The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker (ebook and pdf reader .txt) đ
- Author: Bram Stoker
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jumbled mass; but again the habit of mind of my working life prevailed,
and they took order. I found it now easier to control myself; for there
was something to grasp, some work to be done; though it was of a sorry
kind, for it was or might be antagonistic to Margaret. But Margaret was
herself at stake! I was thinking of her and fighting for her; and yet
if I were to work in the dark, I might be even harmful to her. My first
weapon in her defence was truth. I must know and understand; I might
then be able to act. Certainly, I could not act beneficently without a
just conception and recognition of the facts. Arranged in order these
were as follows:
Firstly: the strange likeness of Queen Tera to Margaret who had been
born in another country a thousand miles away, where her mother could
not possibly have had even a passing knowledge of her appearance.
Secondly: the disappearance of Van Huynâs book when I had read up to
the description of the Star Ruby.
Thirdly: the finding of the lamps in the boudoir. Tera with her astral
body could have unlocked the door of Corbeckâs room in the hotel, and
have locked it again after her exit with the lamps. She could in the
same way have opened the window, and put the lamps in the boudoir. It
need not have been that Margaret in her own person should have had any
hand in this; butâbut it was at least strange.
Fourthly: here the suspicions of the Detective and the Doctor came back
to me with renewed force, and with a larger understanding.
Fifthly: there were the occasions on which Margaret foretold with
accuracy the coming occasions of quietude, as though she had some
conviction or knowledge of the intentions of the astral-bodied Queen.
Sixthly: there was her suggestion of the finding of the Ruby which her
father had lost. As I thought now afresh over this episode in the light
of suspicion in which her own powers were involved, the only conclusion
I could come to wasâalways supposing that the theory of the Queenâs
astral power was correctâthat Queen Tera being anxious that all should
go well in the movement from London to Kyllion had in her own way taken
the Jewel from Mr. Trelawnyâs pocket-book, finding it of some use in her
supernatural guardianship of the journey. Then in some mysterious way
she had, through Margaret, made the suggestion of its loss and finding.
Seventhly, and lastly, was the strange dual existence which Margaret
seemed of late to be leading; and which in some way seemed a consequence
or corollary of all that had gone before.
The dual existence! This was indeed the conclusion which overcame all
difficulties and reconciled opposites. If indeed Margaret were not in
all ways a free agent, but could be compelled to speak or act as she
might be instructed; or if her whole being could be changed for another
without the possibility of any one noticing the doing of it, then all
things were possible. All would depend on the spirit of the
individuality by which she could be so compelled. If this individuality
were just and kind and clean, all might be well. But if not! ⊠The
thought was too awful for words. I ground my teeth with futile rage, as
the ideas of horrible possibilities swept through me.
Up to this morning Margaretâs lapses into her new self had been few and
hardly noticeable, save when once or twice her attitude towards myself
had been marked by a bearing strange to me. But today the contrary was
the case; and the change presaged badly. It might be that that other
individuality was of the lower, not of the better sort! Now that I
thought of it I had reason to fear. In the history of the mummy, from
the time of Van Huynâs breaking into the tomb, the record of deaths that
we knew of, presumably effected by her will and agency, was a startling
one. The Arab who had stolen the hand from the mummy; and the one who
had taken it from his body. The Arab chief who had tried to steal the
Jewel from Van Huyn, and whose throat bore the marks of seven fingers.
The two men found dead on the first night of Trelawnyâs taking away the
sarcophagus; and the three on the return to the tomb. The Arab who had
opened the secret serdab. Nine dead men, one of them slain manifestly
by the Queenâs own hand! And beyond this again the several savage
attacks on Mr. Trelawny in his own room, in which, aided by her
Familiar, she had tried to open the safe and to extract the Talisman
jewel. His device of fastening the key to his wrist by a steel bangle,
though successful in the end, had wellnigh cost him his life.
If then the Queen, intent on her resurrection under her own conditions
had, so to speak, waded to it through blood, what might she not do were
her purpose thwarted? What terrible step might she not take to effect
her wishes? Nay, what were her wishes; what was her ultimate purpose?
As yet we had had only Margaretâs statement of them, given in all the
glorious enthusiasm of her lofty soul. In her record there was no
expression of love to be sought or found. All we knew for certain was
that she had set before her the object of resurrection, and that in it
the North which she had manifestly loved was to have a special part.
But that the resurrection was to be accomplished in the lonely tomb in
the Valley of the Sorcerer was apparent. All preparations had been
carefully made for accomplishment from within, and for her ultimate exit
in her new and living form. The sarcophagus was unlidded. The oil jars,
though hermetically sealed, were to be easily opened by hand; and in
them provision was made for shrinkage through a vast period of time.
Even flint and steel were provided for the production of flame. The
Mummy Pit was left open in violation of usage; and beside the stone door
on the cliff side was fixed an imperishable chain by which she might in
safety descend to earth. But as to what her after intentions were we had
no clue. If it was that she meant to begin life again as a humble
individual, there was something so noble in the thought that it even
warmed my heart to her and turned my wishes to her success.
The very idea seemed to endorse Margaretâs magnificent tribute to her
purpose, and helped to calm my troubled spirit.
Then and there, with this feeling strong upon me, I determined to warn
Margaret and her father of dire possibilities; and to await, as well
content as I could in my ignorance, the development of things over which
I had no power.
I returned to the house in a different frame of mind to that in which I
had left it; and was enchanted to find Margaretâthe old Margaretâ
waiting for me.
After dinner, when I was alone for a time with the father and daughter,
I opened the subject, though with considerable hesitation:
âWould it not be well to take every possible precaution, in case the
Queen may not wish what we are doing, with regard to what may occur
before the Experiment; and at or after her waking, if it comes off?â
Margaretâs answer came back quickly; so quickly that I was convinced she
must have had it ready for some one:
âBut she does approve! Surely it cannot be otherwise. Father is doing,
with all his brains and all his energy and all his great courage, just
exactly what the great Queen had arranged!â
âBut,â I answered, âthat can hardly be. All that she arranged was in a
tomb high up in a rock, in a desert solitude, shut away from the world
by every conceivable means. She seems to have depended on this isolation
to insure against accident. Surely, here in another country and age,
with quite different conditions, she may in her anxiety make mistakes
and treat any of youâof usâas she did those others in times gone past.
Nine men that we know of have been slain by her own hand or by her
instigation. She can be remorseless if she will.â It did not strike me
till afterwards when I was thinking over this conversation, how
thoroughly I had accepted the living and conscious condition of Queen
Tera as a fact. Before I spoke, I had feared I might offend Mr.
Trelawny; but to my pleasant surprise he smiled quite genially as he
answered me:
âMy dear fellow, in a way you are quite right. The Queen did
undoubtedly intend isolation; and, all told, it would be best that her
experiment should be made as she arranged it. But just think, that
became impossible when once the Dutch explorer had broken into her tomb.
That was not my doing. I am innocent of it, though it was the cause of
my setting out to rediscover the sepulchre. Mind, I do not say for a
moment that I would not have done just the same as Van Huyn. I went
into the tomb from curiosity; and I took away what I did, being fired
with the zeal of acquisitiveness which animates the collector. But,
remember also, that at this time I did not know of the Queenâs intention
of resurrection; I had no idea of the completeness of her preparations.
All that came long afterwards. But when it did come, I have done all
that I could to carry out her wishes to the full. My only fear is that
I may have misinterpreted some of her cryptic instructions, or have
omitted or overlooked something. But of this I am certain; I have left
undone nothing that I can imagine right to be done; and I have done
nothing that I know of to clash with Queen Teraâs arrangement. I want
her Great Experiment to succeed. To this end I have not spared labour
or time or moneyâor myself. I have endured hardship, and braved danger.
All my brains; all my knowledge and learning, such as they are; all my
endeavours such as they can be, have been, are, and shall be devoted to
this end, till we either win or lose the great stake that we play for.â
âThe great stake?â I repeated; âthe resurrection of the woman, and the
womanâs life? The proof that resurrection can be accomplished; by
magical powers; by scientific knowledge; or by use of some force which
at present the world does not know?â
Then Mr. Trelawny spoke out the hopes of his heart which up to now he
had indicated rather than expressed. Once or twice I had heard Corbeck
speak of the fiery energy of his youth; but, save for the noble words of
Margaret when she had spoken of Queen Teraâs hopeâwhich coming from his
daughter made possible a belief that her power was in some sense due to
heredityâI had seen no marked sign of it. But now his words, sweeping
before them like a torrent all antagonistic thought, gave me a new idea
of the man.
ââA womanâs life!â What is a womanâs life in the scale with what we
hope for! Why, we are risking already a womanâs life; the dearest life
to me in all the world, and that grows more dear with every hour that
passes. We are risking as well the lives of four men; yours and my own,
as well as those two
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