‘That’s different,’ De Richleau’s pale face lit with a tired smile. ‘And you are right, Simon. I have been under such a strain for the past few hours that I had forgotten the thing that matters most of all. I would never consent to attempt it for any other purpose, but to prevent suffering and death coming to countless millions of people we are justified in anything. I’ll speak to Rex.’
Rex nodded despondently, numb now with misery, when the Duke had explained what he meant to try and do. ‘Just as you like,’ he said slowly. ‘It won’t hurt in any way, thoughI mean her soulwill it?’
‘No,’ De Richleau assured him. ‘In the ordinary way it might. To recall the soul of a dead person is to risk interfering with their karma, but Tanith has virtually been murdered and, although it is not the way of the spirit to seek revenge against people for things which may have happened in this life, it is almost a certainty that she is actually wanting to come back for just long enough to tell us how to defeat Mocata, because of her love for you.’
‘All right, then,’ Rex muttered, ‘only let’s get over with it as quickly as we can.’
‘I’m afraid it will take some time,’ De Richleau warned him, ‘and even then it may not be successful, but the issues at stake are so vital, you must try and put aside your personal grief for a bit.’
He began to clear the pentacle of all the things which he had used the previous evening to form protective barriers, the holy water, the little cups, the horseshoes, placing them with the garlic and dried mandrake back in the suitcase. He then took from it seven small metal trays, a wooden platter, and a box of powdered incense; and pouring a little heap of the dark powder on the platter went up to Rex.
‘I’m afraid I’ve got to trouble you if we’re going to see this through.’
‘Trouble away,’ said Rex grimly, with a flash of his old spirit. ‘You know I’m with you in anything which is likely to let me get my hands on that devil’s throat.’
‘Good.’ The Duke took out his pocket knife and held the blade for a moment in the flame of a match. ‘You’ve seen enough of this business now to know that I don’t do anything without a purpose, and I want a little of your blood. I will use my own if you like but yours is far more likely to have the desired effect, since you felt so strongly in this poor girl and she, apparently, for you.’
‘Go ahead.’ Rex pulled up his cuff and bared his forearm, but De Richleau shook his head.
‘No. Your finger will do, and it will hardly be more than a pin-prick. I only need a few drops.’
With a swift movement he took Rex’s left hand and, having made a slight incision in the little finger, squeezed out seven drops of blood on to the incense.
Then he walked over to Tanith and, kneeling down, took seven long golden hairs from her head. Next he proceeded to form the mixture of incense and blood into a paste out of which he made seven cones, in each of which was coiled one of Tanith’s long golden hairs.
With Richard’s assistance he carefully oriented the body so that her feet were pointing towards the north and drew a fresh, chalk circle, just large enough to contain her and the bedding, seven feet in diameter.
‘Now if you will turn your backs, please,’ he told them all, ‘I will proceed with the preparations.’
For a few moments they gazed obediently at the book-lined walls while he did certain curious things, and when he bade them turn again he was placing the seven cones of incense on the seven little metal trays, each engraved with the Seal of Solomon, in various positions round the body.
‘We shall remain outside the circle this time,’ he explained, ‘so that the spirit, if it comes, is contained within it. Should some evil entity endeavour to impersonate her soul it will thus be confined within the circle and unable to get at us.’
He lit the seven cones of incense, completed the barrier round about the body with numerous fresh signs, and then, walking over to the doorway, switched out the lights.
The fire was quite dead now, and the candles had never been re-lit, but after a moment a faint greyness began to filter through the french windows. The light was just sufficient for them to see each other as ghostly forms moving in the darkness, while the body, lying in the circle, was barely visible, its position being indicated by the seven tiny points of light from the cones of incense burning round it.
Simon laid an unsteady hand on the Duke’s arm. ‘Is itis it quite safe to do this ? I mean, mightn’t Mocata have another cut at us now we’re in the dark and no longer have the protection of the pentacle?’
‘No,’ De Richleau answered decisively ‘He played his last card tonight when he sent the Dark Angel against us and caused Tanith’s death. That stupendous operation will have exhausted his magical powers for the time being at least. Come over here, all of you, and sit down on the floor in a circle.’
Leading them over to Tanith’s feet he arranged them so that Rex and Marie Lou both had their backs to the body and would be spared the sight of any manifestations which might take place about it. He sat facing it himself, with Richard and Simon upon either side of him; all five of them clasped hands.
Then he told them that they must preserve complete quiet and under no circumstance break the circle they had formed. He warned them too, that if they felt a sudden cold they were not to be frightened by it as they had been of the horrible wind which had swirled so uncannily in that room a few hours before. It would be caused by the ectoplasm which might be drawn from Tanith’s body and, he went on to add, if a voice addressed them they were not to answer. He would do any talking which was necessary and they were to remain absolutely still until he gave orders that the circle should be broken up.
They sat there, hand in hand, in silence, while it seemed that an age was passing. The square frame of the window gradually lightened, but so very slowly that it was barely perceptible, and if dawn was breaking at last upon the countryside it was shut out from them by the grey, ghostly fog.
The cones of incense burned slowly, giving out a strange, acrid smell, mixed with some queer and sickly eastern perfume. From their position in the circle Richard and Simon could see the faint wreaths of smoke curling up for a few inches above the tiny points of light to disappear above, lost in the darkness. Tanith’s body lay still and motionless, a shadowy outline upon the thin mat of makeshift bedding.
De Richleau had closed his eyes and bowed his head upon his chest. Once more he was practising that rhythmic, inaudible Raja Yoga breathing, which has such power to recruit strength or to send it forth, and he was using it now while he concentrated on calling the spirit of Tanith to him.
Richard watched the. body with curious expectancy. His experience of the last few hours had been too recent for him to collate his thoughts, and while he had so sturdily rejected the idea of Black Magic the night before he would more or less have accepted the fact of Spiritualism. It was a much more general modern belief, and this business as far as he could see, except in a few minor particulars such as the incense compounded with blood, was very similar to the spiritualistic seances of which he had often heard. The only real difference being that, in this instance, they had a newly dead body to operate on and therefore were far more likely to get results. As time wore on, however, he became doubtful, for if their earlier vigil had lasted many hours this one, now that he was utterly weary, seemed like a succession of nights.