“You see now how wise I am. It would never do for me to claim too much, or I should run the risk of being classed in the same category as this Englishman. I tell you I possess no supernatural powers. What I did was done on purely scientific principles. But it is quite useless for me to attempt to explain.”
He raised the book by the cover and shook it slightly.
Of course I knew what he was seeking for. I was prepared, too. I had the letter in my hand, having taken it out of my pocket unobserved, for he was not looking at me, and I now reached over and laid it upon his lap.
“There is your letter, Mr. Mirrikh,” I began. “I am sorry it has been opened, but”
“Look here!” cried the Doctor; “there’s no use mincing matters. I opened that letter, Mr. Mirrikh, and I did it in opposition to Wylde’s particular request.”
For a moment there was a dead silence.
To my intense relief, however, Mr. Mirrikh seemed in no way disturbed.
He took up the envelope, removed the letter and hastily perused it. Then restoring it to the envelope again he thrust it into his pocket, and for a moment just sat there blowing the smoke from his mouth in rings. Presently he looked up with a half sarcastic smile.
“You have all read this letter, gentlemen, I presume?”
“I read it aloud,” replied the Doctor.
“Precisely. That amounts to the same thing. May I ask you what you think of its contents?”
He was asking too much. Even the Doctor’s impudence was not equal to repeating the remarks he had previously made.
“None of you speak,” he continued; “so I see that I must manage this business myself. If I chose I could easily avoid the issue by leaving you—Mr. Wylde knows how easily—but I shall not do this. I have long been of the opinion that the day is at hand when many matters understood only by a narrow circle of Oriental adepts, should be given to the world at large. Possibly this is my mission; I have for some time suspected it. Possibly my meeting with Mr. Wylde at Panompin was but the preliminary step toward the fulfilment of this mission; at all events I shall permit myself so to consider it, and”
“And what?” exclaimed Maurice, eagerly. Philpot had the grace to hold his tongue.
