_John Pride's Story_
"I am a member," John Pride began, "of a firm called Pride, Conroy,
and Wilson. We are a very old firm of private bankers with offices in
Wall Street. Both Conroy and Wilson died before I was born, leaving no
issue, so the company has been controlled by a Pride for many years.
"This affair in which we are interested had its inception one hundred
years ago. At that time, a man came to see my great grandfather in his
office. He was a most remarkable man and gained my grandfather's
respect and confidence from the very first. He never stated from
whence he came, being more interested in the future than in the past.
He put up at a New York City hotel and my great grandfather knew there
were three in his party; the man himself, another man and a woman both
somewhat older than he.
"At one time when my great grandfather visited them in their hotel
suite, he saw the woman fleetingly as she was leaving the room. She
was carrying something that he thought could have been an infant
snuggled in a blanket. He could not be sure however and he did not ask
questions.
"The man was interested in obtaining a place of abode, a place that
had to possess certain definite qualifications. First, it had to be
built upon solid rock and set in the most secluded location possible.
"Second, it had to be so completely free of legal involvements that
when he secured title, no possible claim of another could ever be
taken seriously enough to even cause the property to be visited. In
short, the strange man said, details relevant to the property must
integrate to a point where no one would visit it for one hundred
years."
At this place in his narrative, John Pride stopped a moment to rest
his voice. After a pause, the young man in the purple robe inquired,
"Why do you smile?"
"At the recollection. My great grandfather had just a white
elephant--"
"A white elephant?"
"Merely a descriptive term. A place that had been built before the
Revolution but which even at that early time had been bypassed by the
trend of progress until it was completely isolated. No one wanted it.
No one would ever want it so far as my great grandfather could judge."
"Except this strange man you speak of."
"Precisely. He was delighted with the place and when my great
grandfather pointed out that even with the location and the high
surrounding wall there was no guarantee that wandering adventurers
might not move in and take possession at some distant date, the man
smiled cryptically and said he would see to it that that did not
occur."
* * * * *
The young man was scowling. "I know that man. He is somewhere back in
my mind, but he will not come forward."
John Pride regarded his listener for a moment and then went on. "The
man seemed in ample funds and paid for the property with a giant ruby
the like of which my great grandfather had never before set eyes on.
"But the affair was far from ended. The man moved his _menage_ into
the mansion saying he would call upon my great grandfather later.
* * * * *
"All the legal formalities had been of course taken care of--an
indisputable deed, guaranteed by the strongest trust company in the
land. But that was not enough.
"After a few weeks, during which time the man had inquired of my great
grandfather where certain materials could be obtained, he returned to
the old gentleman's office with the most startling request of all.
"He said that he had set in motion a procedure that would terminate in
exactly one hundred years from a given moment and that he wished to
retain grandfather's firm as trust agents in relation to that
procedure. The duties of the firm would be negligible during the
hundred-year period. My great grandfather and his issue were merely to
remain completely away from the property which was certainly a simple
thing to do.
"But knowledge of what had taken place must be passed down to his son
and in case the latter did not survive the one hundred years, to his
son's son.
"At this point my great grandfather interposed reality in the form of
a question: 'I have a son but suppose he is so inconsiderate as to not
duplicate with a male heir?'
"The man smiled and said he was sure that would not be the case. He
was right, but whether it was a gamble on his part or whether he spoke
from a knowledge beyond us, we never knew.
"But regardless--at the end of one hundred years the surviving issue
was, by sacred trust, to be present in this mansion. The door of a
vault beneath it would open and the trustee was to enter and deliver
therein a written account of the series of events leading up to that
moment.
"In payment for this service, the man insisted upon presenting my
great grandfather with jewels the value of which on a yearly basis
transcended all our other income combined. My great grandfather
demurred but the man said nothing brightens memory so much as
material gain and he did not want the agreement to be forgotten."
"What happened to the man?" the young listener asked.
John Pride shook his head sadly. "We never knew. When all the
arrangements were made, he came again to the office, thanked my great
sire for his services, and was never seen again."
"He must have given you his name."
John Pride frowned. "He used a name of course but there was the
impression of its not being his true one. The book mentions this. The
name he used was C. D. Bram."
"Portox!" the young man cried suddenly.
"What did you say?"
"Portox. The name is back in my mind. I used it as I awoke."
"A strange name."
"And stranger still is the fact that I know nothing of it--wait!" The
young man's handsome features strained as he concentrated with all his
power. Sweat stood out on his forehead. But then a look of
disappointment came into his face and his broad shoulders sagged. "No.
The knowledge is somewhere back in my mind but I cannot capture it."
John Pride was about to speak but the young man stayed him with a
sudden intense look. "One thing however is very clear to me."
"And that is--?"
"The face of my mother."
"The woman who held you in her arms in the hotel suite?"
"No, I do not think so. But I see a face clearly in my mind. A sad and
beautiful face. There is a marked resemblance between it and what I
see in that mirror. She is the most beautiful woman who ever lived and
I yearn to find her and take her in my arms."
"I hope you succeed."
* * * * *
A tragic light appeared in the young man's eyes. "But where is she?
How can I find her? Why did she leave me in this place?"
"I do not have the answers to those questions. But I have a theory
concerning you and the elapsed years."
"Tell me!"
John Pride spoke firmly but with obvious awe. "I think you were
brought here as an infant for some reason known only to the one who
called himself C. D. Bram."
"Or Portox."
"Perhaps. I think you were placed in that bed and left there for one
hundred years."
"But--"
"Consider. That door has never been opened. There is certainly no
other exit to this cavern."
"And I have no recollection of ever having lived before," the young
man said slowly.
"Yet you can converse with me. You obviously have been given an
education."
"But how?"
"It is known that knowledge can be injected into the subconscious
while the receiver sleeps. I'm sure the man you insist upon calling
Portox was aware of this--this and perhaps other scientific miracles.
Who are we to say that you were not nourished by some means beyond our
knowledge?"
But that investigation was never to be made because as John Pride
extended his hand to touch the box it suddenly burst into a glow and
he withdrew his fingers quickly.
Before the younger man could answer a glowing point of light sprang
into being and brightened and a wave of searing heat erupted from the
walls of the room, searing the eyes of John Pride and leaving him to
grope helplessly as in the heart of a furnace. The younger man was
beyond his reach. Blinding pain caused him to reel.