Tales of Terror and Mystery
"It is horrible--horrible!" said the Professor. "I don't wonder at
your feelings. Take me to your room."
"But this shall not be left exposed!" cried Mortimer. He picked the
breastplate up and carried it tenderly in his hand, while I walked
beside the Professor, like a policeman with a malefactor. We passed
into Mortimer's chambers, leaving the amazed old soldier to understand
matters as best he could. The Professor sat down in Mortimer's
arm-chair, and turned so ghastly a colour that for the instant all our
resentment was changed to concern. A stiff glass of brandy brought the
life back to him once more.
"There, I am better now!" said he. "These last few days have been too
much for me. I am convinced that I could not stand it any longer. It
is a nightmare--a horrible nightmare--that I should be arrested as a
burglar in what has been for so long my own museum. And yet I cannot
blame you. You could not have done otherwise. My hope always was that
I should get it all over before I was detected. This would have been
my last night's work."
"How did you get in?" asked Mortimer.
"By taking a very great liberty with your private door. But the object
justified it. The object justified everything. You will not be angry
when you know everything--at least, you will not be angry with me. I
had a key to your side door and also to the museum door. I did not
give them up when I left. And so you see it was not difficult for me
to let myself into the museum. I used to come in early before the
crowd had cleared from the street. Then I hid myself in the mummy-case,
and took refuge there whenever Simpson came round. I could always hear
him coming. I used to leave in the same way as I came."
"You ran a risk."
"I had to."
"But why? What on earth was your object--YOU to do a thing like that!"
Mortimer pointed reproachfully at the plate which lay before him on the
table.
"I could devise no other means. I thought and thought, but there was
no alternate except a hideous public scandal, and a private sorrow
which would have clouded our lives. I acted for the best, incredible
as it may seem to you, and I only ask your attention to enable me to
prove it."
"I will hear what you have to say before I take any further steps,"
said Mortimer, grimly.
"I am determined to hold back nothing, and to take you both completely
into my confidence. I will leave it to your own generosity how far you
will use the facts with which I supply you."
"We have the essential facts already."
"And yet you understand nothing. Let me go back to what passed a few
weeks ago, and I will make it all clear to you. Believe me that what I
say is the absolute and exact truth.
"You have met the person who calls himself Captain Wilson. I say
'calls himself' because I have reason now to believe that it is not his
correct name. It would take me too long if I were to describe all the
means by which he obtained an introduction to me and ingratiated
himself into my friendship and the affection of my daughter. He
brought letters from foreign colleagues which compelled me to show him
some attention. And then, by his own attainments, which are
considerable, he succeeded in making himself a very welcome visitor at
my rooms. When I learned that my daughter's affections had been gained
by him, I may have thought it premature, but I certainly was not
surprised, for he had a charm of manner and of conversation which would
have made him conspicuous in any society.
"He was much interested in Oriental antiquities, and his knowledge of
the subject justified his interest. Often when he spent the evening
with us he would ask permission to go down into the museum and have an
opportunity of privately inspecting the various specimens. You can
imagine that I, as an enthusiast, was in sympathy with such a request,
and that I felt no surprise at the constancy of his visits. After his
actual engagement to Elise, there was hardly an evening which he did
not pass with us, and an hour or two were generally devoted to the
museum. He had the free run of the place, and when I have been away
for the evening I had no objection to his doing whatever he wished
here. This state of things was only terminated by the fact of my
resignation of my official duties and my retirement to Norwood, where I
hoped to have the leisure to write a considerable work which I had
planned.
"It was immediately after this--within a week or so--that I first
realized the true nature and character of the man whom I had so
imprudently introduced into my family. The discovery came to me
through letters from my friends abroad, which showed me that his
introductions to me had been forgeries. Aghast at the revelation, I
asked myself what motive this man could originally have had in
practising this elaborate deception upon me. I was too poor a man for
any fortune-hunter to have marked me down. Why, then, had he come? I
remembered that some of the most precious gems in Europe had been under
my charge, and I remembered also the ingenious excuses by which this
man had made himself familiar with the cases in which they were kept.
He was a rascal who was planning some gigantic robbery. How could I,
without striking my own daughter, who was infatuated about him, prevent
him from carrying out any plan which he might have formed? My device
was a clumsy one, and yet I could think of nothing more effective. If
I had written a letter under my own name, you would naturally have
turned to me for details which I did not wish to give. I resorted to
an anonymous letter, begging you to be upon your guard.
"I may tell you that my change from Belmore Street to Norwood had not
affected the visits of this man, who had, I believe, a real and
overpowering affection for my daughter. As to her, I could not have
believed that any woman could be so completely under the influence of a
man as she was. His stronger nature seemed to entirely dominate her.
I had not realized how far this was the case, or the extent of the
confidence which existed between them, until that very evening when his
true character for the first time was made clear to me. I had given
orders that when he called he should be shown into my study instead of
to the drawing-room. There I told him bluntly that I knew all about
him, that I had taken steps to defeat his designs, and that neither I
nor my daughter desired ever to see him again. I added that I thanked
God that I had found him out before he had time to harm those precious
objects which it had been the work of my life-time to protect.
"He was certainly a man of iron nerve. He took my remarks without a
sign either of surprise or of defiance, but listened gravely and
attentively until I had finished. Then he walked across the room
without a word and struck the bell.
"'Ask Miss Andreas to be so kind as to step this way,' said he to the
servant.
"My daughter entered, and the man closed the door behind her. Then he
took her hand in his.
"'Elise,' said he, 'your father has just discovered that I am a
villain. He knows now what you knew before.'
"She stood in silence, listening.
"'He says that we are to part for ever,' said he.
"She did not withdraw her hand.
"'Will you be true to me, or will you remove the last good influence
which is ever likely to come into my life?'
"'John,' she cried, passionately. 'I will never abandon you! Never,
never, not if the whole world were against you.'
"In vain I argued and pleaded with her. It was absolutely useless.
Her whole life was bound up in this man before me. My daughter,
gentlemen, is all that I have left to love, and it filled me with agony
when I saw how powerless I was to save her from her ruin. My
helplessness seemed to touch this man who was the cause of my trouble.
"'It may not be as bad as you think, sir,' said he, in his quiet,
inflexible way. 'I love Elise with a love which is strong enough to
rescue even one who has such a record as I have. It was but yesterday
that I promised her that never again in my whole life would I do a
thing of which she should be ashamed. I have made up my mind to it,
and never yet did I make up my mind to a thing which I did not do.'
"He spoke with an air which carried conviction with it. As he
concluded he put his hand into his pocket and he drew out a small
cardboard box.
"'I am about to give you a proof of my determination,' said he. 'This,
Elise, shall be the first-fruits of your redeeming influence over me.
You are right, sir, in thinking that I had designs upon the jewels in
your possession. Such ventures have had a charm for me, which depended
as much upon the risk run as upon the value of the prize. Those famous
and antique stones of the Jewish priest were a challenge to my daring
and my ingenuity. I determined to get them.'
"'I guessed as much.'
"'There was only one thing that you did not guess.'
"'And what is that?'
"'That I got them. They are in this box.'
"He opened the box, and tilted out the contents upon the corner of my
desk. My hair rose and my flesh grew cold as I looked. There were
twelve magnificent square stones engraved with mystical characters.
There could be no doubt that they were the jewels of the urim and
thummim.
"'Good God!' I cried. 'How have you escaped discovery?'
"'By the substitution of twelve others, made especially to my order, in
which the originals are so carefully imitated that I defy the eye to
detect the difference.'
"'Then the present stones are false?' I cried.
"'They have been for some weeks.'
"We all stood in silence, my daughter white with emotion, but still
holding this man by the hand.
"'You see what I am capable of, Elise,' said he.
"'I see that you are capable of repentance and restitution,' she
answered.
"'Yes, thanks to your influence! I leave the stones in your hands,
sir. Do what you like about it. But remember that whatever you do
against me, is done against the future husband of your only daughter.
You will hear from me soon again, Elise. It is the last time that I
will ever cause pain to your tender heart,' and with these words he
left both the room and the house.
"My position was a dreadful one. Here I was with these precious relics
in my possession, and how could I return them without a scandal and an
exposure? I knew the depth of my daughter's nature too well to suppose
that I would ever be able to detach her from this man now that she had
entirely given him her heart. I was not even sure how far it was right
to detach her if she had such an ameliorating influence over him. How
could I expose him without injuring her--and how far was I justified in
exposing him when he had voluntarily put himself into my power? I
thought and thought until at last I formed a resolution which may seem
to you to be a foolish one, and yet, if I had to do it again, I believe
it would be the best course open to me.
"My idea was to return the stones without anyone being the wiser. With
my keys I could get into the museum at any time, and I was confident
that I could avoid Simpson, whose hours and methods were familiar to
me. I determined to take no one into my confidence--not even my
daughter--whom I told that I was about to visit my brother in Scotland.
I wanted a free hand for a few nights, without inquiry as to my comings
and goings. To this end I took a room in Harding Street that very
night, with an intimation that I was a Pressman, and that I should keep
very late hours.
"That night I made my way into the museum, and I replaced four of the
stones. It was hard work, and took me all night. When Simpson came
round I always heard his footsteps, and concealed myself in the
mummy-case. I had some knowledge of gold-work, but was far less