The Perfume of Egypt | Page 4

of relief; and it was some minutes before I
could comprehend this. At last it flashed across me that the haunting
sense of an unseen presence was gone, and then for the first time I
realised how terrible its oppression had been. Even that strange magical
odour was rapidly fading away, and in spite of the startling sight I had
just seen, I had a sense of freedom such as a man feels when he steps
out of some dark dungeon into the full bright sunlight.
Perhaps it was this feeling more than anything else that served to
convince me that what I had seen was no delusion -- that there had
really been a presence in the room all the time which had at last

succeeded in manifesting itself, and now was gone. I forced myself to
sit still and recall carefully all that I had seen -- even to note it down on
the paper which lay before me on the desk of my literary machine.
First, as to the personal appearance of my ghostly visitor, if such he
were. His figure was tall and commanding, his face expressing great
power and determination, but showing also traces of a reckless passion
and possible latent brutality that certainly gave on the whole the
impression of a man rather to be feared and avoided than loved. I
noticed more particularly the firm setting of his lips, because running
down from the under one there was a curious white scar, which this
action caused to stand out conspicuously; and then I recollected how
this expression had broken and changed to one in which anger, despair,
and appeal for help were strangely mingled with a certain dark pride
that seemed to say:
"I have done all I could; I have played my last card and it has failed; I
have never stooped to ask help from mortal man before, but I ask it
from you now."
A good deal, you will say, to make out of a single glance; but still that
was exactly what it seemed to me to express; and, sinister though his
appearance was, I mentally resolved that his appeal should not have
been made in vain, if I could in any way discover who he was or what
he wanted. I had never believed in ghosts before; I was not even quite
sure that I did now; but clearly a fellow-creature in suffering was a
brother to be helped, whether in the body or out of the body. With such
thoughts as these all trace of fear vanished, and I honestly believe that
if the spirit had reappeared I should have asked him to sit down and
state his case as coolly as I should have met any other client.
I carefully noted down all the events of the evening, appended the hour
and date, and affixed my signature; and then, happening to look up, my
eye was caught by two or three papers lying on the floor. I had seen the
wide sleeve of the long dark gown that the spectre wore sweep them
down as he rose, and this for the first time reminded me that he had
appeared to be writing at the table, and consequently might possibly
have left there some clue to the mystery. At once I went and examined

it; but everything was as I had left it, except that my pen lay where I
had seen it fall from his hand. I picked up the papers from the floor, and
then -- my heart gave a great bound, for I saw among them a curious
torn fragment which had certainly not been on my table before.
The eagerness with which I seized upon it may be imagined. It was a
little oblong slip about five inches by three, apparently part either of a
longer slip or a small book, for its edge at one end was extremely
jagged, suggesting that considerable force had been required to tear it
off; and indeed the paper was so thick and parchment-like that I could
not wonder at it. The curious thing was that while the paper was much
discoloured -- water-stained and yellow with age -- the jagged edge was
white and fresh, looking as though it had been but just torn off. One
side of the paper was entirely blank -- or at least, if there ever had been
any writing upon it, it had disappeared through the influence of time
and damp; on the other were some blurred and indistinct characters, so
faded as to be scarcely distinguishable, and, in a bold hand-writing in
fresh black ink the two letters "Ra".
Since the ink with which these letters were written corresponded
exactly with that which I was in the habit of using, I could