nd his wide reading on obscure subjects  had
caused  his imagination to run away with him. To pander to  such
folly any longer simply was not good enough. With these thoughts
now dominating his mind Richard suddenly sat up.
  'Look here,' he said. 'I'm sick of this. A joke's a joke,  but
we've had no lunch and precious little dinner, and I haven't had
a  drink  all  day.  Some  of you have got  far  too  lively  an
imagination, and we are making utter fools of ourselves. We  had
better  go  upstairs.  If you're really frightened  of  anything
happening to Simon we could easily shift four beds into one room
and  all sleep within a hand's reach of each other. Nobody  will
be  able to get at him then. But frankly, at the moment, I think
we're behaving like a lot of lunatics.'
  De  Richleau rose with a jerk and gave him a sharp  look  from
beneath   his   grey  slanting  devil's  eyebrows.  'Something's
beginning to happen,' he told himself swiftly. 'They're  working
upon Richard, because he's the most sceptical amongst us, to try
and  make him break up the pentacle.' Aloud he said quietly: 'So
you're still unconvinced that Simon is in real danger, Richard?'
  'Yes,  I  am.'  Richard's voice held an angry aggressive  note
quite  foreign to his normal manner. 'I regard this Black  Magic
business as stupid nonsense. If you could cite me a single  case
where  so-called magicians have actually done their stuff before
sane people it would be different. But they're charlatans- every
one  of  them. Take Cagliostro-he was supposed to make gold  but
nobody ever saw any of it, and when the Inquisition got hold  of
him  they  bunged him in a dungeon in Rome and he died there  in
abject misery. His Black Magic couldn't even procure him a  hunk
of  bread. Look at Catherine de Medici. She was a witch  on  the
grand  scale  if  ever there was one- built a special  tower  at
Vincennes for Cosimo Ruggeri, an Italian sorcerer. They used  to
slit  up  babies  and  practise all sorts of abominations  there
together  night  after night to ensure the  death  of  Henry  of
Navarre and the birth of children to her own sons. But it didn't
do  her  a ha'porth of good. All four died childless so that  at
last, despite all her bloody sacrifices, the House of Valois was
extinct,  and Henry, the hated Bear-nais, became King of  France
after  all. Come nearer home if you like. Take that absurd  fool
Elipas  Levi  who was supposed to be the Grand High  Whatnot  in
Victorian  times. Did you ever read his book, The  Doctrine  and
Ritual  of  Magic! In his introduction he professes that  he  is
going  to  tell you all about the game and that he's  written  a
really practical book, by the aid of which anybody who likes can
raise  the  devil,  and perform all sorts of monkey  tricks.  He
drools  on  for  hundreds  of  pages  about  fiery  swords   and
tetragrams and the terrible aqua poffana, but does he  tell  you
anything?  Not a blessed thing. Once it comes to a  showdown  he
hedges  like the crook he was and tells you that such  mysteries
are  far  too  terrible and dangerous to  be  entrusted  to  the
profane.  Mysterious balderdash my friend. I'm going to  have  a
good strong nightcap and go to bed.'
  Marie  Lou  looked at him in amazement. Never before  had  she
heard  Richard denounce any subject with such passion and venom.
Ordinarily,  he  possessed an extremely open  mind  and,  if  he
doubted any statement, confined himself to a kindly but slightly
cynical  expression of disbelief. It was extraordinary  that  he
should  suddenly  forget  even  his  admirable  manners  and  be
downright rude to one of his greatest friends.
  De  Richleau studied his face with quiet understanding and  as
Richard  stood  up  he stood up too, laying his  hand  upon  the
younger  man's shoulder. 'Richard,' he said. 'You  think  I'm  a
superstitious fool, don't you?'
  'No.'  Richard shrugged uncomfortably. 'OnIy that you've  been
through  a  pretty difficult time and, quite frankly, that  your
imagination is a bit overstrained at the moment.'
  The  Duke smiled. 'All right, perhaps you are correct, but  we
have  been friends for a long time now and this business tonight
has not interfered with our friendship in any way, has it?'
  'Why, of course not. You know that.'
  'Then,  if  I begged of you to do something for my sake,  just
because of that friendship, you would do it, wouldn't you?'
  'Certainly  I  would,' Richard's hesitation was hardly  percep
tible and the Duke cut in quickly, taking him at his word.
  'Good! Then we will agree that Black Magic may be nothing  but
a childish superstition. Yet I happen to be frightened of it, so
I  ask  you,  my  friend, who is not bothered with  such  stupid
fears,  to  stay  with  me tonight-and  not  move  outside  this
pentacle.'
  Richard shrugged again, and then smiled ruefully. . . .
  'You've caught me properly now so I must make the best of  it;
quite  obviously  if you say that, it is impossible  for  me  to
refuse.'
  Thank  you,' De Richleau murmured as they both sat down again,
and to himself he thought: 'That's the first move in the game to
me.'  Then as a fresh silence fell upon the party, he  began  to
ruminate  upon the strangeness of the fact that elemen-tals  and
malicious spirits may be very powerful, but their nature  is  so
low  and  their  intelligence so limited that  they  can  nearly
always  be  trapped by the divine spark of reason which  is  the
salvation of mankind. The snare was such an obvious one and  yet
Richard's true nature had reasserted itself so rapidly that  the
force, which had moved him to try and break up their circle  for
its benefit, had been scotched almost before it had had a chance
to operate.
  They  settled down again but in some subtle way the atmosphere
had changed. The fire glowed red on its great pile of ashes, the
candles  burned unflickeringly in the five points of  the  star,
and the electric globes above the cornices still lit every comer
of  the room with a soft diffused radiance, yet the four friends
made  no  further pretence of trying to sleep. Instead they  sat
back  to  back, while the moments passed, creeping  with  leaden
feet towards the dawn.
  Marie Lou was perplexed and worried by Richard's outburst,  De
Richleau  tense with a new expectancy, now he felt that  psychic
forces   were   actually  moving  within  the   room.   Stealthy
-invisible-but  powerful; he knew them to be feeling  their  way
from bay to bay of the pentacle, seeking for any imperfection in
the  barrier he had erected, just as a strong current swirls and
eddies  about  the  jagged fissures of a reef searching  for  an
entrance into a lagoon.
  Simon  sat  crouched,  his  hands  clasped  round  has  knees,
staring,  apparently with unseeing eyes, at the  long  lines  of
books.  It  seemed that he was listening intently and  the  Duke
watched him with special care, knowing that he was the weak spot
of  their  defence. Presently, his voice a little hoarse,  Simon
spoke:
  'I'm awfully thirsty. I wish we'd got a drink.'
  De  Richleau  smiled, a little grimly. Another  of  the  minor
manifestations-the evil was working upon Simon now but  only  to
give  another  instance of its brutish stupidity. It  overlooked
the  fact  that he had provided for such an emergency with  that
big carafe of water in the centre of the pentacle. The fact that
it had caused Simon to forget its presence was of little moment.
'Here  you  are, my friend,' he said, pouring out a glass.  This
will quench your thirst.'
  Simon  sipped it and put it aside with a shake of  his  narrow
head.  'Do you use well-water, Richard?' he asked jerkily.  This
stuff tastes beastly to me-brackish and stale.'
  'Ah!'  thought De Richleau. 'That's the line they are  trying,
is  it? Well, I can defeat them there,' and taking Simon's glass
he  poured the contents back into the carafe. Then he picked  up
his bottle of Lourdes water. There was very little in it now for
the  bulk of it had been used to fill the five cups which  stood
in  the vales of the pentagram-but enough-and he sprinkled a few
drops into the water in the carafe.
  Richard  was  speaking-instinctively now in  a  lowered  voice
-assuring  Simon  that  they always  used  Burrows  Malvern  for
drinking  purposes,  when the Duke filled the  glass  again  and
handed it back to Simon. 'Now try that.'
  Simon  sipped again and nodded quickly. 'Urn, that seems quite
different. I think it must have been my imagination before,' and
he drank off the contents of the glass.
  Again for a long period no one spoke. Only the scraping  of  a
mouse behind the wainscot, sounding abnormally loud, jarred upon
the stillness. That frantic insistent gnawing frayed Marie Lou's
nerves  to such a pitch that she wanted to scream, but  after  a
while  that,  too, ceased and the heavy silence,  pregnant  with
suspense,  enveloped them once more. Even the gentle  patter  on
the  window-panes was no longer there to remind them of healthy,
normal  things, for the rain had stopped, and in that  soundless
room  the only movement was the soft flicker of the logs,  piled
high in the wide fireplace.
  It  seemed  that they had been crouching in that pentacle  for
nights on end and that their frugal dinner lay days away.  Their
discomfort had been dulled into a miserable apathy and they were
drowsy  now  after these hours of strained uneventful  watching.
Richard  lay  down again to try and snatch a little  sleep.  The
Duke  alone  remained alert. He knew that this long interval  of
inactivity  on the part of the malefic powers was only  a  snare
designed to give a false sense of security before the renewal of
the attack. At length he shifted his position slightly and as he
did so he chanced to glance upwards at the ceiling. Suddenly  it
seemed  to him that the Lights were not quite so bright as  they
had  been. It might be his imagination, due to the fact that  he
was  anticipating trouble, but somehow he felt certain that  the
ceiling  had been brighter when he had looked at it  before.  In
quick alarm he roused the others.
  Simon nodded, realising why De Richleau had touched him on the
shoulder and confirming his suspicion. Then with straining eyes,
they  all  watched the cornice, where the concealed  lights  ran
round the wall above the top of the bookshelves.
  The action was so slow, that each of them felt their eyes must
be deceiving them, and yet an inner conviction told them that it
was  true.  Shadows had appeared where no shadows  were  before.
Slowly but surely the current was failing and the lights dimming
as they watched.
  There  was something strangely terrifying now about that quiet
room.  It was orderly and peaceful, just as Richard knew it  day
by  day,  except for the abseace of the furniture.  No  nebulous
ghost-like figure had risen up to confront them, but  there,  as
the  minutes  passed,  they  were faced  with  an  unaccountable
phenomenon-those bright electric globes hidden from their  sight
were gradually but unquestionably being dimmed.
  The  shadows from the bookcases lengthened. The centre  of  me
ceiling  became  a  dusky patch. Gradually, gradually,  as  with
caught  breath  they  watched, the room  was  being  plunged  in
darkness.  Soundless and stealthy, that black  shadow  upon  the
ceiling grew in size and the binding of the books became obscure
where  they had before been bright until, after what  seemed  an
eternity of time, no light remained save only the faintest  line
just  above  the  rim  of the top bookshelf,  the  five  candles
burning  steadily  in the points of the five-starred  pentagram,
and the dying fire.
  Richard shuddered suddenly. 'My God! It's cold,' he exclaimed,
drawing  Marie  Lou  towards him. The Duke  nodded,  silent  and
watchful. He felt that sinister chill draught beginning to  flow
upon  the  back of his neck, and his scalp prickled as he  swung
round with a sudden jerk to face it.
  There  was  nothing to be seen-only the vague outline  of  the
bookcases  rising high and stark towards the ceiling  where  the
dull  ribbon  of light still glowed. The flames of  the  candles
were  bent now at an angle under the increasing strength of  the
cold invisible air current that pressed steadily upon them.
  De  Richleau  began  to intone a prayer. The  wind  ceased  as
suddenly  as it had begun, but a moment later it began  to  play
upon them again-this time from a different quarter.
  The  Duke  resumed his prayer-the wind checked-and  then  came
with  renewed force from another angle. He swung to meet it  but
it was at his back again.
  A  faint,  low moaning became perceptible as the unholy  blast
began to circle round the pentacle. Round and round it
  swirled with ever-increasing strength and violence, beating up
out  of the shadows in sudden wild gusts of arctic iciness,  and
tearing  at  them with chill, invisible, clutching  fingers,  so
that it seemed as if they were standing in the very vortex of  a
cyclone. The candles flickered wildly-and went out.
  Richard, his scepticism badly shaken, quickly pushed Marie Lou
to  one side and whipped out his matches. He struck one, and got
the  nearest candle alight again but, as he turned to the  next,
that   cold  damp  evil  wind  came  once  more,  chilling   the
perspiration that had broken out upon his forehead, snuffing the
candle  that  he  had re-lit and the half-burnt match  which  he
still held between his fingers,
  He  lit  another and it spluttered out almost before the  wood
had caught-another-and another, but they would not burn.
  He  glimpsed Simon's face for an instant, white, set, ghastly,
the eyeballs protruding unnaturally as he knelt staring out into
the  shadows-then the whole centre of the room  was  plunged  in
blackness.
  'We  must  hold  hands,' whispered the Duke. 'Quick,  it  will
strengthen  our  resistance,' and in the murk they  fumbled  for
each  other's fingers, all standing up now, until they formed  a
little ring in the very centre of the pentagram, hand clasped in
hand and bodies back to back.
  The  whirling hurricane ceased as suddenly as it had begun.  A
unnatural  stillness descended on the room again.  Then  without
warning,  an uncontrollable fit of trembling took possession  of
Marie Lou.
  'Steady, my sweet,' breathed Richard, gripping her 'hand  more
tightly, 'you'll be all right in a minute.' He thought that  she
was  suffering  from  the effect of that awful  cold  which  had
penetrated  the thin garments of them all, but she was  standing
facing  the grate and her knees shook under her as she stammered
out:
  'But look-the fire.'
  Simon  was  behind her but the Duke and Richard, who  were  on
either  side,  turned their heads and saw  the  thing  that  had
caused  her such excess of terror. The piled-up logs had  flared
into  fresh life as that strange rushing wind had circled  round
the  room,  but now the flames had died down and, as their  eyes
rested  upon  it, they saw that the red hot embers were  turning
black.  It  was  as  though some monstrous  invisible  hand  was
dabbing at it, then almost in a second, every spark of light  in
that great, glowing fire was quenched.
  'Pray,' urged the Duke, 'for God's sake, pray.'
  After  a  little their eyes grew accustomed to this  new  dark
ness.  The  electric globes hidden behind the cornice  were  not
quite  dead.  They flickered and seemed about to  fail  entirely
every  few  moments, yet always the power exerted  against  them
seemed  just  not quite enough, for their area  of  light  would
increase again, so that the shadows across the ceiling and below
the  books  were  driven  back. The  four  friends  waited  with
pounding  hearts  as they watched that silent  struggle  between
light and darkness and the swaying of the shadows backwards  and
forwards, that ringed them in.
  For  what  seemed  an immeasurable time they stood  in  silent
apprehension,  praying that the last gleam of light  would  hold
out,  then, shattering that eerie silence like the sound of guns
there came three swift, loud knocks upon the window-pane.
  'What's that?' snapped Richard.
  'Stay still,' hissed the Duke.
  A voice came suddenly from outside in the garden. It was clear
and  unmistakable. Each one of them recognised it  instantly  as
that of Rex.
  'Say, I saw your light burning. Come on and let me in.'
  With  a  little sigh of relief at the breaking of the tension,
Richard let go Marie Lou's hand and took a step forward. But the
Duke grabbed his shoulder and jerked him back:
  'Don't be a fool,' he rasped. 'It's a trap.'
  'Come  on  now.  What  in  heck is  keeping  you?'  the  voice
demanded. 'It's mighty cold out here, let me in quick.'
  Richard alone remained momentarily unconvinced that it  was  a
superhuman  agency at work. The others felt a shiver  of  horror
run through their limbs at the perfect imitation of Rex's voice,
which  they were convinced was a manifestation of some  terrible
entity  endeavouring to trick them into leaving their  carefully
constructed defence.
  'Richard,' the voice came again, angrily now. 'It's Rex I tell
you-Rex.  Stop all this fooling and get this door  undone.'  But
the  four figures in the pentacle now remained tense, silent and
unresponsive.
  The  voice  spoke  no more and once again  there  was  a  long
interval of silence.
  De Richleau feared that the Adversary was gathering his forces
for  a  direct  attack and it was that, above all other  things,
which  filled  him with dread. He was reasonably confident  that
his  own  intelligence would serve to sense out  and  avoid  any
fresh  pitfalls which might be set, providing the  others  would
obey his bidding and remain steadfast in their determination not
to  leave  the  pentacle, but he had failed in  his  attempt  to
secure  the holy wafers of the Blessed Sacrament that afternoon,
the  lights were all but overcome, the sacred candles  had  been
snuffed out. The holy water, horseshoes, garlic and the pentacle
itself  might only prove a partial defence if the dark  entities
which were about them made an open and determined assault,
  'What's  that!' exclaimed Simon, and they swung round to  face
the  new  danger. The shadows were massing into deeper blackness
in one corner of the room. Something was moving there.
  A  dim  phosphorescent  blob began to glow  in  the  darkness;
shimmering  and  spreading  into a great  hummock,  its  outline
gradually  became  clearer. It was not a man  form  nor  yet  an
animal, but heaved there on the floor like some monstrous living
sack.  It  had  no  eyes or face but from it  there  radiated  a
terrible malefic intelligence.
  Suddenly there ceased to be anything ghostlike about  it.  The
Thing had a whitish pimply skin, leprous and unclean, like  some
huge  silver  slug. Waves of satanic power rippled  through  its
spineless body, causing it to throb and work continually like  a
great  mass  of new-made dough. A horrible stench of  decay  and
corruption filled the room; for as it writhed it exuded a  slimy
poisonous moisture which trickled in little rivulets across  the
polished  floor.  It was solid, terribly real, a  living  thing.
They  could even see long, single, golden hairs, separated  from
each other by ulcerous patches of skin, quivering and waving  as
they  rose on end from its flabby body-and suddenly it began  to
laugh at them, a low, horrid, chuckling laugh.
  Marie  Lou  reeled against Richard, pressing the back  of  her
hand against her mouth and biting into it to prevent a scream.
  His  eyes were staring, a cold perspiration broke out upon his
face.
  De  Richleau knew that it was a Saiitii manifestation  of  the
most  powerful and dangerous kind. His nails bit into the  palms
of his hands as he watched that shapeless mass, silver white and
putrescent, heave and ferment.
  Suddenly it moved, with the rapidity of a cat, yet they  heard
the  squelching sound as it leapt along the floor, leaving a wet
slimy  trail in its wake, that poisoned the air like foul  gases
given off by animal remains.
  They  spun  round to face it, then it laughed  again,  mocking
them  with that quiet, diabolical chuckle that had the power  to
fill them with such utter dread.
  It  lay  for a moment near the window pulsating with  demoniac
energy like some enormous livid heart. Then it leapt again  back
to the place where it had been before.
  Shuddering  at the thought of that ghastliness springing  upon
then- backs they turned with lightning speed to meet it, but  it
only lay there wobbling and crepitating with unholy glee.
  'Oh, God!' gasped Richard.
  The  masked  door  which  led up to  the  nursery  was  slowly
opening. A line of white appeared in the gap from near the floor
to  about  three feet in height. It broadened as the door  swung
back poiselessly upon its hinges, and Marie Lou gave a terrified
cry.
  'It's Fleur!'
  The  men,  too, instantly recognised the little body,  in  the
white  nightgown, vaguely outlined against the blackness of  the
shadows,  as the face with its dark aureole of curling  hair  be
came clear.
  The  Thing  was  only two yards from the child.  With  hideous
merriment it chuckled evilly and flopping forward, decreased the
distance by a half.
  With  one swift movement, De Richleau Sung his arm about Marie
Lou's  neck and jerked her backwards, her chin gripped  fast  in
the  crook of his elbow. 'It's not Fleur,' he cried desperately.
'Only  some  awful  thing which has taken her shape  to  deceive
you.'
  'Of  course  it's  Fleur-she walking in  her  sleep!'  Richard
started  forward  to spring towards the child, but  De  Richleau
grapped his arm with his free hand and wrenched him back.
  'It's  not,'  he insisted in an agonised whisper. 'Richard,  I
beg  you! Have a little faith in me! Look at her face-it's blue!
Oh, Lord protect us!'
  At  that positive suggestion, thrown out with such vital force
at  a moment of supreme emotional tension, it did appear to them
for  an  instant that the child's face had a corpse-like  bluish
tinge then, upon the swift plea for Divine aid, the lines of the
figure  seemed to blur and tremble. The Thing laughed, but  this
time  with thwarted malice, a high-pitched, angry, furious note.
Then  both  the child and that nameless Thing became transparent
and  faded. The silent heavy darkness, undisturbed by  sound  or
movement, settled all about them once again.
  With  a  gasp  of relief the straining Duke released  his  pri
soners. 'Now do you believe me?' he muttered hoarsely, but there
was not time for them to reply. The next attack developed almost
instantly.
  Simon  was  crouching in the middle of the circle.  Marie  Lou
felt  his body trembling against her thigh. She put her hand  on
his shoulder to steady him and found that he was shaking like an
epileptic in a fit.
  He  began to gibber. Great shudders shook his frame from  head
to toe and suddenly he burst into heart-rending sobs.
  'What is it, Simon,' she bent towards him quickly, but he took
no  notice  of her and crouched there on all fours  like  a  dog
until,  with a sudden jerk, he pulled himself upright and  began
to mutter:
  'I  won't-I won't I say-I won't. D'you hear-- You mustn't make
me-no-no-- No!' Then with a reeling, drunken motion he staggered
forward  in the direction of the window. But Marie Lou  was  too
quick for him and Sung both arms about his neck.
  'Simon darling-Simon,' she panted. 'You mustn't leave us.'
  For  a  moment  he  remained still,  then,  his  body  twisted
violently  as  though his limbs were animated by  some  terrible
inhuman  force, and he flung her from him. The mild good-natured
smile  had left his face and it seemed, in the faint light which
still  glowed  from the cornice, that he had become  an  utterly
changed personality-his mouth hung open showing the bared  teeth
in  a snarl of ferocious rage-his eyes glinted hot and dangerous
with  the glare of insanity-a little dribble of saliva ran  down
his chin.
  'Quick,  Richard,' cried the Duke. 'They've got him-for  God's
sake pull him down!'
  Richard  had  seen  enough now to destroy his  scepticism  for
life. He followed De Richleau's lead, grappling frantically with
Simon, and all three of them crashed struggling to the floor,
  'Oh, God,' sobbed Marie Lou. 'Oh, God, dear God!'
  Simon's  breath came in great gasps as though his chest  would
burst.  He  fought  and  struggled like a maniac,  but  Richard,
desperate  now, kneed him in the stomach and between  them  they
managed  to hold him down. Then De Rich-leau, who, fearing  such
an  attack,  had  had  the forethought to provide  himself  with
cords, succeeded in tying his wrists and ankles.
  Richard rose panting from the struggle, smoothed back his dark
hair,  and  said huskily to the Duke. 'I take it all  back.  I'm
sorry if I've been an extra nuisance to you.'
  De  Richleau patted him on the elbow. He could not  smile  for
his eyes were flickering, even as Richard spoke, from corner  to
corner of that grim, darkened room, seeking, yet dreading,  some
new form in which the Adversary might attempt their undoing.
  All  three linked their arms together and stood, with  Simon's
body  squirming at their feet, jerking their heads from side  to
side  in  nervous expectancy. They had not long to  wait.  Indis
tinct at first, but certain after a moment, there was a stirring
in  the blackness near the door. Some new horror was forming out
there in the shadows beyond the pointers of the pentacle-just on
a level with their heads.
  Their  grip  upon  each other tightened  as  they  fought  des
perately  to recruit their courage. Marie Lou stood between  the
others,  her eyes wide and distended, as she watched this  fresh
manifestation gradually take shape and gain solidity.
  Her  scalp  began to prickle beneath her chestnut  curls.  The
Thing  was forming into a long, dark, beast-like face. Two  tiny
points of light appeared in it just above the level of her eyes.
She  felt the short hairs at the back of her skull lift of their
own volition like the hackles of a dog.
  The  points  of  light grew in size and intensity.  They  were
eyes.  Round,  protuberant and burning with a fiery  glow,  they
bored into hers, watching her with a horrible unwinking stare.
  She  wanted desperately to break away and run, but  her  knees
sagged  beneath her. The head of the Beast merged into  powerful
shoulders  and the blackness below solidified into strong  thick
legs.
  'It's a horse!' gasped Richard. 'A riderless horse.'
  De  Richleau  groaned. It was a horse indeed.  A  great  black
stallion  and it had no rider that was visible to them,  but  he
knew  its terrible significance. Mocata, grown desperate by  his
failures  to  wrest Simon from their keeping, had abandoned  the
attempt  and,  in savage revenge, now sent the  Angel  of  Death
himself to claim them.
  A  saddle  of crimson leather was strapped upon the stallion's
back,  the  pressure  of invisible feet held  the  long  stirrup
leathers  rigid to its flanks, and unseen hands held  the  reins
taut  a  few inches above its withers. The Duke knew well enough
that  no human who has beheld that dread rider in all his sombre
glory  has ever lived to tell of it. If that dark Presence broke
into  the pentacle they would see him all too certainly, but  at
the price of death.
  The  sweat  streaming down his face, Richard held his  ground,
staring  with fascinated horror at the muzzle of the beast,  The
fleshy  nose wrinkled, the lips drew back, barring two  rows  of
yellowish  teeth.  It champed its silver bit.  Flecks  of  foam,
white and real, dripped from its loose mouth.
  It  snorted  violently  and its heated breath  came  like  two
clouds of steam from its quivering nostrils warm and damp on his
face.  He  heard De Richleau praying, frantically,  unceasingly,
and tried to follow suit.
  The  stallion  whinnied, tossed its head and backed  into  the
bookcases  drawn by the power of those unseen hands, its  mighty
hoofs  ringing loud on the boards. Then, as though  rowelled  by
knife-edged spurs, it was launched upon them.
  Marie  Lou  screamed and tried to tear herself from  De  Rich-
leau's  grip, but his slim fingers were like a steel  vice  upon
her  arm. He remained there, ashen-faced but rigid, fronting the
huge beast which seemed about to trample all three of them under
foot.
  As  it  plunged  forward  the only  thought  which  penetrated
Richard's  brain  was to protect Marie Lou, Instead  of  leaping
back, he sprang in front of her with his automatic levelled  and
pressed the trigger.
  The crash of the explosion sounded like a thunder-clap in that
confined  space.  Again-again-again,  he  fired  while  blinding
flashes lit the room as though with streaks of lighting.  For  a
succession of seconds the whole library was as bright as day and
the gilded bookbacks stood out so clearly that De Richleau could
even  read  the titles across the empty space where, so  lately,
the great horse had been.
  The  silence  that descended on them when Richard ceased  fire
was  so  intense that they could hear each other breathing,  and
for the moment they were plunged in utter darkness.
  After  that glaring succession of flashes from the shots,  the
little  rivers of light around the cornice seemed to have shrunk
to  the  glimmer of night lights coming beneath heavy  curtains.
They  could  no  longer even see each other's  figures  as  they
crouched together in the ring.
  The  thought  of  the  servants  flashed  for  a  second  into
Richard's mind. The shooting was bound to have fetched them  out
of  bed.  If they came down their presence might put an  end  to
this  ghastly business. But the minutes passed. No welcome sound
of  running  feet came to break that horrid stillness  that  had
closed  in upon them once more. With damp hands be fingered  his
automatic and found that the magazine was empty. In his  frantic
terror he had loosed off every one of the eight shots.
  How long they remained there, tense with horror, peering again
into  those  awful  shadows, they never knew,  yet  each  became
suddenly  aware that the steed of the Dark Angel, who  had  been
sent  out  from the underworld to bring about their destruction,
was steadily re-forming.
  The  red  eyes began to glow in the long dark face.  The  body
lengthened. The stallion's hoof-beats rang upon the floor as  it
stamped with impatience to be unleashed. The very smell  of  the
stable  was in the room. That gleaming harness stood  out  plain
and  clear. The reins rose sharply from its polished bit to bend
uncannily in that invisible grip above its saddle bow. The black
beast snorted, reared high in to the air, and then the crouching
humans faced that terrifying charge again.
  The  Duke  felt  Marie Lou sway against  him,  clutch  at  his
shoulder, and slip to the floor. The strain had proved too great
and  she had fainted. He could do nothing for her-the beast  was
actually upon them.
  It baulked, upon the very edge of the pentacle, its fore hoofs
slithering upon the polished floor, its back legs crashing under
it as though faced with some invisible barrier.
  With  a neigh of fright and pain it flung up its powerful head
as  though its face had been brought into contact with a red-hot
bar.  It  backed away champing and whinnying until its  steaming
hindquarters pressed against the book-lined wall.
  Richard stooped to clasp Marie Lou's limp body. In their  fear
they had all unconsciously retreated from the middle to the edge
of  the  circle. As he knelt his foot caught one of the cups  of
Holy  Water  set in the vales of the pentacle. It toppled  over.
The water spilled and ran to waste upon the floor.
  Instantly  a  roar of savage triumph filled the  room,  coming
from  beneath  their feet. The ab-human monster from  the  outer
circle-that  obscene sack-like Thing-appeared  again.  Its  body
vibrated  with  tremendous rapidity. It screamed  at  them  with
positively frantic glee. With incredible speed the stallion  was
swung  by  its  invisible rider at the  gap  in  the  protective
barrier. The black beast plunged, scattering the gutted  candles
and  dried  mandrake, then reared above them,  its  great,  dark
belly on a level with their heads, its enormous hoofs poised  in
mid-air about to batter out their brains.
  For  one  awful second it hovered there while Richard crouched
gazing upward, his arms locked tight round the unconscious Marie
Lou,  De  Richleau stood his ground above them both,  the  sweat
pouring in great rivulets down his lean face.
  Almost,  it  seemed, the end had come. The the Duke  used  his
final  resources,  and did a thing which  shall  never  be  done
except in the direst emergency when the very soul is in peril of
destruction. In a clear sharp voice he pronounced the  last  two
lines of the dread Sussamma Ritual.
  A  streak  of  light  seemed to curl for a  second  round  the
stallion's body, as though it had been struck with unerring aim,
caught in the toils of some gigantic whip-lash and hurled  back.
The   Thing  disintegrated  instantly  in  sizzling   atoms   of
opalescent light. The horse dissolved into the silent shadows.
  Those  mysterious and unconquerable powers, the Lord of Light,
the Timeless Ones, had answered; compelied by those mystic words
to leave their eternal contemplation of Supreme Beatitude for  a
fraction  of  earthly time, to intervene for  the  salvation  of
those   four  small  flickering  flames  that  burned   in   the
beleaguered humans.
  An utter silence descended upon the room. It was so still that
De  Richleau could hear Richard's heart pounding in his  breast.
Yet  he  knew  that  by that extreme invocation  they  had  been
carried  out of their bodies on to the fifth. Astral plane.  His
conscious brain told him that it was improbable that they  would
ever  get  back. To call upon the very essence of light requires
almost  superhuman courage, for Prana possesses  an  energy  and
force utterly beyond the understanding of the human mind. As  it
can  shatter darkness in a manner beside which a million  candle
power  searchlight becomes a pallid beam, so it can attract  all
lesser  light to itself and carry it to realms undreamed  of  by
infinitesimal man.
  For a moment it seemed that they had been ripped right out  of
the  room and were looking down into it. The pentacle had become
a  flaming star. Their bodies were dark shadows grouped  in  its
centre. The peace and silence of death surged over them in great
saturating  waves.  They were above the house.  Cardinals  Folly
became a black speck in the distance. Then everything faded.
  Time  ceased, and it seemed that for a thousand thousand years
they floated, atoms of radiant matter in an immense immeasurable
void-circling for ever in the soundless stratosphere-being  shut
off  from every feeling and sensation, as though travelling with
effortless  impulse five hundred fathoms deep below the  current
levels of some uncharted sea.
  Then, after a passage of eons in human time they saw the house
again,  infinitely far beneath them, their bodies lying  in  the
pentacle  and that darkened room. In an utter eerie silence  the
dust of centuries was falling . . . falling. Softly, impalpably,
like  infinitely tiny particles of swansdown, it seemed to cover
them, the room, and all that was in it, with a fine grey powder.
  De Richleau raised his head. It seemed to him that he had been
on  a  long journey and then slept for many days. He passed  his
hand  across  his eyes and saw the familiar bookshelves  in  the
semi-darkened library. The bulbs above the cornice flickered and
the light came full on.
  Marie  Lou  had come to and was struggling to her knees  while
Richard  fondled her with trembling hands, and murmured;  'We're
safe, darling-safe.'
  Simon's eyes were free now from that terrible maniacal  glare.
The  Duke  had no memory of having unloosened his bonds  but  he
knelt  beside  them looking as normal as he had  when  they  had
first entered upon that terrible weaponless battle.
  'Yes, we're safe-and Mocata is finished,' De Richleau passed a
hand over his eyes as if they were still clouded. 'The Angel  of
Death was sent against us tonight, but he failed to get us,  and
he  will  never return empty-handed to his dark Kingdom.  Mocata
summoned him so Mocata must pay the penalty.'
  'Are-are you sure of that?' Simon's jaw dropped suddenly.
  'Certain.  The  age-old  law  of retaliation  cannot  fail  to
operate. He will be dead before the morning.'
  'But-but,'  Simon  stammered. 'Don't you realise  that  Mocata
never  does these things himself. He throws other people into  a
hypnotic trance and makes them do his devilish business for him.
One  of the poor wretches who are in his power will have to  pay
for this night's work.'
  Even  as  he  spoke there came the sound of running  footsteps
along  the flagstones of the terrace. A rending crash as a heavy
boot landed violently on the woodwork of the french-windows.
  They  burst open, and framed in them stood no vision  but  Rex
himself.  Haggard, dishevelled, hollow-eyed, his face a  ghastly
mask of panic, fear and fury.
  He  stood  there for a moment staring at them as  though  they
were  ghosts. In his arms he held the body of a woman; her  fair
hair  tumbled across his right arm, and her long silk-stockinged
legs dangled limply from the other.
  Suddenly  two great tears welled up into his eyes and trickled
slowly down his furrowed cheeks. Then as he laid the body gently
on  the  floor  they saw that it was Tanith, and  knew,  by  her
strange unnatural stillness, that she was dead.


                               28

                           Necromancy

  'Oh,  Rex!'  Marie  Lou  dropped to her knees  beside  Tanith,
knowing that this must be the girl of whom he had raved  to  her
that afternoon. 'How awful for you!'
  'How  did  this happen?' the Duke demanded. It was  imperative
that he should know at once every move in the enemy's game,  and
the urgent note in his voice helped to pull Rex together.
  'I  hardly know,' he gasped out. 'She got me along because she
was  scared stiff of that swine Mocata. I couldn't call  you  up
this afternoon and later when I tried your line was blocked, but
I had to stay with her. We were going to pass the night together
in  the  parlour, but around midnight she left me  and  then-oh,
God! I fell asleep.'
  'How long did you sleep for?' asked Richard quickly.
  'Several  hours, I reckon. I was about all in after yesterday,
but  the  second  I woke I dashed up to her room  and  she  was,
dressed as she is now-lying asleep, I figured-in an armchair.  I
tried  to  wake  her  but I couldn't. Then I  got  real  scared-
grabbed hold of her-and beat it down those stairs six at a time.
You've just no notion how frantic I was to get out of that place
and  next  thing  I knew-I saw your light and came  bursting  in
here. She-she's not dead, is she?'
  'Oh, Rex, you poor darling,' Marie Lou stammered as she chafed
Tanith's cold hands. 'I-I'm afraid--'
  'She  isn't-she can't be!' he protested wildly. 'That  fiend's
only thrown her into a trance or something.'
  Richard  had  taken a little mirror from Marie Lou's  bag.  He
held  it  against Tanith's bloodless lips. No trace of  moisture
marred its surface. Then he pressed his hand beneath her breast.
  'Her  heart's  stopped beating,' he said after a moment.  'I'm
sorry, old chap, but-well, I'm afraid you've got to face it.'
  'The  old-fashioned tests of death are not conclusive,'  Simon
whispered  to  the Duke. 'Scientists say now that even  arteries
can  be  cut  and fail to bleed, but life still remains  in  the
body.
  They've all come round to the belief that we're animated by  a
sort of atomic energy-call it the soul if you like-and that  the
body  may retain that vital spark without showing the least sign
of life. Mightn't it be some form of catalepsy like that?'
  'Of  course,' De Richleau agreed. 'It has been proved time and
again  that the senses are only imperfect vessels for collecting
impressions. There is something else which can see when the eyes
are  closed and hear while the body is being painlessly  cut  to
ribbons under an anaesthetic. All the modern experimenters agree
that there are many states in which the body is not wholly alive
or  wholly  dead, but I fear there is little hope in this  case.
You see we know that Mocata used her as his catspaw, so the poor
girl  has  been forced to pay the price of failure. I haven't  a
single doubt that she is dead.'
  Rex  caught  his  last words and swung upon  him  frantically.
'God!  this is frightful. I-I tried to kid myself but I think  I
knew  it  the moment I picked her up. Her prophecy's  come  true
then.' He passed his hand over his eyes. 'I can't quite take  it
in  yet-this  and  all of you seem terribly  unreal-but  is  she
really  dead?  She was so mighty scared that if  she  died  some
awful thing might remain to animate her body.'
  'She  is dead as we know death,' said Richard softly. 'So what
could remain?'
  'I  know  what he means,' the Duke remarked abruptly.  'He  is
afraid  that  an  elemental may have  taken  possession  of  her
corpse. If so drastic measures will be necessary.'
  'No!'  Rex  shook his head violently. 'If you're  thinking  of
cutting  off her head and driving a stake through her  heart,  I
won't have it. She's mine, I tell you-mine!'
  'Better  that  than the poor soul should suffer the  agony  of
seeing  its body come out of the grave at night to fatten itself
on  human  blood,' De Richleau murmured. 'But there are  certain
tests, and we can soon find out. Bring her over here.'
  Simon  and Richard lifted the body and carried it over to  the
mat  of sheets and blankets in the centre of the pentacle, while
De Richleau fiddled for a moment among his impedimenta.
  'The  Undead,' he said slowly, 'have certain inhibitions. They
can  pass  as  human, but they cannot eat human  food  and  they
cannot  cross running water except at sunset and sunrise. Garlic
is  a  most fearsome thing to them, so that they scream if  only
touched by it, and the Cross, of course, is anathema. We will
  see if she reacts to them.'
  As  he  spoke he took the wreath of garlic flowers from  round
his neck and placed it about Tanith's. Then he made the sign  of
the  Cross above her and laid his little gold crucifix upon  her
lips.
  The  others  stood  round, watching the scene  with  horrified
fascination.  Tanith lay there, calm and still,  her  pale  face
shadowed by the golden hair, her tawny eyes now closed under the
heavy, blue-veined lids, the long, curved eyelashes falling upon
her  cheeks.  She had the look of death and yet, as De  Richleau
set  about  his  grim task, it seemed to them that  her  eyelids
might  flicker open at any moment. Yet, when the garlic  flowers
were draped upon her, she remained there cold and immobile,  and
when  the  little crucifix was laid upon her lips she showed  no
consciousness  of  it,  even by the  twitching  of  the  tiniest
muscle.
  'She's dead, Rex, absolutely dead, De Richleau stood up again.
'So,  my  poor  boy,  at  least your worst  fears  will  not  be
realised.  Her  soul has left her body but no  evil  entity  has
taken possession of it, I am certain of that now.'
  A  new  hush  fell upon the room. Tanith looked, if  possible,
even  more beautiful in death that she had in life, so that they
marvelled  at  her loveliness. Rex crouched beside her,  utterly
stricken  by this tragic ending to all the wonderful  hopes  and
plans which had seethed in his mind the previous afternoon after
she  had told him that she loved him. He had known her by  sight
for so long, dreamed of her so often, yet having gained her love
a  merciless fate had deprived him of it after only a few  hours
of  happiness. It was unfair-unfair. Suddenly he buried his face
in  his hands, his great shoulders shook, and for the first time
in his life he gave way to a passion of bitter tears.
  The  rest  stood by him in silent sympathy. There was  nothing
which  they  could say or do. Marie Lou attempted to soothe  his
anguish by stroking his rebellious hair, but he jerked his  head
away  with  a quick angry movement. Only a few hours before,  in
those sunlit woods, Tanith had run her fingers through his curls
again  and  again  during the ecstasy of the  dawning  of  their
passion for each other, and the thought that she would never  do
so  any  more  filled him with the almost unbearable  grief  and
misery.
  After  a  while  the Duke turned helplessly  away  and  Simon,
catching his eye, beckoned him over towards the open window  out
of  earshot  from the others. The seemingly endless night  still
lay  upon the garden, and now a light mist had arisen. Wisps  of
it  were  creeping down the steps from the terrace  and  curling
into  the room. De Richleau shivered and refastened the  windows
to shut them out.
  'What is it?' he asked quickly.
  'I-er-suppose  there is no chance of her  being  made  animate
again?' hazarded Simon.
  'None.  If  there had been anything there it would never  have
been  able  to  bear the garlic and the crucifix without  giving
some indication of its presence.'
  'I wasn't thinking of that. The vital organs aren't injured in
any  way as far as we know, and rigor mortis has not set in yet.
I  felt  her  hand just now and the fingers are as  flexible  as
mine.'
  De  Richleau shrugged. 'That makes no difference. Rigor mortis
may  have been delayed for a variety of reasons but she will  be
'as  stiff  as  a board in a few hours' time just the  same.  Of
course  her  state does resemble that of a person who  has  been
drowned,  in  a  way, but only superficially;  and  if  you  are
thinking  that  we  might bring her back to life  by  artificial
respiration  I  can assure you that there is not  a  chance.  It
would only be a terrible unkindness to hold out such false hopes
to poor Rex.'
  'Ner-you  don't  see what I'm driving at.' Simon's  dark  eyes
flickered quickly from De Richleau's face to the silent group in
the  centre  of the pentagram and then back again. 'No  ordinary
doctor  could do anything for her, I know that well enough;  but
since  her body is still in the intermediate stage there  are  a
few  people  in  this world who could, and I  was  wondering  if
you--'
  'What!'  The Duke started suddenly then went on in a  whisper:
'Do you mean that I should try and bring her back?'
  'Urn,' Simon nodded his head jerkily up and down. 'If you know
the  drill-and you seem to know so much about the great secrets,
I thought it just on the cards you might?'
  De  Richleau looked thoughtful for a moment. 'I know something
of  the ritual,' he confessed at length, 'but I have never  seen
it done, and in any case it's a terrible responsibility.'
  At that moment there was a faint sighing as the breeze
  rippled  the leaves of the trees out in the garden.  Both  men
heard it and they looked at each other questioningly,
  'Her soul can't be very far away yet,' whispered Simon.
  'No,'  the  Duke  agreed reluctantly. 'But I  don't  like  it,
Simon.  The  dead are not meant to be called back. They  do  not
come  willingly. If I attempt this and succeed it would only  be
by  the force of incredibly powerful conjurations which the soul
dare not disobey, and we are not justified in taking such steps.
Besides, what good could it do? At best, I should not be able to
bring her back for more than a few moments.'
  'Of  course, I know that; but you still don't seem to  get  my
idea,'  Simon  went on hurriedly. 'As far as Rex  is  concerned,
poor  chap,  she's gone for good and all, but I was thinking  of
Mocata.  You  were hammering it into us last night for  all  you
were  worth that it's up to us to destroy him before he has  the
chance  to  secure the Talisman. Surely this is our opportunity.
In  Tanith's present physical state her spirit can't  have  gone
far from her body. If you could bring it back for a few moments,
or  even  get her to talk, don't you see that she'll be able  to
tell  us  how  best to try and scotch Mocata.  From  the  astral
plane,  where she is now, her vision and insight are  limitless,
so  she'll be able to help us in a way that she never could have
done before.'
  'That's  different,' De Richleau's pale face  lit  up  with  a
tired smile. 'And you're right, Simon. I have been under such  a
strain  for  the past few hours that I had forgotten  the  thing
that  matters most of all. I would never consent to  attempt  it
for any other purpose, but to prevent suffering and death coming
to  countless  millions of people we are justified in  anything.
I'll speak-to Rex.'
  Rex  nodded despondently, numb now with misery, when the  Duke
had explained what he meant to try to do. 'Just as you like,' he
said  slowly.  'It  won't hurt in any way, though-  I  mean  her
soul-will it?'
  'No,'  De Richleau assured him. 'In the ordinary way it might.
To  recall the soul of a dead person is to risk interfering with
their  karma,  but  Tanith  has  virtually  been  murdered  and,
although it is not the way of the spirit to seek revenge against
people  for things which may have happened in this life,  it  is
almost a certainty that she is actually wanting to come back for
just long enough to tell us how to defeat Mocata, because of her
love for you.'
  'All  right then,' Rex muttered, 'only let's get over with  it
as quickly as we can.'
  'I'm  afraid it will take some time,' De Richleau warned  him,
'and even then it may not be successful, but the issues at stake
are so vital, you must try and put aside your personal grief for
a bit.'
  He  began to clear the pentacle of all the things which he had
used  the previous evening to form protective barriers, the holy
water,  the little cups, the horseshoes, placing them  with  the
garlic  and  dried mandrake back in the suitcase. He  then  took
from it seven small metal trays, a wooden platter, and a box  of
powered incense; and pouring a little heap of the dark powder on
the platter went up to Rex.
  'I'm afraid I've got to trouble you if we're going to see this
through.'
  Trouble  away,'  said Rex grimly, with  a  flash  of  his  old
spirit.  'You know I'm with you in anything which is  likely  to
let me get my hands on that devil's throat.'
  'Good.' The Duke took out his pocket knife and held the  blade
for  a  moment in the flame of a match. 'You've seen  enough  of
this  business  now to know that I don't do anything  without  a
purpose, and I want a little of your blood. I will use my own if
you  like  but  yours  is far more likely to  have  the  desired
effect,  since you felt so strongly for this poor girl and  she,
apparently, for you.'
  'Go  ahead.' Rex pulled up his cuff and bared his forearm, but
De Richleau shook his head.
  'No.  Your finger will do, and it will hardly be more  than  a
pin-prick. I only need a few drops.'
  With  a  swift movement he took Rex's hand and, having made  a
slight  incision in the little finger, squeezed out seven  drops
of blood on to the incense.
  Then  he walked over to Tanith and, kneeling down, took  seven
long  golden hairs from her head. Next he proceeded to form  the
mixture  of incense and blood into a paste out of which he  made
seven  cones,  in each of which was coiled one of Tanith's  long
golden hairs.
  With  Richard's assistance he carefully oriented the  body  so
that  her feet were pointing towards the north and drew a  fresh
chalk  circle, just large enough to contain her and the bedding,
seven feet in diameter.
  'Now  if you will turn your backs, please,' he told them  all,
'I will proceed with the preparation.'
  For  a  few  moments they gazed obediently at  the  book-lined
walls while he did certain curious things, and when he bade them
turn  again  he  was placing the seven cones of incense  on  the
seven  little  metal  trays,  each engraved  with  the  Seal  of
Solomon, in various positions round the body.
  'We  shall remain outside the circle this time,' he explained,
'so that the spirit, if it comes, is contained within it. Should
some  evil entity endeavour to impersonate her soul it will thus
be confined within the circle and unable to get at us.'
  He lit the seven cones of incense, completed the barrier round
about the body with numerous fresh signs, and then, walking over
to the doorway, switched out the lights.
  The fire was quite dead now, and the candles had never been re-
lit,  but  after a moment greyness began to filter  through  the
french-windows. The light was just sufficient for  them  to  see
each  other as ghostly forms moving in the darkness,  while  the
body,  lying  in  the circle, was barely visible,  its  position
being indicated by the seven tiny points of light from the cones
of incense burning round it.
  Simon  laid  an unsteady hand on the Duke's arm.  'Is  it-  is
it-quite  safe to do this? I mean, mightn't Mocata have  another
cut  at  us  now  we're  in  the dark and  no  longer  have  the
protection of the pentacle?'
  'No,'  De  Richleau answered decisively. 'He played  his  last
card  tonight when he sent the Dark Angel against us and  caused
Tanith's  death. That stupendous operation will  have  exhausted
his magical powers for the time at least. Come over here, all of
you, and sit down on the floor in a circle.'
  Leading  them over to Tanith's feet he arranged them  so  that
Rex and Marie Lou both had their backs to the body and would  be
spared  the  sight of any manifestations which might take  place
about  it.  He  sat  facing it himself, with Richard  and  Simon
either side of him; all five of them clasped hands.
  Then  he told them that they must preserve complete quiet  and
under  no  circumstances break the circle they  had  formed.  He
warned  them too, that if they felt a sudden cold they were  not
to  be  frightened by it as they had been of the  horrible  wind
which  had swirled so uncannily in that room a few hours before.
It  would  be caused by the ectoplasm which might be drawn  from
Tanith's body and, he went on to add, if a voice addressed  them
they  were  not  to  answer. He would do any talking  which  was
necessary and they were to remain absolutely still until he gave
orders that the circle should be broken up.
  They sat there, hand in hand, in silence, while it seemed that
an  age  was  passing. The square frame of the window  gradually
lightened but so very slowly that it was barely perceptible, and
if  dawn  was breaking at last upon the countryside it was  shut
out from them by the grey, ghostly fog.
  The  cones  of incense burned siowly, giving a strange,  acrid
smell,  mixed  with some queer and sickly eastern perfume.  From
their  position in the circle Richard and Simon  could  see  the
faint  wreaths  of smoke curling up for a few inches  above  the
tiny  points of light to disappear above, lost in the  darkness.
Tanith's  body lay still and motionless, a shadowy outline  upon
the thin mat of makeshift bedding.
  De  Richleau had closed his eyes and bowed his head  upon  his
chest. Once more he was practising that rhythmic, inaudible Raja
Yoga  breathing, which has such power to recruit strength or  to
send it forth, and he was using it now while he concentrated  on
calling the spirit of Tanith to him.
  Richard   watched  the  body  with  curious  expectancy.   His
experience of the last few hours had been too recent for him  to
collate his thoughts, and while he had so sturdily rejected  the
idea  of Black Magic the night before he would more or less have
accepted  the  fact of Spiritualism. It was a much more  general
modern  belief, and this business as far as he could see, except
in  a  few minor particulars such as the incense compounded with
blood,  was very similar to the spiritualistic seances of  which
he had often heard. The only real difference being that, in this
instance, they had a newly dead body to operate on and therefore
were  far  more likely to get results. As time wore on, however,
he  became  doubtful, for if their vigil had lasted  many  hours
this  one,  now  that  he  was  utterly  weary,  seemed  like  a
succession of nights.
  It  was  Simon  who  first  became aware  that  something  was
happening. He was watching the seven cones of incense  intently,
and  it seemed to him that the one which was farthest from  him,
set  at  Tanith's head, gave out a greater amount of smoke  than
the  rest.  Then  he realised that he could see  the  cone  more
clearly  and the eddying curls of aromatic vapour which it  sent
up had taken on a bluish hue which the rest had not.
  He  pressed De Richleau's hand and the Duke raised  his  head.
Richard too had seen it, and as they watched, a faint blue light
became definitely perceptible.
  It  gradually  solidified  into a ball  about  two  inches  in
diameter and moved slowly forward from the head until it reached
the  centre  of Tanith's body. There it remained  for  a  while,
growing in brightness and intensity until it had became a strong
blue  light. Then it rose a little and hovered in the air  above
her,  so  that by its glow they could clearly see the curves  of
her  figure  and her pale, beautiful face, lit by  that  strange
radiance.
  Intensely  alert now, they sat still and watchful,  until  the
ball  of  light began to lose colour and diffuse itself  over  a
wider area. The smoke of the incense wreathed up towards it from
the  seven  metal  platters, and it seemed to gather  this  into
itself,  forming from it the vague outline of a head  and  shoul
ders,  still  cloudy  and  transparent but,  after  another  few
moments,  definitely recognisable as an outline of the  bust  of
the figure which lay motionless beneath it.
  With  pounding  hearts they watched for new developments,  and
now  it  seemed  that  the whole process of materialisation  was
hurried  forward  in a few seconds. The bust joined  itself,  by
throwing out a shadowy torso, to the hips of the dead body,  the
face  and shoulders solidified until the features were distinct,
and the whole became surrounded by an aureole of light.
  Upon the strained silence there came the faintest whisper of a
voice:
  'You called me. I am here.'
  'Are you in truth, Tanith?' De Richleau asked softly.
  'I am.'
  'Do you acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ?'
  'I do.'
  A  sigh  of  relief escaped De Richleau, for he knew  that  no
impersonating  elemental would ever dare to testify  in  such  a
manner, and he proceeded quietly:
  'Do  you  come here of your own free will, or do you  wish  to
depart?'
  'I come because you called, but I am glad to come.'
  'There is one here whose grief for your passing is very great.
He  does not seek to draw you back, but he wishes to know if  it
is  your desire to help him in the protection of his friends and
the destruction of evil for the well-being of the world.'
  'It is my desire.'
  "Will you tell us all that you can of the man Mocata which may
prove of help?'
  'I  cannot, for I am circumscribed by the Law, but you may ask
me  what you will and, because you have summoned me, I am  bound
by your command to answer,'
  'What is he doing now?'
  'Plotting fresh evil against you.'
  'Where is he now?'
  'He is quite near you.'
  'Can you not tell me where?'
  'I do not know. I cannot see distinctly, for he covers himself
with   a   cloak   of  darkness,  but  he  is  still   in   your
neighbourhood.'
  'In the village?'
  'Perhaps.'
  'Where will he be this time tomorrow? '
  'In Paris.'
  'What do you see him doing in Paris?'
  'I  see  him talking with a man who has lost a portion of  his
left ear. It is a tall building. They are both very angry.'
  'Will he stay in Paris for long?'
  'No. I see him moving at great speed towards the rising sun.'
  'Where do you see him next?'
  'Under the earth.'
  'Do you mean that he is dead-to us?'
  'No,  He is in a stone-flagged vault beneath a building  which
is  very  very old. The place radiates evil. The red  vibrations
are  so powerful that I cannot see what he does there. The light
which surrounds me now protects me from such sights.'
  'What is he planning now?'
  To draw me back.'
  'Do  you mean that he is endeavouring to restore your soul  to
your body?'
  'Yes.  He  is already bitterly regretting  that in his   anger
against  you he risked the severance of the two. He could  force
me  to be of great service to him on your plane but he cannot do
so on this.'
  'But is it possible for him to bring you back-permanently?'
  'Yes. If he acts at once. While the moon is still in her  dark
quarter.'
  'Is it your wish to return?'
  'No,  unless I were free of him-but I have no choice. My  soul
is  in pawn until the coming of the new moon. After that I shall
pass on unless he has succeeded.'
  'How will he set about this thing?'
  'There  is  only one way. The full performance  of  the  Black
Mass.'
  'You mean with sacrifice of a Christian child?'
  'Yes.  It is the age-old law, a soul for a soul. That  is  the
only  way  and the soul of a baptised child will be accepted  in
exchange for mine. Then if my body remains uninjured I shall  be
compelled to return to it.'
  'What are--'
  The Duke's next question was cut short by Rex, who could stand
the  strain no longer. He did not know that De Richleau was only
conversing  with Tanith's astral body and thought  that  he  had
succeeded in restoring the corpse which lay behind him, at least
to temporary lif e again.
  'Tanith,'  he cried, breaking the circle and flinging  himself
round. Tanith!'
  In  a  fraction  of  time  the vision  disintegrated  and  dis
appeared. His eyes blazing with anger, De Richleau sprang to his
feet.
  'You fool!' he thundered. 'You stupid fool.' In the pale light
of dawn which was now at last just filtering through the fog, he
glared  at  Rex. Then, as they stood there, angry recriminations
about to burst from their lips, the whole party were arrested in
their every movement and remained transfixed.
  A  shrill,  clear  cry had cut like a knife  into  the  heavy,
incense-laden atmosphere, coming from the room above.
  'That's Fleur,' gasped Marie Lou. 'My precious, what is it?'
  In  an  instant, she was dashing across the room to the little
door  in  the bookshelves which led to the staircase up to  -the
nursery. Yet Richard was before her.
  In two bounds he had reached the door and was fumbling for the
catch.  His trembling fingers found it. He gave a violent  jerk.
The  little metal ring which served to open it came away in  his
hand.
  Precious moments were lost as they clawed at the bookbacks. At
last  it  swung free. Richard pushed Marie Lou through ahead  of
him and followed, pressing at her heels. The others stumbled  up
the old stone stairs in frantic haste behind them.
  They reached the night nursery. Rex ran to the window. It  was
wide open. The grey mist blanketed the garden outside. Marie Lou
dashed  to  the cot. The sheets were tumbled. The imprint  of  a
little body lay there fresh and warm-but Fleur was gone.


                               29

                     Simon Aron Takes a View

  'Here's the way they went,' cried Rex. 'There's a ladder under
this window.'
  'Then  for God's sake get after him,' Richard shouted,  racing
across  the  room.  'If that damn door hadn't  stuck  we'd  have
caught him red-handed-he can't have got far.'
  Rex  was already on the terrace below, Simon shinned down  the
ladder and Richard flung his leg over the sill of the window  to
follow.
  Marie Lou was left alone with De Richleau in the nursery.  She
stared  at  him with round, tearless eyes, utterly  overcome  by
this  new  calamity. The Duke stared back, shaken  to  the  very
depths  by  this appalling thing which he had brought  upon  his
friends. He wanted most desperately to comfort and console  her,
but  realised how hopelessly inadequate anything that  he  could
say  would  be. The thought of that child having been seized  by
the  Satanist  to be offered up in some ghastly  sacrifice,  was
utterly unbearable.
  'Princess,'  he  managed to stammer, 'Princess.'  But  further
words  would not come, and for once in his life he found himself
powerless to deal with a situation.
  Marie  Lou just stood there motionless and staring, held rigid
by  such  extreme  distress  that  she  could  no  longer  think
coherently.
  With  a tremendous effort De Richleau pulled himself together.
He  knew  that he had earned any opprobrium that she and Richard
might choose to heap upon him for having used their house  as  a
refuge,  stated that no harm could befall them if they  followed
his  instructions, and yet been the means of perhaps causing the
death  of the child whom they both idolised. But it was no  time
to  offer himself for the whipping-post now. They must  act  and
quickly.
  'Where is nurse?' he shot out hoarsely.
  'In-in her bedroom.' Marie Lou turned to a door at the end  of
the room which stood ajar.
  'It's  extraordinary that she should not have woken  with  all
this noise,' De Richleau strode over and thrust it open.
  In  Fleur's  nursery a greyness blurred the  outlines  of  the
furniture  and  shadowed the corners of the  room,  but  in  the
nurse's  bedroom,  the curtains being drawn, it  was  still  com
pletely dark.
  The  Duke  jerked on the electric light and saw at  once  that
Fleur's  nannie  was lying peacefully asleep in bed.  He  walked
over  and  touched her swiftly on the shoulder.  'Wake  up,'  he
said, 'wake up!'
  She did not stir, and Marie Lou, who had followed him into the
room,  peered  at the woman's face anxiously, then  cried  on  a
louder note: 'Wake up, nannie! Wake up!'
  De  Richleau shook the nurse roughly now, but her head  rolled
helplessly  upon  her  shoulders and her eyes  remained  tightly
shut.
  'She's been drugged, I suppose,' Marie Lou said miserably.
  'I  don't think so.' The Duke bent over and sniffed. 'There is
no  smell of chloroform or anything here. It's more likely  that
Mocata  plunged  her  into  a deep hypnotic  sleep  directly  he
arrived. Best leave her,' he added after a moment. 'She'll  wake
in  due course, and obviously she cannot tell us anything if she
has been in a heavy induced sleep all the time.'
  They  returned  to the nursery and the Duke  switched  on  the
lights there to make a thorough examination. Almost at once  his
eye  fell on a paper which lay at the foot of Fleur's empty cot.
He  snatched  it  up and quickly scanned the close,  typewritten
lines.
  Please  do  not  worry  about the little  girl.  She  will  be
returned   to  you  tomorrow  morning  providing  that   certain
conditions are complied with. These are as follows:
  In  this  exceptional case I have been compelled to resort  to
unusual  methods which bring me within the scope of the  law.  I
have  no  doubt, therefore, that one of you will suggest calling
in  the  police  to  trace  the child.  Any  such  action  might
embarrass  my  operations and therefore  you  are  not  to  even
consider such a proceeding. You cannot doubt by now that I  have
ways  and  means of informing myself regarding all your  actions
and,  in  the  event  of your disobeying my injunction  in  this
respect,  I shall immediately take steps which will ensure  that
you never recover the child alive.
  My failure last night was regrettable, since it has caused the
death  of  a  young  woman  recently  discovered  by  me  as  an
exceptional medium, for whom I might have had some further  use.
Mr. Van Ryn removed her body while I slept and it is now in your
keeping; I am anxious that every care should be taken of it. You
will  leave the body just as it is in your library until further
instructions  and  refrain  from  taking  any  steps  towards  a
coroner's examination or its burial. If you disobey me  in  this
matter, I shall command certain forces at my disposal, of  which
Monsieur Le Duc de Richleau may be able to inform you,  to  take
possession of it.
  All  of  you will confine yourselves in the libary during  the
coming  day, giving such reasons as you choose to your  servants
that you are not to be disturbed.
  Lastly,  my  friend Simon Aron is to rejoin  me  for  the  con
tinuance of those experiments in which we are engaged.  He  will
leave  the  house alone at mid-day and proceed on  foot  to  the
cross-roads  which  lie a mile and a half to the  south-west  of
Cardinals  Folly, where I shall arrange for him to be  met  and,
having  surrendered himself to my representative, he must  agree
to  give  me  his  willing co-operation in the ritual  to  Satan
tonight,  which is necessary for the rediscovery of the Talisman
of Set.
  If  any  of  these injunctions are disregarded  in  the  least
degree,  you  already know the penalty, but if they are  carried
out  to  my entire satisfaction, Simon Aron shall return to  you
sane  and well after I have carried out my operations,  and  the
child  shall  be  restored as innocent  and  happy  as  she  was
yesterday.
  Marie Lou read the document over De Richleau's shoulder.
  'Oh, what are we to do?' she wailed, wringing her hands to-
  gether.  'Greyeyes, this is too awful. What are  we  going  to
do?'
  'God  knows,' De Richleau muttered miserably. 'He has the whip
hand of us now with a vengeance. The devil of it is that I don't
trust  his promise to return the child even if Simon is game  to
sacrifice himself.'
  At  that  moment Simon's head appeared above the window  sill,
and he scrambled up the last rungs of the ladder into the room.
  'Well!' the Duke shot at him, but Simon shook his head.
  "The  three  of  us have been round the grounds  but  in  this
filthy  fog it's impossible to see any distance. He's got  clean
away by now.'
  'I feared as much,' the Duke murmured despondently, and with a
new  access  of miserable unhappiness, he watched Richard  climb
into the room.
  'Not a trace,' Richard exclaimed hoarsely. 'No footmarks, even
on the flower beds, to show which way he went. Where the hell is
nurse? I'll sack the woman for her damned incompetence, With her
door  ajar, there's no excuse for her not having heard Flew  cry
out.'
  'It was not her fault,' said De Richleau mildly. 'Mocata threw
her  into a deep sleep and she is sleeping still. Until the time
he has set it will be impossible to rouse her.'
  Rex followed the others through the window, muttering angrily:
'This  filthy mist! A dozen toughs might be racketing round  the
garden, but we'd never get a sight of them. Is it supposed to be
daylight yet, or isn't it?'
  Simon  glanced  at  the  clock  on  the  nursery  mantelpiece.
'According  to  this it's only ten to five. Surely  it  must  be
later than that.'
  'It's stopped,' announced Richard, 'but it can't be much after
half  past six, or the servants would be getting up, and when  I
ran  round  the  far side of the house just now, there  were  no
lights in their windows.'
  'All  the  better,' said the Duke abruptly. 'Mocata's  left  a
letter, Richard, with certain instructions which he orders us to
carry out if Fleur is tp remain unharmed.'
  'Let's see it.' Richard held out his hand.
  De  Richleau  hesitated. 'I'd rather you read it when  we  are
downstairs again, if you don't mind. It doesn't help us for  the
present  and  there are certain things which  we  should  do  at
once-before the servants start moving about.'
  'Good  Lord, man! I mean to have the lot of them  out  o?  bed
inside ten minutes. We shall need their help.'
  'I wish, instead, that while I connect the telephone again and
see  if I can find out anything from the inn, you would write  a
brief  note  to Malm saying that our experiments  are  still  in
progress and that we are to be left undisturbed in this wing  of
the house for the whole day.'
  'If you think I'm going to stay here twiddling my thumbs while
Fleur's in danger-you're crazy!' cried Richard indignantly.
  The Duke knew that his suggestion of continued inactivity must
make  his apparent negligence seem even worse, but he had  never
yet  been  known to lose his head in a crisis and he managed  to
keep his voice quiet and even.
  'I  would like you to see this letter first and talk  it  over
with  Marie  Lou before you do anything reckless.  In  any  case
Tanith's body is still downstairs. It must remain there for  the
moment  and that is quite sufficient reason for the servants  to
be  kept  away  from  the library. You, Rex,  go  along  to  the
kitchen, take Simon with you, and between you bring us back  the
best  cold  meal  that you can muster. We're half  starved,  and
fasting  has  its limits of usefulness, even in an  affair  like
this.'
  Marie Lou stood there listening to the argument. She could not
really  believe that this awful thing had actually  happened  to
her.  If  she  had lost Fleur she would die. Even Richard  would
never  be able to console her. It simply could not be true.  The
four  men were phantoms-talking-, yet she could see every object
in the room with a curious supernormal clarity. Strange that she
had  never noticed one handle on the old walnut chest of drawers
to  be  odd  before, or that one of the wires in  the  fireguard
protruded a little. Fleur might cut herself if she fell  against
it.  She  must tell nannie to have it seen to tomorrow. Yet  all
the  time these thoughts were drifting through her mind she  was
conscious  of what the others were saying and of an urgent  need
to   comfort  De  Richleau.  Her  poor  'Greyeyes'  was  feeling
desperately  unhappy,  she  knew,  and  held  himself   entirely
responsible  for the terrible thing which could not possibly  be
true.  When he mentioned breakfast she said at once: 'I will  go
down and cook you some eggs or something.'
  'No,  no, my dear,' De Richleau looked round and then  lowered
his eyes quickly, his heart wrung at the sight of her dead-white
face.  'Please  go down to the library and read this  letter  of
Mocata's  through again quietly with Richard. Then you can  talk
it over together and will have made up your minds what you think
best by the time the rest of us get back.'
  Richard gave in to the Duke's wishes for the moment. They  all
descended  to the ground floor again and, when the  other  three
had gone off to the kitchen quarters, he remained with Marie Lou
and read Mocata's letter quickly.
  As  he  finished he looked up at her in miserable  indecision.
'My poor sweet. This is ghastly for you.'
  'It's  just  as bad for you,' she said softly.  Then,  with  a
little  cry,  she flung her arms round his neck.  'Oh,  Richard,
darling, what are we to do? '
  'Dearest.' He hugged her to him, soothing her gently  as  best
he  could  now that the storm had broken. Her small body  heaved
with  desperate sobbing, while great tears ran down her  cheeks,
falling in large, damp splashes upon his hands and neck.
  As  he  held  her, murmuring little phrases of endearment  and
optimistic  comfort, he thought her weeping would  never  cease.
Her  body trembled as it was swept with terrible emotion at  the
loss of her cherished Fleur.
  'Marie  Lou,  my angel,' he whispered softly,  'try  and  pull
yourself together, do, or else you'll have me breaking  down  as
well  in a minute. No harm can have happened to her yet, and  it
isn't  likely to until tonight at the earliest. Even then, he'll
think  twice  before  he carries out his  threat.  Only  a  fool
destroys  his  hostage to spite his enemy. Mocata may  be  every
sort  of  rogue, but he's a civilised one at least, so he  won't
maltreat her in any way, you can be sure of that, and if we only
play  our cards properly, we'll get her back before it comes  to
any question of his carrying out this appalling threat.'
  'But  what  can  we do, Richard? What can we do?'  she  cried,
looking at him wildly from large, tear-dimmed eyes.
  'Get  after  him  the  second the others come  back,'  Richard
declared promptly. 'He's human, isn't he? He had to use a ladder
to  get up to the nursery just like any other thug. If we act at
once we'll have him under lock and key by nightfall.'
  De Richleau's quiet voice broke in from behind them, 'You have
decided, then, to call in the police?'
  'Of  course.' Richard turned to stare at him. 'This is totally
different  from last night's affair. It is a case of kidnapping,
pure  and simple, and I'm going to pull every gun I know to  get
the police of the whole country after him in the next half hour.
If  you've  reconnected that line, I'll get straight through  to
Scotland Yard-now.'
  'Yes, the telephone is all right. I've been through to the inn
and  had  old  Wilkes out of bed. He remembers  Rex  and  Tanith
dining  there last night, of course, but when I described Mocata
to  him,  he  said  he hadn't seen anyone who  answers  to  that
description there at all, either yesterday or this morning. Have
you written that letter for the servants?'
  'Not yet. I will.' Richard left the library just as Simon  and
Rex  came in, carrying a collection of plates and dishes on  two
trays,  prominent upon which were a large China teapot  and  the
half of a York ham.
  'Please don't phone Scotland Yard just yet,' Marie Lou  called
after  Richard. 'I simply must talk to you again before we  burn
our boats.'
  'The  Duke  gave  her  a  sharp glance  from  under  his  grey
eyebrows. 'You are not then in favour of calling in the police?'
  'I  don't  know what to do,' she confessed miserably. 'Richard
is so sane and practical that I suppose he's right, but you read
the  letter and I should never forgive myself if our calling  in
the police forced Mocata's hand. Do you-do you really think that
he has the power to find out if we go against his instructions?'
  De  Richleau  nodded. 'I'm afraid so. But Simon can  tell  you
more of his capabilities in that direction than I can.'
  Simon  and  Rex  had  put down their trays  and  were  reading
Mocata's letter together. The former looked up swiftly.
  'Um.  He can see things when he wants to in that mirror I told
you  of,  and  once  he gets to London he'll  have  half-a-dozen
mediums  that he can throw into a trance to pick us up. It  will
be  child's play for a man of his powers to find out if we leave
this room.'
  'That's my view,' the Duke agreed. 'And if we once turn to the
police,  we  have either to go to them or else bring them  here.
Telephoning  won't be sufficient. They will want photographs  of
Fleur  and to question every one concerned, so Mocata  stands  a
pretty good chance of seeing us in conference with them,  if  he
keeps  us  under psychic observation, whichever way  we  set  to
work.'
  'We  should  be mad to even think of it,' said Simon  jerkily.
'It's pretty useless for me to say I'm sorry, but I brought this
whole trouble on you all and there's only one thing to do,  that
obvious.'
  'For us to sit here like a lot of dummies while you go off  to
give yourself up at twelve o'clock, I suppose?' Richard, who had
just rejoined them, cut in acidly.
  'I   have  been  expecting  that,  knowing  Simon,'  the  Duke
observed.  'Terrible as the consequences  may  be  for  him  and
although  the  idea  of surrender makes my  blood  boil  I  must
confess that I think he's right, with certain modifications!
  'Oh,   isn't  there  some  other  way?'  Marie  Lou  exclaimed
desperately,  catching at Simon's hand.  'It's  too  awful  that
because  of  our own trouble we-should even talk of  sacrificing
you.'
  One  of  those rare smiles that made him such a lovable person
lit  Simon's face. 'Ner,' he said softly, 'it's been  my  muddle
from  the beginning. I'm terribly grateful to you all for trying
to  get me out of it, but Mocata's been too much for us,  and  I
must throw my hand in now. It's the only thing to do.'
  'It  is  my damned incompetence which has let us in for this,'
grunted  the Duke. 'I deserve to take your place, Simon,  and  I
would-you know that-if it were the least use. The devil of it is
that it's you he wants, not me.'
  Rex  had been cutting thin slices from the ham and pouring out
the  tea.  Richard  took a welcome cup of his  favourite  Orange
Pekoe from him and said firmly:
  'Stop talking nonsense, for God's sake I Neither of you is  to
blame.  After what we've all been through together in  the  past
you  did quite rightly to come here. Who should we look  to  for
help  in'times of trouble if not each other? If I was in a  real
tight corner I shouldn't hesitate to involve either of you-and I
know  that Marie Lou feels the same. This blow couldn't possibly
have  been  foreseen by anyone. It was just- well,  call  it  an
accident, and the responsibility for protecting Fleur  was  ours
every  bit as much as yours. Now let's get down to what we  mean
to do.'
  'That's  decent of you, Richard.' De Richleau tried to  smile,
knowing  what it must have cost his friend to ease their feeling
of guilt when he must be so desperately anxious about his child.
  'Damned decent,' Simon echoed. 'But all the same I'm going  to
keep  the  appointment Mocata's made for me. It's the only  hope
we've got.'
  Richard stuck out his chin. 'You're not, old chap. You  placed
yourself  in my hands by coming to rny house, and I  won't  have
it. The business we went through last night scared me as much as
anyone, I admit it; but because Greyeyes has proved right  about
Satanic  manifestations, there is no reason for you all to  lose
your sense of proportion about what the evil powers can do. They
have  their  limitations,  just  like  anything  else.  Greyeyes
admitted  last night that they were based on natural  laws,  and
this  swine's gone outside them. He's operating now  in  country
that is strange to him. He confesses as much in his letter.  You
can  see  he is scared of calling in the police, and that's  the
very  way  we're going to get him. You people seem to have  lost
your nerve.'
  'No,' the Duke said sadly. 'I haven't lost my nerve, but  look
at  it if you like on the basis which you suggest, Richard- that
this is a perfectly normal kidnapping. Say Fleur were being held
to  ransom by a group of unscrupulous gangsters, such as operate
in  the States, the gang being in a position to to know what  is
going  on  in your house. They have threatened to kill Fleur  if
you  bring  the  police into the business.  Now,  would  you  be
prepared to risk that in such circumstances?'
  'No, I should pay up, as most wretched parents seem to, on the
off-chance  that the gang gave me a square deal and  I  got  the
child  back unharmed. But this is different. I'll stake my  oath
that  Mocata  means to double-cross us anyhow. If it  were  only
Simon  that he wanted he might be prepared to let us have  Fleur
back  in  exchange. You seem to forget what Tanith told you.  He
doesn't know that we know his intentions, but she was absolutely
definite  on three points. One, he means to do his damnedest  to
bring her back. Two, he will fail unless he makes the attempt in
the  next few days. Three, the only way that can be done  is  by
performing  a  full  Black Mass, including the  sacrifice  of  a
baptised  child. Kidnappings take time to plan  in  a  civilised
country  unless  you want the police on your track.  Mocata  has
succeeded  in  one  where he thinks there is a  fair  chance  of
keeping  the police out of it, and no one in their senses  could
suggest  that  he's the sort of man who would run  the  risk  of
doing another just for the joy of keeping his word with us. It's
as  clear as daylight that he is using Fleur as bait to get hold
of  Simon and then he'll do us down by killing the child in  the
end.'
  De Richleau slit open a roll and slipped a slice of ham inside
it. 'Well,' he said as he began to trim the ragged edges neatly,
'it  is for you and Marie Lou to decide. The prospect of sitting
in  this  room for hours on end doing nothing is about the  grim
mest I've ever had to face in a pretty crowded lifetime. I would
give most things I really value for a chance to have another cut
at him. The only thing that deters me for one moment is the risk
to Fleur.'
  'I  know  that well enough,' Richard acknowledged, 'but  I  am
convinced our only chance of seeing her alive again is  to  call
in  the  police,  and  trust  to running  him  to  earth  before
nightfall.'
  'I  wouldn't,'  Simon  shook his head, 'I  wouldn't  honestly,
Richard. He's certain to find out if we take steps against  him.
We shall waste hours here being questioned by the local bigwigs,
and it's a hundred to one against their being able to corner him
in  a  single day. Fleur is safe for the moment-for  God's  sake
don't  make things worse than they are. I know the man and  he's
as  heartless as a snake. It's signing Fleur's death warrant  to
try and tackle him like this.'
  Marie Lou listened to these conflicting arguments in miserable
indecision. She was torn violently from side to side by each  in
turn.  Simon spoke with such absolute conviction that it  seemed
certain  Richard's suggested intervention would precipitate  her
child's death, and yet she felt, too, how right Richard  was  in
his  belief  that Mocata was certain to double-cross  them,  and
having  trapped them into surrendering Simon, retain  Fleur  for
this  abominable sacrifice which Tanith had told them he was  so
anxious  to  make. The horns of the dilemma seemed to  join  and
form  a  vicious circle which went round and round in her aching
head.
  The  others  fell  silent and Richard looked  across  at  her.
'Well, dearest, which is it to be?'
  'Oh, I don't know,' she moaned. 'Both sides seem right and yet
the risk is so appalling either way.'
  He  laid his hand gently on her hair. 'It's beastly having  to
make  such  a decision, and if we were alone in this I  wouldn't
dream  of  asking you. I'd do what I thought best myself  unless
you were dead against it, but as the others disagree with me  so
strongly what can I do but ask you to decide?'
  Wringing  her  hands  together in agonised  distress  at  this
horrible  problem  with which she was faced,  Marie  Lou  looked
desperately from side to side, then her glance fell on  Rex.  He
was sitting hunched up in a dejected attitude on the far side of
Tanith's  body, his eyes fixed in hopeless misery  on  the  dead
girl's face.
  'Rex,'  she  said hoarsely, 'you haven't said what  you  think
yet. Both these alternatives seem equally ghastly to me. What do
you advise?'
  'Eh?'  He looked up quickly 'It's mighty difficult and  I  was
just  trying  to  figure it out. I hate  the  thought  of  doing
nothing,  waiting about when you've got a packet of  trouble  is
just real hell to me, and I'd like to get after this bird with a
gun. But Simon's so certain that if we did it would be fatal  to
Fleur,  and I guess the Duke thinks that way to. They both  know
him, you must remember, and Richard doesn't, which is a point to
them,  but  I've got a hunch that we are barking  up  the  wrong
tree,  and  that  this  is a case for what  Greyeyes  calls  his
masterly policy of inactivity. The old game of giving the  enemy
enough rope so he'll hang himself in the end.
  'Any sort of compromise is all against my nature, but I reckon
it's  the only policy that offers now. If we stay put here  and-
carry out Mocata's instructions to the letter, we'll at least be
satisfied in our minds that we are not bringing any fresh danger
on  Fleur.  But let's go that far and no farther.  We  all  know
Simon is willing enough to cash in his checks, but I don't think
we ought to let him. Instead, we'll keep him here. That is going
to  force Mocata to scratch his head a whole heap. He'll not  do
Fleur  in before he's had another cut at getting hold of  Simon,
so  it will be up to him to make the next move in the game,  and
that  may give us a fresh opening. The situation can't be  worse
than it is at present, and when he shows his hand again, given a
spot of luck, we might be able to ring the changes on him yet.'
  De Richleau smiled, for the first time in days, it seemed. 'My
friend, I salute you,' he said, with real feeling in his  voice.
'I  am  growing old, I think, or I should have thought  of  that
myself.  It is by far and away the most sensible thing that  any
of us have suggested yet.'
  With  a  sigh  of relief, Marie Lou moved over  and,  stooping
down, kissed Rex on the cheek. 'Rex, darling, bless you. In  our
trouble  we've  been forgetting yours, and it is very  wonderful
that  you  should have thought of a real way out for us  in  the
midst  of  your  sorrow. I dreaded having to make that  decision
just  now  more than anything that I have had to do in my  whole
life.'
  He  smiled  rather wanly. "That's all right, darling.  There's
nothing so mighty clever about it, but it gives us time, and you
must try and comfort yourself with the thought that time and the
angels are on our side.'
  Even  Richard's  frantic  anxiety to set  out  immediately  in
search  of his Fleur d'amour was overcome for the time being  by
Rex's so obviously sensible suggestion. In his agitation he  had
eaten  nothing yet, but now he sat down to cut some  sandwiches,
and  set about persuading Marie Lou that she must eat the  first
of them in order to keep up her strength. Then he looked over at
the Duke.
  'I  left  that  note for Malin where he's  bound  to  see  it-
slipped  it  under his bedroom door, so we shan't  be  disturbed
here. Is there anything at all that we can do?'
  'Nothing, I fear, only possess ourselves with such patience as
we  can,  but  we're all at about the end of our tether,  so  we
ought to try and get some sleep. If Mocata makes some fresh move
this  evening  it's on the cards that we shall be up  again  all
night.'
  'I'll  get  some  cushions,'  Simon  volunteered.  'I  suppose
there's no harm in bringing used articles into this room now?'
  'None. You had better collect all the stuff you can and  we'll
make up some temporary beds on the floor.'
  Simon,  Richard  and  Rex left the room  and  returned  a  few
moments later with piles of cushions and all the rugs that  they
could find. They placed some fresh logs on the smouldering ashes
of the fire and then set about laying out five makeshift resting-
places.
  When they had finished, Marie Leu allowed Richard to lead  her
over  to  one  of them and tuck her up, although  she  protested
that,  exhausted  though she was, she would  never  be  able  to
sleep.  The  rest  lay down, and then Richard switched  out  the
light.
  Full  day had come at last, but it was of little use, for  the
range  of  vision was limited to about fifteen yards.  The  mist
outside the windows seemed, if anything, denser than before, and
it  swirled and eddied in curling wreaths above the damp  stones
of  the  terrace,  muffling the noises of  the  countryside  and
shutting out the light.
  None  of  them  felt that they would be able to  sleep.  Rex's
gnawing  sorrow  for Tanith preyed upon his  mind.  The  others,
racked  with  anxiety  for Fleur, turned restlessly  upon  their
cushions.  Every now and then they heard Marie Lou give  way  to
fits  of sobbing as though her heart would break. But the stress
of  those terrible night hours and the emotions they had  passed
through since had exhausted them completely. Marie Lou's  bursts
of  sobbing became quieter and then ceased. Richard fell into an
uneasy  doze. De Richleau and Rex breathed evenly, sunk at  last
in a heavy sleep.
  Hours  later Marie Lou was dreaming that she was seated in  an
ancient library reading a big, old-fashioned book, the cover  of
which  was  soft and hairy like a wolf's skin, and that  as  she
read  it  a  circle of iron was bound about her head.  Then  the
scene changed. She was in the pentacle again, and that loathsome
sack-like Thing was attacking Fleur. She awoke -started up  with
a sudden scream of fear.
  Her  waking  was little better than the nightmare when  memory
flooded  back  into her mind. Yet that too and the present  only
seemed  other  phases  of the frightful dream;  the  comfortable
library  denuded of its furniture; Tanith's dead body  lying  in
the  centre of the floor and the dimness of the room from  those
horrible  fog  banks shutting out the sunshine. They  could  not
possibly be anything but figments of the imagination.
  The  men  had  roused at once, and crowded round her,  shadowy
figures in the uncertain light. De Richleau pressed the electric
switch.  They  blinked  a  little,  and  looked  at  each  other
sleepily,  then their eyes turned to the place where  Simon  had
lain. With one thought their glances shifted to the window and
  they  knew  that while they slept their friend had  gone  out,
into that ghostly unnatural night, to keep his grim appointment.


                               30

                        Out Into the Fog

  It  was  Rex  who  noticed the chalk marks on  the  floor.  He
stepped  over and saw that Simon, lacking pencil and paper,  had
used  these  means  to  leave them a short  message.  Slowly  he
deciphered the scribbled words and read them out:

          'Please don't fuss or try to come after me. This is my
          muddle,  so  am keeping appointment. Do as Mocata  has
          ordered.  Am  certain that is only  chance  of  saving
          Fleur.
                                      Love to all.       Simon.'

  'Aw,  Hell!'  exclaimed Rex as he finished. 'The  dear  heroic
little sap has gone and put paid to my big idea. Mocata has  got
him and Fleur now on top of having killed Tanith. If you ask  me
we're properly sunk.'
  De  Richleau groaned. 'It is just like him. We ought  to  have
guessed that he would do this.'
  'You're  right there,' Richard agreed sadly. 'I've  known  him
longer  than  any of you, and I did my damnedest to prevent  him
sacrificing  himself for nothing, but it seems to me  he's  only
done the very thing you said he should.'
  'That's  not quite fair,' the Duke protested mildly.  'I  only
said   I   thought  it  right  that  he  should   with   certain
modifications. I had it in my mind that we might follow him at a
distance. We should have arrived at the rendezvous before Mocata
could have known that we had left this place, and we might  have
pulled  something off. As it was, I thought Rex's idea  so  much
better that I abandoned mine.'
  'I'm  sorry,'  Richard  apologised huskily.  'But  Simon's  my
oldest friend you know, and this on top of all the rest:'
  'Do  you-do  you think the poor sweet is right, and  that  his
having  given  himself up will be of any use?'  whispered  Marie
Lou.
  Richard shrugged despondently. 'Not the least, dearest. I hate
to  seem ungracious, and you all know how devoted I am to  Simon
but  in his anxiety to do the right thing he's handed Mocata our
only decent card. We can sit here till Doomsday, but there's  no
chance  now of making any fresh move which might give us  a  new
opening.  We've  wasted the Lord knows how many precious  hours,
and  we're  in  a worse hole than we were before. I'm  going  to
carry out my original intention and get on to the police.'
  'I  wouldn't do that,' Rex caught him by the arm. 'It'll  only
mean our wasting further time in spilling long dispositions to a
bunch  of  cops, and you're all wrong about our not having  made
anything  on  the  new deal. We've had a sleep which  we  needed
mighty  badly,  and we've lulled Mocata into a  false  sense  of
security. Just because we've remained put here all morning  like
he  said and Simon's come over with the goods, he'll think  he's
sitting  pretty  now and maybe let up on his supervision  stunt.
Let's  cut  out  bothering with the police  and  get  after  him
ourselves this minute.'
  Marie  Lou  shivered slightly and then nodded. 'Rex is  right,
you  know.  Mocata  has got what he wants now,  so  it  is  very
unlikely  that he is troubling to keep us under observation  any
more, but how do you propose to try to find him?'
  'We will go straight to Paris,' De Richleau announced, with  a
display  of his old form. 'You remember Tanith told us  that  by
tonight he would be there holding a conversation with a man  who
had  lost  the upper portion of his left ear. That is Castelnau,
the  banker, I am certain, so the thing for us to do is to  make
for Paris and hunt him out.'
  'How do you figure on getting there?' asked the practical Rex.
  'By  plane, of course. Mocata is obviously travelling that way
or  he could never get there by tonight. Richard must take us in
his  four-seater,  and if Mocata has to motor  all  the  way  to
Croydon  before he can make a start, we'll be there before  him.
Is your plane hi commission, Richard?'
  'Yes,  the plane's all right. It's in the hangar at the bottom
of  the  meadow, and when I took her out three days ago she  was
running  perfectly.  I don't much like the  look  of  this  fog,
though, although, of course, it's probably only a ground mist.'
  They  all glanced out of the window again. The grey murk still
hung  over  the terrace, shutting out the view of the Botticelli
garden  where,  on  this early May morning, the  polyanthus  and
forget-me-nots and daffodils, shedding their green cocoons, were
bursting into colourful life.
  'Let's  go,'  said  Rex,  impatiently. 'De  Richleau's  right.
'You'd  best get some clothes on, then we'll beat it  for  Paris
the second you're fit.'
  The  rest followed him out into the hall and upstairs  to  the
rooms  above.  The house was silent and seemingly deserted.  The
servants  were obviously taking Richard's orders in  their  most
literal  sense  and, released for once from their  daily  tasks,
enjoying an unexpected holiday in their own quarters.
  Marie  Lou looked into the nursery and almost broke down again
for a moment as she once more saw the empty cot, but she hurried
past  it  to  the  nurse's bedroom and  found  the  woman  still
sleeping soundly.
  In  Richard's  dressing-room the men made hasty  preparations,
Rex  was clad in the easy lounge suit which he had put on in  De
Richleau's flat, but Richard and the Duke were still in pyjamas.
When they were dressed Richard fitted the others out as well  as
he  could with top clothes for their journey. The Duke was easy,
being  only  a  little taller than himself,  and  a  big  double
overcoat  was found for Rex, into which he managed  to  scramble
despite the breadth of his enormous shoulders. Marie Lou  joined
them  a  few  moments  later, clad in her breeches  and  leather
flying  coat,  which she always used whenever she went  up  with
Richard.
  Downstairs  again, they paused in the library to make  another
hurried meal. Then the door was locked, and after casting a last
unhappy  glance  at Tanith's body, which remained  unaltered  in
appearance, Rex led the way out on the terrace.
  They walked quickly down the gravel path beside the Botticelli
border,  the  sound  of  their footsteps  muffled  by  the  all-
pervading  mist-through Marie Lou's own garden,  with  its  long
herbaceous   borders,  and  past  the  old   sundial-round   the
quadrangles  of tessellated pavement which fell in a  succession
of  little  terraces to the pond garden, with its water  lilies,
and so to the meadow beyond.
  When they reached the hangar Richard and Rex ran out the plane
and  got  it in order for the flight. De Richleau stood watching
their  operations  with  Marie Lou  beside  him,  both  of  them
fretting  a  little at the necessary delay, since now  that  the
vital  decision  had been taken every member of  the  party  was
impatient to set out,
  They  settled  themselves in the comfortable four-seater.  Rex
swung  the propeller, well accustomed to the ways of aeroplanes,
and  the engine purred upon a low steady note. He watched it for
a  second, and then, as he scrambled aboard, there came the long
conventional cry: 'All set.'
  The  plane moved slowly forward into the dank mist. The hedges
and  trees  on either side were shut out by banks  of  fog,  but
Richard  knew  the  ground so well that  he  felt  confident  of
judging  his  distance and direction. He taxied  over  the  even
grass  of the long field, and turned to rise. The plane  lifted,
touched ground again gently twice, and they were off.
  As they left the earth a new feeling came over Richard. He was
passionately  fond  of  flying, and it always  filled  him  with
exhilaration,  but this was different. It was as though  he  had
suddenly  come out into the daylight after having  been  walking
down  a  long,  dark,  smoky tunnel  for  many  hours.  At  long
intervals there had been brightly lit recesses in the  sides  of
it  where  figures stood like tableaux at a waxworks  show.  The
slug-like  Thing  and Fleur; Rex standing  at  the  window  with
Tanith  in  his arms; Simon whispering something  to  the  Duke;
Marie Lou's face as she stood with her hand resting on the  rail
of  Fleur's  empty  cot, and a dozen others. The  rest  of  that
strange  journey  he  seemed to have  made,  consisted  of  long
periods of blankness only punctuated by little cries of fear and
scraps of reiterated argument, the purpose of which he could  no
longer  remember. Now-his brain was clear again, and he  settled
himself with new purpose to handle the plane with all his skill.
  In  those few moments they had risen clear of the ground  mist
and  were  soaring upwards into the blue above. As  De  Richleau
looked  down he saw a very curious thing. Not only was  the  fog
that  had hemmed them in local, but it seemed to be concentrated
entirely  upon  Cardinals  Folly. He could  just  make  out  the
chimneys of the house rising in its centre, as from a grey  sea,
and from the buildings it spread out in a circular formation for
half  a  mile or so on every side, hiding the gardens  from  his
view  and  obscuring  the  meadows between  the  house  and  the
village, but beyond, all was clear in the brilliant sunshine  of
the earfy summer afternoon.
  Rex  was beside Richard in the cockpit. Automatically  he  had
taken  on  the  job of navigator, and, like Richard,  his  brain
numbed  before  with  misery, had started to  fu