it was past midnight when colonel deacon returned to the house. rene was waiting for him, pacing up and down the big library. their relationship was curious, as subsisting between ward and guardian, for these two, despite the disparity of their ages, had few secrets from one another. rene burned to pour out his story of the wonderful madame de medici, of the secret house in chinatown with its deceptively mean exterior and its gorgeous interior, to the shrewd and worldly elder man. that was his way. but fate had an oddly bitter moment in store for him.
“hallo, boy!” cried the colonel, looking into the library; “glad you're home. i might not see you in the morning, and i want to tell you about—er—a lady who will be coming here in the afternoon.”
the words died upon rene's lips unspoken, and he stared blankly at the colonel.
“i thought i knew all there was to know about pictures, antiques, and all that sort of lumber,” continued colonel deacon in his rapid and off-hand manner. “thought there weren't many men in london could teach me anything; certainly never suspected a woman could. but i've met one, boy! gad! what a splendid creature! you know there isn't much in the world i haven't seen—north, south, east and west. i know all the advertised beauties of europe and asia—stage, opera, and ballet, and all the rest of them. but this one—gad!”
he dropped into an arm-chair, clapping both his hands upon his knees. rene stood at the farther end of the library, in the shadow, watching him.
“she's coming here to-morrow, boy—coming here. gad! you dog! you'll fall in love with her the moment you see her—sure to, sure to! i did, and i'm three times your age!”
“who is this lady, sir?” asked rene, very quietly.
“god knows, boy! everybody's mad to meet her, but nobody knows who she is. but wait till you see her. lady dascot seems to be acquainted with her, but you will see when they come to-morrow—see for yourself. gad, boy!... what did you say?”
“i did not speak.”
“thought you did. have a whisky-and-soda?”
“no, thank you, sir—good night.”
“good night, boy!” cried the colonel. “good night. don't forget to be in to-morrow afternoon or you'll miss meeting the loveliest woman in london, and the most brilliant.”
“what is her name?”
“eh? she calls herself madame de medici. she's a mystery, but what a splendid creature!”
rene deacon walked slowly upstairs, entered his bedroom, and for fully an hour sat in the darkness, thinking—thinking.
“am i going mad?” he murmured. “or is this witch driving all london mad?”
he strove to recover something of the glamour which had mastered him when in the presence of madame de medici, but failed. yet he knew that, once near her again, it would all return. his reflections were bitter, and when at last wearily he undressed and went to bed it was to toss restlessly far into the small hours ere sleep came to soothe his troubled mind.
but his sleep was disturbed: a series of dreadfully realistic dreams danced through his brain. first he seemed to be standing upon a high mountain peak with eternal snows stretched all about him. he looked down, past the snow line, past the fir woods, into the depths of a lovely lake, far down in the valley below. it was a lake of liquid amber, and as he looked it seemed to become two lakes, and they were like two great eyes looking up at him and summoning him to leap. he thought that he leaped, a prodigious leap, far out into space; then fell—fell—fell. when he splashed into the amber deeps they became churned up in a milky foam, and this closed about him with a strangle grip. but it was no longer foam, but the clinging arms of madame de medici!...
then he stood upon a fragile bridge of bamboo spanning a raging torrent. right and left of the torrent below were jungles in which moved tigerish shapes. upon the farther side of the bridge madame de medici, clad in a single garment of flame-coloured silk, beckoned to him. he sought to cross the bridge, but it collapsed, and he fell near the edge of the torrent. below were the raging waters, and ever nearing him the tigerish shapes, which now madame was calling to as to a pack of hounds. they were about to devour him, when———
he was crouching upon a ledge, high above a street which seemed to be vaguely familiar. he could not see very well, because of a silk mask tied upon his face, and the eyeholes of which were badly cut. from the ledge he stepped to another, perilously. he gained it, and crouching there, where there was scarce foothold for a cat, he managed fully to raise a window which already was raised some six inches. then softly and silently—for he was bare-footed—he entered the room.
someone slept in a bed facing the window by which he had entered, and upon a table at the side of the sleeper lay a purse, a bunch of keys, an electric torch, and a service revolver. gliding to the table rene took the keys and the electric torch, unlocked the door of the room, and crept down a thickly carpeted stair to a room below. the door of this also he opened with one of the keys in the bunch, and by the light of the torch found his way through a quantity of antique furniture and piled up curiosities to a safe set in the farther wall.
he seemed, in his dream, to be familiar with the lock combination, and, selecting the correct key from the bunch, he soon had the safe open. the shelves within were laden principally with antique jewellery, statuettes, medals, scarabs; and a number of little leather-covered boxes were there also. one of these he abstracted, relocked the safe, and stepped out of the room, locking the door behind him. up the stairs he mounted to the bedroom wherein he had left the sleeper. having entered, he locked the door from within, placed the keys and the torch upon the table, and crept out again upon the dizzy ledge.
poised there, high above the thoroughfare below, a great nausea attacked him. glancing to the right, in the direction of the window through which he had come, he perceived madame de medici leaning out and beckoning to him. her arm gleamed whitely in the faint light. a new courage came to him. he succeeded, crouched there upon the narrow ledge, in relowering the window, and leaving it in the state in which he had found it, he stood up and essayed that sickly stride to the adjoining ledge. he accomplished it, knelt, and crept back into the room from which he had started....
the head of an ivory image of buddha loomed up out of the utter darkness, growing and growing until it seemed like a great mountain. he could not believe that there was so much ivory in the world, and he felt it with his fingers, wonderingly. as he did so it began to shrink, and shrink, and shrink, and shrink, until it was no larger than a seated human figure. then beneath his trembling hands it became animate; it moved, extended ivory arms, and wrapped them about his neck. its lips became carmine—perfumed; they bent to him... and he was looking into the bewitching face of madame de medici!
he awoke, gasping for air and bathed in cold perspiration. the dawn was just breaking over london and stealing grayly from object to object in his bedroom.
