Brood of the Witch-Queen

n paced up and down his father's library. He was very pale, and many times he glanced at a book

nfessed before the king, Charles IX.... that he performed marvels.... Admiral de Coligny, who also was p

e page, with a ha

awbridge of the Louvre by Vitry, Captain of the Bodyguard, on the 24th of April, 1617.... It wa

hastily and began to

ally incredible!" he groaned.

f the subject bore him, would possibly throw light upon the darkness. But he failed to find it

ust be very tired, but Dr. Cairn will be here within an

ter twelve o

; nevertheles

You will wait the

Marston. G

night,

lessly, scarce noting in which direction. An awful conviction was with him, growing stronger each moment, that some mysterious menace,

Michael Ferrara's peculiar symptoms. Although Sir Michael had had certain transactions with his solicitor dur

Sir Elwin had confided, "I b

Cairn's meditations. He entered the vehic

down fear, that she might do her duty to her guardian-fear of the waving phantom hands. The cab sped through the almost empty streets, and at last, rounding a

s. The front door was open, and l

eaping from the cab. "My

with frenzy. He went racing up to the steps and almost thre

hispered hoarsely. "Wh

e man. "I thought"-his voice br

s My

. Mrs. Hume is with he

e bending over Myra Duquesne, who lay fully dressed, white and still, upon a Chesterfield. Cairn

It is only a swoon. Loo

trust herself to speak. Cairn went out into the hall and tap

he demanded. "I

on n

room. She thought someone called her. She rapped on Mrs. Hume's door, and Mrs. Hume, who was just r

el

s just undressing, myself. But there was a sort of fain

ting! Did y

of the maids, too. It was very strong, I'm told, last night. Well, sir, as they stood by the

s,

g half out o

ea

been strangled,

with h

grew eve

astening from his throat as she and Mrs. Hume got to the door, and there was no li

oom which he knew to be Sir Michael's stood wide open. As he entered, a faint scent came to

e, admitting a flood, of moonlight. Cairn remembered that Myra had mentioned

e, opened that cur

upturned to the intruding rays. His glazed eyes were starting from their sockets; his face was nearly black

quite

of a local medical man. Into the room ran his father, switching on the light as he di

ed, coming up to

his knees besi

a, old

ke a sob. Robert Cairn turned

d Felton and som

Duqu

. Mrs. Hume has taken h

He began to pace up and down, clenching and unclenching his fists. Presently Felt

thought you might like to know. He is motorin

," said Ca

an, alert-eyed and active, yet he had aged five years in his son's eyes.

. "I can see you have somethi

eant back agai

tell you, sir, and

, first; then as

ins in a Tham

ances attendant upon the death of the king-swan. He went on to recount what took place in Antony Fe

airn. "What did he

, and his eyes were ablaze wit

swear to

do you think he

ax or something simil

trol, Dr. Cairn became so pal

waved him away, and turning

said, rath

up to the time that he visited th

the photograph in Antony's rooms and the sam

an,

o

rom Myra Duquesne; what she had told him about the phantom hands; what

ed Dr. Cairn-"she wou

say

hing

sir, Trois Echelle, D'Ancre and others have gone to

his blazing eyes upon him. "More enlighten

you

I labour with poor Michael Ferrara in Egypt and learn nothing

s face in qu

n by that, sir," said Robert Cairn;

d not speak,

Antony F

t; and it was a haggard fac

ed to ask me

h better prospect of

give you

re you bound

ut the real reason i

don't

ve sa

at he was really no Ferrara, but an adopted son; yet it had

y rate now, to pursue that matter further. But I may perhaps supplement your researches into the history of Trois Echelle

Chabas' translation

you kno

opy in Antony F

started

I lent it quite recently to-Sir Michael.

and began to scan the r

ened the book on the table. "This passage m

the book and rea

He obtained a book of the Formulas.... By the divine powers of these he enchanted men. He obtained a deep vault furnished wi

ntions the Book of Thoth as another ma

it's the twentieth century

reat part of it was no more than a kind of hypnotism, but there were other branches. Our most learned modern works are a

roach yourself

Cairn hoarsely. "Ah,

he door, and a local

, Dr. Cairn," he began d

irn. "Sir Elwin Groves h

marks of pressure on eit

lague. Virtually he died from it. The thing is highly contagious, and it is almost impossible to rid the system of it. A g

ithdrew, highly mystified, but unable to contrad

irn paced restlessly about the library. Both were waiting, expectantly. At half-past two Felton broug

sne?" asked

st gone to

d Dr. Cairn. "B

inds, until, at about a quarter to three, the faint sound of a throbbing motor brought Dr. Cairn sharply to his feet.

ps were heard ascending the stairs, then came silence. The two stood side by side in front of the empty hearth, a hagga

r opened slowly and deliberate

ut the long black eyes glinted and gleamed as if they reflected the glow from a furnac

d, Doctor," he said in his huski

came a desire to pick up some heavy implement and crush this evilly effeminate thing with th

said, "have you rea

e, stooped and recovered

its. "But surely," he continued, "this is no time, Cairn, to discuss books?

if with sanctity, stood Myra Duquesne, in her night robe, her hair unbound and her little bare feet gleaming whitely

o men in the library. She began to speak, in a toneless, unemotional

h. You have stained that ring with blood, as she stained it-with the blood of those who loved and trusted you

r strange indictment. Over her shoulder appeare

tered Cairn.

r grasped his arm

. Hume hovering anxiously about her. Antony Fe

h strange dreams," h

r the first time. "Do not glare at me in that wa

t M

n his son's shoulder, fixin

he replied quietly; "for Good is higher t

aside, as the two wal