Three John Silence Stories

cela. Ilse, Ilse,viens donc ici. Viens vite!"

  And she whirled him round in the opening steps of some dance that seemedoddly and horribly familiar. They made no sound on the stones, thisstrangely assorted couple. It was all soft and stealthy. And presently,when the air seemed to thicken like smoke, and a red glare as of flameshot through it, he was aware that some one else had joined them andthat his hand the mother had released was now tightly held by thedaughter. Ilse had come in answer to the call, and he saw her withleaves of vervain twined in her dark hair, clothed in tattered vestigesof some curious garment, beautiful as the night, and horribly, odiously,loathsomely seductive.

  "To the Sabbath! to the Sabbath!" they cried. "On to the Witches'Sabbath!"

  Up and down that narrow hall they danced, the women on each side of him,to the wildest measure he had ever imagined, yet which he dimly,dreadfully remembered, till the lamp on the wall flickered and went out,and they were left in total darkness. And the devil woke in his heartwith a thousand vile suggestions and made him afraid.

  Suddenly they released his hands and he heard the voice of the mothercry that it was time, and they must go. Which way they went he did notpause to see. He only realised that he was free, and he blunderedthrough the darkness till he found the stairs and then tore up them tohis room as though all hell was at his heels.

  He flung himself on the sofa, with his face in his hands, and groaned.Swiftly reviewing a dozen ways of immediate escape, all equallyimpossible, he finally decided that the only thing to do for the momentwas to sit quiet and wait. He must see what was going to happen. Atleast in the privacy of his own bedroom he would be fairly safe. Thedoor was locked. He crossed over and softly opened the window which gaveupon the courtyard and also permitted a partial view of the hall throughthe glass doors.

  As he did so the hum and murmur of a great activity reached his earsfrom the streets beyond--the sound of footsteps and voices muffled bydistance. He leaned out cautiously and listened. The moonlight was clearand strong now, but his own window was in shadow, the silver disc beingstill behind the house. It came to him irresistibly that the inhabitantsof the town, who a little while before had all been invisible behindclosed doors, were now issuing forth, busy upon some secret and unholyerrand. He listened intently.

  At first everything about him was silent, but soon he became aware ofmovements going on in the house itself. Rustlings and cheepings came tohim across that still, moonlit yard. A concourse of living beings sentthe hum of their activity into the night. Things were on the moveeverywhere. A biting, pungent odour rose through the air, coming he knewnot whence. Presently his eyes became glued to the windows of theopposite wall where the moonshine fell in a soft blaze. The roofoverhead, and behind him, was reflected clearly in the panes of glass,and he saw the outlines of dark bodies moving with long footsteps overthe tiles and along the coping. They passed swiftly and silently, shapedlike immense cats, in an endless procession across the pictured glass,and then appeared to leap down to a lower level where he lost sight ofthem. He just caught the soft thudding of their leaps. Sometimes theirshadows fell upon the white wall opposite, and then he could not makeout whether they were the shadows of human beings or of cats. Theyseemed to change swiftly from one to the other. The transformationlooked horribly real, for they leaped like human beings, yet changedswiftly in the air immediately afterwards, and dropped like animals.

  The yard, too, beneath him, was now alive with the creeping movements ofdark forms all stealthily drawing towards the porch with the glassdoors. They kept so closely to the wall that he could not determinetheir actual shape, but when he saw that they passed on to the greatcongregation that was gathering in the hall, he understood that thesewere the creatures whose leaping shadows he had first seen reflected inthe windowpanes opposite. They were coming from all parts of the town,reaching the appointed meeting-place across the roofs and tiles, andspringing from level to level till they came to the yard.

  Then a new sound caught his ear, and he saw that the windows all abouthim were being softly opened, and that to each window came a face. Amoment later figures began dropping hurriedly down into the yard. Andthese figures, as they lowered themselves down from the windows, werehuman, he saw; but once safely in the yard they fell upon all fours andchanged in the swiftest possible second into--cats--huge, silent cats.They ran in streams to join the main body in the hall beyond.

  So, after all, the rooms in the house had not been empty and unoccupied.

  Moreover, what he saw no longer filled him with amazement. For heremembered it all. It was familiar. It had all happened before just so,hundreds of times, and he himself had taken part in it and known thewild madness of it all. The outline of the old building changed, theyard grew larger, and he seemed to be staring down upon it from a muchgreater height through smoky vapours. And, as he looked, halfremembering, the old pains of long ago, fierce and sweet, furiouslyassailed him, and the blood stirred horribly as he heard the Call of theDance again in his heart and tasted the ancient magic of Ilse whirlingby his side.

  Suddenly he started back. A great lithe cat had leaped softly up fromthe shadows below on to the sill close to his face, and was staringfixedly at him with the eyes of a human. "Come," it seemed to say, "comewith us to the Dance! Change as of old! Transform yourself swiftly andcome!" Only too well he understood the creature's soundless call.

  It was gone again in a flash with scarcely a sound of its padded feeton the stones, and then others dropped by the score down the side ofthe house, past his very eyes, all changing as they fell and dartingaway rapidly, softly, towards the gathering point. And again he felt thedreadful desire to do likewise; to murmur the old incantation, and thendrop upon hands and knees and run swiftly for the great flying leap intothe air. Oh, how the passion of it rose within him like a flood,twisting his very entrails, sending his heart's desire flaming forthinto the night for the old, old Dance of the Sorcerers at the Witches'Sabbath! The whirl of the stars was about him; once more he met themagic of the moon. The power of the wind, rushing from precipice andforest, leaping from cliff to cliff across the valleys, tore himaway.... He heard the cries of the dancers and their wild laughter, andwith this savage girl in his embrace he danced furiously about the dimThrone where sat the Figure with the sceptre of majesty....

  Then, suddenly, all became hushed and still, and the fever died down alittle in his heart. The calm moonlight flooded a courtyard empty anddeserted. They had started. The procession was off into the sky. And hewas left behind--alone.

  Vezin tiptoed softly across the room and unlocked the door. The murmurfrom the streets, growing momentarily as he advanced, met his ears. Hemade his way with the utmost caution down the corridor. At the head ofthe stairs he paused and listened. Below him, the hall where they hadgathered was dark and still, but through opened doors and windows on thefar side of the building came the sound of a great throng moving fartherand farther into the distance.

  He made his way down the creaking wooden stairs, dreading yet longing tomeet some straggler who should point the way, but finding no one; acrossthe dark hall, so lately thronged with living, moving things, and outthrough the opened front doors into the street. He could not believethat he was really left behind, really forgotten, that he had beenpurposely permitted to escape. It perplexed him.

  Nervously he peered about him, and up and down the street; then, seeingnothing, advanced slowly down the pavement.

  The whole town, as he went, showed itself empty and deserted, as thougha great wind had blown everything alive out of it. The doors and windowsof the houses stood open to the night; nothing stirred; moonlight andsilence lay over all. The night lay about him like a cloak. The air,soft and cool, caressed his cheek like the touch of a great furry paw.He gained confidence and began to walk quickly, though still keeping tothe shadowed side. Nowhere could he discover the faintest sign of thegreat unholy exodus he knew had just taken place. The moon sailed highover all in a sky cloudless and serene.

  Hardly realisin
g where he was going, he crossed the open market-placeand so came to the ramparts, whence he knew a pathway descended to thehigh road and along which he could make good his escape to one of theother little towns that lay to the northward, and so to the railway.

  But first he paused and gazed out over the scene at his feet where thegreat plain lay like a silver map of some dream country. The stillbeauty of it entered his heart, increasing his sense of bewilderment andunreality. No air stirred, the leaves of the plane trees stoodmotionless, the near details were defined with the sharpness of dayagainst dark shadows, and in the distance the fields and woods meltedaway into haze and shimmering mistiness.

  But the breath caught in his throat and he stood stockstill as thoughtransfixed when his gaze passed from the horizon and fell upon the nearprospect in the depth of the valley at his feet. The whole lower slopesof the hill, that lay hid from the brightness of the moon, were aglow,and through the glare he saw