In the chill gray gloom of the fields, damp, depressing and misty, with the wreckage of the airship piled up around him, and the insensible woman lying at his feet, Dan stood bewildered, his nerves jangling like ill-tuned bells. The twenty feet fall had not harmed him in limb or body; but the violent contact with the earth, broken in some measure by the fact that his enemy's aeroplane had been underneath, resulted in a displacement of his normal powers. He felt battered and bruised, deadly sick and wished to lie on the wet grass, indifferent to everything and everyone. But with a dangerous creature at his elbow, this was not to be thought of, even though that same creature was unable to exercise her wicked will. Moreover, The Grange was only a stone's throw distant, and doubtless Mrs. Jarsell had been watching for the coming of her friend. If this were the case, she would come out with help--for Queen Beelzebub, that is. How Halliday would be treated he was much too muddled in his brain to consider. Finally, he dropped on his knees, longing for brandy to pull him together, and began to think with difficulty. This woman was not Mrs. Jarsell, but Miss Armour. Seeing that he knew her to be old, feeble, and paralyzed, this was most remarkable. Curberry had called her Queen Beelzebub, so Miss Armour, and not Mrs. Jarsell, was the head of the Society of Flies, and the cause of all the trouble. In a weak way, Dan considered that she evidently was not so old as she had made herself out to be, and certainly she was not paralyzed. No woman without the use of her limbs could have escaped so swiftly, or have worked the aeroplane so dexterously. Miss Armour, the delicate, kind-hearted old lady, was the infernal Queen Beelzebub who had spoken behind the mask when in the darkness the scarlet light had made an accursed halo round her head. And now she was dead--stone dead. A moment's reflection assured him that he could not be certain on this point without examination, so he tore open her dress, and laid his hand on her heart. It beat feebly, so he knew that she was still alive, although she was crumpled up in a heap amidst the wreckage. This knowledge restored Halliday more positively to his senses. She was so dangerous that, even helpless as she appeared to be, he could not tell what devilry she might not make use of to get the upper hand. She still had the piece of steel tipped with the deadly snake poison, and even a feeble woman could inflict death with that. The idea made Dan search in her pockets to secure the subtle weapon of defence, but even while he fumbled and hunted, he was pulled violently backward. "Mr. Halliday!" gasped Mrs. Jarsell, holding a lantern to his white face, "hold him," she added to a couple of men who were beside her. "I've--I've caught Queen Beelzebub red-handed," muttered Dan, striving to get on his feet, and thinking in a muddled way that Mrs. Jarsell had seen the arrival of the aeroplanes, the battle in the air, and the catastrophe. She must have come stealthily across the intervening fields with her myrmidons, and thus he had been caught unawares. He knew well that, once in her grip, since she was an accomplice of Queen Beelzebub's, he could expect no mercy, and, what was worse, Lillian would be in danger. He, therefore, in a weak way, fought his best to escape. If he could only reach Mrs. Pelgrin's hotel he would be safe. But the men were too strong for him, and he was beaten to his knees. Then, what with, the hunger that gnawed him, the bitter cold, the fall, and the general surprise of the situation, his senses left him. He uttered a weary sigh, and slipped to the ground, limp and unconscious. Then, again, as had happened when Penn had drugged him in the taxi-cab, he felt himself swallowed up in gloom; felt himself falling interminably, and lost sight of the physical world and its surroundings. To all intents and purposes he was dead, and from the moment he closed his eyes in that misty meadow he remembered nothing more. When his eyes opened again, they shut at once, for the blaze of light was painful. Dimly he fancied that he heard a telephonic voice give an order, and he felt that some ardent spirit was being poured down his throat. The fiery liquor put new life into him; his heart began to beat more strongly and he felt that his weak limbs were regaining a fictitious strength. With a thankful sigh he opened his eyes again, and a bewildered look round made him understand that he was in the barbaric sitting-room of The Grange. He saw the violent contrasts of red and yellow and black, he realized the glare and glitter and oppressive splendor of the many lamps and his nostrils were filled with the well-known Sumatra scent. Reason came back to him with a rush, and he knew in what a dangerous position he was placed. Here he was in the power of Queen Beelzebub and her factotum, Mrs. Jarsell--at their mercy completely, as it were, although he was assured that he would receive none at all. He had hunted down the gang; he was breaking up the gang; and now in his hour of triumph he was at the mercy of the gang. Queen Beelzebub was top, tail, and bottom of the society, and he was in her grip. She would not relax it, he knew very well, until the life was squeezed out of him. The realization of his danger and the memory of what his helplessness meant to Lillian, nerved him to recover full control of his consciousness. While there was life there was hope, and as his captors had not murdered him while he was insensible, Dan concluded that they would not do so when he had recovered his wits. Queen Beelzebub would play with him, he fancied, as a cat plays with a mouse, and in that case he might find some means of escape. So far he had beaten her all along the line, and he might beat her still, although she certainly held the winning cards at the moment. As these things flashed across his brain, he yawned and stretched himself, looking round in a leisurely way as he did so. Still feeling a trifle stiff and sore, his thinking powers were nevertheless in good working order, as they at once responded to the command of his indomitable will. Therefore, with wonderful self-control, he smiled amiably, and stared into every corner, in order to spy out the weakness of the land. But he was being watched, as he soon knew, and his thought was read. "No," snarled a silvery voice, higher in tone than that of Mrs. Jarsell, "I have you and I mean to keep you." Queen Beelzebub, alive and well, and as completely in possession of her senses as he was, sat in her big carved chair near the open fireplace just as she had sat when he paid that long distant visit with Freddy Laurance and Mildred. Her face was as wrinkled as ever, but instead of being of the ivory hue which had impressed him on a former occasion, it was deadly white, and looked particularly venomous. Her white hair had been smoothly brushed and she wore a loose cloak of scarlet velvet, which fell to her feet. But in the fall she had suffered, since Dan noticed that her right arm was bound up in bandages and splints, resting in a black silk scarf against her breast. His eyes fastened on this and Miss Armour laughed in a thin, spiteful manner, which hinted at the wrath that consumed her. "Yes," she said, in answer to his mute query, "I have broken my arm, thanks to you, Mr. Halliday. You smashed my aeroplane and sent me to the ground."
"That is what you tried to do with me," said Dan, drily, and settling himself comfortably in his chair, since he felt convinced that he was in no immediate danger. "Tit for tat, Queen Beelzebub, or shall I call you Miss Armour?"
"The real name or the feigned name, doesn't matter," rejoined the lady very coolly, "you can call me what you like for the time you have to live." "Oh!" said Halliday, equally coolly, and aware that the cat-and-mouse torment was beginning, "so that's it, is it?" Mrs. Jarsell stood beside her friend's chair, and was handing her food in an anxious manner. The large and ponderous woman looked like a child overcome with terror. Her eyes were sunken, her cheeks were hollow, and the immense vitality she possessed appeared to be at a very low ebb. She was arrayed in white, as usual, but her garb was not so colorless as her face. She even looked smaller than formerly, and was shrunken in her clothes. There was something pitiful in the spectacle of this large phlegmatic female broken down, worn out, and overcome with dread of the future. As she attended to Miss Armour the tears rolled down her face, which had so suddenly grown old. The sight seemed to irritate the other woman, who was much more frail, but who had a much more powerful will. Dan saw in a flash that he had been mistaken in thinking that Mrs. Jarsell was strong. Her strength lay in her imposing looks, but she was the mere tool of that fragile, delicate old lady, whose glittering eyes revealed the iron will which dominated her weak age-worn body. Here, indeed, was the true Queen Beelzebub, driven into a corner and prepared to fight to the last. Halliday felt, with a creeping of the flesh, that he had come to grips with an evil power, which it would be desperately hard to conquer. Miss Armour saw the shadow in his eyes. "You're afraid," she taunted him. Dan agreed. "Not physically, you understand," he said quietly, "but you seem to be so thoroughly wicked that the spiritual part of myself quails for the moment. But it doesn't matter much, you know, seeing that you have much more cause to fear that I may shoot you at sight," and he fumbled in his pocket for Curberry's revolver which he had picked up when leaving the room. "I removed that when you were insensible," gasped Mrs. Jarsell, wiping her eyes and turning a heavy white face in his direction. "Of course," said Miss Armour, in a hard voice. "I ordered the search to be made in case you had any weapons. Now you are quite defenceless, and at my mercy, you meddling ape."
"How long have I been insensible," asked Dan, ignoring the feminine spite which led her to call him names. "For quite an hour," sighed Mrs. Jarsell, whose great body was shaking as if with the ague. "I had you brought here along with Miss Armour. You were both in a kind of faint. Now you are all right, and----"
"And I am all right," finished Miss Armour, imperiously, "which is much more to the purpose. Better had you died when you fell from the aeroplane, Mr. Halliday, than have recovered so completely as you seem to have done."
"You mean mischief?"
"Oh, yes, I mean mischief," replied Queen Beelzebub amiably, "and I mean torture, such as will make you wince. I'll prove what sort of a man you are."
"You had better make haste, then," said Dan, with a shrug, and bracing up his courage to beat this fiend with her own weapons, "by this time the police know all about Curberry." "What's that to me. The police can't connect me with his death?"
"Not so far as you know, but as my friend, Laurance, promised to take action at five o'clock, if he did not hear from me, I expect with the Blackheath and Hampstead inspectors he is now in Lord Curberry's house. An explanation from him will soon bring the authorities to this den." Mrs. Jarsell burst into hysterical tears. "I knew there was great danger," she wailed. "I knew the end had come!" and she sank at Miss Armour's feet in a fit of despair, the picture of a beaten woman. "Oh, shut up, Eliza," said Queen Beelzebub savagely, and her eyes glittered more venomously than ever, "you always play the fool when wits are needed to keep things straight."
"You can't keep them straight," said Dan calmly, lounging in his chair, "your career is at an end, Miss Armour."
"We'll see about that, Mr. Halliday. Oh, you needn't look at me in that way, my friend. I still have the snake-poisoned lancet, you know, and if you try to spring on me, even though my arm is broken, you will meet with a sudden and unpleasant death."
"I don't want to touch you," retorted Halliday. "I shall leave the hangman to finish you off." "That he never shall do," snapped Miss Armour, her eyes flashing and her nostrils dilating, "not one member of that glorious society I have founded shall ever be done to death by those accursed people in authority. I, and my subjects who obey me so loyally, will vanish."
"Will you? Not while the ports and railway stations are watched," sneered Halliday, with contempt, "and I don't think your friend Vincent can supply aeroplanes in sufficient quantity for you all to get away. Even if you did by some extraordinary chance, the world would be hunted for you."
"It can be hunted from the North Pole to the South, Mr. Halliday, but neither the members of the Society of Flies nor its queen will be discovered. We will be as if we had never been," she concluded triumphantly, and as she spoke the big woman, sobbing at her feet, shivered and shook, and uttered a muffled cry of terror. Queen Beelzebub kicked her. "Get up, Eliza, you fool," she said contemptuously, "you know quite well that I have made ready for everything this long time."
"But I don't want to----"
"If you say another word," interrupted Miss Armour, viciously, "you shall afford sport for this society as this meddling beast shall do." Dan laughed gaily, determined not to show the white feather, although his heart was filled with fear. He did not mind a clean, short, sharp death, but he did not wish to be tortured and mutilated, as he believed this incarnate demon intended he should be. Curiously enough, his laugh, instead of exciting Queen Beelzebub to further wrath, seemed to extort her unwilling admiration. "You are a brave man, Mr. Halliday," she muttered reluctantly; then burst out furiously, "oh, you young fool, why did you not accept the offer I made you?"
"The offer you prophesied in this very room would be made," said Halliday complacently, "well, you see, Miss Armour, or Queen Beelzebub, or whatever you like to call yourself, I happen to have a conscience."
"That is your weakness," said the woman calmly; "throw it on the rubbish heap, my friend. It is useless."
"Now it is, so far as joining your infernal organization is concerned, I am quite sure. To-morrow the police will be here, and the Society of Flies will cease to exist."
"That is possible, and yet may not be probable, Mr. Halliday. If the Society does cease to exist, it will not do so in the way you contemplate. Eliza!" added Miss Armour impatiently, "if you will sniff and howl, go and do so in some other room. I can't stand you just now. My nerves are shaken, and my arm is hurting me. Go away."
"And leave you with----" Mrs. Jarsell cast a terrified look at Dan. "Pooh!" cried Queen Beelzebub contemptuously, "you don't think that I am afraid of him. I have the lancet with the snake-poison, and if he tries to get out of the door or the window you know very well that every exit is watched. Go away and employ your time better than sobbing and moaning. You know what you have to do, you poor silly fool?"
"Yes," sighed Mrs. Jarsell, and stumbled towards the door like a rebuked infant. "I'll send the telegrams before eight. But the village post-office will learn too much if I send them."
"Never mind. The whole world will learn too much before to-morrow night, my dear Eliza. However, neither you nor I, nor anyone else concerned, will be here to get into trouble." Mrs. Jarsell threw her hands above her head. "The end has come; the end has come," she wailed tearfully, "we are lost, lost, lost!"
"I know that as well as you do," said Miss Armour cheerfully, "thanks to this idiot here. However, he shall pay for his meddling."
"But if the police----"
"If you don't get out," interrupted Queen Beelzebub in a cold fury, "I shall prick you with the lancet--you know what that means."
"It would be better than the other thing," moaned Mrs. Jarsell, clinging to the door, which she had opened. "What other thing?" inquired Halliday, on the alert for information. Queen Beelzebub replied. "You shall know before you die! Eliza, will you go and send those telegrams, you silly fool? If you don't obey me----" the woman's face took on such a wicked expression that Mrs. Jarsell, with a piteous cry, fled hastily, closing the door after her. Then Miss Armour drank a little of the wine that was on the table beside her and looked smilingly at her prisoner. "I never could make anything of Eliza," she explained, "always a whimpering cry-baby. I wouldn't have had her in the society but that I wished to use this house, which belongs to her, and of course when we started her money was useful." Halliday, being alone, glanced around to see if he could escape. He could not attack Miss Armour, old and feeble as she was, because of the poisoned piece of steel which she had concealed about her. He had seen the effects on Sir Charles Moon, and did not wish to risk so sudden a death. For the sake of Lillian it was necessary that he should live, since, if he did not, there was no one left to protect her; therefore, he did not think of meddling with Queen Beelzebub, but cast an anxious look at windows and door. Escape that way was equally impossible, as all were guarded. There seemed to be nothing for it but to wait and take what chance offered itself later. He could see none at the moment. The position was unpleasant, especially when he remembered that he was to be tortured, but his manhood prevented his showing the least sign of fear. To intimate that he cared nothing for her threats, he took out his pipe and tobacco pouch. "Do you mind my smoking, Miss Armour?"
"Not at all, unless you would rather eat. There's food on the table behind you. Oh," she laughed, when she saw the expression on his face, as he glanced around, "don't be alarmed, I don't intend to poison you. That death will be too easy. You can eat and drink and smoke with perfect safety. I intend to end your life in a less merciful manner."
"Well," said Dan, going to the table and taking a sandwich, together with a glass of port wine. "I think you are spiteful enough to give me a bad time before dying, so I am quite sure that I can eat and drink with safety!"
"Oh, what a pity; what a pity," said Miss Armour thoughtfully, when the young man returned to his seat and began to make a hurried meal. "What's a pity?" asked Dan carelessly. "That you and I should be enemies. I gave you the chance to be friendly with me, you know, but you wouldn't take it. Yet I admire you, and have always admired you. You have courage, brains, coolness, and persistence. These are valuable qualities such as I needed for a member of my society. If I had not seen that you possessed them and wished to make use of them by binding you to my society, I should have ended your life long ago."
"As Sir Charles Moon's life was ended; as Durwin's life was cut short; as Penn was disposed of, and as Lord Curberry was dispatched."
"Well, no. Curberry poisoned himself because he feared that everything was about to come out."
"As it will."
"Probably," said Queen Beelzebub indifferently, "but there are yet some hours before the end. No, my friend, you will not die like those you have mentioned. Your cleverness demands a more ingenious death."
"You are a very clever woman," said Dan, finishing his glass of port. "I am. You will admire my cleverness when you----" she checked herself and laughed. "I knew a Chinese mandarin once and he told me many things, Mr. Halliday. You can guess what he told me."
"Something about torture?" said Dan, lighting his pipe, "quite so. You go to the Chinese to learn how to hurt a man. I thought you were more original." Miss Armour sneered. "Isn't this indifference rather overdone, Mr. Halliday?"
"Well, it is a trifle. I'm in a blue funk, and can you blame me," he shuddered, "a man doesn't like to die by inches, you know. However, as we understand one another, suppose we wile away the time by your telling me how you came to start this damned gang of yours."
"My dear young friend, I admire your courage so much that I can refuse you nothing," mocked Miss Armour, wincing as she moved her broken arm. "I really should be in bed with my hurt."
"You'll get feverish if you don't lay up," Dan advised her. "Oh, I don't think so. I know about other drugs than the Sumatra scent, Mr. Halliday. Of course, a broken arm," she added with a sigh, "can't be mended by all the drugs in the world. Time alone can put it right, and, thanks to you, I shan't have time to get cured. If you had only fought with me instead of against me, this would not have happened. Well, my society----"
"Yes. What about your society?" questioned Dan, politely and easily. Queen Beelzebub cast an admiring look in his direction and began to speak in a quiet lady-like manner, as though she were presiding at a tea-table, and the subject of conversation was quite an ordinary one. "I was left an orphan at an early age," she said leisurely, "poor and honest and friendless. For years I led what you fools call a decent life, earning my bread by going out as a governess. But poverty and honesty did not please me, especially since the first was the outcome of the last. I never wished to marry, as I did not care for men. I did not wish for society, or fame, or flirtation, or, indeed, anything a woman usually longs for. I desired power!" and as she uttered the last word an infernal expression of pride came over her white and delicate face. "Power for a bad purpose?"
"Well, you see, Mr. Halliday, I could not get power for a good one. The sole way in which I could obtain my ends was to appeal to people's self-love. I read of those Italian societies, and the way in which they terrorized the world. Whatever the members of those societies want they get, because they work by blackmail, by threats, by the knife, and with poison. I always wished to found a society of that sort, but I noticed how frequently things went wrong because the members of various societies got mixed up with women, or drank too much, or gave themselves away in a moment of profligacy."
"Ah," Dan smoked calmly, "now I understand why your rules were so stringent."
"You speak of them in a past tense," said Miss Armour curiously. "Well," Dan pressed down the tobacco in his pipe, "the society is done for; it's gastados, used up, busted, and all the rest of it. Well?"
"Well," echoed the woman, passing over his remark with a sneer. "I wished to collect a body of men and women who were to live like saints and use all the power such self-denial gave them to gain all they wanted for themselves."
"A devilishly clever scheme." "But not original, like my tortures," Queen Beelzebub assured him. "In Australia--Sydney, New South Wales--I fancy there are societies who have the same rules. They call such an organization there a 'Push!' I think." Dan nodded. "I have heard of such things."
"Well, then--to make a long story short, as I want to go to bed, and can't enjoy your delightful society much longer--I intended to work on those lines. Years and years ago Mrs. Jarsell was a favorite pupil of mine. We parted and she married a man with money. He died," Miss Armour laughed, "in fact, since he treated Eliza badly, I got rid of him."
"Oh, so that is the hold you have on her."
"Quite so. I met her again and got rid of the husband. He left her his money and I came to live with Eliza as a companion. For a time we went into London society, and I soon managed to get a few people together by appealing to their egotism. Some kicked at my ideas--others did not, and in the end I collected quite a large number. Then I made Eliza take this house, as it struck me that aeroplanes might be utilized for criminal purposes. I don't say that when this idea struck me aeroplanes were so good as they are now, but I believed that aviation would improve, and that the air would be conquered. Chance brought Vincent into my life. He became a member of the Society of Flies, and manufactured the machines. He also taught me how to handle them----"
"I am bound to say that he had an excellent pupil," put in Dan politely. "Thank you," Miss Armour smiled and nodded. "I fancy I am pretty good. But you see that by using an aeroplane I was able to get up and down to London without people knowing. I was, so to speak, in two places at once, by travelling fast, and so could prove an alibi easily."
"Then Durwin?"
"No. Eliza murdered him. She went up in an aeroplane along with Vincent, since she is too silly to handle one herself. To kill Moon--that was my work because he learned too much and refused to join me--I went to town by train in the character of the false Mrs. Brown. Penn was killed by Curberry, who had to obey me or suffer himself. Oh, I assure you I am quite autocratic, Mr. Halliday," finished the woman merrily. "I quite believe that," said Halliday drily, "but did all this villainy give you pleasure?"
"Oh, yes," Miss Armour's nostrils again dilated, and her eyes again flashed triumphantly, "think of the power I held until you interfered. I pretended for greater safety to be paralyzed, and no one ever connected a poor invalid lady with Queen Beelzebub."
"I did not, I assure you. I believed Queen Beelzebub to be Mrs. Jarsell."
"Eliza," Miss Armour scoffed, "why, she's a poor weak fool, and only did what I ordered her to do because I implicated her along with myself in the murder of her husband. However, she has been useful, as, without her money, I could not have started the business. Power!" she repeated, "yes, I have a great power. High or low, rich or poor, there was no one I could not remove if I chose. My subjects worked for me willingly, or unwillingly."
"You are a kind of 'Old Woman of the Mountain,' like the gentleman of that name who invented the Assassins--that gang about the time of the Crusades."
"Quite so, although it is not polite of you to call me an old woman. By the way, I got Curberry his title by getting rid of his uncle and cousin."
"Yes. So he told me," said Dan, marvelling that the woman could speak so calmly about her wickedness. "Oh, you are shocked," she laughed gaily, "what a fool you are. I could tell you much concerning many murders and disappearances which the police knew nothing about. For some years I have ruled like a despot, and--and--well," she yawned, "it's all over. Oh, what a pity."
"I think not. People will sleep quieter when they know Queen Beelzebub and her demons are harmless."
"Harmless," she echoed the word with a laugh, and touched a silver bell that stood at her elbow, "we shall all be harmless enough to-morrow, if indeed you speak truly, and your friend Laurance is coming up here with the police."
"He is, I assure you," said Dan, wondering why she rang the bell, "but who are the members of your gang?"
"You'll see them to-morrow, when you afford sport for them," said Queen Beelzebub in a weary way, and looking fagged out, "meanwhile, I must have you safely locked up," and as she spoke, two big men entered the room. "Hang you, I shan't," began Dan, and sprang to his feet. But the two men had their hands on him, and shortly he was trussed up like a Christmas turkey. "You are less clever than I thought," said Queen Beelzebub, sneering, "or you would not fight against impossibilities. Good night! Take him away." And as they were commanded, the two big men took him away in silence.
Unable to resist superior force, Dan ceased to struggle, thinking it was best to play a waiting game, until chance afforded him the opportunity of escape. Hitherto his good fortune had saved him from grave perils, and he trusted that finally it would prove strong enough to extricate him from this last difficulty. He was taken down a short flight of damp steps and thrust into what he took to be a disused coal-cellar. Here the two big men released him from his bonds and retired, locking the door behind them. Once or twice he asked questions, but, receiving no reply, he asked no more. They left a lantern for his use, and the light, although only that of a candle, was very acceptable in the cimmerian darkness of this underground dungeon. When left alone, the prisoner stretched himself, swung his arms and stamped with his feet to get warm, after which he made an examination of his surroundings. Halliday found that the cellar was small, with stone floor, stone roof, and stone walls, all more or less humid. Light and air came through a shaft on the right of the entrance, which was too narrow to permit of escape. Evidently the place had been used before as a prison, and no doubt for refractory members of the society, since there was some spare furniture. In one corner was a low bed, in another a deal table, in a third a washstand, and finally there was one kitchen chair, on which Dan took his seat to think over matters. He had eaten, so did not feel hungry, and solaced himself with his pipe, a luxury for which he felt very grateful. It could not be said that his thoughts were pleasant; they could scarcely be so, under the circumstances, as there was no denying he was in a most uncomfortable plight. So Miss Armour, the delicate maiden lady, was Queen Beelzebub, and the imposing Mrs. Jarsell was only her tool. Dan was surprised when he reflected on this, and could not help admiring the infernal cunning of the woman who had arranged matters. Miss Armour was without doubt a born criminal, who much preferred doing evil to doing good. As Mrs. Jarsell's companion, she could have led a blameless existence, surrounded by attention and comfort and luxury, but her craving for power had led her into dark paths. For all her care, she might have guessed that in a law-abiding country the truth of her murderous association would come to the notice of the authorities sooner or later. And, when the knowledge had become public, with all her cunning, she was unable to cope with the situation. Like the fox in the fable, her many wiles had proved useless, and here she was driven into a corner. What she intended to do Dan could not think. He did not see in what way she could escape punishment. Of course, the young man was perfectly satisfied that Freddy was moving in the matter down South. According to instructions, he must have gone to Lord Curberry's house at Blackheath when he failed to receive news of his friend, and what he discovered there would assure him that it was time to take public action and inform the police of what was going on. The servants would be questioned and Curberry's body would be examined, while the visit of the veiled woman and her flight in the aeroplane would be explained. Laurance would guess at once that the unknown lady was Queen Beelzebub attending to her iniquitous business, and an inquiry at the shed would soon inform him of the pursuit. Halliday believed that on the morrow Laurance, together with the police, would arrive at Sheepeak, and then the end would come. Meanwhile he was in great danger unless Freddy appeared in time to rescue him, for Miss Armour was very spiteful and her last act of power would undoubtedly be to murder him for the action he had taken in bringing about her downfall. But this had to be faced, and, if death was certain, he hoped that it would be immediate, since even his brave nature quailed at the idea of suffering ingenious Chinese tortures. As to Lillian, Dan was quite sure she would not be harmed, because Queen Beelzebub had her hands full and would not have time to kill her. Indeed, if she decided to do so, it would not be easy for her to find anyone to execute her commands, for every member of the Society of Flies must by this time have been aware of the danger which threatened their organization. Halliday believed that the telegrams alluded to by Miss Armour and which were to be sent by Mrs. Jarsell were intended to summon the members to a conference. Yet, what use such a meeting would be, the young man could not think. The net of the law would capture the entire gang without doubt. And yet Queen Beelzebub was so infernally cunning that Dan could not be sure she would not find some means of saving herself and her subjects, even at the eleventh hour. In thoughts such as these the night passed slowly and the hours seemed interminable. The candle in the lantern burned itself out, and he found himself in complete darkness, while the silence was only broken by the drip of water from the walls, or by his own breathing and restless movements. Dan felt as though he were in a tomb, and his lively imagination conjured up all kinds of horrors until, worn out physically and mentally, he fell into a profound slumber. When he opened his eyes again, it was dawn, for he saw the cold light streaming down through the air shaft. A glance at his watch assured him that it was seven o'clock, and he wondered if food would be brought to him shortly. As he had only eaten a sandwich and drank a glass of port-wine since a yesterday morning breakfast, he felt most uncommonly hungry, and, in spite of the peril in which he stood, he longed ardently for food. In the meantime, for comfort, he lighted his pipe again, sat on his bed, and watched the thin beam of sunlight move slowly across the stone floor of his cell. This was an unexpected adventure, sure enough, and, unpleasant as it was now, it promised to be still more unpleasant before it was concluded. All that Halliday could hope for was that Laurance, with the police, would arrive in time to save his life, and deliver him from imprisonment. At ten o'clock--Dan looked again at his watch when the door opened--Mrs. Jarsell entered with a tray, on which were two boiled eggs, bread and butter, and coffee. Placing this on the table, she was about to leave, as she had entered, in silence, when Dan caught her dress. At once, with a shiver, she drew back and displayed the lancet tipped with the serpent-poison. "If you try to escape, I shall kill you," she said in her heavy voice. Dan looked at her curiously, and saw that she was less imposing than ever for all her massive looks. All her self-restraint was gone, her eyes were red; her face was disfigured with tears; and her big body looked flabby and inert. A greater collapse or a more pitiful spectacle can scarcely be imagined, and Dan felt quite sorry for her, even though he knew she was banded against him with others to bring him to a cruel death. "I shall not try to escape," he said, slowly; "that is, I shan't try just now." Pausing at the door, Mrs. Jarsell, still on guard with the lancet, looked at him sorrowfully. "You can never escape," she said brokenly, "try as you may, for the house is guarded by four men, who are sworn to obey Miss Armour."
"Queen Beelzebub, you mean," said Halliday with a shrug. "I wish I had never heard the name," cried Mrs. Jarsell with a sob. "I quite believe that. I am very sorry for you."
"You have every need to be. Thanks to you, we are all caught in a trap, and there is no means of escape."
"Really. I thought that Miss Armour----" Mrs. Jarsell shuddered. "She has an idea, but I hope it will not be necessary for her to carry out her idea. After all, things may not be so bad as they seem, Mr. Halliday."
"If you mean the police, I am afraid they are," he retorted with another shrug and with great emphasis; "by this time my friend Laurance has informed the Scotland Yard authorities of what we know."
"What do you know?" demanded Mrs. Jarsell, with a gasp, and she was forced to lean against the door for support. "Everything," said Dan, briefly; "so with your permission I shall have my breakfast, Mrs. Jarsell," and he began to eat with a good appetite. "Oh, how can you; how can you?" cried the big woman, convulsively; "think of the danger you stand in."
"I shall escape!"
"Escape, and from Queen Beelzebub? Nobody has ever escaped her." "I shall, and you will be the means of my escaping."
"Me?" Mrs. Jarsell used bad grammar in her astonishment; "how can I----"
"That is your affair," broke in Halliday, pouring out the coffee. "Why should I help you to escape?"
"Because you are a woman and not a fiend. Miss Armour is one, I admit, but I can see very plainly that you are a most unwilling accomplice."
"I am, I am," cried Mrs. Jarsell, vehemently; "years ago I was a decent woman, a good woman. She came into my life again and poisoned my existence. She worked on my jealousy and on my fear and----"
"I know; I know. She enabled you to get rid of your husband." "Ah!" Mrs. Jarsell reeled back as though she had been struck; "she told you that, did she?"
"She told me everything."
"Then you will never escape; she would never let you go free with the knowledge you have of her secrets. You are doomed. As to my husband," Mrs. Jarsell appeared to be speaking more to herself than to Dan, "he was a wicked and cruel wretch. He starved me, he beat me, he was unfaithful to me, and led me such a life as no woman could endure. Miss Armour showed me how to rid myself of him, when I was distraught with misery and passion. I thought it was sympathy with me that made her help me. It was not. All she desired was to gain some hold over me, and use my money for her own vile ends."
"You don't appear to love her," said Halliday, coolly. The woman closed the door, placed her back against it and clenched her hands in a cold fury. "I hate her; I loathe her; I detest her," she cried, in a guttural voice, evidently consumed with rage. "For years and years and years I have been her slave. After I killed my husband, under her directions--although I don't deny but what he deserved death--there was no retreat for me, as she could have, and would have, informed the police. I should have been hanged. She made use of her power to use my money in order to create this wicked society. It murders and slays and blackmails and----"
"I know; I know," said Dan, soothingly; "she told me all about it."
"Then you know how evil she is! I have had to commit crimes, from which my better self shrank, at her command."
"Such as the murder of Durwin," put in Dan, quickly. "That is only one out of many. Deeper and deeper I have sunk into the mire and now the end has come. I am glad of it."
"Why not turn king's evidence, and denounce this woman and her gang? Then you would be pardoned."
"There is no pardon for my wickedness," said Mrs. Jarsell, in a sombre tone. "I have sown, and I must reap as I have sown. It is too late. I know that your friend will come with the police. They will find the whole wicked lot of criminals here, which constitute the Society of Flies."
"Ah! those telegrams?"
"Yes. I sent off thirty last night, for now Penn and Curberry are dead there are just thirty members. Today all will come up, since the danger to all is so great. I sent the wires last night, and I am confident that the members have started for Sheepeak this morning. This afternoon everyone will be under this roof. All the worse for you." Dan quailed. "Does she really mean to torture me?" he asked nervously, and it was little to be wondered at that such a prospect did make him feel sick. "Yes, she does," rejoined Mrs. Jarsell, gloomily; "when the members find that there is no escape, they will be delighted to see the man who had brought this danger on them mutilated and done to death by inches."
"A pleasant set of people," muttered Dan, bracing himself to meet the worst, "but I think you would not care to see me tortured."
"No, I wouldn't. You are brave, and young, and clever, and handsome----"
"And," added Dan, quickly, thinking of a means to move her to help him. "I am to marry Lillian Moon. Surely you have some sympathy with me and with her?"
"Supposing I have; what can I do?"
"Help me to escape," said Dan, persuasively. "It's impossible," she growled, and went suddenly away, closing the door after her with a bang that sounded in Dan's ears like his death-warrant. All the same, with the courage of a brave nature, and the hopefulness inseparable from youth, he went on with his meal, hoping for the best. Mrs. Jarsell was moved by his plight; he saw that, and, deeply stained as she was with compulsory crimes, she might hope to atone for them by doing one good act. At the eleventh hour she might set him free, and undoubtedly she would think over what he had said. This woman, unlike the others, was not entirely evil, and the seeds of good in her breast might bring forth repentance and a consequent help. Dan knew that he was clinging to a straw, but in his present dilemma there was nothing else to cling to. After breakfast he lay down again, and again began to smoke. For hours he waited to hear his fate, sometimes stretched on his bed, sometimes seated in the chair and occasionally walking up and down the confined space of his cell. He could not disguise from himself that things were desperate. His sole hope of escape lay with Mrs. Jarsell, and that was but a slight one. Even though her remorse might wish to aid him, her terror of Queen Beelzebub might be too strong to let her move in the matter. Halliday was uncommonly brave and extraordinarily hopeful, yet the perspiration beaded his forehead, and he shivered at the prospect of torture. Without doubt he was in hell, and the devils presided over by the infernal queen were waiting to inflict pains and penalties on him. It terrified him to think that---- "But this won't do," said Dan to himself, as he heard the key grate in the lock, late in the afternoon. "I must pull myself together and smile. Whatever these beasts do to me, I must die game. But--but--Lillian." With a quiet smile he turned to greet Mrs. Jarsell, who did not look him in the face, nor did she even speak. With a gesture, he was invited to come out, and for the moment had a wild idea of escape as soon as he reached the upper portion of that wicked house. But the sight of the lancet in her hand prevented him from making a dash for liberty. He knew that the merest scratch would make him a corpse, so it was not worth while to risk the attempt. Only when he was at the door of the barbaric sitting-room he whispered to Mrs. Jarsell, "You will help me to escape. I know you will. Even now you are thinking of ways and means."
"Perhaps," she gasped in a low whisper; then hastily flung open the door and pushed him into the room. With that word of hope ringing in his ears, Halliday faced his judges with a smile on his lips. The room was filled with people, who greeted his entrance with a roar of anger. He was spat upon, struck at, kicked and shaken by those despairing creatures, whom he had brought to book. Queen Beelzebub, seated in her big chair, at the end of the apartment, smiled viciously when she saw his reception, but did not interfere for some moments. Then she waved her hand. "Let him be; let him be," she said, in her malicious, silvery voice; "you shall have all the revenge you desire. But let everything be done in order." Left alone by the furies, Halliday stood with his back to the door, and with Mrs. Jarsell on guard beside him. He glanced round at the pallid faces and thought that he had never seen such an assemblage of terror. There were old men and young men, mixed with women of the higher and lower classes. Some were well-dressed, while others were badly clothed; some were handsome and others were ugly. But one and all bore the mark of despair written on their white faces and in their agonized eyes. It was like a gathering of the damned and only the individual who had damned them, one and all, seemed to be unmoved. Queen Beelzebub appeared calm and unshaken, looking at her prisoner quietly and speaking in a tranquil manner. Dan found himself wondering if this creature was indeed a human being or a fiend. "We are all here," said Miss Armour, in a dignified manner, and, waving her hand again, this time to indicate the assembly, "this is the Society of Flies which you see face to face for the first and the last time. You have brought us together for an unpleasant purpose----"
"To torture and murder me, I suppose," said Halliday, with studied insolence, and bracing his courage with the memory of Mrs. Jarsell's whispered word. "No. That part of our business is pleasant," Queen Beelzebub assured him. "I look forward to enjoyment when I see you writhing in torment. But the unpleasant purpose is the disbanding of our society." A wail of terror arose from those present. Some dropped on their knees and beat the ground with their foreheads; others stood stiff and terror-struck, while a few dropped limply on the floor, grovelling in despair. Since all these people were criminals, who had inflicted death and sorrow on others, it was strange how they hated a dose of their own medicine. Even in the midst of his fears, Dan found himself wondering at the illogicality of the degenerate mob, who expected to do evil and yet enjoy peace. Then he remembered that cruelty always means cowardice, and no longer marvelled at the expression of dread and fear on every ghastly face. "How I propose to disband our society," went on Queen Beelzebub, quite unmoved by that agonized wail, "there is no need for you to know. It may be that we shall break up, and each one will go here, there, and the other place. It is certain that we cannot keep together since I have received news of the police being after us."
"Headed by Laurance."
"Exactly. Headed by your friend Laurance. I should like to punish him, but there is no time, so you will have to bear his punishment as well as your own, Mr. Halliday. What have you to say why we should not torture you and kill you, and force you to die by inches?" Fists were shaken, feet were stamped, and a dozen voices asked the same question. Dan looked round at his foes calmly, and shrugged his shoulders in contempt. There was a burst of jeering laughter. "You won't look like that," said Queen Beelzebub, significantly, "when----" she broke off with a dreadful laugh and glanced at the fire-place. There Dan saw irons of curious shape, pincers and files and tongs, and, what was worst of all, in the centre of the flames reddened a circle of steel. He could not help turning pale as he guessed that this would be placed on his head, and again he comforted himself with the memory that Mrs. Jarsell, even at the eleventh hour, might help him. When he changed color, there was a second burst of laughter, and Halliday glared fiercely around. "Are you human beings or fiends?" he asked, "to think of torturing me. Kill me if you will, but shame as men and women should prevent you mutilating a man who has done you no harm."
"No harm?" It was Queen Beelzebub who spoke, while her subjects snarled like ill-fed beasts. "You dare to say that when you have brought us to this pass?"
"I acted in the cause of law and order," said Dan, boldly. "We despise law and order."
"Yet you are now being brought to book by what you despise," retorted the prisoner, and again there came that unhuman snarl. "The more you speak in that way the worse it will be for you," said Miss Armour, coldly; "yet you can escape some tortures if you will tell us all how you came to learn the truth about us."
"I don't care a damn about your tortures," said Dan, valiantly, "and I will explain what you ask just to show that, clever as your organization is, it cannot escape discovery. Nor has it. You are all snared here like rats in a trap, and, should you venture out of this house, you will be caught by the authorities, to be hanged as you deserve." A howl of rage went up, and Queen Beelzebub waved her hand once more. "All in good time," she said, quietly; "let us hear what he has to explain."
"It was the Sumatra scent on the body of Sir Charles Moon which put me on the track," declared Dan, folding his arms. "I traced it to Penn, who told me a lie about it. I believed him at the moment and disbelieved him when I smelt the same perfume in this very room."
"Here?" questioned Miss Armour, and for the first time her face wore an expression of dismay, as if she had been caught napping. "Yes. If you remember, I spoke about your cards being scented. You told me a lie about it. But that clue connected you with Moon's murder. I watched you and I watched Mrs. Jarsell. I saw her face in a cinematograph which was taken on the day of the London to York race when Durwin was murdered."
"Oh!" Mrs. Jarsell gasped and moaned, and Dan could hear some of the men in impotent fury grind their teeth. Queen Beelzebub was as calm as ever. "Penn told me much when I was taking him for that flight in which I said I would throw him overboard unless he confessed. Then I was taken to the headquarters of your society in London, and again smelt the perfume. I believed that Queen Beelzebub was Mrs. Jarsell, and was astonished when I found Miss Armour played that part. Penn's confession was not all destroyed, and my friend Laurance has by this time shown what remains of it to the police."
"And the telegram which Curberry received?" demanded Queen Beelzebub. "Laurance sent that in vague terms so as to frighten Curberry. It did, and he committed suicide after declaring to me that he murdered Penn by your damned orders, Miss Armour. Then----"
"Thank you, we know the rest," she said in a quiet tone, which was infinitely sinister in its suggestion; "you followed me in the aeroplane, and smashed us both up."
"He broke my machines, the two of them," said a hoarse voice of wrath, and Dan looked sideways to see Vincent glaring at him furiously. "Well, you have fallen into your own trap," said Queen Beelzebub, savagely. "I caught you, and I hold you, and, after we have had a conference as to how you will be tortured, you will expiate your crimes."
"Crimes," echoed Dan; "that's a nice way to put the matter. I have done a service to the State by ridding the world of all you devils. You can't escape hanging, not one of you," and he looked defiantly round the room. "We shall all escape," said Queen Beelzebub, quietly; "those who think that they will not have no trust in me." She rose and stretched out her arms. "I have never failed you; never, never. I shall not fail you now. I swear that not a single one of you will suffer on the gallows." Apparently her sway over the society was great, and they believed that she could accomplish even impossibilities, for the faces of all cleared as if by magic. The look of dread, the expression of terror disappeared, and there only remained an uneasy feeling, as though none felt themselves quite safe until Queen Beelzebub performed her promise. For his part, Dan believed that the woman was lying, as he could not see how any could win free of the net which was even now being cast over the house. "You are a set of fools, as well as a pack of wolves," cried the young man, in a vehement manner; "the police know too much for you to escape them. My friend Laurance will lead them here; he knows this house; you are safely trapped, say what that woman will. Thieves, rogues, liars, murderers----"
"Lawyers, doctors, actors, soldiers," scoffed Queen Beelzebub; "they all belong to the Society of Flies and you can see them here, Mr. Halliday. Some of those ladies are in society; some are in shops; some are married, and others are not. But both men and women have acted for the good of the society, which I have founded, to give each and everyone what he or she desires."
"You are all devils," raged Dan, his wrath getting the better of his discretion; "red-handed criminals. The only decent one amongst you is Mrs. Jarsell."
"I am decent?" gasped Mrs. Jarsell, looking up, surprised. "Yes; because you were driven by that fiend," he pointed to the smiling Miss Armour, "to compulsory crimes. You feel remorse----"
"Does she?" cried Queen Beelzebub, gaily; "and what good does that do, my very dear Eliza, when you know what you have to do?" Mrs. Jarsell looked at her companion with a long and deadly look of hate, such as Dan had never thought a face was capable of expressing. "I loath and detest you," she said, slowly, "but for you I would have been a good woman. I have been driven to sin by you."
"And I shall still drive you," shouted Queen Beelzebub, furiously; "take that man away until we decide what tortures we will inflict on him. Then when he is dead and punished for his meddling, you will either do what I have commanded you to do, or you shall be tortured also!" The assembly, now quite certain that in some way their head would deliver them from the talons of the law, shouted joyfully, glad to think that two people would be done to death instead of one. Mrs. Jarsell smiled in a faint, bitter manner. "You shall be obeyed," she said, slowly; "come Mr. Halliday!"
"And say your prayers," cried Queen Beelzebub, as the door opened to let the pair out; "you'll need them"; and, as the door closed with Dan and Mrs. Jarsell on the outside, the young man heard again that cruel laughter. "They are all in there," whispered the woman, catching Dan's wrist and speaking hurriedly; "the men who captured you included. The house is quite empty outside that room. Come."
"Where will you take me?" inquired Dan, hanging back and wincing, for now his fate hung in the balance, indeed. "Outside; I am setting you free. Run away and probably you will meet your friend and the police. And pray for me; pray for me," she ended, vehemently. "Why not come also," said Dan, when he found himself at the entrance door of The Grange; "you are a good woman, and----"
"I am not good. I am wicked, and may God forgive me. But I am doing one decent thing, and that is to set you free, to marry Lillian Moon. When you leave this house, I shall do another decent deed."
"And that is?" Dan stepped outside, yet lingered to hear her answer. "You shall see. Tell the police not to come too near the house," and in a hurry she pushed him away and bolted the door. Halliday ran for all he was worth from that wicked dwelling. On the high road he saw a body of men approaching, and was certain that here were the police and Laurance coming to save him. Shouting with glee at his escape, he hastened towards them, when he heard a sullen heavy boom like distant thunder. He looked back at The Grange and saw a vast column of smoke towering into the sunlight. Then came a rain of debris. At last the Society of Flies was disbanded, for the house and its wicked inhabitants were shattered into infinitesimal fragments.