Alice Duer Miller

“ Has your uncle gone in for magic, or don't you see what I see?”
Silently the curtains of the tent had been drawn back and revealed, by the dim light of a candle, the figure of Azra seated within, holding the magic crystal in her long curved hands.
“Are you alive? Are you real? Are you men or women?”
Azra did not move, but her two attendants, standing on either side, laid their fingers to their veiled lips and shook their heads. ”

“ Bethson has just died.”
He looked down at her a second in silence. Then he turned back to his room and shut the door behind him. His predominating emotion was surprise at the untimeliness of natural death. A woman of Lila's greatness of spirit should have died at some great and significant moment; she should not have sickened and failed while the fight was still on. How pointless! Life seemed to him utterly without design; there was no pattern, no plan, as optimists were continually telling you there was. It was all an ugly accident—an idiotic sequence of horror. ”

“ Lila flung herself face downward on her unmade bed. She was utterly alone. No young and beautiful rival could have taken away her husband as completely as Azra had taken him. He lived in another world.
Azra had become a very great personality. She had always held the belief that the dealer in magic should be like a Greek oracle, not as accessible, but as inaccessible as possible; that the shrine should be approached with difficulty and delay. The tremendous publicity that had come to her after her prophecies to Bethson made it possible for her to erect barriers. ”

“ It was extraordinarily easily accomplished, Bethson thought, as not so very long afterward the black motor-boat moved out into the lilac twilight settling down over the Sound. He would hardly have believed that men could be so easily brought to commit murder for a sum of money, not immense. Was it for money? Was it for the story that Banks was a danger to their tremendous business, a tale which even as he poured it into their ears sounded in his own extremely unbelievable. ”

“ She knew at once that there was something mystic in the man's nature—for one psychic recognizes another—even before a long vivid flash of lightning revealed the fact that his hair, which she had thought brown, was in reality a deep burnished red like new mahogany. ”

“ Azra did not raise her head, but stared with strangely fixed eyes at the ball in her hands.
“Bethson,” she said—she had a deep bass voice—“I see you here, a poor unknown man, hard-working, uncertain of your future. And now I see you suddenly raised to a position of power. You are sitting at the head of a table where older men are your subordinates. It is a committee. It has to do with the moon. It has already happened. But better is to come. Before this night is out—I see you lord of this castle and heir to all that it contains.” ”

“ Then her husband came out of Duncan's room. His pallor was natural enough now. He came very slowly, and meeting Duffield's eyes shook his head slowly.
“A death like that,” he said, “makes life seem like a pretty cheap, trivial sort of affair, doesn't it?”
And then a new figure appeared upon the scene—Ross just waked—came tumbling out barefoot, still in his cheap pajamas, his face pale, his eyes red and blurred, and his face distorted with horror. “It's my fault,” he kept repeating. “I did it. I as good as killed him.”
“What do you mean, Ross?” said Bethson sternly. ”

“ For the first few years of her marriage she had kept on seeing the people with whom she had been brought up, especially those who lived not far away on Long Island. Though they were poor and Bethson's hours long and irregular, they would often motor twenty miles in their jiggly little car to some great dinner or ball. But as time went on Lila began to see that she was no longer one of them; she was asked to the less amusing parties, almost as a favor.
She was too proud to be anything but an equal, and she suddenly cut herself off from all her old group. Except for her husband she lived alone. ”

“ Bethson at all eager to coöperate.”
“Coöperate!” cried Bethson. “Oh, I'm sick of doctors! What you mean is that we must all cure ourselves. I'm a better doctor than you are. I am doing what I can to give her peace, security.” The young doctor thought for an instant that he was conversing with a madman—such eyes! Then a sound came over the wire, and Bethson's whole manner changed. “Ah, Cawdor, is that you? No—no—no. My answer is just what it was yesterday.” He smiled and hung up the receiver. “More peace for Mrs. Bethson—another man beaten into asking a compromise, doctor.” ”

“ But a corner of the hall was invaded by the cylindrical wall of one of the towers, and in this curved surface was a narrow pointed doorway—a doorway which struck Azra as interesting, for she had observed the tower room from outside, and she had reason to think that there was Mr. Duncan's private office.
In Azra's opinion there was nothing that brought so much prestige in her profession as the avowed esteem of a great financier. There was no better answer to those who mock at magic than to say that some hard-headed successful business man is a respectful client. ”

“ He respected Banks more than any man he had ever known, and loved him—had loved him, in the days when he was capable of love. He could ruin Banks; or, rather, Banks' suspicion would ruin Banks himself. A less honest man would never let himself suspect the partner on whose free capital he existed, but that would not influence Banks, or would influence him to action. Yes, Banks would act. How?
Bethson sat there a long time with his chin in his hand, gazing out toward the Sound, until, as dusk fell, a smart little black motorboat made its appearance in the cove. ”

“ Azra continued to ignore him, until, as before, her attendants spoke.
“Azra,” they said, “another man would know his future.”
Azra shook her head. “Do not seek to know your future,” she said. “Less fortunate than Bethson, though perhaps happier, you will die a poor man—but leave behind you a son who will be one of the richest men in the world.”
The idea of his ten-year-old boy Floyd becoming the richest man in the world made Banks laugh out loud, and he turned to Bethson, expecting him to join in his amusement, but his partner seemed hardly to have heard. Bethson pushed forward again. ”

“ Yet she knew that Duffield was an enemy to be feared—implacable, high-minded and wise. He, too, must be at work. The situation was this—one man must destroy the other.
Every man's hand was against her husband; she knew that. The Cawdor group, who when they dared to attack a man of Duncan's reputation had been looked upon as knaves, now when they raised their hands against Bethson were regarded as just avengers. ”

“ He had no relatives in the world except Bethson, who was the child of his sister. He was known to disapprove of the enriching of individuals by great legacies. He felt as many men feel who have made their own fortunes, that the only excuse for the possession of great wealth is the ability to make it. It was well known that he had left Bethson ten thousand dollars in his will—something more than the young man made, in good years, out of his share of the firm's business.
Duncan moved only his eyes as Duffield and the two younger men entered. ”

“ There is nothing that strengthens or hardens certain types of character more than the possession of a secret.
The Bethsons had been in no hurry to leave their cottage. They stayed on there for some time, and then had gone abroad for a few months, and had spent the winter quietly enough in New York. Bethson was, of course, much occupied with the settlement of the estate and the taking up of new interests. Lila began once more to see old friends out of whose life she had dropped, and she did not spare them any of the humiliation inherent in the situation. ”

“ He had lost the confidence, almost the acquaintance of all honest men, but he was none the worse off for that. He understood now how to control and govern them—all, every one of them. You could rule any one if you yourself were without fear. He laughed at thinking how it was that he had discovered the secret of power. If he had not committed a crime he would never have known it.
He arrived at the castle late in the afternoon, and was surprised that Lila was not in the hall to meet him. Certainly Seyton had telephoned her that he was coming.
“Where is Mrs. Bethson?” he asked Warder angrily. ”

“ The moon was setting behind the hill, setting but not falling—the eternal moon. Now indeed he had cast out fear forever. No earth-born man could ever do him harm.
When he got back to his office he found as usual a number of people waiting to see him—all those whom even the competent Seyton had not been able to put off or had not judged it desirable to evade. Duffield's lawyer was the greatest figure at the American bar. Bethson for his case had been obliged to employ an unknown attorney who would do his bidding, but Duffield could take his choice of the most honorable names. ”

“ So definite a threat seemed for an instant to restore Bethson's courage. “I'll fight every inch of the way,” he said. “Magic or no magic.”
Duffield was leaning against the door. “It will be an interesting trial,” he said. “I don't suppose there is one human creature whom you could get to testify for you. Think how your former associates will flock to stare at you on the stand. And the papers—the headlines! Duncan's Slayer in Death House—and the accounts of your last moments. If I were revengeful I should ask nothing better than that you should fight it out.” ”

“ Her husband shrugged his shoulders. “What if he does know? He has no proof. Don't be afraid, Lila. I'll tell you how to conquer fear. Strike! Whenever you have reason to fear a man—strike at him!”
“Oh, Beth—no—no more of this sort of thing.”
“We can't turn back, my dear. We must go on. Self-interest must come first. If Duffield is a danger Duffield must be got rid of. No, no murder—that's too troublesome—but if it should turn out that he had been dishonest in dealing with my uncle's estate, who would pay any attention to what he said of me? I must see Azra again. ”

“ As I stand here I saw him—Ben.”
“For shame, Beth! For shame!” she murmured.
“It's these damned mediums,” he answered, as if unaware of the people standing amazed about them. “They bring people back from the dead. In old times dead men stayed dead—and murdered ones too—but nowadays we've changed all that and we let them come back and take the chairs of the living—and surely that's more unnatural than any murder could be.”
“My dear,” said Lila, achieving a faint smile, “you are really alarming our poor guests.” ”

“ Bethson opened it absently, listening to the steps of Duffield approaching across the stone floor of the great hall. It was from Seyton; he glanced, as he always did, first at the signature. Then he read the message. It said: “Moon has fallen into Beechwood.”
His heart stopped beating; a wave of fear like physical nausea swept over him. “Warder!” he yelled. The man came running back, with a white frightened face. Bethson controlled his voice. “Get this telegram repeated, at once. There's some mistake about it. It's wrong. It must be wrong. The moon cannot have fallen into a forest.” ”

“ There is no department of life in which people are so timid as in relation to their investments, and as soon as it was understood that any one who dared to behave as if Bethson were a murderer had a dangerous fight on his hands, many people began to say that, after all, there was no proof—and if the man were entirely innocent it was rather hard on him to be condemned without any process of law. ”

“ When, after coffee had been served, Bethson left the table, his going was hardly noticed, though Lila, as he went, gave a casual explanation. “He must have gone for cigars,” she said.
He had gone to be alone or, rather, to be away from her; to be free from the continual suggestion of what was to come, which every smile and word of hers made to his imagination. It seemed to him utterly impossible that he had ever for an instant contemplated a crime—a crime, moreover, against his kins man and benefactor, a man who had always used his great power temperately, justly ”

“ He cared terribly now that his poor Lila had committed suicide. He made an effort now to regain his serenity.
“Duffield,” he said, “nothing can touch me.”
“Oh, yes, it can! Your bravo has confessed. We caught him in a bootlegging battle—and he gave you up—among others. The law has caught you at last, Bethson. Why, look at you—you're trembling with fear!”
Bethson looked down at his body; it was shaking. He looked up with an astonished stare. “It can't be fear,” he said. “I have found the way of getting rid of fear. Azra promised me—no man born on this earth can harm me.” ”

“ These men had heard of him as a gentle, civil-spoken young man, of no very great force, with whom they imagined they would be able to do pretty much as they wished. They had all been a little afraid of Duncan—they never contradicted him; his wisdom and success had become a great tradition. Now, honest men who had thought the old man too conservative, and dishonest men who had thought him too honorable, began to get ready to put a new régime into effect. The Cawdor interests raised their heads again. They had old scores to settle with Bethson. ”

“ He stood absolutely still, staring at her, while she, though she returned his look, had all the quiet little gestures of a person entirely at ease. In the silence a motor horn was heard at the gate. Without another word they moved together to the front door.
Duncan never approached his nephew's house without a vivid impression of its beauty and peace. It was one of the many low clapboarded farmhouses which the English settlers of Long Island built so wisely in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. ”