The Mystery Queen

"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.

CHAPTER XXI

SUNSHINE

After the storm came the calm, and with the spring a realization of Mr. Halliday's hopes with regard to his future. Sir John Moon no longer objected to Dan as the husband of his niece, and was indeed profoundly thankful that she had escaped becoming Lady Curberry. The story of the Society of Flies and the wickedness of Queen Beelzebub and the blowing up of The Grange was a nine days wonder. The papers, for some weeks, were filled with little else, and The Moment almost doubled its circulation when the able pen of Mr. Frederick Laurance set forth the complete story. Halliday became quite a hero, as indeed he was, although he did not appreciate the rewards of his conduct. To be interviewed, to have his portrait, more or less unlike him, in dozens of illustrated papers, to receive offers from music-hall managers, and even proposals of marriage from various enthusiastic ladies, did not appeal to Dan. As soon as he could, he went out of London and took refuge in Sir John's country seat so as to escape publicity. Needless to say, Lillian was there, and Mrs. Bolstreath also. Laurance was due within seven days to be Dan's best man at the June wedding, and with him Mildred was coming at Lillian's special request. Once, twice, and again the owner of the house had heard the story of the late events, and also had read them more or less garbled in different newspapers. Yet he never wearied of the recital, and admired Halliday greatly for the part he had played. From objecting to Dan as a nephew-in-law, the baronet now urgently desired that he should make Lillian Mrs. Halliday. In fact, when he thought of what the young man had saved Lillian from, the uncle of the girl could not do enough for his estimable young friend. So Dan, having become famous, was about to become rich, but neither fame nor wealth appealed to him so much as the undoubted fact that he was on the eve of wedding the girl he adored. "And I think," said Lillian, holding on to Dan as if she feared to lose him, "that you and I would be as happy in a cottage as in a palace. Money is a nuisance, I think, dear."

"You say that because you have never experienced the want of it," said Dan, in a sententious manner. All the same he slipped his arm round the girl's slim waist, and kissed her for the pretty sentiment she had expressed relative to a poor but Arcadian existence. The happy pair, not yet joined in holy matrimony, but to be made one in seven days, were seated in the delightful garden of Sir John's house, which was situated in the pleasant county of Devon. They had strolled out after dinner, leaving Mrs. Bolstreath to chat with the baronet, who approved of the big, placid woman, and enjoyed her society. Lillian and Dan, however, liked to be in one another's company without any third person to spoil their pleasures and on this occasion-being humored as lovers-they were entirely alone. The garden sloped down to a yellow beach, which was the curve of a tiny bay, and under the orb of a brilliant May moon the waters of the vast sea murmured softly almost at their feet. There was a marble bench here, with a marble statue of Cupid near at hand, perched on a pedestal, so the spot was quite that which lovers would have chosen. Dan chose it because the screen of shrubs and trees quite shut off the nook they occupied from the many windows of the great house, and he could kiss Lillian when he wished, without any uneasy feeling that someone was looking on. It is quite unnecessary to say that he frequently availed himself of his privilege. The about-to-be bride fully approved of his ardor in this respect. "But you really must be serious," said Miss Moon, sedately, after the last embrace given out of compliment to her love-in-a-cottage sentiment. "I want to ask you a few questions."

"Ask what you will; I can deny you nothing."

"It's about the Society of Flies," hesitated the girl. "My dear," said Dan, patiently, and coaxing a loose leaf around his cigar, "I don't want to be disagreeable, but I am really tired of the Society of Flies."

"Only a few questions," said Lillian, nestling to his side, "and then we can forget all about the matter."

"That won't be easy for me to do," replied Mr. Halliday, rather grimly. "I can never forget what I suffered when I was expecting to be tortured by that fiend."

"Queen Beelzebub?"

"She could not have chosen a better name, my dear. I sometimes doubt if she was a human being at all."

"Poor, misguided woman," murmured Lillian, resting her head on Dan's shoulder. "Don't pity her, dear. She does not deserve your pity. Now, Mrs. Jarsell-I have always been sorry for her."

"So have I," said the girl, promptly; "she was very good to you, dear."

"Good is a weak way of expressing what I owe her," retorted Halliday; "think of what she saved me from."

"Perhaps Queen Beelzebub would not have tortured you, after all." Dan laughed incredulously. "I shouldn't have cared to have trusted to her mercy. I tell you, Lillian, as I have told you before, that already the implements of torture were being made ready. They would have crowned me with a red-hot circlet of steel, and pinched my flesh with red-hot pincers, and-"

"Don't, oh, don't." Lillian turned pale. "It is really too dreadful. And to think that I was with Bolly at Mrs. Pelgrin's, quite ignorant of the peril you were in. I wish I had been with you."

"I am glad you were not. My one feeling of thankfulness was that you had escaped being hurt in any way. I didn't mind dying so long as you were all right, my darling, although I much prefer being alive and here. Lillian, my dear, don't cry; it's all over, weeks ago."

"I-I-I can't-can't help it," sobbed the girl, clinging to him; "it is all so dreadful. When Mr. Laurance came that day with the police and said you were at The Grange, I thought I should have died."

"There, there," Dan soothed her, as he would have soothed a fretful child; "it is all over and done with. By the way, how was Freddy so certain that I was at The Grange? He never quite explained his certainty."

"Well, dear," said Miss Moon, drying her eyes with Dan's handkerchief, "when he did not hear from you in London, he went down to Blackheath with Inspector Tenson of Hampstead. They saw the local inspector and called at Lord Curberry's house, after what Mr. Laurance told. But already a policeman had been summoned by the servants. Lord Curberry was dead of poison, and they found his confession, saying how he had taken it because he believed that his connection with the Society of Flies was found out. Then the servants explained how Queen Beelzebub had come in an aeroplane-"

"They did not call her Queen Beelzebub-the servants I mean," said Dan, who had heard the explanation before but was glad to hear it again told in Lillian's soft voice. "No; they did not know who she was, as she was cloaked and veiled. But they told Mr. Laurance that you had declared this veiled lady had murdered Lord Curberry-that wasn't true, you know."

"True enough in one sense," interrupted Dan, quickly, "seeing that she drove him to suicide. Well?"

"Well, then, Mr. Laurance guessed that she was Queen Beelzebub and wondered where you were. He went to the shed where you kept your aeroplane and heard that you had followed her. Those at the shed thought that it was a race." "It was," said Dan, grimly, again, "and I won."