"Always, however, whatever methods you employ, prelude them with this
prayer: 'I conjure thee, Great Unknown Power that is Antagonistic to
man, that was at the Beginning, that is now, that always will be; by
the winds and rain, and thunder and lightning; by the swirling rivers;
by the Moon; by the sinister influence of the Moon with Venus, Mars
and Saturn; help me obtain the perfect issue of all my desires, which
I seek to perform solely for the furtherment of what is detrimental to
humanity. Amen.' And conclude them with the signs of the foot, the
hand and the bat. If you desire to know anything further it will be
unfolded to you in your dreams." The hand that had been laid on Hamar's was now removed. The writing
ceased. The table rose several inches from the floor, and struck the
latter three times in quick, violent succession. Then it remained
quiet, and Hamar knew, by a subtle change in the atmosphere, that all
occult manifestations--for that night at least--were at an end. The
ladies were, of course, dying to know what had happened; and like most
ladies, who dabble in spiritualism, were ready to believe anything
they were told. Hamar, who had no intention whatever of telling them
what had actually occurred, satisfied them admirably. He went home delighted--far too delighted to sleep--for he had in his
possession now the greatest of all weapons--the weapon to torment. And
with it what could he not do! What could he not get! He could
get--Gladys! CHAPTER XXI

THE SELLING OF SPELLS


The period of stage four promised to be one of such a lucrative
nature, that the trio set to work to profit by it at once. They bribed
medical men to procure for them the mumia of people suffering from
every kind of disease; of criminal lunatics; of idiots and epileptics;
they obtained, by bribery also, the blood and hair of the most
abandoned men and women--rakes, thieves, murderers. They bottled and
labelled, and arranged and catalogued, the mumia, in a laboratory
designed for the purpose; and, when all their preparations were
complete, advertised--

    SPELLS FOR SALE

    THE MODERN SORCERY COMPANY LTD.
    offer for sale every variety of spells--love
    charms, sleep charms, etc. In order to carry out the principal conditions of the compact, namely,
to do harm, they made pseudo-love charms as follows:--

They procured the hair of a girl whom they knew to be an incorrigible,
and, at the same time, heartless flirt; and, in the manner described
(and related in the last chapter) made a magnes microcosmi of it. When
ready for use, _i.e._ after it had been in immediate contact with the
girl's flesh, so as to get it fully charged, they had portions of it
set in rings, lockets and pendants. And the purchaser of any one of
these trinkets had only to persuade the object of his (or her)
affection to wear it, and his (or her) love would at once be
reciprocated. Had the magnes microcosmi been charged with real, deep-rooted love,
the effect on the wearer would have been highly satisfactory, but
charged as it was with the effervescent and fleeting fancy of a flirt,
the effect on whoever wore it could not be more disastrous. The
sentiments of the hopeful purchaser would be reciprocated for a time,
which would probably lead to marriage--after which the affection his
adored had professed would suddenly decrease, and before the honeymoon
was over, would have vanished altogether. During the week following the announcement of the sale of these
spells, over a thousand were sold, the applicants being mostly shop
girls, typists, clerks and servants; in the second week the sales rose
to three thousand, and every succeeding week showed a still greater
increase. In charging the magnes microcosmi, the motive of the purchaser had
always to be taken into account. If the love charm were wanted by a
woman--a housekeeper may be, who desired some rich old man to fall in
love with her, in order that she might come into his property; or by a
woman--a companion probably--who, having wormed herself into the
confidence of some eccentric old lady, was anxious that that lady
should leave her all her money--Hamar took care that the magnes
microcosmi should be charged with a lasting infatuation; and the sale
of this love spell--the spell that was sought solely that the
purchaser might inherit property to which he (or she) had no
claim--far exceeded the sale of any other spell. Indeed, it was
extraordinary how many people--people one would never have
suspected--desired spells that would do other people harm. Lady De Greene, the well-known humanitarian, who was most
indefatigable in getting up petitions to the Home Secretary, whenever
the perpetrator of any particularly heinous and inexcusable murder was
about to be hanged, and who was universally acknowledged "incapable of
harming a fly," called, surreptitiously, on Hamar. "I understand," she said, "everything you do here is in strict
confidence!" "Certainly, madam, certainly!" Hamar said. "We make it a point of
honour to divulge--nothing!" "That being so," Lady De Greene observed, "I want you to tell me of a
spell that will hasten some very obnoxious person's death." "If you will give me a rough idea of their personal appearance," Hamar
said, "I will make a wax image of them, and undertake they will
trouble you no longer." But Lady De Greene shook her head. She had no desire to commit
herself. "Can't you do it in any other way," she said, "can't you let me give
them an unlucky charm--the sort of thing that might bring about a taxi
disaster?" Hamar thought for a moment and then--smiled. "Yes!" he said, "I think I can accommodate you." Leaving her for a few minutes, he went to the laboratory, and from a
tin box marked homicidal lunatic, he took a plain, gold ring. With
this he returned to Lady De Greene, murmuring on the way the prayer he
had learned from the table. "Here you are," he said handing the ring to Lady De Greene, "give it
to the person you have mentioned to me--and the result you desire will
speedily come to pass." Three days later, London was immeasurably shocked. It read in the
papers that the highly accomplished Lady De Greene, beloved and
respected by all, for the strenuous exertions on behalf of
humanitarianism, had been barbarously murdered by her husband (from
whom--unknown to the public--she had been living apart for years), who
had suddenly, and, for no apparent reason, become insane. Hamar, who
was immensely tickled, alone knew the reason why. This was no isolated case. Scores of Society women came to the trio
with the same request. "A spell, or charm, or something, that will
bring about a fatal accident--not a lingering illness"--and the person
for whom the accident was desired, was usually the husband. And the
trio often indulged in grim jokes.