"In what respect?"
"For instance, in the affair of the Apotheosis of the Beetle;-I saw it take place last night."
"Where?"
"Here,-within a few feet of where you are standing."
"Are you serious?"
"Perfectly."
"What did you see?"
"I saw the legendary Apotheosis of the Beetle performed, last night, before my eyes, with a gaudy magnificence at which the legends never hinted."
"That is odd. I once thought that I saw something of the kind myself."
"So I understand."
"From whom?"
"From a friend of yours."
"From a friend of mine?-Are you sure it was from a friend of mine?"
The man"s attempt at coolness did him credit,-but it did not deceive me. That he thought I was endeavouring to bluff him out of his secret I perceived quite clearly; that it was a secret which he would only render with his life I was beginning to suspect. Had it not been for Marjorie, I should have cared nothing,-his affairs were his affairs; though I realised perfectly well that there was something about the man which, from the scientific explorer"s point of view, might be well worth finding out. Still, as I say, if it had not been for Marjorie, I should have let it go; but, since she was so intimately concerned in it, I wondered more and more what it could be.
My att.i.tude towards what is called the supernatural is an open one. That all things are possible I unhesitatingly believe,-I have, even in my short time, seen so many so-called impossibilities proved possible. That we know everything, I doubt;-that our great-great-great-great-grandsires, our forebears of thousands of years ago, of the extinct civilisations, knew more on some subjects than we do, I think is, at least, probable. All the legends can hardly be false.
Because men claimed to be able to do things in those days which we cannot do, and which we do not know how they did we profess to think that their claims are finally dismissed by exclaiming-lies! But it is not so sure.
For my part, what I had seen I had seen. I had seen some devil"s trick played before my very eyes. Some trick of the same sort seemed to have been played upon my Marjorie,-I repeat that I write "my Marjorie" because, to me, she will always be "my" Marjorie! It had driven her half out of her senses. As I looked at Lessingham, I seemed to see her at his side, as I had seen her not long ago, with her white, drawn face, and staring eyes, dumb with an agony of fear. Her life was bidding fair to be knit with his,- what Upas tree of horror was rooted in his very bones? The thought that her sweet purity was likely to be engulfed in a devil"s slough in which he was swallowing was not to be endured. As I realised that the man was more than my match at the game which I was playing-in which such vital interests were at stake!-my hands itched to clutch him by the throat, and try another way.
Doubtless my face revealed my feelings, because, presently, he said,
"Are you aware how strangely you are looking at me, Atherton? Were my countenance a mirror I think you would be surprised to see in it your own."
I drew back from him,-I daresay, sullenly.
"Not so surprised as, yesterday morning, you would have been to have seen yours,-at the mere sight of a pictured scarab."
"How easily you quarrel."
"I do not quarrel."
"Then perhaps it"s I. If that is so, then, at once, the quarrel"s ended,-pouf! it"s done. Mr Lindon, I fear, because, politically, we differ, regards me as anathema. Has he put some of his spirit into you?-You are a wiser man."
"I am aware that you are an adept with words. But this is a case in which words only will not serve."
"Then what will serve?"
"I am myself beginning to wonder."
"And I."
"As you so courteously suggest, I believe I am wiser than Lindon. I do not care for your politics, or for what you call your politics, one fig. I do not care if you are as other men are, as I am,-not unspotted from the world! But I do care if you are leprous. And I believe you are."
"Atherton!"
"Ever since I have known you I have been conscious of there being something about you which I found it difficult to diagnose;-in an unwholesome sense, something out of the common, non-natural; an atmosphere of your own. Events, so far as you are concerned, have, during the last few days moved quickly. They have thrown an uncomfortably lurid light on that peculiarity of yours which I have noticed. Unless you can explain them to my satisfaction, you will withdraw your pretensions to Miss Lindon"s hand, or I shall place certain facts before that lady, and, if necessary, publish them to the world."
He grew visibly paler but he smiled-facially.
"You have your own way of conducting a conversation, Mr Atherton.
-What are the events to whose rapid transit you are alluding?"
"Who was the individual, practically stark naked, who came out of your house, in such singular fashion, at dead of night?"
"Is that one of the facts with which you propose to tickle the public ear?"
"Is that the only explanation which you have to offer?"
"Proceed, for the present, with your indictment."
"I am not so un.o.bservant as you appear to imagine. There were features about the episode which struck me forcibly at the time, and which have struck me more forcibly since. To suggest, as you did yesterday morning, that it was an ordinary case of burglary, or that the man was a lunatic, is an absurdity.
"Pardon me,-I did nothing of the kind."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"I suggested, and do suggest, nothing. All the suggestions come from you."
"You went very much out of your way to beg me to keep the matter quiet. There is an appearance of suggestion about that."
"You take a jaundiced view of all my actions, Mr Atherton.
Nothing, to me, could seem more natural.-However,-proceed."
He had his hands behind his back, and rested them on the edge of the table against which he was leaning. He was undoubtedly ill at ease; but so far I had not made the impression on him, either mentally or morally, which I desired.
"Who is your Oriental friend?"
"I do not follow you."
"Are you sure?"
"I am certain. Repeat your question."
"Who is your Oriental friend?"
"I was not aware that I had one."