THE LOVE HATER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17853, 6 August 1921, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE LOVE HATER

BY GUY THOKNE.

(COPYRIGHTS rook n. rTUPTER Vlll.—(Continued). ° A - Q'-=.-.-in, *he harbourmaster, was the \. le: monsiegneur — and the " -'■ : -' wife nor children in any ' : !•'•.•-. monseigneur," the old man •■■■ ' looking a httlo surprised to find ; ■■) : o v (11 informed. v ' ■ ll "' ;l - tie may lie here ..'.'! lo morrow w 0 will ta ke '■'■-■ ' :i 'e i" Guernsey. Yon will '■■■■ ?.ieiil prepared, and all the ■ - I' "i<e llag and the flag of l !•]>,'.! " •■ ■ A:.-.i the candles, monseig- '*■ '■■'■ 'iinrjit I.a Ruche said nothing. ■ :•" i:iben t that Querin was one ■ % ' "•■■•■■■* upon the island. •1 a servant, ' he answered; l ■ *•> ... not of your faith." '-. '. ! "- v ' '■'' iilul shambled off over the .■J. I.a Roche and Charles, the !■ ■ '-' '' : - "' tie. mortuary eham- • -it into the courtyard after!

'■' ! ' • -tinl h-s if it had been i i v " "' the Chinese footmen 'I lie door was locked with a i « gioan of iron. The key ' ■ the seigneur. -. ■' the islanders were passing . '.u' the gateway of the courtyard M rf? done. Only old Querin, -• .; ..ltir the others, made an inky '!' the great space circled b'v !• ; buildings. ti-ough a I ordinary times the court '" been 11..... del with sunlight, • " * crc.'.ic.-is of the afternoon had _-. ■! i • .in early and abnormal twi- • . •■. It v. as very hot. varies found the perspiration was roll- .; .-sown his face and that (he palms ' i handd were wet. A pall o£ livid- ■ ; . r t.v hung over the island. The ■ ■* had descended too low, and seemed :■« pressing all the life and oxygen 1 ' ':e air. '1 hero was a little singt"~ e.;rs-,-t sense as of weight ■o. a constricting cap of iron, rather— '• ■•- i tne head. '. ready the thunder that was the herald •-■ t'.9 memorable tempest of that night « ..- mustering its forces upon far hon- ••"••' r.'d stammering in its sleep. «. carles said something about the wea*n?r to La Roche, who scarcely seemed '•■ c;ar him, as they entered the turret -r and passed into the great halL ;•■ -ou 6 -h the stained-glass wnidows the '•■'•■:.:. sj'ec'rnl light gave 'the lozenges <-• [tinted glass in the tall windows an aspect that was at once hectic and wan. i . •-■ polished steal of the suite of armour *■:.:< ±i blood around were livid in that ■;c.:n, Charles had an old fancy that '■} no touched greive or cuirasso with his they would be greasy. les," said the seigneur, " it is going •■■• be a very strange night. Charles, I w*i.t you to go up to your own rooms. I u have dinner put back an hour—yon'll Livs two hours to rest. I want yoa to blcr-n, for we have much to do to-night!" H;s voice rang out in the vast, empty ►pace. Something moved at the far end, *nH Legrand, Charles' Chinese valet! nickered up to them. He was not in v « dress as a footman, but wore the rz blue robe in which the boy saw "'"' at m S Qt and in the early dawn after =• witting. ' Yon wiR call Mr. Staveley a£ twenty ":. ! «"tes to tune," said La Roche, and > r:*ries wondered dully why the man was - • r« at that moment. - 1 hen.something is going to happen, ' 'r« long arm shot out and gripped his s -ider. The belief that the seigneur • i-'i oecn labouring under an enormous '- a r. pressed excitement for many hours Vf-a™ a certainty now. A strange, i~ heat from those gripping fingers <-■ rr.mumcated itself, if not to the absolute e.o. to the sense of perception. .'.hat -*>d light behind the hazel eves e owed out again, and for the first time in shades' experience the deep, melodious T, had a distinct tremolo in it. ft was towards the end of the usual long -'! i elaborate dinner in the tapestry room ' ■ at La Roche made known something of bit. intentions. Ml the servants had ■withdrawn. They wwe alone in a vivid circle of light. < harles had shifted his place a little, so 'hit he saw the reigneur's face in sharpit silhouette. It was flushed under its 'an. There was a sort of restrained joy in everything he said which communicated itself immediately to the younger man—as almost, every mood of his patron had now becrun to do. Although wh.jn he 6aid ft Charles knew *üb< consciously that the question was fat. tie, he asked about the arrangements -■. r to-morrow. "Yoa will go with the corpse in the 7= hi? T may go too?" '1 he big man leant 0%-ex the table and 'eked the boy steadily in the face. Have you progressed far enough upon ''"* Mystic Way," he said, "to stand by mi to-night in an experiment which may well be a prodigy to stagger nature?" I'hen a curious thing happened. For a instant, not to be measured indeed in the terminology of time, something Kerned to roil up from the boy's brain i fcmoke. It was as though he—the essential soul and being of him—had been B'lrrotmded fi>r many hoars by a thick ■ ! ud. There was a moment of poignant r.-hyMcal pain—a knife stuck into the grey matter of the cortex and drawn swiftly 'hrough it. He heard voices calling him, « cr. illiple sound of voices. And among ■e voices, and curions'y enough thev ' (1 not, fcfra to bo addressed to him, was ". "Lion led them all. And yet it was '.■ ■). sound ; it was rather a perception what npon a spiritual plane a sound T ;'..•. mean. Tt was a flame, and yet it not a flame. It was, as it were, the '• •-' flame.

,- ,. ■■ near as he over got to utidor- ■ ...i "j I'-bit. happened to him at that ■ : • '!;< -u, in < aimer days, he re- *"■' ii nil. He knew that a decision '•■'i h ru. aid he, knew that some part -. •'.■> ii.'liting desperately against ; ' ii '!<•(•-; t< and that there were ; j.lf helping him. ' I". i Ho.hr ttretched his arm across i '■■■ ao'l touched liiin upon the ■J- : \l the touch of that brown -• i '. ! !i tho \k,uz, shapely fingers and ' ■ !■• of h'tie veuis and muscle which >' : i-ii uj n Iho back, the instant 1 '- .• : r- t-?. »e:i> looking into his, and ■ ■■■ from the \-e\y tirsl, the will of I r . •:■ oror beat his d <wn. 1 . :n rend;,, s-ripicur," Vip said. i !:rn T vil! tell you—but not here. f ■•"» up into the library. We cannot r*-;-o vt'ivY for sortie hours yet." '..' nip inli ihe library and hear." 1 ".* > -i I'Tcf !., be in the great ' .'i •', v. iui ii, ~-s ever, ir;i;i glowinsr with i r. rr;,.h r lights, 'lheie was no shadow nhu'uity hc-r-. The books in their j'.-emii !i\ cries glowed upon all > • - li:.*h up ; u the gallery—tin the ' I 'i\s t.lir ,« n out by special shelves. ' ' ■ ■■■■:: coii'-nfe and satisfy " • -real < 'hinese va-ps which st< od ■ ' '•■-■ i: t-ib'es ■ f eUu.v, the calcu- • ' v oil and luxury of it a 1!, dis- : "i fn-e of the abnormal and • : r !v •■ no-, sat down t^ether. *" " _■ up their cha'rs as f for a friendly ■ up " ('•■' nu.sl trivial matters (he •i'• ' p id- welVd up in Charles. Tie ■ ■...i..'i ti;r> load arrovHiire, (he wild '■ ■ ■! ■ :ati- n with which he had watched ' i • i on the shell beach of H.,- 1 ' !.-„ hh.od r; n in his veins like II ■■■> I?.- experienced a sen.-e of abnnr- ' ■■■. u'eilal and physical power. both •■• ■ le ! p.-ether in a i ucfUry of feeling. He v.a,. »n adept al last—ho and tha f. ~:•: weie as end >. knowing all things. ■■*'■' ' • ■;:. 111 ■-loii i;• i! i : ',t there is ii-. death. Chavlcs. you Y' •: i:re coin.* (■• , all the spirit of "ho. i'ar moie than that!"

the bodv \f S~* *"* astral tody as I« w in t£ L° my His as tral body gof abell! Farmore Stent h a haDd that Shn ° k ™ th i?- nd 'hat then?" he asked. "% the reply startled him profoundly. HermX In ° f V stud j es in the an «enfe 2? PMosophy, and you have read the bonW g T ° f Tnsme g^tn S for yourself in IhKf' 6 - 1 t<3ld >' ou the * that and h , dvanccd far m this occult work, fn n„ ■ recaptured some of its secrets a few ? H nCtl ° n , W ! th tho Doke 0{ P <^ h and in nd,l r' ICr ad fP ts - . And I told you that, J addition to the S p,rits of .the dead which our wilf L Can lnvoke - a "d call upon at our will, there were other spirits." Memgs of power who have never been incarnate in the sense of human life" replied. ' 'Yes. Elementals, some people nil hem, though we who know more? have other names. Like Moses, and like some moderns of whom you have never even heard, who do their work in secret and in silence. I have obtained power over one at least of these elemental spirits .\nd no* »"» come the hour for a manifestation of that power which has not occurred for neailv fitteen hundred years. To-night btaveley. that splendid shell we saw this afternoon, that body from which the spirit has departed, will be reanimated'" formally, such words would have been as ice to the nerves, and would have struck terror into the bov's soul But ■ there was that within him which seemed to leap up in joyous glee. . " Reanimated ?" he Heard his own voice in a hoarse, cracked whisper, almost a chuckle.

At th.it, La Roche looked quickly at him with eager alertness. Then he nodded, a s if satisfied about something and went on.

\es, ' reanimated ' is the word I used, but it does not express the fact to be. Reanimated means that the spirit returns to the hotly. The spirit of Julius Larzen will not return to his body to-night, but I shall call upon one whose name I may not speak to you, and von will see the dead" body move with life- you will see what you will see. if you have courage." He said that, and then he almost leapt from his seat.

■■ "< sen< * or y° a - Charles." he said, " I'll send for you at midnight." The tall, black figure hurried down the vista of the library. At the low door at the end, ho turned. There was a glimpse of white shirt-front, the wave c a L ng, gesticulating arm, and he had gone.

There was such a riot in his every nerve that Charles could not remain there any more. He hurried to ' s own octagonal room, pressed the l< 1 . and when the attentive Chinaman came—now in the pompous uniform of the castle—he ordered wine to be brought to him. " Wine! Wine!" he said, and laughed aloud.

He had not specified, and so when the corridor door opened Legrand was followed by another man. One bore a tray on which was bergundy and white hermitage; another champagne and that tokay from a certain hill in Hungary, clad in vines, which generally goes to the millionaires of San Francisco and New York. As he sat alone regarding this display, the boy laughed. . It was not a pleasant laugh, and something else in him wondered at the sound. *He had been living now for several weeks in a luxury that probably few people in Europe knew. He had got occustomed to it; he had taken it as a matter of course; he had ceased to marvel that it should be in this frowning castle of the sea—lately he had succumbed to it.

But he laughed unpleasantly to think that, two months ago, a half-bottle of cheap claret represented his highest aspirations, that he did not care for any drink at all. and now was about to drown himself in wine so priceless that - - . He wrenched the cork and wire from the top of a champagne bottle with the silverplated nippers the servants had brought. There was a champagne glass upon the tray, but he poured the foaming, creaming wine into a long goblet of green Venetian glass, into which strange threads of gold had been blown, and drank it down. Three times he did this, and then sank back in his chair.

It was terribly, abnormally, unbearably hot. During tie whole of the late afternoon and evening Charles had been conscious of the gathering storm. The thunder was now hardly intermittent. It frowled round the island like a pack of ogs, and violet and amethyst sheets of lightning played all over the sky. He must have fallen asleep in his chair —an uneasy sleep of half-dreams and pricking heat, when he was aroused by the voice of Legrand. Speaking in his clipped Chinese French, the valet announced that the seigneur would be obliged if M. Charles would come to the great room in the keep. Charles followed the man through the library, down the great stairs into the central hall, and then across the courtyard to tha door in the turret which led to that vast, vaulted apartment which had been the scene of so many experiences. It was pitch dark in the courtyard of the castle. The surrounding buildings were only known as buildings by a slit or slab of orange light here and there from this or that window. Legrand produced an electric torch to light his master to the foot of the turret. Charles went through the door, closed it, and stumbled up the stone steps. When he got to the landing above, a narrow slip of light showed him that the door was ajar. He went in. For the first time he saw the room brilliantly illuminated. Electric light there was none, and never had been; but all round the walls candles in sconces sent ,up pallid ilames which were entirely without movement in the still, thick air. And upon the table lay the body of Julius Larzen. It was stark naked except for a narrow sheet of brown and faded linen which reached from the feet to the breast. It seemed like a great doll that was being moved here and there at : %he will of the seigneur, and for the moment the boy had an almost physical revulsion. Could they not let him lie in peace, then ? Must they bring the rigid thing here and there, for. . .?" At that moment his eye fell upon La Roche, and the momentary disgust, the qualm he had felt as at the sight of something sinister and obscene, vanished in a second. La Roche was standing inside the circle painted upon the flagstones—that circle into which Charles himself, unconscious of all that was passing, had been drawn upon another memorable night, details of which had never reached his conscious mind. The seigneur wore no robe of mystery. Ho was attired in his ordinary evening dress. There was no brazier of burning coals, IjD wizard's wand ; and yet, as Charles saw his patron, he knew instinctively that here was a figure identical in every way with the sorcerers of tha Middle Age, and of darker, more ancient ages still. The table on which lay the corpse had been moved to the side of the room by the stone hearth. Between the circle, therefore, and the dais at the far end there was uninterrupted access. In view of what ensued, this fact is important, j The seigneur beckoned imperatively with j his finger. Charles passed the body and j came into the circle. ! " I need hardly say to you, Staveley, j that you must neither be astonished nor' terrified at anything you may see or j hear. There are certain to be strange; manifestations —of what sort I can hardly! say myself. One thing you have to re- ' member is that, on no account must, you stir out of this circle. You have fteard of that sort of thing in popular fiction. It 13 the one thing that is absolutely true in the accounts of occult investigations. Are you ready for me to begin?" " Quite ready, seigneur." " Then I suggest that you sit upon the floor." Charles sat down at the feet of his roaster. ■■' La Roche stood erect. His long arhs hung at his side, his face was absolutely without expression, and, as Charles saw it, curiously foreshortened. The noble brow bulged out. seen Ihus. The thunder was still growling, but ii web utterly apart and outside this little kingdom of light, and death, and silence. (To b* continued on Situxdaj oexU