Chapter 15

by William Somerset Maugham

　　Arthur wished to set about the invocation then and there, but Dr Porhoetsaid it was impossible. They were all exhausted after the long journey,and it was necessary to get certain things together without which nothingcould be done. In his heart he thought that a night's rest would bringArthur to a more reasonable mind. When the light of day shone upon theearth he would be ashamed of the desire which ran counter to all hisprepossessions. But Arthur remembered that on the next day it would beexactly a week since Margaret's death, and it seemed to him that thentheir spells might have a greater efficacy.When they came down in the morning and greeted one another, it was plainthat none of them had slept.'Are you still of the same purpose as last night?' asked Dr Porhoetgravely.'I am.'The doctor hesitated nervously.'It will be necessary, if you wish to follow out the rules of the oldnecromancers, to fast through the whole day.''I am ready to do anything.''It will be no hardship to me,' said Susie, with a little hystericallaugh. 'I feel I couldn't eat a thing if I tried.''I think the whole affair is sheer folly,' said Dr Porhoet.'You promised me you would try.'The day, the long summer day, passed slowly. There was a hard brilliancyin the sky that reminded the Frenchman of those Egyptian heavens whenthe earth seemed crushed beneath a bowl of molten fire. Arthur was toorestless to remain indoors and left the others to their own devices. Hewalked without aim, as fast as he could go; he felt no weariness. Theburning sun beat down upon him, but he did not know it. The hours passedwith lagging feet. Susie lay on her bed and tried to read. Her nerveswere so taut that, when there was a sound in the courtyard of a pailfalling on the cobbles, she cried out in terror. The sun rose, andpresently her window was flooded with quivering rays of gold. It wasmidday. The day passed, and it was afternoon. The evening came, but itbrought no freshness. Meanwhile Dr Porhoet sat in the little parlour,with his head between his hands, trying by a great mental effort to bringback to his memory all that he had read. His heart began to beat morequickly. Then the night fell, and one by one the stars shone out. Therewas no wind. The air was heavy. Susie came downstairs and began to talkwith Dr Porhoet. But they spoke in a low tone, as if they were afraidthat someone would overhear. They were faint now with want of food. Thehours went one by one, and the striking of a clock filled them each timewith a mysterious apprehension. The lights in the village were put outlittle by little, and everybody slept. Susie had lighted the lamp, andthey watched beside it. A cold shiver passed through her.'I feel as though someone were lying dead in the room,' she said.'Why does not Arthur come?'They spoke inconsequently, and neither heeded what the other said. Thewindow was wide open, but the air was difficult to breathe. And now thesilence was so unusual that Susie grew strangely nervous. She tried tothink of the noisy streets in Paris, the constant roar of traffic, andthe shuffling of the crowds toward evening as the work people returned totheir homes. She stood up.'There's no air tonight. Look at the trees. Not a leaf is moving.''Why does not Arthur come?' repeated the doctor.'There's no moon tonight. It will be very dark at Skene.''He's walked all day. He should be here by now.'Susie felt an extraordinary oppression, and she panted for breath. Atlast they heard a step on the road outside, and Arthur stood at thewindow.'Are you ready to come?' he said.'We've been waiting for you.'They joined him, bringing the few things that Dr Porhoet had said werenecessary, and they walked along the solitary road that led to Skene.On each side the heather stretched into the dark night, and there wasa blackness about it that was ominous. There was no sound save that oftheir own steps. Dimly, under the stars, they saw the desolation withwhich they were surrounded. The way seemed very long. They were utterlyexhausted, and they could hardly drag one foot after the other.'You must let me rest for a minute,' said Susie.They did not answer, but stopped, and she sat on a boulder by thewayside. They stood motionless in front of her, waiting patiently tillshe was ready. After a little while she forced herself to get up.'Now I can go,' she said.Still they did not speak, but walked on. They moved like figures ina dream, with a stealthy directness, as though they acted under theinfluence of another's will. Suddenly the road stopped, and they foundthemselves at the gates of Skene.'Follow me very closely,' said Arthur.He turned on one side, and they followed a paling. Susie could feel thatthey walked along a narrow path. She could see hardly two steps in frontof her. At last he stood still.'I came here earlier in the night and made the opening easier to getthrough.'He turned back a broken piece of railing and slipped in. Susie followed,and Dr Porhoet entered after her.'I can see nothing,' said Susie.'Give my your hand, and I will lead you.'They walked with difficulty through the tangled bracken, among closelyplanted trees. They stumbled, and once Dr Porhoet fell. It seemed thatthey went a long way. Susie's heart beat fast with anxiety. All herweariness was forgotten.Then Arthur stopped them, and he pointed in front of him. Through anopening in the trees, they saw the house. All the windows were darkexcept those just under the roof, and from them came bright lights.'Those are the attics which he uses as a laboratory. You see, he isworking now. There is no one else in the house.'Susie was curiously fascinated by the flaming lights. There was an awfulmystery in those unknown labours which absorbed Oliver Haddo night afternight till the sun rose. What horrible things were done there, hiddenfrom the eyes of men? By himself in that vast house the madman performedghastly experiments; and who could tell what dark secrets he traffickedin?'There is no danger that he will come out,' said Arthur. 'He remainsthere till the break of day.'He took her hand again and led her on. Back they went among the trees,and presently they were on a pathway. They walked along with greatersafety.'Are you all right, Porhoet?' asked Arthur.'Yes.'But the trees grew thicker and the night more sombre. Now the stars wereshut out, and they could hardly see in front of them.'Here we are,' said Arthur.They stopped, and found that there was in front of them a green spaceformed by four cross-ways. In the middle a stone bench gleamed vaguelyagainst the darkness.'This is where Margaret sat when last I saw her.''I can see to do nothing here,' said the doctor.They had brought two flat bowls of brass to serve as censers, and theseArthur gave to Dr Porhoet. He stood by Susie's side while the doctorbusied himself with his preparations. They saw him move to and fro. Theysaw him bend to the ground. Presently there was a crackling of wood, andfrom the brazen bowls red flames shot up. They did not know what heburnt, but there were heavy clouds of smoke, and a strong, aromaticodour filled the air. Now and again the doctor was sharply silhouettedagainst the light. His slight, bowed figure was singularly mysterious.When Susie caught sight of his face, she saw that it was touched with astrong emotion. The work he was at affected him so that his doubts, hisfears, had vanished. He looked like some old alchemist busied withunnatural things. Susie's heart began to beat painfully. She was growingdesperately frightened and stretched out her hand so that she might touchArthur. Silently he put his arm through hers. And now the doctor wastracing strange signs upon the ground. The flames died down and only aglow remained, but he seemed to have no difficulty in seeing what he wasabout. Susie could not discern what figures he drew. Then he put moretwigs upon the braziers, and the flames sprang up once more, cutting thedarkness sharply as with a sword.'Now come,' he said.But, inexplicably, a sudden terror seized Susie. She felt that the hairsof her head stood up, and a cold sweat broke out on her body. Her limbshad grown on an instant inconceivably heavy so that she could not move.A panic such as she had never known came upon her, and, except that herlegs would not carry her, she would have fled blindly. She began totremble. She tried to speak, but her tongue clave to her throat.'I can't, I'm afraid,' she muttered hoarsely.'You must. Without you we can do nothing,' said Arthur.She could not reason with herself. She had forgotten everything exceptthat she was frightened to death. Her heart was beating so quickly thatshe almost fainted. And now Arthur held her, so firmly that she winced.'Let me go,' she whispered. 'I won't help you. I'm afraid.''You must,' he said. 'You must.''No.''I tell you, you must come.''Why?'Her deadly fear expressed itself in a passion of sudden anger.'Because you love me, and it's the only way to give me peace.'She uttered a low wail of pain, and her terror gave way to shame. Sheblushed to the roots of her hair because he too knew her secret. And thenshe was seized again with anger because he had the cruelty to taunt herwith it. She had recovered her courage now, and she stepped forward. Dr.Porhoet told her where to stand. Arthur took his place in front of her.'You must not move till I give you leave. If you go outside the figure Ihave drawn, I cannot protect you.'For a moment Dr Porhoet stood in perfect silence. Then he began to recitestrange words in Latin. Susie heard him but vaguely. She did not know thesense, and his voice was so low that she could not have distinguished thewords. But his intonation had lost that gentle irony which was habitualto him, and he spoke with a trembling gravity that was extraordinarilyimpressive. Arthur stood immobile as a rock. The flames died away, andthey saw one another only by the glow of the ashes, dimly, like personsin a vision of death. There was silence. Then the necromancer spokeagain, and now his voice was louder. He seemed to utter weirdinvocations, but they were in a tongue that the others knew not. Andwhile he spoke the light from the burning cinders on a sudden went out.It did not die, but was sharply extinguished, as though by invisiblehands. And now the darkness was more sombre than that of the blackestnight. The trees that surrounded them were hidden from their eyes, andthe whiteness of the stone bench was seen no longer. They stood but alittle way one from the other, but each might have stood alone. Susiestrained her eyes, but she could see nothing. She looked up quickly;the stars were gone out, and she could see no further over her head thanround about. The darkness was terrifying. And from it, Dr Porhoet's voicehad a ghastly effect. It seemed to come, wonderfully changed, from thevoid of bottomless chaos. Susie clenched her hands so that she might notfaint.All at once she started, for the old man's voice was cut by a sudden gustof wind. A moment before, the utter silence had been almost intolerable,and now a storm seemed to have fallen upon them. The trees all aroundthem rocked in the wind; they heard the branches creak; and they heardthe hissing of the leaves. They were in the midst of a hurricane. Andthey felt the earth sway as it resisted the straining roots of greattrees, which seemed to be dragged up by the force of the furious gale.Whistling and roaring, the wind stormed all about them, and the doctor,raising his voice, tried in vain to command it. But the strangest thingof all was that, where they stood, there was no sign of the raging blast.The air immediately about them was as still as it had been before, andnot a hair on Susie's head was moved. And it was terrible to hear thetumult, and yet to be in a calm that was almost unnatural.On a sudden, Dr Porhoet raised his voice, and with a sternness they hadnever heard in it before, cried out in that unknown language. Then hecalled upon Margaret. He called her name three times. In the uproar Susiecould scarcely hear. Terror had seized her again, but in her confusionshe remembered his command, and she dared not move.'Margaret, Margaret, Margaret.'Without a pause between, as quickly as a stone falls to the ground, thedin which was all about them ceased. There was no gradual diminution. Butat one moment there was a roaring hurricane and at the next a silence socomplete that it might have been the silence of death.And then, seeming to come out of nothingness, extraordinarily, they heardwith a curious distinctness the sound of a woman weeping. Susie's heartstood still. They heard the sound of a woman weeping, and they recognizedthe voice of Margaret. A groan of anguish burst from Arthur's lips, andhe was on the point of starting forward. But quickly Dr Porhoet put outhis hand to prevent him. The sound was heartrending, the sobbing of awoman who had lost all hope, the sobbing of a woman terrified. If Susiehad been able to stir, she would have put her hands to her ears to shutout the ghastly agony of it.And in a moment, notwithstanding the heavy darkness of the starlessnight, Arthur saw her. She was seated on the stone bench as when last hehad spoken with her. In her anguish she sought not to hide her face. Shelooked at the ground, and the tears fell down her cheeks. Her bosomheaved with the pain of her weeping.Then Arthur knew that all his suspicions were justified.