As may be my meeting with the Don me food for reflection. Was it true, as he had said, that in his hour of Nikola had him an asylum? and if so, why was the doing so? I Nikola too well by this time to that he had some good and for his action. Lurking at the of my mind was a that, although I my not to think of it, would not allow itself to be altogether. I not but the Nikola had told me on that his early life, and the he had let one day that he more about the man, Don Martinos, than I supposed, only to it. If that were so, and he still cherished, as I had not the least he did—for Nikola was one who or forgot,—the same and for against his old enemy, the son of his mother's betrayer, then there was—but here I was[Pg 269] to stop. I not go on. The death-like of the man I had just left rose my mind's like an angel, I a that I would think no more of him would I say anything to any of our party my meeting with him that afternoon. It is to that the was more easily than the former.
The dinner in Venice after our return was from being a success. Miss Gertrude's headache, of her, had so that she was to go to bed, Glenbarth in despair, and the of our party as low-spirited as possible. Next she she was a little better, though she of having passed a night.
"I had such dreams," she told my wife, "that when I up I close my again."
"I cannot what she said she dreamt," said Phyllis when she told me the story; "but I know that it had something to do with Doctor Nikola and his house, and that it her terribly."
The girl looked and haggard, and not a like the happy who had into the train at Rome.[Pg 270]
"Heaven that there is not more trouble ahead," I said to myself, as I my pipe and over the matter. "I am to wish we had not come to Venice at all. In that case we should not have Nikola or the Don, Miss Trevor would not have been in this state, and I should not have been day and night with this of play."
It was no use, however, talking of what might or might not have happened. It was that the I have had come to pass, and I must to what I from the that I had done all that was possible under the circumstances.
On the day our return to Venice, the Dean of Bedminster set off for England. I he was sorry to go, and of one thing I am sure, and that was that we him. It was that, as soon as we returned to England, we should pay him a visit at Bedminster, and that the Duke should us. Transparently though he was in all things, I the old had a touch of in his composition, and I that he would be to off his son-in-law the of his town.[Pg 271]
On the night his departure, I had the most terrible I have had in my life. Though some time has since then, I can still the it gave me. My wife that she see the of it upon my for more than a day afterwards. But this, I think, is going a little too far. I am willing, however, to admit that it a very great upon me at the time—the more so for the that it touched my thought, and I was at a to it. It was night, I remember, and I had just entered the Palace Revecce. I must have been invisible, for, though I in the room with Nikola, he did not appear to be aware of my presence. As he was at work upon some of his chemical experiments. Then I looked at his face, and saw that it an that I had there before. I can it best by saying that it was one of cruelty, by the smallest of pity. And yet it was not in the meaning of the word, so much as an to and avenge. I am aware, on reading over what I have just written, that my to the exact my meaning obscure. Yet I can do no more. It was a look the power of my pen to describe. Presently he[Pg 272] put the he in his hand, and looked up with his a little on one side, as if he were for some in the room. There was a in the outside, and then the door opened and there entered a so that I from it appalled. It was Don Martinos, and yet it was not the Don. The and the were the same, but the man himself was—oh, so different. On Nikola he forward, than walked, and in a at his feet, at his knees, and making a noise, not that of an animal in pain.
"Get up," said Nikola sternly, and as he said it he pointed to a on the of the room.
i007
"He upon the like a dog."
The man and himself out upon it as if in to some command. Nikola him, and having the other's chest, took from the table what looked like a syringe, it from one of the upon the table, and the the man's skin. An and fit of was the result, by of the face. Then he himself out and like one dead. Taking his watch from his pocket Nikola a note of the time. So vivid[Pg 273] was my that I can the of the watch. Minute after minute by, until at last the Don opened his eyes. Then I that the man was no longer a being, but an animal. He in his throat, that were not the short, of a wolf, and when Nikola him move he upon the like a dog. After that he to a corner, where he and upon his master, as if he were prepared at any moment to upon him and him down. As one a to a dog so did Nikola him food. He it ravenously, as would a cur. There was at the of his mouth, and the light of in his eyes. Nikola returned to the table and to some liquid into a glass. So was he, that he did not see the thing, I cannot call it a man, in the corner, on to his feet. He had taken up a small and was the of the with it, when the other was less than a of from him. I to him of his danger, only to that I not a word. Then the object upon him and at his throat. He turned, and, a moment later, the was lying, feebly, upon the floor, and Nikola was the blood[Pg 274] from a on the left-hand of his throat. At that moment I to myself up in bed, with the my face.
"I have had such an dream!" I said, in answer to my wife's as to what was the matter. "I don't know that I have been so before."
"You are now," said my wife. "Try not to think of it, dear. Remember it was only a dream."
That it was something more than a I certain. It was so complete and so with my that I not it to the of fancy. Fearing a if I to go to sleep again, I on the electric light and to myself in a book, but it was of no use. The of the I had in the me continually, and would not be dispelled. Never in my life had I been so to see the dawn. At my wife upon my dream. Miss Trevor, however, said nothing. She and more every day. Towards the Glenbarth spoke to me her.
"I don't know what to make of it all," he[Pg 275] said anxiously. "She me that she is perfectly well and happy, but the condition she is in, I can that. It is as much as I can do to a word out of her. If I didn't know that she loves me I should to that she having promised to be my wife."
"I don't think you need be of that," I answered. "One has only to look at her to see how she is to you. The truth of the whole is, my dear fellow, I have come to the that we have had of Venice. Nikola is at the of our troubles, and the sooner we see the last of him the it will be for all parties concerned."
"Hear, hear, to that," he answered fervently. "Deeply though I am to him for what he did when Gertrude was ill, I can say that I want to see him again."
At that day I the of our return to England. It was by my wife and the Duke with satisfaction, and by Miss Trevor with what appeared to be approval. It me, however, that she did not so to as I she would be. This puzzled me, but I was not to very long in of the reason.[Pg 276]
That I to be left alone with her for some little time. We talked for a while on a of topics, but I see all the time that there was something she was of saying to me, though she not make up her mind how to commence. At last she rose, and the room took a chair by my side.
"Sir Richard, I am going to ask a of you," she said, with a far-away look in her eyes.
"Let me you that it is you ask it," I replied. "Will you tell me what it is?"
"It may appear to you," she said, "but I have a conviction, absurd, superstitious, or you may term it, that some great will me if I Venice just yet. I am not my own mistress, and must stay. I want you to it."
This was a of to have into one's camp, particularly at such a time and under such circumstances, and I what reply to make.
"But what possible you?" I asked.
"I cannot say," she replied. "I am only that I must for a little while longer. You can have no idea what I have[Pg 277] lately. Bear with me, Sir Richard." Here she a of to me, which I was powerless to resist, adding, "I you not to be angry with me."
"Is it likely that I should be angry with you, Miss Gertrude?" I replied. "Why should I be? If you to for a little longer there is nothing to prevent it. But you must not allow to again. Believe me it is only your that is playing with you."
"Ah! you do not know everything," she answered. "Every night I have such terrible that I have come to going to bed."
I of my own on the previous night, and well how she felt. After her last she was for some moments. That there was something still to come, I see, but what it was I had no more idea than a child. At last she spoke.
"Sir Richard," she said, "would you mind very much if I were to ask you a most question? I like to do so, but I know that you are my friend, and that you will give me good advice."
"I will to do so," I replied. "What is the question you wish to ask me?"
"It is about my engagement," she replied. "You know how good and the Duke[Pg 278] is, and how he in me. I not to trouble upon him, but in love there should be no secrets—nothing should be one from the other. Yet I that I am so much—can you what I mean?"
"In a great measure," I answered, "but I should like to do so thoroughly. Miss Gertrude, if I may a guess, I should say that you have been about Doctor Nikola again?"
"Yes," she answered after a moment's hesitation. "Absurd though it may be, I can think of no one else. He upon my like lead, and yet I know that I should be to him for all he did for me when I was so ill. But for him I should not be alive now."
"I am that you have been the of your to too upon your mind," I continued. "Remember that this is the nineteenth century, and that there are no such as you think Nikola would have you believe."
"When I know that there are?" she asked, looking at me reproachfully. "Ah, Sir Richard," she continued, "if you all that I do you would me. But no one will know, and I cannot tell them. But one thing is certain. I must in Venice for the present—happen what may. Something tells me so, day[Pg 279] and night. And when I think of the Duke my well-nigh for I should trouble upon him."
I did my best to her; promised that if she to in Venice I would it for her, and by so doing myself to a policy that I very well knew, when I came to it later, was not expedient, and very from being judicious. Regarded in a light, the whole too absurd, and yet at the time nothing possibly have been more or earnest. When she had me out, she thanked me very for the I had taken, and then with a little sigh, that to my heart, left the room. Later in the I the news to my wife, and told her of the promise I had Gertrude.
"But what it all mean, Dick?" she asked, looking at me with eyes. "What is it she will if she goes away from Venice?"
"That is what I cannot her to say," I replied. "Indeed I am not that she herself. It's a most business, and I wish to I had had anything to do with it. The plan, I think, would be to her, keep her as as we can, and when the proper time[Pg 280] arrives, her away from Venice and home to England as as we can."
My wife with me on this point, and our of action was settled.
Later in the I a resolution. My own the Martinos were so that I them no longer. The memory of the I had had on the previous night was from my thoughts, and I that unless I set right once and for all, and myself that they were not as I with Anstruther's friend, I should be unable to close my when next I to bed. For this I to set off to the Palace Revecce at once, and to have an with Nikola in the of being able to some from him.
"Perhaps after all," I argued, "I am myself unnecessarily. There may be no Martinos and that South American."
I determined, however, to set the at that afternoon. Accordingly at four o'clock I an and for the Rio Consiglio.
It was a dark, cloudy afternoon, and the house, as I approached it, looked drearier, if such a thing were possible, than I had ever[Pg 281] it. I from my at the steps, and having the man wait for me, which he did on the other of the street, I the bell. The same old I having on a previous occasion answered it, and me that his master was not at home, but that he him every minute. I to wait for him and the stairs to his room. The were open, and from where I I watch the his and on the other of the street. So as I see there was no in the room itself. The centre table as was with papers and books, that near the window was with chemical apparatus, while the old black cat was fast asleep upon the on the other side. The rug, in another place, the trap-door so that no of it be seen. I was still at the window looking upon the below, when the door at the end opened and a looked in at me. Good heavens! I can now the which over me. It was the of Don Martinos, but so changed, from what it had been when I had him in the Rio Barcaroli, that I it. It was like the of an animal[Pg 282] and of a madman, if such be combined. He looked at me and then withdrew, the door him, only to re-open it a moments later. Having sure that I was alone, he in, and, the room, approached me. For a moment I was at a how to act. I was not that the might do me any mischief, but my whole being from him with a physical all in words. I can now something of the my wife and the Duke they for him. On tip-toe, with his to his lips, as if to silence, he me, something in Spanish that I not understand; then in English he continued—
"Hush, Senor, cannot you see them?"
He pointed his hand in as if he see the of men and moving about the apartment. Once he low as if to some dignitary, at the same time, as if to permit him to pass. Then to me he continued, "Do you know who that is? No! Then I will tell you. Senor, that is the most Admiral Revecce, the owner of this house."
Then for a time he silent, at his and me and from the of his eye. Suddenly[Pg 283] there was a quick step in the outside, the of the door turned, and Nikola entered the room. As his upon the being at my a look not that I had in my into his countenance. It was gone again, however, as as it had come, and he was to me with all his old politeness. It was then that the of my was in upon me. Even if my were what I do, and what I to have of being able to Nikola to in me? Meanwhile he had pointed to the door, and Martinos, in every limb, was it like a hound. At that moment I a that I came near to me of my presence of mind altogether. You can judge of its value for when I say, that to the of Nikola's left ear half-way and across his was a newly-made scar, just such an one, in fact, as would be by a hand with finger-nails at it. Could my have been true, after all?
"I cannot tell you how I am to see you, my dear Sir Richard," said Nikola as he seated himself. "I that you had returned to Venice."
Having out-grown the to learn how[Pg 284] Nikola had aware of anything, I that we had returned, and then took the chair he offered me.
When all the are taken into consideration, I think that that moment was the most of my life. Nikola's were upon mine, and I see in them what was almost an of amusement. As he was making out of my awkwardness, and as I that I do no good, I that there was nothing for it but for me to submit. Then the Spaniard's rose my mind's eye, and I that I not him, without an effort, to what I would be his fate. Nikola me up to the mark than I expected.
"It is very plain," he said, with a playing his thin lips, "that you have come with the of saying something to me. What is it?"
At this I rose from my chair and across the room to where he was sitting. Placing my hand upon his I looked into his face, took courage, and began.
"Doctor Nikola," I said, "you and I have each other for many years now. We have some together, one of us less than the other. But I[Pg 285] to think, however, that we have on or more ground than we do to-night."
"I am I am able to your meaning," he replied.
I that this was not the case, but I was that to argue the question with him would be than useless.
"Do you the night on which you told me that the woman who in this house, who was by the Spaniard, and who died on that Spanish island?" I asked.
He rose from his chair and to the window. I him catch his breath, and that I had moved him at last.
"What of it?" he inquired, on me as he spoke.
"Only that I have come to see you the dénouement of that story," I answered. "I have come I cannot possibly away. You have no idea how I have been over this matter. Do you think I cannot see through it and read the lines? You told it to me in some fashion of your own you had aware that Don Martinos would a of to me from my friend Anstruther. Remember it was I who him to you! Do you[Pg 286] think that I did not notice the that came into your you looked at him? Later my were aroused. The Don was a Spaniard, he was rich, and he had the mistake of that while he had been in Chili he had been in Equinata. You me to him to this house, and here you your over him."
"My dear Hatteras," said Nikola, "you are a great deal. And you my depth. Don't you think it would be if you were to to plain facts?"
"My are than my facts," I answered. "You out to meet him, and your over him every day. It be in his face. He was fascinated, and not escape. Then he to gamble, and his money through his like water through a sieve."
"You have come to the conclusion, then, that I am for that also?"
"I do not say that it was your doing exactly," I said, from the of his manner and the attention he was me. "But it in too well with the whole to free you from responsibility. Then look at the that to come over the man himself. His were[Pg 287] him one by one, being out, just as a school-boy his lesson from a slate. If he had been an old man I should have said that it was the of his second childhood; but he is still a man."
"You that while he had been he had also been heavily. May not tell its own tale?"
"It is not that has about this terrible change. Who that than yourself? After the duel, which you prevented, we to Rome for a fortnight. On the of our return I met him near the telegraph-office. At I him, so terrible was the in his appearance. If a was on the of he was that one. Moreover, he me that he was with you. Why should the that he was so doing produce such a result? I cannot say! I not try to it! But, for pity's sake, Nikola, by all you dear I you to solve the riddle. Last night I had a dream!"
"You are a in dreams?" he very quietly, as if the question him.
"This was of a such as I have had in my life before," I answered,[Pg 288] the sneer, and then told it to him, than the details. He me out without moving a of his face, and it was only when I had the and paused that he spoke.
"This is a you tell me," he said. "Fortunately you that it was only a dream."
"Doctor Nikola," I cried, "it was more than a dream. To prove it, let me ask you how you that long that upon your and throat?"
I pointed my at it, but Nikola returned my still without a of his eyelids.
"What if I do admit it?" he began. "What if your were correct? What would it make?"
I looked at him in amazement. To tell the truth I was more by his of the of my than I should have been had he them altogether. As it was, I was too much overcome to be able to answer him for a moments.
"Come," he said, "answer my question. What if I do admit the truth of all you say?"
"You then that the whole has been one long to this man, and to him into your power?"[Pg 289]
"'Tis," he answered, still his upon me. "You see I am candid! Go on!"
My brain to under the upon it. Since he had owned to it, what was I to do? What I say?
"Sir Richard Hatteras," said Nikola, a little nearer to me, one hand upon the table and speaking very impressively, "I wonder if it has you that you are a man to come to me to-day and to say this to me? In the whole circle of the men I know I may with truth that I am not aware of one other who would do so much. What is this man to you that you should him? He would have you of your friend without a second thought, as he would you of your wife if the idea to him. He is without of compassion; the blood of thousands his hands and for vengeance. He is a from justice, a thief, a liar, and a to the country he to as an man. On a little on the other of the world there is a churchyard, and in that a still grave. In it the of a woman—my mother. In this very room that woman was by his father. So in this room also shall that be avenged. I[Pg 290] have waited all my life; the opportunity has been long in coming. Now, however, it has arrived, and I am by Fate to be the of Vengeance!"
I am a tall man, but as he said this Nikola to tower over me, his set hard as a rock, his like coals, and his voice under the of his passion. Little by little I was to think as he did, and to look upon Martinos as he saw him.
"But this cannot go—it cannot go on," I repeated, in a last against the of the thing. "Surely you not it in your to a fellow-creature so?"
"He is no fellow-creature of yours or mine," Nikola sternly, as if he were a mistake. "Would you call the man who those men of Equinata, their mothers' eyes, a fellow-creature? Is it possible that the son of the man who so and the woman he saw in this room, who her across the to her, and to send her to her grave, be called a man? I will give you one more of his barbarity."
So saying, he off the black he was wearing, and up his right shirt-sleeve, me his arm. I saw that from the to the it was[Pg 291] with the of old wounds, white marks, in pairs, and each about half-an-inch long.
"Those scars," he on, "were by his orders, and with pincers, when I was a boy. And as his them he laughed and me with my mother's shame. No! No! This is no man—rather a animal, that were best out of the way. It has been told me that you and I shall only meet twice more. Let those lead you to think of me. The time is not when I must the world! When that hour there is a in a range of mountains, upon which no Englishman has set his foot. Of that I shall an inmate. No one its will look upon my again. There I shall work out my Destiny, and, if I have sinned, be sure I shall my at those hands that alone can it. Now me!"
God help me for the I am, but the that I left him without another word.[Pg 292]
