim[=o]n, Priest of Amen-Ra and Initiate of the Higher Mysteries. 

Nitocris was standing beside him with her hands clasped behind her andher head slightly thrown back, and as she gazed out over the river themoonlight fell full on the white loveliness of her face and into thedark depths of her eyes, where it seemed to lose itself in the dusk thatlay deep down in them, a dusk like the shadow of a soul in sorrow. 

He looked upon her face, and saw in it a beauty and a mystery deepereven than the beauty and the mystery of the Egyptian night as it was inthose old days--the face of a fair woman, a riddle of the gods which menmight go mad in seeking to read aright, and yet never learn the truemeaning of it. 

The silence between them had been long and yet so solemn in its wordlessmeaning that he had not dared to break it. Then at length she spoke, moving only her lips, her body still motionless and her eyes stillgazing at the stars, or into the depths beyond them. 

"Can it be true, Ma-Rim[=o]n? Can the gods indeed have permitted such athing to be? Can the All-Father have given His Chief Minister to be theinstrument of such a foul crime and monstrous impiety as this?"

And he replied, slowly and sadly:

"Yes, it is true, Nitocris, true that thou art now Queen in the land bythe will of the great Rameses; and true also it is that the shade ofNefer is now waiting in the halls of Amenti till his murderers shall besent by the hand of a just vengeance into the presence of the DivineAssessors. "

"Ah yes, vengeance, " she replied, turning towards him with a gasp in hervoice, "that must come; but whose hand shall cast the spear or draw thebow? We claim kinship with the gods, but we are not the gods, and whatmortal hand could avenge a crime like this?"

"A woman's hand is soft and a woman's lips are sweet, yet what so cruelor so merciless in all the world as a woman? As there is nothing likerHeaven than a woman's love, so there is nothing liker Hell than awoman's hate. So saith the Ancient Wisdom, O Nitocris; and therefore, asthou hast loved Nefer the Prince, so shalt thou also hate Menkau-Ra andAnemen-Ha, his murderers and the destroyers of his promised happiness. "

She shivered as he spoke, not with cold, for the breath of that perfectnight was well nigh as soft as her touch and as warm as her own breath. She turned swiftly and laid her hand on his shoulder. Her touch was aslight as the falling of the rose-leaves in the gardens of Sais, yet hetrembled under it, and his face, which had been as pale as her ownbefore, flushed darkly red as she looked into his eyes. 

"You--yes, you, Ma-Rim[=o]n, you too love me, do you not--truly? Thestars are the eyes of the gods: they are looking on you. Tell me, do youlove me? Does your blood throb in your veins when I touch you? Does yourheart beat quicker when you come near me? Are your ears keener for myvoice than for that of any other woman--tell me?"

His hands went up and clasped hers as they lay on his shoulders. He tookher right hand and pressed it to his heart, and laid her left hand onhis cheek. Then he let them fall. He stepped back, bowed his head, andsaid:

"The Queen is answered!"

"Not the Queen, but the woman, Ma-Rim[=o]n, and as a woman loves to beanswered. And now the woman shall speak. Nefer is dead, yet is not Neferre-incarnated in another form, another man of another build, but yetNefer that was--and is beside me now?"

She whispered these words very softly and very distinctly, and as thewords came rippling out from between her half-smiling lips, she tookhalf a pace forward and looked up into his face. 

"Not dead--Nefer--I!" he exclaimed, starting back. "Have not theParaschites done their work on his body? Is not his mummy even nowresting in the City of the Dead? How can it be? Surely, Nitocris, thouart dreaming. "

"And hast thou, a priest and sage, standing on the threshold of the HolyMysteries, hast thou not learned the law which tells thee how, with thepermission of the Divine Assessors, the souls of the dead may come backfrom the halls of Amenti to do their bidding in other mortal shapes? Andwhat if they should have ordained that his soul should have thusreturned?

"Thou, who art so like him that while he was yet alive mortal eyes couldscarce distinguish the one from the other. May it not be that the gods, who foresee all things, made thee in the same image, perchance to thisvery end?"

"No, the riddle is too deep for me, even as that other riddle which Iread in thy eyes, O Queen!"

"Let thy love help thee to read it, then!" she replied, coming to himand putting her hands on his shoulders again. "Tell me now, Ma-Rim[=o]n, what wouldst thou do if thy soul were now waiting in the land of Aaluand the soul of Nefer was listening to me with thine ears, and lookingat me with thine eyes?"

"And if thou----"

"Yes, and if I too believed that this were so?"

He saw the sweet, red, smiling lips coming nearer to him, and felt thesoft breath on his bare throat. He saw the deep eyes melting intotenderness as the moonlight shone upon them, and in the pale olivecheeks a faint flush swiftly deepened. 

"Nefer or Ma-Rim[=o]n, I am mortal, " he said, swiftly catching herwrists and drawing her towards him. "I am flesh and blood. I am man, andthou art woman--and I love thee! I love thee! Ah, how sweet thy kissesare! Now let the gods bless or curse, for never could they take awaywhat thou hast given--and for it I will give thee all. All that hasbeen, and is, and might have been! Priest and sage, Initiate of theMysteries, what are they to me now! O Nitocris, my queen and my love!Sooner would I live through one year of bliss with thee than aneternity in the Peace of the Gods itself!"

The words of blasphemy came hot and fast between his kisses, and sheheard them unresisting in his arms, giving him back kiss for kiss, andlooking into his eyes under the dark lashes which half-hid hers; and soMa-Rim[=o]n, the youthful Initiate of the Holy Mysteries, became in thatmoment a man, and so he began to learn the long lesson which teaches towhat heights and depths a woman who has loved and hated can rise andfall for the sake of her love and her hate. 

"And now, my Nefer, " she went on, throwing her clinging arms round hisneck again, "now, good-night! Go and dream of me as I will dream ofthee, and remember that, though mortals may plan, the gods decide. Wemay try to paint the picture, but the outline is drawn by their handsand may not be changed by ours. But, so far as this matter is concerned, I swear by the Veil of Isis, by these sacred kisses of ours, and by theUraeus Crown of the Three Kingdoms, that, rather than be sold as apriceless chattel to grace the triumph of Menkau-Ra, I will give myself, as others did in the old days, to be the bride of Father Nile. Rememberthat, and remember, too, that, whatever the outward seeming of thingsmay be, I am thine and thou art mine, as it was, and is, and shall be, until the Peace of all Things shall come. "

 * * * * *

Then the dream-vision changed from moonlight to sunlight, from night tomorning; for it was the dawn of the day that was to see, as all menbelieved, the gorgeous ceremony of the nuptials of the daughter ofRameses with Menkau-Ra, the Mohar, chief of the House of War andmightiest of all the warriors of the Land of Khem, now that Rameses hadpassed from the black banks of the Nile to the shores of Amenti, and hismummy was waiting the summons of the High Gods which should recall it tolife in the fulness of time and the dawn of the Everlasting Peace. 

Never had even the Land of Khem seen a fairer dawn. The East shone insilver, blushed into amethyst, and flamed in gold as the Restorer of allthings rose bright and glorious in sudden splendour over the City of theWhite Wall. Standing on the flat roof of the temple of Ptah, he lookedabout him in the first flush of this morning which had just dawned, bigwith fate, not only for him and his beloved, but also for the Land ofKhem, and perchance for the world. 

The great river was spreading its annual blessings over the land. Thewaters were broadening out into wide shining sheets, and the slow, softmusic of their rippling was stealing along the great water-walls of thetemples and palaces which formed the river-front of Memphis. Only a weekago the victorious armies of Khem had brought their spoils and theirprisoners across the eastern frontier. There had been fruit, bread, andflesh, and wine for the poor, and banquets of royal lavishness forthose who could claim right of entry into the sacred circle whichenclosed the Throne, the Temple, and the camp of the victorious warrior. 

For days he had heard the name of Menkau-Ra the Conqueror shouted up tothe heavens by the crowds that had thronged the streets and themarket-places, and, mingled with it, he had also heard the name of thegirl-queen whose arms had been about his neck, and whose lips he hadkissed the night before, and he knew that even now the people wereasking why the Conqueror should not wed the daughter of Rameses, andbecome the father of a line of even greater and yet mightier Pharaohs. 

He had heard their cries calmly and without anger, for he knew that thatone stolen hour of sweet intercourse with her meant much more than theConqueror himself could win--something that could not be taken by force, or even through the will of the dead king. Her soul was his, and he knewwell that the man to whom she had not given her soul would never bepermitted to lay a loving hand on her body. 

"Ah yes, there he comes, I suppose, " he went on, still talking aloud tohimself, as a shrill musical peal of silver trumpets broke out from thedirection of the barracks to the north of the palace. "Alas! were I buttruly Nefer! That golden-crowned murderer--for sure I am that he killedhim--he would not now be making ready for his triumph at the head ofhis victorious troops through the streets and squares of Memphis. Ifthat were so, how glad a day this would be for Egypt and for us!"

But, as the Divine Assessors willed it, there was no triumph that day inMemphis. The sun had hardly risen to a level with the topmost wall ofthe Rameseum before messengers were sent out from the palace bearing thetidings that Nitocris the Queen had been stricken with a sudden malady, and that all festivities were to be deferred till the next day at theearliest. 

That night, when the moon was sinking low down in the west towards thedark hills of the Libyan Desert, and the Isis Star was glowing palelylike an expiring lamp hung high above the brightening easternearth-line, he saw her muffled form gliding ghost-like towards him as hestood waiting for her on the terrace. She was clad like the meanest ofher serving-maids, just as a common slave-wench who had stolen out tomeet a lover of her own sort might have been. When she came within apace of him, he held his arms out. She put hers out too, and for amoment they looked in silence into each other's eyes, and then she, seeing that the kiss which she expected did not come, parted her lipsand said smilingly:

"You need not fear to kiss them, dearest, they have not yet beenpolluted by the lips of Menkau-Ra, although all the city has beenhailing him as the betrothed of Nitocris. "

Then he smiled too, and their lips met in such a long, silent kiss asonly lovers give and take. 

"Thy words are almost as sweet as thy kisses are, O Nitocris!" he said, "for I would sooner see thee--yes, I would sooner see thee in the handsof the Paraschites--this lovely body of thine dead--knowing that thysoul was waiting for mine on the shores of Amenti, than I would knowthat those sweet lips had been defiled by the touch of such as he; andyet surely thou hast spoken with him. Did he not claim the fulfilment ofthe promise of the great king?"

"Ah yes, " she replied softly, as she slipped out of his arms, "but it isone thing to claim and another to get. Yes, I have spoken with him. Ihave promised all, and given nothing. I have not even yielded my hand tohis lips, for I told him in answer to all the entreaties of hislove--and of a truth I tell thee that he loves me very dearly, for thatgreat, strong frame of his shook like a bulrush in the wind under thebreath of my lightest words--that, until the last vows had made us manand wife, I would be his queen and he should be my subject and my slave, even as he was of the great Rameses; and with this he was fain to becontent, thinking, no doubt, how soon he would be my lord and master, and I his--his queen and plaything, bound by the law that may not bebroken, to submit to every varying whim and humour of his passion. "

"Thy master, Nitocris! Thine! Such shame could never be. Rather wouldthe High Gods permit Death to be the Master of Life, or Night to be Lordof Day. Is there no other way?"

"Yes, there is another way, and only one to save me, Nefer--if truly thesoul of my beloved is looking out of thine eyes into mine, " shewhispered, coming close to him and laying her hands lightly upon hisshoulders, "there is another way, but it is the way that leads throughthe mystery of the things that are into the deeper mystery of the thingsthat are to be--the way of death and vengeance. Tell me, my beloved, hast thou the courage to tread it with me?"

The lovely face, the pleading lips, the searching eyes were close tohis. He could feel the soft contact of her body, even her flutteringheartbeats answering his. It was the moment of the supreme test, theparting of the ways--to the heights whose pinnacles reach to the heavenof Perfect Knowledge, or to the abysses whose lowest depths are the roofof hell; for there is but one heaven and one hell, and their names areKnowledge and Ignorance. 

There lay the fulfilment of his vows, the renunciation of the lower lifewith all its potent witcheries of the senses, with all its exquisitedelights and glittering prizes, fame and honours, power and wealth, and, dearest of all, the love of woman. 

Here, clasped in his arms, stood Nitocris, her hands still restinglightly on his shoulders, her head lying on his breast, her eyesupturned, the star-beams swimming in their luminous depths. 

"Nefer, beloved, answer me!"

The stars grew dim, and the solid floor of the terrace shook under hisfeet. He bent his head and laid his lips upon hers. 

"Thou art answered, O Nitocris--even unto death and the life beyond!"

Her lips returned his kisses--kisses that were curses--and then for manyminutes they conversed in hurried whispers. At last she slipped out ofhis arms and left him, his lips burning from the clinging touch of hers, and his heart cold with a fear that was greater than the fear of death. 

He clasped his hands to his temples and looked up at the coldly shiningIsis Star, and through the silence there came to his soul in the speechthat is never heard by the ears of flesh the fateful words:

"Once only is it given to mortals to look into the eyes of Isis. He wholooks and turns his gaze aside has found and lost. "

CHAPTER III

THE DEATH-BRIDAL OF NITOCRIS

The day of the bridal of Nitocris the Queen with Menkau-Ra the Conquerorhad come and gone in a blaze of golden splendour. In all the Upper andLower Lands no head was held so proudly as the head of Menkau-Ra, noheart beat so high as his that day, nor did any cheek bloom so sweetly, or any eyes shine so brightly as the cheeks and the eyes of Nitocris--sostrange are the workings of a woman's heart, and so far are itsmysteries past finding out. 

And now the bridal feast was spread in the great banqueting hall whichPepi the Wise had made deep down in the foundations of his palace belowthe waters of the Nile at flood-time, and at midnight the waters wouldbe at the full. It was here that Nitocris had sat at the betrothal feastwith Nefer but a few hours before his death, for here he had drunk fromthe poisoned cup which Anemen-Ha the High Priest had prepared, and hereonly would Nitocris meet her guests. 

The great hall shone with the light of a thousand golden lamps, whichshed their radiance and the perfume from the scented oils in which weredissolved the most precious gums of the distant East. 

The long tables, spread with snowy linen and loaded with vessels of goldand silver and glass of many hues and curious forms, flashed andglittered in the glow of the thousand flames. The vineyards of Cos andSais had yielded their oldest and sweetest wines, red and purple andgolden. The choicest meats and the rarest fruits that ripened under theglowing suns of Khem--all was there that could make glad the heart ofman and fill his soul with contentment. 

At the centre of the table, which stood on a raised platform in front ofthe great black pedestal of the Colossus of Pepi, Nitocris the Queen satin her chair of ivory and gold, clad in almost transparent robes of thefinest silk of Cos, shining with gems, and crowned with the UraeusSnake, and the double diadem of the Two Lands. 

On her right sat Menkau-Ra, crowned and robed in royal vesture, and onher left Anemen-Ha in his priestly garments of snowy linen. At the othertables sat their friends and kindred, the families of the Mohar and theHigh Priest, the chief officers of the victorious army and all the proudhierarchy of the Temple of Ptah, for was not this the triumph ofAnemen-Ha no less than of Menkau-Ra?

Only Ma-Rim[=o]n was absent. He had disappeared from the temple earlyin the morning, and no one had given a thought to his going, for onebase-born, even though of royal blood, had no place at the bridal feastof the Queen and her chosen consort. 

The libations had been poured out to the Lords and Ladies of Heaven--toPtah the Beginner, and Ra the Lord of Day, to Sechet the Lady of Loveand War, and Necheb the Bringer of Victory; and when the slaves hadcarried round the viands till all were satisfied, the guests werecrowned with garlands, and the jars of the oldest and choicest wineswere broached. The feast was ended, and the revel was about to begin. 

The last half of the last hour of the night was well-nigh spent, andwhile the guests were waiting for the signal from the royal table, theQueen rose in her place, and, in the silence that greeted her, her voicesounded sweetly as she spoke and said:

"O my guests--ye who are the holiest and the bravest in the Land ofKhem, though our hearts are joyful, and our souls refreshed with wineand good cheer, let us not forget the pious customs and wise ways of ourancestors, for it is fitting that in such hours as this our heartsshould be turned from pride by the remembrance that we live ever in thepresence of death, and that this world is but the threshold of the next. Ill, too, would it become me to forget, in the midst of my presenthappiness, to pay the honour due to him who might have shared this crownwith me; wherefore let the noble dead be brought into our midst, sothat the soul of Nefer, looking down from the flowery fields of Aalu, may see that in the hour of our joy we do not forget the sorrow of hisuntimely death. "

Then she clapped her hands, and Menkau-Ra and Anemen-Ha shifted in theirseats, and looked at each other with eyes of evil meaning as six slavesappeared at the lower end of the hall, bearing upon their shoulders themummy-case of Nefer, the dead Prince, beloved of Nitocris. Now low, sadmusic sounded from a hidden source, and to the cadence of this theslaves marched slowly round the tables, followed by the eyes of thesilenced and sobered guests. Then they stopped in front of the Queen'sseat, and she said:

"Let the case be set up against the central pillar yonder, and let theface of the Prince be uncovered, that I may look upon him who was tohave been my lord. "

"But if I may speak, Royal Egypt, " said Anemen-Ha, the chief of theHouse of Ptah, leaning towards her, "that would be beyond the law of thegods and the customs of the land. To look on the face of the dead weredefilement for thee and us. "

"Yet this once it shall be done, O Priest of the Father of the Gods, "answered Nitocris, turning and looking into his eyes, "for last night Ihad a vision, and I saw the soul of Nefer come back to his mummy, herein this hall, at my bridal feast, and his eyes opened, and his lipsspoke, and made plain to me many things that I greatly longed to know. But why shouldst thou turn pale and tremble, thou the holiest man in theland? What hast thou to fear, even if my vision came true? And thou, too, Menkau-Ra the Mighty, hast thou slain thy thousands, and yetfearest to look upon the face of one dead man? See, see!" and shepointed her finger at the face of the mummy. "By the power of the justand merciful gods, my vision shall be made very truth indeed! Look, Anemen-Ha, Priest of the God who is King of Gods! Look, Menkau-Ra, thouwho wouldst reign in the place of Nefer. Behold, he has come back fromthe bosom of Osiris to greet thee!"

With eyes fixed and ears sharpened by such terror as only thesin-steeped soul can know, they saw the waxen eyelids of the mummyslowly rise, the dim, glazed eyes look out from underneath them, thedry, black lips move, and heard a thin, harsh voice say through theawful silence:

"Greeting, Nitocris, my Queen--greeting from the gloom of Amenthes, where I have waited too long for those who ere now should have stoodwith me in the Halls of Doom and the presence of the Assessors! Say now, thou who sittest feasting between my murderers, how much longer must Iwait for thee and them?"

Not long, O Nefer, my beloved, not long! Tarry yet a little while, Ooutraged soul, in the shape that once was thine, and thou shalt seethyself avenged. Lo, I hear the wings of Kefa, Goddess of theFlood-time, rustling in the silence of the midnight skies. She herselfshall pour out a libation to thine injured shade! "Nay, nay, my lords, and you good friends of those who did my own true lord to death, sitstill, and drain a farewell cup with me, your Queen. It is too late tofly, for every way is closed. The High Gods have spoken, and I will dotheir bidding!" Then, extending her white, jewelled arms toward themummy, she cried in a deeper, harsher tone: "O Nefer, my Prince and mylove! There lives no man in Khem who shall take thy place beside me, orusurp the throne that should have been thine. I have sinned, but Irepent me of the wrong. Lo, now I come and bring thee a goodly sacrificeto cheer thine angry heart--my lord, my love, I come!"

Held by the triple spell of guilt and fear and wonder, they listened tothese terrible words in silence, white horror sitting on their blanchingcheeks and brows. 

As she ceased she raised her arms above her head, a golden cupfull-crowned between her glittering hands. A moment she held it aloft, then dashed it to the floor, and cried in a voice that rang like thelaughter of devils through the awful silence:

"Come, Kefa, come, and bear me to my lord!"

The goddess answered in a mighty rush and roar of waters, long pent andswiftly loosed. Then above the tumult rose the hoarse shouts of men andthe shrill screams of women, and the crash and clash of tablesoverturned; then came the swirl and bubbling hiss of a flood thatgleamed darkly under the golden lamps and swiftly rose towards them, bearing upon its surface white arms with outstretched hands gripping atthe empty air, and gauzy robes which half hid gleaming limbs, whitefaces with wildly-staring eyes, and teeth that grinned betweentight-drawn lips so lately smiling; strong swimmers fighting for anothermoment's breath, and one by one dragged down by many hidden hands: thenthe sharp hiss of swift-quenched flames, then darkness, and the stiflingof sobbing groans into silence, and after that only the sibilantundertone of waters rushing swiftly past smooth walls through utternight. 

 * * * * *

"Dear me!" the Professor heard himself say as he sat up and rubbed hiseyes, "what on earth can be the matter with me? Egypt--the Queen--Palaceof Pepi--bridal feast of Nitocris and Menkau-Ra--yes, yes, of course Iremember it all now. She made me impersonate Nefer in the mummy-case, and then, when she had frightened her guests half out of their wits, sheavenged her lover by opening the sluice-gates and drowning the lot, herself included. A rare device, that of old Pepi's, for getting rid ofhospitably entertained enemies. Not quite in accordance with our modernideas of sport, I'm afraid, but in those days we thought a good dealmore of effectiveness than sport. Good heavens! What sort of nonsense amI talking? Dreaming, I suppose. "

He stopped as the reflection of a brilliant flash of lightning lit uphis window, and bursts of rain dashed upon the panes. 

"Ah yes, of course, that's it! Quite in accordance with the theory ofdreams. It's only the difference between a thunder-shower and the Nileflood. The Genius of Dreams could easily account for the rest. Certainlythis apparatus that we call our brain plays some very curious trickswith us sometimes. I suppose this is one of them. And yet if ever therewas a dream that seemed like reality that one did. The Mummy and thelong-dead Nitocris back to life! By the way, I wonder whether thatflagon was really there, and whether there _was_ any wine in it? Ifthere was, perhaps I took too much of it. Ah, there's the rain again!

"By the way now, suppose that this fourth dimension that has puzzled somany of us is, after all, duration? If so, it would solve a great manyproblems, because it would be possible to be and not to be at the sametime, and, therefore, for two bodies to occupy the same space. Thatwould be perfectly easy of supposition to the being to whom time andeternity were one. Yes, I believe that when the great problem is solved, it will be found that the fourth dimension _is_ duration, extending inall directions like the circumference of a circle, the edges of a cube, and the curves of the conic sections. 

"Yes, I really do think I have got it at last, and that confounded Mummyhas taught it me. Still, I don't think I ought to speak asdisrespectfully as that of a young lady who has been dead for the lastfifty centuries or so and has come back. Yes, that is it. It _is_duration. "

Perfectly satisfied for the time being with this solution, he turnedover on to his right side--for, to his disgust, he found that he hadbeen lying on his back, a most pernicious position where dreaming isconcerned--and went to sleep. Half an hour later he was awakened byanother heaven-shaking crash of thunder. 

CHAPTER IV

THIEVES IN THE NIGHT

This time he was very much awake. In fact, his sense of wakefulnessseemed almost superhuman. His faculties were preternaturally alert, andhe had a feeling of what might properly be called mental extension--itwas not exaltation--- which seemed to widen his mental visionenormously. Problems which had puzzled him to desperation suddenlybecame as obvious as the first axioms of geometry. In short, he felt asthough he had become a new man, re-born, or re-incarnated, into anotherworld which contained the one he had so far lived in, but which wasinfinitely vaster in some undefined way which was not yet plain to him. 

He lay for some time thinking over the extraordinary happenings of theevening and his dream, which he remembered with astonishing exactness ofdetail. Then a sudden turn of thought carried his mind to the subject ofmiracles, apparitions, ghosts, and mathematical impossibilities such assquaring the circle and doubling the cube--and to his amazement he foundthat the impossible of yesterday had become the possible--nay, thealmost absurdly obvious of to-night. 

He went on thinking and wondering until he began to half-believe that hewas dreaming again, so he got up and switched on the electric light. Then he turned involuntarily towards the wardrobe, which, as usual, hada long mirror running down the middle of it. To his amazement he did notsee himself reflected in it. The mirror seemed to have vanished, and inits place was a window looking into his study. 

He saw the mummy-case leaning up against the wall, but it was empty. Infront of it stood a man and a woman. Both were plainly, almost meanly, dressed; the man in a tightly-buttoned black frock-coat and baggy greytrousers; the woman in a plain gown of dark stuff, and a shawl which wasdraped round her head and shoulders in somewhat Eastern fashion. 

He could see their faces distinctly in profile. They were of the classicCoptic type which so persistently reproduces the features of the oldEgyptians as we see them outlined in the wall-paintings of the templesand the half-mutilated carvings and statues. The window of the study wasopen, but the door was shut; so was the door of his own room, but forall that he distinctly heard the man say to the woman in Coptic, which, curiously enough, sounded as familiar to his ears as the faces seemed tohis eyes:

"Neb-Anat, it is gone! These heathen ravishers have not been contentwith stealing the body of our Queen from its sacred resting-place andbringing it here, whither we have traced it with so much labour. See, ithas been stolen again; hidden, no doubt, so that the servants of theKing could not find it. It may be that even we have been suspected andwatched, in spite of all our care. Yet it must be found, or the doomthat may not be revoked will be ours. "

"Even so, Pent-Ah, " replied the woman in a soft, musical voice whichwell suited the comeliness of her face; "but though the pricelesstreasure has been taken from its casket, it cannot have been carried outof the house, for you know that every approach has been watched closelysince it was brought here. Come, in this house it must be, and to findit is our task. Every one is asleep; take off thy shoes and let ussearch. "

She took off her own shoes as she spoke, and he saw the man do the same. Then, as the man opened the door and they passed out of the study, thepicture vanished from the mirror. 

Amazement at what he had seen and heard--the disappearance of the Mummy, the presence of the man and woman, evidently charged with what theybelieved to be the sacred mission of stealing it back again, and theirevident purpose of searching the house for it--instantly gave place to aquick thrill of fear. 

His daughter's bedroom was on the same floor as the study, only acouple of doors away round the corner of the landing. These people wouldsearch every room. What if she had not locked her door securely, or ifthey had some means of opening it? She was the living image of the deadNitocris. He did not dare to think of what might happen to her. Wouldthese new-found, strangely-given powers of his suffice to protect her?If not, he would have but little use for them, since she was his nearestand dearest on earth. 

He pulled his stockings over the pants of his pyjamas and put on hisvelvet working jacket, forgetting for the moment that, if these thingswere true, it would be perfectly easy for him to make himself invisibleto beings in the ordinary world of three dimensions. Then he turned outthe light, opened the door very softly, and crept downstairs. 

Yes, what he had seen was true. He heard the soft, shuffling patter ofstockinged feet along the landing, though he could see nothing in thedark. A door opened gently. His sense of location told him that it wasthe door of the spare bedroom next but one to the study. He felt his waysilently and softly along the wall, and as he did so his hand touchedthe electric switch. Should he turn the light on and alarm the house?Whoever was there had "broken and entered" after midnight, and wastherefore outside the law. No, he would not do that. If what he hadseen was true, the intruders believed that their mission was a sacredone. No doubt the man was armed, and perhaps the woman also, and whatwould a knife-stab mean to them on such a desperate quest?

As these thoughts ran at lightning speed through his mind, he saw afaint glow inside the room. He crept forward and looked round the sideof the doorway. The man had a little electric lamp in his hand and wasflashing the slender rays all over the room. He drew his head backquickly as he heard him say:

"There is nothing here, Anat. Come, let us try the next room. Neitherlock nor bolt nor even human life must stand in the way of our searchnow that we have begun it!"

He heard them coming towards the door. Instinctively he shrank back, andhis heart stood still as he thought of what would happen if the manchanced to turn the little ray of his lamp on him. Almost involuntarilyhis thoughts went back to the promise of Queen Nitocris, and somethinglike a prayer that it might be kept rose to his lips. 

They came out, and the man flashed the thin electric ray up and down thepassage. It wavered hither and thither, and at last fell directly on hisface. He was anything but a coward, but he was thinking of Niti--andwhat if a knife-stab left her undefended? But to his amazement, althoughthey were both looking straight at him, the expression of neither facechanged in the slightest. They had not seen him. The Queen had answeredhis prayer. He was no longer in the world of three dimensions, and so hewas invisible to all dwellers in it. For him, then, there was evidentlyno danger--but Niti----?

They moved along to the next door. That was hers. The woman put her handon the knob and turned it. To his horror, the door opened. She hadforgotten to lock it. They both crept in, and he followed them boldlyenough now, knowing what he did. The ray leapt rapidly about the roomtill it fell on the bed with its pale blue silken coverlet, and then onthe pillow, on which rested the head of the sleeping, breathing image ofthe long-dead Queen. 

With a half-stifled gasp the man shrank back and dropped the lamp, andthe Professor heard him say to the woman in a shuddering whisper:

"By the High Gods, Neb-Anat, it is a miracle! Do you not see her? It isshe--the Queen--alive again, as the ancient prophecy said she should be. What magic have these heathens used?"

"Yes, " replied the woman, whispering lower, "truly it is the Queen, andshe is alive and sleeping--no doubt passing from the sleep of deaththrough the sleep of life to life again. Now, O Pent-Ah, is our taskmuch harder, yet will its accomplishment be all the more glorious foryou and me, and greatly will our Lord reward us if we can restore to hiskeeping, not the ravished mummy of Nitocris, but the Queen herself, warm and breathing and beautiful, as she was in the ancient days of thegreat Rameses. "

"I'll be hanged if you do!" said the Professor to himself, "not, atleast, if Her Majesty's legacy to me is worth anything. Abduct mydaughter at the dead of night, would you, you scoundrels? We'll seeabout that. If you don't leave this house as thoroughly frightened asever you were in your lives, I know nothing about the fourth dimension. "

Meanwhile he heard them both groping about the floor after the lamp. Thewoman found it, and pressed the button. The ray fell on the man's face, and he saw that the olive of his skin had turned to a ghastly grey. Hiseyes were wide open, and his mouth and nostrils were working withintense excitement. Then the woman turned the ray on Niti's face again. 

"They will wake her if this goes on much longer, " said the Professor tohimself again. "I had better stop this little comedy before it becomes atragedy. Poor Niti would go half mad if she found these two scoundrelsby her bedside--and yet if I do anything out of the way they will yell. Ah, I think I have it!"

He walked softly out of the room, and when he got into the passage hewhispered in the tongue that had become so strangely familiar to him:

"Pent-Ah, Neb-Anat, come hither instantly! Who are you that you shoulddisturb the slumbers of your Lady the Queen!"

He saw them stare at each other with eyes wide with fear and wonder. 

"It is the command of the Mighty One, " whispered the woman, taking holdof the man's hand and drawing him towards the door. 

"And He must be obeyed, " said he in reply, bowing his head and followingher. 

They closed the door very softly behind them. 

The Professor could not repress a sigh of thankfulness for Niti's escapefrom what, at best, would have been a very terrible fright. 

"And now, my friends, " he went on to himself, "I think I can teach younot to come into an English gentleman's house again with an idea ofstealing his property, to say nothing of abducting his daughter. "

The man and woman were still staring at each other by the light of thelamp, each holding each other's trembling hand, when the lamp wassuddenly snatched away from the woman and went out. Then, to theirhorror, the ray shot out again in front of them as though the lamp werefloating by itself in the air. It flashed from face to face, bothghastly with fear. Then an invisible hand gripped the man's, and drewhim with irresistible force along the passage. The woman grasped hiscoat, and followed with shuffling feet and shaking limbs, dumb withwonder and fear. The hand led them down the passage, round the corner, and into the study. Then it released them. They heard the door shut andthe key turn in the lock. Then there was a click, and the electriccluster above the writing-table shone out, apparently of its ownvolition. The woman uttered a low scream, and cowered down in a cornerof a big sofa that stood by the bay-window. The man, after one terrifiedglance round the room, began to creep towards the open sash; but theinvisible hand gripped him by the collar and pulled him back. Histrembling knees gave way under him, and he rolled in a heap on thefloor. 

Then, to his wondering horror, he saw a stout blackthorn stick which wasstanding in a corner of the room, jump up into the air and leap towardshim. He put his head down on to the carpet, covered his eyes with hishands, and began to moan with terror. The stick came down with whatseemed to him superhuman force again and again on his back andshoulders. He whimpered and moaned, and at last howled with pain. Herolled over and looked up, and there was the stick hanging in the airabove him. He put up his hands clasped as though in prayer, and down itcame on his knuckles. He did not howl this time. His hands unclasped anddropped beside him; his head went back, and he fainted in sheer terror. 

"There, my friend, " said the Professor aloud, forgetting the presence ofthe woman for the moment; "mummy or no mummy, I don't think you willcome into this house again. And as for you, madam, " he went on, "ofcourse, I can't give you a hiding, so the sight of his punishment willhave to be enough for you. Still, I think you have had enough ofattempted mummy-stealing to last you some time. "

The woman stared up into the vacancy out of which the voice came, hereyes dilated, and her lips trembling with the movement of her lower jaw. She saw a jug of water get up off the table and empty itself over hercompanion's face. Then she fainted, too. 

When Pent-Ah came to himself and sat up, he saw an elderly gentleman, tall and erect as a man in the prime of life, standing over him with theblackthorn in one hand and the water-jug in the other. 

"I am not going to ask what you two are doing here, " he said sternly, "because I know already. If I called the police I could send you both toprison for house-breaking and attempted robbery; but I don't want anyfuss, and perhaps you have been punished enough for the present. Ah, Isee your accomplice is coming round. You came in by the window, Isuppose. Now get out by it as quick as you can, and mind you keep yourmouths shut as to what has happened to-night. If you don't, " he went on, suddenly changing into Coptic, "beware of the anger of your Lord--of Himwho never forgives!"

The man scrambled to his feet, whimpering:

"I go, Lord, I go, and my lips shall be silent as the lips of----"

He cast a frightened glance towards the mummy-case, and then, graspingthe woman roughly by the arm, he dragged her towards the open window, saying:

"Come, Neb-Anat, come ere the wrath of our Lord consumes us!"

 * * * * *

"Why, where's the Mummy, Dad?" said Miss Nitocris, as she came into herfather's study just before breakfast the next morning, and looked inamazement at the empty case. 

"Stolen, my dear, I am sorry to say, " replied the Professor gravely. "Did you hear any noises in the house last night, or were you sleepingtoo soundly?"

"I seem to have an idea that I did, " she said, "but only a dim one; Ithought I only dreamt it. But did you, Dad? Do tell me all about it. What a horrible shame to steal that lovely Mummy! And it was so like me, too. I believe I should have got quite fond of it. "

"Yes, dear, " continued the Professor, speaking, as she thought, a littlenervously. "There was a noise, and I heard it. I came down here andturned the light on. I found the window open and the Mummy gone--andthat is all I can tell you about it. "

CHAPTER V

ACROSS THE THRESHOLD

After breakfast Professor Marmion, according to his practice on finedays, lit his pipe, and went out for a stroll on the Common to put in alittle hard thinking, while Miss Nitocris, after seeing to certainhousehold matters, sat down in his study and read the papers, in orderthat she might be able to give him a synopsis of the world's news atlunch. He did not read the newspapers himself, except, perhaps, in thetrain, when he had nothing better to do. He took no interest inpolitics, for one thing, and he had still less interest in professionalcricket and football, racing, and what is generally called sport. He hada fixed opinion that all the events happening in the world which reallymattered, not even excepting the proceedings of learned societies andthe criminal and civil Law Courts, could be adequately recorded on acouple of sheets of notepaper. In other words, he had an absolutecontempt for everything that makes a newspaper sell, and therefore hisdaughter had very soon learnt to omit these fascinating items entirely. 

Curiously enough, his mind seemed to be running on this subject of allthings that morning. He had been reading an article in the _Fortnightly_on the growing sensationalism, and therefore the general decadence ofthe English Press a day or two before, and this had got connected up inhis thoughts with the amazing happenings of the last twelve hours, andhe asked himself what would happen if he were to give the narrative ofhis experiences in a letter to the _Times_, supported by the authorityof his own distinguished and irreproachable name. 

Certainly it would be the most sensational communication that had everappeared in a newspaper. In a day or two, granted always that the_Times_ had no doubts as to his sanity and printed the letter, the wholePress would be ablaze with it; Wimbledon would be besieged by reporterseager to see miracles; and then they would go away and write luridarticles, some about the miracles, if they saw them, and some about anabsolutely new form of conjuring that he had invented. Then thescientific Press would take it up, and a very merry battle of wits wouldbegin. He smiled gravely as he thought of the inkshed that would come topass in a _combat à l'outrance_ between the Three Dimensionists and theFour Dimensionists, and how the distinguished scientists on each sidewould hurl their ponderous thunderbolts of wisdom against each other. 

Then there would be the religious folk to deal with, for naturally notheologian of any enterprise or self-respect could see a fight like thatgoing on without taking a hand in it. The Churches, of course, had amonopoly of miracles, or at least the traditions of them. The ChristianScientists, blatantly, claimed to work them now, but their subjects diedwith disgusting regularity. So he quickly came to the conclusion that, if he were once to state in plain English that he could accomplish theseemingly impossible; that he, a mere mortal, could make himselfindependent of the ordinary conditions of time and space and break withimpunity all the laws which govern the physical universe, he wouldsimply make himself the centre of a vortex of frenzied disputation whichwould shake the social, religious, and scientific worlds to theirfoundations, and that would certainly not be a pleasant position for aneminent and respected scientist, who was already a certain number ofyears past middle age--to say nothing of the very real harm that mightbe done. 

Of course, he could settle all the disputes instantly, and dazzle thewhole world into the bargain by simply delivering a lecture, say, beforethe Royal Society, on the existence of a world of four dimensions, andthen proving by ocular demonstration that it does exist; but what wouldhappen then? Simply intellectual anarchy. 

Every belief that man had held for ages would be negatived. Forinstance, if there is one dogma to which humanity has clung withunanimous consistency, it is to the dogma that two and two make four. What if he were to prove--as, of course, he could do now that thismysterious hand, outstretched through the mists of the far past, had ledhim across the horizon which divides the two states of Existence--that, under certain circumstances, they would also make three or five? What ifhe demonstrated that even the axioms of Euclid could, under differentconditions, be both true and false at the same time?

No, the thought of overthrowing such a venerable authority and plungingthe scientific world into a hopeless state of intellectual chaos sent ashudder through his nerves. He could not do it. 

And yet it was only the bare, solid truth that he did possess thesepowers. The dream of the death-bridal of Nitocris might possibly havebeen nothing more than just a dream, or possibly the revival of anepisode in a past existence; but the other experiences certainly werenot. He had taken off his ring without unbending his finger. Yes, hecould do it again now; it was just as easy as taking it off in theordinary way. He certainly had not been dreaming when the Mummy hadbecome Queen Nitocris and given him the wine. He could not have been mador dreaming, because his daughter was there. The episode of the strangestealers who had come into his house--that too was real, for they hadleft their lamp and the man's shoes behind them, and the Mummy was gone!

He took a piece of string out of his pocket, tied the two ends, and thenwith the greatest ease tied another knot in the string without undoingthe first. 

A motor-car came humming along the road towards him, and he began tothink what this place was like a thousand years before motors were heardof. That instant the motor vanished, and he found himself standing in alittle glade surrounded by huge forest trees with not so much as afoot-track in sight. He made his way through the trees in what heremembered to be the direction of the road, and presently, through anopening avenue, he saw the sun glittering upon something moving, andheard voices; and then past the end of the avenue half a dozen armouredknights, followed by their squires and a string of men-at-arms guardinga covered waggon, and after these came a motley little crowd oftravellers, some on horseback and some on foot, evidently takingadvantage of the escort to protect them from robbers. 

"Dear me!" said the Professor to himself, not without a little shiver ofapprehension, "this is very interesting. I seem to have put myself backinto the tenth century. Yes, that is certainly tenth-century armour thatthey're wearing. I mustn't let them see me, or there's no telling whatthey'd think of an elderly gentleman in a soft hat and atwentieth-century morning suit. But perhaps, " he went on with hisreasoning, "they can't see me at all. My condition is N to the fourthnow. There's a thousand years between us; I forgot that. At any rate, I'll try it. "

He walked quickly down the avenue, and stood by the side of the ruggedpath looking at the strange spectacle. No one took the slightest noticeof him. And then a chill of awful loneliness struck him. Although hecould see and move and hear, and, no doubt, eat and drink in this world, he was unexistent as regards the inhabitants of it, and yet he knewperfectly well he was standing by the side of the road where themotor-car ought to be, and over there, a few hundred yards away, Nitiwould be sitting in her room or walking in the garden--and she wouldn'tbe born for nearly a thousand years yet. 

It was certainly somewhat disquieting, this power of living in twoexistences and different ages, but it was a matter that would take somelittle time to get accustomed to. 

The next instant the cavalcade and the forest had vanished, and therewas the motor-car, just spinning past him. He was on the WimbledonCommon of the twentieth century once more. He stroked his clean-shavenchin with his finger and thumb, and walked slowly along the path by theside of the road, and then across the grass towards the flagstaff. 

"I think I begin to see it now, " he murmured. "Of course, life, that isto say real, intellectual, or, as some would say, spiritual life, is, after all, the coefficient of that totally unexplainable thing calledthought which enables us to explain most things except itself. Time andspace and location are only realities to us in so far that we can seethem. A human being born blind, dumb, deaf, and without feeling wouldstill, I suppose, be a human being, because it would be conscious ofexistence; it would breathe and know that its heart was beating, butwithout sight or sensation there could be no idea of space--time, to it, would be a meaningless series of breaths or heartbeats. Without touch orsight it could have no idea of form or size, which are merely conditionsof space, and both the past and the future would be absolutelynon-existent for it. "

He paused, and walked on a little way in silence, arguing silently withhimself as to the correctness of these premises. Then he began aloudagain:

"Yes, I think that's about right. And now, suppose that such a beingbecame endowed with the natural senses, one by one. It would go throughall the processes of the physical and mental evolution of humanity untilit reached the highest of human attributes--the ability to think, andtherefore to reason. In other words, from a merely living organism itwould, in the old Scriptural language, have become a living soul. Thatis, obviously, what the words in Genesis were really intended to mean. It would then become capable of development, of proceeding from thepartly-known to the more fully known, until, granted perfect physicaland mental health, it reached what are generally called the limits ofhuman knowledge. "

The Professor's thumb and finger went up to his chin again. He walkedanother two or three hundred yards in silence; then he recommenced hisspoken argument with himself:

"Limits of human knowledge? Yes, that sounds all very well in ordinarylanguage, but are there any? Who was it said that a man trying to reachthose limits was like the child who saw a rainbow for the first time, and started out to find the place where it rested? The simile is notbad, not by any means. Just in the same way, we try to imagine thelimits of time and space, and we can't do it. Only infinity of space andduration are possible, and yet we can't grasp them; still, they are theonly possible states in which we can exist. And now, as I have had aglimpse of the past, I wonder what this place would be like in tenthousand years?

"Good heavens, how cold it is!" He shivered, and buttoned up his coat, and continued, looking about him on the vast snow-field dotted withhummocks of ice which lay bleak and lifeless about him: "Ah, I supposeeither the Gulf Stream has got diverted, or the earth's axis has shiftedand we are in another glacial epoch. 

"WE!"

Again the shock of utter isolation struck him, but it seemed to hit himharder this time. The world that he had been born in lay ten thousandyears behind him. For all he knew, he might be standing upon what wasnow the earth's North Pole. Civilisation, as he had known it, might havebeen wiped off the face of the earth, and the remnants of humanity flungback into savagery. He looked up at the sun, and saw that it was almostexactly where it had been, and that it had not perceptibly diminished inpower. 

The idea was not at all pleasant to him, and very naturally his thoughtsturned back once more to his cosy home that had been on the edge ofWimbledon Common ten thousand years ago. He remembered, with a curioussort of thrill, some notes which he had to complete that morning for hislecture--and in the same instant he was walking back across the turftowards his house through the warm May sunshine. 

"Yes, " he said to himself, as he drew a deep breath of the sweet springair. "I was right; that's it. The fourth dimension is a form of durationin some way correlated with space. I shall have to work that out in thelight of the greater knowledge, which Her vanished Majesty has given me, and which I almost attained to in Egypt. Wherefore, existence in a stateof four dimensions, or the world of N4, as I have always called it, is, roughly speaking, one. Time and space are, as it were, two sides of thesame shield, and a person living in that world can see both of them atonce. Wherefore, past, present, future, length, breadth, thickness, hereand there are all the same thing to him. It's a great pity there isn't afourth dimensional language as well, so that one could state thesethings a little more precisely. But that, of course, is out of thequestion. 

"Really, I can hardly make myself understand it as far as words andphrases are concerned; still, there it is; and now the question arises:Having got this power, as I certainly have, of transferring myself fromone existence to another by a mere effort of thought, because it is veryevident that this power is really only an extension or anexaltation--confound the language of the third dimension--I can't sayit! Although I understand what it is, it won't go into words. What am Ito do with it? Its possibilities are, of course, a littleappalling--that is to say, from the point of view of N3. I have not theslightest desire to shake the fabric of Society to pieces, as I coulddo, and still less have I taste for spending the rest of my scientificcareer in what the world would very easily believe to be conjuringtricks. I hope I am not going to be another of the unnumbered proofs ofSolomon's wisdom when he said, 'Whoso getteth knowledge, gettethsorrow. ' I wonder what sort of advice Her late Majesty of Egypt----

"Dear me, what nonsense I am talking! Her late Majesty? That won't do atall--she has reached the Higher Plane too, so, of course, she can't bedead----"

And then with the force of a powerful electric shock, the terrible factstruck him that, for those who had reached that plane, there was nodeath! Here was a new light on the weird problem which he had somehowbeen called upon to deal with. 

"I wonder what Her Majesty would really think of it?" he murmured, aftera few moments of mental bewilderment. "Dear me, who's that?"

He looked up, and, to his utter amazement, he saw Queen Nitocris, arrayed exactly as she had been on that terrible night of her bridalwith Menkau-Ra, walking towards him; a perfect incarnation of beauty, but----

"Oh dear me!" said the Professor, "this will never do. Good heavens!everybody in Wimbledon knows me, and--well, of course, Her Majesty isvery lovely and all that; but what on earth would people think if anyone saw me strolling across the Common in company with an EgyptianQueen--to say nothing of the costume--and the image of my own daughter, too!"

The figure approached, and the Queen, dazzlingly and bewilderinglybeautiful, held out her hands to him, and their eyes met and they lookedat each other across the gulf of fifty centuries. Impelled by anirresistible impulse coming from whence he knew not, he clasped them inhis, and said, apparently by no volition of his own, in the AncientTongue:

"Ma-Rim[=o]n greets Nitocris, the Queen! What hath he done that heshould be once more so highly honoured?"

At that moment a carriage came by along the road quite close to them. Two of its occupants were looking straight towards them. They passedwithout taking the slightest notice, as they must have done had theyseen such a marvellous figure as that of the Queen. And then heremembered that, unless she willed it, no one in the world of N3 couldsee her, since it was for her, as it was for him now, to make herselfvisible or invisible as she chose to pass on to or beyond the lowerPlane of Existence. These things were quickly becoming more plain to hiscomprehension, although, as will be readily understood, it was not alesson to be learnt very easily. 

"Welcome, Ma-Rim[=o]n, " replied the Queen, in a voice which filled himwith many distant and strange memories, "but let there be no talkbetween us of honour, for in this state there is neither honour nordishonour, neither ruler nor subject, neither good nor evil, since allthese are absorbed in the Perfect Knowledge. Yet it is the will of theHigh Gods that I should help thee and guide thee in that new world whosethreshold thou hast so lately crossed. It was my hand led thee from thepath of Light to the path of Darkness, and for that I have paid thepenalty as well as thou. 

"For many ages, as time is counted in that other world, we have toiled, sometimes together, sometimes apart, sometimes in honour, sometimes indishonour, yet ever struggling on to regain the heights which then wehad so nearly won. The High Gods permitted me to reach them first, andtherefore it was my hand which was stretched out to lead thee across theBorder. 

"Now, my message to thee is this: Thou hast powers which no other manliving in that lower state possesses; see to it that they be usedrightly. Forget not that in that other world sin and shame, oppressionand misery, are as rife as, within the limits of time, they have everbeen. Make it thy concern that the forces of evil shall be weaker andnot stronger for the use of these powers to which thou hast attained. 

"We shall meet often in that other world, and that living other-self ofmine, thy daughter in the flesh and bearer of my name, through everymoment of her time-life, I shall watch and guard her, for she, too--although she knows it not--is approaching the light never seen bythe Eye of Flesh, and, though strange things should befall her, it willbe for thee in that other state, knowing what thou dost in the HigherLife, to help me in this task as in others. Now, farewell, Ma-Rim[=o]n, "she said, holding out her hands again. 

As he took them, they melted in his grasp, two lustrous eyes looked athim for a moment and grew dim, and he was once more alone on WimbledonCommon. 

"I think I'll be getting home, " he said, looking at his watch, and heturned and walked slowly with bent head and hands clasped behind hisback to the house. 

CHAPTER VI

THE LAW OF SELECTION

In actual mundane time, to use a somewhat halting expression, ProfessorMarmion's walk had occupied about a couple of hours. His strangeexperiences had, of course, occupied none, since they had taken placebeyond the bounds of Time. 

Meanwhile, Miss Nitocris had finished her digest of the morning papers, given the cook a few directions, and then gone out on the lawn at theback of the house to have a quiet read and enjoy the soft air andsunshine of that lovely May morning. She lay down in a hammock chair inthe shade of a fine old cedar at the bottom of the lawn, and began toread, and soon she began to dream. The news in the papers, even the mostresponsible of them, had been very serious. The shadow of war was oncemore rising in the East--war which, if it came, England could scarcelyescape, and if it did Someone would have to go and fight in that mostperilous of all forms of battle, torpedo attack. 

The book she had taken with her was one of exceedingly clever versewritten years before by just such another as herself; a girl, beautiful, learned, and yet absolutely womanly, and endowed, moreover, with thatgift so rare among learned women, the gift of humour. Long ago, thisgirl had taken the fever in Egypt, and died of it; but before she diedshe wrote a book of poems and verses, which, though long forgotten--ifever known--by the multitude, is still treasured and re-read by some, and of these Miss Nitocris was one. Just now the book was open at thehundred and forty-third page, on which there is a portion of a poementitled _Natural Selection_. 

Miss Nitocris' eyes alternately rested on the page for a few moments andthen lifted and looked over the lawn towards the open French windows. The verses ran thus:

 _"But there comes an idealless lad, With a strut, and a stare, and a smirk; And I watch, scientific though sad, The Law of Selection at work. _

 _"Of Science he hasn't a trace, He seeks not the How and the Why, But he sings with an amateur's grace And he dances much better than I. _

 _"And we know the more dandified males By dance and by song win their wives-- 'Tis a law that with_ Aves _prevails, And even in_ Homo _survives. "_

"Just my precious papa's ideas!" she murmured, with a toss of her head, and something like a little sniff. "What a nuisance it all is!Aristocracy of intellect, indeed! Just as if any of us, even my dearDad, if he _is_ considered one of the cleverest and most learned men inEurope, were anything more than what Newton called himself--a littlechild picking up pebbles and grains of sand on the shore of a boundlessand fathomless ocean, and calling them knowledge. I'm not quite surethat that's correct, but it's something like it. Still, that's not thequestion. How on earth am I to tell poor Mark? Oh dear! he'll have to be'Mr Merrill' now, I suppose. What a shame! I've half a mind to rebel, and vindicate the Law of Selection at any price. Ah, there he is. Well, I suppose I've got to get through it somehow. "

As she spoke, one of the French windows under the verandah opened, and aman in a panama hat, Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers, came out andraised his hat as he stepped off the verandah. 

With a sigh and a frown she closed the book sharply, got up and tossedit into the chair. No daintier or more desirable incarnation of theeternal feminine could have been imagined than she presented as shewalked slowly across the lawn to meet the man whom the Law of Selectionhad designated as her natural mate, and whom her father, for reasonspresently to be made plain, had forbidden her to marry on pain of exilefrom his affections for ever. 

The face he turned towards her as she approached was not exactlyhandsome as an artist or some women would have defined the word, but itwas strong, honest, and open--just the sort of face, in short, to matchthe broad shoulders, the long, cleanly-shaped, athletic limbs, and thefive feet eleven of young, healthy manhood with which Nature hadassociated it. 

A glance at his face and another one at him generally would, in spite ofthe costume, have convinced any one who knows the genus that MarkMerrill was a naval officer. He had that quiet air of restrainedstrength, of the instinctive habit of command which somehow or otherdoes not distinguish any other fighting man in the world in quite thesame degree. His name and title were Lieutenant-Commander Mark GwynneMerrill, of His Majesty's Destroyer _Blazer_, one of the coolest-headedand yet most judiciously reckless officers in the Service. 

There was a light in his wide-set, blue-grey eyes, and a smile on hisstrong, well-cut lips which were absolutely boyish in their anticipationof sheer delight as she approached; and then, after one glance at herface, his own changed with a suddenness, which, to a disinterestedobserver, would have been almost comic. 

"I'm awfully sorry, Mark, " she began, in a tone which literally sent ashiver--a real physical shiver--through him, for he was very, very muchin love with her. 

"What on earth is the matter, Niti?" he said, looking at the fair faceand downcast eyes which, for the first time since he had asked theeternal question and she had answered it according to his heart'sdesire, had refused to meet his. "Let's have it out at once. It's a lotbetter to be shot through the heart than starved to death, you know. Isuppose it's something pretty bad, or you wouldn't be looking down atthe grass like that, " he continued. 

"Oh, it's--it's--it's a _beastly_ shame, that's what it is, so there!"And as she said this Miss Nitocris Marmion, B. Sc. , stamped her foot onthe turf and felt inclined to burst out crying, just as a milkmaid mighthave done. 

"Which means, " said Mark, pulling himself up, as a man about to face amortal enemy would do, "that the Professor has said 'No. ' In otherwords, he has decided that his learned and lovely daughter shall not, asI suppose he would put it, mate with an animal of a lower order--a merefighting-man. Well, Miss Marmion----"

"Oh, don't; _please_ don't!" she exclaimed, almost piteously, droppinginto a big wicker armchair by the verandah and putting her hands overher eyes. 

He had an awful fear that she was going to cry, and, as the Easternssay, he felt his heart turning to water within him. But her highlytrained intellect came to her aid. She swallowed the sob, and looked upat him with clear, dry eyes. 

"It isn't quite that, Mark, " she continued. "You know I wouldn't standanything like that even from the dear old Dad. Much as I love him, andeven, as you know, in some senses almost worship him, it isn't that. It's this theory of heredity of his--this scientific faith--bigotry, Icall it, for it is just the same to him as Catholicism was to theSpaniards in the sixteenth century. In fact, I told him the other nightthat he reminded me of the Spanish grandee whose daughters wereconvicted of heresy by the Inquisition, and who showed his devotion tothe Church by lighting the faggots which burned them with his ownhands. "

"And what did he say to that?" said the sailor, not because he wanted toknow, but because there was an awkward pause that needed filling. 

"I would rather not tell you, Mark, if you don't mind, " she said slowlyand looking very straightly and steadily at him. "You know--well, Ineedn't tell you again what I've told you already. You know I care foryou, and I always shall, but I cannot--I dare not--disobey my father. Iowe all that I ever had to him. He has been father, mother, teacher, friend, companion--everything to me. We are absolutely alone in theworld. If I could leave him for anybody, I'd leave him for you, but Iwon't disobey him and break his heart, as I believe I should, even foryou. "

"You're perfectly right, Niti, perfectly, " said Commander Merrill, in atone of steady conviction which inspired her with an almost irresistibleimpulse to get up and kiss him. "You couldn't honestly do anything else, and I know the shortest way to make you hate me would be to ask you todo that something else. But still, " he went on, thrusting his hands intothe pockets of his Norfolk jacket, "I do think I have a sort of rightto have some sort of explanation, and with your permission I shall justask him for one. "

"For goodness' sake, don't do that, Mark--don't!" she pleaded. "Youmight as well go and ask a Jewish Rabbi why he wouldn't let his daughtermarry a Christian. Wise and clever as he is in other things, poor Dad issimply a fanatic in this, and--well, if he did condescend to explain, I'm afraid you might mistake what he would think the correct scientificway of putting it, for an insult, and I couldn't bear to think of youquarrelling. You know you're the only two people in the world I--I--Ohdear, what _shall_ I do!"

It was at this point that the Law of Natural Selection stepped in. Natural laws of any sort have very little respect for the refinements ofwhat mortals are pleased to call their philosophy. Professor Marmion wasa very great man--some men said he was the greatest scientist of hisage--but at this moment he was but as a grain of sand among the wheelsof the mighty machine which grinds out human and other destinies. 

Commander Merrill took a couple of long, swift strides towards the chairin which Nitocris was leaning back with her hands pressed to her eyes. He picked her up bodily, as he might have picked a child of seven up, put her protesting hands aside, and slowly and deliberately kissed herthree times squarely on the lips as if he meant it; and the third timeher lips moved too. Then he whispered:

"Good-bye, dear, for the present, at any rate!"

After which he deposited her tenderly in the chair again, and, with justone last look, turned and walked with quick, angry strides across thelawn and round the semi-circular carriage-drive, saying some things tohimself between his clenched teeth, and thinking many more. 

A few yards outside the gate he came face to face with the Professor. 

"Good-morning, sir, " said Merrill, with a motion of his hand towards hishat. 

"Oh, good-morning, Mr Merrill, " replied the Professor a little stiffly, for relations between them had been strained for some considerable timenow. "I presume you have been to the house. I am sorry that you did notfind me at home, but if it is anything urgent and you have half an hourto spare----"

He stopped in his speech, silenced by a shock of something like shame. He was prevaricating. He knew perfectly well that "it" was the mosturgent errand a man could have, next to his duty to his country, thathad brought the young sailor to his house. Twenty-four hours ago hewould not have noticed such a trifle: but it was no trifle now; for tohis clearer vision it was a sin, an evasion of the immutable laws ofTruth, utterly unworthy of the companion of Nitocris the Queen in thatother existence which he had just left. 

"You have seen Niti, I suppose?" he continued, with singular directness. 

"Yes, " replied Merrill. "You will remember that the week was up thismorning, and so I called to learn my fate, and your daughter has toldme. I presume that your decision is final, and that, therefore, there isnothing more to be said on the subject. "

"My decisions are usually final, Mr Merrill, because I do not arrive atthem without due consideration. I am deeply grieved, as I have told youbefore, but my decision is a deduction from what I consider to be anunbreakable chain of argument which I need not trouble you with. Personally and socially, of course, it would be impossible for me tohave the slightest objection to you. In fact, apart from your execrablefighting profession, I like you; but otherwise, as you know, I cannothelp looking at you as the survival of an age of barbarism, a hark-backof humanity, for all the honour in which that trade is held by anignorant and deluded world; and so for the last time it is my painfultask to tell you that there can be no union between your blood and mine. Outside that, of course, there is no reason why we should not remainfriends. "

"Very well, sir, " replied Merrill, "I have heard your decision, and MissMarmion has told me she is resolved to abide by it; I should besomething less than a man if I attempted to alter her resolve. We areordered on foreign service this week, and so for the present, good-bye. "

He lifted his hat, turned away and walked down the road with teethclenched and eyes fixed straight in front of him, and a shade of greyunder the tan of his skin. 

The Professor looked after him for a few moments and turned in at thegate, saying:

"It's a great pity in some ways--many ways, in fact. He's a fine youngfellow and a thorough gentleman, and I'm afraid they're very fond ofeach other, but of course to let Niti marry him would be the negation ofthe belief and teaching of more than half a lifetime. I hope the poorgirl won't take it too keenly to heart. I'm afraid he seems rather hardhit, poor chap, but of course there's no help for it. Just fancy me thefather-in-law of a fighting man, and the grandfather of what might be abrood of fighters! No, no; that is quite out of the question. "

CHAPTER VII

MOSTLY POSSIBILITIES

The Professor went into the garden feeling just a trifle uncomfortable. He not only loved his daughter dearly, but he also had a very deep andwell-justified respect for her intellect and scholarly attainments. Herunfortunate love for a man whom he honestly believed to be a totallyunfit mate for her was the only shadow that had ever drifted betweenthem since she had become, not only his daughter, but his friend andcompanion, and the enthusiastic sharer of his intellectual pursuits. Ofcourse, anything like a scene was utterly out of the question; but thereis a silence more eloquent than words, and it was that that he wasmostly afraid of. 

He found her walking up and down the lawn with her hands behind herback. She was a little paler than usual, and there was a shadow in hereyes. She came towards him, and said quite quietly:

"Mr Merrill has been here, Dad, to say good-bye. I told him, and so wehave said it. "

The simple words were spoken with a quiet and yet tender dignity whichmade him feel prouder than ever of his daughter and all the more sorryfor her. 

"I met him just outside the gate, Niti, " he replied, looking at herthrough a little mist in his eyes, "He spoke most honourably, and likethe gentleman that he is. I hope you will believe me----"

"I believe you in everything, Dad, " she said quickly; "and since thematter is ended, it will only hurt us both to say any more about it. Now, I have some news, " she continued, in a tone whose alteration waswell assumed. 

"Ah! and what is that, Niti?" he asked, looking up at her with a smileof relief. 

"It's something that I hope you will be able to get some of your solemnfun out of. One of the items in the 'Social Intelligence' to-day statesthat your old friend, Professor Hoskins van Huysman, and his wife anddaughter have come to London, and will stay ten days before 'proceeding'to Paris and the South of France, and so, of course, they will be herefor your lecture, and naturally he will not resist the temptation ofmaking one of your audience. "

"Van Huysman!" exclaimed the Professor. "That Yankee charlatan, confoundhim! I shouldn't wonder if he had the impudence to take part in thediscussion afterwards. "

"Then, " laughed Nitocris, "you must take care to have all your heavyguns ready for action. But, of course, Dad, you won't let your--well, your scientific feelings get mixed up with social matters, will you?Because, you know, I like Brenda very much; she's the prettiest andbrightest girl I know. You know, she can do almost anything, and yetshe's as unaffected----"

"As some one else we know, " interrupted the Professor with anothersmile. 

"And then, you know, Mrs van Huysman, " continued Nitocris with a littleflush, "is such a dear, innocent, good-natured thing, so good-heartedand so deliciously American. Of course, you can fight with the Professoras much as you like in print, and in lecture halls--I know you both loveit--but you'll still be friends socially, won't you?"

"Which, of course, means garden-parties and river trips, and similarfrivolities that learned young ladies love so much. You needn't troubleabout that, Niti. I shall not allow my zeal for scientific truth tointerfere with your social pleasures, you may be quite sure. Science, asyou know, has nothing to do with what we call Society, except as one ofthe most curious phenomena of Sociology. Drive into town whenever youlike and see them. Present my respectful compliments, and ask them todinner, or whatever you like. And now I must get to my work--I've onlythree more days, and my notes are not anything like complete. "

"Very well, Dad; I think I'll telephone them--they're stopping at theSavoy--extravagant people!--to say that I'll run in this afternoon andhave tea. Oh! and, by the way, " she added, as he turned towards thehouse, "there's another item. Lord Leighton has been called homesuddenly on some business, and will be here the day after to-morrow. "

"Oh! indeed, " said the Professor, pausing. "Well, I shall be delightedto see him--but I don't know what I shall have to say to him about thatMummy. "

Nitocris turned away towards her chair with a faint smile on her lips. With a woman's rapid intuition, she had seen a glimmer of hope in theconjunction of these two announcements. Although Professor van Huysman'spersonal fortune was not as great as his attainments or his fame, Brendawould be very rich, for her mother was the only sister of a widowerwhose sole interest and occupation in life was piling up dollars. He haddollars in everything, from pork and lumber to canned goods, and her ownfather's scientific inventions, and Brenda was the bright particularstar of his affections. 

On the other hand, Lord Leighton, son and heir of the invalid Earl ofKyneston, was a fairly well-to-do young nobleman, good-looking, ascholar, and a good sportsman, who had done brilliantly at Cambridge, and then devoted himself to Egyptian exploration with a whole-souledardour which had quickly won Professor Marmion's heart, and a readyconsent to his "trying his luck" with his daughter to boot. This had nota little to do with the present unfortunate condition of her own loveaffairs. 

She had already refused Lord Leighton, letting him down, of course, asgently as possible, but withal firmly and uncompromisingly. Who couldbetter console him than this beautiful and brilliant American girl, andwhat would better suit that lovely head of hers than an English coronetwhich was bright with the untarnished traditions of five hundred years?

Wherefore, then and there, Miss Nitocris Marmion, Bachelor of Science, Licentiate of Literature and Art, and Gold-Medallist in HigherMathematics at the University of London, decided upon her firstexperiment in match-making. 

When the Professor got into his study and shut the door, there was acurious smiling expression upon his refined, intellectual features. Instead of sitting down to his desk, he lit a pipe and began walking upand down the room, communing with his own soul in isolated sentences, aswas his wont when he was trying to arrive at any difficult decision. 

In order to appreciate his deliberations and their result, it will benecessary to say that Professor Hoskins van Huysman was one of the mostdistinguished physicists in America, and he had also gained distinctionin applied mathematics. In addition to this, he was the inventor of manymarvellous contrivances for the demonstration and measurement of themore obscure physical forces. His official position was that of Lecturerand Demonstrator in Physical Science in Harvard University. 

He and Professor Marmion had been deadly opponents in the field ofcontroversy for years. The latter had once detected an error in a verylearned monograph which he had published in the _Scientific American_ onthe "Co-Relation of the Etheric Forces in the Phenomena of Light andHeat, " and of course he had never forgiven him. From that day forth arelentless duel of wits between them had continued. Every essay, monograph, or book that the one published, the other criticised withcold but ruthless severity, to the great delectation of the scientificworld, if not to the clarification of its atmosphere. 

Socially, they were cordial acquaintances, if not friends. What theyreally thought of each other was known only to themselves and to theirimmediate domestic circles. 

Naturally Professor Marmion was well aware that his elevation to thehigher plane of N4 gave him an enormous advantage over his adversary, for now he could, if he chose, smite him hip and thigh, in a strictlyscientific sense, and reduce him to utter confusion and public ridicule, and the question which he had come to discuss with himself was: In howfar, if at all, was he justified in so using the extra-human powers withwhich he had been endowed?

The moment that he began to do this he became conscious of anothercurious complication of his recent development. On the higher plane hehad argued the matter out with no more emotion than a calculatingmachine would have betrayed, and he had come to a conclusion that wasabsolutely luminous and just: but now that he came to argue the samequestion on the lower plane he found that he was doing it under humanlimitations, and therefore with human feelings. 

"No, " he said in the peculiar low, musing tone which was habitual to himduring these monologues, "no; after all, I do not see that there wouldbe any harm in that. Wrong, nay, sinful it would undoubtedly be to proveto demonstration that religious, social, and physical laws, may, undercertain changing circumstances, be both true and false at the same time. I am, or was--or whatever it is--perfectly right in considering that todeliberately produce such a chaos as that would do would be the mostcolossal crime that a man could commit against humanity, as far as thisplane is concerned, but there can be no harm in making a fewmathematical experiments. "

He took a few more turns up and down the room, pulling slowly at hispipe, and with his mind not wholly unoccupied with speculations as towhat Professor Van Huysman's feelings might be if he were watching thesaid experiments. Then he began again:

"At the worst I shall only be carrying certain investigations a fewsteps farther, and developing theories which have been seriouslydiscussed by the hardest-headed scholars in the world. Both the Greekand the Alexandrian philosophers speculated on the possibility of astate of four dimensions; and didn't Cayley, before this very Society, deliberately say that at the present rate of progress in the HigherMathematics, the eye of Intellect might ere long see across the borderof tri-dimensional space?

"Surely I cannot do any very great harm by carrying his arguments totheir logical conclusions--if I can. Of course, physical demonstrationswould never do: I should frighten my brilliant and learned audience outof its seven senses; but, as for mere mathematics--well, I may make themstare, and set a good many highly-respected brains--my gifted friendHuysman's, among them--working pretty hard. Of course, he will beespecially furious, but there's no harm in that either. Yes, I shallcertainly do it. If he can't understand my demonstrations, that's not myconcern. "

He went and sat down at his desk, still smiling, and went very carefullythrough the notes he had already made, and then through ProfessorHartley's letter, and his speculations on the Forty-Seventh Proposition. This done, he plunged into a fresh vortex of figures, and symbols, anddiagrams, in which he remained for the next two hours, his mindhovering, as it were, over the borderland which at once divides andunites the higher and the lower planes. When he returned to earth, thedreamy, abstracted look faded away from his face; his eyes lit up, andthe pleasant smile came back. 

He opened the middle drawer in his desk, and took out the first page ofthe fair copy of his notes, which Nitocris had made for him--thinkingthe while how easy it would have been for him in the state of N4 totake it out without opening the drawer at all--and looked at it. It washeaded:

"RECENT PROGRESS IN THE HIGHER MATHEMATICS. "

He crossed the title out carefully, and wrote above it:

"AN EXAMINATION OF SOME SUPPOSED MATHEMATICAL IMPOSSIBILITIES. "

"There, " he murmured, as he put the sheet back; "I think that such atheme, adequately treated, will considerably astonish my learned friendsin general, and my esteemed critic, Van Huysman, in particular. "

From which remark it will be gathered that Franklin Marmion hadcertainly recrossed the dividing line between the two Planes ofExistence. 

CHAPTER VIII

MISS BRENDA ARRIVES, AND PHADRIG THE EGYPTIAN PROPHESIES

"Now, this is just too sweet of you, Niti, to come so soon after we gothere. In five minutes more I should have written you a note, asking youand the Professor to come and take lunch with us to-morrow, and hereyou've anticipated me, so we have the pleasure of seeing you all thesooner. "

These were the words with which Miss Brenda van Huysman greeted Nitocrisas she entered the drawing-room of the suite of apartments which formedher home for the time being in London. I say her home advisedly, because, although her father and mother also occupied it, she wasvirtually, if not nominally, mistress undisputed of the splendidcamping-place. 

She was an almost perfect type of the highly developed, highly educatedAmerican girl of to-day, a marvellous compound of intense energy andlanguorous grace. She had done as brilliantly at Vassar as Nitocris haddone at Girton and London, and she had also rowed stroke in the Ladies'Eight, and was champion fencer of the College. Yet as far as herphysical presence was concerned, she was just a "Gibson Girl" of thedaintiest type--fair-skinned, blue-eyed, golden-haired--her hair had adarker gleam of bronze in it in certain lights--exquisitely mouldedfeatures which seemed capable of every sort of expression within a fewchanging moments, and a poise of head and carriage of body which onlyperfect health and the most scientific physical training can produce. Ina word, she was one of those miraculous developments of femininity whichNature seems to have made a speciality for the particular benefit of theyounger branch of the Anglo-Saxon race. As for her dress--well, theshortest and best way to describe that is to say that it exactly suitedher. 

As she spoke, and their hands met, Mrs van Huysman got up and cametowards them, saying:

"Good afternoon, Miss Marmion. We were real glad to get your 'phone, andit's good to see you again. How's the Professor? Too busy to come withyou, I suppose, as usual. We see he's going to lecture before the RoyalSociety on the tenth, and I reckon we shall all be there to listen tohim. I shouldn't wonder but there'll be trouble as usual between him andmy husband. It seems a pity that two such clever men should waste somuch time in scrapping over these scientific things, which don't seem tomatter half a cent, anyhow. "

"Oh, I don't know, " laughed Nitocris, as they shook hands. "You see, Mrsvan Huysman, _they_ do think it matters a great deal, and, besides, I'mquite sure that they both enjoy it very thoroughly. It's their way oftaking recreation, you see, just as a couple of pitmen will try andpound one another to pieces, just for the fun of the thing. It's only acase of intellectual fisticuffs, after all. "

"Why, certainly, " said Brenda, as she rang for tea; "I'm just sure thatPoppa never has such a good time as when he thinks he's tearing one ofProfessor Marmion's theories into little pieces and dancing on them, andI shouldn't wonder if Professor Marmion didn't feel about the same. "

"I dare say he does, " said Nitocris, remembering what had happened inthe morning; "it's only one of the thousand unexplained puzzles of humannature. As you know, my father hates fighting in the physical sense witha hatred which is almost fanatical, and yet, when it comes to a battleof wits, he's like a schoolboy in a football match. "

"It's just another development of the same thing, " said Brenda. "Man wasborn a fighting animal, and I guess he'll remain one till the end oftime; and with all our progress in civilisation and science, and allthat, the man who doesn't enjoy a fight of some sort isn't of very muchaccount. Now, here's tea, which is just now a more interesting subject. Sit down, and we'll talk about vanities. I'm just perishing to see whatRegent Street and Bond Street are like. I don't think I've spent tendollars in London yet. I'm twenty-two to-morrow, Niti, and mygrandfather, who is just about the best grandfather a girl ever had, cabled across to the Napier people, and they've sent round the dandiestsix-cylinder, thirty-horse landaulette that you ever saw, even inCentral Park, and a driver to match--only I shan't have much use forhim, except to look after the automobile. I'll run you round in herafter tea, and you can reintroduce me to the stores--I mean shops; Iforgot we were in London. "

Mrs van Huysman, as usual, took a back seat while her daughter dispensedtea, and did most of the talking. She was a lady of moderateproportions, and, unlike a good many American women, she had kept hergood looks until very close on fifty. She was full of shrewd commonsense, but she had been born in a different generation and in adifferent grade of life, and therefore her attire inclined rather tomagnificence than to elegance, in spite of her daughter's restraininghand and frankly expressed counsel. She had a profound respect for herhusband's attainments without in the least understanding them, and shevery naturally held an unshakable belief that no quite ordinary woman, as she called herself, had ever been miraculously blessed with such adaughter as she had. 

Nitocris was just beginning her second cup of tea when the door openedand her father's foeman in the arena of Science came in. He was the veryantithesis of Professor Marmion; a trifle below middle height, square-shouldered and strongly built, with thick, iron-grey hair, andsomewhat heavy features which would have been almost commonplace but forthe broad, square forehead above them, and the brilliant steel-greyeyes which glittered restlessly under the thick brows, and also acertain sensitiveness about the nostrils and lips which seemed curiouslyout of keeping with the strength of the lower jaw. His whole beingsuggested a combination of restless energy and inflexible determination. If he had not been one of America's greatest scientists, he wouldprobably have been one of her most ruthless and despotic Dollar Lords. 

"Ah, Miss Marmion, good afternoon! Pleased to see you, " he saidheartily, as Nitocris got up and held out her hand. "Very kind of you tolook us up so soon. How's the Professor? Well, I hope. I see he'sscheduled for a lecture before the Royal Society. He's got somethingstartling to tell us about, I hope. It's some time since we had anythingof a scientific scrap between us. "

"And therefore, " said Nitocris, as she took his hand, "I suppose you arejust dying for another one. "

"Well, not quite dying, " laughed the Professor. "Don't look half dead, do I? Just curious, that's all. You can't give me any idea of thesubject, I suppose?"

"I could, Professor, " she replied, with a malicious twinkle in her eye, because she had already had a talk with her father on the altered titleof the lecture, "but if I did, you know, I should only, as we say inEngland, be spoiling sport. However, I don't think I shall be playingtraitor if I tell you to prepare for a little surprise. "

Professor van Huysman's manner changed instantly, and the warrior soulof the scientist was in arms. 

"Oh yes! A surprise, eh?" he said, with something between a snort and asnarl in his voice. "Then I guess----"

"Poppa, sit down and have some tea, " said his daughter, quietly butfirmly. 

He sat down without a word, took his cup of tea and a slice of bread andbutter; listened in silence as long as he could bear the entirelyfeminine conversation on a subject in which he hadn't the remotestinterest, and then he put his cup down with a little jerk, got up with abigger one, and said, holding out his hand to Miss Nitocris:

"Well, Miss Marmion, I shall have to say good afternoon. You see we'veonly just reached this side, and I've got quite a lot of things toattend to. Bring your father along to dinner to-morrow night, if youcan; I shall be glad to meet him again. You needn't be afraid: we shan'tshoot. "

When he had gone, Brenda rang and ordered the motor-car to be ready inhalf an hour. Then they finished their tea and talk, and Brenda andNitocris went and put on their wraps--not the imitation of the mediævalarmour which is used for serious motor-driving, but just dust-cloaks andmushrooms, both of which Brenda lent to her friend. As they came backthrough the drawing-room, she said to her mother:

"Well, Mamma, the car's ready, I believe. Won't you join us in a littlerun round town?"

"When I want to take a run into the Other World in one of those infernalmachines of yours, Brenda, " said her mother, with a mild touch ofsarcasm in her tone, "I'll ask you to let me come. This afternoon I feeljust a little bit too comfortable for a journey like that. "

"It's a curious thing, " said Brenda, as they were going down in thelift, "Mamma's as healthy a woman as ever lived, and she's American too, and yet I believe she'd as soon get on top of a broncho as into anautomobile. "

The car was waiting for them in the courtyard under the glass awning. Asmart-looking young _chauffeur_ in orthodox costume touched his cap andset the engine going. The gold-laced porters handed them into the twofront seats, and the _chauffeur_ effaced himself in the _tonneau_. MissBrenda put one hand on the steering-wheel and the other on the firstspeed lever, and the car slid away, as though it had been running onice, towards the great arched entrance. 

As they turned to the left on their way westward, a shabbily dressed manand woman stepped back from the roadway on to the pavement. For a momentthey stared at the car in mute astonishment; then the man gripped thewoman tightly by the arm and led her away out of the ever-passingthrong, whispering to her in Coptic:

"Did'st thou see her, Neb-Anat--the Queen--the Queen in the living fleshsitting there in the self-mover, the devil-machine? To what unholythings has she come--she, the daughter of the great Rameses! But it maybe that she is held in bondage under the spell of the evil powers thatcreated these devil-chariots which pant like souls in agony and breathewith the breath of Hell. She must be rescued, Neb-Anat. "

"Rescued?" echoed the woman, in a tone that was half scorn and halffear. "Is it so long ago that thou hast forgotten how we tried to rescueher mummy from the hands of these infidels? Now, behold, she is aliveagain, living in the midst of this vast, foul city of the infidels, clothed after the fashion of their women, and yet still beautiful andsmiling. Pent-Ah, didst thou not even see her laugh as she rode past us?Alas! I tell thee that our Queen is laid under some awful spell, doubtless because she has in some way incurred the displeasure of theHigh Gods, and if that is so, not even the Master himself could rescueher. What, then, shall we do?"

"Thy saying is near akin to blasphemy, Neb-Anat, " he murmured in reply, "and yet there may be a deep meaning in it. Nevertheless, to-night, nay, this hour, the Master must know of what we have seen. "

They walked along, conversing in murmurs, as far as Waterloo Bridge, then they turned and crossed it and walked down Waterloo Road into theBorough Road, and then turned off into a narrow, grimy street whichended in a small court whose three sides were formed of wretched houses, upon which many years of misery, poverty, and crime had set theirunmistakable stamp. They crossed the court diagonally and entered ahouse in the right-hand corner. They went up the worn, carpetless stairswith a rickety handrail on one side and the torn, peeling paper on theother, and stopped before a door which opened on to a narrow landing onthe first floor. Pent-Ah knocked with his knuckles on the panel, firstthree times quickly, and then twice slowly. Then came the sound of thedrawing of a bolt, and the door opened. 

They went in with shuffling feet and crouching forms, and the womanclosed the door behind her. A tall, gaunt, yellow-skinned man, his headperfectly bald and the lower part of his face covered with a heavy whitebeard and moustache, faced them. His clothing was half Western, halfOriental. A pair of thin, creased, grey tweed trousers met, or almostmet, a pair of Turkish slippers, showing an inch of bare, lean ankle inbetween. His body was covered with a dirty yellow robe of fine woollenstuff, whose ragged fringe reached to his knees, and a faded red scarfwas folded twice round his neck, one end hanging down his breast and theother down his back. As Pent-Ah closed the door and bolted it, he saidto him in Coptic:

"So ye have returned! What news of the Queen? For without that surely yewould not have dared to come before me. "

He spoke the words as a Pharaoh might have spoken them to a slave, andas though the bare, low-ceiled, shabby room, with its tawdry Orientalcurtains and ornaments, had been an audience-chamber in the palace ofPepi in old Memphis, for this was he who had once been Anemen-Ha, HighPriest of Ptah, in the days when Nitocris was Queen of the Two Kingdoms. 

"We have seen her once more, Lord, " said Pent-Ah, "scarce an hour ago, dressed after the fashion of these heathen English, and seated in adevil-chariot beside another woman, as fair almost as she. It is true, Lord, even as we said, that our Lady the Queen is in the flesh again, and yet she knows us not. It may be that the High Gods have laid somespell upon her. "

"Spell or no spell, the mission which is ours is the same, " was thereply. "It is plain that a miracle has been worked. The Mummy whichwe--I as well as you--were charged to recover and restore to itsresting-place, has vanished. The Queen has returned to live yet anotherlife in the flesh, but the command remains the same. Mummy or woman, sheshall be taken back to her ancient home to await the day when the DivineAssessors shall determine the penalty of her guilt. The task will behard, yet nothing is impossible to those who serve the High Godsfaithfully. Ye have done well to bring me this news promptly. Here ismoney to pay for your living and your work. Watch well and closely. Knowevery movement that the Queen makes, and every day inform me by word orin writing of all her actions. On the fourth day from now come here anhour before midnight. Now go. "

He counted out five sovereigns to Pent-Ah. Their glitter contrastedstrangely with the shabby squalor of the room and the poverty of his owndress, but he gave them as though they had been coppers. Pent-Ah tookthem with a low obeisance, and dropped them one by one into a pocket ina canvas belt which he wore under his ragged waistcoat. Neb-Anat lookedat them greedily as they disappeared. 

"The Master's commands shall be obeyed, and the High Gods shall befaithfully served, " said Pent-Ah, as he straightened himself up again. "From door to door the Queen shall be watched, and, if it be permitted, Neb-Anat shall become her slave, and so the watch shall be made closer. Is not that so, Neb-Anat?"

"The will of the Master is the law of his slave, " she replied, sinkingalmost to her knees. 

"It is enough, " replied the Master, who was known to the few who knewhim as Phadrig Amena, a Coptic dealer in ancient Egyptian relics andcurios in a humble way of business. "Serve faithfully, both of you, andyour reward shall not be wanting. Farewell, and the peace of the HighGods be on you. "

When they had gone he sat down to the old bureau, took out a sheaf ofpapers, some white and new, others yellow-grey with age, and yet otherswhich were sheets of the ancient papyrus. The writing on these was inthe old Hermetic character; of the rest some were in cursive Greek andsome in Coptic. A few only were in English, and about half a dozen inRussian. He read them all with equal ease, and although he knew theircontents almost by heart, he pored over them for a good half-hour withscarcely so much as a movement of his lips. Then he put them away andlocked the drawer with one of a small bunch of curiously shaped keyswhich were fastened round his waist by a chain. When he had concealedthem in his girdle, he got up and began to pace the floor of themiserable room with long, stately, silent steps as though the dirty, cracked, uneven boards had been the gleaming squares of alternate blackand white marble of the floor of the Sanctuary in the now ruined Templeof Ptah in old Memphis. Then, after a while, with head thrown proudlyback and hands clasped behind him, he began to speak in the AncientTongue, as though he were addressing some invisible presence. 

"Yes, truly the Powers of Evil and Darkness have conquered through manygenerations of men, but the days of the High Gods are unending, and theclimax of Fate is not yet. Not yet, O Nitocris, is the murderous crimeof thy death-bridal forgotten. The souls of those who died by thy handin the banqueting chamber of Pepi still call for vengeance out of theglooms of Amenti. The thirst of hate and the hunger of love are stillunslaked and unsatisfied. I, Phadrig, the poor trader, who was onceAnemen-Ha, hate thee still, and the Russian warrior-prince, who was onceMenkau-Ra, shall love thee yet again with a love as fierce as that ofold, and so, if the High Gods permit, between love and hate shalt thoupass to the doom that thou hast earned. "

He paused in his walk and stood staring blankly out of the grimy littlewindow with eyes which seemed to see through and beyond thesmoke-blackened walls of the wretched houses opposite, and away throughthe mists of Time to where a vast city of temples and palaces lay undera cloudless sky beside a mighty slow-flowing river, and his lips beganto move again as those of a man speaking in a dream:

"O Memphis, gem of the Ancient Land and home of a hundred kings, how isthy grandeur humbled and thy glory departed! Thy streets and broadplaces which once rang with the tramp of mighty hosts and echoed withthe songs of jubilant multitudes welcoming them home from victory areburied under the drifting desert sands; in the ruins of thy holy templesthe statues of the gods lie prone in the dust, and the owl rears herbrood on thy crumbling altars, and hoots to the moon where once rose thesolemn chant of priests and the sweet hymns of the Sacred Virgins; thejackal barks where once the mightiest monarchs of earth gave judgmentand received tribute; thy tombs are desecrated, and the mummies of kingsand queens and holy men have been ravished from them to adorn theunconsecrated halls of the museums of ignorant infidels; the heel of theheathen oppressor has stamped the fair flower of thy beauty into thedeep dust of defilement. Alas, what great evil have the sons anddaughters of Khem wrought that the High Gods should have visited themwith so sore a judgment! How long shall thy bright wings lie folded andidle, O Necheb, Bringer of Victory?"

A deep sigh came from his heaving breast as he turned away and began hiswalk again. Soon he spoke again, but now in a changed voice from whichthe note of exaltation had passed away:

"But it is of little use to brood over the lost glories of the past. Ourconcern is with that which is and that which may--nay, shall be. Who isthis Franklin Marmion, this wise man of the infidels? Who is he, and whowas he--since, by the changeless law of life and death, each man andwoman is a deathless soul which passes into the shadows only to returnre-garbed in the flesh to live and work through the interlocked cyclesof Eternal Destiny? Was he--ah Gods! was _he_ once Ma-Rim[=o]n, whosefootsteps in the days that are dead approached so nearly to thethreshold of the Perfect Knowledge, while mine, doubtless for the sin ofmy longing for mere earthly power and greatness, were caught and heldback in a web of my own weaving? And, if so, has he attained while Ihave lost?

"What if that strange tale which Pent-Ah and Neb-Anat told me of theirvisit to his house--told, as I thought, to hide their failure under aveil of lies--was true? If so, then he has passed the threshold andtaken a place only a little lower than the seats of the gods, a placethat I may not approach, barred by the penalty of my accursed folly andpride! Ah well, be it so or be it not, are not the fates of all men inthe hands of the High Gods who see all things? We see but a little, andthat little, with their help, we must do according to the faith and thehope that is in us. "

At this moment there came a knock at the door. It opened at his bidding, and a dirty-faced, ragged-frocked little girl shuffled into the roomholding out a letter in her hard, grimy, claw-like hand. 

"'Ere's somethin' as has just come for you, Mister Phadrig. Muvver toldme ter bring it up, and wot'll yer want for supper, and will yer give methe money?" she said in a piping monotone, still holding out her handafter he had taken the letter. He gave her sixpence, saying:

"Two eggs and some bread. I will make my coffee myself. "

She took the coin and shuffled out quickly, for she went not a little inawe of this dark-faced foreign man from mysterious regions beyond herken, who was doubtless a magician of some sort, and could kill her orchange her into a rat by just breathing on her, if he wanted to. 

Meantime Nitocris and Brenda were having what the latter called "aperfectly lovely time" in Regent Street and Bond Street and otherpurlieus of that London paradise which the genius of commerce hascreated for the delight of his richest and most lavish-handed votaries. Brenda spent her ten dollars and a few thousands more, and then, as itwas getting on to dinner-time and Nitocris absolutely refused to let herfather eat his meal alone, she ran her out to Wimbledon at a speed forwhich a mere man would have inevitably been fined, asked herself todinner, and made herself entirely delightful to the Professor. 

But in spite of all her cunning wiles and winning ways she left inabsolute ignorance of the subject of the forthcoming lecture. 

CHAPTER IX

"THE WILDERNESS, " WIMBLEDON COMMON

The little estate on Wimbledon Common, which had been in ProfessorMarmion's family for three generations, was called "The Wilderness. " Thehouse was of distinctly composite structure. Tradition said that it hadbeen a royal hunting lodge in the days when Barnes and Putney andWimbledon were tiny hamlets and the Thames flowed silver-clear through avast, wild region of forest and gorse and heather, and the ancestors ofthe deer in Richmond Park browsed in the shade of ancient oaks and elmsand beeches, and antler-crowned monarchs sent their hoarse challengesbellowing across the open spaces which separated their jealously guardeddomains. 

Generation by generation it had grown with the wealth and importance ofits owners, as befits a house that is really a home and not merely aplace to live in, until it had become a quaint medley of various stylesof architecture from the Elizabethan to the later Georgian. Thus it hadcome to possess a charm that was all its own, a charm that can neverbelong to a house that has only been built, and has not grown. Itsinterior was an embodiment in stone and oak and plaster of cosy comfortand dignified repose, and, though it contained every "modernimprovement, " all was in such perfect taste and harmony that even theelectric light might have been installed in the days of the first James. 

The Professor inhabited the northern wing, reputed to have been theoriginal lodge in which kings and queens and great soldiers andstatesmen had held revel after the chase, and tradition had endowed itwith a quite authentic ghost: which was that of a fair maiden who hadbeen decoyed thither to become the victim of royal passion, and who, strangely enough, poisoned herself in her despair, instead of gettingherself made a duchess and founding the honours of a noble family on herown dishonour. 

Although, as I have said, quite authentic, for the Professor had seenher so often that he had come to regard her with respectful friendship, the Lady Alicia was not quite an orthodox ghost. She did not come atmidnight and wail in distressing fashion over the scene of her sad andshameful death. She seemed to come when and where she listed, whether inthe glimpses of the moon or the full sunlight of mid-day. She neverpassed beyond the limits of the old lodge, and never broke the silenceof her coming and goings. None of the present inhabitants of "TheWilderness" had seen her save the Professor, but Nitocris had oftenshivered with a sudden chill when she chanced to be in her invisiblepresence, and at such times she would often say to her father:

"There is something cold in the room, Dad. I suppose your friend theLady Alicia is paying you a visit. I _do_ wish she would allow me tomake her acquaintance. "

And to this he would sometimes reply with perfect gravity:

"Yes, she has just come in: she is standing by the window yonder. " Andthis had happened so often that Nitocris, like her father, had come toregard the wraith, or astral body, as the Professor deemed it, of theunhappy lady almost as a member of the family. Of course, after he hadpassed the border into the realm of N4, Franklin Marmion speedily cameto look upon her visits as the merest commonplaces. 

But as the unhappy Lady Alicia will have no part to play in the actionof this narrative, her little story must be accepted as a perhapsexcusable digression. 

There were about four acres of comfortably wooded land about the house, of which nearly an acre had formed the pleasaunce of the old lodge. Thiswas now a beautifully-kept modern garden, with a broad, gently-slopinglawn, whose turf had been growing more and more velvety year by year forover three centuries, and divided from it by a low box-hedge wasanother, levelled up and devoted to tennis and new-style croquet. TheOld Lawn, as it was called, sloped away from a broad verandah which ranthe whole length of the central wing and formed the approach to the bigdrawing-room and dining-room, and a cosy breakfast-room of earlyGeorgian style, and these, with her study and "snuggery" and bedroom onthe next floor, formed the peculiar domain of Miss Nitocris. 

She and the Professor were just sitting down to an early breakfast onthe morning of the garden-party, which had been arranged for the day butone after the arrival of the Huysmans, when the post came in. There werea good many letters for both, for each had many interests in life. TheProfessor only ran his eye over the envelopes and then put the bundleaside for consideration in the solitude of his own den. Nitocris did thesame, picked one out and left the others for similar treatment after shehad interviewed the cook about lunch and refreshments for the afternoon, and the butler on the subject of cooling drinks, for it promised to be aperfect English day in June--which is, of course, the most delicious daythat you may find under any skies between the Poles. 

She opened the one she had selected and skimmed its contents. Then hereyelids lifted, and she said:

"Oh!"

"What is the matter, Niti?" asked her father, looking up from hiscutlet. "Nothing gone wrong with your arrangements, I hope. "

"Oh dear, no, " she replied, with something like exultation in her voice, "quite the reverse, Dad. This is from Brenda, and Brenda is an angeldisguised in petticoats and picture hats. Listen. "

Then she began to read:

 "MY DEAREST NITI, --I am going to take what I'm afraid English people would think a great liberty. The trouble is this: When the Professor (mine, I mean) was making his tour of the Russian Universities two years ago, he received a great deal of courtesy and help from no less a person than the celebrated Prince Oscar Oscarovitch--the modern Skobeleff, you know--who was very interested in Poppa's work, and took a lot of trouble to smooth things out for him. Well, the Prince, as of course you know, is in London now. He called yesterday, and when I mentioned your party, he said he was very sorry he had not the honour of your father's acquaintance as well as mine. The grammar's a bit wrong there, but you know what I mean. That, of course, meant that he wants to come; and, to be candid, I should like to bring him, for even an American girl here doesn't always get a Prince, and a famous man as well, to take around, so, as the time is so short, may we include him in our party? If you have forgiven me and are going to say 'yes, ' I must tell you that the Prince would like to compensate for his intrusion--that's the way he puts it--by helping entertain your guests. It seems that he has met with a man who can work miracles, an Egyptian----"

At this point Professor Marmion looked up again suddenly with an almostimperceptible start, and, for the first time, took an interest in MissHuysman's letter. 

 "----named Phadrig. The Prince assures me that he is not a conjurer in the professional sense, and would be deeply insulted to be called one; also that no amount of money would induce him to give a display of his powers just _for_ money. He will come to-day, if you like, and do wonderful things, which, from what the Prince says, will astonish and perhaps frighten us a bit, but only because the Prince once saved his life and got him out of a very bad place he had got into with a Turkish Pascha. Now, that is my little story. Please 'phone me as soon as you can so that I can let the Prince know. It will be just too sweet of you and the Professor to say 'yes. '

 --Your devoted chum, BRENDA. "

"Well, Dad, " she asked, as she put the letter down, "what do you say?"

"Just what you want to say, my dear Niti, " he replied, carefullyspreading some marmalade on a triangle of toast "Personally, I mustconfess that I should rather like to see some of this so-calledmagician's alleged magic. I know that some of these fellows areextraordinarily clever, and I have no doubt that he will show ussomething interesting, if you care to see it. "

"Then that settles it, " said Nitocris, rising; "I will go and ring upthe Savoy at once. Perhaps the Egyptian gentleman might be able to helpyou with that Forty-Seventh Proposition problem of Professor Hartley's. "

"Perhaps, " answered Franklin Marmion drily, and went on with hisbreakfast. 

CHAPTER X

THE STAGE FILLS

The party which gradually assembled on the lawn about four was somewhatsmall, but very select. Nitocris had too much common sense and too muchreal consideration for her friends and acquaintances to get together amere mob of well-dressed people of probably incompatible tastes andtemperament, and call it a party. She disliked an elbowing crowd and aclatter of fashionably shrill tongues with all the aversion of adelicately developed sensibility. No consideration of rank or socialpower or wealth had the slightest weight with her when she wasdistributing cards of invitation, wherefore the said cards were all themore eagerly awaited by those who did, and did not, get them. The resultof this in the present case was that, although every one accepted andcame, rather less than fifty people had the run of the broad lawns andthe leafy wilderness about them on that momentous afternoon. 

The first of the arrivals was Professor Hartley, reputed to be thegreatest mathematician in England. He was a large man with rather heavyfeatures, lit up by alert grey eyes, a big, dome-like cranium, and amanner that was modest almost to diffidence. He brought his wife, aslim and somewhat stern-featured lady, who, in the domestic sense, kepthim in his place with inflexible decision, and worshipped him in hisprofessional capacity, and two pretty, well-dressed, and obviouslywell-bred daughters. Their carriage drew up, turned into the driveprecisely at four. Punctuality was the Professor's one and only socialvice. 

Next came Commander Merrill in a hansom. This would be one of the veryfew meetings that he could hope for with his lost beloved--as he nowsadly thought of her--before he put H. M. S. _Blazer_ into commission, andso punctuality on his part was both natural and excusable. Then came afew more carriages containing very nice people with whom we have herebut little concern; and then Miss Brenda, deeply regretting herbeautiful Napier, with her father and mother in a very smart Savoyturn-out followed by a coronetted brougham drawn by a splendid pair ofblack Orloffs. This was followed by an equally smart dog-cart driven bya rather slightly-built but well set-up young man with a lightmoustache, bronzed skin, and brilliant blue eyes. He was good-looking, but if his features had been absolutely plain he could never have lookedcommonplace, for this was Lord Lester Leighton, son of the Earl ofKyneston, and twenty generations of unblemished descent had made him thearistocrat that he was. 

Nitocris did not like pompous announcements by servants, and so shereceived her guests, who were all acquaintances or friends, in thegreat porch through which many a brilliant presence had passed, and hadtwo maids waiting inside to see to the wants of the ladies, and theirown coachman and a couple of grooms to attend to matters outside. 

Merrill was made as happy as possible by a bright smile, a realhand-clasp instead of the usual Society paw-waggle, and instructions togo and make himself agreeable and useful. Brenda also received a hearty"shake"--Nitocris did not believe in kissing in public--and when theProfessor and Mrs Huysman had gone in, she whispered:

"I suppose that's the Prince's brougham. You must wait here, dear, anddo the introductions. You're responsible, you know. "

Brenda assented with a nod and a smile, as the brougham drew up and thesmart tiger jumped down and opened the door. The Prince got out, and wasfollowed by Phadrig the Adept. As she looked at the two men, Nitocrisfelt as though a wave of cold air had suddenly enveloped her wholebeing--body and soul. 

"Niti, this is our friend, Prince Oscar Oscarovitch, whom you have beenkind enough to let me invite by proxy. Prince, this is Miss NitocrisMarmion. "

Of course all the world knew of Oscar Oscarovitch, the modern Skobeleff, the lineal descendant of Ivan the Terrible, the crystal-brained, steel-willed man who was to be the saviour and regenerator ofhalf-ruined, revolution-rent Russia, but this was the first time thatNitocris had met him in her present life. When she had returned hisstately bow, she looked up and saw with a strange intuition, whichsomehow seemed half-reminiscent an almost perfect type of the primitivewarrior through the disguise of his faultless twentieth-century attire. He was nearly two inches over six feet, but he was so exquisitelyproportioned that he looked less than his height. His skin was fair andsmooth, but tanned to an olive-brown. His forehead was of medium height, straight and square, with jet-black brows drawn almost straight acrossit above a pair of rather soft, dreamy eyes that were blue or blackaccording to the mood of their possessor. His nose was strong andslightly curved, with delicately sensitive nostrils. A dark glossymoustache and beard trimmed _à la_ Tsar, partly hid full, almost sensuallips and a powerful somewhat projecting chin. 

As their eyes met the shiver of revulsion passed through her again. Shehardly heard his murmured compliments, but her attention awoke when heturned to the man who was standing behind him, and said with a verygraceful gesture of his left hand:

"Miss Marmion, this is the gentleman whom you have so graciouslypermitted me to bring to your house. This is Phadrig the Adept, as he isknown in his own ancient land of Egypt, a worker of wonders which reallyare wonders, and not mere sleight-of-hand conjuring tricks. He has beengood enough to accompany me in order to convince the learned of the Westthat the Immemorial East could still teach it something if it chose. "

Nitocris bowed, and as she looked at the figure which now stood besidethe Prince, she shivered again. She had a swift sense of standing in thepresence of implacable enemies, and yet she had never seen these menbefore, and, for all she knew, she had not an enemy in the world. Shewas intensely relieved when Lord Lester Leighton came up and held outhis hand, and she was able to ask the Prince and his companion to gothrough to the lawn. 

No one would have recognised the shabby denizen of the grimy room inCandler's Court, Borough High Street, in the tall, dignified Easterngentleman who walked with slow and stately step through the spacious oldhall of "The Wilderness. " He was clad in a light frock-coat suit ofirreproachable cut and fit. The correctly-creased trousers metbrightly-burnished, narrow-toed tan boots; a black-tasselled scarlettarbush was set square on his high forehead, and the dark red tie underhis two-ply collar just added the necessary touch of Oriental colour tohis costume, and went excellently with the lighter red of the tarbush. It is hardly necessary to say that when he and the Prince went out on tothe lawn, they were, as a Society paper report of the function wouldhave put it, "the observed of all observers. "

"I'm so glad you were able to be here in time for my little party, LordLeighton, " said Nitocris, when she had ended the welcoming of the otherguests. "Dad will be delighted, too----"

She stopped rather suddenly, remembering that Dad would have to tell hisyoung friend the sad story of the mysterious loss of the Mummy; butanother subject was uppermost in her mind just then, and, taking refugein it, she went on quickly:

"Come along to the lawn. I want to introduce you to a very distinguishedgentleman--and his wife and daughter. No less a person, my lord, thanthe great Professor Hoskins van Huysman!"

"What!" exclaimed Leighton, with a laugh that was almost boyish for sucha serious and learned young man. "_The_ Huysman: the Professor's mostdoughty antagonist in the arena of symbols and theorems? Oh, now that_is_ good!"

"Yes; I think you will find him very interesting, " replied Nitocris, hoping in her soul that he would find Brenda a great deal moreinteresting. "Come along, or Dad will be beginning to think that I amneglecting my duties, and I must be on quite my best behaviour to-day. We are favoured by the presence of another very celebrated celebrityto-day. That tall man who came in just before you was Prince OscarOscarovitch. "

"Oh yes, " he said lightly; "I recognised the brute. "

"The brute? Dear me, that is rather severe. Then you know His Highness?"she asked in a low, almost eager, voice. 

"There are not many men in the Near or Far East who have not some causeto know His Highness, " he replied in a serious tone, tinged by thesuspicion of a sneer. "He is about the finest specimen of thewell-veneered savage that even Russia has produced for the lastcentury. He is a brilliant scholar, statesman, and soldier; delightfulamong his equals--or those he chooses to consider so--charming to men, and, they say, almost irresistible to women; but to his opponents andhis inferiors, a pitiless brute-beast without heart, or soul, or honour. A curious mixture: but that's the man. "

"How awful!" murmured Nitocris. "Fancy a man like that being in such aposition!"

But, although she did not understand why, she had heard hisharshly-spoken words with a positive sense of relief. They exactlytranslated and crystallised her first inexplicable feelings of desperateaversion--almost of terror. 

She led Leighton to a little group on the left side of the lawn, composed of the three Professors and the wives and daughters of two ofthem. As they approached them, Nitocris became sensible of a curiouskind of nervousness. She did not know that by this commonplace actionshe was reuniting two links in a long-severed chain of destiny, but shehad a dim consciousness that she was going to do something much moreimportant than merely introducing two strangers to each other. Shelooked quite anxiously at Brenda, who had turned towards them as theycame near, and saw that, just for the fraction of a second, her eyesbrightened, and a passing flush deepened the delicate colour in hercheeks. It was almost like a glance of recognition, and yet she had onlyheard his name two or three times, and certainly had never seen himbefore. Then she looked swiftly at Leighton. Yes, there was a flushunder his tan and a new light in his eyes. When she had completed theintroductions she looked away for a moment, and said in her soul:

"Thank goodness! If that is not a case of love at first sight, I shan'tbelieve that there is any such thing, whatever the poets and romancersmay say. "

Yes, her womanly intuition was right as far as it reached; but she couldnot yet grasp the full meaning of the marvel which she had helped tobring about. With her father, she believed in the Doctrine ofRe-Incarnation as the only one which affords a logical and entirely justsolution of the bewildering puzzles and ghastly problems of human lifeas seen by the eyes of ignorance. She had grasped in its highest meaningthe truth--that Man is really a living soul, living from eternity toeternity. An immortality with one end to it was to her an unthinkableproposition which could not possibly be true. For her, as for herfather, Eternal Life and Eternal Justice were one. Where a man ended onelife, from that point he began the next: for good or for evil, forignorance or for knowledge. A life lived and ended in righteousness(not, of course, in the narrow theological sense of the term) beganagain in righteousness, and in evil meant inexorably a re-beginning inevil. That was Fate, because it was also immutable Justice. Manpossessed the Divine gift of free will to use or abuse as he would, sofar as his own life-conduct was concerned; but there was no evasion ofthe adamantine law of the survival and progress of the fittest, which, in the course of ages, infallibly proved to be the best. This, in aword, was why "some are born to honour and some to dishonour. "

Yet she had still to fathom an even subtler mystery than this: themystery of sexual love. Why should one man and one woman, out of all theteeming millions of humanity, be irresistibly attracted to each other bya force which none can analyse or define? Why should a woman, confrontedwith the choice between two men, one of whom possesses every apparentadvantage over the other, yet feel her heart go out to that other, andimpel her to follow him, even to the leaving of father and mother andhome, and all else that has been dear to her? Why in the soul of everytrue man and woman is Love, when it comes, made Lord of all, and all inall? It is because Love is co-eternal with Life, and these two haveloved, perchance wedded, many times before in other lives which theyhave lived together, and, with the succession of these lives, their lovehas grown stronger and purer, until "falling in love" is merely arecognition of lovers; unconscious, no doubt, to those who have notprogressed far enough in wisdom, but none the less necessary andinevitable for that. [1]

Is it not from ignorance of this truth, or wilful denial of this law, that all the miseries of mismarriage come forth? Again the woman hasthe choice. She obeys the bidding of her own lust of wealth and comfortand social power, or she submits to the pressure of family influence, orthe stress of poverty, and crushes--or thinks she does--the ages-oldlove out of her heart and marries the man she does not love, never hasloved, and never can. She has defied the eternal Law of Selection. Shehas desecrated the sanctity of an immortal soul, and she has defiled thetemple of her body. She has sold herself for a price in themarket-place, and has become a prostitute endowed by law with aconventional respectability, and for this crime she pays the penalty ofunsated heart-hunger. Instead of the fruits of Eden distilling theirsweet juices into her blood, the apples of Gomorrah turn perpetually toashes in her mouth. Often weariness and despair drive her to the briefintoxication of the anodyne of adultery, a further crime which is onlythe natural consequence of the first. 

But it must not be thought that women are the only sexual criminals. There are male as well as female prostitutes made respectable byconvention, and the debt-burdened man of title who marries to get goldto re-gild his tarnished coronet is the worst of these; for too often hedrags an innocent but ignorant maiden down to his own vile level. Yetthe chief criminal of all is not the individual, but the Society whichnot only encourages, but too often compels the crime. For this it alsopays the penalty. The collective crime brings the collective curse, for, if human history proves anything, it proves that the Society whichpersistently denies the Law of Selection, and continually defiles theAltar of Love, in the end goes down through a foul welter of lust andgreed and gluttony into the nethermost Pit of Destruction. 

Nitocris had not learned this yet. It was not within the plan of EternalJustice that her virgin soul, purified by the strenuous labour of manylives towards the Light, should yet be darkened by the shadow of suchgrim knowledge as this. It was enough for her now that she should be theministering angel of Love and Light. 

But at the same moment, standing on that smooth, shady lawn, there werealso two incarnations of the destroying angels of Hate and Darkness, foreven here, amidst this pleasant scene of seemingly innocent pleasure andlaughter, the Eternal Conflict was being continued, as it is and mustbe, wherever man comes in contact with his kith and kind. 

Soon after Nitocris and Brenda had joined the group, Phadrig approachedthe Prince, who happened for the moment to be standing alone at thebottom of the lawn, and said softly in Russian:

"Highness, my dream, as you are pleased to call it, has proved true. That is the Queen--she who was once the daughter of the great Rameses, Lady of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms. "

"What?" laughed the Prince. "Miss Marmion, that lovely English girl, your old Egyptian Mummy re-vivified! Well, have it as you like. You arewelcome to your dreams as long as you use your arts to help me to layhands on the beautiful reality. I have seen many a fair woman, andthought myself in love with some of them, but by the beard of Ivan, Ihave never seen one like this. I tell you, Phadrig, that the moment myeyes looked for the first time into hers, only a few minutes ago, I knewthat I had found my fate, and, having found it, I shall take very goodcare that I don't lose it. And you shall help me to keep it; I shall tryevery fair means first to make her my princess, for, whether she wasonce Queen of Egypt or not, she is worthy now to sit beside a sovereignon his throne--and it might be that I could some day give her such aplace--but have her I will, if not as fairly-won wife and consort, thenas stolen slave and plaything, to keep as long as my fancy lasts. Andlisten, Phadrig, " he went on in a low tone, but with savage intensity. "Your life is mine, for I gave it back to you when the lifting of afinger would have sent you into what you would call another incarnation;and from this day forth you must devote it to this end until it isattained, one way or the other. I know you don't care for money aswealth, but in this world it is the right hand of power, and that youlove. All that you need shall be yours for the asking in exchange foryour faithful service. Are you content with the bargain?"

"No, Highness, that will not content me, " replied Phadrig, in a voicethat had no expression save unalterable resolve. 

"What! Is not that enough for you, a penniless seller of curios?" saidthe Prince, with a sneer in his tone. "Then I will add to it the readyaid and unquestioning obedience of our secret police, here and inEurope. Will that satisfy you?"

"I do not need the help of your police, Highness, " answered theEgyptian, in the same passionless accents. "They are skilful and brave, but they have not the Greater Knowledge. I could turn the wisest of theminto a fool, and frighten the bravest out of his senses in a fewminutes. Use them yourself, Highness, should it become necessary. Theywould be less than useless to me. "

"Then what will satisfy you?" asked the Prince impatiently, but with noshow of anger, for he knew the strange power of the man whose help heneeded. 

"I do not ask you to believe in the reality of what you call my dreams, Highness, " replied Phadrig slowly, "but I do ask--nay, I require, as theprice of my faithful service, your solemn promise in writing, signed andattested, that, if and when my dreams become realities, and your ownhopes are fulfilled, the independence and sovereignty of the AncientLand shall be restored; her temples and tombs and palaces shall berebuilt; her ancient worship revived in my person, and the sceptre ofRameses replaced in the hand of Nitocris the Queen. "

The Prince was silent for a few moments. To grant the seeminglyextravagant demand meant to reduce the splendid dream and scheme of hislife to cold, tangible writing, and to put into this man's hand thepower to betray him. On the other hand, their aims were one, and onlythrough him could Phadrig hope to realise his dreams. Of course theywere only dreams; but he was faithful to them, and so he would befaithful to him. At the worst it would be easy to arrange a burglary, or, for the matter of that, a murder in Candler's Court, and that wouldmake an end of the matter. 

"Very well, Phadrig, " he said at length. "It is settled. I will trustyou, for it is necessary that we should trust each other. You shall havewhat you ask for within a week. Now I must go. I shall tell them that Ihave been arranging the exhibition of your powers which you are going togive them. It will be well to startle them sufficiently to shake theirBritish beef-sense up into something like fear. Make them wonder, but, for the sake of our hostess, don't frighten them too much. "

Phadrig only acknowledged his promise with a bow, and he turned away andjoined the growing group in which Nitocris and Brenda were still thecentral objects of attraction. 

+------------------------------------------------------------+|FOOTNOTE: || ||[1] The Doctrine, of course, affords the same explanation of||friendships between man and man, and woman and woman. || |+------------------------------------------------------------+

CHAPTER XI

THE MARVELS OF PHADRIG

The time, about an hour or so before tea, was occupied by the guestsaccording to their varying tastes--in tennis, croquet, more or lessgood-natured gossip, and flirtations which may or may not have beenserious. 

Nitocris saw with growing cause for self-gratulation that Lord Leightonand Brenda were decidedly attracted towards each other. He, in spite ofhaving received his gracious, but, as he well knew, final _congé_ fromNitocris, still felt that he was not quite playing the game withhimself; but for all that it was impossible for him not to see that theemotion, which was even now stirring in his heart, awakened by the firsttouch of Brenda's hand, and the first meeting of their eyes, wassomething very different from the tenderly respectful admiration, thereal friendship, inevitably exalted by the magic of sex, which, as hesaw now, he had innocently mistaken for love. 

He managed quite adroitly to separate Brenda from the circle, and tolure her into a stroll about the outside grounds, during which he toldher the history and traditions of "The Wilderness" not, of course, omitting the sad little tragedy of the Lady Alicia, all of which MissBrenda listened to with an interest which was not, perhaps, whollyderived from the story itself. She had never yet met any one who wasquite like this learned, much-travelled, quiet-spoken young aristocrat. On her father's side she was descended from one of the oldestKnickerbocker families in the State of New York and her aristocracyresponded instinctively to his, and formed a first bond between them. 

It need hardly be said that her beauty and her prospective wealth, tosay nothing of the bright, mental, and intellectual atmosphere in whichshe seemed to live and move, had attracted to her many men whom she hadinspired with a very genuine desire to link their lives with hers. Shewas only twenty-two, but she had already refused more than one coronetof respectable dignity, and so far her heart had remained as virgin asit was when she had admired herself in her first long skirt. But now, for the first time in her life, she began to feel a strange disquietudein the presence of a man, and a man, too, whom she had not known for anhour. Nitocris had, happily, told her nothing of what had passed betweenLord Leighton and herself, and so the pleasant element in herdisquietude was entirely unalloyed. 

Her father was already too deeply engrossed in learned converse with hisbrother professors to take any notice of the great fact which wasbeginning to get itself accomplished; but her mother's instinctinstantly noticed the subtle change that had come over her daughter, and she saw it with anything but displeasure. All sensible mothers ofbeautiful daughters are discreetly sanguine. She was far too wise in hergeneration not to have agreed with Brenda's decision in certain formercases. The idea of her daughter's beauty and her father's millions beingbartered for mere rank and social power, however splendid, was utterlyrepugnant to her. She had married for love, and she wanted Brenda to dothe same, whoever the chosen man might be, provided always that he was aman--and in this regard there could be no doubt about Lord LesterLeighton; so as they walked away she said to Nitocris with a confidencewhich was almost girlish:

"His Lordship is just delightful--now, isn't he, Miss Marmion? Just thesort that you seem to raise over here, and nowhere else. Tells you thatyou have to take him for a gentleman and nothing else in the first threewords he says to you--and Brenda seems to like him. I never saw her gooff with a man like that on such short notice, for Brenda's pretty proudand cold with men, for all her nice ways and high spirits. "

"You would have to search a long time, Mrs van Huysman, " repliedNitocris very demurely, "before you found a better type of the realEnglish gentleman than Lord Leighton. His family is one of the oldest inthe country, and, unlike too many of our noble families, the Kynestonshave no bar-sinister on their escutcheon. "

"I guess you're getting a little beyond me there, Miss Marmion. I don'tthink I ever heard of a--what is it?--a bar-sinister, before. What mightit be?"

Nitocris flushed very faintly as she replied:

"I think I can explain it best, Mrs van Huysman, by saying that it meansthat Lord Leighton's ancestors have preserved their honour unstainedthrough many generations. Of course, you know that some of our so-callednoble families in England spring from anything but a noble origin. Thereare not a few English dukes and earls who would find it rather awkwardto introduce their great-great-grandmothers to their present circle offriends. "

"I should think they would, from what I have read of them, the shamelesscreatures!" said Mrs van Huysman, with a sniff of real republicanvirtue. 

Then the Prince joined them, and the conversation was promptly switchedoff on to another line of interest. 

Tea was served on the Old Lawn under the shade of the great cedars, which made its greatest adornment; and when everybody had had what he orshe wanted, and the men had lit their cigarettes--and the Professors, byspecial permission, their pipes--Nitocris looked across a couple oftables at Oscarovitch, whom she had so far managed most adroitly to keepat an endurable distance, and said:

"Now, Prince, if your friend the Adept is in the mood to astonish uswith his wonders, perhaps you will be good enough to tell him that weare all ready and willing to be startled--only I hope that he will bemerciful to our ignorance and not frighten us too much. "

"I can assure you, Miss Marmion, that my good friend from Egypt will bediscretion itself, " replied the Prince, with a look and a courtlygesture that inspired Commander Merrill with an almost passionatelonging to take him down one of the quiet paths under the beeches for aten minutes' interlude. "I can promise that he will show you somemarvels which even your learned and distinguished father and his_confrères_ may find difficult of explanation: but it shall all be whitemagic. I understand that your real adept considers the black variety aswhat you call bad form. "

As the company rose and went in little groups towards the tennis-lawn, where Phadrig had elected to display his powers, the three Professorsinstinctively joined each other in a small phalanx of scepticism. Ifthere was any trick or deception to be discovered all looked to them todo it, and they were almost gleefully aware of their responsibility. Figuratively speaking, they each wore the scalps of many spiritualisticmediums, and both Professor van Huysman and Professor Hartley sensed apossible addition to their belts of scientific wampum which would not bethe least of their trophies. It had been agreed to by Phadrig, with aquiet scorn, that they were to take any measures they liked to detecthim in any practice that would convict him of being merely a conjurer;and they had accepted the permission with that whole-souled devotion totruth which excludes all idea of pity from the really scientific mind. Franklin Marmion was naturally in a very different frame of mind, although, from reasons of high policy, he assumed a similar mask ofalmost scornful scepticism; but for all that he was by far the mostanxious man in the company. 

At the request of their hostess the guests arranged themselves sittingand standing in a spacious circle on the tennis-lawn; and when this was, formed, Phadrig, whose isolation so far from the rest of the company hadbeen satisfactorily explained by the Prince, walked slowly into themiddle of it, and, after a quick, keen glance round him--a glance whichrested for just a moment or so on Professor Marmion and his _confrères_, and then on Nitocris, who was sitting beside Brenda attended by LordLeighton and Merrill--he said in a low but clear and far-reaching voice, and in perfect English:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have come to the house of the learned ProfessorMarmion at the request of my very good friend and patron, His HighnessPrince Oscar Oscarovitch, to give you a little display of what I maycall white magic. But before I begin I must ask you to accept my word ofhonour as a humble student of the mysteries of what, for want of abetter word, we call Nature, that I am not in any sense a conjurer, bywhich I mean one who performs apparent marvels by merely deceiving yoursenses. 

"What I am going to show you, you really will see. My marvels, if youplease to think them such, will be realities, not illusions; and I shallbe pleased if you will take every means to satisfy yourselves that theyare so. I say this with all the more pleasure because I know that thereare present three gentlemen of great eminence in the world of science, and if they are not able to detect me in anything approaching trickery, I think you will take their word for it that I am not deceiving you. 

"In order that there may not be the smallest possible chance of error, Iwill ask Professors Marmion, Hartley, and Van Huysman to come and standnear to me, so that they may be satisfied that I make use of none of themere conjurer's apparatus. I shall use nothing but the knowledge, andtherefore the power, to which it has been my privilege to attain. "

Phadrig spoke with all the calm confidence of perfect self-reliance, andtherefore his words were not wanting in effect on his audience, criticaland sceptical as it was. 

"I reckon that's a challenge we can't very well afford to let go, " saidProfessor van Huysman, with a keen look at his two brother scientists. "Of course he's just a trick-merchant, but they're so mighty clevernowadays, especially these fellows from the gorgeous East, that you'vegot to keep your eyes wide open all the time they've got the platform. "

"Certainly, " said Professor Hartley, as they moved out from the circle;"it must be trickery of some sort, and we shall be doing a publicservice by exposing it. What do you think, Marmion? I hope you won'tmind the exposure taking place in your own garden and among your ownguests?"

"Not a bit, my dear Hartley, " replied Franklin Marmion with a smile, which was quite lost upon his absolutely materialistic friends. "Wehave, as Van Huysman says, received a direct challenge. We should bemost unworthy servants of our great Mistress if we did not take it up. Personally, I mean to find out everything that I can. "

"And, gentlemen, " laughed the Prince, who had been standing with themand now moved away towards Nitocris, "I sincerely hope that what youfind out will be worth the learning. "

"He's a big man, that, " said Professor van Huysman, when he was out ofearshot, "but he's not the sort I'd have much use for. I wonder whythose people who are on the war-path in his country ever let him out ofit alive?"

In accordance with Phadrig's request, they made a triangle of which hewas the central point. Without any formula of introduction, he saidrather abruptly:

"Professor van Huysman, will you oblige me by taking a croquet ball andholding it in your hand as tightly as you can?"

Brenda ran out of the circle and gave him one. He took it and gripped itin a fist that looked made to hold things. Phadrig glanced at the ball, and said quietly:

"Follow me!"

Then he turned away, and, in spite of all the Professor's efforts tohold it, the ball somehow slipped through his fingers and fell on to thelawn. Then, to the utter amazement of every one, except FranklinMarmion, it rolled towards the Adept and followed him at a distance ofabout three yards as he walked round the circle of spectators. He didnot even look at it. When he had made the round, he took his place inthe Triangle of Science, and the ball stopped at his feet. 

"It is now released, Professor, " he said to Van Huysman. "You may takeit away, if you wish. "

There was something in the saying of the last sentence that nettled him. He had seen all, or nearly all, the physical laws, which were to him asthe Credo is to a Catholic or the Profession of Faith to a Moslem, openly and shamelessly outraged, defied, and set at nought. To say hewas angry would be to give a very inadequate idea of his feelings, because he, the greatest exposer of Spiritualism, Dowieism, andChristian Scientism in the United States, was not only angry, but--forthe time being only, as he hoped--utterly bewildered. It was too much, as he would have put it, to take lying down, and so, greatly daring, hetook a couple of strides towards Phadrig, and said with a snarl in hisvoice:

"I guess you mean really if _you_ wish, Mr Miracle-Worker. It was mightyclever, however you did it, but you haven't got me to believe thatphysical laws are frauds yet. You want me to pick that ball up?"

"Certainly, Professor--if you can--now, " replied Phadrig, with a littletwitch of his lips which might have been a smile, or something else. 

Hoskins van Huysman was a strong man, and he knew it. Not very manyyears before, he had been able to shoulder a sack of flour and take itaway at a run, and now he could bend a poker across his shoulderswithout much trouble. He stooped down and gripped the ball, expecting, of course, to lift it quite easily. It didn't move. He put more forceinto his arms and tried again. For "all the move he got on it, " as hesaid afterwards, it might have weighed a ton. It was ridiculous, but itwas a fact. In spite of all his pulling and straining, the ball remainedwhere it was as though it had been rooted in the foundations of theworld. He was wise enough to know when he was beaten, so he let go, andwhen he pulled himself up, somewhat flushed after his exertions, hesaid:

"Well, Mister Phadrig, I don't know how you do it, but I've got toconfess that it lets me out. I'm beaten. If you can make the law ofgravitation do what you want, you're a lot bigger man in physics than Iam. "

He turned and went back to his place, looking, as his daughter whisperedto Nitocris, "pretty well shaken up. " The Prince caught Phadrig's eyefor an instant, and said:

"Miss Marmion, will you confound the wisdom of the wise and bring theball here?"

It was not the words but the challenge in them that impelled her torise from her chair, aided by Merrill's hand, and not the one that thePrince held out, and walk across the lawn towards Phadrig. She took nonotice of him. She just stooped and picked up the ball and carried itback to her chair. She tossed it down on the grass, and sat down againwithout a word, quaking with many inward emotions, but outwardly as calmas ever. What Professor van Huysman said to himself when he saw thiswill be better left to himself. 

It might have been expected that the miracle, or at least theextraordinary defiance of physical law which had been accomplished byPhadrig, would have produced something like consternation among the bulkof the spectators. It did nothing of the sort. They were, perhaps, abovethe ordinary level of Society intellect in London; but they only sawsomething wonderful in what had been done. Nothing would have persuadedthem that it was not the result of such skill as produced the marvels ofthe Egyptian Hall, simply because they were not capable of grasping itsinner significance. Could they have done that, the panic which ProfessorMarmion was beginning to fear would probably have broken the party up insomewhat unpleasant fashion. As it was they contented themselves withsaying: "How exceedingly clever!" "He must be quite a remarkable man!""I wonder we've never heard of him before!" "He must make a great dealof money!" "I wonder if I could persuade the dear Prince--what acharming man he is!--to bring him to my next At Home day?" and so on, perfectly ignorant, as it was well they should be, that they hadwitnessed a real conquest of Knowledge over Force. 

Phadrig, who seemed to be the least interested person on the lawn, looked about him, and said as quietly as before:

"I should be very much obliged if the best tennis player in the companywill do me the honour to have a game with me. "

Now, it so happened that Brenda, in addition to her other athletichonours, had recently won the Ladies' Tennis Tournament at Washington, which carried with it the Championship of the State for the year, and sothis challenge appealed both to her pride in the game and her spirit ofadventure. She looked round at Nitocris, and said:

"I've half a mind to try, Niti. I suppose he won't strike me withlightning or send me down through the earth if I happen to beat him. Shall I?"

"Yes, do, " replied her hostess, with a suspicion of mischief in hervoice; "those dear Professors of ours are puzzling so delightfully overthe first miracle, or whatever it was, that I _do_ want to see themworried a little more. It will be a wholesome chastening for theoverweening pride of knowledge. "

"Very well, " laughed Brenda, rising and dropping a light cloak from hershoulders. "It's the first time I've had the honour of playing against amagician, mind, so you mustn't be too hard on me if I lose. "

Lord Leighton fetched her racquet and one for Phadrig, and they wenttogether towards the tennis-court in which he was standing. The threeProfessors left their places and stood at one end of the net, MessrsHartley and Van Huysman indulging in audible growls of baffledscepticism, and Franklin Marmion silently observant, divided betweeninterest and amusement. He could not help imagining what would happen ifhe were to stand in the middle of the circle and remove himself to theHigher Plane, and then go round shaking hands and saying, "Goodafternoon. "

Brenda acknowledged Phadrig's bow with a gracious nod as she took herplace. Then Lord Leighton handed the other racquet to the Adept. To hisastonishment he declined it with another bow, saying:

"I thank you, my lord, but I do not need it. "

"What!" exclaimed the other, with a frank stare of astonishment. "Excuseme, but tennis without a racquet, you know--are you going to play withyour hands?"

"To some extent, yes, my lord, " replied Phadrig, as he took his place. "Will you ask Miss van Huysman if she will be kind enough to serve?"

Brenda would. Phadrig stood on the middle line between the two courtswith his hands folded in front of him. She certainly felt a littlenervous, but she knew her skill, and she sent a scorcher of an undercutskimming across the net. The ball stopped dead. Phadrig gave a flickwith his right forefinger, and it hopped back over the net and ranswiftly along the ground to Brenda's feet. She flushed as she picked itup and changed courts. Then she raised her racquet and sent a reallyvicious slasher into the opposite court. Phadrig, without moving, raisedhis hand at the same moment. The ball, hard as it had been driven, stopped in mid-air over the net, hung there for a moment, then droppedon Brenda's side and rolled to her feet again. She picked it up, walkedto the net with it in her hand, and said quite good-humouredly:

"I think you're a bit too smart for me, Mr Phadrig. I can't pretend toplay against a gentleman who can suspend the law of gravitation just towin a game of tennis. "

"I did not do it to win the game, Miss van Huysman, " he replied with agentle smile; "I only desired to amuse you and the other guests ofProfessor Marmion. Now, it may be that some excellent but ignorantpeople here may think that that ball is bewitched, as they would callit, so if you will give it to me, I will send it out of reach. "

She handed him the ball, wondering what was going to happen next. Hetook it and put it on the thumb of his right hand as one does with acoin when tossing. He flicked it into the air, and, to the amazement ofevery one, saving always Franklin Marmion, it rose slowly up to thecloudless sky, followed by the gaze of a hundred eyes, and vanished. Then he bowed again to Brenda, and said in the most commonplace tone:

"It is out of harm's way now. Thank you once more for yourcondescension. "

"But how did it go up like that?" asked Brenda, looking him frankly andsomewhat defiantly in the eyes. 

"That, Miss Huysman, " he replied with perfect gravity, "was only ademonstration of what Spiritualists and Theosophists are accustomed tocall levitation. It is only a matter of reversing the force of gravity. "

"Is that all?" laughed Brenda, as she turned away. "You talk of it asthough it were a matter of turning a paper bag inside out. "

"The one is as easy as the other, " he smiled. "It is only a question ofknowing how to do it. "

She walked back to her chair very much mystified, and, for the firsttime in her so far triumphal journey through the interlude between theeternities which we call life, a trifle humiliated: but that fact, ofcourse, she kept to herself. As she dropped back in her chair, she saidto Lord Leighton:

"That was pretty wonderful, wasn't it? I'm quite certain that there's notrickery about it. What he did, he really did do. "

"I don't pretend to be able to explain it, " he replied, "but for allthat I've seen very much the same sort of thing done by the fakirs inIndia, and I think it's generally admitted that that is either a matterof trickery or hypnotism. They make you believe you see what you reallydon't see at all. "

"That's about it, " said Merrill, with a short laugh, "Of course no onewho knows anything about the East will deny that hypnotism is a fact, although I must say that these same fakirs have tried it with me morethan once and found me a quite hopeless subject. "

Even as though he had heard him, Phadrig came towards them at themoment, and said in his polite, impersonal tone:

"Commander Merrill, I am going to try one or two experiments now which Ishould like to have very closely watched. I know that there is no keenerobserver in the world than the skilled British naval officer. May I askfor your assistance?"

There was something in his tone which made it quite impossible torefuse, so he replied:

"You have shown us a good many wonders already, Mr Phadrig, and unlessyou've hypnotised the whole of us, I haven't a notion how you have doneit; but if I can find you out I will. "

"That is exactly what I wish, sir, " said Phadrig, as he bowed to theladies and went back to the centre of the circle. Merrill followed him, and, with the three Professors, formed a square about him. 

Phadrig, turning slowly round so that his voice might reach all hisaudience, said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have all heard of or seen the strangeperformances of the Indian fakirs: the growing of the mango plant, theso-called basket trick, and the throwing into the air of a rope up whichthe performer climbs from view of the spectators. I am not going to saywhether those are tricks or not. Their knowledge may be different frommine, therefore I do not question it. I only propose to show you thesame kind of performance without the use of any coverings orconcealment, and leave you and these four gentlemen to discover anydeception on my part if you can. I will begin by giving you a newversion of the mango trick, if trick it is, with variations. ProfessorMarmion, would you have the goodness to ask one of the young ladies tobring me one of those beautiful white roses of yours?"

Franklin Marmion was on the point of saying: "I'll bring you one myself, and see what you can do with it, " but he was a sportsman in his way, and, seeing that his guests were so far not all inclined to befrightened at what they had seen, he refrained from spoiling the"entertainment, " as they evidently took it to be, and so he asked hisdaughter to go and get one of her nicest Marèchal Niels. 

She rose from her chair and went to her favourite tree; Merrill followedher with a ready penknife. They came back with a fine half-blown rose ona leafy twig about nine inches long. As she held it out to Phadrig hedeclined it with a bow and a wave of his hand, saying:

"I thank you, Miss Marmion, but it will be better for me not to touchit. Some one might think that I had bewitched it in some way; will yoube kind enough to give it to Commander Merrill and ask him to put thestem into the turf: about two inches down, please. "

She handed the rose to Merrill, and as he took it their eyes met for aninstant, and she flushed ever so slightly. He, with many unspokenthoughts, knelt down, made a little hole in the turf with his knife, andplanted the rose. When he stood up again Phadrig went on in the samequiet impersonal voice:

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, you know that this rose is of a pale creamcolour slightly tinted with red. It shall now grow into a tree bearingboth red and white roses. It will not be necessary for me to touch it. "

This somehow appealed more closely to such imagination as the majorityof the spectators possessed. They had regarded the other marvels theyhad seen merely as bewilderingly clever examples of legerdemain: but fora man to make a single sprig of rose grow into a tree bearing both redand white roses without even touching it meant something quiteunbelievable--until they had seen it. Instinctively the circle narrowed, and Phadrig noting this, said:

"Pray, come as close as you like, ladies and gentlemen, as long as youdo not pass my guardians, for they have undertaken that you shall not bedeceived. "

The result was that a smaller circle was formed round the square, at theangles of which stood Merrill and the three men of science. Phadrigstood at one side facing the east. Then he spread his hands out abovethe rose, and said slowly:

"Earth feeds, sun warms, and air refreshes: wherefore grow, rose, thatthe power of the Greater Knowledge may be manifested, and that those whobelieved not before may now see and believe. "

He raised his hands with a spreading movement and, to the utteramazement of every one except Franklin Marmion, who now saw that thisman certainly had approached to within measurable distance of theborderland which he had himself so lately crossed--wherefore in his eyesthere was nothing at all marvellous in anything he had done--the leaveson the sprig grew rapidly out into branches as the main stem increasedin height and thickness, red and white buds appeared under the leavesand swelled out into full blooms with a rapidity that would have beenquite incredible if a hundred keen eyes had not been watching the marvelso closely; and within ten minutes a fine rose-bush, some three feethigh, loaded with red and white and creamy blossoms, stood where Merrillhad planted the sprig. 

After the first gasps of astonishment there arose quite a chorus ofrequests from the younger members of Phadrig's audience for a rose tokeep in memory of the marvel they had seen; but he shook his head, andsaid with a smile of deprecation:

"I regret that it is not possible for me to grant what you ask. For yourown sakes I cannot do it. If I gave you those roses they would neverfade, and it might be that those who possessed them would never die. Farbe it from me to curse you with such a terrible gift as immortality onearth. "

The gravely, almost sadly spoken words fell upon his hearer's ears likeso many snowflakes. Instinctively they shrank back from the beautifulbush as though it had been the fabled Upas. They had begun to fear nowfor the first time. But there was one among them, a young fellow oftwenty-two, named Martin Caine, who was already known as one of the mostdaring and far-sighted of the rising generation of chemicalinvestigators, to whom the prospect of an endless life devoted to hisdarling science was anything but a curse. Intoxicated for the moment bywhat he had seen, he sprang forward, exclaiming:

"I'll risk the curse if I can have the life!"

As his hand touched one of the roses, Phadrig's darted out and caughthis wrist. He was a powerful youth, but the instant Phadrig's handgripped him he stopped, as though he had been suddenly stricken byparalysis. He turned a white, scared face with fear-dilated eyes upward, and said in a half-choked voice:

"What's the matter? If what you say's true, give me eternal life, andI'll give it to Science. "

"My young friend, " said Phadrig, with a slow shake of his head, "you aregrievously mistaken. You have eternal life already. You may kill yourbody, or it may die of age or disease, but the life of your soul is notyours to take or keep. Only the High Gods can dispose of that. Who am Ithat I should abet you in defying their decrees? Here is my refusal ofyour mad request. "

He plucked the rose which Caine had touched, held it to his lips andbreathed on it. The next instant the withered leaves fell to theground, and lay there dry and shrivelled. The stalk was brown and dry. As he released Caine's wrist he dropped the stalk in the middle of thebush, and said in a loud tone:

"As thou hast lived, die--as all things must which shall live again. "

As quickly as the rose-bush had grown and flowered so quickly, itwithered and died. In a few moments there was nothing left of it but afew dry sticks lying in a little heap of dust. 

The circle suddenly widened out as the people shrank back, every faceshowing, not only wonder now, but actual fear; and now Franklin Marmionfelt that Phadrig had been allowed to go as far as a due considerationfor the sanity of his guests would permit. The other two Professors weredisputing in low, anxious tones, as if even their scepticism was shakenat last: Martin Caine had drifted away through the opening press to hidehis terror and chagrin. The Adept stood impassively triumphant besidethe poor relics of the rose-bush, but obviously enjoying theconsternation that he had produced--for now the lust of power which everattends upon imperfect knowledge had taken hold of him, and he wasdevising yet another marvel for their bewilderment. But before he hadarrived at his decision, something else happened which was quite outsidehis programme. 

The Prince broke the chilly silence by saying to Nitocris in a tone loudenough for every one to hear:

"I hope, Miss Marmion, that I have justified my intrusion by the skillwhich my friend Phadrig has displayed for the entertainment of yourguests?"

She turned and looked at him, and, as their glances met, he saw a changecome over her. Her eyes grew darker: her features acquired an almoststony rigidity utterly strange to her. His eyelids lifted quickly, andhe shrank back from her as a man might do who had seen the wraith of onelong dead, but once well known. 

"Nitocris!" he murmured in Russian. "Phadrig was right: it is theQueen!"

She swept past him--Oscar Oscarovitch, the man who aspired to the throneof the Eastern Empire of Europe--as though he had been one of his ownslaves in the old days, and faced Phadrig. 

"It is enough, Anemen-Ha that was. Hast thou not learned wisdom yet, after so many lives? Is the inmost chamber of thy soul still closed inrebellion against the precepts of the High Gods? No more of thy poorlittle mummeries for the deception of the ignorant! Go, and withoutfurther display of the weakness which thou hast presumptuously mistakenfor strength. The Queen commands--go!"

Only Phadrig and Franklin Marmion saw that it was not Nitocris, thedaughter of the English man of science, but the daughter of the greatRameses who stood there crowned and robed as Queen of the Two Kingdoms. 

Phadrig raised the palms of his hands to his forehead, bowed before her, and murmured:

"The Queen has but to speak to be obeyed! It is even as I feared. But thePrince----"

"I who was and am, know what thou wouldst say. Go, or----"

"Royal Egypt, I go! But as thou art mighty, have mercy, and make themanner of my going easy. "

Nitocris turned away with a gesture of utter contempt, walked slowlytowards her father, and said in English:

"Dad, I think our friend the Adept is a little tired after hiswonder-working. I dare say most of us would be if we could do what hehas been doing. He seems quite exhausted. I think you had better ask thePrince to let his coachman take him home. "

Oscar Oscarovitch's soul was in a tumult of bewilderment, but his almostperfect training made it possible for him to say as quietly as though hehad been taking leave of his hostess at a reception in London:

"Miss Marmion, we must thank you for your great consideration. As yousay, our friend is undoubtedly fatigued, and, as I have an appointmentat the Embassy this evening, I will ask you to allow me to take my leaveas well. "

With a comprehensive bow of farewell to the company, and a somewhat limphandshake with Professor Marmion and his daughter, he put his armthrough that of his defeated and humiliated accomplice, and led him awaythrough an opening which the still dazed spectators instinctively madefor them. 

CHAPTER XII

CONTROVERSY AND CONFIDENCES

After this incident, the guests melted away, singly and by pairs andfamilies, thanking Nitocris and her father with much _empressement_ for"the delightful afternoon, " and "the extraordinary entertainment whichthey had so much enjoyed, " and many regrets that "the poor Adept, whoreally was so very clever and had mystified them all so delightfully, "had overdone himself and got ill, and so on, and so on, through theendless repetitions and variations usual on such occasions. 

A small party, including the Hartleys, the Van Huysmans, Merrill, andLord Leighton, had been asked to stay to dinner, but it happened thatthey had a conversazione already included in the day's programme, and sothey took their departure soon after the others, the Professor, it mustbe confessed, in a somewhat morose frame of mind. Like all men ofsimilar mental constitution, he hated to be mystified, and now, for thefirst time in his long career of investigation into apparently abstrusephenomena, he had been absolutely stumped by this perfect-mannered, quiet-spoken gentleman from the East who performed wonders in broaddaylight, on a plot of grass amidst a crowd of people, and did notdeign to even touch the things he worked his miracles with. If he hadonly used some sort of apparatus, or condescended to some concealment, after the manner of others of this kind, there might have been a chanceof finding a means of exposure; but the whole performance had been sotransparently open and aboveboard that Professor Marcus Hartley, D. Sc. , M. A. , F. R. S. , etc. , etc. , felt that, as a consistent materialist, he hadnot been given a fair chance. Still, he did not despair; and by the timehe got back into his own den he had resolved that when it did come, asof course it must do sooner or later, the exposure of Phadrig the Adeptand the vindication of Natural Law should be complete and final. 

A discussion of the same marvels naturally bulked largely in theconversation during dinner at "The Wilderness. " Mrs van Huysman did notcontribute much wisdom to it beyond the assertion of her conviction thatsuch things were wicked and should be stopped by law, at which herdaughter was sufficiently unfilial to draw a diverting picture of astalwart policeman trying to arrest an elusive adept who could probablymake himself invisible at will, or call to his aid fire-breathingdragons, just as easily as he could make a tennis ball evaporate intothin air, or grow lovely witch-roses and wither them to ashes with abreath. 

"I do think it was a bit mean of him not to let that poor young man haveone of them, if he was willing to take the risk. Especially as he justwanted to go on working for Science for ever. Fancy what a single manmight do if he could just keep right on with his life-work for, say, athousand years without having to stop it to die and be born again, according to Niti's pet theory. What couldn't a man like that do forhuman knowledge!"

"Would you have had one of those roses, Brenda, if the Prince'smiracle-worker had offered you one?" asked Nitocris, smiling, but stillwith a decided note of seriousness in her tone. 

"I?" laughed Brenda, leaning back in her chair. "Sakes, no, child! I'vehad a pretty good time so far, and I hope it won't be over just yet;but, after all, there must be a limit even to the combinations of humanlife, and a time would have to come when you'd just be doing the sameold things over and over again. And, besides that, think of the horrorof living on and on and seeing every one you loved--husband and wife, and children and grandchildren--grow old and die, and leave you alone ina world of strangers. No; life's a good thing if you only have fair playin the world; but so is death when you've lived your life. It's onlylike going to bed, after all. Eternal life would be like a day with nonight to it, and that, I guess, would get a bit monotonous after acentury or two. What do you think, Professor?"

"My dear Miss van Huysman, " replied her host with one of his rare buteloquent smiles, "since I began to study the question with anythinglike enlightenment, I have not been able to look upon what we call life, by which I mean existence in this or some other world, as anything buteternal. In its manifestations to our senses it is, I admit, merelytransitory, a brief span of time between two other states which, forwant of a better word, we may call two eternities; but I must confessthat, to me, a human existence beginning with the cradle and ending withthe grave is merely a more or less tragic riddle without an answer: inother words, a meaningless absurdity. I find it quite impossible toconceive any deity or presiding genius of the universe who could beguilty of such a colossally useless tragedy as human life would be underthose circumstances. "

"I can't see it, my dear Marmion, " said Brenda's father a triflegruffly, for he had not yet quite recovered from the disquietingexperiences of the afternoon. "What does it matter whether we live againor not as long as we live cleanly and do our work honestly while we arealive? Surely if we leave this world a little bit better, a little bitricher in knowledge, than we find it, these poor little lives of ours, such as they are, and that's not much--will not have been lived in vain. Of course, as you know, I'm just a common, low-down materialist whocan't rise to the poetry of things as you can with this gorgeous theoryof re-incarnation of yours. 

"I should very much like to believe it if I could, as I once said to aneminent revivalist on the war-path in the States; but the trouble with aman who is honest with himself is that he can no more make himselfbelieve what doesn't seem true to him than he can make himself hungrywhen he isn't. All the horrible history of religious persecution is justthe story of a lot of bigots in power trying to force helpless people todo what they couldn't do honestly. The awful part of the business isthat they were most likely all wrong, and didn't know it. "

"But, at least, Professor, I hope you are able to give them credit forhonest intentions, however mistaken they might have been?" interposedMerrill, who was the son of a country parson and had so far preservedhis simple faith intact. It may be remarked here, that Nitocris was wellaware of this, and loved her strong-souled sailor all the better for it. Franklin Marmion did not, but then he thought any creed good enough for"a mere fighting man. "

"There were schemers and scoundrels among them on both sides, sir, "replied the American quietly. "The temptation was too big; but I amquite willing to allow that the majority of them, even the Inquisitors, were honest zealots who really did think it right to produce any amountof suffering and misery here on earth in order to get mattersstraightened out, as they thought, hereafter. Charles V. Was the mostenlightened monarch of his age and the worst persecutor, and Torquemada, away from his religion, was as kind-hearted a man as ever lived. Calvinwas a good man, but he watched Servetus burn, and our own PilgrimFathers on the other side were just about as hard men as any when itcame to arguing out a religious question with whips and pillories andthumbscrews, and the like. I don't want to offend any one's sentiment orquestion any one's faith. To each man the belief that satisfies him, butpersonally I have no use for a religion that can't get itself believedwithout persecution. "

"I quite agree with you there, Professor, " replied Merrill, who felt alittle chilled by the perfect aloofness with which the other spoke, andwas wondering what his dear old father, living his quiet, saintly lifeamong the Derbyshire dales, would have thought of such cold-bloodedheresy. "I have always looked upon that sort of brutal intolerance as aform of religious mania--sincere, but still mania, and the story of itis the most awful chapter in human history----"

"Except, perhaps, the story of war, " interrupted Professor Marmion, witha snap in his voice. Monomania, more or less harmless, is a notinfrequent affliction of very high intelligences, and a quiteunreasoning hatred of war was his, although within the last few days hehad come to suspect disquieting misgivings on the subject, possibly inconsequence of the higher knowledge to which he was attaining. 

"My dear sir, " replied Merrill quite good-humouredly, and not at allsorry for the diversion, "I am glad to say that I agree with you also. No man who has not actually fought can have any just idea of theappalling abominations of war, and I am sure that no men hate it moredevotedly than those who have to fight. But we have to take the world asit is, and not as we would like it to be; and as long as we have peoplein it who want to set it on fire for their own brutally selfishpurposes, we shall have to keep the fire-extinguishers in good order. "

In obedience to an appealing glance from his daughter, the Professor didnot reply. His opponent in the bloodless arena of Science saved him byinterrupting:

"Yes, sir. I differ from my friend Marmion on a good many points, andthat's one of them. You have the honour to serve in the biggestfire-extinguishing institution on earth. It was the British Navy thatput out Napoleon's bonfire that he was making of the world: you kept thering round us and Spain, and round Russia and Japan, and you've savedmore conflagrations than half a dozen Noah's floods would put out. That's why the Kaiser and his tin-hatted firebrands have such a healthydislike for you. They'd have had the world on fire years ago if theyhadn't had to worry about you. "

"I think you must admit, Professor Marmion, " said Lord Leighton, who hadso far been busy with his own new thoughts and the contemplation of theinspirer of them, "that it is people like these on whom the real guiltof the crime of war rests. Now that the pressure of the bear's paw isremoved, Germany is the danger-spot of the world. The Maroocan businessproved that pretty clearly; and nothing but our friendship with Americaand France and Japan, and the ability to strike hard and instantly atsea, saved Europe, and perhaps the world, from something like arepetition of the Napoleonic wars. "

"With Mister William Hohenzollern a Napoleon, " added Professor vanHuysman, with a half-suppressed snort. "It seems to me as though thatgentleman had been spreading himself round Europe as German War-Lord solong that he's getting tired of playing at it, and 's just spoiling fora real fight. "

"That is very possible, " said Merrill; "but happily he hasresponsibilities, and even the German war party would not follow him asfar as he would like to go, to say nothing of the Liberals and theSocialists. Personally, I must say that I think we have had a much moredangerous person, as far as the peace of the world is concerned, on thelawn of 'The Wilderness' this afternoon. "

"Of course you mean that hateful Russian Prince who brought that equallyhateful Adept, as he calls himself, with him, " said Nitocris, with anunwonted harshness that made every one look up. 

"Oh, Niti, " exclaimed Brenda, "and I asked you to let me bring him!"

"I'm very sorry, dear, " she replied quietly, but with a smile ofreassurance. "It was not your fault, of course. He may have been verynice to you, but I am obliged to say that the first moment I looked athim I was possessed by some inexplicable feeling of dislike, and evenfear, although I certainly never hated or feared any one before. If Ihad met him before I got your note, I really think I should have askedyou to spare us the honour. It seemed to me as though there wassomething uncanny about the man. It was very curious. "

Her father looked up at her for a moment, wondering what would happen ifhe were to explain the mysterious antipathy there and then. The littletheological discussion would look very small after such a revelation asthat. But he, too, had had a revelation which the somewhat desultoryconversation had done something to press home upon him. He had seen theadvent of the Queen, and heard what she had said to Phadrig with othereyes and ears than his guests had done, for to them it had only beenNitocris who had gone to him and said a few inaudible words, which theyhad taken as a request for the conclusion of his "performance. "

He had seen back through the mists of many centuries and recognised themas they had been, and he had learned that Oscarovitch the Russian hadnow entered the circle of the Queen's, and therefore his own, influence. A sudden anxiety for the safety of his darling Niti had awakened in hisheart. He had seen the lust for possession flame in the man's eyes, andnow that he knew who he was--and had been--he determined that whateverother adventurer might set the world aflame, the Modern Skobeleff shouldnot do it if he and his Royal ally on the Higher Plane could prevent it. His coming had been a curious coincidence, possibly a consequence ofobscure causes; but, for some reason or other, he felt himself beginningto look with a more favourable eye on Commander Mark Merrill--perhapsbecause he was the impersonation of uncompromising hostility toeverything that Oscarovitch represented. 

Dinner had come to an end now, and so Nitocris took advantage of endinga conversation which bade fair to become somewhat awkward. She glancedround the table and rose, saying:

"Don't you think we've had polemics enough for one little dinner, Dad?There's a lovely moon, so we'll have our coffee on the verandah, and youand Mr van Huysman can settle the affairs of the universe comfortablyover your pipes. Give Lord Leighton and Mr Merrill something to smoke, and we will join you when we have got some wraps. "

When they got back from Nitocris's rooms Mrs van Huysman elected to takeher coffee in a big, deep-seated armchair by the drawing-room window. She said that she had felt the sun a little, and might possibly indulgein forty winks--which she did within a few minutes of gettingcomfortably arranged in it. Then Nitocris took Brenda by the arm andwalked her half-way down the lawn. 

"I want to take possession of Lord Leighton for about half an hour, dear, if you don't mind. I've got something very serious to say to him. Dad, with the characteristic cowardice of his sex, has left it to me tosay. It's--well, it's about a mummy: a female mummy, or, at least, Isuppose I ought to say a mummy that was once a female--about fivethousand years ago. "

"My dear Niti----"

"No, no, don't interrupt me, for goodness' sake. It's too serious. It isreally. We've had something like a tragedy here in the last few days, and things seem to have been, as you would say, a good deal mixed upever since. I don't understand it a bit; but they have been. "

"But, my dear Niti, what on earth can you have to say to LordLeighton about a--a female mummy? What possible interest can afive-thousand-year-old corpse have for him?"

"Don't, Brenda, don't--at least not just now! Wait till I've told you, and then you'll see, " said Nitocris, pressing her arm closer to herside. "Lord Leighton is, as I think you know, an enthusiastic student ofEgyptian antiquities. He was also, or thought he was, in love with myunworthy self. He found this mummy in a royal tomb at Memphis. He--well, I suppose, stole it--of course under the usual licence from theKhedive--and sent it home to Dad. Now comes the mystery. That was themummy of Nitocris, the daughter of the great Rameses, and it was thedead image of my living self. "

"Oh, but, Niti--what do you mean?"

"I don't know, Brenda. I wish I did. All I do know is that it was stolenthat very night out of Dad's study in the Old Wing, and that I've got totell Lord Leighton all about it. I'm sure Dad could have told him muchbetter, only somehow he seems afraid. "

"Oh, is that all--just the stealing of what was perhaps a very valuablerelic? They try to steal much fresher corpses than that in the States ifthere are dollars in the business. "

"Don't be brutal, Brenda! I know you don't mean it, and it isn't likeyou. Now, listen. Before he went to Egypt this time Lord Leighton askedme to marry him. I said 'No, ' and for two reasons. I knew that he likedme very much--he always has done--and poor Dad took his liking for loveand encouraged him: but I'm a woman and, I know, that liking isn'tlove--and then I love some one else. And now he, I mean LordLeighton--loves some one else. Turn your face to the moon. Yes, you knowwho the some one else is. I'm so glad, for I do think you----"

"Niti, you're talking arrant nonsense for an educated young woman. I'veonly known His Lordship for a day, and how can you----"

"Because female Bachelors of Science and graduates of Vassar, whateverstupid people may say, have hearts _as_ well as intellects, dear, and sothey know. I seem to have had a kind of sixth sense given to me to-day, and, when you met Lord Leighton, I saw it, and I believe you _felt_ it. I saw your eyes brighten and your face flush--only a little, but it did, and so did his. You know my belief in the Doctrine. You may have beenlovers--perhaps wedded lovers--once upon a time, as they say in thefairy tales. "

"How awful--no, I mean how wonderful--if it could only be true! And now, as you've told me all this, you might as well tell me who your some oneelse is. "

"Really, Brenda, I thought you had more perception. He's there on theverandah smoking with your Lord Leighton. "

"Oh! Then, of course, you're going to marry him?"

"I'm sorry to say Dad doesn't want me to. With all his genius andlearning he is a perfect child in that sort of thing. He has no idea ofNatural Selection. Now listen again, Brenda. . When I had to tell Markthat Dad wouldn't let me marry him, he picked me up out of a chair inthe verandah there, where your father and mine are sitting, and kissedme three times. "

"And I'll gamble ten cents that you kissed him back. That's NaturalSelection, if I know anything about it. Niti, if that man--and he is aman--doesn't get killed in a fight, he'll marry you in spite of all themisguided scientific Dads on earth. Don't you worry. You've made me justhappy. I'm not emotional that way, but I'd like to kiss you if the moonwasn't so bright. Suppose we go back and try to assist the kindly Fatesa little bit?"

The Fates which, in some dimly-perceived fashion, seem to shape ourlittle successive phases of existence, were certainly in a kindly moodthat "lovely night in June. " The two Professors had retired to FranklinMarmion's sanctum for the discussion of whisky and soda and thepossibilities of physical manifestations of the Occult. Mrs van Huysmanwas frankly and comfortably sleeping in the deep, amply-cushionedarmchair, and the two young men were almost as frankly pining forsweeter companionship than their own. 

But the pairing off, which was so deftly managed by Nitocris, did not atfirst appear entirely satisfactory to them, yet a very few minutes'conversation sufficed to convince them of the wisdom of the arrangement. Brenda, with all the delicate tact which makes every highly-trainedwoman a skilled diplomatist, managed, not only to completely charmMerrill as a man who is in love with another woman likes to be charmed, but also to make him understand even more clearly than he had done howgreatly the Fates had blessed him by giving him the love of such a girlas Nitocris; and then, by a few very deftly conveyed suggestions, shefurther gave him to understand that, so far as Lord Leighton had everbeen an unconscious obstacle in his path, he was even now engaged inremoving himself. Wherefore Commander Merrill enjoyed his smoke andstroll under the beeches a good deal more than he had anticipated. 

More difficultly ambiguous, certainly, was the position in which LordLeighton found himself with Nitocris, but here also her tact andperfect candour helped his own innate chivalry to accomplish all thatwas desirable with the slightest possible friction. She began by tellinghim, as she had told Brenda, of the mysterious stealing of the Mummy, and made a sort of apology for her father having deputed the telling ofit to her--of course, in perfect innocence of the real reason for hisdoing so. He deplored with her the loss of what they both believed to bea priceless relic of the Golden Age of Egypt, but he passed it overlightly, chiefly for the reason that there was something in his mindjust now that was much more serious than even the loss of the mummy ofher long-dead namesake. 

There had been a little silence between them after he had made hiscondolences, and then he said, with a hesitation which told quiteplainly what was coming:

"Miss Marmion, I have a rather awkward confession to make to you--I havegot to tell you, in fact, I think it is my duty to--well, honestly Ireally don't quite know how to put it properly, but--but--er, somethinghas happened to me to-day that is a good deal more important to me, atleast, than the disappearance of half a dozen royal mummies. "

"Indeed?" said Nitocris, with a demurely perfect assumption ofignorance. "A good many things seem somehow to have happened to-day. Itis something connected with that wonderful Adept's marvels, perhaps?They have certainly astonished most of us, I think. "

"No, " he replied, still a trifle hesitatingly, "it is nothing connectedwith him or his miracles, as far as I know, except that there wascertainly something decidedly queer about the man and the impression hemade upon one. Of course I have seen something like the same thing inEgypt and the Farther East; but he seemed quite what I might calluncanny. Still, that's not the point, although possibly it may have hadsomething to do with it. "

He hesitated again. She looked at him with a sideway glance, and said, almost in a whisper: "Yes?"

The moonlight was bright enough for him to see the notes ofinterrogation in her eyes, and he took the plunge. 

"Miss Marmion, I once told you that I loved you and wanted you for mywife, and--and the real fact is that it--I mean I know now that itwasn't true--and so I thought I ought to tell you. You know, of course, that the Professor----"

"My dear Lord Leighton, " she answered, with an air of quite superiorwisdom, "my learned father is a very clever man in his own subjects: butI think I know a great deal more about this particular one than he does. You are quite right. You did not love me. You liked me very much, I haveno doubt----"

"Yes, and so I do still, and always shall do, but----"

"But your liking was great enough to make you mistake it for love. Women's instincts are quicker and keener in these relations than men'sare, and I saw that you did not love me as a real woman has to be loved, and, to be quite frank with you, some one else did. I like you verymuch, Lord Leighton, and I am going to go on liking you; but, you see, Icould not give you what I had already given away. Now, you have told meso much that you ought to tell me a little more. How did your suddenenlightenment on that interesting subject come about?"

He was infinitely relieved by the absolutely frank and friendly way inwhich she had treated the whole subject, and so he had courage to replywith a laugh:

"In short, Miss Marmion, you ask me who the other girl is. Well, youcertainly have a right to know, because, curiously enough, I might neverhave got to know her but for you----"

"Is it Brenda?"

The question was whispered, and he replied in a whisper:

"Yes; do you think I have any chance?"

A cohort of wild cats would not have torn Brenda's secret out of herfriend's soul, and so she replied in a tone that was almost judicious inits evenness:

"That, my friend, is a question that you can only get answered by askinganother--and you must ask her, not me. "

"Oh yes, of course I must, " he said rather limply. "But she's sosplendid--so beautiful, so exquisite--and--I do wish she wasn't so veryrich. You see, even if I had the great good fortune to--to get her tomarry me, I have lots for both; and, you know, the moment an Englishmanwith a title gets engaged to an American millionairess everybody saysthat he is simply dollar-hunting. "

"That, unfortunately, is usually too well justified by the facts, " shereplied seriously. "But only the most idiotic and ignorant of gossipscould possibly say that of you. Every one who is any one knows that theKyneston coronet does not want re-gilding. "

And then she went on, glancing sideways at him again:

"Still, as you know perfectly well, in matters of this kind, these verydelicate diplomatic considerations, I do not care whether it is aquestion of fifty shillings a week or fifty thousand a year. You oncepaid me the very great compliment of offering me rank, position, andalmost everything that a girl, from the merely material point of viewcould ask for. I refused, because I felt certain that you and I did notlove each other--however much we may have liked and respected eachother--as a man and woman ought to do, unless they become guilty of agreat sin against each other. To put it in a very hackneyed way, we werenot each other's affinities. I had already found mine--and I think, andhope, that you have found yours--and I wish you all the good fortunethat you may, and, perhaps, can win. "

"If is very, very good of you, Miss Marmion; but do you think youcould--well, help me a little? I know I don't deserve it. "

"No, sir, you do not, " she laughed softly, because the other two werecoming back on to the lawn. "I wonder that you have--I have half a mindto say the impudence--to ask such a thing. You have confessed yourfickleness in an almost shameless way; and now you ask me to help youwith the other girl! No, my lord: if I know anything of Brenda vanHuysman's nature, there is no one who can help you except yourself. Ofcourse she might----"

"Do you really think she might--I mean in that way?"

"Who am I that I should know the secrets of another woman's soul?" shereplied, with unhesitating prevarication. "There she is. Go and ask her, and take my best wishes with you. Now I am going to talk to _my_affinity for a few minutes. "

"So it was Merrill, after all!" he said to himself, as they joined theothers. "Well, I'm glad. He's a splendid fellow; and she--of course, she's worth the love of the best man on earth--and I'm afraid that'snot--anyhow, I'll have Miss Brenda's opinion on the subject before I gohome to-night. "

It now need hardly be added that the said opinion was not only entirelysatisfactory, but also very sweetly expressed. 

CHAPTER XIII

OVER THE TEA AND THE TOAST

The next morning there were, at least, three eventful breakfasts"partaken of, " as it was once the fashion to say; one at "TheWilderness, " one at the Savoy, and one at the Kyneston town house inPrince's Gate. 

When Professor Marmion came down he was a little late, for he had done along night's work, finishing his lecture-notes to his own satisfaction, or, at least, as nearly as he could get there. Like all good workers, hewas never quite satisfied with what he did. When the maid had closed thedoor of the breakfast-room, he looked across the table at his daughterwith a twinkle in his eyes, and said:

"Niti, before Lord Leighton left last night he had a talk with me, andyou were partly the subject of it. "

"And who might have been the other part of the subject, Dad?" she asked, with excellently simulated composure. 

"That, Niti, " he replied slowly, "I expect you know quite as well as Ido. I am inclined to consider myself the victim of something very like aconspiracy. "

"I think you are quite right, Dad, " she replied, with perfect calmness. "But the chief conspirators were the Fates themselves. We others onlydid as we had to do. When you have solved that problem of N to thefourth, I think you will see that we could really have done nothingelse, because, if you once crossed the border-line--the horizon whichProfessor Cayley spoke of, I mean--you ought to be on speaking termswith them. "

Before he replied to this somewhat searching remark, the man who _had_crossed the horizon emptied his coffee cup, and set it down in thesaucer with a perceptible rattle. Then he said more slowly than before:

"My dear Niti, there are other mysteries than N to the fourth. I onlywish now to confess frankly to you that I have tried to solve one ofthem, perhaps the greatest of all, and ignominiously failed. I learnt agreat deal last night from a young man to whom I thought I could havetaught anything, and I got up this morning in a distinctly chastenedframe of mind; and so, to make a long story short, if you like to driveinto town and bring Commander Merrill back to lunch, I shall be verypleased to have a chat with him afterwards. "

The next moment Nitocris was on the other side of the table, with herarm round her father's shoulders. She kissed him, and whispered:

"You dearest of dears! If I could have loved you any more, I would now, but I can't. I won't drive into town, because Brenda's coming out withLord Leighton in her new motor to fetch me; at least, she will, if otherpapas have been as delightful as you have been. "

He put his hand up and stroked her cheek with a gesture that was olderthan she was, and said with a smile which meant more than she couldcomprehend:

"Ah! so it _was_ a conspiracy, after all! Well, dear, I hope that, forall your sakes, it will turn out a successful one. "

About the same time Brenda was saying to her parents:

"Poppa and Mammy, I've got some news to tell you, and I've slept on it, so as to make quite sure about the telling. "

"And what might that be, Brenda?" asked her mother, looking up a trifleanxiously. "Nothing very serious, I hope. "

"Anything connected with the Marmions?" asked her father, in a voicethat sounded as though it had come from somewhere far away. He had the_Times_ propped up against the sugar basin on his left hand, and he hadjust read the announcement of Franklin Marmion's lecture for thefollowing evening, and this was quite a serious matter for him. 

"It's connected with them in this way, " said Brenda, leaning her elbowson the table. "You and Uncle have wanted a coronet in the family, andyou know that I've refused three, because the men who wore them weren'tfit to respect, to say nothing about loving. Well, I've just discoveredthat I do love a man who has one coronet now, and will have another someday, unless something unexpected happens to him; but mind, it's the manI love and want to marry, and I'd want to do it just the same if he wasstill the same man he is, and hadn't either a coronet or a dollar to hisname. "

"That's like you, Brenda, and it sounds good, " said her father, tearinghis attention away from the alluring title of Franklin Marmion'slecture. "Now, who is it?"

"If it was only that nice young man, Lord Leighton!" said Mrs vanHuysman, in a voice that sounded like an appeal against the finaljudgment of human fate, "but, of course, he's----"

"No, Mammy, that's just what he's _not_ going to do, " exclaimed Brenda, sitting up and clasping her hands behind her neck. "Nitocris Marmion isin love with some one else, and Lord Leighton is in love with me--atleast he said so last night at 'The Wilderness, ' and I don't supposehe'd have said it if he hadn't meant it--and I told him to go and askhis Papa: and now I'm going to ask my Poppa and Mammy if I may be LadyLeighton soon, and, perhaps, some day Countess of Kyneston. You see, Lord Leighton is just a viscount now----"

"What, just a viscount!" exclaimed Mrs van Huysman, getting up from herchair and putting a plump arm round her neck. "Just a viscount--and heirto one of the oldest peerages in England! Oh, Brenda, is it reallytrue?"

"I guess Brenda wouldn't say it if it wasn't, and that's about all thereis to it, " said her father, putting his long arm out over the table. "Icongratulate you, my girl. Mammy and I may have been a bit troubled oversome of those other refusals of yours, but you seem to have known best, after all: and I reckon your Uncle Ephraim'll think the same. LordLeighton's a man right through. He wouldn't have done what he has doneif he hadn't been. Shake, child, and----"

Brenda "shook, " and then, without another word, she got up and hurriedout of the room. 

"The girl's right!" said Professor van Huysman, as the door closedbehind her; "and if I'm not a fool entirely, she's found the right man. "

"Hoskins, you can leave that to a well-brought-up girl like Brenda allthe time. She _is_ right, and all we've got to hope for now is that theEarl will be right too, " said his wife somewhat anxiously. 

"He's just got to see our girl and then he will be, unless he's anatural born idiot, which, of course, he couldn't be, " replied Brenda'sfather in a tone of absolute conviction. "Now, I wonder what that manMarmion's going to let loose on us to-morrow night?"

"Good morning, sir, " said Lord Leighton, as his father came into thebreakfast-room at about the same time that Brenda left the other room inthe Savoy. 

"Good morning, Lester, " replied the Earl of Kyneston, as father and sonshook hands in the old courtly fashion which, within the last halfcentury, has gone out of vogue save among those who have ancestors whoserecord is a credit to their descendants. "You are looking very well andfit--and there is something else. What is it? Had you a very pleasantevening yesterday at 'The Wilderness'? Has Miss Marmion revoked herdecision after all?"

"No, sir, " said his son, looking at him with brightening eyes; "but sheconvinced me that I had thought myself in love with the wrong girl--andthe other girl was on the lawn at the same time, talking with the manthat Miss Marmion was, and is in love with, and will be always, Ithink. "

"And the other young lady, Lester--because, of course, she is a lady, Imean in our sense of the word, much misunderstood as it is in thesedays?"

"She is Brenda van Huysman, sir. "

"Oh, the Professor's daughter. --I mean the other Professor's daughter. Avery good family. Her father is a distinguished man, and, if I rememberrightly, a Van Huysman was one of the first colonisers of New Englandabout four hundred years ago. It is the same family, I suppose?"

"Yes, sir; I can vouch for that. "

Nitocris had given him the whole history of the family, and so he wassure of his facts. 

"Lester, I congratulate you, " replied his father, taking his arm, asthey were accustomed to. "While you have been away digging among thoseEgyptian tombs and temples, this girl has refused at least threecoronets, and one had strawberry leaves on it; so she loves you foryourself. That is good, other things being equal, as I think they willbe in this case. Now, we will go to breakfast, and you shall tell me thewhole story. I have not heard a real love story for a good many years. "

CHAPTER XIV

"SUPPOSED IMPOSSIBILITIES"

It was only to be expected that the announcement of a lecture with suchan alluring title by such a distinguished scholar and scientist asProfessor Franklin Marmion should fill the theatre of the Royal Society, as the reporters said tritely but truly, "to its utmost capacity. "

The mere words, "An Examination of Some Supposed MathematicalImpossibilities, " were just so many bomb-shells tossed into the middleof the scientific arena. The circle-squarers, the triangle-trisectors, the cube-doublers, the flat-worlders, and all the other would-be workersof miracles plainly impossible in a world of three dimensionsjumped--not incorrectly--to the conclusion that their favouriteimpossibility would be selected for examination, and, perhaps--blissfulthought!--demonstration by one of the foremost thinkers of the day, tothe lasting confusion of the scoffers. Learned pundits of the oldschool, who were firmly convinced that Mathematics had long ago saidtheir last word, and that to talk about "supposed impossibilities" wasblasphemy of the rankest sort, came with note-books and a grimdetermination to explode Franklin Marmion's heresies for good and all. Dreamers of Fourth Dimensional dreams came hoping against hope, for theProfessor was known to be something of a dreamer himself; and added toall these there assembled a distinguished company of ladies andgentlemen who looked upon the lecture as a "function" which their socialpositions made it necessary for them to patronise. The reader's personalfriends and acquaintances, including Prince Oscarovitch and Phadrig, were naturally among the most anxiously interested of the Professor'saudience. 

It is almost needless to say that Hoskins van Huysman had donned all hispanoply of scientific war, and had armed himself with what he believedhis keenest weapons; and that Professor Hartley looked with amusedconfidence to a veritable battle royal of wits when the lecture was overand the discussion began. The Prince and Phadrig were keenlyanticipative, and the latter not a little nervous. 

A verbatim report of that famous lecture would, of course, be out ofplace in these pages. If Professor Marmion's words of wonder are notalready written in the archives of the Royal Society, no doubt they willbe in the fullness of time when the minds of men shall have becomeprepared to receive them. Here we are mainly concerned with the resultswhich they produced upon his audience. Certain portions may, however, beproperly reproduced here. 

When the decorous murmur of applause which greeted the President'sclosing sentences had died away, and Franklin Marmion went to thereading-desk and unfolded his notes, there was a tense silence ofanticipation, and hundreds of pairs of eyes, which had some of thekeenest brains in Europe behind them, were converged upon his spare, erect figure and his refined, clear-cut, somewhat sternly-moulded face. 

"Mr President, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen, " he began, in his quiet, but far-reaching tones. "The somewhat peculiar title which I have chosenfor my lecture was not, I hope I need scarcely say, selected with a viewof arousing any but that intelligent curiosity which is alwayscharacteristic of such a distinguished audience as that which I have thehonour of addressing to-night. I chose it after somewhat anxiousconsideration, because I am aware that the bulk of opinion in the worldof science strongly insists upon the finality of the axioms ofmathematics, and therefore it was with no little hesitancy that Iapproached such a subject as this. I am well aware that, in theestimation of most of my learned _confrères_ and fellow-seekers afterscientific truth, to suggest those axioms may not embody final anduniversal truth is, if I may put it so, to lay sacrilegious hands on theArk of the Scientific Covenant. "

A low murmur, prelude of the coming storm, ran through the theatre, andProfessor van Huysman permitted himself to snort distinctively, forwhich he was very promptly, though quietly, called to order by hisdaughter, who was sitting in front of the platform between him and LordLeighton. Franklin Marmion paused for a moment and smiled ever sofaintly. Nitocris looked round at the now eager audience a trifleanxiously, for she had a fairly clear idea of the trouble that mightpossibly be ahead. Her father went on as quietly as before:

"Of course, every one here is aware that the great Napoleon once saidthat the word 'impossible' was not French. I need not remind such anaudience as this that more than one distinguished student andinvestigator has suggested that it also may not be scientific. "

The murmur broke out again, and Hoskins van Huysman blew his nosesomewhat aggressively. His scientific bile was beginning to rise. Hedisapproved very strongly of the tone which his rival had begun. Itsquiet confidence was somewhat ominous. The lecturer continued withoutthis time noticing the interruption, and proceeded to give a lengthy andlearned but singularly lucid _resumé_ of the more recent progress in thehigher mathematics and the deeply interesting speculations to which ithad given rise. This, with certain demonstrations which he made on thegreat black-board beside him, occupied nearly an hour. When he hadfinished there was another murmur, which this time was wholly ofapplause, for this part of the lecture had not only been masterly butentirely orthodox. Then silence fell again, the silence of expectantwaiting, for every one felt that the "Examination" was coming now. Hebegan again in a slightly altered voice. 

"What I have just been saying was necessary to my subject as far as itwent, but for all that it was chiefly introductory to what I am nowgoing to bring to your notice. But this is a matter rather forillustration and discussion than for mere disquisition. Therefore, tosave your time as much as possible, I will proceed at once to theillustration, and then we will have the discussion. "

Professor van Huysman snorted again, even as a war-horse that snuffs thefray. This time Franklin Marmion seemed to recognise the impliedchallenge, for he looked round the crowded theatre with a curious smile, which seemed to say: "Yes, gentlemen, I see that some of you are gettingready for a tussle. I am in hopes of being able to oblige you. "

"Now, " he continued, "it is generally conceded that an ounce of practiceis worth a good many pounds of precept, so I will get to the practice. Ineed hardly remind you that ever since mathematics became an exactscience, three problems have been recognised as impossible ofsolution--trisecting the triangle, squaring the circle, and doubling thecube. I have now the pleasure of announcing that I have had the greatgood fortune to discover certain formulæ which, so far, at least, as Ican see, make the solution of those problems not only possible, butcomparatively easy--to those who know how to use them. "

As he said this, Franklin Marmion looked directly at Hoskins vanHuysman. He was the challenger now, and there was a glint in his eyesand a smile on his lips which showed that he meant business. TheAmerican writhed, and had it not been for Brenda's gently but firmlyrestraining hand, he might have jumped to his feet and precipitatedmatters in a somewhat embarrassing fashion. The chairman looked up atthe lecturer with elevated eyelids which had a note of interrogationunder each of them, and then there came that sound of shifting in seatsand breathing in many low keys which denotes that an audience has beenwound up to a very tense pitch of expectation. If a smaller man had saidsuch words to such hearers some one would have laughed, and then wouldhave burst forth a storm of derision. But the keenest critic had neverfound Franklin Marmion wrong yet, and he had far too great a reputationto permit himself to say in such a place that which he did not seriouslymean. So the hum died down as he went to the black-board, and Nitocrislooked at Merrill with something like fear in her eyes. 

"If he does that, " whispered Phadrig to the Prince in Russian, "thestory that Pent-Ah and Neb-Anat told will be true--which the High Godsforbid!"

"As the trisection of the triangle is, perhaps, the simplest of thethree problems, " said the lecturer, with almost judicial calmness, "wewill, if you please, begin with that. I hope that gentlemen who havebrought note-books with them will be kind enough to follow mycalculations and check any error that I may make. "

But a good threescore note-books, pencils, and stylographic pens wereout already, and hundreds of eyes were eagerly fastening their gaze onthe black-board, their owners desperately anxious to detect the firstslip in the demonstration. The demonstrator drew an isosceles trianglerapidly, and without speaking filled the remainder of the board withformulæ. The almost breathless silence was broken only by the click ofthe chalk on the board and the scratching of pencils and pens on paper. When he had finished he ran through the calculations aloud, and said inthe most commonplace voice:

"Now, gentlemen, if, as I hope, you have found my working correct, I maydraw the two lines which will trisect the triangle. "

He drew them, and then, as calmly as though he had done nothing morethan cross the much-trodden _pons asinorum_, he told two attendants totake the board down and put it in front of the platform; then, whilethey were lifting another on to the easel, he said:

"As those who have followed me would no doubt like a little time torevise the figures, I will go on with the next problem, which will beour old friend, or enemy, the squaring of the circle. "

The second board was filled with diagrams and formulæ as rapidly as thefirst. 

"There is the demonstration, gentlemen, " he said, as the attendantsplaced it beside the other in full view of everybody. "Now, as time isshortening, I will get on with the third problem. "

The chalk began to click again, and the pens and pencils scratched on tothe accompaniment of murmurs and whispers and occasional grunts andsnorts of incredulity. By a master-stroke of strategy Franklin Marmionhad, in placing the three demonstrations of the long-supposed impossiblebefore them in quick succession, kept the learned, but now utterlybewildered mathematicians so busy that they literally had not time tobegin "the trouble" which Brenda was now actually dreading. Her father'sface, bent down over his note-book, was getting more terrible to lookupon every moment. The mere fact that he had not uttered a sound sincethe demonstrations had begun was sufficiently ominous, for it meant thathe was puzzled--perhaps even beaten--and if that was so, she dreaded toeven imagine what might happen. On the other hand, Nitocris felt herspirits rising as she looked round and saw the many learned headsbending and shaking over the note-books, each owner of them working athigh pressure to win the honour of first finding the error which allfirmly believed must exist, and which none of them could detect. 

When he had finished his third demonstration, Franklin Marmion, withoutinterrupting the hard thinking that was going on, took a chair by theside of the President, poured out a glass of water, and waited forresults. 

"Marmion, what is this white magic that you have been springing uponus?" whispered the presiding genius of the learned assembly, looking upfrom several sheets of paper which he had been rapidly covering withformulæ. "These things are impossible, you know--unless, of course, youhave got a good deal farther than any of us. And yet the calculationsare correct as far as I can follow them, and no one else seems to havehit on any error yet. I must confess, though, that these progressives ofyours are too deep for me. I can follow them, and yet I can't. At acertain point they seem to elude me, and yet the calculations arerigidly right. It's almost enough to make one think you had done whatCayley once told us in this room some one might do some day. "

"My Lord, " replied Franklin Marmion, almost inaudibly, "I began myaddress by remarking, as you will remember, that perhaps, after all, theword 'impossible' might not be scientific. "

Their eyes met, and the President, than whose there was no greater namein the higher realm of learning, saw something in Marmion's which sent alittle chill through him, and that something told him that he was in thepresence of a superior being. 

"Dear me!" he murmured, looking down at his papers again, "the age ofmiracles is not past, after all--in fact, it is only just beginning. "

"It is re-beginning, my Lord--for us, " came the reply, in a voice whichseemed to come from very far away. 

The President did not reply. As a matter of fact, he had no reply ready, and he had something else to do. He rose, and said in a somewhatconstrained voice:

"Ladies and gentlemen, Professor Marmion has shown us some very strangedemonstrations which have certainly amply justified the title which heselected. A good many gentlemen, and some ladies as well, I am glad tosee, have followed his calculations very carefully. I have done the samemyself, but I am bound to confess that I have not been able to find anyerror. I think I shall be right in saying that no one will be morepleased than the learned and--er--gifted lecturer to hear that some oneelse has been able to do so. "

Franklin Marmion bowed his assent, and a faint smile flickered acrosshis clean-shaven lips. The next instant Professor van Huysman was on hislegs, note-book in one hand and stylo in the other. All the fresh colourhad gone out of his face; his eyes were burning, and his lips weretwitching with uncontrollable excitement. 

"My Lord, " he began, in a voice that even Brenda hardly recognised, "like yourself, I have been unable to find any actual error in thelecturer's demonstrations of which I will take permission to call thepossibility of the impossible; in other words, that a contradiction interms can be true and false at one and the same time. That, my Lord, andladies, and gentlemen, " he went on, raising his voice almost to ashout, "is still, and, I hope, in the interests of true science, and notadroit jugglery with figures and formulæ, will ever remain, anotherimpossibility. Professor Marmion has apparently trisected the triangle, squared the circle, and doubled the cube. It may be that he haspersuaded some present that he really has done so; but, again, in theinterests of science, I desire to protest against the way in which thesedemonstrations have been sprung upon us. Calculations which he hasdoubtless taken months to elaborate, he has asked us to test in a fewminutes. For myself, I decline to accept them as true, and I hope thatothers will do the same until we have had time to satisfy ourselves thatthe hitherto impossible has been made possible. "

He sat down, breathing hard and white with anger and excitement, andthen the trouble began. The trisectors, the circle-squarers, and thecube-doublers, had seen their long-flouted theories proved todemonstration by one of the most learned and responsible men of sciencein the world, and one of their most sarcastic and hitherto successfulflouters had been compelled to confess that he could find no flaw in thecalculations of this mathematical Daniel so unexpectedly come tojudgment. They did not understand his proofs, but that was no reason whythey should reject them, and so they rose as one man in support of theirchampion to demand that Professor van Huysman should withdraw hisimputations of jugglery. He sat still, and shook his head. He was toodisgusted and bewildered to do or say anything more until he had made asearching analysis of these diabolical formulæ. 

But there were others who wanted to have their say in defence ofscientific orthodoxy, and they had it--and the rest was a chaos ofintellectual conflict until, at the end of nearly an hour, thePresident, who now saw with clearer eyes than any of the disputants, rose and put an end to the discussion by remarking that they had not thewhole night before them, and that all that Professor Marmion had saidand done would be published in the scientific papers; further, that sucha controversy would perhaps be more profitably conducted in print thanby word of mouth. Such a course would give every one ample leisure towork out the problems in the light of the new demonstrations, and alsogive a much better prospect of reaching a logical, and therefore just, conclusion than a discussion in which haste, and possibly pre-conceivedopinions, from the influence of which no human being was really free, could possibly promise. 

This, of course, put an end to the matter for the time being, and, afterthe usual votes of thanks and acknowledgments, the distinguished companydispersed--amused, mystified, gratified, bewildered, and exasperated:but, saving only four of its members, with no idea of the effect whichthat evening's proceedings were destined to have upon the fate ofEurope, perhaps of the whole human race. 

CHAPTER XV

THE ADVANCEMENT OF NITOCRIS--THE RESOLVE OF OSCAROVITCH

Franklin Marmion and Hoskins van Huysman parted that evening in what maybe described as a state of armed neutrality, but with more cordialitythan Brenda, at any rate, had hoped for. Still, they were bothgentlemen, and, moreover, the American scientist was honestly lookingforward to the discovery of some fatal flaw in the reasoning of hisEnglish rival which should leave the final triumph with him--and such atriumph would be not only final but crushing. 

Brenda whirled her father and Lord Leighton--who, of course, sat besideher in front as she drove--off to supper; Merrill went to his club toruminate happily for an hour; and the hero of the evening and hisdaughter drove home almost in silence, and it was a silence for whichthere was a very sufficient reason. Such people do not talk abouttrivialities when they are thinking about much more serious concerns. 

After supper Nitocris followed her father into the study, as he quiteexpected her to do, and when she had shut the door, she faced him andsaid in a voice that was not quite her own:

"Dad, there seems to me to be only one explanation of what you didto-night. I know enough mathematics to see that it is the only one. Ifyou tell me that I am wrong, of course I shall believe you--and then Ishall ask you how else you did it. "

As she spoke he felt that his soul was asking itself a momentousquestion. She had guessed--or did she already know?--the Great Secret. And, if either, was she herself near enough to the dividing line betweenthe two worlds for him to tell her the truth?

He sat down in the chair before his writing-table and stared hard at hisplotting-pad for a few moments. Then he looked up at her and saw theanswer. 

"Niti, " he said slowly, and with a little halt between the words, "youhave asked me a question which I think some one else must answer, if itcan be answered at all. Look behind you!"

She turned swiftly, and there, almost beside her, stood--not the Mummy, but the Queen, her living other-self, royal-robed and crowned as she hadbeen in the dim past, which was now again the present. 

Would she flinch or faint, or cry out with fear? If her unconscious feethad not advanced very near to the Border she would certainly do one orthe other. Indeed, it was with an inward quaking of fear for her thather father had told her to turn. It might well have meant the differencebetween sanity and insanity, knowing what she already did of the Mummyand its mysterious disappearance. But no: there before his eyes wasworked again the miracle which had already been worked in his own case, though now it was, if possible, even more marvellous than it had beenbefore. As Nitocris turned she uttered a low cry of wonder andrecognition, and held out both hands to her other twin-self. The Queentook them, and said in the Ancient Tongue, which now she understoodagain after many centuries:

"Welcome, thou who wast once myself, into this larger life to which thePerfect Knowledge hath led thee: where Time is not, and that which was, and is, and shall be are the same! Thou hast yet many days, as men callthem, to live in that limited life known as mortal, and so the mortallot, with its perils and sorrows and joys, shall yet be thine: yet, although, if the High Gods will it so, that life shall end and begin andend again many times, thou hast already won through the shadows whichbound that little life into the light of the Day which knows not dawnnor noon nor night. I who was, and thou who art, are one again!"

Then came silence. Franklin Marmion saw the two kindred shapes mergeinto each other. He closed his eyes for a moment, as he thought, andwhen he opened them again he was alone. He looked at the clock, and sawthat it was after four. 

"Dear me!" he said, getting up with a shake of his shoulders, "I musthave fallen asleep. Where's Niti? Why, of course, she has been in bedfor hours, and it's about time that I got there, too. "

When they met before breakfast Nitocris said to him:

"I had a very strange experience last night, Dad. I either saw, ordreamt I saw, the Mummy alive again, robed and crowned like a queen ofancient Egypt; and then we seemed to become the same person, and Iremembered that I had been Queen Nitocris of Egypt once. Then I foundmyself alone--so very much alone--in a new world which was still likethis one, only there wasn't any time. I had another sense which made meable to see past, present, and future all at once, and here and there, and up and down, and something else were all the same, and yet it didnot seem in the slightest strange to me, so I suppose it was a dream. "

"It was no dream, Niti, " said her father, looking at her with graveeyes. "Last night, as we have to say in the state of Three Dimensions, you had your first glimpse of the state of Four. I saw what you did. "

"Ah!" she replied, without any sign of astonishment. "Then that is why Iwas able to understand your demonstrations last night when all the restwere puzzled. I didn't think I quite did then, however, but I see nowthat I did. And so I and Her Majesty are really one and the same! Itought to seem very wonderful, but somehow it doesn't in the slightest. "

"I don't think that anything will seem wonderful to you now, Niti, " wasthe quiet response. "But as we are at present on the lower plane ofexistence, it will be necessary for us to go to breakfast. "

 * * * * *

Oscarovitch and Phadrig went back after the lecture to the Prince's flatin Royal Court Mansions, which, as a bachelor and a bird of passage, hefound much more convenient in many ways than a house. He ordered hisRussian servant to make coffee for his guest, and mixed a stiffbrandy-and-soda for himself. He wanted it, for the experiences of theevening had shaken even his nerves not a little. He was essentially aman of power, both physically and mentally, of boundless ambitions andiron will, vast knowledge of the world, as he knew it, and of very highintellectual attainments; but the cast of his mind was absolutelymaterial, and therefore he both hated and feared anything which appearedto transcend the material plane to which his mental vision was atpresent entirely confined. 

When the servant had left the room after bringing the coffee, he gavePhadrig a cigar, lit one himself, and said through the first puffs ofsmoke:

"Phadrig, you know, or pretend to know, more about these things than Ido, or want to do: but, still, just now I want you to tell me honestlyif you believe that Professor Marmion did really solve those problemsto-night. I ask you because I admit that the solutions went beyond therange of my mathematics. "

"Highness, " replied the Egyptian, speaking slowly and almost reverently, "he did. There is not, I think, another man on earth now who could havedone so; but for those who had eyes to see there could be no doubt, andyou will find that, though he has many rivals and will have countlesscritics, not one will be able either to explain his solutions or find aflaw in them. "

"You did a few things that I should not have thought possible the otherday, which you claimed to be really miracles. Now, if they were, Isuppose you can explain Professor Marmion's?"

"There are no miracles, Highness: only the results of higher knowledgethan that which they who see them possess. That is why what I did seemedlike miracles to those who watched. But this Franklin Marmion, as he iscalled in this life, has attained to a higher knowledge than mine, wherefore I am able only to understand imperfectly, but not myself todo, that which he does. Yet, as the High Gods live, he did this thing;and to do it he must have passed to the higher life through the gate ofthe Perfect Knowledge. "

"In other words, " said the Prince, after a big gulp of hisbrandy-and-soda, "that he has solved that infernal problem of the fourthdimension you have had so much to say about. Now, granted that he hasdone so, what does it amount to as regards our world--the world ofpractical thought and real action, I mean?"

"All thought is practical, Highness, " replied Phadrig, "since there canbe no action which is intelligent without thought. Wherefore, the higherthe thought the more potent the action, and so he who has the PerfectKnowledge has also the Perfect Power. "

"Then, do you mean to tell me seriously--and I can hardly think that youwould trifle with me--that this man is now practically omnipotent, asfar as we lower beings, as you seem to call us, are concerned?"

"Only the High Gods are omnipotent, Your Excellency; but, if I have seenrightly, he is as a god to us of the lower life, and therefore I wouldpray you again to utterly relinquish your lately and, as I have daredfor your sake to say, rashly-formed designs to make the Queen who was, and his daughter that is, the sharer of your future throne. Is not thePrincess Hermia noble and fair enough?"

"No, by all your gods, no!" exclaimed the Prince passionately. "Since Ihave seen the woman who, as you say, was once Queen of Egypt, there is, and shall be, no other consort for me. And who are you to advise methus? Are you still the same man who made the condition that, if youused your arts, whatever they may be, to place her in my power, sheshould be, not only my Empress, but also Queen of Egypt? What haschanged you? What has made you faithless to the promise that you gaveme in exchange for mine? If you have forgotten that, do not also forgetthat we Russians have a short way with traitors. "

"What has changed me, Highness, " replied Phadrig, ignoring the threat, "is the knowledge that I have gained to-night. Though you believe me ornot, the debt which I owe you makes it my duty to warn you. The matterstands thus: Nitocris, the daughter of Franklin Marmion, was the Queen. For all I know, she also may have attained to the higher life, and istherefore the Queen still, though that is a mystery beyond mycomprehension; but I do know now that her father has attained to it, andthat for this reason, unless you put this new-found love out of yourheart, you will bring yourself within the sphere of this man's power--apower mighty enough to wreck every scheme you have ever shaped, and todoom you to a fate more horrible than mortal brain could conceive. Youwould be as a man who strove against a god. "

"You may believe what you are saying, Phadrig, and I dare say you do, "exclaimed the Prince again. "I don't, because I can't; but even if Idid, I would claim your promise. I love this Nitocris, Queen or woman, and neither man nor god shall keep her from me, willing or unwilling. Asfor the Princess Hermia--well, her husband is not dead yet. "

"Better he dead and his widow your wife, as was planned, Highness, thanthat you should dare the power of one who has attained to the PerfectKnowledge, " said the Egyptian, with all the earnestness of absoluteconviction. "But my duty is done. I have warned you of that which youcannot see for yourself. I have done it to my own sorrow and thedestroying of my own dream; but my promise is given, and I will keep it, even to a fate that may be worse than death. "

The Prince drained his glass and laughed. 

"Well said, my ages-old adept, as you think you are! You shall followme, for I will go on now even to death, or what there may be worsebehind it, if I can only take my beautiful Queen with me. Yes, I swear Iwill, by God--if there is one!"

So by his ignorant blasphemy Oscar Oscarovitch, who once was Lord of Warin Egypt, for the love of the same woman, fixed his fate for this life, and for many that were to come after it. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE MYSTERY OF PRINCE ZASTROW

Events now began to move with an almost bewildering rapidity, at least, so far as they affected the immediate temporal concerns of Nitocris andher father. For days and weeks a furious storm raged round the famouslecture, and the atmosphere of the scientific world was thick withfigures and formulæ, diagrams and disquisitions; but since none of thelearned disputators proved himself capable of detecting the slightestflaw in the lecturer's mathematics, it had very little interest for him, and therefore has none for us. In fact, so little did he seem concernedwith the tempest he had raised, that a few days later, to theastonishment and chagrin of his baffled critics, he and Nitocris badeadieu to their more intimate friends and disappeared on a wandering tripof undetermined destination for change of air and scene and amuch-needed holiday for the over-worked Professor. At least, that is thereason which Nitocris gave to Lord Leighton and the Van Huysmans, andthe few others to whom she thought it necessary to give any explanationat all. 

The day before they left, Merrill lunched at "The Wilderness, " took afitting leave of his lady-love and his prospective father-in-law, anddeparted to join his ship, slightly mystified, perhaps, by recenthappenings, but still believing himself with sufficient reason to be thehappiest and most fortunate Lieutenant-Commander in the British Navy. 

The true reasons for the sudden departure of the now more than everfamous Professor and his beautiful daughter from the scene of his latestand most marvellous triumph may be set forth as follows:

On the evening of the third day after the lecture Franklin Marmion wasgoing back by train to Wimbledon after a long day at the British Museumamong the relics of Egyptian antiquity--which, as may well beunderstood, he studied now with an interest of which no other man livingcould have been capable; and as soon as he was seated in a comfortablecorner, and had his pipe going, he opened his _Pall Mall Gazette_, and, as was his wont on such occasions, began with the leading article andread straight along through the Special Article and the Occ. Notes, until he came to the news of the day, skipping only the financial newsand quotations, which, under his present changed conditions ofexistence, he dare not trust himself to read lest he might be tempted bythe unrighteousness of Mammon, a form of idolatry which he had alwaysheartily despised. 

The first item on the news page was headed in bold type:

 ~"MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF A RULING GERMAN PRINCE. 

 "SUSPICION OF FOUL PLAY. 

 "IMPORTANT STATE PAPERS VANISH WITH HIM. --SPECIAL. ~

 "In spite of the most rigorous censorship of the Press Bureau, it has now become a matter of practical certainty that Prince Emil Rudolf von Zastrow, the youthful and very capable ruler of Boravia, who, during the last two or three years, has become one of the most brilliant figures in European society, has disappeared under circumstances so strangely mysterious as to suggest some analogy with the tragedy of which the unhappy Prince Alexander of Bulgaria was the central figure. 

 "The facts, so far as they have been ascertained, are briefly as follows:--Up to about a fortnight ago, the Prince was living in semi-retirement with his consort, the Princess Hermia, in his picturesque Castle of Trelitz, which, as every one knows, looks down over the waters of the Baltic from a solitary eminence of rock which rises out of the vast forests that cover the rolling plains for leagues on the landward sides. It will be remembered that every year since his accession, the Prince has been wont to retire to this famous hunting-ground of his to enjoy at once the pleasures of the chase and the society of his beautiful young consort in peace and solitude after the whirl of the European winter season. As far as is known, the only guests at the Castle were the Count Ulik von Kessner, High Chamberlain of Boravia, who is believed to have been present on business of State, and Captain Alexis Vollmar, of the 55th Caucasus Regiment, at present attached to the Imperial Headquarter Staff at St Petersburg. Captain Vollmar, in addition to being a brilliant young officer, is also a scion of two of the wealthiest and most aristocratic families in Russia. 

 "It is now fully established that on the evening of the 6th of this month--that is to say, nearly three weeks ago--the Prince and his two guests returned after a long day in the forest, and that the Prince retired to rest very shortly before supper. From that day to this he has never been seen, either at home or in society. What makes the disappearance more strangely striking is the fact that the Prince, who is Colonel of the 28th Pommeranian Regiment, did not put in an appearance at the recent review in the Kaiserhof when the German Emperor held his usual inspection. Although it was obvious that His Majesty was both puzzled and annoyed by his absence, no official explanation of it has been given, and all information on the subject is rigidly withheld. Our own comes from a personal friend, and, as far as it goes, may be absolutely relied upon. "

For some reason or other, which, after his recent experiences, hethought it would be as well not to try and fathom for the present, thesefew paragraphs made a strangely persistent impression on him. When hegot home he gave his evening papers as usual to his daughter, and atdinner the Zastrow mystery was the chief, in fact almost the only, topicof conversation. 

"Yes, it certainly is very extraordinary, " said Nitocris. "The papersmake mysteries enough out of the disappearance, of the most everyday, insignificant persons, who were probably only running away from theirdebts or their domestic troubles, but for a real Prince to utterlyvanish like this--that certainly looks like a little more than anordinary mystery. And I suppose, " she went on, after a little intervalof silence, "if there really has been foul play--I mean, granted thatPrince Charming, as all the Society papers got to call him, has beenspirited away for some hidden reason of State or politics and is neverintended to see the light of day again, who knows how many secrets maybe connected with this affair which might be like matches in a powdermagazine? And--Oh yes--why, Dad, it was this same Prince Zastrow who hasbeen mentioned by most of the best European papers as the only possibleElective Tsar of Russia if the Romanoffs are driven out by theRevolution, and the people go back to the old Constitution. In fact, some of them went so far as to say that nothing but his selection couldprevent a scramble for the fragments of Russia which could only end ingeneral conflagration. "

"Yes, of course I do, " replied her father. "But what an atrocious shame, if it is so! One of the most popular of the minor princes of Europespirited away, and perhaps either murdered or thrown into some prison orfortress, where he will drag out his days and nights in solitude untilhe goes mad: a young, bright, promising life ruined, just because hehappens to stand in the way of some unscrupulous ambition, or vilepolitical intrigue!

"It would be a crime of the very first magnitude, that is to say, of themost villainous description, and all the more horrible because it wouldbe committed by people in the highest of places. Really, Niti, it isenough to make one think that there ought to be some higher power in theworld capable of making these political crimes impossible. The innerhistory of European politics--I mean, the history that doesn't get intobooks or newspapers--would, I am certain, prove that quite half the warsof the world, at least during the period of what we are pleased to callcivilisation, would have been avoided if some means could have beenfound of putting an end to the miserable personal ambitions andjealousies which have never anything to do with the welfare of nations, but quite the reverse. I shouldn't wonder if poor Prince Zastrow hasbeen the victim of something of the sort. It is quite possible thatexpiring Tsardom had a finger in the pie. At any rate, there was aRussian officer in the Castle the day he disappeared. I should very muchlike to see the sort of explanation _he_ could give of the affair, if hechose. "

"But is there not such a power in the world now, Dad?" asked Nitocris, looking across the table at him with a peculiar smile. 

He looked back in silence for a moment or two. Then he replied slowly:

"I see what you mean, Niti. Of course, I suppose we shall be able toread each other's thoughts now, or even converse without speaking, orwhen we are out of earshot of each other. The same idea came to me whileI was reading the account of this affair in the train; but should I, or, rather we, be doing right in interfering actively in the transactions, political and otherwise, of the world--by which I mean, of course, thestate of three dimensions? It would be a terrific responsibility. Remember what tremendous powers we are capable of wielding by simply--itis so very simple now--simply transferring our personalities to thehigher plane. What if we were to do wrong? We might involve the wholeworld in some unspeakable catastrophe. "

"And which do _you_ consider to be the greatest catastrophe, or, perhapsI ought rather to say the greatest evil, that has ever afflicted theworld, Dad?" she asked, with just a suspicion of a smile in her eyes, though her lips were perfectly serious. 

"Oh, war, of course!" he replied, with his usual emphasis when he got onto that topic. "What was I saying only just now about personal intriguesand ambitions that make war? What have I always thought about war? It isthe most appalling curse----"

"Then, Dad, " she interrupted in her sweetest tones, "do you think that, supposing we possess these wonderful powers, they could be better usedthan in preventing any war which may possibly arise out of thisdisappearance of Prince Zastrow, and so convincing those who are wickedenough to plunge the human race into blood and misery that henceforthall wars of aggression and ambition will be impossible?"

"Yes, you are right as usual, Niti, " he exclaimed, getting up. "Now yougo and think about it all, and give me your advice in the morning. Iwant to get away now and work out an intelligible solution of thosethree problems--if I can make it so--for the benefit of Van Huysman andthe rest of my respected critics. When I've done that, we'll be off tothe Continent or somewhere----"

"And see what we can make of the Zastrow Mystery, perhaps!" saidNitocris. "Good-night, Dad. I want to do some thinking, too. "

He went to his study and set to work upon a development of thedemonstrations with which he had astounded not only London, but thewhole civilised world. 

But it was no good to-night. The ideas would not come. Over and overagain he picked up the threads of his arguments, only to drop themagain. At last, in something like wondering despair, he muttered:

"Confound the thing! I almost had it last night, and now I seem as faraway from it as ever. What on earth can be the matter with me?"

He put his elbows on the table, took his head between his hands, andstared down at the pages covered with angles and circles, chords andcurves, and wildernesses of symbols, which were scattered about hisdesk. As he stared at them they seemed somehow to come together, and thelines and curves arranged themselves in symmetrical shapes, until theydeveloped from diagrams into pictures; and as they did so he foundhimself forgetting all about the problems, and thinking only of thestrange vision which seemed to be unfolding itself among the scatteredpapers before him. The straight lines became the walls and turrets ofone of those two-or three-hundred-year-old German country houses, halfcastle, half mansion, which every explorer of the bye-paths of theFatherland has seen and admired so often. The curves became long, sweeping stretches of sandy bays, fringed with other curves of breakingrollers; and as the picture grew more distinct, one great circleembraced a whole perfect picture of land and seascape--land dusky andforest-covered in the southward half; and the misty sea, island-dotted, wind-whipped, and foam-flecked, to the northward. 

The castle stood on the top of a somewhat steeply sloping hill aboutfive hundred feet above the sandy shore, on which the breakers werecurling a couple of miles away. The hill was covered with thick-growingfirs from the plain to the castle wall, but two broad avenues ran instraight lines, one to seaward, and the other down into the depths ofthe vast forest, until it opened on to the post road, which afforded theonly practicable carriage route to the station of Trelitz on the mainBerlin-Königsberg Railway. 

The longer he looked, the more surprisingly distinct the picture became, and, curiously enough, the less his wonder grew. He saw three men onhorseback riding at a canter up the avenue from the forest. Theircostumes showed plainly enough that they had just come back from thechase. As they rode on they seemed to come quite close to him, until hecould see their features with perfect distinctness. By the changingexpression of their faces he could tell they were laughing and chatting;but, singularly enough, he could not hear a word that they were saying, which, considering the minuteness with which he saw everything, struckhim as being distinctly curious. 

He watched them ride up to the old Gothic gateway in the wall which ranround the castle, suiting itself to the irregularities of the hill. Theycrossed the courtyard and dismounted. The grooms led their horses away, and, as the big double doors opened, they went in, one of them, standingaside for the younger of his companions but entering before the other. In the great hall whose walls were adorned with horns and heads andtusks, and whose floor was almost completely carpeted with skins, theygave their weapons to a couple of footmen; and as they did so he saw theslim and yet stately figure of a woman coming down the winding stairwhich led into the hall from a broad gallery running round it. As shereached the bottom of the stairway she threw her head back a little, andheld out both her hands towards the man who had come in second. As thelight of a great swinging lamp above the stairway fell upon her upturnedface, he recognised the Countess Hermia von Zastrow, the reigningEuropean beauty whose portrait in the illustrated papers, and in thegreat photographer's windows, was almost as familiar as that of QueenAlexandra. 

The Count--for the handsome young hunter who now took her hands couldnow be no other than the Prince of Boravia-Trelitz--raised her righthand in courtly fashion to his lips. The other two bowed low before her, and then she led the way up the stairs. 

He saw all this as distinctly as though he had been actually present, and yet none of the party seemed to take the slightest notice of him. But he was getting quite accustomed to miracle-working now, and so heaccepted the extraordinary conditions of his visions, or whatever itwas, with more interest than astonishment. He followed them up thestairs and along the right hand side of the gallery. The Count opened adoor of heavy black oak and stood aside for his Countess to enter. Againthe younger of his companions went first, and again he followed; then, as the elder man entered and closed the door, the scene was blotted outas though a sudden darkness had fallen upon his eyes. 

"Dear me!" he said, getting up and rubbing his temples with both hands. "If I hadn't had so many extraordinary experiences since my promotion tothe plane of N4, I should probably be a little scared as well. But itis really astonishing how soon the trained intellect gets accustomed toanything--even the eccentricities of the fourth dimensional world. Well, well! I hope that's not the end of the adventure, I was gettingquite interested. I suppose this must be in some obscure way the reasonwhy those paragraphs in the _Pall Mall_ interested me so strangely. "

He walked towards the window, pulled the blind aside and looked out. Butinstead of his own tree-shaded lawn and the wide expanse of moonlitcommon beyond which he expected to see, he found himself looking, as itwere, through a window from the outside into a great, oak-panelledsleeping chamber, lighted by a huge silver lamp hanging from the middleof the painted and corniced ceiling. Against the middle of the left handside wall, as he was looking into the room, stood one of the huge, heavily-draped, four-post bedsteads in which the great ones of the earthwere wont to take their rest a couple of hundred years ago. The curtainswere drawn back on both sides. In the middle of the bed lay CountZastrow, deathly white, with fast-closed eyes and lips, breathingheavily as the rise and fall of the embroidered sheet and silkencoverlet which lay across his chest showed. On the right hand side stoodthe Countess and the two men whom he had seen before; on the other sidestood a tall, strikingly handsome woman, whose dark imperious featuresseemed strangely at variance with the severely fashioned grey dress andthe plainly arranged hair which proclaimed her either a nurse or anupper servant. 

He saw the elder of the two men lean over the bed and raise one of thesleeper's eyelids with his thumb. The nurse took up a lighted taper bythe table beside her and passed it in front of the opened eye. The manclosed the eyelid, and turned and said something to the Countess and theother man. The Countess nodded and smiled, not quite as a man likes tosee a woman smile, and, with a swift glance at the motionless figure onthe bed, turned away and left the room. The nurse said something to thetwo men, and as the door closed behind her the scene changed again. 

This time he was not looking into a window, but out of one. He wasgazing over a vast expanse of forest pierced by a broad, straight roadwhich led for several miles, as it seemed to him, between two dark wallsof thickly-growing pines until it ended abruptly with the forest andopened out on a tiny sand-fringed inlet whose narrow mouth was guardedby two little outcrops of rock half a mile to seaward. 

A carriage drawn by four black horses rolled rapidly along the road, swung out on to the beach, and stopped. Almost at the same moment agrey-painted, six-oared boat grounded on the sandy beach. A couple ofmen landed from her, and as the carriage door opened, they saluted. TheCount's two guests got out and the others entered the carriage, then oneof them got out again followed by the other, and between them theycarried a limp, motionless human form completely covered by a great rugof dark fur. It was taken to the boat. All embarked, and the pinnaceshot away out through the little headlands. A mile out to seaward laythe long black shape of a torpedo destroyer. The pinnace ran alongsideand they all went on board, two of the sailors carrying the body asbefore. 

Professor Marmion found himself accompanying them. The body was takeninto a little cabin and laid in a berth. The rug was turned down fromthe face, and he recognised Prince Zastrow. A few minutes later he foundhimself in the main cabin of the destroyer. The two men who had come inthe carriage were sitting at a little table with a man in mufti. Thisman raised his head and said something. He did not hear the words--but, to his amazement, he recognised the handsome face as that of PrinceOscarovitch, whom he had never seen before he came as his guest to thegarden-party at "The Wilderness. "

On the bulkhead of the cabin at the Prince's head there hung a littleblock-calendar, and the exposed leaf showed the date, Monday, 6th June. As he read it an impulse caused him to look round at the calendarstanding upon his own mantel-shelf. It showed the date, Friday, 24thJune. He turned back to the window and saw nothing but his own lawn andthe moonlit Common beyond. 

CHAPTER XVII

M. NICOL HENDRY

Franklin Marmion sat down and began to think the situation over. It wasnot an easy one, for, as it appeared to him, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for Nitocris and himself to help in the elucidationof the Zastrow mystery, and the prevention of any European complicationsthat might arise out of it, on both the higher and the lower planes ofexistence. Of course, it would have been perfectly easy to do so in onesense, for now, practically nothing in human affairs was impossible ofachievement to them; but, on the other hand, it would never do to allowpeople on the lower plane to become aware of their extra-human powers. This was out of the question for many reasons, not the least of whichwas that they had their lives to live under the ordinary conditions oftime and space and among their fellow-mortals, every one of whom wouldshun them in fear, perhaps even horror, if they knew their secret. What, for instance, would happen to Nitocris in her temporal state if evenonly Merrill came to know it? No, the idea was certainly beyond thepossibility of consideration. 

At the same time, it was to some extent necessary that they should workon both planes if they were to reap the full advantage of their recentlyacquired powers, and out of this dilemma there appeared to be only oneway open to the Professor: he must have the assistance of others to doon the lower plane the work that he would, as it were, direct from thehigher. The question was, who? Obviously it must be some one upon whosediscretion absolute reliance could be placed. He must be highly skilledin police work, and have a reputation to enhance or lose as the resultmight decide. Suddenly a name occurred to him. A short time ago hisfriend the President had been telling him the inner story of a veryintricate case which had involved a scandal of two Courts. Only the mostmeagre details had obviously been permitted to appear in the papers, butHis Lordship had told him that it had been solved and settled almostentirely by the skill and diplomacy of a M. Nicol Hendry, who held thelittle advertised but highly responsible position of Head of the EnglishDepartment of the International Police Bureau. 

"That's the very man, " he said, "the very man, and I shouldn't wonder ifhe's engaged on this particular case. It's too late to wire, and, besides, that would look suspicious. I could telephone to Scotland Yard, but I don't want even the police to know I want him until I've seen him. No, I'll write a note: it will go by the early post, and no one willknow where it comes from. "

Just as lunch was over the next day the front door bell tingled, andpresently the parlour-maid knocked, and came in with a card on a silversalver:

"I have shown the gentleman into the drawing-room, sir. He says that hehas an appointment with you for half-past two. "

"Very well: I will be up in a moment, Annie. " Then, as she closed thedoor, he gave Nitocris the card, and continued: "Our ally on the lowerplane that may be. You say you wouldn't care to be present and help mewith your opinion?"

"Oh no, Dad. I don't want any one to know that I am taking any part inthis little adventure. But if you will introduce him afterwards, I'lltell you what I think. You know, women generally judge other people thatway. "

"Very well, " laughed her father, as he turned to the door, "that will bebest. If everything goes right and I think I can work with him, I shallbring him upstairs and you can give him a cup of tea. If I don't, youwill know that he won't do. "

"Good-bye, then, for the present, " she smiled, "and don't frighten thepoor man, if you can help it. I dare say he's only an exaggeratedpoliceman, after all. "

But it was a very different sort of person whom Franklin Marmion greetedin the drawing-room. M. Nicol Hendry was a slimly but strongly-built manof about forty. His high, somewhat narrow forehead was framed withclose-cut, crinkly, reddish-brown hair. Under well-defined browneyebrows shone a pair of alert steel-grey eyes of almost startlingbrilliancy. His nose was a trifle long and slightly aquiline. Acarefully-trained golden-brown moustache half-concealed firm, thinly-cutlips, and a closely-trimmed, pointed beard just revealed the strength ofthe chin beneath. He was dressed in a dark grey frock-coat suit, andwore a pinky-red wild rose, which he had plucked on the Common, in hisbutton-hole. As he shook hands with him the Professor made a mental noteof him as an embodiment of strength, keenness, and quiet inflexibility:a summing-up which was pretty near the truth. 

"Good afternoon, M. Hendry, " he said, as the hands and eyes met. 

"Good afternoon, Professor, " returned the other in a gentle voice, andalmost perfect English. "May I ask to what happy circumstance--at least, I hope it is a happy one--I owe the honour of making the acquaintance ofthe gentleman who has succeeded in mystifying all the mathematicians ofEurope?"

"Well, " said Franklin Marmion with a smile, "I don't know whether thereis so very much honour about that, but I do know that your time is veryvaluable and that I have already taken up a good deal of it by bringingyou all the way out here, so I will come to the point at once. But waita moment. Come down into my study. We can talk more comfortably there. "When the Professor had given his guest a cigar and lit his pipe, hesaid quite abruptly: "It is about the Zastrow affair. "

If he had said it was about the last Grand Ducal plot in the Peterhof, M. Hendry could not have been inwardly more astonished. Outwardly theProfessor might have mentioned the last commonplace murder. Only hiseyelids lifted a little as he replied:

"Ah, indeed? Well, really, Professor, you must forgive me for sayingthat that is about the very last matter I should have expected you tohave brought up. All the world knows you as one of its mostdistinguished men of science, now, of course, more distinguished thanever; but I hardly think any one would have expected you to interestyourself in political mysteries. I have a recollection of hearing orreading somewhere that politics were your pet aversion. "

"So they are, " replied Franklin Marmion, with a short laugh. "I considerordinary politics--juggling with phrases to delude the ignorance andflatter the prejudices of the mob, and bartering principles for placeand power--to be about the most contemptible vocation a man can descendto, but those are low politics in more senses than one. Now highpolitics, as a psychological study, to an outsider are a very differentmatter. But I am digressing. I did not invite you here to discusstrivialities like these. I want to ask you--of course, you will notanswer me unless you like--whether you are connected, professionally orotherwise, with the Zastrow affair?"

M. Hendry looked down at the toes of his perfectly-shaped boots for amoment or two. Then he raised his head and said good-humouredly:

"Professor, I know that there is no more honourable man in the worldthan you, but even from you I must ask frankly your reasons for askingthat question?"

"You have a perfect right to do that, my dear sir, " was the quiet reply. "If you say 'yes, ' I am anxious to help you: if you say 'no, ' I shouldlike you to help me: if you don't care to answer, there is an end of thematter. Those are my reasons. "

It took a good deal to astonish Nicol Hendry, but he was considerablyastonished now. Yet it was impossible to have the remotest doubt ofFranklin Marmion's absolute earnestness. But why should he of all men onearth want to unravel the Zastrow mystery? What interest save the merestcuriosity could he have in the matter? And yet he was by no means thesort of man to be merely curious. The very strangeness of hisproposition half-convinced him that there must be some other very strongreason underlying those which he had given. Again, he was to beperfectly trusted, so no harm could be done trying to discover if thiswas so, since if he could help he would do so loyally. So he told him. 

"Yes, Professor, " he said, looking keenly into his eyes, "I aminterested in the _affaire_, professionally interested, and, I may add, very deeply interested, to boot. "

"I am glad to hear that, " said Franklin Marmion with unexpectedearnestness. "Now, the next question is: Will you accept my assistance, whatever it may be, under my own conditions, which are these: No one butyourself shall know that I am helping you, and you yourself will not askme how I help you. "

Once more a puzzle. Nicol Hendry thought for a few seconds before hereplied slowly:

"Yes, Professor. As long as you do help us I don't care either why orhow, for, as I may now be quite frank with you, we certainly want helpof some sort very badly. The papers are quite right for once. Neitherhere nor on the Continent have we found a single clue worth picking up. It is humiliating, but it is true. "

"Then before you go I hope I shall be able to give you some that will beworth picking up, and keeping too, " said the scientist with a faintsmile; "at any rate, I think I can put you upon certain lines of enquirywhich you will find it profitable to trace out. "

Nicol Hendry was an ambitious man, and he would have given a good dealto have known what was passing in the other's mind just then, but hisexpression betrayed nothing more than interested anticipation. 

"We shall be entirely grateful to you if you will, Professor, " hemurmured. 

"I have no doubt of that, my dear sir. Now, to begin with: I presumethat there are photographs of the persons mentioned in the newspapersas being in the Castle of Trelitz with the Prince on the last day thathe was known to be there?"

"Certainly; we should scarcely leave a simple preliminary like thatneglected, " smiled Nicol Hendry. "With the exception of the FraüleinHulda von Tyssen, the Princess' Lady of the Bedchamber, all have beenphotographed for publication, and hers we have got through a privatesource. The Chief of each of our Departments has a copy of them, and Ihappen to have mine in my pocket now, if you would like to see them. ThePrincess, of course, you must have seen. She is in every photographer'swindow in the West End. "

"Oh yes, I have seen her. Who has not? She is a singularly beautifulwoman. But I should very much like to see the others, if I may. "

The Chef de Bureau looked at him sharply as he took a small squaremorocco case out of his inner pocket and opened it. Going to a littletable he spread out five small unmounted photographs upon it. He put twoof them on one side, saying:

"Those, of course, you know; they are the Prince and Princess. This oneis Count Ulik von Kessner, High Chamberlain of Boravia; this, CaptainAlexis Vollmar; and this is Fraülein von Tyssen. "

Franklin Marmion looked at them with much more than ordinary interest, for he recognised all five as clearly as though he had just left them inhis own dining-room. 

"There are no suspicions attaching to any of these people, I suppose?"he said carelessly. 

"My dear Professor, " replied Nicol Hendry a little coldly, "those whowrite stories about our profession always say that it is our invariablerule to suspect everybody, but we have a little common-sense, and weknow the records of these ladies and gentlemen in the minutest detailfrom the Prince himself to Fraülein Hulda. We have not the slightestreason to suspect any of them. "

"Ah, just so, " said the other musingly; "no, of course you wouldn'thave, and, unfortunately, I cannot tell you why you should. But I'lltell you this: if you ever do find cause to suspect any of thesepersons, you will find that this group is not complete. It ought tocontain the photograph of Prince Oscar Oscarovitch. "

"Prince Oscar Oscarovitch!" exclaimed Nicol Hendry, staring at him thistime with wide-open eyes. "Why on earth should you----"

"Pardon me, my dear sir, " interrupted Franklin Marmion gently, "rememberthat you are not supposed to care anything about the why or the how. Ihave already explained that I cannot explain. "

"A thousand pardons, Professor. I don't often forget myself, but I didthen. You took me so utterly by surprise. "

"I fancy that you will be a good deal more surprised before you havecome to the end of this affair, " was the smiling but almost exasperatingreply; "but, as I implied, I can only give you clues. I cannot eventell you how I get them, and it is for you to follow them or not as yourjudgment dictates. Now, here are one or two to go on with. Try and findout whether or not there was a four-funnelled Russian destroyer anywherein the neighbourhood of Trelitz on the night of the 6th. Trace asclosely as you can the movements of Prince Oscarovitch on that and thetwo preceding days. Try and find out whether or not a large closedchariot something like a barouche, drawn by four black horses, went fromanywhere in the direction of the Castle on that day. And lastly, keep avery close eye upon the Egyptian Adept, as he calls himself--his name isPhadrig Amena--who worked those alleged miracles at my daughter'sgarden-party the other day. The Prince practically invited himself, andbrought this fellow with him. If you can find out the true relationshipbetween them I think you will have found out enough to keep you ratherbusy for the present. If you do think anything of these little pointsand examine them, let me know how you get on. We are going abroad for abit of a holiday, but I will send you my address every now and then. Now, let us go back into the drawing-room, and my daughter will give ussome tea. "

When Nicol Hendry left "The Wilderness" that afternoon he was about themost mystified man in London. After he had gone, Franklin Marmion saidto Nitocris:

"Well, Niti, what do you think of our gimlet-eyed friend? Will he do?"

"Yes, Dad; I like his manner, and he seems very clever in his own way. Quite a gentleman, too, " she replied. 

"I'm glad you think that, " he added; "but what a pity it is that wecould not get the world to accept fourth dimensional evidence withoutturning the said world inside out. We could clear up the whole _affaire_Zastrow in a week then. "

"But we shouldn't enjoy our holiday as much, I'm afraid, it would be tooexciting, " concluded Nitocris. 

CHAPTER XVIII

MURDER BY SUGGESTION

Two days later the Marmions left London for Copenhagen, whence theyintended to take a trip among the Baltic Islands, now looking theirbrightest and prettiest, then up along the Norwegian Fiords, just beforethe tourist rush began, and finally across from Trondjem to Iceland. They were both excellent sailors, and both disliked crowds, especiallywhen the said crowds were pleasure-hunting. Moreover, they had now aparticular reason for being alone that they might enjoy together--they, the only two mortals who could do so--the countless marvels of that newexistence which had now become possible for them. Where, too, could theydo this to more advantage than in the ancient Northland, whosemarvellous past would now be to them even as the present of their owntemporal lives?

The Van Huysmans, and, of course, Lord Lester Leighton, were to remainin London until the end of the Season. Uncle Ephraim had cabled warmcongratulations and large credits, and so Brenda, very naturally as anewly-engaged girl and a prospective Countess, wanted all that Londonand Ranelagh and Henley, Ascot and Goodwood and Cowes, could give herbefore her devoted lover's yacht carried them off to the Mediterranean. Later in the autumn they were all to go over to the States to spend thewinter in Washington and New York, whence they were to return to Londonfor the wedding in May: surely as pleasant a programme--I fear that MissBrenda spelt it "program"--as could be desired even by a fair maidenupon whom the kindly Fates had already showered their choicest gifts. The only bitter drop in the family cup of content was the fact thatProfessor van Huysman was as far away as ever from the exposure of thefallacy which, as he was immovably convinced, those abominabledemonstrations _must_ contain. 

After due consultation between Nicol Hendry and his colleagues ofFrance, Germany, and Russia, it was decided to follow up the clues whichhe had so mysteriously received. The others would, of course, have beenvery glad to know where and how he got them, but at the outset he hadput them on their honour not to ask, and so professional etiquette madeit impossible for them to do anything but accept his assurance that hehad received them from a source which was quite beyond reproach. Oncethey accepted the situation, they got to work with a quiet thoroughnesswhich resulted in the spreading of an invisible but unbreakable netround the footsteps of every one of the suspects from the greatOscarovitch himself to the humble seller of curios in Candler's Court, and his still humbler friends Pent-Ah and Neb-Anat, who were known tothe few who knew them as Mr and Mrs Pentana, renovators, and, possiblymanufacturers, of ancient gems and relics. 

But to one pair of eyes, at least, the police-net was as plainly visibleas a spider's web hanging in the sunlight. 

Within three days Phadrig received a visit from a shabbily-dressed butwell-to-do Jew trader with whom he had done business before, who wantedto know if he could put him in the way of getting some really good oldEgyptian gems and jewellery to show on approval to a wealthy patron whowanted to give his daughter a set of rare and uncommon ornaments on herwedding day. It was by this means, by acting as an intermediary betweenthose who had something to sell and those who wished to buy, thatPhadrig was supposed to make his modest living. His knowledge of Easternantiquities was admittedly great, though, of course, no one knew howgreat, and he had often been asked why, instead of living in such awretched way, he did not start a little business for himself; to whichhe always replied that he had no capital, and that he preferredindependence, however poor, to the cares and ties of regular trading. 

When the Jew had stated his business, Phadrig looked at him with sleepyeyes with a strange expression in them which, for some reason or other, held his visitor's usually shifty gaze fixed, and said in a slow, gentlevoice:

"It is very kind of you, Mr Josephus, to bring me all these nice littlecommissions. They are of much benefit to a poor student of antiquitieslike myself, although I do not like trading in things that I love. Still, one must live if one would study. Now, I had a gem sent to me theother day which I would dearly love to possess, but, alas! as well mightI long for the Koh-i-Noor itself. Moreover, it is already promised--nay, as good as sold. But what have the poor to do with such splendours saveto help the rich to buy them!"

The Jew's prominent eyes shone with an inward light at the mention ofthe gem, and he said in a coaxing voice:

"My dear Phadrig, we have always been friends for ever so long, and yousay I've been a good customer to you. Might I have a look at that gem?You know how fond I am of the pretty things. Have you got it here?"

"Yes, and you shall see it with pleasure, my good Josephus, " repliedPhadrig, well knowing the thought that was in his mind when he asked ifhe had the gem there in that shabby, unprotected room. 

He went to the old oak secretaire, unlocked a cupboard at the side, andthen a drawer within it, followed in every motion by the gleaming eyesof the Jew, and took from it a leather parcel. He undid this andproduced a box, about four inches long and three wide, of plain blackpolished wood. It looked solid, but Phadrig made a swift motion with hisfingers, and one half of it slid off the other. He held it towards hisvisitor, and said:

"What do you think of that as a specimen of ancient art, Mr Josephus?"

The Jew looked. The inside of the box seemed filled with green lighttinted with yellow. Out of the midst of it began to shine a deeper greenlight which crystallised into the most glorious emerald that he had evereven dreamt of. It was fully an inch square, flawless, and of perfectcolour. The yellow sheen came from a framework of heavy, exquisitely-wrought gold. Phadrig took it out and held it before him, and the green light seemed to radiate through the dull atmosphere of theroom. The Jew stared at it with bulging eyes and trembling under-lip, and his hands went out towards it with a gesture which seemed likeworship. 

"God of Israel, " he gasped, "was anything so splendid ever seen before!Mr Phadrig, is it--is it real?"

"Real?" echoed the Egyptian scornfully. "Did you ever see light likethat come out of a sham stone? You should know more about gems thanthat, Mr Josephus. "

"Ah yes, yes, of course. It is glorious; it is worthy to shine on thebreastplate of the High Priest--and what a price it must be! Is itallowed to ask the name of the great millionaire for whom it isdestined?"

"Yes. It will in a few hours be the property of Prince OscarOscarovitch. "

As Phadrig spoke he hid the gem in his hand. His voice was so changedthat the Jew looked up at him. His eyes were wide open now, and glowingwith a fire that made them look almost dull red. They seemed to seeright through his eyeballs and look into his brain. Josephus started asthough he had been struck. He tried to turn his head away, but theterrible eyes held him. His fat, greasy, olive face grew grey and dry, and his head shook from side to side. 

"What is the matter, my dear Mr Josephus?" asked Phadrig, in slow, sterntones. "The mention of the Prince seems to have affected your nerves. Are you acquainted with His Highness?"

"Me? I? Why, how should I know a great man like the noble Prince? No, no; of course I know him as a very grand and great gentleman, but thatis all, really all, my dear Phadrig. "

"Yes, yes, of course, " said the Egyptian, once more in his gentle voice;"would not be likely, would it? Now, if you would like to look at thegem more closely, go and sit down there by the light and take it in yourhand. You will see that it is engraved with hieroglyphics. They say thatthis jewel was once the property of Rameses the Great of Egypt, and wasgiven by him to his daughter Nitocris. "

This information did not interest the Jew in the slightest, since he hadnever heard the names in his life; but the delight and honour of holdingsuch a glorious gem in his hand even for a few minutes was ecstasy tohim. He sat down, and held out his fat, trembling hand greedily. With asmile of contempt Phadrig placed the jewel in it, and said:

"Examine it closely, my friend. It is well worth it, and it may be longbefore you see another like it. "

"Like--like _it_, like _this_! By the beard of FatherMoses, I should think not--I should think--I should--oh, beautiful--glor--glorious--splendid--did--splen--oh, what alight--li--light--li--oh----!"

As each of the disjointed syllables came from his shaking lips hemumbled more and more, and his head sank lower towards the pricelessthing in his palm. As he gazed, the stone grew round and bigger andbrighter, till it seemed like a great green-blazing eye glaring into theutmost depths of his being. Then the light suddenly went out, his headfell on his breast, and as his hand sank, Phadrig caught it and tookaway the jewel. Then he put the Jew back in the chair, and standing infront of him began in a slow, penetrating voice:

"Isaac Josephus, thou hast gazed upon the Horus Stone, and he who doeththat may not answer the questions of an Adept with lies save at theprice of his life. Now answer me truly, or to-morrow morning those ofthine household shall find thee dead in thy bed. "

Wide open the eyes of the hypnotised man stared at him, and the looselips quivered, but these were the only signs of life. 

"Thou art not only a dealer in gems and curious things: thou art also aspy of the police; is not that so?"

"Yes. "

"Believing that I am a very poor man, yet knowing that I dealt withobjects of value, they thought me to be one who receives such thingsfrom thieves to sell them again, since they could not. Is that so?"

"Yes. "

"And, believing this, and knowing thee to have dealings with me, theybribed thee to come here as my friend and fellow-dealer and spy upon myactions, so that they might have evidence against me and cast me intoprison. Is that so?"

"Yes. "

"Late on the last night but one thou didst go to the house of NicolHendry, who is no common catcher of thieves, but a spy of nations whosebusiness is with the great ones of the earth. Tell me: whom did thybusiness with him concern?"

"Prince Oscarovitch and yourself. "

"What were his orders?"

"To watch you both, especially you, and find out when you went to him, and why you were sometimes a poor devil in a miserable hole like this, and sometimes a swell going to swagger places with him. "

"How were you going to do this?"

"I know your servant or chum, Mr Pentana. I've lent him money: and PeterPetroff, the Prince's particular servant, gambles like a lord, and heowes me and a friend of mine a lot of money. We were going to workthrough them. "

"It is enough; and well for you that you have answered truthfully. Nowtell me: do you know how to use a revolver?"

"Never fired a shot in my life. "

Phadrig went to the secretaire and took a common, cheap revolver, identical with thousands of others which our criminally carelessGovernment allows to be bought every day without the production of alicence--just a hooligan's weapon, in fact--went back and put it intothe Jew's hand. He raised the hand several times, and pointed the muzzleto the temple, keeping the forefinger on the trigger. At length he letgo the wrist, and said in a gentle, persuading tone:

"That is the way to handle a revolver when you are going to shoot, mydear Josephus. Now, let me see if you can do it by yourself. "

With mechanical precision the Jew's arm went up until the muzzle touchedhis temple. Again and again he did the same thing at Phadrig's bidding, till at length he said rather more peremptorily:

"Now pull the trigger!"

The finger tightened and the hammer clicked. Five times more was theoperation repeated, and then Phadrig gently took the revolver and laidthe hand down. He went to the secretaire and loaded the six chambers, cocked the weapon and put it into the right hand side-pocket of thelounge jacket which Josephus was wearing, and said deliberately:

"Now remember, my dear Josephus: you will go straight back to youroffice in Waterloo Road and let yourself in with your key. In yourprivate room you will see a man who wants to rob you of some valuablepapers. You will be ruined if he gets them, so you must take your pistolout of your pocket and shoot him. Do you quite understand me?"

"Yes; I am to shoot him. "

"That is right. Now, if you do not go he will have them before you getthere. Get up and we will say good-night. You must not put your hand inyour pocket until you see the man who wants to rob you. Good-night. There is your hat. "

"Good-night!"

Mr Isaac Josephus put on his hat and walked away to his death with themotions of a mechanical doll. 

CHAPTER XIX

THE HORUS STONE

An hour later Phadrig, the poor curio dealer, had disappeared, and MrPhadrig Amena, the wonder-working Adept, clad in evening clothes and alight overcoat, alighted from a hansom at the great entrance to theRoyal Court Mansions. The huge, gorgeously uniformed guardian of theGilded Gates was saluting at his elbow in an instant, for a friend ofPrinces is a very great man in the eyes of even such dignitaries as he. 

"The Prince expects you, sir, " he said, loud enough to make the titleheard by those who were standing by. "Will you be good enough to walkin? I will discharge the cab. "

He stood aside with a bow and another salute, and Phadrig walked lightlyup the broad steps. Peter Petroff opened the door of the flat, bowinglow, and conducted him to his master's sanctum. Evidently he wasexpected, for the coffee apparatus stood ready on the Moorish tablebeside the cosy chair which he was wont to occupy. The Prince, who wasstanding on a white bear's skin by the mantel, motioned him to it, saying:

"Ah, Phadrig, my friend, punctual, of course; and equally, of course, you have something important to impart. Your wire just caught me intime to put off an engagement which, happily, is of no greatconsequence. There's the coffee, and you'll find the cigars you like inthe second drawer. Now, what is the news?"

His guest filled a cup of coffee and took a cigar and lit it before hereplied. Then, turning to the Prince, he said in his usual slow, eventone:

"Highness, I regret to say that my news is both urgent and bad. "

"It would naturally be urgent, " said the Prince, turning quickly towardshim, "but bad I hardly expected. Well, all news cannot be good. What isit?"

"I fear that my warning was even more urgent than I thought it myself--Imean, in point of time. Your Highness is already being watched. "

"What! A Prince of the Empire, the man whom they call the ModernSkobeleff, an intimate of Nicholas! What should I be watched for?"exclaimed the Prince, half angry and half astonished. "The thing isridiculous; another of your dreams!"

"Ridiculous it may be, Highness, " replied Phadrig, quite unruffled, "butit is no dream; and, moreover, the eyes which are watching you are keenones--and they are everywhere. You are under the surveillance of theInternational Police. "

These were not words which even a Prince of the Holy Russian Empirecared to hear. Oscarovitch was silent for a few moments, for theearnestness, and yet the calmness, with which they were spoken made itimpossible for him to doubt them. As he had asked, what could such a manas he be watched for by this thousand-eyed organisation of which hehimself was one of the supreme Directors? It was impossible thatthese people could suspect his great scheme of treachery andself-aggrandisement. That was known to only three persons in theworld--himself, Phadrig, and the Princess Hermia; and the Princess, thewoman who had willingly sacrificed her brilliant young husband to herguilty love and her boundless ambition--no, she could be no traitress. It must be something else: and yet what?

He took two or three rapid turns up and down the room, chewing andpuffing at his cigar, until he stopped before Phadrig, and said quietly, but with angry eyes:

"Very well, we will grant that I am watched by the International. Tellme how you came to know it. "

The Egyptian took a few sips of his coffee, and then related almost wordfor word his interview with Josephus. He ended by saying:

"Your Highness may believe or not now as you please, but I presume youwill when you read in your paper to-morrow morning of the suicide of arespectable Hebrew merchant named Isaac Josephus at the address which Ihave mentioned. "

Oscarovitch had pretty strong nerves, and he was well accustomed toregard any kind of crime as a quite proper means of furtheringpolitical ends: but there was something in this man's uttersoullessness and the weird horror of the crime which he had justaccomplished--for by this time his victim would be already lyingself-slain on the floor of his own spider's lair--that chilled him, cold-blooded as he was. He looked at him lounging in his chair andcalmly puffing the smoke from his half-smiling lips as though he hadn'ta thought beyond the little blue rings that he was making. 

"That was a devilish thing to do, Phadrig!" he said, a little above awhisper. 

"Devilish, possibly, Highness, but necessary, of a certainty, " was thequiet reply. "You will agree with me that Nicol Hendry is a dangerousantagonist even for you, and as for me--no doubt he thinks that he cancrush me under his foot whenever he chooses to put it down. I shouldlike to know his feelings as he reads of his spy's suicide when he hadonly just got to work. "

"It will certainly be somewhat of a shock to him and his colleagues, andfor that reason I am inclined, on second thoughts, to agree that it wasnecessary, and ghastly, as I confess; it seems to me, I think, that youtook the best means to give them a salutary warning. After all, the lifeof an individual, and that individual a Jew, does not count for muchwhen the fate of empires is at stake. What puzzles me is how thesefellows came to suspect me, and what do they suspect me of. I supposeyou have no idea on the subject, have you?"

He looked at him keenly as he spoke, but he might as well have looked atthe face of a graven image. Then, like a flash of inspiration, theZastrow affair leapt into his mind. Had his connection with that, by anyextraordinary chance, come to the knowledge of the International? Thethought was distinctly disquieting. Phadrig had helped in this with hisstrange arts. He would discuss this phase of the matter with himafterwards. 

Phadrig replied, returning his glance:

"Highness, I have only one explanation to offer, and that you havealready refused. Were I to speak of any other it would only be vaininvention. "

"You mean about Professor Marmion and his mathematical miracles?" saidthe Prince somewhat uneasily. 

"I do, " replied the Egyptian firmly. "I say now what I thought when Isaw him work them. I did not believe that any man could have done whathe did unless he had attained to what we styled in the ancient days thePerfect Knowledge, or, as they term it to-day, passed the border betweenthe states of three and four dimensions. If Professor Marmion hasachieved that triumph of virtue and intelligence--and in the days that Ican remember there were more than one of the adepts who had doneso--then Your Highness's Imperial designs must be as well known to himas to yourself: nay, better, for, while you can see only a part, thebeginning and a little way beyond, he can see the whole, even to theend; for in that state, as we were taught, past, present, and future areone. Now, only three persons know of the project, and treason among themis not within the limits of reason, wherefore I would again ask YourHighness to believe that such information as the International may havehas been given them directly or indirectly by Professor Marmion. "

"But, " said the Prince, who was now evidently wavering in hisscepticism, since Phadrig's explanation of the mystery really seemed tobe the only feasible one, impossible as it looked to him, "granted allyou say, what possible interest could Professor Marmion, whether he'sliving in this world or the one of four dimensions, have in interferingin such a project, even if he did know all about it, especially as everyeducated Englishman admits that the state of affairs in Russia couldhardly be worse than it is? I cannot see what conceivable interest hecan have in the matter. "

"But, Highness, his interest may be a private and not a public one. "

"What do you mean by that, Phadrig?" asked the Prince sharply. 

"As I have said, " replied the Egyptian slowly, "it may be that hisdaughter, who was once the Queen, has also attained to the Knowledge. Inthat case the love which Your Highness so suddenly conceived for herwould instantly bring you within the sphere of his and her influence andpower. Now, she, as Nitocris Marmion, the mortal, is betrothed to theEnglish officer, Merrill. She loves him, and therefore, since you aregreat and powerful in the earth-life, your ruin, or even your death, might seem necessary to remove you from her path. "

Oscarovitch shivered in spite of all his courage and self-control. Theidea of fearing anything human had never occurred to him after his firstbattle; but this, if true, was a very different matter. To be threatenedwith ruin or death by a power which he could not even see, to contendagainst enemies who could read his very thoughts, and even be present ina room with him without his knowing it--as Phadrig had assured him morethan once that they could be--was totally beyond the power of thebravest or strongest of men. No, it was impossible: he could not, wouldnot, believe that, such a thing could be. His invincible materialismcame suddenly to his aid, and saved him from the reproach of fear in hisown eyes. 

"No, Phadrig, " he said, with a gesture of impatience, "that is not to becredited. To you it may seem a reality: to me it can never be anythingmore than a phantasy of intellect run mad on a single point--which, Ineed hardly remind you, is a by no means uncommon failing of thegreatest of minds. Another reason has just occurred to me which wouldneed no such fantastic explanation. "

"And that, Highness?" queried Phadrig, looking up with an almostimperceptible shrug of his shoulders. 

"The Zastrow affair. Unlikely as it seems, it is not impossible thatthere has been treason there. I have many enemies in both Russia andGermany, and it is well known that Zastrow and I were rivals once. Yes, that is it: it must be so, and therefore we must prepare to fight theInternational; and with such weapons as you are able to use there is notmuch reason why we should fear them. "

He dismissed the subject with an imperious wave of his hand, andcontinued in an altered tone:

"And now, _àpropos_ of your weapons. Tell me something about thiswonderful gem with which you hypnotised the Jew. "

"I will not only tell you about it, Highness, I will show it to you, ifyou desire to see it, " replied Phadrig, who now fully recognised thehopelessness of overcoming the blind materialism which was, of course, inevitable to the life-condition in which the Prince had his presentbeing. 

"What! you have brought it with you! Excellent! Now I think we shall beable to talk on pleasanter subjects than conspiracies and such phantasmsas the Fourth Dimension!" exclaimed Oscarovitch, who, like all Russians, was almost passionately fond of gems. "Fancy asking a Russian if hedesires to see such a thing as that!"

"Your Excellency must be careful not to look at it too long or closely, "said Phadrig, putting his hand down inside his waistcoat and drawing outa wash-leather bag. "As I have told you, it possesses certain qualitieswhich are not to be trifled with. You are, of course, aware that manyEastern gems are credited with hypnotic powers. This one undoubtedly hasthem. "

As he spoke he drew out the emerald, and held it by the clasp under acluster of electric lights. 

"What a glorious gem!" exclaimed the Prince, starting forward to look atit more closely. "There is nothing to compare with it even among theImperial jewels of Russia. "

"Have a care, Highness, " said the Egyptian, raising his left hand, "unless you wish to fall under its influence. Once it seized your gazeyou could not withdraw it without the permission of its possessor, andmeanwhile he would have complete mastery of you. I am your faithfulservant, and therefore I warn you. "

Was there just the faintest suspicion of a sneer in his voice as he saidthis? If there was, Oscarovitch did not notice it. He was already toomuch under the charm of the Horus Stone. Phadrig suddenly put his handover the gem and went on. "The story of this jewel, Highness, is thatmany ages ago, before the beginning of the First Dynasty, a little raftof a strange wood, as white as ivory and shaped like a river-lily, camefloating down the Nile at full flood-time and drifted to the shore infront of the house of a wise and holy man who was reputed to holdperpetual communion with the gods. On the raft was a cradle of whitewicker-work lined with down, upon which lay a man-child of suchexquisite beauty that he could scarce have been born of mortal parents. His body was bare, but round his neck was a glistening chain ofmarvellously wrought gold, fastened to which was this gem lying on hisbreast. This was doubtless the origin of the Hebrew fable of the findingof Moses, who, as all scholars know, was not a Hebrew, but an Egyptianpriest in the House of Ra. 

"The holy man took him into his home, burying the chain and gem, lest itmight bring temptation to those who saw them; and as the boy grew tomanhood he taught him all his lore, until he, too, was wise enough to beadmitted into the communion of the gods, which afterwards was called bythe adepts the Perfect Knowledge. On the gem are engraved the threesymbols by which the Trinity--Osiris, Isis, and Horus; Father: Mother, and Child, the antetype of Humanity--became known and worshipped. Theholy man divined that the boy was the incarnation of Horus sent thus toearth to teach men the way of knowledge, which is the onlyrighteousness, since those who know all cannot sin. Where his housestood was built the first Temple of the Divine Trinity, and of thisHorus became High Priest. He crowned the King in the land, and hung thisgem round his neck as the symbol of his kingship and the approval of thegods. 

"From the first king it was handed down from monarch to monarch throughall the changes of dynasties, until it hung from the royal chain of thegreat Rameses; and by him it was given to his daughter Nitocris, therebymaking her Queen of Egypt after him; and she wore it on that fatalnight of the death-bridal when, rather than wed with you, who were thenMenkau-Ra, Lord of War, she flooded the banqueting hall of Pepi anddrowned herself and all her guests--which, Highness, is an omen that itwere well for you not to forget should you persist in your pursuit ofthe daughter of Professor Marmion. "

Oscarovitch was a man of vivid imagination, as all great soldiers andstatesmen must be, and so the story of the Horus Stone appealed stronglyto him; but what interested him perhaps even more was the spectacle ofthis man, who had just been guilty of a peculiarly ghastly form ofmurder, sitting there and telling with simple eloquence and evidentreverence the sacred Myth out of which what was perhaps the most ancientreligion in the world had evolved. He heard him with a silence of bothinterest and respect until his last sentence. Then he got up andstretched his arms out and said with a laugh:

"Omen, Phadrig! Your tale of the stone has interested me deeply, but Ibelieve no more in the omen than I do in the story. Ay, and even if Idid, I would dare all the omens that wizards ever invented for their ownprofit in trying to make Nitocris Marmion what I want her to be, andwhat she shall be unless she is the cause of my first failure to achievewhat I had set my heart upon. But you have not finished your story. Tellme now how the stone came into your possession, seeing that it was sweptout into the Nile hanging on the breast of the Royal Nitocris. "

"The next season of Flood, so the records ran, Highness, the skeleton ofa woman was washed up to the foot of the river stairs of the House ofPtah, and the stone and chain were found among the weeds which filledthe cavity of the chest. They were taken with all reverence to the HighPriest, who bore them to the Pharaoh, and, amidst great rejoicing, hungthem round his neck. Then from Pharaoh to Pharaoh it came down throughthe centuries until it fell into the possession of her who wrought theruin of the Ancient Land. She gave the stone to her lover, and from hisbody it was taken by a priest of the Ancient Faith who once wasAnemen-Ha, and is now Phadrig Amena, the degenerate worker of meanmarvels which the ignorant of these days would call miracles did theynot take them for conjuring tricks. 

"Since then it remained hidden, seen only by the successors of him whorescued it from the plunderers of the body of Antony, until, seeminglyin the way of trade, yet doubtless for some deep reason which is notrevealed to me, it came back into my hands again. Such so far, Highness, is the end of the story of the Stone of Horus. "

"And doubtless more yet remains to be written or told, " said the Princeseriously, for he was really impressed in spite of his scepticism. Then, after a little pause, he continued: "Phadrig, you have said that thestone is dangerous to any but its possessor. I wish to possess it. Nameyour price, and, to half my fortune, you shall have it. "

"The stone, Highness, " replied the Egyptian, with the shadow of a smileflickering across his lips, "never has been, and never can be, sold formoney, so I could not sell it, even if money had value for me, which ithas not. There is only one price for it. "

"And what is that?"

"A human life--perchance many lives--but all to be paid in succession byhim or her who buys it, unless he or she shall attain to the PerfectKnowledge. "

"Give it to me, then!" exclaimed Oscarovitch, holding out his hand. "Thelife I have I will gladly pay for it in the hope of laying it on thebreast of the living Nitocris. As I do not believe in any others, I willthrow them in. Give it to me!"

"It is a perilous possession, Highness, for one who has not evenattained to the Greater Knowledge, as I have. Let me warn you to thinkagain, for once you take it from me the price must be paid to theuttermost pang of the doom that it may bring with it. "

"I care nothing about your knowledges, Phadrig, " laughed the Prince, still holding out his hand. "It is enough for me to know that it is themost glorious gem on earth, and that it shall help me to win thedivinest woman on earth. So, once more, give it to me!"

"Take it, then, Highness, " said the Egyptian, with a ring of solemnityin his voice. "Take, and with it all that the High Gods may have instore for you!"

He dropped the more than priceless gem into his hand with as littlereluctance as he would have given him a brass trinket. Then he turnedaway to take another cigar, leaving Oscarovitch gazing in silent ecstasyat, as he thought, his easily-come-by treasure. Then the Prince went toa large panel picture fixed to the wall on the left-hand side of thefireplace, touched it with his finger, and it swung aside, disclosingthe door of a small safe built into the wall. He unlocked this, placedthe stone in an inner drawer, closed the safe, and put the picture backin its place. 

When he sat down again, he said:

"My good friend, I know that it is useless for me to thank you, for evenif you wanted thanks I could not do justice to the occasion, as they sayin speeches: but I want to ask you just one more question, and then Iwon't keep you any longer from that delightful Oriental Club of yourswhich I suppose you are bound to. Now that I have got the stone I am, asyou may well believe, more than anxious to find the lady to whom itshall belong--again, as I suppose you would say. To my great disgust, the Professor and his daughter have disappeared from the sphere ofLondon society for a holiday _à deux_, and have, apparently with intent, left all their friends in ignorance of their destination. Have you anyidea of it? I know that that Coptic woman whom you employ has beenordered to keep a sharp watch on the movements of Miss Nitocris. "

"Yes, Highness, " replied Phadrig, "and she has obeyed her orders. Theday before they left she waylaid that pretty maid of Miss Marmion's onthe Common, and told her fortune. Of course, she talked the usual jargonabout lovers and letters and going on a journey, and the maid quiteinnocently let out that she was going with her master and mistress bysteamer to Denmark and up the coast of Norway, and then over to Icelandby the passenger steamers, and that she did not like the idea at all, because she knew that she would be very seasick. "

"Excellent! the very thing!" exclaimed the Prince. "It couldn't bebetter if I had arranged it myself. My yacht is down in the Solentwaiting for Cowes Week. I'll be afloat to-morrow. Give that woman aten-pound note from me with my blessing. Now, I shall leave everythingelse to you. Do what you think fit with regard to our friends of theInternational. Kill as many of their spies as you can with safety, andmake the chiefs believe that they are fighting the Devil himself. Andnow, good-night. "

When Peter Petroff brought him the papers the next morning, the Princetook up the _Telegraph_, and turned to the page devoted to the minorevents of the previous day. His eye was almost immediately caught by aparagraph headed:

 "SUICIDE IN THE WATERLOO ROAD

 "Shortly after seven last evening the passers-by on the eastern side of this thoroughfare were startled by hearing the report of a firearm, apparently coming from the office of Mr Isaac Josephus at 138a. Constable 206 Q. , who was on point-duty near the spot, had seen Mr Josephus enter the office with his key only a few minutes before, walking in a rather curious way, and staring straight before him. As the door was locked, the officer thought it his duty to force it. The door of the inner office was also locked, and when this was opened, the unfortunate man was found lying across the desk with a bullet wound in his temple. His right hand still clutched a cheap revolver which was loaded in five chambers. There appears at present to have been no reason for the rash act. Mr Josephus was a broker dealing chiefly in curios and antique jewellery. Although not in a large way of business, his affairs are understood to have been in a prosperous condition. What makes the tragedy all the more strange is the fact that suicide is almost unknown among persons of the Jewish faith. "

Oscarovitch felt a little shiver run down his back as he read thecommonplace lines. The man who had done this had been in this room withhim a few hours before, and one of the means of murder was now in hissafe. It would have been just as easy for Phadrig to have caused him tolook upon the fatal gem, left a bottle of poison with him, and told himto take it as medicine on going to bed. The only difference would havebeen that there would have been a very much greater sensation in thepapers. 

Nicol Hendry was reading the paragraph about the same time. His eyescontracted, and he stroked his beard with slow motions of his hand. Thehand was steady, but even his nerves quivered a little. He divinedinstantly how the suicide-murder had been brought about, and this veryfact, coupled with the absolute impossibility of proving anything, madethe affair all the more disquieting. 

"So that is the sort of thing we've got to fight, is it? I don't likeit. Still, it goes far to prove that the Professor was perfectly rightwhen he told me to keep a sharp eye on Mr Phadrig Amena. "

CHAPTER XX

THROUGH THE CENTURIES

As they discovered that the sea journey to Copenhagen would be somewhattedious and uninteresting, and that the steamers were not exactlypalatial, Nitocris and her father decided at the last minute to cross toOstend, spend a day there and go on to Cologne, put in a couple of daysmore among its venerable and odorous purlieus, and two more at Hamburg, so that, while the present-day inhabitants were asleep, they might, asNitocris somewhat flippantly put it, take a trip back through thecenturies, and watch the great city grow from the little wooden villageof the Ubii and the Roman colony of Agrippina into the Hanse Town of thethirteenth century: watch the laying of the first stone of the mightyDom, the up-rising of the glorious fabric, and the crowning of the lasttower in 1880. 

During the journey from Hamburg to Copenhagen, Nitocris, recliningcomfortably in a corner of their compartment in the long, easily-movingcar, entertained herself with a review of these extraordinaryexperiences from the point of view of her temporal life, and found themnot only extraordinary, but also very curious. She had already learntthat the connecting link between the two existences, when once theborder had been passed, was Will: but Will of a far more intense andexalted character than that which was necessary as an incentive toaction on the lower plane. There was naturally something that seemedextra-human in the mysterious force which was capable of bidding thepresent-day world vanish like a shadow into either the future or thepast, its solid-seeming substance melt away like "the airy fabric of avision, " and summon in an instant, too brief to be measured, the pastfrom the grave where it lay buried beneath the dust of uncounted ages, or the future from the womb of unborn things. 

But to her, at least at first, the strangest part of the new revelationwas this: When her will had carried her across the confines of thetri-dimensional world, and she saw the centuries marshalled andmotionless before her, she felt not the slightest sense of wonder orawe. She was simply a being apart, moving along their ranks and passingthem in review, herself unseen and unknown save by that other being who, in this state, was no longer her father or even her friend, but merely acompanion endowed with power and intelligence equal to her own. Herhuman hopes and fears and loves and passions had, as it were, been leftbehind. The men and things she saw were absolutely real to her, as theyhad been to the men of other days, or would be in days to come; but sheherself was a pure Intelligence which saw and acted and thought withperfect clearness, but with absolutely no feeling save that ofintellectual interest. 

She saw armies meet in the shock of battle without a thrill of fear orhorror; towns and cities roared up to the unheeding heavens in flame andsmoke, and left her standing unmoved amidst their ruins; she heard thescreams of agony that rang through the torture chambers without aquiver, and watched the long, pale lines of the martyrs to what in theearth-life was called Religion pass to the stake without a quiver ofpity or a thrill of disgust. She stood face to face with the great onesof the earth who have graven their names deep upon the tablets of Timewithout reverence or admiration; and she witnessed the most heroic deedsand the most atrocious crimes with neither respect for the one norhatred for the other. 

Human history was in her eyes merely a logical sequence of necessaryevents, neither good nor bad in themselves, but only as they were viewedfrom this standpoint or that, by the oppressor or the oppressed, theslayer or the slain, the robber or the robbed, the governor or thegoverned. She learned that human emotion is merely a matter of time andspace. One century does not feel the loves and hates of another, and thesorrows of Here have no real sympathy with the sufferings of There. Beyond the Border all these were merely matters of intense intellectualinterest. 

But when she returned to the temporal life the memory of them wasmarvellous and terrible. Her heart throbbed with pity and burned withrighteous anger. Horror seemed to take hold of her soul and shake itwith earthquake shudders when she thought that what she had seen but afew time-moments ago had really come to pass; and she longed for thepower to show all this to the men and women of her own passing day, andbid them have done with the poor, shadowy images of themselves, which, had they really been gods, would have made of human life somethingbetter and happier and nobler than the ghastly tragedy which, as she hadseen with her own eyes, it had been. But she knew that such a power wasnot hers. She, like her father, had, through the toil and strife andstress of many lives of mingled good and evil, knowledge and ignorance, won her way to the Perfect Knowledge; and so she knew that all thesepoor kings and slaves, conquerors and conquered, torturers and tortured, were all doing the same thing, were all groping their way through theshadows and the night towards the dawn and the light, through the hellof ignorance to the heaven of knowledge. 

And now, too, since the Wisdom of the Ages was hers, she saw that overall the vast, weltering swarm of struggling immortals, hung theinevitable decree of silent, impersonal destiny. "As ye live, so shallye die; as ye end, so shall ye begin again--in knowledge or ignorance, in good or evil, life after life, death after death, world withoutend. "

It was clear to her now why "some are born to honour and some todishonour": some to happiness and some to misery, each in his or herdegree; why the liver of a good life was happy, no matter what his placein the earth-life might be: and why the evil liver, no matter how highhe might stand in his own or others' sight, carried the canker of pastmisdeeds in his heart. Standing, as she now did, in the midway of thepresent, looking with single gaze on past and future, she saw at oncethe honest striver after good in his yesterday-life rise to his rewardin the life of to-day, and the dishonest rich and powerful sitting inthe high places of to-day cast down into the gutterways of to-morrow. Life had ceased to be a riddle to her now. 

What with their halts at Ostend, Cologne, and Hamburg, thethirty-three-hour journey lengthened itself out very pleasantly into aweek; and so, when the famous city on the Sound was reached, they wereas fresh and unfatigued as they were on the morning that they left "TheWilderness. " Of course, they put up at the Hôtel d'Angleterre, and herethey enjoyed themselves quietly for four days, for of all Europeancapitals, Copenhagen is one of the pleasantest in which to idle a fewfine summer days away. 

On the evening of the fourth day they were just sitting down to theirtable by one of the windows overlooking the Oestergade when Nitocrishappened to look up towards the door through which the diners weretrickling in an irregular stream of well-dressed men and women. For amoment her eyes became fixed. Then she bent her head over the table, andsaid:

"Dad, there is Prince Oscarovitch. I wonder what he is doing here? He isalone: please go and ask him to join us. I will tell you whyafterwards. "

They exchanged glances, and the Professor got up and went towards thedoor, while his daughter got through a considerable amount of hardthinking in a very short time. She was, of course, perfectly conversantwith his share in the Zastrow affair, so far as her father had yet gonewith it; but she determined that when Copenhagen had gone to sleep thatnight they would cross the Border and pay a visit to the Castle ofTrelitz at the time of the tragedy, and follow it out as far as it hadgone. 

It has already been shown that on her first meeting with the Prince sheconceived an aversion from him which was then inexplicable save by theordinary theory of natural antipathy: but now she knew that she had beenNitocris, Queen of Egypt, when he was Menkau-Ra, the Lord of War, whowould have forced her to wed him by the might and terror of the sword, and the will of a blind and blood-intoxicated populace. She had hatedhim then even to death, and now she hated him still in life; whereforeshe desired to make his closer acquaintance on the earth-plane on whichthey had met once more after many lives. 

As he had been in those far-off days, so he was now, a splendid specimenof aristocratic humanity. Many eyes had followed her as she had walkedto her table, but there were more people in the room now, and as thePrince walked towards her beside the famous Professor who had puzzledall the mathematicians of Europe, the whole crowd of guests was lookingat nothing but these three. 

"This is indeed good fortune, Miss Marmion, and as good as it isunexpected--which, perhaps makes it all the better! Who would havethought of finding you in Copenhagen?" he said, as he bowed low over herhand. 

"If there is any reason at all for it, Prince, it is that my father andI always like to take our holidays at irregular times and in unexpectedplaces: by which, I mean places where we do not expect to meet all ouracquaintances, " she replied, as she sat down. "I think we manage to boreeach other quite enough in London, and we like each other all the betterwhen we meet again. "

"Is not that rather an ungracious speech, Niti, seeing that one of thesaid acquaintances has only just chanced to join us?" said the Professormildly. 

"You mean as regards the Prince?" she laughed. "Certainly not. HisHighness is hardly an acquaintance--yet. You know we have only had thepleasure of meeting him once: and then, of course, I said _all_ ouracquaintances. There might be exceptions. "

These words, spoken with a quite indescribable charm, were, as hethought, quite the sweetest that Oscarovitch had heard for many a day. It had been perfectly easy for a man with his official influence totrace by telegraph every movement that the Marmions had made after hehad guessed that they would travel by either Calais or Ostend. He hadwired for his yacht, the _Grashna_, to meet him at Dover, run across toOstend, found that they had left there for Cologne with through ticketsfor Copenhagen, again guessed rightly that they would spend a few daysthere and in Hamburg, and then steam away for the Sound. 

The farther north he travelled, the farther he left Phadrig and hisphantasies behind, and the nearer he came to the belief that, if he hadonly a fair chance and the field to himself, as he intended to have, hewould not find very much difficulty in convincing Nitocris that therewas no comparison at all between the humble naval officer she had leftbehind to do his work on his dirty little destroyer, and the millionairePrince who could give her one of the noblest names in Europe andeverything that the heart of woman could desire. And now thesesweetly-spoken words and the glance which accompanied them, herundisguised pleasure at the chance meeting, and her father's veryevident approval of his presence, quickly but finally convinced himthat he had come to a perfectly just conclusion. 

Of course, there was the memory of another woman, only a little lessfair than Nitocris, who had shut herself up yonder in the gloomy Castleof Trelitz, acting the farce of her official sorrow for love of him, andpining for the time when the finding of her betrayed husband's corpseshould leave her free, after a decent interval of mock-mourning, to joinher lot with his: but what did that matter? Was it not as easy to getrid of a woman as a man? Was not the fatal beauty of the Horus Stone athis command now that he was its possessor for good or evil? Awell-arranged suicide might easily be taken by the world as theexcusable, if deplorable, result of her mysterious bereavement. 

The conversation during dinner naturally turned on ways and means oftravelling, and, when the Professor had sketched out their plans, Oscarovitch said with an admirably simulated deference:

"My dear sir, I most sincerely hope that you and Miss Marmion will notthink that I am presuming on an acquaintance which, if only a new onenow, may perhaps one day be older, if I venture to suggest another wayof making your tour. I am an old voyager in these waters, and I canassure you that the steamers, though vastly improved, have not quitereached the standard of the Atlantic liner. "

"Oh, but you know, Prince, we didn't expect it, " interrupted Nitocris. "Neither my father nor I have the slightest objection to roughing it alittle. In fact, that is half the fun of wandering. "

"And slow travelling between stated points, not always of the greatestor any interest, together with the enforced company of a promiscuouscrowd of tourists and commercial travellers, who, by the way, are mostlyGerman, and therefore of nature and necessity disagreeable, would aboutmake up the other half, " said Oscarovitch, leaning back in his chairwith a low laugh. "No, no, my dear Miss Marmion, I am afraid you wouldnot find that the reality quite squared with the anticipation. Now, mayI risk the suspicion of presumption and offer an alternativeproposition?"

"Why not?" said Nitocris with a smile, and a glance which dazzled him. "I'm sure it is very kind of you to take so much interest in our poorlittle attempt to get away for a while from the madding crowd who aredoing the round of the same stale, weary pleasures that they try so hardto enjoy year after year, and then come back _so_ tired, after all. "

"Then, " he replied, looking at them alternately, "as I have yourpermission, I would suggest that, instead of rushing from fixed point tofixed point in crowded steamers and the shackles of Company orGovernment regulations, you should take possession of a fairlycomfortable steam yacht of a little over a thousand tons which will beentirely at your disposal, and will run you from anywhere to anywhereyou choose at any speed you like, from five to thirty-five knots anhour, with properly trained servants to attend to you, and, as theadvertisements say, 'every possible comfort and convenience. '"

"Which, of course, means that you have got your yacht here, and are sovery kind as to ask us to become your guests for a time, " said theProfessor, with a suspicion of stiffness. "It is more than generous ofyou, Prince, but really----"

"But really, my dear sir, " Oscarovitch interrupted, with a gesture ofdeprecation, "I can assure you that, so far as I am concerned, there isno kindness, to say nothing of generosity. It is pure selfishness. Thisis my position. I have managed to escape for a time from the toils ofofficial work and worry, and the almost equally irksome bonds of thatform of penal servitude which is called Society. Like you, I have fledoverseas, but, unlike you, I have no company but my own, and I have hada great deal too much of that already, though I have only been threedays and nights at sea. I have no plans, I have got nothing to do andnowhere to go; and so, if you and Miss Marmion would take pity on myloneliness all the generosity would be on your side. Of course, I cannotpresume to ask you to change your plans all at once, but if you willsleep on my proposition and come and lunch with me to-morrow on boardthe _Grashna_ and take a run up the Sound, say, to Elsinore, you may beable to come to a decision. "

It was a lovely night, and so they took their coffee and liqueurs, andthe two men their smokes on the balcony overlooking the Oestergade, which might be called the Rue de la Paix of Copenhagen, and watched thewell-dressed crowds sauntering to and fro past the brilliantly lightedshops; and Nitocris, who seemed to her father to be in singularly highspirits, sent the conversation rippling over all manner of subjects withthe exception of politics and the Fourth Dimension. Oscarovitch wasbecoming more and more fascinated as the light-winged minutes sped by, and he took but little pains to conceal the fact. Nitocris, of course, saw this, and simulated a delightful unconsciousness. The Professor was, for the time being, completely mystified. He knew that his daughterhated the Prince with a thorough cordiality, and yet he had never seenher make herself so entirely charming to any man, not even exceptingMerrill himself, as she was to this man, her enemy of the Ages. He couldhave solved the problem instantly by crossing the Border, but then thesudden vanishing of a famous scientist from the midst of the brilliantcompany on the balcony would have set all the newspapers in Europechattering, with consequences which would have been the reverse ofpleasant both to his daughter and himself. 

However, he had not long to wait, for Nitocris soon rose, saying thatshe must go to Jenny, her maid, to see about packing arrangements forto-morrow; and the Prince, after another cigarette and liqueur, took hisleave and went on board the yacht to give orders for her to be put intoher best trim, and then to have a luxurious half-hour with the HorusStone, and indulge in fond imaginings as to how it would look hangingfrom a chain of diamonds on the white breast of Miss Nitocris. 

When the Professor went to his own sitting-room he found his daughterwaiting to say good-night. 

"Niti, " he said, as he closed the door, "I don't want to seeminquisitive, but, frankly, I was astounded at the gracious way in whichyou treated that scoundrel Oscarovitch. "

"Dad, " she replied, with apparent irrelevance, "do you believe in theforgiveness of sins?"

"Of course not! How could any one who holds the Doctrine do that? Weknow that every moral debit must be worked off and turned into a creditby the sinner, however many lives of suffering it takes to do it. Why doyou ask?"

"So that you might answer as you have done!" she said, with a littlelaugh. "Now this Oscarovitch has sinned grievously, not only in thislife but in many others, and I am going to see that he works off atleast some of his debit as you put it somewhat commercially. He loved mein the old days in Memphis, and he loves me still in the same brutal, animal way. I know that if he cannot get me by fair means he will try totake me by force--and I am going to let him do it. "

"Niti!"

"Yes, he shall take me; he shall think he had got me safe away from youand Mark--and when he has got me he shall taste what the hot-and-strongsort of Christian preachers call the torments of the damned. No, I shallnot kill him. He shall live till he prays to all his gods, if he hasany, that he may die. He shall hunger without eating, thirst withoutdrinking, lie down without sleeping, have wealth that he cannot spend, and palaces so hideously haunted that he dare not live in them, until, when men wish to illustrate the uttermost extreme of human misery, theyshall point to Prince Oscarovitch. I, the Queen, have said it!"

Then, with a swift change of voice and manner, she laid her hands on herfather's shoulders, kissed him, and murmured:

"Good-night, Dad--at least as far as this world is concerned. "

CHAPTER XXI

WHAT HAPPENED AT TRELITZ

It was the 6th of June again. 

Once more Prince Zastrow rode with Ulik von Kessner and Alexis Vollmarand the attendant huntsmen up the avenue of pines leading to the gate ofthe Castle of Trelitz, but now accompanied by two unseen Presences whichbelonged at once to their own world and also to another and wider one. Once more the great doors opened and they passed into the trophy-decked, skin-carpeted hall: and once more they were welcomed by the stately, silken-clad woman who came down the broad staircase to greet her lordand his guests. Emil von Zastrow, last and worthiest scion of hisancient line, the very _beau ideal_ of youthful strength and manlydignity, ran half-way up the stairs to meet his lady and his love, andthen the men went away to their rooms, while the Princess Hermia, truehousewife as well as princess, betook herself to the pleasant task ofmaking sure that all the preparations for dinner were complete. 

The dinner was served in one of the smaller rooms, in the modern wing ofthe Castle, on an oval table. The Prince sat at one end faced by hisbeautiful consort. To his right sat his guest, Alexis Vollmar, and atall, handsome, but somewhat hard-featured woman of about thirty, withthe clear blue eyes and thick, yellow-gold hair which proclaimed her adaughter of the northern German lowlands. This was Hulda von Tyssen, thePrincess's companion and lady-in-waiting. They were faced by a stout, powerfully-built man with a full beard and moustache _à la_ Friedrich, Ulik von Kessner, High Chamberlain of Boravia. Captain Alexis Vollmarwas a typical Russian officer of the younger school, tall, well-set-up, and good-looking after the Muscovite fashion. He had distinguishedhimself in the Far East, but just now he preferred the serene atmosphereof Boravia to the thunder-laden air of Holy Russia. 

The talk was of hunting and war and politics and the chances of theRussian revolution, and on this latter subject it was perfectlyunrestrained, for all knew that the Powers had made a secret compact bywhich they bound themselves, in the event of the fall of the RomanoffDynasty and the Arch-Ducal oligarchy--which all Europe would be veryglad to see the last of--to support Prince Zastrow as elective candidatefor the vacant throne. 

The Revolutionary leaders had been sounded on the subject, and werefound strongly in favour of the scheme. It meant a return to the ancientprinciple of elected monarchy, and Prince Zastrow, though now a Germanruling prince, represented the union of two of the oldest and noblestfamilies in Russia and Poland. Moreover, he had pledged himself to aConstitution which, without going to Radical or Socialistic extremes, embodied all that the moderate and responsible adherents of theRevolutionary cause desired or considered suitable for the people intheir present stage of political development--which, of course, meanteverything that Oscar Oscarovitch did not want. 

After dinner they went out through the long French windows on to averandah which overlooked a vast sea of forest, lying dark and seeminglylimitless under the fading daylight and the radiance of the brighteningmoon. Since their marriage day the Prince had made it a bargain thatwhenever they dined _en famille_, his wife should prepare his coffeewith her own hands. She even roasted the berries and ground themherself, and, as many a time before, she did it to-night in theseclusion of the little room set apart for that and similar purposes. She was alone in the physical sense, for the two watching Presences wereinvisible to her, and so, for all she knew, no one saw her measuretwenty drops of a colourless fluid from a little blue bottle into thecoronetted cup of almost transparent porcelain which had been one of herwedding presents to her husband. 

After a couple of cups of coffee and half a dozen half-smokedcigarettes, the Prince stretched his long legs out, struggled with ayawn, and said in a sleepy voice:

"My Princess, you must ask our guests to excuse me. I am tired after thelong day in the sun; and so, if I may, I will go to bed. "

He rose, and the rest rose at the same moment. He bowed his good-night, and the two saluted. The Princess followed him into the dining-room. 

The unseen watchers stood by the end of the great heavily-hung bed, inthe midst of which lay Prince Zastrow, seemingly sinking into theslumber of death. Von Kessner leaned over and raised an eyelid, and saidto the Princess, who was standing on the other side, the single word:"Unconscious. " She bent forward for a moment as though she were biddinga silent farewell to the man to whom she had pledged her maiden troth, then straightened up and walked like some beautiful simulacrum of awoman towards the door which Vollmar held open for her. .. . 

The earth-hours passed, and the two men kept their watch by the bed, conversing now and then in whispers between long intervals of anxioussilence, until three strokes sounded from the bell of the Castle clock. The whole household, save one fair woman, who, in softly-slippered feet, was pacing the floor of her bedroom, was fast asleep, and the days ofsentries were far past. Von Kessner gently lifted one of the arms lyingon the coverlet of the bed and let it fall. It dropped as the arm of aman who had just died might have done. Again he raised an eyelid, thistime with some difficulty. The eyeball beneath was fixed and glassy asthat of a corpse. He nodded across the bed to the Russian, and togetherthey turned the bedclothes down to the foot. Then from under the bed hepulled out a bundle of grey skins which he spread on the floor besidethe bed. It was a sleeping bag such as hunters use in winter on thesnow-swept plains and forests of Northern Europe. Vollmar turned thehead-flap back. Then they lifted the body of the Prince from the bed, slid it into the sack, and buttoned the flap down over the face. 

"That Egyptian's drug has worked well, " whispered Von Kessner. 

Vollmar nodded, and whispered back:

"I wish I had a handful of it. But it is time. He will be ready for usnow. "

Even as he spoke the locked door opened, as it were of its own accord, and Phadrig stood in the room dressed in the livery of the Prince'scoachman. Von Kessner and Vollmar turned grey as he bowed, andwhispered:

"The doors are open, Excellencies, and all is ready!"

Then the three lifted the shapeless bag and carried it with noiselesstread down to the hall and out through the half-open doors to where acarriage drawn by four black horses stood waiting. Though there was noone in charge of them, they stood as still as though carved out ofblocks of black marble until the body of the Prince had been laid in thecarriage and Von Kessner and Vollmar had taken their places beside it. Then Phadrig mounted the box, shook the reins, and the rubber-shodhorses moved silently away at a trot, which, as soon as the main roadwas reached, became a gallop only a little less silent than the trot. 

The carriage turned aside from the road, and ran down a broad forestlane till it stopped by the shore of a little sandy inlet. The bow of along black boat was resting on the sand, and six closely-blindfolded menwere sitting on the thwarts with oars out. Another stood on the beachwith the painter in his hands. The body of the Prince was carried fromthe carriage to the boat, and laid in the stern sheets. Von Kessner andVollmar remained on board, and Phadrig went back to the carriage. At ashort word of command the oarsman backed hard, and the boat slid off thesand into the smooth water of the little cove. Then she shot away andmelted into the light haze which hung over the outside sea. 

The boat stopped under the shadow of the long, low-lying black hull of afour-funnelled destroyer. A rope dropped from the deck and was made fastby Vollmar in the bow. The blindfolded crew were helped up the ladderwhich hung over the side and taken below forward. Then came a sharporder: "All hands below"; and when the deck was deserted, Von Kessnerand Vollmar went up the ladder and were met on deck by Oscar Oscarovitchin civilian dress. There was another man beside him in the uniform of alieutenant. He slacked off the tackle falls of the davits under whichthe boat had brought up, dropped down the ladder and hooked them on. When he got back to the deck the four men hauled first on one tackleand then on the other, till the boat was up flush with the deck. Thefalls were belayed, and Oscarovitch got into the boat and opened theflap of the sleeping-sack. He touched the spring of an electricpocket-lamp and looked upon the calm, cold features of his rival. Thenhe buttoned down the flap again and returned to the deck. The four wentdown into the cabin: glasses were filled with champagne, and asOscarovitch raised his to his lips, he said:

"Count and Captain Vollmar, I am satisfied. Let us drink to the NewEmpire of the Russias and the sceptre of Ivan the Terrible!"

"And his illustrious successor!" added Von Kessner. 

Within half an hour a small boat was lowered; the Chamberlain andVollmar got into it and rowed away toward the cove. The Russian officerwent on to the little bridge, signalled "full speed ahead" to theengine-room, and then took the wheel. The screws ground the water asterninto foam, the black shape leapt forward and sped away eastward into theglimmering dawn with its silent passenger lying in the swinging boat, and the unseen watchers standing by the helmsman. .. . 

More earth-hours passed. The sun rose upon a lonely sea. The destroyerstopped, and a white speck on the eastward horizon rapidly grew into thewhite shape of a large yacht flying through the water at a tremendousspeed. In a few minutes she was almost alongside. She swung round in asharp curve, slowed down and dropped a boat. Oscarovitch and thelieutenant lowered the destroyer's boat till it touched the water. Theother came alongside, and the body of Prince Zastrow was transferred toit, and Oscarovitch followed it. Four men from the yacht's boat jumpedon board the destroyer and hauled hers up. The other was backed to theladder and they came on board. A silent salute passed betweenOscarovitch and the lieutenant, and a few minutes later the yacht's boatwas hoisted to the davits, and the white shape was growing smaller anddimmer amidst the light haze that lay on the water shimmering under theslanting rays of the rising sun. 

Morning grew into noon, noon faded into evening, and evening darkenedinto night. The yacht ran into a wide-opening gulf between twoforest-clad points, on the southern of which twinkled the lights of alarge town. These were soon left behind by the flying yacht, and as avast sea of fleecy cloud drifted up from the north-east and spread itsveil across the path of the half moon, a little cluster of lightsgleamed out on the port bow. Her bowsprit swerved to the left till itpointed directly to them. Presently she slowed down and ran into alittle land-locked bay surrounded with dense pine woods which came downalmost to the water's edge, swung round and slowed up alongside a woodenjetty. From this a broad road, cut straight through the forest, slopedsteeply up to a plateau on which stood a gaunt, grey, turreted castle, the very picture of the sea-robbers' home that it had been in the daysof Oscarovitch's not very remote ancestors. Up this road and into theouter gate across the lowered drawbridge the sleeping-sack and theinsensible man within were borne. Through the keep-yard it was takeninto the Castle and up to a large room in the eastern turret, comfortably furnished, and containing a bed almost as luxurious as thatin which Prince Zastrow had lain down to sleep the evening before. Oscarovitch preceded the men who carried him, and was met at the door bya grey-haired, keen-eyed man, who bowed before him, and said in a lowtone:

"May I presume to ask if this is my charge, Highness?"

"It is, Doctor Hugo; and I give him into your hands with everyconfidence that you will restore your patient to health as quickly asany man in Europe could do. I must leave immediately, and so I trusteverything to you. All care must be taken of him. He must want fornothing that you can give him--except liberty. "

Oscarovitch returned the doctor's assenting bow and left the room. Inhalf an hour the yacht was flying at full speed over the smooth watersof the Baltic, heading a little to the south of West. 

CHAPTER XXII

A TRIP ON THE SOUND

"Good morning, Dad, " said Nitocris, as she entered the sitting-roomabout half an hour before breakfast the next morning. "What is youropinion of the European situation now?"

"Good morning, Niti; what is yours?" asked her father, looking at herwith grave eyes and smiling lips. 

"As it was yesterday, only rather more so. In his present incarnation, Prince Oscar Oscarovitch is, I should think, about as black-hearted ascoundrel as ever polluted the air that honest people breathe. "

"I entirely agree with you. And now, believing that, do you stillpropose to trust yourself to his tender mercies on board his own yacht, surrounded, as you will be, by men who, no doubt, are his absoluteslaves?"

"_I_ trust myself to his tender mercies, Dad?" she replied, drawingherself up and throwing her head back a little; "you seem to have gothold of the thing by the wrong end, as Brenda would say. That is onlywhat it will look like. The reality will be that he will blindly trusthimself to _my_ mercies--and I can assure you that he will find themanything but tender. No, dear, we shall accept His Highness's invitationto lunch, and then his offer of the hospitality of the yacht for thetrip, which, by the way, I fancy will be more to the eastward than tothe northward----"

"You mean, I suppose, Trelitz and Viborg?"

"Not Trelitz, I think, but Viborg almost certainly. That will be the endof the abduction as far as I can see from our present plane ofexistence. "

"Really, Niti--well, well. Of course, I know that you will be perfectlysafe: but what would our good friends on this plane, as you put it, theVan Huysmans, for instance, think if they could hear you talking socalmly to your own father about getting yourself abducted by a man whomyou justly think to be one of the most unscrupulous scoundrels on earth!And, by the way, what is to become of me in the carrying out of thislittle scheme of yours? I hope you don't expect me to connive at theabduction of my own daughter. I have a certain amount of reputation tolose, you know. "

"Oh, if His Highness is the clever villain that we know him to be, Ithink we may safely trust him to arrange for your temporarydisappearance from the scene. And whatever he does it will be easy foryou to play the part of the passive victim for the time being. He can'tinjure or kill you, for if it came to extremities you have the means ofgiving his people such a fright as would probably drive them out oftheir senses, just as I could if their master got troublesome. Really, from a certain point of view, the adventure will have a decidedlyhumorous aspect. "

"With a very considerable leaven of tragedy. "

"Yes, the tragedy will be a logical sequence of the comedy--and, as Isaid last night, it will be tragedy. And now suppose we go to breakfast. I have been up nearly two hours helping Jenny with the packing, and thislovely air has given me a raging appetite. There's a little more to doyet, and we shall have His Highness here before long to ask for ourdecision and take us off to the yacht. "

Here she was quite right, for she had hardly left her father to hisafter-breakfast pipe and gone upstairs to help her maid, thanOscarovitch came into the smoking-room. 

"Good morning, Professor Marmion! I need not ask you if you have had agood night. You look the very picture of a man who has slept the sleepof the just. And Miss Marmion?"

"Thanks, Your Highness, I think we have both managed to spend the nightto good purpose. The air here is glorious just now. I always think thatsound, dreamless sleep is the best sign that a place is doing you good. "

"Oh, undoubtedly, though for some reason or other I did not sleep verywell last night. Something had disagreed with me, I suppose. I seemed tohave a sense of being pursued to the uttermost ends of the earth andback again by some relentless foe who simply would not allow me to takea moment's rest. But I didn't come to talk about the stuff that dreamsare made of. I came to ask whether my cruise is to be a lonely one, orwhether I am to have the very great pleasure of your company. "

Franklin Marmion, for perhaps the first time in his life, feltdistinctly murderous towards a fellow-creature as he looked at thissplendid specimen of physical humanity, knowing so well the real man whowas hiding behind that fascinating exterior; but he managed to answerpleasantly enough:

"We have talked the matter over, Prince, and we have come to theconclusion that your very kind invitation is really too good to berefused. We know that we are incurring a debt that we shall not be ableto pay, but we are trusting to your generosity to let us off. "

"On the contrary, my dear Professor, " said Oscarovitch, without theslightest attempt to conceal the pleasure that the acceptation gave him, "it is yourself and Miss Marmion who have made me your debtor. In fact, if you had not found yourselves able to come, I should have run the_Grashna_ back to Cowes, gone up to London, plunged into a maelström ofdissipation, and probably ended by losing a great deal of money at Ascotand Goodwood. Ah, Miss Marmion, good morning! How well the air ofCopenhagen seems to agree with you! The Professor has just gladdened mysoul by telling me that you have decided to take pity on my loneliness. "

"Good morning, Prince!" she replied, putting her hand for a moment inthe one he held out. "Yes, we are coming, if you will have us. In fact, I have just finished packing. "

"Ah, excellent! Well now, since that is happily arranged, it would be apity to waste any of this lovely morning. The Sound is like a streak ofblue sky fallen from heaven. My gig is down at the jetty, and I have acouple of my men here who will convoy your baggage down. If it ispacked, as you say, you need not trouble about it. You will findeverything safe on board. "

"Thank you, Prince, " said the Professor. "Then I will go and settle upat the office while Niti puts her hat on. I will have the things sentdown, and we may as well walk to the jetty. It will do me good afterthat big breakfast. Jenny had better get into a cab and go down with theluggage. "

When they reached the promenade along the Sound shore Oscarovitchpointed to a beautifully-shaped, three-masted, two-funnelled white yachtlying about five hundred yards out, and said:

"That is the _Grashna_, Miss Marmion. I hope you like the look of her. "

"She is beautiful!" exclaimed Nitocris, recognising at once the vesselwhich had met the Russian destroyer on the early morning of the 7th. "She almost looks as if she could fly. "

"So she can in a sense, " laughed the Prince. "Come now, here is the gig. We will get on board, and you shall see her go through her paces. "

Neither she nor her father were strangers to yachts, but when theymounted the bridge of the _Grashna_ and looked over her from stem tostern, they had to admit that they had never seen anything quite sodaintily splendid. They had chosen their rooms, and Jenny was belowunpacking. Although, of course, he had a captain on board, the Princeoften sailed the yacht himself when he had guests on board. He had agenuine love for the beautiful craft, and he took an almost boyishdelight in showing what she could do. She was a twelve-hundred-ton, triple-screw, turbine-driven boat, and, thanks to the space-economy ofthe new system, her builders had been able to stow away fifteen thousandhorse-power in her engine-room, and this when fully developed gave aspeed in smooth water of thirty-five knots or a little over fortystatute miles an hour. 

The anchor was up almost as soon as they got on to the bridge, andOscarovitch moved the pointer of the telegraph to "Ahead slow. " Thequartermaster in the oval wheel-house behind him moved the little wheela few spokes to starboard, her mellow whistle tooted, and she glided inan outward curve through the other yachts and shipping, and gained theopen water. 

"Now, " he said, turning to Nitocris, "we can begin to move. It isroughly thirty English miles to Elsinore. If you have never done anyfast travelling at sea and would like to do some now, I can get youthere in about three-quarters of an hour. "

"What!" exclaimed the Professor, "thirty miles in forty-five minutes bysea! That is over forty miles an hour. A wonderful speed. "

"Yes, " he replied, almost tenderly; "but my beautiful _Grashna_ is awonderful craft--at least, I think you will say so when you see what shecan do. Now, if you will take advice, you and Miss Marmion will go intoshelter, for it will begin to blow soon. "

Behind the wheel-house was an observation room, as it would be called inthe States, running nearly the whole length of the bridge, and frontedwith thick plate glass. They went in, and Oscarovitch turned the pointerto half-speed. There was no increase in vibration, but the shore beganto slip away behind them faster and faster, and the northern suburbs ofCopenhagen rose ahead and fell astern as though they were part of aswiftly moving panorama. Then the pointer went down to full speed, andthe Prince, after a word to the quartermaster, joined them in thebridge-house and closed the door. 

"You will need all your eyes to see much of the shore now, " he said; "Ihave given her her wings. "

Nitocris felt a shudder in the carpeted floor. Looking ahead she saw thebow lift slightly. Then a smooth, green swathe of water curled up oneither side. She looked aft, and saw a broad torrent of froth, foaminglike a furious, rapid stream away from the stern. The houses and treeson the shore seemed to run into each other, and slide out of sightalmost before the eye could rest upon them. The water alongside wasmerely a blue-green blur. Nitocris involuntarily held her breath asthough she had been out on deck. 

"It is wonderful, Prince!" she said, almost in a whisper. "That allegedexpress from Hamburg was nothing to this: and yet how steadily she movesin spite of the speed. I should have thought that it would have nearlyshaken us to jelly. "

"That is the turbines, dear, " said her father, who was already wonderingwhether Oscarovitch was doing this just to show how hopeless any pursuitof such a vessel would be. "They are a marvellous means of applyingsteam power. Lieutenant Parsons is robbing the sea of one, at least, ofits worst terrors. "

"Yes, " added the Prince, "we are travelling a little over forty miles anhour; and if you got that speed out of reciprocating engines you wouldscarcely be able to lie on the deck without holding on to something, yethere we are as comfortable as though we were standing in adrawing-room. "

"You have given us a new experience to begin with, " said Nitocris, thinking how nice it would be to take her wedding trip with Merrill insuch a craft as this. "Why, look at the two shores coming together, Dad!"

"No, excuse me, " said Oscarovitch, "we are only about half-way to theGate of the Baltic yet. That land on the right is the island of Hvreen. When we have passed that you will soon see the heights of Elsinore andHelsingborg rising ahead. There are only about two and a half milesbetween Denmark and Sweden there. "

"Oh yes, of course. I am forgetting my geography, " laughed Nitocris, asthe low, wooded patch of land came rushing towards them as though itwere adrift on a fast-flowing stream. "Goodness, what a speed!"

"A very wonderful craft, Prince, " added the Professor, as the islanddrifted past; "she quite inclines me towards a breach of the tenthcommandment. Now that you have given us this taste of the delights ofspeed, I think that if I were a millionaire, I should try to build oneto beat her. "

"Exactly, " laughed Oscarovitch. "It is marvellous this fascination ofspeed. Your poet, Henley, touched the pulse of the times when he wrotethose splendid lines of his. But surely, Professor, _you_ would not havevery much difficulty in leaving all far behind. A man to whommathematical impossibilities are as easy as an addition sum ought to beable to realise the dream of the ages and solve the problem of aerialnavigation. "

He looked him straight in the eyes as he said this. He fully believed inthe possibility of human flight, given the transcendent genius who couldwork out the equation of weight and power. Perhaps that genius might bewith him now in the bridge-house. His vivid imagination was alreadypicturing the lovely girl at his side crowned Empress of the Russias andthe East, and himself in command of an aerial navy, beneath whoseassault the armies and navies and fortresses of the rest of the worldwould be as so many toys to play with and destroy. 

"If I could do that, and I do not think it would be so very difficultafter all, " said Franklin Marmion, returning his glance, "I would notdo it. It would put too much power in the hands of a few men, and wehave enough of that already. The owner of a fleet of aerial warshipswould be above all human law. He could terrorise the earth, and makemankind his slaves. Life would become unendurable under such conditions. Commercialism, which only means slavery plus the liberty to starve, isbad enough, but it is at least possible. The other would be impossible. There is no man quite honest enough to be trusted with such a power asthat. I have worked the thing out, and it is perfectly feasible, but Iburnt my designs and calculations. "

"What!" exclaimed Oscarovitch, flushing in spite of his effort to keepthe blood back from his face. "You have solved the problem, and won'tmake use of the greatest invention of all the ages! Surely, Professor, that is a little quixotic, is it not?"

"Who am I that I should bring a curse upon humanity, Prince?" heanswered gravely. "Do you not kill each other fast enough now? No, theworld is not fit for such a development yet. My results will remain myown until Tom Hood's ideal of good government has been realised. "

"And what was that, Dad?" asked Nitocris, who had a double reason forbeing interested in the conversation. "If I ever knew it, I haveforgotten it. "

"Despotism, Niti--and an angel from heaven for the despot, " he replied, with another look into the Prince's eyes which brought him to theconclusion that the sooner his presence on board the _Grashna_ wasdispensed with the better for his plans. There was a sense of quietmastery in Franklin Marmion's manner which made him uneasy. 

"Ah! there is the famous fortress, is it not? the home of Hamlet andOphelia and the Ghost!" she exclaimed, pointing ahead to where agrey-blue mass was rising out of the water. "Do you believe in ghosts, Prince?" she added suddenly, flashing a glance at him which seemed topierce his brain like a ray of unearthly light. 

"Ghosts? No, Miss Marmion. I'm afraid I am too hopelessly materialisticfor that. I never saw or heard of an authentic ghost, and I do notpropose to believe until I see. "

"We have a ghost at 'The Wilderness, '--the wraith of a poor young ladywho killed herself after some royal blackguard had abused his ownhospitality. She often comes to visit me in my study, " said theProfessor, as though he were relating the most ordinary occurrence. 

"Ah, " smiled the Prince, "that is very interesting: but, of course, itwould be in the power of a man like yourself to have experiences whichare denied to ordinary mortals. Still, granted all that, I confess thatI have often wondered whether or not I should be frightened if I reallydid see a ghost. "

"Yes, I wonder?" murmured Nitocris, with a great deal more meaning thanhe had any idea of just then. 

All three felt that the conversation was getting a little difficult, andthey were not sorry when the rapid rising of the rock of Elsinore madeit necessary for Oscarovitch to go out to the engine telegraph. 

"His Highness doesn't believe in ghosts now, " whispered Nitocris to herfather, when the door shut behind him, "but I think he will before verylong. I wonder what he is really going to do? I've half a mind to----"

"No, no, Niti, " he said quickly; "keep this side of the Border till youreally have to cross it. What on earth, literally, would happen if hecame back and found me standing here alone?"

"Oh, of course I didn't mean it, " she smiled. "It would be very poorsport to spoil both the comedy and the tragedy before the curtain goesup. I wonder if the drama will begin to-night? I shouldn't besurprised. "

"Nor I, " said the Professor, a trifle grimly. "I didn't at all like hislooks when I was talking about the flying machine. The brute looked asif he were quite capable of locking me up and starving or torturing meuntil I gave him the secret. My word, I should like to see him try! I'dhave him grovelling at my feet in five minutes. "

The door opened and Oscarovitch came in. He took off the cap which hadbeen pulled tight over his eyes, and said:

"Well, we have arrived! Almost exactly forty-five minutes. There isElsinore, there is Kronborg, King Frederick's sixteenth-century castle, and there is Marienlyst, which is to Copenhagen what Brighton is toLondon, only, I must say, in a much more refined sense. Now what isyour pleasure, Miss Marmion? We have still nearly two hours beforelunch, so, if you would like an hour's stroll ashore, the gig will beready in a couple of minutes. "

"Thank you, Prince, " she said with a rewarding smile. "Dad, what do youthink? It all looks very beautiful under this sun and sky. "

"Which, of course, means that you want to go ashore, Niti, " said herfather. "For my own part, I certainly should like a little walk on newground. I have never been here before. "

"Then, of course we will go, " said Oscarovitch, opening the door andgoing to the telegraph. 

The yacht came to a standstill in a few minutes, and the gig was waitingat the foot of the gangway ladder. They spent a very pleasant hourashore, and what they saw, you may read of in your Murray and Baedeker, wherefore there is no need to set it down here. When they came aboardagain, lunch was almost ready, and the steward presented his master andthe Professor with quite exceptional cocktails in the smoking-room. Thenthey went and had a wash, and the mellow gong sounded. 

I am not very fond of those descriptions in stories which read likeextracts from an upholsterer's price-list, nor yet those accounts ofmeals that, after all, are only menus writ large, so it may suffice tosay that the saloon of the _Grashna_ was an arrangement of sandal-woodpanels, framed in thin silver filigree, and hung with exquisite littlemasterpieces in water-colour, and black and white, and crayon, mostlysea-scapes, with here and there a beautiful head with living eyes whichfollowed you everywhere; that the rich yellow of the panels was enhancedby _portières_ and curtains of deep golden-bronze silk, and that thedomed ceiling was of pale, sky-blue enamel spangled with theconstellations of the northern heavens, which at night lit up the wholesaloon with a soft electric radiance. As for the lunch, it was as nearlyperfect as the best-paid chef afloat could make it, after his master hadasked him as a personal favour to do so. 

They ran back quietly to Copenhagen at twenty knots, and Oscarovitch andthe Professor went ashore to send off a few telegrams, leaving Nitocris, for her own reasons, to make herself at home on the yacht. They returnedin time to dress for dinner and enjoy a stroll on the broad upper deck, and watch the sunset over the town and the quickly-increasing sparkle ofthe myriad lights on shore and sea. When they came up after dinner, these lights were only represented by a luminous haze glimmering underthe stars to the northward. The _Grashna_ was heading nearly due southat an easy speed towards the Baltic Islands. 

Something told both Nitocris and her father that the decisive hour wouldcome soon, and they were both prepared for its advent. 

CHAPTER XXIII

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE PROFESSOR

The Prince and the Professor sat up in the smoking-room for aconsiderable time after Nitocris had retired. Oscarovitch was doing hisutmost to persuade his guest to revoke his decision as to the creationof the aerial warships. Franklin Marmion's simple announcement, which henever thought for a moment of disbelieving, had filled his mind with newideas, which were rapidly taking the shape of gorgeous dreams of anempire such as mortal man had never ruled over before. All his presentdesigns faded away into mere trivialities in comparison with thissplendid conception. He pictured Nitocris, as his consort, Empress ofthe air, and himself Lord of earth and sea and sky. But all his subtlearguments, all his delicately-put suggestions, and his skilfully framedpromises failed to produce the slightest effect upon the geniallyinflexible man, who quietly turned them all aside, as a grown man mightdeal with the arguments of a boy. 

The thought that this man who was lying back in his deep-seatedarmchair, holding a cigar in a white, delicately-shaped hand which wasstrong enough to shake the world to its foundations, should possesssuch a tremendous power and yet refuse to use it, as quietly as he mighthave declined an invitation to dinner, exasperated him almost beyond thebounds of patience. If he would only join forces with him what gloriesmight they not achieve, what splendours of power and possession mightnot be theirs! Here was universal empire, in one sense, only a couple ofyards away from him! In another it was more distant than the suns whichflame in Space beyond the Milky Way. It was maddening, but it was true, and he knew the man well enough now to feel absolutely assured that noextremity of mental or physical torment would wring the priceless secretfrom him. 

Well, if it had to be, it must be. If he could not learn the secret, atleast no one else should. Before morning it would be buried for everunder the waters of the Baltic, and he would revenge himself on thedaughter for that which the father refused to do. If Franklin Marmionwould not give him the sceptre of the World-Empire, then Nitocris shouldbe his wife and Empress if she would, and if not, his slave andplaything, as he had sworn to Phadrig the Egyptian. The fortress-castleof Oscarburg, on the lonely wooded shore of Viborg Bay, had kept many asecret safely before now, and it would keep this one. Every retainer inthe Castle, every man, woman, and child on the estates for leaguesaround, was his, body and soul, as their fathers before them had beenthe blind, unquestioning serfs of his fathers. There his word was law, and his will was fate. There was no "liberty" within his domains, sinceno man wanted it, or would have understood it had it been given to him. 

When their argument was over they parted, apparently the best offriends. Franklin Marmion went to bed calmly curious as to what wasgoing to happen, and Oscarovitch paid a visit to his captain. 

A little after three that morning he opened the door of the Professor'sstate-room very gently and looked in. The room was dark, and helistened. A soft, just audible sound of breathing came from the bed. Itwas the breathing of a man fast asleep. He pressed the spring of hiselectric lamp, and turned the thin ray on to the water-bottle in therack over the wash-stand. It was half-empty, and a glass stood on thetable in the middle of the room. Then the ray fell on the face of thesleeping man. It was as Prince Zastrow's face had been the last night hewent to sleep in the Castle of Trelitz--rather the face of a corpse thanthat of a living man. His captain stood behind him, and he turned andwhispered:

"He is ready. Are the men below?"

"All, Highness, save Grovno at the wheel and Hartog on the look-out. They will see nothing, as they did before, " came the whispered reply. 

"Very well, then. You and I can manage this between us. You have theline?"

The captain nodded, and they went into the room, softly closing thedoor. In a few minutes they came out again, carrying between them a longbundle of blankets lashed from end to end with thin line. They took itaft along the alloway and out on to the lower deck by the stern. Twoiron doors of a port used for coaling stood open on the starboard side. On the deck lay a couple of pigs of iron lashed together. These thecaptain made fast to one end of the bundle and lifted them towards theport. Oscarovitch took hold of the other end. They lifted it. Theweights dropped outside the port, and the bundle followed them. Thecaptain started up, clasped his hands to his forehead, and said in agasping whisper:

"Holy God, Highness, what have we done?"

"What do you mean, Derevskin? You have obeyed my orders; that is all. Isit not enough for you?"

"Yes, Highness--but who or what was that man? Was he really a man?"

"Are you mad, Derevskin?"

"No, Highness, I hope not: but did you hear--or, rather, did you nothear?"

"What, you fool?"

"He--it--the body--it made no splash when it touched the water!"

The stammered words struck Oscarovitch like so many puffs of frozen air. No, the body of Franklin Marmion _had_ made no splash. It had vanishedthrough the port into silence. That was all. He beat back his own terrorwith the exertion of all his will-power, and said in a sneeringwhisper:

"Derevskin, you are either mad or drunk; but I will forgive you thistime because you have obeyed. Go to bed, and don't forget to be eithersober or sane when I come on deck. "

The captain bowed his head, and went forward with shambling steps andshaking limbs. Oscarovitch closed the port with hands which all hisforce could not keep steady, and betook himself to bed, to lie awake forthe rest of the short summer night wondering vainly what really hadhappened. 

He had had his bath and dressed soon after six, and went on deck. Thecaptain was on the bridge, and he joined him. 

"Good morning, Derevskin!"

"I have the honour to wish Your Highness good morning!"

"Nothing happened during the night worth reporting, I suppose?"

"No, Highness, nothing. "

"Very good: but I have slept badly, and you look as if you had been onthe bridge all night. Perhaps it is necessary among all these islands, and I am pleased that you are so watchful, especially as I have guestson board. Come down to your room now and send your steward for a bottle. It will do neither of us any harm. "

There was a somewhat lengthy conversation over this early breakfast ofchampagne and biscuits after the door had been closed and locked, andwhen it was finished, Oscarovitch and his captain understood each otheras completely as was necessary. 

An hour later he saw Nitocris walking about the upper deck looking paleand anxious. He went to her and said in a tone which intentionallybetrayed his own nervousness:

"Good morning, Miss Marmion! Have you seen anything of the Professor?"

"No, Prince, I have not. I went to his room just now and knocked. Therewas no reply and I opened the door. The room was empty, but he hadevidently been to bed. Is he not on deck?"

"No, Miss Marmion, he is not. He said last night that he would like hisbath about six, and the steward I sent to valet him went to his room andfound it as you say. I have had the ship searched high and low, and fromstem to stern, and there is no sign of him. I have had every onequestioned, and no one has seen anything of him since last night. "

"Oh, my poor, poor Dad, I have lost him! Yes, I suppose it must havebeen that. He has walked overboard. "

"Walked overboard, Miss Marmion?"

"Yes, yes, it must be that. Prince Oscarovitch, my father, like mostvery clever men, had one dangerous failing. He walked in his sleep anddid things unconsciously. That was why he told you about the ghost at'The Wilderness' just as though he really had seen it. Yes, he must havegot up in the night and come on deck, and walked overboard, and so Ihave lost the best friend I ever had, or shall have. You must excuseme, Prince. I must go to my room. The very sunlight seems horrible now. Jenny will look after me. Good morning!"

Her face was white and her eyes were staring at nothing. She spoke witha horrible, stony calm which, crime-hardened as he was, sent a thrillingshiver through his nerves. A spasm of remorse shook him; then hisself-control came back, and he offered her his arm in silence. He ledher down to the saloon, and gave her into Jenny's charge. Then he wenton deck again, lit a cigar, and proceeded to congratulate himself on thegreat good fortune which had, from his point of view at least, sohappily explained away the disappearance of Franklin Marmion. 

CHAPTER XXIV

THE LUST THAT WAS--AND IS

Nitocris kept her room until nearly seven the following evening. Oscarovitch made frequent enquiries of Jenny as to her condition, andalways received the same reply. Her mistress was in a semi-unconsciousstate, and she could only rouse her every now and then to take a littlenourishment. Unfortunately there was no doctor on board. He had had newsin Copenhagen that his mother was lying very ill at Hamburg, and, as thecruise was then intended to be only a very short one, he had been givenleave to go to her. 

The Prince wished to go back to Copenhagen, but this Nitocris absolutelyrefused. She had determined to fight her sorrow alone, and when she hadconquered it, she would go back to England and her friends--which wasexactly what Oscarovitch had determined she should not do. She wasabsolutely at his mercy now. He would be something worse than a fool tolet such a golden opportunity go by--and so the _Grashna's_ bowsprit waskept pointing eastward, and the leagues between her and Oscarburg werebeing flung behind her as fast as the whirling screws could devour them. 

The only question that he had to ask himself was: How? and to that aneasy answer at once suggested itself: The Horus Stone. 

When he went down to what he expected would be a lonely dinner, he wasmore than agreeably surprised to find Nitocris dressed in a blackevening costume, which was the nearest approach to mourning that heravailable wardrobe made possible, already in the saloon. 

He bowed to her with a gesture of reverence, which meant far more thanmere formal politeness, and said in a low tone:

"Miss Marmion, I need not say how pleased I am to find that you are ableto leave your room. May I hope that you will be able to dine?"

"Yes, Prince, " she replied, in the same cold, mechanical voice in whichshe had answered the tidings of her father's death. "The worst is overnow, I hope. Some time and some way we must all leave the world and, atleast, there is the consolation that my father has left it perhaps alittle better and a little wiser than he found it. That, I think is asmuch as the ordinary mortal may be permitted to hope for. We who holdthe Doctrine do not sorrow for the dead: we only sorrow for ourselveswho are left to wait until we may, perhaps, meet again. "

"The Doctrine, Miss Marmion?" he asked, as he placed a chair for her athis right hand. "May I ask what the Doctrine is?"

"Of re-incarnation, " she replied, sitting down and looking at him acrossthe corner of the table. 

"Really? I most sincerely wish that I could believe in it. Mr Amena, whom I took the great liberty of bringing to your garden-party, a manof very remarkable powers, as you saw, holds the Doctrine, as you callit, and he has been trying for months to convert me to it; but, as Isaid going to Elsinore, I'm afraid I am too hopelessly materialistic forany conversion to be possible in my case, at least as far as my presentexperiences have gone. "

"As the belief so must be the faith, " she said with a grave smile. "Itis no more possible to have true faith when you do not really believethan it is to be hungry when you have not got an appetite. That is quitea material simile; but I think it is true. "

"Absolutely true!" he replied, looking at her again with a note ofinterrogation in each eye. "But, really, these things are too deep forme, a mere human animal. And now, talking about appetite, here comes thesoup. "

The dinner _à deux_ was just what he had intended it to be, simple andyet perfect in every detail. The subject of Franklin Marmion's departurefrom the world was, as if by mutual consent, dropped. Oscarovitchcomforted such conscience as he had by trying to believe that whatNitocris had said about her belief in the Doctrine was to her reallytrue. He also honestly believed that she had faced her great sorrow insolitude, and overcome it in the strength of that belief. Theirconversation turned easily away to other topics, and by the time thatcoffee was brought in and he had obtained her permission to light acigarette, his beautiful guest appeared to have left the recent pastbehind her, for the time being at least, and was almost as she had beenduring the run up to Elsinore. 

Her manner was that of complete composure, and it is hardly necessary tosay that this mastery of her emotion forced him to a degree ofadmiration, almost of worship, which the physical charm that appealedonly to his animal senses could never have inspired. Here, truly, wasthe ideal Empress of the Russias and the East sitting almost beside him. And now the psychological moment had come!

"Will you excuse me for a couple of minutes, Miss Marmion?" he asked, ashe finished his coffee and rose from his chair. "Going back to what youwere saying about re-incarnation: I have something in my room which Ihope may interest you. I got it from my friend, the miracle-worker. Hetold me a long story about it that I don't want to trouble you with: butthe thing in itself is quite worth seeing. At least, I never sawanything like it before. "

"Then please let me see it, " she replied, assenting with an inclinationof her head. "If that is so it must be, as you say, well worth seeing. "

He went to his room and came back with a large square morocco case inhis hand. He gave it to her, and said:

"Do me the favour to open it, and tell me what you think of it. "

She touched the spring and the cover flew up. She half-expected what shesaw. There, lying in a nest of soft black velvet, encircled by a triplehalo of whitely gleaming diamonds, was the Horus Stone. In an instantshe travelled back through fifty centuries to the scene of thedeath-bridal of her other self, Nitocris the Queen, in thebanqueting-hall of the Palace of Pepi. Then it had lain gleaming on herbreast, and now she saw it again with the eyes of flesh, after nearlyfive thousand years. Now, too, she grasped in all the fullness of itsevil meaning the reason why Oscarovitch had brought it to her in such anhour as this. With utter contempt in her soul and a smile on her lips, she leaned back in her chair and said in a voice which had a note ofecstasy in it:

"Oh, Prince, how lovely! What a glorious gem! The diamonds are, ofcourse, splendid, but they are only a setting for the emerald. What amagnificent stone! Rich as you are, you are very fortunate to be thepossessor of such a treasure--for treasure it surely must be. "

"It is, as you say, a magnificent stone, " he replied, looking steadilyinto her questioning eyes. "But if what Amena told me was true, it issomething more than a unique gem. There is an inscription on it, somecharacters carved in the stone which are, as he said, the history of it, but to me they are as unintelligible as the Assyrian cuneiform would be. Possibly you may know something of them. If you do, here is a lens thatwill help your sight. "

She took the glass from him and bent down over the gem. She read thesacred symbol of the Trinity as she had read it and known it agesbefore. But while she was gazing at it, she also read the intent of theman who had given it into her hands. She put the lens aside, and, laying her palms on her temples, she looked deep down into the luminousdepths of the great emerald in a silence which Oscarovitch interpretedinto such meaning as he was able to make for himself. 

Minute after minute passed in silence, and still her eyes were fixedupon the Stone. Her face became like that of a beautiful masterpiece ofPhidias: pure, cold, and true. A feeling of something like awe creptover him as he watched her, and he found himself asking whether, afterall, Phadrig's story might have been true. But, true or not, there wasthe fascination which, as Phadrig had told him, had lured Isaac Josephusto his self-inflicted doom. Her eyes were chained to the gem: her facewas no longer that of a living woman dominated by her own will. Afterall his disbelief, there _was_ an enchantment in the Stone, for here, even she, Nitocris, had succumbed to it. 

He sat and waited for a few minutes longer. If there is magic in theStone, let it work, he thought; and so he sat and watched her until hesaw that the fixed stare of her eyes and the rigidity of her nowperfectly statuesque face convinced him that the magic of the Stone had, as Phadrig had told him, made him the possessor of it, absolute masterof the man or woman who had gazed upon its fatal beauty. 

Then he got up and, reaching over her shoulders, took up the diamondchain, glistening under the soft light of the starry dome of the saloon, shook it out into a flood of white radiance, lifted it above her head, and let it fall very gently round her neck. The Horus Stone, as thoughendowed with sentience, fell and rested where it had rested fivethousand years before. As it touched her flesh Nitocris felt a tremor ofindescribable emotion, not only of the body but of the soul, passthrough her. She leaned back in her chair again, and whispered:

"Is it really mine now, Prince? But no! How could I take it from you--Iwho can give nothing in exchange for such a treasure? No, no, you musttake it back. I am not worthy to wear it. "

He laid his hands gently on her arms, and said in a soft, murmuring tonewhich sounded like the purring of a tiger-cat:

"Nitocris, if all the choicest gems in all the world could be put into acrucible and fused into one, all its splendour would still be unworthyto lie on that white breast of yours. Give me your love, Nitocris. I amhungering and thirsting for it. Come with me to Oscarburg, and you shallbe crowned Princess--and after that Empress--Empress of the Russias andthe East. I will give you a dominion such as the great Catherine neverdared to dream of. Say yes, and in a month you shall be seated on herthrone. It is only a little word, dearest, only a little word--will younot say it, and be my Princess, my Queen, my Empress?"

"I am tired now, Oscar, " she said wearily, "so much has happened in soshort a time. Yes, I will, if it is possible: but let me go now. No, youmust not kiss me yet. Remember that Russian saying, 'Take thy thoughtsto bed with thee, for the morning is wiser than the evening. 'Good-night, Oscar, I am very tired. You shall have your answer in themorning. May I take this with me?"

"Yes, " he replied, giving her his hand as she rose from her chair, andbowing over hers until his lips touched it. "Take it, unworthy as it is, as an earnest of the realisation of the happy dreams that will come tome to-night. Au revoir, pas adieu!"

"Auf viedersehn, mein Oscar!" she replied as she passed him, leaving thesensation of a gentle flutter of her hand in his. "We shall understandeach other better still before long--I hope. "

"It is my dearest wish. Good-night, Nitocris, and when the dawn comesmay it find nothing but sunshine in that sweet soul of yours!"

Nitocris went to her room and found her maid waiting, white-faced andanxious. She was frightened and nearly worn out with caring for hermistress. She would have been very glad to have been back that verynight at "The Wilderness, " even if it had lost its master. 

"Go to bed at once, Jenny; you look like a ghost, as you may well doafter all the trouble I've given you. No, I don't really want you, andyou want sleep rather badly. Go to bed, like a good girl. It will not bethe first time that I have undressed myself. "

And when Jenny had gone and she had locked the door, Nitocris strippedherself, save for the collar of diamonds and the pendant Horus Stone. She took a long veil of Indian muslin out of her dress-box and wound itround her after the fashion of old Egypt, leaving her left breast bare. Only the Ureaus Crown was wanting to make her, in the flesh, Nitocristhe Queen: but here on her bosom flashed and flamed the HorusStone--hers once again, as it had been in the far-off past, symbol ofher sovereignty, and proof of her faith in the one true Doctrine. 

She looked at the lovely reflection in the long mirror behind herdressing-table, and said to herself in a low, whispering laugh:

"This for you, Oscar Oscarovitch that is, Menkau-Ra who was! Yes, youmay dream your pleasant dreams to-night; you may take me to your lonelycastle in Viborg Bay; you may make me marry you, as you think Ishall--and here is my wedding gift--mine again after all theseages--blessed be for ever the Holy Trinity, Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Maythe Most High Gods help and protect me!"

She raised the Sacred Stone to her lips as she spoke, turned off thelight, and lay down in her bed to dream dreams of forgotten ages. 

CHAPTER XXV

THE PASSING OF PHADRIG

In all London, or, indeed, in any capital of Europe, there were no moreangrily puzzled men than Nicol Hendry and his colleague andsubordinates. He was perfectly certain now that Phadrig Amena held thekey to the conspiracy which had resulted in the disappearance of PrinceZastrow. Oscarovitch had vanished. He had been traced to Copenhagen, andthen absolutely lost sight of. Three agents, all picked experts, hadbeen put on to watch Phadrig and the Pentanas, as they were known tohim, and within a fortnight they had all died. One had fallen downcrossing the north side of Trafalgar Square: the verdict had been heartfailure. Another threw himself into the river from the Tower Bridge; andthe third, a woman who was one of the most skilful spies in the serviceof the International, had made his acquaintance and had dinner with himat the "Monico, " and was found dead the next morning with an emptymorphia syringe in her hand and a swollen puncture in her left arm. 

Thus four more or less valuable lives had been lost, and not a shred oftangible evidence obtained against the Egyptian. Convinced as he wasthat this man was as responsible for their deaths as he had been forthat of Josephus, neither he nor his colleagues could find the slightestgrounds for applying for a warrant for his arrest, and meanwhile thingswere going from bad to worse in Russia. The Romanoff dynasty wastottering to its fall. The responsible leaders of the Revolution, angryand bewildered by the loss of the man whom they had practically chosento rule over them, were distributing thousands of copies of an unsignedmanifesto which could not have come from any one but "the newSkobeleff. " What was left of the army and the navy was rallying to thenameless standard of the still unknown saviour of Russia. Von Kessnerand Captain Vollmar had apparently ceased to exist, and the PrincessHermia was living with her lady-in-waiting in the strictest retirementin Dresden. 

"It seems to me that things are at an utter deadlock, " said Nicol Hendryto the Chief of the German section, who had come over to London toconfer with him. "Four of our best agents have died in a fortnight, andthe others are getting shy. Really, we can't blame them. This is notlike fighting the ordinary sort of anarchist or regicide, who, afterall, does content himself with physical means. This infernal scoundrel, as I must confess I was warned to begin with, is quite independent ofthe rules of the game. He kills people by their own hands, not his, and, literally, there seems no way of catching him. "

"There must be a way, my dear Hendry, " replied the German, who was thevery incarnation of mechanical officialism. "You look at these things asconsequences, I regard them only as rather extraordinary coincidences. If this is anything like what you seem to think it, it is supernatural, and I don't believe in that. "

"There is a very easy way to convince yourself, my dear Von Hamner, "replied Hendry, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Suppose you goand interview this modern Mephistopheles yourself?"

"Will you come with me if I do?" asked the German, with a straight starethrough his spectacles. 

"Certainly. In our profession it is necessary to take risks. The thinghas gone far enough. Here we are in my room at New Scotland Yard, thecentre and stronghold of the British police system, and there is thisman or super-man, if you like, making no sign, doing nothing that willgive us a hold upon him, and yet killing our agents as fast as we sendthem to find out what he is working at, and we know just as much to-dayas we did three weeks ago. Now, what is your idea?"

"Just this: if the English law won't touch him, do as we do in Germany, take the law into your own hands. We know where the fellow is to befound down in that slum near the Borough Road. Send a few of yourplain-clothes men there this afternoon, and we will follow in a cab. Bring your bracelets with you, and I shall take my revolver. We don'twant any nonsense this time. If it goes on much longer we shall be thelaughing-stock of the whole force from end to end of Europe, and thatwill not do us any good. Shall it be for this afternoon?"

"It will be better done now. He has worked mischief enough, and if weare going to do it we may as well bring the thing to a head at once, asthey say in the States. Now I will give the instructions, and we will goto lunch. It may be the last that either of us will eat, you know. "

"Poof!" exclaimed Von Hamner, who was feeling not a little nettled atthis quiet challenge to test his personal courage. "You are the last manon earth that I should have suspected of superstition, my dear Hendry. But, there, give your orders, and we will go to lunch, and then aboutfour o'clock we may make our call in Candler's Court. "

While the two Chiefs of the International were talking, Phadrig wasreading a cypher telegram, of which the meaning was this:

 "REVAL. --Professor fell overboard three days ago. Body not recovered. Horus Stone did its work. N. Consents. I marry her at Oscarburg. Russia ready. Fool International for a few days and come to Viborg when you have done with them. O. "

"That is good news, " said Phadrig, in a confidential whisper to himself;"for a man on the lower plane of existence the Prince is wonderfullyclever. This is a master-stroke. If he really has the Queen in his powerall the rest will be easy. "

"There's two gentlemen to see you, Mr Amena. " The door opened, and hislandlady's dirty little daughter put her towsled head through the littlespace behind the doorpost. "They're down below; shall I send 'em up?"

"Certainly, Jane. Tell the gentlemen that I shall be pleased to seethem. "

The dirty face vanished as the door closed. Phadrig shut down the top ofthe big escritoire and locked it. Heavy treads sounded on the ricketystairs. There was a shuffle of feet on the little landing, a sharp knockat the door, and he said in a low tone:

"Come in, gentlemen. I have been expecting you. "

The door opened and Nicol Hendry entered, followed by his Germancolleague. Practised as they were in all the arts of their profession, they looked about the mean, miserably appointed room with curious eyes. Phadrig, dressed in the same shabby semi-Oriental costume in which hehad received Isaac Josephus, salaamed, and said:

"Gentlemen, although this is but a poor room to receive you in, I ampleased that you have come. You are officers of the International, if Iam not mistaken. "

Then his speech changed to German, and he went on:

"You, sir, are M. Nicol Hendry, and your friend is the Herr von Hamner, Chief of the Berlin Section. What can I do to serve you?"

It was anything but the greeting that they expected. They thought thatthey had tracked the real criminal to his last hiding-place. They hadestablished the identity between Phadrig, the poor seller of curios, andPhadrig Amena, the worker of miracles, whom all the smart set in Londonwas talking about; and here he was in this miserable, shabby room, dressed in clothes that no pawnbroker would advance a couple ofshillings on, smiling and bowing before them as though they were lordsof the earth, and he--the man who had sent three men and a woman totheir deaths by, as it were, a mere word of command--a worm beneaththeir feet. Nicol Hendry managed to keep his self-possession, but VonHamner was already sorry that he had come, and his face showed it. 

"We have come to ask you, Mr Amena, " said Hendry, thinking it best tocome to the point at once, "why you found it necessary to kill thosepeople. I needn't mention names. You know them as well as we do. "

"I did not kill them, gentlemen. They killed themselves, according tothe newspaper reports. And now, may I ask you why you found it necessaryto set these spies of yours to watch my every movement night and day?What have I done to bring myself within the four corners of your Englishlaw?"

"Nothing, unfortunately, that we can get a warrant for, " replied Hendry, trying not to look into his eyes, "and so we have taken the law into ourown hands. Come, Mr Amena, the game is up. We know all about your sharein the conspiracy to remove Prince Zastrow in order to make room foryour patron Prince Oscarovitch. We have copies of his manifesto atScotland Yard, and we know that you received a telegram in cypher fromhim to-day. "

"Ah!" said Phadrig, in a tone whose smoothness was intenselyaggravating, "that is very interesting. May I ask if you have translatedthe cypher?"

"No, damn you and your Prince!" burst in Von Hamner. "If we had donethat we should know even more about you than we do now--and that oughtto be enough to hang you. "

He had spluttered the words out before Hendry had time to stop him. Heexpected a tragedy there and then, but it did not happen. Phadrig tookthe telegram out of his coat pocket, handed it to Von Hamner with agraceful bow, and said:

"Your information is quite correct, gentlemen. That is the telegram, andthis is the meaning of it. "

Then as they read the unintelligible jumble of words, he repeated themeaning of them as though they formed the most ordinary message, insteadof a dispatch that might, as they well knew, shake Europe to its socialand political foundations within the next week or so. 

"Then this is another of your devilries, I suppose, " snarled Von Hamner. "So you have killed the great Professor Marmion, the most gifted geniusin the whole world, as you killed the others, to promote your infernalschemes; and you have helped that scoundrel Oscarovitch to abduct hisdaughter. Well, law or no law, this shall be the end of your doings. Youwill come with us as our prisoner, or you will not leave this roomalive. "

"Those are hard words, mein Herr, " said Phadrig, still speaking inGerman. "I your prisoner! Why? What have I done to make this outrage onEnglish law possible?"

"You will do better to come, Mr Amena, " said Hendry, in his quietofficial tone; "it will save a good deal of trouble both to you and us. It must be the same in the end, you know. We have got you, and we don'tmean to let you do any more mischief. You have done quite enoughalready. Now, will you come quietly, or shall we take you? We shallcharge you at Lambeth as a receiver of stolen goods: you will beremanded for a week in custody, and by that time we shall have yourPrince in safe keeping in St Petersburg. "

"Will you, really?" asked Phadrig, lifting his eyelids for the firsttime during the interview. "I should have thought that a man of yourEuropean experience would have called the Russian capital by its propername. Surely you know that only newspaper people make that mistake. Itis the city of Peter the Great, not Saint Peter the apostle. Thefortress of Petro-paulovsky is not named after saints--only afterTsars. "

There was a sneer in his voice as he made this trivial correction whichroused both Hendry and Von Hamner to anger. The German pulled hisrevolver out of his hip pocket, and Hendry produced a beautiful pair ofpolished handcuffs from his left trouser pocket. 

"Ah, I see that you have come prepared, gentlemen!" said Phadrig, with alaughing sneer in his low-voiced whisper. "Those are what you call thebracelets in England, are they not? Well, since you are determined totake the law into your hands--here are mine. Put them on M. Hendry, andthen your friend may not think it necessary to try and shoot me. "

He held his hands out. The way in which he said "try and shoot me" didnot sound well in their ears, but Nicol Hendry thought that the work hadto be put through now or not at all. He took a couple of steps towardsPhadrig, and a couple of sharp snaps told Von Hamner that their prisonerwas safe. But the prisoner did not seem to think so. He raised his handsand looked at the handcuffs. He seemed to examine them as though theywere curiosities. 

"Are these really what you take criminals to prison with? They don'tseem very strong. I could break them as though they were thread. "

"That will do, Mr Amena. You've got them on now, and we don't want anymore of your conjuring tricks. Come along, and take it quietly like asensible man. "

Hendry was fast losing patience, and Von Hamner was doing all he couldto keep his finger off the trigger of the revolver. 

"Ah yes, conjuring tricks you call them, you ignorants! Now look. Youhave put the handcuffs on to my wrists. Is this a conjuring trick? See!"

He held his arms out towards them, his two hands chained together. 

"Mr Hendry, be good enough to take my right hand, and you, Herr vonHamner, my left. So; now shake my hands. You see, there are thehandcuffs on the floor. "

It was only a shake of the hands, but the clink of the steel followed asthe bracelets dropped from his wrists. He stooped down, and inside tenseconds they were clipped round Von Hamner's. In the same instant he hadtwitched the revolver out of his hand and pointed it at Hendry's face. 

"Now, gentlemen, you were talking about taking the law into your ownhands. I, you see, have taken it into mine. What do you propose to do? Iam quite at your service. Your idea of arresting me on a charge ofreceiving stolen goods is, if you will allow me to say so, absurd. Youcould no more make me guilty of that than you could hang me for thedeaths of those foolish spies of yours. Now, what is it to be? Pardonme, Herr von Hamner: the bracelets inconvenience you. Allow me. " He tookthe handcuffs between his finger and thumb, shook the chain, and theydropped into his hand. "You will feel more comfortable now. "

"Yes, and I'll make you less comfortable in Hell, where you should havebeen long ago, " shouted Von Hamner, jumping at him the moment his handswere free, and snatching the revolver out of his hand. The pistol wentup before Hendry could get hold of his arm, and he fired. Phadrig puthis hand up, and when the smoke had drifted away, he held it out to VonHamner, and said:

"I think that is your bullet, mein Herr. "

The bullet was lying in the palm of his hand, a little out of shapethrough passing the rifling, but still the same bullet. 

The German's face turned a reddish-grey, and Nicol Hendry, with all hiscourage, was not feeling particularly well. As a matter of fact, he was, for the first time in his life, absolutely frightened. A man who coulddeal with handcuffs as though they were made of cotton, and catch abullet in his hands, was not the sort of criminal he had been trained tohunt. As for Von Hamner, he was in a state of utter collapse. He droppedupon a chair, a pitiable spectacle of craven fear, looking about halfhis real size so physically shrunken did he seem. 

"Let the devil go, Hendry, " he mumbled. "He is more than man. What isthe use? If you cannot shoot him, you cannot hang him, and if handcuffswon't hold him, prison doors won't. Let us go and leave the devil tohimself. I've had enough of it. "

"But perhaps the devil has not, " said Phadrig, with a politeness whichwas infuriating in its mildness. "You gentlemen will understand that Ido not wish to have this espionage going on any longer. If you cannotpromise that it shall stop at once I shall, for my own protection, haveto suggest to you that you shall remove yourselves, as the others havedone. "

"No, no, not that, man, not that!" shouted Von Hamner, springing fromhis seat and making for the door. "I have done with the whole business, curse it! Let me go, let me go! Hendry, do as you like, but do it alone. I have finished. "

Before Hendry could reply, or before Von Hamner could reach it, the doorwas flung open, and Franklin Marmion strode into the room. Von Hamnercrawled back to his chair. He did not like the look of a dead man whohad come to life again. Nicol Hendry held out his hand, and said:

"And is it really you, Professor? Mr Amena here has just had news thatyou were dead--'fallen overboard in the Baltic from Prince Oscarovitch'syacht. Body not recovered, ' is what the telegram says. "

"The body is here right enough, M. Hendry. I did not fall overboard. Iwas bound hand and foot, had a mass of iron tied to my feet, and wasthrown out of a port-hole by the Prince and his captain. Of course, Igot rid of the rope and the iron even more easily than this man got ridof your handcuffs a short time ago, and after keeping myself afloat forhalf an hour or so, I was picked up by a fishing-boat which took me toStralsund. I got a change of clothes there, and came home _viâ_ Hamburgand Ostend. My daughter has gone on in the yacht to Oscarburg, wherethe Prince expects to make her his wife, and where she will make a veryconsiderable fool of him. That is all, and now I suppose I had betterdeal with this man. "

"Mercy, mercy, Thou Who Knowest! Pity, pity!"

Phadrig raised his hands above his head, turned round thrice slowly, andsank in a heap on the floor. 

"Thou who wast once High Priest in the House of Ptah: thou who hast heldthe Doctrine: thou darest to ask for mercy, knowing well that there isno forgiveness of sins: thou hast taken innocent lives, believingthyself above human law. A wasted life is behind thee: see that thoudoest better for thy soul's sake in the next. Die now! The High Godshave spoken, and the penalty of sin is death--and the life beyond. Die!"

And Phadrig died. His eyes glazed and his flesh withered; his lips andhis gums dried up and shrivelled away from his jaws. His clothes fellaway from his body in rotting shreds, and before Nicol Hendry and VonHamner had quite grasped the full meaning of the horror that washappening before their eyes, all that was left of him was a little heapof yellow bones with a few fragments of cloth clinging to them. 

"Gentlemen, " said Franklin Marmion, "there are some things which cannotbe told. I think you will agree with me that this is one of them. MrAmena has left the world for the present. Those bones will be dust in afew minutes. It will only be another mysterious disappearance, and Idon't think that any one except the Pentanas and Prince Oscarovitch willtrouble much about him. The Pentanas are now deprived of all power forharm, and the Prince will probably be a harmless lunatic when he comesback into the world. I should sweep that dust up and put it into thefireplace, if I were you. In that desk you will find documents givingthe whole history of the Affaire Zastrow. They will be useful to you. You will have to excuse me now. Europe is on the brink of war, and Imust go and remove the cause. I rely upon your discretion as to theevents of this afternoon. Au revoir. I shall have the pleasure of seeingyou again shortly. "

The door closed, and they were left to their somewhat gruesome task. 

CHAPTER XXVI

CAPTAIN MERRILL'S COMMISSION

Franklin Marmion found a hansom in the Borough Road and drove toWaterloo. He had just time to wire to Merrill to meet him at the"Keppel's Head" for dinner and catch the new 4. 55 express forPortsmouth. Merrill was waiting for him in the smoking-room. As theyshook hands, he said in the quiet tone which is characteristic of hisprofession:

"Your wire was rather sudden news, Professor. I thought you weresomewhere in the Baltic. Your coming back like this seemed to meansomething, and so I took the liberty of having a private room for ourdinner. "

"Perfectly right, my dear Merrill, " he replied. "Let us go upstairs atonce. I have a good deal to say to you, and what I am going to say willhave to be done quickly. "

"We have our sailing orders for the Baltic, and the Special Squadronleaves Spithead at midnight. Come upstairs, Professor, and we can talk. "

Dinner was served a few minutes after they got into the room thatMerrill had reserved on the first floor. The waiter was dismissed andthe door locked, and then Franklin Marmion told Mark Merrill the mostwonderful story he had ever heard. If it had come from any one else hewould have put it down as a lie, but he remembered what had happened inthe lecture theatre of the Royal Society, and so he held his peace. Itwas quite impossible for him to disbelieve anything the father of hisBest Beloved told him. When the Professor had finished the story ofNitocris and the Prince, he leaned his elbows on the table, and said:

"Now, my dear Merrill, I am going to put it into your power to saveEurope from the horrors of a universal war: but to that you must beprepared to take risks which may result in your being dismissed theService. On the other hand, if you succeed, as you are almost certain todo if you act strictly on the instructions that I am going to give you, you will be a Captain in a month, and a Vice-Admiral in a year. "

"But I'm a Captain now, Professor. I was keeping that little bit of newsfor you. I hoisted my pennant this morning on His Majesty's ship_Nitocris_: new second-class cruiser, eight thousand tons, andtwenty-four knots: as pretty a ship as Elswick ever turned out. And thename: it came to me like a revelation. "

"Possibly it was, in a sense that you may not quite understand now, butyou will understand it when you and Niti are married. She will be betterable to explain it then than I could now. "

"And what are the orders--I mean, of course, the private ones? Ours are:sail at midnight, make Kronstadt in forty-eight hours: command theapproaches to Riga and St Petersburg, and wait for the developments ofthis manifesto which seems to be setting what is left of Russia on fire. Germany is in with us for the time being: France and Italy and ourMediterranean squadron will see to things in the Near East, andaltogether there seem to be the prospects of a very handsome sort ofrow. "

"Which you, my dear Merrill, will be the means of preventing, " saidFranklin Marmion, taking a piece of folded tracing paper out of theinside pocket of his coat. "I yield to circumstance. The name of yournew ship convinces me that I was wrong in certain other circumstances. You will give me a passage to Viborg on the _Nitocris_. You will takeFrench leave of the fleet as soon as you sight Kronstadt, get intoViborg Bay at your best speed, land your men, take the Castle, which isquite undefended, bring away Prince Zastrow and Oscarovitch, and, ofcourse, Niti; put your two princes on board the flagship, bring themback to England, and dictate terms from London. It seems a good deal todo, but I will make it possible, if you are prepared to do as I adviseyou. There is the chart showing the approaches to Oscarburg. "

"I'll do it, sir, " said Merrill, taking the tracing from his hand. "I'llbreak every regulation of the Service into little pieces to get thatdone. Now, I ought to be getting on board. Are you ready?"

"Quite, " said Franklin Marmion, rising from his chair. "I see now wherethe man of action comes in. I did not see that before, I must confess. "

CHAPTER XXVII

THE BRIDAL OF OSCAROVITCH

The Special Service Squadron steamed out of Spithead as the clock ofPortsmouth Town Hall chimed twelve that night. Thirty-six hours later amarriage ceremony took place in the chapel of the Castle of Oscarburg. It was performed according to the rites of the Orthodox Church, and thewitnesses were Prince Zastrow and his medical attendant, Doctor Hugo. The retainers of the Castle, headed by the major-domo and thehousekeeper, formed the congregation. Jenny was up in her mistress' roompacking as though for an immediate departure. She was very frightened atthe happenings of the past three or four days, but she contented herselfwith the thought that her mistress was going to be a princess, and that, therefore, her own lot in life would be brightened with reflected glory. 

When the ceremony was over, the wedding feast was held in the greatdining-hall of the Castle after the ancient Finnish style. When theloving-cup had been drunk, Nitocris took leave of her lord and went toher room. The bridal chamber was blazing with light, and the greatsilken-hung bed was a couch fit for a queen. She turned the draperiesdown, laid herself dressed on the thick, downy bed, and then got up andwent back to her own. 

"I shall sleep here to-night, Jenny, and I shall not undress. Youmustn't do, either. Lock the door, and put the sofa across it. You willfind that something is going to happen to-night. Is everything ready forus to go away?"

"Yes, Your Highness, " replied Jenny, wondering what was going to happennext. 

"You must not call me Highness, Jenny, " said her mistress, with a laugh. "I did not marry the Prince to-day. It was some one else he knew a longtime ago. I have put her to bed in that splendid bridal chamber of his. She is waiting for him now. "

"But I don't understand, Miss--I----"

"There is no need for you to understand, Jenny. Just be a good girl, anddo as you're told. When we get back to England I will explain matters asfar as I can. "

Miss Jenny wisely decided to keep her thoughts to herself, and went onwith her packing. Nitocris changed her bridal dress for her yachtingcostume, and lay down on the couch to await the progress of events. 

Oscarovitch left the company in the dining-hall to their revel in aboutan hour's time, and went up to his fate in the bridal chamber. Heknocked and opened the door softly: locked it, and went toward the bed. He leaned over it for a moment, and then a hoarse shriek of mingled rageand terror rang through the room. He flung the clothes off the bed. Where was the lovely bride he had wedded only a few hours before? Whatwas this horrible thing lying where _she_ should have been? NotNitocris--and yet, it _was_ Nitocris. Like a flash of lightning rendingthe darkness of the midnight heavens, the gap of oblivion between hislives was rent, and the light flamed into his soul. Phadrig had lied tohim. The daughter of Rameses had not died that night in the banquetingchamber of the Palace of Pepi. She had lived and reigned virgin queen ofthe Sacred Land. Her body had been submitted to the hands of theparaschites and buried in the City of the Dead over against Memphis, onthe eastward side of the river. And here was her mummy lying in hisbridal bed, mocking him with its hideous, stony rigidity. 

For a few terrible moments he stood staring at it, his clenched fistsraised above his head. Then with another scream he cast himself upon it. 

When they broke the door open, they found the man who in a few dayswould have been Emperor of the Russias and the East lying across the bedmowing and gibbering like a mad monkey, and scraping up handfuls ofbrown dust from the stained sheets. 

 * * * * *

Twenty-four hours later the Admiral in command of the British SpecialSquadron off Kronstadt saw the private signal flashed from thenorth-east. He was a very angry Admiral, for he had lost a brand-newcruiser and one of the smartest captains in the Service. But the signalspelt "_Nitocris_. All well. Coming alongside. "

"All well, and be damned to you, Captain Merrill!" muttered the Admiralunder his breath, when the signal was read to him. "This is a nice wayto begin a new command. I've half a mind to put him under arrest: buthe's a good man. I'd better hear what he has to say for himself first. Iwonder what the deuce he's been doing with that cruiser since he tookher away without leave? Well, here she is, I suppose. "

But it was not H. M. S. _Nitocris_ that came out of the night glitteringwith electric lights and flying through the water at a speed that thefastest destroyer in the squadron could not have equalled. A whistletooted softly, a white shape swung up out of the darkness and sloweddown alongside the flagship. A boat dropped into the water, and threeminutes later Captain Mark Merrill ran up the gangway ladder, salutedthe quarter-deck, and handed his sword to the Admiral. 

"I have done wrong, sir, but I hope that I have also, in another sense, done right. I have brought both princes with me. "

"Both princes--Good Lord, sir, what do you mean?"

"May I come below with you, sir, and explain? It has been ratherdelicate work, but we've got it through all right, I think. "

"Then keep your sword for the present, and come and tell me what youhave to say. "

Captain Merrill followed the Admiral to his room, and told the story ofthe taking of the Oscarburg--a very easy matter with a hundredbluejackets at his back--the capture of Oscarovitch, who was now in astraight waistcoat on board his own yacht, the rescue of Prince Zastrowand Nitocris, and----

"The other Nitocris is following, sir, " he concluded. "I thought I hadbetter take the yacht. She can make a good thirty-five knots, and that'suseful when you're in a hurry. And now, sir, I am at your disposal. "

"Rubbish!" said the Admiral, holding out his hand. "Captain Merrill, Idon't quite know how you've done it, but you've saved Europe, andperhaps the world, from war. If you hadn't brought those two princes ofyours to-night, we should have been fighting Germany for the possessionof Kronstadt before mid-day to-morrow. Those were the orders. Now, ofcourse, they can do nothing, as you have brought Prince Zastrow backfrom the dead. He's their choice, and you had better get him and theother away to London as soon as I have seen them, and you can take myreport with you on that thirty-five knotter after breakfast to-morrowmorning. Now, it's getting late. I'll say good-night. "

EPILOGUE

The double wedding which took place at St George's, Hanover Square, thefollowing June was one of the most brilliant functions of the year. Their Majesties of Russia and Great Britain graced the ceremony withtheir presence, and, as a special act of grace to the man who, withFranklin Marmion's help, had saved the world from what might have beenone of the bloodiest wars in history, H. M. S. _Nitocris_ was put intocommission for a cruise, the object of which was anything rather thanwarlike. Two of the happiest couples on land or sea made the round ofthe world in her. Before they returned Princess Hermia had taken thelast of Phadrig's drug and lain down to sleep never to wake again, andin the fullness of her happiness Nitocris pardoned Oscar Oscarovitch, and allowed him to die. 

THE END

 Supernatural & Occult Fiction

 An Arno Press Collection

 Ainsworth, W[illiam] Harrison. ~Auriol~: Or, The Elixir of Life. [c. 1892]

 Arlen, Michael. ~Ghost Stories~. [1932]

 Balzac, Honoré de. Horace de Saint-Aubin, pseud. ~The Centenarian~; Or, The Two Beringhelds. Translated from the original 1822 French edition by George Edgar Slusser. 1976

 Beck, L[ily Moresby] Adams. ~The Ninth Vibration, and Other Stories~. 1922

 Benson, E[dward] F[rederick]. ~Spook Stories~. [1928]

 Blackwood, Algernon. ~The Centaur~. 1911

 Blackwood, Algernon. ~Strange Stories~. 1929

 Boothby, Guy. ~Pharos, The Egyptian~. 1899

 ~The Boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes~; Or, The Conspirators of Old London, [c. 1876]

 [Burrage, Alfred McLelland]. Ex-Private X, pseud. ~Someone in the Room~. [1931]

 [Carnegie, James], [Ninth] Earl of Southesk. ~Suomiria~: A Fantasy. 1899

 Coppard, A [lfred] E[dgar]. ~The Collected Tales of A. E. Coppard~. 1948

 Crawford, F[rancis] Marion. ~With the Immortals~. 1888

 [Dalton]. ~The Gentleman in Black~. 1831

 De La Mare, Walter. ~The Return~. 1910

 Doughty, Francis Worcester. ~Mirrikh; Or, A Woman from Mars~: A Tale of Occult Adventure. 1892

 Erckmann, [Emile and Alexandre] Chatrian. ~The Man-Wolf, and Other Tales~. [c. 1876]

 Ewers, Hanns Heinz. ~Alraune~. Translated by S. Guy Endore. 1929

 Fielding, Henry. ~A Journey From this World to the Next~. 1930

 Gautier, Théophile. ~Spirite~. Translated by Arthur D. Hall. 1890

 Griffith, George. ~The Mummy and Miss Nitocris~: A Phantasy of the Fourth Dimension. [1906]

 [Hadley, George]. ~Argal; Or, The Silver Devil~, Being the Adventures of an Evil Spirit, Related by Himself. Two vols. In one. [1793]

 Haggard, H[enry] Rider. ~Allan and the Ice-Gods~: A Tale of Beginnings. 1927

 Harvey, William Fryer. ~Midnight House and Other Tales. ~ 1910

 Hearn, Lafcadio. ~Fantastics and Other Fancies. ~ Edited by Charles Woodward Hutson. 1914

 Hecht, Ben. ~Fantazius Mallare:~ A Mysterious Oath. 1922

 Hecht, Ben. ~The Kingdom of Evil:~ A Continuation of the Journal of Fantazius Mallare. 1924

 [Heron-Allen, Edward]. Christopher Blayre, pseud. ~The Strange Papers of Dr. Blayre. ~ 1932

 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, [Sr. ]. ~Elsie Venner:~ A Romance of Destiny. 1892

 Housman, Clemence. ~The Were-Wolf. ~ 1896

 Ingram, Eleanor M. ~The Thing From the Lake. ~ 1921

 James, M[ontague] R[hodes]. ~The Five Jars. ~ 1922

 [Johnstone, Charles]. An Adept, pseud. ~Chrysal:~ Or, The Adventures of a Guinea. Two vols. In one. 1764

 Keller, David H. ~The Devil and the Doctor. ~ 1940

 Knowles, Vernon. ~The Street of Queer Houses and Other Tales. ~ 1925

 Le Fanu, J[oseph] Sheridan, Charles Young and others. ~A Stable For Nightmares or Weird Tales. ~ [An Anonymous Anthology]. 1896

 [Le Sage, Alain René]. ~The Devil on Two Sticks. ~ [A Translation of _Le Diable Boiteux_]. 1840

 Machen, Arthur. ~The Children of the Pool and Other Stories. ~ 1936

 [MacKay, Mary]. Marie Corelli, pseud. ~The Strange Visitation of Josiah McNason:~ A Christmas Ghost Story. 1904

 Marryat, Florence. ~The Dead Man's Message:~ An Occult Romance. 1894

 Marsh, Richard. ~The Beetle. ~ 1917

 Menville, Douglas and R. Reginald, editors. ~Ancient Hauntings. ~ 1976

 Menville, Douglas and R. Reginald, editors. ~Phantasmagoria. ~ 1976

 Merritt, A [braham] and Hannes Bok. ~The Fox Woman and The Blue Pagoda~ _and_ ~The Black Wheel. ~ Two vols. In one. 1946/1947

 Molesworth, Mrs. [Mary Louisa Stewart]. ~Uncanny Tales. ~ 1896

 O'Donnell, Elliott. ~The Sorcery Club. ~ 1912

 [Oliver, George]. Oliver Onions, pseud. ~Widdershins. ~ 1911

 [Paget, Violet]. Vernon Lee, pseud. ~For Maurice:~ Five Unlikely Stories. 1927

 Pain, Barry [Eric Odell]. ~Robinson Crusoe's Return. ~ [1907]

 Paine, Albert Bigelow. ~The Mystery of Evelin Delorme:~ A Hypnotic Story. 1894

 Phillpotts, Eden. ~A Deal With the Devil. ~ 1895

 Powys, John Cowper. ~Morwyn:~ Or, The Vengeance of God. 1937

 Praed, Mrs. [Rosa Caroline Murray-Prior] Campbell. ~The Brother of the Shadow:~ A Mystery of To-Day. 1886

 Reginald, R. And Douglas Menville, editors. ~R. I. P. ~: Five Stories of the Supernatural. 1976

 Reginald, R. And Douglas Menville, editors. ~The Spectre Bridegroom, and Other Horrors. ~ 1976

 Reynolds, George W. M. ~The Necromancer:~ A Romance. 1857

 Russell, W[illiam] Clark. ~The Death Ship:~ A Strange Story. Three vols. In one. 1888

 Sicard, Clara. ~The Ghost:~ A Legend. [1866]

 Viereck, George Sylvester. ~The House of the Vampire. ~ 1907

 [Vivian, Evelyn Charles]. Jack Mann, pseud. ~Maker of Shadows. ~ [1938]

 Wakefield, H[erbert] Russell. ~Ghost Stories. ~ 1932

 [Wall, John W. ]. "Sarban", pseud. ~Ringstones and Other Curious Tales. ~ 1951

 [Ward, Arthur Sarsfield]. Sax Rohmer, pseud. ~Grey Face. ~ 1924

 Whiting, Sydney. ~Heliondé~; Or, Adventures in the Sun. 1855

 PRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS, 9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET