The Greatest Occult & Supernatural Tales of Marjorie Bowen. Bowen Marjorie
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over the end of the chamber, and in it appeared the figure of a young knight; his black hair fell from under his helmet, his face was composed and somewhat haughty, his dark eyes fearless and cold.
“’Tis he I saw in the crystal!” cried Dirk, and as be spoke the light and the figure disappeared. Dirk beat his breast.
“Zerdusht! ye mock me! I asked ye of this woman! I know not the man.”
The brass head suddenly glowed out of the darkness as if a light shone behind it; the lids twitched, opened, and glittering red eyeballs stared at Dirk, who shouted in triumph. He fell on his knees.
“A year ago today I saw a woman in the mirror; today she came to me . . . who is she? . . . Zerdusht — her name?”
The brass lips moved and spoke.
“Ysabeau.”
What did this tell him?
“Who was the knight ye have shown me?” he cried.
“Her husband,” answered the head.
“Who is the man she seeks my aid to . . . to . . . who is it of whom she spoke to me?” The flaming eyeballs rolled.
“Her husband.”
Dirk gave a start.
“Make haste,” came the witch’s voice through the swimming blackness. “The light fades.” “Who is she?”
“The Empress of the West,” said the brass head. A cry broke from Dirk and the witch; Dirk shrieked another question.
“She wishes to put another in the Emperor’s place?”
“Yea;” the light was growing fainter; the eyelids flickered over the red eyes.
“Whom?” cried Dirk. Faint, yet distinct came the answer —
“The Lord of Ursula of Rooselaare, Balthasar of Courtrai.”
The lids fell and the jaws clicked, the light sank into nothingness, and the lamps sprang again into dismal flame that disclosed the black bodies of the dead men, hanging slackly with their wreaths touching their chests, the witch crouching by the hearth —
And in the centre of the floor Dirk, smiling horribly.
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