The Greatest Sci-Fi Books of Erle Cox. Erle Cox
in which I can help you I will gladly do." Alan spoke from his heart, and another smile was his reward.
"Now I must bring your friend to himself again; it is not good to hold him so."
"Wait," said Dundas eagerly. "You have not told me by what name we may call you?"
"I am called 'Earani.' The name means 'The Flower of Life.'"
Alan repeated the name softly, and she nodded at each repetition with a faint smile of amusement.
"Truly, you are well named as a flower," he ventured.
Her eyes challenged his over Barry's head. "But there are many kinds of flowers."
"But none more beautiful than the flower of life." He risked it with a beating heart.
A slow flush came to her cheeks, and Barry stirred restlessly under her hands. For the first time her eyes fell slightly. "See, we put too great a strain on your friend." She moved her hands a little.
"One moment more. You have not told me about food for you. I must arrange for that."
"There is no need for you to trouble. There is food and all else I require for many years within reach."
"May Richard Barry come and see you and help in the teaching?"
She divined his thoughts. "Yes, he may come, but I will not speak to you again until you have taught me how. Now we must stop. First, though, tell me is it night or day?"
"The day is just closing."
"Then you will tell all that has passed between us to Richard Barry? Afterwards you will leave me here and return while the morning is yet young?"
"I will do your wish, but I do not think I will tell Richard Barry everything. I will omit a little part of it." There was a look in his eyes she could not fail to interpret.
"If you have spoken nonsense I do not think your friend would care to hear it." Then, without giving him time to answer, she removed her hands from Dick's forehead, and, coming quickly round, she separated their clasped hands.
Almost immediately Dick, who had been lying limply in his seat, opened his eyes in a dazed and sleepy fashion, and looked inquiringly at Alan, who sat smiling before him. "What happened, Dun? I feel as if I had been drugged." He pressed both hands to his eyes. Earani, who had been standing beside him, passed her fingers lightly over his forehead, and in a moment, he sat up, looking from one to the other for a solution of his perplexity.
"I never saw it done before, Dick, but you've been mesmerised, and through you I have been told the wishes of Earani."
"Mesmerised! Well, I'm blessed." He stood up. "And if the conversation was not absolutely confidential, I'd like to know what I've been saying."
"No use getting shirty, Dick," answered his unabashed friend. "I didn't know what was going to happen, but if I had known I wouldn't have warned you. It was most interesting." And he proceeded to give the mollified Dick an account of his involuntary interpreting. While they were talking Earani had returned to her couch, and, seated at the foot of it, she watched the two with grave interest. With movements that showed an utter lack of self-consciousness she drew the shimmering cascade of her hair on either shoulder as she sat, and with deft fingers twined it into two arm-thick braids that fell below her waist. To Alan, who could not keep his eyes from such a fascinating picture, it seemed as if she were twining some part of himself in to the golden mesh, and, to Barry's huge disgust, the narrative became almost incoherent. "It seems to me, Alan, my boy, that I'm not the only one that's been mesmerised," he said testily. "Go on, man; what next, after she said her name was Earani?"
"Oh, nothing much, except that she wants us to clear out of here, and leave her until to-morrow. Dick, isn't she wonderful?"
"Not as wonderful as your behaviour; you're positively gaping. Didn't you ask her how they worked the suspended-animation business, or what those drugs were?"
"Oh, we'll get that in time, you one-eyed drivelling old body-snatcher. Dick, I'm going to teach her English. Think of that."
"My sacred aunt! Then, if that's a specimen, she'll have a dazzling vocabulary. Didn't you even ask her about food?"
"Of course, I did. She says she has enough to last her for years."
"I'd like to see it," said Barry, whose professional curiosity had outweighed all other interests.
The two approached the table, and proceeded to put it in order, and Barry, who was determined to gain one point at least, opened a small jar of concentrated meat and showed it to Earani, who was watching their movements curiously. She took it from him, and examined it with keen interest, then she replaced it on the table, and went to one of the huge chests. She opened it without difficulty, and took out a small phial, containing about a dozen white lozenges. She shook out two or three on the table, and, taking one, she placed it in her mouth. The two men hesitated a few moments, but Earani picking up two more with her dainty fingers, held them out, and dropped one into the hand of each. Alan put his into his mouth immediately, but Barry examined his curiously, and then looked up.
"What's it taste like, Dun?"
"Can't say–a little saline. Try your own."
"I think I'd like to analyse it. It may be a whole meal," answered Barry.
"I hope it is, then. I haven't had anything since morning, and that seems days ago. Talk about my behaviour, do you usually analyse what refreshment your hostess offers you?"
Dick chuckled. "I'm a married man, Dun, but I'll risk it. I wish I had your simple faith, though," and he followed Alan's example by putting the lozenge into his mouth. "Now, Alan, my son, it's seven-thirty, and I think we had better say good-night to Madam or Mademoiselle Earani. I wonder if that wound is right, though."
He pointed to the bandages inquiringly. Earani touched it lightly, and shook her head with a smile.
Barry snapped the clasp of his bag, and took up his hat, and Alan, seeing no excuse possible for lingering, followed his example. Divining their intention, Earani walked with them towards the curtained doorway. Alan lifted the curtain, and she passed out into the portico, and walked to the spot before the chair where Dundas had discovered the hidden button. She stooped and examined the place for a moment, and looked up at him smiling. "You had plenty of luck to find the right spot, Dun," was Dick's comment.
"Not luck, dear chap–brains. Earani knows it, too." As if though to confirm his own estimate, she stood up and held out her hand to him, with a few soft caressing words that made Alan's heart thump as he took her soft fingers into his.
"Look here, Dun, I'm not going to stay here all night while you teach your foundling English. Kitty will be worrying herself to death," and Dick turned to walk towards the antechamber. Earani called his name softly and brought him to a standstill; then beckoning them to follow, she led the way, not to the antechamber but round the back of the "temple" towards the great translucent doors that led to the vestibule. They followed in silence. Arrived before the closed doors Earani bent down and pressed with her fingers on a spot in the mosaic pavement near the wall, and instantly the great doors silently slid apart. This disclosed the metal curtain that had crushed Alan's hopes of entrance by that means, and incidentally his plank bridge, by which he had hoped to span the trap before it. The look she gave Alan showed that she quite understood what had happened, but, not the slightest disconcerted, she crossed over and pressed the pavement again on the other side of the doorway, and with a deep booming the curtain ascended, opening the way at last directly to the vestibule. "By Jove, Dun! No wonder you said the place was full of machinery. This saves a long walk, though I'd like to have another look at that Art Gallery." He was stepping forward, but Alan caught him back.
"Steady, Dick; 'ware sudden death!" Dick balked and looked from Dundas to Earani inquiringly. The latter, who understood Alan's action thoroughly, stood in the doorway a moment, and with deft fingers manipulated part of the moulding in the frame. Then without the slightest hesitation she crossed the threshold and stood on the trap itself, which remained firm as the surrounding pavement. In