CHAPTER XL
THE BOOK OF TREPNIAK
SIR PROVOST glanced at the clock on the library mantelpiece.
"I must hurry," he said. "In little more than an hour it will be daylight." He turned to Jasmine: "Are you very tired?"
"Tired!" she exclaimed. "I was never more wide awake in my life! Of course, it's simply frightful, Daddy, almost more than one can believe." She looked half appealingly at Carey who sat beside her. "But I don't think I could ever sleep again until I knew it all."
"I am by way of agreeing with you," Muir Torrington declared. "I have already made notes of one or two points upon which I should like further information, but they are small compared with the big question which sticks out like a mountain in the ocean."
"What is this big question?" Sir Provost asked quietly.
"What is the big question!" Torrington cried: "The big question is, what kind of man succeeded in cramming into one lifetime a whole century of study?"
"One," Sir Provost replied, "who, at that period of life when the mental faculties begin to show signs of deterioration, discovered a means of preserving his own unimpaired. Thus he was enabled to go on experimenting, and building upon his experience, with results of which we have seen something. Because he had apparently defied natural laws, he seems to have counted himself superior to them. This megalomania is understandable. He had achieved a greater conquest than any Alexander, any Napoleon. As these did before him, he employed his power to take what he wanted.
"But if the memoirs"—he tapped the manuscript—"are as accurate and sincere in this respect as in others which may be tested, his depredations have been confined to those who could well afford to suffer them, and the greater evils he has committed have been due to imperfect control of forces only partly understood, rather than to any wanton desire to inflict harm.
"No autobiographer with whom I am acquainted, not excluding Pepys, Benvenuto Cellini, and Casanova, has so nakedly displayed his soul as Trepniak has done in this amazing record. The thing which he contemplated was no less than domination of the world. It was impossible of achievement. The powers conferred by the Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth are, fortunately, irrecoverable to-day, and if Madame Blavatsky ever possessed the Book of Dzyan, it is lost. But the publication of the Book of Trepniak came within the province of possibility; and this, had he accomplished it, would, I am prompted to say, have proved as destructive to the human race as a second Deluge. No other copy exists, however. This is not hypothetical; it is certain. The author is unaware of the fact that the MS. is no longer in his possession—and to-night it will be destroyed."
Sir Provost paused, looking around him, but as no one spoke:
"You are naturally curious," he continued, "to learn how it was obtained, and why it has been left with me. The facts serve to illustrate how an organization controlling forces which for many generations to come will remain unknown to the world strictly refrains from employing them.
"The manuscript was stolen from a safe in Trepniak's house by the most expert lock manipulator now living!—this, under instructions from his superiors in that fraternity of which both he and I are members. So, you see"—he smiled slightly—"there has been no Black Magic at work here. That great philosopher who recently called upon me, and to whom I have already referred, came here in a taxicab like any ordinary citizen, and is now, I believe, a first-class passenger on an outward bound P. & O. liner.
"Next, why was it left with me? The answer is perfectly simple. You, Jasmine"—he turned to his daughter—"and you, Carey, and you, too, Torrington, form, with myself and four others, the instruments chosen by that Craftsman of Destinies sometimes called Fate, for the destruction of this rebel against God. Several chapters"-he turned the pages over—"are sealed. These chapters deal with matters known to Trepniak, but which in my present state of knowledge may not be revealed to me. The unsealed parts of the book I have read, and some of the contents you already know. It is in your interests, however, that I should read further."
He adjusted his spectacles, and began to turn over the leaves, their rustling alone disturbing the silence in the library. Muir Torrington was moving restlessly from foot to foot, and only by great effort restraining speech. But the sound of his movements was deadened by the thick rug upon which he stood.
"Now," said Sir Provost, looking up again, "by means of a giant beryl at present in his laboratory in Park Lane, Trepniak is enabled to control the movements of selected persons. This, again, is not magical. It is a scientific and logical development of hypnotism. But the device possesses a peculiar property beyond the power of the operator to control. I refer to the fact that the subject, on awakening from the trance induced by the hypnotist, retains in nearly every case a memory"
"The grey face!" Jasmine whispered.
"As you say, the grey face," Sir Provost agreed. "The reason for this particular phantasm I shall presently explain, but I may say that in those ancient times when this device was last employed—by the High Priests of a religion which to-day is no more than a name-the image left upon the mind of the dreamer was that, not of a deathly grey face, but of a sublime and beneficent presence.
"In this way," he added, slowly and impressively, "many of the prophecies of ancient times were delivered to the subjects chosen to give them forth to the world. Thus, an inscription on the memorial stone before the breast of the Sphinx relates that Tehutimes IV, when hunting lions in the Valley of the Gazelles, rested there; and—I quote from memory-'it seemed to him as though this great god spoke to him with his own mouth.' Actually it was the chief priest of Memphis who spoke to him, by means of the beryl now revolving night and day in Trepniak's house!
"In the Old Testament are constant references to an angel appearing before such and such a person. This same, or a similar, mighty implement of ancient government, more often than not was responsible, and the angelic image was that of the Master who dictated the message."
He ceased speaking, looking about him as if expecting an inquiry; and presently it came, from Carey.
"Whose image," the latter asked, "is responsible for the terrible face, like that of a man long dead, which I saw, or dreamed I saw?"
Sir Provost fixed his curious regard upon the inquirer, and:
"It is the image of the man operating the crystal to-day," he replied; "and because this mechanism cannot lie, it reveals him, not as he seems to the human eye, but as he really is."
"Whatever do you mean, Sir Provost?" Muir Torrington cried.
"I mean, that the Trepniak known to fashionable London is a phantom, a mirage. The real man is the man dimly remembered by those whom he has influenced. You are puzzled, but I will explain presently." He turned over several leaves of the manuscript. "I may touch on a second source of power, quite legitimately explored and effectively used, by the master mind with which we are dealing. This, again, is what I have termed a premature discovery, and it amounts to a solution of the enigma of the Fourth Dimension."
He ran his fingers through his hair, and seemed to be searching for words in which to make his meaning clear; but:
"I have seen something of this in operation," Carey interrupted. " Unless we were all victims of an extraordinarily clever illusion, I was recently one of a party at his house who distinctly heard the King speak in Buckingham Palace, although months had elapsed since the words were spoken. Moreover, if Trepniak is to be believed, we heard music sung in a temple at Thebes during the reign of one of the early Pharaohs!"
"Good," said Sir Provost; "this assists my explanation. One can readily imagine that few secrets of the past could remain hidden from an investigator armed with such an amazing apparatus of the future. In this way, then, Trepniak learned the secret of transmutation, his intimate knowledge of chemistry enabling him practically to employ it. The method of enlarging precious stones he almost certainly acquired from Cagliostro—that extraordinary Italian adventurer, who, amongst other notable achievements, predicted the French Revolution. This point is particularly significant—I mean the association with Cagliostro—as you will see when I come to that part of the story which deals with the identity of Trepniak, and the means whereby he has been enabled to prolong his studies to this issue."
He glanced again at the clock, and:
"Some of us must be very tired," he said, "although you young people who dance all night are used to late hours. You are being afforded a glimpse into the future, however. To-night, in a sense, the Fourth Dimension has ceased to exist for all of us, for we are dealing with things which belong to a generation unborn. Here in this room is forbidden knowledge great enough to devastate the world."