Chapter 12

A Perilous Situation

Now although Dentham intended to betray the confidence both of Dr. Roversmire and Olive Maunders, yet it was an operation of some difficulty, as he foresaw on taking a quiet view of the situation. So far he had made twenty-five pounds out of the transaction, but he would not obtain any more money from Adrian Lancaster's betrothed until the house had been thoroughly searched, and the unhappy young man found. If they did discover Adrian shut up in a secret chamber, as Rudall surmised, he would certainly gain the balance of the reward from Olive Maunders, but on the other hand he would obtain nothing from his master, as he would be unable to warn him and make terms.

"If he's murdered Mr. Lancaster," mused Dentham to himself, as he took his way homeward, "they'll arrest him straight off, and then I won't be able to give him the straight tip, and get paid for it; but then he'll be away from the house if they find anything, so I'll be able to wire the old cove at Marlow, and make an appointment in town—once I get a hold of him I'll bleed him freely, or else hand him over to the law. Yes, that's what I'll do; they can't put him in gaol straight off, so I'll fix up things with him before they get a chance."

Mr. Dentham was quite delighted with his villainous little scheme, and could not help admiring himself for the dexterous way in which he turned things to his own advantage.

"She said she'd double the reward," he resumed, referring to Miss Maunders, "does that mean the twenty-five or the fifty? If she only doubles the twenty-five, I'll only clear seventy-five pounds, but if she means the fifty, it will be a hundred and twenty-five in my pocket, that will be something on account, and if I can only get another hundred and twenty-five pounds out of the old cove, I'll be able to sit down with three hundred clear, that will set me up for life and not much trouble either. Ah! I knew something would come out of the old cove's way of living. Lord, what a scoundrel he is to be sure—it's a wicked world, and the old cove's about the worst in it."

So mused the virtuous Mr. Dentham, who, while blaming the presumable wickedness of his master, concerning which he had no proof, was quite blind to the despicable part he was playing himself. But then Mr. Dentham called his baseness business, which placed the whole transaction in quite a different light, and, moreover, being without the least atom of conscience, he was quite at rest on the score of moral considerations, regarding his possible three hundred pounds as honestly earned money.

Adrian Lancaster, still hidden in the personality of Dr. Roversmire, was quite unconscious of the perilous situation in which he was placed. It was true he mistrusted Dentham, but he never expected the valet would be so dexterous in piecing evidence together and so establish a case against him. As to Dentham communicating with Olive Maunders, it never entered his brain that such a thing could occur, as he had said nothing to the servant, and, to all outward appearance, there was nothing to connect the so-called Dr. Roversmire with the disappearance of Adrian Lancaster.

The morning after Dentham's satisfactory visit to town, Adrian received a letter from Sir John Maunders asking him to come down to Marlow and stay the night, as he wanted to speak with him on a particular subject.

"I know," wrote the cheery baronet, "that you are kept busy with your philosophical studies, but all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so if you give us the pleasure of your society for a few hours. I am sure it will do you good. I am sorry to say my daughter will be away during your visit, but may probably return before you take your departure."

At this point, Adrian laid down the letter and debated seriously with himself as to whether he should accept the invitation, seeing that Olive would be absent. On the whole, after much consideration, he came to the conclusion that he would do so, as he was now in such a desperate state of mind over the difficulties of his situation that he determined to tell Sir John everything and ask his advice as to his future movements. He was afraid to reveal the secret of his transformation to Olive, as he knew how she scoffed at the powers alleged to be exercised by theosophists, and thought, with a great show of reason, that she would look upon him as a madman. But with Sir John it was very different, as Adrian remembered he had had a good deal of experience in occult sciences and knew many strange things which had occurred quite outside the laws of Nature, that is, the laws of Nature as seen by the world at large.

Under these circumstances, he would not deny that such a curious event as the transposition of souls might take place, and Adrian knew he would give him enough proofs of his own life to convince the baronet, however sceptical, that the soul of Adrian Lancaster was really concealed in the body of Dr. Roversmire. Then he would be able to ask Sir John's advice as to the chances of getting rid of Roversmire's body and resuming his own identity, for Sir John was acquainted with many votaries of theosophy who might be able to hit upon some solution of the enigma. Surely among theosophists there could be found some one equal in knowledge to Dr. Roversmire, who could undo the harm which had been done, and releasing his soul from this aged body, restore it once more to its proper habitation.

Having come to this conclusion, Adrian wrote a letter accepting the invitation, but declined to stay all night as he wanted to get back to his studies. The fact was that he was afraid during his absence something might happen to solve the difficulty, and he was unwilling to be absent should any chance of regaining his freedom present itself. The whole house was permeated with the influence of spirits, for, of course, Dr. Roversmire, during his tenancy of his earthly body had been constantly visited by his friends of the spirit world, and sometimes a weird feeling would seize Adrian as if he was in the centre of a crowd of ethereal beings whose bodies, impalpable and invisible, were pressing around him on all sides. He would have given anything could he have known of some invocation by which to communicate with them and find a means of release from his unpleasant position, but although he read most of the books in the house and all the favourite papers of Dr. Roversmire, no spell or ceremony presented itself by which he could do so.

There were times when the strange influence which brooded over the house almost proved too much for his nerves, and he longed to escape from this spirit-haunted atmosphere into the matter-of-fact frivolity of the outside world. By his prolonged fasts, by his terrible ordeals and his ascetic mode of life, Dr. Roversmire had rendered his body peculiarly sensitive to spiritual influences, and now that he had transferred this body to Adrian, the material soul of the unhappy young man felt strange to the subtle contact he seemed to feel with the unseen world about which he knew absolutely nothing. Dentham, of course, felt nothing, as his soul was too sensual and his body too gross to vibrate or come in contact with spiritual things, but Adrian's body being strange to him, was not under his control, and he felt as though he stood on neutral ground between two worlds, powerless to leave the one and equally powerless to enter the other.

"I'll go mad if this continues," he said to himself as he directed the envelope, "it is like putting a savage to live among people highly cultivated. I feel the influence, but cannot respond, so I have all the pain and none of the pleasures; an afternoon at Marlow will do me a lot of good and drive away all this phantasy of moonlight and spirituality."

So he sent the letter and told Dentham he was going to leave Hampstead the next day for a visit, at which the valet was highly delighted, and sent off a telegram that evening to Miss Maunders, telling her the house would be able to be searched the following day.

Olive, on her part, had told her father nothing of the revelations of Dentham, but had got him to ask Dr. Roversmire down to Marlow and then intimated her intention of going away. Sir John at first objected to this strange mode of proceeding, but was ultimately over-ruled by his clever daughter.

"I don't know what you mean to do," he grumbled good-naturedly, "but I'll be glad to see Roversmire, who is a very clever man, although you do not seem to like him."

"Whether I really like him or not depends entirely upon what I learn during the next few days," she replied.

"But where are you going to learn anything about Roversmire?" asked her father curiously.

"I'll tell you when I come back," responded Olive promptly.

"Well, have your own way," said the baronet with a sigh; "you certainly are an enigma."

"Of course," said Teddy Rudall, who entered at that moment, "she is a woman, and that answers everything."