As may be supposed my meeting with the Don afforded me abundant food for
reflection. Was it true, as he had said, that in his hour of distress
Nikola had afforded him an asylum? and if so, why was the latter doing
so? I knew Nikola too well by this time to doubt that he had some good
and sufficient reason for his action. Lurking at the back of my mind was
a hideous suspicion that, although I tried my hardest not to think of
it, would not allow itself to be banished altogether. I could not but
remember the story Nikola had told me on that eventful evening
concerning his early life, and the chance remark he had let fall one day
that he knew more about the man, Don Martinos, than I supposed, only
tended to confirm it. If that were so, and he still cherished, as I had
not the least doubt he did--for Nikola was one who never forgave or
forgot,--the same undying hatred and desire for vengeance against his
old enemy, the son of his mother's betrayer, then there was--but here I
was compelled to stop. I could not go on. The death-like face of the
man I had just left rose before my mind's eye like an accusing angel,
whereupon I made a resolution that I would think no more of him nor
would I say anything to any member of our party concerning my meeting
with him that afternoon. It is superfluous to remark that the latter
resolve was more easily kept than the former.
The first dinner in Venice after our return was far from being a
success. Miss Gertrude's headache, instead of leaving her, had become so
bad that she was compelled to go forthwith to bed, leaving Glenbarth in
despair, and the rest of our party as low-spirited as possible. Next
morning she declared she was a little better, though she complained of
having passed a wretched night.
"I had such horrible dreams," she told my wife, "that when I woke up I
scarcely dared close my eyes again."
"I cannot remember quite what she said she dreamt," said Phyllis when
she told me the story; "but I know that it had something to do with
Doctor Nikola and his dreadful house, and that it frightened her
terribly."
The girl certainly looked pale and haggard, and not a bit like the happy
creature who had stepped into the train at Rome.
"Heaven grant that there is not more trouble ahead," I said to myself,
as I smoked my pipe and thought over the matter. "I am beginning to wish
we had not come to Venice at all. In that case we should not have seen
Nikola or the Don, Miss Trevor would not have been in this state, and I
should not have been haunted day and night with this horrible suspicion
of foul play."
It was no use, however, talking of what might or might not have
happened. It was sufficient that the things I have narrated _had_ come
to pass, and I must endeavour to derive what satisfaction I could from
the reflection that I had done all that was possible under the
circumstances.
On the day following our return to Venice, the Dean of Bedminster set
off for England. I fancy he was sorry to go, and of one thing I am quite
sure, and that was that we regretted losing him. It was arranged that,
as soon as we returned to England, we should pay him a visit at
Bedminster, and that the Duke should accompany us. Transparently honest
though he was in all things, I fancy the old gentleman had a touch of
vanity in his composition, and I could quite understand that he would be
anxious to show off his future son-in-law before the society of his
quiet cathedral town.
On the night following his departure, I had the most terrible dream I
have had in my life. Though some time has elapsed since then, I can
still recall the fright it gave me. My wife declares that she could see
the effect of it upon my face for more than a day afterwards. But this,
I think, is going a little too far. I am willing, however, to admit that
it made a very great impression upon me at the time--the more so for the
reason that it touched my thought, and I was quite at a loss to
understand it. It was night, I remember, and I had just entered the
Palace Revecce. I must have been invisible, for, though I stood in the
room with Nikola, he did not appear to be aware of my presence. As usual
he was at work upon some of his chemical experiments. Then I looked at
his face, and saw that it wore an expression that I had never seen there
before. I can describe it best by saying that it was one of absolute
cruelty, unrelieved by even the smallest gleam of pity. And yet it was
not cruelty in the accepted meaning of the word, so much as an
overwhelming desire to punish and avenge. I am quite aware, on reading
over what I have just written, that my inability to convey the exact
impression renders my meaning obscure. Yet I can do no more. It was a
look beyond the power of my pen to describe. Presently he put down the
glass he held in his hand, and looked up with his head a little on one
side, as if he were listening for some sound in the adjoining room.
There was a shuffling footstep in the corridor outside, and then the
door opened and there entered a figure so awful that I shrank back from
it appalled. It was Don Martinos, and yet it was not the Don. The face
and the height were perhaps the same, but the man himself was--oh, so
different. On seeing Nikola he shambled forward, rather than walked, and
dropped in a heap at his feet, clutching at his knees, and making a
feeble whining noise, not unlike that of an animal in pain.
"Get up," said Nikola sternly, and as he said it he pointed to a couch
on the further side of the room.
[Illustration: "He crawled upon the floor like a dog."]
The man went and stretched himself out upon it as if in obedience to
some unspoken command. Nikola followed him, and having exposed the
other's chest, took from the table what looked like a hypodermic
syringe, filled it from one of the graduated glasses upon the table, and
injected the contents beneath the prostrate man's skin. An immediate and
violent fit of trembling was the result, followed by awful contortions
of the face. Then suddenly he stiffened himself out and lay like one
dead. Taking his watch from his pocket Nikola made a careful note of the
time. So vivid was my dream that I can even remember hearing the
ticking of the watch. Minute after minute went by, until at last the Don
opened his eyes. Then I realized that the man was no longer a human
being, but an animal. He uttered horrible noises in his throat, that
were not unlike the short, sharp bark of a wolf, and when Nikola bade
him move he crawled upon the floor like a dog. After that he retreated
to a corner, where he crouched and glowered upon his master, as if he
were prepared at any moment to spring upon him and drag him down. As one
throws a bone to a dog so did Nikola toss him food. He devoured it
ravenously, as would a starving cur. There was foam at the corners of
his mouth, and the light of madness in his eyes. Nikola returned to the
table and began to pour some liquid into a glass. So busily occupied was
he, that he did not see the thing, I cannot call it a man, in the
corner, get on to his feet. He had taken up a small tube and was
stirring the contents of the glass with it, when the other was less than
a couple of feet from him. I tried to warn him of his danger, only to
find that I could not utter a word. Then the object sprang upon him and
clawed at his throat. He turned, and, a moment later, the madman was
lying, whining feebly, upon the floor, and Nikola was wiping the blood
from a scratch on the left-hand side of his throat. At that moment I
awoke to find myself sitting up in bed, with the perspiration streaming
down my face.
"I have had such an awful dream!" I said, in answer to my wife's
startled inquiry as to what was the matter. "I don't know that I have
ever been so frightened before."
"You are trembling now," said my wife. "Try not to think of it, dear.
Remember it was only a dream."
That it was something more than a mere dream I felt certain. It was so
complete and dovetailed so exactly with my horrible suspicions that I
could not altogether consign it to the realms of fancy. Fearing a
repetition if I attempted to go to sleep again, I switched on the
electric light and endeavoured to interest myself in a book, but it was
of no use. The face of the poor brute I had seen crouching in the corner
haunted me continually, and would not be dispelled. Never in my life
before had I been so thankful to see the dawn. At breakfast my wife
commented upon my dream. Miss Trevor, however, said nothing. She became
quieter and more distracted every day. Towards the evening Glenbarth
spoke to me concerning her.
"I don't know what to make of it all," he said anxiously. "She assures
me that she is perfectly well and happy, but seeing the condition she is
in, I can scarcely believe that. It is as much as I can do to get a word
out of her. If I didn't know that she loves me I should begin to imagine
that she regretted having promised to be my wife."
"I don't think you need be afraid of that," I answered. "One has only to
look at her face to see how deeply attached she is to you. The truth of
the whole matter is, my dear fellow, I have come to the conclusion that
we have had enough of Venice. Nikola is at the bottom of our troubles,
and the sooner we see the last of him the better it will be for all
parties concerned."
"Hear, hear, to that," he answered fervently. "Deeply grateful though I
am to him for what he did when Gertrude was ill, I can honestly say that
I never want to see him again."
At luncheon that day I accordingly broached the subject of our return to
England. It was received by my wife and the Duke with unfeigned
satisfaction, and by Miss Trevor with what appeared to be approval. It
struck me, however, that she did not seem so anxious to leave as I
expected she would be. This somewhat puzzled me, but I was not destined
to remain very long in ignorance of the reason.
That afternoon I happened to be left alone with her for some little
time. We talked for a while on a variety of topics, but I could see all
the time that there was something she was desirous of saying to me,
though she could not quite make up her mind how to commence. At last she
rose, and crossing the room took a chair by my side.
"Sir Richard, I am going to ask a favour of you," she said, with a
far-away look in her eyes.
"Let me assure you that it is granted before you ask it," I replied.
"Will you tell me what it is?"
"It may appear strange to you," she said, "but I have a conviction,
absurd, superstitious, or whatever you may term it, that some great
misfortune will befall me if I leave Venice just yet. I am not my own
mistress, and must stay. I want you to arrange it."
This was a nice sort of shell to have dropped into one's camp,
particularly at such a time and under such circumstances, and I scarcely
knew what reply to make.
"But what possible misfortune could befall you?" I asked.
"I cannot say," she replied. "I am only certain that I must remain for a
little while longer. You can have no idea what I have suffered lately.
Bear with me, Sir Richard." Here she lifted a face of piteous entreaty
to me, which I was powerless to resist, adding, "I implore you not to be
angry with me."
"Is it likely that I should be angry with you, Miss Gertrude?" I
replied. "Why should I be? If you really desire to remain for a little
longer there is nothing to prevent it. But you must not allow yourself
to become ill again. Believe me it is only your imagination that is
playing tricks with you."
"Ah! you do not know everything," she answered. "Every night I have such
terrible dreams that I have come to dread going to bed."
I thought of my own dream on the previous night, and could well
understand how she felt. After her last remark she was silent for some
moments. That there was something still to come, I could see, but what
it was I had no more idea than a child. At last she spoke.
"Sir Richard," she said, "would you mind very much if I were to ask you
a most important question? I scarcely like to do so, but I know that you
are my friend, and that you will give me good advice."
"I will endeavour to do so," I replied. "What is the question you wish
to ask me?"
"It is about my engagement," she replied. "You know how good and
unselfish the Duke is, and how truly he believes in me. I could not
bear to bring trouble upon him, but in love there should be no
secrets--nothing should be hidden one from the other. Yet I feel that I
am hiding so much--can you understand what I mean?"
"In a great measure," I answered, "but I should like to do so
thoroughly. Miss Gertrude, if I may hazard a guess, I should say that
you have been dreaming about Doctor Nikola again?"
"Yes," she answered after a moment's hesitation. "Absurd though it may
be, I can think of no one else. He weighs upon my spirits like lead, and
yet I know that I should be grateful to him for all he did for me when I
was so ill. But for him I should not be alive now."
"I am afraid that you have been allowing the thought of your recent
danger to lie too heavily upon your mind," I continued. "Remember that
this is the nineteenth century, and that there are no such things as you
think Nikola would have you believe."
"When I know that there are?" she asked, looking at me reproachfully.
"Ah, Sir Richard," she continued, "if you knew all that I do you would
pity me. But no one will ever know, and I cannot tell them. But one
thing is quite certain. I must stay in Venice for the present--happen
what may. Something tells me so, day and night. And when I think of the
Duke my heart well-nigh breaks for fear I should bring trouble upon
him."
I did my best to comfort her; promised that if she really desired to
remain in Venice I would arrange it for her, and by so doing committed
myself to a policy that I very well knew, when I came to consider it
later, was not expedient, and very far from being judicious. Regarded
seriously in a sober commonplace light, the whole affair seems too
absurd, and yet at the time nothing could possibly have been more real
or earnest. When she had heard me out, she thanked me very prettily for
the interest I had taken, and then with a little sigh, that went to my
heart, left the room. Later in the afternoon I broke the news to my
wife, and told her of the promise I had given Gertrude.
"But what does it all mean, Dick?" she asked, looking at me with
startled eyes. "What is it she fears will happen if she goes away from
Venice?"
"That is what I cannot get her to say," I replied. "Indeed I am not
altogether certain that she knows herself. It's a most perplexing
business, and I wish to goodness I had never had anything to do with it.
The better plan, I think, would be to humour her, keep her as cheerful
as we can, and when the proper time arrives, get her away from Venice
and home to England as quickly as we can."
My wife agreed with me on this point, and our course of action was
thereupon settled.
Later in the afternoon I made a resolution. My own suspicions concerning
the wretched Martinos were growing so intolerable that I could bear them
no longer. The memory of the dream I had had on the previous night was
never absent from my thoughts, and I felt that unless I could set
matters right once and for all, and convince myself that they were not
as I suspected with Anstruther's friend, I should be unable to close my
eyes when next I went to bed. For this reason I determined to set off to
the Palace Revecce at once, and to have an interview with Nikola in the
hope of being able to extort some information from him.
"Perhaps after all," I argued, "I am worrying myself unnecessarily.
There may be no connection between Martinos and that South American."
I determined, however, to set the matter at rest that afternoon.
Accordingly at four o'clock I made an excuse and departed for the Rio
del Consiglio.
It was a dark, cloudy afternoon, and the house, as I approached it,
looked drearier, if such a thing were possible, than I had ever seen
it. I disembarked from my gondola at the steps, and having bade the man
wait for me, which he did on the other side of the street, I rang the
bell. The same old servant whom I remembered having seen on a previous
occasion answered it, and informed me that his master was not at home,
but that he expected him every minute. I determined to wait for him and
ascended the stairs to his room. The windows were open, and from where I
stood I could watch the gondolier placidly eating his bread and onions
on the other side of the street. So far as I could see there was no
change in the room itself. The centre table as usual was littered with
papers and books, that near the window was covered with chemical
apparatus, while the old black cat was fast asleep upon the couch on the
other side. The oriental rug, described in another place, covered the
ominous trap-door so that no portion of it could be seen. I was still
standing at the window looking down upon the canal below, when the door
at the further end softly opened and a face looked in at me. Good
heavens! I can even now feel the horror which swept over me. It was the
countenance of Don Martinos, but so changed, even from what it had been
when I had seen him in the Rio del Barcaroli, that I scarcely recognized
it. It was like the face of an animal and of a madman, if such could be
combined. He looked at me and then withdrew, closing the door behind
him, only to re-open it a few moments later. Having apparently made sure
that I was alone, he crept in, and, crossing the room, approached me.
For a moment I was at a loss how to act. I was not afraid that the poor
wretch might do me any mischief, but my whole being shrank from him with
a physical revulsion beyond all description in words. I can understand
now something of the dislike my wife and the Duke declared they
entertained for him. On tip-toe, with his finger to his lips, as if to
enjoin silence, he crept towards me, muttering something in Spanish that
I could not understand; then in English he continued--
"Hush, Senor, cannot you see them?"
He pointed his hand in various directions as if he could see the figures
of men and women moving about the apartment. Once he bowed low as if to
some imaginary dignitary, drawing back at the same time, as if to permit
him to pass. Then turning to me he continued, "Do you know who that is?
No! Then I will tell you. Senor, that is the most noble Admiral Revecce,
the owner of this house."
Then for a short time he stood silent, picking feebly at his fingers and
regarding me ever and anon from the corner of his eye. Suddenly there
was a sharp quick step in the corridor outside, the handle of the door
turned, and Nikola entered the room. As his glance fell upon the
wretched being at my side a look not unlike that I had seen in my dream
flashed into his countenance. It was gone again, however, as suddenly as
it had come, and he was advancing to greet me with all his old
politeness. It was then that the folly of my errand was borne in upon
me. Even if my suspicions were correct what could I do, and what chance
could I hope to have of being able to induce Nikola to confide in me?
Meanwhile he had pointed to the door, and Martinos, trembling in every
limb, was slinking towards it like a whipped hound. At that moment I
made a discovery that I confess came near to depriving me of my presence
of mind altogether. You can judge of its value for yourself when I say,
that extending to the lobe of Nikola's left ear half-way down and across
his throat was a newly-made scar, just such an one, in fact, as would be
made by a hand with sharp finger-nails clutching at it. Could my dream
have been true, after all?
"I cannot tell you how delighted I am to see you, my dear Sir Richard,"
said Nikola as he seated himself. "I understood that you had returned to
Venice."
Having out-grown the desire to learn how Nikola had become aware of
anything, I merely agreed that we had returned, and then took the chair
he offered me.
When all the circumstances are taken into consideration, I really think
that that moment was certainly the most embarrassing of my life.
Nikola's eyes were fixed steadily upon mine, and I could see in them
what was almost an expression of malicious amusement. As usual he was
making capital out of my awkwardness, and as I knew that I could do no
good, I felt that there was nothing for it but for me to submit. Then
the miserable Spaniard's face rose before my mind's eye, and I felt that
I could not abandon him, without an effort, to what I knew would be his
fate. Nikola brought me up to the mark even quicker than I expected.
"It is very plain," he said, with a satirical smile playing round his
thin lips, "that you have come with the intention of saying something
important to me. What is it?"
At this I rose from my chair and went across the room to where he was
sitting. Placing my hand upon his shoulder I looked down into his face,
took courage, and began.
"Doctor Nikola," I said, "you and I have known each other for many years
now. We have seen some strange things together, one of us perhaps less
willingly than the other. But I venture to think, however, that we have
never stood on stranger or more dangerous ground than we do to-night."
"I am afraid I am scarcely able to follow your meaning," he replied.
I knew that this was not the case, but I was equally convinced that to
argue the question with him would be worse than useless.
"Do you remember the night on which you told me that story concerning
the woman who lived in this house, who was betrayed by the Spaniard, and
who died on that Spanish island?" I asked.
He rose hurriedly from his chair and went to the window. I heard him
catch his breath, and knew that I had moved him at last.
"What of it?" he inquired, turning on me sharply as he spoke.
"Only that I have come to see you concerning the _denouement_ of that
story," I answered. "I have come because I cannot possibly stay away.
You have no idea how deeply I have been thinking over this matter. Do
you think I cannot see through it and read between the lines? You told
it to me because in some inscrutable fashion of your own you had become
aware that Don Martinos would bring a letter of introduction to me from
my friend Anstruther. Remember it was I who introduced him to you! Do
you think that I did not notice the expression that came into your face
whenever you looked at him? Later my suspicions were aroused. The Don
was a Spaniard, he was rich, and he had made the mistake of admitting
that while he had been in Chili he had never been in Equinata. You
persuaded me to bring him to this house, and here you obtained your
first influence over him."
"My dear Hatteras," said Nikola, "you are presupposing a great deal. And
you get beyond my depth. Don't you think it would be wiser if you were
to stick to plain facts?"
"My suppositions are stronger than my facts," I answered. "You laid
yourself out to meet him, and your influence over him became greater
every day. It could be seen in his face. He was fascinated, and could
not escape. Then he began to gamble, and found his money slipping
through his fingers like water through a sieve."
"You have come to the conclusion, then, that I am responsible for that
also?"
"I do not say that it was your doing exactly," I said, gathering courage
from the calmness of his manner and the attention he was giving me. "But
it fits in too well with the whole scheme to free you entirely from
responsibility. Then look at the change that began to come over the man
himself. His faculties were leaving him one by one, being wiped out,
just as a school-boy wipes his lesson from a slate. If he had been an
old man I should have said that it was the commencement of his second
childhood; but he is still a comparatively young man."
"You forget that while he had been gambling he had also been drinking
heavily. May not debauchery tell its own tale?"
"It is not debauchery that has brought about this terrible change. Who
knows that better than yourself? After the duel, which you
providentially prevented, we went to Rome for a fortnight. On the
afternoon of our return I met him near the telegraph-office. At first
glance I scarcely recognized him, so terrible was the change in his
appearance. If ever a poor wretch was on the verge of idiotcy he was
that one. Moreover, he informed me that he was living with you. Why
should the fact that he was so doing produce such a result? I cannot
say! I dare not try to understand it! But, for pity's sake, Nikola, by
all you hold dear I implore you to solve the riddle. Last night I had a
dream!"
"You are perhaps a believer in dreams?" he remarked very quietly, as if
the question scarcely interested him.
"This dream was of a description such as I have never had in my life
before," I answered, disregarding the sneer, and then told it to him,
increasing rather than lessening the abominable details. He heard me out
without moving a muscle of his face, and it was only when I had reached
the climax and paused that he spoke.
"This is a strange rigmarole you tell me," he said. "Fortunately you
confess that it was only a dream."
"Doctor Nikola," I cried, "it was more than a dream. To prove it, let me
ask you how you received that long scratch that shows upon your neck and
throat?"
I pointed my finger at it, but Nikola returned my gaze still without a
flicker of his eyelids.
"What if I do admit it?" he began. "What if your dream were correct?
What difference would it make?"
I looked at him in amazement. To tell the truth I was more astonished by
his admission of the correctness of my suspicions than I should have
been had he denied them altogether. As it was, I was too much overcome
to be able to answer him for a few moments.
"Come," he said, "answer my question. What if I do admit the truth of
all you say?"
"You confess then that the whole business has been one long scheme to
entrap this wretched man, and to get him into your power?"
"'Tis," he answered, still keeping his eyes fixed upon me. "You see I am
candid! Go on!"
My brain began to reel under the strain placed upon it. Since he had
owned to it, what was I to do? What could I say?
"Sir Richard Hatteras," said Nikola, approaching a little nearer to me,
resting one hand upon the table and speaking very impressively, "I
wonder if it has struck you that you are a brave man to come to me
to-day and to say this to me? In the whole circle of the men I know I
may declare with truth that I am not aware of one other who would do so
much. What is this man to you that you should befriend him? He would
have robbed you of your dearest friend without a second thought, as he
would rob you of your wife if the idea occurred to him. He is without
bowels of compassion; the blood of thousands stains his hands and cries
aloud for vengeance. He is a fugitive from justice, a thief, a liar, and
a traitor to the country he swore to govern as an honest man. On a
certain little island on the other side of the world there is a lonely
churchyard, and in that churchyard a still lonelier grave. In it lies
the body of a woman--my mother. In this very room that woman was
betrayed by his father. So in this room also shall that betrayal be
avenged. I have waited all my life; the opportunity has been long in
coming. Now, however, it has arrived, and I am decreed by Fate to be the
instrument of Vengeance!"
I am a tall man, but as he said this Nikola seemed to tower over me, his
face set hard as a rock, his eyes blazing like living coals, and his
voice trembling under the influence of his passion. Little by little I
was growing to think as he did, and to look upon Martinos as he saw him.
"But this cannot go--it cannot go on," I repeated, in a last feeble
protest against the horror of the thing. "Surely you could not find it
in your heart to treat a fellow-creature so?"
"He is no fellow-creature of yours or mine," Nikola retorted sternly, as
if he were rebuking a childish mistake. "Would you call the man who shot
down those innocent young men of Equinata, before their mothers' eyes, a
fellow-creature? Is it possible that the son of the man who so cruelly
wronged and betrayed the trusting woman he first saw in this room, who
led her across the seas to desert her, and to send her to her grave,
could be called a man? I will give you one more instance of his
barbarity."
So saying, he threw off the black velvet coat he was wearing, and
drawing up his right shirt-sleeve, bade me examine his arm. I saw that
from the shoulder to the elbow it was covered with the scars of old
wounds, strange white marks, in pairs, and each about half-an-inch long.
"Those scars," he went on, "were made by his orders, and with hot
pincers, when I was a boy. And as his negro servants made them he
laughed and taunted me with my mother's shame. No! No! This is no
man--rather a dangerous animal, that were best out of the way. It has
been told me that you and I shall only meet twice more. Let those
meetings lead you to think better of me. The time is not far distant
when I must leave the world! When that hour arrives there is a lonely
monastery in a range of eastern mountains, upon which no Englishman has
ever set his foot. Of that monastery I shall become an inmate. No one
outside its walls will ever look upon my face again. There I shall work
out my Destiny, and, if I have sinned, be sure I shall receive my
punishment at those hands that alone can bestow it. Now leave me!"
God help me for the coward I am, but the fact remains that I left him
without another word.