On reaching the corridor I was confronted by the thin, spare figure of
the Tempter standing resolutely before a closed door--that of Beryl's
chamber.
His black eyes seemed to flash upon me defiantly, and his face had
reassumed that expression which was sufficient index to the
unscrupulousness of his character.
"Let me pass!" I cried roughly, in my headlong haste. "I desire to see
my wife."
"You shall not enter?" he answered, in a voice tremulous with an
excitement which he strove in vain to control.
"She is in distress. I heard her scream. It is my duty, both as a
doctor and as her husband, to be at her side."
"Duty?" he sneered. "My dear sir, what is duty to a man who will sell
himself for a handful of banknotes?"
"I yielded to your accursed temptation, it is true!" I cried fiercely.
"But human feeling is not entirely dead in my heart, as it is in yours.
Thank God that my hands are still unsullied!"
He laughed--the same harsh, discordant laugh that had escaped him when,
below in the library, I had refused to accept the vile condition of the
compact.
He stood there barring my passage to that room wherein lay the unknown
woman who had been so strangely united to me. Whoever she was, I was
resolved to rescue her. Mystery surrounded her--mystery that I resolved
at all hazards to penetrate.
"You were in want of money, and I offered it to you," the Tempter
answered coldly. "You have refused, and the matter is ended."
"I think not," I said warmly. "You will hear something more of this
night's work."
He laughed again, displaying an uneven row of discoloured teeth. To
argue with him further was useless.
"Come, stand aside?" I cried, making a movement forward.
He receded a couple of paces, until he stood with his back against the
door, and as I faced him I looked down the shining barrel of a revolver.
I do not know what possessed me at that instant. I did not fully
realise my danger, that is certain. My mind was too full of the mystery
surrounding the unknown woman who was lying within, and whose hand had
showed me that she was no invalid. Physically I am a muscular man, and
without a second's hesitation I sprang upon my adversary and closed with
him. His strength was marvellous. I had under-calculated it, for he
was wiry, with muscles like iron.
For a few moments we swayed to and fro in deadly embrace, until I felt
that he had turned the weapon until the barrel touched my neck. Next
instant there was a loud report. The flash burned my face, but
fortunately the bullet only grazed my cheek.
I was unharmed, but his deliberate attempt to take my life urged me to
desperation, and with an almost superhuman effort I tripped him by a
trick, and kneeling upon him, wrenched the weapon from his grasp. Then,
leaving him, I dashed towards the door and turned the handle, but in
vain. It was locked. Without more ado I stepped back, and taking a
run, flung myself against the door, bursting the lock from its socket
and falling headlong into the chamber.
The light was insufficient in that great chamber; therefore I drew up
one of the blinds partially and crossed to the bed, full of curiosity.
My wife was lying there, silent and still. Her wealth of dishevelled
hair strayed across the lace-edged pillow, and the hand with the
wedding-ring I had placed upon it was raised above her head and tightly
clenched in that attitude often assumed by children in their sleep.
She had screamed. That sound I had heard, so shrill and plain, was
undoubtedly the voice of a young woman, and it had come from this room,
which was directly above the library. Yet, as far as I could see, there
was nothing to indicate the cause of her alarm.
Utterly bewildered, I stood there gazing at the form hidden beneath the
silken coverlet of pale blue. The face was turned away towards the
wall, so that I could not see it.
Why, I wondered, had the Tempter barred my entrance there with such
determination, endeavouring to take my life rather than allow me to
enter there?
The small ormolu clock chimed the hour upon its silver bell. It was one
o'clock.
Attentively I bent and listened. Her breathing seemed very low. I
touched her hand and found it chilly.
For a moment I hesitated to disturb her, for she was lying in such a
position that I could not see her face without turning her over.
Suddenly, however, it occurred to me that I might draw out the bed from
the wall and get behind it.
This I did, but the bed, being very heavy, required all my effort to
move it.
Strangely enough at that moment I felt a curious sensation in my mouth
and throat, and an unaccountable dizziness seized me. It seemed as
though my mouth and lips were swelling, and the thought occurred to me
that I might have ruptured a blood-vessel in my exertions in moving the
bed.
Eager, however, to look upon the face of the woman who was my wife, I
slipped between the wall and the bed, and, bending down, drew back the
embroidered sheet which half concealed the features.
I stood dumb-stricken. The face was the most beautiful, the most
perfect in contour and in natural sweetness of expression, that I had
ever gazed upon. It was the face of a healthful and vigorous girl of
twenty, rather than of an invalid--a face about the beauty of which
there could be no two opinions. The great blue eyes were wide open,
looking curiously into mine, while about the mouth was a half-smile
which rendered the features additionally attractive.
"You are ill," I whispered in a low, intense voice, bending to her.
"Cannot you tell me what is the matter? I am a doctor, and will do all
in my power to make you better."
There was no response. The great blue eyes stared at me fixedly, the
smile did not relax, the features seemed strangely rigid. Next second a
terrible suspicion flashed across my mind, and I bent closer down. The
eyes did not waver in the light as eyes must do when a light shines
straight into them. I touched her cheek with my hand, and its thrilling
contact told me the truth only too plainly.
My wife was dead. She had died before sunset, as the Tempter had
intended.
The discovery held me immovable. Hers was a face such as I had never
seen before. She was a woman before whom, had I met her in life, I
should have fallen down and worshipped. Indeed, strange as it may seem,
I confess that, as I stood there, I fell in love with her--even though
she was a corpse.
Yet, as my eyes fixed themselves lovingly upon her features, as sweet,
tender, and innocent in expression as a child's, I could not imagine the
cause of death. There was no sign of disease or unhealthiness there.
Why had she uttered those screams? Why, indeed, had the door of the
death-chamber been afterwards locked? Had she, after all, fallen a
victim to foul play?
I drew down the bed-clothes and exposed her neck in order to make an
examination. She wore, suspended by a thin gold chain, a small amulet
shaped like a note of interrogation and encrusted with diamonds. My
observations told me that she had not worn it very long, for the edges
of the stones were sharp, yet the delicate skin remained unscratched. A
desire possessed me to have some souvenir of her, and without further
ado, I unclasped the chain from her neck, and placed it and the little
charm in my pocket.
Then, in continuation of my examination, I placed my hand upon her
heart, but could detect no cause of death.
Upon her breast, however, I found a curious tattoo-mark--a strange
device representing three hearts entwined. Now in my medical
experience, I have found that very few women are tattooed. A woman
usually shrinks from the operation--which is not unaccompanied by pain--
and, on careful examination of this mark, I came to the conclusion that
it had been pricked some years ago by a practised hand; further, that it
had some distinct and mysterious signification.
It was in the exact centre of the breast, and just sufficiently low to
remain concealed when she had worn a _decollete_ dress. The light was
dim and unsatisfactory, but all my efforts to trace the hand of an
assassin were futile.
Suddenly, however, as I examined her eyes, the left one, nearest the
pillow, bore an expression which struck me as unusual. Both organs of
sight seemed to have lost their clearness in the moments I had been
standing there, and were glazing as _rigor mortis_ set in, but the left
eye was becoming more blurred than its fellow--an unusual circumstance
which attracted me. The bright blue which I had seen in its
unfathomable depths had contracted in a manner altogether unaccountable
until it was now only the size of a pin's head. I bent again closely
and peered into it. Next instant the awful truth was revealed.
She had been foully murdered.
With quick heart-beating I examined the eye carefully, finding symptoms
of death from some deliriant--a neurotic acting on the brain and
producing delirium, presbyopia, and coma. Certain it was that if this
were actually the Tempter's work, he was a veritable artist in crime,
for the manner in which death had been caused was extremely difficult to
determine.
Finding myself undisturbed there, I made further and more searching
examination, until I held the opinion that death must have been almost,
if not quite, instantaneous.
But such theory did not coincide with the screams that had escaped her.
On reviewing the whole of the circumstances, I felt confident that she
must have been fully conscious at the time, and that those shrieks were
shrieks of terror. She had divined the intention of her enemies.
About the vicinity of the bed I searched for any bottle of medicine that
might be there, but in vain. If she had really been ill previously, as
the Tempter had alleged, the medicine prescribed might give me some clue
to the nature of her disease.
Upon a chair close by, her bridal veil of Brussels lace was lying
crumpled in a heap, while her gown of white satin was hanging upon the
door-knob of the handsome wardrobe. The orange-blossoms diffused their
perfume over the room, but to me it was a sickly odour emblematic of the
grave.
My wife, the most beautiful woman upon whom my eyes had ever fallen, was
lifeless--struck down by the hand of a murderer.
As I bent, looking full into the contracted pupil, I suddenly detected
something half concealed in the lace edging of the pillow. I drew it
forth, and found it to be a crumpled letter, which I spread out and
read. It had evidently been treasured there, just as invalids treasure
beneath the bolster all the correspondence they receive.
In an angular hand, evidently masculine, was written the simple words,
without address or signature, "I have seen La Gioia!"
Who, I wondered, was "La Gioia"? Was it a happy meeting or a
disconcerting one? The announcement was bare enough, without comment
and without detail. Significant, no doubt, it had been received by her
and kept secret beneath her pillow.
I started across the room to investigate my dead wife's surroundings and
to learn, if possible, by observation, something concerning her life. A
room is often indicative of a woman's character, and always of her
habits. The apartment was, I found, artistic and luxurious, while the
few books lying about showed her to be a woman of education, culture,
and refinement. Upon a little side-table, concealed behind a pile of
books, I found a small blue bottle which, taking up, I held to the
light, and afterwards uncorked and smelt, wondering whether its odour
would give me any clue to its composition. The bottle contained pure
chloroform.
Once more I crossed to the bed when, of a sudden, I again felt that
strange sensation in my mouth and throat, both of which seemed to
contract until my breathing became difficult. I felt half strangled. I
fought against the curious feeling that crept over me, but a dizziness
seized me, and I was compelled to clutch the foot of the bed in order to
steady myself.
My mouth was burning, my head reeling, while my lower limbs seemed to
have, in that moment, become cold, benumbed, and devoid of all feeling.
I held my breath, determined to battle against the faintness; but all
was useless. Sharp, acute pains shot through my legs as though red-hot
wires were being thrust through my muscles, and a second later I became
seized by a kind of paralysis which held my jaws immovable.
I placed my hands to my parched lips, and found that they had swollen to
an enormous size. My tongue seemed too large for my mouth, and my
throat so small that I could not swallow.
My head was swimming, but nevertheless I strove to calmly consider my
situation. The symptoms were plain enough, and could not be mistaken.
The Egyptian cigarette which the Major had given me had been strongly
impregnated with some deleterious and poisonous substance.
I had, after all, fallen a hapless victim to my enemies, for by
moistening the cigarette I had absorbed the poison, and, by the rapidity
with which my mouth was swelling.
I knew that I had been given a fatal dose. With set teeth I stood
trying to bear up against the sudden paroxysm of agony, but so
excruciating was it that it proved too much. A loud cry escaped me.
Writhing in the awful pains that gripped me from head to foot, I grew so
weak that my legs refused to support me. Then, out of sheer exhaustion,
I sank upon the floor, and the rest became blotted out in
unconsciousness.