Sax Rohmer

“ Cairn directed all the energies of his mind to resistance. Ill defined reflection must at all costs be avoided, for the brain vaguely employed he knew to be more susceptible to attack than that directed in a well ordered channel.
Clocks were chiming the hour—he did not know what hour, nor did he seek to learn. He felt that he was at rapier play with a skilled antagonist, and that to glance aside, however momentarily, was to lay himself open to a fatal thrust.
He had not moved from the table, so that only the reading lamp upon it was lighted, and much of the room lay in half shadow. ”

“ Above all, it was necessary to keep the truth from Myra Duquesne—from Myra around whom his world circled, but who yet thought of the dreadful being who wielded the sorcery of forgotten ages, as a brother.
While Myra lay ill—not yet recovered from the ghastly attack made upon her life by the evildoer whom she trusted—while, having plentiful evidence of his presence in London, Dr. Cairn and Robert vainly sought for Antony Ferrara; while any night might bring some unholy visitant to the young man's rooms, obedient to the will of this modern wizard ”

“ A tangible clew lay upon the table before him—the silken cord; but it was a clew of such a nature that, whatever deductions an expert detective might have based upon it, Cairn could base none.
Dusk was not far off, and he knew that his nerves were not what they had been before the events which had led to his Egyptian journey. He was back in his own chamber—the scene of one gruesome outrage in Ferrara's unholy campaign. Darkness is the ally of crime, and it had always been in the darkness that Ferrara's activities had most fearfully manifested themselves. ”

“ Before him stood the most dangerous man in Europe—a man who had done murder and worse; a man only in name, a demon in nature. His long black eyes half closed, his perfectly chiseled ivory face expressionless, and his blood-red lips parted in a mirthless smile, Antony Ferrara watched Robert Cairn—Robert Cairn, whom he had sought to murder by means of hellish art. ”

“ Remember, he is unacquainted with your chambers, and he requires a focus for his damnable forces. He knows well that you will have the thing somewhere near to you, and probably he knows something of its awful history. You are in danger! Keep a firm hold upon yourself. I shall be with you in less than half an hour!”
V
As Robert Cairn hung up the receiver, and found himself cut off again from the outer world, he realized, with terror beyond his control, how in this quiet backwater, so near to the main stream, he yet was far from human companionship. ”

“ The carefully planned incident at the museum, whereby the policeman had become possessed of Cairn's card; the distinct possibility that a detective might knock upon his door at any moment—with the inevitable result of his detention pending inquiries—formed a chain which had seemed complete, save that Antony Ferrara was the schemer. For another to have compassed so much would have been a notable victory; for Ferrara, such a success would be trivial. ”

“ This latter reflection spurred Cairn to new activity. Pocketing the revolver, he switched off the light in the study, and looked out of the window. Glancing across the court, he thought he saw a man standing below, peering upward.
With his hands resting upon the window ledge, Cairn looked long and steadily. There certainly was some one standing in the shadow of the tall plane tree; but whether a man or a woman, he could not determine. ”

“ There is a courage which is not physical, nor is it entirely moral—a courage often lacking in the most intrepid soldier. This was the kind of courage which Robert Cairn now called up to his aid. The occult inquirer can face, unmoved, horrors which would turn the brain of a man who wears the V.C.; on the other hand, it is questionable if the possessor of this peculiar type of bravery could face a bayonet charge. Pluck of the physical sort Cairn had in plenty ”

“ The intense light picked out every detail vividly. Neck and shoulders were bare—the gleaming ivory arms were uplifted—the long, slender fingers held aloft a golden casket covered with dim figures, almost indiscernible at that distance. ”

“ Transfixed he sat, his eyes fastened upon a ring of dull metal, bearing a green stone inscribed with a complex figure vaguely resembling a spider, which adorned the index finger.
A faint perfume stole to his nostrils—that of the secret incense. The ring was the ring of the Witch Queen!
In this incredible moment he relaxed that iron control of his mind which alone had saved him before. Even as he realized it, and strove to recover himself, he knew that it was too late. He knew that he was lost!
IV
Gloom and blackness, unrelieved by any speck of light ”

“ He was conscious of a sort of repugnance; and, prompted by this, he carefully washed his hands, as if the cord had been some unclean thing. Then he sat down to work, only to realize immediately that work was impossible until he had informed his father of his encounter with Ferrara.
Lifting the telephone receiver, he called up Dr. Cairn, but the doctor was not at home. He replaced the receiver, and sat Staring vaguely at his open notebook.
III
For close upon an hour Robert Cairn sat at his writing table, endeavoring to puzzle out a solution of the mystery of Ferrara's motive. ”

“ Cairn would ring him up as soon as he returned.
Work, Robert thought, would be the likeliest antidote to the poisonous thoughts which oppressed his mind, and again he seated himself at the table and opened his notes before him. The silken rope lay close to his left hand, but he did not touch it. He was about to switch on the reading lamp, for it was now too dark to write without it, when his mind wandered off along another channel of reflection.
He found himself picturing Myra as she had looked the last time that he had seen her. She was seated in Mr. ”