A LEAF FROM THE PAST
Ralph Ravenspur, with Tchigorsky and Geoffrey, sat smoking in the
billiard room until Vera came in to say good-night and drive them off to
bed. As they were about to separate at the head of the stairs Ralph gave
them a sign to follow him.
"Come to my room for half an hour," he said.
The others complied. Tchigorsky slipped away for a while, and on his
return he laid the end of a long silk thread on the white table cover.
"Part of a little scheme," he said. "This is one end of the silk thread.
Where the other end is matters nothing for the present. Ralph, everybody
has retired?"
"Everybody," Ralph replied as he filled his pipe.
"I fancy you said that no servants sleep in the house."
"They have not done so for a long time," Geoffrey explained. "Not that
we entertain the least suspicion of any of them. We merely made the
change for safety's sake."
Tchigorsky nodded his approval. He arranged the silk thread neatly on
the table, coiling the end round a daisy pattern worked into the damask
cloth.
"For Mrs. May's benefit?" Geoffrey asked.
"Precisely," Tchigorsky said gravely. "I take a great interest in her."
Geoffrey smoked a whole cigarette before he spoke again.
"By the way," he exclaimed, "who and what is Mrs. May?"
"The devil fairly disguised," Ralph croaked. "A beautiful
Mephistopheles, a fascinating Beelzebub, a dark-eyed fiend, a--a----"
He pulled up choking with all-consuming rage. His arm was sawing the air
as if feeling for the white throat of his lovely foe.
"Steady, there," Tchigorsky muttered. "Steady, Ralph, my friend. Shall
we enlighten Master Geoffrey a little as to the kind of woman she is?"
Ralph nodded over his pipe.
"If you like," he said. "Only the tale shall be yours. When I come to
think of it, I go out of my mind, as I did that night in the Black
Valley. Tell him, Tchigorsky; tell him by all means--but not all."
"Ay, ay, I shall know where to leave off. I'll sit here where I can
watch the table. I am interested in that silk thread. So long as it
remains simply coiled up there I can go on talking. When it moves----"
"You are wasting time," Geoffrey suggested.
"True. But to make amends I am going to interest you from the very
outset. Doubtless you are curious to know the meaning of those scars on
my face and on the face of your uncle. Lately he has managed
artistically to disguise his for reasons that will appear later. There
was nothing to gain by hiding mine and pretty ugly they are.
"These scars were branded on us both at the same time by the priests of
the great temple in the hills beyond Lassa. Three of us had penetrated
there, but the other one knew nothing of the mysteries of Buddha, for
the simple reason that he was the servant of your uncle--one Elphick by
name. Elphick is doing good work for us elsewhere, but you shall see him
in time.
"Now, these two men, who had disguised themselves as Buddhist priests
and had penetrated all the mysteries of that most mysterious creed, had
made a boast two years before at Lahore of what they meant to do. And
the words of their vaporings were carried to the ears of a woman who was
a Brahmin, though it appeared as if she had abandoned her religion and
had married an Englishman.
"This Englishman had been to Lassa himself and, when a girl, his wife
had fallen in love with him and he married her. There was a good deal of
scandal about it at the time, but there are so many scandals in India
that this one was quickly buried under a layer of other slanders. Some
said that that officer had managed to pick up some of the holiest
mysteries of Buddha, and that the lovely native had married him to close
his lips. Certainly, he would never speak of Lassa and when the place
was mentioned he always showed signs of agitation.
"Well, we went. We were not afraid. Both of us knew the East, we spoke
many languages, we could assume any disguise. And in a short time, as
honored pilgrims from a far land, we were free of the holy temple in the
hills beyond Lassa. Soon we were picking up all the mysteries."
"Are there any mysteries?" Geoffrey asked.
Ralph gave a quick barking laugh like the snap of a pistol shot. All
this time his grave, wooden smile never relaxed.
"Ay," Tchigorsky went on, "mysteries! The things we saw and the things
we learned would have driven many a strong man mad. Occult sciences!
What do we know of them? I tell you the greatest man who walks the
earth, a whole regiment of the finest scientists in Europe, would be a
set of chattering monkeys alongside a Buddhist priest. We have seen the
dead rise from their graves and heard them speak. We came near to learn
the secret of eternal life. And yet everlasting life and the unveiling
of the future would not tempt me there again."
Tchigorsky's voice had fallen to a harsh whisper. As Geoffrey glanced at
Ralph he saw that the latter's face was bathed in a profound
perspiration.
"We were thus situated for some months," Tchigorsky resumed. "Gradually
every mystery connected with life and death was opening up before us,
and the secret of universal knowledge was within our grasp. Then one day
there was a commotion in the city, and we found that there was to be a
great feast in honor of a princess of the royal blood who had come back
to Lassa after a long pilgrimage. We were bidden to that feast and had
places of honor near to the seat of the princess.
"She came in presently, gorgeously attired in flowing robes and strings
of diamonds and emeralds in her hair. She was a magnificent creature. I
have seen many a native queen on her throne, but none to compare with
that woman who sat flashing her lovely eyes round the table.
"As I looked at her again and again I had an odd feeling that I had seen
her before. I turned to speak to Ralph here and beheld with distended
eyes and dropped jaw that he was regarding the princess.
"'What is it?' I asked. 'Do you know her, too?'
"Ralph whispered a few words in my ear--a few pungent words that turned
me cold. And what he saw was this. In the princess we had the woman from
Lahore--the woman who had forsaken her tribe to marry an English
officer. We had heard before that she was in the habit of going away for
long periods, and we knew that her husband must have possessed himself
of Buddhist secrets, perhaps sacred Buddhist script, or that woman would
never have been allowed to come and go like this.
"Had she married an Englishman in the ordinary way and subsequently
returned to Lassa, she would have been torn to pieces. She had been
granted absolution on purpose to wrest those secrets from the Englishman
who had stolen them. And we two had boasted in the hearing of this woman
that we were going to learn those secrets for ourselves.
"Would she recognize us? That was the question. Remember that we were
most carefully disguised, we spoke the language without flaw, we had the
same tale to tell--a tale that we had rehearsed over and over again.
There was no reason why we should not pass muster.
"Hope began to revive. Then I looked up and caught that woman's eye and
she smiled. I dream of that smile sometimes at night, and wake up cold
and wet and shivering from head to foot. Not that I have more fear than
most men, but then I had seen men put to death in Tibet. The torture of
the wheel would be a pleasant recreation alongside of death like that.
"We were recognized. No need to tell us that. Doubtless that woman had
followed us step by step, giving us all the latitude we required, and
now she had come to teach us the pains and penalties attaching to our
office. She favored us with no further glance until the feast had
concluded and what passes for music had begun, when she honored both of
us with a summons to her side.
"Of course, we went. In the circumstances there was nothing else to do.
She made room for us; she smiled dazzlingly upon us. And then slowly and
deliberately, as a cat with a mouse, she began to play with us.
"'I speak to you thus,' she said, 'because there are others who seek for
the secrets of the faith. There were two Christian dogs who came up from
Lahore. One was called Tchigorsky, the other was called Mayton' (Mayton
was your uncle Ralph's pseudonym, Geoffrey), 'and they boasted what they
were going to do. They knew the language, they said. And, behold, the
one called Tchigorsky was very like you, holy man.'
"It was coming. I bowed gravely as if the comparison was not pleasing to
me. A wild yell of hysterical laughter came to my lips, but I managed to
suppress that. There were no knives on the table, and I had not dared to
use my revolver. Had there been a knife on the table I should have
stabbed that woman to the heart and taken the consequences.
"But your revolver, Tchigorsky," Geoffrey suggested.
"My dear boy, holy fathers and shining lights of the Buddhist faith do
not carry Regulation Army revolvers," Tchigorsky said grimly. "All I
could do was to wait."
"'Did you know those English at Lahore?' the princess asked.
"I disclaimed the knowledge, saying that at that time I was in Cawnpore.
Then being closely questioned, I proceeded to give a detailed history of
the movements of myself and my companion for the last year or so. I was
lying glibly and easily, but I had no comfort from the knowledge. It was
easy to see that not one word was believed, and that I was walking into
the trap.
"'At Dargi you were,' said the princess. 'What are the five points of
the temple there?'
"For the life of me I could not tell her. As a matter of fact, I had
never been near Dargi in my life. And the question was one that any
Buddhist who had been there would have answered offhand.
"'I have forgotten,' I answered as calmly as possible. 'I have a bad
memory. I forget all kinds of things.'
"Those dark eyes seemed to look me all through.
"'You will forget your own name next,' the princess said.
"'I'll remember that,' I replied. 'I am Rane el Den, at your service.'
"Then came the reply in excellent English. 'Your name is Sergius
Tchigorsky, and your companion is Ralph James Mayton. I have found you
out. I have only to raise my hand and your fate is sealed.'
"It was all over. I said nothing. I asked no pity. Pity! You might as
well strive to soften the heart of the wounded tiger that has you down
with a handful of nuts. Then I----"
Tchigorsky paused. His eyes were on the table. He pointed to the silken
thread that was slowly moving in the direction of the door.
"Hush!" he said softly. "Blow out the light."