The Witch of Prague Part 40

"His discretion is beyond all doubt," Keyork answered, "and for the best of all reasons. He is totally deaf and dumb and absolutely illiterate.

I brought him years ago in Astrakhan, of a Russian friend. He is very clever with his fingers. It is he who stole for me the Malayan lady's head over there, after she was executed. And now, my dear friend, let us have supper."

There were neither plates nor knives nor forks upon the table, and at a sign from Keyork the Individual retired to procure those Western inc.u.mbrances to eating. The Wanderer, acquainted as he had long been with his host's eccentricities, showed little surprise, but understood that whatever he said would not be overheard, any more than if they had been alone. He hesitated a moment, however, for he had not determined exactly how far it was necessary to acquaint Keyork with the circ.u.mstances, and he was anxious to avoid all reference to Unorna's folly in regard to himself. The Individual returned, bringing, with other things, a drinking-gla.s.s for the Wanderer. Keyork filled it and then filled his own. It was clear that ascetic practices formed no part of his scheme for the prolongation of life. As he raised his gla.s.s to his lips, his bright eyes twinkled.

"To Keyork's long life and happiness," he said calmly, and then sipped the wine. "And now for your story," he added, brus.h.i.+ng the brown drops from his white moustache with a small damask napkin which the Individual presented to him and immediately received again, to throw it aside as unfit for a second use.

"I hardly think that we can afford to linger over supper," the Wanderer said, noticing Keyork's coolness with some anxiety. "The case is urgent.

Israel Kafka has lost his head completely. He has sworn to kill Unorna, and is at the present moment confined in the conservatory in her house."

The effect of the announcement upon Keyork was so extraordinary that the Wanderer started, not being prepared for any manifestation of what seemed to be the deepest emotion. The gnome sprang from the table with a cry that would have been like the roar of a wounded wild beast if it had not articulated a terrific blasphemy.

"Unorna is quite safe," the Wanderer hastened to say.

"Safe--where?" shouted the little man, his hands already on his furs.

The Individual, too, had sprung across the room like a cat and was helping him. In five seconds Keyork would have been out of the house.

"In a convent. I took her there, and saw the gate close behind her."

Keyork dropped his furs and stood still a moment. The Individual, always unmoved, rearranged the coat and cap neatly in their place, following all his master's movements, however, with his small eyes. Then the sage broke out in a different strain. He flung his arms round the Wanderer's body and attempted to embrace him.

"You have saved my life!--the curse of the three black angels on you for not saying so first!" he cried in an agony of ecstasy. "Preserver! What can I do for you?--Saviour of my existence, how can I repay you! You shall live forever, as I will; you shall have all my secrets; the gold spider shall spin her web in your dwelling; the Part of Fortune shall s.h.i.+ne on your path, it shall rain jewels on your roof; and your winter shall have snows of pearls--you shall--"

"Good Heavens! Keyork," interrupted the Wanderer. "Are you mad? What is the matter with you?"

"Mad? The matter? I love you! I wors.h.i.+p you! I adore you! You have saved her life, and you have saved mine; you have almost killed me with fright and joy in two moments, you have--"

"Be sensible, Keyork. Unorna is quite safe, but we must do something about Kafka and--"

The rest of his speech was drowned in another shout from the gnome, ending in a portentous peal of laughter. He had taken his gla.s.s again and was toasting himself.

"To Keyork, to his long life, to his happiness!" he cried. Then he wet his lips again in the golden juice, and the Individual, unmoved, presented him with a second napkin.

The wine seemed to steady him, and he sat down again in his place.

"Come!" he said. "Let us eat first. I have an amazing appet.i.te, and Israel Kafka can wait."

"Do you think so? Is it safe?" the Wanderer asked.

"Perfectly," returned Keyork, growing quite calm again. "The locks are very good on those doors. I saw to them myself."

"But some one else--"

"There is no some one else," interrupted the sage sharply. "Only three persons can enter the house without question--you, I, and Kafka. You and I are here, and Kafka is there already. When we have eaten we will go to him, and I flatter myself that the last state of the young man will be so immeasurably worse than the first, that he will not recognise himself when I have done with him."

He had helped his friend and began eating. Somewhat rea.s.sured the Wanderer followed his example. Under the circ.u.mstances it was as well to take advantage of the opportunity for refreshment. No one could tell what might happen before morning.

"It just occurs to me," said Keyork, fixing his keen eyes on his companion's face, "that you have told me absolutely nothing, except that Kafka is mad and that Unorna is safe."

"Those are the most important points," observed the Wanderer.

"Precisely. But I am sure that you will not think me indiscreet if I wish to know a little more. For instance, what was the immediate cause of Kafka's extremely theatrical and unreasonable rage? That would interest me very much. Of course, he is mad, poor boy! But I take delight in following out the workings of an insane intellect. Now there are no phases of insanity more curious than those in which the patient is possessed with a desire to destroy what he loves best. These cases are especially worthy of study because they happen so often in our day."

The Wanderer saw that some explanation was necessary and he determined to give one in as few words as possible.

"Unorna and I had strolled into the Jewish Cemetery," he said. "While we were talking there, Israel Kafka suddenly came upon us and spoke and acted very wildly. He is madly in love with her. She became very angry and would not let me interfere. Then, by way of punishment for his intrusion I suppose, she hypnotised him and made him believe that he was Simon Abeles, and brought the whole of the poor boy's life so vividly before me, as I listened, that I actually seemed to see the scenes. I was quite unable to stop her or to move from where I stood, though I was quite awake. But I realised what was going on and I was disgusted at her cruelty to the unfortunate man. He fainted at the end, but when he came to himself he seemed to remember nothing. I took him home and Unorna went away by herself. Then he questioned me so closely as to what had happened that I was weak enough to tell him the truth. Of course, as a fervent Hebrew, which he seems to be, he did not relish the idea of having played the Christian martyr for Unorna's amus.e.m.e.nt, and amidst the graves of his own people. He there and then impressed me that he intended to take Unorna's life without delay, but insisted that I should warn her of her danger, saying that he would not be a common murderer.

Seeing that he was mad and in earnest I went to her. There was some delay, which proved fortunate, as it turned out, for we left the conservatory by the small door just as he was entering from the other end. We locked it behind us, and going round by the pa.s.sages locked the other door upon him also, so that he was caught in a trap. And there he is, unless some one has let him out."

"And then you took Unorna to the convent?" Keyork had listened attentively.

"I took her to the convent, promising to come to her when she should send for me. Then I saw that I must consult you before doing anything more. It will not do to make a scandal of the matter."

"No," answered Keyork thoughtfully. "It will not do."

The Wanderer had told his story with perfect truth and yet in a way which entirely concealed the very important part Unorna's pa.s.sion for him had played in the sequence of events. Seeing that Keyork asked no further questions he felt satisfied that he had accomplished his purpose as he had intended, and that the sage suspected nothing. He would have been very much disconcerted had he known that the latter had long been aware of Unorna's love, and was quite able to guess at the cause of Kafka's sudden appearance and extreme excitement. Indeed, so soon as he had finished the short narrative, his mind reverted with curiosity to Keyork himself, and he wondered what the little man had meant by his amazing outburst of grat.i.tude on hearing of Unorna's safety. Perhaps he loved her. More impossible things than that had occurred in the Wanderer's experience. Or, possibly, he had an object to gain in exaggerating his thankfulness to Unorna's preserver. He knew that Keyork rarely did anything without an object, and that, although he was occasionally very odd and excitable, he was always in reality perfectly well aware of what he was doing. He was roused from his speculations by Keyork's voice.

"There will be no difficulty in securing Kafka," he said. "The real question is, what shall we do with him? He is very much in the way at present, and he must be disposed of at once, or we shall have more trouble. How infinitely more to the purpose it would have been if he had wisely determined to cut his own throat instead of Unorna's! But young men are so thoughtless!"

"I will only say one thing," said the Wanderer, "and then I will leave the direction to you. The poor fellow has been driven mad by Unorna's caprice and cruelty. I am determined that he shall not be made to suffer gratuitously anything more."

"Do you think that Unorna was intentionally cruel to him?" inquired Keyork. "I can hardly believe that. She has not a cruel nature."

"You would have changed your mind, if you had seen her this afternoon.

But that is not the question. I will not allow him to be ill-treated."

"No, no! of course not!" Keyork answered with eager a.s.sent. "But of course you will understand that we have to deal with a dangerous lunatic, and that it may be necessary to use whatever means are most sure and certain."

"I shall not quarrel with your means," the Wanderer said quietly, "provided that there is no unnecessary brutality. If I see anything of the kind I will take the matter into my own hands."

"Certainly, certainly!" said the other, eyeing with curiosity the man who spoke so confidently of taking out of Keyork Arabian's grasp whatever had once found its way into it.

"He shall be treated with every consideration," the Wanderer continued.

"Of course, if he is very violent, we shall have to use force."

"We will take the Individual with us," said Keyork. "He is very strong.

He has a trick of breaking silver florins with his thumbs and fingers which is very pretty."

"I fancy that you and I could manage him. It is a pity that neither of us has the faculty of hypnotising. This would be the proper time to use it."

"A great pity. But there are other things that will do almost as well."

"What, for instance?"

"A little ether in a sponge. He would only struggle a moment, and then he would be much more really unconscious than if he had been hypnotised."

"Is it quite painless?"

"Quite, if you give it gradually. If you hurry the thing, the man feels as though he were being smothered. But the real difficulty is what to do with him, as I said before."

"Take him home and get a keeper from the lunatic asylum," the Wanderer suggested.