CHAPTER VII.
A WILD NIGHT.--I AM PREMATURELY AGED.
In the depths of night I was awakened by a noise made by the opening ofa door, and one by one seven masked figures silently stalked into myprison. Each bore a lighted torch, and they passed me as I lay on thefloor in my clothes (for I had no bedding), and ranged themselves in aline. I arose, and seated myself as directed to do, upon the only stoolin the room. Swinging into a semi-circle, the weird line wound about me,and from the one seat on which I rested in the center of the room, Igazed successively upon seven pairs of gleaming eyes, each pair directedat myself; and as I turned from one to another, the black cowl of eachdeepened into darkness, and grew more hideous.
"Men or devils," I cried, "do your worst! Make me, if such is your will,as that sunken corpse beside which I was once seated; but cease yourpersecutions. I have atoned for my indiscretions a thousand fold, andthis suspense is unbearable; I demand to know what is to be my doom, andI desire its fulfilment."
Then one stepped forward, facing me squarely,--the others closedtogether around him and me. Raising his forefinger, he pointed it closeto my face, and as his sharp eyes glittered from behind the black mask,piercing through me, he slowly said: "Why do you not say brothers?"
"Horrible," I rejoined; "stop this mockery. Have I not suffered enoughfrom your persecutions to make me reject that word as applied toyourselves? You can but murder; do your duty to your unseen masters, andend this prolonged torture!"
"Brother," said the spokesman, "you well know that the sacred rules ofour order will not permit us to murder any human being. We exist tobenefit humanity, to lead the wayward back across the burning desertinto the pathways of the righteous; not to destroy or persecute abrother. Ours is an eleemosynary institution, instructing its members,helping them to seek happiness. You are now expiating the crime you havecommitted, and the good in your spirit rightfully revolts against thebad, for in divulging to the world our mystic signs and brotherlygreetings, you have sinned against yourself more than against others.The sting of conscience, the bitings of remorse punish you."
"True," I cried, as the full significance of what he said burst upon me,"too true; but I bitterly repent my treachery. Others can never know howmy soul is harrowed by the recollection of the enormity of that breachof confidence. In spite of my open, careless, or defiant bearing, myheart is humble, and my spirit cries out for mercy. By night and by dayI have in secret cursed myself for heeding an unhallowed mandate, and Ihave long looked forward to the judgment that I should suffer for myperfidy, for I have appreciated that the day of reckoning would surelyappear. I do not rebel, and I recall my wild language; I recant my'Confession,' I renounce myself! I say to you in all sincerity,brothers, do your duty, only I beg of you to slay me at once, and end mysuspense. I await my doom. What might it be?"
Grasping my hand, the leader said: "You are ready as a member of ourorder; we can now judge you as we have been commanded; had you persistedin calling us devils in your mistaken frenzy, we should have been forcedto reason with you until you returned again to us, and became one of us.Our judgment is for you only; the world must not now know its nature, atleast so far as we are concerned. Those you see here, are not yourjudges; we are agents sent to labor with you, to draw you back into ourranks, to bring you into a condition that will enable you to carry outthe sentence that you have drawn upon yourself, for you must be your owndoomsman. In the first place, we are directed to gain your voluntaryconsent to leave this locality. You can no longer take part in affairsthat interested you before. To the people of this State, and to yourhome, and kindred, you must become a stranger for all time. Do youconsent?"
"Yes," I answered, for I knew that I must acquiesce.
"In the next place, you must help us to remove all traces of youridentity. You must, so far as the world is concerned, leave your bodywhere you have apparently been drowned, for a world's benefit, aharmless mockery to deceive the people, and also to make an example forothers that are weak. Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Then remove your clothing, and replace it with this suit."
I obeyed, and changed my garments, receiving others in return. One ofthe party then, taking from beneath his gown a box containing severalbottles of liquids, proceeded artfully to mix and compound them, andthen to paint my face with the combination, which after being mixed,formed a clear solution.
"Do not fear to wash;" said the spokesman, "the effect of this lotion ispermanent enough to stay until you are well out of this State."
I passed my hand over my face; it was drawn into wrinkles as a film ofgelatine might have been shrivelled under the influence of a strongtannin or astringent liquid; beneath my fingers it felt like thefurrowed face of a very old man, but I experienced no pain. I vainlytried to smooth the wrinkles; immediately upon removing the pressure ofmy hand, the furrows reappeared.
Next, another applied a colorless liquid freely to my hair and beard; herubbed it well, and afterward wiped it dry with a towel. A mirror wasthrust beneath my gaze. I started back, the transformation was complete.My appearance had entirely changed. My face had become aged andwrinkled, my hair as white as snow.
I cried aloud in amazement: "Am I sane, is this a dream?"
"It is not a dream; but, under methods that are in exact accordance withnatural physiological laws, we have been enabled to transform yourappearance from that of one in the prime of manhood into the semblanceof an old man, and that, too, without impairment of your vitality."Another of the masked men opened a curious little casket that Iperceived was surmounted by an alembic and other alchemical figures, andembossed with an Oriental design. He drew from it a lamp which helighted with a taper; the flame that resulted, first pale blue, thenyellow, next violet and finally red, seemed to become more weird andghastly with each mutation, as I gazed spell-bound upon its fantasticchanges. Then, after these transformations, it burned steadily with thefinal strange blood-red hue, and he now held over the blaze a tiny cup,which, in a few moments, commenced to sputter and then smoked, exhalinga curious, epipolic, semi-luminous vapor. I was commanded to inhale thevapor.
"A MIRROR WAS THRUST BENEATH MY GAZE."]
I hesitated; the thought rushed upon me, "Now I am another person, socleverly disguised that even my own friends would perhaps not know me,this vapor is designed to suffocate me, and my body, if found, will notnow be known, and could not be identified when discovered."
"Do not fear," said the spokesman, as if divining my thought, "there isno danger," and at once I realized, by quick reasoning, that if my deathwere demanded, my body might long since have been easily destroyed, andall this ceremony would have been unnecessary.
I hesitated no longer, but drew into my lungs the vapor that arose fromthe mysterious cup, freely expanding my chest several times, and thenasked, "Is not that enough?" Despair now overcame me. My voice, nolonger the full, strong tone of a man in middle life and perfectstrength, squeaked and quavered, as if impaired by palsy. I had seen myimage in a mirror, an old man with wrinkled face and white hair; I nowheard myself speak with the voice of an octogenarian.
"What have you done?" I cried.
"We have obeyed your orders; you told us you were ready to leave yourown self here, and the work is complete. The man who entered hasdisappeared. If you should now stand in the streets of your villagehome, and cry to your former friends, 'It is I, for whom you seek,' theywould smile, and call you a madman. Know," continued the voice, "thatthere is in Eastern metaphysical lore, more true philosophy than isembodied in the sciences of to-day, and that by means of theramifications of our order it becomes possible, when necessary, for himwho stands beyond the inner and upper Worshipful Master, to draw thesetreasures from the occult Wisdom possessions of Oriental sages whoforget nothing and lose nothing. Have we not been permitted to do hisbidding well?"
"Yes," I squeaked; "and I wish that you had done it better. I would thatI were dead."
"When the time comes, if necessary, your dead
body will be fished fromthe water," was the reply; "witnesses have seen the drowning tragedy,and will surely identify the corpse."
"And may I go? am I free now?" I asked.
"Ah," said he, "that is not for us to say; our part of the work isfulfilled, and we can return to our native lands, and resume again ourseveral studies. So far as we are concerned, you are free, but we havebeen directed to pass you over to the keeping of others who will carryforward this judgment--there is another step."
"Tell me," I cried, once more desponding, "tell me the full extent of mysentence."
"That is not known to us, and probably is not known to any one man. Sofar as the members of our order are concerned, you have now vanished.When you leave our sight this night, we will also separate from oneanother, we shall know no more of you and your future than will those ofour working order who live in this section of the country. We have nopersonal acquaintance with the guide that has been selected to conductyou farther, and who will appear in due season, and we make no surmiseconcerning the result of your journey, only we know that you will not bekilled, for you have a work to perform, and will continue to exist longafter others of your age are dead. Farewell, brother; we have dischargedour duty, and by your consent, now we must return to our variouspursuits. In a short time all evidence of your unfortunate mistake, thecrime committed by you in printing our sacred charges, will havevanished. Even now, emissaries are ordained to collect and destroy thewritten record that tells of your weakness, and with the destruction ofthat testimony, for every copy will surely be annihilated, and with yourdisappearance from among men, for this also is to follow, ourresponsibility for you will cease."
Each of the seven men advanced, and grasped my hand, giving me the gripof brotherhood, and then, without a word, they severally and silentlydeparted into the outer darkness. As the last man disappeared, a figureentered the door, clad and masked exactly like those who had gone. Heremoved the long black gown in which he was enveloped, threw the maskfrom his face and stood before me, a slender, graceful, bright-lookingyoung man. By the light of the candle I saw him distinctly, and was atonce struck by his amiable, cheerful countenance, and my heart boundedwith a sudden hope. I had temporarily forgotten the transformation thathad been made in my person, which, altogether painless, had left nophysical sensation, and thought of myself as I had formerly existed; mysoul was still my own, I imagined; my blood seemed unchanged, and mustflow as rapidly as before; my strength was unaltered, indeed I was inself-consciousness still in the prime of life.
"Excuse me, Father," said the stranger, "but my services have beensought as a guide for the first part of a journey that I am informed youintend to take."
His voice was mild and pleasant, his bearing respectful, but thepeculiar manner in which he spoke convinced me that he knew that, as aguide, he must conduct me to some previously designated spot, and thathe purposed to do so was evident, with or without my consent.
"Why do you call me Father?" I attempted to say, but as the first fewwords escaped my lips, the recollection of the events of the nightrushed upon me, for instead of my own, I recognized the piping voice ofthe old man I had now become, and my tongue faltered; the sentence wasunspoken.
"You would ask me why I called you Father, I perceive; well, because Iam directed to be a son to you, to care for your wants, to make yourjourney as easy and pleasant as possible, to guide you quietly andcarefully to the point that will next prove of interest to you."
I stood before him a free man, in the prime of life, full of energy, andthis stripling alone interposed between myself and liberty. Should Ipermit the slender youth to carry me away as a prisoner? would it not bebest to thrust him aside, if necessary, crush him to the earth? go forthin my freedom? Yet I hesitated, for he might have friends outside;probably he was not alone.
"There are no companions near us," said he, reading my mind, "and, as Ido not seem formidable, it is natural you should weigh in your mind theprobabilities of escape; but you can not evade your destiny, and youmust not attempt to deny yourself the pleasure of my company. You mustleave this locality and leave without a regret. In order that you mayacquiesce willingly I propose that together we return to your formerhome, which you will, however, find no longer to be a home. I willaccompany you as a companion, as your son. You may speak, with oneexception, to whomever you care to address; may call on any of your oldassociates, may assert openly who you are, or whatever and whoever youplease to represent yourself, only I must also have the privilege ofjoining in the conversation."
"Agreed," I cried, and extended my hand; he grasped it, and then by thelight of the candle, I saw a peculiar expression flit over his face, ashe added:
"To one person only, as I have said, and you have promised, you must notspeak--your wife."
I bowed my head, and a flood of sorrowful reflections swept over me. Ofall the world the one whom I longed to meet, to clasp in my arms, tocounsel in my distress, was the wife of my bosom, and I begged him towithdraw his cruel injunction.
"You should have thought of her before; now it is too late. To permityou to meet, and speak with her would be dangerous; she might pierceyour disguise. Of all others there is no fear."
"Must I go with you into an unknown future without a farewell kiss frommy little child or from my babe scarce three months old?"
"It has been so ordained."
I threw myself on the floor and moaned. "This is too hard, too hard forhuman heart to bear. Life has no charm to a man who is thrust from allhe holds most dear, home, friends, family."
"The men who relinquish such pleasures and such comforts are those whodo the greatest good to humanity," said the youth. "The multitude existto propagate the race, as animal progenitors of the multitudes that areto follow, and the exceptional philanthropist is he who denies himselfmaterial bliss, and punishes himself in order to work out a problem suchas it has been ordained that you are to solve. Do not argue further--theline is marked, and you must walk direct."
Into the blaze of the old fireplace of that log house, for, although itwas autumn, the night was chilly, he then cast his black robe and falseface, and, as they turned to ashes, the last evidences of the vivid actsthrough which I had passed, were destroyed. As I lay moaning in my uttermisery, I tried to reason with myself that what I experienced was all ahallucination. I dozed, and awoke startled, half conscious only, as onein a nightmare; I said to myself, "A dream! a dream!" and slept again.