Part 5 (1/2)

He looked out into a small shrine. It was walled off from the courtyard and had a single small entrance some ten feet from the doorway. There were four _prie-dieus_--small kneeling benches--ranged in front of the doorway.

”If I may explain, your lords.h.i.+p--” Sir Pierre began.

”No need to,” Lord Darcy said in a hard voice. ”It's rather obvious.

My lord the Count was quite ingenious. This is a relatively newly-built shrine. Four walls and a crucifix against the castle wall.

Anyone could come in here, day or night, for prayer. No one who came in would be suspected.” He stepped out into the small enclosure and swung around to look at the door. ”And when that door is closed, there is no sign that there is a door behind the crucifix. If a woman came in here, it would be a.s.sumed that she came for prayer. But if she knew of that door--” His voice trailed off.

”Yes, your lords.h.i.+p,” said Sir Pierre. ”I did not approve, but I was in no position to disapprove.”

”I understand.” Lord Darcy stepped out to the doorway of the little shrine and took a quick glance about. ”Then anyone within the castle walls could come in here,” he said.

”Yes, your lords.h.i.+p.”

”Very well. Let's go back up.”

In the small office which Lord Darcy and his staff had been a.s.signed while conducting the investigation, three men watched while a fourth conducted a demonstration on a table in the center of the room.

Master Sean O Lochlainn held up an intricately engraved gold b.u.t.ton with an Arabesque pattern and a diamond set in the center.

He looked at the other three. ”Now, my lord, your Reverence, and colleague Doctor, I call your attention to this b.u.t.ton.”

Dr. Pateley smiled and Father Bright looked stern. Lord Darcy merely stuffed tobacco--imported from the southern New England counties on the Gulf--into a German-made porcelain pipe. He allowed Master Sean a certain amount of flamboyance; good sorcerers were hard to come by.

”Will you hold the robe, Dr. Pateley? Thank you. Now, stand back.

That's it. Thank you. Now, I place the b.u.t.ton on the table, a good ten feet from the robe.” Then he muttered something under his breath and dusted a bit of powder on the b.u.t.ton. He made a few pa.s.ses over it with his hands, paused, and looked up at Father Bright. ”If you will, Reverend Sir?”

Father Bright solemnly raised his right hand, and, as he made the Sign of the Cross, said: ”May this demonstration, O G.o.d, be in strict accord with the truth, and may the Evil One not in any way deceive us who are witnesses thereto. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

”Amen,” the other three chorused.

Master Sean crossed himself, then muttered something under his breath.

The b.u.t.ton leaped from the table, slammed itself against the robe which Dr. Pateley held before him, and stuck there as though it had been sewed on by an expert.

”Ha!” said Master Sean. ”As I thought!” He gave the other three men a broad, beaming smile. ”The two were definitely connected!”

Lord Darcy looked bored. ”Time?” he asked.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

”In a moment, my lord,” Master Sean said apologetically. ”In a moment.” While the other three watched, the sorcerer went through more spells with the b.u.t.ton and the robe, although none were quite so spectacular as the first demonstration. Finally, Master Sean said: ”About eleven thirty last night they were torn apart, my lord. But I shouldn't like to make it any more definite than to say between eleven and midnight. The speed with which it returned to its place shows that it was ripped off very rapidly, however.”

”Very good,” said Lord Darcy. ”Now the bullet, if you please.”

”Yes, my lord. This will have to be a bit different.” He took more paraphernalia out of his large, symbol-decorated carpet bag. ”The Law of Contagion, gently-born sirs, is a tricky thing to work with. If a man doesn't know how to handle it, he can get himself killed. We had an apprentice o' the guild back in Cork who might have made a good sorcerer in time. He had the talent--unfortunately, he didn't have the good sense to go with it. According to the Law of Contagion any two objects which have ever been in contact with each other have an affinity for each other which is directly proportional to the product of the degree of relevancy of the contact and the length of time they were in contact and inversely proportional to the length of time since they have ceased to be in contact.” He gave a smiling glance to the priest. ”That doesn't apply strictly to relics of the saints, Reverend Sir; there's another factor enters in there, as you know.”

As he spoke, the sorcerer was carefully clamping the little handgun into the padded vise so that its barrel was parallel to the surface of the table.