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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12132 ***
+
+THE LADY OF THE BARGE
+
+AND OTHER STORIES
+
+By W. W. Jacobs
+
+
+
+
+THREE AT TABLE
+
+
+The talk in the coffee-room had been of ghosts and apparitions, and
+nearly everybody present had contributed his mite to the stock of
+information upon a hazy and somewhat thread-bare subject.  Opinions
+ranged from rank incredulity to childlike faith, one believer going so
+far as to denounce unbelief as impious, with a reference to the Witch of
+Endor, which was somewhat marred by being complicated in an inexplicable
+fashion with the story of Jonah.
+
+"Talking of Jonah," he said solemnly, with a happy disregard of the fact
+that he had declined to answer several eager questions put to him on the
+subject, "look at the strange tales sailors tell us."
+
+"I wouldn't advise you to believe all those," said a bluff, clean-shaven
+man, who had been listening without speaking much.  "You see when a
+sailor gets ashore he's expected to have something to tell, and his
+friends would be rather disappointed if he had not."
+
+"It's a well-known fact," interrupted the first speaker firmly, "that
+sailors are very prone to see visions."
+
+"They are," said the other dryly, "they generally see them in pairs, and
+the shock to the nervous system frequently causes headache next morning."
+
+"You never saw anything yourself?"  suggested an unbeliever.
+
+"Man and boy," said the other, "I've been at sea thirty years, and the
+only unpleasant incident of that kind occurred in a quiet English
+countryside."
+
+"And that?"  said another man.
+
+"I was a young man at the time," said the narrator, drawing at his pipe
+and glancing good-humouredly at the company.  "I had just come back from
+China, and my own people being away I went down into the country to
+invite myself to stay with an uncle.  When I got down to the place I
+found it closed and the family in the South of France; but as they were
+due back in a couple of days I decided to put up at the Royal George,
+a very decent inn, and await their return.
+
+"The first day I passed well enough; but in the evening the dulness of
+the rambling old place, in which I was the only visitor, began to weigh
+upon my spirits, and the next morning after a late breakfast I set out
+with the intention of having a brisk day's walk.
+
+"I started off in excellent spirits, for the day was bright and frosty,
+with a powdering of snow on the iron-bound roads and nipped hedges, and
+the country had to me all the charm of novelty.  It was certainly flat,
+but there was plenty of timber, and the villages through which I passed
+were old and picturesque.
+
+"I lunched luxuriously on bread and cheese and beer in the bar of a small
+inn, and resolved to go a little further before turning back.  When at
+length I found I had gone far enough, I turned up a lane at right angles
+to the road I was passing, and resolved to find my way back by another
+route.  It is a long lane that has no turning, but this had several, each
+of which had turnings of its own, which generally led, as I found by
+trying two or three of them, into the open marshes.  Then, tired of
+lanes, I resolved to rely upon the small compass which hung from my watch
+chain and go across country home.
+
+"I had got well into the marshes when a white fog, which had been for
+some time hovering round the edge of the ditches, began gradually to
+spread.  There was no escaping it, but by aid of my compass I was saved
+from making a circular tour and fell instead into frozen ditches or
+stumbled over roots in the grass.  I kept my course, however, until at
+four o'clock, when night was coming rapidly up to lend a hand to the fog,
+I was fain to confess myself lost.
+
+"The compass was now no good to me, and I wandered about miserably,
+occasionally giving a shout on the chance of being heard by some passing
+shepherd or farmhand.  At length by great good luck I found my feet on a
+rough road driven through the marshes, and by walking slowly and tapping
+with my stick managed to keep to it.  I had followed it for some distance
+when I heard footsteps approaching me.
+
+"We stopped as we met, and the new arrival, a sturdy-looking countryman,
+hearing of my plight, walked back with me for nearly a mile, and putting
+me on to a road gave me minute instructions how to reach a village some
+three miles distant.
+
+"I was so tired that three miles sounded like ten, and besides that, a
+little way off from the road I saw dimly a lighted window.  I pointed it
+out, but my companion shuddered and looked round him uneasily.
+
+"'You won't get no good there,' he said, hastily.
+
+"'Why not?' I asked.
+
+"'There's a something there, sir,' he replied, 'what 'tis I dunno, but
+the little 'un belonging to a gamekeeper as used to live in these parts
+see it, and it was never much good afterward.  Some say as it's a poor
+mad thing, others says as it's a kind of animal; but whatever it is, it
+ain't good to see.'
+
+"'Well, I'll keep on, then,' I said.  'Goodnight.'
+
+"He went back whistling cheerily until his footsteps died away in the
+distance, and I followed the road he had indicated until it divided into
+three, any one of which to a stranger might be said to lead straight on.
+I was now cold and tired, and having half made up my mind walked slowly
+back toward the house.
+
+"At first all I could see of it was the little patch of light at the
+window. I made for that until it disappeared suddenly, and I found myself
+walking into a tall hedge. I felt my way round this until I came to a
+small gate, and opening it cautiously, walked, not without some little
+nervousness, up a long path which led to the door. There was no light and
+no sound from within. Half repenting of my temerity I shortened my stick
+and knocked lightly upon the door.
+
+"I waited a couple of minutes and then knocked again, and my stick was
+still beating the door when it opened suddenly and a tall bony old woman,
+holding a candle, confronted me.
+
+"'What do you want?' she demanded gruffly.
+
+"'I've lost my way,' I said, civilly; 'I want to get to Ashville.'
+
+"'Don't know it,' said the old woman.
+
+"She was about to close the door when a man emerged from a room at the
+side of the hall and came toward us.  An old man of great height and
+breadth of shoulder.
+
+"'Ashville is fifteen miles distant,' he said slowly.
+
+"'If you will direct me to the nearest village, I shall be grateful,' I
+remarked.
+
+"He made no reply, but exchanged a quick, furtive glance with the woman.
+She made a gesture of dissent.
+
+"'The nearest place is three miles off,' he said, turning to me and
+apparently trying to soften a naturally harsh voice; 'if you will give me
+the pleasure of your company, I will make you as comfortable as I can.'
+
+"I hesitated.  They were certainly a queer-looking couple, and the gloomy
+hall with the shadows thrown by the candle looked hardly more inviting
+than the darkness outside.
+
+"'You are very kind,' I murmured, irresolutely, 'but--'
+
+"'Come in,' he said quickly; 'shut the door, Anne.'
+
+"Almost before I knew it I was standing inside and the old woman,
+muttering to herself, had closed the door behind me.  With a queer
+sensation of being trapped I followed my host into the room, and taking
+the proffered chair warmed my frozen fingers at the fire.
+
+"'Dinner will soon be ready,' said the old man, regarding me closely. 'If
+you will excuse me.'
+
+"I bowed and he left the room.  A minute afterward I heard voices; his
+and the old woman's, and, I fancied, a third.  Before I had finished my
+inspection of the room he returned, and regarded me with the same strange
+look I had noticed before.
+
+"'There will be three of us at dinner,' he said, at length. 'We two and
+my son.'
+
+"I bowed again, and secretly hoped that that look didn't run in the
+family.
+
+"'I suppose you don't mind dining in the dark,' he said, abruptly.
+
+"'Not at all,' I replied, hiding my surprise as well as I could, 'but
+really I'm afraid I'm intruding. If you'll allow me--'
+
+"He waved his huge gaunt hands. 'We're not going to lose you now we've
+got you,' he said, with a dry laugh.  'It's seldom we have company, and
+now we've got you we'll keep you.  My son's eyes are bad, and he can't
+stand the light.  Ah, here is Anne.'
+
+"As he spoke the old woman entered, and, eyeing me stealthily, began to
+lay the cloth, while my host, taking a chair the other side of the
+hearth, sat looking silently into the fire.  The table set, the old woman
+brought in a pair of fowls ready carved in a dish, and placing three
+chairs, left the room.  The old man hesitated a moment, and then, rising
+from his chair, placed a large screen in front of the fire and slowly
+extinguished the candles.
+
+"'Blind man's holiday,' he said, with clumsy jocosity, and groping his
+way to the door opened it.  Somebody came back into the room with him,
+and in a slow, uncertain fashion took a seat at the table, and the
+strangest voice I have ever heard broke a silence which was fast becoming
+oppressive.
+
+"'A cold night,' it said slowly.
+
+"I replied in the affirmative, and light or no light, fell to with an
+appetite which had only been sharpened by the snack in the middle of the
+day.  It was somewhat difficult eating in the dark, and it was evident
+from the behaviour of my invisible companions that they were as unused to
+dining under such circumstances as I was.  We ate in silence until the
+old woman blundered into the room with some sweets and put them with a
+crash upon the table.
+
+"'Are you a stranger about here?' inquired the curious voice again.
+
+"I replied in the affirmative, and murmured something about my luck in
+stumbling upon such a good dinner.
+
+"'Stumbling is a very good word for it,' said the voice grimly.  'You
+have forgotten the port, father.'
+
+"'So I have,' said the old man, rising.  'It's a bottle of the
+"Celebrated" to-day; I will get it myself.'
+
+"He felt his way to the door, and closing it behind him, left me alone
+with my unseen neighbour.  There was something so strange about the whole
+business that I must confess to more than a slight feeling of uneasiness.
+
+"My host seemed to be absent a long time.  I heard the man opposite lay
+down his fork and spoon, and half fancied I could see a pair of wild eyes
+shining through the gloom like a cat's.
+
+"With a growing sense of uneasiness I pushed my chair back.  It caught
+the hearthrug, and in my efforts to disentangle it the screen fell over
+with a crash and in the flickering light of the fire I saw the face of
+the creature opposite.  With a sharp catch of my breath I left my chair
+and stood with clenched fists beside it.  Man or beast, which was it?
+The flame leaped up and then went out, and in the mere red glow of the
+fire it looked more devilish than before.
+
+"For a few moments we regarded each other in silence; then the door
+opened and the old man returned.  He stood aghast as he saw the warm
+firelight, and then approaching the table mechanically put down a couple
+of bottles.
+
+"'I beg your pardon,' said I, reassured by his presence, 'but I have
+accidentally overturned the screen.  Allow me to replace it.'
+
+"'No,' said the old man, gently, 'let it be.
+
+"'We have had enough of the dark.  I'll give you a light.'
+
+"He struck a match and slowly lit the candles.  Then--I saw that the man
+opposite had but the remnant of a face, a gaunt wolfish face in which one
+unquenched eye, the sole remaining feature, still glittered.  I was
+greatly moved, some suspicion of the truth occurring to me.
+
+"'My son was injured some years ago in a burning house,' said the old
+man.  'Since then we have lived a very retired life.  When you came to
+the door we--' his voice trembled, 'that is-my son---'
+
+"'I thought," said the son simply, 'that it would be better for me not to
+come to the dinner-table.  But it happens to be my birthday, and my
+father would not hear of my dining alone, so we hit upon this foolish
+plan of dining in the dark.  I'm sorry I startled you.'
+
+"'I am sorry,' said I, as I reached across the table and gripped his
+hand, 'that I am such a fool; but it was only in the dark that you
+startled me.'
+
+"From a faint tinge in the old man's cheek and a certain pleasant
+softening of the poor solitary eye in front of me I secretly
+congratulated myself upon this last remark.
+
+"'We never see a friend,' said the old man, apologetically, 'and the
+temptation to have company was too much for us.  Besides, I don't know
+what else you could have done.'
+
+"'Nothing else half so good, I'm sure,' said I.
+
+"'Come,' said my host, with almost a sprightly air.  'Now we know each
+other, draw our chairs to the fire and let's keep this birthday in a
+proper fashion.'
+
+"He drew a small table to the fire for the glasses and produced a box of
+cigars, and placing a chair for the old servant, sternly bade her to sit
+down and drink.  If the talk was not sparkling, it did not lack for
+vivacity, and we were soon as merry a party as I have ever seen.  The
+night wore on so rapidly that we could hardly believe our ears when in a
+lull in the conversation a clock in the hall struck twelve.
+
+"'A last toast before we retire,' said my host, pitching the end of his
+cigar into the fire and turning to the small table.
+
+"We had drunk several before this, but there was something impressive in
+the old man's manner as he rose and took up his glass.  His tall figure
+seemed to get taller, and his voice rang as he gazed proudly at his
+disfigured son.
+
+"'The health of the children my boy saved!' he said, and drained his
+glass at a draught."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three at Table, by W.W. Jacobs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12132 ***