The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker (ebook and pdf reader .txt) đź“–
- Author: Bram Stoker
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and more frequent as the time wore on.
As to Margaret, the suspense told on her exceedingly, as might have been
expected in the case of a woman. She grew paler and paler still; till
at last about midnight, I began to be seriously alarmed about her. I
got her to come into the library with me, and tried to make her lie down
on a sofa for a little while. As Mr. Trelawny had decided that the
experiment was to be made exactly at the seventh hour after sunset, it
would be as nearly as possible three o’clock in the morning when the
great trial should be made. Even allowing a whole hour for the final
preparations, we had still two hours of waiting to go through, and I
promised faithfully to watch her and to awake her at any time she might
name. She would not hear of it, however. She thanked me sweetly and
smiled at me as she did so; but she assured me that she was not sleepy,
and that she was quite able to bear up. That it was only the suspense
and excitement of waiting that made her pale. I agreed perforce; but I
kept her talking of many things in the library for more than an hour; so
that at last, when she insisted on going back to her father’s room I
felt that I had at least done something to help her pass the time.
We found the three men sitting patiently in silence. With manlike
fortitude they were content to be still when they felt they had done all
in their power. And so we waited.
The striking of two o’clock seemed to freshen us all up. Whatever
shadows had been settling over us during the long hours preceding seemed
to lift at once; and we went about our separate duties alert and with
alacrity. We looked first to the windows to see that they were closed,
and we got ready our respirators to put them on when the time should be
close at hand. We had from the first arranged to use them for we did
not know whether some noxious fume might not come from the magic coffer
when it should be opened. Somehow, it never seemed to occur to any of
us that there was any doubt as to its opening.
Then, under Margaret’s guidance, we carried the mummied body of Queen
Tera from her room into her father’s, and laid it on a couch. We put
the sheet lightly over it, so that if she should wake she could at once
slip from under it. The severed hand was placed in its true position on
her breast, and under it the Jewel of Seven Stars which Mr. Trelawny had
taken from the great safe. It seemed to flash and blaze as he put it in
its place.
It was a strange sight, and a strange experience. The group of grave
silent men carried the white still figure, which looked like an ivory
statue when through our moving the sheet fell back, away from the
lighted candles and the white flowers. We placed it on the couch in
that other room, where the blaze of the electric lights shone on the
great sarcophagus fixed in the middle of the room ready for the final
experiment, the great experiment consequent on the researches during a
lifetime of these two travelled scholars. Again, the startling likeness
between Margaret and the mummy, intensified by her own extraordinary
pallor, heightened the strangeness of it all. When all was finally
fixed three-quarters of an hour had gone, for we were deliberate in all
our doings. Margaret beckoned me, and I went out with her to bring in
Silvio. He came to her purring. She took him up and handed him to me;
and then did a thing which moved me strangely and brought home to me
keenly the desperate nature of the enterprise on which we were embarked.
One by one, she blew out the candles carefully and placed them back in
their usual places. When she had finished she said to me:
“They are done with now. Whatever comes—life or death—there will be no
purpose in their using now.” Then taking Silvio into her arms, and
pressing him close to her bosom where he purred loudly, we went back to
the room. I closed the door carefully behind me, feeling as I did so a
strange thrill as of finality. There was to be no going back now. Then
we put on our respirators, and took our places as had been arranged. I
was to stand by the taps of the electric lights beside the door, ready
to turn them off or on as Mr. Trelawny should direct. Doctor Winchester
was to stand behind the couch so that he should not be between the mummy
and the sarcophagus; he was to watch carefully what should take place
with regard to the Queen. Margaret was to be beside him; she held
Silvio ready to place him upon the couch or beside it when she might
think right. Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck were to attend to the
lighting of the lamps. When the hands of the clock were close to the
hour, they stood ready with their linstocks.
The striking of the silver bell of the clock seemed to smite on our
hearts like a knell of doom. One! Two! Three!
Before the third stroke the wicks of the lamps had caught, and I had
turned out the electric light. In the dimness of the struggling lamps,
and after the bright glow of the electric light, the room and all within
it took weird shaps, and all seemed in an instant to change. We waited
with our hearts beating. I know mine did, and I fancied I could hear
the pulsation of the others.
The seconds seemed to pass with leaden wings. It were as though all the
world were standing still. The figures of the others stood out dimly,
Margaret’s white dress alone showing clearly in the gloom. The thick
respirators which we all wore added to the strange appearance. The thin
light of the lamps showed Mr. Trelawny’s square jaw and strong mouth and
the brown shaven face of Mr. Corbeck. Their eyes seemed to glare in the
light. Across the room Doctor Winchester’s eyes twinkled like stars,
and Margaret’s blazed like black suns. Silvio’s eyes were like
emeralds.
Would the lamps never burn up!
It was only a few seconds in all till they did blaze up. A slow, steady
light, growing more and more bright, and changing in colour from blue to
crystal white. So they stayed for a couple of minutes without change in
the coffer; till at last there began to appear all over it a delicate
glow. This grew and grew, till it became like a blazing jewel, and then
like a living thing whose essence of life was light. We waited and
waited, our hearts seeming to stand still.
All at once there was a sound like a tiny muffled explosion and the
cover lifted right up on a level plane a few inches; there was no
mistaking anything now, for the whole room was full of a blaze of light.
Then the cover, staying fast at one side rose slowly up on the other, as
though yielding to some pressure of balance. The coffer still continued
to glow; from it began to steal a faint greenish smoke. I could not
smell it fully on account of the respirator; but, even through that, I
was conscious of a strange pungent odour. Then this smoke began to grow
thicker, and to roll out in volumes of ever increasing density till the
whole room began to get obscure. I had a terrible desire to rush over
to Margaret, whom I saw through the smoke still standing erect behind
the couch. Then, as I looked, I saw Doctor Winchester sink down. He
was not unconscious; for he waved his hand back and forward, as though
to forbid any one to come to him. At this time the figures of Mr.
Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck were becoming indistinct in the smoke which
rolled round them in thick billowy clouds. Finally I lost sight of them
altogether. The coffer still continued to glow; but the lamps began to
grow dim. At first I thought that their light was being overpowered by
the thick black smoke; but presently I saw that they were, one by one,
burning out. They must have burned quickly to produce such fierce and
vivid flames.
I waited and waited, expecting every instant to hear the command to turn
up the light; but none came. I waited still, and looked with harrowing
intensity at the rolling billows of smoke still pouring out of the
glowing casket, whilst the lamps sank down and went out one by one.
Finally there was but one lamp alight, and that was dimly blue and
flickering. The only effective light in the room was from the glowing
casket. I kept my eyes fixed toward Margaret; it was for her now that
all my anxiety was claimed. I could just see her white frock beyond the
still white shrouded figure on the couch. Silvio was troubled; his
piteous mewing was the only sound in the room. Deeper and denser grew
the black mist and its pungency began to assail my nostrils as well as
my eyes. Now the volume of smoke coming from the coffer seemed to
lessen, and the smoke itself to be less dense. Across the room I saw
something white move where the couch was. There were several movements.
I could just catch the quick glint of white through the dense smoke in
the fading light; for now the glow of the coffer began quickly to
subside. I could still hear Silvio, but his mewing came from close
under; a moment later I could feel him piteously crouching on my foot.
Then the last spark of light disappeared, and through the Egyptian
darkness I could see the faint line of white around the window blinds.
I felt that the time had come to speak; so I pulled off my respirator
and called out:
“Shall I turn up the light?” There was no answer; so before the thick
smoke choked me, I called again but more loudly:
“Mr. Trelawny, shall I turn up the light?” He did not answer; but from
across the room I heard Margaret’s voice, sounding as sweet and clear as
a bell:
“Yes, Malcolm!” I turned the tap and the lamps flashed out. But they
were only dim points of light in the midst of that murky ball of smoke.
In that thick atmosphere there was little possibility of illumination.
I ran across to Margaret, guided by her white dress, and caught hold of
her and held her hand. She recognised my anxiety and said at once:
“I am all right.”
“Thank God!” I said. “How are the others? Quick, let us open all the
windows and get rid of this smoke!” To my surprise, she answered in a
sleepy way:
“They will be all right. They won’t get any harm.” I did not stop to
inquire how or on what ground she formed such an opinion, but threw up
the lower sashes of all the windows, and pulled down the upper. Then I
threw open the door.
A few seconds made a perceptible change as the thick, black smoke began
to roll out of the windows. Then the lights began to grow into strength
and I could see the room. All the men were overcome. Beside the couch
Doctor Winchester lay on his back as though he had sunk down and rolled
over; and on the farther side of the
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