SCENE ONE Baltimore State Asylum, Baltimore, MD
"NO!" Mahann shrilled, desperately turning to gave from one colleague to another. "No, sir! I have never by deed or thought or word betrayed The One, sir! I have never and would never deal with our adversaries! I have never joined with any Unionists, Federals or any other sort of Damn Yankees! There's your answer, sir! And I defy you to disprove the truth I've stated! That fool, that pathetic weakling who ran out of here a moment ago, is idiotic beyond belief, sir! Clearly he understood nothing of … of… any communication… I might have had… with him! Clearly he has no comprehension of the gravity of the situation he's bungled himself and this … complex into! All I told that idiot, that dolt was to send his reports to me whilst Ezra and Saul were both in Haiti with you, sir, at the end of the year, sir! Evidently he couldn't grasp the temporary nature of those instructions! He continued sending reports to me, when either Saul or Ezra should have had them! There's just been a misunderstanding, here."
"Yes, indeed there has been." Boudin nodded. "On that point at least, we are in absolute agreement. You, sir, have well and truly misunderstood me, sir. You have in fact, mocked, lied to and now, you have openly defied me. However it signifies precisely nothing to me whether or not you have profited by your treason! Soon enough it will signify even less, I do assure you, sir, even to you, yourself. Now, you are undoubtedly correct in your assessment of the pair of fools who just … departed our company. They are imbecilic, in the extreme. Nor did I ever think any better of them. But where you have truly erred, my man is where you seem to have developed the same demeaning assessment of me! I am no one's fool, that I can promise you, sir. I am no one's dupe! And I have never suffered a fool gladly. nor will I acquiesce in my own betrayal!"
Mahann shuddered, and fixed his gaze on Boudin, as the real threat here. "Sir, if I have offended you in some way, if my outburst at being so wrongly accused disturbed you, I offer my profoundest apologies. And I protest my innocence, sir. I have done nothing against you, nothing against The Great Work or against The One. I have labored for the goals of that Work, sir, ceaselessly from my first … induction in it. I have never wavered from my loyalty, or my support for our Society. And I do not, I protest most strongly, sir, comprehend how I should be charged with lies, with treachery or with harming anyone here!"
"Just shut it, will you! He's still lyin'!" Lawson called out harshly laughing, and crossed the small room to smack Mahann hard acroSsthe face. "He'd lie, when truth sounds better, and we all of us know it! You know he must've been stealin' that damn fool runnin' this place half blind! Else how could he have scrimped up nigh onta enuf cash t'buy this place! An' that can only mean he's in the damn Yankees pockets! We know he's got to be behind all the mischief going on here. We know he must be th' one who found that ol'Perfesser's papers, th'ones you told us had t' be somewhere in his burnt out house! We know th' DamnYankees must have 'em by this time! An' we know Mahann must've rolled over on the whole danged Society, by this time, sir! So,we know what we've gotta do, now! Just give th' word an'me an' Ezra'll see to what needs doin' now!"
"Mr. Lawson makes some valid points, I fear." Boudin responded. "We haven't found the least trace of the late Herr Doctor Aynsley's papers. And knowing Stephan as I did, I cannot believe he destroyed them. Therefore, someone who does not have common cause with us I am more and more certain found those records and absconded with them. And no doubt our Federal adversaries would pay a fine, tidy sum for Stephan Aynsley's letters, experimental records and journals. No doubt there is much contained within the late Herr Professor Doctor's writings that could aid and comfort our enemies and threaten all our Work. My only real question is whether or not my late colleague from Vienna also wrote in such a way as to implicate me. Was there anything like that in dear old Stephan's papers, Mr. Mahann?"
"There was nothing in them! Nothing, I tell you!" Mahann screamed, falling as Smith neatly tripped him up.
"Figure you just shot yourself right in the foot, there, Percy." Smith chuckled, shaking his head and pulling the Virginian up off the floor. "An' you tryin' t' run out just then didn't help none. Mebbee you should give a try tellin' at least some truth, this time. Who's got th' ol' Doc's papers?"
"No one! No one has them! I did find his strong box. Months and months ago… nearly a year ago, in fact, I found it! Yes, I found it in the rubble below where I believe the good Professor's attic study had been. It was half buried, by a beam that almost broke the box open. But the materials inside were unreadable! No one could have begun to comprehend the cipher he wrote in! And so I removed the contents and burned every last scrap of paper, and cut the journal covers to ribbons. I did that for The Great Work, for the One and to keep Aynsley's devilish business dead and buried with him! How is that treachery, sir, how is that defiance, much less treason? I am innocent and I can show you precisely where I burned those papers and buried the ashes, to prove my plea to you!"
"I know the site perfectly well." Boudin told the angry, but still terrified Mahann. "And there is certainly no dearth of ashes still to be found there. But you fall and fail again, sir, in not considering you cannot prove what those ashes came from. Nor do you mention what befell the Herr Professor's strongbox. It was made of iron, as I recall. Where is that item, now, sir?"
"It was broken, I tell you!" Mahann insisted, but his ruddy face was suddenly pale as milk. "It was ruined, and of no use whatsoever! I … I … do not recall what happened to it, being that heavy, I … I must have left it there! Why should I even bother with the thing, now? Why should you, sir? The Austrian concealed what he wrote in some damnable sort of code, I told you! No one could have made head or tails of the thing! It made no more sense than does this … ersatz tribunal!"
"Hey! Watch what you call us, Mahann!" Lawson shouted. "We're not stupid, Ez and me. And as of right now, we're as much a judge and jury as you're ever gonna see, that much I can tell you! Now, Ezra he suggested you talk straight, and I'm not sure you even know how to, Percy-boy. But you might want to try, just one last time, just for the sake of … it bein'the last chance you're gonna have."
Mahann stared again from one of the trio to another. Lawson, Smith and Boudin all seemed to have the same expression now, the same taut, feral grin on their faces. He had no chances left, and little time, that was clear. "There… there were three men… coming down from the main Baltimore-Washington road, when I … while I was destroying those papers." The Virginian finally said, sighing. "I … I have no idea whatsoever who … who they were. But they were searching every inch of ground from the road on up to where Aynsley's house stood."
"I do not know… I have no idea whatever regarding their purpose there. They were moving slowly, almost one stride at a time and stopping to search. So I ran to where I'd hidden my rig behind what was left of the stables, there. And I got in and I drove south. I drove south from there… towards Washington's City; it seemed to me those three came from the other direction. I have no notion whether or not they saw me. I truly doubt they did, because they gave no sign, no signal and never called out to me. For all I know they were three tramps looking for whatever they could steal, or three starvelings looking for roots in the doctor's old garden, there. I might have … I suppose I might have attempted to take the strong box with me. But it was smashed, and it was empty once I … destroyed the papers! And if you want to take my life because I left it there, well, gentlemen, clearly, I am entirely at your … at your mercy."
"Indeed you are, sir. Indeed you are." Boudin coldly agreed, smiling tautly. "However, you are also still prevaricating with me. You are adding and ommitting details as it suits you. And that, sir does not suit me, or my purpose even for an instant! You are, to be quite blunt lying to me, Mr. Mahann. But I have found you out. I have all the information, all the ACCURATE information regarding your activities over the past year and a little more. You seem to have forgotten, my wide array of sources and resources, Henry Percy. You seem to have dismissed my capacity for ferreting out the facts of any matter touching on The Great Work or The One. And it is too bad, really too bad for you, Henry Percy, that you have shown yourself so mendacious AND so foolish all at once."
"But I … I was merely giving you the most … most essential details regarding the matter, sir!" Mahann declared, shaking as if suddenly afflicted with a high fever. " Why… what else would you … care to know? Whatever it may be, you need only ask, Mr…"
"I have nothing more to ask of you, sir. I do, however, have anemendation for your accounting of these wearying events. While I was wintering in Port au Prince last year and for six full months thereafter, Mr. Mahann you were busily doing all you could to undermine this element of our operation, of our Great Work here!"
"Oh, no, no, Sir! I can assure you I have never undermined…" Mahann started to protest again, only to have Boudin's icy gaze stop the words in his throat.
"You have, and since you seem to have utterly forgotten your misdeeds, your crimes and misdemeanors, I will gladly catalog them for you, now, sir!" The Georgian snarled, inwardly gleeful at watching the black haired man almost collapse before him. "First of all, sir, no sooner was I out of the country, than you cheerfully acquiesced in the firing of the guards Messrs, Smith, and Lawton put in place here at no small expense and with the most explicit instructions in hand. Secondly, you allowed the nearly witleSsfool who with his completely witleSsassistant left us so precipitately to increase expenditures here by a magnitude! Thirdly, you did nothing and instructed that same pair of fools to do nothing while, for more than a year now, Federal agents have infiltrated, invaded and investigated this complex! Lastly and worst, Mr. Mahann, you have time and time again proven yourself an utterly despicable dastard, sir! You have taken authority upon yourself that was never yours to take."
You have squandered funds that were none of yours to spend. You have allowed the most ludicrous suggestions, measures, changes and charges to be brought to this establishment. And you have lied, and lied and lied again whenever the subject arose of how these dreadful occurrences came to be! I knew you had lied about the increases in spending here, sir. And I was willing to put that aside as a matter of almost no significance at all. A man of property sometimes finds himself in difficult fiduciary circumstances. A man of business occasionally comes upon problems of supply and demand, one might say. But a gentleman, sir, a trueborn Southron Gentleman does not and would not ever deceive his peers, his fellows, or as in this case, his betters!
And yet you have piled one fabrication and omission upon another, upon another expecting perhaps to confuse or at the least exhaust anyone who tried to follow your perjured narrative. Eleven months ago, Henry Percy you were not within three hundred miles of my old friend Stephan's former property south of Lord Baltimore's city. Eleven months ago, my man you were neither in Baltimore, nor at your familial home in Richmond, nor anywhere east of Tennessee, sir. You were, in fact, in the environs of Chattanooga, seeking to get your even more worthless younger brother, young Robin Dudley Mahann out of a debtor's prison there! And with what funds, what sudden, unexpected largesse from what unrecorded benefactors I wonder, Henry Percy were you hoping to appease his creditors there? But more importantly, at this moment, Henry Percy, however did you think I would not find the answer to those questions? However did you imagine I would not find you out?"
"Sir," Mahann tried again to plead, wondering if he had any chance of shifting the Georgian's anger from himself. " My brother, as you must know, never left that vile place in Tennessee, Sir. He was dying before I even heard of his financial troubles, Sir. Robin died of complications from pneumonia, my good Sir before I … "
"I will hear no more of your prevarications, sir!" Boudin snarled. "You will say no more, do you hear me, unless I require some further, succinct response from you to MY QUESTIONS. DO YOU HEAR ME?"
"Yes, yes, Sir. Yes." Mahann stammered.
"Very well. For the edification of your erstwhile colleagues I will set the matter correctly for the record, now. You left Baltimore nearly a year ago, Mr. Mahann, you left your work here for our good Society, you left The Great Work and The One to travel south first of all to Washington's City. On your way there you DID NOT, NOT EVEN FOR AN INSTANT stop anywhere near my old friend Stephan's property, even though it lies not a quarter of a mile off the Baltimore-Washington road. No, sir. You went to Washington's City and from there to Richmond and after spending less than a week total between the Damn Yankee's booming capital and our Lost Confederacy's ruined one, you trained west to help dear, sad young Robin." Boudin went on, his grey eyes flashing.
"But he was beyond help, that much of your story holds true. He was on his last legs, as it were. But we are gentlemen here, sir. So we will not speak even amongst ourselves of his actual last illness and how he came by it. Gentlemen, sir, do not speak of such things, even amongst their closest confidants. You took your brother home to Richmond, when he'd died out west there, Mr. Mahann. You paid his debts and brought him home to be buried in the family plot, at the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. And you had enough funds left over from all that traveling, from paying all his debts and the expenses of his funeral to give yourself a month down in the islands, Mr. Mahann.
But you had nothing resembling that sort of free capital before you left here for Washington's City, did you, Henry Percy? You barely had enough wherewithal to rent a horse for that first leg of your long, morose journey. You barely had enough funds to buy black crepe for your arm and some for your hat band, sir! You'd been gambling again, Henry Percy, betting on the ponies and a great many hands of poker, a great many turns at the roulette! Le jou continuez, messieurs et madames! Le jou continuez! So, how was all that travel paid for, Henry Percy? How were Robin's debts settled, even at the minimum? And how could you afford a lavish funeral in Richmond AND a month in St. Thomas when it was done and he was in the ground?"
" I'll tell you, shall I? You surely did find Stephan Aynsley's strongbox. You found it in the hands of our Damn Yankee adversaries, a year ago! But you did not set one foot on the grounds of his former home, at any time, for any reason, sir. Not whilst he lived and surely not afterwards. You did not find yourself surprised by tramps or criminals or starvelings at my old friend's property. You never saw the contents of that box, not until the Federals who found them showed them to you, you damnable betrayer!
And for the price of train travel to Tennessee and back, for the price of your damn fool brother's debts and a month in the sun, you SOLD THE SOCIETY, THE GREAT WORK, AND THE ONE! YOU SOLD ME TO THE FEDERALS OR YOU TRIED TO, DID YOU NOT, MISTER MAHANN! YOU TRIED TO CONVINCE THEM YOU KNEW WHAT WAS IN STEPHANS NOTEBOOKS AND JOURNALS INSIDE THAT BOX. YOU TRIED TO PERSUADE OUR ENEMIES THAT YOU COULD BREAK STEPHAN's CODES. AND SOME DAMN YANKEE FOOL BELIEVED YOU, AND PAID YOU OFF, AND OH, HOW CHEAP YOU CAME, YOU DAMNABLE SMALL MINDED DOLT!"
"Sir, that is not the case." Mahann tried again to insist, thinking he couldn't make things worse. "Well, not exactly. Please, let me … Please, Sir, I would most sincerely wish to… try to set the case before you, if I may … Sir, Please."
Boudin squinted at the Richmond native. Then he astonished everyone in the office by nodding. "You have our leave to make ONE attempt before WE proceed."
" I am most deeply grateful, Sir." Mahann gasped. At least he could go on breathing while he went on talking it through. 'sir, it was one of those Damn Grasping, Underhanded Yankee Fools who came to me, seeking whatever I could tell him about the late Herr Doctor Professor Aysnley. And like most such dolts, I learned more from him than he ever did from me, Sir. I learned that not one but two of his superiors had been at the Doctor's home, while the Work proceeded as regards … well, as regards the Great Work to be done, Sir. I learned that one of those two Federal agents was filing reports to the effect that he'd begun to recover his memory of that time.
Well, of course, Sir, I did not credit that report. Knowing full well the efficacy of the late Doctor's procedures, I did not believe him. However, it seems this other Federal agent, a man who goes by the name of Gordon, I believe, reported on his alleged recollections of the late Doctor Aynsley and his niece. Well, Sir, naturally, out of my great Devotion to the One and to the Great Work, I took it upon myself, hearing that, to surreptiously probe further into whatever this young Federal fool might have thought he or his superiors knew."
"Indeed. And what did this young Federal fool believe is known? My identity, I suppose?" Boudin almost hissed.
"No, no, not at all. No, indeed, Sir!" Mahann insisted, suddenly hoping wildly he'd stumbled on his way out of trouble. "This Gordon, who, as I can hardly credit, Sir, I'm told is actually a damnable Hebe, reported having no memory of anyone other than the late Doctor and his tragic niece as taking part in the … in what he called the Courier Conspiracy, Sir."
"The Courier Conspiracy?" the Georgian repeated, with a tiny, icy smile. " Yes, very well, go on."
"Yes, Sir. This Gordon, then, reported being at the late Doctor's home. He reported encountering Doctor Aynsley and his niece there. He reported being badly mistreated by some of the Doctor's staff. Gordon accused the Doctor of ordering some of his staff take his life… this Gordon's life, I mean. But his reports to their dastardly Secret Service and to the Butcher Himself, Grant, all contain no other personnages as leading the so-called Conspiracy. No others, Sir. None. They don't know of anyone else taking part… No one at all, Sir. That is, no one else who could be considered as … having any sort of … that is… no one else who they consider … important… Sir." Mahann replied, hoping he was gaining ground.
"Wait." Boudin demanded. "You are not expressing yourself very clearly, Henry Percy. Please elucidate that last point for us. Along with the rest of his supposed revelations, did that despicable Gordon report any other persons as having a leading role in this so called Conspiracy?"
"No one, Sir. No one at all." Mahann eagerly nodded. "They have no other names at all. They have no idea of any other significant participants. None at all, Sir. So, you see… "
"I see that you are exaggerating, at the very least, the supposed benefit to us of what you claim this Federal contact told you, Mr. Mahann." Boudin scowled. "I see that you are exaggerating, as usual, the importance of what you've done for the Society, the Great Work and the One, as opposed to the jeopardy, the harm and the outright damage you've done! You received a goodly sum from this Federal extortionist, Mr. Mahann, did you not? And you still have not clarified for us what they received from you in return! I will have your answer to that vital question NOW!"
"But, Sir, what could I POSSIBLY have told them? Nothing! Nothing whatsoever. I lied to them, Sir. I thoroughly decieved them. I led them to believe they might be able to break the late Doctor's cipher with my assistance, when I returned from seeing to my sad brother's affairs." The Richmond born Mahann answered. "They in fact got NOTHING from me, Sir. I am not a traitor to the One, I have never, never betrayed you, Sir. I swear, I have never broken faith with you"
"No, sir, I swear you have done little else!" Boudin snarled, raising his fist in apparent rage. "And yet you persist in proclaiming your innocence."
"Sir, you cannot believe anything but my innocence in all this to be the case!" Mahann pleaded, shaking his head. "I tell you the Federal dolts got nothing from me but empty words, nothing from me, nothing but the foolery and lies they so richly deserve! They never got a scrap of information on the Doctor's papers from me, Sir. They never got so much as a syllable, a jot, or a tittle from me. I gave them nothing, Sir. I cheated them, don't you see? You must see how I tricked our enemies all the while they thought they were tricking me. You see that, of course, don't you, Sir?"
"I see you are trying to trick us now, with your lies, your confusions and your deliberate obfuscation of the facts." The Georgian answered.
"Sir, Sir," Mahann implored, knowing all too well what danger he was in. "Upon my oath, I gave our enemies nothing! My absolute, long-lived devotion to yourself and to the Great Work, Sir, makes what you suggest impossible to me! I could do no such thing, Sir. I could never aid those despicable Yankees! I gave them nothing!"
"NO,OF COURSE NOT! INDEED, I BELIEVE YOU GAVE THEM NOTHING, SIR. NO SIR, YOU SOLD THEM ALL OF AYNSLEY's RECORDS, ALONG WITH ALL OF US, STANDING HERE, ALONG WITH THE WHOLE, ENTIRE SOCIETY OF LOYAL CONFEDERATES AND THEIR SURVIVORS!" Boudin cut him off in a seeming rage. In truth he was very much enjoying Mahann's growing dismay. One or two more moves in this particular game, and he would have the Richmond native wholly ensnared in his own lies and half-truths.
"These witless, hopeless, helpless Federals have been seeking after Aynsley's backers, his supporters and his confederates for three full years. And in all that time they found no trace. They had no suspects, no persons of interest, not so much as one individual they could accuse, much leSsindict in this matter. They had only the remains of some unfortunate fallen Southron boys. They had only the dear, dead Liesl and her equally expired Uncle Stephan.
They had no evidence, no word, no sign, not a single scrap of paper connecting anyone here to the deaths in Washington's City, or the failed attempt on the Butcher Grant's life. They had none of that, Mr. Mahann,until you had the temerity to deal your deceptive hand in a game of Risk with the Butcher's dastardly agents, without consulting myself, or your colleagues. They had nothing, Sir remotely hazardous to our person or the Great Work, until you chose to play your imbecilic would be charade."
Mahann gasped, and stared from Boudin to Lawson to Smith, and back again. "Sir, that cannot be the case. No, indeed that cannot be, Sir." he insisted. 'they must have already known something about the late Professor's … failed plans, Sir. They must have learned something from this Gordon person. He must have recollected and revealed the matter to them. I know that must be the fact of the matter, Sir, because as I already told you, I revealed NOTHING!"
"I'm well aware of what you already stated. But you stand here condemned out of your own mouth. You decieved the Yankee fools? You lied to them and they believed you? They expected your assistance with Stephan's cipher in return for funds received, and you broke your word to them? They funded your travels over hundreds of miles and a number of months, and you abrogated your bargain with them? That is what WE ARE TO BELIEVE, SIR?
Indeed I suppose there are those who might have done so. But as an officer of the Court, as a trial attorney in my youth, sir, I gained an immensely valuable insight into human nature: If a man decieves his enemies for no purpose other than his own insignificant, private, personal gain, he will decieve his allies for the same reason, sir. If a man perjures himself for the sake of a plaintiff one day he will be even more likely to lie under oath for the sake of a defendant on the next. In other words, having admitted you lied to the Federals, sir, you have as much as admitted yourself capable of lying to us. Therefore we have no reason to believe a word you say, and we do not.
They got their grasping, greedy, cloying hands on Aynsley's strongbox. They got their hands on his records. They had no possible way of knowing where to BEGIN searching for those perilous documents, sir. They had no means of knowing where the late Professor's home stood. That Federal spy, that Gordon, was quite thoroughly patterned by our late friend Stephan, I assure you. He was absolutely prevented from recalling his brief incarceration there. And he remains to this day the only survivor of Aynsley's procedures to retain anything resembling the merest level of sanity.
Therefore it was not Gordon who revealed the existence of Aynsley's home, his laboratory, or the fire there. It could not have been Gordon who recollected for our Federal adversaries the records Stephan kept in minute detail, nor the means by which the late Professor safeguarded those documents. Therefore someone else who knew of all those things made them known to our enemies, sir. And believe me sir, I know exactly who that was, thanks to your erstwhile ally." Boudin turned from Mahann's wide dark, terrified gaze for a moment and pointed in the direction of the office doorway, where the Administrator's assistant once more stood, quaking.
"NO!" Mahann shrilled. "He could not have … He's lying, Sir. He knows NOTHING! He's lying! He knows NOTHING, SIR! NOTHING!"
"Be Silent!" Boudin ordered, taking on his would-be-dictator's manner in full. "You have not been granted permission to speak! Be utterly still and listen well to me! You did indeed take it in mind to search Herr Professor Doctor Aynsley's grounds. You did indeed hire a carriage here in Baltimore and you did indeed, earlier this winter, drive to the plot. Those are the hard facts in evidence.
The rest of your tale, however, is an utter fraud! You knew exactly who the men searching those grounds for Aynsley's records were. You knew precisely what they were looking for that day, almost a year ago. You knew to the nth degree what they would find and very nearly exactly where they would find it. You knew all this because you did all you could throughout the period the Great Work went on out of Stephan's home to pry, to peer, to spy upon and to eavesdrop on his procedures. You tried to learn his theories, his methods and his ciphers. And you failed in that, at least.
But you knew all this because you made it your sneaking, conniving, grasping, traitorous busineSsto LEAD THE DAMN YANKEES THERE and point out precisely at which corner of the property Aynsley's attic study would have been when the fire started. You helped our enemies find precisely what they need to bring their case to court against us! And for your treachery, sir, you exacted payment from the damnable Yankees!
And if that weren't enough, sir, you then turned to fabricating this web of lies and distortions you've prepetrated on us, since that day. You could not have given the Federals the key to Stephan's ciphers. No one but poor mad Liesl was ever entrusted with those secrets. You could not have given the Yankees any insight into Stephan's work as you lack the intellect to begin to grasp his theories. You could not have given the Yankees anything more damning or more damaging to our Work than the contents of that strongbox! Stephan knew how those records could be used against us and protected them with his ciphers.
But you couldn't break those ciphers. No, you could only lead our enemies to those records. So now, the damnable Federals not only possess Stephan's strongbox, they have been working to decipher its contents for a good half year! And when they do, my man, when they break Stephan's cipher, there will indeed be considerable hell to be paid!
But after that you had nothing left to sell them… nothing sir, but our Society, our Work, our Cause and our Lives! You could only hand our enemies all they need to destroy us. You could only trade the places of our meetings, the sites of our homes, the dates and hours of our gatherings. You could only barter the names of all our supporters, all our friends, our kinsmen, our countrymen AND OURSELVES. AND SO YOU DID, SIR. By your own admission you GAVE THEM NOTHING, NO, YOU SOLD ALL OF THAT TO THE FEDERALS! YOU SOLD US ALL TO THEM!"
Mahann put one long hand to his forehead and rubbed as if he found some speck or splotch to remove there. He was trapped, as surely as he stood here. He was doomed, as certainly as he yet lived. Suddenly he realized why Boudin summoned him here, where so many of the Georgian's enemies simply vanished without a trace.
"My good sir, " Mahann answered shaking so hard he could barely speak. "My very good sir, you have very much mistaken me. I never had any … I never once dealt directly with any of our enemies, sir. That being said, while I was acting only as your surrogate here while I was in communication with that fool Administrator… One … one or two of those perfidious Yankees approached … approached my… approached that imbecilic assistant and they … they … broached a truly despicable … agreement, which they purportedly wished to conclude. Well, I was outraged, sir! I was profoundly affronted. And I made certain that they knew I would make no such accord."
"No, certainly not, sir, undoubtedly you refused them at the first." Boudin agreed. "Unquestionably they needed to better the terms they were offering. Certainly they needed to make their damnable proposal far more attractive financially. Indubitably it became necessary for them to up their bid, their bid for the sale of one Gideon Alexander Remiel Boudin, and the Society of Loyal Confederates and their Survivors! You will answer me, sir, you will tell me the price on my head and the heads of our entire noble cohort, as well! You will tell me, Mahann how much you have been paid, how much you've been promised, and by whom and what you have done with the DamnYankee blood money you got for my life, for my freedom and for the utter destruction of My Great Work!"
Mahann was staring and speechless for once. His cold grey eyes almost seemed to have acquired a life and a will of their own. They nearly danced in terror now. His head with its black mane of hair, and his whole long frame now his legs ceased to support him, and the Virginian dropped to his knees, shivering and moaning in front of Boudin.
"Never mind." Boudin told him, grinning icily down at the wreck. "I know the sum total, my man. I know the entire amount. And I must say I'm bemused. It doesn't come close to what I would have expected them to pay. Apparently the Butcher's bungling Administration has made either paupers or misers of its corps of extortionists! And I know … through that imbecilic assistant… the damnable fool you thought you owned, just what sort of treachery you've agreed to. He was more than willing to reveal what you've already done to me and the Society, and what more you promised to do, sir! What a great fool you've turned out to be, Mahann. Why, one would almost imagine you must have somehow gone utterly mad to do what you've done!"
Terrified, hearing his worst fears confirmed, Mahann shook his head helplessly. He couldn't seem to speak any longer at all. Instead, he raised his hands in a fruitlessly pleading gesture, one that would have surely moved a great many hearts. Anyone who knew Boudin knew the Haitian-born, Atlanta, Georgia native had given up all semblance of compassion for anyone but Gideon Alexander Remiel Boudin years ago. The matter was settled. Mahann's doom was entirely sealed.
Boudin turned his ice-grey eyes from Mahann and nodded, smiling to Lawson and Smith. "Gentlemen, it seems we are in need of the Administrator's services, again. It seems our Mr. Mahann has suffered … what is it the correct term again? Ah yes, he's evidently suffered a nervous collapse of some sort. I will send those two barely functional functionaries back to you in just a moment, my friends. And you will of course provide any aid you can to them, in helping our … abruptly unbalanced colleague, here. I would have to suppose he must be committed for an indefinite period of treatment. I'm sure they have all the obligatory documents close at hand. In fact, " Boudin pulled a thick document, folded in three, from his coat pocket and handed it over to Lawson. "I seem to have brought the crucial documents with me, today."
The sight of the crucial documents seemed to partly revive Mahann now. He'd seen hundreds just like them and knew their import. There could be no doubt from the size and from Boudin's comments that this was a package of fraudulently prepared commitment papers! There could be no question now that it was Henry Percy Meriwether Mahann who was to be locked up there, that day either under his own name or more likely a pseudonym. "Sir, sir, sir, " Mahann pleaded, hardly able to take his eyes from those damning documents. 'sir, I … refused … I refused … I … Sir … I never wished … to … to … to…. please, Sir… I never wished…"
"To finally, utterly, and entirely betray The One, the Society and the Great Work?" Boudin concluded. "Yet, you've betrayed us all, Henry Percy. You even managed to betray yourself, this time. You betrayed your Great Oath, the oath you took with such fervor, with such dedication during the Conflict. And I know you recall precisely the wording, the working and the worth of that sacred promise. I'll have you recite it, again for me, now."
"Now?" Mahann echoed, his voice cracking with strain. "Yes, yes, Sir. The One must be at all times and under all conditions protected. The One who set our Great Work and all our Endeavors in motion must never be … betrayed. The One who is at the core, at the center, at the heart of our Great Work and all our noble plans must not be betrayed to our Great Enemy, ever! Thus we will not speak, or allow his name ever to be spoken. We will not by word or sign or action give any acknowledgment of his presence at the core of The Great Work. That is forbidden, now and forever.
And this is the way in which the One for whom all the Great Work is set in motion will be forever protected: If I remember what is forbidden, I must die. If I remember what is forbidden, I will gladly die rather than betray. Rather than betray the One, I will die. If I remember what is forbidden forever I must die. Rather than betray, I will die. By my own hand, by my own means, and without hesitation, I will die, rather than betray. There is no other option, no other choice to be made if I am to walk the Faultless Path."
"That is correct. Therefore you will now entirely cease to remember anything you have ever known about The One, the Great Work, or the noble Endeavors of the Society." Boudin nodded, as calmly as if he'd been given an inventory of supplies, holding an intricately carved ring, with a fiery stone, in front of Mahann's fearful gaze,. Then he went on to fulfill the long since implanted hypnotic cues in his former cohort's severely overwrought mind.
"You do not know me, these gentlemen, or those who will shortly join us here. You do not know who you are in plain fact or how you came to be here. You only know you must have become dreadfully ill at some point. You only know you must have done something horrific, which no doubt caused you to forget all you knew. Indeed, it must have been something so egregious that recalling it will surely drive you even further into an abySsof madness, or more likely it will cause you to take your own life. Now let us test that question, again. Just who are you, sir?"
"I … who am… I … who?" the wholly hypnotized Mahann stammered. "I … I don't know!"
"No, so you've already stated. " Boudin agreed. "And who are these gentlemen?" The Georgian asked, pointing out Smith and Lawson in turn.
"I … I don't know… them… Sir… I've… I've never seen them before." Mahann responded, more and more locked into the patterning he'd received long years back.
"Again, that is what you have told us ever since you came to this place. Do you know what this place is, my man?" Boudin asked. "Come, come, do you know what this place is or how you come to be here, now?"
"N-n-no!" Mahann answered, his voice and his terror rising together. "No, I … I don't know … I don't remember coming here! I can't remember! Didn't I already say that?"
"Yes, yes, so you did. So you did. But something about you're coming here does seem to be disturbing you, my good man. What is that? What is troubling you, now?"
" I … I … don't … I don't … remember! I can't remember!" Mahann rasped out, his throat dry as cotton batting now. "I … I must have done … I must have done something … terrible, mustn't I? Or else, I could remember it now, couldn't I, Sir?"
"That does seem to be the core of the matter. Oh and one further point. Do you know who I am, my man? Have you ever laid eyes upon me?" The Georgian demanded, watching for any sign of the hypnotism's failure. But there was none to see.
"NO!" Mahann shrieked as Lawson and Smith bound him up in a straitjacket. More and more lost, he struggled and screamed again, which brought the Administrator and his assistant both running back in. "NO, I TOLD YOU I DON't KNOW ANYTHING! I TOLD YOU, I CANNOT REMEMBER AT ALL! I DON't KNOW YOU; I DON't KNOW ANY OF YOU! I've NEVER SET EYES ON YOU BEFORE… NOT BEFORE NOW, HAVE I? NO! NO! I DON't KNOW YOU, SIR, I DON't KNOW ANYTHING! I CANNOT! I CANNOT! I MUST NOT! I CANNOT RECOLLECT ANYTHING, EVER! NO! NO! NOTHING, NOTHING AT ALL! NO! NO!"
"This gentleman seems to have suffered a nervous collapse." Boudin told them, quietly smiling. "He's quite dangerously ill, in his mind, as you can well see and hear. And in accordance with our agreement with local heath officials, I am turning this fellow over to your care. All the documentation you will need is here. Let me see, ah yes, this says he's been ill for years, a treacherous, murderous madman, who's suffered recurrent bouts of amnesia as now, and at other times simply became brutally homicidal. His name is given here as Palmerston Conyers Hamilton-Lewis, no family remaining, hailing from old Williamsburg. Mr Smith and Mr. Lawson will be glad to assist you with this gentleman's … further care. I have something else I must take charge of. See to him, gentlemen, will you?"
The quartet, all of them now struggling with Mahann, knew what Boudin wanted done to the letter. They'd all seen to other gentlemen in similar cases many a time before now. And they knew Boudin's deep dislike of being delayed.
"Yes, Sir." They answered and turned back to their now hoarsely babbling, plainly insane charge. None of them wanted to end up like Palmerston Lewis. And all of them knew they easily could, if Boudin was ever so moved.
" Very well, gentlemen, Abientot " Boudin smiled and strode away down the corridor once more.
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