The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker (books to read in your 20s TXT) 📕

which grew longer

and more frequent as the time wore on.

 

As to Margaret, the suspense told on her exceedingly, as might have been

expected in the case of a woman. She grew paler and paler still; till

at last about midnight, I began to be seriously alarmed about her. I

got her to come into the library with me, and tried to make her lie down

on a sofa for a little while. As Mr. Trelawny had decided that the

experiment was to be made exactly at the seventh hour after sunset, it

would be as nearly as possible three o’clock in the morning when the

great trial should be made. Even allowing a whole hour for the final

preparations, we had still two hours of waiting to go through, and I

promised faithfully to watch her and to awake her at any time she might

name. She would not hear of it, however. She thanked me sweetly and

smiled at me as she did so; but she assured me that she was not sleepy,

and that she was quite able to bear up. That it was only the suspense

and excitement of waiting that made her pale. I agreed perforce; but I

kept her talking of many things in the library for more than an hour; so

that at last, when she insisted on going back to her father’s room I

felt that I had at least done something to help her pass the time.

 

We found the three men sitting patiently in silence. With manlike

fortitude they were content to be still when they felt they had done all

in their power. And so we waited.

 

The striking of two o’clock seemed to freshen us all up. Whatever

shadows had been settling over us during the long hours preceding seemed

to lift at once; and we went about our separate duties alert and with

alacrity. We looked first to the windows to see that they were closed,

and we got ready our respirators to put them on when the time should be

close at hand. We had from the first arranged to use them for we did

not know whether some noxious fume might not come from the magic coffer

when it should be opened. Somehow, it never seemed to occur to any of

us that there was any doubt as to its opening.

 

Then, under Margaret’s guidance, we carried the mummied body of Queen

Tera from her room into her father’s, and laid it on a couch. We put

the sheet lightly over it, so that if she should wake she could at once

slip from under it. The severed hand was placed in its true position on

her breast, and under it the Jewel of Seven Stars which Mr. Trelawny had

taken from the great safe. It seemed to flash and blaze as he put it in

its place.

 

It was a strange sight, and a strange experience. The group of grave

silent men carried the white still figure, which looked like an ivory

statue when through our moving the sheet fell back, away from the

lighted candles and the white flowers. We placed it on the couch in

that other room, where the blaze of the electric lights shone on the

great sarcophagus fixed in the middle of the room ready for the final

experiment, the great experiment consequent on the researches during a

lifetime of these two travelled scholars. Again, the startling likeness

between Margaret and the mummy, intensified by her own extraordinary

pallor, heightened the strangeness of it all. When all was finally

fixed three-quarters of an hour had gone, for we were deliberate in all

our doings. Margaret beckoned me, and I went out with her to bring in

Silvio. He came to her purring. She took him up and handed him to me;

and then did a thing which moved me strangely and brought home to me

keenly the desperate nature of the enterprise on which we were embarked.

One by one, she blew out the candles carefully and placed them back in

their usual places. When she had finished she said to me:

 

“They are done with now. Whatever comes—life or death—there will be no

purpose in their using now.” Then taking Silvio into her arms, and

pressing him close to her bosom where he purred loudly, we went back to

the room. I closed the door carefully behind me, feeling as I did so a

strange thrill as of finality. There was to be no going back now. Then

we put on our respirators, and took our places as had been arranged. I

was to stand by the taps of the electric lights beside the door, ready

to turn them off or on as Mr. Trelawny should direct. Doctor Winchester

was to stand behind the couch so that he should not be between the mummy

and the sarcophagus; he was to watch carefully what should take place

with regard to the Queen. Margaret was to be beside him; she held

Silvio ready to place him upon the couch or beside it when she might

think right. Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck were to attend to the

lighting of the lamps. When the hands of the clock were close to the

hour, they stood ready with their linstocks.

 

The striking of the silver bell of the clock seemed to smite on our

hearts like a knell of doom. One! Two! Three!

 

Before the third stroke the wicks of the lamps had caught, and I had

turned out the electric light. In the dimness of the struggling lamps,

and after the bright glow of the electric light, the room and all within

it took weird shaps, and all seemed in an instant to change. We waited

with our hearts beating. I know mine did, and I fancied I could hear

the pulsation of the others.

 

The seconds seemed to pass with leaden wings. It were as though all the

world were standing still. The figures of the others stood out dimly,

Margaret’s white dress alone showing clearly in the gloom. The thick

respirators which we all wore added to the strange appearance. The thin

light of the lamps showed Mr. Trelawny’s square jaw and strong mouth and

the brown shaven face of Mr. Corbeck. Their eyes seemed to glare in the

light. Across the room Doctor Winchester’s eyes twinkled like stars,

and Margaret’s blazed like black suns. Silvio’s eyes were like

emeralds.

 

Would the lamps never burn up!

 

It was only a few seconds in all till they did blaze up. A slow, steady

light, growing more and more bright, and changing in colour from blue to

crystal white. So they stayed for a couple of minutes without change in

the coffer; till at last there began to appear all over it a delicate

glow. This grew and grew, till it became like a blazing jewel, and then

like a living thing whose essence of life was light. We waited and

waited, our hearts seeming to stand still.

 

All at once there was a sound like a tiny muffled explosion and the

cover lifted right up on a level plane a few inches; there was no

mistaking anything now, for the whole room was full of a blaze of light.

Then the cover, staying fast at one side rose slowly up on the other, as

though yielding to some pressure of balance. The coffer still continued

to glow; from it began to steal a faint greenish smoke. I could not

smell it fully on account of the respirator; but, even through that, I

was conscious of a strange pungent odour. Then this smoke began to grow

thicker, and to roll out in volumes of ever increasing density till the

whole room began to get obscure. I had a terrible desire to rush over

to Margaret, whom I saw through the smoke still standing erect behind

the couch. Then, as I looked, I saw Doctor Winchester sink down. He

was not unconscious; for he waved his hand back and forward, as though

to forbid any one to come to him. At this time the figures of Mr.

Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck were becoming indistinct in the smoke which

rolled round them in thick billowy clouds. Finally I lost sight of them

altogether. The coffer still continued to glow; but the lamps began to

grow dim. At first I thought that their light was being overpowered by

the thick black smoke; but presently I saw that they were, one by one,

burning out. They must have burned quickly to produce such fierce and

vivid flames.

 

I waited and waited, expecting every instant to hear the command to turn

up the light; but none came. I waited still, and looked with harrowing

intensity at the rolling billows of smoke still pouring out of the

glowing casket, whilst the lamps sank down and went out one by one.

 

Finally there was but one lamp alight, and that was dimly blue and

flickering. The only effective light in the room was from the glowing

casket. I kept my eyes fixed toward Margaret; it was for her now that

all my anxiety was claimed. I could just see her white frock beyond the

still white shrouded figure on the couch. Silvio was troubled; his

piteous mewing was the only sound in the room. Deeper and denser grew

the black mist and its pungency began to assail my nostrils as well as

my eyes. Now the volume of smoke coming from the coffer seemed to

lessen, and the smoke itself to be less dense. Across the room I saw

something white move where the couch was. There were several movements.

I could just catch the quick glint of white through the dense smoke in

the fading light; for now the glow of the coffer began quickly to

subside. I could still hear Silvio, but his mewing came from close

under; a moment later I could feel him piteously crouching on my foot.

 

Then the last spark of light disappeared, and through the Egyptian

darkness I could see the faint line of white around the window blinds.

I felt that the time had come to speak; so I pulled off my respirator

and called out:

 

“Shall I turn up the light?” There was no answer; so before the thick

smoke choked me, I called again but more loudly:

 

“Mr. Trelawny, shall I turn up the light?” He did not answer; but from

across the room I heard Margaret’s voice, sounding as sweet and clear as

a bell:

 

“Yes, Malcolm!” I turned the tap and the lamps flashed out. But they

were only dim points of light in the midst of that murky ball of smoke.

In that thick atmosphere there was little possibility of illumination.

I ran across to Margaret, guided by her white dress, and caught hold of

her and held her hand. She recognised my anxiety and said at once:

 

“I am all right.”

 

“Thank God!” I said. “How are the others? Quick, let us open all the

windows and get rid of this smoke!” To my surprise, she answered in a

sleepy way:

 

“They will be all right. They won’t get any harm.” I did not stop to

inquire how or on what ground she formed such an opinion, but threw up

the lower sashes of all the windows, and pulled down the upper. Then I

threw open the door.

 

A few seconds made a perceptible change as the thick, black smoke began

to roll out of the windows. Then the lights began to grow into strength

and I could see the room. All the men were overcome. Beside the couch

Doctor Winchester lay on his back as though he had sunk down and rolled

over; and on the farther side of the