The doctor placidly finished his cigarette. The sleek, genial smile had
not left his face for an instant, and his eye still held the same
twinkle of languid amusement.
"Miss Hardwick is a very plucky young woman," he murmured, "but
evidently the spook chamber, as you so aptly termed it a little while
ago, has proved too much for her nerves. The cry we just heard seemed to
indicate that she was in great distress. Being alone in a dark room with
nothing but skeletons for company is not a very pleasant experience for
a woman."
The Phantom's face turned a shade whiter. For a moment he was dazed by
the realization that Helen was undergoing the same excruciating ordeal
to which he himself had been subjected. The ghostly spectacle had caused
even his strong nerves to writhe and he shuddered at thought of the
effect it must have on her more delicate organism.
"I gave you a little taste of it just to enable you to appreciate Miss
Hardwick's predicament," continued the doctor in matter-of-fact tones.
"The arrangement is simplicity itself. My excellent Jerome fixed it up.
The scenic effects are so simple that a child could have handled them.
Yet you will admit, I think, that they serve their purpose. I once knew
a person--not a weakling, either--who went mad under similar pressure.
It is strange how----"
Another shriek, not so loud as the first, but long-drawn and hoarse,
interrupted him. He paused for a moment, eyeing the Phantom with a level
glance while the scream lasted, then fell to polishing his lenses.
"As I was about to remark," he went on, "it is strange how darkness and
a touch of the grewsome affect one's mind. The soul seems to shrink from
such things. The reason, I think, must be atavistic. The poor wretch I
was telling you about, the one who lost his mind----"
"Stop it!" cried the Phantom. His voice was husky. "Get her out of that
room before she goes mad!"
Doctor Bimble seemed suddenly interested. "Do I understand that you are
willing to listen to reason? Are you ready to reconsider the suggestion
I made a while ago and which you so grandiloquently rejected? In other
words, are you willing to tell me where your treasures are hidden?"
"Yes--anything! I'll do whatever you ask. Only stop that infernal
hocus-pocus at once!"
"Oh, very well." There was a smile of keen gratification on Bimble's
lips as he got up and left the room.
The Phantom, every limb shaking, stared at the door through which he had
passed. Suddenly his blood-streaked eyes grew wide. He remembered
something that was almost as terrifying as the shrieks he had just
heard. His thoughts went back to the moment when he had awakened in the
dark room, and he recalled the snatches of conversation he had
overheard.
One of the two speakers, he was now almost certain, had been Doctor
Bimble. The voice had sounded familiar, and he would probably have
recognized it but for the dazed condition he was in. One of the doctor's
sentences had burned itself into the Phantom's brain:
"The young lady is here to serve our purpose. After that----"
He saw it all in a blinding flash that scorched like fire. With their
usual cunning the Duke's men had perceived that neither by torture nor
by threats of death could the Gray Phantom be forced to comply with
their desires. They had known that he held his life lightly and could
suffer personal punishment like an Indian. And so their diabolically
crafty minds had conceived the idea of letting Helen Hardwick's agonized
cries pierce his armor of pride and obduracy, thus accomplishing what
could never have been accomplished by other means.
They had judged him accurately, was his grim reflection. Rather than see
a hair of Helen's head harmed he would gladly make any sacrifice. But
the sinister significance of the doctor's words had been plain. The
Phantom would not insure Helen's safety by accepting Bimble's terms.
Evidently, Miss Hardwick had come into possession of information which
the gang feared she might divulge if set free, and consequently she was
to be silenced forever as soon as Bimble's purpose had been attained.
While he awaited the doctor's return the Phantom thought quickly. By
accepting Bimble's terms he would only be hastening Helen's doom, for
the gang, having no further use for her after they had gained their
ends, would probably put her to death quickly. On the other hand, by
rejecting the conditions, he would at least gain time. In the meanwhile
Bimble might inflict cruel suffering upon her, but his selfish interests
would restrain him from taking her life, for, once he had done so, his
sole hold upon the Phantom would be gone.
The reasoning was plain, but he found it hard to reach a decision.
Perhaps death would be merciful in comparison with the tortures that
Bimble might subject her to. He was caught between the jaws of a fearful
dilemma, and the only sane course he could see was to play for time.
Doctor Bimble returned. "Why do women never swoon until the worst is
over?" he questioned in whimsical tones. "Miss Hardwick is a surprising
young lady, but she is not free from the foibles of her sex. She had no
sooner been taken out of the dark room than she promptly collapsed."
The Phantom held back the biting words on his tongue, but he could not
forego a look of withering contempt.
"Do you know," the doctor went on, "I am almost certain that Miss
Hardwick knows where your retreat is located? In fact, she let slip
something that convinces me she does. But do you suppose the stubborn
little beauty would tell? Not she! I don't believe the fear of eternal
fires could force her to speak."
He had guessed correctly, but the Phantom carefully refrained from
signifying by a look or a word that it was so. Miss Hardwick knew about
Sea-Glimpse, and it was with mingled feelings the Phantom heard of her
refusal to reveal the secret. Had she become aware, through some process
of divination, that her life would be forfeited the moment the
information was in the doctor's possession, or had she been guided by
other reasons?
"So you see," continued Bimble in smooth tones, "that you will save the
little lady from all sorts of unpleasantness by acceding to my very
reasonable terms. It would be a shame if such a charming woman should
become a gibbering maniac as a result of obstinacy on your part. Where
did you say this place of yours is situated?"
"I haven't said yet." The Phantom forced a laugh. "Before I do, you and
I must have a definite understanding. Do you agree to set Miss Hardwick
free the moment I have given you the information?"
"What an unreasonable question, my dear Phantom! I agree to do nothing
of the kind. I shall keep Miss Hardwick here until I have satisfied
myself that you have been dealing with me on the square and that the
directions you have given me are accurate."
"Fair enough. But after you have satisfied yourself in regard to my good
faith, what then?"
"Then," said the doctor, and there was not a trace of guile in his face,
"Miss Hardwick shall be immediately released."
"On your word of honor?"
"On my word of honor."
"Snake!" the Phantom was tempted to say, but he pretended to be
satisfied. Already his mind was inventing a ruse. He would gain several
hours of valuable time by inveigling the doctor into a search for a
place that had existence only in the Phantom's imagination. In the
meantime several things were likely to happen. It was just possible that
Granger had been able to trace the movements of the limousine and would
come to the rescue. At any rate, the Phantom believed that if he could
but stave off the crisis for a while his customary luck would once more
reassert itself.
His mind worked fast. Doubtless the doctor knew that he had arrived in
New York less than twenty-four hours after the Gage murder. Allowing for
slow and infrequent trains and the time required for news to reach
out-of-the-way places, he would have to choose a point that was not more
than ten or twelve hours removed from New York. With a mental picture of
the map before his eyes, he outlined a highly imaginative route to the
doctor.
Bimble made a few notes. Then he looked up, and for once there was an
ominous glint in the usually placid eyes.
"My men will start at once," he announced. "They will be instructed to
wire me as soon as they have reached their destination. I hope, for Miss
Hardwick's sake, that you have not tried to deceive me."
With that he was gone; but the softly spoken words, edged with just the
faintest trace of a sinister note, lingered for a long time in the
Phantom's memory.