Chapter XIV. The Birthmark

by Bram Stoker

　　During my waiting for the summons to Mr Trelawny's room, which Iknew would come, the time was long and lonely. After the first fewmoments of emotional happiness at Margaret's joy, I somehow felt apartand alone; and for a little time the selfishness of a lover possessedme. But it was not for long. Margaret's happiness was all in all to me;and in the conscious sense of it I lost my baser self. Margaret's lastwords as the door closed on them gave the key to the whole situation,as it had been and as it was. These two proud, strong people, thoughfather and daughter, had only come to know each other when the girl wasgrown up. Margaret's nature was of that kind which matures early.The pride and strength of each, and the reticence which was theircorollary, made a barrier at the beginning. Each had respected theother's reticence too much thereafter, and the misunderstanding grew tohabit. And so these two loving hearts, each of which yearned forsympathy from the other, were kept apart. But now all was well, and inmy heart of hearts I rejoiced that at last Margaret was happy. Whilst Iwas still musing on the subject, and dreaming dreams of a personalnature, the door was opened, and Mr. Trelawny beckoned to me.'Come in, Mr. Ross!' he said cordially, but with a certain formalitywhich I dreaded. I entered the room, and he closed the door again. Heheld out his hand, and I put mine in it. He did not let it go, butstill held it as he drew me over toward his daughter. Margaret lookedfrom me to him, and back again; and her eyes fell. When I was close toher, Mr. Trelawny let go my hand, and, looking his daughter straight inthe face, said:'If things are as I fancy, we shall not have any secrets between us.Malcolm Ross knows so much of my affairs already, that I take it hemust either let matters stop where they are and go away in silence, orelse he must--know more. Margaret! are you willing to let Mr. Ross seeyour wrist?'She threw one swift look of appeal in his eyes; but even as she didso she seemed to make up her mind. Without a word she raised her righthand, so that the bracelet of spreading wings which covered the wristfell back, leaving the flesh bare. Then an icy chill shot through me.On her wrist was a thin red jagged line, from which seemed to hangred stains like drops of blood!She stood mere, a veritable figure of patient pride.Oh! But she looked proud! Through all her sweetness, all herdignity, all the high-souled negation of self which I had known, andwhich never seemed more marked than now--through all the fire thatseemed to shine from the dark depths of her eyes into my very soul,pride shone conspicuously. The pride that has failed; the pride that isborn of conscious purity; the pride of a veritable queen of Old Time,when to be royal was to be the first and greatest and bravest in allhigh things. As we stood thus for some seconds, the deep, gravevoice-of her father seemed to sound a challenge in my ears: 'What doyou say now?' My answer was not in words. I caught Margaret's righthand in mine as it fell, and, holding it tight, whilst with the other Ipushed back the golden cincture, stooped and kissed the wrist. As Ilooked up at her, but never letting go her hand, there was a look ofjoy on her face such as I dream of when I think of heaven. Then I facedher father:'You have my answer, sir!' His strong face looked gravely sweet. Heonly said one word as he laid his hand on our clasped ones, whilst hebent over and kissed his daughter. 'Good!'We were interrupted by a knock at the door. In answer to animpatient 'Come in!' from Mr. Trelawny, Mr. Corbeck entered. When hesaw us grouped he would have drawn back; but in an instant Mr. Trelawnyhad sprung forward and dragged him forward. As he shook him by bothhands, he seemed a transformed man. All the enthusiasm of his youth, ofwhich Mr. Corbeck had told us, seemed to have come back to him in aninstant.'So you have got the lamps!' he almost shouted. 'My reasoning wasright after all. Come to the library, where we will be alone, and tellme all about it! And while he does it, Ross,' said he, turning to me,'do you like a good fellow, get the key from the safe deposit, so thatI may have a look at the lamps!'Then the three of them, the daughter lovingly holding her father'sarm, went into the library, whilst I hurried off to Chancery Lane.When I returned with the key, I found them still engaged in thenarrative; but Doctor Winchester, who had arrived soon after I left,was with them. Mr. Trelawny, on hearing from Margaret of his greatattention and kindness, and how he had, under much pressure to thecontrary, steadfastly obeyed his written wishes, -had asked himto remain and listen: 'It will interest you, perhaps,' he said, 'tolearn the end of the story!'We all had an early dinner together. We sat after it a good while,and then Mr. Trelawny said:'Now, I think we had all better separate and go quietly to bedearly. We may have much to talk about tomorrow; and tonight I want tothink.'Doctor Winchester went away, taking, with a courteous forethought,Mr. Corbeck with him, and leaving me behind. When the others had goneMr. Trelawny said:'I think it will be well if you, too, will go home for tonight. Iwant to be quite alone with my daughter; there are things I wish tospeak of to her, and to her alone. Perhaps, even tomorrow, I may beable to tell you also of them; but in the meantime there will be lessdistraction to us both if we are alone in the house.' I quiteunderstood and sympathized with his feelings; but the experience of thelast few days were strong on me, and with some hesitation I said:'But may it not be dangerous? If you knew as we do--' To my surpriseMargaret interrupted me:"There will be no danger, Malcolm. I shall be with Father!' As shespoke she clung to him in a protective way. I said no more, but stoodup to go at once. Mr. Trelawny said heartily:'Come as early as you please, Ross. Come "to breakfast. After it,you and I will want to have a word together.' He went out of the roomquietly, leaving us together. I clasped and kissed Margaret's hands,which she held out to me, and then drew her close to me, and our lipsmet for thefirst time.I did not sleep much that night. Happiness on the one side of my bedand Anxiety on the other kept sleep away. But if I had anxious care, Ihad also happiness which had not equal in my life--or ever can have.The night went by so quickly that the dawn seemed to rush on me, notstealing as is its wont.Before nine o'clock I was at Kensington. All anxiety seemed to floataway like a cloud as I met Margaret, and saw that already the pallor ofher face had given way to the rich bloom which I knew. She told me thather father had slept well, and that he would be with us soon.'I do believe,' she whispered, 'that my dear and thoughtful Fatherhas kept back on purpose, so that I might meet you first, and alone!'After breakfast Mr. Trelawny took us into the study, saying as hepassed in:'I have asked Margaret to come too.' When we were seated, he saidgravely:'I told you last night that we might have something to say to eachother. I dare say that you may have thought that it was about Margaretand yourself. Isn't that so?' 'I thought so.'"Well, my boy, that is all right. Margaret and I have been talking,and I know her wishes.' He held out his hand. When I had wrung it, andhad kissed Margaret, who drew her chair close to mine, so that we couldhold hands as we listened, he went on, but with a certainHesitation--it could hardly be called nervousness--which was new to me:'You know a good deal of my hunt after this mummy and herbelongings: and I dare say you have guessed a good deal of my theories.But these at any rate I shall explain later, concisely andcategorically, if it be necessary. What I want to consult you about nowis this: Margaret and I disagree on one point. I am about to make anexperiment; the experiment which is to crown all that I have devotedtwenty years of research, and danger, and labour to prepare for.Through it we may learn things that have been hidden from the eyes andthe knowledge of men for centuries; for scores of centuries. I do notwant my daughter to be present; for I cannot blind myself to the factthat there may be danger in it--great danger, and of an unknown kind. Ihave, however, already faced very great dangers, and of an unknownkind: and so has that brave scholar who has helped me in the work. Asto myself, I am willing to run any risk. For science, and history, andphilosophy may benefit; and we may turn one old page of a wisdomunknown in this prosaic age. But for my daughter to run such a risk Iam loth. Her young bright life is too precious to throw lightly away;now especially when she is on the very threshold of new happiness. I donot wish to see her life given, as her dear mother's was--'He broke down for a moment, and covered his eyes with his hands. Inan instant Margaret was beside him, clasping him close, and kissinghim, and comforting him with loving words. Then, standing erect, withone hand on his head, she said:'Father! mother did not bid you stay beside her, even when youwanted to go on that journey of unknown danger to Egypt; though thatcountry was then upset from end to end with war and the dangers thatfollow war. You have told me how she left you free to go as you wished;though that she thought of danger for you, and feared it for you, isproved by this!' She held up her wrist with the scar that seemed to runblood. 'Now, mother's daughter does as mother would have done herself!'Then she turned to me:'Malcolm, you know I love you! But love is trust; and you must trustme in danger as well as in joy. You and I must stand beside Father inthis unknown peril. Together we shall come through it; or together weshall fail; together we shall die. That is my wish; my first wish to myhusband that is to be! Do you think that, as a daughter, I am right?Tell my Father what you think!'She looked like a Queen stooping to plead. My love for her grew andgrew. I stood up beside her; and took her hand and said:'Mr. Trelawny! In this Margaret and I are one!' He took both ourhands and held them hard. Presently he said with deep emotion:'It is as her mother would have done!' Mr. Corbeck and DoctorWinchester came exactly at the time appointed, and joined us in thelibrary. Despite my great happiness I felt our meeting to be a verysolemn function. For I could never forget the strange things that hadbeen; and the idea of the strange things which might be, was with melike a cloud, pressing down on us all. From the gravity of mycompanions I gathered that each of them also was ruled by some suchdominating thought.Instinctively we gathered our chairs into a circle round Mr.Trelawny who had taken the great armchair near the window. Margaret satby him on his right, and I was next to her. Mr. Corbeck was on his leftwith Doctor Winchester on the other side. After a few seconds ofsilence Mr. Trelawny said to Mr. Corbeck.'You have told Dr Winchester all up to the present, as we arranged:''Yes,' he answered; so Mr. Trelawny said: 'And I have told Margaret,so we all know!' Then, turning to the Doctor, he asked:'And am I to take it that you, knowing all as we know it who havefollowed the matter for years, wish to share in the experiment which wehope to make?' His answer was direct and uncompromising:'Certainly! Why, when this matter was fresh to me, I offered to goon with it to the end. Now that it is of such strange interest, I wouldnot miss it for anything which you could name. Be quite easy in yourmind, Mr. Trelawny. I am a scientist and an investigator of phenomena.I have no one belonging to me or dependent on me. I am quite alone, andfree to do what I like with my own--including my life!' Mr. Trelawnybowed gravely, and turning to Mr. Corbeck said:'I have known your ideas for many years past, old friend; so I needask you nothing. As to 'Margaret and Malcolm Ross, they have alreadytold me their wishes in no uncertain way.' He paused a few seconds, asthough to put his thoughts or his words in order; then he began toexplain his views and intentions. He spoke very carefully, seemingalways to bear in mind that some of us who listened were ignorant ofthe very root and nature of some things touched upon, and explainingthem to us as he went on:-'The experiment which is before us is to try whether or no there isany force, any reality, in the old Magic. There could not possibly bemore favourable conditions for the test; and it is my own desire to doall that is possible to make the original design effective. That thereis some such existing power I firmly believe.' It might not be possibleto create, or arrange, or organize such a power in our own time; but Itake it that if in Old Time such a power existed, it may have someexceptional survival. After all, the Bible is not a myth; and we readthere that the sun stood still at a man's command, and that an ass--nota human one-- spoke. And if the Witch at Endor could call up to Saulthe spirit of Samuel, why may not there have been others with equalpowers; and why may not one among them survive? Indeed, we are told inthe Book of Samuel that the Witch of Endor was only one of many, andher being consulted by Saul was a matter of chance. He only sought oneamong the many whom he had driven out of Israel; "all those that hadFamiliar Spirits, and the Wizards". This Egyptian Queen, Tera, whoreigned nearly two thousand years before Saul, had a Familiar, and wasa Wizard too. See how the priests of her time, and those after it triedto wipe out her name from the face of the earth, and put a curse overthe very door of her tomb so that none might ever discover the lostname. Ay, and they succeeded so well that even Manetho, the historianof the Egyptian Kings, writing in the tenth century before Christ, withall the lore of the priesthood for forty centuries behind him, and withpossibility of access to every existing record, could not even find hername. Did it strike any of you, in thinking of the late events, who orwhat her Familiar was?' There was an interruption, for DoctorWinchester struck one hand loudly on the other as he ejaculated:'The cat! The mummy cat! I knew it!' Mr. Trelawny smiled over at him.'You are right! There is every indication that the Familiar of theWizard Queen was that cat which was mummied when she was, and was notonly placed in her tomb, but was laid in the sarcophagus with her. Thatwas what bit into my wrist, what cut me with sharp claws.' He pausedMargaret's comment was a purely girlish one:'Then my poor Silvio is acquitted. I am glad!' Her father strokedher hair and went on:'This woman seems to have had extraordinary foresight. Foresightfar, far beyond her age and the philosophy of her time. She seems tohave seen through the weakness of her own religion, and even preparedfor emergence into a different world. All her aspirations were for theNorth, the point of the compass whence blew the cool invigoratingbreezes that make life a joy. From the first, her eyes seem to havebeen attracted to the seven stars of the Plough from the fact, asrecorded in the hieroglyphics in her tomb, that at her birth a greataerolite fell, from whose heart was finally extracted that Jewel ofSeven Stars which she regarded as the talisman of her life. It seems tohave so far ruled her destiny that all her thought and care circledround it. The Magic Coffer, so wondrously wrought with seven sides, welearn from the same source, came from the aerolite. Seven was to her amagic number; and no wonder. With seven fingers on one hand, and seventoes on one foot. With a talisman of a rare ruby with seven stars inthe same position as in that constellation which ruled her birth, eachstar of the seven having seven points--in itself a geologicalwonder--it would have been odd if she had not been attracted by it.Again, she was born, we learn in the Stele of her tomb, in the seventhmonth of the year--the month beginning with the Inundation of the Nile.Of which month the presiding Goddess was Hathor, the Goddess of her ownhouse, of the Antefs of the Theban line--the Goddess who in variousforms symbolizes beauty, and pleasure, and resurrection. Again, in thisseventh month--which, by later Egyptian astronomy began on October28th, and ran to the 27th of our November--on the seventh day thePointer of the Plough just rises above the horizon of the sky at Thebes.'In a marvellously strange way, therefore, are grouped into thiswoman's life these various things. The number seven; the Pole Star,with the constellation of seven stars; the God of the month, Hathor,who was her own particular God, the God of her family, the Antefs ofthe Theban Dynasty whose Kings' symbol it was, and whose seven formsruled love and the delights of life and resurrection. If ever there wasground for magic; for the power of symbolism carried into mystic use;for a belief in finite spirits in an age which knew not the Living God,it is here.'Remember, too, that this woman was skilled in all the science ofher time. Her wise and cautious father took care of that, knowing thatby her own wisdom she must ultimately combat the intrigues of theHierarchy. Bear in mind that in old Egypt the science of Astronomybegan and was developed to an extraordinary height; and that Astrologyfollowed Astronomy in its progress. And it is possible that in thelater developments of science with regard to light rays, we may yetfind that Astrology is on a scientific basis. Our next wave ofscientific thought may deal with this. I shall have something specialto call your minds to on this point presently. Bear in mind also thatthe Egyptians knew sciences, of which today, despite all ouradvantages, we are profoundly ignorant. Acoustics, for instance, anexact science with the builders of the temples of Karnak, of Luxor, ofthe Pyramids, is today a mystery to Bell, and Kelvin, and Edison, andMarconi. Again, these old miracle-workers probably understood somepractical way of using other forces, and amongst them the forces oflight that at present we do not dream of. But of this matter I shallspeak later. That Magic Coffer of Queen Tera is probably a magic box inmore ways than one. It may--possibly it does--contain forces that wewot not of. We cannot open it; it must be closed from within. How thenwas it closed? It is a coffer of solid stone, of amazing hardness, morelike a jewel than an ordinary marble, with a lid equally solid; and yetall is so finely wrought that the finest tool made today cannot beinserted under the flange. How was it wrought to such perfection? Howwas the stone so chosen that those translucent patches match therelations of the seven stars of the constellation. How is it, or fromwhat cause, that when the starlight shines on it, it glows fromwithin--that when I fix the lamps in similar form the glow growsgreater still; and yet the box is irresponsive to ordinary lighthowever great. I tell you that that box hides some great mystery ofscience. We shall find that the light will open it in some way; eitherby striking on some substance, sensitive in a peculiar way to itseffect, or in releasing some greater power. I only trust that in ourignorance we may not so bungle things as to do harm to its mechanism;and so deprive the knowledge of our time of a lesson handed down, as bya miracle, through nearly five thousand years.'In another way, too, there may be hidden in that box secrets which,for good or ill, may enlighten the world. We know from their records,and inferentially also, that the Egyptians studied the properties ofherbs and minerals for magic purposes--white magic as well as black. Weknow that some of the wizards of old could induce from sleep dreams ofany given kind. That this purpose was mainly effected by hypnotism,which was another art or science of Old Nile, I have little doubt. Butstill, they must have had a mastery of drugs that is far beyondanything we know. With our own pharmacopoeia we can, to a certainextent, induce dreams. We may even differentiate between good andbad--dreams of pleasure, or disturbing and harrowing dreams. But theseold practitioners seemed to have been able to command at will any formor colour of dreaming; could work round any given subject or thought inalmost any way required. In that coffer, which you have seen, may resta very armoury of dreams. Indeed, some of the forces that lie within itmay have been already used in my household.' Again there was aninterruption from Dr Winchester:'But if in your case some of these imprisoned forces were used, whatset. them free at the opportune time, or how? Besides, you and Mr.Corbeck were once before put into a trance for three whole days, whenyou were in the Queen's tomb for the second time. And then, as Igarnered from Mr. Corbeck's story, the coffer was not back in the tomb,though the mummy was. Surely in both these cases there must havebeen some active intelligence awake, and with some other power towield.' Mr. Trelawny's answer was equally to the point:'There was some active intelligence awake. I am convinced of it. Andit wielded a power which it never lacks. I believe that on both thoseoccasions hypnotism was the power wielded.''And wherein is that power contained? What view do you hold on thesubject?' Doctor Winchester's voice vibrated with the intensity of hisexcitement as he leaned forward, breathing hard, and with eyes staring.Mr. Trelawny said solemnly:" 'In the mummy of the Queen Tera! I was coming to that presently.Perhaps we had better wait till I clear the ground a little. What Ihold is, that the preparation of that box was made for a specialoccasion; as indeed were all the preparations of the tomb and allbelonging to it. Queen Tera did not trouble herself to guard againstsnakes and scorpions, in that rocky tomb cut in the sheer cliff face ahundred feet above the level of the valley, and fifty down from thesummit. Her precautions were against the disturbances of human hands;against the jealousy and hatred of the priests who, had they known ofher real aims, would have tried to baffle them. From her point of view,she made all ready for the time of resurrection, whenever that mightbe. I gather from the symbolic pictures in the tomb that she so fardiffered from the belief of her time that she looked for a resurrectionin the flesh. It was doubtless this that intensified the hatred of thepriesthood, and gave them an acceptable cause for obliterating the veryexistence, present' and future, of one who had outraged their theoriesand blasphemed their gods. All that she might require, either in theaccomplishment of the resurrection or after it, were contained in thatalmost hermetically sealed suite of chambers in the rock. In the greatsarcophagus, which as you know is of a size quite unusual even forkings, was the mummy of her Familiar, the cat, which from its greatsize I take to be a sort of tiger-cat. In the tomb, also in a strongreceptacle, were the canopic jars usually containing those internalorgans which are separately embalmed, but which in this case had nosuch contents. So that, I take it, there was in her case a departurein embalming; and that the organs were restored to the body, each inits proper place-- if, indeed, they had ever been removed. If thissurmise be ' true, we shall find that the brain of the Queen either wasnever extracted in the usual way, or, if so taken out, that it was dulyreplaced, instead of being enclosed within the mummy wrappings.Finally, in the sarcophagus there was the Magic Coffer on which herfeet rested. Mark you also, the care taken in the preservance of herpower to control the elements. According to her belief, the open handoutside the wrappings controlled the Air, and the strange Jewel Stonewith the shining stars controlled Fire. The symbolism inscribed on thesoles of her feet gave sway over Land and Water. About the Star Stone Ishall tell you later; but whilst we are speaking of the sarcophagus,mark how she guarded her secret in case of grave-wrecking or intrusion.None could open her Magic Coffer without the lamps, for we know nowthat ordinary light will not be effective. The great lid of thesarcophagus was not sealed down as usual, because she wished to controlthe air. But she hid the lamps, which in structure belong to the MagicCoffer, in a place where none could find them, except by following thesecret guidance which she had prepared for only the eyes of wisdom. Andeven here she had guarded against chance discovery, by preparing a boltof death for the unwary discoverer. To do this she had applied thelesson of the tradition of the avenging guard of the treasures of thepyramid, built by her great predecessor of the Fourth Dynasty of thethrone of Egypt. You have noted, I suppose, how there were, in the case of her tomb,certain deviations from the usual rules. For instance, the shaft of theMummy Pit, which is usually filled up solid with stones and rubbish,was left open. Why was this? I take it that she had made arrangementsfor leaving the tomb when, after her resurrection, she should be a newwoman, with a different personality, and less inured to the hardshipsthat in her first existence she had suffered. So far as we can judge ofher intent, all things needful for her exit into the world had beenthought of, even to the iron chain, described by Van Huyn, close to thedoor in the rock, by which she might be able to lower herself to theground. That she expected a long -period to elapse was shown in thechoice of material. An ordinary rope would be rendered weaker or unsafein process of time, but she imagined, and rightly, that the iron wouldendure.'What her intentions were when once she trod the open earth afreshwe do not know, and we never shall, unless her own dead lips can softenand speak.