"But what caused you to so suddenly abandon Hibbert and return to me?"

I asked, recollecting my curious compact with Aline.

"A discovery which I made--a revelation which, by Aline's instigation, was made to me," she answered. "I know full well how she bought your silence by promising that I should return to you. I came, and you believed, because of that, she was possessed of power supernatural. It is the object of every worshipper of Satan to cause the outside world to believe that he or she is endowed with a miraculous power by the Evil One, hence the manner in which ashes are subst.i.tuted for the holy objects stolen. Aline, like myself, was compelled by the oath she had taken to impose upon you, upon Roddy Morgan, upon her lover, nay, upon every one about her, until they believed her endowed with power not possessed by any other living being."

"Yes," Aline interrupted, "what Muriel tells you is the truth. At my will this man Hibbert forsook her, and she returned to you because she was no longer jealous of me. And you believed that I committed the crime!" she said reproachfully. "You suspected that I killed the man who had been so kind to me."

"I certainly did believe so. All the evidence seemed to point to the fact that Roddy was killed by some secret means, and that the person who visited him was yourself. I found the b.u.t.ton of one of your gloves there."

Slowly she rose to her feet, and seeing how grave was her lover's face she turned again to me, saying, in a tremulous voice--

"Yes, I know, it is useless for me to now conceal the truth. On leaving you that morning I went there and saw him. He opened the door himself, and I remained about a quarter of an hour. We had not met since I had seen him carried out of the rooms at Monte Carlo, and the reason of my visit was to ascertain whether what you alleged, namely, that he was still alive, was true. I fully expected to find that this man who was pa.s.sing as Roddy Morgan was an impostor, but discovered that he was no doubt the same person with whom I had been acquainted at Monte Carlo.

My aunt, with whom I was on the Riviera, liked him very much, and I confess that only by his attempted suicide was a match between us prevented. In that brief s.p.a.ce, while I remained there, he again told me that he loved me, but I explained that I had now formed another attachment, a statement which threw him into a fit of deep despondency.

His man was out, therefore he went himself into an adjoining room to get me a gla.s.s of wine, and while he was absent I stole a rosary from a casket, depositing ashes in its place. Then I drank the wine, and left him, promising to call soon, but giving him plainly to understand that although we might be friends, we could never again be lovers."

"And then?" I asked gravely.

"Ah! I have no knowledge of what occurred after that," she said. "I have endeavoured to fathom the mystery, but have failed. That poor Roddy was murdered is absolutely certain."

"You refused his love because of your affection for me, Aline!" Jack exclaimed, in a low, broken voice, for this discovery that she worshipped the power which he held in greatest hatred had utterly crushed and appalled him. Truly he had spoken the truth on that night in Duddington when he had told me that the Devil had sent her into his life to arrest the good deeds he was endeavouring to perform.

"Yes," she answered, looking up into his dark, grave face with eyes fall of tears. "You know, Jack, that I have ever been true to you. I have been forced to act like this; compelled to commit a profanity which has horrified me, and made to exercise the ingenious trickery which was born of the fertile resources of this man beneath whose thrall I have been held."

"It's a lie!" cried the hideous fellow who personified the Evil One.

His very appearance caused us to shudder. "You are one of us--our priestess. Was it not you, yourself, who suggested to our brothers the Sacrifice of the Cat?"

"Yes," cried half a dozen voices, "it was Aline who suggested it."

"At your instigation," she answered boldly. "You first broached the subject and then induced me to suggest it. I've been your catspaw from the very moment we first met at Montgeron, and you took me to the Temple of Satan at Pa.s.sy. From that day I have known not a moment's peace; the spirit of Satan has entered my soul, and I've existed in an awful torment of mind, like that prepared for the wicked."

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

CONCLUSION.

The faces of that excited group seemed as demoniacal as the power they had worshipped, and about me I heard ominous words--words which caused me to grip my weapon resolutely. My arm was still around Muriel's waist, for I saw that another attempt would probably be made upon her, so incensed were they that she should have betrayed them. The cult of Satan worships in secret, hiding their infamous rites in underground temples--as well they may--and the votaries of the Evil One are under oath not to divulge the whereabouts of the Devil's dwelling-place or the character of their blasphemies and outrages, on penalty of death. Truly this religion of darkness, springing as it has done from the drawing-rooms of debased Paris, is a terrible and awful spectacle in our present enlightened age.

I glanced around. The doors were closed, and there were only two of us armed, while the daggers used for the piercing of the sacred element were gleaming in several hands. They now numbered nearly a dozen to each of us, and I knew that if we had to defend the two women we loved we should be compelled to fight desperately.

"Forgive me!" implored Aline, looking into her lover's face. "I swear that I have always loved you, and that I have been what you believed me to be, an honest woman. Tell me," she cried, falling again upon her knees before him. "Tell me, Jack, that you will forgive me, now that you know all."

"I do not know all," he answered, in a hard voice. "You confess to having visited Morgan immediately before his death."

"But I did not commit the crime!" she said wildly. "I am innocent-- innocent!"

Some jeering laughter greeted this terribly earnest protest. Those around, mostly better-cla.s.s people, judging from their dress and speech, now took a keen delight in her disgrace and grief.

"He was her lover, and she killed him when she knew that he had not died at Monte Carlo!" somebody exclaimed. "She wanted to marry the parson."

"It's untrue. I swear it is!" she cried. "We had flirted at Monte Carlo, but I had no thought beyond his friendship. When I left him on that fatal morning we parted the best of friends. Not until next day did I know of his strange death, then reported in the papers."

At the moment Muriel, who had remained silent and motionless, as if listening intently, suddenly disengaged herself from my embrace, and walking boldly forward, exclaimed in a loud, firm voice--

"Enough! The mystery of poor Roddy's death shall no longer cause your estrangement from your lover, Aline. Listen!" Then turning to me, she added: "You will remember that once, about eighteen months ago, when I was having tea one Sunday at your rooms, Roddy called, and you introduced us."

"Yes," I cried, suddenly remembering. "I had always believed that you were unacquainted, but I remember quite well now."

"A few days later I met him in Oxford Street, and from that time we were friends, although I saw but very little of him. One day, however, by a word I let drop, he suspected that I was connected with this terrible cult of Evil, and at once asked me to reveal some of its secrets, because he was about to ask a question in Parliament upon the subject, and wished to obtain reliable information. The asking of a question upon such a subject would, he knew, cause a great sensation, and if not armed with facts he must bring himself into ridicule. Well, I confess that I told him something of the rites, and afterwards, at his urgent request, brought him here by the secret way through which I brought you to-night. Unfortunately, however, his presence was detected, and his ident.i.ty established; although at the time I had no idea that such was the case."

I noticed how the white-faced band of Satanists exchanged glances of fear as they listened to her words spoken clearly and fearlessly. She, too, glanced round at them with a look of hatred and defiance.

"The day on which he accompanied me here was," she continued, "three days prior to his death. I was in the habit of meeting him at railway stations of an evening and imparting to him various information until he knew almost as much of the ways and doings of the Diabolists as I did myself. We had an arrangement by which, if he was unable to keep an appointment, his man should come and bring me a letter with a blank sheet of paper, by which I should know that to keep the appointment was impossible. We met at railway stations for two reasons: first, because the Satanists should not discover my dealings with this Member of Parliament who would, in a few days, startle England with his statements; and, secondly, because you, Clifton, should not call and find me with your friend."

"Extraordinary!" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "Then the note taken by Ash to the King's Cross terminus was meant for you?"

"Certainly," she responded. "I, however, mistook the hour of our appointment, and having that day obtained information that the Satanists had discovered that he had been present, I hastened to warn him of his danger. Too eager to wait and keep the appointment, and fearing lest harm should befall him, I went straight to his chambers, arriving, I suppose, immediately after Aline had left. The door was ajar, so pushing it open I entered. There were strange sounds in the sitting-room, and in order to discover the reason of them I slipped behind one of the bedroom doors to listen. Scarce, however, had I done this when there were hurrying footsteps in the pa.s.sage as a man went out. I believed the footsteps to be yours, Clifton. Then when he had descended the stairs I crept on into Roddy's room, but drew back horrified a second later. I was too late. He was dying. I tried to rouse him, but he clutched my dress so frantically that he tore it and held a piece of black chiffon in his clenched hand. He had, I knew, been poisoned, and in the paroxysm his agony was frightful. Powerless, I stood beside him for a few moments until the last spark of life had left, then reproaching myself bitterly for my tardiness, I flew from the house, fearing lest suspicion should fall upon me. I was witness of that crime, and to ease my conscience I confessed to Mr Yelverton, then curate at St Michael's, all that I knew, although being a member of the Church, I made no mention of my a.s.sociation with the cult. He knew the truth."

"Then tell me who was the murderer?" I cried.

"I believed the murderer to be my lover, Clifton Cleeve," she answered.

"But here, in this place, I overheard a confession, and discovered that the man who committed the cowardly crime in order to conceal the existence of this cult of Evil is the same who, having ascertained that I was witness of his crime and might denounce him, afterwards sought to silence me also," she answered; and pointing to the man who personified Satan, added, "It is that man--Francis Vidit--the man under whose iron thraldom both Aline and myself have been compelled to commit the profanity that has terrified us; the man whose heart is as black with wickedness as that of the Evil One he now represents. He is the murderer of Roddy Morgan!"

The villainous-looking fellow made a dash forward with a second knife in his hand, but in an instant both Jack's revolver and my own were at his head and he fell behind, flinching.

"Hold back!" I cried. "Drop that knife this instant, or by Heaven!

I'll put a bullet through you!"

At that moment, while he stood glaring at me, Muriel placed something to her mouth and blew shrilly. It was a police whistle.

In a second the door was burst open, and an inspector in uniform, a detective and several constables, sprang into the room, creating a confusion utterly indescribable. Their entry was so sudden that everybody stood dumbfounded.

In the detective I recognised Priestly, the man who had had in hand the inquiries regarding Roddy's death, and in a moment saw how cleverly Muriel had arranged the details of her revenge.

"Arrest that man!" she cried, pointing to the cringing ruffian before us. "That man, Francis Vidit, I declare to be the murderer of Mr Morgan!"

Two constables stepped forward quickly, but the man whose Satanic garb was so hideous, uttered a terrible curse, and with his face livid, turned quickly and attacked the men with the knife in his hand. In his desperation he was powerful as a lion, but in a few moments the inspector and the others had overpowered him, and he stood before us held helpless within their grasp.

It was no doubt a smart capture, and the police owed it to Muriel's calmness and careful arrangements.

"Let my hand go!" the wretched man cried. "I want to get my handkerchief to wipe my face. Don't hold me so tight; I shan't hurt you," he laughed with a hoa.r.s.e, hideous laugh, which sounded through the place.

Then, with a sudden twist, he freed his hand, and ere they could stop him he had placed something in his mouth and swallowed it.

"You can do what you like with me now, you fools!" he shrieked wildly.

"I have no fear of you!"

"Look!" cried Muriel. "See his face! He has poisoned himself!"

All gazed at him, and we saw by the spasmodic working of the muscles of his features that what she said was quite true. The agonies of poisoning had already seized him, and his haggard face, fast swelling, was horrible to behold. For a few moments he writhed in the grasp of the officers, while we all looked on in silence, appalled at the frightful picture he presented; until suddenly, with a piercing shriek, he seemed to stretch out his limbs rigid and straight. Then all the light of a sudden died from his hideously distorted features, and the men in whose grip he was knew by the dead weight upon them that they held only a corpse.

No further need is there to dwell upon the ghastly events of that fateful night, a night that will live within my memory for ever; nor need I describe how we all four left that den of Satan in company with the police. Suffice it to say that the self-destruction of Francis Vidit caused the disbandment of that disgraceful Pagan sect which fortunately found so little support in Christian England. Although the police were, by these revelations of Muriel's, made aware of the existence of Satanism in London, the suicide of their head made it unnecessary for any details of the _cultus diabolicus_ to be given to the public through the medium of the sensational Press.