The Jewel of Seven Stars, Bram Stoker [books to read for self improvement txt] 📗

so much of my affairs already, that I take it he must

either let matters stop where they are and go away in silence, or else

he must know more. Margaret! are you willing to let Mr. Ross see your

wrist?”

 

She threw one swift look of appeal in his eyes; but even as she did so

she seemed to make up her mind. Without a word she raised her right

hand, so that the bracelet of spreading wings which covered the wrist

fell 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 hang red

stains like drops of blood!

 

She stood there, a veritable figure of patient pride.

 

Oh! but she looked proud! Through all her sweetness, all her dignity,

all her high-souled negation of self which I had known, and which never

seemed more marked than now—through all the fire that seemed to shine

from the dark depths of her eyes into my very soul, pride shone

conspicuously. The pride that has faith; the pride that is born 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 all high things.

As we stood thus for some seconds, the deep, grave voice of her father

seemed to sound a challenge in my ears:

 

“What do you say now?”

 

My answer was not in words. I caught Margaret’s right hand in mine as

it fell, and, holding it tight, whilst with the other I pushed back the

golden cincture, stooped and kissed the wrist. As I looked up at her,

but never letting go her hand, there was a look of joy on her face such

as I dream of when I think of heaven. Then I faced her father.

 

“You have my answer, sir!” His strong face looked gravely sweet. He

only said one word as he laid his hand on our clasped ones, whilst he

bent over and kissed his daughter:

 

“Good!”

 

We were interrupted by a knock at the door. In answer to an impatient

“Come in!” from Mr. Trelawny, Mr. Corbeck entered. When he saw us

grouped he would have drawn back; but in an instant Mr. Trelawny had

sprung forth and dragged him forward. As he shook him by both hands, he

seemed a transformed man. All the enthusiasm of his youth, of which Mr.

Corbeck had told us, seemed to have come back to him in an instant.

 

“So you have got the lamps!” he almost shouted. “My reasoning was right

after all. Come to the library, where we will be alone, and tell me 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 that I may

have a look at the lamps!”

 

Then the three of them, the daughter lovingly holding her father’s arm,

went into the library, whilst I hurried off to Chancery Lane.

 

When I returned with the key, I found them still engaged in the

narrative; but Doctor Winchester, who had arrived soon after I left, was

with them. Mr. Trelawny, on hearing from Margaret of his great

attention and kindness, and how he had, under much pressure to the

contrary, steadfastly obeyed his written wishes, had asked him to remain

and listen. “It will interest you, perhaps,” he said, “to learn 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 bed early.

We may have much to talk about tomorrow; and tonight I want to think.”

 

Doctor Winchester went away, taking, with a courteous forethought, Mr.

Corbeck with him, and leaving me behind. When the others had gone Mr.

Trelawny said:

 

“I think it will be well if you, too, will go home for tonight. I want

to be quite alone with my daughter; there are many things I wish to

speak of to her, and to her alone. Perhaps, even tomorrow, I will be

able to tell you also of them; but in the meantime there will be less

distraction to us both if we are alone in the house.” I quite

understood and sympathised with his feelings; but the experiences of the

last 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 surprise

Margaret interrupted me:

 

“There will be no danger, Malcolm. I shall be with Father!” As she

spoke she clung to him in a protective way. I said no more, but stood

up 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 room

quietly, 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 lips

met for the first time.

 

I did not sleep much that night. Happiness on the one side of my bed

and Anxiety on the other kept sleep away. But if I had anxious care, I

had 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, not

stealing as is its wont.

 

Before nine o’clock I was at Kensington. All anxiety seemed to float

away like a cloud as I met Margaret, and saw that already the pallor of

her face had given to the rich bloom which I knew. She told me that her

father had slept well, and that he would be with us soon.

 

“I do believe,” she whispered, “that my dear and thoughtful Father has

kept back on purpose, so that I might meet you first, and alone!”

 

After breakfast Mr. Trelawny took us into the study, saying as he passed

in:

 

“I have asked Margaret to come too.” When we were seated, he said

gravely:

 

“I told you last night that we might have something to say to each

other. I dare say that you may have thought that it was about Margaret

and 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 wrung it, and had

kissed Margaret, who drew her chair close to mine, so that we could hold

hands as we listened, he went on, but with a certain hesitation—it could

hardly be called nervousness—which was new to me.

 

“You know a good deal of my hunt after this mummy and her belongings;

and I dare say you have guessed a good deal of my theories. But these

at any rate I shall explain later, concisely and categorically, if it be

necessary. What I want to consult you about now is this: Margaret and

I disagree on one point. I am about to make an experiment; the

experiment which is to crown all that I have devoted twenty years of

research, and danger, and labour to prepare for. Through it we may

learn things that have been hidden from the eyes and the knowledge of

men for centuries; for scores of centuries. I do not want my daughter

to be present; for I cannot blind myself to the fact that there may be

danger in it—great danger, and of an unknown kind. I have, however,

already faced very great dangers, and of an unknown kind; and so has

that brave scholar who has helped me in the work. As to myself, I am

willing to run any risk. For science, and history, and philosophy may

benefit; and we may turn one old page of a wisdom unknown in this

prosaic age. But for my daughter to run such a risk I am 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 do not 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. In an

instant Margaret was beside him, clasping him close, and kissing him,

and comforting him with loving words. Then, standing erect, with one

hand on his head, she said:

 

“Father! mother did not bid you stay beside her, even when you wanted to

go on that journey of unknown danger to Egypt; though that country was

then upset from end to end with war and the dangers that follow war.

You have told me how she left you free to go as you wished; though that

she thought of danger for you and and feared it for you, is proved by

this!” She held up her wrist with the scar that seemed to run blood.

“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 trust me

in danger as well as in joy. You and I must stand beside Father in this

unknown peril. Together we shall come through it; or together we shall

fail; together we shall die. That is my wish; my first wish to my

husband that is to be! Do you not 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 and

grew. I stood up beside her; and took her hand and said:

 

“Mr. Trelawny! in this Margaret and I are one!”

 

He took both our hands and held them hard. Presently he said with deep

emotion:

 

“It is as her mother would have done!”

 

Mr. Corbeck and Doctor Winchester came exactly at the time appointed,

and joined us in the library. Despite my great happiness I felt our

meeting to be a very solemn function. For I could never forget the

strange things that had been; and the idea of the strange things which

might be, was with me like a cloud, pressing down on us all. From the

gravity of my companions I gathered that each of them also was ruled by

some such dominating thought.

 

Instinctively we gathered our chairs into a circle round Mr. Trelawny,

who had taken the great armchair near the window. Margaret sat by him

on his right, and I was next to her. Mr. Corbeck was on his left, with

Doctor Winchester on the other side. After a few seconds of silence Mr.

Trelawny said to Mr. Corbeck:

 

“You have told Doctor 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 have

followed the matter for years, wish to share in the experiment which we

hope to make?” His answer was direct and uncompromising:

 

“Certainly! Why, when this matter was fresh to me, I offered to go on

with it to the end. Now that it is of such strange interest, I would

not miss it for anything which you could name. Be quite easy in your

mind, 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