AN AFTERWORD
I wish it lay in my power to satisfy the curiosity in all quarters
expressed respecting the identity of "Nahémah"--the cat-woman, or
_psycho-hybrid_, who figured in Dr. Damar Greefe's statement. But it
is my duty, as chronicler of the strange and awful occurrences which
at this period disturbed the even tenor of my existence, to state that
from the moment in which she leaped from the window of Mrs.
Wentworth's house to the path below, neither I nor any other witness
who ever came forward _beheld her again_.
At the end of a quest which exercised the intricate machinery of New
Scotland Yard throughout the length and breadth of the land, Inspector
Gatton was compelled to admit himself defeated in this particular. And
his explanation of the failure to apprehend the central figure of the
tragedies which had exterminated the house of Coverly was a curious
one.
"You know, Mr. Addison," he said to me one evening, "the more I think
of this Nahémah the more I wonder if such a person ever really
existed!"
"What do you mean, Gatton?" I asked.
"Well," he replied, "I mean that although you and I and others are
prepared to testify to the existence of a woman in the case, what do
we really know about her (leaving Damar Greefe's statement out of the
question) except that she possessed very remarkable eyes?"
"And very remarkable agility," I interrupted.
"Yes, I'll grant you that," he said; "her agility was certainly
phenomenal. But, still, as I was saying, except for this definite
information we have no _proof_ outside the statement of Dr. Damar
Greefe that such a person as Nahémah ever existed or at any rate that
there ever was a creature possessing the attributes which he ascribed
to her. The Laurels is an ordinary suburban house, which has been
leased for a number of years by a 'Mr. and Miss da Costa'--Damar
Greefe, no doubt, and a female companion. But of his 'great work' and
so forth there's not a trace. There are a lot of Egyptian antiquities,
I'll admit, but not a scrap of evidence; and the rooms evidently used
by the female inmate of the household are those of an ordinary
cultured Englishwoman."
"But, good heavens, Gatton," I cried, "whatever explanation can you
offer of a series of crimes which were palpably directed against the
members of the Coverly family?"
"I don't say," continued Gatton, "that there wasn't a sort of feud or
vendetta at the bottom of the business. I merely mention that we have
no _evidence_ to show that the person responsible for it was any other
than this Eurasian doctor."
"But what could have been his object?"
"I could suggest several; but my point at the moment is this: although
I am prepared to grant that he had a woman associate of some kind, I
can't see that there is any evidence to prove that she was otherwise
than an ordinary human being, except that I am disposed to think she
was demented."
"You are probably right there, Gatton," I agreed; "and Dr. Damar
Greefe was by no means normal; in fact I think he was a dangerous and
very brilliant maniac."
"At any rate," added Gatton, "no trace of this Nahémah has been
found--which, at the least, is very significant."
"Significant, if you like," I replied; "but for my own part I have no
ambition whatever to see again those dreadful green eyes."
"I never did see them," said Gatton musingly; "therefore I can't speak
upon the matter; but when we got Dr. Damar Greefe I think we had the
head of the conspiracy. How much of his 'statement' is true and how
much the product of a diseased mind is something we are never likely
to know."
"Nor am I curious to know it," I assured him. "I only desire to forget
the tragedies associated with the green eyes of Bâst and to leave the
darkness of the past behind--"
"And," said Gatton, with a smile less grim than usual, "you have my
best wishes for the future."
THE END
_The greatest pleasure in life is
that of reading. Why not then
own the books of great novelists
when the price is so small_
* * * * *
_Of all the amusements which can possibly
be imagined for a hard-working man, after
his daily toil, or in its intervals, there is
nothing like reading an entertaining book.
It calls for no bodily exertion. It transports
him into a livelier, and gayer, and more diversified
and interesting scene, and while he
enjoys himself there he may forget the evils
of the present moment. Nay, it accompanies
him to his next day's work, and gives him
something to think of besides the mere
mechanical drudgery of his every-day occupation--something
he can enjoy while absent,
and look forward with pleasure to return to_.
_Ask your dealer for a list of the titles
in Burt's Popular Priced Fiction_
* * * * *
_In buying the looks bearing the
A.L. Burt Company imprint
you are assured of wholesome, entertaining
and instructive reading_
_THE BEST OF RECENT FICTION_
Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The. Frank L. Packard.
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. A. Conan Doyle.
Affair at Flower Acres, The. Carolyn Wells.
Affinities and Other Stories. Mary Roberts Rinehart.
After House, The. Mary Roberts Rinehart.
Against the Winds. Kate Jordan.
Alcatraz. Max Brand.
Alias Richard Power. William Allison.
All the Way by Water. Elizabeth Stancy Payne.
Amateur Gentleman, The. Jeffery Farnol.
Amateur Inn, The. Albert Payson Terhune.
Anna the Adventuress. E. Phillips Oppenheim.
Anne's House of Dreams. L.M. Montgomery.
Anybody But Anne. Carolyn Wells.
Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian. Arthur Stringer.
Around Old Chester. Margaret Deland.
Arrant Rover, The. Berta Ruck.
Athalie. Robert W. Chambers.
At the Mercy of Tiberius. Augusta Evans Wilson.
At Sight of Gold. Cynthia Lombardi.
Auction Block, The. Rex Beach.
Aunt Jane of Kentucky. Eliza C. Hall.
Awakening of Helena Ritchie. Margaret Deland.
Bab: a Sub-Deb. Mary Roberts Rinehart
Bar 20. Clarence E. Mulford.
Bar 20 Days. Clarence E. Mulford.
Bar 20 Three. Clarence E. Mulford.
Barrier, The. Rex Beach.
Bars of Iron, The. Ethel M. Dell.
Bat Wing. Sax Rohmer.
Beasts of Tarzan, The. Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Beautiful and Damned, The. F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Beauty. Rupert Hughes.
Behind Locked Doors. Ernest M. Poate.
Bella Donna. Robert Hichens. (Photoplay Ed.).
Beloved Traitor, The. Frank L. Packard.
Beloved Vagabond, The. Wm. J. Locke.
Beloved Woman, The. Kathleen Norris.
Beltane the Smith. Jeffery Farnol.
Betrayal, The. E. Phillips Oppenheim.
Beyond the Frontier. Randall Parrish.
Big Timber. Bertrand W. Sinclair.
Black Bartlemy's Treasure. Jeffery Farnol.
Black Buttes. Clarence E. Mulford.