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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32831-8.txt b/32831-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66ed5fb --- /dev/null +++ b/32831-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1417 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Door, by Dorothy Quick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lost Door + +Author: Dorothy Quick + +Release Date: June 16, 2010 [EBook #32831] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST DOOR *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The Lost Door + + By DOROTHY QUICK + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Weird Tales October +1936. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: _An alluring but deadly horror out of past centuries menaced +the life of the young American--a fascinating tale of a strange and eery +love_] + + +I have often wondered whether I would have urged Wrexler to come with me +if I had known what Rougemont would do to him. I think--looking +back--that even if I could have glimpsed the future, I would have acted +in the same way, and that I would have brought him to Rougemont to +fulfill his destiny. + +As the boat cut its swift way through the waters on its journey to +France, I had no thought of this. Nor had Wrexler. He was happier than I +had ever seen him. He had never been abroad before, and the boat was a +source of wonder and enjoyment to him. + +I myself was full of an eager anticipation of happy months to come. It +hardly seemed possible that only a week had elapsed since I received the +cable that had made such a change in my fortunes: + + Your father died yesterday. You are sole heir, provided you + comply with conditions of his will, the principal one being + that you spend six months of each year at Rougemont. If + satisfactory, come at once. + +It was signed by my father's lawyer. + +I had no sorrow over my father's passing, except a deep regret that we +could not have known the true relationship of father and son. At the +death of my mother, my father had grown bitter and refused to see the +innocent cause of her untimely passing. As a baby I had been brought up +in the lodge of Rougemont, my father's magnificent château near Vichy. +When I reached the age of four, I had been sent away to boarding-school. +After that, my life had been a succession of schools; first in France, +the adopted land of my father, then England, and finally St. Paul's in +America. + +In all justice to my parent, I must admit he gave me every advantage +except the affection I would have cherished. By his own wish, I had +never seen him in life; nor would I see him in death, for a later cable +advised me that the funeral was over and his body already at rest in the +beautiful Gothic mausoleum he had had built in his lifetime, after the +manner of the ancients. + +He had left me everything with only two injunctions, that a certain sum +of money be set aside to keep the château always in its present +condition and that I should spend at least half my time in it, and my +children after me--a condition I was only too pleased to accept. All my +life I had longed for a home. + +I cabled at once that I would sail. A return cable brought me the news +that I had unlimited funds to draw upon. It was then that I urged +Wrexler to come with me. + + * * * * * + +Wrexler and I had been friends since the day when two lonely boys had +been put by chance into the same room at school. We were so utterly +unlike, it was perhaps the difference between us that held us together +through the years. At St. Paul's, and later at Princeton, Gordon Wrexler +had always been at the head of his class, whereas I inevitably tagged +along at the bottom. The contrast between us was expressed not only in +the color of our hair and eyes, but also in our dispositions. My +greatest gift from fate was a sense of humor, and I suppose it was this +quality of mine that particularly appealed to Wrexler. It seems as +though I was the only one who could lift him out of the despondency into +which he often plunged. As the years passed, and his tendency to +depression intensified, he came to depend more and more upon me, and we +grew closer together. + +Strangely enough, the whiteness of his face and the gloom that exuded +from him did not detract from his good looks. It only added to them. For +the translucence of his skin made the thick, black hair that lay close +to his head all the darker, while at the same time it brought out the +deep black of his eyes, and the firm cut of his lips. + +The night before we landed, we were standing on deck, at the rail, +looking over the side straining our eyes for the first glimpse of the +lights of Cherbourg, and Wrexler spoke of himself for the first time +since we had left New York. + +"You know, Jim, for perhaps the only time in my life I feel at peace, as +though something that I should have done long ago has been at last +accomplished." + +He was so solemn that I laughed a little. He stopped me suddenly: "It's +true--I've always felt an urge within me, a blinding force pushing me +toward something that is waiting for me: where, I do not know; what, I +have no idea. For the first time, it's gone--that nameless urge that I +knew not how to satisfy, and I feel that the call's being answered." + +With the usual inanity of people at a loss for words, I said the first +thing that came into my mind: "Perhaps Rougemont has been calling you." + +"You've no idea what a relief it is," he continued, "not to feel +constantly pulled with no way of knowing toward what, or how to go about +answering the summons. I have often thought that I should take my +life--that that was what was meant----" His voice trailed off. + +This time I was not at a loss for words. I started to read him a lecture +that would have done credit to Martin Luther or John Knox. At the end of +my harangue Wrexler laughed, a rare thing for him, and put his arm +through mine. + +"All that's gone now. Didn't I tell you that at last in some strange way +I am at peace?" + + * * * * * + +Rougemont's towers were visible long before we reached the great iron +gates that had to be swung open to let us pass. For miles the great +edifice dominated the landscape. The huge building had a soft, reddish +tinge, from which I supposed it derived its name--Red Mountain. It was a +fairy-tale palace perched on a mountain top. A great thrill went through +me as I realized that this beautiful château was mine, and as we drove +through the gates, up the winding road, through my own forest, the pride +of possession swelled up in me and for the first time I began to +understand why my father had never put his foot outside the great gates +and the high wall that enclosed the acres that now belonged to me. + +As we drove on, up the winding, narrow road, over the drawbridge that +spanned the moat, into the courtyard, I understood more and more. Here +was everything: beauty such as I had never dreamed, forests stocked with +game, running brooks full of fish, a lake, and farther off, a farm--I +could glimpse its thatched roofs--to supply our wants. Rougemont was a +world in itself. + +The high carved door was swung open as Wrexler and I got out of the car. +Monsieur de Carrier, my father's lawyer, advanced to meet us, a friendly +smile on his Santa Claus countenance. I shook hands, introduced Wrexler +as "a very good friend who is going to stay with me." + +Monsieur Carrier's face fell. Clearly Wrexler's being with me was a +disappointment. Nevertheless, he greeted him politely, as he ushered us +in. + +That moment Rougemont took me to its heart and won me for its own. + +Imagine Amboise, or any of the great French châteaux, suddenly restored +to itself as it was in the days of the Medici, and you have a small idea +of Rougemont. For we had stepped out of the present into the past. +Carrier, Wrexler and I were anachronisms; everything else was in keeping +with the dead centuries. Even the servants were in doublet and hose of a +sort of cerulean blue, with great slashes puffed with crimson silk. + +I think I gasped. At any rate, Monsieur Carrier saw my astonishment. "It +is your father's will, my boy. He always kept it so, and wore the +costume of former days, himself. He greatly admired the first Francis. +In your rooms you will find costumes prepared for you. For the last six +months of his life, he was making ready for his son." There was an odd +sort of pride in Carrier's voice. + +I remembered now that my father had written for my measurements. I had +thought he meant to make me a present, but when time passed and I heard +nothing, the incident had slipped from my mind. I looked at Wrexler, +expecting to see some sign of amusement on his face, but he stood +quietly looking at the tapestry that hung half-way up the grand +stairway. There was a dreamy, far-away expression in his eyes. + +"May I speak before your friend?" Carrier asked. + +I nodded. The servants had already disappeared with our luggage. I threw +myself down on a long, low bench, and Carrier sat opposite me. + +"You understood the terms of your father's will, of course," Carrier +began, "that you must live here six months, but you did not know that +you must live here, as he did, in the past. If you do not, then +Rougemont goes to your father's steward, with the same conditions--to be +kept always as it is; with only a small sum set aside for you." + +I said nothing. Driving along the road from Paris, it would have seemed +fantastic, but here--under the spell of Rougemont--it seemed as though +anything else would be impossible. + + * * * * * + +Carrier went on, "You will be Grand Seigneur--Lord of the Manor, in the +old style. You may have your guests if you like, but they too must +conform with the rules." Here he glanced at Wrexler, who still stood as +though he were in a trance. "The other six months you are free to do as +you please, spend what you like of the money not needed for +Rougemont--that is, _if you want to go anywhere else_." + +Evidently he had finished his speech. At the time I did not recognize +the significance of his last words. "I am willing to submit to the +conditions; only"--a sudden thought struck me--"I don't want to lose all +touch with the outside world. Can I go to Vichy--to get papers and so +forth? I don't suppose they had papers in Francis First's time." + +Monsieur de Carrier smiled. "My dear boy, your father didn't wish to +make a prisoner of you. You may go to Vichy if you like. But you must +not be away from Rougemont more than twenty-four consecutive hours +during the six months you are in residence. + +"So far as the papers, etc., are concerned, they will be at the lodge. +There is also a telephone, and your own clothes will be kept there. +After tonight, nothing of 1935 must come within these halls, but you are +free to go to the lodge any time you want to. You can get in touch with +me also, if you desire further information. De Lacy, the steward, will +look out for you. He knows your father's ways. Now permit me to +congratulate you and say _au revoir_, my young friend." + +Monsieur de Carrier got up on his stubby fat legs, made a little bow to +me, another to Wrexler which went unheeded. + +I too arose. "It will seem strange, but I'll do my best." + +"One other thing," Monsieur de Carrier was all of a sudden very grave. +"In two weeks' time you will be given a key. It unlocks a casket you +will find in the library. In it you will find a message from your +father. Adieu, my boy, I wish you well." + +With a click of the heels and a friendly smile, he was gone. + +I turned to Wrexler. "What do you think of it?" I asked. + +Wrexler did not answer. He still stood gazing up at the stairway. The +wide, marble steps curved upward. Along the sides, the intricate carving +was beautiful in its lacy delicateness. + +At that moment, however, I was alarmed for my friend. His attitude was +rigid, and his eyes were glassy. I put my hand on his shoulder. +"Wrexler!" + +My action galvanized him to life. "Another minute and she would have +reached the last step! Now she is gone." + +This was madness! There had been no one there. I said as much. + +Wrexler turned and faced me. "But there was," he said eagerly, "the most +beautiful girl I have ever seen, all done up in some old costume: great, +wide skirts, little waist, and a high lace collar. She had bronze curls, +great blue eyes and the loveliest face! I saw her immediately we came +in. She looked at both of us, but she smiled at me!" + +I was in a quandary. Until now I had not given the staircase more than a +perfunctory glance. For all I knew, she might have been one of the +servants, peeping to see her new master. To Wrexler, impressionable, +strange creature that he was, the one glance might have so registered on +his mind that he kept on seeing her; for certainly she had not been +there when I looked. It seemed best to make light of the whole matter. + +"Anyway, she's gone now. At least I can explain the costume. I take it +you didn't hear Carrier's announcements?" + +Wrexler shook his head. I proceeded to enlighten him. + +Instead of teasing me about the strange conditions my father's will had +imposed upon me, he was enthusiastic about the idea. "It's the one +period in history that has always interested me! Jim, we're in luck! +Imagine stepping back into Medici France for six months, shutting out +the world! Who knows but that Catherine herself may have stayed here, or +Marguerite de Valois--the Marguerite of Marguerites! Beautiful, but no +more beautiful than that girl on the stairs. I can hardly wait to see +her again." + +I heartily hoped that he would see her, and that she was not entirely a +creature of his imagination. If she was real, I too was eager to meet +her. + +Wrexler interrupted my thoughts. + +"I feel as though I had come home," he said. "I'm crazy to explore. +Let's go shed these ugly things and begin to really live. Why, it's been +this I've been waiting for! It's lucky we're the same size." + + * * * * * + +Out of his irrelevance, I gathered the trend of his thought. "I wonder +where we go," I began. + +Almost as though he had heard my words, a tall, commanding figure +stepped into the hall. He was attired richly in damask of a lovely, soft +blue with the same slashes of crimson that the servant livery had shown, +but in this case of finer material. He was a handsome man of about +thirty-four. His beard was pointed and he had a small mustache. His long +legs were encased in silken hose and he wore a dagger thrust through his +belt. + +"De Lacy, at your service, my lord," he announced as he made a deep bow. + +I extended my hand, somewhat at a loss to know how to greet my father's +steward, who was clearly a man of some importance and who, but for me, +would be owner of Rougemont. + +Instead of shaking hands, he dropped on one knee and kissed my hand--a +proceeding which embarrassed me very much. + +On my motioning him to rise, he did so with a lithe grace: "I suppose +you want to change your strange clothes, my lord, and see your +quarters?" + +I nodded and introduced Wrexler. De Lacy bowed. "Monsieur Wrexler would +like to be near you?" Then he added, "We have some twenty or thirty +suites, my lord." + +Wrexler said he would prefer to be close at hand, and together we +followed de Lacy up the marble stairway into a new world. + +Wrexler was at ease immediately in his doublet and hose. The rich, +embroidered garments seemed to suit him as modern clothes never did. He +looked handsomer than ever. He also told me that the costume of the +Medici was becoming to me, and truly when I caught a glimpse of myself +mirrored in the pond--for the château did not possess a large mirror--I +was not ill pleased with the result. But, by the end of the week, I +still felt strange in my new attire, whereas Wrexler from the beginning +wore his as if to the manor born. + +But I anticipate. That first night we donned two of the outfits which +the valet whom de Lacy introduced to me had put out. Our own clothes +disappeared, and much to my annoyance, with them my cigarettes. + + * * * * * + +We ate dinner in state, upon a raised dais at one end of a great hall. +At either side below us were long, narrow tables filled with people. +Dressed also in keeping with the period, they made a wonderful picture +and comprised, I supposed, my court or retinue. De Lacy presented me to +them with a flourish, and they all filed by and kissed my hand, then +went to their places. + +When Wrexler and I were seated, they too sat down. When I began to talk, +they filled the hall with gay chattering. From a minstrel gallery at the +other end of the room came soft strains of music. + +De Lacy stood behind me pouring my wine. One thing I noticed was that in +the whole room--and there must have been two hundred people at +least--there were no older men or women. In fact, de Lacy was the oldest +of the lot; the others ranged from about sixteen to thirty. + +"How did my father get all these people together?" I asked de Lacy. + +"Most of them, my lord, were born at Rougemont. Still others were +adopted and brought here almost as soon as they were born. None of us +has ever been outside Rougemont gates." De Lacy was quite matter-of-fact +as he made his statement. + +Wrexler was searching the hall with his eyes, as he listened to my +steward. + +"And you?" I looked at de Lacy. + +"I, too, my lord, know nothing of your outside world, nor do I want to. +Why should I, who am happy here? My family live down at the farm, but +his Highness, your father, became interested in me. He brought me into +the château, had me educated, and looked after me, himself. Eventually +he made me steward of Rougemont. It is a great honor he conferred upon +me and I shall do my best to help you, my lord." + +Of a sudden I saw what my father's life-work had been: to rear a court +to people Rougemont. My father had been twenty-five at my mother's +death. He had died at fifty-eight. He had had thirty-three years to make +his dream come true. + +"Where are the parents of the ones who were born at Rougemont?" + +"At their own places, or the farms, my lord. Rougemont has over a +thousand acres and several manors upon it, where people whom his +Highness your father advanced over others, live. They all serve their +ruler in some way, in return for what is given them. Only the people of +the lodge are in touch with the Outside, which we have been taught to +look upon with scorn. Here we have everything, and to be taken to the +château itself is the ambition of everyone on the estate." + +I saw it all; not, of course, every intricacy of the elaborate system my +father had evolved, but at least a glimmer of the truth. And I marveled +at the character of a man who had taken children out of the world to +make his own world and then had the patience to wait for them to grow +up; to form his court--the court he planned for me. Yes, in my egotism I +thought it was for me! Two weeks were to pass before I learned what his +real reason had been. + +Into my reflections, Wrexler broke abruptly, "She is not here. Ask de +Lacy about her; her beauty haunts me. Already I am in love with her." + +I was not surprized. Nothing, I felt, could at this point surprize me, +so much had happened in the last few hours. If my father had arisen from +the floor like Hamlet's ghost, I would have greeted him quite casually. + +"Is there a young girl here with bronze curls and blue eyes?" I asked +obediently. + +A shadow crossed de Lacy's handsome face. For the first time he +hesitated. "There is no one here that answers that description. May I +ask why you----" + +"My friend saw her on the stairway." + +I caught a murmur from de Lacy's lips, "So soon!" it sounded like, but +before I could question further, he said aloud, "I have leave to depart +and join my lady?" And before I could answer, he bowed himself away to +take a seat at one of the tables below. + +Wrexler looked over his wine goblet. "The man lied. I saw recognition of +the description in his eyes." + +"We'll get the truth out of him later," I countered. "Isn't it fine to +actually eat chicken with your fingers, and not feel you are committing +a social error!" + + * * * * * + +We did not get any information out of de Lacy later. To Wrexler's +insistent questionings he was at first non-committal, and after a bit, +downright curt. I poured oil on the troubled waters by suggesting that +as it was late, we would wait until morning to see the library and the +left wing of the château. + +With a smile of relief, de Lacy ushered us to our chambers. My retiring +was a kind of ceremony. It amused me, but I had a nagging little thought +in the back of my mind that all this etiquette would become boring after +a while. + +As the last man bowed himself out of my room, de Lacy bent low. "My +lord, there are guards at your door. You have only to call if you +require anything." + +I thanked him once more. Greatly to my embarrassment, he again kissed my +hand. "Your servant to the death!" he cried, and drew the curtains about +my high-canopied bed. + +I knew that outside the red damask, two huge candles were burning, but +the curtain shut out their light and I was smothered in darkness. I made +a mental note that I must arrange somehow for air in my room. The French +idea of banishing night air did not coincide with my American habits. +Tonight I was too weary to get up and attend to it. My thoughts were +racing back and forth among the strange events of the day, but before I +could focus them into any kind of order, sleep descended upon me. + +I had a strange dream. In it, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen +came and parted the red damask curtains. Framed against the dark oak +panels of my room, she stood looking down upon me. Her hair was red +gold, and her eyes had all the sapphire tints of the world stored in +their depths. Her pale, white face was oval in shape and balanced +perfectly upon a slender neck. Her lips were sweetly curved and her nose +delicately shaped. As she bent over me, I could see the rounded curve of +her bosom. One slim hand reached out and touched my cheek. It was like +the touch of a falling rose petal. + +In my dream I lay asleep, yet I was conscious of this lovely creature. I +watched her through closed eyelids, and held my breath, hoping she would +kiss me. It seemed as though I had never desired anything so much. + +A half-smile hovered on her lips, but her eyes told me nothing. She +leaned lower. A faint perfume pervaded my senses, and then I felt her +lips upon my forehead. A great cold swept over me at her touch--swept me +down, down into blackness, and I knew no more. + + * * * * * + +When I awoke, the sun was pouring through the opened curtains. I reached +for a cigarette--my first conscious thought upon awakening--and not +finding my case under the pillow, suddenly realized my new surroundings. +At the same time, I remembered my dream. "Wrexler and his talk of a +red-haired beauty is responsible for that," I thought as I clapped my +hands. + +De Lacy came in so quickly I knew he must have been waiting outside the +door. He started when he saw the curtain of my bed had been opened. "Did +you not pull them?" I asked. + +He shook his head. I said no more, and the ceremony of my arising began. + +When I had bathed in a great sunken tub--fortunately Diana de Poictiers +had had her daily bath in the far-off time--I sought Wrexler. + +Together we breakfasted, and then I announced to de Lacy that we wished +to inspect the rest of the château. He led us to the left wing, and took +us through suite after suite. Beautifully furnished, the château was a +veritable treasure house. An antiquarian would have gone mad with +delight. + +I noticed that de Lacy had avoided two heavily built doors opposite the +ballroom. When we had returned from our tour, I stopped before them. +"And here?" I asked. + +"The picture gallery, my lord," he responded unwillingly, and swung the +doors open. There was an unhappy expression on his face. + +The room was long and narrow, and the walls except for the windows were +lined with portraits. We walked slowly down the length of the room, +looking at the portraits of a dead and gone race. + +"The former owners of the château?" I asked. De Lacy nodded. + +Suddenly I looked at the part of the room facing the door which he had +entered. At first we had been too far away to distinguish anything about +it except that there was only one large painting hanging in the center. +Now that I was nearer, I could see the painting, and I caught my breath +in astonishment; for there was the portrait of the lady of my dream, +smiling down on me. + +Wrexler caught my arm, "That's the girl--the one I saw on the stairs." + +"That is the portrait of Helene, Mademoiselle d'Harcourt, daughter of +the Lord of Harcourt, who owned this château," de Lacy's voice broke in. + +Wrexler and I exclaimed simultaneously, "But I----" and "She is----" + +De Lacy looked at us strangely. "It is from her that the château got its +new name Rougemont--_Red Mountain_. Before that, it was called Hôtel +d'Harcourt. Mademoiselle Helene was very beautiful, as you can see, +_Messieurs_, and she had many suitors. At last, from among them, she +chose an English lord. One of the discarded lovers, Black George--_le +Georges Noir_--vowed that she should not belong to the Englishman, or +ever leave Rougemont. + +"She laughed, Mademoiselle Helene, and her father, the Lord d'Harcourt, +laughed too, for he had many men at arms and was rich and powerful. +Black George did not laugh, he only set his lips grimly. The wedding day +came and the beautiful Helene married the English lord in the great +hall, but just as he took her in his arms for the nuptial kiss, there +arose a great noise outside. It was Black George attacking the château. + +"The English lord, with Helene's kiss warm upon his lips, went forth to +battle. There was a fight such as these peaceful lands had never seen, +and the mountain ran red with blood. Black George was the victor. He +slew the Englishman, he slew the Lord of Harcourt, and his men hacked to +pieces the defenders of the château. + +"Black George, followed by his men, their swords red with blood, came +into the great hall where Helene d'Harcourt sat on the throne, her face +whiter than her wedding dress. Black George flung her lover's body at +her feet, and the women of the household who were crouched about the +throne cried aloud with terror. The fair Helene did not cry, nor did she +moan; she only looked straight at Black George, and there was that in +her gaze that silenced everyone in the great hall; even Black George +stepped back a pace. + +"Then Helene d'Harcourt rose and went down to her love, the English lord +who for a brief moment had been her husband. She knelt beside him and +kissed his cold lips; then she took her wedding veil and laid it over +his body. + +"All the while there was silence in the great hall, while men and women +watched the slim girl say farewell to the man she loved. They watched +almost as though they were under a spell. But as the veil fell into +place, Black George laughed a long laugh that rang through the room; +then he turned to his followers, and cried loudly, 'The women are +yours--take them as you will, all but that one who belongs to me.' He +gestured toward Helene and laughed again. + +"Helene d'Harcourt stood erect and pointed her slender hand at Black +George. 'Wait,' she cried, and there was a quality in her voice that +made her listeners tremble. 'I shall belong to no one until my lover +comes for me, and till he comes, wo to you, Black George, who are well +named! Wo to you and to all men, for I curse you with a mighty curse, +the curse of a broken heart. And I curse all men for their black and +bitter deeds. Year after year, century after century, I will take my +vengeance for the wrongs I have suffered, and no man shall be free until +my lover comes again and we find bliss together.' + +"And while the eyes of the whole hall were riveted upon her, she plunged +the dagger she had taken from her lover's belt into her heart. For a +second she stood swaying; then she crumpled and fell beside the English +lord. + +"Black George caught her and held her in his arms. 'My curse upon you, +Black George!' she cried. + +[Illustration: "My curse upon you, Black George," she cried.] + +"Black George could also curse--'Never shall you leave Rougemont to find +your lover, and never shall he come, until----' and then his voice died +away as her head fell backward over his arm. The fair Helene was beyond +his reach. + +"For a minute more the people in the great hall were paralyzed by the +force of the terrible words that they had heard, but with the girl's +death they were released from the spell and a fury swept over the men. +They rushed upon the women and dragged them forth. Black George took +Helene's body and carried it away, but where he buried her no one knew, +nor could any discover; for the next day he was found in the great hall +raving mad, and the people said that Helene's curse was a potent one, +that already it had wreaked vengeance on the one who had wronged her +most. + +"From that day, the château was called Rougemont. The d'Harcourts were +all dead and the place fell into other hands. Then there grew up the +rumor that the château was haunted, that the fair Helene roamed through +its halls, cut off from her lover, and doomed to stay within these walls +by Black George's curse." + + * * * * * + +De Lacy silent, Wrexler and I looked at the portrait. My own feelings +were in a turmoil. It had been a ghost's lips that had touched me last +night; yet surely no ghosts could have been so beautiful or seemed so +real. + +Wrexler turned to me, "It would be the curse that has always been upon +me that when I fell in love it would be with a ghost!" His eyes were +vivid, shining brightly in his pale face. "I knew when I saw her on the +stairway that I loved her." + +"There is a rumor," said de Lacy, "that the man who sees the fair Helene +will meet with some misadventure, unless she gives him a kiss. Then he +is protected from her wrath." + +I started. Wrexler smiled. "She kissed me with her eyes. I am not +afraid." + +"The fair Helene makes men suffer to make up for the wrong Black George +did her. For years she has not been seen at Rougemont. Last night when +you described her, I was afraid. My lord," de Lacy turned to me, "send +your friend away. If she only looked at him and smiled, there is a grave +and deadly danger for him, more deadly because it may be unexplainable. +Men upon whom the fair Helene has smiled have met strange deaths." + +As Wrexler looked up at the portrait, an inward light illumined his +countenance. "I am not afraid," he repeated. + +"There are many deaths. There is the death of the spirit as well as that +of the body. I beg you to go while there is time, friend of my lord." +There was real feeling in de Lacy's voice. + +I too felt afraid for Wrexler. The strange, unworldly feeling he had +always had, the pulling toward something he knew not what, made me +doubly fearful. Had the fair Helene been calling him all this time, +across the world? For myself I had no fear. She had kissed me, and +besides, even death at her hands would have been preferable to never +seeing her again. In these last few minutes I had realized that I too +was in love with Helene, that I could hardly wait for the night, in +hopes that she might visit me again. + +Resolutely I put my own feelings in the background, for at the moment +Wrexler was of paramount importance. If there was anything in de Lacy's +story--and from my own experience I was sure there was--Wrexler was in +danger. I turned to him. "If anything happened to you, I could never +forgive myself. Perhaps you'd better go. I could arrange a trip for you, +and later--meet you." + +Somehow de Lacy seemed one of us. I had no hesitancy in speaking before +him. He seemed a part of my new life. With the strange suddenness that +comes on rare occasions, we were already friends. + +Wrexler looked at me, then back at the portrait. Helene d'Harcourt, her +red hair gleaming, smiled down upon us. Before he spoke, I knew what he +would say, because in his place I would have said the same, "Unless you +kick me out, I want to stay." + +I put my hand on Wrexler's shoulder. "So be it. Come along, let's see +the library, then we'll know all of Rougemont. We've seen everything +else." + +Wrenching his eyes away from the portrait, Wrexler followed us. + +The library was beautiful, with paneled walls that had rows and rows of +books sunk in their depths. There was a long, oaken table, and on the +center of it stood a carved, gilded box, the casket which held my +father's letter. I wished then that I could read it at once. I wish now +that I could have, but perhaps it is better that I did not; at least +things moved as the fates ordained, and the responsibility for what +occurred was not mine. + + * * * * * + +The next three days were quiet, happy ones. Nothing occurred. I had no +ghostly visitant and Wrexler saw nothing of Helene. Under de Lacy's +expert guidance, we rode over the estate, hunted with falcons, a +pleasing sport which we both took to our hearts; mingled with my court, +found the people charming and highly cultivated. We took lessons in the +old dances, visited the manor houses. It was all very gay and amusing, +and I had no longing for the outside world. I did not even go down to +the lodge for news. + +There were many details of the estate management that I had to go into +with de Lacy. We spent several hours each morning going over the affairs +of Rougemont. It was virtually a small kingdom, and everything was +referred to me. + +Necessarily, the time I spent with de Lacy on such matters, Wrexler was +alone. He had changed a great deal since we had come to Rougemont. He +had come alive, and he threw himself into everything with a curious +intensity. He was like a person who has been very ill, who suddenly +finding himself better and fearing it is only temporary, clutches life +with both hands. He devoted long hours to reading the records of the +d'Harcourts, until he knew the family history as well as his own. + +I did not mention Helene, although there was seldom a moment when she +was out of my thoughts. I found myself watching for her day and night, +and I caught the same tension in Wrexler's eyes as he searched the +shadows. + +The third night she came again, not to me, but to Wrexler; and although +he was my friend, I almost hated him because he had seen her and I had +not. He told me next morning as we walked along the lake shore. + +"Jim," he said suddenly, "I saw her last night. She came to my room. She +drew aside the curtains of the bed, and leaned over me. I can't describe +my sensations. It was almost as though life were suspended in +space--like a bridge over a timeless sea." + +I had nothing to say. I knew so well how he felt. + +"She leaned closer and closer to me," Wrexler went on; "then she smiled, +and before I could find my breath to speak, she was gone. This is the +second time she has smiled at me. I felt a nameless fear, as though +there was a threatening quality in those red lips. She looked at me as +though I might have been Black George himself." + +In that moment, all my envy was swept away by anxiety for my friend. +Indeed, I wished she had kissed him, for then he would have been safe. I +started to speak, to beg Wrexler to leave Rougemont, but before the +words could leave my mouth, I saw her. She was standing in the path some +distance away, directly in line with my eyes, and she was shaking her +head impressively. + +I knew instantly what she meant. I was not to send Wrexler away. He +could not see her, because at the moment he was facing me, his hand on +my arm. His fingers touching me were not quite steady. It brought me +back to reality. "Wrexler," I cried, "you--could leave Rougemont." + +Her eyes clouded with anger. She looked at me reproachfully, +commandingly. As though I were dreaming, I heard my own voice, "I don't +want you to go, I would be lonely without you. Perhaps there is no +danger." + +Wrexler looked at me curiously. "There is risk, I know that, but I do +not care, I am like a man who has eaten a strange and terrible drug, who +knows the danger, but can not resist it. I will stay." + +Beyond him Helene smiled a satisfied smile, as she looked at Wrexler's +broad back. It made me feel afraid. Then suddenly her gaze swept to me, +and the smile changed into a languorous one that promised all things. My +heart beat faster, and I forgot my fear. + +Wrexler moved restlessly, turning so that we were side by side. Even in +that second Helene had vanished--how, I do not know. One minute she was +there, the next she was not. + +We walked along slowly. Finally Wrexler spoke. "No matter what happens, +and I mean that widely, my friend, you are not to regret. For a little +time I have been happy. I have come alive. I have loved, even though the +woman that I love is a wraith. I have felt a sensation I thought never +to feel. If I could hold her in my arms and press my lips to hers, I +would count the world well lost." + +I could say nothing, because--God pity me!--I knew just how he felt. + + * * * * * + +The days slipped away quickly. I did not see Helene again, but Wrexler +did. Almost every day he met her in the rose garden, where they spent +long hours. + +He told me that she was always elusive, but at the same time promising +that some day she would be kinder. He said her voice was like golden +honey and that without her he could not face life. + +Once I saw them myself, as I came from an interview with de Lacy. As I +approached the rose garden through an opening in the arches, I saw them +sitting side by side on the marble bench, and of the two, Helene looked +the more earthly. For Wrexler had grown paler and more ethereal every +day. His eyes were luminous as he looked at her adoringly. + +She saw me first, and her lips curved sweetly. She rose in a leisurely +fashion, turned her back to me and dropped a low curtsy to Wrexler; then +while I still watched, she extended one slender hand to him. He bent +over it, his lips touched its soft whiteness. A little laugh like the +tinkle of silver bells swept through the garden; then she was gone. + +Wrexler stood like a man in a trance. I came quickly forward. "You are +playing with fire!" I cried. + +Wrexler roused. "You saw?" + +I nodded. + +"Have you ever seen anything more beautiful, more lovely?" + +I shook my head. + +"I'm not afraid any more. She has promised me----" + +But what Helene had promised I was not to know, for Wrexler's mouth shut +with a snap. When I pressed him, he shook his head. Finally he said, +carefully choosing his words with a reluctance that was strange to him: + +"To me is to be granted something beyond the knowledge of mortal man. I +can tell you no more, but some day you will know." There was an +expression on his face that transcended earth. + +The next night I spoke to de Lacy and told him my fears. Wrexler was +spending more and more time in the rose garden. I hardly saw him, and he +would not discuss anything with me. Even at the stately, elegantly +served meals, he barely spoke. He always seemed to be listening, +waiting. + +De Lacy shared my fears, but he suggested nothing to help. "He has been +marked, my lord," he said gravely. "We can only pray. But even in +prayers there is no refuge, for Helene is beyond such things." + +"Surely----" I began to remonstrate. + +"The power of evil is as strong as the power of good, or at least there +is little between them. Helene herself is bound fast by hate of Black +George." + +Curses live, I knew that--witness the lasting quality of the curses and +spells of the Egyptian priests. But Helene was not evil. I said as much. + +De Lacy shook his head. "She is cut off from her lover. She does not +feel kindly toward men. Remember she promised vengeance century after +century, that day in the great hall." + +That night in the silence of my chamber I called her name. "Helene! +Helene!" I flung my agonized summons into the night, but there was no +answer. + +I went over in my mind the tales de Lacy had told me of the havoc she +had caused; how one man had cast himself down from the highest turret, +crying her name; how another had been found dead in the rose garden, +horror frozen on his face. There were still others who had looked upon +her, and death or madness came as the result. + +The more I thought of these tales of terror, the more I feared for +Wrexler. At last I could stand no more. I thrust my arms into the rich +velvet robe that had taken the place of my bath gown, and went to +Wrexler's room. The guards stood back to let me pass. + + * * * * * + +I did not mean to wake him, but some inner foreboding made me feel I +must know that he was safe. + +As I drew aside the curtains of his bed, I could not entirely stifle the +cry that came to my lips, for the bed was empty. But upon the pillow lay +a small, white rose. It was the kind they use in funeral wreaths in +France. My heart almost stopped beating. + +The rose garden!--or perhaps the library. A more normal thought struck +me. Wrexler might have wanted to read. I rushed into the hall, to find +de Lacy waiting for me, summoned by the guards. He held a silver +candle-stick in which a tall, white candle burned. + +"The library!" I gasped. That was nearest, we should try it first. De +Lacy knew my meaning. He had instantly grasped the situation and his +face was white and tense. + +Together we descended the curving stairway. Together we reached the +library. Then, motioning de Lacy behind me, I swung open the door. + +The room was brightly illuminated, although not one of the candles had +been lit. In the middle of it stood Wrexler, with Helene in his arms. +Their lips were close-locked. + +It was a picture that an artist would have delighted to paint: the +stiff, crimson skirts of Helene d'Harcourt's gown stood wide on either +side, and Wrexler's blue doublet and hose against them was in bold +relief. His long over-sleeves edged with fur hung gracefully. + +I could not speak. This mating of man with ghost was almost more than my +poor mortal brain could bear, yet with every atom of my being I wished +that I could have been in Wrexler's place. I remembered the one chaste +kiss I had had from her, and I almost fainted at the thought of +possessing those lips for my own, as Wrexler was doing. Strangely +enough, mingling with this emotion was another--a feeling of fear and +anxiety for my friend. Cold horror that froze my blood kept me rooted to +the spot. + +Behind me de Lacy had fallen to his knees. I could hear him repeating +the Latin words of a prayer. All at once I saw where the light was +coming from. The entire north wall, ordinarily lined with books, had +gone. In its stead was a stone wall, and in the center of the wall was a +low-hung Gothic door, carved and ornate. It was standing open, and +beyond was a pale, luminous yellow mist. I could see nothing of what +else was beyond the door, for the yellow haze filled the entire space. +It was like a golden fog, and its radiance lighted the library with a +strange, unearthly glow. Its luminosity glowed upon Helene and Wrexler +like a spotlight. + +For a moment I thought Rougemont, de Lacy, everything of the past weeks, +must have been a dream and that I was watching a cinema of past days. +All at once, before my astonished eyes Helene gently drew her lips away +from Wrexler's. She slipped from his arms and extended her hands to him. +"Come," I heard her say. + +Wrexler had been right: her voice was like golden honey. It was like the +music of willow trees in early spring. Wrexler grasped her hands. For +the first time I saw his face. Joy transfigured it, such joy as I have +never seen before, and never shall see again. + +Helene moved backward, slowly but surely, drawing him toward the little +Gothic door that stood open. With her soft lips half parted, she +whispered, "Come." + +"Wrexler," I cried suddenly. + +He did not hear me. As he looked into her eyes, he might have been a +bird charmed by a snake. Nothing could break through the spell that +bound him. + +They were nearer the door. Each second brought them closer to it. Now +Helene was on the other side. The golden mist concentrated upon her, +until she looked like a goddess in its eery light. + +"Wrexler! Wrexler!" The words tore through my throat. + +Wrexler stepped over the threshold. Through the golden mist I saw him +clasp Helene in his arms again. I saw her smile triumphantly at me, as +she raised her lips to his. There was something in her eyes that filled +me with horror. + +The mist swirled about them until I could barely discover the outlines +of their figures through its gleaming haze. Then the door swung slowly +shut. + +I awoke to feverish activity. "Wrexler! Wrexler!" I shouted and rushed +forward to the door. + +I grasped the iron ring that hung in its center. I pulled on it with all +my might. When I found that it resisted all my efforts I began beating +against the door itself. Presently I felt myself being pulled away. + +"There is no use, my lord," de Lacy's voice was saying. "The door is +gone." + +"Gone!" I ejaculated, and even as I spoke I saw what he meant. The north +wall of the library was lined with books as it always had been. I had +been beating upon them impotently. + +I looked down at my hands; the knuckles were raw and bleeding, just as +they would have been from pounding on a heavily carved wooden door. De +Lacy caught my meaning. "The door was there, my lord. It was the lost +door--the door behind which Black George buried Helene d'Harcourt. It +had been lost for centuries." + +I sank into a chair, weakly, for now the fact that I had lost Wrexler, +my friend, was paramount. "I will tear down the walls until I find it." + +"That has been done, my lord, and it has never been found. It will never +be found again. Only for a brief moment you and I have been granted a +glimpse of something we can not understand." + +"And Wrexler----" I groaned. + +"He was happy," de Lacy comforted. "No matter what happened after, he +has had happiness such as I have never seen before." + +My head pitched forward and I knew no more. + + * * * * * + +Three days later, I was escorted to the library by de Lacy, to whom +since Wrexler's loss I was more devoted than ever. With great ceremony I +was given the key to the gilded casket, then left alone. + +Seated in the great chair before the oaken table, I unlocked the casket. +It contained many pages closely written in my father's hand. In them +were instructions as to my future conduct, my care of Rougemont, what he +had done and what he expected me to do. But the lines that interested me +most were these: + +"_I bought Rougemont for your mother, shortly after your birth, because +when riding through this country, she saw and loved it. It was a +purchase that cost me dear. For Rougemont held a curse and an avenging +spirit in the form of a beautiful young girl who could not bear to see +others' happiness. So my wife died._ + +"_Two months after your mother's death, I first saw la belle Helene. We +fought a long battle, she and I, but I was strong, my son, because I +loved your mother. No other woman's charms could lure me to my doom. +Finally I made a bargain with a ghost._ + +"_She hated modern things and longed for Rougemont to be great again. I +promised to restore the château to its former splendor, to make it just +as it had been in her days, and in return she promised immunity to me, +and afterward to you, and to all my court when I should have established +it._ + +"_I restored Rougemont. I repeopled it. With her help and advice, I have +made it as it was in her own day._ + +"_She showed me the hidden treasure vaults of the d'Harcourts so that I +would have enough money to purchase the things she wanted._ + +"_She too has kept her bargain, for I and my court have lived happily +here unmolested. Only when an outsider came or someone disobeyed or +longed for the outside world, has she wreaked vengeance._ + +"_She has sworn to give you the kiss that promises immunity, the night +you come. Only, beware, my son, whom you bring here from the world you +know, and beware of the lovely Helene. Old man as I am, devoted to your +mother's memory as I am, she can still make my pulses leap._ + +"_Above all things, if she shows you the Lost Door, do not be tempted to +cross its threshold, for that way, unless you are the reincarnation of +the Englishman, annihilation lies._" + +There was more, pages more, of other matters, but I left them for +another day. Alone there in the library, I let my eyes wander to where +the little Gothic door had been. + +Had Wrexler been the Englishman come back to earth to claim his bride? +Could that account for the strange, unsatisfied longings he had always +had, his unearthly feelings, his unlikeness to other people? Or was he +Black George, lured back to Rougemont for Helene's vengeance? I hope for +his sake that was not the explanation; that he and Helene would find +bliss waiting for them behind the Lost Door and I would never see Helene +again. + +The days pass. I do what my father set out for me to do. I keep his +bargain with the ghost of the fair Helene. I never leave Rougemont. I +have no desire to, for I am always hoping that some day I shall again +find the Lost Door. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Door, by Dorothy Quick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST DOOR *** + +***** This file should be named 32831-8.txt or 32831-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/3/32831/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lost Door + +Author: Dorothy Quick + +Release Date: June 16, 2010 [EBook #32831] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST DOOR *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1>The Lost Door</h1> + +<h2>By DOROTHY QUICK</h2> + +<p>[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Weird Tales October +1936. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>An alluring but deadly horror out of past centuries menaced +the life of the young American—a fascinating tale of a strange and eery +love</i></div> + + +<p>I have often wondered whether I would have urged Wrexler to come with me +if I had known what Rougemont would do to him. I think—looking +back—that even if I could have glimpsed the future, I would have acted +in the same way, and that I would have brought him to Rougemont to +fulfill his destiny.</p> + +<p>As the boat cut its swift way through the waters on its journey to +France, I had no thought of this. Nor had Wrexler. He was happier than I +had ever seen him. He had never been abroad before, and the boat was a +source of wonder and enjoyment to him.</p> + +<p>I myself was full of an eager anticipation of happy months to come. It +hardly seemed possible that only a week had elapsed since I received the +cable that had made such a change in my fortunes:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Your father died yesterday. You are sole heir, provided you +comply with conditions of his will, the principal one being +that you spend six months of each year at Rougemont. If +satisfactory, come at once. </p></blockquote> + +<p>It was signed by my father's lawyer.</p> + +<p>I had no sorrow over my father's passing, except a deep regret that we +could not have known the true relationship of father and son. At the +death of my mother, my father had grown bitter and refused to see the +innocent cause of her untimely passing. As a baby I had been brought up +in the lodge of Rougemont, my father's magnificent château near Vichy. +When I reached the age of four, I had been sent away to boarding-school. +After that, my life had been a succession of schools; first in France, +the adopted land of my father, then England, and finally St. Paul's in +America.</p> + +<p>In all justice to my parent, I must admit he gave me every advantage +except the affection I would have cherished. By his own wish, I had +never seen him in life; nor would I see him in death, for a later cable +advised me that the funeral was over and his body already at rest in the +beautiful Gothic mausoleum he had had built in his lifetime, after the +manner of the ancients.</p> + +<p>He had left me everything with only two injunctions, that a certain sum +of money be set aside to keep the château always in its present +condition and that I should spend at least half my time in it, and my +children after me—a condition I was only too pleased to accept. All my +life I had longed for a home.</p> + +<p>I cabled at once that I would sail. A return cable brought me the news +that I had unlimited funds to draw upon. It was then that I urged +Wrexler to come with me.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Wrexler and I had been friends since the day when two lonely boys had +been put by chance into the same room at school. We were so utterly +unlike, it was perhaps the difference between us that held us together +through the years. At St. Paul's, and later at Princeton, Gordon Wrexler +had always been at the head of his class, whereas I inevitably tagged +along at the bottom. The contrast between us was expressed not only in +the color of our hair and eyes, but also in our dispositions. My +greatest gift from fate was a sense of humor, and I suppose it was this +quality of mine that particularly appealed to Wrexler. It seems as +though I was the only one who could lift him out of the despondency into +which he often plunged. As the years passed, and his tendency to +depression intensified, he came to depend more and more upon me, and we +grew closer together.</p> + +<p>Strangely enough, the whiteness of his face and the gloom that exuded +from him did not detract from his good looks. It only added to them. For +the translucence of his skin made the thick, black hair that lay close +to his head all the darker, while at the same time it brought out the +deep black of his eyes, and the firm cut of his lips.</p> + +<p>The night before we landed, we were standing on deck, at the rail, +looking over the side straining our eyes for the first glimpse of the +lights of Cherbourg, and Wrexler spoke of himself for the first time +since we had left New York.</p> + +<p>"You know, Jim, for perhaps the only time in my life I feel at peace, as +though something that I should have done long ago has been at last +accomplished."</p> + +<p>He was so solemn that I laughed a little. He stopped me suddenly: "It's +true—I've always felt an urge within me, a blinding force pushing me +toward something that is waiting for me: where, I do not know; what, I +have no idea. For the first time, it's gone—that nameless urge that I +knew not how to satisfy, and I feel that the call's being answered."</p> + +<p>With the usual inanity of people at a loss for words, I said the first +thing that came into my mind: "Perhaps Rougemont has been calling you."</p> + +<p>"You've no idea what a relief it is," he continued, "not to feel +constantly pulled with no way of knowing toward what, or how to go about +answering the summons. I have often thought that I should take my +life—that that was what was meant——" His voice trailed off.</p> + +<p>This time I was not at a loss for words. I started to read him a lecture +that would have done credit to Martin Luther or John Knox. At the end of +my harangue Wrexler laughed, a rare thing for him, and put his arm +through mine.</p> + +<p>"All that's gone now. Didn't I tell you that at last in some strange way +I am at peace?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Rougemont's towers were visible long before we reached the great iron +gates that had to be swung open to let us pass. For miles the great +edifice dominated the landscape. The huge building had a soft, reddish +tinge, from which I supposed it derived its name—Red Mountain. It was a +fairy-tale palace perched on a mountain top. A great thrill went through +me as I realized that this beautiful château was mine, and as we drove +through the gates, up the winding road, through my own forest, the pride +of possession swelled up in me and for the first time I began to +understand why my father had never put his foot outside the great gates +and the high wall that enclosed the acres that now belonged to me.</p> + +<p>As we drove on, up the winding, narrow road, over the drawbridge that +spanned the moat, into the courtyard, I understood more and more. Here +was everything: beauty such as I had never dreamed, forests stocked with +game, running brooks full of fish, a lake, and farther off, a farm—I +could glimpse its thatched roofs—to supply our wants. Rougemont was a +world in itself.</p> + +<p>The high carved door was swung open as Wrexler and I got out of the car. +Monsieur de Carrier, my father's lawyer, advanced to meet us, a friendly +smile on his Santa Claus countenance. I shook hands, introduced Wrexler +as "a very good friend who is going to stay with me."</p> + +<p>Monsieur Carrier's face fell. Clearly Wrexler's being with me was a +disappointment. Nevertheless, he greeted him politely, as he ushered us +in.</p> + +<p>That moment Rougemont took me to its heart and won me for its own.</p> + +<p>Imagine Amboise, or any of the great French châteaux, suddenly restored +to itself as it was in the days of the Medici, and you have a small idea +of Rougemont. For we had stepped out of the present into the past. +Carrier, Wrexler and I were anachronisms; everything else was in keeping +with the dead centuries. Even the servants were in doublet and hose of a +sort of cerulean blue, with great slashes puffed with crimson silk.</p> + +<p>I think I gasped. At any rate, Monsieur Carrier saw my astonishment. "It +is your father's will, my boy. He always kept it so, and wore the +costume of former days, himself. He greatly admired the first Francis. +In your rooms you will find costumes prepared for you. For the last six +months of his life, he was making ready for his son." There was an odd +sort of pride in Carrier's voice.</p> + +<p>I remembered now that my father had written for my measurements. I had +thought he meant to make me a present, but when time passed and I heard +nothing, the incident had slipped from my mind. I looked at Wrexler, +expecting to see some sign of amusement on his face, but he stood +quietly looking at the tapestry that hung half-way up the grand +stairway. There was a dreamy, far-away expression in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"May I speak before your friend?" Carrier asked.</p> + +<p>I nodded. The servants had already disappeared with our luggage. I threw +myself down on a long, low bench, and Carrier sat opposite me.</p> + +<p>"You understood the terms of your father's will, of course," Carrier +began, "that you must live here six months, but you did not know that +you must live here, as he did, in the past. If you do not, then +Rougemont goes to your father's steward, with the same conditions—to be +kept always as it is; with only a small sum set aside for you."</p> + +<p>I said nothing. Driving along the road from Paris, it would have seemed +fantastic, but here—under the spell of Rougemont—it seemed as though +anything else would be impossible.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Carrier went on, "You will be Grand Seigneur—Lord of the Manor, in the +old style. You may have your guests if you like, but they too must +conform with the rules." Here he glanced at Wrexler, who still stood as +though he were in a trance. "The other six months you are free to do as +you please, spend what you like of the money not needed for +Rougemont—that is, <i>if you want to go anywhere else</i>."</p> + +<p>Evidently he had finished his speech. At the time I did not recognize +the significance of his last words. "I am willing to submit to the +conditions; only"—a sudden thought struck me—"I don't want to lose all +touch with the outside world. Can I go to Vichy—to get papers and so +forth? I don't suppose they had papers in Francis First's time."</p> + +<p>Monsieur de Carrier smiled. "My dear boy, your father didn't wish to +make a prisoner of you. You may go to Vichy if you like. But you must +not be away from Rougemont more than twenty-four consecutive hours +during the six months you are in residence.</p> + +<p>"So far as the papers, etc., are concerned, they will be at the lodge. +There is also a telephone, and your own clothes will be kept there. +After tonight, nothing of 1935 must come within these halls, but you are +free to go to the lodge any time you want to. You can get in touch with +me also, if you desire further information. De Lacy, the steward, will +look out for you. He knows your father's ways. Now permit me to +congratulate you and say <i>au revoir</i>, my young friend."</p> + +<p>Monsieur de Carrier got up on his stubby fat legs, made a little bow to +me, another to Wrexler which went unheeded.</p> + +<p>I too arose. "It will seem strange, but I'll do my best."</p> + +<p>"One other thing," Monsieur de Carrier was all of a sudden very grave. +"In two weeks' time you will be given a key. It unlocks a casket you +will find in the library. In it you will find a message from your +father. Adieu, my boy, I wish you well."</p> + +<p>With a click of the heels and a friendly smile, he was gone.</p> + +<p>I turned to Wrexler. "What do you think of it?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Wrexler did not answer. He still stood gazing up at the stairway. The +wide, marble steps curved upward. Along the sides, the intricate carving +was beautiful in its lacy delicateness.</p> + +<p>At that moment, however, I was alarmed for my friend. His attitude was +rigid, and his eyes were glassy. I put my hand on his shoulder. +"Wrexler!"</p> + +<p>My action galvanized him to life. "Another minute and she would have +reached the last step! Now she is gone."</p> + +<p>This was madness! There had been no one there. I said as much.</p> + +<p>Wrexler turned and faced me. "But there was," he said eagerly, "the most +beautiful girl I have ever seen, all done up in some old costume: great, +wide skirts, little waist, and a high lace collar. She had bronze curls, +great blue eyes and the loveliest face! I saw her immediately we came +in. She looked at both of us, but she smiled at me!"</p> + +<p>I was in a quandary. Until now I had not given the staircase more than a +perfunctory glance. For all I knew, she might have been one of the +servants, peeping to see her new master. To Wrexler, impressionable, +strange creature that he was, the one glance might have so registered on +his mind that he kept on seeing her; for certainly she had not been +there when I looked. It seemed best to make light of the whole matter.</p> + +<p>"Anyway, she's gone now. At least I can explain the costume. I take it +you didn't hear Carrier's announcements?"</p> + +<p>Wrexler shook his head. I proceeded to enlighten him.</p> + +<p>Instead of teasing me about the strange conditions my father's will had +imposed upon me, he was enthusiastic about the idea. "It's the one +period in history that has always interested me! Jim, we're in luck! +Imagine stepping back into Medici France for six months, shutting out +the world! Who knows but that Catherine herself may have stayed here, or +Marguerite de Valois—the Marguerite of Marguerites! Beautiful, but no +more beautiful than that girl on the stairs. I can hardly wait to see +her again."</p> + +<p>I heartily hoped that he would see her, and that she was not entirely a +creature of his imagination. If she was real, I too was eager to meet +her.</p> + +<p>Wrexler interrupted my thoughts.</p> + +<p>"I feel as though I had come home," he said. "I'm crazy to explore. +Let's go shed these ugly things and begin to really live. Why, it's been +this I've been waiting for! It's lucky we're the same size."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Out of his irrelevance, I gathered the trend of his thought. "I wonder +where we go," I began.</p> + +<p>Almost as though he had heard my words, a tall, commanding figure +stepped into the hall. He was attired richly in damask of a lovely, soft +blue with the same slashes of crimson that the servant livery had shown, +but in this case of finer material. He was a handsome man of about +thirty-four. His beard was pointed and he had a small mustache. His long +legs were encased in silken hose and he wore a dagger thrust through his +belt.</p> + +<p>"De Lacy, at your service, my lord," he announced as he made a deep bow.</p> + +<p>I extended my hand, somewhat at a loss to know how to greet my father's +steward, who was clearly a man of some importance and who, but for me, +would be owner of Rougemont.</p> + +<p>Instead of shaking hands, he dropped on one knee and kissed my hand—a +proceeding which embarrassed me very much.</p> + +<p>On my motioning him to rise, he did so with a lithe grace: "I suppose +you want to change your strange clothes, my lord, and see your +quarters?"</p> + +<p>I nodded and introduced Wrexler. De Lacy bowed. "Monsieur Wrexler would +like to be near you?" Then he added, "We have some twenty or thirty +suites, my lord."</p> + +<p>Wrexler said he would prefer to be close at hand, and together we +followed de Lacy up the marble stairway into a new world.</p> + +<p>Wrexler was at ease immediately in his doublet and hose. The rich, +embroidered garments seemed to suit him as modern clothes never did. He +looked handsomer than ever. He also told me that the costume of the +Medici was becoming to me, and truly when I caught a glimpse of myself +mirrored in the pond—for the château did not possess a large mirror—I +was not ill pleased with the result. But, by the end of the week, I +still felt strange in my new attire, whereas Wrexler from the beginning +wore his as if to the manor born.</p> + +<p>But I anticipate. That first night we donned two of the outfits which +the valet whom de Lacy introduced to me had put out. Our own clothes +disappeared, and much to my annoyance, with them my cigarettes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>We ate dinner in state, upon a raised dais at one end of a great hall. +At either side below us were long, narrow tables filled with people. +Dressed also in keeping with the period, they made a wonderful picture +and comprised, I supposed, my court or retinue. De Lacy presented me to +them with a flourish, and they all filed by and kissed my hand, then +went to their places.</p> + +<p>When Wrexler and I were seated, they too sat down. When I began to talk, +they filled the hall with gay chattering. From a minstrel gallery at the +other end of the room came soft strains of music.</p> + +<p>De Lacy stood behind me pouring my wine. One thing I noticed was that in +the whole room—and there must have been two hundred people at +least—there were no older men or women. In fact, de Lacy was the oldest +of the lot; the others ranged from about sixteen to thirty.</p> + +<p>"How did my father get all these people together?" I asked de Lacy.</p> + +<p>"Most of them, my lord, were born at Rougemont. Still others were +adopted and brought here almost as soon as they were born. None of us +has ever been outside Rougemont gates." De Lacy was quite matter-of-fact +as he made his statement.</p> + +<p>Wrexler was searching the hall with his eyes, as he listened to my +steward.</p> + +<p>"And you?" I looked at de Lacy.</p> + +<p>"I, too, my lord, know nothing of your outside world, nor do I want to. +Why should I, who am happy here? My family live down at the farm, but +his Highness, your father, became interested in me. He brought me into +the château, had me educated, and looked after me, himself. Eventually +he made me steward of Rougemont. It is a great honor he conferred upon +me and I shall do my best to help you, my lord."</p> + +<p>Of a sudden I saw what my father's life-work had been: to rear a court +to people Rougemont. My father had been twenty-five at my mother's +death. He had died at fifty-eight. He had had thirty-three years to make +his dream come true.</p> + +<p>"Where are the parents of the ones who were born at Rougemont?"</p> + +<p>"At their own places, or the farms, my lord. Rougemont has over a +thousand acres and several manors upon it, where people whom his +Highness your father advanced over others, live. They all serve their +ruler in some way, in return for what is given them. Only the people of +the lodge are in touch with the Outside, which we have been taught to +look upon with scorn. Here we have everything, and to be taken to the +château itself is the ambition of everyone on the estate."</p> + +<p>I saw it all; not, of course, every intricacy of the elaborate system my +father had evolved, but at least a glimmer of the truth. And I marveled +at the character of a man who had taken children out of the world to +make his own world and then had the patience to wait for them to grow +up; to form his court—the court he planned for me. Yes, in my egotism I +thought it was for me! Two weeks were to pass before I learned what his +real reason had been.</p> + +<p>Into my reflections, Wrexler broke abruptly, "She is not here. Ask de +Lacy about her; her beauty haunts me. Already I am in love with her."</p> + +<p>I was not surprized. Nothing, I felt, could at this point surprize me, +so much had happened in the last few hours. If my father had arisen from +the floor like Hamlet's ghost, I would have greeted him quite casually.</p> + +<p>"Is there a young girl here with bronze curls and blue eyes?" I asked +obediently.</p> + +<p>A shadow crossed de Lacy's handsome face. For the first time he +hesitated. "There is no one here that answers that description. May I +ask why you——"</p> + +<p>"My friend saw her on the stairway."</p> + +<p>I caught a murmur from de Lacy's lips, "So soon!" it sounded like, but +before I could question further, he said aloud, "I have leave to depart +and join my lady?" And before I could answer, he bowed himself away to +take a seat at one of the tables below.</p> + +<p>Wrexler looked over his wine goblet. "The man lied. I saw recognition of +the description in his eyes."</p> + +<p>"We'll get the truth out of him later," I countered. "Isn't it fine to +actually eat chicken with your fingers, and not feel you are committing +a social error!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>We did not get any information out of de Lacy later. To Wrexler's +insistent questionings he was at first non-committal, and after a bit, +downright curt. I poured oil on the troubled waters by suggesting that +as it was late, we would wait until morning to see the library and the +left wing of the château.</p> + +<p>With a smile of relief, de Lacy ushered us to our chambers. My retiring +was a kind of ceremony. It amused me, but I had a nagging little thought +in the back of my mind that all this etiquette would become boring after +a while.</p> + +<p>As the last man bowed himself out of my room, de Lacy bent low. "My +lord, there are guards at your door. You have only to call if you +require anything."</p> + +<p>I thanked him once more. Greatly to my embarrassment, he again kissed my +hand. "Your servant to the death!" he cried, and drew the curtains about +my high-canopied bed.</p> + +<p>I knew that outside the red damask, two huge candles were burning, but +the curtain shut out their light and I was smothered in darkness. I made +a mental note that I must arrange somehow for air in my room. The French +idea of banishing night air did not coincide with my American habits. +Tonight I was too weary to get up and attend to it. My thoughts were +racing back and forth among the strange events of the day, but before I +could focus them into any kind of order, sleep descended upon me.</p> + +<p>I had a strange dream. In it, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen +came and parted the red damask curtains. Framed against the dark oak +panels of my room, she stood looking down upon me. Her hair was red +gold, and her eyes had all the sapphire tints of the world stored in +their depths. Her pale, white face was oval in shape and balanced +perfectly upon a slender neck. Her lips were sweetly curved and her nose +delicately shaped. As she bent over me, I could see the rounded curve of +her bosom. One slim hand reached out and touched my cheek. It was like +the touch of a falling rose petal.</p> + +<p>In my dream I lay asleep, yet I was conscious of this lovely creature. I +watched her through closed eyelids, and held my breath, hoping she would +kiss me. It seemed as though I had never desired anything so much.</p> + +<p>A half-smile hovered on her lips, but her eyes told me nothing. She +leaned lower. A faint perfume pervaded my senses, and then I felt her +lips upon my forehead. A great cold swept over me at her touch—swept me +down, down into blackness, and I knew no more.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>When I awoke, the sun was pouring through the opened curtains. I reached +for a cigarette—my first conscious thought upon awakening—and not +finding my case under the pillow, suddenly realized my new surroundings. +At the same time, I remembered my dream. "Wrexler and his talk of a +red-haired beauty is responsible for that," I thought as I clapped my +hands.</p> + +<p>De Lacy came in so quickly I knew he must have been waiting outside the +door. He started when he saw the curtain of my bed had been opened. "Did +you not pull them?" I asked.</p> + +<p>He shook his head. I said no more, and the ceremony of my arising began.</p> + +<p>When I had bathed in a great sunken tub—fortunately Diana de Poictiers +had had her daily bath in the far-off time—I sought Wrexler.</p> + +<p>Together we breakfasted, and then I announced to de Lacy that we wished +to inspect the rest of the château. He led us to the left wing, and took +us through suite after suite. Beautifully furnished, the château was a +veritable treasure house. An antiquarian would have gone mad with +delight.</p> + +<p>I noticed that de Lacy had avoided two heavily built doors opposite the +ballroom. When we had returned from our tour, I stopped before them. +"And here?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"The picture gallery, my lord," he responded unwillingly, and swung the +doors open. There was an unhappy expression on his face.</p> + +<p>The room was long and narrow, and the walls except for the windows were +lined with portraits. We walked slowly down the length of the room, +looking at the portraits of a dead and gone race.</p> + +<p>"The former owners of the château?" I asked. De Lacy nodded.</p> + +<p>Suddenly I looked at the part of the room facing the door which he had +entered. At first we had been too far away to distinguish anything about +it except that there was only one large painting hanging in the center. +Now that I was nearer, I could see the painting, and I caught my breath +in astonishment; for there was the portrait of the lady of my dream, +smiling down on me.</p> + +<p>Wrexler caught my arm, "That's the girl—the one I saw on the stairs."</p> + +<p>"That is the portrait of Helene, Mademoiselle d'Harcourt, daughter of +the Lord of Harcourt, who owned this château," de Lacy's voice broke in.</p> + +<p>Wrexler and I exclaimed simultaneously, "But I——" and "She is——"</p> + +<p>De Lacy looked at us strangely. "It is from her that the château got its +new name Rougemont—<i>Red Mountain</i>. Before that, it was called Hôtel +d'Harcourt. Mademoiselle Helene was very beautiful, as you can see, +<i>Messieurs</i>, and she had many suitors. At last, from among them, she +chose an English lord. One of the discarded lovers, Black George—<i>le +Georges Noir</i>—vowed that she should not belong to the Englishman, or +ever leave Rougemont.</p> + +<p>"She laughed, Mademoiselle Helene, and her father, the Lord d'Harcourt, +laughed too, for he had many men at arms and was rich and powerful. +Black George did not laugh, he only set his lips grimly. The wedding day +came and the beautiful Helene married the English lord in the great +hall, but just as he took her in his arms for the nuptial kiss, there +arose a great noise outside. It was Black George attacking the château.</p> + +<p>"The English lord, with Helene's kiss warm upon his lips, went forth to +battle. There was a fight such as these peaceful lands had never seen, +and the mountain ran red with blood. Black George was the victor. He +slew the Englishman, he slew the Lord of Harcourt, and his men hacked to +pieces the defenders of the château.</p> + +<p>"Black George, followed by his men, their swords red with blood, came +into the great hall where Helene d'Harcourt sat on the throne, her face +whiter than her wedding dress. Black George flung her lover's body at +her feet, and the women of the household who were crouched about the +throne cried aloud with terror. The fair Helene did not cry, nor did she +moan; she only looked straight at Black George, and there was that in +her gaze that silenced everyone in the great hall; even Black George +stepped back a pace.</p> + +<p>"Then Helene d'Harcourt rose and went down to her love, the English lord +who for a brief moment had been her husband. She knelt beside him and +kissed his cold lips; then she took her wedding veil and laid it over +his body.</p> + +<p>"All the while there was silence in the great hall, while men and women +watched the slim girl say farewell to the man she loved. They watched +almost as though they were under a spell. But as the veil fell into +place, Black George laughed a long laugh that rang through the room; +then he turned to his followers, and cried loudly, 'The women are +yours—take them as you will, all but that one who belongs to me.' He +gestured toward Helene and laughed again.</p> + +<p>"Helene d'Harcourt stood erect and pointed her slender hand at Black +George. 'Wait,' she cried, and there was a quality in her voice that +made her listeners tremble. 'I shall belong to no one until my lover +comes for me, and till he comes, wo to you, Black George, who are well +named! Wo to you and to all men, for I curse you with a mighty curse, +the curse of a broken heart. And I curse all men for their black and +bitter deeds. Year after year, century after century, I will take my +vengeance for the wrongs I have suffered, and no man shall be free until +my lover comes again and we find bliss together.'</p> + +<p>"And while the eyes of the whole hall were riveted upon her, she plunged +the dagger she had taken from her lover's belt into her heart. For a +second she stood swaying; then she crumpled and fell beside the English +lord.</p> + +<p>"Black George caught her and held her in his arms. 'My curse upon you, +Black George!' she cried.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"My curse upon you, Black George," she cried.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Black George could also curse—'Never shall you leave Rougemont to find +your lover, and never shall he come, until——' and then his voice died +away as her head fell backward over his arm. The fair Helene was beyond +his reach.</p> + +<p>"For a minute more the people in the great hall were paralyzed by the +force of the terrible words that they had heard, but with the girl's +death they were released from the spell and a fury swept over the men. +They rushed upon the women and dragged them forth. Black George took +Helene's body and carried it away, but where he buried her no one knew, +nor could any discover; for the next day he was found in the great hall +raving mad, and the people said that Helene's curse was a potent one, +that already it had wreaked vengeance on the one who had wronged her +most.</p> + +<p>"From that day, the château was called Rougemont. The d'Harcourts were +all dead and the place fell into other hands. Then there grew up the +rumor that the château was haunted, that the fair Helene roamed through +its halls, cut off from her lover, and doomed to stay within these walls +by Black George's curse."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>De Lacy silent, Wrexler and I looked at the portrait. My own feelings +were in a turmoil. It had been a ghost's lips that had touched me last +night; yet surely no ghosts could have been so beautiful or seemed so +real.</p> + +<p>Wrexler turned to me, "It would be the curse that has always been upon +me that when I fell in love it would be with a ghost!" His eyes were +vivid, shining brightly in his pale face. "I knew when I saw her on the +stairway that I loved her."</p> + +<p>"There is a rumor," said de Lacy, "that the man who sees the fair Helene +will meet with some misadventure, unless she gives him a kiss. Then he +is protected from her wrath."</p> + +<p>I started. Wrexler smiled. "She kissed me with her eyes. I am not +afraid."</p> + +<p>"The fair Helene makes men suffer to make up for the wrong Black George +did her. For years she has not been seen at Rougemont. Last night when +you described her, I was afraid. My lord," de Lacy turned to me, "send +your friend away. If she only looked at him and smiled, there is a grave +and deadly danger for him, more deadly because it may be unexplainable. +Men upon whom the fair Helene has smiled have met strange deaths."</p> + +<p>As Wrexler looked up at the portrait, an inward light illumined his +countenance. "I am not afraid," he repeated.</p> + +<p>"There are many deaths. There is the death of the spirit as well as that +of the body. I beg you to go while there is time, friend of my lord." +There was real feeling in de Lacy's voice.</p> + +<p>I too felt afraid for Wrexler. The strange, unworldly feeling he had +always had, the pulling toward something he knew not what, made me +doubly fearful. Had the fair Helene been calling him all this time, +across the world? For myself I had no fear. She had kissed me, and +besides, even death at her hands would have been preferable to never +seeing her again. In these last few minutes I had realized that I too +was in love with Helene, that I could hardly wait for the night, in +hopes that she might visit me again.</p> + +<p>Resolutely I put my own feelings in the background, for at the moment +Wrexler was of paramount importance. If there was anything in de Lacy's +story—and from my own experience I was sure there was—Wrexler was in +danger. I turned to him. "If anything happened to you, I could never +forgive myself. Perhaps you'd better go. I could arrange a trip for you, +and later—meet you."</p> + +<p>Somehow de Lacy seemed one of us. I had no hesitancy in speaking before +him. He seemed a part of my new life. With the strange suddenness that +comes on rare occasions, we were already friends.</p> + +<p>Wrexler looked at me, then back at the portrait. Helene d'Harcourt, her +red hair gleaming, smiled down upon us. Before he spoke, I knew what he +would say, because in his place I would have said the same, "Unless you +kick me out, I want to stay."</p> + +<p>I put my hand on Wrexler's shoulder. "So be it. Come along, let's see +the library, then we'll know all of Rougemont. We've seen everything +else."</p> + +<p>Wrenching his eyes away from the portrait, Wrexler followed us.</p> + +<p>The library was beautiful, with paneled walls that had rows and rows of +books sunk in their depths. There was a long, oaken table, and on the +center of it stood a carved, gilded box, the casket which held my +father's letter. I wished then that I could read it at once. I wish now +that I could have, but perhaps it is better that I did not; at least +things moved as the fates ordained, and the responsibility for what +occurred was not mine.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The next three days were quiet, happy ones. Nothing occurred. I had no +ghostly visitant and Wrexler saw nothing of Helene. Under de Lacy's +expert guidance, we rode over the estate, hunted with falcons, a +pleasing sport which we both took to our hearts; mingled with my court, +found the people charming and highly cultivated. We took lessons in the +old dances, visited the manor houses. It was all very gay and amusing, +and I had no longing for the outside world. I did not even go down to +the lodge for news.</p> + +<p>There were many details of the estate management that I had to go into +with de Lacy. We spent several hours each morning going over the affairs +of Rougemont. It was virtually a small kingdom, and everything was +referred to me.</p> + +<p>Necessarily, the time I spent with de Lacy on such matters, Wrexler was +alone. He had changed a great deal since we had come to Rougemont. He +had come alive, and he threw himself into everything with a curious +intensity. He was like a person who has been very ill, who suddenly +finding himself better and fearing it is only temporary, clutches life +with both hands. He devoted long hours to reading the records of the +d'Harcourts, until he knew the family history as well as his own.</p> + +<p>I did not mention Helene, although there was seldom a moment when she +was out of my thoughts. I found myself watching for her day and night, +and I caught the same tension in Wrexler's eyes as he searched the +shadows.</p> + +<p>The third night she came again, not to me, but to Wrexler; and although +he was my friend, I almost hated him because he had seen her and I had +not. He told me next morning as we walked along the lake shore.</p> + +<p>"Jim," he said suddenly, "I saw her last night. She came to my room. She +drew aside the curtains of the bed, and leaned over me. I can't describe +my sensations. It was almost as though life were suspended in +space—like a bridge over a timeless sea."</p> + +<p>I had nothing to say. I knew so well how he felt.</p> + +<p>"She leaned closer and closer to me," Wrexler went on; "then she smiled, +and before I could find my breath to speak, she was gone. This is the +second time she has smiled at me. I felt a nameless fear, as though +there was a threatening quality in those red lips. She looked at me as +though I might have been Black George himself."</p> + +<p>In that moment, all my envy was swept away by anxiety for my friend. +Indeed, I wished she had kissed him, for then he would have been safe. I +started to speak, to beg Wrexler to leave Rougemont, but before the +words could leave my mouth, I saw her. She was standing in the path some +distance away, directly in line with my eyes, and she was shaking her +head impressively.</p> + +<p>I knew instantly what she meant. I was not to send Wrexler away. He +could not see her, because at the moment he was facing me, his hand on +my arm. His fingers touching me were not quite steady. It brought me +back to reality. "Wrexler," I cried, "you—could leave Rougemont."</p> + +<p>Her eyes clouded with anger. She looked at me reproachfully, +commandingly. As though I were dreaming, I heard my own voice, "I don't +want you to go, I would be lonely without you. Perhaps there is no +danger."</p> + +<p>Wrexler looked at me curiously. "There is risk, I know that, but I do +not care, I am like a man who has eaten a strange and terrible drug, who +knows the danger, but can not resist it. I will stay."</p> + +<p>Beyond him Helene smiled a satisfied smile, as she looked at Wrexler's +broad back. It made me feel afraid. Then suddenly her gaze swept to me, +and the smile changed into a languorous one that promised all things. My +heart beat faster, and I forgot my fear.</p> + +<p>Wrexler moved restlessly, turning so that we were side by side. Even in +that second Helene had vanished—how, I do not know. One minute she was +there, the next she was not.</p> + +<p>We walked along slowly. Finally Wrexler spoke. "No matter what happens, +and I mean that widely, my friend, you are not to regret. For a little +time I have been happy. I have come alive. I have loved, even though the +woman that I love is a wraith. I have felt a sensation I thought never +to feel. If I could hold her in my arms and press my lips to hers, I +would count the world well lost."</p> + +<p>I could say nothing, because—God pity me!—I knew just how he felt.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The days slipped away quickly. I did not see Helene again, but Wrexler +did. Almost every day he met her in the rose garden, where they spent +long hours.</p> + +<p>He told me that she was always elusive, but at the same time promising +that some day she would be kinder. He said her voice was like golden +honey and that without her he could not face life.</p> + +<p>Once I saw them myself, as I came from an interview with de Lacy. As I +approached the rose garden through an opening in the arches, I saw them +sitting side by side on the marble bench, and of the two, Helene looked +the more earthly. For Wrexler had grown paler and more ethereal every +day. His eyes were luminous as he looked at her adoringly.</p> + +<p>She saw me first, and her lips curved sweetly. She rose in a leisurely +fashion, turned her back to me and dropped a low curtsy to Wrexler; then +while I still watched, she extended one slender hand to him. He bent +over it, his lips touched its soft whiteness. A little laugh like the +tinkle of silver bells swept through the garden; then she was gone.</p> + +<p>Wrexler stood like a man in a trance. I came quickly forward. "You are +playing with fire!" I cried.</p> + +<p>Wrexler roused. "You saw?"</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>"Have you ever seen anything more beautiful, more lovely?"</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid any more. She has promised me——"</p> + +<p>But what Helene had promised I was not to know, for Wrexler's mouth shut +with a snap. When I pressed him, he shook his head. Finally he said, +carefully choosing his words with a reluctance that was strange to him:</p> + +<p>"To me is to be granted something beyond the knowledge of mortal man. I +can tell you no more, but some day you will know." There was an +expression on his face that transcended earth.</p> + +<p>The next night I spoke to de Lacy and told him my fears. Wrexler was +spending more and more time in the rose garden. I hardly saw him, and he +would not discuss anything with me. Even at the stately, elegantly +served meals, he barely spoke. He always seemed to be listening, +waiting.</p> + +<p>De Lacy shared my fears, but he suggested nothing to help. "He has been +marked, my lord," he said gravely. "We can only pray. But even in +prayers there is no refuge, for Helene is beyond such things."</p> + +<p>"Surely——" I began to remonstrate.</p> + +<p>"The power of evil is as strong as the power of good, or at least there +is little between them. Helene herself is bound fast by hate of Black +George."</p> + +<p>Curses live, I knew that—witness the lasting quality of the curses and +spells of the Egyptian priests. But Helene was not evil. I said as much.</p> + +<p>De Lacy shook his head. "She is cut off from her lover. She does not +feel kindly toward men. Remember she promised vengeance century after +century, that day in the great hall."</p> + +<p>That night in the silence of my chamber I called her name. "Helene! +Helene!" I flung my agonized summons into the night, but there was no +answer.</p> + +<p>I went over in my mind the tales de Lacy had told me of the havoc she +had caused; how one man had cast himself down from the highest turret, +crying her name; how another had been found dead in the rose garden, +horror frozen on his face. There were still others who had looked upon +her, and death or madness came as the result.</p> + +<p>The more I thought of these tales of terror, the more I feared for +Wrexler. At last I could stand no more. I thrust my arms into the rich +velvet robe that had taken the place of my bath gown, and went to +Wrexler's room. The guards stood back to let me pass.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>I did not mean to wake him, but some inner foreboding made me feel I +must know that he was safe.</p> + +<p>As I drew aside the curtains of his bed, I could not entirely stifle the +cry that came to my lips, for the bed was empty. But upon the pillow lay +a small, white rose. It was the kind they use in funeral wreaths in +France. My heart almost stopped beating.</p> + +<p>The rose garden!—or perhaps the library. A more normal thought struck +me. Wrexler might have wanted to read. I rushed into the hall, to find +de Lacy waiting for me, summoned by the guards. He held a silver +candle-stick in which a tall, white candle burned.</p> + +<p>"The library!" I gasped. That was nearest, we should try it first. De +Lacy knew my meaning. He had instantly grasped the situation and his +face was white and tense.</p> + +<p>Together we descended the curving stairway. Together we reached the +library. Then, motioning de Lacy behind me, I swung open the door.</p> + +<p>The room was brightly illuminated, although not one of the candles had +been lit. In the middle of it stood Wrexler, with Helene in his arms. +Their lips were close-locked.</p> + +<p>It was a picture that an artist would have delighted to paint: the +stiff, crimson skirts of Helene d'Harcourt's gown stood wide on either +side, and Wrexler's blue doublet and hose against them was in bold +relief. His long over-sleeves edged with fur hung gracefully.</p> + +<p>I could not speak. This mating of man with ghost was almost more than my +poor mortal brain could bear, yet with every atom of my being I wished +that I could have been in Wrexler's place. I remembered the one chaste +kiss I had had from her, and I almost fainted at the thought of +possessing those lips for my own, as Wrexler was doing. Strangely +enough, mingling with this emotion was another—a feeling of fear and +anxiety for my friend. Cold horror that froze my blood kept me rooted to +the spot.</p> + +<p>Behind me de Lacy had fallen to his knees. I could hear him repeating +the Latin words of a prayer. All at once I saw where the light was +coming from. The entire north wall, ordinarily lined with books, had +gone. In its stead was a stone wall, and in the center of the wall was a +low-hung Gothic door, carved and ornate. It was standing open, and +beyond was a pale, luminous yellow mist. I could see nothing of what +else was beyond the door, for the yellow haze filled the entire space. +It was like a golden fog, and its radiance lighted the library with a +strange, unearthly glow. Its luminosity glowed upon Helene and Wrexler +like a spotlight.</p> + +<p>For a moment I thought Rougemont, de Lacy, everything of the past weeks, +must have been a dream and that I was watching a cinema of past days. +All at once, before my astonished eyes Helene gently drew her lips away +from Wrexler's. She slipped from his arms and extended her hands to him. +"Come," I heard her say.</p> + +<p>Wrexler had been right: her voice was like golden honey. It was like the +music of willow trees in early spring. Wrexler grasped her hands. For +the first time I saw his face. Joy transfigured it, such joy as I have +never seen before, and never shall see again.</p> + +<p>Helene moved backward, slowly but surely, drawing him toward the little +Gothic door that stood open. With her soft lips half parted, she +whispered, "Come."</p> + +<p>"Wrexler," I cried suddenly.</p> + +<p>He did not hear me. As he looked into her eyes, he might have been a +bird charmed by a snake. Nothing could break through the spell that +bound him.</p> + +<p>They were nearer the door. Each second brought them closer to it. Now +Helene was on the other side. The golden mist concentrated upon her, +until she looked like a goddess in its eery light.</p> + +<p>"Wrexler! Wrexler!" The words tore through my throat.</p> + +<p>Wrexler stepped over the threshold. Through the golden mist I saw him +clasp Helene in his arms again. I saw her smile triumphantly at me, as +she raised her lips to his. There was something in her eyes that filled +me with horror.</p> + +<p>The mist swirled about them until I could barely discover the outlines +of their figures through its gleaming haze. Then the door swung slowly +shut.</p> + +<p>I awoke to feverish activity. "Wrexler! Wrexler!" I shouted and rushed +forward to the door.</p> + +<p>I grasped the iron ring that hung in its center. I pulled on it with all +my might. When I found that it resisted all my efforts I began beating +against the door itself. Presently I felt myself being pulled away.</p> + +<p>"There is no use, my lord," de Lacy's voice was saying. "The door is +gone."</p> + +<p>"Gone!" I ejaculated, and even as I spoke I saw what he meant. The north +wall of the library was lined with books as it always had been. I had +been beating upon them impotently.</p> + +<p>I looked down at my hands; the knuckles were raw and bleeding, just as +they would have been from pounding on a heavily carved wooden door. De +Lacy caught my meaning. "The door was there, my lord. It was the lost +door—the door behind which Black George buried Helene d'Harcourt. It +had been lost for centuries."</p> + +<p>I sank into a chair, weakly, for now the fact that I had lost Wrexler, +my friend, was paramount. "I will tear down the walls until I find it."</p> + +<p>"That has been done, my lord, and it has never been found. It will never +be found again. Only for a brief moment you and I have been granted a +glimpse of something we can not understand."</p> + +<p>"And Wrexler——" I groaned.</p> + +<p>"He was happy," de Lacy comforted. "No matter what happened after, he +has had happiness such as I have never seen before."</p> + +<p>My head pitched forward and I knew no more.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Three days later, I was escorted to the library by de Lacy, to whom +since Wrexler's loss I was more devoted than ever. With great ceremony I +was given the key to the gilded casket, then left alone.</p> + +<p>Seated in the great chair before the oaken table, I unlocked the casket. +It contained many pages closely written in my father's hand. In them +were instructions as to my future conduct, my care of Rougemont, what he +had done and what he expected me to do. But the lines that interested me +most were these:</p> + +<p>"<i>I bought Rougemont for your mother, shortly after your birth, because +when riding through this country, she saw and loved it. It was a +purchase that cost me dear. For Rougemont held a curse and an avenging +spirit in the form of a beautiful young girl who could not bear to see +others' happiness. So my wife died.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>Two months after your mother's death, I first saw la belle Helene. We +fought a long battle, she and I, but I was strong, my son, because I +loved your mother. No other woman's charms could lure me to my doom. +Finally I made a bargain with a ghost.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She hated modern things and longed for Rougemont to be great again. I +promised to restore the château to its former splendor, to make it just +as it had been in her days, and in return she promised immunity to me, +and afterward to you, and to all my court when I should have established +it.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>I restored Rougemont. I repeopled it. With her help and advice, I have +made it as it was in her own day.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She showed me the hidden treasure vaults of the d'Harcourts so that I +would have enough money to purchase the things she wanted.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She too has kept her bargain, for I and my court have lived happily +here unmolested. Only when an outsider came or someone disobeyed or +longed for the outside world, has she wreaked vengeance.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She has sworn to give you the kiss that promises immunity, the night +you come. Only, beware, my son, whom you bring here from the world you +know, and beware of the lovely Helene. Old man as I am, devoted to your +mother's memory as I am, she can still make my pulses leap.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>Above all things, if she shows you the Lost Door, do not be tempted to +cross its threshold, for that way, unless you are the reincarnation of +the Englishman, annihilation lies.</i>"</p> + +<p>There was more, pages more, of other matters, but I left them for +another day. Alone there in the library, I let my eyes wander to where +the little Gothic door had been.</p> + +<p>Had Wrexler been the Englishman come back to earth to claim his bride? +Could that account for the strange, unsatisfied longings he had always +had, his unearthly feelings, his unlikeness to other people? Or was he +Black George, lured back to Rougemont for Helene's vengeance? I hope for +his sake that was not the explanation; that he and Helene would find +bliss waiting for them behind the Lost Door and I would never see Helene +again.</p> + +<p>The days pass. I do what my father set out for me to do. I keep his +bargain with the ghost of the fair Helene. I never leave Rougemont. I +have no desire to, for I am always hoping that some day I shall again +find the Lost Door.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Door, by Dorothy Quick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST DOOR *** + +***** This file should be named 32831-h.htm or 32831-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/3/32831/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lost Door + +Author: Dorothy Quick + +Release Date: June 16, 2010 [EBook #32831] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST DOOR *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The Lost Door + + By DOROTHY QUICK + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Weird Tales October +1936. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: _An alluring but deadly horror out of past centuries menaced +the life of the young American--a fascinating tale of a strange and eery +love_] + + +I have often wondered whether I would have urged Wrexler to come with me +if I had known what Rougemont would do to him. I think--looking +back--that even if I could have glimpsed the future, I would have acted +in the same way, and that I would have brought him to Rougemont to +fulfill his destiny. + +As the boat cut its swift way through the waters on its journey to +France, I had no thought of this. Nor had Wrexler. He was happier than I +had ever seen him. He had never been abroad before, and the boat was a +source of wonder and enjoyment to him. + +I myself was full of an eager anticipation of happy months to come. It +hardly seemed possible that only a week had elapsed since I received the +cable that had made such a change in my fortunes: + + Your father died yesterday. You are sole heir, provided you + comply with conditions of his will, the principal one being + that you spend six months of each year at Rougemont. If + satisfactory, come at once. + +It was signed by my father's lawyer. + +I had no sorrow over my father's passing, except a deep regret that we +could not have known the true relationship of father and son. At the +death of my mother, my father had grown bitter and refused to see the +innocent cause of her untimely passing. As a baby I had been brought up +in the lodge of Rougemont, my father's magnificent chateau near Vichy. +When I reached the age of four, I had been sent away to boarding-school. +After that, my life had been a succession of schools; first in France, +the adopted land of my father, then England, and finally St. Paul's in +America. + +In all justice to my parent, I must admit he gave me every advantage +except the affection I would have cherished. By his own wish, I had +never seen him in life; nor would I see him in death, for a later cable +advised me that the funeral was over and his body already at rest in the +beautiful Gothic mausoleum he had had built in his lifetime, after the +manner of the ancients. + +He had left me everything with only two injunctions, that a certain sum +of money be set aside to keep the chateau always in its present +condition and that I should spend at least half my time in it, and my +children after me--a condition I was only too pleased to accept. All my +life I had longed for a home. + +I cabled at once that I would sail. A return cable brought me the news +that I had unlimited funds to draw upon. It was then that I urged +Wrexler to come with me. + + * * * * * + +Wrexler and I had been friends since the day when two lonely boys had +been put by chance into the same room at school. We were so utterly +unlike, it was perhaps the difference between us that held us together +through the years. At St. Paul's, and later at Princeton, Gordon Wrexler +had always been at the head of his class, whereas I inevitably tagged +along at the bottom. The contrast between us was expressed not only in +the color of our hair and eyes, but also in our dispositions. My +greatest gift from fate was a sense of humor, and I suppose it was this +quality of mine that particularly appealed to Wrexler. It seems as +though I was the only one who could lift him out of the despondency into +which he often plunged. As the years passed, and his tendency to +depression intensified, he came to depend more and more upon me, and we +grew closer together. + +Strangely enough, the whiteness of his face and the gloom that exuded +from him did not detract from his good looks. It only added to them. For +the translucence of his skin made the thick, black hair that lay close +to his head all the darker, while at the same time it brought out the +deep black of his eyes, and the firm cut of his lips. + +The night before we landed, we were standing on deck, at the rail, +looking over the side straining our eyes for the first glimpse of the +lights of Cherbourg, and Wrexler spoke of himself for the first time +since we had left New York. + +"You know, Jim, for perhaps the only time in my life I feel at peace, as +though something that I should have done long ago has been at last +accomplished." + +He was so solemn that I laughed a little. He stopped me suddenly: "It's +true--I've always felt an urge within me, a blinding force pushing me +toward something that is waiting for me: where, I do not know; what, I +have no idea. For the first time, it's gone--that nameless urge that I +knew not how to satisfy, and I feel that the call's being answered." + +With the usual inanity of people at a loss for words, I said the first +thing that came into my mind: "Perhaps Rougemont has been calling you." + +"You've no idea what a relief it is," he continued, "not to feel +constantly pulled with no way of knowing toward what, or how to go about +answering the summons. I have often thought that I should take my +life--that that was what was meant----" His voice trailed off. + +This time I was not at a loss for words. I started to read him a lecture +that would have done credit to Martin Luther or John Knox. At the end of +my harangue Wrexler laughed, a rare thing for him, and put his arm +through mine. + +"All that's gone now. Didn't I tell you that at last in some strange way +I am at peace?" + + * * * * * + +Rougemont's towers were visible long before we reached the great iron +gates that had to be swung open to let us pass. For miles the great +edifice dominated the landscape. The huge building had a soft, reddish +tinge, from which I supposed it derived its name--Red Mountain. It was a +fairy-tale palace perched on a mountain top. A great thrill went through +me as I realized that this beautiful chateau was mine, and as we drove +through the gates, up the winding road, through my own forest, the pride +of possession swelled up in me and for the first time I began to +understand why my father had never put his foot outside the great gates +and the high wall that enclosed the acres that now belonged to me. + +As we drove on, up the winding, narrow road, over the drawbridge that +spanned the moat, into the courtyard, I understood more and more. Here +was everything: beauty such as I had never dreamed, forests stocked with +game, running brooks full of fish, a lake, and farther off, a farm--I +could glimpse its thatched roofs--to supply our wants. Rougemont was a +world in itself. + +The high carved door was swung open as Wrexler and I got out of the car. +Monsieur de Carrier, my father's lawyer, advanced to meet us, a friendly +smile on his Santa Claus countenance. I shook hands, introduced Wrexler +as "a very good friend who is going to stay with me." + +Monsieur Carrier's face fell. Clearly Wrexler's being with me was a +disappointment. Nevertheless, he greeted him politely, as he ushered us +in. + +That moment Rougemont took me to its heart and won me for its own. + +Imagine Amboise, or any of the great French chateaux, suddenly restored +to itself as it was in the days of the Medici, and you have a small idea +of Rougemont. For we had stepped out of the present into the past. +Carrier, Wrexler and I were anachronisms; everything else was in keeping +with the dead centuries. Even the servants were in doublet and hose of a +sort of cerulean blue, with great slashes puffed with crimson silk. + +I think I gasped. At any rate, Monsieur Carrier saw my astonishment. "It +is your father's will, my boy. He always kept it so, and wore the +costume of former days, himself. He greatly admired the first Francis. +In your rooms you will find costumes prepared for you. For the last six +months of his life, he was making ready for his son." There was an odd +sort of pride in Carrier's voice. + +I remembered now that my father had written for my measurements. I had +thought he meant to make me a present, but when time passed and I heard +nothing, the incident had slipped from my mind. I looked at Wrexler, +expecting to see some sign of amusement on his face, but he stood +quietly looking at the tapestry that hung half-way up the grand +stairway. There was a dreamy, far-away expression in his eyes. + +"May I speak before your friend?" Carrier asked. + +I nodded. The servants had already disappeared with our luggage. I threw +myself down on a long, low bench, and Carrier sat opposite me. + +"You understood the terms of your father's will, of course," Carrier +began, "that you must live here six months, but you did not know that +you must live here, as he did, in the past. If you do not, then +Rougemont goes to your father's steward, with the same conditions--to be +kept always as it is; with only a small sum set aside for you." + +I said nothing. Driving along the road from Paris, it would have seemed +fantastic, but here--under the spell of Rougemont--it seemed as though +anything else would be impossible. + + * * * * * + +Carrier went on, "You will be Grand Seigneur--Lord of the Manor, in the +old style. You may have your guests if you like, but they too must +conform with the rules." Here he glanced at Wrexler, who still stood as +though he were in a trance. "The other six months you are free to do as +you please, spend what you like of the money not needed for +Rougemont--that is, _if you want to go anywhere else_." + +Evidently he had finished his speech. At the time I did not recognize +the significance of his last words. "I am willing to submit to the +conditions; only"--a sudden thought struck me--"I don't want to lose all +touch with the outside world. Can I go to Vichy--to get papers and so +forth? I don't suppose they had papers in Francis First's time." + +Monsieur de Carrier smiled. "My dear boy, your father didn't wish to +make a prisoner of you. You may go to Vichy if you like. But you must +not be away from Rougemont more than twenty-four consecutive hours +during the six months you are in residence. + +"So far as the papers, etc., are concerned, they will be at the lodge. +There is also a telephone, and your own clothes will be kept there. +After tonight, nothing of 1935 must come within these halls, but you are +free to go to the lodge any time you want to. You can get in touch with +me also, if you desire further information. De Lacy, the steward, will +look out for you. He knows your father's ways. Now permit me to +congratulate you and say _au revoir_, my young friend." + +Monsieur de Carrier got up on his stubby fat legs, made a little bow to +me, another to Wrexler which went unheeded. + +I too arose. "It will seem strange, but I'll do my best." + +"One other thing," Monsieur de Carrier was all of a sudden very grave. +"In two weeks' time you will be given a key. It unlocks a casket you +will find in the library. In it you will find a message from your +father. Adieu, my boy, I wish you well." + +With a click of the heels and a friendly smile, he was gone. + +I turned to Wrexler. "What do you think of it?" I asked. + +Wrexler did not answer. He still stood gazing up at the stairway. The +wide, marble steps curved upward. Along the sides, the intricate carving +was beautiful in its lacy delicateness. + +At that moment, however, I was alarmed for my friend. His attitude was +rigid, and his eyes were glassy. I put my hand on his shoulder. +"Wrexler!" + +My action galvanized him to life. "Another minute and she would have +reached the last step! Now she is gone." + +This was madness! There had been no one there. I said as much. + +Wrexler turned and faced me. "But there was," he said eagerly, "the most +beautiful girl I have ever seen, all done up in some old costume: great, +wide skirts, little waist, and a high lace collar. She had bronze curls, +great blue eyes and the loveliest face! I saw her immediately we came +in. She looked at both of us, but she smiled at me!" + +I was in a quandary. Until now I had not given the staircase more than a +perfunctory glance. For all I knew, she might have been one of the +servants, peeping to see her new master. To Wrexler, impressionable, +strange creature that he was, the one glance might have so registered on +his mind that he kept on seeing her; for certainly she had not been +there when I looked. It seemed best to make light of the whole matter. + +"Anyway, she's gone now. At least I can explain the costume. I take it +you didn't hear Carrier's announcements?" + +Wrexler shook his head. I proceeded to enlighten him. + +Instead of teasing me about the strange conditions my father's will had +imposed upon me, he was enthusiastic about the idea. "It's the one +period in history that has always interested me! Jim, we're in luck! +Imagine stepping back into Medici France for six months, shutting out +the world! Who knows but that Catherine herself may have stayed here, or +Marguerite de Valois--the Marguerite of Marguerites! Beautiful, but no +more beautiful than that girl on the stairs. I can hardly wait to see +her again." + +I heartily hoped that he would see her, and that she was not entirely a +creature of his imagination. If she was real, I too was eager to meet +her. + +Wrexler interrupted my thoughts. + +"I feel as though I had come home," he said. "I'm crazy to explore. +Let's go shed these ugly things and begin to really live. Why, it's been +this I've been waiting for! It's lucky we're the same size." + + * * * * * + +Out of his irrelevance, I gathered the trend of his thought. "I wonder +where we go," I began. + +Almost as though he had heard my words, a tall, commanding figure +stepped into the hall. He was attired richly in damask of a lovely, soft +blue with the same slashes of crimson that the servant livery had shown, +but in this case of finer material. He was a handsome man of about +thirty-four. His beard was pointed and he had a small mustache. His long +legs were encased in silken hose and he wore a dagger thrust through his +belt. + +"De Lacy, at your service, my lord," he announced as he made a deep bow. + +I extended my hand, somewhat at a loss to know how to greet my father's +steward, who was clearly a man of some importance and who, but for me, +would be owner of Rougemont. + +Instead of shaking hands, he dropped on one knee and kissed my hand--a +proceeding which embarrassed me very much. + +On my motioning him to rise, he did so with a lithe grace: "I suppose +you want to change your strange clothes, my lord, and see your +quarters?" + +I nodded and introduced Wrexler. De Lacy bowed. "Monsieur Wrexler would +like to be near you?" Then he added, "We have some twenty or thirty +suites, my lord." + +Wrexler said he would prefer to be close at hand, and together we +followed de Lacy up the marble stairway into a new world. + +Wrexler was at ease immediately in his doublet and hose. The rich, +embroidered garments seemed to suit him as modern clothes never did. He +looked handsomer than ever. He also told me that the costume of the +Medici was becoming to me, and truly when I caught a glimpse of myself +mirrored in the pond--for the chateau did not possess a large mirror--I +was not ill pleased with the result. But, by the end of the week, I +still felt strange in my new attire, whereas Wrexler from the beginning +wore his as if to the manor born. + +But I anticipate. That first night we donned two of the outfits which +the valet whom de Lacy introduced to me had put out. Our own clothes +disappeared, and much to my annoyance, with them my cigarettes. + + * * * * * + +We ate dinner in state, upon a raised dais at one end of a great hall. +At either side below us were long, narrow tables filled with people. +Dressed also in keeping with the period, they made a wonderful picture +and comprised, I supposed, my court or retinue. De Lacy presented me to +them with a flourish, and they all filed by and kissed my hand, then +went to their places. + +When Wrexler and I were seated, they too sat down. When I began to talk, +they filled the hall with gay chattering. From a minstrel gallery at the +other end of the room came soft strains of music. + +De Lacy stood behind me pouring my wine. One thing I noticed was that in +the whole room--and there must have been two hundred people at +least--there were no older men or women. In fact, de Lacy was the oldest +of the lot; the others ranged from about sixteen to thirty. + +"How did my father get all these people together?" I asked de Lacy. + +"Most of them, my lord, were born at Rougemont. Still others were +adopted and brought here almost as soon as they were born. None of us +has ever been outside Rougemont gates." De Lacy was quite matter-of-fact +as he made his statement. + +Wrexler was searching the hall with his eyes, as he listened to my +steward. + +"And you?" I looked at de Lacy. + +"I, too, my lord, know nothing of your outside world, nor do I want to. +Why should I, who am happy here? My family live down at the farm, but +his Highness, your father, became interested in me. He brought me into +the chateau, had me educated, and looked after me, himself. Eventually +he made me steward of Rougemont. It is a great honor he conferred upon +me and I shall do my best to help you, my lord." + +Of a sudden I saw what my father's life-work had been: to rear a court +to people Rougemont. My father had been twenty-five at my mother's +death. He had died at fifty-eight. He had had thirty-three years to make +his dream come true. + +"Where are the parents of the ones who were born at Rougemont?" + +"At their own places, or the farms, my lord. Rougemont has over a +thousand acres and several manors upon it, where people whom his +Highness your father advanced over others, live. They all serve their +ruler in some way, in return for what is given them. Only the people of +the lodge are in touch with the Outside, which we have been taught to +look upon with scorn. Here we have everything, and to be taken to the +chateau itself is the ambition of everyone on the estate." + +I saw it all; not, of course, every intricacy of the elaborate system my +father had evolved, but at least a glimmer of the truth. And I marveled +at the character of a man who had taken children out of the world to +make his own world and then had the patience to wait for them to grow +up; to form his court--the court he planned for me. Yes, in my egotism I +thought it was for me! Two weeks were to pass before I learned what his +real reason had been. + +Into my reflections, Wrexler broke abruptly, "She is not here. Ask de +Lacy about her; her beauty haunts me. Already I am in love with her." + +I was not surprized. Nothing, I felt, could at this point surprize me, +so much had happened in the last few hours. If my father had arisen from +the floor like Hamlet's ghost, I would have greeted him quite casually. + +"Is there a young girl here with bronze curls and blue eyes?" I asked +obediently. + +A shadow crossed de Lacy's handsome face. For the first time he +hesitated. "There is no one here that answers that description. May I +ask why you----" + +"My friend saw her on the stairway." + +I caught a murmur from de Lacy's lips, "So soon!" it sounded like, but +before I could question further, he said aloud, "I have leave to depart +and join my lady?" And before I could answer, he bowed himself away to +take a seat at one of the tables below. + +Wrexler looked over his wine goblet. "The man lied. I saw recognition of +the description in his eyes." + +"We'll get the truth out of him later," I countered. "Isn't it fine to +actually eat chicken with your fingers, and not feel you are committing +a social error!" + + * * * * * + +We did not get any information out of de Lacy later. To Wrexler's +insistent questionings he was at first non-committal, and after a bit, +downright curt. I poured oil on the troubled waters by suggesting that +as it was late, we would wait until morning to see the library and the +left wing of the chateau. + +With a smile of relief, de Lacy ushered us to our chambers. My retiring +was a kind of ceremony. It amused me, but I had a nagging little thought +in the back of my mind that all this etiquette would become boring after +a while. + +As the last man bowed himself out of my room, de Lacy bent low. "My +lord, there are guards at your door. You have only to call if you +require anything." + +I thanked him once more. Greatly to my embarrassment, he again kissed my +hand. "Your servant to the death!" he cried, and drew the curtains about +my high-canopied bed. + +I knew that outside the red damask, two huge candles were burning, but +the curtain shut out their light and I was smothered in darkness. I made +a mental note that I must arrange somehow for air in my room. The French +idea of banishing night air did not coincide with my American habits. +Tonight I was too weary to get up and attend to it. My thoughts were +racing back and forth among the strange events of the day, but before I +could focus them into any kind of order, sleep descended upon me. + +I had a strange dream. In it, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen +came and parted the red damask curtains. Framed against the dark oak +panels of my room, she stood looking down upon me. Her hair was red +gold, and her eyes had all the sapphire tints of the world stored in +their depths. Her pale, white face was oval in shape and balanced +perfectly upon a slender neck. Her lips were sweetly curved and her nose +delicately shaped. As she bent over me, I could see the rounded curve of +her bosom. One slim hand reached out and touched my cheek. It was like +the touch of a falling rose petal. + +In my dream I lay asleep, yet I was conscious of this lovely creature. I +watched her through closed eyelids, and held my breath, hoping she would +kiss me. It seemed as though I had never desired anything so much. + +A half-smile hovered on her lips, but her eyes told me nothing. She +leaned lower. A faint perfume pervaded my senses, and then I felt her +lips upon my forehead. A great cold swept over me at her touch--swept me +down, down into blackness, and I knew no more. + + * * * * * + +When I awoke, the sun was pouring through the opened curtains. I reached +for a cigarette--my first conscious thought upon awakening--and not +finding my case under the pillow, suddenly realized my new surroundings. +At the same time, I remembered my dream. "Wrexler and his talk of a +red-haired beauty is responsible for that," I thought as I clapped my +hands. + +De Lacy came in so quickly I knew he must have been waiting outside the +door. He started when he saw the curtain of my bed had been opened. "Did +you not pull them?" I asked. + +He shook his head. I said no more, and the ceremony of my arising began. + +When I had bathed in a great sunken tub--fortunately Diana de Poictiers +had had her daily bath in the far-off time--I sought Wrexler. + +Together we breakfasted, and then I announced to de Lacy that we wished +to inspect the rest of the chateau. He led us to the left wing, and took +us through suite after suite. Beautifully furnished, the chateau was a +veritable treasure house. An antiquarian would have gone mad with +delight. + +I noticed that de Lacy had avoided two heavily built doors opposite the +ballroom. When we had returned from our tour, I stopped before them. +"And here?" I asked. + +"The picture gallery, my lord," he responded unwillingly, and swung the +doors open. There was an unhappy expression on his face. + +The room was long and narrow, and the walls except for the windows were +lined with portraits. We walked slowly down the length of the room, +looking at the portraits of a dead and gone race. + +"The former owners of the chateau?" I asked. De Lacy nodded. + +Suddenly I looked at the part of the room facing the door which he had +entered. At first we had been too far away to distinguish anything about +it except that there was only one large painting hanging in the center. +Now that I was nearer, I could see the painting, and I caught my breath +in astonishment; for there was the portrait of the lady of my dream, +smiling down on me. + +Wrexler caught my arm, "That's the girl--the one I saw on the stairs." + +"That is the portrait of Helene, Mademoiselle d'Harcourt, daughter of +the Lord of Harcourt, who owned this chateau," de Lacy's voice broke in. + +Wrexler and I exclaimed simultaneously, "But I----" and "She is----" + +De Lacy looked at us strangely. "It is from her that the chateau got its +new name Rougemont--_Red Mountain_. Before that, it was called Hotel +d'Harcourt. Mademoiselle Helene was very beautiful, as you can see, +_Messieurs_, and she had many suitors. At last, from among them, she +chose an English lord. One of the discarded lovers, Black George--_le +Georges Noir_--vowed that she should not belong to the Englishman, or +ever leave Rougemont. + +"She laughed, Mademoiselle Helene, and her father, the Lord d'Harcourt, +laughed too, for he had many men at arms and was rich and powerful. +Black George did not laugh, he only set his lips grimly. The wedding day +came and the beautiful Helene married the English lord in the great +hall, but just as he took her in his arms for the nuptial kiss, there +arose a great noise outside. It was Black George attacking the chateau. + +"The English lord, with Helene's kiss warm upon his lips, went forth to +battle. There was a fight such as these peaceful lands had never seen, +and the mountain ran red with blood. Black George was the victor. He +slew the Englishman, he slew the Lord of Harcourt, and his men hacked to +pieces the defenders of the chateau. + +"Black George, followed by his men, their swords red with blood, came +into the great hall where Helene d'Harcourt sat on the throne, her face +whiter than her wedding dress. Black George flung her lover's body at +her feet, and the women of the household who were crouched about the +throne cried aloud with terror. The fair Helene did not cry, nor did she +moan; she only looked straight at Black George, and there was that in +her gaze that silenced everyone in the great hall; even Black George +stepped back a pace. + +"Then Helene d'Harcourt rose and went down to her love, the English lord +who for a brief moment had been her husband. She knelt beside him and +kissed his cold lips; then she took her wedding veil and laid it over +his body. + +"All the while there was silence in the great hall, while men and women +watched the slim girl say farewell to the man she loved. They watched +almost as though they were under a spell. But as the veil fell into +place, Black George laughed a long laugh that rang through the room; +then he turned to his followers, and cried loudly, 'The women are +yours--take them as you will, all but that one who belongs to me.' He +gestured toward Helene and laughed again. + +"Helene d'Harcourt stood erect and pointed her slender hand at Black +George. 'Wait,' she cried, and there was a quality in her voice that +made her listeners tremble. 'I shall belong to no one until my lover +comes for me, and till he comes, wo to you, Black George, who are well +named! Wo to you and to all men, for I curse you with a mighty curse, +the curse of a broken heart. And I curse all men for their black and +bitter deeds. Year after year, century after century, I will take my +vengeance for the wrongs I have suffered, and no man shall be free until +my lover comes again and we find bliss together.' + +"And while the eyes of the whole hall were riveted upon her, she plunged +the dagger she had taken from her lover's belt into her heart. For a +second she stood swaying; then she crumpled and fell beside the English +lord. + +"Black George caught her and held her in his arms. 'My curse upon you, +Black George!' she cried. + +[Illustration: "My curse upon you, Black George," she cried.] + +"Black George could also curse--'Never shall you leave Rougemont to find +your lover, and never shall he come, until----' and then his voice died +away as her head fell backward over his arm. The fair Helene was beyond +his reach. + +"For a minute more the people in the great hall were paralyzed by the +force of the terrible words that they had heard, but with the girl's +death they were released from the spell and a fury swept over the men. +They rushed upon the women and dragged them forth. Black George took +Helene's body and carried it away, but where he buried her no one knew, +nor could any discover; for the next day he was found in the great hall +raving mad, and the people said that Helene's curse was a potent one, +that already it had wreaked vengeance on the one who had wronged her +most. + +"From that day, the chateau was called Rougemont. The d'Harcourts were +all dead and the place fell into other hands. Then there grew up the +rumor that the chateau was haunted, that the fair Helene roamed through +its halls, cut off from her lover, and doomed to stay within these walls +by Black George's curse." + + * * * * * + +De Lacy silent, Wrexler and I looked at the portrait. My own feelings +were in a turmoil. It had been a ghost's lips that had touched me last +night; yet surely no ghosts could have been so beautiful or seemed so +real. + +Wrexler turned to me, "It would be the curse that has always been upon +me that when I fell in love it would be with a ghost!" His eyes were +vivid, shining brightly in his pale face. "I knew when I saw her on the +stairway that I loved her." + +"There is a rumor," said de Lacy, "that the man who sees the fair Helene +will meet with some misadventure, unless she gives him a kiss. Then he +is protected from her wrath." + +I started. Wrexler smiled. "She kissed me with her eyes. I am not +afraid." + +"The fair Helene makes men suffer to make up for the wrong Black George +did her. For years she has not been seen at Rougemont. Last night when +you described her, I was afraid. My lord," de Lacy turned to me, "send +your friend away. If she only looked at him and smiled, there is a grave +and deadly danger for him, more deadly because it may be unexplainable. +Men upon whom the fair Helene has smiled have met strange deaths." + +As Wrexler looked up at the portrait, an inward light illumined his +countenance. "I am not afraid," he repeated. + +"There are many deaths. There is the death of the spirit as well as that +of the body. I beg you to go while there is time, friend of my lord." +There was real feeling in de Lacy's voice. + +I too felt afraid for Wrexler. The strange, unworldly feeling he had +always had, the pulling toward something he knew not what, made me +doubly fearful. Had the fair Helene been calling him all this time, +across the world? For myself I had no fear. She had kissed me, and +besides, even death at her hands would have been preferable to never +seeing her again. In these last few minutes I had realized that I too +was in love with Helene, that I could hardly wait for the night, in +hopes that she might visit me again. + +Resolutely I put my own feelings in the background, for at the moment +Wrexler was of paramount importance. If there was anything in de Lacy's +story--and from my own experience I was sure there was--Wrexler was in +danger. I turned to him. "If anything happened to you, I could never +forgive myself. Perhaps you'd better go. I could arrange a trip for you, +and later--meet you." + +Somehow de Lacy seemed one of us. I had no hesitancy in speaking before +him. He seemed a part of my new life. With the strange suddenness that +comes on rare occasions, we were already friends. + +Wrexler looked at me, then back at the portrait. Helene d'Harcourt, her +red hair gleaming, smiled down upon us. Before he spoke, I knew what he +would say, because in his place I would have said the same, "Unless you +kick me out, I want to stay." + +I put my hand on Wrexler's shoulder. "So be it. Come along, let's see +the library, then we'll know all of Rougemont. We've seen everything +else." + +Wrenching his eyes away from the portrait, Wrexler followed us. + +The library was beautiful, with paneled walls that had rows and rows of +books sunk in their depths. There was a long, oaken table, and on the +center of it stood a carved, gilded box, the casket which held my +father's letter. I wished then that I could read it at once. I wish now +that I could have, but perhaps it is better that I did not; at least +things moved as the fates ordained, and the responsibility for what +occurred was not mine. + + * * * * * + +The next three days were quiet, happy ones. Nothing occurred. I had no +ghostly visitant and Wrexler saw nothing of Helene. Under de Lacy's +expert guidance, we rode over the estate, hunted with falcons, a +pleasing sport which we both took to our hearts; mingled with my court, +found the people charming and highly cultivated. We took lessons in the +old dances, visited the manor houses. It was all very gay and amusing, +and I had no longing for the outside world. I did not even go down to +the lodge for news. + +There were many details of the estate management that I had to go into +with de Lacy. We spent several hours each morning going over the affairs +of Rougemont. It was virtually a small kingdom, and everything was +referred to me. + +Necessarily, the time I spent with de Lacy on such matters, Wrexler was +alone. He had changed a great deal since we had come to Rougemont. He +had come alive, and he threw himself into everything with a curious +intensity. He was like a person who has been very ill, who suddenly +finding himself better and fearing it is only temporary, clutches life +with both hands. He devoted long hours to reading the records of the +d'Harcourts, until he knew the family history as well as his own. + +I did not mention Helene, although there was seldom a moment when she +was out of my thoughts. I found myself watching for her day and night, +and I caught the same tension in Wrexler's eyes as he searched the +shadows. + +The third night she came again, not to me, but to Wrexler; and although +he was my friend, I almost hated him because he had seen her and I had +not. He told me next morning as we walked along the lake shore. + +"Jim," he said suddenly, "I saw her last night. She came to my room. She +drew aside the curtains of the bed, and leaned over me. I can't describe +my sensations. It was almost as though life were suspended in +space--like a bridge over a timeless sea." + +I had nothing to say. I knew so well how he felt. + +"She leaned closer and closer to me," Wrexler went on; "then she smiled, +and before I could find my breath to speak, she was gone. This is the +second time she has smiled at me. I felt a nameless fear, as though +there was a threatening quality in those red lips. She looked at me as +though I might have been Black George himself." + +In that moment, all my envy was swept away by anxiety for my friend. +Indeed, I wished she had kissed him, for then he would have been safe. I +started to speak, to beg Wrexler to leave Rougemont, but before the +words could leave my mouth, I saw her. She was standing in the path some +distance away, directly in line with my eyes, and she was shaking her +head impressively. + +I knew instantly what she meant. I was not to send Wrexler away. He +could not see her, because at the moment he was facing me, his hand on +my arm. His fingers touching me were not quite steady. It brought me +back to reality. "Wrexler," I cried, "you--could leave Rougemont." + +Her eyes clouded with anger. She looked at me reproachfully, +commandingly. As though I were dreaming, I heard my own voice, "I don't +want you to go, I would be lonely without you. Perhaps there is no +danger." + +Wrexler looked at me curiously. "There is risk, I know that, but I do +not care, I am like a man who has eaten a strange and terrible drug, who +knows the danger, but can not resist it. I will stay." + +Beyond him Helene smiled a satisfied smile, as she looked at Wrexler's +broad back. It made me feel afraid. Then suddenly her gaze swept to me, +and the smile changed into a languorous one that promised all things. My +heart beat faster, and I forgot my fear. + +Wrexler moved restlessly, turning so that we were side by side. Even in +that second Helene had vanished--how, I do not know. One minute she was +there, the next she was not. + +We walked along slowly. Finally Wrexler spoke. "No matter what happens, +and I mean that widely, my friend, you are not to regret. For a little +time I have been happy. I have come alive. I have loved, even though the +woman that I love is a wraith. I have felt a sensation I thought never +to feel. If I could hold her in my arms and press my lips to hers, I +would count the world well lost." + +I could say nothing, because--God pity me!--I knew just how he felt. + + * * * * * + +The days slipped away quickly. I did not see Helene again, but Wrexler +did. Almost every day he met her in the rose garden, where they spent +long hours. + +He told me that she was always elusive, but at the same time promising +that some day she would be kinder. He said her voice was like golden +honey and that without her he could not face life. + +Once I saw them myself, as I came from an interview with de Lacy. As I +approached the rose garden through an opening in the arches, I saw them +sitting side by side on the marble bench, and of the two, Helene looked +the more earthly. For Wrexler had grown paler and more ethereal every +day. His eyes were luminous as he looked at her adoringly. + +She saw me first, and her lips curved sweetly. She rose in a leisurely +fashion, turned her back to me and dropped a low curtsy to Wrexler; then +while I still watched, she extended one slender hand to him. He bent +over it, his lips touched its soft whiteness. A little laugh like the +tinkle of silver bells swept through the garden; then she was gone. + +Wrexler stood like a man in a trance. I came quickly forward. "You are +playing with fire!" I cried. + +Wrexler roused. "You saw?" + +I nodded. + +"Have you ever seen anything more beautiful, more lovely?" + +I shook my head. + +"I'm not afraid any more. She has promised me----" + +But what Helene had promised I was not to know, for Wrexler's mouth shut +with a snap. When I pressed him, he shook his head. Finally he said, +carefully choosing his words with a reluctance that was strange to him: + +"To me is to be granted something beyond the knowledge of mortal man. I +can tell you no more, but some day you will know." There was an +expression on his face that transcended earth. + +The next night I spoke to de Lacy and told him my fears. Wrexler was +spending more and more time in the rose garden. I hardly saw him, and he +would not discuss anything with me. Even at the stately, elegantly +served meals, he barely spoke. He always seemed to be listening, +waiting. + +De Lacy shared my fears, but he suggested nothing to help. "He has been +marked, my lord," he said gravely. "We can only pray. But even in +prayers there is no refuge, for Helene is beyond such things." + +"Surely----" I began to remonstrate. + +"The power of evil is as strong as the power of good, or at least there +is little between them. Helene herself is bound fast by hate of Black +George." + +Curses live, I knew that--witness the lasting quality of the curses and +spells of the Egyptian priests. But Helene was not evil. I said as much. + +De Lacy shook his head. "She is cut off from her lover. She does not +feel kindly toward men. Remember she promised vengeance century after +century, that day in the great hall." + +That night in the silence of my chamber I called her name. "Helene! +Helene!" I flung my agonized summons into the night, but there was no +answer. + +I went over in my mind the tales de Lacy had told me of the havoc she +had caused; how one man had cast himself down from the highest turret, +crying her name; how another had been found dead in the rose garden, +horror frozen on his face. There were still others who had looked upon +her, and death or madness came as the result. + +The more I thought of these tales of terror, the more I feared for +Wrexler. At last I could stand no more. I thrust my arms into the rich +velvet robe that had taken the place of my bath gown, and went to +Wrexler's room. The guards stood back to let me pass. + + * * * * * + +I did not mean to wake him, but some inner foreboding made me feel I +must know that he was safe. + +As I drew aside the curtains of his bed, I could not entirely stifle the +cry that came to my lips, for the bed was empty. But upon the pillow lay +a small, white rose. It was the kind they use in funeral wreaths in +France. My heart almost stopped beating. + +The rose garden!--or perhaps the library. A more normal thought struck +me. Wrexler might have wanted to read. I rushed into the hall, to find +de Lacy waiting for me, summoned by the guards. He held a silver +candle-stick in which a tall, white candle burned. + +"The library!" I gasped. That was nearest, we should try it first. De +Lacy knew my meaning. He had instantly grasped the situation and his +face was white and tense. + +Together we descended the curving stairway. Together we reached the +library. Then, motioning de Lacy behind me, I swung open the door. + +The room was brightly illuminated, although not one of the candles had +been lit. In the middle of it stood Wrexler, with Helene in his arms. +Their lips were close-locked. + +It was a picture that an artist would have delighted to paint: the +stiff, crimson skirts of Helene d'Harcourt's gown stood wide on either +side, and Wrexler's blue doublet and hose against them was in bold +relief. His long over-sleeves edged with fur hung gracefully. + +I could not speak. This mating of man with ghost was almost more than my +poor mortal brain could bear, yet with every atom of my being I wished +that I could have been in Wrexler's place. I remembered the one chaste +kiss I had had from her, and I almost fainted at the thought of +possessing those lips for my own, as Wrexler was doing. Strangely +enough, mingling with this emotion was another--a feeling of fear and +anxiety for my friend. Cold horror that froze my blood kept me rooted to +the spot. + +Behind me de Lacy had fallen to his knees. I could hear him repeating +the Latin words of a prayer. All at once I saw where the light was +coming from. The entire north wall, ordinarily lined with books, had +gone. In its stead was a stone wall, and in the center of the wall was a +low-hung Gothic door, carved and ornate. It was standing open, and +beyond was a pale, luminous yellow mist. I could see nothing of what +else was beyond the door, for the yellow haze filled the entire space. +It was like a golden fog, and its radiance lighted the library with a +strange, unearthly glow. Its luminosity glowed upon Helene and Wrexler +like a spotlight. + +For a moment I thought Rougemont, de Lacy, everything of the past weeks, +must have been a dream and that I was watching a cinema of past days. +All at once, before my astonished eyes Helene gently drew her lips away +from Wrexler's. She slipped from his arms and extended her hands to him. +"Come," I heard her say. + +Wrexler had been right: her voice was like golden honey. It was like the +music of willow trees in early spring. Wrexler grasped her hands. For +the first time I saw his face. Joy transfigured it, such joy as I have +never seen before, and never shall see again. + +Helene moved backward, slowly but surely, drawing him toward the little +Gothic door that stood open. With her soft lips half parted, she +whispered, "Come." + +"Wrexler," I cried suddenly. + +He did not hear me. As he looked into her eyes, he might have been a +bird charmed by a snake. Nothing could break through the spell that +bound him. + +They were nearer the door. Each second brought them closer to it. Now +Helene was on the other side. The golden mist concentrated upon her, +until she looked like a goddess in its eery light. + +"Wrexler! Wrexler!" The words tore through my throat. + +Wrexler stepped over the threshold. Through the golden mist I saw him +clasp Helene in his arms again. I saw her smile triumphantly at me, as +she raised her lips to his. There was something in her eyes that filled +me with horror. + +The mist swirled about them until I could barely discover the outlines +of their figures through its gleaming haze. Then the door swung slowly +shut. + +I awoke to feverish activity. "Wrexler! Wrexler!" I shouted and rushed +forward to the door. + +I grasped the iron ring that hung in its center. I pulled on it with all +my might. When I found that it resisted all my efforts I began beating +against the door itself. Presently I felt myself being pulled away. + +"There is no use, my lord," de Lacy's voice was saying. "The door is +gone." + +"Gone!" I ejaculated, and even as I spoke I saw what he meant. The north +wall of the library was lined with books as it always had been. I had +been beating upon them impotently. + +I looked down at my hands; the knuckles were raw and bleeding, just as +they would have been from pounding on a heavily carved wooden door. De +Lacy caught my meaning. "The door was there, my lord. It was the lost +door--the door behind which Black George buried Helene d'Harcourt. It +had been lost for centuries." + +I sank into a chair, weakly, for now the fact that I had lost Wrexler, +my friend, was paramount. "I will tear down the walls until I find it." + +"That has been done, my lord, and it has never been found. It will never +be found again. Only for a brief moment you and I have been granted a +glimpse of something we can not understand." + +"And Wrexler----" I groaned. + +"He was happy," de Lacy comforted. "No matter what happened after, he +has had happiness such as I have never seen before." + +My head pitched forward and I knew no more. + + * * * * * + +Three days later, I was escorted to the library by de Lacy, to whom +since Wrexler's loss I was more devoted than ever. With great ceremony I +was given the key to the gilded casket, then left alone. + +Seated in the great chair before the oaken table, I unlocked the casket. +It contained many pages closely written in my father's hand. In them +were instructions as to my future conduct, my care of Rougemont, what he +had done and what he expected me to do. But the lines that interested me +most were these: + +"_I bought Rougemont for your mother, shortly after your birth, because +when riding through this country, she saw and loved it. It was a +purchase that cost me dear. For Rougemont held a curse and an avenging +spirit in the form of a beautiful young girl who could not bear to see +others' happiness. So my wife died._ + +"_Two months after your mother's death, I first saw la belle Helene. We +fought a long battle, she and I, but I was strong, my son, because I +loved your mother. No other woman's charms could lure me to my doom. +Finally I made a bargain with a ghost._ + +"_She hated modern things and longed for Rougemont to be great again. I +promised to restore the chateau to its former splendor, to make it just +as it had been in her days, and in return she promised immunity to me, +and afterward to you, and to all my court when I should have established +it._ + +"_I restored Rougemont. I repeopled it. With her help and advice, I have +made it as it was in her own day._ + +"_She showed me the hidden treasure vaults of the d'Harcourts so that I +would have enough money to purchase the things she wanted._ + +"_She too has kept her bargain, for I and my court have lived happily +here unmolested. Only when an outsider came or someone disobeyed or +longed for the outside world, has she wreaked vengeance._ + +"_She has sworn to give you the kiss that promises immunity, the night +you come. Only, beware, my son, whom you bring here from the world you +know, and beware of the lovely Helene. Old man as I am, devoted to your +mother's memory as I am, she can still make my pulses leap._ + +"_Above all things, if she shows you the Lost Door, do not be tempted to +cross its threshold, for that way, unless you are the reincarnation of +the Englishman, annihilation lies._" + +There was more, pages more, of other matters, but I left them for +another day. Alone there in the library, I let my eyes wander to where +the little Gothic door had been. + +Had Wrexler been the Englishman come back to earth to claim his bride? +Could that account for the strange, unsatisfied longings he had always +had, his unearthly feelings, his unlikeness to other people? Or was he +Black George, lured back to Rougemont for Helene's vengeance? I hope for +his sake that was not the explanation; that he and Helene would find +bliss waiting for them behind the Lost Door and I would never see Helene +again. + +The days pass. I do what my father set out for me to do. I keep his +bargain with the ghost of the fair Helene. I never leave Rougemont. I +have no desire to, for I am always hoping that some day I shall again +find the Lost Door. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Door, by Dorothy Quick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST DOOR *** + +***** This file should be named 32831.txt or 32831.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/3/32831/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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