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Page 27
"You have heard everything, Dr. Orszay?" asked the detective, rising
from his chair.
"Yes, I have heard everything," answered the venerable head of the
asylum. He was utterly crushed by the realisation that all this
tragedy and horror had gone out from his house.
Varna rose also. He understood perfectly that now Gyuri's power
was at an end and he was as pleased as a child that has just
received a present. "And now you're going to shoot him?" he asked,
in the tone a boy would use if asking when the fireworks were to
begin.
Muller shook his head. "No, my dear Cardillac," he replied
gravely. "He will not be shot--that is a death for a brave
soldier--but this man has deserved--" He did not finish the
sentence, for the warder sank to the floor unconscious.
"What a coward!" murmured the detective scornfully, looking down at
the giant frame that lay prostrate before him. Even in his wide
experience he had known of no case of a man of such strength and
such bestial cruelty, combined with such utter cowardice.
Varna also stood looking down at the unconscious warder. Then he
glanced up with a cunning smile at the other two men who stood
there. The doctor, pale and trembling with horror, covered his
face with his hands. Muller turned to the door to call in the
attendants waiting outside. During the moment's pause that ensued
the madman bent over his worktable, seized a knife that lay there
and dropped on one knee beside the prostrate form. His hand was
raised to strike when a calm voice said: "Fie! Cardillac, for
shame! Do not belittle yourself. This man here is not worthy of
your knife, the hangman will look after him."
Varna raised his loose-jointed frame and looked about with
glistening eyes and trembling lips. His mind was completely
darkened once more. "I must kill him--I must have his
blood--there is no one to see me," he murmured. "I am a
hangman too--he has made a hangman of me," and again he bent
with uplifted hand over the man who had utilised his terrible
misfortune to make a criminal of him. But two of the waiting
attendants seized his arms and threw him back on the floor, while
the other two carted Gyuri out. Both unfortunates were soon
securely guarded.
"Do not be angry with me, doctor," said Muller gravely, as he
walked through the garden accompanied by Orszay.
Doctor Orszay laughed bitterly. "Why should I be angry with you
--you who have discovered my inexcusable credulity?"
"Inexcusable? Oh, no, doctor; it was quite natural that you should
have believed a man who had himself so well in hand, and who knew
so well how to play his part. When we come to think of it, we
realise that most crimes have been made possible through some one's
credulity, or over-confidence, a credulity which, in the light of
subsequent events, seems quite incomprehensible. Do not reproach
yourself and do not lose heart. Your only fault was that you did
not recognise the heart of the beast of prey in this admirable human
form."
"What course will the law take?" asked Orszay. "The poor
unfortunate madman--whose knife took all these lives--cannot be
held responsible, can he?"
"Oh, no; his misfortune protects him. But as for the other, though
his hands bear no actual bloodstains, he is more truly a murderer
than the unhappy man who was his tool. Hanging is too good for him.
There are times when even I could wish that we were back in the
Middle Ages, when it was possible to torture a prisoner.
"You do not look like that sort of a man," smiled the doctor through
his sadness.
"No, I am the most good-natured of men usually, I think--the
meekest anyway," answered Muller. "But a case like this--. However,
as I said before, keep a stout heart, doctor, and do not waste
time in unnecessary self-reproachings." The detective pressed the
doctor's hand warmly and walked down the hill towards the village.
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