Dennis Wheatley - The Satanist

For a while they continued to discuss various aspects of the affair, then Barney finished his drink, excused himself, and drove to his rooms in Warwick Square to change out of his country clothes into things more suitable for attending a Communist social.

On the Tuesday Mary made similar preparations to those she had a fortnight before, then waited impatiently, through what seemed one of the longest evenings she had ever spent, for Barney to join her.

At last he arrived, smiling as usual. Within seconds of greeting him she asked anxiously: 'Did Ratnadatta speak to you about me? Was he very angry?�

Barney gave her a shrewd look. 'You are frightened of him, aren't you? It makes me all the more glad that I prevented you from seeing him this evening. No; he didn't even mention you, although I managed to get him to myself for five minutes.'

As she led the way into the sitting-room, she enquired: 'How did you get on with him?'

'Not as well as I had hoped. I only prised him away with difficulty from an old trout smothered in rocks, and he was impatient to get back to her. It's pretty clear that he is out to get anyone with some special asset-money, position or beauty - into his net, and in my own case I was banking on my title to act as bait. I think it did to some extent, because he didn't actually turn me down. But I imagine that for the time being he's got his hands full with yourself and the female Croesus. I hinted that I thought the mediums I had seen at Mrs. Wardeel's a bit suspect, and understood that past-masters in Yoga could produce the real thing, then suggested that as he was an Indian he might perhaps know of compatriots living in London who were practitioners of the art.'

'And what did he say?'

'That he did not, as he had never interested himself in Yoga.'

Mary's glance wavered. 'How very strange!'

Barney's smile held no hint of accusation, and he replied: 'Not necessarily. He may not have thought me a good Yoga subject. He did say, though, that he was in touch with occultists who had passed a higher degree of initiation than any I was likely to meet at Mrs. Wardeel's, and that he might, perhaps, some time introduce me to some of them. But he thought that before we talked of the matter further, it would be a good thing if I acquired a better background knowledge of the occult by continuing to attend the lectures at Mrs. W.'s for another month or so.'

'I see; and do you intend to do that?'

'Certainly; if he insists on it. But, as I am pretty good at selling myself, I hope to persuade him to adopt a more forthcoming attitude next week. Let's forget all this now, though, and talk of something else. To be honest, too, I had no time to get a snack before going to the meeting, so I'm absolutely famished.'

The table was already laid. Glad to drop the subject, Mary told him to sit down at it, and hurried into her kitchenette. For a first course, as the weather had turned cold, she had heated up some tomato soup, to which she now added a good dollop of cream. As she did so she thought first how decent it was of Barney to have refrained from tackling her about Ratnadatta's having denied all knowledge of Yoga, and then of the way that the Indian had stalled him off.

She felt very glad that Ratnadatta had, otherwise he might have sounded Barney out over a dinner next Saturday then, perhaps, have taken him on to the Temple and given him a sight from the balcony of what went on there. A fortnight ago, with the idea of leading Barney to believe that she was a bold and sophisticated woman, she had started to tell him about what she had seen herself; only the spilling of the wine had caused her afterwards to insist that she had been fooling, and now she was very glad about that, because her attitude towards him had undergone a subtle change. She knew she would be ashamed if he found out that she really had let Ratnadatta take her to such a party and, instead of breaking with him, still refused to give any promise that she would not go with him to the Temple again.

But soon such thoughts were driven from her mind by Barney's gay, inconsequent chatter, as they tucked in to the good things she had provided for their supper and shared another bottle of the excellent Hock. Afterwards they sat down side by side on the sofa and she felt sure that, as she had kissed him on Saturday, this evening he would display no ultra chivalrous scruples about being in her flat, but soon start making love to her.

She had meant him to from the beginning and now, her original motive temporarily forgotten, she knew that she wanted him to. But, on a typical feminine impulse to postpone the moment a little longer, she lit a cigarette and asked: 'What was the lecture about this evening?'

"The Vedas,' he replied, 'and how Theosophy ties up with the sacred writings of the Hindus. I can't say that it gave me a yen to take up the study of Indian mythology as a hobby, but at least it made more sense than they gave us last week about old Koot Hoomi and the Master the Count. The second part of the show was a bit of a flop, though. They put a large table in the middle of the room and six people and a medium sat round it. Then they set about receiving spirit messages by table rapping. It was a slow and dreary business, and only one came through that was of any interest.'

'And what was that?' she asked.

Turning his head he looked straight into her eyes, and said: 'Some big shot up on the astral plane wanted to know why you hadn't reported for duty.'

Mary jumped to her feet; her mouth fell open, her blue eyes went round with terror, and she cried, 'No, Barney; no! You don't mean it!'

He had got the type of reaction he had played for, but far more strongly than he had expected. Standing up, he exclaimed: 'Hi, steady on! Of course not. I was only fooling.'

'Oh, thank God for that!' she gasped. 'Thank God for that! You gave me a most awful fright.' Next moment her mouth began to tremble and she burst into tears.

Swiftly he gathered her into his arms, and made little comforting noises while for several minutes she sobbed upon his chest. Then, when her sobs eased a little, he said: 'My sweet, I'm terribly sorry that I scared you so badly, but I had to know the truth. You've given yourself away now, and you really must come clean with me. You've got in deeper than I thought, and ...'

'No ... really,' she sniffled. 'I haven't seen Ratnadatta recently. I swear I haven't. Not since I promised you I wouldn't.'

'Well, that's some comfort. But tonight he blew wide open your story about Yoga being his game. It's nothing of the kind, and you had started to tell me about it that night at the Hungaria when we spilt the wine. That's the truth, isn't it?'

'Yes,' she murmured tearfully.

He kissed her on the forehead, then said, with a frown: 'You're a darling, Margot, and what puzzles me is how a decent girl like you could even contemplate taking part in such beastliness.'

'I ... I have a very good reason.'

Tell me what it is?�

'No, please don't ask me.'

'Is it something to do with your past?'

'Yes.'

'All right, then. Don't treat me as though I were a starry-eyed youth who'd never heard the facts of life. At times everyone does things they are ashamed of afterwards. I don't give a damn what you've done.'

'It's nothing I am ashamed of.'

'Then why on earth won't you tell me what it is?�

'I can't. Really I can't. If I did you might insist on trying to help me.'

'All the more reason to go ahead.'

'No. I'm not going to let you run into danger, just because I've been fool enough to bite off more than I can chew.'

'Margot, you must tell me! You've got yourself in the hell of a mess. It's as clear as daylight that you're scared stiff of something. I love you, my dear, and . . .'

She suddenly lifted her face to his and, her eyes still misty with tears, cried, 'Do you mean that?�