"Have you ever come across this sort of thing?" asked Darrel, and produced the Blue Mummy. "Heaven and earth!" cried Blake, his florid face growing white. "Where did you get that accursed image?" CHAPTER XIV THE SECRET SOCIETY Frank was amazed by the look on Blake's face. He was quite livid, and an expression of horror was in his eyes. His brow was wet with perspiration, his strong frame trembled, and he seemed to be overcome with terror at the sight of the tomb image. Recollecting the behavior of Vass and Maria, the novelist began to think that the Blue Mummy was of the nature of a basilisk and rendered insane all who looked at it. From being gay and composed, Blake was now terror-stricken and nervous; that fatal image had transformed the bold, confident Irishman into a trembling and abject coward. So astonished was Darrel that he could not speak; and it was Roderick who broke the silence. "You--you," he said in a hesitating manner--"you are not a member of that infernal society?" "What society?" asked Darrel, pretending ignorance to learn the more. "The Society of the Blue Mummy." "Set your mind at rest, Blake. I know nothing about the society." The strain on Roderick's nerves relaxed, and he fell back on his chair with an exhausted look. "Have you any brandy?" he murmured faintly; "the sight of that devilish idol has given me a turn." Still greatly amazed by Roderick's speech and manner, Darrel hastened to the side-board and brought thence a small glass of cognac. On drinking this the courage of Blake revived; the blood came back to his cheeks, the strength to his limbs; and he sat up briskly, with an apology for his momentary weakness. "But you put the fear of God into me, my dear fellow," said he with a shudder; "indeed you did. I thought I was done for." "How do you mean--done for?" "Well I fancied that you produced that Blue Mummy as a sign of my death." "Oh, is it usually a sign of death." "Invariably. How it came into your possession, and you still alive, is more than I can make out." "The explanation is very simple," replied Darrel. "This image was found beside the body of Grent." Blake opened his eyes and whistled. "So that explains the mystery of his death," he said under his breath. "The society killed him." "But why--why?" "Oh, I don't know the reason," replied Blake. "How can you expect me to? But if he hadn't been killed by that society the Blue Mummy would not have been left by his corpse as a symbol of its vengeance." "But what is this society which kills people in this barbarous way?" "I'll tell you all I know," said Roderick gravely, "and you can judge for yourself. One moment." He looked into Frank's bedroom, glanced out of the sitting-room windows, and opened the outside door to assure himself that no one was on the stairs. Then he returned to his seat, and found Frank's eyes fixed on him with an expression of amused contempt.