The Crack of Doom | Page 9

metaphorically in my last ditch, she arose, stretched her shapely figure,
flicked some clinging grass blades from her suit, and declared it was
time to return. Brande was a man of science, but as such he was still
amenable to punctuality in the matter of dinner.
On the way back I was discreetly silent.
When we reached the house I went to look for Herbert Brande. He was
engaged in his study, and I could not intrude upon him there. To do so

would be to infringe the only rigid rule in his household. Nor had I an
opportunity of speaking to him alone until after dinner, when I induced
him to take a turn with me round the lake. I smoked strong cigars, and
made one of these my excuse.
The sun was setting when we started, and as we walked slowly the
twilight shadows were deepening fast by the time we reached the
further shore. Brande was in high spirits. Some new scientific
experiment, I assumed, had come off successfully. He was beside
himself. His conversation was volcanic. Now it rumbled and roared
with suppressed fires. Anon, it burst forth in scintillating flashes and
shot out streams of quickening wit. I have been his auditor in the three
great epochs of his life, but I do not think that anything that I have
recollected of his utterances equals the bold impromptus, the masterly
handling of his favourite subject, the Universe, which fell from him on
that evening. I could not answer him. I could not even follow him,
much less suppress him. But I had come forth with a specific object in
view, and I would not be gainsaid. And so, as my business had to be
done better that it should be done quickly.
Taking advantage of a pause which he made, literally for breath, I
commenced abruptly:
"I want to speak to you about your sister." He turned on me surprised.
Then his look changed to one of such complete contempt, and withal
his bearing suggested so plainly that he knew beforehand what I was
going to say, that I blurted out defiantly, and without stopping to
choose my words:
"I think it an infernal shame that you, her brother, should allow her to
masquerade about with this good-natured but eccentric Metford girl -I
should say Miss Metford."
"Why so?" he asked coldly.
"Because it is absurd; and because it isn't decent."
"My dear Abraham," Brande said quietly, "or is your period so recent

as that of Isaac or Jacob? My sister pleases herself in these matters, and
has every right to do so."
"She has not. You are her brother."
"Very well, I am her brother. She has no right to think for herself; no
right to live save by my permission. Then I graciously permit her to
think, and I allow her to live."
"You'll be sorry for this nonsense sooner or later--and don't say I didn't
warn you." The absolute futility of my last clause struck me painfully at
the moment, but I could not think of any way to better it. It was hard to
reason with such a man, one who denied the fundamental principles of
family life. I was thinking over what to say next, when Brande stopped
and put his hand, in a kindly way, upon my shoulder.
"My good fellow," he said, "what does it matter? What do the actions
of my sister signify more than the actions of any other man's sister?
And what about the Society? Have you made up your mind about
joining?"
"I have. I made it up twice to day," I answered. "I made it up in the
morning that I would see yourself and your Society to the devil before I
would join it. Excuse my bluntness; but you are so extremely candid
yourself you will not mind."
"Certainly, I do not mind bluntness. Rudeness is superfluous."
"And I made it up this evening," I said, a little less aggressively, "that I
would join it if the devil himself were already in it, as I half suspect he
is."
"I like that," Brande said gravely. "That is the spirit I want in the man
who joins me."
To which I replied: "What under the sun is the object of this Society of
yours?"

"Proximately to complete our investigations--already far
advanced--into the origin of the Universe."
"And ultimately?"
"I cannot tell you now. You will not know that until you join us."
"And if your ultimate object does not suit me, I can withdraw?"
"No, it would then be too late."
"How so? I am not morally bound by an oath which I swear without
full knowledge of its consequences and responsibilities."
"Oath! The oath you swear! You swear no oath. Do you fancy you are