In White Raiment

by William Le Queux

grunts, that he was utterlyconfounded. He, who had sneered at the weird story, like myself was nowconvinced that some strange, unaccountable mystery was connected withthat room.

  To enter, apparently produced no ill effect; but to leave broughtswiftly and surely upon the fated intruder the icy touch of death. Ihad laughed the thing to scorn, yet within a few seconds had myselffallen a victim. Some deep, inscrutable mystery was there, but what itwas neither of us could tell.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN.

  HOEFER'S STRANGE METHODS.

  Twenty or thirty minutes elapsed before I regained my power of speech.The drugs administered by Hoefer fortunately had the effect desired.His sleepy eyes beamed through his great spectacles as he watched withsatisfaction the stimulating consequence of the injection. He dissolvedin water a tiny red tabloid, which he took from a small glass tube in acase he carried, and ordered me to drink it. This I did, finding itexceedingly bitter, and wondering what it was.

  I asked no questions, however. He was a man who had made manyextraordinary discoveries, all of which he had kept a secret. In themedical profession he was acknowledged to be one of the greatest livingtoxicologists, and his opinions were often sought by the various medicalcentres. Indeed, as every medical man knows, the name of Hoefer issynonymous with all that is occult in the science of toxicology, and theantidotes he has given to the world, from time to time, are as curiousas they are drastic in effect.

  "Have you experienced any strange sensation?" was my first question ofhim.

  "No, none," he answered. "Ach! it is all very curious--very curiousindeed! I have never before seen similar cases. There is actual _rigormortis_. The symptoms so closely resemble death that one might soeasily mistake. We must investigate further. It cannot be that thereis any lethal gas in the room, for the window is wide open; and, again,while actually in the room no ill effect is felt. It is only onemerging."

  "Yes," I answered. "I was struck almost at the instant I came out. Itwas as sudden as an electric shock. I cannot account for it in theleast; can you?"

  "No," he answered; "it is a mystery. But I like mysteries; they alwaysinterest me. There is so much to learn that one is constantly makingfresh discoveries."

  "Then you will try and solve this?" urged her ladyship, after expressingsatisfaction at my recovery.

  "Of course, madam, with your permission," he answered. "It is a complexcase. When we have solved it we shall then know how to treat the younglady."

  "And how do you intend to begin?" I inquired, raising myself, notwithout considerable difficulty.

  "By going into the room alone," he answered briefly.

  "You, too, will risk your life?" I exclaimed. "Is it wise?"

  "Research is always wisdom," he responded. Then, finding that I wasrecovering rapidly from the seizure, he gave me some technical directionhow to treat him in case he lost consciousness.

  He arranged the tiny syringe, and the various drugs and tabloids, uponthe hall table, and then, with a final examination of them, he openedthe door of the fatal room and entered, leaving us standing together onthe threshold.

  Walking to the window he looked out, afterwards making several tours ofthe room in search of its secret. He, however, found nothing. The airwas pure as London air can be on a summer's night, and, as far as eitherof us could discern, there was nothing unusual in the department. Thedoor swung to halfway, and we heard him growling and grunting within.He remained in the room for perhaps five minutes, then emerged.

  Scarcely, however, had he crossed the threshold when he lifted his leftarm suddenly, crying--

  "Ach, Gott! I am seized. The injection--quick!"

  His fleshy face went pale, and I saw by its contortions that the leftside had become paralysed. But with a quick movement I pushed up hiscoat-sleeve, and ran the needle beneath the skin.

  His teeth were closed tightly as he watched me.

  "It is almost unaccountable," he gasped in an awed voice, when I hadwithdrawn the needle after the injection. "I was cold as ice--just asthough my legs were in a refrigerator!"

  "Your feet are benumbed?" I said.

  "Yes," he responded. "The sensation is just exactly as you havedescribed it. Like the touch of an icy hand."

  I felt his pulse; it was intermittent and feeble. I told him so.

  "Look at your watch, and in three minutes give me the second injection.There's ether there in the larger bottle."

  I glanced at the time, and, holding my watch in my hand, waited untilthe three minutes had passed. We were silent, all three of us, until Itook up a piece of cotton wool, and, saturating it with ether, nibbed itcarefully on the flesh. Then I gave him the second injection.

  "Good!" he said approvingly. "It acts marvellously. I shall be betterin a few moments. Did you feel your head reeling and your strengthfailing?"

  I responded in the affirmative.

  "And so did I," he answered. "The seizure is sharp and sudden, thebrain becoming paralysed. That is the condition of the young lady:paralysis of the brain and heart, coma and collapse."

  "But the cause?" I asked.

  He was pale as death, yet he took no notice of his own condition.

  "The cause?" he echoed, in his deep guttural German. "It is for us todiscover that. I have never met a more interesting case than this."

  "Yes, it's interesting enough," I admitted; "but recollect the lady. Wemust not neglect her."

  "We are not neglecting her," he responded reprovingly. "Now that weknow something of the symptoms, we may be able to save her. Before, wewere working entirely in the dark."

  "But you are still ill," I said.

  "No, no," he laughed; "it is nothing." And he passed across thethreshold and stood just within the room again.

  Apparently he thought that the seat of the mystery lay in the doorway.Then he rejoined us, but felt no further symptoms.

  There was evidently some uncanny but unseen influence contained withinthat apartment, but what it was we could not discover. All that wasplain to us was the fact that any person emerging from it must be struckdown as by an ice-cold hand.

  Together we returned to the boudoir, and, to our satisfaction, saw anunmistakable sign that life was not entirely extinct. My love hadmoved!

  "Good!" exclaimed the old German. "I go again to get something else."And, without further word, he crammed his shabby soft felt hat upon hishead and hurried out.

  "The mystery of that room is most extraordinary," I remarked to herladyship when we were alone. "Has the influence ever been felt therebefore?"

  "Not to my knowledge," she responded. "Never before to-night."

  "Never before the entrance of that strange woman?" I suggested.

  "Exactly! It is an absolute mystery."

  "And you have no knowledge of whom that person was?"

  "None whatever."

  "Not even a surmise?" I inquired rather dubiously.

  My thoughts reverted to what I had overheard regarding the unwelcomepresence in London of that woman known as "La Gioia."

  "No, not even a surmise," she answered.

  Should I tell her of my own suspicions? No. To keep my knowledge tomyself and seek to discover the key to the problem was my best course.

  "And your cousin was with her for twenty minutes, you say?"

  "Yes, about that time," she replied. "I did not hurry to finish mydinner as I believed Beryl was talking with the dressmaker regardingsome alterations to an evening bodice which she had mentioned to me.They did not interest me, therefore I sat awaiting her return."

  "And by that time this woman, whoever she was, had already slipped outof the house."

  "She must have done so. No one heard her leave."

  "Let us hope that Hoefer will solve the enigma. If any one is able, heis."

  "But first urge him to bring poor Beryl back to consciousness," shesaid, turning to gaze upon the still inanimate form of the woman Iadored.

  At that moment the German retur
ned, puffing and grunting, for he hadhurried, and the perspiration was rolling off his brow.

  He took several little packets from his pocket, and, seating himself atthe table, commenced to carefully prepare another solution, theingredients of which were unknown to me. Some of the drugs I knew bytheir appearance, of course, but others were white powders, impossibleto recognise.

  Again he administered an injection into the arm of my prostrate lovedone, and then we all three stood in silence watching for the effect.

  Hoefer gave vent to a further grunt of confidence, glanced at his watch,and turned back to the table to rearrange his array of drugs. I sawthat the little pocket-case lying on the table contained about