by Fergus Hume
Pausing at the door, Mrs. Jarsell, still on guard with the lancet, looked at him sorrowfully. “You can never escape,” she said brokenly, “try as you may, for the house is guarded by four men, who are sworn to obey Miss Armour.”
“Queen Beelzebub, you mean,” said Halliday with a shrug.
“I wish I had never heard the name,” cried Mrs. Jarsell with a sob.
“I quite believe that. I am very sorry for you.”
“You have every need to be. Thanks to you, we are all caught in a trap, and there is no means of escape.”
“Really. I thought that Miss Armour—”
Mrs. Jarsell shuddered. “she has an idea, but I hope it will not be necessary for her to carry out her idea. After all, things may not be so bad as they seem, Mr. Halliday.”
“If you mean the police, I am afraid they are,” he retorted with another shrug and with great emphasis; “by this time my friend Laurance has informed the Scotland Yard authorities of what we know.”
“What do you know?” demanded Mrs. Jarsell, with a gasp, and she was forced to lean against the door for support.
“Everything,” said Dan, briefly, “so with your permission I shall have my breakfast, Mrs. Jarsell,” and he began to eat with a good appetite.
“Oh, how can you; how can you?” cried the big woman, convulsively, “think of the danger you stand in!”
“I shall escape!”
“Escape, and from Queen Beelzebub? Nobody has ever escaped her.”
“I shall, and you will be the means of my escaping.”
“Me!” Mrs. Jarsell used bad grammar in her astonishment, “how can I—”
“That is your affair,” broke in Halliday, pouring out the coffee.
“Why should I help you to escape?”
“Because you are a woman and not a fiend. Miss Armour is one, I admit, but I can see very plainly that you are a most unwilling accomplice.”
“I am, I am,” cried Mrs. Jarsell, vehemently, “years ago I was a decent woman, a good woman. She came into my life again and poisoned my existence. She worked on my jealousy and on my fear and—”
“I know; I know. She enabled you to get rid of your husband.”
“Ah!” Mrs. Jarsell reeled back as though she had been struck, “she told you that, did she?”
“She told me everything.”
“Then you will never escape; she would never let you go free with the knowledge you have of her secrets. You are doomed. As to my husband,” Mrs. Jarsell appeared to be speaking more to herself than to Dan, “he was a wicked and cruel wretch. He starved me, he beat me, he was unfaithful to me, and led me such a life as no woman could endure. Miss Armour showed me how to rid myself of him, when I was distraught with misery and passion. I thought it was sympathy with me that made her help me. It was not. All she desired was to gain some hold over me, and use my money for her own vile ends.”
“You don’t appear to love her,” said Halliday, coolly.
The woman closed the door, placed her back against it and clenched her hands in a cold fury. “I hate her; I loathe her; I detest her!” she cried, in a guttural voice, evidently consumed with rage. “For years and years and years I have been her slave. After I killed my husband, under her directions—although I don’t deny but what he deserved death—there was no retreat for me, as she could have, and would have, informed the police. I should have been hanged. She made use of her power to use my money in order to create this wicked society. It murders and slays and blackmails and—”
“I know; I know,” said Dan soothingly, “she told me all about it.”
“Then you know how evil she is. I have had to commit crimes from which my better self shrank at her command.”
“Such as the murder of Durwin,” put in Dan, quickly.
“That is only one out of many. Deeper and deeper I have sunk into the mire and now the end has come. I am glad of it.”
“Why not turn king’s evidence, and denounce this woman and her gang? Then you would be pardoned.”
“There is no pardon for my wickedness,” said Mrs. Jarsell, in a sombre tone, “I have sown, and I must reap as I have sown. It is too late. I know that your friend will come with the police. They will find the whole wicked lot of criminals here, which constitute the Society of Flies.”
“Ah! those telegrams?”
“Yes. I sent off thirty last night, for now Penn and Curberry are dead there are just thirty members. To-day all will come up since the danger to everyone is so great. I sent the wires last night, and I am confident that the members have started for Sheepeak this morning. This afternoon every one will be under this roof. All the worse for you.”
Dan quailed. “Does she really mean to torture me?” he asked nervously, and it was little to be wondered at that such a prospect did make him feel sick.
“Yes, she does,” rejoined Mrs. Jarsell, gloomily, “when the members find that there is no escape, they will be delighted to see the man who had brought this danger upon them mutilated and done to death by inches.”
“A pleasant set of people,” muttered Dan, bracing himself to meet the worst, “but I think you would not care to see me tortured.”
“No, I wouldn’t. You are brave, and young, and clever, and handsome—”
“And,” added Dan, quickly, thinking of a means to move her to help him, “I am to marry Lillian Moon. Surely you have some sympathy with me and with her?”
“Supposing I have, what can I do?”
“Help me to escape,” said Dan, persuasively.
“It’s impossible,” she growled, and went suddenly away, closing the door after her with a bang that sounded in Dan’s ears like his death-warrant.
All the same, with the courage of a brave nature, and the hopefulness inseparable from youth, he went on with his meal hoping for the best. Mrs. Jarsell was moved by his plight; he saw that, and, deeply stained as she was with compulsory crimes, she might think to atone for them by doing one good act. At the eleventh hour she might set him free, and undoubtedly she would think over what he had said. This woman, unlike the others, was not entirely evil, and the seeds of good in her breast might bring forth repentance and consequent help. Dan knew that he was clinging to a straw, but in his present dilemma there was nothing else to cling to.
After breakfast he lay down again, and again began to smoke. For hours he waited to hear his fate, sometimes stretched on his bed, sometimes seated in the chair and occasionally walking up and down the confined space of his cell. He could not disguise from himself that things were desperate. His sole hope of escape lay with Mrs. Jarsell, and that was but a slight one. Even though her remorse might wish to aid him, her terror of Queen Beelzebub might be too strong to let her move in the matter. Halliday was uncommonly brave, and extraordinarily hopeful, yet the perspiration beaded his forehead, and he shivered at the prospect of torture. Without doubt he was in hell, and the devils presided over by the infernal queen were waiting to inflict pains and penalties on him. It terrified him to think that—
“But this won’t do,” said Dan to himself, as he heard the key grate in the lock late in the afternoon. “I must pull myself together and smile. Whatever these beasts do to me, I must die game. But—but—Lillian.”
With a quiet smile he turned to greet Mrs. Jarsell, who did not look him in the face, nor did she even speak. With a gesture, he was invited to come out and for the moment had a wild idea of escape as soon as he reached the upper portion of that wicked house. But the sight of the lancet in her hand prevented him from making a dash for liberty. He knew that the merest scratch would make him a corpse, so it was not worth while to risk the attempt. Only when he was at the door of the barbaric sitting-room he whispered to Mrs. Jarsell, “You will help me to escape. I know you will. Even now you are thinking of ways and means.”
“Perhaps,” she gasped, in a low whisper, then hastily flung open the door and pushed him into the room.
With that word of hope ringing in his ears, Halliday f
aced his judges with a smile on his lips. The room was filled with people who greeted his entrance with a roar of anger. He was spat upon, struck at, kicked and shaken by those despairing creatures whom he had brought to book. Queen Beelzebub, seated in her big chair, at the end of the apartment, smiled viciously when she saw his reception, but did not interfere for some moments. Then she waved her hand.
“Let him be; let him be,” she said, in her malicious silvery voice, “you shall have all the revenge you desire. But let everything be done in order.”
Left alone by the furies, Halliday stood with his back to the door, and with Mrs. Jarsell on guard beside him. He glanced round at the pallid faces and thought that he had never seen such an assemblage of terror. There were old men, and young men, mixed with women of the higher and lower classes. Some were well-dressed, while others were badly clothed; some were handsome and others were ugly. But one and all bore the mark of despair written on their white faces and in their agonised eyes. It was like a gathering of the damned and only the individual who had damned them, one and all, seemed to be unmoved. Queen Beelzebub appeared calm and unshaken, looking at her prisoner quietly and speaking in a tranquil manner. Dan found himself wondering if this creature was indeed a human being or a fiend.
“We are all here,” said Miss Armour, in a dignified manner, and waving her hand again, this time to indicate the assembly; “this is the Society of Flies which you see face to face for the first and the last time. You have brought us together for an unpleasant purpose—”
“To torture and murder me, I suppose,” said Halliday, with studied insolence, and bracing his courage with the memory of Mrs. Jarsell’s whispered word.
“No. That part of our business is pleasant,” Queen Beelzebub assured him. “I look forward to enjoyment when I see you writhing in torment. But the unpleasant purpose is the disbanding of our society.”
A wail of terror arose from those present. Some dropped on their knees and beat the ground with their foreheads; others stood stiff and terror-struck, while a few dropped limply on the floor, grovelling in despair. Since all these people were criminals, who had inflicted death and sorrow on others, it was strange how they hated a dose of their own medicine. Even in the midst of his fears Dan found himself wondering at the illogicality of the degenerate mob, who expected to do evil and yet enjoy peace. Then he remembered that cruelty always means cowardice, and no longer marvelled at the expression of dread and fear on every ghastly face.
“How I propose to disband our society,” went on Queen Beelzebub, quite unmoved by that agonised wail, “there is no need for you to know. It may be that we shall break up, and each one will go here, there, and the other place. It is certain that we cannot keep together since I have received news that the police are after us.”
“Headed by Laurance.”
“Exactly. Headed by your friend Laurance. I should like to punish him, but there is no time, so you will have to bear his punishment as well as your own, Mr. Halliday. What have you to say why we should not torture you and kill you, and force you to die by inches?”
Fists were shaken, feet were stamped, and a dozen voices asked the same question. Dan looked round at his foes calmly, and shrugged his shoulders in contempt. There was a burst of jeering laughter. “You won’t look like that,” said Queen Beelzebub, significantly, “when—” she broke off with a dreadful laugh and glanced at the fire-place.
There Dan saw irons of curious shape, pincers and files and tongs, and what was worst of all, in the centre of the flames reddened a circle of steel. He could not help turning pale as he guessed that this would be placed on his head, and again he comforted himself with the memory that Mrs. Jarsell, even at the eleventh hour, might help him. When he changed colour there was a second burst of laughter, and Halliday glared fiercely round.
“Are you human beings or fiends?” he asked, “to think of torturing me. Kill me if you will, but shame as men and women should prevent you from mutilating a man, who has done you no harm.”
“No harm,” it was Queen Beelzebub who spoke while her subjects snarled like ill-fed beasts, “you dare to say that, when you have brought us to this pass?”
“I acted in the cause of law and order,” said Dan boldly.
“We despise law and order.”
“Yet you are now being brought to book by what you despise,” retorted the prisoner, and again there came that unhuman snarl.
“The more you speak in that way the worse it will be for you,” said Miss Armour, coldly, “yet you can escape some tortures if you will tell us all how you came to learn the truth about us?”
“I don’t care a damn about your tortures,” said Dan, valiantly, “and I will explain what you ask just to show that clever as your organisation is, it cannot escape discovery. Nor has it. You are all snared here like rats in a trap, and should you venture out of this house you will be caught by the authorities to be hanged as you deserve.”
A howl of rage went up, and Queen Beelzebub waved her hand once more. “All in good time,” she said quietly, “let us hear what he has to explain.”
“It was the Sumatra scent on the body of Sir Charles Moon which put me on the track,” declared Dan, folding his arms. “I traced it to Penn, who told me a lie about it. I believed him at the moment and disbelieved him when I smelt the same perfume in this very room.”
“Here?” questioned Miss Armour, and for the first time her face wore an expression of dismay, as if she had been caught napping.
“Yes. If you remember, I spoke about your cards being scented. You told me a lie about it. But that clue connected you with Moon’s murder. I watched you and I watched Mrs. Jarsell. I saw her face in a cinematograph which was taken on the day of the London to York race when Durwin was murdered.”
“Oh!” Mrs. Jarsell gasped and moaned, and Dan could hear some of the men in impotent fury grind their teeth. Queen Beelzebub was as calm as ever.
“Penn told me much when I was taking him for that flight in which I said I would throw him overboard unless he confessed. Then I was taken to the headquarters of your society in London, and again smelt the perfume. I believed that Queen Beelzebub was Mrs. Jarsell, and was astonished when I found Miss Armour playing that part. Penn’s confession was not all destroyed, and my friend Laurance has by this time shown what remains of it to the police.”
“And the telegram which Curberry received?” demanded Queen Beelzebub.
“Laurance sent that in vague terms so as to frighten Curberry. It did, and he committed suicide after declaring to me that he murdered Penn by your damned order, Miss Armour. Then—”
“Thank you, we know the rest,” she said in a quiet tone, which was infinitely sinister in its suggestion, “you followed me in the aeroplane, and smashed us both up.”
“He broke my machines, the two of them,” said a hoarse voice of wrath, and Dan looked sideways to see Vincent glaring at him furiously.
“Well, you have fallen into your own trap,” said Queen Beelzebub, savagely. “I caught you, and I hold you, and after we have had a conference as to how you will be tortured, you will expiate your crimes.”
“Crimes,” echoed Dan, “that’s a nice way to put the matter. I have done a service to the State by ridding the world of all you devils. You can’t escape hanging, not one of you,” and he looked defiantly round the room.
“We shall all escape,” said Queen Beelzebub quietly, “those who think that they will not, have no trust in me.” She rose and stretched out her arms. “I have never failed you; never, never. I shall not fail you now. I swear that not a single one of you will suffer on the gallows.”
Apparently her sway over the society was great and they believed that she could accomplish even impossibilities, for the faces of all cleared as if by magic. The look of dread, the expression of terror disappeared, and there only remained an uneasy feeling, as though none felt themselves quite safe until Queen Beelzebub performed her promise. For his part, Dan believed that the woman was lyi
ng, as he could not see how any could win free of the net which was even now being cast over the house.
“You are a set of fools, as well as a pack of wolves,” cried the young man, in a vehement manner, “the police know too much for you to escape them. My friend Laurance will lead them here; he knows this house; you are safely trapped, say what that woman will. Thieves, rogues, liars, murderers—”
“Lawyers, doctors, actors, soldiers,” scoffed Queen Beelzebub, “they all belong to the Society of Flies, and you can see them here, Mr. Halliday. Some of those ladies are in society; some are in shops; some are married, and others are not. But both men and women have acted for the good of the society, which I have founded to give each and every one what he or she desires.”
“You are all devils,” raged Dan, his wrath getting the better of his discretion, “red-handed criminals. The only decent one amongst you is Mrs. Jarsell.”
“I am decent?” gasped Mrs. Jarsell, looking up surprised.
“Yes. Because you were driven by that fiend,” he pointed to the smiling Miss Armour, “to compulsory crimes. You feel remorse—”
“Does she,” cried Queen Beelzebub, gaily, “and what good does that do, my very dear Eliza, when you know what you have to do?”
Mrs. Jarsell looked at her companion with a long and deadly look of hate, such as Dan had never thought a face was capable of expressing. “I loathe and detest you,” she said, slowly, “but for you, I would have been a good woman. I have been driven to sin by you.”
“And I shall still drive you,” shouted Queen Beelzebub, furiously; “take that man away until we decide what tortures we will inflict on him. Then when he is dead and punished for his meddling, you will either do what I have commanded you to do, or you shall be tortured also!”