The Mystery of the Ravenspurs by Fred M. White

Author:Fred M. White [White, Fred M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788027222438
Publisher: Musaicum Books
Published: 2017-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

XXX - A LEAF FROM THE PAST

Table of Contents

Ralph Ravenspur, with Tchigorsky and Geoffrey, sat smoking in the billiard-room until Vera came in to say good-night and drive them of to bed. As they were about to separate at the head of the stairs Ralph gave them a sign to follow him.

“Come to my room for half an hour,” he said.

The others complied. Tchigorsky slipped away for a while, and on his return he laid the end of a long silk thread on the white table-cover.

“Part of a little scheme,” he said. “This is one end of a long silk thread. Where the other end is matters nothing for the present. Ralph, everybody has retired?”

“Everybody,” Ralph replied, as he filled his pipe.

“I fancy you said that no servants sleep in the house.”

“They have not done so for a long time,” Geoffrey explained. “Not that we entertain the least suspicion of any of them. We merely made the change for safety’s sake.”

Tchigorsky nodded his approval. He arranged the silk thread neatly on the table, coiling the end round a daisy pattern worked into the damask cloth.

“For Mrs. May’s benefit?” Geoffrey asked.

“Precisely,” Tchigorsky said gravely. “I take a great interest in her.”

“By the way,” he exclaimed, “who and what is Mrs. May?”

“The devil fairly disguised,” Ralph croaked. “A beautiful Mephistopheles, a fascinating Beelzebub, a dark-eyed fiend, a—a—”

He pulled up choking with all-consuming rage. His arm was sawing the air as if feeling for the white throat of his lovely foe.

“Steady there,” Tchigorsky muttered. “Steady, Ralph, my friend. Shall we enlighten Master Geoffrey a little as to the kind of woman she is?”

“If you like,” he said. “Only the tale shall be yours. When I come to think of it, I go out of my mind, as I did that night in the Black Valley. Tell him, Tchigorsky; tell him by all means—but not all.”

“Aye, aye; I shall know where to leave off. I’ll sit here where I can watch that table. I am interested in that silk thread. So long as it remains simply coiled up there I can go on talking. When it moves—”

“You are wasting time,” Geoffrey suggested.

“True. But to make amends I am going to interest you from the outset. Doubtless you are curious to know the meaning of those scars on my face and on the face of your uncle. Lately he has managed artistically to disguise his for reasons that will appear later. There was nothing to gain by hiding mine, and pretty ugly they are.

“These scars were branded on us both at the same time by the priests of the great temple in the hills beyond Lassa. Three of us had penetrated there, but the other one knew nothing of the mysteries of Buddha, for the simple reason that he was the servant of your uncle—one Elphick by name. Elphick is doing good work for us elsewhere, but you shall see him in time.

“Now these two men, who had disguised themselves as Buddhist priests and had

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