Free The Rape of Venice by Dennis Wheatley Page B

after a last look round, left the room, than Beckford said:
    â€˜If there were any takers, I’d readily give three to one up to any sum that he’ll not do it.’
    For a moment there was silence, then it was broken by Clarissa’s clear young voice. ‘Had I the means, I’d take you, Sir; but my circumstances do not permit me to bet.’
    â€˜That’s just as well, m’dear,’ remarked Colonel Thursby. ‘For you are better qualified to wager on when little Susan cuts her first tooth.’
    The others laughed, except for Droopy Ned, who, with his usual shrewdness, had formed a good impression of Clarissa’s intelligence. Smiling at her he said:
    â€˜Perhaps you have some special reason for your confidence. If so, pray tell us of it.’
    â€˜I have,’ she replied promptly. ‘You all heard Signor Malderini promise, when in the Orangery, that he would experiment upon me and he has already done so.’
    â€˜When?’ asked Roger with a sudden frown.
    Colouring slightly, she looked across at him. ‘After ... after we had met in the nursery, and had our talk about Susan, I sent a note up by one of the footmen to the suite the Malderinis are occupying, asking if he would receive me there. The reply came back that he would.’
    A hush had fallen on the company and they listened with close attention as she went on. ‘Up in their sitting-room, the Princess took me by the hand and led me to a chair, then he enquired in what way he could be of service to me. I asked him if he could enable me to see into the future. He said he had every reason to suppose he could, if I was willing to place myself under his mesmeric influence. I agreed and requested him to give me a glimpse of my situation in six months’ time. He made passes at me similar to those you saw him use on the Princess. After a while I could see nothing but those curious eyes of his. They seemed to grow huge and fill the whole room. Then I became drowsy and fell asleep. When I awoke it was as though I had just come out of a most vivid dream.’
    She paused, and Beckford asked eagerly, ‘May we know what you saw in it?’
    â€˜I’ve no objection,’ she smiled, ‘for it was an exceedingly pleasant one. I was lying on a pile of cushions under an awning, in the stern of a gaily painted barge. Although it was January, it was as hot as on the best day of an English summer. At first I thought I was back in Martinique, for the banks of the river on which the barge was drifting were fringed with palms. But the oarsmen of the craft, and others who were making music on strange stringed instruments, were not negroes; they were lighter in colour and had finer features, so I knew it must be some other distant land. Beside me was a man who I knew had given me his heart, and I could not have been happier had I been in heaven.’
    â€˜But this proves nothing,’ said Colonel Thursby.
    â€˜I think it does,’ she countered, ‘because the man was one whom I had come to know well in Martinique, and have some reason to believe loves me already.’
    â€˜That makes the matter no wit more conclusive. Had younever met Malderini, you might equally well have had such a dream at night, and in it fulfilled the evident wish you have to be married to this gallant.’
    â€˜It is my belief that he enabled me to see my future,’ she protested stubbornly.
    Georgina had been looking at her with troubled eyes and said:
    â€˜Be that as it may, I would that you had never indulged this whim to let him practise his powers upon you.’
    â€˜And I,’ Roger supported her. He had no doubt that the man Clarissa had seen in her dream was himself; but it seemed highly unlikely that either he or she would be going to the tropics, so he agreed with the Colonel that while unconscious she had only given free play to her own desire. Quickly he went on:
    â€˜I had meant to warn you