The Eye of Osiris Page 16

  CHAPTER XVI

  O ARTEMIDORUS, FAREWELL!

  Whether or not Mr. Jellicoe was surprised to see us, it is impossibleto say. His countenance (which served the ordinary purposes of a face,inasmuch as it contained the principal organs of special sense, withinlets to the alimentary and respiratory tracts) was, as an apparatusfor the expression of the emotions, a total failure. To athought-reader it would have been about as helpful as the face carvedupon the handle of an umbrella; a comparison suggested, perhaps, by acertain resemblance to such an object. He advanced, holding open hisnotebook and pencil, and having saluted us with a stiff bow and anold-fashioned flourish of his hat, shook hands rheumatically and waitedfor us to speak.

  "This is an unexpected pleasure, Mr. Jellicoe," said Miss Bellingham.

  "It is very good of you to say so," he replied.

  "And quite a coincidence--that we should all happen to come here on thesame day."

  "A coincidence, certainly," he admitted; "and if we had all happenednot to come--which must have occurred frequently--that also would havebeen a coincidence."

  "I suppose it would," said she, "but I hope we are not interruptingyou."

  "Thank you, no. I had just finished when I had the pleasure ofperceiving you."

  "You were making some notes in reference to the case, I imagine," saidI. It was an impertinent question, put with malice aforethought forthe mere pleasure of hearing him evade it.

  "The case?" he repeated. "You are referring, perhaps, to Stevensversus the Parish Council?"

  "I think Doctor Berkeley was referring to the case of my uncle's will,"Miss Bellingham said quite gravely, though with a suspicious dimplingabout the corners of her mouth.

  "Indeed," said Mr. Jellicoe. "There is a case, is there; a suit?"

  "I mean the proceedings instituted by Mr. Hurst."

  "Oh, but that was merely an application to the Court, and is, moreover,finished and done with. At least, so I understand. I speak, ofcourse, subject to correction; I am not acting for Mr. Hurst, you willbe pleased to remember. As a matter of fact," he continued, after abrief pause, "I was just refreshing my memory as to the wording of theinscriptions on these stones, especially that of your grandfather,Francis Bellingham. It has occurred to me that if it should appear bythe finding of the coroner's jury that your uncle is deceased, it wouldbe proper and decorous that some memorial should be placed here. But,as the burial ground is closed, there might be some difficulty abouterecting a new monument, whereas there would probably be none in addingan inscription to one already existing. Hence these investigations.For if the inscriptions on your grandfather's stone had set forth that'here rests the body of Francis Bellingham,' it would have beenmanifestly improper to add 'also that of John Bellingham, son of theabove.' Fortunately the inscription was more discreetly drafted,merely recording the fact that this monument is 'sacred to the memoryof the said Francis,' and not committing itself as to the whereaboutsof the remains. But perhaps I am interrupting you."

  "No, not at all," replied Miss Bellingham (which was grossly untrue; hewas interrupting _me_ most intolerably); "we were going to the BritishMuseum and just looked in here on our way."

  "Ha," said Mr. Jellicoe, "now, I happen to be going to the Museum too,to see Doctor Norbury. I suppose that is another coincidence?"

  "Certainly it is," Miss Bellingham replied; and then she asked: "Shallwe walk together?" and the old curmudgeon actually said "yes"--confoundhim!

  We returned to the Gray's Inn Road, where, as there was now room for usto walk abreast, I proceeded to indemnify myself for the lawyer'sunwelcome company by leading the conversation back to the subject ofthe missing man.

  "Was there anything, Mr. Jellicoe, in Mr. John Bellingham's state ofhealth that would make it probable that he might die suddenly?"

  The lawyer looked at me suspiciously for a few moments and thenremarked:

  "You seem to be greatly interested in John Bellingham and his affairs."

  "I am. My friends are deeply concerned in them, and the case itself isof more than common interest from a professional point of view."

  "And what is the bearing of this particular question?"

  "Surely it is obvious," said I. "If a missing man is known to havesuffered from some affection, such as heart disease, aneurism, orarterial degeneration, likely to produce sudden death, that fact willsurely be highly material to the question as to whether he is probablydead or alive."

  "No doubt you are right," said Mr. Jellicoe. "I have little knowledgeof medical affairs, but doubtless you are right. As to the questionitself, I am Mr. Bellingham's lawyer, not his doctor. His health is amatter that lies outside my jurisdiction. But you heard my evidence inCourt, to the effect that the testator appeared, to my untutoredobservation, to be a healthy man. I can say no more now."

  "If the question is of any importance," said Miss Bellingham, "I wonderthey did not call his doctor and settle it definitely. My ownimpression is that he was--or is--rather a strong and sound man. Hecertainly recovered very quickly and completely after his accident."

  "What accident was that?" I asked.

  "Oh, hasn't my father told you? It occurred while he was staying withus. He slipped from a curb and broke one of the bones of the leftankle--somebody's fracture----"

  "Pott's?"

  "Yes; that was the name--Pott's fracture; and he broke both hisknee-caps as well. Sir Morgan Bennett had to perform an operation, orhe would have been a cripple for life. As it was, he was about againin a few weeks, apparently none the worse excepting for a slightweakness of the left ankle."

  "Could he walk upstairs?" I asked.

  "Oh, yes; and play golf and ride a bicycle."

  "You are sure he broke both knee-caps?"

  "Quite sure. I remember that it was mentioned as an uncommon injury,and that Sir Morgan seemed quite pleased with him for doing it."

  "That sounds rather libelous; but I expect he was pleased with theresult of the operation. He might well be."

  Here there was a brief lull in the conversation, and, even as I wastrying to think of a poser for Mr. Jellicoe, that gentleman took theopportunity to change the subject.

  "Are you going to the Egyptian rooms?" he asked.

  "No," replied Miss Bellingham; "we are going to look at the pottery."

  "Ancient or modern?"

  "That old Fulham ware is what chiefly interests us at present; that ofthe seventeenth century. I don't know whether you call that ancient ormodern."

  "Neither do I," said Mr. Jellicoe. "Antiquity and modernity are termsthat have no fixed connotation. They are purely relative and theirapplication in a particular instance has to be determined by a sort ofsliding scale. To a furniture collector, a Tudor chair or a Jacobeanchest is ancient; to an architect, their period is modern, whereas aneleventh-century church is ancient; but to an Egyptologist, accustomedto remains of a vast antiquity, both are products of modern periodsseparated by an insignificant interval. And, I suppose," he addedreflectively, "that to a geologist, the traces of the very earliestdawn of human history appertain only to the recent period. Conceptionsof time, like all other conceptions, are relative."

  "You would appear to be a disciple of Herbert Spencer," I remarked.

  "I am a disciple of Arthur Jellicoe, sir," he retorted. And I believedhim.

  By the time we had reached the Museum he had become almost genial; and,if less amusing in this frame, he was so much more instructive andentertaining that I refrained from baiting him, and permitted him todiscuss his favorite topic unhindered, especially since my companionlistened with lively interest. Nor, when we entered the great hall,did he relinquish possession of us, and we followed submissively, as heled the way past the winged bulls of Nineveh and the great seatedstatues, until we found ourselves, almost without the exercise of ourvolition, in the upper room amidst the glaring mummy cases that hadwitnessed the birth of my friendship with Ruth Bellingham.

  "Before I leave you," said Mr. Je
llicoe, "I should like to show youthat mummy that we were discussing the other evening; the one, youremember, that my friend, John Bellingham, presented to the Museum alittle time before his disappearance. The point that I mentioned isonly a trivial one, but it may become of interest hereafter if anyplausible explanation should be forthcoming." He led us along the roomuntil we arrived at the case containing John Bellingham's gift, wherehe halted and gazed in at the mummy with the affectionatereflectiveness of the connoisseur.

  "The bitumen coating was what we were discussing, Miss Bellingham,"said he. "You have seen it, of course."

  "Yes," she answered. "It is a dreadful disfigurement, isn't it?"

  "Esthetically it is to be deplored, but it adds a certain speculativeinterest to the specimen. You notice that the black coating leaves theprincipal decoration and the whole of the inscription untouched, whichis precisely the part that one would expect to find covered up; whereasthe feet and the back, which probably bore no writing, are quitethickly crusted. If you stoop down, you can see that the bitumen wasdaubed freely into the lacings of the back, where it served no purpose,so that even the strings are embedded." He stooped as he spoke, andpeered up inquisitively at the back of the mummy, where it was visiblebetween the supports.

  "Has Doctor Norbury any explanation to offer?" asked Miss Bellingham.

  "None whatever," replied Mr. Jellicoe. "He finds it as great a mysteryas I do. But he thinks that we may get some suggestion from theDirector when he comes back. He is a very great authority, as youknow, and a practical excavator of great experience too. But I mustn'tstay here talking of these things, and keeping you from your pottery.Perhaps I have stayed too long already. If I have I ask your pardon,and I will now wish you a very good afternoon." With a sudden returnto his customary wooden impassivity, he shook hands with us, bowedstiffly, and took himself off toward the curator's office.

  "What a strange man that is," said Miss Bellingham, as Mr. Jellicoedisappeared through the doorway at the end of the room, "or perhaps Ishould say, a strange being, for I can hardly think of him as a man. Ihave never met any other human creature at all like him."

  "He is certainly a queer old fogey," I agreed.

  "Yes, but there is something more than that. He is so emotionless, soremote and aloof from all mundane concerns. He moves among ordinarymen and women, but as a mere presence, an unmoved spectator of theiractions, quite dispassionate and impersonal."

  "Yes; he is astonishingly self-contained; in fact, he seems, as yousay, to go to and fro among men, enveloped in a sort of infernalatmosphere of his own, like Marley's ghost. But he is lively and humanenough as soon as the subject of Egyptian antiquities is broached."

  "Lively, but not human. He is always, to me, quite unhuman. Even whenhe is most interested, and even enthusiastic, he is a merepersonification of knowledge. Nature ought to have furnished him withan ibis's head like Tahuti; then he would have looked his part."

  "He would have made a rare sensation in Lincoln's Inn if he had," saidI; and we both laughed heartily at the imaginary picture of TahutiJellicoe, slender-beaked and top-hatted, going about his business inLincoln's Inn and the Law Courts.

  Insensibly, as we talked, we had drawn near to the mummy ofArtemidorus, and now my companion halted before the case with herthoughtful gray eyes bent dreamily on the face that looked out at us.I watched her with reverent admiration. How charming she looked as shestood with her sweet, grave face turned so earnestly to the object ofher mystical affection! How dainty and full of womanly dignity andgrace! And then suddenly it was borne in upon me that a great changehad come over her since the day of our first meeting. She had grownyounger, more girlish, and more gentle. At first she had seemed mucholder than I; a sad-faced woman, weary, solemn, enigmatic, almostgloomy, with a bitter, ironic humor and a bearing distant and cold.Now she was only maidenly and sweet; tinged, it is true, with a certainseriousness, but frank and gracious and wholly lovable.

  Could the change be due to our friendship? As I asked myself thequestion, my heart leaped with a new hope. I yearned to tell her allthat she was to me--all that I hoped we might be to one another in theyears to come.

  At length I ventured to break in upon her reverie.

  "What are you thinking about so earnestly, fair lady?"

  She turned quickly with a bright smile and sparkling eyes that lookedfrankly into mine. "I was wondering," said she, "if he was jealous ofmy new friend. But what a baby I am to talk such nonsense!"

  She laughed softly and happily with just an adorable hint of shyness.

  "Why should he be jealous?" I asked.

  "Well, you see, before--we were friends, he had me all to himself. Ihave never had a man friend before--except my father--and no reallyintimate friend at all. And I was very lonely in those days, after ourtroubles had befallen. I am naturally solitary, but still, I am only agirl; I am not a philosopher. So when I felt very lonely, I used tocome here and look at Artemidorus and make believe that he knew all thesadness of my life and sympathized with me. It was very silly, I know,but yet, somehow it was a real comfort to me."

  "It was not silly of you at all. He must have been a good man, agentle, sweet-faced man who had won the love of those who knew him, asthis beautiful memorial tells; and it was wise and good of you tosweeten the bitterness of your life with the fragrance of this humanlove that blossoms in the dust after the lapse of centuries. No, youwere not silly, and Artemidorus is not jealous of your new friend."

  "Are you sure?" She still smiled as she asked the question, but herglance was soft--almost tender--and there was a note of whimsicalanxiety in her voice.

  "Quite sure. I give you my confident assurance."

  She laughed gaily. "Then," said she, "I am satisfied, for I am sureyou know. But here is a mighty telepathist who can read the thoughtseven of a mummy. A most formidable companion. But tell me how youknow."

  "I know because it is he who gave you to me to be my friend. Don't youremember?"

  "Yes, I remember," she answered softly. "It was when you were sosympathetic with my foolish whim that I felt we were really friends."

  "And I, when you confided your pretty fancy to me, thanked you for thegift of your friendship, and treasured it, and do still treasure it,above everything on earth."

  She looked at me quickly with a sort of nervousness in her manner, andcast down her eyes. Then, after a few moments' almost embarrassedsilence, as if to bring back our talk to a less emotional plane, shesaid:

  "Do you notice the curious way in which this memorial divides itself upinto two parts?"

  "How do you mean?" I asked a little disconcerted by the sudden descent.

  "I mean that there is a part of it that is purely decorative and a partthat is expressive or emotional. You notice that the general designand scheme of decoration, although really Greek in feeling, followsrigidly the Egyptian conventions. But the portrait is entirely in theGreek manner, and when they came to that pathetic farewell, it had tobe spoken in their own tongue, written in their own familiarcharacters."

  "Yes. I have noticed that and admired the taste with which they havekept the inscription so inconspicuous as not to clash with thedecoration. An obtrusive inscription in Greek characters would havespoiled the consistency of the whole scheme."

  "Yes, it would." She assented absently as if she were thinking ofsomething else, and once more gazed thoughtfully at the mummy. Iwatched her with deep content: noted the lovely contour of her cheek,the soft masses of hair that strayed away so gracefully from her brow,and thought her the most wonderful creature that had ever trod theearth. Suddenly she looked at me reflectively.

  "I wonder," she said, "what made me tell you about Artemidorus. It wasa rather silly, childish sort of make-believe, and I wouldn't have toldanyone else for the world; not even my father. How did I know that youwould sympathize and understand?"

  She asked the question in all simplicity with her serious gray eyeslooking inquiringly into
mine. And the answer came to me in a flash,with the beating of my own heart.

  "I will tell you how you know, Ruth," I whispered passionately. "Itwas because I loved you more than anyone else in the world has everloved you, and you felt my love in your heart and called it sympathy."

  I stopped short, for she had blushed scarlet and then turned deathlypale. And now she looked at me wildly, almost with terror.

  "Have I shocked you, Ruth dearest?" I exclaimed penitently, "have Ispoken too soon? If I have, forgive me. But I had to tell you. Ihave been eating my heart out for love of you for I don't know howlong. I think I have loved you from the first day we met. Perhaps Ishouldn't have spoken yet, but, Ruth dear, if you only knew what asweet girl you are, you wouldn't blame me."

  "I don't blame you," she said, almost in a whisper; "I blame myself. Ihave been a bad friend to you, who have been so loyal and loving to me.I ought not to have let this happen. For it can't be, Paul; I can'tsay what you want me to say. We can never be anything more to oneanother than friends."

  A cold hand seemed to grasp my heart--a horrible fear that I had lostall that I cared for--all that made life desirable.

  "Why can't we?" I asked. "Do you mean that--that the gods have beengracious to some other man?"

  "No, no," she answered hastily--almost indignantly, "of course I don'tmean that."

  "Then it is only that you don't love me yet. Of course you don't. Whyshould you? But you will, dear, some day. And I will wait patientlyuntil that day comes and not trouble you with entreaties. I will waitfor you as Jacob waited for Rachel; and as the long years seemed to himbut as a few days because of the love he bore her, so it shall be withme, if only you will not send me away quite without hope."

  She was looking down, white-faced, with a hardening of the lips as ifshe were in bodily pain. "You don't understand," she whispered. "Itcan't be--it can never be. There is something that makes itimpossible, now and always. I can't tell you more than that."

  "But, Ruth dearest," I pleaded despairingly, "may it not becomepossible some day? Can it not be made possible? I can wait, but Ican't give you up. Is there no chance whatever that this obstacle maybe removed?"

  "Very little, I fear. Hardly any. No, Paul; it is hopeless, and Ican't bear to talk about it. Let me go now. Let us say good-by hereand see one another no more for a while. Perhaps we may be friendsagain some day--when you have forgiven me."

  "Forgiven you, dearest!" I exclaimed. "There is nothing to forgive.And we are friends, Ruth. Whatever happens, you are the dearest friendI have on earth, or can ever have."

  "Thank you, Paul," she said faintly. "You are very good to me. Butlet me go, please. I must be alone."

  She held out a trembling hand, and, as I took it, I was shocked to seehow terribly agitated and ill she looked.

  "May I not come with you, dear?" I pleaded.

  "No, no!" she exclaimed breathlessly; "I must go away by myself. Iwant to be alone. Good-by."

  "Before I let you go, Ruth--if you must go--I must have a most solemnpromise from you."

  Her sad gray eyes met mine and her lips quivered with an unspokenquestion.

  "You must promise me," I went on, "that if ever this barrier that partsus should be removed, you will let me know instantly. Remember that Ilove you always, and that I am waiting for you always on this side ofthe grave."

  She caught her breath in a quick little sob, and pressed my hand.

  "Yes," she whispered: "I promise. Good-by."

  She pressed my hand again and was gone; and, as I gazed at the emptydoorway through which she had passed, I caught a glimpse of herreflection in a glass on the landing, where she had paused for a momentto wipe her eyes. I felt it, in a manner, indelicate to have seen her,and turned away my head quickly; and yet I was conscious of a certainselfish satisfaction in the sweet sympathy that her grief bespoke.

  But now that she was gone a horrible sense of desolation descended onme. Only now, by the consciousness of irreparable loss, did I begin torealize the meaning of this passion of love that had stolen unawaresinto my life. How it had glorified the present and spread a glamor ofdelight over the dimly considered future: how all pleasures anddesires, hopes and ambitions, had converged upon it as a focus; how ithad stood out as the one great reality behind which the othercircumstances of life were as a background, shimmering, half seen,immaterial and unreal. And now it was gone--lost, as it seemed, beyondhope; and that which was left to me was but the empty frame from whichthe picture had vanished.

  I have no idea how long I stood rooted to the spot where she had leftme, wrapped in a dull consciousness of pain, immersed in a half-numbreverie. Recent events flitted, dream-like, through my mind; our happylabors in the reading-room; our first visit to the Museum; and thispresent day that had opened so brightly and with such joyous promise.One by one these phantoms of a vanished happiness came and went.Occasional visitors sauntered into the room--but the galleries weremostly empty that day--gazed inquisitively at my motionless figure, andwent their way. And still the dull, intolerable ache in my breast wenton, the only vivid consciousness that was left to me.

  Presently I raised my eyes and met those of the portrait. The sweet,pensive face of the old Greek settler looked out at me wistfully asthough he would offer comfort; as though he would tell me that he, too,had known sorrow when he lived his life in the sunny Fayyum. And asubtle consolation, like the faint scent of old rose leaves, seemed toexhale from that friendly face that had looked on the birth of myhappiness and had seen it wither and fade. I turned away, at last,with a silent farewell; and when I looked back, he seemed to speed meon my way with gentle valediction.