“All men die of heart failure, but there was a cause for the death of Edmond Laforce. A star exactly like this one before us had fallen into his hands, and he was doomed to death. He knew it. He knew his time was limited to ten days.”
“Why was this?”
“Because he was doing everything in his power to save Dreyfus from Devil’s Island. Because, through his work, he had become dangerous to the existence of the Anti-Dreyfus League.”
“The Anti-Dreyfus League? Is there such an organization?”
“Yes.”
“Is it the same as the Black Brothers?”
“No. The Black Brothers are simply the executioners of the great and powerful league, which contains some of the wealthiest and most influential men in France. The league is sworn to hold poor Dreyfus on his prison island. I have learned that not all the members of the league are aware, that there is a band of assassins connected with the organization. The league is like a secret order. A man may join it, and yet he may never be initiated into its deeper mysteries. He may join it by simply pledging himself to use all ‘honorable’ means to keep Dreyfus on that island. That is the first degree. There are other degrees, and only the right ones to take them are advanced. When a man takes the highest degree, he pledges himself, in case of necessity, to commit murder to perpetuate the imprisonment of Dreyfus. When he has taken this degree, he knows all about the Black Brothers, but those who have never advanced beyond the lower degrees know nothing of the connection of the league with the seven assassins. They furnish money to be used in the work of ‘honorably’ keeping Dreyfus on the island, and are quite unaware that much of that money goes to pay the assassins in black.”
Jack Diamond listened with increasing astonishment.
“And do you mean to tell me that such things can be here in France?” he cried.
“Are such things so very strange? You must not forget that it was here the Commune existed. It was here the bloodiest revolution of history took place. These streets have run red with human blood!”