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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:33:57 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10135-0.txt b/10135-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7cb7f7e --- /dev/null +++ b/10135-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8924 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10135 *** + +THE READERS'S LIBRARY + +THE GREAT ENGLISH SHORT-STORY WRITERS + +VOL. I + +WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS BY + +WILLIAM J. DAWSON AND CONINGSBY W. DAWSON + +MCMX + + + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + +To the publishers and authors who have courteously permitted the use +of copyrighted material in these two volumes, a word of grateful +acknowledgment is hereby given by the editors. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. + + + I. THE EVOLUTION OF THE SHORT-STORY + + II. THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL. By Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) + + III. THE MYSTERIOUS BRIDE. By James Hogg (1770-1835) + + IV. THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER. By Washington Irving (1783-1859) + + V. DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT. By Nathaniel Hawthorne (1807-1864) + + VI. THE PURLOINED LETTER. By Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) + + VII. RAB AND HIS FRIENDS. By Dr. John Brown (1810-1882) + +VIII. THE BOOTS AT THE HOLLY-TREE INN. By Charles Dickens (1812-1870) + + IX. A STORY OF SEVEN DEVILS. By Frank R. Stockton. (1834-1902) + + X. A DOG'S TALE. By Mark Twain (1835) + + XI. THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT. By Bret Harte (1839-1902) + + XII. THE THREE STRANGERS. By Thomas Hardy (1840) + +XIII. JULIA BRIDE. By Henry James (1843) + + XIV. A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT. By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) + +INDEX + + + + +The Evolution of the Short-Story + + +I + +The short-story commenced its career as a verbal utterance, or, as +Robert Louis Stevenson puts it, with "the first men who told their +stories round the savage camp-fire." + +It bears the mark of its origin, for even to-day it is true that the +more it creates the illusion of the speaking-voice, causing the reader +to listen and to see, so that he forgets the printed page, the better +does it accomplish its literary purpose. It is probably an instinctive +appreciation of this fact which has led so many latter-day writers +to narrate their short-stories in dialect. In a story which is +communicated by the living voice our attention is held primarily not +by the excellent deposition of adjectives and poise of style, but by +the striding progress of the plot; it is the plot, and action in the +plot, alone which we remember when the combination of words which +conveyed and made the story real to us has been lost to mind. "Crusoe +recoiling from the foot-print, Achilles shouting over against the +Trojans, Ulysses bending the great bow, Christian running with his +fingers in his ears; these are each culminating moments, and each has +been printed on the mind's eye for ever."[1] + +[Footnote 1: A Gossip on Romance, from _Memories and Portraits_, by +R.L. Stevenson.] + +The secondary importance of the detailed language in which an incident +is narrated, when compared with the total impression made by the +naked action contained in the incident, is seen in the case of +ballad poetry, where a man may retain a vivid mental picture of the +localities, atmosphere, and dramatic moments created by Coleridge's +_Ancient Mariner_, or Rossetti's _White Ship_, and yet be quite +incapable of repeating two consecutive lines of the verse. In +literature of narration, whether prose or verse, the dramatic worth of +the action related must be the first consideration. + +In earlier days, when much of the current fiction was not written +down, but travelled from mouth to mouth, as it does in the Orient +to-day, this fact must have been realized--that, in the short-story, +plot is superior to style. Among modern writers, however, there has +been a growing tendency to make up for scantiness of plot by +high literary workmanship; the result has been in reality not a +short-story, but a descriptive sketch or vignette, dealing chiefly +with moods and landscapes. So much has this been the case that the +writer of a recent _Practical Treatise on the Art of the Short-Story_ +has found it necessary to make the bald statement that "the first +requisite of a short-story is that the writer have a story to +tell."[2] + +[Footnote 2: _Short-Story Writing_, by Charles Raymond Barrett.] + +However lacking the stories which have come down to us from ancient +times may be in technique, they invariably narrate action--they have +something to tell. If they had not done so, they would not have been +interesting to the men who first heard them, and, had they not been +interesting, they would not have survived. Their paramount worth in +this respect of _action_ is proved by the constant borrowings which +modern writers have made from them. Take one case in illustration. In +the twenty-eighth chapter of Aristotle's _Secretum Secretorum_ appears +a story in which "a queen of India is said to have treacherously sent +to Alexander, among other costly presents, the pretended testimonies +of friendship, a girl of exquisite beauty, who, having been fed with +serpents from her infancy, partook of their nature." It comes to light +again, in an altered and expanded form, in the _Gesta Romanorum_, as +the eleventh tale, being entitled _Of the Poison of Sin_. + +"Alexander was a prince of great power, and a disciple of Aristotle, +who instructed him in every branch of learning. The Queen of the +North, having heard of his proficiency, nourished her daughter from +the cradle upon a certain kind of deadly poison; and when she grew up, +she was considered so beautiful, that the sight of her alone affected +many to madness. The queen sent her to Alexander to espouse. He had no +sooner beheld her than he became violently enamoured, and with much +eagerness desired to possess her; but Aristotle, observing his +weakness, said: 'Do not touch her, for if you do, you will certainly +perish. She has been nurtured upon the most deleterious food, which +I will prove to you immediately. Here is a malefactor who is already +condemned to death. He shall be united to her, and you shall soon see +the truth of what I advance.' + +"Accordingly the culprit was brought without delay to the girl; +and scarcely had he touched her lips, before his whole frame was +impregnated with poison, and he expired. Alexander, glad at his escape +from such imminent destruction, bestowed all thanks on his instructor, +and returned the girl to her mother." + +After which follows the monkish application of the moral, as long as +the entire story: Alexander being made to stand for a good Christian; +the Queen of the North for "a superfluity of the things of life, which +sometimes destroys the spirit, and generally the body"; the Poison +Maid for luxury and gluttony, "which feed men with delicacies that +are poison to the soul"; Aristotle for conscience and reason, which +reprove and oppose any union which would undo the soul; and the +malefactor for the evil man, disobedient unto his God. + +There have been at least three writers of English fiction who, +borrowing this germ-plot from the _Gesta Romanorum_, have handled it +with distinction and originality. Nathaniel Hawthorne, having changed +its period and given it an Italian setting, wove about it one of +the finest and most imaginative of his short-stories, _Rappaccini's +Daughter_. Oliver Wendell Holmes, with a freshness and vigor all his +own, developed out of it his fictional biography of _Elsie Venner_. +And so recent a writer as Mr. Richard Garnett, attracted by the subtle +and magic possibilities of the conception, has given us yet another +rendering, restoring to the story its classic setting, in _The +Poison Maid_.[3] Thus, within the space of a hundred years, three +master-craftsmen have found their inspiration in the slender anecdote +which Aristotle, in the opulence of his genius, was content to hurry +into a few sentences and bury beneath the mass of his material. + +[Footnote 3: Vide _The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales_, +published by John Lane, 1903.] + + +II + +Probably the first stories of mankind were _true stories_, but the +true story is rarely good art. It is perhaps for this reason that few +true stories of early times have come down to us. Mr. Cable, in his +_Strange True Stories of Louisiana_, explains the difference between +the fabricated tale and the incident as it occurs in life. "The +relations and experiences of real men and women," he writes, "rarely +fall in such symmetrical order as to make an artistic whole. Until +they have had such treatment as we give stone in the quarry or gems in +the rough, they seldom group themselves with that harmony of values +and brilliant unity of interest that result when art comes in--not +so much to transcend nature as to make nature transcend herself." In +other words, it is not until the true story has been converted into +fiction by the suppression of whatever is discursive or ungainly, +and the addition of a stroke of fantasy, that it becomes integral, +balanced in all its parts, and worthy of literary remembrance. + +In the fragments of fiction which have come down to us from the days +when books were not, odd chapters from the Fieldings and Smollets of +the age of Noah, remnants of the verbal libraries which men repeated +one to the other, squatting round "the savage camp-fire," when +the hunt was over and night had gathered, the stroke of fantasy +predominates and tends to comprise the whole. Men spun their fictions +from the materials with which their minds were stored, much as we do +to-day, and the result was a cycle of beast-fables--an Odyssey of the +brute creation. Of these the tales of Aesop are the best examples. The +beast-fable has never quite gone out of fashion, and never will so +long as men retain their world-wonder, and childishness of mind. +A large part of Gulliver's adventures belong to this class of +literature. It was only the other day that Mr. Kipling gave us his +_Just-so Stories_, and his _Jungle-Book_, each of which found an +immediate and secure place in the popular memory. + +Mr. Chandler Harris, in his introduction to _Uncle Remus_, warns us +that however humorous his book may appear, "its intention is perfectly +serious." He goes on to insist on its historic value, as a revelation +of primitive modes of thought. At the outset, when he wrote his +stories serially for publication in _The Atlanta Constitution_, he +believed that he was narrating plantation legends peculiar to the +South. He was quickly undeceived. Prof. J.W. Powell, who was engaged +in an investigation of the mythology of the North American Indians, +informed him that some of Uncle Remus's stories appear "in a number of +different languages, and in various modified forms among the Indians." +Mr. Herbert H. Smith had "met with some of these stories among tribes +of South American Indians, and one in particular he had traced to +India, and as far east as Siam." "When did the negro or North American +Indian ever come in contact with the tribes of South America?" +Mr. Harris asks. And he quotes Mr. Smith's reply in answer to the +question: "I am not prepared to form a theory about these stories. +There can be no doubt that some of them, found among the negroes and +the Indians, had a common origin. The most natural solution would be +to suppose that they originated in Africa, and were carried to South +America by the negro slaves. They are certainly found among the Red +Negroes; but, unfortunately for the African theory, it is equally +certain that they are told by savage Indians of the Amazon's Valley, +away up on the Tapajos, Red Negro, and Tapura. These Indians hardly +ever see a negro.... It is interesting to find a story from Upper +Egypt (that of the fox who pretended to be dead) identical with an +Amazonian story, and strongly resembling one found by you among the +negroes.... One thing is certain. The animal stories told by the +negroes in our Southern States and in Brazil were brought by them +from Africa. Whether they originated there, or with the Arabs, or +Egyptians, or with yet more ancient nations, must still be an open +question. Whether the Indians got them from the negroes or from some +earlier source is equally uncertain." Whatever be the final solution +to this problem, enough has been said to show that the beast-fable is, +in all probability, the most primitive form of short-story which we +possess. + + +III + +For our purpose, that of tracing the evolution of the English +short-story, its history commences with the _Gesta Romanorum_. At the +authorship of this collection of mediaeval tales, many guesses have +been made. Nothing is known with certainty; it seems probable, +however, judging from the idioms which occur, that it took its present +form in England, about the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of +the fourteenth century, and thence passed to the Continent. The work +is written in Latin, and was evidently compiled by a man in holy +orders, for its guiding purpose is to edify. In this we can trace the +influence of Aesop's beast-fables, which were moral lessons drawn from +the animal creation for the instruction of mankind. Every chapter of +the _Gesta Romanorum_ consists of a moral tale; so much so that in +many cases the application of the moral is as long as the tale itself. + +The title of the collection, _The Deeds of the Romans_, is scarcely +justified; in the main it is a garnering of all the deathless plots +and dramatic motives which we find scattered up and down the ages, in +the legend and folklore of whatsoever nation. The themes of many of +its stories were being told, their characters passing under other +names, when Romulus and Remus were suckled by their wolf-mother, +before there was a Roman nation or a city named Rome. + +In the Bible we have many admirable specimens of the short-story. +Jotham's parable of the trees of the wood choosing a king is as good +an instance of the nature-fable, touched with fine irony and humor, as +could be found. The Hebrew prophet himself was often a story-teller. +Thus, when Nathan would bring home the nature of his guilt to David, +he does it by a story of the most dramatic character, which loses +nothing, and indeed gains all its terrific impact, by being strongly +impregnated with moral passion. Many such instances will occur to +the student of the Bible. In the absence of a written or printed +literature the story-teller had a distinct vocation, as he still has +among the peoples of the East. Every visitor to Tangier has seen in +the market-place the professional story-teller, surrounded from morn +till night with his groups of attentive listeners, whose kindling +eyes, whose faces moved by every emotion of wonder, anger, tenderness, +and sympathy, whose murmured applause and absorbed silence, are the +witnesses and the reward of his art. Through such a scene we recover +the atmosphere of the Arabian Nights, and indeed look back into almost +limitless antiquity. Possibly, could we follow the story which is thus +related, we might discover that this also drew its elemental incidents +from sources as old as the times of Jotham and Nathan. + +The most that can be said for the Latin origin of the _Gesta +Romanorum_ is that the nucleus is made up of extracts, frequently of +glaring inaccuracy, from Roman writers and historians. The Cologne +edition comprises one hundred and eighty-one chapters, each consisting +of a tale or anecdote followed by a moral application, commencing +formally with the words, "My beloved, the prince is intended to +represent any good Christian," or, "My beloved, the emperor is Christ; +the soldier is any sinner." They are not so much short-stories as +illustrated homilies. In the literary armory of the lazy parish priest +of the fourteenth century, the _Gesta Romanorum_ must have held the +place which volumes of sermon-outlines occupy upon the book-shelves of +certain of his brethren to-day. + +"The method of instructing by fables is a practice of remote +antiquity; and has always been attended with very considerable +benefit. Its great popularity encouraged the monks to adopt this +medium, not only for the sake of illustrating their discourses, but of +making a more durable impression upon the minds of their illiterate +auditors. An abstract argument, or logical deduction (had they been +capable of supplying it), would operate but faintly upon intellects +rendered even more obtuse by the rude nature of their customary +employments; while, on the other hand, an apposite story would arouse +attention and stimulate that blind and unenquiring devotion which is +so remarkably characteristic of the Middle Ages."[4] + +[Footnote 4: Introduction to _Gesta Romanorum_, translated by the Rev. +Charles Swan, revised and corrected by Wynnard Hooper, B.A.] + +IV + + +The influence of the _Gesta Romanorum_ is most conspicuously to be +traced in the work of Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate; but it has +served as a source of inspiration to the flagging ingenuity of each +succeeding generation. It would be tedious to enter on an enumeration +of the various indebtednesses of English literature to these early +tales. A few instances will serve as illustration. + +It seems a far cry from the _The Ingoldsby Legends_ to _The Deeds of +the Romans_, nevertheless _The Leech of Folk-stone_ was directly taken +from the hundred and second tale, _Of the Transgressions and Wounds of +the Soul_. Shakespeare himself was a frequent borrower, and planned +his entire play of _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_, upon the hundred +and fifty-third tale, _Of Temporal Tribulation_. In some cases the +language is almost identical, as for instance in the fifth tale, where +the king warns his son, saying, "Son, I tell thee that thou canst +not confide in her, and consequently ought not to espouse her. _She +deceived her own father when she liberated thee from prison_; for this +did her father lose the price of thy ransom." Compare with this: + + "Look to her, Moor; have a quick eye to see; + _She has deceived her father, and may thee_."[5] + +[Footnote 5: _Othello_, act I, scene III.] + +But the ethical treatment of the short-story, as exemplified in these +monkish fables, handicapped its progress and circumscribed its field +of endeavor. Morality necessitated the twisting of incidents, so that +they might harmonize with the sermonic summing-up that was in view. +Life is not always moral; it is more often perplexing, boisterous, +unjust, and flippant. The wicked dwell in prosperity. "There are no +pangs in their death; their strength is firm. They are not in trouble +as other men; neither are they plagued as other men. They have more +than heart could wish." But the art of the teller of tales "is +occupied, and bound to be occupied not so much in making stories true +as in making them typical."[6] + +[Footnote 6: From a Humble Remonstrance, in _Memories and Portraits_, +by R.L. Stevenson.] + +The ethical method of handling fiction falls between two stools; it +not only fails in portraying that which is true for the individual, +but it incurs the graver error of ceasing to be true to the race, +i.e., typical. + +It would be interesting, had we space, to follow Shakespeare in his +borrowings, noticing what he adopts and incorporates in his work +as artistically true, and what he rejects. Like a water-color +landscape-painter, he pauses above the box of crude materials which +others have made, takes a dab here and a dab there with his brush, +rarely takes all of one color, blends them, eyes the result +judicially, and flashes in the combination with swiftness and +certainty of touch. + +For instance, from the lengthy story which appears as the hundred and +first tale in Mr. Douce's edition of the _Gesta_, he selects but one +scene of action, yet it is the making of _Macbeth_--one would almost +suppose that this was the germ-thought which kindled his furious +fancy, preceding his discovery of the Macbeth tradition as related in +Holinshed's _Chronicle_.[7] + +[Footnote 7: _The Chronicle of England and Scotland_, first published +in 1577.] + +The Emperor Manelay has set forth to the Holy Land, leaving his +empress and kingdom in his brother's care. No sooner has he gone than +the regent commences to make love to his brother's wife. She rejects +him scornfully. Angered by her indignation, he leads her into a forest +and hangs her by the hair upon a tree, leaving her there to starve. +As good-fortune will have it, on the third day a noble earl comes by, +and, finding her in that condition, releases her, takes her home with +him, and makes her governess to his only daughter. A feeling of shame +causes her to conceal her noble rank, and so it comes about that the +earl's steward aspires to her affection. Her steadfast refusal of all +his advances turns his love to hatred, so that he plans to bring about +her downfall. Then comes the passage which Shakespeare seized upon +as vital: "It befell upon a night that the earl's chamber door was +forgotten and left unshut, which the steward had anon perceived; and +when they were all asleep he went and espied the light of the lamp +where the empress and the young maid lay together, and with that he +drew out his knife and cut the throat of the earl's daughter and put +the knife into the empress's hand, she being asleep, and nothing +knowing thereof, to the intent that when the earl awakened he should +think that she had cut his daughter's throat, and so would she be put +to a shameful death for his mischievous deed." + +The laws of immediateness and concentration, which govern the +short-story, are common also to the drama; by reason of their brevity +both demand a directness of approach which leads up, without break of +sequence or any waste of words, through a dependent series of actions +to a climax which is final. It will usually be found in studying the +borrowings which the masters have made from such sources as the _Gesta +Romanorum_ that the portions which they have discriminated as worth +taking from any one tale have been the only artistically essential +elements which the narrative contains; the remainder, which they +have rejected, is either untrue to art or unnecessary to the plot's +development. + +These tales, as told by their monkish compiler, lack "that harmony of +values and brilliant unity of interest that results when art comes +in"--they are splendid jewels badly cut. + + +V + +As has been already stated, a short-story theme, however fine, can +only be converted into good art by the suppression of whatever is +discursive or ungainly, so that it becomes integral and balanced in +all its parts; and by the addition of a stroke of fantasy, so that it +becomes vast, despite its brevity, implying a wider horizon than it +actually describes; but, in excess of these qualities, there is a last +of still greater importance, without which it fails--_the power to +create the impression of having been possible_. + +Now the beast-fable, as handled by Aesop, falls short of being high +art by reason of its overwhelming fantasy, which annihilates all +chance of its possibility. The best short-stories represent a struggle +between fantasy and fact. And the mediaeval monkish tale fails by +reason of the discursiveness and huddling together of incidents, +without regard to their dramatic values, which the moral application +necessitates. In a word, both are deficient in technique--the +concealed art which, when it has combined its materials so that they +may accomplish their most impressive effect, causes the total result +to command our credulity because it seems typical of human experience. + +The technique of the English prose short-story had a tardy evolution. +That there were any definite laws, such as obtain in poetry, by +which it must abide was not generally realized until Edgar Allan Poe +formulated them in his criticism of Nathaniel Hawthorne. + +As he states them, they are five in number, as follows: Firstly, that +the short-story must be short, i.e., capable of being read at one +sitting, in order that it may gain "the immense force derivable +from _totality_." Secondly, that the short-story must possess +_immediateness_; it should aim at a single or unique effect--"if the +very initial sentence tend not to the outbringing of this effect, then +it has failed in its first step." Thirdly, that the short-story must +be subjected to _compression_; "in the whole composition there should +not be one word written of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is +not to the one pre-established design." Fourthly, that it must assume +the aspect of _verisimilitude_; "truth is often, and in very great +degree, the aim of the tale--some of the finest tales are tales +of ratiocination." Fifthly, that it must give the impression of +_finality_; the story, and the interest in the characters which it +introduces, must begin with the opening sentence and end with the +last. + +These laws, and the technique which they formulate, were first +discovered and worked out for the short-story in the medium of +poetry.[8] The ballad and narrative poem must be, by reason of their +highly artificial form, comparatively short, possessing totality, +immediateness, compression, verisimilitude, and finality. The old +ballad which commemorates the battle of Otterbourne, fought on August +10, 1388, is a fine example of the short-story method. Its opening +stanza speaks the last word in immediateness of narration: + + "It felle abowght the Lamasse tyde, + When husbands wynn ther haye, + The dowghtye Dowglasse bowynd hym to ryde + In England to take a praye." + +[Footnote 8: Poe himself implies this when he says, in an earlier +passage of his essay on Hawthorne: "The Tale Proper" (i.e., +short-story), "in my opinion, affords unquestionably the fairest field +for the exercise of the loftiest talent which can be afforded by the +wide domains of mere prose. Were I bidden to say how the highest +genius could be most advantageously employed for the best display +of its own powers, I should answer, without hesitation, in the +composition of a rhymed poem, not to exceed in length what might be +perused in an hour. Within this limit alone can the highest order of +true poetry exist. I need only here say, upon this topic, that in +almost all classes of composition the unity of effect or impression +is a point of the greatest importance. _It is clear_, moreover, _that +this unity cannot be thoroughly preserved in productions whose perusal +cannot be completed at one sitting_."] + +Thomas Hood's poem of _The Dream of Eugene Aram_, written at a time +when the prose short-story, under the guidance of Hawthorne and Poe, +was just beginning to take its place as a separate species of literary +art, has never been surpassed for short-story technique by any of the +practitioners of prose. Prof. Brander Matthews has pointed out that +"there were nine muses in Greece of old, and no one of these daughters +of Apollo was expected to inspire the writer of prose-fiction."[9] + +[Footnote 9: In his introduction to _Materials and Methods of +Fiction_, by Clayton Hamilton, published by the Baker & Taylor Co., +New York.] + +He argues from this that "prose seemed to the Greeks, and even to the +Latins who followed in their footsteps, as fit only for pedestrian +purposes." It is more probable that, as regards prose-fiction, they +did not realize that they were called upon to explain the omission of +the tenth muse. Her exclusion was based on no reasoned principle, but +was due to a sensuous art-instinct: the Greeks felt that the unnatural +limitations of the poetic medium were more in keeping with the +unnatural[10] brevity of a story which must be short. The exquisite +prose tales which have been handed down to us belong to the age of +their decadence as a nation; in their great period their tellers of +brief tales unconsciously cast their rendering in the poetic mould.[11] +In natures of the highest genius the most arduous is instinctively the +favorite task. + +[Footnote 10: "The short-story is artificial, and to a considerable +degree unnatural. It could hardly be otherwise, for it takes out of +our complex lives a single person or a single incident and treats +that as if it were complete in itself. Such isolation is not known +to nature."--Page 22 of _Short-Story Writing_, by Charles Raymond +Barrett, published by the Baker & Taylor Co., New York.] + +[Footnote 11: For example, the story told by Demodocus of _The +Illicit Love of Ares for Aphrodite, and the Revenge which Hephaestus +Planned_--Odyssey, Bk. VIII.] + +Chaucer, by reason of his intimate acquaintance with both the poetry +and prose-fiction of Boccaccio, had the opportunity to choose between +these two mediums of short-story narration; and he chose the former. +He was as familiar with Boccaccio's poetic method, as exemplified +in the _Teseide_, as with his prose, as exemplified at much greater +length in the _Decameron_, for he borrowed from them both. Yet in only +two instances in the _Canterbury Tales_ does he relapse into prose. + +The _Teseide_ in Chaucer's hands, retaining its poetic medium, is +converted into the _Knight's Tale_; while the _Reeve's Tale_, the +_Franklin's_, and the _Shipman's_, each borrowed from the prose +version of the _Decameron_, are given by him a poetic setting. This +preference for poetry over prose as a medium for short-story narration +cannot have been accidental or unreasoned on his part; nor can it be +altogether accounted for by the explanation that "he was by nature a +poet," for he _did_ experiment with the prose medium to the extent of +using it twice. He had the brilliant and innovating precedent of +the _Decameron_, and yet, while adopting some of its materials, he +abandoned its medium. He was given the opportunity of ante-dating the +introduction of technique into the English prose short-story by four +hundred and fifty years, and he disregarded it almost cavalierly. How +is such wilful neglect to be accounted for? Only by his instinctive +feeling that the technique, which Boccaccio had applied in the +_Decameron_, belonged by right to the realm of poetry, had been +learned in the practising of the poetic art, and could arrive at its +highest level of achievement only in that medium. + +That in Chaucer's case this choice was justified cannot be disputed; +the inferiority of the short-story technique contained in his two +prose efforts, when compared with that displayed in the remainder +of the _Canterbury Tales_, is very marked. Take, for instance, +the _Prioress' Tale_ and apply to it the five short-story tests +established by Poe, as a personal discovery, four and a half centuries +later; it survives them all. It attains, in addition, the crowning +glory, coveted by Stevenson, of appearing _typical_. There may never +have been a Christian child who was martyred by the Jews in the +particularly gruesome way described--probably there never was; but, in +listening to the Prioress, it does not enter into our heads to doubt +her word--the picture which she leaves with us of how the Christian +regarded the Jew in the Middle Ages is too vivid to allow any +breathing-space for incredulity. No knowledge of mediaeval anti-Jewish +legislation, however scholarly, can bring us to realize the fury of +race-hatred which then existed more keenly than this story of a little +over two thousand words. By its perusal we gain an illuminating +insight into that ill-directed religious enthusiasm which led men on +frenzied quests for the destruction of the heretic in their own land +and of the Saracen abroad, causing them to become at one and the same +time unjust and heroic. In a word, within the compass of three hundred +lines of verse, Chaucer contrives to body forth his age--to give us +something which is _typical_. + +The _Morte D'Arthur_ of Malory is again a collection of traditional +stories, as is the _Gesta Romanorum_, and not the creative work of a +single intellect. As might be expected, it straggles, and overlays its +climax with a too-lavish abundance of incidents; it lacks the +_harmony of values_ which results from the introduction of a unifying +purpose--_i.e_., of art. Imaginative and full of action though the +books of the _Morte D'Arthur_ are, it remained for the latter-day +artist to exhaust their individual incidents of their full dramatic +possibilities. From the eyes of the majority of modern men the +brilliant quality of their magic was concealed, until it had +been disciplined and refashioned by the severe technique of the +short-story. + +By the eighteenth century the influence of Malory was scarcely felt +at all; but his imaginativeness, as interpreted by Tennyson, in +_The Idylls of the King_, and by William Morris, in his _Defence +of Guinevere_, has given to the Anglo-Saxon world a new romantic +background for its thoughts. _The Idylls of the King_ are not +Tennyson's most successful interpretation. The finest example of his +superior short-story craftsmanship is seen in the triumphant use which +he makes of the theme contained in _The Book of Elaine_, in his poem +of _The Lady of Shalott_. Not only has he remodelled and added fantasy +to the story, but he has threaded it through with _atmosphere_--an +entirely modern attribute, of which more must be said hereafter. + +So much for our contention that the laws and technique of the prose +short-story, as formulated by Poe, were first instinctively discovered +and worked out in the medium of poetry. + + +VI + +"_The Golden Ass_ of Apuleius is, so to say, a beginning of modern +literature. From this brilliant medley of reality and romance, of wit +and pathos, of fantasy and observation, was born that new art, +complex in thought, various in expression, which gives a semblance of +frigidity to perfection itself. An indefatigable youthfulness is its +distinction."[12] + +[Footnote 12: From the introduction, by Charles Whibley, to the Tudor +Translations' edition by W.E. Henley, of _The Golden Ass of Apuleius_, +published by David Nutt, London, 1893. All other quotations bearing +upon Apuleius are taken from the same source.] + +_An indefatigable youthfulness_ was also the prime distinction of the +Elizabethan era's writings and doings; it was fitting that such a +period should have witnessed the first translation into the English +language of this Benjamin of a classic literature's old age. + +Apuleius was an unconventional cosmopolitan in that ancient world +which he so vividly portrays; he was a barbarian by birth, a Greek by +education, and wrote his book in the Romans' language. In his use +of luminous slang for literary purposes he was Rudyard Kipling's +prototype. + +"He would twist the vulgar words of every-day into quaint unheard-of +meanings, nor did he deny shelter to those loafers and footpads of +speech which inspire the grammarian with horror. On every page you +encounter a proverb, a catchword, a literary allusion, a flagrant +redundancy. One quality only was distasteful to him--the commonplace." + +There are other respects in which we can trace Mr. Kipling's likeness: +in his youthful precocity--he was twenty-five when he wrote his +_Metamorphoses_; in his daring as an innovator; in his manly +stalwartness in dealing with the calamities of life; in his +adventurous note of world-wideness and realistic method of handling +the improbable and uncanny. + +Like all great artists, he was a skilful borrower from the literary +achievements of a bygone age; and so successfully does he borrow that +we prefer his copy to the original. The germ-idea of Kipling's _Finest +Story in the World_ is to be found in Poe's _Tale of the Ragged +Mountains_; Apuleius's germ-plot, of the man who was changed by +enchantment into an ass, and could only recover his human shape by +eating rose-leaves, was taken either from Lucian or from Lucius +of Patrae. In at least three of his interpolations he remarkably +foreshadows the prose short-story method, upon which we are wont to +pride ourselves as being a unique discovery of the past eight decades: +these are _Bellepheron's Story; The Story of Cupid and Psyche_, one of +the most exquisite both in form and matter in any language or age; and +the story of _The Deceitful Woman and the Tub_, which Boccaccio made +use of in his _Decameron_ as the second novel for the seventh day. + +In the intense and visual quality of the atmosphere with which he +pervades his narrative he has no equal among the writers of English +prose-fiction until Sir Walter Scott appears. "Apuleius has enveloped +his world of marvels in a heavy air of witchery and romance. You +wander with Lucius across the hills and through the dales of Thessaly. +With all the delight of a fresh curiosity you approach its far-seen +towns. You journey at midnight under the stars, listening in terror +for the howling of the wolves or the stealthy ambush. At other whiles +you sit in the robbers' cave and hear the ancient legends of Greece +retold. The spring comes on, and 'the little birds chirp and sing +their steven melodiously.' Secret raids, ravished brides, valiant +rescues, the gayest intrigues--these are the diverse matters of this +many-colored book." + +But as a short-story writer he shares the failing of all his English +brothers in that art, until James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, penned +his tales--namely, that his short-stories do not stand apart, as +things total in themselves, but are woven into a larger narrative by +whose proportions they are dwarfed, so that their true completeness is +disguised. "He cares not how he loiters by the way; he is always ready +to beguile his reader with a Milesian story--one of those quaint and +witty interludes which have travelled the world over and become part, +not merely of every literature, but of every life." It is to three of +these chance loiterings of this Kipling of Rome in its decadence that +we owe the famous stories alluded to above. + +To the Elizabethan period belong the most masterly translations of +which the English language is possessed; and this not by virtue of +their accuracy and scholarship, but because, to use Doctor Johnson's +words, the translator "exhibits his author's thoughts in such a dress +as the author would have given them had his language been English." +That same "indefatigable youthfulness" which converted courtiers into +sailors and despatched them into unknown seas to ransack new worlds, +urged men of the pen to seek out and to pillage, with an equal ardor +of adventure, the intellectual wealth of their contemporaries in other +lands and the buried and forgotten stores of the ancients upon their +own neighboring book-shelves. A universal and contagious curiosity +was abroad. To this age belong William Paynter's version of the +_Decameron_, entitled _The Palace of Pleasure_, 1566, from which +Shakespeare borrowed; Geoffrey Fenton's translation of Bandello's +_Tragical Discourses_, 1567; Sir Thomas North's rendering of +_Plutarch's Lives_, 1579; Thomas Underdowne's _Heliodorus_, 1587; +Thomas Shelton's _Don Quixote_, 1612; and others too numerous to +mention. It seems extraordinary at first sight that when such models +of advanced technique were set before them, Englishmen were so slow +to follow; for though Professor Baldwin is probably correct in his +analysis of the _Decameron_ when he states that, of the hundred tales, +over fifty are not much more than anecdotes, about forty are but +outlined plots, three follow the modern short-story method only part +way, and, of the hundred, two[13] alone are perfect examples, yet those +two perfect examples remained and were capable of imitation. The +explanation of this neglect is, perhaps, that the Elizabethans were +too busy originating to find time for copying; they were very willing +to borrow ideas, but must be allowed to develop them in their own +way--usually along dramatic lines for stage purposes, because this was +at that time the most financially profitable. + +[Footnote 13: The second novel of the second day, and the sixth of the +ninth day.] + + +VII + +The blighting influence of constitutional strife and intestine war +which followed in the Stuarts' reigns turned the serious artist's +thoughts aside to grave and prophetic forms of literary utterance, +while writers of the frivolous sort devoted their talent to a +lighter and less sincere art than that of the short-story--namely, +court-poetry. It was an age of extremes which bred despair and +religious fervor in men of the Puritan party, as represented by Bunyan +and Milton, and conscious artificiality and mock heroics in those +of the Cavalier faction, as represented by Herrick and the Earl of +Rochester. + +The examples of semi-fictional prose which can be gathered from this +period serve only to illustrate how the short-story instinct, though +stifled, was still present. Isaak Walton as a diarist had it; Thomas +Fuller as an historian had it; John Bunyan as an ethical writer had +it. Each one was possessed of the short-story faculty, but only +manifested it, as it were, by accident. Not until Daniel Defoe and the +rise of the newspaper do we note any advance in technique. Defoe's +main contribution was the _short-story essay_, which stands midway +between the anecdote, or germ-plot, buried in a mass of extraneous +material, and the short-story proper. The growth of this form, as +developed by Swift, Steel, Addison, Goldsmith, and Lamb, has been +traced and criticised elsewhere.[14] It had this one great advantage +that, whatever its departures from the strict technique of the modern +short-story, it was capable of being read at one sitting, stood by +itself, and gained "the immense force derivable from _totality_." + +[Footnote 14: In the third chapter of _The Great English Essayists_, +vol. iii of _The Reader's Library_, published by Messrs. Harper & +Brothers, 1909.] + +In the _True Revelation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal_, Defoe +is again strangely in advance of his time, as he is in so many other +ways. Here is an almost perfect example of the most modern method of +handling a ghost-tale. Surely, in whatever department of literature +we seek, we shall find nothing to surpass it in the quality of +_verisimilitude_. The way in which Drelincourt's _Book on Death_ is +introduced and subsequently twice referred to is a master-stroke of +genius. In days gone by, before they were parted, we are told, Mrs. +Veal and Mrs. Bargrave "would often console each other's adverse +fortunes, and read together Drelincourt _On Death_ and other good +books." At the time when the story opens Mrs. Bargrave has gone to +live in Canterbury, and Mrs. Veal is in Dover. To Mrs. Bargrave in +Canterbury the apparition appears, though she does not know that it is +an apparition, for there is nothing to denote that it is not her old +friend still alive. One of the first things the apparition does is +"to remind Mrs. Bargrave of the many friendly offices she did her in +former days, and much of the conversation they had with each other in +the times of their adversity; what books they read, and what comfort +in particular they received from Drelincourt's _Book on Death_. +Drelincourt, she said, had the clearest notions of death and of the +future state of any who had handled that subject. Then she asked Mrs. +Bargrave whether she had Drelincourt. She said, 'Yes,' Says Mrs. Veal, +'Fetch it.' Some days after, when Mrs. Bargrave, having discovered +that the visitor was a ghost, has gone about telling her neighbors, +Defoe observes, 'Drelincourt's _Book on Death_ is, since this +happened, bought up strangely,'" + +This masterpiece of Defoe is before its time by a hundred years; +nothing can be found in the realm of the English prose short-story to +approach it in symmetry until the Ettrick Shepherd commenced to write. + +Of all the models of prose-fiction which the Tudor translations had +given to English literature, the first to be copied was that of +Cervantes's _Don Quixote_, rendered into English by Thomas Shelton in +1612. Swift must have had the rambling method of Cervantes well in +mind when he wrote his _Gulliver_; and Smollett confessedly took it as +his pattern and set out to imitate. The most that was required by such +a method in the way of initial construction was to select a hero, give +some account of his early history, from the day of his birth up to the +point where the true narrative commences, and then send him upon his +travels. Usually it was thought necessary to have a Sancho to act as +background to Don Quixote; thus Crusoe is given his Man Friday, Tom +Jones his Mr. Partridge, and Roderick Random his Strap; but this was +not always done, for both Gulliver and the hero of the _Sentimental +Journey_ set out on their journeyings unaccompanied. The story which +grew out of such a method usually consisted of a series of plots, +anecdotes, and incidents linked together only by the characters, and +governed by no unifying purpose which made each one a necessary and +ascending step toward a prearranged climax. These early novels are +often books of descriptive travel rather than novels in the modern +sense; the sole connection between their first incident and their last +being the long road which lies between them, and has been traversed +in the continual company of the same leading characters. Many of the +chapters, taken apart from their context, are short-story themes +badly handled. Some of them are mere interpolations introduced on +the flimsiest of excuses, which arrest the progress of the main +narrative--_i.e_., the travel--and give the author an opportunity to +use up some spare material which he does not know what to do with. +Such are "The Man of the Hill," in _Tom Jones_; "The History of +Melopoyn the Playwright" in _Roderick Random_; the "Memoirs of a Lady +of Quality," occupying fifty-three thousand words, in _Peregrine +Pickle_; "The Philosophic Vagabond," in the _Vicar of Wakefield_; +and "Wandering Willie's Tale," in _Redgauntlet_. The reason why +the eighteenth-century novelist did not know what to do with these +materials was, in certain cases, that he had discovered a true +short-story theme and was perplexed by it. He knew that it was +good--his artist's instinct made him aware of that; but somehow, to +his great bewilderment and annoyance, it refused to be expanded. So, +in order that it might not be entirely lost to him, he tied the little +boat on behind the great schooner of his main narration, and set them +afloat together. + +By the modern reader, whether of the short-story or the novel, +the lack of atmosphere and of immediateness in eighteenth-century +prose-fiction is particularly felt. There is no use made of +landscapes, moods, and the phenomena of nature; the story happens +at almost any season of the year. Of these things and their use the +modern short-story writer is meticulously careful. By how much would +the worth of Hardy's _The Three Strangers_ be diminished if the +description of the March rain driving across the Wessex moorland were +left out? Before he commences the story contained in _A Lodging for +the Night_, Stevenson occupies three hundred words in painting the +picture of Paris under snow. In the same way, in his story of _The Man +Who Would Be King_, Kipling is at great pains to make us burn with the +scorching heat which, in the popular mind, is associated with India. +For such effects you will search the prose-fiction of the eighteenth +century in vain; whereas the use of _atmosphere_ has been carried to +such extremes to-day by certain writers that the short-story in their +hands is in danger of becoming all atmosphere and no story. + +The impression created by the old technique, such as it was, when +contrasted with the new, when legitimately handled, is the difference +between reading a play and seeing it staged. + +As regards immediateness of narration, Laurence Sterne may, perhaps, +be pointed out as an example. But he is not immediate in the true +sense; he is abrupt, and this too frequently for his own sly +purposes--which have nothing to do with either technique or the +short-story. + +Most of the English short-stories, previous to those written by James +Hogg, are either prefaced with a biography of their main characters +or else the biography is made to do service as though it were a +plot--nothing is left to the imagination. Even in the next century, +when the short-story had come to be recognized in America, through the +example set by Hawthorne and Poe, as a distinct species of literary +art, the productions of British writers were too often nothing more +than compressed novels. In fact, it is true to say that there is more +of short-story technique in the short-story essays of Goldsmith and +Lamb than can be found in many of the brief tales of Dickens and +Anthony Trollope, which in their day passed muster unchallenged as +short-stories. + + +VIII + +But between the irrelevant brief story, interpolated in a larger +narrative, and the perfect short-story, which could not be expanded +and is total in itself, of Hawthorne and Poe, there stands the work +of a man who is little known in America, and by no means popular in +England, that of the Ettrick Shepherd, James Hogg. He was born in +Scotland, among the mountains of Ettrick and Yarrow, the son of a +shepherd. When he was but six years old he commenced to earn his +living as a cowherd, and by his seventh year had received all the +schooling which he was destined to have--two separate periods of three +months. Matthew Arnold, when accounting for the sterility of Gray as +a poet, says that throughout the first nine decades of the eighteenth +century, until the French Revolution roused men to generosity, "a +spiritual east wind was blowing." Hogg's early ignorance of letters +had at least this advantage, that it saved him from the blighting +intellectual influences of his age--left him unsophisticated, free +to find in all things matter for wonder, and to work out his mental +processes unprejudiced by a restraining knowledge of other men's +past achievements. In his eighteenth year he taught himself to read, +choosing as his text-books Henry the Minstrel's _Life and Adventures +of Sir William Wallace_ and the _Gentle Shepherd_ of Allan Ramsay. +Not until his twenty-sixth year did he acquire the art of penmanship, +which he learned "upon the hillside by copying the Italian alphabet, +using his knee as his desk, and having the ink-bottle suspended from +his button." During the next fourteen years he followed his shepherd's +calling, making it romantic with sundry more or less successful +attempts at authorship. He had reached his fortieth year before he +abandoned sheep-raising and journeyed to Edinburgh, there definitely +to adopt the literary career. He was by this time firm in his +philosophy of life and established in his modes of thought; whatever +else he might not be, among townsmen and persons of artificial +training, his very simplicity was sure to make him original. In his +forty-seventh year, having so far cast his most important work +into the poetic form, he contributed to _Blackwood's Magazine_ his +_Shepherd's Calendar_, followed in the same year by the publishing of +_The Brownie of Bodsbeck_; these were his first two serious excursions +into the realm of prose-fiction. From then on until his death, in +1835, he continued his efforts in this direction, pouring out a mass +of country-side tradition and fairy-folklore, amazing in its fantasy +and wealth of drama. + +For the imparting of _atmosphere_ to his stories, a talent so +conspicuously lacking not only in his predecessors, but also in many +of his contemporaries, he had a native faculty. The author of _Bonny +Kilmeny_ could scarcely fail in this respect, when he turned his +attention from poetry to prose. He had lived too close to nature to be +able ever to keep the green and silver of woods and rivers far from +his thoughts; they were the mirrors in which his fancy saw itself. +Professor Wilson, who had known him as a friend, writing of him in +_Blackwood's_ after his death, says: "Living for years in solitude, +he unconsciously formed friendships with the springs, the brooks, +the caves, the hills, and with all the more fleeting and faithless +pageantry of the sky, that to him came in place of those human +affections from whose indulgence he was debarred by the necessities +that kept him aloof from the cottage fire and up among the mists of +the mountain-top. The still green beauty of the pastoral hills and +vales where he passed his youth inspired him with ever-brooding +visions of fairyland, till, as he lay musing in his lonely shieling, +the world of fantasy seemed, in the clear depths of his imagination, a +lovelier reflection of that of nature, like the hills and heavens more +softly shining in the water of his native lake." + +His taste is often defective, as is that of Burns on occasions. This +is a fault which might be expected in a man of his training; but the +vigor and essential worth of the matters which he relates are beyond +all question. He did not always know where to begin his short-story, +or where to terminate. Some of his tales, if edited with blue-pencil +erasures, would be found to contain a nucleus-technique which, though +far from perfect, is more than equal to that of Washington Irving, +who, like Apuleius, "cared not how he loitered by the way," and very +superior to that of most of his immediate successors in the art. His +story here included, of _The Mysterious Bride_,[15] could scarcely be +bettered in its method. To tell it in fewer words would be to obscure +it; to tell it at greater length would be to rob it of its mystery and +to make it obvious. Moreover, by employing atmosphere he tells it +in such a way as to leave the reader with the impression that this +occurrence, for all its magic, might not only be possible, but even +probable--which achievement is the greatest triumph of the short-story +writer's art. + +[Footnote 15: Compare with Kipling's treatment of a similar theme in +_The Brushwood Boy_.] + +As this history of the evolution of the English short-story commenced +with a poet, Chaucer,[16] who wrote all save two of his short-stories +in poetry, so it fittingly closes with a poet, the Ettrick Shepherd, +who wrote most of his short-stories in prose. It remained for yet +another poet, Edgar Allan Poe, who may never have heard the name +or have read a line from the writings of James Hogg, to bring to +perfection the task on which he had spent his labor. + +[Footnote 16: The _Gesta Romanorum_ was written in Latin.] + + + + +THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL + +_Daniel Defoe_ (1661-1731) + + +This thing is so rare in all its circumstances, and on so good +authority, that my reading and conversation have not given me anything +like it. It is fit to gratify the most ingenious and serious inquirer. +Mrs. Bargrave is the person to whom Mrs. Veal appeared after her +death; she is my intimate friend, and I can avouch for her reputation +for these fifteen or sixteen years, on my own knowledge; and I can +confirm the good character she had from her youth to the time of my +acquaintance. Though, since this relation, she is calumniated by some +people that are friends to the brother of Mrs. Veal who appeared, who +think the relation of this appearance to be a reflection, and endeavor +what they can to blast Mrs. Bargrave's reputation and to laugh the +story out of countenance. But by the circumstances thereof, and the +cheerful disposition of Mrs. Bargrave, notwithstanding the ill usage +of a very wicked husband, there is not yet the least sign of dejection +in her face; nor did I ever hear her let fall a desponding or +murmuring expression; nay, not when actually under her husband's +barbarity, which I have been a witness to, and several other persons +of undoubted reputation. + +Now you must know Mrs. Veal was a maiden gentlewoman of about thirty +years of age, and for some years past had been troubled with fits, +which were perceived coming on her by her going off from her discourse +very abruptly to some impertinence. She was maintained by an only +brother, and kept his house in Dover. She was a very pious woman, and +her brother a very sober man to all appearance; but now he does all he +can to null and quash the story. Mrs. Veal was intimately acquainted +with Mrs. Bargrave from her childhood. Mrs. Veal's circumstances were +then mean; her father did not take care of his children as he ought, +so that they were exposed to hardships. And Mrs. Bargrave in those +days had as unkind a father, though she wanted neither for food nor +clothing; while Mrs. Veal wanted for both, insomuch that she would +often say, "Mrs. Bargrave, you are not only the best, but the only +friend I have in the world; and no circumstance of life shall ever +dissolve my friendship." They would often condole each other's adverse +fortunes, and read together _Drelincourt upon Death_, and other good +books; and so, like two Christian friends, they comforted each other +under their sorrow. + +Some time after, Mr. Veal's friends got him a place in the +custom-house at Dover, which occasioned Mrs. Veal, by little and +little, to fall off from her intimacy with Mrs. Bargrave, though there +was never any such thing as a quarrel; but an indifferency came on by +degrees, till at last Mrs. Bargrave had not seen her in two years and +a half, though above a twelvemonth of the time Mrs. Bargrave hath been +absent from Dover, and this last half-year has been in Canterbury +about two months of the time, dwelling in a house of her own. + +In this house, on the eighth of September, one thousand seven hundred +and five, she was sitting alone in the forenoon, thinking over her +unfortunate life, and arguing herself into a due resignation to +Providence, though her condition seemed hard: "And," said she, "I have +been provided for hitherto, and doubt not but I shall be still, and am +well satisfied that my afflictions shall end when it is most fit for +me." And then took up her sewing work, which she had no sooner done +but she hears a knocking at the door; she went to see who was there, +and this proved to be Mrs. Veal, her old friend, who was in a +riding-habit. At that moment of time the clock struck twelve at noon. + +"Madam," says Mrs. Bargrave, "I am surprised to see you, you have been +so long a stranger"; but told her she was glad to see her, and offered +to salute her, which Mrs. Veal complied with, till their lips almost +touched, and then Mrs. Veal drew her hand across her own eyes, and +said, "I am not very well," and so waived it. She told Mrs. Bargrave +she was going a journey, and had a great mind to see her first. "But," +says Mrs. Bargrave, "how can you take a journey alone? I am amazed at +it, because I know you have a fond brother." "Oh," says Mrs. Veal, +"I gave my brother the slip, and came away, because I had so great a +desire to see you before I took my journey." So Mrs. Bargrave went in +with her into another room within the first, and Mrs. Veal sat her +down in an elbow-chair, in which Mrs. Bargrave was sitting when she +heard Mrs. Veal knock. "Then," says Mrs. Veal, "my dear friend, I am +come to renew our old friendship again, and beg your pardon for my +breach of it; and if you can forgive me, you are the best of women." +"Oh," says Mrs. Bargrave, "do not mention such a thing; I have not had +an uneasy thought about it." "What did you think of me?" says Mrs. +Veal. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "I thought you were like the rest of the +world, and that prosperity had made you forget yourself and me." Then +Mrs. Veal reminded Mrs. Bargrave of the many friendly offices she did +her in former days, and much of the conversation they had with each +other in the times of their adversity; what books they read, and +what comfort in particular they received from Drelincourt's _Book of +Death_, which was the best, she said, on the subject ever wrote. +She also mentioned Doctor Sherlock, and two Dutch books, which were +translated, wrote upon death, and several others. But Drelincourt, she +said, had the clearest notions of death and of the future state of any +who had handled that subject. Then she asked Mrs. Bargrave whether she +had Drelincourt. She said, "Yes." Says Mrs. Veal, "Fetch it." And so +Mrs. Bargrave goes up-stairs and brings it down. Says Mrs. Veal, "Dear +Mrs. Bargrave, if the eyes of our faith were as open as the eyes of +our body, we should see numbers of angels about us for our guard. +The notions we have of Heaven now are nothing like what it is, as +Drelincourt says; therefore be comforted under your afflictions, and +believe that the Almighty has a particular regard to you, and that +your afflictions are marks of God's favor; and when they have done +the business they are sent for, they shall be removed from you. And +believe me, my dear friend, believe what I say to you, one minute of +future happiness will infinitely reward you for all your sufferings. +For I can never believe" (and claps her hand upon her knee with great +earnestness, which, indeed, ran through most of her discourse) "that +ever God will suffer you to spend all your days in this afflicted +state. But be assured that your afflictions shall leave you, or you +them, in a short time." She spake in that pathetical and heavenly +manner that Mrs. Bargrave wept several times, she was so deeply +affected with it. + +Then Mrs. Veal mentioned Doctor Kendrick's _Ascetic_, at the end of +which he gives an account of the lives of the primitive Christians. +Their pattern she recommended to our imitation, and said, "Their +conversation was not like this of our age. For now," says she, "there +is nothing but vain, frothy discourse, which is far different from +theirs. Theirs was to edification, and to build one another up in +faith, so that they were not as we are, nor are we as they were. But," +said she, "we ought to do as they did; there was a hearty friendship +among them; but where is it now to be found?" Says Mrs. Bargrave, "It +is hard indeed to find a true friend in these days." Says Mrs. +Veal, "Mr. Norris has a fine copy of verses, called _Friendship in +Perfection_, which I wonderfully admire. Have you seen the book?" says +Mrs. Veal. "No," says Mrs. Bargrave, "but I have the verses of my own +writing out." "Have you?" says Mrs. Veal; "then fetch them"; which +she did from above stairs, and offered them to Mrs. Veal to read, who +refused, and waived the thing, saying, "holding down her head would +make it ache"; and then desiring Mrs. Bargrave to read them to her, +which she did. As they were admiring _Friendship_, Mrs. Veal said, +"Dear Mrs. Bargrave, I shall love you forever." In these verses there +is twice used the word "Elysian." "Ah!" says Mrs. Veal, "these poets +have such names for Heaven." She would often draw her hand across her +own eyes, and say, "Mrs. Bargrave, do not you think I am mightily +impaired by my fits?" "No," says Mrs. Bargrave; "I think you look as +well as ever I knew you." + +After this discourse, which the apparition put in much finer words +than Mrs. Bargrave said she could pretend to, and as much more than +she can remember--for it cannot be thought that an hour and three +quarters' conversation could all be retained, though the main of it +she thinks she does--she said to Mrs. Bargrave she would have her +write a letter to her brother, and tell him she would have him give +rings to such and such; and that there was a purse of gold in her +cabinet, and that she would have two broad pieces given to her cousin +Watson. + +Talking at this rate, Mrs. Bargrave thought that a fit was coming upon +her, and so placed herself on a chair just before her knees, to keep +her from falling to the ground, if her fits should occasion it; for +the elbow-chair, she thought, would keep her from falling on either +side. And to divert Mrs. Veal, as she thought, took hold of her +gown-sleeve several times, and commended it. Mrs. Veal told her it +was a scoured silk, and newly made up. But, for all this, Mrs. Veal +persisted in her request, and told Mrs. Bargrave she must not deny +her. And she would have her tell her brother all their conversation +when she had the opportunity. "Dear Mrs. Veal," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"this seems so impertinent that I cannot tell how to comply with +it; and what a mortifying story will our conversation be to a young +gentleman. Why," says Mrs. Bargrave, "it is much better, methinks, to +do it yourself." "No," says Mrs. Veal; "though it seems impertinent to +you now, you will see more reasons for it hereafter." Mrs. Bargrave, +then, to satisfy her importunity, was going to fetch a pen and ink, +but Mrs. Veal said, "Let it alone now, but do it when I am gone; but +you must be sure to do it"; which was one of the last things she +enjoined her at parting, and so she promised her. + +Then Mrs. Veal asked for Mrs. Bargrave's daughter. She said she was +not at home. "But if you have a mind to see her," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"I'll send for her." "Do," says Mrs. Veal; on which she left her, and +went to a neighbor's to see her; and by the time Mrs. Bargrave was +returning, Mrs. Veal was got without the door in the street, in the +face of the beast-market, on a Saturday (which is market-day), and +stood ready to part as soon as Mrs. Bargrave came to her. She asked +her why she was in such haste. She said she must be going, though +perhaps she might not go her journey till Monday; and told Mrs. +Bargrave she hoped she should see her again at her cousin Watson's +before she went whither she was going. Then she said she would take +her leave of her, and walked from Mrs. Bargrave, in her view, till a +turning interrupted the sight of her, which was three-quarters after +one in the afternoon. + +Mrs. Veal died the seventh of September, at twelve o'clock at noon, of +her fits, and had not above four hours' senses before her death, in +which time she received the sacrament. The next day after Mrs. Veal's +appearance, being Sunday, Mrs. Bargrave was mightily indisposed with +a cold and sore throat, that she could not go out that day; but on +Monday morning she sends a person to Captain Watson's to know if Mrs. +Veal was there. They wondered at Mrs. Bargrave's inquiry, and sent +her word she was not there, nor was expected. At this answer, Mrs. +Bargrave told the maid she had certainly mistook the name or made some +blunder. And though she was ill, she put on her hood and went herself +to Captain Watson's, though she knew none of the family, to see if +Mrs. Veal was there or not. They said they wondered at her asking, for +that she had not been in town; they were sure, if she had, she would +have been there. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "I am sure she was with me on +Saturday almost two hours." They said it was impossible, for they must +have seen her if she had. In comes Captain Watson, while they were +in dispute, and said that Mrs. Veal was certainly dead, and the +escutcheons were making. This strangely surprised Mrs. Bargrave, when +she sent to the person immediately who had the care of them, and found +it true. Then she related the whole story to Captain Watson's family; +and what gown she had on, and how striped; and that Mrs. Veal told her +that it was scoured. Then Mrs. Watson cried out, "You have seen her +indeed, for none knew but Mrs. Veal and myself that the gown was +scoured." And Mrs. Watson owned that she described the gown exactly; +"for," said she, "I helped her to make it up." This Mrs. Watson blazed +all about the town, and avouched the demonstration of truth of Mrs. +Bargrave's seeing Mrs. Veal's apparition. And Captain Watson carried +two gentlemen immediately to Mrs. Bargrave's house to hear the +relation from her own mouth. And when it spread so fast that gentlemen +and persons of quality, the judicious and sceptical part of the world, +flocked in upon her, it at last became such a task that she was forced +to go out of the way; for they were in general extremely satisfied +of the truth of the thing, and plainly saw that Mrs. Bargrave was no +hypochondriac, for she always appears with such a cheerful air and +pleasing mien that she has gained the favor and esteem of all the +gentry, and it is thought a great favor if they can but get the +relation from her own mouth. I should have told you before that Mrs. +Veal told Mrs. Bargrave that her sister and brother-in-law were just +come down from London to see her. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "How came you to +order matters so strangely?" "It could not be helped," said Mrs. Veal. +And her brother and sister did come to see her, and entered the town +of Dover just as Mrs. Veal was expiring. Mrs. Bargrave asked her +whether she would drink some tea. Says Mrs. Veal, "I do not care if +I do; but I'll warrant you this mad fellow"--meaning Mrs. Bargrave's +husband--"has broke all your trinkets." "But," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"I'll get something to drink in for all that"; but Mrs. Veal waived +it, and said, "It is no matter; let it alone"; and so it passed. + +All the time I sat with Mrs. Bargrave, which was some hours, she +recollected fresh sayings of Mrs. Veal. And one material thing more +she told Mrs. Bargrave, that old Mr. Bretton allowed Mrs. Veal ten +pounds a year, which was a secret, and unknown to Mrs. Bargrave till +Mrs. Veal told her. + +Mrs. Bargrave never varies in her story, which puzzles those who +doubt of the truth, or are unwilling to believe it. A servant in the +neighbor's yard adjoining to Mrs. Bargrave's house heard her talking +to somebody an hour of the time Mrs. Veal was with her. Mrs. Bargrave +went out to her next neighbor's the very moment she parted with Mrs. +Veal, and told her what ravishing conversation she had had with an old +friend, and told the whole of it. Drelincourt's _Book of Death_ is, +since this happened, bought up strangely. And it is to be observed +that, notwithstanding all the trouble and fatigue Mrs. Bargrave has +undergone upon this account, she never took the value of a farthing, +nor suffered her daughter to take anything of anybody, and therefore +can have no interest in telling the story. + +But Mr. Veal does what he can to stifle the matter, and said he would +see Mrs. Bargrave; but yet it is certain matter of fact that he has +been at Captain Watson's since the death of his sister, and yet never +went near Mrs. Bargrave; and some of his friends report her to be a +liar, and that she knew of Mr. Bretton's ten pounds a year. But the +person who pretends to say so has the reputation to be a notorious +liar among persons whom I know to be of undoubted credit. Now, Mr. +Veal is more of a gentleman than to say she lies, but says a bad +husband has crazed her; but she needs only present herself, and it +will effectually confute that pretence. Mr. Veal says he asked his +sister on her death-bed whether she had a mind to dispose of anything. +And she said no. Now the things which Mrs. Veal's apparition would +have disposed of were so trifling, and nothing of justice aimed at in +the disposal, that the design of it appears to me to be only in order +to make Mrs. Bargrave satisfy the world of the reality thereof as to +what she had seen and heard, and to secure her reputation among the +reasonable and understanding part of mankind. And then, again, Mr. +Veal owns that there was a purse of gold; but it was not found in +her cabinet, but in a comb-box. This looks improbable; for that Mrs. +Watson owned that Mrs. Veal was so very careful of the key of her +cabinet that she would trust nobody with it; and if so, no doubt she +would not trust her gold out of it. And Mrs. Veal's often drawing her +hands over her eyes, and asking Mrs. Bargrave whether her fits had not +impaired her, looks to me as if she did it on purpose to remind Mrs. +Bargrave of her fits, to prepare her not to think it strange that she +should put her upon writing to her brother, to dispose of rings and +gold, which look so much like a dying person's request; and it took +accordingly with Mrs. Bargrave as the effect of her fits coming upon +her, and was one of the many instances of her wonderful love to her +and care of her, that she should not be affrighted, which, indeed, +appears in her whole management, particularly in her coming to her in +the daytime, waiving the salutation, and when she was alone; and then +the manner of her parting, to prevent a second attempt to salute her. + +Now, why Mr. Veal should think this relation a reflection--as it is +plain he does, by his endeavoring to stifle it--I cannot imagine; +because the generality believe her to be a good spirit, her discourse +was so heavenly. Her two great errands were, to comfort Mrs. Bargrave +in her affliction, and to ask her forgiveness for her breach of +friendship, and with a pious discourse to encourage her. So that, +after all, to suppose that Mrs. Bargrave could hatch such an invention +as this, from Friday noon to Saturday noon--supposing that she knew +of Mrs. Veal's death the very first moment--without jumbling +circumstances, and without any interest, too, she must be more witty, +fortunate, and wicked, too, than any indifferent person, I dare say, +will allow. I asked Mrs. Bargrave several times if she was sure she +felt the gown. She answered, modestly, "If my senses be to be relied +on, I am sure of it." I asked her if she heard a sound when she +clapped her hand upon her knee. She said she did not remember she did, +but said she appeared to be as much a substance as I did who talked +with her. "And I may," said she, "be as soon persuaded that your +apparition is talking to me now as that I did not really see her; +for I was under no manner of fear, and received her as a friend, and +parted with her as such. I would not," says she, "give one farthing to +make any one believe it; I have no interest in it; nothing but trouble +is entailed upon me for a long time, for aught I know; and, had it not +come to light by accident, it would never have been made public." But +now she says she will make her own private use of it, and keep herself +out of the way as much as she can; and so she has done since. She says +she had a gentleman who came thirty miles to her to hear the relation; +and that she had told it to a roomful of people at the time. Several +particular gentlemen have had the story from Mrs. Bargrave's own +mouth. + +This thing has very much affected me, and I am as well satisfied as +I am of the best-grounded matter of fact. And why we should dispute +matter of fact, because we cannot solve things of which we can have no +certain or demonstrative notions, seems strange to me; Mrs. Bargrave's +authority and sincerity alone would have been undoubted in any other +case. + + + + +THE MYSTERIOUS BRIDE[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Tales and Sketches_, by the Ettrick Shepherd.] + +_James Hogg_ (1770-1835) + + +A great number of people nowadays are beginning broadly to insinuate +that there are no such things as ghosts, or spiritual beings visible +to mortal sight. Even Sir Walter Scott is turned renegade, and, with +his stories made up of half-and-half, like Nathaniel Gow's toddy, +is trying to throw cold water on the most certain, though most +impalpable, phenomena of human nature. The bodies are daft. Heaven +mend their wits! Before they had ventured to assert such things, I +wish they had been where I have often been; or, in particular, where +the Laird of Birkendelly was on St. Lawrence's Eve, in the year 1777, +and sundry times subsequent to that. + +Be it known, then, to every reader of this relation of facts that +happened in my own remembrance that the road from Birkendelly to the +great muckle village of Balmawhapple (commonly called the muckle town, +in opposition to the little town that stood on the other side of the +burn)--that road, I say, lay between two thorn-hedges, so well kept +by the Laird's hedger, so close, and so high, that a rabbit could not +have escaped from the highway into any of the adjoining fields. Along +this road was the Laird riding on the Eve of St. Lawrence, in a +careless, indifferent manner, with his hat to one side, and his cane +dancing a hornpipe before him. He was, moreover, chanting a song to +himself, and I have heard people tell what song it was too. There was +once a certain, or rather uncertain, bard, ycleped Robert Burns, who +made a number of good songs; but this that the Laird sang was an +amorous song of great antiquity, which, like all the said bard's best +songs, was sung one hundred and fifty years before he was born. It +began thus: + + "I am the Laird of Windy-wa's, + I cam nae here without a cause, + An' I hae gotten forty fa's + In coming o'er the knowe, joe. + The night it is baith wind and weet; + The morn it will be snaw and sleet; + My shoon are frozen to my feet; + O, rise an' let me in, joe! + Let me in this ae night," etc. + +This song was the Laird singing, while, at the same time, he was +smudging and laughing at the catastrophe, when, ere ever aware, he +beheld, a short way before him, an uncommonly elegant and beautiful +girl walking in the same direction with him. "Aye," said the Laird to +himself, "here is something very attractive indeed! Where the deuce +can she have sprung from? She must have risen out of the earth, for I +never saw her till this breath. Well, I declare I have not seen such a +female figure--I wish I had such an assignation with her as the Laird +of Windy-wa's had with his sweetheart." + +As the Laird was half-thinking, half-speaking this to himself, the +enchanting creature looked back at him with a motion of intelligence +that she knew what he was half-saying, half-thinking, and then +vanished over the summit of the rising ground before him, called the +Birky Brow. "Aye, go your ways!" said the Laird; "I see by you, you'll +not be very hard to overtake. You cannot get off the road, and I'll +have a chat with you before you make the Deer's Den." + +The Laird jogged on. He did not sing the _Laird of Windy-wa's_ any +more, for he felt a stifling about his heart; but he often repeated to +himself, "She's a very fine woman!--a very fine woman indeed!--and to +be walking here by herself! I cannot comprehend it." + +When he reached the summit of the Birky Brow he did not see her, +although he had a longer view of the road than before. He thought this +very singular, and began to suspect that she wanted to escape him, +although apparently rather lingering on him before. "I shall have +another look at her, however," thought the Laird, and off he set at a +flying trot. No. He came first to one turn, then another. There was +nothing of the young lady to be seen. "Unless she take wings and fly +away, I shall be up with her," quoth the Laird, and off he set at the +full gallop. + +In the middle of his career he met with Mr. McMurdie, of Aulton, who +hailed him with, "Hilloa, Birkendelly! Where the deuce are you flying +at that rate?" + +"I was riding after a woman," said the Laird, with great simplicity, +reining in his steed. + +"Then I am sure no woman on earth can long escape you, unless she be +in an air balloon." + +"I don't know that. Is she far gone?" + +"In which way do you mean?" + +"In this." + +"Aha-ha-ha! Hee-hee-hee!" nichered McMurdie, misconstruing the Laird's +meaning. + +"What do you laugh at, my dear sir? Do you know her, then?" + +"Ho-ho-ho! Hee-hee-hee! How should I, or how can I, know her, +Birkendelly, unless you inform me who she is?" + +"Why, that is the very thing I want to know of you. I mean the young +lady whom you met just now." + +"You are raving, Birkendelly. I met no young lady, nor is there a +single person on the road I have come by, while you know that for a +mile and a half forward your way she could not get out of it." + +"I know that," said the Laird, biting his lip and looking greatly +puzzled; "but confound me if I understand this; for I was within +speech of her just now on the top of the Birky Brow there, and, when I +think of it, she could not have been even thus far as yet. She had on +a pure white gauze frock, a small green bonnet and feathers, and a +green veil, which, flung back over her left shoulder, hung below her +waist, and was altogether such an engaging figure that no man could +have passed her on the road without taking some note of her. Are you +not making game of me? Did you not really meet with her?" + +"On my word of truth and honor, I did not. Come, ride back with me, +and we shall meet her still, depend on it. She has given you the go-by +on the road. Let us go; I am only to call at the mill about some +barley for the distillery, and will return with you to the big town." + +Birkendelly returned with his friend. The sun was not yet set, yet +M'Murdie could not help observing that the Laird looked thoughtful +and confused, and not a word could he speak about anything save this +lovely apparition with the white frock and the green veil; and lo! +when they reached the top of Birky Brow there was the maiden again +before them, and exactly at the same spot where the Laird first saw +her before, only walking in the contrary direction. + +"Well, this is the most extraordinary thing that I ever knew!" +exclaimed the Laird. + +"What is it, sir?" said M'Murdie. + +"How that young lady could have eluded me," returned the Laird. "See, +here she is still!" + +"I beg your pardon, sir, I don't see her. Where is she?" + +"There, on the other side of the angle; but you are shortsighted. See, +there she is ascending the other eminence in her white frock and green +veil, as I told you. What a lovely creature!" + +"Well, well, we have her fairly before us now, and shall see what she +is like at all events," said McMurdie. + +Between the Birky Brow and this other slight eminence there is an +obtuse angle of the road at the part where it is lowest, and, in +passing this, the two friends necessarily lost sight of the object +of their curiosity. They pushed on at a quick pace, cleared the low +angle--the maiden was not there! They rode full speed to the top of +the eminence from whence a long extent of road was visible before +them--there was no human creature in view. McMurdie laughed aloud, but +the Laird turned pale as death and bit his lip. His friend asked him +good-humoredly why he was so much affected. He said, because he could +not comprehend the meaning of this singular apparition or illusion, +and it troubled him the more as he now remembered a dream of the same +nature which he had, and which terminated in a dreadful manner. + +"Why, man, you are dreaming still," said McMurdie. "But never mind; +it is quite common for men of your complexion to dream of beautiful +maidens with white frocks, and green veils, bonnets, feathers, and +slender waists. It is a lovely image, the creation of your own +sanguine imagination, and you may worship it without any blame. Were +her shoes black or green? And her stockings--did you note them? The +symmetry of the limbs, I am sure you did! Good-bye; I see you are not +disposed to leave the spot. Perhaps she will appear to you again." + +So saying, McMurdie rode on toward the mill, and Birkendelly, after +musing for some time, turned his beast's head slowly round, and began +to move toward the great muckle village. + +The Laird's feelings were now in terrible commotion. He was taken +beyond measure with the beauty and elegance of the figure he had seen, +but he remembered, with a mixture of admiration and horror, that a +dream of the same enchanting object had haunted his slumbers all +the days of his life; yet, how singular that he should never have +recollected the circumstance till now! But farther, with the dream +there were connected some painful circumstances which, though terrible +in their issue, he could not recollect so as to form them into any +degree of arrangement. + +As he was considering deeply of these things and riding slowly down +the declivity, neither dancing his cane nor singing the _Laird of +Windy-wa's_, he lifted up his eyes, and there was the girl on the same +spot where he saw her first, walking deliberately up the Birky Brow. +The sun was down, but it was the month of August and a fine evening, +and the Laird, seized with an unconquerable desire to see and speak +with that incomparable creature, could restrain himself no longer, but +shouted out to her to stop till he came up. She beckoned acquiescence, +and slackened her pace into a slow movement. The Laird turned the +corner quickly, but when he had rounded it the maiden was still there, +though on the summit of the brow. She turned round, and, with an +ineffable smile and curtsy, saluted him, and again moved slowly on. +She vanished gradually beyond the summit, and while the green feathers +were still nodding in view, and so nigh that the Laird could have +touched them with a fishing-rod, he reached the top of the brow +himself. There was no living soul there, nor onward, as far as his +view reached. He now trembled in every limb, and, without knowing what +he did, rode straight on to the big town, not daring well to return +and see what he had seen for three several times; and certain he would +see it again when the shades of evening were deepening, he deemed +it proper and prudent to decline the pursuit of such a phantom any +farther. + +He alighted at the Queen's Head, called for some brandy and water, +quite forgot what was his errand to the great muckle town that +afternoon, there being nothing visible to his mental sight but lovely +images, with white gauze frocks and green veils. His friend M'Murdie +joined him; they drank deep, bantered, reasoned, got angry, reasoned +themselves calm again, and still all would not do. The Laird was +conscious that he had seen the beautiful apparition, and, moreover, +that she was the very maiden, or the resemblance of her, who, in the +irrevocable decrees of Providence, was destined to be his. It was in +vain that M'Murdie reasoned of impressions on the imagination, and + + "Of fancy moulding in the mind, + Light visions on the passing wind." + +Vain also was a story that he told him of a relation of his own, who +was greatly harassed by the apparition of an officer in a red uniform +that haunted him day and night, and had very nigh put him quite +distracted several times, till at length his physician found out the +nature of this illusion so well that he knew, from the state of his +pulse, to an hour when the ghost of the officer would appear, and by +bleeding, low diet, and emollients contrived to keep the apparition +away altogether. + +The Laird admitted the singularity of this incident, but not that it +was one in point; for the one, he said, was imaginary, the other +real, and that no conclusions could convince him in opposition to the +authority of his own senses. He accepted of an invitation to spend +a few days with M'Murdie and his family, but they all acknowledged +afterward that the Laird was very much like one bewitched. + +As soon as he reached home he went straight to the Birky Brow, certain +of seeing once more the angelic phantom, but she was not there. He +took each of his former positions again and again, but the desired +vision would in no wise make its appearance. He tried every day +and every hour of the day, all with the same effect, till he grew +absolutely desperate, and had the audacity to kneel on the spot and +entreat of Heaven to see her. Yes, he called on Heaven to see her once +more, whatever she was, whether a being of earth, heaven, or hell. + +He was now in such a state of excitement that he could not exist; he +grew listless, impatient, and sickly, took to his bed, and sent for +M'Murdie and the doctor; and the issue of the consultation was that +Birkendelly consented to leave the country for a season, on a visit to +his only sister in Ireland, whither we must accompany him for a short +space. + +His sister was married to Captain Bryan, younger, of Scoresby, and +they two lived in a cottage on the estate, and the Captain's parents +and sisters at Scoresby Hall. Great was the stir and preparation when +the gallant young Laird of Birkendelly arrived at the cottage, +it never being doubted that he came to forward a second bond of +connection with the family, which still contained seven dashing +sisters, all unmarried, and all alike willing to change that solitary +and helpless state for the envied one of matrimony--a state highly +popular among the young women of Ireland. Some of the Misses Bryan +had now reached the years of womanhood, several of them scarcely, but +these small disqualifications made no difference in the estimation of +the young ladies themselves; each and all of them brushed up for the +competition with high hopes and unflinching resolutions. True, +the elder ones tried to check the younger in their good-natured, +forthright Irish way; but they retorted, and persisted in their +superior pretensions. Then there was such shopping in the county town! +It was so boundless that the credit of the Hall was finally exhausted, +and the old Squire was driven to remark that "Och, and to be sure it +was a dreadful and tirrabell concussion, to be put upon the equipment +of seven daughters all at the same moment, as if the young gentleman +could marry them all! Och, then, poor dear shoul, he would be after +finding that one was sufficient, if not one too many. And therefore +there was no occasion, none at all, at all, and that there was not, +for any of them to rig out more than one." + +It was hinted that the Laird had some reason for complaint at this +time, but as the lady sided with her daughters, he had no chance. One +of the items of his account was thirty-seven buckling-combs, then +greatly in vogue. There were black combs, pale combs, yellow combs, +and gilt ones, all to suit or set off various complexions; and if +other articles bore any proportion at all to these, it had been better +for the Laird and all his family that Birkendelly had never set foot +in Ireland. + +The plan was all concocted. There was to be a grand dinner at the +Hall, at which the damsels were to appear in all their finery. A ball +to follow, and note be taken which of the young ladies was their +guest's choice, and measures taken accordingly. The dinner and +the ball took place; and what a pity I may not describe that +entertainment, the dresses, and the dancers, for they were all +exquisite in their way, and _outré_ beyond measure. But such details +only serve to derange a winter evening's tale such as this. + +Birkendelly having at this time but one model for his choice among +womankind, all that ever he did while in the presence of ladies was to +look out for some resemblance to her, the angel of his fancy; and it +so happened that in one of old Bryan's daughters named Luna, or, +more familiarly, Loony, he perceived, or thought he perceived, some +imaginary similarity in form and air to the lovely apparition. This +was the sole reason why he was incapable of taking his eyes off from +her the whole of that night; and this incident settled the point, not +only with the old people, but even the young ladies were forced, after +every exertion on their own parts, to "yild the p'int to their sister +Loony, who certainly was not the mist genteelest nor mist handsomest +of that guid-lucking fimily." + +The next day Lady Luna was dispatched off to the cottage in grand +style, there to live hand in glove with her supposed lover. There was +no standing all this. There were the two parrocked together, like a +ewe and a lamb, early and late; and though the Laird really appeared +to have, and probably had, some delight in her company, it was only in +contemplating that certain indefinable air of resemblance which she +bore to the sole image impressed on his heart. He bought her a white +gauze frock, a green bonnet and feather, with a veil, which she was +obliged to wear thrown over her left shoulder, and every day after, +six times a day, was she obliged to walk over a certain eminence at a +certain distance before her lover. She was delighted to oblige him; +but still, when he came up, he looked disappointed, and never said, +"Luna, I love you; when are we to be married?" No, he never said any +such thing, for all her looks and expressions of fondest love; for, +alas! in all this dalliance he was only feeding a mysterious flame +that preyed upon his vitals, and proved too severe for the powers +either of reason or religion to extinguish. Still, time flew lighter +and lighter by, his health was restored, the bloom of his cheek +returned, and the frank and simple confidence of Luna had a certain +charm with it that reconciled him to his sister's Irish economy. But a +strange incident now happened to him which deranged all his immediate +plans. + +He was returning from angling one evening, a little before sunset, +when he saw Lady Luna awaiting him on his way home. But instead of +brushing up to meet him as usual, she turned, and walked up the rising +ground before him. "Poor sweet girl! how condescending she is," said +he to himself, "and how like she is in reality to the angelic being +whose form and features are so deeply impressed on my heart! I now see +it is no fond or fancied resemblance. It is real! real! real! How I +long to clasp her in my arms, and tell her how I love her; for, after +all, that is the girl that is to be mine, and the former a vision to +impress this the more on my heart." + +He posted up the ascent to overtake her. When at the top she turned, +smiled, and curtsied. Good heavens! it was the identical lady of his +fondest adoration herself, but lovelier, far lovelier, than ever. He +expected every moment that she would vanish, as was her wont; but she +did not--she awaited him, and received his embraces with open arms. +She was a being of real flesh and blood, courteous, elegant, and +affectionate. He kissed her hand, he kissed her glowing cheek, and +blessed all the powers of love who had thus restored her to him again, +after undergoing pangs of love such as man never suffered. + +"But, dearest heart, here we are standing in the middle of the +highway," said he; "suffer me to conduct you to my sister's house, +where you shall have an apartment with a child of nature having some +slight resemblance to yourself." She smiled, and said, "No, I will not +sleep with Lady Luna to-night. Will you please to look round you, and +see where you are." He did so, and behold they were standing on the +Birky Brow, on the only spot where he had ever seen her. She smiled at +his embarrassed look, and asked if he did not remember aught of his +coming over from Ireland. He said he thought he did remember something +of it, but love with him had long absorbed every other sense. He then +asked her to his own house, which she declined, saying she could only +meet him on that spot till after their marriage, which could not be +before St. Lawrence's Eve come three years. "And now," said she, "we +must part. My name is Jane Ogilvie, and you were betrothed to me +before you were born. But I am come to release you this evening, if +you have the slightest objection." + +He declared he had none; and kneeling, swore the most solemn oath to +be hers forever, and to meet her there on St. Lawrence's Eve next, +and every St. Lawrence's Eve until that blessed day on which she had +consented to make him happy by becoming his own forever. She then +asked him affectionately to change rings with her, in pledge of their +faith and troth, in which he joyfully acquiesced; for she could not +have then asked any conditions which, in the fulness of his heart's +love, he would not have granted; and after one fond and affectionate +kiss, and repeating all their engagements over again, they parted. + +Birkendelly's heart was now melted within him, and all his senses +overpowered by one overwhelming passion. On leaving his fair and kind +one, he got bewildered, and could not find the road to his own house, +believing sometimes that he was going there, and sometimes to his +sister's, till at length he came, as he thought, upon the Liffey, at +its junction with Loch Allan; and there, in attempting to call for a +boat, he awoke from a profound sleep, and found himself lying in his +bed within his sister's house, and the day sky just breaking. + +If he was puzzled to account for some things in the course of his +dream, he was much more puzzled to account for them now that he was +wide awake. He was sensible that he had met his love, had embraced, +kissed, and exchanged vows and rings with her, and, in token of the +truth and reality of all these, her emerald ring was on his finger, +and his own away; so there was no doubt that they had met--by what +means it was beyond the power of man to calculate. + +There was then living with Mrs. Bryan an old Scotswoman, commonly +styled Lucky Black. She had nursed Birkendelly's mother, and been +dry-nurse to himself and sister; and having more than a mother's +attachment for the latter, when she was married, old Lucky left her +country to spend the last of her days in the house of her beloved +young lady. When the Laird entered the breakfast-parlor that morning +she was sitting in her black velvet hood, as usual, reading _The +Fourfold State of Man_, and, being paralytic and somewhat deaf, she +seldom regarded those who went or came. But chancing to hear him say +something about the 9th of August, she quitted reading, turned round +her head to listen, and then asked, in a hoarse, tremulous voice: +"What's that he's saying? What's the unlucky callant saying about the +9th of August? Aih? To be sure it is St. Lawrence's Eve, although the +10th be his day. It's ower true, ower true, ower true for him an' a' +his kin, poor man! Aih? What was he saying then?" + +The men smiled at her incoherent earnestness, but the lady, with true +feminine condescension, informed her, in a loud voice, that Allan had +an engagement in Scotland on St. Lawrence's Eve. She then started up, +extended her shrivelled hands, that shook like the aspen, and panted +out: "Aih, aih? Lord preserve us! Whaten an engagement has he on St. +Lawrence's Eve? Bind him! bind him! Shackle him wi' bands of steel, +and of brass, and of iron! O may He whose blessed will was pleased +to leave him an orphan sae soon, preserve him from the fate which I +tremble to think on!" + +She then tottered round the table, as with supernatural energy, and +seizing the Laird's right hand, she drew it close to her unstable +eyes, and then perceiving the emerald ring chased in blood, she threw +up her arms with a jerk, opened her skinny jaws with a fearful gape, +and uttering a shriek that made all the house yell, and every one +within it to tremble, she fell back lifeless and rigid on the floor. +The gentlemen both fled, out of sheer terror; but a woman never +deserts her friends in extremity. The lady called her maids about her, +had her old nurse conveyed to bed, where every means were used to +restore animation. But, alas, life was extinct! The vital spark +had fled forever, which filled all their hearts with grief, +disappointment, and horror, as some dreadful tale of mystery was now +sealed up from their knowledge which, in all likelihood, no other +could reveal. But to say the truth, the Laird did not seem greatly +disposed to probe it to the bottom. + +Not all the arguments of Captain Bryan and his lady, nor the simple +entreaties of Lady Luna, could induce Birkendelly to put off his +engagement to meet his love on the Birky Brow on the evening of the +9th of August; but he promised soon to return, pretending that some +business of the utmost importance called him away. Before he went, +however, he asked his sister if ever she had heard of such a lady in +Scotland as Jane Ogilvie. Mrs. Bryan repeated the name many times to +herself, and said that name undoubtedly was once familiar to her, +although she thought not for good, but at that moment she did not +recollect one single individual of the name. He then showed her the +emerald ring that had been the death of Lucky Black; but the moment +the lady looked at it, she made a grasp at it to take it off by force, +which she had very nearly effected. "Oh, burn it! burn it!" cried she; +"it is not a right ring! Burn it!" + +"My dear sister, what fault is in the ring?" said he. "It is a very +pretty ring, and one that I set great value by." + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake, burn it, and renounce the giver!" cried she. +"If you have any regard for your peace here or your soul's welfare +hereafter, burn that ring! If you saw with your own eyes, you would +easily perceive that that is not a ring befitting a Christian to +wear." + +This speech confounded Birkendelly a good deal. He retired by himself +and examined the ring, and could see nothing in it unbecoming a +Christian to wear. It was a chased gold ring, with a bright emerald, +which last had a red foil, in some lights giving it a purple gleam, +and inside was engraven "_Elegit_," much defaced, but that his +sister could not see; therefore he could not comprehend her vehement +injunctions concerning it. But that it might no more give her offence, +or any other, he sewed it within his vest, opposite his heart, judging +that there was something in it which his eyes were withholden from +discerning. + +Thus he left Ireland with his mind in great confusion, groping his +way, as it were, in a hole of mystery, yet with the passion that +preyed on his heart and vitals more intense than ever. He seems to +have had an impression all his life that some mysterious fate awaited +him, which the correspondence of his dreams and day visions tended +to confirm. And though he gave himself wholly up to the sway of one +overpowering passion, it was not without some yearnings of soul, +manifestations of terror, and so much earthly shame, that he never +more mentioned his love, or his engagements, to any human being, not +even to his friend M'Murdie, whose company he forthwith shunned. + +It is on this account that I am unable to relate what passed between +the lovers thenceforward. It is certain they met at the Birky Brow +that St. Lawrence's Eve, for they were seen in company together; but +of the engagements, vows, or dalliance that passed between them I can +say nothing; nor of all their future meetings, until the beginning of +August, 1781, when the Laird began decidedly to make preparations for +his approaching marriage; yet not as if he and his betrothed had been +to reside at Birkendelly, all his provisions rather bespeaking a +meditated journey. + +On the morning of the 9th he wrote to his sister, and then arraying +himself in his new wedding suit, and putting the emerald ring on his +finger, he appeared all impatience, until toward evening, when he +sallied out on horseback to his appointment. It seems that his +mysterious inamorata had met him, for he was seen riding through the +big town before sunset, with a young lady behind him, dressed in white +and green, and the villagers affirmed that they were riding at the +rate of fifty miles an hour! They were seen to pass a cottage called +Mosskilt, ten miles farther on, where there was no highway, at the +same tremendous speed; and I could never hear that they were any more +seen, until the following morning, when Birkendelly's fine bay horse +was found lying dead at his own stable door; and shortly after his +master was likewise discovered lying, a blackened corpse, on the Birky +Brow at the very spot where the mysterious but lovely dame had always +appeared to him. There was neither wound, bruise, nor dislocation in +his whole frame; but his skin was of a livid color, and his features +terribly distorted. + +This woful catastrophe struck the neighborhood with great +consternation, so that nothing else was talked of. Every ancient +tradition and modern incident were raked together, compared, and +combined; and certainly a most rare concatenation of misfortunes was +elicited. It was authenticated that his father had died on the same +spot that day twenty years, and his grandfather that day forty years, +the former, as was supposed, by a fall from his horse when in liquor, +and the latter, nobody knew how; and now this Allan was the last of +his race, for Mrs. Bryan had no children. + +It was, moreover, now remembered by many, and among the rest by the +Rev. Joseph Taylor, that he had frequently observed a young lady, in +white and green, sauntering about the spot on a St. Lawrence's Eve. + +When Captain Bryan and his lady arrived to take possession of the +premises, they instituted a strict inquiry into every circumstance; +but nothing further than what was related to them by Mr. M'Murdie +could be learned of this Mysterious Bride, besides what the Laird's +own letter bore. It ran thus: + +"DEAREST SISTER,--I shall before this time to-morrow be the most +happy, or most miserable, of mankind, having solemnly engaged myself +this night to wed a young and beautiful lady, named Jane Ogilvie, to +whom it seems I was betrothed before I was born. Our correspondence +has been of a most private and mysterious nature; but my troth is +pledged, and my resolution fixed. We set out on a far journey to the +place of her abode on the nuptial eve, so that it will be long before +I see you again. Yours till death, + +"ALLAN GEORGE SANDISON. + +"BIRKENDELLY, _August 8_, 1781." + +That very same year, an old woman, named Marion Haw, was returned upon +that, her native parish, from Glasgow. She had led a migratory life +with her son--who was what he called a bell-hanger, but in fact a +tinker of the worst grade--for many years, and was at last returned +to the muckle town in a state of great destitution. She gave the +parishioners a history of the Mysterious Bride, so plausibly correct, +but withal so romantic, that everybody said of it (as is often said of +my narratives, with the same narrow-minded prejudice and injustice) +that it was a _made story_. There were, however, some strong +testimonies of its veracity. + +She said the first Allan Sandison, who married the great heiress of +Birkendelly, was previously engaged to a beautiful young lady named +Jane Ogilvie, to whom he gave anything but fair play; and, as she +believed, either murdered her, or caused her to be murdered, in the +midst of a thicket of birch and broom, at a spot which she mentioned; +and she had good reason for believing so, as she had seen the red +blood and the new grave, when she was a little girl, and ran home and +mentioned it to her grandfather, who charged her as she valued her +life never to mention that again, as it was only the nombles and hide +of a deer which he himself had buried there. But when, twenty years +subsequent to that, the wicked and unhappy Allan Sandison was found +dead on that very spot, and lying across the green mound, then nearly +level with the surface, which she had once seen a new grave, she then +for the first time ever thought of a Divine Providence; and she added, +"For my grandfather, Neddy Haw, he dee'd too; there's naebody kens +how, nor ever shall." + +As they were quite incapable of conceiving from Marion's description +anything of the spot, Mr. M'Murdie caused her to be taken out to the +Birky Brow in a cart, accompanied by Mr. Taylor and some hundreds of +the town's folks; but whenever she saw it, she said, "Aha, birkies! +the haill kintra's altered now. There was nae road here then; it gaed +straight ower the tap o' the hill. An' let me see--there's the thorn +where the cushats biggit; an' there's the auld birk that I ance fell +aff an' left my shoe sticking i' the cleft. I can tell ye, birkies, +either the deer's grave or bonny Jane Ogilvie's is no twa yards aff +the place where that horse's hind-feet are standin'; sae ye may howk, +an' see if there be ony remains." + +The minister and M'Murdie and all the people stared at one another, +for they had purposely caused the horse to stand still on the very +spot where both the father and son had been found dead. They digged, +and deep, deep below the road they found part of the slender bones +and skull of a young female, which they deposited decently in the +church-yard. The family of the Sandisons is extinct, the Mysterious +Bride appears no more on the Eve of St. Lawrence, and the wicked +people of the great muckle village have got a lesson on divine justice +written to them in lines of blood. + + + + +THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER [1] + +[Footnote 1: From _The Money-diggers_.] + +_Washington Irving_ (1783-1859) + + +A few miles from Boston, in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet +winding several miles into the interior of the country from Charles +Bay, and terminating in a thickly wooded swamp or morass. On one side +of this inlet is a beautiful dark grove; on the opposite side the land +rises abruptly from the water's edge into a high ridge, on which grow +a few scattered oaks of great age and immense size. Under one of these +gigantic trees, according to old stories, there was a great amount of +treasure buried by Kidd the pirate. The inlet allowed a facility to +bring the money in a boat secretly, and at night, to the very foot of +the hill; the elevation of the place permitted a good lookout to be +kept that no one was at hand; while the remarkable trees formed good +landmarks by which the place might easily be found again. The old +stories add, moreover, that the devil presided at the hiding of the +money, and took it under his guardianship; but this, it is well known, +he always does with buried treasure, particularly when it has been +ill-gotten. Be that as it may, Kidd never returned to recover his +wealth; being shortly after seized at Boston, sent out to England, and +there hanged for a pirate. + +About the year 1727, just at the time that earthquakes were prevalent +in New England, and shook many tall sinners down upon their knees, +there lived near this place a meagre, miserly fellow, of the name of +Tom Walker. He had a wife as miserly as himself; they were so miserly +that they even conspired to cheat each other. Whatever the woman could +lay hands on she hid away; a hen could not cackle but she was on the +alert to secure the new-laid egg. Her husband was continually prying +about to detect her secret hoards, and many and fierce were the +conflicts that took place about what ought to have been common +property. They lived in a forlorn-looking house that stood alone and +had an air of starvation. A few straggling savin-trees, emblems of +sterility, grew near it; no smoke ever curled from its chimney; no +traveller stopped at its door. A miserable horse, whose ribs were as +articulate as the bars of a gridiron, stalked about a field, where +a thin carpet of moss, scarcely covering the ragged beds of +pudding-stone, tantalized and balked his hunger; and sometimes he +would lean his head over the fence, look piteously at the passer-by, +and seem to petition deliverance from this land of famine. + +The house and its inmates had altogether a bad name. Tom's wife was a +tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm. +Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his +face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to +words. No one ventured, however, to interfere between them. The +lonely wayfarer shrank within himself at the horrid clamor and +clapper-clawing; eyed the den of discord askance; and hurried on his +way, rejoicing, if a bachelor, in his celibacy. + +One day that Tom Walker had been to a distant part of the +neighborhood, he took what he considered a short-cut homeward, through +the swamp. Like most short-cuts, it was an ill-chosen route. The swamp +was thickly grown with great, gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them +ninety feet high, which made it dark at noonday and a retreat for +all the owls of the neighborhood. It was full of pits and quagmires, +partly covered with weeds and mosses, where the green surface often +betrayed the traveller into a gulf of black, smothering mud; there +were also dark and stagnant pools, the abodes of the tadpole, the +bull-frog, and the water-snake, where the trunks of pines and hemlocks +lay half-drowned, half-rotting, looking like alligators sleeping in +the mire. + +Tom had long been picking his way cautiously through this treacherous +forest, stepping from tuft to tuft of rushes and roots, which afforded +precarious footholds among deep sloughs, or pacing carefully, like a +cat, along the prostrate trunks of trees, startled now and then by +the sudden screaming of the bittern, or the quacking of a wild duck, +rising on the wing from some solitary pool. At length he arrived at a +firm piece of ground, which ran like a peninsula into the deep bosom +of the swamp. It had been one of the strongholds of the Indians during +their wars with the first colonists. Here they had thrown up a kind of +fort, which they had looked upon as almost impregnable, and had used +as a place of refuge for their squaws and children. Nothing remained +of the old Indian fort but a few embankments, gradually sinking to the +level of the surrounding earth, and already overgrown in part by oaks +and other forest trees, the foliage of which formed a contrast to the +dark pines and hemlocks of the swamps. + +It was late in the dusk of evening when Tom Walker reached the old +fort, and he paused there awhile to rest himself. Any one but he would +have felt unwilling to linger in this lonely, melancholy place, for +the common people had a bad opinion of it, from the stories handed +down from the times of the Indian wars, when it was asserted that the +savages held incantations here and made sacrifices to the Evil Spirit. + +Tom Walker, however, was not a man to be troubled with any fears of +the kind. He reposed himself for some time on the trunk of a fallen +hemlock, listening to the boding cry of the tree-toad, and delving +with his walking-staff into a mound of black mould at his feet. As he +turned up the soil unconsciously, his staff struck against something +hard. He raked it out of the vegetable mould, and lo! a cloven skull, +with an Indian tomahawk buried deep in it, lay before him. The rust on +the weapon showed the time that had elapsed since this death-blow had +been given. It was a dreary memento of the fierce struggle that had +taken place in this last foothold of the Indian warriors. + +"Humph!" said Tom Walker, as he gave it a kick to shake the dirt from +it. + +"Let that skull alone!" said a gruff voice. Tom lifted up his eyes and +beheld a great black man seated directly opposite him, on the stump of +a tree. He was exceedingly surprised, having neither heard nor seen +any one approach; and he was still more perplexed on observing, as +well as the gathering gloom would permit, that the stranger was +neither negro nor Indian. It is true he was dressed in a rude Indian +garb, and had a red belt or sash swathed round his body; but his +face was neither black nor copper-color, but swarthy and dingy, and +begrimed with soot, as if he had been accustomed to toil among fires +and forges. He had a shock of coarse black hair, that stood out from +his head in all directions, and bore an axe on his shoulder. + +He scowled for a moment at Tom with a pair of great red eyes. + +"What are you doing on my grounds?" said the black man, with a hoarse, +growling voice. + +"Your grounds!" said Tom, with a sneer; "no more your grounds than +mine; they belong to Deacon Peabody." + +"Deacon Peabody be damned," said the stranger, "as I flatter myself he +will be, if he does not look more to his own sins and less to those of +his neighbors. Look yonder, and see how Deacon Peabody is faring." + +Tom looked in the direction that the stranger pointed, and beheld one +of the great trees, fair and flourishing without, but rotten at the +core, and saw that it had been nearly hewn through, so that the first +high wind was likely to blow it down. On the bark of the tree was +scored the name of Deacon Peabody, an eminent man who had waxed +wealthy by driving shrewd bargains with the Indians. He now looked +around, and found most of the tall trees marked with the name of some +great man of the colony, and all more or less scored by the axe. The +one on which he had been seated, and which had evidently just been +hewn down, bore the name of Crowninshield; and he recollected a mighty +rich man of that name, who made a vulgar display of wealth, which it +was whispered he had acquired by buccaneering. + +"He's just ready for burning!" said the black man, with a growl of +triumph. "You see I am likely to have a good stock of firewood for +winter." + +"But what right have you," said Tom, "to cut down Deacon Peabody's +timber?" + +"The right of a prior claim," said the other. "This woodland belonged +to me long before one of your white-faced race put foot upon the +soil." + +"And, pray, who are you, if I may be so bold?" said Tom. + +"Oh, I go by various names. I am the wild huntsman in some countries; +the black miner in others. In this neighborhood I am known by the name +of the black woodsman. I am he to whom the red men consecrated this +spot, and in honor of whom they now and then roasted a white man, +by way of sweet-smelling sacrifice. Since the red men have been +exterminated by you white savages, I amuse myself by presiding at the +persecutions of Quakers and Anabaptists; I am the great patron and +prompter of slave-dealers and the grand-master of the Salem witches." + +"The upshot of all which is, that, if I mistake not," said Tom, +sturdily, "you are he commonly called Old Scratch." + +"The same, at your service!" replied the black man, with a half-civil +nod. + +Such was the opening of this interview, according to the old story; +though it has almost too familiar an air to be credited. One would +think that to meet with such a singular personage in this wild, lonely +place would have shaken any man's nerves; but Tom was a hard-minded +fellow, not easily daunted, and he had lived so long with a termagant +wife that he did not even fear the devil. + +It is said that after this commencement they had a long and earnest +conversation together, as Tom returned homeward. The black man told +him of great sums of money buried by Kidd the pirate under the +oak-trees on the high ridge, not far from the morass. All these were +under his command, and protected by his power, so that none could find +them but such as propitiated his favor. These he offered to place +within Tom Walker's reach, having conceived an especial kindness for +him; but they were to be had only on certain conditions. What these +conditions were may be easily surmised, though Tom never disclosed +them publicly. They must have been very hard, for he required time to +think of them, and he was not a man to stick at trifles when money was +in view. When they had reached the edge of the swamp, the stranger +paused. "What proof have I that all you have been telling me is true?" +said Tom. "There's my signature," said the black man, pressing his +finger on Tom's forehead. So saying, he turned off among the thickets +of the swamp, and seemed, as Tom said, to go down, down, down, into +the earth, until nothing but his head and shoulders could be seen, and +so on, until he totally disappeared. + +When Tom reached home he found the black print of a finger burned, as +it were, into his forehead, which nothing could obliterate. + +The first news his wife had to tell him was the sudden death of +Absalom Crowninshield, the rich buccaneer. It was announced in the +papers, with the usual flourish, that "A great man had fallen in +Israel." + +Tom recollected the tree which his black friend had just hewn down, +and which was ready for burning. "Let the freebooter roast," said Tom; +"who cares!" He now felt convinced that all he had heard and seen was +no illusion. + +He was not prone to let his wife into his confidence; but as this was +an uneasy secret, he willingly shared it with her. All her avarice was +awakened at the mention of hidden gold, and she urged her husband to +comply with the black man's terms, and secure what would make them +wealthy for life. However Tom might have felt disposed to sell himself +to the devil, he was determined not to do so to oblige his wife; so +he flatly refused, out of the mere spirit of contradiction. Many and +bitter were the quarrels they had on the subject; but the more she +talked, the more resolute was Tom not to be damned to please her. + +At length she determined to drive the bargain on her own account, and, +if she succeeded, to keep all the gain to herself. Being of the same +fearless temper as her husband, she set off for the old Indian fort +toward the close of a summer's day. She was many hours absent. When +she came back, she was reserved and sullen in her replies. She spoke +something of a black man, whom she had met about twilight hewing at +the root of a tall tree. He was sulky, however, and would not come to +terms; she was to go again with a propitiatory offering, but what it +was she forbore to say. + +The next evening she set off again for the swamp, with her apron +heavily laden. Tom waited and waited for her, but in vain; midnight +came, but she did not make her appearance; morning, noon, night +returned, but still she did not come. Tom now grew uneasy for her +safety, especially as he found she had carried off in her apron the +silver tea-pot and spoons, and every portable article of value. +Another night elapsed, another morning came; but no wife. In a word, +she was never heard of more. + +What was her real fate nobody knows, in consequence of so many +pretending to know. It is one of those facts which have become +confounded by a variety of historians. Some asserted that she lost her +way among the tangled mazes of the swamp, and sank into some pit or +slough; others, more uncharitable, hinted that she had eloped with the +household booty, and made off to some other province; while others +surmised that the tempter had decoyed her into a dismal quagmire, on +the top of which her hat was found lying. In confirmation of this, it +was said a great black man, with an axe on his shoulder, was seen late +that very evening coming out of the swamp, carrying a bundle tied in a +check apron, with an air of surly triumph. + +The most current and probable story, however, observes that Tom Walker +grew so anxious about the fate of his wife and his property that he +set out at length to seek them both at the Indian fort. During a long +summer's afternoon he searched about the gloomy place, but no wife was +to be seen. He called her name repeatedly, but she was nowhere to be +heard. The bittern alone responded to his voice, as he flew screaming +by; or the bull-frog croaked dolefully from a neighboring pool. At +length, it is said, just in the brown hour of twilight, when the owls +began to hoot and the bats to flit about, his attention was attracted +by the clamor of carrion crows hovering about a cypress-tree. He +looked up and beheld a bundle tied in a check apron and hanging in +the branches of the tree, with a great vulture perched hard by, as +if keeping watch upon it. He leaped with joy, for he recognized his +wife's apron, and supposed it to contain the household valuables. + +"Let us get hold of the property," said he, consolingly, to himself, +"and we will endeavor to do without the woman." + +As he scrambled up the tree, the vulture spread its wide wings and +sailed off, screaming, into the deep shadows of the forest. Tom seized +the checked apron, but, woful sight! found nothing but a heart and +liver tied up in it! + +Such, according to this most authentic old story, was all that was to +be found of Tom's wife. She had probably attempted to deal with the +black man as she had been accustomed to deal with her husband; but +though a female scold is generally considered a match for the devil, +yet in this instance she appears to have had the worst of it. She must +have died game, however; for it is said Tom noticed many prints of +cloven feet deeply stamped about the tree, and found handfuls of hair, +that looked as if they had been plucked from the coarse black shock of +the woodsman. Tom knew his wife's prowess by experience. He shrugged +his shoulders as he looked at the signs of fierce clapper-clawing. +"Egad," said he to himself, "Old Scratch must have had a tough time of +it!" + +Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property, with the loss of +his wife, for he was a man of fortitude. He even felt something like +gratitude toward the black woodsman, who, he considered, had done him +a kindness. He sought, therefore, to cultivate a further acquaintance +with him, but for some time without success; the old black-legs played +shy, for, whatever people may think, he is not always to be had for +the calling; he knows how to play his cards when pretty sure of his +game. + +At length, it is said, when delay had whetted Tom's eagerness to the +quick and prepared him to agree to anything rather than not gain the +promised treasure, he met the black man one evening in his usual +woodsman's dress, with his axe on his shoulder, sauntering along the +swamp and humming a tune. He affected to receive Tom's advances with +great indifference, made brief replies, and went on humming his tune. + +By degrees, however, Tom brought him to business, and they began to +haggle about the terms on which the former was to have the pirate's +treasure. There was one condition which need not be mentioned, being +generally understood in all cases where the devil grants favors; but +there were others about which, though of less importance, he was +inflexibly obstinate. He insisted that the money found through his +means should be employed in his service. He proposed, therefore, that +Tom should employ it in the black traffic; that is to say, that he +should fit out a slave-ship. This, however, Tom resolutely refused; +he was bad enough in all conscience, but the devil himself could not +tempt him to turn slave-trader. + +Finding Tom so squeamish on this point, he did not insist upon it, +but proposed, instead, that he should turn usurer; the devil being +extremely anxious for the increase of usurers, looking upon them as +his peculiar people. + +To this no objections were made, for it was just to Tom's taste. + +"You shall open a broker's shop in Boston next month," said the black +man. + +"I'll do it to-morrow, if you wish," said Tom Walker. + +"You shall lend money at two per cent. a month." + +"Egad, I'll charge four!" replied Tom Walker. + +"You shall extort bonds, foreclose mortgages, drive the merchants to +bankruptcy--" + +"I'll drive them to the devil," cried Tom Walker. + +"_You_ are the usurer for my money!" said black-legs with delight. +"When will you want the rhino?" + +"This very night." + +"Done!" said the devil. + +"Done!" said Tom Walker. So they shook hands and struck a bargain. + +A few days' time saw Tom Walker seated behind his desk in a +counting-house in Boston. + +His reputation for a ready-moneyed man, who would lend money out for a +good consideration, soon spread abroad. Everybody remembers the time +of Governor Belcher, when money was particularly scarce. It was a time +of paper credit. The country had been deluged with government bills; +the famous Land Bank had been established; there had been a rage for +speculating; the people had run mad with schemes for new settlements, +for building cities in the wilderness; land-jobbers went about with +maps of grants and townships and Eldorados, lying nobody knew where, +but which everybody was ready to purchase. In a word, the great +speculating fever which breaks out every now and then in the country +had raged to an alarming degree, and everybody was dreaming of making +sudden fortunes from nothing. As usual, the fever had subsided, the +dream had gone off, and the imaginary fortunes with it; the patients +were left in doleful plight, and the whole country resounded with the +consequent cry of "hard times." + +At this propitious time of public distress did Tom Walker set up as +usurer in Boston. His door was soon thronged by customers. The needy +and adventurous, the gambling speculator, the dreaming land-jobber, +the thriftless tradesman, the merchant with cracked credit--in short, +everyone driven to raise money by desperate means and desperate +sacrifices hurried to Tom Walker. + +Thus Tom was the universal friend to the needy, and acted like "a +friend in need"; that is to say, he always exacted good pay and +security. In proportion to the distress of the applicant was the +hardness of his terms. He accumulated bonds and mortgages, gradually +squeezed his customers closer and closer, and sent them at length, dry +as a sponge, from his door. + +In this way he made money hand over hand, became a rich and mighty +man, and exalted his cocked hat upon "Change." He built himself, as +usual, a vast house, out of ostentation, but left the greater part +of it unfinished and unfurnished, out of parsimony. He even set up a +carriage in the fulness of his vain-glory, though he nearly starved +the horses which drew it; and, as the ungreased wheels groaned and +screeched on the axle-trees, you would have thought you heard the +souls of the poor debtors he was squeezing. + +As Tom waxed old, however, he grew thoughtful. Having secured the good +things of this world, he began to feel anxious about those of the +next. He thought with regret of the bargain he had made with his black +friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the conditions. +He became, therefore, all of a sudden, a violent church-goer. He +prayed loudly and strenuously, as if heaven were to be taken by force +of lungs. Indeed, one might always tell when he had sinned most during +the week by the clamor of his Sunday devotion. The quiet Christians +who had been modestly and steadfastly travelling Zionward were struck +with self-reproach at seeing themselves so suddenly outstripped in +their career by this new-made convert. Tom was as rigid in religious +as in money matters; he was a stern supervisor and censurer of his +neighbors, and seemed to think every sin entered up to their account +became a credit on his own side of the page. He even talked of the +expediency of reviving the persecution of Quakers and Anabaptists. In +a word, Tom's zeal became as notorious as his riches. + +Still, in spite of all this strenuous attention to forms, Tom had a +lurking dread that the devil, after all, would have his due. That he +might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a +small Bible in his coat-pocket. He had also a great folio Bible on his +counting-house desk, and would frequently be found reading it when +people called on business; on such occasions he would lay his green +spectacles in the book, to mark the place, while he turned round to +drive some usurious bargain. + +Some say that Tom grew a little crack-brained in his old days, and +that, fancying his end approaching, he had his horse new shod, +saddled, and bridled, and buried with his feet uppermost; because he +supposed that at the last day the world would be turned upside-down; +in which case he should find his horse standing ready for mounting, +and he was determined at the worst to give his old friend a run for +it. This, however, is probably a mere old wives' fable. If he really +did take such a precaution, it was totally superfluous; at least so +says the authentic old legend, which closes his story in the following +manner: + +One hot summer afternoon in the dog-days, just as a terrible black +thunder-gust was coming up, Tom sat in his counting-house, in his +white linen cap and India silk morning-gown. He was on the point of +foreclosing a mortgage, by which he would complete the ruin of an +unlucky land-speculator for whom he had professed the greatest +friendship. The poor land-jobber begged him to grant a few months' +indulgence. Tom had grown testy and irritated, and refused another +delay. + +"My family will be ruined, and brought upon the parish," said the +land-jobber. + +"Charity begins at home," replied Tom; "I must take care of myself in +these hard times." + +"You have made so much money out of me," said the speculator. + +Tom lost his patience and his piety. "The devil take me," said he, "if +I have made a farthing!" + +Just then there were three loud knocks at the street door. He stepped +out to see who was there. A black man was holding a black horse, which +neighed and stamped with impatience. + +"Tom, you're come for," said the black fellow, gruffly. Tom shrank +back, but too late. He had left his little Bible at the bottom of his +coat-pocket and his big Bible on the desk buried under the mortgage +he was about to foreclose: never was sinner taken more unawares. The +black man whisked him like a child into the saddle, gave the horse the +lash, and away he galloped, with Tom on his back, in the midst of the +thunder-storm. The clerks stuck their pens behind their ears, and +stared after him from the windows. Away went Tom Walker, dashing down +the streets, his white cap bobbing up and down, his morning-gown +fluttering in the wind, and his steed striking fire out of the +pavement at every bound. When the clerks turned to look for the black +man, he had disappeared. + +Tom Walker never returned to foreclose the mortgage. A countryman, who +lived on the border of the swamp, reported that in the height of the +thunder-gust he had heard a great clattering of hoofs and a howling +along the road, and running to the window caught sight of a figure, +such as I have described, on a horse that galloped like mad across the +fields, over the hills, and down into the black hemlock swamp toward +the old Indian fort, and that shortly after a thunder-bolt falling in +that direction seemed to set the whole forest in a blaze. + +The good people of Boston shook their heads and shrugged their +shoulders, but had been so much accustomed to witches and goblins, and +tricks of the devil, in all kinds of shapes, from the first settlement +of the colony, that they were not so much horror-struck as might +have been expected. Trustees were appointed to take charge of Tom's +effects. There was nothing, however, to administer upon. On searching +his coffers, all his bonds and mortgages were reduced to cinders. In +place of gold and silver, his iron chest was filled with chips and +shavings; two skeletons lay in his stable instead of his half-starved +horses, and the very next day his great house took fire and was burned +to the ground. + +Such was the end of Tom Walker and his ill-gotten wealth. Let all +gripping money-brokers lay this story to heart. The truth of it is not +to be doubted. The very hole under the oak-trees, whence he dug Kidd's +money, is to be seen to this day; and the neighboring swamp and +old Indian fort are often haunted in stormy nights by a figure on +horseback, in morning-gown and white cap, which is doubtless the +troubled spirit of the usurer. In fact, the story has resolved itself +into a proverb, and is the origin of that popular saying, so prevalent +throughout New England, of "The devil and Tom Walker." + + + + +DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT + +_Nathaniel Hawthorne_ (1807-1864) + + +That very singular man, old Doctor Heidegger, once invited four +venerable friends to meet him in his study. There were three +white-bearded gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr. +Gascoigne, and a withered gentlewoman whose name was the Widow +Wycherley. They were all melancholy old creatures, who had been +unfortunate in life, and whose greatest misfortune it was that they +were not long ago in their graves. Mr. Medbourne, in the vigor of his +age, had been a prosperous merchant, but had lost his all by a frantic +speculation, and was no little better than a mendicant. Colonel +Killigrew had wasted his best years, and his health and substance, in +the pursuit of sinful pleasures, which had given birth to a brood of +pains, such as the gout and divers other torments of soul and body. +Mr. Gascoigne was a ruined politician, a man of evil fame, or at +least had been so, till time had buried him from the knowledge of the +present generation, and made him obscure instead of infamous. As for +the Widow Wycherley, tradition tells us that she was a great beauty in +her day; but, for a long while past, she had lived in deep seclusion, +on account of certain scandalous stories which had prejudiced the +gentry of the town against her. It is a circumstance worth mentioning +that each of these three old gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel +Killigrew, and Mr. Gascoigne, were early lovers of the Widow +Wycherley, and had once been on the point of cutting each other's +throats for her sake. And, before proceeding further, I will merely +hint that Doctor Heidegger and all his four guests were sometimes +thought to be a little beside themselves; as is not unfrequently the +case with old people, when worried either by present troubles or woful +recollections. + +"My dear friends," said Doctor Heidegger, motioning them to be seated, +"I am desirous of your assistance in one of those little experiments +with which I amuse myself here in my study." + +If all stories were true, Doctor Heidegger's study must have been a +very curious place. It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned +with cobwebs and besprinkled with antique dust. Around the walls stood +several oaken bookcases, the lower shelves of which were filled with +rows of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos, and the upper with +little parchment-covered duodecimos. Over the central bookcase was a +bronze bust of Hippocrates, with which, according to some authorities, +Doctor Heidegger was accustomed to hold consultations in all difficult +cases of his practice. In the obscurest corner of the room stood +a tall and narrow oaken closet, with its door ajar, within which +doubtfully appeared a skeleton. Between two of the bookcases hung a +looking-glass, presenting its high and dusty plate within a tarnished +gilt frame. Among many wonderful stories related of this mirror, it +was fabled that the spirits of all the doctor's deceased patients +dwelt within its verge, and would stare him in the face whenever he +looked thitherward. The opposite side of the chamber was ornamented +with the full-length portrait of a young lady, arrayed in the faded +magnificence of silk, satin, and brocade, and with a visage as faded +as her dress. Above half a century ago Doctor Heidegger had been on +the point of marriage with this young lady; but, being affected +with some slight disorder, she had swallowed one of her lover's +prescriptions, and died on the bridal evening. The greatest curiosity +of the study remains to be mentioned; it was a ponderous folio volume, +bound in black leather, with massive silver clasps. There were no +letters on the back, and nobody could tell the title of the book. But +it was well known to be a book of magic; and once, when a chambermaid +had lifted it, merely to brush away the dust, the skeleton had rattled +in its closet, the picture of the young lady had stepped one foot upon +the floor, and several ghastly faces had peeped forth from the mirror; +while the brazen head of Hippocrates frowned, and said: "Forbear!" + +Such was Doctor Heidegger's study. On the summer afternoon of our tale +a small round table, as black as ebony, stood in the centre of the +room, sustaining a cut-glass vase of beautiful form and workmanship. +The sunshine came through the window, between the heavy festoons of +two faded damask curtains, and fell directly across this vase; so that +a mild splendor was reflected from it on the ashen visages of the five +old people who sat around. Four champagne glasses were also on the +table. + +"My dear old friends," repeated Doctor Heidegger, "may I reckon on +your aid in performing an exceedingly curious experiment?" + +Now Doctor Heidegger was a very strange old gentleman, whose +eccentricity had become the nucleus for a thousand fantastic stories. +Some of these fables, to my shame be it spoken, might possibly be +traced back to mine own veracious self; and if any passages of the +present tale should startle the reader's faith, I must be content to +bear the stigma of a fiction-monger. + +When the doctor's four guests heard him talk of his proposed +experiment, they anticipated nothing more wonderful than the murder +of a mouse in an air-pump or the examination of a cobweb by the +microscope, or some similiar nonsense, with which he was constantly in +the habit of pestering his intimates. But without waiting for a reply, +Doctor Heidegger hobbled across the chamber, and returned with the +same ponderous folio, bound in black leather, which common report +affirmed to be a book of magic. Undoing the silver clasps, he opened +the volume, and took from among its black-letter pages a rose, or what +was once a rose, though now the green leaves and crimson petals had +assumed one brownish hue, and the ancient flower seemed ready to +crumble to dust in the doctor's hands. + +"This rose," said Doctor Heidegger, with a sigh, "this same withered +and crumbling flower, blossomed five and fifty years ago. It was +given me by Sylvia Ward, whose portrait hangs yonder, and I meant to +wear it in my bosom at our wedding. Five and fifty years it has been +treasured between the leaves of this old volume. Now, would you deem +it possible that this rose of half a century could ever bloom again?" + +"Nonsense!" said the Widow Wycherley, with a peevish toss of her head. +"You might as well ask whether an old woman's wrinkled face could ever +bloom again." + +"See!" answered Doctor Heidegger. + +He uncovered the vase, and threw the faded rose into the water which +it contained. At first, it lay lightly on the surface of the fluid, +appearing to imbibe none of its moisture. Soon, however, a singular +change began to be visible. The crushed and dried petals stirred, and +assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower were reviving +from a death-like slumber; the slender stalk and twigs of foliage +became green; and there was the rose of half a century, looking as +fresh as when Sylvia Ward had first given it to her lover. It was +scarcely full blown; for some of its delicate red leaves curled +modestly around its moist bosom, within which two or three dewdrops +were sparkling. + +"That is certainly a very pretty deception," said the doctor's +friends; careless, however, for they had witnessed greater miracles at +a conjurer's show; "pray how was it effected?" + +"Did you ever hear of the 'Fountain of Youth,'" asked Doctor +Heidegger, "which Ponce de Leon, the Spanish adventurer, went in +search of, two or three centuries ago?" + +"But did Ponce de Leon ever find it?" said the Widow Wycherley. + +"No," answered Doctor Heidegger, "for he never sought it in the right +place. The famous Fountain of Youth, if I am rightly informed, is +situated in the southern part of the Floridian peninsula, not far from +Lake Macaco. Its source is overshadowed by several magnolias, which, +though numberless centuries old, have been kept as fresh as violets, +by the virtues of this wonderful water. An acquaintance of mine, +knowing my curiosity in such matters, has sent me what you see in the +vase." + +"Ahem!" said Colonel Killigrew, who believed not a word of the +doctor's story; "and what may be the effect of this fluid on the human +frame?" + +"You shall judge for yourself, my dear Colonel," replied Doctor +Heidegger; "and all of you, my respected friends, are welcome to so +much of this admirable fluid as may restore to you the bloom of youth. +For my own part, having had much trouble in growing old, I am in no +hurry to grow young again. With your permission, therefore, I will +merely watch the progress of the experiment." + +While he spoke, Doctor Heidegger had been filling the four champagne +glasses with the water of the Fountain of Youth. It was apparently +impregnated with an effervescent gas; for little bubbles were +continually ascending from the depths of the glasses, and bursting +in silvery spray at the surface. As the liquor diffused a pleasant +perfume, the old people doubted now that it possessed cordial +and comfortable properties; and though utter sceptics as to its +rejuvenescent power, they were inclined to swallow it at once. But +Doctor Heidegger besought them to stay a moment. + +"Before you drink, my respectable old friends," said he, "it would be +well that, with the experience of a lifetime to direct you, you should +draw up a few general rules for your guidance, in passing a second +time through the perils of youth. Think what a sin and shame it would +be if, with your peculiar advantages, you should not become patterns +of virtue and wisdom to all the young people of the age!" + +The doctor's four venerable friends made him no answer, except by a +feeble and tremulous laugh; so very ridiculous was the idea that, +knowing how closely repentance treads behind the steps of error, they +should ever go astray again. + +"Drink, then," said the doctor, bowing: "I rejoice that I have so well +selected the subjects of my experiment." + +With palsied hands they raised the glasses to their lips. The liquor, +if it really possessed such virtues as Doctor Heidegger imputed to it, +could not have been bestowed on four human beings who needed it more +wofully. They looked as if they had never known what youth or pleasure +was, but had been the offspring of nature's dotage, and always the +gray, decrepit, sapless, miserable creatures, who now sat stooping +round the doctor's table, without life enough in their souls or bodies +to be animated even by the prospect of growing young again. They drank +off the water, and replaced their glasses on the table. + +Assuredly there was an almost immediate improvement in the aspect of +the party, not unlike what might have been produced by a glass of +generous wine, together with a sudden glow of cheerful sunshine, +brightening over all their visages at once. There was a healthful +suffusion on their cheeks, instead of the ashen hue that had made them +look so corpselike. They gazed at one another, and fancied that +some magic power had really begun to smooth away the deep and sad +inscriptions which Father Time had been so long engraving on their +brows. The Widow Wycherley adjusted her cap, for she felt almost like +a woman again. + +"Give us more of this wondrous water!" cried they, eagerly. "We are +younger--but we are still too old! Quick--give us more!" + +"Patience! patience!" quoth Doctor Heidegger, who sat watching the +experiment with philosophic coolness. "You have been a long time +growing old. Surely you might be content to grow young in half an +hour! But the water is at your service." + +Again he filled their glasses with the liquor of youth, enough of +which still remained in the vase to turn half the old people in the +city to the age of their own grandchildren. While the bubbles were yet +sparkling on the brim, the doctor's four guests snatched their glasses +from the table, and swallowed the contents at a single gulp. Was it +delusion? Even while the draught was passing down their throats it +seemed to have wrought a change on their whole systems. Their eyes +grew clear and bright; a dark shade deepened among their silvery +locks; they sat round the table, three gentlemen of middle age, and a +woman hardly beyond her buxom prime. + +"My dear widow, you are charming!" cried Colonel Killigrew, whose eyes +had been fixed upon her face, while the shadows of age were flitting +from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak. + +The fair widow knew of old that Colonel Killigrew's compliments were +not always measured by sober truth; so she started up and ran to the +mirror, still dreading that the ugly visage of an old woman would meet +her gaze. Meanwhile the three gentlemen behaved in such a manner +as proved that the water of the Fountain of Youth possessed some +intoxicating qualities, unless, indeed, their exhilaration of spirits +were merely a lightsome dizziness, caused by the sudden removal of +the weight of years. Mr. Gascoigne's mind seemed to run on political +topics, but whether relating to the past, present, or future could not +easily be determined, since the same ideas and phrases have been in +vogue these fifty years. Now he rattled forth full-throated sentences +about patriotism, national glory, and the people's rights; now he +muttered some perilous stuff or other, in a sly and doubtful whisper, +so cautiously that even his own conscience could scarcely catch the +secret; and now, again, he spoke in measured accents and a deeply +deferential tone, as if a royal ear were listening to his well-turned +periods. Colonel Killigrew all this time had been trolling forth a +jolly battle-song, and ringing his glass toward the buxom figure of +the Widow Wycherley. On the other side of the table Mr. Medbourne +was involved in a calculation of dollars and cents, with which was +strangely intermingled a project for supplying the East Indies with +ice, by harnessing a team of whales to the polar icebergs. + +As for the Widow Wycherley, she stood before the mirror, courtesying +and simpering to her own image, and greeting it as the friend whom she +loved better than all the world beside. She thrust her face close to +the glass to see whether some long-remembered wrinkle or crow's-foot +had indeed vanished. She examined whether the snow had so entirely +melted from her hair that the venerable cap could be safely thrown +aside. At last, turning briskly away, she came with a sort of dancing +step to the table. + +"My dear old doctor," cried she, "pray favor me with another glass!" + +"Certainly, my dear madam, certainly!" replied the complaisant doctor. +"See! I have already filled the glasses." + +There, in fact, stood the four glasses, brimful of this wonderful +water, the delicate spray of which, as it effervesced from the +surface, resembled the tremulous glitter of diamonds. It was now so +nearly sunset that the chamber had grown duskier than ever; but a mild +and moon-like splendor gleamed from within the vase, and rested alike +on the four guests, and on the doctor's venerable figure. He sat in a +high-backed, elaborately carved oaken chair, with a gray dignity of +aspect that might have well befitted that very Father Time, whose +power had never been disputed, save by this fortunate company. Even +while quaffing the third draught of the Fountain of Youth, they were +almost awed by the expression of his mysterious visage. + +But the next moment the exhilarating gush of young life shot through +their veins. They were now in the happy prime of youth. Age, with its +miserable train of cares, and sorrows, and diseases, was remembered +only as the trouble of a dream, from which they had joyously awoke. +The fresh gloss of the soul, so early lost, and without which the +world's successive scenes had been but a gallery of faded pictures, +again threw its enchantment over all their prospects. They felt like +new-created beings in a new-created universe. + +"We are young! We are young!" they cried, exultingly. + +Youth, like the extremity of age, had effaced the strongly marked +characteristics of middle life, and mutually assimilated them all. +They were a group of merry youngsters, almost maddened with the +exuberant frolicsomeness of their years. The most singular effect of +their gayety was an impulse to mock the infirmity and decrepitude of +which they had so lately been the victims. They laughed loudly at +their old-fashioned attire--the wide-skirted coats and flapped +waistcoats of the young men, and the ancient cap and gown of the +blooming girl. One limped across the floor like a gouty grandfather; +one set a pair of spectacles astride of his nose, and pretended to +pore over the black-letter pages of the book of magic; a third seated +himself in an arm-chair, and strove to imitate the venerable dignity +of Doctor Heidegger. Then all shouted mirthfully, and leaped about +the room. The Widow Wycherley--if so fresh a damsel could be called a +widow--tripped up to the doctor's chair with a mischievous merriment +in her rosy face. + +"Doctor, you dear old soul," cried she, "get up and dance with me!" +And then the four young people laughed louder than ever, to think what +a queer figure the poor old doctor would cut. + +"Pray excuse me," answered the doctor, quietly. "I am old and +rheumatic, and my dancing days were over long ago. But either of these +gay young gentlemen will be glad of so pretty a partner." + +"Dance with me, Clara!" cried Colonel Killigrew. + +"She promised me her hand fifty years ago!" exclaimed Mr. Medbourne. + +They all gathered round her. One caught both her hands in his +passionate grasp--another threw his arm about her waist--the third +buried his hand among the curls that clustered beneath the widow's +cap. Blushing, panting, struggling, chiding, laughing, her warm breath +fanning each of their faces by turns, she strove to disengage herself, +yet still remained in their triple embrace. Never was there a livelier +picture of youthful rivalship, with bewitching beauty for the prize. +Yet, by a strange deception, owing to the duskiness of the chamber and +the antique dresses which they still wore, the tall mirror is said +to have reflected the figures of the three old, gray, withered +grand-sires, ridiculously contending for the skinny ugliness of a +shrivelled grandam. + +But they were young: their burning passions proved them so. Inflamed +to madness by the coquetry of the girl-widow, who neither granted +nor quite withheld her favors, the three rivals began to interchange +threatening glances. Still keeping hold of the fair prize, they +grappled fiercely at one another's throats. As they struggled to and +fro, the table was overturned, and the vase dashed into a thousand +fragments. The precious Water of Youth flowed in a bright stream +across the floor, moistening the wings of a butterfly, which, grown +old in the decline of summer, had alighted there to die. The insect +fluttered lightly through the chamber, and settled on the snowy head +of Doctor Heidegger. + +"Come, come, gentlemen!--come, Madame Wycherley!" exclaimed the +doctor, "I really must protest against this riot." + +They stood still and shivered; for it seemed as if gray Time were +calling them back from their sunny youth, far down into the chill and +darksome vale of years. They looked at old Doctor Heidegger, who sat +in his carved arm-chair, holding the rose of half a century which he +had rescued from among the fragments of the shattered vase. At the +motion of his hand the rioters resumed their seats, the more readily +because their violent exertions had wearied them, youthful though they +were. + +"My poor Sylvia's rose!" ejaculated Doctor Heidegger, holding it in +the light of the sunset clouds; "it appears to be fading again." + +And so it was. Even while the party were looking at it the flower +continued to shrivel up, till it became as dry and fragile as when the +doctor had first thrown it into the vase. He shook off the few drops +of moisture which clung to its petals. + +"I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness," observed he, +pressing the withered rose to his withered lips. While he spoke, the +butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head, and fell upon +the floor. + +His guests shivered again. A strange dullness, whether of the body or +spirit they could not tell, was creeping gradually over them all. They +gazed at one another, and fancied that each fleeting moment snatched +away a charm, and left a deepening furrow where none had been before. +Was it an illusion? Had the changes of a lifetime been crowded into so +brief a space, and were they now four aged people, sitting with their +old friend, Doctor Heidegger? + +"Are we grown old again so soon?" cried they, dolefully. + +In truth, they had. The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue +more transient than that of wine. The delirium which it created had +effervesced away. Yes, they were old again! With a shuddering impulse, +that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her skinny hands over +her face, and wished that the coffin lid were over it, since it could +be no longer beautiful. + +"Yes, friends, ye are old again," said Doctor Heidegger; "and lo! the +Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well, I bemoan it not; +for if the fountain gushed at my doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe +my lips in it--no, though its delirium were for years instead of +moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me!" + +But the doctor's four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves. +They resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florida, and quaff at +morning, noon, and night from the Fountain of Youth. + + + + +THE PURLOINED LETTER[1] + +[Footnote 1: The pattern in method for all detective stories.] + +_Edgar Allan Poe_ (1809-1849) + + +At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18--, I +was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in +company with my friend, C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, +or book-closet, _au troisième_, No. 33 Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. +Germain. For one hour at least we had maintained a profound silence, +while each, to any casual observer, might have seemed intently and +exclusively occupied with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed +the atmosphere of the chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally +discussing certain topics which had formed matter for conversation +between us at an earlier period of the evening; I mean the affair of +the Rue Morgue, and the mystery attending the murder of Marie Rogêt. +I looked upon it, therefore, as something of a coincidence, when +the door of our apartment was thrown open and admitted our old +acquaintance, Monsieur G----, the Prefect of the Parisian police. + +We gave him a hearty welcome; for there was nearly half as much of the +entertaining as of the contemptible about the man, and we had not seen +him for several years. We had been sitting in the dark, and Dupin now +arose for the purpose of lighting a lamp, but sat down again, without +doing so, upon G----'s saying that he had called to consult us, or +rather to ask the opinion of my friend, about some official business +which had occasioned a great deal of trouble. + +"If it is any point requiring reflection," observed Dupin, as he +forebore to enkindle the wick, "we shall examine it to better purpose +in the dark." + +"That is another of your odd notions," said the Prefect, who had the +fashion of calling everything "odd" that was beyond his comprehension, +and thus lived amid an absolute legion of "oddities." + +"Very true," said Dupin, as he supplied his visitor with a pipe, and +rolled toward him a comfortable chair. + +"And what is the difficulty now?" I asked. "Nothing more in the +assassination way, I hope?" + +"Oh no, nothing of that nature. The fact is, the business is _very_ +simple indeed, and I make no doubt that we can manage it sufficiently +well ourselves; but then I thought Dupin would like to hear the +details of it, because it is so excessively _odd_." + +"Simple and odd," said Dupin. + +"Why, yes; and not exactly that, either. The fact is, we have all been +a good deal puzzled because the affair is so simple, and yet baffles +us altogether." + +"Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts you at +fault," said my friend. + +"What nonsense you _do_ talk!" replied the Prefect, laughing heartily. + +"Perhaps the mystery is a little _too_ plain," said Dupin. + +"Oh, good heavens! who ever heard of such an idea?" + +"A little _too_ self-evident." + +"Ha! ha! ha!--ha! ha! ha!--ho! ho! ho!" roared our visitor, profoundly +amused, "Oh, Dupin, you will be the death of me yet!" + +"And what, after all, _is_ the matter on hand?" I asked. + +"Why, I will tell you," replied the Prefect, as he gave a long, +steady, and contemplative puff, and settled himself in his chair. "I +will tell you in a few words; but, before I begin, let me caution you +that this is an affair demanding the greatest secrecy, and that I +should most probably lose the position I now hold were it known that I +confided it to any one." + +"Proceed," said I. + +"Or not," said Dupin. + +"Well, then; I have received personal information, from a very high +quarter, that a certain document of the last importance has been +purloined from the royal apartments. The individual who purloined it +is known; this beyond a doubt; he was seen to take it. It is known, +also, that it still remains in his possession." + +"How is this known?" asked Dupin. + +"It is clearly inferred," replied the Prefect, "from the nature of the +document, and from the non-appearance of certain results which would +at once arise from its passing _out_ of the robber's possession--that +is to say, from his employing it as he must design in the end to +employ it." + +"Be a little more explicit," I said. + +"Well, I may venture so far as to say that the paper gives its holder +a certain power in a certain quarter where such power is immensely +valuable." The Prefect was fond of the cant of diplomacy. + +"Still I do not quite understand," said Dupin. + +"No? Well, the disclosure of the document to a third person, who shall +be nameless, would bring in question the honor of a personage of the +most exalted station, and this fact gives the holder of the document +an ascendancy over the illustrious personage whose honor and peace are +so jeopardized." + +"But this ascendancy," I interposed, "would depend upon the robber's +knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber. Who would dare--" + +"The thief," said G----, "is the Minister D----, who dares all things, +those unbecoming as well as those becoming a man. The method of the +theft was not less ingenious than bold. The document in question--a +letter, to be frank--had been received by the personage robbed while +alone in the royal _boudoir_. During its perusal she was suddenly +interrupted by the entrance of the other exalted personage from whom +especially it was her wish to conceal it. After a hurried and vain +endeavor to thrust it in a drawer, she was forced to place it, open as +it was, upon a table. The address, however, was uppermost, and, the +contents thus unexposed, the letter escaped notice. At this juncture +enters the Minister D----. His lynx eye immediately perceives the +paper, recognizes the handwriting of the address, observes the +confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret. After +some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he +produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, +pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the +other. Again he converses, for some fifteen minutes, upon the public +affairs. At length, in taking leave, he takes also from the table +the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful owner saw, but of +course, dared not call attention to the act, in the presence of the +third personage who stood at her elbow. The Minister decamped, leaving +his own letter--one of no importance--upon the table." + +"Here, then," said Dupin to me, "you have precisely what you demand to +make the ascendancy complete--the robber's knowledge of the loser's +knowledge of the robber." + +"Yes," replied the Prefect, "and the power thus attained has, for some +months past, been wielded, for political purposes, to a very dangerous +extent. The personage robbed is more thoroughly convinced, every day, +of the necessity of reclaiming her letter. But this, of course, cannot +be done openly. In fine, driven to despair, she has committed the +matter to me." + +"Than whom," said Dupin, amid a perfect whirlwind of smoke, "no more +sagacious agent could, I suppose, be desired, or even imagined." + +"You flatter me," replied the Prefect; "but it is possible that some +such opinion may have been entertained." + +"It is clear," said I, "as you observe, that the letter is still in +the possession of the Minister; since it is this possession, and +not any employment of the letter, which bestows the power. With the +employment the power departs." + +"True," said G----; "and upon this conviction I proceeded. My first +care was to make thorough search of the Minister's hotel; and here +my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his +knowledge. Beyond all things, I have been warned of the danger which +would result from giving him reason to suspect our design." + +"But," said I, "you are quite _au fait_ in these investigations. The +Parisian police have done this thing often before." + +"Oh yes, and for this reason I did not despair. The habits of the +Minister gave me, too, a great advantage. He is frequently absent from +home all night. His servants are by no means numerous. They sleep at +a distance from their master's apartment, and, being chiefly +Neapolitans, are readily made drunk. I have keys, as you know, with +which I can open any chamber or cabinet in Paris. For three months a +night has not passed during the greater part of which I have not +been engaged, personally, in ransacking the D---- Hotel. My honor is +interested, and, to mention a great secret, the reward is enormous. So +I did not abandon the search until I had become fully satisfied that +the thief is a more astute man than myself. I fancy that I have +investigated every nook and corner of the premises in which it is +possible that the paper can be concealed." + +"But is it not possible," I suggested, "that although the letter may +be in the possession of the Minister, as it unquestionably is, he may +have concealed it elsewhere than upon his own premises?" + +"This is barely possible," said Dupin. "The present peculiar condition +of affairs at court, and especially of those intrigues in which D---- +is known to be involved, would render the instant availability of the +document--its susceptibility of being produced at a moment's notice--a +point of nearly equal importance with its possession." + +"Its susceptibility of being produced?" said I. + +"That is to say, of being _destroyed_," said Dupin. + +"True," I observed; "the paper is clearly, then, upon the premises. As +for its being upon the person of the Minister, we may consider that as +out of the question." + +"Entirely," said the Prefect. "He has been twice waylaid, as if by +footpads, and his person rigidly searched under my own inspection." + +"You might have spared yourself this trouble," said Dupin. "D----, I +presume, is not altogether a fool; and, if not, must have anticipated +these waylayings, as a matter of course." + +"Not _altogether_ a fool," said G----; "but, then, he is a poet, which +I take to be only one remove from a fool." + +"True," said Dupin, after a long and thoughtful whiff from his +meerschaum, "although I have been guilty of certain doggrel myself." + +"Suppose you detail," said I, "the particulars of your search." + +"Why, the fact is, we took our time, and we searched _everywhere_. I +have had long experience in these affairs. I took the entire building, +room by room, devoting the nights of a whole week to each. We +examined, first, the furniture of each apartment. We opened every +possible drawer; and I presume you know that, to a properly trained +police-agent, such a thing as a '_secret_' drawer is impossible. Any +man is a dolt who permits a 'secret' drawer to escape him in a search +of this kind. The thing is so plain. There is a certain amount of +bulk--of space--to be accounted for in every cabinet. Then we have +accurate rules. The fiftieth part of a line could not escape us. After +the cabinets we took the chairs. The cushions we probed with the fine +long needles you have seen me employ. From the tables we removed the +tops." + +"Why so?" + +"Sometimes the top of a table, or other similarly arranged piece of +furniture, is removed by the person wishing to conceal an article; +then the leg is excavated, the article deposited within the cavity, +and the top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedposts are employed in +the same way." + +"But could not the cavity be detected by sounding?" I asked. + +"By no means, if, when the article is deposited, a sufficient wadding +of cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, we were obliged +to proceed without noise." + +"But you could not have removed--you could not have taken to pieces +_all_ articles of furniture in which it would have been possible to +make a deposit in the manner you mention. A letter may be compressed +into a thin spiral roll, not differing much in shape or bulk from a +large knitting-needle, and in this form it might be inserted into +the rung of a chair, for example. You did not take to pieces all the +chairs?" + +"Certainly not; but we did better--we examined the rungs of every +chair in the hotel, and, indeed, the jointings of every description of +furniture, by the aid of a most powerful microscope. Had there been +any traces of recent disturbance we should not have failed to detect +it instantly. A single grain of gimlet-dust, for example, would have +been as obvious as an apple. Any disorder in the gluing--any unusual +gaping in the joints--would have sufficed to insure detection." + +"I presume you looked to the mirrors, between the boards and the +plates, and you probed the beds and the bedclothes, as well as the +curtains and carpets." + +"That, of course; and when we had absolutely completed every particle +of the furniture in this way, then we examined the house itself. We +divided its entire surface into compartments, which we numbered, so +that none might be missed; then we scrutinized each individual square +inch throughout the premises, including the two houses immediately +adjoining, with the microscope, as before." + +"The two houses adjoining!" I exclaimed. "You must have had a great +deal of trouble." + +"We had; but the reward offered is prodigious." + +"You include the _grounds_ about the houses?" + +"All the grounds are paved with brick. They gave us comparatively +little trouble. We examined the moss between the bricks, and found it +undisturbed." + +"You looked among D----'s papers, of course, and into the books of the +library?" + +"Certainly; we opened every package and parcel; we not only opened +every book, but we turned over every leaf in each volume, not +contenting ourselves with a mere shake, according to the fashion of +some of our police officers. We also measured the thickness of every +book-_cover_, with the most accurate admeasurement, and applied to +each the most jealous scrutiny of the microscope. Had any of the +bindings been recently meddled with, it would have been utterly +impossible that the fact should have escaped observation. Some five or +six volumes, just from the hands of the binder, we carefully probed, +longitudinally, with the needles." + +"You explored the floors beneath the carpets?" + +"Beyond doubt. We removed every carpet, and examined the boards with +the microscope." + +"And the paper on the walls?" + +"Yes." + +"You looked into the cellars?" + +"We did." + +"Then," I said, "you have been making a miscalculation, and the letter +is _not_ upon the premises, as you suppose." + +"I fear you are right there," said the Prefect. "And now, Dupin, what +would you advise me to do?" + +"To make a thorough research of the premises." + +"That is absolutely needless," replied G----. "I am not more sure that +I breathe than I am that the letter is not at the hotel." + +"I have no better advice to give you," said Dupin. "You have, of +course, an accurate description of the letter?" + +"Oh yes!" And here the Prefect, producing a memorandum book, proceeded +to read aloud a minute account of the internal, and especially of the +external, appearance of the missing document. Soon after finishing +the perusal of this description, he took his departure, more entirely +depressed in spirits than I had ever known the good gentleman before. + +In about a month afterward he paid us another visit, and found us +occupied very nearly as before. He took a pipe and a chair, and +entered into some ordinary conversation. At length I said: + +"Well, but, G----, what of the purloined letter? I presume you have at +last made up your mind that there is no such thing as overreaching the +Minister?" + +"Confound him, say I--yes; I made the re-examination, however, as +Dupin suggested--but it was all labor lost, as I knew it would be." + +"How much was the reward offered, did you say?" asked Dupin. + +"Why, a very great deal--a _very_ liberal reward--I don't like to say +how much, precisely; but one thing I _will_ say, that I wouldn't mind +giving my individual check for fifty thousand francs to any one who +could obtain me that letter. The fact is, it is becoming of more and +more importance every day; and the reward has been lately doubled. If +it were trebled, however, I could do no more than I have done." + +"Why, yes," said Dupin, drawling, between the whiffs of his +meerschaum, "I really--think, G----, you have not exerted yourself--to +the utmost in this matter. You might--do a little more, I think; eh?" + +"How?--in what way?" + +"Why"--puff, puff--"you might"--puff, puff--"employ counsel in the +matter, eh"--puff, puff, puff. "Do you remember the story they tell of +Abernethy?" + +"No; hang Abernethy!" + +"To be sure! Hang him and welcome. But, once upon a time, a certain +miser conceived the design of spunging upon this Abernethy for +a medical opinion. Getting up, for this purpose, an ordinary +conversation in a private company, he insinuated his case to the +physician as that of an imaginary individual." + +"'We will suppose,' said the miser, 'that his symptoms are such and +such; now, doctor, what would _you_ have directed him to take?' + +"'Take!' said Abernethy. 'Why, take _advice_, to be sure.'" + +"But," said the Prefect, a little discomposed, "_I_ am _perfectly_ +willing to take advice, and to pay for it. I would _really_ give fifty +thousand francs to any one who would aid me in the matter." + +"In that case," replied Dupin, opening a drawer, and producing a +check-book, "you may as well fill me up a check for the amount +mentioned. When you have signed it, I will hand you the letter." + +I was astounded. The Prefect appeared absolutely thunder-stricken. +For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless, looking +incredulously at my friend with open mouth, and eyes that seemed +starting from their sockets; then apparently recovering himself in +some measure, he seized a pen, and after several pauses and vacant +stares, finally filled up and signed a check for fifty thousand +francs, and handed it across the table to Dupin. The latter examined +it carefully and deposited it in his pocket-book; then, unlocking an +_escritoire_, took thence a letter and gave it to the Prefect. This +functionary grasped it in a perfect agony of joy, opened it with +a trembling hand, cast a rapid glance at its contents, and +then, scrambling and struggling to the door, rushed at length +unceremoniously from the room and from the house, without having +uttered a syllable since Dupin had requested him to fill up the check. + +When he had gone, my friend entered into some explanation. + +"The Parisian police," he said, "are exceedingly able in their way. +They are persevering, ingenious, cunning, and thoroughly versed in the +knowledge which their duties seem chiefly to demand. Thus, when G---- +detailed to us his mode of searching the premises at the Hotel +D----, I felt entire confidence in his having made a satisfactory +investigation--so far as his labors extended." + +"So far as his labors extended?" said I. + +"Yes," said Dupin. "The measures adopted were not only the best of +their kind, but carried out to absolute perfection. Had the letter +been deposited within the range of their search, these fellows would, +beyond a question, have found it." + +I merely laughed--but he seemed quite serious in all that he said. + +"The measures, then," he continued, "were good in their kind, and well +executed; their defect lay in their being inapplicable to the case and +to the man. A certain set of highly ingenious resources are, with the +Prefect, a sort of Procrustean bed, to which he forcibly adapts his +designs. But he perpetually errs by being too deep or too shallow for +the matter in hand, and many a school-boy is a better reasoner than +he. I knew one about eight years of age, whose success at guessing in +the game of 'even and odd' attracted universal admiration. This game +is simple, and is played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a +number of these toys, and demands of another whether that number is +even or odd. If the guess is right, the guesser wins one; if wrong, he +loses one. The boy to whom I allude won all the marbles of the school. +Of course, he had some principle of guessing; and this lay in mere +observation and admeasurement of the astuteness of his opponents. For +example, an arrant simpleton is his opponent, and, holding up his +closed hand, asks, 'Are they even or odd?' Our school-boy replies, +'Odd,' and loses; but upon the second trial he wins, for he then says +to himself: 'The simpleton had them even upon the first trial, and his +amount of cunning is just sufficient to make him have them odd upon +the second; I will therefore guess odd'; he guesses odd, and wins. +Now, with a simpleton a degree above the first, he would have reasoned +thus; + +'This fellow finds that in the first instance I guessed odd, and, in +the second, he will propose to himself, upon the first impulse, a +simple variation from even to odd, as did the first simpleton; +but then a second thought will suggest that this is too simple a +variation, and finally he will decide upon putting it even as before. +I will therefore guess even'; he guesses even, and wins. Now this mode +of reasoning in the school-boy, whom his fellows termed 'Lucky,' what, +in its last analysis, is it?" + +"It is merely," I said, "an identification of the reasoner's intellect +with that of his opponent." + +"It is," said Dupin; "and, upon inquiring of the boy by what means he +effected the _thorough_ identification in which his success consisted, +I received answer as follows: 'When I wish to find out how wise, or +how stupid, or how good, or how wicked, is any one, or what are his +thoughts at the moment, I fashion the expression of my face, as +accurately as possible, in accordance with the expression of his, +and then wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind +or heart, as if to match or correspond with the expression.' This +response of the school-boy lies at the bottom of all the spurious +profundity which has been attributed to Rochefoucault, to La Bougive, +to Machiavelli, and to Campanella." + +"And the identification," I said, "of the reasoner's intellect with +that of his opponent, depends, if I understand you aright, upon the +accuracy with which the opponent's intellect is admeasured." + +"For its practical value it depends upon this," replied Dupin; "and +the Prefect and his cohort fail so frequently, first, by default of +this identification, and, secondly, by ill-admeasurement, or rather +through non-admeasurement, of the intellect with which they are +engaged. They consider only their _own_ ideas of ingenuity; and, in +searching for anything hidden, advert only to the modes in which +_they_ would have hidden it. They are right in this much--that their +own ingenuity is a faithful representative of that of _the mass_; but +when the cunning of the individual felon is diverse in character from +their own, the felon foils them of course. This always happens when it +is above their own, and very usually when it is below. They have no +variation of principle in their investigations; at best, when urged by +some unusual emergency--by some extraordinary reward--they extend +or exaggerate their old modes of _practice_, without touching their +principles. What, for example, in this case of D----, has been done to +vary the principle of action? What is all this boring, and probing, +and sounding, and scrutinizing with the microscope, and dividing the +surface of the building into registered square inches--what is it all +but an exaggeration of the application of the one principle or set +of principles of search, which are based upon the one set of notions +retarding human ingenuity, to which the Prefect, in the long routine +of his duty, has been accustomed? Do you not see he had taken it for +granted that _all_ men proceed to conceal a letter, not exactly in +a gimlet-hole bored in a chair-leg, but, at least, in _some_ +out-of-the-way hole or corner suggested by the same tenor of thought +which would urge a man to secrete a letter in a gimlet-hole bored in a +chair-leg? And do you not see, also, that such _recherché_ nooks for +concealment are adapted only for ordinary occasions, and would be +adopted only by ordinary intellects; for, in all cases of concealment, +a disposal of the article concealed--a disposal of it in this +_recherché_ manner--is, in the very first instance, presumable and +presumed; and thus its discovery depends, not at all upon the acumen, +but altogether upon the mere care, patience, and determination of the +seekers; and where the case is of importance--or, when the reward is +of magnitude--the qualities in question have _never_ been known to +fail. You will now understand what I meant in suggesting that, had +the purloined letter been hidden anywhere within the limits of the +Prefect's examination--in other words, had the principle of +its concealment been comprehended within the principles of the +Prefect--its discovery would have been a matter altogether beyond +question. This functionary, however, has been thoroughly mystified; +and the remote source of his defeat lies in the supposition that the +Minister is a fool, because he has acquired renown as a poet. All +fools are poets; this the Prefect _feels_; and he is merely guilty +of a _non distributio medii_ in thence inferring that all poets are +fools. I mean to say, that if the Minister had been no more than a +mathematician, the Prefect would have been under no necessity of +giving me this check. I knew him, however, as both mathematician and +poet, and my measures were adapted to his capacity, with reference +to the circumstances by which he was surrounded. I knew him as a +courtier, too, and as a bold _intriguant_. Such a man, I considered, +could not fail to be aware of the ordinary political modes of action. +He could not have failed to anticipate--and events have proved that he +did not fail to anticipate--the waylayings to which he was subjected. +He must have foreseen, I reflected, the secret investigations of his +premises. His frequent absences from home at night, which were hailed +by the Prefect as certain aids to his success, I regarded only as +_ruses_, to afford opportunity for thorough search to the police, and +thus the sooner to impress them with the conviction to which G----, in +fact, did finally arrive--the conviction that the letter was not upon +the premises. I felt, also, that the whole train of thought, which +I was at some pains in detailing to you just now, concerning the +invariable principle of political action in searches for articles +concealed--I felt that this whole train of thought would necessarily +pass through the mind of the Minister. It would imperatively lead him +to despise all the ordinary _nooks_ of concealment. _He_ could not, I +reflected, be so weak as not to see that the most intricate and remote +recess of his hotel would be as open as his commonest closets to the +eyes, to the probes, to the gimlets, and to the microscopes of the +Prefect. I saw, in fine, that he would be driven, as a matter of +course, to _simplicity_, if not deliberately induced to it as a matter +of choice. You will remember, perhaps, how desperately the Prefect +laughed when I suggested, upon our first interview, that it was just +possible this mystery troubled him so much on account of its being so +_very_ self-evident." + +"Yes," said I, "I remember his merriment well. I really thought he +would have fallen into convulsions." + +"The material world," continued Dupin, "abounds with very strict +analogies to the immaterial; and thus some color of truth has been +given to the rhetorical dogma that metaphor, or simile, may be made +to strengthen an argument as well as to embellish a description. The +principle of the _vis inertiae_, for example, seems to be identical in +physics and metaphysics. It is not more true, in the former, that a +large body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller +one, and that its subsequent _momentum_ is commensurate with this +difficulty, than it is, in the latter, that intellects of the vaster +capacity, while more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in +their movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily +moved, and more embarrassed, and full of hesitation in the first few +steps of their progress. Again: have you ever noticed which of +the street signs, over the shop doors, are the most attractive of +attention?" + +"I have never given the matter a thought," I said. + +"There is a game of puzzles," he resumed, "which is played upon a map. +One party playing requires another to find a given word--the name of +town, river, state, or empire--any word, in short, upon the motley and +perplexed surface of the chart. A novice in the game generally seeks +to embarrass his opponents by giving them the most minutely lettered +names; but the adept selects such words as stretch, in large +characters, from one end of the chart to the other. These, like +the over-largely lettered signs and placards of the street, escape +observation by dint of being excessively obvious; and here +the physical oversight is precisely analogous with the moral +inapprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed +those considerations which are too obtrusively and too palpably +self-evident. But this is a point, it appears, somewhat above or +beneath the understanding of the Prefect. He never once thought it +probable, or possible, that the Minister had deposited the letter +immediately beneath the nose of the whole world, by way of best +preventing any portion of that world from perceiving it. + +"But the more I reflected upon the daring, dashing, and discriminating +ingenuity of D----; upon the fact that the document must always have +been _at hand_, if he intended to use it to good purpose; and upon the +decisive evidence, obtained by the Prefect, that it was not hidden +within the limits of that dignitary's ordinary search, the more +satisfied I became that, to conceal this letter, the Minister +had resorted to the comprehensive and sagacious expedient of not +attempting to conceal it. + +"Full of these ideas, I prepared myself with a pair of green +spectacles, and called one fine morning, quite by accident, at the +Ministerial hotel. I found D---- at home, yawning, lounging, and +dawdling, as usual, and pretending to be in the last extremity of +_ennui_. He is, perhaps, the most really energetic human being now +alive--but that is only when nobody sees him. + +"To be even with him, I complained of my weak eyes, and lamented the +necessity of the spectacles, under cover of which I cautiously and +thoroughly surveyed the whole apartment, while seemingly intent only +upon the conversation of my host. + +"I paid especial attention to a large writing-table near which he sat, +and upon which lay confusedly some miscellaneous letters and other +papers, with one or two musical instruments and a few books. Here, +however, after a long and very deliberate scrutiny, I saw nothing to +excite particular suspicion. + +"At length my eyes, in going the circuit of the room, fell upon a +trumpery filigree card-rack of pasteboard that hung dangling by a +dirty blue ribbon from a little brass knob just beneath the middle of +the mantelpiece. In this rack, which had three or four compartments, +were five or six soiled cards and a solitary letter. This last was +much soiled and crumpled. It was torn nearly in two, across the +middle--as if a design, in the first instance, to tear it entirely up +as worthless had been altered or stayed in the second. It had a large +black seal, bearing the D---- cipher _very_ conspicuously, and was +addressed, in a diminutive female hand, to D----, the Minister, +himself. It was thrust carelessly, and even, as it seemed, +contemptuously, into one of the uppermost divisions of the rack. + +"No sooner had I glanced at this letter than I concluded it to be +that of which I was in search. To be sure, it was, to all appearance, +radically different from the one of which the Prefect had read us so +minute a description. Here the seal was large and black, with the +D---- cipher; there it was small and red, with the ducal arms of the +S---- family. Here the address, to the Minister, was diminutive and +feminine; there the superscription, to a certain royal personage, +was markedly bold and decided; the size alone formed a point of +correspondence. But, then, the _radicalness_ of these differences, +which was excessive; the dirt; the soiled and torn condition of the +paper, so inconsistent with the _true_ methodical habits of D----, and +so consistent of a design to delude the beholder into an idea of +the worthlessness of the document--these things, together with the +hyperobtrusive situation of this document, full in the view of every +visitor, and thus exactly in accordance with the conclusions to +which I had previously arrived--these things, I say, were strongly +corroborative of suspicion in one who came with the intention to +suspect. + +"I protracted my visit as long as possible, and, while I maintained a +most animated discussion with the Minister upon a topic which I knew +well had never failed to interest and excite him, I kept my attention +riveted upon the letter. In this examination I committed to memory its +external appearance and arrangement in the rack, and also fell, at +length, upon a discovery which set at rest whatever trivial doubt I +might have entertained. In scrutinizing the edges of the paper, +I observed them to be more _chafed_ than seemed necessary. They +presented the _broken_ appearance which is manifested when a stiff +paper, having been once folded and pressed with a folder, is refolded +in a reversed direction, in the same creases or edges which formed the +original fold. This discovery was sufficient. It was clear to me that +the letter had been turned, as a glove, inside out, re-directed and +re-sealed. I bade the Minister good-morning, and took my departure at +once, leaving a gold snuff-box upon the table. + +"The next morning I called for the snuff-box, when we resumed, quite +eagerly, the conversation of the preceding day. While thus engaged, +however, a loud report, as if of a pistol, was heard immediately +beneath the windows of the hotel, and was succeeded by a series of +fearful screams and the shoutings of a terrified mob. D---- rushed to +a casement, threw it open, and looked out. In the mean time I stepped +to the card-rack, took the letter, put it in my pocket, and replaced +it by a _facsimile_ (so far as regards externals), which I had +carefully prepared at my lodgings--imitating the D---- cipher, very +readily, by means of a seal formed of bread. + +"The disturbance in the street had been occasioned by the frantic +behavior of a man with a musket. He had fired it among a crowd of +women and children. It proved, however, to have been without ball, and +the fellow was suffered to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard. When +he had gone, D---- came from the window, whither I had followed him +immediately upon securing the object in view. Soon afterward I bade +him farewell. The pretended lunatic was a man in my own pay." + +"But what purpose had you," I asked, "in replacing the letter by a +_facsimile_? Would it not have been better, at the first visit, to +have seized it openly and departed?" + +"D----," replied Dupin, "is a desperate man and a man of nerve. His +hotel, too, is not without attendants devoted to his interests. Had +I made the wild attempt you suggest, I might never have left the +Ministerial presence alive. The good people of Paris might have heard +of me no more. But I had an object apart from these considerations. +You know my political prepossessions. In this matter I act as a +partisan of the lady concerned. For eighteen months the Minister has +had her in his power. She has now him in hers--since, being unaware +that the letter is not in his possession, he will proceed with his +exactions as if it was. Thus will he inevitably commit himself, at +once, to his political destruction. His downfall, too, will not be +more precipitate than awkward. It is all very well to talk about the +_facilis descensus Averni_; but in all kinds of climbing, as Catalani +said of singing, it is far more easy to get up than to come down. In +the present instance I have no sympathy--at least no pity--for him +who descends. He is that _monstrum horrendum_, an unprincipled man of +genius. I confess, however, that I should like very well to know the +precise character of his thoughts, when, being defied by her whom the +Prefect terms 'a certain personage,' he is reduced to opening the +letter I left for him in the card-rack." + +"How? Did you put anything particular in it?" + +"Why--it did not seem altogether right to leave the interior +blank--that would have been insulting. D----, at Vienna once, did me +an evil turn, which I told him, quite good-humoredly, that I should +remember. So, as I knew he would feel some curiosity in regard to the +identity of the person who had outwitted him, I thought it a pity not +to give him a clew. He is well acquainted with my MS., and I just +copied into the middle of the blank sheet the words: + + "'---- + ... Un dessein si funeste, + S'il n'est digne d'Atrée, este digne de Thyeste.' + +They are to be found in Crébillon's _Atrée_." + + + + +RAB AND HIS FRIENDS + +_Dr. John Brown_ (1810-1882) + + +Four-and-thirty years ago, Bob Ainslie and I were coming up Infirmary +Street from the High School, our heads together, and our arms +intertwisted as only lovers and boys know how or why. + +When we got to the top of the street and turned north we espied a +crowd at the Tron Church. "A dog-fight!" shouted Bob, and was off; and +so was I, both of us all but praying that it might not be over before +we got up! And is not this boy-nature, and human nature, too? And +don't we all wish a house on fire not to be out before we see it? Dogs +like fighting; old Isaac says they "delight" in it, and for the best +of all reasons; and boys are not cruel because they like to see +the fight. They see three of the great cardinal virtues of dog or +man--courage, endurance, and skill--in intense action. This is very +different from a love of making dogs fight, and aggravating and making +gain by their pluck. A boy--be he ever so fond himself of fighting, if +he be a good boy, hates and despises all this, but he would have run +off with Bob and me fast enough; it is a natural, and a not wicked, +interest that all boys and men have in witnessing intense energy in +action. + +Does any curious and finely ignorant woman wish to know how Bob's eye +at a glance announced a dog-fight to his brain? He did not--he could +not--see the dogs fighting; it was a flash of an inference, a rapid +induction. The crowd round a couple of dogs fighting is a crowd +masculine mainly, with an occasional active, compassionate woman +fluttering wildly round the outside and using her tongue and her hands +freely upon the men, as so many "brutes"; it is a crowd annular, +compact, and mobile; a crowd centripetal, having its eyes and its +heads all bent downward and inward to one common focus. + +Well, Bob and I are up, and find it is not over; a small thoroughbred, +white bull-terrier is busy throttling a large shepherd's dog, +unaccustomed to war but not to be trifled with. They are hard at +it; the scientific little fellow doing his work in great style, his +pastoral enemy fighting wildly, but with the sharpest of teeth and a +great courage. Science and breeding, however, soon had their own; the +Game Chicken, as the premature Bob called him, working his way up, +took his final grip of poor Yarrow's throat--and he lay gasping and +done for. His master, a brown, handsome, big, young shepherd from +Tweedsmuir, would have liked to have knocked down any man, would +"drink up Esil, or eat a crocodile," for that part, if he had a +chance; it was no use kicking the little dog; that would only make him +hold the closer. Many were the means shouted out in mouthfuls of the +best possible ways of ending it. "Water!" but there was none near, and +many cried for it who might have got it from the well at Blackfriar's +Wynd. "Bite the tail!" and a large, vague, benevolent, middle-aged +man, more desirous than wise, with some struggle got the bushy end of +Yarrow's tail into his ample mouth and bit it with all his might. This +was more than enough for the much-enduring, much-perspiring shepherd, +who, with a gleam of joy over his broad visage, delivered a terrific +facer upon our large, vague, benevolent, middle-aged friend, who went +down like a shot. + +Still the Chicken holds; death not far off. "Snuff! a pinch of snuff!" +observed a calm, highly dressed young buck with an eye-glass in his +eye. "Snuff, indeed!" growled the angry crowd, affronted and glaring. +"Snuff! a pinch of snuff!" again observes the buck, but with more +urgency; whereon were produced several open boxes, and from a mull +which may have been at Culloden he took a pinch, knelt down, and +presented it to the nose of the Chicken, The laws of physiology and of +snuff take their course; the Chicken sneezes, and Yarrow is free! + +The young pastoral giant stalks off with Yarrow in his +arms--comforting him. + +But the bull-terrier's blood is up, and his soul unsatisfied; he grips +the first dog he meets, and, discovering she is not a dog, in Homeric +phrase, he makes a brief sort of _amende_ and is off. The boys, with +Bob and me at their head, are after him: down Niddry Street he goes, +bent on mischief; up the Cowgate like an arrow--Bob and I, and our +small men; panting behind. + +There, under the single arch of the South Bridge, is a huge mastiff, +sauntering down the middle of the causeway, as if with his hands in +his pockets; he is old, brindled, as big as a little Highland bull, +and has the Shakespearean dewlaps shaking as he goes. + +The Chicken makes straight at him, and fastens on his throat. To our +astonishment, the great creature does nothing but stand still, hold +himself up, and roar--yes, roar, a long, serious, remonstrative roar. +How is this? Bob and I are up to them. _He is muzzled_! The bailies +had proclaimed a general muzzling, and his master, studying strength +and economy mainly, had encompassed his huge jaws in a home-made +apparatus constructed out of the leather of some ancient _breechin_. +His mouth was open as far as it could; his lips curled up in rage--a +sort of terrible grin; his teeth gleaming, ready, from out the +darkness; the strap across his mouth tense as a bowstring; his whole +frame stiff with indignation and surprise; his roar asking us all +round, "Did you ever see the like of this?" He looked a statue of +anger and astonishment done in Aberdeen granite. + +We soon had a crowd; the Chicken held on. "A knife!" cried Bob; and a +cobbler gave him his knife; you know the kind of knife, worn obliquely +to a point and always keen. I put its edge to the tense leather; it +ran before it; and then!--one sudden jerk of that enormous head, a +sort of dirty mist about his mouth, no noise, and the bright and +fierce little fellow is dropped, limp and dead. A solemn pause; this +was more than any of us had bargained for. I turned the little fellow +over, and saw he was quite dead: the mastiff had taken him by the +small of the back like a rat and broken it. + +He looked down at his victim appeased, ashamed, and amazed; sniffed +him all over, stared at him, and, taking a sudden thought, turned +round and trotted off. Bob took the dead dog up, and said, "John, +we'll bury him after tea." "Yes," said I, and was off after the +mastiff. He made up the Cowgate at a rapid swing; he had forgotten +some engagement. He turned up the Candlemaker Row, and stopped at the +Harrow Inn. + +There was a carrier's cart ready to start, and a keen, thin, +impatient, black-a-vised little man, his hand at his gray horse's +head, looking about angrily for something. "Rab, ye thief!" said he, +aiming a kick at my great friend, who drew cringing up, and, avoiding +the heavy shoe with more agility than dignity and watching his +master's eye? slunk dismayed under the cart--his ears down, and as +much as he had of tail down, too. + +What a man this must be--thought I--to whom my tremendous hero turns +tail! The carrier saw the muzzle hanging, cut and useless, from +his neck, and I eagerly told him the story, which Bob and I always +thought, and still think, Homer, or King David, or Sir Walter alone +were worthy to rehearse. The severe little man was mitigated, and +condescended to say, "Rab, ma man--puir Rabbie," whereupon the stump +of a tail rose up, the ears were cocked, the eyes filled and were +comforted; the two friends were reconciled. "Hupp!" and a stroke of +the whip were given to Jess, and off went the three. + +Bob and I buried the Game Chicken that night (we had not much of a +tea) in the back-green of his house, in Melville Street, No. 17, with +considerable gravity and silence; and being at the time in the Iliad, +and, like all boys, Trojans, we of course called him Hector. + +Six years have passed--a long time for a boy and a dog; Bob Ainslie +is off to the wars; I am a medical student, and clerk at Minto House +Hospital. + +Rab I saw almost every week, on the Wednesday, and we had much +pleasant intimacy. I found the way to his heart by frequent scratching +of his huge head and an occasional bone. When I did not notice him he +would plant himself straight before me and stand wagging that bud of +a tail, and looking up, with his head a little to the one side. His +master I occasionally saw; he used to call me "Maister John," but was +laconic as any Spartan. + +One fine October afternoon I was leaving the hospital, when I saw the +large gate open, and in walked Rab, with that great and easy saunter +of his. He looked as if taking possession of the place, like the Duke +of Wellington entering a subdued city, satiated with victory and +peace. After him came Jess, now white from age, with her cart; and +in it a woman carefully wrapped up--the carrier leading the horse +anxiously and looking back. When he saw me, James (for his name was +James Noble) made a curt and grotesque "boo," and said, "Maister John, +this is the mistress; she's got a trouble in her breest--some kind o' +an income, we're thinkin'." + +By this time I saw the woman's face; she was sitting on a sack filled +with straw, with her husband's plaid round her, and his big-coat, with +its large, white metal buttons, over her feet. + +I never saw a more unforgettable face--pale, serious, _lonely_, +delicate, sweet, without being at all what we call fine. She looked +sixty, and had on a mutch, white as snow, with its black ribbon; her +silvery, smooth hair setting off her dark-gray eyes--eyes such as one +sees only twice or thrice in a lifetime, full of suffering, full also +of the overcoming of it; her eyebrows black and delicate, and her +mouth firm, patient, and contented, which few mouths ever are. + +As I have said, I never saw a more beautiful countenance, or one more +subdued to settled quiet. "Ailie," said James, "this is Maister John, +the young doctor; Rab's friend, ye ken. We often speak aboot you, +doctor." She smiled and made a movement, but said nothing, and +prepared to come down, putting her plaid aside and rising. Had +Solomon, in all his glory, been handing down the Queen of Sheba at his +palace gate, he could not have done it more daintily, more tenderly, +more like a gentleman than James, the Howland carrier, when he +lifted down Ailie, his wife. The contrast of his small, swarthy, +weather-beaten, keen, worldly face to hers--pale, subdued, and +beautiful--was something wonderful. Rab looked on concerned and +puzzled, but ready for anything that might turn up, were it to +strangle the nurse, the porter, or even me. Ailie and he seemed great +friends. + +"As I was sayin', she's got a kind o' trouble in her breest, doctor; +wull ye tak' a look at it?" We walked into the consulting-room, all +four; Rab, grim and comic, willing to be happy and confidential if +cause should be shown, willing also to be the reverse on the same +terms. Ailie sat down, undid her open gown and her lawn handkerchief +round her neck, and, without a word, showed me her right breast. I +looked at it and examined it carefully, she and James watching me, and +Rab eying all three. What could I say? There it was, that had once +been so soft, so shapely, so white, so gracious and bountiful, so +"full of all blessed condition," hard as a stone, a centre of horrid +pain, making that pale face, with its gray, lucid, reasonable eyes, +and its sweet, resolved mouth, express the full measure of suffering +overcome. Why was that gentle, modest, sweet woman, clean and lovable, +condemned by God to bear such a burden? + +I got her away to bed. "May Rab and me bide?" said James. "_You_ may; +and Rab, if he will behave himself." "I'se warrant he's do that, +doctor." And in slunk the faithful beast. There are no such dogs now. +He belonged to a lost tribe. As I have said, he was brindled, and gray +like Rubislaw granite; his hair short, hard, and close, like a lion's; +his body thick-set, like a little bull--a sort of compressed Hercules +of a dog. He must have been ninety pounds' weight, at the least; he +had a large, blunt head; his muzzle black as night; his mouth blacker +than any night; a tooth or two--being all he had--gleaming out of his +jaws of darkness. His head was scarred with the records of old wounds, +a sort of series of fields of battles all over it; one eye out, one +ear cropped as close as was Archbishop Leighton's father's; the +remaining eye had the power of two; and above it, and in constant +communication with it, was a tattered rag of an ear, which was forever +unfurling itself, like an old flag; and then that bud of a tail, about +one inch long, if it could in any sense be said to be long, being as +broad as long--the mobility, the instantaneousness of that bud were +very funny and surprising, and its expressive twinklings and winkings, +the intercommunications between the eye, the ear, and it, were of the +oddest and swiftest. + +Rab had the dignity and simplicity of great size; and, having fought +his way all along the road to absolute supremacy, he was as mighty in +his own line as Julius Caesar or the Duke of Wellington, and had the +gravity of all great fighters. + +You must have often observed the likeness of certain men to certain +animals, and of certain dogs to men. Now, I never looked at Rab +without thinking of the great Baptist preacher, Andrew Fuller. The +same large, heavy, menacing, combative, sombre, honest countenance, +the same deep, inevitable eye; the same look, as of thunder asleep, +but ready--neither a dog nor a man to be trifled with. + +Next day my master, the surgeon, examined Ailie. There could be no +doubt it must kill her, and soon. If it could be removed--it might +never return--it would give her speedy relief--she should have it +done. She curtsied, looked at James, and said, "When?" "To-morrow," +said the kind surgeon--a man of few words. She and James and Rab and +I retired. I noticed that he and she spoke little, but seemed to +anticipate everything in each other. The following day, at noon, +the students came in, hurrying up the great stair. At the first +landing-place, on a small, well-known blackboard, was a bit of paper +fastened by wafers, and many remains of old wafers beside it. On the +paper were the words: + +"An operation to-day.--J.B., _Clerk_." + +Up ran the youths, eager to secure good places; in they crowded, full +of interest and talk. "What's the case?" "Which side is it?" + +Don't think them heartless; they are neither better nor worse than you +or I; they get over their professional horrors, and into their proper +work; and in them pity, as an _emotion_, ending in itself or at best +in tears and a long-drawn breath, lessens, while pity, as a _motive_, +is quickened, and gains power and purpose. It is well for poor human +nature that it is so. + +The operating-theatre is crowded; much talk and fun, and all the +cordiality and stir of youth. The surgeon with his staff of assistants +is there. In comes Ailie; one look at her quiets and abates the eager +students. That beautiful old woman is too much for them; they sit +down, and are dumb, and gaze at her. These rough boys feel the power +of her presence. She walks in quietly, but without haste; dressed in +her mutch, her neckerchief, her white dimity short-gown, her black +bombazeen petticoat, showing her white worsted stockings and her +carpet shoes. Behind her was James with Rab. James sat down in the +distance, and took that huge and noble head between his knees. Rab +looked perplexed and dangerous--forever cocking his ear and dropping +it as fast. + +Ailie stepped up on a seat, and laid herself on the table, as her +friend the surgeon told her; arranged herself, gave a rapid look at +James, shut her eyes, rested herself on me, and took my hand. +The operation was at once begun; it was necessarily slow; and +chloroform--one of God's best gifts to his suffering children--was +then unknown. The surgeon did his work. The pale face showed its pain, +but was still and silent. Rab's soul was working within him; he saw +something strange was going on, blood flowing from his mistress, and +she suffering; his ragged ear was up and importunate; he growled and +gave now and then a sharp, impatient yelp; he would have liked to have +done something to that man. But James had him firm, and gave him a +_glower_ from time to time, and an intimation of a possible kick; all +the better for James--it kept his eye and his mind off Ailie. + +It is over; she is dressed, steps gently and decently down from the +table, looks for James; then turning to the surgeon and the students, +she curtsies, and in a low, clear voice, begs their pardon if she has +behaved ill. The students--all of us--wept like children; the surgeon +wrapped her up carefully, and, resting on James and me, Ailie went +to her room, and Rab followed. We put her to bed. James took off his +heavy shoes, crammed with tackets, heel-capped and toe-capped, and put +them carefully under the table, saying: "Maister John, I'm for nane o' +yer strynge nurse bodies for Ailie. I'll be her nurse, and I'll gang +aboot on my stockin' soles as canny as pussy." And so he did; +and handy and clever, and swift and tender as any woman was that +horny-handed, snell, peremptory little man. Everything she got he gave +her; he seldom slept; and often I saw his small, shrewd eyes out of +the darkness, fixed on her. As before, they spoke little. + +Rab behaved well, never moving, showing us how meek and gentle he +could be, and occasionally, in his sleep, letting us know that he +was demolishing some adversary. He took a walk with me every day, +generally to the Candlemaker Row; but he was sombre and mild; declined +doing battle, though some fit cases offered, and indeed submitted to +sundry indignities; and was always very ready to turn, and came faster +back, and trotted up the stair with much lightness, and went straight +to that door. + +Jess, the mare, had been sent, with her weather-beaten cart, to +Howgate, and had doubtless her own dim and placid meditations and +confusions on the absence of her master and Rab and her unnatural +freedom from the road and her cart. + +For some days Ailie did well. The wound healed "by the first +intention"; for as James said, "Oor Ailie's skin's ower clean to +beil." The students came in quiet and anxious, and surrounded her +bed. She said she liked to see their young, honest faces. The surgeon +dressed her, and spoke to her in his own short, kind way, pitying her +through his eyes, Rab and James outside the circle--Rab being now +reconciled, and even cordial, and having made up his mind that as yet +nobody required worrying, but, as you may suppose, _semper paratus_. + +So far well; but, four days after the operation, my patient had a +sudden and long shivering, a "groosin," as she called it. I saw her +soon after; her eyes were too bright, her cheek colored; she was +restless, and ashamed of being so; the balance was lost; mischief had +begun. On looking at the wound, a blush of red told the secret; her +pulse was rapid, her breathing anxious and quick; she wasn't herself, +as she said, and was vexed at her restlessness. We tried what we +could. James did everything, was everywhere, never in the way, never +out of it; Rab subsided under the table into a dark place, and was +motionless, all but his eye, which followed every one. Ailie got +worse; began to wander in her mind, gently; was more demonstrative in +her ways to James, rapid in her questions, and sharp at times. He was +vexed, and said, "She was never that way afore, no, never." For a time +she knew her head was wrong, and was always asking our pardon--the +dear, gentle old woman; then delirium set in strong, without pause. +Her brain gave way, and then came that terrible spectacle, + + "The intellectual power, through words and things, + Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way"; + +she sang bits of old songs and Psalms, stopping suddenly, mingling the +Psalms of David and the diviner words of his Son and Lord with homely +odds and ends of ballads. + +Nothing more touching, or in a sense more strangely beautiful, did +I ever witness. Her tremulous, rapid, affectionate, eager, Scotch +voice--the swift, aimless, bewildered mind, the baffled utterance, +the bright and perilous eye; some wild words, some household cares, +something for James, the names of the dead, Rab called rapidly and in +a "fremyt" voice, and he starting up, surprised, and slinking off as +if he were to blame somehow, or had been dreaming he heard. Many eager +questions and beseechings which James and I could make nothing of, and +on which she seemed to set her all, and then sink back ununderstood. +It was very sad, but better than many things that are not called sad. +James hovered about, put out and miserable, but active and exact as +ever; read to her, when there was a lull, short bits from the Psalms, +prose and metre, chanting the latter in his own rude and serious way, +showing great knowledge of the fit words, bearing up like a man, and +doating over her as his "ain Ailie." "Ailie, ma woman!" "Ma ain bonnie +wee dawtie!" + +The end was drawing on; the golden bowl was breaking; the silver +cord was fast being loosed--that _animula, blandula, vagula, hospes, +comesque_, was about to flee. The body and the soul--companions for +sixty years--were being sundered and taking leave. She was walking, +alone, through the valley of that shadow into which one day we must +all enter--and yet she was not alone, for we know whose rod and staff +were comforting her. + +One night she had fallen quiet, and, as we hoped, asleep; her eyes +were shut. We put down the gas, and sat watching her. Suddenly she sat +up in bed, and, taking a bedgown which was lying on it rolled up, she +held it eagerly to her breast--to the right side. We could see her +eyes bright with a surprising tenderness and joy, bending over this +bundle of clothes. She held it as a woman holds her sucking child; +opening out her night-gown impatiently, and holding it close and +brooding over it and murmuring foolish little words, as over one whom +his mother comforteth, and who sucks and is satisfied. It was pitiful +and strange to see her wasted, dying look, keen and yet vague--her +immense love. + +"Preserve me!" groaned James, giving way. And then she rocked back and +forward, as if to make it sleep, hushing it, and wasting on it her +infinite fondness. "Wae's me, doctor; I declare she's thinkin' it's +that bairn." "What bairn?" "The only bairn we ever had; our wee Mysie, +and she's in the Kingdom forty years and mair." It was plainly true; +the pain in the breast, telling its urgent story to a bewildered, +ruined brain, was misread and mistaken; it suggested to her the +uneasiness of a breast full of milk, and then the child; and so again +once more they were together, and she had her ain wee Mysie on her +bosom. + +This was the close. She sank rapidly; the delirium left her; but, as +she whispered, she was "clean silly"; it was the lightening before the +final darkness. After having for some time lain still, her eyes shut, +she said, "James!" He came close to her, and, lifting up her calm, +clear, beautiful eyes, she gave him a long look, turned to me kindly +but shortly, looked for Rab but could not see him, then turned to her +husband again, as if she would never leave off looking, shut her eyes, +and composed herself. She lay for some time breathing quick, and +passed away so gently that, when we thought she was gone, James, in +his old-fashioned way, held the mirror to her face. After a long +pause, one small spot of dimness was breathed out; it vanished away, +and never returned, leaving the blank, clear darkness without a stain. +"What is our life? It is even as a vapor, which appeareth for a little +time, and then vanisheth away." + +Rab all this time had been full awake and motionless; he came forward +beside us; Ailie's hand, which James had held, was hanging down; it +was soaked with his tears; Rab licked it all over carefully, looked at +her, and returned to his place under the table. + +James and I sat, I don't know how long, but for some time. Saying +nothing, he started up abruptly, and with some noise went to the +table, and, putting his right fore and middle fingers each into a +shoe, pulled them out and put them on, breaking one of the leather +latchets, and muttering in anger, "I never did the like o' that +afore!" + +I believe he never did; nor after either. "Rab!" he said, roughly, +and, pointing with his thumb to the bottom of the bed. Rab leaped up +and settled himself, his head and eye to the dead face. "Maister John, +ye'll wait for me," said the carrier; and disappeared in the darkness, +thundering down-stairs in his heavy shoes. I ran to a front window; +there he was, already round the house and out at the gate, fleeing +like a shadow. + +I was afraid about him, and yet not afraid; so I sat down beside Rab, +and, being wearied, fell asleep. I awoke from a sudden noise outside. +It was November, and there had been a heavy fall of snow. Rab was _in +statu quo_; he heard the noise, too, and plainly knew it, but never +moved. I looked out; and there, at the gate, in the dim morning--for +the sun was not up--was Jess and the cart, a cloud of steam rising +from the old mare. I did not see James; he was already at the door, +and came up the stairs and met me. It was less than three hours since +he left, and he must have posted out--who knows how?--to Howgate, full +nine miles off, yoked Jess, and driven her astonished into town. He +had an armful of blankets, and was streaming with perspiration. He +nodded to me, and spread out on the floor two pairs of clean old +blankets having at their corners, "A.G., 1794," in large letters in +red worsted. These were the initials of Alison Graeme, and James may +have looked in at her from without--himself unseen but not unthought +of--when he was "wat, wat, and weary," and, after having walked many +a mile over the hills, may have seen her sitting, while "a' the lave +were sleeping," and by the firelight working her name on the blankets +for her ain James's bed. + +He motioned Rab down, and, taking his wife in his arms, laid her in +the blankets, and happed her carefully and firmly up, leaving the face +uncovered; and then, lifting her, he nodded again sharply to me, and +with a resolved but utterly miserable face strode along the passage +and down-stairs, followed by Rab. I followed with a light; but he +didn't need it. I went out, holding stupidly the candle in my hand in +the calm, frosty air; we were soon at the gate. I could have helped +him, but I saw he was not to be meddled with, and he was strong, and +did not need it. He laid her down as tenderly, as safely, as he had +lifted her out ten days before--as tenderly as when he had her first +in his arms when she was only "A.G."--sorted her, leaving that +beautiful sealed face open to the heavens; and then, taking Jess by +the head, he moved away. He did not notice me, neither did Rab, who +presided behind the cart. + +I stood till they passed through the long shadow of the College and +turned up Nicolson Street. I heard the solitary cart sound through the +streets, and die away and come again; and I returned, thinking of that +company going up Libberton Brae, then along Roslin Muir, the morning +light touching the Pentlands, and making them like onlooking +ghosts; then down the hill through Auchindinny woods, past "haunted +Woodhouselee"; and as daybreak came sweeping up the bleak Lammermuirs, +and fell on his own door, the company would stop, and James would take +the key, and lift Ailie up again, laying her on her own bed, and, +having put Jess up, would return with Rab and shut the door. + +James buried his wife, with his neighbors mourning, Rab watching the +proceedings from a distance. It was snow, and that black, ragged hole +would look strange in the midst of the swelling, spotless cushion of +white. James looked after everything; then rather suddenly fell ill, +and took to bed; was insensible when the doctor came, and soon died. +A sort of low fever was prevailing in the village, and his want of +sleep, his exhaustion, and his misery made him apt to take it. The +grave was not difficult to reopen. A fresh fall of snow had again made +all things white and smooth; Rab once more looked on, and slunk home +to the stable. + +And what of Rab? I asked for him next week at the new carrier who got +the good-will of James's business and was now master of Jess and her +cart. "How's Rab?" He put me off, and said, rather rudely, "What's +_your_ business wi' the dowg?" I was not to be so put off. "Where's +Rab?" He, getting confused and red, and intermeddling with his hair, +said, "'Deed, sir, Rab's deid." "Dead! What did he die of?" "Weel, +sir," said he, getting redder, "he didna' exactly dee; he was killed. +I had to brain him wi' a rack-pin; there was nae doin' wi' him. He lay +in the treviss wi' the mear, and wadna come oot. I tempit him wi' kail +and meat, but he wad tak naething, and keepit me frae feeding the +beast, and he was aye gurrin', and grup, gruppin' me by the legs. I +was laith to mak' awa' wi' the auld dowg, his like wasna atween this +and Thornhill--but, 'deed, sir, I could do naething else." I believed +him. Fit end for Rab, quick and complete. His teeth and his friends +gone, why should he keep the peace and be civil? + +He was buried in the braeface, near the burn, the children of the +village, his companions, who used to make very free with him and sit +on his ample stomach as he lay half asleep at the door in the sun, +watching the solemnity. + + + + +THE BOOTS AT THE HOLLY-TREE INN + +_Charles Dickens_ (1812-1870) + + +Where had he been in his time? he repeated, when I asked him the +question, Lord, he had been everywhere! And what had he been? Bless +you, he had been everything you could mention, a'most! + +Seen a good deal? Why, of course he had. I should say so, he could +assure me, if I only knew about a twentieth part of what had come in +_his_ way. Why, it would be easier for him, he expected, to tell what +he hadn't seen than what he had. Ah! a deal, it would. + +What was the curiousest thing he had seen? Well! He didn't know. +He couldn't momently name what was the curiousest thing he had +seen--unless it was a Unicorn--and he see _him_ once at a fair. But +supposing a young gentleman not eight year old was to run away with +a fine young woman of seven, might I think _that_ a queer start? +Certainly. Then that was a start as he himself had had his blessed +eyes on, and he had cleaned the shoes they run away in--and they was +so little he couldn't get his hand into 'em. + +Master Harry Walmers' father, you see, he lived at the Elmses, down +away by Shooter's Hill there, six or seven miles from Lunnon. He was +a gentleman of spirit, and good-looking, and held his head up when he +walked, and had what you call Fire about him. He wrote poetry, and he +rode, and he ran, and he cricketed, and he danced, and he acted, and +he done it all equally beautiful. He was uncommon proud of Master +Harry as was his only child; but he didn't spoil him neither. He was +a gentleman that had a will of his own and a eye of his own, and that +would be minded. Consequently, though he made quite a companion of the +fine bright boy, and was delighted to see him so fond of reading his +fairy-books, and was never tired of hearing him say my name is Norval, +or hearing him sing his songs about Young May Moons is beaming love, +and When he as adores thee has left but the name, and that; still he +kept the command over the child, and the child _was_ a child, and it's +to be wished more of 'em was. + +How did Boots happen to know all this? Why, through being +under-gardener. Of course he couldn't be under-gardener, and he always +about, in the summer-time, near the windows on the lawn, a-mowing, and +sweeping, and weeding, and pruning, and this and that, without getting +acquainted with the ways of the family. Even supposing Master Harry +hadn't come to him one morning early, and said, "Cobbs, how should you +spell Norah, if you was asked?" and then began cutting it in print all +over the fence. + +He couldn't say that he had taken particular notice of children before +that; but really it was pretty to see them two mites a-going about the +place together, deep in love. And the courage of the boy! Bless your +soul, he'd have throwed off his little hat, and tucked up his little +sleeves, and gone in at a lion, he would, if they had happened to meet +one, and she had been frightened of him. One day he stops, along with +her, where Boots was hoeing weeds in the gravel, and says, speaking +up, "Cobbs," he says, "I like _you." "Do_ you, sir? I'm proud to hear +it." "Yes, I do, Cobbs. Why do I like you, do you think, Cobbs?" +"Don't know, Master Harry, I am sure." "Because Norah likes you, +Cobbs." "Indeed, sir? That's very gratifying." "Gratifying, Cobbs? +It's better than millions of the brightest diamonds to be liked by +Norah." "Certainly, sir." "Would you like another situation, Cobbs?" +"Well, sir, I shouldn't object if it was a good 'un." "Then, Cobbs," +says he, "you shall be our Head Gardener when we are married." And he +tucks her, in her little sky-blue mantle, under his arm, and walks +away. + +Boots could assure me that it was better than a picter, and equal to a +play, to see them babies, with their long, bright, curling hair, their +sparkling eyes, and their beautiful light tread, a-rambling about the +garden, deep in love. Boots was of opinion that the birds believed +they was birds, and kept up with 'em, singing to please 'em. Sometimes +they would creep under the tulip-tree, and would sit there with their +arms round one another's necks, and their soft cheeks touching, +a-reading about the Prince and the Dragon, and the good and bad +enchanters, and the king's fair daughter. Sometimes he would hear them +planning about a house in a forest, keeping bees and a cow, and living +entirely on milk and honey. Once he came upon them by the pond, and +heard Master Harry say, "Adorable Norah, kiss me, and say you love +me to distraction, or I'll jump in head foremost." And Boots made no +question he would have done it if she hadn't complied. On the +whole, Boots said it had a tendency to make him feel he was in love +himself--only he didn't exactly know who with. + +"Cobbs," said Master Harry, one evening, when Cobbs was watering +the flowers, "I am going on a visit, this present midsummer, to my +grandmamma's at York." + +"Are you, indeed, sir? I hope you'll have a pleasant time. I am going +into Yorkshire, myself, when I leave here." + +"Are you going to your grandmamma's, Cobbs?" + +"No, sir. I haven't got such a thing." + +"Not as a grandmamma, Cobbs?" + +"No, sir." + +The boy looked on at the watering of the flowers for a little while, +and then said, "I shall be very glad indeed to go, Cobbs--Norah's +going." + +"You'll be all right, then, sir," says Cobbs, "with your beautiful +sweetheart by your side." + +"Cobbs," returned the boy, flushing, "I never let anybody joke about +it when I can prevent them." + +"It wasn't a joke, sir," says Cobbs, with humility--"wasn't so meant." + +"I am glad of that, Cobbs, because I like you, you know, and you're +going to live with us. Cobbs!" + +"Sir." + +"What do you think my grandmamma gives me when I go down there?" + +"I couldn't so much as make a guess, sir." + +"A Bank-of-England five-pound note, Cobbs." + +"Whew!" says Cobbs, "that's a spanking sum of money, Master Harry." + +"A person could do a great deal with such a sum of money as +that--couldn't a person, Cobbs?" + +"I believe you, sir!" + +"Cobbs," said the boy, "I'll tell you a secret. At Norah's house they +have been joking her about me, and pretending to laugh at our being +engaged--pretending to make game of it, Cobbs!" + +"Such, sir," says Cobbs, "is the depravity of human natur'." + +The boy, looking exactly like his father, stood for a few minutes +with his glowing face toward the sunset, and then departed with, +"Good-night, Cobbs. I'm going in." + +If I was to ask Boots how it happened that he was a-going to leave +that place just at that present time, well, he couldn't rightly answer +me. He did suppose he might have stayed there till now if he had been +anyways inclined. But you see, he was younger then, and he wanted +change. That's what he wanted--change. Mr. Walmers, he said to him +when he gave him notice of his intentions to leave, "Cobbs," he says, +"have you anythink to complain of? I make the inquiry, because if I +find that any of my people really has anythink to complain of, I wish +to make it right if I can." "No, sir," says Cobbs; "thanking you, sir, +I find myself as well sitiwated here as I could hope to be anywheres. +The truth is, sir, that I'm a-going to seek my fortun'." "Oh, indeed, +Cobbs!" he says; "I hope you may find it." And Boots could assure +me--which he did, touching his hair with his bootjack, as a salute in +the way of his present calling--that he hadn't found it yet. + +Well, sir! Boots left the Elmses when his time was up, and Master +Harry, he went down to the old lady's at York, which old lady would +have given that child the teeth out of her head (if she had had any), +she was so wrapped up in him. What does that Infant do--for Infant +you may call him, and be within the mark--but cut away from that old +lady's with his Norah, on a expedition to go to Gretna Green and be +married! + +Sir, Boots was at this identical Holly-Tree Inn (having left it +several times to better himself, but always come back through one +thing or another), when, one summer afternoon, the coach drives up, +and out of the coach gets them two children. The Guard says to our +Governor, "I don't quite make out these little passengers, but the +young gentleman's words was, that they was to be brought here." +The young gentleman gets out; hands his lady out; gives the Guard +something for himself; says to our Governor, "We're to stop here +to-night, please. Sitting-room and two bedrooms will be required. +Chops and cherry-pudding for two!" and tucks her in her little +sky-blue mantle, under his arm, and walks into the house much bolder +than Brass. + +Boots leaves me to judge what the amazement of that establishment was, +when these two tiny creatures all alone by themselves was marched +into the Angel--much more so when he, who had seen them without their +seeing him, give the Governor his views upon the expedition they was +upon. "Cobbs," says the Governor, "if this is so, I must set off +myself to York, and quiet their friends' minds. In which case you must +keep your eye upon 'em, and humor 'em till I come back. But before I +take these measures, Cobbs, I should wish you to find from themselves +whether your opinions is correct." "Sir, to you," says Cobbs, "that +shall be done directly." + +So Boots goes up-stairs to the Angel, and there he finds Master Harry, +on a e'normous sofa--immense at any time, but looking like the Great +Bed of Ware, compared with him--a-drying the eyes of Miss Norah with +his pocket-hankecher. Their little legs was entirely off the ground, +of course, and it really is not possible for Boots to express to me +how small them children looked. + +"It's Cobbs! It's Cobbs!" cries Master Harry, and comes running to him +on t'other side, and catching hold of his t'other hand, and they both +jump for joy. + +"I see you a-getting out, sir," says Cobbs. "I thought it was you. I +thought I couldn't be mistaken in your height and figure. What's the +object of your journey, sir? Matrimonial?" + +"We're going to be married, Cobbs, at Gretna Green," returned the boy. +"We have run away on purpose. Norah has been in rather low spirits, +Cobbs; but she'll be happy, now we have found you to be our friend." + +"Thank you, sir, and thank _you_, miss," says Cobbs, "for your good +opinion. _Did_ you bring any luggage with you, sir?" + +If I will believe Boots when he gives me his word and honor upon +it, the lady had got a parasol, a smelling-bottle, a round and a +half of cold buttered toast, eight peppermint drops, and a +hair-brush--seemingly a doll's. The gentleman had got about half a +dozen yards of string, a knife, three or four sheets of writing-paper, +folded up surprising small, a orange, and a Chaney mug with his name +upon it. + +"What may be the exact nature of your plans, sir?" says Cobbs. + +"To go on," replied the boy--which the courage of that boy was +something wonderful!--"in the morning, and be married to-morrow." + +"Just so, sir," says Cobbs. "Would it meet your views, sir, if I was +to accompany you?" + +When Cobbs said this, they both jumped for joy again, and cried out, +"Oh yes, yes, Cobbs! Yes!" + +"Well, sir!" says Cobbs. "If you will excuse me having the freedom +to give an opinion, what I should recommend would be this. I am +acquainted with a pony, sir, which, put in a pheayton that I could +borrow, would take you and Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior (myself driving, +if you approved), to the end of your journey in a very short space of +time. I am not altogether sure, sir, that this pony will be at liberty +to-morrow, but even if you had to wait over to-morrow for him, it +might be worth your while. As to the small account here, sir, in case +you was to find yourself running at all short, that don't signify; +because I am a part proprietor of this inn, and it could stand over." + +Boots assures me that when they clapped their hands, and jumped for +joy again, and called him "Good Cobbs!" and "Dear Cobbs!" and bent +across him to kiss one another in the delight of their confiding +hearts, he felt himself the meanest rascal for deceiving 'em that ever +was born. + +"Is there anything you want just at present, sir?" says Cobbs, +mortally ashamed of himself. + +"We should like some cakes after dinner," answered Master Harry, +folding his arms, putting out one leg, and looking straight at him, +"and two apples and jam. With dinner we should like to have toast and +water. But Norah has always been accustomed to half a glass of currant +wine at dessert. And so have I." + +"It shall be ordered at the bar, sir," says Cobbs; and away he went. + +Boots has the feeling as fresh upon him this moment of speaking as he +had then, that he would far rather have had it out in half a dozen +rounds with the Governor than have combined with him; and that he +wished with all his heart there was any impossible place where two +babies could make an impossible marriage, and live impossibly +happy ever afterward. However, as it couldn't be, he went into the +Governor's plans, and the Governor set off for York in half an hour. + +The way in which the women of that house--without exception--every one +of 'em--married _and_ single--took to that boy when they heard the +story, Boots considers surprising. It was as much as he could do to +keep 'em from dashing into the room and kissing him. They climbed +up all sorts of places, at the risk of their lives, to look at him +through a pane of glass. They was seven deep at the keyhole. They was +out of their minds about him and his bold spirit. + +In the evening, Boots went into the room to see how the runaway couple +was getting on. The gentleman was on the window-seat, supporting the +lady in his arms. She had tears upon her face, and was lying, very +tired and half asleep, with her head upon his shoulder. + +"Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, fatigued, sir?" says Cobbs. + +"Yes, she is tired, Cobbs; but she is not used to be away from home, +and she has been in low spirits again. Cobbs, do you think you could +bring a biffin, please?" + +"I ask your pardon, sir," says Cobbs. "What was it you--" + +"I think a Norfolk biffin would rouse her, Cobbs. She is very fond of +them." + +Boots withdrew in search of the required restorative, and, when he +brought it in, the gentleman handed it to the lady, and fed her with a +spoon, and took a little himself; the lady being heavy with sleep, and +rather cross. "What should you think, sir," says Cobbs, "of a chamber +candlestick?" The gentleman approved; the chambermaid went first, +up the great staircase; the lady, in her sky-blue mantle, followed, +gallantly escorted by the gentleman; the gentleman embraced her at her +door, and retired to his own apartment, where Boots softly locked him +in. + +Boots couldn't but feel with increased acuteness what a base deceiver +he was, when they consulted him at breakfast (they had ordered sweet +milk-and-water, and toast and currant jelly, over-night) about the +pony. It really was as much as he could do, he don't mind confessing +to me, to look them two young things in the face, and think what a +wicked old father of lies he had grown up to be. Howsomever, he went +on a-lying like a Trojan about the pony. He told 'em that it did so +unfortunately happen that the pony was half clipped, you see, and that +he couldn't be taken out in that state, for fear it should strike to +his inside. But that he'd be finished clipping in the course of the +day, and that to-morrow morning at eight o'clock the pheayton would be +ready. Boots' view of the whole case, looking back on it in my room, +is, that Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, was beginning to give in. She +hadn't had her hair curled when she went to bed, and she didn't seem +quite up to brushing it herself, and its getting in her eyes put +her out. But nothing put out Master Harry. He sat behind his +breakfast-cup, a-tearing away at the jelly, as if he had been his own +father. + +After breakfast Boots is inclined to consider they drawed soldiers--at +least he knows that many such was found in the fireplace, all on +horseback. In the course of the morning Master Harry rang the bell--it +was surprising how that there boy did carry on--and said, in a +sprightly way, "Cobbs, is there any good walks in this neighborhood?" + +"Yes, sir," says Cobbs. "There's Love Lane." + +"Get out with you, Cobbs!"--that was that there boy's +expression--"you're joking." + +"Begging your pardon, sir," says Cobbs, "there _really is_ Love Lane. +And a pleasant walk it is, and proud shall I be to show it to yourself +and Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior." + +"Norah, dear," says Master Harry, "this is curious. We really ought to +see Love Lane. Put on your bonnet, my sweetest darling, and we will go +there with Cobbs." + +Boots leaves me to judge what a Beast he felt himself to be, when that +young pair told him, as they all three jogged along together, that +they had made up their minds to give him two thousand guineas a year +as Head Gardener, on account of his being so true a friend to 'em. +Boots could have wished at the moment that the earth would have +opened and swallowed him up, he felt so mean, with their beaming +eyes a-looking at him, and believing him. Well, sir, he turned the +conversation as well as he could, and he took 'em down Love Lane to +the water-meadows, and there Master Harry would have drowned himself +in half a moment more, a-getting out a water-lily for her--but nothing +daunted that boy. Well, sir, they was tired out. All being so new and +strange to 'em, they was tired as tired could be. And they laid +down on a bank of daisies, like the children in the wood, leastways +meadows, and fell asleep. + +Boots don't know--perhaps I do--but never mind, it don't signify +either way--why it made a man fit to make a fool of himself to see +them two pretty babies a-lying there in the clear, still day, not +dreaming half so hard when they was asleep as they done when they was +awake. But, Lord! when you come to think of yourself, you know, and +what a game you have been up to ever since you was in your own cradle, +and what a poor sort of chap you are, and how it's always either +Yesterday with you, or To-morrow, and never To-day, that's where it +is! + +Well, sir, they woke up at last, and then one thing was getting pretty +clear to Boots--namely, that Mrs. Harry Walmerses, Junior's, temper +was on the move. When Master Harry took her round the waist, she said +he "teased her so"; and when he says, "Norah, my young May Moon, your +Harry tease you?" she tells him, "Yes; and I want to go home." + +A biled fowl and baked bread-and-butter pudding brought Mrs. Walmers +up a little; but Boots could have wished, he must privately own to +me, to have seen her more sensible of the woice of love, and less +abandoning of herself to currants. However, Master Harry, he kept up, +and his noble heart was as fond as ever. Mrs. Walmers turned very +sleepy about dusk, and began to cry. Therefore, Mrs. Walmers went off +to bed as per yesterday; and Master Harry ditto repeated. + +About eleven or twelve at night comes back the Governor in a chaise, +along with Mr. Walmers and a elderly lady. Mr. Walmers looks amused +and very serious, both at once, and says to our Missis: "We are much +indebted to you, ma'am; for your kind care of our little children, +which we can never sufficiently acknowledge. Pray, ma'am, where is +my boy?" Our Missis says: "Cobbs has the dear child in charge, sir. +Cobbs, show Forty!" Then he says to Cobbs: "Ah, Cobbs, I am glad to +see _you_! I understood you was here!" And Cobbs says: "Yes, sir. Your +most obedient, sir." + +I may be surprised to hear Boots say it, perhaps; but Boots assures +me that his heart beat like a hammer, going up-stairs. "I beg your +pardon, sir," says he, while unlocking the door; "I do hope you are +not angry with Master Harry. For Master Harry is a fine boy, sir, and +will do you credit and honor." And Boots signifies to me that, if the +fine boy's father had contradicted him in the daring state of mind in +which he then was, he thinks he should have "fetched him a crack," and +taken the consequences. + +But Mr. Walmers only says: "No, Cobbs. No, my good fellow. Thank you!" +And, the door being opened, goes in. + +Boots goes in, too, holding the light, and he sees Mr. Walmers go up +to the bedside, bend gently down, and kiss the little sleeping face. +Then he stands looking at it for a minute, looking wonderfully like it +(they do say he ran away with Mrs. Walmers); and then he gently shakes +the little shoulder. + +"Harry, my dear boy! Harry!" + +Master Harry starts up and looks at him. Looks at Cobbs, too. Such is +the honor of that mite, that he looks at Cobbs, to see whether he has +brought him into trouble. + +"I'm not angry, my child. I only want you to dress yourself and come +home." + +"Yes, pa." + +Master Harry dresses himself quickly. His breast begins to swell when +he has nearly finished, and it swells more and more as he stands, at +last, a-looking at his father; his father standing a-looking at him, +the quiet image of him. + +"Please may I"--the spirit of that little creatur', and the way he +kept his rising tears down!--"please, dear pa--may I--kiss Norah +before I go?" + +"You may, my child." + +So he takes Master Harry in his hand, and Boots leads the way with the +candle, and they come to that other bedroom, where the elderly lady is +seated by the bed, and poor little Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, is fast +asleep. There the father lifts the child up to the pillow, and he lays +his little face down for an instant by the little warm face of poor +unconscious little Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, and gently draws it to +him--a sight so touching to the chambermaids, who are peeping through +the door, that one of them called out, "It's a shame to part 'em!" But +this chambermaid was always, as Boots informs us, a softhearted one. +Not that there was any harm in that girl. Far from it. + +Finally, Boots says, that's all about it. Mr. Walmers drove away in +the chaise, having hold of Master Harry's hand. The elderly lady and +Mrs. Walmers, Junior, that was never to be (she married a Captain long +afterward, and died in India), went off next day. In conclusion, Boots +puts it to me whether I hold with him in two opinions: firstly, that +there are not many couples on their way to be married who are half as +innocent of guile as those two children; secondly, that it would be a +jolly good thing for a great many couples on their way to be married, +if they could only be stopped in time, and brought back separately. + + + + +A STORY OF SEVEN DEVILS[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Amos Kilbright and Other Stories_. 1888.] + +_Frank R. Stockton_ (1834-1902) + + +The negro church which stood in the pine woods near the little village +of Oxford Cross Roads, in one of the lower counties of Virginia, was +presided over by an elderly individual, known to the community in +general as Uncle Pete; but on Sundays the members of his congregation +addressed him as Brudder Pete. He was an earnest and energetic man, +and, although he could neither read nor write, he had for many years +expounded the Scriptures to the satisfaction of his hearers. His +memory was good, and those portions of the Bible, which from time to +time he had heard read, were used by him, and frequently with powerful +effect, in his sermons. His interpretations of the Scriptures were +generally entirely original, and were made to suit the needs, or what +he supposed to be the needs, of his congregation. + +Whether as "Uncle Pete" in the garden and corn-field, or "Brudder +Pete" in the church, he enjoyed the good opinion of everybody +excepting one person, and that was his wife. She was a high-tempered +and somewhat dissatisfied person, who had conceived the idea that her +husband was in the habit of giving too much time to the church, and +too little to the acquisition of corn-bread and pork. On a certain +Saturday she gave him a most tremendous scolding, which so affected +the spirits of the good man that it influenced his decision in regard +to the selection of the subject for his sermon the next day. + +His congregation was accustomed to being astonished, and rather liked +it, but never before had their minds received such a shock as when the +preacher announced the subject of his discourse. He did not take any +particular text, for this was not his custom, but he boldly stated +that the Bible declared that every woman in this world was possessed +by seven devils; and the evils which this state of things had brought +upon the world, he showed forth with much warmth and feeling. +Subject-matter, principally from his own experience, crowded in upon +his mind, and he served it out to his audience hot and strong. If +his deductions could have been proved to be correct, all women were +creatures who, by reason of their sevenfold diabolic possession, were +not capable of independent thought or action, and who should in tears +and humility place themselves absolutely under the direction and +authority of the other sex. + +When he approached the conclusion of his sermon, Brother Peter closed +with a bang the Bible, which, although he could not read a word of +it, always lay open before him while he preached, and delivered the +concluding exhortation of his sermon. + +"Now, my dear brev'ren ob dis congregation," he said, "I want you to +understan' dat dar's nuffin in dis yer sarmon wot you've jus' heerd +ter make you think yousefs angels. By no means, brev'ren; you was all +brung up by women, an' you've got ter lib wid' em, an ef anythin' in +dis yer worl' is ketchin', my dear brev'ren, it's habin debbils, an' +from wot I've seen ob some ob de men ob dis worl' I 'spect dey is +persest ob 'bout all de debbils dey got room fur. But de Bible don' +say nuffin p'intedly on de subjec' ob de number ob debbils in man, an' +I 'spec' dose dat's got 'em--an' we ought ter feel pow'ful thankful, +my dear brev'ren, dat de Bible don' say we all's got 'em--has 'em +'cordin to sarcumstances. But wid de women it's dif'rent; dey's got +jus' sebin, an' bless my soul, brev'ren, I think dat's 'nuff. + +"While I was a-turnin' ober in my min' de subjec' ob dis sarmon, dere +come ter me a bit ob Scripter wot I heerd at a big preachin' an' +baptizin' at Kyarter's Mills, 'bout ten year' ago. One ob de preachers +was a-tellin' about ole mudder Ebe a-eatin' de apple, and says he: De +sarpint fus' come along wid a red apple, an' says he: 'You gib dis yer +to your husban', an' he think it so mighty good dat when he done eat +it he gib you anything you ax him fur, ef you tell him whar de tree +is.' Ebe, she took one bite, an' den she frew dat apple away. 'Wot you +mean, you triflin' sarpint,' says she, 'a fotchin' me dat apple wot +ain't good fur nuffin but ter make cider wid?' Den de sarpint he go +fotch her a yaller apple, an' she took one bite, an' den says she: 'Go +'long wid ye, you fool sarpint, wot you fotch me dat June apple wot +ain't got no taste to it?' Den de sarpint he think she like sumpin' +sharp, an' he fotch her a green apple. She takes one bite ob it, an' +den she frows it at his head, an' sings out: 'Is you 'spectin' me to +gib dat apple to yer Uncle Adam an' gib him de colic?' Den de debbil +he fotch her a lady-apple, but she say she won't take no sich triflin' +nubbins as dat to her husban', an' she took one bite ob it, an' frew +it away. Den he go fotch her two udder kin' ob apples, one yaller +wid red stripes, an' de udder one red on one side an' green on de +udder--mighty good-lookin' apples, too--de kin' you git two dollars a +bar'l fur at the store. But Ebe, she wouldn't hab neider ob 'em, an' +when she done took one bite out ob each one, she frew it away. Den de +ole debbil-sarpint, he scratch he head, an' he say to hese'f: 'Dis yer +Ebe, she pow'ful 'ticklar 'bout her apples. Reckin I'll have ter wait +till after fros', an' fotch her a real good one,' An' he done wait +till after fros', and then he fotch her a' Albemarle pippin, an' when +she took one bite ob dat, she jus' go 'long an' eat it all up, core, +seeds, an' all. 'Look h'yar, sarpint,' says she, 'hab you got anudder +ob dem apples in your pocket?' An' den he tuk one out, an' gib it to +her. ''Cuse me,' says she, 'I's gwine ter look up Adam, an' ef he don' +want ter know war de tree is wot dese apples grow on, you can hab him +fur a corn-field han'.' + +"An' now, my dear brev'ren," said Brother Peter, "while I was +a-turnin' dis subjec' ober in my min', an' wonderin' how de women +come ter hab jus' seben debbils apiece, I done reckerleck dat bit ob +Scripter wot I heerd at Kyarter's Mills, an' I reckon dat 'splains how +de debbils got inter woman. De sarpint he done fotch mudder Ebe seben +apples, an' ebery one she take a bite out of gib her a debbil." + +As might have been expected, this sermon produced a great sensation, +and made a deep impression on the congregation. As a rule, the men +were tolerably well satisfied with it; and when the services were over +many of them made it the occasion of shy but very plainly pointed +remarks to their female friends and relatives. + +But the women did not like it at all. Some of them became angry, and +talked very forcibly, and feelings of indignation soon spread among +all the sisters of the church. If their minister had seen fit to stay +at home and preach a sermon like this to his own wife (who, it may be +remarked, was not present on this occasion), it would have been well +enough, provided he had made no allusions to outsiders; but to come +there and preach such things to them was entirely too much for their +endurance. Each one of the women knew she had not seven devils, and +only a few of them would admit of the possibility of any of the others +being possessed by quite so many. + +Their preacher's explanation of the manner in which every woman came +to be possessed of just so many devils appeared to them of little +importance. What they objected to was the fundamental doctrine of his +sermon, which was based on his assertion that the Bible declared every +woman had seven devils. They were not willing to believe that the +Bible said any such thing. Some of them went so far as to state it was +their opinion that Uncle Pete had got this fool notion from some of +the lawyers at the court-house when he was on a jury a month or so +before. It was quite noticeable that, although Sunday afternoon had +scarcely begun, the majority of the women of the congregation called +their minister Uncle Pete. This was very strong evidence of a sudden +decline in his popularity. + +Some of the more vigorous-minded women, not seeing their minister +among the other people in the clearing in front of the log church, +went to look for him, but he was not to be found. His wife had ordered +him to be home early, and soon after the congregation had been +dismissed he departed by a short cut through the woods. That afternoon +an irate committee, composed principally of women, but including also +a few men who had expressed disbelief in the new doctrine, arrived +at the cabin of their preacher, but found there only his wife, +cross-grained old Aunt Rebecca. She informed them that her husband was +not at home. + +"He's done 'gaged hisse'f," she said, "ter cut an' haul wood fur +Kunnel Martin ober on Little Mount'n fur de whole ob nex' week. It's +fourteen or thirteen mile' from h'yar, an' ef he'd started ter-morrer +mawnm', he'd los' a'mos' a whole day. 'Sides dat, I done tole him dat +ef he git dar ter-night he'd have his supper frowed in. Wot you all +want wid him? Gwine to pay him fur preachin'?" + +Any such intention as this was instantaneously denied, and Aunt +Rebecca was informed of the subject upon which her visitors had come +to have a very plain talk with her husband. + +Strange to say, the announcement of the new and startling dogma had +apparently no disturbing effect upon Aunt Rebecca. On the contrary, +the old woman seemed rather to enjoy the news. + +"Reckin he oughter know all 'bout dat," she said. "He's done had three +wives, an' he ain't got rid o' dis one yit." + +Judging from her chuckles and waggings of the head when she made this +remark, it might be imagined that Aunt Rebecca was rather proud of the +fact that her husband thought her capable of exhibiting a different +kind of diabolism every day in the week. + +The leader of the indignant church-members was Susan Henry; a mulatto +woman of a very independent turn of mind. She prided herself that she +never worked in anybody's house but her own, and this immunity from +outside service gave her a certain pre-eminence among her sisters. Not +only did Susan share the general resentment with which the startling +statement of old Peter had been received, but she felt that its +promulgation had affected her position in the community. If every +woman was possessed by seven devils, then, in this respect, she was no +better nor worse than any of the others; and at this her proud heart +rebelled. If the preacher had said some women had eight devils and +others six, it would have been better. She might then have made a +mental arrangement in regard to her relative position which would have +somewhat consoled her. But now there was no chance for that. The words +of the preacher had equally debased all women. + +A meeting of the disaffected church-members was held the next night at +Susan Henry's cabin, or rather in the little yard about it, for the +house was not large enough to hold the people who attended it. The +meeting was not regularly organized, but everybody said what he or she +had to say, and the result was a great deal of clamor, and a general +increase of indignation against Uncle Pete. + +"Look h'yar!" cried Susan, at the end of some energetic remarks, "is +dar enny pusson h'yar who kin count up figgers?" + +Inquiries on the subject ran through the crowd, and in a few moments +a black boy, about fourteen, was pushed forward as an expert in +arithmetic. + +"Now, you Jim," said Susan, "you's been, to school, an' you kin count +up figgers. 'Cordin' ter de chu'ch books dar's forty-seben women +b'longin' to our meetin', an' ef each one ob dem dar has got seben +debbils in her, I jus' wants you ter tell me how many debbils come to +chu'ch ebery clear Sunday ter hear dat ole Uncle Pete preach." + +This view of the case created a sensation, and much interest was shown +in the result of Jim's calculations, which were made by the aid of a +back of an old letter and a piece of pencil furnished by Susan. The +result was at last announced as three hundred and nineteen, which, +although not precisely correct, was near enough to satisfy the +company. + +"Now, you jus' turn dat ober in you all's minds," said Susan. "More'n +free hundred debbils in chu'ch ebery Sunday, an' we women fotchin 'em. +Does anybody s'pose I's gwine ter b'lieve dat fool talk?" + +A middle-aged man now lifted up his voice and said: "I's been thinkin' +ober dis h'yar matter and I's 'cluded dat p'r'aps de words ob de +preacher was used in a figgeratous form o' sense. P'r'aps de seben +debbils meant chillun." + +These remarks were received with no favor by the assemblage. + +"Oh, you git out!" cried Susan. "Your ole woman's got seben chillun, +shore 'nuf, an' I s'pec' dey's all debbils. But dem sent'ments don't +apply ter all de udder women h'yar, 'tic'larly ter dem dar young uns +wot ain't married yit." + +This was good logic, but the feeling on the subject proved to be even +stronger, for the mothers in the company became so angry at their +children being considered devils that for a time there seemed to be +danger of an Amazonian attack on the unfortunate speaker. This was +averted, but a great deal of uproar now ensued, and it was the general +feeling that something ought to be done to show the deep-seated +resentment with which the horrible charge against the mothers and +sisters of the congregation had been met. Many violent propositions +were made, some of the younger men going so far as to offer to burn +down the church. It was finally agreed, quite unanimously, that old +Peter should be unceremoniously ousted from his place in the pulpit +which he had filled so many years. + +As the week passed on, some of the older men of the congregation who +had friendly feelings toward their old companion and preacher talked +the matter over among themselves, and afterward, with many of their +fellow-members, succeeded at last in gaining the general consent that +Uncle Pete should be allowed a chance to explain himself, and give +his grounds and reasons for his astounding statement in regard to +womankind. If he could show biblical authority for this, of course +nothing more could be said. But if he could not, then he must get down +from the pulpit, and sit for the rest of his life on a back seat of +the church. This proposition met with the more favor, because even +those who were most indignant had an earnest curiosity to know what +the old man would say for himself. + +During all this time of angry discussion, good old Peter was quietly +and calmly cutting and hauling wood on the Little Mountain. His mind +was in a condition of great comfort and peace, for not only had he +been able to rid himself, in his last sermon, of many of the hard +thoughts concerning women that had been gathering themselves together +for years, but his absence from home had given him a holiday from +the harassments of Aunt Rebecca's tongue, so that no new notions of +woman's culpability had risen within him. He had dismissed the subject +altogether, and had been thinking over a sermon regarding baptism, +which he thought he could make convincing to certain of the younger +members of his congregation. + +He arrived at home very late on Saturday night, and retired to his +simple couch without knowing anything of the terrible storm which had +been gathering through the week, and which was to burst upon him on +the morrow. But the next morning, long before church time, he +received warning enough of what was going to happen. Individuals and +deputations gathered in and about his cabin--some to tell him all that +had been said and done; some to inform him what was expected of him; +some to stand about and look at him; some to scold; some to denounce; +but, alas! not one to encourage; nor one to call him "Brudder Pete," +that Sunday appellation dear to his ears. But the old man possessed a +stubborn soul, not easily to be frightened. + +"Wot I says in de pulpit," he remarked, "I'll 'splain in de pulpit, +an' you all ud better git 'long to de chu'ch, an' when de time fur de +sarvice come, I'll be dar." + +This advice was not promptly acted upon, but in the course of half an +hour nearly all the villagers and loungers had gone off to the church +in the woods; and when Uncle Peter had put on his high black hat, +somewhat battered, but still sufficiently clerical looking for that +congregation, and had given something of a polish to his cowhide +shoes, he betook himself by the accustomed path to the log building +where he had so often held forth to his people. As soon as he entered +the church he was formally instructed by a committee of the leading +members that before he began to open the services, he must make it +plain to the congregation that what he had said on the preceding +Sunday about every woman being possessed by seven devils was Scripture +truth, and not mere wicked nonsense out of his own brain. If he could +not do that, they wanted no more praying or preaching from him. + +Uncle Peter made no answer, but, ascending the little pulpit, he put +his hat on the bench behind him where it was used to repose, took out +his red cotton handkerchief and blew his nose in his accustomed way, +and looked about him. The house was crowded. Even Aunt Rebecca was +there. + +After a deliberate survey of his audience, the preacher spoke: +"Brev'eren an' sisters, I see afore me Brudder Bill Hines, who kin +read de Bible, an' has got one. Ain't dat so, Brudder?" + +Bill Hines having nodded and modestly grunted assent, the preacher +continued. "An' dars' Ann' Priscilla's boy, Jake, who ain't a brudder +yit, though he's plenty old 'nuf, min', I tell ye; an' he kin read de +Bible, fus' rate, an' has read it ter me ober an' ober ag'in. Ain't +dat so, Jake?" + +Jake grinned, nodded, and hung his head, very uncomfortable at being +thus publicly pointed out. + +"An' dar's good ole Aun' Patty, who knows more Scripter dan ennybuddy +h'yar, havin' been teached by de little gals from Kunnel Jasper's an' +by dere mudders afore 'em. I reckin she know' de hull Bible straight +froo, from de Garden of Eden to de New Jerus'lum. An' dar are udders +h'yar who knows de Scripters, some one part an' some anudder. Now I +axes ebery one ob you all wot know de Scripters ef he don' 'member +how de Bible tells how our Lor' when he was on dis yearth cas' seben +debbils out o' Mary Magdalum?" + +A murmur of assent came from the congregation, Most of them remembered +that. + +"But did enny ob you ebber read, or hab read to you, dat he ebber cas' +'em out o' enny udder woman?" + +Negative grunts and shakes of the head signified that nobody had ever +heard of this. + +"Well, den," said the preacher, gazing blandly around, "all de udder +women got 'em yit." + +A deep silence fell upon the assembly, and in a few moments an elderly +member arose. "Brudder Pete," he said, "I reckin you mought as well +gib out de hyme." + + + + +A DOG'S TALE[1] + +[Footnote 1: 1903] + +_Mark Twain_ (1835) + + +I + +My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a +Presbyterian. This is what my mother told me; I do not know these nice +distinctions myself. To me they are only fine large words meaning +nothing. My mother had a fondness for such; she liked to say them, and +see other dogs look surprised and envious, as wondering how she got so +much education. But, indeed, it was not real education; it was +only show: she got the words by listening in the dining-room and +drawing-room when there was company, and by going with the children to +Sunday-school and listening there; and whenever she heard a large word +she said it over to herself many times, and so was able to keep it +until there was a dogmatic gathering in the neighborhood, then she +would get it off, and surprise and distress them all, from pocket-pup +to mastiff, which rewarded her for all her trouble. If there was a +stranger he was nearly sure to be suspicious, and when he got his +breath again he would ask her what it meant. And she always told him. +He was never expecting this, but thought he would catch her; so when +she told him, he was the one that looked ashamed, whereas he had +thought it was going to be she. The others were always waiting for +this, and glad of it and proud of her, for they knew what was going to +happen, because they had had experience. When she told the meaning of +a big word they were all so taken up with admiration that it never +occurred to any dog to doubt if it was the right one; and that was +natural, because, for one thing, she answered up so promptly that it +seemed like a dictionary speaking, and for another thing, where could +they find out whether it was right or not? for she was the only +cultivated dog there was. By-and-by, when I was older, she brought +home the word Unintellectual, one time, and worked it pretty hard +all the week at different gatherings, making much unhappiness and +despondency; and it was at this time that I noticed that during that +week she was asked for the meaning at eight different assemblages, and +flashed out a fresh definition every time, which showed me that she +had more presence of mind than culture, though I said nothing, of +course. She had one word which she always kept on hand, and ready, +like a life-preserver, a kind of emergency word to strap on when she +was likely to get washed overboard in a sudden way--that was the word +Synonymous. When she happened to fetch out a long word which had had +its day weeks before and its prepared meanings gone to her dump-pile, +if there was a stranger there of course it knocked him groggy for a +couple of minutes, then he would come to, and by that time she would +be away down the wind on another tack, and not expecting anything; so +when he'd hail and ask her to cash in, I (the only dog on the inside +of her game) could see her canvas flicker a moment,--but only just a +moment,--then it would belly out taut and full, and she would say, as +calm as a summer's day, "It's synonymous with supererogation," or some +godless long reptile of a word like that, and go placidly about and +skim away on the next tack, perfectly comfortable, you know, and leave +that stranger looking profane and embarrassed, and the initiated +slatting the floor with their tails in unison and their faces +transfigured with a holy joy. + +And it was the same with phrases. She would drag home a whole phrase, +if it had a grand sound, and play it six nights and two matinees, and +explain it a new way every time,--which she had to, for all she cared +for was the phrase; she wasn't interested in what it meant, and knew +those dogs hadn't wit enough to catch her, anyway. Yes, she was +a daisy! She got so she wasn't afraid of anything, she had such +confidence in the ignorance of those creatures. She even brought +anecdotes that she had heard the family and the dinner guests laugh +and shout over; and as a rule she got the nub of one chestnut hitched +onto another chestnut, where, of course, it didn't fit and hadn't any +point; and when she delivered the nub she fell over and rolled on the +floor and laughed and barked in the most insane way, while I could see +that she was wondering to herself why it didn't seem as funny as it +did when she first heard it. But no harm was done; the others rolled +and barked too, privately ashamed of themselves for not seeing the +point, and never suspecting that the fault was not with them and there +wasn't any to see. + +You can see by these things that she was of a rather vain and +frivolous character; still, she had virtues, and enough to make up, +I think. She had a kind heart and gentle ways, and never harbored +resentments for injuries done her, but put them easily out of her mind +and forgot them; and she taught her children her kindly way, and from +her we learned also to be brave and prompt in time of danger, and not +to run away, but face the peril that threatened friend or stranger, +and help him the best we could without stopping to think what the cost +might be to us. And she taught us, not by words only, but by example, +and that is the best way and the surest and the most lasting. Why, the +brave things she did, the splendid things! she was just a soldier; +and so modest about it--well, you couldn't help admiring her, and you +couldn't help imitating her; not even a King Charles spaniel could +remain entirely despicable in her society. So, as you see, there was +more to her than her education. + + +II + +When I was well grown, at last, I was sold and taken away, and I never +saw her again. She was broken-hearted, and so was I, and we cried; but +she comforted me as well as she could, and said we were sent into this +world for a wise and good purpose, and must do our duties without +repining, take our life as we might find it, live it for the best good +of others, and never mind about the results; they were not our affair. +She said men who did like this would have a noble and beautiful reward +by-and-by in another world, and although we animals would not go +there, to do well and right without reward would give to our brief +lives a worthiness and dignity which in itself would be a reward. She +had gathered these things from time to time when she had gone to the +Sunday-school with the children, and had laid them up in her memory +more carefully than she had done with those other words and phrases; +and she had studied them deeply, for her good and ours. One may see +by this that she had a wise and thoughtful head, for all there was so +much lightness and vanity in it. + +So we said our farewells, and looked our last upon each other through +our tears; and the last thing she said--keeping it for the last to +make me remember it the better, I think--was, "In memory of me, when +there is a time of danger to another do not think of yourself, think +of your mother, and do as she would do." + +Do you think I could forget that? No. + + +III + +It was such a charming home!--my new one; a fine great house, with +pictures, and delicate decorations, and rich furniture, and no gloom +anywhere, but all the wilderness of dainty colors lit up with +flooding sunshine; and the spacious grounds around it, and the great +garden--oh, greensward, and noble trees, and flowers, no end! And I +was the same as a member of the family; and they loved me, and petted +me, and did not give me a new name, but called me by my old one that +was dear to me because my mother had given it me--Aileen Mavourneen. +She got it out of a song; and the Grays knew that song, and said it +was a beautiful name. + +Mrs. Gray was thirty, and so sweet and so lovely, you cannot imagine +it; and Sadie was ten, and just like her mother, just a darling +slender little copy of her, with auburn tails down her back, and short +frocks; and the baby was a year old, and plump and dimpled, and fond +of me, and never could get enough of hauling on my tail, and hugging +me, and laughing out its innocent happiness; and Mr. Gray was +thirty-eight, and tall and slender and handsome, a little bald in +front, alert, quick in his movements, businesslike, prompt, decided, +unsentimental, and with that kind of trim-chiselled face that just +seems to glint and sparkle with frosty intellectuality! He was a +renowned scientist. I do not know what the word means, but my mother +would know how to use it and get effects. She would know how to +depress a rat-terrier with it and make a lap-dog look sorry he came. +But that is not the best one; the best one was Laboratory. My mother +could organize a Trust on that one that would skin the tax-collars +off the whole herd. The laboratory was not a book, or a picture, or a +place to wash your hands in, as the college president's dog said--no, +that is the lavatory; the laboratory is quite different, and is +filled with jars, and bottles, and electrics, and wires, and strange +machines; and every week other scientists came there and sat in the +place, and used the machines, and discussed, and made what they called +experiments and discoveries; and often I came, too, and stood around +and listened, and tried to learn, for the sake of my mother, and in +loving memory of her, although it was a pain to me, as realizing what +she was losing out of her life and I gaining nothing at all; for try +as I might, I was never able to make anything out of it at all. + +Other times I lay on the floor in the mistress's workroom and slept, +she gently using me for a footstool, knowing it pleased me, for it was +a caress; other times I spent an hour in the nursery, and got well +tousled and made happy; other times I watched by the crib there, when +the baby was asleep and the nurse out for a few minutes on the baby's +affairs; other times I romped and raced through the grounds and the +garden with Sadie till we were tired out, then slumbered on the grass +in the shade of a tree while she read her book; other times I went +visiting among the neighbor dogs,--for there were some most pleasant +ones not far away, and one very handsome and courteous and graceful +one, a curly haired Irish setter by the name of Robin Adair, who was a +Presbyterian like me, and belonged to the Scotch minister. + +The servants in our house were all kind to me and were fond of me, and +so, as you see, mine was a pleasant life. There could not be a happier +dog than I was, nor a gratefuller one. I will say this for myself, for +it is only the truth: I tried in all ways to do well and right, and +honor my mother's memory and her teachings, and earn the happiness +that had come to me, as best I could. + +By-and-by came my little puppy, and then my cup was full, my happiness +was perfect. It was the dearest little waddling thing, and so smooth +and soft and velvety, and had such cunning little awkward paws, and +such affectionate eyes, and such a sweet and innocent face; and it +made me so proud to see how the children and their mother adored it, +and fondled it, and exclaimed over every little wonderful thing it +did. It did seem to me that life was just too lovely to-- + +Then came the winter. One day I was standing a watch in the nursery. +That is to say, I was asleep on the bed. The baby was asleep in the +crib, which was alongside the bed, on the side next the fireplace. It +was the kind of crib that has a lofty tent over it made of a gauzy +stuff that you can see through. The nurse was out, and we two sleepers +were alone. A spark from the wood-fire was shot out, and it lit on the +slope of the tent. I suppose a quiet interval followed, then a scream +from the baby woke me, and there was that tent flaming up toward the +ceiling! Before I could think, I sprang to the floor in my fright, and +in a second was half-way to the door; but in the next half-second my +mother's farewell was sounding in my ears, and I was back on the bed +again. I reached my head through the flames and dragged the baby +out by the waistband, and tugged it along, and we fell to the floor +together in a cloud of smoke; I snatched a new hold, and dragged the +screaming little creature along and out at the door and around the +bend of the hall, and was still tugging away, all excited and happy +and proud, when the master's voice shouted: + +"Begone, you cursed beast!" and I jumped to save myself; but he was +wonderfully quick, and chased me up, striking furiously at me with his +cane, I dodging this way and that, in terror, and at last a strong +blow fell upon my left fore-leg, which made me shriek and fall, for +the moment, helpless; the cane went up for another blow, but never +descended, for the nurse's voice rang wildly out, "The nursery's on +fire!" and the master rushed away in that direction, and my other +bones were saved. + +The pain was cruel, but, no matter, I must not lose any time; he might +come back at any moment; so I limped on three legs to the other end +of the hall, where there was a dark little stairway leading up into a +garret where old boxes and such things were kept, as I had heard say, +and where people seldom went. I managed to climb up there, then I +searched my way through the dark among the piles of things, and hid in +the secretest place I could find. It was foolish to be afraid there, +yet still I was; so afraid that I held in and hardly even whimpered, +though it would have been such a comfort to whimper, because that +eases the pain, you know. But I could lick my leg, and that did me +some good. + +For half an hour there was a commotion down-stairs, and shoutings, +and rushing footsteps, and then there was quiet again. Quiet for some +minutes, and that was grateful to my spirit, for then my fears began +to go down; and fears are worse than pains,--oh, much worse. Then +came a sound that froze me! They were calling me--calling me by +name--hunting for me! + +It was muffled by distance, but that could not take the terror out of +it, and it was the most dreadful sound to me that I had ever heard. It +went all about, everywhere, down there: along the halls, through all +the rooms, in both stories, and in the basement and the cellar; then +outside, and further and further away--then back, and all about the +house again, and I thought it would never, never stop. But at last it +did, hours and hours after the vague twilight of the garret had long +ago been blotted out by black darkness. + +Then in that blessed stillness my terror fell little by little away, +and I was at peace and slept. It was a good rest I had, but I woke +before the twilight had come again. I was feeling fairly comfortable, +and I could think out a plan now. I made a very good one; which was, +to creep down, all the way down the back stairs, and hide behind the +cellar door, and slip out and escape when the iceman came at dawn, +while he was inside filling the refrigerator; then I would hide all +day, and start on my journey when night came; my journey to--well, +anywhere where they would not know me and betray me to the master. I +was feeling almost cheerful now; then suddenly I thought, Why, what +would life be without my puppy! + +That was despair. There was no plan for me; I saw that; I must stay +where I was; stay, and wait, and take what might come--it was not my +affair; that was what life is--my mother had said it. Then--well, then +the calling began again! All my sorrows came back. I said to myself, +the master will never forgive. I did not know what I had done to make +him so bitter and so unforgiving, yet I judged it was something a dog +could not understand, but which was clear to a man and dreadful. + +They called and called--days and nights, it seemed to me. So long that +the hunger and thirst near drove me mad, and I recognized that I was +getting very weak. When you are this way you sleep a great deal, and I +did. Once I woke in an awful fright--it seemed to me that the calling +was right there in the garret! And so it was: it was Sadie's voice, +and she was crying; my name was falling from her lips all broken, poor +thing, and I could not believe my ears for the joy of it when I heard +her say, + +"Come back to us--oh, come back to us, and forgive--it is all so sad +without our--" + +I broke in with _such_ a grateful little yelp, and the next moment +Sadie was plunging and stumbling through the darkness and the lumber +and shouting for the family to hear, "She's found! she's found!" + +The days that followed--well, they were wonderful. The mother and +Sadie and the servants--why, they just seemed to worship me. They +couldn't seem to make me a bed that was fine enough; and as for food, +they couldn't be satisfied with anything but game and delicacies that +were out of season; and every day the friends and neighbors flocked in +to hear about my heroism--that was the name they called it by, and it +means agriculture. I remember my mother pulling it on a kennel once, +and explaining it that way, but didn't say what agriculture was, +except that it was synonymous with intramural incandescence; and +a dozen times a day Mrs. Gray and Sadie would tell the tale to +new-comers, and say I risked my life to save the baby's, and both of +us had burns to prove it, and then the company would pass me around +and pet me and exclaim about me, and you could see the pride in the +eyes of Sadie and her mother; and when the people wanted to know +what made me limp, they looked ashamed and changed the subject, and +sometimes when people hunted them this way and that way with questions +about it, it looked to me as if they were going to cry. + +And this was not all the glory; no, the master's friends came, a whole +twenty of the most distinguished people, and had me in the laboratory, +and discussed me as if I was a kind of discovery; and some of them +said it was wonderful in a dumb beast, the finest exhibition of +instinct they could call to mind; but the master said, with vehemence, +"It's far above instinct; it's _reason_, and many a man, privileged +to be saved and go with you and me to a better world by right of its +possession, has less of it than this poor silly quadruped that's +foreordained to perish"; and then he laughed, and said, "Why, look at +me--I'm a sarcasm! Bless you, with all my grand intelligence, the only +thing I inferred was that the dog had gone mad and was destroying the +child, whereas but for the beast's intelligence--it's _reason_, I tell +you!--the child would have perished!" + +They disputed and disputed, and _I_ was the very centre and subject of +it all, and I wished my mother could know that this grand honor had +come to me; it would have made her proud. + +Then they discussed optics, as they called it, and whether a certain +injury to the brain would produce blindness or not, but they could not +agree about it, and said they must test it by experiment by-and-by; +and next they discussed plants, and that interested me, because in the +summer Sadie and I had planted seeds--I helped her dig the holes, you +know,--and after days and days a little shrub or a flower came up +there, and it was a wonder how that could happen; but it did, and I +wished I could talk,--I would have told those people about it and +shown them how much I knew, and been all alive with the subject; but I +didn't care for the optics; it was dull, and when they came back to it +again it bored me, and I went to sleep. + +Pretty soon it was spring, and sunny and pleasant and lovely, and the +sweet mother and the children patted me and the puppy good-bye, and +went away on a journey and a visit to their kin, and the master wasn't +any company for us, but we played together and had good times, and the +servants were kind and friendly, so we got along quite happily and +counted the days and waited for the family. + +And one day those men came again, and said now for the test, and they +took the puppy to the laboratory, and I limped three-leggedly along, +too, feeling proud, for any attention shown the puppy was a pleasure +to me, of course. They discussed and experimented, and then suddenly +the puppy shrieked, and they set him on the floor, and he went +staggering around, with his head all bloody, and the master clapped +his hands, and shouted: + +"There, I've won--confess it! He's as blind as a bat!" + +And they all said, + +"It's so--you've proved your theory, and suffering humanity owes you +a great debt from henceforth," and they crowded around him, and wrung +his hand cordially and thankfully, and praised him. + +But I hardly saw or heard these things, for I ran at once to my little +darling, and snuggled close to it where it lay, and licked the blood, +and it put its head against mine, whimpering softly, and I knew in +my heart it was a comfort to it in its pain and trouble to feel its +mother's touch, though it could not see me. Then it drooped down, +presently, and its little velvet nose rested upon the floor, and it +was still, and did not move any more. + +Soon the master stopped discussing a moment, and rang in the footman, +and said, "Bury it in the far corner of the garden," and then went on +with the discussion, and I trotted after the footman, very happy and +grateful, for I knew the puppy was out of its pain now, because it was +asleep. We went far down the garden to the furthest end, where the +children and the nurse and the puppy and I used to play in the summer +in the shade of a great elm, and there the footman dug a hole, and I +saw he was going to plant the puppy, and I was glad, because it would +grow and come up a fine handsome dog, like Robin Adair, and be a +beautiful surprise for the family when they came home; so I tried to +help him dig, but my lame leg was no good, being stiff, you know, and +you have to have two, or it is no use. When the footman had finished +and covered little Robin up, he patted my head, and there were tears +in his eyes, and he said, "Poor little doggie, you SAVED _his_ child." + +I have watched two whole weeks, and he doesn't come up! This last +week a fright has been stealing upon me. I think there is something +terrible about this. I do not know what it is, but the fear makes me +sick, and I cannot eat, though the servants bring me the best of food; +and they pet me so, and even come in the night, and cry, and say, +"Poor doggie--do give it up and come home; _don't_ break our hearts!" +and all this terrifies me the more, and makes me sure something has +happened. And I am so weak; since yesterday I cannot stand on my feet +any more. And within this hour the servants, looking toward the sun +where it was sinking out of sight and the night chill coming on, said +things I could not understand, but they carried something cold to my +heart. + +"Those poor creatures! They do not suspect. They will come home in +the morning, and eagerly ask for the little doggie that did the brave +deed, and who of us will be strong enough to say the truth to them: +'The humble little friend is gone where go the beasts that perish.'" + + + + +THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _The Luck of Roaring Camp_. 1871.] + +_Bret Harte_ (1839-1902) + + +As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker +Flat on the morning of the 23d of November, 1850, he was conscious of +a change in its moral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two or +three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and +exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air, +which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous. + +Mr. Oakhurst's calm, handsome face betrayed small concern in these +indications. Whether he was conscious of any predisposing cause was +another question. "I reckon they're after somebody," he reflected; +"likely it's me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with +which he had been whipping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his +neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture. + +In point of fact, Poker Flat was "after somebody." It had lately +suffered the loss of several thousand dollars, two valuable horses, +and a prominent citizen. It was experiencing a spasm of virtuous +reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that +had provoked it. A secret committee had determined to rid the town of +all improper persons. This was done permanently in regard of two men +who were then hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch, +and temporarily in the banishment of certain other objectionable +characters. I regret to say that some of these were ladies. It is +but due to the sex, however, to state that their impropriety was +professional, and it was only in such easily established standards of +evil that Poker Flat ventured to sit in judgment. + +Mr. Oakhurst was right in supposing that he was included in this +category. A few of the committee had urged hanging him as a possible +example, and a sure method of reimbursing themselves from his pockets +of the sums he had won from them. "It's agin justice," said Jim +Wheeler, "to let this yer young man from Roaring Camp--an entire +stranger--carry away our money." But a crude sentiment of equity +residing in the breasts of those who had been fortunate enough to win +from Mr. Oakhurst overruled this narrower local prejudice. + +Mr. Oakhurst received his sentence with philosophic calmness, none the +less coolly that he was aware of the hesitation of his judges. He was +too much of a gambler not to accept fate. With him life was at best an +uncertain game, and he recognized the usual percentage in favor of the +dealer. + +A body of armed men accompanied the deported wickedness of Poker Flat +to the outskirts of the settlement. Besides Mr. Oakhurst, who was +known to be a coolly desperate man, and for whose intimidation the +armed escort was intended, the expatriated party consisted of a young +woman familiarly known as the "Duchess"; another who had won the title +of "Mother Shipton"; and "Uncle Billy," a suspected sluice-robber +and confirmed drunkard. The cavalcade provoked no comments from the +spectators, nor was any word uttered by the escort. Only when the +gulch which marked the uttermost limit of Poker Flat was reached, the +leader spoke briefly and to the point. The exiles were forbidden to +return at the peril of their lives. + +As the escort disappeared, their pent-up feelings found vent in a +few hysterical tears from the Duchess, some bad language from Mother +Shipton, and a Parthian volley of expletives from Uncle Billy. The +philosophic Oakhurst alone remained silent. He listened calmly to +Mother Shipton's desire to cut somebody's heart out, to the repeated +statements of the Duchess that she would die in the road, and to the +alarming oaths that seemed to be bumped out of Uncle Billy as he rode +forward. With the easy good-humor characteristic of his class, he +insisted upon exchanging his own riding-horse, "Five Spot," for the +sorry mule which the Duchess rode. But even this act did not draw +the party into any closer sympathy. The young woman readjusted her +somewhat draggled plumes with a feeble, faded coquetry; Mother Shipton +eyed the possessor of "Five Spot" with malevolence, and Uncle Billy +included the whole party in one sweeping anathema. + +The road to Sandy Bar--a camp that, not having as yet experienced the +regenerating influences of Poker Flat, consequently seemed to offer +some invitation to the emigrants--lay over a steep mountain range. It +was distant a day's severe travel. In that advanced season, the party +soon passed out of the moist, temperate regions of the foot-hills into +the dry, cold, bracing air of the Sierras. The trail was narrow and +difficult. At noon the Duchess, rolling out of her saddle upon the +ground, declared her intention of going no farther, and the party +halted. + +The spot was singularly wild and impressive. A wooded amphitheatre, +surrounded on three sides by precipitous cliffs of naked granite, +sloped gently toward the crest of another precipice that overlooked +the valley. It was, undoubtedly, the most suitable spot for a camp, +had camping been advisable. But Mr. Oakhurst knew that scarcely half +the journey to Sandy Bar was accomplished; and the party were not +equipped or provisioned for delay. This fact he pointed out to his +companions curtly, with a philosophic commentary on the folly of +"throwing up their hand before the game was played out." But they were +furnished with liquor, which in this emergency stood them in place of +food, fuel, rest, and prescience. In spite of his remonstrances, it +was not long before they were more or less under its influence. Uncle +Billy passed rapidly from a bellicose state into one of stupor, the +Duchess became maudlin, and Mother Shipton snored. Mr. Oakhurst alone +remained erect, leaning against a rock, calmly surveying them. + +Mr. Oakhurst did not drink. It interfered with a profession which +required coolness, impassiveness, and presence of mind, and, in his +own language, he "couldn't afford it." As he gazed at his recumbent +fellow-exiles, the loneliness begotten of his pariah-trade, his habits +of life, his very vices, for the first time seriously oppressed him. +He bestirred himself in dusting his black clothes, washing his hands +and face, and other acts characteristic of his studiously neat habits, +and for a moment forgot his annoyance. The thought of deserting his +weaker and more pitiable companions never perhaps occurred to him. +Yet he could not help feeling the want of that excitement which, +singularly enough, was most conducive to that calm equanimity for +which he was notorious. He looked at the gloomy walls that rose a +thousand feet sheer above the circling pines around him; at the sky, +ominously clouded; at the valley below, already deepening into shadow. +And, doing so, suddenly he heard his own name called. + +A horseman slowly ascended the trail. In the fresh, open face of the +new-comer Mr. Oakhurst recognized Tom Simson, otherwise known as the +"Innocent," of Sandy Bar. He had met him some months before over +a "little game," and had, with perfect equanimity, won the entire +fortune--amounting to some forty dollars--of that guileless youth. +After the game was finished, Mr. Oakhurst drew the youthful speculator +behind the door and thus addressed him: "Tommy, you're a good little +man, but you can't gamble worth a cent. Don't try it over again." He +then handed him his money back, pushed him gently from the room, and +so made a devoted slave of Tom Simson. + +There was a remembrance of this in his boyish and enthusiastic +greeting of Mr. Oakhurst. He had started, he said, to go to Poker +Flat to seek his fortune. "Alone?" No, not exactly alone; in fact +(a giggle), he had run away with Piney Woods. Didn't Mr. Oakhurst +remember Piney? She that used to wait on the table at the Temperance +House? They had been engaged a long time, but old Jake Woods had +objected, and so they had run away, and were going to Poker Flat to be +married, and here they were. And they were tired out, and how lucky it +was they had found a place to camp, and company. All this the Innocent +delivered rapidly, while Piney, a stout, comely damsel of fifteen, +emerged from behind the pine-tree where she had been blushing unseen, +and rode to the side of her lover. + +Mr. Oakhurst seldom troubled himself with sentiment, still less +with propriety; but he had a vague idea that the situation was not +fortunate. He retained, however, his presence of mind sufficiently to +kick Uncle Billy, who was about to say something, and Uncle Billy was +sober enough to recognize in Mr. Oakhurst's kick a superior power that +would not bear trifling. He then endeavored to dissuade Tom Simson +from delaying further, but in vain. He even pointed out the fact that +there was no provision, nor means of making a camp. But, unluckily, +the Innocent met this objection by assuring the party that he was +provided with an extra mule loaded with provisions, and by the +discovery of a rude attempt at a log-house near the trail. "Piney can +stay with Mrs. Oakhurst," said the Innocent, pointing to the Duchess, +"and I can shift for myself." + +Nothing but Mr. Oakhurst's admonishing foot saved Uncle Billy from +bursting into a roar of laughter. As it was, he felt compelled to +retire up the cañon until he could recover his gravity. There he +confided the joke to the tall pine-trees, with many slaps of his leg, +contortions of his face, and the usual profanity. But when he returned +to the party, he found them seated by a fire--for the air had +grown strangely chill and the sky overcast--in apparently amicable +conversation. Piney was actually talking in an impulsive, girlish +fashion to the Duchess, who was listening with an interest and +animation she had not shown for many days. The Innocent was holding +forth, apparently with equal effect, to Mr. Oakhurst and Mother +Shipton, who was actually relaxing into amiability. "Is this yer a +d---d picnic?" said Uncle Billy, with inward scorn, as he surveyed the +sylvan group, the glancing firelight, and the tethered animals in the +foreground. Suddenly an idea mingled with the alcoholic fumes that +disturbed his brain. It was apparently of a jocular nature, for he +felt impelled to slap his leg again and cram his fist into his mouth. + +As the shadows crept slowly up the mountain, a slight breeze rocked +the tops of the pine-trees, and moaned through their long and gloomy +aisles. The ruined cabin, patched and covered with pine-boughs, was +set apart for the ladies. As the lovers parted they unaffectedly +exchanged a kiss, so honest and sincere that it might have been heard +above the swaying pines. The frail Duchess and the malevolent Mother +Shipton were probably too stunned to remark upon this last evidence +of simplicity, and so turned without a word to the hut. The fire was +replenished, the men lay down before the door, and in a few minutes +were asleep. + +Mr. Oakhurst was a light sleeper. Toward morning he awoke benumbed and +cold. As he stirred the dying fire, the wind, which was now blowing +strongly, brought to his cheek that which caused the blood to leave +it--snow! + +He started to his feet with the intention of awakening the sleepers, +for there was no time to lose. But turning to where Uncle Billy had +been lying, he found him gone. A suspicion leaped to his brain and +a curse to his lips. He ran to the spot where the mules had been +tethered; they were no longer there. The tracks were already rapidly +disappearing in the snow. + +The momentary excitement brought Mr. Oakhurst back to the fire with +his usual calm. He did not waken the sleepers. The Innocent slumbered +peacefully, with a smile on his good-humored, freckled face; the +virgin Piney slept beside her frailer sisters as sweetly as though +attended by celestial guardians, and Mr. Oakhurst, drawing his blanket +over his shoulders, stroked his mustaches and waited for the dawn. +It came slowly in a whirling mist of snowflakes, that dazzled and +confused the eye. What could be seen of the landscape appeared +magically changed. He looked over the valley, and summed up the +present and future in two words--"Snowed in!" + +A careful inventory of the provisions, which, fortunately for the +party, had been stored within the hut, and so escaped the felonious +fingers of Uncle Billy, disclosed the fact that with care and prudence +they might last ten days longer. "That is," said Mr. Oakhurst, +_sotto voce_ to the Innocent, "if you're willing to board us. If you +ain't--and perhaps you'd better not--you can wait till Uncle Billy +gets back with provisions." For some occult reason, Mr. Oakhurst could +not bring himself to disclose Uncle Billy's rascality, and so offered +the hypothesis that he had wandered from the camp and had accidentally +stampeded the animals. He dropped a warning to the Duchess and Mother +Shipton, who of course knew the facts of their associate's defection. +"They'll find out the truth about us _all_ when they find out +anything," he added, significantly, "and there's no good frightening +them now." + +Tom Simson not only put all his worldly store at the disposal of +Mr. Oakhurst, but seemed to enjoy the prospect of their enforced +seclusion. "We'll have a good camp for a week, and then the snow'll +melt, and we'll all go back together." The cheerful gayety of the +young man and Mr. Oakhurst's calm infected the others. The Innocent, +with the aid of pine-boughs, extemporized a thatch for the roofless +cabin, and the Duchess directed Piney in the rearrangement of the +interior with a taste and tact that opened the blue eyes of that +provincial maiden to their fullest extent. "I reckon now you're used +to fine things at Poker Flat," said Piney. The Duchess turned away +sharply to conceal something that reddened her cheeks through +their professional tint, and Mother Shipton requested Piney not to +"chatter." But when Mr. Oakhurst returned from a weary search for the +trail, he heard the sound of happy laughter echoed from the rocks. He +stopped in some alarm, and his thoughts first naturally reverted +to the whiskey, which he had prudently _cachéd_. "And yet it don't +somehow sound like whiskey," said the gambler. It was not until he +caught sight of the blazing fire through the still blinding storm and +the group around it that he settled to the conviction that it was +"square fun." + +Whether Mr. Oakhurst had _cachéd_ his cards with the whiskey as +something debarred the free access of the community, I cannot say. +It was certain that, in Mother Shipton's words, he "didn't say +cards once," during that evening. Haply the time was beguiled by an +accordion, produced somewhat ostentatiously by Tom Simson from his +pack. Notwithstanding some difficulties attending the manipulation +of this instrument, Piney Woods managed to pluck several reluctant +melodies from its keys, to an accompaniment by the Innocent on a pair +of bone castanets. But the crowning festivity of the evening was +reached in a rude camp-meeting hymn, which the lovers, joining hands, +sang with great earnestness and vociferation. I fear that a certain +defiant tone and Covenanter's swing to its chorus, rather than any +devotional quality, caused it speedily to infect the others, who at +last joined in the refrain: + + "I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord, + And I'm bound to die in His army." + +The pines rocked, the storm eddied and whirled above the miserable +group, and the flames of their altar leaped heavenward, as if in token +of the vow. + +At midnight the storm abated, the rolling clouds parted, and the +stars glittered keenly above the sleeping camp. Mr. Oakhurst, whose +professional habits had enabled him to live on the smallest possible +amount of sleep, in dividing the watch with Tom Simson, somehow +managed to take upon himself the greater part of that duty. He excused +himself to the Innocent by saying that he had "often been a week +without sleep." "Doing what?" asked Tom. "Poker!" replied Oakhurst, +sententiously; "when a man gets a streak of luck--nigger-luck--he +don't get tired. The luck gives in first. Luck," continued the +gambler, reflectively, "is a mighty queer thing. All you know about it +for certain is that it's bound to change. And it's finding out when +it's going to change that makes you. We've had a streak of bad luck +since we left Poker Flat--you come along, and slap you get into it, +too. If you can hold your cards right along, you're all right. For," +added the gambler, with cheerful irrelevance-- + + "'I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord, + And I'm bound to die in His army,'" + +The third day came, and the sun, looking through the white-curtained +valley, saw the outcasts divide their slowly decreasing store of +provisions for the morning meal. It was one of the peculiarities of +that mountain climate that its rays diffused a kindly warmth over the +wintry landscape, as if in regretful commiseration of the past. But it +revealed drift on drift of snow piled high around the hut--a hopeless, +uncharted, trackless sea of white lying below the rocky shores to +which the castaways still clung. Through the marvellously clear air +the smoke of the pastoral village of Poker Flat rose miles away. +Mother Shipton saw it, and from a remote pinnacle of her rocky +fastness hurled in that direction a final malediction. It was her last +vituperative attempt, and perhaps for that reason was invested with a +certain degree of sublimity. It did her good, she privately informed +the Duchess. "Just you go out there and cuss, and see." She then set +herself to the task of amusing "the child," as she and the Duchess +were pleased to call Piney. Piney was no chicken, but it was a +soothing and original theory of the pair thus to account for the fact +that she didn't swear and wasn't improper. + +When night crept up again through the gorges, the reedy notes of the +accordion rose and fell in fitful spasms and long-drawn gasps by the +flickering camp-fire. But music failed to fill entirely the aching +void left by insufficient food, and a new diversion was proposed by +Piney--story-telling. Neither Mr., Oakhurst nor his female companions +caring to relate their personal experiences, this plan would have +failed, too, but for the Innocent. Some months before he had chanced +upon a stray copy of Mr. Pope's ingenious translation of the +_Iliad_. He now proposed to narrate the principal incidents of that +poem--having thoroughly mastered the argument and fairly forgotten the +words--in the current vernacular of Sandy Bar. And so for the rest of +that night the Homeric demigods again walked the earth. Trojan bully +and wily Greek wrestled in the winds, and the great pines in the cañon +seemed to bow to the wrath of the son of Peleus. Mr. Oakhurst listened +with quiet satisfaction. Most especially was he interested in the +fate of "Ash-heels," as the Innocent persisted in denominating the +"swift-footed Achilles." + +So with small food and much of Homer and the accordion, a week passed +over the heads of the outcasts. The sun again forsook them, and again +from leaden skies the snowflakes were sifted over the land. Day by day +closer around them drew the snowy circle, until at last they looked +from their prison over drifted walls of dazzling white, that towered +twenty feet above their heads. It became more and more difficult to +replenish their fires, even from the fallen trees beside them, now +half hidden in the drifts. And yet no one complained. The lovers +turned from the dreary prospect and looked into each other's eyes, and +were happy. Mr. Oakhurst settled himself coolly to the losing game +before him. The Duchess, more cheerful than she had been, assumed +the care of Piney. Only Mother Shipton--once the strongest of the +party--seemed to sicken and fade. At midnight on the tenth day she +called Oakhurst to her side. "I'm going," she said, in a voice of +querulous weakness, "but don't say anything about it. Don't waken the +kids. Take the bundle from under my head and open it." Mr. Oakhurst +did so. It contained Mother Shipton's rations for the last week, +untouched. "Give 'em to the child," she said, pointing to the sleeping +Piney. "You've starved yourself," said the gambler. "That's what they +call it," said the woman, querulously, as she lay down again, and, +turning her face to the wall, passed quietly away. + +The accordion and the bones were put aside that day, and Homer was +forgotten. When the body of Mother Shipton had been committed to the +snow, Mr. Oakhurst took the Innocent aside and showed him a pair of +snow-shoes, which he had fashioned from the old pack-saddle. "There's +one chance in a hundred to save her yet," he said, pointing to Piney; +"but it's there," he added, pointing toward Poker Flat. "If you can +reach there in two days she's safe." "And you?" asked Tom Simson. +"I'll stay here," was the curt reply. + +The lovers parted with a long embrace. "You are not going, too?" said +the Duchess, as she saw Mr. Oakhurst apparently waiting to accompany +him. "As far as the cañon," he replied. He turned suddenly and kissed +the Duchess, leaving her pallid face aflame and her trembling limbs +rigid with amazement. + +Night came, but not Mr. Oakhurst. It brought the storm again and the +whirling snow. Then the Duchess, feeding the fire, found that some +one had quietly piled beside the hut enough fuel to last a few days +longer. The tears rose to her eyes, but she hid them from Piney. + +The women slept but little. In the morning, looking into each other's +faces, they read their fate. Neither spoke; but Piney, accepting the +position of the stronger, drew near and placed her arm around the +Duchess's waist. They kept this attitude for the rest of the day. That +night the storm reached its greatest fury, and, rending asunder the +protecting pines, invaded the very hut. + +Toward morning they found themselves unable to feed the fire, which +gradually died away. As the embers slowly blackened, the Duchess crept +closer to Piney, and broke the silence of many hours: "Piney, can you +pray?" "No, dear," said Piney, simply. The Duchess, without knowing +exactly why, felt relieved, and, putting her head upon Piney's +shoulder, spoke no more. And so reclining, the younger and purer +pillowing the head of her soiled sister upon her virgin breast, they +fell asleep. + +The wind lulled as if it feared to waken them. Feathery drifts of +snow, shaken from the long pine-boughs, flew like white-winged birds, +and settled about them as they slept. The moon through the rifted +clouds looked down upon what had been the camp. But all human stain, +all trace of earthly travail, was hidden beneath the spotless mantle +mercifully flung from above. + +They slept all that day and the next, nor did they waken when voices +and footsteps broke the silence of the camp. And when pitying fingers +brushed the snow from their wan faces, you could scarcely have told, +from the equal peace that dwelt upon them, which was she that had +sinned. Even the law of Poker Flat recognized this, and turned away, +leaving them still locked in each other's arms. + +But at the head of the gulch, on one of the largest pine-trees, they +found the deuce of clubs pinned to the bark with a bowie-knife. It +bore the following, written in pencil, in a firm hand: + + + + + + BENEATH THIS TREE + + LIES THE BODY + + OF + + JOHN OAKHURST, + + WHO STRUCK A STREAK OF BAD LUCK + + ON THE 23D OF NOVEMBER, 1850, + + AND + + HANDED IN HIS CHECKS + + ON THE 7TH DECEMBER, 1850. + + + + +And pulseless and cold, with a derringer by his side and a bullet in +his heart, though still calm as in life, beneath the snow lay he who +was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker +Flat. + + + + +THE THREE STRANGERS[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Wessex Tales_.] + +_Thomas Hardy_ (1840) + + +Among the few features of agricultural England which retain an +appearance but little modified by the lapse of centuries, may be +reckoned the high, grassy and furzy downs, coombs, or ewe-leases, +as they are indifferently called, that fill a large area of certain +counties in the south and southwest. If any mark of human occupation +is met with hereon, it usually takes the form of the solitary cottage +of some shepherd. + +Fifty years ago such a lonely cottage stood on such a down, and may +possibly be standing there now. In spite of its loneliness, however, +the spot, by actual measurement, was not more than five miles from +a county-town. Yet that affected it little. Five miles of irregular +upland, during the long inimical seasons, with their sleets, snows, +rains, and mists, afford withdrawing space enough to isolate a Timon +or a Nebuchadnezzar; much less, in fair weather, to please that less +repellent tribe, the poets, philosophers, artists, and others who +"conceive and meditate of pleasant things." + +Some old earthen camp or barrow, some clump of trees, at least some +starved fragment of ancient hedge is usually taken advantage of in the +erection of these forlorn dwellings. But, in the present case, such a +kind of shelter had been disregarded. Higher Crowstairs, as the house +was called, stood quite detached and undefended. The only reason for +its precise situation seemed to be the crossing of two footpaths at +right angles hard by, which may have crossed there and thus for a good +five hundred years. Hence the house was exposed to the elements on +all sides. But, though the wind up here blew unmistakably when it did +blow, and the rain hit hard whenever it fell, the various weathers of +the winter season were not quite so formidable on the coomb as they +were imagined to be by dwellers on low ground. The raw rimes were +not so pernicious as in the hollows, and the frosts were scarcely so +severe. When the shepherd and his family who tenanted the house were +pitied for their sufferings from the exposure, they said that upon the +whole they were less inconvenienced by "wuzzes and flames" (hoarses +and phlegms) than when they had lived by the stream of a snug +neighboring valley. + +The night of March 28, 182-, was precisely one of the nights that +were wont to call forth these expressions of commiseration. The level +rainstorm smote walls, slopes, and hedges like the clothyard shafts +of Senlac and Crecy. Such sheep and outdoor animals as had no shelter +stood with their buttocks to the winds; while the tails of little +birds trying to roost on some scraggy thorn were blown inside-out like +umbrellas. The gable-end of the cottage was stained with wet, and the +eavesdroppings flapped against the wall. Yet never was commiseration +for the shepherd more misplaced. For that cheerful rustic was +entertaining a large party in glorification of the christening of his +second girl. + +The guests had arrived before the rain began to fall, and they were +all now assembled in the chief or living room of the dwelling. A +glance into the apartment at eight o'clock on this eventful evening +would have resulted in the opinion that it was as cosy and comfortable +a nook as could be wished for in boisterous weather. The calling of +its inhabitant was proclaimed by a number of highly-polished sheep +crooks without stems that were hung ornamentally over the fireplace, +the curl of each shining crook varying from the antiquated type +engraved in the patriarchal pictures of old family Bibles to the most +approved fashion of the last local sheep-fair. The room was lighted +by half-a-dozen candles, having wicks only a trifle smaller than the +grease which enveloped them, in candlesticks that were never used but +at high-days, holy-days, and family feasts. The lights were scattered +about the room, two of them standing on the chimney-piece. This +position of candles was in itself significant. Candles on the +chimney-piece always meant a party. + +On the hearth, in front of a back-brand to give substance, blazed a +fire of thorns, that crackled "like the laughter of the fool." + +Nineteen persons were gathered here. Of these, five women, wearing +gowns of various bright hues, sat in chairs along the wall; girls shy +and not shy filled the window-bench; four men, including Charley Jake +the hedge-carpenter, Elijah New the parish-clerk, and John Pitcher, +a neighboring dairyman, the shepherd's father-in-law, lolled in +the settle; a young man and maid, who were blushing over +tentative _pourparlers_ on a life-companionship, sat beneath the +corner-cupboard; and an elderly engaged man of fifty or upward moved +restlessly about from spots where his betrothed was not to the spot +where she was. Enjoyment was pretty general, and so much the more +prevailed in being unhampered by conventional restrictions. Absolute +confidence in each other's good opinion begat perfect ease, while the +finishing stroke of manner, amounting to a truly princely serenity, +was lent to the majority by the absence of any expression or trait +denoting that they wished to get on in the world, enlarge their minds, +or do any eclipsing thing whatever--which nowadays so generally nips +the bloom and _bonhomie_ of all except the two extremes of the social +scale. + +Shepherd Fennel had married well, his wife being a dairyman's +daughter from a vale at a distance, who brought fifty guineas in +her pocket--and kept them there, till they should be required for +ministering to the needs of a coming family. This frugal woman had +been somewhat exercised as to the character that should be given +to the gathering. A sit-still party had its advantages; but an +undisturbed position of ease in chairs and settles was apt to lead +on the men to such an unconscionable deal of toping that they would +sometimes fairly drink the house dry. A dancing-party was the +alternative; but this, while avoiding the foregoing objection on the +score of good drink, had a counterbalancing disadvantage in the matter +of good victuals, the ravenous appetites engendered by the exercise +causing immense havoc in the buttery. Shepherdess Fennel fell back +upon the intermediate plan of mingling short dances with short periods +of talk and singing, so as to hinder any ungovernable rage in either. +But this scheme was entirely confined to her own gentle mind: the +shepherd himself was in the mood to exhibit the most reckless phases +of hospitality. + +The fiddler was a boy of those parts, about twelve years of age, who +had a wonderful dexterity in jigs and reels, though his fingers were +so small and short as to necessitate a constant shifting for the high +notes, from which he scrambled back to the first position with sounds +not of unmixed purity of tone. At seven the shrill tweedle-dee of this +youngster had begun, accompanied by a booming ground-bass from Elijah +New, the parish-clerk, who had thoughtfully brought with him his +favorite musical instrument, the serpent. Dancing was instantaneous, +Mrs. Fennel privately enjoining the players on no account to let the +dance exceed the length of a quarter of an hour. + +But Elijah and the boy, in the excitement of their position, quite +forgot the injunction. Moreover, Oliver Giles, a man of seventeen, +one of the dancers, who was enamoured of his partner, a fair girl of +thirty-three rolling years, had recklessly handed a new crown-piece to +the musicians, as a bribe to keep going as long as they had muscle +and wind. Mrs. Fennel, seeing the steam begin to generate on the +countenances of her guests, crossed over and touched the fiddler's +elbow and put her hand on the serpent's mouth. But they took no +notice, and fearing she might lose her character of genial hostess if +she were to interfere too markedly, she retired and sat down helpless. +And so the dance whizzed on with cumulative fury, the performers +moving in their planet-like courses, direct and retrograde, from +apogee to perigee, till the hand of the well-kicked clock at the +bottom of the room had travelled over the circumference of an hour. + +While these cheerful events were in course of enactment within +Fennel's pastoral dwelling, an incident having considerable bearing +on the party had occurred in the gloomy night without. Mrs. Fennel's +concern about the growing fierceness of the dance corresponded in +point of time with the ascent of a human figure to the solitary hill +of Higher Crowstairs from the direction of the distant town. This +personage strode on through the rain without a pause, following +the little-worn path which, further on in its course, skirted the +shepherd's cottage. + +It was nearly the time of full moon, and on this account, though the +sky was lined with a uniform sheet of dripping cloud, ordinary objects +out of doors were readily visible. The sad wan light revealed the +lonely pedestrian to be a man of supple frame; his gait suggested that +he had somewhat passed the period of perfect and instinctive agility, +though not so far as to be otherwise than rapid of motion when +occasion required. At a rough guess, he might have been about forty +years of age. He appeared tall, but a recruiting sergeant, or other +person accustomed to the judging of men's heights by the eye, would +have discerned that this was chiefly owing to his gauntness, and that +he was not more than five-feet-eight or nine. + +Notwithstanding the regularity of his tread, there was caution in it, +as in that of one who mentally feels his way; and despite the fact +that it was not a black coat nor a dark garment of any sort that he +wore, there was something about him which suggested that he naturally +belonged to the black-coated tribes of men. His clothes were of +fustian, and his boots hobnailed, yet in his progress he showed not +the mud-accustomed bearing of hobnailed and fustianed peasantry. + +By the time that he had arrived abreast of the shepherd's premises +the rain came down, or rather came along, with yet more determined +violence. The outskirts of the little settlement partially broke the +force of wind and rain, and this induced him to stand still. The most +salient of the shepherd's domestic erections was an empty sty at the +forward corner of his hedgeless garden, for in these latitudes the +principle of masking the homelier features of your establishment by a +conventional frontage was unknown. The traveller's eye was attracted +to this small building by the pallid shine of the wet slates that +covered it. He turned aside, and, finding it empty, stood under the +pent-roof for shelter. + +While he stood, the boom of the serpent within the adjacent house, +and the lesser strains of the fiddler, reached the spot as an +accompaniment to the surging hiss of the flying rain on the sod, its +louder beating on the cabbage-leaves of the garden, on the eight or +ten beehives just discernible by the path, and its dripping from the +eaves into a row of buckets and pans that had been placed under +the walls of the cottage. For at Higher Crowstairs, as at all such +elevated domiciles, the grand difficulty of housekeeping was an +insufficiency of water; and a casual rainfall was utilized by turning +out, as catchers, every utensil that the house contained. Some queer +stories might be told of the contrivances for economy in suds and +dishwaters that are absolutely necessitated in upland habitations +during the droughts of summer. But at this season there were no +such exigencies; a mere acceptance of what the skies bestowed was +sufficient for an abundant store. + +At last the notes of the serpent ceased and the house was silent. This +cessation of activity aroused the solitary pedestrian from the reverie +into which he had elapsed, and, emerging from the shed, with an +apparently new intention, he walked up the path to the house-door. +Arrived here, his first act was to kneel down on a large stone beside +the row of vessels, and to drink a copious draught from one of them. +Having quenched his thirst, he rose and lifted his hand to knock, but +paused with his eye upon the panel. Since the dark surface of the wood +revealed absolutely nothing, it was evident that he must be mentally +looking through the door, as if he wished to measure thereby all the +possibilities that a house of this sort might include, and how they +might bear upon the question of his entry. + +In his indecision he turned and surveyed the scene around. Not a soul +was anywhere visible. The garden-path stretched downward from his +feet, gleaming like the track of a snail; the roof of the little well +(mostly dry), the well-cover, the top rail of the garden-gate, were +varnished with the same dull liquid glaze; while, far away in the +vale, a faint whiteness of more than usual extent showed that the +rivers were high in the meads. Beyond all this winked a few bleared +lamplights through the beating drops--lights that denoted the +situation of the county-town from which he had appeared to come. The +absence of all notes of life in that direction seemed to clinch his +intentions, and he knocked at the door. + +Within, a desultory chat had taken the place of movement and musical +sound. The hedge-carpenter was suggesting a song to the company, which +nobody just then was inclined to undertake, so that the knock afforded +a not unwelcome diversion. + +"Walk in!" said the shepherd, promptly. + +The latch clicked upward, and out of the night our pedestrian appeared +upon the door-mat. The shepherd arose, snuffed two of the nearest +candles, and turned to look at him. + +Their light disclosed that the stranger was dark in complexion and not +unprepossessing as to feature. His hat, which for a moment he did not +remove, hung low over his eyes, without concealing that they were +large, open, and determined, moving with a flash rather than a glance +round the room. He seemed pleased with his survey, and, baring his +shaggy head, said, in a rich, deep voice: "The rain is so heavy, +friends, that I ask leave to come in and rest awhile." + +"To be sure, stranger," said the shepherd. "And faith, you've been +lucky in choosing your time, for we are having a bit of a fling for +a glad cause--though, to be sure, a man could hardly wish that glad +cause to happen more than once a year." + +"Nor less," spoke up a woman. "For 'tis best to get your family over +and done with, as soon as you can, so as to be all the earlier out of +the fag o't." + +"And what may be this glad cause?" asked the stranger. + +"A birth and christening," said the shepherd. + +The stranger hoped his host might not be made unhappy either by too +many or two few of such episodes, and being invited by a gesture to +a pull at the mug, he readily acquiesced. His manner, which, before +entering, had been so dubious, was now altogether that of a careless +and candid man. + +"Late to be traipsing athwart this coomb--hey?" said the engaged man +of fifty. + +"Late it is, master, as you say.--I'll take a seat in the +chimney-corner, if you have nothing to urge against it, ma'am; for I +am a little moist on the side that was next the rain." + +Mrs. Shepherd Fennel assented, and made room for the self-invited +comer, who, having got completely inside the chimney-corner, stretched +out his legs and arms with the expansiveness of a person quite at +home. + +"Yes, I am rather cracked in the vamp," he said freely, seeing that +the eyes of the shepherd's wife fell upon his boots, "and I am not +well fitted either. I have had some rough times lately, and have been +forced to pick up what I can get in the way of wearing, but I must +find a suit better fit for working-days when I reach home." + +"One of hereabouts?" she inquired. + +"Not quite that--further up the country." + +"I thought so. And so be I; and by your tongue you come from my +neighborhood." + +"But you would hardly have heard of me," he said quickly. "My time +would be long before yours, ma'am, you see." + +This testimony to the youthfulness of his hostess had the effect of +stopping her cross-examination. + +"There is only one thing more wanted to make me happy," continued the +new-comer, "and that is a little baccy, which I am sorry to say I am +out of." + +"I'll fill your pipe," said the shepherd. + +"I must ask you to lend me a pipe likewise." + +"A smoker, and no pipe about 'ee?" + +"I have dropped it somewhere on the road." + +The shepherd filled and handed him a new clay pipe, saying, as he did +so, "Hand me your baccy-box--I'll fill that too, now I am about it." + +The man went through the movement of searching his pockets. + +"Lost that too?" said his entertainer, with some surprise. + +"I am afraid so," said the man with some confusion. "Give it to me in +a screw of paper." Lighting his pipe at the candle with a suction that +drew the whole flame into the bowl, he resettled himself in the corner +and bent his looks upon the faint steam from his damp legs, as if he +wished to say no more. + +Meanwhile the general body of guests had been taking little notice of +this visitor by reason of an absorbing discussion in which they were +engaged with the band about a tune for the next dance. The matter +being settled, they were about to stand up when an interruption came +in the shape of another knock at the door. + +At sound of the same the man in the chimney-corner took up the poker +and began stirring the brands as if doing it thoroughly were the one +aim of his existence; and a second time the shepherd said, "Walk in!" +In a moment another man stood upon the straw-woven door-mat. He too +was a stranger. + +This individual was one of a type radically different from the first. +There was more of the commonplace in his manner, and a certain jovial +cosmopolitanism sat upon his features. He was several years older +than the first arrival, his hair being slightly frosted, his eyebrows +bristly, and his whiskers cut back from his cheeks. His face was +rather full and flabby, and yet it was not altogether a face without +power. A few grog-blossoms marked the neighborhood of his nose. He +flung back his long drab greatcoat, revealing that beneath it he wore +a suit of cinder-gray shade throughout, large heavy seals, of some +metal or other that would take a polish, dangling from his fob as his +only personal ornament. Shaking the water-drops from his low-crowned +glazed hat, he said, "I must ask for a few minutes' shelter, comrades, +or I shall be wetted to my skin before I get to Casterbridge." + +"Make yourself at home, master," said the shepherd, perhaps a trifle +less heartily than on the first occasion. Not that Fennel had the +least tinge of niggardliness in his composition; but the room was far +from large, spare chairs were not numerous, and damp companions were +not altogether desirable at close quarters for the women and girls in +their bright-colored gowns. + +However, the second comer, after taking off his greatcoat, and hanging +his hat on a nail in one of the ceiling-beams as if he had been +specially invited to put it there, advanced and sat down at the table. +This had been pushed so closely into the chimney-corner, to give all +available room to the dancers, that its inner edge grazed the elbow +of the man who had ensconced himself by the fire; and thus the two +strangers were brought into close companionship. They nodded to each +other by way of breaking the ice of unacquaintance, and the first +stranger handed his neighbor the family mug--a huge vessel of brown +ware, having its upper edge worn away like a threshold by the rub of +whole generations of thirsty lips that had gone the way of all flesh, +and bearing the following inscription burnt upon its rotund side in +yellow letters: + + THERE IS NO FUN + UNTILL I CUM. + +The other man, nothing loth, raised the mug to his lips, and drank on, +and on, and on--till a curious blueness overspread the countenance +of the shepherd's wife, who had regarded with no little surprise the +first stranger's free offer to the second of what did not belong to +him to dispense. + +"I knew it!" said the toper to the shepherd with much satisfaction. +"When I walked up your garden before coming in, and saw the hives all +of a row, I said to myself, 'Where there's bees there's honey, +and where there's honey there's mead,' But mead of such a truly +comfortable sort as this I really didn't expect to meet in my older +days." He took yet another pull at the mug, till it assumed an ominous +elevation. + +"Glad you enjoy it!" said the shepherd warmly. + +"It is goodish mead," assented Mrs. Fennel, with an absence of +enthusiasm which seemed to say that it was possible to buy praise for +one's cellar at too heavy a price. "It is trouble enough to make--and +really I hardly think we shall make any more. For honey sells well, +and we ourselves can make shift with a drop o' small mead and +metheglin for common use from the comb-washings." + +"O, but you'll never have the heart!" reproachfully cried the stranger +in cinder-gray, after taking up the mug a third time and setting it +down empty. "I love mead, when 'tis old like this, as I love to go to +church o' Sundays, or to relieve the needy any day of the week." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" said the man in the chimney-corner, who, in spite of the +taciturnity induced by the pipe of tobacco, could not or would not +refrain from this slight testimony to his comrade's humor. + +Now the old mead of those days, brewed of the purest first-year or +maiden honey, four pounds to the gallon--with its due complement of +white of eggs, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary, yeast, and +processes of working, bottling, and cellaring--tasted remarkably +strong; but it did not taste so strong as it actually was. Hence, +presently, the stranger in cinder-gray at the table, moved by its +creeping influence, unbuttoned his waistcoat, threw himself back in +his chair, spread his legs, and made his presence felt in various +ways. + +"Well, well, as I say," he resumed, "I am going to Casterbridge, and +to Casterbridge I must go. I should have been almost there by this +time; but the rain drove me into your dwelling, and I'm not sorry for +it." + +"You don't live in Casterbridge?" said the shepherd. + +"Not as yet; though I shortly mean to move there." + +"Going to set up in trade, perhaps?" + +"No, no," said the shepherd's wife. "It is easy to see that the +gentleman is rich, and don't want to work at anything." + +The cinder-gray stranger paused, as if to consider whether he would +accept that definition of himself. He presently rejected it by +answering, "Rich is not quite the word for me, dame. I do work, and I +must work. And even if I only get to Casterbridge by midnight I must +begin work there at eight to-morrow morning. Yes, het or wet, blow or +snow, famine or sword, my day's work to-morrow must be done." + +"Poor man! Then, in spite o' seeming, you be off than we." replied the +shepherd's wife. + +"'Tis the nature of my trade, men and maidens. Tis the nature of my +trade more than my poverty.... But really and truly I must up and off, +or I shan't get a lodging in the town." However, the speaker did +not move, and directly added, "There's time for one more draught of +friendship before I go; and I'd perform it at once if the mug were not +dry." + +"Here's a mug o' small," said Mrs. Fennel. "Small, we call it, though +to be sure 'tis only the first wash o' the combs." + +"No," said the stranger, disdainfully. "I won't spoil your first +kindness by partaking o' your second." + +"Certainly not," broke in Fennel. "We don't increase and multiply +every day, and I'll fill the mug again." He went away to the dark +place under the stairs where the barrel stood. The shepherdess +followed him. + +"Why should you do this?" she said, reproachfully, as soon as they +were alone. "He's emptied it once, though it held enough for ten +people; and now he's not contented wi' the small, but must needs call +for more o' the strong! And a stranger unbeknown to any of us. For my +part, I don't like the look o' the man at all." + +"But he's in the house, my honey; and 'tis a wet night, and a +christening. Daze it, what's a cup of mead more or less? There'll be +plenty more next bee-burning." + +"Very well--this time, then," she answered, looking wistfully at the +barrel. "But what is the man's calling, and where is he one of, that +he should come in and join us like this?" + +"I don't know. I'll ask him again." + +The catastrophe of having the mug drained dry at one pull by the +stranger in cinder-gray was effectually guarded against this time by +Mrs. Fennel. She poured out his allowance in a small cup, keeping the +large one at a discreet distance from him. When he had tossed off +his portion the shepherd renewed his inquiry about the stranger's +occupation. + +The latter did not immediately reply, and the man in the +chimney-corner, with sudden demonstrativeness, said, "Anybody may know +my trade--I'm a wheelwright." + +"A very good trade for these parts," said the shepherd. + +"And anybody may know mine--if they've the sense to find it out," said +the stranger in cinder-gray. + +"You may generally tell what a man is by his claws," observed the +hedge-carpenter, looking at his own hands. "My fingers be as full of +thorns as an old pin-cushion is of pins." + +The hands of the man in the chimney-corner instinctively sought the +shade, and he gazed into the fire as he resumed his pipe. The man at +the table took up the hedge-carpenter's remark, and added smartly, +"True; but the oddity of my trade is that, instead of setting a mark +upon me, it sets a mark upon my customers." + +No observation being offered by anybody in elucidation of this enigma, +the shepherd's wife once more called for a song. The same obstacles +presented themselves as at the former time--one had no voice, another +had forgotten the first verse. The stranger at the table, whose soul +had now risen to a good working temperature, relieved the difficulty +by exclaiming that, to start the company, he would sing himself. +Thrusting one thumb into the arm-hole of his waistcoat, he waved the +other hand in the air, and, with an extemporizing gaze at the shining +sheep-crooks above the mantelpiece, began: + + "O my trade it is the rarest one, + Simple shepherds all-- + My trade is a sight to see; + For my customers I tie, and take them up on high, + And waft 'em to a far countree!" + +The room was silent when he had finished the verse--with one +exception, that of the man in the chimney-corner, who, at the singer's +word, "Chorus!" joined him in a deep bass voice of musical relish: + + "And waft 'em to a far countree!" + +Oliver Giles, John Pitcher the dairyman, the parish-clerk, the engaged +man of fifty, the row of young women against the wall, seemed lost in +thought not of the gayest kind. The shepherd looked meditatively on +the ground, the shepherdess gazed keenly at the singer, and with some +suspicion; she was doubting whether this stranger were merely singing +an old song from recollection, or was composing one there and then for +the occasion. All were as perplexed at the obscure revelation as the +guests at Belshazzar's Feast, except the man in the chimney-corner, +who quietly said, "Second verse, stranger," and smoked on. + +The singer thoroughly moistened himself from his lips inward, and went +on with the next stanza as requested: + + "My tools are but common ones, + Simple shepherds all-- + My tools are no sight to see: + A little hempen string, and a post whereon to swing, + Are implements enough for me!" + +Shepherd Fennel glanced round. There was no longer any doubt that the +stranger was answering his question rhythmically. The guests one and +all started back with suppressed exclamations. The young woman engaged +to the man of fifty fainted half-way, and would have proceeded, +but finding him wanting in alacrity for catching her she sat down +trembling. + +"O, he's the--!" whispered the people in the background, mentioning +the name of an ominous public officer. "He's come to do it! 'Tis to be +at Casterbridge jail to-morrow--the man for sheep-stealing--the poor +clock-maker we heard of, who used to live away at Shottsford and had +no work to do--Timothy Summers, whose family were a-starving, and so +he went out of Shottsford by the high-road, and took a sheep in open +daylight, defying the farmer and the farmer's wife and the farmer's +lad, and every man jack among 'em. He" (and they nodded toward the +stranger of the deadly trade) "is come from up the country to do it +because there's not enough to do in his own county-town, and he's got +the place here now our own county man's dead; he's going to live in +the same cottage under the prison wall." + +The stranger in cinder-gray took no notice of this whispered string of +observations, but again wetted his lips. Seeing that his friend in the +chimney-corner was the only one who reciprocated his joviality in any +way, he held out his cup toward that appreciative comrade, who also +held out his own. They clinked together, the eyes of the rest of the +room hanging upon the singer's actions. He parted his lips for the +third verse; but at that moment another knock was audible upon the +door. This time the knock was faint and hesitating. + +The company seemed scared; the shepherd looked with consternation +toward the entrance, and it was with some effort that he resisted his +alarmed wife's deprecatory glance, and uttered for the third time the +welcoming words, "Walk in!" + +The door was gently opened, and another man stood upon the mat. He, +like those who had preceded him, was a stranger. This time it was a +short, small personage, of fair complexion, and dressed in a decent +suit of dark clothes. + +"Can you tell me the way to--?" he began: when, gazing round the room +to observe the nature of the company among whom he had fallen, his +eyes lighted on the stranger in cinder-gray. It was just at the +instant when the latter, who had thrown his mind into his song with +such a will that he scarcely heeded the interruption, silenced all +whispers and inquiries by bursting into his third verse: + + "To-morrow is my working day, + Simple shepherds all-- + To-morrow is a working day for me: + For the farmer's sheep is slain, and the lad who did it ta'en, + And on his soul may God ha' merc-y!" + +The stranger in the chimney-corner, waving cups with the singer so +heartily that his mead splashed over on the hearth, repeated in his +bass voice as before: + + "And on his soul may God ha' merc-y!" + +All this time the third stranger had been standing in the doorway. +Finding now that he did not come forward or go on speaking, the guests +particularly regarded him. They noticed to their surprise that he +stood before them the picture of abject terror--his knees trembling, +his hand shaking so violently that the door-latch by which he +supported himself rattled audibly: his white lips were parted, and his +eyes fixed on the merry officer of justice in the middle of the room. +A moment more and he had turned, closed the door, and fled. + +"What a man can it be?" said the shepherd. + +The rest, between the awfulness of their late discovery and the odd +conduct of this third visitor, looked as if they knew not what to +think, and said nothing. Instinctively they withdrew further and +further from the grim gentleman in their midst, whom some of them +seemed to take for the Prince of Darkness himself, till they formed +a remote circle, an empty space of floor being left between them and +him-- + +"... circulus, cujus centrum diabolus." + +The room was so silent--though there were more than twenty people in +it--that nothing could be heard but the patter of the rain against the +window-shutters, accompanied by the occasional hiss of a stray drop +that fell down the chimney into the fire, and the steady puffing of +the man in the corner, who had now resumed his pipe of long clay. + +The stillness was unexpectedly broken. The distant sound of a gun +reverberated through the air--apparently from the direction of the +county-town. + +"Be jiggered!" cried the stranger who had sung the song, jumping up. + +"What does that mean?" asked several. + +"A prisoner escaped from the jail--that's what it means." + +All listened. The sound was repeated, and none of them spoke but the +man in the chimney-corner, who said quietly, "I've often been told +that in this county they fire a gun at such times; but I never heard +it till now." + +"I wonder if it is _my_ man?" murmured the personage in cinder-gray. + +"Surely it is!" said the shepherd involuntarily. "And surely we've +zeed him! That little man who looked in at the door by now, and +quivered like a leaf when he zeed ye and heard your song!" + +"His teeth chattered, and the breath went out of his body," said the +dairyman. + +"And his heart seemed to sink within him like a stone," said Oliver +Giles. + +"And he bolted as if he'd been shot at," said the hedge-carpenter. + +"True--his teeth chattered, and his heart seemed to sink; and he +bolted as if he'd been shot at," slowly summed up the man in the +chimney-corner. + +"I didn't notice it," remarked the hangman. + +"We were all a-wondering what made him run off in such a fright," +faltered one of the women against the wall, "and now 'tis explained!" + +The firing of the alarm-gun went on at intervals, low and sullenly, +and their suspicions became a certainty. The sinister gentleman in +cinder-gray roused himself. "Is there a constable here?" he asked, in +thick tones. "If so, let him step forward." + +The engaged man of fifty stepped quavering out from the wall, his +betrothed beginning to sob on the back of the chair. + +"You are a sworn constable?" + +"I be, sir." + +"Then pursue the criminal at once, with assistance, and bring him back +here. He can't have gone far." + +"I will, sir, I will--when I've got my staff. I'll go home and get it, +and come sharp here, and start in a body." + +"Staff!--never mind your staff; the man'll be gone!" + +"But I can't do nothing without my staff--can I, William, and John, +and Charles Jake? No; for there's the king's royal crown a-painted +on en in yaller and gold, and the lion and the unicorn, so as when I +raise en up and hit my prisoner, 'tis made a lawful blow thereby. I +wouldn't 'tempt to take up a man without my staff--no, not I. If I +hadn't the law to gie me courage, why, instead o' my taking up him he +might take up me!" + +"Now, I'm a king's man myself, and can give you authority enough for +this," said the formidable officer in gray. "Now then, all of ye, be +ready. Have ye any lanterns?" + +"Yes--have ye any lanterns?--I demand it!" said the constable. + +"And the rest of you able-bodied--" + +"Able-bodied men--yes--the rest of ye!" said the constable. + +"Have you some good stout staves and pitchforks--" + +"Staves and pitchforks--in the name o' the law! And take 'em in yer +hands and go in quest, and do as we in authority tell ye!" + +Thus aroused, the men prepared to give chase. The evidence was, +indeed, though circumstantial, so convincing, that but little argument +was needed to show the shepherd's guests that after what they had seen +it would look very much like connivance if they did not instantly +pursue the unhappy third stranger, who could not as yet have gone more +than a few hundred yards over such uneven country. + +A shepherd is always well provided with lanterns; and, lighting these +hastily, and with hurdle-staves in their hands, they poured out of the +door, taking a direction along the crest of the hill, away from the +town, the rain having fortunately a little abated. + +Disturbed by the noise, or possibly by unpleasant dreams of her +baptism, the child who had been christened began to cry heart-brokenly +in the room overhead. These notes of grief came down through the +chinks of the floor to the ears of the women below, who jumped up one +by one, and seemed glad of the excuse to ascend and comfort the baby, +for the incidents of the last half-hour greatly oppressed them. Thus +in the space of two or three minutes the room on the ground-floor was +deserted quite. + +But it was not for long. Hardly had the sound of footsteps died away +when a man returned round the corner of the house from the direction +the pursuers had taken. Peeping in at the door, and seeing +nobody there, he entered leisurely. It was the stranger of the +chimney-corner, who had gone out with the rest. The motive of his +return was shown by his helping himself to a cut piece of skimmer-cake +that lay on a ledge beside where he had sat, and which he had +apparently forgotten to take with him. He also poured out half a cup +more mead from the quantity that remained, ravenously eating and +drinking these as he stood. He had not finished when another figure +came in just as quietly--his friend in cinder-gray. + +"O--you here?" said the latter, smiling. "I thought you had gone to +help in the capture." And this speaker also revealed the object of his +return by looking solicitously round for the fascinating mug of old +mead. + +"And I thought you had gone," said the other, continuing his +skimmer-cake with some effort. + +"Well, on second thoughts, I felt there were enough without me," said +the first confidentially, "and such a night as it is, too. Besides, +'tis the business o' the Government to take care of its criminals--not +mine." + +"True; so it is. And I felt as you did, that there were enough without +me." + +"I don't want to break my limbs running over the humps and hollows of +this wild country." + +"Nor I neither, between you and me." + +"These shepherd-people are used to it--simple-minded souls, you know, +stirred up to anything in a moment. They'll have him ready for me +before the morning, and no trouble to me at all." + +"They'll have him, and we shall have saved ourselves all labor in the +matter." + +"True, true. Well, my way is to Casterbridge; and 'tis as much as my +legs will do to take me that far. Going the same way?" + +"No, I am sorry to say! I have to get home over there" (he nodded +indefinitely to the right), "and I feel as you do, that it is quite +enough for my legs to do before bedtime." + +The other had by this time finished the mead in the mug, after which, +shaking hands heartily at the door, and wishing each other well, they +went their several ways. + +In the meantime the company of pursuers had reached the end of the +hog's-back elevation which dominated this part of the down. They had +decided on no particular plan of action; and, finding that the man of +the baleful trade was no longer in their company, they seemed quite +unable to form any such plan now. They descended in all directions +down the hill, and straightway several of the party fell into the +snare set by Nature for all misguided midnight ramblers over this part +of the cretaceous formation. The "lanchets," or flint slopes, which +belted the escarpment at intervals of a dozen yards, took the less +cautious ones unawares, and losing their footing on the rubbly steep +they slid sharply downward, the lanterns rolling from their hands to +the bottom, and there lying on their sides till the horn was scorched +through. + +When they had again gathered themselves together, the shepherd, as the +man who knew the country best, took the lead, and guided them round +these treacherous inclines. The lanterns, which seemed rather to +dazzle their eyes and warn the fugitive than to assist them in the +exploration, were extinguished, due silence was observed; and in this +more rational order they plunged into the vale. It was a grassy, +briery, moist defile, affording some shelter to any person who had +sought it; but the party perambulated it in vain, and ascended on the +other side. Here they wandered apart, and after an interval closed +together again to report progress. At the second time of closing in +they found themselves near a lonely ash, the single tree on this part +of the coomb, probably sown there by a passing bird some fifty years +before. And here, standing a little to one side of the trunk, as +motionless as the trunk itself, appeared the man they were in quest +of, his outline being well defined against the sky beyond. The band +noiselessly drew up and faced him. + +"Your money or your life!" said the constable sternly to the still +figure. + +"No, no," whispered John Pitcher. "'Tisn't our side ought to say that. +That's the doctrine of vagabonds like him, and we be on the side of +the law." + +"Well, well," replied the constable, impatiently; "I must say +something, mustn't I? and if you had all the weight o' this +undertaking upon your mind, perhaps you'd say the wrong thing, +too!--Prisoner at the bar, surrender, in the name of the Father--the +Crown, I mane!" + +The man under the tree seemed now to notice them for the first time, +and, giving them no opportunity whatever for exhibiting their courage, +he strolled slowly toward them. He was, indeed, the little man, the +third stranger; but his trepidation had in a great measure gone. + +"Well, travellers," he said, "did I hear you speak to me?" + +"You did; you've got to come and be our prisoner at once!" said the +constable. "We arrest 'ee on the charge of not biding in Casterbridge +jail in a decent proper manner to be hung to-morrow morning. +Neighbors, do your duty, and seize the culpet!" + +On hearing the charge, the man seemed enlightened, and, saying not +another word, resigned himself with preternatural civility to the +search-party, who, with their staves in their hands, surrounded him on +all sides, and marched him back toward the shepherd's cottage. + +It was eleven o'clock by the time they arrived. The light shining from +the open door, a sound of men's voices within, proclaimed to them as +they approached the house that some new events had arisen in their +absence. On entering they discovered the shepherd's living-room to +be invaded by two officers from Casterbridge jail, and a well-known +magistrate who lived at the nearest country-seat, intelligence of the +escape having become generally circulated. + +"Gentlemen," said the constable, "I have brought back your man--not +without risk and danger; but every one must do his duty! He is inside +this circle of able-bodied persons, who have lent me useful aid, +considering their ignorance of Crown work. Men, bring forward your +prisoner!" And the third stranger was led to the light. + +"Who is this?" said one of the officials. + +"The man," said the constable. + +"Certainly not," said the turnkey; and the first corroborated his +statement. + +"But how can it be otherwise?" asked the constable. "Or why was he +so terrified at sight o' the singing instrument of the law who sat +there?" Here he related the strange behavior of the third stranger on +entering the house during the hangman's song. + +"Can't understand it," said the officer coolly. "All I know is that it +is not the condemned man. He's quite a different character from this +one; a gauntish fellow, with dark hair and eyes, rather good-looking, +and with a musical bass voice that if you heard it once you'd never +mistake as long as you lived." + +"Why, souls--'twas the man in the chimney-corner!" + +"Hey--what?" said the magistrate, coming forward after inquiring +particulars from the shepherd in the background. "Haven't you got the +man after all?" + +"Well, sir," said the constable, "he's the man we were in search of, +that's true; and yet he's not the man we were in search of. For the +man we were in search of was not the man we wanted, sir, if you +understand my every-day way; for 'twas the man in the chimney-corner!" + +"A pretty kettle of fish altogether!" said the magistrate. "You had +better start for the other man at once." + +The prisoner now spoke for the first time. The mention of the man in +the chimney-corner seemed to have moved him as nothing else could do. +"Sir," he said, stepping forward to the magistrate, "take no more +trouble about me. The time is come when I may as well speak. I have +done nothing; my crime is that the condemned man is my brother. Early +this afternoon I left home at Shottsford to tramp it all the way to +Casterbridge jail to bid him farewell. I was benighted, and called +here to rest and ask the way. When I opened the door I saw before me +the very man, my brother, that I thought to see in the condemned cell +at Casterbridge. He was in this chimney-corner; and jammed close +to him, so that he could not have got out if he had tried, was the +executioner who'd come to take his life, singing a song about it and +not knowing that it was his victim who was close by, joining in to +save appearances. My brother looked a glance of agony at me, and I +know he meant, 'Don't reveal what you see; my life depends on it.' I +was so terror-struck that I could hardly stand, and, not knowing what +I did, I turned and hurried away." + +The narrator's manner and tone had the stamp of truth, and his story +made a great impression on all around. + +"And do you know where your brother is at the present time?" asked the +magistrate. + +"I do not. I have never seen him since I closed this door." + +"I can testify to that, for we've been between ye ever since." said +the constable. + +"Where does he think to fly to?--what is his occupation?" + +"He's a watch-and-clock-maker, sir." + +"'A said 'a was a wheelwright--a wicked rogue," said the constable. + +"The wheels of clocks and watches he meant, no doubt," said Shepherd +Fennel. "I thought his hands were palish for's trade." + +"Well, it appears to me that nothing can be gained by retaining this +poor man in custody," said the magistrate; "your business lies with +the other, unquestionably." + +And so the little man was released off-hand; but he looked nothing the +less sad on that account, it being beyond the power of magistrate or +constable to raze out the written troubles in his brain, for they +concerned another whom he regarded with more solicitude than himself. +When this was done, and the man had gone his way, the night was found +to be so far advanced that it was deemed useless to renew the search +before the next morning. + +Next day, accordingly, the quest for the clever sheep-stealer became +general and keen, to all appearance at least. But the intended +punishment was cruelly disproportioned to the transgression, and the +sympathy of a great many country-folk in that district was strongly on +the side of the fugitive. Moreover, his marvellous coolness and +daring in hob-and-nobbing with the hangman, under the unprecedented +circumstances of the shepherd's party, won their admiration. So that +it may be questioned if all those who ostensibly made themselves so +busy in exploring woods and fields and lanes were quite so thorough +when it came to the private examination of their own lofts and +outhouses. Stories were afloat of a mysterious figure being +occasionally seen in some old overgrown trackway or other, remote +from turnpike roads; but when a search was instituted in any of these +suspected quarters nobody was found. Thus the days and weeks passed +without tidings. + +In brief, the bass-voiced man of the chimney-corner was never +recaptured. Some said that he went across the sea, others that he did +not, but buried himself in the depths of a populous city. At any +rate, the gentleman in cinder-gray never did his morning's work at +Casterbridge, nor met anywhere at all, for business purposes, the +genial comrade with whom he had passed an hour of relaxation in the +lonely house on the coomb. + +The grass has long been green on the graves of Shepherd Fennel and his +frugal wife; the guests who made up the christening party have mainly +followed their entertainers to the tomb; the baby in whose honor they +all had met is a matron in the sere and yellow leaf. But the arrival +of the three strangers at the shepherd's that night, and the details +connected therewith, is a story as well-known as ever in the country +about Higher Crowstairs. + +_March_, 1883. + + + + +JULIA BRIDE[1] + +[Footnote 1: 1909.] + + +_Henry James_ (1843) + + +I + +She had walked with her friend to the top of the wide steps of the +Museum, those that descended from the galleries of painting, and then, +after the young man had left her, smiling, looking back, waving all +gayly and expressively his hat and stick, had watched him, smiling +too, but with a different intensity--had kept him in sight till he +passed out of the great door. She might have been waiting to see if he +would turn there for a last demonstration; which was exactly what he +did, renewing his cordial gesture and with his look of glad devotion, +the radiance of his young face, reaching her across the great space, +as she felt, in undiminished truth. Yes, so she could feel, and she +remained a minute even after he was gone; she gazed at the empty air +as if he had filled it still, asking herself what more she wanted and +what, if it didn't signify glad devotion, his whole air could have +represented. + +She was at present so anxious that she could wonder if he stepped and +smiled like that for mere relief at separation; yet if he desired in +that degree to break the spell and escape the danger why did he keep +coming back to her, and why, for that matter, had she felt safe +a moment before in letting him go? She felt safe, felt almost +reckless--that was the proof--so long as he was with her; but the +chill came as soon as he had gone, when she took the measure, +instantly, of all she yet missed. She might now have been taking it +afresh, by the testimony of her charming clouded eyes and of the +rigor that had already replaced her beautiful play of expression. Her +radiance, for the minute, had "carried" as far as his, travelling on +the light wings of her brilliant prettiness--he, on his side, not +being facially handsome, but only sensitive, clean and eager. Then, +with its extinction, the sustaining wings dropped and hung. + +She wheeled about, however, full of a purpose; she passed back through +the pictured rooms, for it pleased her, this idea of a talk with Mr. +Pitman--as much, that is, as anything could please a young person so +troubled. It happened indeed that when she saw him rise at sight of +her from the settee where he had told her five minutes before that she +would find him, it was just with her nervousness that his presence +seemed, as through an odd suggestion of help, to connect itself. +Nothing truly would be quite so odd for her case as aid proceeding +from Mr. Pitman; unless perhaps the oddity would be even greater for +himself--the oddity of her having taken into her head an appeal to +him. + +She had had to feel alone with a vengeance--inwardly alone and +miserably alarmed--to be ready to "meet," that way, at the first +sign from him, the successor to her dim father in her dim father's +lifetime, the second of her mother's two divorced husbands. It made a +queer relation for her; a relation that struck her at this moment as +less edifying, less natural and graceful than it would have been even +for her remarkable mother--and still in spite of this parent's third +marriage, her union with Mr. Connery, from whom she was informally +separated. It was at the back of Julia's head as she approached Mr. +Pitman, or it was at least somewhere deep within her soul, that if +this last of Mrs. Connery's withdrawals from the matrimonial yoke had +received the sanction of the court (Julia had always heard, from far +back, so much about the "Court") she herself, as after a fashion, +in that event, a party to it, would not have had the cheek to make +up--which was how she inwardly phrased what she was doing--to the +long, lean, loose, slightly cadaverous gentleman who was a memory, for +her, of the period from her twelfth to her seventeenth year. She had +got on with him, perversely, much better than her mother had, and the +bulging misfit of his duck waistcoat, with his trick of swinging his +eye-glass, at the end of an extraordinarily long string, far over +the scene, came back to her as positive features of the image of her +remoter youth. Her present age--for her later time had seen so many +things happen--gave her a perspective. + +Fifty things came up as she stood there before him, some of them +floating in from the past, others hovering with freshness: how she +used to dodge the rotary movement made by his pince-nez while he +always awkwardly, and kindly, and often funnily, talked--it had +once hit her rather badly in the eye; how she used to pull down and +straighten his waistcoat, making it set a little better, a thing of +a sort her mother never did; how friendly and familiar she must have +been with him for that, or else a forward little minx; how she felt +almost capable of doing it again now, just to sound the right note, +and how sure she was of the way he would take it if she did; how much +nicer he had clearly been, all the while, poor dear man, than his wife +and the court had made it possible for him publicly to appear; how +much younger, too, he now looked, in spite of his rather melancholy, +his mildly jaundiced, humorously determined sallowness and his +careless assumption, everywhere, from his forehead to his exposed and +relaxed blue socks, almost sky-blue, as in past days, of creases and +folds and furrows that would have been perhaps tragic if they hadn't +seemed rather to show, like his whimsical black eyebrows, the vague, +interrogative arch. + +Of course he wasn't wretched if he wasn't more sure of his +wretchedness than that! Julia Bride would have been sure--had she been +through what she supposed _he_ had! With his thick, loose black hair, +in any case, untouched by a thread of gray, and his kept gift of a +certain big-boyish awkwardness--that of his taking their encounter, +for instance, so amusedly, so crudely, though, as she was not unaware, +so eagerly too--he could by no means have been so little his wife's +junior as it had been that lady's habit, after the divorce, to +represent him. Julia had remembered him as old, since she had so +constantly thought of her mother as old; which Mrs. Connery was indeed +now--for her daughter--with her dozen years of actual seniority to +Mr. Pitman and her exquisite hair, the densest, the finest tangle +of arranged silver tendrils that had ever enhanced the effect of a +preserved complexion. + +Something in the girl's vision of her quondam stepfather as still +comparatively young--with the confusion, the immense element of +rectification, not to say of rank disproof, that it introduced into +Mrs. Connery's favorite picture of her own injured past--all this +worked, even at the moment, to quicken once more the clearness and +harshness of judgment, the retrospective disgust, as she might have +called it, that had of late grown up in her, the sense of all the +folly and vanity and vulgarity, the lies, the perversities, the +falsification of all life in the interest of who could say what +wretched frivolity, what preposterous policy; amid which she had been +condemned so ignorantly, so pitifully to sit, to walk, to grope, to +flounder, from the very dawn of her consciousness. Didn't poor Mr. +Pitman just touch the sensitive nerve of it when, taking her in with +his facetious, cautious eyes, he spoke to her, right out, of the old, +old story, the everlasting little wonder of her beauty? + +"Why, you know, you've grown up so lovely--you're the prettiest girl +I've ever seen!" Of course she was the prettiest girl he had ever +seen; she was the prettiest girl people much more privileged than he +had ever seen; since when hadn't she been passing for the prettiest +girl any one had ever seen? She had lived in that, from far back, from +year to year, from day to day and from hour to hour--she had lived +for it and literally _by_ it, as who should say; but Mr. Pitman was +somehow more illuminating than he knew, with the present lurid light +that he cast upon old dates, old pleas, old values, and old mysteries, +not to call them old abysses: it had rolled over her in a swift wave, +with the very sight of him, that her mother couldn't possibly have +been right about him--as about what in the world had she ever been +right?--so that in fact he was simply offered her there as one more of +Mrs. Connery's lies. She might have thought she knew them all by this +time; but he represented for her, coming in just as he did, a fresh +discovery, and it was this contribution of freshness that made her +somehow feel she liked him. It was she herself who, for so long, +with her retained impression, had been right about him; and the +rectification he represented had _all_ shone out of him, ten minutes +before, on his catching her eye while she moved through the room with +Mr. French. She had never doubted of his probable faults--which her +mother had vividly depicted as the basest of vices; since some of +them, and the most obvious (not the vices, but the faults) were +written on him as he stood there: notably, for instance, the +exasperating "business slackness" of which Mrs. Connery had, before +the tribunal, made so pathetically much. It might have been, for that +matter, the very business slackness that affected Julia as presenting +its friendly breast, in the form of a cool loose sociability, to her +own actual tension; though it was also true for her, after they had +exchanged fifty words, that he had as well his inward fever and that, +if he was perhaps wondering what was so particularly the matter with +her, she could make out not less that something was the matter +with _him_. It had been vague, yet it had been intense, the mute +reflection, "Yes, I'm going to like him, and he's going somehow to +help me!" that had directed her steps so straight to him. She was +sure even then of this, that he wouldn't put to her a query about his +former wife, that he took to-day no grain of interest in Mrs. Connery; +that his interest, such as it was--and he couldn't look _quite_ like +that, to Julia Bride's expert perception, without something in the +nature of a new one--would be a thousand times different. + +It was as a value of _disproof_ that his worth meanwhile so rapidly +grew: the good sight of him, the good sound and sense of him, such +as they were, demolished at a stroke so blessedly much of the horrid +inconvenience of the past that she thought of him; she clutched at +him, for a _general_ saving use, an application as sanative, as +redemptive as some universal healing wash, precious even to the point +of perjury if perjury should be required. That was the terrible thing, +that had been the inward pang with which she watched Basil French +recede: perjury would have to come in somehow and somewhere--oh so +quite certainly!--before the so strange, so rare young man, truly +smitten though she believed him, could be made to rise to the +occasion, before her measureless prize could be assured. It was +present to her, it had been present a hundred times, that if there had +only been some one to (as it were) "deny everything" the situation +might yet be saved. She so needed some one to lie for her--ah, she so +need some one to lie! Her mother's version of everything, her mother's +version of anything, had been at the best, as they said, discounted; +and she herself could but show, of course, for an interested party, +however much she might claim to be none the less a decent girl--to +whatever point, that is, after all that had both remotely and recently +happened, presumptions of anything to be called decency could come in. + +After what had recently happened--the two or three indirect but so +worrying questions Mr. French had put to her--it would only be some +thoroughly detached friend or witness who might effectively testify. +An odd form of detachment certainly would reside, for Mr. Pitman's +evidential character, in her mother's having so publicly and +so brilliantly--though, thank the powers, all off in North +Dakota!--severed their connection with him; and yet mightn't it do +_her_ some good, even if the harm it might do her mother were so +little ambiguous? The more her mother had got divorced--with her +dreadful cheap-and-easy second performance in that line and her +present extremity of alienation from Mr. Connery, which enfolded +beyond doubt the germ of a third petition on one side or the +other--the more her mother had distinguished herself in the field of +folly the worse for her own prospect with the Frenches, whose +minds she had guessed to be accessible, and with such an effect of +dissimulated suddenness, to some insidious poison. + +It was very unmistakable, in other words, that the more dismissed and +detached Mr. Pitman should have come to appear, the more as divorced, +or at least as divorcing, his before-time wife would by the same +stroke figure--so that it was here poor Julia could but lose herself. +The crazy divorces only, or the half-dozen successive and still +crazier engagements only--gathered fruit, bitter fruit, of her own +incredibly allowed, her own insanely fostered frivolity--either of +these two groups of skeletons at the banquet might singly be dealt +with; but the combination, the fact of each party's having been so +mixed-up with whatever was least presentable for the other, the fact +of their having so shockingly amused themselves together, made all +present steering resemble the classic middle course between Scylla and +Charybdis. + +It was not, however, that she felt wholly a fool in having obeyed this +impulse to pick up again her kind old friend. _She_ at least had never +divorced him, and her horrid little filial evidence in court had been +but the chatter of a parrakeet, of precocious plumage and croak, +repeating words earnestly taught her, and that she could scarce even +pronounce. Therefore, as far as steering went, he _must_ for the hour +take a hand. She might actually have wished in fact that he shouldn't +now have seemed so tremendously struck with her; since it was an +extraordinary situation for a girl, this crisis of her fortune, this +positive wrong that the flagrancy, what she would have been ready to +call the very vulgarity, of her good looks might do her at a moment +when it was vital she should hang as straight as a picture on the +wall. Had it ever yet befallen any young woman in the world to wish +with secret intensity that she might have been, for her convenience, a +shade less inordinately pretty? She had come to that, to this view of +the bane, the primal curse, of their lavish physical outfit, which had +included everything and as to which she lumped herself resentfully +with her mother. The only thing was that her mother was, thank +goodness, still so much prettier, still so assertively, so publicly, +so trashily, so ruinously pretty. Wonderful the small grimness with +which Julia Bride put off on this parent the middle-aged maximum of +their case and the responsibility of their defect. It cost her so +little to recognize in Mrs. Connery at forty-seven, and in spite, or +perhaps indeed just by reason, of the arranged silver tendrils which +were so like some rare bird's-nest in a morning frost, a facile +supremacy for the dazzling effect--it cost her so little that her view +even rather exaggerated the lustre of the different maternal items. +She would have put it _all_ off if possible, all off on other +shoulders and on other graces and other morals than her own, the +burden of physical charm that had made so easy a ground, such a native +favoring air, for the aberrations which, apparently inevitable and +without far consequences at the time, had yet at this juncture so much +better not have been. + +She could have worked it out at her leisure, to the last link of the +chain, the way their prettiness had set them trap after trap, all +along--had foredoomed them to awful ineptitude. When you were as +pretty as that you could, by the whole idiotic consensus, be nothing +_but_ pretty; and when you were nothing "but" pretty you could get +into nothing but tight places, out of which you could then scramble by +nothing but masses of fibs. And there was no one, all the while, who +wasn't eager to egg you on, eager to make you pay to the last cent the +price of your beauty. What creature would ever for a moment help you +to behave as if something that dragged in its wake a bit less of a +lumbering train would, on the whole, have been better for you? The +consequences of being plain were only negative--you failed of this and +that; but the consequences of being as _they_ were, what were these +but endless? though indeed, as far as failing went, your beauty too +could let you in for enough of it. Who, at all events, would ever for +a moment credit you, in the luxuriance of that beauty, with the study, +on your own side, of such truths as these? Julia Bride could, at the +point she had reached, positively ask herself this even while lucidly +conscious of the inimitable, the triumphant and attested projection, +all round her, of her exquisite image. It was only Basil French who +had at last, in his doubtless dry, but all distinguished way--the +way surely, as it was borne in upon her, of all the blood of all the +Frenches--stepped out of the vulgar rank. It was only he who, by the +trouble she discerned in him, had made her see certain things. It was +only for him--and not a bit ridiculously, but just beautifully, almost +sublimely--that their being "nice," her mother and she between them, +had _not_ seemed to profit by their being so furiously handsome. + +This had, ever so grossly and ever so tiresomely, satisfied every one +else; since every one had thrust upon them, had imposed upon them, as +by a great cruel conspiracy, their silliest possibilities; fencing +them in to these, and so not only shutting them out from others, but +mounting guard at the fence, walking round and round outside it, to +see they didn't escape, and admiring them, talking to them, through +the rails, in mere terms of chaff, terms of chucked cakes and +apples--as if they had been antelopes or zebras, or even some superior +sort of performing, of dancing, bear. It had been reserved for Basil +French to strike her as willing to let go, so to speak, a pound or two +of this fatal treasure if he might only have got in exchange for it +an ounce or so more of their so much less obvious and Jess published +personal history. Yes, it described him to say that, in addition to +all the rest of him, and of _his_ personal history, and of his family, +and of theirs, in addition to their social posture, as that of a +serried phalanx, and to their notoriously enormous wealth and crushing +respectability, she might have been ever so much less lovely for him +if she had been only--well, a little prepared to answer questions. And +it wasn't as if quiet, cultivated, earnest, public-spirited, brought +up in Germany, infinitely travelled, awfully like a high-caste +Englishman, and all the other pleasant things, it wasn't as if he +didn't love to be with her, to look at her, just as she was; for he +loved it exactly as much, so far as that footing simply went, as any +free and foolish youth who had ever made the last demonstration of +it. It was that marriage was, for him--and for them all, the serried +Frenches--a great matter, a goal to which a man of intelligence, a +real shy, beautiful man of the world, didn't hop on one foot, didn't +skip and jump, as if he were playing an urchins' game, but toward +which he proceeded with a deep and anxious, a noble and highly just +deliberation. + +For it was one thing to stare at a girl till she was bored with it, it +was one thing to take her to the Horse Show and the Opera, and to +send her flowers by the stack, and chocolates by the ton, and "great" +novels, the very latest and greatest, by the dozen; but something +quite other to hold open for her, with eyes attached to eyes, the +gate, moving on such stiff silver hinges, of the grand square +forecourt of the palace of wedlock. The state of being "engaged" +represented to him the introduction to this precinct of some young +woman with whom his outside parley would have had the duration, +distinctly, of his own convenience. That might be cold-blooded if one +chose to think so; but nothing of another sort would equal the high +ceremony and dignity and decency, above all the grand gallantry and +finality, of their then passing in. Poor Julia could have blushed red, +before that view, with the memory of the way the forecourt, as she now +imagined it, had been dishonored by her younger romps. She had tumbled +over the wall with this, that, and the other raw playmate, and had +played "tag" and leap-frog, as she might say, from corner to corner. +That would be the "history" with which, in case of definite demand, +she should be able to supply Mr. French: that she had already, again +and again, any occasion offering, chattered and scuffled over ground +provided, according to his idea, for walking the gravest of minuets. +If that then had been all their _kind_ of history, hers and her +mother's, at least there was plenty of it: it was the superstructure +raised on the other group of facts, those of the order of their having +been always so perfectly pink and white, so perfectly possessed of +clothes, so perfectly splendid, so perfectly idiotic. These things had +been the "points" of antelope and zebra; putting Mrs. Connery for the +zebra, as the more remarkably striped or spotted. Such were the _data_ +Basil French's inquiry would elicit: her own six engagements and her +mother's three nullified marriages--nine nice distinct little horrors +in all. What on earth was to be done about them? + +It was notable, she was afterward to recognize, that there had been +nothing of the famous business slackness in the positive pounce with +which Mr. Pitman put it to her that, as soon as he had made her +out "for sure," identified her there as old Julia grown-up and +gallivanting with a new admirer, a smarter young fellow than ever yet, +he had had the inspiration of her being exactly the good girl to +help him. She certainly found him strike the hour again, with these +vulgarities of tone--forms of speech that her mother had anciently +described as by themselves, once he had opened the whole battery, +sufficient ground for putting him away. Full, however, of the use she +should have for him, she wasn't going to mind trifles. What she really +gasped at was that, so oddly, he was ahead of her at the start. "Yes, +I want something of you, Julia, and I want it right now: you can do me +a turn, and I'm blest if my luck--which has once or twice been +pretty good, you know--hasn't sent you to me." She knew the luck he +meant--that of her mother's having so enabled him to get rid of her; +but it was the nearest allusion of the merely invidious kind that he +would make. It had thus come to our young woman on the spot and by +divination: the service he desired of her matched with remarkable +closeness what she had so promptly taken into her head to name to +himself--to name in her own interest, though deterred as yet from +having brought it right out. She had been prevented by his speaking, +the first thing, in that way, as if he had known Mr. French--which +surprised her till he explained that every one in New York knew by +appearance a young man of his so-quoted wealth ("What did she take +them all in New York then _for_?") and of whose marked attention to +her he had moreover, for himself, round at clubs and places, lately +heard. This had accompanied the inevitable free question "Was she +engaged to _him_ now?"--which she had in fact almost welcomed as +holding out to her the perch of opportunity. She was waiting to deal +with it properly, but meanwhile he had gone on, and to such effect +that it took them but three minutes to turn out, on either side, like +a pair of pickpockets comparing, under shelter, their day's booty, the +treasures of design concealed about their persons. + +"I want you to tell the truth for me--as you only can. I want you to +say that I was really all right--as right as you know; and that I +simply acted like an angel in a story-book, gave myself away to have +it over." + +"Why, my dear man," Julia cried, "you take the wind straight out of my +sails! What I'm here to ask of _you_ is that you'll confess to having +been even a worse fiend than you were shown up for; to having made +it impossible mother should _not_ take proceedings." There!--she had +brought it out, and with the sense of their situation turning to high +excitement for her in the teeth of his droll stare, his strange grin, +his characteristic "Lordy, lordy! What good will that do you?" She +was prepared with her clear statement of reasons for her appeal, and +feared so he might have better ones for his own that all her story +came in a flash. "Well, Mr. Pitman, I want to get married this time, +by way of a change; but you see we've been such fools that, when +something really good at last comes up, it's too dreadfully awkward. +The fools we were capable of being--well, you know better than any +one: unless perhaps not quite so well as Mr. Connery. It has got to +be denied," said Julia ardently--"it has got to be denied flat. But I +can't get hold of Mr. Connery--Mr. Connery has gone to China. Besides, +if he were here," she had ruefully to confess, "he'd be no good--on +the contrary. He wouldn't deny anything--he'd only tell more. So thank +heaven he's away--there's _that_ amount of good! I'm not engaged yet," +she went on--but he had already taken her up. + +"You're not engaged to Mr. French?" It was all, clearly, a wondrous +show for him, but his immediate surprise, oddly, might have been +greatest for that. + +"No, not to any one--for the seventh time!" She spoke as with her head +held well up both over the shame and the pride. "Yes, the next time +I'm engaged I want something to happen. But he's afraid; he's afraid +of what may be told him. He's dying to find out, and yet he'd die +if he did! He wants to be talked to, but he has got to be talked to +right. You could talk to him right, Mr. Pitman--if you only _would_! +He can't get over mother--that I feel: he loathes and scorns divorces, +and we've had first and last too many. So if he could hear from you +that you just made her life a hell--why," Julia concluded, "it would +be too lovely. If she _had_ to go in for another--after having +already, when I was little, divorced father--it would 'sort of' make, +don't you see? one less. You'd do the high-toned thing by her: you'd +say what a wretch you then were, and that she had had to save her +life. In that way he mayn't mind it. Don't you see, you sweet man?" +poor Julia pleaded. "Oh," she wound up as if his fancy lagged or his +scruple looked out, "of course I want you to _lie_ for me!" + +It did indeed sufficiently stagger him. "It's a lovely idea for the +moment when I was just saying to myself--as soon as I saw you--that +you'd speak the truth for _me_!" + +"Ah, what's the matter with 'you'?" Julia sighed with an impatience +not sensibly less sharp for her having so quickly scented some lion in +her path. + +"Why, do you think there's no one in the world but you who has seen +the cup of promised affection, of something really to be depended on, +only, at the last moment, by the horrid jostle of your elbow, spilled +all over you? I want to provide for my future too as it happens; and +my good friend who's to help me to that--the most charming of women +this time--disapproves of divorce quite as much as Mr. French. Don't +you see," Mr. Pitman candidly asked, "what that by itself must have +done toward attaching me to her? _She_ has got to be talked to--to be +told how little I could help it." + +"Oh, lordy, lordy!" the girl emulously groaned. It was such a +relieving cry. "Well, _I_ won't talk to her!" she declared. + +"You _won't_, Julia?" he pitifully echoed. "And yet you ask of +_me_--!" + +His pang, she felt, was sincere; and even more than she had guessed, +for the previous quarter of an hour he had been building up his hope, +building it with her aid for a foundation. Yet was he going to see how +their testimony, on each side, would, if offered, _have_ to conflict? +If he was to prove himself for her sake--or, more queerly still, for +that of Basil French's high conservatism--a person whom there had been +no other way of dealing with, how could she prove him, in this other +and so different interest, a mere gentle sacrifice to his wife's +perversity? She had, before him there, on the instant, all acutely, a +sense of rising sickness--a wan glimmer of foresight as to the end of +the fond dream. Everything else was against her, everything in her +dreadful past--just as if she had been a person represented by some +"emotional actress," some desperate erring lady "hunted down" in a +play; but was that going to be the case too with her own very decency, +the fierce little residuum deep within her, for which she was +counting, when she came to think, on so little glory or even credit? +Was this also going to turn against her and trip her up--just to show +she was really, under the touch and the test, as decent as any one; +and with no one but herself the wiser for it meanwhile, and no proof +to show but that, as a consequence, she should be unmarried to the +end? She put it to Mr. Pitman quite with resentment: "Do you mean to +say you're going to be married--?" + +"Oh, my dear, I too must get engaged first!"--he spoke with his +inimitable grin. "But that, you see, is where you come in. I've told +her about you. She wants awfully to meet you. The way it happens is +too lovely--that I find you just in this place. She's coming," said +Mr. Pitman--and as in all the good faith of his eagerness now; "she's +coming in about three minutes." + +"Coming here?" + +"Yes, Julia--right here. It's where we usually meet"; and he was +wreathed again, this time as if for life, in his large slow smile. +"She loves this place--she's awfully keen on art. Like _you_, Julia, +if you haven't changed--I remember how you did love art." He looked +at her quite tenderly, as to keep her up to it. "You must still of +course--from the way you're here. Just let her _feel_ that," the poor +man fantastically urged. And then with his kind eyes on her and his +good ugly mouth stretched as for delicate emphasis from ear to ear: +"Every little helps!" + +He made her wonder for him, ask herself, and with a certain intensity, +questions she yet hated the trouble of; as whether he were still as +moneyless as in the other time--which was certain indeed, for any +fortune he ever would have made. His slackness, on that ground, stuck +out of him almost as much as if he had been of rusty or "seedy" +aspect--which, luckily for him, he wasn't at all: he looked, in his +way, like some pleasant eccentric, ridiculous, but real gentleman, +whose taste might be of the queerest, but his credit with his tailor +none the less of the best. She wouldn't have been the least ashamed, +had their connection lasted, of going about with him: so that what +a fool, again, her mother had been--since Mr. Connery, sorry as one +might be for him, was irrepressibly vulgar. Julia's quickness was, +for the minute, charged with all this; but she had none the less her +feeling of the right thing to say and the right way to say it. If +he was after a future financially assured, even as she herself so +frantically was, she wouldn't cast the stone. But if he had talked +about her to strange women she couldn't be less than a little +majestic. "Who then is the person in question for you--?" + +"Why, such a dear thing, Julia--Mrs. David E. Drack. Have you heard of +her?" he almost fluted. + +New York was vast, and she had not had that advantage. "She's a +widow--?" + +"Oh yes: she's not--" He caught himself up in time. "She's a real +one." It was as near as he came. But it was as if he had been looking +at her now so pathetically hard. "Julia, she has millions." + +Hard, at any rate--whether pathetic or not--was the look she gave him +back. "Well, so has--or so _will_ have--Basil French. And more of them +than Mrs. Drack, I guess," Julia quavered. + +"Oh, I know what _they've_ got!" He took it from her--with the effect +of a vague stir, in his long person, of unwelcome embarrassment. But +was she going to give up because he was embarrassed? He should know +at least what he was costing her. It came home to her own spirit more +than ever, but meanwhile he had found his footing. "I don't see how +your mother matters. It isn't a question of his marrying _her_." + +"No; but, constantly together as we've always been, it's a question of +there being so disgustingly much to get over. If we had, for people +like them, but the one ugly spot and the one weak side; if we had +made, between us, but the one vulgar _kind_ of mistake: well, I don't +say!" She reflected with a wistfulness of note that was in itself a +touching eloquence. "To have our reward in this world we've had too +sweet a time. We've had it all right down here!" said Julia Bride. "I +should have taken the precaution to have about a dozen fewer lovers." + +"Ah, my dear, 'lovers'--!" He ever so comically attenuated. + +"Well they _were_!" She quite flared up. "When you've had a ring from +each (three diamonds, two pearls, and a rather bad sapphire: I've kept +them all, and they tell my story!) what are you to call them?" + +"Oh, rings--!" Mr. Pitman didn't call rings anything. "I've given Mrs. +Drack a ring." + +Julia stared. "Then aren't you her lover?" + +"That, dear child," he humorously wailed, "is what I want you to find +out! But I'll handle your rings all right," he more lucidly added. + +"You'll 'handle' them?" + +"I'll fix your lovers. I'll lie about _them_, if that's all you want." + +"Oh, about 'them'--!" She turned away with a sombre drop, seeing so +little in it. "That wouldn't count--from _you_!" She saw the great +shining room, with its mockery of art and "style" and security, all +the things she was vainly after, and its few scattered visitors who +had left them, Mr. Pitman and herself, in their ample corner, so +conveniently at ease. There was only a lady in one of the far +doorways, of whom she took vague note and who seemed to be looking at +them. "They'd have to lie for themselves!" + +"Do you mean he's capable of putting it to them?" + +Mr. Pitman's tone threw discredit on that possibility, but she knew +perfectly well what she meant. "Not of getting at them directly, not, +as mother says, of nosing round himself; but of listening--and small +blame to him!--to the horrible things other people say of me." + +"But what other people?" + +"Why, Mrs. George Maule, to begin with--who intensely loathes us, and +who talks to his sisters, so that they may talk to _him_: which they +do, all the while, I'm morally sure (hating me as they also must). But +it's she who's the real reason--I mean of his holding off. She poisons +the air he breathes." + +"Oh well," said Mr. Pitman, with easy optimism, "if Mrs. George +Maule's a cat--!" + +"If she's a cat she has kittens--four little spotlessly white ones, +among whom she'd give her head that Mr. French should make his pick. +He could do it with his eyes shut--you can't tell them apart. But she +has every name, every date, as you may say, for my dark 'record'--as +of course they all call it: she'll be able to give him, if he brings +himself to ask her, every fact in its order. And all the while, don't +you see? there's no one to speak _for_ me." + +It would have touched a harder heart than her loose friend's to note +the final flush of clairvoyance witnessing this assertion and under +which her eyes shone as with the rush of quick tears. He stared at +her, and at what this did for the deep charm of her prettiness, as +in almost witless admiration. "But can't you--lovely as you are, you +beautiful thing!--speak for yourself?" + +"Do you mean can't I tell the lies? No, then, I can't--and I wouldn't +if I could. I don't lie myself, you know--as it happens; and it could +represent to him then about the only thing, the only bad one, I don't +do. I _did_--'lovely as I am'!--have my regular time; I wasn't so +hideous that I couldn't! Besides, do you imagine he'd come and ask +me?" + +"Gad, I wish he would, Julia!" said Mr. Pitman, with his kind eyes on +her. + +"Well then, I'd tell him!" And she held her head again high. "But he +won't." + +It fairly distressed her companion. "Doesn't he want, then, to +know--?" + +"He wants _not_ to know. He wants to be told without asking--told, +I mean, that each of the stories, those that have come to him, is a +fraud and a libel. _Qui s'excuse s'accuse_, don't they say?--so that +do you see me breaking out to him, unprovoked, with four or five +what-do-you-call-'ems, the things mother used to have to prove in +court, a set of neat little 'alibis' in a row? How can I get hold of +so _many_ precious gentlemen, to turn them on? How can _they_ want +everything fished up?" + +She paused for her climax, in the intensity of these considerations; +which gave Mr. Pitman a chance to express his honest faith. "Why, my +sweet child, they'd be just glad--!" + +It determined in her loveliness almost a sudden glare. "Glad to swear +they never had anything to do with such a creature? Then _I'd_ be glad +to swear they had lots!" + +His persuasive smile, though confessing to bewilderment, insisted. +"Why, my love, they've got to swear either one thing or the other." + +"They've got to keep out of the way--that's _their_ view of it, I +guess," said Julia. "Where _are_ they, please--now that they _may_ be +wanted? If you'd like to hunt them up for me you're very welcome." +With which, for the moment, over the difficult case, they faced each +other helplessly enough. And she added to it now the sharpest ache of +her despair. "He knows about Murray Brush. The others"--and her pretty +white-gloved hands and charming pink shoulders gave them up--"may go +hang!" + +"Murray Brush--?" It had opened Mr. Pitman's eyes. + +"Yes--yes; I do mind _him_." + +"Then what's the matter with his at least rallying--?" + +"The matter is that, being ashamed of himself, as he well might, he +left the country as soon as he could and has stayed away. The matter +is that he's in Paris or somewhere, and that if you expect him to come +home for me--!" She had already dropped, however, as at Mr. Pitman's +look. + +"Why, you foolish thing, Murray Brush is in New York!" It had quite +brightened him up. + +"He has come back--?" + +"Why, sure! I saw him--when was it? Tuesday!--on the Jersey boat." Mr. +Pitman rejoiced in his news. "_He's_ your man!" + +Julia too had been affected by it; it had brought, in a rich wave, her +hot color back. But she gave the strangest dim smile. "He _was_!" + +"Then get hold of him, and--if he's a gentleman--he'll prove for you, +to the hilt, that he wasn't." + +It lighted in her face, the kindled train of this particular sudden +suggestion, a glow, a sharpness of interest, that had deepened the +next moment, while she gave a slow and sad head-shake, to a greater +strangeness yet. "He isn't a gentleman." + +"Ah, lordy, lordy!" Mr. Pitman again sighed. He struggled out of it +but only into the vague. "Oh, then, if he's a pig--!" + +"You see there are only a few gentlemen--not enough to go round--and +that makes them count so!" It had thrust the girl herself, for that +matter, into depths; but whether most of memory or of roused purpose +he had no time to judge--aware as he suddenly was of a shadow (since +he mightn't perhaps too quickly call it a light) across the heaving +surface of their question. It fell upon Julia's face, fell with the +sound of the voice he so well knew, but which could only be odd to her +for all it immediately assumed. + +"There are indeed very few--and one mustn't try _them_ too much!" +Mrs. Drack, who had supervened while they talked, stood, in monstrous +magnitude--at least to Julia's reimpressed eyes--between them: she was +the lady our young woman had descried across the room, and she had +drawn near while the interest of their issue so held them. We have +seen the act of observation and that of reflection alike swift in +Julia--once her subject was within range--and she had now, with all +her perceptions at the acutest, taken in, by a single stare, the +strange presence to a happy connection with which Mr. Pitman aspired +and which had thus sailed, with placid majesty, into their troubled +waters. She was clearly not shy, Mrs. David E. Drack, yet neither was +she ominously bold; she was bland and "good," Julia made sure at a +glance, and of a large complacency, as the good and the bland are apt +to be--a large complacency, a large sentimentality, a large innocent, +elephantine archness: she fairly rioted in that dimension of size. +Habited in an extraordinary quantity of stiff and lustrous black +brocade, with enhancements, of every description, that twinkled +and tinkled, that rustled and rumbled with her least movement, she +presented a huge, hideous, pleasant face, a featureless desert in a +remote quarter of which the disproportionately small eyes might have +figured a pair of rash adventurers all but buried in the sand. They +reduced themselves when she smiled to barely discernible points--a +couple of mere tiny emergent heads--though the foreground of the +scene, as if to make up for it, gaped with a vast benevolence. In +a word Julia saw--and as if she had needed nothing more; saw Mr. +Pitman's opportunity, saw her own, saw the exact nature both of Mrs. +Drack's circumspection and of Mrs. Drack's sensibility, saw even, +glittering there in letters of gold and as a part of the whole +metallic coruscation, the large figure of her income, largest of all +her attributes, and (though perhaps a little more as a luminous blur +beside all this) the mingled ecstasy and agony of Mr. Pitman's hope +and Mr. Pitman's fear. + +He was introducing them, with his pathetic belief in the virtue for +every occasion, in the solvent for every trouble, of an extravagant, +genial, professional humor; he was naming her to Mrs. Drack as the +charming young friend he had told her so much about and who had been +as an angel to him in a weary time; he was saying that the loveliest +chance in the world, this accident of a meeting in those promiscuous +halls, had placed within his reach the pleasure of bringing them +together. It didn't indeed matter, Julia felt, what he was saying: he +conveyed everything, as far as she was concerned, by a moral pressure +as unmistakable as if, for a symbol of it, he had thrown himself +on her neck. Above all, meanwhile, this high consciousness +prevailed--that the good lady herself, however huge she loomed, had +entered, by the end of a minute, into a condition as of suspended +weight and arrested mass, stilled to artless awe by the fact of her +vision. Julia had practised almost to lassitude the art of tracing in +the people who looked at her the impression promptly sequent; but it +was a striking point that if, in irritation, in depression, she felt +that the lightest eyes of men, stupid at their clearest, had given her +pretty well all she should ever care for, she could still gather a +freshness from the tribute of her own sex, still care to see her +reflection in the faces of women. Never, probably, never would that +sweet be tasteless--with such a straight grim spoon was it mostly +administered, and so flavored and strengthened by the competence of +their eyes. Women knew so much best _how_ a woman surpassed--how and +where and why, with no touch or torment of it lost on them; so that as +it produced mainly and primarily the instinct of aversion, the sense +of extracting the recognition, of gouging out the homage, was on the +whole the highest crown one's felicity could wear. Once in a way, +however, the grimness beautifully dropped, the jealousy failed: the +admiration was all there and the poor plain sister handsomely paid it. +It had never been so paid, she was presently certain, as by this great +generous object of Mr., Pitman's flame, who without optical aid, it +well might have seemed, nevertheless entirely grasped her--might in +fact, all benevolently, have been groping her over as by some huge +mild proboscis. She gave Mrs. Brack pleasure in short; and who could +say of what other pleasures the poor lady hadn't been cheated? + +It was somehow a muddled world in which one of her conceivable joys, +at this time of day, would be to marry Mr. Pitman--to say nothing of a +state of things in which this gentleman's own fancy could invest such +a union with rapture. That, however, was their own mystery, and Julia, +with each instant, was more and more clear about hers: so remarkably +primed in fact, at the end of three minutes, that though her friend, +and though _his_ friend, were both saying things, many things and +perhaps quite wonderful things, she had no free attention for them +and was only rising and soaring. She was rising to her value, she was +soaring _with_ it--the value Mr. Pitman almost convulsively imputed +to her, the value that consisted for her of being so unmistakably the +most dazzling image Mrs. Brack had ever beheld. These were the uses, +for Julia, in fine, of adversity; the range of Mrs. Brack's experience +might have been as small as the measure of her presence was large: +Julia was at any rate herself in face of the occasion of her life, +and, after all her late repudiations and reactions, had perhaps never +yet known the quality of this moment's success. She hadn't an idea of +what, on either side, had been uttered--beyond Mr. Pitman's allusion +to her having befriended him of old: she simply held his companion +with her radiance and knew she might be, for her effect, as irrelevant +as she chose. It was relevant to do what he wanted--it was relevant to +dish herself. She did it now with a kind of passion, to say nothing of +her knowing, with it, that every word of it added to her beauty. She +gave him away in short, up to the hilt, for any use of her own, and +should have nothing to clutch at now but the possibility of Murray +Brush. + +"He says I was good to him, Mrs. Drack; and I'm sure I hope I was, +since I should be ashamed to be anything else. If I could be good to +him now I should be glad--that's just what, a while ago, I rushed up +to him here, after so long, to give myself the pleasure of saying. I +saw him years ago very particularly, very miserably tried--and I saw +the way he took it. I did see it, you dear man," she sublimely went +on--"I saw it for all you may protest, for all you may hate me to talk +about you! I saw you behave like a gentleman--since Mrs. Drack agrees +with me, so charmingly, that there are not many to be met. I don't +know whether you care, Mrs. Drack"--she abounded, she revelled in +the name--"but I've always remembered it of him: that under the most +extraordinary provocation he was decent and patient and brave. No +appearance of anything different matters, for I speak of what I +_know_. Of course I'm nothing and nobody; I'm only a poor frivolous +girl, but I was very close to him at the time. That's all my little +story--if it _should_ interest you at all." She measured every beat of +her wing, she knew how high she was going and paused only when it was +quite vertiginous. Here she hung a moment as in the glare of the upper +blue; which was but the glare--what else could it be?--of the vast and +magnificent attention of both her auditors, hushed, on their side, in +the splendor she emitted. She had at last to steady herself, and +she scarce knew afterward at what rate or in what way she had still +inimitably come down--her own eyes fixed all the while on the very +figure of her achievement. She had sacrificed her mother on the +altar--proclaimed her as false and cruel: and if that didn't "fix" Mr. +Pitman, as he would have said--well, it was all she could do. But the +cost of her action already somehow came back to her with increase; the +dear gaunt man fairly wavered, to her sight, in the glory of it, as if +signalling at her, with wild gleeful arms, from some mount of safety, +while the massive lady just spread and spread like a rich fluid a bit +helplessly spilt. It was really the outflow of the poor woman's +honest response, into which she seemed to melt, and Julia scarce +distinguished the two apart even for her taking gracious leave of +each. "Good-bye, Mrs. Drack; I'm awfully happy to have met you"--like +as not it was for this she had grasped Mr. Pitman's hand. And then +to him or to her, it didn't matter which, "Good-bye, dear good Mr. +Pitman--hasn't it been nice after so long?" + + +II + +Julia floated even to her own sense swan-like away--she left in her +wake their fairly stupefied submission: it was as if she had, by an +exquisite authority, now _placed_ them, each for each, and they would +have nothing to do but be happy together. Never had she so exulted +as on this ridiculous occasion in the noted items of her beauty. _Le +compte y était_, as they used to say in Paris--every one of them, for +her immediate employment, was there; and there was something in it +after all. It didn't necessarily, this sum of thumping little figures, +imply charm--especially for "refined" people: nobody knew better than +Julia that inexpressible charm and quotable "charms" (quotable +like prices, rates, shares, or whatever, the things they dealt in +down-town) are two distinct categories; the safest thing for the +latter being, on the whole, that it might include the former, and the +great strength of the former being that it might perfectly dispense +with the latter. Mrs. Drack was not refined, not the least little bit; +but what would be the case with Murray Brush now--after his three +years of Europe? He had done so what he liked with her--which +had seemed so then just the meaning, hadn't it? of their being +"engaged"--that he had made her not see, while the absurdity lasted +(the absurdity of their pretending to believe they could marry without +a cent), how little he was of metal without alloy: this had come up +for her, remarkably, but afterward--come up for her as she looked +back. Then she had drawn her conclusion, which was one of the many +that Basil French had made her draw. It was a queer service Basil was +going to have rendered her, this having made everything she had ever +done impossible, if he wasn't going to give her a new chance. If he +was it was doubtless right enough. On the other hand, Murray might +have improved, if such a quantity of alloy, as she called it, _were_, +in any man, reducible, and if Paris were the place all happily to +reduce it. She had her doubts--anxious and aching on the spot, and had +expressed them to Mr. Pitman: certainly, of old, he had been more open +to the quotable than to the inexpressible, to charms than to charm. If +she could try the quotable, however, and with such a grand result, on +Mrs. Drack, she couldn't now on Murray--in respect to whom everything +had changed. So that if he hadn't a sense for the subtler appeal, the +appeal appreciable by people _not_ vulgar, on which alone she could +depend, what on earth would become of her? She could but yearningly +hope, at any rate, as she made up her mind to write to him immediately +at his club. It was a question of the right sensibility in him. +Perhaps he would have acquired it in Europe. + +Two days later indeed--for he had promptly and charmingly replied, +keeping with alacrity the appointment she had judged best to propose +for a morning hour in a sequestered alley of the Park--two days later +she was to be struck well-nigh to alarm by everything he had acquired: +so much it seemed to make that it threatened somehow a complication, +and her plan, so far as she had arrived at one, dwelt in the desire +above all to simplify. She wanted no grain more of extravagance or +excess of anything--risking as she had done, none the less, a recall +of ancient license in proposing to Murray such a place of meeting. She +had her reasons--she wished intensely to discriminate: Basil French +had several times waited on her at her mother's habitation, their +horrible flat which was so much too far up and too near the East Side; +he had dined there and lunched there and gone with her thence to other +places, notably to see pictures, and had in particular adjourned +with her twice to the Metropolitan Museum, in which he took a great +interest, in which she professed a delight, and their second visit +to which had wound up in her encounter with Mr. Pitman, after her +companion had yielded, at her urgent instance, to an exceptional +need of keeping a business engagement. She mightn't, in delicacy, +in decency, entertain Murray Brush where she had entertained Mr. +French--she was given over now to these exquisite perceptions and +proprieties and bent on devoutly observing them; and Mr. French, by +good-luck, had never been with her in the Park: partly because he had +never pressed it, and partly because she would have held off if he +had, so haunted were those devious paths and favoring shades by the +general echo of her untrammelled past. If he had never suggested their +taking a turn there this was because, quite divinably, he held it +would commit him further than he had yet gone; and if she on her side +had practised a like reserve it was because the place reeked for her, +as she inwardly said, with old associations. It reeked with nothing +so much perhaps as with the memories evoked by the young man who now +awaited her in the nook she had been so competent to indicate; but +in what corner of the town, should she look for them, wouldn't those +footsteps creak back into muffled life, and to what expedient would +she be reduced should she attempt to avoid all such tracks? The Museum +was full of tracks, tracks by the hundred--the way really she had +knocked about!--but she had to see people somewhere, and she couldn't +pretend to dodge every ghost. + +All she could do was not to make confusion, make mixtures, of the +living; though she asked herself enough what mixture she mightn't find +herself to have prepared if Mr. French should, not so very impossibly, +for a restless, roaming man--_her_ effect on him!--happen to pass +while she sat there with the mustachioed personage round whose name +Mrs. Maule would probably have caused detrimental anecdote most +thickly to cluster. There existed, she was sure, a mass of luxuriant +legend about the "lengths" her engagement with Murray Brush had gone; +she could herself fairly feel them in the air, these streamers of +evil, black flags flown as in warning, the vast redundancy of so cheap +and so dingy social bunting, in fine, that flapped over the stations +she had successively moved away from and which were empty now, for +such an ado, even to grotesqueness. The vivacity of that conviction +was what had at present determined her, while it was the way he +listened after she had quickly broken ground, while it was the special +character of the interested look in his handsome face, handsomer than +ever yet, that represented for her the civilization he had somehow +taken on. Just so it was the quantity of that gain, in its turn, that +had at the end of ten minutes begun to affect her as holding up a +light to the wide reach of her step. "There was never anything the +least serious between us, not a sign or a scrap, do you mind? of +anything beyond the merest pleasant friendly acquaintance; and if +you're not ready to go to the stake on it for me you may as well know +in time what it is you'll probably cost me." + +She had immediately plunged, measuring her effect and having thought +it well over; and what corresponded to her question of his having +become a better person to appeal to was the appearance of interest she +had so easily created in him. She felt on the spot the difference that +made--it was indeed his form of being more civilized: it was the +sense in which Europe in general and Paris in particular had made him +develop. By every calculation--and her calculations, based on the +intimacy of her knowledge, had been many and deep--he would help her +the better the more intelligent he should have become; yet she was to +recognize later on that the first chill of foreseen disaster had been +caught by her as, at a given moment, this greater refinement of his +attention seemed to exhale it. It was just what she had wanted--"if +I can only get him interested--!" so that, this proving quite vividly +possible, why did the light it lifted strike her as lurid? Was it +partly by reason of his inordinate romantic good looks, those of a +gallant, genial conqueror, but which, involving so glossy a brownness +of eye, so manly a crispness of curl, so red-lipped a radiance of +smile, so natural a bravery of port, prescribed to any response +he might facially, might expressively, make a sort of florid, +disproportionate amplitude? The explanation, in any case, didn't +matter; he was going to mean well--that she could feel, and also that +he had meant better in the past, presumably, than he had managed to +convince her of his doing at the time: the oddity she hadn't now +reckoned with was this fact that from the moment he did advertise an +interest it should show almost as what she would have called weird. It +made a change in him that didn't go with the rest--as if he had broken +his nose or put on spectacles, lost his handsome hair or sacrificed +his splendid mustache: her conception, her necessity, as she saw, had +been that something should be added to him for her use, but nothing +for his own alteration. + +He had affirmed himself, and his character, and his temper, and his +health, and his appetite, and his ignorance, and his obstinacy, and +his whole charming, coarse, heartless personality, during their +engagement, by twenty forms of natural emphasis, but never by emphasis +of interest. How in fact could you feel interest unless you should +know, within you, some dim stir of imagination? There was nothing in +the world of which Murray Brush was less capable than of such a dim +stir, because you only began to imagine when you felt some approach to +a need to understand. _He_ had never felt it; for hadn't he been born, +to his personal vision, with that perfect intuition of everything +which reduces all the suggested preliminaries of judgment to the +impertinence--when it's a question of your entering your house--of +a dumpage of bricks at your door? He had had, in short, neither to +imagine nor to perceive, because he had, from the first pulse of his +intelligence, simply and supremely known: so that, at this hour, +face to face with him, it came over her that she had, in their old +relation, dispensed with any such convenience of comprehension on his +part even to a degree she had not measured at the time. What therefore +must he not have seemed to her as a form of life, a form of avidity +and activity, blatantly successful in its own conceit, that he could +have dazzled her so against the interest of her very faculties and +functions? Strangely and richly historic all that backward mystery, +and only leaving for her mind the wonder of such a mixture of +possession and detachment as they would clearly to-day both know. +For each to be so little at last to the other when, during months +together, the idea of all abundance, all quantity, had been, for +each, drawn from the other and addressed to the other--what was it +monstrously like but some fantastic act of getting rid of a person by +going to lock yourself up in the _sanctum sanctorum_ of that person's +house, amid every evidence of that person's habits and nature? What +was going to happen, at any rate, was that Murray would show himself +as beautifully and consciously understanding--and it would be +prodigious that Europe should have inoculated him with that delicacy. +Yes, he wouldn't claim to know now till she had told him--an aid to +performance he had surely never before waited for, or been indebted +to, from any one; and then, so knowing, he would charmingly endeavor +to "meet," to oblige and to gratify. He would find it, her case, ever +so worthy of his benevolence, and would be literally inspired to +reflect that he must hear about it first. + +She let him hear then everything, in spite of feeling herself slip, +while she did so, to some doom as yet incalculable; she went on very +much as she had done for Mr. Pitman and Mrs. Drack, with the rage +of desperation and, as she was afterward to call it to herself, the +fascination of the abyss. She didn't know, couldn't have said at the +time, _why_ his projected benevolence should have had most so the +virtue to scare her: he would patronize her, as an effect of her +vividness, if not of her charm, and would do this with all high +intention, finding her case, or rather _their_ case, their funny old +case, taking on of a sudden such refreshing and edifying life, to +the last degree curious and even important; but there were gaps of +connection between this and the intensity of the perception here +overtaking her that she shouldn't be able to move in _any_ direction +without dishing herself. That she couldn't afford it where she had got +to--couldn't afford the deplorable vulgarity of having been so many +times informally affianced and contracted (putting it only at that, at +its being by the new lights and fashions so unpardonably vulgar): he +took this from her without turning, as she might have said, a hair; +except just to indicate, with his new superiority, that he felt the +distinguished appeal and notably the pathos of it. He still took +it from her that she hoped nothing, as it were, from any other +_alibi_--the people to drag into court being too many and too +scattered; but that, as it was with him, Murray Brush, she had been +_most_ vulgar, most everything she had better not have been, so she +depended on him for the innocence it was actually vital she should +establish. He flushed or frowned or winced no more at that than he did +when she once more fairly emptied her satchel and, quite as if they +had been Nancy and the Artful Dodger, or some nefarious pair of that +sort, talking things over in the manner of _Oliver Twist_, revealed +to him the fondness of her view that, could she but have produced a +cleaner slate, she might by this time have pulled it off with Mr. +French. Yes, he let her in that way sacrifice her honorable connection +with him--all the more honorable for being so completely at an end--to +the crudity of her plan for not missing another connection, so much +more brilliant than what he offered, and for bringing another man, +with whom she so invidiously and unflatteringly compared him, into her +greedy life. + +There was only a moment during which, by a particular lustrous look +she had never had from him before, he just made her wonder which turn +he was going to take; she felt, however, as safe as was consistent +with her sense of having probably but added to her danger, when he +brought out, the next instant: "Don't you seem to take the ground that +we were guilty--that _you_ were ever guilty--of something we shouldn't +have been? What did we ever do that was secret, or underhand, or any +way not to be acknowledged? What did we do but exchange our young vows +with the best faith in the world--publicly, rejoicingly, with the full +assent of every one connected with us? I mean of course," he said with +his grave kind smile, "till we broke off so completely because we +found that--practically, financially, on the hard worldly basis--we +couldn't work it. What harm, in the sight of God or man, Julia," he +asked in his fine rich way, "did we ever do?" + +She gave him back his look, turning pale. "Am I talking of _that_? Am +I talking of what _we_ know? I'm talking of what others feel--of what +they _have_ to feel; of what it's just enough for them to know not to +be able to get over it, once they do really know it. How do they know +what _didn't_ pass between us, with all the opportunities we had? +That's none of their business--if we were idiots enough, on the top of +everything! What you may or mayn't have done doesn't count, for _you_; +but there are people for whom it's loathsome that a girl should have +gone on like that from one person to another and still pretend to +be--well, all that a nice girl is supposed to be. It's as if we had +but just waked up, mother and I, to such a remarkable prejudice; and +now we have it--when we could do so well without it!--staring us +in the face. That mother should have insanely _let_ me, should so +vulgarly have taken it for my natural, my social career--_that's_ the +disgusting, humiliating thing: with the lovely account it gives of +both of us! But mother's view of a delicacy in things!" she went on +with scathing grimness; "mother's measure of anything, with her grand +'gained cases' (there'll be another yet, she finds them so easy!) of +which she's so publicly proud! You see I've no margin," said Julia; +letting him take it from her flushed face as much as he would that her +mother hadn't left her an inch. It was that he should make use of the +spade with her for the restoration of a bit of a margin just wide +enough to perch on till the tide of peril should have ebbed a little, +it was that he should give her _that_ lift--! + +Well, it was all there from him after these last words; it was before +her that he really took hold. "Oh, my dear child, I can see! Of course +there are people--ideas change in our society so fast!--who are not in +sympathy with the old American freedom and who read, I dare say, all +sorts of uncanny things into it. Naturally you must take them as they +are--from the moment," said Murray Brush, who had lighted, by her +leave, a cigarette, "your life-path does, for weal or for woe, cross +with theirs." He had every now and then such an elegant phrase. +"Awfully interesting, certainly, your case. It's enough for me that it +_is_ yours--I make it my own. I put myself absolutely in your place; +you'll understand from me, without professions, won't you? that I do. +Command me in every way! What I do like is the sympathy with which +you've inspired _him_. I don't, I'm sorry to say, happen to know him +personally,"--he smoked away, looking off; "but of course one knows +all about him generally, and I'm sure he's right for you, I'm sure it +would be charming, if you yourself think so. Therefore trust me and +even--what shall I say?--leave it to me a little, won't you?" He had +been watching, as in his fumes, the fine growth of his possibilities; +and with this he turned on her the large warmth of his charity. It was +like a subscription of a half-a-million. "I'll take care of you." + +She found herself for a moment looking up at him from as far below as +the point from which the school-child, with round eyes raised to the +wall, gazes at the parti-colored map of the world. Yes, it was a +warmth, it was a special benignity, that had never yet dropped on her +from any one; and she wouldn't for the first few moments have known +how to describe it or even quite what to do with it. Then, as it still +rested, his fine improved expression aiding, the sense of what had +happened came over her with a rush. She was being, yes, patronized; +and that was really as new to her--the freeborn American girl who +might, if she had wished, have got engaged and disengaged not six +times but sixty--as it would have been to be crowned or crucified. The +Frenches themselves didn't do it--the Frenches themselves didn't dare +it. It was as strange as one would: she recognized it when it came, +but anything might have come rather--and it was coming by (of all +people in the world) Murray Brush! It overwhelmed her; still she could +speak, with however faint a quaver and however sick a smile. "You'll +lie for me like a gentleman?" + +"As far as that goes till I'm black in the face!" And then while he +glowed at her and she wondered if he would pointedly look his lies +that way, and if, in fine, his florid, gallant, knowing, almost +winking intelligence, _common_ as she had never seen the common +vivified, would represent his notion of "blackness": "See here, Julia; +I'll do more." + +"'More'--?" + +"Everything. I'll take it right in hand. I'll fling over you--" + +"Fling over me--?" she continued to echo as he fascinatingly fixed +her. + +"Well, the biggest _kind_ of rose-colored mantle!" And this time, oh, +he did wink: it _would_ be the way he was going to wink (and in the +grandest good faith in the world) when indignantly denying, under +inquisition, that there had been "a sign or a scrap" between them. But +there was more to come; he decided she should have it all. "Julia, +you've got to know now." He hung fire but an instant more. "Julia, +I'm going to be married." His "Julias" were somehow death to her; she +could feel that even _through_ all the rest. "Julia, I announce my +engagement." + +"Oh, lordy, lordy!" she wailed: it might have been addressed to Mr. +Pitman. + +The force of it had brought her to her feet, but he sat there smiling +up as at the natural tribute of her interest. "I tell you before any +one else; it's not to be 'out' for a day or two yet. But we want you +to know; _she_ said that as soon as I mentioned to her that I had +heard from you. I mention to her everything, you see!"--and he almost +simpered while, still in his seat, he held the end of his cigarette, +all delicately and as for a form of gentle emphasis, with the tips +of his fine fingers. "You've not met her, Mary Lindeck, I think: she +tells me she hasn't the pleasure of knowing you, but she desires it so +much--particularly longs for it. She'll take an interest too," he went +on; "you must let me immediately bring her to you. She has heard so +much about you and she really wants to see you." + +"Oh mercy _me_!" poor Julia gasped again--so strangely did history +repeat itself and so did this appear the echo, on Murray Brush's lips, +and quite to drollery, of that sympathetic curiosity of Mrs. Drack's +which Mr. Pitman had, as they said, voiced. Well, there had played +before her the vision of a ledge of safety in face of a rising tide; +but this deepened quickly to a sense more forlorn, the cold swish of +waters already up to her waist and that would soon be up to her chin. +It came really but from the air of her friend, from the perfect +benevolence and high unconsciousness with which he kept his +posture--as if to show he could patronize her from below upward quite +as well as from above down. And as she took it all in, as it spread to +a flood, with the great lumps and masses of truth it was floating, she +knew inevitable submission, not to say submersion, as she had never +known it in her life; going down and down before it, not even putting +out her hands to resist or cling by the way, only reading into the +young man's very face an immense fatality and, for all his bright +nobleness his absence of rancor or of protesting pride, the great gray +blankness of her doom. It was as if the earnest Miss Lindeck, tall and +mild, high and lean, with eye-glasses and a big nose, but "marked" in +a noticeable way, elegant and distinguished and refined, as you could +see from a mile off, and as graceful, for common despair of imitation, +as the curves of the "copy" set of old by one's writing-master--it was +as if this stately well-wisher, whom indeed she had never exchanged +a word with, but whom she had recognized and placed and winced at +as soon as he spoke of her, figured there beside him now as also in +portentous charge of her case. + +He had ushered her into it in that way as if his mere right word +sufficed; and Julia could see them throne together, beautifully at one +in all the interests they now shared, and regard her as an object of +almost tender solicitude. It was positively as if they had become +engaged for her good--in such a happy light as it shed. That was the +way people you had known, known a bit intimately, looked at you as +soon as they took on the high matrimonial propriety that sponged over +the more or less wild past to which you belonged, and of which, all of +a sudden, they were aware only through some suggestion it made them +for reminding you definitely that you still had a place. On her +having had a day or two before to meet Mrs. Drack and to rise to her +expectation she had seen and felt herself act, had above all admired +herself, and had at any rate known what she said, even though losing, +at her altitude, any distinctness in the others. She could have +repeated later on the detail of her performance--if she hadn't +preferred to keep it with her as a mere locked-up, a mere unhandled +treasure. At present, however, as everything was for her at first +deadened and vague, true to the general effect of sounds and motions +in water, she couldn't have said afterward what words she spoke, what +face she showed, what impression she made--at least till she had +pulled herself round to precautions. She only knew she had turned +away, and that this movement must have sooner or later determined +his rising to join her, his deciding to accept it, gracefully and +condoningly--condoningly in respect to her natural emotion, her +inevitable little pang--for an intimation that they would be better on +their feet. + +They trod then afresh their ancient paths; and though it pressed upon +her hatefully that he must have taken her abruptness for a smothered +shock, the flare-up of her old feeling at the breath of his news, she +had still to see herself condemned to allow him this, condemned +really to encourage him in the mistake of believing her suspicious of +feminine spite and doubtful of Miss Lindeck's zeal. She was so far +from doubtful that she was but too appalled at it and at the officious +mass in which it loomed, and this instinct of dread, before their walk +was over, before she had guided him round to one of the smaller gates, +there to slip off again by herself, was positively to find on the +bosom of her flood a plank by the aid of which she kept in a manner +and for the time afloat. She took ten minutes to pant, to blow gently, +to paddle disguisedly, to accommodate herself, in a word, to the +elements she had let loose; but as a reward of her effort at least she +then saw how her determined vision accounted for everything. Beside +her friend on the bench she had truly felt all his cables cut, truly +swallowed down the fact that if he still perceived she was pretty--and +_how_ pretty!--it had ceased appreciably to matter to him. It had +lighted the folly of her preliminary fear, the fear of his even yet to +some effect of confusion or other inconvenience for her, proving +more alive to the quotable in her, as she had called it, than to the +inexpressible. She had reckoned with the awkwardness of that possible +failure of his measure of her charm, by which his renewed apprehension +of her grosser ornaments, those with which he had most affinity, might +too much profit; but she need have concerned herself as little for his +sensibility on one head as on the other. She had ceased personally, +ceased materially--in respect, as who should say, to any optical or +tactile advantage--to exist for him, and the whole office of his +manner had been the more piously and gallantly to dress the dead +presence with flowers. This was all to his credit and his honor, but +what it clearly certified was that their case was at last not even one +of spirit reaching out to spirit. _He_ had plenty of spirit--had all +the spirit required for his having engaged himself to Miss Lindeck, +into which result, once she had got her head well up again, she read, +as they proceeded, one sharp meaning after another. It was therefore +toward the subtler essence of that mature young woman alone that he +was occupied in stretching; what was definite to him about Julia +Bride being merely, being entirely--which was indeed thereby quite +enough--that she _might_ end by scaling her worldly height. They would +push, they would shove, they would "boost," they would arch both their +straight backs as pedestals for her tiptoe; and at the same time, by +some sweet prodigy of mechanics, she would pull them up and up with +her. + +Wondrous things hovered before her in the course of this walk; her +consciousness had become, by an extraordinary turn, a music-box in +which, its lid well down, the most remarkable tunes were sounding. It +played for her ear alone, and the lid, as she might have figured, was +her firm plan of holding out till she got home, of not betraying--to +her companion at least--the extent to which she was demoralized. To +see him think her demoralized by mistrust of the sincerity of the +service to be meddlesomely rendered her by his future wife--she would +have hurled herself publicly into the lake there at their side, would +have splashed, in her beautiful clothes, among the frightened swans, +rather than invite him to that ineptitude. Oh, her sincerity, Mary +Lindeck's--she would be drenched with her sincerity, and she would +be drenched, yes, with _his_; so that, from inward convulsion to +convulsion, she had, before they reached their gate, pulled up in the +path. There was something her head had been full of these three or +four minutes, the intensest little tune of the music-box, and it made +its way to her lips now; belonging--for all the good it could do +her!--to the two or three sorts of solicitude she might properly +express. + +"I hope _she_ has a fortune, if you don't mind my speaking of it: +I mean some of the money we didn't in _our_ time have--and that we +missed, after all, in our poor way and for what we then wanted of it, +so quite dreadfully." + +She had been able to wreathe it in a grace quite equal to any he +himself had employed; and it was to be said for him also that he kept +up, on this, the standard. "Oh, she's not, thank goodness, at all +badly off, poor dear. We shall do very well. How sweet of you to have +thought of it! May I tell her that too?" he splendidly glared. Yes, he +glared--how couldn't he, with what his mind was really full of? But, +all the same, he came just here, by her vision, nearer than at any +other point to being a gentleman. He came quite within an ace of +it--with his taking from her thus the prescription of humility of +service, his consenting to act in the interest of her avidity, his +letting her mount that way, on his bowed shoulders, to the success in +which he could suppose she still believed. He couldn't know, he would +never know, that she had then and there ceased to believe in it--that +she saw as clear as the sun in the sky the exact manner in which, +between them, before they had done, the Murray Brushes, all zeal and +sincerity, all interest in her interesting case, would dish, would +ruin, would utterly destroy her. He wouldn't have needed to go on, for +the force and truth of this; but he did go on--he was as crashingly +consistent as a motorcar without a brake. He was visibly in love +with the idea of what they might do for her and of the rare "social" +opportunity that they would, by the same stroke, embrace. How he had +been offhand with it, how he had made it parenthetic, that he didn't +happen "personally" to know Basil French--as if it would have been at +all likely he _should_ know him, even _im_ personally, and as if he +could conceal from her the fact that, since she had made him her +overture, this gentleman's name supremely baited her hook! Oh, they +would help Julia Bride if they could--they would do their remarkable +best; but they would at any rate have made his acquaintance over it, +and she might indeed leave the rest to their thoroughness. He would +already have known, he would already have heard; her appeal, she was +more and more sure, wouldn't have come to him as a revelation. He had +already talked it over with _her_, with Miss Lindeck, to whom the +Frenches, in their fortress, had never been accessible, and his whole +attitude bristled, to Julia's eyes, with the betrayal of her hand, her +voice, her pressure, her calculation. His tone, in fact, as he talked, +fairly thrust these things into her face. "But you must see her for +yourself. You'll judge her. You'll love her. My dear child"--he +brought it all out, and if he spoke of children he might, in his +candor, have been himself infantine--"my dear child, she's the person +to do it for you. Make it over to her; but," he laughed, "of course +see her first! Couldn't you," he wound up--for they were now near +their gate, where she was to leave him--"couldn't you just simply make +us meet him, at tea say, informally; just _us_ alone, as pleasant old +friends of whom you'd have so naturally and frankly spoken to him: and +then see what we'd _make_ of that?" + +It was all in his expression; he couldn't keep it out of that, and his +shining good looks couldn't: ah, he was so fatally much too handsome +for her! So the gap showed just there, in his admirable mask and +his admirable eagerness; the yawning little chasm showed where the +gentleman fell short. But she took this in, she took everything in, +she felt herself do it, she heard herself say, while they paused +before separation, that she quite saw the point of the meeting, as he +suggested, at her tea. She would propose it to Mr. French and would +let them know; and he must assuredly bring Miss Lindeck, bring her +"right away," bring her soon, bring _them_, his fiancée and her, +together somehow, and as quickly as possible--so that they _should_ +be old friends before the tea. She would propose it to Mr. French, +propose it to Mr. French: that hummed in her ears as she went--after +she had really got away; hummed as if she were repeating it over, +giving it out to the passers, to the pavement, to the sky, and all as +in wild discord with the intense little concert of her music-box. The +extraordinary thing too was that she quite believed she should do it, +and fully meant to; desperately, fantastically passive--since she +almost reeled with it as she proceeded--she was capable of proposing +anything to any one: capable too of thinking it likely Mr. French +would come, for he had never on her previous proposals declined +anything. Yes, she would keep it up to the end, this pretence of owing +them salvation, and might even live to take comfort in having done for +them what they wanted. What they wanted _couldn't_ but be to get at +the Frenches, and what Miss Lindeck above all wanted, baffled of it +otherwise, with so many others of the baffled, was to get at Mr. +French--for all Mr. French would want of either of them!--still more +than Murray did. It was not till after she had got home, got straight +into her own room and flung herself on her face, that she yielded to +the full taste of the bitterness of missing a connection, missing the +man himself, with power to create such a social appetite, such a grab +at what might be gained by them. He could make people, even people +like these two and whom there were still other people to envy, he +could make them push and snatch and scramble like that--and then +remain as incapable of taking her from the hands of such patrons as of +receiving her straight, say, from those of Mrs. Drack. It was a high +note, too, of Julia's wonderful composition that, even in the long, +lonely moan of her conviction of her now certain ruin, all this grim +lucidity, the perfect clearance of passion, but made her supremely +proud of him. + + + + +A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT + +_Robert Louis Stevenson_ (1850-1894) + + +It was late in November 1456. The snow fell over Paris with rigorous, +relentless persistence; sometimes the wind made a sally and scattered +it in flying vortices; sometimes there was a lull, and flake after +flake descended out of the black night air, silent, circuitous, +interminable. To poor people, looking up under moist eyebrows, it +seemed a wonder where it all came from. Master Francis Villon had +propounded an alternative that afternoon, at a tavern window: was +it only Pagan Jupiter plucking geese upon Olympus, or were the holy +angels moulting? He was only a poor Master of Arts, he went on; and as +the question somewhat touched upon divinity, he durst not venture +to conclude. A silly old priest from Montargis, who was among the +company, treated the young rascal to a bottle of wine in honor of the +jest and the grimaces with which it was accompanied, and swore on his +own white beard that he had been just such another irreverent dog when +he was Villon's age. + +The air was raw and pointed, but not far below freezing; and the +flakes were large, damp, and adhesive. The whole city was sheeted up. +An army might have marched from end to end and not a footfall given +the alarm. If there were any belated birds in heaven, they saw the +island like a large white patch, and the bridges like slim white +spars, on the black ground of the river. High up overhead the snow +settled among the tracery of the cathedral towers. Many a niche was +drifted full; many a statue wore a long white bonnet on its grotesque +or sainted head. The gargoyles had been transformed into great false +noses, drooping toward the point. The crockets were like upright +pillows swollen on one side. In the intervals of the wind there was a +dull sound of dripping about the precincts of the church. + +The cemetery of St. John had taken its own share of the snow. All the +graves were decently covered; tall, white housetops stood around in +grave array; worthy burghers were long ago in bed, benightcapped like +their domiciles; there was no light in all the neighborhood but a +little peep from a lamp that hung swinging in the church choir, and +tossed the shadows to and fro in time to its oscillations. The clock +was hard on ten when the patrol went by with halberds and a lantern, +beating their hands; and they saw nothing suspicious about the +cemetery of St. John. + +Yet there was a small house, backed up against the cemetery wall, +which was still awake, and awake to evil purpose, in that snoring +district. There was not much to betray it from without; only a stream +of warm vapor from the chimney-top, a patch where the snow melted +on the roof, and a few half-obliterated footprints at the door. But +within, behind the shuttered windows, Master Francis Villon, the poet, +and some of the thievish crew with whom he consorted, were keeping the +night alive and passing round the bottle. + +A great pile of living embers diffused a strong and ruddy glow from +the arched chimney. Before this straddled Dom Nicolas, the Picardy +monk, with his skirts picked up and his fat legs bared to the +comfortable warmth. His dilated shadow cut the room in half; and the +firelight only escaped on either side of his broad person, and in +a little pool between his outspread feet. His face had the beery, +bruised appearance of the continual drinker's; it was covered with a +network of congested veins, purple in ordinary circumstances, but now +pale violet, for even with his back to the fire the cold pinched him +on the other side. His cowl had half fallen back, and made a strange +excrescence on either side of his bull neck. So he straddled, +grumbling, and cut the room in half with the shadow of his portly +frame. + +On the right, Villon and Guy Tabary were huddled together over a +scrap of parchment; Villon making a ballade which he was to call the +_Ballade of Roast Fish_, and Tabary spluttering admiration at his +shoulder. The poet was a rag of a man, dark, little, and lean, with +hollow cheeks and thin black locks. He carried his four-and-twenty +years with feverish animation. Greed had made folds about his eyes, +evil smiles had puckered his mouth. The wolf and pig struggled +together in his face. It was an eloquent, sharp, ugly, earthly +countenance. His hands were small and prehensile, with fingers knotted +like a cord; and they were continually flickering in front of him in +violent and expressive pantomime. As for Tabary, a broad, complacent, +admiring imbecility breathed from his squash nose and slobbering lips: +he had become a thief, just as he might have become the most decent of +burgesses, by the imperious chance that rules the lives of human geese +and human donkeys. + +At the monk's other hand, Montigny and Thevenin Pensete played a game +of chance. About the first there clung some flavor of good birth and +training, as about a fallen angel; something long, lithe, and courtly +in the person; something aquiline and darkling in the face. Thevenin, +poor soul, was in great feather: he had done a good stroke of knavery +that afternoon in the Faubourg St. Jacques, and all night he had been +gaining from Montigny. A flat smile illuminated his face; his bald +head shone rosily in a garland of red curls; his little protuberant +stomach shook with silent chucklings as he swept in his gains. + +"Doubles or quits?" said Thevenin. + +Montigny nodded grimly. + +"_Some may prefer to dine in state_" wrote Villon, "_On bread and +cheese on silver plate_. Or--or--help me out, Guido!" + +Tabary giggled. + +"_Or parsley on a silver dish_" scribbled the poet. + +The wind was freshening without; it drove the snow before it, and +sometimes raised its voice in a victorious whoop, and made sepulchral +grumblings in the chimney. The cold was growing sharper as the night +went on. Villon, protruding his lips, imitated the gust with something +between a whistle and a groan. It was an eerie, uncomfortable talent +of the poet's, much detested by the Picardy monk. + +"Can't you hear it rattle in the gibbet?" said Villon. "They are +all dancing the devil's jig on nothing, up there. You may dance, my +gallants, you'll be none the warmer! Whew, what a gust! Down +went somebody just now! A medlar the fewer on the three-legged +medlar-tree!--I say, Dom Nicolas, it'll be cold to-night on the St. +Denis Road?" he asked. + +Dom Nicolas winked both his big eyes, and seemed to choke upon his +Adam's apple. Montfaucon, the great grisly Paris gibbet, stood hard by +the St. Denis Road, and the pleasantry touched him on the raw. As for +Tabary, he laughed immoderately over the medlars; he had never heard +anything more light-hearted; and he held his sides and crowed. Villon +fetched him a fillip on the nose, which turned his mirth into an +attack of coughing. + +"Oh, stop that row," said Villon, "and think of rhymes to 'fish.'" + +"Doubles or quits," said Montigny doggedly. + +"With all my heart," quoth Thevenin. + +"Is there any more in that bottle?" asked the monk. + +"Open another," said Villon. "How do you ever hope to fill that big +hogshead, your body, with little things like bottles? And how do you +expect to get to heaven? How many angels, do you fancy, can be spared +to carry up a single monk from Picardy? Or do you think yourself +another Elias--and they'll send the coach for you?" + +"_Hominibus impossibile_" replied the monk, as he filled his glass. + +Tabary was in ecstasies. + +Villon filliped his nose again. + +"Laugh at my jokes, if you like," he said. + +"It was very good," objected Tabary. + +Villon made a face at him. "Think of rhymes to 'fish,'" he said. "What +have you to do with Latin? You'll wish you knew none of it at the +great assizes, when the devil calls for Guido Tabary, clericus--the +devil with the humpback and red-hot finger-nails. Talking of the +devil," he added, in a whisper, "look at Montigny!" + +All three peered covertly at the gamester. He did not seem to be +enjoying his luck. His mouth was a little to a side; one nostril +nearly shut, and the other much inflated. The black dog was on his +back, as people say, in terrifying nursery metaphor; and he breathed +hard under the gruesome burden. + +"He looks as if he could knife him," whispered Tabary, with round +eyes. + +The monk shuddered, and turned his face and spread his open hands to +the red embers. It was the cold that thus affected Dom Nicolas, and +not any excess of moral sensibility. + +"Come now," said Villon--"about this ballade. How does it run so far?" +And beating time with his hand, he read it aloud to Tabary. + +They were interrupted at the fourth rhyme by a brief and fatal +movement among the gamesters. The round was completed, and Thevenin +was just opening his mouth to claim another victory, when Montigny +leaped up, swift as an adder, and stabbed him to the heart. The blow +took effect before he had time to utter a cry, before he had time to +move. A tremor or two convulsed his frame; his hands opened and shut, +his heels rattled on the floor; then his head rolled backward over +one shoulder with the eyes open, and Thevenin Pensete's spirit had +returned to Him who made it. + +Everyone sprang to his feet; but the business was over in two twos. +The four living fellows looked at each other in rather a ghastly +fashion; the dead man contemplating a corner of the roof with a +singular and ugly leer. + +"My God!" said Tabary, and he began to pray in Latin. + +Villon broke out into hysterical laughter. He came a step forward and +clucked a ridiculous bow at Thevenin, and laughed still louder. Then +he sat down suddenly, all of a heap, upon a stool, and continued +laughing bitterly as though he would shake himself to pieces. + +Montigny recovered his composure first. + +"Let's see what he has about him," he remarked; and he picked the dead +man's pockets with a practised hand, and divided the money into four +equal portions on the table. "There's for you," he said. + +The monk received his share with a deep sigh, and a single stealthy +glance at the dead Thevenin, who was beginning to sink into himself +and topple sideways off the chair. + +"We're all in for it," cried Villon, swallowing his mirth. "It's a +hanging job for every man jack of us that's here--not to speak of +those who aren't." He made a shocking gesture in the air with his +raised right hand, and put out his tongue and threw his head on one +side, so as to counterfeit the appearance of one who has been hanged. +Then he pocketed his share of the spoil, and executed a shuffle with +his feet as if to restore the circulation. + +Tabary was the last to help himself; he made a dash at the money, and +retired to the other end of the apartment. + +Montigny stuck Thevenin upright in the chair, and drew out the dagger, +which was followed by a jet of blood. + +"You fellows had better be moving," he said, as he wiped the blade on +his victim's doublet. + +"I think we had," returned Villon with a gulp. "Damn his fat head!" he +broke out. "It sticks in my throat like phlegm. What right has a man +to have red hair when he is dead?" And he fell all of a heap again +upon the stool, and fairly covered his face with his hands. + +Montigny and Dom Nicolas laughed aloud, even Tabary feebly chiming in. + +"Cry baby," said the monk. + +"I always said he was a woman," added Montigny with a sneer. "Sit up, +can't you?" he went on, giving another shake to the murdered body. +"Tread out that fire, Nick." But Nick was better employed; he was +quietly taking Villon's purse, as the poet sat, limp and trembling, on +the stool where he had been making a ballade not three minutes before. +Montigny and Tabary dumbly demanded a share of the booty, which the +monk silently promised as he passed the little bag into the bosom of +his gown. In many ways an artistic nature unfits a man for practical +existence. + +No sooner had the theft been accomplished than Villon shook himself, +jumped to his feet, and began helping to scatter and extinguish the +embers. Meanwhile Montigny opened the door and cautiously peered into +the street. The coast was clear; there was no meddlesome patrol in +sight. Still it was judged wiser to slip out severally; and as Villon +was himself in a hurry to escape from the neighborhood of the dead +Thevenin, and the rest were in a still greater hurry to get rid of him +before he should discover the loss of his money, he was the first by +general consent to issue forth into the street. + +The wind had triumphed and swept all the clouds from heaven. Only a +few vapors, as thin as moonlight, fleeted rapidly across the stars. It +was bitter cold; and by a common optical effect, things seemed almost +more definite than in the broadest daylight. The sleeping city was +absolutely still: a company of white hoods, a field full of little +Alps, below the twinkling stars. Villon cursed his fortune. Would it +were still snowing! Now, wherever he went he left an indelible trail +behind him on the glittering streets; wherever he went he was still +tethered to the house by the cemetery of St. John; wherever he went he +must weave, with his own plodding feet, the rope that bound him to the +crime and would bind him to the gallows. The leer of the dead man came +back to him with a new significance. He snapped his fingers as if to +pluck up his own spirits, and choosing a street at random, stepped +boldly forward in the snow. + +Two things preoccupied him as he went: the aspect of the gallows at +Montfaucon in this bright windy phase of the night's existence, for +one; and for another, the look of the dead man with his bald head and +garland of red curls. Both struck cold upon his heart, and he kept +quickening his pace as if he could escape from unpleasant thoughts by +mere fleetness of foot. Sometimes he looked back over his shoulder +with a sudden nervous jerk; but he was the only moving thing in the +white streets, except when the wind swooped round a corner and threw +up the snow, which was beginning to freeze, in spouts of glittering +dust. + +Suddenly he saw, a long way before him, a black clump and a couple of +lanterns. The clump was in motion, and the lanterns swung as though +carried by men walking. It was a patrol. And though it was merely +crossing his line of march, he judged it wiser to get out of eyeshot +as speedily as he could. He was not in the humor to be challenged, and +he was conscious of making a very conspicuous mark upon the snow. Just +on his left hand there stood a great hotel, with some turrets and a +large porch before the door; it was half-ruinous, he remembered, and +had long stood empty; and so he made three steps of it and jumped +inside the shelter of the porch. It was pretty dark inside, after +the glimmer of the snowy streets, and he was groping forward with +outspread hands, when he stumbled over some substance which offered an +indescribable mixture of resistances, hard and soft, firm and loose. +His heart gave a leap, and he sprang two steps back and stared +dreadfully at the obstacle. Then he gave a little laugh of relief. It +was only a woman, and she dead. He knelt beside her to make sure upon +this latter point. She was freezing cold, and rigid like a stick. A +little ragged finery fluttered in the wind about her hair, and her +cheeks had been heavily rouged that same afternoon. Her pockets were +quite empty; but in her stocking, underneath the garter, Villon found +two of the small coins that went by the name of whites. It was little +enough; but it was always something; and the poet was moved with a +deep sense of pathos that she should have died before she had spent +her money. That seemed to him a dark and pitiable mystery; and he +looked from the coins in his hand to the dead woman, and back again to +the coins, shaking his head over the riddle of man's life. Henry V. of +England, dying at Vincennes just after he had conquered France, and +this poor jade cut off by a cold draught in a great man's doorway, +before she had time to spend her couple of whites--it seemed a cruel +way to carry on the world. Two whites would have taken such a little +while to squander; and yet it would have been one more good taste in +the mouth, one more smack of the lips, before the devil got the soul, +and the body was left to birds and vermin. He would like to use all +his tallow before the light was blown out and the lantern broken. + +While these thoughts were passing through his mind, he was feeling, +half-mechanically, for his purse. Suddenly his heart stopped beating; +a feeling of cold scales passed up the back of his legs, and a cold +blow seemed to fall upon his scalp. He stood petrified for a moment; +then he felt again with one feverish movement; and then his loss burst +upon him, and he was covered with perspiration. To spendthrifts money +is so living and actual--it is such a thin veil between them and their +pleasures! There is only one limit to their fortune--that of time; and +a spendthrift with only a few crowns is the Emperor of Rome until they +are spent. For such a person to lose his money is to suffer the most +shocking reverse, and fall from heaven to hell, from all to nothing, +in a breath. And all the more if he has put his head in the halter +for it; if he may be hanged to-morrow for that same purse, so dearly +earned, so foolishly departed. Villon stood and cursed; he threw the +two whites into the street; he shook his fist at heaven; he stamped, +and was not horrified to find himself trampling the poor corpse. Then +he began rapidly to retrace his steps toward the house beside the +cemetery. He had forgotten all fear of the patrol, which was long gone +by at any rate, and had no idea but that of his lost purse. It was in +vain that he looked right and left upon the snow; nothing was to be +seen. He had not dropped it in the streets. Had it fallen in the +house? He would have liked dearly to go in and see; but the idea of +the grisly occupant unmanned him. And he saw besides, as he drew near, +that their efforts to put out the fire had been unsuccessful; on the +contrary, it had broken into a blaze, and a changeful light played +in the chinks of the door and window, and revived his terror for the +authorities and Paris gibbet. + +He returned to the hotel with the porch, and groped about upon the +snow for the money he had thrown away in his childish passion. But he +could only find one white; the other had probably struck sideways and +sunk deeply in. With a single white in his pocket, all his projects +for a rousing night in some wild tavern vanished utterly away. And +it was not only pleasure that fled laughing from his grasp; positive +discomfort, positive pain, attacked him as he stood ruefully before +the porch. His perspiration had dried upon him; and though the wind +had now fallen, a binding frost was setting in stronger with every +hour, and he felt benumbed and sick at heart. What was to be done? +Late as was the hour, improbable as was success, he would try the +house of his adopted father, the chaplain of St. Benoit. + +He ran there all the way, and knocked timidly. There was no answer. He +knocked again and again, taking heart with every stroke; and at last +steps were heard approaching from within. A barred wicket fell open in +the iron-studded door, and emitted a gush of yellow light. + +"Hold up your face to the wicket," said the chaplain from within. + +"It's only me," whimpered Villon. + +"Oh, it's only you, is it?" returned the chaplain; and he cursed him +with foul unpriestly oaths for disturbing him at such an hour, and +bade him be off to hell, where he came from. + +"My hands are blue to the wrists," pleaded Villon; "my feet are dead +and full of twinges; my nose aches with the sharp air; the cold lies +at my heart. I may be dead before morning. Only this once, father, and +before God I will never ask again." + +"You should have come earlier," said the ecclesiastic, coolly. "Young +men require a lesson now and then." He shut the wicket and retired +deliberately into the interior of the house. + +Villon was beside himself; he beat upon the door with his hands and +feet, and shouted hoarsely after the chaplain. + +"Wormy old fox," he cried. "If I had my hand under your twist, I would +send you flying headlong into the bottomless pit." + +A door shut in the interior, faintly audible to the poet down long +passages. He passed his hand over his mouth with an oath. And then the +humor of the situation struck him, and he laughed and looked +lightly up to heaven, where the stars seemed to be winking over his +discomfiture. + +What was to be done? It looked very like a night in the frosty +streets. The idea of the dead woman popped into his imagination, and +gave him a hearty fright; what had happened to her in the early night +might very well happen to him before morning. And he so young! and +with such immense possibilities of disorderly amusement before him! He +felt quite pathetic over the notion of his own fate, as if it had been +some one else's, and made a little imaginative vignette of the scene +in the morning when they should find his body. + +He passed all his chances under review, turning the white between his +thumb and forefinger. Unfortunately he was on bad terms with some old +friends who would once have taken pity on him in such a plight. He had +lampooned them in verses, he had beaten and cheated them; and yet now, +when he was in so close a pinch, he thought there was at least one who +might perhaps relent. It was a chance. It was worth trying at least, +and he would go and see. + +On the way, two little accidents happened to him which colored his +musings in a very different manner. For, first, he fell in with the +track of a patrol, and walked in it for some yards, although it lay +out of his direction. And this spirited him up; at least he had +confused his trail; for he was still possessed with the idea of people +tracking him all about Paris over the snow, and collaring him next +morning before he was awake. The other matter affected him very +differently. He passed a street corner, where, not so long before, a +woman and her child had been devoured by wolves. This was just the +kind of weather, he reflected, when wolves might take it into their +heads to enter Paris again; and a lone man in these deserted streets +would run the chance of something worse than a mere scare. He stopped +and looked upon the place with unpleasant interest--it was a centre +where several lanes intersected each other; and he looked down them +all one after another, and held his breath to listen, lest he should +detect some galloping black things on the snow or hear the sound of +howling between him and the river. He remembered his mother telling +him the story and pointing out the spot, while he was yet a child. His +mother! If he only knew where she lived, he might make sure at least +of shelter. He determined he would inquire upon the morrow: nay, he +would go and see her, too, poor old girl! So thinking, he arrived at +his destination--his last hope for the night. + +The house was quite dark, like its neighbors, and yet after a few +taps, he heard a movement overhead, a door opening, and a cautious +voice asking who was there. The poet named himself in a loud whisper, +and waited, not without some trepidation, the result. Nor had he +to wait long. A window was suddenly opened, and a pailful of slops +splashed down upon the doorstep. Villon had not been unprepared for +something of the sort, and had put himself as much in shelter as the +nature of the porch admitted; but for all that, he was deplorably +drenched below the waist. His hose began to freeze almost at once. +Death from cold and exposure stared him in the face; he remembered he +was of phthisical tendency, and began coughing tentatively. But the +gravity of the danger steadied his nerves. He stopped a few hundred +yards from the door where he had been so rudely used, and reflected +with his finger to his nose. He could only see one way of getting a +lodging, and that was to take it. He had noticed a house not far away +which looked as if it might be easily broken into, and thither he +betook himself promptly, entertaining himself on the way with the idea +of a room still hot, with a table still loaded with the remains of +supper, where he might pass the rest of the black hours, and whence he +should issue, on the morrow, with an armful of valuable plate. He even +considered on what viands and what wines he should prefer; and as he +was calling the roll of his favorite dainties, roast fish presented +itself to his mind with an odd mixture of amusement and horror. + +"I shall never finish that ballade," he thought to himself; and then, +with another shudder at the recollection, "Oh, damn his fat head!" he +repeated fervently, and spat upon the snow. + +The house in question looked dark at first sight; but as Villon made +a preliminary inspection in search of the handiest point of attack, a +little twinkle of light caught his eye from behind a curtained window. + +"The devil!" he thought. "People awake! Some student or some saint, +confound the crew! Can't they get drunk and lie in bed snoring like +their neighbors! What's the good of curfew, and poor devils of +bell-ringers jumping at a rope's-end in bell-towers? What's the use of +day, if people sit up all night? The gripes to them!" He grinned as he +saw where his logic was leading him. "Every man to his business, after +all," added he, "and if they're awake, by the Lord, I may come by a +supper honestly for this once, and cheat the devil." + +He went boldly to the door, and knocked with an assured hand. On both +previous occasions he had knocked timidly and with some dread of +attracting notice; but now, when he had just discarded the thought of +a burglarious entry, knocking at a door seemed a mighty simple and +innocent proceeding. The sound of his blows echoed through the house +with thin, phantasmal reverberations, as though it were quite empty; +but these had scarcely died away before a measured tread drew near, a +couple of bolts were withdrawn, and one wing was opened broadly, as +though no guile or fear of guile were known to those within. A tall +figure of a man, muscular and spare, but a little bent, confronted +Villon. The head was massive in bulk, but finely sculptured; the nose +blunt at the bottom but refining upward to where it joined a pair +of strong and honest eyebrows; the mouth and eyes surrounded with +delicate markings, and the whole face based upon a thick white +beard, boldly and squarely trimmed. Seen as it was by the light of a +flickering hand-lamp, it looked perhaps nobler than it had a right to +do; but it was a fine face, honorable rather than intelligent, strong, +simple, and righteous. + +"You knock late, sir," said the old man in resonant, courteous tones. + +Villon cringed, and brought up many servile words of apology; at a +crisis of this sort, the beggar was uppermost in him, and the man of +genius hid his head with confusion. + +"You are cold," repeated the old man, "and hungry? Well, step in." And +he ordered him into the house with a noble enough gesture. + +"Some great seigneur," thought Villon, as his host, setting down the +lamp on the flagged pavement of the entry, shot the bolts once more +into their places. + +"You will pardon me if I go in front," he said, when this was done; +and he preceded the poet up-stairs into a large apartment, warmed with +a pan of charcoal and lit by a great lamp hanging from the roof. It +was very bare of furniture; only some gold plate on a sideboard; some +folios; and a stand of armor between the windows. Some smart tapestry +hung upon the walls, representing the crucifixion of our Lord in one +piece, and in another a scene of shepherds and shepherdesses by a +running stream. Over the chimney was a shield of arms. + +"Will you seat yourself," said the old man, "and forgive me if I leave +you? I am alone in my house to-night, and if you are to eat I must +forage for you myself." + +No sooner was his host gone than Villon leaped from the chair on which +he just seated himself, and began examining the room, with the stealth +and passion of a cat. He weighed the gold flagons in his hand, opened +all the folios, and investigated the arms upon the shield, and the +stuff with which the seats were lined. He raised the window-curtains, +and saw that the windows were set with rich stained glass in figures, +so far as he could see, of martial import. Then he stood in the middle +of the room, drew a long breath, and retaining it with puffed cheeks, +looked round and round him, turning on his heels, as if to impress +every feature of the apartment on his memory. + +"Seven pieces of plate," he said. "If there had been ten I would have +risked it. A fine house, and a fine old master, so help me all the +saints." + +And just then, hearing the old man's tread returning along the +corridor, he stole back to his chair, and began toasting his wet legs +before the charcoal pan. + +His entertainer had a plate of meat in one hand and a jug of wine in +the other. He set down the plate upon the table, motioning Villon +to draw in his chair, and going to the sideboard, brought back two +goblets, which he filled. + +"I drink to your better fortune," he said, gravely touching Villon's +cup with his own. + +"To our better acquaintance," said the poet, growing bold. A mere +man of the people would have been awed by the courtesy of the old +seigneur, but Villon was hardened in that matter; he had made mirth +for great lords before now, and found them as black rascals as +himself. And so he devoted himself to the viands with a ravenous +gusto, while the old man, leaning backward, watched him with steady, +curious eyes. + +"You have blood on your shoulder, my man," he said. + +Montigny must have laid his wet right hand upon him as he left the +house. He cursed Montigny in his heart. + +"It was none of my shedding," he stammered. + +"I had not supposed so," returned his host quietly. "A brawl?" + +"Well, something of that sort," Villon admitted with a quaver. + +"Perhaps a fellow murdered?" + +"Oh, no, not murdered," said the poet, more and more confused. "It was +all fair play--murdered by accident. I had no hand in it, God strike +me dead!" he added fervently. + +"One rogue the fewer, I dare say," observed the master of the house. + +"You may dare to say that," agreed Villon, infinitely relieved. "As +big a rogue as there is between here and Jerusalem. He turned up his +toes like a lamb. But it was a nasty thing to look at. I dare say +you've seen dead men in your time, my lord?" he added, glancing at the +armor. + +"Many," said the old man. "I have followed the wars, as you imagine." + +Villon laid down his knife and fork, which he had just taken up again. + +"Were any of them bald?" he asked. + +"Oh, yes, and with hair as white as mine." + +"I don't think I would mind the white so much," said Villon. "His was +red." And he had a return of his shuddering and tendency to laughter, +which he drowned with a great draught of wine. "I'm a little put out +when I think of it," he went on. "I knew him--damn him! And the cold +gives a man fancies--or the fancies give a man cold, I don't know +which." + +"Have you any money?" asked the old man. + +"I have one white," returned the poet, laughing. "I got it out of +a dead jade's stocking in a porch. She was as dead as Caesar, poor +wench, and as cold as a church, with bits of ribbon sticking in her +hair. This is a hard world in winter for wolves and wenches and poor +rogues like me." + +"I," said the old man, "am Enguerrand de la Feuillee, seigneur +de Brisetout, bailly du Patatrac. Who and what may you be?" + +Villon rose and made a suitable reverence. "I am called Francis +Villon," he said, "a poor Master of Arts of this university. I know +some Latin, and a deal of vice. I can make chansons, ballades, lais, +virelais, and roundels, and I am very fond of wine. I was born in a +garret, and I shall not improbably die upon the gallows. I may add, +my lord, that from this night forward I am your lordship's very +obsequious servant to command." + +"No servant of mine," said the knight; "my guest for this evening, and +no more." + +"A very grateful guest," said Villon, politely; and he drank in dumb +show to his entertainer. + +"You are shrewd," began the old man, tapping his forehead, "very +shrewd; you have learning; you are a clerk; and yet you take a small +piece of money off a dead woman in the street. Is it not a kind of +theft?" + +"It is a kind of theft much practised in the wars, my lord." + +"The wars are the field of honor," returned the old man proudly. +"There a man plays his life upon the cast; he fights in the name of +his lord the king, his Lord God, and all their lordships the holy +saints and angels." + +"Put it," said Villon, "that I were really a thief, should I not play +my life also, and against heavier odds?" + +"For gain, and not for honor." + +"Gain?" repeated Villon with a shrug. "Gain! The poor fellow wants +supper, and takes it. So does the soldier in a campaign. Why, what are +all these requisitions we hear so much about? If they are not gain +to those who take them, they are loss enough to the others. The +men-at-arms drink by a good fire, while the burgher bites his nails to +buy them wine and wood. I have seen a good many ploughmen swinging on +trees about the country; ay, I have seen thirty on one elm, and a very +poor figure they made; and when I asked some one how all these came to +be hanged, I was told it was because they could not scrape together +enough crowns to satisfy the men-at-arms." + +"These things are a necessity of war, which the low-born must endure +with constancy. It is true that some captains drive overhard; there +are spirits in every rank not easily moved by pity; and, indeed, many +follow arms who are no better than brigands." + +"You see," said the poet, "you cannot separate the soldier from the +brigand; and what is a thief but an isolated brigand with circumspect +manners? I steal a couple of mutton chops, without so much as +disturbing the farmer's sheep; the farmer grumbles a bit, but sups +none the less wholesomely on what remains. You come up blowing +gloriously on a trumpet, take away the whole sheep, and beat the +farmer pitifully into the bargain. I have no trumpet; I am only Tom, +Dick, or Harry; I am a rogue and a dog, and hanging's too good for +me--with all my heart--but just you ask the farmer which of us he +prefers, just find out which of us he lies awake to curse on cold +nights." + +"Look at us two," said his lordship. "I am old, strong, and honored. +If I were turned from my house to-morrow, hundreds would be proud to +shelter me. Poor people would go out and pass the night in the streets +with their children, if I merely hinted that I wished to be alone. +And I find you up, wandering homeless, and picking farthings off dead +women by the wayside! I fear no man and nothing; I have seen you +tremble and lose countenance at a word. I wait God's summons +contentedly in my own house, or, if it please the king to call me out +again, upon the field of battle. You look for the gallows; a rough, +swift death, without hope or honor. Is there no difference between +these two?" + +"As far as to the moon," Villon acquiesced. "But if I had been born +lord of Brisetout, and you had been the poor scholar Francis, would +the difference have been any the less? Should not I have been warming +my knees at this charcoal pan, and would not you have been groping for +farthings in the snow? Should not I have been the soldier, and you the +thief?" + +"A thief!" cried the old man. "I a thief! If you understood your +words, you would repent them." + +Villon turned out his hands with a gesture of inimitable impudence. +"If your lordship had done me the honor to follow my argument!" he +said. + +"I do you too much honor in submitting to your presence," said the +knight. "Learn to curb your tongue when you speak with old and +honorable men, or some one hastier than I may reprove you in a sharper +fashion." And he rose and paced the lower end of the apartment, +struggling with anger and antipathy. Villon surreptitiously refilled +his cup, and settled himself more comfortably in the chair, crossing +his knees and leaning his head upon one hand and the elbow against the +back of the chair. He was now replete and warm; and he was in nowise +frightened for his host, having gauged him as justly as was possible +between two such different characters. The night was far spent, and in +a very comfortable fashion after all; and he felt morally certain of a +safe departure on the morrow. + +"Tell me one thing," said the old man, pausing in his walk. "Are you +really a thief?" + +"I claim the sacred rights of hospitality," returned the poet. "My +lord, I am." + +"You are very young," the knight continued. + +"I should never have been so old," replied Villon; showing his +fingers, "if I had not helped myself with these ten talents. They have +been my nursing mothers and my nursing fathers." + +"You may still repent and change." + +"I repent daily," said the poet. "There are few people more given to +repentance than poor Francis. As for change, let somebody change my +circumstances. A man must continue to eat, if it were only that he may +continue to repent." + +"The change must begin in the heart," returned the old man solemnly. + +"My dear lord," answered Villon, "do you really fancy that I steal for +pleasure? I hate stealing, like any other piece of work or danger. My +teeth chatter when I see a gallows. But I must eat, I must drink, +I must mix in society of some sort. What the devil! Man is not +a solitary animal--_Cui Deus foeminam tradit_. Make me king's +pantler--make me abbot of St. Denis; make me bailly of the Patatrac; +and then I shall be changed indeed. But as long as you leave me the +poor scholar Francis Villon, without a farthing, why, of course, I +remain the same." + +"The grace of God is all-powerful." + +"I should be a heretic to question it," said Francis. "It has made you +lord of Brisetout, and bailly of the Patatrac; it has given me nothing +but the quick wits under my hat and these ten toes upon my hands. May +I help myself to wine? I thank you respectfully. By God's grace, you +have a very superior vintage." + +The lord of Brisetout walked to and fro with his hands behind his +back. Perhaps he was not yet quite settled in his mind about the +parallel between thieves and soldiers; perhaps Villon had interested +him by some cross-thread of sympathy; perhaps his wits were simply +muddled by so much unfamiliar reasoning; but whatever the cause, he +somehow yearned to convert the young man to a better way of thinking, +and could not make up his mind to drive him forth again into the +street. + +"There is something more than I can understand in this," he said, at +length. "Your mouth is full of subtleties, and the devil has led you +very far astray; but the devil is only a very weak spirit before God's +truth, and all his subtleties vanish at a word of true honor, like +darkness at morning. Listen to me once more. I learned long ago that a +gentleman should live chivalrously and lovingly to God, and the king, +and his lady; and though I have seen many strange things done, I +have still striven to command my ways upon that rule. It is not only +written in all noble histories, but in every man's heart, if he will +take care to read. You speak of food and wine, and I know very well +that hunger is a difficult trial to endure; but you do not speak of +other wants; you say nothing of honor, of faith to God and other men, +of courtesy, of love without reproach. It may be that I am not very +wise--and yet I think I am--but you seem to me like one who has lost +his way and made a great error in life. You are attending to the +little wants, and you have totally forgotten the great and only real +ones, like a man who should be doctoring a toothache on the Judgment +Day. For such things as honor and love and faith are not only nobler +than food and drink, but, indeed, I think that we desire them more, +and suffer more sharply for their absence. I speak to you as I think +you will most easily understand me. Are you not, while careful to fill +your belly, disregarding another appetite in your heart, which spoils +the pleasure of your life and keeps you continually wretched?" + +Villon was sensibly nettled under all this sermonizing. "You think I +have no sense of honor!" he cried. "I'm poor enough, God knows! It's +hard to see rich people with their gloves, and you blowing your hands. +An empty belly is a bitter thing, although you speak so lightly of +it. If you had had as many as I, perhaps you would change your tune. +Anyway, I'm a thief--make the most of that--but I'm not a devil from +hell, God strike me dead. I would have you to know I've an honor of my +own, as good as yours, though I don't prate about it all day long, as +if it were a God's miracle to have any. It seems quite natural to me; +I keep it in its box till it's wanted. Why now, look you here, how +long have I been in this room with you? Did you not tell me you were +alone in the house? Look at your gold plate! You're strong, if you +like, but you're old and unarmed, and I have my knife. What did I want +but a jerk of the elbow, and here would have been you with the cold +steel in your bowels, and there would have been me, linking in the +streets, with an armful of gold cups! Did you suppose I hadn't wit +enough to see that? And I scorned the action. There are your damned +goblets, as safe as in a church; there are you, with your heart +ticking as good as new; and here am I, ready to go out again as poor +as I came in, with my one white that you threw in my teeth! And you +think I have no sense of honor--God strike me dead!" + +The old man stretched out his right arm. "I will tell you what +you are," he said. "You are a rogue, my man, an impudent and a +black-hearted rogue and vagabond. I have passed an hour with you. Oh! +believe me, I feel myself disgraced! And you have eaten and drank at +my table. But now I am sick at your presence; the day has come, and +the night-bird should be off to his roost. Will you go before, or +after?" + +"Which you please," returned the poet, rising. "I believe you to be +strictly honorable." He thoughtfully emptied his cup. "I wish I could +add you were intelligent," he went on, knocking on his head with his +knuckles. "Age, age! the brains stiff and rheumatic." + +The old man preceded him from a point of self-respect; Villon +followed, whistling, with his thumbs in his girdle. + +"God pity you," said the lord of Brisetout at the door. + +"Good-bye, papa," returned Villon, with a yawn. "Many thanks for the +cold mutton." + +The door closed behind him. The dawn was breaking over the white +roofs. A chill, uncomfortable morning ushered in the day. Villon stood +and heartily stretched himself in the middle of the road. + +"A very dull old gentleman," he thought. "I wonder what his goblets +may be worth." + + + + +INDEX + + Aesop + beast-fables + Apuleius + _The Golden Ass_ + likeness to Kipling + Aristotle + _Secretum Secretorum_ + + Barrett, Charles Raymond + _Short-Story Writings_ + Beast-fables + Boccaccio + _Teseide_ + _Decameron_ + Brown, Dr. John (1810-1882) + _Rab and His Friends_ + Bunyan, John + + Cable + _Strange True Stories of Louisiana_ + Cervantes + _Don Quixote_ + Chaucer + Coleridge + _Ancient Mariner_ + + _Deeds of the Romans, The_ + Defoe, Daniel (1661-1731) + _Short-Story Essay_ + _The Apparition of Mrs. Veal_ + Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) + _The Boots at the Holly-Tree Inn_ + Drelincourt + _Book on Death_ + + Fenton, Geoffrey + _Tragical Discourses_ + Fuller, Thomas + + Garnett, Richard + _The Poison Maid_ + _Gesta Romanorum, The_ + + Hardy, Thomas (1840) + _The Three Strangers_ + Harris, Chandler + _Uncle Remus_ + Harte, Bret (1839-1902) + _The Outcasts of Poker Flat_ + Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1807-1864) + _Dr. Heidegger's Experiment_ + Hogg, James (1770-1835) + the Ettrick Shepherd + early life + _Shepherd's Calendar_ + _The Brownie of Bodsbeck_ + Professor Wilson on + _The Mysterious Bride_ + Holmes, Oliver Wendell + _Elsie Venner_ + Hood, Thomas + _The Dream of Eugene Aram_ + + _Ingoldsby Legends, The_ + Irving, Washington (1783-1859) + _The Devil and Tom Walker_ + + James, Henry (1843) + _Julia Bride_ + + Kipling, Rudyard + _Just-so Stories_ + _Jungle-Book_ + _Finest Story in the World_ + _The Man Who Would be King_ + + Laws of the short-story + _Leech of Folkstone, The_ + + Malory, _Morte D'Arthur_ + Matthews, Professor Brander + Morris, William, _Defence of Guinevere_ + + Nathaniel Hawthorne, _Rappaccini's Daughter_ + North, Sir Thomas, _Plutarch's Lives_ + + _Of Temporal Tribulation_ + _Of the Transgressions and Wounds of the Soul_ + + Paynter, William, _The Palace of Pleasure_ + _Peregrine Pickle_ + Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849), + laws of short-story; + essay on Hawthorne; + _Tale of the Ragged Mountains_; + _The Purloined Letter_. + Powell, Prof. J.W. + _Practical Treatise on the Art of the Short-Story_ + + _Redgauntlet_ + _Roderick Random_ + Rossetti, _White Ship_ + + Shakespeare, _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_; + borrower. + Shelton, Thomas, _Don Quixote_ + Short-Story, Evolution of the + Smith, Herbert H. + Sterne, Laurence + Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894), + _A Lodging for the Night_ + Stockton, Frank R. (1834-1902), + _A Story of Seven Devils_ + + Tennyson, + _The Idylls of the King_; + _The Lady of Shalott_. + _Tom Jones_ + Trollope, Anthony + Twain, Mark (1835), + _A Dog's Tale_ + + Underdown, Thomas, _Heliodorus_ + + _Vicar of Wakefield_ + + Walton, Isaak + Wilson, Professor, on James Hogg + + +END OF VOL. I + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10135 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70e6bfb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10135 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10135) diff --git a/old/10135-8.txt b/old/10135-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5133f8c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10135-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9352 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Great English Short-Story Writers, Vol. +1, by Various, et al + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Great English Short-Story Writers, Vol. 1 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 19, 2003 [eBook #10135] + +Language: English + +Chatacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT ENGLISH SHORT-STORY +WRITERS, VOL. 1*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE READERS'S LIBRARY + +THE GREAT ENGLISH SHORT-STORY WRITERS + +VOL. I + +WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS BY + +WILLIAM J. DAWSON AND CONINGSBY W. DAWSON + +MCMX + + + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + +To the publishers and authors who have courteously permitted the use +of copyrighted material in these two volumes, a word of grateful +acknowledgment is hereby given by the editors. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. + + + I. THE EVOLUTION OF THE SHORT-STORY + + II. THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL. By Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) + + III. THE MYSTERIOUS BRIDE. By James Hogg (1770-1835) + + IV. THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER. By Washington Irving (1783-1859) + + V. DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT. By Nathaniel Hawthorne (1807-1864) + + VI. THE PURLOINED LETTER. By Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) + + VII. RAB AND HIS FRIENDS. By Dr. John Brown (1810-1882) + +VIII. THE BOOTS AT THE HOLLY-TREE INN. By Charles Dickens (1812-1870) + + IX. A STORY OF SEVEN DEVILS. By Frank R. Stockton. (1834-1902) + + X. A DOG'S TALE. By Mark Twain (1835) + + XI. THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT. By Bret Harte (1839-1902) + + XII. THE THREE STRANGERS. By Thomas Hardy (1840) + +XIII. JULIA BRIDE. By Henry James (1843) + + XIV. A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT. By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) + +INDEX + + + + +The Evolution of the Short-Story + + +I + +The short-story commenced its career as a verbal utterance, or, as +Robert Louis Stevenson puts it, with "the first men who told their +stories round the savage camp-fire." + +It bears the mark of its origin, for even to-day it is true that the +more it creates the illusion of the speaking-voice, causing the reader +to listen and to see, so that he forgets the printed page, the better +does it accomplish its literary purpose. It is probably an instinctive +appreciation of this fact which has led so many latter-day writers +to narrate their short-stories in dialect. In a story which is +communicated by the living voice our attention is held primarily not +by the excellent deposition of adjectives and poise of style, but by +the striding progress of the plot; it is the plot, and action in the +plot, alone which we remember when the combination of words which +conveyed and made the story real to us has been lost to mind. "Crusoe +recoiling from the foot-print, Achilles shouting over against the +Trojans, Ulysses bending the great bow, Christian running with his +fingers in his ears; these are each culminating moments, and each has +been printed on the mind's eye for ever."[1] + +[Footnote 1: A Gossip on Romance, from _Memories and Portraits_, by +R.L. Stevenson.] + +The secondary importance of the detailed language in which an incident +is narrated, when compared with the total impression made by the +naked action contained in the incident, is seen in the case of +ballad poetry, where a man may retain a vivid mental picture of the +localities, atmosphere, and dramatic moments created by Coleridge's +_Ancient Mariner_, or Rossetti's _White Ship_, and yet be quite +incapable of repeating two consecutive lines of the verse. In +literature of narration, whether prose or verse, the dramatic worth of +the action related must be the first consideration. + +In earlier days, when much of the current fiction was not written +down, but travelled from mouth to mouth, as it does in the Orient +to-day, this fact must have been realized--that, in the short-story, +plot is superior to style. Among modern writers, however, there has +been a growing tendency to make up for scantiness of plot by +high literary workmanship; the result has been in reality not a +short-story, but a descriptive sketch or vignette, dealing chiefly +with moods and landscapes. So much has this been the case that the +writer of a recent _Practical Treatise on the Art of the Short-Story_ +has found it necessary to make the bald statement that "the first +requisite of a short-story is that the writer have a story to +tell."[2] + +[Footnote 2: _Short-Story Writing_, by Charles Raymond Barrett.] + +However lacking the stories which have come down to us from ancient +times may be in technique, they invariably narrate action--they have +something to tell. If they had not done so, they would not have been +interesting to the men who first heard them, and, had they not been +interesting, they would not have survived. Their paramount worth in +this respect of _action_ is proved by the constant borrowings which +modern writers have made from them. Take one case in illustration. In +the twenty-eighth chapter of Aristotle's _Secretum Secretorum_ appears +a story in which "a queen of India is said to have treacherously sent +to Alexander, among other costly presents, the pretended testimonies +of friendship, a girl of exquisite beauty, who, having been fed with +serpents from her infancy, partook of their nature." It comes to light +again, in an altered and expanded form, in the _Gesta Romanorum_, as +the eleventh tale, being entitled _Of the Poison of Sin_. + +"Alexander was a prince of great power, and a disciple of Aristotle, +who instructed him in every branch of learning. The Queen of the +North, having heard of his proficiency, nourished her daughter from +the cradle upon a certain kind of deadly poison; and when she grew up, +she was considered so beautiful, that the sight of her alone affected +many to madness. The queen sent her to Alexander to espouse. He had no +sooner beheld her than he became violently enamoured, and with much +eagerness desired to possess her; but Aristotle, observing his +weakness, said: 'Do not touch her, for if you do, you will certainly +perish. She has been nurtured upon the most deleterious food, which +I will prove to you immediately. Here is a malefactor who is already +condemned to death. He shall be united to her, and you shall soon see +the truth of what I advance.' + +"Accordingly the culprit was brought without delay to the girl; +and scarcely had he touched her lips, before his whole frame was +impregnated with poison, and he expired. Alexander, glad at his escape +from such imminent destruction, bestowed all thanks on his instructor, +and returned the girl to her mother." + +After which follows the monkish application of the moral, as long as +the entire story: Alexander being made to stand for a good Christian; +the Queen of the North for "a superfluity of the things of life, which +sometimes destroys the spirit, and generally the body"; the Poison +Maid for luxury and gluttony, "which feed men with delicacies that +are poison to the soul"; Aristotle for conscience and reason, which +reprove and oppose any union which would undo the soul; and the +malefactor for the evil man, disobedient unto his God. + +There have been at least three writers of English fiction who, +borrowing this germ-plot from the _Gesta Romanorum_, have handled it +with distinction and originality. Nathaniel Hawthorne, having changed +its period and given it an Italian setting, wove about it one of +the finest and most imaginative of his short-stories, _Rappaccini's +Daughter_. Oliver Wendell Holmes, with a freshness and vigor all his +own, developed out of it his fictional biography of _Elsie Venner_. +And so recent a writer as Mr. Richard Garnett, attracted by the subtle +and magic possibilities of the conception, has given us yet another +rendering, restoring to the story its classic setting, in _The +Poison Maid_.[3] Thus, within the space of a hundred years, three +master-craftsmen have found their inspiration in the slender anecdote +which Aristotle, in the opulence of his genius, was content to hurry +into a few sentences and bury beneath the mass of his material. + +[Footnote 3: Vide _The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales_, +published by John Lane, 1903.] + + +II + +Probably the first stories of mankind were _true stories_, but the +true story is rarely good art. It is perhaps for this reason that few +true stories of early times have come down to us. Mr. Cable, in his +_Strange True Stories of Louisiana_, explains the difference between +the fabricated tale and the incident as it occurs in life. "The +relations and experiences of real men and women," he writes, "rarely +fall in such symmetrical order as to make an artistic whole. Until +they have had such treatment as we give stone in the quarry or gems in +the rough, they seldom group themselves with that harmony of values +and brilliant unity of interest that result when art comes in--not +so much to transcend nature as to make nature transcend herself." In +other words, it is not until the true story has been converted into +fiction by the suppression of whatever is discursive or ungainly, +and the addition of a stroke of fantasy, that it becomes integral, +balanced in all its parts, and worthy of literary remembrance. + +In the fragments of fiction which have come down to us from the days +when books were not, odd chapters from the Fieldings and Smollets of +the age of Noah, remnants of the verbal libraries which men repeated +one to the other, squatting round "the savage camp-fire," when +the hunt was over and night had gathered, the stroke of fantasy +predominates and tends to comprise the whole. Men spun their fictions +from the materials with which their minds were stored, much as we do +to-day, and the result was a cycle of beast-fables--an Odyssey of the +brute creation. Of these the tales of Aesop are the best examples. The +beast-fable has never quite gone out of fashion, and never will so +long as men retain their world-wonder, and childishness of mind. +A large part of Gulliver's adventures belong to this class of +literature. It was only the other day that Mr. Kipling gave us his +_Just-so Stories_, and his _Jungle-Book_, each of which found an +immediate and secure place in the popular memory. + +Mr. Chandler Harris, in his introduction to _Uncle Remus_, warns us +that however humorous his book may appear, "its intention is perfectly +serious." He goes on to insist on its historic value, as a revelation +of primitive modes of thought. At the outset, when he wrote his +stories serially for publication in _The Atlanta Constitution_, he +believed that he was narrating plantation legends peculiar to the +South. He was quickly undeceived. Prof. J.W. Powell, who was engaged +in an investigation of the mythology of the North American Indians, +informed him that some of Uncle Remus's stories appear "in a number of +different languages, and in various modified forms among the Indians." +Mr. Herbert H. Smith had "met with some of these stories among tribes +of South American Indians, and one in particular he had traced to +India, and as far east as Siam." "When did the negro or North American +Indian ever come in contact with the tribes of South America?" +Mr. Harris asks. And he quotes Mr. Smith's reply in answer to the +question: "I am not prepared to form a theory about these stories. +There can be no doubt that some of them, found among the negroes and +the Indians, had a common origin. The most natural solution would be +to suppose that they originated in Africa, and were carried to South +America by the negro slaves. They are certainly found among the Red +Negroes; but, unfortunately for the African theory, it is equally +certain that they are told by savage Indians of the Amazon's Valley, +away up on the Tapajos, Red Negro, and Tapura. These Indians hardly +ever see a negro.... It is interesting to find a story from Upper +Egypt (that of the fox who pretended to be dead) identical with an +Amazonian story, and strongly resembling one found by you among the +negroes.... One thing is certain. The animal stories told by the +negroes in our Southern States and in Brazil were brought by them +from Africa. Whether they originated there, or with the Arabs, or +Egyptians, or with yet more ancient nations, must still be an open +question. Whether the Indians got them from the negroes or from some +earlier source is equally uncertain." Whatever be the final solution +to this problem, enough has been said to show that the beast-fable is, +in all probability, the most primitive form of short-story which we +possess. + + +III + +For our purpose, that of tracing the evolution of the English +short-story, its history commences with the _Gesta Romanorum_. At the +authorship of this collection of mediaeval tales, many guesses have +been made. Nothing is known with certainty; it seems probable, +however, judging from the idioms which occur, that it took its present +form in England, about the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of +the fourteenth century, and thence passed to the Continent. The work +is written in Latin, and was evidently compiled by a man in holy +orders, for its guiding purpose is to edify. In this we can trace the +influence of Aesop's beast-fables, which were moral lessons drawn from +the animal creation for the instruction of mankind. Every chapter of +the _Gesta Romanorum_ consists of a moral tale; so much so that in +many cases the application of the moral is as long as the tale itself. + +The title of the collection, _The Deeds of the Romans_, is scarcely +justified; in the main it is a garnering of all the deathless plots +and dramatic motives which we find scattered up and down the ages, in +the legend and folklore of whatsoever nation. The themes of many of +its stories were being told, their characters passing under other +names, when Romulus and Remus were suckled by their wolf-mother, +before there was a Roman nation or a city named Rome. + +In the Bible we have many admirable specimens of the short-story. +Jotham's parable of the trees of the wood choosing a king is as good +an instance of the nature-fable, touched with fine irony and humor, as +could be found. The Hebrew prophet himself was often a story-teller. +Thus, when Nathan would bring home the nature of his guilt to David, +he does it by a story of the most dramatic character, which loses +nothing, and indeed gains all its terrific impact, by being strongly +impregnated with moral passion. Many such instances will occur to +the student of the Bible. In the absence of a written or printed +literature the story-teller had a distinct vocation, as he still has +among the peoples of the East. Every visitor to Tangier has seen in +the market-place the professional story-teller, surrounded from morn +till night with his groups of attentive listeners, whose kindling +eyes, whose faces moved by every emotion of wonder, anger, tenderness, +and sympathy, whose murmured applause and absorbed silence, are the +witnesses and the reward of his art. Through such a scene we recover +the atmosphere of the Arabian Nights, and indeed look back into almost +limitless antiquity. Possibly, could we follow the story which is thus +related, we might discover that this also drew its elemental incidents +from sources as old as the times of Jotham and Nathan. + +The most that can be said for the Latin origin of the _Gesta +Romanorum_ is that the nucleus is made up of extracts, frequently of +glaring inaccuracy, from Roman writers and historians. The Cologne +edition comprises one hundred and eighty-one chapters, each consisting +of a tale or anecdote followed by a moral application, commencing +formally with the words, "My beloved, the prince is intended to +represent any good Christian," or, "My beloved, the emperor is Christ; +the soldier is any sinner." They are not so much short-stories as +illustrated homilies. In the literary armory of the lazy parish priest +of the fourteenth century, the _Gesta Romanorum_ must have held the +place which volumes of sermon-outlines occupy upon the book-shelves of +certain of his brethren to-day. + +"The method of instructing by fables is a practice of remote +antiquity; and has always been attended with very considerable +benefit. Its great popularity encouraged the monks to adopt this +medium, not only for the sake of illustrating their discourses, but of +making a more durable impression upon the minds of their illiterate +auditors. An abstract argument, or logical deduction (had they been +capable of supplying it), would operate but faintly upon intellects +rendered even more obtuse by the rude nature of their customary +employments; while, on the other hand, an apposite story would arouse +attention and stimulate that blind and unenquiring devotion which is +so remarkably characteristic of the Middle Ages."[4] + +[Footnote 4: Introduction to _Gesta Romanorum_, translated by the Rev. +Charles Swan, revised and corrected by Wynnard Hooper, B.A.] + +IV + + +The influence of the _Gesta Romanorum_ is most conspicuously to be +traced in the work of Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate; but it has +served as a source of inspiration to the flagging ingenuity of each +succeeding generation. It would be tedious to enter on an enumeration +of the various indebtednesses of English literature to these early +tales. A few instances will serve as illustration. + +It seems a far cry from the _The Ingoldsby Legends_ to _The Deeds of +the Romans_, nevertheless _The Leech of Folk-stone_ was directly taken +from the hundred and second tale, _Of the Transgressions and Wounds of +the Soul_. Shakespeare himself was a frequent borrower, and planned +his entire play of _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_, upon the hundred +and fifty-third tale, _Of Temporal Tribulation_. In some cases the +language is almost identical, as for instance in the fifth tale, where +the king warns his son, saying, "Son, I tell thee that thou canst +not confide in her, and consequently ought not to espouse her. _She +deceived her own father when she liberated thee from prison_; for this +did her father lose the price of thy ransom." Compare with this: + + "Look to her, Moor; have a quick eye to see; + _She has deceived her father, and may thee_."[5] + +[Footnote 5: _Othello_, act I, scene III.] + +But the ethical treatment of the short-story, as exemplified in these +monkish fables, handicapped its progress and circumscribed its field +of endeavor. Morality necessitated the twisting of incidents, so that +they might harmonize with the sermonic summing-up that was in view. +Life is not always moral; it is more often perplexing, boisterous, +unjust, and flippant. The wicked dwell in prosperity. "There are no +pangs in their death; their strength is firm. They are not in trouble +as other men; neither are they plagued as other men. They have more +than heart could wish." But the art of the teller of tales "is +occupied, and bound to be occupied not so much in making stories true +as in making them typical."[6] + +[Footnote 6: From a Humble Remonstrance, in _Memories and Portraits_, +by R.L. Stevenson.] + +The ethical method of handling fiction falls between two stools; it +not only fails in portraying that which is true for the individual, +but it incurs the graver error of ceasing to be true to the race, +i.e., typical. + +It would be interesting, had we space, to follow Shakespeare in his +borrowings, noticing what he adopts and incorporates in his work +as artistically true, and what he rejects. Like a water-color +landscape-painter, he pauses above the box of crude materials which +others have made, takes a dab here and a dab there with his brush, +rarely takes all of one color, blends them, eyes the result +judicially, and flashes in the combination with swiftness and +certainty of touch. + +For instance, from the lengthy story which appears as the hundred and +first tale in Mr. Douce's edition of the _Gesta_, he selects but one +scene of action, yet it is the making of _Macbeth_--one would almost +suppose that this was the germ-thought which kindled his furious +fancy, preceding his discovery of the Macbeth tradition as related in +Holinshed's _Chronicle_.[7] + +[Footnote 7: _The Chronicle of England and Scotland_, first published +in 1577.] + +The Emperor Manelay has set forth to the Holy Land, leaving his +empress and kingdom in his brother's care. No sooner has he gone than +the regent commences to make love to his brother's wife. She rejects +him scornfully. Angered by her indignation, he leads her into a forest +and hangs her by the hair upon a tree, leaving her there to starve. +As good-fortune will have it, on the third day a noble earl comes by, +and, finding her in that condition, releases her, takes her home with +him, and makes her governess to his only daughter. A feeling of shame +causes her to conceal her noble rank, and so it comes about that the +earl's steward aspires to her affection. Her steadfast refusal of all +his advances turns his love to hatred, so that he plans to bring about +her downfall. Then comes the passage which Shakespeare seized upon +as vital: "It befell upon a night that the earl's chamber door was +forgotten and left unshut, which the steward had anon perceived; and +when they were all asleep he went and espied the light of the lamp +where the empress and the young maid lay together, and with that he +drew out his knife and cut the throat of the earl's daughter and put +the knife into the empress's hand, she being asleep, and nothing +knowing thereof, to the intent that when the earl awakened he should +think that she had cut his daughter's throat, and so would she be put +to a shameful death for his mischievous deed." + +The laws of immediateness and concentration, which govern the +short-story, are common also to the drama; by reason of their brevity +both demand a directness of approach which leads up, without break of +sequence or any waste of words, through a dependent series of actions +to a climax which is final. It will usually be found in studying the +borrowings which the masters have made from such sources as the _Gesta +Romanorum_ that the portions which they have discriminated as worth +taking from any one tale have been the only artistically essential +elements which the narrative contains; the remainder, which they +have rejected, is either untrue to art or unnecessary to the plot's +development. + +These tales, as told by their monkish compiler, lack "that harmony of +values and brilliant unity of interest that results when art comes +in"--they are splendid jewels badly cut. + + +V + +As has been already stated, a short-story theme, however fine, can +only be converted into good art by the suppression of whatever is +discursive or ungainly, so that it becomes integral and balanced in +all its parts; and by the addition of a stroke of fantasy, so that it +becomes vast, despite its brevity, implying a wider horizon than it +actually describes; but, in excess of these qualities, there is a last +of still greater importance, without which it fails--_the power to +create the impression of having been possible_. + +Now the beast-fable, as handled by Aesop, falls short of being high +art by reason of its overwhelming fantasy, which annihilates all +chance of its possibility. The best short-stories represent a struggle +between fantasy and fact. And the mediaeval monkish tale fails by +reason of the discursiveness and huddling together of incidents, +without regard to their dramatic values, which the moral application +necessitates. In a word, both are deficient in technique--the +concealed art which, when it has combined its materials so that they +may accomplish their most impressive effect, causes the total result +to command our credulity because it seems typical of human experience. + +The technique of the English prose short-story had a tardy evolution. +That there were any definite laws, such as obtain in poetry, by +which it must abide was not generally realized until Edgar Allan Poe +formulated them in his criticism of Nathaniel Hawthorne. + +As he states them, they are five in number, as follows: Firstly, that +the short-story must be short, i.e., capable of being read at one +sitting, in order that it may gain "the immense force derivable +from _totality_." Secondly, that the short-story must possess +_immediateness_; it should aim at a single or unique effect--"if the +very initial sentence tend not to the outbringing of this effect, then +it has failed in its first step." Thirdly, that the short-story must +be subjected to _compression_; "in the whole composition there should +not be one word written of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is +not to the one pre-established design." Fourthly, that it must assume +the aspect of _verisimilitude_; "truth is often, and in very great +degree, the aim of the tale--some of the finest tales are tales +of ratiocination." Fifthly, that it must give the impression of +_finality_; the story, and the interest in the characters which it +introduces, must begin with the opening sentence and end with the +last. + +These laws, and the technique which they formulate, were first +discovered and worked out for the short-story in the medium of +poetry.[8] The ballad and narrative poem must be, by reason of their +highly artificial form, comparatively short, possessing totality, +immediateness, compression, verisimilitude, and finality. The old +ballad which commemorates the battle of Otterbourne, fought on August +10, 1388, is a fine example of the short-story method. Its opening +stanza speaks the last word in immediateness of narration: + + "It felle abowght the Lamasse tyde, + When husbands wynn ther haye, + The dowghtye Dowglasse bowynd hym to ryde + In England to take a praye." + +[Footnote 8: Poe himself implies this when he says, in an earlier +passage of his essay on Hawthorne: "The Tale Proper" (i.e., +short-story), "in my opinion, affords unquestionably the fairest field +for the exercise of the loftiest talent which can be afforded by the +wide domains of mere prose. Were I bidden to say how the highest +genius could be most advantageously employed for the best display +of its own powers, I should answer, without hesitation, in the +composition of a rhymed poem, not to exceed in length what might be +perused in an hour. Within this limit alone can the highest order of +true poetry exist. I need only here say, upon this topic, that in +almost all classes of composition the unity of effect or impression +is a point of the greatest importance. _It is clear_, moreover, _that +this unity cannot be thoroughly preserved in productions whose perusal +cannot be completed at one sitting_."] + +Thomas Hood's poem of _The Dream of Eugene Aram_, written at a time +when the prose short-story, under the guidance of Hawthorne and Poe, +was just beginning to take its place as a separate species of literary +art, has never been surpassed for short-story technique by any of the +practitioners of prose. Prof. Brander Matthews has pointed out that +"there were nine muses in Greece of old, and no one of these daughters +of Apollo was expected to inspire the writer of prose-fiction."[9] + +[Footnote 9: In his introduction to _Materials and Methods of +Fiction_, by Clayton Hamilton, published by the Baker & Taylor Co., +New York.] + +He argues from this that "prose seemed to the Greeks, and even to the +Latins who followed in their footsteps, as fit only for pedestrian +purposes." It is more probable that, as regards prose-fiction, they +did not realize that they were called upon to explain the omission of +the tenth muse. Her exclusion was based on no reasoned principle, but +was due to a sensuous art-instinct: the Greeks felt that the unnatural +limitations of the poetic medium were more in keeping with the +unnatural[10] brevity of a story which must be short. The exquisite +prose tales which have been handed down to us belong to the age of +their decadence as a nation; in their great period their tellers of +brief tales unconsciously cast their rendering in the poetic mould.[11] +In natures of the highest genius the most arduous is instinctively the +favorite task. + +[Footnote 10: "The short-story is artificial, and to a considerable +degree unnatural. It could hardly be otherwise, for it takes out of +our complex lives a single person or a single incident and treats +that as if it were complete in itself. Such isolation is not known +to nature."--Page 22 of _Short-Story Writing_, by Charles Raymond +Barrett, published by the Baker & Taylor Co., New York.] + +[Footnote 11: For example, the story told by Demodocus of _The +Illicit Love of Ares for Aphrodite, and the Revenge which Hephaestus +Planned_--Odyssey, Bk. VIII.] + +Chaucer, by reason of his intimate acquaintance with both the poetry +and prose-fiction of Boccaccio, had the opportunity to choose between +these two mediums of short-story narration; and he chose the former. +He was as familiar with Boccaccio's poetic method, as exemplified +in the _Teseide_, as with his prose, as exemplified at much greater +length in the _Decameron_, for he borrowed from them both. Yet in only +two instances in the _Canterbury Tales_ does he relapse into prose. + +The _Teseide_ in Chaucer's hands, retaining its poetic medium, is +converted into the _Knight's Tale_; while the _Reeve's Tale_, the +_Franklin's_, and the _Shipman's_, each borrowed from the prose +version of the _Decameron_, are given by him a poetic setting. This +preference for poetry over prose as a medium for short-story narration +cannot have been accidental or unreasoned on his part; nor can it be +altogether accounted for by the explanation that "he was by nature a +poet," for he _did_ experiment with the prose medium to the extent of +using it twice. He had the brilliant and innovating precedent of +the _Decameron_, and yet, while adopting some of its materials, he +abandoned its medium. He was given the opportunity of ante-dating the +introduction of technique into the English prose short-story by four +hundred and fifty years, and he disregarded it almost cavalierly. How +is such wilful neglect to be accounted for? Only by his instinctive +feeling that the technique, which Boccaccio had applied in the +_Decameron_, belonged by right to the realm of poetry, had been +learned in the practising of the poetic art, and could arrive at its +highest level of achievement only in that medium. + +That in Chaucer's case this choice was justified cannot be disputed; +the inferiority of the short-story technique contained in his two +prose efforts, when compared with that displayed in the remainder +of the _Canterbury Tales_, is very marked. Take, for instance, +the _Prioress' Tale_ and apply to it the five short-story tests +established by Poe, as a personal discovery, four and a half centuries +later; it survives them all. It attains, in addition, the crowning +glory, coveted by Stevenson, of appearing _typical_. There may never +have been a Christian child who was martyred by the Jews in the +particularly gruesome way described--probably there never was; but, in +listening to the Prioress, it does not enter into our heads to doubt +her word--the picture which she leaves with us of how the Christian +regarded the Jew in the Middle Ages is too vivid to allow any +breathing-space for incredulity. No knowledge of mediaeval anti-Jewish +legislation, however scholarly, can bring us to realize the fury of +race-hatred which then existed more keenly than this story of a little +over two thousand words. By its perusal we gain an illuminating +insight into that ill-directed religious enthusiasm which led men on +frenzied quests for the destruction of the heretic in their own land +and of the Saracen abroad, causing them to become at one and the same +time unjust and heroic. In a word, within the compass of three hundred +lines of verse, Chaucer contrives to body forth his age--to give us +something which is _typical_. + +The _Morte D'Arthur_ of Malory is again a collection of traditional +stories, as is the _Gesta Romanorum_, and not the creative work of a +single intellect. As might be expected, it straggles, and overlays its +climax with a too-lavish abundance of incidents; it lacks the +_harmony of values_ which results from the introduction of a unifying +purpose--_i.e_., of art. Imaginative and full of action though the +books of the _Morte D'Arthur_ are, it remained for the latter-day +artist to exhaust their individual incidents of their full dramatic +possibilities. From the eyes of the majority of modern men the +brilliant quality of their magic was concealed, until it had +been disciplined and refashioned by the severe technique of the +short-story. + +By the eighteenth century the influence of Malory was scarcely felt +at all; but his imaginativeness, as interpreted by Tennyson, in +_The Idylls of the King_, and by William Morris, in his _Defence +of Guinevere_, has given to the Anglo-Saxon world a new romantic +background for its thoughts. _The Idylls of the King_ are not +Tennyson's most successful interpretation. The finest example of his +superior short-story craftsmanship is seen in the triumphant use which +he makes of the theme contained in _The Book of Elaine_, in his poem +of _The Lady of Shalott_. Not only has he remodelled and added fantasy +to the story, but he has threaded it through with _atmosphere_--an +entirely modern attribute, of which more must be said hereafter. + +So much for our contention that the laws and technique of the prose +short-story, as formulated by Poe, were first instinctively discovered +and worked out in the medium of poetry. + + +VI + +"_The Golden Ass_ of Apuleius is, so to say, a beginning of modern +literature. From this brilliant medley of reality and romance, of wit +and pathos, of fantasy and observation, was born that new art, +complex in thought, various in expression, which gives a semblance of +frigidity to perfection itself. An indefatigable youthfulness is its +distinction."[12] + +[Footnote 12: From the introduction, by Charles Whibley, to the Tudor +Translations' edition by W.E. Henley, of _The Golden Ass of Apuleius_, +published by David Nutt, London, 1893. All other quotations bearing +upon Apuleius are taken from the same source.] + +_An indefatigable youthfulness_ was also the prime distinction of the +Elizabethan era's writings and doings; it was fitting that such a +period should have witnessed the first translation into the English +language of this Benjamin of a classic literature's old age. + +Apuleius was an unconventional cosmopolitan in that ancient world +which he so vividly portrays; he was a barbarian by birth, a Greek by +education, and wrote his book in the Romans' language. In his use +of luminous slang for literary purposes he was Rudyard Kipling's +prototype. + +"He would twist the vulgar words of every-day into quaint unheard-of +meanings, nor did he deny shelter to those loafers and footpads of +speech which inspire the grammarian with horror. On every page you +encounter a proverb, a catchword, a literary allusion, a flagrant +redundancy. One quality only was distasteful to him--the commonplace." + +There are other respects in which we can trace Mr. Kipling's likeness: +in his youthful precocity--he was twenty-five when he wrote his +_Metamorphoses_; in his daring as an innovator; in his manly +stalwartness in dealing with the calamities of life; in his +adventurous note of world-wideness and realistic method of handling +the improbable and uncanny. + +Like all great artists, he was a skilful borrower from the literary +achievements of a bygone age; and so successfully does he borrow that +we prefer his copy to the original. The germ-idea of Kipling's _Finest +Story in the World_ is to be found in Poe's _Tale of the Ragged +Mountains_; Apuleius's germ-plot, of the man who was changed by +enchantment into an ass, and could only recover his human shape by +eating rose-leaves, was taken either from Lucian or from Lucius +of Patrae. In at least three of his interpolations he remarkably +foreshadows the prose short-story method, upon which we are wont to +pride ourselves as being a unique discovery of the past eight decades: +these are _Bellepheron's Story; The Story of Cupid and Psyche_, one of +the most exquisite both in form and matter in any language or age; and +the story of _The Deceitful Woman and the Tub_, which Boccaccio made +use of in his _Decameron_ as the second novel for the seventh day. + +In the intense and visual quality of the atmosphere with which he +pervades his narrative he has no equal among the writers of English +prose-fiction until Sir Walter Scott appears. "Apuleius has enveloped +his world of marvels in a heavy air of witchery and romance. You +wander with Lucius across the hills and through the dales of Thessaly. +With all the delight of a fresh curiosity you approach its far-seen +towns. You journey at midnight under the stars, listening in terror +for the howling of the wolves or the stealthy ambush. At other whiles +you sit in the robbers' cave and hear the ancient legends of Greece +retold. The spring comes on, and 'the little birds chirp and sing +their steven melodiously.' Secret raids, ravished brides, valiant +rescues, the gayest intrigues--these are the diverse matters of this +many-colored book." + +But as a short-story writer he shares the failing of all his English +brothers in that art, until James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, penned +his tales--namely, that his short-stories do not stand apart, as +things total in themselves, but are woven into a larger narrative by +whose proportions they are dwarfed, so that their true completeness is +disguised. "He cares not how he loiters by the way; he is always ready +to beguile his reader with a Milesian story--one of those quaint and +witty interludes which have travelled the world over and become part, +not merely of every literature, but of every life." It is to three of +these chance loiterings of this Kipling of Rome in its decadence that +we owe the famous stories alluded to above. + +To the Elizabethan period belong the most masterly translations of +which the English language is possessed; and this not by virtue of +their accuracy and scholarship, but because, to use Doctor Johnson's +words, the translator "exhibits his author's thoughts in such a dress +as the author would have given them had his language been English." +That same "indefatigable youthfulness" which converted courtiers into +sailors and despatched them into unknown seas to ransack new worlds, +urged men of the pen to seek out and to pillage, with an equal ardor +of adventure, the intellectual wealth of their contemporaries in other +lands and the buried and forgotten stores of the ancients upon their +own neighboring book-shelves. A universal and contagious curiosity +was abroad. To this age belong William Paynter's version of the +_Decameron_, entitled _The Palace of Pleasure_, 1566, from which +Shakespeare borrowed; Geoffrey Fenton's translation of Bandello's +_Tragical Discourses_, 1567; Sir Thomas North's rendering of +_Plutarch's Lives_, 1579; Thomas Underdowne's _Heliodorus_, 1587; +Thomas Shelton's _Don Quixote_, 1612; and others too numerous to +mention. It seems extraordinary at first sight that when such models +of advanced technique were set before them, Englishmen were so slow +to follow; for though Professor Baldwin is probably correct in his +analysis of the _Decameron_ when he states that, of the hundred tales, +over fifty are not much more than anecdotes, about forty are but +outlined plots, three follow the modern short-story method only part +way, and, of the hundred, two[13] alone are perfect examples, yet those +two perfect examples remained and were capable of imitation. The +explanation of this neglect is, perhaps, that the Elizabethans were +too busy originating to find time for copying; they were very willing +to borrow ideas, but must be allowed to develop them in their own +way--usually along dramatic lines for stage purposes, because this was +at that time the most financially profitable. + +[Footnote 13: The second novel of the second day, and the sixth of the +ninth day.] + + +VII + +The blighting influence of constitutional strife and intestine war +which followed in the Stuarts' reigns turned the serious artist's +thoughts aside to grave and prophetic forms of literary utterance, +while writers of the frivolous sort devoted their talent to a +lighter and less sincere art than that of the short-story--namely, +court-poetry. It was an age of extremes which bred despair and +religious fervor in men of the Puritan party, as represented by Bunyan +and Milton, and conscious artificiality and mock heroics in those +of the Cavalier faction, as represented by Herrick and the Earl of +Rochester. + +The examples of semi-fictional prose which can be gathered from this +period serve only to illustrate how the short-story instinct, though +stifled, was still present. Isaak Walton as a diarist had it; Thomas +Fuller as an historian had it; John Bunyan as an ethical writer had +it. Each one was possessed of the short-story faculty, but only +manifested it, as it were, by accident. Not until Daniel Defoe and the +rise of the newspaper do we note any advance in technique. Defoe's +main contribution was the _short-story essay_, which stands midway +between the anecdote, or germ-plot, buried in a mass of extraneous +material, and the short-story proper. The growth of this form, as +developed by Swift, Steel, Addison, Goldsmith, and Lamb, has been +traced and criticised elsewhere.[14] It had this one great advantage +that, whatever its departures from the strict technique of the modern +short-story, it was capable of being read at one sitting, stood by +itself, and gained "the immense force derivable from _totality_." + +[Footnote 14: In the third chapter of _The Great English Essayists_, +vol. iii of _The Reader's Library_, published by Messrs. Harper & +Brothers, 1909.] + +In the _True Revelation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal_, Defoe +is again strangely in advance of his time, as he is in so many other +ways. Here is an almost perfect example of the most modern method of +handling a ghost-tale. Surely, in whatever department of literature +we seek, we shall find nothing to surpass it in the quality of +_verisimilitude_. The way in which Drelincourt's _Book on Death_ is +introduced and subsequently twice referred to is a master-stroke of +genius. In days gone by, before they were parted, we are told, Mrs. +Veal and Mrs. Bargrave "would often console each other's adverse +fortunes, and read together Drelincourt _On Death_ and other good +books." At the time when the story opens Mrs. Bargrave has gone to +live in Canterbury, and Mrs. Veal is in Dover. To Mrs. Bargrave in +Canterbury the apparition appears, though she does not know that it is +an apparition, for there is nothing to denote that it is not her old +friend still alive. One of the first things the apparition does is +"to remind Mrs. Bargrave of the many friendly offices she did her in +former days, and much of the conversation they had with each other in +the times of their adversity; what books they read, and what comfort +in particular they received from Drelincourt's _Book on Death_. +Drelincourt, she said, had the clearest notions of death and of the +future state of any who had handled that subject. Then she asked Mrs. +Bargrave whether she had Drelincourt. She said, 'Yes,' Says Mrs. Veal, +'Fetch it.' Some days after, when Mrs. Bargrave, having discovered +that the visitor was a ghost, has gone about telling her neighbors, +Defoe observes, 'Drelincourt's _Book on Death_ is, since this +happened, bought up strangely,'" + +This masterpiece of Defoe is before its time by a hundred years; +nothing can be found in the realm of the English prose short-story to +approach it in symmetry until the Ettrick Shepherd commenced to write. + +Of all the models of prose-fiction which the Tudor translations had +given to English literature, the first to be copied was that of +Cervantes's _Don Quixote_, rendered into English by Thomas Shelton in +1612. Swift must have had the rambling method of Cervantes well in +mind when he wrote his _Gulliver_; and Smollett confessedly took it as +his pattern and set out to imitate. The most that was required by such +a method in the way of initial construction was to select a hero, give +some account of his early history, from the day of his birth up to the +point where the true narrative commences, and then send him upon his +travels. Usually it was thought necessary to have a Sancho to act as +background to Don Quixote; thus Crusoe is given his Man Friday, Tom +Jones his Mr. Partridge, and Roderick Random his Strap; but this was +not always done, for both Gulliver and the hero of the _Sentimental +Journey_ set out on their journeyings unaccompanied. The story which +grew out of such a method usually consisted of a series of plots, +anecdotes, and incidents linked together only by the characters, and +governed by no unifying purpose which made each one a necessary and +ascending step toward a prearranged climax. These early novels are +often books of descriptive travel rather than novels in the modern +sense; the sole connection between their first incident and their last +being the long road which lies between them, and has been traversed +in the continual company of the same leading characters. Many of the +chapters, taken apart from their context, are short-story themes +badly handled. Some of them are mere interpolations introduced on +the flimsiest of excuses, which arrest the progress of the main +narrative--_i.e_., the travel--and give the author an opportunity to +use up some spare material which he does not know what to do with. +Such are "The Man of the Hill," in _Tom Jones_; "The History of +Melopoyn the Playwright" in _Roderick Random_; the "Memoirs of a Lady +of Quality," occupying fifty-three thousand words, in _Peregrine +Pickle_; "The Philosophic Vagabond," in the _Vicar of Wakefield_; +and "Wandering Willie's Tale," in _Redgauntlet_. The reason why +the eighteenth-century novelist did not know what to do with these +materials was, in certain cases, that he had discovered a true +short-story theme and was perplexed by it. He knew that it was +good--his artist's instinct made him aware of that; but somehow, to +his great bewilderment and annoyance, it refused to be expanded. So, +in order that it might not be entirely lost to him, he tied the little +boat on behind the great schooner of his main narration, and set them +afloat together. + +By the modern reader, whether of the short-story or the novel, +the lack of atmosphere and of immediateness in eighteenth-century +prose-fiction is particularly felt. There is no use made of +landscapes, moods, and the phenomena of nature; the story happens +at almost any season of the year. Of these things and their use the +modern short-story writer is meticulously careful. By how much would +the worth of Hardy's _The Three Strangers_ be diminished if the +description of the March rain driving across the Wessex moorland were +left out? Before he commences the story contained in _A Lodging for +the Night_, Stevenson occupies three hundred words in painting the +picture of Paris under snow. In the same way, in his story of _The Man +Who Would Be King_, Kipling is at great pains to make us burn with the +scorching heat which, in the popular mind, is associated with India. +For such effects you will search the prose-fiction of the eighteenth +century in vain; whereas the use of _atmosphere_ has been carried to +such extremes to-day by certain writers that the short-story in their +hands is in danger of becoming all atmosphere and no story. + +The impression created by the old technique, such as it was, when +contrasted with the new, when legitimately handled, is the difference +between reading a play and seeing it staged. + +As regards immediateness of narration, Laurence Sterne may, perhaps, +be pointed out as an example. But he is not immediate in the true +sense; he is abrupt, and this too frequently for his own sly +purposes--which have nothing to do with either technique or the +short-story. + +Most of the English short-stories, previous to those written by James +Hogg, are either prefaced with a biography of their main characters +or else the biography is made to do service as though it were a +plot--nothing is left to the imagination. Even in the next century, +when the short-story had come to be recognized in America, through the +example set by Hawthorne and Poe, as a distinct species of literary +art, the productions of British writers were too often nothing more +than compressed novels. In fact, it is true to say that there is more +of short-story technique in the short-story essays of Goldsmith and +Lamb than can be found in many of the brief tales of Dickens and +Anthony Trollope, which in their day passed muster unchallenged as +short-stories. + + +VIII + +But between the irrelevant brief story, interpolated in a larger +narrative, and the perfect short-story, which could not be expanded +and is total in itself, of Hawthorne and Poe, there stands the work +of a man who is little known in America, and by no means popular in +England, that of the Ettrick Shepherd, James Hogg. He was born in +Scotland, among the mountains of Ettrick and Yarrow, the son of a +shepherd. When he was but six years old he commenced to earn his +living as a cowherd, and by his seventh year had received all the +schooling which he was destined to have--two separate periods of three +months. Matthew Arnold, when accounting for the sterility of Gray as +a poet, says that throughout the first nine decades of the eighteenth +century, until the French Revolution roused men to generosity, "a +spiritual east wind was blowing." Hogg's early ignorance of letters +had at least this advantage, that it saved him from the blighting +intellectual influences of his age--left him unsophisticated, free +to find in all things matter for wonder, and to work out his mental +processes unprejudiced by a restraining knowledge of other men's +past achievements. In his eighteenth year he taught himself to read, +choosing as his text-books Henry the Minstrel's _Life and Adventures +of Sir William Wallace_ and the _Gentle Shepherd_ of Allan Ramsay. +Not until his twenty-sixth year did he acquire the art of penmanship, +which he learned "upon the hillside by copying the Italian alphabet, +using his knee as his desk, and having the ink-bottle suspended from +his button." During the next fourteen years he followed his shepherd's +calling, making it romantic with sundry more or less successful +attempts at authorship. He had reached his fortieth year before he +abandoned sheep-raising and journeyed to Edinburgh, there definitely +to adopt the literary career. He was by this time firm in his +philosophy of life and established in his modes of thought; whatever +else he might not be, among townsmen and persons of artificial +training, his very simplicity was sure to make him original. In his +forty-seventh year, having so far cast his most important work +into the poetic form, he contributed to _Blackwood's Magazine_ his +_Shepherd's Calendar_, followed in the same year by the publishing of +_The Brownie of Bodsbeck_; these were his first two serious excursions +into the realm of prose-fiction. From then on until his death, in +1835, he continued his efforts in this direction, pouring out a mass +of country-side tradition and fairy-folklore, amazing in its fantasy +and wealth of drama. + +For the imparting of _atmosphere_ to his stories, a talent so +conspicuously lacking not only in his predecessors, but also in many +of his contemporaries, he had a native faculty. The author of _Bonny +Kilmeny_ could scarcely fail in this respect, when he turned his +attention from poetry to prose. He had lived too close to nature to be +able ever to keep the green and silver of woods and rivers far from +his thoughts; they were the mirrors in which his fancy saw itself. +Professor Wilson, who had known him as a friend, writing of him in +_Blackwood's_ after his death, says: "Living for years in solitude, +he unconsciously formed friendships with the springs, the brooks, +the caves, the hills, and with all the more fleeting and faithless +pageantry of the sky, that to him came in place of those human +affections from whose indulgence he was debarred by the necessities +that kept him aloof from the cottage fire and up among the mists of +the mountain-top. The still green beauty of the pastoral hills and +vales where he passed his youth inspired him with ever-brooding +visions of fairyland, till, as he lay musing in his lonely shieling, +the world of fantasy seemed, in the clear depths of his imagination, a +lovelier reflection of that of nature, like the hills and heavens more +softly shining in the water of his native lake." + +His taste is often defective, as is that of Burns on occasions. This +is a fault which might be expected in a man of his training; but the +vigor and essential worth of the matters which he relates are beyond +all question. He did not always know where to begin his short-story, +or where to terminate. Some of his tales, if edited with blue-pencil +erasures, would be found to contain a nucleus-technique which, though +far from perfect, is more than equal to that of Washington Irving, +who, like Apuleius, "cared not how he loitered by the way," and very +superior to that of most of his immediate successors in the art. His +story here included, of _The Mysterious Bride_,[15] could scarcely be +bettered in its method. To tell it in fewer words would be to obscure +it; to tell it at greater length would be to rob it of its mystery and +to make it obvious. Moreover, by employing atmosphere he tells it +in such a way as to leave the reader with the impression that this +occurrence, for all its magic, might not only be possible, but even +probable--which achievement is the greatest triumph of the short-story +writer's art. + +[Footnote 15: Compare with Kipling's treatment of a similar theme in +_The Brushwood Boy_.] + +As this history of the evolution of the English short-story commenced +with a poet, Chaucer,[16] who wrote all save two of his short-stories +in poetry, so it fittingly closes with a poet, the Ettrick Shepherd, +who wrote most of his short-stories in prose. It remained for yet +another poet, Edgar Allan Poe, who may never have heard the name +or have read a line from the writings of James Hogg, to bring to +perfection the task on which he had spent his labor. + +[Footnote 16: The _Gesta Romanorum_ was written in Latin.] + + + + +THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL + +_Daniel Defoe_ (1661-1731) + + +This thing is so rare in all its circumstances, and on so good +authority, that my reading and conversation have not given me anything +like it. It is fit to gratify the most ingenious and serious inquirer. +Mrs. Bargrave is the person to whom Mrs. Veal appeared after her +death; she is my intimate friend, and I can avouch for her reputation +for these fifteen or sixteen years, on my own knowledge; and I can +confirm the good character she had from her youth to the time of my +acquaintance. Though, since this relation, she is calumniated by some +people that are friends to the brother of Mrs. Veal who appeared, who +think the relation of this appearance to be a reflection, and endeavor +what they can to blast Mrs. Bargrave's reputation and to laugh the +story out of countenance. But by the circumstances thereof, and the +cheerful disposition of Mrs. Bargrave, notwithstanding the ill usage +of a very wicked husband, there is not yet the least sign of dejection +in her face; nor did I ever hear her let fall a desponding or +murmuring expression; nay, not when actually under her husband's +barbarity, which I have been a witness to, and several other persons +of undoubted reputation. + +Now you must know Mrs. Veal was a maiden gentlewoman of about thirty +years of age, and for some years past had been troubled with fits, +which were perceived coming on her by her going off from her discourse +very abruptly to some impertinence. She was maintained by an only +brother, and kept his house in Dover. She was a very pious woman, and +her brother a very sober man to all appearance; but now he does all he +can to null and quash the story. Mrs. Veal was intimately acquainted +with Mrs. Bargrave from her childhood. Mrs. Veal's circumstances were +then mean; her father did not take care of his children as he ought, +so that they were exposed to hardships. And Mrs. Bargrave in those +days had as unkind a father, though she wanted neither for food nor +clothing; while Mrs. Veal wanted for both, insomuch that she would +often say, "Mrs. Bargrave, you are not only the best, but the only +friend I have in the world; and no circumstance of life shall ever +dissolve my friendship." They would often condole each other's adverse +fortunes, and read together _Drelincourt upon Death_, and other good +books; and so, like two Christian friends, they comforted each other +under their sorrow. + +Some time after, Mr. Veal's friends got him a place in the +custom-house at Dover, which occasioned Mrs. Veal, by little and +little, to fall off from her intimacy with Mrs. Bargrave, though there +was never any such thing as a quarrel; but an indifferency came on by +degrees, till at last Mrs. Bargrave had not seen her in two years and +a half, though above a twelvemonth of the time Mrs. Bargrave hath been +absent from Dover, and this last half-year has been in Canterbury +about two months of the time, dwelling in a house of her own. + +In this house, on the eighth of September, one thousand seven hundred +and five, she was sitting alone in the forenoon, thinking over her +unfortunate life, and arguing herself into a due resignation to +Providence, though her condition seemed hard: "And," said she, "I have +been provided for hitherto, and doubt not but I shall be still, and am +well satisfied that my afflictions shall end when it is most fit for +me." And then took up her sewing work, which she had no sooner done +but she hears a knocking at the door; she went to see who was there, +and this proved to be Mrs. Veal, her old friend, who was in a +riding-habit. At that moment of time the clock struck twelve at noon. + +"Madam," says Mrs. Bargrave, "I am surprised to see you, you have been +so long a stranger"; but told her she was glad to see her, and offered +to salute her, which Mrs. Veal complied with, till their lips almost +touched, and then Mrs. Veal drew her hand across her own eyes, and +said, "I am not very well," and so waived it. She told Mrs. Bargrave +she was going a journey, and had a great mind to see her first. "But," +says Mrs. Bargrave, "how can you take a journey alone? I am amazed at +it, because I know you have a fond brother." "Oh," says Mrs. Veal, +"I gave my brother the slip, and came away, because I had so great a +desire to see you before I took my journey." So Mrs. Bargrave went in +with her into another room within the first, and Mrs. Veal sat her +down in an elbow-chair, in which Mrs. Bargrave was sitting when she +heard Mrs. Veal knock. "Then," says Mrs. Veal, "my dear friend, I am +come to renew our old friendship again, and beg your pardon for my +breach of it; and if you can forgive me, you are the best of women." +"Oh," says Mrs. Bargrave, "do not mention such a thing; I have not had +an uneasy thought about it." "What did you think of me?" says Mrs. +Veal. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "I thought you were like the rest of the +world, and that prosperity had made you forget yourself and me." Then +Mrs. Veal reminded Mrs. Bargrave of the many friendly offices she did +her in former days, and much of the conversation they had with each +other in the times of their adversity; what books they read, and +what comfort in particular they received from Drelincourt's _Book of +Death_, which was the best, she said, on the subject ever wrote. +She also mentioned Doctor Sherlock, and two Dutch books, which were +translated, wrote upon death, and several others. But Drelincourt, she +said, had the clearest notions of death and of the future state of any +who had handled that subject. Then she asked Mrs. Bargrave whether she +had Drelincourt. She said, "Yes." Says Mrs. Veal, "Fetch it." And so +Mrs. Bargrave goes up-stairs and brings it down. Says Mrs. Veal, "Dear +Mrs. Bargrave, if the eyes of our faith were as open as the eyes of +our body, we should see numbers of angels about us for our guard. +The notions we have of Heaven now are nothing like what it is, as +Drelincourt says; therefore be comforted under your afflictions, and +believe that the Almighty has a particular regard to you, and that +your afflictions are marks of God's favor; and when they have done +the business they are sent for, they shall be removed from you. And +believe me, my dear friend, believe what I say to you, one minute of +future happiness will infinitely reward you for all your sufferings. +For I can never believe" (and claps her hand upon her knee with great +earnestness, which, indeed, ran through most of her discourse) "that +ever God will suffer you to spend all your days in this afflicted +state. But be assured that your afflictions shall leave you, or you +them, in a short time." She spake in that pathetical and heavenly +manner that Mrs. Bargrave wept several times, she was so deeply +affected with it. + +Then Mrs. Veal mentioned Doctor Kendrick's _Ascetic_, at the end of +which he gives an account of the lives of the primitive Christians. +Their pattern she recommended to our imitation, and said, "Their +conversation was not like this of our age. For now," says she, "there +is nothing but vain, frothy discourse, which is far different from +theirs. Theirs was to edification, and to build one another up in +faith, so that they were not as we are, nor are we as they were. But," +said she, "we ought to do as they did; there was a hearty friendship +among them; but where is it now to be found?" Says Mrs. Bargrave, "It +is hard indeed to find a true friend in these days." Says Mrs. +Veal, "Mr. Norris has a fine copy of verses, called _Friendship in +Perfection_, which I wonderfully admire. Have you seen the book?" says +Mrs. Veal. "No," says Mrs. Bargrave, "but I have the verses of my own +writing out." "Have you?" says Mrs. Veal; "then fetch them"; which +she did from above stairs, and offered them to Mrs. Veal to read, who +refused, and waived the thing, saying, "holding down her head would +make it ache"; and then desiring Mrs. Bargrave to read them to her, +which she did. As they were admiring _Friendship_, Mrs. Veal said, +"Dear Mrs. Bargrave, I shall love you forever." In these verses there +is twice used the word "Elysian." "Ah!" says Mrs. Veal, "these poets +have such names for Heaven." She would often draw her hand across her +own eyes, and say, "Mrs. Bargrave, do not you think I am mightily +impaired by my fits?" "No," says Mrs. Bargrave; "I think you look as +well as ever I knew you." + +After this discourse, which the apparition put in much finer words +than Mrs. Bargrave said she could pretend to, and as much more than +she can remember--for it cannot be thought that an hour and three +quarters' conversation could all be retained, though the main of it +she thinks she does--she said to Mrs. Bargrave she would have her +write a letter to her brother, and tell him she would have him give +rings to such and such; and that there was a purse of gold in her +cabinet, and that she would have two broad pieces given to her cousin +Watson. + +Talking at this rate, Mrs. Bargrave thought that a fit was coming upon +her, and so placed herself on a chair just before her knees, to keep +her from falling to the ground, if her fits should occasion it; for +the elbow-chair, she thought, would keep her from falling on either +side. And to divert Mrs. Veal, as she thought, took hold of her +gown-sleeve several times, and commended it. Mrs. Veal told her it +was a scoured silk, and newly made up. But, for all this, Mrs. Veal +persisted in her request, and told Mrs. Bargrave she must not deny +her. And she would have her tell her brother all their conversation +when she had the opportunity. "Dear Mrs. Veal," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"this seems so impertinent that I cannot tell how to comply with +it; and what a mortifying story will our conversation be to a young +gentleman. Why," says Mrs. Bargrave, "it is much better, methinks, to +do it yourself." "No," says Mrs. Veal; "though it seems impertinent to +you now, you will see more reasons for it hereafter." Mrs. Bargrave, +then, to satisfy her importunity, was going to fetch a pen and ink, +but Mrs. Veal said, "Let it alone now, but do it when I am gone; but +you must be sure to do it"; which was one of the last things she +enjoined her at parting, and so she promised her. + +Then Mrs. Veal asked for Mrs. Bargrave's daughter. She said she was +not at home. "But if you have a mind to see her," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"I'll send for her." "Do," says Mrs. Veal; on which she left her, and +went to a neighbor's to see her; and by the time Mrs. Bargrave was +returning, Mrs. Veal was got without the door in the street, in the +face of the beast-market, on a Saturday (which is market-day), and +stood ready to part as soon as Mrs. Bargrave came to her. She asked +her why she was in such haste. She said she must be going, though +perhaps she might not go her journey till Monday; and told Mrs. +Bargrave she hoped she should see her again at her cousin Watson's +before she went whither she was going. Then she said she would take +her leave of her, and walked from Mrs. Bargrave, in her view, till a +turning interrupted the sight of her, which was three-quarters after +one in the afternoon. + +Mrs. Veal died the seventh of September, at twelve o'clock at noon, of +her fits, and had not above four hours' senses before her death, in +which time she received the sacrament. The next day after Mrs. Veal's +appearance, being Sunday, Mrs. Bargrave was mightily indisposed with +a cold and sore throat, that she could not go out that day; but on +Monday morning she sends a person to Captain Watson's to know if Mrs. +Veal was there. They wondered at Mrs. Bargrave's inquiry, and sent +her word she was not there, nor was expected. At this answer, Mrs. +Bargrave told the maid she had certainly mistook the name or made some +blunder. And though she was ill, she put on her hood and went herself +to Captain Watson's, though she knew none of the family, to see if +Mrs. Veal was there or not. They said they wondered at her asking, for +that she had not been in town; they were sure, if she had, she would +have been there. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "I am sure she was with me on +Saturday almost two hours." They said it was impossible, for they must +have seen her if she had. In comes Captain Watson, while they were +in dispute, and said that Mrs. Veal was certainly dead, and the +escutcheons were making. This strangely surprised Mrs. Bargrave, when +she sent to the person immediately who had the care of them, and found +it true. Then she related the whole story to Captain Watson's family; +and what gown she had on, and how striped; and that Mrs. Veal told her +that it was scoured. Then Mrs. Watson cried out, "You have seen her +indeed, for none knew but Mrs. Veal and myself that the gown was +scoured." And Mrs. Watson owned that she described the gown exactly; +"for," said she, "I helped her to make it up." This Mrs. Watson blazed +all about the town, and avouched the demonstration of truth of Mrs. +Bargrave's seeing Mrs. Veal's apparition. And Captain Watson carried +two gentlemen immediately to Mrs. Bargrave's house to hear the +relation from her own mouth. And when it spread so fast that gentlemen +and persons of quality, the judicious and sceptical part of the world, +flocked in upon her, it at last became such a task that she was forced +to go out of the way; for they were in general extremely satisfied +of the truth of the thing, and plainly saw that Mrs. Bargrave was no +hypochondriac, for she always appears with such a cheerful air and +pleasing mien that she has gained the favor and esteem of all the +gentry, and it is thought a great favor if they can but get the +relation from her own mouth. I should have told you before that Mrs. +Veal told Mrs. Bargrave that her sister and brother-in-law were just +come down from London to see her. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "How came you to +order matters so strangely?" "It could not be helped," said Mrs. Veal. +And her brother and sister did come to see her, and entered the town +of Dover just as Mrs. Veal was expiring. Mrs. Bargrave asked her +whether she would drink some tea. Says Mrs. Veal, "I do not care if +I do; but I'll warrant you this mad fellow"--meaning Mrs. Bargrave's +husband--"has broke all your trinkets." "But," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"I'll get something to drink in for all that"; but Mrs. Veal waived +it, and said, "It is no matter; let it alone"; and so it passed. + +All the time I sat with Mrs. Bargrave, which was some hours, she +recollected fresh sayings of Mrs. Veal. And one material thing more +she told Mrs. Bargrave, that old Mr. Bretton allowed Mrs. Veal ten +pounds a year, which was a secret, and unknown to Mrs. Bargrave till +Mrs. Veal told her. + +Mrs. Bargrave never varies in her story, which puzzles those who +doubt of the truth, or are unwilling to believe it. A servant in the +neighbor's yard adjoining to Mrs. Bargrave's house heard her talking +to somebody an hour of the time Mrs. Veal was with her. Mrs. Bargrave +went out to her next neighbor's the very moment she parted with Mrs. +Veal, and told her what ravishing conversation she had had with an old +friend, and told the whole of it. Drelincourt's _Book of Death_ is, +since this happened, bought up strangely. And it is to be observed +that, notwithstanding all the trouble and fatigue Mrs. Bargrave has +undergone upon this account, she never took the value of a farthing, +nor suffered her daughter to take anything of anybody, and therefore +can have no interest in telling the story. + +But Mr. Veal does what he can to stifle the matter, and said he would +see Mrs. Bargrave; but yet it is certain matter of fact that he has +been at Captain Watson's since the death of his sister, and yet never +went near Mrs. Bargrave; and some of his friends report her to be a +liar, and that she knew of Mr. Bretton's ten pounds a year. But the +person who pretends to say so has the reputation to be a notorious +liar among persons whom I know to be of undoubted credit. Now, Mr. +Veal is more of a gentleman than to say she lies, but says a bad +husband has crazed her; but she needs only present herself, and it +will effectually confute that pretence. Mr. Veal says he asked his +sister on her death-bed whether she had a mind to dispose of anything. +And she said no. Now the things which Mrs. Veal's apparition would +have disposed of were so trifling, and nothing of justice aimed at in +the disposal, that the design of it appears to me to be only in order +to make Mrs. Bargrave satisfy the world of the reality thereof as to +what she had seen and heard, and to secure her reputation among the +reasonable and understanding part of mankind. And then, again, Mr. +Veal owns that there was a purse of gold; but it was not found in +her cabinet, but in a comb-box. This looks improbable; for that Mrs. +Watson owned that Mrs. Veal was so very careful of the key of her +cabinet that she would trust nobody with it; and if so, no doubt she +would not trust her gold out of it. And Mrs. Veal's often drawing her +hands over her eyes, and asking Mrs. Bargrave whether her fits had not +impaired her, looks to me as if she did it on purpose to remind Mrs. +Bargrave of her fits, to prepare her not to think it strange that she +should put her upon writing to her brother, to dispose of rings and +gold, which look so much like a dying person's request; and it took +accordingly with Mrs. Bargrave as the effect of her fits coming upon +her, and was one of the many instances of her wonderful love to her +and care of her, that she should not be affrighted, which, indeed, +appears in her whole management, particularly in her coming to her in +the daytime, waiving the salutation, and when she was alone; and then +the manner of her parting, to prevent a second attempt to salute her. + +Now, why Mr. Veal should think this relation a reflection--as it is +plain he does, by his endeavoring to stifle it--I cannot imagine; +because the generality believe her to be a good spirit, her discourse +was so heavenly. Her two great errands were, to comfort Mrs. Bargrave +in her affliction, and to ask her forgiveness for her breach of +friendship, and with a pious discourse to encourage her. So that, +after all, to suppose that Mrs. Bargrave could hatch such an invention +as this, from Friday noon to Saturday noon--supposing that she knew +of Mrs. Veal's death the very first moment--without jumbling +circumstances, and without any interest, too, she must be more witty, +fortunate, and wicked, too, than any indifferent person, I dare say, +will allow. I asked Mrs. Bargrave several times if she was sure she +felt the gown. She answered, modestly, "If my senses be to be relied +on, I am sure of it." I asked her if she heard a sound when she +clapped her hand upon her knee. She said she did not remember she did, +but said she appeared to be as much a substance as I did who talked +with her. "And I may," said she, "be as soon persuaded that your +apparition is talking to me now as that I did not really see her; +for I was under no manner of fear, and received her as a friend, and +parted with her as such. I would not," says she, "give one farthing to +make any one believe it; I have no interest in it; nothing but trouble +is entailed upon me for a long time, for aught I know; and, had it not +come to light by accident, it would never have been made public." But +now she says she will make her own private use of it, and keep herself +out of the way as much as she can; and so she has done since. She says +she had a gentleman who came thirty miles to her to hear the relation; +and that she had told it to a roomful of people at the time. Several +particular gentlemen have had the story from Mrs. Bargrave's own +mouth. + +This thing has very much affected me, and I am as well satisfied as +I am of the best-grounded matter of fact. And why we should dispute +matter of fact, because we cannot solve things of which we can have no +certain or demonstrative notions, seems strange to me; Mrs. Bargrave's +authority and sincerity alone would have been undoubted in any other +case. + + + + +THE MYSTERIOUS BRIDE[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Tales and Sketches_, by the Ettrick Shepherd.] + +_James Hogg_ (1770-1835) + + +A great number of people nowadays are beginning broadly to insinuate +that there are no such things as ghosts, or spiritual beings visible +to mortal sight. Even Sir Walter Scott is turned renegade, and, with +his stories made up of half-and-half, like Nathaniel Gow's toddy, +is trying to throw cold water on the most certain, though most +impalpable, phenomena of human nature. The bodies are daft. Heaven +mend their wits! Before they had ventured to assert such things, I +wish they had been where I have often been; or, in particular, where +the Laird of Birkendelly was on St. Lawrence's Eve, in the year 1777, +and sundry times subsequent to that. + +Be it known, then, to every reader of this relation of facts that +happened in my own remembrance that the road from Birkendelly to the +great muckle village of Balmawhapple (commonly called the muckle town, +in opposition to the little town that stood on the other side of the +burn)--that road, I say, lay between two thorn-hedges, so well kept +by the Laird's hedger, so close, and so high, that a rabbit could not +have escaped from the highway into any of the adjoining fields. Along +this road was the Laird riding on the Eve of St. Lawrence, in a +careless, indifferent manner, with his hat to one side, and his cane +dancing a hornpipe before him. He was, moreover, chanting a song to +himself, and I have heard people tell what song it was too. There was +once a certain, or rather uncertain, bard, ycleped Robert Burns, who +made a number of good songs; but this that the Laird sang was an +amorous song of great antiquity, which, like all the said bard's best +songs, was sung one hundred and fifty years before he was born. It +began thus: + + "I am the Laird of Windy-wa's, + I cam nae here without a cause, + An' I hae gotten forty fa's + In coming o'er the knowe, joe. + The night it is baith wind and weet; + The morn it will be snaw and sleet; + My shoon are frozen to my feet; + O, rise an' let me in, joe! + Let me in this ae night," etc. + +This song was the Laird singing, while, at the same time, he was +smudging and laughing at the catastrophe, when, ere ever aware, he +beheld, a short way before him, an uncommonly elegant and beautiful +girl walking in the same direction with him. "Aye," said the Laird to +himself, "here is something very attractive indeed! Where the deuce +can she have sprung from? She must have risen out of the earth, for I +never saw her till this breath. Well, I declare I have not seen such a +female figure--I wish I had such an assignation with her as the Laird +of Windy-wa's had with his sweetheart." + +As the Laird was half-thinking, half-speaking this to himself, the +enchanting creature looked back at him with a motion of intelligence +that she knew what he was half-saying, half-thinking, and then +vanished over the summit of the rising ground before him, called the +Birky Brow. "Aye, go your ways!" said the Laird; "I see by you, you'll +not be very hard to overtake. You cannot get off the road, and I'll +have a chat with you before you make the Deer's Den." + +The Laird jogged on. He did not sing the _Laird of Windy-wa's_ any +more, for he felt a stifling about his heart; but he often repeated to +himself, "She's a very fine woman!--a very fine woman indeed!--and to +be walking here by herself! I cannot comprehend it." + +When he reached the summit of the Birky Brow he did not see her, +although he had a longer view of the road than before. He thought this +very singular, and began to suspect that she wanted to escape him, +although apparently rather lingering on him before. "I shall have +another look at her, however," thought the Laird, and off he set at a +flying trot. No. He came first to one turn, then another. There was +nothing of the young lady to be seen. "Unless she take wings and fly +away, I shall be up with her," quoth the Laird, and off he set at the +full gallop. + +In the middle of his career he met with Mr. McMurdie, of Aulton, who +hailed him with, "Hilloa, Birkendelly! Where the deuce are you flying +at that rate?" + +"I was riding after a woman," said the Laird, with great simplicity, +reining in his steed. + +"Then I am sure no woman on earth can long escape you, unless she be +in an air balloon." + +"I don't know that. Is she far gone?" + +"In which way do you mean?" + +"In this." + +"Aha-ha-ha! Hee-hee-hee!" nichered McMurdie, misconstruing the Laird's +meaning. + +"What do you laugh at, my dear sir? Do you know her, then?" + +"Ho-ho-ho! Hee-hee-hee! How should I, or how can I, know her, +Birkendelly, unless you inform me who she is?" + +"Why, that is the very thing I want to know of you. I mean the young +lady whom you met just now." + +"You are raving, Birkendelly. I met no young lady, nor is there a +single person on the road I have come by, while you know that for a +mile and a half forward your way she could not get out of it." + +"I know that," said the Laird, biting his lip and looking greatly +puzzled; "but confound me if I understand this; for I was within +speech of her just now on the top of the Birky Brow there, and, when I +think of it, she could not have been even thus far as yet. She had on +a pure white gauze frock, a small green bonnet and feathers, and a +green veil, which, flung back over her left shoulder, hung below her +waist, and was altogether such an engaging figure that no man could +have passed her on the road without taking some note of her. Are you +not making game of me? Did you not really meet with her?" + +"On my word of truth and honor, I did not. Come, ride back with me, +and we shall meet her still, depend on it. She has given you the go-by +on the road. Let us go; I am only to call at the mill about some +barley for the distillery, and will return with you to the big town." + +Birkendelly returned with his friend. The sun was not yet set, yet +M'Murdie could not help observing that the Laird looked thoughtful +and confused, and not a word could he speak about anything save this +lovely apparition with the white frock and the green veil; and lo! +when they reached the top of Birky Brow there was the maiden again +before them, and exactly at the same spot where the Laird first saw +her before, only walking in the contrary direction. + +"Well, this is the most extraordinary thing that I ever knew!" +exclaimed the Laird. + +"What is it, sir?" said M'Murdie. + +"How that young lady could have eluded me," returned the Laird. "See, +here she is still!" + +"I beg your pardon, sir, I don't see her. Where is she?" + +"There, on the other side of the angle; but you are shortsighted. See, +there she is ascending the other eminence in her white frock and green +veil, as I told you. What a lovely creature!" + +"Well, well, we have her fairly before us now, and shall see what she +is like at all events," said McMurdie. + +Between the Birky Brow and this other slight eminence there is an +obtuse angle of the road at the part where it is lowest, and, in +passing this, the two friends necessarily lost sight of the object +of their curiosity. They pushed on at a quick pace, cleared the low +angle--the maiden was not there! They rode full speed to the top of +the eminence from whence a long extent of road was visible before +them--there was no human creature in view. McMurdie laughed aloud, but +the Laird turned pale as death and bit his lip. His friend asked him +good-humoredly why he was so much affected. He said, because he could +not comprehend the meaning of this singular apparition or illusion, +and it troubled him the more as he now remembered a dream of the same +nature which he had, and which terminated in a dreadful manner. + +"Why, man, you are dreaming still," said McMurdie. "But never mind; +it is quite common for men of your complexion to dream of beautiful +maidens with white frocks, and green veils, bonnets, feathers, and +slender waists. It is a lovely image, the creation of your own +sanguine imagination, and you may worship it without any blame. Were +her shoes black or green? And her stockings--did you note them? The +symmetry of the limbs, I am sure you did! Good-bye; I see you are not +disposed to leave the spot. Perhaps she will appear to you again." + +So saying, McMurdie rode on toward the mill, and Birkendelly, after +musing for some time, turned his beast's head slowly round, and began +to move toward the great muckle village. + +The Laird's feelings were now in terrible commotion. He was taken +beyond measure with the beauty and elegance of the figure he had seen, +but he remembered, with a mixture of admiration and horror, that a +dream of the same enchanting object had haunted his slumbers all +the days of his life; yet, how singular that he should never have +recollected the circumstance till now! But farther, with the dream +there were connected some painful circumstances which, though terrible +in their issue, he could not recollect so as to form them into any +degree of arrangement. + +As he was considering deeply of these things and riding slowly down +the declivity, neither dancing his cane nor singing the _Laird of +Windy-wa's_, he lifted up his eyes, and there was the girl on the same +spot where he saw her first, walking deliberately up the Birky Brow. +The sun was down, but it was the month of August and a fine evening, +and the Laird, seized with an unconquerable desire to see and speak +with that incomparable creature, could restrain himself no longer, but +shouted out to her to stop till he came up. She beckoned acquiescence, +and slackened her pace into a slow movement. The Laird turned the +corner quickly, but when he had rounded it the maiden was still there, +though on the summit of the brow. She turned round, and, with an +ineffable smile and curtsy, saluted him, and again moved slowly on. +She vanished gradually beyond the summit, and while the green feathers +were still nodding in view, and so nigh that the Laird could have +touched them with a fishing-rod, he reached the top of the brow +himself. There was no living soul there, nor onward, as far as his +view reached. He now trembled in every limb, and, without knowing what +he did, rode straight on to the big town, not daring well to return +and see what he had seen for three several times; and certain he would +see it again when the shades of evening were deepening, he deemed +it proper and prudent to decline the pursuit of such a phantom any +farther. + +He alighted at the Queen's Head, called for some brandy and water, +quite forgot what was his errand to the great muckle town that +afternoon, there being nothing visible to his mental sight but lovely +images, with white gauze frocks and green veils. His friend M'Murdie +joined him; they drank deep, bantered, reasoned, got angry, reasoned +themselves calm again, and still all would not do. The Laird was +conscious that he had seen the beautiful apparition, and, moreover, +that she was the very maiden, or the resemblance of her, who, in the +irrevocable decrees of Providence, was destined to be his. It was in +vain that M'Murdie reasoned of impressions on the imagination, and + + "Of fancy moulding in the mind, + Light visions on the passing wind." + +Vain also was a story that he told him of a relation of his own, who +was greatly harassed by the apparition of an officer in a red uniform +that haunted him day and night, and had very nigh put him quite +distracted several times, till at length his physician found out the +nature of this illusion so well that he knew, from the state of his +pulse, to an hour when the ghost of the officer would appear, and by +bleeding, low diet, and emollients contrived to keep the apparition +away altogether. + +The Laird admitted the singularity of this incident, but not that it +was one in point; for the one, he said, was imaginary, the other +real, and that no conclusions could convince him in opposition to the +authority of his own senses. He accepted of an invitation to spend +a few days with M'Murdie and his family, but they all acknowledged +afterward that the Laird was very much like one bewitched. + +As soon as he reached home he went straight to the Birky Brow, certain +of seeing once more the angelic phantom, but she was not there. He +took each of his former positions again and again, but the desired +vision would in no wise make its appearance. He tried every day +and every hour of the day, all with the same effect, till he grew +absolutely desperate, and had the audacity to kneel on the spot and +entreat of Heaven to see her. Yes, he called on Heaven to see her once +more, whatever she was, whether a being of earth, heaven, or hell. + +He was now in such a state of excitement that he could not exist; he +grew listless, impatient, and sickly, took to his bed, and sent for +M'Murdie and the doctor; and the issue of the consultation was that +Birkendelly consented to leave the country for a season, on a visit to +his only sister in Ireland, whither we must accompany him for a short +space. + +His sister was married to Captain Bryan, younger, of Scoresby, and +they two lived in a cottage on the estate, and the Captain's parents +and sisters at Scoresby Hall. Great was the stir and preparation when +the gallant young Laird of Birkendelly arrived at the cottage, +it never being doubted that he came to forward a second bond of +connection with the family, which still contained seven dashing +sisters, all unmarried, and all alike willing to change that solitary +and helpless state for the envied one of matrimony--a state highly +popular among the young women of Ireland. Some of the Misses Bryan +had now reached the years of womanhood, several of them scarcely, but +these small disqualifications made no difference in the estimation of +the young ladies themselves; each and all of them brushed up for the +competition with high hopes and unflinching resolutions. True, +the elder ones tried to check the younger in their good-natured, +forthright Irish way; but they retorted, and persisted in their +superior pretensions. Then there was such shopping in the county town! +It was so boundless that the credit of the Hall was finally exhausted, +and the old Squire was driven to remark that "Och, and to be sure it +was a dreadful and tirrabell concussion, to be put upon the equipment +of seven daughters all at the same moment, as if the young gentleman +could marry them all! Och, then, poor dear shoul, he would be after +finding that one was sufficient, if not one too many. And therefore +there was no occasion, none at all, at all, and that there was not, +for any of them to rig out more than one." + +It was hinted that the Laird had some reason for complaint at this +time, but as the lady sided with her daughters, he had no chance. One +of the items of his account was thirty-seven buckling-combs, then +greatly in vogue. There were black combs, pale combs, yellow combs, +and gilt ones, all to suit or set off various complexions; and if +other articles bore any proportion at all to these, it had been better +for the Laird and all his family that Birkendelly had never set foot +in Ireland. + +The plan was all concocted. There was to be a grand dinner at the +Hall, at which the damsels were to appear in all their finery. A ball +to follow, and note be taken which of the young ladies was their +guest's choice, and measures taken accordingly. The dinner and +the ball took place; and what a pity I may not describe that +entertainment, the dresses, and the dancers, for they were all +exquisite in their way, and _outré_ beyond measure. But such details +only serve to derange a winter evening's tale such as this. + +Birkendelly having at this time but one model for his choice among +womankind, all that ever he did while in the presence of ladies was to +look out for some resemblance to her, the angel of his fancy; and it +so happened that in one of old Bryan's daughters named Luna, or, +more familiarly, Loony, he perceived, or thought he perceived, some +imaginary similarity in form and air to the lovely apparition. This +was the sole reason why he was incapable of taking his eyes off from +her the whole of that night; and this incident settled the point, not +only with the old people, but even the young ladies were forced, after +every exertion on their own parts, to "yild the p'int to their sister +Loony, who certainly was not the mist genteelest nor mist handsomest +of that guid-lucking fimily." + +The next day Lady Luna was dispatched off to the cottage in grand +style, there to live hand in glove with her supposed lover. There was +no standing all this. There were the two parrocked together, like a +ewe and a lamb, early and late; and though the Laird really appeared +to have, and probably had, some delight in her company, it was only in +contemplating that certain indefinable air of resemblance which she +bore to the sole image impressed on his heart. He bought her a white +gauze frock, a green bonnet and feather, with a veil, which she was +obliged to wear thrown over her left shoulder, and every day after, +six times a day, was she obliged to walk over a certain eminence at a +certain distance before her lover. She was delighted to oblige him; +but still, when he came up, he looked disappointed, and never said, +"Luna, I love you; when are we to be married?" No, he never said any +such thing, for all her looks and expressions of fondest love; for, +alas! in all this dalliance he was only feeding a mysterious flame +that preyed upon his vitals, and proved too severe for the powers +either of reason or religion to extinguish. Still, time flew lighter +and lighter by, his health was restored, the bloom of his cheek +returned, and the frank and simple confidence of Luna had a certain +charm with it that reconciled him to his sister's Irish economy. But a +strange incident now happened to him which deranged all his immediate +plans. + +He was returning from angling one evening, a little before sunset, +when he saw Lady Luna awaiting him on his way home. But instead of +brushing up to meet him as usual, she turned, and walked up the rising +ground before him. "Poor sweet girl! how condescending she is," said +he to himself, "and how like she is in reality to the angelic being +whose form and features are so deeply impressed on my heart! I now see +it is no fond or fancied resemblance. It is real! real! real! How I +long to clasp her in my arms, and tell her how I love her; for, after +all, that is the girl that is to be mine, and the former a vision to +impress this the more on my heart." + +He posted up the ascent to overtake her. When at the top she turned, +smiled, and curtsied. Good heavens! it was the identical lady of his +fondest adoration herself, but lovelier, far lovelier, than ever. He +expected every moment that she would vanish, as was her wont; but she +did not--she awaited him, and received his embraces with open arms. +She was a being of real flesh and blood, courteous, elegant, and +affectionate. He kissed her hand, he kissed her glowing cheek, and +blessed all the powers of love who had thus restored her to him again, +after undergoing pangs of love such as man never suffered. + +"But, dearest heart, here we are standing in the middle of the +highway," said he; "suffer me to conduct you to my sister's house, +where you shall have an apartment with a child of nature having some +slight resemblance to yourself." She smiled, and said, "No, I will not +sleep with Lady Luna to-night. Will you please to look round you, and +see where you are." He did so, and behold they were standing on the +Birky Brow, on the only spot where he had ever seen her. She smiled at +his embarrassed look, and asked if he did not remember aught of his +coming over from Ireland. He said he thought he did remember something +of it, but love with him had long absorbed every other sense. He then +asked her to his own house, which she declined, saying she could only +meet him on that spot till after their marriage, which could not be +before St. Lawrence's Eve come three years. "And now," said she, "we +must part. My name is Jane Ogilvie, and you were betrothed to me +before you were born. But I am come to release you this evening, if +you have the slightest objection." + +He declared he had none; and kneeling, swore the most solemn oath to +be hers forever, and to meet her there on St. Lawrence's Eve next, +and every St. Lawrence's Eve until that blessed day on which she had +consented to make him happy by becoming his own forever. She then +asked him affectionately to change rings with her, in pledge of their +faith and troth, in which he joyfully acquiesced; for she could not +have then asked any conditions which, in the fulness of his heart's +love, he would not have granted; and after one fond and affectionate +kiss, and repeating all their engagements over again, they parted. + +Birkendelly's heart was now melted within him, and all his senses +overpowered by one overwhelming passion. On leaving his fair and kind +one, he got bewildered, and could not find the road to his own house, +believing sometimes that he was going there, and sometimes to his +sister's, till at length he came, as he thought, upon the Liffey, at +its junction with Loch Allan; and there, in attempting to call for a +boat, he awoke from a profound sleep, and found himself lying in his +bed within his sister's house, and the day sky just breaking. + +If he was puzzled to account for some things in the course of his +dream, he was much more puzzled to account for them now that he was +wide awake. He was sensible that he had met his love, had embraced, +kissed, and exchanged vows and rings with her, and, in token of the +truth and reality of all these, her emerald ring was on his finger, +and his own away; so there was no doubt that they had met--by what +means it was beyond the power of man to calculate. + +There was then living with Mrs. Bryan an old Scotswoman, commonly +styled Lucky Black. She had nursed Birkendelly's mother, and been +dry-nurse to himself and sister; and having more than a mother's +attachment for the latter, when she was married, old Lucky left her +country to spend the last of her days in the house of her beloved +young lady. When the Laird entered the breakfast-parlor that morning +she was sitting in her black velvet hood, as usual, reading _The +Fourfold State of Man_, and, being paralytic and somewhat deaf, she +seldom regarded those who went or came. But chancing to hear him say +something about the 9th of August, she quitted reading, turned round +her head to listen, and then asked, in a hoarse, tremulous voice: +"What's that he's saying? What's the unlucky callant saying about the +9th of August? Aih? To be sure it is St. Lawrence's Eve, although the +10th be his day. It's ower true, ower true, ower true for him an' a' +his kin, poor man! Aih? What was he saying then?" + +The men smiled at her incoherent earnestness, but the lady, with true +feminine condescension, informed her, in a loud voice, that Allan had +an engagement in Scotland on St. Lawrence's Eve. She then started up, +extended her shrivelled hands, that shook like the aspen, and panted +out: "Aih, aih? Lord preserve us! Whaten an engagement has he on St. +Lawrence's Eve? Bind him! bind him! Shackle him wi' bands of steel, +and of brass, and of iron! O may He whose blessed will was pleased +to leave him an orphan sae soon, preserve him from the fate which I +tremble to think on!" + +She then tottered round the table, as with supernatural energy, and +seizing the Laird's right hand, she drew it close to her unstable +eyes, and then perceiving the emerald ring chased in blood, she threw +up her arms with a jerk, opened her skinny jaws with a fearful gape, +and uttering a shriek that made all the house yell, and every one +within it to tremble, she fell back lifeless and rigid on the floor. +The gentlemen both fled, out of sheer terror; but a woman never +deserts her friends in extremity. The lady called her maids about her, +had her old nurse conveyed to bed, where every means were used to +restore animation. But, alas, life was extinct! The vital spark +had fled forever, which filled all their hearts with grief, +disappointment, and horror, as some dreadful tale of mystery was now +sealed up from their knowledge which, in all likelihood, no other +could reveal. But to say the truth, the Laird did not seem greatly +disposed to probe it to the bottom. + +Not all the arguments of Captain Bryan and his lady, nor the simple +entreaties of Lady Luna, could induce Birkendelly to put off his +engagement to meet his love on the Birky Brow on the evening of the +9th of August; but he promised soon to return, pretending that some +business of the utmost importance called him away. Before he went, +however, he asked his sister if ever she had heard of such a lady in +Scotland as Jane Ogilvie. Mrs. Bryan repeated the name many times to +herself, and said that name undoubtedly was once familiar to her, +although she thought not for good, but at that moment she did not +recollect one single individual of the name. He then showed her the +emerald ring that had been the death of Lucky Black; but the moment +the lady looked at it, she made a grasp at it to take it off by force, +which she had very nearly effected. "Oh, burn it! burn it!" cried she; +"it is not a right ring! Burn it!" + +"My dear sister, what fault is in the ring?" said he. "It is a very +pretty ring, and one that I set great value by." + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake, burn it, and renounce the giver!" cried she. +"If you have any regard for your peace here or your soul's welfare +hereafter, burn that ring! If you saw with your own eyes, you would +easily perceive that that is not a ring befitting a Christian to +wear." + +This speech confounded Birkendelly a good deal. He retired by himself +and examined the ring, and could see nothing in it unbecoming a +Christian to wear. It was a chased gold ring, with a bright emerald, +which last had a red foil, in some lights giving it a purple gleam, +and inside was engraven "_Elegit_," much defaced, but that his +sister could not see; therefore he could not comprehend her vehement +injunctions concerning it. But that it might no more give her offence, +or any other, he sewed it within his vest, opposite his heart, judging +that there was something in it which his eyes were withholden from +discerning. + +Thus he left Ireland with his mind in great confusion, groping his +way, as it were, in a hole of mystery, yet with the passion that +preyed on his heart and vitals more intense than ever. He seems to +have had an impression all his life that some mysterious fate awaited +him, which the correspondence of his dreams and day visions tended +to confirm. And though he gave himself wholly up to the sway of one +overpowering passion, it was not without some yearnings of soul, +manifestations of terror, and so much earthly shame, that he never +more mentioned his love, or his engagements, to any human being, not +even to his friend M'Murdie, whose company he forthwith shunned. + +It is on this account that I am unable to relate what passed between +the lovers thenceforward. It is certain they met at the Birky Brow +that St. Lawrence's Eve, for they were seen in company together; but +of the engagements, vows, or dalliance that passed between them I can +say nothing; nor of all their future meetings, until the beginning of +August, 1781, when the Laird began decidedly to make preparations for +his approaching marriage; yet not as if he and his betrothed had been +to reside at Birkendelly, all his provisions rather bespeaking a +meditated journey. + +On the morning of the 9th he wrote to his sister, and then arraying +himself in his new wedding suit, and putting the emerald ring on his +finger, he appeared all impatience, until toward evening, when he +sallied out on horseback to his appointment. It seems that his +mysterious inamorata had met him, for he was seen riding through the +big town before sunset, with a young lady behind him, dressed in white +and green, and the villagers affirmed that they were riding at the +rate of fifty miles an hour! They were seen to pass a cottage called +Mosskilt, ten miles farther on, where there was no highway, at the +same tremendous speed; and I could never hear that they were any more +seen, until the following morning, when Birkendelly's fine bay horse +was found lying dead at his own stable door; and shortly after his +master was likewise discovered lying, a blackened corpse, on the Birky +Brow at the very spot where the mysterious but lovely dame had always +appeared to him. There was neither wound, bruise, nor dislocation in +his whole frame; but his skin was of a livid color, and his features +terribly distorted. + +This woful catastrophe struck the neighborhood with great +consternation, so that nothing else was talked of. Every ancient +tradition and modern incident were raked together, compared, and +combined; and certainly a most rare concatenation of misfortunes was +elicited. It was authenticated that his father had died on the same +spot that day twenty years, and his grandfather that day forty years, +the former, as was supposed, by a fall from his horse when in liquor, +and the latter, nobody knew how; and now this Allan was the last of +his race, for Mrs. Bryan had no children. + +It was, moreover, now remembered by many, and among the rest by the +Rev. Joseph Taylor, that he had frequently observed a young lady, in +white and green, sauntering about the spot on a St. Lawrence's Eve. + +When Captain Bryan and his lady arrived to take possession of the +premises, they instituted a strict inquiry into every circumstance; +but nothing further than what was related to them by Mr. M'Murdie +could be learned of this Mysterious Bride, besides what the Laird's +own letter bore. It ran thus: + +"DEAREST SISTER,--I shall before this time to-morrow be the most +happy, or most miserable, of mankind, having solemnly engaged myself +this night to wed a young and beautiful lady, named Jane Ogilvie, to +whom it seems I was betrothed before I was born. Our correspondence +has been of a most private and mysterious nature; but my troth is +pledged, and my resolution fixed. We set out on a far journey to the +place of her abode on the nuptial eve, so that it will be long before +I see you again. Yours till death, + +"ALLAN GEORGE SANDISON. + +"BIRKENDELLY, _August 8_, 1781." + +That very same year, an old woman, named Marion Haw, was returned upon +that, her native parish, from Glasgow. She had led a migratory life +with her son--who was what he called a bell-hanger, but in fact a +tinker of the worst grade--for many years, and was at last returned +to the muckle town in a state of great destitution. She gave the +parishioners a history of the Mysterious Bride, so plausibly correct, +but withal so romantic, that everybody said of it (as is often said of +my narratives, with the same narrow-minded prejudice and injustice) +that it was a _made story_. There were, however, some strong +testimonies of its veracity. + +She said the first Allan Sandison, who married the great heiress of +Birkendelly, was previously engaged to a beautiful young lady named +Jane Ogilvie, to whom he gave anything but fair play; and, as she +believed, either murdered her, or caused her to be murdered, in the +midst of a thicket of birch and broom, at a spot which she mentioned; +and she had good reason for believing so, as she had seen the red +blood and the new grave, when she was a little girl, and ran home and +mentioned it to her grandfather, who charged her as she valued her +life never to mention that again, as it was only the nombles and hide +of a deer which he himself had buried there. But when, twenty years +subsequent to that, the wicked and unhappy Allan Sandison was found +dead on that very spot, and lying across the green mound, then nearly +level with the surface, which she had once seen a new grave, she then +for the first time ever thought of a Divine Providence; and she added, +"For my grandfather, Neddy Haw, he dee'd too; there's naebody kens +how, nor ever shall." + +As they were quite incapable of conceiving from Marion's description +anything of the spot, Mr. M'Murdie caused her to be taken out to the +Birky Brow in a cart, accompanied by Mr. Taylor and some hundreds of +the town's folks; but whenever she saw it, she said, "Aha, birkies! +the haill kintra's altered now. There was nae road here then; it gaed +straight ower the tap o' the hill. An' let me see--there's the thorn +where the cushats biggit; an' there's the auld birk that I ance fell +aff an' left my shoe sticking i' the cleft. I can tell ye, birkies, +either the deer's grave or bonny Jane Ogilvie's is no twa yards aff +the place where that horse's hind-feet are standin'; sae ye may howk, +an' see if there be ony remains." + +The minister and M'Murdie and all the people stared at one another, +for they had purposely caused the horse to stand still on the very +spot where both the father and son had been found dead. They digged, +and deep, deep below the road they found part of the slender bones +and skull of a young female, which they deposited decently in the +church-yard. The family of the Sandisons is extinct, the Mysterious +Bride appears no more on the Eve of St. Lawrence, and the wicked +people of the great muckle village have got a lesson on divine justice +written to them in lines of blood. + + + + +THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER [1] + +[Footnote 1: From _The Money-diggers_.] + +_Washington Irving_ (1783-1859) + + +A few miles from Boston, in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet +winding several miles into the interior of the country from Charles +Bay, and terminating in a thickly wooded swamp or morass. On one side +of this inlet is a beautiful dark grove; on the opposite side the land +rises abruptly from the water's edge into a high ridge, on which grow +a few scattered oaks of great age and immense size. Under one of these +gigantic trees, according to old stories, there was a great amount of +treasure buried by Kidd the pirate. The inlet allowed a facility to +bring the money in a boat secretly, and at night, to the very foot of +the hill; the elevation of the place permitted a good lookout to be +kept that no one was at hand; while the remarkable trees formed good +landmarks by which the place might easily be found again. The old +stories add, moreover, that the devil presided at the hiding of the +money, and took it under his guardianship; but this, it is well known, +he always does with buried treasure, particularly when it has been +ill-gotten. Be that as it may, Kidd never returned to recover his +wealth; being shortly after seized at Boston, sent out to England, and +there hanged for a pirate. + +About the year 1727, just at the time that earthquakes were prevalent +in New England, and shook many tall sinners down upon their knees, +there lived near this place a meagre, miserly fellow, of the name of +Tom Walker. He had a wife as miserly as himself; they were so miserly +that they even conspired to cheat each other. Whatever the woman could +lay hands on she hid away; a hen could not cackle but she was on the +alert to secure the new-laid egg. Her husband was continually prying +about to detect her secret hoards, and many and fierce were the +conflicts that took place about what ought to have been common +property. They lived in a forlorn-looking house that stood alone and +had an air of starvation. A few straggling savin-trees, emblems of +sterility, grew near it; no smoke ever curled from its chimney; no +traveller stopped at its door. A miserable horse, whose ribs were as +articulate as the bars of a gridiron, stalked about a field, where +a thin carpet of moss, scarcely covering the ragged beds of +pudding-stone, tantalized and balked his hunger; and sometimes he +would lean his head over the fence, look piteously at the passer-by, +and seem to petition deliverance from this land of famine. + +The house and its inmates had altogether a bad name. Tom's wife was a +tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm. +Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his +face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to +words. No one ventured, however, to interfere between them. The +lonely wayfarer shrank within himself at the horrid clamor and +clapper-clawing; eyed the den of discord askance; and hurried on his +way, rejoicing, if a bachelor, in his celibacy. + +One day that Tom Walker had been to a distant part of the +neighborhood, he took what he considered a short-cut homeward, through +the swamp. Like most short-cuts, it was an ill-chosen route. The swamp +was thickly grown with great, gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them +ninety feet high, which made it dark at noonday and a retreat for +all the owls of the neighborhood. It was full of pits and quagmires, +partly covered with weeds and mosses, where the green surface often +betrayed the traveller into a gulf of black, smothering mud; there +were also dark and stagnant pools, the abodes of the tadpole, the +bull-frog, and the water-snake, where the trunks of pines and hemlocks +lay half-drowned, half-rotting, looking like alligators sleeping in +the mire. + +Tom had long been picking his way cautiously through this treacherous +forest, stepping from tuft to tuft of rushes and roots, which afforded +precarious footholds among deep sloughs, or pacing carefully, like a +cat, along the prostrate trunks of trees, startled now and then by +the sudden screaming of the bittern, or the quacking of a wild duck, +rising on the wing from some solitary pool. At length he arrived at a +firm piece of ground, which ran like a peninsula into the deep bosom +of the swamp. It had been one of the strongholds of the Indians during +their wars with the first colonists. Here they had thrown up a kind of +fort, which they had looked upon as almost impregnable, and had used +as a place of refuge for their squaws and children. Nothing remained +of the old Indian fort but a few embankments, gradually sinking to the +level of the surrounding earth, and already overgrown in part by oaks +and other forest trees, the foliage of which formed a contrast to the +dark pines and hemlocks of the swamps. + +It was late in the dusk of evening when Tom Walker reached the old +fort, and he paused there awhile to rest himself. Any one but he would +have felt unwilling to linger in this lonely, melancholy place, for +the common people had a bad opinion of it, from the stories handed +down from the times of the Indian wars, when it was asserted that the +savages held incantations here and made sacrifices to the Evil Spirit. + +Tom Walker, however, was not a man to be troubled with any fears of +the kind. He reposed himself for some time on the trunk of a fallen +hemlock, listening to the boding cry of the tree-toad, and delving +with his walking-staff into a mound of black mould at his feet. As he +turned up the soil unconsciously, his staff struck against something +hard. He raked it out of the vegetable mould, and lo! a cloven skull, +with an Indian tomahawk buried deep in it, lay before him. The rust on +the weapon showed the time that had elapsed since this death-blow had +been given. It was a dreary memento of the fierce struggle that had +taken place in this last foothold of the Indian warriors. + +"Humph!" said Tom Walker, as he gave it a kick to shake the dirt from +it. + +"Let that skull alone!" said a gruff voice. Tom lifted up his eyes and +beheld a great black man seated directly opposite him, on the stump of +a tree. He was exceedingly surprised, having neither heard nor seen +any one approach; and he was still more perplexed on observing, as +well as the gathering gloom would permit, that the stranger was +neither negro nor Indian. It is true he was dressed in a rude Indian +garb, and had a red belt or sash swathed round his body; but his +face was neither black nor copper-color, but swarthy and dingy, and +begrimed with soot, as if he had been accustomed to toil among fires +and forges. He had a shock of coarse black hair, that stood out from +his head in all directions, and bore an axe on his shoulder. + +He scowled for a moment at Tom with a pair of great red eyes. + +"What are you doing on my grounds?" said the black man, with a hoarse, +growling voice. + +"Your grounds!" said Tom, with a sneer; "no more your grounds than +mine; they belong to Deacon Peabody." + +"Deacon Peabody be damned," said the stranger, "as I flatter myself he +will be, if he does not look more to his own sins and less to those of +his neighbors. Look yonder, and see how Deacon Peabody is faring." + +Tom looked in the direction that the stranger pointed, and beheld one +of the great trees, fair and flourishing without, but rotten at the +core, and saw that it had been nearly hewn through, so that the first +high wind was likely to blow it down. On the bark of the tree was +scored the name of Deacon Peabody, an eminent man who had waxed +wealthy by driving shrewd bargains with the Indians. He now looked +around, and found most of the tall trees marked with the name of some +great man of the colony, and all more or less scored by the axe. The +one on which he had been seated, and which had evidently just been +hewn down, bore the name of Crowninshield; and he recollected a mighty +rich man of that name, who made a vulgar display of wealth, which it +was whispered he had acquired by buccaneering. + +"He's just ready for burning!" said the black man, with a growl of +triumph. "You see I am likely to have a good stock of firewood for +winter." + +"But what right have you," said Tom, "to cut down Deacon Peabody's +timber?" + +"The right of a prior claim," said the other. "This woodland belonged +to me long before one of your white-faced race put foot upon the +soil." + +"And, pray, who are you, if I may be so bold?" said Tom. + +"Oh, I go by various names. I am the wild huntsman in some countries; +the black miner in others. In this neighborhood I am known by the name +of the black woodsman. I am he to whom the red men consecrated this +spot, and in honor of whom they now and then roasted a white man, +by way of sweet-smelling sacrifice. Since the red men have been +exterminated by you white savages, I amuse myself by presiding at the +persecutions of Quakers and Anabaptists; I am the great patron and +prompter of slave-dealers and the grand-master of the Salem witches." + +"The upshot of all which is, that, if I mistake not," said Tom, +sturdily, "you are he commonly called Old Scratch." + +"The same, at your service!" replied the black man, with a half-civil +nod. + +Such was the opening of this interview, according to the old story; +though it has almost too familiar an air to be credited. One would +think that to meet with such a singular personage in this wild, lonely +place would have shaken any man's nerves; but Tom was a hard-minded +fellow, not easily daunted, and he had lived so long with a termagant +wife that he did not even fear the devil. + +It is said that after this commencement they had a long and earnest +conversation together, as Tom returned homeward. The black man told +him of great sums of money buried by Kidd the pirate under the +oak-trees on the high ridge, not far from the morass. All these were +under his command, and protected by his power, so that none could find +them but such as propitiated his favor. These he offered to place +within Tom Walker's reach, having conceived an especial kindness for +him; but they were to be had only on certain conditions. What these +conditions were may be easily surmised, though Tom never disclosed +them publicly. They must have been very hard, for he required time to +think of them, and he was not a man to stick at trifles when money was +in view. When they had reached the edge of the swamp, the stranger +paused. "What proof have I that all you have been telling me is true?" +said Tom. "There's my signature," said the black man, pressing his +finger on Tom's forehead. So saying, he turned off among the thickets +of the swamp, and seemed, as Tom said, to go down, down, down, into +the earth, until nothing but his head and shoulders could be seen, and +so on, until he totally disappeared. + +When Tom reached home he found the black print of a finger burned, as +it were, into his forehead, which nothing could obliterate. + +The first news his wife had to tell him was the sudden death of +Absalom Crowninshield, the rich buccaneer. It was announced in the +papers, with the usual flourish, that "A great man had fallen in +Israel." + +Tom recollected the tree which his black friend had just hewn down, +and which was ready for burning. "Let the freebooter roast," said Tom; +"who cares!" He now felt convinced that all he had heard and seen was +no illusion. + +He was not prone to let his wife into his confidence; but as this was +an uneasy secret, he willingly shared it with her. All her avarice was +awakened at the mention of hidden gold, and she urged her husband to +comply with the black man's terms, and secure what would make them +wealthy for life. However Tom might have felt disposed to sell himself +to the devil, he was determined not to do so to oblige his wife; so +he flatly refused, out of the mere spirit of contradiction. Many and +bitter were the quarrels they had on the subject; but the more she +talked, the more resolute was Tom not to be damned to please her. + +At length she determined to drive the bargain on her own account, and, +if she succeeded, to keep all the gain to herself. Being of the same +fearless temper as her husband, she set off for the old Indian fort +toward the close of a summer's day. She was many hours absent. When +she came back, she was reserved and sullen in her replies. She spoke +something of a black man, whom she had met about twilight hewing at +the root of a tall tree. He was sulky, however, and would not come to +terms; she was to go again with a propitiatory offering, but what it +was she forbore to say. + +The next evening she set off again for the swamp, with her apron +heavily laden. Tom waited and waited for her, but in vain; midnight +came, but she did not make her appearance; morning, noon, night +returned, but still she did not come. Tom now grew uneasy for her +safety, especially as he found she had carried off in her apron the +silver tea-pot and spoons, and every portable article of value. +Another night elapsed, another morning came; but no wife. In a word, +she was never heard of more. + +What was her real fate nobody knows, in consequence of so many +pretending to know. It is one of those facts which have become +confounded by a variety of historians. Some asserted that she lost her +way among the tangled mazes of the swamp, and sank into some pit or +slough; others, more uncharitable, hinted that she had eloped with the +household booty, and made off to some other province; while others +surmised that the tempter had decoyed her into a dismal quagmire, on +the top of which her hat was found lying. In confirmation of this, it +was said a great black man, with an axe on his shoulder, was seen late +that very evening coming out of the swamp, carrying a bundle tied in a +check apron, with an air of surly triumph. + +The most current and probable story, however, observes that Tom Walker +grew so anxious about the fate of his wife and his property that he +set out at length to seek them both at the Indian fort. During a long +summer's afternoon he searched about the gloomy place, but no wife was +to be seen. He called her name repeatedly, but she was nowhere to be +heard. The bittern alone responded to his voice, as he flew screaming +by; or the bull-frog croaked dolefully from a neighboring pool. At +length, it is said, just in the brown hour of twilight, when the owls +began to hoot and the bats to flit about, his attention was attracted +by the clamor of carrion crows hovering about a cypress-tree. He +looked up and beheld a bundle tied in a check apron and hanging in +the branches of the tree, with a great vulture perched hard by, as +if keeping watch upon it. He leaped with joy, for he recognized his +wife's apron, and supposed it to contain the household valuables. + +"Let us get hold of the property," said he, consolingly, to himself, +"and we will endeavor to do without the woman." + +As he scrambled up the tree, the vulture spread its wide wings and +sailed off, screaming, into the deep shadows of the forest. Tom seized +the checked apron, but, woful sight! found nothing but a heart and +liver tied up in it! + +Such, according to this most authentic old story, was all that was to +be found of Tom's wife. She had probably attempted to deal with the +black man as she had been accustomed to deal with her husband; but +though a female scold is generally considered a match for the devil, +yet in this instance she appears to have had the worst of it. She must +have died game, however; for it is said Tom noticed many prints of +cloven feet deeply stamped about the tree, and found handfuls of hair, +that looked as if they had been plucked from the coarse black shock of +the woodsman. Tom knew his wife's prowess by experience. He shrugged +his shoulders as he looked at the signs of fierce clapper-clawing. +"Egad," said he to himself, "Old Scratch must have had a tough time of +it!" + +Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property, with the loss of +his wife, for he was a man of fortitude. He even felt something like +gratitude toward the black woodsman, who, he considered, had done him +a kindness. He sought, therefore, to cultivate a further acquaintance +with him, but for some time without success; the old black-legs played +shy, for, whatever people may think, he is not always to be had for +the calling; he knows how to play his cards when pretty sure of his +game. + +At length, it is said, when delay had whetted Tom's eagerness to the +quick and prepared him to agree to anything rather than not gain the +promised treasure, he met the black man one evening in his usual +woodsman's dress, with his axe on his shoulder, sauntering along the +swamp and humming a tune. He affected to receive Tom's advances with +great indifference, made brief replies, and went on humming his tune. + +By degrees, however, Tom brought him to business, and they began to +haggle about the terms on which the former was to have the pirate's +treasure. There was one condition which need not be mentioned, being +generally understood in all cases where the devil grants favors; but +there were others about which, though of less importance, he was +inflexibly obstinate. He insisted that the money found through his +means should be employed in his service. He proposed, therefore, that +Tom should employ it in the black traffic; that is to say, that he +should fit out a slave-ship. This, however, Tom resolutely refused; +he was bad enough in all conscience, but the devil himself could not +tempt him to turn slave-trader. + +Finding Tom so squeamish on this point, he did not insist upon it, +but proposed, instead, that he should turn usurer; the devil being +extremely anxious for the increase of usurers, looking upon them as +his peculiar people. + +To this no objections were made, for it was just to Tom's taste. + +"You shall open a broker's shop in Boston next month," said the black +man. + +"I'll do it to-morrow, if you wish," said Tom Walker. + +"You shall lend money at two per cent. a month." + +"Egad, I'll charge four!" replied Tom Walker. + +"You shall extort bonds, foreclose mortgages, drive the merchants to +bankruptcy--" + +"I'll drive them to the devil," cried Tom Walker. + +"_You_ are the usurer for my money!" said black-legs with delight. +"When will you want the rhino?" + +"This very night." + +"Done!" said the devil. + +"Done!" said Tom Walker. So they shook hands and struck a bargain. + +A few days' time saw Tom Walker seated behind his desk in a +counting-house in Boston. + +His reputation for a ready-moneyed man, who would lend money out for a +good consideration, soon spread abroad. Everybody remembers the time +of Governor Belcher, when money was particularly scarce. It was a time +of paper credit. The country had been deluged with government bills; +the famous Land Bank had been established; there had been a rage for +speculating; the people had run mad with schemes for new settlements, +for building cities in the wilderness; land-jobbers went about with +maps of grants and townships and Eldorados, lying nobody knew where, +but which everybody was ready to purchase. In a word, the great +speculating fever which breaks out every now and then in the country +had raged to an alarming degree, and everybody was dreaming of making +sudden fortunes from nothing. As usual, the fever had subsided, the +dream had gone off, and the imaginary fortunes with it; the patients +were left in doleful plight, and the whole country resounded with the +consequent cry of "hard times." + +At this propitious time of public distress did Tom Walker set up as +usurer in Boston. His door was soon thronged by customers. The needy +and adventurous, the gambling speculator, the dreaming land-jobber, +the thriftless tradesman, the merchant with cracked credit--in short, +everyone driven to raise money by desperate means and desperate +sacrifices hurried to Tom Walker. + +Thus Tom was the universal friend to the needy, and acted like "a +friend in need"; that is to say, he always exacted good pay and +security. In proportion to the distress of the applicant was the +hardness of his terms. He accumulated bonds and mortgages, gradually +squeezed his customers closer and closer, and sent them at length, dry +as a sponge, from his door. + +In this way he made money hand over hand, became a rich and mighty +man, and exalted his cocked hat upon "Change." He built himself, as +usual, a vast house, out of ostentation, but left the greater part +of it unfinished and unfurnished, out of parsimony. He even set up a +carriage in the fulness of his vain-glory, though he nearly starved +the horses which drew it; and, as the ungreased wheels groaned and +screeched on the axle-trees, you would have thought you heard the +souls of the poor debtors he was squeezing. + +As Tom waxed old, however, he grew thoughtful. Having secured the good +things of this world, he began to feel anxious about those of the +next. He thought with regret of the bargain he had made with his black +friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the conditions. +He became, therefore, all of a sudden, a violent church-goer. He +prayed loudly and strenuously, as if heaven were to be taken by force +of lungs. Indeed, one might always tell when he had sinned most during +the week by the clamor of his Sunday devotion. The quiet Christians +who had been modestly and steadfastly travelling Zionward were struck +with self-reproach at seeing themselves so suddenly outstripped in +their career by this new-made convert. Tom was as rigid in religious +as in money matters; he was a stern supervisor and censurer of his +neighbors, and seemed to think every sin entered up to their account +became a credit on his own side of the page. He even talked of the +expediency of reviving the persecution of Quakers and Anabaptists. In +a word, Tom's zeal became as notorious as his riches. + +Still, in spite of all this strenuous attention to forms, Tom had a +lurking dread that the devil, after all, would have his due. That he +might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a +small Bible in his coat-pocket. He had also a great folio Bible on his +counting-house desk, and would frequently be found reading it when +people called on business; on such occasions he would lay his green +spectacles in the book, to mark the place, while he turned round to +drive some usurious bargain. + +Some say that Tom grew a little crack-brained in his old days, and +that, fancying his end approaching, he had his horse new shod, +saddled, and bridled, and buried with his feet uppermost; because he +supposed that at the last day the world would be turned upside-down; +in which case he should find his horse standing ready for mounting, +and he was determined at the worst to give his old friend a run for +it. This, however, is probably a mere old wives' fable. If he really +did take such a precaution, it was totally superfluous; at least so +says the authentic old legend, which closes his story in the following +manner: + +One hot summer afternoon in the dog-days, just as a terrible black +thunder-gust was coming up, Tom sat in his counting-house, in his +white linen cap and India silk morning-gown. He was on the point of +foreclosing a mortgage, by which he would complete the ruin of an +unlucky land-speculator for whom he had professed the greatest +friendship. The poor land-jobber begged him to grant a few months' +indulgence. Tom had grown testy and irritated, and refused another +delay. + +"My family will be ruined, and brought upon the parish," said the +land-jobber. + +"Charity begins at home," replied Tom; "I must take care of myself in +these hard times." + +"You have made so much money out of me," said the speculator. + +Tom lost his patience and his piety. "The devil take me," said he, "if +I have made a farthing!" + +Just then there were three loud knocks at the street door. He stepped +out to see who was there. A black man was holding a black horse, which +neighed and stamped with impatience. + +"Tom, you're come for," said the black fellow, gruffly. Tom shrank +back, but too late. He had left his little Bible at the bottom of his +coat-pocket and his big Bible on the desk buried under the mortgage +he was about to foreclose: never was sinner taken more unawares. The +black man whisked him like a child into the saddle, gave the horse the +lash, and away he galloped, with Tom on his back, in the midst of the +thunder-storm. The clerks stuck their pens behind their ears, and +stared after him from the windows. Away went Tom Walker, dashing down +the streets, his white cap bobbing up and down, his morning-gown +fluttering in the wind, and his steed striking fire out of the +pavement at every bound. When the clerks turned to look for the black +man, he had disappeared. + +Tom Walker never returned to foreclose the mortgage. A countryman, who +lived on the border of the swamp, reported that in the height of the +thunder-gust he had heard a great clattering of hoofs and a howling +along the road, and running to the window caught sight of a figure, +such as I have described, on a horse that galloped like mad across the +fields, over the hills, and down into the black hemlock swamp toward +the old Indian fort, and that shortly after a thunder-bolt falling in +that direction seemed to set the whole forest in a blaze. + +The good people of Boston shook their heads and shrugged their +shoulders, but had been so much accustomed to witches and goblins, and +tricks of the devil, in all kinds of shapes, from the first settlement +of the colony, that they were not so much horror-struck as might +have been expected. Trustees were appointed to take charge of Tom's +effects. There was nothing, however, to administer upon. On searching +his coffers, all his bonds and mortgages were reduced to cinders. In +place of gold and silver, his iron chest was filled with chips and +shavings; two skeletons lay in his stable instead of his half-starved +horses, and the very next day his great house took fire and was burned +to the ground. + +Such was the end of Tom Walker and his ill-gotten wealth. Let all +gripping money-brokers lay this story to heart. The truth of it is not +to be doubted. The very hole under the oak-trees, whence he dug Kidd's +money, is to be seen to this day; and the neighboring swamp and +old Indian fort are often haunted in stormy nights by a figure on +horseback, in morning-gown and white cap, which is doubtless the +troubled spirit of the usurer. In fact, the story has resolved itself +into a proverb, and is the origin of that popular saying, so prevalent +throughout New England, of "The devil and Tom Walker." + + + + +DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT + +_Nathaniel Hawthorne_ (1807-1864) + + +That very singular man, old Doctor Heidegger, once invited four +venerable friends to meet him in his study. There were three +white-bearded gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr. +Gascoigne, and a withered gentlewoman whose name was the Widow +Wycherley. They were all melancholy old creatures, who had been +unfortunate in life, and whose greatest misfortune it was that they +were not long ago in their graves. Mr. Medbourne, in the vigor of his +age, had been a prosperous merchant, but had lost his all by a frantic +speculation, and was no little better than a mendicant. Colonel +Killigrew had wasted his best years, and his health and substance, in +the pursuit of sinful pleasures, which had given birth to a brood of +pains, such as the gout and divers other torments of soul and body. +Mr. Gascoigne was a ruined politician, a man of evil fame, or at +least had been so, till time had buried him from the knowledge of the +present generation, and made him obscure instead of infamous. As for +the Widow Wycherley, tradition tells us that she was a great beauty in +her day; but, for a long while past, she had lived in deep seclusion, +on account of certain scandalous stories which had prejudiced the +gentry of the town against her. It is a circumstance worth mentioning +that each of these three old gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel +Killigrew, and Mr. Gascoigne, were early lovers of the Widow +Wycherley, and had once been on the point of cutting each other's +throats for her sake. And, before proceeding further, I will merely +hint that Doctor Heidegger and all his four guests were sometimes +thought to be a little beside themselves; as is not unfrequently the +case with old people, when worried either by present troubles or woful +recollections. + +"My dear friends," said Doctor Heidegger, motioning them to be seated, +"I am desirous of your assistance in one of those little experiments +with which I amuse myself here in my study." + +If all stories were true, Doctor Heidegger's study must have been a +very curious place. It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned +with cobwebs and besprinkled with antique dust. Around the walls stood +several oaken bookcases, the lower shelves of which were filled with +rows of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos, and the upper with +little parchment-covered duodecimos. Over the central bookcase was a +bronze bust of Hippocrates, with which, according to some authorities, +Doctor Heidegger was accustomed to hold consultations in all difficult +cases of his practice. In the obscurest corner of the room stood +a tall and narrow oaken closet, with its door ajar, within which +doubtfully appeared a skeleton. Between two of the bookcases hung a +looking-glass, presenting its high and dusty plate within a tarnished +gilt frame. Among many wonderful stories related of this mirror, it +was fabled that the spirits of all the doctor's deceased patients +dwelt within its verge, and would stare him in the face whenever he +looked thitherward. The opposite side of the chamber was ornamented +with the full-length portrait of a young lady, arrayed in the faded +magnificence of silk, satin, and brocade, and with a visage as faded +as her dress. Above half a century ago Doctor Heidegger had been on +the point of marriage with this young lady; but, being affected +with some slight disorder, she had swallowed one of her lover's +prescriptions, and died on the bridal evening. The greatest curiosity +of the study remains to be mentioned; it was a ponderous folio volume, +bound in black leather, with massive silver clasps. There were no +letters on the back, and nobody could tell the title of the book. But +it was well known to be a book of magic; and once, when a chambermaid +had lifted it, merely to brush away the dust, the skeleton had rattled +in its closet, the picture of the young lady had stepped one foot upon +the floor, and several ghastly faces had peeped forth from the mirror; +while the brazen head of Hippocrates frowned, and said: "Forbear!" + +Such was Doctor Heidegger's study. On the summer afternoon of our tale +a small round table, as black as ebony, stood in the centre of the +room, sustaining a cut-glass vase of beautiful form and workmanship. +The sunshine came through the window, between the heavy festoons of +two faded damask curtains, and fell directly across this vase; so that +a mild splendor was reflected from it on the ashen visages of the five +old people who sat around. Four champagne glasses were also on the +table. + +"My dear old friends," repeated Doctor Heidegger, "may I reckon on +your aid in performing an exceedingly curious experiment?" + +Now Doctor Heidegger was a very strange old gentleman, whose +eccentricity had become the nucleus for a thousand fantastic stories. +Some of these fables, to my shame be it spoken, might possibly be +traced back to mine own veracious self; and if any passages of the +present tale should startle the reader's faith, I must be content to +bear the stigma of a fiction-monger. + +When the doctor's four guests heard him talk of his proposed +experiment, they anticipated nothing more wonderful than the murder +of a mouse in an air-pump or the examination of a cobweb by the +microscope, or some similiar nonsense, with which he was constantly in +the habit of pestering his intimates. But without waiting for a reply, +Doctor Heidegger hobbled across the chamber, and returned with the +same ponderous folio, bound in black leather, which common report +affirmed to be a book of magic. Undoing the silver clasps, he opened +the volume, and took from among its black-letter pages a rose, or what +was once a rose, though now the green leaves and crimson petals had +assumed one brownish hue, and the ancient flower seemed ready to +crumble to dust in the doctor's hands. + +"This rose," said Doctor Heidegger, with a sigh, "this same withered +and crumbling flower, blossomed five and fifty years ago. It was +given me by Sylvia Ward, whose portrait hangs yonder, and I meant to +wear it in my bosom at our wedding. Five and fifty years it has been +treasured between the leaves of this old volume. Now, would you deem +it possible that this rose of half a century could ever bloom again?" + +"Nonsense!" said the Widow Wycherley, with a peevish toss of her head. +"You might as well ask whether an old woman's wrinkled face could ever +bloom again." + +"See!" answered Doctor Heidegger. + +He uncovered the vase, and threw the faded rose into the water which +it contained. At first, it lay lightly on the surface of the fluid, +appearing to imbibe none of its moisture. Soon, however, a singular +change began to be visible. The crushed and dried petals stirred, and +assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower were reviving +from a death-like slumber; the slender stalk and twigs of foliage +became green; and there was the rose of half a century, looking as +fresh as when Sylvia Ward had first given it to her lover. It was +scarcely full blown; for some of its delicate red leaves curled +modestly around its moist bosom, within which two or three dewdrops +were sparkling. + +"That is certainly a very pretty deception," said the doctor's +friends; careless, however, for they had witnessed greater miracles at +a conjurer's show; "pray how was it effected?" + +"Did you ever hear of the 'Fountain of Youth,'" asked Doctor +Heidegger, "which Ponce de Leon, the Spanish adventurer, went in +search of, two or three centuries ago?" + +"But did Ponce de Leon ever find it?" said the Widow Wycherley. + +"No," answered Doctor Heidegger, "for he never sought it in the right +place. The famous Fountain of Youth, if I am rightly informed, is +situated in the southern part of the Floridian peninsula, not far from +Lake Macaco. Its source is overshadowed by several magnolias, which, +though numberless centuries old, have been kept as fresh as violets, +by the virtues of this wonderful water. An acquaintance of mine, +knowing my curiosity in such matters, has sent me what you see in the +vase." + +"Ahem!" said Colonel Killigrew, who believed not a word of the +doctor's story; "and what may be the effect of this fluid on the human +frame?" + +"You shall judge for yourself, my dear Colonel," replied Doctor +Heidegger; "and all of you, my respected friends, are welcome to so +much of this admirable fluid as may restore to you the bloom of youth. +For my own part, having had much trouble in growing old, I am in no +hurry to grow young again. With your permission, therefore, I will +merely watch the progress of the experiment." + +While he spoke, Doctor Heidegger had been filling the four champagne +glasses with the water of the Fountain of Youth. It was apparently +impregnated with an effervescent gas; for little bubbles were +continually ascending from the depths of the glasses, and bursting +in silvery spray at the surface. As the liquor diffused a pleasant +perfume, the old people doubted now that it possessed cordial +and comfortable properties; and though utter sceptics as to its +rejuvenescent power, they were inclined to swallow it at once. But +Doctor Heidegger besought them to stay a moment. + +"Before you drink, my respectable old friends," said he, "it would be +well that, with the experience of a lifetime to direct you, you should +draw up a few general rules for your guidance, in passing a second +time through the perils of youth. Think what a sin and shame it would +be if, with your peculiar advantages, you should not become patterns +of virtue and wisdom to all the young people of the age!" + +The doctor's four venerable friends made him no answer, except by a +feeble and tremulous laugh; so very ridiculous was the idea that, +knowing how closely repentance treads behind the steps of error, they +should ever go astray again. + +"Drink, then," said the doctor, bowing: "I rejoice that I have so well +selected the subjects of my experiment." + +With palsied hands they raised the glasses to their lips. The liquor, +if it really possessed such virtues as Doctor Heidegger imputed to it, +could not have been bestowed on four human beings who needed it more +wofully. They looked as if they had never known what youth or pleasure +was, but had been the offspring of nature's dotage, and always the +gray, decrepit, sapless, miserable creatures, who now sat stooping +round the doctor's table, without life enough in their souls or bodies +to be animated even by the prospect of growing young again. They drank +off the water, and replaced their glasses on the table. + +Assuredly there was an almost immediate improvement in the aspect of +the party, not unlike what might have been produced by a glass of +generous wine, together with a sudden glow of cheerful sunshine, +brightening over all their visages at once. There was a healthful +suffusion on their cheeks, instead of the ashen hue that had made them +look so corpselike. They gazed at one another, and fancied that +some magic power had really begun to smooth away the deep and sad +inscriptions which Father Time had been so long engraving on their +brows. The Widow Wycherley adjusted her cap, for she felt almost like +a woman again. + +"Give us more of this wondrous water!" cried they, eagerly. "We are +younger--but we are still too old! Quick--give us more!" + +"Patience! patience!" quoth Doctor Heidegger, who sat watching the +experiment with philosophic coolness. "You have been a long time +growing old. Surely you might be content to grow young in half an +hour! But the water is at your service." + +Again he filled their glasses with the liquor of youth, enough of +which still remained in the vase to turn half the old people in the +city to the age of their own grandchildren. While the bubbles were yet +sparkling on the brim, the doctor's four guests snatched their glasses +from the table, and swallowed the contents at a single gulp. Was it +delusion? Even while the draught was passing down their throats it +seemed to have wrought a change on their whole systems. Their eyes +grew clear and bright; a dark shade deepened among their silvery +locks; they sat round the table, three gentlemen of middle age, and a +woman hardly beyond her buxom prime. + +"My dear widow, you are charming!" cried Colonel Killigrew, whose eyes +had been fixed upon her face, while the shadows of age were flitting +from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak. + +The fair widow knew of old that Colonel Killigrew's compliments were +not always measured by sober truth; so she started up and ran to the +mirror, still dreading that the ugly visage of an old woman would meet +her gaze. Meanwhile the three gentlemen behaved in such a manner +as proved that the water of the Fountain of Youth possessed some +intoxicating qualities, unless, indeed, their exhilaration of spirits +were merely a lightsome dizziness, caused by the sudden removal of +the weight of years. Mr. Gascoigne's mind seemed to run on political +topics, but whether relating to the past, present, or future could not +easily be determined, since the same ideas and phrases have been in +vogue these fifty years. Now he rattled forth full-throated sentences +about patriotism, national glory, and the people's rights; now he +muttered some perilous stuff or other, in a sly and doubtful whisper, +so cautiously that even his own conscience could scarcely catch the +secret; and now, again, he spoke in measured accents and a deeply +deferential tone, as if a royal ear were listening to his well-turned +periods. Colonel Killigrew all this time had been trolling forth a +jolly battle-song, and ringing his glass toward the buxom figure of +the Widow Wycherley. On the other side of the table Mr. Medbourne +was involved in a calculation of dollars and cents, with which was +strangely intermingled a project for supplying the East Indies with +ice, by harnessing a team of whales to the polar icebergs. + +As for the Widow Wycherley, she stood before the mirror, courtesying +and simpering to her own image, and greeting it as the friend whom she +loved better than all the world beside. She thrust her face close to +the glass to see whether some long-remembered wrinkle or crow's-foot +had indeed vanished. She examined whether the snow had so entirely +melted from her hair that the venerable cap could be safely thrown +aside. At last, turning briskly away, she came with a sort of dancing +step to the table. + +"My dear old doctor," cried she, "pray favor me with another glass!" + +"Certainly, my dear madam, certainly!" replied the complaisant doctor. +"See! I have already filled the glasses." + +There, in fact, stood the four glasses, brimful of this wonderful +water, the delicate spray of which, as it effervesced from the +surface, resembled the tremulous glitter of diamonds. It was now so +nearly sunset that the chamber had grown duskier than ever; but a mild +and moon-like splendor gleamed from within the vase, and rested alike +on the four guests, and on the doctor's venerable figure. He sat in a +high-backed, elaborately carved oaken chair, with a gray dignity of +aspect that might have well befitted that very Father Time, whose +power had never been disputed, save by this fortunate company. Even +while quaffing the third draught of the Fountain of Youth, they were +almost awed by the expression of his mysterious visage. + +But the next moment the exhilarating gush of young life shot through +their veins. They were now in the happy prime of youth. Age, with its +miserable train of cares, and sorrows, and diseases, was remembered +only as the trouble of a dream, from which they had joyously awoke. +The fresh gloss of the soul, so early lost, and without which the +world's successive scenes had been but a gallery of faded pictures, +again threw its enchantment over all their prospects. They felt like +new-created beings in a new-created universe. + +"We are young! We are young!" they cried, exultingly. + +Youth, like the extremity of age, had effaced the strongly marked +characteristics of middle life, and mutually assimilated them all. +They were a group of merry youngsters, almost maddened with the +exuberant frolicsomeness of their years. The most singular effect of +their gayety was an impulse to mock the infirmity and decrepitude of +which they had so lately been the victims. They laughed loudly at +their old-fashioned attire--the wide-skirted coats and flapped +waistcoats of the young men, and the ancient cap and gown of the +blooming girl. One limped across the floor like a gouty grandfather; +one set a pair of spectacles astride of his nose, and pretended to +pore over the black-letter pages of the book of magic; a third seated +himself in an arm-chair, and strove to imitate the venerable dignity +of Doctor Heidegger. Then all shouted mirthfully, and leaped about +the room. The Widow Wycherley--if so fresh a damsel could be called a +widow--tripped up to the doctor's chair with a mischievous merriment +in her rosy face. + +"Doctor, you dear old soul," cried she, "get up and dance with me!" +And then the four young people laughed louder than ever, to think what +a queer figure the poor old doctor would cut. + +"Pray excuse me," answered the doctor, quietly. "I am old and +rheumatic, and my dancing days were over long ago. But either of these +gay young gentlemen will be glad of so pretty a partner." + +"Dance with me, Clara!" cried Colonel Killigrew. + +"She promised me her hand fifty years ago!" exclaimed Mr. Medbourne. + +They all gathered round her. One caught both her hands in his +passionate grasp--another threw his arm about her waist--the third +buried his hand among the curls that clustered beneath the widow's +cap. Blushing, panting, struggling, chiding, laughing, her warm breath +fanning each of their faces by turns, she strove to disengage herself, +yet still remained in their triple embrace. Never was there a livelier +picture of youthful rivalship, with bewitching beauty for the prize. +Yet, by a strange deception, owing to the duskiness of the chamber and +the antique dresses which they still wore, the tall mirror is said +to have reflected the figures of the three old, gray, withered +grand-sires, ridiculously contending for the skinny ugliness of a +shrivelled grandam. + +But they were young: their burning passions proved them so. Inflamed +to madness by the coquetry of the girl-widow, who neither granted +nor quite withheld her favors, the three rivals began to interchange +threatening glances. Still keeping hold of the fair prize, they +grappled fiercely at one another's throats. As they struggled to and +fro, the table was overturned, and the vase dashed into a thousand +fragments. The precious Water of Youth flowed in a bright stream +across the floor, moistening the wings of a butterfly, which, grown +old in the decline of summer, had alighted there to die. The insect +fluttered lightly through the chamber, and settled on the snowy head +of Doctor Heidegger. + +"Come, come, gentlemen!--come, Madame Wycherley!" exclaimed the +doctor, "I really must protest against this riot." + +They stood still and shivered; for it seemed as if gray Time were +calling them back from their sunny youth, far down into the chill and +darksome vale of years. They looked at old Doctor Heidegger, who sat +in his carved arm-chair, holding the rose of half a century which he +had rescued from among the fragments of the shattered vase. At the +motion of his hand the rioters resumed their seats, the more readily +because their violent exertions had wearied them, youthful though they +were. + +"My poor Sylvia's rose!" ejaculated Doctor Heidegger, holding it in +the light of the sunset clouds; "it appears to be fading again." + +And so it was. Even while the party were looking at it the flower +continued to shrivel up, till it became as dry and fragile as when the +doctor had first thrown it into the vase. He shook off the few drops +of moisture which clung to its petals. + +"I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness," observed he, +pressing the withered rose to his withered lips. While he spoke, the +butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head, and fell upon +the floor. + +His guests shivered again. A strange dullness, whether of the body or +spirit they could not tell, was creeping gradually over them all. They +gazed at one another, and fancied that each fleeting moment snatched +away a charm, and left a deepening furrow where none had been before. +Was it an illusion? Had the changes of a lifetime been crowded into so +brief a space, and were they now four aged people, sitting with their +old friend, Doctor Heidegger? + +"Are we grown old again so soon?" cried they, dolefully. + +In truth, they had. The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue +more transient than that of wine. The delirium which it created had +effervesced away. Yes, they were old again! With a shuddering impulse, +that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her skinny hands over +her face, and wished that the coffin lid were over it, since it could +be no longer beautiful. + +"Yes, friends, ye are old again," said Doctor Heidegger; "and lo! the +Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well, I bemoan it not; +for if the fountain gushed at my doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe +my lips in it--no, though its delirium were for years instead of +moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me!" + +But the doctor's four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves. +They resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florida, and quaff at +morning, noon, and night from the Fountain of Youth. + + + + +THE PURLOINED LETTER[1] + +[Footnote 1: The pattern in method for all detective stories.] + +_Edgar Allan Poe_ (1809-1849) + + +At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18--, I +was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in +company with my friend, C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, +or book-closet, _au troisième_, No. 33 Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. +Germain. For one hour at least we had maintained a profound silence, +while each, to any casual observer, might have seemed intently and +exclusively occupied with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed +the atmosphere of the chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally +discussing certain topics which had formed matter for conversation +between us at an earlier period of the evening; I mean the affair of +the Rue Morgue, and the mystery attending the murder of Marie Rogêt. +I looked upon it, therefore, as something of a coincidence, when +the door of our apartment was thrown open and admitted our old +acquaintance, Monsieur G----, the Prefect of the Parisian police. + +We gave him a hearty welcome; for there was nearly half as much of the +entertaining as of the contemptible about the man, and we had not seen +him for several years. We had been sitting in the dark, and Dupin now +arose for the purpose of lighting a lamp, but sat down again, without +doing so, upon G----'s saying that he had called to consult us, or +rather to ask the opinion of my friend, about some official business +which had occasioned a great deal of trouble. + +"If it is any point requiring reflection," observed Dupin, as he +forebore to enkindle the wick, "we shall examine it to better purpose +in the dark." + +"That is another of your odd notions," said the Prefect, who had the +fashion of calling everything "odd" that was beyond his comprehension, +and thus lived amid an absolute legion of "oddities." + +"Very true," said Dupin, as he supplied his visitor with a pipe, and +rolled toward him a comfortable chair. + +"And what is the difficulty now?" I asked. "Nothing more in the +assassination way, I hope?" + +"Oh no, nothing of that nature. The fact is, the business is _very_ +simple indeed, and I make no doubt that we can manage it sufficiently +well ourselves; but then I thought Dupin would like to hear the +details of it, because it is so excessively _odd_." + +"Simple and odd," said Dupin. + +"Why, yes; and not exactly that, either. The fact is, we have all been +a good deal puzzled because the affair is so simple, and yet baffles +us altogether." + +"Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts you at +fault," said my friend. + +"What nonsense you _do_ talk!" replied the Prefect, laughing heartily. + +"Perhaps the mystery is a little _too_ plain," said Dupin. + +"Oh, good heavens! who ever heard of such an idea?" + +"A little _too_ self-evident." + +"Ha! ha! ha!--ha! ha! ha!--ho! ho! ho!" roared our visitor, profoundly +amused, "Oh, Dupin, you will be the death of me yet!" + +"And what, after all, _is_ the matter on hand?" I asked. + +"Why, I will tell you," replied the Prefect, as he gave a long, +steady, and contemplative puff, and settled himself in his chair. "I +will tell you in a few words; but, before I begin, let me caution you +that this is an affair demanding the greatest secrecy, and that I +should most probably lose the position I now hold were it known that I +confided it to any one." + +"Proceed," said I. + +"Or not," said Dupin. + +"Well, then; I have received personal information, from a very high +quarter, that a certain document of the last importance has been +purloined from the royal apartments. The individual who purloined it +is known; this beyond a doubt; he was seen to take it. It is known, +also, that it still remains in his possession." + +"How is this known?" asked Dupin. + +"It is clearly inferred," replied the Prefect, "from the nature of the +document, and from the non-appearance of certain results which would +at once arise from its passing _out_ of the robber's possession--that +is to say, from his employing it as he must design in the end to +employ it." + +"Be a little more explicit," I said. + +"Well, I may venture so far as to say that the paper gives its holder +a certain power in a certain quarter where such power is immensely +valuable." The Prefect was fond of the cant of diplomacy. + +"Still I do not quite understand," said Dupin. + +"No? Well, the disclosure of the document to a third person, who shall +be nameless, would bring in question the honor of a personage of the +most exalted station, and this fact gives the holder of the document +an ascendancy over the illustrious personage whose honor and peace are +so jeopardized." + +"But this ascendancy," I interposed, "would depend upon the robber's +knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber. Who would dare--" + +"The thief," said G----, "is the Minister D----, who dares all things, +those unbecoming as well as those becoming a man. The method of the +theft was not less ingenious than bold. The document in question--a +letter, to be frank--had been received by the personage robbed while +alone in the royal _boudoir_. During its perusal she was suddenly +interrupted by the entrance of the other exalted personage from whom +especially it was her wish to conceal it. After a hurried and vain +endeavor to thrust it in a drawer, she was forced to place it, open as +it was, upon a table. The address, however, was uppermost, and, the +contents thus unexposed, the letter escaped notice. At this juncture +enters the Minister D----. His lynx eye immediately perceives the +paper, recognizes the handwriting of the address, observes the +confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret. After +some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he +produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, +pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the +other. Again he converses, for some fifteen minutes, upon the public +affairs. At length, in taking leave, he takes also from the table +the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful owner saw, but of +course, dared not call attention to the act, in the presence of the +third personage who stood at her elbow. The Minister decamped, leaving +his own letter--one of no importance--upon the table." + +"Here, then," said Dupin to me, "you have precisely what you demand to +make the ascendancy complete--the robber's knowledge of the loser's +knowledge of the robber." + +"Yes," replied the Prefect, "and the power thus attained has, for some +months past, been wielded, for political purposes, to a very dangerous +extent. The personage robbed is more thoroughly convinced, every day, +of the necessity of reclaiming her letter. But this, of course, cannot +be done openly. In fine, driven to despair, she has committed the +matter to me." + +"Than whom," said Dupin, amid a perfect whirlwind of smoke, "no more +sagacious agent could, I suppose, be desired, or even imagined." + +"You flatter me," replied the Prefect; "but it is possible that some +such opinion may have been entertained." + +"It is clear," said I, "as you observe, that the letter is still in +the possession of the Minister; since it is this possession, and +not any employment of the letter, which bestows the power. With the +employment the power departs." + +"True," said G----; "and upon this conviction I proceeded. My first +care was to make thorough search of the Minister's hotel; and here +my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his +knowledge. Beyond all things, I have been warned of the danger which +would result from giving him reason to suspect our design." + +"But," said I, "you are quite _au fait_ in these investigations. The +Parisian police have done this thing often before." + +"Oh yes, and for this reason I did not despair. The habits of the +Minister gave me, too, a great advantage. He is frequently absent from +home all night. His servants are by no means numerous. They sleep at +a distance from their master's apartment, and, being chiefly +Neapolitans, are readily made drunk. I have keys, as you know, with +which I can open any chamber or cabinet in Paris. For three months a +night has not passed during the greater part of which I have not +been engaged, personally, in ransacking the D---- Hotel. My honor is +interested, and, to mention a great secret, the reward is enormous. So +I did not abandon the search until I had become fully satisfied that +the thief is a more astute man than myself. I fancy that I have +investigated every nook and corner of the premises in which it is +possible that the paper can be concealed." + +"But is it not possible," I suggested, "that although the letter may +be in the possession of the Minister, as it unquestionably is, he may +have concealed it elsewhere than upon his own premises?" + +"This is barely possible," said Dupin. "The present peculiar condition +of affairs at court, and especially of those intrigues in which D---- +is known to be involved, would render the instant availability of the +document--its susceptibility of being produced at a moment's notice--a +point of nearly equal importance with its possession." + +"Its susceptibility of being produced?" said I. + +"That is to say, of being _destroyed_," said Dupin. + +"True," I observed; "the paper is clearly, then, upon the premises. As +for its being upon the person of the Minister, we may consider that as +out of the question." + +"Entirely," said the Prefect. "He has been twice waylaid, as if by +footpads, and his person rigidly searched under my own inspection." + +"You might have spared yourself this trouble," said Dupin. "D----, I +presume, is not altogether a fool; and, if not, must have anticipated +these waylayings, as a matter of course." + +"Not _altogether_ a fool," said G----; "but, then, he is a poet, which +I take to be only one remove from a fool." + +"True," said Dupin, after a long and thoughtful whiff from his +meerschaum, "although I have been guilty of certain doggrel myself." + +"Suppose you detail," said I, "the particulars of your search." + +"Why, the fact is, we took our time, and we searched _everywhere_. I +have had long experience in these affairs. I took the entire building, +room by room, devoting the nights of a whole week to each. We +examined, first, the furniture of each apartment. We opened every +possible drawer; and I presume you know that, to a properly trained +police-agent, such a thing as a '_secret_' drawer is impossible. Any +man is a dolt who permits a 'secret' drawer to escape him in a search +of this kind. The thing is so plain. There is a certain amount of +bulk--of space--to be accounted for in every cabinet. Then we have +accurate rules. The fiftieth part of a line could not escape us. After +the cabinets we took the chairs. The cushions we probed with the fine +long needles you have seen me employ. From the tables we removed the +tops." + +"Why so?" + +"Sometimes the top of a table, or other similarly arranged piece of +furniture, is removed by the person wishing to conceal an article; +then the leg is excavated, the article deposited within the cavity, +and the top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedposts are employed in +the same way." + +"But could not the cavity be detected by sounding?" I asked. + +"By no means, if, when the article is deposited, a sufficient wadding +of cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, we were obliged +to proceed without noise." + +"But you could not have removed--you could not have taken to pieces +_all_ articles of furniture in which it would have been possible to +make a deposit in the manner you mention. A letter may be compressed +into a thin spiral roll, not differing much in shape or bulk from a +large knitting-needle, and in this form it might be inserted into +the rung of a chair, for example. You did not take to pieces all the +chairs?" + +"Certainly not; but we did better--we examined the rungs of every +chair in the hotel, and, indeed, the jointings of every description of +furniture, by the aid of a most powerful microscope. Had there been +any traces of recent disturbance we should not have failed to detect +it instantly. A single grain of gimlet-dust, for example, would have +been as obvious as an apple. Any disorder in the gluing--any unusual +gaping in the joints--would have sufficed to insure detection." + +"I presume you looked to the mirrors, between the boards and the +plates, and you probed the beds and the bedclothes, as well as the +curtains and carpets." + +"That, of course; and when we had absolutely completed every particle +of the furniture in this way, then we examined the house itself. We +divided its entire surface into compartments, which we numbered, so +that none might be missed; then we scrutinized each individual square +inch throughout the premises, including the two houses immediately +adjoining, with the microscope, as before." + +"The two houses adjoining!" I exclaimed. "You must have had a great +deal of trouble." + +"We had; but the reward offered is prodigious." + +"You include the _grounds_ about the houses?" + +"All the grounds are paved with brick. They gave us comparatively +little trouble. We examined the moss between the bricks, and found it +undisturbed." + +"You looked among D----'s papers, of course, and into the books of the +library?" + +"Certainly; we opened every package and parcel; we not only opened +every book, but we turned over every leaf in each volume, not +contenting ourselves with a mere shake, according to the fashion of +some of our police officers. We also measured the thickness of every +book-_cover_, with the most accurate admeasurement, and applied to +each the most jealous scrutiny of the microscope. Had any of the +bindings been recently meddled with, it would have been utterly +impossible that the fact should have escaped observation. Some five or +six volumes, just from the hands of the binder, we carefully probed, +longitudinally, with the needles." + +"You explored the floors beneath the carpets?" + +"Beyond doubt. We removed every carpet, and examined the boards with +the microscope." + +"And the paper on the walls?" + +"Yes." + +"You looked into the cellars?" + +"We did." + +"Then," I said, "you have been making a miscalculation, and the letter +is _not_ upon the premises, as you suppose." + +"I fear you are right there," said the Prefect. "And now, Dupin, what +would you advise me to do?" + +"To make a thorough research of the premises." + +"That is absolutely needless," replied G----. "I am not more sure that +I breathe than I am that the letter is not at the hotel." + +"I have no better advice to give you," said Dupin. "You have, of +course, an accurate description of the letter?" + +"Oh yes!" And here the Prefect, producing a memorandum book, proceeded +to read aloud a minute account of the internal, and especially of the +external, appearance of the missing document. Soon after finishing +the perusal of this description, he took his departure, more entirely +depressed in spirits than I had ever known the good gentleman before. + +In about a month afterward he paid us another visit, and found us +occupied very nearly as before. He took a pipe and a chair, and +entered into some ordinary conversation. At length I said: + +"Well, but, G----, what of the purloined letter? I presume you have at +last made up your mind that there is no such thing as overreaching the +Minister?" + +"Confound him, say I--yes; I made the re-examination, however, as +Dupin suggested--but it was all labor lost, as I knew it would be." + +"How much was the reward offered, did you say?" asked Dupin. + +"Why, a very great deal--a _very_ liberal reward--I don't like to say +how much, precisely; but one thing I _will_ say, that I wouldn't mind +giving my individual check for fifty thousand francs to any one who +could obtain me that letter. The fact is, it is becoming of more and +more importance every day; and the reward has been lately doubled. If +it were trebled, however, I could do no more than I have done." + +"Why, yes," said Dupin, drawling, between the whiffs of his +meerschaum, "I really--think, G----, you have not exerted yourself--to +the utmost in this matter. You might--do a little more, I think; eh?" + +"How?--in what way?" + +"Why"--puff, puff--"you might"--puff, puff--"employ counsel in the +matter, eh"--puff, puff, puff. "Do you remember the story they tell of +Abernethy?" + +"No; hang Abernethy!" + +"To be sure! Hang him and welcome. But, once upon a time, a certain +miser conceived the design of spunging upon this Abernethy for +a medical opinion. Getting up, for this purpose, an ordinary +conversation in a private company, he insinuated his case to the +physician as that of an imaginary individual." + +"'We will suppose,' said the miser, 'that his symptoms are such and +such; now, doctor, what would _you_ have directed him to take?' + +"'Take!' said Abernethy. 'Why, take _advice_, to be sure.'" + +"But," said the Prefect, a little discomposed, "_I_ am _perfectly_ +willing to take advice, and to pay for it. I would _really_ give fifty +thousand francs to any one who would aid me in the matter." + +"In that case," replied Dupin, opening a drawer, and producing a +check-book, "you may as well fill me up a check for the amount +mentioned. When you have signed it, I will hand you the letter." + +I was astounded. The Prefect appeared absolutely thunder-stricken. +For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless, looking +incredulously at my friend with open mouth, and eyes that seemed +starting from their sockets; then apparently recovering himself in +some measure, he seized a pen, and after several pauses and vacant +stares, finally filled up and signed a check for fifty thousand +francs, and handed it across the table to Dupin. The latter examined +it carefully and deposited it in his pocket-book; then, unlocking an +_escritoire_, took thence a letter and gave it to the Prefect. This +functionary grasped it in a perfect agony of joy, opened it with +a trembling hand, cast a rapid glance at its contents, and +then, scrambling and struggling to the door, rushed at length +unceremoniously from the room and from the house, without having +uttered a syllable since Dupin had requested him to fill up the check. + +When he had gone, my friend entered into some explanation. + +"The Parisian police," he said, "are exceedingly able in their way. +They are persevering, ingenious, cunning, and thoroughly versed in the +knowledge which their duties seem chiefly to demand. Thus, when G---- +detailed to us his mode of searching the premises at the Hotel +D----, I felt entire confidence in his having made a satisfactory +investigation--so far as his labors extended." + +"So far as his labors extended?" said I. + +"Yes," said Dupin. "The measures adopted were not only the best of +their kind, but carried out to absolute perfection. Had the letter +been deposited within the range of their search, these fellows would, +beyond a question, have found it." + +I merely laughed--but he seemed quite serious in all that he said. + +"The measures, then," he continued, "were good in their kind, and well +executed; their defect lay in their being inapplicable to the case and +to the man. A certain set of highly ingenious resources are, with the +Prefect, a sort of Procrustean bed, to which he forcibly adapts his +designs. But he perpetually errs by being too deep or too shallow for +the matter in hand, and many a school-boy is a better reasoner than +he. I knew one about eight years of age, whose success at guessing in +the game of 'even and odd' attracted universal admiration. This game +is simple, and is played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a +number of these toys, and demands of another whether that number is +even or odd. If the guess is right, the guesser wins one; if wrong, he +loses one. The boy to whom I allude won all the marbles of the school. +Of course, he had some principle of guessing; and this lay in mere +observation and admeasurement of the astuteness of his opponents. For +example, an arrant simpleton is his opponent, and, holding up his +closed hand, asks, 'Are they even or odd?' Our school-boy replies, +'Odd,' and loses; but upon the second trial he wins, for he then says +to himself: 'The simpleton had them even upon the first trial, and his +amount of cunning is just sufficient to make him have them odd upon +the second; I will therefore guess odd'; he guesses odd, and wins. +Now, with a simpleton a degree above the first, he would have reasoned +thus; + +'This fellow finds that in the first instance I guessed odd, and, in +the second, he will propose to himself, upon the first impulse, a +simple variation from even to odd, as did the first simpleton; +but then a second thought will suggest that this is too simple a +variation, and finally he will decide upon putting it even as before. +I will therefore guess even'; he guesses even, and wins. Now this mode +of reasoning in the school-boy, whom his fellows termed 'Lucky,' what, +in its last analysis, is it?" + +"It is merely," I said, "an identification of the reasoner's intellect +with that of his opponent." + +"It is," said Dupin; "and, upon inquiring of the boy by what means he +effected the _thorough_ identification in which his success consisted, +I received answer as follows: 'When I wish to find out how wise, or +how stupid, or how good, or how wicked, is any one, or what are his +thoughts at the moment, I fashion the expression of my face, as +accurately as possible, in accordance with the expression of his, +and then wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind +or heart, as if to match or correspond with the expression.' This +response of the school-boy lies at the bottom of all the spurious +profundity which has been attributed to Rochefoucault, to La Bougive, +to Machiavelli, and to Campanella." + +"And the identification," I said, "of the reasoner's intellect with +that of his opponent, depends, if I understand you aright, upon the +accuracy with which the opponent's intellect is admeasured." + +"For its practical value it depends upon this," replied Dupin; "and +the Prefect and his cohort fail so frequently, first, by default of +this identification, and, secondly, by ill-admeasurement, or rather +through non-admeasurement, of the intellect with which they are +engaged. They consider only their _own_ ideas of ingenuity; and, in +searching for anything hidden, advert only to the modes in which +_they_ would have hidden it. They are right in this much--that their +own ingenuity is a faithful representative of that of _the mass_; but +when the cunning of the individual felon is diverse in character from +their own, the felon foils them of course. This always happens when it +is above their own, and very usually when it is below. They have no +variation of principle in their investigations; at best, when urged by +some unusual emergency--by some extraordinary reward--they extend +or exaggerate their old modes of _practice_, without touching their +principles. What, for example, in this case of D----, has been done to +vary the principle of action? What is all this boring, and probing, +and sounding, and scrutinizing with the microscope, and dividing the +surface of the building into registered square inches--what is it all +but an exaggeration of the application of the one principle or set +of principles of search, which are based upon the one set of notions +retarding human ingenuity, to which the Prefect, in the long routine +of his duty, has been accustomed? Do you not see he had taken it for +granted that _all_ men proceed to conceal a letter, not exactly in +a gimlet-hole bored in a chair-leg, but, at least, in _some_ +out-of-the-way hole or corner suggested by the same tenor of thought +which would urge a man to secrete a letter in a gimlet-hole bored in a +chair-leg? And do you not see, also, that such _recherché_ nooks for +concealment are adapted only for ordinary occasions, and would be +adopted only by ordinary intellects; for, in all cases of concealment, +a disposal of the article concealed--a disposal of it in this +_recherché_ manner--is, in the very first instance, presumable and +presumed; and thus its discovery depends, not at all upon the acumen, +but altogether upon the mere care, patience, and determination of the +seekers; and where the case is of importance--or, when the reward is +of magnitude--the qualities in question have _never_ been known to +fail. You will now understand what I meant in suggesting that, had +the purloined letter been hidden anywhere within the limits of the +Prefect's examination--in other words, had the principle of +its concealment been comprehended within the principles of the +Prefect--its discovery would have been a matter altogether beyond +question. This functionary, however, has been thoroughly mystified; +and the remote source of his defeat lies in the supposition that the +Minister is a fool, because he has acquired renown as a poet. All +fools are poets; this the Prefect _feels_; and he is merely guilty +of a _non distributio medii_ in thence inferring that all poets are +fools. I mean to say, that if the Minister had been no more than a +mathematician, the Prefect would have been under no necessity of +giving me this check. I knew him, however, as both mathematician and +poet, and my measures were adapted to his capacity, with reference +to the circumstances by which he was surrounded. I knew him as a +courtier, too, and as a bold _intriguant_. Such a man, I considered, +could not fail to be aware of the ordinary political modes of action. +He could not have failed to anticipate--and events have proved that he +did not fail to anticipate--the waylayings to which he was subjected. +He must have foreseen, I reflected, the secret investigations of his +premises. His frequent absences from home at night, which were hailed +by the Prefect as certain aids to his success, I regarded only as +_ruses_, to afford opportunity for thorough search to the police, and +thus the sooner to impress them with the conviction to which G----, in +fact, did finally arrive--the conviction that the letter was not upon +the premises. I felt, also, that the whole train of thought, which +I was at some pains in detailing to you just now, concerning the +invariable principle of political action in searches for articles +concealed--I felt that this whole train of thought would necessarily +pass through the mind of the Minister. It would imperatively lead him +to despise all the ordinary _nooks_ of concealment. _He_ could not, I +reflected, be so weak as not to see that the most intricate and remote +recess of his hotel would be as open as his commonest closets to the +eyes, to the probes, to the gimlets, and to the microscopes of the +Prefect. I saw, in fine, that he would be driven, as a matter of +course, to _simplicity_, if not deliberately induced to it as a matter +of choice. You will remember, perhaps, how desperately the Prefect +laughed when I suggested, upon our first interview, that it was just +possible this mystery troubled him so much on account of its being so +_very_ self-evident." + +"Yes," said I, "I remember his merriment well. I really thought he +would have fallen into convulsions." + +"The material world," continued Dupin, "abounds with very strict +analogies to the immaterial; and thus some color of truth has been +given to the rhetorical dogma that metaphor, or simile, may be made +to strengthen an argument as well as to embellish a description. The +principle of the _vis inertiae_, for example, seems to be identical in +physics and metaphysics. It is not more true, in the former, that a +large body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller +one, and that its subsequent _momentum_ is commensurate with this +difficulty, than it is, in the latter, that intellects of the vaster +capacity, while more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in +their movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily +moved, and more embarrassed, and full of hesitation in the first few +steps of their progress. Again: have you ever noticed which of +the street signs, over the shop doors, are the most attractive of +attention?" + +"I have never given the matter a thought," I said. + +"There is a game of puzzles," he resumed, "which is played upon a map. +One party playing requires another to find a given word--the name of +town, river, state, or empire--any word, in short, upon the motley and +perplexed surface of the chart. A novice in the game generally seeks +to embarrass his opponents by giving them the most minutely lettered +names; but the adept selects such words as stretch, in large +characters, from one end of the chart to the other. These, like +the over-largely lettered signs and placards of the street, escape +observation by dint of being excessively obvious; and here +the physical oversight is precisely analogous with the moral +inapprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed +those considerations which are too obtrusively and too palpably +self-evident. But this is a point, it appears, somewhat above or +beneath the understanding of the Prefect. He never once thought it +probable, or possible, that the Minister had deposited the letter +immediately beneath the nose of the whole world, by way of best +preventing any portion of that world from perceiving it. + +"But the more I reflected upon the daring, dashing, and discriminating +ingenuity of D----; upon the fact that the document must always have +been _at hand_, if he intended to use it to good purpose; and upon the +decisive evidence, obtained by the Prefect, that it was not hidden +within the limits of that dignitary's ordinary search, the more +satisfied I became that, to conceal this letter, the Minister +had resorted to the comprehensive and sagacious expedient of not +attempting to conceal it. + +"Full of these ideas, I prepared myself with a pair of green +spectacles, and called one fine morning, quite by accident, at the +Ministerial hotel. I found D---- at home, yawning, lounging, and +dawdling, as usual, and pretending to be in the last extremity of +_ennui_. He is, perhaps, the most really energetic human being now +alive--but that is only when nobody sees him. + +"To be even with him, I complained of my weak eyes, and lamented the +necessity of the spectacles, under cover of which I cautiously and +thoroughly surveyed the whole apartment, while seemingly intent only +upon the conversation of my host. + +"I paid especial attention to a large writing-table near which he sat, +and upon which lay confusedly some miscellaneous letters and other +papers, with one or two musical instruments and a few books. Here, +however, after a long and very deliberate scrutiny, I saw nothing to +excite particular suspicion. + +"At length my eyes, in going the circuit of the room, fell upon a +trumpery filigree card-rack of pasteboard that hung dangling by a +dirty blue ribbon from a little brass knob just beneath the middle of +the mantelpiece. In this rack, which had three or four compartments, +were five or six soiled cards and a solitary letter. This last was +much soiled and crumpled. It was torn nearly in two, across the +middle--as if a design, in the first instance, to tear it entirely up +as worthless had been altered or stayed in the second. It had a large +black seal, bearing the D---- cipher _very_ conspicuously, and was +addressed, in a diminutive female hand, to D----, the Minister, +himself. It was thrust carelessly, and even, as it seemed, +contemptuously, into one of the uppermost divisions of the rack. + +"No sooner had I glanced at this letter than I concluded it to be +that of which I was in search. To be sure, it was, to all appearance, +radically different from the one of which the Prefect had read us so +minute a description. Here the seal was large and black, with the +D---- cipher; there it was small and red, with the ducal arms of the +S---- family. Here the address, to the Minister, was diminutive and +feminine; there the superscription, to a certain royal personage, +was markedly bold and decided; the size alone formed a point of +correspondence. But, then, the _radicalness_ of these differences, +which was excessive; the dirt; the soiled and torn condition of the +paper, so inconsistent with the _true_ methodical habits of D----, and +so consistent of a design to delude the beholder into an idea of +the worthlessness of the document--these things, together with the +hyperobtrusive situation of this document, full in the view of every +visitor, and thus exactly in accordance with the conclusions to +which I had previously arrived--these things, I say, were strongly +corroborative of suspicion in one who came with the intention to +suspect. + +"I protracted my visit as long as possible, and, while I maintained a +most animated discussion with the Minister upon a topic which I knew +well had never failed to interest and excite him, I kept my attention +riveted upon the letter. In this examination I committed to memory its +external appearance and arrangement in the rack, and also fell, at +length, upon a discovery which set at rest whatever trivial doubt I +might have entertained. In scrutinizing the edges of the paper, +I observed them to be more _chafed_ than seemed necessary. They +presented the _broken_ appearance which is manifested when a stiff +paper, having been once folded and pressed with a folder, is refolded +in a reversed direction, in the same creases or edges which formed the +original fold. This discovery was sufficient. It was clear to me that +the letter had been turned, as a glove, inside out, re-directed and +re-sealed. I bade the Minister good-morning, and took my departure at +once, leaving a gold snuff-box upon the table. + +"The next morning I called for the snuff-box, when we resumed, quite +eagerly, the conversation of the preceding day. While thus engaged, +however, a loud report, as if of a pistol, was heard immediately +beneath the windows of the hotel, and was succeeded by a series of +fearful screams and the shoutings of a terrified mob. D---- rushed to +a casement, threw it open, and looked out. In the mean time I stepped +to the card-rack, took the letter, put it in my pocket, and replaced +it by a _facsimile_ (so far as regards externals), which I had +carefully prepared at my lodgings--imitating the D---- cipher, very +readily, by means of a seal formed of bread. + +"The disturbance in the street had been occasioned by the frantic +behavior of a man with a musket. He had fired it among a crowd of +women and children. It proved, however, to have been without ball, and +the fellow was suffered to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard. When +he had gone, D---- came from the window, whither I had followed him +immediately upon securing the object in view. Soon afterward I bade +him farewell. The pretended lunatic was a man in my own pay." + +"But what purpose had you," I asked, "in replacing the letter by a +_facsimile_? Would it not have been better, at the first visit, to +have seized it openly and departed?" + +"D----," replied Dupin, "is a desperate man and a man of nerve. His +hotel, too, is not without attendants devoted to his interests. Had +I made the wild attempt you suggest, I might never have left the +Ministerial presence alive. The good people of Paris might have heard +of me no more. But I had an object apart from these considerations. +You know my political prepossessions. In this matter I act as a +partisan of the lady concerned. For eighteen months the Minister has +had her in his power. She has now him in hers--since, being unaware +that the letter is not in his possession, he will proceed with his +exactions as if it was. Thus will he inevitably commit himself, at +once, to his political destruction. His downfall, too, will not be +more precipitate than awkward. It is all very well to talk about the +_facilis descensus Averni_; but in all kinds of climbing, as Catalani +said of singing, it is far more easy to get up than to come down. In +the present instance I have no sympathy--at least no pity--for him +who descends. He is that _monstrum horrendum_, an unprincipled man of +genius. I confess, however, that I should like very well to know the +precise character of his thoughts, when, being defied by her whom the +Prefect terms 'a certain personage,' he is reduced to opening the +letter I left for him in the card-rack." + +"How? Did you put anything particular in it?" + +"Why--it did not seem altogether right to leave the interior +blank--that would have been insulting. D----, at Vienna once, did me +an evil turn, which I told him, quite good-humoredly, that I should +remember. So, as I knew he would feel some curiosity in regard to the +identity of the person who had outwitted him, I thought it a pity not +to give him a clew. He is well acquainted with my MS., and I just +copied into the middle of the blank sheet the words: + + "'---- + ... Un dessein si funeste, + S'il n'est digne d'Atrée, este digne de Thyeste.' + +They are to be found in Crébillon's _Atrée_." + + + + +RAB AND HIS FRIENDS + +_Dr. John Brown_ (1810-1882) + + +Four-and-thirty years ago, Bob Ainslie and I were coming up Infirmary +Street from the High School, our heads together, and our arms +intertwisted as only lovers and boys know how or why. + +When we got to the top of the street and turned north we espied a +crowd at the Tron Church. "A dog-fight!" shouted Bob, and was off; and +so was I, both of us all but praying that it might not be over before +we got up! And is not this boy-nature, and human nature, too? And +don't we all wish a house on fire not to be out before we see it? Dogs +like fighting; old Isaac says they "delight" in it, and for the best +of all reasons; and boys are not cruel because they like to see +the fight. They see three of the great cardinal virtues of dog or +man--courage, endurance, and skill--in intense action. This is very +different from a love of making dogs fight, and aggravating and making +gain by their pluck. A boy--be he ever so fond himself of fighting, if +he be a good boy, hates and despises all this, but he would have run +off with Bob and me fast enough; it is a natural, and a not wicked, +interest that all boys and men have in witnessing intense energy in +action. + +Does any curious and finely ignorant woman wish to know how Bob's eye +at a glance announced a dog-fight to his brain? He did not--he could +not--see the dogs fighting; it was a flash of an inference, a rapid +induction. The crowd round a couple of dogs fighting is a crowd +masculine mainly, with an occasional active, compassionate woman +fluttering wildly round the outside and using her tongue and her hands +freely upon the men, as so many "brutes"; it is a crowd annular, +compact, and mobile; a crowd centripetal, having its eyes and its +heads all bent downward and inward to one common focus. + +Well, Bob and I are up, and find it is not over; a small thoroughbred, +white bull-terrier is busy throttling a large shepherd's dog, +unaccustomed to war but not to be trifled with. They are hard at +it; the scientific little fellow doing his work in great style, his +pastoral enemy fighting wildly, but with the sharpest of teeth and a +great courage. Science and breeding, however, soon had their own; the +Game Chicken, as the premature Bob called him, working his way up, +took his final grip of poor Yarrow's throat--and he lay gasping and +done for. His master, a brown, handsome, big, young shepherd from +Tweedsmuir, would have liked to have knocked down any man, would +"drink up Esil, or eat a crocodile," for that part, if he had a +chance; it was no use kicking the little dog; that would only make him +hold the closer. Many were the means shouted out in mouthfuls of the +best possible ways of ending it. "Water!" but there was none near, and +many cried for it who might have got it from the well at Blackfriar's +Wynd. "Bite the tail!" and a large, vague, benevolent, middle-aged +man, more desirous than wise, with some struggle got the bushy end of +Yarrow's tail into his ample mouth and bit it with all his might. This +was more than enough for the much-enduring, much-perspiring shepherd, +who, with a gleam of joy over his broad visage, delivered a terrific +facer upon our large, vague, benevolent, middle-aged friend, who went +down like a shot. + +Still the Chicken holds; death not far off. "Snuff! a pinch of snuff!" +observed a calm, highly dressed young buck with an eye-glass in his +eye. "Snuff, indeed!" growled the angry crowd, affronted and glaring. +"Snuff! a pinch of snuff!" again observes the buck, but with more +urgency; whereon were produced several open boxes, and from a mull +which may have been at Culloden he took a pinch, knelt down, and +presented it to the nose of the Chicken, The laws of physiology and of +snuff take their course; the Chicken sneezes, and Yarrow is free! + +The young pastoral giant stalks off with Yarrow in his +arms--comforting him. + +But the bull-terrier's blood is up, and his soul unsatisfied; he grips +the first dog he meets, and, discovering she is not a dog, in Homeric +phrase, he makes a brief sort of _amende_ and is off. The boys, with +Bob and me at their head, are after him: down Niddry Street he goes, +bent on mischief; up the Cowgate like an arrow--Bob and I, and our +small men; panting behind. + +There, under the single arch of the South Bridge, is a huge mastiff, +sauntering down the middle of the causeway, as if with his hands in +his pockets; he is old, brindled, as big as a little Highland bull, +and has the Shakespearean dewlaps shaking as he goes. + +The Chicken makes straight at him, and fastens on his throat. To our +astonishment, the great creature does nothing but stand still, hold +himself up, and roar--yes, roar, a long, serious, remonstrative roar. +How is this? Bob and I are up to them. _He is muzzled_! The bailies +had proclaimed a general muzzling, and his master, studying strength +and economy mainly, had encompassed his huge jaws in a home-made +apparatus constructed out of the leather of some ancient _breechin_. +His mouth was open as far as it could; his lips curled up in rage--a +sort of terrible grin; his teeth gleaming, ready, from out the +darkness; the strap across his mouth tense as a bowstring; his whole +frame stiff with indignation and surprise; his roar asking us all +round, "Did you ever see the like of this?" He looked a statue of +anger and astonishment done in Aberdeen granite. + +We soon had a crowd; the Chicken held on. "A knife!" cried Bob; and a +cobbler gave him his knife; you know the kind of knife, worn obliquely +to a point and always keen. I put its edge to the tense leather; it +ran before it; and then!--one sudden jerk of that enormous head, a +sort of dirty mist about his mouth, no noise, and the bright and +fierce little fellow is dropped, limp and dead. A solemn pause; this +was more than any of us had bargained for. I turned the little fellow +over, and saw he was quite dead: the mastiff had taken him by the +small of the back like a rat and broken it. + +He looked down at his victim appeased, ashamed, and amazed; sniffed +him all over, stared at him, and, taking a sudden thought, turned +round and trotted off. Bob took the dead dog up, and said, "John, +we'll bury him after tea." "Yes," said I, and was off after the +mastiff. He made up the Cowgate at a rapid swing; he had forgotten +some engagement. He turned up the Candlemaker Row, and stopped at the +Harrow Inn. + +There was a carrier's cart ready to start, and a keen, thin, +impatient, black-a-vised little man, his hand at his gray horse's +head, looking about angrily for something. "Rab, ye thief!" said he, +aiming a kick at my great friend, who drew cringing up, and, avoiding +the heavy shoe with more agility than dignity and watching his +master's eye? slunk dismayed under the cart--his ears down, and as +much as he had of tail down, too. + +What a man this must be--thought I--to whom my tremendous hero turns +tail! The carrier saw the muzzle hanging, cut and useless, from +his neck, and I eagerly told him the story, which Bob and I always +thought, and still think, Homer, or King David, or Sir Walter alone +were worthy to rehearse. The severe little man was mitigated, and +condescended to say, "Rab, ma man--puir Rabbie," whereupon the stump +of a tail rose up, the ears were cocked, the eyes filled and were +comforted; the two friends were reconciled. "Hupp!" and a stroke of +the whip were given to Jess, and off went the three. + +Bob and I buried the Game Chicken that night (we had not much of a +tea) in the back-green of his house, in Melville Street, No. 17, with +considerable gravity and silence; and being at the time in the Iliad, +and, like all boys, Trojans, we of course called him Hector. + +Six years have passed--a long time for a boy and a dog; Bob Ainslie +is off to the wars; I am a medical student, and clerk at Minto House +Hospital. + +Rab I saw almost every week, on the Wednesday, and we had much +pleasant intimacy. I found the way to his heart by frequent scratching +of his huge head and an occasional bone. When I did not notice him he +would plant himself straight before me and stand wagging that bud of +a tail, and looking up, with his head a little to the one side. His +master I occasionally saw; he used to call me "Maister John," but was +laconic as any Spartan. + +One fine October afternoon I was leaving the hospital, when I saw the +large gate open, and in walked Rab, with that great and easy saunter +of his. He looked as if taking possession of the place, like the Duke +of Wellington entering a subdued city, satiated with victory and +peace. After him came Jess, now white from age, with her cart; and +in it a woman carefully wrapped up--the carrier leading the horse +anxiously and looking back. When he saw me, James (for his name was +James Noble) made a curt and grotesque "boo," and said, "Maister John, +this is the mistress; she's got a trouble in her breest--some kind o' +an income, we're thinkin'." + +By this time I saw the woman's face; she was sitting on a sack filled +with straw, with her husband's plaid round her, and his big-coat, with +its large, white metal buttons, over her feet. + +I never saw a more unforgettable face--pale, serious, _lonely_, +delicate, sweet, without being at all what we call fine. She looked +sixty, and had on a mutch, white as snow, with its black ribbon; her +silvery, smooth hair setting off her dark-gray eyes--eyes such as one +sees only twice or thrice in a lifetime, full of suffering, full also +of the overcoming of it; her eyebrows black and delicate, and her +mouth firm, patient, and contented, which few mouths ever are. + +As I have said, I never saw a more beautiful countenance, or one more +subdued to settled quiet. "Ailie," said James, "this is Maister John, +the young doctor; Rab's friend, ye ken. We often speak aboot you, +doctor." She smiled and made a movement, but said nothing, and +prepared to come down, putting her plaid aside and rising. Had +Solomon, in all his glory, been handing down the Queen of Sheba at his +palace gate, he could not have done it more daintily, more tenderly, +more like a gentleman than James, the Howland carrier, when he +lifted down Ailie, his wife. The contrast of his small, swarthy, +weather-beaten, keen, worldly face to hers--pale, subdued, and +beautiful--was something wonderful. Rab looked on concerned and +puzzled, but ready for anything that might turn up, were it to +strangle the nurse, the porter, or even me. Ailie and he seemed great +friends. + +"As I was sayin', she's got a kind o' trouble in her breest, doctor; +wull ye tak' a look at it?" We walked into the consulting-room, all +four; Rab, grim and comic, willing to be happy and confidential if +cause should be shown, willing also to be the reverse on the same +terms. Ailie sat down, undid her open gown and her lawn handkerchief +round her neck, and, without a word, showed me her right breast. I +looked at it and examined it carefully, she and James watching me, and +Rab eying all three. What could I say? There it was, that had once +been so soft, so shapely, so white, so gracious and bountiful, so +"full of all blessed condition," hard as a stone, a centre of horrid +pain, making that pale face, with its gray, lucid, reasonable eyes, +and its sweet, resolved mouth, express the full measure of suffering +overcome. Why was that gentle, modest, sweet woman, clean and lovable, +condemned by God to bear such a burden? + +I got her away to bed. "May Rab and me bide?" said James. "_You_ may; +and Rab, if he will behave himself." "I'se warrant he's do that, +doctor." And in slunk the faithful beast. There are no such dogs now. +He belonged to a lost tribe. As I have said, he was brindled, and gray +like Rubislaw granite; his hair short, hard, and close, like a lion's; +his body thick-set, like a little bull--a sort of compressed Hercules +of a dog. He must have been ninety pounds' weight, at the least; he +had a large, blunt head; his muzzle black as night; his mouth blacker +than any night; a tooth or two--being all he had--gleaming out of his +jaws of darkness. His head was scarred with the records of old wounds, +a sort of series of fields of battles all over it; one eye out, one +ear cropped as close as was Archbishop Leighton's father's; the +remaining eye had the power of two; and above it, and in constant +communication with it, was a tattered rag of an ear, which was forever +unfurling itself, like an old flag; and then that bud of a tail, about +one inch long, if it could in any sense be said to be long, being as +broad as long--the mobility, the instantaneousness of that bud were +very funny and surprising, and its expressive twinklings and winkings, +the intercommunications between the eye, the ear, and it, were of the +oddest and swiftest. + +Rab had the dignity and simplicity of great size; and, having fought +his way all along the road to absolute supremacy, he was as mighty in +his own line as Julius Caesar or the Duke of Wellington, and had the +gravity of all great fighters. + +You must have often observed the likeness of certain men to certain +animals, and of certain dogs to men. Now, I never looked at Rab +without thinking of the great Baptist preacher, Andrew Fuller. The +same large, heavy, menacing, combative, sombre, honest countenance, +the same deep, inevitable eye; the same look, as of thunder asleep, +but ready--neither a dog nor a man to be trifled with. + +Next day my master, the surgeon, examined Ailie. There could be no +doubt it must kill her, and soon. If it could be removed--it might +never return--it would give her speedy relief--she should have it +done. She curtsied, looked at James, and said, "When?" "To-morrow," +said the kind surgeon--a man of few words. She and James and Rab and +I retired. I noticed that he and she spoke little, but seemed to +anticipate everything in each other. The following day, at noon, +the students came in, hurrying up the great stair. At the first +landing-place, on a small, well-known blackboard, was a bit of paper +fastened by wafers, and many remains of old wafers beside it. On the +paper were the words: + +"An operation to-day.--J.B., _Clerk_." + +Up ran the youths, eager to secure good places; in they crowded, full +of interest and talk. "What's the case?" "Which side is it?" + +Don't think them heartless; they are neither better nor worse than you +or I; they get over their professional horrors, and into their proper +work; and in them pity, as an _emotion_, ending in itself or at best +in tears and a long-drawn breath, lessens, while pity, as a _motive_, +is quickened, and gains power and purpose. It is well for poor human +nature that it is so. + +The operating-theatre is crowded; much talk and fun, and all the +cordiality and stir of youth. The surgeon with his staff of assistants +is there. In comes Ailie; one look at her quiets and abates the eager +students. That beautiful old woman is too much for them; they sit +down, and are dumb, and gaze at her. These rough boys feel the power +of her presence. She walks in quietly, but without haste; dressed in +her mutch, her neckerchief, her white dimity short-gown, her black +bombazeen petticoat, showing her white worsted stockings and her +carpet shoes. Behind her was James with Rab. James sat down in the +distance, and took that huge and noble head between his knees. Rab +looked perplexed and dangerous--forever cocking his ear and dropping +it as fast. + +Ailie stepped up on a seat, and laid herself on the table, as her +friend the surgeon told her; arranged herself, gave a rapid look at +James, shut her eyes, rested herself on me, and took my hand. +The operation was at once begun; it was necessarily slow; and +chloroform--one of God's best gifts to his suffering children--was +then unknown. The surgeon did his work. The pale face showed its pain, +but was still and silent. Rab's soul was working within him; he saw +something strange was going on, blood flowing from his mistress, and +she suffering; his ragged ear was up and importunate; he growled and +gave now and then a sharp, impatient yelp; he would have liked to have +done something to that man. But James had him firm, and gave him a +_glower_ from time to time, and an intimation of a possible kick; all +the better for James--it kept his eye and his mind off Ailie. + +It is over; she is dressed, steps gently and decently down from the +table, looks for James; then turning to the surgeon and the students, +she curtsies, and in a low, clear voice, begs their pardon if she has +behaved ill. The students--all of us--wept like children; the surgeon +wrapped her up carefully, and, resting on James and me, Ailie went +to her room, and Rab followed. We put her to bed. James took off his +heavy shoes, crammed with tackets, heel-capped and toe-capped, and put +them carefully under the table, saying: "Maister John, I'm for nane o' +yer strynge nurse bodies for Ailie. I'll be her nurse, and I'll gang +aboot on my stockin' soles as canny as pussy." And so he did; +and handy and clever, and swift and tender as any woman was that +horny-handed, snell, peremptory little man. Everything she got he gave +her; he seldom slept; and often I saw his small, shrewd eyes out of +the darkness, fixed on her. As before, they spoke little. + +Rab behaved well, never moving, showing us how meek and gentle he +could be, and occasionally, in his sleep, letting us know that he +was demolishing some adversary. He took a walk with me every day, +generally to the Candlemaker Row; but he was sombre and mild; declined +doing battle, though some fit cases offered, and indeed submitted to +sundry indignities; and was always very ready to turn, and came faster +back, and trotted up the stair with much lightness, and went straight +to that door. + +Jess, the mare, had been sent, with her weather-beaten cart, to +Howgate, and had doubtless her own dim and placid meditations and +confusions on the absence of her master and Rab and her unnatural +freedom from the road and her cart. + +For some days Ailie did well. The wound healed "by the first +intention"; for as James said, "Oor Ailie's skin's ower clean to +beil." The students came in quiet and anxious, and surrounded her +bed. She said she liked to see their young, honest faces. The surgeon +dressed her, and spoke to her in his own short, kind way, pitying her +through his eyes, Rab and James outside the circle--Rab being now +reconciled, and even cordial, and having made up his mind that as yet +nobody required worrying, but, as you may suppose, _semper paratus_. + +So far well; but, four days after the operation, my patient had a +sudden and long shivering, a "groosin," as she called it. I saw her +soon after; her eyes were too bright, her cheek colored; she was +restless, and ashamed of being so; the balance was lost; mischief had +begun. On looking at the wound, a blush of red told the secret; her +pulse was rapid, her breathing anxious and quick; she wasn't herself, +as she said, and was vexed at her restlessness. We tried what we +could. James did everything, was everywhere, never in the way, never +out of it; Rab subsided under the table into a dark place, and was +motionless, all but his eye, which followed every one. Ailie got +worse; began to wander in her mind, gently; was more demonstrative in +her ways to James, rapid in her questions, and sharp at times. He was +vexed, and said, "She was never that way afore, no, never." For a time +she knew her head was wrong, and was always asking our pardon--the +dear, gentle old woman; then delirium set in strong, without pause. +Her brain gave way, and then came that terrible spectacle, + + "The intellectual power, through words and things, + Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way"; + +she sang bits of old songs and Psalms, stopping suddenly, mingling the +Psalms of David and the diviner words of his Son and Lord with homely +odds and ends of ballads. + +Nothing more touching, or in a sense more strangely beautiful, did +I ever witness. Her tremulous, rapid, affectionate, eager, Scotch +voice--the swift, aimless, bewildered mind, the baffled utterance, +the bright and perilous eye; some wild words, some household cares, +something for James, the names of the dead, Rab called rapidly and in +a "fremyt" voice, and he starting up, surprised, and slinking off as +if he were to blame somehow, or had been dreaming he heard. Many eager +questions and beseechings which James and I could make nothing of, and +on which she seemed to set her all, and then sink back ununderstood. +It was very sad, but better than many things that are not called sad. +James hovered about, put out and miserable, but active and exact as +ever; read to her, when there was a lull, short bits from the Psalms, +prose and metre, chanting the latter in his own rude and serious way, +showing great knowledge of the fit words, bearing up like a man, and +doating over her as his "ain Ailie." "Ailie, ma woman!" "Ma ain bonnie +wee dawtie!" + +The end was drawing on; the golden bowl was breaking; the silver +cord was fast being loosed--that _animula, blandula, vagula, hospes, +comesque_, was about to flee. The body and the soul--companions for +sixty years--were being sundered and taking leave. She was walking, +alone, through the valley of that shadow into which one day we must +all enter--and yet she was not alone, for we know whose rod and staff +were comforting her. + +One night she had fallen quiet, and, as we hoped, asleep; her eyes +were shut. We put down the gas, and sat watching her. Suddenly she sat +up in bed, and, taking a bedgown which was lying on it rolled up, she +held it eagerly to her breast--to the right side. We could see her +eyes bright with a surprising tenderness and joy, bending over this +bundle of clothes. She held it as a woman holds her sucking child; +opening out her night-gown impatiently, and holding it close and +brooding over it and murmuring foolish little words, as over one whom +his mother comforteth, and who sucks and is satisfied. It was pitiful +and strange to see her wasted, dying look, keen and yet vague--her +immense love. + +"Preserve me!" groaned James, giving way. And then she rocked back and +forward, as if to make it sleep, hushing it, and wasting on it her +infinite fondness. "Wae's me, doctor; I declare she's thinkin' it's +that bairn." "What bairn?" "The only bairn we ever had; our wee Mysie, +and she's in the Kingdom forty years and mair." It was plainly true; +the pain in the breast, telling its urgent story to a bewildered, +ruined brain, was misread and mistaken; it suggested to her the +uneasiness of a breast full of milk, and then the child; and so again +once more they were together, and she had her ain wee Mysie on her +bosom. + +This was the close. She sank rapidly; the delirium left her; but, as +she whispered, she was "clean silly"; it was the lightening before the +final darkness. After having for some time lain still, her eyes shut, +she said, "James!" He came close to her, and, lifting up her calm, +clear, beautiful eyes, she gave him a long look, turned to me kindly +but shortly, looked for Rab but could not see him, then turned to her +husband again, as if she would never leave off looking, shut her eyes, +and composed herself. She lay for some time breathing quick, and +passed away so gently that, when we thought she was gone, James, in +his old-fashioned way, held the mirror to her face. After a long +pause, one small spot of dimness was breathed out; it vanished away, +and never returned, leaving the blank, clear darkness without a stain. +"What is our life? It is even as a vapor, which appeareth for a little +time, and then vanisheth away." + +Rab all this time had been full awake and motionless; he came forward +beside us; Ailie's hand, which James had held, was hanging down; it +was soaked with his tears; Rab licked it all over carefully, looked at +her, and returned to his place under the table. + +James and I sat, I don't know how long, but for some time. Saying +nothing, he started up abruptly, and with some noise went to the +table, and, putting his right fore and middle fingers each into a +shoe, pulled them out and put them on, breaking one of the leather +latchets, and muttering in anger, "I never did the like o' that +afore!" + +I believe he never did; nor after either. "Rab!" he said, roughly, +and, pointing with his thumb to the bottom of the bed. Rab leaped up +and settled himself, his head and eye to the dead face. "Maister John, +ye'll wait for me," said the carrier; and disappeared in the darkness, +thundering down-stairs in his heavy shoes. I ran to a front window; +there he was, already round the house and out at the gate, fleeing +like a shadow. + +I was afraid about him, and yet not afraid; so I sat down beside Rab, +and, being wearied, fell asleep. I awoke from a sudden noise outside. +It was November, and there had been a heavy fall of snow. Rab was _in +statu quo_; he heard the noise, too, and plainly knew it, but never +moved. I looked out; and there, at the gate, in the dim morning--for +the sun was not up--was Jess and the cart, a cloud of steam rising +from the old mare. I did not see James; he was already at the door, +and came up the stairs and met me. It was less than three hours since +he left, and he must have posted out--who knows how?--to Howgate, full +nine miles off, yoked Jess, and driven her astonished into town. He +had an armful of blankets, and was streaming with perspiration. He +nodded to me, and spread out on the floor two pairs of clean old +blankets having at their corners, "A.G., 1794," in large letters in +red worsted. These were the initials of Alison Graeme, and James may +have looked in at her from without--himself unseen but not unthought +of--when he was "wat, wat, and weary," and, after having walked many +a mile over the hills, may have seen her sitting, while "a' the lave +were sleeping," and by the firelight working her name on the blankets +for her ain James's bed. + +He motioned Rab down, and, taking his wife in his arms, laid her in +the blankets, and happed her carefully and firmly up, leaving the face +uncovered; and then, lifting her, he nodded again sharply to me, and +with a resolved but utterly miserable face strode along the passage +and down-stairs, followed by Rab. I followed with a light; but he +didn't need it. I went out, holding stupidly the candle in my hand in +the calm, frosty air; we were soon at the gate. I could have helped +him, but I saw he was not to be meddled with, and he was strong, and +did not need it. He laid her down as tenderly, as safely, as he had +lifted her out ten days before--as tenderly as when he had her first +in his arms when she was only "A.G."--sorted her, leaving that +beautiful sealed face open to the heavens; and then, taking Jess by +the head, he moved away. He did not notice me, neither did Rab, who +presided behind the cart. + +I stood till they passed through the long shadow of the College and +turned up Nicolson Street. I heard the solitary cart sound through the +streets, and die away and come again; and I returned, thinking of that +company going up Libberton Brae, then along Roslin Muir, the morning +light touching the Pentlands, and making them like onlooking +ghosts; then down the hill through Auchindinny woods, past "haunted +Woodhouselee"; and as daybreak came sweeping up the bleak Lammermuirs, +and fell on his own door, the company would stop, and James would take +the key, and lift Ailie up again, laying her on her own bed, and, +having put Jess up, would return with Rab and shut the door. + +James buried his wife, with his neighbors mourning, Rab watching the +proceedings from a distance. It was snow, and that black, ragged hole +would look strange in the midst of the swelling, spotless cushion of +white. James looked after everything; then rather suddenly fell ill, +and took to bed; was insensible when the doctor came, and soon died. +A sort of low fever was prevailing in the village, and his want of +sleep, his exhaustion, and his misery made him apt to take it. The +grave was not difficult to reopen. A fresh fall of snow had again made +all things white and smooth; Rab once more looked on, and slunk home +to the stable. + +And what of Rab? I asked for him next week at the new carrier who got +the good-will of James's business and was now master of Jess and her +cart. "How's Rab?" He put me off, and said, rather rudely, "What's +_your_ business wi' the dowg?" I was not to be so put off. "Where's +Rab?" He, getting confused and red, and intermeddling with his hair, +said, "'Deed, sir, Rab's deid." "Dead! What did he die of?" "Weel, +sir," said he, getting redder, "he didna' exactly dee; he was killed. +I had to brain him wi' a rack-pin; there was nae doin' wi' him. He lay +in the treviss wi' the mear, and wadna come oot. I tempit him wi' kail +and meat, but he wad tak naething, and keepit me frae feeding the +beast, and he was aye gurrin', and grup, gruppin' me by the legs. I +was laith to mak' awa' wi' the auld dowg, his like wasna atween this +and Thornhill--but, 'deed, sir, I could do naething else." I believed +him. Fit end for Rab, quick and complete. His teeth and his friends +gone, why should he keep the peace and be civil? + +He was buried in the braeface, near the burn, the children of the +village, his companions, who used to make very free with him and sit +on his ample stomach as he lay half asleep at the door in the sun, +watching the solemnity. + + + + +THE BOOTS AT THE HOLLY-TREE INN + +_Charles Dickens_ (1812-1870) + + +Where had he been in his time? he repeated, when I asked him the +question, Lord, he had been everywhere! And what had he been? Bless +you, he had been everything you could mention, a'most! + +Seen a good deal? Why, of course he had. I should say so, he could +assure me, if I only knew about a twentieth part of what had come in +_his_ way. Why, it would be easier for him, he expected, to tell what +he hadn't seen than what he had. Ah! a deal, it would. + +What was the curiousest thing he had seen? Well! He didn't know. +He couldn't momently name what was the curiousest thing he had +seen--unless it was a Unicorn--and he see _him_ once at a fair. But +supposing a young gentleman not eight year old was to run away with +a fine young woman of seven, might I think _that_ a queer start? +Certainly. Then that was a start as he himself had had his blessed +eyes on, and he had cleaned the shoes they run away in--and they was +so little he couldn't get his hand into 'em. + +Master Harry Walmers' father, you see, he lived at the Elmses, down +away by Shooter's Hill there, six or seven miles from Lunnon. He was +a gentleman of spirit, and good-looking, and held his head up when he +walked, and had what you call Fire about him. He wrote poetry, and he +rode, and he ran, and he cricketed, and he danced, and he acted, and +he done it all equally beautiful. He was uncommon proud of Master +Harry as was his only child; but he didn't spoil him neither. He was +a gentleman that had a will of his own and a eye of his own, and that +would be minded. Consequently, though he made quite a companion of the +fine bright boy, and was delighted to see him so fond of reading his +fairy-books, and was never tired of hearing him say my name is Norval, +or hearing him sing his songs about Young May Moons is beaming love, +and When he as adores thee has left but the name, and that; still he +kept the command over the child, and the child _was_ a child, and it's +to be wished more of 'em was. + +How did Boots happen to know all this? Why, through being +under-gardener. Of course he couldn't be under-gardener, and he always +about, in the summer-time, near the windows on the lawn, a-mowing, and +sweeping, and weeding, and pruning, and this and that, without getting +acquainted with the ways of the family. Even supposing Master Harry +hadn't come to him one morning early, and said, "Cobbs, how should you +spell Norah, if you was asked?" and then began cutting it in print all +over the fence. + +He couldn't say that he had taken particular notice of children before +that; but really it was pretty to see them two mites a-going about the +place together, deep in love. And the courage of the boy! Bless your +soul, he'd have throwed off his little hat, and tucked up his little +sleeves, and gone in at a lion, he would, if they had happened to meet +one, and she had been frightened of him. One day he stops, along with +her, where Boots was hoeing weeds in the gravel, and says, speaking +up, "Cobbs," he says, "I like _you." "Do_ you, sir? I'm proud to hear +it." "Yes, I do, Cobbs. Why do I like you, do you think, Cobbs?" +"Don't know, Master Harry, I am sure." "Because Norah likes you, +Cobbs." "Indeed, sir? That's very gratifying." "Gratifying, Cobbs? +It's better than millions of the brightest diamonds to be liked by +Norah." "Certainly, sir." "Would you like another situation, Cobbs?" +"Well, sir, I shouldn't object if it was a good 'un." "Then, Cobbs," +says he, "you shall be our Head Gardener when we are married." And he +tucks her, in her little sky-blue mantle, under his arm, and walks +away. + +Boots could assure me that it was better than a picter, and equal to a +play, to see them babies, with their long, bright, curling hair, their +sparkling eyes, and their beautiful light tread, a-rambling about the +garden, deep in love. Boots was of opinion that the birds believed +they was birds, and kept up with 'em, singing to please 'em. Sometimes +they would creep under the tulip-tree, and would sit there with their +arms round one another's necks, and their soft cheeks touching, +a-reading about the Prince and the Dragon, and the good and bad +enchanters, and the king's fair daughter. Sometimes he would hear them +planning about a house in a forest, keeping bees and a cow, and living +entirely on milk and honey. Once he came upon them by the pond, and +heard Master Harry say, "Adorable Norah, kiss me, and say you love +me to distraction, or I'll jump in head foremost." And Boots made no +question he would have done it if she hadn't complied. On the +whole, Boots said it had a tendency to make him feel he was in love +himself--only he didn't exactly know who with. + +"Cobbs," said Master Harry, one evening, when Cobbs was watering +the flowers, "I am going on a visit, this present midsummer, to my +grandmamma's at York." + +"Are you, indeed, sir? I hope you'll have a pleasant time. I am going +into Yorkshire, myself, when I leave here." + +"Are you going to your grandmamma's, Cobbs?" + +"No, sir. I haven't got such a thing." + +"Not as a grandmamma, Cobbs?" + +"No, sir." + +The boy looked on at the watering of the flowers for a little while, +and then said, "I shall be very glad indeed to go, Cobbs--Norah's +going." + +"You'll be all right, then, sir," says Cobbs, "with your beautiful +sweetheart by your side." + +"Cobbs," returned the boy, flushing, "I never let anybody joke about +it when I can prevent them." + +"It wasn't a joke, sir," says Cobbs, with humility--"wasn't so meant." + +"I am glad of that, Cobbs, because I like you, you know, and you're +going to live with us. Cobbs!" + +"Sir." + +"What do you think my grandmamma gives me when I go down there?" + +"I couldn't so much as make a guess, sir." + +"A Bank-of-England five-pound note, Cobbs." + +"Whew!" says Cobbs, "that's a spanking sum of money, Master Harry." + +"A person could do a great deal with such a sum of money as +that--couldn't a person, Cobbs?" + +"I believe you, sir!" + +"Cobbs," said the boy, "I'll tell you a secret. At Norah's house they +have been joking her about me, and pretending to laugh at our being +engaged--pretending to make game of it, Cobbs!" + +"Such, sir," says Cobbs, "is the depravity of human natur'." + +The boy, looking exactly like his father, stood for a few minutes +with his glowing face toward the sunset, and then departed with, +"Good-night, Cobbs. I'm going in." + +If I was to ask Boots how it happened that he was a-going to leave +that place just at that present time, well, he couldn't rightly answer +me. He did suppose he might have stayed there till now if he had been +anyways inclined. But you see, he was younger then, and he wanted +change. That's what he wanted--change. Mr. Walmers, he said to him +when he gave him notice of his intentions to leave, "Cobbs," he says, +"have you anythink to complain of? I make the inquiry, because if I +find that any of my people really has anythink to complain of, I wish +to make it right if I can." "No, sir," says Cobbs; "thanking you, sir, +I find myself as well sitiwated here as I could hope to be anywheres. +The truth is, sir, that I'm a-going to seek my fortun'." "Oh, indeed, +Cobbs!" he says; "I hope you may find it." And Boots could assure +me--which he did, touching his hair with his bootjack, as a salute in +the way of his present calling--that he hadn't found it yet. + +Well, sir! Boots left the Elmses when his time was up, and Master +Harry, he went down to the old lady's at York, which old lady would +have given that child the teeth out of her head (if she had had any), +she was so wrapped up in him. What does that Infant do--for Infant +you may call him, and be within the mark--but cut away from that old +lady's with his Norah, on a expedition to go to Gretna Green and be +married! + +Sir, Boots was at this identical Holly-Tree Inn (having left it +several times to better himself, but always come back through one +thing or another), when, one summer afternoon, the coach drives up, +and out of the coach gets them two children. The Guard says to our +Governor, "I don't quite make out these little passengers, but the +young gentleman's words was, that they was to be brought here." +The young gentleman gets out; hands his lady out; gives the Guard +something for himself; says to our Governor, "We're to stop here +to-night, please. Sitting-room and two bedrooms will be required. +Chops and cherry-pudding for two!" and tucks her in her little +sky-blue mantle, under his arm, and walks into the house much bolder +than Brass. + +Boots leaves me to judge what the amazement of that establishment was, +when these two tiny creatures all alone by themselves was marched +into the Angel--much more so when he, who had seen them without their +seeing him, give the Governor his views upon the expedition they was +upon. "Cobbs," says the Governor, "if this is so, I must set off +myself to York, and quiet their friends' minds. In which case you must +keep your eye upon 'em, and humor 'em till I come back. But before I +take these measures, Cobbs, I should wish you to find from themselves +whether your opinions is correct." "Sir, to you," says Cobbs, "that +shall be done directly." + +So Boots goes up-stairs to the Angel, and there he finds Master Harry, +on a e'normous sofa--immense at any time, but looking like the Great +Bed of Ware, compared with him--a-drying the eyes of Miss Norah with +his pocket-hankecher. Their little legs was entirely off the ground, +of course, and it really is not possible for Boots to express to me +how small them children looked. + +"It's Cobbs! It's Cobbs!" cries Master Harry, and comes running to him +on t'other side, and catching hold of his t'other hand, and they both +jump for joy. + +"I see you a-getting out, sir," says Cobbs. "I thought it was you. I +thought I couldn't be mistaken in your height and figure. What's the +object of your journey, sir? Matrimonial?" + +"We're going to be married, Cobbs, at Gretna Green," returned the boy. +"We have run away on purpose. Norah has been in rather low spirits, +Cobbs; but she'll be happy, now we have found you to be our friend." + +"Thank you, sir, and thank _you_, miss," says Cobbs, "for your good +opinion. _Did_ you bring any luggage with you, sir?" + +If I will believe Boots when he gives me his word and honor upon +it, the lady had got a parasol, a smelling-bottle, a round and a +half of cold buttered toast, eight peppermint drops, and a +hair-brush--seemingly a doll's. The gentleman had got about half a +dozen yards of string, a knife, three or four sheets of writing-paper, +folded up surprising small, a orange, and a Chaney mug with his name +upon it. + +"What may be the exact nature of your plans, sir?" says Cobbs. + +"To go on," replied the boy--which the courage of that boy was +something wonderful!--"in the morning, and be married to-morrow." + +"Just so, sir," says Cobbs. "Would it meet your views, sir, if I was +to accompany you?" + +When Cobbs said this, they both jumped for joy again, and cried out, +"Oh yes, yes, Cobbs! Yes!" + +"Well, sir!" says Cobbs. "If you will excuse me having the freedom +to give an opinion, what I should recommend would be this. I am +acquainted with a pony, sir, which, put in a pheayton that I could +borrow, would take you and Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior (myself driving, +if you approved), to the end of your journey in a very short space of +time. I am not altogether sure, sir, that this pony will be at liberty +to-morrow, but even if you had to wait over to-morrow for him, it +might be worth your while. As to the small account here, sir, in case +you was to find yourself running at all short, that don't signify; +because I am a part proprietor of this inn, and it could stand over." + +Boots assures me that when they clapped their hands, and jumped for +joy again, and called him "Good Cobbs!" and "Dear Cobbs!" and bent +across him to kiss one another in the delight of their confiding +hearts, he felt himself the meanest rascal for deceiving 'em that ever +was born. + +"Is there anything you want just at present, sir?" says Cobbs, +mortally ashamed of himself. + +"We should like some cakes after dinner," answered Master Harry, +folding his arms, putting out one leg, and looking straight at him, +"and two apples and jam. With dinner we should like to have toast and +water. But Norah has always been accustomed to half a glass of currant +wine at dessert. And so have I." + +"It shall be ordered at the bar, sir," says Cobbs; and away he went. + +Boots has the feeling as fresh upon him this moment of speaking as he +had then, that he would far rather have had it out in half a dozen +rounds with the Governor than have combined with him; and that he +wished with all his heart there was any impossible place where two +babies could make an impossible marriage, and live impossibly +happy ever afterward. However, as it couldn't be, he went into the +Governor's plans, and the Governor set off for York in half an hour. + +The way in which the women of that house--without exception--every one +of 'em--married _and_ single--took to that boy when they heard the +story, Boots considers surprising. It was as much as he could do to +keep 'em from dashing into the room and kissing him. They climbed +up all sorts of places, at the risk of their lives, to look at him +through a pane of glass. They was seven deep at the keyhole. They was +out of their minds about him and his bold spirit. + +In the evening, Boots went into the room to see how the runaway couple +was getting on. The gentleman was on the window-seat, supporting the +lady in his arms. She had tears upon her face, and was lying, very +tired and half asleep, with her head upon his shoulder. + +"Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, fatigued, sir?" says Cobbs. + +"Yes, she is tired, Cobbs; but she is not used to be away from home, +and she has been in low spirits again. Cobbs, do you think you could +bring a biffin, please?" + +"I ask your pardon, sir," says Cobbs. "What was it you--" + +"I think a Norfolk biffin would rouse her, Cobbs. She is very fond of +them." + +Boots withdrew in search of the required restorative, and, when he +brought it in, the gentleman handed it to the lady, and fed her with a +spoon, and took a little himself; the lady being heavy with sleep, and +rather cross. "What should you think, sir," says Cobbs, "of a chamber +candlestick?" The gentleman approved; the chambermaid went first, +up the great staircase; the lady, in her sky-blue mantle, followed, +gallantly escorted by the gentleman; the gentleman embraced her at her +door, and retired to his own apartment, where Boots softly locked him +in. + +Boots couldn't but feel with increased acuteness what a base deceiver +he was, when they consulted him at breakfast (they had ordered sweet +milk-and-water, and toast and currant jelly, over-night) about the +pony. It really was as much as he could do, he don't mind confessing +to me, to look them two young things in the face, and think what a +wicked old father of lies he had grown up to be. Howsomever, he went +on a-lying like a Trojan about the pony. He told 'em that it did so +unfortunately happen that the pony was half clipped, you see, and that +he couldn't be taken out in that state, for fear it should strike to +his inside. But that he'd be finished clipping in the course of the +day, and that to-morrow morning at eight o'clock the pheayton would be +ready. Boots' view of the whole case, looking back on it in my room, +is, that Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, was beginning to give in. She +hadn't had her hair curled when she went to bed, and she didn't seem +quite up to brushing it herself, and its getting in her eyes put +her out. But nothing put out Master Harry. He sat behind his +breakfast-cup, a-tearing away at the jelly, as if he had been his own +father. + +After breakfast Boots is inclined to consider they drawed soldiers--at +least he knows that many such was found in the fireplace, all on +horseback. In the course of the morning Master Harry rang the bell--it +was surprising how that there boy did carry on--and said, in a +sprightly way, "Cobbs, is there any good walks in this neighborhood?" + +"Yes, sir," says Cobbs. "There's Love Lane." + +"Get out with you, Cobbs!"--that was that there boy's +expression--"you're joking." + +"Begging your pardon, sir," says Cobbs, "there _really is_ Love Lane. +And a pleasant walk it is, and proud shall I be to show it to yourself +and Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior." + +"Norah, dear," says Master Harry, "this is curious. We really ought to +see Love Lane. Put on your bonnet, my sweetest darling, and we will go +there with Cobbs." + +Boots leaves me to judge what a Beast he felt himself to be, when that +young pair told him, as they all three jogged along together, that +they had made up their minds to give him two thousand guineas a year +as Head Gardener, on account of his being so true a friend to 'em. +Boots could have wished at the moment that the earth would have +opened and swallowed him up, he felt so mean, with their beaming +eyes a-looking at him, and believing him. Well, sir, he turned the +conversation as well as he could, and he took 'em down Love Lane to +the water-meadows, and there Master Harry would have drowned himself +in half a moment more, a-getting out a water-lily for her--but nothing +daunted that boy. Well, sir, they was tired out. All being so new and +strange to 'em, they was tired as tired could be. And they laid +down on a bank of daisies, like the children in the wood, leastways +meadows, and fell asleep. + +Boots don't know--perhaps I do--but never mind, it don't signify +either way--why it made a man fit to make a fool of himself to see +them two pretty babies a-lying there in the clear, still day, not +dreaming half so hard when they was asleep as they done when they was +awake. But, Lord! when you come to think of yourself, you know, and +what a game you have been up to ever since you was in your own cradle, +and what a poor sort of chap you are, and how it's always either +Yesterday with you, or To-morrow, and never To-day, that's where it +is! + +Well, sir, they woke up at last, and then one thing was getting pretty +clear to Boots--namely, that Mrs. Harry Walmerses, Junior's, temper +was on the move. When Master Harry took her round the waist, she said +he "teased her so"; and when he says, "Norah, my young May Moon, your +Harry tease you?" she tells him, "Yes; and I want to go home." + +A biled fowl and baked bread-and-butter pudding brought Mrs. Walmers +up a little; but Boots could have wished, he must privately own to +me, to have seen her more sensible of the woice of love, and less +abandoning of herself to currants. However, Master Harry, he kept up, +and his noble heart was as fond as ever. Mrs. Walmers turned very +sleepy about dusk, and began to cry. Therefore, Mrs. Walmers went off +to bed as per yesterday; and Master Harry ditto repeated. + +About eleven or twelve at night comes back the Governor in a chaise, +along with Mr. Walmers and a elderly lady. Mr. Walmers looks amused +and very serious, both at once, and says to our Missis: "We are much +indebted to you, ma'am; for your kind care of our little children, +which we can never sufficiently acknowledge. Pray, ma'am, where is +my boy?" Our Missis says: "Cobbs has the dear child in charge, sir. +Cobbs, show Forty!" Then he says to Cobbs: "Ah, Cobbs, I am glad to +see _you_! I understood you was here!" And Cobbs says: "Yes, sir. Your +most obedient, sir." + +I may be surprised to hear Boots say it, perhaps; but Boots assures +me that his heart beat like a hammer, going up-stairs. "I beg your +pardon, sir," says he, while unlocking the door; "I do hope you are +not angry with Master Harry. For Master Harry is a fine boy, sir, and +will do you credit and honor." And Boots signifies to me that, if the +fine boy's father had contradicted him in the daring state of mind in +which he then was, he thinks he should have "fetched him a crack," and +taken the consequences. + +But Mr. Walmers only says: "No, Cobbs. No, my good fellow. Thank you!" +And, the door being opened, goes in. + +Boots goes in, too, holding the light, and he sees Mr. Walmers go up +to the bedside, bend gently down, and kiss the little sleeping face. +Then he stands looking at it for a minute, looking wonderfully like it +(they do say he ran away with Mrs. Walmers); and then he gently shakes +the little shoulder. + +"Harry, my dear boy! Harry!" + +Master Harry starts up and looks at him. Looks at Cobbs, too. Such is +the honor of that mite, that he looks at Cobbs, to see whether he has +brought him into trouble. + +"I'm not angry, my child. I only want you to dress yourself and come +home." + +"Yes, pa." + +Master Harry dresses himself quickly. His breast begins to swell when +he has nearly finished, and it swells more and more as he stands, at +last, a-looking at his father; his father standing a-looking at him, +the quiet image of him. + +"Please may I"--the spirit of that little creatur', and the way he +kept his rising tears down!--"please, dear pa--may I--kiss Norah +before I go?" + +"You may, my child." + +So he takes Master Harry in his hand, and Boots leads the way with the +candle, and they come to that other bedroom, where the elderly lady is +seated by the bed, and poor little Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, is fast +asleep. There the father lifts the child up to the pillow, and he lays +his little face down for an instant by the little warm face of poor +unconscious little Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, and gently draws it to +him--a sight so touching to the chambermaids, who are peeping through +the door, that one of them called out, "It's a shame to part 'em!" But +this chambermaid was always, as Boots informs us, a softhearted one. +Not that there was any harm in that girl. Far from it. + +Finally, Boots says, that's all about it. Mr. Walmers drove away in +the chaise, having hold of Master Harry's hand. The elderly lady and +Mrs. Walmers, Junior, that was never to be (she married a Captain long +afterward, and died in India), went off next day. In conclusion, Boots +puts it to me whether I hold with him in two opinions: firstly, that +there are not many couples on their way to be married who are half as +innocent of guile as those two children; secondly, that it would be a +jolly good thing for a great many couples on their way to be married, +if they could only be stopped in time, and brought back separately. + + + + +A STORY OF SEVEN DEVILS[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Amos Kilbright and Other Stories_. 1888.] + +_Frank R. Stockton_ (1834-1902) + + +The negro church which stood in the pine woods near the little village +of Oxford Cross Roads, in one of the lower counties of Virginia, was +presided over by an elderly individual, known to the community in +general as Uncle Pete; but on Sundays the members of his congregation +addressed him as Brudder Pete. He was an earnest and energetic man, +and, although he could neither read nor write, he had for many years +expounded the Scriptures to the satisfaction of his hearers. His +memory was good, and those portions of the Bible, which from time to +time he had heard read, were used by him, and frequently with powerful +effect, in his sermons. His interpretations of the Scriptures were +generally entirely original, and were made to suit the needs, or what +he supposed to be the needs, of his congregation. + +Whether as "Uncle Pete" in the garden and corn-field, or "Brudder +Pete" in the church, he enjoyed the good opinion of everybody +excepting one person, and that was his wife. She was a high-tempered +and somewhat dissatisfied person, who had conceived the idea that her +husband was in the habit of giving too much time to the church, and +too little to the acquisition of corn-bread and pork. On a certain +Saturday she gave him a most tremendous scolding, which so affected +the spirits of the good man that it influenced his decision in regard +to the selection of the subject for his sermon the next day. + +His congregation was accustomed to being astonished, and rather liked +it, but never before had their minds received such a shock as when the +preacher announced the subject of his discourse. He did not take any +particular text, for this was not his custom, but he boldly stated +that the Bible declared that every woman in this world was possessed +by seven devils; and the evils which this state of things had brought +upon the world, he showed forth with much warmth and feeling. +Subject-matter, principally from his own experience, crowded in upon +his mind, and he served it out to his audience hot and strong. If +his deductions could have been proved to be correct, all women were +creatures who, by reason of their sevenfold diabolic possession, were +not capable of independent thought or action, and who should in tears +and humility place themselves absolutely under the direction and +authority of the other sex. + +When he approached the conclusion of his sermon, Brother Peter closed +with a bang the Bible, which, although he could not read a word of +it, always lay open before him while he preached, and delivered the +concluding exhortation of his sermon. + +"Now, my dear brev'ren ob dis congregation," he said, "I want you to +understan' dat dar's nuffin in dis yer sarmon wot you've jus' heerd +ter make you think yousefs angels. By no means, brev'ren; you was all +brung up by women, an' you've got ter lib wid' em, an ef anythin' in +dis yer worl' is ketchin', my dear brev'ren, it's habin debbils, an' +from wot I've seen ob some ob de men ob dis worl' I 'spect dey is +persest ob 'bout all de debbils dey got room fur. But de Bible don' +say nuffin p'intedly on de subjec' ob de number ob debbils in man, an' +I 'spec' dose dat's got 'em--an' we ought ter feel pow'ful thankful, +my dear brev'ren, dat de Bible don' say we all's got 'em--has 'em +'cordin to sarcumstances. But wid de women it's dif'rent; dey's got +jus' sebin, an' bless my soul, brev'ren, I think dat's 'nuff. + +"While I was a-turnin' ober in my min' de subjec' ob dis sarmon, dere +come ter me a bit ob Scripter wot I heerd at a big preachin' an' +baptizin' at Kyarter's Mills, 'bout ten year' ago. One ob de preachers +was a-tellin' about ole mudder Ebe a-eatin' de apple, and says he: De +sarpint fus' come along wid a red apple, an' says he: 'You gib dis yer +to your husban', an' he think it so mighty good dat when he done eat +it he gib you anything you ax him fur, ef you tell him whar de tree +is.' Ebe, she took one bite, an' den she frew dat apple away. 'Wot you +mean, you triflin' sarpint,' says she, 'a fotchin' me dat apple wot +ain't good fur nuffin but ter make cider wid?' Den de sarpint he go +fotch her a yaller apple, an' she took one bite, an' den says she: 'Go +'long wid ye, you fool sarpint, wot you fotch me dat June apple wot +ain't got no taste to it?' Den de sarpint he think she like sumpin' +sharp, an' he fotch her a green apple. She takes one bite ob it, an' +den she frows it at his head, an' sings out: 'Is you 'spectin' me to +gib dat apple to yer Uncle Adam an' gib him de colic?' Den de debbil +he fotch her a lady-apple, but she say she won't take no sich triflin' +nubbins as dat to her husban', an' she took one bite ob it, an' frew +it away. Den he go fotch her two udder kin' ob apples, one yaller +wid red stripes, an' de udder one red on one side an' green on de +udder--mighty good-lookin' apples, too--de kin' you git two dollars a +bar'l fur at the store. But Ebe, she wouldn't hab neider ob 'em, an' +when she done took one bite out ob each one, she frew it away. Den de +ole debbil-sarpint, he scratch he head, an' he say to hese'f: 'Dis yer +Ebe, she pow'ful 'ticklar 'bout her apples. Reckin I'll have ter wait +till after fros', an' fotch her a real good one,' An' he done wait +till after fros', and then he fotch her a' Albemarle pippin, an' when +she took one bite ob dat, she jus' go 'long an' eat it all up, core, +seeds, an' all. 'Look h'yar, sarpint,' says she, 'hab you got anudder +ob dem apples in your pocket?' An' den he tuk one out, an' gib it to +her. ''Cuse me,' says she, 'I's gwine ter look up Adam, an' ef he don' +want ter know war de tree is wot dese apples grow on, you can hab him +fur a corn-field han'.' + +"An' now, my dear brev'ren," said Brother Peter, "while I was +a-turnin' dis subjec' ober in my min', an' wonderin' how de women +come ter hab jus' seben debbils apiece, I done reckerleck dat bit ob +Scripter wot I heerd at Kyarter's Mills, an' I reckon dat 'splains how +de debbils got inter woman. De sarpint he done fotch mudder Ebe seben +apples, an' ebery one she take a bite out of gib her a debbil." + +As might have been expected, this sermon produced a great sensation, +and made a deep impression on the congregation. As a rule, the men +were tolerably well satisfied with it; and when the services were over +many of them made it the occasion of shy but very plainly pointed +remarks to their female friends and relatives. + +But the women did not like it at all. Some of them became angry, and +talked very forcibly, and feelings of indignation soon spread among +all the sisters of the church. If their minister had seen fit to stay +at home and preach a sermon like this to his own wife (who, it may be +remarked, was not present on this occasion), it would have been well +enough, provided he had made no allusions to outsiders; but to come +there and preach such things to them was entirely too much for their +endurance. Each one of the women knew she had not seven devils, and +only a few of them would admit of the possibility of any of the others +being possessed by quite so many. + +Their preacher's explanation of the manner in which every woman came +to be possessed of just so many devils appeared to them of little +importance. What they objected to was the fundamental doctrine of his +sermon, which was based on his assertion that the Bible declared every +woman had seven devils. They were not willing to believe that the +Bible said any such thing. Some of them went so far as to state it was +their opinion that Uncle Pete had got this fool notion from some of +the lawyers at the court-house when he was on a jury a month or so +before. It was quite noticeable that, although Sunday afternoon had +scarcely begun, the majority of the women of the congregation called +their minister Uncle Pete. This was very strong evidence of a sudden +decline in his popularity. + +Some of the more vigorous-minded women, not seeing their minister +among the other people in the clearing in front of the log church, +went to look for him, but he was not to be found. His wife had ordered +him to be home early, and soon after the congregation had been +dismissed he departed by a short cut through the woods. That afternoon +an irate committee, composed principally of women, but including also +a few men who had expressed disbelief in the new doctrine, arrived +at the cabin of their preacher, but found there only his wife, +cross-grained old Aunt Rebecca. She informed them that her husband was +not at home. + +"He's done 'gaged hisse'f," she said, "ter cut an' haul wood fur +Kunnel Martin ober on Little Mount'n fur de whole ob nex' week. It's +fourteen or thirteen mile' from h'yar, an' ef he'd started ter-morrer +mawnm', he'd los' a'mos' a whole day. 'Sides dat, I done tole him dat +ef he git dar ter-night he'd have his supper frowed in. Wot you all +want wid him? Gwine to pay him fur preachin'?" + +Any such intention as this was instantaneously denied, and Aunt +Rebecca was informed of the subject upon which her visitors had come +to have a very plain talk with her husband. + +Strange to say, the announcement of the new and startling dogma had +apparently no disturbing effect upon Aunt Rebecca. On the contrary, +the old woman seemed rather to enjoy the news. + +"Reckin he oughter know all 'bout dat," she said. "He's done had three +wives, an' he ain't got rid o' dis one yit." + +Judging from her chuckles and waggings of the head when she made this +remark, it might be imagined that Aunt Rebecca was rather proud of the +fact that her husband thought her capable of exhibiting a different +kind of diabolism every day in the week. + +The leader of the indignant church-members was Susan Henry; a mulatto +woman of a very independent turn of mind. She prided herself that she +never worked in anybody's house but her own, and this immunity from +outside service gave her a certain pre-eminence among her sisters. Not +only did Susan share the general resentment with which the startling +statement of old Peter had been received, but she felt that its +promulgation had affected her position in the community. If every +woman was possessed by seven devils, then, in this respect, she was no +better nor worse than any of the others; and at this her proud heart +rebelled. If the preacher had said some women had eight devils and +others six, it would have been better. She might then have made a +mental arrangement in regard to her relative position which would have +somewhat consoled her. But now there was no chance for that. The words +of the preacher had equally debased all women. + +A meeting of the disaffected church-members was held the next night at +Susan Henry's cabin, or rather in the little yard about it, for the +house was not large enough to hold the people who attended it. The +meeting was not regularly organized, but everybody said what he or she +had to say, and the result was a great deal of clamor, and a general +increase of indignation against Uncle Pete. + +"Look h'yar!" cried Susan, at the end of some energetic remarks, "is +dar enny pusson h'yar who kin count up figgers?" + +Inquiries on the subject ran through the crowd, and in a few moments +a black boy, about fourteen, was pushed forward as an expert in +arithmetic. + +"Now, you Jim," said Susan, "you's been, to school, an' you kin count +up figgers. 'Cordin' ter de chu'ch books dar's forty-seben women +b'longin' to our meetin', an' ef each one ob dem dar has got seben +debbils in her, I jus' wants you ter tell me how many debbils come to +chu'ch ebery clear Sunday ter hear dat ole Uncle Pete preach." + +This view of the case created a sensation, and much interest was shown +in the result of Jim's calculations, which were made by the aid of a +back of an old letter and a piece of pencil furnished by Susan. The +result was at last announced as three hundred and nineteen, which, +although not precisely correct, was near enough to satisfy the +company. + +"Now, you jus' turn dat ober in you all's minds," said Susan. "More'n +free hundred debbils in chu'ch ebery Sunday, an' we women fotchin 'em. +Does anybody s'pose I's gwine ter b'lieve dat fool talk?" + +A middle-aged man now lifted up his voice and said: "I's been thinkin' +ober dis h'yar matter and I's 'cluded dat p'r'aps de words ob de +preacher was used in a figgeratous form o' sense. P'r'aps de seben +debbils meant chillun." + +These remarks were received with no favor by the assemblage. + +"Oh, you git out!" cried Susan. "Your ole woman's got seben chillun, +shore 'nuf, an' I s'pec' dey's all debbils. But dem sent'ments don't +apply ter all de udder women h'yar, 'tic'larly ter dem dar young uns +wot ain't married yit." + +This was good logic, but the feeling on the subject proved to be even +stronger, for the mothers in the company became so angry at their +children being considered devils that for a time there seemed to be +danger of an Amazonian attack on the unfortunate speaker. This was +averted, but a great deal of uproar now ensued, and it was the general +feeling that something ought to be done to show the deep-seated +resentment with which the horrible charge against the mothers and +sisters of the congregation had been met. Many violent propositions +were made, some of the younger men going so far as to offer to burn +down the church. It was finally agreed, quite unanimously, that old +Peter should be unceremoniously ousted from his place in the pulpit +which he had filled so many years. + +As the week passed on, some of the older men of the congregation who +had friendly feelings toward their old companion and preacher talked +the matter over among themselves, and afterward, with many of their +fellow-members, succeeded at last in gaining the general consent that +Uncle Pete should be allowed a chance to explain himself, and give +his grounds and reasons for his astounding statement in regard to +womankind. If he could show biblical authority for this, of course +nothing more could be said. But if he could not, then he must get down +from the pulpit, and sit for the rest of his life on a back seat of +the church. This proposition met with the more favor, because even +those who were most indignant had an earnest curiosity to know what +the old man would say for himself. + +During all this time of angry discussion, good old Peter was quietly +and calmly cutting and hauling wood on the Little Mountain. His mind +was in a condition of great comfort and peace, for not only had he +been able to rid himself, in his last sermon, of many of the hard +thoughts concerning women that had been gathering themselves together +for years, but his absence from home had given him a holiday from +the harassments of Aunt Rebecca's tongue, so that no new notions of +woman's culpability had risen within him. He had dismissed the subject +altogether, and had been thinking over a sermon regarding baptism, +which he thought he could make convincing to certain of the younger +members of his congregation. + +He arrived at home very late on Saturday night, and retired to his +simple couch without knowing anything of the terrible storm which had +been gathering through the week, and which was to burst upon him on +the morrow. But the next morning, long before church time, he +received warning enough of what was going to happen. Individuals and +deputations gathered in and about his cabin--some to tell him all that +had been said and done; some to inform him what was expected of him; +some to stand about and look at him; some to scold; some to denounce; +but, alas! not one to encourage; nor one to call him "Brudder Pete," +that Sunday appellation dear to his ears. But the old man possessed a +stubborn soul, not easily to be frightened. + +"Wot I says in de pulpit," he remarked, "I'll 'splain in de pulpit, +an' you all ud better git 'long to de chu'ch, an' when de time fur de +sarvice come, I'll be dar." + +This advice was not promptly acted upon, but in the course of half an +hour nearly all the villagers and loungers had gone off to the church +in the woods; and when Uncle Peter had put on his high black hat, +somewhat battered, but still sufficiently clerical looking for that +congregation, and had given something of a polish to his cowhide +shoes, he betook himself by the accustomed path to the log building +where he had so often held forth to his people. As soon as he entered +the church he was formally instructed by a committee of the leading +members that before he began to open the services, he must make it +plain to the congregation that what he had said on the preceding +Sunday about every woman being possessed by seven devils was Scripture +truth, and not mere wicked nonsense out of his own brain. If he could +not do that, they wanted no more praying or preaching from him. + +Uncle Peter made no answer, but, ascending the little pulpit, he put +his hat on the bench behind him where it was used to repose, took out +his red cotton handkerchief and blew his nose in his accustomed way, +and looked about him. The house was crowded. Even Aunt Rebecca was +there. + +After a deliberate survey of his audience, the preacher spoke: +"Brev'eren an' sisters, I see afore me Brudder Bill Hines, who kin +read de Bible, an' has got one. Ain't dat so, Brudder?" + +Bill Hines having nodded and modestly grunted assent, the preacher +continued. "An' dars' Ann' Priscilla's boy, Jake, who ain't a brudder +yit, though he's plenty old 'nuf, min', I tell ye; an' he kin read de +Bible, fus' rate, an' has read it ter me ober an' ober ag'in. Ain't +dat so, Jake?" + +Jake grinned, nodded, and hung his head, very uncomfortable at being +thus publicly pointed out. + +"An' dar's good ole Aun' Patty, who knows more Scripter dan ennybuddy +h'yar, havin' been teached by de little gals from Kunnel Jasper's an' +by dere mudders afore 'em. I reckin she know' de hull Bible straight +froo, from de Garden of Eden to de New Jerus'lum. An' dar are udders +h'yar who knows de Scripters, some one part an' some anudder. Now I +axes ebery one ob you all wot know de Scripters ef he don' 'member +how de Bible tells how our Lor' when he was on dis yearth cas' seben +debbils out o' Mary Magdalum?" + +A murmur of assent came from the congregation, Most of them remembered +that. + +"But did enny ob you ebber read, or hab read to you, dat he ebber cas' +'em out o' enny udder woman?" + +Negative grunts and shakes of the head signified that nobody had ever +heard of this. + +"Well, den," said the preacher, gazing blandly around, "all de udder +women got 'em yit." + +A deep silence fell upon the assembly, and in a few moments an elderly +member arose. "Brudder Pete," he said, "I reckin you mought as well +gib out de hyme." + + + + +A DOG'S TALE[1] + +[Footnote 1: 1903] + +_Mark Twain_ (1835) + + +I + +My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a +Presbyterian. This is what my mother told me; I do not know these nice +distinctions myself. To me they are only fine large words meaning +nothing. My mother had a fondness for such; she liked to say them, and +see other dogs look surprised and envious, as wondering how she got so +much education. But, indeed, it was not real education; it was +only show: she got the words by listening in the dining-room and +drawing-room when there was company, and by going with the children to +Sunday-school and listening there; and whenever she heard a large word +she said it over to herself many times, and so was able to keep it +until there was a dogmatic gathering in the neighborhood, then she +would get it off, and surprise and distress them all, from pocket-pup +to mastiff, which rewarded her for all her trouble. If there was a +stranger he was nearly sure to be suspicious, and when he got his +breath again he would ask her what it meant. And she always told him. +He was never expecting this, but thought he would catch her; so when +she told him, he was the one that looked ashamed, whereas he had +thought it was going to be she. The others were always waiting for +this, and glad of it and proud of her, for they knew what was going to +happen, because they had had experience. When she told the meaning of +a big word they were all so taken up with admiration that it never +occurred to any dog to doubt if it was the right one; and that was +natural, because, for one thing, she answered up so promptly that it +seemed like a dictionary speaking, and for another thing, where could +they find out whether it was right or not? for she was the only +cultivated dog there was. By-and-by, when I was older, she brought +home the word Unintellectual, one time, and worked it pretty hard +all the week at different gatherings, making much unhappiness and +despondency; and it was at this time that I noticed that during that +week she was asked for the meaning at eight different assemblages, and +flashed out a fresh definition every time, which showed me that she +had more presence of mind than culture, though I said nothing, of +course. She had one word which she always kept on hand, and ready, +like a life-preserver, a kind of emergency word to strap on when she +was likely to get washed overboard in a sudden way--that was the word +Synonymous. When she happened to fetch out a long word which had had +its day weeks before and its prepared meanings gone to her dump-pile, +if there was a stranger there of course it knocked him groggy for a +couple of minutes, then he would come to, and by that time she would +be away down the wind on another tack, and not expecting anything; so +when he'd hail and ask her to cash in, I (the only dog on the inside +of her game) could see her canvas flicker a moment,--but only just a +moment,--then it would belly out taut and full, and she would say, as +calm as a summer's day, "It's synonymous with supererogation," or some +godless long reptile of a word like that, and go placidly about and +skim away on the next tack, perfectly comfortable, you know, and leave +that stranger looking profane and embarrassed, and the initiated +slatting the floor with their tails in unison and their faces +transfigured with a holy joy. + +And it was the same with phrases. She would drag home a whole phrase, +if it had a grand sound, and play it six nights and two matinees, and +explain it a new way every time,--which she had to, for all she cared +for was the phrase; she wasn't interested in what it meant, and knew +those dogs hadn't wit enough to catch her, anyway. Yes, she was +a daisy! She got so she wasn't afraid of anything, she had such +confidence in the ignorance of those creatures. She even brought +anecdotes that she had heard the family and the dinner guests laugh +and shout over; and as a rule she got the nub of one chestnut hitched +onto another chestnut, where, of course, it didn't fit and hadn't any +point; and when she delivered the nub she fell over and rolled on the +floor and laughed and barked in the most insane way, while I could see +that she was wondering to herself why it didn't seem as funny as it +did when she first heard it. But no harm was done; the others rolled +and barked too, privately ashamed of themselves for not seeing the +point, and never suspecting that the fault was not with them and there +wasn't any to see. + +You can see by these things that she was of a rather vain and +frivolous character; still, she had virtues, and enough to make up, +I think. She had a kind heart and gentle ways, and never harbored +resentments for injuries done her, but put them easily out of her mind +and forgot them; and she taught her children her kindly way, and from +her we learned also to be brave and prompt in time of danger, and not +to run away, but face the peril that threatened friend or stranger, +and help him the best we could without stopping to think what the cost +might be to us. And she taught us, not by words only, but by example, +and that is the best way and the surest and the most lasting. Why, the +brave things she did, the splendid things! she was just a soldier; +and so modest about it--well, you couldn't help admiring her, and you +couldn't help imitating her; not even a King Charles spaniel could +remain entirely despicable in her society. So, as you see, there was +more to her than her education. + + +II + +When I was well grown, at last, I was sold and taken away, and I never +saw her again. She was broken-hearted, and so was I, and we cried; but +she comforted me as well as she could, and said we were sent into this +world for a wise and good purpose, and must do our duties without +repining, take our life as we might find it, live it for the best good +of others, and never mind about the results; they were not our affair. +She said men who did like this would have a noble and beautiful reward +by-and-by in another world, and although we animals would not go +there, to do well and right without reward would give to our brief +lives a worthiness and dignity which in itself would be a reward. She +had gathered these things from time to time when she had gone to the +Sunday-school with the children, and had laid them up in her memory +more carefully than she had done with those other words and phrases; +and she had studied them deeply, for her good and ours. One may see +by this that she had a wise and thoughtful head, for all there was so +much lightness and vanity in it. + +So we said our farewells, and looked our last upon each other through +our tears; and the last thing she said--keeping it for the last to +make me remember it the better, I think--was, "In memory of me, when +there is a time of danger to another do not think of yourself, think +of your mother, and do as she would do." + +Do you think I could forget that? No. + + +III + +It was such a charming home!--my new one; a fine great house, with +pictures, and delicate decorations, and rich furniture, and no gloom +anywhere, but all the wilderness of dainty colors lit up with +flooding sunshine; and the spacious grounds around it, and the great +garden--oh, greensward, and noble trees, and flowers, no end! And I +was the same as a member of the family; and they loved me, and petted +me, and did not give me a new name, but called me by my old one that +was dear to me because my mother had given it me--Aileen Mavourneen. +She got it out of a song; and the Grays knew that song, and said it +was a beautiful name. + +Mrs. Gray was thirty, and so sweet and so lovely, you cannot imagine +it; and Sadie was ten, and just like her mother, just a darling +slender little copy of her, with auburn tails down her back, and short +frocks; and the baby was a year old, and plump and dimpled, and fond +of me, and never could get enough of hauling on my tail, and hugging +me, and laughing out its innocent happiness; and Mr. Gray was +thirty-eight, and tall and slender and handsome, a little bald in +front, alert, quick in his movements, businesslike, prompt, decided, +unsentimental, and with that kind of trim-chiselled face that just +seems to glint and sparkle with frosty intellectuality! He was a +renowned scientist. I do not know what the word means, but my mother +would know how to use it and get effects. She would know how to +depress a rat-terrier with it and make a lap-dog look sorry he came. +But that is not the best one; the best one was Laboratory. My mother +could organize a Trust on that one that would skin the tax-collars +off the whole herd. The laboratory was not a book, or a picture, or a +place to wash your hands in, as the college president's dog said--no, +that is the lavatory; the laboratory is quite different, and is +filled with jars, and bottles, and electrics, and wires, and strange +machines; and every week other scientists came there and sat in the +place, and used the machines, and discussed, and made what they called +experiments and discoveries; and often I came, too, and stood around +and listened, and tried to learn, for the sake of my mother, and in +loving memory of her, although it was a pain to me, as realizing what +she was losing out of her life and I gaining nothing at all; for try +as I might, I was never able to make anything out of it at all. + +Other times I lay on the floor in the mistress's workroom and slept, +she gently using me for a footstool, knowing it pleased me, for it was +a caress; other times I spent an hour in the nursery, and got well +tousled and made happy; other times I watched by the crib there, when +the baby was asleep and the nurse out for a few minutes on the baby's +affairs; other times I romped and raced through the grounds and the +garden with Sadie till we were tired out, then slumbered on the grass +in the shade of a tree while she read her book; other times I went +visiting among the neighbor dogs,--for there were some most pleasant +ones not far away, and one very handsome and courteous and graceful +one, a curly haired Irish setter by the name of Robin Adair, who was a +Presbyterian like me, and belonged to the Scotch minister. + +The servants in our house were all kind to me and were fond of me, and +so, as you see, mine was a pleasant life. There could not be a happier +dog than I was, nor a gratefuller one. I will say this for myself, for +it is only the truth: I tried in all ways to do well and right, and +honor my mother's memory and her teachings, and earn the happiness +that had come to me, as best I could. + +By-and-by came my little puppy, and then my cup was full, my happiness +was perfect. It was the dearest little waddling thing, and so smooth +and soft and velvety, and had such cunning little awkward paws, and +such affectionate eyes, and such a sweet and innocent face; and it +made me so proud to see how the children and their mother adored it, +and fondled it, and exclaimed over every little wonderful thing it +did. It did seem to me that life was just too lovely to-- + +Then came the winter. One day I was standing a watch in the nursery. +That is to say, I was asleep on the bed. The baby was asleep in the +crib, which was alongside the bed, on the side next the fireplace. It +was the kind of crib that has a lofty tent over it made of a gauzy +stuff that you can see through. The nurse was out, and we two sleepers +were alone. A spark from the wood-fire was shot out, and it lit on the +slope of the tent. I suppose a quiet interval followed, then a scream +from the baby woke me, and there was that tent flaming up toward the +ceiling! Before I could think, I sprang to the floor in my fright, and +in a second was half-way to the door; but in the next half-second my +mother's farewell was sounding in my ears, and I was back on the bed +again. I reached my head through the flames and dragged the baby +out by the waistband, and tugged it along, and we fell to the floor +together in a cloud of smoke; I snatched a new hold, and dragged the +screaming little creature along and out at the door and around the +bend of the hall, and was still tugging away, all excited and happy +and proud, when the master's voice shouted: + +"Begone, you cursed beast!" and I jumped to save myself; but he was +wonderfully quick, and chased me up, striking furiously at me with his +cane, I dodging this way and that, in terror, and at last a strong +blow fell upon my left fore-leg, which made me shriek and fall, for +the moment, helpless; the cane went up for another blow, but never +descended, for the nurse's voice rang wildly out, "The nursery's on +fire!" and the master rushed away in that direction, and my other +bones were saved. + +The pain was cruel, but, no matter, I must not lose any time; he might +come back at any moment; so I limped on three legs to the other end +of the hall, where there was a dark little stairway leading up into a +garret where old boxes and such things were kept, as I had heard say, +and where people seldom went. I managed to climb up there, then I +searched my way through the dark among the piles of things, and hid in +the secretest place I could find. It was foolish to be afraid there, +yet still I was; so afraid that I held in and hardly even whimpered, +though it would have been such a comfort to whimper, because that +eases the pain, you know. But I could lick my leg, and that did me +some good. + +For half an hour there was a commotion down-stairs, and shoutings, +and rushing footsteps, and then there was quiet again. Quiet for some +minutes, and that was grateful to my spirit, for then my fears began +to go down; and fears are worse than pains,--oh, much worse. Then +came a sound that froze me! They were calling me--calling me by +name--hunting for me! + +It was muffled by distance, but that could not take the terror out of +it, and it was the most dreadful sound to me that I had ever heard. It +went all about, everywhere, down there: along the halls, through all +the rooms, in both stories, and in the basement and the cellar; then +outside, and further and further away--then back, and all about the +house again, and I thought it would never, never stop. But at last it +did, hours and hours after the vague twilight of the garret had long +ago been blotted out by black darkness. + +Then in that blessed stillness my terror fell little by little away, +and I was at peace and slept. It was a good rest I had, but I woke +before the twilight had come again. I was feeling fairly comfortable, +and I could think out a plan now. I made a very good one; which was, +to creep down, all the way down the back stairs, and hide behind the +cellar door, and slip out and escape when the iceman came at dawn, +while he was inside filling the refrigerator; then I would hide all +day, and start on my journey when night came; my journey to--well, +anywhere where they would not know me and betray me to the master. I +was feeling almost cheerful now; then suddenly I thought, Why, what +would life be without my puppy! + +That was despair. There was no plan for me; I saw that; I must stay +where I was; stay, and wait, and take what might come--it was not my +affair; that was what life is--my mother had said it. Then--well, then +the calling began again! All my sorrows came back. I said to myself, +the master will never forgive. I did not know what I had done to make +him so bitter and so unforgiving, yet I judged it was something a dog +could not understand, but which was clear to a man and dreadful. + +They called and called--days and nights, it seemed to me. So long that +the hunger and thirst near drove me mad, and I recognized that I was +getting very weak. When you are this way you sleep a great deal, and I +did. Once I woke in an awful fright--it seemed to me that the calling +was right there in the garret! And so it was: it was Sadie's voice, +and she was crying; my name was falling from her lips all broken, poor +thing, and I could not believe my ears for the joy of it when I heard +her say, + +"Come back to us--oh, come back to us, and forgive--it is all so sad +without our--" + +I broke in with _such_ a grateful little yelp, and the next moment +Sadie was plunging and stumbling through the darkness and the lumber +and shouting for the family to hear, "She's found! she's found!" + +The days that followed--well, they were wonderful. The mother and +Sadie and the servants--why, they just seemed to worship me. They +couldn't seem to make me a bed that was fine enough; and as for food, +they couldn't be satisfied with anything but game and delicacies that +were out of season; and every day the friends and neighbors flocked in +to hear about my heroism--that was the name they called it by, and it +means agriculture. I remember my mother pulling it on a kennel once, +and explaining it that way, but didn't say what agriculture was, +except that it was synonymous with intramural incandescence; and +a dozen times a day Mrs. Gray and Sadie would tell the tale to +new-comers, and say I risked my life to save the baby's, and both of +us had burns to prove it, and then the company would pass me around +and pet me and exclaim about me, and you could see the pride in the +eyes of Sadie and her mother; and when the people wanted to know +what made me limp, they looked ashamed and changed the subject, and +sometimes when people hunted them this way and that way with questions +about it, it looked to me as if they were going to cry. + +And this was not all the glory; no, the master's friends came, a whole +twenty of the most distinguished people, and had me in the laboratory, +and discussed me as if I was a kind of discovery; and some of them +said it was wonderful in a dumb beast, the finest exhibition of +instinct they could call to mind; but the master said, with vehemence, +"It's far above instinct; it's _reason_, and many a man, privileged +to be saved and go with you and me to a better world by right of its +possession, has less of it than this poor silly quadruped that's +foreordained to perish"; and then he laughed, and said, "Why, look at +me--I'm a sarcasm! Bless you, with all my grand intelligence, the only +thing I inferred was that the dog had gone mad and was destroying the +child, whereas but for the beast's intelligence--it's _reason_, I tell +you!--the child would have perished!" + +They disputed and disputed, and _I_ was the very centre and subject of +it all, and I wished my mother could know that this grand honor had +come to me; it would have made her proud. + +Then they discussed optics, as they called it, and whether a certain +injury to the brain would produce blindness or not, but they could not +agree about it, and said they must test it by experiment by-and-by; +and next they discussed plants, and that interested me, because in the +summer Sadie and I had planted seeds--I helped her dig the holes, you +know,--and after days and days a little shrub or a flower came up +there, and it was a wonder how that could happen; but it did, and I +wished I could talk,--I would have told those people about it and +shown them how much I knew, and been all alive with the subject; but I +didn't care for the optics; it was dull, and when they came back to it +again it bored me, and I went to sleep. + +Pretty soon it was spring, and sunny and pleasant and lovely, and the +sweet mother and the children patted me and the puppy good-bye, and +went away on a journey and a visit to their kin, and the master wasn't +any company for us, but we played together and had good times, and the +servants were kind and friendly, so we got along quite happily and +counted the days and waited for the family. + +And one day those men came again, and said now for the test, and they +took the puppy to the laboratory, and I limped three-leggedly along, +too, feeling proud, for any attention shown the puppy was a pleasure +to me, of course. They discussed and experimented, and then suddenly +the puppy shrieked, and they set him on the floor, and he went +staggering around, with his head all bloody, and the master clapped +his hands, and shouted: + +"There, I've won--confess it! He's as blind as a bat!" + +And they all said, + +"It's so--you've proved your theory, and suffering humanity owes you +a great debt from henceforth," and they crowded around him, and wrung +his hand cordially and thankfully, and praised him. + +But I hardly saw or heard these things, for I ran at once to my little +darling, and snuggled close to it where it lay, and licked the blood, +and it put its head against mine, whimpering softly, and I knew in +my heart it was a comfort to it in its pain and trouble to feel its +mother's touch, though it could not see me. Then it drooped down, +presently, and its little velvet nose rested upon the floor, and it +was still, and did not move any more. + +Soon the master stopped discussing a moment, and rang in the footman, +and said, "Bury it in the far corner of the garden," and then went on +with the discussion, and I trotted after the footman, very happy and +grateful, for I knew the puppy was out of its pain now, because it was +asleep. We went far down the garden to the furthest end, where the +children and the nurse and the puppy and I used to play in the summer +in the shade of a great elm, and there the footman dug a hole, and I +saw he was going to plant the puppy, and I was glad, because it would +grow and come up a fine handsome dog, like Robin Adair, and be a +beautiful surprise for the family when they came home; so I tried to +help him dig, but my lame leg was no good, being stiff, you know, and +you have to have two, or it is no use. When the footman had finished +and covered little Robin up, he patted my head, and there were tears +in his eyes, and he said, "Poor little doggie, you SAVED _his_ child." + +I have watched two whole weeks, and he doesn't come up! This last +week a fright has been stealing upon me. I think there is something +terrible about this. I do not know what it is, but the fear makes me +sick, and I cannot eat, though the servants bring me the best of food; +and they pet me so, and even come in the night, and cry, and say, +"Poor doggie--do give it up and come home; _don't_ break our hearts!" +and all this terrifies me the more, and makes me sure something has +happened. And I am so weak; since yesterday I cannot stand on my feet +any more. And within this hour the servants, looking toward the sun +where it was sinking out of sight and the night chill coming on, said +things I could not understand, but they carried something cold to my +heart. + +"Those poor creatures! They do not suspect. They will come home in +the morning, and eagerly ask for the little doggie that did the brave +deed, and who of us will be strong enough to say the truth to them: +'The humble little friend is gone where go the beasts that perish.'" + + + + +THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _The Luck of Roaring Camp_. 1871.] + +_Bret Harte_ (1839-1902) + + +As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker +Flat on the morning of the 23d of November, 1850, he was conscious of +a change in its moral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two or +three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and +exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air, +which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous. + +Mr. Oakhurst's calm, handsome face betrayed small concern in these +indications. Whether he was conscious of any predisposing cause was +another question. "I reckon they're after somebody," he reflected; +"likely it's me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with +which he had been whipping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his +neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture. + +In point of fact, Poker Flat was "after somebody." It had lately +suffered the loss of several thousand dollars, two valuable horses, +and a prominent citizen. It was experiencing a spasm of virtuous +reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that +had provoked it. A secret committee had determined to rid the town of +all improper persons. This was done permanently in regard of two men +who were then hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch, +and temporarily in the banishment of certain other objectionable +characters. I regret to say that some of these were ladies. It is +but due to the sex, however, to state that their impropriety was +professional, and it was only in such easily established standards of +evil that Poker Flat ventured to sit in judgment. + +Mr. Oakhurst was right in supposing that he was included in this +category. A few of the committee had urged hanging him as a possible +example, and a sure method of reimbursing themselves from his pockets +of the sums he had won from them. "It's agin justice," said Jim +Wheeler, "to let this yer young man from Roaring Camp--an entire +stranger--carry away our money." But a crude sentiment of equity +residing in the breasts of those who had been fortunate enough to win +from Mr. Oakhurst overruled this narrower local prejudice. + +Mr. Oakhurst received his sentence with philosophic calmness, none the +less coolly that he was aware of the hesitation of his judges. He was +too much of a gambler not to accept fate. With him life was at best an +uncertain game, and he recognized the usual percentage in favor of the +dealer. + +A body of armed men accompanied the deported wickedness of Poker Flat +to the outskirts of the settlement. Besides Mr. Oakhurst, who was +known to be a coolly desperate man, and for whose intimidation the +armed escort was intended, the expatriated party consisted of a young +woman familiarly known as the "Duchess"; another who had won the title +of "Mother Shipton"; and "Uncle Billy," a suspected sluice-robber +and confirmed drunkard. The cavalcade provoked no comments from the +spectators, nor was any word uttered by the escort. Only when the +gulch which marked the uttermost limit of Poker Flat was reached, the +leader spoke briefly and to the point. The exiles were forbidden to +return at the peril of their lives. + +As the escort disappeared, their pent-up feelings found vent in a +few hysterical tears from the Duchess, some bad language from Mother +Shipton, and a Parthian volley of expletives from Uncle Billy. The +philosophic Oakhurst alone remained silent. He listened calmly to +Mother Shipton's desire to cut somebody's heart out, to the repeated +statements of the Duchess that she would die in the road, and to the +alarming oaths that seemed to be bumped out of Uncle Billy as he rode +forward. With the easy good-humor characteristic of his class, he +insisted upon exchanging his own riding-horse, "Five Spot," for the +sorry mule which the Duchess rode. But even this act did not draw +the party into any closer sympathy. The young woman readjusted her +somewhat draggled plumes with a feeble, faded coquetry; Mother Shipton +eyed the possessor of "Five Spot" with malevolence, and Uncle Billy +included the whole party in one sweeping anathema. + +The road to Sandy Bar--a camp that, not having as yet experienced the +regenerating influences of Poker Flat, consequently seemed to offer +some invitation to the emigrants--lay over a steep mountain range. It +was distant a day's severe travel. In that advanced season, the party +soon passed out of the moist, temperate regions of the foot-hills into +the dry, cold, bracing air of the Sierras. The trail was narrow and +difficult. At noon the Duchess, rolling out of her saddle upon the +ground, declared her intention of going no farther, and the party +halted. + +The spot was singularly wild and impressive. A wooded amphitheatre, +surrounded on three sides by precipitous cliffs of naked granite, +sloped gently toward the crest of another precipice that overlooked +the valley. It was, undoubtedly, the most suitable spot for a camp, +had camping been advisable. But Mr. Oakhurst knew that scarcely half +the journey to Sandy Bar was accomplished; and the party were not +equipped or provisioned for delay. This fact he pointed out to his +companions curtly, with a philosophic commentary on the folly of +"throwing up their hand before the game was played out." But they were +furnished with liquor, which in this emergency stood them in place of +food, fuel, rest, and prescience. In spite of his remonstrances, it +was not long before they were more or less under its influence. Uncle +Billy passed rapidly from a bellicose state into one of stupor, the +Duchess became maudlin, and Mother Shipton snored. Mr. Oakhurst alone +remained erect, leaning against a rock, calmly surveying them. + +Mr. Oakhurst did not drink. It interfered with a profession which +required coolness, impassiveness, and presence of mind, and, in his +own language, he "couldn't afford it." As he gazed at his recumbent +fellow-exiles, the loneliness begotten of his pariah-trade, his habits +of life, his very vices, for the first time seriously oppressed him. +He bestirred himself in dusting his black clothes, washing his hands +and face, and other acts characteristic of his studiously neat habits, +and for a moment forgot his annoyance. The thought of deserting his +weaker and more pitiable companions never perhaps occurred to him. +Yet he could not help feeling the want of that excitement which, +singularly enough, was most conducive to that calm equanimity for +which he was notorious. He looked at the gloomy walls that rose a +thousand feet sheer above the circling pines around him; at the sky, +ominously clouded; at the valley below, already deepening into shadow. +And, doing so, suddenly he heard his own name called. + +A horseman slowly ascended the trail. In the fresh, open face of the +new-comer Mr. Oakhurst recognized Tom Simson, otherwise known as the +"Innocent," of Sandy Bar. He had met him some months before over +a "little game," and had, with perfect equanimity, won the entire +fortune--amounting to some forty dollars--of that guileless youth. +After the game was finished, Mr. Oakhurst drew the youthful speculator +behind the door and thus addressed him: "Tommy, you're a good little +man, but you can't gamble worth a cent. Don't try it over again." He +then handed him his money back, pushed him gently from the room, and +so made a devoted slave of Tom Simson. + +There was a remembrance of this in his boyish and enthusiastic +greeting of Mr. Oakhurst. He had started, he said, to go to Poker +Flat to seek his fortune. "Alone?" No, not exactly alone; in fact +(a giggle), he had run away with Piney Woods. Didn't Mr. Oakhurst +remember Piney? She that used to wait on the table at the Temperance +House? They had been engaged a long time, but old Jake Woods had +objected, and so they had run away, and were going to Poker Flat to be +married, and here they were. And they were tired out, and how lucky it +was they had found a place to camp, and company. All this the Innocent +delivered rapidly, while Piney, a stout, comely damsel of fifteen, +emerged from behind the pine-tree where she had been blushing unseen, +and rode to the side of her lover. + +Mr. Oakhurst seldom troubled himself with sentiment, still less +with propriety; but he had a vague idea that the situation was not +fortunate. He retained, however, his presence of mind sufficiently to +kick Uncle Billy, who was about to say something, and Uncle Billy was +sober enough to recognize in Mr. Oakhurst's kick a superior power that +would not bear trifling. He then endeavored to dissuade Tom Simson +from delaying further, but in vain. He even pointed out the fact that +there was no provision, nor means of making a camp. But, unluckily, +the Innocent met this objection by assuring the party that he was +provided with an extra mule loaded with provisions, and by the +discovery of a rude attempt at a log-house near the trail. "Piney can +stay with Mrs. Oakhurst," said the Innocent, pointing to the Duchess, +"and I can shift for myself." + +Nothing but Mr. Oakhurst's admonishing foot saved Uncle Billy from +bursting into a roar of laughter. As it was, he felt compelled to +retire up the cañon until he could recover his gravity. There he +confided the joke to the tall pine-trees, with many slaps of his leg, +contortions of his face, and the usual profanity. But when he returned +to the party, he found them seated by a fire--for the air had +grown strangely chill and the sky overcast--in apparently amicable +conversation. Piney was actually talking in an impulsive, girlish +fashion to the Duchess, who was listening with an interest and +animation she had not shown for many days. The Innocent was holding +forth, apparently with equal effect, to Mr. Oakhurst and Mother +Shipton, who was actually relaxing into amiability. "Is this yer a +d---d picnic?" said Uncle Billy, with inward scorn, as he surveyed the +sylvan group, the glancing firelight, and the tethered animals in the +foreground. Suddenly an idea mingled with the alcoholic fumes that +disturbed his brain. It was apparently of a jocular nature, for he +felt impelled to slap his leg again and cram his fist into his mouth. + +As the shadows crept slowly up the mountain, a slight breeze rocked +the tops of the pine-trees, and moaned through their long and gloomy +aisles. The ruined cabin, patched and covered with pine-boughs, was +set apart for the ladies. As the lovers parted they unaffectedly +exchanged a kiss, so honest and sincere that it might have been heard +above the swaying pines. The frail Duchess and the malevolent Mother +Shipton were probably too stunned to remark upon this last evidence +of simplicity, and so turned without a word to the hut. The fire was +replenished, the men lay down before the door, and in a few minutes +were asleep. + +Mr. Oakhurst was a light sleeper. Toward morning he awoke benumbed and +cold. As he stirred the dying fire, the wind, which was now blowing +strongly, brought to his cheek that which caused the blood to leave +it--snow! + +He started to his feet with the intention of awakening the sleepers, +for there was no time to lose. But turning to where Uncle Billy had +been lying, he found him gone. A suspicion leaped to his brain and +a curse to his lips. He ran to the spot where the mules had been +tethered; they were no longer there. The tracks were already rapidly +disappearing in the snow. + +The momentary excitement brought Mr. Oakhurst back to the fire with +his usual calm. He did not waken the sleepers. The Innocent slumbered +peacefully, with a smile on his good-humored, freckled face; the +virgin Piney slept beside her frailer sisters as sweetly as though +attended by celestial guardians, and Mr. Oakhurst, drawing his blanket +over his shoulders, stroked his mustaches and waited for the dawn. +It came slowly in a whirling mist of snowflakes, that dazzled and +confused the eye. What could be seen of the landscape appeared +magically changed. He looked over the valley, and summed up the +present and future in two words--"Snowed in!" + +A careful inventory of the provisions, which, fortunately for the +party, had been stored within the hut, and so escaped the felonious +fingers of Uncle Billy, disclosed the fact that with care and prudence +they might last ten days longer. "That is," said Mr. Oakhurst, +_sotto voce_ to the Innocent, "if you're willing to board us. If you +ain't--and perhaps you'd better not--you can wait till Uncle Billy +gets back with provisions." For some occult reason, Mr. Oakhurst could +not bring himself to disclose Uncle Billy's rascality, and so offered +the hypothesis that he had wandered from the camp and had accidentally +stampeded the animals. He dropped a warning to the Duchess and Mother +Shipton, who of course knew the facts of their associate's defection. +"They'll find out the truth about us _all_ when they find out +anything," he added, significantly, "and there's no good frightening +them now." + +Tom Simson not only put all his worldly store at the disposal of +Mr. Oakhurst, but seemed to enjoy the prospect of their enforced +seclusion. "We'll have a good camp for a week, and then the snow'll +melt, and we'll all go back together." The cheerful gayety of the +young man and Mr. Oakhurst's calm infected the others. The Innocent, +with the aid of pine-boughs, extemporized a thatch for the roofless +cabin, and the Duchess directed Piney in the rearrangement of the +interior with a taste and tact that opened the blue eyes of that +provincial maiden to their fullest extent. "I reckon now you're used +to fine things at Poker Flat," said Piney. The Duchess turned away +sharply to conceal something that reddened her cheeks through +their professional tint, and Mother Shipton requested Piney not to +"chatter." But when Mr. Oakhurst returned from a weary search for the +trail, he heard the sound of happy laughter echoed from the rocks. He +stopped in some alarm, and his thoughts first naturally reverted +to the whiskey, which he had prudently _cachéd_. "And yet it don't +somehow sound like whiskey," said the gambler. It was not until he +caught sight of the blazing fire through the still blinding storm and +the group around it that he settled to the conviction that it was +"square fun." + +Whether Mr. Oakhurst had _cachéd_ his cards with the whiskey as +something debarred the free access of the community, I cannot say. +It was certain that, in Mother Shipton's words, he "didn't say +cards once," during that evening. Haply the time was beguiled by an +accordion, produced somewhat ostentatiously by Tom Simson from his +pack. Notwithstanding some difficulties attending the manipulation +of this instrument, Piney Woods managed to pluck several reluctant +melodies from its keys, to an accompaniment by the Innocent on a pair +of bone castanets. But the crowning festivity of the evening was +reached in a rude camp-meeting hymn, which the lovers, joining hands, +sang with great earnestness and vociferation. I fear that a certain +defiant tone and Covenanter's swing to its chorus, rather than any +devotional quality, caused it speedily to infect the others, who at +last joined in the refrain: + + "I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord, + And I'm bound to die in His army." + +The pines rocked, the storm eddied and whirled above the miserable +group, and the flames of their altar leaped heavenward, as if in token +of the vow. + +At midnight the storm abated, the rolling clouds parted, and the +stars glittered keenly above the sleeping camp. Mr. Oakhurst, whose +professional habits had enabled him to live on the smallest possible +amount of sleep, in dividing the watch with Tom Simson, somehow +managed to take upon himself the greater part of that duty. He excused +himself to the Innocent by saying that he had "often been a week +without sleep." "Doing what?" asked Tom. "Poker!" replied Oakhurst, +sententiously; "when a man gets a streak of luck--nigger-luck--he +don't get tired. The luck gives in first. Luck," continued the +gambler, reflectively, "is a mighty queer thing. All you know about it +for certain is that it's bound to change. And it's finding out when +it's going to change that makes you. We've had a streak of bad luck +since we left Poker Flat--you come along, and slap you get into it, +too. If you can hold your cards right along, you're all right. For," +added the gambler, with cheerful irrelevance-- + + "'I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord, + And I'm bound to die in His army,'" + +The third day came, and the sun, looking through the white-curtained +valley, saw the outcasts divide their slowly decreasing store of +provisions for the morning meal. It was one of the peculiarities of +that mountain climate that its rays diffused a kindly warmth over the +wintry landscape, as if in regretful commiseration of the past. But it +revealed drift on drift of snow piled high around the hut--a hopeless, +uncharted, trackless sea of white lying below the rocky shores to +which the castaways still clung. Through the marvellously clear air +the smoke of the pastoral village of Poker Flat rose miles away. +Mother Shipton saw it, and from a remote pinnacle of her rocky +fastness hurled in that direction a final malediction. It was her last +vituperative attempt, and perhaps for that reason was invested with a +certain degree of sublimity. It did her good, she privately informed +the Duchess. "Just you go out there and cuss, and see." She then set +herself to the task of amusing "the child," as she and the Duchess +were pleased to call Piney. Piney was no chicken, but it was a +soothing and original theory of the pair thus to account for the fact +that she didn't swear and wasn't improper. + +When night crept up again through the gorges, the reedy notes of the +accordion rose and fell in fitful spasms and long-drawn gasps by the +flickering camp-fire. But music failed to fill entirely the aching +void left by insufficient food, and a new diversion was proposed by +Piney--story-telling. Neither Mr., Oakhurst nor his female companions +caring to relate their personal experiences, this plan would have +failed, too, but for the Innocent. Some months before he had chanced +upon a stray copy of Mr. Pope's ingenious translation of the +_Iliad_. He now proposed to narrate the principal incidents of that +poem--having thoroughly mastered the argument and fairly forgotten the +words--in the current vernacular of Sandy Bar. And so for the rest of +that night the Homeric demigods again walked the earth. Trojan bully +and wily Greek wrestled in the winds, and the great pines in the cañon +seemed to bow to the wrath of the son of Peleus. Mr. Oakhurst listened +with quiet satisfaction. Most especially was he interested in the +fate of "Ash-heels," as the Innocent persisted in denominating the +"swift-footed Achilles." + +So with small food and much of Homer and the accordion, a week passed +over the heads of the outcasts. The sun again forsook them, and again +from leaden skies the snowflakes were sifted over the land. Day by day +closer around them drew the snowy circle, until at last they looked +from their prison over drifted walls of dazzling white, that towered +twenty feet above their heads. It became more and more difficult to +replenish their fires, even from the fallen trees beside them, now +half hidden in the drifts. And yet no one complained. The lovers +turned from the dreary prospect and looked into each other's eyes, and +were happy. Mr. Oakhurst settled himself coolly to the losing game +before him. The Duchess, more cheerful than she had been, assumed +the care of Piney. Only Mother Shipton--once the strongest of the +party--seemed to sicken and fade. At midnight on the tenth day she +called Oakhurst to her side. "I'm going," she said, in a voice of +querulous weakness, "but don't say anything about it. Don't waken the +kids. Take the bundle from under my head and open it." Mr. Oakhurst +did so. It contained Mother Shipton's rations for the last week, +untouched. "Give 'em to the child," she said, pointing to the sleeping +Piney. "You've starved yourself," said the gambler. "That's what they +call it," said the woman, querulously, as she lay down again, and, +turning her face to the wall, passed quietly away. + +The accordion and the bones were put aside that day, and Homer was +forgotten. When the body of Mother Shipton had been committed to the +snow, Mr. Oakhurst took the Innocent aside and showed him a pair of +snow-shoes, which he had fashioned from the old pack-saddle. "There's +one chance in a hundred to save her yet," he said, pointing to Piney; +"but it's there," he added, pointing toward Poker Flat. "If you can +reach there in two days she's safe." "And you?" asked Tom Simson. +"I'll stay here," was the curt reply. + +The lovers parted with a long embrace. "You are not going, too?" said +the Duchess, as she saw Mr. Oakhurst apparently waiting to accompany +him. "As far as the cañon," he replied. He turned suddenly and kissed +the Duchess, leaving her pallid face aflame and her trembling limbs +rigid with amazement. + +Night came, but not Mr. Oakhurst. It brought the storm again and the +whirling snow. Then the Duchess, feeding the fire, found that some +one had quietly piled beside the hut enough fuel to last a few days +longer. The tears rose to her eyes, but she hid them from Piney. + +The women slept but little. In the morning, looking into each other's +faces, they read their fate. Neither spoke; but Piney, accepting the +position of the stronger, drew near and placed her arm around the +Duchess's waist. They kept this attitude for the rest of the day. That +night the storm reached its greatest fury, and, rending asunder the +protecting pines, invaded the very hut. + +Toward morning they found themselves unable to feed the fire, which +gradually died away. As the embers slowly blackened, the Duchess crept +closer to Piney, and broke the silence of many hours: "Piney, can you +pray?" "No, dear," said Piney, simply. The Duchess, without knowing +exactly why, felt relieved, and, putting her head upon Piney's +shoulder, spoke no more. And so reclining, the younger and purer +pillowing the head of her soiled sister upon her virgin breast, they +fell asleep. + +The wind lulled as if it feared to waken them. Feathery drifts of +snow, shaken from the long pine-boughs, flew like white-winged birds, +and settled about them as they slept. The moon through the rifted +clouds looked down upon what had been the camp. But all human stain, +all trace of earthly travail, was hidden beneath the spotless mantle +mercifully flung from above. + +They slept all that day and the next, nor did they waken when voices +and footsteps broke the silence of the camp. And when pitying fingers +brushed the snow from their wan faces, you could scarcely have told, +from the equal peace that dwelt upon them, which was she that had +sinned. Even the law of Poker Flat recognized this, and turned away, +leaving them still locked in each other's arms. + +But at the head of the gulch, on one of the largest pine-trees, they +found the deuce of clubs pinned to the bark with a bowie-knife. It +bore the following, written in pencil, in a firm hand: + + + + + + BENEATH THIS TREE + + LIES THE BODY + + OF + + JOHN OAKHURST, + + WHO STRUCK A STREAK OF BAD LUCK + + ON THE 23D OF NOVEMBER, 1850, + + AND + + HANDED IN HIS CHECKS + + ON THE 7TH DECEMBER, 1850. + + + + +And pulseless and cold, with a derringer by his side and a bullet in +his heart, though still calm as in life, beneath the snow lay he who +was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker +Flat. + + + + +THE THREE STRANGERS[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Wessex Tales_.] + +_Thomas Hardy_ (1840) + + +Among the few features of agricultural England which retain an +appearance but little modified by the lapse of centuries, may be +reckoned the high, grassy and furzy downs, coombs, or ewe-leases, +as they are indifferently called, that fill a large area of certain +counties in the south and southwest. If any mark of human occupation +is met with hereon, it usually takes the form of the solitary cottage +of some shepherd. + +Fifty years ago such a lonely cottage stood on such a down, and may +possibly be standing there now. In spite of its loneliness, however, +the spot, by actual measurement, was not more than five miles from +a county-town. Yet that affected it little. Five miles of irregular +upland, during the long inimical seasons, with their sleets, snows, +rains, and mists, afford withdrawing space enough to isolate a Timon +or a Nebuchadnezzar; much less, in fair weather, to please that less +repellent tribe, the poets, philosophers, artists, and others who +"conceive and meditate of pleasant things." + +Some old earthen camp or barrow, some clump of trees, at least some +starved fragment of ancient hedge is usually taken advantage of in the +erection of these forlorn dwellings. But, in the present case, such a +kind of shelter had been disregarded. Higher Crowstairs, as the house +was called, stood quite detached and undefended. The only reason for +its precise situation seemed to be the crossing of two footpaths at +right angles hard by, which may have crossed there and thus for a good +five hundred years. Hence the house was exposed to the elements on +all sides. But, though the wind up here blew unmistakably when it did +blow, and the rain hit hard whenever it fell, the various weathers of +the winter season were not quite so formidable on the coomb as they +were imagined to be by dwellers on low ground. The raw rimes were +not so pernicious as in the hollows, and the frosts were scarcely so +severe. When the shepherd and his family who tenanted the house were +pitied for their sufferings from the exposure, they said that upon the +whole they were less inconvenienced by "wuzzes and flames" (hoarses +and phlegms) than when they had lived by the stream of a snug +neighboring valley. + +The night of March 28, 182-, was precisely one of the nights that +were wont to call forth these expressions of commiseration. The level +rainstorm smote walls, slopes, and hedges like the clothyard shafts +of Senlac and Crecy. Such sheep and outdoor animals as had no shelter +stood with their buttocks to the winds; while the tails of little +birds trying to roost on some scraggy thorn were blown inside-out like +umbrellas. The gable-end of the cottage was stained with wet, and the +eavesdroppings flapped against the wall. Yet never was commiseration +for the shepherd more misplaced. For that cheerful rustic was +entertaining a large party in glorification of the christening of his +second girl. + +The guests had arrived before the rain began to fall, and they were +all now assembled in the chief or living room of the dwelling. A +glance into the apartment at eight o'clock on this eventful evening +would have resulted in the opinion that it was as cosy and comfortable +a nook as could be wished for in boisterous weather. The calling of +its inhabitant was proclaimed by a number of highly-polished sheep +crooks without stems that were hung ornamentally over the fireplace, +the curl of each shining crook varying from the antiquated type +engraved in the patriarchal pictures of old family Bibles to the most +approved fashion of the last local sheep-fair. The room was lighted +by half-a-dozen candles, having wicks only a trifle smaller than the +grease which enveloped them, in candlesticks that were never used but +at high-days, holy-days, and family feasts. The lights were scattered +about the room, two of them standing on the chimney-piece. This +position of candles was in itself significant. Candles on the +chimney-piece always meant a party. + +On the hearth, in front of a back-brand to give substance, blazed a +fire of thorns, that crackled "like the laughter of the fool." + +Nineteen persons were gathered here. Of these, five women, wearing +gowns of various bright hues, sat in chairs along the wall; girls shy +and not shy filled the window-bench; four men, including Charley Jake +the hedge-carpenter, Elijah New the parish-clerk, and John Pitcher, +a neighboring dairyman, the shepherd's father-in-law, lolled in +the settle; a young man and maid, who were blushing over +tentative _pourparlers_ on a life-companionship, sat beneath the +corner-cupboard; and an elderly engaged man of fifty or upward moved +restlessly about from spots where his betrothed was not to the spot +where she was. Enjoyment was pretty general, and so much the more +prevailed in being unhampered by conventional restrictions. Absolute +confidence in each other's good opinion begat perfect ease, while the +finishing stroke of manner, amounting to a truly princely serenity, +was lent to the majority by the absence of any expression or trait +denoting that they wished to get on in the world, enlarge their minds, +or do any eclipsing thing whatever--which nowadays so generally nips +the bloom and _bonhomie_ of all except the two extremes of the social +scale. + +Shepherd Fennel had married well, his wife being a dairyman's +daughter from a vale at a distance, who brought fifty guineas in +her pocket--and kept them there, till they should be required for +ministering to the needs of a coming family. This frugal woman had +been somewhat exercised as to the character that should be given +to the gathering. A sit-still party had its advantages; but an +undisturbed position of ease in chairs and settles was apt to lead +on the men to such an unconscionable deal of toping that they would +sometimes fairly drink the house dry. A dancing-party was the +alternative; but this, while avoiding the foregoing objection on the +score of good drink, had a counterbalancing disadvantage in the matter +of good victuals, the ravenous appetites engendered by the exercise +causing immense havoc in the buttery. Shepherdess Fennel fell back +upon the intermediate plan of mingling short dances with short periods +of talk and singing, so as to hinder any ungovernable rage in either. +But this scheme was entirely confined to her own gentle mind: the +shepherd himself was in the mood to exhibit the most reckless phases +of hospitality. + +The fiddler was a boy of those parts, about twelve years of age, who +had a wonderful dexterity in jigs and reels, though his fingers were +so small and short as to necessitate a constant shifting for the high +notes, from which he scrambled back to the first position with sounds +not of unmixed purity of tone. At seven the shrill tweedle-dee of this +youngster had begun, accompanied by a booming ground-bass from Elijah +New, the parish-clerk, who had thoughtfully brought with him his +favorite musical instrument, the serpent. Dancing was instantaneous, +Mrs. Fennel privately enjoining the players on no account to let the +dance exceed the length of a quarter of an hour. + +But Elijah and the boy, in the excitement of their position, quite +forgot the injunction. Moreover, Oliver Giles, a man of seventeen, +one of the dancers, who was enamoured of his partner, a fair girl of +thirty-three rolling years, had recklessly handed a new crown-piece to +the musicians, as a bribe to keep going as long as they had muscle +and wind. Mrs. Fennel, seeing the steam begin to generate on the +countenances of her guests, crossed over and touched the fiddler's +elbow and put her hand on the serpent's mouth. But they took no +notice, and fearing she might lose her character of genial hostess if +she were to interfere too markedly, she retired and sat down helpless. +And so the dance whizzed on with cumulative fury, the performers +moving in their planet-like courses, direct and retrograde, from +apogee to perigee, till the hand of the well-kicked clock at the +bottom of the room had travelled over the circumference of an hour. + +While these cheerful events were in course of enactment within +Fennel's pastoral dwelling, an incident having considerable bearing +on the party had occurred in the gloomy night without. Mrs. Fennel's +concern about the growing fierceness of the dance corresponded in +point of time with the ascent of a human figure to the solitary hill +of Higher Crowstairs from the direction of the distant town. This +personage strode on through the rain without a pause, following +the little-worn path which, further on in its course, skirted the +shepherd's cottage. + +It was nearly the time of full moon, and on this account, though the +sky was lined with a uniform sheet of dripping cloud, ordinary objects +out of doors were readily visible. The sad wan light revealed the +lonely pedestrian to be a man of supple frame; his gait suggested that +he had somewhat passed the period of perfect and instinctive agility, +though not so far as to be otherwise than rapid of motion when +occasion required. At a rough guess, he might have been about forty +years of age. He appeared tall, but a recruiting sergeant, or other +person accustomed to the judging of men's heights by the eye, would +have discerned that this was chiefly owing to his gauntness, and that +he was not more than five-feet-eight or nine. + +Notwithstanding the regularity of his tread, there was caution in it, +as in that of one who mentally feels his way; and despite the fact +that it was not a black coat nor a dark garment of any sort that he +wore, there was something about him which suggested that he naturally +belonged to the black-coated tribes of men. His clothes were of +fustian, and his boots hobnailed, yet in his progress he showed not +the mud-accustomed bearing of hobnailed and fustianed peasantry. + +By the time that he had arrived abreast of the shepherd's premises +the rain came down, or rather came along, with yet more determined +violence. The outskirts of the little settlement partially broke the +force of wind and rain, and this induced him to stand still. The most +salient of the shepherd's domestic erections was an empty sty at the +forward corner of his hedgeless garden, for in these latitudes the +principle of masking the homelier features of your establishment by a +conventional frontage was unknown. The traveller's eye was attracted +to this small building by the pallid shine of the wet slates that +covered it. He turned aside, and, finding it empty, stood under the +pent-roof for shelter. + +While he stood, the boom of the serpent within the adjacent house, +and the lesser strains of the fiddler, reached the spot as an +accompaniment to the surging hiss of the flying rain on the sod, its +louder beating on the cabbage-leaves of the garden, on the eight or +ten beehives just discernible by the path, and its dripping from the +eaves into a row of buckets and pans that had been placed under +the walls of the cottage. For at Higher Crowstairs, as at all such +elevated domiciles, the grand difficulty of housekeeping was an +insufficiency of water; and a casual rainfall was utilized by turning +out, as catchers, every utensil that the house contained. Some queer +stories might be told of the contrivances for economy in suds and +dishwaters that are absolutely necessitated in upland habitations +during the droughts of summer. But at this season there were no +such exigencies; a mere acceptance of what the skies bestowed was +sufficient for an abundant store. + +At last the notes of the serpent ceased and the house was silent. This +cessation of activity aroused the solitary pedestrian from the reverie +into which he had elapsed, and, emerging from the shed, with an +apparently new intention, he walked up the path to the house-door. +Arrived here, his first act was to kneel down on a large stone beside +the row of vessels, and to drink a copious draught from one of them. +Having quenched his thirst, he rose and lifted his hand to knock, but +paused with his eye upon the panel. Since the dark surface of the wood +revealed absolutely nothing, it was evident that he must be mentally +looking through the door, as if he wished to measure thereby all the +possibilities that a house of this sort might include, and how they +might bear upon the question of his entry. + +In his indecision he turned and surveyed the scene around. Not a soul +was anywhere visible. The garden-path stretched downward from his +feet, gleaming like the track of a snail; the roof of the little well +(mostly dry), the well-cover, the top rail of the garden-gate, were +varnished with the same dull liquid glaze; while, far away in the +vale, a faint whiteness of more than usual extent showed that the +rivers were high in the meads. Beyond all this winked a few bleared +lamplights through the beating drops--lights that denoted the +situation of the county-town from which he had appeared to come. The +absence of all notes of life in that direction seemed to clinch his +intentions, and he knocked at the door. + +Within, a desultory chat had taken the place of movement and musical +sound. The hedge-carpenter was suggesting a song to the company, which +nobody just then was inclined to undertake, so that the knock afforded +a not unwelcome diversion. + +"Walk in!" said the shepherd, promptly. + +The latch clicked upward, and out of the night our pedestrian appeared +upon the door-mat. The shepherd arose, snuffed two of the nearest +candles, and turned to look at him. + +Their light disclosed that the stranger was dark in complexion and not +unprepossessing as to feature. His hat, which for a moment he did not +remove, hung low over his eyes, without concealing that they were +large, open, and determined, moving with a flash rather than a glance +round the room. He seemed pleased with his survey, and, baring his +shaggy head, said, in a rich, deep voice: "The rain is so heavy, +friends, that I ask leave to come in and rest awhile." + +"To be sure, stranger," said the shepherd. "And faith, you've been +lucky in choosing your time, for we are having a bit of a fling for +a glad cause--though, to be sure, a man could hardly wish that glad +cause to happen more than once a year." + +"Nor less," spoke up a woman. "For 'tis best to get your family over +and done with, as soon as you can, so as to be all the earlier out of +the fag o't." + +"And what may be this glad cause?" asked the stranger. + +"A birth and christening," said the shepherd. + +The stranger hoped his host might not be made unhappy either by too +many or two few of such episodes, and being invited by a gesture to +a pull at the mug, he readily acquiesced. His manner, which, before +entering, had been so dubious, was now altogether that of a careless +and candid man. + +"Late to be traipsing athwart this coomb--hey?" said the engaged man +of fifty. + +"Late it is, master, as you say.--I'll take a seat in the +chimney-corner, if you have nothing to urge against it, ma'am; for I +am a little moist on the side that was next the rain." + +Mrs. Shepherd Fennel assented, and made room for the self-invited +comer, who, having got completely inside the chimney-corner, stretched +out his legs and arms with the expansiveness of a person quite at +home. + +"Yes, I am rather cracked in the vamp," he said freely, seeing that +the eyes of the shepherd's wife fell upon his boots, "and I am not +well fitted either. I have had some rough times lately, and have been +forced to pick up what I can get in the way of wearing, but I must +find a suit better fit for working-days when I reach home." + +"One of hereabouts?" she inquired. + +"Not quite that--further up the country." + +"I thought so. And so be I; and by your tongue you come from my +neighborhood." + +"But you would hardly have heard of me," he said quickly. "My time +would be long before yours, ma'am, you see." + +This testimony to the youthfulness of his hostess had the effect of +stopping her cross-examination. + +"There is only one thing more wanted to make me happy," continued the +new-comer, "and that is a little baccy, which I am sorry to say I am +out of." + +"I'll fill your pipe," said the shepherd. + +"I must ask you to lend me a pipe likewise." + +"A smoker, and no pipe about 'ee?" + +"I have dropped it somewhere on the road." + +The shepherd filled and handed him a new clay pipe, saying, as he did +so, "Hand me your baccy-box--I'll fill that too, now I am about it." + +The man went through the movement of searching his pockets. + +"Lost that too?" said his entertainer, with some surprise. + +"I am afraid so," said the man with some confusion. "Give it to me in +a screw of paper." Lighting his pipe at the candle with a suction that +drew the whole flame into the bowl, he resettled himself in the corner +and bent his looks upon the faint steam from his damp legs, as if he +wished to say no more. + +Meanwhile the general body of guests had been taking little notice of +this visitor by reason of an absorbing discussion in which they were +engaged with the band about a tune for the next dance. The matter +being settled, they were about to stand up when an interruption came +in the shape of another knock at the door. + +At sound of the same the man in the chimney-corner took up the poker +and began stirring the brands as if doing it thoroughly were the one +aim of his existence; and a second time the shepherd said, "Walk in!" +In a moment another man stood upon the straw-woven door-mat. He too +was a stranger. + +This individual was one of a type radically different from the first. +There was more of the commonplace in his manner, and a certain jovial +cosmopolitanism sat upon his features. He was several years older +than the first arrival, his hair being slightly frosted, his eyebrows +bristly, and his whiskers cut back from his cheeks. His face was +rather full and flabby, and yet it was not altogether a face without +power. A few grog-blossoms marked the neighborhood of his nose. He +flung back his long drab greatcoat, revealing that beneath it he wore +a suit of cinder-gray shade throughout, large heavy seals, of some +metal or other that would take a polish, dangling from his fob as his +only personal ornament. Shaking the water-drops from his low-crowned +glazed hat, he said, "I must ask for a few minutes' shelter, comrades, +or I shall be wetted to my skin before I get to Casterbridge." + +"Make yourself at home, master," said the shepherd, perhaps a trifle +less heartily than on the first occasion. Not that Fennel had the +least tinge of niggardliness in his composition; but the room was far +from large, spare chairs were not numerous, and damp companions were +not altogether desirable at close quarters for the women and girls in +their bright-colored gowns. + +However, the second comer, after taking off his greatcoat, and hanging +his hat on a nail in one of the ceiling-beams as if he had been +specially invited to put it there, advanced and sat down at the table. +This had been pushed so closely into the chimney-corner, to give all +available room to the dancers, that its inner edge grazed the elbow +of the man who had ensconced himself by the fire; and thus the two +strangers were brought into close companionship. They nodded to each +other by way of breaking the ice of unacquaintance, and the first +stranger handed his neighbor the family mug--a huge vessel of brown +ware, having its upper edge worn away like a threshold by the rub of +whole generations of thirsty lips that had gone the way of all flesh, +and bearing the following inscription burnt upon its rotund side in +yellow letters: + + THERE IS NO FUN + UNTILL I CUM. + +The other man, nothing loth, raised the mug to his lips, and drank on, +and on, and on--till a curious blueness overspread the countenance +of the shepherd's wife, who had regarded with no little surprise the +first stranger's free offer to the second of what did not belong to +him to dispense. + +"I knew it!" said the toper to the shepherd with much satisfaction. +"When I walked up your garden before coming in, and saw the hives all +of a row, I said to myself, 'Where there's bees there's honey, +and where there's honey there's mead,' But mead of such a truly +comfortable sort as this I really didn't expect to meet in my older +days." He took yet another pull at the mug, till it assumed an ominous +elevation. + +"Glad you enjoy it!" said the shepherd warmly. + +"It is goodish mead," assented Mrs. Fennel, with an absence of +enthusiasm which seemed to say that it was possible to buy praise for +one's cellar at too heavy a price. "It is trouble enough to make--and +really I hardly think we shall make any more. For honey sells well, +and we ourselves can make shift with a drop o' small mead and +metheglin for common use from the comb-washings." + +"O, but you'll never have the heart!" reproachfully cried the stranger +in cinder-gray, after taking up the mug a third time and setting it +down empty. "I love mead, when 'tis old like this, as I love to go to +church o' Sundays, or to relieve the needy any day of the week." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" said the man in the chimney-corner, who, in spite of the +taciturnity induced by the pipe of tobacco, could not or would not +refrain from this slight testimony to his comrade's humor. + +Now the old mead of those days, brewed of the purest first-year or +maiden honey, four pounds to the gallon--with its due complement of +white of eggs, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary, yeast, and +processes of working, bottling, and cellaring--tasted remarkably +strong; but it did not taste so strong as it actually was. Hence, +presently, the stranger in cinder-gray at the table, moved by its +creeping influence, unbuttoned his waistcoat, threw himself back in +his chair, spread his legs, and made his presence felt in various +ways. + +"Well, well, as I say," he resumed, "I am going to Casterbridge, and +to Casterbridge I must go. I should have been almost there by this +time; but the rain drove me into your dwelling, and I'm not sorry for +it." + +"You don't live in Casterbridge?" said the shepherd. + +"Not as yet; though I shortly mean to move there." + +"Going to set up in trade, perhaps?" + +"No, no," said the shepherd's wife. "It is easy to see that the +gentleman is rich, and don't want to work at anything." + +The cinder-gray stranger paused, as if to consider whether he would +accept that definition of himself. He presently rejected it by +answering, "Rich is not quite the word for me, dame. I do work, and I +must work. And even if I only get to Casterbridge by midnight I must +begin work there at eight to-morrow morning. Yes, het or wet, blow or +snow, famine or sword, my day's work to-morrow must be done." + +"Poor man! Then, in spite o' seeming, you be off than we." replied the +shepherd's wife. + +"'Tis the nature of my trade, men and maidens. Tis the nature of my +trade more than my poverty.... But really and truly I must up and off, +or I shan't get a lodging in the town." However, the speaker did +not move, and directly added, "There's time for one more draught of +friendship before I go; and I'd perform it at once if the mug were not +dry." + +"Here's a mug o' small," said Mrs. Fennel. "Small, we call it, though +to be sure 'tis only the first wash o' the combs." + +"No," said the stranger, disdainfully. "I won't spoil your first +kindness by partaking o' your second." + +"Certainly not," broke in Fennel. "We don't increase and multiply +every day, and I'll fill the mug again." He went away to the dark +place under the stairs where the barrel stood. The shepherdess +followed him. + +"Why should you do this?" she said, reproachfully, as soon as they +were alone. "He's emptied it once, though it held enough for ten +people; and now he's not contented wi' the small, but must needs call +for more o' the strong! And a stranger unbeknown to any of us. For my +part, I don't like the look o' the man at all." + +"But he's in the house, my honey; and 'tis a wet night, and a +christening. Daze it, what's a cup of mead more or less? There'll be +plenty more next bee-burning." + +"Very well--this time, then," she answered, looking wistfully at the +barrel. "But what is the man's calling, and where is he one of, that +he should come in and join us like this?" + +"I don't know. I'll ask him again." + +The catastrophe of having the mug drained dry at one pull by the +stranger in cinder-gray was effectually guarded against this time by +Mrs. Fennel. She poured out his allowance in a small cup, keeping the +large one at a discreet distance from him. When he had tossed off +his portion the shepherd renewed his inquiry about the stranger's +occupation. + +The latter did not immediately reply, and the man in the +chimney-corner, with sudden demonstrativeness, said, "Anybody may know +my trade--I'm a wheelwright." + +"A very good trade for these parts," said the shepherd. + +"And anybody may know mine--if they've the sense to find it out," said +the stranger in cinder-gray. + +"You may generally tell what a man is by his claws," observed the +hedge-carpenter, looking at his own hands. "My fingers be as full of +thorns as an old pin-cushion is of pins." + +The hands of the man in the chimney-corner instinctively sought the +shade, and he gazed into the fire as he resumed his pipe. The man at +the table took up the hedge-carpenter's remark, and added smartly, +"True; but the oddity of my trade is that, instead of setting a mark +upon me, it sets a mark upon my customers." + +No observation being offered by anybody in elucidation of this enigma, +the shepherd's wife once more called for a song. The same obstacles +presented themselves as at the former time--one had no voice, another +had forgotten the first verse. The stranger at the table, whose soul +had now risen to a good working temperature, relieved the difficulty +by exclaiming that, to start the company, he would sing himself. +Thrusting one thumb into the arm-hole of his waistcoat, he waved the +other hand in the air, and, with an extemporizing gaze at the shining +sheep-crooks above the mantelpiece, began: + + "O my trade it is the rarest one, + Simple shepherds all-- + My trade is a sight to see; + For my customers I tie, and take them up on high, + And waft 'em to a far countree!" + +The room was silent when he had finished the verse--with one +exception, that of the man in the chimney-corner, who, at the singer's +word, "Chorus!" joined him in a deep bass voice of musical relish: + + "And waft 'em to a far countree!" + +Oliver Giles, John Pitcher the dairyman, the parish-clerk, the engaged +man of fifty, the row of young women against the wall, seemed lost in +thought not of the gayest kind. The shepherd looked meditatively on +the ground, the shepherdess gazed keenly at the singer, and with some +suspicion; she was doubting whether this stranger were merely singing +an old song from recollection, or was composing one there and then for +the occasion. All were as perplexed at the obscure revelation as the +guests at Belshazzar's Feast, except the man in the chimney-corner, +who quietly said, "Second verse, stranger," and smoked on. + +The singer thoroughly moistened himself from his lips inward, and went +on with the next stanza as requested: + + "My tools are but common ones, + Simple shepherds all-- + My tools are no sight to see: + A little hempen string, and a post whereon to swing, + Are implements enough for me!" + +Shepherd Fennel glanced round. There was no longer any doubt that the +stranger was answering his question rhythmically. The guests one and +all started back with suppressed exclamations. The young woman engaged +to the man of fifty fainted half-way, and would have proceeded, +but finding him wanting in alacrity for catching her she sat down +trembling. + +"O, he's the--!" whispered the people in the background, mentioning +the name of an ominous public officer. "He's come to do it! 'Tis to be +at Casterbridge jail to-morrow--the man for sheep-stealing--the poor +clock-maker we heard of, who used to live away at Shottsford and had +no work to do--Timothy Summers, whose family were a-starving, and so +he went out of Shottsford by the high-road, and took a sheep in open +daylight, defying the farmer and the farmer's wife and the farmer's +lad, and every man jack among 'em. He" (and they nodded toward the +stranger of the deadly trade) "is come from up the country to do it +because there's not enough to do in his own county-town, and he's got +the place here now our own county man's dead; he's going to live in +the same cottage under the prison wall." + +The stranger in cinder-gray took no notice of this whispered string of +observations, but again wetted his lips. Seeing that his friend in the +chimney-corner was the only one who reciprocated his joviality in any +way, he held out his cup toward that appreciative comrade, who also +held out his own. They clinked together, the eyes of the rest of the +room hanging upon the singer's actions. He parted his lips for the +third verse; but at that moment another knock was audible upon the +door. This time the knock was faint and hesitating. + +The company seemed scared; the shepherd looked with consternation +toward the entrance, and it was with some effort that he resisted his +alarmed wife's deprecatory glance, and uttered for the third time the +welcoming words, "Walk in!" + +The door was gently opened, and another man stood upon the mat. He, +like those who had preceded him, was a stranger. This time it was a +short, small personage, of fair complexion, and dressed in a decent +suit of dark clothes. + +"Can you tell me the way to--?" he began: when, gazing round the room +to observe the nature of the company among whom he had fallen, his +eyes lighted on the stranger in cinder-gray. It was just at the +instant when the latter, who had thrown his mind into his song with +such a will that he scarcely heeded the interruption, silenced all +whispers and inquiries by bursting into his third verse: + + "To-morrow is my working day, + Simple shepherds all-- + To-morrow is a working day for me: + For the farmer's sheep is slain, and the lad who did it ta'en, + And on his soul may God ha' merc-y!" + +The stranger in the chimney-corner, waving cups with the singer so +heartily that his mead splashed over on the hearth, repeated in his +bass voice as before: + + "And on his soul may God ha' merc-y!" + +All this time the third stranger had been standing in the doorway. +Finding now that he did not come forward or go on speaking, the guests +particularly regarded him. They noticed to their surprise that he +stood before them the picture of abject terror--his knees trembling, +his hand shaking so violently that the door-latch by which he +supported himself rattled audibly: his white lips were parted, and his +eyes fixed on the merry officer of justice in the middle of the room. +A moment more and he had turned, closed the door, and fled. + +"What a man can it be?" said the shepherd. + +The rest, between the awfulness of their late discovery and the odd +conduct of this third visitor, looked as if they knew not what to +think, and said nothing. Instinctively they withdrew further and +further from the grim gentleman in their midst, whom some of them +seemed to take for the Prince of Darkness himself, till they formed +a remote circle, an empty space of floor being left between them and +him-- + +"... circulus, cujus centrum diabolus." + +The room was so silent--though there were more than twenty people in +it--that nothing could be heard but the patter of the rain against the +window-shutters, accompanied by the occasional hiss of a stray drop +that fell down the chimney into the fire, and the steady puffing of +the man in the corner, who had now resumed his pipe of long clay. + +The stillness was unexpectedly broken. The distant sound of a gun +reverberated through the air--apparently from the direction of the +county-town. + +"Be jiggered!" cried the stranger who had sung the song, jumping up. + +"What does that mean?" asked several. + +"A prisoner escaped from the jail--that's what it means." + +All listened. The sound was repeated, and none of them spoke but the +man in the chimney-corner, who said quietly, "I've often been told +that in this county they fire a gun at such times; but I never heard +it till now." + +"I wonder if it is _my_ man?" murmured the personage in cinder-gray. + +"Surely it is!" said the shepherd involuntarily. "And surely we've +zeed him! That little man who looked in at the door by now, and +quivered like a leaf when he zeed ye and heard your song!" + +"His teeth chattered, and the breath went out of his body," said the +dairyman. + +"And his heart seemed to sink within him like a stone," said Oliver +Giles. + +"And he bolted as if he'd been shot at," said the hedge-carpenter. + +"True--his teeth chattered, and his heart seemed to sink; and he +bolted as if he'd been shot at," slowly summed up the man in the +chimney-corner. + +"I didn't notice it," remarked the hangman. + +"We were all a-wondering what made him run off in such a fright," +faltered one of the women against the wall, "and now 'tis explained!" + +The firing of the alarm-gun went on at intervals, low and sullenly, +and their suspicions became a certainty. The sinister gentleman in +cinder-gray roused himself. "Is there a constable here?" he asked, in +thick tones. "If so, let him step forward." + +The engaged man of fifty stepped quavering out from the wall, his +betrothed beginning to sob on the back of the chair. + +"You are a sworn constable?" + +"I be, sir." + +"Then pursue the criminal at once, with assistance, and bring him back +here. He can't have gone far." + +"I will, sir, I will--when I've got my staff. I'll go home and get it, +and come sharp here, and start in a body." + +"Staff!--never mind your staff; the man'll be gone!" + +"But I can't do nothing without my staff--can I, William, and John, +and Charles Jake? No; for there's the king's royal crown a-painted +on en in yaller and gold, and the lion and the unicorn, so as when I +raise en up and hit my prisoner, 'tis made a lawful blow thereby. I +wouldn't 'tempt to take up a man without my staff--no, not I. If I +hadn't the law to gie me courage, why, instead o' my taking up him he +might take up me!" + +"Now, I'm a king's man myself, and can give you authority enough for +this," said the formidable officer in gray. "Now then, all of ye, be +ready. Have ye any lanterns?" + +"Yes--have ye any lanterns?--I demand it!" said the constable. + +"And the rest of you able-bodied--" + +"Able-bodied men--yes--the rest of ye!" said the constable. + +"Have you some good stout staves and pitchforks--" + +"Staves and pitchforks--in the name o' the law! And take 'em in yer +hands and go in quest, and do as we in authority tell ye!" + +Thus aroused, the men prepared to give chase. The evidence was, +indeed, though circumstantial, so convincing, that but little argument +was needed to show the shepherd's guests that after what they had seen +it would look very much like connivance if they did not instantly +pursue the unhappy third stranger, who could not as yet have gone more +than a few hundred yards over such uneven country. + +A shepherd is always well provided with lanterns; and, lighting these +hastily, and with hurdle-staves in their hands, they poured out of the +door, taking a direction along the crest of the hill, away from the +town, the rain having fortunately a little abated. + +Disturbed by the noise, or possibly by unpleasant dreams of her +baptism, the child who had been christened began to cry heart-brokenly +in the room overhead. These notes of grief came down through the +chinks of the floor to the ears of the women below, who jumped up one +by one, and seemed glad of the excuse to ascend and comfort the baby, +for the incidents of the last half-hour greatly oppressed them. Thus +in the space of two or three minutes the room on the ground-floor was +deserted quite. + +But it was not for long. Hardly had the sound of footsteps died away +when a man returned round the corner of the house from the direction +the pursuers had taken. Peeping in at the door, and seeing +nobody there, he entered leisurely. It was the stranger of the +chimney-corner, who had gone out with the rest. The motive of his +return was shown by his helping himself to a cut piece of skimmer-cake +that lay on a ledge beside where he had sat, and which he had +apparently forgotten to take with him. He also poured out half a cup +more mead from the quantity that remained, ravenously eating and +drinking these as he stood. He had not finished when another figure +came in just as quietly--his friend in cinder-gray. + +"O--you here?" said the latter, smiling. "I thought you had gone to +help in the capture." And this speaker also revealed the object of his +return by looking solicitously round for the fascinating mug of old +mead. + +"And I thought you had gone," said the other, continuing his +skimmer-cake with some effort. + +"Well, on second thoughts, I felt there were enough without me," said +the first confidentially, "and such a night as it is, too. Besides, +'tis the business o' the Government to take care of its criminals--not +mine." + +"True; so it is. And I felt as you did, that there were enough without +me." + +"I don't want to break my limbs running over the humps and hollows of +this wild country." + +"Nor I neither, between you and me." + +"These shepherd-people are used to it--simple-minded souls, you know, +stirred up to anything in a moment. They'll have him ready for me +before the morning, and no trouble to me at all." + +"They'll have him, and we shall have saved ourselves all labor in the +matter." + +"True, true. Well, my way is to Casterbridge; and 'tis as much as my +legs will do to take me that far. Going the same way?" + +"No, I am sorry to say! I have to get home over there" (he nodded +indefinitely to the right), "and I feel as you do, that it is quite +enough for my legs to do before bedtime." + +The other had by this time finished the mead in the mug, after which, +shaking hands heartily at the door, and wishing each other well, they +went their several ways. + +In the meantime the company of pursuers had reached the end of the +hog's-back elevation which dominated this part of the down. They had +decided on no particular plan of action; and, finding that the man of +the baleful trade was no longer in their company, they seemed quite +unable to form any such plan now. They descended in all directions +down the hill, and straightway several of the party fell into the +snare set by Nature for all misguided midnight ramblers over this part +of the cretaceous formation. The "lanchets," or flint slopes, which +belted the escarpment at intervals of a dozen yards, took the less +cautious ones unawares, and losing their footing on the rubbly steep +they slid sharply downward, the lanterns rolling from their hands to +the bottom, and there lying on their sides till the horn was scorched +through. + +When they had again gathered themselves together, the shepherd, as the +man who knew the country best, took the lead, and guided them round +these treacherous inclines. The lanterns, which seemed rather to +dazzle their eyes and warn the fugitive than to assist them in the +exploration, were extinguished, due silence was observed; and in this +more rational order they plunged into the vale. It was a grassy, +briery, moist defile, affording some shelter to any person who had +sought it; but the party perambulated it in vain, and ascended on the +other side. Here they wandered apart, and after an interval closed +together again to report progress. At the second time of closing in +they found themselves near a lonely ash, the single tree on this part +of the coomb, probably sown there by a passing bird some fifty years +before. And here, standing a little to one side of the trunk, as +motionless as the trunk itself, appeared the man they were in quest +of, his outline being well defined against the sky beyond. The band +noiselessly drew up and faced him. + +"Your money or your life!" said the constable sternly to the still +figure. + +"No, no," whispered John Pitcher. "'Tisn't our side ought to say that. +That's the doctrine of vagabonds like him, and we be on the side of +the law." + +"Well, well," replied the constable, impatiently; "I must say +something, mustn't I? and if you had all the weight o' this +undertaking upon your mind, perhaps you'd say the wrong thing, +too!--Prisoner at the bar, surrender, in the name of the Father--the +Crown, I mane!" + +The man under the tree seemed now to notice them for the first time, +and, giving them no opportunity whatever for exhibiting their courage, +he strolled slowly toward them. He was, indeed, the little man, the +third stranger; but his trepidation had in a great measure gone. + +"Well, travellers," he said, "did I hear you speak to me?" + +"You did; you've got to come and be our prisoner at once!" said the +constable. "We arrest 'ee on the charge of not biding in Casterbridge +jail in a decent proper manner to be hung to-morrow morning. +Neighbors, do your duty, and seize the culpet!" + +On hearing the charge, the man seemed enlightened, and, saying not +another word, resigned himself with preternatural civility to the +search-party, who, with their staves in their hands, surrounded him on +all sides, and marched him back toward the shepherd's cottage. + +It was eleven o'clock by the time they arrived. The light shining from +the open door, a sound of men's voices within, proclaimed to them as +they approached the house that some new events had arisen in their +absence. On entering they discovered the shepherd's living-room to +be invaded by two officers from Casterbridge jail, and a well-known +magistrate who lived at the nearest country-seat, intelligence of the +escape having become generally circulated. + +"Gentlemen," said the constable, "I have brought back your man--not +without risk and danger; but every one must do his duty! He is inside +this circle of able-bodied persons, who have lent me useful aid, +considering their ignorance of Crown work. Men, bring forward your +prisoner!" And the third stranger was led to the light. + +"Who is this?" said one of the officials. + +"The man," said the constable. + +"Certainly not," said the turnkey; and the first corroborated his +statement. + +"But how can it be otherwise?" asked the constable. "Or why was he +so terrified at sight o' the singing instrument of the law who sat +there?" Here he related the strange behavior of the third stranger on +entering the house during the hangman's song. + +"Can't understand it," said the officer coolly. "All I know is that it +is not the condemned man. He's quite a different character from this +one; a gauntish fellow, with dark hair and eyes, rather good-looking, +and with a musical bass voice that if you heard it once you'd never +mistake as long as you lived." + +"Why, souls--'twas the man in the chimney-corner!" + +"Hey--what?" said the magistrate, coming forward after inquiring +particulars from the shepherd in the background. "Haven't you got the +man after all?" + +"Well, sir," said the constable, "he's the man we were in search of, +that's true; and yet he's not the man we were in search of. For the +man we were in search of was not the man we wanted, sir, if you +understand my every-day way; for 'twas the man in the chimney-corner!" + +"A pretty kettle of fish altogether!" said the magistrate. "You had +better start for the other man at once." + +The prisoner now spoke for the first time. The mention of the man in +the chimney-corner seemed to have moved him as nothing else could do. +"Sir," he said, stepping forward to the magistrate, "take no more +trouble about me. The time is come when I may as well speak. I have +done nothing; my crime is that the condemned man is my brother. Early +this afternoon I left home at Shottsford to tramp it all the way to +Casterbridge jail to bid him farewell. I was benighted, and called +here to rest and ask the way. When I opened the door I saw before me +the very man, my brother, that I thought to see in the condemned cell +at Casterbridge. He was in this chimney-corner; and jammed close +to him, so that he could not have got out if he had tried, was the +executioner who'd come to take his life, singing a song about it and +not knowing that it was his victim who was close by, joining in to +save appearances. My brother looked a glance of agony at me, and I +know he meant, 'Don't reveal what you see; my life depends on it.' I +was so terror-struck that I could hardly stand, and, not knowing what +I did, I turned and hurried away." + +The narrator's manner and tone had the stamp of truth, and his story +made a great impression on all around. + +"And do you know where your brother is at the present time?" asked the +magistrate. + +"I do not. I have never seen him since I closed this door." + +"I can testify to that, for we've been between ye ever since." said +the constable. + +"Where does he think to fly to?--what is his occupation?" + +"He's a watch-and-clock-maker, sir." + +"'A said 'a was a wheelwright--a wicked rogue," said the constable. + +"The wheels of clocks and watches he meant, no doubt," said Shepherd +Fennel. "I thought his hands were palish for's trade." + +"Well, it appears to me that nothing can be gained by retaining this +poor man in custody," said the magistrate; "your business lies with +the other, unquestionably." + +And so the little man was released off-hand; but he looked nothing the +less sad on that account, it being beyond the power of magistrate or +constable to raze out the written troubles in his brain, for they +concerned another whom he regarded with more solicitude than himself. +When this was done, and the man had gone his way, the night was found +to be so far advanced that it was deemed useless to renew the search +before the next morning. + +Next day, accordingly, the quest for the clever sheep-stealer became +general and keen, to all appearance at least. But the intended +punishment was cruelly disproportioned to the transgression, and the +sympathy of a great many country-folk in that district was strongly on +the side of the fugitive. Moreover, his marvellous coolness and +daring in hob-and-nobbing with the hangman, under the unprecedented +circumstances of the shepherd's party, won their admiration. So that +it may be questioned if all those who ostensibly made themselves so +busy in exploring woods and fields and lanes were quite so thorough +when it came to the private examination of their own lofts and +outhouses. Stories were afloat of a mysterious figure being +occasionally seen in some old overgrown trackway or other, remote +from turnpike roads; but when a search was instituted in any of these +suspected quarters nobody was found. Thus the days and weeks passed +without tidings. + +In brief, the bass-voiced man of the chimney-corner was never +recaptured. Some said that he went across the sea, others that he did +not, but buried himself in the depths of a populous city. At any +rate, the gentleman in cinder-gray never did his morning's work at +Casterbridge, nor met anywhere at all, for business purposes, the +genial comrade with whom he had passed an hour of relaxation in the +lonely house on the coomb. + +The grass has long been green on the graves of Shepherd Fennel and his +frugal wife; the guests who made up the christening party have mainly +followed their entertainers to the tomb; the baby in whose honor they +all had met is a matron in the sere and yellow leaf. But the arrival +of the three strangers at the shepherd's that night, and the details +connected therewith, is a story as well-known as ever in the country +about Higher Crowstairs. + +_March_, 1883. + + + + +JULIA BRIDE[1] + +[Footnote 1: 1909.] + + +_Henry James_ (1843) + + +I + +She had walked with her friend to the top of the wide steps of the +Museum, those that descended from the galleries of painting, and then, +after the young man had left her, smiling, looking back, waving all +gayly and expressively his hat and stick, had watched him, smiling +too, but with a different intensity--had kept him in sight till he +passed out of the great door. She might have been waiting to see if he +would turn there for a last demonstration; which was exactly what he +did, renewing his cordial gesture and with his look of glad devotion, +the radiance of his young face, reaching her across the great space, +as she felt, in undiminished truth. Yes, so she could feel, and she +remained a minute even after he was gone; she gazed at the empty air +as if he had filled it still, asking herself what more she wanted and +what, if it didn't signify glad devotion, his whole air could have +represented. + +She was at present so anxious that she could wonder if he stepped and +smiled like that for mere relief at separation; yet if he desired in +that degree to break the spell and escape the danger why did he keep +coming back to her, and why, for that matter, had she felt safe +a moment before in letting him go? She felt safe, felt almost +reckless--that was the proof--so long as he was with her; but the +chill came as soon as he had gone, when she took the measure, +instantly, of all she yet missed. She might now have been taking it +afresh, by the testimony of her charming clouded eyes and of the +rigor that had already replaced her beautiful play of expression. Her +radiance, for the minute, had "carried" as far as his, travelling on +the light wings of her brilliant prettiness--he, on his side, not +being facially handsome, but only sensitive, clean and eager. Then, +with its extinction, the sustaining wings dropped and hung. + +She wheeled about, however, full of a purpose; she passed back through +the pictured rooms, for it pleased her, this idea of a talk with Mr. +Pitman--as much, that is, as anything could please a young person so +troubled. It happened indeed that when she saw him rise at sight of +her from the settee where he had told her five minutes before that she +would find him, it was just with her nervousness that his presence +seemed, as through an odd suggestion of help, to connect itself. +Nothing truly would be quite so odd for her case as aid proceeding +from Mr. Pitman; unless perhaps the oddity would be even greater for +himself--the oddity of her having taken into her head an appeal to +him. + +She had had to feel alone with a vengeance--inwardly alone and +miserably alarmed--to be ready to "meet," that way, at the first +sign from him, the successor to her dim father in her dim father's +lifetime, the second of her mother's two divorced husbands. It made a +queer relation for her; a relation that struck her at this moment as +less edifying, less natural and graceful than it would have been even +for her remarkable mother--and still in spite of this parent's third +marriage, her union with Mr. Connery, from whom she was informally +separated. It was at the back of Julia's head as she approached Mr. +Pitman, or it was at least somewhere deep within her soul, that if +this last of Mrs. Connery's withdrawals from the matrimonial yoke had +received the sanction of the court (Julia had always heard, from far +back, so much about the "Court") she herself, as after a fashion, +in that event, a party to it, would not have had the cheek to make +up--which was how she inwardly phrased what she was doing--to the +long, lean, loose, slightly cadaverous gentleman who was a memory, for +her, of the period from her twelfth to her seventeenth year. She had +got on with him, perversely, much better than her mother had, and the +bulging misfit of his duck waistcoat, with his trick of swinging his +eye-glass, at the end of an extraordinarily long string, far over +the scene, came back to her as positive features of the image of her +remoter youth. Her present age--for her later time had seen so many +things happen--gave her a perspective. + +Fifty things came up as she stood there before him, some of them +floating in from the past, others hovering with freshness: how she +used to dodge the rotary movement made by his pince-nez while he +always awkwardly, and kindly, and often funnily, talked--it had +once hit her rather badly in the eye; how she used to pull down and +straighten his waistcoat, making it set a little better, a thing of +a sort her mother never did; how friendly and familiar she must have +been with him for that, or else a forward little minx; how she felt +almost capable of doing it again now, just to sound the right note, +and how sure she was of the way he would take it if she did; how much +nicer he had clearly been, all the while, poor dear man, than his wife +and the court had made it possible for him publicly to appear; how +much younger, too, he now looked, in spite of his rather melancholy, +his mildly jaundiced, humorously determined sallowness and his +careless assumption, everywhere, from his forehead to his exposed and +relaxed blue socks, almost sky-blue, as in past days, of creases and +folds and furrows that would have been perhaps tragic if they hadn't +seemed rather to show, like his whimsical black eyebrows, the vague, +interrogative arch. + +Of course he wasn't wretched if he wasn't more sure of his +wretchedness than that! Julia Bride would have been sure--had she been +through what she supposed _he_ had! With his thick, loose black hair, +in any case, untouched by a thread of gray, and his kept gift of a +certain big-boyish awkwardness--that of his taking their encounter, +for instance, so amusedly, so crudely, though, as she was not unaware, +so eagerly too--he could by no means have been so little his wife's +junior as it had been that lady's habit, after the divorce, to +represent him. Julia had remembered him as old, since she had so +constantly thought of her mother as old; which Mrs. Connery was indeed +now--for her daughter--with her dozen years of actual seniority to +Mr. Pitman and her exquisite hair, the densest, the finest tangle +of arranged silver tendrils that had ever enhanced the effect of a +preserved complexion. + +Something in the girl's vision of her quondam stepfather as still +comparatively young--with the confusion, the immense element of +rectification, not to say of rank disproof, that it introduced into +Mrs. Connery's favorite picture of her own injured past--all this +worked, even at the moment, to quicken once more the clearness and +harshness of judgment, the retrospective disgust, as she might have +called it, that had of late grown up in her, the sense of all the +folly and vanity and vulgarity, the lies, the perversities, the +falsification of all life in the interest of who could say what +wretched frivolity, what preposterous policy; amid which she had been +condemned so ignorantly, so pitifully to sit, to walk, to grope, to +flounder, from the very dawn of her consciousness. Didn't poor Mr. +Pitman just touch the sensitive nerve of it when, taking her in with +his facetious, cautious eyes, he spoke to her, right out, of the old, +old story, the everlasting little wonder of her beauty? + +"Why, you know, you've grown up so lovely--you're the prettiest girl +I've ever seen!" Of course she was the prettiest girl he had ever +seen; she was the prettiest girl people much more privileged than he +had ever seen; since when hadn't she been passing for the prettiest +girl any one had ever seen? She had lived in that, from far back, from +year to year, from day to day and from hour to hour--she had lived +for it and literally _by_ it, as who should say; but Mr. Pitman was +somehow more illuminating than he knew, with the present lurid light +that he cast upon old dates, old pleas, old values, and old mysteries, +not to call them old abysses: it had rolled over her in a swift wave, +with the very sight of him, that her mother couldn't possibly have +been right about him--as about what in the world had she ever been +right?--so that in fact he was simply offered her there as one more of +Mrs. Connery's lies. She might have thought she knew them all by this +time; but he represented for her, coming in just as he did, a fresh +discovery, and it was this contribution of freshness that made her +somehow feel she liked him. It was she herself who, for so long, +with her retained impression, had been right about him; and the +rectification he represented had _all_ shone out of him, ten minutes +before, on his catching her eye while she moved through the room with +Mr. French. She had never doubted of his probable faults--which her +mother had vividly depicted as the basest of vices; since some of +them, and the most obvious (not the vices, but the faults) were +written on him as he stood there: notably, for instance, the +exasperating "business slackness" of which Mrs. Connery had, before +the tribunal, made so pathetically much. It might have been, for that +matter, the very business slackness that affected Julia as presenting +its friendly breast, in the form of a cool loose sociability, to her +own actual tension; though it was also true for her, after they had +exchanged fifty words, that he had as well his inward fever and that, +if he was perhaps wondering what was so particularly the matter with +her, she could make out not less that something was the matter +with _him_. It had been vague, yet it had been intense, the mute +reflection, "Yes, I'm going to like him, and he's going somehow to +help me!" that had directed her steps so straight to him. She was +sure even then of this, that he wouldn't put to her a query about his +former wife, that he took to-day no grain of interest in Mrs. Connery; +that his interest, such as it was--and he couldn't look _quite_ like +that, to Julia Bride's expert perception, without something in the +nature of a new one--would be a thousand times different. + +It was as a value of _disproof_ that his worth meanwhile so rapidly +grew: the good sight of him, the good sound and sense of him, such +as they were, demolished at a stroke so blessedly much of the horrid +inconvenience of the past that she thought of him; she clutched at +him, for a _general_ saving use, an application as sanative, as +redemptive as some universal healing wash, precious even to the point +of perjury if perjury should be required. That was the terrible thing, +that had been the inward pang with which she watched Basil French +recede: perjury would have to come in somehow and somewhere--oh so +quite certainly!--before the so strange, so rare young man, truly +smitten though she believed him, could be made to rise to the +occasion, before her measureless prize could be assured. It was +present to her, it had been present a hundred times, that if there had +only been some one to (as it were) "deny everything" the situation +might yet be saved. She so needed some one to lie for her--ah, she so +need some one to lie! Her mother's version of everything, her mother's +version of anything, had been at the best, as they said, discounted; +and she herself could but show, of course, for an interested party, +however much she might claim to be none the less a decent girl--to +whatever point, that is, after all that had both remotely and recently +happened, presumptions of anything to be called decency could come in. + +After what had recently happened--the two or three indirect but so +worrying questions Mr. French had put to her--it would only be some +thoroughly detached friend or witness who might effectively testify. +An odd form of detachment certainly would reside, for Mr. Pitman's +evidential character, in her mother's having so publicly and +so brilliantly--though, thank the powers, all off in North +Dakota!--severed their connection with him; and yet mightn't it do +_her_ some good, even if the harm it might do her mother were so +little ambiguous? The more her mother had got divorced--with her +dreadful cheap-and-easy second performance in that line and her +present extremity of alienation from Mr. Connery, which enfolded +beyond doubt the germ of a third petition on one side or the +other--the more her mother had distinguished herself in the field of +folly the worse for her own prospect with the Frenches, whose +minds she had guessed to be accessible, and with such an effect of +dissimulated suddenness, to some insidious poison. + +It was very unmistakable, in other words, that the more dismissed and +detached Mr. Pitman should have come to appear, the more as divorced, +or at least as divorcing, his before-time wife would by the same +stroke figure--so that it was here poor Julia could but lose herself. +The crazy divorces only, or the half-dozen successive and still +crazier engagements only--gathered fruit, bitter fruit, of her own +incredibly allowed, her own insanely fostered frivolity--either of +these two groups of skeletons at the banquet might singly be dealt +with; but the combination, the fact of each party's having been so +mixed-up with whatever was least presentable for the other, the fact +of their having so shockingly amused themselves together, made all +present steering resemble the classic middle course between Scylla and +Charybdis. + +It was not, however, that she felt wholly a fool in having obeyed this +impulse to pick up again her kind old friend. _She_ at least had never +divorced him, and her horrid little filial evidence in court had been +but the chatter of a parrakeet, of precocious plumage and croak, +repeating words earnestly taught her, and that she could scarce even +pronounce. Therefore, as far as steering went, he _must_ for the hour +take a hand. She might actually have wished in fact that he shouldn't +now have seemed so tremendously struck with her; since it was an +extraordinary situation for a girl, this crisis of her fortune, this +positive wrong that the flagrancy, what she would have been ready to +call the very vulgarity, of her good looks might do her at a moment +when it was vital she should hang as straight as a picture on the +wall. Had it ever yet befallen any young woman in the world to wish +with secret intensity that she might have been, for her convenience, a +shade less inordinately pretty? She had come to that, to this view of +the bane, the primal curse, of their lavish physical outfit, which had +included everything and as to which she lumped herself resentfully +with her mother. The only thing was that her mother was, thank +goodness, still so much prettier, still so assertively, so publicly, +so trashily, so ruinously pretty. Wonderful the small grimness with +which Julia Bride put off on this parent the middle-aged maximum of +their case and the responsibility of their defect. It cost her so +little to recognize in Mrs. Connery at forty-seven, and in spite, or +perhaps indeed just by reason, of the arranged silver tendrils which +were so like some rare bird's-nest in a morning frost, a facile +supremacy for the dazzling effect--it cost her so little that her view +even rather exaggerated the lustre of the different maternal items. +She would have put it _all_ off if possible, all off on other +shoulders and on other graces and other morals than her own, the +burden of physical charm that had made so easy a ground, such a native +favoring air, for the aberrations which, apparently inevitable and +without far consequences at the time, had yet at this juncture so much +better not have been. + +She could have worked it out at her leisure, to the last link of the +chain, the way their prettiness had set them trap after trap, all +along--had foredoomed them to awful ineptitude. When you were as +pretty as that you could, by the whole idiotic consensus, be nothing +_but_ pretty; and when you were nothing "but" pretty you could get +into nothing but tight places, out of which you could then scramble by +nothing but masses of fibs. And there was no one, all the while, who +wasn't eager to egg you on, eager to make you pay to the last cent the +price of your beauty. What creature would ever for a moment help you +to behave as if something that dragged in its wake a bit less of a +lumbering train would, on the whole, have been better for you? The +consequences of being plain were only negative--you failed of this and +that; but the consequences of being as _they_ were, what were these +but endless? though indeed, as far as failing went, your beauty too +could let you in for enough of it. Who, at all events, would ever for +a moment credit you, in the luxuriance of that beauty, with the study, +on your own side, of such truths as these? Julia Bride could, at the +point she had reached, positively ask herself this even while lucidly +conscious of the inimitable, the triumphant and attested projection, +all round her, of her exquisite image. It was only Basil French who +had at last, in his doubtless dry, but all distinguished way--the +way surely, as it was borne in upon her, of all the blood of all the +Frenches--stepped out of the vulgar rank. It was only he who, by the +trouble she discerned in him, had made her see certain things. It was +only for him--and not a bit ridiculously, but just beautifully, almost +sublimely--that their being "nice," her mother and she between them, +had _not_ seemed to profit by their being so furiously handsome. + +This had, ever so grossly and ever so tiresomely, satisfied every one +else; since every one had thrust upon them, had imposed upon them, as +by a great cruel conspiracy, their silliest possibilities; fencing +them in to these, and so not only shutting them out from others, but +mounting guard at the fence, walking round and round outside it, to +see they didn't escape, and admiring them, talking to them, through +the rails, in mere terms of chaff, terms of chucked cakes and +apples--as if they had been antelopes or zebras, or even some superior +sort of performing, of dancing, bear. It had been reserved for Basil +French to strike her as willing to let go, so to speak, a pound or two +of this fatal treasure if he might only have got in exchange for it +an ounce or so more of their so much less obvious and Jess published +personal history. Yes, it described him to say that, in addition to +all the rest of him, and of _his_ personal history, and of his family, +and of theirs, in addition to their social posture, as that of a +serried phalanx, and to their notoriously enormous wealth and crushing +respectability, she might have been ever so much less lovely for him +if she had been only--well, a little prepared to answer questions. And +it wasn't as if quiet, cultivated, earnest, public-spirited, brought +up in Germany, infinitely travelled, awfully like a high-caste +Englishman, and all the other pleasant things, it wasn't as if he +didn't love to be with her, to look at her, just as she was; for he +loved it exactly as much, so far as that footing simply went, as any +free and foolish youth who had ever made the last demonstration of +it. It was that marriage was, for him--and for them all, the serried +Frenches--a great matter, a goal to which a man of intelligence, a +real shy, beautiful man of the world, didn't hop on one foot, didn't +skip and jump, as if he were playing an urchins' game, but toward +which he proceeded with a deep and anxious, a noble and highly just +deliberation. + +For it was one thing to stare at a girl till she was bored with it, it +was one thing to take her to the Horse Show and the Opera, and to +send her flowers by the stack, and chocolates by the ton, and "great" +novels, the very latest and greatest, by the dozen; but something +quite other to hold open for her, with eyes attached to eyes, the +gate, moving on such stiff silver hinges, of the grand square +forecourt of the palace of wedlock. The state of being "engaged" +represented to him the introduction to this precinct of some young +woman with whom his outside parley would have had the duration, +distinctly, of his own convenience. That might be cold-blooded if one +chose to think so; but nothing of another sort would equal the high +ceremony and dignity and decency, above all the grand gallantry and +finality, of their then passing in. Poor Julia could have blushed red, +before that view, with the memory of the way the forecourt, as she now +imagined it, had been dishonored by her younger romps. She had tumbled +over the wall with this, that, and the other raw playmate, and had +played "tag" and leap-frog, as she might say, from corner to corner. +That would be the "history" with which, in case of definite demand, +she should be able to supply Mr. French: that she had already, again +and again, any occasion offering, chattered and scuffled over ground +provided, according to his idea, for walking the gravest of minuets. +If that then had been all their _kind_ of history, hers and her +mother's, at least there was plenty of it: it was the superstructure +raised on the other group of facts, those of the order of their having +been always so perfectly pink and white, so perfectly possessed of +clothes, so perfectly splendid, so perfectly idiotic. These things had +been the "points" of antelope and zebra; putting Mrs. Connery for the +zebra, as the more remarkably striped or spotted. Such were the _data_ +Basil French's inquiry would elicit: her own six engagements and her +mother's three nullified marriages--nine nice distinct little horrors +in all. What on earth was to be done about them? + +It was notable, she was afterward to recognize, that there had been +nothing of the famous business slackness in the positive pounce with +which Mr. Pitman put it to her that, as soon as he had made her +out "for sure," identified her there as old Julia grown-up and +gallivanting with a new admirer, a smarter young fellow than ever yet, +he had had the inspiration of her being exactly the good girl to +help him. She certainly found him strike the hour again, with these +vulgarities of tone--forms of speech that her mother had anciently +described as by themselves, once he had opened the whole battery, +sufficient ground for putting him away. Full, however, of the use she +should have for him, she wasn't going to mind trifles. What she really +gasped at was that, so oddly, he was ahead of her at the start. "Yes, +I want something of you, Julia, and I want it right now: you can do me +a turn, and I'm blest if my luck--which has once or twice been +pretty good, you know--hasn't sent you to me." She knew the luck he +meant--that of her mother's having so enabled him to get rid of her; +but it was the nearest allusion of the merely invidious kind that he +would make. It had thus come to our young woman on the spot and by +divination: the service he desired of her matched with remarkable +closeness what she had so promptly taken into her head to name to +himself--to name in her own interest, though deterred as yet from +having brought it right out. She had been prevented by his speaking, +the first thing, in that way, as if he had known Mr. French--which +surprised her till he explained that every one in New York knew by +appearance a young man of his so-quoted wealth ("What did she take +them all in New York then _for_?") and of whose marked attention to +her he had moreover, for himself, round at clubs and places, lately +heard. This had accompanied the inevitable free question "Was she +engaged to _him_ now?"--which she had in fact almost welcomed as +holding out to her the perch of opportunity. She was waiting to deal +with it properly, but meanwhile he had gone on, and to such effect +that it took them but three minutes to turn out, on either side, like +a pair of pickpockets comparing, under shelter, their day's booty, the +treasures of design concealed about their persons. + +"I want you to tell the truth for me--as you only can. I want you to +say that I was really all right--as right as you know; and that I +simply acted like an angel in a story-book, gave myself away to have +it over." + +"Why, my dear man," Julia cried, "you take the wind straight out of my +sails! What I'm here to ask of _you_ is that you'll confess to having +been even a worse fiend than you were shown up for; to having made +it impossible mother should _not_ take proceedings." There!--she had +brought it out, and with the sense of their situation turning to high +excitement for her in the teeth of his droll stare, his strange grin, +his characteristic "Lordy, lordy! What good will that do you?" She +was prepared with her clear statement of reasons for her appeal, and +feared so he might have better ones for his own that all her story +came in a flash. "Well, Mr. Pitman, I want to get married this time, +by way of a change; but you see we've been such fools that, when +something really good at last comes up, it's too dreadfully awkward. +The fools we were capable of being--well, you know better than any +one: unless perhaps not quite so well as Mr. Connery. It has got to +be denied," said Julia ardently--"it has got to be denied flat. But I +can't get hold of Mr. Connery--Mr. Connery has gone to China. Besides, +if he were here," she had ruefully to confess, "he'd be no good--on +the contrary. He wouldn't deny anything--he'd only tell more. So thank +heaven he's away--there's _that_ amount of good! I'm not engaged yet," +she went on--but he had already taken her up. + +"You're not engaged to Mr. French?" It was all, clearly, a wondrous +show for him, but his immediate surprise, oddly, might have been +greatest for that. + +"No, not to any one--for the seventh time!" She spoke as with her head +held well up both over the shame and the pride. "Yes, the next time +I'm engaged I want something to happen. But he's afraid; he's afraid +of what may be told him. He's dying to find out, and yet he'd die +if he did! He wants to be talked to, but he has got to be talked to +right. You could talk to him right, Mr. Pitman--if you only _would_! +He can't get over mother--that I feel: he loathes and scorns divorces, +and we've had first and last too many. So if he could hear from you +that you just made her life a hell--why," Julia concluded, "it would +be too lovely. If she _had_ to go in for another--after having +already, when I was little, divorced father--it would 'sort of' make, +don't you see? one less. You'd do the high-toned thing by her: you'd +say what a wretch you then were, and that she had had to save her +life. In that way he mayn't mind it. Don't you see, you sweet man?" +poor Julia pleaded. "Oh," she wound up as if his fancy lagged or his +scruple looked out, "of course I want you to _lie_ for me!" + +It did indeed sufficiently stagger him. "It's a lovely idea for the +moment when I was just saying to myself--as soon as I saw you--that +you'd speak the truth for _me_!" + +"Ah, what's the matter with 'you'?" Julia sighed with an impatience +not sensibly less sharp for her having so quickly scented some lion in +her path. + +"Why, do you think there's no one in the world but you who has seen +the cup of promised affection, of something really to be depended on, +only, at the last moment, by the horrid jostle of your elbow, spilled +all over you? I want to provide for my future too as it happens; and +my good friend who's to help me to that--the most charming of women +this time--disapproves of divorce quite as much as Mr. French. Don't +you see," Mr. Pitman candidly asked, "what that by itself must have +done toward attaching me to her? _She_ has got to be talked to--to be +told how little I could help it." + +"Oh, lordy, lordy!" the girl emulously groaned. It was such a +relieving cry. "Well, _I_ won't talk to her!" she declared. + +"You _won't_, Julia?" he pitifully echoed. "And yet you ask of +_me_--!" + +His pang, she felt, was sincere; and even more than she had guessed, +for the previous quarter of an hour he had been building up his hope, +building it with her aid for a foundation. Yet was he going to see how +their testimony, on each side, would, if offered, _have_ to conflict? +If he was to prove himself for her sake--or, more queerly still, for +that of Basil French's high conservatism--a person whom there had been +no other way of dealing with, how could she prove him, in this other +and so different interest, a mere gentle sacrifice to his wife's +perversity? She had, before him there, on the instant, all acutely, a +sense of rising sickness--a wan glimmer of foresight as to the end of +the fond dream. Everything else was against her, everything in her +dreadful past--just as if she had been a person represented by some +"emotional actress," some desperate erring lady "hunted down" in a +play; but was that going to be the case too with her own very decency, +the fierce little residuum deep within her, for which she was +counting, when she came to think, on so little glory or even credit? +Was this also going to turn against her and trip her up--just to show +she was really, under the touch and the test, as decent as any one; +and with no one but herself the wiser for it meanwhile, and no proof +to show but that, as a consequence, she should be unmarried to the +end? She put it to Mr. Pitman quite with resentment: "Do you mean to +say you're going to be married--?" + +"Oh, my dear, I too must get engaged first!"--he spoke with his +inimitable grin. "But that, you see, is where you come in. I've told +her about you. She wants awfully to meet you. The way it happens is +too lovely--that I find you just in this place. She's coming," said +Mr. Pitman--and as in all the good faith of his eagerness now; "she's +coming in about three minutes." + +"Coming here?" + +"Yes, Julia--right here. It's where we usually meet"; and he was +wreathed again, this time as if for life, in his large slow smile. +"She loves this place--she's awfully keen on art. Like _you_, Julia, +if you haven't changed--I remember how you did love art." He looked +at her quite tenderly, as to keep her up to it. "You must still of +course--from the way you're here. Just let her _feel_ that," the poor +man fantastically urged. And then with his kind eyes on her and his +good ugly mouth stretched as for delicate emphasis from ear to ear: +"Every little helps!" + +He made her wonder for him, ask herself, and with a certain intensity, +questions she yet hated the trouble of; as whether he were still as +moneyless as in the other time--which was certain indeed, for any +fortune he ever would have made. His slackness, on that ground, stuck +out of him almost as much as if he had been of rusty or "seedy" +aspect--which, luckily for him, he wasn't at all: he looked, in his +way, like some pleasant eccentric, ridiculous, but real gentleman, +whose taste might be of the queerest, but his credit with his tailor +none the less of the best. She wouldn't have been the least ashamed, +had their connection lasted, of going about with him: so that what +a fool, again, her mother had been--since Mr. Connery, sorry as one +might be for him, was irrepressibly vulgar. Julia's quickness was, +for the minute, charged with all this; but she had none the less her +feeling of the right thing to say and the right way to say it. If +he was after a future financially assured, even as she herself so +frantically was, she wouldn't cast the stone. But if he had talked +about her to strange women she couldn't be less than a little +majestic. "Who then is the person in question for you--?" + +"Why, such a dear thing, Julia--Mrs. David E. Drack. Have you heard of +her?" he almost fluted. + +New York was vast, and she had not had that advantage. "She's a +widow--?" + +"Oh yes: she's not--" He caught himself up in time. "She's a real +one." It was as near as he came. But it was as if he had been looking +at her now so pathetically hard. "Julia, she has millions." + +Hard, at any rate--whether pathetic or not--was the look she gave him +back. "Well, so has--or so _will_ have--Basil French. And more of them +than Mrs. Drack, I guess," Julia quavered. + +"Oh, I know what _they've_ got!" He took it from her--with the effect +of a vague stir, in his long person, of unwelcome embarrassment. But +was she going to give up because he was embarrassed? He should know +at least what he was costing her. It came home to her own spirit more +than ever, but meanwhile he had found his footing. "I don't see how +your mother matters. It isn't a question of his marrying _her_." + +"No; but, constantly together as we've always been, it's a question of +there being so disgustingly much to get over. If we had, for people +like them, but the one ugly spot and the one weak side; if we had +made, between us, but the one vulgar _kind_ of mistake: well, I don't +say!" She reflected with a wistfulness of note that was in itself a +touching eloquence. "To have our reward in this world we've had too +sweet a time. We've had it all right down here!" said Julia Bride. "I +should have taken the precaution to have about a dozen fewer lovers." + +"Ah, my dear, 'lovers'--!" He ever so comically attenuated. + +"Well they _were_!" She quite flared up. "When you've had a ring from +each (three diamonds, two pearls, and a rather bad sapphire: I've kept +them all, and they tell my story!) what are you to call them?" + +"Oh, rings--!" Mr. Pitman didn't call rings anything. "I've given Mrs. +Drack a ring." + +Julia stared. "Then aren't you her lover?" + +"That, dear child," he humorously wailed, "is what I want you to find +out! But I'll handle your rings all right," he more lucidly added. + +"You'll 'handle' them?" + +"I'll fix your lovers. I'll lie about _them_, if that's all you want." + +"Oh, about 'them'--!" She turned away with a sombre drop, seeing so +little in it. "That wouldn't count--from _you_!" She saw the great +shining room, with its mockery of art and "style" and security, all +the things she was vainly after, and its few scattered visitors who +had left them, Mr. Pitman and herself, in their ample corner, so +conveniently at ease. There was only a lady in one of the far +doorways, of whom she took vague note and who seemed to be looking at +them. "They'd have to lie for themselves!" + +"Do you mean he's capable of putting it to them?" + +Mr. Pitman's tone threw discredit on that possibility, but she knew +perfectly well what she meant. "Not of getting at them directly, not, +as mother says, of nosing round himself; but of listening--and small +blame to him!--to the horrible things other people say of me." + +"But what other people?" + +"Why, Mrs. George Maule, to begin with--who intensely loathes us, and +who talks to his sisters, so that they may talk to _him_: which they +do, all the while, I'm morally sure (hating me as they also must). But +it's she who's the real reason--I mean of his holding off. She poisons +the air he breathes." + +"Oh well," said Mr. Pitman, with easy optimism, "if Mrs. George +Maule's a cat--!" + +"If she's a cat she has kittens--four little spotlessly white ones, +among whom she'd give her head that Mr. French should make his pick. +He could do it with his eyes shut--you can't tell them apart. But she +has every name, every date, as you may say, for my dark 'record'--as +of course they all call it: she'll be able to give him, if he brings +himself to ask her, every fact in its order. And all the while, don't +you see? there's no one to speak _for_ me." + +It would have touched a harder heart than her loose friend's to note +the final flush of clairvoyance witnessing this assertion and under +which her eyes shone as with the rush of quick tears. He stared at +her, and at what this did for the deep charm of her prettiness, as +in almost witless admiration. "But can't you--lovely as you are, you +beautiful thing!--speak for yourself?" + +"Do you mean can't I tell the lies? No, then, I can't--and I wouldn't +if I could. I don't lie myself, you know--as it happens; and it could +represent to him then about the only thing, the only bad one, I don't +do. I _did_--'lovely as I am'!--have my regular time; I wasn't so +hideous that I couldn't! Besides, do you imagine he'd come and ask +me?" + +"Gad, I wish he would, Julia!" said Mr. Pitman, with his kind eyes on +her. + +"Well then, I'd tell him!" And she held her head again high. "But he +won't." + +It fairly distressed her companion. "Doesn't he want, then, to +know--?" + +"He wants _not_ to know. He wants to be told without asking--told, +I mean, that each of the stories, those that have come to him, is a +fraud and a libel. _Qui s'excuse s'accuse_, don't they say?--so that +do you see me breaking out to him, unprovoked, with four or five +what-do-you-call-'ems, the things mother used to have to prove in +court, a set of neat little 'alibis' in a row? How can I get hold of +so _many_ precious gentlemen, to turn them on? How can _they_ want +everything fished up?" + +She paused for her climax, in the intensity of these considerations; +which gave Mr. Pitman a chance to express his honest faith. "Why, my +sweet child, they'd be just glad--!" + +It determined in her loveliness almost a sudden glare. "Glad to swear +they never had anything to do with such a creature? Then _I'd_ be glad +to swear they had lots!" + +His persuasive smile, though confessing to bewilderment, insisted. +"Why, my love, they've got to swear either one thing or the other." + +"They've got to keep out of the way--that's _their_ view of it, I +guess," said Julia. "Where _are_ they, please--now that they _may_ be +wanted? If you'd like to hunt them up for me you're very welcome." +With which, for the moment, over the difficult case, they faced each +other helplessly enough. And she added to it now the sharpest ache of +her despair. "He knows about Murray Brush. The others"--and her pretty +white-gloved hands and charming pink shoulders gave them up--"may go +hang!" + +"Murray Brush--?" It had opened Mr. Pitman's eyes. + +"Yes--yes; I do mind _him_." + +"Then what's the matter with his at least rallying--?" + +"The matter is that, being ashamed of himself, as he well might, he +left the country as soon as he could and has stayed away. The matter +is that he's in Paris or somewhere, and that if you expect him to come +home for me--!" She had already dropped, however, as at Mr. Pitman's +look. + +"Why, you foolish thing, Murray Brush is in New York!" It had quite +brightened him up. + +"He has come back--?" + +"Why, sure! I saw him--when was it? Tuesday!--on the Jersey boat." Mr. +Pitman rejoiced in his news. "_He's_ your man!" + +Julia too had been affected by it; it had brought, in a rich wave, her +hot color back. But she gave the strangest dim smile. "He _was_!" + +"Then get hold of him, and--if he's a gentleman--he'll prove for you, +to the hilt, that he wasn't." + +It lighted in her face, the kindled train of this particular sudden +suggestion, a glow, a sharpness of interest, that had deepened the +next moment, while she gave a slow and sad head-shake, to a greater +strangeness yet. "He isn't a gentleman." + +"Ah, lordy, lordy!" Mr. Pitman again sighed. He struggled out of it +but only into the vague. "Oh, then, if he's a pig--!" + +"You see there are only a few gentlemen--not enough to go round--and +that makes them count so!" It had thrust the girl herself, for that +matter, into depths; but whether most of memory or of roused purpose +he had no time to judge--aware as he suddenly was of a shadow (since +he mightn't perhaps too quickly call it a light) across the heaving +surface of their question. It fell upon Julia's face, fell with the +sound of the voice he so well knew, but which could only be odd to her +for all it immediately assumed. + +"There are indeed very few--and one mustn't try _them_ too much!" +Mrs. Drack, who had supervened while they talked, stood, in monstrous +magnitude--at least to Julia's reimpressed eyes--between them: she was +the lady our young woman had descried across the room, and she had +drawn near while the interest of their issue so held them. We have +seen the act of observation and that of reflection alike swift in +Julia--once her subject was within range--and she had now, with all +her perceptions at the acutest, taken in, by a single stare, the +strange presence to a happy connection with which Mr. Pitman aspired +and which had thus sailed, with placid majesty, into their troubled +waters. She was clearly not shy, Mrs. David E. Drack, yet neither was +she ominously bold; she was bland and "good," Julia made sure at a +glance, and of a large complacency, as the good and the bland are apt +to be--a large complacency, a large sentimentality, a large innocent, +elephantine archness: she fairly rioted in that dimension of size. +Habited in an extraordinary quantity of stiff and lustrous black +brocade, with enhancements, of every description, that twinkled +and tinkled, that rustled and rumbled with her least movement, she +presented a huge, hideous, pleasant face, a featureless desert in a +remote quarter of which the disproportionately small eyes might have +figured a pair of rash adventurers all but buried in the sand. They +reduced themselves when she smiled to barely discernible points--a +couple of mere tiny emergent heads--though the foreground of the +scene, as if to make up for it, gaped with a vast benevolence. In +a word Julia saw--and as if she had needed nothing more; saw Mr. +Pitman's opportunity, saw her own, saw the exact nature both of Mrs. +Drack's circumspection and of Mrs. Drack's sensibility, saw even, +glittering there in letters of gold and as a part of the whole +metallic coruscation, the large figure of her income, largest of all +her attributes, and (though perhaps a little more as a luminous blur +beside all this) the mingled ecstasy and agony of Mr. Pitman's hope +and Mr. Pitman's fear. + +He was introducing them, with his pathetic belief in the virtue for +every occasion, in the solvent for every trouble, of an extravagant, +genial, professional humor; he was naming her to Mrs. Drack as the +charming young friend he had told her so much about and who had been +as an angel to him in a weary time; he was saying that the loveliest +chance in the world, this accident of a meeting in those promiscuous +halls, had placed within his reach the pleasure of bringing them +together. It didn't indeed matter, Julia felt, what he was saying: he +conveyed everything, as far as she was concerned, by a moral pressure +as unmistakable as if, for a symbol of it, he had thrown himself +on her neck. Above all, meanwhile, this high consciousness +prevailed--that the good lady herself, however huge she loomed, had +entered, by the end of a minute, into a condition as of suspended +weight and arrested mass, stilled to artless awe by the fact of her +vision. Julia had practised almost to lassitude the art of tracing in +the people who looked at her the impression promptly sequent; but it +was a striking point that if, in irritation, in depression, she felt +that the lightest eyes of men, stupid at their clearest, had given her +pretty well all she should ever care for, she could still gather a +freshness from the tribute of her own sex, still care to see her +reflection in the faces of women. Never, probably, never would that +sweet be tasteless--with such a straight grim spoon was it mostly +administered, and so flavored and strengthened by the competence of +their eyes. Women knew so much best _how_ a woman surpassed--how and +where and why, with no touch or torment of it lost on them; so that as +it produced mainly and primarily the instinct of aversion, the sense +of extracting the recognition, of gouging out the homage, was on the +whole the highest crown one's felicity could wear. Once in a way, +however, the grimness beautifully dropped, the jealousy failed: the +admiration was all there and the poor plain sister handsomely paid it. +It had never been so paid, she was presently certain, as by this great +generous object of Mr., Pitman's flame, who without optical aid, it +well might have seemed, nevertheless entirely grasped her--might in +fact, all benevolently, have been groping her over as by some huge +mild proboscis. She gave Mrs. Brack pleasure in short; and who could +say of what other pleasures the poor lady hadn't been cheated? + +It was somehow a muddled world in which one of her conceivable joys, +at this time of day, would be to marry Mr. Pitman--to say nothing of a +state of things in which this gentleman's own fancy could invest such +a union with rapture. That, however, was their own mystery, and Julia, +with each instant, was more and more clear about hers: so remarkably +primed in fact, at the end of three minutes, that though her friend, +and though _his_ friend, were both saying things, many things and +perhaps quite wonderful things, she had no free attention for them +and was only rising and soaring. She was rising to her value, she was +soaring _with_ it--the value Mr. Pitman almost convulsively imputed +to her, the value that consisted for her of being so unmistakably the +most dazzling image Mrs. Brack had ever beheld. These were the uses, +for Julia, in fine, of adversity; the range of Mrs. Brack's experience +might have been as small as the measure of her presence was large: +Julia was at any rate herself in face of the occasion of her life, +and, after all her late repudiations and reactions, had perhaps never +yet known the quality of this moment's success. She hadn't an idea of +what, on either side, had been uttered--beyond Mr. Pitman's allusion +to her having befriended him of old: she simply held his companion +with her radiance and knew she might be, for her effect, as irrelevant +as she chose. It was relevant to do what he wanted--it was relevant to +dish herself. She did it now with a kind of passion, to say nothing of +her knowing, with it, that every word of it added to her beauty. She +gave him away in short, up to the hilt, for any use of her own, and +should have nothing to clutch at now but the possibility of Murray +Brush. + +"He says I was good to him, Mrs. Drack; and I'm sure I hope I was, +since I should be ashamed to be anything else. If I could be good to +him now I should be glad--that's just what, a while ago, I rushed up +to him here, after so long, to give myself the pleasure of saying. I +saw him years ago very particularly, very miserably tried--and I saw +the way he took it. I did see it, you dear man," she sublimely went +on--"I saw it for all you may protest, for all you may hate me to talk +about you! I saw you behave like a gentleman--since Mrs. Drack agrees +with me, so charmingly, that there are not many to be met. I don't +know whether you care, Mrs. Drack"--she abounded, she revelled in +the name--"but I've always remembered it of him: that under the most +extraordinary provocation he was decent and patient and brave. No +appearance of anything different matters, for I speak of what I +_know_. Of course I'm nothing and nobody; I'm only a poor frivolous +girl, but I was very close to him at the time. That's all my little +story--if it _should_ interest you at all." She measured every beat of +her wing, she knew how high she was going and paused only when it was +quite vertiginous. Here she hung a moment as in the glare of the upper +blue; which was but the glare--what else could it be?--of the vast and +magnificent attention of both her auditors, hushed, on their side, in +the splendor she emitted. She had at last to steady herself, and +she scarce knew afterward at what rate or in what way she had still +inimitably come down--her own eyes fixed all the while on the very +figure of her achievement. She had sacrificed her mother on the +altar--proclaimed her as false and cruel: and if that didn't "fix" Mr. +Pitman, as he would have said--well, it was all she could do. But the +cost of her action already somehow came back to her with increase; the +dear gaunt man fairly wavered, to her sight, in the glory of it, as if +signalling at her, with wild gleeful arms, from some mount of safety, +while the massive lady just spread and spread like a rich fluid a bit +helplessly spilt. It was really the outflow of the poor woman's +honest response, into which she seemed to melt, and Julia scarce +distinguished the two apart even for her taking gracious leave of +each. "Good-bye, Mrs. Drack; I'm awfully happy to have met you"--like +as not it was for this she had grasped Mr. Pitman's hand. And then +to him or to her, it didn't matter which, "Good-bye, dear good Mr. +Pitman--hasn't it been nice after so long?" + + +II + +Julia floated even to her own sense swan-like away--she left in her +wake their fairly stupefied submission: it was as if she had, by an +exquisite authority, now _placed_ them, each for each, and they would +have nothing to do but be happy together. Never had she so exulted +as on this ridiculous occasion in the noted items of her beauty. _Le +compte y était_, as they used to say in Paris--every one of them, for +her immediate employment, was there; and there was something in it +after all. It didn't necessarily, this sum of thumping little figures, +imply charm--especially for "refined" people: nobody knew better than +Julia that inexpressible charm and quotable "charms" (quotable +like prices, rates, shares, or whatever, the things they dealt in +down-town) are two distinct categories; the safest thing for the +latter being, on the whole, that it might include the former, and the +great strength of the former being that it might perfectly dispense +with the latter. Mrs. Drack was not refined, not the least little bit; +but what would be the case with Murray Brush now--after his three +years of Europe? He had done so what he liked with her--which +had seemed so then just the meaning, hadn't it? of their being +"engaged"--that he had made her not see, while the absurdity lasted +(the absurdity of their pretending to believe they could marry without +a cent), how little he was of metal without alloy: this had come up +for her, remarkably, but afterward--come up for her as she looked +back. Then she had drawn her conclusion, which was one of the many +that Basil French had made her draw. It was a queer service Basil was +going to have rendered her, this having made everything she had ever +done impossible, if he wasn't going to give her a new chance. If he +was it was doubtless right enough. On the other hand, Murray might +have improved, if such a quantity of alloy, as she called it, _were_, +in any man, reducible, and if Paris were the place all happily to +reduce it. She had her doubts--anxious and aching on the spot, and had +expressed them to Mr. Pitman: certainly, of old, he had been more open +to the quotable than to the inexpressible, to charms than to charm. If +she could try the quotable, however, and with such a grand result, on +Mrs. Drack, she couldn't now on Murray--in respect to whom everything +had changed. So that if he hadn't a sense for the subtler appeal, the +appeal appreciable by people _not_ vulgar, on which alone she could +depend, what on earth would become of her? She could but yearningly +hope, at any rate, as she made up her mind to write to him immediately +at his club. It was a question of the right sensibility in him. +Perhaps he would have acquired it in Europe. + +Two days later indeed--for he had promptly and charmingly replied, +keeping with alacrity the appointment she had judged best to propose +for a morning hour in a sequestered alley of the Park--two days later +she was to be struck well-nigh to alarm by everything he had acquired: +so much it seemed to make that it threatened somehow a complication, +and her plan, so far as she had arrived at one, dwelt in the desire +above all to simplify. She wanted no grain more of extravagance or +excess of anything--risking as she had done, none the less, a recall +of ancient license in proposing to Murray such a place of meeting. She +had her reasons--she wished intensely to discriminate: Basil French +had several times waited on her at her mother's habitation, their +horrible flat which was so much too far up and too near the East Side; +he had dined there and lunched there and gone with her thence to other +places, notably to see pictures, and had in particular adjourned +with her twice to the Metropolitan Museum, in which he took a great +interest, in which she professed a delight, and their second visit +to which had wound up in her encounter with Mr. Pitman, after her +companion had yielded, at her urgent instance, to an exceptional +need of keeping a business engagement. She mightn't, in delicacy, +in decency, entertain Murray Brush where she had entertained Mr. +French--she was given over now to these exquisite perceptions and +proprieties and bent on devoutly observing them; and Mr. French, by +good-luck, had never been with her in the Park: partly because he had +never pressed it, and partly because she would have held off if he +had, so haunted were those devious paths and favoring shades by the +general echo of her untrammelled past. If he had never suggested their +taking a turn there this was because, quite divinably, he held it +would commit him further than he had yet gone; and if she on her side +had practised a like reserve it was because the place reeked for her, +as she inwardly said, with old associations. It reeked with nothing +so much perhaps as with the memories evoked by the young man who now +awaited her in the nook she had been so competent to indicate; but +in what corner of the town, should she look for them, wouldn't those +footsteps creak back into muffled life, and to what expedient would +she be reduced should she attempt to avoid all such tracks? The Museum +was full of tracks, tracks by the hundred--the way really she had +knocked about!--but she had to see people somewhere, and she couldn't +pretend to dodge every ghost. + +All she could do was not to make confusion, make mixtures, of the +living; though she asked herself enough what mixture she mightn't find +herself to have prepared if Mr. French should, not so very impossibly, +for a restless, roaming man--_her_ effect on him!--happen to pass +while she sat there with the mustachioed personage round whose name +Mrs. Maule would probably have caused detrimental anecdote most +thickly to cluster. There existed, she was sure, a mass of luxuriant +legend about the "lengths" her engagement with Murray Brush had gone; +she could herself fairly feel them in the air, these streamers of +evil, black flags flown as in warning, the vast redundancy of so cheap +and so dingy social bunting, in fine, that flapped over the stations +she had successively moved away from and which were empty now, for +such an ado, even to grotesqueness. The vivacity of that conviction +was what had at present determined her, while it was the way he +listened after she had quickly broken ground, while it was the special +character of the interested look in his handsome face, handsomer than +ever yet, that represented for her the civilization he had somehow +taken on. Just so it was the quantity of that gain, in its turn, that +had at the end of ten minutes begun to affect her as holding up a +light to the wide reach of her step. "There was never anything the +least serious between us, not a sign or a scrap, do you mind? of +anything beyond the merest pleasant friendly acquaintance; and if +you're not ready to go to the stake on it for me you may as well know +in time what it is you'll probably cost me." + +She had immediately plunged, measuring her effect and having thought +it well over; and what corresponded to her question of his having +become a better person to appeal to was the appearance of interest she +had so easily created in him. She felt on the spot the difference that +made--it was indeed his form of being more civilized: it was the +sense in which Europe in general and Paris in particular had made him +develop. By every calculation--and her calculations, based on the +intimacy of her knowledge, had been many and deep--he would help her +the better the more intelligent he should have become; yet she was to +recognize later on that the first chill of foreseen disaster had been +caught by her as, at a given moment, this greater refinement of his +attention seemed to exhale it. It was just what she had wanted--"if +I can only get him interested--!" so that, this proving quite vividly +possible, why did the light it lifted strike her as lurid? Was it +partly by reason of his inordinate romantic good looks, those of a +gallant, genial conqueror, but which, involving so glossy a brownness +of eye, so manly a crispness of curl, so red-lipped a radiance of +smile, so natural a bravery of port, prescribed to any response +he might facially, might expressively, make a sort of florid, +disproportionate amplitude? The explanation, in any case, didn't +matter; he was going to mean well--that she could feel, and also that +he had meant better in the past, presumably, than he had managed to +convince her of his doing at the time: the oddity she hadn't now +reckoned with was this fact that from the moment he did advertise an +interest it should show almost as what she would have called weird. It +made a change in him that didn't go with the rest--as if he had broken +his nose or put on spectacles, lost his handsome hair or sacrificed +his splendid mustache: her conception, her necessity, as she saw, had +been that something should be added to him for her use, but nothing +for his own alteration. + +He had affirmed himself, and his character, and his temper, and his +health, and his appetite, and his ignorance, and his obstinacy, and +his whole charming, coarse, heartless personality, during their +engagement, by twenty forms of natural emphasis, but never by emphasis +of interest. How in fact could you feel interest unless you should +know, within you, some dim stir of imagination? There was nothing in +the world of which Murray Brush was less capable than of such a dim +stir, because you only began to imagine when you felt some approach to +a need to understand. _He_ had never felt it; for hadn't he been born, +to his personal vision, with that perfect intuition of everything +which reduces all the suggested preliminaries of judgment to the +impertinence--when it's a question of your entering your house--of +a dumpage of bricks at your door? He had had, in short, neither to +imagine nor to perceive, because he had, from the first pulse of his +intelligence, simply and supremely known: so that, at this hour, +face to face with him, it came over her that she had, in their old +relation, dispensed with any such convenience of comprehension on his +part even to a degree she had not measured at the time. What therefore +must he not have seemed to her as a form of life, a form of avidity +and activity, blatantly successful in its own conceit, that he could +have dazzled her so against the interest of her very faculties and +functions? Strangely and richly historic all that backward mystery, +and only leaving for her mind the wonder of such a mixture of +possession and detachment as they would clearly to-day both know. +For each to be so little at last to the other when, during months +together, the idea of all abundance, all quantity, had been, for +each, drawn from the other and addressed to the other--what was it +monstrously like but some fantastic act of getting rid of a person by +going to lock yourself up in the _sanctum sanctorum_ of that person's +house, amid every evidence of that person's habits and nature? What +was going to happen, at any rate, was that Murray would show himself +as beautifully and consciously understanding--and it would be +prodigious that Europe should have inoculated him with that delicacy. +Yes, he wouldn't claim to know now till she had told him--an aid to +performance he had surely never before waited for, or been indebted +to, from any one; and then, so knowing, he would charmingly endeavor +to "meet," to oblige and to gratify. He would find it, her case, ever +so worthy of his benevolence, and would be literally inspired to +reflect that he must hear about it first. + +She let him hear then everything, in spite of feeling herself slip, +while she did so, to some doom as yet incalculable; she went on very +much as she had done for Mr. Pitman and Mrs. Drack, with the rage +of desperation and, as she was afterward to call it to herself, the +fascination of the abyss. She didn't know, couldn't have said at the +time, _why_ his projected benevolence should have had most so the +virtue to scare her: he would patronize her, as an effect of her +vividness, if not of her charm, and would do this with all high +intention, finding her case, or rather _their_ case, their funny old +case, taking on of a sudden such refreshing and edifying life, to +the last degree curious and even important; but there were gaps of +connection between this and the intensity of the perception here +overtaking her that she shouldn't be able to move in _any_ direction +without dishing herself. That she couldn't afford it where she had got +to--couldn't afford the deplorable vulgarity of having been so many +times informally affianced and contracted (putting it only at that, at +its being by the new lights and fashions so unpardonably vulgar): he +took this from her without turning, as she might have said, a hair; +except just to indicate, with his new superiority, that he felt the +distinguished appeal and notably the pathos of it. He still took +it from her that she hoped nothing, as it were, from any other +_alibi_--the people to drag into court being too many and too +scattered; but that, as it was with him, Murray Brush, she had been +_most_ vulgar, most everything she had better not have been, so she +depended on him for the innocence it was actually vital she should +establish. He flushed or frowned or winced no more at that than he did +when she once more fairly emptied her satchel and, quite as if they +had been Nancy and the Artful Dodger, or some nefarious pair of that +sort, talking things over in the manner of _Oliver Twist_, revealed +to him the fondness of her view that, could she but have produced a +cleaner slate, she might by this time have pulled it off with Mr. +French. Yes, he let her in that way sacrifice her honorable connection +with him--all the more honorable for being so completely at an end--to +the crudity of her plan for not missing another connection, so much +more brilliant than what he offered, and for bringing another man, +with whom she so invidiously and unflatteringly compared him, into her +greedy life. + +There was only a moment during which, by a particular lustrous look +she had never had from him before, he just made her wonder which turn +he was going to take; she felt, however, as safe as was consistent +with her sense of having probably but added to her danger, when he +brought out, the next instant: "Don't you seem to take the ground that +we were guilty--that _you_ were ever guilty--of something we shouldn't +have been? What did we ever do that was secret, or underhand, or any +way not to be acknowledged? What did we do but exchange our young vows +with the best faith in the world--publicly, rejoicingly, with the full +assent of every one connected with us? I mean of course," he said with +his grave kind smile, "till we broke off so completely because we +found that--practically, financially, on the hard worldly basis--we +couldn't work it. What harm, in the sight of God or man, Julia," he +asked in his fine rich way, "did we ever do?" + +She gave him back his look, turning pale. "Am I talking of _that_? Am +I talking of what _we_ know? I'm talking of what others feel--of what +they _have_ to feel; of what it's just enough for them to know not to +be able to get over it, once they do really know it. How do they know +what _didn't_ pass between us, with all the opportunities we had? +That's none of their business--if we were idiots enough, on the top of +everything! What you may or mayn't have done doesn't count, for _you_; +but there are people for whom it's loathsome that a girl should have +gone on like that from one person to another and still pretend to +be--well, all that a nice girl is supposed to be. It's as if we had +but just waked up, mother and I, to such a remarkable prejudice; and +now we have it--when we could do so well without it!--staring us +in the face. That mother should have insanely _let_ me, should so +vulgarly have taken it for my natural, my social career--_that's_ the +disgusting, humiliating thing: with the lovely account it gives of +both of us! But mother's view of a delicacy in things!" she went on +with scathing grimness; "mother's measure of anything, with her grand +'gained cases' (there'll be another yet, she finds them so easy!) of +which she's so publicly proud! You see I've no margin," said Julia; +letting him take it from her flushed face as much as he would that her +mother hadn't left her an inch. It was that he should make use of the +spade with her for the restoration of a bit of a margin just wide +enough to perch on till the tide of peril should have ebbed a little, +it was that he should give her _that_ lift--! + +Well, it was all there from him after these last words; it was before +her that he really took hold. "Oh, my dear child, I can see! Of course +there are people--ideas change in our society so fast!--who are not in +sympathy with the old American freedom and who read, I dare say, all +sorts of uncanny things into it. Naturally you must take them as they +are--from the moment," said Murray Brush, who had lighted, by her +leave, a cigarette, "your life-path does, for weal or for woe, cross +with theirs." He had every now and then such an elegant phrase. +"Awfully interesting, certainly, your case. It's enough for me that it +_is_ yours--I make it my own. I put myself absolutely in your place; +you'll understand from me, without professions, won't you? that I do. +Command me in every way! What I do like is the sympathy with which +you've inspired _him_. I don't, I'm sorry to say, happen to know him +personally,"--he smoked away, looking off; "but of course one knows +all about him generally, and I'm sure he's right for you, I'm sure it +would be charming, if you yourself think so. Therefore trust me and +even--what shall I say?--leave it to me a little, won't you?" He had +been watching, as in his fumes, the fine growth of his possibilities; +and with this he turned on her the large warmth of his charity. It was +like a subscription of a half-a-million. "I'll take care of you." + +She found herself for a moment looking up at him from as far below as +the point from which the school-child, with round eyes raised to the +wall, gazes at the parti-colored map of the world. Yes, it was a +warmth, it was a special benignity, that had never yet dropped on her +from any one; and she wouldn't for the first few moments have known +how to describe it or even quite what to do with it. Then, as it still +rested, his fine improved expression aiding, the sense of what had +happened came over her with a rush. She was being, yes, patronized; +and that was really as new to her--the freeborn American girl who +might, if she had wished, have got engaged and disengaged not six +times but sixty--as it would have been to be crowned or crucified. The +Frenches themselves didn't do it--the Frenches themselves didn't dare +it. It was as strange as one would: she recognized it when it came, +but anything might have come rather--and it was coming by (of all +people in the world) Murray Brush! It overwhelmed her; still she could +speak, with however faint a quaver and however sick a smile. "You'll +lie for me like a gentleman?" + +"As far as that goes till I'm black in the face!" And then while he +glowed at her and she wondered if he would pointedly look his lies +that way, and if, in fine, his florid, gallant, knowing, almost +winking intelligence, _common_ as she had never seen the common +vivified, would represent his notion of "blackness": "See here, Julia; +I'll do more." + +"'More'--?" + +"Everything. I'll take it right in hand. I'll fling over you--" + +"Fling over me--?" she continued to echo as he fascinatingly fixed +her. + +"Well, the biggest _kind_ of rose-colored mantle!" And this time, oh, +he did wink: it _would_ be the way he was going to wink (and in the +grandest good faith in the world) when indignantly denying, under +inquisition, that there had been "a sign or a scrap" between them. But +there was more to come; he decided she should have it all. "Julia, +you've got to know now." He hung fire but an instant more. "Julia, +I'm going to be married." His "Julias" were somehow death to her; she +could feel that even _through_ all the rest. "Julia, I announce my +engagement." + +"Oh, lordy, lordy!" she wailed: it might have been addressed to Mr. +Pitman. + +The force of it had brought her to her feet, but he sat there smiling +up as at the natural tribute of her interest. "I tell you before any +one else; it's not to be 'out' for a day or two yet. But we want you +to know; _she_ said that as soon as I mentioned to her that I had +heard from you. I mention to her everything, you see!"--and he almost +simpered while, still in his seat, he held the end of his cigarette, +all delicately and as for a form of gentle emphasis, with the tips +of his fine fingers. "You've not met her, Mary Lindeck, I think: she +tells me she hasn't the pleasure of knowing you, but she desires it so +much--particularly longs for it. She'll take an interest too," he went +on; "you must let me immediately bring her to you. She has heard so +much about you and she really wants to see you." + +"Oh mercy _me_!" poor Julia gasped again--so strangely did history +repeat itself and so did this appear the echo, on Murray Brush's lips, +and quite to drollery, of that sympathetic curiosity of Mrs. Drack's +which Mr. Pitman had, as they said, voiced. Well, there had played +before her the vision of a ledge of safety in face of a rising tide; +but this deepened quickly to a sense more forlorn, the cold swish of +waters already up to her waist and that would soon be up to her chin. +It came really but from the air of her friend, from the perfect +benevolence and high unconsciousness with which he kept his +posture--as if to show he could patronize her from below upward quite +as well as from above down. And as she took it all in, as it spread to +a flood, with the great lumps and masses of truth it was floating, she +knew inevitable submission, not to say submersion, as she had never +known it in her life; going down and down before it, not even putting +out her hands to resist or cling by the way, only reading into the +young man's very face an immense fatality and, for all his bright +nobleness his absence of rancor or of protesting pride, the great gray +blankness of her doom. It was as if the earnest Miss Lindeck, tall and +mild, high and lean, with eye-glasses and a big nose, but "marked" in +a noticeable way, elegant and distinguished and refined, as you could +see from a mile off, and as graceful, for common despair of imitation, +as the curves of the "copy" set of old by one's writing-master--it was +as if this stately well-wisher, whom indeed she had never exchanged +a word with, but whom she had recognized and placed and winced at +as soon as he spoke of her, figured there beside him now as also in +portentous charge of her case. + +He had ushered her into it in that way as if his mere right word +sufficed; and Julia could see them throne together, beautifully at one +in all the interests they now shared, and regard her as an object of +almost tender solicitude. It was positively as if they had become +engaged for her good--in such a happy light as it shed. That was the +way people you had known, known a bit intimately, looked at you as +soon as they took on the high matrimonial propriety that sponged over +the more or less wild past to which you belonged, and of which, all of +a sudden, they were aware only through some suggestion it made them +for reminding you definitely that you still had a place. On her +having had a day or two before to meet Mrs. Drack and to rise to her +expectation she had seen and felt herself act, had above all admired +herself, and had at any rate known what she said, even though losing, +at her altitude, any distinctness in the others. She could have +repeated later on the detail of her performance--if she hadn't +preferred to keep it with her as a mere locked-up, a mere unhandled +treasure. At present, however, as everything was for her at first +deadened and vague, true to the general effect of sounds and motions +in water, she couldn't have said afterward what words she spoke, what +face she showed, what impression she made--at least till she had +pulled herself round to precautions. She only knew she had turned +away, and that this movement must have sooner or later determined +his rising to join her, his deciding to accept it, gracefully and +condoningly--condoningly in respect to her natural emotion, her +inevitable little pang--for an intimation that they would be better on +their feet. + +They trod then afresh their ancient paths; and though it pressed upon +her hatefully that he must have taken her abruptness for a smothered +shock, the flare-up of her old feeling at the breath of his news, she +had still to see herself condemned to allow him this, condemned +really to encourage him in the mistake of believing her suspicious of +feminine spite and doubtful of Miss Lindeck's zeal. She was so far +from doubtful that she was but too appalled at it and at the officious +mass in which it loomed, and this instinct of dread, before their walk +was over, before she had guided him round to one of the smaller gates, +there to slip off again by herself, was positively to find on the +bosom of her flood a plank by the aid of which she kept in a manner +and for the time afloat. She took ten minutes to pant, to blow gently, +to paddle disguisedly, to accommodate herself, in a word, to the +elements she had let loose; but as a reward of her effort at least she +then saw how her determined vision accounted for everything. Beside +her friend on the bench she had truly felt all his cables cut, truly +swallowed down the fact that if he still perceived she was pretty--and +_how_ pretty!--it had ceased appreciably to matter to him. It had +lighted the folly of her preliminary fear, the fear of his even yet to +some effect of confusion or other inconvenience for her, proving +more alive to the quotable in her, as she had called it, than to the +inexpressible. She had reckoned with the awkwardness of that possible +failure of his measure of her charm, by which his renewed apprehension +of her grosser ornaments, those with which he had most affinity, might +too much profit; but she need have concerned herself as little for his +sensibility on one head as on the other. She had ceased personally, +ceased materially--in respect, as who should say, to any optical or +tactile advantage--to exist for him, and the whole office of his +manner had been the more piously and gallantly to dress the dead +presence with flowers. This was all to his credit and his honor, but +what it clearly certified was that their case was at last not even one +of spirit reaching out to spirit. _He_ had plenty of spirit--had all +the spirit required for his having engaged himself to Miss Lindeck, +into which result, once she had got her head well up again, she read, +as they proceeded, one sharp meaning after another. It was therefore +toward the subtler essence of that mature young woman alone that he +was occupied in stretching; what was definite to him about Julia +Bride being merely, being entirely--which was indeed thereby quite +enough--that she _might_ end by scaling her worldly height. They would +push, they would shove, they would "boost," they would arch both their +straight backs as pedestals for her tiptoe; and at the same time, by +some sweet prodigy of mechanics, she would pull them up and up with +her. + +Wondrous things hovered before her in the course of this walk; her +consciousness had become, by an extraordinary turn, a music-box in +which, its lid well down, the most remarkable tunes were sounding. It +played for her ear alone, and the lid, as she might have figured, was +her firm plan of holding out till she got home, of not betraying--to +her companion at least--the extent to which she was demoralized. To +see him think her demoralized by mistrust of the sincerity of the +service to be meddlesomely rendered her by his future wife--she would +have hurled herself publicly into the lake there at their side, would +have splashed, in her beautiful clothes, among the frightened swans, +rather than invite him to that ineptitude. Oh, her sincerity, Mary +Lindeck's--she would be drenched with her sincerity, and she would +be drenched, yes, with _his_; so that, from inward convulsion to +convulsion, she had, before they reached their gate, pulled up in the +path. There was something her head had been full of these three or +four minutes, the intensest little tune of the music-box, and it made +its way to her lips now; belonging--for all the good it could do +her!--to the two or three sorts of solicitude she might properly +express. + +"I hope _she_ has a fortune, if you don't mind my speaking of it: +I mean some of the money we didn't in _our_ time have--and that we +missed, after all, in our poor way and for what we then wanted of it, +so quite dreadfully." + +She had been able to wreathe it in a grace quite equal to any he +himself had employed; and it was to be said for him also that he kept +up, on this, the standard. "Oh, she's not, thank goodness, at all +badly off, poor dear. We shall do very well. How sweet of you to have +thought of it! May I tell her that too?" he splendidly glared. Yes, he +glared--how couldn't he, with what his mind was really full of? But, +all the same, he came just here, by her vision, nearer than at any +other point to being a gentleman. He came quite within an ace of +it--with his taking from her thus the prescription of humility of +service, his consenting to act in the interest of her avidity, his +letting her mount that way, on his bowed shoulders, to the success in +which he could suppose she still believed. He couldn't know, he would +never know, that she had then and there ceased to believe in it--that +she saw as clear as the sun in the sky the exact manner in which, +between them, before they had done, the Murray Brushes, all zeal and +sincerity, all interest in her interesting case, would dish, would +ruin, would utterly destroy her. He wouldn't have needed to go on, for +the force and truth of this; but he did go on--he was as crashingly +consistent as a motorcar without a brake. He was visibly in love +with the idea of what they might do for her and of the rare "social" +opportunity that they would, by the same stroke, embrace. How he had +been offhand with it, how he had made it parenthetic, that he didn't +happen "personally" to know Basil French--as if it would have been at +all likely he _should_ know him, even _im_ personally, and as if he +could conceal from her the fact that, since she had made him her +overture, this gentleman's name supremely baited her hook! Oh, they +would help Julia Bride if they could--they would do their remarkable +best; but they would at any rate have made his acquaintance over it, +and she might indeed leave the rest to their thoroughness. He would +already have known, he would already have heard; her appeal, she was +more and more sure, wouldn't have come to him as a revelation. He had +already talked it over with _her_, with Miss Lindeck, to whom the +Frenches, in their fortress, had never been accessible, and his whole +attitude bristled, to Julia's eyes, with the betrayal of her hand, her +voice, her pressure, her calculation. His tone, in fact, as he talked, +fairly thrust these things into her face. "But you must see her for +yourself. You'll judge her. You'll love her. My dear child"--he +brought it all out, and if he spoke of children he might, in his +candor, have been himself infantine--"my dear child, she's the person +to do it for you. Make it over to her; but," he laughed, "of course +see her first! Couldn't you," he wound up--for they were now near +their gate, where she was to leave him--"couldn't you just simply make +us meet him, at tea say, informally; just _us_ alone, as pleasant old +friends of whom you'd have so naturally and frankly spoken to him: and +then see what we'd _make_ of that?" + +It was all in his expression; he couldn't keep it out of that, and his +shining good looks couldn't: ah, he was so fatally much too handsome +for her! So the gap showed just there, in his admirable mask and +his admirable eagerness; the yawning little chasm showed where the +gentleman fell short. But she took this in, she took everything in, +she felt herself do it, she heard herself say, while they paused +before separation, that she quite saw the point of the meeting, as he +suggested, at her tea. She would propose it to Mr. French and would +let them know; and he must assuredly bring Miss Lindeck, bring her +"right away," bring her soon, bring _them_, his fiancée and her, +together somehow, and as quickly as possible--so that they _should_ +be old friends before the tea. She would propose it to Mr. French, +propose it to Mr. French: that hummed in her ears as she went--after +she had really got away; hummed as if she were repeating it over, +giving it out to the passers, to the pavement, to the sky, and all as +in wild discord with the intense little concert of her music-box. The +extraordinary thing too was that she quite believed she should do it, +and fully meant to; desperately, fantastically passive--since she +almost reeled with it as she proceeded--she was capable of proposing +anything to any one: capable too of thinking it likely Mr. French +would come, for he had never on her previous proposals declined +anything. Yes, she would keep it up to the end, this pretence of owing +them salvation, and might even live to take comfort in having done for +them what they wanted. What they wanted _couldn't_ but be to get at +the Frenches, and what Miss Lindeck above all wanted, baffled of it +otherwise, with so many others of the baffled, was to get at Mr. +French--for all Mr. French would want of either of them!--still more +than Murray did. It was not till after she had got home, got straight +into her own room and flung herself on her face, that she yielded to +the full taste of the bitterness of missing a connection, missing the +man himself, with power to create such a social appetite, such a grab +at what might be gained by them. He could make people, even people +like these two and whom there were still other people to envy, he +could make them push and snatch and scramble like that--and then +remain as incapable of taking her from the hands of such patrons as of +receiving her straight, say, from those of Mrs. Drack. It was a high +note, too, of Julia's wonderful composition that, even in the long, +lonely moan of her conviction of her now certain ruin, all this grim +lucidity, the perfect clearance of passion, but made her supremely +proud of him. + + + + +A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT + +_Robert Louis Stevenson_ (1850-1894) + + +It was late in November 1456. The snow fell over Paris with rigorous, +relentless persistence; sometimes the wind made a sally and scattered +it in flying vortices; sometimes there was a lull, and flake after +flake descended out of the black night air, silent, circuitous, +interminable. To poor people, looking up under moist eyebrows, it +seemed a wonder where it all came from. Master Francis Villon had +propounded an alternative that afternoon, at a tavern window: was +it only Pagan Jupiter plucking geese upon Olympus, or were the holy +angels moulting? He was only a poor Master of Arts, he went on; and as +the question somewhat touched upon divinity, he durst not venture +to conclude. A silly old priest from Montargis, who was among the +company, treated the young rascal to a bottle of wine in honor of the +jest and the grimaces with which it was accompanied, and swore on his +own white beard that he had been just such another irreverent dog when +he was Villon's age. + +The air was raw and pointed, but not far below freezing; and the +flakes were large, damp, and adhesive. The whole city was sheeted up. +An army might have marched from end to end and not a footfall given +the alarm. If there were any belated birds in heaven, they saw the +island like a large white patch, and the bridges like slim white +spars, on the black ground of the river. High up overhead the snow +settled among the tracery of the cathedral towers. Many a niche was +drifted full; many a statue wore a long white bonnet on its grotesque +or sainted head. The gargoyles had been transformed into great false +noses, drooping toward the point. The crockets were like upright +pillows swollen on one side. In the intervals of the wind there was a +dull sound of dripping about the precincts of the church. + +The cemetery of St. John had taken its own share of the snow. All the +graves were decently covered; tall, white housetops stood around in +grave array; worthy burghers were long ago in bed, benightcapped like +their domiciles; there was no light in all the neighborhood but a +little peep from a lamp that hung swinging in the church choir, and +tossed the shadows to and fro in time to its oscillations. The clock +was hard on ten when the patrol went by with halberds and a lantern, +beating their hands; and they saw nothing suspicious about the +cemetery of St. John. + +Yet there was a small house, backed up against the cemetery wall, +which was still awake, and awake to evil purpose, in that snoring +district. There was not much to betray it from without; only a stream +of warm vapor from the chimney-top, a patch where the snow melted +on the roof, and a few half-obliterated footprints at the door. But +within, behind the shuttered windows, Master Francis Villon, the poet, +and some of the thievish crew with whom he consorted, were keeping the +night alive and passing round the bottle. + +A great pile of living embers diffused a strong and ruddy glow from +the arched chimney. Before this straddled Dom Nicolas, the Picardy +monk, with his skirts picked up and his fat legs bared to the +comfortable warmth. His dilated shadow cut the room in half; and the +firelight only escaped on either side of his broad person, and in +a little pool between his outspread feet. His face had the beery, +bruised appearance of the continual drinker's; it was covered with a +network of congested veins, purple in ordinary circumstances, but now +pale violet, for even with his back to the fire the cold pinched him +on the other side. His cowl had half fallen back, and made a strange +excrescence on either side of his bull neck. So he straddled, +grumbling, and cut the room in half with the shadow of his portly +frame. + +On the right, Villon and Guy Tabary were huddled together over a +scrap of parchment; Villon making a ballade which he was to call the +_Ballade of Roast Fish_, and Tabary spluttering admiration at his +shoulder. The poet was a rag of a man, dark, little, and lean, with +hollow cheeks and thin black locks. He carried his four-and-twenty +years with feverish animation. Greed had made folds about his eyes, +evil smiles had puckered his mouth. The wolf and pig struggled +together in his face. It was an eloquent, sharp, ugly, earthly +countenance. His hands were small and prehensile, with fingers knotted +like a cord; and they were continually flickering in front of him in +violent and expressive pantomime. As for Tabary, a broad, complacent, +admiring imbecility breathed from his squash nose and slobbering lips: +he had become a thief, just as he might have become the most decent of +burgesses, by the imperious chance that rules the lives of human geese +and human donkeys. + +At the monk's other hand, Montigny and Thevenin Pensete played a game +of chance. About the first there clung some flavor of good birth and +training, as about a fallen angel; something long, lithe, and courtly +in the person; something aquiline and darkling in the face. Thevenin, +poor soul, was in great feather: he had done a good stroke of knavery +that afternoon in the Faubourg St. Jacques, and all night he had been +gaining from Montigny. A flat smile illuminated his face; his bald +head shone rosily in a garland of red curls; his little protuberant +stomach shook with silent chucklings as he swept in his gains. + +"Doubles or quits?" said Thevenin. + +Montigny nodded grimly. + +"_Some may prefer to dine in state_" wrote Villon, "_On bread and +cheese on silver plate_. Or--or--help me out, Guido!" + +Tabary giggled. + +"_Or parsley on a silver dish_" scribbled the poet. + +The wind was freshening without; it drove the snow before it, and +sometimes raised its voice in a victorious whoop, and made sepulchral +grumblings in the chimney. The cold was growing sharper as the night +went on. Villon, protruding his lips, imitated the gust with something +between a whistle and a groan. It was an eerie, uncomfortable talent +of the poet's, much detested by the Picardy monk. + +"Can't you hear it rattle in the gibbet?" said Villon. "They are +all dancing the devil's jig on nothing, up there. You may dance, my +gallants, you'll be none the warmer! Whew, what a gust! Down +went somebody just now! A medlar the fewer on the three-legged +medlar-tree!--I say, Dom Nicolas, it'll be cold to-night on the St. +Denis Road?" he asked. + +Dom Nicolas winked both his big eyes, and seemed to choke upon his +Adam's apple. Montfaucon, the great grisly Paris gibbet, stood hard by +the St. Denis Road, and the pleasantry touched him on the raw. As for +Tabary, he laughed immoderately over the medlars; he had never heard +anything more light-hearted; and he held his sides and crowed. Villon +fetched him a fillip on the nose, which turned his mirth into an +attack of coughing. + +"Oh, stop that row," said Villon, "and think of rhymes to 'fish.'" + +"Doubles or quits," said Montigny doggedly. + +"With all my heart," quoth Thevenin. + +"Is there any more in that bottle?" asked the monk. + +"Open another," said Villon. "How do you ever hope to fill that big +hogshead, your body, with little things like bottles? And how do you +expect to get to heaven? How many angels, do you fancy, can be spared +to carry up a single monk from Picardy? Or do you think yourself +another Elias--and they'll send the coach for you?" + +"_Hominibus impossibile_" replied the monk, as he filled his glass. + +Tabary was in ecstasies. + +Villon filliped his nose again. + +"Laugh at my jokes, if you like," he said. + +"It was very good," objected Tabary. + +Villon made a face at him. "Think of rhymes to 'fish,'" he said. "What +have you to do with Latin? You'll wish you knew none of it at the +great assizes, when the devil calls for Guido Tabary, clericus--the +devil with the humpback and red-hot finger-nails. Talking of the +devil," he added, in a whisper, "look at Montigny!" + +All three peered covertly at the gamester. He did not seem to be +enjoying his luck. His mouth was a little to a side; one nostril +nearly shut, and the other much inflated. The black dog was on his +back, as people say, in terrifying nursery metaphor; and he breathed +hard under the gruesome burden. + +"He looks as if he could knife him," whispered Tabary, with round +eyes. + +The monk shuddered, and turned his face and spread his open hands to +the red embers. It was the cold that thus affected Dom Nicolas, and +not any excess of moral sensibility. + +"Come now," said Villon--"about this ballade. How does it run so far?" +And beating time with his hand, he read it aloud to Tabary. + +They were interrupted at the fourth rhyme by a brief and fatal +movement among the gamesters. The round was completed, and Thevenin +was just opening his mouth to claim another victory, when Montigny +leaped up, swift as an adder, and stabbed him to the heart. The blow +took effect before he had time to utter a cry, before he had time to +move. A tremor or two convulsed his frame; his hands opened and shut, +his heels rattled on the floor; then his head rolled backward over +one shoulder with the eyes open, and Thevenin Pensete's spirit had +returned to Him who made it. + +Everyone sprang to his feet; but the business was over in two twos. +The four living fellows looked at each other in rather a ghastly +fashion; the dead man contemplating a corner of the roof with a +singular and ugly leer. + +"My God!" said Tabary, and he began to pray in Latin. + +Villon broke out into hysterical laughter. He came a step forward and +clucked a ridiculous bow at Thevenin, and laughed still louder. Then +he sat down suddenly, all of a heap, upon a stool, and continued +laughing bitterly as though he would shake himself to pieces. + +Montigny recovered his composure first. + +"Let's see what he has about him," he remarked; and he picked the dead +man's pockets with a practised hand, and divided the money into four +equal portions on the table. "There's for you," he said. + +The monk received his share with a deep sigh, and a single stealthy +glance at the dead Thevenin, who was beginning to sink into himself +and topple sideways off the chair. + +"We're all in for it," cried Villon, swallowing his mirth. "It's a +hanging job for every man jack of us that's here--not to speak of +those who aren't." He made a shocking gesture in the air with his +raised right hand, and put out his tongue and threw his head on one +side, so as to counterfeit the appearance of one who has been hanged. +Then he pocketed his share of the spoil, and executed a shuffle with +his feet as if to restore the circulation. + +Tabary was the last to help himself; he made a dash at the money, and +retired to the other end of the apartment. + +Montigny stuck Thevenin upright in the chair, and drew out the dagger, +which was followed by a jet of blood. + +"You fellows had better be moving," he said, as he wiped the blade on +his victim's doublet. + +"I think we had," returned Villon with a gulp. "Damn his fat head!" he +broke out. "It sticks in my throat like phlegm. What right has a man +to have red hair when he is dead?" And he fell all of a heap again +upon the stool, and fairly covered his face with his hands. + +Montigny and Dom Nicolas laughed aloud, even Tabary feebly chiming in. + +"Cry baby," said the monk. + +"I always said he was a woman," added Montigny with a sneer. "Sit up, +can't you?" he went on, giving another shake to the murdered body. +"Tread out that fire, Nick." But Nick was better employed; he was +quietly taking Villon's purse, as the poet sat, limp and trembling, on +the stool where he had been making a ballade not three minutes before. +Montigny and Tabary dumbly demanded a share of the booty, which the +monk silently promised as he passed the little bag into the bosom of +his gown. In many ways an artistic nature unfits a man for practical +existence. + +No sooner had the theft been accomplished than Villon shook himself, +jumped to his feet, and began helping to scatter and extinguish the +embers. Meanwhile Montigny opened the door and cautiously peered into +the street. The coast was clear; there was no meddlesome patrol in +sight. Still it was judged wiser to slip out severally; and as Villon +was himself in a hurry to escape from the neighborhood of the dead +Thevenin, and the rest were in a still greater hurry to get rid of him +before he should discover the loss of his money, he was the first by +general consent to issue forth into the street. + +The wind had triumphed and swept all the clouds from heaven. Only a +few vapors, as thin as moonlight, fleeted rapidly across the stars. It +was bitter cold; and by a common optical effect, things seemed almost +more definite than in the broadest daylight. The sleeping city was +absolutely still: a company of white hoods, a field full of little +Alps, below the twinkling stars. Villon cursed his fortune. Would it +were still snowing! Now, wherever he went he left an indelible trail +behind him on the glittering streets; wherever he went he was still +tethered to the house by the cemetery of St. John; wherever he went he +must weave, with his own plodding feet, the rope that bound him to the +crime and would bind him to the gallows. The leer of the dead man came +back to him with a new significance. He snapped his fingers as if to +pluck up his own spirits, and choosing a street at random, stepped +boldly forward in the snow. + +Two things preoccupied him as he went: the aspect of the gallows at +Montfaucon in this bright windy phase of the night's existence, for +one; and for another, the look of the dead man with his bald head and +garland of red curls. Both struck cold upon his heart, and he kept +quickening his pace as if he could escape from unpleasant thoughts by +mere fleetness of foot. Sometimes he looked back over his shoulder +with a sudden nervous jerk; but he was the only moving thing in the +white streets, except when the wind swooped round a corner and threw +up the snow, which was beginning to freeze, in spouts of glittering +dust. + +Suddenly he saw, a long way before him, a black clump and a couple of +lanterns. The clump was in motion, and the lanterns swung as though +carried by men walking. It was a patrol. And though it was merely +crossing his line of march, he judged it wiser to get out of eyeshot +as speedily as he could. He was not in the humor to be challenged, and +he was conscious of making a very conspicuous mark upon the snow. Just +on his left hand there stood a great hotel, with some turrets and a +large porch before the door; it was half-ruinous, he remembered, and +had long stood empty; and so he made three steps of it and jumped +inside the shelter of the porch. It was pretty dark inside, after +the glimmer of the snowy streets, and he was groping forward with +outspread hands, when he stumbled over some substance which offered an +indescribable mixture of resistances, hard and soft, firm and loose. +His heart gave a leap, and he sprang two steps back and stared +dreadfully at the obstacle. Then he gave a little laugh of relief. It +was only a woman, and she dead. He knelt beside her to make sure upon +this latter point. She was freezing cold, and rigid like a stick. A +little ragged finery fluttered in the wind about her hair, and her +cheeks had been heavily rouged that same afternoon. Her pockets were +quite empty; but in her stocking, underneath the garter, Villon found +two of the small coins that went by the name of whites. It was little +enough; but it was always something; and the poet was moved with a +deep sense of pathos that she should have died before she had spent +her money. That seemed to him a dark and pitiable mystery; and he +looked from the coins in his hand to the dead woman, and back again to +the coins, shaking his head over the riddle of man's life. Henry V. of +England, dying at Vincennes just after he had conquered France, and +this poor jade cut off by a cold draught in a great man's doorway, +before she had time to spend her couple of whites--it seemed a cruel +way to carry on the world. Two whites would have taken such a little +while to squander; and yet it would have been one more good taste in +the mouth, one more smack of the lips, before the devil got the soul, +and the body was left to birds and vermin. He would like to use all +his tallow before the light was blown out and the lantern broken. + +While these thoughts were passing through his mind, he was feeling, +half-mechanically, for his purse. Suddenly his heart stopped beating; +a feeling of cold scales passed up the back of his legs, and a cold +blow seemed to fall upon his scalp. He stood petrified for a moment; +then he felt again with one feverish movement; and then his loss burst +upon him, and he was covered with perspiration. To spendthrifts money +is so living and actual--it is such a thin veil between them and their +pleasures! There is only one limit to their fortune--that of time; and +a spendthrift with only a few crowns is the Emperor of Rome until they +are spent. For such a person to lose his money is to suffer the most +shocking reverse, and fall from heaven to hell, from all to nothing, +in a breath. And all the more if he has put his head in the halter +for it; if he may be hanged to-morrow for that same purse, so dearly +earned, so foolishly departed. Villon stood and cursed; he threw the +two whites into the street; he shook his fist at heaven; he stamped, +and was not horrified to find himself trampling the poor corpse. Then +he began rapidly to retrace his steps toward the house beside the +cemetery. He had forgotten all fear of the patrol, which was long gone +by at any rate, and had no idea but that of his lost purse. It was in +vain that he looked right and left upon the snow; nothing was to be +seen. He had not dropped it in the streets. Had it fallen in the +house? He would have liked dearly to go in and see; but the idea of +the grisly occupant unmanned him. And he saw besides, as he drew near, +that their efforts to put out the fire had been unsuccessful; on the +contrary, it had broken into a blaze, and a changeful light played +in the chinks of the door and window, and revived his terror for the +authorities and Paris gibbet. + +He returned to the hotel with the porch, and groped about upon the +snow for the money he had thrown away in his childish passion. But he +could only find one white; the other had probably struck sideways and +sunk deeply in. With a single white in his pocket, all his projects +for a rousing night in some wild tavern vanished utterly away. And +it was not only pleasure that fled laughing from his grasp; positive +discomfort, positive pain, attacked him as he stood ruefully before +the porch. His perspiration had dried upon him; and though the wind +had now fallen, a binding frost was setting in stronger with every +hour, and he felt benumbed and sick at heart. What was to be done? +Late as was the hour, improbable as was success, he would try the +house of his adopted father, the chaplain of St. Benoit. + +He ran there all the way, and knocked timidly. There was no answer. He +knocked again and again, taking heart with every stroke; and at last +steps were heard approaching from within. A barred wicket fell open in +the iron-studded door, and emitted a gush of yellow light. + +"Hold up your face to the wicket," said the chaplain from within. + +"It's only me," whimpered Villon. + +"Oh, it's only you, is it?" returned the chaplain; and he cursed him +with foul unpriestly oaths for disturbing him at such an hour, and +bade him be off to hell, where he came from. + +"My hands are blue to the wrists," pleaded Villon; "my feet are dead +and full of twinges; my nose aches with the sharp air; the cold lies +at my heart. I may be dead before morning. Only this once, father, and +before God I will never ask again." + +"You should have come earlier," said the ecclesiastic, coolly. "Young +men require a lesson now and then." He shut the wicket and retired +deliberately into the interior of the house. + +Villon was beside himself; he beat upon the door with his hands and +feet, and shouted hoarsely after the chaplain. + +"Wormy old fox," he cried. "If I had my hand under your twist, I would +send you flying headlong into the bottomless pit." + +A door shut in the interior, faintly audible to the poet down long +passages. He passed his hand over his mouth with an oath. And then the +humor of the situation struck him, and he laughed and looked +lightly up to heaven, where the stars seemed to be winking over his +discomfiture. + +What was to be done? It looked very like a night in the frosty +streets. The idea of the dead woman popped into his imagination, and +gave him a hearty fright; what had happened to her in the early night +might very well happen to him before morning. And he so young! and +with such immense possibilities of disorderly amusement before him! He +felt quite pathetic over the notion of his own fate, as if it had been +some one else's, and made a little imaginative vignette of the scene +in the morning when they should find his body. + +He passed all his chances under review, turning the white between his +thumb and forefinger. Unfortunately he was on bad terms with some old +friends who would once have taken pity on him in such a plight. He had +lampooned them in verses, he had beaten and cheated them; and yet now, +when he was in so close a pinch, he thought there was at least one who +might perhaps relent. It was a chance. It was worth trying at least, +and he would go and see. + +On the way, two little accidents happened to him which colored his +musings in a very different manner. For, first, he fell in with the +track of a patrol, and walked in it for some yards, although it lay +out of his direction. And this spirited him up; at least he had +confused his trail; for he was still possessed with the idea of people +tracking him all about Paris over the snow, and collaring him next +morning before he was awake. The other matter affected him very +differently. He passed a street corner, where, not so long before, a +woman and her child had been devoured by wolves. This was just the +kind of weather, he reflected, when wolves might take it into their +heads to enter Paris again; and a lone man in these deserted streets +would run the chance of something worse than a mere scare. He stopped +and looked upon the place with unpleasant interest--it was a centre +where several lanes intersected each other; and he looked down them +all one after another, and held his breath to listen, lest he should +detect some galloping black things on the snow or hear the sound of +howling between him and the river. He remembered his mother telling +him the story and pointing out the spot, while he was yet a child. His +mother! If he only knew where she lived, he might make sure at least +of shelter. He determined he would inquire upon the morrow: nay, he +would go and see her, too, poor old girl! So thinking, he arrived at +his destination--his last hope for the night. + +The house was quite dark, like its neighbors, and yet after a few +taps, he heard a movement overhead, a door opening, and a cautious +voice asking who was there. The poet named himself in a loud whisper, +and waited, not without some trepidation, the result. Nor had he +to wait long. A window was suddenly opened, and a pailful of slops +splashed down upon the doorstep. Villon had not been unprepared for +something of the sort, and had put himself as much in shelter as the +nature of the porch admitted; but for all that, he was deplorably +drenched below the waist. His hose began to freeze almost at once. +Death from cold and exposure stared him in the face; he remembered he +was of phthisical tendency, and began coughing tentatively. But the +gravity of the danger steadied his nerves. He stopped a few hundred +yards from the door where he had been so rudely used, and reflected +with his finger to his nose. He could only see one way of getting a +lodging, and that was to take it. He had noticed a house not far away +which looked as if it might be easily broken into, and thither he +betook himself promptly, entertaining himself on the way with the idea +of a room still hot, with a table still loaded with the remains of +supper, where he might pass the rest of the black hours, and whence he +should issue, on the morrow, with an armful of valuable plate. He even +considered on what viands and what wines he should prefer; and as he +was calling the roll of his favorite dainties, roast fish presented +itself to his mind with an odd mixture of amusement and horror. + +"I shall never finish that ballade," he thought to himself; and then, +with another shudder at the recollection, "Oh, damn his fat head!" he +repeated fervently, and spat upon the snow. + +The house in question looked dark at first sight; but as Villon made +a preliminary inspection in search of the handiest point of attack, a +little twinkle of light caught his eye from behind a curtained window. + +"The devil!" he thought. "People awake! Some student or some saint, +confound the crew! Can't they get drunk and lie in bed snoring like +their neighbors! What's the good of curfew, and poor devils of +bell-ringers jumping at a rope's-end in bell-towers? What's the use of +day, if people sit up all night? The gripes to them!" He grinned as he +saw where his logic was leading him. "Every man to his business, after +all," added he, "and if they're awake, by the Lord, I may come by a +supper honestly for this once, and cheat the devil." + +He went boldly to the door, and knocked with an assured hand. On both +previous occasions he had knocked timidly and with some dread of +attracting notice; but now, when he had just discarded the thought of +a burglarious entry, knocking at a door seemed a mighty simple and +innocent proceeding. The sound of his blows echoed through the house +with thin, phantasmal reverberations, as though it were quite empty; +but these had scarcely died away before a measured tread drew near, a +couple of bolts were withdrawn, and one wing was opened broadly, as +though no guile or fear of guile were known to those within. A tall +figure of a man, muscular and spare, but a little bent, confronted +Villon. The head was massive in bulk, but finely sculptured; the nose +blunt at the bottom but refining upward to where it joined a pair +of strong and honest eyebrows; the mouth and eyes surrounded with +delicate markings, and the whole face based upon a thick white +beard, boldly and squarely trimmed. Seen as it was by the light of a +flickering hand-lamp, it looked perhaps nobler than it had a right to +do; but it was a fine face, honorable rather than intelligent, strong, +simple, and righteous. + +"You knock late, sir," said the old man in resonant, courteous tones. + +Villon cringed, and brought up many servile words of apology; at a +crisis of this sort, the beggar was uppermost in him, and the man of +genius hid his head with confusion. + +"You are cold," repeated the old man, "and hungry? Well, step in." And +he ordered him into the house with a noble enough gesture. + +"Some great seigneur," thought Villon, as his host, setting down the +lamp on the flagged pavement of the entry, shot the bolts once more +into their places. + +"You will pardon me if I go in front," he said, when this was done; +and he preceded the poet up-stairs into a large apartment, warmed with +a pan of charcoal and lit by a great lamp hanging from the roof. It +was very bare of furniture; only some gold plate on a sideboard; some +folios; and a stand of armor between the windows. Some smart tapestry +hung upon the walls, representing the crucifixion of our Lord in one +piece, and in another a scene of shepherds and shepherdesses by a +running stream. Over the chimney was a shield of arms. + +"Will you seat yourself," said the old man, "and forgive me if I leave +you? I am alone in my house to-night, and if you are to eat I must +forage for you myself." + +No sooner was his host gone than Villon leaped from the chair on which +he just seated himself, and began examining the room, with the stealth +and passion of a cat. He weighed the gold flagons in his hand, opened +all the folios, and investigated the arms upon the shield, and the +stuff with which the seats were lined. He raised the window-curtains, +and saw that the windows were set with rich stained glass in figures, +so far as he could see, of martial import. Then he stood in the middle +of the room, drew a long breath, and retaining it with puffed cheeks, +looked round and round him, turning on his heels, as if to impress +every feature of the apartment on his memory. + +"Seven pieces of plate," he said. "If there had been ten I would have +risked it. A fine house, and a fine old master, so help me all the +saints." + +And just then, hearing the old man's tread returning along the +corridor, he stole back to his chair, and began toasting his wet legs +before the charcoal pan. + +His entertainer had a plate of meat in one hand and a jug of wine in +the other. He set down the plate upon the table, motioning Villon +to draw in his chair, and going to the sideboard, brought back two +goblets, which he filled. + +"I drink to your better fortune," he said, gravely touching Villon's +cup with his own. + +"To our better acquaintance," said the poet, growing bold. A mere +man of the people would have been awed by the courtesy of the old +seigneur, but Villon was hardened in that matter; he had made mirth +for great lords before now, and found them as black rascals as +himself. And so he devoted himself to the viands with a ravenous +gusto, while the old man, leaning backward, watched him with steady, +curious eyes. + +"You have blood on your shoulder, my man," he said. + +Montigny must have laid his wet right hand upon him as he left the +house. He cursed Montigny in his heart. + +"It was none of my shedding," he stammered. + +"I had not supposed so," returned his host quietly. "A brawl?" + +"Well, something of that sort," Villon admitted with a quaver. + +"Perhaps a fellow murdered?" + +"Oh, no, not murdered," said the poet, more and more confused. "It was +all fair play--murdered by accident. I had no hand in it, God strike +me dead!" he added fervently. + +"One rogue the fewer, I dare say," observed the master of the house. + +"You may dare to say that," agreed Villon, infinitely relieved. "As +big a rogue as there is between here and Jerusalem. He turned up his +toes like a lamb. But it was a nasty thing to look at. I dare say +you've seen dead men in your time, my lord?" he added, glancing at the +armor. + +"Many," said the old man. "I have followed the wars, as you imagine." + +Villon laid down his knife and fork, which he had just taken up again. + +"Were any of them bald?" he asked. + +"Oh, yes, and with hair as white as mine." + +"I don't think I would mind the white so much," said Villon. "His was +red." And he had a return of his shuddering and tendency to laughter, +which he drowned with a great draught of wine. "I'm a little put out +when I think of it," he went on. "I knew him--damn him! And the cold +gives a man fancies--or the fancies give a man cold, I don't know +which." + +"Have you any money?" asked the old man. + +"I have one white," returned the poet, laughing. "I got it out of +a dead jade's stocking in a porch. She was as dead as Caesar, poor +wench, and as cold as a church, with bits of ribbon sticking in her +hair. This is a hard world in winter for wolves and wenches and poor +rogues like me." + +"I," said the old man, "am Enguerrand de la Feuillee, seigneur +de Brisetout, bailly du Patatrac. Who and what may you be?" + +Villon rose and made a suitable reverence. "I am called Francis +Villon," he said, "a poor Master of Arts of this university. I know +some Latin, and a deal of vice. I can make chansons, ballades, lais, +virelais, and roundels, and I am very fond of wine. I was born in a +garret, and I shall not improbably die upon the gallows. I may add, +my lord, that from this night forward I am your lordship's very +obsequious servant to command." + +"No servant of mine," said the knight; "my guest for this evening, and +no more." + +"A very grateful guest," said Villon, politely; and he drank in dumb +show to his entertainer. + +"You are shrewd," began the old man, tapping his forehead, "very +shrewd; you have learning; you are a clerk; and yet you take a small +piece of money off a dead woman in the street. Is it not a kind of +theft?" + +"It is a kind of theft much practised in the wars, my lord." + +"The wars are the field of honor," returned the old man proudly. +"There a man plays his life upon the cast; he fights in the name of +his lord the king, his Lord God, and all their lordships the holy +saints and angels." + +"Put it," said Villon, "that I were really a thief, should I not play +my life also, and against heavier odds?" + +"For gain, and not for honor." + +"Gain?" repeated Villon with a shrug. "Gain! The poor fellow wants +supper, and takes it. So does the soldier in a campaign. Why, what are +all these requisitions we hear so much about? If they are not gain +to those who take them, they are loss enough to the others. The +men-at-arms drink by a good fire, while the burgher bites his nails to +buy them wine and wood. I have seen a good many ploughmen swinging on +trees about the country; ay, I have seen thirty on one elm, and a very +poor figure they made; and when I asked some one how all these came to +be hanged, I was told it was because they could not scrape together +enough crowns to satisfy the men-at-arms." + +"These things are a necessity of war, which the low-born must endure +with constancy. It is true that some captains drive overhard; there +are spirits in every rank not easily moved by pity; and, indeed, many +follow arms who are no better than brigands." + +"You see," said the poet, "you cannot separate the soldier from the +brigand; and what is a thief but an isolated brigand with circumspect +manners? I steal a couple of mutton chops, without so much as +disturbing the farmer's sheep; the farmer grumbles a bit, but sups +none the less wholesomely on what remains. You come up blowing +gloriously on a trumpet, take away the whole sheep, and beat the +farmer pitifully into the bargain. I have no trumpet; I am only Tom, +Dick, or Harry; I am a rogue and a dog, and hanging's too good for +me--with all my heart--but just you ask the farmer which of us he +prefers, just find out which of us he lies awake to curse on cold +nights." + +"Look at us two," said his lordship. "I am old, strong, and honored. +If I were turned from my house to-morrow, hundreds would be proud to +shelter me. Poor people would go out and pass the night in the streets +with their children, if I merely hinted that I wished to be alone. +And I find you up, wandering homeless, and picking farthings off dead +women by the wayside! I fear no man and nothing; I have seen you +tremble and lose countenance at a word. I wait God's summons +contentedly in my own house, or, if it please the king to call me out +again, upon the field of battle. You look for the gallows; a rough, +swift death, without hope or honor. Is there no difference between +these two?" + +"As far as to the moon," Villon acquiesced. "But if I had been born +lord of Brisetout, and you had been the poor scholar Francis, would +the difference have been any the less? Should not I have been warming +my knees at this charcoal pan, and would not you have been groping for +farthings in the snow? Should not I have been the soldier, and you the +thief?" + +"A thief!" cried the old man. "I a thief! If you understood your +words, you would repent them." + +Villon turned out his hands with a gesture of inimitable impudence. +"If your lordship had done me the honor to follow my argument!" he +said. + +"I do you too much honor in submitting to your presence," said the +knight. "Learn to curb your tongue when you speak with old and +honorable men, or some one hastier than I may reprove you in a sharper +fashion." And he rose and paced the lower end of the apartment, +struggling with anger and antipathy. Villon surreptitiously refilled +his cup, and settled himself more comfortably in the chair, crossing +his knees and leaning his head upon one hand and the elbow against the +back of the chair. He was now replete and warm; and he was in nowise +frightened for his host, having gauged him as justly as was possible +between two such different characters. The night was far spent, and in +a very comfortable fashion after all; and he felt morally certain of a +safe departure on the morrow. + +"Tell me one thing," said the old man, pausing in his walk. "Are you +really a thief?" + +"I claim the sacred rights of hospitality," returned the poet. "My +lord, I am." + +"You are very young," the knight continued. + +"I should never have been so old," replied Villon; showing his +fingers, "if I had not helped myself with these ten talents. They have +been my nursing mothers and my nursing fathers." + +"You may still repent and change." + +"I repent daily," said the poet. "There are few people more given to +repentance than poor Francis. As for change, let somebody change my +circumstances. A man must continue to eat, if it were only that he may +continue to repent." + +"The change must begin in the heart," returned the old man solemnly. + +"My dear lord," answered Villon, "do you really fancy that I steal for +pleasure? I hate stealing, like any other piece of work or danger. My +teeth chatter when I see a gallows. But I must eat, I must drink, +I must mix in society of some sort. What the devil! Man is not +a solitary animal--_Cui Deus foeminam tradit_. Make me king's +pantler--make me abbot of St. Denis; make me bailly of the Patatrac; +and then I shall be changed indeed. But as long as you leave me the +poor scholar Francis Villon, without a farthing, why, of course, I +remain the same." + +"The grace of God is all-powerful." + +"I should be a heretic to question it," said Francis. "It has made you +lord of Brisetout, and bailly of the Patatrac; it has given me nothing +but the quick wits under my hat and these ten toes upon my hands. May +I help myself to wine? I thank you respectfully. By God's grace, you +have a very superior vintage." + +The lord of Brisetout walked to and fro with his hands behind his +back. Perhaps he was not yet quite settled in his mind about the +parallel between thieves and soldiers; perhaps Villon had interested +him by some cross-thread of sympathy; perhaps his wits were simply +muddled by so much unfamiliar reasoning; but whatever the cause, he +somehow yearned to convert the young man to a better way of thinking, +and could not make up his mind to drive him forth again into the +street. + +"There is something more than I can understand in this," he said, at +length. "Your mouth is full of subtleties, and the devil has led you +very far astray; but the devil is only a very weak spirit before God's +truth, and all his subtleties vanish at a word of true honor, like +darkness at morning. Listen to me once more. I learned long ago that a +gentleman should live chivalrously and lovingly to God, and the king, +and his lady; and though I have seen many strange things done, I +have still striven to command my ways upon that rule. It is not only +written in all noble histories, but in every man's heart, if he will +take care to read. You speak of food and wine, and I know very well +that hunger is a difficult trial to endure; but you do not speak of +other wants; you say nothing of honor, of faith to God and other men, +of courtesy, of love without reproach. It may be that I am not very +wise--and yet I think I am--but you seem to me like one who has lost +his way and made a great error in life. You are attending to the +little wants, and you have totally forgotten the great and only real +ones, like a man who should be doctoring a toothache on the Judgment +Day. For such things as honor and love and faith are not only nobler +than food and drink, but, indeed, I think that we desire them more, +and suffer more sharply for their absence. I speak to you as I think +you will most easily understand me. Are you not, while careful to fill +your belly, disregarding another appetite in your heart, which spoils +the pleasure of your life and keeps you continually wretched?" + +Villon was sensibly nettled under all this sermonizing. "You think I +have no sense of honor!" he cried. "I'm poor enough, God knows! It's +hard to see rich people with their gloves, and you blowing your hands. +An empty belly is a bitter thing, although you speak so lightly of +it. If you had had as many as I, perhaps you would change your tune. +Anyway, I'm a thief--make the most of that--but I'm not a devil from +hell, God strike me dead. I would have you to know I've an honor of my +own, as good as yours, though I don't prate about it all day long, as +if it were a God's miracle to have any. It seems quite natural to me; +I keep it in its box till it's wanted. Why now, look you here, how +long have I been in this room with you? Did you not tell me you were +alone in the house? Look at your gold plate! You're strong, if you +like, but you're old and unarmed, and I have my knife. What did I want +but a jerk of the elbow, and here would have been you with the cold +steel in your bowels, and there would have been me, linking in the +streets, with an armful of gold cups! Did you suppose I hadn't wit +enough to see that? And I scorned the action. There are your damned +goblets, as safe as in a church; there are you, with your heart +ticking as good as new; and here am I, ready to go out again as poor +as I came in, with my one white that you threw in my teeth! And you +think I have no sense of honor--God strike me dead!" + +The old man stretched out his right arm. "I will tell you what +you are," he said. "You are a rogue, my man, an impudent and a +black-hearted rogue and vagabond. I have passed an hour with you. Oh! +believe me, I feel myself disgraced! And you have eaten and drank at +my table. But now I am sick at your presence; the day has come, and +the night-bird should be off to his roost. Will you go before, or +after?" + +"Which you please," returned the poet, rising. "I believe you to be +strictly honorable." He thoughtfully emptied his cup. "I wish I could +add you were intelligent," he went on, knocking on his head with his +knuckles. "Age, age! the brains stiff and rheumatic." + +The old man preceded him from a point of self-respect; Villon +followed, whistling, with his thumbs in his girdle. + +"God pity you," said the lord of Brisetout at the door. + +"Good-bye, papa," returned Villon, with a yawn. "Many thanks for the +cold mutton." + +The door closed behind him. The dawn was breaking over the white +roofs. A chill, uncomfortable morning ushered in the day. Villon stood +and heartily stretched himself in the middle of the road. + +"A very dull old gentleman," he thought. "I wonder what his goblets +may be worth." + + + + +INDEX + + Aesop + beast-fables + Apuleius + _The Golden Ass_ + likeness to Kipling + Aristotle + _Secretum Secretorum_ + + Barrett, Charles Raymond + _Short-Story Writings_ + Beast-fables + Boccaccio + _Teseide_ + _Decameron_ + Brown, Dr. John (1810-1882) + _Rab and His Friends_ + Bunyan, John + + Cable + _Strange True Stories of Louisiana_ + Cervantes + _Don Quixote_ + Chaucer + Coleridge + _Ancient Mariner_ + + _Deeds of the Romans, The_ + Defoe, Daniel (1661-1731) + _Short-Story Essay_ + _The Apparition of Mrs. Veal_ + Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) + _The Boots at the Holly-Tree Inn_ + Drelincourt + _Book on Death_ + + Fenton, Geoffrey + _Tragical Discourses_ + Fuller, Thomas + + Garnett, Richard + _The Poison Maid_ + _Gesta Romanorum, The_ + + Hardy, Thomas (1840) + _The Three Strangers_ + Harris, Chandler + _Uncle Remus_ + Harte, Bret (1839-1902) + _The Outcasts of Poker Flat_ + Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1807-1864) + _Dr. Heidegger's Experiment_ + Hogg, James (1770-1835) + the Ettrick Shepherd + early life + _Shepherd's Calendar_ + _The Brownie of Bodsbeck_ + Professor Wilson on + _The Mysterious Bride_ + Holmes, Oliver Wendell + _Elsie Venner_ + Hood, Thomas + _The Dream of Eugene Aram_ + + _Ingoldsby Legends, The_ + Irving, Washington (1783-1859) + _The Devil and Tom Walker_ + + James, Henry (1843) + _Julia Bride_ + + Kipling, Rudyard + _Just-so Stories_ + _Jungle-Book_ + _Finest Story in the World_ + _The Man Who Would be King_ + + Laws of the short-story + _Leech of Folkstone, The_ + + Malory, _Morte D'Arthur_ + Matthews, Professor Brander + Morris, William, _Defence of Guinevere_ + + Nathaniel Hawthorne, _Rappaccini's Daughter_ + North, Sir Thomas, _Plutarch's Lives_ + + _Of Temporal Tribulation_ + _Of the Transgressions and Wounds of the Soul_ + + Paynter, William, _The Palace of Pleasure_ + _Peregrine Pickle_ + Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849), + laws of short-story; + essay on Hawthorne; + _Tale of the Ragged Mountains_; + _The Purloined Letter_. + Powell, Prof. J.W. + _Practical Treatise on the Art of the Short-Story_ + + _Redgauntlet_ + _Roderick Random_ + Rossetti, _White Ship_ + + Shakespeare, _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_; + borrower. + Shelton, Thomas, _Don Quixote_ + Short-Story, Evolution of the + Smith, Herbert H. + Sterne, Laurence + Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894), + _A Lodging for the Night_ + Stockton, Frank R. (1834-1902), + _A Story of Seven Devils_ + + Tennyson, + _The Idylls of the King_; + _The Lady of Shalott_. + _Tom Jones_ + Trollope, Anthony + Twain, Mark (1835), + _A Dog's Tale_ + + Underdown, Thomas, _Heliodorus_ + + _Vicar of Wakefield_ + + Walton, Isaak + Wilson, Professor, on James Hogg + + +END OF VOL. I + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT ENGLISH SHORT-STORY +WRITERS, VOL. 1*** + + +******* This file should be named 10135-8.txt or 10135-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/1/3/10135 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/10135-8.zip b/old/10135-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a409fa8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10135-8.zip diff --git a/old/10135.txt b/old/10135.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c0b60b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10135.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9352 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Great English Short-Story Writers, Vol. +1, by Various, et al + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Great English Short-Story Writers, Vol. 1 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 19, 2003 [eBook #10135] + +Language: English + +Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT ENGLISH SHORT-STORY +WRITERS, VOL. 1*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE READERS'S LIBRARY + +THE GREAT ENGLISH SHORT-STORY WRITERS + +VOL. I + +WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS BY + +WILLIAM J. DAWSON AND CONINGSBY W. DAWSON + +MCMX + + + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + +To the publishers and authors who have courteously permitted the use +of copyrighted material in these two volumes, a word of grateful +acknowledgment is hereby given by the editors. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. + + + I. THE EVOLUTION OF THE SHORT-STORY + + II. THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL. By Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) + + III. THE MYSTERIOUS BRIDE. By James Hogg (1770-1835) + + IV. THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER. By Washington Irving (1783-1859) + + V. DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT. By Nathaniel Hawthorne (1807-1864) + + VI. THE PURLOINED LETTER. By Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) + + VII. RAB AND HIS FRIENDS. By Dr. John Brown (1810-1882) + +VIII. THE BOOTS AT THE HOLLY-TREE INN. By Charles Dickens (1812-1870) + + IX. A STORY OF SEVEN DEVILS. By Frank R. Stockton. (1834-1902) + + X. A DOG'S TALE. By Mark Twain (1835) + + XI. THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT. By Bret Harte (1839-1902) + + XII. THE THREE STRANGERS. By Thomas Hardy (1840) + +XIII. JULIA BRIDE. By Henry James (1843) + + XIV. A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT. By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) + +INDEX + + + + +The Evolution of the Short-Story + + +I + +The short-story commenced its career as a verbal utterance, or, as +Robert Louis Stevenson puts it, with "the first men who told their +stories round the savage camp-fire." + +It bears the mark of its origin, for even to-day it is true that the +more it creates the illusion of the speaking-voice, causing the reader +to listen and to see, so that he forgets the printed page, the better +does it accomplish its literary purpose. It is probably an instinctive +appreciation of this fact which has led so many latter-day writers +to narrate their short-stories in dialect. In a story which is +communicated by the living voice our attention is held primarily not +by the excellent deposition of adjectives and poise of style, but by +the striding progress of the plot; it is the plot, and action in the +plot, alone which we remember when the combination of words which +conveyed and made the story real to us has been lost to mind. "Crusoe +recoiling from the foot-print, Achilles shouting over against the +Trojans, Ulysses bending the great bow, Christian running with his +fingers in his ears; these are each culminating moments, and each has +been printed on the mind's eye for ever."[1] + +[Footnote 1: A Gossip on Romance, from _Memories and Portraits_, by +R.L. Stevenson.] + +The secondary importance of the detailed language in which an incident +is narrated, when compared with the total impression made by the +naked action contained in the incident, is seen in the case of +ballad poetry, where a man may retain a vivid mental picture of the +localities, atmosphere, and dramatic moments created by Coleridge's +_Ancient Mariner_, or Rossetti's _White Ship_, and yet be quite +incapable of repeating two consecutive lines of the verse. In +literature of narration, whether prose or verse, the dramatic worth of +the action related must be the first consideration. + +In earlier days, when much of the current fiction was not written +down, but travelled from mouth to mouth, as it does in the Orient +to-day, this fact must have been realized--that, in the short-story, +plot is superior to style. Among modern writers, however, there has +been a growing tendency to make up for scantiness of plot by +high literary workmanship; the result has been in reality not a +short-story, but a descriptive sketch or vignette, dealing chiefly +with moods and landscapes. So much has this been the case that the +writer of a recent _Practical Treatise on the Art of the Short-Story_ +has found it necessary to make the bald statement that "the first +requisite of a short-story is that the writer have a story to +tell."[2] + +[Footnote 2: _Short-Story Writing_, by Charles Raymond Barrett.] + +However lacking the stories which have come down to us from ancient +times may be in technique, they invariably narrate action--they have +something to tell. If they had not done so, they would not have been +interesting to the men who first heard them, and, had they not been +interesting, they would not have survived. Their paramount worth in +this respect of _action_ is proved by the constant borrowings which +modern writers have made from them. Take one case in illustration. In +the twenty-eighth chapter of Aristotle's _Secretum Secretorum_ appears +a story in which "a queen of India is said to have treacherously sent +to Alexander, among other costly presents, the pretended testimonies +of friendship, a girl of exquisite beauty, who, having been fed with +serpents from her infancy, partook of their nature." It comes to light +again, in an altered and expanded form, in the _Gesta Romanorum_, as +the eleventh tale, being entitled _Of the Poison of Sin_. + +"Alexander was a prince of great power, and a disciple of Aristotle, +who instructed him in every branch of learning. The Queen of the +North, having heard of his proficiency, nourished her daughter from +the cradle upon a certain kind of deadly poison; and when she grew up, +she was considered so beautiful, that the sight of her alone affected +many to madness. The queen sent her to Alexander to espouse. He had no +sooner beheld her than he became violently enamoured, and with much +eagerness desired to possess her; but Aristotle, observing his +weakness, said: 'Do not touch her, for if you do, you will certainly +perish. She has been nurtured upon the most deleterious food, which +I will prove to you immediately. Here is a malefactor who is already +condemned to death. He shall be united to her, and you shall soon see +the truth of what I advance.' + +"Accordingly the culprit was brought without delay to the girl; +and scarcely had he touched her lips, before his whole frame was +impregnated with poison, and he expired. Alexander, glad at his escape +from such imminent destruction, bestowed all thanks on his instructor, +and returned the girl to her mother." + +After which follows the monkish application of the moral, as long as +the entire story: Alexander being made to stand for a good Christian; +the Queen of the North for "a superfluity of the things of life, which +sometimes destroys the spirit, and generally the body"; the Poison +Maid for luxury and gluttony, "which feed men with delicacies that +are poison to the soul"; Aristotle for conscience and reason, which +reprove and oppose any union which would undo the soul; and the +malefactor for the evil man, disobedient unto his God. + +There have been at least three writers of English fiction who, +borrowing this germ-plot from the _Gesta Romanorum_, have handled it +with distinction and originality. Nathaniel Hawthorne, having changed +its period and given it an Italian setting, wove about it one of +the finest and most imaginative of his short-stories, _Rappaccini's +Daughter_. Oliver Wendell Holmes, with a freshness and vigor all his +own, developed out of it his fictional biography of _Elsie Venner_. +And so recent a writer as Mr. Richard Garnett, attracted by the subtle +and magic possibilities of the conception, has given us yet another +rendering, restoring to the story its classic setting, in _The +Poison Maid_.[3] Thus, within the space of a hundred years, three +master-craftsmen have found their inspiration in the slender anecdote +which Aristotle, in the opulence of his genius, was content to hurry +into a few sentences and bury beneath the mass of his material. + +[Footnote 3: Vide _The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales_, +published by John Lane, 1903.] + + +II + +Probably the first stories of mankind were _true stories_, but the +true story is rarely good art. It is perhaps for this reason that few +true stories of early times have come down to us. Mr. Cable, in his +_Strange True Stories of Louisiana_, explains the difference between +the fabricated tale and the incident as it occurs in life. "The +relations and experiences of real men and women," he writes, "rarely +fall in such symmetrical order as to make an artistic whole. Until +they have had such treatment as we give stone in the quarry or gems in +the rough, they seldom group themselves with that harmony of values +and brilliant unity of interest that result when art comes in--not +so much to transcend nature as to make nature transcend herself." In +other words, it is not until the true story has been converted into +fiction by the suppression of whatever is discursive or ungainly, +and the addition of a stroke of fantasy, that it becomes integral, +balanced in all its parts, and worthy of literary remembrance. + +In the fragments of fiction which have come down to us from the days +when books were not, odd chapters from the Fieldings and Smollets of +the age of Noah, remnants of the verbal libraries which men repeated +one to the other, squatting round "the savage camp-fire," when +the hunt was over and night had gathered, the stroke of fantasy +predominates and tends to comprise the whole. Men spun their fictions +from the materials with which their minds were stored, much as we do +to-day, and the result was a cycle of beast-fables--an Odyssey of the +brute creation. Of these the tales of Aesop are the best examples. The +beast-fable has never quite gone out of fashion, and never will so +long as men retain their world-wonder, and childishness of mind. +A large part of Gulliver's adventures belong to this class of +literature. It was only the other day that Mr. Kipling gave us his +_Just-so Stories_, and his _Jungle-Book_, each of which found an +immediate and secure place in the popular memory. + +Mr. Chandler Harris, in his introduction to _Uncle Remus_, warns us +that however humorous his book may appear, "its intention is perfectly +serious." He goes on to insist on its historic value, as a revelation +of primitive modes of thought. At the outset, when he wrote his +stories serially for publication in _The Atlanta Constitution_, he +believed that he was narrating plantation legends peculiar to the +South. He was quickly undeceived. Prof. J.W. Powell, who was engaged +in an investigation of the mythology of the North American Indians, +informed him that some of Uncle Remus's stories appear "in a number of +different languages, and in various modified forms among the Indians." +Mr. Herbert H. Smith had "met with some of these stories among tribes +of South American Indians, and one in particular he had traced to +India, and as far east as Siam." "When did the negro or North American +Indian ever come in contact with the tribes of South America?" +Mr. Harris asks. And he quotes Mr. Smith's reply in answer to the +question: "I am not prepared to form a theory about these stories. +There can be no doubt that some of them, found among the negroes and +the Indians, had a common origin. The most natural solution would be +to suppose that they originated in Africa, and were carried to South +America by the negro slaves. They are certainly found among the Red +Negroes; but, unfortunately for the African theory, it is equally +certain that they are told by savage Indians of the Amazon's Valley, +away up on the Tapajos, Red Negro, and Tapura. These Indians hardly +ever see a negro.... It is interesting to find a story from Upper +Egypt (that of the fox who pretended to be dead) identical with an +Amazonian story, and strongly resembling one found by you among the +negroes.... One thing is certain. The animal stories told by the +negroes in our Southern States and in Brazil were brought by them +from Africa. Whether they originated there, or with the Arabs, or +Egyptians, or with yet more ancient nations, must still be an open +question. Whether the Indians got them from the negroes or from some +earlier source is equally uncertain." Whatever be the final solution +to this problem, enough has been said to show that the beast-fable is, +in all probability, the most primitive form of short-story which we +possess. + + +III + +For our purpose, that of tracing the evolution of the English +short-story, its history commences with the _Gesta Romanorum_. At the +authorship of this collection of mediaeval tales, many guesses have +been made. Nothing is known with certainty; it seems probable, +however, judging from the idioms which occur, that it took its present +form in England, about the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of +the fourteenth century, and thence passed to the Continent. The work +is written in Latin, and was evidently compiled by a man in holy +orders, for its guiding purpose is to edify. In this we can trace the +influence of Aesop's beast-fables, which were moral lessons drawn from +the animal creation for the instruction of mankind. Every chapter of +the _Gesta Romanorum_ consists of a moral tale; so much so that in +many cases the application of the moral is as long as the tale itself. + +The title of the collection, _The Deeds of the Romans_, is scarcely +justified; in the main it is a garnering of all the deathless plots +and dramatic motives which we find scattered up and down the ages, in +the legend and folklore of whatsoever nation. The themes of many of +its stories were being told, their characters passing under other +names, when Romulus and Remus were suckled by their wolf-mother, +before there was a Roman nation or a city named Rome. + +In the Bible we have many admirable specimens of the short-story. +Jotham's parable of the trees of the wood choosing a king is as good +an instance of the nature-fable, touched with fine irony and humor, as +could be found. The Hebrew prophet himself was often a story-teller. +Thus, when Nathan would bring home the nature of his guilt to David, +he does it by a story of the most dramatic character, which loses +nothing, and indeed gains all its terrific impact, by being strongly +impregnated with moral passion. Many such instances will occur to +the student of the Bible. In the absence of a written or printed +literature the story-teller had a distinct vocation, as he still has +among the peoples of the East. Every visitor to Tangier has seen in +the market-place the professional story-teller, surrounded from morn +till night with his groups of attentive listeners, whose kindling +eyes, whose faces moved by every emotion of wonder, anger, tenderness, +and sympathy, whose murmured applause and absorbed silence, are the +witnesses and the reward of his art. Through such a scene we recover +the atmosphere of the Arabian Nights, and indeed look back into almost +limitless antiquity. Possibly, could we follow the story which is thus +related, we might discover that this also drew its elemental incidents +from sources as old as the times of Jotham and Nathan. + +The most that can be said for the Latin origin of the _Gesta +Romanorum_ is that the nucleus is made up of extracts, frequently of +glaring inaccuracy, from Roman writers and historians. The Cologne +edition comprises one hundred and eighty-one chapters, each consisting +of a tale or anecdote followed by a moral application, commencing +formally with the words, "My beloved, the prince is intended to +represent any good Christian," or, "My beloved, the emperor is Christ; +the soldier is any sinner." They are not so much short-stories as +illustrated homilies. In the literary armory of the lazy parish priest +of the fourteenth century, the _Gesta Romanorum_ must have held the +place which volumes of sermon-outlines occupy upon the book-shelves of +certain of his brethren to-day. + +"The method of instructing by fables is a practice of remote +antiquity; and has always been attended with very considerable +benefit. Its great popularity encouraged the monks to adopt this +medium, not only for the sake of illustrating their discourses, but of +making a more durable impression upon the minds of their illiterate +auditors. An abstract argument, or logical deduction (had they been +capable of supplying it), would operate but faintly upon intellects +rendered even more obtuse by the rude nature of their customary +employments; while, on the other hand, an apposite story would arouse +attention and stimulate that blind and unenquiring devotion which is +so remarkably characteristic of the Middle Ages."[4] + +[Footnote 4: Introduction to _Gesta Romanorum_, translated by the Rev. +Charles Swan, revised and corrected by Wynnard Hooper, B.A.] + +IV + + +The influence of the _Gesta Romanorum_ is most conspicuously to be +traced in the work of Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate; but it has +served as a source of inspiration to the flagging ingenuity of each +succeeding generation. It would be tedious to enter on an enumeration +of the various indebtednesses of English literature to these early +tales. A few instances will serve as illustration. + +It seems a far cry from the _The Ingoldsby Legends_ to _The Deeds of +the Romans_, nevertheless _The Leech of Folk-stone_ was directly taken +from the hundred and second tale, _Of the Transgressions and Wounds of +the Soul_. Shakespeare himself was a frequent borrower, and planned +his entire play of _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_, upon the hundred +and fifty-third tale, _Of Temporal Tribulation_. In some cases the +language is almost identical, as for instance in the fifth tale, where +the king warns his son, saying, "Son, I tell thee that thou canst +not confide in her, and consequently ought not to espouse her. _She +deceived her own father when she liberated thee from prison_; for this +did her father lose the price of thy ransom." Compare with this: + + "Look to her, Moor; have a quick eye to see; + _She has deceived her father, and may thee_."[5] + +[Footnote 5: _Othello_, act I, scene III.] + +But the ethical treatment of the short-story, as exemplified in these +monkish fables, handicapped its progress and circumscribed its field +of endeavor. Morality necessitated the twisting of incidents, so that +they might harmonize with the sermonic summing-up that was in view. +Life is not always moral; it is more often perplexing, boisterous, +unjust, and flippant. The wicked dwell in prosperity. "There are no +pangs in their death; their strength is firm. They are not in trouble +as other men; neither are they plagued as other men. They have more +than heart could wish." But the art of the teller of tales "is +occupied, and bound to be occupied not so much in making stories true +as in making them typical."[6] + +[Footnote 6: From a Humble Remonstrance, in _Memories and Portraits_, +by R.L. Stevenson.] + +The ethical method of handling fiction falls between two stools; it +not only fails in portraying that which is true for the individual, +but it incurs the graver error of ceasing to be true to the race, +i.e., typical. + +It would be interesting, had we space, to follow Shakespeare in his +borrowings, noticing what he adopts and incorporates in his work +as artistically true, and what he rejects. Like a water-color +landscape-painter, he pauses above the box of crude materials which +others have made, takes a dab here and a dab there with his brush, +rarely takes all of one color, blends them, eyes the result +judicially, and flashes in the combination with swiftness and +certainty of touch. + +For instance, from the lengthy story which appears as the hundred and +first tale in Mr. Douce's edition of the _Gesta_, he selects but one +scene of action, yet it is the making of _Macbeth_--one would almost +suppose that this was the germ-thought which kindled his furious +fancy, preceding his discovery of the Macbeth tradition as related in +Holinshed's _Chronicle_.[7] + +[Footnote 7: _The Chronicle of England and Scotland_, first published +in 1577.] + +The Emperor Manelay has set forth to the Holy Land, leaving his +empress and kingdom in his brother's care. No sooner has he gone than +the regent commences to make love to his brother's wife. She rejects +him scornfully. Angered by her indignation, he leads her into a forest +and hangs her by the hair upon a tree, leaving her there to starve. +As good-fortune will have it, on the third day a noble earl comes by, +and, finding her in that condition, releases her, takes her home with +him, and makes her governess to his only daughter. A feeling of shame +causes her to conceal her noble rank, and so it comes about that the +earl's steward aspires to her affection. Her steadfast refusal of all +his advances turns his love to hatred, so that he plans to bring about +her downfall. Then comes the passage which Shakespeare seized upon +as vital: "It befell upon a night that the earl's chamber door was +forgotten and left unshut, which the steward had anon perceived; and +when they were all asleep he went and espied the light of the lamp +where the empress and the young maid lay together, and with that he +drew out his knife and cut the throat of the earl's daughter and put +the knife into the empress's hand, she being asleep, and nothing +knowing thereof, to the intent that when the earl awakened he should +think that she had cut his daughter's throat, and so would she be put +to a shameful death for his mischievous deed." + +The laws of immediateness and concentration, which govern the +short-story, are common also to the drama; by reason of their brevity +both demand a directness of approach which leads up, without break of +sequence or any waste of words, through a dependent series of actions +to a climax which is final. It will usually be found in studying the +borrowings which the masters have made from such sources as the _Gesta +Romanorum_ that the portions which they have discriminated as worth +taking from any one tale have been the only artistically essential +elements which the narrative contains; the remainder, which they +have rejected, is either untrue to art or unnecessary to the plot's +development. + +These tales, as told by their monkish compiler, lack "that harmony of +values and brilliant unity of interest that results when art comes +in"--they are splendid jewels badly cut. + + +V + +As has been already stated, a short-story theme, however fine, can +only be converted into good art by the suppression of whatever is +discursive or ungainly, so that it becomes integral and balanced in +all its parts; and by the addition of a stroke of fantasy, so that it +becomes vast, despite its brevity, implying a wider horizon than it +actually describes; but, in excess of these qualities, there is a last +of still greater importance, without which it fails--_the power to +create the impression of having been possible_. + +Now the beast-fable, as handled by Aesop, falls short of being high +art by reason of its overwhelming fantasy, which annihilates all +chance of its possibility. The best short-stories represent a struggle +between fantasy and fact. And the mediaeval monkish tale fails by +reason of the discursiveness and huddling together of incidents, +without regard to their dramatic values, which the moral application +necessitates. In a word, both are deficient in technique--the +concealed art which, when it has combined its materials so that they +may accomplish their most impressive effect, causes the total result +to command our credulity because it seems typical of human experience. + +The technique of the English prose short-story had a tardy evolution. +That there were any definite laws, such as obtain in poetry, by +which it must abide was not generally realized until Edgar Allan Poe +formulated them in his criticism of Nathaniel Hawthorne. + +As he states them, they are five in number, as follows: Firstly, that +the short-story must be short, i.e., capable of being read at one +sitting, in order that it may gain "the immense force derivable +from _totality_." Secondly, that the short-story must possess +_immediateness_; it should aim at a single or unique effect--"if the +very initial sentence tend not to the outbringing of this effect, then +it has failed in its first step." Thirdly, that the short-story must +be subjected to _compression_; "in the whole composition there should +not be one word written of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is +not to the one pre-established design." Fourthly, that it must assume +the aspect of _verisimilitude_; "truth is often, and in very great +degree, the aim of the tale--some of the finest tales are tales +of ratiocination." Fifthly, that it must give the impression of +_finality_; the story, and the interest in the characters which it +introduces, must begin with the opening sentence and end with the +last. + +These laws, and the technique which they formulate, were first +discovered and worked out for the short-story in the medium of +poetry.[8] The ballad and narrative poem must be, by reason of their +highly artificial form, comparatively short, possessing totality, +immediateness, compression, verisimilitude, and finality. The old +ballad which commemorates the battle of Otterbourne, fought on August +10, 1388, is a fine example of the short-story method. Its opening +stanza speaks the last word in immediateness of narration: + + "It felle abowght the Lamasse tyde, + When husbands wynn ther haye, + The dowghtye Dowglasse bowynd hym to ryde + In England to take a praye." + +[Footnote 8: Poe himself implies this when he says, in an earlier +passage of his essay on Hawthorne: "The Tale Proper" (i.e., +short-story), "in my opinion, affords unquestionably the fairest field +for the exercise of the loftiest talent which can be afforded by the +wide domains of mere prose. Were I bidden to say how the highest +genius could be most advantageously employed for the best display +of its own powers, I should answer, without hesitation, in the +composition of a rhymed poem, not to exceed in length what might be +perused in an hour. Within this limit alone can the highest order of +true poetry exist. I need only here say, upon this topic, that in +almost all classes of composition the unity of effect or impression +is a point of the greatest importance. _It is clear_, moreover, _that +this unity cannot be thoroughly preserved in productions whose perusal +cannot be completed at one sitting_."] + +Thomas Hood's poem of _The Dream of Eugene Aram_, written at a time +when the prose short-story, under the guidance of Hawthorne and Poe, +was just beginning to take its place as a separate species of literary +art, has never been surpassed for short-story technique by any of the +practitioners of prose. Prof. Brander Matthews has pointed out that +"there were nine muses in Greece of old, and no one of these daughters +of Apollo was expected to inspire the writer of prose-fiction."[9] + +[Footnote 9: In his introduction to _Materials and Methods of +Fiction_, by Clayton Hamilton, published by the Baker & Taylor Co., +New York.] + +He argues from this that "prose seemed to the Greeks, and even to the +Latins who followed in their footsteps, as fit only for pedestrian +purposes." It is more probable that, as regards prose-fiction, they +did not realize that they were called upon to explain the omission of +the tenth muse. Her exclusion was based on no reasoned principle, but +was due to a sensuous art-instinct: the Greeks felt that the unnatural +limitations of the poetic medium were more in keeping with the +unnatural[10] brevity of a story which must be short. The exquisite +prose tales which have been handed down to us belong to the age of +their decadence as a nation; in their great period their tellers of +brief tales unconsciously cast their rendering in the poetic mould.[11] +In natures of the highest genius the most arduous is instinctively the +favorite task. + +[Footnote 10: "The short-story is artificial, and to a considerable +degree unnatural. It could hardly be otherwise, for it takes out of +our complex lives a single person or a single incident and treats +that as if it were complete in itself. Such isolation is not known +to nature."--Page 22 of _Short-Story Writing_, by Charles Raymond +Barrett, published by the Baker & Taylor Co., New York.] + +[Footnote 11: For example, the story told by Demodocus of _The +Illicit Love of Ares for Aphrodite, and the Revenge which Hephaestus +Planned_--Odyssey, Bk. VIII.] + +Chaucer, by reason of his intimate acquaintance with both the poetry +and prose-fiction of Boccaccio, had the opportunity to choose between +these two mediums of short-story narration; and he chose the former. +He was as familiar with Boccaccio's poetic method, as exemplified +in the _Teseide_, as with his prose, as exemplified at much greater +length in the _Decameron_, for he borrowed from them both. Yet in only +two instances in the _Canterbury Tales_ does he relapse into prose. + +The _Teseide_ in Chaucer's hands, retaining its poetic medium, is +converted into the _Knight's Tale_; while the _Reeve's Tale_, the +_Franklin's_, and the _Shipman's_, each borrowed from the prose +version of the _Decameron_, are given by him a poetic setting. This +preference for poetry over prose as a medium for short-story narration +cannot have been accidental or unreasoned on his part; nor can it be +altogether accounted for by the explanation that "he was by nature a +poet," for he _did_ experiment with the prose medium to the extent of +using it twice. He had the brilliant and innovating precedent of +the _Decameron_, and yet, while adopting some of its materials, he +abandoned its medium. He was given the opportunity of ante-dating the +introduction of technique into the English prose short-story by four +hundred and fifty years, and he disregarded it almost cavalierly. How +is such wilful neglect to be accounted for? Only by his instinctive +feeling that the technique, which Boccaccio had applied in the +_Decameron_, belonged by right to the realm of poetry, had been +learned in the practising of the poetic art, and could arrive at its +highest level of achievement only in that medium. + +That in Chaucer's case this choice was justified cannot be disputed; +the inferiority of the short-story technique contained in his two +prose efforts, when compared with that displayed in the remainder +of the _Canterbury Tales_, is very marked. Take, for instance, +the _Prioress' Tale_ and apply to it the five short-story tests +established by Poe, as a personal discovery, four and a half centuries +later; it survives them all. It attains, in addition, the crowning +glory, coveted by Stevenson, of appearing _typical_. There may never +have been a Christian child who was martyred by the Jews in the +particularly gruesome way described--probably there never was; but, in +listening to the Prioress, it does not enter into our heads to doubt +her word--the picture which she leaves with us of how the Christian +regarded the Jew in the Middle Ages is too vivid to allow any +breathing-space for incredulity. No knowledge of mediaeval anti-Jewish +legislation, however scholarly, can bring us to realize the fury of +race-hatred which then existed more keenly than this story of a little +over two thousand words. By its perusal we gain an illuminating +insight into that ill-directed religious enthusiasm which led men on +frenzied quests for the destruction of the heretic in their own land +and of the Saracen abroad, causing them to become at one and the same +time unjust and heroic. In a word, within the compass of three hundred +lines of verse, Chaucer contrives to body forth his age--to give us +something which is _typical_. + +The _Morte D'Arthur_ of Malory is again a collection of traditional +stories, as is the _Gesta Romanorum_, and not the creative work of a +single intellect. As might be expected, it straggles, and overlays its +climax with a too-lavish abundance of incidents; it lacks the +_harmony of values_ which results from the introduction of a unifying +purpose--_i.e_., of art. Imaginative and full of action though the +books of the _Morte D'Arthur_ are, it remained for the latter-day +artist to exhaust their individual incidents of their full dramatic +possibilities. From the eyes of the majority of modern men the +brilliant quality of their magic was concealed, until it had +been disciplined and refashioned by the severe technique of the +short-story. + +By the eighteenth century the influence of Malory was scarcely felt +at all; but his imaginativeness, as interpreted by Tennyson, in +_The Idylls of the King_, and by William Morris, in his _Defence +of Guinevere_, has given to the Anglo-Saxon world a new romantic +background for its thoughts. _The Idylls of the King_ are not +Tennyson's most successful interpretation. The finest example of his +superior short-story craftsmanship is seen in the triumphant use which +he makes of the theme contained in _The Book of Elaine_, in his poem +of _The Lady of Shalott_. Not only has he remodelled and added fantasy +to the story, but he has threaded it through with _atmosphere_--an +entirely modern attribute, of which more must be said hereafter. + +So much for our contention that the laws and technique of the prose +short-story, as formulated by Poe, were first instinctively discovered +and worked out in the medium of poetry. + + +VI + +"_The Golden Ass_ of Apuleius is, so to say, a beginning of modern +literature. From this brilliant medley of reality and romance, of wit +and pathos, of fantasy and observation, was born that new art, +complex in thought, various in expression, which gives a semblance of +frigidity to perfection itself. An indefatigable youthfulness is its +distinction."[12] + +[Footnote 12: From the introduction, by Charles Whibley, to the Tudor +Translations' edition by W.E. Henley, of _The Golden Ass of Apuleius_, +published by David Nutt, London, 1893. All other quotations bearing +upon Apuleius are taken from the same source.] + +_An indefatigable youthfulness_ was also the prime distinction of the +Elizabethan era's writings and doings; it was fitting that such a +period should have witnessed the first translation into the English +language of this Benjamin of a classic literature's old age. + +Apuleius was an unconventional cosmopolitan in that ancient world +which he so vividly portrays; he was a barbarian by birth, a Greek by +education, and wrote his book in the Romans' language. In his use +of luminous slang for literary purposes he was Rudyard Kipling's +prototype. + +"He would twist the vulgar words of every-day into quaint unheard-of +meanings, nor did he deny shelter to those loafers and footpads of +speech which inspire the grammarian with horror. On every page you +encounter a proverb, a catchword, a literary allusion, a flagrant +redundancy. One quality only was distasteful to him--the commonplace." + +There are other respects in which we can trace Mr. Kipling's likeness: +in his youthful precocity--he was twenty-five when he wrote his +_Metamorphoses_; in his daring as an innovator; in his manly +stalwartness in dealing with the calamities of life; in his +adventurous note of world-wideness and realistic method of handling +the improbable and uncanny. + +Like all great artists, he was a skilful borrower from the literary +achievements of a bygone age; and so successfully does he borrow that +we prefer his copy to the original. The germ-idea of Kipling's _Finest +Story in the World_ is to be found in Poe's _Tale of the Ragged +Mountains_; Apuleius's germ-plot, of the man who was changed by +enchantment into an ass, and could only recover his human shape by +eating rose-leaves, was taken either from Lucian or from Lucius +of Patrae. In at least three of his interpolations he remarkably +foreshadows the prose short-story method, upon which we are wont to +pride ourselves as being a unique discovery of the past eight decades: +these are _Bellepheron's Story; The Story of Cupid and Psyche_, one of +the most exquisite both in form and matter in any language or age; and +the story of _The Deceitful Woman and the Tub_, which Boccaccio made +use of in his _Decameron_ as the second novel for the seventh day. + +In the intense and visual quality of the atmosphere with which he +pervades his narrative he has no equal among the writers of English +prose-fiction until Sir Walter Scott appears. "Apuleius has enveloped +his world of marvels in a heavy air of witchery and romance. You +wander with Lucius across the hills and through the dales of Thessaly. +With all the delight of a fresh curiosity you approach its far-seen +towns. You journey at midnight under the stars, listening in terror +for the howling of the wolves or the stealthy ambush. At other whiles +you sit in the robbers' cave and hear the ancient legends of Greece +retold. The spring comes on, and 'the little birds chirp and sing +their steven melodiously.' Secret raids, ravished brides, valiant +rescues, the gayest intrigues--these are the diverse matters of this +many-colored book." + +But as a short-story writer he shares the failing of all his English +brothers in that art, until James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, penned +his tales--namely, that his short-stories do not stand apart, as +things total in themselves, but are woven into a larger narrative by +whose proportions they are dwarfed, so that their true completeness is +disguised. "He cares not how he loiters by the way; he is always ready +to beguile his reader with a Milesian story--one of those quaint and +witty interludes which have travelled the world over and become part, +not merely of every literature, but of every life." It is to three of +these chance loiterings of this Kipling of Rome in its decadence that +we owe the famous stories alluded to above. + +To the Elizabethan period belong the most masterly translations of +which the English language is possessed; and this not by virtue of +their accuracy and scholarship, but because, to use Doctor Johnson's +words, the translator "exhibits his author's thoughts in such a dress +as the author would have given them had his language been English." +That same "indefatigable youthfulness" which converted courtiers into +sailors and despatched them into unknown seas to ransack new worlds, +urged men of the pen to seek out and to pillage, with an equal ardor +of adventure, the intellectual wealth of their contemporaries in other +lands and the buried and forgotten stores of the ancients upon their +own neighboring book-shelves. A universal and contagious curiosity +was abroad. To this age belong William Paynter's version of the +_Decameron_, entitled _The Palace of Pleasure_, 1566, from which +Shakespeare borrowed; Geoffrey Fenton's translation of Bandello's +_Tragical Discourses_, 1567; Sir Thomas North's rendering of +_Plutarch's Lives_, 1579; Thomas Underdowne's _Heliodorus_, 1587; +Thomas Shelton's _Don Quixote_, 1612; and others too numerous to +mention. It seems extraordinary at first sight that when such models +of advanced technique were set before them, Englishmen were so slow +to follow; for though Professor Baldwin is probably correct in his +analysis of the _Decameron_ when he states that, of the hundred tales, +over fifty are not much more than anecdotes, about forty are but +outlined plots, three follow the modern short-story method only part +way, and, of the hundred, two[13] alone are perfect examples, yet those +two perfect examples remained and were capable of imitation. The +explanation of this neglect is, perhaps, that the Elizabethans were +too busy originating to find time for copying; they were very willing +to borrow ideas, but must be allowed to develop them in their own +way--usually along dramatic lines for stage purposes, because this was +at that time the most financially profitable. + +[Footnote 13: The second novel of the second day, and the sixth of the +ninth day.] + + +VII + +The blighting influence of constitutional strife and intestine war +which followed in the Stuarts' reigns turned the serious artist's +thoughts aside to grave and prophetic forms of literary utterance, +while writers of the frivolous sort devoted their talent to a +lighter and less sincere art than that of the short-story--namely, +court-poetry. It was an age of extremes which bred despair and +religious fervor in men of the Puritan party, as represented by Bunyan +and Milton, and conscious artificiality and mock heroics in those +of the Cavalier faction, as represented by Herrick and the Earl of +Rochester. + +The examples of semi-fictional prose which can be gathered from this +period serve only to illustrate how the short-story instinct, though +stifled, was still present. Isaak Walton as a diarist had it; Thomas +Fuller as an historian had it; John Bunyan as an ethical writer had +it. Each one was possessed of the short-story faculty, but only +manifested it, as it were, by accident. Not until Daniel Defoe and the +rise of the newspaper do we note any advance in technique. Defoe's +main contribution was the _short-story essay_, which stands midway +between the anecdote, or germ-plot, buried in a mass of extraneous +material, and the short-story proper. The growth of this form, as +developed by Swift, Steel, Addison, Goldsmith, and Lamb, has been +traced and criticised elsewhere.[14] It had this one great advantage +that, whatever its departures from the strict technique of the modern +short-story, it was capable of being read at one sitting, stood by +itself, and gained "the immense force derivable from _totality_." + +[Footnote 14: In the third chapter of _The Great English Essayists_, +vol. iii of _The Reader's Library_, published by Messrs. Harper & +Brothers, 1909.] + +In the _True Revelation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal_, Defoe +is again strangely in advance of his time, as he is in so many other +ways. Here is an almost perfect example of the most modern method of +handling a ghost-tale. Surely, in whatever department of literature +we seek, we shall find nothing to surpass it in the quality of +_verisimilitude_. The way in which Drelincourt's _Book on Death_ is +introduced and subsequently twice referred to is a master-stroke of +genius. In days gone by, before they were parted, we are told, Mrs. +Veal and Mrs. Bargrave "would often console each other's adverse +fortunes, and read together Drelincourt _On Death_ and other good +books." At the time when the story opens Mrs. Bargrave has gone to +live in Canterbury, and Mrs. Veal is in Dover. To Mrs. Bargrave in +Canterbury the apparition appears, though she does not know that it is +an apparition, for there is nothing to denote that it is not her old +friend still alive. One of the first things the apparition does is +"to remind Mrs. Bargrave of the many friendly offices she did her in +former days, and much of the conversation they had with each other in +the times of their adversity; what books they read, and what comfort +in particular they received from Drelincourt's _Book on Death_. +Drelincourt, she said, had the clearest notions of death and of the +future state of any who had handled that subject. Then she asked Mrs. +Bargrave whether she had Drelincourt. She said, 'Yes,' Says Mrs. Veal, +'Fetch it.' Some days after, when Mrs. Bargrave, having discovered +that the visitor was a ghost, has gone about telling her neighbors, +Defoe observes, 'Drelincourt's _Book on Death_ is, since this +happened, bought up strangely,'" + +This masterpiece of Defoe is before its time by a hundred years; +nothing can be found in the realm of the English prose short-story to +approach it in symmetry until the Ettrick Shepherd commenced to write. + +Of all the models of prose-fiction which the Tudor translations had +given to English literature, the first to be copied was that of +Cervantes's _Don Quixote_, rendered into English by Thomas Shelton in +1612. Swift must have had the rambling method of Cervantes well in +mind when he wrote his _Gulliver_; and Smollett confessedly took it as +his pattern and set out to imitate. The most that was required by such +a method in the way of initial construction was to select a hero, give +some account of his early history, from the day of his birth up to the +point where the true narrative commences, and then send him upon his +travels. Usually it was thought necessary to have a Sancho to act as +background to Don Quixote; thus Crusoe is given his Man Friday, Tom +Jones his Mr. Partridge, and Roderick Random his Strap; but this was +not always done, for both Gulliver and the hero of the _Sentimental +Journey_ set out on their journeyings unaccompanied. The story which +grew out of such a method usually consisted of a series of plots, +anecdotes, and incidents linked together only by the characters, and +governed by no unifying purpose which made each one a necessary and +ascending step toward a prearranged climax. These early novels are +often books of descriptive travel rather than novels in the modern +sense; the sole connection between their first incident and their last +being the long road which lies between them, and has been traversed +in the continual company of the same leading characters. Many of the +chapters, taken apart from their context, are short-story themes +badly handled. Some of them are mere interpolations introduced on +the flimsiest of excuses, which arrest the progress of the main +narrative--_i.e_., the travel--and give the author an opportunity to +use up some spare material which he does not know what to do with. +Such are "The Man of the Hill," in _Tom Jones_; "The History of +Melopoyn the Playwright" in _Roderick Random_; the "Memoirs of a Lady +of Quality," occupying fifty-three thousand words, in _Peregrine +Pickle_; "The Philosophic Vagabond," in the _Vicar of Wakefield_; +and "Wandering Willie's Tale," in _Redgauntlet_. The reason why +the eighteenth-century novelist did not know what to do with these +materials was, in certain cases, that he had discovered a true +short-story theme and was perplexed by it. He knew that it was +good--his artist's instinct made him aware of that; but somehow, to +his great bewilderment and annoyance, it refused to be expanded. So, +in order that it might not be entirely lost to him, he tied the little +boat on behind the great schooner of his main narration, and set them +afloat together. + +By the modern reader, whether of the short-story or the novel, +the lack of atmosphere and of immediateness in eighteenth-century +prose-fiction is particularly felt. There is no use made of +landscapes, moods, and the phenomena of nature; the story happens +at almost any season of the year. Of these things and their use the +modern short-story writer is meticulously careful. By how much would +the worth of Hardy's _The Three Strangers_ be diminished if the +description of the March rain driving across the Wessex moorland were +left out? Before he commences the story contained in _A Lodging for +the Night_, Stevenson occupies three hundred words in painting the +picture of Paris under snow. In the same way, in his story of _The Man +Who Would Be King_, Kipling is at great pains to make us burn with the +scorching heat which, in the popular mind, is associated with India. +For such effects you will search the prose-fiction of the eighteenth +century in vain; whereas the use of _atmosphere_ has been carried to +such extremes to-day by certain writers that the short-story in their +hands is in danger of becoming all atmosphere and no story. + +The impression created by the old technique, such as it was, when +contrasted with the new, when legitimately handled, is the difference +between reading a play and seeing it staged. + +As regards immediateness of narration, Laurence Sterne may, perhaps, +be pointed out as an example. But he is not immediate in the true +sense; he is abrupt, and this too frequently for his own sly +purposes--which have nothing to do with either technique or the +short-story. + +Most of the English short-stories, previous to those written by James +Hogg, are either prefaced with a biography of their main characters +or else the biography is made to do service as though it were a +plot--nothing is left to the imagination. Even in the next century, +when the short-story had come to be recognized in America, through the +example set by Hawthorne and Poe, as a distinct species of literary +art, the productions of British writers were too often nothing more +than compressed novels. In fact, it is true to say that there is more +of short-story technique in the short-story essays of Goldsmith and +Lamb than can be found in many of the brief tales of Dickens and +Anthony Trollope, which in their day passed muster unchallenged as +short-stories. + + +VIII + +But between the irrelevant brief story, interpolated in a larger +narrative, and the perfect short-story, which could not be expanded +and is total in itself, of Hawthorne and Poe, there stands the work +of a man who is little known in America, and by no means popular in +England, that of the Ettrick Shepherd, James Hogg. He was born in +Scotland, among the mountains of Ettrick and Yarrow, the son of a +shepherd. When he was but six years old he commenced to earn his +living as a cowherd, and by his seventh year had received all the +schooling which he was destined to have--two separate periods of three +months. Matthew Arnold, when accounting for the sterility of Gray as +a poet, says that throughout the first nine decades of the eighteenth +century, until the French Revolution roused men to generosity, "a +spiritual east wind was blowing." Hogg's early ignorance of letters +had at least this advantage, that it saved him from the blighting +intellectual influences of his age--left him unsophisticated, free +to find in all things matter for wonder, and to work out his mental +processes unprejudiced by a restraining knowledge of other men's +past achievements. In his eighteenth year he taught himself to read, +choosing as his text-books Henry the Minstrel's _Life and Adventures +of Sir William Wallace_ and the _Gentle Shepherd_ of Allan Ramsay. +Not until his twenty-sixth year did he acquire the art of penmanship, +which he learned "upon the hillside by copying the Italian alphabet, +using his knee as his desk, and having the ink-bottle suspended from +his button." During the next fourteen years he followed his shepherd's +calling, making it romantic with sundry more or less successful +attempts at authorship. He had reached his fortieth year before he +abandoned sheep-raising and journeyed to Edinburgh, there definitely +to adopt the literary career. He was by this time firm in his +philosophy of life and established in his modes of thought; whatever +else he might not be, among townsmen and persons of artificial +training, his very simplicity was sure to make him original. In his +forty-seventh year, having so far cast his most important work +into the poetic form, he contributed to _Blackwood's Magazine_ his +_Shepherd's Calendar_, followed in the same year by the publishing of +_The Brownie of Bodsbeck_; these were his first two serious excursions +into the realm of prose-fiction. From then on until his death, in +1835, he continued his efforts in this direction, pouring out a mass +of country-side tradition and fairy-folklore, amazing in its fantasy +and wealth of drama. + +For the imparting of _atmosphere_ to his stories, a talent so +conspicuously lacking not only in his predecessors, but also in many +of his contemporaries, he had a native faculty. The author of _Bonny +Kilmeny_ could scarcely fail in this respect, when he turned his +attention from poetry to prose. He had lived too close to nature to be +able ever to keep the green and silver of woods and rivers far from +his thoughts; they were the mirrors in which his fancy saw itself. +Professor Wilson, who had known him as a friend, writing of him in +_Blackwood's_ after his death, says: "Living for years in solitude, +he unconsciously formed friendships with the springs, the brooks, +the caves, the hills, and with all the more fleeting and faithless +pageantry of the sky, that to him came in place of those human +affections from whose indulgence he was debarred by the necessities +that kept him aloof from the cottage fire and up among the mists of +the mountain-top. The still green beauty of the pastoral hills and +vales where he passed his youth inspired him with ever-brooding +visions of fairyland, till, as he lay musing in his lonely shieling, +the world of fantasy seemed, in the clear depths of his imagination, a +lovelier reflection of that of nature, like the hills and heavens more +softly shining in the water of his native lake." + +His taste is often defective, as is that of Burns on occasions. This +is a fault which might be expected in a man of his training; but the +vigor and essential worth of the matters which he relates are beyond +all question. He did not always know where to begin his short-story, +or where to terminate. Some of his tales, if edited with blue-pencil +erasures, would be found to contain a nucleus-technique which, though +far from perfect, is more than equal to that of Washington Irving, +who, like Apuleius, "cared not how he loitered by the way," and very +superior to that of most of his immediate successors in the art. His +story here included, of _The Mysterious Bride_,[15] could scarcely be +bettered in its method. To tell it in fewer words would be to obscure +it; to tell it at greater length would be to rob it of its mystery and +to make it obvious. Moreover, by employing atmosphere he tells it +in such a way as to leave the reader with the impression that this +occurrence, for all its magic, might not only be possible, but even +probable--which achievement is the greatest triumph of the short-story +writer's art. + +[Footnote 15: Compare with Kipling's treatment of a similar theme in +_The Brushwood Boy_.] + +As this history of the evolution of the English short-story commenced +with a poet, Chaucer,[16] who wrote all save two of his short-stories +in poetry, so it fittingly closes with a poet, the Ettrick Shepherd, +who wrote most of his short-stories in prose. It remained for yet +another poet, Edgar Allan Poe, who may never have heard the name +or have read a line from the writings of James Hogg, to bring to +perfection the task on which he had spent his labor. + +[Footnote 16: The _Gesta Romanorum_ was written in Latin.] + + + + +THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL + +_Daniel Defoe_ (1661-1731) + + +This thing is so rare in all its circumstances, and on so good +authority, that my reading and conversation have not given me anything +like it. It is fit to gratify the most ingenious and serious inquirer. +Mrs. Bargrave is the person to whom Mrs. Veal appeared after her +death; she is my intimate friend, and I can avouch for her reputation +for these fifteen or sixteen years, on my own knowledge; and I can +confirm the good character she had from her youth to the time of my +acquaintance. Though, since this relation, she is calumniated by some +people that are friends to the brother of Mrs. Veal who appeared, who +think the relation of this appearance to be a reflection, and endeavor +what they can to blast Mrs. Bargrave's reputation and to laugh the +story out of countenance. But by the circumstances thereof, and the +cheerful disposition of Mrs. Bargrave, notwithstanding the ill usage +of a very wicked husband, there is not yet the least sign of dejection +in her face; nor did I ever hear her let fall a desponding or +murmuring expression; nay, not when actually under her husband's +barbarity, which I have been a witness to, and several other persons +of undoubted reputation. + +Now you must know Mrs. Veal was a maiden gentlewoman of about thirty +years of age, and for some years past had been troubled with fits, +which were perceived coming on her by her going off from her discourse +very abruptly to some impertinence. She was maintained by an only +brother, and kept his house in Dover. She was a very pious woman, and +her brother a very sober man to all appearance; but now he does all he +can to null and quash the story. Mrs. Veal was intimately acquainted +with Mrs. Bargrave from her childhood. Mrs. Veal's circumstances were +then mean; her father did not take care of his children as he ought, +so that they were exposed to hardships. And Mrs. Bargrave in those +days had as unkind a father, though she wanted neither for food nor +clothing; while Mrs. Veal wanted for both, insomuch that she would +often say, "Mrs. Bargrave, you are not only the best, but the only +friend I have in the world; and no circumstance of life shall ever +dissolve my friendship." They would often condole each other's adverse +fortunes, and read together _Drelincourt upon Death_, and other good +books; and so, like two Christian friends, they comforted each other +under their sorrow. + +Some time after, Mr. Veal's friends got him a place in the +custom-house at Dover, which occasioned Mrs. Veal, by little and +little, to fall off from her intimacy with Mrs. Bargrave, though there +was never any such thing as a quarrel; but an indifferency came on by +degrees, till at last Mrs. Bargrave had not seen her in two years and +a half, though above a twelvemonth of the time Mrs. Bargrave hath been +absent from Dover, and this last half-year has been in Canterbury +about two months of the time, dwelling in a house of her own. + +In this house, on the eighth of September, one thousand seven hundred +and five, she was sitting alone in the forenoon, thinking over her +unfortunate life, and arguing herself into a due resignation to +Providence, though her condition seemed hard: "And," said she, "I have +been provided for hitherto, and doubt not but I shall be still, and am +well satisfied that my afflictions shall end when it is most fit for +me." And then took up her sewing work, which she had no sooner done +but she hears a knocking at the door; she went to see who was there, +and this proved to be Mrs. Veal, her old friend, who was in a +riding-habit. At that moment of time the clock struck twelve at noon. + +"Madam," says Mrs. Bargrave, "I am surprised to see you, you have been +so long a stranger"; but told her she was glad to see her, and offered +to salute her, which Mrs. Veal complied with, till their lips almost +touched, and then Mrs. Veal drew her hand across her own eyes, and +said, "I am not very well," and so waived it. She told Mrs. Bargrave +she was going a journey, and had a great mind to see her first. "But," +says Mrs. Bargrave, "how can you take a journey alone? I am amazed at +it, because I know you have a fond brother." "Oh," says Mrs. Veal, +"I gave my brother the slip, and came away, because I had so great a +desire to see you before I took my journey." So Mrs. Bargrave went in +with her into another room within the first, and Mrs. Veal sat her +down in an elbow-chair, in which Mrs. Bargrave was sitting when she +heard Mrs. Veal knock. "Then," says Mrs. Veal, "my dear friend, I am +come to renew our old friendship again, and beg your pardon for my +breach of it; and if you can forgive me, you are the best of women." +"Oh," says Mrs. Bargrave, "do not mention such a thing; I have not had +an uneasy thought about it." "What did you think of me?" says Mrs. +Veal. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "I thought you were like the rest of the +world, and that prosperity had made you forget yourself and me." Then +Mrs. Veal reminded Mrs. Bargrave of the many friendly offices she did +her in former days, and much of the conversation they had with each +other in the times of their adversity; what books they read, and +what comfort in particular they received from Drelincourt's _Book of +Death_, which was the best, she said, on the subject ever wrote. +She also mentioned Doctor Sherlock, and two Dutch books, which were +translated, wrote upon death, and several others. But Drelincourt, she +said, had the clearest notions of death and of the future state of any +who had handled that subject. Then she asked Mrs. Bargrave whether she +had Drelincourt. She said, "Yes." Says Mrs. Veal, "Fetch it." And so +Mrs. Bargrave goes up-stairs and brings it down. Says Mrs. Veal, "Dear +Mrs. Bargrave, if the eyes of our faith were as open as the eyes of +our body, we should see numbers of angels about us for our guard. +The notions we have of Heaven now are nothing like what it is, as +Drelincourt says; therefore be comforted under your afflictions, and +believe that the Almighty has a particular regard to you, and that +your afflictions are marks of God's favor; and when they have done +the business they are sent for, they shall be removed from you. And +believe me, my dear friend, believe what I say to you, one minute of +future happiness will infinitely reward you for all your sufferings. +For I can never believe" (and claps her hand upon her knee with great +earnestness, which, indeed, ran through most of her discourse) "that +ever God will suffer you to spend all your days in this afflicted +state. But be assured that your afflictions shall leave you, or you +them, in a short time." She spake in that pathetical and heavenly +manner that Mrs. Bargrave wept several times, she was so deeply +affected with it. + +Then Mrs. Veal mentioned Doctor Kendrick's _Ascetic_, at the end of +which he gives an account of the lives of the primitive Christians. +Their pattern she recommended to our imitation, and said, "Their +conversation was not like this of our age. For now," says she, "there +is nothing but vain, frothy discourse, which is far different from +theirs. Theirs was to edification, and to build one another up in +faith, so that they were not as we are, nor are we as they were. But," +said she, "we ought to do as they did; there was a hearty friendship +among them; but where is it now to be found?" Says Mrs. Bargrave, "It +is hard indeed to find a true friend in these days." Says Mrs. +Veal, "Mr. Norris has a fine copy of verses, called _Friendship in +Perfection_, which I wonderfully admire. Have you seen the book?" says +Mrs. Veal. "No," says Mrs. Bargrave, "but I have the verses of my own +writing out." "Have you?" says Mrs. Veal; "then fetch them"; which +she did from above stairs, and offered them to Mrs. Veal to read, who +refused, and waived the thing, saying, "holding down her head would +make it ache"; and then desiring Mrs. Bargrave to read them to her, +which she did. As they were admiring _Friendship_, Mrs. Veal said, +"Dear Mrs. Bargrave, I shall love you forever." In these verses there +is twice used the word "Elysian." "Ah!" says Mrs. Veal, "these poets +have such names for Heaven." She would often draw her hand across her +own eyes, and say, "Mrs. Bargrave, do not you think I am mightily +impaired by my fits?" "No," says Mrs. Bargrave; "I think you look as +well as ever I knew you." + +After this discourse, which the apparition put in much finer words +than Mrs. Bargrave said she could pretend to, and as much more than +she can remember--for it cannot be thought that an hour and three +quarters' conversation could all be retained, though the main of it +she thinks she does--she said to Mrs. Bargrave she would have her +write a letter to her brother, and tell him she would have him give +rings to such and such; and that there was a purse of gold in her +cabinet, and that she would have two broad pieces given to her cousin +Watson. + +Talking at this rate, Mrs. Bargrave thought that a fit was coming upon +her, and so placed herself on a chair just before her knees, to keep +her from falling to the ground, if her fits should occasion it; for +the elbow-chair, she thought, would keep her from falling on either +side. And to divert Mrs. Veal, as she thought, took hold of her +gown-sleeve several times, and commended it. Mrs. Veal told her it +was a scoured silk, and newly made up. But, for all this, Mrs. Veal +persisted in her request, and told Mrs. Bargrave she must not deny +her. And she would have her tell her brother all their conversation +when she had the opportunity. "Dear Mrs. Veal," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"this seems so impertinent that I cannot tell how to comply with +it; and what a mortifying story will our conversation be to a young +gentleman. Why," says Mrs. Bargrave, "it is much better, methinks, to +do it yourself." "No," says Mrs. Veal; "though it seems impertinent to +you now, you will see more reasons for it hereafter." Mrs. Bargrave, +then, to satisfy her importunity, was going to fetch a pen and ink, +but Mrs. Veal said, "Let it alone now, but do it when I am gone; but +you must be sure to do it"; which was one of the last things she +enjoined her at parting, and so she promised her. + +Then Mrs. Veal asked for Mrs. Bargrave's daughter. She said she was +not at home. "But if you have a mind to see her," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"I'll send for her." "Do," says Mrs. Veal; on which she left her, and +went to a neighbor's to see her; and by the time Mrs. Bargrave was +returning, Mrs. Veal was got without the door in the street, in the +face of the beast-market, on a Saturday (which is market-day), and +stood ready to part as soon as Mrs. Bargrave came to her. She asked +her why she was in such haste. She said she must be going, though +perhaps she might not go her journey till Monday; and told Mrs. +Bargrave she hoped she should see her again at her cousin Watson's +before she went whither she was going. Then she said she would take +her leave of her, and walked from Mrs. Bargrave, in her view, till a +turning interrupted the sight of her, which was three-quarters after +one in the afternoon. + +Mrs. Veal died the seventh of September, at twelve o'clock at noon, of +her fits, and had not above four hours' senses before her death, in +which time she received the sacrament. The next day after Mrs. Veal's +appearance, being Sunday, Mrs. Bargrave was mightily indisposed with +a cold and sore throat, that she could not go out that day; but on +Monday morning she sends a person to Captain Watson's to know if Mrs. +Veal was there. They wondered at Mrs. Bargrave's inquiry, and sent +her word she was not there, nor was expected. At this answer, Mrs. +Bargrave told the maid she had certainly mistook the name or made some +blunder. And though she was ill, she put on her hood and went herself +to Captain Watson's, though she knew none of the family, to see if +Mrs. Veal was there or not. They said they wondered at her asking, for +that she had not been in town; they were sure, if she had, she would +have been there. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "I am sure she was with me on +Saturday almost two hours." They said it was impossible, for they must +have seen her if she had. In comes Captain Watson, while they were +in dispute, and said that Mrs. Veal was certainly dead, and the +escutcheons were making. This strangely surprised Mrs. Bargrave, when +she sent to the person immediately who had the care of them, and found +it true. Then she related the whole story to Captain Watson's family; +and what gown she had on, and how striped; and that Mrs. Veal told her +that it was scoured. Then Mrs. Watson cried out, "You have seen her +indeed, for none knew but Mrs. Veal and myself that the gown was +scoured." And Mrs. Watson owned that she described the gown exactly; +"for," said she, "I helped her to make it up." This Mrs. Watson blazed +all about the town, and avouched the demonstration of truth of Mrs. +Bargrave's seeing Mrs. Veal's apparition. And Captain Watson carried +two gentlemen immediately to Mrs. Bargrave's house to hear the +relation from her own mouth. And when it spread so fast that gentlemen +and persons of quality, the judicious and sceptical part of the world, +flocked in upon her, it at last became such a task that she was forced +to go out of the way; for they were in general extremely satisfied +of the truth of the thing, and plainly saw that Mrs. Bargrave was no +hypochondriac, for she always appears with such a cheerful air and +pleasing mien that she has gained the favor and esteem of all the +gentry, and it is thought a great favor if they can but get the +relation from her own mouth. I should have told you before that Mrs. +Veal told Mrs. Bargrave that her sister and brother-in-law were just +come down from London to see her. Says Mrs. Bargrave, "How came you to +order matters so strangely?" "It could not be helped," said Mrs. Veal. +And her brother and sister did come to see her, and entered the town +of Dover just as Mrs. Veal was expiring. Mrs. Bargrave asked her +whether she would drink some tea. Says Mrs. Veal, "I do not care if +I do; but I'll warrant you this mad fellow"--meaning Mrs. Bargrave's +husband--"has broke all your trinkets." "But," says Mrs. Bargrave, +"I'll get something to drink in for all that"; but Mrs. Veal waived +it, and said, "It is no matter; let it alone"; and so it passed. + +All the time I sat with Mrs. Bargrave, which was some hours, she +recollected fresh sayings of Mrs. Veal. And one material thing more +she told Mrs. Bargrave, that old Mr. Bretton allowed Mrs. Veal ten +pounds a year, which was a secret, and unknown to Mrs. Bargrave till +Mrs. Veal told her. + +Mrs. Bargrave never varies in her story, which puzzles those who +doubt of the truth, or are unwilling to believe it. A servant in the +neighbor's yard adjoining to Mrs. Bargrave's house heard her talking +to somebody an hour of the time Mrs. Veal was with her. Mrs. Bargrave +went out to her next neighbor's the very moment she parted with Mrs. +Veal, and told her what ravishing conversation she had had with an old +friend, and told the whole of it. Drelincourt's _Book of Death_ is, +since this happened, bought up strangely. And it is to be observed +that, notwithstanding all the trouble and fatigue Mrs. Bargrave has +undergone upon this account, she never took the value of a farthing, +nor suffered her daughter to take anything of anybody, and therefore +can have no interest in telling the story. + +But Mr. Veal does what he can to stifle the matter, and said he would +see Mrs. Bargrave; but yet it is certain matter of fact that he has +been at Captain Watson's since the death of his sister, and yet never +went near Mrs. Bargrave; and some of his friends report her to be a +liar, and that she knew of Mr. Bretton's ten pounds a year. But the +person who pretends to say so has the reputation to be a notorious +liar among persons whom I know to be of undoubted credit. Now, Mr. +Veal is more of a gentleman than to say she lies, but says a bad +husband has crazed her; but she needs only present herself, and it +will effectually confute that pretence. Mr. Veal says he asked his +sister on her death-bed whether she had a mind to dispose of anything. +And she said no. Now the things which Mrs. Veal's apparition would +have disposed of were so trifling, and nothing of justice aimed at in +the disposal, that the design of it appears to me to be only in order +to make Mrs. Bargrave satisfy the world of the reality thereof as to +what she had seen and heard, and to secure her reputation among the +reasonable and understanding part of mankind. And then, again, Mr. +Veal owns that there was a purse of gold; but it was not found in +her cabinet, but in a comb-box. This looks improbable; for that Mrs. +Watson owned that Mrs. Veal was so very careful of the key of her +cabinet that she would trust nobody with it; and if so, no doubt she +would not trust her gold out of it. And Mrs. Veal's often drawing her +hands over her eyes, and asking Mrs. Bargrave whether her fits had not +impaired her, looks to me as if she did it on purpose to remind Mrs. +Bargrave of her fits, to prepare her not to think it strange that she +should put her upon writing to her brother, to dispose of rings and +gold, which look so much like a dying person's request; and it took +accordingly with Mrs. Bargrave as the effect of her fits coming upon +her, and was one of the many instances of her wonderful love to her +and care of her, that she should not be affrighted, which, indeed, +appears in her whole management, particularly in her coming to her in +the daytime, waiving the salutation, and when she was alone; and then +the manner of her parting, to prevent a second attempt to salute her. + +Now, why Mr. Veal should think this relation a reflection--as it is +plain he does, by his endeavoring to stifle it--I cannot imagine; +because the generality believe her to be a good spirit, her discourse +was so heavenly. Her two great errands were, to comfort Mrs. Bargrave +in her affliction, and to ask her forgiveness for her breach of +friendship, and with a pious discourse to encourage her. So that, +after all, to suppose that Mrs. Bargrave could hatch such an invention +as this, from Friday noon to Saturday noon--supposing that she knew +of Mrs. Veal's death the very first moment--without jumbling +circumstances, and without any interest, too, she must be more witty, +fortunate, and wicked, too, than any indifferent person, I dare say, +will allow. I asked Mrs. Bargrave several times if she was sure she +felt the gown. She answered, modestly, "If my senses be to be relied +on, I am sure of it." I asked her if she heard a sound when she +clapped her hand upon her knee. She said she did not remember she did, +but said she appeared to be as much a substance as I did who talked +with her. "And I may," said she, "be as soon persuaded that your +apparition is talking to me now as that I did not really see her; +for I was under no manner of fear, and received her as a friend, and +parted with her as such. I would not," says she, "give one farthing to +make any one believe it; I have no interest in it; nothing but trouble +is entailed upon me for a long time, for aught I know; and, had it not +come to light by accident, it would never have been made public." But +now she says she will make her own private use of it, and keep herself +out of the way as much as she can; and so she has done since. She says +she had a gentleman who came thirty miles to her to hear the relation; +and that she had told it to a roomful of people at the time. Several +particular gentlemen have had the story from Mrs. Bargrave's own +mouth. + +This thing has very much affected me, and I am as well satisfied as +I am of the best-grounded matter of fact. And why we should dispute +matter of fact, because we cannot solve things of which we can have no +certain or demonstrative notions, seems strange to me; Mrs. Bargrave's +authority and sincerity alone would have been undoubted in any other +case. + + + + +THE MYSTERIOUS BRIDE[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Tales and Sketches_, by the Ettrick Shepherd.] + +_James Hogg_ (1770-1835) + + +A great number of people nowadays are beginning broadly to insinuate +that there are no such things as ghosts, or spiritual beings visible +to mortal sight. Even Sir Walter Scott is turned renegade, and, with +his stories made up of half-and-half, like Nathaniel Gow's toddy, +is trying to throw cold water on the most certain, though most +impalpable, phenomena of human nature. The bodies are daft. Heaven +mend their wits! Before they had ventured to assert such things, I +wish they had been where I have often been; or, in particular, where +the Laird of Birkendelly was on St. Lawrence's Eve, in the year 1777, +and sundry times subsequent to that. + +Be it known, then, to every reader of this relation of facts that +happened in my own remembrance that the road from Birkendelly to the +great muckle village of Balmawhapple (commonly called the muckle town, +in opposition to the little town that stood on the other side of the +burn)--that road, I say, lay between two thorn-hedges, so well kept +by the Laird's hedger, so close, and so high, that a rabbit could not +have escaped from the highway into any of the adjoining fields. Along +this road was the Laird riding on the Eve of St. Lawrence, in a +careless, indifferent manner, with his hat to one side, and his cane +dancing a hornpipe before him. He was, moreover, chanting a song to +himself, and I have heard people tell what song it was too. There was +once a certain, or rather uncertain, bard, ycleped Robert Burns, who +made a number of good songs; but this that the Laird sang was an +amorous song of great antiquity, which, like all the said bard's best +songs, was sung one hundred and fifty years before he was born. It +began thus: + + "I am the Laird of Windy-wa's, + I cam nae here without a cause, + An' I hae gotten forty fa's + In coming o'er the knowe, joe. + The night it is baith wind and weet; + The morn it will be snaw and sleet; + My shoon are frozen to my feet; + O, rise an' let me in, joe! + Let me in this ae night," etc. + +This song was the Laird singing, while, at the same time, he was +smudging and laughing at the catastrophe, when, ere ever aware, he +beheld, a short way before him, an uncommonly elegant and beautiful +girl walking in the same direction with him. "Aye," said the Laird to +himself, "here is something very attractive indeed! Where the deuce +can she have sprung from? She must have risen out of the earth, for I +never saw her till this breath. Well, I declare I have not seen such a +female figure--I wish I had such an assignation with her as the Laird +of Windy-wa's had with his sweetheart." + +As the Laird was half-thinking, half-speaking this to himself, the +enchanting creature looked back at him with a motion of intelligence +that she knew what he was half-saying, half-thinking, and then +vanished over the summit of the rising ground before him, called the +Birky Brow. "Aye, go your ways!" said the Laird; "I see by you, you'll +not be very hard to overtake. You cannot get off the road, and I'll +have a chat with you before you make the Deer's Den." + +The Laird jogged on. He did not sing the _Laird of Windy-wa's_ any +more, for he felt a stifling about his heart; but he often repeated to +himself, "She's a very fine woman!--a very fine woman indeed!--and to +be walking here by herself! I cannot comprehend it." + +When he reached the summit of the Birky Brow he did not see her, +although he had a longer view of the road than before. He thought this +very singular, and began to suspect that she wanted to escape him, +although apparently rather lingering on him before. "I shall have +another look at her, however," thought the Laird, and off he set at a +flying trot. No. He came first to one turn, then another. There was +nothing of the young lady to be seen. "Unless she take wings and fly +away, I shall be up with her," quoth the Laird, and off he set at the +full gallop. + +In the middle of his career he met with Mr. McMurdie, of Aulton, who +hailed him with, "Hilloa, Birkendelly! Where the deuce are you flying +at that rate?" + +"I was riding after a woman," said the Laird, with great simplicity, +reining in his steed. + +"Then I am sure no woman on earth can long escape you, unless she be +in an air balloon." + +"I don't know that. Is she far gone?" + +"In which way do you mean?" + +"In this." + +"Aha-ha-ha! Hee-hee-hee!" nichered McMurdie, misconstruing the Laird's +meaning. + +"What do you laugh at, my dear sir? Do you know her, then?" + +"Ho-ho-ho! Hee-hee-hee! How should I, or how can I, know her, +Birkendelly, unless you inform me who she is?" + +"Why, that is the very thing I want to know of you. I mean the young +lady whom you met just now." + +"You are raving, Birkendelly. I met no young lady, nor is there a +single person on the road I have come by, while you know that for a +mile and a half forward your way she could not get out of it." + +"I know that," said the Laird, biting his lip and looking greatly +puzzled; "but confound me if I understand this; for I was within +speech of her just now on the top of the Birky Brow there, and, when I +think of it, she could not have been even thus far as yet. She had on +a pure white gauze frock, a small green bonnet and feathers, and a +green veil, which, flung back over her left shoulder, hung below her +waist, and was altogether such an engaging figure that no man could +have passed her on the road without taking some note of her. Are you +not making game of me? Did you not really meet with her?" + +"On my word of truth and honor, I did not. Come, ride back with me, +and we shall meet her still, depend on it. She has given you the go-by +on the road. Let us go; I am only to call at the mill about some +barley for the distillery, and will return with you to the big town." + +Birkendelly returned with his friend. The sun was not yet set, yet +M'Murdie could not help observing that the Laird looked thoughtful +and confused, and not a word could he speak about anything save this +lovely apparition with the white frock and the green veil; and lo! +when they reached the top of Birky Brow there was the maiden again +before them, and exactly at the same spot where the Laird first saw +her before, only walking in the contrary direction. + +"Well, this is the most extraordinary thing that I ever knew!" +exclaimed the Laird. + +"What is it, sir?" said M'Murdie. + +"How that young lady could have eluded me," returned the Laird. "See, +here she is still!" + +"I beg your pardon, sir, I don't see her. Where is she?" + +"There, on the other side of the angle; but you are shortsighted. See, +there she is ascending the other eminence in her white frock and green +veil, as I told you. What a lovely creature!" + +"Well, well, we have her fairly before us now, and shall see what she +is like at all events," said McMurdie. + +Between the Birky Brow and this other slight eminence there is an +obtuse angle of the road at the part where it is lowest, and, in +passing this, the two friends necessarily lost sight of the object +of their curiosity. They pushed on at a quick pace, cleared the low +angle--the maiden was not there! They rode full speed to the top of +the eminence from whence a long extent of road was visible before +them--there was no human creature in view. McMurdie laughed aloud, but +the Laird turned pale as death and bit his lip. His friend asked him +good-humoredly why he was so much affected. He said, because he could +not comprehend the meaning of this singular apparition or illusion, +and it troubled him the more as he now remembered a dream of the same +nature which he had, and which terminated in a dreadful manner. + +"Why, man, you are dreaming still," said McMurdie. "But never mind; +it is quite common for men of your complexion to dream of beautiful +maidens with white frocks, and green veils, bonnets, feathers, and +slender waists. It is a lovely image, the creation of your own +sanguine imagination, and you may worship it without any blame. Were +her shoes black or green? And her stockings--did you note them? The +symmetry of the limbs, I am sure you did! Good-bye; I see you are not +disposed to leave the spot. Perhaps she will appear to you again." + +So saying, McMurdie rode on toward the mill, and Birkendelly, after +musing for some time, turned his beast's head slowly round, and began +to move toward the great muckle village. + +The Laird's feelings were now in terrible commotion. He was taken +beyond measure with the beauty and elegance of the figure he had seen, +but he remembered, with a mixture of admiration and horror, that a +dream of the same enchanting object had haunted his slumbers all +the days of his life; yet, how singular that he should never have +recollected the circumstance till now! But farther, with the dream +there were connected some painful circumstances which, though terrible +in their issue, he could not recollect so as to form them into any +degree of arrangement. + +As he was considering deeply of these things and riding slowly down +the declivity, neither dancing his cane nor singing the _Laird of +Windy-wa's_, he lifted up his eyes, and there was the girl on the same +spot where he saw her first, walking deliberately up the Birky Brow. +The sun was down, but it was the month of August and a fine evening, +and the Laird, seized with an unconquerable desire to see and speak +with that incomparable creature, could restrain himself no longer, but +shouted out to her to stop till he came up. She beckoned acquiescence, +and slackened her pace into a slow movement. The Laird turned the +corner quickly, but when he had rounded it the maiden was still there, +though on the summit of the brow. She turned round, and, with an +ineffable smile and curtsy, saluted him, and again moved slowly on. +She vanished gradually beyond the summit, and while the green feathers +were still nodding in view, and so nigh that the Laird could have +touched them with a fishing-rod, he reached the top of the brow +himself. There was no living soul there, nor onward, as far as his +view reached. He now trembled in every limb, and, without knowing what +he did, rode straight on to the big town, not daring well to return +and see what he had seen for three several times; and certain he would +see it again when the shades of evening were deepening, he deemed +it proper and prudent to decline the pursuit of such a phantom any +farther. + +He alighted at the Queen's Head, called for some brandy and water, +quite forgot what was his errand to the great muckle town that +afternoon, there being nothing visible to his mental sight but lovely +images, with white gauze frocks and green veils. His friend M'Murdie +joined him; they drank deep, bantered, reasoned, got angry, reasoned +themselves calm again, and still all would not do. The Laird was +conscious that he had seen the beautiful apparition, and, moreover, +that she was the very maiden, or the resemblance of her, who, in the +irrevocable decrees of Providence, was destined to be his. It was in +vain that M'Murdie reasoned of impressions on the imagination, and + + "Of fancy moulding in the mind, + Light visions on the passing wind." + +Vain also was a story that he told him of a relation of his own, who +was greatly harassed by the apparition of an officer in a red uniform +that haunted him day and night, and had very nigh put him quite +distracted several times, till at length his physician found out the +nature of this illusion so well that he knew, from the state of his +pulse, to an hour when the ghost of the officer would appear, and by +bleeding, low diet, and emollients contrived to keep the apparition +away altogether. + +The Laird admitted the singularity of this incident, but not that it +was one in point; for the one, he said, was imaginary, the other +real, and that no conclusions could convince him in opposition to the +authority of his own senses. He accepted of an invitation to spend +a few days with M'Murdie and his family, but they all acknowledged +afterward that the Laird was very much like one bewitched. + +As soon as he reached home he went straight to the Birky Brow, certain +of seeing once more the angelic phantom, but she was not there. He +took each of his former positions again and again, but the desired +vision would in no wise make its appearance. He tried every day +and every hour of the day, all with the same effect, till he grew +absolutely desperate, and had the audacity to kneel on the spot and +entreat of Heaven to see her. Yes, he called on Heaven to see her once +more, whatever she was, whether a being of earth, heaven, or hell. + +He was now in such a state of excitement that he could not exist; he +grew listless, impatient, and sickly, took to his bed, and sent for +M'Murdie and the doctor; and the issue of the consultation was that +Birkendelly consented to leave the country for a season, on a visit to +his only sister in Ireland, whither we must accompany him for a short +space. + +His sister was married to Captain Bryan, younger, of Scoresby, and +they two lived in a cottage on the estate, and the Captain's parents +and sisters at Scoresby Hall. Great was the stir and preparation when +the gallant young Laird of Birkendelly arrived at the cottage, +it never being doubted that he came to forward a second bond of +connection with the family, which still contained seven dashing +sisters, all unmarried, and all alike willing to change that solitary +and helpless state for the envied one of matrimony--a state highly +popular among the young women of Ireland. Some of the Misses Bryan +had now reached the years of womanhood, several of them scarcely, but +these small disqualifications made no difference in the estimation of +the young ladies themselves; each and all of them brushed up for the +competition with high hopes and unflinching resolutions. True, +the elder ones tried to check the younger in their good-natured, +forthright Irish way; but they retorted, and persisted in their +superior pretensions. Then there was such shopping in the county town! +It was so boundless that the credit of the Hall was finally exhausted, +and the old Squire was driven to remark that "Och, and to be sure it +was a dreadful and tirrabell concussion, to be put upon the equipment +of seven daughters all at the same moment, as if the young gentleman +could marry them all! Och, then, poor dear shoul, he would be after +finding that one was sufficient, if not one too many. And therefore +there was no occasion, none at all, at all, and that there was not, +for any of them to rig out more than one." + +It was hinted that the Laird had some reason for complaint at this +time, but as the lady sided with her daughters, he had no chance. One +of the items of his account was thirty-seven buckling-combs, then +greatly in vogue. There were black combs, pale combs, yellow combs, +and gilt ones, all to suit or set off various complexions; and if +other articles bore any proportion at all to these, it had been better +for the Laird and all his family that Birkendelly had never set foot +in Ireland. + +The plan was all concocted. There was to be a grand dinner at the +Hall, at which the damsels were to appear in all their finery. A ball +to follow, and note be taken which of the young ladies was their +guest's choice, and measures taken accordingly. The dinner and +the ball took place; and what a pity I may not describe that +entertainment, the dresses, and the dancers, for they were all +exquisite in their way, and _outre_ beyond measure. But such details +only serve to derange a winter evening's tale such as this. + +Birkendelly having at this time but one model for his choice among +womankind, all that ever he did while in the presence of ladies was to +look out for some resemblance to her, the angel of his fancy; and it +so happened that in one of old Bryan's daughters named Luna, or, +more familiarly, Loony, he perceived, or thought he perceived, some +imaginary similarity in form and air to the lovely apparition. This +was the sole reason why he was incapable of taking his eyes off from +her the whole of that night; and this incident settled the point, not +only with the old people, but even the young ladies were forced, after +every exertion on their own parts, to "yild the p'int to their sister +Loony, who certainly was not the mist genteelest nor mist handsomest +of that guid-lucking fimily." + +The next day Lady Luna was dispatched off to the cottage in grand +style, there to live hand in glove with her supposed lover. There was +no standing all this. There were the two parrocked together, like a +ewe and a lamb, early and late; and though the Laird really appeared +to have, and probably had, some delight in her company, it was only in +contemplating that certain indefinable air of resemblance which she +bore to the sole image impressed on his heart. He bought her a white +gauze frock, a green bonnet and feather, with a veil, which she was +obliged to wear thrown over her left shoulder, and every day after, +six times a day, was she obliged to walk over a certain eminence at a +certain distance before her lover. She was delighted to oblige him; +but still, when he came up, he looked disappointed, and never said, +"Luna, I love you; when are we to be married?" No, he never said any +such thing, for all her looks and expressions of fondest love; for, +alas! in all this dalliance he was only feeding a mysterious flame +that preyed upon his vitals, and proved too severe for the powers +either of reason or religion to extinguish. Still, time flew lighter +and lighter by, his health was restored, the bloom of his cheek +returned, and the frank and simple confidence of Luna had a certain +charm with it that reconciled him to his sister's Irish economy. But a +strange incident now happened to him which deranged all his immediate +plans. + +He was returning from angling one evening, a little before sunset, +when he saw Lady Luna awaiting him on his way home. But instead of +brushing up to meet him as usual, she turned, and walked up the rising +ground before him. "Poor sweet girl! how condescending she is," said +he to himself, "and how like she is in reality to the angelic being +whose form and features are so deeply impressed on my heart! I now see +it is no fond or fancied resemblance. It is real! real! real! How I +long to clasp her in my arms, and tell her how I love her; for, after +all, that is the girl that is to be mine, and the former a vision to +impress this the more on my heart." + +He posted up the ascent to overtake her. When at the top she turned, +smiled, and curtsied. Good heavens! it was the identical lady of his +fondest adoration herself, but lovelier, far lovelier, than ever. He +expected every moment that she would vanish, as was her wont; but she +did not--she awaited him, and received his embraces with open arms. +She was a being of real flesh and blood, courteous, elegant, and +affectionate. He kissed her hand, he kissed her glowing cheek, and +blessed all the powers of love who had thus restored her to him again, +after undergoing pangs of love such as man never suffered. + +"But, dearest heart, here we are standing in the middle of the +highway," said he; "suffer me to conduct you to my sister's house, +where you shall have an apartment with a child of nature having some +slight resemblance to yourself." She smiled, and said, "No, I will not +sleep with Lady Luna to-night. Will you please to look round you, and +see where you are." He did so, and behold they were standing on the +Birky Brow, on the only spot where he had ever seen her. She smiled at +his embarrassed look, and asked if he did not remember aught of his +coming over from Ireland. He said he thought he did remember something +of it, but love with him had long absorbed every other sense. He then +asked her to his own house, which she declined, saying she could only +meet him on that spot till after their marriage, which could not be +before St. Lawrence's Eve come three years. "And now," said she, "we +must part. My name is Jane Ogilvie, and you were betrothed to me +before you were born. But I am come to release you this evening, if +you have the slightest objection." + +He declared he had none; and kneeling, swore the most solemn oath to +be hers forever, and to meet her there on St. Lawrence's Eve next, +and every St. Lawrence's Eve until that blessed day on which she had +consented to make him happy by becoming his own forever. She then +asked him affectionately to change rings with her, in pledge of their +faith and troth, in which he joyfully acquiesced; for she could not +have then asked any conditions which, in the fulness of his heart's +love, he would not have granted; and after one fond and affectionate +kiss, and repeating all their engagements over again, they parted. + +Birkendelly's heart was now melted within him, and all his senses +overpowered by one overwhelming passion. On leaving his fair and kind +one, he got bewildered, and could not find the road to his own house, +believing sometimes that he was going there, and sometimes to his +sister's, till at length he came, as he thought, upon the Liffey, at +its junction with Loch Allan; and there, in attempting to call for a +boat, he awoke from a profound sleep, and found himself lying in his +bed within his sister's house, and the day sky just breaking. + +If he was puzzled to account for some things in the course of his +dream, he was much more puzzled to account for them now that he was +wide awake. He was sensible that he had met his love, had embraced, +kissed, and exchanged vows and rings with her, and, in token of the +truth and reality of all these, her emerald ring was on his finger, +and his own away; so there was no doubt that they had met--by what +means it was beyond the power of man to calculate. + +There was then living with Mrs. Bryan an old Scotswoman, commonly +styled Lucky Black. She had nursed Birkendelly's mother, and been +dry-nurse to himself and sister; and having more than a mother's +attachment for the latter, when she was married, old Lucky left her +country to spend the last of her days in the house of her beloved +young lady. When the Laird entered the breakfast-parlor that morning +she was sitting in her black velvet hood, as usual, reading _The +Fourfold State of Man_, and, being paralytic and somewhat deaf, she +seldom regarded those who went or came. But chancing to hear him say +something about the 9th of August, she quitted reading, turned round +her head to listen, and then asked, in a hoarse, tremulous voice: +"What's that he's saying? What's the unlucky callant saying about the +9th of August? Aih? To be sure it is St. Lawrence's Eve, although the +10th be his day. It's ower true, ower true, ower true for him an' a' +his kin, poor man! Aih? What was he saying then?" + +The men smiled at her incoherent earnestness, but the lady, with true +feminine condescension, informed her, in a loud voice, that Allan had +an engagement in Scotland on St. Lawrence's Eve. She then started up, +extended her shrivelled hands, that shook like the aspen, and panted +out: "Aih, aih? Lord preserve us! Whaten an engagement has he on St. +Lawrence's Eve? Bind him! bind him! Shackle him wi' bands of steel, +and of brass, and of iron! O may He whose blessed will was pleased +to leave him an orphan sae soon, preserve him from the fate which I +tremble to think on!" + +She then tottered round the table, as with supernatural energy, and +seizing the Laird's right hand, she drew it close to her unstable +eyes, and then perceiving the emerald ring chased in blood, she threw +up her arms with a jerk, opened her skinny jaws with a fearful gape, +and uttering a shriek that made all the house yell, and every one +within it to tremble, she fell back lifeless and rigid on the floor. +The gentlemen both fled, out of sheer terror; but a woman never +deserts her friends in extremity. The lady called her maids about her, +had her old nurse conveyed to bed, where every means were used to +restore animation. But, alas, life was extinct! The vital spark +had fled forever, which filled all their hearts with grief, +disappointment, and horror, as some dreadful tale of mystery was now +sealed up from their knowledge which, in all likelihood, no other +could reveal. But to say the truth, the Laird did not seem greatly +disposed to probe it to the bottom. + +Not all the arguments of Captain Bryan and his lady, nor the simple +entreaties of Lady Luna, could induce Birkendelly to put off his +engagement to meet his love on the Birky Brow on the evening of the +9th of August; but he promised soon to return, pretending that some +business of the utmost importance called him away. Before he went, +however, he asked his sister if ever she had heard of such a lady in +Scotland as Jane Ogilvie. Mrs. Bryan repeated the name many times to +herself, and said that name undoubtedly was once familiar to her, +although she thought not for good, but at that moment she did not +recollect one single individual of the name. He then showed her the +emerald ring that had been the death of Lucky Black; but the moment +the lady looked at it, she made a grasp at it to take it off by force, +which she had very nearly effected. "Oh, burn it! burn it!" cried she; +"it is not a right ring! Burn it!" + +"My dear sister, what fault is in the ring?" said he. "It is a very +pretty ring, and one that I set great value by." + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake, burn it, and renounce the giver!" cried she. +"If you have any regard for your peace here or your soul's welfare +hereafter, burn that ring! If you saw with your own eyes, you would +easily perceive that that is not a ring befitting a Christian to +wear." + +This speech confounded Birkendelly a good deal. He retired by himself +and examined the ring, and could see nothing in it unbecoming a +Christian to wear. It was a chased gold ring, with a bright emerald, +which last had a red foil, in some lights giving it a purple gleam, +and inside was engraven "_Elegit_," much defaced, but that his +sister could not see; therefore he could not comprehend her vehement +injunctions concerning it. But that it might no more give her offence, +or any other, he sewed it within his vest, opposite his heart, judging +that there was something in it which his eyes were withholden from +discerning. + +Thus he left Ireland with his mind in great confusion, groping his +way, as it were, in a hole of mystery, yet with the passion that +preyed on his heart and vitals more intense than ever. He seems to +have had an impression all his life that some mysterious fate awaited +him, which the correspondence of his dreams and day visions tended +to confirm. And though he gave himself wholly up to the sway of one +overpowering passion, it was not without some yearnings of soul, +manifestations of terror, and so much earthly shame, that he never +more mentioned his love, or his engagements, to any human being, not +even to his friend M'Murdie, whose company he forthwith shunned. + +It is on this account that I am unable to relate what passed between +the lovers thenceforward. It is certain they met at the Birky Brow +that St. Lawrence's Eve, for they were seen in company together; but +of the engagements, vows, or dalliance that passed between them I can +say nothing; nor of all their future meetings, until the beginning of +August, 1781, when the Laird began decidedly to make preparations for +his approaching marriage; yet not as if he and his betrothed had been +to reside at Birkendelly, all his provisions rather bespeaking a +meditated journey. + +On the morning of the 9th he wrote to his sister, and then arraying +himself in his new wedding suit, and putting the emerald ring on his +finger, he appeared all impatience, until toward evening, when he +sallied out on horseback to his appointment. It seems that his +mysterious inamorata had met him, for he was seen riding through the +big town before sunset, with a young lady behind him, dressed in white +and green, and the villagers affirmed that they were riding at the +rate of fifty miles an hour! They were seen to pass a cottage called +Mosskilt, ten miles farther on, where there was no highway, at the +same tremendous speed; and I could never hear that they were any more +seen, until the following morning, when Birkendelly's fine bay horse +was found lying dead at his own stable door; and shortly after his +master was likewise discovered lying, a blackened corpse, on the Birky +Brow at the very spot where the mysterious but lovely dame had always +appeared to him. There was neither wound, bruise, nor dislocation in +his whole frame; but his skin was of a livid color, and his features +terribly distorted. + +This woful catastrophe struck the neighborhood with great +consternation, so that nothing else was talked of. Every ancient +tradition and modern incident were raked together, compared, and +combined; and certainly a most rare concatenation of misfortunes was +elicited. It was authenticated that his father had died on the same +spot that day twenty years, and his grandfather that day forty years, +the former, as was supposed, by a fall from his horse when in liquor, +and the latter, nobody knew how; and now this Allan was the last of +his race, for Mrs. Bryan had no children. + +It was, moreover, now remembered by many, and among the rest by the +Rev. Joseph Taylor, that he had frequently observed a young lady, in +white and green, sauntering about the spot on a St. Lawrence's Eve. + +When Captain Bryan and his lady arrived to take possession of the +premises, they instituted a strict inquiry into every circumstance; +but nothing further than what was related to them by Mr. M'Murdie +could be learned of this Mysterious Bride, besides what the Laird's +own letter bore. It ran thus: + +"DEAREST SISTER,--I shall before this time to-morrow be the most +happy, or most miserable, of mankind, having solemnly engaged myself +this night to wed a young and beautiful lady, named Jane Ogilvie, to +whom it seems I was betrothed before I was born. Our correspondence +has been of a most private and mysterious nature; but my troth is +pledged, and my resolution fixed. We set out on a far journey to the +place of her abode on the nuptial eve, so that it will be long before +I see you again. Yours till death, + +"ALLAN GEORGE SANDISON. + +"BIRKENDELLY, _August 8_, 1781." + +That very same year, an old woman, named Marion Haw, was returned upon +that, her native parish, from Glasgow. She had led a migratory life +with her son--who was what he called a bell-hanger, but in fact a +tinker of the worst grade--for many years, and was at last returned +to the muckle town in a state of great destitution. She gave the +parishioners a history of the Mysterious Bride, so plausibly correct, +but withal so romantic, that everybody said of it (as is often said of +my narratives, with the same narrow-minded prejudice and injustice) +that it was a _made story_. There were, however, some strong +testimonies of its veracity. + +She said the first Allan Sandison, who married the great heiress of +Birkendelly, was previously engaged to a beautiful young lady named +Jane Ogilvie, to whom he gave anything but fair play; and, as she +believed, either murdered her, or caused her to be murdered, in the +midst of a thicket of birch and broom, at a spot which she mentioned; +and she had good reason for believing so, as she had seen the red +blood and the new grave, when she was a little girl, and ran home and +mentioned it to her grandfather, who charged her as she valued her +life never to mention that again, as it was only the nombles and hide +of a deer which he himself had buried there. But when, twenty years +subsequent to that, the wicked and unhappy Allan Sandison was found +dead on that very spot, and lying across the green mound, then nearly +level with the surface, which she had once seen a new grave, she then +for the first time ever thought of a Divine Providence; and she added, +"For my grandfather, Neddy Haw, he dee'd too; there's naebody kens +how, nor ever shall." + +As they were quite incapable of conceiving from Marion's description +anything of the spot, Mr. M'Murdie caused her to be taken out to the +Birky Brow in a cart, accompanied by Mr. Taylor and some hundreds of +the town's folks; but whenever she saw it, she said, "Aha, birkies! +the haill kintra's altered now. There was nae road here then; it gaed +straight ower the tap o' the hill. An' let me see--there's the thorn +where the cushats biggit; an' there's the auld birk that I ance fell +aff an' left my shoe sticking i' the cleft. I can tell ye, birkies, +either the deer's grave or bonny Jane Ogilvie's is no twa yards aff +the place where that horse's hind-feet are standin'; sae ye may howk, +an' see if there be ony remains." + +The minister and M'Murdie and all the people stared at one another, +for they had purposely caused the horse to stand still on the very +spot where both the father and son had been found dead. They digged, +and deep, deep below the road they found part of the slender bones +and skull of a young female, which they deposited decently in the +church-yard. The family of the Sandisons is extinct, the Mysterious +Bride appears no more on the Eve of St. Lawrence, and the wicked +people of the great muckle village have got a lesson on divine justice +written to them in lines of blood. + + + + +THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER [1] + +[Footnote 1: From _The Money-diggers_.] + +_Washington Irving_ (1783-1859) + + +A few miles from Boston, in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet +winding several miles into the interior of the country from Charles +Bay, and terminating in a thickly wooded swamp or morass. On one side +of this inlet is a beautiful dark grove; on the opposite side the land +rises abruptly from the water's edge into a high ridge, on which grow +a few scattered oaks of great age and immense size. Under one of these +gigantic trees, according to old stories, there was a great amount of +treasure buried by Kidd the pirate. The inlet allowed a facility to +bring the money in a boat secretly, and at night, to the very foot of +the hill; the elevation of the place permitted a good lookout to be +kept that no one was at hand; while the remarkable trees formed good +landmarks by which the place might easily be found again. The old +stories add, moreover, that the devil presided at the hiding of the +money, and took it under his guardianship; but this, it is well known, +he always does with buried treasure, particularly when it has been +ill-gotten. Be that as it may, Kidd never returned to recover his +wealth; being shortly after seized at Boston, sent out to England, and +there hanged for a pirate. + +About the year 1727, just at the time that earthquakes were prevalent +in New England, and shook many tall sinners down upon their knees, +there lived near this place a meagre, miserly fellow, of the name of +Tom Walker. He had a wife as miserly as himself; they were so miserly +that they even conspired to cheat each other. Whatever the woman could +lay hands on she hid away; a hen could not cackle but she was on the +alert to secure the new-laid egg. Her husband was continually prying +about to detect her secret hoards, and many and fierce were the +conflicts that took place about what ought to have been common +property. They lived in a forlorn-looking house that stood alone and +had an air of starvation. A few straggling savin-trees, emblems of +sterility, grew near it; no smoke ever curled from its chimney; no +traveller stopped at its door. A miserable horse, whose ribs were as +articulate as the bars of a gridiron, stalked about a field, where +a thin carpet of moss, scarcely covering the ragged beds of +pudding-stone, tantalized and balked his hunger; and sometimes he +would lean his head over the fence, look piteously at the passer-by, +and seem to petition deliverance from this land of famine. + +The house and its inmates had altogether a bad name. Tom's wife was a +tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm. +Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his +face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to +words. No one ventured, however, to interfere between them. The +lonely wayfarer shrank within himself at the horrid clamor and +clapper-clawing; eyed the den of discord askance; and hurried on his +way, rejoicing, if a bachelor, in his celibacy. + +One day that Tom Walker had been to a distant part of the +neighborhood, he took what he considered a short-cut homeward, through +the swamp. Like most short-cuts, it was an ill-chosen route. The swamp +was thickly grown with great, gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them +ninety feet high, which made it dark at noonday and a retreat for +all the owls of the neighborhood. It was full of pits and quagmires, +partly covered with weeds and mosses, where the green surface often +betrayed the traveller into a gulf of black, smothering mud; there +were also dark and stagnant pools, the abodes of the tadpole, the +bull-frog, and the water-snake, where the trunks of pines and hemlocks +lay half-drowned, half-rotting, looking like alligators sleeping in +the mire. + +Tom had long been picking his way cautiously through this treacherous +forest, stepping from tuft to tuft of rushes and roots, which afforded +precarious footholds among deep sloughs, or pacing carefully, like a +cat, along the prostrate trunks of trees, startled now and then by +the sudden screaming of the bittern, or the quacking of a wild duck, +rising on the wing from some solitary pool. At length he arrived at a +firm piece of ground, which ran like a peninsula into the deep bosom +of the swamp. It had been one of the strongholds of the Indians during +their wars with the first colonists. Here they had thrown up a kind of +fort, which they had looked upon as almost impregnable, and had used +as a place of refuge for their squaws and children. Nothing remained +of the old Indian fort but a few embankments, gradually sinking to the +level of the surrounding earth, and already overgrown in part by oaks +and other forest trees, the foliage of which formed a contrast to the +dark pines and hemlocks of the swamps. + +It was late in the dusk of evening when Tom Walker reached the old +fort, and he paused there awhile to rest himself. Any one but he would +have felt unwilling to linger in this lonely, melancholy place, for +the common people had a bad opinion of it, from the stories handed +down from the times of the Indian wars, when it was asserted that the +savages held incantations here and made sacrifices to the Evil Spirit. + +Tom Walker, however, was not a man to be troubled with any fears of +the kind. He reposed himself for some time on the trunk of a fallen +hemlock, listening to the boding cry of the tree-toad, and delving +with his walking-staff into a mound of black mould at his feet. As he +turned up the soil unconsciously, his staff struck against something +hard. He raked it out of the vegetable mould, and lo! a cloven skull, +with an Indian tomahawk buried deep in it, lay before him. The rust on +the weapon showed the time that had elapsed since this death-blow had +been given. It was a dreary memento of the fierce struggle that had +taken place in this last foothold of the Indian warriors. + +"Humph!" said Tom Walker, as he gave it a kick to shake the dirt from +it. + +"Let that skull alone!" said a gruff voice. Tom lifted up his eyes and +beheld a great black man seated directly opposite him, on the stump of +a tree. He was exceedingly surprised, having neither heard nor seen +any one approach; and he was still more perplexed on observing, as +well as the gathering gloom would permit, that the stranger was +neither negro nor Indian. It is true he was dressed in a rude Indian +garb, and had a red belt or sash swathed round his body; but his +face was neither black nor copper-color, but swarthy and dingy, and +begrimed with soot, as if he had been accustomed to toil among fires +and forges. He had a shock of coarse black hair, that stood out from +his head in all directions, and bore an axe on his shoulder. + +He scowled for a moment at Tom with a pair of great red eyes. + +"What are you doing on my grounds?" said the black man, with a hoarse, +growling voice. + +"Your grounds!" said Tom, with a sneer; "no more your grounds than +mine; they belong to Deacon Peabody." + +"Deacon Peabody be damned," said the stranger, "as I flatter myself he +will be, if he does not look more to his own sins and less to those of +his neighbors. Look yonder, and see how Deacon Peabody is faring." + +Tom looked in the direction that the stranger pointed, and beheld one +of the great trees, fair and flourishing without, but rotten at the +core, and saw that it had been nearly hewn through, so that the first +high wind was likely to blow it down. On the bark of the tree was +scored the name of Deacon Peabody, an eminent man who had waxed +wealthy by driving shrewd bargains with the Indians. He now looked +around, and found most of the tall trees marked with the name of some +great man of the colony, and all more or less scored by the axe. The +one on which he had been seated, and which had evidently just been +hewn down, bore the name of Crowninshield; and he recollected a mighty +rich man of that name, who made a vulgar display of wealth, which it +was whispered he had acquired by buccaneering. + +"He's just ready for burning!" said the black man, with a growl of +triumph. "You see I am likely to have a good stock of firewood for +winter." + +"But what right have you," said Tom, "to cut down Deacon Peabody's +timber?" + +"The right of a prior claim," said the other. "This woodland belonged +to me long before one of your white-faced race put foot upon the +soil." + +"And, pray, who are you, if I may be so bold?" said Tom. + +"Oh, I go by various names. I am the wild huntsman in some countries; +the black miner in others. In this neighborhood I am known by the name +of the black woodsman. I am he to whom the red men consecrated this +spot, and in honor of whom they now and then roasted a white man, +by way of sweet-smelling sacrifice. Since the red men have been +exterminated by you white savages, I amuse myself by presiding at the +persecutions of Quakers and Anabaptists; I am the great patron and +prompter of slave-dealers and the grand-master of the Salem witches." + +"The upshot of all which is, that, if I mistake not," said Tom, +sturdily, "you are he commonly called Old Scratch." + +"The same, at your service!" replied the black man, with a half-civil +nod. + +Such was the opening of this interview, according to the old story; +though it has almost too familiar an air to be credited. One would +think that to meet with such a singular personage in this wild, lonely +place would have shaken any man's nerves; but Tom was a hard-minded +fellow, not easily daunted, and he had lived so long with a termagant +wife that he did not even fear the devil. + +It is said that after this commencement they had a long and earnest +conversation together, as Tom returned homeward. The black man told +him of great sums of money buried by Kidd the pirate under the +oak-trees on the high ridge, not far from the morass. All these were +under his command, and protected by his power, so that none could find +them but such as propitiated his favor. These he offered to place +within Tom Walker's reach, having conceived an especial kindness for +him; but they were to be had only on certain conditions. What these +conditions were may be easily surmised, though Tom never disclosed +them publicly. They must have been very hard, for he required time to +think of them, and he was not a man to stick at trifles when money was +in view. When they had reached the edge of the swamp, the stranger +paused. "What proof have I that all you have been telling me is true?" +said Tom. "There's my signature," said the black man, pressing his +finger on Tom's forehead. So saying, he turned off among the thickets +of the swamp, and seemed, as Tom said, to go down, down, down, into +the earth, until nothing but his head and shoulders could be seen, and +so on, until he totally disappeared. + +When Tom reached home he found the black print of a finger burned, as +it were, into his forehead, which nothing could obliterate. + +The first news his wife had to tell him was the sudden death of +Absalom Crowninshield, the rich buccaneer. It was announced in the +papers, with the usual flourish, that "A great man had fallen in +Israel." + +Tom recollected the tree which his black friend had just hewn down, +and which was ready for burning. "Let the freebooter roast," said Tom; +"who cares!" He now felt convinced that all he had heard and seen was +no illusion. + +He was not prone to let his wife into his confidence; but as this was +an uneasy secret, he willingly shared it with her. All her avarice was +awakened at the mention of hidden gold, and she urged her husband to +comply with the black man's terms, and secure what would make them +wealthy for life. However Tom might have felt disposed to sell himself +to the devil, he was determined not to do so to oblige his wife; so +he flatly refused, out of the mere spirit of contradiction. Many and +bitter were the quarrels they had on the subject; but the more she +talked, the more resolute was Tom not to be damned to please her. + +At length she determined to drive the bargain on her own account, and, +if she succeeded, to keep all the gain to herself. Being of the same +fearless temper as her husband, she set off for the old Indian fort +toward the close of a summer's day. She was many hours absent. When +she came back, she was reserved and sullen in her replies. She spoke +something of a black man, whom she had met about twilight hewing at +the root of a tall tree. He was sulky, however, and would not come to +terms; she was to go again with a propitiatory offering, but what it +was she forbore to say. + +The next evening she set off again for the swamp, with her apron +heavily laden. Tom waited and waited for her, but in vain; midnight +came, but she did not make her appearance; morning, noon, night +returned, but still she did not come. Tom now grew uneasy for her +safety, especially as he found she had carried off in her apron the +silver tea-pot and spoons, and every portable article of value. +Another night elapsed, another morning came; but no wife. In a word, +she was never heard of more. + +What was her real fate nobody knows, in consequence of so many +pretending to know. It is one of those facts which have become +confounded by a variety of historians. Some asserted that she lost her +way among the tangled mazes of the swamp, and sank into some pit or +slough; others, more uncharitable, hinted that she had eloped with the +household booty, and made off to some other province; while others +surmised that the tempter had decoyed her into a dismal quagmire, on +the top of which her hat was found lying. In confirmation of this, it +was said a great black man, with an axe on his shoulder, was seen late +that very evening coming out of the swamp, carrying a bundle tied in a +check apron, with an air of surly triumph. + +The most current and probable story, however, observes that Tom Walker +grew so anxious about the fate of his wife and his property that he +set out at length to seek them both at the Indian fort. During a long +summer's afternoon he searched about the gloomy place, but no wife was +to be seen. He called her name repeatedly, but she was nowhere to be +heard. The bittern alone responded to his voice, as he flew screaming +by; or the bull-frog croaked dolefully from a neighboring pool. At +length, it is said, just in the brown hour of twilight, when the owls +began to hoot and the bats to flit about, his attention was attracted +by the clamor of carrion crows hovering about a cypress-tree. He +looked up and beheld a bundle tied in a check apron and hanging in +the branches of the tree, with a great vulture perched hard by, as +if keeping watch upon it. He leaped with joy, for he recognized his +wife's apron, and supposed it to contain the household valuables. + +"Let us get hold of the property," said he, consolingly, to himself, +"and we will endeavor to do without the woman." + +As he scrambled up the tree, the vulture spread its wide wings and +sailed off, screaming, into the deep shadows of the forest. Tom seized +the checked apron, but, woful sight! found nothing but a heart and +liver tied up in it! + +Such, according to this most authentic old story, was all that was to +be found of Tom's wife. She had probably attempted to deal with the +black man as she had been accustomed to deal with her husband; but +though a female scold is generally considered a match for the devil, +yet in this instance she appears to have had the worst of it. She must +have died game, however; for it is said Tom noticed many prints of +cloven feet deeply stamped about the tree, and found handfuls of hair, +that looked as if they had been plucked from the coarse black shock of +the woodsman. Tom knew his wife's prowess by experience. He shrugged +his shoulders as he looked at the signs of fierce clapper-clawing. +"Egad," said he to himself, "Old Scratch must have had a tough time of +it!" + +Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property, with the loss of +his wife, for he was a man of fortitude. He even felt something like +gratitude toward the black woodsman, who, he considered, had done him +a kindness. He sought, therefore, to cultivate a further acquaintance +with him, but for some time without success; the old black-legs played +shy, for, whatever people may think, he is not always to be had for +the calling; he knows how to play his cards when pretty sure of his +game. + +At length, it is said, when delay had whetted Tom's eagerness to the +quick and prepared him to agree to anything rather than not gain the +promised treasure, he met the black man one evening in his usual +woodsman's dress, with his axe on his shoulder, sauntering along the +swamp and humming a tune. He affected to receive Tom's advances with +great indifference, made brief replies, and went on humming his tune. + +By degrees, however, Tom brought him to business, and they began to +haggle about the terms on which the former was to have the pirate's +treasure. There was one condition which need not be mentioned, being +generally understood in all cases where the devil grants favors; but +there were others about which, though of less importance, he was +inflexibly obstinate. He insisted that the money found through his +means should be employed in his service. He proposed, therefore, that +Tom should employ it in the black traffic; that is to say, that he +should fit out a slave-ship. This, however, Tom resolutely refused; +he was bad enough in all conscience, but the devil himself could not +tempt him to turn slave-trader. + +Finding Tom so squeamish on this point, he did not insist upon it, +but proposed, instead, that he should turn usurer; the devil being +extremely anxious for the increase of usurers, looking upon them as +his peculiar people. + +To this no objections were made, for it was just to Tom's taste. + +"You shall open a broker's shop in Boston next month," said the black +man. + +"I'll do it to-morrow, if you wish," said Tom Walker. + +"You shall lend money at two per cent. a month." + +"Egad, I'll charge four!" replied Tom Walker. + +"You shall extort bonds, foreclose mortgages, drive the merchants to +bankruptcy--" + +"I'll drive them to the devil," cried Tom Walker. + +"_You_ are the usurer for my money!" said black-legs with delight. +"When will you want the rhino?" + +"This very night." + +"Done!" said the devil. + +"Done!" said Tom Walker. So they shook hands and struck a bargain. + +A few days' time saw Tom Walker seated behind his desk in a +counting-house in Boston. + +His reputation for a ready-moneyed man, who would lend money out for a +good consideration, soon spread abroad. Everybody remembers the time +of Governor Belcher, when money was particularly scarce. It was a time +of paper credit. The country had been deluged with government bills; +the famous Land Bank had been established; there had been a rage for +speculating; the people had run mad with schemes for new settlements, +for building cities in the wilderness; land-jobbers went about with +maps of grants and townships and Eldorados, lying nobody knew where, +but which everybody was ready to purchase. In a word, the great +speculating fever which breaks out every now and then in the country +had raged to an alarming degree, and everybody was dreaming of making +sudden fortunes from nothing. As usual, the fever had subsided, the +dream had gone off, and the imaginary fortunes with it; the patients +were left in doleful plight, and the whole country resounded with the +consequent cry of "hard times." + +At this propitious time of public distress did Tom Walker set up as +usurer in Boston. His door was soon thronged by customers. The needy +and adventurous, the gambling speculator, the dreaming land-jobber, +the thriftless tradesman, the merchant with cracked credit--in short, +everyone driven to raise money by desperate means and desperate +sacrifices hurried to Tom Walker. + +Thus Tom was the universal friend to the needy, and acted like "a +friend in need"; that is to say, he always exacted good pay and +security. In proportion to the distress of the applicant was the +hardness of his terms. He accumulated bonds and mortgages, gradually +squeezed his customers closer and closer, and sent them at length, dry +as a sponge, from his door. + +In this way he made money hand over hand, became a rich and mighty +man, and exalted his cocked hat upon "Change." He built himself, as +usual, a vast house, out of ostentation, but left the greater part +of it unfinished and unfurnished, out of parsimony. He even set up a +carriage in the fulness of his vain-glory, though he nearly starved +the horses which drew it; and, as the ungreased wheels groaned and +screeched on the axle-trees, you would have thought you heard the +souls of the poor debtors he was squeezing. + +As Tom waxed old, however, he grew thoughtful. Having secured the good +things of this world, he began to feel anxious about those of the +next. He thought with regret of the bargain he had made with his black +friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the conditions. +He became, therefore, all of a sudden, a violent church-goer. He +prayed loudly and strenuously, as if heaven were to be taken by force +of lungs. Indeed, one might always tell when he had sinned most during +the week by the clamor of his Sunday devotion. The quiet Christians +who had been modestly and steadfastly travelling Zionward were struck +with self-reproach at seeing themselves so suddenly outstripped in +their career by this new-made convert. Tom was as rigid in religious +as in money matters; he was a stern supervisor and censurer of his +neighbors, and seemed to think every sin entered up to their account +became a credit on his own side of the page. He even talked of the +expediency of reviving the persecution of Quakers and Anabaptists. In +a word, Tom's zeal became as notorious as his riches. + +Still, in spite of all this strenuous attention to forms, Tom had a +lurking dread that the devil, after all, would have his due. That he +might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a +small Bible in his coat-pocket. He had also a great folio Bible on his +counting-house desk, and would frequently be found reading it when +people called on business; on such occasions he would lay his green +spectacles in the book, to mark the place, while he turned round to +drive some usurious bargain. + +Some say that Tom grew a little crack-brained in his old days, and +that, fancying his end approaching, he had his horse new shod, +saddled, and bridled, and buried with his feet uppermost; because he +supposed that at the last day the world would be turned upside-down; +in which case he should find his horse standing ready for mounting, +and he was determined at the worst to give his old friend a run for +it. This, however, is probably a mere old wives' fable. If he really +did take such a precaution, it was totally superfluous; at least so +says the authentic old legend, which closes his story in the following +manner: + +One hot summer afternoon in the dog-days, just as a terrible black +thunder-gust was coming up, Tom sat in his counting-house, in his +white linen cap and India silk morning-gown. He was on the point of +foreclosing a mortgage, by which he would complete the ruin of an +unlucky land-speculator for whom he had professed the greatest +friendship. The poor land-jobber begged him to grant a few months' +indulgence. Tom had grown testy and irritated, and refused another +delay. + +"My family will be ruined, and brought upon the parish," said the +land-jobber. + +"Charity begins at home," replied Tom; "I must take care of myself in +these hard times." + +"You have made so much money out of me," said the speculator. + +Tom lost his patience and his piety. "The devil take me," said he, "if +I have made a farthing!" + +Just then there were three loud knocks at the street door. He stepped +out to see who was there. A black man was holding a black horse, which +neighed and stamped with impatience. + +"Tom, you're come for," said the black fellow, gruffly. Tom shrank +back, but too late. He had left his little Bible at the bottom of his +coat-pocket and his big Bible on the desk buried under the mortgage +he was about to foreclose: never was sinner taken more unawares. The +black man whisked him like a child into the saddle, gave the horse the +lash, and away he galloped, with Tom on his back, in the midst of the +thunder-storm. The clerks stuck their pens behind their ears, and +stared after him from the windows. Away went Tom Walker, dashing down +the streets, his white cap bobbing up and down, his morning-gown +fluttering in the wind, and his steed striking fire out of the +pavement at every bound. When the clerks turned to look for the black +man, he had disappeared. + +Tom Walker never returned to foreclose the mortgage. A countryman, who +lived on the border of the swamp, reported that in the height of the +thunder-gust he had heard a great clattering of hoofs and a howling +along the road, and running to the window caught sight of a figure, +such as I have described, on a horse that galloped like mad across the +fields, over the hills, and down into the black hemlock swamp toward +the old Indian fort, and that shortly after a thunder-bolt falling in +that direction seemed to set the whole forest in a blaze. + +The good people of Boston shook their heads and shrugged their +shoulders, but had been so much accustomed to witches and goblins, and +tricks of the devil, in all kinds of shapes, from the first settlement +of the colony, that they were not so much horror-struck as might +have been expected. Trustees were appointed to take charge of Tom's +effects. There was nothing, however, to administer upon. On searching +his coffers, all his bonds and mortgages were reduced to cinders. In +place of gold and silver, his iron chest was filled with chips and +shavings; two skeletons lay in his stable instead of his half-starved +horses, and the very next day his great house took fire and was burned +to the ground. + +Such was the end of Tom Walker and his ill-gotten wealth. Let all +gripping money-brokers lay this story to heart. The truth of it is not +to be doubted. The very hole under the oak-trees, whence he dug Kidd's +money, is to be seen to this day; and the neighboring swamp and +old Indian fort are often haunted in stormy nights by a figure on +horseback, in morning-gown and white cap, which is doubtless the +troubled spirit of the usurer. In fact, the story has resolved itself +into a proverb, and is the origin of that popular saying, so prevalent +throughout New England, of "The devil and Tom Walker." + + + + +DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT + +_Nathaniel Hawthorne_ (1807-1864) + + +That very singular man, old Doctor Heidegger, once invited four +venerable friends to meet him in his study. There were three +white-bearded gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr. +Gascoigne, and a withered gentlewoman whose name was the Widow +Wycherley. They were all melancholy old creatures, who had been +unfortunate in life, and whose greatest misfortune it was that they +were not long ago in their graves. Mr. Medbourne, in the vigor of his +age, had been a prosperous merchant, but had lost his all by a frantic +speculation, and was no little better than a mendicant. Colonel +Killigrew had wasted his best years, and his health and substance, in +the pursuit of sinful pleasures, which had given birth to a brood of +pains, such as the gout and divers other torments of soul and body. +Mr. Gascoigne was a ruined politician, a man of evil fame, or at +least had been so, till time had buried him from the knowledge of the +present generation, and made him obscure instead of infamous. As for +the Widow Wycherley, tradition tells us that she was a great beauty in +her day; but, for a long while past, she had lived in deep seclusion, +on account of certain scandalous stories which had prejudiced the +gentry of the town against her. It is a circumstance worth mentioning +that each of these three old gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel +Killigrew, and Mr. Gascoigne, were early lovers of the Widow +Wycherley, and had once been on the point of cutting each other's +throats for her sake. And, before proceeding further, I will merely +hint that Doctor Heidegger and all his four guests were sometimes +thought to be a little beside themselves; as is not unfrequently the +case with old people, when worried either by present troubles or woful +recollections. + +"My dear friends," said Doctor Heidegger, motioning them to be seated, +"I am desirous of your assistance in one of those little experiments +with which I amuse myself here in my study." + +If all stories were true, Doctor Heidegger's study must have been a +very curious place. It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned +with cobwebs and besprinkled with antique dust. Around the walls stood +several oaken bookcases, the lower shelves of which were filled with +rows of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos, and the upper with +little parchment-covered duodecimos. Over the central bookcase was a +bronze bust of Hippocrates, with which, according to some authorities, +Doctor Heidegger was accustomed to hold consultations in all difficult +cases of his practice. In the obscurest corner of the room stood +a tall and narrow oaken closet, with its door ajar, within which +doubtfully appeared a skeleton. Between two of the bookcases hung a +looking-glass, presenting its high and dusty plate within a tarnished +gilt frame. Among many wonderful stories related of this mirror, it +was fabled that the spirits of all the doctor's deceased patients +dwelt within its verge, and would stare him in the face whenever he +looked thitherward. The opposite side of the chamber was ornamented +with the full-length portrait of a young lady, arrayed in the faded +magnificence of silk, satin, and brocade, and with a visage as faded +as her dress. Above half a century ago Doctor Heidegger had been on +the point of marriage with this young lady; but, being affected +with some slight disorder, she had swallowed one of her lover's +prescriptions, and died on the bridal evening. The greatest curiosity +of the study remains to be mentioned; it was a ponderous folio volume, +bound in black leather, with massive silver clasps. There were no +letters on the back, and nobody could tell the title of the book. But +it was well known to be a book of magic; and once, when a chambermaid +had lifted it, merely to brush away the dust, the skeleton had rattled +in its closet, the picture of the young lady had stepped one foot upon +the floor, and several ghastly faces had peeped forth from the mirror; +while the brazen head of Hippocrates frowned, and said: "Forbear!" + +Such was Doctor Heidegger's study. On the summer afternoon of our tale +a small round table, as black as ebony, stood in the centre of the +room, sustaining a cut-glass vase of beautiful form and workmanship. +The sunshine came through the window, between the heavy festoons of +two faded damask curtains, and fell directly across this vase; so that +a mild splendor was reflected from it on the ashen visages of the five +old people who sat around. Four champagne glasses were also on the +table. + +"My dear old friends," repeated Doctor Heidegger, "may I reckon on +your aid in performing an exceedingly curious experiment?" + +Now Doctor Heidegger was a very strange old gentleman, whose +eccentricity had become the nucleus for a thousand fantastic stories. +Some of these fables, to my shame be it spoken, might possibly be +traced back to mine own veracious self; and if any passages of the +present tale should startle the reader's faith, I must be content to +bear the stigma of a fiction-monger. + +When the doctor's four guests heard him talk of his proposed +experiment, they anticipated nothing more wonderful than the murder +of a mouse in an air-pump or the examination of a cobweb by the +microscope, or some similiar nonsense, with which he was constantly in +the habit of pestering his intimates. But without waiting for a reply, +Doctor Heidegger hobbled across the chamber, and returned with the +same ponderous folio, bound in black leather, which common report +affirmed to be a book of magic. Undoing the silver clasps, he opened +the volume, and took from among its black-letter pages a rose, or what +was once a rose, though now the green leaves and crimson petals had +assumed one brownish hue, and the ancient flower seemed ready to +crumble to dust in the doctor's hands. + +"This rose," said Doctor Heidegger, with a sigh, "this same withered +and crumbling flower, blossomed five and fifty years ago. It was +given me by Sylvia Ward, whose portrait hangs yonder, and I meant to +wear it in my bosom at our wedding. Five and fifty years it has been +treasured between the leaves of this old volume. Now, would you deem +it possible that this rose of half a century could ever bloom again?" + +"Nonsense!" said the Widow Wycherley, with a peevish toss of her head. +"You might as well ask whether an old woman's wrinkled face could ever +bloom again." + +"See!" answered Doctor Heidegger. + +He uncovered the vase, and threw the faded rose into the water which +it contained. At first, it lay lightly on the surface of the fluid, +appearing to imbibe none of its moisture. Soon, however, a singular +change began to be visible. The crushed and dried petals stirred, and +assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower were reviving +from a death-like slumber; the slender stalk and twigs of foliage +became green; and there was the rose of half a century, looking as +fresh as when Sylvia Ward had first given it to her lover. It was +scarcely full blown; for some of its delicate red leaves curled +modestly around its moist bosom, within which two or three dewdrops +were sparkling. + +"That is certainly a very pretty deception," said the doctor's +friends; careless, however, for they had witnessed greater miracles at +a conjurer's show; "pray how was it effected?" + +"Did you ever hear of the 'Fountain of Youth,'" asked Doctor +Heidegger, "which Ponce de Leon, the Spanish adventurer, went in +search of, two or three centuries ago?" + +"But did Ponce de Leon ever find it?" said the Widow Wycherley. + +"No," answered Doctor Heidegger, "for he never sought it in the right +place. The famous Fountain of Youth, if I am rightly informed, is +situated in the southern part of the Floridian peninsula, not far from +Lake Macaco. Its source is overshadowed by several magnolias, which, +though numberless centuries old, have been kept as fresh as violets, +by the virtues of this wonderful water. An acquaintance of mine, +knowing my curiosity in such matters, has sent me what you see in the +vase." + +"Ahem!" said Colonel Killigrew, who believed not a word of the +doctor's story; "and what may be the effect of this fluid on the human +frame?" + +"You shall judge for yourself, my dear Colonel," replied Doctor +Heidegger; "and all of you, my respected friends, are welcome to so +much of this admirable fluid as may restore to you the bloom of youth. +For my own part, having had much trouble in growing old, I am in no +hurry to grow young again. With your permission, therefore, I will +merely watch the progress of the experiment." + +While he spoke, Doctor Heidegger had been filling the four champagne +glasses with the water of the Fountain of Youth. It was apparently +impregnated with an effervescent gas; for little bubbles were +continually ascending from the depths of the glasses, and bursting +in silvery spray at the surface. As the liquor diffused a pleasant +perfume, the old people doubted now that it possessed cordial +and comfortable properties; and though utter sceptics as to its +rejuvenescent power, they were inclined to swallow it at once. But +Doctor Heidegger besought them to stay a moment. + +"Before you drink, my respectable old friends," said he, "it would be +well that, with the experience of a lifetime to direct you, you should +draw up a few general rules for your guidance, in passing a second +time through the perils of youth. Think what a sin and shame it would +be if, with your peculiar advantages, you should not become patterns +of virtue and wisdom to all the young people of the age!" + +The doctor's four venerable friends made him no answer, except by a +feeble and tremulous laugh; so very ridiculous was the idea that, +knowing how closely repentance treads behind the steps of error, they +should ever go astray again. + +"Drink, then," said the doctor, bowing: "I rejoice that I have so well +selected the subjects of my experiment." + +With palsied hands they raised the glasses to their lips. The liquor, +if it really possessed such virtues as Doctor Heidegger imputed to it, +could not have been bestowed on four human beings who needed it more +wofully. They looked as if they had never known what youth or pleasure +was, but had been the offspring of nature's dotage, and always the +gray, decrepit, sapless, miserable creatures, who now sat stooping +round the doctor's table, without life enough in their souls or bodies +to be animated even by the prospect of growing young again. They drank +off the water, and replaced their glasses on the table. + +Assuredly there was an almost immediate improvement in the aspect of +the party, not unlike what might have been produced by a glass of +generous wine, together with a sudden glow of cheerful sunshine, +brightening over all their visages at once. There was a healthful +suffusion on their cheeks, instead of the ashen hue that had made them +look so corpselike. They gazed at one another, and fancied that +some magic power had really begun to smooth away the deep and sad +inscriptions which Father Time had been so long engraving on their +brows. The Widow Wycherley adjusted her cap, for she felt almost like +a woman again. + +"Give us more of this wondrous water!" cried they, eagerly. "We are +younger--but we are still too old! Quick--give us more!" + +"Patience! patience!" quoth Doctor Heidegger, who sat watching the +experiment with philosophic coolness. "You have been a long time +growing old. Surely you might be content to grow young in half an +hour! But the water is at your service." + +Again he filled their glasses with the liquor of youth, enough of +which still remained in the vase to turn half the old people in the +city to the age of their own grandchildren. While the bubbles were yet +sparkling on the brim, the doctor's four guests snatched their glasses +from the table, and swallowed the contents at a single gulp. Was it +delusion? Even while the draught was passing down their throats it +seemed to have wrought a change on their whole systems. Their eyes +grew clear and bright; a dark shade deepened among their silvery +locks; they sat round the table, three gentlemen of middle age, and a +woman hardly beyond her buxom prime. + +"My dear widow, you are charming!" cried Colonel Killigrew, whose eyes +had been fixed upon her face, while the shadows of age were flitting +from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak. + +The fair widow knew of old that Colonel Killigrew's compliments were +not always measured by sober truth; so she started up and ran to the +mirror, still dreading that the ugly visage of an old woman would meet +her gaze. Meanwhile the three gentlemen behaved in such a manner +as proved that the water of the Fountain of Youth possessed some +intoxicating qualities, unless, indeed, their exhilaration of spirits +were merely a lightsome dizziness, caused by the sudden removal of +the weight of years. Mr. Gascoigne's mind seemed to run on political +topics, but whether relating to the past, present, or future could not +easily be determined, since the same ideas and phrases have been in +vogue these fifty years. Now he rattled forth full-throated sentences +about patriotism, national glory, and the people's rights; now he +muttered some perilous stuff or other, in a sly and doubtful whisper, +so cautiously that even his own conscience could scarcely catch the +secret; and now, again, he spoke in measured accents and a deeply +deferential tone, as if a royal ear were listening to his well-turned +periods. Colonel Killigrew all this time had been trolling forth a +jolly battle-song, and ringing his glass toward the buxom figure of +the Widow Wycherley. On the other side of the table Mr. Medbourne +was involved in a calculation of dollars and cents, with which was +strangely intermingled a project for supplying the East Indies with +ice, by harnessing a team of whales to the polar icebergs. + +As for the Widow Wycherley, she stood before the mirror, courtesying +and simpering to her own image, and greeting it as the friend whom she +loved better than all the world beside. She thrust her face close to +the glass to see whether some long-remembered wrinkle or crow's-foot +had indeed vanished. She examined whether the snow had so entirely +melted from her hair that the venerable cap could be safely thrown +aside. At last, turning briskly away, she came with a sort of dancing +step to the table. + +"My dear old doctor," cried she, "pray favor me with another glass!" + +"Certainly, my dear madam, certainly!" replied the complaisant doctor. +"See! I have already filled the glasses." + +There, in fact, stood the four glasses, brimful of this wonderful +water, the delicate spray of which, as it effervesced from the +surface, resembled the tremulous glitter of diamonds. It was now so +nearly sunset that the chamber had grown duskier than ever; but a mild +and moon-like splendor gleamed from within the vase, and rested alike +on the four guests, and on the doctor's venerable figure. He sat in a +high-backed, elaborately carved oaken chair, with a gray dignity of +aspect that might have well befitted that very Father Time, whose +power had never been disputed, save by this fortunate company. Even +while quaffing the third draught of the Fountain of Youth, they were +almost awed by the expression of his mysterious visage. + +But the next moment the exhilarating gush of young life shot through +their veins. They were now in the happy prime of youth. Age, with its +miserable train of cares, and sorrows, and diseases, was remembered +only as the trouble of a dream, from which they had joyously awoke. +The fresh gloss of the soul, so early lost, and without which the +world's successive scenes had been but a gallery of faded pictures, +again threw its enchantment over all their prospects. They felt like +new-created beings in a new-created universe. + +"We are young! We are young!" they cried, exultingly. + +Youth, like the extremity of age, had effaced the strongly marked +characteristics of middle life, and mutually assimilated them all. +They were a group of merry youngsters, almost maddened with the +exuberant frolicsomeness of their years. The most singular effect of +their gayety was an impulse to mock the infirmity and decrepitude of +which they had so lately been the victims. They laughed loudly at +their old-fashioned attire--the wide-skirted coats and flapped +waistcoats of the young men, and the ancient cap and gown of the +blooming girl. One limped across the floor like a gouty grandfather; +one set a pair of spectacles astride of his nose, and pretended to +pore over the black-letter pages of the book of magic; a third seated +himself in an arm-chair, and strove to imitate the venerable dignity +of Doctor Heidegger. Then all shouted mirthfully, and leaped about +the room. The Widow Wycherley--if so fresh a damsel could be called a +widow--tripped up to the doctor's chair with a mischievous merriment +in her rosy face. + +"Doctor, you dear old soul," cried she, "get up and dance with me!" +And then the four young people laughed louder than ever, to think what +a queer figure the poor old doctor would cut. + +"Pray excuse me," answered the doctor, quietly. "I am old and +rheumatic, and my dancing days were over long ago. But either of these +gay young gentlemen will be glad of so pretty a partner." + +"Dance with me, Clara!" cried Colonel Killigrew. + +"She promised me her hand fifty years ago!" exclaimed Mr. Medbourne. + +They all gathered round her. One caught both her hands in his +passionate grasp--another threw his arm about her waist--the third +buried his hand among the curls that clustered beneath the widow's +cap. Blushing, panting, struggling, chiding, laughing, her warm breath +fanning each of their faces by turns, she strove to disengage herself, +yet still remained in their triple embrace. Never was there a livelier +picture of youthful rivalship, with bewitching beauty for the prize. +Yet, by a strange deception, owing to the duskiness of the chamber and +the antique dresses which they still wore, the tall mirror is said +to have reflected the figures of the three old, gray, withered +grand-sires, ridiculously contending for the skinny ugliness of a +shrivelled grandam. + +But they were young: their burning passions proved them so. Inflamed +to madness by the coquetry of the girl-widow, who neither granted +nor quite withheld her favors, the three rivals began to interchange +threatening glances. Still keeping hold of the fair prize, they +grappled fiercely at one another's throats. As they struggled to and +fro, the table was overturned, and the vase dashed into a thousand +fragments. The precious Water of Youth flowed in a bright stream +across the floor, moistening the wings of a butterfly, which, grown +old in the decline of summer, had alighted there to die. The insect +fluttered lightly through the chamber, and settled on the snowy head +of Doctor Heidegger. + +"Come, come, gentlemen!--come, Madame Wycherley!" exclaimed the +doctor, "I really must protest against this riot." + +They stood still and shivered; for it seemed as if gray Time were +calling them back from their sunny youth, far down into the chill and +darksome vale of years. They looked at old Doctor Heidegger, who sat +in his carved arm-chair, holding the rose of half a century which he +had rescued from among the fragments of the shattered vase. At the +motion of his hand the rioters resumed their seats, the more readily +because their violent exertions had wearied them, youthful though they +were. + +"My poor Sylvia's rose!" ejaculated Doctor Heidegger, holding it in +the light of the sunset clouds; "it appears to be fading again." + +And so it was. Even while the party were looking at it the flower +continued to shrivel up, till it became as dry and fragile as when the +doctor had first thrown it into the vase. He shook off the few drops +of moisture which clung to its petals. + +"I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness," observed he, +pressing the withered rose to his withered lips. While he spoke, the +butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head, and fell upon +the floor. + +His guests shivered again. A strange dullness, whether of the body or +spirit they could not tell, was creeping gradually over them all. They +gazed at one another, and fancied that each fleeting moment snatched +away a charm, and left a deepening furrow where none had been before. +Was it an illusion? Had the changes of a lifetime been crowded into so +brief a space, and were they now four aged people, sitting with their +old friend, Doctor Heidegger? + +"Are we grown old again so soon?" cried they, dolefully. + +In truth, they had. The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue +more transient than that of wine. The delirium which it created had +effervesced away. Yes, they were old again! With a shuddering impulse, +that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her skinny hands over +her face, and wished that the coffin lid were over it, since it could +be no longer beautiful. + +"Yes, friends, ye are old again," said Doctor Heidegger; "and lo! the +Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well, I bemoan it not; +for if the fountain gushed at my doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe +my lips in it--no, though its delirium were for years instead of +moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me!" + +But the doctor's four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves. +They resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florida, and quaff at +morning, noon, and night from the Fountain of Youth. + + + + +THE PURLOINED LETTER[1] + +[Footnote 1: The pattern in method for all detective stories.] + +_Edgar Allan Poe_ (1809-1849) + + +At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18--, I +was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in +company with my friend, C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, +or book-closet, _au troisieme_, No. 33 Rue Dunot, Faubourg St. +Germain. For one hour at least we had maintained a profound silence, +while each, to any casual observer, might have seemed intently and +exclusively occupied with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed +the atmosphere of the chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally +discussing certain topics which had formed matter for conversation +between us at an earlier period of the evening; I mean the affair of +the Rue Morgue, and the mystery attending the murder of Marie Roget. +I looked upon it, therefore, as something of a coincidence, when +the door of our apartment was thrown open and admitted our old +acquaintance, Monsieur G----, the Prefect of the Parisian police. + +We gave him a hearty welcome; for there was nearly half as much of the +entertaining as of the contemptible about the man, and we had not seen +him for several years. We had been sitting in the dark, and Dupin now +arose for the purpose of lighting a lamp, but sat down again, without +doing so, upon G----'s saying that he had called to consult us, or +rather to ask the opinion of my friend, about some official business +which had occasioned a great deal of trouble. + +"If it is any point requiring reflection," observed Dupin, as he +forebore to enkindle the wick, "we shall examine it to better purpose +in the dark." + +"That is another of your odd notions," said the Prefect, who had the +fashion of calling everything "odd" that was beyond his comprehension, +and thus lived amid an absolute legion of "oddities." + +"Very true," said Dupin, as he supplied his visitor with a pipe, and +rolled toward him a comfortable chair. + +"And what is the difficulty now?" I asked. "Nothing more in the +assassination way, I hope?" + +"Oh no, nothing of that nature. The fact is, the business is _very_ +simple indeed, and I make no doubt that we can manage it sufficiently +well ourselves; but then I thought Dupin would like to hear the +details of it, because it is so excessively _odd_." + +"Simple and odd," said Dupin. + +"Why, yes; and not exactly that, either. The fact is, we have all been +a good deal puzzled because the affair is so simple, and yet baffles +us altogether." + +"Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts you at +fault," said my friend. + +"What nonsense you _do_ talk!" replied the Prefect, laughing heartily. + +"Perhaps the mystery is a little _too_ plain," said Dupin. + +"Oh, good heavens! who ever heard of such an idea?" + +"A little _too_ self-evident." + +"Ha! ha! ha!--ha! ha! ha!--ho! ho! ho!" roared our visitor, profoundly +amused, "Oh, Dupin, you will be the death of me yet!" + +"And what, after all, _is_ the matter on hand?" I asked. + +"Why, I will tell you," replied the Prefect, as he gave a long, +steady, and contemplative puff, and settled himself in his chair. "I +will tell you in a few words; but, before I begin, let me caution you +that this is an affair demanding the greatest secrecy, and that I +should most probably lose the position I now hold were it known that I +confided it to any one." + +"Proceed," said I. + +"Or not," said Dupin. + +"Well, then; I have received personal information, from a very high +quarter, that a certain document of the last importance has been +purloined from the royal apartments. The individual who purloined it +is known; this beyond a doubt; he was seen to take it. It is known, +also, that it still remains in his possession." + +"How is this known?" asked Dupin. + +"It is clearly inferred," replied the Prefect, "from the nature of the +document, and from the non-appearance of certain results which would +at once arise from its passing _out_ of the robber's possession--that +is to say, from his employing it as he must design in the end to +employ it." + +"Be a little more explicit," I said. + +"Well, I may venture so far as to say that the paper gives its holder +a certain power in a certain quarter where such power is immensely +valuable." The Prefect was fond of the cant of diplomacy. + +"Still I do not quite understand," said Dupin. + +"No? Well, the disclosure of the document to a third person, who shall +be nameless, would bring in question the honor of a personage of the +most exalted station, and this fact gives the holder of the document +an ascendancy over the illustrious personage whose honor and peace are +so jeopardized." + +"But this ascendancy," I interposed, "would depend upon the robber's +knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber. Who would dare--" + +"The thief," said G----, "is the Minister D----, who dares all things, +those unbecoming as well as those becoming a man. The method of the +theft was not less ingenious than bold. The document in question--a +letter, to be frank--had been received by the personage robbed while +alone in the royal _boudoir_. During its perusal she was suddenly +interrupted by the entrance of the other exalted personage from whom +especially it was her wish to conceal it. After a hurried and vain +endeavor to thrust it in a drawer, she was forced to place it, open as +it was, upon a table. The address, however, was uppermost, and, the +contents thus unexposed, the letter escaped notice. At this juncture +enters the Minister D----. His lynx eye immediately perceives the +paper, recognizes the handwriting of the address, observes the +confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret. After +some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he +produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, +pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the +other. Again he converses, for some fifteen minutes, upon the public +affairs. At length, in taking leave, he takes also from the table +the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful owner saw, but of +course, dared not call attention to the act, in the presence of the +third personage who stood at her elbow. The Minister decamped, leaving +his own letter--one of no importance--upon the table." + +"Here, then," said Dupin to me, "you have precisely what you demand to +make the ascendancy complete--the robber's knowledge of the loser's +knowledge of the robber." + +"Yes," replied the Prefect, "and the power thus attained has, for some +months past, been wielded, for political purposes, to a very dangerous +extent. The personage robbed is more thoroughly convinced, every day, +of the necessity of reclaiming her letter. But this, of course, cannot +be done openly. In fine, driven to despair, she has committed the +matter to me." + +"Than whom," said Dupin, amid a perfect whirlwind of smoke, "no more +sagacious agent could, I suppose, be desired, or even imagined." + +"You flatter me," replied the Prefect; "but it is possible that some +such opinion may have been entertained." + +"It is clear," said I, "as you observe, that the letter is still in +the possession of the Minister; since it is this possession, and +not any employment of the letter, which bestows the power. With the +employment the power departs." + +"True," said G----; "and upon this conviction I proceeded. My first +care was to make thorough search of the Minister's hotel; and here +my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his +knowledge. Beyond all things, I have been warned of the danger which +would result from giving him reason to suspect our design." + +"But," said I, "you are quite _au fait_ in these investigations. The +Parisian police have done this thing often before." + +"Oh yes, and for this reason I did not despair. The habits of the +Minister gave me, too, a great advantage. He is frequently absent from +home all night. His servants are by no means numerous. They sleep at +a distance from their master's apartment, and, being chiefly +Neapolitans, are readily made drunk. I have keys, as you know, with +which I can open any chamber or cabinet in Paris. For three months a +night has not passed during the greater part of which I have not +been engaged, personally, in ransacking the D---- Hotel. My honor is +interested, and, to mention a great secret, the reward is enormous. So +I did not abandon the search until I had become fully satisfied that +the thief is a more astute man than myself. I fancy that I have +investigated every nook and corner of the premises in which it is +possible that the paper can be concealed." + +"But is it not possible," I suggested, "that although the letter may +be in the possession of the Minister, as it unquestionably is, he may +have concealed it elsewhere than upon his own premises?" + +"This is barely possible," said Dupin. "The present peculiar condition +of affairs at court, and especially of those intrigues in which D---- +is known to be involved, would render the instant availability of the +document--its susceptibility of being produced at a moment's notice--a +point of nearly equal importance with its possession." + +"Its susceptibility of being produced?" said I. + +"That is to say, of being _destroyed_," said Dupin. + +"True," I observed; "the paper is clearly, then, upon the premises. As +for its being upon the person of the Minister, we may consider that as +out of the question." + +"Entirely," said the Prefect. "He has been twice waylaid, as if by +footpads, and his person rigidly searched under my own inspection." + +"You might have spared yourself this trouble," said Dupin. "D----, I +presume, is not altogether a fool; and, if not, must have anticipated +these waylayings, as a matter of course." + +"Not _altogether_ a fool," said G----; "but, then, he is a poet, which +I take to be only one remove from a fool." + +"True," said Dupin, after a long and thoughtful whiff from his +meerschaum, "although I have been guilty of certain doggrel myself." + +"Suppose you detail," said I, "the particulars of your search." + +"Why, the fact is, we took our time, and we searched _everywhere_. I +have had long experience in these affairs. I took the entire building, +room by room, devoting the nights of a whole week to each. We +examined, first, the furniture of each apartment. We opened every +possible drawer; and I presume you know that, to a properly trained +police-agent, such a thing as a '_secret_' drawer is impossible. Any +man is a dolt who permits a 'secret' drawer to escape him in a search +of this kind. The thing is so plain. There is a certain amount of +bulk--of space--to be accounted for in every cabinet. Then we have +accurate rules. The fiftieth part of a line could not escape us. After +the cabinets we took the chairs. The cushions we probed with the fine +long needles you have seen me employ. From the tables we removed the +tops." + +"Why so?" + +"Sometimes the top of a table, or other similarly arranged piece of +furniture, is removed by the person wishing to conceal an article; +then the leg is excavated, the article deposited within the cavity, +and the top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedposts are employed in +the same way." + +"But could not the cavity be detected by sounding?" I asked. + +"By no means, if, when the article is deposited, a sufficient wadding +of cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, we were obliged +to proceed without noise." + +"But you could not have removed--you could not have taken to pieces +_all_ articles of furniture in which it would have been possible to +make a deposit in the manner you mention. A letter may be compressed +into a thin spiral roll, not differing much in shape or bulk from a +large knitting-needle, and in this form it might be inserted into +the rung of a chair, for example. You did not take to pieces all the +chairs?" + +"Certainly not; but we did better--we examined the rungs of every +chair in the hotel, and, indeed, the jointings of every description of +furniture, by the aid of a most powerful microscope. Had there been +any traces of recent disturbance we should not have failed to detect +it instantly. A single grain of gimlet-dust, for example, would have +been as obvious as an apple. Any disorder in the gluing--any unusual +gaping in the joints--would have sufficed to insure detection." + +"I presume you looked to the mirrors, between the boards and the +plates, and you probed the beds and the bedclothes, as well as the +curtains and carpets." + +"That, of course; and when we had absolutely completed every particle +of the furniture in this way, then we examined the house itself. We +divided its entire surface into compartments, which we numbered, so +that none might be missed; then we scrutinized each individual square +inch throughout the premises, including the two houses immediately +adjoining, with the microscope, as before." + +"The two houses adjoining!" I exclaimed. "You must have had a great +deal of trouble." + +"We had; but the reward offered is prodigious." + +"You include the _grounds_ about the houses?" + +"All the grounds are paved with brick. They gave us comparatively +little trouble. We examined the moss between the bricks, and found it +undisturbed." + +"You looked among D----'s papers, of course, and into the books of the +library?" + +"Certainly; we opened every package and parcel; we not only opened +every book, but we turned over every leaf in each volume, not +contenting ourselves with a mere shake, according to the fashion of +some of our police officers. We also measured the thickness of every +book-_cover_, with the most accurate admeasurement, and applied to +each the most jealous scrutiny of the microscope. Had any of the +bindings been recently meddled with, it would have been utterly +impossible that the fact should have escaped observation. Some five or +six volumes, just from the hands of the binder, we carefully probed, +longitudinally, with the needles." + +"You explored the floors beneath the carpets?" + +"Beyond doubt. We removed every carpet, and examined the boards with +the microscope." + +"And the paper on the walls?" + +"Yes." + +"You looked into the cellars?" + +"We did." + +"Then," I said, "you have been making a miscalculation, and the letter +is _not_ upon the premises, as you suppose." + +"I fear you are right there," said the Prefect. "And now, Dupin, what +would you advise me to do?" + +"To make a thorough research of the premises." + +"That is absolutely needless," replied G----. "I am not more sure that +I breathe than I am that the letter is not at the hotel." + +"I have no better advice to give you," said Dupin. "You have, of +course, an accurate description of the letter?" + +"Oh yes!" And here the Prefect, producing a memorandum book, proceeded +to read aloud a minute account of the internal, and especially of the +external, appearance of the missing document. Soon after finishing +the perusal of this description, he took his departure, more entirely +depressed in spirits than I had ever known the good gentleman before. + +In about a month afterward he paid us another visit, and found us +occupied very nearly as before. He took a pipe and a chair, and +entered into some ordinary conversation. At length I said: + +"Well, but, G----, what of the purloined letter? I presume you have at +last made up your mind that there is no such thing as overreaching the +Minister?" + +"Confound him, say I--yes; I made the re-examination, however, as +Dupin suggested--but it was all labor lost, as I knew it would be." + +"How much was the reward offered, did you say?" asked Dupin. + +"Why, a very great deal--a _very_ liberal reward--I don't like to say +how much, precisely; but one thing I _will_ say, that I wouldn't mind +giving my individual check for fifty thousand francs to any one who +could obtain me that letter. The fact is, it is becoming of more and +more importance every day; and the reward has been lately doubled. If +it were trebled, however, I could do no more than I have done." + +"Why, yes," said Dupin, drawling, between the whiffs of his +meerschaum, "I really--think, G----, you have not exerted yourself--to +the utmost in this matter. You might--do a little more, I think; eh?" + +"How?--in what way?" + +"Why"--puff, puff--"you might"--puff, puff--"employ counsel in the +matter, eh"--puff, puff, puff. "Do you remember the story they tell of +Abernethy?" + +"No; hang Abernethy!" + +"To be sure! Hang him and welcome. But, once upon a time, a certain +miser conceived the design of spunging upon this Abernethy for +a medical opinion. Getting up, for this purpose, an ordinary +conversation in a private company, he insinuated his case to the +physician as that of an imaginary individual." + +"'We will suppose,' said the miser, 'that his symptoms are such and +such; now, doctor, what would _you_ have directed him to take?' + +"'Take!' said Abernethy. 'Why, take _advice_, to be sure.'" + +"But," said the Prefect, a little discomposed, "_I_ am _perfectly_ +willing to take advice, and to pay for it. I would _really_ give fifty +thousand francs to any one who would aid me in the matter." + +"In that case," replied Dupin, opening a drawer, and producing a +check-book, "you may as well fill me up a check for the amount +mentioned. When you have signed it, I will hand you the letter." + +I was astounded. The Prefect appeared absolutely thunder-stricken. +For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless, looking +incredulously at my friend with open mouth, and eyes that seemed +starting from their sockets; then apparently recovering himself in +some measure, he seized a pen, and after several pauses and vacant +stares, finally filled up and signed a check for fifty thousand +francs, and handed it across the table to Dupin. The latter examined +it carefully and deposited it in his pocket-book; then, unlocking an +_escritoire_, took thence a letter and gave it to the Prefect. This +functionary grasped it in a perfect agony of joy, opened it with +a trembling hand, cast a rapid glance at its contents, and +then, scrambling and struggling to the door, rushed at length +unceremoniously from the room and from the house, without having +uttered a syllable since Dupin had requested him to fill up the check. + +When he had gone, my friend entered into some explanation. + +"The Parisian police," he said, "are exceedingly able in their way. +They are persevering, ingenious, cunning, and thoroughly versed in the +knowledge which their duties seem chiefly to demand. Thus, when G---- +detailed to us his mode of searching the premises at the Hotel +D----, I felt entire confidence in his having made a satisfactory +investigation--so far as his labors extended." + +"So far as his labors extended?" said I. + +"Yes," said Dupin. "The measures adopted were not only the best of +their kind, but carried out to absolute perfection. Had the letter +been deposited within the range of their search, these fellows would, +beyond a question, have found it." + +I merely laughed--but he seemed quite serious in all that he said. + +"The measures, then," he continued, "were good in their kind, and well +executed; their defect lay in their being inapplicable to the case and +to the man. A certain set of highly ingenious resources are, with the +Prefect, a sort of Procrustean bed, to which he forcibly adapts his +designs. But he perpetually errs by being too deep or too shallow for +the matter in hand, and many a school-boy is a better reasoner than +he. I knew one about eight years of age, whose success at guessing in +the game of 'even and odd' attracted universal admiration. This game +is simple, and is played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a +number of these toys, and demands of another whether that number is +even or odd. If the guess is right, the guesser wins one; if wrong, he +loses one. The boy to whom I allude won all the marbles of the school. +Of course, he had some principle of guessing; and this lay in mere +observation and admeasurement of the astuteness of his opponents. For +example, an arrant simpleton is his opponent, and, holding up his +closed hand, asks, 'Are they even or odd?' Our school-boy replies, +'Odd,' and loses; but upon the second trial he wins, for he then says +to himself: 'The simpleton had them even upon the first trial, and his +amount of cunning is just sufficient to make him have them odd upon +the second; I will therefore guess odd'; he guesses odd, and wins. +Now, with a simpleton a degree above the first, he would have reasoned +thus; + +'This fellow finds that in the first instance I guessed odd, and, in +the second, he will propose to himself, upon the first impulse, a +simple variation from even to odd, as did the first simpleton; +but then a second thought will suggest that this is too simple a +variation, and finally he will decide upon putting it even as before. +I will therefore guess even'; he guesses even, and wins. Now this mode +of reasoning in the school-boy, whom his fellows termed 'Lucky,' what, +in its last analysis, is it?" + +"It is merely," I said, "an identification of the reasoner's intellect +with that of his opponent." + +"It is," said Dupin; "and, upon inquiring of the boy by what means he +effected the _thorough_ identification in which his success consisted, +I received answer as follows: 'When I wish to find out how wise, or +how stupid, or how good, or how wicked, is any one, or what are his +thoughts at the moment, I fashion the expression of my face, as +accurately as possible, in accordance with the expression of his, +and then wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind +or heart, as if to match or correspond with the expression.' This +response of the school-boy lies at the bottom of all the spurious +profundity which has been attributed to Rochefoucault, to La Bougive, +to Machiavelli, and to Campanella." + +"And the identification," I said, "of the reasoner's intellect with +that of his opponent, depends, if I understand you aright, upon the +accuracy with which the opponent's intellect is admeasured." + +"For its practical value it depends upon this," replied Dupin; "and +the Prefect and his cohort fail so frequently, first, by default of +this identification, and, secondly, by ill-admeasurement, or rather +through non-admeasurement, of the intellect with which they are +engaged. They consider only their _own_ ideas of ingenuity; and, in +searching for anything hidden, advert only to the modes in which +_they_ would have hidden it. They are right in this much--that their +own ingenuity is a faithful representative of that of _the mass_; but +when the cunning of the individual felon is diverse in character from +their own, the felon foils them of course. This always happens when it +is above their own, and very usually when it is below. They have no +variation of principle in their investigations; at best, when urged by +some unusual emergency--by some extraordinary reward--they extend +or exaggerate their old modes of _practice_, without touching their +principles. What, for example, in this case of D----, has been done to +vary the principle of action? What is all this boring, and probing, +and sounding, and scrutinizing with the microscope, and dividing the +surface of the building into registered square inches--what is it all +but an exaggeration of the application of the one principle or set +of principles of search, which are based upon the one set of notions +retarding human ingenuity, to which the Prefect, in the long routine +of his duty, has been accustomed? Do you not see he had taken it for +granted that _all_ men proceed to conceal a letter, not exactly in +a gimlet-hole bored in a chair-leg, but, at least, in _some_ +out-of-the-way hole or corner suggested by the same tenor of thought +which would urge a man to secrete a letter in a gimlet-hole bored in a +chair-leg? And do you not see, also, that such _recherche_ nooks for +concealment are adapted only for ordinary occasions, and would be +adopted only by ordinary intellects; for, in all cases of concealment, +a disposal of the article concealed--a disposal of it in this +_recherche_ manner--is, in the very first instance, presumable and +presumed; and thus its discovery depends, not at all upon the acumen, +but altogether upon the mere care, patience, and determination of the +seekers; and where the case is of importance--or, when the reward is +of magnitude--the qualities in question have _never_ been known to +fail. You will now understand what I meant in suggesting that, had +the purloined letter been hidden anywhere within the limits of the +Prefect's examination--in other words, had the principle of +its concealment been comprehended within the principles of the +Prefect--its discovery would have been a matter altogether beyond +question. This functionary, however, has been thoroughly mystified; +and the remote source of his defeat lies in the supposition that the +Minister is a fool, because he has acquired renown as a poet. All +fools are poets; this the Prefect _feels_; and he is merely guilty +of a _non distributio medii_ in thence inferring that all poets are +fools. I mean to say, that if the Minister had been no more than a +mathematician, the Prefect would have been under no necessity of +giving me this check. I knew him, however, as both mathematician and +poet, and my measures were adapted to his capacity, with reference +to the circumstances by which he was surrounded. I knew him as a +courtier, too, and as a bold _intriguant_. Such a man, I considered, +could not fail to be aware of the ordinary political modes of action. +He could not have failed to anticipate--and events have proved that he +did not fail to anticipate--the waylayings to which he was subjected. +He must have foreseen, I reflected, the secret investigations of his +premises. His frequent absences from home at night, which were hailed +by the Prefect as certain aids to his success, I regarded only as +_ruses_, to afford opportunity for thorough search to the police, and +thus the sooner to impress them with the conviction to which G----, in +fact, did finally arrive--the conviction that the letter was not upon +the premises. I felt, also, that the whole train of thought, which +I was at some pains in detailing to you just now, concerning the +invariable principle of political action in searches for articles +concealed--I felt that this whole train of thought would necessarily +pass through the mind of the Minister. It would imperatively lead him +to despise all the ordinary _nooks_ of concealment. _He_ could not, I +reflected, be so weak as not to see that the most intricate and remote +recess of his hotel would be as open as his commonest closets to the +eyes, to the probes, to the gimlets, and to the microscopes of the +Prefect. I saw, in fine, that he would be driven, as a matter of +course, to _simplicity_, if not deliberately induced to it as a matter +of choice. You will remember, perhaps, how desperately the Prefect +laughed when I suggested, upon our first interview, that it was just +possible this mystery troubled him so much on account of its being so +_very_ self-evident." + +"Yes," said I, "I remember his merriment well. I really thought he +would have fallen into convulsions." + +"The material world," continued Dupin, "abounds with very strict +analogies to the immaterial; and thus some color of truth has been +given to the rhetorical dogma that metaphor, or simile, may be made +to strengthen an argument as well as to embellish a description. The +principle of the _vis inertiae_, for example, seems to be identical in +physics and metaphysics. It is not more true, in the former, that a +large body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller +one, and that its subsequent _momentum_ is commensurate with this +difficulty, than it is, in the latter, that intellects of the vaster +capacity, while more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in +their movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily +moved, and more embarrassed, and full of hesitation in the first few +steps of their progress. Again: have you ever noticed which of +the street signs, over the shop doors, are the most attractive of +attention?" + +"I have never given the matter a thought," I said. + +"There is a game of puzzles," he resumed, "which is played upon a map. +One party playing requires another to find a given word--the name of +town, river, state, or empire--any word, in short, upon the motley and +perplexed surface of the chart. A novice in the game generally seeks +to embarrass his opponents by giving them the most minutely lettered +names; but the adept selects such words as stretch, in large +characters, from one end of the chart to the other. These, like +the over-largely lettered signs and placards of the street, escape +observation by dint of being excessively obvious; and here +the physical oversight is precisely analogous with the moral +inapprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed +those considerations which are too obtrusively and too palpably +self-evident. But this is a point, it appears, somewhat above or +beneath the understanding of the Prefect. He never once thought it +probable, or possible, that the Minister had deposited the letter +immediately beneath the nose of the whole world, by way of best +preventing any portion of that world from perceiving it. + +"But the more I reflected upon the daring, dashing, and discriminating +ingenuity of D----; upon the fact that the document must always have +been _at hand_, if he intended to use it to good purpose; and upon the +decisive evidence, obtained by the Prefect, that it was not hidden +within the limits of that dignitary's ordinary search, the more +satisfied I became that, to conceal this letter, the Minister +had resorted to the comprehensive and sagacious expedient of not +attempting to conceal it. + +"Full of these ideas, I prepared myself with a pair of green +spectacles, and called one fine morning, quite by accident, at the +Ministerial hotel. I found D---- at home, yawning, lounging, and +dawdling, as usual, and pretending to be in the last extremity of +_ennui_. He is, perhaps, the most really energetic human being now +alive--but that is only when nobody sees him. + +"To be even with him, I complained of my weak eyes, and lamented the +necessity of the spectacles, under cover of which I cautiously and +thoroughly surveyed the whole apartment, while seemingly intent only +upon the conversation of my host. + +"I paid especial attention to a large writing-table near which he sat, +and upon which lay confusedly some miscellaneous letters and other +papers, with one or two musical instruments and a few books. Here, +however, after a long and very deliberate scrutiny, I saw nothing to +excite particular suspicion. + +"At length my eyes, in going the circuit of the room, fell upon a +trumpery filigree card-rack of pasteboard that hung dangling by a +dirty blue ribbon from a little brass knob just beneath the middle of +the mantelpiece. In this rack, which had three or four compartments, +were five or six soiled cards and a solitary letter. This last was +much soiled and crumpled. It was torn nearly in two, across the +middle--as if a design, in the first instance, to tear it entirely up +as worthless had been altered or stayed in the second. It had a large +black seal, bearing the D---- cipher _very_ conspicuously, and was +addressed, in a diminutive female hand, to D----, the Minister, +himself. It was thrust carelessly, and even, as it seemed, +contemptuously, into one of the uppermost divisions of the rack. + +"No sooner had I glanced at this letter than I concluded it to be +that of which I was in search. To be sure, it was, to all appearance, +radically different from the one of which the Prefect had read us so +minute a description. Here the seal was large and black, with the +D---- cipher; there it was small and red, with the ducal arms of the +S---- family. Here the address, to the Minister, was diminutive and +feminine; there the superscription, to a certain royal personage, +was markedly bold and decided; the size alone formed a point of +correspondence. But, then, the _radicalness_ of these differences, +which was excessive; the dirt; the soiled and torn condition of the +paper, so inconsistent with the _true_ methodical habits of D----, and +so consistent of a design to delude the beholder into an idea of +the worthlessness of the document--these things, together with the +hyperobtrusive situation of this document, full in the view of every +visitor, and thus exactly in accordance with the conclusions to +which I had previously arrived--these things, I say, were strongly +corroborative of suspicion in one who came with the intention to +suspect. + +"I protracted my visit as long as possible, and, while I maintained a +most animated discussion with the Minister upon a topic which I knew +well had never failed to interest and excite him, I kept my attention +riveted upon the letter. In this examination I committed to memory its +external appearance and arrangement in the rack, and also fell, at +length, upon a discovery which set at rest whatever trivial doubt I +might have entertained. In scrutinizing the edges of the paper, +I observed them to be more _chafed_ than seemed necessary. They +presented the _broken_ appearance which is manifested when a stiff +paper, having been once folded and pressed with a folder, is refolded +in a reversed direction, in the same creases or edges which formed the +original fold. This discovery was sufficient. It was clear to me that +the letter had been turned, as a glove, inside out, re-directed and +re-sealed. I bade the Minister good-morning, and took my departure at +once, leaving a gold snuff-box upon the table. + +"The next morning I called for the snuff-box, when we resumed, quite +eagerly, the conversation of the preceding day. While thus engaged, +however, a loud report, as if of a pistol, was heard immediately +beneath the windows of the hotel, and was succeeded by a series of +fearful screams and the shoutings of a terrified mob. D---- rushed to +a casement, threw it open, and looked out. In the mean time I stepped +to the card-rack, took the letter, put it in my pocket, and replaced +it by a _facsimile_ (so far as regards externals), which I had +carefully prepared at my lodgings--imitating the D---- cipher, very +readily, by means of a seal formed of bread. + +"The disturbance in the street had been occasioned by the frantic +behavior of a man with a musket. He had fired it among a crowd of +women and children. It proved, however, to have been without ball, and +the fellow was suffered to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard. When +he had gone, D---- came from the window, whither I had followed him +immediately upon securing the object in view. Soon afterward I bade +him farewell. The pretended lunatic was a man in my own pay." + +"But what purpose had you," I asked, "in replacing the letter by a +_facsimile_? Would it not have been better, at the first visit, to +have seized it openly and departed?" + +"D----," replied Dupin, "is a desperate man and a man of nerve. His +hotel, too, is not without attendants devoted to his interests. Had +I made the wild attempt you suggest, I might never have left the +Ministerial presence alive. The good people of Paris might have heard +of me no more. But I had an object apart from these considerations. +You know my political prepossessions. In this matter I act as a +partisan of the lady concerned. For eighteen months the Minister has +had her in his power. She has now him in hers--since, being unaware +that the letter is not in his possession, he will proceed with his +exactions as if it was. Thus will he inevitably commit himself, at +once, to his political destruction. His downfall, too, will not be +more precipitate than awkward. It is all very well to talk about the +_facilis descensus Averni_; but in all kinds of climbing, as Catalani +said of singing, it is far more easy to get up than to come down. In +the present instance I have no sympathy--at least no pity--for him +who descends. He is that _monstrum horrendum_, an unprincipled man of +genius. I confess, however, that I should like very well to know the +precise character of his thoughts, when, being defied by her whom the +Prefect terms 'a certain personage,' he is reduced to opening the +letter I left for him in the card-rack." + +"How? Did you put anything particular in it?" + +"Why--it did not seem altogether right to leave the interior +blank--that would have been insulting. D----, at Vienna once, did me +an evil turn, which I told him, quite good-humoredly, that I should +remember. So, as I knew he would feel some curiosity in regard to the +identity of the person who had outwitted him, I thought it a pity not +to give him a clew. He is well acquainted with my MS., and I just +copied into the middle of the blank sheet the words: + + "'---- + ... Un dessein si funeste, + S'il n'est digne d'Atree, este digne de Thyeste.' + +They are to be found in Crebillon's _Atree_." + + + + +RAB AND HIS FRIENDS + +_Dr. John Brown_ (1810-1882) + + +Four-and-thirty years ago, Bob Ainslie and I were coming up Infirmary +Street from the High School, our heads together, and our arms +intertwisted as only lovers and boys know how or why. + +When we got to the top of the street and turned north we espied a +crowd at the Tron Church. "A dog-fight!" shouted Bob, and was off; and +so was I, both of us all but praying that it might not be over before +we got up! And is not this boy-nature, and human nature, too? And +don't we all wish a house on fire not to be out before we see it? Dogs +like fighting; old Isaac says they "delight" in it, and for the best +of all reasons; and boys are not cruel because they like to see +the fight. They see three of the great cardinal virtues of dog or +man--courage, endurance, and skill--in intense action. This is very +different from a love of making dogs fight, and aggravating and making +gain by their pluck. A boy--be he ever so fond himself of fighting, if +he be a good boy, hates and despises all this, but he would have run +off with Bob and me fast enough; it is a natural, and a not wicked, +interest that all boys and men have in witnessing intense energy in +action. + +Does any curious and finely ignorant woman wish to know how Bob's eye +at a glance announced a dog-fight to his brain? He did not--he could +not--see the dogs fighting; it was a flash of an inference, a rapid +induction. The crowd round a couple of dogs fighting is a crowd +masculine mainly, with an occasional active, compassionate woman +fluttering wildly round the outside and using her tongue and her hands +freely upon the men, as so many "brutes"; it is a crowd annular, +compact, and mobile; a crowd centripetal, having its eyes and its +heads all bent downward and inward to one common focus. + +Well, Bob and I are up, and find it is not over; a small thoroughbred, +white bull-terrier is busy throttling a large shepherd's dog, +unaccustomed to war but not to be trifled with. They are hard at +it; the scientific little fellow doing his work in great style, his +pastoral enemy fighting wildly, but with the sharpest of teeth and a +great courage. Science and breeding, however, soon had their own; the +Game Chicken, as the premature Bob called him, working his way up, +took his final grip of poor Yarrow's throat--and he lay gasping and +done for. His master, a brown, handsome, big, young shepherd from +Tweedsmuir, would have liked to have knocked down any man, would +"drink up Esil, or eat a crocodile," for that part, if he had a +chance; it was no use kicking the little dog; that would only make him +hold the closer. Many were the means shouted out in mouthfuls of the +best possible ways of ending it. "Water!" but there was none near, and +many cried for it who might have got it from the well at Blackfriar's +Wynd. "Bite the tail!" and a large, vague, benevolent, middle-aged +man, more desirous than wise, with some struggle got the bushy end of +Yarrow's tail into his ample mouth and bit it with all his might. This +was more than enough for the much-enduring, much-perspiring shepherd, +who, with a gleam of joy over his broad visage, delivered a terrific +facer upon our large, vague, benevolent, middle-aged friend, who went +down like a shot. + +Still the Chicken holds; death not far off. "Snuff! a pinch of snuff!" +observed a calm, highly dressed young buck with an eye-glass in his +eye. "Snuff, indeed!" growled the angry crowd, affronted and glaring. +"Snuff! a pinch of snuff!" again observes the buck, but with more +urgency; whereon were produced several open boxes, and from a mull +which may have been at Culloden he took a pinch, knelt down, and +presented it to the nose of the Chicken, The laws of physiology and of +snuff take their course; the Chicken sneezes, and Yarrow is free! + +The young pastoral giant stalks off with Yarrow in his +arms--comforting him. + +But the bull-terrier's blood is up, and his soul unsatisfied; he grips +the first dog he meets, and, discovering she is not a dog, in Homeric +phrase, he makes a brief sort of _amende_ and is off. The boys, with +Bob and me at their head, are after him: down Niddry Street he goes, +bent on mischief; up the Cowgate like an arrow--Bob and I, and our +small men; panting behind. + +There, under the single arch of the South Bridge, is a huge mastiff, +sauntering down the middle of the causeway, as if with his hands in +his pockets; he is old, brindled, as big as a little Highland bull, +and has the Shakespearean dewlaps shaking as he goes. + +The Chicken makes straight at him, and fastens on his throat. To our +astonishment, the great creature does nothing but stand still, hold +himself up, and roar--yes, roar, a long, serious, remonstrative roar. +How is this? Bob and I are up to them. _He is muzzled_! The bailies +had proclaimed a general muzzling, and his master, studying strength +and economy mainly, had encompassed his huge jaws in a home-made +apparatus constructed out of the leather of some ancient _breechin_. +His mouth was open as far as it could; his lips curled up in rage--a +sort of terrible grin; his teeth gleaming, ready, from out the +darkness; the strap across his mouth tense as a bowstring; his whole +frame stiff with indignation and surprise; his roar asking us all +round, "Did you ever see the like of this?" He looked a statue of +anger and astonishment done in Aberdeen granite. + +We soon had a crowd; the Chicken held on. "A knife!" cried Bob; and a +cobbler gave him his knife; you know the kind of knife, worn obliquely +to a point and always keen. I put its edge to the tense leather; it +ran before it; and then!--one sudden jerk of that enormous head, a +sort of dirty mist about his mouth, no noise, and the bright and +fierce little fellow is dropped, limp and dead. A solemn pause; this +was more than any of us had bargained for. I turned the little fellow +over, and saw he was quite dead: the mastiff had taken him by the +small of the back like a rat and broken it. + +He looked down at his victim appeased, ashamed, and amazed; sniffed +him all over, stared at him, and, taking a sudden thought, turned +round and trotted off. Bob took the dead dog up, and said, "John, +we'll bury him after tea." "Yes," said I, and was off after the +mastiff. He made up the Cowgate at a rapid swing; he had forgotten +some engagement. He turned up the Candlemaker Row, and stopped at the +Harrow Inn. + +There was a carrier's cart ready to start, and a keen, thin, +impatient, black-a-vised little man, his hand at his gray horse's +head, looking about angrily for something. "Rab, ye thief!" said he, +aiming a kick at my great friend, who drew cringing up, and, avoiding +the heavy shoe with more agility than dignity and watching his +master's eye? slunk dismayed under the cart--his ears down, and as +much as he had of tail down, too. + +What a man this must be--thought I--to whom my tremendous hero turns +tail! The carrier saw the muzzle hanging, cut and useless, from +his neck, and I eagerly told him the story, which Bob and I always +thought, and still think, Homer, or King David, or Sir Walter alone +were worthy to rehearse. The severe little man was mitigated, and +condescended to say, "Rab, ma man--puir Rabbie," whereupon the stump +of a tail rose up, the ears were cocked, the eyes filled and were +comforted; the two friends were reconciled. "Hupp!" and a stroke of +the whip were given to Jess, and off went the three. + +Bob and I buried the Game Chicken that night (we had not much of a +tea) in the back-green of his house, in Melville Street, No. 17, with +considerable gravity and silence; and being at the time in the Iliad, +and, like all boys, Trojans, we of course called him Hector. + +Six years have passed--a long time for a boy and a dog; Bob Ainslie +is off to the wars; I am a medical student, and clerk at Minto House +Hospital. + +Rab I saw almost every week, on the Wednesday, and we had much +pleasant intimacy. I found the way to his heart by frequent scratching +of his huge head and an occasional bone. When I did not notice him he +would plant himself straight before me and stand wagging that bud of +a tail, and looking up, with his head a little to the one side. His +master I occasionally saw; he used to call me "Maister John," but was +laconic as any Spartan. + +One fine October afternoon I was leaving the hospital, when I saw the +large gate open, and in walked Rab, with that great and easy saunter +of his. He looked as if taking possession of the place, like the Duke +of Wellington entering a subdued city, satiated with victory and +peace. After him came Jess, now white from age, with her cart; and +in it a woman carefully wrapped up--the carrier leading the horse +anxiously and looking back. When he saw me, James (for his name was +James Noble) made a curt and grotesque "boo," and said, "Maister John, +this is the mistress; she's got a trouble in her breest--some kind o' +an income, we're thinkin'." + +By this time I saw the woman's face; she was sitting on a sack filled +with straw, with her husband's plaid round her, and his big-coat, with +its large, white metal buttons, over her feet. + +I never saw a more unforgettable face--pale, serious, _lonely_, +delicate, sweet, without being at all what we call fine. She looked +sixty, and had on a mutch, white as snow, with its black ribbon; her +silvery, smooth hair setting off her dark-gray eyes--eyes such as one +sees only twice or thrice in a lifetime, full of suffering, full also +of the overcoming of it; her eyebrows black and delicate, and her +mouth firm, patient, and contented, which few mouths ever are. + +As I have said, I never saw a more beautiful countenance, or one more +subdued to settled quiet. "Ailie," said James, "this is Maister John, +the young doctor; Rab's friend, ye ken. We often speak aboot you, +doctor." She smiled and made a movement, but said nothing, and +prepared to come down, putting her plaid aside and rising. Had +Solomon, in all his glory, been handing down the Queen of Sheba at his +palace gate, he could not have done it more daintily, more tenderly, +more like a gentleman than James, the Howland carrier, when he +lifted down Ailie, his wife. The contrast of his small, swarthy, +weather-beaten, keen, worldly face to hers--pale, subdued, and +beautiful--was something wonderful. Rab looked on concerned and +puzzled, but ready for anything that might turn up, were it to +strangle the nurse, the porter, or even me. Ailie and he seemed great +friends. + +"As I was sayin', she's got a kind o' trouble in her breest, doctor; +wull ye tak' a look at it?" We walked into the consulting-room, all +four; Rab, grim and comic, willing to be happy and confidential if +cause should be shown, willing also to be the reverse on the same +terms. Ailie sat down, undid her open gown and her lawn handkerchief +round her neck, and, without a word, showed me her right breast. I +looked at it and examined it carefully, she and James watching me, and +Rab eying all three. What could I say? There it was, that had once +been so soft, so shapely, so white, so gracious and bountiful, so +"full of all blessed condition," hard as a stone, a centre of horrid +pain, making that pale face, with its gray, lucid, reasonable eyes, +and its sweet, resolved mouth, express the full measure of suffering +overcome. Why was that gentle, modest, sweet woman, clean and lovable, +condemned by God to bear such a burden? + +I got her away to bed. "May Rab and me bide?" said James. "_You_ may; +and Rab, if he will behave himself." "I'se warrant he's do that, +doctor." And in slunk the faithful beast. There are no such dogs now. +He belonged to a lost tribe. As I have said, he was brindled, and gray +like Rubislaw granite; his hair short, hard, and close, like a lion's; +his body thick-set, like a little bull--a sort of compressed Hercules +of a dog. He must have been ninety pounds' weight, at the least; he +had a large, blunt head; his muzzle black as night; his mouth blacker +than any night; a tooth or two--being all he had--gleaming out of his +jaws of darkness. His head was scarred with the records of old wounds, +a sort of series of fields of battles all over it; one eye out, one +ear cropped as close as was Archbishop Leighton's father's; the +remaining eye had the power of two; and above it, and in constant +communication with it, was a tattered rag of an ear, which was forever +unfurling itself, like an old flag; and then that bud of a tail, about +one inch long, if it could in any sense be said to be long, being as +broad as long--the mobility, the instantaneousness of that bud were +very funny and surprising, and its expressive twinklings and winkings, +the intercommunications between the eye, the ear, and it, were of the +oddest and swiftest. + +Rab had the dignity and simplicity of great size; and, having fought +his way all along the road to absolute supremacy, he was as mighty in +his own line as Julius Caesar or the Duke of Wellington, and had the +gravity of all great fighters. + +You must have often observed the likeness of certain men to certain +animals, and of certain dogs to men. Now, I never looked at Rab +without thinking of the great Baptist preacher, Andrew Fuller. The +same large, heavy, menacing, combative, sombre, honest countenance, +the same deep, inevitable eye; the same look, as of thunder asleep, +but ready--neither a dog nor a man to be trifled with. + +Next day my master, the surgeon, examined Ailie. There could be no +doubt it must kill her, and soon. If it could be removed--it might +never return--it would give her speedy relief--she should have it +done. She curtsied, looked at James, and said, "When?" "To-morrow," +said the kind surgeon--a man of few words. She and James and Rab and +I retired. I noticed that he and she spoke little, but seemed to +anticipate everything in each other. The following day, at noon, +the students came in, hurrying up the great stair. At the first +landing-place, on a small, well-known blackboard, was a bit of paper +fastened by wafers, and many remains of old wafers beside it. On the +paper were the words: + +"An operation to-day.--J.B., _Clerk_." + +Up ran the youths, eager to secure good places; in they crowded, full +of interest and talk. "What's the case?" "Which side is it?" + +Don't think them heartless; they are neither better nor worse than you +or I; they get over their professional horrors, and into their proper +work; and in them pity, as an _emotion_, ending in itself or at best +in tears and a long-drawn breath, lessens, while pity, as a _motive_, +is quickened, and gains power and purpose. It is well for poor human +nature that it is so. + +The operating-theatre is crowded; much talk and fun, and all the +cordiality and stir of youth. The surgeon with his staff of assistants +is there. In comes Ailie; one look at her quiets and abates the eager +students. That beautiful old woman is too much for them; they sit +down, and are dumb, and gaze at her. These rough boys feel the power +of her presence. She walks in quietly, but without haste; dressed in +her mutch, her neckerchief, her white dimity short-gown, her black +bombazeen petticoat, showing her white worsted stockings and her +carpet shoes. Behind her was James with Rab. James sat down in the +distance, and took that huge and noble head between his knees. Rab +looked perplexed and dangerous--forever cocking his ear and dropping +it as fast. + +Ailie stepped up on a seat, and laid herself on the table, as her +friend the surgeon told her; arranged herself, gave a rapid look at +James, shut her eyes, rested herself on me, and took my hand. +The operation was at once begun; it was necessarily slow; and +chloroform--one of God's best gifts to his suffering children--was +then unknown. The surgeon did his work. The pale face showed its pain, +but was still and silent. Rab's soul was working within him; he saw +something strange was going on, blood flowing from his mistress, and +she suffering; his ragged ear was up and importunate; he growled and +gave now and then a sharp, impatient yelp; he would have liked to have +done something to that man. But James had him firm, and gave him a +_glower_ from time to time, and an intimation of a possible kick; all +the better for James--it kept his eye and his mind off Ailie. + +It is over; she is dressed, steps gently and decently down from the +table, looks for James; then turning to the surgeon and the students, +she curtsies, and in a low, clear voice, begs their pardon if she has +behaved ill. The students--all of us--wept like children; the surgeon +wrapped her up carefully, and, resting on James and me, Ailie went +to her room, and Rab followed. We put her to bed. James took off his +heavy shoes, crammed with tackets, heel-capped and toe-capped, and put +them carefully under the table, saying: "Maister John, I'm for nane o' +yer strynge nurse bodies for Ailie. I'll be her nurse, and I'll gang +aboot on my stockin' soles as canny as pussy." And so he did; +and handy and clever, and swift and tender as any woman was that +horny-handed, snell, peremptory little man. Everything she got he gave +her; he seldom slept; and often I saw his small, shrewd eyes out of +the darkness, fixed on her. As before, they spoke little. + +Rab behaved well, never moving, showing us how meek and gentle he +could be, and occasionally, in his sleep, letting us know that he +was demolishing some adversary. He took a walk with me every day, +generally to the Candlemaker Row; but he was sombre and mild; declined +doing battle, though some fit cases offered, and indeed submitted to +sundry indignities; and was always very ready to turn, and came faster +back, and trotted up the stair with much lightness, and went straight +to that door. + +Jess, the mare, had been sent, with her weather-beaten cart, to +Howgate, and had doubtless her own dim and placid meditations and +confusions on the absence of her master and Rab and her unnatural +freedom from the road and her cart. + +For some days Ailie did well. The wound healed "by the first +intention"; for as James said, "Oor Ailie's skin's ower clean to +beil." The students came in quiet and anxious, and surrounded her +bed. She said she liked to see their young, honest faces. The surgeon +dressed her, and spoke to her in his own short, kind way, pitying her +through his eyes, Rab and James outside the circle--Rab being now +reconciled, and even cordial, and having made up his mind that as yet +nobody required worrying, but, as you may suppose, _semper paratus_. + +So far well; but, four days after the operation, my patient had a +sudden and long shivering, a "groosin," as she called it. I saw her +soon after; her eyes were too bright, her cheek colored; she was +restless, and ashamed of being so; the balance was lost; mischief had +begun. On looking at the wound, a blush of red told the secret; her +pulse was rapid, her breathing anxious and quick; she wasn't herself, +as she said, and was vexed at her restlessness. We tried what we +could. James did everything, was everywhere, never in the way, never +out of it; Rab subsided under the table into a dark place, and was +motionless, all but his eye, which followed every one. Ailie got +worse; began to wander in her mind, gently; was more demonstrative in +her ways to James, rapid in her questions, and sharp at times. He was +vexed, and said, "She was never that way afore, no, never." For a time +she knew her head was wrong, and was always asking our pardon--the +dear, gentle old woman; then delirium set in strong, without pause. +Her brain gave way, and then came that terrible spectacle, + + "The intellectual power, through words and things, + Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way"; + +she sang bits of old songs and Psalms, stopping suddenly, mingling the +Psalms of David and the diviner words of his Son and Lord with homely +odds and ends of ballads. + +Nothing more touching, or in a sense more strangely beautiful, did +I ever witness. Her tremulous, rapid, affectionate, eager, Scotch +voice--the swift, aimless, bewildered mind, the baffled utterance, +the bright and perilous eye; some wild words, some household cares, +something for James, the names of the dead, Rab called rapidly and in +a "fremyt" voice, and he starting up, surprised, and slinking off as +if he were to blame somehow, or had been dreaming he heard. Many eager +questions and beseechings which James and I could make nothing of, and +on which she seemed to set her all, and then sink back ununderstood. +It was very sad, but better than many things that are not called sad. +James hovered about, put out and miserable, but active and exact as +ever; read to her, when there was a lull, short bits from the Psalms, +prose and metre, chanting the latter in his own rude and serious way, +showing great knowledge of the fit words, bearing up like a man, and +doating over her as his "ain Ailie." "Ailie, ma woman!" "Ma ain bonnie +wee dawtie!" + +The end was drawing on; the golden bowl was breaking; the silver +cord was fast being loosed--that _animula, blandula, vagula, hospes, +comesque_, was about to flee. The body and the soul--companions for +sixty years--were being sundered and taking leave. She was walking, +alone, through the valley of that shadow into which one day we must +all enter--and yet she was not alone, for we know whose rod and staff +were comforting her. + +One night she had fallen quiet, and, as we hoped, asleep; her eyes +were shut. We put down the gas, and sat watching her. Suddenly she sat +up in bed, and, taking a bedgown which was lying on it rolled up, she +held it eagerly to her breast--to the right side. We could see her +eyes bright with a surprising tenderness and joy, bending over this +bundle of clothes. She held it as a woman holds her sucking child; +opening out her night-gown impatiently, and holding it close and +brooding over it and murmuring foolish little words, as over one whom +his mother comforteth, and who sucks and is satisfied. It was pitiful +and strange to see her wasted, dying look, keen and yet vague--her +immense love. + +"Preserve me!" groaned James, giving way. And then she rocked back and +forward, as if to make it sleep, hushing it, and wasting on it her +infinite fondness. "Wae's me, doctor; I declare she's thinkin' it's +that bairn." "What bairn?" "The only bairn we ever had; our wee Mysie, +and she's in the Kingdom forty years and mair." It was plainly true; +the pain in the breast, telling its urgent story to a bewildered, +ruined brain, was misread and mistaken; it suggested to her the +uneasiness of a breast full of milk, and then the child; and so again +once more they were together, and she had her ain wee Mysie on her +bosom. + +This was the close. She sank rapidly; the delirium left her; but, as +she whispered, she was "clean silly"; it was the lightening before the +final darkness. After having for some time lain still, her eyes shut, +she said, "James!" He came close to her, and, lifting up her calm, +clear, beautiful eyes, she gave him a long look, turned to me kindly +but shortly, looked for Rab but could not see him, then turned to her +husband again, as if she would never leave off looking, shut her eyes, +and composed herself. She lay for some time breathing quick, and +passed away so gently that, when we thought she was gone, James, in +his old-fashioned way, held the mirror to her face. After a long +pause, one small spot of dimness was breathed out; it vanished away, +and never returned, leaving the blank, clear darkness without a stain. +"What is our life? It is even as a vapor, which appeareth for a little +time, and then vanisheth away." + +Rab all this time had been full awake and motionless; he came forward +beside us; Ailie's hand, which James had held, was hanging down; it +was soaked with his tears; Rab licked it all over carefully, looked at +her, and returned to his place under the table. + +James and I sat, I don't know how long, but for some time. Saying +nothing, he started up abruptly, and with some noise went to the +table, and, putting his right fore and middle fingers each into a +shoe, pulled them out and put them on, breaking one of the leather +latchets, and muttering in anger, "I never did the like o' that +afore!" + +I believe he never did; nor after either. "Rab!" he said, roughly, +and, pointing with his thumb to the bottom of the bed. Rab leaped up +and settled himself, his head and eye to the dead face. "Maister John, +ye'll wait for me," said the carrier; and disappeared in the darkness, +thundering down-stairs in his heavy shoes. I ran to a front window; +there he was, already round the house and out at the gate, fleeing +like a shadow. + +I was afraid about him, and yet not afraid; so I sat down beside Rab, +and, being wearied, fell asleep. I awoke from a sudden noise outside. +It was November, and there had been a heavy fall of snow. Rab was _in +statu quo_; he heard the noise, too, and plainly knew it, but never +moved. I looked out; and there, at the gate, in the dim morning--for +the sun was not up--was Jess and the cart, a cloud of steam rising +from the old mare. I did not see James; he was already at the door, +and came up the stairs and met me. It was less than three hours since +he left, and he must have posted out--who knows how?--to Howgate, full +nine miles off, yoked Jess, and driven her astonished into town. He +had an armful of blankets, and was streaming with perspiration. He +nodded to me, and spread out on the floor two pairs of clean old +blankets having at their corners, "A.G., 1794," in large letters in +red worsted. These were the initials of Alison Graeme, and James may +have looked in at her from without--himself unseen but not unthought +of--when he was "wat, wat, and weary," and, after having walked many +a mile over the hills, may have seen her sitting, while "a' the lave +were sleeping," and by the firelight working her name on the blankets +for her ain James's bed. + +He motioned Rab down, and, taking his wife in his arms, laid her in +the blankets, and happed her carefully and firmly up, leaving the face +uncovered; and then, lifting her, he nodded again sharply to me, and +with a resolved but utterly miserable face strode along the passage +and down-stairs, followed by Rab. I followed with a light; but he +didn't need it. I went out, holding stupidly the candle in my hand in +the calm, frosty air; we were soon at the gate. I could have helped +him, but I saw he was not to be meddled with, and he was strong, and +did not need it. He laid her down as tenderly, as safely, as he had +lifted her out ten days before--as tenderly as when he had her first +in his arms when she was only "A.G."--sorted her, leaving that +beautiful sealed face open to the heavens; and then, taking Jess by +the head, he moved away. He did not notice me, neither did Rab, who +presided behind the cart. + +I stood till they passed through the long shadow of the College and +turned up Nicolson Street. I heard the solitary cart sound through the +streets, and die away and come again; and I returned, thinking of that +company going up Libberton Brae, then along Roslin Muir, the morning +light touching the Pentlands, and making them like onlooking +ghosts; then down the hill through Auchindinny woods, past "haunted +Woodhouselee"; and as daybreak came sweeping up the bleak Lammermuirs, +and fell on his own door, the company would stop, and James would take +the key, and lift Ailie up again, laying her on her own bed, and, +having put Jess up, would return with Rab and shut the door. + +James buried his wife, with his neighbors mourning, Rab watching the +proceedings from a distance. It was snow, and that black, ragged hole +would look strange in the midst of the swelling, spotless cushion of +white. James looked after everything; then rather suddenly fell ill, +and took to bed; was insensible when the doctor came, and soon died. +A sort of low fever was prevailing in the village, and his want of +sleep, his exhaustion, and his misery made him apt to take it. The +grave was not difficult to reopen. A fresh fall of snow had again made +all things white and smooth; Rab once more looked on, and slunk home +to the stable. + +And what of Rab? I asked for him next week at the new carrier who got +the good-will of James's business and was now master of Jess and her +cart. "How's Rab?" He put me off, and said, rather rudely, "What's +_your_ business wi' the dowg?" I was not to be so put off. "Where's +Rab?" He, getting confused and red, and intermeddling with his hair, +said, "'Deed, sir, Rab's deid." "Dead! What did he die of?" "Weel, +sir," said he, getting redder, "he didna' exactly dee; he was killed. +I had to brain him wi' a rack-pin; there was nae doin' wi' him. He lay +in the treviss wi' the mear, and wadna come oot. I tempit him wi' kail +and meat, but he wad tak naething, and keepit me frae feeding the +beast, and he was aye gurrin', and grup, gruppin' me by the legs. I +was laith to mak' awa' wi' the auld dowg, his like wasna atween this +and Thornhill--but, 'deed, sir, I could do naething else." I believed +him. Fit end for Rab, quick and complete. His teeth and his friends +gone, why should he keep the peace and be civil? + +He was buried in the braeface, near the burn, the children of the +village, his companions, who used to make very free with him and sit +on his ample stomach as he lay half asleep at the door in the sun, +watching the solemnity. + + + + +THE BOOTS AT THE HOLLY-TREE INN + +_Charles Dickens_ (1812-1870) + + +Where had he been in his time? he repeated, when I asked him the +question, Lord, he had been everywhere! And what had he been? Bless +you, he had been everything you could mention, a'most! + +Seen a good deal? Why, of course he had. I should say so, he could +assure me, if I only knew about a twentieth part of what had come in +_his_ way. Why, it would be easier for him, he expected, to tell what +he hadn't seen than what he had. Ah! a deal, it would. + +What was the curiousest thing he had seen? Well! He didn't know. +He couldn't momently name what was the curiousest thing he had +seen--unless it was a Unicorn--and he see _him_ once at a fair. But +supposing a young gentleman not eight year old was to run away with +a fine young woman of seven, might I think _that_ a queer start? +Certainly. Then that was a start as he himself had had his blessed +eyes on, and he had cleaned the shoes they run away in--and they was +so little he couldn't get his hand into 'em. + +Master Harry Walmers' father, you see, he lived at the Elmses, down +away by Shooter's Hill there, six or seven miles from Lunnon. He was +a gentleman of spirit, and good-looking, and held his head up when he +walked, and had what you call Fire about him. He wrote poetry, and he +rode, and he ran, and he cricketed, and he danced, and he acted, and +he done it all equally beautiful. He was uncommon proud of Master +Harry as was his only child; but he didn't spoil him neither. He was +a gentleman that had a will of his own and a eye of his own, and that +would be minded. Consequently, though he made quite a companion of the +fine bright boy, and was delighted to see him so fond of reading his +fairy-books, and was never tired of hearing him say my name is Norval, +or hearing him sing his songs about Young May Moons is beaming love, +and When he as adores thee has left but the name, and that; still he +kept the command over the child, and the child _was_ a child, and it's +to be wished more of 'em was. + +How did Boots happen to know all this? Why, through being +under-gardener. Of course he couldn't be under-gardener, and he always +about, in the summer-time, near the windows on the lawn, a-mowing, and +sweeping, and weeding, and pruning, and this and that, without getting +acquainted with the ways of the family. Even supposing Master Harry +hadn't come to him one morning early, and said, "Cobbs, how should you +spell Norah, if you was asked?" and then began cutting it in print all +over the fence. + +He couldn't say that he had taken particular notice of children before +that; but really it was pretty to see them two mites a-going about the +place together, deep in love. And the courage of the boy! Bless your +soul, he'd have throwed off his little hat, and tucked up his little +sleeves, and gone in at a lion, he would, if they had happened to meet +one, and she had been frightened of him. One day he stops, along with +her, where Boots was hoeing weeds in the gravel, and says, speaking +up, "Cobbs," he says, "I like _you." "Do_ you, sir? I'm proud to hear +it." "Yes, I do, Cobbs. Why do I like you, do you think, Cobbs?" +"Don't know, Master Harry, I am sure." "Because Norah likes you, +Cobbs." "Indeed, sir? That's very gratifying." "Gratifying, Cobbs? +It's better than millions of the brightest diamonds to be liked by +Norah." "Certainly, sir." "Would you like another situation, Cobbs?" +"Well, sir, I shouldn't object if it was a good 'un." "Then, Cobbs," +says he, "you shall be our Head Gardener when we are married." And he +tucks her, in her little sky-blue mantle, under his arm, and walks +away. + +Boots could assure me that it was better than a picter, and equal to a +play, to see them babies, with their long, bright, curling hair, their +sparkling eyes, and their beautiful light tread, a-rambling about the +garden, deep in love. Boots was of opinion that the birds believed +they was birds, and kept up with 'em, singing to please 'em. Sometimes +they would creep under the tulip-tree, and would sit there with their +arms round one another's necks, and their soft cheeks touching, +a-reading about the Prince and the Dragon, and the good and bad +enchanters, and the king's fair daughter. Sometimes he would hear them +planning about a house in a forest, keeping bees and a cow, and living +entirely on milk and honey. Once he came upon them by the pond, and +heard Master Harry say, "Adorable Norah, kiss me, and say you love +me to distraction, or I'll jump in head foremost." And Boots made no +question he would have done it if she hadn't complied. On the +whole, Boots said it had a tendency to make him feel he was in love +himself--only he didn't exactly know who with. + +"Cobbs," said Master Harry, one evening, when Cobbs was watering +the flowers, "I am going on a visit, this present midsummer, to my +grandmamma's at York." + +"Are you, indeed, sir? I hope you'll have a pleasant time. I am going +into Yorkshire, myself, when I leave here." + +"Are you going to your grandmamma's, Cobbs?" + +"No, sir. I haven't got such a thing." + +"Not as a grandmamma, Cobbs?" + +"No, sir." + +The boy looked on at the watering of the flowers for a little while, +and then said, "I shall be very glad indeed to go, Cobbs--Norah's +going." + +"You'll be all right, then, sir," says Cobbs, "with your beautiful +sweetheart by your side." + +"Cobbs," returned the boy, flushing, "I never let anybody joke about +it when I can prevent them." + +"It wasn't a joke, sir," says Cobbs, with humility--"wasn't so meant." + +"I am glad of that, Cobbs, because I like you, you know, and you're +going to live with us. Cobbs!" + +"Sir." + +"What do you think my grandmamma gives me when I go down there?" + +"I couldn't so much as make a guess, sir." + +"A Bank-of-England five-pound note, Cobbs." + +"Whew!" says Cobbs, "that's a spanking sum of money, Master Harry." + +"A person could do a great deal with such a sum of money as +that--couldn't a person, Cobbs?" + +"I believe you, sir!" + +"Cobbs," said the boy, "I'll tell you a secret. At Norah's house they +have been joking her about me, and pretending to laugh at our being +engaged--pretending to make game of it, Cobbs!" + +"Such, sir," says Cobbs, "is the depravity of human natur'." + +The boy, looking exactly like his father, stood for a few minutes +with his glowing face toward the sunset, and then departed with, +"Good-night, Cobbs. I'm going in." + +If I was to ask Boots how it happened that he was a-going to leave +that place just at that present time, well, he couldn't rightly answer +me. He did suppose he might have stayed there till now if he had been +anyways inclined. But you see, he was younger then, and he wanted +change. That's what he wanted--change. Mr. Walmers, he said to him +when he gave him notice of his intentions to leave, "Cobbs," he says, +"have you anythink to complain of? I make the inquiry, because if I +find that any of my people really has anythink to complain of, I wish +to make it right if I can." "No, sir," says Cobbs; "thanking you, sir, +I find myself as well sitiwated here as I could hope to be anywheres. +The truth is, sir, that I'm a-going to seek my fortun'." "Oh, indeed, +Cobbs!" he says; "I hope you may find it." And Boots could assure +me--which he did, touching his hair with his bootjack, as a salute in +the way of his present calling--that he hadn't found it yet. + +Well, sir! Boots left the Elmses when his time was up, and Master +Harry, he went down to the old lady's at York, which old lady would +have given that child the teeth out of her head (if she had had any), +she was so wrapped up in him. What does that Infant do--for Infant +you may call him, and be within the mark--but cut away from that old +lady's with his Norah, on a expedition to go to Gretna Green and be +married! + +Sir, Boots was at this identical Holly-Tree Inn (having left it +several times to better himself, but always come back through one +thing or another), when, one summer afternoon, the coach drives up, +and out of the coach gets them two children. The Guard says to our +Governor, "I don't quite make out these little passengers, but the +young gentleman's words was, that they was to be brought here." +The young gentleman gets out; hands his lady out; gives the Guard +something for himself; says to our Governor, "We're to stop here +to-night, please. Sitting-room and two bedrooms will be required. +Chops and cherry-pudding for two!" and tucks her in her little +sky-blue mantle, under his arm, and walks into the house much bolder +than Brass. + +Boots leaves me to judge what the amazement of that establishment was, +when these two tiny creatures all alone by themselves was marched +into the Angel--much more so when he, who had seen them without their +seeing him, give the Governor his views upon the expedition they was +upon. "Cobbs," says the Governor, "if this is so, I must set off +myself to York, and quiet their friends' minds. In which case you must +keep your eye upon 'em, and humor 'em till I come back. But before I +take these measures, Cobbs, I should wish you to find from themselves +whether your opinions is correct." "Sir, to you," says Cobbs, "that +shall be done directly." + +So Boots goes up-stairs to the Angel, and there he finds Master Harry, +on a e'normous sofa--immense at any time, but looking like the Great +Bed of Ware, compared with him--a-drying the eyes of Miss Norah with +his pocket-hankecher. Their little legs was entirely off the ground, +of course, and it really is not possible for Boots to express to me +how small them children looked. + +"It's Cobbs! It's Cobbs!" cries Master Harry, and comes running to him +on t'other side, and catching hold of his t'other hand, and they both +jump for joy. + +"I see you a-getting out, sir," says Cobbs. "I thought it was you. I +thought I couldn't be mistaken in your height and figure. What's the +object of your journey, sir? Matrimonial?" + +"We're going to be married, Cobbs, at Gretna Green," returned the boy. +"We have run away on purpose. Norah has been in rather low spirits, +Cobbs; but she'll be happy, now we have found you to be our friend." + +"Thank you, sir, and thank _you_, miss," says Cobbs, "for your good +opinion. _Did_ you bring any luggage with you, sir?" + +If I will believe Boots when he gives me his word and honor upon +it, the lady had got a parasol, a smelling-bottle, a round and a +half of cold buttered toast, eight peppermint drops, and a +hair-brush--seemingly a doll's. The gentleman had got about half a +dozen yards of string, a knife, three or four sheets of writing-paper, +folded up surprising small, a orange, and a Chaney mug with his name +upon it. + +"What may be the exact nature of your plans, sir?" says Cobbs. + +"To go on," replied the boy--which the courage of that boy was +something wonderful!--"in the morning, and be married to-morrow." + +"Just so, sir," says Cobbs. "Would it meet your views, sir, if I was +to accompany you?" + +When Cobbs said this, they both jumped for joy again, and cried out, +"Oh yes, yes, Cobbs! Yes!" + +"Well, sir!" says Cobbs. "If you will excuse me having the freedom +to give an opinion, what I should recommend would be this. I am +acquainted with a pony, sir, which, put in a pheayton that I could +borrow, would take you and Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior (myself driving, +if you approved), to the end of your journey in a very short space of +time. I am not altogether sure, sir, that this pony will be at liberty +to-morrow, but even if you had to wait over to-morrow for him, it +might be worth your while. As to the small account here, sir, in case +you was to find yourself running at all short, that don't signify; +because I am a part proprietor of this inn, and it could stand over." + +Boots assures me that when they clapped their hands, and jumped for +joy again, and called him "Good Cobbs!" and "Dear Cobbs!" and bent +across him to kiss one another in the delight of their confiding +hearts, he felt himself the meanest rascal for deceiving 'em that ever +was born. + +"Is there anything you want just at present, sir?" says Cobbs, +mortally ashamed of himself. + +"We should like some cakes after dinner," answered Master Harry, +folding his arms, putting out one leg, and looking straight at him, +"and two apples and jam. With dinner we should like to have toast and +water. But Norah has always been accustomed to half a glass of currant +wine at dessert. And so have I." + +"It shall be ordered at the bar, sir," says Cobbs; and away he went. + +Boots has the feeling as fresh upon him this moment of speaking as he +had then, that he would far rather have had it out in half a dozen +rounds with the Governor than have combined with him; and that he +wished with all his heart there was any impossible place where two +babies could make an impossible marriage, and live impossibly +happy ever afterward. However, as it couldn't be, he went into the +Governor's plans, and the Governor set off for York in half an hour. + +The way in which the women of that house--without exception--every one +of 'em--married _and_ single--took to that boy when they heard the +story, Boots considers surprising. It was as much as he could do to +keep 'em from dashing into the room and kissing him. They climbed +up all sorts of places, at the risk of their lives, to look at him +through a pane of glass. They was seven deep at the keyhole. They was +out of their minds about him and his bold spirit. + +In the evening, Boots went into the room to see how the runaway couple +was getting on. The gentleman was on the window-seat, supporting the +lady in his arms. She had tears upon her face, and was lying, very +tired and half asleep, with her head upon his shoulder. + +"Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, fatigued, sir?" says Cobbs. + +"Yes, she is tired, Cobbs; but she is not used to be away from home, +and she has been in low spirits again. Cobbs, do you think you could +bring a biffin, please?" + +"I ask your pardon, sir," says Cobbs. "What was it you--" + +"I think a Norfolk biffin would rouse her, Cobbs. She is very fond of +them." + +Boots withdrew in search of the required restorative, and, when he +brought it in, the gentleman handed it to the lady, and fed her with a +spoon, and took a little himself; the lady being heavy with sleep, and +rather cross. "What should you think, sir," says Cobbs, "of a chamber +candlestick?" The gentleman approved; the chambermaid went first, +up the great staircase; the lady, in her sky-blue mantle, followed, +gallantly escorted by the gentleman; the gentleman embraced her at her +door, and retired to his own apartment, where Boots softly locked him +in. + +Boots couldn't but feel with increased acuteness what a base deceiver +he was, when they consulted him at breakfast (they had ordered sweet +milk-and-water, and toast and currant jelly, over-night) about the +pony. It really was as much as he could do, he don't mind confessing +to me, to look them two young things in the face, and think what a +wicked old father of lies he had grown up to be. Howsomever, he went +on a-lying like a Trojan about the pony. He told 'em that it did so +unfortunately happen that the pony was half clipped, you see, and that +he couldn't be taken out in that state, for fear it should strike to +his inside. But that he'd be finished clipping in the course of the +day, and that to-morrow morning at eight o'clock the pheayton would be +ready. Boots' view of the whole case, looking back on it in my room, +is, that Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, was beginning to give in. She +hadn't had her hair curled when she went to bed, and she didn't seem +quite up to brushing it herself, and its getting in her eyes put +her out. But nothing put out Master Harry. He sat behind his +breakfast-cup, a-tearing away at the jelly, as if he had been his own +father. + +After breakfast Boots is inclined to consider they drawed soldiers--at +least he knows that many such was found in the fireplace, all on +horseback. In the course of the morning Master Harry rang the bell--it +was surprising how that there boy did carry on--and said, in a +sprightly way, "Cobbs, is there any good walks in this neighborhood?" + +"Yes, sir," says Cobbs. "There's Love Lane." + +"Get out with you, Cobbs!"--that was that there boy's +expression--"you're joking." + +"Begging your pardon, sir," says Cobbs, "there _really is_ Love Lane. +And a pleasant walk it is, and proud shall I be to show it to yourself +and Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior." + +"Norah, dear," says Master Harry, "this is curious. We really ought to +see Love Lane. Put on your bonnet, my sweetest darling, and we will go +there with Cobbs." + +Boots leaves me to judge what a Beast he felt himself to be, when that +young pair told him, as they all three jogged along together, that +they had made up their minds to give him two thousand guineas a year +as Head Gardener, on account of his being so true a friend to 'em. +Boots could have wished at the moment that the earth would have +opened and swallowed him up, he felt so mean, with their beaming +eyes a-looking at him, and believing him. Well, sir, he turned the +conversation as well as he could, and he took 'em down Love Lane to +the water-meadows, and there Master Harry would have drowned himself +in half a moment more, a-getting out a water-lily for her--but nothing +daunted that boy. Well, sir, they was tired out. All being so new and +strange to 'em, they was tired as tired could be. And they laid +down on a bank of daisies, like the children in the wood, leastways +meadows, and fell asleep. + +Boots don't know--perhaps I do--but never mind, it don't signify +either way--why it made a man fit to make a fool of himself to see +them two pretty babies a-lying there in the clear, still day, not +dreaming half so hard when they was asleep as they done when they was +awake. But, Lord! when you come to think of yourself, you know, and +what a game you have been up to ever since you was in your own cradle, +and what a poor sort of chap you are, and how it's always either +Yesterday with you, or To-morrow, and never To-day, that's where it +is! + +Well, sir, they woke up at last, and then one thing was getting pretty +clear to Boots--namely, that Mrs. Harry Walmerses, Junior's, temper +was on the move. When Master Harry took her round the waist, she said +he "teased her so"; and when he says, "Norah, my young May Moon, your +Harry tease you?" she tells him, "Yes; and I want to go home." + +A biled fowl and baked bread-and-butter pudding brought Mrs. Walmers +up a little; but Boots could have wished, he must privately own to +me, to have seen her more sensible of the woice of love, and less +abandoning of herself to currants. However, Master Harry, he kept up, +and his noble heart was as fond as ever. Mrs. Walmers turned very +sleepy about dusk, and began to cry. Therefore, Mrs. Walmers went off +to bed as per yesterday; and Master Harry ditto repeated. + +About eleven or twelve at night comes back the Governor in a chaise, +along with Mr. Walmers and a elderly lady. Mr. Walmers looks amused +and very serious, both at once, and says to our Missis: "We are much +indebted to you, ma'am; for your kind care of our little children, +which we can never sufficiently acknowledge. Pray, ma'am, where is +my boy?" Our Missis says: "Cobbs has the dear child in charge, sir. +Cobbs, show Forty!" Then he says to Cobbs: "Ah, Cobbs, I am glad to +see _you_! I understood you was here!" And Cobbs says: "Yes, sir. Your +most obedient, sir." + +I may be surprised to hear Boots say it, perhaps; but Boots assures +me that his heart beat like a hammer, going up-stairs. "I beg your +pardon, sir," says he, while unlocking the door; "I do hope you are +not angry with Master Harry. For Master Harry is a fine boy, sir, and +will do you credit and honor." And Boots signifies to me that, if the +fine boy's father had contradicted him in the daring state of mind in +which he then was, he thinks he should have "fetched him a crack," and +taken the consequences. + +But Mr. Walmers only says: "No, Cobbs. No, my good fellow. Thank you!" +And, the door being opened, goes in. + +Boots goes in, too, holding the light, and he sees Mr. Walmers go up +to the bedside, bend gently down, and kiss the little sleeping face. +Then he stands looking at it for a minute, looking wonderfully like it +(they do say he ran away with Mrs. Walmers); and then he gently shakes +the little shoulder. + +"Harry, my dear boy! Harry!" + +Master Harry starts up and looks at him. Looks at Cobbs, too. Such is +the honor of that mite, that he looks at Cobbs, to see whether he has +brought him into trouble. + +"I'm not angry, my child. I only want you to dress yourself and come +home." + +"Yes, pa." + +Master Harry dresses himself quickly. His breast begins to swell when +he has nearly finished, and it swells more and more as he stands, at +last, a-looking at his father; his father standing a-looking at him, +the quiet image of him. + +"Please may I"--the spirit of that little creatur', and the way he +kept his rising tears down!--"please, dear pa--may I--kiss Norah +before I go?" + +"You may, my child." + +So he takes Master Harry in his hand, and Boots leads the way with the +candle, and they come to that other bedroom, where the elderly lady is +seated by the bed, and poor little Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, is fast +asleep. There the father lifts the child up to the pillow, and he lays +his little face down for an instant by the little warm face of poor +unconscious little Mrs. Harry Walmers, Junior, and gently draws it to +him--a sight so touching to the chambermaids, who are peeping through +the door, that one of them called out, "It's a shame to part 'em!" But +this chambermaid was always, as Boots informs us, a softhearted one. +Not that there was any harm in that girl. Far from it. + +Finally, Boots says, that's all about it. Mr. Walmers drove away in +the chaise, having hold of Master Harry's hand. The elderly lady and +Mrs. Walmers, Junior, that was never to be (she married a Captain long +afterward, and died in India), went off next day. In conclusion, Boots +puts it to me whether I hold with him in two opinions: firstly, that +there are not many couples on their way to be married who are half as +innocent of guile as those two children; secondly, that it would be a +jolly good thing for a great many couples on their way to be married, +if they could only be stopped in time, and brought back separately. + + + + +A STORY OF SEVEN DEVILS[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Amos Kilbright and Other Stories_. 1888.] + +_Frank R. Stockton_ (1834-1902) + + +The negro church which stood in the pine woods near the little village +of Oxford Cross Roads, in one of the lower counties of Virginia, was +presided over by an elderly individual, known to the community in +general as Uncle Pete; but on Sundays the members of his congregation +addressed him as Brudder Pete. He was an earnest and energetic man, +and, although he could neither read nor write, he had for many years +expounded the Scriptures to the satisfaction of his hearers. His +memory was good, and those portions of the Bible, which from time to +time he had heard read, were used by him, and frequently with powerful +effect, in his sermons. His interpretations of the Scriptures were +generally entirely original, and were made to suit the needs, or what +he supposed to be the needs, of his congregation. + +Whether as "Uncle Pete" in the garden and corn-field, or "Brudder +Pete" in the church, he enjoyed the good opinion of everybody +excepting one person, and that was his wife. She was a high-tempered +and somewhat dissatisfied person, who had conceived the idea that her +husband was in the habit of giving too much time to the church, and +too little to the acquisition of corn-bread and pork. On a certain +Saturday she gave him a most tremendous scolding, which so affected +the spirits of the good man that it influenced his decision in regard +to the selection of the subject for his sermon the next day. + +His congregation was accustomed to being astonished, and rather liked +it, but never before had their minds received such a shock as when the +preacher announced the subject of his discourse. He did not take any +particular text, for this was not his custom, but he boldly stated +that the Bible declared that every woman in this world was possessed +by seven devils; and the evils which this state of things had brought +upon the world, he showed forth with much warmth and feeling. +Subject-matter, principally from his own experience, crowded in upon +his mind, and he served it out to his audience hot and strong. If +his deductions could have been proved to be correct, all women were +creatures who, by reason of their sevenfold diabolic possession, were +not capable of independent thought or action, and who should in tears +and humility place themselves absolutely under the direction and +authority of the other sex. + +When he approached the conclusion of his sermon, Brother Peter closed +with a bang the Bible, which, although he could not read a word of +it, always lay open before him while he preached, and delivered the +concluding exhortation of his sermon. + +"Now, my dear brev'ren ob dis congregation," he said, "I want you to +understan' dat dar's nuffin in dis yer sarmon wot you've jus' heerd +ter make you think yousefs angels. By no means, brev'ren; you was all +brung up by women, an' you've got ter lib wid' em, an ef anythin' in +dis yer worl' is ketchin', my dear brev'ren, it's habin debbils, an' +from wot I've seen ob some ob de men ob dis worl' I 'spect dey is +persest ob 'bout all de debbils dey got room fur. But de Bible don' +say nuffin p'intedly on de subjec' ob de number ob debbils in man, an' +I 'spec' dose dat's got 'em--an' we ought ter feel pow'ful thankful, +my dear brev'ren, dat de Bible don' say we all's got 'em--has 'em +'cordin to sarcumstances. But wid de women it's dif'rent; dey's got +jus' sebin, an' bless my soul, brev'ren, I think dat's 'nuff. + +"While I was a-turnin' ober in my min' de subjec' ob dis sarmon, dere +come ter me a bit ob Scripter wot I heerd at a big preachin' an' +baptizin' at Kyarter's Mills, 'bout ten year' ago. One ob de preachers +was a-tellin' about ole mudder Ebe a-eatin' de apple, and says he: De +sarpint fus' come along wid a red apple, an' says he: 'You gib dis yer +to your husban', an' he think it so mighty good dat when he done eat +it he gib you anything you ax him fur, ef you tell him whar de tree +is.' Ebe, she took one bite, an' den she frew dat apple away. 'Wot you +mean, you triflin' sarpint,' says she, 'a fotchin' me dat apple wot +ain't good fur nuffin but ter make cider wid?' Den de sarpint he go +fotch her a yaller apple, an' she took one bite, an' den says she: 'Go +'long wid ye, you fool sarpint, wot you fotch me dat June apple wot +ain't got no taste to it?' Den de sarpint he think she like sumpin' +sharp, an' he fotch her a green apple. She takes one bite ob it, an' +den she frows it at his head, an' sings out: 'Is you 'spectin' me to +gib dat apple to yer Uncle Adam an' gib him de colic?' Den de debbil +he fotch her a lady-apple, but she say she won't take no sich triflin' +nubbins as dat to her husban', an' she took one bite ob it, an' frew +it away. Den he go fotch her two udder kin' ob apples, one yaller +wid red stripes, an' de udder one red on one side an' green on de +udder--mighty good-lookin' apples, too--de kin' you git two dollars a +bar'l fur at the store. But Ebe, she wouldn't hab neider ob 'em, an' +when she done took one bite out ob each one, she frew it away. Den de +ole debbil-sarpint, he scratch he head, an' he say to hese'f: 'Dis yer +Ebe, she pow'ful 'ticklar 'bout her apples. Reckin I'll have ter wait +till after fros', an' fotch her a real good one,' An' he done wait +till after fros', and then he fotch her a' Albemarle pippin, an' when +she took one bite ob dat, she jus' go 'long an' eat it all up, core, +seeds, an' all. 'Look h'yar, sarpint,' says she, 'hab you got anudder +ob dem apples in your pocket?' An' den he tuk one out, an' gib it to +her. ''Cuse me,' says she, 'I's gwine ter look up Adam, an' ef he don' +want ter know war de tree is wot dese apples grow on, you can hab him +fur a corn-field han'.' + +"An' now, my dear brev'ren," said Brother Peter, "while I was +a-turnin' dis subjec' ober in my min', an' wonderin' how de women +come ter hab jus' seben debbils apiece, I done reckerleck dat bit ob +Scripter wot I heerd at Kyarter's Mills, an' I reckon dat 'splains how +de debbils got inter woman. De sarpint he done fotch mudder Ebe seben +apples, an' ebery one she take a bite out of gib her a debbil." + +As might have been expected, this sermon produced a great sensation, +and made a deep impression on the congregation. As a rule, the men +were tolerably well satisfied with it; and when the services were over +many of them made it the occasion of shy but very plainly pointed +remarks to their female friends and relatives. + +But the women did not like it at all. Some of them became angry, and +talked very forcibly, and feelings of indignation soon spread among +all the sisters of the church. If their minister had seen fit to stay +at home and preach a sermon like this to his own wife (who, it may be +remarked, was not present on this occasion), it would have been well +enough, provided he had made no allusions to outsiders; but to come +there and preach such things to them was entirely too much for their +endurance. Each one of the women knew she had not seven devils, and +only a few of them would admit of the possibility of any of the others +being possessed by quite so many. + +Their preacher's explanation of the manner in which every woman came +to be possessed of just so many devils appeared to them of little +importance. What they objected to was the fundamental doctrine of his +sermon, which was based on his assertion that the Bible declared every +woman had seven devils. They were not willing to believe that the +Bible said any such thing. Some of them went so far as to state it was +their opinion that Uncle Pete had got this fool notion from some of +the lawyers at the court-house when he was on a jury a month or so +before. It was quite noticeable that, although Sunday afternoon had +scarcely begun, the majority of the women of the congregation called +their minister Uncle Pete. This was very strong evidence of a sudden +decline in his popularity. + +Some of the more vigorous-minded women, not seeing their minister +among the other people in the clearing in front of the log church, +went to look for him, but he was not to be found. His wife had ordered +him to be home early, and soon after the congregation had been +dismissed he departed by a short cut through the woods. That afternoon +an irate committee, composed principally of women, but including also +a few men who had expressed disbelief in the new doctrine, arrived +at the cabin of their preacher, but found there only his wife, +cross-grained old Aunt Rebecca. She informed them that her husband was +not at home. + +"He's done 'gaged hisse'f," she said, "ter cut an' haul wood fur +Kunnel Martin ober on Little Mount'n fur de whole ob nex' week. It's +fourteen or thirteen mile' from h'yar, an' ef he'd started ter-morrer +mawnm', he'd los' a'mos' a whole day. 'Sides dat, I done tole him dat +ef he git dar ter-night he'd have his supper frowed in. Wot you all +want wid him? Gwine to pay him fur preachin'?" + +Any such intention as this was instantaneously denied, and Aunt +Rebecca was informed of the subject upon which her visitors had come +to have a very plain talk with her husband. + +Strange to say, the announcement of the new and startling dogma had +apparently no disturbing effect upon Aunt Rebecca. On the contrary, +the old woman seemed rather to enjoy the news. + +"Reckin he oughter know all 'bout dat," she said. "He's done had three +wives, an' he ain't got rid o' dis one yit." + +Judging from her chuckles and waggings of the head when she made this +remark, it might be imagined that Aunt Rebecca was rather proud of the +fact that her husband thought her capable of exhibiting a different +kind of diabolism every day in the week. + +The leader of the indignant church-members was Susan Henry; a mulatto +woman of a very independent turn of mind. She prided herself that she +never worked in anybody's house but her own, and this immunity from +outside service gave her a certain pre-eminence among her sisters. Not +only did Susan share the general resentment with which the startling +statement of old Peter had been received, but she felt that its +promulgation had affected her position in the community. If every +woman was possessed by seven devils, then, in this respect, she was no +better nor worse than any of the others; and at this her proud heart +rebelled. If the preacher had said some women had eight devils and +others six, it would have been better. She might then have made a +mental arrangement in regard to her relative position which would have +somewhat consoled her. But now there was no chance for that. The words +of the preacher had equally debased all women. + +A meeting of the disaffected church-members was held the next night at +Susan Henry's cabin, or rather in the little yard about it, for the +house was not large enough to hold the people who attended it. The +meeting was not regularly organized, but everybody said what he or she +had to say, and the result was a great deal of clamor, and a general +increase of indignation against Uncle Pete. + +"Look h'yar!" cried Susan, at the end of some energetic remarks, "is +dar enny pusson h'yar who kin count up figgers?" + +Inquiries on the subject ran through the crowd, and in a few moments +a black boy, about fourteen, was pushed forward as an expert in +arithmetic. + +"Now, you Jim," said Susan, "you's been, to school, an' you kin count +up figgers. 'Cordin' ter de chu'ch books dar's forty-seben women +b'longin' to our meetin', an' ef each one ob dem dar has got seben +debbils in her, I jus' wants you ter tell me how many debbils come to +chu'ch ebery clear Sunday ter hear dat ole Uncle Pete preach." + +This view of the case created a sensation, and much interest was shown +in the result of Jim's calculations, which were made by the aid of a +back of an old letter and a piece of pencil furnished by Susan. The +result was at last announced as three hundred and nineteen, which, +although not precisely correct, was near enough to satisfy the +company. + +"Now, you jus' turn dat ober in you all's minds," said Susan. "More'n +free hundred debbils in chu'ch ebery Sunday, an' we women fotchin 'em. +Does anybody s'pose I's gwine ter b'lieve dat fool talk?" + +A middle-aged man now lifted up his voice and said: "I's been thinkin' +ober dis h'yar matter and I's 'cluded dat p'r'aps de words ob de +preacher was used in a figgeratous form o' sense. P'r'aps de seben +debbils meant chillun." + +These remarks were received with no favor by the assemblage. + +"Oh, you git out!" cried Susan. "Your ole woman's got seben chillun, +shore 'nuf, an' I s'pec' dey's all debbils. But dem sent'ments don't +apply ter all de udder women h'yar, 'tic'larly ter dem dar young uns +wot ain't married yit." + +This was good logic, but the feeling on the subject proved to be even +stronger, for the mothers in the company became so angry at their +children being considered devils that for a time there seemed to be +danger of an Amazonian attack on the unfortunate speaker. This was +averted, but a great deal of uproar now ensued, and it was the general +feeling that something ought to be done to show the deep-seated +resentment with which the horrible charge against the mothers and +sisters of the congregation had been met. Many violent propositions +were made, some of the younger men going so far as to offer to burn +down the church. It was finally agreed, quite unanimously, that old +Peter should be unceremoniously ousted from his place in the pulpit +which he had filled so many years. + +As the week passed on, some of the older men of the congregation who +had friendly feelings toward their old companion and preacher talked +the matter over among themselves, and afterward, with many of their +fellow-members, succeeded at last in gaining the general consent that +Uncle Pete should be allowed a chance to explain himself, and give +his grounds and reasons for his astounding statement in regard to +womankind. If he could show biblical authority for this, of course +nothing more could be said. But if he could not, then he must get down +from the pulpit, and sit for the rest of his life on a back seat of +the church. This proposition met with the more favor, because even +those who were most indignant had an earnest curiosity to know what +the old man would say for himself. + +During all this time of angry discussion, good old Peter was quietly +and calmly cutting and hauling wood on the Little Mountain. His mind +was in a condition of great comfort and peace, for not only had he +been able to rid himself, in his last sermon, of many of the hard +thoughts concerning women that had been gathering themselves together +for years, but his absence from home had given him a holiday from +the harassments of Aunt Rebecca's tongue, so that no new notions of +woman's culpability had risen within him. He had dismissed the subject +altogether, and had been thinking over a sermon regarding baptism, +which he thought he could make convincing to certain of the younger +members of his congregation. + +He arrived at home very late on Saturday night, and retired to his +simple couch without knowing anything of the terrible storm which had +been gathering through the week, and which was to burst upon him on +the morrow. But the next morning, long before church time, he +received warning enough of what was going to happen. Individuals and +deputations gathered in and about his cabin--some to tell him all that +had been said and done; some to inform him what was expected of him; +some to stand about and look at him; some to scold; some to denounce; +but, alas! not one to encourage; nor one to call him "Brudder Pete," +that Sunday appellation dear to his ears. But the old man possessed a +stubborn soul, not easily to be frightened. + +"Wot I says in de pulpit," he remarked, "I'll 'splain in de pulpit, +an' you all ud better git 'long to de chu'ch, an' when de time fur de +sarvice come, I'll be dar." + +This advice was not promptly acted upon, but in the course of half an +hour nearly all the villagers and loungers had gone off to the church +in the woods; and when Uncle Peter had put on his high black hat, +somewhat battered, but still sufficiently clerical looking for that +congregation, and had given something of a polish to his cowhide +shoes, he betook himself by the accustomed path to the log building +where he had so often held forth to his people. As soon as he entered +the church he was formally instructed by a committee of the leading +members that before he began to open the services, he must make it +plain to the congregation that what he had said on the preceding +Sunday about every woman being possessed by seven devils was Scripture +truth, and not mere wicked nonsense out of his own brain. If he could +not do that, they wanted no more praying or preaching from him. + +Uncle Peter made no answer, but, ascending the little pulpit, he put +his hat on the bench behind him where it was used to repose, took out +his red cotton handkerchief and blew his nose in his accustomed way, +and looked about him. The house was crowded. Even Aunt Rebecca was +there. + +After a deliberate survey of his audience, the preacher spoke: +"Brev'eren an' sisters, I see afore me Brudder Bill Hines, who kin +read de Bible, an' has got one. Ain't dat so, Brudder?" + +Bill Hines having nodded and modestly grunted assent, the preacher +continued. "An' dars' Ann' Priscilla's boy, Jake, who ain't a brudder +yit, though he's plenty old 'nuf, min', I tell ye; an' he kin read de +Bible, fus' rate, an' has read it ter me ober an' ober ag'in. Ain't +dat so, Jake?" + +Jake grinned, nodded, and hung his head, very uncomfortable at being +thus publicly pointed out. + +"An' dar's good ole Aun' Patty, who knows more Scripter dan ennybuddy +h'yar, havin' been teached by de little gals from Kunnel Jasper's an' +by dere mudders afore 'em. I reckin she know' de hull Bible straight +froo, from de Garden of Eden to de New Jerus'lum. An' dar are udders +h'yar who knows de Scripters, some one part an' some anudder. Now I +axes ebery one ob you all wot know de Scripters ef he don' 'member +how de Bible tells how our Lor' when he was on dis yearth cas' seben +debbils out o' Mary Magdalum?" + +A murmur of assent came from the congregation, Most of them remembered +that. + +"But did enny ob you ebber read, or hab read to you, dat he ebber cas' +'em out o' enny udder woman?" + +Negative grunts and shakes of the head signified that nobody had ever +heard of this. + +"Well, den," said the preacher, gazing blandly around, "all de udder +women got 'em yit." + +A deep silence fell upon the assembly, and in a few moments an elderly +member arose. "Brudder Pete," he said, "I reckin you mought as well +gib out de hyme." + + + + +A DOG'S TALE[1] + +[Footnote 1: 1903] + +_Mark Twain_ (1835) + + +I + +My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a +Presbyterian. This is what my mother told me; I do not know these nice +distinctions myself. To me they are only fine large words meaning +nothing. My mother had a fondness for such; she liked to say them, and +see other dogs look surprised and envious, as wondering how she got so +much education. But, indeed, it was not real education; it was +only show: she got the words by listening in the dining-room and +drawing-room when there was company, and by going with the children to +Sunday-school and listening there; and whenever she heard a large word +she said it over to herself many times, and so was able to keep it +until there was a dogmatic gathering in the neighborhood, then she +would get it off, and surprise and distress them all, from pocket-pup +to mastiff, which rewarded her for all her trouble. If there was a +stranger he was nearly sure to be suspicious, and when he got his +breath again he would ask her what it meant. And she always told him. +He was never expecting this, but thought he would catch her; so when +she told him, he was the one that looked ashamed, whereas he had +thought it was going to be she. The others were always waiting for +this, and glad of it and proud of her, for they knew what was going to +happen, because they had had experience. When she told the meaning of +a big word they were all so taken up with admiration that it never +occurred to any dog to doubt if it was the right one; and that was +natural, because, for one thing, she answered up so promptly that it +seemed like a dictionary speaking, and for another thing, where could +they find out whether it was right or not? for she was the only +cultivated dog there was. By-and-by, when I was older, she brought +home the word Unintellectual, one time, and worked it pretty hard +all the week at different gatherings, making much unhappiness and +despondency; and it was at this time that I noticed that during that +week she was asked for the meaning at eight different assemblages, and +flashed out a fresh definition every time, which showed me that she +had more presence of mind than culture, though I said nothing, of +course. She had one word which she always kept on hand, and ready, +like a life-preserver, a kind of emergency word to strap on when she +was likely to get washed overboard in a sudden way--that was the word +Synonymous. When she happened to fetch out a long word which had had +its day weeks before and its prepared meanings gone to her dump-pile, +if there was a stranger there of course it knocked him groggy for a +couple of minutes, then he would come to, and by that time she would +be away down the wind on another tack, and not expecting anything; so +when he'd hail and ask her to cash in, I (the only dog on the inside +of her game) could see her canvas flicker a moment,--but only just a +moment,--then it would belly out taut and full, and she would say, as +calm as a summer's day, "It's synonymous with supererogation," or some +godless long reptile of a word like that, and go placidly about and +skim away on the next tack, perfectly comfortable, you know, and leave +that stranger looking profane and embarrassed, and the initiated +slatting the floor with their tails in unison and their faces +transfigured with a holy joy. + +And it was the same with phrases. She would drag home a whole phrase, +if it had a grand sound, and play it six nights and two matinees, and +explain it a new way every time,--which she had to, for all she cared +for was the phrase; she wasn't interested in what it meant, and knew +those dogs hadn't wit enough to catch her, anyway. Yes, she was +a daisy! She got so she wasn't afraid of anything, she had such +confidence in the ignorance of those creatures. She even brought +anecdotes that she had heard the family and the dinner guests laugh +and shout over; and as a rule she got the nub of one chestnut hitched +onto another chestnut, where, of course, it didn't fit and hadn't any +point; and when she delivered the nub she fell over and rolled on the +floor and laughed and barked in the most insane way, while I could see +that she was wondering to herself why it didn't seem as funny as it +did when she first heard it. But no harm was done; the others rolled +and barked too, privately ashamed of themselves for not seeing the +point, and never suspecting that the fault was not with them and there +wasn't any to see. + +You can see by these things that she was of a rather vain and +frivolous character; still, she had virtues, and enough to make up, +I think. She had a kind heart and gentle ways, and never harbored +resentments for injuries done her, but put them easily out of her mind +and forgot them; and she taught her children her kindly way, and from +her we learned also to be brave and prompt in time of danger, and not +to run away, but face the peril that threatened friend or stranger, +and help him the best we could without stopping to think what the cost +might be to us. And she taught us, not by words only, but by example, +and that is the best way and the surest and the most lasting. Why, the +brave things she did, the splendid things! she was just a soldier; +and so modest about it--well, you couldn't help admiring her, and you +couldn't help imitating her; not even a King Charles spaniel could +remain entirely despicable in her society. So, as you see, there was +more to her than her education. + + +II + +When I was well grown, at last, I was sold and taken away, and I never +saw her again. She was broken-hearted, and so was I, and we cried; but +she comforted me as well as she could, and said we were sent into this +world for a wise and good purpose, and must do our duties without +repining, take our life as we might find it, live it for the best good +of others, and never mind about the results; they were not our affair. +She said men who did like this would have a noble and beautiful reward +by-and-by in another world, and although we animals would not go +there, to do well and right without reward would give to our brief +lives a worthiness and dignity which in itself would be a reward. She +had gathered these things from time to time when she had gone to the +Sunday-school with the children, and had laid them up in her memory +more carefully than she had done with those other words and phrases; +and she had studied them deeply, for her good and ours. One may see +by this that she had a wise and thoughtful head, for all there was so +much lightness and vanity in it. + +So we said our farewells, and looked our last upon each other through +our tears; and the last thing she said--keeping it for the last to +make me remember it the better, I think--was, "In memory of me, when +there is a time of danger to another do not think of yourself, think +of your mother, and do as she would do." + +Do you think I could forget that? No. + + +III + +It was such a charming home!--my new one; a fine great house, with +pictures, and delicate decorations, and rich furniture, and no gloom +anywhere, but all the wilderness of dainty colors lit up with +flooding sunshine; and the spacious grounds around it, and the great +garden--oh, greensward, and noble trees, and flowers, no end! And I +was the same as a member of the family; and they loved me, and petted +me, and did not give me a new name, but called me by my old one that +was dear to me because my mother had given it me--Aileen Mavourneen. +She got it out of a song; and the Grays knew that song, and said it +was a beautiful name. + +Mrs. Gray was thirty, and so sweet and so lovely, you cannot imagine +it; and Sadie was ten, and just like her mother, just a darling +slender little copy of her, with auburn tails down her back, and short +frocks; and the baby was a year old, and plump and dimpled, and fond +of me, and never could get enough of hauling on my tail, and hugging +me, and laughing out its innocent happiness; and Mr. Gray was +thirty-eight, and tall and slender and handsome, a little bald in +front, alert, quick in his movements, businesslike, prompt, decided, +unsentimental, and with that kind of trim-chiselled face that just +seems to glint and sparkle with frosty intellectuality! He was a +renowned scientist. I do not know what the word means, but my mother +would know how to use it and get effects. She would know how to +depress a rat-terrier with it and make a lap-dog look sorry he came. +But that is not the best one; the best one was Laboratory. My mother +could organize a Trust on that one that would skin the tax-collars +off the whole herd. The laboratory was not a book, or a picture, or a +place to wash your hands in, as the college president's dog said--no, +that is the lavatory; the laboratory is quite different, and is +filled with jars, and bottles, and electrics, and wires, and strange +machines; and every week other scientists came there and sat in the +place, and used the machines, and discussed, and made what they called +experiments and discoveries; and often I came, too, and stood around +and listened, and tried to learn, for the sake of my mother, and in +loving memory of her, although it was a pain to me, as realizing what +she was losing out of her life and I gaining nothing at all; for try +as I might, I was never able to make anything out of it at all. + +Other times I lay on the floor in the mistress's workroom and slept, +she gently using me for a footstool, knowing it pleased me, for it was +a caress; other times I spent an hour in the nursery, and got well +tousled and made happy; other times I watched by the crib there, when +the baby was asleep and the nurse out for a few minutes on the baby's +affairs; other times I romped and raced through the grounds and the +garden with Sadie till we were tired out, then slumbered on the grass +in the shade of a tree while she read her book; other times I went +visiting among the neighbor dogs,--for there were some most pleasant +ones not far away, and one very handsome and courteous and graceful +one, a curly haired Irish setter by the name of Robin Adair, who was a +Presbyterian like me, and belonged to the Scotch minister. + +The servants in our house were all kind to me and were fond of me, and +so, as you see, mine was a pleasant life. There could not be a happier +dog than I was, nor a gratefuller one. I will say this for myself, for +it is only the truth: I tried in all ways to do well and right, and +honor my mother's memory and her teachings, and earn the happiness +that had come to me, as best I could. + +By-and-by came my little puppy, and then my cup was full, my happiness +was perfect. It was the dearest little waddling thing, and so smooth +and soft and velvety, and had such cunning little awkward paws, and +such affectionate eyes, and such a sweet and innocent face; and it +made me so proud to see how the children and their mother adored it, +and fondled it, and exclaimed over every little wonderful thing it +did. It did seem to me that life was just too lovely to-- + +Then came the winter. One day I was standing a watch in the nursery. +That is to say, I was asleep on the bed. The baby was asleep in the +crib, which was alongside the bed, on the side next the fireplace. It +was the kind of crib that has a lofty tent over it made of a gauzy +stuff that you can see through. The nurse was out, and we two sleepers +were alone. A spark from the wood-fire was shot out, and it lit on the +slope of the tent. I suppose a quiet interval followed, then a scream +from the baby woke me, and there was that tent flaming up toward the +ceiling! Before I could think, I sprang to the floor in my fright, and +in a second was half-way to the door; but in the next half-second my +mother's farewell was sounding in my ears, and I was back on the bed +again. I reached my head through the flames and dragged the baby +out by the waistband, and tugged it along, and we fell to the floor +together in a cloud of smoke; I snatched a new hold, and dragged the +screaming little creature along and out at the door and around the +bend of the hall, and was still tugging away, all excited and happy +and proud, when the master's voice shouted: + +"Begone, you cursed beast!" and I jumped to save myself; but he was +wonderfully quick, and chased me up, striking furiously at me with his +cane, I dodging this way and that, in terror, and at last a strong +blow fell upon my left fore-leg, which made me shriek and fall, for +the moment, helpless; the cane went up for another blow, but never +descended, for the nurse's voice rang wildly out, "The nursery's on +fire!" and the master rushed away in that direction, and my other +bones were saved. + +The pain was cruel, but, no matter, I must not lose any time; he might +come back at any moment; so I limped on three legs to the other end +of the hall, where there was a dark little stairway leading up into a +garret where old boxes and such things were kept, as I had heard say, +and where people seldom went. I managed to climb up there, then I +searched my way through the dark among the piles of things, and hid in +the secretest place I could find. It was foolish to be afraid there, +yet still I was; so afraid that I held in and hardly even whimpered, +though it would have been such a comfort to whimper, because that +eases the pain, you know. But I could lick my leg, and that did me +some good. + +For half an hour there was a commotion down-stairs, and shoutings, +and rushing footsteps, and then there was quiet again. Quiet for some +minutes, and that was grateful to my spirit, for then my fears began +to go down; and fears are worse than pains,--oh, much worse. Then +came a sound that froze me! They were calling me--calling me by +name--hunting for me! + +It was muffled by distance, but that could not take the terror out of +it, and it was the most dreadful sound to me that I had ever heard. It +went all about, everywhere, down there: along the halls, through all +the rooms, in both stories, and in the basement and the cellar; then +outside, and further and further away--then back, and all about the +house again, and I thought it would never, never stop. But at last it +did, hours and hours after the vague twilight of the garret had long +ago been blotted out by black darkness. + +Then in that blessed stillness my terror fell little by little away, +and I was at peace and slept. It was a good rest I had, but I woke +before the twilight had come again. I was feeling fairly comfortable, +and I could think out a plan now. I made a very good one; which was, +to creep down, all the way down the back stairs, and hide behind the +cellar door, and slip out and escape when the iceman came at dawn, +while he was inside filling the refrigerator; then I would hide all +day, and start on my journey when night came; my journey to--well, +anywhere where they would not know me and betray me to the master. I +was feeling almost cheerful now; then suddenly I thought, Why, what +would life be without my puppy! + +That was despair. There was no plan for me; I saw that; I must stay +where I was; stay, and wait, and take what might come--it was not my +affair; that was what life is--my mother had said it. Then--well, then +the calling began again! All my sorrows came back. I said to myself, +the master will never forgive. I did not know what I had done to make +him so bitter and so unforgiving, yet I judged it was something a dog +could not understand, but which was clear to a man and dreadful. + +They called and called--days and nights, it seemed to me. So long that +the hunger and thirst near drove me mad, and I recognized that I was +getting very weak. When you are this way you sleep a great deal, and I +did. Once I woke in an awful fright--it seemed to me that the calling +was right there in the garret! And so it was: it was Sadie's voice, +and she was crying; my name was falling from her lips all broken, poor +thing, and I could not believe my ears for the joy of it when I heard +her say, + +"Come back to us--oh, come back to us, and forgive--it is all so sad +without our--" + +I broke in with _such_ a grateful little yelp, and the next moment +Sadie was plunging and stumbling through the darkness and the lumber +and shouting for the family to hear, "She's found! she's found!" + +The days that followed--well, they were wonderful. The mother and +Sadie and the servants--why, they just seemed to worship me. They +couldn't seem to make me a bed that was fine enough; and as for food, +they couldn't be satisfied with anything but game and delicacies that +were out of season; and every day the friends and neighbors flocked in +to hear about my heroism--that was the name they called it by, and it +means agriculture. I remember my mother pulling it on a kennel once, +and explaining it that way, but didn't say what agriculture was, +except that it was synonymous with intramural incandescence; and +a dozen times a day Mrs. Gray and Sadie would tell the tale to +new-comers, and say I risked my life to save the baby's, and both of +us had burns to prove it, and then the company would pass me around +and pet me and exclaim about me, and you could see the pride in the +eyes of Sadie and her mother; and when the people wanted to know +what made me limp, they looked ashamed and changed the subject, and +sometimes when people hunted them this way and that way with questions +about it, it looked to me as if they were going to cry. + +And this was not all the glory; no, the master's friends came, a whole +twenty of the most distinguished people, and had me in the laboratory, +and discussed me as if I was a kind of discovery; and some of them +said it was wonderful in a dumb beast, the finest exhibition of +instinct they could call to mind; but the master said, with vehemence, +"It's far above instinct; it's _reason_, and many a man, privileged +to be saved and go with you and me to a better world by right of its +possession, has less of it than this poor silly quadruped that's +foreordained to perish"; and then he laughed, and said, "Why, look at +me--I'm a sarcasm! Bless you, with all my grand intelligence, the only +thing I inferred was that the dog had gone mad and was destroying the +child, whereas but for the beast's intelligence--it's _reason_, I tell +you!--the child would have perished!" + +They disputed and disputed, and _I_ was the very centre and subject of +it all, and I wished my mother could know that this grand honor had +come to me; it would have made her proud. + +Then they discussed optics, as they called it, and whether a certain +injury to the brain would produce blindness or not, but they could not +agree about it, and said they must test it by experiment by-and-by; +and next they discussed plants, and that interested me, because in the +summer Sadie and I had planted seeds--I helped her dig the holes, you +know,--and after days and days a little shrub or a flower came up +there, and it was a wonder how that could happen; but it did, and I +wished I could talk,--I would have told those people about it and +shown them how much I knew, and been all alive with the subject; but I +didn't care for the optics; it was dull, and when they came back to it +again it bored me, and I went to sleep. + +Pretty soon it was spring, and sunny and pleasant and lovely, and the +sweet mother and the children patted me and the puppy good-bye, and +went away on a journey and a visit to their kin, and the master wasn't +any company for us, but we played together and had good times, and the +servants were kind and friendly, so we got along quite happily and +counted the days and waited for the family. + +And one day those men came again, and said now for the test, and they +took the puppy to the laboratory, and I limped three-leggedly along, +too, feeling proud, for any attention shown the puppy was a pleasure +to me, of course. They discussed and experimented, and then suddenly +the puppy shrieked, and they set him on the floor, and he went +staggering around, with his head all bloody, and the master clapped +his hands, and shouted: + +"There, I've won--confess it! He's as blind as a bat!" + +And they all said, + +"It's so--you've proved your theory, and suffering humanity owes you +a great debt from henceforth," and they crowded around him, and wrung +his hand cordially and thankfully, and praised him. + +But I hardly saw or heard these things, for I ran at once to my little +darling, and snuggled close to it where it lay, and licked the blood, +and it put its head against mine, whimpering softly, and I knew in +my heart it was a comfort to it in its pain and trouble to feel its +mother's touch, though it could not see me. Then it drooped down, +presently, and its little velvet nose rested upon the floor, and it +was still, and did not move any more. + +Soon the master stopped discussing a moment, and rang in the footman, +and said, "Bury it in the far corner of the garden," and then went on +with the discussion, and I trotted after the footman, very happy and +grateful, for I knew the puppy was out of its pain now, because it was +asleep. We went far down the garden to the furthest end, where the +children and the nurse and the puppy and I used to play in the summer +in the shade of a great elm, and there the footman dug a hole, and I +saw he was going to plant the puppy, and I was glad, because it would +grow and come up a fine handsome dog, like Robin Adair, and be a +beautiful surprise for the family when they came home; so I tried to +help him dig, but my lame leg was no good, being stiff, you know, and +you have to have two, or it is no use. When the footman had finished +and covered little Robin up, he patted my head, and there were tears +in his eyes, and he said, "Poor little doggie, you SAVED _his_ child." + +I have watched two whole weeks, and he doesn't come up! This last +week a fright has been stealing upon me. I think there is something +terrible about this. I do not know what it is, but the fear makes me +sick, and I cannot eat, though the servants bring me the best of food; +and they pet me so, and even come in the night, and cry, and say, +"Poor doggie--do give it up and come home; _don't_ break our hearts!" +and all this terrifies me the more, and makes me sure something has +happened. And I am so weak; since yesterday I cannot stand on my feet +any more. And within this hour the servants, looking toward the sun +where it was sinking out of sight and the night chill coming on, said +things I could not understand, but they carried something cold to my +heart. + +"Those poor creatures! They do not suspect. They will come home in +the morning, and eagerly ask for the little doggie that did the brave +deed, and who of us will be strong enough to say the truth to them: +'The humble little friend is gone where go the beasts that perish.'" + + + + +THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _The Luck of Roaring Camp_. 1871.] + +_Bret Harte_ (1839-1902) + + +As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker +Flat on the morning of the 23d of November, 1850, he was conscious of +a change in its moral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two or +three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and +exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air, +which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous. + +Mr. Oakhurst's calm, handsome face betrayed small concern in these +indications. Whether he was conscious of any predisposing cause was +another question. "I reckon they're after somebody," he reflected; +"likely it's me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with +which he had been whipping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his +neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture. + +In point of fact, Poker Flat was "after somebody." It had lately +suffered the loss of several thousand dollars, two valuable horses, +and a prominent citizen. It was experiencing a spasm of virtuous +reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that +had provoked it. A secret committee had determined to rid the town of +all improper persons. This was done permanently in regard of two men +who were then hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch, +and temporarily in the banishment of certain other objectionable +characters. I regret to say that some of these were ladies. It is +but due to the sex, however, to state that their impropriety was +professional, and it was only in such easily established standards of +evil that Poker Flat ventured to sit in judgment. + +Mr. Oakhurst was right in supposing that he was included in this +category. A few of the committee had urged hanging him as a possible +example, and a sure method of reimbursing themselves from his pockets +of the sums he had won from them. "It's agin justice," said Jim +Wheeler, "to let this yer young man from Roaring Camp--an entire +stranger--carry away our money." But a crude sentiment of equity +residing in the breasts of those who had been fortunate enough to win +from Mr. Oakhurst overruled this narrower local prejudice. + +Mr. Oakhurst received his sentence with philosophic calmness, none the +less coolly that he was aware of the hesitation of his judges. He was +too much of a gambler not to accept fate. With him life was at best an +uncertain game, and he recognized the usual percentage in favor of the +dealer. + +A body of armed men accompanied the deported wickedness of Poker Flat +to the outskirts of the settlement. Besides Mr. Oakhurst, who was +known to be a coolly desperate man, and for whose intimidation the +armed escort was intended, the expatriated party consisted of a young +woman familiarly known as the "Duchess"; another who had won the title +of "Mother Shipton"; and "Uncle Billy," a suspected sluice-robber +and confirmed drunkard. The cavalcade provoked no comments from the +spectators, nor was any word uttered by the escort. Only when the +gulch which marked the uttermost limit of Poker Flat was reached, the +leader spoke briefly and to the point. The exiles were forbidden to +return at the peril of their lives. + +As the escort disappeared, their pent-up feelings found vent in a +few hysterical tears from the Duchess, some bad language from Mother +Shipton, and a Parthian volley of expletives from Uncle Billy. The +philosophic Oakhurst alone remained silent. He listened calmly to +Mother Shipton's desire to cut somebody's heart out, to the repeated +statements of the Duchess that she would die in the road, and to the +alarming oaths that seemed to be bumped out of Uncle Billy as he rode +forward. With the easy good-humor characteristic of his class, he +insisted upon exchanging his own riding-horse, "Five Spot," for the +sorry mule which the Duchess rode. But even this act did not draw +the party into any closer sympathy. The young woman readjusted her +somewhat draggled plumes with a feeble, faded coquetry; Mother Shipton +eyed the possessor of "Five Spot" with malevolence, and Uncle Billy +included the whole party in one sweeping anathema. + +The road to Sandy Bar--a camp that, not having as yet experienced the +regenerating influences of Poker Flat, consequently seemed to offer +some invitation to the emigrants--lay over a steep mountain range. It +was distant a day's severe travel. In that advanced season, the party +soon passed out of the moist, temperate regions of the foot-hills into +the dry, cold, bracing air of the Sierras. The trail was narrow and +difficult. At noon the Duchess, rolling out of her saddle upon the +ground, declared her intention of going no farther, and the party +halted. + +The spot was singularly wild and impressive. A wooded amphitheatre, +surrounded on three sides by precipitous cliffs of naked granite, +sloped gently toward the crest of another precipice that overlooked +the valley. It was, undoubtedly, the most suitable spot for a camp, +had camping been advisable. But Mr. Oakhurst knew that scarcely half +the journey to Sandy Bar was accomplished; and the party were not +equipped or provisioned for delay. This fact he pointed out to his +companions curtly, with a philosophic commentary on the folly of +"throwing up their hand before the game was played out." But they were +furnished with liquor, which in this emergency stood them in place of +food, fuel, rest, and prescience. In spite of his remonstrances, it +was not long before they were more or less under its influence. Uncle +Billy passed rapidly from a bellicose state into one of stupor, the +Duchess became maudlin, and Mother Shipton snored. Mr. Oakhurst alone +remained erect, leaning against a rock, calmly surveying them. + +Mr. Oakhurst did not drink. It interfered with a profession which +required coolness, impassiveness, and presence of mind, and, in his +own language, he "couldn't afford it." As he gazed at his recumbent +fellow-exiles, the loneliness begotten of his pariah-trade, his habits +of life, his very vices, for the first time seriously oppressed him. +He bestirred himself in dusting his black clothes, washing his hands +and face, and other acts characteristic of his studiously neat habits, +and for a moment forgot his annoyance. The thought of deserting his +weaker and more pitiable companions never perhaps occurred to him. +Yet he could not help feeling the want of that excitement which, +singularly enough, was most conducive to that calm equanimity for +which he was notorious. He looked at the gloomy walls that rose a +thousand feet sheer above the circling pines around him; at the sky, +ominously clouded; at the valley below, already deepening into shadow. +And, doing so, suddenly he heard his own name called. + +A horseman slowly ascended the trail. In the fresh, open face of the +new-comer Mr. Oakhurst recognized Tom Simson, otherwise known as the +"Innocent," of Sandy Bar. He had met him some months before over +a "little game," and had, with perfect equanimity, won the entire +fortune--amounting to some forty dollars--of that guileless youth. +After the game was finished, Mr. Oakhurst drew the youthful speculator +behind the door and thus addressed him: "Tommy, you're a good little +man, but you can't gamble worth a cent. Don't try it over again." He +then handed him his money back, pushed him gently from the room, and +so made a devoted slave of Tom Simson. + +There was a remembrance of this in his boyish and enthusiastic +greeting of Mr. Oakhurst. He had started, he said, to go to Poker +Flat to seek his fortune. "Alone?" No, not exactly alone; in fact +(a giggle), he had run away with Piney Woods. Didn't Mr. Oakhurst +remember Piney? She that used to wait on the table at the Temperance +House? They had been engaged a long time, but old Jake Woods had +objected, and so they had run away, and were going to Poker Flat to be +married, and here they were. And they were tired out, and how lucky it +was they had found a place to camp, and company. All this the Innocent +delivered rapidly, while Piney, a stout, comely damsel of fifteen, +emerged from behind the pine-tree where she had been blushing unseen, +and rode to the side of her lover. + +Mr. Oakhurst seldom troubled himself with sentiment, still less +with propriety; but he had a vague idea that the situation was not +fortunate. He retained, however, his presence of mind sufficiently to +kick Uncle Billy, who was about to say something, and Uncle Billy was +sober enough to recognize in Mr. Oakhurst's kick a superior power that +would not bear trifling. He then endeavored to dissuade Tom Simson +from delaying further, but in vain. He even pointed out the fact that +there was no provision, nor means of making a camp. But, unluckily, +the Innocent met this objection by assuring the party that he was +provided with an extra mule loaded with provisions, and by the +discovery of a rude attempt at a log-house near the trail. "Piney can +stay with Mrs. Oakhurst," said the Innocent, pointing to the Duchess, +"and I can shift for myself." + +Nothing but Mr. Oakhurst's admonishing foot saved Uncle Billy from +bursting into a roar of laughter. As it was, he felt compelled to +retire up the canon until he could recover his gravity. There he +confided the joke to the tall pine-trees, with many slaps of his leg, +contortions of his face, and the usual profanity. But when he returned +to the party, he found them seated by a fire--for the air had +grown strangely chill and the sky overcast--in apparently amicable +conversation. Piney was actually talking in an impulsive, girlish +fashion to the Duchess, who was listening with an interest and +animation she had not shown for many days. The Innocent was holding +forth, apparently with equal effect, to Mr. Oakhurst and Mother +Shipton, who was actually relaxing into amiability. "Is this yer a +d---d picnic?" said Uncle Billy, with inward scorn, as he surveyed the +sylvan group, the glancing firelight, and the tethered animals in the +foreground. Suddenly an idea mingled with the alcoholic fumes that +disturbed his brain. It was apparently of a jocular nature, for he +felt impelled to slap his leg again and cram his fist into his mouth. + +As the shadows crept slowly up the mountain, a slight breeze rocked +the tops of the pine-trees, and moaned through their long and gloomy +aisles. The ruined cabin, patched and covered with pine-boughs, was +set apart for the ladies. As the lovers parted they unaffectedly +exchanged a kiss, so honest and sincere that it might have been heard +above the swaying pines. The frail Duchess and the malevolent Mother +Shipton were probably too stunned to remark upon this last evidence +of simplicity, and so turned without a word to the hut. The fire was +replenished, the men lay down before the door, and in a few minutes +were asleep. + +Mr. Oakhurst was a light sleeper. Toward morning he awoke benumbed and +cold. As he stirred the dying fire, the wind, which was now blowing +strongly, brought to his cheek that which caused the blood to leave +it--snow! + +He started to his feet with the intention of awakening the sleepers, +for there was no time to lose. But turning to where Uncle Billy had +been lying, he found him gone. A suspicion leaped to his brain and +a curse to his lips. He ran to the spot where the mules had been +tethered; they were no longer there. The tracks were already rapidly +disappearing in the snow. + +The momentary excitement brought Mr. Oakhurst back to the fire with +his usual calm. He did not waken the sleepers. The Innocent slumbered +peacefully, with a smile on his good-humored, freckled face; the +virgin Piney slept beside her frailer sisters as sweetly as though +attended by celestial guardians, and Mr. Oakhurst, drawing his blanket +over his shoulders, stroked his mustaches and waited for the dawn. +It came slowly in a whirling mist of snowflakes, that dazzled and +confused the eye. What could be seen of the landscape appeared +magically changed. He looked over the valley, and summed up the +present and future in two words--"Snowed in!" + +A careful inventory of the provisions, which, fortunately for the +party, had been stored within the hut, and so escaped the felonious +fingers of Uncle Billy, disclosed the fact that with care and prudence +they might last ten days longer. "That is," said Mr. Oakhurst, +_sotto voce_ to the Innocent, "if you're willing to board us. If you +ain't--and perhaps you'd better not--you can wait till Uncle Billy +gets back with provisions." For some occult reason, Mr. Oakhurst could +not bring himself to disclose Uncle Billy's rascality, and so offered +the hypothesis that he had wandered from the camp and had accidentally +stampeded the animals. He dropped a warning to the Duchess and Mother +Shipton, who of course knew the facts of their associate's defection. +"They'll find out the truth about us _all_ when they find out +anything," he added, significantly, "and there's no good frightening +them now." + +Tom Simson not only put all his worldly store at the disposal of +Mr. Oakhurst, but seemed to enjoy the prospect of their enforced +seclusion. "We'll have a good camp for a week, and then the snow'll +melt, and we'll all go back together." The cheerful gayety of the +young man and Mr. Oakhurst's calm infected the others. The Innocent, +with the aid of pine-boughs, extemporized a thatch for the roofless +cabin, and the Duchess directed Piney in the rearrangement of the +interior with a taste and tact that opened the blue eyes of that +provincial maiden to their fullest extent. "I reckon now you're used +to fine things at Poker Flat," said Piney. The Duchess turned away +sharply to conceal something that reddened her cheeks through +their professional tint, and Mother Shipton requested Piney not to +"chatter." But when Mr. Oakhurst returned from a weary search for the +trail, he heard the sound of happy laughter echoed from the rocks. He +stopped in some alarm, and his thoughts first naturally reverted +to the whiskey, which he had prudently _cached_. "And yet it don't +somehow sound like whiskey," said the gambler. It was not until he +caught sight of the blazing fire through the still blinding storm and +the group around it that he settled to the conviction that it was +"square fun." + +Whether Mr. Oakhurst had _cached_ his cards with the whiskey as +something debarred the free access of the community, I cannot say. +It was certain that, in Mother Shipton's words, he "didn't say +cards once," during that evening. Haply the time was beguiled by an +accordion, produced somewhat ostentatiously by Tom Simson from his +pack. Notwithstanding some difficulties attending the manipulation +of this instrument, Piney Woods managed to pluck several reluctant +melodies from its keys, to an accompaniment by the Innocent on a pair +of bone castanets. But the crowning festivity of the evening was +reached in a rude camp-meeting hymn, which the lovers, joining hands, +sang with great earnestness and vociferation. I fear that a certain +defiant tone and Covenanter's swing to its chorus, rather than any +devotional quality, caused it speedily to infect the others, who at +last joined in the refrain: + + "I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord, + And I'm bound to die in His army." + +The pines rocked, the storm eddied and whirled above the miserable +group, and the flames of their altar leaped heavenward, as if in token +of the vow. + +At midnight the storm abated, the rolling clouds parted, and the +stars glittered keenly above the sleeping camp. Mr. Oakhurst, whose +professional habits had enabled him to live on the smallest possible +amount of sleep, in dividing the watch with Tom Simson, somehow +managed to take upon himself the greater part of that duty. He excused +himself to the Innocent by saying that he had "often been a week +without sleep." "Doing what?" asked Tom. "Poker!" replied Oakhurst, +sententiously; "when a man gets a streak of luck--nigger-luck--he +don't get tired. The luck gives in first. Luck," continued the +gambler, reflectively, "is a mighty queer thing. All you know about it +for certain is that it's bound to change. And it's finding out when +it's going to change that makes you. We've had a streak of bad luck +since we left Poker Flat--you come along, and slap you get into it, +too. If you can hold your cards right along, you're all right. For," +added the gambler, with cheerful irrelevance-- + + "'I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord, + And I'm bound to die in His army,'" + +The third day came, and the sun, looking through the white-curtained +valley, saw the outcasts divide their slowly decreasing store of +provisions for the morning meal. It was one of the peculiarities of +that mountain climate that its rays diffused a kindly warmth over the +wintry landscape, as if in regretful commiseration of the past. But it +revealed drift on drift of snow piled high around the hut--a hopeless, +uncharted, trackless sea of white lying below the rocky shores to +which the castaways still clung. Through the marvellously clear air +the smoke of the pastoral village of Poker Flat rose miles away. +Mother Shipton saw it, and from a remote pinnacle of her rocky +fastness hurled in that direction a final malediction. It was her last +vituperative attempt, and perhaps for that reason was invested with a +certain degree of sublimity. It did her good, she privately informed +the Duchess. "Just you go out there and cuss, and see." She then set +herself to the task of amusing "the child," as she and the Duchess +were pleased to call Piney. Piney was no chicken, but it was a +soothing and original theory of the pair thus to account for the fact +that she didn't swear and wasn't improper. + +When night crept up again through the gorges, the reedy notes of the +accordion rose and fell in fitful spasms and long-drawn gasps by the +flickering camp-fire. But music failed to fill entirely the aching +void left by insufficient food, and a new diversion was proposed by +Piney--story-telling. Neither Mr., Oakhurst nor his female companions +caring to relate their personal experiences, this plan would have +failed, too, but for the Innocent. Some months before he had chanced +upon a stray copy of Mr. Pope's ingenious translation of the +_Iliad_. He now proposed to narrate the principal incidents of that +poem--having thoroughly mastered the argument and fairly forgotten the +words--in the current vernacular of Sandy Bar. And so for the rest of +that night the Homeric demigods again walked the earth. Trojan bully +and wily Greek wrestled in the winds, and the great pines in the canon +seemed to bow to the wrath of the son of Peleus. Mr. Oakhurst listened +with quiet satisfaction. Most especially was he interested in the +fate of "Ash-heels," as the Innocent persisted in denominating the +"swift-footed Achilles." + +So with small food and much of Homer and the accordion, a week passed +over the heads of the outcasts. The sun again forsook them, and again +from leaden skies the snowflakes were sifted over the land. Day by day +closer around them drew the snowy circle, until at last they looked +from their prison over drifted walls of dazzling white, that towered +twenty feet above their heads. It became more and more difficult to +replenish their fires, even from the fallen trees beside them, now +half hidden in the drifts. And yet no one complained. The lovers +turned from the dreary prospect and looked into each other's eyes, and +were happy. Mr. Oakhurst settled himself coolly to the losing game +before him. The Duchess, more cheerful than she had been, assumed +the care of Piney. Only Mother Shipton--once the strongest of the +party--seemed to sicken and fade. At midnight on the tenth day she +called Oakhurst to her side. "I'm going," she said, in a voice of +querulous weakness, "but don't say anything about it. Don't waken the +kids. Take the bundle from under my head and open it." Mr. Oakhurst +did so. It contained Mother Shipton's rations for the last week, +untouched. "Give 'em to the child," she said, pointing to the sleeping +Piney. "You've starved yourself," said the gambler. "That's what they +call it," said the woman, querulously, as she lay down again, and, +turning her face to the wall, passed quietly away. + +The accordion and the bones were put aside that day, and Homer was +forgotten. When the body of Mother Shipton had been committed to the +snow, Mr. Oakhurst took the Innocent aside and showed him a pair of +snow-shoes, which he had fashioned from the old pack-saddle. "There's +one chance in a hundred to save her yet," he said, pointing to Piney; +"but it's there," he added, pointing toward Poker Flat. "If you can +reach there in two days she's safe." "And you?" asked Tom Simson. +"I'll stay here," was the curt reply. + +The lovers parted with a long embrace. "You are not going, too?" said +the Duchess, as she saw Mr. Oakhurst apparently waiting to accompany +him. "As far as the canon," he replied. He turned suddenly and kissed +the Duchess, leaving her pallid face aflame and her trembling limbs +rigid with amazement. + +Night came, but not Mr. Oakhurst. It brought the storm again and the +whirling snow. Then the Duchess, feeding the fire, found that some +one had quietly piled beside the hut enough fuel to last a few days +longer. The tears rose to her eyes, but she hid them from Piney. + +The women slept but little. In the morning, looking into each other's +faces, they read their fate. Neither spoke; but Piney, accepting the +position of the stronger, drew near and placed her arm around the +Duchess's waist. They kept this attitude for the rest of the day. That +night the storm reached its greatest fury, and, rending asunder the +protecting pines, invaded the very hut. + +Toward morning they found themselves unable to feed the fire, which +gradually died away. As the embers slowly blackened, the Duchess crept +closer to Piney, and broke the silence of many hours: "Piney, can you +pray?" "No, dear," said Piney, simply. The Duchess, without knowing +exactly why, felt relieved, and, putting her head upon Piney's +shoulder, spoke no more. And so reclining, the younger and purer +pillowing the head of her soiled sister upon her virgin breast, they +fell asleep. + +The wind lulled as if it feared to waken them. Feathery drifts of +snow, shaken from the long pine-boughs, flew like white-winged birds, +and settled about them as they slept. The moon through the rifted +clouds looked down upon what had been the camp. But all human stain, +all trace of earthly travail, was hidden beneath the spotless mantle +mercifully flung from above. + +They slept all that day and the next, nor did they waken when voices +and footsteps broke the silence of the camp. And when pitying fingers +brushed the snow from their wan faces, you could scarcely have told, +from the equal peace that dwelt upon them, which was she that had +sinned. Even the law of Poker Flat recognized this, and turned away, +leaving them still locked in each other's arms. + +But at the head of the gulch, on one of the largest pine-trees, they +found the deuce of clubs pinned to the bark with a bowie-knife. It +bore the following, written in pencil, in a firm hand: + + + + + + BENEATH THIS TREE + + LIES THE BODY + + OF + + JOHN OAKHURST, + + WHO STRUCK A STREAK OF BAD LUCK + + ON THE 23D OF NOVEMBER, 1850, + + AND + + HANDED IN HIS CHECKS + + ON THE 7TH DECEMBER, 1850. + + + + +And pulseless and cold, with a derringer by his side and a bullet in +his heart, though still calm as in life, beneath the snow lay he who +was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker +Flat. + + + + +THE THREE STRANGERS[1] + +[Footnote 1: From _Wessex Tales_.] + +_Thomas Hardy_ (1840) + + +Among the few features of agricultural England which retain an +appearance but little modified by the lapse of centuries, may be +reckoned the high, grassy and furzy downs, coombs, or ewe-leases, +as they are indifferently called, that fill a large area of certain +counties in the south and southwest. If any mark of human occupation +is met with hereon, it usually takes the form of the solitary cottage +of some shepherd. + +Fifty years ago such a lonely cottage stood on such a down, and may +possibly be standing there now. In spite of its loneliness, however, +the spot, by actual measurement, was not more than five miles from +a county-town. Yet that affected it little. Five miles of irregular +upland, during the long inimical seasons, with their sleets, snows, +rains, and mists, afford withdrawing space enough to isolate a Timon +or a Nebuchadnezzar; much less, in fair weather, to please that less +repellent tribe, the poets, philosophers, artists, and others who +"conceive and meditate of pleasant things." + +Some old earthen camp or barrow, some clump of trees, at least some +starved fragment of ancient hedge is usually taken advantage of in the +erection of these forlorn dwellings. But, in the present case, such a +kind of shelter had been disregarded. Higher Crowstairs, as the house +was called, stood quite detached and undefended. The only reason for +its precise situation seemed to be the crossing of two footpaths at +right angles hard by, which may have crossed there and thus for a good +five hundred years. Hence the house was exposed to the elements on +all sides. But, though the wind up here blew unmistakably when it did +blow, and the rain hit hard whenever it fell, the various weathers of +the winter season were not quite so formidable on the coomb as they +were imagined to be by dwellers on low ground. The raw rimes were +not so pernicious as in the hollows, and the frosts were scarcely so +severe. When the shepherd and his family who tenanted the house were +pitied for their sufferings from the exposure, they said that upon the +whole they were less inconvenienced by "wuzzes and flames" (hoarses +and phlegms) than when they had lived by the stream of a snug +neighboring valley. + +The night of March 28, 182-, was precisely one of the nights that +were wont to call forth these expressions of commiseration. The level +rainstorm smote walls, slopes, and hedges like the clothyard shafts +of Senlac and Crecy. Such sheep and outdoor animals as had no shelter +stood with their buttocks to the winds; while the tails of little +birds trying to roost on some scraggy thorn were blown inside-out like +umbrellas. The gable-end of the cottage was stained with wet, and the +eavesdroppings flapped against the wall. Yet never was commiseration +for the shepherd more misplaced. For that cheerful rustic was +entertaining a large party in glorification of the christening of his +second girl. + +The guests had arrived before the rain began to fall, and they were +all now assembled in the chief or living room of the dwelling. A +glance into the apartment at eight o'clock on this eventful evening +would have resulted in the opinion that it was as cosy and comfortable +a nook as could be wished for in boisterous weather. The calling of +its inhabitant was proclaimed by a number of highly-polished sheep +crooks without stems that were hung ornamentally over the fireplace, +the curl of each shining crook varying from the antiquated type +engraved in the patriarchal pictures of old family Bibles to the most +approved fashion of the last local sheep-fair. The room was lighted +by half-a-dozen candles, having wicks only a trifle smaller than the +grease which enveloped them, in candlesticks that were never used but +at high-days, holy-days, and family feasts. The lights were scattered +about the room, two of them standing on the chimney-piece. This +position of candles was in itself significant. Candles on the +chimney-piece always meant a party. + +On the hearth, in front of a back-brand to give substance, blazed a +fire of thorns, that crackled "like the laughter of the fool." + +Nineteen persons were gathered here. Of these, five women, wearing +gowns of various bright hues, sat in chairs along the wall; girls shy +and not shy filled the window-bench; four men, including Charley Jake +the hedge-carpenter, Elijah New the parish-clerk, and John Pitcher, +a neighboring dairyman, the shepherd's father-in-law, lolled in +the settle; a young man and maid, who were blushing over +tentative _pourparlers_ on a life-companionship, sat beneath the +corner-cupboard; and an elderly engaged man of fifty or upward moved +restlessly about from spots where his betrothed was not to the spot +where she was. Enjoyment was pretty general, and so much the more +prevailed in being unhampered by conventional restrictions. Absolute +confidence in each other's good opinion begat perfect ease, while the +finishing stroke of manner, amounting to a truly princely serenity, +was lent to the majority by the absence of any expression or trait +denoting that they wished to get on in the world, enlarge their minds, +or do any eclipsing thing whatever--which nowadays so generally nips +the bloom and _bonhomie_ of all except the two extremes of the social +scale. + +Shepherd Fennel had married well, his wife being a dairyman's +daughter from a vale at a distance, who brought fifty guineas in +her pocket--and kept them there, till they should be required for +ministering to the needs of a coming family. This frugal woman had +been somewhat exercised as to the character that should be given +to the gathering. A sit-still party had its advantages; but an +undisturbed position of ease in chairs and settles was apt to lead +on the men to such an unconscionable deal of toping that they would +sometimes fairly drink the house dry. A dancing-party was the +alternative; but this, while avoiding the foregoing objection on the +score of good drink, had a counterbalancing disadvantage in the matter +of good victuals, the ravenous appetites engendered by the exercise +causing immense havoc in the buttery. Shepherdess Fennel fell back +upon the intermediate plan of mingling short dances with short periods +of talk and singing, so as to hinder any ungovernable rage in either. +But this scheme was entirely confined to her own gentle mind: the +shepherd himself was in the mood to exhibit the most reckless phases +of hospitality. + +The fiddler was a boy of those parts, about twelve years of age, who +had a wonderful dexterity in jigs and reels, though his fingers were +so small and short as to necessitate a constant shifting for the high +notes, from which he scrambled back to the first position with sounds +not of unmixed purity of tone. At seven the shrill tweedle-dee of this +youngster had begun, accompanied by a booming ground-bass from Elijah +New, the parish-clerk, who had thoughtfully brought with him his +favorite musical instrument, the serpent. Dancing was instantaneous, +Mrs. Fennel privately enjoining the players on no account to let the +dance exceed the length of a quarter of an hour. + +But Elijah and the boy, in the excitement of their position, quite +forgot the injunction. Moreover, Oliver Giles, a man of seventeen, +one of the dancers, who was enamoured of his partner, a fair girl of +thirty-three rolling years, had recklessly handed a new crown-piece to +the musicians, as a bribe to keep going as long as they had muscle +and wind. Mrs. Fennel, seeing the steam begin to generate on the +countenances of her guests, crossed over and touched the fiddler's +elbow and put her hand on the serpent's mouth. But they took no +notice, and fearing she might lose her character of genial hostess if +she were to interfere too markedly, she retired and sat down helpless. +And so the dance whizzed on with cumulative fury, the performers +moving in their planet-like courses, direct and retrograde, from +apogee to perigee, till the hand of the well-kicked clock at the +bottom of the room had travelled over the circumference of an hour. + +While these cheerful events were in course of enactment within +Fennel's pastoral dwelling, an incident having considerable bearing +on the party had occurred in the gloomy night without. Mrs. Fennel's +concern about the growing fierceness of the dance corresponded in +point of time with the ascent of a human figure to the solitary hill +of Higher Crowstairs from the direction of the distant town. This +personage strode on through the rain without a pause, following +the little-worn path which, further on in its course, skirted the +shepherd's cottage. + +It was nearly the time of full moon, and on this account, though the +sky was lined with a uniform sheet of dripping cloud, ordinary objects +out of doors were readily visible. The sad wan light revealed the +lonely pedestrian to be a man of supple frame; his gait suggested that +he had somewhat passed the period of perfect and instinctive agility, +though not so far as to be otherwise than rapid of motion when +occasion required. At a rough guess, he might have been about forty +years of age. He appeared tall, but a recruiting sergeant, or other +person accustomed to the judging of men's heights by the eye, would +have discerned that this was chiefly owing to his gauntness, and that +he was not more than five-feet-eight or nine. + +Notwithstanding the regularity of his tread, there was caution in it, +as in that of one who mentally feels his way; and despite the fact +that it was not a black coat nor a dark garment of any sort that he +wore, there was something about him which suggested that he naturally +belonged to the black-coated tribes of men. His clothes were of +fustian, and his boots hobnailed, yet in his progress he showed not +the mud-accustomed bearing of hobnailed and fustianed peasantry. + +By the time that he had arrived abreast of the shepherd's premises +the rain came down, or rather came along, with yet more determined +violence. The outskirts of the little settlement partially broke the +force of wind and rain, and this induced him to stand still. The most +salient of the shepherd's domestic erections was an empty sty at the +forward corner of his hedgeless garden, for in these latitudes the +principle of masking the homelier features of your establishment by a +conventional frontage was unknown. The traveller's eye was attracted +to this small building by the pallid shine of the wet slates that +covered it. He turned aside, and, finding it empty, stood under the +pent-roof for shelter. + +While he stood, the boom of the serpent within the adjacent house, +and the lesser strains of the fiddler, reached the spot as an +accompaniment to the surging hiss of the flying rain on the sod, its +louder beating on the cabbage-leaves of the garden, on the eight or +ten beehives just discernible by the path, and its dripping from the +eaves into a row of buckets and pans that had been placed under +the walls of the cottage. For at Higher Crowstairs, as at all such +elevated domiciles, the grand difficulty of housekeeping was an +insufficiency of water; and a casual rainfall was utilized by turning +out, as catchers, every utensil that the house contained. Some queer +stories might be told of the contrivances for economy in suds and +dishwaters that are absolutely necessitated in upland habitations +during the droughts of summer. But at this season there were no +such exigencies; a mere acceptance of what the skies bestowed was +sufficient for an abundant store. + +At last the notes of the serpent ceased and the house was silent. This +cessation of activity aroused the solitary pedestrian from the reverie +into which he had elapsed, and, emerging from the shed, with an +apparently new intention, he walked up the path to the house-door. +Arrived here, his first act was to kneel down on a large stone beside +the row of vessels, and to drink a copious draught from one of them. +Having quenched his thirst, he rose and lifted his hand to knock, but +paused with his eye upon the panel. Since the dark surface of the wood +revealed absolutely nothing, it was evident that he must be mentally +looking through the door, as if he wished to measure thereby all the +possibilities that a house of this sort might include, and how they +might bear upon the question of his entry. + +In his indecision he turned and surveyed the scene around. Not a soul +was anywhere visible. The garden-path stretched downward from his +feet, gleaming like the track of a snail; the roof of the little well +(mostly dry), the well-cover, the top rail of the garden-gate, were +varnished with the same dull liquid glaze; while, far away in the +vale, a faint whiteness of more than usual extent showed that the +rivers were high in the meads. Beyond all this winked a few bleared +lamplights through the beating drops--lights that denoted the +situation of the county-town from which he had appeared to come. The +absence of all notes of life in that direction seemed to clinch his +intentions, and he knocked at the door. + +Within, a desultory chat had taken the place of movement and musical +sound. The hedge-carpenter was suggesting a song to the company, which +nobody just then was inclined to undertake, so that the knock afforded +a not unwelcome diversion. + +"Walk in!" said the shepherd, promptly. + +The latch clicked upward, and out of the night our pedestrian appeared +upon the door-mat. The shepherd arose, snuffed two of the nearest +candles, and turned to look at him. + +Their light disclosed that the stranger was dark in complexion and not +unprepossessing as to feature. His hat, which for a moment he did not +remove, hung low over his eyes, without concealing that they were +large, open, and determined, moving with a flash rather than a glance +round the room. He seemed pleased with his survey, and, baring his +shaggy head, said, in a rich, deep voice: "The rain is so heavy, +friends, that I ask leave to come in and rest awhile." + +"To be sure, stranger," said the shepherd. "And faith, you've been +lucky in choosing your time, for we are having a bit of a fling for +a glad cause--though, to be sure, a man could hardly wish that glad +cause to happen more than once a year." + +"Nor less," spoke up a woman. "For 'tis best to get your family over +and done with, as soon as you can, so as to be all the earlier out of +the fag o't." + +"And what may be this glad cause?" asked the stranger. + +"A birth and christening," said the shepherd. + +The stranger hoped his host might not be made unhappy either by too +many or two few of such episodes, and being invited by a gesture to +a pull at the mug, he readily acquiesced. His manner, which, before +entering, had been so dubious, was now altogether that of a careless +and candid man. + +"Late to be traipsing athwart this coomb--hey?" said the engaged man +of fifty. + +"Late it is, master, as you say.--I'll take a seat in the +chimney-corner, if you have nothing to urge against it, ma'am; for I +am a little moist on the side that was next the rain." + +Mrs. Shepherd Fennel assented, and made room for the self-invited +comer, who, having got completely inside the chimney-corner, stretched +out his legs and arms with the expansiveness of a person quite at +home. + +"Yes, I am rather cracked in the vamp," he said freely, seeing that +the eyes of the shepherd's wife fell upon his boots, "and I am not +well fitted either. I have had some rough times lately, and have been +forced to pick up what I can get in the way of wearing, but I must +find a suit better fit for working-days when I reach home." + +"One of hereabouts?" she inquired. + +"Not quite that--further up the country." + +"I thought so. And so be I; and by your tongue you come from my +neighborhood." + +"But you would hardly have heard of me," he said quickly. "My time +would be long before yours, ma'am, you see." + +This testimony to the youthfulness of his hostess had the effect of +stopping her cross-examination. + +"There is only one thing more wanted to make me happy," continued the +new-comer, "and that is a little baccy, which I am sorry to say I am +out of." + +"I'll fill your pipe," said the shepherd. + +"I must ask you to lend me a pipe likewise." + +"A smoker, and no pipe about 'ee?" + +"I have dropped it somewhere on the road." + +The shepherd filled and handed him a new clay pipe, saying, as he did +so, "Hand me your baccy-box--I'll fill that too, now I am about it." + +The man went through the movement of searching his pockets. + +"Lost that too?" said his entertainer, with some surprise. + +"I am afraid so," said the man with some confusion. "Give it to me in +a screw of paper." Lighting his pipe at the candle with a suction that +drew the whole flame into the bowl, he resettled himself in the corner +and bent his looks upon the faint steam from his damp legs, as if he +wished to say no more. + +Meanwhile the general body of guests had been taking little notice of +this visitor by reason of an absorbing discussion in which they were +engaged with the band about a tune for the next dance. The matter +being settled, they were about to stand up when an interruption came +in the shape of another knock at the door. + +At sound of the same the man in the chimney-corner took up the poker +and began stirring the brands as if doing it thoroughly were the one +aim of his existence; and a second time the shepherd said, "Walk in!" +In a moment another man stood upon the straw-woven door-mat. He too +was a stranger. + +This individual was one of a type radically different from the first. +There was more of the commonplace in his manner, and a certain jovial +cosmopolitanism sat upon his features. He was several years older +than the first arrival, his hair being slightly frosted, his eyebrows +bristly, and his whiskers cut back from his cheeks. His face was +rather full and flabby, and yet it was not altogether a face without +power. A few grog-blossoms marked the neighborhood of his nose. He +flung back his long drab greatcoat, revealing that beneath it he wore +a suit of cinder-gray shade throughout, large heavy seals, of some +metal or other that would take a polish, dangling from his fob as his +only personal ornament. Shaking the water-drops from his low-crowned +glazed hat, he said, "I must ask for a few minutes' shelter, comrades, +or I shall be wetted to my skin before I get to Casterbridge." + +"Make yourself at home, master," said the shepherd, perhaps a trifle +less heartily than on the first occasion. Not that Fennel had the +least tinge of niggardliness in his composition; but the room was far +from large, spare chairs were not numerous, and damp companions were +not altogether desirable at close quarters for the women and girls in +their bright-colored gowns. + +However, the second comer, after taking off his greatcoat, and hanging +his hat on a nail in one of the ceiling-beams as if he had been +specially invited to put it there, advanced and sat down at the table. +This had been pushed so closely into the chimney-corner, to give all +available room to the dancers, that its inner edge grazed the elbow +of the man who had ensconced himself by the fire; and thus the two +strangers were brought into close companionship. They nodded to each +other by way of breaking the ice of unacquaintance, and the first +stranger handed his neighbor the family mug--a huge vessel of brown +ware, having its upper edge worn away like a threshold by the rub of +whole generations of thirsty lips that had gone the way of all flesh, +and bearing the following inscription burnt upon its rotund side in +yellow letters: + + THERE IS NO FUN + UNTILL I CUM. + +The other man, nothing loth, raised the mug to his lips, and drank on, +and on, and on--till a curious blueness overspread the countenance +of the shepherd's wife, who had regarded with no little surprise the +first stranger's free offer to the second of what did not belong to +him to dispense. + +"I knew it!" said the toper to the shepherd with much satisfaction. +"When I walked up your garden before coming in, and saw the hives all +of a row, I said to myself, 'Where there's bees there's honey, +and where there's honey there's mead,' But mead of such a truly +comfortable sort as this I really didn't expect to meet in my older +days." He took yet another pull at the mug, till it assumed an ominous +elevation. + +"Glad you enjoy it!" said the shepherd warmly. + +"It is goodish mead," assented Mrs. Fennel, with an absence of +enthusiasm which seemed to say that it was possible to buy praise for +one's cellar at too heavy a price. "It is trouble enough to make--and +really I hardly think we shall make any more. For honey sells well, +and we ourselves can make shift with a drop o' small mead and +metheglin for common use from the comb-washings." + +"O, but you'll never have the heart!" reproachfully cried the stranger +in cinder-gray, after taking up the mug a third time and setting it +down empty. "I love mead, when 'tis old like this, as I love to go to +church o' Sundays, or to relieve the needy any day of the week." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" said the man in the chimney-corner, who, in spite of the +taciturnity induced by the pipe of tobacco, could not or would not +refrain from this slight testimony to his comrade's humor. + +Now the old mead of those days, brewed of the purest first-year or +maiden honey, four pounds to the gallon--with its due complement of +white of eggs, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary, yeast, and +processes of working, bottling, and cellaring--tasted remarkably +strong; but it did not taste so strong as it actually was. Hence, +presently, the stranger in cinder-gray at the table, moved by its +creeping influence, unbuttoned his waistcoat, threw himself back in +his chair, spread his legs, and made his presence felt in various +ways. + +"Well, well, as I say," he resumed, "I am going to Casterbridge, and +to Casterbridge I must go. I should have been almost there by this +time; but the rain drove me into your dwelling, and I'm not sorry for +it." + +"You don't live in Casterbridge?" said the shepherd. + +"Not as yet; though I shortly mean to move there." + +"Going to set up in trade, perhaps?" + +"No, no," said the shepherd's wife. "It is easy to see that the +gentleman is rich, and don't want to work at anything." + +The cinder-gray stranger paused, as if to consider whether he would +accept that definition of himself. He presently rejected it by +answering, "Rich is not quite the word for me, dame. I do work, and I +must work. And even if I only get to Casterbridge by midnight I must +begin work there at eight to-morrow morning. Yes, het or wet, blow or +snow, famine or sword, my day's work to-morrow must be done." + +"Poor man! Then, in spite o' seeming, you be off than we." replied the +shepherd's wife. + +"'Tis the nature of my trade, men and maidens. Tis the nature of my +trade more than my poverty.... But really and truly I must up and off, +or I shan't get a lodging in the town." However, the speaker did +not move, and directly added, "There's time for one more draught of +friendship before I go; and I'd perform it at once if the mug were not +dry." + +"Here's a mug o' small," said Mrs. Fennel. "Small, we call it, though +to be sure 'tis only the first wash o' the combs." + +"No," said the stranger, disdainfully. "I won't spoil your first +kindness by partaking o' your second." + +"Certainly not," broke in Fennel. "We don't increase and multiply +every day, and I'll fill the mug again." He went away to the dark +place under the stairs where the barrel stood. The shepherdess +followed him. + +"Why should you do this?" she said, reproachfully, as soon as they +were alone. "He's emptied it once, though it held enough for ten +people; and now he's not contented wi' the small, but must needs call +for more o' the strong! And a stranger unbeknown to any of us. For my +part, I don't like the look o' the man at all." + +"But he's in the house, my honey; and 'tis a wet night, and a +christening. Daze it, what's a cup of mead more or less? There'll be +plenty more next bee-burning." + +"Very well--this time, then," she answered, looking wistfully at the +barrel. "But what is the man's calling, and where is he one of, that +he should come in and join us like this?" + +"I don't know. I'll ask him again." + +The catastrophe of having the mug drained dry at one pull by the +stranger in cinder-gray was effectually guarded against this time by +Mrs. Fennel. She poured out his allowance in a small cup, keeping the +large one at a discreet distance from him. When he had tossed off +his portion the shepherd renewed his inquiry about the stranger's +occupation. + +The latter did not immediately reply, and the man in the +chimney-corner, with sudden demonstrativeness, said, "Anybody may know +my trade--I'm a wheelwright." + +"A very good trade for these parts," said the shepherd. + +"And anybody may know mine--if they've the sense to find it out," said +the stranger in cinder-gray. + +"You may generally tell what a man is by his claws," observed the +hedge-carpenter, looking at his own hands. "My fingers be as full of +thorns as an old pin-cushion is of pins." + +The hands of the man in the chimney-corner instinctively sought the +shade, and he gazed into the fire as he resumed his pipe. The man at +the table took up the hedge-carpenter's remark, and added smartly, +"True; but the oddity of my trade is that, instead of setting a mark +upon me, it sets a mark upon my customers." + +No observation being offered by anybody in elucidation of this enigma, +the shepherd's wife once more called for a song. The same obstacles +presented themselves as at the former time--one had no voice, another +had forgotten the first verse. The stranger at the table, whose soul +had now risen to a good working temperature, relieved the difficulty +by exclaiming that, to start the company, he would sing himself. +Thrusting one thumb into the arm-hole of his waistcoat, he waved the +other hand in the air, and, with an extemporizing gaze at the shining +sheep-crooks above the mantelpiece, began: + + "O my trade it is the rarest one, + Simple shepherds all-- + My trade is a sight to see; + For my customers I tie, and take them up on high, + And waft 'em to a far countree!" + +The room was silent when he had finished the verse--with one +exception, that of the man in the chimney-corner, who, at the singer's +word, "Chorus!" joined him in a deep bass voice of musical relish: + + "And waft 'em to a far countree!" + +Oliver Giles, John Pitcher the dairyman, the parish-clerk, the engaged +man of fifty, the row of young women against the wall, seemed lost in +thought not of the gayest kind. The shepherd looked meditatively on +the ground, the shepherdess gazed keenly at the singer, and with some +suspicion; she was doubting whether this stranger were merely singing +an old song from recollection, or was composing one there and then for +the occasion. All were as perplexed at the obscure revelation as the +guests at Belshazzar's Feast, except the man in the chimney-corner, +who quietly said, "Second verse, stranger," and smoked on. + +The singer thoroughly moistened himself from his lips inward, and went +on with the next stanza as requested: + + "My tools are but common ones, + Simple shepherds all-- + My tools are no sight to see: + A little hempen string, and a post whereon to swing, + Are implements enough for me!" + +Shepherd Fennel glanced round. There was no longer any doubt that the +stranger was answering his question rhythmically. The guests one and +all started back with suppressed exclamations. The young woman engaged +to the man of fifty fainted half-way, and would have proceeded, +but finding him wanting in alacrity for catching her she sat down +trembling. + +"O, he's the--!" whispered the people in the background, mentioning +the name of an ominous public officer. "He's come to do it! 'Tis to be +at Casterbridge jail to-morrow--the man for sheep-stealing--the poor +clock-maker we heard of, who used to live away at Shottsford and had +no work to do--Timothy Summers, whose family were a-starving, and so +he went out of Shottsford by the high-road, and took a sheep in open +daylight, defying the farmer and the farmer's wife and the farmer's +lad, and every man jack among 'em. He" (and they nodded toward the +stranger of the deadly trade) "is come from up the country to do it +because there's not enough to do in his own county-town, and he's got +the place here now our own county man's dead; he's going to live in +the same cottage under the prison wall." + +The stranger in cinder-gray took no notice of this whispered string of +observations, but again wetted his lips. Seeing that his friend in the +chimney-corner was the only one who reciprocated his joviality in any +way, he held out his cup toward that appreciative comrade, who also +held out his own. They clinked together, the eyes of the rest of the +room hanging upon the singer's actions. He parted his lips for the +third verse; but at that moment another knock was audible upon the +door. This time the knock was faint and hesitating. + +The company seemed scared; the shepherd looked with consternation +toward the entrance, and it was with some effort that he resisted his +alarmed wife's deprecatory glance, and uttered for the third time the +welcoming words, "Walk in!" + +The door was gently opened, and another man stood upon the mat. He, +like those who had preceded him, was a stranger. This time it was a +short, small personage, of fair complexion, and dressed in a decent +suit of dark clothes. + +"Can you tell me the way to--?" he began: when, gazing round the room +to observe the nature of the company among whom he had fallen, his +eyes lighted on the stranger in cinder-gray. It was just at the +instant when the latter, who had thrown his mind into his song with +such a will that he scarcely heeded the interruption, silenced all +whispers and inquiries by bursting into his third verse: + + "To-morrow is my working day, + Simple shepherds all-- + To-morrow is a working day for me: + For the farmer's sheep is slain, and the lad who did it ta'en, + And on his soul may God ha' merc-y!" + +The stranger in the chimney-corner, waving cups with the singer so +heartily that his mead splashed over on the hearth, repeated in his +bass voice as before: + + "And on his soul may God ha' merc-y!" + +All this time the third stranger had been standing in the doorway. +Finding now that he did not come forward or go on speaking, the guests +particularly regarded him. They noticed to their surprise that he +stood before them the picture of abject terror--his knees trembling, +his hand shaking so violently that the door-latch by which he +supported himself rattled audibly: his white lips were parted, and his +eyes fixed on the merry officer of justice in the middle of the room. +A moment more and he had turned, closed the door, and fled. + +"What a man can it be?" said the shepherd. + +The rest, between the awfulness of their late discovery and the odd +conduct of this third visitor, looked as if they knew not what to +think, and said nothing. Instinctively they withdrew further and +further from the grim gentleman in their midst, whom some of them +seemed to take for the Prince of Darkness himself, till they formed +a remote circle, an empty space of floor being left between them and +him-- + +"... circulus, cujus centrum diabolus." + +The room was so silent--though there were more than twenty people in +it--that nothing could be heard but the patter of the rain against the +window-shutters, accompanied by the occasional hiss of a stray drop +that fell down the chimney into the fire, and the steady puffing of +the man in the corner, who had now resumed his pipe of long clay. + +The stillness was unexpectedly broken. The distant sound of a gun +reverberated through the air--apparently from the direction of the +county-town. + +"Be jiggered!" cried the stranger who had sung the song, jumping up. + +"What does that mean?" asked several. + +"A prisoner escaped from the jail--that's what it means." + +All listened. The sound was repeated, and none of them spoke but the +man in the chimney-corner, who said quietly, "I've often been told +that in this county they fire a gun at such times; but I never heard +it till now." + +"I wonder if it is _my_ man?" murmured the personage in cinder-gray. + +"Surely it is!" said the shepherd involuntarily. "And surely we've +zeed him! That little man who looked in at the door by now, and +quivered like a leaf when he zeed ye and heard your song!" + +"His teeth chattered, and the breath went out of his body," said the +dairyman. + +"And his heart seemed to sink within him like a stone," said Oliver +Giles. + +"And he bolted as if he'd been shot at," said the hedge-carpenter. + +"True--his teeth chattered, and his heart seemed to sink; and he +bolted as if he'd been shot at," slowly summed up the man in the +chimney-corner. + +"I didn't notice it," remarked the hangman. + +"We were all a-wondering what made him run off in such a fright," +faltered one of the women against the wall, "and now 'tis explained!" + +The firing of the alarm-gun went on at intervals, low and sullenly, +and their suspicions became a certainty. The sinister gentleman in +cinder-gray roused himself. "Is there a constable here?" he asked, in +thick tones. "If so, let him step forward." + +The engaged man of fifty stepped quavering out from the wall, his +betrothed beginning to sob on the back of the chair. + +"You are a sworn constable?" + +"I be, sir." + +"Then pursue the criminal at once, with assistance, and bring him back +here. He can't have gone far." + +"I will, sir, I will--when I've got my staff. I'll go home and get it, +and come sharp here, and start in a body." + +"Staff!--never mind your staff; the man'll be gone!" + +"But I can't do nothing without my staff--can I, William, and John, +and Charles Jake? No; for there's the king's royal crown a-painted +on en in yaller and gold, and the lion and the unicorn, so as when I +raise en up and hit my prisoner, 'tis made a lawful blow thereby. I +wouldn't 'tempt to take up a man without my staff--no, not I. If I +hadn't the law to gie me courage, why, instead o' my taking up him he +might take up me!" + +"Now, I'm a king's man myself, and can give you authority enough for +this," said the formidable officer in gray. "Now then, all of ye, be +ready. Have ye any lanterns?" + +"Yes--have ye any lanterns?--I demand it!" said the constable. + +"And the rest of you able-bodied--" + +"Able-bodied men--yes--the rest of ye!" said the constable. + +"Have you some good stout staves and pitchforks--" + +"Staves and pitchforks--in the name o' the law! And take 'em in yer +hands and go in quest, and do as we in authority tell ye!" + +Thus aroused, the men prepared to give chase. The evidence was, +indeed, though circumstantial, so convincing, that but little argument +was needed to show the shepherd's guests that after what they had seen +it would look very much like connivance if they did not instantly +pursue the unhappy third stranger, who could not as yet have gone more +than a few hundred yards over such uneven country. + +A shepherd is always well provided with lanterns; and, lighting these +hastily, and with hurdle-staves in their hands, they poured out of the +door, taking a direction along the crest of the hill, away from the +town, the rain having fortunately a little abated. + +Disturbed by the noise, or possibly by unpleasant dreams of her +baptism, the child who had been christened began to cry heart-brokenly +in the room overhead. These notes of grief came down through the +chinks of the floor to the ears of the women below, who jumped up one +by one, and seemed glad of the excuse to ascend and comfort the baby, +for the incidents of the last half-hour greatly oppressed them. Thus +in the space of two or three minutes the room on the ground-floor was +deserted quite. + +But it was not for long. Hardly had the sound of footsteps died away +when a man returned round the corner of the house from the direction +the pursuers had taken. Peeping in at the door, and seeing +nobody there, he entered leisurely. It was the stranger of the +chimney-corner, who had gone out with the rest. The motive of his +return was shown by his helping himself to a cut piece of skimmer-cake +that lay on a ledge beside where he had sat, and which he had +apparently forgotten to take with him. He also poured out half a cup +more mead from the quantity that remained, ravenously eating and +drinking these as he stood. He had not finished when another figure +came in just as quietly--his friend in cinder-gray. + +"O--you here?" said the latter, smiling. "I thought you had gone to +help in the capture." And this speaker also revealed the object of his +return by looking solicitously round for the fascinating mug of old +mead. + +"And I thought you had gone," said the other, continuing his +skimmer-cake with some effort. + +"Well, on second thoughts, I felt there were enough without me," said +the first confidentially, "and such a night as it is, too. Besides, +'tis the business o' the Government to take care of its criminals--not +mine." + +"True; so it is. And I felt as you did, that there were enough without +me." + +"I don't want to break my limbs running over the humps and hollows of +this wild country." + +"Nor I neither, between you and me." + +"These shepherd-people are used to it--simple-minded souls, you know, +stirred up to anything in a moment. They'll have him ready for me +before the morning, and no trouble to me at all." + +"They'll have him, and we shall have saved ourselves all labor in the +matter." + +"True, true. Well, my way is to Casterbridge; and 'tis as much as my +legs will do to take me that far. Going the same way?" + +"No, I am sorry to say! I have to get home over there" (he nodded +indefinitely to the right), "and I feel as you do, that it is quite +enough for my legs to do before bedtime." + +The other had by this time finished the mead in the mug, after which, +shaking hands heartily at the door, and wishing each other well, they +went their several ways. + +In the meantime the company of pursuers had reached the end of the +hog's-back elevation which dominated this part of the down. They had +decided on no particular plan of action; and, finding that the man of +the baleful trade was no longer in their company, they seemed quite +unable to form any such plan now. They descended in all directions +down the hill, and straightway several of the party fell into the +snare set by Nature for all misguided midnight ramblers over this part +of the cretaceous formation. The "lanchets," or flint slopes, which +belted the escarpment at intervals of a dozen yards, took the less +cautious ones unawares, and losing their footing on the rubbly steep +they slid sharply downward, the lanterns rolling from their hands to +the bottom, and there lying on their sides till the horn was scorched +through. + +When they had again gathered themselves together, the shepherd, as the +man who knew the country best, took the lead, and guided them round +these treacherous inclines. The lanterns, which seemed rather to +dazzle their eyes and warn the fugitive than to assist them in the +exploration, were extinguished, due silence was observed; and in this +more rational order they plunged into the vale. It was a grassy, +briery, moist defile, affording some shelter to any person who had +sought it; but the party perambulated it in vain, and ascended on the +other side. Here they wandered apart, and after an interval closed +together again to report progress. At the second time of closing in +they found themselves near a lonely ash, the single tree on this part +of the coomb, probably sown there by a passing bird some fifty years +before. And here, standing a little to one side of the trunk, as +motionless as the trunk itself, appeared the man they were in quest +of, his outline being well defined against the sky beyond. The band +noiselessly drew up and faced him. + +"Your money or your life!" said the constable sternly to the still +figure. + +"No, no," whispered John Pitcher. "'Tisn't our side ought to say that. +That's the doctrine of vagabonds like him, and we be on the side of +the law." + +"Well, well," replied the constable, impatiently; "I must say +something, mustn't I? and if you had all the weight o' this +undertaking upon your mind, perhaps you'd say the wrong thing, +too!--Prisoner at the bar, surrender, in the name of the Father--the +Crown, I mane!" + +The man under the tree seemed now to notice them for the first time, +and, giving them no opportunity whatever for exhibiting their courage, +he strolled slowly toward them. He was, indeed, the little man, the +third stranger; but his trepidation had in a great measure gone. + +"Well, travellers," he said, "did I hear you speak to me?" + +"You did; you've got to come and be our prisoner at once!" said the +constable. "We arrest 'ee on the charge of not biding in Casterbridge +jail in a decent proper manner to be hung to-morrow morning. +Neighbors, do your duty, and seize the culpet!" + +On hearing the charge, the man seemed enlightened, and, saying not +another word, resigned himself with preternatural civility to the +search-party, who, with their staves in their hands, surrounded him on +all sides, and marched him back toward the shepherd's cottage. + +It was eleven o'clock by the time they arrived. The light shining from +the open door, a sound of men's voices within, proclaimed to them as +they approached the house that some new events had arisen in their +absence. On entering they discovered the shepherd's living-room to +be invaded by two officers from Casterbridge jail, and a well-known +magistrate who lived at the nearest country-seat, intelligence of the +escape having become generally circulated. + +"Gentlemen," said the constable, "I have brought back your man--not +without risk and danger; but every one must do his duty! He is inside +this circle of able-bodied persons, who have lent me useful aid, +considering their ignorance of Crown work. Men, bring forward your +prisoner!" And the third stranger was led to the light. + +"Who is this?" said one of the officials. + +"The man," said the constable. + +"Certainly not," said the turnkey; and the first corroborated his +statement. + +"But how can it be otherwise?" asked the constable. "Or why was he +so terrified at sight o' the singing instrument of the law who sat +there?" Here he related the strange behavior of the third stranger on +entering the house during the hangman's song. + +"Can't understand it," said the officer coolly. "All I know is that it +is not the condemned man. He's quite a different character from this +one; a gauntish fellow, with dark hair and eyes, rather good-looking, +and with a musical bass voice that if you heard it once you'd never +mistake as long as you lived." + +"Why, souls--'twas the man in the chimney-corner!" + +"Hey--what?" said the magistrate, coming forward after inquiring +particulars from the shepherd in the background. "Haven't you got the +man after all?" + +"Well, sir," said the constable, "he's the man we were in search of, +that's true; and yet he's not the man we were in search of. For the +man we were in search of was not the man we wanted, sir, if you +understand my every-day way; for 'twas the man in the chimney-corner!" + +"A pretty kettle of fish altogether!" said the magistrate. "You had +better start for the other man at once." + +The prisoner now spoke for the first time. The mention of the man in +the chimney-corner seemed to have moved him as nothing else could do. +"Sir," he said, stepping forward to the magistrate, "take no more +trouble about me. The time is come when I may as well speak. I have +done nothing; my crime is that the condemned man is my brother. Early +this afternoon I left home at Shottsford to tramp it all the way to +Casterbridge jail to bid him farewell. I was benighted, and called +here to rest and ask the way. When I opened the door I saw before me +the very man, my brother, that I thought to see in the condemned cell +at Casterbridge. He was in this chimney-corner; and jammed close +to him, so that he could not have got out if he had tried, was the +executioner who'd come to take his life, singing a song about it and +not knowing that it was his victim who was close by, joining in to +save appearances. My brother looked a glance of agony at me, and I +know he meant, 'Don't reveal what you see; my life depends on it.' I +was so terror-struck that I could hardly stand, and, not knowing what +I did, I turned and hurried away." + +The narrator's manner and tone had the stamp of truth, and his story +made a great impression on all around. + +"And do you know where your brother is at the present time?" asked the +magistrate. + +"I do not. I have never seen him since I closed this door." + +"I can testify to that, for we've been between ye ever since." said +the constable. + +"Where does he think to fly to?--what is his occupation?" + +"He's a watch-and-clock-maker, sir." + +"'A said 'a was a wheelwright--a wicked rogue," said the constable. + +"The wheels of clocks and watches he meant, no doubt," said Shepherd +Fennel. "I thought his hands were palish for's trade." + +"Well, it appears to me that nothing can be gained by retaining this +poor man in custody," said the magistrate; "your business lies with +the other, unquestionably." + +And so the little man was released off-hand; but he looked nothing the +less sad on that account, it being beyond the power of magistrate or +constable to raze out the written troubles in his brain, for they +concerned another whom he regarded with more solicitude than himself. +When this was done, and the man had gone his way, the night was found +to be so far advanced that it was deemed useless to renew the search +before the next morning. + +Next day, accordingly, the quest for the clever sheep-stealer became +general and keen, to all appearance at least. But the intended +punishment was cruelly disproportioned to the transgression, and the +sympathy of a great many country-folk in that district was strongly on +the side of the fugitive. Moreover, his marvellous coolness and +daring in hob-and-nobbing with the hangman, under the unprecedented +circumstances of the shepherd's party, won their admiration. So that +it may be questioned if all those who ostensibly made themselves so +busy in exploring woods and fields and lanes were quite so thorough +when it came to the private examination of their own lofts and +outhouses. Stories were afloat of a mysterious figure being +occasionally seen in some old overgrown trackway or other, remote +from turnpike roads; but when a search was instituted in any of these +suspected quarters nobody was found. Thus the days and weeks passed +without tidings. + +In brief, the bass-voiced man of the chimney-corner was never +recaptured. Some said that he went across the sea, others that he did +not, but buried himself in the depths of a populous city. At any +rate, the gentleman in cinder-gray never did his morning's work at +Casterbridge, nor met anywhere at all, for business purposes, the +genial comrade with whom he had passed an hour of relaxation in the +lonely house on the coomb. + +The grass has long been green on the graves of Shepherd Fennel and his +frugal wife; the guests who made up the christening party have mainly +followed their entertainers to the tomb; the baby in whose honor they +all had met is a matron in the sere and yellow leaf. But the arrival +of the three strangers at the shepherd's that night, and the details +connected therewith, is a story as well-known as ever in the country +about Higher Crowstairs. + +_March_, 1883. + + + + +JULIA BRIDE[1] + +[Footnote 1: 1909.] + + +_Henry James_ (1843) + + +I + +She had walked with her friend to the top of the wide steps of the +Museum, those that descended from the galleries of painting, and then, +after the young man had left her, smiling, looking back, waving all +gayly and expressively his hat and stick, had watched him, smiling +too, but with a different intensity--had kept him in sight till he +passed out of the great door. She might have been waiting to see if he +would turn there for a last demonstration; which was exactly what he +did, renewing his cordial gesture and with his look of glad devotion, +the radiance of his young face, reaching her across the great space, +as she felt, in undiminished truth. Yes, so she could feel, and she +remained a minute even after he was gone; she gazed at the empty air +as if he had filled it still, asking herself what more she wanted and +what, if it didn't signify glad devotion, his whole air could have +represented. + +She was at present so anxious that she could wonder if he stepped and +smiled like that for mere relief at separation; yet if he desired in +that degree to break the spell and escape the danger why did he keep +coming back to her, and why, for that matter, had she felt safe +a moment before in letting him go? She felt safe, felt almost +reckless--that was the proof--so long as he was with her; but the +chill came as soon as he had gone, when she took the measure, +instantly, of all she yet missed. She might now have been taking it +afresh, by the testimony of her charming clouded eyes and of the +rigor that had already replaced her beautiful play of expression. Her +radiance, for the minute, had "carried" as far as his, travelling on +the light wings of her brilliant prettiness--he, on his side, not +being facially handsome, but only sensitive, clean and eager. Then, +with its extinction, the sustaining wings dropped and hung. + +She wheeled about, however, full of a purpose; she passed back through +the pictured rooms, for it pleased her, this idea of a talk with Mr. +Pitman--as much, that is, as anything could please a young person so +troubled. It happened indeed that when she saw him rise at sight of +her from the settee where he had told her five minutes before that she +would find him, it was just with her nervousness that his presence +seemed, as through an odd suggestion of help, to connect itself. +Nothing truly would be quite so odd for her case as aid proceeding +from Mr. Pitman; unless perhaps the oddity would be even greater for +himself--the oddity of her having taken into her head an appeal to +him. + +She had had to feel alone with a vengeance--inwardly alone and +miserably alarmed--to be ready to "meet," that way, at the first +sign from him, the successor to her dim father in her dim father's +lifetime, the second of her mother's two divorced husbands. It made a +queer relation for her; a relation that struck her at this moment as +less edifying, less natural and graceful than it would have been even +for her remarkable mother--and still in spite of this parent's third +marriage, her union with Mr. Connery, from whom she was informally +separated. It was at the back of Julia's head as she approached Mr. +Pitman, or it was at least somewhere deep within her soul, that if +this last of Mrs. Connery's withdrawals from the matrimonial yoke had +received the sanction of the court (Julia had always heard, from far +back, so much about the "Court") she herself, as after a fashion, +in that event, a party to it, would not have had the cheek to make +up--which was how she inwardly phrased what she was doing--to the +long, lean, loose, slightly cadaverous gentleman who was a memory, for +her, of the period from her twelfth to her seventeenth year. She had +got on with him, perversely, much better than her mother had, and the +bulging misfit of his duck waistcoat, with his trick of swinging his +eye-glass, at the end of an extraordinarily long string, far over +the scene, came back to her as positive features of the image of her +remoter youth. Her present age--for her later time had seen so many +things happen--gave her a perspective. + +Fifty things came up as she stood there before him, some of them +floating in from the past, others hovering with freshness: how she +used to dodge the rotary movement made by his pince-nez while he +always awkwardly, and kindly, and often funnily, talked--it had +once hit her rather badly in the eye; how she used to pull down and +straighten his waistcoat, making it set a little better, a thing of +a sort her mother never did; how friendly and familiar she must have +been with him for that, or else a forward little minx; how she felt +almost capable of doing it again now, just to sound the right note, +and how sure she was of the way he would take it if she did; how much +nicer he had clearly been, all the while, poor dear man, than his wife +and the court had made it possible for him publicly to appear; how +much younger, too, he now looked, in spite of his rather melancholy, +his mildly jaundiced, humorously determined sallowness and his +careless assumption, everywhere, from his forehead to his exposed and +relaxed blue socks, almost sky-blue, as in past days, of creases and +folds and furrows that would have been perhaps tragic if they hadn't +seemed rather to show, like his whimsical black eyebrows, the vague, +interrogative arch. + +Of course he wasn't wretched if he wasn't more sure of his +wretchedness than that! Julia Bride would have been sure--had she been +through what she supposed _he_ had! With his thick, loose black hair, +in any case, untouched by a thread of gray, and his kept gift of a +certain big-boyish awkwardness--that of his taking their encounter, +for instance, so amusedly, so crudely, though, as she was not unaware, +so eagerly too--he could by no means have been so little his wife's +junior as it had been that lady's habit, after the divorce, to +represent him. Julia had remembered him as old, since she had so +constantly thought of her mother as old; which Mrs. Connery was indeed +now--for her daughter--with her dozen years of actual seniority to +Mr. Pitman and her exquisite hair, the densest, the finest tangle +of arranged silver tendrils that had ever enhanced the effect of a +preserved complexion. + +Something in the girl's vision of her quondam stepfather as still +comparatively young--with the confusion, the immense element of +rectification, not to say of rank disproof, that it introduced into +Mrs. Connery's favorite picture of her own injured past--all this +worked, even at the moment, to quicken once more the clearness and +harshness of judgment, the retrospective disgust, as she might have +called it, that had of late grown up in her, the sense of all the +folly and vanity and vulgarity, the lies, the perversities, the +falsification of all life in the interest of who could say what +wretched frivolity, what preposterous policy; amid which she had been +condemned so ignorantly, so pitifully to sit, to walk, to grope, to +flounder, from the very dawn of her consciousness. Didn't poor Mr. +Pitman just touch the sensitive nerve of it when, taking her in with +his facetious, cautious eyes, he spoke to her, right out, of the old, +old story, the everlasting little wonder of her beauty? + +"Why, you know, you've grown up so lovely--you're the prettiest girl +I've ever seen!" Of course she was the prettiest girl he had ever +seen; she was the prettiest girl people much more privileged than he +had ever seen; since when hadn't she been passing for the prettiest +girl any one had ever seen? She had lived in that, from far back, from +year to year, from day to day and from hour to hour--she had lived +for it and literally _by_ it, as who should say; but Mr. Pitman was +somehow more illuminating than he knew, with the present lurid light +that he cast upon old dates, old pleas, old values, and old mysteries, +not to call them old abysses: it had rolled over her in a swift wave, +with the very sight of him, that her mother couldn't possibly have +been right about him--as about what in the world had she ever been +right?--so that in fact he was simply offered her there as one more of +Mrs. Connery's lies. She might have thought she knew them all by this +time; but he represented for her, coming in just as he did, a fresh +discovery, and it was this contribution of freshness that made her +somehow feel she liked him. It was she herself who, for so long, +with her retained impression, had been right about him; and the +rectification he represented had _all_ shone out of him, ten minutes +before, on his catching her eye while she moved through the room with +Mr. French. She had never doubted of his probable faults--which her +mother had vividly depicted as the basest of vices; since some of +them, and the most obvious (not the vices, but the faults) were +written on him as he stood there: notably, for instance, the +exasperating "business slackness" of which Mrs. Connery had, before +the tribunal, made so pathetically much. It might have been, for that +matter, the very business slackness that affected Julia as presenting +its friendly breast, in the form of a cool loose sociability, to her +own actual tension; though it was also true for her, after they had +exchanged fifty words, that he had as well his inward fever and that, +if he was perhaps wondering what was so particularly the matter with +her, she could make out not less that something was the matter +with _him_. It had been vague, yet it had been intense, the mute +reflection, "Yes, I'm going to like him, and he's going somehow to +help me!" that had directed her steps so straight to him. She was +sure even then of this, that he wouldn't put to her a query about his +former wife, that he took to-day no grain of interest in Mrs. Connery; +that his interest, such as it was--and he couldn't look _quite_ like +that, to Julia Bride's expert perception, without something in the +nature of a new one--would be a thousand times different. + +It was as a value of _disproof_ that his worth meanwhile so rapidly +grew: the good sight of him, the good sound and sense of him, such +as they were, demolished at a stroke so blessedly much of the horrid +inconvenience of the past that she thought of him; she clutched at +him, for a _general_ saving use, an application as sanative, as +redemptive as some universal healing wash, precious even to the point +of perjury if perjury should be required. That was the terrible thing, +that had been the inward pang with which she watched Basil French +recede: perjury would have to come in somehow and somewhere--oh so +quite certainly!--before the so strange, so rare young man, truly +smitten though she believed him, could be made to rise to the +occasion, before her measureless prize could be assured. It was +present to her, it had been present a hundred times, that if there had +only been some one to (as it were) "deny everything" the situation +might yet be saved. She so needed some one to lie for her--ah, she so +need some one to lie! Her mother's version of everything, her mother's +version of anything, had been at the best, as they said, discounted; +and she herself could but show, of course, for an interested party, +however much she might claim to be none the less a decent girl--to +whatever point, that is, after all that had both remotely and recently +happened, presumptions of anything to be called decency could come in. + +After what had recently happened--the two or three indirect but so +worrying questions Mr. French had put to her--it would only be some +thoroughly detached friend or witness who might effectively testify. +An odd form of detachment certainly would reside, for Mr. Pitman's +evidential character, in her mother's having so publicly and +so brilliantly--though, thank the powers, all off in North +Dakota!--severed their connection with him; and yet mightn't it do +_her_ some good, even if the harm it might do her mother were so +little ambiguous? The more her mother had got divorced--with her +dreadful cheap-and-easy second performance in that line and her +present extremity of alienation from Mr. Connery, which enfolded +beyond doubt the germ of a third petition on one side or the +other--the more her mother had distinguished herself in the field of +folly the worse for her own prospect with the Frenches, whose +minds she had guessed to be accessible, and with such an effect of +dissimulated suddenness, to some insidious poison. + +It was very unmistakable, in other words, that the more dismissed and +detached Mr. Pitman should have come to appear, the more as divorced, +or at least as divorcing, his before-time wife would by the same +stroke figure--so that it was here poor Julia could but lose herself. +The crazy divorces only, or the half-dozen successive and still +crazier engagements only--gathered fruit, bitter fruit, of her own +incredibly allowed, her own insanely fostered frivolity--either of +these two groups of skeletons at the banquet might singly be dealt +with; but the combination, the fact of each party's having been so +mixed-up with whatever was least presentable for the other, the fact +of their having so shockingly amused themselves together, made all +present steering resemble the classic middle course between Scylla and +Charybdis. + +It was not, however, that she felt wholly a fool in having obeyed this +impulse to pick up again her kind old friend. _She_ at least had never +divorced him, and her horrid little filial evidence in court had been +but the chatter of a parrakeet, of precocious plumage and croak, +repeating words earnestly taught her, and that she could scarce even +pronounce. Therefore, as far as steering went, he _must_ for the hour +take a hand. She might actually have wished in fact that he shouldn't +now have seemed so tremendously struck with her; since it was an +extraordinary situation for a girl, this crisis of her fortune, this +positive wrong that the flagrancy, what she would have been ready to +call the very vulgarity, of her good looks might do her at a moment +when it was vital she should hang as straight as a picture on the +wall. Had it ever yet befallen any young woman in the world to wish +with secret intensity that she might have been, for her convenience, a +shade less inordinately pretty? She had come to that, to this view of +the bane, the primal curse, of their lavish physical outfit, which had +included everything and as to which she lumped herself resentfully +with her mother. The only thing was that her mother was, thank +goodness, still so much prettier, still so assertively, so publicly, +so trashily, so ruinously pretty. Wonderful the small grimness with +which Julia Bride put off on this parent the middle-aged maximum of +their case and the responsibility of their defect. It cost her so +little to recognize in Mrs. Connery at forty-seven, and in spite, or +perhaps indeed just by reason, of the arranged silver tendrils which +were so like some rare bird's-nest in a morning frost, a facile +supremacy for the dazzling effect--it cost her so little that her view +even rather exaggerated the lustre of the different maternal items. +She would have put it _all_ off if possible, all off on other +shoulders and on other graces and other morals than her own, the +burden of physical charm that had made so easy a ground, such a native +favoring air, for the aberrations which, apparently inevitable and +without far consequences at the time, had yet at this juncture so much +better not have been. + +She could have worked it out at her leisure, to the last link of the +chain, the way their prettiness had set them trap after trap, all +along--had foredoomed them to awful ineptitude. When you were as +pretty as that you could, by the whole idiotic consensus, be nothing +_but_ pretty; and when you were nothing "but" pretty you could get +into nothing but tight places, out of which you could then scramble by +nothing but masses of fibs. And there was no one, all the while, who +wasn't eager to egg you on, eager to make you pay to the last cent the +price of your beauty. What creature would ever for a moment help you +to behave as if something that dragged in its wake a bit less of a +lumbering train would, on the whole, have been better for you? The +consequences of being plain were only negative--you failed of this and +that; but the consequences of being as _they_ were, what were these +but endless? though indeed, as far as failing went, your beauty too +could let you in for enough of it. Who, at all events, would ever for +a moment credit you, in the luxuriance of that beauty, with the study, +on your own side, of such truths as these? Julia Bride could, at the +point she had reached, positively ask herself this even while lucidly +conscious of the inimitable, the triumphant and attested projection, +all round her, of her exquisite image. It was only Basil French who +had at last, in his doubtless dry, but all distinguished way--the +way surely, as it was borne in upon her, of all the blood of all the +Frenches--stepped out of the vulgar rank. It was only he who, by the +trouble she discerned in him, had made her see certain things. It was +only for him--and not a bit ridiculously, but just beautifully, almost +sublimely--that their being "nice," her mother and she between them, +had _not_ seemed to profit by their being so furiously handsome. + +This had, ever so grossly and ever so tiresomely, satisfied every one +else; since every one had thrust upon them, had imposed upon them, as +by a great cruel conspiracy, their silliest possibilities; fencing +them in to these, and so not only shutting them out from others, but +mounting guard at the fence, walking round and round outside it, to +see they didn't escape, and admiring them, talking to them, through +the rails, in mere terms of chaff, terms of chucked cakes and +apples--as if they had been antelopes or zebras, or even some superior +sort of performing, of dancing, bear. It had been reserved for Basil +French to strike her as willing to let go, so to speak, a pound or two +of this fatal treasure if he might only have got in exchange for it +an ounce or so more of their so much less obvious and Jess published +personal history. Yes, it described him to say that, in addition to +all the rest of him, and of _his_ personal history, and of his family, +and of theirs, in addition to their social posture, as that of a +serried phalanx, and to their notoriously enormous wealth and crushing +respectability, she might have been ever so much less lovely for him +if she had been only--well, a little prepared to answer questions. And +it wasn't as if quiet, cultivated, earnest, public-spirited, brought +up in Germany, infinitely travelled, awfully like a high-caste +Englishman, and all the other pleasant things, it wasn't as if he +didn't love to be with her, to look at her, just as she was; for he +loved it exactly as much, so far as that footing simply went, as any +free and foolish youth who had ever made the last demonstration of +it. It was that marriage was, for him--and for them all, the serried +Frenches--a great matter, a goal to which a man of intelligence, a +real shy, beautiful man of the world, didn't hop on one foot, didn't +skip and jump, as if he were playing an urchins' game, but toward +which he proceeded with a deep and anxious, a noble and highly just +deliberation. + +For it was one thing to stare at a girl till she was bored with it, it +was one thing to take her to the Horse Show and the Opera, and to +send her flowers by the stack, and chocolates by the ton, and "great" +novels, the very latest and greatest, by the dozen; but something +quite other to hold open for her, with eyes attached to eyes, the +gate, moving on such stiff silver hinges, of the grand square +forecourt of the palace of wedlock. The state of being "engaged" +represented to him the introduction to this precinct of some young +woman with whom his outside parley would have had the duration, +distinctly, of his own convenience. That might be cold-blooded if one +chose to think so; but nothing of another sort would equal the high +ceremony and dignity and decency, above all the grand gallantry and +finality, of their then passing in. Poor Julia could have blushed red, +before that view, with the memory of the way the forecourt, as she now +imagined it, had been dishonored by her younger romps. She had tumbled +over the wall with this, that, and the other raw playmate, and had +played "tag" and leap-frog, as she might say, from corner to corner. +That would be the "history" with which, in case of definite demand, +she should be able to supply Mr. French: that she had already, again +and again, any occasion offering, chattered and scuffled over ground +provided, according to his idea, for walking the gravest of minuets. +If that then had been all their _kind_ of history, hers and her +mother's, at least there was plenty of it: it was the superstructure +raised on the other group of facts, those of the order of their having +been always so perfectly pink and white, so perfectly possessed of +clothes, so perfectly splendid, so perfectly idiotic. These things had +been the "points" of antelope and zebra; putting Mrs. Connery for the +zebra, as the more remarkably striped or spotted. Such were the _data_ +Basil French's inquiry would elicit: her own six engagements and her +mother's three nullified marriages--nine nice distinct little horrors +in all. What on earth was to be done about them? + +It was notable, she was afterward to recognize, that there had been +nothing of the famous business slackness in the positive pounce with +which Mr. Pitman put it to her that, as soon as he had made her +out "for sure," identified her there as old Julia grown-up and +gallivanting with a new admirer, a smarter young fellow than ever yet, +he had had the inspiration of her being exactly the good girl to +help him. She certainly found him strike the hour again, with these +vulgarities of tone--forms of speech that her mother had anciently +described as by themselves, once he had opened the whole battery, +sufficient ground for putting him away. Full, however, of the use she +should have for him, she wasn't going to mind trifles. What she really +gasped at was that, so oddly, he was ahead of her at the start. "Yes, +I want something of you, Julia, and I want it right now: you can do me +a turn, and I'm blest if my luck--which has once or twice been +pretty good, you know--hasn't sent you to me." She knew the luck he +meant--that of her mother's having so enabled him to get rid of her; +but it was the nearest allusion of the merely invidious kind that he +would make. It had thus come to our young woman on the spot and by +divination: the service he desired of her matched with remarkable +closeness what she had so promptly taken into her head to name to +himself--to name in her own interest, though deterred as yet from +having brought it right out. She had been prevented by his speaking, +the first thing, in that way, as if he had known Mr. French--which +surprised her till he explained that every one in New York knew by +appearance a young man of his so-quoted wealth ("What did she take +them all in New York then _for_?") and of whose marked attention to +her he had moreover, for himself, round at clubs and places, lately +heard. This had accompanied the inevitable free question "Was she +engaged to _him_ now?"--which she had in fact almost welcomed as +holding out to her the perch of opportunity. She was waiting to deal +with it properly, but meanwhile he had gone on, and to such effect +that it took them but three minutes to turn out, on either side, like +a pair of pickpockets comparing, under shelter, their day's booty, the +treasures of design concealed about their persons. + +"I want you to tell the truth for me--as you only can. I want you to +say that I was really all right--as right as you know; and that I +simply acted like an angel in a story-book, gave myself away to have +it over." + +"Why, my dear man," Julia cried, "you take the wind straight out of my +sails! What I'm here to ask of _you_ is that you'll confess to having +been even a worse fiend than you were shown up for; to having made +it impossible mother should _not_ take proceedings." There!--she had +brought it out, and with the sense of their situation turning to high +excitement for her in the teeth of his droll stare, his strange grin, +his characteristic "Lordy, lordy! What good will that do you?" She +was prepared with her clear statement of reasons for her appeal, and +feared so he might have better ones for his own that all her story +came in a flash. "Well, Mr. Pitman, I want to get married this time, +by way of a change; but you see we've been such fools that, when +something really good at last comes up, it's too dreadfully awkward. +The fools we were capable of being--well, you know better than any +one: unless perhaps not quite so well as Mr. Connery. It has got to +be denied," said Julia ardently--"it has got to be denied flat. But I +can't get hold of Mr. Connery--Mr. Connery has gone to China. Besides, +if he were here," she had ruefully to confess, "he'd be no good--on +the contrary. He wouldn't deny anything--he'd only tell more. So thank +heaven he's away--there's _that_ amount of good! I'm not engaged yet," +she went on--but he had already taken her up. + +"You're not engaged to Mr. French?" It was all, clearly, a wondrous +show for him, but his immediate surprise, oddly, might have been +greatest for that. + +"No, not to any one--for the seventh time!" She spoke as with her head +held well up both over the shame and the pride. "Yes, the next time +I'm engaged I want something to happen. But he's afraid; he's afraid +of what may be told him. He's dying to find out, and yet he'd die +if he did! He wants to be talked to, but he has got to be talked to +right. You could talk to him right, Mr. Pitman--if you only _would_! +He can't get over mother--that I feel: he loathes and scorns divorces, +and we've had first and last too many. So if he could hear from you +that you just made her life a hell--why," Julia concluded, "it would +be too lovely. If she _had_ to go in for another--after having +already, when I was little, divorced father--it would 'sort of' make, +don't you see? one less. You'd do the high-toned thing by her: you'd +say what a wretch you then were, and that she had had to save her +life. In that way he mayn't mind it. Don't you see, you sweet man?" +poor Julia pleaded. "Oh," she wound up as if his fancy lagged or his +scruple looked out, "of course I want you to _lie_ for me!" + +It did indeed sufficiently stagger him. "It's a lovely idea for the +moment when I was just saying to myself--as soon as I saw you--that +you'd speak the truth for _me_!" + +"Ah, what's the matter with 'you'?" Julia sighed with an impatience +not sensibly less sharp for her having so quickly scented some lion in +her path. + +"Why, do you think there's no one in the world but you who has seen +the cup of promised affection, of something really to be depended on, +only, at the last moment, by the horrid jostle of your elbow, spilled +all over you? I want to provide for my future too as it happens; and +my good friend who's to help me to that--the most charming of women +this time--disapproves of divorce quite as much as Mr. French. Don't +you see," Mr. Pitman candidly asked, "what that by itself must have +done toward attaching me to her? _She_ has got to be talked to--to be +told how little I could help it." + +"Oh, lordy, lordy!" the girl emulously groaned. It was such a +relieving cry. "Well, _I_ won't talk to her!" she declared. + +"You _won't_, Julia?" he pitifully echoed. "And yet you ask of +_me_--!" + +His pang, she felt, was sincere; and even more than she had guessed, +for the previous quarter of an hour he had been building up his hope, +building it with her aid for a foundation. Yet was he going to see how +their testimony, on each side, would, if offered, _have_ to conflict? +If he was to prove himself for her sake--or, more queerly still, for +that of Basil French's high conservatism--a person whom there had been +no other way of dealing with, how could she prove him, in this other +and so different interest, a mere gentle sacrifice to his wife's +perversity? She had, before him there, on the instant, all acutely, a +sense of rising sickness--a wan glimmer of foresight as to the end of +the fond dream. Everything else was against her, everything in her +dreadful past--just as if she had been a person represented by some +"emotional actress," some desperate erring lady "hunted down" in a +play; but was that going to be the case too with her own very decency, +the fierce little residuum deep within her, for which she was +counting, when she came to think, on so little glory or even credit? +Was this also going to turn against her and trip her up--just to show +she was really, under the touch and the test, as decent as any one; +and with no one but herself the wiser for it meanwhile, and no proof +to show but that, as a consequence, she should be unmarried to the +end? She put it to Mr. Pitman quite with resentment: "Do you mean to +say you're going to be married--?" + +"Oh, my dear, I too must get engaged first!"--he spoke with his +inimitable grin. "But that, you see, is where you come in. I've told +her about you. She wants awfully to meet you. The way it happens is +too lovely--that I find you just in this place. She's coming," said +Mr. Pitman--and as in all the good faith of his eagerness now; "she's +coming in about three minutes." + +"Coming here?" + +"Yes, Julia--right here. It's where we usually meet"; and he was +wreathed again, this time as if for life, in his large slow smile. +"She loves this place--she's awfully keen on art. Like _you_, Julia, +if you haven't changed--I remember how you did love art." He looked +at her quite tenderly, as to keep her up to it. "You must still of +course--from the way you're here. Just let her _feel_ that," the poor +man fantastically urged. And then with his kind eyes on her and his +good ugly mouth stretched as for delicate emphasis from ear to ear: +"Every little helps!" + +He made her wonder for him, ask herself, and with a certain intensity, +questions she yet hated the trouble of; as whether he were still as +moneyless as in the other time--which was certain indeed, for any +fortune he ever would have made. His slackness, on that ground, stuck +out of him almost as much as if he had been of rusty or "seedy" +aspect--which, luckily for him, he wasn't at all: he looked, in his +way, like some pleasant eccentric, ridiculous, but real gentleman, +whose taste might be of the queerest, but his credit with his tailor +none the less of the best. She wouldn't have been the least ashamed, +had their connection lasted, of going about with him: so that what +a fool, again, her mother had been--since Mr. Connery, sorry as one +might be for him, was irrepressibly vulgar. Julia's quickness was, +for the minute, charged with all this; but she had none the less her +feeling of the right thing to say and the right way to say it. If +he was after a future financially assured, even as she herself so +frantically was, she wouldn't cast the stone. But if he had talked +about her to strange women she couldn't be less than a little +majestic. "Who then is the person in question for you--?" + +"Why, such a dear thing, Julia--Mrs. David E. Drack. Have you heard of +her?" he almost fluted. + +New York was vast, and she had not had that advantage. "She's a +widow--?" + +"Oh yes: she's not--" He caught himself up in time. "She's a real +one." It was as near as he came. But it was as if he had been looking +at her now so pathetically hard. "Julia, she has millions." + +Hard, at any rate--whether pathetic or not--was the look she gave him +back. "Well, so has--or so _will_ have--Basil French. And more of them +than Mrs. Drack, I guess," Julia quavered. + +"Oh, I know what _they've_ got!" He took it from her--with the effect +of a vague stir, in his long person, of unwelcome embarrassment. But +was she going to give up because he was embarrassed? He should know +at least what he was costing her. It came home to her own spirit more +than ever, but meanwhile he had found his footing. "I don't see how +your mother matters. It isn't a question of his marrying _her_." + +"No; but, constantly together as we've always been, it's a question of +there being so disgustingly much to get over. If we had, for people +like them, but the one ugly spot and the one weak side; if we had +made, between us, but the one vulgar _kind_ of mistake: well, I don't +say!" She reflected with a wistfulness of note that was in itself a +touching eloquence. "To have our reward in this world we've had too +sweet a time. We've had it all right down here!" said Julia Bride. "I +should have taken the precaution to have about a dozen fewer lovers." + +"Ah, my dear, 'lovers'--!" He ever so comically attenuated. + +"Well they _were_!" She quite flared up. "When you've had a ring from +each (three diamonds, two pearls, and a rather bad sapphire: I've kept +them all, and they tell my story!) what are you to call them?" + +"Oh, rings--!" Mr. Pitman didn't call rings anything. "I've given Mrs. +Drack a ring." + +Julia stared. "Then aren't you her lover?" + +"That, dear child," he humorously wailed, "is what I want you to find +out! But I'll handle your rings all right," he more lucidly added. + +"You'll 'handle' them?" + +"I'll fix your lovers. I'll lie about _them_, if that's all you want." + +"Oh, about 'them'--!" She turned away with a sombre drop, seeing so +little in it. "That wouldn't count--from _you_!" She saw the great +shining room, with its mockery of art and "style" and security, all +the things she was vainly after, and its few scattered visitors who +had left them, Mr. Pitman and herself, in their ample corner, so +conveniently at ease. There was only a lady in one of the far +doorways, of whom she took vague note and who seemed to be looking at +them. "They'd have to lie for themselves!" + +"Do you mean he's capable of putting it to them?" + +Mr. Pitman's tone threw discredit on that possibility, but she knew +perfectly well what she meant. "Not of getting at them directly, not, +as mother says, of nosing round himself; but of listening--and small +blame to him!--to the horrible things other people say of me." + +"But what other people?" + +"Why, Mrs. George Maule, to begin with--who intensely loathes us, and +who talks to his sisters, so that they may talk to _him_: which they +do, all the while, I'm morally sure (hating me as they also must). But +it's she who's the real reason--I mean of his holding off. She poisons +the air he breathes." + +"Oh well," said Mr. Pitman, with easy optimism, "if Mrs. George +Maule's a cat--!" + +"If she's a cat she has kittens--four little spotlessly white ones, +among whom she'd give her head that Mr. French should make his pick. +He could do it with his eyes shut--you can't tell them apart. But she +has every name, every date, as you may say, for my dark 'record'--as +of course they all call it: she'll be able to give him, if he brings +himself to ask her, every fact in its order. And all the while, don't +you see? there's no one to speak _for_ me." + +It would have touched a harder heart than her loose friend's to note +the final flush of clairvoyance witnessing this assertion and under +which her eyes shone as with the rush of quick tears. He stared at +her, and at what this did for the deep charm of her prettiness, as +in almost witless admiration. "But can't you--lovely as you are, you +beautiful thing!--speak for yourself?" + +"Do you mean can't I tell the lies? No, then, I can't--and I wouldn't +if I could. I don't lie myself, you know--as it happens; and it could +represent to him then about the only thing, the only bad one, I don't +do. I _did_--'lovely as I am'!--have my regular time; I wasn't so +hideous that I couldn't! Besides, do you imagine he'd come and ask +me?" + +"Gad, I wish he would, Julia!" said Mr. Pitman, with his kind eyes on +her. + +"Well then, I'd tell him!" And she held her head again high. "But he +won't." + +It fairly distressed her companion. "Doesn't he want, then, to +know--?" + +"He wants _not_ to know. He wants to be told without asking--told, +I mean, that each of the stories, those that have come to him, is a +fraud and a libel. _Qui s'excuse s'accuse_, don't they say?--so that +do you see me breaking out to him, unprovoked, with four or five +what-do-you-call-'ems, the things mother used to have to prove in +court, a set of neat little 'alibis' in a row? How can I get hold of +so _many_ precious gentlemen, to turn them on? How can _they_ want +everything fished up?" + +She paused for her climax, in the intensity of these considerations; +which gave Mr. Pitman a chance to express his honest faith. "Why, my +sweet child, they'd be just glad--!" + +It determined in her loveliness almost a sudden glare. "Glad to swear +they never had anything to do with such a creature? Then _I'd_ be glad +to swear they had lots!" + +His persuasive smile, though confessing to bewilderment, insisted. +"Why, my love, they've got to swear either one thing or the other." + +"They've got to keep out of the way--that's _their_ view of it, I +guess," said Julia. "Where _are_ they, please--now that they _may_ be +wanted? If you'd like to hunt them up for me you're very welcome." +With which, for the moment, over the difficult case, they faced each +other helplessly enough. And she added to it now the sharpest ache of +her despair. "He knows about Murray Brush. The others"--and her pretty +white-gloved hands and charming pink shoulders gave them up--"may go +hang!" + +"Murray Brush--?" It had opened Mr. Pitman's eyes. + +"Yes--yes; I do mind _him_." + +"Then what's the matter with his at least rallying--?" + +"The matter is that, being ashamed of himself, as he well might, he +left the country as soon as he could and has stayed away. The matter +is that he's in Paris or somewhere, and that if you expect him to come +home for me--!" She had already dropped, however, as at Mr. Pitman's +look. + +"Why, you foolish thing, Murray Brush is in New York!" It had quite +brightened him up. + +"He has come back--?" + +"Why, sure! I saw him--when was it? Tuesday!--on the Jersey boat." Mr. +Pitman rejoiced in his news. "_He's_ your man!" + +Julia too had been affected by it; it had brought, in a rich wave, her +hot color back. But she gave the strangest dim smile. "He _was_!" + +"Then get hold of him, and--if he's a gentleman--he'll prove for you, +to the hilt, that he wasn't." + +It lighted in her face, the kindled train of this particular sudden +suggestion, a glow, a sharpness of interest, that had deepened the +next moment, while she gave a slow and sad head-shake, to a greater +strangeness yet. "He isn't a gentleman." + +"Ah, lordy, lordy!" Mr. Pitman again sighed. He struggled out of it +but only into the vague. "Oh, then, if he's a pig--!" + +"You see there are only a few gentlemen--not enough to go round--and +that makes them count so!" It had thrust the girl herself, for that +matter, into depths; but whether most of memory or of roused purpose +he had no time to judge--aware as he suddenly was of a shadow (since +he mightn't perhaps too quickly call it a light) across the heaving +surface of their question. It fell upon Julia's face, fell with the +sound of the voice he so well knew, but which could only be odd to her +for all it immediately assumed. + +"There are indeed very few--and one mustn't try _them_ too much!" +Mrs. Drack, who had supervened while they talked, stood, in monstrous +magnitude--at least to Julia's reimpressed eyes--between them: she was +the lady our young woman had descried across the room, and she had +drawn near while the interest of their issue so held them. We have +seen the act of observation and that of reflection alike swift in +Julia--once her subject was within range--and she had now, with all +her perceptions at the acutest, taken in, by a single stare, the +strange presence to a happy connection with which Mr. Pitman aspired +and which had thus sailed, with placid majesty, into their troubled +waters. She was clearly not shy, Mrs. David E. Drack, yet neither was +she ominously bold; she was bland and "good," Julia made sure at a +glance, and of a large complacency, as the good and the bland are apt +to be--a large complacency, a large sentimentality, a large innocent, +elephantine archness: she fairly rioted in that dimension of size. +Habited in an extraordinary quantity of stiff and lustrous black +brocade, with enhancements, of every description, that twinkled +and tinkled, that rustled and rumbled with her least movement, she +presented a huge, hideous, pleasant face, a featureless desert in a +remote quarter of which the disproportionately small eyes might have +figured a pair of rash adventurers all but buried in the sand. They +reduced themselves when she smiled to barely discernible points--a +couple of mere tiny emergent heads--though the foreground of the +scene, as if to make up for it, gaped with a vast benevolence. In +a word Julia saw--and as if she had needed nothing more; saw Mr. +Pitman's opportunity, saw her own, saw the exact nature both of Mrs. +Drack's circumspection and of Mrs. Drack's sensibility, saw even, +glittering there in letters of gold and as a part of the whole +metallic coruscation, the large figure of her income, largest of all +her attributes, and (though perhaps a little more as a luminous blur +beside all this) the mingled ecstasy and agony of Mr. Pitman's hope +and Mr. Pitman's fear. + +He was introducing them, with his pathetic belief in the virtue for +every occasion, in the solvent for every trouble, of an extravagant, +genial, professional humor; he was naming her to Mrs. Drack as the +charming young friend he had told her so much about and who had been +as an angel to him in a weary time; he was saying that the loveliest +chance in the world, this accident of a meeting in those promiscuous +halls, had placed within his reach the pleasure of bringing them +together. It didn't indeed matter, Julia felt, what he was saying: he +conveyed everything, as far as she was concerned, by a moral pressure +as unmistakable as if, for a symbol of it, he had thrown himself +on her neck. Above all, meanwhile, this high consciousness +prevailed--that the good lady herself, however huge she loomed, had +entered, by the end of a minute, into a condition as of suspended +weight and arrested mass, stilled to artless awe by the fact of her +vision. Julia had practised almost to lassitude the art of tracing in +the people who looked at her the impression promptly sequent; but it +was a striking point that if, in irritation, in depression, she felt +that the lightest eyes of men, stupid at their clearest, had given her +pretty well all she should ever care for, she could still gather a +freshness from the tribute of her own sex, still care to see her +reflection in the faces of women. Never, probably, never would that +sweet be tasteless--with such a straight grim spoon was it mostly +administered, and so flavored and strengthened by the competence of +their eyes. Women knew so much best _how_ a woman surpassed--how and +where and why, with no touch or torment of it lost on them; so that as +it produced mainly and primarily the instinct of aversion, the sense +of extracting the recognition, of gouging out the homage, was on the +whole the highest crown one's felicity could wear. Once in a way, +however, the grimness beautifully dropped, the jealousy failed: the +admiration was all there and the poor plain sister handsomely paid it. +It had never been so paid, she was presently certain, as by this great +generous object of Mr., Pitman's flame, who without optical aid, it +well might have seemed, nevertheless entirely grasped her--might in +fact, all benevolently, have been groping her over as by some huge +mild proboscis. She gave Mrs. Brack pleasure in short; and who could +say of what other pleasures the poor lady hadn't been cheated? + +It was somehow a muddled world in which one of her conceivable joys, +at this time of day, would be to marry Mr. Pitman--to say nothing of a +state of things in which this gentleman's own fancy could invest such +a union with rapture. That, however, was their own mystery, and Julia, +with each instant, was more and more clear about hers: so remarkably +primed in fact, at the end of three minutes, that though her friend, +and though _his_ friend, were both saying things, many things and +perhaps quite wonderful things, she had no free attention for them +and was only rising and soaring. She was rising to her value, she was +soaring _with_ it--the value Mr. Pitman almost convulsively imputed +to her, the value that consisted for her of being so unmistakably the +most dazzling image Mrs. Brack had ever beheld. These were the uses, +for Julia, in fine, of adversity; the range of Mrs. Brack's experience +might have been as small as the measure of her presence was large: +Julia was at any rate herself in face of the occasion of her life, +and, after all her late repudiations and reactions, had perhaps never +yet known the quality of this moment's success. She hadn't an idea of +what, on either side, had been uttered--beyond Mr. Pitman's allusion +to her having befriended him of old: she simply held his companion +with her radiance and knew she might be, for her effect, as irrelevant +as she chose. It was relevant to do what he wanted--it was relevant to +dish herself. She did it now with a kind of passion, to say nothing of +her knowing, with it, that every word of it added to her beauty. She +gave him away in short, up to the hilt, for any use of her own, and +should have nothing to clutch at now but the possibility of Murray +Brush. + +"He says I was good to him, Mrs. Drack; and I'm sure I hope I was, +since I should be ashamed to be anything else. If I could be good to +him now I should be glad--that's just what, a while ago, I rushed up +to him here, after so long, to give myself the pleasure of saying. I +saw him years ago very particularly, very miserably tried--and I saw +the way he took it. I did see it, you dear man," she sublimely went +on--"I saw it for all you may protest, for all you may hate me to talk +about you! I saw you behave like a gentleman--since Mrs. Drack agrees +with me, so charmingly, that there are not many to be met. I don't +know whether you care, Mrs. Drack"--she abounded, she revelled in +the name--"but I've always remembered it of him: that under the most +extraordinary provocation he was decent and patient and brave. No +appearance of anything different matters, for I speak of what I +_know_. Of course I'm nothing and nobody; I'm only a poor frivolous +girl, but I was very close to him at the time. That's all my little +story--if it _should_ interest you at all." She measured every beat of +her wing, she knew how high she was going and paused only when it was +quite vertiginous. Here she hung a moment as in the glare of the upper +blue; which was but the glare--what else could it be?--of the vast and +magnificent attention of both her auditors, hushed, on their side, in +the splendor she emitted. She had at last to steady herself, and +she scarce knew afterward at what rate or in what way she had still +inimitably come down--her own eyes fixed all the while on the very +figure of her achievement. She had sacrificed her mother on the +altar--proclaimed her as false and cruel: and if that didn't "fix" Mr. +Pitman, as he would have said--well, it was all she could do. But the +cost of her action already somehow came back to her with increase; the +dear gaunt man fairly wavered, to her sight, in the glory of it, as if +signalling at her, with wild gleeful arms, from some mount of safety, +while the massive lady just spread and spread like a rich fluid a bit +helplessly spilt. It was really the outflow of the poor woman's +honest response, into which she seemed to melt, and Julia scarce +distinguished the two apart even for her taking gracious leave of +each. "Good-bye, Mrs. Drack; I'm awfully happy to have met you"--like +as not it was for this she had grasped Mr. Pitman's hand. And then +to him or to her, it didn't matter which, "Good-bye, dear good Mr. +Pitman--hasn't it been nice after so long?" + + +II + +Julia floated even to her own sense swan-like away--she left in her +wake their fairly stupefied submission: it was as if she had, by an +exquisite authority, now _placed_ them, each for each, and they would +have nothing to do but be happy together. Never had she so exulted +as on this ridiculous occasion in the noted items of her beauty. _Le +compte y etait_, as they used to say in Paris--every one of them, for +her immediate employment, was there; and there was something in it +after all. It didn't necessarily, this sum of thumping little figures, +imply charm--especially for "refined" people: nobody knew better than +Julia that inexpressible charm and quotable "charms" (quotable +like prices, rates, shares, or whatever, the things they dealt in +down-town) are two distinct categories; the safest thing for the +latter being, on the whole, that it might include the former, and the +great strength of the former being that it might perfectly dispense +with the latter. Mrs. Drack was not refined, not the least little bit; +but what would be the case with Murray Brush now--after his three +years of Europe? He had done so what he liked with her--which +had seemed so then just the meaning, hadn't it? of their being +"engaged"--that he had made her not see, while the absurdity lasted +(the absurdity of their pretending to believe they could marry without +a cent), how little he was of metal without alloy: this had come up +for her, remarkably, but afterward--come up for her as she looked +back. Then she had drawn her conclusion, which was one of the many +that Basil French had made her draw. It was a queer service Basil was +going to have rendered her, this having made everything she had ever +done impossible, if he wasn't going to give her a new chance. If he +was it was doubtless right enough. On the other hand, Murray might +have improved, if such a quantity of alloy, as she called it, _were_, +in any man, reducible, and if Paris were the place all happily to +reduce it. She had her doubts--anxious and aching on the spot, and had +expressed them to Mr. Pitman: certainly, of old, he had been more open +to the quotable than to the inexpressible, to charms than to charm. If +she could try the quotable, however, and with such a grand result, on +Mrs. Drack, she couldn't now on Murray--in respect to whom everything +had changed. So that if he hadn't a sense for the subtler appeal, the +appeal appreciable by people _not_ vulgar, on which alone she could +depend, what on earth would become of her? She could but yearningly +hope, at any rate, as she made up her mind to write to him immediately +at his club. It was a question of the right sensibility in him. +Perhaps he would have acquired it in Europe. + +Two days later indeed--for he had promptly and charmingly replied, +keeping with alacrity the appointment she had judged best to propose +for a morning hour in a sequestered alley of the Park--two days later +she was to be struck well-nigh to alarm by everything he had acquired: +so much it seemed to make that it threatened somehow a complication, +and her plan, so far as she had arrived at one, dwelt in the desire +above all to simplify. She wanted no grain more of extravagance or +excess of anything--risking as she had done, none the less, a recall +of ancient license in proposing to Murray such a place of meeting. She +had her reasons--she wished intensely to discriminate: Basil French +had several times waited on her at her mother's habitation, their +horrible flat which was so much too far up and too near the East Side; +he had dined there and lunched there and gone with her thence to other +places, notably to see pictures, and had in particular adjourned +with her twice to the Metropolitan Museum, in which he took a great +interest, in which she professed a delight, and their second visit +to which had wound up in her encounter with Mr. Pitman, after her +companion had yielded, at her urgent instance, to an exceptional +need of keeping a business engagement. She mightn't, in delicacy, +in decency, entertain Murray Brush where she had entertained Mr. +French--she was given over now to these exquisite perceptions and +proprieties and bent on devoutly observing them; and Mr. French, by +good-luck, had never been with her in the Park: partly because he had +never pressed it, and partly because she would have held off if he +had, so haunted were those devious paths and favoring shades by the +general echo of her untrammelled past. If he had never suggested their +taking a turn there this was because, quite divinably, he held it +would commit him further than he had yet gone; and if she on her side +had practised a like reserve it was because the place reeked for her, +as she inwardly said, with old associations. It reeked with nothing +so much perhaps as with the memories evoked by the young man who now +awaited her in the nook she had been so competent to indicate; but +in what corner of the town, should she look for them, wouldn't those +footsteps creak back into muffled life, and to what expedient would +she be reduced should she attempt to avoid all such tracks? The Museum +was full of tracks, tracks by the hundred--the way really she had +knocked about!--but she had to see people somewhere, and she couldn't +pretend to dodge every ghost. + +All she could do was not to make confusion, make mixtures, of the +living; though she asked herself enough what mixture she mightn't find +herself to have prepared if Mr. French should, not so very impossibly, +for a restless, roaming man--_her_ effect on him!--happen to pass +while she sat there with the mustachioed personage round whose name +Mrs. Maule would probably have caused detrimental anecdote most +thickly to cluster. There existed, she was sure, a mass of luxuriant +legend about the "lengths" her engagement with Murray Brush had gone; +she could herself fairly feel them in the air, these streamers of +evil, black flags flown as in warning, the vast redundancy of so cheap +and so dingy social bunting, in fine, that flapped over the stations +she had successively moved away from and which were empty now, for +such an ado, even to grotesqueness. The vivacity of that conviction +was what had at present determined her, while it was the way he +listened after she had quickly broken ground, while it was the special +character of the interested look in his handsome face, handsomer than +ever yet, that represented for her the civilization he had somehow +taken on. Just so it was the quantity of that gain, in its turn, that +had at the end of ten minutes begun to affect her as holding up a +light to the wide reach of her step. "There was never anything the +least serious between us, not a sign or a scrap, do you mind? of +anything beyond the merest pleasant friendly acquaintance; and if +you're not ready to go to the stake on it for me you may as well know +in time what it is you'll probably cost me." + +She had immediately plunged, measuring her effect and having thought +it well over; and what corresponded to her question of his having +become a better person to appeal to was the appearance of interest she +had so easily created in him. She felt on the spot the difference that +made--it was indeed his form of being more civilized: it was the +sense in which Europe in general and Paris in particular had made him +develop. By every calculation--and her calculations, based on the +intimacy of her knowledge, had been many and deep--he would help her +the better the more intelligent he should have become; yet she was to +recognize later on that the first chill of foreseen disaster had been +caught by her as, at a given moment, this greater refinement of his +attention seemed to exhale it. It was just what she had wanted--"if +I can only get him interested--!" so that, this proving quite vividly +possible, why did the light it lifted strike her as lurid? Was it +partly by reason of his inordinate romantic good looks, those of a +gallant, genial conqueror, but which, involving so glossy a brownness +of eye, so manly a crispness of curl, so red-lipped a radiance of +smile, so natural a bravery of port, prescribed to any response +he might facially, might expressively, make a sort of florid, +disproportionate amplitude? The explanation, in any case, didn't +matter; he was going to mean well--that she could feel, and also that +he had meant better in the past, presumably, than he had managed to +convince her of his doing at the time: the oddity she hadn't now +reckoned with was this fact that from the moment he did advertise an +interest it should show almost as what she would have called weird. It +made a change in him that didn't go with the rest--as if he had broken +his nose or put on spectacles, lost his handsome hair or sacrificed +his splendid mustache: her conception, her necessity, as she saw, had +been that something should be added to him for her use, but nothing +for his own alteration. + +He had affirmed himself, and his character, and his temper, and his +health, and his appetite, and his ignorance, and his obstinacy, and +his whole charming, coarse, heartless personality, during their +engagement, by twenty forms of natural emphasis, but never by emphasis +of interest. How in fact could you feel interest unless you should +know, within you, some dim stir of imagination? There was nothing in +the world of which Murray Brush was less capable than of such a dim +stir, because you only began to imagine when you felt some approach to +a need to understand. _He_ had never felt it; for hadn't he been born, +to his personal vision, with that perfect intuition of everything +which reduces all the suggested preliminaries of judgment to the +impertinence--when it's a question of your entering your house--of +a dumpage of bricks at your door? He had had, in short, neither to +imagine nor to perceive, because he had, from the first pulse of his +intelligence, simply and supremely known: so that, at this hour, +face to face with him, it came over her that she had, in their old +relation, dispensed with any such convenience of comprehension on his +part even to a degree she had not measured at the time. What therefore +must he not have seemed to her as a form of life, a form of avidity +and activity, blatantly successful in its own conceit, that he could +have dazzled her so against the interest of her very faculties and +functions? Strangely and richly historic all that backward mystery, +and only leaving for her mind the wonder of such a mixture of +possession and detachment as they would clearly to-day both know. +For each to be so little at last to the other when, during months +together, the idea of all abundance, all quantity, had been, for +each, drawn from the other and addressed to the other--what was it +monstrously like but some fantastic act of getting rid of a person by +going to lock yourself up in the _sanctum sanctorum_ of that person's +house, amid every evidence of that person's habits and nature? What +was going to happen, at any rate, was that Murray would show himself +as beautifully and consciously understanding--and it would be +prodigious that Europe should have inoculated him with that delicacy. +Yes, he wouldn't claim to know now till she had told him--an aid to +performance he had surely never before waited for, or been indebted +to, from any one; and then, so knowing, he would charmingly endeavor +to "meet," to oblige and to gratify. He would find it, her case, ever +so worthy of his benevolence, and would be literally inspired to +reflect that he must hear about it first. + +She let him hear then everything, in spite of feeling herself slip, +while she did so, to some doom as yet incalculable; she went on very +much as she had done for Mr. Pitman and Mrs. Drack, with the rage +of desperation and, as she was afterward to call it to herself, the +fascination of the abyss. She didn't know, couldn't have said at the +time, _why_ his projected benevolence should have had most so the +virtue to scare her: he would patronize her, as an effect of her +vividness, if not of her charm, and would do this with all high +intention, finding her case, or rather _their_ case, their funny old +case, taking on of a sudden such refreshing and edifying life, to +the last degree curious and even important; but there were gaps of +connection between this and the intensity of the perception here +overtaking her that she shouldn't be able to move in _any_ direction +without dishing herself. That she couldn't afford it where she had got +to--couldn't afford the deplorable vulgarity of having been so many +times informally affianced and contracted (putting it only at that, at +its being by the new lights and fashions so unpardonably vulgar): he +took this from her without turning, as she might have said, a hair; +except just to indicate, with his new superiority, that he felt the +distinguished appeal and notably the pathos of it. He still took +it from her that she hoped nothing, as it were, from any other +_alibi_--the people to drag into court being too many and too +scattered; but that, as it was with him, Murray Brush, she had been +_most_ vulgar, most everything she had better not have been, so she +depended on him for the innocence it was actually vital she should +establish. He flushed or frowned or winced no more at that than he did +when she once more fairly emptied her satchel and, quite as if they +had been Nancy and the Artful Dodger, or some nefarious pair of that +sort, talking things over in the manner of _Oliver Twist_, revealed +to him the fondness of her view that, could she but have produced a +cleaner slate, she might by this time have pulled it off with Mr. +French. Yes, he let her in that way sacrifice her honorable connection +with him--all the more honorable for being so completely at an end--to +the crudity of her plan for not missing another connection, so much +more brilliant than what he offered, and for bringing another man, +with whom she so invidiously and unflatteringly compared him, into her +greedy life. + +There was only a moment during which, by a particular lustrous look +she had never had from him before, he just made her wonder which turn +he was going to take; she felt, however, as safe as was consistent +with her sense of having probably but added to her danger, when he +brought out, the next instant: "Don't you seem to take the ground that +we were guilty--that _you_ were ever guilty--of something we shouldn't +have been? What did we ever do that was secret, or underhand, or any +way not to be acknowledged? What did we do but exchange our young vows +with the best faith in the world--publicly, rejoicingly, with the full +assent of every one connected with us? I mean of course," he said with +his grave kind smile, "till we broke off so completely because we +found that--practically, financially, on the hard worldly basis--we +couldn't work it. What harm, in the sight of God or man, Julia," he +asked in his fine rich way, "did we ever do?" + +She gave him back his look, turning pale. "Am I talking of _that_? Am +I talking of what _we_ know? I'm talking of what others feel--of what +they _have_ to feel; of what it's just enough for them to know not to +be able to get over it, once they do really know it. How do they know +what _didn't_ pass between us, with all the opportunities we had? +That's none of their business--if we were idiots enough, on the top of +everything! What you may or mayn't have done doesn't count, for _you_; +but there are people for whom it's loathsome that a girl should have +gone on like that from one person to another and still pretend to +be--well, all that a nice girl is supposed to be. It's as if we had +but just waked up, mother and I, to such a remarkable prejudice; and +now we have it--when we could do so well without it!--staring us +in the face. That mother should have insanely _let_ me, should so +vulgarly have taken it for my natural, my social career--_that's_ the +disgusting, humiliating thing: with the lovely account it gives of +both of us! But mother's view of a delicacy in things!" she went on +with scathing grimness; "mother's measure of anything, with her grand +'gained cases' (there'll be another yet, she finds them so easy!) of +which she's so publicly proud! You see I've no margin," said Julia; +letting him take it from her flushed face as much as he would that her +mother hadn't left her an inch. It was that he should make use of the +spade with her for the restoration of a bit of a margin just wide +enough to perch on till the tide of peril should have ebbed a little, +it was that he should give her _that_ lift--! + +Well, it was all there from him after these last words; it was before +her that he really took hold. "Oh, my dear child, I can see! Of course +there are people--ideas change in our society so fast!--who are not in +sympathy with the old American freedom and who read, I dare say, all +sorts of uncanny things into it. Naturally you must take them as they +are--from the moment," said Murray Brush, who had lighted, by her +leave, a cigarette, "your life-path does, for weal or for woe, cross +with theirs." He had every now and then such an elegant phrase. +"Awfully interesting, certainly, your case. It's enough for me that it +_is_ yours--I make it my own. I put myself absolutely in your place; +you'll understand from me, without professions, won't you? that I do. +Command me in every way! What I do like is the sympathy with which +you've inspired _him_. I don't, I'm sorry to say, happen to know him +personally,"--he smoked away, looking off; "but of course one knows +all about him generally, and I'm sure he's right for you, I'm sure it +would be charming, if you yourself think so. Therefore trust me and +even--what shall I say?--leave it to me a little, won't you?" He had +been watching, as in his fumes, the fine growth of his possibilities; +and with this he turned on her the large warmth of his charity. It was +like a subscription of a half-a-million. "I'll take care of you." + +She found herself for a moment looking up at him from as far below as +the point from which the school-child, with round eyes raised to the +wall, gazes at the parti-colored map of the world. Yes, it was a +warmth, it was a special benignity, that had never yet dropped on her +from any one; and she wouldn't for the first few moments have known +how to describe it or even quite what to do with it. Then, as it still +rested, his fine improved expression aiding, the sense of what had +happened came over her with a rush. She was being, yes, patronized; +and that was really as new to her--the freeborn American girl who +might, if she had wished, have got engaged and disengaged not six +times but sixty--as it would have been to be crowned or crucified. The +Frenches themselves didn't do it--the Frenches themselves didn't dare +it. It was as strange as one would: she recognized it when it came, +but anything might have come rather--and it was coming by (of all +people in the world) Murray Brush! It overwhelmed her; still she could +speak, with however faint a quaver and however sick a smile. "You'll +lie for me like a gentleman?" + +"As far as that goes till I'm black in the face!" And then while he +glowed at her and she wondered if he would pointedly look his lies +that way, and if, in fine, his florid, gallant, knowing, almost +winking intelligence, _common_ as she had never seen the common +vivified, would represent his notion of "blackness": "See here, Julia; +I'll do more." + +"'More'--?" + +"Everything. I'll take it right in hand. I'll fling over you--" + +"Fling over me--?" she continued to echo as he fascinatingly fixed +her. + +"Well, the biggest _kind_ of rose-colored mantle!" And this time, oh, +he did wink: it _would_ be the way he was going to wink (and in the +grandest good faith in the world) when indignantly denying, under +inquisition, that there had been "a sign or a scrap" between them. But +there was more to come; he decided she should have it all. "Julia, +you've got to know now." He hung fire but an instant more. "Julia, +I'm going to be married." His "Julias" were somehow death to her; she +could feel that even _through_ all the rest. "Julia, I announce my +engagement." + +"Oh, lordy, lordy!" she wailed: it might have been addressed to Mr. +Pitman. + +The force of it had brought her to her feet, but he sat there smiling +up as at the natural tribute of her interest. "I tell you before any +one else; it's not to be 'out' for a day or two yet. But we want you +to know; _she_ said that as soon as I mentioned to her that I had +heard from you. I mention to her everything, you see!"--and he almost +simpered while, still in his seat, he held the end of his cigarette, +all delicately and as for a form of gentle emphasis, with the tips +of his fine fingers. "You've not met her, Mary Lindeck, I think: she +tells me she hasn't the pleasure of knowing you, but she desires it so +much--particularly longs for it. She'll take an interest too," he went +on; "you must let me immediately bring her to you. She has heard so +much about you and she really wants to see you." + +"Oh mercy _me_!" poor Julia gasped again--so strangely did history +repeat itself and so did this appear the echo, on Murray Brush's lips, +and quite to drollery, of that sympathetic curiosity of Mrs. Drack's +which Mr. Pitman had, as they said, voiced. Well, there had played +before her the vision of a ledge of safety in face of a rising tide; +but this deepened quickly to a sense more forlorn, the cold swish of +waters already up to her waist and that would soon be up to her chin. +It came really but from the air of her friend, from the perfect +benevolence and high unconsciousness with which he kept his +posture--as if to show he could patronize her from below upward quite +as well as from above down. And as she took it all in, as it spread to +a flood, with the great lumps and masses of truth it was floating, she +knew inevitable submission, not to say submersion, as she had never +known it in her life; going down and down before it, not even putting +out her hands to resist or cling by the way, only reading into the +young man's very face an immense fatality and, for all his bright +nobleness his absence of rancor or of protesting pride, the great gray +blankness of her doom. It was as if the earnest Miss Lindeck, tall and +mild, high and lean, with eye-glasses and a big nose, but "marked" in +a noticeable way, elegant and distinguished and refined, as you could +see from a mile off, and as graceful, for common despair of imitation, +as the curves of the "copy" set of old by one's writing-master--it was +as if this stately well-wisher, whom indeed she had never exchanged +a word with, but whom she had recognized and placed and winced at +as soon as he spoke of her, figured there beside him now as also in +portentous charge of her case. + +He had ushered her into it in that way as if his mere right word +sufficed; and Julia could see them throne together, beautifully at one +in all the interests they now shared, and regard her as an object of +almost tender solicitude. It was positively as if they had become +engaged for her good--in such a happy light as it shed. That was the +way people you had known, known a bit intimately, looked at you as +soon as they took on the high matrimonial propriety that sponged over +the more or less wild past to which you belonged, and of which, all of +a sudden, they were aware only through some suggestion it made them +for reminding you definitely that you still had a place. On her +having had a day or two before to meet Mrs. Drack and to rise to her +expectation she had seen and felt herself act, had above all admired +herself, and had at any rate known what she said, even though losing, +at her altitude, any distinctness in the others. She could have +repeated later on the detail of her performance--if she hadn't +preferred to keep it with her as a mere locked-up, a mere unhandled +treasure. At present, however, as everything was for her at first +deadened and vague, true to the general effect of sounds and motions +in water, she couldn't have said afterward what words she spoke, what +face she showed, what impression she made--at least till she had +pulled herself round to precautions. She only knew she had turned +away, and that this movement must have sooner or later determined +his rising to join her, his deciding to accept it, gracefully and +condoningly--condoningly in respect to her natural emotion, her +inevitable little pang--for an intimation that they would be better on +their feet. + +They trod then afresh their ancient paths; and though it pressed upon +her hatefully that he must have taken her abruptness for a smothered +shock, the flare-up of her old feeling at the breath of his news, she +had still to see herself condemned to allow him this, condemned +really to encourage him in the mistake of believing her suspicious of +feminine spite and doubtful of Miss Lindeck's zeal. She was so far +from doubtful that she was but too appalled at it and at the officious +mass in which it loomed, and this instinct of dread, before their walk +was over, before she had guided him round to one of the smaller gates, +there to slip off again by herself, was positively to find on the +bosom of her flood a plank by the aid of which she kept in a manner +and for the time afloat. She took ten minutes to pant, to blow gently, +to paddle disguisedly, to accommodate herself, in a word, to the +elements she had let loose; but as a reward of her effort at least she +then saw how her determined vision accounted for everything. Beside +her friend on the bench she had truly felt all his cables cut, truly +swallowed down the fact that if he still perceived she was pretty--and +_how_ pretty!--it had ceased appreciably to matter to him. It had +lighted the folly of her preliminary fear, the fear of his even yet to +some effect of confusion or other inconvenience for her, proving +more alive to the quotable in her, as she had called it, than to the +inexpressible. She had reckoned with the awkwardness of that possible +failure of his measure of her charm, by which his renewed apprehension +of her grosser ornaments, those with which he had most affinity, might +too much profit; but she need have concerned herself as little for his +sensibility on one head as on the other. She had ceased personally, +ceased materially--in respect, as who should say, to any optical or +tactile advantage--to exist for him, and the whole office of his +manner had been the more piously and gallantly to dress the dead +presence with flowers. This was all to his credit and his honor, but +what it clearly certified was that their case was at last not even one +of spirit reaching out to spirit. _He_ had plenty of spirit--had all +the spirit required for his having engaged himself to Miss Lindeck, +into which result, once she had got her head well up again, she read, +as they proceeded, one sharp meaning after another. It was therefore +toward the subtler essence of that mature young woman alone that he +was occupied in stretching; what was definite to him about Julia +Bride being merely, being entirely--which was indeed thereby quite +enough--that she _might_ end by scaling her worldly height. They would +push, they would shove, they would "boost," they would arch both their +straight backs as pedestals for her tiptoe; and at the same time, by +some sweet prodigy of mechanics, she would pull them up and up with +her. + +Wondrous things hovered before her in the course of this walk; her +consciousness had become, by an extraordinary turn, a music-box in +which, its lid well down, the most remarkable tunes were sounding. It +played for her ear alone, and the lid, as she might have figured, was +her firm plan of holding out till she got home, of not betraying--to +her companion at least--the extent to which she was demoralized. To +see him think her demoralized by mistrust of the sincerity of the +service to be meddlesomely rendered her by his future wife--she would +have hurled herself publicly into the lake there at their side, would +have splashed, in her beautiful clothes, among the frightened swans, +rather than invite him to that ineptitude. Oh, her sincerity, Mary +Lindeck's--she would be drenched with her sincerity, and she would +be drenched, yes, with _his_; so that, from inward convulsion to +convulsion, she had, before they reached their gate, pulled up in the +path. There was something her head had been full of these three or +four minutes, the intensest little tune of the music-box, and it made +its way to her lips now; belonging--for all the good it could do +her!--to the two or three sorts of solicitude she might properly +express. + +"I hope _she_ has a fortune, if you don't mind my speaking of it: +I mean some of the money we didn't in _our_ time have--and that we +missed, after all, in our poor way and for what we then wanted of it, +so quite dreadfully." + +She had been able to wreathe it in a grace quite equal to any he +himself had employed; and it was to be said for him also that he kept +up, on this, the standard. "Oh, she's not, thank goodness, at all +badly off, poor dear. We shall do very well. How sweet of you to have +thought of it! May I tell her that too?" he splendidly glared. Yes, he +glared--how couldn't he, with what his mind was really full of? But, +all the same, he came just here, by her vision, nearer than at any +other point to being a gentleman. He came quite within an ace of +it--with his taking from her thus the prescription of humility of +service, his consenting to act in the interest of her avidity, his +letting her mount that way, on his bowed shoulders, to the success in +which he could suppose she still believed. He couldn't know, he would +never know, that she had then and there ceased to believe in it--that +she saw as clear as the sun in the sky the exact manner in which, +between them, before they had done, the Murray Brushes, all zeal and +sincerity, all interest in her interesting case, would dish, would +ruin, would utterly destroy her. He wouldn't have needed to go on, for +the force and truth of this; but he did go on--he was as crashingly +consistent as a motorcar without a brake. He was visibly in love +with the idea of what they might do for her and of the rare "social" +opportunity that they would, by the same stroke, embrace. How he had +been offhand with it, how he had made it parenthetic, that he didn't +happen "personally" to know Basil French--as if it would have been at +all likely he _should_ know him, even _im_ personally, and as if he +could conceal from her the fact that, since she had made him her +overture, this gentleman's name supremely baited her hook! Oh, they +would help Julia Bride if they could--they would do their remarkable +best; but they would at any rate have made his acquaintance over it, +and she might indeed leave the rest to their thoroughness. He would +already have known, he would already have heard; her appeal, she was +more and more sure, wouldn't have come to him as a revelation. He had +already talked it over with _her_, with Miss Lindeck, to whom the +Frenches, in their fortress, had never been accessible, and his whole +attitude bristled, to Julia's eyes, with the betrayal of her hand, her +voice, her pressure, her calculation. His tone, in fact, as he talked, +fairly thrust these things into her face. "But you must see her for +yourself. You'll judge her. You'll love her. My dear child"--he +brought it all out, and if he spoke of children he might, in his +candor, have been himself infantine--"my dear child, she's the person +to do it for you. Make it over to her; but," he laughed, "of course +see her first! Couldn't you," he wound up--for they were now near +their gate, where she was to leave him--"couldn't you just simply make +us meet him, at tea say, informally; just _us_ alone, as pleasant old +friends of whom you'd have so naturally and frankly spoken to him: and +then see what we'd _make_ of that?" + +It was all in his expression; he couldn't keep it out of that, and his +shining good looks couldn't: ah, he was so fatally much too handsome +for her! So the gap showed just there, in his admirable mask and +his admirable eagerness; the yawning little chasm showed where the +gentleman fell short. But she took this in, she took everything in, +she felt herself do it, she heard herself say, while they paused +before separation, that she quite saw the point of the meeting, as he +suggested, at her tea. She would propose it to Mr. French and would +let them know; and he must assuredly bring Miss Lindeck, bring her +"right away," bring her soon, bring _them_, his fiancee and her, +together somehow, and as quickly as possible--so that they _should_ +be old friends before the tea. She would propose it to Mr. French, +propose it to Mr. French: that hummed in her ears as she went--after +she had really got away; hummed as if she were repeating it over, +giving it out to the passers, to the pavement, to the sky, and all as +in wild discord with the intense little concert of her music-box. The +extraordinary thing too was that she quite believed she should do it, +and fully meant to; desperately, fantastically passive--since she +almost reeled with it as she proceeded--she was capable of proposing +anything to any one: capable too of thinking it likely Mr. French +would come, for he had never on her previous proposals declined +anything. Yes, she would keep it up to the end, this pretence of owing +them salvation, and might even live to take comfort in having done for +them what they wanted. What they wanted _couldn't_ but be to get at +the Frenches, and what Miss Lindeck above all wanted, baffled of it +otherwise, with so many others of the baffled, was to get at Mr. +French--for all Mr. French would want of either of them!--still more +than Murray did. It was not till after she had got home, got straight +into her own room and flung herself on her face, that she yielded to +the full taste of the bitterness of missing a connection, missing the +man himself, with power to create such a social appetite, such a grab +at what might be gained by them. He could make people, even people +like these two and whom there were still other people to envy, he +could make them push and snatch and scramble like that--and then +remain as incapable of taking her from the hands of such patrons as of +receiving her straight, say, from those of Mrs. Drack. It was a high +note, too, of Julia's wonderful composition that, even in the long, +lonely moan of her conviction of her now certain ruin, all this grim +lucidity, the perfect clearance of passion, but made her supremely +proud of him. + + + + +A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT + +_Robert Louis Stevenson_ (1850-1894) + + +It was late in November 1456. The snow fell over Paris with rigorous, +relentless persistence; sometimes the wind made a sally and scattered +it in flying vortices; sometimes there was a lull, and flake after +flake descended out of the black night air, silent, circuitous, +interminable. To poor people, looking up under moist eyebrows, it +seemed a wonder where it all came from. Master Francis Villon had +propounded an alternative that afternoon, at a tavern window: was +it only Pagan Jupiter plucking geese upon Olympus, or were the holy +angels moulting? He was only a poor Master of Arts, he went on; and as +the question somewhat touched upon divinity, he durst not venture +to conclude. A silly old priest from Montargis, who was among the +company, treated the young rascal to a bottle of wine in honor of the +jest and the grimaces with which it was accompanied, and swore on his +own white beard that he had been just such another irreverent dog when +he was Villon's age. + +The air was raw and pointed, but not far below freezing; and the +flakes were large, damp, and adhesive. The whole city was sheeted up. +An army might have marched from end to end and not a footfall given +the alarm. If there were any belated birds in heaven, they saw the +island like a large white patch, and the bridges like slim white +spars, on the black ground of the river. High up overhead the snow +settled among the tracery of the cathedral towers. Many a niche was +drifted full; many a statue wore a long white bonnet on its grotesque +or sainted head. The gargoyles had been transformed into great false +noses, drooping toward the point. The crockets were like upright +pillows swollen on one side. In the intervals of the wind there was a +dull sound of dripping about the precincts of the church. + +The cemetery of St. John had taken its own share of the snow. All the +graves were decently covered; tall, white housetops stood around in +grave array; worthy burghers were long ago in bed, benightcapped like +their domiciles; there was no light in all the neighborhood but a +little peep from a lamp that hung swinging in the church choir, and +tossed the shadows to and fro in time to its oscillations. The clock +was hard on ten when the patrol went by with halberds and a lantern, +beating their hands; and they saw nothing suspicious about the +cemetery of St. John. + +Yet there was a small house, backed up against the cemetery wall, +which was still awake, and awake to evil purpose, in that snoring +district. There was not much to betray it from without; only a stream +of warm vapor from the chimney-top, a patch where the snow melted +on the roof, and a few half-obliterated footprints at the door. But +within, behind the shuttered windows, Master Francis Villon, the poet, +and some of the thievish crew with whom he consorted, were keeping the +night alive and passing round the bottle. + +A great pile of living embers diffused a strong and ruddy glow from +the arched chimney. Before this straddled Dom Nicolas, the Picardy +monk, with his skirts picked up and his fat legs bared to the +comfortable warmth. His dilated shadow cut the room in half; and the +firelight only escaped on either side of his broad person, and in +a little pool between his outspread feet. His face had the beery, +bruised appearance of the continual drinker's; it was covered with a +network of congested veins, purple in ordinary circumstances, but now +pale violet, for even with his back to the fire the cold pinched him +on the other side. His cowl had half fallen back, and made a strange +excrescence on either side of his bull neck. So he straddled, +grumbling, and cut the room in half with the shadow of his portly +frame. + +On the right, Villon and Guy Tabary were huddled together over a +scrap of parchment; Villon making a ballade which he was to call the +_Ballade of Roast Fish_, and Tabary spluttering admiration at his +shoulder. The poet was a rag of a man, dark, little, and lean, with +hollow cheeks and thin black locks. He carried his four-and-twenty +years with feverish animation. Greed had made folds about his eyes, +evil smiles had puckered his mouth. The wolf and pig struggled +together in his face. It was an eloquent, sharp, ugly, earthly +countenance. His hands were small and prehensile, with fingers knotted +like a cord; and they were continually flickering in front of him in +violent and expressive pantomime. As for Tabary, a broad, complacent, +admiring imbecility breathed from his squash nose and slobbering lips: +he had become a thief, just as he might have become the most decent of +burgesses, by the imperious chance that rules the lives of human geese +and human donkeys. + +At the monk's other hand, Montigny and Thevenin Pensete played a game +of chance. About the first there clung some flavor of good birth and +training, as about a fallen angel; something long, lithe, and courtly +in the person; something aquiline and darkling in the face. Thevenin, +poor soul, was in great feather: he had done a good stroke of knavery +that afternoon in the Faubourg St. Jacques, and all night he had been +gaining from Montigny. A flat smile illuminated his face; his bald +head shone rosily in a garland of red curls; his little protuberant +stomach shook with silent chucklings as he swept in his gains. + +"Doubles or quits?" said Thevenin. + +Montigny nodded grimly. + +"_Some may prefer to dine in state_" wrote Villon, "_On bread and +cheese on silver plate_. Or--or--help me out, Guido!" + +Tabary giggled. + +"_Or parsley on a silver dish_" scribbled the poet. + +The wind was freshening without; it drove the snow before it, and +sometimes raised its voice in a victorious whoop, and made sepulchral +grumblings in the chimney. The cold was growing sharper as the night +went on. Villon, protruding his lips, imitated the gust with something +between a whistle and a groan. It was an eerie, uncomfortable talent +of the poet's, much detested by the Picardy monk. + +"Can't you hear it rattle in the gibbet?" said Villon. "They are +all dancing the devil's jig on nothing, up there. You may dance, my +gallants, you'll be none the warmer! Whew, what a gust! Down +went somebody just now! A medlar the fewer on the three-legged +medlar-tree!--I say, Dom Nicolas, it'll be cold to-night on the St. +Denis Road?" he asked. + +Dom Nicolas winked both his big eyes, and seemed to choke upon his +Adam's apple. Montfaucon, the great grisly Paris gibbet, stood hard by +the St. Denis Road, and the pleasantry touched him on the raw. As for +Tabary, he laughed immoderately over the medlars; he had never heard +anything more light-hearted; and he held his sides and crowed. Villon +fetched him a fillip on the nose, which turned his mirth into an +attack of coughing. + +"Oh, stop that row," said Villon, "and think of rhymes to 'fish.'" + +"Doubles or quits," said Montigny doggedly. + +"With all my heart," quoth Thevenin. + +"Is there any more in that bottle?" asked the monk. + +"Open another," said Villon. "How do you ever hope to fill that big +hogshead, your body, with little things like bottles? And how do you +expect to get to heaven? How many angels, do you fancy, can be spared +to carry up a single monk from Picardy? Or do you think yourself +another Elias--and they'll send the coach for you?" + +"_Hominibus impossibile_" replied the monk, as he filled his glass. + +Tabary was in ecstasies. + +Villon filliped his nose again. + +"Laugh at my jokes, if you like," he said. + +"It was very good," objected Tabary. + +Villon made a face at him. "Think of rhymes to 'fish,'" he said. "What +have you to do with Latin? You'll wish you knew none of it at the +great assizes, when the devil calls for Guido Tabary, clericus--the +devil with the humpback and red-hot finger-nails. Talking of the +devil," he added, in a whisper, "look at Montigny!" + +All three peered covertly at the gamester. He did not seem to be +enjoying his luck. His mouth was a little to a side; one nostril +nearly shut, and the other much inflated. The black dog was on his +back, as people say, in terrifying nursery metaphor; and he breathed +hard under the gruesome burden. + +"He looks as if he could knife him," whispered Tabary, with round +eyes. + +The monk shuddered, and turned his face and spread his open hands to +the red embers. It was the cold that thus affected Dom Nicolas, and +not any excess of moral sensibility. + +"Come now," said Villon--"about this ballade. How does it run so far?" +And beating time with his hand, he read it aloud to Tabary. + +They were interrupted at the fourth rhyme by a brief and fatal +movement among the gamesters. The round was completed, and Thevenin +was just opening his mouth to claim another victory, when Montigny +leaped up, swift as an adder, and stabbed him to the heart. The blow +took effect before he had time to utter a cry, before he had time to +move. A tremor or two convulsed his frame; his hands opened and shut, +his heels rattled on the floor; then his head rolled backward over +one shoulder with the eyes open, and Thevenin Pensete's spirit had +returned to Him who made it. + +Everyone sprang to his feet; but the business was over in two twos. +The four living fellows looked at each other in rather a ghastly +fashion; the dead man contemplating a corner of the roof with a +singular and ugly leer. + +"My God!" said Tabary, and he began to pray in Latin. + +Villon broke out into hysterical laughter. He came a step forward and +clucked a ridiculous bow at Thevenin, and laughed still louder. Then +he sat down suddenly, all of a heap, upon a stool, and continued +laughing bitterly as though he would shake himself to pieces. + +Montigny recovered his composure first. + +"Let's see what he has about him," he remarked; and he picked the dead +man's pockets with a practised hand, and divided the money into four +equal portions on the table. "There's for you," he said. + +The monk received his share with a deep sigh, and a single stealthy +glance at the dead Thevenin, who was beginning to sink into himself +and topple sideways off the chair. + +"We're all in for it," cried Villon, swallowing his mirth. "It's a +hanging job for every man jack of us that's here--not to speak of +those who aren't." He made a shocking gesture in the air with his +raised right hand, and put out his tongue and threw his head on one +side, so as to counterfeit the appearance of one who has been hanged. +Then he pocketed his share of the spoil, and executed a shuffle with +his feet as if to restore the circulation. + +Tabary was the last to help himself; he made a dash at the money, and +retired to the other end of the apartment. + +Montigny stuck Thevenin upright in the chair, and drew out the dagger, +which was followed by a jet of blood. + +"You fellows had better be moving," he said, as he wiped the blade on +his victim's doublet. + +"I think we had," returned Villon with a gulp. "Damn his fat head!" he +broke out. "It sticks in my throat like phlegm. What right has a man +to have red hair when he is dead?" And he fell all of a heap again +upon the stool, and fairly covered his face with his hands. + +Montigny and Dom Nicolas laughed aloud, even Tabary feebly chiming in. + +"Cry baby," said the monk. + +"I always said he was a woman," added Montigny with a sneer. "Sit up, +can't you?" he went on, giving another shake to the murdered body. +"Tread out that fire, Nick." But Nick was better employed; he was +quietly taking Villon's purse, as the poet sat, limp and trembling, on +the stool where he had been making a ballade not three minutes before. +Montigny and Tabary dumbly demanded a share of the booty, which the +monk silently promised as he passed the little bag into the bosom of +his gown. In many ways an artistic nature unfits a man for practical +existence. + +No sooner had the theft been accomplished than Villon shook himself, +jumped to his feet, and began helping to scatter and extinguish the +embers. Meanwhile Montigny opened the door and cautiously peered into +the street. The coast was clear; there was no meddlesome patrol in +sight. Still it was judged wiser to slip out severally; and as Villon +was himself in a hurry to escape from the neighborhood of the dead +Thevenin, and the rest were in a still greater hurry to get rid of him +before he should discover the loss of his money, he was the first by +general consent to issue forth into the street. + +The wind had triumphed and swept all the clouds from heaven. Only a +few vapors, as thin as moonlight, fleeted rapidly across the stars. It +was bitter cold; and by a common optical effect, things seemed almost +more definite than in the broadest daylight. The sleeping city was +absolutely still: a company of white hoods, a field full of little +Alps, below the twinkling stars. Villon cursed his fortune. Would it +were still snowing! Now, wherever he went he left an indelible trail +behind him on the glittering streets; wherever he went he was still +tethered to the house by the cemetery of St. John; wherever he went he +must weave, with his own plodding feet, the rope that bound him to the +crime and would bind him to the gallows. The leer of the dead man came +back to him with a new significance. He snapped his fingers as if to +pluck up his own spirits, and choosing a street at random, stepped +boldly forward in the snow. + +Two things preoccupied him as he went: the aspect of the gallows at +Montfaucon in this bright windy phase of the night's existence, for +one; and for another, the look of the dead man with his bald head and +garland of red curls. Both struck cold upon his heart, and he kept +quickening his pace as if he could escape from unpleasant thoughts by +mere fleetness of foot. Sometimes he looked back over his shoulder +with a sudden nervous jerk; but he was the only moving thing in the +white streets, except when the wind swooped round a corner and threw +up the snow, which was beginning to freeze, in spouts of glittering +dust. + +Suddenly he saw, a long way before him, a black clump and a couple of +lanterns. The clump was in motion, and the lanterns swung as though +carried by men walking. It was a patrol. And though it was merely +crossing his line of march, he judged it wiser to get out of eyeshot +as speedily as he could. He was not in the humor to be challenged, and +he was conscious of making a very conspicuous mark upon the snow. Just +on his left hand there stood a great hotel, with some turrets and a +large porch before the door; it was half-ruinous, he remembered, and +had long stood empty; and so he made three steps of it and jumped +inside the shelter of the porch. It was pretty dark inside, after +the glimmer of the snowy streets, and he was groping forward with +outspread hands, when he stumbled over some substance which offered an +indescribable mixture of resistances, hard and soft, firm and loose. +His heart gave a leap, and he sprang two steps back and stared +dreadfully at the obstacle. Then he gave a little laugh of relief. It +was only a woman, and she dead. He knelt beside her to make sure upon +this latter point. She was freezing cold, and rigid like a stick. A +little ragged finery fluttered in the wind about her hair, and her +cheeks had been heavily rouged that same afternoon. Her pockets were +quite empty; but in her stocking, underneath the garter, Villon found +two of the small coins that went by the name of whites. It was little +enough; but it was always something; and the poet was moved with a +deep sense of pathos that she should have died before she had spent +her money. That seemed to him a dark and pitiable mystery; and he +looked from the coins in his hand to the dead woman, and back again to +the coins, shaking his head over the riddle of man's life. Henry V. of +England, dying at Vincennes just after he had conquered France, and +this poor jade cut off by a cold draught in a great man's doorway, +before she had time to spend her couple of whites--it seemed a cruel +way to carry on the world. Two whites would have taken such a little +while to squander; and yet it would have been one more good taste in +the mouth, one more smack of the lips, before the devil got the soul, +and the body was left to birds and vermin. He would like to use all +his tallow before the light was blown out and the lantern broken. + +While these thoughts were passing through his mind, he was feeling, +half-mechanically, for his purse. Suddenly his heart stopped beating; +a feeling of cold scales passed up the back of his legs, and a cold +blow seemed to fall upon his scalp. He stood petrified for a moment; +then he felt again with one feverish movement; and then his loss burst +upon him, and he was covered with perspiration. To spendthrifts money +is so living and actual--it is such a thin veil between them and their +pleasures! There is only one limit to their fortune--that of time; and +a spendthrift with only a few crowns is the Emperor of Rome until they +are spent. For such a person to lose his money is to suffer the most +shocking reverse, and fall from heaven to hell, from all to nothing, +in a breath. And all the more if he has put his head in the halter +for it; if he may be hanged to-morrow for that same purse, so dearly +earned, so foolishly departed. Villon stood and cursed; he threw the +two whites into the street; he shook his fist at heaven; he stamped, +and was not horrified to find himself trampling the poor corpse. Then +he began rapidly to retrace his steps toward the house beside the +cemetery. He had forgotten all fear of the patrol, which was long gone +by at any rate, and had no idea but that of his lost purse. It was in +vain that he looked right and left upon the snow; nothing was to be +seen. He had not dropped it in the streets. Had it fallen in the +house? He would have liked dearly to go in and see; but the idea of +the grisly occupant unmanned him. And he saw besides, as he drew near, +that their efforts to put out the fire had been unsuccessful; on the +contrary, it had broken into a blaze, and a changeful light played +in the chinks of the door and window, and revived his terror for the +authorities and Paris gibbet. + +He returned to the hotel with the porch, and groped about upon the +snow for the money he had thrown away in his childish passion. But he +could only find one white; the other had probably struck sideways and +sunk deeply in. With a single white in his pocket, all his projects +for a rousing night in some wild tavern vanished utterly away. And +it was not only pleasure that fled laughing from his grasp; positive +discomfort, positive pain, attacked him as he stood ruefully before +the porch. His perspiration had dried upon him; and though the wind +had now fallen, a binding frost was setting in stronger with every +hour, and he felt benumbed and sick at heart. What was to be done? +Late as was the hour, improbable as was success, he would try the +house of his adopted father, the chaplain of St. Benoit. + +He ran there all the way, and knocked timidly. There was no answer. He +knocked again and again, taking heart with every stroke; and at last +steps were heard approaching from within. A barred wicket fell open in +the iron-studded door, and emitted a gush of yellow light. + +"Hold up your face to the wicket," said the chaplain from within. + +"It's only me," whimpered Villon. + +"Oh, it's only you, is it?" returned the chaplain; and he cursed him +with foul unpriestly oaths for disturbing him at such an hour, and +bade him be off to hell, where he came from. + +"My hands are blue to the wrists," pleaded Villon; "my feet are dead +and full of twinges; my nose aches with the sharp air; the cold lies +at my heart. I may be dead before morning. Only this once, father, and +before God I will never ask again." + +"You should have come earlier," said the ecclesiastic, coolly. "Young +men require a lesson now and then." He shut the wicket and retired +deliberately into the interior of the house. + +Villon was beside himself; he beat upon the door with his hands and +feet, and shouted hoarsely after the chaplain. + +"Wormy old fox," he cried. "If I had my hand under your twist, I would +send you flying headlong into the bottomless pit." + +A door shut in the interior, faintly audible to the poet down long +passages. He passed his hand over his mouth with an oath. And then the +humor of the situation struck him, and he laughed and looked +lightly up to heaven, where the stars seemed to be winking over his +discomfiture. + +What was to be done? It looked very like a night in the frosty +streets. The idea of the dead woman popped into his imagination, and +gave him a hearty fright; what had happened to her in the early night +might very well happen to him before morning. And he so young! and +with such immense possibilities of disorderly amusement before him! He +felt quite pathetic over the notion of his own fate, as if it had been +some one else's, and made a little imaginative vignette of the scene +in the morning when they should find his body. + +He passed all his chances under review, turning the white between his +thumb and forefinger. Unfortunately he was on bad terms with some old +friends who would once have taken pity on him in such a plight. He had +lampooned them in verses, he had beaten and cheated them; and yet now, +when he was in so close a pinch, he thought there was at least one who +might perhaps relent. It was a chance. It was worth trying at least, +and he would go and see. + +On the way, two little accidents happened to him which colored his +musings in a very different manner. For, first, he fell in with the +track of a patrol, and walked in it for some yards, although it lay +out of his direction. And this spirited him up; at least he had +confused his trail; for he was still possessed with the idea of people +tracking him all about Paris over the snow, and collaring him next +morning before he was awake. The other matter affected him very +differently. He passed a street corner, where, not so long before, a +woman and her child had been devoured by wolves. This was just the +kind of weather, he reflected, when wolves might take it into their +heads to enter Paris again; and a lone man in these deserted streets +would run the chance of something worse than a mere scare. He stopped +and looked upon the place with unpleasant interest--it was a centre +where several lanes intersected each other; and he looked down them +all one after another, and held his breath to listen, lest he should +detect some galloping black things on the snow or hear the sound of +howling between him and the river. He remembered his mother telling +him the story and pointing out the spot, while he was yet a child. His +mother! If he only knew where she lived, he might make sure at least +of shelter. He determined he would inquire upon the morrow: nay, he +would go and see her, too, poor old girl! So thinking, he arrived at +his destination--his last hope for the night. + +The house was quite dark, like its neighbors, and yet after a few +taps, he heard a movement overhead, a door opening, and a cautious +voice asking who was there. The poet named himself in a loud whisper, +and waited, not without some trepidation, the result. Nor had he +to wait long. A window was suddenly opened, and a pailful of slops +splashed down upon the doorstep. Villon had not been unprepared for +something of the sort, and had put himself as much in shelter as the +nature of the porch admitted; but for all that, he was deplorably +drenched below the waist. His hose began to freeze almost at once. +Death from cold and exposure stared him in the face; he remembered he +was of phthisical tendency, and began coughing tentatively. But the +gravity of the danger steadied his nerves. He stopped a few hundred +yards from the door where he had been so rudely used, and reflected +with his finger to his nose. He could only see one way of getting a +lodging, and that was to take it. He had noticed a house not far away +which looked as if it might be easily broken into, and thither he +betook himself promptly, entertaining himself on the way with the idea +of a room still hot, with a table still loaded with the remains of +supper, where he might pass the rest of the black hours, and whence he +should issue, on the morrow, with an armful of valuable plate. He even +considered on what viands and what wines he should prefer; and as he +was calling the roll of his favorite dainties, roast fish presented +itself to his mind with an odd mixture of amusement and horror. + +"I shall never finish that ballade," he thought to himself; and then, +with another shudder at the recollection, "Oh, damn his fat head!" he +repeated fervently, and spat upon the snow. + +The house in question looked dark at first sight; but as Villon made +a preliminary inspection in search of the handiest point of attack, a +little twinkle of light caught his eye from behind a curtained window. + +"The devil!" he thought. "People awake! Some student or some saint, +confound the crew! Can't they get drunk and lie in bed snoring like +their neighbors! What's the good of curfew, and poor devils of +bell-ringers jumping at a rope's-end in bell-towers? What's the use of +day, if people sit up all night? The gripes to them!" He grinned as he +saw where his logic was leading him. "Every man to his business, after +all," added he, "and if they're awake, by the Lord, I may come by a +supper honestly for this once, and cheat the devil." + +He went boldly to the door, and knocked with an assured hand. On both +previous occasions he had knocked timidly and with some dread of +attracting notice; but now, when he had just discarded the thought of +a burglarious entry, knocking at a door seemed a mighty simple and +innocent proceeding. The sound of his blows echoed through the house +with thin, phantasmal reverberations, as though it were quite empty; +but these had scarcely died away before a measured tread drew near, a +couple of bolts were withdrawn, and one wing was opened broadly, as +though no guile or fear of guile were known to those within. A tall +figure of a man, muscular and spare, but a little bent, confronted +Villon. The head was massive in bulk, but finely sculptured; the nose +blunt at the bottom but refining upward to where it joined a pair +of strong and honest eyebrows; the mouth and eyes surrounded with +delicate markings, and the whole face based upon a thick white +beard, boldly and squarely trimmed. Seen as it was by the light of a +flickering hand-lamp, it looked perhaps nobler than it had a right to +do; but it was a fine face, honorable rather than intelligent, strong, +simple, and righteous. + +"You knock late, sir," said the old man in resonant, courteous tones. + +Villon cringed, and brought up many servile words of apology; at a +crisis of this sort, the beggar was uppermost in him, and the man of +genius hid his head with confusion. + +"You are cold," repeated the old man, "and hungry? Well, step in." And +he ordered him into the house with a noble enough gesture. + +"Some great seigneur," thought Villon, as his host, setting down the +lamp on the flagged pavement of the entry, shot the bolts once more +into their places. + +"You will pardon me if I go in front," he said, when this was done; +and he preceded the poet up-stairs into a large apartment, warmed with +a pan of charcoal and lit by a great lamp hanging from the roof. It +was very bare of furniture; only some gold plate on a sideboard; some +folios; and a stand of armor between the windows. Some smart tapestry +hung upon the walls, representing the crucifixion of our Lord in one +piece, and in another a scene of shepherds and shepherdesses by a +running stream. Over the chimney was a shield of arms. + +"Will you seat yourself," said the old man, "and forgive me if I leave +you? I am alone in my house to-night, and if you are to eat I must +forage for you myself." + +No sooner was his host gone than Villon leaped from the chair on which +he just seated himself, and began examining the room, with the stealth +and passion of a cat. He weighed the gold flagons in his hand, opened +all the folios, and investigated the arms upon the shield, and the +stuff with which the seats were lined. He raised the window-curtains, +and saw that the windows were set with rich stained glass in figures, +so far as he could see, of martial import. Then he stood in the middle +of the room, drew a long breath, and retaining it with puffed cheeks, +looked round and round him, turning on his heels, as if to impress +every feature of the apartment on his memory. + +"Seven pieces of plate," he said. "If there had been ten I would have +risked it. A fine house, and a fine old master, so help me all the +saints." + +And just then, hearing the old man's tread returning along the +corridor, he stole back to his chair, and began toasting his wet legs +before the charcoal pan. + +His entertainer had a plate of meat in one hand and a jug of wine in +the other. He set down the plate upon the table, motioning Villon +to draw in his chair, and going to the sideboard, brought back two +goblets, which he filled. + +"I drink to your better fortune," he said, gravely touching Villon's +cup with his own. + +"To our better acquaintance," said the poet, growing bold. A mere +man of the people would have been awed by the courtesy of the old +seigneur, but Villon was hardened in that matter; he had made mirth +for great lords before now, and found them as black rascals as +himself. And so he devoted himself to the viands with a ravenous +gusto, while the old man, leaning backward, watched him with steady, +curious eyes. + +"You have blood on your shoulder, my man," he said. + +Montigny must have laid his wet right hand upon him as he left the +house. He cursed Montigny in his heart. + +"It was none of my shedding," he stammered. + +"I had not supposed so," returned his host quietly. "A brawl?" + +"Well, something of that sort," Villon admitted with a quaver. + +"Perhaps a fellow murdered?" + +"Oh, no, not murdered," said the poet, more and more confused. "It was +all fair play--murdered by accident. I had no hand in it, God strike +me dead!" he added fervently. + +"One rogue the fewer, I dare say," observed the master of the house. + +"You may dare to say that," agreed Villon, infinitely relieved. "As +big a rogue as there is between here and Jerusalem. He turned up his +toes like a lamb. But it was a nasty thing to look at. I dare say +you've seen dead men in your time, my lord?" he added, glancing at the +armor. + +"Many," said the old man. "I have followed the wars, as you imagine." + +Villon laid down his knife and fork, which he had just taken up again. + +"Were any of them bald?" he asked. + +"Oh, yes, and with hair as white as mine." + +"I don't think I would mind the white so much," said Villon. "His was +red." And he had a return of his shuddering and tendency to laughter, +which he drowned with a great draught of wine. "I'm a little put out +when I think of it," he went on. "I knew him--damn him! And the cold +gives a man fancies--or the fancies give a man cold, I don't know +which." + +"Have you any money?" asked the old man. + +"I have one white," returned the poet, laughing. "I got it out of +a dead jade's stocking in a porch. She was as dead as Caesar, poor +wench, and as cold as a church, with bits of ribbon sticking in her +hair. This is a hard world in winter for wolves and wenches and poor +rogues like me." + +"I," said the old man, "am Enguerrand de la Feuillee, seigneur +de Brisetout, bailly du Patatrac. Who and what may you be?" + +Villon rose and made a suitable reverence. "I am called Francis +Villon," he said, "a poor Master of Arts of this university. I know +some Latin, and a deal of vice. I can make chansons, ballades, lais, +virelais, and roundels, and I am very fond of wine. I was born in a +garret, and I shall not improbably die upon the gallows. I may add, +my lord, that from this night forward I am your lordship's very +obsequious servant to command." + +"No servant of mine," said the knight; "my guest for this evening, and +no more." + +"A very grateful guest," said Villon, politely; and he drank in dumb +show to his entertainer. + +"You are shrewd," began the old man, tapping his forehead, "very +shrewd; you have learning; you are a clerk; and yet you take a small +piece of money off a dead woman in the street. Is it not a kind of +theft?" + +"It is a kind of theft much practised in the wars, my lord." + +"The wars are the field of honor," returned the old man proudly. +"There a man plays his life upon the cast; he fights in the name of +his lord the king, his Lord God, and all their lordships the holy +saints and angels." + +"Put it," said Villon, "that I were really a thief, should I not play +my life also, and against heavier odds?" + +"For gain, and not for honor." + +"Gain?" repeated Villon with a shrug. "Gain! The poor fellow wants +supper, and takes it. So does the soldier in a campaign. Why, what are +all these requisitions we hear so much about? If they are not gain +to those who take them, they are loss enough to the others. The +men-at-arms drink by a good fire, while the burgher bites his nails to +buy them wine and wood. I have seen a good many ploughmen swinging on +trees about the country; ay, I have seen thirty on one elm, and a very +poor figure they made; and when I asked some one how all these came to +be hanged, I was told it was because they could not scrape together +enough crowns to satisfy the men-at-arms." + +"These things are a necessity of war, which the low-born must endure +with constancy. It is true that some captains drive overhard; there +are spirits in every rank not easily moved by pity; and, indeed, many +follow arms who are no better than brigands." + +"You see," said the poet, "you cannot separate the soldier from the +brigand; and what is a thief but an isolated brigand with circumspect +manners? I steal a couple of mutton chops, without so much as +disturbing the farmer's sheep; the farmer grumbles a bit, but sups +none the less wholesomely on what remains. You come up blowing +gloriously on a trumpet, take away the whole sheep, and beat the +farmer pitifully into the bargain. I have no trumpet; I am only Tom, +Dick, or Harry; I am a rogue and a dog, and hanging's too good for +me--with all my heart--but just you ask the farmer which of us he +prefers, just find out which of us he lies awake to curse on cold +nights." + +"Look at us two," said his lordship. "I am old, strong, and honored. +If I were turned from my house to-morrow, hundreds would be proud to +shelter me. Poor people would go out and pass the night in the streets +with their children, if I merely hinted that I wished to be alone. +And I find you up, wandering homeless, and picking farthings off dead +women by the wayside! I fear no man and nothing; I have seen you +tremble and lose countenance at a word. I wait God's summons +contentedly in my own house, or, if it please the king to call me out +again, upon the field of battle. You look for the gallows; a rough, +swift death, without hope or honor. Is there no difference between +these two?" + +"As far as to the moon," Villon acquiesced. "But if I had been born +lord of Brisetout, and you had been the poor scholar Francis, would +the difference have been any the less? Should not I have been warming +my knees at this charcoal pan, and would not you have been groping for +farthings in the snow? Should not I have been the soldier, and you the +thief?" + +"A thief!" cried the old man. "I a thief! If you understood your +words, you would repent them." + +Villon turned out his hands with a gesture of inimitable impudence. +"If your lordship had done me the honor to follow my argument!" he +said. + +"I do you too much honor in submitting to your presence," said the +knight. "Learn to curb your tongue when you speak with old and +honorable men, or some one hastier than I may reprove you in a sharper +fashion." And he rose and paced the lower end of the apartment, +struggling with anger and antipathy. Villon surreptitiously refilled +his cup, and settled himself more comfortably in the chair, crossing +his knees and leaning his head upon one hand and the elbow against the +back of the chair. He was now replete and warm; and he was in nowise +frightened for his host, having gauged him as justly as was possible +between two such different characters. The night was far spent, and in +a very comfortable fashion after all; and he felt morally certain of a +safe departure on the morrow. + +"Tell me one thing," said the old man, pausing in his walk. "Are you +really a thief?" + +"I claim the sacred rights of hospitality," returned the poet. "My +lord, I am." + +"You are very young," the knight continued. + +"I should never have been so old," replied Villon; showing his +fingers, "if I had not helped myself with these ten talents. They have +been my nursing mothers and my nursing fathers." + +"You may still repent and change." + +"I repent daily," said the poet. "There are few people more given to +repentance than poor Francis. As for change, let somebody change my +circumstances. A man must continue to eat, if it were only that he may +continue to repent." + +"The change must begin in the heart," returned the old man solemnly. + +"My dear lord," answered Villon, "do you really fancy that I steal for +pleasure? I hate stealing, like any other piece of work or danger. My +teeth chatter when I see a gallows. But I must eat, I must drink, +I must mix in society of some sort. What the devil! Man is not +a solitary animal--_Cui Deus foeminam tradit_. Make me king's +pantler--make me abbot of St. Denis; make me bailly of the Patatrac; +and then I shall be changed indeed. But as long as you leave me the +poor scholar Francis Villon, without a farthing, why, of course, I +remain the same." + +"The grace of God is all-powerful." + +"I should be a heretic to question it," said Francis. "It has made you +lord of Brisetout, and bailly of the Patatrac; it has given me nothing +but the quick wits under my hat and these ten toes upon my hands. May +I help myself to wine? I thank you respectfully. By God's grace, you +have a very superior vintage." + +The lord of Brisetout walked to and fro with his hands behind his +back. Perhaps he was not yet quite settled in his mind about the +parallel between thieves and soldiers; perhaps Villon had interested +him by some cross-thread of sympathy; perhaps his wits were simply +muddled by so much unfamiliar reasoning; but whatever the cause, he +somehow yearned to convert the young man to a better way of thinking, +and could not make up his mind to drive him forth again into the +street. + +"There is something more than I can understand in this," he said, at +length. "Your mouth is full of subtleties, and the devil has led you +very far astray; but the devil is only a very weak spirit before God's +truth, and all his subtleties vanish at a word of true honor, like +darkness at morning. Listen to me once more. I learned long ago that a +gentleman should live chivalrously and lovingly to God, and the king, +and his lady; and though I have seen many strange things done, I +have still striven to command my ways upon that rule. It is not only +written in all noble histories, but in every man's heart, if he will +take care to read. You speak of food and wine, and I know very well +that hunger is a difficult trial to endure; but you do not speak of +other wants; you say nothing of honor, of faith to God and other men, +of courtesy, of love without reproach. It may be that I am not very +wise--and yet I think I am--but you seem to me like one who has lost +his way and made a great error in life. You are attending to the +little wants, and you have totally forgotten the great and only real +ones, like a man who should be doctoring a toothache on the Judgment +Day. For such things as honor and love and faith are not only nobler +than food and drink, but, indeed, I think that we desire them more, +and suffer more sharply for their absence. I speak to you as I think +you will most easily understand me. Are you not, while careful to fill +your belly, disregarding another appetite in your heart, which spoils +the pleasure of your life and keeps you continually wretched?" + +Villon was sensibly nettled under all this sermonizing. "You think I +have no sense of honor!" he cried. "I'm poor enough, God knows! It's +hard to see rich people with their gloves, and you blowing your hands. +An empty belly is a bitter thing, although you speak so lightly of +it. If you had had as many as I, perhaps you would change your tune. +Anyway, I'm a thief--make the most of that--but I'm not a devil from +hell, God strike me dead. I would have you to know I've an honor of my +own, as good as yours, though I don't prate about it all day long, as +if it were a God's miracle to have any. It seems quite natural to me; +I keep it in its box till it's wanted. Why now, look you here, how +long have I been in this room with you? Did you not tell me you were +alone in the house? Look at your gold plate! You're strong, if you +like, but you're old and unarmed, and I have my knife. What did I want +but a jerk of the elbow, and here would have been you with the cold +steel in your bowels, and there would have been me, linking in the +streets, with an armful of gold cups! Did you suppose I hadn't wit +enough to see that? And I scorned the action. There are your damned +goblets, as safe as in a church; there are you, with your heart +ticking as good as new; and here am I, ready to go out again as poor +as I came in, with my one white that you threw in my teeth! And you +think I have no sense of honor--God strike me dead!" + +The old man stretched out his right arm. "I will tell you what +you are," he said. "You are a rogue, my man, an impudent and a +black-hearted rogue and vagabond. I have passed an hour with you. Oh! +believe me, I feel myself disgraced! And you have eaten and drank at +my table. But now I am sick at your presence; the day has come, and +the night-bird should be off to his roost. Will you go before, or +after?" + +"Which you please," returned the poet, rising. "I believe you to be +strictly honorable." He thoughtfully emptied his cup. "I wish I could +add you were intelligent," he went on, knocking on his head with his +knuckles. "Age, age! the brains stiff and rheumatic." + +The old man preceded him from a point of self-respect; Villon +followed, whistling, with his thumbs in his girdle. + +"God pity you," said the lord of Brisetout at the door. + +"Good-bye, papa," returned Villon, with a yawn. "Many thanks for the +cold mutton." + +The door closed behind him. The dawn was breaking over the white +roofs. A chill, uncomfortable morning ushered in the day. Villon stood +and heartily stretched himself in the middle of the road. + +"A very dull old gentleman," he thought. "I wonder what his goblets +may be worth." + + + + +INDEX + + Aesop + beast-fables + Apuleius + _The Golden Ass_ + likeness to Kipling + Aristotle + _Secretum Secretorum_ + + Barrett, Charles Raymond + _Short-Story Writings_ + Beast-fables + Boccaccio + _Teseide_ + _Decameron_ + Brown, Dr. John (1810-1882) + _Rab and His Friends_ + Bunyan, John + + Cable + _Strange True Stories of Louisiana_ + Cervantes + _Don Quixote_ + Chaucer + Coleridge + _Ancient Mariner_ + + _Deeds of the Romans, The_ + Defoe, Daniel (1661-1731) + _Short-Story Essay_ + _The Apparition of Mrs. Veal_ + Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) + _The Boots at the Holly-Tree Inn_ + Drelincourt + _Book on Death_ + + Fenton, Geoffrey + _Tragical Discourses_ + Fuller, Thomas + + Garnett, Richard + _The Poison Maid_ + _Gesta Romanorum, The_ + + Hardy, Thomas (1840) + _The Three Strangers_ + Harris, Chandler + _Uncle Remus_ + Harte, Bret (1839-1902) + _The Outcasts of Poker Flat_ + Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1807-1864) + _Dr. Heidegger's Experiment_ + Hogg, James (1770-1835) + the Ettrick Shepherd + early life + _Shepherd's Calendar_ + _The Brownie of Bodsbeck_ + Professor Wilson on + _The Mysterious Bride_ + Holmes, Oliver Wendell + _Elsie Venner_ + Hood, Thomas + _The Dream of Eugene Aram_ + + _Ingoldsby Legends, The_ + Irving, Washington (1783-1859) + _The Devil and Tom Walker_ + + James, Henry (1843) + _Julia Bride_ + + Kipling, Rudyard + _Just-so Stories_ + _Jungle-Book_ + _Finest Story in the World_ + _The Man Who Would be King_ + + Laws of the short-story + _Leech of Folkstone, The_ + + Malory, _Morte D'Arthur_ + Matthews, Professor Brander + Morris, William, _Defence of Guinevere_ + + Nathaniel Hawthorne, _Rappaccini's Daughter_ + North, Sir Thomas, _Plutarch's Lives_ + + _Of Temporal Tribulation_ + _Of the Transgressions and Wounds of the Soul_ + + Paynter, William, _The Palace of Pleasure_ + _Peregrine Pickle_ + Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849), + laws of short-story; + essay on Hawthorne; + _Tale of the Ragged Mountains_; + _The Purloined Letter_. + Powell, Prof. J.W. + _Practical Treatise on the Art of the Short-Story_ + + _Redgauntlet_ + _Roderick Random_ + Rossetti, _White Ship_ + + Shakespeare, _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_; + borrower. + Shelton, Thomas, _Don Quixote_ + Short-Story, Evolution of the + Smith, Herbert H. + Sterne, Laurence + Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894), + _A Lodging for the Night_ + Stockton, Frank R. (1834-1902), + _A Story of Seven Devils_ + + Tennyson, + _The Idylls of the King_; + _The Lady of Shalott_. + _Tom Jones_ + Trollope, Anthony + Twain, Mark (1835), + _A Dog's Tale_ + + Underdown, Thomas, _Heliodorus_ + + _Vicar of Wakefield_ + + Walton, Isaak + Wilson, Professor, on James Hogg + + +END OF VOL. I + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT ENGLISH SHORT-STORY +WRITERS, VOL. 1*** + + +******* This file should be named 10135.txt or 10135.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/1/3/10135 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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