"Yes."
"He gave you that, eh?" he cried in distinct alarm. "And you accepted the trust--you were fool enough to do that?"
"Of course I did. Why?"
"Ah! You would not have done so had you but known the terrible evil which must now threaten you," he said in a low, hoa.r.s.e voice, his manner changing to one of great alarm. He seemed agitated and nervous.
"I don"t quite follow you," I said, much puzzled at his manner.
"You are, of course, in ignorance, Mr Kemball. But by the acceptance of that executorship--by the holding in your possession of that cylinder you are a doomed man."
"Doomed? How?" I asked, with an incredulous smile.
"I tell you this quite openly and frankly, because you have already proved yourself my friend," he said, his face now entirely transformed.
We were standing together at the edge of the square croquet lawn, once the bowling-green, where the great old box-trees were clipped into fantastic shapes, while at the end was the long stone terrace with the open park beyond.
"I think you told me that he made you a present in banknotes?" Shaw went on. "Ah! Melvill Arnold knew only too well what dire unhappiness and misfortune, what deadly peril, possession of that cylinder must entail. He therefore made you that payment by way of a little recompense. Did he instruct you what to do with the thing," he inquired.
"On a certain day I am to hand it over to a person who will come to me and ask for it."
"To hand it over without question?"
"Yes, without question."
Shaw was silent for some moments. His brows were knit, and he was thinking deeply, his arms folded as he stood.
"Well," he exclaimed suddenly, at last, "I never dreamed that he had entrusted the cylinder to you. You, of course, still hold it in your possession?"
"Yes."
"Then, if I were you, I should be very anxious for the arrival of the appointed day when you are to be relieved of its heavy responsibility.
The history of that metal tube is a record of ruin, disaster, and death, for misfortune in one form or another always overtakes its possessor.
Its story is surely the weirdest and most terrible that could be related. I knew that Arnold was in Egypt, but I never dreamed that he would dare at last to take the cylinder from its hiding-place and convey it here--to England!"
I recollected how my friend had just before his death declared that its contents would amaze the world, and I made quick inquiry concerning it.
"What it contains I do not know," he replied. "Only Arnold himself knows, and he has unfortunately carried his secret to the grave. It was found, I believe, in the tomb of King Merenptah, the Pharaoh under whom the exodus of the Israelites took place some twelve hundred years before the Christian era. Arnold himself discovered it at Abydos, but on opening it, dreaded to allow the thing to see the light of day, and in order to preserve its influence from mankind, he again buried it in a certain spot known only to himself; but, no doubt, somewhere near the great Temple of Amon-Ra, at Karnak."
"Why did he wish to preserve his discovery from mankind?" I asked, much interested.
"How can I tell? After his discovery he returned post-haste to England, an entirely changed man. He would never reveal to me, his most intimate friend, what the cylinder actually contained, save that he admitted to me that he held it in awe--and that if he allowed it to go forth to the world it would have caused the greatest sensation in our modern civilisation, that the world would stand still in amazement."
"What could he have meant by that?"
"Ah!" replied my companion, "I cannot tell. All I know is, that together with the cylinder he discovered some ancient papyri recounting the terrible fate which would befall its possessors, and warning any one against handling, possessing, or opening it."
"A favourite method of the ancients to prevent the rifling of their tombs," I remarked with a laugh.
"But in this case Arnold, who was a great archaeologist, and could decipher the hieroglyphics no doubt, investigated the weird contents of the cylinder and satisfied himself that they were such that no mortal eye should gaze upon without bewilderment. Those were the very words he used in describing them to me."
"And did anything terrible happen to him as a result?" I asked.
"From the moment of that investigation misfortune dogged his footsteps always. His friends died one by one, and he himself was smitten by that infection of the heart, which, as you know, has terminated fatally."
"How long ago is it since he made this discovery in King Merenptah"s tomb?" I asked.
"About four years," was Shaw"s reply, and I saw that he was trembling with excitement. "And from that day until the day of his death poor Melvill Arnold was, alas! never the same man. What he found within the Thing, as he used to call it, made such a terrible impression upon him that he, bold and fearless and defiant as he used to be, became suddenly weak, timid, and nervous, lest the secret contained in the cylinder should be revealed. That message of the hieroglyphics, whatever it was, haunted him night and day, and he often declared to me that, in consequence of his foolish disobedience of the injunction contained in the papyri, he had become a doomed man,--doomed, Mr Kemball!" he added, in a low, strange voice, looking straight and earnestly into my lace--"doomed, as I fear, alas! that you too are now doomed!"
CHAPTER NINE.
REVEALS GUY"S SUSPICIONS.
All endeavour to discover from Shaw something further concerning the mysterious cylinder proved unavailing. Apparently he was entirely in ignorance of its actual contents--of the Thing referred to by the man now dead.
Later I had an opportunity of chatting with Guy Nicholson as we strolled about the beautiful gardens in the sunset. He was a bright, merry, easy-going fellow, who had been a year or two in a cavalry regiment, had retired on the death of his father, and who now expressed an ambition for foreign travel. He lived at t.i.tmarsh Court, between Rockingham and Corby, he explained, and he invited me over to see him.
Long ago, I had heard of old Nathaniel Nicholson, the great Sheffield ironmaster, who had purchased the place from a bankrupt peer, and who had spent many thousands on improvements. My father had known him but slightly, for they met in the hunting-field, and now I was much gratified to know his son.
From the first I took to him greatly, and we mutually expressed friendship towards each other. We were both bachelors, and I saw that we had many tastes in common. His airy carelessness of manner and his overflowing good-humour attracted me, while it was plain that he was the devoted slave of the pretty Asta.
Wheaton, the butler, a grey-faced, grey-haired, and rather superior person, called Shaw in to speak on the telephone, and I was left alone with Nicholson on the terrace.
"Have you known Asta long?" he asked me suddenly.
My reply was a little evasive, for I could not well see the motive of his question--if he were not jealous of her.
"I understand from Shaw that you have known him quite a long time, eh?"
"Oh yes," I replied lamely. "We"ve been acquainted for some little time."
Nicholson looked me straight in the face with his deep-set eyes unusually serious. Then, after a pause, he said--
"Look here, Kemball, you and I are going to be friends as our fathers were. I want to speak very frankly with you."
"Well?" I asked, a trifle surprised at his sudden change of manner.
"I want to ask you a plain honest question. What is your opinion of Harvey Shaw?"
"My opinion," I echoed. "Well, I hardly know. He"s rather a good fellow, I think, as far as I know. Generous, happy--"
"Oh yes, keeps a good cellar, is hospitable, very loyal to his friends, and all that," he interrupted. "But--but what I want you to tell me is, what you really think of him. Is his rather austere exterior only a mask?"
"I don"t quite follow your meaning," was my reply.
"May I speak to you in entire confidence?"
"You certainly may. I shall not abuse it."
"Well, for some time I have wanted to discuss Shaw with somebody who knows him, but I have had no opportunity. Because he gives money freely in the district, supports everything, and never questions a tradesman"s bill, he is naturally highly popular. n.o.body will say a word against him. Harvey Shaw can do no wrong. But it is the same everywhere in a rural district. Money alone buys popularity and a good name."