Section 25

“He died of suffocation,” whispered Dr. Por- hoet. .
Arthur pointed to the neck. There could be seen on it distinctly the marks of the avenging fingers that had strangled the life out of him. It was im- possible to hesitate.
“T told you that I had killed him,” said Arthur.
Then he remembered something more. He took hold of the right arm. He was convinced that it~ had been broken during that desperate struggle in the darkness. He felt it carefully and listened. He heard plainly the two parts of the bone rub against one another. The dead man’s arm was broken just in the placé where he had broken it. Arthur stood up. He took one last look at his enemy. That vast mass of flesh lay heaped up on the floor in horrible disorder.
“Now that you have seen, will you come away?” said Susie, interrupting. him.
The words seemed to bring him suddenly to himself.
“Yes, we must go quickly.”
They turned away and with hurried steps walked through those bright attics till they came to the stairs.
“Now go down and wait for me at the door,” said Arthur. “I will follow you immediately.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Susie.
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“Never mind. Do as I tell you. I have not finished here yet.”
They went down the great oak staircase and waited in the hall. They wondered what Arthur was about. Presently he came running down.
“Be quick!” he cried. “ We have no time to lose.”
“What have you done, Arthur?”
“ There’s no time to tell you now.”
He hurried them out and slammed the door be- hind him. He took Susie’s hand.
“Now we must run. Come.”
She did not know what his great haste signified, but her heart beat furiously. He dragged her along. Dr. Porhoét hurried on behind them. Arthur plunged into the wood. He would not leave them time to breathe.
“You must be quick,” he said.
At last they came to the opening in the fence, and he helped them to get through. Then he care- fully replaced the wooden paling, and taking Susie’s arm, began to walk rapidly towards their inn.
“T’m frightfully tired,” she said. “I simply can’t go so fast.”
“You must. Presently you can rest as long as you like.”
They walked very quickly for a while. Now and then Arthur looked back. The night was still quite dark, and the stars shone out in their myriads. At last he slackened their pace.
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“Now you can go more slowly,” he said.
Susie saw the smiling glance that he gave her. His eyes were full of tenderness. He put his arm affectionately round her shoulders to support her.
“T’m afraid you’re quite exhausted, poor thing,” he said. “I’m sorry to have had to hustle you so much.” |
“Tt doesn’t matter at all.”
She leaned against him comfortably. With that protecting arm about her she felt capable of any fatigue. Dr. Porhoét stopped.
“ You must really let me roll myself a cigarette,” he said.
“You may do whatever you like,’ answered Arthur.
There was a different ring in his voice now, and it was soft with a good humour that they had not heard in it for many months. He appeared singu- larly relieved. Susie was ready to forget the ter- rible past and give herself over to the happiness that seemed at last in store for her. They began to saunter slowly on. And now they could take pleasure in the exquisite night. The air was very suave, odorous with the heather that was all about them, and there was an enchanting peace in that scene which wonderfully soothed their weariness. It was dark still, but they knew the dawn was at hand, and Susie rejoiced in the approaching day, In the east the azure of the night began to thin away into pale amethyst, and the trees seemed
ae ee
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gradually to stand out from the darkness in a ghostly beauty. Suddenly birds began to sing all around them in a splendid chorus. From their feet a lark sprang up with a rustle of wings, and mount- ing proudly upon the air, chanted blithe canticles to greet the morning. They stood upon a little hill.
“Let us wait here and see the sun rise,” said Susie.
“As you will.”
They stood, all three of them, and Susie took in deep, joyful breaths of the sweet air of dawn. The whole land, spread at her feet, was clothed in the purple dimness that heralds day, and she exulted in its beauty. But she noticed that Arthur, unlike her- self and Dr. Porhoét, did not look toward the east. His eyes were fixed steadily upon the place from which they had come. What did he look for in the darkness of the west? She turned round, and a cry broke from her lips, for the shadows there were lurid with a deep red glow.
“Tt looks like a fire,” she said.
“Tt is. Skene is burning like tinder.”
And as he spoke it seemed that the roof fell in, for suddenly vast flames sprang up, rising high into the still night air; and they saw that the house they had just left was blazing furiously. It was a magnificent sight from the distant hill on which they stood to watch the fire as it soared and sunk, as it shot scarlet tongues along like strange Titanic monsters, as it raged from room to room. Skene
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was burning. It was beyond the reach of human help. In a little while there would be no trace of all those crimes and all those horrors. Now it was one mass of flame. It looked like some primeval furnace, where the gods might work unheard-of miracles.
“ Arthur, what have you done?” asked Susie, in a tone that was hardly audible.
He did not answer directly. He put his arm about her shoulder again, so that she was obhee to turn round.
“Look, the sun is rising.”
In the east a long ray of light climbed up the sky, and the sun, yellow and round, appeared upon the face of the earth.
THE END
“PR 6025 .A86 M2 1909 &
‘Maugham, W. Somerset 1874- 1965
The magician
G . AYLORD M-2 PRINTED IN U.S.A.
wHCUAL ii
471 00033 89