WHAT CAME OF LOOKING THROUGH A LATTICE
He began in accents which halted not a little. By degrees his voice
grew firmer. Words came from him with greater fluency.
‘I am not yet forty. So when I tell you that twenty years ago I was a
mere youth I am stating what is a sufficiently obvious truth. It is
twenty years ago since the events of which I am going to speak
transpired.
‘I lost both my parents when I was quite a lad, and by their death I
was left in a position in which I was, to an unusual extent in one so
young, my own master. I was ever of a rambling turn of mind, and when,
at the mature age of eighteen, I left school, I decided that I should
learn more from travel than from sojourn at a university. So, since
there was no one to say me nay, instead of going either to Oxford or
Cambridge, I went abroad. After a few months I found myself in
Egypt,--I was down with fever at Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo. I had
caught it by drinking polluted water during an excursion with some
Bedouins to Palmyra.
‘When the fever had left me I went out one night into the town in
search of amusement. I went, unaccompanied, into the native quarter,
not a wise thing to do, especially at night, but at eighteen one is not
always wise, and I was weary of the monotony of the sick-room, and
eager for something which had in it a spice of adventure. I found
myself in a street which I have reason to believe is no longer
existing. It had a French name, and was called the Rue de Rabagas,--I
saw the name on the corner as I turned into it, and it has left an
impress on the tablets of my memory which is never likely to be
obliterated.
‘It was a narrow street, and, of course, a dirty one, ill-lit, and,
apparently, at the moment of my appearance, deserted. I had gone,
perhaps, half-way down its tortuous length, blundering more than once
into the kennel, wondering what fantastic whim had brought me into such
unsavoury quarters, and what would happen to me if, as seemed extremely
possible, I lost my way. On a sudden my ears were saluted by sounds
which proceeded from a house which I was passing,--sounds of music and
of singing.
‘I paused. I stood awhile to listen.
‘There was an open window on my right, which was screened by latticed
blinds. From the room which was behind these blinds the sounds were
coming. Someone was singing, accompanied by an instrument resembling a
guitar,--singing uncommonly well.’
Mr Lessingham stopped. A stream of recollection seemed to come flooding
over him. A dreamy look came into his eyes.
‘I remember it all as clearly as if it were yesterday. How it all comes
back,--the dirty street, the evil smells, the imperfect light, the
girl’s voice filling all at once the air. It was a girl’s voice,--full,
and round, and sweet; an organ seldom met with, especially in such a
place as that. She sang a little _chansonnette_, which, just then, half
Europe was humming,--it occurred in an opera which they were acting at
one of the Boulevard theatres,--“La P’tite Voyageuse.” The effect,
coming so unexpectedly, was startling. I stood and heard her to an end.
‘Inspired by I know not what impulse of curiosity, when the song was
finished, I moved one of the lattice blinds a little aside, so as to
enable me to get a glimpse of the singer. I found myself looking into
what seemed to be a sort of café,--one of those places which are found
all over the Continent, in which women sing in order to attract custom.
There was a low platform at one end of the room, and on it were seated
three women. One of them had evidently just been accompanying her own
song,--she still had an instrument of music in her hands, and was
striking a few idle notes. The other two had been acting as audience.
They were attired in the fantastic apparel which the women who are
found in such places generally wear. An old woman was sitting knitting
in a corner, whom I took to be the inevitable _patronne_. With the
exception of these four the place was empty.
‘They must have heard me touch the lattice, or seen it moving, for no
sooner did I glance within than the three pairs of eyes on the platform
were raised and fixed on mine. The old woman in the corner alone showed
no consciousness of my neighbourhood. We eyed one another in silence
for a second or two. Then the girl with the harp,--the instrument she
was manipulating proved to be fashioned more like a harp than a
guitar--called out to me,
‘“_Entrez, monsieur!--Soyez le bienvenu!_”
‘I was a little tired. Rather curious as to whereabouts I was,--the
place struck me, even at that first momentary glimpse, as hardly in the
ordinary line of that kind of thing. And not unwilling to listen to a
repetition of the former song, or to another sung by the same singer.
‘“On condition,” I replied, “that you sing me another song.”
‘“Ah, monsieur, with the greatest pleasure in the world I will sing you
twenty.”
‘She was almost, if not quite, as good as her word. She entertained me
with song after song. I may safely say that I have seldom if ever heard
melody more enchanting. All languages seemed to be the same to her. She
sang in French and Italian, German and English,--in tongues with which
I was unfamiliar. It was in these Eastern harmonies that she was most
successful. They were indescribably weird and thrilling, and she
delivered them with a verve and sweetness which was amazing. I sat at
one of the little tables with which the room was dotted, listening
entranced.
‘Time passed more rapidly than I supposed. While she sang I sipped the
liquor with which the old woman had supplied me. So enthralled was I by
the display of the girl’s astonishing gifts that I did not notice what
it was I was drinking. Looking back I can only surmise that it was some
poisonous concoction of the creature’s own. That one small glass had on
me the strangest effect. I was still weak from the fever which I had
only just succeeded in shaking off, and that, no doubt, had something
to do with the result. But, as I continued to sit, I was conscious that
I was sinking into a lethargic condition, against which I was incapable
of struggling.
‘After a while the original performer ceased her efforts, and, her
companions taking her place, she came and joined me at the little
table. Looking at my watch I was surprised to perceive the lateness of
the hour. I rose to leave. She caught me by the wrist.
‘“Do not go,” she said;--she spoke English of a sort, and with the
queerest accent. “All is well with you. Rest awhile.”
‘You will smile,--I should smile, perhaps, were I the listener instead
of you, but it is the simple truth that her touch had on me what I can
only describe as a magnetic influence. As her fingers closed upon my
wrist, I felt as powerless in her grasp as if she held me with bands of
steel. What seemed an invitation was virtually a command. I had to stay
whether I would or wouldn’t. She called for more liquor, and at what
again was really her command I drank of it. I do not think that after
she touched my wrist I uttered a word. She did all the talking. And,
while she talked, she kept her eyes fixed on my face. Those eyes of
hers! They were a devil’s. I can positively affirm that they had on me
a diabolical effect. They robbed me of my consciousness, of my power of
volition, of my capacity to think,--they made me as wax in her hands.
My last recollection of that fatal night is of her sitting in front of
me, bending over the table, stroking my wrist with her extended
fingers, staring at me with her awful eyes. After that, a curtain seems
to descend. There comes a period of oblivion.’
Mr Lessingham ceased. His manner was calm and self-contained enough;
but, in spite of that I could see that the mere recollection of the
things which he told me moved his nature to its foundations. There was
eloquence in the drawn lines about his mouth, and in the strained
expression of his eyes.
So far his tale was sufficiently commonplace. Places such as the one
which he described abound in the Cairo of to-day; and many are the
Englishmen who have entered them to their exceeding bitter cost. With
that keen intuition which has done him yeoman’s service in the
political arena, Mr Lessingham at once perceived the direction my
thoughts were taking.
‘You have heard this tale before?--No doubt. And often. The traps are
many, and the fools and the unwary are not a few. The singularity of my
experience is still to come. You must forgive me if I seem to stumble
in the telling. I am anxious to present my case as baldly, and with as
little appearance of exaggeration as possible. I say with as little
appearance, for some appearance of exaggeration I fear is unavoidable.
My case is so unique, and so out of the common run of our every-day
experience, that the plainest possible statement must smack of the
sensational.
‘As, I fancy, you have guessed, when understanding returned to me, I
found myself in an apartment with which I was unfamiliar. I was lying,
undressed, on a heap of rugs in a corner of a low-pitched room which
was furnished in a fashion which, when I grasped the details, filled me
with amazement. By my side knelt the Woman of the Songs. Leaning over,
she wooed my mouth with kisses. I cannot describe to you the sense of
horror and of loathing with which the contact of her lips oppressed me.
There was about her something so unnatural, so inhuman, that I believe
even then I could have destroyed her with as little sense of moral
turpitude as if she had been some noxious insect.
‘“Where am I?” I exclaimed.
‘“You are with the children of Isis,” she replied. What she meant I did
not know, and do not to this hour. “You are in the hands of the great
goddess,--of the mother of men.”
‘“How did I come here?”
‘“By the loving kindness of the great mother.”
‘I do not, of course, pretend to give you the exact text of her words,
but they were to that effect.
‘Half raising myself on the heap of rugs, I gazed about me,--and was
astounded at what I saw.
‘The place in which I was, though the reverse of lofty, was of
considerable size,--I could not conceive whereabouts it could be. The
walls and roof were of bare stone,--as though the whole had been hewed
out of the solid rock. It seemed to be some sort of temple, and was
redolent with the most extraordinary odour. An altar stood about the
centre, fashioned out of a single block of stone. On it a fire burned
with a faint blue flame,--the fumes which rose from it were no doubt
chiefly responsible for the prevailing perfumes. Behind it was a huge
bronze figure, more than life size. It was in a sitting posture, and
represented a woman. Although it resembled no portrayal of her I have
seen either before or since, I came afterwards to understand that it
was meant for Isis. On the idol’s brow was poised a beetle. That the
creature was alive seemed clear, for, as I looked at it, it opened and
shut its wings.
‘If the one on the forehead of the goddess was the only live beetle
which the place contained, it was not the only representation. It was
modelled in the solid stone of the roof, and depicted in flaming
colours on hangings which here and there were hung against the walls.
Wherever the eye turned it rested on a scarab. The effect was
bewildering. It was as though one saw things through the distorted
glamour of a nightmare. I asked myself if I were not still dreaming; if
my appearance of consciousness were not after all a mere delusion; if I
had really regained my senses.
‘And, here, Mr Champnell, I wish to point out, and to emphasise the
fact, that I am not prepared to positively affirm what portion of my
adventures in that extraordinary, and horrible place, was actuality,
and what the product of a feverish imagination. Had I been persuaded
that all I thought I saw, I really did see, I should have opened my
lips long ago, let the consequences to myself have been what they
might. But there is the crux. The happenings were of such an incredible
character, and my condition was such an abnormal one,--I was never
really myself from the first moment to the last--that I have hesitated,
and still do hesitate, to assert where, precisely, fiction ended and
fact began.
‘With some misty notion of testing my actual condition I endeavoured to
get off the heap of rugs on which I reclined. As I did so the woman at
my side laid her hand against my chest, lightly. But, had her gentle
pressure been the equivalent of a ton of iron, it could not have been
more effectual. I collapsed, sank back upon the rugs, and lay there,
panting for breath, wondering if I had crossed the border line which
divides madness from sanity.
‘“Let me get up!--let me go!” I gasped.
‘“Nay,” she murmured, “stay with me yet awhile, O my beloved.”
‘And again she kissed me.’
Once more Mr Lessingham paused. An involuntary shudder went all over
him. In spite of the evidently great effort which he was making to
retain his self-control his features were contorted by an anguished
spasm. For some seconds he seemed at a loss to find words to enable him
to continue.
When he did go on, his voice was harsh and strained.
‘I am altogether incapable of even hinting to you the nauseous nature
of that woman’s kisses. They filled me with an indescribable repulsion.
I look back at them with a feeling of physical, mental, and moral
horror, across an interval of twenty years. The most dreadful part of
it was that I was wholly incapable of offering even the faintest
resistance to her caresses. I lay there like a log. She did with me as
she would, and in dumb agony I endured.’
He took his handkerchief from his pocket, and, although the day was
cool, with it he wiped the perspiration from his brow.
‘To dwell in detail on what occurred during my involuntary sojourn in
that fearful place is beyond my power. I cannot even venture to attempt
it. The attempt, were it made, would be futile, and, to me, painful
beyond measure. I seem to have seen all that happened as in a glass
darkly,--with about it all an element of unreality. As I have already
remarked, the things which revealed themselves, dimly, to my
perception, seemed too bizarre, too hideous, to be true.
‘It was only afterwards, when I was in a position to compare dates,
that I was enabled to determine what had been the length of my
imprisonment. It appears that I was in that horrible den more than two
months,--two unspeakable months. And the whole time there were comings
and goings, a phantasmagoric array of eerie figures continually passed
to and fro before my hazy eyes. What I judge to have been religious
services took place; in which the altar, the bronze image, and the
beetle on its brow, figure largely. Not only were they conducted with a
bewildering confusion of mysterious rites, but, if my memory is in the
least degree trustworthy, they were orgies of nameless horrors. I seem
to have seen things take place at them at the mere thought of which the
brain reels and trembles.
‘Indeed it is in connection with the cult of the obscene deity to whom
these wretched creatures paid their scandalous vows that my most awful
memories seem to have been associated. It may have been--I hope it was,
a mirage born of my half delirious state, but it seemed to me that they
offered human sacrifices.’
When Mr Lessingham said this, I pricked up my ears. For reasons of my
own, which will immediately transpire, I had been wondering if he would
make any reference to a human sacrifice. He noted my display of
interest,--but misapprehended the cause.
‘I see you start, I do not wonder. But I repeat that unless I was the
victim of some extraordinary species of double sight--in which case the
whole business would resolve itself into the fabric of a dream, and I
should indeed thank God!--I saw, on more than one occasion, a human
sacrifice offered on that stone altar, presumably to the grim image
which looked down on it. And, unless I err, in each case the
sacrificial object was a woman, stripped to the skin, as white as you
or I,--and before they burned her they subjected her to every variety
of outrage of which even the minds of demons could conceive. More than
once since then I have seemed to hear the shrieks of the victims
ringing through the air, mingled with the triumphant cries of her
frenzied murderers, and the music of their harps.
‘It was the cumulative horrors of such a scene which gave me the
strength, or the courage, or the madness, I know not which it was, to
burst the bonds which bound me, and which, even in the bursting, made
of me, even to this hour, a haunted man.
‘There had been a sacrifice,--unless, as I have repeatedly observed,
the whole was nothing but a dream. A woman--a young and lovely
Englishwoman, if I could believe the evidence of my own eyes, had been
outraged, and burnt alive, while I lay there helpless, looking on. The
business was concluded. The ashes of the victim had been consumed by
the participants. The worshippers had departed. I was left alone with
the woman of the songs, who apparently acted as the guardian of that
worse than slaughterhouse. She was, as usual after such an orgie,
rather a devil than a human being, drunk with an insensate frenzy,
delirious with inhuman longings. As she approached to offer to me her
loathed caresses, I was on a sudden conscious of something which I had
not felt before when in her company. It was as though something had
slipped away from me,--some weight which had oppressed me, some bond by
which I had been bound. I was aroused, all at once, to a sense of
freedom; to a knowledge that the blood which coursed through my veins
was after all my own, that I was master of my own honour.
‘I can only suppose that through all those weeks she had kept me there
in a state of mesmeric stupor. That, taking advantage of the weakness
which the fever had left behind, by the exercise of her diabolical
arts, she had not allowed me to pass out of a condition of hypnotic
trance. Now, for some reason, the cord was loosed. Possibly her
absorption in her religious duties had caused her to forget to tighten
it. Anyhow, as she approached me, she approached a man, and one who,
for the first time for many a day, was his own man. She herself seemed
wholly unconscious of anything of the kind. As she drew nearer to me,
and nearer, she appeared to be entirely oblivious of the fact that I
was anything but the fibreless, emasculated creature which, up to that
moment, she had made of me.
‘But she knew it when she touched me,--when she stooped to press her
lips to mine. At that instant the accumulating rage which had been
smouldering in my breast through all those leaden torturing hours,
sprang into flame. Leaping off my couch of rugs, I flung my hands about
her throat,--and then she knew I was awake. Then she strove to tighten
the cord which she had suffered to become unduly loose. Her baleful
eyes were fixed on mine. I knew that she was putting out her utmost
force to trick me of my manhood. But I fought with her like one
possessed, and I conquered--in a fashion. I compressed her throat with
my two hands as with an iron vice. I knew that I was struggling for
more than life, that the odds were all against me, that I was staking
my all upon the casting of a die,--I stuck at nothing which could make
me victor.
‘Tighter and tighter my pressure grew,--I did not stay to think if I
was killing her--till on a sudden--’
Mr Lessingham stopped. He stared with fixed, glassy eyes, as if the
whole was being re-enacted in front of him. His voice faltered. I
thought he would break down. But, with an effort, he continued.
‘On a sudden, I felt her slipping from between my fingers. Without the
slightest warning, in an instant she had vanished, and where, not a
moment before, she herself had been, I found myself confronting a
monstrous beetle,--a huge, writhing creation of some wild nightmare.
‘At first the creature stood as high as I did. But, as I stared at it,
in stupefied amazement,--as you may easily imagine,--the thing dwindled
while I gazed. I did not stop to see how far the process of dwindling
continued,--a stark raving madman for the nonce, I fled as if all the
fiends in hell were at my heels.’