"I'll make you." "Oh, no, you won't," Lilian Rosenberg cried, disengaging herself from
his grasp, and rising. "Don't you dare touch me. I'm going." Curtis watched her with a helpless grin. Then he suddenly cried out,
"Come back! Come back, I shay!" "Well, will you do as I want?" Lilian Rosenberg said. "I'll do anything--anything to please you--if only you shtay with me." She sat down, and his arm once again encircled her. "Now," she said, pushing his face away. "Tell me!" Bit by bit she drew out of him the whole history of the compact with
the Unknown, how in stage five, the stage they were about to enter,
they would have fresh powers conferred upon them--their present power,
_i.e._ of working spells and causing diseases, being then cancelled;
how they would obtain supreme power over women when they reached the
final stage--stage seven; and how the compact would be broken and
their ruin brought about, should either of them marry, or should
anything happen before this final stage was reached, to disunite them. Lilian could account for a great deal now. The uncanny feeling she had
always experienced in the building; the curious enigmatical shadows
she had seen hovering about the doorways and flitting down the
passages; the extraordinary nature of the feats and spells; Hamar's
mutterings and his fury, whenever Kelson spoke to her--were no longer
wholly unintelligible. But she must know all. She must be most
exacting. Finally, she got from Curtis everything there was to be got from him,
and she laughed immoderately, when he excused himself on the grounds
that it was all Leon's doings--Leon had told him to offer her a little
compensation for the loss of her escort. "And you have compensated me more than enough," Lilian Rosenberg said. "Now you shall have your reward," and she kissed him--kissed him three
times for luck. "But you're not going?" he said, staggering to his feet and attempting
to hold her. "You're not going till the roshy morning sun shines
shaucily in on us." "Oh, yes, I am," she said. "I've had quite enough of you! Good-bye!" And before he could prevent her, she had run to the front door and let
herself out. CHAPTER XXVI

IN HYDE PARK AT NIGHT


But now that Lilian Rosenberg was possessed of all this information
respecting the trio, she was once again in doubt how to act, or
whether to act at all. Supposing she were to attempt to warn Gladys
Martin against Hamar, how would Gladys take the warning? Would she pay
any attention to it? The odds were she would not; that having set her
heart on marrying Hamar for his money, she would blind herself to his
faults and resolutely shut her ears to anything said against him. Also
there was the very great possibility of Gladys being rude to her--and
even the thought of this was more than she could bear to contemplate. If only Shiel were reasonable! If only he could be made to see how
utterly ridiculous it was for him to think of winning such a girl as
Gladys--Gladys the pretty, dolly-faced, pampered actress, who had
never known a single hardship, had always had a well-lined purse, and
would never, never marry poverty! Then back to Lilian Rosenberg's mind
came her parting with Shiel--she recalled his intense scorn and
indignation. A liar! He did not wish to have anything to do with a
liar! It's a good thing every man is not so fastidious, she said to
herself bitterly, or the population of the world would soon fizz out. She laughed. He had never questioned her morals in any other
sense--perhaps, in his innocence or assumed innocence, he had thought
them spotless--at all events he had most graciously ignored them. But
a liar! A liar--he could not put up with. And why! Because the lie had
touched him on a sore point. When lies do not touch a sore point,
they, too, are ignored. She walked to the Imperial and looked again at Gladys's photographs. How any man could fall madly in love with such a face, was more than
she could conceive. It was a mincing, maudlin, finicking face--it
irritated her intensely. She turned away from it in disgust, yet came
back to have another look--and yet another. God knows why! It
fascinated her. Finally she left it, fully resolved to let its odious
original go to her fate--without a warning. Soon after her return to
the Hall in Cockspur Street, she was sent for by Hamar. "Didn't I tell you," he said, "that you were on no account to
encourage Mr. Kelson?" "You did!" Lilian Rosenberg replied. "Will you kindly explain, then," Hamar said, "why you have disobeyed
my orders?" "How have I disobeyed them?" Lilian Rosenberg asked. "How!" Hamar retorted, his cheeks white with passion. "You dare to
inquire how! Why, you were on the point of accompanying him to his
rooms last night to supper, when I stopped you! I have overlooked your
disobedience so many times that I can do so no longer. Your services
will not be required by the Firm after to-day fortnight." "Won't they?" Lilian Rosenberg replied, her anger rising. "I think you
are mistaken. I know a great deal too much to make it safe for you to
part with me. I know--for instance--all about your Compact with the
Unknown!" "You know nothing," Hamar said, his voice faltering. "Oh, yes, I do!" Lilian Rosenberg answered. "I know everything. I know
how you first got in communication with the Unknown in San Francisco;
I know how you receive fresh powers from the Unknown every three
months (the old powers being cancelled). I know the penalty you will
undergo should the Compact be broken--and--what is more--I know how
the Compact can be broken." "How the deuce have you learned all this?" Hamar stammered. "Never you mind. Am I to remain in your service or leave?" "I think," Hamar said, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "it is better
that you should remain--better for all parties. I owe you some little
recompense for your loyalty to the Firm, and for the admirable way you
spoke up for the Firm in Court. I will make you out a cheque for a
hundred pounds now--and your salary shall be doubled at the end of
this week. Promise to keep out of Mr. Kelson's way in future--for the
next six months at any rate--after that time you may see him as often
as you like--and I will give you as a wedding present a cheque for
twenty thousand pounds!" "Twenty thousand pounds! You are joking!" "I'm not. I vow and declare I mean it. Is that a bargain?" "I will certainly think it well over," Lilian Rosenberg said, "and let
you know my decision later on." From what Curtis had told her she knew it was the last day of stage
four, that the trio that evening would be initiated into stage
five--the Stage of Cures, and a mad desire seized her to witness the
initiation. But how would the Unknown manifest itself on this
occasion--and to which of the trio? She could not keep a close watch
on the three of them. If only she had been friends with Shiel, they
might, in some way, have worked it together.