“I acknowledge the honour of your confidence; and on
my part I pledge myself that if I find my duty to Mr. Trelawny’s wishes
will, in his own interest, allow my lips to open on his affairs, I
shall speak so freely as I may.”

Accordingly I began, and told him, as exactly as I could, everything
that had happened from the moment of my waking at the knocking on the
door in Jermyn Street. The only reservations I made were as to my own
feeling toward Miss Trelawny and the matters of small import to the
main subject which followed it; and my conversations with Sergeant Daw,
which were in themselves private, and which would have demanded
discretionary silence in any case. As I spoke, Mr. Corbeck followed
with breathless interest. Sometimes he would stand up and pace about
the room in uncontrollable excitement; and then recover himself
suddenly, and sit down again. Sometimes he would be about to speak,
but would, with an effort, restrain himself. I think the narration
helped me to make up my own mind; for even as I talked, things seemed
to appear in a clearer light. Things big and little, in relation of
their importance to the case, fell into proper perspective. The story
up to date became coherent, except as to its cause, which seemed a
greater mystery than ever. This is the merit of entire, or collected,
narrative. Isolated facts, doubts, suspicions, conjectures, give way
to a homogeneity which is convincing. That Mr. Corbeck was convinced was evident. He did not go through any
process of explanation or limitation, but spoke right out at once to
the point, and fearlessly like a man:

“That settles me! There is in activity some Force that needs special
care. If we all go on working in the dark we shall get in one
another’s way, and by hampering each other, undo the good that any or
each of us, working in different directions, might do. It seems to me
that the first thing we have to accomplish is to get Mr. Trelawny waked
out of that unnatural sleep. That he can be waked is apparent from the
way the Nurse has recovered; though what additional harm may have been
done to him in the time he has been lying in that room I suppose no one
can tell. We must chance that, however. He has lain there, and
whatever the effect might be, it is there now; and we have, and shall
have, to deal with it as a fact. A day more or less won’t hurt in the
long-run. It is late now; and we shall probably have tomorrow a task
before us that will require our energies afresh. You, Doctor, will
want to get to your sleep; for I suppose you have other work as well as
this to do tomorrow. As for you, Mr. Ross, I understand that you are
to have a spell of watching in the sick-room tonight. I shall get you
a book which will help to pass the time for you. I shall go and look
for it in the library. I know where it was when I was here last; and I
don’t suppose Mr. Trelawny has used it since. He knew long ago all
that was in it which was or might be of interest to him. But it will
be necessary, or at least helpful, to understand other things which I
shall tell you later. You will be able to tell Doctor Winchester all
that would aid him. For I take it that our work will branch out pretty
soon. We shall each have our own end to hold up; and it will take each
of us all our time and understanding to get through his own tasks. It
will not be necessary for you to read the whole book. All that will
interest you—with regard to our matter I mean of course, for the whole
book is interesting as a record of travel in a country then quite
unknown—is the preface, and two or three chapters which I shall mark
for you.”

He shook hands warmly with Doctor Winchester who had stood up to go. Whilst he was away I sat lonely, thinking. As I thought, the world
around me seemed to be illimitably great. The only little spot in
which I was interested seemed like a tiny speck in the midst of a
wilderness. Without and around it were darkness and unknown danger,
pressing in from every side. And the central figure in our little
oasis was one of sweetness and beauty. A figure one could love; could
work for; could die for...! Mr. Corbeck came back in a very short time with the book; he had found
it at once in the spot where he had seen it three years before. Having
placed in it several slips of paper, marking the places where I was to
read, he put it into my hands, saying:

“That is what started Mr. Trelawny; what started me when I read it; and
which will, I have no doubt, be to you an interesting beginning to a
special study—whatever the end may be. If, indeed, any of us here may
ever see the end.”

At the door he paused and said:

“I want to take back one thing. That Detective is a good fellow. What
you have told me of him puts him in a new light. The best proof of it
is that I can go quietly to sleep tonight, and leave the lamps in his
care!”

When he had gone I took the book with me, put on my respirator, and
went to my spell of duty in the sick-room! Chapter X

The Valley of the Sorcerer


I placed the book on the little table on which the shaded lamp rested
and moved the screen to one side. Thus I could have the light on my
book; and by looking up, see the bed, and the Nurse, and the door. I
cannot say that the conditions were enjoyable, or calculated to allow
of that absorption in the subject which is advisable for effective
study. However, I composed myself to the work as well as I could. The
book was one which, on the very face of it, required special attention. It was a folio in Dutch, printed in Amsterdam in 1650. Some one had
made a literal translation, writing generally the English word under
the Dutch, so that the grammatical differences between the two tongues
made even the reading of the translation a difficult matter. One had
to dodge backward and forward among the words. This was in addition to
the difficulty of deciphering a strange handwriting of two hundred
years ago. I found, however, that after a short time I got into the
habit of following in conventional English the Dutch construction; and,
as I became more familiar with the writing, my task became easier. At first the circumstances of the room, and the fear lest Miss Trelawny
should return unexpectedly and find me reading the book, disturbed me
somewhat. For we had arranged amongst us, before Doctor Winchester had
gone home, that she was not to be brought into the range of the coming
investigation. We considered that there might be some shock to a
woman’s mind in matters of apparent mystery; and further, that she,
being Mr. Trelawny’s daughter, might be placed in a difficult position
with him afterward if she took part in, or even had a personal
knowledge of, the disregarding of his expressed wishes. But when I
remembered that she did not come on nursing duty till two o’clock, the
fear of interruption passed away. I had still nearly three hours
before me. Nurse Kennedy sat in her chair by the bedside, patient and
alert.