The Man in Black

  CHAPTER V.

  THE UPPER PORTAL.

  The astrologer was not alone. A tall figure, cloaked and muffled tothe chin, entered after him, and stood waiting at his elbow while hesecured the fastenings of the door. Apparently, they had only met onthe threshold, for the stranger, after looking round him and silentlynoting the fantastic disorder of the room, said, in a hoarse voice,"You do not know me?"

  "Perfectly, M. de Vidoche," the astrologer answered, removing his hat.

  "Did you know I was following you?"

  "I came to show you the way."

  "That is a lie, at any rate!" the young noble retorted, with a sneer,"for I did not know I was coming myself."

  "Until you saw me," the astrologer answered, unmoved. "Will you nottake off your cloak? You will need it when you leave."

  M. de Vidoche complied with an ill grace. "The usual stock-in-trade, Isee," he muttered, looking round him scornfully. "Skulls and bones,and dead hands and gibbet-ropes. Faugh! The place smells. I supposethese are the things you keep to frighten children."

  "Some," Notredame answered calmly--he was busy lighting a lamp--"andsome are for sale."

  "For sale?" M. de Vidoche cried incredulously. "Who will buy them?"

  "Some one thing, and some another," the astrologer answeredcarelessly. "Take this, for instance," he continued, turning to hisvisitor, and looking at him for the first time. "I expect to find acustomer for _that_ very shortly."

  M. de Vidoche followed the direction of his finger, and shuddered,despite himself. "That" was a coffin. "Enough of this," he said, withsavage impatience. "Suppose you get off your high horse, and come tobusiness. Can I sit, man, or are you going to keep me standing allnight?"

  The man in black brought forward two stools, and led the way behindthe curtain. "It is warmer here," he said, pushing aside an earthenpipkin, and clearing a space with his foot in front of the glowingembers. "Now I am at your service, M. de Vidoche. Pray be seated."

  "Are we alone?" the young noble asked suspiciously.

  "Trust me for that," the astrologer answered. "I know my business."

  But M. de Vidoche seemed to find some difficulty in stating his;though he had evinced so high a regard for time a moment before. Hesat irresolute, stealing malevolent glances first at his companion,and then at the dull, angry-looking fire. If he expected M. Notredameto help him, however, he did not yet know his host. The astrologer satpatiently waiting, with every expression, save placid expectation,discharged from his face.

  "Oh, d----n you!" the young man ejaculated at last. "Have you gotnothing to say? You know what I want," he added, with irritation, "aswell as I do."

  "I shall be happy to learn," the astrologer answered politely.

  "Give it me without more words, and let me go!"

  The astrologer raised his eyebrows. "Alas! there is a limit toomniscience," he said, shaking his head gently. "It is true we keep itin stock--to frighten children. But it does not help me at present, M.de Vidoche."

  M. de Vidoche looked at him with an evil scowl. "I see; you want me tocommit myself," he muttered. The perspiration stood on his forehead,and his voice was husky with rage or some other emotion. "I was a foolto come here," he continued. "If you must have it, I want to kill acat; and I want something to give to it."

  The astrologer laughed silently. "The mountain was in labour, and lo!a cat!" he said, in a tone of amusement. "And lo! a cat! Well, in thatcase I am afraid you have come to the wrong place, M. de Vidoche. Idon't kill cats. There is no risk in it, you see," he continued,looking fixedly at his companion, "and no profit. Nobody cares about acat. The first herbalist you come to will give you what you want for afew sous. Even if the creature turns black within the hour, and itsmouth goes to the nape of its neck," he went on, with a horrid smile,"as Madame de Beaufort's did--_cui malo?_--no one is a penny theworse. But if it were a question of---- I think I saw monsieur ridingin company with Mademoiselle de Farincourt to-day?"

  M. de Vidoche, who had been contemplating his tormentor with eyes ofrage and horror, started at the unexpected question. "Well," hemuttered, "and what if I was?"

  "Oh, nothing," the man in black answered carelessly. "Mademoiselle isbeautiful, and monsieur is a happy man if she smiles on him. But sheis high-born; and proud, I am told." He leaned forward as he spoke,and warmed his long, lean hands at the fire. But his beady eyes neverleft the other's face.

  M. de Vidoche writhed under their gaze. "Curse you!" he mutteredhoarsely. "What do you mean?"

  "Her family are proud also, I am told; and powerful. Friends of theCardinal too, I hear." The man in black's smile was like nothing savethe crocodile's.

  M. de Vidoche rose from his seat, but sat down again.

  "He would avenge the honour of the family to the death," continued theastrologer gently. "To the death, I should say. Don't you think so, M.de Vidoche?"

  The perspiration stood in thick drops on the young man's forehead, andhe glared at his tormentor. But the latter met the look placidly, andseemed ignorant of the effect he was producing. "It is a pity,therefore, monsieur is not free to marry," he said, shaking his headregretfully--"a great pity. One does not know what may happen. Yet, onthe other hand, if he had not married he would be a poor man now."

  M. de Vidoche sprang to his feet with an oath. But he sat down again.

  "When he married he _was_ a poor man, I think," the astrologercontinued, for the first time averting his gaze from the other'sface, and looking into the fire with a queer smile. "And in debt.Madame--the present Madame de Vidoche, I mean--paid his debts, andbrought him an estate, I believe."

  "Of which she has never ceased to remind him twice a day since!" theyoung man cried in a terrible voice. And then in a moment he lost allself-control, all disguise, all the timid cunning which had marked himhitherto. He sprang to his feet. The veins in his temples swelled, hisface grew red. So true is it that small things try us more than greatones, and small grievances rub deeper raws than great wrongs. "MyGod!" he said between his teeth, "if you knew what I have sufferedfrom that woman! Pale-faced, puling fool, I have loathed her thesefive years, and I have been tied to her and her whining ways and hernun's face! Twice a day? No, ten times a day, twenty times a day, shehas reminded me of my debts, my poverty, and my straits before Imarried her! And of her family! And her three marshals! And her----"

  He stopped for very lack of breath. "Madame was of good family?" theman in black said abruptly. He had grown suddenly attentive. Hisshadow on the wall behind him was still and straight-backed.

  "Oh, yes," the husband answered bitterly.

  "In Perigord?'

  "Oh, yes."

  "Three marshals of France?" M. Notredame murmured thoughtfully; butthere was a strange light in his eyes, and he kept his face carefullyaverted from his companion. "That is not common! That is certainlysomething to boast of!"

  "_Mon Dieu!_ She did boast of it, though no one else allowed theclaim. And of her blood of Roland!" M. de Vidoche cried, with scorn.His voice still shook, and his hands trembled with rage. He strode upand down.

  "What was her name before she married?" the astrologer asked, stoopingover the fire.

  The young man stopped, arrested in his passion--stopped, and looked athim suspiciously. "Her name?" he muttered. "What has that to do withit?"

  "If you want me to--draw her horoscope," the astrologer replied, witha cunning smile, "I must have something to go upon."

  "Diane de Martinbault," the young man answered sullenly; and then, ina fresh burst of rage, he muttered, "Diane! _Diable!_"

  "She inherited her estates from her father?"

  "Yes."

  "Who had a son? A child who died young?" the astrologer continuedcoolly.

  M. de Vidoche looked at him. "That is true," he said sulkily. "But Ido not see what it has to do with you."

  For answer, the man in black began to laugh, at first silently, thenaloud--a sly devil's laugh, that sounded more li
ke the glee of fiendssporting over a lost soul than any human mirth, so full was it ofderision and mockery and insult. He made no attempt to check ordisguise it, but rather seemed to flout it in the other's face; forwhen the young noble asked him, with fierce impatience, what it was,and what he meant, he did not explain. He only cried, "In a moment! Ina moment, noble sir, I swear you shall have what you want. But--ha!ha!" And then he fell to laughing again, more loudly and shrilly thanbefore.

  M. de Vidoche turned white and red with rage. His first thought wasthat a trap had been laid for him, and that he had fallen into it;that to what he had said there had been witnesses; and that now theastrologer had thrown off the mask. With a horrible expression ofshame and fear on his countenance he stood at bay, peering into thedark corners, of which there were many in that room, and plumbing theshadows. When no one appeared and nothing happened, his fears passed,but not his rage. With his hand on his sword, he turned hotly on hisconfederate. "You dog!" he said between his teeth, and his eyesgleamed dangerously in the light of the lamp, "know that for afarthing I would slit your throat! And I will, too, if you do not thisinstant stop that witch's grin of yours! Are you going to do what Iask, or are you not?"

  "Chut! chut!" the astrologer answered, waving his hand in deprecation."I said so, and I am always as good as my word."

  "Ay, but now--now!" the young man retorted furiously. "You have playedwith me long enough. Do you think that I am going to spend the nightin this charnel-house of yours?"

  M. Notredame began to fear that he had carried his cruel amusement toofar. He had enjoyed himself vastly, and made an unexpected discovery:one which opened an endless vista of mischief and plunder to hisastute gaze. But it was not his policy to drive his customer todistraction, and he changed his tone. "Peace, peace," he said,spreading out his hands humbly. "You shall have it now; now, thisinstant. There is only one little preliminary."

  "Name it!" the other said imperiously.

  "The price. A horoscope, with the House of Death in the ascendant--theUpper Portal, as we call it--is a hundred crowns, M. de Vidoche. Thereis the risk, you see."

  "You shall have it. Give me the--the stuff!"

  The young man's voice trembled, but it was with anger and impatience,not with fear. The astrologer recognised the change in him, and fellinto his place. He went, without further demur, to a little shelf inthe darkest corner of the laboratory, whence he reached down acrucible. He was in the act of peering into this, with his back to hisvisitor, when M. de Vidoche uttered a startled cry, and, springingtowards him, seized his arm. "You fiend!" the young man hissed--he waspale to the lips, and shook as with an ague--"there is someone there!There is someone listening!"

  "FOR A SECOND THE MAN IN BLACK STOOD BREATHLESS" (_p_.92).]

  For a second the man in black stood breathless, his hand arrested, theshadow of his companion's terror darkening his face. M. de Vidochepointed with a trembling finger to the staircase which led to thefarther part of the house, and on this the two bent their sombre,guilty eyes. The lamp burned unsteadily, giving out an odour of smoke.The room was full of shadows, uncouth distorted shapes, that rose andfell with the light, and had something terrifying in their suddenappearances and vanishings. But in all the place there was nothing soappalling or so ugly as the two vicious, panic-stricken faces thatglared into the darkness.

  The man in black was the first to break the silence. "What did youhear?" he muttered at length, after a long, long period of waiting andwatching.

  "Someone moved there," Vidoche answered, under his breath. His voicestill trembled; his face was livid with terror.

  "Nonsense!" the other answered. He knew the place, and was fastrecovering his courage. "What was the sound like, man?"

  "A dull, heavy sound. Someone moved."

  M. Notredame laughed, but not pleasantly. "It was the toad," he said."There is no other living thing here. The door on the staircase islocked. It is thick, too. A dozen men might be behind it, yet theywould not hear a word that passed in this room. But come; you shallsee."

  He led the way to the farther end of the room, and, moving some of thelarger things, showed M. de Vidoche that there was no one there.Still, the young man was only half-convinced. Even when the toad wasfound lurking in a skull which had rolled to the floor, he continuedto glance about him doubtfully. "I do not think it was that," he said."Are you sure that the door is locked?"

  "Try it," the astrologer answered curtly.

  M. de Vidoche did, and nodded. "Yes," he said. "All the same, I willget out of this, Give me the stuff, will you?"

  The man in black raised the lamp in one hand, and with the otherselected from the crucible two tiny yellow packets. He stood a moment,weighing them in his hand and looking lovingly at them, and seemedunwilling to part with them. "They are power," he said, in a voicethat was little above a whisper. The alarm had tried even his nerves,and he was not quite himself. "The greatest power of all--death. Theyare the key of the Upper Portal--the true Pulvis Olympicus. Take oneto-day, one to-morrow, in liquid, and you will feel neither hunger,nor cold, nor want, nor desire any more for ever. The late King ofEngland took one; but there, it is yours, my friend."

  "Is it painful?" the young man whispered, shuddering, and with eyesaverted.

  The tempter grinned horribly. "What is that to you?" he said. "It willnot bring her mouth to the back of her neck. That is enough for you toknow."

  "It will not be detected?"

  "Not by the bunglers they call doctors," the astrologer answeredscornfully. "Blind bats! You may trust me for that. Of what did theKing of England die? A tertian ague. So will madame. But if youthink----"

  He stopped on a sudden, his hand in the air, and the two stood gazingat one another with alarm printed on their faces. The loud clangingnote of a bell, harshly struck in the house, came dolefully to theirears "What is it?" M. de Vidoche muttered uneasily.

  "A client," the astrologer answered quietly. "I will see. Do not stiruntil I come back to you."

  M. de Vidoche made an impatient movement towards the door in the RueTouchet: and doubtless he would much have preferred to be gone atonce, since he had now got what he wanted. But the man in black wasalready unlocking the door at the head of the little staircase, anduttering a querulous oath M. de Vidoche resigned himself to wait. Witha dark look he hid the powders on his person.

  * * * * *

  He thought himself alone. But all the same a white-faced boy laywithin a few feet of him, watching his every movement, and listeningto his breathing--a small boy, instinct with hate and loathing.Impunity renders people careless, or M. Notredame would not have beenso ready to set down the noise his confederate made to the toad. TheJudas-hole and the spying-place would have come to mind, and in atrice he would have caught the listener in the act, and this historywould never have been written.

  For Jehan, though his master's first entrance and appearance had senthim fleeing, breathless and panic-stricken, from his post, had notbeen able to keep aloof long. The house was dull, silent, dark; onlyin the closet was amusement to be found. So while terror dragged himone way, curiosity haled him the other, and at last had the victory.He listened and shivered at the head of the stairs until that shrilleldritch peal of laughter in which the astrologer indulged, and forwhich he was destined to pay dearly, penetrated even the thick door.Then he could hold out no longer. His curiosity grew intolerable.Laughter! Laughter in that house! Slowly and stealthily the boy openedthe door of the dark closet, and crept in. Just across the thresholdhe stumbled over the extinguished taper, and this it was which causedM. de Vidoche's alarm.

  Jehan fancied himself discovered, and lay sweating and trembling untilthe search for the toad was over. Then he sat up, and, finding himselfsafe, began to listen. What he heard was not clear, nor perfectlyintelligible; but gradually there stole even into his boyish mind aperception of something horrible. The speakers' looks of fear, theirlow tones and dark glances, the panic which seized them when theyfancied
themselves overheard, and their relief when nothing came ofit, did more to bring the conviction home to his mind than theirwords. Even of these he caught enough to assure him that someone wasto be poisoned--to be put out of the world. Only the name of thevictim--that escaped him.

  * * * * *

  Probably M. de Vidoche, left to himself, found, his thoughts poorcompany, for by-and-by he grew restless. He walked across the room andlistened, and walked again and listened. The latter movement broughthim by chance to the foot of the little flight of six steps by whichthe astrologer had retired, and he looked up and saw that the door atthe top was ajar. Impelled by curiosity, or suspicion, or the meredesire to escape from himself, he stole up, and, opening it farther,thrust his head through and listened.

  He remained in this position about a minute. Then he turned, and creptdown again, and stood, thinking, at the foot of the stairs, with anexpression of such utter and complete amazement on his face as almosttransformed the man. Something he had heard or seen which he could notunderstand! Something incredible, something almost miraculous! For allelse, even his guilty purpose, seemed swallowed up in sheerastonishment.

  The stupor held him until he heard the astrologer's steps. Even thenhe only turned and looked. But if ever dumb lips asked a question, hisdid then.

  The man in black nodded silently. He seemed not at all surprised thatthe other had heard or seen what he had. Even in him the thing,whatever it was, had worked a change. His eyes shone, his eyebrowswere raised, his face wore a pale smile of triumph and conceit.

  M. de Vidoche found his voice at last "My wife!" he whispered.

  The astrologer's shoulders went up to his ears. He spread out hishands. He nodded--once, twice. "_Mais oui, Madame!_" he said.

  "Here?--now?" M. de Vidoche stammered, his eyes wide withastonishment.

  "She is in the chamber of the astrolabe."

  "_Mon Dieu!_" the husband exclaimed. "_Mon Dieu!_" And then for amoment he shook, as if someone were passing over his grave. His facewas pale. There was dread mingled with his surprise. "I do notunderstand," he muttered at last. "What does it mean? What is shedoing here?"

  "She has come for a love-philtre," M. Notredame answered, with asphinx-like smile.

  "For whom?"

  "For you."

  The husband drew a deep breath. "For me?" he exclaimed. "Impossible!"

  "Possible," the man in black answered quietly; "and true."

  "Then what shall you do?"

  "Give her one," the astrologer answered. The enigmatical smile, whichhad been all along playing on his face, grew deeper, keener, morecruel. His eyes gleamed with triumph--and evil. "I shall give herone," he said again.

  "But--what will she do with it?" M. de Vidoche muttered.

  "_Take it!_ You fool, cannot you understand?" the man in blackanswered sharply. "Give me back the powders. I shall give them to her.She will take them--_herself_. You will be saved--all!"

  M. de Vidoche reeled. "My God!" he cried. "I think you are the devil!"

  "Perhaps," the man in black answered "but give me the powders."