Judith, who was no stranger to that house of mystery, first led me into
the front room, where I had once awaited her; but the rays of light that
came through the chinks of the closed shutters revealed nothing unusual.
It was neglected and dusty, but orderly as before. The room behind was
a bedroom, in disorder, with the bed unmade; but there was no occupant.
In eager breathlessness we ascended the stairs to the room in which
stood the stuffed bear cub, but found the door locked and the key gone.
We looked through the keyhole, but could discern nothing. To our loud
raps there was no response.
"We must break it open," I remarked, seeing no other way. And drawing
back I rushed at it, throwing all my force against it.
Once--twice--I repeated the attempt, but in vain. At length, however,
my love, in frantic haste to learn the truth, threw her weight against
the door at the same instant as mine, and with our combined efforts we
succeeded in breaking the cheap lock from its fastenings, and the door
giving way, we went head foremost into the long, old-fashioned
drawing-room, furnished in faded green rep of a style long since out of
date.
The one blind being up gave sufficient light, and next instant our eyes
fell upon a scene which filled us both with horror, and caused cries of
dismay to break involuntarily from our lips.
Selby was seated in a collapsed position in an arm-chair, his head
hanging listlessly upon his breast; while the hunchback, with hands
outstretched and tightly clenched, lay face downwards upon the carpet
behind the table.
I bent and touched their faces, one after the other. They were cold as
marble.
Both men had evidently been dead some hours.
"But my father--my poor father?" wailed Judith. "Where is he? He must
be in this house! Let us search." And she started off frantically from
room to room, I following her in breathless amazement at this tragic
discovery.
Yet although we searched the garrets and even the cellars, we failed to
discover him. He was evidently not there.
Again we ascended the stairs to that room of horror, where the two men
lay white and dead, a ghastly sight indeed; and as we re-entered she
suddenly complained of an acute pain in her left arm and a curious
sensation in the head.
Singularly enough I experienced the very same symptoms in my left arm--
very similar, indeed, to those I had felt after examining The Closed
Book.
"Ah?" she shrieked, "I know. I ran my hands along the rail on the
stairs and felt a scratch. Look at my hand! Look--I--I'm poisoned!"
I glanced at her left hand and saw a slight abrasion of the skin
straight across the palm. Then I glanced at my own, and discovered to
my dismay that I had received an exactly similar scratch.
"What makes you suspect poisoning!" I demanded quickly. "Do you
believe these men have died from the same cause?"
"Undoubtedly," she answered. But on quickly examining the hands of the
dead men I discovered no marks there. "Ah?" she wailed; "you do not
know. I am doomed to die, and no power can now save me."
I did not mention my own symptoms for fear of increasing her alarm, but
merely said:
"If you really believe you have been poisoned secretly, I think I can
give you something which may be of benefit. We must not, however, lose
an instant, but go to the nearest chemist's."
"No medicine is of avail against this. I have fallen a victim, as I
knew I must, sooner or later. In half an hour I shall be dead," she
added hoarsely, gazing fixedly at the almost imperceptible scratch upon
her delicate white flesh. "Ah! why did I come to this house of death
when I suspected--nay, when I knew too well--the doom of those who enter
here!"
"Come, Lady Judith!" I cried quickly. "Do not linger a moment. I feel
sure that your case is not so utterly hopeless as you think. Come at
once to a chemist's." And taking her forcibly by the arm I led her
downstairs and out into the street.
There was no cab in sight, but I knew there was a chemist's in
Theobald's Road, next door to the public house where I had had
refreshment on that first night of my return to London.
On entering the shop I seated her and quickly obtained a hypodermic
syringe. Then, taking from my pocket the old green glass phial wherein
the Borgia antidote was still hermetically sealed, I broke it open, half
filled the tiny syringe with the dark-brown fluid, and injected it into
her left arm. It was, indeed, fortunate that I had kept it in my pocket
instead of placing it in the case with the other objects.
"What is that?" she inquired; but, promising to explain all later, I
administered to myself an injection of the precious compound.
She felt better almost instantly, she said, and I myself began to derive
great benefit from it. The sharp pains in my limbs grew easier, and the
drowsiness that had already come over me was dispelled. It acted like
magic, and, whatever was its nature, it had, after lying concealed
through three centuries, lost none of its potency in counteracting the
effects of a powerful venom.
As we had descended the stairs my quick eye had detected a sharp steel
point slightly protruding from the polished mahogany handrail. The
colour of the wood was darker there, as though stained by some liquid
that had been applied to the point from time to time. Was it possible
that the steel point was actually envenomed with evil intent? It
certainly seemed so.
Yet the mysterious death of those two men who had been my enemies was
certainly not attributable to the same cause, for the skin upon their
hands was quite uninjured.
I examined my own hand while I gave some fictitious explanation to the
chemist, whose curiosity had been aroused by my actions. The skin was
cut slightly for quite two inches across, like the scratch of a pin, and
yet I had felt nothing until Lady Judith had directed my attention to
it. The venom, whatever it was, had the effect of producing
insensibility in the actual part lacerated. It was true that the little
crystal bottle discovered at Threave had been stolen from Dover Street;
but although the antidote had acted so successfully, I could not believe
that the actual liquid from that bottle had been used to envenom us.
There was some further and deeper explanation, for had not the woman I
loved admitted that she was aware how those who entered that gloomy,
dismal house were doomed, and that the sign of the bear cub was
synonymous with death?
Presently, when Judith felt better, we went forth again into the street.
It was our duty to inform the police of the mysterious tragedy that had
been enacted in Harpur Street, yet she pointed out that in the
circumstances it would be far better to allow the discovery to be made
by others. Some passerby would undoubtedly notice that an entry had
been made by the kitchen window, a search would be instituted for
thieves, and the truth would then be revealed.
"But will you not tell me all you know regarding that strange place and
its inmates?" I demanded.
"Later on, when I am certain of what has happened to my father," was her
response. "I shudder to think how near to death we both have been. You
have saved my life, Mr Kennedy."
"It was my duty. I, too, was envenomed by the same secret means. We
might both have succumbed, just as those two men have done, had it not
been for the fortunate circumstance of my possession of an antidote."
"Ah?" she sighed. "Death comes sooner or later to those who visit that
fatal house." Then she added, "Let us take a cab home. I'm unnerved by
what we have just discovered, for it renders the mystery greater."
"Is it then a mystery--even to you?"
"Yes, even to me," she answered; and then lapsed into silent thought.
When, a quarter of an hour later, we entered the hall at Grosvenor
Street, the footman handed her a telegram, which she scanned, and
quickly handed to me to read. It ran as follows:
"Abbey treasure discovered at Crowland this morning by the rector and
Kennedy's friends. Have been present at excavations. Arrive home at
4:30. Tell Kennedy.--Glenelg."
"Look?" she cried in wild excitement. "My dear father is safe after
all! He has apparently been helping your companions to search, and the
hidden treasure has actually been discovered."