Authors: Dennis Wheatley
The taxi had just pulled up outside the house in which she was living, and Barney said with a smile, ‘Then I haven’t blotted my copy-book irretrievably. I’m glad about that. May I take it that Sunday is still on?’
‘Yes,’ she nodded as he helped her out. ‘I’m afraid I’ve behaved rather stupidly. I didn’t mean to. Please forgive me. And thank you very much for this evening. Good night.’
Still much puzzled by her outburst he watched her go up the steps and let herself in, then he told the taxi to drive him to his rooms in Warwick Square.
While undressing, Mary did her best to re-assess the relationship between them, of which only she was aware the views he had expressed, obviously with complete honesty, on a man’s obligations, or lack of them, to a girl with whom he had slept, depending on whether she had given herself to him for love or for money, had made a considerable impression on her. In fact, as a general principle, she found it difficult not to accept them. But, having for five years nurtured a bitter grudge against him as the
author of all her personal sufferings, she found it impossible to dissociate him from them overnight.
The carefree attitude that he still displayed to life, his passing himself off as a lord, and his taking it for granted that she would let him make love to her after only a few hours spent in his company, all combined to reinforce her belief that he was cynical, unscrupulous, heartless, and a menace to any woman who was fool enough to fall for him. But in this case it was he who had fallen for her. The anxiety he had displayed about her meeting Ratnadatta on Saturday evening, and his eagerness to see her again, was, she felt, ample evidence of that; and as she dropped off to sleep she was savouring in advance the triumph she would enjoy when she had led him on into a state in which she would make him utterly miserable with frustrated desire.
On the Saturday evening she duly kept her appointment with Ratnadatta at Sloane Square Tube Station. Sleek, paunchy, his brown eyes expressionless behind the pebble lenses, but his rabbit teeth protruding in an ingratiating smile, he greeted her most politely, then beckoned up the leading taxi on the rank.
He was dressed as she had seen him on previous occasions, in a pale blue suit of thinnish material, over which he now had a light fawn overcoat. Apart from the colour of his skin, the only indications of his Eastern origin were that his hat was of the kind habitually worn by Mr. Nehru, and that he smelled strongly of scent. As they got into the taxi Mary caught a pungent whiff of it; but to that she was far from objecting, as during their talks together at Mrs. Wardeel’s she had several times had to suppress an impulse to back away from him on account of his breath. It had a curiously sweet yet unpleasant odour like that of bad lobster, and she hoped that his having scented himself so lavishly this evening would help to counteract it.
The taxi took them only half-a-mile then pulled up outside a small restaurant in Chelsea. Its Eurasian proprietor welcomed Ratnadatta as a valued patron and, bowing them to the back of the restaurant, led them upstairs to a
small room in which a table was laid for two.
Although her host was on the youthful side of middleage, it had somehow not occurred to Mary that he might have amorous designs upon her. But from her black year she was well aware of the use to which such private diningrooms were usually put and, as her glance fell on a sofa against one wall, she was seized with swift revulsion at the thought of such an encounter with him.
Catching her uneasy look, he said quickly, ‘You haf no objection, plees; the things off weech we shall talk are not for other ears.’
Momentarily reassured, she replied: ‘Yes, of course. I quite understand.’
When the menu was produced he urged her to order whatever she fancied, so she chose potted shrimps, a tournedo and Coupe Jacques; on which he said that the same would suit him too.
As the proprietor left the room, she remarked, ‘I thought that Theosophists who have achieved initiation had to become vegetarians.’
He chuckled. ‘Those who are Theosophists only are little people. They know nothing. We off the Brotherhood haf passed beyond such senseless taboos. Off commandments we haf but one, “Do what thou wilt shall be the Whole off the Law”.’
She smiled back at him. ‘That sounds an easy philosophy to follow.’
‘It ees good, very good. It frees the mind from all care – all inhibitions. With the shackles off convention thrown aside, life becomes all pleasure. That ees as the Great One wishes for us.’
‘You speak as though the three Masters in whom the Theosophists believe were one.’
‘Yes, plees. As in much other things, they make great error. There ees only one Supreme Entity and he can give us all our wishings.’ At that moment a waiter came in with the first course and Ratnadatta added quickly, ‘We talk of this more later, yes. Eat now and enjoy.’
During the meal he plied Mary with questions, sometimes direct, and sometimes oblique, so that she could not be quite certain at what he was driving. Mostly they concerned her past, her religious beliefs, and the life she was leading at present. Owing to the practice she had had in answering similar questions put by Barney two nights before, she found herself able to answer much more readily and even embroider convincingly the picture she had built up. On the subject of religion she took special pains to assure him that although she had been brought up as a Roman Catholic, she had long since ceased to be a practising one, and now regarded the hard and fast beliefs demanded by that faith as quite unacceptable to an intelligent individual.
At times she tried to lighten her replies to his catechism in the hope of bringing a little humour into their conversation; but the Indian did not respond and continued to regard her steadily from behind his thick-lensed spectacles. However, the food was good, if not pretentious, and he proved an attentive host. When the pudding had been served he poured her another glass of wine and asked her about her sex life.
Again she felt an inward shudder at the thought that he might be leading up to attempting to make love to her; so she replied coldly, ‘I don’t think we need go into that.’
‘Indeed yes.’ His voice for the first time held a note of sharpness. ‘To judge your fitness for advancement all your personality you must reveal to me. The secret life as well as the open life. Speak now of your first experience.’
Realising that she would have wasted her time, and get no further with him, if she refused, she told a plausible lie about it. ‘Apart from cuddling, and that sort of thing, with a few young men, I had none until I was married.’
‘And then?’
‘Well, I got no pleasure from it at first, but after a while, like any normal girl who loves her husband, I came to enjoy it.’
‘Since your husband’s death, plees? Haf you a lover?’
She felt sure of the answers he would like to that, so she gave them. ‘No,’ then added, ‘not at the moment, but I have had several.’
‘You take them why? Because you fall in love with each, or for some other reason?’
‘I liked them all, naturally. But it was really because I felt lonely. Besides, I’m young and healthy and, having got used to that sort of thing, after having been deprived of it for a while I felt the need for it.’
‘Good, very good. Most sensible. This shows that you are already free from the false bindings you received as young from Christian teaching. Instead you haf taken your own will for guide. What now off women? Haf your own sex sometimes attraction for you?’
Mary shook her head.
‘You haf perhaps a strong feeling against homosexuals?’
‘No. I’m sorry for them, that’s all. But if they are made that way I think they have as much right as other people to enjoy themselves in their own fashion.’
‘Again you show the broad mind weech tells me that your incarnations haf been many.’
They had finished the bottle of Chianti that Ratnadatta had ordered, and now the waiter arrived with coffee and liqueurs. When he had gone the Indian said:
‘For your understanding I must now speak off things that are hidden from most. Perhaps you haf heard sometime off the reply savages in dark Africa make to white men who ask “Why do you make prayer to the idol, the waterfall, thunder, and what else. Such can do you no good. Haf you never heard that there ees a great God high up in the sky who created all things and ees all-powerful. It ees to Him that you should make your prayers.” ’
‘No,’ said Mary, ‘I’ve not. What do the savages reply?’
‘They say, “Yes, we know off the great god who created the world and all that ees in it; but to him it ees useless to make prayer. Our ancestors did so and found he did not answer. That was because he no longer hear. Having finish the world he loose interest in it and go far far away to
make other worlds. But in the idol he leave a little part off his power and to the river and the fire-mountain we make sacrifice because if not they become angry; then perhaps they destroy our crops, our cattle, ourselves.”’
Ratnadatta solemnly nodded his head and went on. ‘Those savages haf preserve a truth long lost to nations civilised. The Creator did after completion go away to think only off making new worlds. To worship Him ees foolishness; a waste of time.’
‘Surely, though, you don’t suggest we should worship idols?’ Mary asked.
‘No, no! Yet the Creator did leave power behind Him. He delegate it to one off his sons.’
Hardly believing that she could have heard aright, Mary murmured, ‘You mean Jesus Christ?’
The dark face opposite her took on a contemptuous look. ‘What an idea! He was a prophet only, one off many and not a very good one. I speak off Prince Lucifer.’
‘I… I see. He was an Arch-angel, wasn’t he; before he became the Devil?’
‘An Arch-angel, yes. A true son off the Creator. Devil ees a term used only by those who fear Him. It came to use with the spread off the Christian heresy. If you are to progress you must forget such foolishness. Those who haf true knowledge reverence Him as Our Lord Satan. For off this world he ees the Lord. All power over it ees His. He was given it as His Principality. The Bible, even, makes admission of that.’
Mary thought to herself, ‘Well, now we know where we are. Both Barney and I were right in believing this horrid little man to be one of a circle of Satanists.’ Aloud she said, ‘I remember the passage now. What you say throws an entirely new light on everything.’
‘Good, very good.’ Ratnadatta smiled at her. ‘Another passage I recall to you. On the high mountain He offered Christ all cities and the plains. Not the world, off course, but as far as he could see. That we know to haf been because He think Christ could haf been useful servant and
wish to save him from taking wrong Path. Christ being conceited fool refuse; so, instead off becoming a great Lord, he died horrible death. But my point ees that Prince Lucifer’s offer would haf made no sense if the cities and plains were not His to give.’
‘Yes; I suppose that is so.’
‘You suppose!’ snapped the Indian. ‘Understand plees, that if you wish for advancement you make no questionings off what I tell.’
‘Oh, I wasn’t doubting you,’ Mary assured him hastily. ‘Please go on and tell me how I can become one of the favoured of … of Him who is Lord of this world.’
He smiled again. ‘The Path ees not difficult for those who are willing to embrace life with whole heart. Remember, the Creator told Adam that He had made all things for his delight. The same wish has also been that off His great son, Our Lord Satan, for all descendants off Adam up to present day. At first, perhaps, inhibitions from youthful upbringing may unexpectedly make troubles in your mind. You must practise to be rid off them; yes ruthlessly. Only so will you fit yourself to take part in secret rituals. It ees by these we call down power to ourselves. Without taking part in them all else ees off no use.’
‘What sort of rituals are they?’ Mary enquired.
‘The most ancient off all. They haf been practise since the beginning off the world. Most religions preserve relics off them; submission, communion, in some also offering off sacrifice. But in all the meaning off them has been obscured by evil or ignorant priests. Most haf become so distorted to be now unrecognisable. This in the West more than in the East, or even dark Africa. People still primitive haf preserved greater degree off truth. Good example ees sacrifice. To make sacrifice ees to pay tribute, and it ees proper that those who are protected should pay tribute to their Protector. Also blood ees the life force. It must be spilt so that its spiritual essence may be returned in form off renewed vitality to persons who take part in such ritual. But perhaps you haf not yet strong enough desire to progress for over
coming prejudice off Europeans against rites off this kind?’
Under her bronze make-up Mary went a little pale. The appalling thought had suddenly struck her that Teddy’s terrible end might be due to his having been offered up as a human sacrifice. To find out if Ratnadatta and his circle had had any part in bringing about Teddy’s death was her sole object in cultivating the Indian, and it looked now as if, should he prove willing to take her to a meeting of Satanists, she might have to become an unwilling accomplice at some other hideous crime. Yet the only alternative to steeling herself to face such a possibility was to throw her hand in; so she said:
‘The reason you give for making sacrifices is quite logical; so I should feel no qualms at witnessing such a ritual. Are they … are they performed often?’
‘Four times a year we sacrifice a ram,’ he replied quietly. ‘That ees because the circle to weech I belong ees one off many Lodges scattered all over the world weech form the Brotherhood of the Ram.’
She suppressed a sigh of relief, but a moment later wondered if he was telling the whole truth, or only a part of it from fear of disclosing too dangerous a secret to her before he had better reason to feel confident he could trust her with it.
Leaning forward across the little table he went on, ‘I haf now judge you and believe you are ripe for advancement. But first answer me plees. Question one. After what I haf tell you ees it still your earnest wish to receive enlightenment?’