THREE LETTERS.
THE FIRST LETTER OF DR. ETWALD.
"Deanminster.
"My dear Major Jen:
"In the joy with which you and Miss Dallas hailed the appearance of
the man whom you thought dead, I was--for the time being--quite
forgotten; and very naturally too. Profiting by the occasion, I left
the room and went to the bedroom where Mr. Sarby lay in a trance,
similar to that into which Mr. Alymer had fallen, both trances being
caused by the poison of the devil-stick. As you have learned from his
own lips, I revived him, as I revived his friend; so now, my good Jen,
you have your two boys with you again, alive and well. The comedy is
finished; and was I not right in denying to these past events the
misleading name of tragedy?
"Naturally, you wish to know how the dead came to be alive, and for
what reason I behaved as I did. Well, here you shall find the whole
explanation, so fully given that there will be no necessity for you to
seek me at Deanminster. Indeed, if you do so, you will not find me, as
by the time you receive this letter I shall be well on my way to
London. Thence it is my intention to go abroad, and--as I told you at
our last meeting--you will never see me again. When you finish this
letter, you will, no doubt, be glad of this; and it is just as well
that I should remain beyond your reach. You are a virtuous man, I am
not--but our natures would prevent our ever assimilating, the one with
the other. As to my promised explanation, here it is, and much good
may it do you.
"I am--as you know--a physician, but I am also what you may not
know--a man of genius. I have brains, but no money; and for
experiments in chemistry, money, I regret to say, is extremely
necessary. This being the case, I have needed money, and that in large
quantities, all my life. As I could not make it for myself--not having
the mercantile instinct--I resolved to gain it by making a rich
marriage. For many years I have traveled the world. Like Ulysses, I
have known men and cities, and some years ago, Chance--a deity at
whose shrine I always pay my devotions--led me to Barbadoes. While
there I was attracted, as I always am, by the weird and mysterious, by
the superstitions of the African race. I studied the cult of Obi, the
belief of the Voodoo stone, and by a strange train of circumstances,
which I need not relate, I gained possession of that powerful talisman
which is known to all negroid America. With this stone in my
possession, I was king--so to speak--of all the black race. This power
I determined to use to my own advantage, and through it to make a rich
marriage.
"I discovered that Mrs. Dallas was the richest woman in the West
Indies, that she had one fair and marriageable daughter, and that
mother and daughter were under the influence of a negress called Dido,
who was a profound believer in the cult of Obi. I determined,
therefore, to bend the negress to my will by means of the Voodoo
stone, and to marry the daughter. Unfortunately, Mrs. Dallas and her
child were in England. So thither I went in order to prosecute my
suit, and obtain a rich wife in the person of Miss Isabella Dallas.
From information obtained in Barbadoes I found that they were living
near Deanminster, so to that town I repaired, and established myself
as a physician. I made the acquaintance of yourself, of Mr. Alymer,
and Mr. Sarby, and also of Mrs. Dallas and her daughter, the young and
charming girl whom I intended to make my wife.
"But here, as you may guess, I found an unexpected obstacle. The young
lady was in love with Mr. Alymer, and would have nothing to do with an
elderly bachelor like myself. I determined to remove that obstacle;
not by death, but by gentler means which would do away with all risk,
and place Miss Dallas in my power. Need I say that I allude to the
devil-stick?
"I knew that you possessed it, my dear major, as I had been informed
of its existence and of its owner by Dido. Over this negress, by means
of the Voodoo stone, I possessed complete power. She was ready to do
whatever I wanted, and I employed her in forwarding my schemes. Her
grandmother had come from 'Ashantee,' the native country of the wand
of sleep, and knew all about it; also she knew how to prepare the
poison. These secrets she transmitted to Dido, and I resolved to
obtain the devil-stick, to make Dido prepare fresh poison, and to use
the devil-stick against my rival, Mr. Alymer.
"And now a word about this poison. It does not kill, but merely places
its victim in a trance state, which so closely resembles death that
not even the most expert doctor can tell the difference. If the trance
continues the victim dies; but there is an antidote--which, by the
way, I obtained from Dido--and this antidote, if used in time, can
restore the victim from a state of catalepsy to his pristine vigor. I
had made up my mind to use the devil-stick, and so, as I was anxious
to give Mr. Alymer a chance to escape, I prophesied to him a state of
life-in-death. This phrase describes exactly the trance state of those
wounded by the devil-stick--impregnated with its poison.
"However, Mr. Alymer did not take my warning and leave off courting
Miss Dallas. On the contrary, he announced his engagement, and carried
off the young lady in triumph. As you may guess, from what I have said
before, I doomed him from that hour. I made Dido hypnotize Mrs. Dallas
in order to have the devil-stick stolen. If you remember, major, I
offered to buy it, but as you refused, I had to have it stolen. In
order to compromise the mother, I arranged that she should steal it.
She did, and without having the slightest notion that she was
committing the crime. When Dido obtained the devil-stick she filled it
with the poison. Then she--by my directions--hypnotized Miss Dallas,
put the devil-stick into her hand, and sent her forth to kill Mr.
Alymer. But I should not say kill--as you know the devil-stick cannot
kill--let us say, to cast Mr. Alymer into a trance. By this ingenious
plot--you must admit, major, that it is ingenious--I got rid of the
lover, and obtained a hold over mother and daughter.
"But to make a long story short, I had the body of Mr. Alymer stolen,
with the aid of Dido, in order to revive my rival. I did not wish him
to die, so I took away his body, and kept him in the trance for some
weeks, feeding him in the meantime, so as to preserve life. While I
was in prison. Dido attended him by my orders. Mr. Alymer was not
concealed in my house; so that is why the police had a useless search
for the body. Where was he concealed? Ah, that is my secret.
"After the trial, seeing that Mr. Sarby had behaved so foolishly, I
decided to abandon the game. Evidently there was no chance of my
winning the hand of Miss Dallas; and also I did not wish Sarby to die.
But if I revived him, I would have to revive Maurice also, the more so
as I did not want to stand my trial for stealing his body. The rest of
my story you know. I revived Maurice and brought him to you; so I
suppose he will now marry Miss Dallas. I also revived David to have
the satisfaction of seeing the woman he loved in the arms of another.
In both cases the antidote was efficacious. So now, my dear major, as
I said before, you have your two dear boys once more in the flesh, and
I hope you are satisfied. Did I not tell you that the devil is not so
black as he is painted?
"Well, my plot has failed, and now I am departing to look anew for a
rich wife. Also to find Dido, and get back the Voodoo stone, of which
she robbed me. You will never meet me again, and I dare say you won't
be sorry to see the back of me. And now, my dear major, I fancy I have
told you all, and you know the meaning of the many mysteries which
have puzzled you for so long. There remains only to say adieu, and
remain your evil genius (now resigned), Max Etwald."
THE SECOND LETTER OF DR. ETWALD.
"Barbadoes.
"My dear Major Jen:
"It is over a year since I wrote you my explanatory letter from
Deanminster, and I little thought that it would be necessary for me to
write to you again, least of all from this place. But here I came in
search of Dido; and here I found Mrs. Dallas, and to my profound
astonishment her daughter--still Miss Dallas. I sought an explanation.
They would not give me one. In despair--having received the most
uncivil reception--I left them. Then, to my surprise, I ran across Mr.
David Sarby.
"He was glad to see me, and thanked me for bringing him back from the
grave. I, on my side, complimented him for saving my neck from the
hangman's noose. The first greetings thus being over, he told me the
news which concerned those who where implicated in our little
Deanminster comedy. I confess that the news surprised me; and I write
to you for an explanation.
"In the first place, I learned from Mr. Sarby that Isabella Dallas
refused to marry Mr. Alymer, and that, far from being offended, he
appeared to be glad of the release from his engagement. I also learned
that he has since married Lady Meg Brance, who has always been so
deeply in love with him. Will you be so kind, my dear major, as to
explain this sudden misplacing of Mr. Alymer's affections?
"I learned, also, from Mr. Sarby, that he has prevailed upon Miss
Dallas, the deserted Ariadne of Mr. Alymer, to reward his long
devotion by giving him her hand. I hear that they are to be married
within the month, and that the match is one which meets with the full
approbation of Mrs. Dallas. Under these circumstances I am afraid that
there is no chance of my marrying Miss Dallas; so I must content
myself with searching for another wife.
"I found in my brief interview with Miss Dallas that she had learned
how she had tried to kill Mr. Alymer while under the hypnotic
influence of Dido. Perhaps this knowledge broke off the match, and the
young couple took a dislike to one another from the peculiar
circumstances of that night. Certainly--hypnotism or not--one would
not care to marry a woman who had attempted one's life; so that, I
conjecture, is the reason of Mr. Alymer's withdrawal.
"Also, Miss Dallas must have had a horror of seeing constantly before
her the man whom--innocently enough--she tried to kill. Hence her
refusal to marry your dear Maurice. Am I wrong in these ideas? I think
not. Still I should like an explanation from you. As I shall be here for
some months--searching for the Voodoo stone and Dido--please send your
letter to Barbadoes, directed to your anxious inquirer, Max Etwald."
THE THIRD LETTER OF DR. ETWALD.
"Barbadoes.
"My dear Major Jen:
"It is now some months since I wrote you, making certain inquiries,
yet you have not been courteous enough to gratify my curiosity. That
is cruel of you! Miss Dallas is now Mrs. Sarby, the other lady is now
Lady Meg Alymer; yet you will not tell me how this strange transfer of
wives came about. Never mind, I am sure the explanation I fancied in
my last letter is the correct one. But you are a rude correspondent.
Fie, major. Fie! Fie! Fie!
"I shall return good for evil, and tell you that I have regained
possession of the Voodoo stone. Dido is dead; killed by her own
excitement at an Obi orgie. I am now the King of the Black Race
throughout the world, by possession of the stone, but to you I shall
remain, for the last time, my dear major, Max Etwald."
THE END.