The House of Strange Secrets Part 21

"How I had been deceived! How blind I had been! The girl who had bewitched and fascinated me on the previous day was now revealed in her true light. Now she seemed something despicable, hateful, loathsome. The beauty that I admired seemed to have vanished. The creature now appeared to be hideous. Whether the revulsion of feeling caused a permanent blindness of my eyes to her beauty I cannot say. Knowing what I do of India and its mysteries--mysteries that scientists have failed to solve--I am more than inclined to think that the girl was never so beautiful as she first appeared to me. My very eyes had been deceived before now by the marvellous tricks of the native conjurers and fakirs.

In my own mind, I have no shadow of doubt that the girl Lilla, by the powers she possessed, led me to imagine the charms I had only a day before seen in her, and by means of which she had fascinated me.

"Her words and the sight of her enraged as well as disgusted me.

"'You she-devil!' I shouted. Then I stopped because words failed me.

"The girl showed no astonishment at the epithet I had bestowed upon her.

Instead, she softly stepped down from the sofa and glided, snake-like it seemed to me, towards where I stood.

"'You shall kiss me,' she hissed, and again I was impressed by her resemblance to a serpent.

"Even when I attempted to cast her away as she crept nearer and nearer to me I felt that I was powerless. My loathing for this creature was none the less, yet I could not prevent her from pressing those cruel thin lips, that had seemed so rosy and fascinating on the previous day, against my cheek.

"'There,' she whispered; 'I knew you loved me, Harold. You must marry me!'

"You fiend!' I shrieked; 'I detest you--I loathe your very existence.

Away! I will not stay for another moment under the same roof with you.

Sorceress, you have ensnared me, but----'

"'My love,' she replied, beneath her breath, 'as you say, you are ensnared. You are mine. You shall not leave this house until you are even more mine--until you are my husband.'

"Then as she spoke I suddenly became aware of the fact that a face was peering through the half-closed door of the den--a shrivelled, yellow face, with oval slits of eyes, which were directed towards me.

"Then, evidently perceiving I was aware of this fact, the door was pushed open, and a hideous Chinese woman shuffled in, at once engaging Lilla in conversation in her native tongue.

"From what I gathered the woman was the mother of the girl!

"With startling suddenness the elder female turned on me after a moment's conversation with Lilla.

"'Sahib likee mazinloree?' she said with an intonation that implied a question.

"I shook my head, not understanding the creature's remark.

"'She says, "Does the gentleman like his mother-in-law?"' explained Lilla, with a leering laugh.

"'I have had enough of this nonsense,' I shouted, bubbling over with rage; 'let me pa.s.s or I shall clear you both out of the way.'

"'No marry this girlee?' asked the old hag.

"'No, once again,' I exclaimed, and I thrust the woman to one side, and found myself in the dark pa.s.sage.

"'Ha--ha--ha!' screamed Lilla; 'how will you like it when we tell the General where you have been?'

"I stopped short, horrified by her words. At once I saw how I had been 'let in.' The diabolical cunning of the enchantress--the siren--was only too plain. Unless I married Lilla she would report my visit to the forbidden quarter to the commanding officer at the barracks.

"'Tell me,' I said, ill-disguising my rage, 'how much you want!'

"'Hundred thousand seventee hundred 'pees,' giggled the old woman.

"'Nothing,' laconically remarked Lilla.

"'Name your price, you witch,' I said to the girl.

"'Your love,' she replied, in a tone that caused me to exercise all my self-control to prevent myself from striking her.

"There was the soft pat-pat of footsteps in the pa.s.sage; then I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Turning, I confronted a gigantic Hindoo in gorgeous costume, who had come upon us from whence I did not know.

"'This is the man?' he asked Lilla in Hindustani, a language with which I had a pa.s.sing acquaintance.

"The girl replied in the affirmative. 'He refuses,' she added.

"The other evidently knew who I was, for, learning this intelligence, he at once sprang upon me, bearing me to the ground. Then I felt a sudden sharp blow on my throat, and I lost consciousness."

CHAPTER XXIX

THE SQUIRE'S STORY (CONTINUED)

"When I recovered I found myself in a pitch-dark room. A terrible pain in my neck when I first moved was the first reminder of what had gone before.

"With difficulty (for I was weak and faint) I rose to my feet, thankful that, at any rate, I was not bound or fettered in any way. The darkness was unbearable. I sought the pocket in which I kept my vesta-case. It was empty, as were all my pockets. My watch was gone, likewise my cigar-case, match-box, scarf-pin, and, in fact, everything of any value.

Fortunately, I discovered a couple of matches loose in my waistcoat pocket. One of these I struck on the sole of my boot. The bright light almost blinded me, but, after a moment, I was able to discover that I was in a large empty room. Empty? No, for what was that dark object in the far corner? I crept over towards it.

"It was the prostrate body of a man! Moreover, it was an Englishman, and a fellow-officer with whom I was very intimate. And he was dead.

"What did it mean? How came Lieutenant Aubrey in the cellar (for such it was) of an opium den? Of what had he died? Not till afterwards did I learn of the man who had been seized with cholera in the den on the previous day. Otherwise I might have thought, for the moment, that my brother officer and the unhappy wretch were one and the same. But something about the position of the body caused me to give it a further investigation.

"Then I perceived that, without a doubt, Aubrey had been the victim of foul play. He had been murdered!

"What seemed even more significant to me, bearing in mind the nature of my own attack by the gigantic Hindoo, was that the head of the corpse was almost entirely twisted off. The face looked upward, pale, grim, and terrible; yet the body lay on the stomach. A thin red line was marked across the throat. The neck was evidently broken.

"'What did it mean?' I asked myself again and again.

"My last match had died out, burning my fingers. I was alone in an empty room--empty save for that terrible thing in the corner.

"And the door was securely fastened from without.

"There was some kind of window, though, the bars of which, though stout, were rusty, as was their setting.

"Gifted, for the moment, with almost super-human strength, I managed to remove two or three of these, and then raised myself on to the ledge. I saw that it was pitch dark, and could not tell whether there was an easy drop or no. However, there was only one thing to do. I must risk it. And I did. Fortunately, I only had to fall a few feet. Then I found myself in a small courtyard.

"How I made my way out of this, what streets I traversed, and how long it took me to reach the barracks I do not know. I recollect being challenged more than once. But I made no reply, and in the darkness I pa.s.sed through un.o.bserved until I reached some kind of a shed, in which I fell down and slept heavily until daybreak.