The Mystery Queen

by Fergus Hume

"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."