 21. I was afraid that something like this might happen," said Issa Ramal, with a piercing glance at Headley Seaman's, who had managed even in that brief space to regain command of his features, although he was unable to call the colour back to his face. Did Her Highness try to take her hands from yours? Yes, that is to say, I felt them begin to tremble when we began to see, well, I suppose I needn't tell you what we saw, and did you try to hold them longer when she attempted to withdraw them? continued the director, who was now standing behind the princess's chair, supporting her head against the back with one hand, and with the other stroking her face very gently with a downward motion. Well, to tell you the truth, doctor, replied the Gold King a little awkwardly, I did. You see, I was getting interested. It is not every day that a man sees into the working of a woman's brain, and begins to read her soul like a page of the plainest print. No doubt, replied the other with a grave smile, that, I suppose, is only ordinary human nature. Still, it was fortunate that Her Highness got her hands away from yours as soon as she did. Indeed, I suppose you mean that the consequences might have been serious. Of course, I am very sorry that the experiment ended as it did, not only for my own sake, but for the princesses. Ah, I see your treatment is beginning to have a good effect. Yes, replied Issa Ramal. So far it was only a shock which resulted in a fainting fit, but I do not wish her, for her own sake, to return to consciousness before she sleeps. Much will depend upon that, but if you had been successful in holding her hands and compelling her to continue the experiment, a few moments more might have wrecked her reason, possibly even caused her death. Now, you see, her eyes have closed, and she is beginning to sleep quietly. That is the only remedy we can hope for. Near me I had no idea that it was such a serious matter as that, exclaimed Siemens, getting up from his chair. Candidly, doctor, I must admit that I went into this thing with a very considerable amount of skepticism, but I hardly need tell you now that I am quite convinced, as I have not the slightest doubt Her Highness will be when she comes to herself again. Really, I had no idea that we were playing with fire of that sort, but what are we going to do with the princess? Have you anyone who can attend to her? Of course," replied the doctor, continuing the motion of his hand over his patient's face. Her Highness can be moved very soon now. If you will be kind enough to press the button beside the door there, just wear the curtain's part. Twice quickly, and once in a moment or two, Rom Doss will come. Then we will take her to another room, and his wife, who is as skillful a nurse as there is in England, shall do everything that is necessary for her. I can assure you that Her Highness could not possibly be left in better hands, and, if my treatment has been successful, I shall hope for her own sake that she will awake, thinking nothing more of this experience than if it had been an evil dream. And for her sake, and to a certain extent for my own, I most sincerely trust you will be successful," replied Hedley Siemens, with a smile full of meaning, as he put his finger on the button and pressed it as he had been told. A few minutes later, when Princess Natyev had been safely delivered into the care of the Indian nurse, they were back in the director's sitting-room. And now, sir, having seen what you have seen, and having admitted that you are convinced of the possibility of seeing an unveiled human soul, he said almost sternly to his guest, I shall ask you whether you are satisfied with what you have seen, or whether you are in a mind to pursue the experiment further. Yes, doctor," replied the millionaire, meeting his inquiring glance quite steadily. Yes, I am convinced. You know, of course, that I am not only what the world sees me, a mere soulless man of business who cares nothing for anything except the piling of millions on millions. That I am. Money-making is my hobby, my amusement, and, of course, I don't deny that I like the power that money brings, but, as you know too, I am also something of a student of the mysteries of existence, a dreamer of dreams, if you like. Wherefore, now that you have convinced the man of affairs that this marvelous piece of mechanism of yours, whatever it may be, really does work miracles, it is only natural that the dreamer, the student, should wish to see more. In short, as far as I am concerned, I am ready to begin the experiment again with anyone whom you may select, with yourself even, and carry it through, no matter what the consequences may be. Does that satisfy you of my sincerity? I have never doubted it since you entered the room and took your place at the table," replied the director, but even again I must warn you that the consequences may be very serious. That I admit, of course, interrupted the other. But how serious? That was the reply. Is a question which I cannot answer quite definitely. You must remember that the revelation of one human soul to another is a very serious, nay, a very solemn thing. Remember that it means the opening of that inmost citadel in which the actual self of a human being has for ages, yes, even from the beginning of human evolution until now, remained unseen, apart and alone. During this incomplete experiment with the princess, you only saw the door of that citadel slightly ajar, just as she did in your case. What you might have seen had it been thrown wide open, as it would have been, no man can say, and, therefore, if you choose to continue the experiment, you must be prepared to have the inmost secrets of your own soul laid bare to the gaze of another man. Are you ready to take such a risk as that might be? Most decidedly, if they can be got at, replied the gold king, and, under any circumstances, I think I would rather trust them to a man than a woman. Now, who is the man to be? Yourself, I presume? No, said Isar Ramal quietly, yet with a deep meaning in his tone. It will not be myself. I have no desire at present to add my knowledge of human nature. If you are determined to continue the experiment, the man who will see into your soul, and into whose soul you will see, will be dead. Eh? What is that, you say? Interrupted the millionaire, with a very visible start, which he was totally unable to disguise. Dead, did you say? Surely you can hardly be serious. At any rate, he went on with a perceptible hardening of his tone. I may as well say at once, doctor, that although I adhere to all that I have said, I do not propose to be made the subject of any experiments in the supernatural, if that is what you are going to suggest. Living within the realm of nature, I am willing and glad to learn. But I have neither taste nor ambition to trifle with the problems of life and death. You would have had no fear of that, my dear sir," replied Isar Ramal, with a touch of sarcasm in his tone. If you had allowed me to finish my sentence. The man of whom I was speaking is dead only as regards this world and its outer workings. He died quite publicly a considerable time ago, and he has not the slightest desire to return. I won't say to the flesh, but rather to the former state of his existence. From that you will, of course, naturally and correctly conclude that, should any secrets be discovered in the course of the experiment, they will be in absolute safekeeping. Am I to take it? Said the millionaire, with a little lift of his eyelids, that that is the answer to the question which I asked Ram Das when he brought me your note? It is, was the quiet reply. Then that satisfies me completely. I shall be ready to go through with the experiment whenever it is convenient to yourself, and, well, your colleague, as I suppose we call him. I am glad to hear it, replied the other. I will not suggest this evening, partly because my colleague is not here, and also because I should advise you to take a little time to think over what you have seen and heard today. Of course, I need hardly suggest the absolute privacy of everything that takes place here. There is not the slightest reason for that, my dear doctor. I have seen quite enough to be satisfied that if the next experiment is successful, no one will have a deeper interest in secrecy than I shall have. Perfectly, said Isar Ramal, with a smile of almost womanly gentleness. It is an excellent thing that we should understand each other, so soon and so perfectly. As soon as I am able to complete the arrangements, Ram Das will come to you. Half an hour later, Headley Siemens was driving home in his broom, which had waited for him. He was leaning back in one corner, with his feet on the opposite seat, smoking furiously and biting off more of his rapidly succeeding cigars than he smoked. He was looking straight ahead through the rounded glass, which formed the front of the carriage, at the hedges and houses and swiftly passing street lamps, which seemed to wink at him like quickly moving inquisitive eyes. When the broom had passed the long, upward-curving lane, which leads into a straight, dismal road, flanked by neglected gardens and great, square-built, flat-topped houses, whose glory has long departed, he let down both windows, flung the ragged, bitten half of his last cigar into the road, and began to breathe deeply, as a man might do, who has just escaped from some stifling chamber into the fresh air. He had been trying in vain to analyze the crowding thoughts which had arisen out of that wonderful evening's experience, but in spite of his perfect mental discipline, and rare faculty of, as it were, dividing his own personality and criticizing himself as he might have done another man, he had to confess that, for once, his mental faculties had got out of hand. So just as though he had been recovering from a stunning blow, before coming back to sanity after a period of delirium, he sat there, silent and motionless, staring about sightlessly in front of him, as the luxurious broom swayed gently on its sea-springs, and rolled smoothly on its rubber tires, down Denmark Hill, past Camberwell Green, along the Camberwell New Road, and through the unsavory perluse of Vahal, over the bridge, round by Victoria Station, and so through Grosvenor Palace, and Knight's Bridge, to Hyde Park Corner. Not a thought seemed to pass through his brain, and not a word came from his lips as the swiftly changing scenes flitted past his carriage-windows. But when he got out into the cool night air at the great arched entrance to the court, he pulled himself together, with such a very obvious effort that the splendidly uniformed porter, somewhat mistaking his symptoms, hurried down the steps, even more quickly than usual, to greet the most distinguished resident in his domain. When he got to his rooms, he dismissed the waiting saunders with a curtness that wounded that gentleman's gentlemen, not a little. Then he mixed himself as stiff a peg of brandy and soda, as ever he had taken in his wildest days, and went to bed to dream half-waking dreams of unutterable possibilities. CHAPTER XXII Mr. Hadley Seymons, like many other men who have been accustomed to roughing it in the outlands of the earth, taking their rest when they might, and going without it when necessary, was not a very early riser. Saunders brought him a cup of coffee and his letters at eight, and at half-past he had his bath and got shaved, after which he sat down to a leisurely breakfast, but this particular morning, something seemed to take him back to the old conditions. He was brought awake at five o'clock. He saw some letters which had come in by the evening's post, and which he had not noticed when he came to bed, lying on the writing table in the middle of his room. He got out of bed and took them back to read. Those which were obviously business communications he tossed aside for truth to tell, after his experiences of the night before, he was in little humor or that sort of thing. Then on a square, crusted envelope he saw the crusted monogram of Ms. Raul Grover. This he opened and found an at-home card for four o'clock that afternoon. He ran through the rest of the envelopes without finding anything that his secretary could not attend to. Then he took up the card again and began one of the soliloquies, which men who have spent many of their days in the solitude of the wilderness are want to indulge in. Just fits in, he said to himself, couldn't have been more convenient. Of course, her highness will have had a card. She is the dear little woman's greatest social attraction, or at any rate, the most interesting, doubly interesting for me, since she does me the honor of wishing to marry me, and if that infernal machine of her malls is to be relied upon, as I suppose it is, she has done me the still greater honor of falling in love with me. She, Cara Natif, the unapproachable, who has perhaps had more cornice laid at her feet than any other woman in Europe. Well, I suppose this is a great compliment, and my masculine vanity ought to feel duly flattered. Ah, if it wasn't for Grace, of course she will be there too. Cursed that fellow decree, why did he meet Earth before I did? To say nothing of getting adopted by Sir Godfrey, the man who ought to have died out there in never, never. I wonder if he ever told Harold about that little trip of ours, and if he remembers the other affair with his real father. If that could be proved, a British jury might take rather ugly view of it to say nothing of Godfrey and Stone's half-share of the lone hill mines, which of course Master Harold would come into as his only legal heir. That would be a matter of some eight or ten millions hard cash, and even I might find a little difficulty in realizing to that extent under compulsion. However, there is not much fear of that unless Jenner Hawking really is alive, or has somehow come to life again after getting frozen to death and duly cremated. Suppose he learns the whole story by means of that diabolical contrivance at the Institute. Still, if he made himself unpleasant, there would always be the possibility of sending him back to prison, and I don't suppose he would care to risk that. Now I shall be safe enough there, and these people can be of the greatest possible use to me in more ways than one. By the way, I wonder what the beautiful Miss Endstone and Master Harold would say if they knew that Jenner Hawking, convict and poisoner, had come to life and was running this wonderful Institute, as I daresay he is with our friend Ramal for a figurehead. Perhaps he might be persuaded to abolish his niece's husband in some decently unobtrusive way. That at least would leave the coast clear in a legal sense. When I come to a thorough understanding with our resuscitated convict, perhaps that may be be worth thinking about. It would do away with a good many unpleasant contingencies. I do hope her highness will have sufficiently recovered to be there this afternoon. If she is it ought to be quite an interesting meeting. And now I think as it's a fine morning, a tap and a turn on Guerrero in the park won't be a bad thing. Mr. Saunders was not altogether pleased at being roused at such an unseemly hour, but he knew his master too well not to make his appearance with his usual serene composure. A telephone message was sent to the Muse, and by the time Mr. Hedley Siemens' toilet was completed, and he had taken his early coffee, his horse was standing before the entrance in charge of a groom. Guerrero was a splendid black stallion descended as to three parts of his ancestry from the old and the legion stock imported into Central and Western South America by the old conquerors of Peru. Like nearly all South American horses, he was a pacer. That is to say, he did not trot, but swung along at a fast easy sort of run, which will wear down the best trotting horse in an hour or two. He was his owner's favorite mount when he wanted the exhilaration of rapid movement with perfect ease in the saddle. For the rider of a pacer does not rise in the stirrups. He sits down along straight leg and just accommodates the swing of his body to that horse. These may appear to be somewhat trivial details, and yet if Mr. Hedley Siemens had known the ultimate consequences of his waking so early and taking a fancy for a spin on Guerrero in the park, that particular morning he would rather have put a bullet through the head of his favorite horse than have risked them so fatally are the smallest and the greatest concerns of human life mixed up together in the tangled web of destiny. It so happened that Harold and Grace were also taking an early spin that morning and just as they turned in through Alexander Gate, they saw Guerrero come swinging along the row at about eight miles an hour with his rider sitting erect and motionless in the saddle. A light gray coat buttoned only at the neck was lying back over the saddle fluttering in the air made by the horse's speed. What a lovely horse! exclaimed Grace. A pacer too, you don't often see them in the park, and what a speed it must be beautifully bred and trained, and why Harold? As Guerrero's rider turned round and raised his soft broad-brimmed felt hat, that's his majesty Hedley Siemens, how beautifully he rides. Damn him! I know him now. I knew I had seen him before. Harold, what on earth is the matter with you? You don't often forget your manners like that, but she went on anxiously. You have gone quite pale and your face looks just as it did when you were giving evidence against my, I mean Dr. Hawke. What is it? Won't you tell me, dear? He had returned Siemens salute mechanically, and as the black horse swung around the bend, he followed it with his eyes as though he had not heard her question. The sight of Guerrero and his rider had suddenly taken his thoughts back through nearly 15 years to a little struggling collection of weather boardwalled tin roof shanties, which made up the beginning of what was now a city far away in Arizona. He saw himself a lad of 14 riding up the wide ragged street, fringe with its broken plink sidewalks beside the man who lay in the family vault at Instone, done to death by the infernal arts of Jener Hawking. A hundred yards away, a man was riding toward them on a black Mustang, a pacer, a poncho or Spanish cloak hung from his shoulders, and a wide brimmed hat was tilted slightly back from his forehead. He saw Godfrey Instone's hand go back to his pistol pocket and heard him say in a voice that was hard and sharp and said in anger, Hal, that's Collier Banfield, the man who had your father killed and left me to die and never never. Get out of the way, quick. There'll be shooting in a moment. At the same instant the other man's hand went back to his hip. The two pistols cracked almost simultaneously, but Godfrey Instone's was just a little quicker. A bullet sank past his ear. Then he saw the other man sway in the saddle and roll off. He remembered that when the wound was dressed it was a rather peculiar one. The bullet had broken the collarbone, passed through the neck, almost miraculously clearing the great blood vessels, and had run down and lodged itself deep into the muscle of the back once it was afterwards extracted. Certainly the wound would leave a mark, which would not possibly be mistaken as long as Collier Banfield lived. It all passed in one of those swift flashes of memory which take no account of time or distance. In fact so brief was it that Grace hardly noticed more than a little hesitation in his reply. I beg your pardon, dear, a thousand times he said still looking after the flying shape of Guerrero at his rider, but I am sure you will forgive me when I tell you that I was perfectly right when I said to you the other day that I was certain I had seen Hadley Salmon somewhere before. I am certain of it now, and what's more I know who he really is. Who he really is, Harold, exclaimed Grace, looking sharply at him. Why, what on earth do you mean? Do you mean that he is not really what he represents himself to be? They turned their horses in the direction of Hyde Park Corner and he began his explanation, speaking quietly but with a thrill of angry emotion running through his tone. No Grace, he is not what he pretends to be. To put it quite shortly, Hadley Simmons of today. Millionaire Mind King, Railway King, student, and all the rest of it is really Collier Banfield of 10 or 15 years ago. Gambler, Cardsharper, Thief, Assassin, and any other old thing that was bad. Do you remember Sir Godfrey telling the story of the narrow shave he had in Australia when the man he thought was his friend and comrade to the death drank his water, stole his gold dust, took his papers, and left him to die in the wilderness of hunger and thirst? That man was Collier Banfield, alias Hadley Simmons. You know that on what we call the anniversary, Sir Godfrey, and I always put on black ties and that I do so still. Well that is the day that my father, I mean that my real one, was knifed in a gambling hell in Yokohama, taken unaware and killed in cold blood by a crossbred English Chinaman who was hung a few years after for another murder or rather half a dozen. He confessed the night before he died that Banfield was the real owner of the place and that he was bribed to pick a quarrel with him and knife him because my father had found out a few rather ugly truths about this establishment and had threatened to have it closed down by the authorities. So now you see, dear, that I have a double grudge against our millionaire friend. How awful, Harold, said Grace, almost in a whisper, but how is it that you recognize him, I mean of course supposing that you are right, only this morning when you have seen him scores of times before. Because, dear, replied Harold, it is the first time since that shooting match in Arizona. Oh, I forgot, I didn't tell you about that, but that we'll do later on. I mean that this is the first time I have seen him writing a pacer since our last meeting in Arizona when Sir Godfrey was a bit too quick for him and got his bullet in first. That supplied the missing link of memory. Ah, look, there he comes again. You can't mistake a man that writes like that and that light coat flying behind him reminded me of the Mexican poncho that he was wearing. I'd lay thousand pounds to a penny that if I could see that man's shoulder I'd find that bullet wound. And suppose you are really right, she said in a low tone as Haley Simmons, who had already completed the circuit, swung past them again with his hand on the brim of his hat. Well, he said slowly, if we were away west or east or south, I'd shoot him like the dog that he is. But if I give him what he deserves here, I'm afraid the law will proceed to make you a widow, dear. And that in a most unpleasant fashion. That's the worst thing about these civilized countries. I couldn't bring any crime legally home to him, at least unless something like a miracle happened. But still, I can find some way of proving that I am right, and there will be some satisfaction in letting the world know that Haley Simmons, the Gold King, as they call him, is identical to Collier Banfield, swindler, cart sharper, and assassin hirer. And when I have done that, we will see what he does. By the way, are you going to miss Rollgrovers this afternoon? Yes, I certainly intended to do so, she replied. But he will be sure to be there too, and after what you have told me, it would be rather uncomfortable to say the least of it, and perhaps you wouldn't like me. Quite the reverse, my dear, he interrupted. I wouldn't have told any other woman so, but you have always been such a good and perfectly reliable chum that I know you help me, and the best way you can do that is to meet him and treat him exactly as though I haven't said a word to you. That's what I am going to do because, of course, the only way to get anywhere with him is not to let him suspect anything. Mr. Haley Simmons, blissfully unconscious of the many possibilities of his morning ride in the park, went to miss Rollgrovers at home in a state of somewhat pecanic uncertainty as to whether he would meet the princess or not, and if so, whether she would retain any definite memory of the experiment, which he was now beginning to feel rather glad she had not been able to go through with. He was not disappointed in either respect. Cara Natif was one of the first to greet him after he had paid his respects to his hostess, and there was no mistaking the meeting with which she said as they shook hands. I am delighted to meet such a very close acquaintance again so soon. She spoke in a very low but perfectly distinct tone, and there was a point blank look of challenge in her wonderful eyes as they met his, which left no possibility of doubt as to her perfect comprehension of the situation. For his part, the millionaire hardly knew for the moment whether to be pleased or the reverse. On the one hand, it was distinctly comforting to his masculine vanity to find himself on such uniquely intimate terms with one of the most beautiful and brilliant women in Europe. On the other hand, it was quite possible for a man of his complicated temperament and vast responsibilities not to feel somewhat anxious as to the extent and nature of her almost miraculously acquired knowledge. He had passed the endstones a few moments before with the usual bow and the stereotype smile proper to such social functions. He had never seen Grace looking more lovely or quite so distantly desirable. Although she gave no apparent signs of possessing the terrible knowledge which Harold had given her that morning in the park, his acute and highly trained perceptions nevertheless detected that something must have happened to alter her mental attitude toward him since their last meeting. The lefty magnetic eyes looked into his with a glance of acute inquiry and a glint of what he took to be antagonism, which he had never seen in them before. Of course, he knew of no reason for it, though if he could now have had a few moments seance with her at the other end of the marvelous instrument in the octagonal room at the institute, he would have had very good reason to understand the meaning of that alter glance. As it was, he was only able to compare it to with the equally and yet differently changed expression in the violet blue eyes of Karin and Natif, not altogether to the advantage of the latter. Grace and Lady Georgina Pontifex passed again a moment after the princess had uttered her significant greeting. How very lovely the beautiful miss endstone is looking this afternoon, she said almost in a whisper, really one cannot wonder that so many of the men in town, even lines of society, would be so very glad and I dare say give so much to exchange personalities with her husband. There was no mistaking either the words or the eloquent glance which accompanied them. He saw instantly that his secret was known to her, that she knew that he loved Grace Endstone with a passion that was as strong as it was unholy. He was not slow to recognize the power which this knowledge gave her, and it was not very long before she made the fact if possible even plainer to him. Miserall Grover's house was one of those old made available mansions which are all too quickly disappearing before the encroachment of shops and flats. The spacious Georgian drawing room ran from front to back of the house and opened by wide glass doors on the little flight of broad marble steps leading into a big tree-shaded garden whose apparent extent had been doubled by the genius of Sir Joseph Paxton, and so an at-home and fine weather also pleasantly partook of the nature of part of a garden party. It so happened whether by design or accident that about an hour later Mr. Hedley Samans found himself once more Ted Autet with car and a teeth in a little secluded arbor to which one of the servants had brought them tea and cakes. And now Princess he began abruptly when he felt that they were alone. Since we know each other so well and I can see quite plainly that you know at least one of my secrets and that you know at least one of mine she said with a glint in her eyes and a snap in her voice well I suppose you are going to ask me as our American friends would say what I am going to do about it. Exactly. Then it should not take us very long to understand each other she said softly in German for greater protection against possible eavesdroppers but this is hardly the place for such confidences is it. I'm afraid not he replied in the same language a certain room in the institute would be more suitable would it not. As though the very mention of the name had summoned him Ramdes appeared at that instant at the door of the summer house salon and presented a little sealed envelope. Ah said Hedley Samans as he picked it up from the table perhaps this is at once an answer and a suggestion. End of Chapter 22 Chapter 23 of a Mayfair Magician a Romance of Criminal Science this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a Mayfair Magician a Romance of Criminal Science by George Griffith Chapter 23 the note which Ramdas had so mysteriously presented ran as follows the door of the Chamber of Secrets will be open at ten o'clock tonight there was no signature for none was necessary very well Ramdas you can tell your master that I shall be there he's gone said the princess and yet somehow I did not see him go he just seemed to fade away there's something uncanny about that man as indeed there seems to be about the whole of this institute don't you think so gone has he exclaimed your companion looking up quickly from the note hey oh yes I must confess I have thought the same about our friend Ramdas the other day he played the same sort of trick he came into my room ushered in by sanders in the usual way and when our conversation was over he just disappeared I was looking out of the window for the moment and when I turned round he was gone but I certainly neither heard the door open nor shut but after all that's quite a common sort of mystery in the east still it is nothing that your highness and myself have had a glimpse of which I shall probably go to the end of tonight ah she said looking at him with a glance of intense inquiry that means I presume that you are going to complete the experiment which I failed in so miserably not altogether failed princess he replied with a smile that was full of meaning for her at least you discovered something yes she said the little snap of her teeth two or three some things and among them the very thing I did not want to know and yet since it is the truth is it not as well that you should know it these things are not within our own control you know if there were one might order them differently he looked straight into her eyes as he spoke the words came slowly as though he were weighing the effect of each one of them she flushed ever so slightly and he saw the lace which covered her breast rise and fall in a little flutter and would you order this differently if you could she asked leaning a little toward him he thought that she never looked quite as beautiful or as desirable in his eyes as she did in that moment and he answered quietly and with perfect frankness yes if I could and if you wished it and would help me you know that already she replied rising I suppose according to the ordinary conventions I ought to have told a lie instead of saying that but of course between us a lie would be rather worse than a nuisance it would be so entirely futile and now if you will take me back I think I will say goodbye I have another call to make this afternoon will it be too much to ask that you should tell me something of the result of the experiment she went on as they left the little summer house I am so ashamed of my stupid weakness that I should like to have a chance of brave in the ordeal again no not with you this time or indeed with any other man but with a woman some dear innocent white sold creature like our mutual friend grace endstone for instance the angry light in her eyes and the note of mockery in her voice angered and almost disgusted him for the instant but the next the possibility that she had suggested came swiftly home to him that should be not altogether impossible he said and who knows what wonders a soul searcher might reveal to her perhaps she laughed a little bitterly to me I fear the only revelation would be that of the white flower of spotless womanhood I don't know that that quotation is quite correct but out of the circumstances I don't think it is very far wrong frankly and without any out of your pen say I don't think that I should find very much hope for you in the revelation to the soul searcher no he replied I don't think you would and I am not at all sure that I should like you to do so ah she said looking up at him again with a gleam of triumph in her eyes then you would wish the unattainable to remain the immaculate was it then only a platonic affection that I thought I saw in the Chamber of Secrets or is the soul searcher not infallible after all to her intense disappointment and his very considerable relief they turned at this point out of a little shrubbery onto the lawn and were joined by Colonel Rawal Grover and Lady Georgina Pontifex who after a rapid glance from one to the other said ah there you are princess where have you and Mr. Simon's been hiding yourself I wonder we have been looking for you all over the place to ask you to come and sing us one of those lovely old polar songs of yours Princess Natif sang her song and took her leave almost immediately afterwards Henley Simmons stopped a little longer in the half-convest hope of having a few words with Grace he found her with her husband and her hostess on the lawn and as he joined them Mrs. Rawal Grover shook her fan at him and said laughingly yes Mr. Simon's come here please I have a little bone to pick with you I'm sorry to hear that he said as he raised his hat may I ask in what I have had the misfortune to offend the most charming of hostesses oh it isn't quite as bad as that she said I only want you to plead guilty to monopolizing the princess's fairly charming society for a rather unconscious of all time we have hardly seen anything of her until Lady Dorgina discovered you and brought her in to sing well since you say so he laughed her reply I must plead guilty especially as you yourself supplied the most valid excuse guilty with extenuating circumstances said the Colonel I suppose most of us would have done the same for granted permission and now Simmons what can you tell me about this wonderful horse of yours that our friends here saw you on this morning in the park you know there's nothing much I love better than a piece of really good horse flesh and a good pacer as Endstone describes him is a bit of a rarity here oh yes replied the millionaire looking quickly at Grace and Benedict her husband you mean Guero my Spanish American beauty well you must come and have a look at him Colonel I have half a dozen paces to win through up and when any of my South American friends come over we run down and have races you must run down for a weekend and watch us you don't go in for pacing I suppose but I have got some very good English horses too and they would be very much at your service by the way Endstone he went on turning to Harold when are Mrs. Endstone and yourself going to honor the towers by accepting that bold invitation of course you with your worldwide travels must often have been across a bacer yes said Harold looking hard at him and purposely ignoring the invitation in fact I very much prefer pacing to trotting and of course I have done a lot of it in the western states that's a magnificent animal of yours and wonderfully fast I should say he's a Mexican isn't he when I saw you I said to the wife you were riding in quite the Mexican style both Grace and Harold looked keenly at him for some slip of consciousness on his part but they were disappointed he returned their glance with perfect carelessness and frankness and said I suppose I ought to take that as a great compliment or of course Mexicans are about the greatest riders in the world but I'm sorry to say that you are wrong Guero is a son of the Pampas bred near Corrientes on the Piranha and I have never been in Mexico in fact I know nothing of North America outside its cities and business centers but I have spent a good deal of time in South America both on the Pacific and Atlantic coast he took his leave a few minutes later and as he strolled down towards the upper end of the edge we're road where he meant to take a cab home he murmured between his teeth now why should end stone have asked me so pointedly about that riding and why should the beautiful Grace have looked at me quite as hard as she did Mexican Mexican oh good lord of course I see it now how unthunder could I have forgotten it of course he was riding beside the old man that day when he pulled his gun on me that day at poverty fork opposite Joe Redmond's last chance saloon great Scott I thought it was my last chance when I didn't get my gun out quick enough scared snakes if he's only certain about that I reckon he'll be able to make more trouble than enough still I don't see as how there can be much fear of that unless the old man has left some record behind him after all it will only be word against word and I guess if I couldn't swear him inside out after all these years my name isn't what it used to be to say nothing of what it is still that's all the more reason for working out the other scheme if it can be done the other scheme for making the beautiful grace a widow if Halkind really is alive he shouldn't have any too much love for Harold Endstone and if he got Sir Godfrey out of the way as easily as he did for a million there is no reason why he shouldn't be able to manage a job like this for two and by all that's anything she's worth it if Mr. Headley Simmons had spoken this little slowly like we allowed and any of his acquaintances had listened to it they would have been not a little astonished by the sudden change that had come over both the man and his manner Headley Simmons millionaire and student brilliant financier and polished man of the world had disappeared for the moment and his place had been taken by the more vulgar if not more ruthless adventurer of fifteen years before in fact there could not have been a more complete confirmation of what Harold Endstone happened to be saying about the same time to grace I am just as certain as ever I was that he is the man more so indeed for now that I have placed him he seems to get more familiar to me every moment anyhow there must be someone left on poverty fork that knew him and us and remember the shooting let me see they call it pine bluff city now after the clumps of pines on the top of the bluff between the forks of the river I will cable out this afternoon to the mayor and ask if he can give me any news if he can't he is pretty sure to know someone who remembers the once famous bully Benfield for he was everything on his lower plane that he is on his higher I mean he was a highly educated man an artist and a musician an incurable gambler unflinching speculator an entirely unscrupulous scoundrel someone must remember him and if so over they come to England and we'll have it out it's better done sooner than later or if I'm right a blagger like that should have no place in decent society of course you are right dear replied grace but looking up at him with a dawning apprehension in her eyes justice is justice and it should be done but I am afraid it will be no child's play to make an enemy of that man if he really is what you think especially as he has won this great position in the world and is master of a great many more millions than you are you'd needn't trouble much about that dear he said clever at all as Headley Simmons is Jenner Halkein was a thousand times cleverer and more dangerous and we ran him to earth now if Halkein were alive and he and Simmons alias Benfield by some miracle or another managed to put their heads together for the working of mischief it would be a distinctly formidable combination but happily that is improbable I wonder how you got that idea in your head Harold she said quickly and rather anxiously you know I have had just the same idea in my mind since you told me the story this morning if I didn't know as you say that it was totally impossible I should begin to fear that my gift of second sight was coming back to me I have been too happy since the other troubles were over to think about it but it's curious that what you said should have brought it back to me isn't it well there's one thing quite certain dear he replied there can't be possibly anything more than an idea suggested by the association of this man with Sir Godfrey and therefore with Halkein and as a realization of it is entirely out of the question you may as well put it out of your mind at once oh yes of course it can't be anything but an idle fancy I shouldn't have said anything about it only I thought it was rather a curious coincidence that your story this morning should have suggested it so vividly of course there can't be anything in it the impossible doesn't happen nowadays she spoke with a light-hearted confidence which she would have thought anything but justified if what she called her gift of second sight had enabled her to foresee what was going to happen in the Chamber of Secrets that night at the institute end of chapter 23 recording by Todd chapter 24 of a Mayfair magician a romance of criminal science this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Erin White a Mayfair magician a romance of criminal science by George Griffith chapter 24 as was only natural Headley Siemens thoughts for the rest of the day were pretty equally divided between what had happened at the garden party and what might happen that night at the institute the more he dwelt upon the suspicion that Harold had managed to connect his former self with his present one the more uncomfortable he became and with him to feel uncomfortable about anyone was the same thing as deciding to put the unpleasant personality out of his way by whatever means seemed easiest and most efficacious this incident too was not without its effect upon the desperate if unrighteous passion he had conceived for grace he knew that the mere fact that nursing such a passion placed him as it were in the position of a moral outlaw this of course did not trouble him in the slightest in fact it had been his normal position almost ever since he had been able to distinguish right from wrong but it is one of the curiosities of human nature that the worst of men are generally pleased to find some sort of an excuse for their wrongdoing grace it was quite clear to him was absolutely unapproachable her whole existence was entirely bound up in her husband and her baby son the mere idea of anything like levity of conducting connection with her seemed unthinkably absurd unless a woman is radically bad or incurably frivolous she can only fall through powerful nay almost irresistible temptation but what temptation could tempt grace and stone thrown as she was in her splendid position and protected by the triple bulwarks of love and duty and pride his millions might have brought poorer and weaker women indeed there were more women than one who held their heads high in society who had stooped to be indebted to him for exorbitant milleners bills and desperate losses at bridge which they dared not disclose to their husbands but here again grace was doubly sheltered by the golden rampart of her husband's ever increasing millions if his ends were to be obtained they could only be by means in which neither mercy nor scruples had any part crime certainly and violence if necessary offered the only hope of success and now that his passion and the animal instinct of self-preservation had begun to work together there was no length to which he did not feel himself prepared nay as he could almost persuade himself that he was not entitled to go if herald endstone could connect his past with his present and prove that headley seamons the european gold king was identical with collier banfield the western gambler and desperato with a dozen murders and minor crimes to his credit it would certainly mean social ruin and disgrace and possibly financial catastrophe as well if sir godfrey endstone had left behind him any definite record of the discovery of lone hill mines which were the cornerstones of his fortune it would be anything but convenient or pleasant to satisfy the claims of his air in law finally there was the even more unpleasant contingency of his being called to account for procuring the murder of herald's own father at yokohama for he happened to know that his eurasian accomplice had left a sworn and witnessed confession behind him there was therefore as he said to himself while he was driving down to dullwich every possible reason to consider herald endstone as a most dangerous obstacle in the path of his almost royal progress and that being so it was not only necessary but obligatory to get him removed as quietly as swiftly and with all as effectually as possible the only question was now that he had come to this decision had jenner how kind really returned to life and if so would he help him and that was a question which he had determined to solve before he had left the institute he had to admit to himself that he entered isa remal's private sanctum with feelings if not exactly akin to fear at least of somewhat anxious apprehension good evening friend brother as i trust we may be able to greet you before you depart said isa remal as ramda salamed him into the room and vanished good evening doctor replied his visitors they shook hands friends of course we are at least i hope so but brothers perhaps you will pardon me for asking your interpretation of the difference between friendship and brotherhood why should you not replied the director in his gentlest tones it is just that subject which i wish to discuss with you before you if i may put it so cross the threshold of our chamber of secrets but i was under the impression said semen's as he took the chair towards which is our remal had waved his hand that i had already crossed it at least that is if you're referring to the scene of my two brief experiment with princess natif it is the same and yet not the same replied is a remal gravely still that will serve as an introduction to what it is my duty to say to you on that occasion you obtained a brief glimpse into the mental working of a beautiful and brilliant woman who in spite of the fact that she is possessed of fortitude far above the average of her sex was nevertheless unable to sustain the ordeal of viewing the soul of headly semen's unveiled he paused and looked into his eyes as though without the aid of the magical soul-searcher he would read the thoughts which were passing through his mind at the moment his guest returned his gaze with perfect steadiness and said quietly yes i quite see what you mean and now now continued isa remal still holding his eyes with that magnetic glance which headly semen's had come to know so well now it will be you whose fortitude will be tested you will be brought in the mental sense face to face with one who is not the least of the adepts you will see him eye to eye and soul to soul and if you sustain that ordeal you will henceforth be one of us whether with your will or against it i'm afraid i don't quite follow you there doctor interrupted headly semen's who in something like his usual masterful tone with my will or against it really i must ask you to make your meaning a little clearer it is easily explained said the other without the slightest trace of feeling in his tone the bond of our brotherhood consists in absolute knowledge and therefore in absolute confidence to put it otherwise if two human beings know each other as they know themselves they are obliged to trust each other whether they will or not your own studies in mental science will i trust make that position perfectly plain to you i think i follow you in other words you mean that a man who knows everything hidden and unhidden about another man must be trusted by him simply because to put it quite vulgarly if he didn't the other fellow could always give him away and he went on leaning forward in his chair with his elbows on his knees and talking it is a ramal as if he had been an objecting shareholder at one of his own company's meetings as it may be taken for granted that the veneer of civilization is not much thicker than a coat of mahogany stained on plain deal in other words that we are all savages under the skin and therefore in the eyes of modern civilized persons criminals if we all understand each other thoroughly and each of us knows enough to find means of putting his brother criminal actual or potential outside the pail of society am i right doctor yes replied is a ramal also leaning forward with his elbows on his knees you are so completely right in your entirely unconventional estimate of the situation that i feel i ought to compliment you upon your very close approach to our position after what you have said i feel obliged to say that i think there is little fear of your surviving the ordeal surviving doctor said the millionaire with a just perceptible start i wasn't aware that this was a matter of life and death only of mental life or death my dear sir replied is a ramal not physical death that you will admit even if desirable under certain circumstances might produce complication which we have no wish to be troubled with and now he went on rising from his chair if you feel quite prepared to commence the experiment will you follow me only he said again after a little pause for the last time i must warn you that the threshold of the chamber of secrets must be for you the borderland between two roads the world of the half knowledge you have now and that of the perfect knowledge if you are found worthy to bear the burden and the perfect knowledge does that also mean the perfect power the man who knows all things within the scope of human life can he also do all things within the same limits that my dear sir depends entirely upon the way in which the perfect knowledge is used we as i have hinted to you before do not measure right and wrong virtue advice but according to the conventional standards of a world which is almost entirely populated by human beings in a very low stage of moral and intellectual development we do not judge ourselves or each other by we will say the standards of the law of england exactly interrupted headley seamons who had been waiting for his advantage i quite see what you mean in fact it is hardly necessary to quote the case in point there is no necessity interrupted is a remal with a motion of his right hand towards the door i think that we shall understand each other quite well enough without any further explanation and now he continued stepping outside the door into the passage there are two ways before you that one to the right will as you know take you into our entrance hall and from there back to the common place world you have lived in so far this one he went on making a motion with his left hand towards the curtain corridor which as headley seamons knew led to the chamber of secrets will take you into another world the world of perfect human knowledge and therefore of influence and power and it may be even as you use that power to an invisible throne from which you may sway the destinies of nations since knowledge is power then of course i take this one said headley seamons turning to the left and laying his hand lightly on is a remal's right shoulder but there are other things dear to the heart of man which even those who sit on thrones do not always attain to prizes which all the political power of the world cannot compel and all the money that was ever coined cannot buy can this knowledge and power that you have told me about compel these also as they are used wisely or unwisely yes or no i can give you no clearer answer than that at present replied is a remal taking his hand from his shoulder and holding it for a moment in his own then he went on his voice almost sunk to a whisper you have been blessed by the love of a woman for whom many other men have hungered you are cursed by your own love for a woman who so far as the conditions of the world in which you live are confined is unattainable to you and under the other conditions it is not i who have undertaken the task of leading you across the border of your world to ours replied is a remal in his strangely impersonal tone i know that because you have told me so already said headley seamons instinctively gripping his hand hard what i want to know is just this when i go into that room shall i meet a jenner halkein in the flesh i mean the man who yes yes replied is a remal laying his hand on seamons with a little stroking movement which instantly relaxed his grip yes not only in the flesh but also soul to soul when you have done that then and if you remain yourself it will be time for us three perhaps to talk over those other smaller matters which now seem to be of such importance to you i can ask for nothing more than that replied the gold king dropping his hand i'm entirely at your service and ready to learn all that the chamber of secrets can teach me very well then said is a remal parting the curtains at the end of the corridor this way lies knowledge but do not blame me if afterwards you remember that the wisest of the wise said many centuries ago whoso gitteth knowledge gitteth sorrow end of chapter 24 chapter 25 of a mayfair magician a romance of criminal science this is a liber vox recording all liber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liber vox.org recording by erin white a mayfair magician a romance of criminal science by george griffith chapter 25 headley seamons had not yet seen jenner in the flesh in fact since his marvelous escape from nethermore no human eyes had seen him undisguised save those of issa ramal and ram das the electric cluster over the table was a light and as the director ushered him in he saw a rather tall spare man dressed in black clean shaven gray haired and wearing blue spectacles rise from one of the seats of the table fold his hands and bow in silence as issa ramal said brother this is headley seamons welcome replied hulkine with as seamons thought a just perceptible start then he quickly removed his spectacles and taking a couple of steps forward he looked straight into the gold king's eyes for the first time in his life headly seamons found himself instantly under the power of a stronger will than his own the magnetic eyes had caught his glance and held it just as a man's grip might hold the hand of a child he simply stared back hopelessly and in a moment or two he found his thoughts beginning to wander and scatter until he seemed only to have one clear idea in his mind that was that somewhere and somewhere far away and long ago these eyes had already looked into his just as they were doing now then he heard hulkine's clear strangely familiar voice say in a low almost gentle tone i never forget a face and i know yours i saw it last in japan yes in yokohama but then it was not the face of headley seamons millionaire and student of the inner mysteries the words quietly spoken and in a voice almost as soft as a woman's hit headley seamons like so many blows in the face never to his knowledge had he seen jenner hulkine the escaped convict from nethermore before and yet here was this man with luminous penetrating magnetic eyes looking as it seemed to him through his own and into his brain and telling him about that other self of his which that day had begun to follow him like a specter rising from a grave which the brilliant successes of his later years had convinced him was by this time nameless and forgotten but now it had a name and a memory if this man with the all compelling eyes had not only recognized him but named the very place in which his other self had deliberately procured the killing of herald enstone's father what chance could there be that enstone himself had made a mistake there was practically none his clear quick intellect trained to act instantly and almost automatically in the face of any possible combination of circumstances told him that is a ramal possibly speaking from more perfect knowledge had been right when he told him that absolute understanding of each other was the most unbreakable bond that could be forged between man and man i think dr. halkein if i am right in addressing you by that name that after what you have just said the proposed experiment with the apparatus seems rather superfluous it seems to me that at any rate i should enter upon it at a decided disadvantage what do you think about it he continued as it were wrenching his eyes away from halkein by a supreme mental effort and turning to is a ramal that is a question which i think i can answer perhaps even better than our friend the director said jenner halkein quickly and with a certain emphasis which added to seaman's conviction that he and not isa ramal was the master spirit which controlled the institute and all its vast possibilities you see my dear sir he continued moving a pace to the right and facing the gold king once more there can be no advantage on either side and when you and i are both at the mercy of the searcher of souls the revealer of the inmost secrets of the human mind i need not remind one of your vast knowledge and experience of the world that there is no man however good he may seem in the eyes of his fellow men whose inmost soul does not contain that which would revolt his dearest friend if he could see it quite so i think that if you will excuse me saying so was said rather more neatly by some frenchman about a century ago replied seaman's with a justifiable touch of acidity to his tone in fact the saying is passed into an axiom by this time and it only needed the invention of such a diabolical contrivance as you have here to give it both mathematical and mechanical proof i hope that you will pardon the adjective certainly laughed halkine that and the rest of what you have said of course i ought to have known that such a well-known saying must be quite familiar to a man of your wide reading but may i ask why diabolical he went on with a motion of his hand towards the machine the inner mechanism of which was already purring gently as though in anticipation of the work that it was about to do to tell you the truth my dear doctor the word is not my own at least it was suggested by the recollection of my last experiment you remember that doctor remal of course don't you when her highness snatched her hands away from mind and fell back into her chair saying that she had seen into hell it was not particularly complementary but on the french philosopher's hypothesis it might possibly have been true possibly replied the director dividing a smiling glance between him and halkine you see my dear sir you committed what you will perhaps allow me to call an indiscretion in permitting a woman and worst of all a most clever brilliant and charming woman to look open-eyed through the windows of your soul and after a very brief inspection as i understand laughed halkine in a suggestively irritating fashion she came to the conclusion that she had seen quite enough of what she described with perhaps more candor and completeness than pre-meditated courtesy and now mr. seamann's am i to be privileged to take a look into that same what shall i say inferno if you understand me doctor as well as i believe i understand you replied the man who had never shown mercy to a fellow creature whom he thought he had at a disadvantage i guess it won't be anything very far from a fair exchange if you were going to look into an inferno i reckon that i shall have the enjoyment of a pretty lurid spectacle in exchange insensibly he had lost control of himself for the moment and drifted back through the years to his other self ah yes said halkine looking into his eyes again yes i remember now in those days you were collier banfield if i am not mistaken in the name you needn't worry any further doctor that will do replied headley seamann's thrusting his hands into his trouser pockets and walking towards the mechanical demon that was purring on the table i guess it will be a pretty fair exchange sit down i'm very glad that we understand each other so far to begin with said halkine as he went towards the chair in which the princess had fainted and sat down in all the history of psychology such a struggle of soul against soul each laid bare to the inner vision of the other had never taken place as that which ensued during the half hour in which headley seamann's and jenner halkine had seen each other exactly as they were the mask of flesh which for ages had been impenetrable to human vision had been removed the disguise in which every man woman and child all the myriads of the human race had passed through life from the creation until now had been stripped off as the athletes of Greece and Rome had wrestled naked with each other in the arena so these two souls had struggled through that terrible 30 minutes and both had come out of the conflict outworn yet not outdone their vision had grown blurred the unearthly light generated by the tubes and reflected in the mirrors had grown dim their hands had relaxed their grip and in the end almost at the same moment they had fallen back into their chairs with a nearly simultaneous sigh which told isa remal that the experiment had proceeded to the utmost limits of human endurance he moved the two switches on the table and turned on the light in the electric cluster then came a swift descent if not from the sublime to the ridiculous at least from the occult to the practical he touched the button by the side of the door ram das appeared and he ordered him to bring brandy and soda and do it quickly both men wanted it very badly so badly indeed the ties of remal found it necessary to prescribe another when he had got them back into his own sanctum and planted them in armchairs facing each other on either side of the fireplace seated thus they formed the most curious study in humanity that even he who had progressed through age after age and life after life to the possession of almost perfect knowledge had ever seen they sat still in silent and stared at each other with blank unmeaning eyes they too he saw had in a sense reached the perfection or at any rate the completeness of knowledge as regards each other so the spectacle suggested itself to the student of many mysteries as one disembodied spirit might have looked at another bear naked knowing everything and therefore unashamed they were the verification of another penetratingly wise french saying to comprende est tu pardonne and yet there was another factor in the solution of this weird problem which astonished almost shocked even him those two men knowing each other as no two human beings had ever known each other before also most manifestly hated each other with a hatred which seemed to be almost superhuman and then another chilling thought struck him what if he and jenner halkein while inventing and constructing what headley seamons had already called with perhaps some justice this diabolical contrivance had really overstepped that frontier which divides the humanly possible from the impossible what if they had placed within the control of human hands an engine too mighty for human hands to control how would it go with them if this machine through the medium of which they hope to control society merely wrecked it by making human association impossible there was something terrifying in the thought even to him but as he stood and looked on these two silent dull eyed men who an hour before had been two of the most brilliantly capable men to be found between east and west he knew in his own soul that the thought was a true one while he was thinking thus headley seamons lifted his glass with a limp nervous hand carried it unsteadily to his lips gulped the brandy and soda down in long swallows put the glass back on the table and ended the long silence by saying in a voice strangely unlike his own well jenner halkine thief and philanthropist murderer and martyr liar and truth finder what do you propose to do knowledge such as we have now cannot remain unused what use do you suggest that we should make of it i think the best use we can put it to will be to accomplish each other's complete annihilation as far as this stage of existence is concerned replied halkine listlessly and without any apparent interest in the subject but that i presume would hardly be an acceptable proposition to a man like yourself no replied seaman slowly not quite i must say that if you and i were alone together in some places i have been in i should have the greatest satisfaction in killing you of course you would said the other without a trace of emotion in his voice and i should equally of course consider it a duty to abolish you granted always that i could which i do not now think possible and why should that be so exclaimed isa ramall startled for the moment out of his habitual calm by this amazing statement because replied halkine turning his head slowly towards him as though with an effort because i have learned now as headley seamons has learned that contrary to all human belief perfect knowledge does not mean perfect power on the contrary it means impotence how could i injure this man or this man injure me when each of us must know the intention of the other beforehand can you not see adept as you are that all power of human injury consists primarily in the ignorance of the injured could i for instance have made god-free endstone forge his own will drive himself mad with drugs and then kill himself if he had known all the time that i intended him to do so that is why headley seamons and jenner halkine each desiring the other's death are utterly incapable of even hurting each other in the smallest degree it is an utterly infernal situation but we have created it ourselves of course we must take the consequences yes i understand said isa ramall quietly and yet with a faint note of triumph in his tones i see that a new power has been born into the world a power which can only be used for evil on those who become subject to it i am glad that i did not make the experiment with you headley seamons laughed the specter of a laugh and said speaking just as impersonally as halkine had done that gives you a distinct advantage over both of us incidentally it also suggests that it will become necessary for one of us to abolish you end of chapter twenty-five chapter twenty-six of a mayfair magician a romance of criminal science this is a liber vox recording all liber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liber vox.org recording by erin white a mayfair magician a romance of criminal science by george griffith chapter twenty-six the next morning about ten o'clock as he was getting ready to go to the city headley seamons was somewhat surprised by a message which saunders brought him to the effect that a lady had called and wished to see him particularly what sort of lady saunders he asked rather irritably for the strange events of the previous night had shaken his nerves up very considerably and he was not by any means himself didn't she send a card or give her name what sort of lady is she the astute saunders instantly noted the emphasis on the lady and replied with a demure smile oh she's a lady right enough sir no doubt about that a regular top healer too and if i might say so pretty as a picture and dressed like a duchess very well saunders said his master with a dry smile i'll accept your recommendation you may show her in yes sir replied saunders and disappeared closing the door gently behind him now who the deuce can that be said the gold king half allowed as he turned towards one of the windows overlooking the park pretty as a picture and dressed like a duchess saunders certainly has a turn for crisp description and as there are only two women oh yes of course it must be the princess now what the devil does she want i wish i'd never heard of that confounded institute in how kind's infernal machine it strikes me the situation is getting rather too complicated to be pleasant here i am hopelessly in love with another man's wife who looks at me as if i were a shop walker and on the other hand one of the most brilliant and beautiful women in europe has fallen in love with me not only with my millions either how kind's infernal machine told me that much yes come in lady to see you sir murmured mr. saunders behind the opening door he heard a swish of skirts and a rustle of hidden silk and there stood Kara natif hatted and gowned to absolute perfection with a lurking gleam of mischief in her eyes and a faint pink flush tinging the exquisite purity of her cheeks good morning your highness this is indeed an unexpected honor there was just the slightest perceptible pause between the last two words which deepened the flush on the princess's cheeks of course you would think that she replied looking straight at him with a challenge in her eyes but i hardly thought you would say it it was rather commonplace for you and doesn't fit the situation of course this is a shockingly unconventional visit to be quite candid that is why i did not give my card to the porter but at the same time the situation itself is unconventional almost painfully so i'm afraid but then that is just why i've taken the liberty and the risk my dear princess he replied moving a luxurious armchair so that if she sat in it the light from one of the long windows would fall on her face my dear princess i'm afraid you must pardon me if i say that the one suggestion is as unthinkable as the other pray sit down and let us talk and to begin with how can i best serve you by listening to me and telling me what you think of what i'm going to say she replied sinking slowly down into the depths of the big chair of course i needn't go into particulars as to certain details but considering the nature of those details i felt it was both my duty and my inclination to come at the earliest possible moment and warn you that you are in very considerable danger my dear princess he interrupted it is very kind of you very kind indeed but perhaps i may save you the trouble by telling you that i am already aware of the fact and that i am taking every possible means for my own protection last night i made a like a powerful ally and a very detestable enemy that sounds paradoxical but at the same time it is true in other words i carried out the experiment at the institute ah and may i ask with whom said the princess sitting up and looking keenly at him the director i presume i'm afraid i'm not at liberty to answer that question even to you he replied with a suspicion of stiffness it is i believe one of the secrets of that temple of mysteries i may however tell you that the other party to the experiment was not our good friend is a remal i'm afraid we are wandering a little from the subject may i recall it by thanking you for coming to me on such a charitable purpose you were alluding i presumed to some special danger that is threatening and you know of course that that sort of thing is one of the inevitable penalties of such success as i have been able to win yes you must forgive me it was quite my fault she replied as though she had not noticed the refusal to answer her question i came to tell you that herald enstone has somehow got it into his head that you are someone else and that he is cabled to a place called pine bluff city asking the mayor whether there is anyone there who knew a man named collier banfield a rather too well-known character in arizona about fifteen years ago and who could identify him now if so these people are to be forwarded to london as speedily as possible without any regard to expense of course i hardly need to remind you of the consequences of such an identification and now may i ask your highness a question said headley seamans with wonderful self-control yet feeling that he had turned half a shade paler how has it been possible for you to discover that and why should you find any reason for thinking i am the person whom enstone wishes to identify as somebody else fortunately i am able to answer your question more frankly than you are able to answer mine she replied very sweetly and yet with a smile which he did not altogether appreciate it was all perfectly simple i met grace enstone last night at lady bermond sees and got her talking as a woman generally does with another woman whom she dislikes your name came up and she not knowing that i was at all interested in the matter told me that after seeing you riding in the park yesterday morning her husband got an idea that he had met you before in america but that you had said afterwards at mrs grover's garden party that you had never been anywhere in the states except in the cities when i got home i found a copy of a cable which herald enstone sent yesterday afternoon to pine bluff city and an answer from the mayor saying that he had found five citizens who could swear to collier banfield if they saw him and that he was sending them to england by the next mail but how in thunder i beg your pardon a thousand times but how on earth could you even with your influence get copies of private cables like those that i'm afraid i must answer as you answered my question about the experiment the secret is not mine i could only remind you that even telegraphic clerks are not all incorruptible and that a sort of telegraphic press cutting agency isn't altogether impossible of course it is expensive but fortunately i can afford to indulge the hobby and i assure you we find it a great deal more useful than most are well he repeated with a sudden lift of his eyelids ah yes i think i understand i have heard of these little arrangements before and i suppose it quite easy for the personal matter to get conveniently mixed up with the official exactly she said with a nod and a little laugh there is not the slightest reason why since it is so difficult for you and i to have any secrets from each other you should not understand the circumstances but now the point is what ought you do under them in other words he said what use ought i to make of the very valuable information which you have so kindly brought me he paused for a moment and looked steadfastly at her if she did not know the truth already was not this precisely the moment to put her love to the test of knowledge if it could survive that revelation surely there could be hardly any extreme to which it would not lead cara natif cara he said speaking more tenderly than she had ever heard him speak before so tenderly indeed that her cheeks flushed and her eyes brightened as you've just said it is difficult for us to have any secrets from each other so now tell me quite plainly how you would regard me if you knew that herald enstone suspicion was correct and that the arrival of these people from america will prove it i knew it before i came here she said quietly and therefore i suppose the fact that i have come is a sufficient answer more than sufficient he replied slowly and you you with your beauty your wealth your brilliant position in the world would still be willing to join your lot with a man who was once call your band field the man with whom i would join hands she said with just the faintest quiver of emotion in her voice is headley seamans if he was anybody else in the past that has nothing to do with me i love in the present and not in the past and i look only at the future but i am afraid there is yet another offense that you will have to forgive cara before you and i can join hands with perfect understanding and confidence i know what you are going to say she said with a smile that had very little sweetness in it you are going to ask me to forgive you for loving another woman well that is the greatest of all offenses that woman can forgive in the man she loves but perhaps i'm not all together like other women i may be better than some and so far is my potentialities go i might very possibly be worse than a great many you love grace and stone with what i may perhaps call the sentimental side of your nature and possibly your tender feelings are made tenderer by the knowledge that she is unattainable at least at present at present he exclaimed rising from his chair and going towards her there need be no more secrets between us now i think what do you mean what are you thinking about yes it is true that i love grace and stone just in the way that you have said if i thought i had a soul in the vulgar sense of the word i would sell it to get her as wife or what wife no at least not for preference replied headley seamans with a brutal frankness with a brutal frankness which delighted cara natif in a fashion which he could hardly have comprehended there is only one wife one real help meet in the world for me now cara he went on catching her by the wrists and there is no need for me to tell you who it is no other woman i believe could have done what you have done this morning and no other woman shall ever sit beside me on this golden mightest throne that i have raised and from which i can rule men like slaves and shake kingdoms will you come yes she whispered as he drew her towards him in the next moment she was in his arms his lips were upon hers thrilling with the passion with which she had so subtly inspired him when he had at length released her she walked away to the window and after looking out over the park a few moments she turned and faced him with her body inclined backwards a little her draperies falling in perfect lines her exquisite shape framed by the softly tinted hangings of the window her lips slightly parted in a half smile her cheeks slightly flushed and her eyes aflame a perfect vision of that loveliness which was created to save or damn the souls of men and sometimes of women also and now she said in a soft she said in a low soft voice which sounded very like strange music in his ears shall i tell you why i was able to forgive you that offense which is the most grievous in the eyes of woman who loves the man that has committed it for the moment he was utterly intoxicated by her beauty an essentialist delight of that long embrace she had come to conquer and she had conquered she had made him love her as she wished him to do in spite of his love for grace she had won and she was magnificent all conquering in her triumph for the first time in his life headly seamen found himself mastered instead of mastering he said with an effort to keep his voice steady yes kara do very well she replied with another dazzling glance i will and the explanation is very simple you love grace and stone after the sentimental fashion i love you and therefore i hate her and when a woman hates another she gets back to the instincts of the primal savage she wants revenge the bitterest deadliest most utterly destroying revenge that she can get and that is the revenge i mean to have on grace and stone but how he asked rather weakly how can that be possible most things are possible to those whose love and hate are strong enough she replied listen and i will tell you in the first place herald and stone's abolition is now as vitally necessary to me as it is to you and that ought to take place if possible before these people whoever they are arrive from america at the same time we must remember that it is not quite so easy in achievement here in this inconveniently free country as it would be elsewhere now there is a castle that i know of not very far from the border of russian poland it is part of my ancestral heritage and it is one of the most conveniently out of the way places in europe it is about 15 miles from the nearest post town surrounded on all sides by leagues of pine forest and those forests are inhabited for miles round by the descendants of my grandfather serfs who are fortunately so stupidly and ignorantly loyal to the house of natif that they are to all intents and purposes no more free men than their fathers were it is not exactly the sort of place that one would select for a honeymoon but i think that matters might be arranged that we might spend a portion of ours there with mr and mrs herald and stone as our guests and if that could once be done of course all the rest i mean as regards your particular enemy and mine might be quite satisfactorily arranged always supposing that we could not find a shorter and easier way here in london i don't quite know about that he replied going to her and putting his arm round her shoulders but now that you and i are just we i think i might tell you that if the matter cannot be satisfactorily arranged in london the scheme which you have outlined so admirably might at least be well begun here yes she said putting her arm up over his shoulder i'm so glad you continually agree with me as far as the main outlines of our little plot are concerned and now how do you propose to begin from this end as i dare say you have heard them say in america this way dear he replied drawing her to him and putting his left hand so as to bring her head down to his shoulder if you do not already know it i think this is the right time to tell you that a once notorious relative of grace and stones you don't mean gener halkine i do are you going to tell me that he is still alive she whispered drawing his head down towards her upturned face and bringing her tempting lips closer to his of course i know all of the story that was made public and perhaps a little more now if he were only alive i think everything would be easy we might begin our honeymoon in paris or vienna among the italian lakes and finish in my castle in poland with mr and mrs endstone as our guests he is alive and he will help us he replied in fact he must must what do you mean she asked why must have you the power to compel him to help us i completed the experiment with him which i began with you he replied and i saw more deeply into his soul than i did into yours he killed sir godfrey endstone or rather made him kill himself after getting him to forge his own will herald endstone prosecuted him and got him penal servitude for life if herald endstone knew that he was alive and practically in command of the institute what do you suppose he would do sent him back to prison at once of course she replied in half whisper and if he knew that herald endstone suspects that he is alive and where he is i suppose he wouldn't have much more mercy on him than he had on poor sir godfrey that my princess was an inspiration which shows how closely our thoughts follow each other yes exactly but there is something even more than that which the vision of the soul searcher revealed to me before she married herald endstone grace was the absolute mental slave of her uncle who i believe is either her father or her stepfather although that i did not see quite distinctly since her marriage something perhaps the magic of matrimony has enabled her to escape entirely from his control he would give a good deal to get that control back he cannot do that while herald endstone lives and that is why i think we can count upon his helping in carrying out the first part of our plan i see i see she whispered we could be married by special license as they call the dispensation here since we are both patrons of the institute and also disciples of our good friend is a ramal it would not be difficult to hold our reception there of course mr and mrs endstone would be among our guests it would be easy to arrange for an interview a little private seance in the sanctuary of the secrets and then well then if things work out as i intend them to do i your wife in my old polish stronghold will make you a present of grace and stone as my ancestors sometimes did with their serfs no woman could wish for a sweeter revenge than that could she no i have found the perfect woman at last you are as damnable in hate as you are divine in love and no man can hope more from his ideal woman than that then his arms closed about her he crushed her up close to him and their lips sealed the unholy contract end of chapter 26 chapter 27 of a mayfair magician a romance of criminal science this is a liber vox recording all liber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liber vox.org recording by erin white a mayfair magician a romance of criminal science by george griffith chapter 27 on the third morning after the momentous interview at hide park court grace and stone running through the little pile of letters which lay at her right hand at the breakfast table opened an envelope which had a coronet and a monogram on it took out two exquisitely designed cards glanced at one of them and said tossing it across to her husband there herald what do you think of that the gossips were right after all don't you see but what if your suspicions about him are right and the poor princess were to find it out too late to wake up some fine morning and find that she had married such a man as collier bannfield was don't you think no dear i don't he replied somewhat coldly i know what you are going to say don't i think she ought to be warned before she takes the fatal step certainly not it is no business of ours to interfere with the matrimonial projects of an experienced woman of the world like the princess nativ if she chooses to marry without inquiring into his antecedents what on earth has that to do with us besides you know i am not absolutely certain and if we said anything of that sort before i am a man like semen's could make things very unpleasant for me and would no i think her highness will have to stand the hazard of her luck she is not exactly the sort of woman i like in spite of her undeniable beauty and brilliance but for all that i should be really sorry if she marries semen's and he turns out to be bannfield yes poor thing said grace that would be a fate for a woman who has received it all the courts of europe in spite of all his millions which would not be very much used to him socially or financially if our friends from america are able to help me to prove him to be what i think he is princess or no princess i'll have no mercy for him but for the present at any rate i suppose we must give him the benefit of the doubt and therefore i suppose you will attend the reception at the institute oh yes of course she replied with a laugh all the disciples of the new craze will be sure to be there and considering the princess's position and mr semen's enormous wealth and influence i should think all the upper half of society will be there as well it will be quite one of the picturesque functions of the season but what about you i'm afraid you won't be able to go oh no he said that is quite out of the question i absolutely must start for endstone tomorrow i put that business off quite long enough and after all ironworks and colluries are a little bit more important than the wedding reception of one's friends who may shortly become one's enemies still that won't matter to you dear you can easily fix a paper party with lady georgina and mrs grover and of course the gallant colonel will be only too delighted to escort you don't you worry about me i shall be much happier fighting for my own way with those hard-headed northern coal and iron kings than i should be loitering about the grounds at the institute and paying more or less insincere compliments to her highness mrs headley semen's rather curious mixture of titles isn't it it would be still more curious i'm afraid if she found herself her highness mrs collier bannfield but for her sake i think we may hope that she hasn't anything like that in store for her but isn't it just like her springing the news of her marriage on the world like this at a couple of days notice and selecting the institute for her reception i rather wonder the grave and reverent is a romel gave the use of his sanctuary for such a frivolous purpose as a wedding reception but they are of course both disciples and i dare say very considerable contributors to the funds unless poor sir godfrey's million has made them independent of that sort of thing well from what i hear of their operation in other parts of the world i should imagine there wasn't much of that million left replied herald and without any undue prejudice it is a jolly good job that your late lamented uncle isn't still in the position to devote more millions to the object which is a romel and the rest of them had a part now dear i must be off i suppose your most immediate concern now is something dazzling in the way of costumes for the function of course she replied with a laugh what else do you suppose a woman would be thinking about under the circumstances i shall have the victoria at once and go and see lady torgina and mrs grover if i can catch them before they go out and have a good talk and then we'll go and enjoy ourselves in dress land right you are dear he said going around the table and taking her by the shoulders good morning you go and spend the money on finaries and i'll go and see if i can make a few pounds to repair the damage a few pounds she laughed when she had returned his kiss i'm afraid it will come rather more than that you mercenary person but after all it won't make a very big hole in those thousands of thousands that you keep on piling so recklessly on top of each other now get away to your old money-making i must go and see herald the second and then dream about dresses the princess nativ's wedding reception at the institute of psychic science was as grace enstone had so innocently anticipated a very brilliant in fact a triumphal success the wedding ceremony had been performed quite quietly at saint luke's kensington under a special license the invited guests had not numbered more than a dozen and the bride who had no near relatives in england was given away by the russian ambassador an old friend of her father's who acted in loco parentis with an instinctive genius or stage effect and for other purposes of her own and her husband's the princess had concentrated all her efforts on the reception and the resultant amply justified even her most sanguine anticipations everyone from east and west complimented her at the leave taking on having organized and achieved the most brilliant matrimonial function that london had so far seen but the real achievement for which the function had been organized had not yet been accomplished it was a difficult and as some might have thought practically impossible task to spirit such a well known woman as mrs. herald enstone out of london in the full swing of the season and to cause her thenceforth to vanish from the world which knew her so well and this had to be done if the unholy marriage compact was to be kept and this carefully arranged opportunity could never be repeated her husband's absence had in one sense confused the plans of the conspirators but in another had simplified them when grace came with lady georgina and mrs roel grover to say goodbye and offer their final congratulations the princess slipped her arm through hers and drew her side towards the door of the big reception room my dear mrs. enstone she said in a voice in which grace immediately recognized a note of apprehension i want you to do me a very great favor will you of course if i can replied grace under the circumstances it would be difficult to say no wouldn't it even if one wanted to which i don't what is it to begin with said the princess i am going to ask you to come and have a little private chat with me it isn't quite the sort of thing that i can explain to you here but really i can assure you that to me it is of the most vital importance it is rather hard she went on in a whisper that a shadow and a rather dark one too should fall across a woman's life path on her wedding day but that has happened to me and you are the only one that can help me clear it away perhaps you understand oh yes said grace remembering what her husband had said at breakfast time three mornings before i think i do at least if it has anything to do with mr. seamans and a case of questioned identity exactly whispered the princess that horrible rumor reached me only last night on the eve of my wedding day my faith goes where my love goes and by something like a miracle my husband has within the last few hours received evidence which enables him to absolutely destroy all ground for that terrible suspicion we had hoped your husband would be here but we will give the proofs to you that you may give them to him now will you come with me of course i will replied grace who am i that i should refuse to make a bride happier upon her wedding day thank you dearest whispered the princess you will truly be my good angel if you will now we will go and say good afternoon to our mutual friends you can tell them that you are going to stop a little while with me and i shall have a message sent to your coachman to wait for further orders and then we can go and have our talk they made their adieu and grace followed the radiant bride out of the reception room and down the long curtain corridor which led to the sanctuary of secrets this i think dear mrs. n stone said the princess very sweetly drawing the red curtain aside and opening the door is one of the most interesting rooms in the institute and only those of us who are earnest students of the mysteries have been admitted so far and as i want our little talk to be very private i've taken the responsibility of bringing you here she stood aside holding the door half open and grace walked past her with her head slightly bowed the next instant the door closed sharply behind her she raised her head and to her utter amazement her eyes met those of janer halkein the convict who as she had believed for the last three years had paid the penalty which just charges all the deaths of humanity and opens the prison gates forever uncle uncle is it really you no it can't be possible you've been dead in one sense yes my dear grace replied the long familiar voice as he came towards her his eyes staring straight into hers socially and professionally yes but physically as you can see no circumstances have unfortunately compelled us to be strangers for too long but thanks to the princess and her husband with whom we shall have a little important talk shortly i am able to renew your acquaintance and this time i trust that you will not be broken off quite so abruptly as it was before as he had gone on speaking every word had come more slowly from his lips and his eyes had come closer and closer to hers he put out his hands and clasped her temples she saw his two eyes merge into one one all compelling visual force which she recognized as the once familiar instrument of the masterful soul behind the eye her own sight grew dim her senses began to wander she struggled hard to keep herself control but it was no use her limbs relaxed and she began to sway from side to side she had a sense of being caught and lifted up and then through the mists of the dreamland into which she was sinking she heard a voice which she dimly recognized as the princesses saying it's very wonderful doctor i don't think there should be any great difficulty after this end of chapter 27