For the first time, Isaw Aglie make a wrong move. Out of control, he sprang from hisseat, flung himself toward the woman, narrowly avoiding thetrajectory of the Pendulum, as he cried: "Viper, liar, you knowthat cannot be...." Then, to the nave: "It's an imposture! A lie!Stop her!"
But no one moved exceptPierre, who went up and sat on the throne. "Proceed, madame," hesaid.
Aglie, recovering hissangfroid, stood aside, mingling with the others. "Very well," hechallenged. "Let's see, then."
Madame Olcott moved herarm as if signaling the start of a race. The music grew shrill,dissonant; the drumbeats lost their steady rhythm; the dancers, whohad already begun swaying back and forth, right and left, as theysquatted, got up now, threw off their cloaks, and held out theirarms wide, rigid, as if they were about to take flight. A moment ofimmobility, and they began to spin in place, using the left foot asa pivot, faces upraised, concentrated, vacant, and their pleatedtunics belled out as they pirouetted, making them look like flowerscaught in a hurricane.
Meanwhile, the mediums,breathing hoarsely, seemed to knot up, their faces distorted, as ifthey were straining, unsuccessfully, to defecate. The light of thebrazier dimmed. Madame Olcott's acolytes turned off the lanterns onthe floor, and now the church was illuminated only by the glow fromthe nave.
And the miracle began totake place. From Theo Fox's lips a whitish foam trickled, a foamthat seemed to thicken. A similar substance issued from the lips ofhis brothers.
"Come, brothers," MadameOlcott murmured, coaxed, "come, come. That's right,yes...."
The dancers sangbrokenly, hysterically, they shook and bobbed their heads, theyshouted, men made convulsive noises, like death rattles.
The stuff emitted by themediums took on body, grew more substantial; it was like a lava ofalbumin, which slowly expanded and descended, slid over theirshoulders, their chests, their legs with the sinuous movement of areptile. I could not tell now if it came from the pores of theirskin or their mouths, ears, and eyes. The crowd pressed forward,pushing closer and closer to the mediums and the dancers. I lostall fear: confident that I would not be noticed among them, Istepped from the sentry box, exposing myself still more to thefumes that spread and curled beneath the vaults.
Around the mediums, amilky luminescence. The foam began to detach itself from them, toassume ameboid shape. From the mass that came from one of themediums, a tip broke free, turned, and moved up along his body,like an animal that intended to strike him with its beak. At theend of it, two mobile knobs formed, like the horns of a giantsnail...
The dancers, eyesclosed, mouths frothing, did not cease their spinning, and theybegan to revolve, as much as the space allowed, around thePendulum, miraculously doing this without crossing its trajectory.Whirling faster and faster, they flung off their fezes, let theirlong black hair stream out, and it seemed their heads were flyingfrom their necks. They shouted, like the dancers that evening inRio: Houu houu houuuuu...
The white forms acquireddefinition: one of them grew vaguely human in appearance, anotherwent from phallus to ampule to alembic, and the third was clearlytaking on the aspect of a bird, an owl with great eyeglasses anderect ears, the hooked beak of an old schoolmistress, a teacher ofnatural sciences.
Madame Olcott questionedthe first form: "Kelley, is that you?''
From the form a voicecame. It was definitely not Theo Fox speaking. The voice, distant,said in halting English: "Now... I do reveale a...a mighty Secret,if ye marke it well..."
"Yes, yes," MadameOlcott insisted.
The voice went on: "Thisvery place is call'd by many names... Earth... Earth is the lowestelement of all... When thrice ye have turned this Wheele about...thus my greate Secret I have revealed...."
Theo Fox made a gesturewith his hand, as if to beg mercy. "No, hold on to it," MadameOlcott said to him. Then she addressed the owl shape: "I recognizeyou, Khunrath. What have you to tell us?"
The owl spoke:"Hallelu... ¡¥aah... Hallelu... ¡¥aah... Hallelu...'aah...Was..."
"Was?"
"Was helfen FackelnLicht... oder Briln...so die Leut... nicht sehen...wollen..."
"We do wish," MadameOlcott said. "Tell us what you know."
"Symbolon kosmou... taantra... kai tan enkosmion dun-ameon erithento... oitheologoi..."
Leo Fox was alsoexhausted. The owl's voice weakened, Leo's head slumped, the effortto sustain the shape was too great. But the implacable MadameOlcott told him to persevere and addressed the last shape, whichnow had also taken on anthropomorphic features. "Saint-Germain,Saint-Germain, is that you? What do you know?"
The shape began to hum atune. Madame Olcott called for silence. The musicians stopped, andthe dancers no longer howled, but they continued spinning, thoughwith increasing fatigue.
The shape was singing:"Gentle love, this hour befriends me..."
"It's you; I recognizeyou," Madame Olcott said invitingly. "Speak, tell us where,what..."
The shape said: "IIetait nuit....La tete couverte du voile de lin... j'arrive, jetrouve un autel de fer, j'y place le rameau mysterieux... Oh, jecrus descendre dans un abime... des galeries composees de quartiersde pierre noire... mon voyage souterrain..."
"He's a fraud, a fraud!"Aglie cried. "Brothers, you all know these words. They're from theTres Sainte Trinosophie, I wrote it myself; anyone can read it forsixty francs!" He ran to Geo Fox and began shaking him by thearm.
"Stop, you imposter!"Madame Olcott screamed. "You'll kill him!"
"And what if I do?"Aglife shouted, pulling the medium off the chair.
Geo tried to supporthimself by clinging to the form he had secreted, but it fell withhim and dissolved on the floor. Geo slumped in the sticky matterthat he continued to vomit, until he stiffened,lifeless.
"Stop, madman," MadameOlcott screamed, seizing Aglie. And then, to the other brothers:"Stand fast, my little ones. They must speak still. Khunrath,Khunrath, tell him you are real!"
Leo Fox, to survive, wastrying to reabsorb the owl. Madame Olcott went around behind himand pressed her fingers to his temples, to bend him to her will.The owl, realizing it was about to disappear, turned toward itscreator: "Phy, Phy Diabolos," it muttered, trying to peck his eyes.Leo gave a gurgle, as if his jugular had been severed, and sank tohis knees. The owl disappeared in a revolting muck ("Phiii, phiii,"it went), and into it, choking, the medium also fell, and wasstill. Madame Olcott, furious, turned to Theo, who was doing hisbest to hold on:
