The Green Mouse

by Robert W. Chambers

  V

  SACHARISSA

  _Treating of Certain Scientific Events Succeeding the Wedding Journey ofWilliam and Ethelinda_

  Sacharissa took the chair. She knew nothing about parliamentaryprocedure; neither did her younger, married sister, Ethelinda, nor therecently acquired family brother-in-law, William Augustus Destyn.

  "The meeting will come to order," said Sacharissa, and her brother-in-lawreluctantly relinquished his new wife's hand--all but one finger.

  "Miss Chairman," he began, rising to his feet.

  The chair recognized him and bit into a chocolate.

  "I move that our society be known as The Green Mouse, Limited."

  "Why limited?" asked Sacharissa.

  "Why not?" replied her sister, warmly.

  "Well, what does your young man mean by limited?"

  "I suppose," said Linda, "that he means it is to be the limit. Don't you,William?"

  "Certainly," said Destyn, gravely; and the motion was put and carried.

  "Rissa, dear!"

  The chair casually recognized her younger sister.

  "I propose that the object of this society be to make its members very,very wealthy."

  The motion was carried; Linda picked up a scrap of paper and began tofigure up the possibility of a new touring car.

  Then Destyn arose; the chair nodded to him and leaned back, playing atattoo with her pencil tip against her snowy teeth.

  He began in his easy, agreeable voice, looking across at his pretty wife:

  "You know, dearest--and Sacharissa, over there, is also aware--that, inthe course of my economical experiments in connection with your father'sWireless Trust, I have accidentally discovered how to utilize certainbrand-new currents of an extraordinary character."

  Sacharissa's expression became skeptical; Linda watched her husband inunfeigned admiration.

  "These new and hitherto unsuspected currents," continued Destyn modestly,"are not electrical but psychical. Yet, like wireless currents, theirflow eternally encircles the earth. These currents, I believe, have theirorigin in that great unknown force which, for lack of a better name, wecall fate, or predestination. And I am convinced that by intercepting oneof these currents it is possible to connect the subconsciouspersonalities of two people of opposite sex who, although ultimatelydestined for one another since the beginning of things, have, throughsuccessive incarnations, hitherto missed the final consummation--marriage!--which was the purpose of their creation."

  "Bill, dear," sighed Linda, "how exquisitely you explain the infinite."

  "Fudge!" said Sacharissa; "go on, William."

  "That's all," said Destyn. "We agreed to put in a thousand dollars apiecefor me to experiment with. I've perfected the instrument--here it is."

  He drew from his waistcoat pocket a small, flat jeweler's case and tookout a delicate machine resembling the complicated interior of a watch.

  "Now," he said, "with this tiny machine concealed in my waistcoat pocket,I walk up to any man and, by turning a screw like the stem of a watch,open the microscopical receiver. Into the receiver flow all psychicalemanations from that unsuspicious citizen. The machine is charged,positively. Then I saunter up to some man, place the instrument on atable--like that--touch a lever. Do you see that hair wire of Rosiumuncoil like a tentacle? It is searching, groping for the invisible,negative, psychical current which will carry its message."

  "To whom?" asked Sacharissa.

  "To the subconscious personality of the only woman for whom he wascreated, the only woman on earth whose psychic personality is properlyattuned to intercept that wireless greeting and respond to it."

  "How can you tell whether she responds?" asked Sacharissa, incredulously.He pointed to the hair wire of Rosium:

  "I watch that. The instant that the psychical current reaches and awakensher, crack!--a minute point of blue incandescence tips the tentacle. It'sdone; psychical communication is established. And that man and thatwoman, wherever they may be on earth, surely, inexorably, will be drawntogether, even from the uttermost corners of the world, to fulfill thatfor which they were destined since time began."

  There was a semirespectful silence; Linda looked at the little jewel-likemachine with a slight shudder; Sacharissa shrugged her young shoulders.

  "How much of this," said she, "is theory and how much is fact?--for,William, you always were something of a poet."

  "I don't know. A month ago I tried it on your father's footman, and in aweek he'd married a perfectly strange parlor maid."

  "Oh, they do such things, anyway," observed Sacharissa, and added,unconvinced: "Did that tentacle burn blue?"

  "It certainly did," said Destyn.

  Linda murmured: "I believe in it. Let's issue stock."

  "To issue stock is one thing," said Destyn, "to get people to buy it isanother. You and I may believe in Green Mouse, Limited, but the rest ofthe world is always from beyond the Mississippi."

  "The thing to do," said Linda, "is to prove your theory by practicing onpeople. They may not like the idea, but they'll be so grateful, whenhappily and unexpectedly married, that they'll buy stock."

  "Or give us testimonials," added Sacharissa, "that their bliss wasentirely due to a single dose of Green Mouse, Limited."

  "Don't be flippant," said Linda. "Think what William's invention means tothe world! Think of the time it will save young men barking up wrongtrees! Think of the trouble saved--no more doubt, no timidity, nohesitation, no speculation, no opposition from parents."

  "Any of our clients," added Destyn, "can be instantly switched on to aprivate psychical current which will clinch the only girl in the world.Engagements will be superfluous; those two simply can't get away fromeach other."

  "If that were true," observed Sacharissa, "it would be most unpleasant.There would be no fun in it. However," she added, smiling, "I don'tbelieve in your theory or your machine, William. It would take more thanthat combination to make me marry anybody."

  "Then we're not going to issue stock?" asked Linda. "I do need so manynew and expensive things."

  "We've got to experiment a little further, first," said Destyn.

  Sacharissa laughed: "You blindfold me, give me a pencil and lay theSocial Register before me. Whatever name I mark you are to experimentwith."

  "Don't mark any of our friends," began Linda.

  "How can I tell whom I may choose. It's fair for everybody. Come; do youpromise to abide by it--you two?"

  They promised doubtfully.

  "So do I, then," said Sacharissa. "Hurry up and blindfold me, somebody.The bus will be here in half an hour, and you know how father acts whenkept waiting."

  Linda tied her eyes with a handkerchief, gave her a pencil and seatedherself on an arm of the chair watching the pencil hovering over thepages of the Social Register which her sister was turning at hazard.

  "_This_ page," announced Sacharissa, "and _this_ name!" marking it with aquick stroke.

  Linda gave a stifled cry and attempted to arrest the pencil; but themoving finger had written.

  "Whom have I selected?" inquired the girl, whisking the handkerchief fromher eyes. "What are you having a fit about, Linda?"

  And, looking at the page, she saw that she had marked her own name.

  "We must try it again," said Destyn, hastily. "That doesn't count. Tieher up, Linda."

  "But--that wouldn't be fair," said Sacharissa, hesitating whether to takeit seriously or laugh. "We all promised, you know. I ought to abide bywhat I've done."

  "Don't be silly," said Linda, preparing the handkerchief and laying itacross her sister's forehead.

  Sacharissa pushed it away. "I can't break my word, even to myself," shesaid, laughing. "I'm not afraid of that machine."

  "Do you mean to say you are willing to take silly chances?" asked Linda,uneasily. "I believe in William's machine whether you do or not. And Idon't care to have any of the family experimented with."

  "If I were willing to try it on others it would be cowardl
y for me toback out now," said Sacharissa, forcing a smile; for Destyn's and Linda'sseriousness was beginning to make her a trifle uncomfortable.

  "Unless you want to marry somebody pretty soon you'd better not risk it,"said Destyn, gravely.

  "You--you don't particularly care to marry anybody, just now, do you,dear?" asked Linda. "No," replied her sister, scornfully.

  There was a silence; Sacharissa, uneasy, bit her underlip and sat lookingat the uncanny machine.

  She was a tall girl, prettily formed, one of those girls with long limbs,narrow, delicate feet and ankles.

  That sort of girl, when she also possesses a mass of chestnut hair, asweet mouth and gray eyes, is calculated to cause trouble.

  And there she sat, one knee crossed over the other, slim foot swinging,perplexed brows bent slightly inward.

  "I can't see any honorable way out of it," she said resolutely. "I saidI'd abide by the blindfolded test."

  "When we promised we weren't thinking of ourselves," insisted Ethelinda.

  "That doesn't release us," retorted her Puritan sister.

  "Why?" demanded Linda. "Suppose, for example, your pencil had markedWilliam's name! That would have been im--immoral!"

  "_Would_ it?" asked Sacharissa, turning her honest, gray eyes on herbrother-in-law.

  "I don't believe it would," he said; "I'd only be switched on to Linda'scurrent again." And he smiled at his wife.

  Sacharissa sat thoughtful and serious, swinging her foot.

  "Well," she said, at length, "I might as well face it at once. If there'sanything in this instrument we'll all know it pretty soon. Turn on yourreceiver, Billy."

  "Oh," cried Linda, tearfully, "don't you do it, William!"

  "Turn it on," repeated Sacharissa. "I'm not going to be a coward andbreak faith with myself, and you both know it! If I've got to go throughthe silliness of love and marriage I might as well know who the bandarlogis to be.... Anyway, I don't really believe in this thing.... I can'tbelieve in it.... Besides, I've a mind and a will of my own, and I fancyit will require more than amateur psychical experiments to change either.Go on, Billy."

  "You mean it?" he asked, secretly gratified.

  "Certainly," with superb affectation of indifference. And she rose andfaced the instrument.

  Destyn looked at his wife. He was dying to try it.

  "Will!" she exclaimed, "suppose we are not going to like Rissa's possiblef--fiance! Suppose father doesn't like him!"

  "You'll all probably like him as well as I shall," said her sisterdefiantly. "Willy, stop making frightened eyes at your wife and startyour infernal machine!"

  There was a vicious click, a glitter of shifting clockwork, a snap, andit was done.

  "Have you now, _theoretically_, got my psychical current bottled up?" sheasked disdainfully. But her lip trembled a little.

  He nodded, looking very seriously at her.

  "And now you are going to switch me on to this unknown gentleman'spsychical current?"

  "Don't let him!" begged Linda. "Billy, dear, how _can_ you when nobodyhas the faintest idea who the creature may turn out to be!"

  "Go ahead!" interrupted her sister, masking misgiving under a carelesssmile.

  Click! Up shot the glittering, quivering tentacle of Rosium, vibratingfor a few moments like a thread of silver. Suddenly it was tipped with ablue flash of incandescence.

  "Oh, dear! Oh, dear! There he is!" cried Linda, excitedly. "Rissy! Rissy,little sister, _what_ have you done?"

  "Nothing," she said, catching her breath. "I don't believe that flashmeans anything. I don't feel a bit different--not the least bit. I feelperfectly well and perfectly calm. I don't love anybody and I'm not goingto love anybody--until I want to, and that will probably never happen."

  However, she permitted her sister to take her in her arms and pet her. Itwas rather curious how exceedingly young and inexperienced she felt. Shefound it agreeable to be fussed over and comforted and cradled, and for afew moments she suffered Linda's solicitude and misgivings in silence.After a while, however, she became ashamed.

  "Nothing is going to happen, Linda," she said, looking dreamily up at theceiling; "don't worry, dear; I shall escape the bandarlog."

  "If something doesn't happen," observed Destyn, pocketing his instrument,"the Green Mouse, Limited, will go into liquidation with no liabilitiesand no assets, and there'll be no billions for you or for me or foranybody."

  "William," said his wife, "do you place a low desire for money beforeyour own sister-in-law's spiritual happiness?"

  "No, darling, of course not."

  "Then you and I had better pray for the immediate bankruptcy of the GreenMouse."

  Her husband said, "By all means," without enthusiasm, and looked out ofthe window. "Still," he added, "I made a happy marriage. I'm for weddingbells every time. Sacharissa will like it, too. I don't know why you andI shouldn't be enthusiastic optimists concerning wedded life; I can't seewhy we shouldn't pray for Sacharissa's early marriage."

  "William!"

  "Yes, darling."

  "You _are_ considering money before my sister's happiness!"

  "But in her case I don't see why we can't conscientiously consider both."

  Linda cast one tragic glance at her material husband, pushed her sisteraside, arose and fled. After her sped the contrite Destyn; a distant doorshut noisily; all the elements had gathered for the happy, first quarrelof the newly wedded.

  "Fudge," said Sacharissa, walking to the window, slim hands claspedloosely behind her back.