incline towards each other. Then his wife, like myself, is a two
which is again linked to all four of you because it is divisible
into eight.'
Rex nodded. 'It's the strangest mystery I've met up with in
the whale of a while. There isn't a single odd number in the
whole series, but tell me, would this combination of eights be a
good thing d'you reckon-or no?'
'It is very, very potent,' she said slowly. '888 is the number
given to Our Lord by students of Occultism in his aspect as the
Redeemer. Add them together and you get twenty-four. 2+4=6 which
is the number of Venus, the representative of Love. That is the
complete opposite of 666 which Revelations give as the number of
the Beast. The three sixes add to eighteen, and 1+8-9, the
symbol of Mars-De Richleau's secondary quality which makes him a
great leader and fighter, but in its pure state represents
Destruction, Force and War.'
At the mention of War, Rex's whole mind was jerked from the
quiet, comfortable, old-fashioned inn parlour to a mental
picture of De Richleau as he had stood only a few hours before
with the light of dawn breaking over Stonehenge. He saw again
the Duke's grey face and unnaturally bright eyes as he spoke of
the Talisman of Set; that terrible gateway out of Hell through
which, if Mocata found it, those dread four horsemen would come
riding, invisible but all-powerful, to poison the thoughts of
peace-loving people and manipulate unscrupulous statesmen,
influencing them to plunge Europe into fresh calamity.
Not only had they to fight Mocata for Simon's safety and
Tanith's as well but, murder though it might be to people lack
ing in understanding, they had to kill him even if they were
forced to sacrifice themselves.
With sudden clarity Rex saw that Tanith's appeal for protec
tion offered a golden, opportunity to carry the war into the
enemy's camp. She was so certain that Mocata would appear to
claim her, and De Richleau had stated positively that while
daylight lasted the Satanist was no more powerful than any other
thug.
'Why,' Rex thought, with a quick tightening of his great
muscles, 'should he not seize Mocata by force when he arrived;
then send for the Duke to decide what they should do with him.'
Only one difficulty seemed to stand in the way. He could
hardly attack a visitor and hold him prisoner in The Pride of
Peacocks.' Mr. Wilkes might object to that. But apparently
Mocata could find Tanith with equal ease wherever she was, so
she must be got out of the inn to some place where the business
could be done without interference.
For a moment the thought of Cardinals Folly entered his mind
again, but if he once took Tanith there, they could hardly turn
her out later on, and she might become a highly dangerous focus
in the coming night; besides, Mocata might not care to risk a
visit to the house in daylight with the odds so heavily against
him, and that would ruin the whole plan. Then he remembered the
woods at the bottom of the garden behind the inn. If he took
Tanith there and Mocata did turn up he would have a perfectly
free hand in dealing with him. He glanced across at Tanith and
suggested casually: 'What about a little stroll?'
She shook her fair head, and lay back with half-closed eyes in
the arm-chair. 'I would love to, but I am so terribly tired. I
had no proper sleep you know last night.'
He nodded. 'We didn't get much either. We were sitting around
Stonehenge the best part of the time till dawn. After that we
went into Amesbury where the Duke took a room. The people there
must have thought us a queer party-one room for three people and
beds being specially shifted into it at half-past seven in the
morning, but he was insistent that we shouldn't leave Simon for
a second. So we had about four hours shut-eye on those three
beds, all tied together by our wrists and ankles; but it's a
glorious afternoon and the woods round here are just lovely now
it's May.' 'If you like,' She rose sleepily. 'I dare not.go to
sleep in anycase. You mustn't let me until to-morrow morning.
After midnight it will be May 2nd, the mystic two again you see,
and my birthday. So during the dark hours tonight I shall be
passing into my fatal day. It may be good or evil, but in such
circumstances it is almost certain to bring some crisis in rny
life, and I'm afraid, Rex, terribly afraid.'
He drew her arm protectively through his and led her out
through the back door into the pleasant garden which boasted two
large, gay archery targets, a pastime that Jeremiah Wilkes had
seen fit to institute for the amusement of the local gentry,
deriving considerable profit therefrom when they bet each other
numerous rounds of drinks upon their prowess with the six-foot
bow.
A deep border of dark wallflowers sent out their heady scent
at the farther end of the lawn and beyond them the garden opened
on to a natural wooded glade. A small stream marked the boundary
of Mr. Wilkes' domain and when they reached it, Rex passed his
arm round Tanith's body, lifted her before she could protest,
and with one spring of his long legs cleared the brook. She did
not struggle from his grasp, but looked up at him curiously as
she lay placid in his arms.
'You must be very strong,' she said. 'Most men can lift a
woman, but it can't be easy to jump a five-foot brook with one.'
'I'm strong enough,' he smiled into her face, not attempting
to put her down. 'Strong enough for both of us. You needn't
worry,' Then, still carrying her in his arms, he walked on into
the depths of the wood until the fresh, green beech trees hid
them from the windows of the inn.
'You will get awfully tired,' she said lazily.
'Not me,' he declared, shaking his head. 'You may be tall, but
you're only a featherweight. I could carry you a mile if I
wanted, and it wouldn't hurt me any.'
'You needn't,' she smiled up at him. 'You can put me down now
and we'll sit under the trees. It's lovely here. You were quite
right-much nicer than the inn.'
He laid her down very gently on a sloping bank, but instead of
rising, knelt above her with one arm still about her shoulders
and looked down into her eyes. 'You love me,' he said suddenly.
'Don't you?'
'Yes,' she confessed with troubled shadows brooding in her
golden eyes. 'I do. But you mustn't love me, Rex. You know what
I told you yesterday. I'm going to die. I'm going to die
soon-before the year is out.'
'You're not,' he said, almost fiercely. 'We'll break this
devil Mocata-De Richleau will. I'm certain.'
'But, my dear, it's nothing to do with him,' she protested
sadly. 'It's just Fate, and you haven't known me long, so it's
not too late yet for you to keep a hold on yourself, You mustn't
love me, because if you do, it will make you terribly unhappy
when I die.'
'You're not going to die,' he repeated, and then he laughed
suddenly, boyishly, ail his mercurial nature rising to dispel
such gloomy thoughts. 'If we both die tomorrow,' he said
suddenly, 'we've still got today, and I love you, Tanith. That's
all there is to it.'
Her arms crept up about his neck and with sudden strength she
kissed him on his mouth.
He grabbed her then, his lips seeking hers again and again,
while he muttered little phrases of endearment, pouring out all
the agony of anxiety that he had felt for her during the past
night and the long run from Amesbury in the morning. She clung
to him, laughing a little hysterically although she was not far
from tears. This strange new happiness was overwhelming to her,
flooding her whole being now with a desperate desire to live; to
put behind her those nightmare dreams from which she had woken
shuddering in the past months at visions of herself torn and
bleeding, the victim of some horrible railway accident, or
trapped upon the top storey of a blazing building with no
alternative but to leap into the street below. For a moment it
almost seemed to her that no real foundation existed for the
dread which had haunted her since childhood. She was young,
healthy and full of life. Why should she not enjoy to the full
all the normal pleasures of life with this strong, merry-eyed
man-who had come so suddenly into her existence.
Again and again he assured her that all those thoughts of
fatality being certain to overtake her were absurd. He told her
that once she was out of Europe she would see things
differently; the menace of the old superstition-ridden countries
would drop away and that, in his lovely old home in the southern
states, they would be able to laugh at Fate together.
Tanith did not really believe him. Her habit of mind had grown
so strongly upon her; but she could not bring herself to argue
against his happy auguries, or spoil those moments of glorious
delight as they both confessed their passion for each other.
As he held her in his arms a marvellous languor began to steal
through all her limbs. 'Rex,' she said softly. 'I'm utterly done
in with this on top of all the rest. I haven't slept for nearly
thirty-six hours. I ought not to now, but I'll never be able to
stay awake tonight unless I do. No harm can come to me while
you're with me, can it?'
'No,' he said huskily. 'Neither man nor devil shall harm you
while I'm around. You poor sweet, you must be just about at the
end. of your tether. Go to sleep now-just as you are.'
With a little sigh she turned over, nestling her fair head
into the crook of his arm, where he sat with his back propped up
against a tree-trunk. In another moment she was sound asleep.
The afternoon drew into evening. Rex's arms and legs were cold
and stiff, but he would not move for fear of waking her. A new
anxiety began to trouble him. Mocata had not appeared, and what
would they think had become of him at Cardinals Folly? Marie Lou
knew he had gone to the inn, and they would probably have rung
up by now. But, like a fool, he had neglected to leave any
message for them.
The shadows fell, but still there was no sign of Mocata, and
the imps of doubt once more began to fill Rex's mind with
horrible speculations as to the truth of Tanith's story. Had she
consciously or unconsciously lured him from Simon's side on
purpose? Simon would be safe enough with Richard and Marie Lou,
and De Richleau had promised to rejoin them before dusk-but
perhaps Mocata was plotting some evil to prevent the Duke's
return. If that were so-Rex shivered slightly at the
thought-Richard knew nothing of those mysterious protective
barriers with which it would be so necessary to surround Simon
in the coming night-and he, who at least knew what had been done
the night before-would be absent. By his desertion of his post
poor Simon might fall an easy prey to the malefic influence of
the Satanist.
He thought more than once of rousing Tanith, but she looked so
peaceful, so happy, so lovely there, breathing gently and
resting in his strong arms with all her limbs relaxed that he
could not bring himself to do it. The shadows lengthened, night
drew on, and at last darkness fell with Tanith still sleeping.
The night of the ordeal had come and they were alone in the
forest.
24
The Scepticism of Richard Eaton
At a quarter to six, De Richleau arrived back at Cardinals
Folly and Richard, meeting him in the hall, told him of Mocata's
visit.
'I am not altogether surprised,' the Duke admitted sombrely.
'He must be pretty desperate to come here in daylight on the
chance of seeing Simon, but of course, he is working against
time-now. Did he threaten to return?'
'Yes.' Richard launched into full particulars of the
Satanist's attempt on Marie Lou and the conversation that had
followed. As he talked he studied De Richleau's face, struck by
his anxious harassed expression. Never before had he thought of
the Duke as old, but now for the first time it was brought home
to him that De Richleau must be nearly double his own age. And
this evening he showed it. He seemed somehow to have shrunk in
stature, but perhaps that was because he was standing with bent
shoulders as though some invisible load was borne upon them.
Richard was so impressed by that tired, lined face that he found
himself ending quite seriously: 'Do you really think he can work
some devilry tonight?'
De Richleau nodded. 'I am certain of it, and I'm worried
Richard. My luck was out today. Father Brandon, whom I went to
see, was unfortunately away. He has a great knowledge of this
terrible "other world" that we are up against, and knowing me
well, would have helped us, but the young priest I saw in his
place would not entrust me with the Host, nor could I persuade
him to come with it himself, and that is the only certain
protection against the sort of thing Mocata may send against
us.'
'We'll manage somehow,' Richard smiled, trying to cheer him.
'Yes, we've got to.' A note of the old determination came into
De Richleau's voice. 'Since the Church cannot help us we must
rely upon my knowledge of Esoteric formulas. Fortunately, I have
the most important aids with me already, but I should be glad if
you would se-rad down to the village blacksmith for five
horseshoes. Tell whoever you send, that they must be brand
new-that is essential.'
At this apparently childish request for horseshoes all
Richard's scepticism welled up with renewed force, but he con
cealed it with his usual tact and agreed readily enough. Then,
the mention of the village having reminded him of Rex, he told
the Duke how their friend had been called away to the inn.
De Richleau's face fell suddenly. 'I thought Rex had more
sense!' he exclaimed bitterly. 'We must telephone at once.'
Richard got on to Mr. Wilkes, but the landlord could give them
little information. A lady had arrived at about three, and the
American gentleman had joined her shortly after. Then they had
gone out into the garden and he had seen nothing of them since.
De Richleau shrugged angrily. 'The young fool! I should have
thought that he would have'seen enough of this horror by now to
realise the danger of going off with that young woman. It's a
hundred to one that she is Mocata's puppet if nothing else. I
only pray to God that he turns up again before nightfall. Where
is Simon now?'
'With Marie Lou. They are upstairs in the nursery I think-
watching Fleur bathed and put to bed.'
'Good. Let us go up then. Fleur can help us very greatly in
protecting him tonight.'
'Fleur!' exclaimed Richard in amazement.
The Duke nodded. 'The prayers of a virgin woman are amazingly
powerful in such instances, and the younger she is the stronger
her vibrations. You see, a little child like Fleur who is old
enough to pray, but absolutely unsoiled in any way, is the
nearest that any human being can get to absolute purity. You
will remember the words of Our Lord: "Except ye become as little
children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." You
have no objection I take it?'
'None,' agreed Richard quickly. 'Saying a prayer for Simon
cannot possibly harm the child in any way. We'll go up through
the library.'
Seven sides of the great octagonal room were covered ceiling
high with books and the eighth consisted of wide trench windows
through which half-a-dozen stone steps, leading up to the
terrace, could be seen and beyond, a portion of the garden.
Richard led the way to one of the book-lined walls and pressed
the gilded cardinal's hat upon a morocco binding. A low doorway,
masked by dummy bookbacks, swung open disclosing a narrow spiral
stairway hewn out of the solid wall. They ascended the stone
steps and a moment later entered Fleur's nursery on the floor
above, through a sliding panel in the wall.
When they arrived the nursery was empty, but in the bathroom
beyond they found Simon, with Nanny's apron tied about his
waist, quite solemnly bathing Fleur while Marie Lou sat on the
edge of the bath and chortled with laughter.
It was an operation which Simon performed on every visit that
he had made to Cardinals Folly so Fleur was used to the business
and regarded it as a definite treat; but this tubbing of his
friend's child was a privilege which De Richleau had never
claimed, and as he entered Fleur suddenly exhibited signs of
maidenly modesty surprising in one so young.
'Oh, Mummy,' she exclaimed. 'He mussent see me, muss he,
'cause he's a man.' On which the whole party gave way to a fit
of laughter.
'Sen' him away!' yelled the excited Fleur, standing up and
clutching an enormous bath sponge to her chest.
De Richleau's firm mouth twitched with his old humour, as he
apologised most gravely and backed into the nursery beside
Richard. A few minutes later the others joined them, and the
Duke held a hurried conversation in whispers with Marie Lou.
'Of course,' she said. 'If it will help, do just what you
think. I will get rid of Nanny for a few minutes.'
Walking over, he smiled down at Fleur. 'Does Mummy watch you
say your prayers every night?' he asked gently.
'Oh, yes,' she lisped. 'And you shall all hear me now.'
He smiled again. 'Have you ever heard her say hers?'
Fleur thought hard for a moment. 'No,' she shook her dark head
and the big blue eyes looked up at him seriously. 'Mummy says
her prayers to Daddy when I'se asleep.'
He noddedy quietly. 'Well, we're all going to say them to
gether tonight.'
'Ooo,' cooed Fleur. 'Lovely. It'll be just as though we'se
playing a new game, won't it?'
'Not a game, dearest,' interjected Marie Lou quietly, 'Because
prayers are serious, and we mean them.'
'Yes, we mean them very much tonight, but we could all kneel
down in a circle couldn't we and put Uncle Simon in the middle?'
'Jus' like kiss-in-the-ring,' added Fleur.
'That's right,' the Duke agreed, 'or Postman's Knock. And you
shall be the postman. But this is very serious, and instead of
touching him on the shoulder, you must hold his hand very
tight.'
They all knelt down then and Fleur extended her pudgy palm to
Simon, but the Duke gently laid his hand on her shoulder. 'No,'
he whispered. 'Your left hand, my angel, in Uncle Simon's right.
You shall say your prayers first, just as you always do, and
then I shall say one for all of us afterwards.'
The first few lines of the Our Father came tumbling out from
the child's lips in a little breathless spate as they knelt with
bowed heads and closed eyes. Then there was a short hesitation,
a prompting whisper from Marie Lou, and an equally breathless
ending. After that, the little personal supplication for Mummy
and Daddy and Uncle Simon and Uncle Rex and Uncle Greyeyes and
dear Nanny were hurried through with considerably more gusto.
'Now,' whispered De Richleau. 'I want you to repeat everything
I say word for word after me,' and in a low, clear voice he
offered up an entreaty that the Father of All would forgive His
servants their sins and strengthen them to resist temptation,
keeping at bay by His limitless power all evil things that
walked in darkness, and bringing them safely by His especial
mercy to see again the glory of the morning light.
When all was done and Fleur, tucked up and kissed, left be
tween Mr. Edward Bear and Golliwog, the others filed downstairs
to Marie Lou's cosy sitting-room.
De Richleau was worried about Rex, but a further 'phone call
to the inn failed to elicit any later information. He had not
returned, and they sat round silently, a little subdued.
Richard, vaguely miserable because it was sherry time and the
Duke had once again firmly prohibited the drinking of any
alcohol, asked at length: 'Well, what do you wish us to do now?'
'We should have a light supper fairly early, De Richleau
announced. 'And after, I should like you to make it quite clear
to Malin that none of the servants are to come into this wing of
the house until tomorrow morning. Say, if you like, that I am
going to conduct some all-night experiments with a new wireless
or television apparatus, but in no circumstances must we be
disturbed or any doors opened and shut.'
'Hadn't we . . . er . . . better disconnect the telephone as
well?' Simon hazarded. 'In case it rings after we've settled
down.'
'Yes, with Richard's permission I will attend to that myself.'
'Do, if you like, and I'll see to the servants,' Richard
agreed placidly. 'But what do you call a light supper?'
'Just enough to keep up our strength. A little fish if you
have it. If not eggs will do, with vegetables or a salad and
some fruit, but no meat or game and, of course, no wine.'
Richard grunted. 'That sounds a jolly dinner I must say. I
suppose you wouldn't like to shave my head as well, or get us
all to don hair shirts if we could find them. I'm hungry as a
hunter, and owing to your telegram, we had no lunch.'
The Duke smiled tolerantly. 'I am sorry, Richard, but this
thing is deadly serious. I am afraid you haven't realised quite
how serious yet. If you had seen what Rex and I did last night,
I'm certain that you wouldn't breathe a word of protest about
these small discomforts, and realise at once that I am acting
for the best.'
'No,' Richard confessed. 'Quite frankly, I find it very diffi
cult to believe that we haven't all gone bug-house with this
talk of witches and wizards and magic and what-not at the
present day.'
'Yet you saw Mocata yourself this afternoon.'
'I saw an unpleasant pasty-faced intruder I agree, but to
credit him with all the powers that you suggest is rather more
than I can stomach at the moment.'
'Oh, Richard!' Marie Lou broke in. 'Greyeyes is right. That
man is horrible. And to say that people do not believe in
witches at the present day is absurd. Everybody knows that there
are witches just as there have always been.'
'Eh!' Richard looked at his lovely wife in quick surprise.
'Have you caught this nonsense from the others already? I've
never heard you air this belief before.'
'Of course not,' she said a little sharply. 'It is unlucky to
talk of such things, but one knows about them all the same. Of
witches in Siberia I could tell you much-things that I have seen
with my own eyes.'
'Tell us, Marie Lou,' urged the Duke. He felt that in their
present situation scepticism might prove highly dangerous. If
Richard did not believe in the powers that threatened them, he
might relax in following out the instructions for their pro
tection and commit some casual carelessness, bringing, possibly,
a terrible danger upon them all. He knew how very highly Richard
esteemed his wife's sound common sense. It was far better to let
her convince him than to press arguments on Richard himself.
'There was a witch in Romanovsk, Marie Lou proceeded. 'An old
woman who lived alone in a house just outside the village. No
one, not even the Red Guards, with all their bluster about
having liquidated God and the Devil, would pass her cottage
alone at night. In Russia there are many such and one in nearly
every village. You would call her a wise woman as well perhaps,
for she could cure people of many sicknesses and I have seen her
stop the flow of blood from a bad wound almost instantly. The
village girls used to go to her to have their fortunes told and,
when they could afford it, to buy charms of philtres to make the
young men they liked fall in love with them. Often, too, they
would go back again afterwards when they became pregnant and buy
the drugs which would secure their release from that unhappy
situation. But she was greatly feared, for everyone knew that
she could also put a blight on crops and send a murrain on the
cattle of those who displeased her. It was even whispered that
she could cause men and women to sicken and die if any enemy
paid her a high enough price to make it worth her while.'
'If that is so I wonder they didn't lynch her,' said Richard
quietly.
'They did in the end. They would not have dared to do. that
themselves. But a farmer whom she had inflicted with a plague of
lice appealed to the local commissar and he went with twenty men
to her house one day. All the villagers and I among them-for I
was only a little giri then and naturally curious-went with them
in a frightened crowd hanging well behind. They brought the old
woman out and examined her, and having proved she was a witch,
the commissar had her shot against the cottage wall.'
'How did they prove it?' Richard asked sceptically
'Why-because she had the marks of course.'
'What marks?'
'When they stripped her they found that she had a teat under
her left arm, and that is a certain sign.'
De Richleau nodded. To feed her familiar with, of course. Was
it a cat?'
Marie Lou shook her head. 'No. In this case, it was a great
big fat toad that she used to keep in a little cage.'
'Oh, come!' Richard protested. 'This is fantastic. They
slaughtered the poor old woman because she had some malformation
and kept an unusual pet.'
'No, no,' Marie Lou assured him. 'They found the Devil's mark
on her thigh and they swam her in the village pond. It was very
horrible, but it was all quite conclusive.'
The Devil's mark!' interjected Simon suddenly, 'I've never
heard of that,' and the Duke answered promptly:
'It is believed that the Devil or his representative touches
these people at their baptism during some Satanic orgy and that
spot is for ever afterwards free from pain. In the old witch
trials, they used to hunt for it by sticking pins into the
suspected person because the place does not differ in appearance
from any other portion of the body.'
Marie Lou nodded her curly head. That's right. They bandaged
this old woman's eyes so that she could not see what part of her
they were sticking the pin into and then they began to prick her
gently in first one place and then another. Of course she cried
out each time the pin went in, but after about twenty cries, the
head man of the village pushed the pin into her left thigh and
she didn't make a sound. He took it out then and stuck it in
again, but still she did not cry out at all so he pushed it in
right up to the head, and she didn't know he'd even touched her.
So you see, everyone was quite satisfied then that she was a
witch.'
'Well, you may have been,' Richard said slowly. 'It seems a
horribly barbarous affair in any case. I dare say the old woman
deserved all she got, but it's pretty queer evidence to shoot
anyone on.'
'Er . . . Richard . . . Simon leaned forward suddenly. 'Do
you believe in curses?'
'What-the old bell and book business! Not much. Why? '
'Because the actual working of a curse is evidence of the
supernatural.'
They're mostly old wives' tales of coincidences I think.'
'How about the Mackintosh of Moy?'
'Oh, Scotland is riddled with that sort of thing. But what is
supposed to have happened to the Mackintosh?'
'Well, this was in seventeen something,' Simon replied slowly.
They story goes that he was present at a witch burning or jilted
one-I forget exactly. Anyhow she put a curse on him and it went
like this:
"Mackintosh, Mackintosh, Mackintosh of Moy If you ever have a
son he shall never have a boy." '
Richard smiled. 'And what happened then?'
'Well, whether the story's true or not I can't say, but it's a
fact that the Chieftainship of the Clan has gone all over the
shop ever since. Look it up in the records of the Clans if. you
doubt me.'
'My dear chap, you'll have to produce something far more
concrete than that to convince me.'
'All right,' Marie Lou gazed at him steadily out of her large
blue eyes. 'You know very little about such things, Richard, but
in Russia people are much closer to nature and everyone there
still accepts the supernatural and diabolic possession as part
of ordinary life. Only about a year before you brought me to
England they caught a were-wolf in a village less than fifty
miles from where I lived.
He moved over to the sofa and, taking her hand, patted it
gently. 'Surely, darling, you don't really ask me to believe
that a man can actually turn into a beast-leave his bed in the
middle of the night to go out hunting-then return and go to his
work in the morning as a normal man again?'
'Certainly,' Marie Lou nodded solemnly. 'Wolves, as you know,
nearly always hunt in packs, but that part of the country had
been troubled for months by a lone wolf which seemed possessed
of far more than normal cunning. It killed sheep and dogs and
two young children. Then it killed an old woman.
She was found with her throat bitten out, but she had been
ravished too, so that's how they knew that it must be a were
wolf. At last it attacked a woodman and he wounded it in the
shoulder with his axe. Next day a wretched half-imbecile crea
ture, a sort of village idiot, died suddenly, and when the women
went to prepare his body for burial they found that he had died
from loss of blood and that there was a great wound in his right
shoulder just where the woodman had struck the wolf. After that
there were no other cases of slaughtered sheep or people being
done to death. So it was quite clear that he was the were-wolf.'
Richard looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Of course,' he
remarked, 'the man may have done all that without actually
changing his shape at all. If anyone is bitten by a mad dog and
gets hydrophobia, they bark, howl, gnash their teeth and behave
just as though they were dogs and certainly believe at the time
that they are. Lycanthropy, of which this poor devil seems to
have been the victim, may be some rare disease of the same
kind.'
Marie Lou shrugged lightly and stood up. 'Well, if you won't
believe me-there it is. I don't know enough to argue with you,
only what I believe myself, so I shall go and order supper.'
As the door closed behind her the Duke said quietly: 'That may
be a possible explanation, Richard, but there is an enormous
mass of evidence in the jurisprudence of every country to
suggest that actual shape shifting does occur at times. The form
varies of course. In Greece it is often of the were-boar that
one hears. In Africa of the were-hyena and were-leopard. China
has the were-fox; India the were-tiger; and Egypt the were-
jackal. But even as near home as Surrey I could introduce you to
a friend of mine, a doctor who practices among the country
people, who will vouch for it that the older cottagers are still
unshakable in their beliefs that certain people are were-hares,
and have power to change their shape at particular phases of the
moon.'
'If you really believe these fantastic stories,' Richard
smiled a little grimly, 'perhaps you can give me some reasonable
explanation as to what makes such things possible.'
'By all means.' De Richleau hoisted himself out of his chair
and began to pace softly up and down the fine, silk Persian
prayer rug before the fireplace while he expounded again the
Esoteric doctrine just as he had to Rex two nights before.
Simon and Richard listened in silence until the Duke spoke of
the eternal fight which, hidden from human eyes, has been waged
from time immemorial between the Powers of Light and the Powers
of Darkness. Then the latter, his serious interest really
aroused for the first time, exclaimed:
'Surely you are proclaiming the Manichaean heresy? The
Manichees believed in the Two Principals, Light and Darkness,
and the Three Moments, Past, Present and Future. They taught
that in the Past Light and Darkness had been separate; then that
Darkness invaded Light and became mingled with it, creating the
Present and this world in which evil is mixed with good. They
preached the practice of astheticism as the means of freeing the
light imprisoned in human clay so that in some distant Future
Light and Darkness might be completely separated again.'
The Duke's lean face lit with a quick smile. 'Exactly, my
friend I The Manichees had a credo to that effect.
"Day by day diminishes The number of Soul below As they are
distilled and mount above"
The basis of the belief is far, far older of course, pre-
Egyptian at the least, but where before it was a jealously
guarded mystery the Persian Mani proclaimed it to the world.'
'It became a serious rival to Christianity at one time, didn't
it?'
'Um,' Simon took up the argument. 'And it survived despite the
most terrible persecution by the Christians. Mani was crucified
in the third century after Christ and, by their own creed, his
followers were not allowed to enlist converts. Yet somehow it
spread in secret. The Albigenses followed it in Southern France
in the twelfth century until they were stamped out. Then in the
thirteenth, a thousand years after Mani's death, it swept
Bohemia. A form of it was still practised there by certain sects
as late as the 1840's and even today many thinking people
scattered all over the world believe that it holds the core of
the only true religion.'
'Yes, I can understand that,' Richard agreed, 'Brahminism,
Budism, Taoism, all the great philosophers which have passed
beyond the ordinary limited religions with a personal God are
connected up with the Prana, Light, and the Universal Life
Stream, but that is a very different matter to asking me to
believe in were-wolves and witches.'
They only came into the discussion because they illustrate
certain manifestations of supernatural Evil,' De Richleau pro
tested; 'just as the appearance of wounds similar to those of
Christ upon the Cross in the flesh of exceptionally pious people
may be taken as evidence for the existence of supernatural Good.
Ernminent surgeons have testified again and again that stigmata
are not due to trickery. It is a changing of the material body
by the holy saints in their endeavour to approximate to its
highest form, that of Our Lord, so, I contend, base natures,
with the assistance of the Power of Darkness, may at times
succeed in altering their form to that of were-beasts. Whether
they change their shape entirely it is impossible to say because
at death they always revert to human form, but the belief is
world-wide and the evidence so abundant that it cannot lightly
be put aside. In any case what you call madness is actually a
very definite form of diabolic possession which seizes upon
these people and causes them to act with the same savagery as
the animal they believe themselves for the time to be. Of its
existence, no one who has read the immense literature upon it,
can possibly doubt.'
'Perhaps,' Richard admitted grudgingly. 'But apart from Marie
Lou's story, all the evidence is centuries old and mixed up with
every sort of superstition and fairy story. In the depths of the
Siberian forests or the Indian jungle the belief in such things
may perhaps stimulate some poor benighted wretch to act the part
now and again and so perpetuate the legend. But you cannot cite
me a case in which a number of people have sworn to such
happenings in a really civilised country in modern times!'
'Can't I?' De Richleau laughed grimly. 'What about the affair
at Uttenheim near Strasbourg. The farms in the neighbourhood had
been troubled by a lone wolf for weeks. The Garde-Chainpetre was
sent out to get it. He tracked it down. It attacked him and he
fired-killing it dead. Then he found himself bending over the
body of a local youth. That unfortunate rural policeman was
tried for murder, but he swore by all that was holy that it was
a wolf at which he had shot, and the entire population of the
village came forward to give evidence on his behalf-that the
dead man had boasted time and again of his power to change his
shape.'
'Is that a fifteenth or sixteenth century story?' murmured
Richard,
'Neither. It occurred in November, 1925.'
25
The Talisman of Set
For a while longer De Richleau strode up and down, patiently
answering Richard's questions and ramming home his arguments for
a belief in the power of the supernatural to affect mankind
until, when Marie Lou rejoined them, Richard's brown eyes no
longer held the half-mocking humour which had twinkled in them
an hour before.
The Duke's explanation had been so clear and lucid, his
earnestness so compelling that the younger man was at least
forced to suspend judgment, and even found himself toying with
the idea that Simon might really be threatened by some very
dangerous and potent force which it would need all their courage
to resist during the dark hours that lay ahead.
It was eight o'clock now. Twilight had fallen and the trees at
the bottom of the garden were already merged in shadow. Yet with
the coming of darkness they were not filled with any fresh
access of fear. It seemed that their long talk had elucidated
the position and even strengthened the bond between them. Like
men who are about to go into physical battle, they were alert
and expectant but a little subdued, and realised that their
strongest hope lay in putting their absolute trust in each
other.
At Marie Lou's suggestion they went into the dining-room and
sat down to a cold supper which had already been laid out.
Having eaten so lightly during the day, their natural inclina
tion was to make a heavy meal but, without any further caution
from De Richleau, they all appreciated now that the situation
was sufficiently serious to make restraint imperative.
Even Richard denied himself a second helping of his favourite
Morecambe Bay shrimps which had arrived that morning.
When they had finished the Duke leant over him. 'I think the
library would be the best place to conduct my experiments, and I
shall require the largest jug you have full of fresh water, some
glasses and it would be best to leave the fruit.'
'By all means,' Richard agreed, glancing towards his butler.
'See to that please, Maim-will you.' He then went on to give
clear and definite instructions that they were not to be dis
turbed on any pretext until the morning, and concluded with an
order that the table should be cleared right away.
With a bland, unruffled countenance the man signified his
understanding and motioned to his footman to begin clearing the
table. So bland in fact was the expression that it would have
been difficult for them to visualise him half an hour later in
the privacy of the housekeeper's room declaring with a knowing
wink:
'In my opinion it's spooks they're after-the old chap's got no
television set. And behaving like a lot of heathens with not a
drop of drink to their dinner. Think of that with young Simon
there who's so mighty particular about his hock. But
spiritualists always is that way. I only hope it doesn't get 'em
bad or what's going to happen to the wine bill I'd like to
know?'
When Richard had very pointedly wished his henchman 'good
night,' they moved into the library and De Richleau, who knew
the room well, surveyed it with fresh interest.
Comfortable sofas and large arm-chairs stood about the uneven
polished oak of the floor. A pair of globes occupied two angles
of the book-lined walls, and a great oval mahogany writing-table
of Chippendale design stood before the wide french window. Owing
to its sunken position in the old wing of the house the lighting
of the room was dim even on a summer's day. Yet its atmosphere
was by no means gloomy. A log fire upon a twelve-inch pile of
ashes was kept burning in the wide fireplace all through the
year, and at night, when the curtains were drawn and the room
lit with the soft radiance of the concealed ceiling lights,
which Richard had installed, it was a friendly, restful place
well suited for quiet work or idle conversation.
'We must strip the room-furniture, curtains, everything!' said
the Duke. 'And I shall need brooms and a mop to polish the
floor.'
The three men then began moving the furniture out into the
hall while Marie Lou fetched a selection of implements from the
house-maid's closet.
For a quarter of an hour they worked in silence until nothing
remained in the big library except the serried rows of gilt-
tooled books.
'My apologies for even doubting the efficiency of your staff!'
the Duke smiled at Marie Lou. 'But I would like the room gone
over thoroughly, particularly the floor, since evil emanations
can fasten on the least trace of dust to assist their
materialisation. Would you see to it, Princess, while I
telephone the inn again to find out if Rex has returned.'
'Of course, Greyeyes, dear,' said Marie Lou and, with
Richard's and Simon's help, she set about dusting, sweeping and
polishing until when De Richleau rejoined them, the boards were
so scrupulously clean that they could have eaten from them.
'No news of Rex, worse luck,' he announced with a frown. 'And
I've had to disconnect the telephone now in case a call makes
Malm think it necessary to disregard his instructions.. We had
better go upstairs and change next.'
'What into?' Richard inquired.
'Pyjamas. I hope you have a good supply. You see none of us
tonight must wear any garment which has been even slightly
soiled. Human impurities are bound to linger in one's clothes
even if they have only been worn for a few hours, and it is just
upon such things that elementals fasten most readily.'
'Shan't we be awfully cold?' hazarded Simon with an unhappy
look;
'I'll fit you out with shooting stockings and an overcoat,'
Richard volunteered.
'Stockings if you like, providing that they are fresh from the
wash-but no overcoats, dressing-gowns or shoes,' said the Duke.
'However, there is no reason why we should not wear a couple of
suits apiece of Richard's underclothes, beneath the pyjamas, to
keep us warm. The essential paint is that everything must be
absolutely clean.'
The whole party then migrated upstairs, the men congregating
in Richard's dressing-room where they ransacked his ward-robe
for suitable attire. Marie Lou joined them a little later
looking divinely pretty in peach silk pyjamas and silk stockings
into the tops of which, above the knees, the bottoms of her
pyjamas were neatly tucked.
'Now for a raid on the linen cupboard,' said De Richleau.
'Cushions, being soiled already, are useless to us, but I am
dreading that hard floor so we will take down as many sheets as
we can carry, clean bath towls and blankets too. Then we shall
have some sort of couch to sit on.'
In the library once more, they set down their bundles and De
Richleau produced his suitcase, taking from it a piece of chalk,
a length of string, and a footrule. Marking a spot in the centre
of the room, he asked Marie Lou to hold the end of the string to
it, measuring off exactly seven feet and then, using her as a
pivot, he drew a large circle in chalk upon the floor.
Next, the string was lengthened and an outer circle drawn.
Then the most difficult part of the operation began. A five-
rayed star had to be made with its points touching the outer
circle and its valleys resting upon the inner. But, as the Duke
explained, while such a defence can be highly potent if it is
constructed with geometrical accuracy, should the angles vary to
any marked degree or the distance of the apexes from the central
point differ more than a fraction, the pentacle would prove not
only useless but even dangerous.
For half an hour they measured and checked with string and
rule and marking chalk; but Richard proved useful here, for all
his life he had been an expert with maps and plans and was even
something of amateur architect. At last the broad chalk lines
were drawn to the Duke's satisfaction, forming the magical five
pointed star, in which it was his intention that they should
remain while darkness lasted.
He then chalked in, with careful spacing round the rim of the
inner circle, the powerful exorcism: -
In nomina Pa + tris et Fi + lii et Spiritus + Sancti! + El +
Elohym + Sother + Emmanuel + Sabaoth + Agia + Tetragammaton +
Agyos + Otheos + Ischiros + - and, after reference to an old
book which he had brought with him, drew certain curious and
ancient symbols in the valleys and the mounts of the microcosmic
star.
Simon, whose recent experience had taught him something of
pentacles, recognised ten of them as Cabbalistic signs taken
from the Sephirotic Tree; Kether, Binah, Ceburah, Hod, Malchut
and the rest. But others, like the Eye of Horus, were of
Egyptian origin, and others again in some ancient Aryan script
which he did not understand.
When the skeleton of this astra! fortress was completed, the
clean bedding was laid out inside it for them to rest upon and
De Richleau produced further impedimenta from his case.
With lengths of asafretida grass and blue wax he sealed the
windows, the door leading to the hall, and that concealed in the
bookshelves which led to the nursery above, each at both sides
which is again linked to all four of you because it is divisible
into eight.'
Rex nodded. 'It's the strangest mystery I've met up with in
the whale of a while. There isn't a single odd number in the
whole series, but tell me, would this combination of eights be a
good thing d'you reckon-or no?'
'It is very, very potent,' she said slowly. '888 is the number
given to Our Lord by students of Occultism in his aspect as the
Redeemer. Add them together and you get twenty-four. 2+4=6 which
is the number of Venus, the representative of Love. That is the
complete opposite of 666 which Revelations give as the number of
the Beast. The three sixes add to eighteen, and 1+8-9, the
symbol of Mars-De Richleau's secondary quality which makes him a
great leader and fighter, but in its pure state represents
Destruction, Force and War.'
At the mention of War, Rex's whole mind was jerked from the
quiet, comfortable, old-fashioned inn parlour to a mental
picture of De Richleau as he had stood only a few hours before
with the light of dawn breaking over Stonehenge. He saw again
the Duke's grey face and unnaturally bright eyes as he spoke of
the Talisman of Set; that terrible gateway out of Hell through
which, if Mocata found it, those dread four horsemen would come
riding, invisible but all-powerful, to poison the thoughts of
peace-loving people and manipulate unscrupulous statesmen,
influencing them to plunge Europe into fresh calamity.
Not only had they to fight Mocata for Simon's safety and
Tanith's as well but, murder though it might be to people lack
ing in understanding, they had to kill him even if they were
forced to sacrifice themselves.
With sudden clarity Rex saw that Tanith's appeal for protec
tion offered a golden, opportunity to carry the war into the
enemy's camp. She was so certain that Mocata would appear to
claim her, and De Richleau had stated positively that while
daylight lasted the Satanist was no more powerful than any other
thug.
'Why,' Rex thought, with a quick tightening of his great
muscles, 'should he not seize Mocata by force when he arrived;
then send for the Duke to decide what they should do with him.'
Only one difficulty seemed to stand in the way. He could
hardly attack a visitor and hold him prisoner in The Pride of
Peacocks.' Mr. Wilkes might object to that. But apparently
Mocata could find Tanith with equal ease wherever she was, so
she must be got out of the inn to some place where the business
could be done without interference.
For a moment the thought of Cardinals Folly entered his mind
again, but if he once took Tanith there, they could hardly turn
her out later on, and she might become a highly dangerous focus
in the coming night; besides, Mocata might not care to risk a
visit to the house in daylight with the odds so heavily against
him, and that would ruin the whole plan. Then he remembered the
woods at the bottom of the garden behind the inn. If he took
Tanith there and Mocata did turn up he would have a perfectly
free hand in dealing with him. He glanced across at Tanith and
suggested casually: 'What about a little stroll?'
She shook her fair head, and lay back with half-closed eyes in
the arm-chair. 'I would love to, but I am so terribly tired. I
had no proper sleep you know last night.'
He nodded. 'We didn't get much either. We were sitting around
Stonehenge the best part of the time till dawn. After that we
went into Amesbury where the Duke took a room. The people there
must have thought us a queer party-one room for three people and
beds being specially shifted into it at half-past seven in the
morning, but he was insistent that we shouldn't leave Simon for
a second. So we had about four hours shut-eye on those three
beds, all tied together by our wrists and ankles; but it's a
glorious afternoon and the woods round here are just lovely now
it's May.' 'If you like,' She rose sleepily. 'I dare not.go to
sleep in anycase. You mustn't let me until to-morrow morning.
After midnight it will be May 2nd, the mystic two again you see,
and my birthday. So during the dark hours tonight I shall be
passing into my fatal day. It may be good or evil, but in such
circumstances it is almost certain to bring some crisis in rny
life, and I'm afraid, Rex, terribly afraid.'
He drew her arm protectively through his and led her out
through the back door into the pleasant garden which boasted two
large, gay archery targets, a pastime that Jeremiah Wilkes had
seen fit to institute for the amusement of the local gentry,
deriving considerable profit therefrom when they bet each other
numerous rounds of drinks upon their prowess with the six-foot
bow.
A deep border of dark wallflowers sent out their heady scent
at the farther end of the lawn and beyond them the garden opened
on to a natural wooded glade. A small stream marked the boundary
of Mr. Wilkes' domain and when they reached it, Rex passed his
arm round Tanith's body, lifted her before she could protest,
and with one spring of his long legs cleared the brook. She did
not struggle from his grasp, but looked up at him curiously as
she lay placid in his arms.
'You must be very strong,' she said. 'Most men can lift a
woman, but it can't be easy to jump a five-foot brook with one.'
'I'm strong enough,' he smiled into her face, not attempting
to put her down. 'Strong enough for both of us. You needn't
worry,' Then, still carrying her in his arms, he walked on into
the depths of the wood until the fresh, green beech trees hid
them from the windows of the inn.
'You will get awfully tired,' she said lazily.
'Not me,' he declared, shaking his head. 'You may be tall, but
you're only a featherweight. I could carry you a mile if I
wanted, and it wouldn't hurt me any.'
'You needn't,' she smiled up at him. 'You can put me down now
and we'll sit under the trees. It's lovely here. You were quite
right-much nicer than the inn.'
He laid her down very gently on a sloping bank, but instead of
rising, knelt above her with one arm still about her shoulders
and looked down into her eyes. 'You love me,' he said suddenly.
'Don't you?'
'Yes,' she confessed with troubled shadows brooding in her
golden eyes. 'I do. But you mustn't love me, Rex. You know what
I told you yesterday. I'm going to die. I'm going to die
soon-before the year is out.'
'You're not,' he said, almost fiercely. 'We'll break this
devil Mocata-De Richleau will. I'm certain.'
'But, my dear, it's nothing to do with him,' she protested
sadly. 'It's just Fate, and you haven't known me long, so it's
not too late yet for you to keep a hold on yourself, You mustn't
love me, because if you do, it will make you terribly unhappy
when I die.'
'You're not going to die,' he repeated, and then he laughed
suddenly, boyishly, ail his mercurial nature rising to dispel
such gloomy thoughts. 'If we both die tomorrow,' he said
suddenly, 'we've still got today, and I love you, Tanith. That's
all there is to it.'
Her arms crept up about his neck and with sudden strength she
kissed him on his mouth.
He grabbed her then, his lips seeking hers again and again,
while he muttered little phrases of endearment, pouring out all
the agony of anxiety that he had felt for her during the past
night and the long run from Amesbury in the morning. She clung
to him, laughing a little hysterically although she was not far
from tears. This strange new happiness was overwhelming to her,
flooding her whole being now with a desperate desire to live; to
put behind her those nightmare dreams from which she had woken
shuddering in the past months at visions of herself torn and
bleeding, the victim of some horrible railway accident, or
trapped upon the top storey of a blazing building with no
alternative but to leap into the street below. For a moment it
almost seemed to her that no real foundation existed for the
dread which had haunted her since childhood. She was young,
healthy and full of life. Why should she not enjoy to the full
all the normal pleasures of life with this strong, merry-eyed
man-who had come so suddenly into her existence.
Again and again he assured her that all those thoughts of
fatality being certain to overtake her were absurd. He told her
that once she was out of Europe she would see things
differently; the menace of the old superstition-ridden countries
would drop away and that, in his lovely old home in the southern
states, they would be able to laugh at Fate together.
Tanith did not really believe him. Her habit of mind had grown
so strongly upon her; but she could not bring herself to argue
against his happy auguries, or spoil those moments of glorious
delight as they both confessed their passion for each other.
As he held her in his arms a marvellous languor began to steal
through all her limbs. 'Rex,' she said softly. 'I'm utterly done
in with this on top of all the rest. I haven't slept for nearly
thirty-six hours. I ought not to now, but I'll never be able to
stay awake tonight unless I do. No harm can come to me while
you're with me, can it?'
'No,' he said huskily. 'Neither man nor devil shall harm you
while I'm around. You poor sweet, you must be just about at the
end. of your tether. Go to sleep now-just as you are.'
With a little sigh she turned over, nestling her fair head
into the crook of his arm, where he sat with his back propped up
against a tree-trunk. In another moment she was sound asleep.
The afternoon drew into evening. Rex's arms and legs were cold
and stiff, but he would not move for fear of waking her. A new
anxiety began to trouble him. Mocata had not appeared, and what
would they think had become of him at Cardinals Folly? Marie Lou
knew he had gone to the inn, and they would probably have rung
up by now. But, like a fool, he had neglected to leave any
message for them.
The shadows fell, but still there was no sign of Mocata, and
the imps of doubt once more began to fill Rex's mind with
horrible speculations as to the truth of Tanith's story. Had she
consciously or unconsciously lured him from Simon's side on
purpose? Simon would be safe enough with Richard and Marie Lou,
and De Richleau had promised to rejoin them before dusk-but
perhaps Mocata was plotting some evil to prevent the Duke's
return. If that were so-Rex shivered slightly at the
thought-Richard knew nothing of those mysterious protective
barriers with which it would be so necessary to surround Simon
in the coming night-and he, who at least knew what had been done
the night before-would be absent. By his desertion of his post
poor Simon might fall an easy prey to the malefic influence of
the Satanist.
He thought more than once of rousing Tanith, but she looked so
peaceful, so happy, so lovely there, breathing gently and
resting in his strong arms with all her limbs relaxed that he
could not bring himself to do it. The shadows lengthened, night
drew on, and at last darkness fell with Tanith still sleeping.
The night of the ordeal had come and they were alone in the
forest.
24
The Scepticism of Richard Eaton
At a quarter to six, De Richleau arrived back at Cardinals
Folly and Richard, meeting him in the hall, told him of Mocata's
visit.
'I am not altogether surprised,' the Duke admitted sombrely.
'He must be pretty desperate to come here in daylight on the
chance of seeing Simon, but of course, he is working against
time-now. Did he threaten to return?'
'Yes.' Richard launched into full particulars of the
Satanist's attempt on Marie Lou and the conversation that had
followed. As he talked he studied De Richleau's face, struck by
his anxious harassed expression. Never before had he thought of
the Duke as old, but now for the first time it was brought home
to him that De Richleau must be nearly double his own age. And
this evening he showed it. He seemed somehow to have shrunk in
stature, but perhaps that was because he was standing with bent
shoulders as though some invisible load was borne upon them.
Richard was so impressed by that tired, lined face that he found
himself ending quite seriously: 'Do you really think he can work
some devilry tonight?'
De Richleau nodded. 'I am certain of it, and I'm worried
Richard. My luck was out today. Father Brandon, whom I went to
see, was unfortunately away. He has a great knowledge of this
terrible "other world" that we are up against, and knowing me
well, would have helped us, but the young priest I saw in his
place would not entrust me with the Host, nor could I persuade
him to come with it himself, and that is the only certain
protection against the sort of thing Mocata may send against
us.'
'We'll manage somehow,' Richard smiled, trying to cheer him.
'Yes, we've got to.' A note of the old determination came into
De Richleau's voice. 'Since the Church cannot help us we must
rely upon my knowledge of Esoteric formulas. Fortunately, I have
the most important aids with me already, but I should be glad if
you would se-rad down to the village blacksmith for five
horseshoes. Tell whoever you send, that they must be brand
new-that is essential.'
At this apparently childish request for horseshoes all
Richard's scepticism welled up with renewed force, but he con
cealed it with his usual tact and agreed readily enough. Then,
the mention of the village having reminded him of Rex, he told
the Duke how their friend had been called away to the inn.
De Richleau's face fell suddenly. 'I thought Rex had more
sense!' he exclaimed bitterly. 'We must telephone at once.'
Richard got on to Mr. Wilkes, but the landlord could give them
little information. A lady had arrived at about three, and the
American gentleman had joined her shortly after. Then they had
gone out into the garden and he had seen nothing of them since.
De Richleau shrugged angrily. 'The young fool! I should have
thought that he would have'seen enough of this horror by now to
realise the danger of going off with that young woman. It's a
hundred to one that she is Mocata's puppet if nothing else. I
only pray to God that he turns up again before nightfall. Where
is Simon now?'
'With Marie Lou. They are upstairs in the nursery I think-
watching Fleur bathed and put to bed.'
'Good. Let us go up then. Fleur can help us very greatly in
protecting him tonight.'
'Fleur!' exclaimed Richard in amazement.
The Duke nodded. 'The prayers of a virgin woman are amazingly
powerful in such instances, and the younger she is the stronger
her vibrations. You see, a little child like Fleur who is old
enough to pray, but absolutely unsoiled in any way, is the
nearest that any human being can get to absolute purity. You
will remember the words of Our Lord: "Except ye become as little
children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." You
have no objection I take it?'
'None,' agreed Richard quickly. 'Saying a prayer for Simon
cannot possibly harm the child in any way. We'll go up through
the library.'
Seven sides of the great octagonal room were covered ceiling
high with books and the eighth consisted of wide trench windows
through which half-a-dozen stone steps, leading up to the
terrace, could be seen and beyond, a portion of the garden.
Richard led the way to one of the book-lined walls and pressed
the gilded cardinal's hat upon a morocco binding. A low doorway,
masked by dummy bookbacks, swung open disclosing a narrow spiral
stairway hewn out of the solid wall. They ascended the stone
steps and a moment later entered Fleur's nursery on the floor
above, through a sliding panel in the wall.
When they arrived the nursery was empty, but in the bathroom
beyond they found Simon, with Nanny's apron tied about his
waist, quite solemnly bathing Fleur while Marie Lou sat on the
edge of the bath and chortled with laughter.
It was an operation which Simon performed on every visit that
he had made to Cardinals Folly so Fleur was used to the business
and regarded it as a definite treat; but this tubbing of his
friend's child was a privilege which De Richleau had never
claimed, and as he entered Fleur suddenly exhibited signs of
maidenly modesty surprising in one so young.
'Oh, Mummy,' she exclaimed. 'He mussent see me, muss he,
'cause he's a man.' On which the whole party gave way to a fit
of laughter.
'Sen' him away!' yelled the excited Fleur, standing up and
clutching an enormous bath sponge to her chest.
De Richleau's firm mouth twitched with his old humour, as he
apologised most gravely and backed into the nursery beside
Richard. A few minutes later the others joined them, and the
Duke held a hurried conversation in whispers with Marie Lou.
'Of course,' she said. 'If it will help, do just what you
think. I will get rid of Nanny for a few minutes.'
Walking over, he smiled down at Fleur. 'Does Mummy watch you
say your prayers every night?' he asked gently.
'Oh, yes,' she lisped. 'And you shall all hear me now.'
He smiled again. 'Have you ever heard her say hers?'
Fleur thought hard for a moment. 'No,' she shook her dark head
and the big blue eyes looked up at him seriously. 'Mummy says
her prayers to Daddy when I'se asleep.'
He noddedy quietly. 'Well, we're all going to say them to
gether tonight.'
'Ooo,' cooed Fleur. 'Lovely. It'll be just as though we'se
playing a new game, won't it?'
'Not a game, dearest,' interjected Marie Lou quietly, 'Because
prayers are serious, and we mean them.'
'Yes, we mean them very much tonight, but we could all kneel
down in a circle couldn't we and put Uncle Simon in the middle?'
'Jus' like kiss-in-the-ring,' added Fleur.
'That's right,' the Duke agreed, 'or Postman's Knock. And you
shall be the postman. But this is very serious, and instead of
touching him on the shoulder, you must hold his hand very
tight.'
They all knelt down then and Fleur extended her pudgy palm to
Simon, but the Duke gently laid his hand on her shoulder. 'No,'
he whispered. 'Your left hand, my angel, in Uncle Simon's right.
You shall say your prayers first, just as you always do, and
then I shall say one for all of us afterwards.'
The first few lines of the Our Father came tumbling out from
the child's lips in a little breathless spate as they knelt with
bowed heads and closed eyes. Then there was a short hesitation,
a prompting whisper from Marie Lou, and an equally breathless
ending. After that, the little personal supplication for Mummy
and Daddy and Uncle Simon and Uncle Rex and Uncle Greyeyes and
dear Nanny were hurried through with considerably more gusto.
'Now,' whispered De Richleau. 'I want you to repeat everything
I say word for word after me,' and in a low, clear voice he
offered up an entreaty that the Father of All would forgive His
servants their sins and strengthen them to resist temptation,
keeping at bay by His limitless power all evil things that
walked in darkness, and bringing them safely by His especial
mercy to see again the glory of the morning light.
When all was done and Fleur, tucked up and kissed, left be
tween Mr. Edward Bear and Golliwog, the others filed downstairs
to Marie Lou's cosy sitting-room.
De Richleau was worried about Rex, but a further 'phone call
to the inn failed to elicit any later information. He had not
returned, and they sat round silently, a little subdued.
Richard, vaguely miserable because it was sherry time and the
Duke had once again firmly prohibited the drinking of any
alcohol, asked at length: 'Well, what do you wish us to do now?'
'We should have a light supper fairly early, De Richleau
announced. 'And after, I should like you to make it quite clear
to Malin that none of the servants are to come into this wing of
the house until tomorrow morning. Say, if you like, that I am
going to conduct some all-night experiments with a new wireless
or television apparatus, but in no circumstances must we be
disturbed or any doors opened and shut.'
'Hadn't we . . . er . . . better disconnect the telephone as
well?' Simon hazarded. 'In case it rings after we've settled
down.'
'Yes, with Richard's permission I will attend to that myself.'
'Do, if you like, and I'll see to the servants,' Richard
agreed placidly. 'But what do you call a light supper?'
'Just enough to keep up our strength. A little fish if you
have it. If not eggs will do, with vegetables or a salad and
some fruit, but no meat or game and, of course, no wine.'
Richard grunted. 'That sounds a jolly dinner I must say. I
suppose you wouldn't like to shave my head as well, or get us
all to don hair shirts if we could find them. I'm hungry as a
hunter, and owing to your telegram, we had no lunch.'
The Duke smiled tolerantly. 'I am sorry, Richard, but this
thing is deadly serious. I am afraid you haven't realised quite
how serious yet. If you had seen what Rex and I did last night,
I'm certain that you wouldn't breathe a word of protest about
these small discomforts, and realise at once that I am acting
for the best.'
'No,' Richard confessed. 'Quite frankly, I find it very diffi
cult to believe that we haven't all gone bug-house with this
talk of witches and wizards and magic and what-not at the
present day.'
'Yet you saw Mocata yourself this afternoon.'
'I saw an unpleasant pasty-faced intruder I agree, but to
credit him with all the powers that you suggest is rather more
than I can stomach at the moment.'
'Oh, Richard!' Marie Lou broke in. 'Greyeyes is right. That
man is horrible. And to say that people do not believe in
witches at the present day is absurd. Everybody knows that there
are witches just as there have always been.'
'Eh!' Richard looked at his lovely wife in quick surprise.
'Have you caught this nonsense from the others already? I've
never heard you air this belief before.'
'Of course not,' she said a little sharply. 'It is unlucky to
talk of such things, but one knows about them all the same. Of
witches in Siberia I could tell you much-things that I have seen
with my own eyes.'
'Tell us, Marie Lou,' urged the Duke. He felt that in their
present situation scepticism might prove highly dangerous. If
Richard did not believe in the powers that threatened them, he
might relax in following out the instructions for their pro
tection and commit some casual carelessness, bringing, possibly,
a terrible danger upon them all. He knew how very highly Richard
esteemed his wife's sound common sense. It was far better to let
her convince him than to press arguments on Richard himself.
'There was a witch in Romanovsk, Marie Lou proceeded. 'An old
woman who lived alone in a house just outside the village. No
one, not even the Red Guards, with all their bluster about
having liquidated God and the Devil, would pass her cottage
alone at night. In Russia there are many such and one in nearly
every village. You would call her a wise woman as well perhaps,
for she could cure people of many sicknesses and I have seen her
stop the flow of blood from a bad wound almost instantly. The
village girls used to go to her to have their fortunes told and,
when they could afford it, to buy charms of philtres to make the
young men they liked fall in love with them. Often, too, they
would go back again afterwards when they became pregnant and buy
the drugs which would secure their release from that unhappy
situation. But she was greatly feared, for everyone knew that
she could also put a blight on crops and send a murrain on the
cattle of those who displeased her. It was even whispered that
she could cause men and women to sicken and die if any enemy
paid her a high enough price to make it worth her while.'
'If that is so I wonder they didn't lynch her,' said Richard
quietly.
'They did in the end. They would not have dared to do. that
themselves. But a farmer whom she had inflicted with a plague of
lice appealed to the local commissar and he went with twenty men
to her house one day. All the villagers and I among them-for I
was only a little giri then and naturally curious-went with them
in a frightened crowd hanging well behind. They brought the old
woman out and examined her, and having proved she was a witch,
the commissar had her shot against the cottage wall.'
'How did they prove it?' Richard asked sceptically
'Why-because she had the marks of course.'
'What marks?'
'When they stripped her they found that she had a teat under
her left arm, and that is a certain sign.'
De Richleau nodded. To feed her familiar with, of course. Was
it a cat?'
Marie Lou shook her head. 'No. In this case, it was a great
big fat toad that she used to keep in a little cage.'
'Oh, come!' Richard protested. 'This is fantastic. They
slaughtered the poor old woman because she had some malformation
and kept an unusual pet.'
'No, no,' Marie Lou assured him. 'They found the Devil's mark
on her thigh and they swam her in the village pond. It was very
horrible, but it was all quite conclusive.'
The Devil's mark!' interjected Simon suddenly, 'I've never
heard of that,' and the Duke answered promptly:
'It is believed that the Devil or his representative touches
these people at their baptism during some Satanic orgy and that
spot is for ever afterwards free from pain. In the old witch
trials, they used to hunt for it by sticking pins into the
suspected person because the place does not differ in appearance
from any other portion of the body.'
Marie Lou nodded her curly head. That's right. They bandaged
this old woman's eyes so that she could not see what part of her
they were sticking the pin into and then they began to prick her
gently in first one place and then another. Of course she cried
out each time the pin went in, but after about twenty cries, the
head man of the village pushed the pin into her left thigh and
she didn't make a sound. He took it out then and stuck it in
again, but still she did not cry out at all so he pushed it in
right up to the head, and she didn't know he'd even touched her.
So you see, everyone was quite satisfied then that she was a
witch.'
'Well, you may have been,' Richard said slowly. 'It seems a
horribly barbarous affair in any case. I dare say the old woman
deserved all she got, but it's pretty queer evidence to shoot
anyone on.'
'Er . . . Richard . . . Simon leaned forward suddenly. 'Do
you believe in curses?'
'What-the old bell and book business! Not much. Why? '
'Because the actual working of a curse is evidence of the
supernatural.'
They're mostly old wives' tales of coincidences I think.'
'How about the Mackintosh of Moy?'
'Oh, Scotland is riddled with that sort of thing. But what is
supposed to have happened to the Mackintosh?'
'Well, this was in seventeen something,' Simon replied slowly.
They story goes that he was present at a witch burning or jilted
one-I forget exactly. Anyhow she put a curse on him and it went
like this:
"Mackintosh, Mackintosh, Mackintosh of Moy If you ever have a
son he shall never have a boy." '
Richard smiled. 'And what happened then?'
'Well, whether the story's true or not I can't say, but it's a
fact that the Chieftainship of the Clan has gone all over the
shop ever since. Look it up in the records of the Clans if. you
doubt me.'
'My dear chap, you'll have to produce something far more
concrete than that to convince me.'
'All right,' Marie Lou gazed at him steadily out of her large
blue eyes. 'You know very little about such things, Richard, but
in Russia people are much closer to nature and everyone there
still accepts the supernatural and diabolic possession as part
of ordinary life. Only about a year before you brought me to
England they caught a were-wolf in a village less than fifty
miles from where I lived.
He moved over to the sofa and, taking her hand, patted it
gently. 'Surely, darling, you don't really ask me to believe
that a man can actually turn into a beast-leave his bed in the
middle of the night to go out hunting-then return and go to his
work in the morning as a normal man again?'
'Certainly,' Marie Lou nodded solemnly. 'Wolves, as you know,
nearly always hunt in packs, but that part of the country had
been troubled for months by a lone wolf which seemed possessed
of far more than normal cunning. It killed sheep and dogs and
two young children. Then it killed an old woman.
She was found with her throat bitten out, but she had been
ravished too, so that's how they knew that it must be a were
wolf. At last it attacked a woodman and he wounded it in the
shoulder with his axe. Next day a wretched half-imbecile crea
ture, a sort of village idiot, died suddenly, and when the women
went to prepare his body for burial they found that he had died
from loss of blood and that there was a great wound in his right
shoulder just where the woodman had struck the wolf. After that
there were no other cases of slaughtered sheep or people being
done to death. So it was quite clear that he was the were-wolf.'
Richard looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Of course,' he
remarked, 'the man may have done all that without actually
changing his shape at all. If anyone is bitten by a mad dog and
gets hydrophobia, they bark, howl, gnash their teeth and behave
just as though they were dogs and certainly believe at the time
that they are. Lycanthropy, of which this poor devil seems to
have been the victim, may be some rare disease of the same
kind.'
Marie Lou shrugged lightly and stood up. 'Well, if you won't
believe me-there it is. I don't know enough to argue with you,
only what I believe myself, so I shall go and order supper.'
As the door closed behind her the Duke said quietly: 'That may
be a possible explanation, Richard, but there is an enormous
mass of evidence in the jurisprudence of every country to
suggest that actual shape shifting does occur at times. The form
varies of course. In Greece it is often of the were-boar that
one hears. In Africa of the were-hyena and were-leopard. China
has the were-fox; India the were-tiger; and Egypt the were-
jackal. But even as near home as Surrey I could introduce you to
a friend of mine, a doctor who practices among the country
people, who will vouch for it that the older cottagers are still
unshakable in their beliefs that certain people are were-hares,
and have power to change their shape at particular phases of the
moon.'
'If you really believe these fantastic stories,' Richard
smiled a little grimly, 'perhaps you can give me some reasonable
explanation as to what makes such things possible.'
'By all means.' De Richleau hoisted himself out of his chair
and began to pace softly up and down the fine, silk Persian
prayer rug before the fireplace while he expounded again the
Esoteric doctrine just as he had to Rex two nights before.
Simon and Richard listened in silence until the Duke spoke of
the eternal fight which, hidden from human eyes, has been waged
from time immemorial between the Powers of Light and the Powers
of Darkness. Then the latter, his serious interest really
aroused for the first time, exclaimed:
'Surely you are proclaiming the Manichaean heresy? The
Manichees believed in the Two Principals, Light and Darkness,
and the Three Moments, Past, Present and Future. They taught
that in the Past Light and Darkness had been separate; then that
Darkness invaded Light and became mingled with it, creating the
Present and this world in which evil is mixed with good. They
preached the practice of astheticism as the means of freeing the
light imprisoned in human clay so that in some distant Future
Light and Darkness might be completely separated again.'
The Duke's lean face lit with a quick smile. 'Exactly, my
friend I The Manichees had a credo to that effect.
"Day by day diminishes The number of Soul below As they are
distilled and mount above"
The basis of the belief is far, far older of course, pre-
Egyptian at the least, but where before it was a jealously
guarded mystery the Persian Mani proclaimed it to the world.'
'It became a serious rival to Christianity at one time, didn't
it?'
'Um,' Simon took up the argument. 'And it survived despite the
most terrible persecution by the Christians. Mani was crucified
in the third century after Christ and, by their own creed, his
followers were not allowed to enlist converts. Yet somehow it
spread in secret. The Albigenses followed it in Southern France
in the twelfth century until they were stamped out. Then in the
thirteenth, a thousand years after Mani's death, it swept
Bohemia. A form of it was still practised there by certain sects
as late as the 1840's and even today many thinking people
scattered all over the world believe that it holds the core of
the only true religion.'
'Yes, I can understand that,' Richard agreed, 'Brahminism,
Budism, Taoism, all the great philosophers which have passed
beyond the ordinary limited religions with a personal God are
connected up with the Prana, Light, and the Universal Life
Stream, but that is a very different matter to asking me to
believe in were-wolves and witches.'
They only came into the discussion because they illustrate
certain manifestations of supernatural Evil,' De Richleau pro
tested; 'just as the appearance of wounds similar to those of
Christ upon the Cross in the flesh of exceptionally pious people
may be taken as evidence for the existence of supernatural Good.
Ernminent surgeons have testified again and again that stigmata
are not due to trickery. It is a changing of the material body
by the holy saints in their endeavour to approximate to its
highest form, that of Our Lord, so, I contend, base natures,
with the assistance of the Power of Darkness, may at times
succeed in altering their form to that of were-beasts. Whether
they change their shape entirely it is impossible to say because
at death they always revert to human form, but the belief is
world-wide and the evidence so abundant that it cannot lightly
be put aside. In any case what you call madness is actually a
very definite form of diabolic possession which seizes upon
these people and causes them to act with the same savagery as
the animal they believe themselves for the time to be. Of its
existence, no one who has read the immense literature upon it,
can possibly doubt.'
'Perhaps,' Richard admitted grudgingly. 'But apart from Marie
Lou's story, all the evidence is centuries old and mixed up with
every sort of superstition and fairy story. In the depths of the
Siberian forests or the Indian jungle the belief in such things
may perhaps stimulate some poor benighted wretch to act the part
now and again and so perpetuate the legend. But you cannot cite
me a case in which a number of people have sworn to such
happenings in a really civilised country in modern times!'
'Can't I?' De Richleau laughed grimly. 'What about the affair
at Uttenheim near Strasbourg. The farms in the neighbourhood had
been troubled by a lone wolf for weeks. The Garde-Chainpetre was
sent out to get it. He tracked it down. It attacked him and he
fired-killing it dead. Then he found himself bending over the
body of a local youth. That unfortunate rural policeman was
tried for murder, but he swore by all that was holy that it was
a wolf at which he had shot, and the entire population of the
village came forward to give evidence on his behalf-that the
dead man had boasted time and again of his power to change his
shape.'
'Is that a fifteenth or sixteenth century story?' murmured
Richard,
'Neither. It occurred in November, 1925.'
25
The Talisman of Set
For a while longer De Richleau strode up and down, patiently
answering Richard's questions and ramming home his arguments for
a belief in the power of the supernatural to affect mankind
until, when Marie Lou rejoined them, Richard's brown eyes no
longer held the half-mocking humour which had twinkled in them
an hour before.
The Duke's explanation had been so clear and lucid, his
earnestness so compelling that the younger man was at least
forced to suspend judgment, and even found himself toying with
the idea that Simon might really be threatened by some very
dangerous and potent force which it would need all their courage
to resist during the dark hours that lay ahead.
It was eight o'clock now. Twilight had fallen and the trees at
the bottom of the garden were already merged in shadow. Yet with
the coming of darkness they were not filled with any fresh
access of fear. It seemed that their long talk had elucidated
the position and even strengthened the bond between them. Like
men who are about to go into physical battle, they were alert
and expectant but a little subdued, and realised that their
strongest hope lay in putting their absolute trust in each
other.
At Marie Lou's suggestion they went into the dining-room and
sat down to a cold supper which had already been laid out.
Having eaten so lightly during the day, their natural inclina
tion was to make a heavy meal but, without any further caution
from De Richleau, they all appreciated now that the situation
was sufficiently serious to make restraint imperative.
Even Richard denied himself a second helping of his favourite
Morecambe Bay shrimps which had arrived that morning.
When they had finished the Duke leant over him. 'I think the
library would be the best place to conduct my experiments, and I
shall require the largest jug you have full of fresh water, some
glasses and it would be best to leave the fruit.'
'By all means,' Richard agreed, glancing towards his butler.
'See to that please, Maim-will you.' He then went on to give
clear and definite instructions that they were not to be dis
turbed on any pretext until the morning, and concluded with an
order that the table should be cleared right away.
With a bland, unruffled countenance the man signified his
understanding and motioned to his footman to begin clearing the
table. So bland in fact was the expression that it would have
been difficult for them to visualise him half an hour later in
the privacy of the housekeeper's room declaring with a knowing
wink:
'In my opinion it's spooks they're after-the old chap's got no
television set. And behaving like a lot of heathens with not a
drop of drink to their dinner. Think of that with young Simon
there who's so mighty particular about his hock. But
spiritualists always is that way. I only hope it doesn't get 'em
bad or what's going to happen to the wine bill I'd like to
know?'
When Richard had very pointedly wished his henchman 'good
night,' they moved into the library and De Richleau, who knew
the room well, surveyed it with fresh interest.
Comfortable sofas and large arm-chairs stood about the uneven
polished oak of the floor. A pair of globes occupied two angles
of the book-lined walls, and a great oval mahogany writing-table
of Chippendale design stood before the wide french window. Owing
to its sunken position in the old wing of the house the lighting
of the room was dim even on a summer's day. Yet its atmosphere
was by no means gloomy. A log fire upon a twelve-inch pile of
ashes was kept burning in the wide fireplace all through the
year, and at night, when the curtains were drawn and the room
lit with the soft radiance of the concealed ceiling lights,
which Richard had installed, it was a friendly, restful place
well suited for quiet work or idle conversation.
'We must strip the room-furniture, curtains, everything!' said
the Duke. 'And I shall need brooms and a mop to polish the
floor.'
The three men then began moving the furniture out into the
hall while Marie Lou fetched a selection of implements from the
house-maid's closet.
For a quarter of an hour they worked in silence until nothing
remained in the big library except the serried rows of gilt-
tooled books.
'My apologies for even doubting the efficiency of your staff!'
the Duke smiled at Marie Lou. 'But I would like the room gone
over thoroughly, particularly the floor, since evil emanations
can fasten on the least trace of dust to assist their
materialisation. Would you see to it, Princess, while I
telephone the inn again to find out if Rex has returned.'
'Of course, Greyeyes, dear,' said Marie Lou and, with
Richard's and Simon's help, she set about dusting, sweeping and
polishing until when De Richleau rejoined them, the boards were
so scrupulously clean that they could have eaten from them.
'No news of Rex, worse luck,' he announced with a frown. 'And
I've had to disconnect the telephone now in case a call makes
Malm think it necessary to disregard his instructions.. We had
better go upstairs and change next.'
'What into?' Richard inquired.
'Pyjamas. I hope you have a good supply. You see none of us
tonight must wear any garment which has been even slightly
soiled. Human impurities are bound to linger in one's clothes
even if they have only been worn for a few hours, and it is just
upon such things that elementals fasten most readily.'
'Shan't we be awfully cold?' hazarded Simon with an unhappy
look;
'I'll fit you out with shooting stockings and an overcoat,'
Richard volunteered.
'Stockings if you like, providing that they are fresh from the
wash-but no overcoats, dressing-gowns or shoes,' said the Duke.
'However, there is no reason why we should not wear a couple of
suits apiece of Richard's underclothes, beneath the pyjamas, to
keep us warm. The essential paint is that everything must be
absolutely clean.'
The whole party then migrated upstairs, the men congregating
in Richard's dressing-room where they ransacked his ward-robe
for suitable attire. Marie Lou joined them a little later
looking divinely pretty in peach silk pyjamas and silk stockings
into the tops of which, above the knees, the bottoms of her
pyjamas were neatly tucked.
'Now for a raid on the linen cupboard,' said De Richleau.
'Cushions, being soiled already, are useless to us, but I am
dreading that hard floor so we will take down as many sheets as
we can carry, clean bath towls and blankets too. Then we shall
have some sort of couch to sit on.'
In the library once more, they set down their bundles and De
Richleau produced his suitcase, taking from it a piece of chalk,
a length of string, and a footrule. Marking a spot in the centre
of the room, he asked Marie Lou to hold the end of the string to
it, measuring off exactly seven feet and then, using her as a
pivot, he drew a large circle in chalk upon the floor.
Next, the string was lengthened and an outer circle drawn.
Then the most difficult part of the operation began. A five-
rayed star had to be made with its points touching the outer
circle and its valleys resting upon the inner. But, as the Duke
explained, while such a defence can be highly potent if it is
constructed with geometrical accuracy, should the angles vary to
any marked degree or the distance of the apexes from the central
point differ more than a fraction, the pentacle would prove not
only useless but even dangerous.
For half an hour they measured and checked with string and
rule and marking chalk; but Richard proved useful here, for all
his life he had been an expert with maps and plans and was even
something of amateur architect. At last the broad chalk lines
were drawn to the Duke's satisfaction, forming the magical five
pointed star, in which it was his intention that they should
remain while darkness lasted.
He then chalked in, with careful spacing round the rim of the
inner circle, the powerful exorcism: -
In nomina Pa + tris et Fi + lii et Spiritus + Sancti! + El +
Elohym + Sother + Emmanuel + Sabaoth + Agia + Tetragammaton +
Agyos + Otheos + Ischiros + - and, after reference to an old
book which he had brought with him, drew certain curious and
ancient symbols in the valleys and the mounts of the microcosmic
star.
Simon, whose recent experience had taught him something of
pentacles, recognised ten of them as Cabbalistic signs taken
from the Sephirotic Tree; Kether, Binah, Ceburah, Hod, Malchut
and the rest. But others, like the Eye of Horus, were of
Egyptian origin, and others again in some ancient Aryan script
which he did not understand.
When the skeleton of this astra! fortress was completed, the
clean bedding was laid out inside it for them to rest upon and
De Richleau produced further impedimenta from his case.
With lengths of asafretida grass and blue wax he sealed the
windows, the door leading to the hall, and that concealed in the
bookshelves which led to the nursery above, each at both sides