Moris Klaw

“ Having rebolted the door, we rejoined Moris Klaw in the Greek Room. He was kneeling beside Grimsby in the dim light—and Grimsby, his face ghastly pale, was sitting up and drinking from a flask!
"I am in time!" said Moris Klaw. "He has only fainted!"
"It was the ghost!" whispered the Scotland Yard man. "My God! I'm prepared for anything human—but when the lightning came and I saw that white thing—playing the harp——"
Coram turned aside and was about to pick up the harp, which lay upon the floor near, when—
"Ah!" cried Moris Klaw, "do not touch it! It is death!" ”

“ Even the strings of the harp were visible now.
"Curse me!" came Moris Klaw's hoarse whisper; "it seems to grow light! That is a delusion of the mind, my friends—repel it—repel it!"
Fairbank drew a quick, sibilant breath. A half-suppressed exclamation from Klaw followed; for the high-pitched rattle came from close at hand! The sense of the supernormal had grown unbearable. Fairbank's science and my own semi-scepticism were but weapons of sand against it.
The door opened silently, admitting a flood of the soft moon-like radiance. And Ailsa Brearley entered! ”

“ But even as he asked the question, and as we pressed on into the billiard room, it was answered. For Isis Klaw, with a dressing gown thrown over her night apparel, was kneeling beside the settee upon which her father lay.
"What has happened? What has happened?" groaned Sir James. Then, as we approached together: "Mr. Klaw! Mr. Klaw!" he cried.
"All right, my friend!" came the rumbling voice, and to my inestimable relief Moris Klaw sat up and looked around upon us, adjusting his pince-nez to the bridge of his massive nose: "I live! It has saved me, the Science of the Mind!" ”

“ But it is such danger as dwells here"—he tapped his yellow brow—"it is a danger of the mind. For thoughts are things, Miss Brearley—that is where it lies, the peril—and thought things can kill"
"Ailsa! Fairbank! Mr. Klaw!" came Brearley's v'oice. "We have none too much time!"
"Proceed, my friends," rumbled Moris Klaw; "I am with you." And, oddly enough, I was comforted by his presence; so, it was evident, were the girl and the doctor; for Moris Klaw, beneath that shabby, ramshackle exterior, Moris Klaw, the Wapping curio dealer, was a man of power—an intellectual ark of refuge. ”

“ Then—
"My friend," said Moris Klaw, "I have a daughter whom I have named Isis. Why did I name her Isis? Mr. Brearley, you must know that that name has a mystic and beautiful significance. But I will say something—I am glad that my daughter is not here! Mr. Brearley—beware! Beware, I say: you play with burning fires; my friend—beware!"
His words impressed us all immensely; for there was something underlying them more portentous than appeared upon the surface.
Fairbank stared at Brearley, hard.
"Do I understand," he began, quietly, "that you admit the first possibility?" ”

“ He said he had caught his hand on a door-latch, but blankly declined to say what he was doing here on the night of the murder! Yet, I didn't arrest him! Why?"
"Why?" said Moris Klaw. "Tell me."
"Because I didn't think it feasible that a man of his age could wield that ax—and I hoped to use Ryder as a trap to catch his accomplice!"
"Ah! clever!" rumbled Moris Klaw. "French, Mr. Grimsby! Subtle! But you have just seen what a poor old fool can do with that ax!"
I have never observed a man so suddenly lose faith in himself as did Grimsby at those words. ”

“ Chinje, Grimsby, and Sir John Carron.
"Who snorts?" rumbled Moris Klaw, peering through his pince-nez.
"Not I," said Sir John, staring about him.
We all, in turn, denied having uttered the sound.
"Then there is in this office a ghost," declared Klaw, "or a liar!"
"Excuse me, Mr. Klaw," began Mr. Anderson, with some heat.
Moris Klaw raised his hand. His daughter's magnificent eyes blazed defiance at us all.
"No anger," implored the rumbling voice. "No anger. Anger is a misuse of the emotions. There are present eight persons here. Someone snorted. Eight persons deny the snort. ”

“ From behind the thick pebbles momentarily had shone out the light of a tremendous and original mind.
"I should be most glad of your assistance," answered my friend.
"No police must be here to-night," rumbled Moris Klaw. "No heavy-footed constables, filling the room with thoughts of large cooks and small Basses, must fog my negative!"
"Can that be arranged?" asked Coram of the inspector.
"The men on duty can remain in the hall, if you wish it, sir."
"Good!" rumbled Moris Klaw.
He moistened his brow with verbena, bowed uncouthly, and shuffled from the Greek Room. ”

“ Moris Klaw dropped the head from his hands. It fell with a dull thud to the floor.
From the lining of his hat he took out the inevitable scent spray and moistened his brow with verbena.
"I need the cool brain, Mr. Searles," he said. "I, the old cunning, the fox, the wily, am threatened with defeat. This slaughter of mummies it surpasses my experience. I am nonplussed; I am a stupid old fool. Let me think!"
Isis was looking about her in a startled way.
"It is horribly uncanny, Miss Klaw," I said. "But the drugging of the man downstairs points to very human agency. ”

“ The ax has repeated itself!"
"Hum!" said Grimsby. "Your theory of Cycles wouldn't hold water with twelve good men and true, I'm afraid, Mr. Klaw!"
"Yes?" replied Moris Klaw. "No? You think not, eh? Well, then, there is another little point. I am an old crank-fool, eh? So? But you? You are sublimely mad, my Grimsby! You say he, or Mr. Ryder, may have snatched down the black ax? Yes? ”

“ Something to-night awoke her ere she could relock the door. The fright of so awaking made her to swoon."
Coram's kindly voice and the sound of a girl sobbing affrightedly reached us.
"It was my yell of fear, Mr. Klaw!" said Grimsby, shamefacedly. "She looked like a ghost!"
"I understand," rumbled Moris Klaw, soothingly. "As I see her in my sleep she is very awesome! I will show you the picture Isis has made from my etheric photograph. I saw it, finished, earlier to-night. It confirmed me that the Miss Hilda with the harp in her hand was poor Conway's last thought in life!" ”

“ Moris Klaw walked up the steps beside Doctor Madden.
"Good day, Mr. Farmer," he said, amiably. A rosy-cheeked girl face was thrust from an open window. "Good day, Miss Farmer!" He removed the brown bowler. He turned to the bronzed young man. "Good day, Sir Roland Crespie!"
V
When Grimsby and I had somewhat recovered from the shock of this dramatic meeting, and Sir Roland, Madden, and Moris Klaw had talked together for a few moments, said Moris Klaw:
"And now Sir Roland will tell us all about the death of Mr. Heidelberger!" ”

“ I had never met a man before who had ventured fully to explore those deadly swamps; but Moris Klaw chatted about the Izamal temples as unconcernedly as another man might chat about the Paris boulevards. Isis took no part in the conversation, from which I gathered that, although she seemed to accompany her father everywhere, she had not accompanied him into the jungles of Yucatan.
"In the heart of those forests, Mr. Searles," he whispered, "are stranger things than these headless mummies. ”

“ The servants have heard it. Excepting the housekeeper and the butler, they are leaving almost immediately."
"Ah! canaille!" grunted Moris Klaw; "fear-pigs! It is always so, these servants. So you have not located the one that laughs, no?"
"No," answered Sir James; "and he doesn't stop at laughing—does he, Clem?"
Clement Leyland shook his head. He looked even paler than usual, I thought, and the uncanny incident seemed to have disturbed him greatly.
"What else?" rumbled Moris Klaw. "The gray monk is forgetting his manners. He becomes rude, eh—that gray monk?" ”

“ I spoke not for myself—my life has been passed in this coping with evil things; I spoke for others."
None of us entirely understood his words, but Brearley went on, impatiently:
"Listen, please. I rely upon your coöperation. From now onward I require absolute silence. Whatever happens make no noise."
"I shall not be noisy, I, my friend!" rumbled Moris Klaw. "I am the old silent; I watch and wait—until I am wanted."
He shrugged his shoulders and nodded, significantly.
"Good!" said Brearley, and his voice quivered with excitement; "then the experiment, the final experiment, has begun!" ”

“ The Presentation Committee were awaiting the mysterious Moris Klaw but had not anticipated a visit from a pretty woman. They were prepared to adopt toward the man who would seem to have had some foreknowledge of the robbery a certain attitude of suspicion. It was amusing to note the change of front when Isis entered. Moris Klaw singled out the Lord Mayor and the owner of the office with unerring instinct. He removed his hat.
"Good morning, Mr. Anderson!" he said. "Good morning, Sir Michael! Good morning, gentlemen!"
"This is Mr. Moris Klaw," explained Grimsby, "and Miss Klaw. Mr. Searles." ”

“ He paused, looking around him.
"From the phantom company," he said, "I must pick out that one whose thought is of laughter, of firing guns, and of evil whisperings. What a task! Wondrous is the science of the mental negative!"
The meeting broke up, then, and Isis Klaw, having brought from a large case, which formed part of her father's luggage, two huge red cushions, bade us good-night and retired to her own room. Moris Klaw, with a cushion swinging in each hand, went shuffling ungainly from room to room like some strange animal seeking a lair. ”

“ Moris Klaw stood up.
"This intelligence," he rumbled, "a living or a dead one, has thoughts then, and thoughts, Sir James, are things. I shall sleep in one of the centres of its activity to-night, perhaps here, perhaps in the billiard room or the gun room. Isis, my child, bring for me my odically sterilized pillows. This is a charming case and worthy of the subtle method."
He placed his hands upon the shoulders of Sir James Leyland, who stood facing him.
"Evil thoughts live, Sir James," he said. "I cannot explain to you how hard it is to slay them. Few good thoughts survive ”

“ They see the fog and rain, they sneeze, they cough, they die. I have to make to you a request, Mr. Searles: it is that you secure for myself and Isis the invitation to Mr. Len Hassett's party at his new studio."
"Certainly, Mr. Klaw," I replied, trying to keep a note of surprise from my voice; "Hassett and I are old friends. I have only to mention your name and you will be heartily welcomed."
That Isis would be welcome I did not doubt, but, mentally picturing the eccentric figure of Moris Klaw at such a gathering, I could not deny that it seemed out of place. ”

“ Forty-eight hours had elapsed since Haufmann and I had picked up Ottley for dead in the poplar avenue. Now he lay in a bed made up in the billiard room hovering between this world and another. I had a shrewd suspicion that the doctor who attended him was mystified by some of the patient's symptoms.
Haufmann stared oddly at Moris Klaw, not altogether comprehending the drift of his words.
"If only Ottley could tell us!" he muttered.
"He will tell us nothing for many a day," I said; "if, indeed, he ever speaks again."
"Ah," interrupted Moris Klaw, "to me he will speak! How? With the mind! ”

“ I happen to be in Egypt at the time, and he is a friend of mine. Your thief, Ali, left a small piece of the pot behind, and I am entrusted to make it complete!"
"You have succeeded!" said Halesowen, grimly, all the time furtively watching the beautiful Isis.
"Yes," rumbled Moris Klaw. "I am the instrument of poetic justice. Isis, those cool beverages. Let us drink to poetic justice!"
He sprayed his ample brow with verbena.
In conclusion, you may ask if the value of the potsherd justified the elaborate and costly mode of its recovery. ”

“ However, ere I had leisure to think much about the matter, we found ourselves in the hall, where Haufmann and his two fascinating daughters were waiting to greet us. I do not know which of the girls looked the more charming: Lilian with her bright mass of curls and blue eyes dancing with vivacity, or Greta in her dark and rather mystic beauty. At any rate, they were dangerous acquaintances for a susceptible man. Even old Moris Klaw showed unmistakably that his mind was not so wholly filled with obscure sciences as to be incapable of appreciating the society of a pretty woman. ”

“ It is good to stand, and stand upright; for it is because he can do this that man is superior to the other animals!"
Coram and I knew Klaw's mannerisms, but I could see that Paxton thought him to be a unique kind of lunatic. Nevertheless, he narrated something of the foregoing up to the point reached at Moris Klaw's arrival.
"Proceed slowly, now," said Klaw. "You left the door open behind you?"
"Yes; but I was never more than ten yards from it. It would have been physically impossible for any one to remove the statue unknown to me. You must remember that it was no light weight." ”

“ I was filled with intense curiosity; but Moris Klaw, having gone to his room, asking me to await him outside in the drive, returned, ultimately, without the case, but carrying a huge notebook, and intimated that he was prepared to reënter the waiting car.
Behind the pebbles of his pince-nez his strange eyes gleamed triumphantly.
"We triumph," he said. "The haunting of Grange succumbs to the Science of the Mind!"
IV
We all had lunch at Friars House, but were by no means a jovial party. Sir James seemed worried and preoccupied, and Clement Leyland even more reticent than usual. ”