Dr. Mabuse, master of mystery a novel
every now and then he had to stop and wait till a feeling of giddiness
had passed. That must be the effect of the gas. What sort of gas could
it be that operated so rapidly and yet did so little harm? His foes
might just as easily have used a deadly gas, then they would have got
rid of him altogether. Why did they use a stupefying gas merely? Was it
meant for a warning to him?
Now, at any rate, his notebook was in their hands, and perhaps they
wanted nothing more of him than that. It was but an attack on his
little notebook. Whose names were to be found there? Karstens’, for one
... and an account of all the occurrences in the gaming-houses with
the sandy-bearded man and the old Professor, and in the Palace Hotel
likewise. All the places where gambling was carried on were noted there
too. It was clearly only his notebook that they wanted, and that they
had succeeded in getting, but the book he had lost had meant a good
deal to him.
He went faster and faster by the sleeping houses, past the peaceful
suburbs and into the quiet approaches of the town. The byways, in
which traces of snow still lay, seemed like dragons creeping through
the night, bent on spying in the ghostly light on those who went by,
and Wenk shuddered at the thought. But when a tram-car drew near he
felt more at ease. He soon recognized where he was and hastened to his
own chambers. He was thoroughly exhausted when he reached home, threw
himself fully dressed upon his bed and became unconscious once more,
not awakening until the evening.
The first idea which occurred to him then was that henceforth his life
was at stake. He accepted it calmly, for since he was combating evil,
it was natural that it should be so. The conflict would be played out
on the borderland between existence and annihilation, and for one
moment he wondered whether it were worth while to go on. But only for
a moment. He immediately told himself that there could be no question
of hesitation here. Such men are like beasts escaped from a menagerie,
and it was his task, his duty, the justification for his existence, to
help to make them powerless for evil. There must be no fear of men, no
fear of the body any more than he had had of the soul, since his mind
had once succeeded in grasping the crisis through which his country was
passing. Since he too had been a witness of its genesis, he must help
to overcome its effects.
Yet one more thought. Was he a match for his opponent? Must he not
fortify himself if he were henceforward to pit his life and strength in
such a struggle? His adversary seemed to have the advantage of him, for
he worked in the dark. Were his own hands strong enough to seize and
hold the evil powers advancing upon him and to crush them? Had he the
strength to fight the age, for his opponent was more than a cheat, a
criminal--he was the whole spirit of the age, a spirit torn through the
catastrophe of the war from the hellish depths where it was created, to
fall upon the world and the homes of men. He realized that against such
an opponent he must spread his nets more widely if he hoped to ensnare
him. He must have an organization equal to the criminal’s own. He must
not, as hitherto, consider it sufficient to rely on his confederates,
those who were entirely of one mind with himself. He must seek his
helpers in the enemy’s camp.
At once he thought of the lady whose strange and questionable escape he
had assisted. He drove quickly to Schramm’s. Yes, there she was, but,
as usual, a spectator merely. He sat down beside her.
“You are not playing, sir?” said she.
“No, your example has made watching more interesting than playing to
me.”
“Watching,” laughed the lady lightly, “when carried on by a high legal
official is not good ... for the players!”
Wenk had a slight suspicion that this was said with a double meaning,
but whether mockingly or warningly he could not decide; in any case, it
was said to serve the purpose of some other, who possibly was sitting
there at play. Perhaps they worked secretly in partnership.
He observed her closely, but she sat quietly idle. Her bright eyes
roved in all directions. He said to her, feeling his way:
“You have yourself seen a high legal official caught in the toils of
the gaming-devil. His jurisdiction is troublesome to the other player!”
He said “the _other_,” and waited to see whether she would start, or
twitch nervously, or give the player some sign or other. But she did
none of these things, merely remained still and accepted his words with
a friendly smile.
“She is a beautiful woman,” he thought, “and there is some secret
reserve strength in her. Men play for money, but it would be more
worthy of their manhood to play for such a woman as this.”
After a few moments she leaned towards him, saying lightly and with a
playful impressiveness:
“I was present when Basch lost so heavily!”
“I know you were,” said Wenk, astonished and inquiringly.
“And you were playing then, too.”
“Yes, I was playing. I have just confessed it!”
“Ah, but I mean you were really playing _then_! The first evening, when
you came with Hull, you took part in the game, but you were not really
playing. And the evening when the old Professor was there--well, I
don’t quite know, there was some sort of atmospheric disturbance ...
wasn’t there now?” she said, turning to him with a melting and wholly
feminine gesture of friendliness.
Wenk was taken aback. He replied:
“That evening when the old Professor was there? What old Professor?”
“The evening you came as a country cousin,” she answered roguishly.
At last Wenk comprehended that she had recognized him, and his face
showed his disappointment, but she begged him not to mind her having
found him out.
“You were well disguised,” she said, “but I could not believe that
here in Munich there would be two such quaint little monkeys on a
cherry-tree, conjured so cleverly by a Chinese jewel-cutter out of an
amethyst. When I first saw the ring, flanked on each side by stupid
diamonds on stupid fingers, I noticed it with pleasure.”
Wenk looked at her, awaiting something more. Who could she be?
“At any rate, it struck me as curious that there could be two men,
even in such circles as ours”--here she glanced round the table--“who
had some amount of taste....”
“Your sarcasm,” said Wenk, entering into her vein, “does not require
either Yes or No, for the fact that you noticed my ring and so
correctly guessed its origin proves that you belong to a very different
circle from the one you find yourself in here.”
“Oh, I was a stewardess on a steamer bound for Asiatic ports, but the
war has taken both our ships and our calling from us!”
“May I then hazard the suggestion that you have withdrawn from your
former calling at some advantage to yourself?”
“Oh, I am not stupid!” she smiled back.
“There is nothing which it is more unnecessary to assure me of,
Countess.”
There was a momentary flutter in the beautiful woman’s eye, and an
imperceptible something within her seemed to come to a standstill. Had
he known who she was and wanted to play with her a little, and would he
now blazon abroad the fact that she frequented such places secretly?
Wenk laughed aloud.
“Or can it be that the coroneted handkerchief comes from the trunk of
some countess travelling to Asiatic ports, as Sherlock Holmes would
argue? No, dear lady, we are quits. We shall both comport ourselves
more circumspectly in future when we are among our fellow-mortals. I
shall put a stupid diamond on my finger, and you will use a monogram
without a coronet on your handkerchiefs, Countess....”
“Hush!” she said, in agitation.
“But even such precautions would serve no turn!”
“I do not understand you.”
“You force me to pay you compliments. I am seeking vainly for a
suitable way of expressing myself so that I may convey to you my
conviction that the ‘countess’ in you cannot anyhow be suppressed.”
“He will be asking me to sup with him directly,” she said to herself.
“He evidently wants to start a romance,” and the idea amused her. From
sheer exuberance of energy she had come hither, seeking nothing in her
masquerade but relief from boredom, and lo! she had landed a prize like
this!
“At any rate, I need not have taken a circuitous route to Schramm’s!”
she said laughingly.
At the gaming-table nothing sensational was going on. She decided to
feint with him, and said sarcastically:
“You try to disguise your compliments as well as you do yourself, Herr
von Wenk. I am obliged to accept them, since they take me unawares.”
“I merely mean,” persisted Wenk, “that the removal of the coronet from
your monogram cannot remove the stamp of nobility from your brow.”
“I hope you are still masquerading!”
“As an enraptured reader of sentimental romances, you mean? In
any case, dear lady.... But is this quite the place to carry on a
conversation which aims at a more serious turn?”
She answered, looking him up and down haughtily and deliberately:
“Does that mean that you are inviting me to sup with you?”
“I would certainly not venture to do that,” said Wenk hastily,
recognizing her meaning. He saw that she suspected him of desiring to
establish an intrigue, and that he would begin it in the ordinary way
of a champagne supper. “Now,” said he to himself, “if I am to win her
over, I must act in such a way as not to deceive her and yet not fulfil
her expectations, and since she thinks she has guessed me aright, I
must not allow her a feeling of superiority over me. I do not want her
to think me a blockhead. The coronet on the handkerchief seems genuine
enough, and she does not come here for money, for she never plays.
Therefore someone present, or an adventure of some sort, must account
for her being here, and if I am to win her to my side I must prove
myself stronger than the unknown attraction here,” he argued.
“What have you to offer me?” she asked in a frivolous tone; but Wenk
seemed to find something real behind the thoughtless manner, and he
answered intuitively, fearing defeat as soon as the words had left his
lips:
“I can offer you a great adventure, a really great adventure!”
“With you?” she rejoined, equally without pausing for reflection. “As a
lover or as an agent of the State?”
“With me--as a detective!”
“_Can_ you?” she asked disdainfully.
“Shall I give you proofs? Last night I was decoyed into a car and
left in the freezing cold lying on a bench in the Schleissheim Park,
stupefied by gas. To-day, but twenty-four hours later, I am aware that
the man who did this, or ordered it to be done, is the same whom you
saw playing recently as the old Professor, and that this same learned
old fellow is also the sandy-bearded man to whom you saw Basch lose his
money here.”
“Is that true?” she asked in a serious tone.
“Absolutely.”
“The man ... with the reddish beard ... who ... sat ... there?”
“The man who sat opposite Basch like a beast of prey!”
“And what am I ... what have I to do with it?”
“To help me find this man, from whom others must be rescued.”
“I can’t help admiring him!”
“I do not minimize his powers, but there are powers which are evil in
their influence.”
“And yet more really human and greater than those that are called
good!” she cried; and her bosom, slender and youthful as a girl’s,
swelled as she confronted Wenk.
“Ah, now I understand you, dear lady. Listen. Not more really human
or greater, for power is power. One display of it cannot be measured
by another; it is only its essence we can judge. Everything is human,
the good as well as the bad. Evil forces only reap their advantage
through the destruction of good ones, and this advantage is for the
destroyer alone. The forces of good benefit all without yielding their