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Page 85
"Time passed, and the Pope triumphed over his enemies. He prepared
to abandon the person of the young Turk to Charles of France, and
effectively checkmated the formidable Rovere for a season. But
then, as we know, Prince Djem suddenly perished, and while latest
writers declare that he actually reached France, only to die
there, ruined by his own debaucheries, I, for one, have not
accepted that story. He never reached France, my friends, for be
sure Alexander VI. was not the man to let any human life stand
between his treasury and three hundred thousand ducats."
Signor Mannetti preserved silence for a time, then he returned in
very surprising fashion to the subject that had brought him to
Chadlands. He had been reflecting and now proceeded with his
thoughts aloud.
"You must, however, restrain your natural impatience a little
longer, until another night has passed. I will, if you please,
myself spend some hours in the Grey Room after dark, and learn
what the medieval spirits have to tell me. Shall I see the
wraith of Prince Djem, think you? Or the ghost of Pinturicchio
hovering round his little picture? Or those bygone, cunning
workers in plaster who built the ceiling? They will at least talk
the language of Tuscany, and I shall be at home among them."
Sir Walter protested.
"That, indeed, is the last thing I could permit, signor," he said.
"That is the first thing that must happen, nevertheless," replied
the old gentleman calmly. "You need not fear for me, Sir Walter.
I jest about the spirits. There are no spirits in the Grey Room,
or, if there are, they are not such as can quarrel with you, or
me. There is, however, something much worse than any spirit
lurking in the heart of your house--a potent, sleepless, fiendish
thing; and far from wondering at all that has happened, I only
marvel that worse did not befall. But I have the magic talisman,
the 'open sesame.' I am safe enough even if I am mistaken. Though
my fires are burning low, it will take more than your Grey Room
to extinguish them. I hold the clue of the labyrinth, and shall
pass safely in and out again. To-morrow I can tell you if I am
right."
"I confess that any such plan is most disagreeable to me. I have
been specially directed by the authorities to allow no man to make
further experiments alone."
Vergilio Mannetti showed a trace of testiness. "Forgive me, but
your mind moves without its usual agility, my friend. Have I not
told you everything? What matters Scotland Yard, seeing that it
is entirely in the dark, while I have the light? Let them hear
that they are bats and owls, and that one old man has outwitted
the pack of them!"
"You have, as you say, told us much, my dear signor, and much that
you have said is deeply interesting. In your mind it may be that
these various facts are related, and bring you to some sort of
conclusion bearing on the Grey Room; but for us it is not so.
These statements leave us where they find us; they hang on nothing,
not even upon one another in our ears. I speak plainly, since
this is a matter for plain speaking. It is natural that you should
not feel as we feel; but I need not remind you that what to you is
merely an extraordinary mystery, to us is much more. You have
imagination, however, far more than I have, and can guess, without
being told, the awful suffering the past has brought to my daughter
and myself."
"Our slow English brains cannot flash our thoughts along so quickly
as yours, signor," said Mary. "It is stupid of us, but--"
"I stand corrected," answered the other instantly. He rose from
his seat, and bowed to them with his hand on his heart.
"I am a withered old fool, and not quick at all. Forgive me. But
thus it stands. Since you did not guess, through pardonable
ignorance of a certain fact, then, for the pleasure of absolute
proof, I withhold my discovery a little longer. There is drama
here, but we must be skilled dramatists and not spoil our climax,
or anticipate it. To-morrow it shall be--perhaps even to-night.
You are not going to be kept long in suspense. Nor will I go alone
and disobey Scotland Yard. Your aged pet--this spaniel dog--shall
join me. Good Prince and I will retire early and, if you so desire
it, we shall be very willing to welcome you in the Grey Room--say
some six or seven hours later. I do not sleep there, but merely
sustain a vigil, as all the others did. But it will be briefer
than theirs. You will oblige me?"
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