CHAPTER XXII
THE FIRST MURDERS
The effect of Jason's newspapers on public opinion was remarkable.Humanity ever contains within it the need for mystery, and the strangeand incredible, if voiced by authority, stir it to its depths. The factsabout the healing of sickness and the cure of disease in Birmingham wereprinted in heavy type and read by millions. Nothing was said aboutimmortality save what Sarakoff and I had stated at the Queen's Hallmeeting. But instinctively the multitude leaped to the conclusion thatif the end of disease was at hand, then the end of death--at least, thepostponement of death--was to be expected.
Jason, pale and masterful, visited us in the afternoon, and told us ofthe spread of the tidings in England. "They've swallowed it," heexclaimed; "it's stirred them as nothing else has done in the lasthundred years. I visited the East End to-day. The streets are full ofpeople. Crowds everywhere. It might lead to anything."
"Is the infection spreading swiftly?"
"It's spreading. But there are plenty of people, like myself, whohaven't got it yet. I should say that a quarter of London is blue." Helooked at me with a sudden anxiety. "You're sure I'll get it?"
"Quite sure. Everyone is bound to get it. There's no possible immunity."
He sat heavily in the chair, staring at the carpet.
"Harden, I didn't quite like the look of those crowds in the East End.Anything big like this stirs up the people. It excites them and then theincalculable may happen. I've been thinking about the effect upon theuneducated mind. I've spread over the country the vision of humanityfree from disease, and that's roused something in them--somethingdangerous--that I didn't foresee. Disease, Harden, whatever you doctorsthink of it, puts the fear of God into humanity. It's these suddenreleases--releases from ancient fears--that are so dangerous. Are yousure you can't stop the germ, or direct it along certain channels?"
"I have already told you that's impossible."
"You might as well try and stop the light of day," said Sarakoff from asofa, where he was lying apparently asleep. "Let the people think whatthey like now. Wait till they get it themselves. There are rules in thegame, Jason, that you have no conception of, and that I have onlyrealized since I became immortal. Yes--rules in the game, whether youplay it in the cellar or the attic, or in the valley, or on the mountaintop."
"Your friend is very Russian," said Jason equably. "I have always heardthey are dreamers and visionaries. Personally, I am a practical man, andas such I foresee trouble. If the masses of the people have no illness,and enjoy perfect health, we shall be faced by a difficult problem.They'll get out of hand. Depressed states of health are valuable assetsin keeping the social organization together. All this demands carefulthought. I am visiting the Prime Minister this evening and shall givehim my views."
At that moment a newspaper boy passed the window with an afternoonedition and Jason went out to get a copy. He returned with a smile ofsatisfaction, carrying the paper open before him.
"Three murders in London," he announced. "One in Plaistow, one in EastHam and one in Pimlico. I told you there was unrest abroad." He laid thepaper on the table and studied it "In every case it was an agedperson--two old women, and one old man. Now what does that mean?"
"A gang at work."
He shook his head.
"No. In one case the murderer has been caught. It was a case ofpatricide--a hideous crime. Curiously enough the victim had the BlueDisease. The end must have been ghastly, as it states here that theexpression on the old man's face was terrible."
He sat beside the table, drumming his fingers on it and staring at thewall before him. I was not particularly interested in the news, but Iwas interested in Jason. Character had formerly appealed little to me,but now I found an absorbing problem in it.
"Harden, do you think that son killed his father _because_ he had theBlue Disease?"
I was struck by the remark. For some reason the picture of Alice'sfather came into my mind. Jason sprang to his feet.
"Yes, that's it," he exclaimed. "That's what lay behind those restlesscrowds. I knew there was something--a riddle to read, and now I've gotthe answer. The crowd doesn't know what's rousing them. But I do. It'sfear and resentment, Harden. It's fear and resentment against the old."He brought his fist down on the table. "The germ's going to lead to war!It's going to lead to the worst war humanity has ever experienced--thewar of the young against the old. Not the ancient strife or strugglebetween young and old, but open bloodshed, my friends. That's what yourgerm is going to do."
I smiled and shook my head.
"Wait," said Sarakoff from the sofa; "wait a little. Why are you in sucha hurry to jump to conclusions?"
"Because it's my business to jump to conclusions just six hours beforeanyone else does," said Jason. "I calculate that my mind, for the lasttwenty years, has been six hours ahead of time. I live in a state ofchronic anticipation, Dr. Sarakoff. Just let me use your telephone for amoment."
He returned a quarter of an hour later. His expression was calm, but hiseyes were hard. "I was right," he said. "Those two old women had theBlue Disease, and a girl, a daughter, is suspect in one case. Can't youimagine the situation? Girl lives with her aged mother--can't getfree--mother has what money there is--not allowed to marry--girlunconsciously counts on mother's death--probably got a secretlove-affair--is expecting the moment of release--and then, along comesthe Blue Disease and one of my newspapers telling her what it means. Theold lady recovers her health--the future shuts down like a rat trap andwhat does the poor girl do? Kills her mother--and probably goes mad.That, gentlemen, is my theory of the case."
He strode up and down the room.
"You may think I'm taking a low view," he cried. "But there are hundredsof thousands of similar cases in England. God help the old if the youngforget their religion!"
For some reason I was unmoved by the outcry. It was no doubt owing tothe peculiar emotionless state that the germ induced in people. Jasonwas roused. He paced to and fro in silence, with his brows contracted.At length he stopped before me.
"Do you see any way out?"
"There will be no war between the young and the old," I replied. "Inanother week everyone will get the germ and that will be the end of warin every form."
He drew a chair and sat down before me.
"You don't understand," he said earnestly. "Perhaps you had a happychildhood. I didn't. I know how some sons and daughters feel because Isuffered in that way. People are strangely blind to suffering unlessthey have suffered themselves. When I was a young man, my father put mein his office and gave me a clerk's wages. He kept me there for sixyears at eighteen shillings a week. Whenever I made a suggestionconcerning the business he was careful to ridicule it. Whenever I triedto break away and start on my own, he prevented it. There were athousand other things--ways in which he fettered me. My only sister hekept at home to do the housework. He forbade her to marry. She and Inever had enough money to do anything, to go anywhere, or to buyanything. Now, to be quite frank, I longed for him to die so that Icould get free. To me he was an ogre, a great merciless tyrant, a giantwith a club. Well, he died. When he was dead I felt what a man dying ofthirst in the desert must feel when he suddenly comes to a spring ofwater. I recovered, and became what I am. My sister never recovered. Shehad been suppressed beyond all the limits of elasticity. As far as herbody is concerned, it is alive. Her soul is dead."
He paused and looked at me meditatively.
"If your blue germ had come along then, Harden, I might---- Who knows? Ihave often wondered why our pulpit religion ignores the crimes ofparents to their children. I'm not conventionally religious, but I seemto remember that Christ indirectly said something pretty strong on thesubject. But the pulpit folk show a wonderful facility for ignoring theawkward things Christ said. In about three years' time I'm going to turnmy guns on the Church. They've sneered at me too much."
"There will be a new Church by that time," murmured Sarakoff. "And noguns."
Jason eyed the p
rostrate figure of the Russian.
"I refer to my newspapers. That's going to be my final triumph. Why doyou smile?"
"Because you said a moment ago that it was your business to be six hoursahead of everyone else. You're countless centuries behind Harden and me.We have taken a leap into the future. If you want to know what humanitywill be, look at us closely. You'll get some hints that should bevaluable. I admit that our bodies are old-fashioned in their size andshape, but not our emotions."
The telephone bell rang in the hall and Jason jumped up.
"I think that's for me."
He went out. I remained sitting calmly in my chair. An absolute serenitysurrounded me. All that Jason did or said was like looking at aninteresting play. I was perfectly content to sit and think--think ofJason, of what his motives were, of the reason why a man is blind wherehis desires are at work, of the new life, of the new organizations thatwould be necessary. I was like a glutton before a table piled high withdelicacies and with plenty of time to spare. Sarakoff seemed to be inthe same condition for he lay with his eyes half shut, motionless andabsorbed.
Jason entered the room suddenly. He carried his hat and stick.
"Two more murders reported from Greenwich, and ten from Birmingham. It'sbecoming serious, Harden! I'm off to Downing Street. Watch the morningeditions!"