nfidence, unsettled  too,  and
liable to be continually changing their plans, but most of them,  of
course,  have some balancing factor. Mocata gets all his imaginative
and  psychic qualities from the Moon, but his birthday is April 24th
which adds up to six, and six being the number of Venus, he is  very
strongly  influenced by that planet. Venus people are extremely  mag
netic.  They  attract  others  easily  and  are  usually  loved  and
worshipped  by  those under them, but very often they are  obstinate
and unyielding. It is that in his nature which balances the weakness
of the Moon and makes him so determined in carrying out his plans.'
  'What  do  I  come  under?" Rex asked with sudden  curiosity.  'My
names are so short that I'm generally known by all three.'
  Again  Tanith took the paper and quickly worked out the equivalent
of his name.

	R=2
	E=5
	X=5
	--- = 12
	V=6
	A=1
	N=5
	--- = 12
	R=2
	Y=1
	N=5
     --- = 8
          ---
           32 and 3+2=5

  She  looked at him sharply. 'Yes, I am not surprised.  Five  is  a
fortunate  and magic number which comes under Mercury.  Such  people
are  versatile  and  mercurial,  quick  in  thought  and  decisions,
impulsive  in  action and detest plodding work.  They  make  friends
easily  with every type and have a wonderful elasticity of character
which  can recover at once from any setback. Even though  I  do  not
know  you well, I am certain that all this is true of you. I  expect
you  are  a born speculator as well and every type of risk  attracts
you.'
  'That  certainly is so,' Rex grinned as she went on  thoughtfully:
'But  I  should have thought that there was a good bit  of  the  Sun
about you because you have such strong individuality and you are  so
definite in your views.'
  'I was born on the 19th of August if that gives you a line.'
  She  smiled.  'Yes, 19 is 1+9 which equals ten and 1+0  equals  1,
the  number of the Sun. So I was right, and it is that part  of  you
which I think attracts me so much. Sun and Moon people always get on
well together.'
  'I  don't  know  anything about that,' Rex said softly.  'But  I'm
dead sure I could never see too much of you.'
  She  lifted her eyes from his quickly as though almost  in  fright
and to break the pause that followed he asked: 'What number is Simon
associated with?'
  'He  was  born  under Saturn as we know only  too  well,  and  his
occult  number is certain to be the Saturrdan eight,' Tanith replied
promptly, scribbling the name and numbers on the paper.


           S=3
           I=1
           M=4
           O=7
           N=5
           --- = 20
           A=1
           R=2
           O=7
           N=5
           --- = 15
                 --
                 35 and 3+5=8

    'By  Jove!  That's queer,' Rex murmured as he saw  the  name
worked out quite simple to the number she had predicted.
    'He  is  a  typical number eight person too,' she  went  on.
'They  have deep, intense natures and are often lonely at  heart
because they are frequently misunderstood. Sometimes they play a
most  important  part  on  life's  stage  and  nearly  always  a
fatalistic  one.  They are almost fanatically loyal  to  persons
they  are  fond  of  or causes they take up,  and  carry  things
through  regardless  of making enemies. It is  not  a  fortunate
number  to  be  born  under as a rule, and such  people  usually
become great successes or great failures.'
    Rex  drew the paper towards him, and taking the pencil  from
her  began to work out for himself the numerical symbols  of  De
Richleau, Richard Eaton and Marie Lou.

                 R=2
                 I=1
  D=4            C=3
  E=5            H=5
  --- = 9        A=1            M=4
  R=2            R=2            A=1
  I=1            D=4            R=2
  C=3            --- = 18       I=1
  H=5            E=5            E=5
  L=3            A=1            --- = 13
  E=5            T=4            L=3
  A=1            O=7            O=7
  U=6            N=5            U=6
  --- = 26       --- = 22       --- = 16
        --            --              --
        35 = 8         40 = 4         29 = 11 = 2

  'This is amazing,' Tanith exclaimed when he had finished.  The
Duke  not  only  comes  under the eight like  Simon,  but  their
compound number-thirty-five-is the same as well. He should  have
immence  influence  with Simon through that  affinity,  just  as
Mocata  has  over  me, and the nine in his name  gives  him  the
additional qualities of the born leader, independence,  success,
courage and determination. If anyone in the world can save  your
friend,  that extraordinary combination of trength and  sympathy
will enable De Richleau to do so.'
  'But  d'you see that the names Richleau and Ryn boil  down  to
eight as well, linking us both with Simon. That's strange, isn't
it?'
  'Not altogether. Any numerologist who knew of your devotion to
each  other  would  expect to find some such  affinity  in  your
numbers.  You  will  see, too, that your other  friend,  Richard
Eaton, is a four person, which accounts for his sympathy towards
you.  The  eight  is formed by two halves or circles  and,  four
being  the half of eight, persons with those numbers will always
incline towards each other. Then his wife, like myself, is a two
which is again linked to all four of you because it is divisible
into eight.'
  Rex  nodded. 'It's the strangest mystery I've met up  with  in
the  whale  of a while. There isn't a single odd number  in  the
whole series, but tell me, would this combination of eights be a
good thing d'you reckon-or no?'
  'It is very, very potent,' she said slowly. '888 is the number
given to Our Lord by students of Occultism in his aspect as  the
Redeemer. Add them together and you get twenty-four. 2+4=6 which
is  the number of Venus, the representative of Love. That is the
complete opposite of 666 which Revelations give as the number of
the  Beast.  The  three sixes add to eighteen,  and  1+8-9,  the
symbol of Mars-De Richleau's secondary quality which makes him a
great  leader  and  fighter, but in its  pure  state  represents
Destruction, Force and War.'
  At  the  mention of War, Rex's whole mind was jerked from  the
quiet,  comfortable,  old-fashioned  inn  parlour  to  a  mental
picture  of De Richleau as he had stood only a few hours  before
with  the  light of dawn breaking over Stonehenge. He saw  again
the Duke's grey face and unnaturally bright eyes as he spoke  of
the  Talisman of Set; that terrible gateway out of Hell  through
which, if Mocata found it, those dread four horsemen would  come
riding,  invisible but all-powerful, to poison the  thoughts  of
peace-loving  people  and  manipulate  unscrupulous   statesmen,
influencing them to plunge Europe into fresh calamity.
  Not  only  had  they  to fight Mocata for Simon's  safety  and
Tanith's  as well but, murder though it might be to people  lack
ing  in  understanding, they had to kill him even if  they  were
forced to sacrifice themselves.
  With  sudden clarity Rex saw that Tanith's appeal  for  protec
tion  offered  a golden, opportunity to carry the war  into  the
enemy's  camp.  She was so certain that Mocata would  appear  to
claim  her,  and  De Richleau had stated positively  that  while
daylight lasted the Satanist was no more powerful than any other
thug.
  'Why,'  Rex  thought,  with a quick tightening  of  his  great
muscles,  'should he not seize Mocata by force when he  arrived;
then send for the Duke to decide what they should do with him.'
  Only  one  difficulty seemed to stand in  the  way.  He  could
hardly  attack a visitor and hold him prisoner in The  Pride  of
Peacocks.'  Mr.  Wilkes  might object to  that.  But  apparently
Mocata  could find Tanith with equal ease wherever she  was,  so
she  must be got out of the inn to some place where the business
could be done without interference.
  For  a moment the thought of Cardinals Folly entered his  mind
again, but if he once took Tanith there, they could hardly  turn
her  out later on, and she might become a highly dangerous focus
in  the  coming night; besides, Mocata might not care to risk  a
visit  to the house in daylight with the odds so heavily against
him, and that would ruin the whole plan. Then he remembered  the
woods  at  the bottom of the garden behind the inn. If  he  took
Tanith  there and Mocata did turn up he would have  a  perfectly
free  hand in dealing with him. He glanced across at Tanith  and
suggested casually: 'What about a little stroll?'
  She shook her fair head, and lay back with half-closed eyes in
the  arm-chair. 'I would love to, but I am so terribly tired.  I
had no proper sleep you know last night.'
  He  nodded. 'We didn't get much either. We were sitting around
Stonehenge  the best part of the time till dawn. After  that  we
went  into Amesbury where the Duke took a room. The people there
must have thought us a queer party-one room for three people and
beds  being specially shifted into it at half-past seven in  the
morning, but he was insistent that we shouldn't leave Simon  for
a  second.  So we had about four hours’ shut-eye on those  three
beds,  all  tied together by our wrists and ankles; but  it's  a
glorious afternoon and the woods round here are just lovely  now
it's  May.' 'If you like,' She rose sleepily. 'I dare not.go  to
sleep  in  anycase. You mustn't let me until to-morrow  morning.
After midnight it will be May 2nd, the mystic two again you see,
and  my  birthday. So during the dark hours tonight I  shall  be
passing  into my fatal day. It may be good or evil, but in  such
circumstances it is almost certain to bring some crisis  in  rny
life, and I'm afraid, Rex, terribly afraid.'
  He  drew  her  arm protectively through his and  led  her  out
through the back door into the pleasant garden which boasted two
large,  gay archery targets, a pastime that Jeremiah Wilkes  had
seen  fit  to  institute for the amusement of the local  gentry,
deriving considerable profit therefrom when they bet each  other
numerous  rounds of drinks upon their prowess with the  six-foot
bow.
  A  deep border of dark wallflowers sent out their heady  scent
at the farther end of the lawn and beyond them the garden opened
on to a natural wooded glade. A small stream marked the boundary
of  Mr. Wilkes' domain and when they reached it, Rex passed  his
arm  round  Tanith's body, lifted her before she could  protest,
and  with one spring of his long legs cleared the brook. She did
not  struggle from his grasp, but looked up at him curiously  as
she lay placid in his arms.
  'You  must  be very strong,' she said. 'Most men  can  lift  a
woman, but it can't be easy to jump a five-foot brook with one.'
  'I'm  strong enough,' he smiled into her face, not  attempting
to  put  her  down. 'Strong enough for both of us.  You  needn't
worry,' Then, still carrying her in his arms, he walked on  into
the  depths of the wood until the fresh, green beech  trees  hid
them from the windows of the inn.
  'You will get awfully tired,' she said lazily.
  'Not me,' he declared, shaking his head. 'You may be tall, but
you're  only  a featherweight. I could carry you  a  mile  if  I
wanted, and it wouldn't hurt me any.'
  'You needn't,' she smiled up at him. 'You can put me down  now
and  we'll sit under the trees. It's lovely here. You were quite
right-much nicer than the inn.'
  He laid her down very gently on a sloping bank, but instead of
rising,  knelt above her with one arm still about her  shoulders
and  looked down into her eyes. 'You love me,' he said suddenly.
'Don't you?'
  'Yes,'  she  confessed with troubled shadows brooding  in  her
golden eyes. 'I do. But you mustn't love me, Rex. You know  what
I  told  you  yesterday.  I'm going to die.  I'm  going  to  die
soon-before the year is out.'
  'You're  not,'  he  said, almost fiercely. 'We'll  break  this
devil Mocata-De Richleau will. I'm certain.'
  'But,  my  dear, it's nothing to do with him,'  she  protested
sadly.  'It's just Fate, and you haven't known me long, so  it's
not too late yet for you to keep a hold on yourself, You mustn't
love  me,  because if you do, it will make you terribly  unhappy
when I die.'
  'You're  not going to die,' he repeated, and then  he  laughed
suddenly,  boyishly, ail his mercurial nature rising  to  dispel
such  gloomy  thoughts.  'If  we both  die  tomorrow,'  he  said
suddenly, 'we've still got today, and I love you, Tanith. That's
all there is to it.'
  Her  arms crept up about his neck and with sudden strength she
kissed him on his mouth.
  He  grabbed  her then, his lips seeking hers again and  again,
while he muttered little phrases of endearment, pouring out  all
the  agony of anxiety that he had felt for her during  the  past
night  and the long run from Amesbury in the morning. She  clung
to  him, laughing a little hysterically although she was not far
from  tears. This strange new happiness was overwhelming to her,
flooding her whole being now with a desperate desire to live; to
put  behind her those nightmare dreams from which she had  woken
shuddering  in  the past months at visions of herself  torn  and
bleeding,  the  victim  of some horrible  railway  accident,  or
trapped  upon  the  top  storey of a blazing  building  with  no
alternative but to leap into the street below. For a  moment  it
almost  seemed  to her that no real foundation existed  for  the
dread  which  had haunted her since childhood.  She  was  young,
healthy  and full of life. Why should she not enjoy to the  full
all  the  normal pleasures of life with this strong,  merry-eyed
man-who had come so suddenly into her existence.
  Again  and  again  he assured her that all those  thoughts  of
fatality being certain to overtake her were absurd. He told  her
that   once  she  was  out  of  Europe  she  would  see   things
differently; the menace of the old superstition-ridden countries
would drop away and that, in his lovely old home in the southern
states, they would be able to laugh at Fate together.
  Tanith did not really believe him. Her habit of mind had grown
so  strongly upon her; but she could not bring herself to  argue
against  his happy auguries, or spoil those moments of  glorious
delight as they both confessed their passion for each other.
  As he held her in his arms a marvellous languor began to steal
through all her limbs. 'Rex,' she said softly. 'I'm utterly done
in  with this on top of all the rest. I haven't slept for nearly
thirty-six hours. I ought not to now, but I'll never be able  to
stay  awake  tonight unless I do. No harm can come to  me  while
you're with me, can it?'
  'No,'  he said huskily. 'Neither man nor devil shall harm  you
while I'm around. You poor sweet, you must be just about at  the
end. of your tether. Go to sleep now-just as you are.'
  With  a  little sigh she turned over, nestling her  fair  head
into the crook of his arm, where he sat with his back propped up
against a tree-trunk. In another moment she was sound asleep.
  The afternoon drew into evening. Rex's arms and legs were cold
and  stiff, but he would not move for fear of waking her. A  new
anxiety began to trouble him. Mocata had not appeared, and  what
would they think had become of him at Cardinals Folly? Marie Lou
knew  he had gone to the inn, and they would probably have  rung
up  by  now.  But, like a fool, he had neglected  to  leave  any
message for them.
  The shadows fell, but still there was no sign of Mocata, and
the imps of doubt once more began to fill Rex's mind with
horrible speculations as to the truth of Tanith's story. Had she
consciously or unconsciously lured him from Simon's side on
purpose? Simon would be safe enough with Richard and Marie Lou,
and De Richleau had promised to rejoin them before dusk-but
perhaps Mocata was plotting some evil to prevent the Duke's
return. If that were so-Rex shivered slightly at the
thought-Richard knew nothing of those mysterious protective
barriers with which it would be so necessary to surround Simon
in the coming night-and he, who at least knew what had been done
the night before-would be absent. By his desertion of his post
poor Simon might fall an easy prey to the malefic influence of
the Satanist.
  He thought more than once of rousing Tanith, but she looked so
peaceful,  so  happy,  so  lovely there,  breathing  gently  and
resting  in his strong arms with all her limbs relaxed  that  he
could  not bring himself to do it. The shadows lengthened, night
drew  on,  and at last darkness fell with Tanith still sleeping.
The  night  of  the ordeal had come and they were alone  in  the
forest.


                               24

                 The Scepticism of Richard Eaton

  At  a  quarter  to six, De Richleau arrived back at  Cardinals
Folly and Richard, meeting him in the hall, told him of Mocata's
visit.
  'I  am  not altogether surprised,' the Duke admitted sombrely.
'He  must  be pretty desperate to come here in daylight  on  the
chance  of  seeing Simon, but of course, he is  working  against
time-now. Did he threaten to return?'
  'Yes.'   Richard  launched  into  full  particulars   of   the
Satanist's  attempt on Marie Lou and the conversation  that  had
followed. As he talked he studied De Richleau's face, struck  by
his anxious harassed expression. Never before had he thought  of
the  Duke as old, but now for the first time it was brought home
to  him that De Richleau must be nearly double his own age.  And
this  evening he showed it. He seemed somehow to have shrunk  in
stature, but perhaps that was because he was standing with  bent
shoulders  as  though some invisible load was borne  upon  them.
Richard was so impressed by that tired, lined face that he found
himself ending quite seriously: 'Do you really think he can work
some devilry tonight?'
  De  Richleau  nodded.  'I am certain of it,  and  I'm  worried
Richard. My luck was out today. Father Brandon, whom I  went  to
see,  was unfortunately away. He has a great knowledge  of  this
terrible  "other world" that we are up against, and  knowing  me
well,  would have helped us, but the young priest I saw  in  his
place  would not entrust me with the Host, nor could I  persuade
him  to  come  with  it himself, and that is  the  only  certain
protection  against the sort of thing Mocata  may  send  against
us.'
  'We'll manage somehow,' Richard smiled, trying to cheer him.
  'Yes, we've got to.' A note of the old determination came into
De  Richleau's voice. 'Since the Church cannot help us  we  must
rely upon my knowledge of Esoteric formulas. Fortunately, I have
the most important aids with me already, but I should be glad if
you  would  se-rad  down  to  the village  blacksmith  for  five
horseshoes.  Tell  whoever you send, that  they  must  be  brand
new-that is essential.'
  At   this  apparently  childish  request  for  horseshoes  all
Richard's  scepticism welled up with renewed force, but  he  con
cealed  it with his usual tact and agreed readily enough.  Then,
the  mention of the village having reminded him of Rex, he  told
the Duke how their friend had been called away to the inn.
  De  Richleau's  face fell suddenly. 'I thought  Rex  had  more
sense!' he exclaimed bitterly. 'We must telephone at once.'
  Richard got on to Mr. Wilkes, but the landlord could give them
little  information. A lady had arrived at about three, and  the
American  gentleman had joined her shortly after. Then they  had
gone out into the garden and he had seen nothing of them since.
  De  Richleau shrugged angrily. 'The young fool! I should  have
thought that he would have'seen enough of this horror by now  to
realise  the danger of going off with that young woman.  It's  a
hundred  to one that she is Mocata's puppet if nothing  else.  I
only  pray to God that he turns up again before nightfall. Where
is Simon now?'
  'With  Marie  Lou. They are upstairs in the nursery  I  think-
watching Fleur bathed and put to bed.'
  'Good.  Let  us go up then. Fleur can help us very greatly  in
protecting him tonight.'
  'Fleur!' exclaimed Richard in amazement.
  The  Duke nodded. 'The prayers of a virgin woman are amazingly
powerful  in such instances, and the younger she is the stronger
her  vibrations. You see, a little child like Fleur who  is  old
enough  to  pray,  but absolutely unsoiled in any  way,  is  the
nearest  that  any human being can get to absolute  purity.  You
will remember the words of Our Lord: "Except ye become as little
children  ye  shall not enter into the Kingdom of  Heaven."  You
have no objection I take it?'
  'None,'  agreed  Richard quickly. 'Saying a prayer  for  Simon
cannot  possibly harm the child in any way. We'll go up  through
the library.'
  Seven  sides of the great octagonal room were covered  ceiling
high  with books and the eighth consisted of wide trench windows
through  which  half-a-dozen stone  steps,  leading  up  to  the
terrace, could be seen and beyond, a portion of the garden.
  Richard led the way to one of the book-lined walls and pressed
the gilded cardinal's hat upon a morocco binding. A low doorway,
masked by dummy bookbacks, swung open disclosing a narrow spiral
stairway  hewn  out of the solid wall. They ascended  the  stone
steps  and  a moment later entered Fleur's nursery on the  floor
above, through a sliding panel in the wall.
  When  they arrived the nursery was empty, but in the  bathroom
beyond  they  found  Simon, with Nanny's apron  tied  about  his
waist,  quite solemnly bathing Fleur while Marie Lou sat on  the
edge of the bath and chortled with laughter.
  It  was an operation which Simon performed on every visit that
he had made to Cardinals Folly so Fleur was used to the business
and  regarded  it as a definite treat; but this tubbing  of  his
friend's  child  was  a privilege which De  Richleau  had  never
claimed,  and  as he entered Fleur suddenly exhibited  signs  of
maidenly modesty surprising in one so young.
  'Oh,  Mummy,'  she  exclaimed. 'He mussent see  me,  muss  he,
'cause he's a man.' On which the whole party gave way to  a  fit
of laughter.
  'Sen'  him  away!' yelled the excited Fleur, standing  up  and
clutching an enormous bath sponge to her chest.
  De  Richleau's firm mouth twitched with his old humour, as  he
apologised  most  gravely  and backed into  the  nursery  beside
Richard.  A  few minutes later the others joined them,  and  the
Duke held a hurried conversation in whispers with Marie Lou.
  'Of  course,'  she said. 'If it will help, do  just  what  you
think. I will get rid of Nanny for a few minutes.'
  Walking  over, he smiled down at Fleur. 'Does Mummy watch  you
say your prayers every night?' he asked gently.
  'Oh, yes,' she lisped. 'And you shall all hear me now.'
  He smiled again. 'Have you ever heard her say hers?'
  Fleur thought hard for a moment. 'No,' she shook her dark head
and  the  big blue eyes looked up at him seriously. 'Mummy  says
her prayers to Daddy when I'se asleep.'
  He  noddedy  quietly. 'Well, we're all going to  say  them  to
gether tonight.'
  'Ooo,'  cooed  Fleur. 'Lovely. It'll be just as  though  we'se
playing a new game, won't it?'
  'Not a game, dearest,' interjected Marie Lou quietly, 'Because
prayers are serious, and we mean them.'
  'Yes,  we mean them very much tonight, but we could all  kneel
down in a circle couldn't we and put Uncle Simon in the middle?'
  'Jus' like kiss-in-the-ring,' added Fleur.
  'That's right,' the Duke agreed, 'or Postman's Knock. And  you
shall  be the postman. But this is very serious, and instead  of
touching  him  on  the shoulder, you must  hold  his  hand  very
tight.'
  They all knelt down then and Fleur extended her pudgy palm  to
Simon, but the Duke gently laid his hand on her shoulder.  'No,'
he whispered. 'Your left hand, my angel, in Uncle Simon's right.
You  shall  say your prayers first, just as you always  do,  and
then I shall say one for all of us afterwards.'
  The  first few lines of the Our Father came tumbling out  from
the child's lips in a little breathless spate as they knelt with
bowed  heads and closed eyes. Then there was a short hesitation,
a  prompting  whisper from Marie Lou, and an equally  breathless
ending.  After that, the little personal supplication for  Mummy
and  Daddy and Uncle Simon and Uncle Rex and Uncle Greyeyes  and
dear Nanny were hurried through with considerably more gusto.
  'Now,' whispered De Richleau. 'I want you to repeat everything
I  say  word  for word after me,' and in a low, clear  voice  he
offered up an entreaty that the Father of All would forgive  His
servants  their  sins and strengthen them to resist  temptation,
keeping  at  bay  by His limitless power all  evil  things  that
walked  in  darkness, and bringing them safely by  His  especial
mercy to see again the glory of the morning light.
  When  all  was done and Fleur, tucked up and kissed,  left  be
tween  Mr. Edward Bear and Golliwog, the others filed downstairs
to Marie Lou's cosy sitting-room.
  De  Richleau was worried about Rex, but a further 'phone  call
to  the  inn failed to elicit any later information. He had  not
returned,  and  they  sat  round  silently,  a  little  subdued.
Richard,  vaguely miserable because it was sherry time  and  the
Duke  had  once  again  firmly prohibited the  drinking  of  any
alcohol, asked at length: 'Well, what do you wish us to do now?'
  'We  should  have  a light supper fairly early,’  De  Richleau
announced. 'And after, I should like you to make it quite  clear
to Malin that none of the servants are to come into this wing of
the  house until tomorrow morning. Say, if you like, that  I  am
going  to conduct some all-night experiments with a new wireless
or  television  apparatus, but in no circumstances  must  we  be
disturbed or any doors opened and shut.'
  'Hadn't  we . . . er . . . better disconnect the telephone  as
well?'  Simon  hazarded. 'In case it rings after  we've  settled
down.'
  'Yes, with Richard's permission I will attend to that myself.'
  'Do,  if  you  like,  and I'll see to the  servants,'  Richard
agreed placidly. 'But what do you call a light supper?'
  'Just  enough to keep up our strength. A little  fish  if  you
have  it.  If not eggs will do, with vegetables or a  salad  and
some fruit, but no meat or game and, of course, no wine.'
  Richard  grunted. 'That sounds a jolly dinner I  must  say.  I
suppose  you wouldn't like to shave my head as well, or  get  us
all  to don hair shirts if we could find them. I'm hungry  as  a
hunter, and owing to your telegram, we had no lunch.'
  The  Duke  smiled tolerantly. 'I am sorry, Richard,  but  this
thing  is deadly serious. I am afraid you haven't realised quite
how  serious yet. If you had seen what Rex and I did last night,
I'm  certain  that you wouldn't breathe a word of protest  about
these  small discomforts, and realise at once that I  am  acting
for the best.'
  'No,'  Richard confessed. 'Quite frankly, I find it very diffi
cult  to  believe that we haven't all gone bug-house  with  this
talk  of  witches  and  wizards and magic and  what-not  at  the
present day.'
  'Yet you saw Mocata yourself this afternoon.'
  'I  saw  an  unpleasant pasty-faced intruder I agree,  but  to
credit  him with all the powers that you suggest is rather  more
than I can stomach at the moment.'
  'Oh,  Richard!' Marie Lou broke in. 'Greyeyes is  right.  That
man  is  horrible.  And to say that people  do  not  believe  in
witches at the present day is absurd. Everybody knows that there
are witches just as there have always been.'
  'Eh!' Richard looked at his lovely wife in quick surprise.
  'Have  you caught this nonsense from the others already?  I've
never heard you air this belief before.'
  'Of course not,' she said a little sharply. 'It is unlucky  to
talk  of such things, but one knows about them all the same.  Of
witches in Siberia I could tell you much-things that I have seen
with my own eyes.'
  'Tell  us, Marie Lou,' urged the Duke. He felt that  in  their
present  situation scepticism might prove highly  dangerous.  If
Richard  did not believe in the powers that threatened them,  he
might  relax  in following out the instructions  for  their  pro
tection and commit some casual carelessness, bringing, possibly,
a terrible danger upon them all. He knew how very highly Richard
esteemed his wife's sound common sense. It was far better to let
her convince him than to press arguments on Richard himself.
  'There was a witch in Romanovsk,’ Marie Lou proceeded. 'An old
woman  who  lived alone in a house just outside the village.  No
one,  not  even  the  Red Guards, with all their  bluster  about
having  liquidated  God and the Devil, would  pass  her  cottage
alone  at night. In Russia there are many such and one in nearly
every  village. You would call her a wise woman as well perhaps,
for she could cure people of many sicknesses and I have seen her
stop  the  flow of blood from a bad wound almost instantly.  The
village girls used to go to her to have their fortunes told and,
when they could afford it, to buy charms of philtres to make the
young  men  they liked fall in love with them. Often, too,  they
would go back again afterwards when they became pregnant and buy
the  drugs  which would secure their release from  that  unhappy
situation.  But she was greatly feared, for everyone  knew  that
she  could also put a blight on crops and send a murrain on  the
cattle  of those who displeased her. It was even whispered  that
she  could  cause men and women to sicken and die if  any  enemy
paid her a high enough price to make it worth her while.'
  'If  that is so I wonder they didn't lynch her,' said  Richard
quietly.
  'They  did in the end. They would not have dared to  do.  that
themselves. But a farmer whom she had inflicted with a plague of
lice appealed to the local commissar and he went with twenty men
to  her house one day. All the villagers and I among them-for  I
was only a little giri then and naturally curious-went with them
in  a frightened crowd hanging well behind. They brought the old
woman  out and examined her, and having proved she was a  witch,
the commissar had her shot against the cottage wall.'
  'How did they prove it?' Richard asked sceptically
  'Why-because she had the marks of course.'
  'What marks?'
  'When  they stripped her they found that she had a teat  under
her left arm, and that is a certain sign.'
  De  Richleau nodded. To feed her familiar with, of course. Was
it a cat?'
  Marie  Lou shook her head. 'No. In this case, it was  a  great
big fat toad that she used to keep in a little cage.'
  'Oh,  come!'  Richard  protested.  'This  is  fantastic.  They
slaughtered the poor old woman because she had some malformation
and kept an unusual pet.'
  'No,  no,' Marie Lou assured him. 'They found the Devil's mark
on  her thigh and they swam her in the village pond. It was very
horrible, but it was all quite conclusive.'
  The  Devil's  mark!' interjected Simon suddenly,  'I've  never
heard of that,' and the Duke answered promptly:
  'It  is  believed that the Devil or his representative touches
these people at their baptism during some Satanic orgy and  that
spot  is  for ever afterwards free from pain. In the  old  witch
trials,  they  used  to hunt for it by sticking  pins  into  the
suspected person because the place does not differ in appearance
from any other portion of the body.'
  Marie  Lou nodded her curly head. That's right. They  bandaged
this old woman's eyes so that she could not see what part of her
they were sticking the pin into and then they began to prick her
gently in first one place and then another. Of course she  cried
out each time the pin went in, but after about twenty cries, the
head  man of the village pushed the pin into her left thigh  and
she  didn't  make a sound. He took it out then and stuck  it  in
again, but still she did not cry out at all so he pushed  it  in
right up to the head, and she didn't know he'd even touched her.
So  you  see, everyone was quite satisfied then that she  was  a
witch.'
  'Well,  you may have been,' Richard said slowly. 'It  seems  a
horribly barbarous affair in any case. I dare say the old  woman
deserved  all she got, but it's pretty queer evidence  to  shoot
anyone on.'
  'Er  .  . . Richard . . .’ Simon leaned forward suddenly.  'Do
you believe in curses?'
  'What-the old bell and book business! Not much. Why? '
  'Because  the  actual working of a curse is  evidence  of  the
supernatural.'
  They're mostly old wives' tales of coincidences I think.'
  'How about the Mackintosh of Moy?'
  'Oh, Scotland is riddled with that sort of thing. But what  is
supposed to have happened to the Mackintosh?'
  'Well, this was in seventeen something,' Simon replied slowly.
They story goes that he was present at a witch burning or jilted
one-I forget exactly. Anyhow she put a curse on him and it  went
like this:
  "Mackintosh, Mackintosh, Mackintosh of Moy If you ever have  a
son he shall never have a boy." '
  Richard smiled. 'And what happened then?'
  'Well, whether the story's true or not I can't say, but it's a
fact  that the Chieftainship of the Clan has gone all  over  the
shop ever since. Look it up in the records of the Clans if.  you
doubt me.'
  'My  dear  chap,  you'll have to produce  something  far  more
concrete than that to convince me.'
  'All  right,' Marie Lou gazed at him steadily out of her large
blue eyes. 'You know very little about such things, Richard, but
in  Russia  people are much closer to nature and everyone  there
still  accepts the supernatural and diabolic possession as  part
of  ordinary  life. Only about a year before you brought  me  to
England  they  caught a were-wolf in a village less  than  fifty
miles from where I lived.
  He  moved  over  to the sofa and, taking her hand,  patted  it
gently.  'Surely, darling, you don't really ask  me  to  believe
that  a man can actually turn into a beast-leave his bed in  the
middle of the night to go out hunting-then return and go to  his
work in the morning as a normal man again?'
  'Certainly,' Marie Lou nodded solemnly. 'Wolves, as you  know,
nearly  always hunt in packs, but that part of the  country  had
been  troubled for months by a lone wolf which seemed  possessed
of  far  more than normal cunning. It killed sheep and dogs  and
two young children. Then it killed an old woman.
  She  was  found with her throat bitten out, but she  had  been
ravished  too, so that's how they knew that it must  be  a  were
wolf.  At  last it attacked a woodman and he wounded it  in  the
shoulder  with  his axe. Next day a wretched half-imbecile  crea
ture, a sort of village idiot, died suddenly, and when the women
went  to prepare his body for burial they found that he had died
from loss of blood and that there was a great wound in his right
shoulder just where the woodman had struck the wolf. After  that
there  were no other cases of slaughtered sheep or people  being
done to death. So it was quite clear that he was the were-wolf.'
  Richard  looked  thoughtful  for a  moment.  'Of  course,'  he
remarked,  'the  man  may have done all  that  without  actually
changing his shape at all. If anyone is bitten by a mad dog  and
gets  hydrophobia, they bark, howl, gnash their teeth and behave
just  as though they were dogs and certainly believe at the time
that  they are. Lycanthropy, of which this poor devil  seems  to
have  been  the  victim, may be some rare disease  of  the  same
kind.'
  Marie  Lou shrugged lightly and stood up. 'Well, if you  won't
believe  me-there it is. I don't know enough to argue with  you,
only what I believe myself, so I shall go and order supper.'
  As the door closed behind her the Duke said quietly: 'That may
be  a  possible explanation, Richard, but there is  an  enormous
mass  of  evidence  in  the jurisprudence of  every  country  to
suggest that actual shape shifting does occur at times. The form
varies  of  course. In Greece it is often of the were-boar  that
one  hears. In Africa of the were-hyena and were-leopard.  China
has  the  were-fox; India the were-tiger; and  Egypt  the  were-
jackal. But even as near home as Surrey I could introduce you to
a  friend  of  mine,  a doctor who practices among  the  country
people, who will vouch for it that the older cottagers are still
unshakable  in their beliefs that certain people are were-hares,
and have power to change their shape at particular phases of the
moon.'
  'If  you  really  believe  these fantastic  stories,'  Richard
smiled a little grimly, 'perhaps you can give me some reasonable
explanation as to what makes such things possible.'
  'By  all means.' De Richleau hoisted himself out of his  chair
and  began  to  pace softly up and down the fine,  silk  Persian
prayer  rug  before the fireplace while he expounded  again  the
Esoteric doctrine just as he had to Rex two nights before.
  Simon and Richard listened in silence until the Duke spoke  of
the  eternal fight which, hidden from human eyes, has been waged
from  time immemorial between the Powers of Light and the Powers
of  Darkness.  Then  the  latter, his  serious  interest  really
aroused for the first time, exclaimed:
  'Surely  you  are  proclaiming  the  Manichaean  heresy?   The
Manichees  believed in the Two Principals, Light  and  Darkness,
and  the  Three Moments, Past, Present and Future.  They  taught
that in the Past Light and Darkness had been separate; then that
Darkness invaded Light and became mingled with it, creating  the
Present  and this world in which evil is mixed with  good.  They
preached the practice of astheticism as the means of freeing the
light  imprisoned in human clay so that in some  distant  Future
Light and Darkness might be completely separated again.'
  The  Duke's  lean  face lit with a quick smile.  'Exactly,  my
friend I The Manichees had a credo to that effect.
  "Day  by  day diminishes The number of Soul below As they  are
distilled and mount above"
  The  basis  of  the belief is far, far older of  course,  pre-
Egyptian  at  the  least, but where before it  was  a  jealously
guarded mystery the Persian Mani proclaimed it to the world.'
  'It became a serious rival to Christianity at one time, didn't
it?'
  'Um,' Simon took up the argument. 'And it survived despite the
most  terrible persecution by the Christians. Mani was crucified
in  the third century after Christ and, by their own creed,  his
followers  were not allowed to enlist converts. Yet  somehow  it
spread  in secret. The Albigenses followed it in Southern France
in  the twelfth century until they were stamped out. Then in the
thirteenth,  a  thousand  years after  Mani's  death,  it  swept
Bohemia. A form of it was still practised there by certain sects
as  late  as  the  1840's and even today  many  thinking  people
scattered all over the world believe that it holds the  core  of
the only true religion.'
  'Yes,  I  can  understand that,' Richard agreed,  'Brahminism,
Budism,  Taoism,  all the great philosophers which  have  passed
beyond  the ordinary limited religions with a personal  God  are
connected  up  with  the Prana, Light, and  the  Universal  Life
Stream,  but  that is a very different matter to  asking  me  to
believe in were-wolves and witches.'
  They  only  came  into the discussion because they  illustrate
certain  manifestations of supernatural Evil,' De  Richleau  pro
tested;  'just as the appearance of wounds similar to  those  of
Christ upon the Cross in the flesh of exceptionally pious people
may be taken as evidence for the existence of supernatural Good.
Ernminent surgeons have testified again and again that  stigmata
are  not due to trickery. It is a changing of the material  body
by  the  holy  saints in their endeavour to approximate  to  its
highest  form,  that of Our Lord, so, I contend,  base  natures,
with  the  assistance  of the Power of Darkness,  may  at  times
succeed  in altering their form to that of were-beasts.  Whether
they change their shape entirely it is impossible to say because
at  death  they always revert to human form, but the  belief  is
world-wide  and the evidence so abundant that it cannot  lightly
be  put  aside. In any case what you call madness is actually  a
very  definite  form of diabolic possession  which  seizes  upon
these  people and causes them to act with the same  savagery  as
the  animal they believe themselves for the time to be.  Of  its
existence, no one who has read the immense literature  upon  it,
can possibly doubt.'
  'Perhaps,' Richard admitted grudgingly. 'But apart from  Marie
Lou's story, all the evidence is centuries old and mixed up with
every sort of superstition and fairy story. In the depths of the
Siberian forests or the Indian jungle the belief in such  things
may perhaps stimulate some poor benighted wretch