Part 63 (2/2)

Too long has this monster outraged the name of Christ and insulted the forbearance of his fellow creatures: my Brothers, this is what I demand from your hands--I demand from the SOCIETY OF THE SEVEN STARS--I demand from you, the Council--I demand, my Brothers and Companions, a decree of death against the monster Zaccatelli!'”

”Yes, yes, yes, the decree!” shouted Reitzei, all trembling. ”Who could refuse it? Or I myself--”

”Gentlemen,” said Lind, calmly, ”the decree has been granted. Here is my authority; read it.”

He held out the paper first of all to Brand, who took it in both his hands, and forced himself to go over it. But he could not read it very carefully; his heart was beating quickly; he was thinking of a great many things all at once--of Lord Evelyn, of Natalie, of his oaths to the Society, even of his Berks.h.i.+re home and the beech-woods. He handed on the paper to Reitzei, who was far too much excited to read it at all.

Beratinsky merely glanced at it carelessly, and put it back on the table.

”Gentlemen,” Lind continued, returning to his unemotional manner, ”personally, I consider it just that this man, whom the law cannot or does not choose to reach, should be punished for his long career of cruelty, oppression, and crime, and punished with death! but, as I confessed to you before, I could have wished that that punishment had not been delivered by our hands. We have made great progress in England; and we have been preaching nothing but peace and good-will, and the use of lawful means of amelioration. If this deed is traced to our Society, as it almost certainly will be, it will do us a vast amount of injury here; for the English people will not be able to understand that such a state of affairs as I have described can exist, or that this is the only remedy. As I said to you before, it is with great reluctance that I summoned you here to-night--”

”Why so, Brother Lind?” Reitzei broke in, and again he reached over for the bottle. ”We are not cowards, then?”

Beratinsky took the bottle from him and put it back on the table.

Reitzei did not resent this interference; he only tried to roll up a cigarette, and did not succeed very well with his trembling fingers.

”You will have seen,” said Lind, continuing as if there had been no interruption, ”why the Council have demanded this duty of the English section. The lesson would be thrown away altogether--a valuable life belonging to the Society would be lost--if it were supposed that this was an act of private revenge. No; the death of Cardinal Zaccatelli will be a warning that Europe will take to heart. At least,” he added, thoughtfully, ”I hope it will prove to be so, and I hope it will be unnecessary to repeat the warning.”

”You are exceedingly tender-hearted, Brother Lind,” said Reitzei. ”Do you pity this man, then? Do you think he should flourish his crimes in the face of the world for another twenty, thirty years?”

”It is unnecessary to say what I think,” observed Lind, in the same quiet fas.h.i.+on. ”It is enough for us that we know our duty. The Council have commanded; we obey.”

”Yes; but let us come to the point, Brother Lind,” said Beratinsky, in a somewhat surly fas.h.i.+on. ”I do not much care what happens to me; yet one wishes to know.”

”Gentlemen,” said Lind, composedly, ”you know that among the ordinances of the Society is one to the effect that no member shall be sent on any duty involving peril to his life without a ballot among at least four persons. As this particular service is one demanding great secrecy and circ.u.mspection, I have considered it right to limit the ballot to four--to ourselves, in fact.”

There was not a word said.

”That the duty involves peril to life is obvious; it will be a miracle if he who undertakes this affair should escape. As for myself, you will perceive by the paper you have read that I am commissioned by the Council to form the ballot, but not instructed to include myself. I could avoid doing so if I chose, but when I ask my friends to run a risk, I am willing to take the same risk. For the rest, I have been in as dangerous enterprises before.”

He leaned over and pulled toward him a sheet of paper. Then he took a pair of scissors and cut the sheet into four pieces; these he proceeded to fold up until they were about the size of a s.h.i.+lling, and identically alike. All the time he was talking.

”Yes, it will be a dangerous business,” he said, slowly, ”and one requiring great forethought and caution. Then I do not say it is altogether impossible one might escape; though then the warning, the lesson of this act of punishment might not be so effective: they might mistake it for a Camorra affair, though the Cardinal himself already knows otherwise.”

He opened a bottle of red ink that stood by.

”The simplest means are sufficient,” said he. ”This is how we used to settle affairs in '48.”

He opened one of the pieces of paper, and put a cross in red on it, which he dried on the blotting-paper. Then he folded it up again, threw the four pieces into a pasteboard box, put down the lid, and shook the box lightly.

”Whoever draws the red cross,” he said, almost indifferently, ”carries out the command of the Council. Have you anything to say, gentlemen--to suggest?”

”Yes,” said Reitzei, boldly.

Lind regarded him.

”What is the use of the ballot?” said the pallid-faced young man. ”What if one volunteers? I should myself like to settle the business of the scoundrelly Cardinal.”

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