it was no unusual thing for george copplestone to spring surprises on his guests. he had a twisted sense of the dramatic, and twisted things were expected from him. on some occasions he perpetrated the wildest and most extravagant eccentricities, without the slightest regard for the moral or artistic sensibilities of those on whom he imposed them—on others he contented himself with less harrowing minor freaks—but the object of thoroughly upsetting and confounding the mental balances of his victims was invariably achieved. he delighted, and displayed remarkable ingenuity, in providing orgies of the abnormal. he reveled in producing an atmosphere of brain-storm, and in dealing sledge-hammer blows at the intellects of his better balanced acquaintances. often he was [pg 20]in uncontrollable spirits—on fire with mental and physical exuberance—sometimes he was morose and silent, and apparently weak. frequently he disappeared for considerable periods, and his house appeared to be closed. but none saw his coming or going.
strange rumors circulated about him from time to time. certain social circles, to which his wealth and position entitled him to the entrée, were closed to him. over and above his wild extravagancies, he was credited with vices that remained unnamed. it was said that things took place in his house that sealed the lips of men and women. when his name was mentioned in the clubs, some men shrugged their shoulders. when it was spoken in the drawing-rooms, some women remained silent. there had been an attempt to stab him, and twice he had been shot at. after the second attempt, a woman had been heard to say bitterly that he must bear a charmed life. he continued to pursue his strange ways with supreme indifference to the opinions of his fellow-creatures.
the house he lived in was the only sort of [pg 21]house he could have lived in. from the foundations to the topmost brick it was a mass of bewildering crookedness. nothing was straight. not a single passage led where it would have been expected to lead—not a staircase fulfilled normal anticipations. scarcely two windows in the whole building were the same size—scarcely two rooms were the same shape—and not even two contortions corresponded. there must have been a mile of unnecessary corridors, dozens of incomprehensible corners and turnings, and at least a score of unwanted entrances and exits. if the aim and object of the architect, whoever he was, had been to reduce the unfortunate occupants of his handiwork to a condition of hopeless mental entanglement, he could not have created a more effective instrument for the purpose. george copplestone found it a residence after his own heart, and delighted in the means it provided for gratifying his feverish inspirations.
the room into which john tranter and monsieur victorien dupont were ushered at eight-thirty on the following night presented [pg 22]an extraordinary spectacle of lavish and indiscriminate decoration, arriving at a general suggestion of something between a royal visit and preparations for a wildly enthusiastic christmas. flags and festoons, flowers, real and imitation, fairy-candles and colored lamps, burning with strange heavy scents, quaint fantastic shapes of paper, startlingly illuminated—all massed into an indescribable disorder of light and color. five amazed people were awaiting further developments.
mrs. astley-rolfe was a charming widow of twenty-seven, who had successfully gambled on her late husband's probable lease of life, and was now in the throes of a wild attachment to george copplestone, to which he had shown himself by no means averse. she was somewhat languid from an excess of luxury, unable to brook opposition even to a whim, and as yet undefeated in the attainment of her desires, which were not, perhaps, always to the credit of her sex. she had an insufficient income, and a weakness for inscribing her signature on stamped slips of paper, several of which, it was [pg 23]rumored, were in copplestone's possession. her house in grosvenor gardens was an artistic paradise, and was frequently visited by gentlemen from jermyn street, who seemed fond of assuring themselves that its treasures remained intact.
a west-end clergyman, of evangelical appearance, who translated french farces under a nom-de-plume, was advocating, in confidence, the abolition of the censor to a well-known theatrical manager, whose assets were all in the name of his wife. a bejeweled russian danseuse, who spoke broken english with a highland accent, extolled the attractions of theatrical investment to a hebrew financier, who was feasting his eyes on the curves of her figure, and hoping that she was sufficiently hard-up. the entrance of tranter and his huge companion created general surprise. mrs. astley-rolfe held up her hands prettily.
"you?" she exclaimed, to tranter. "you—of all people—condescending to visit our plane? the mystery is explained at once. the decorations are for you—the pillar of the state!"
[pg 24]"indeed they are not," he assured her. he stood aside. "permit me to introduce my friend, monsieur dupont."
"this is delightful!" she smiled.
monsieur dupont bent over her hand.
"madame," he declared, "i change completely my opinion of london."
"where is copplestone?" tranter inquired, gazing with amazement round the festooned room.
a frown passed over mrs. astley-rolfe's face.
"he has not yet appeared. he sent in a message asking us to wait for him here. he is up to some freak obviously."
"it is certainly a strange medley of color," tranter admitted. "fortunately, i am not particularly susceptible—but to an artistic temperament i can understand that the effect would be acute. what extraordinary event can such a blaze be intended to celebrate?"
"i don't know," she returned, a little shortly. "he has told us nothing."
her eyes strayed anxiously to the door. the movements of her hands were nervous.
[pg 25]"i wish he would come," she muttered—and stood away from them.
tranter drew his companion across the room.
"well?" he asked, smiling. "how do you like this somewhat showy welcome?"
"my friend," said monsieur dupont slowly—"into what manner of house have you brought me?"
"copplestone is a curious fellow," tranter replied. "i warned you to be prepared for something unusual."
"it is a crooked house," said monsieur dupont. "it stands on a crooked road, and there are crooked paths all round it. and everything is crooked inside it."
"these decorations are crooked enough, at any rate," tranter laughed.
"these decorations," said monsieur dupont, "are not only crooked—they are bad. very bad."
he lowered his voice. there was a gleam of excitement in his eyes.
"don't you see," he whispered, "that decorations can be good or bad, just as men and [pg 26]women can be good or bad? these decorations are bad. they are a mockery of all decorations—a travesty the most heartless of the motives for which good and pure people decorate. there is nothing honest or straightforward about them. they are a mean confusion of all the symbols of joy. they are put up for some cruel and detestable purpose——"
the door flew open with a snap, and a young man of dishevelled appearance burst into the room. his eyes were wild, and his face was working with the intensity of his passion.
"christine," he panted. "christine...."
he stopped, and gazed round in a dazed fashion, clenching and unclenching his hands.
mrs. astley-rolfe sprang forward with a suppressed cry, and confronted him tensely.
"well?" she cried sharply—"what about christine?"
he did not seem to be aware of her. he was staring at the flags, the lights, the flowers, and the colored paper.
"it is true then," he muttered. "these things...."
the woman was as white as death. her [pg 27]hands were locked together. she swayed.
"what is true?" she gasped.
the young man took no notice of her. copplestone's elderly manservant appeared in the doorway, and approached him.
"mr. copplestone declines to see you, sir—and requests that you will leave his house. i have orders, otherwise, to send for the police."
the young man drew himself up. he was suddenly quite composed and dignified. the passion died out of his face, leaving an expression almost of contentment in its place.
"i wish it to be understood," he said, addressing himself to the room generally with perfect evenness, "that, rather than allow christine manderson to become engaged to george copplestone, i will tear her to pieces with my own hands, and utterly destroy her." and he turned, and walked quietly out of the room.
in the silence that followed all eyes were fixed on the white, rigid woman. her face was drawn and haggard. she seemed to have grown old and weak. her whole frame appeared to have shrunk under an overwhelming [pg 28]blow. for some moments she stood motionless. then, with a supreme effort of self-control, she turned, and faced them steadily.
"i think," she said calmly, "that if miss manderson is in the house she should be warned."
"fellow was mad," said the theatrical manager.
"tout-a-fait daft," agreed the russian danseuse.
"it would have been safer," tranter remarked, "if he had been given in charge."
there was something very like contempt in mrs. astley-rolfe's glance.
"do you know," she said quietly, "that that young man is a millionaire who lives on a pound a week, and spends the remaining nine hundred and ninety-nine pounds a week on saving lives and souls in places in london that people like us try to avoid even hearing about? if it is madness to devote your life and money to lifting some of the world's shadows—then he is very mad."
"mosth creditable," said the hebrew financier.
[pg 29]she turned her back on them, and stood apart.
monsieur dupont laid a hand on tranter's arm.
"my friend," he said—and there was the faintest tremor in his voice, "i ask you again—into what manner of house have you brought me?"
"i am beginning to wish that i had not brought you," tranter returned. "i don't like the atmosphere."
"that," said monsieur dupont, drawing him aside, "is where we differ. to me the atmosphere is extremely interesting. if i were a sportsman, i would make you a bet that this will be an eventful evening."
"i feel strongly," said tranter seriously, "that we should be wise to leave. we don't want to be mixed up in an affair with a madman."
monsieur dupont shook his head.
"the millionaire was not mad, my friend. he may have been mad yesterday. he may be mad to-morrow. but he is very sane to-night."
[pg 30]"i don't like it," tranter maintained. "i would much rather go. events under this roof have a trick of being a little too dramatic."
laughter from the clergyman, the financier, and the danseuse, greeted the conclusion of a story with which the theatrical manager had attempted to relieve the strain. monsieur dupont drew tranter still further back.
"this mademoiselle manderson—do you know her?"
"no," tranter replied. "i've never heard of her. i suppose she is some new friend of copplestone's. if she is really engaged to him, i don't think she is altogether to be envied."
monsieur dupont's glance found mrs. astley-rolfe.
"no," he remarked softly—"i do not think she is."
two heavy curtains at the extreme end of the room were drawn apart, and the figure of a man appeared between them—a tall, thick-set man, in full evening-dress, with a large white flower in his button-hole. for a moment he stood still, looking intently down the room.
[pg 31]"copplestone," tranter whispered to his companion.
"mon dieu," muttered monsieur dupont.
it was the face of a fanatic—wonderful, fascinating, cruel—a fanatic who neither feared god nor regarded man—an infinite egotist. the fires of a great distorted soul smoldered in his eyes. the broad, lofty forehead proclaimed a mind that might have placed him among the rulers of men—but instead he was little above the level of a clown. the destinies of a nation might have rested in the hands that he turned only to selfish fantasy. the whole appearance of him, arresting and almost awe-inspiring as it undoubtedly was, had in it the repulsiveness of the unnatural—and, with that, all the tragedy of pitiful waste.
to-night, he confronted his guests in an attitude, and with an air, of triumph. but as mrs. astley-rolfe turned quickly to him with something of a challenge in her bearing, a faint mocking smile appeared and lingered for a moment on his face. then he moved aside, his hand on the curtains.
[pg 32]"ladies and gentlemen," he said deliberately, "permit me to present you to my fiancée—miss christine manderson."
he drew the curtains apart.
"mon dieu," said monsieur dupont again.
a half-strangled sob came from the lips of mrs. astley-rolfe. tranter uttered an exclamation. the danseuse, the clergyman, and the theatrical manager burst into vigorous applause.
framed in the darkness behind him was the white form of a woman, of transcendent loveliness. in the soft light it seemed almost a celestial figure. she smiled with entrancing sweetness, and held out her hands.
but as her gaze swept over the occupants of the room, the smile vanished. her eyes became fixed and staring; her face set. she uttered a sharp cry—and fell forward in a dead faint.
