A MYSTIC SPELL; OR, THE SIGNAL-BOX

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 20, 11 September 1896, Page 27

A MYSTIC SPELL; OR, THE SIGNAL-BOX

(By Alston Mabshall.)

" GOOD morning, Curtis. I bear yon are going to be marrkd. Who is tbe fortunate lady ? " The speaker, Beryl Farquehar, was a young lawyer about thirty years of age, wboae handsome but evil-looking countenance became overspread with a dark flush as be addressed Dr Curtis, tbe most popular practitioner in Limeton. "It is I who am the fortunate one," Frank Curtis replied laughingly ; " but I thought you were aware that I was engaged to Isa— dear little 7ja." •' Isa, Isa," repeated the lawyer. " Issl" " Yts, Isa, my dear ft How. Why do you ring the changes on her name ? She is not anything to you 7 " Again a frown, black as midnight, swept acroßS the face of Mr Farquebar, " You are right, Curtis," Le remarked with assumed calm. "She is, indeed, nothing to me," "I should tbink not, indeed. My good fellow, you most be dreaming. Even yonr hypnotic practices would fail to bring you nearer to my little woman. Excuse me, I have rather a serious case to attend to this morning. Qood day." Dr Curtis was by no means what tbe world terms a good-looking or striking man. He was very slight and somewhat short, bad a ragged, clever face and a manner somewhat abrupt. "To think that she has thrown herself away on a chump like that," mattered Beryl Farquebar as be strode in an opposite direction to that taken by the doctor. " Nothing to me, eh 1 Well, she has received my attentions graciously enough, anyway. I like that Ist fling of his about hypnotic influence. We shall see. my friend. The Ficncb say, 'He laughs well who laughs the last.' If I cmnot woik upon Miss Fretr I have a power over another person, and it will go hard with me if Ido not make him the instrument ; but I am thinking aloud, which is dangerous." " I wonder what possessed Faiqaehar to repeat Isas name as he did?" mentally queried the young physician after he had quitted tbe lawyer. Suddenly an idea presented itselt to his mind and he broke out into a low laugh. " By Jove, I have it," he exe'aimed tutto roce " It will be a lark to keep up the joke." Little did tbe doctor dream ( f the dire peril which would arise from that unexplained littlj f tnoy of his. Beryl Farquehar reached his office with a mind full of unholy I longings and fiendish designs, roused by what he coneiiered the treachery of woman and the unmerited good luck of a clown, a clod ; never once realising that tbe clod went about his daily work a» a healer of men wi h a heart full of noble purposes, and wrb a mini which tad never lost Us enthusiasm for the noblest of bumai professions, that in thj cottage or tba miasim tture wss ev-ruithe ring of the young doctor's voice a sympathetic timbre which be Hayed heartfelt teeling for the suffjrer, whether he or she were of high or low degree. Tnere was only one inhabitant of Limeton who would have wished evil to Djcior Curtis, but that one inhabitant was Mr Farquehar, who rubbed daily shoulder to shoulder with his fellowcitizens, impressing them as a gloomy, somewhat s'ein man, but never as one likely to render himself notorious by an evil dtel, and yet in tbe nature of Beiyl Fuiquetar there lay dormant immense capabilities for crime. Oq the particular mornii g upon which we have introduced him to oar readers he could not settle to his woik, " It is of no use," he cried, throwing down his pen ; " I'll give Blissett directions for the day and thea take myself off. I almost wish to God I had never Been tbe girl." Mr Farquebar rang for his managing clerk, and, having ius'ructed him to represent him daring his absence, once more struck out into the streets of Limeton. " I'll go and find Scarle, 1 ' be murmured. " and hear what he has to Bay. He was once desperately sweet on Isa, and made me jea'ous i until she so plainly encouraged — curee her 1 I'll have my revenge if I hang for the satisfac ion." " The very fellow I am in search of," he added a few moments latter as be buttonholed George Searla, the manager of the South Limeßhire Railway. " Ah, what is up now I " qaeried the latter. " You look completely out of sorts Faiquehar.

" And not without cause I think. Why, who do you imagine Curtis is going to marry ? " 11 Can't imagine anything ; didn't know tint be was about to join the ranks of the B nedic's." " He is, and the lady is Isa Freer ? " "Isa Freer I " repeated youog Searle. 'It cannot be. Why she has always smiled so benignly on your suit that I withdrew from tbe race, concluding that in your case it had come to tbe swift." •' Jilted, and for a chump, a clod." " Nay, Curtis is a gentleman and no fool, and moreover, a remarkably good fellow" " Good 1 What do I care about bis goodness, which is all affectation in order to ingratiate himself with the people of Limeton and increase bis practice. Da you call it good to take another man's ewe lamb ? " "Come, Farquehar, Miss Freer is no* your wife, and I never understood that ehe had positively engaged benelf to yon, 90 that she was free to take the doctor if she chose ; bat I am inclined to think that there must be some mistake " '• There is not," tbe lawyer said sharply, " I Lad it from tbe doctor himself. How I hate both him and her. I should like to kill one or both." "Nonsense, Beryl, Your mind is unstrung. You are not yoarself, man. I was, and am very fond of Isa Freer, She is a dear nice girl, as good as she is beautiful." " Good ; how can a flirt ba good ? " " There is some mistake Farquehar. Why do you not run up to town and call on her ? " " Call on a woman who has jilted me? Throw myeelf at her feet and conjure her to take me again. Searle, you do not understand me. [ would much rather murder her." "Then you have never really loved her. Believing that she loved you, tbera is not anything thit I would not have done to benefit her. 'Love 13 not love which alters, wuen it altera i>n finds.' " v Poetical folly. The man who loves deeply being beloved, hates deeply also if he be cast off." " Not if he be a true mm. I would not barm a single hair of Isabel's dear read." " And I could see it cut off, without a shudder or a pang." " Fa q lehar, you are mad." '• Wiih a mtdne s w&ich has me hod ia if," B ryl Faiquehar retorted savngely. "You wanted to see mr, I believe?" Mr Searle remarked in order to change the subj ct of conversation. "Yes; I am going to bat c a seance on Monday evening. Will you come? You are Bucb a capital medium, Sjarle." Young Searle smiled. "Am I?" be asked in a slightly incredulous tone. " You really think this?" "I do not thiuk at all about the matter ; I am certain. Why don't you c rry out everything I tell you ? Are you not, while under hypnotice influence, completely controlled by me 1" " Possibly, becauss I so will il " ■' Wiiat do you mean ?" " That when you send m? off I consent voluntarily to do all that you may suggest. Tne case might be d ffere.it, tbe tables veritably turned, *ere I determined to tdwa;t you suppose, for instance' that 1 made a compact with my o.va will that you should send ma to sleep but that in that sleep my wi 1 should ste-uh y resist yours." 1 I never knew a c-iee of th*t kind in all my experience. Idj not beli-jvo that the thing is possible." " Shall we try on Mjnday nigit ?" " With pleasure. Kight o'c ock the seance will take place. You will bo punctual ?" '•I siall be there precisely at eight, aiways allowing for tne variation of clocks.' 1 " I wonder what diabolical plot he has conceived in that wicked brain of his?" George Searle mused as he walked on to tbe railway station. "It is something detrimental to tbe well-being of either Isa or Fxank Curtis, and for her sake I will, with God's help, thwart him. Surely the power of good, when exerted, mast be greater than that of evil. However, I must not let him Bee my hand, Hd believes me 'o be weak of will and plastic in his hands as a piece of po>t;r's clay, to be moulded into any shape at the fancy of the craftsman. How little he understands the iron will which lurks beneath my facile ma .ner. By heavens, if he seeks to injure Isa I will fight him 10 the death — aye, I would take his life to preserve her's," Had any one of Mr Searle. 'a numerous acquaintances met him at the moment when he mentally expressed himself as above they would scarcely have recognised the haudsome, kindly face of tbe railway manager, so stern and set bad his features become. Beryl Farquehar's solil.quy, after he bad quitted young Searle, was widely distinct in its character from that of his friend. '■ Monday, that will suit me admirably," he Baid with a kind of fiendish glee. I bhall pn pare i.ma for Tuesday night's work, and

then— well, Frank Curtis may seek biß bride amoDg 1 wish him j>y of her I How lucky that Searle has been known to be sweet on the girl, and still more fortunate that he is manager of the Bouth Limpshire Railway. Everything fits in beaulifnlly. Ab, Madam Isa. when you flirted with Beryl Farquehar you clayed with edged tools ; however, it wr n't do for me to work in the dark. I mn*t discover if there is likely to be any change in her plaDs. Luckily, the mammon of iniquity has purchased for me the friendship of her maid, Facnie. To-day is Thursday. I must write to her at once. I sh .11 receive the answer Saturday or Monday at the htest, and in the evening George Searle and I will fight a batt'e cf wills. I would rather have made use rf any other tool, for I don'i dislike George, but the fates are against him. He is s capital medium, and a manager on the South Limeehire Railway, which means everything in this c<»pe." While Mr Farqnehar was concocting one of the most diabolical schemes which it was possible for a human being to conceivp, Dr Curtis was making his daily round among the sick and suffering, encouraged in toil, which to him was a labour of love by the sweet thought soon he would have ever with him as the guardian angel of his home, one who would deem it a privilege to share his busy and oftentimes hard life, one whose purposes were noble while btr heart was loving. He thought of her always, not only as the deareet, but as the best little woman in the world. On the day which succeeded that on which he had encountered Beryl Farquehar George Searle tapped him on the shoulder. " I hear you are going to be married," the manager said pleasantly. •• You have been correctly informed," the doctor replied gleefully ; " the days of my single blessedness are drawing to a close." " And so also are those of Miss Isa." " Isa. How came yon to know that it was Isa." " By means of the whispering of the proverbial little bird. " I perceive Mrs Grundy is busy. Well, the o'd lady can let her tongue wag to her heart's content for all Isa and I care." " I confess I was surprised." " Surprised ? Why ; because lam tired of going home to lonely meals and cold dinners." " No ; but that the lady should turn out to be Miss Isa." The physician smiled wickedly. •' Why cot Isa rather thaa another ?" he asked quickly. " True, still I sm puzzled at the ways of women." " Are you? Eh, Men 1 perhaps when lam married you will be less ao." Having given expression to this enigmatic statement, the doctor waived his hand pleasantly to his friend and paeaed on. " Remarkably close this morning for (Junie," reflected Mr Searle. " Another fool, who ib mixing up things," mused the doctor. " In a few daya we shall have a rechanffee of the fable of the three black crowß with an improvement in the way of a seance piquante, which I shall furnish when the afftir is well dished up ' fon my word, I begin to feel smart." Saturday morniog brought Mr F^rquehar a note fiom Fannie Childa, the purport of which ran thus : "My mistress's plans are unchanged. She will go to her aunt as arranged and get out at the Li me ton Station. Train leaves here at 5 30. You will forgive me, sir, making so bold as to interfere, but I think mistress is fretting at not hearing from you ; anyway she seems out of sorts, so do p'eaae meet her.— Your humble servant, " Fannie Childs." Beryl Farquehar crushed the note in bis hands until his nails almost entered the flesh. (To be continued )