uke's next question was cut short by Rex, who could stand
the  strain no longer. He did not know that De Richleau was only
conversing  with Tanith's astral body and thought  that  he  had
succeeded in restoring the corpse which lay behind him, at least
to temporary lif e again.
  'Tanith,'  he cried, breaking the circle and flinging  himself
round. Tanith!'
  In  a  fraction  of  time  the vision  disintegrated  and  dis
appeared. His eyes blazing with anger, De Richleau sprang to his
feet.
  'You fool!' he thundered. 'You stupid fool.' In the pale light
of dawn which was now at last just filtering through the fog, he
glared  at  Rex. Then, as they stood there, angry recriminations
about to burst from their lips, the whole party were arrested in
their every movement and remained transfixed.
  A  shrill,  clear  cry had cut like a knife  into  the  heavy,
incense-laden atmosphere, coming from the room above.
  'That's Fleur,' gasped Marie Lou. 'My precious, what is it?'
  In  an  instant, she was dashing across the room to the little
door  in  the bookshelves which led to the staircase up to  -the
nursery. Yet Richard was before her.
  In two bounds he had reached the door and was fumbling for the
catch.  His trembling fingers found it. He gave a violent  jerk.
The  little metal ring which served to open it came away in  his
hand.
  Precious moments were lost as they clawed at the bookbacks. At
last  it  swung free. Richard pushed Marie Lou through ahead  of
him and followed, pressing at her heels. The others stumbled  up
the old stone stairs in frantic haste behind them.
  They reached the night nursery. Rex ran to the window. It  was
wide open. The grey mist blanketed the garden outside. Marie Lou
dashed  to  the cot. The sheets were tumbled. The imprint  of  a
little body lay there fresh and warm-but Fleur was gone.


                               29

                     Simon Aron Takes a View

  'Here's the way they went,' cried Rex. 'There's a ladder under
this window.'
  'Then  for God's sake get after him,' Richard shouted,  racing
across  the  room.  'If that damn door hadn't  stuck  we'd  have
caught him red-handed-he can't have got far.'
  Rex  was already on the terrace below, Simon shinned down  the
ladder and Richard flung his leg over the sill of the window  to
follow.
  Marie Lou was left alone with De Richleau in the nursery.  She
stared  at  him with round, tearless eyes, utterly  overcome  by
this  new  calamity. The Duke stared back, shaken  to  the  very
depths  by  this appalling thing which he had brought  upon  his
friends. He wanted most desperately to comfort and console  her,
but  realised how hopelessly inadequate anything that  he  could
say  would  be. The thought of that child having been seized  by
the  Satanist  to be offered up in some ghastly  sacrifice,  was
utterly unbearable.
  'Princess,'  he  managed to stammer, 'Princess.'  But  further
words  would not come, and for once in his life he found himself
powerless to deal with a situation.
  Marie  Lou just stood there motionless and staring, held rigid
by  such  extreme  distress  that  she  could  no  longer  think
coherently.
  With  a tremendous effort De Richleau pulled himself together.
He  knew  that he had earned any opprobrium that she and Richard
might choose to heap upon him for having used their house  as  a
refuge,  stated that no harm could befall them if they  followed
his  instructions, and yet been the means of perhaps causing the
death  of the child whom they both idolised. But it was no  time
to  offer himself for the whipping-post now. They must  act  and
quickly.
  'Where is nurse?' he shot out hoarsely.
  'In-in her bedroom.' Marie Lou turned to a door at the end  of
the room which stood ajar.
  'It's  extraordinary that she should not have woken  with  all
this noise,' De Richleau strode over and thrust it open.
  In  Fleur's  nursery a greyness blurred the  outlines  of  the
furniture  and  shadowed the corners of the  room,  but  in  the
nurse's  bedroom,  the curtains being drawn, it  was  still  com
pletely dark.
  The  Duke  jerked on the electric light and saw at  once  that
Fleur's  nannie  was lying peacefully asleep in bed.  He  walked
over  and  touched her swiftly on the shoulder.  'Wake  up,'  he
said, 'wake up!'
  She did not stir, and Marie Lou, who had followed him into the
room,  peered  at the woman's face anxiously, then  cried  on  a
louder note: 'Wake up, nannie! Wake up!'
  De  Richleau shook the nurse roughly now, but her head  rolled
helplessly  upon  her  shoulders and her eyes  remained  tightly
shut.
  'She's been drugged, I suppose,' Marie Lou said miserably.
  'I  don't think so.' The Duke bent over and sniffed. 'There is
no  smell of chloroform or anything here. It's more likely  that
Mocata  plunged  her  into  a deep hypnotic  sleep  directly  he
arrived. Best leave her,' he added after a moment. 'She'll  wake
in  due course, and obviously she cannot tell us anything if she
has been in a heavy induced sleep all the time.'
  They  returned  to the nursery and the Duke  switched  on  the
lights there to make a thorough examination. Almost at once  his
eye  fell on a paper which lay at the foot of Fleur's empty cot.
He  snatched  it  up and quickly scanned the close,  typewritten
lines.
  Please  do  not  worry  about the little  girl.  She  will  be
returned   to  you  tomorrow  morning  providing  that   certain
conditions are complied with. These are as follows:
  In  this  exceptional case I have been compelled to resort  to
unusual  methods which bring me within the scope of the  law.  I
have  no  doubt, therefore, that one of you will suggest calling
in  the  police  to  trace  the child.  Any  such  action  might
embarrass  my  operations and therefore  you  are  not  to  even
consider such a proceeding. You cannot doubt by now that I  have
ways  and  means of informing myself regarding all your  actions
and,  in  the  event  of your disobeying my injunction  in  this
respect,  I shall immediately take steps which will ensure  that
you never recover the child alive.
  My failure last night was regrettable, since it has caused the
death  of  a  young  woman  recently  discovered  by  me  as  an
exceptional medium, for whom I might have had some further  use.
Mr. Van Ryn removed her body while I slept and it is now in your
keeping; I am anxious that every care should be taken of it. You
will  leave the body just as it is in your library until further
instructions  and  refrain  from  taking  any  steps  towards  a
coroner's examination or its burial. If you disobey me  in  this
matter, I shall command certain forces at my disposal, of  which
Monsieur Le Duc de Richleau may be able to inform you,  to  take
possession of it.
  All  of  you will confine yourselves in the libary during  the
coming  day, giving such reasons as you choose to your  servants
that you are not to be disturbed.
  Lastly,  my  friend Simon Aron is to rejoin  me  for  the  con
tinuance of those experiments in which we are engaged.  He  will
leave  the  house alone at mid-day and proceed on  foot  to  the
cross-roads  which  lie a mile and a half to the  south-west  of
Cardinals  Folly, where I shall arrange for him to be  met  and,
having  surrendered himself to my representative, he must  agree
to  give  me  his  willing co-operation in the ritual  to  Satan
tonight,  which is necessary for the rediscovery of the Talisman
of Set.
  If  any  of  these injunctions are disregarded  in  the  least
degree,  you  already know the penalty, but if they are  carried
out  to  my entire satisfaction, Simon Aron shall return to  you
sane  and well after I have carried out my operations,  and  the
child  shall  be  restored as innocent  and  happy  as  she  was
yesterday.
  Marie Lou read the document over De Richleau's shoulder.
  'Oh, what are we to do?' she wailed, wringing her hands to-
  gether.  'Greyeyes, this is too awful. What are  we  going  to
do?'
  'God  knows,' De Richleau muttered miserably. 'He has the whip
hand of us now with a vengeance. The devil of it is that I don't
trust  his promise to return the child even if Simon is game  to
sacrifice himself.'
  At  that  moment Simon's head appeared above the window  sill,
and he scrambled up the last rungs of the ladder into the room.
  'Well!' the Duke shot at him, but Simon shook his head.
  "The  three  of  us have been round the grounds  but  in  this
filthy  fog it's impossible to see any distance. He's got  clean
away by now.'
  'I feared as much,' the Duke murmured despondently, and with a
new  access  of miserable unhappiness, he watched Richard  climb
into the room.
  'Not a trace,' Richard exclaimed hoarsely. 'No footmarks, even
on the flower beds, to show which way he went. Where the hell is
nurse? I'll sack the woman for her damned incompetence, With her
door  ajar, there's no excuse for her not having heard Flew  cry
out.'
  'It was not her fault,' said De Richleau mildly. 'Mocata threw
her  into a deep sleep and she is sleeping still. Until the time
he has set it will be impossible to rouse her.'
  Rex followed the others through the window, muttering angrily:
'This  filthy mist! A dozen toughs might be racketing round  the
garden, but we'd never get a sight of them. Is it supposed to be
daylight yet, or isn't it?'
  Simon  glanced  at  the  clock  on  the  nursery  mantelpiece.
'According  to  this it's only ten to five. Surely  it  must  be
later than that.'
  'It's stopped,' announced Richard, 'but it can't be much after
half  past six, or the servants would be getting up, and when  I
ran  round  the  far side of the house just now, there  were  no
lights in their windows.'
  'All  the  better,' said the Duke abruptly. 'Mocata's  left  a
letter, Richard, with certain instructions which he orders us to
carry out if Fleur is tp remain unharmed.'
  'Let's see it.' Richard held out his hand.
  De  Richleau  hesitated. 'I'd rather you read it when  we  are
downstairs again, if you don't mind. It doesn't help us for  the
present  and  there are certain things which  we  should  do  at
once-before the servants start moving about.'
  'Good  Lord, man! I mean to have the lot of them  out  oŁ  bed
inside ten minutes. We shall need their help.'
  'I wish, instead, that while I connect the telephone again and
see  if I can find out anything from the inn, you would write  a
brief  note  to Malm saying that our experiments  are  still  in
progress and that we are to be left undisturbed in this wing  of
the house for the whole day.'
  'If you think I'm going to stay here twiddling my thumbs while
Fleur's in danger-you're crazy!' cried Richard indignantly.
  The Duke knew that his suggestion of continued inactivity must
make  his apparent negligence seem even worse, but he had  never
yet  been  known to lose his head in a crisis and he managed  to
keep his voice quiet and even.
  'I  would like you to see this letter first and talk  it  over
with  Marie  Lou before you do anything reckless.  In  any  case
Tanith's body is still downstairs. It must remain there for  the
moment  and that is quite sufficient reason for the servants  to
be  kept  away  from  the library. You, Rex,  go  along  to  the
kitchen, take Simon with you, and between you bring us back  the
best  cold  meal  that you can muster. We're half  starved,  and
fasting  has  its limits of usefulness, even in an  affair  like
this.'
  Marie Lou stood there listening to the argument. She could not
really  believe that this awful thing had actually  happened  to
her.  If  she  had lost Fleur she would die. Even Richard  would
never  be able to console her. It simply could not be true.  The
four  men were phantoms-talking-, yet she could see every object
in the room with a curious supernormal clarity. Strange that she
had  never noticed one handle on the old walnut chest of drawers
to  be  odd  before, or that one of the wires in  the  fireguard
protruded a little. Fleur might cut herself if she fell  against
it.  She  must tell nannie to have it seen to tomorrow. Yet  all
the  time these thoughts were drifting through her mind she  was
conscious  of what the others were saying and of an urgent  need
to   comfort  De  Richleau.  Her  poor  'Greyeyes'  was  feeling
desperately  unhappy,  she  knew,  and  held  himself   entirely
responsible  for the terrible thing which could not possibly  be
true.  When he mentioned breakfast she said at once: 'I will  go
down and cook you some eggs or something.'
  'No,  no, my dear,' De Richleau looked round and then  lowered
his eyes quickly, his heart wrung at the sight of her dead-white
face.  'Please  go down to the library and read this  letter  of
Mocata's  through again quietly with Richard. Then you can  talk
it over together and will have made up your minds what you think
best by the time the rest of us get back.'
  Richard gave in to the Duke's wishes for the moment. They  all
descended  to the ground floor again and, when the  other  three
had gone off to the kitchen quarters, he remained with Marie Lou
and read Mocata's letter quickly.
  As  he  finished he looked up at her in miserable  indecision.
'My poor sweet. This is ghastly for you.'
  'It's  just  as bad for you,' she said softly.  Then,  with  a
little  cry,  she flung her arms round his neck.  'Oh,  Richard,
darling, what are we to do? '
  'Dearest.' He hugged her to him, soothing her gently  as  best
he  could  now that the storm had broken. Her small body  heaved
with  desperate sobbing, while great tears ran down her  cheeks,
falling in large, damp splashes upon his hands and neck.
  As  he  held  her, murmuring little phrases of endearment  and
optimistic  comfort, he thought her weeping would  never  cease.
Her  body trembled as it was swept with terrible emotion at  the
loss of her cherished Fleur.
  'Marie  Lou,  my angel,' he whispered softly,  'try  and  pull
yourself together, do, or else you'll have me breaking  down  as
well  in a minute. No harm can have happened to her yet, and  it
isn't  likely to until tonight at the earliest. Even then, he'll
think  twice  before  he carries out his  threat.  Only  a  fool
destroys  his  hostage to spite his enemy. Mocata may  be  every
sort  of  rogue, but he's a civilised one at least, so he  won't
maltreat her in any way, you can be sure of that, and if we only
play  our cards properly, we'll get her back before it comes  to
any question of his carrying out this appalling threat.'
  'But  what  can  we do, Richard? What can we do?'  she  cried,
looking at him wildly from large, tear-dimmed eyes.
  'Get  after  him  the  second the others come  back,'  Richard
declared promptly. 'He's human, isn't he? He had to use a ladder
to  get up to the nursery just like any other thug. If we act at
once we'll have him under lock and key by nightfall.'
  De Richleau's quiet voice broke in from behind them, 'You have
decided, then, to call in the police?'
  'Of  course.' Richard turned to stare at him. 'This is totally
different  from last night's affair. It is a case of kidnapping,
pure  and simple, and I'm going to pull every gun I know to  get
the police of the whole country after him in the next half hour.
If  you've  reconnected that line, I'll get straight through  to
Scotland Yard-now.'
  'Yes, the telephone is all right. I've been through to the inn
and  had  old  Wilkes out of bed. He remembers  Rex  and  Tanith
dining  there last night, of course, but when I described Mocata
to  him,  he  said  he hadn't seen anyone who  answers  to  that
description there at all, either yesterday or this morning. Have
you written that letter for the servants?'
  'Not yet. I will.' Richard left the library just as Simon  and
Rex  came in, carrying a collection of plates and dishes on  two
trays,  prominent upon which were a large China teapot  and  the
half of a York ham.
  'Please don't phone Scotland Yard just yet,' Marie Lou  called
after  Richard. 'I simply must talk to you again before we  burn
our boats.'
  'The  Duke  gave  her  a  sharp glance  from  under  his  grey
eyebrows. 'You are not then in favour of calling in the police?'
  'I  don't  know what to do,' she confessed miserably. 'Richard
is so sane and practical that I suppose he's right, but you read
the  letter and I should never forgive myself if our calling  in
the police forced Mocata's hand. Do you-do you really think that
he has the power to find out if we go against his instructions?'
  De  Richleau  nodded. 'I'm afraid so. But Simon can  tell  you
more of his capabilities in that direction than I can.'
  Simon  and  Rex  had  put down their trays  and  were  reading
Mocata's letter together. The former looked up swiftly.
  'Um.  He can see things when he wants to in that mirror I told
you  of,  and  once  he gets to London he'll  have  half-a-dozen
mediums  that he can throw into a trance to pick us up. It  will
be  child's play for a man of his powers to find out if we leave
this room.'
  'That's my view,' the Duke agreed. 'And if we once turn to the
police,  we  have either to go to them or else bring them  here.
Telephoning  won't be sufficient. They will want photographs  of
Fleur  and to question every one concerned, so Mocata  stands  a
pretty good chance of seeing us in conference with them,  if  he
keeps  us  under psychic observation, whichever way  we  set  to
work.'
  'We  should  be mad to even think of it,' said Simon  jerkily.
'It's pretty useless for me to say I'm sorry, but I brought this
whole trouble on you all and there's only one thing to do,  that
obvious.'
  'For us to sit here like a lot of dummies while you go off  to
give yourself up at twelve o'clock, I suppose?' Richard, who had
just rejoined them, cut in acidly.
  'I   have  been  expecting  that,  knowing  Simon,'  the  Duke
observed.  'Terrible as the consequences  may  be  for  him  and
although  the  idea  of surrender makes my  blood  boil  I  must
confess that I think he's right, with certain modifications!
  'Oh,   isn't  there  some  other  way?'  Marie  Lou  exclaimed
desperately,  catching at Simon's hand.  'It's  too  awful  that
because  of  our own trouble we-should even talk of  sacrificing
you.'
  One  of  those rare smiles that made him such a lovable person
lit  Simon's face. 'Ner,' he said softly, 'it's been  my  muddle
from  the beginning. I'm terribly grateful to you all for trying
to  get me out of it, but Mocata's been too much for us,  and  I
must throw my hand in now. It's the only thing to do.'
  'It  is  my damned incompetence which has let us in for this,'
grunted  the Duke. 'I deserve to take your place, Simon,  and  I
would-you know that-if it were the least use. The devil of it is
that it's you he wants, not me.'
  Rex  had been cutting thin slices from the ham and pouring out
the  tea.  Richard  took a welcome cup of his  favourite  Orange
Pekoe from him and said firmly:
  'Stop talking nonsense, for God's sake I Neither of you is  to
blame.  After what we've all been through together in  the  past
you  did quite rightly to come here. Who should we look  to  for
help  in'times of trouble if not each other? If I was in a  real
tight corner I shouldn't hesitate to involve either of you-and I
know  that Marie Lou feels the same. This blow couldn't possibly
have  been  foreseen by anyone. It was just- well,  call  it  an
accident, and the responsibility for protecting Fleur  was  ours
every  bit as much as yours. Now let's get down to what we  mean
to do.'
  'That's  decent of you, Richard.' De Richleau tried to  smile,
knowing  what it must have cost his friend to ease their feeling
of guilt when he must be so desperately anxious about his child.
  'Damned decent,' Simon echoed. 'But all the same I'm going  to
keep  the  appointment Mocata's made for me. It's the only  hope
we've got.'
  Richard stuck out his chin. 'You're not, old chap. You  placed
yourself  in my hands by coming to rny house, and I  won't  have
it. The business we went through last night scared me as much as
anyone, I admit it; but because Greyeyes has proved right  about
Satanic  manifestations, there is no reason for you all to  lose
your sense of proportion about what the evil powers can do. They
have  their  limitations,  just  like  anything  else.  Greyeyes
admitted  last night that they were based on natural  laws,  and
this  swine's gone outside them. He's operating now  in  country
that is strange to him. He confesses as much in his letter.  You
can  see  he is scared of calling in the police, and that's  the
very  way  we're going to get him. You people seem to have  lost
your nerve.'
  'No,' the Duke said sadly. 'I haven't lost my nerve, but  look
at  it if you like on the basis which you suggest, Richard- that
this is a perfectly normal kidnapping. Say Fleur were being held
to  ransom by a group of unscrupulous gangsters, such as operate
in  the States, the gang being in a position to to know what  is
going  on  in your house. They have threatened to kill Fleur  if
you  bring  the  police into the business.  Now,  would  you  be
prepared to risk that in such circumstances?'
  'No, I should pay up, as most wretched parents seem to, on the
off-chance  that the gang gave me a square deal and  I  got  the
child  back unharmed. But this is different. I'll stake my  oath
that  Mocata  means to double-cross us anyhow. If it  were  only
Simon  that he wanted he might be prepared to let us have  Fleur
back  in  exchange. You seem to forget what Tanith told you.  He
doesn't know that we know his intentions, but she was absolutely
definite  on three points. One, he means to do his damnedest  to
bring her back. Two, he will fail unless he makes the attempt in
the  next few days. Three, the only way that can be done  is  by
performing  a  full  Black Mass, including the  sacrifice  of  a
baptised  child. Kidnappings take time to plan  in  a  civilised
country  unless  you want the police on your track.  Mocata  has
succeeded  in  one  where he thinks there is a  fair  chance  of
keeping  the police out of it, and no one in their senses  could
suggest  that  he's the sort of man who would run  the  risk  of
doing another just for the joy of keeping his word with us. It's
as  clear as daylight that he is using Fleur as bait to get hold
of  Simon and then he'll do us down by killing the child in  the
end.'
  De Richleau slit open a roll and slipped a slice of ham inside
it. 'Well,' he said as he began to trim the ragged edges neatly,
'it  is for you and Marie Lou to decide. The prospect of sitting
in  this  room for hours on end doing nothing is about the  grim
mest I've ever had to face in a pretty crowded lifetime. I would
give most things I really value for a chance to have another cut
at him. The only thing that deters me for one moment is the risk
to Fleur.'
  'I  know  that well enough,' Richard acknowledged, 'but  I  am
convinced our only chance of seeing her alive again is  to  call
in  the  police,  and  trust  to running  him  to  earth  before
nightfall.'
  'I  wouldn't,'  Simon  shook his head, 'I  wouldn't  honestly,
Richard. He's certain to find out if we take steps against  him.
We shall waste hours here being questioned by the local bigwigs,
and it's a hundred to one against their being able to corner him
in  a  single day. Fleur is safe for the moment-for  God's  sake
don't  make things worse than they are. I know the man and  he's
as  heartless as a snake. It's signing Fleur's death warrant  to
try and tackle him like this.'
  Marie Lou listened to these conflicting arguments in miserable
indecision. She was torn violently from side to side by each  in
turn.  Simon spoke with such absolute conviction that it  seemed
certain  Richard's suggested intervention would precipitate  her
child's death, and yet she felt, too, how right Richard  was  in
his  belief  that Mocata was certain to double-cross  them,  and
having  trapped them into surrendering Simon, retain  Fleur  for
this  abominable sacrifice which Tanith had told them he was  so
anxious  to  make. The horns of the dilemma seemed to  join  and
form  a  vicious circle which went round and round in her aching
head.
  The  others  fell  silent and Richard looked  across  at  her.
'Well, dearest, which is it to be?'
  'Oh, I don't know,' she moaned. 'Both sides seem right and yet
the risk is so appalling either way.'
  He  laid his hand gently on her hair. 'It's beastly having  to
make  such  a decision, and if we were alone in this I  wouldn't
dream  of  asking you. I'd do what I thought best myself  unless
you were dead against it, but as the others disagree with me  so
strongly what can I do but ask you to decide?'
  Wringing  her  hands  together in agonised  distress  at  this
horrible  problem  with which she was faced,  Marie  Lou  looked
desperately from side to side, then her glance fell on  Rex.  He
was sitting hunched up in a dejected attitude on the far side of
Tanith's  body, his eyes fixed in hopeless misery  on  the  dead
girl's face.
  'Rex,'  she  said hoarsely, 'you haven't said what  you  think
yet. Both these alternatives seem equally ghastly to me. What do
you advise?'
  'Eh?'  He looked up quickly 'It's mighty difficult and  I  was
just  trying  to  figure it out. I hate  the  thought  of  doing
nothing,  waiting about when you've got a packet of  trouble  is
just real hell to me, and I'd like to get after this bird with a
gun. But Simon's so certain that if we did it would be fatal  to
Fleur,  and I guess the Duke thinks that way to. They both  know
him, you must remember, and Richard doesn't, which is a point to
them,  but  I've got a hunch that we are barking  up  the  wrong
tree,  and  that  this  is a case for what  Greyeyes  calls  his
masterly policy of inactivity. The old game of giving the  enemy
enough rope so he'll hang himself in the end.
  'Any sort of compromise is all against my nature, but I reckon
it's  the only policy that offers now. If we stay put here  and-
carry out Mocata's instructions to the letter, we'll at least be
satisfied in our minds that we are not bringing any fresh danger
on  Fleur.  But let's go that far and no farther.  We  all  know
Simon is willing enough to cash in his checks, but I don't think
we ought to let him. Instead, we'll keep him here. That is going
to  force Mocata to scratch his head a whole heap. He'll not  do
Fleur  in before he's had another cut at getting hold of  Simon,
so  it will be up to him to make the next move in the game,  and
that  may give us a fresh opening. The situation can't be  worse
than it is at present, and when he shows his hand again, given a
spot of luck, we might be able to ring the changes on him yet.'
  De Richleau smiled, for the first time in days, it seemed. 'My
friend, I salute you,' he said, with real feeling in his  voice.
'I  am  growing old, I think, or I should have thought  of  that
myself.  It is by far and away the most sensible thing that  any
of us have suggested yet.'
  With  a  sigh  of relief, Marie Lou moved over  and,  stooping
down, kissed Rex on the cheek. 'Rex, darling, bless you. In  our
trouble  we've  been forgetting yours, and it is very  wonderful
that  you  should have thought of a real way out for us  in  the
midst  of  your  sorrow. I dreaded having to make that  decision
just  now  more than anything that I have had to do in my  whole
life.'
  He  smiled  rather wanly. "That's all right, darling.  There's
nothing so mighty clever about it, but it gives us time, and you
must try and comfort yourself with the thought that time and the
angels are on our side.'
  Even  Richard's  frantic  anxiety to set  out  immediately  in
search  of his Fleur d'amour was overcome for the time being  by
Rex's so obviously sensible suggestion. In his agitation he  had
eaten  nothing yet, but now he sat down to cut some  sandwiches,
and  set about persuading Marie Lou that she must eat the  first
of them in order to keep up her strength. Then he looked over at
the Duke.
  'I  left  that  note for Malin where he's  bound  to  see  it-
slipped  it  under his bedroom door, so we shan't  be  disturbed
here. Is there anything at all that we can do?'
  'Nothing, I fear, only possess ourselves with such patience as
we  can,  but  we're all at about the end of our tether,  so  we
ought to try and get some sleep. If Mocata makes some fresh move
this  evening  it's on the cards that we shall be up  again  all
night.'
  'I'll  get  some  cushions,'  Simon  volunteered.  'I  suppose
there's no harm in bringing used articles into this room now?'
  'None. You had better collect all the stuff you can and  we'll
make up some temporary beds on the floor.'
  Simon,  Richard  and  Rex left the room  and  returned  a  few
moments later with piles of cushions and all the rugs that  they
could find. They placed some fresh logs on the smouldering ashes
of the fire and then set about laying out five makeshift resting-
places.
  When they had finished, Marie Leu allowed Richard to lead  her
over  to  one  of them and tuck her up, although  she  protested
that,  exhausted  though she was, she would  never  be  able  to
sleep.  The  rest  lay down, and then Richard switched  out  the
light.
  Full  day had come at last, but it was of little use, for  the
range  of  vision was limited to about fifteen yards.  The  mist
outside the windows seemed, if anything, denser than before, and
it  swirled and eddied in curling wreaths above the damp  stones
of  the  terrace,  muffling the noises of  the  countryside  and
shutting out the light.
  None  of  them  felt that they would be able to  sleep.  Rex's
gnawing  sorrow  for Tanith preyed upon his  mind.  The  others,
racked  with  anxiety  for Fleur, turned restlessly  upon  their
cushions.  Every now and then they heard Marie Lou give  way  to
fits  of sobbing as though her heart would break. But the stress
of  those terrible night hours and the emotions they had  passed
through since had exhausted them completely. Marie Lou's  bursts
of  sobbing became quieter and then ceased. Richard fell into an
uneasy  doze. De Richleau and Rex breathed evenly, sunk at  last
in a heavy sleep.
  Hours  later Marie Lou was dreaming that she was seated in  an
ancient library reading a big, old-fashioned book, the cover  of
which  was  soft and hairy like a wolf's skin, and that  as  she
read  it  a  circle of iron was bound about her head.  Then  the
scene changed. She was in the pentacle again, and that loathsome
sack-like Thing was attacking Fleur. She awoke -started up  with
a sudden scream of fear.
  Her  waking  was little better than the nightmare when  memory
flooded  back  into her mind. Yet that too and the present  only
seemed  other  phases  of the frightful dream;  the  comfortable
library  denuded of its furniture; Tanith's dead body  lying  in
the  centre of the floor and the dimness of the room from  those
horrible  fog  banks shutting out the sunshine. They  could  not
possibly be anything but figments of the imagination.
  The  men  had  roused at once, and crowded round her,  shadowy
figures in the uncertain light. De Richleau pressed the electric
switch.  They  blinked  a  little,  and  looked  at  each  other
sleepily,  then their eyes turned to the place where  Simon  had
lain. With one thought their glances shifted to the window and
  they  knew  that while they slept their friend had  gone  out,
into that ghostly unnatural night, to keep his grim appointment.


                               30

                        Out Into the Fog

  It  was  Rex  who  noticed the chalk marks on  the  floor.  He
stepped  over and saw that Simon, lacking pencil and paper,  had
used  these  means  to  leave them a short  message.  Slowly  he
deciphered the scribbled words and read them out:

          'Please don't fuss or try to come after me. This is my
          muddle,  so  am keeping appointment. Do as Mocata  has
          ordered.  Am  certain that is only  chance  of  saving
          Fleur.
                                      Love to all.       Simon.'

  'Aw,  Hell!'  exclaimed Rex as he finished. 'The  dear  heroic
little sap has gone and put paid to my big idea. Mocata has  got
him and Fleur now on top of having killed Tanith. If you ask  me
we're properly sunk.'
  De  Richleau groaned. 'It is just like him. We ought  to  have
guessed that he would do this.'
  'You're  right there,' Richard agreed sadly. 'I've  known  him
longer  than  any of you, and I did my damnedest to prevent  him
sacrificing  himself for nothing, but it seems to me  he's  only
done the very thing you said he should.'
  'That's  not quite fair,' the Duke protested mildly.  'I  only
said   I   thought  it  right  that  he  should   with   certain
modifications. I had it in my mind that we might follow him at a
distance. We should have arrived at the rendezvous before Mocata
could have known that we had left this place, and we might  have
pulled  something off. As it was, I thought Rex's idea  so  much
better that I abandoned mine.'
  'I'm  sorry,'  Richard  apologised huskily.  'But  Simon's  my
oldest friend you know, and this on top of all the rest…'
  'Do  you-do  you think the poor sweet is right, and  that  his
having  given  himself up will be of any use?'  whispered  Marie
Lou.
  Richard shrugged despondently. 'Not the least, dearest. I hate
to  seem ungracious, and you all know how devoted I am to  Simon
but  in his anxiety to do the right thing he's handed Mocata our
only decent card. We can sit here till Doomsday, but there's  no
chance  now of making any fresh move which might give us  a  new
opening.  We've  wasted the Lord knows how many precious  hours,
and  we're  in  a worse hole than we were before. I'm  going  to
carry out my original intention and get on to the police.'
  'I  wouldn't do that,' Rex caught him by the arm. 'It'll  only
mean our wasting further time in spilling long dispositions to a
bunch  of  cops, and you're all wrong about our not having  made
anything  on  the  new deal. We've had a sleep which  we  needed
mighty  badly,  and we've lulled Mocata into a  false  sense  of
security. Just because we've remained put here all morning  like
he  said and Simon's come over with the goods, he'll think  he's
sitting  pretty  now and maybe let up on his supervision  stunt.
Let's  cut  out  bothering with the police  and  get  after  him
ourselves this minute.'
  Marie  Lou  shivered slightly and then nodded. 'Rex is  right,
you  know.  Mocata  has got what he wants now,  so  it  is  very
unlikely  that he is troubling to keep us under observation  any
more, but how do you propose to try to find him?'
  'We will go straight to Paris,' De Richleau announced, with  a
display  of his old form. 'You remember Tanith told us  that  by
tonight he would be there holding a conversation with a man  who
had  lost  the upper portion of his left ear. That is Castelnau,
the  banker, I am certain, so the thing for us to do is to  make
for Paris and hunt him out.'
  'How do you figure on getting there?' asked the practical Rex.
  'By  plane, of course. Mocata is obviously travelling that way
or  he could never get there by tonight. Richard must take us in
his  four-seater,  and if Mocata has to motor  all  the  way  to
Croydon  before he can make a start, we'll be there before  him.
Is your plane hi commission, Richard?'
  'Yes,  the plane's all right. It's in the hangar at the bottom
of  the  meadow, and when I took her out three days ago she  was
running  perfectly.  I don't much like the  look  of  this  fog,
though, although, of course, it's probably only a ground mist.'
  They  all glanced out of the window again. The grey murk still
hung  over  the terrace, shutting out the view of the Botticelli
garden  where,  on  this early May morning, the  polyanthus  and
forget-me-nots and daffodils, shedding their green cocoons, were
bursting into colourful life.
  'Let's  go,'  said  Rex,  impatiently. 'De  Richleau's  right.
'You'd  best get some clothes on, then we'll beat it  for  Paris
the second you're fit.'
  The  rest followed him out into the hall and upstairs  to  the
rooms  above.  The house was silent and seemingly deserted.  The
servants  were obviously taking Richard's orders in  their  most
literal  sense  and, released for once from their  daily  tasks,
enjoying an unexpected holiday in their own quarters.
  Marie  Lou looked into the nursery and almost broke down again
for a moment as she once more saw the empty cot, but she hurried
past  it  to  the  nurse's bedroom and  found  the  woman  still
sleeping soundly.
  In  Richard's  dressing-room the men made hasty  preparations,
Rex  was clad in the easy lounge suit which he had put on in  De
Richleau's flat, but Richard and the Duke were still in pyjamas.
When they were dressed Richard fitted the others out as well  as
he  could with top clothes for their journey. The Duke was easy,
being  only  a  little taller than himself,  and  a  big  double
overcoat  was found for Rex, into which he managed  to  scramble
despite the breadth of his enormous shoulders. Marie Lou  joined
them  a  few  moments  later, clad in her breeches  and  leather
flying  coat,  which she always used whenever she went  up  with
Richard.
  Downstairs  again, they paused in the library to make  another
hurried meal. Then the door was locked, and after casting a last
unhappy  glance  at Tanith's body, which remained  unaltered  in
appearance, Rex led the way out on the terrace.
  They walked quickly down the gravel path beside the Botticelli
border,  the  sound  of  their footsteps  muffled  by  the  all-
pervading  mist-through Marie Lou's own garden,  with  its  long
herbaceous   borders,  and  past  the  old   sundial-round   the
quadrangles  of tessellated pavement which fell in a  succession
of  little  terraces to the pond garden, with its water  lilies,
and so to the meadow beyond.
  When they reached the hangar Richard and Rex ran out the plane
and  got  it in order for the flight. De Richleau stood watching
their  operations  with  Marie Lou  beside  him,  both  of  them
fretting  a  little at the necessary delay, since now  that  the
vital  decision  had been taken every member of  the  party  was
impatient to set out,
  They  settled  themselves in the comfortable four-seater.  Rex
swung  the propeller, well accustomed to the ways of aeroplanes,
and  the engine purred upon a low steady note. He watched it for
a  second, and then, as he scrambled aboard, there came the long
conventional cry: 'All set.'
  The  plane moved slowly forward into the dank mist. The hedges
and  trees  on either side were shut out by banks  of  fog,  but
Richard  knew  the  ground so well that  he  felt  confident  of
judging  his  distance and direction. He taxied  over  the  even
grass  of the long field, and turned to rise. The plane  lifted,
touched ground again gently twice, and they were off.
  As they left the earth a new feeling came over Richard. He was
passionately  fond  of  flying, and it always  filled  him  with
exhilaration,  but this was different. It was as though  he  had
suddenly  come out into the daylight after having  been  walking
down  a  long,  dark,  smoky tunnel  for  many  hours.  At  long
intervals there had been brightly lit recesses in the  sides  of
it  where  figures stood like tableaux at a waxworks  show.  The
slug-like  Thing  and Fleur; Rex standing  at  the  window  with
Tanith  in  his arms; Simon whispering something  to  the  Duke;
Marie Lou's face as she stood with her hand resting on the  rail
of  Fleur's  empty  cot, and a dozen others. The  rest  of  that
strange  journey  he  seemed to have  made,  consisted  of  long
periods of blankness only punctuated by little cries of fear and
scraps of reiterated argument, the purpose of which he could  no
longer  remember. Now-his brain was clear again, and he  settled
himself with new purpose to handle the plane with all his skill.
  In  those few moments they had risen clear of the ground  mist
and  were  soaring upwards into the blue above. As  De  Richleau
looked  down he saw a very curious thing. Not only was  the  fog
that  had hemmed them in local, but it seemed to be concentrated
entirely  upon  Cardinals  Folly. He could  just  make  out  the
chimneys of the house rising in its centre, as from a grey  sea,
and from the buildings it spread out in a circular formation for
half  a  mile or so on every side, hiding the gardens  from  his
view  and  obscuring  the  meadows between  the  house  and  the
village, but beyond, all was clear in the brilliant sunshine  of
the earfy summer afternoon.
  Rex  was beside Richard in the cockpit. Automatically  he  had
taken  on  the  job of navigator, and, like Richard,  his  brain
numbed  before  with  misery, had started to  fu