The Ninth Gate Page #11

CORSO is turning the pages of what remains of Fargas's copy. He

pauses at a page of text bearing a distinctive ornamental

capital, peers at the gutter, and detects that the page facing it

has been torn out. Thoughtfully, he runs his finger along the

rough edge. Then he opens Balkan's copy at the same place.

What is missing from the charred copy is the engraving of THE

HERMIT WITH THE KEYS, DOG, AND LANTERN.

CORSO takes a pull at his Scotch and leans back with the Lucky

between his lips, thinking hard. Then he glances at his watch and

stands up.

56. PONT DES ARTS EXT/DAY

It's a fine day. CORSO, canvas bag on shoulder as usual, is

striding across the bridge toward the Left Bank.

57. KESSLER BUILDING EXT/DAY

CORSO walks up to the entrance of a tall, well-preserved old

building overlooking the Seine.

58. KESSLER BUILDING INT/DAY

A grim-faced CONCIERGE is sitting in her cubby-hole. She eyes

CORSO inquiringly.

CONCIERGE:
Monsieur?

CORSO:
The Kessler Foundation.

CONCIERGE DerniŠre ‚tage.

She jerks her head in the direction of an old-fashioned elevator

like a gilded cage.

59. KESSLER BUILDING: LOBBY INT/DAY

The SECRETARY is a big-bosomed, middle-aged woman with hornrims

and scraped-back hair. She looks up at CORSO with an

inquisitorial air.

CORSO:
Bob Corso. I have an appointment with Baroness Kessler.

Having consulted her appointments book and her watch, the

SECRETARY rises. She speaks with a French accent.

SECRETARY:
This way.

She walks ahead of CORSO down a panelled corridor and stops

outside a heavy wooden door.

SECRETARY (cont.): You have thirty minutes.

She knocks on the door and opens it.

60. KESSLER BUILDING: OFFICE, LIBRARY INT/DAY

A spacious room filled with luxuriant potted plants. Beside the

window, a large desk. covered with papers and books, some of them

open. CORSO follows the SECRETARY in. BARONESS KESSLER, an

elegant little white-haired old lady with a Hermes scarf draped

around her shoulders, turns her electric wheelchair to face him.

She speaks with a pronounced German accent.

BARONESS KESSLER: Mr. Corso? Come in. I've heard a great deal

about you.

She approaches with her left hand extended. We see that her right

arm has been amputated at the elbow.,

CORSO:
Nothing good, I hope.

They shake hands.

BARONESS KESSLER (to the SECRETARY): Merci, Simone (to CORSO):

You hope right.

The SECRETARY exits, closing the door behind her.

CORSO (dryly.):
I'm reassured, Baroness. In my trade, to be

spoken well of can be professionally disastrous.

He surveys the room. Visible through some open double doors on

the right is a vast library. He focuses on it. BARONESS KESSLER

follows the direction of his gaze.

BARONESS KESSLER: Yes, there it is: the Kessler Collection.

CORSO:
Very impressive too. I know your catalog almost by heart.

BARONESS KESSLER: Strange we haven't met before. Your name is a

byword among dealers and collectors but I imagine you know your

own reputation better than I do.

CORSO:
It keeps the wolf from the door. (smiles to change the

subject) Were you in the middle of something?

BARONESS KESSLER beckons him over to the desk. CORSO looks at the

array of books and papers. An elegant fountain pen lies on top of

some handwritten notes.

BARONESS KESSLER: My latest work: 'The Devil: History and Myth' -

a kind of biography. It will be published early next year.

CORSO:
Why the Devil?

BARONESS KESSLER (laughs): I saw him one day. I was fifteen years

old, and I saw him as plain as I see you now: cutaway, top hat,

cane. Very elegant, very handsome. It was love at first sight.

COP.SO chuckles, doing his best to charm the old lady.

CORSO:
Three hundred years ago they'd have burned you at the

stake for saying that.

BARONESS KESSLER: Three hundred years ago I wouldn't have said

it.

They both laugh.

BARONESS KESSLER (cont.) Nor would I have made a million by

writing about it. (abruptly businesslike) What is it you wish to

discuss, Mr. Corso?

COP.SO (adjusts his glasses): There's a book in your collection

I'd like to examine.

She smiles as if that were already obvious.

COP.SO (cont.):
It's 'The Book of the Nine Gates of the Kingdom

of Shadows'.

BARONESS KESSLER (unsurprised): The Nine Gates? An interesting

work. Everyone's been asking about it lately.

CORSO (stiffens almost imperceptibly): Really?

BARONESS KESSLER eyes him for a moment.

BARONESS KESSLER: Come with me.

Swinging her wheelchair around, she steers it toward the double

doors and into the library beyond them. CORSO follows.

CORSO (cont.):
You really believe in the Devil, Baroness?

BARONESS KESSLER: Enough to devote my life and my library to him,

not to mention many years of work. Don't you?

CORSO:
Everyone's been asking me that lately.

BARONESS KESSLER looks mildly amused. She sends her wheelchair

gliding over to a bookshelf and removes the third copy of 'The

Nine Gates'.

BARONESS KESSLER: This book demands a certain amount of faith.

CORSO:
My faith is in short supply.

They both go over to a small table in the centre of the room.

BARONESS KESSLER opens the book and turns a few pages. There are

handwritten slips of paper inserted throughout.

BARONESS KESSLER: I know this book extremely well. I studied it

for years.

CORSO:
Do you have any doubts about its authenticity?

BARONESS KESSLER (glances at him suspiciously): None whatever.

CORSO:
You're sure?

BARONESS KESSLER: My knowledge of this book is profound. 1 wrote

a biography of its author.

CORSO:
Aristide Torchia?

BARONESS KESSLER: A courageous man. He died for the sake of this

very book in 1623. He had spent many years in Prague, a centre of

the occult. While there he studied the black arts and acquired a

copy of the dread 'Delomelanicon'. This is his adaptation of that

work, which was written by Lucifer himself. After they burned him

at the stake, a secret society was founded to perpetuate its

memory and preserve its secrets: the Brotherhood.

CORSO:
The Brotherhood?

BARONESS KESSLER: Yes, a kind of witches' coven. For centuries

they have met to read from this book and worship the Prince of

Darkness. Today they've degenerated into a social club for bored

millionaires. I myself belonged to the Brotherhood many years

ago, but time is too precious at my age. I told them to go to the

Devil. She titters at her own little joke.

CORSO:
They still meet?

BARONESS CORSO:
Every year.

CORSO:
And you say they read from this book?

He stares from the book to BARONESS KESSLER.

BARONESS KESSLER: No, I took mine back when Liana Telfer acquired

the one in Toledo. Victor Fargas is an unbeliever - he has always

refused to participate, so naturally they use the Telfer copy.

Not that it has ever worked. (pause) They never do, to be honest.

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