While Henry patted Mr. Zzyx on the shoulder to quiet him, Mrs. Van Dyk leaned over, and said: "I don't wonder at him trying to jump out of the box. To many, grand opera is a perfect hullabaloo, and devastating. That's why so many people go out between acts for a cocktail."
Presently Mr. Zzyx fell to listening, with his mouth open. At first, I thought he was wholly lost in the delight of the orchestral movement—drums and horns were silent now—and the beautiful singing on the stage. Then, like a flash, it occurred to me that it was the dark-skinned Otello who was claiming his attention, not the music or singing.
I watched him, studied him attentively, as the opera swept on to its violent climax—the smothering to death of Desdemona—by the enraged Otello. After the final curtain, while the audience was recalling and applauding the singers, I noticed he looked a little wild about the eyes; a sort of inward brooding.
Was it possible that he had grasped the significance of the story, as it had been unfolded before him on the stage? Could the climax of the opera put ideas into his head beyond his purely natural instincts? The force of ideas even stronger than his own inherent brute force, which might quicken him to the fury of some deed of incredible violence?
But I had no time for surmises. Yet, as we passed out of the opera house, in an atmosphere of acclaim and some disorder, almost mechanically, I jotted down the details in my memory of what I had observed in him. From the look in his eyes, I felt some terrific instinct had been aroused. It gave me a strange and eerie feeling, but I made no mention of it to Henry.
Within ten days I was glad to have paid attention to such details. Little did I suspect then that a black, threatening cloud was gathering over our heads, or that more mystery, intrigue—even death—was closing in about us.
XX
Life at the castle followed its usual routine during the interval between Mrs. Cornelius Van Dyk's dinner and opera party, and the banquet at the Exploration Club, in Mr. Zzyx's honor, with one exception, which I shall mention further on.
I was delighted to see that McGinity shared the place of honor allotted to our family group at the banquet, and justly so, because he had put Henry's discoveries and theories over in the biggest possible way. Later in the evening, I found he had other honors accruing to him.