Frank was fully aware that Professor Griffin was an eccentric man, full
of strange moods and strong prejudices. Most scholars and writers are.
“But, dad,” exclaimed his daughter, placing her soft hand upon his
shoulder, “what do you really think of it? Is there anything in this
Doctor Diamond’s theory?”
“My dear child, I never jump to conclusions, as you know. It is against
my habit. It’s probably one of the many hoaxes which have been
practised for the last thousand years.”
The girl exchanged a quick glance with her lover. She could see that
Frank was annoyed by the light manner with which her father treated the
alleged secret.
“Well, Professor,” said the young man at last, “this, apparently, is the
next folio, though the numbering of each has been destroyed,” and he
placed before the man in spectacles another scrap which presented the
appearance as shown.
In an instant the old man became intensely interested though he
endeavoured very cleverly to conceal the fact. He bent, and taking up a
large magnifying-glass mounted in silver--a gift from Frank on the
previous Christmas--he carefully examined each word in its order.
“Ah!” he exclaimed, “the first three lines, underlined as you see, are
apparently a portion of some prophecy regarding the captivity of the
Jews in Babylon, ‘the period of the Blood-debts,’ after which comes the
period when the oppression will lose its power, which means their
release by Cyras. Come now, this is of some interest!”
“Read on, dad,” urged the dainty girl, excitedly. “Tell us what you
gather from it.”
The pair were standing hand-in-hand, at the back of the old man’s
writing-chair.
“Not so quickly, dear--not so quickly. That’s the worst of women. They
are always so erratic, always in such an uncommon hurry,” he added with
a laugh.
Then, after a pause during which he carefully examined the lines which
followed, he pointed out: “You see that somebody--not the writer of the
document, remember--has stated that Moses’ tablets ‘The Cha--’, which
must mean the Chair of Grace, between two cherubims of fine gold, a
number of other things, including the Ark of the Covenant itself and the
archives of the Temple down to B.C. 600 are--what?”
And he raised his head staring at the pair through his round and greatly
magnifying-glasses.
“Doctor Diamond’s theory is that the treasures of Solomon’s Temple are
still concealed at the spot where they were hidden by the priests before
the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.”
The Professor laughed aloud.
“My dear Farquhar,” he exclaimed, “on the face of this folio it would,
of course, appear so. One may read it as a statement of fact that all
the relics of the Temple and all the great treasures of the ages
bygone--the Treasure of Israel--are concealed ‘beneath’,
somewhere--‘which is a series’ of something. To this, there are three
entrances, one only being accessible. Then in the final lines, we have
another prophecy that the tablets shall ‘remain in their hiding-place--
that is with the Ark of the Covenant--till the coming of the Messiah who
alone may open the treasure-house, or place of concealment, in order
that he may show proof of--’, and the rest is lost.” he added with a
sigh of disappointment.
“I admit,” said Frank, “that is one reading of it. But what is your
reading--that of an expert?”
The old man merely shrugged his shoulders and said:
“I don’t think that the Doctor’s theory is the correct one. The belief
that the Treasure of Solomon’s Temple still exists is far too wild and
unsubstantiated. Of course, it is not quite clear in history what
became of the contents of the Temple, but I think we may safely at once
dismiss any possibility of the relics of Moses as being intact after a
couple of thousand years or so. Stories of hidden treasure have
appealed to the avarice of man throughout all the ages, from the days of
the Roman Emperors, down to the day before yesterday, when a ship went
forth to search for the lost gold of President Kruger. There have been
hundreds, nay thousands of expeditions to search for treasure, but in
nearly every case the searchers have returned sadder and poorer men.
No, Frank,” he exclaimed, decisively, “I don’t think any one would be
such an utter fool as to attempt to suggest that the Treasure of Israel
still exists. At least no scholar would. Whoever would do such a thing
would be a clumsy bungler, ignorant of both the Hebrew language and the
history of the Hebrew nation. Doctor Diamond, from what you tell me,
is, I gather, one of such.”
“But they are not the Doctor’s documents,” Frank hastened to point out.
“As I’ve told you, a man dying in Paris ordered him to burn them. He
did so, but they were not all consumed.”
“The Doctor worked a trick upon a dying man,” sniffed the Professor.
“Hardly played the game--eh?”
“I quite agree with you there,” answered young Farquhar. “Yet,
according to the Doctor’s version, he was in no way responsible for the
fact that only half the folios were consumed.”
“Well, whatever it is,” declared the Professor, very decisively, “it
seems to be some rather clumsy ‘cock-and-bull’ story. In what I’ve
read. I, as a scholar, could pick many holes. Indeed, such a screed as
this could never have been concocted by any one with any pretence of
knowledge of old Testament history. There are certain statements which
are utterly absurd on the face of them.”
“Which are they?” inquired Frank eagerly.
“Oh--several,” was the rather light reply. “As you are not a scholar,
my dear boy, it would be useless me going into long and technical
explanations. The disjointed bits of prophecy are, I admit, really most
artistic,” he added with a laugh.
If the truth be told, Arminger Griffin was concealing the intense
excitement that had been aroused within him. He was making a
discovery--a wonderful, an amazing discovery. But to this young
journalist, who would merely regard it as a good “boom” for one of his
irresponsible halfpenny journals, he intended to pooh-pooh it as a mere
clumsy fairy tale.
“Well,” he asked, a moment later, in an incredulous tone. “What else
have you to show me?”
“No more typewriting,” was Frank’s reply. “The only other folio is one
of manuscript, and it will probably interest you, for it contains two
Hebrew words,” and he placed before the great expert a half-consumed
fragment of lined manuscript paper which bore some close writing in
English of which the present writer gives a facsimile here.
“H’m,” grunted the old man, after a swift glance at it. “A copy,
evidently. The Hebrew words are too clumsily written. No scholar wrote
them. Probably it’s a translation from German or Danish--I think you
said that the man who called himself Blanc, was really a Dane--eh?”
“Yes. He told Diamond that he came from Copenhagen,” Farquhar replied.
But the old man was too deeply engrossed in the study of the neat
manuscript. How he wished that the context had been preserved, for
here, he recognised, was the key, or rather the commencement of the key
to the whole secret. He was now anxious to get rid of Frank Farquhar,
and be allowed to pursue his investigations alone. There was certainly
much more in it than he had at first suspected.
With such a sensation as that contained in the half-burnt documents to
launch upon the world, he would be acclaimed the most prominent scholar
of the day. The whole of academic Europe would shower honours upon him.
“What does it mean about the ‘wāw’ sign?” inquired the young man. “Does
that convey anything?”
“Nothing,” laughed the Professor with affected indifference. “What can
one make out of such silly nonsense? It says, apparently, that in
Ezekiel the ‘wāw’ sign appears with great regularity. Well, so it does
in all Hebrew texts. The letter ‘a’ appears often in English doesn’t
it? Well, so does the Hebrew ‘w’ or ‘v’. Therefore it’s all bunkum--
that was my first impression--and I still retain it!”
Gwen looked genuinely disappointed. She had hoped that this wonderful
manuscript which had fallen into her lover’s hands would turn out, as he
had declared it would, to be of utmost value, both to history and also
of financial value to its possessors.
But her father, recognised as one of the first authorities of the day,
had decisively condemned it as a clumsy fraud.
“The reference given in the manuscript is, I see, Ezekiel xli. 23,”
remarked the girl, and turning over the pages of the Bible which she
still held in her hand she exclaimed:
“Here it is. Let me read it: ‘And the temple and the sanctuary had two
doors. And the doors had two leaves _apiece_, two burning leaves; two
_leaves_ for the one door, and two for the other _door_. And _there
were_ made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm
trees, like as _were_ made upon the walls; and _there were_ thick planks
upon the face of the porch without. And _there were_ narrow windows and
palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the
porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks.’”
“Yes,” remarked the old man. “The first Hebrew word in the manuscript
means either ‘palace’ or ‘temple’. That occurs as the third word of the
quotation. But there is no mention of ‘cupbearer’. If I recollect
aright, there is a mention of the doors of the Temple in the First Book
of Kings. I believe it’s in the sixth chapter. Look, dear, and see if
you can find it.”
His daughter turned over the leaves quickly, found the chapter he had
indicated, and scanned over the verses.
“Ah!” she cried, a moment later. “Yes. You are right, dad. Here it
is, beginning at verse 31: ‘And for the entering of the oracle he
(Solomon) made doors _of_ olive tree: the lintel _and_ side posts _were_
a fifth part _of the wall_. The two doors also _were_ of olive tree:
and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open
flowers, and overlaid _them_ with gold, and spread gold upon the
cherubims, and upon the palm trees. So also made he for the door of the
temple posts _of_ olive tree, a fourth part _of the wall_ And the two
doors _were of_ fir tree: the two leaves of the one door _were_ folding,
and the two leaves of the other door _were_ folding. And he carved
_thereon_ cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them
with gold fitted upon the carved work.’”
“I looked up the reference in Ezekiel,” remarked Frank, “but I could not
understand it. Perhaps, you, Professor, may be able to throw some light
upon it?”
The old man turned to the speaker, and held up his thin, almost waxen
hands.
“How can I?” he asked with an air of bewilderment well feigned. “How
can I possibly? The latter half of this fragment of scribble is a mere
copy of a verse out of the Old Testament, and seems to have nothing
whatever to do with the theory--whatever it may be--expounded in the
upper part of the page.”
“Then what is your candid opinion, dad?” asked Gwen, placing her hand
softly upon her father’s shoulder again as she stood behind him, and at
the same time turning her eyes affectionately upon the tall,
good-looking, young man at her side.
“My candid opinion, my dear,” grunted the old Professor, “is that it is
one of the many extraordinary theories we have had of hare-brained
persons who have gained a smattering of Hebrew, and believe themselves
to have discovered some very wonderful secret. To put it bluntly,
Gwen--the whole thing is bunkum!”
The young man said nothing. His spirits fell. Of course, he had
expected the Professor, in the habit of all scholars, to throw cold
water upon Doctor Diamond’s suggestion, but he was hardly prepared for
such a drastic dismissal of the subject.
“Well,” he exclaimed at last, “I don’t wish you to come to any premature
conclusion, Professor. You have really not had sufficient opportunity
yet of thoroughly investigating the affair, have you?”
“No. That’s quite true. I--well--I’d like to keep these scraps for a
day, or say a couple of days--if I might, my dear Frank. I’ll be most
careful of them, I promise you, and they shall not leave my possession.
As a matter of fact,” he added, “Ginsberg from Berlin happens to be in
London, and I’m extremely anxious to show them to him, and hear his
views.”
Frank Farquhar was a smart young man, and in a second realised danger in
this.
“I fear, Professor, that I cannot allow you to show them to Professor
Ginsberg. I made a promise to Diamond that they should be shown only to
yourself.”
“Very well, very well,” laughed the Professor, “if you care to trust
them with me till the day after to-morrow I will promise to show them to
nobody. I only wish to study the extraordinary statement myself, and
consult certain original Hebrew texts.”
At first Frank was reluctant, remembering his promise to Doctor Diamond.
But at Gwen’s persuasion he was induced to leave them to be locked up
in the old-fashioned oak bureau at the further end of the cosy room.
The three then passed into the small drawing-room on the same floor,
where Gwen, at her lover’s request, sat at the piano and sang in her
sweet contralto several pretty French _chansonettes_ which she had
learnt.