initial commit of ebook 15466HEADmain

7 files changed, 6044 insertions, 0 deletions

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/15466-8.txt b/15466-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec38ed5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15466-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3014 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Victorian Short Stories of Troubled
+Marriages, by Rudyard Kipling, Ella D'Arcy, Arthur Morrison, Arthur Conan
+Doyle, and George Gissing
+
+
+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: Victorian Short Stories of Troubled Marriages
+       The Bronckhorst Divorce-Case, by Rudyard Kipling; Irremediable, by Ella D'Arcy; "A Poor Stick," by Arthur Morrison; The Adventure of the Abbey Grange, by Arthur Conan Doyle; The Prize Lodger, by George Gissing
+
+
+Author: Rudyard Kipling, Ella D'Arcy, Arthur Morrison, Arthur Conan Doyle,
+and George Gissing
+
+Release Date: March 26, 2005  [eBook #15466]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VICTORIAN SHORT STORIES OF
+TROUBLED MARRIAGES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+VICTORIAN SHORT STORIES OF TROUBLED MARRIAGES
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+   THE BRONCKHORST DIVORCE-CASE by Rudyard Kipling
+
+   IRREMEDIABLE by Ella D'Arcy
+
+   'A POOR STICK' by Arthur Morrison
+
+   THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBEY GRANGE by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+   THE PRIZE LODGER by George Gissing
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BRONCKHORST DIVORCE-CASE
+
+By Rudyard Kipling
+
+(_Civil and Military Gazette_, 26 September 1884)
+
+In the daytime, when she moved about me,
+    In the night, when she was sleeping at my side,--
+I was wearied, I was wearied of her presence,
+Day by day and night by night I grew to hate her--
+    Would God that she or I had died!
+
+--CONFESSIONS
+
+
+There was a man called Bronckhorst--a three-cornered, middle-aged man in
+the Army--grey as a badger, and, some people said, with a touch of
+country-blood in him. That, however, cannot be proved. Mrs. Bronckhorst
+was not exactly young, though fifteen years younger than her husband.
+She was a large, pale, quiet woman, with heavy eyelids over weak eyes,
+and hair that turned red or yellow as the lights fell on it.
+
+Bronckhorst was not nice in any way. He had no respect for the pretty
+public and private lies that make life a little less nasty than it is.
+His manner towards his wife was coarse. There are many things--including
+actual assault with the clenched fist--that a wife will endure; but
+seldom a wife can bear--as Mrs. Bronckhorst bore--with a long course of
+brutal, hard chaff, making light of her weaknesses, her headaches, her
+small fits of gaiety, her dresses, her queer little attempts to make
+herself attractive to her husband when she knows that she is not what
+she has been, and--worst of all--the love that she spends on her
+children. That particular sort of heavy-handed jest was specially dear
+to Bronckhorst. I suppose that he had first slipped into it, meaning no
+harm, in the honeymoon, when folk find their ordinary stock of
+endearments run short, and so go to the other extreme to express their
+feelings. A similar impulse makes a man say, '_Hutt_, you old beast!'
+when a favourite horse nuzzles his coat-front. Unluckily, when the
+reaction of marriage sets in, the form of speech remains, and, the
+tenderness having died out, hurts the wife more than she cares to say.
+But Mrs. Bronckhorst was devoted to her 'Teddy' as she called him.
+Perhaps that was why he objected to her. Perhaps--this is only a theory
+to account for his infamous behaviour later on--he gave way to the
+queer, savage feeling that sometimes takes by the throat a husband
+twenty years married, when he sees, across the table, the same, same
+face of his wedded wife, and knows that, as he has sat facing it, so
+must he continue to sit until the day of its death or his own. Most men
+and all women know the spasm. It only lasts for three breaths as a rule,
+must be a 'throw-back' to times when men and women were rather worse
+than they are now, and is too unpleasant to be discussed.
+
+Dinner at the Bronckhorsts' was an infliction few men cared to undergo.
+Bronckhorst took a pleasure in saying things that made his wife wince.
+When their little boy came in at dessert Bronckhorst used to give him
+half a glass of wine, and, naturally enough, the poor little mite got
+first riotous, next miserable, and was removed screaming. Bronckhorst
+asked if that was the way Teddy usually behaved, and whether Mrs.
+Bronckhorst could not spare some of her time 'to teach the little beggar
+decency'. Mrs. Bronckhorst, who loved the boy more than her own life,
+tried not to cry--her spirit seemed to have been broken by her marriage.
+Lastly, Bronckhorst used to say, 'There! That'll do, that'll do. For
+God's sake try to behave like a rational woman. Go into the
+drawing-room.' Mrs. Bronckhorst would go, trying to carry it all off
+with a smile; and the guest of the evening would feel angry and
+uncomfortable.
+
+After three years of this cheerful life--for Mrs. Bronckhorst had no
+women-friends to talk to--the station was startled by the news that
+Bronckhorst had instituted proceedings _on the criminal count_, against
+a man called Biel, who certainly had been rather attentive to Mrs.
+Bronckhorst whenever she had appeared in public. The utter want of
+reserve with which Bronckhorst treated his own dishonour helped us to
+know that the evidence against Biel would be entirely circumstantial and
+native. There were no letters; but Bronckhorst said openly that he would
+rack Heaven and Earth until he saw Biel superintending the manufacture
+of carpets in the Central Jail. Mrs. Bronckhorst kept entirely to her
+house, and let charitable folks say what they pleased. Opinions were
+divided. Some two-thirds of the station jumped at once to the conclusion
+that Biel was guilty; but a dozen men who knew and liked him held by
+him. Biel was furious and surprised. He denied the whole thing, and
+vowed that he would thrash Bronckhorst within an inch of his life. No
+jury, we knew, would convict a man on the criminal count on native
+evidence in a land where you can buy a murder-charge, including the
+corpse, all complete for fifty-four rupees; but Biel did not care to
+scrape through by the benefit of a doubt. He wanted the whole thing
+cleared; but, as he said one night, 'He can prove anything with
+servants' evidence, and I've only my bare word.' This was almost a month
+before the case came on; and beyond agreeing with Biel, we could do
+little. All that we could be sure of was that the native evidence would
+be bad enough to blast Biel's character for the rest of his service; for
+when a native begins perjury he perjures himself thoroughly. He does not
+boggle over details.
+
+Some genius at the end of the table whereat the affair was being talked
+over, said, 'Look here! I don't believe lawyers are any good. Get a man
+to wire to Strickland, and beg him to come down and pull us through.'
+
+Strickland was about a hundred and eighty miles up the line. He had not
+long been married to Miss Youghal, but he scented in the telegram a
+chance of return to the old detective work that his soul lusted after,
+and next time he came in and heard our story. He finished his pipe and
+said oracularly, 'We must get at the evidence. Oorya bearer, Mussulman
+_khit_ and sweeper _ayah_, I suppose, are the pillars of the charge. I
+am on in this piece; but I'm afraid I'm getting rusty in my talk.'
+
+He rose and went into Biel's bedroom, where his trunk had been put, and
+shut the door. An hour later, we heard him say, 'I hadn't the heart to
+part with my old make-ups when I married. Will this do?' There was a
+loathly _fakir_ salaaming in the doorway.
+
+'Now lend me fifty rupees,' said Strickland, 'and give me your Words of
+Honour that you won't tell my wife.'
+
+He got all that he asked for, and left the house while the table drank
+his health. What he did only he himself knows. A _fakir_ hung about
+Bronckhorst's compound for twelve days. Then a sweeper appeared, and
+when Biel heard of _him_, he said that Strickland was an angel
+full-fledged. Whether the sweeper made love to Janki, Mrs. Bronckhorst's
+_ayah_, is a question which concerns Strickland exclusively.
+
+He came back at the end of three weeks, and said quietly, 'You spoke the
+truth, Biel. The whole business is put up from beginning to end. Jove!
+It almost astonishes _me_! That Bronckhorst beast isn't fit to live.'
+
+There was uproar and shouting, and Biel said, 'How are you going to
+prove it? You can't say that you've been trespassing on Bronckhorst's
+compound in disguise!'
+
+'No,' said Strickland. 'Tell your lawyer-fool, whoever he is, to get up
+something strong about "inherent improbabilities" and "discrepancies of
+evidence". He won't have to speak, but it will make him happy, _I_'m
+going to run this business.'
+
+Biel held his tongue, and the other men waited to see what would happen.
+They trusted Strickland as men trust quiet men. When the case came off
+the Court was crowded. Strickland hung about in the veranda of the
+Court, till he met the Mohammedan _khitmutgar_. Then he murmured a
+_fakir's_ blessing in his ear, and asked him how his second wife did.
+The man spun round, and, as he looked into the eyes of 'Estreekin
+Sahib', his jaw dropped. You must remember that before Strickland was
+married, he was, as I have told you already, a power among natives.
+Strickland whispered a rather coarse vernacular proverb to the effect
+that he was abreast of all that was going on, and went into the Court
+armed with a gut trainer's-whip.
+
+The Mohammedan was the first witness, and Strickland beamed upon him
+from the back of the Court. The man moistened his lips with his tongue
+and, in his abject fear of 'Estreekin Sahib', the _fakir_ went back on
+every detail of his evidence--said he was a poor man, and God was his
+witness that he had forgotten everything that Bronckhorst Sahib had told
+him to say. Between his terror of Strickland, the Judge, and Bronckhorst
+he collapsed weeping.
+
+Then began the panic among the witnesses. Janki, the _ayah_, leering
+chastely behind her veil, turned grey, and the bearer left the Court. He
+said that his Mamma was dying, and that it was not wholesome for any man
+to lie unthriftily in the presence of 'Estreekin Sahib'.
+
+Biel said politely to Bronckhorst, 'Your witnesses don't seem to work.
+Haven't you any forged letters to produce?' But Bronckhorst was swaying
+to and fro in his chair, and there was a dead pause after Biel had been
+called to order.
+
+Bronckhorst's Counsel saw the look on his client's face, and without
+more ado pitched his papers on the little green-baize table, and mumbled
+something about having been misinformed. The whole Court applauded
+wildly, like soldiers at a theatre, and the Judge began to say what he
+thought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Biel came out of the Court, and Strickland dropped a gut trainer's-whip
+in the veranda. Ten minutes later, Biel was cutting Bronckhorst into
+ribbons behind the old Court cells, quietly and without scandal. What
+was left of Bronckhorst was sent home in a carriage; and his wife wept
+over it and nursed it into a man again. Later on, after Biel had managed
+to hush up the counter-charge against Bronckhorst of fabricating false
+evidence, Mrs. Bronckhorst, with her faint, watery smile, said that
+there had been a mistake, but it wasn't her Teddy's fault altogether.
+She would wait till her Teddy came back to her. Perhaps he had grown
+tired of her, or she had tried his patience, and perhaps we wouldn't cut
+her any more, and perhaps the mothers would let their children play with
+'little Teddy' again. He was so lonely. Then the station invited Mrs.
+Bronckhorst everywhere, until Bronckhorst was fit to appear in public,
+when he went Home and took his wife with him. According to latest
+advices, her Teddy did come back to her, and they are moderately happy.
+Though, of course, he can never forgive her the thrashing that she was
+the indirect means of getting for him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What Biel wants to know is, 'Why didn't I press home the charge against
+the Bronckhorst brute, and have him run in?'
+
+What Mrs. Strickland wants to know is, 'How _did_ my husband bring such
+a lovely, lovely Waler from your station? I know _all_ his money
+affairs; and I'm _certain_ he didn't _buy_ it.'
+
+What I want to know is, 'How do women like Mrs. Bronckhorst come to
+marry men like Bronckhorst?'
+
+And my conundrum is the most unanswerable of the three.
+
+
+
+
+IRREMEDIABLE
+
+By Ella D'Arcy
+
+(_Monochromes_, London: John Lane, 1893)
+
+
+A young man strolled along a country road one August evening after a
+long delicious day--a day of that blessed idleness the man of leisure
+never knows: one must be a bank clerk forty-nine weeks out of the
+fifty-two before one can really appreciate the exquisite enjoyment of
+doing nothing for twelve hours at a stretch. Willoughby had spent the
+morning lounging about a sunny rickyard; then, when the heat grew
+unbearable, he had retreated to an orchard, where, lying on his back in
+the long cool grass, he had traced the pattern of the apple-leaves
+diapered above him upon the summer sky; now that the heat of the day was
+over he had come to roam whither sweet fancy led him, to lean over
+gates, view the prospect, and meditate upon the pleasures of a
+well-spent day. Five such days had already passed over his head, fifteen
+more remained to him. Then farewell to freedom and clean country air!
+Back again to London and another year's toil.
+
+He came to a gate on the right of the road. Behind it a footpath
+meandered up over a grassy slope. The sheep nibbling on its summit cast
+long shadows down the hill almost to his feet. Road and fieldpath were
+equally new to him, but the latter offered greener attractions; he
+vaulted lightly over the gate and had so little idea he was taking thus
+the first step towards ruin that he began to whistle 'White Wings' from
+pure joy of life.
+
+The sheep stopped feeding and raised their heads to stare at him from
+pale-lashed eyes; first one and then another broke into a startled run,
+until there was a sudden woolly stampede of the entire flock. When
+Willoughby gained the ridge from which they had just scattered, he came
+in sight of a woman sitting on a stile at the further end of the field.
+As he advanced towards her he saw that she was young, and that she was
+not what is called 'a lady'--of which he was glad: an earlier episode in
+his career having indissolubly associated in his mind ideas of feminine
+refinement with those of feminine treachery.
+
+He thought it probable this girl would be willing to dispense with the
+formalities of an introduction, and that he might venture with her on
+some pleasant foolish chat.
+
+As she made no movement to let him pass he stood still, and, looking at
+her, began to smile.
+
+She returned his gaze from unabashed dark eyes, and then laughed,
+showing teeth white, sound, and smooth as split hazelnuts.
+
+'Do you wanter get over?' she remarked familiarly.
+
+'I'm afraid I can't without disturbing you.'
+
+'Dontcher think you're much better where you are?' said the girl, on
+which Willoughby hazarded:
+
+'You mean to say looking at you? Well, perhaps I am!'
+
+The girl at this laughed again, but nevertheless dropped herself down
+into the further field; then, leaning her arms upon the cross-bar, she
+informed the young man: 'No, I don't wanter spoil your walk. You were
+goin' p'raps ter Beacon Point? It's very pretty that wye.'
+
+'I was going nowhere in particular,' he replied; 'just exploring, so to
+speak. I'm a stranger in these parts.'
+
+'How funny! Imer stranger here too. I only come down larse Friday to
+stye with a Naunter mine in Horton. Are you stying in Horton?'
+
+Willoughby told her he was not in Orton, but at Povey Cross Farm out in
+the other direction.
+
+'Oh, Mrs. Payne's, ain't it? I've heard aunt speak ovver. She takes
+summer boarders, don't chee? I egspeck you come from London, heh?'
+
+'And I expect you come from London too?' said Willoughby, recognizing
+the familiar accent.
+
+'You're as sharp as a needle,' cried the girl with her unrestrained
+laugh; 'so I do. I'm here for a hollerday 'cos I was so done up with the
+work and the hot weather. I don't look as though I'd bin ill, do I? But
+I was, though: for it was just stiflin' hot up in our workrooms all
+larse month, an' tailorin's awful hard work at the bester times.'
+
+Willoughby felt a sudden accession of interest in her. Like many
+intelligent young men, he had dabbled a little in Socialism, and at one
+time had wandered among the dispossessed; but since then, had caught up
+and held loosely the new doctrine--it is a good and fitting thing that
+woman also should earn her bread by the sweat of her brow. Always in
+reference to the woman who, fifteen months before, had treated him ill;
+he had said to himself that even the breaking of stones in the road
+should be considered a more feminine employment than the breaking of
+hearts.
+
+He gave way therefore to a movement of friendliness for this working
+daughter of the people, and joined her on the other side of the stile in
+token of his approval. She, twisting round to face him, leaned now with
+her back against the bar, and the sunset fires lent a fleeting glory to
+her face. Perhaps she guessed how becoming the light was, for she took
+off her hat and let it touch to gold the ends and fringes of her rough
+abundant hair. Thus and at this moment she made an agreeable picture, to
+which stood as background all the beautiful, wooded Southshire view.
+
+'You don't really mean to say you are a tailoress?' said Willoughby,
+with a sort of eager compassion.
+
+'I do, though! An' I've bin one ever since I was fourteen. Look at my
+fingers if you don't b'lieve me.'
+
+She put out her right hand, and he took hold of it, as he was expected
+to do. The finger-ends were frayed and blackened by needle-pricks, but
+the hand itself was plump, moist, and not unshapely. She meanwhile
+examined Willoughby's fingers enclosing hers.
+
+'It's easy ter see you've never done no work!' she said, half admiring,
+half envious. 'I s'pose you're a tip-top swell, ain't you?'
+
+'Oh, yes! I'm a tremendous swell indeed!' said Willoughby, ironically.
+He thought of his hundred and thirty pounds' salary; and he mentioned
+his position in the British and Colonial Banking house, without shedding
+much illumination on her mind, for she insisted:
+
+'Well, anyhow, you're a gentleman. I've often wished I was a lady. It
+must be so nice ter wear fine clo'es an' never have ter do any work all
+day long.'
+
+Willoughby thought it innocent of the girl to say this; it reminded him
+of his own notion as a child--that kings and queens put on their crowns
+the first thing on rising in the morning. His cordiality rose another
+degree.
+
+'If being a gentleman means having nothing to do,' said he, smiling,
+'I can certainly lay no claim to the title. Life isn't all beer and
+skittles with me, any more than it is with you. Which is the better
+reason for enjoying the present moment, don't you think? Suppose, now,
+like a kind little girl, you were to show me the way to Beacon Point,
+which you say is so pretty?'
+
+She required no further persuasion. As he walked beside her through the
+upland fields where the dusk was beginning to fall, and the white
+evening moths to emerge from their daytime hiding-places, she asked him
+many personal questions, most of which he thought fit to parry. Taking
+no offence thereat, she told him, instead, much concerning herself and
+her family. Thus he learned her name was Esther Stables, that she and
+her people lived Whitechapel way; that her father was seldom sober, and
+her mother always ill; and that the aunt with whom she was staying kept
+the post-office and general shop in Orton village. He learned, too, that
+Esther was discontented with life in general; that, though she hated
+being at home, she found the country dreadfully dull; and that,
+consequently, she was extremely glad to have made his acquaintance. But
+what he chiefly realized when they parted was that he had spent a couple
+of pleasant hours talking nonsense with a girl who was natural,
+simple-minded, and entirely free from that repellently protective
+atmosphere with which a woman of the 'classes' so carefully surrounds
+herself. He and Esther had 'made friends' with the ease and rapidity of
+children before they have learned the dread meaning of 'etiquette', and
+they said good night, not without some talk of meeting each other again.
+
+Obliged to breakfast at a quarter to eight in town, Willoughby was
+always luxuriously late when in the country, where he took his meals
+also in leisurely fashion, often reading from a book propped up on the
+table before him. But the morning after his meeting with Esther Stables
+found him less disposed to read than usual. Her image obtruded itself
+upon the printed page, and at length grew so importunate he came to the
+conclusion the only way to lay it was to confront it with the girl
+herself.
+
+Wanting some tobacco, he saw a good reason for going into Orton. Esther
+had told him he could get tobacco and everything else at her aunt's. He
+found the post-office to be one of the first houses in the widely spaced
+village street. In front of the cottage was a small garden ablaze with
+old-fashioned flowers; and in a large garden at one side were
+apple-trees, raspberry and currant bushes, and six thatched beehives on
+a bench. The bowed windows of the little shop were partly screened by
+sunblinds; nevertheless the lower panes still displayed a heterogeneous
+collection of goods--lemons, hanks of yarn, white linen buttons upon
+blue cards, sugar cones, churchwarden pipes, and tobacco jars. A
+letter-box opened its narrow mouth low down in one wall, and over the
+door swung the sign, 'Stamps and money-order office', in black letters
+on white enamelled iron.
+
+The interior of the shop was cool and dark. A second glass-door at the
+back permitted Willoughby to see into a small sitting-room, and out
+again through a low and square-paned window to the sunny landscape
+beyond. Silhouetted against the light were the heads of two women; the
+rough young head of yesterday's Esther, the lean outline and bugled cap
+of Esther's aunt.
+
+It was the latter who at the jingling of the doorbell rose from her work
+and came forward to serve the customer; but the girl, with much mute
+meaning in her eyes, and a finger laid upon her smiling mouth, followed
+behind. Her aunt heard her footfall. 'What do you want here, Esther?'
+she said with thin disapproval; 'get back to your sewing.'
+
+Esther gave the young man a signal seen only by him and slipped out into
+the side-garden, where he found her when his purchases were made. She
+leaned over the privet-hedge to intercept him as he passed.
+
+'Aunt's an awful ole maid,' she remarked apologetically; 'I b'lieve
+she'd never let me say a word to enny one if she could help it.'
+
+'So you got home all right last night?' Willoughby inquired; 'what did
+your aunt say to you?'
+
+'Oh, she arst me where I'd been, and I tolder a lotter lies.' Then, with
+a woman's intuition, perceiving that this speech jarred, Esther made
+haste to add, 'She's so dreadful hard on me. I dursn't tell her I'd been
+with a gentleman or she'd never have let me out alone again.'
+
+'And at present I suppose you'll be found somewhere about that same
+stile every evening?' said Willoughby foolishly, for he really did not
+much care whether he met her again or not. Now he was actually in her
+company, he was surprised at himself for having given her a whole
+morning's thought; yet the eagerness of her answer flattered him, too.
+
+'Tonight I can't come, worse luck! It's Thursday, and the shops here
+close of a Thursday at five. I'll havter keep aunt company. But
+tomorrer? I can be there tomorrer. You'll come, say?'
+
+'Esther!' cried a vexed voice, and the precise, right-minded aunt
+emerged through a row of raspberry-bushes; 'whatever are you thinking
+about, delayin' the gentleman in this fashion?' She was full of rustic
+and official civility for 'the gentleman', but indignant with her niece.
+'I don't want none of your London manners down here,' Willoughby heard
+her say as she marched the girl off.
+
+He himself was not sorry to be released from Esther's too friendly eyes,
+and he spent an agreeable evening over a book, and this time managed to
+forget her completely.
+
+Though he remembered her first thing next morning, it was to smile
+wisely and determine he would not meet her again. Yet by dinner-time the
+day seemed long; why, after all, should he not meet her? By tea-time
+prudence triumphed anew--no, he would not go. Then he drank his tea
+hastily and set off for the stile.
+
+Esther was waiting for him. Expectation had given an additional colour
+to her cheeks, and her red-brown hair showed here and there a beautiful
+glint of gold. He could not help admiring the vigorous way in which it
+waved and twisted, or the little curls which grew at the nape of her
+neck, tight and close as those of a young lamb's fleece. Her neck here
+was admirable, too, in its smooth creaminess; and when her eyes lighted
+up with such evident pleasure at his coming, how avoid the conviction
+she was a good and nice girl after all?
+
+He proposed they should go down into the little copse on the right,
+where they would be less disturbed by the occasional passer-by. Here,
+seated on a felled tree-trunk, Willoughby began that bantering, silly,
+meaningless form of conversation known among the 'classes' as flirting.
+He had but the wish to make himself agreeable, and to while away the
+time. Esther, however, misunderstood him.
+
+Willoughby's hand lay palm downwards on his knee, and she, noticing a
+ring which he wore on his little finger, took hold of it.
+
+'What a funny ring!' she said; 'let's look?'
+
+To disembarrass himself of her touch, he pulled the ring off and gave
+it her to examine.
+
+'What's that ugly dark green stone?' she asked.
+
+'It's called a sardonyx.'
+
+'What's it for?' she said, turning it about.
+
+'It's a signet ring, to seal letters with.'
+
+'An' there's a sorter king's head scratched on it, an' some writin' too,
+only I carnt make it out?'
+
+'It isn't the head of a king, although it wears a crown,' Willoughby
+explained, 'but the head and bust of a Saracen against whom my ancestor
+of many hundred years ago went to fight in the Holy Land. And the words
+cut round it are our motto, "Vertue vauncet", which means virtue
+prevails.'
+
+Willoughby may have displayed some accession of dignity in giving this
+bit of family history, for Esther fell into uncontrolled laughter, at
+which he was much displeased. And when the girl made as though she would
+put the ring on her own finger, asking, 'Shall I keep it?' he coloured
+up with sudden annoyance.
+
+'It was only my fun!' said Esther hastily, and gave him the ring back,
+but his cordiality was gone. He felt no inclination to renew the
+idle-word pastime, said it was time to go, and, swinging his cane
+vexedly, struck off the heads of the flowers and the weeds as he went.
+Esther walked by his side in complete silence, a phenomenon of which he
+presently became conscious. He felt rather ashamed of having shown
+temper.
+
+'Well, here's your way home,' said he with an effort at friendliness.
+'Goodbye; we've had a nice evening anyhow. It was pleasant down there
+in the woods, eh?'
+
+He was astonished to see her eyes soften with tears, and to hear the
+real emotion in her voice as she answered, 'It was just heaven down
+there with you until you turned so funny-like. What had I done to make
+you cross? Say you forgive me, do!'
+
+'Silly child!' said Willoughby, completely mollified, 'I'm not the least
+angry. There, goodbye!' and like a fool he kissed her.
+
+He anathematized his folly in the white light of next morning, and,
+remembering the kiss he had given her, repented it very sincerely. He
+had an uncomfortable suspicion she had not received it in the same
+spirit in which it had been bestowed, but, attaching more serious
+meaning to it, would build expectations thereon which must be left
+unfulfilled. It was best indeed not to meet her again; for he
+acknowledged to himself that, though he only half liked, and even
+slightly feared her, there was a certain attraction about her--was it in
+her dark unflinching eyes or in her very red lips?--which might lead him
+into greater follies still.
+
+Thus it came about that for two successive evenings Esther waited for
+him in vain, and on the third evening he said to himself, with a
+grudging relief, that by this time she had probably transferred her
+affections to someone else.
+
+It was Saturday, the second Saturday since he left town. He spent the
+day about the farm, contemplated the pigs, inspected the feeding of the
+stock, and assisted at the afternoon milking. Then at evening, with a
+refilled pipe, he went for a long lean over the west gate, while he
+traced fantastic pictures and wove romances in the glories of the sunset
+clouds.
+
+He watched the colours glow from gold to scarlet, change to crimson,
+sink at last to sad purple reefs and isles, when the sudden
+consciousness of someone being near him made him turn round. There
+stood Esther, and her eyes were full of eagerness and anger.
+
+'Why have you never been to the stile again?' she asked him. 'You
+promised to come faithful, and you never came. Why have you not kep'
+your promise? Why? Why?' she persisted, stamping her foot because
+Willoughby remained silent.
+
+What could he say? Tell her she had no business to follow him like this;
+or own, what was, unfortunately, the truth, he was just a little glad to
+see her?
+
+'Praps you don't care for me any more?' she said. 'Well, why did you
+kiss me, then?'
+
+Why, indeed! thought Willoughby, marvelling at his own idiocy, and
+yet--such is the inconsistency of man--not wholly without the desire to
+kiss her again. And while he looked at her she suddenly flung herself
+down on the hedge-bank at his feet and burst into tears. She did not
+cover up her face, but simply pressed one cheek down upon the grass
+while the water poured from her eyes with astonishing abundance.
+Willoughby saw the dry earth turn dark and moist as it drank the tears
+in. This, his first experience of Esther's powers of weeping, distressed
+him horribly; never in his life before had he seen anyone weep like
+that, he should not have believed such a thing possible; he was alarmed,
+too, lest she should be noticed from the house. He opened the gate;
+'Esther!' he begged, 'don't cry. Come out here, like a dear girl, and
+let us talk sensibly.'
+
+Because she stumbled, unable to see her way through wet eyes, he gave
+her his hand, and they found themselves in a field of corn, walking
+along the narrow grass-path that skirted it, in the shadow of the
+hedgerow.
+
+'What is there to cry about because you have not seen me for two days?'
+he began; 'why, Esther, we are only strangers, after all. When we have
+been at home a week or two we shall scarcely remember each other's
+names.'
+
+Esther sobbed at intervals, but her tears had ceased. 'It's fine for you
+to talk of home,' she said to this. 'You've got something that is a
+home, I s'pose? But me! my home's like hell, with nothing but
+quarrellin' and cursin', and a father who beats us whether sober or
+drunk. Yes!' she repeated shrewdly, seeing the lively disgust on
+Willoughby's face, 'he beat me, all ill as I was, jus' before I come
+away. I could show you the bruises on my arms still. And now to go back
+there after knowin' you! It'll be worse than ever. I can't endure it,
+and I won't! I'll put an end to it or myself somehow, I swear!'
+
+'But my poor Esther, how can I help it? what can I do?' said Willoughby.
+He was greatly moved, full of wrath with her father, with all the world
+which makes women suffer. He had suffered himself at the hands of a
+woman and severely, but this, instead of hardening his heart, had only
+rendered it the more supple. And yet he had a vivid perception of the
+peril in which he stood. An interior voice urged him to break away, to
+seek safety in flight even at the cost of appearing cruel or ridiculous;
+so, coming to a point in the field where an elm-hole jutted out across
+the path, he saw with relief he could now withdraw his hand from the
+girl's, since they must walk singly to skirt round it.
+
+Esther took a step in advance, stopped and suddenly turned to face him;
+she held out her two hands and her face was very near his own.
+
+'Don't you care for me one little bit?' she said wistfully, and surely
+sudden madness fell upon him. For he kissed her again, he kissed her
+many times, he took her in his arms, and pushed all thoughts of the
+consequences far from him.
+
+But when, an hour later, he and Esther stood by the last gate on the
+road to Orton, some of these consequences were already calling loudly to
+him.
+
+'You know I have only £130 a year?' he told her; 'it's no very brilliant
+prospect for you to marry me on that.'
+
+For he had actually offered her marriage, although to the mediocre
+man such a proceeding must appear incredible, uncalled for. But to
+Willoughby, overwhelmed with sadness and remorse, it seemed the only
+atonement possible.
+
+Sudden exultation leaped at Esther's heart.
+
+'Oh! I'm used to managing' she told him confidently, and mentally
+resolved to buy herself, so soon as she was married, a black feather
+boa, such as she had coveted last winter.
+
+Willoughby spent the remaining days of his holiday in thinking out and
+planning with Esther the details of his return to London and her own,
+the secrecy to be observed, the necessary legal steps to be taken, and
+the quiet suburb in which they would set up housekeeping. And, so
+successfully did he carry out his arrangements, that within five weeks
+from the day on which he had first met Esther Stables, he and she came
+out one morning from a church in Highbury, husband and wife. It was a
+mellow September day, the streets were filled with sunshine, and
+Willoughby, in reckless high spirits, imagined he saw a reflection of
+his own gaiety on the indifferent faces of the passersby. There being no
+one else to perform the office, he congratulated himself very warmly,
+and Esther's frequent laughter filled in the pauses of the day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Three months later Willoughby was dining with a friend, and the
+hour-hand of the clock nearing ten, the host no longer resisted the
+guest's growing anxiety to be gone. He arose and exchanged with him
+good wishes and goodbyes.
+
+'Marriage is evidently a most successful institution,' said he,
+half-jesting, half-sincere; 'you almost make me inclined to go and get
+married myself. Confess now your thoughts have been at home the whole
+evening.'
+
+Willoughby thus addressed turned red to the roots of his hair, but did
+not deny it.
+
+The other laughed. 'And very commendable they should be,' he continued,
+'since you are scarcely, so to speak, out of your honeymoon.'
+
+With a social smile on his lips, Willoughby calculated a moment before
+replying, 'I have been married exactly three months and three days.'
+Then, after a few words respecting their next meeting, the two shook
+hands and parted--the young host to finish the evening with books and
+pipe, the young husband to set out on a twenty minutes' walk to his
+home.
+
+It was a cold, clear December night following a day of rain. A touch of
+frost in the air had dried the pavements, and Willoughby's footfall
+ringing upon the stones re-echoed down the empty suburban street. Above
+his head was a dark, remote sky thickly powdered with stars, and as he
+turned westward Alpherat hung for a moment 'comme le point sur un _i_',
+over the slender spire of St John's. But he was insensible to the worlds
+about him; he was absorbed in his own thoughts, and these, as his friend
+had surmised, were entirely with his wife. For Esther's face was always
+before his eyes, her voice was always in his ears, she filled the
+universe for him; yet only four months ago he had never seen her, had
+never heard her name. This was the curious part of it--here in December
+he found himself the husband of a girl who was completely dependent upon
+him not only for food, clothes, and lodging, but for her present
+happiness, her whole future life; and last July he had been scarcely
+more than a boy himself, with no greater care on his mind than the
+pleasant difficulty of deciding where he should spend his annual three
+weeks' holiday.
+
+But it is events, not months or years, which age. Willoughby, who
+was only twenty-six, remembered his youth as a sometime companion
+irrevocably lost to him; its vague, delightful hopes were now
+crystallized into definite ties, and its happy irresponsibilities
+displaced by a sense of care, inseparable perhaps from the most
+fortunate of marriages.
+
+As he reached the street in which he lodged his pace involuntarily
+slackened. While still some distance off, his eye sought out and
+distinguished the windows of the room in which Esther awaited him.
+Through the broken slats of the Venetian blinds he could see the yellow
+gaslight within. The parlour beneath was in darkness; his landlady had
+evidently gone to bed, there being no light over the hall-door either.
+In some apprehension he consulted his watch under the last street-lamp
+he passed, to find comfort in assuring himself it was only ten minutes
+after ten. He let himself in with his latch-key, hung up his hat and
+overcoat by the sense of touch, and, groping his way upstairs, opened
+the door of the first floor sitting-room.
+
+At the table in the centre of the room sat his wife, leaning upon her
+elbows, her two hands thrust up into her ruffled hair; spread out before
+her was a crumpled yesterday's newspaper, and so interested was she to
+all appearance in its contents that she neither spoke nor looked up as
+Willoughby entered. Around her were the still uncleared tokens of her
+last meal: tea-slops, bread-crumbs, and an egg-shell crushed to
+fragments upon a plate, which was one of those trifles that set
+Willoughby's teeth on edge--whenever his wife ate an egg she persisted
+in turning the egg-cup upside down upon the tablecloth, and pounding the
+shell to pieces in her plate with her spoon.
+
+The room was repulsive in its disorder. The one lighted burner of the
+gaselier, turned too high, hissed up into a long tongue of flame. The
+fire smoked feebly under a newly administered shovelful of 'slack', and
+a heap of ashes and cinders littered the grate. A pair of walking boots,
+caked in dry mud, lay on the hearth-rug just where they had been thrown
+off. On the mantelpiece, amidst a dozen other articles which had no
+business there, was a bedroom-candlestick; and every single article of
+furniture stood crookedly out of its place.
+
+Willoughby took in the whole intolerable picture, and yet spoke with
+kindliness. 'Well, Esther! I'm not so late, after all. I hope you did
+not find the time dull by yourself?' Then he explained the reason of his
+absence. He had met a friend he had not seen for a couple of years, who
+had insisted on taking him home to dine.
+
+His wife gave no sign of having heard him; she kept her eyes riveted on
+the paper before her.
+
+'You received my wire, of course,' Willoughby went on, 'and did not
+wait?'
+
+Now she crushed the newspaper up with a passionate movement, and threw
+it from her. She raised her head, showing cheeks blazing with anger, and
+dark, sullen, unflinching eyes.
+
+'I did wyte then!' she cried 'I wyted till near eight before I got
+your old telegraph! I s'pose that's what you call the manners of a
+"gentleman", to keep your wife mewed up here, while you go gallivantin'
+off with your fine friends?'
+
+Whenever Esther was angry, which was often, she taunted Willoughby with
+being 'a gentleman', although this was the precise point about him which
+at other times found most favour in her eyes. But tonight she was
+envenomed by the idea he had been enjoying himself without her, stung
+by fear lest he should have been in company with some other woman.
+
+Willoughby, hearing the taunt, resigned himself to the inevitable.
+Nothing that he could do might now avert the breaking storm; all his
+words would only be twisted into fresh griefs. But sad experience had
+taught him that to take refuge in silence was more fatal still. When
+Esther was in such a mood as this it was best to supply the fire with
+fuel, that, through the very violence of the conflagration, it might
+the sooner burn itself out.
+
+So he said what soothing things he could, and Esther caught them up,
+disfigured them, and flung them back at him with scorn. She reproached
+him with no longer caring for her; she vituperated the conduct of his
+family in never taking the smallest notice of her marriage; and she
+detailed the insolence of the landlady who had told her that morning she
+pitied 'poor Mr. Willoughby', and had refused to go out and buy herrings
+for Esther's early dinner.
+
+Every affront or grievance, real or imaginary, since the day she and
+Willoughby had first met, she poured forth with a fluency due to
+frequent repetition, for, with the exception of today's added injuries,
+Willoughby had heard the whole litany many times before.
+
+While she raged and he looked at her, he remembered he had once thought
+her pretty. He had seen beauty in her rough brown hair, her strong
+colouring, her full red mouth. He fell into musing ... a woman may lack
+beauty, he told himself, and yet be loved....
+
+Meanwhile Esther reached white heats of passion, and the strain could no
+longer be sustained. She broke into sobs and began to shed tears with
+the facility peculiar to her. In a moment her face was all wet with the
+big drops which rolled down her cheeks faster and faster, and fell with
+audible splashes on to the table, on to her lap, on to the floor. To
+this tearful abundance, formerly a surprising spectacle, Willoughby
+was now acclimatized; but the remnant of chivalrous feeling not yet
+extinguished in his bosom forbade him to sit stolidly by while a woman
+wept, without seeking to console her. As on previous occasions, his
+peace-overtures were eventually accepted. Esther's tears gradually
+ceased to flow, she began to exhibit a sort of compunction, she wished
+to be forgiven, and, with the kiss of reconciliation, passed into a
+phase of demonstrative affection perhaps more trying to Willoughby's
+patience than all that had preceded it. 'You don't love me?' she
+questioned, 'I'm sure you don't love me?' she reiterated; and he
+asseverated that he loved her until he despised himself. Then at last,
+only half satisfied, but wearied out with vexation--possibly, too, with
+a movement of pity at the sight of his haggard face--she consented to
+leave him. Only, what was he going to do? she asked suspiciously; write
+those rubbishing stories of his? Well, he must promise not to stay up
+more than half-an-hour at the latest--only until he had smoked one pipe.
+
+Willoughby promised, as he would have promised anything on earth to
+secure to himself a half-hour's peace and solitude. Esther groped for
+her slippers, which were kicked off under the table; scratched four or
+five matches along the box and threw them away before she succeeded in
+lighting her candle; set it down again to contemplate her tear-swollen
+reflection in the chimney-glass, and burst out laughing.
+
+'What a fright I do look, to be sure!' she remarked complacently, and
+again thrust her two hands up through her disordered curls. Then,
+holding the candle at such an angle that the grease ran over on to the
+carpet, she gave Willoughby another vehement kiss and trailed out of the
+room with an ineffectual attempt to close the door behind her.
+
+Willoughby got up to shut it himself, and wondered why it was that
+Esther never did any one mortal thing efficiently or well. Good God! how
+irritable he felt. It was impossible to write. He must find an outlet
+for his impatience, rend or mend something. He began to straighten the
+room, but a wave of disgust came over him before the task was fairly
+commenced. What was the use? Tomorrow all would be bad as before. What
+was the use of doing anything? He sat down by the table and leaned his
+head upon his hands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The past came back to him in pictures: his boyhood's past first of all.
+He saw again the old home, every inch of which was familiar to him as
+his own name; he reconstructed in his thought all the old well-known
+furniture, and replaced it precisely as it had stood long ago. He passed
+again a childish finger over the rough surface of the faded Utrecht
+velvet chairs, and smelled again the strong fragrance of the white lilac
+tree, blowing in through the open parlour-window. He savoured anew the
+pleasant mental atmosphere produced by the dainty neatness of cultured
+women, the companionship of a few good pictures, of a few good books.
+Yet this home had been broken up years ago, the dear familiar things had
+been scattered far and wide, never to find themselves under the same
+roof again; and from those near relatives who still remained to him he
+lived now hopelessly estranged.
+
+Then came the past of his first love-dream, when he worshipped at the
+feet of Nora Beresford, and, with the whole-heartedness of the true
+fanatic, clothed his idol with every imaginable attribute of virtue and
+tenderness. To this day there remained a secret shrine in his heart
+wherein the Lady of his young ideal was still enthroned, although it was
+long since he had come to perceive she had nothing whatever in common
+with the Nora of reality. For the real Nora he had no longer any
+sentiment, she had passed altogether out of his life and thoughts; and
+yet, so permanent is all influence, whether good or evil, that the
+effect she wrought upon his character remained. He recognized tonight
+that her treatment of him in the past did not count for nothing among
+the various factors which had determined his fate.
+
+Now, the past of only last year returned, and, strangely enough, this
+seemed farther removed from him than all the rest. He had been
+particularly strong, well, and happy this time last year. Nora was
+dismissed from his mind, and he had thrown all his energies into his
+work. His tastes were sane and simple, and his dingy, furnished rooms
+had become through habit very pleasant to him. In being his own, they
+were invested with a greater charm than another man's castle. Here he
+had smoked and studied, here he had made many a glorious voyage into the
+land of books. Many a homecoming, too, rose up before him out of the
+dark ungenial streets, to a clear blazing fire, a neatly laid cloth, an
+evening of ideal enjoyment; many a summer twilight when he mused at the
+open window, plunging his gaze deep into the recesses of his neighbour's
+lime-tree, where the unseen sparrows chattered with such unflagging
+gaiety.
+
+He had always been given to much daydreaming, and it was in the silence
+of his rooms of an evening that he turned his phantasmal adventures into
+stories for the magazines; here had come to him many an editorial
+refusal, but here, too, he had received the news of his first unexpected
+success. All his happiest memories were embalmed in those shabby,
+badly-furnished rooms.
+
+Now all was changed. Now might there be no longer any soft indulgence
+of the hour's mood. His rooms and everything he owned belonged now to
+Esther, too. She had objected to most of his photographs, and had
+removed them. She hated books, and were he ever so ill-advised as to
+open one in her presence, she immediately began to talk, no matter how
+silent or how sullen her previous mood had been. If he read aloud to her
+she either yawned despairingly, or was tickled into laughter where there
+was no reasonable cause. At first Willoughby had tried to educate her,
+and had gone hopefully to the task. It is so natural to think you may
+make what you will of the woman who loves you. But Esther had no wish to
+improve. She evinced all the self-satisfaction of an illiterate mind. To
+her husband's gentle admonitions she replied with brevity that she
+thought her way quite as good as his; or, if he didn't approve of her
+pronunciation, he might do the other thing, she was too old to go to
+school again. He gave up the attempt, and, with humiliation at his
+previous fatuity, perceived that it was folly to expect that a few weeks
+of his companionship could alter or pull up the impressions of years, or
+rather of generations.
+
+Yet here he paused to admit a curious thing: it was not only Esther's
+bad habits which vexed him, but habits quite unblameworthy in themselves
+which he never would have noticed in another, irritated him in her. He
+disliked her manner of standing, of walking, of sitting in a chair, of
+folding her hands. Like a lover, he was conscious of her proximity
+without seeing her. Like a lover, too, his eyes followed her every
+movement, his ear noted every change in her voice. But then, instead of
+being charmed by everything as the lover is, everything jarred upon him.
+
+What was the meaning of this? Tonight the anomaly pressed upon him: he
+reviewed his position. Here was he, quite a young man, just twenty-six
+years of age, married to Esther, and bound to live with her so long as
+life should last--twenty, forty, perhaps fifty years more. Every day of
+those years to be spent in her society; he and she face to face, soul to
+soul; they two alone amid all the whirling, busy, indifferent world. So
+near together in semblance; in truth, so far apart as regards all that
+makes life dear.
+
+Willoughby groaned. From the woman he did not love, whom he had never
+loved, he might not again go free; so much he recognized. The feeling he
+had once entertained for Esther, strange compound of mistaken chivalry
+and flattered vanity, was long since extinct; but what, then, was the
+sentiment with which she inspired him? For he was not indifferent to
+her--no, never for one instant could he persuade himself he was
+indifferent, never for one instant could he banish her from his
+thoughts. His mind's eye followed her during his hours of absence as
+pertinaciously as his bodily eye dwelt upon her actual presence. She was
+the principal object of the universe to him, the centre around which his
+wheel of life revolved with an appalling fidelity.
+
+What did it mean? What could it mean? he asked himself with anguish.
+
+And the sweat broke out upon his forehead and his hands grew cold, for
+on a sudden the truth lay there like a written word upon the tablecloth
+before him. This woman, whom he had taken to himself for better, for
+worse, inspired him with a passion, intense indeed, all-masterful,
+soul-subduing as Love itself.... But when he understood the terror of
+his Hatred, he laid his head upon his arms and wept, not facile tears
+like Esther's, but tears wrung out from his agonizing, unavailing
+regret.
+
+
+
+
+'A POOR STICK'
+
+By Arthur Morrison
+
+(_Tales of Mean Streets_, London: Methuen and Co., 1894) Published by
+permission of Methuen and Co.
+
+
+Mrs. Jennings (or Jinnins, as the neighbours would have it) ruled
+absolutely at home, when she took so much trouble as to do anything at
+all there--which was less often than might have been. As for Robert her
+husband, he was a poor stick, said the neighbours. And yet he was a man
+with enough of hardihood to remain a non-unionist in the erectors' shop
+at Maidment's all the years of his service; no mean test of a man's
+fortitude and resolution, as many a sufferer for independent opinion
+might testify. The truth was that Bob never grew out of his
+courtship-blindness. Mrs. Jennings governed as she pleased, stayed out
+or came home as she chose, and cooked a dinner or didn't, as her
+inclination stood. Thus it was for ten years, during which time there
+were no children, and Bob bore all things uncomplaining: cooking his own
+dinner when he found none cooked, and sewing on his own buttons. Then of
+a sudden came children, till in three years there were three; and Bob
+Jennings had to nurse and to wash them as often as not.
+
+Mrs. Jennings at this time was what is called rather a fine woman: a
+woman of large scale and full development; whose slatternly habit left
+her coarse black hair to tumble in snake-locks about her face and
+shoulders half the day; who, clad in half-hooked clothes, bore herself
+notoriously and unabashed in her fullness; and of whom ill things were
+said regarding the lodger. The gossips had their excuse. The lodger was
+an irregular young cabinet-maker, who lost quarters and halves and whole
+days; who had been seen abroad with his landlady, what time Bob Jennings
+was putting the children to bed at home; who on his frequent holidays
+brought in much beer, which he and the woman shared, while Bob was at
+work. To carry the tale to Bob would have been a thankless errand, for
+he would have none of anybody's sympathy, even in regard to miseries
+plain to his eye. But the thing got about in the workshop, and there
+his days were made bitter.
+
+At home things grew worse. To return at half-past five, and find the
+children still undressed, screaming, hungry and dirty, was a matter of
+habit: to get them food, to wash them, to tend the cuts and bumps
+sustained through the day of neglect, before lighting a fire and getting
+tea for himself, were matters of daily duty. 'Ah,' he said to his
+sister, who came at intervals to say plain things about Mrs. Jennings,
+'you shouldn't go for to set a man agin 'is wife, Jin. Melier do'n' like
+work, I know, but that's nach'ral to 'er. She ought to married a swell
+'stead o' me; she might 'a' done easy if she liked, bein' sich a fine
+gal; but she's good-'arted, is Melier; an' she can't 'elp bein' a bit
+thoughtless.' Whereat his sister called him a fool (it was her customary
+goodbye at such times), and took herself off.
+
+Bob Jennings's intelligence was sufficient for his common needs, but it
+was never a vast intelligence. Now, under a daily burden of dull misery,
+it clouded and stooped. The base wit of the workshop he comprehended
+less, and realized more slowly, than before; and the gaffer cursed him
+for a sleepy dolt.
+
+Mrs. Jennings ceased from any pretence of housewifery, and would
+sometimes sit--perchance not quite sober--while Bob washed the children
+in the evening, opening her mouth only to express her contempt for him
+and his establishment, and to make him understand that she was sick of
+both. Once, exasperated by his quietness, she struck at him, and for a
+moment he was another man. 'Don't do that, Melier,' he said, 'else I
+might forget myself.' His manner surprised his wife: and it was such
+that she never did do that again.
+
+So was Bob Jennings: without a friend in the world, except his sister,
+who chid him, and the children, who squalled at him: when his wife
+vanished with the lodger, the clock, a shade of wax flowers, Bob's best
+boots (which fitted the lodger), and his silver watch. Bob had returned,
+as usual, to the dirt and the children, and it was only when he struck a
+light that he found the clock was gone.
+
+'Mummy tooked ve t'ock,' said Milly, the eldest child, who had followed
+him in from the door, and now gravely observed his movements. 'She
+tooked ve t'ock an' went ta-ta. An' she tooked ve fyowers.'
+
+Bob lit the paraffin lamp with the green glass reservoir, and carried
+it and its evil smell about the house. Some things had been turned over
+and others had gone, plainly. All Melier's clothes were gone. The lodger
+was not in, and under his bedroom window, where his box had stood, there
+was naught but an oblong patch of conspicuously clean wallpaper. In a
+muddle of doubt and perplexity, Bob found himself at the front door,
+staring up and down the street. Divers women-neighbours stood at their
+doors, and eyed him curiously; for Mrs. Webster, moralist, opposite, had
+not watched the day's proceedings (nor those of many other days) for
+nothing, nor had she kept her story to herself.
+
+He turned back into the house, a vague notion of what had befallen
+percolating feebly through his bewilderment. 'I dunno--I dunno,' he
+faltered, rubbing his ear. His mouth was dry, and he moved his lips
+uneasily, as he gazed with aimless looks about the walls and ceiling.
+Presently his eyes rested on the child, and 'Milly,' he said decisively,
+'come an 'ave yer face washed.'
+
+He put the children to bed early, and went out. In the morning, when his
+sister came, because she had heard the news in common with everybody
+else, he had not returned. Bob Jennings had never lost more than two
+quarters in his life, but he was not seen at the workshop all this day.
+His sister stayed in the house, and in the evening, at his regular
+homing-time, he appeared, haggard and dusty, and began his preparations
+for washing the children. When he was made to understand that they had
+been already attended to, he looked doubtful and troubled for a moment.
+Presently he said: 'I ain't found 'er yet, Jin; I was in 'opes she might
+'a' bin back by this. I--I don't expect she'll be very long. She was
+alwis a bit larky, was Melier; but very good-'arted.'
+
+His sister had prepared a strenuous lecture on the theme of 'I told you
+so'; but the man was so broken, so meek, and so plainly unhinged in his
+faculties, that she suppressed it. Instead, she gave him comfortable
+talk, and made him promise in the end to sleep that night, and take up
+his customary work in the morning.
+
+He did these things, and could have worked placidly enough had he but
+been alone; but the tale had reached the workshop, and there was no lack
+of brutish chaff to disorder him. This the decenter men would have no
+part in, and even protested against. But the ill-conditioned kept their
+way, till, at the cry of 'Bell O!' when all were starting for dinner,
+one of the worst shouted the cruellest gibe of all. Bob Jennings turned
+on him and knocked him over a scrap-heap.
+
+A shout went up from the hurrying workmen, with a chorus of 'Serve ye
+right,' and the fallen joker found himself awkwardly confronted by the
+shop bruiser. But Bob had turned to a corner, and buried his eyes in the
+bend of his arm, while his shoulders heaved and shook.
+
+He slunk away home, and stayed there: walking restlessly to and fro, and
+often peeping down the street from the window. When, at twilight, his
+sister came again, he had become almost cheerful, and said with some
+briskness: 'I'm agoin' to meet 'er, Jin, at seven. I know where she'll
+be waitin'.'
+
+He went upstairs, and after a little while came down again in his best
+black coat, carefully smoothing a tall hat of obsolete shape with his
+pocket-handkerchief. 'I ain't wore it for years,' he said. 'I ought to
+'a' wore it--it might 'a' pleased 'er. She used to say she wouldn't walk
+with me in no other--when I used to meet 'er in the evenin', at seven
+o'clock.' He brushed assiduously, and put the hat on. 'I'd better 'ave
+a shave round the corner as I go along,' he added, fingering his stubbly
+chin.
+
+He received as one not comprehending his sister's persuasion to remain
+at home; but when he went she followed at a little distance. After his
+penny shave he made for the main road, where company-keeping couples
+walked up and down all evening. He stopped at a church, and began pacing
+slowly to and fro before it, eagerly looking out each way as he went.
+
+His sister watched him for nearly half an hour, and then went home. In
+two hours more she came back with her husband. Bob was still there,
+walking to and fro.
+
+''Ullo, Bob,' said his brother-in-law; 'come along 'ome an' get to bed,
+there's a good chap. You'll be awright in the mornin'.'
+
+'She ain't turned up,' Bob complained, 'or else I've missed 'er. This
+is the reg'lar place--where I alwis used to meet 'er. But she'll come
+tomorrer. She used to leave me in the lurch sometimes, bein' nach'rally
+larky. But very good-'arted, mindjer; very good-'arted.'
+
+She did not come the next evening, nor the next, nor the evening after,
+nor the one after that. But Bob Jennings, howbeit depressed and anxious,
+was always confident. 'Somethink's prevented 'er tonight,' he would say,
+'but she'll come tomorrer.... I'll buy a blue tie tomorrer--she used to
+like me in a blue tie. I won't miss 'er tomorrer. I'll come a little
+earlier.'
+
+So it went. The black coat grew ragged in the service, and hobbledehoys,
+finding him safe sport, smashed the tall hat over his eyes time after
+time. He wept over the hat, and straightened it as best he might. Was
+she coming? Night after night, and night and night. But tomorrow....
+
+
+
+
+THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBEY GRANGE
+
+By Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+(_The Strand Magazine_, 23 January 1897)
+
+
+It was on a bitterly cold night and frosty morning, towards the end of
+the winter of '97, that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It
+was Holmes. The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face,
+and told me at a glance that something was amiss.
+
+'Come, Watson, come!' he cried. The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your
+clothes and come!'
+
+Ten minutes later we were both in a cab, and rattling through the silent
+streets on our way to Charing Cross Station. The first faint winter's
+dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional
+figure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in
+the opalescent London reek. Holmes nestled in silence into his heavy
+coat, and I was glad to do the same, for the air was most bitter, and
+neither of us had broken our fast.
+
+It was not until we had consumed some hot tea at the station and taken
+our places in the Kentish train that we were sufficiently thawed, he to
+speak and I to listen. Holmes drew a note from his pocket, and read
+aloud:
+
+Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent
+
+3:30 A.M.
+
+My Dear Mr. Holmes:
+
+I should be very glad of your immediate assistance in what promises to
+be a most remarkable case. It is something quite in your line. Except
+for releasing the lady I will see that everything is kept exactly as I
+have found it, but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult
+to leave Sir Eustace there.
+
+Yours faithfully,
+
+STANLEY HOPKINS
+
+'Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons
+has been entirely justified,' said Holmes. 'I fancy that every one of
+his cases has found its way into your collection, and I must admit,
+Watson, that you have some power of selection, which atones for much
+which I deplore in your narratives. Your fatal habit of looking at
+everything from the point of view of a story instead of as a scientific
+exercise has ruined what might have been an instructive and even
+classical series of demonstrations. You slur over work of the utmost
+finesse and delicacy, in order to dwell upon sensational details which
+may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader.'
+
+'Why do you not write them yourself?' I said, with some bitterness.
+
+'I will, my dear Watson, I will. At present I am, as you know, fairly
+busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the composition of
+a textbook, which shall focus the whole art of detection into one volume.
+Our present research appears to be a case of murder.'
+
+'You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?'
+
+'I should say so. Hopkins's writing shows considerable agitation, and he
+is not an emotional man. Yes, I gather there has been violence, and that
+the body is left for our inspection. A mere suicide would not have
+caused him to send for me. As to the release of the lady, it would
+appear that she has been locked in her room during the tragedy. We are
+moving in high life, Watson, crackling paper, 'E.B.' monogram,
+coat-of-arms, picturesque address. I think that friend Hopkins will live
+up to his reputation, and that we shall have an interesting morning. The
+crime was committed before twelve last night.'
+
+'How can you possibly tell?'
+
+'By an inspection of the trains, and by reckoning the time. The local
+police had to be called in, they had to communicate with Scotland Yard,
+Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had to send for me. All that makes
+a fair night's work. Well, here we are at Chislehurst Station, and we
+shall soon set our doubts at rest.'
+
+A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes brought us
+to a park gate, which was opened for us by an old lodge-keeper, whose
+haggard face bore the reflection of some great disaster. The avenue ran
+through a noble park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in a
+low, widespread house, pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio.
+The central part was evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but
+the large windows showed that modern changes had been carried out, and
+one wing of the house appeared to be entirely new. The youthful figure
+and alert, eager face of Inspector Stanley Hopkins confronted us in the
+open doorway.
+
+'I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes. And you, too, Dr. Watson. But,
+indeed, if I had my time over again, I should not have troubled you, for
+since the lady has come to herself, she has given so clear an account of
+the affair that there is not much left for us to do. You remember that
+Lewisham gang of burglars?'
+
+'What, the three Randalls?'
+
+'Exactly; the father and two sons. It's their work. I have not a doubt
+of it. They did a job at Sydenham a fortnight ago and were seen and
+described. Rather cool to do another so soon and so near, but it is
+they, beyond all doubt. It's a hanging matter this time.'
+
+'Sir Eustace is dead, then?'
+
+'Yes, his head was knocked in with his own poker.'
+
+'Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me.'
+
+'Exactly--one of the richest men in Kent--Lady Brackenstall is in the
+morning-room. Poor lady, she has had a most dreadful experience. She
+seemed half dead when I saw her first. I think you had best see her and
+hear her account of the facts. Then we will examine the dining-room
+together.'
+
+Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person. Seldom have I seen so graceful
+a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face. She was a
+blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would no doubt have had the
+perfect complexion which goes with such colouring, had not her recent
+experience left her drawn and haggard. Her sufferings were physical as
+well as mental, for over one eye rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling,
+which her maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with
+vinegar and water. The lady lay back exhausted upon a couch, but her
+quick, observant gaze, as we entered the room, and the alert expression
+of her beautiful features, showed that neither her wits nor her courage
+had been shaken by her terrible experience. She was enveloped in a loose
+dressing-gown of blue and silver, but a black sequin-covered
+dinner-dress lay upon the couch beside her.
+
+'I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins,' she said, wearily.
+'Could you not repeat it for me? Well, if you think it necessary, I will
+tell these gentlemen what occurred. Have they been in the dining-room
+yet?'
+
+'I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first.'
+
+'I shall be glad when you can arrange matters. It is horrible to me to
+think of him still lying there.' She shuddered and buried her face in
+her hands. As she did so, the loose gown fell back from her forearms.
+Holmes uttered an exclamation.
+
+'You have other injuries, madam! What is this?' Two vivid red spots
+stood out on one of the white, round limbs. She hastily covered it.
+
+'It is nothing. It has no connection with this hideous business tonight.
+If you and your friend will sit down, I will tell you all I can.
+
+'I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall. I have been married about
+a year. I suppose that it is no use my attempting to conceal that our
+marriage has not been a happy one. I fear that all our neighbours would
+tell you that, even if I were to attempt to deny it. Perhaps the fault
+may be partly mine. I was brought up in the freer, less conventional
+atmosphere of South Australia, and this English life, with its
+proprieties and its primness, is not congenial to me. But the main
+reason lies in the one fact, which is notorious to everyone, and that is
+that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard. To be with such a man for an
+hour is unpleasant. Can you imagine what it means for a sensitive and
+high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and night? It is a
+sacrilege, a crime, a villany to hold that such a marriage is binding.
+I say that these monstrous laws of yours will bring a curse upon the
+land--God will not let such wickedness endure.' For an instant she sat
+up, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes blazing from under the terrible
+mark upon her brow. Then the strong, soothing hand of the austere maid
+drew her head down on to the cushion, and the wild anger died away into
+passionate sobbing. At last she continued:
+
+'I will tell you about last night. You are aware, perhaps, that in this
+house all the servants sleep in the modern wing. This central block is
+made up of the dwelling-rooms, with the kitchen behind and our bedroom
+above. My maid, Theresa, sleeps above my room. There is no one else,
+and no sound could alarm those who are in the farther wing. This must
+have been well known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as
+they did.
+
+'Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten. The servants had already gone
+to their quarters. Only my maid was up, and she had remained in her room
+at the top of the house until I needed her services. I sat until after
+eleven in this room, absorbed in a book. Then I walked round to see that
+all was right before I went upstairs. It was my custom to do this
+myself, for, as I have explained, Sir Eustace was not always to be
+trusted. I went into the kitchen, the butler's pantry, the gun-room, the
+billiard-room, the drawing-room, and finally the dining-room. As I
+approached the window, which is covered with thick curtains, I suddenly
+felt the wind blow upon my face and realized that it was open. I flung
+the curtain aside and found myself face to face with a broad shouldered
+elderly man, who had just stepped into the room. The window is a long
+French one, which really forms a door leading to the lawn. I held my
+bedroom candle lit in my hand, and, by its light, behind the first man I
+saw two others, who were in the act of entering. I stepped back, but the
+fellow was on me in an instant. He caught me first by the wrist and then
+by the throat. I opened my mouth to scream, but he struck me a savage
+blow with his fist over the eye, and felled me to the ground. I must
+have been unconscious for a few minutes, for when I came to myself, I
+found that they had torn down the bell-rope, and had secured me tightly
+to the oaken chair which stands at the head of the dining-table. I was
+so firmly bound that I could not move, and a handkerchief round my mouth
+prevented me from uttering a sound. It was at this instant that my
+unfortunate husband entered the room. He had evidently heard some
+suspicious sounds, and he came prepared for such a scene as he found. He
+was dressed in nightshirt and trousers, with his favourite blackthorn
+cudgel in his hand. He rushed at the burglars, but another--it was an
+elderly man--stooped, picked the poker out of the grate and struck him a
+horrible blow as he passed. He fell with a groan and never moved again.
+I fainted once more, but again it could only have been for a very few
+minutes during which I was insensible. When I opened my eyes I found
+that they had collected the silver from the sideboard, and they had
+drawn a bottle of wine which stood there. Each of them had a glass in
+his hand. I have already told you, have I not, that one was elderly,
+with a beard, and the others young, hairless lads. They might have been
+a father and his two sons. They talked together in whispers. Then they
+came over and made sure that I was securely bound. Finally they
+withdrew, closing the window after them. It was quite a quarter of an
+hour before I got my mouth free. When I did so, my screams brought the
+maid to my assistance. The other servants were soon alarmed, and we sent
+for the local police, who instantly communicated with London. That is
+really all that I can tell you, gentlemen, and I trust that it will not
+be necessary for me to go over so painful a story again.'
+
+'Any questions, Mr. Holmes?' asked Hopkins.
+
+'I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's patience and
+time,' said Holmes. 'Before I go into the dining-room, I should like to
+hear your experience.' He looked at the maid.
+
+'I saw the men before ever they came into the house,' said she. 'As I
+sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the
+lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time. It was more
+than an hour after that I heard my mistress scream, and down I ran, to
+find her, poor lamb, just as she says, and him on the floor, with his
+blood and brains over the room. It was enough to drive a woman out of
+her wits, tied there, and her very dress spotted with him, but she never
+wanted courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide and Lady Brackenstall
+of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new ways. You've questioned her long
+enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming to her own room, just with
+her old Theresa, to get the rest that she badly needs.'
+
+With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her
+mistress and led her from the room.
+
+'She had been with her all her life,' said Hopkins. 'Nursed her as
+a baby, and came with her to England when they first left Australia,
+eighteen months ago. Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid
+you don't pick up nowadays. This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!'
+
+The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face, and I knew
+that with the mystery all the charm of the case had departed. There
+still remained an arrest to be effected, but what were these commonplace
+rogues that he should soil his hands with them? An abstruse and learned
+specialist who finds that he has been called in for a case of measles
+would experience something of the annoyance which I read in my friend's
+eyes. Yet the scene in the dining-room of the Abbey Grange was
+sufficiently strange to arrest his attention and to recall his waning
+interest.
+
+It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling, oaken
+panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient weapons around
+the walls. At the further end from the door was the high French window
+of which we had heard. Three smaller windows on the right-hand side
+filled the apartment with cold winter sunshine. On the left was a large,
+deep fireplace, with a massive, overhanging oak mantelpiece. Beside the
+fireplace was a heavy oaken chair with arms and crossbars at the bottom.
+In and out through the open woodwork was woven a crimson cord, which was
+secured at each side to the crosspiece below. In releasing the lady, the
+cord had been slipped off her, but the knots with which it had been
+secured still remained. These details only struck our attention
+afterwards, for our thoughts were entirely absorbed by the terrible
+object which lay upon the tiger-skin heathrug in front of the fire.
+
+It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of age. He
+lay upon his back, his face upturned, with his white teeth grinning
+through his short, black beard. His two clenched hands were raised above
+his head, and a heavy, blackthorn stick lay across them. His dark,
+handsome, aquiline features were convulsed into a spasm of vindictive
+hatred, which had set his dead face in a terribly fiendish expression.
+He had evidently been in his bed when the alarm had broken out, for he
+wore a foppish, embroidered nightshirt, and his bare feet projected from
+his trousers. His head was horribly injured, and the whole room bore
+witness to the savage ferocity of the blow which had struck him down.
+Beside him lay the heavy poker, bent into a curve by the concussion.
+Holmes examined both it and the indescribable wreck which it had
+wrought.
+
+'He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall,' he remarked.
+
+'Yes,' said Hopkins. 'I have some record of the fellow, and he is a
+rough customer.'
+
+'You should have no difficulty in getting him.'
+
+'Not the slightest. We have been on the look-out for him, and there was
+some idea that he had got away to America. Now that we know that the
+gang are here, I don't see how they can escape. We have the news at
+every seaport already, and a reward will be offered before evening. What
+beats me is how they could have done so mad a thing, knowing that the
+lady could describe them and that we could not fail to recognize the
+description.'
+
+'Exactly. One would have expected that they would silence Lady
+Brackenstall as well.'
+
+'They may not have realized,' I suggested, 'that she had recovered from
+her faint.'
+
+'That is likely enough. If she seemed to be senseless, they would not
+take her life. What about this poor fellow, Hopkins? I seem to have
+heard some queer stories about him.'
+
+'He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect fiend when
+he was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk, for he seldom really
+went the whole way. The devil seemed to be in him at such times, and he
+was capable of anything. From what I hear, in spite of all his wealth
+and his title, he very nearly came our way once or twice. There was a
+scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum and setting it on
+fire--her ladyship's dog, to make the matter worse--and that was only
+hushed up with difficulty. Then he threw a decanter at that maid,
+Theresa Wright--there was trouble about that. On the whole, and between
+ourselves, it will be a brighter house without him. What are you looking
+at now?'
+
+Holmes was down on his knees, examining with great attention the knots
+upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured. Then he
+carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped
+off when the burglar had dragged it down.
+
+'When this was pulled down, the bell in the kitchen must have rung
+loudly,' he remarked.
+
+'No one could hear it. The kitchen stands right at the back of the
+house.'
+
+'How did the burglar know no one would hear it? How dared he pull at a
+bell-rope in that reckless fashion?'
+
+'Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly. You put the very question which I have
+asked myself again and again. There can be no doubt that this fellow
+must have known the house and its habits. He must have perfectly
+understood that the servants would all be in bed at that comparatively
+early hour, and that no one could possibly hear a bell ring in the
+kitchen. Therefore, he must have been in close league with one of the
+servants. Surely that is evident. But there are eight servants, and all
+of good character.'
+
+'Other things being equal,' said Holmes, 'one would suspect the one
+at whose head the master threw a decanter. And yet that would involve
+treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman seems devoted. Well,
+well, the point is a minor one, and when you have Randall you will
+probably find no difficulty in securing his accomplice. The lady's story
+certainly seems to be corroborated, if it needed corroboration, by every
+detail which we see before us.' He walked to the French window and threw
+it open. 'There are no signs here, but the ground is iron hard, and one
+would not expect them. I see that these candles in the mantelpiece have
+been lighted.'
+
+'Yes, it was by their light, and that of the lady's bedroom candle, that
+the burglars saw their way about.'
+
+'And what did they take?'
+
+'Well, they did not take much--only half a dozen articles of plate off
+the sideboard. Lady Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves so
+disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the
+house, as they would otherwise have done.'
+
+'No doubt that is true, and yet they drank some wine, I understand.'
+
+To steady their nerves.'
+
+'Exactly. These three glasses upon the sideboard have been untouched, I
+suppose?'
+
+'Yes, and the bottle stands as they left it.'
+
+'Let us look at it. Halloa, halloa! What is this?'
+
+The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with wine,
+and one of them containing some dregs of beeswing. The bottle stood near
+them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long, deeply stained cork.
+Its appearance and the dust upon the bottle showed that it was no common
+vintage which the murderers had enjoyed.
+
+A change had come over Holmes's manner. He had lost his listless
+expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen,
+deepset eyes. He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
+
+'How did they draw it?' he asked.
+
+Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer. In it lay some table linen and
+a large corkscrew.
+
+'Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?'
+
+'No, you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the bottle
+was opened.'
+
+'Quite so. As a matter of fact, that screw was _not_ used. This bottle
+was opened by a pocket screw, probably contained in a knife, and not
+more than an inch and a half long. If you will examine the top of the
+cork, you will observe that the screw was driven in three times before
+the cork was extracted. It has never been transfixed. This long screw
+would have transfixed it and drawn it up with a single pull. When you
+catch this fellow, you will find that he has one of these multiplex
+knives in his possession.'
+
+'Excellent!' said Hopkins.
+
+'But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess. Lady Brackenstall actually
+_saw_ the three men drinking, did she not?'
+
+'Yes; she was clear about that.'
+
+'Then there is an end of it. What more is to be said? And yet, you must
+admit, that the three glasses are very remarkable, Hopkins. What? You
+see nothing remarkable? Well, well, let it pass. Perhaps, when a man has
+special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages
+him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand. Of
+course, it must be a mere chance about the glasses. Well, good-morning,
+Hopkins. I don't see that I can be of any use to you, and you appear to
+have your case very clear. You will let me know when Randall is
+arrested, and any further developments which may occur. I trust that I
+shall soon have to congratulate you upon a successful conclusion. Come,
+Watson, I fancy that we may employ ourselves more profitably at home.'
+
+During our return journey, I could see by Holmes's face that he was much
+puzzled by something which he had observed. Every now and then, by an
+effort, he would throw off the impression, and talk as if the matter
+were clear, but then his doubts would settle down upon him again, and
+his knitted brows and abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had
+gone back once more to the great dining-room of the Abbey Grange, in
+which this midnight tragedy had been enacted. At last, by a sudden
+impulse, just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he
+sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him.
+
+'Excuse me, my dear fellow,' said he, as we watched the rear carriages
+of our train disappearing round a curve, 'I am sorry to make you the
+victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply
+_can't_ leave that case in this condition. Every instinct that I possess
+cries out against it. It's wrong--it's all wrong--I'll swear that it's
+wrong. And yet the lady's story was complete, the maid's corroboration
+was sufficient, the detail was fairly exact. What have I to put up
+against that? Three wineglasses, that is all. But if I had not taken
+things for granted, if I had examined everything with care which I
+should have shown had we approached the case _de novo_ and had no
+cut-and-dried story to warp my mind, should I not then have found
+something more definite to go upon? Of course I should. Sit down on this
+bench, Watson, until a train for Chislehurst arrives, and allow me to
+lay the evidence before you, imploring you in the first instance to
+dismiss from your mind the idea that anything which the maid or her
+mistress may have said must necessarily be true. The lady's charming
+personality must not be permitted to warp our judgment.
+
+'Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at in cold
+blood, would excite our suspicion. These burglars made a considerable
+haul at Sydenham a fortnight ago. Some account of them and of their
+appearance was in the papers, and would naturally occur to anyone who
+wished to invent a story in which imaginary robbers should play a part.
+As a matter of fact, burglars who have done a good stroke of business
+are, as a rule, only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet
+without embarking on another perilous undertaking. Again, it is unusual
+for burglars to operate at so early an hour, it is unusual for burglars
+to strike a lady to prevent her screaming, since one would imagine that
+was the sure way to make her scream, it is unusual for them to commit
+murder when their numbers are sufficient to overpower one man, it is
+unusual for them to be content with a limited plunder when there was
+much more within their reach, and finally, I should say, that it was
+very unusual for such men to leave a bottle half empty. How do all these
+unusuals strike you, Watson?'
+
+'Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each of them
+is quite possible in itself. The most unusual thing of all, as it seems
+to me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair.'
+
+'Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson, for it is evident that
+they must either kill her or else secure her in such a way that she
+could not give immediate notice of their escape. But at any rate I have
+shown, have I not, that there is a certain element of improbability
+about the lady's story? And now, on the top of this, comes the incident
+of the wineglasses.'
+
+'What about the wineglasses?'
+
+'Can you see them in your mind's eye?'
+
+'I see them clearly.'
+
+'We are told that three men drank from them. Does that strike you as
+likely?'
+
+'Why not? There was wine in each glass.'
+
+'Exactly, but there was beeswing only in one glass. You must have
+noticed that fact. What does that suggest to your mind?'
+
+'The last glass filled would be most likely to contain beeswing.'
+
+'Not at all. The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable that the
+first two glasses were clear and the third heavily charged with it.
+There are two possible explanations, and only two. One is that after the
+second glass was filled the bottle was violently agitated, and so the
+third glass received the beeswing. That does not appear probable. No,
+no, I am sure that I am right.'
+
+'What, then, do you suppose?'
+
+'That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of both were poured
+into a third glass, so as to give the false impression that three people
+had been here. In that way all the beeswing would be in the last glass,
+would it not? Yes, I am convinced that this is so. But if I have hit
+upon the true explanation of this one small phenomenon, then in an
+instant the case rises from the commonplace to the exceedingly
+remarkable, for it can only mean that Lady Brackenstall and her maid
+have deliberately lied to us, that not one word of their story is to be
+believed, that they have some very strong reason for covering the real
+criminal, and that we must construct our case for ourselves without any
+help from them. That is the mission which now lies before us, and here,
+Watson, is the Sydenham train.'
+
+The household at the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our return, but
+Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had gone off to report to
+headquarters, took possession of the dining-room, locked the door upon
+the inside, and devoted himself for two hours to one of those minute
+and laborious investigations which form the solid basis on which his
+brilliant edifices of deduction were reared. Seated in a corner like an
+interested student who observes the demonstration of his professor, I
+followed every step of that remarkable research. The window, the
+curtains, the carpet, the chair, the rope--each in turn was minutely
+examined and duly pondered. The body of the unfortunate baronet had been
+removed, and all else remained as we had seen it in the morning.
+Finally, to my astonishment, Holmes climbed up on to the massive
+mantelpiece. Far above his head hung the few inches of red cord which
+were still attached to the wire. For a long time he gazed upward at it,
+and then in an attempt to get nearer to it he rested his knee upon a
+wooden bracket on the wall. This brought his hand within a few inches of
+the broken end of the rope, but it was not this so much as the bracket
+itself which seemed to engage his attention. Finally, he sprang down
+with an ejaculation of satisfaction.
+
+'It's all right, Watson,' said he. 'We have got our case--one of the
+most remarkable in our collection. But, dear me, how slow-witted I have
+been, and how nearly I have committed the blunder of my lifetime! Now, I
+think that, with a few missing links, my chain is almost complete.'
+
+'You have got your men?'
+
+'Man, Watson, man. Only one, but a very formidable person. Strong as a
+lion--witness the blow that bent that poker! Six foot three in height,
+active as a squirrel, dexterous with his fingers, finally, remarkably
+quick-witted, for this whole ingenious story is of his concoction. Yes,
+Watson, we have come upon the handiwork of a very remarkable individual.
+And yet, in that bell-rope, he has given us a clue which should not have
+left us a doubt.'
+
+'Where was the clue?'
+
+'Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would you
+expect it to break? Surely at the spot where it is attached to the wire.
+Why should it break three inches from the top, as this one has done?'
+
+'Because it is frayed there?'
+
+'Exactly. This end, which we can examine, is frayed. He was cunning
+enough to do that with his knife. But the other end is not frayed. You
+could not observe that from here, but if you were on the mantelpiece
+you would see that it is cut clean off without any mark of fraying
+whatever. You can reconstruct what occurred. The man needed the rope. He
+would not tear it down for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell.
+What did he do? He sprang up on the mantelpiece, could not quite reach
+it, put his knee on the bracket--you will see the impression in the
+dust--and so got his knife to bear upon the cord. I could not reach the
+place by at least three inches--from which I infer that he is at least
+three inches a bigger man than I. Look at that mark upon the seat of the
+oaken chair! What is it?'
+
+'Blood.'
+
+'Undoubtedly it is blood. This alone puts the lady's story out of court.
+If she were seated on the chair when the crime was done, how comes that
+mark? No, no, she was placed in the chair _after_ the death of her
+husband. I'll wager that the black dress shows a corresponding mark to
+this. We have not yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo,
+for it begins in defeat and ends in victory. I should like now to have
+a few words with the nurse, Theresa. We must be wary for a while, if we
+are to get the information which we want.'
+
+She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse--taciturn,
+suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before Holmes's pleasant
+manner and frank acceptance of all that she said thawed her into a
+corresponding amiability. She did not attempt to conceal her hatred for
+her late employer.
+
+'Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me. I heard him call
+my mistress a name, and I told him that he would not dare to speak so if
+her brother had been there. Then it was that he threw it at me. He might
+have thrown a dozen if he had but left my bonny bird alone. He was
+forever ill-treating her, and she too proud to complain. She will not
+even tell me all that he has done to her. She never told me of those
+marks on her arm that you saw this morning, but I know very well that
+they come from a stab with a hatpin. The sly devil--God forgive me that
+I should speak of him so, now that he is dead! But a devil he was, if
+ever one walked the earth. He was all honey when first we met him--only
+eighteen months ago, and we both feel as if it were eighteen years. She
+had only just arrived in London. Yes, it was her first voyage--she had
+never been from home before. He won her with his title and his money
+and his false London ways. If she made a mistake she has paid for it,
+if ever a woman did. What month did we meet him? Well, I tell you it was
+just after we arrived. We arrived in June, and it was July. They were
+married in January of last year. Yes, she is down in the morning-room
+again, and I have no doubt she will see you, but you must not ask too
+much of her, for she has gone through all that flesh and blood will
+stand.'
+
+Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked brighter
+than before. The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment
+the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
+
+'I hope,' said the lady, 'that you have not come to cross-examine me
+again?'
+
+'No,' Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice. 'I will not cause you any
+unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole desire is to make
+things easy for you, for I am convinced that you are a much-tried woman.
+If you will treat me as a friend and trust me, you may find that I will
+justify your trust.'
+
+'What do you want me to do?'
+
+'To tell me the truth.'
+
+'Mr. Holmes!'
+
+'No, no, Lady Brackenstall--it is no use. You may have heard of any
+little reputation which I possess. I will stake it all on the fact that
+your story is an absolute fabrication.'
+
+Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces and
+frightened eyes.
+
+'You are an impudent fellow!' cried Theresa. 'Do you mean to say that my
+mistress has told a lie?'
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+'Have you nothing to tell me?'
+
+'I have told you everything.'
+
+'Think once more, Lady Brackenstall. Would it not be better to be
+frank?'
+
+For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face. Then some new
+strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
+
+'I have told you all I know.'
+
+Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders. 'I am sorry,' he said,
+and without another word we left the room and the house. There was a
+pond in the park, and to this my friend led the way. It was frozen over,
+but a single hole was left for the convenience of a solitary swan.
+Holmes gazed at it, and then passed on to the lodge gate. There he
+scribbled a short note for Stanley Hopkins, and left it with the
+lodge-keeper.
+
+'It may be a hit, or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do something
+for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit,' said he. 'I will
+not quite take him into my confidence yet. I think our next scene of
+operations must be the shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton line,
+which stands at the end of Pall Mall, if I remember right. There is a
+second line of steamers which connect South Australia with England, but
+we will draw the larger cover first.'
+
+Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and he
+was not long in acquiring all the information he needed. In June of '95,
+only one of their line had reached a home port. It was the _Rock of
+Gibraltar_, their largest and best boat. A reference to the passenger
+list showed that Miss Fraser, of Adelaide, with her maid had made the
+voyage in her. The boat was now somewhere south of the Suez Canal on her
+way to Australia. Her officers were the same as in '95, with one
+exception. The first officer, Mr. Jack Crocker, had been made a captain
+and was to take charge of their new ship, the _Bass Rock_, sailing in
+two days' time from Southampton. He lived at Sydenham, but he was likely
+to be in that morning for instructions, if we cared to wait for him.
+
+No, Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know more
+about his record and character.
+
+His record was magnificent. There was not an officer in the fleet to
+touch him. As to his character, he was reliable on duty, but a wild,
+desperate fellow off the deck of his ship--hot-headed, excitable, but
+loyal, honest, and kind-hearted. That was the pith of the information
+with which Holmes left the office of the Adelaide-Southampton company.
+Thence he drove to Scotland Yard, but, instead of entering, he sat in
+his cab with his brows drawn down, lost in profound thought. Finally he
+drove round to the Charing Cross telegraph office, sent off a message,
+and then, at last, we made for Baker Street once more.
+
+'No, I couldn't do it, Watson,' said he, as we re-entered our room.
+'Once that warrant was made out, nothing on earth would save him. Once
+or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my
+discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have
+learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of
+England than with my own conscience. Let us know a little more before
+We act.'
+
+Before evening, we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins. Things
+were not going very well with him.
+
+'I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes. I really do sometimes
+think that you have powers that are not human. Now, how on earth could
+you know that the stolen silver was at the bottom of that pond?'
+
+'I didn't know it.'
+
+'But you told me to examine it.'
+
+'You got it, then?'
+
+'Yes, I got it.'
+
+'I am very glad if I have helped you.'
+
+'But you haven't helped me. You have made the affair far more difficult.
+What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and then throw it into
+the nearest pond?'
+
+'It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour. I was merely going on
+the idea that if the silver had been taken by persons who did not want
+it--who merely took it for a blind, as it were--then they would
+naturally be anxious to get rid of it.'
+
+'But why should such an idea cross your mind?'
+
+'Well, I thought it was possible. When they came out through the French
+window, there was the pond with one tempting little hole in the ice,
+right in front of their noses. Could there be a better hiding-place?'
+
+'Ah, a hiding-place--that is better!' cried Stanley Hopkins. 'Yes, yes,
+I see it all now! It was early, there were folk upon the roads, they
+were afraid of being seen with the silver, so they sank it in the pond,
+intending to return for it when the coast was clear. Excellent, Mr.
+Holmes--that is better than your idea of a blind.'
+
+'Quite so, you have got an admirable theory. I have no doubt that my own
+ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they have ended in
+discovering the silver.'
+
+'Yes, sir--yes. It was all your doing. But I have had a bad setback.'
+
+'A setback?'
+
+'Yes, Mr. Holmes. The Randall gang were arrested in New York this
+morning.'
+
+'Dear me, Hopkins! That is certainly rather against your theory that
+they committed a murder in Kent last night.'
+
+'It is fatal, Mr. Holmes--absolutely fatal. Still, there are other gangs
+of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some new gang of which the
+police have never heard,'
+
+'Quite so, it is perfectly possible. What, are you off?'
+
+'Yes, Mr. Holmes, there is no rest for me until I have got to the bottom
+of the business. I suppose you have no hint to give me?'
+
+'I have given you one.'
+
+'Which?'
+
+'Well, I suggested a blind.'
+
+'But why, Mr. Holmes, why?'
+
+'Ah, that's the question, of course. But I commend the idea to your
+mind. You might possibly find that there was something in it. You won't
+stop for dinner? Well, goodbye, and let us know how you get on.'
+
+Dinner was over, and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to the
+matter again. He had lit his pipe and held his slippered feet to the
+cheerful blaze of the fire. Suddenly he looked at his watch.
+
+'I expect developments, Watson.'
+
+'When?'
+
+'Now--within a few minutes. I dare say you thought I acted rather badly
+to Stanley Hopkins just now.'
+
+'I trust your judgment.'
+
+'A very sensible reply, Watson. You must look at it this way: what
+I know is unofficial, what he knows is official. I have the right to
+private judgment, but he has none. He must disclose all, or he is a
+traitor to his service. In a doubtful case I would not put him in so
+painful a position, and so I reserve my information until my own mind
+is clear upon the matter.'
+
+'But when will that be?'
+
+'The time has come. You will now be present at the last scene of a
+remarkable little drama.'
+
+There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to admit as
+fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it. He was a very tall
+young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed, with a skin which had been
+burned by tropical suns, and a springy step, which showed that the huge
+frame was as active as it was strong. He closed the door behind him, and
+then he stood with clenched hands and heaving breast, choking down some
+overmastering emotion.
+
+'Sit down, Captain Crocker. You got my telegram?'
+
+Our visitor sank into an armchair and looked from one to the other of us
+with questioning eyes.
+
+'I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said. I heard that you
+had been down to the office. There was no getting away from you. Let's
+hear the worst. What are you going to do with me? Arrest me? Speak out,
+man! You can't sit there and play with me like a cat with a mouse.'
+
+'Give him a cigar,' said Holmes. 'Bite on that, Captain Crocker, and
+don't let your nerves run away with you. I should not sit here smoking
+with you if I thought that you were a common criminal, you may be sure
+of that. Be frank with me and we may do some good. Play tricks with me,
+and I'll crush you.'
+
+'What do you wish me to do?'
+
+To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey Grange last
+night--a _true_ account, mind you, with nothing added and nothing taken
+off. I know so much already that if you go one inch off the straight,
+I'll blow this police whistle from my window and the affair goes out of
+my hands forever.'
+
+The sailor thought for a little. Then he struck his leg with his great
+sunburned hand.
+
+'I'll chance it,' he cried. 'I believe you are a man of your word, and a
+white man, and I'll tell you the whole story. But one thing I will say
+first. So far as I am concerned, I regret nothing and I fear nothing,
+and I would do it all again and be proud of the job. Damn the beast, if
+he had as many lives as a cat, he would owe them all to me! But it's the
+lady, Mary--Mary Fraser--for never will I call her by that accursed
+name. When I think of getting her into trouble, I who would give my life
+just to bring one smile to her dear face, it's that that turns my soul
+into water. And yet--and yet--what less could I do? I'll tell you my
+story gentlemen, and then I'll ask you, as man to man, what less could
+I do?
+
+'I must go back a bit. You seem to know everything, so I expect that you
+know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was first officer of
+the _Rock of Gibraltar_. From the first day I met her, she was the only
+woman to me. Every day of that voyage I loved her more, and many a time
+since have I kneeled down in the darkness of the night watch and kissed
+the deck of that ship because I knew her dear feet had trod it. She was
+never engaged to me. She treated me as fairly as ever a woman treated a
+man. I have no complaint to make. It was all love on my side, and all
+good comradeship and friendship on hers. When we parted she was a free
+woman, but I could never again be a free man.
+
+'Next time I came back from sea, I heard of her marriage. Well, why
+shouldn't she marry whom she liked? Title and money--who could carry
+them better than she? She was born for all that is beautiful and dainty.
+I didn't grieve over her marriage. I was not such a selfish hound as
+that. I just rejoiced that good luck had come her way, and that she had
+not thrown herself away on a penniless sailor. That's how I loved Mary
+Fraser.
+
+'Well, I never thought to see her again, but last voyage I was promoted,
+and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to wait for a couple of
+months with my people at Sydenham. One day out in a country lane I met
+Theresa Wright, her old maid. She told me all about her, about him,
+about everything. I tell you, gentlemen, it nearly drove me mad. This
+drunken hound, that he should dare to raise his hand to her, whose boots
+he was not worthy to lick! I met Theresa again. Then I met Mary
+herself--and met her again. Then she would meet me no more. But the
+other day I had a notice that I was to start on my voyage within a week,
+and I determined that I would see her once before I left. Theresa was
+always my friend, for she loved Mary and hated this villain almost as
+much as I did. From her I learned the ways of the house. Mary used to
+sit up reading in her own little room downstairs. I crept round there
+last night and scratched at the window. At first she would not open to
+me, but in her heart I know that now she loves me, and she could not
+leave me in the frosty night. She whispered to me to come round to the
+big front window, and I found it open before me, so as to let me into
+the dining-room. Again I heard from her own lips things that made my
+blood boil, and again I cursed this brute who mishandled the woman I
+loved. Well, gentlemen, I was standing with her just inside the window,
+in all innocence, as God is my judge, when he rushed like a madman into
+the room, called her the vilest name that a man could use to a woman,
+and welted her across the face with the stick he had in his hand. I had
+sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight between us. See here, on
+my arm, where his first blow fell. Then it was my turn, and I went
+through him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin. Do you think I was
+sorry? Not I! It was his life or mine, but far more than that, it was
+his life or hers, for how could I leave her in the power of this madman?
+That was how I killed him. Was I wrong? well, then, what would either of
+you gentlemen have done, if you had been in my position?
+
+'She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old Theresa down
+from the room above. There was a bottle of wine on the sideboard, and I
+opened it and poured a little between Mary's lips, for she was half dead
+with shock. Then I took a drop myself. Theresa was as cool as ice, and
+it was her plot as much as mine. We must make it appear that burglars
+had done the thing. Theresa kept on repeating our story to her mistress,
+while I swarmed up and cut the rope of the bell. Then I lashed her in
+her chair, and frayed out the end of the rope to make it look natural,
+else they would wonder how in the world a burglar could have got up
+there to cut it. Then I gathered up a few plates and pots of silver, to
+carry out the idea of the robbery, and there I left them, with orders to
+give the alarm when I had a quarter of an hour's start. I dropped the
+silver into the pond, and made off for Sydenham, feeling that for once
+in my life I had done a real good night's work. And that's the truth and
+the whole truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck.'
+
+Holmes smoked for some time in silence. Then he crossed the room, and
+shook our visitor by the hand.
+
+'That's what I think,' said he. 'I know that every word is true, for you
+have hardly said a word which I did not know. No one but an acrobat or a
+sailor could have got up to that bell-rope from the bracket, and no one
+but a sailor could have made the knots with which the cord was fastened
+to the chair. Only once had this lady been brought into contact with
+sailors, and that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class
+of life, since she was trying hard to shield him, and so showing that
+she loved him. You see how easy it was for me to lay my hands upon you
+when once I started upon the right trail.'
+
+'I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge.'
+
+'And the police haven't, nor will they, to the best of my belief. Now,
+look here, Captain Crocker, this is a very serious matter, though I am
+willing to admit that you acted under the most extreme provocation to
+which any man could be subjected. I am not sure that in defence of your
+own life your action will not be pronounced legitimate. However, that is
+for a British jury to decide. Meanwhile I have so much sympathy for you
+that, if you choose to disappear in the next twenty-four hours, I will
+promise you that no one will hinder you.'
+
+'And then it will all come out?'
+
+'Certainly it will come out.'
+
+The sailor flushed with anger.
+
+'What sort of proposal is that to make a man? I know enough of law to
+understand that Mary would be held as accomplice. Do you think I would
+leave her alone to face the music while I slunk away? No, sir, let them
+do their worst upon me, but for heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find some way
+of keeping my poor Mary out of the courts.'
+
+Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
+
+'I was only testing you, and you ring true every time. Well, it is a
+great responsibility that I take upon myself, but I have given Hopkins
+an excellent hint, and if he can't avail himself of it I can do no more.
+See here, Captain Crocker, we'll do this in due form of law. You are the
+prisoner. Watson, you are a British jury, and I never met a man who was
+more eminently fitted to represent one. I am the judge. Now, gentleman
+of the jury, you have heard the evidence. Do you find the prisoner
+guilty or not guilty?'
+
+'Not guilty, my lord,' said I.
+
+'_Vox populi, vox Dei._ You are acquitted, Captain Crocker. So long as
+the law does not find some other victim you are safe from me. Come back
+to this lady in a year, and may her future and yours justify us in the
+judgment which we have pronounced this night!'
+
+
+
+
+THE PRIZE LODGER
+
+By George Gissing
+
+(_Human Odds and Ends/Stories and Sketches_, London: Lawrence and Bullen
+Ltd, 1898)
+
+
+The ordinary West-End Londoner--who is a citizen of no city at all, but
+dwells amid a mere conglomerate of houses at a certain distance from
+Charing Cross--has known a fleeting surprise when, by rare chance, his
+eye fell upon the name of some such newspaper as the _Battersea Times_,
+the _Camberwell Mercury_, or the _Islington Gazette_. To him, these and
+the like districts are nothing more than compass points of the huge
+metropolis. He may be in practice acquainted with them; if historically
+inclined, he may think of them as old-time villages swallowed up by
+insatiable London; but he has never grasped the fact that in Battersea,
+Camberwell, Islington, there are people living who name these places as
+their home; who are born, subsist, and die there as though in a distinct
+town, and practically without consciousness of its obliteration in the
+map of a world capital.
+
+The stable element of this population consists of more or less
+old-fashioned people. Round about them is the ceaseless coming and going
+of nomads who keep abreast with the time, who take their lodgings by the
+week, their houses by the month; who camp indifferently in regions old
+and new, learning their geography in train and tram-car. Abiding
+parishioners are wont to be either very poor or established in a
+moderate prosperity; they lack enterprise, either for good or ill: if
+comfortably off, they owe it, as a rule, to some predecessor's exertion.
+And for the most part, though little enough endowed with the civic
+spirit, they abundantly pride themselves on their local permanence.
+
+Representative of this class was Mr. Archibald Jordan, a native of
+Islington, and, at the age of five-and-forty, still faithful to the
+streets which he had trodden as a child. His father started a small
+grocery business in Upper Street; Archibald succeeded to the shop,
+advanced soberly, and at length admitted a partner, by whose capital and
+energy the business was much increased. After his thirtieth year Mr.
+Jordan ceased to stand behind the counter. Of no very active
+disposition, and but moderately set on gain, he found it pleasant to
+spend a few hours daily over the books and the correspondence, and for
+the rest of his time to enjoy a gossipy leisure, straying among the
+acquaintances of a lifetime, or making new in the decorous bar-parlours,
+billiard-rooms, and other such retreats which allured his bachelor
+liberty. His dress and bearing were unpretentious, but impressively
+respectable; he never allowed his garments (made by an Islington tailor,
+an old schoolfellow) to exhibit the least sign of wear, but fashion
+affected their style as little as possible. Of middle height, and
+tending to portliness, he walked at an unvarying pace, as a man who had
+never known undignified hurry; in his familiar thoroughfares he glanced
+about him with a good-humoured air of proprietorship, or with a look of
+thoughtful criticism for any changes that might be going forward. No one
+had ever spoken flatteringly of his visage; he knew himself a very
+homely-featured man, and accepted the fact, as something that had
+neither favoured nor hindered him in life. But it was his conviction
+that no man's eye had a greater power of solemn and overwhelming rebuke,
+and this gift he took a pleasure in exercising, however trivial the
+occasion.
+
+For five-and-twenty years he had lived in lodgings; always within the
+narrow range of Islington respectability, yet never for more than a
+twelvemonth under the same roof. This peculiar feature of Mr. Jordan's
+life had made him a subject of continual interest to local landladies,
+among whom were several lifelong residents, on friendly terms of old
+time with the Jordan family. To them it seemed an astonishing thing that
+a man in such circumstances had not yet married; granting this
+eccentricity, they could not imagine what made him change his abode so
+often. Not a landlady in Islington but would welcome Mr. Jordan in her
+rooms, and, having got him, do her utmost to prolong the connection. He
+had been known to quit a house on the paltriest excuse, removing to
+another in which he could not expect equally good treatment. There was
+no accounting for it: it must be taken as an ultimate mystery of life,
+and made the most of as a perennial topic of neighbourly conversation.
+
+As to the desirability of having Mr. Jordan for a lodger there could be
+no difference of opinion among rational womankind. Mrs. Wiggins, indeed,
+had taken his sudden departure from her house so ill that she always
+spoke of him abusively; but who heeded Mrs. Wiggins? Even in the sadness
+of hope deferred, those ladies who had entertained him once, and
+speculated on his possible return, declared Mr. Jordan a 'thorough
+gentleman'. Lodgers, as a class, do not recommend themselves in
+Islington; Mr. Jordan shone against the dusky background with almost
+dazzling splendour. To speak of lodgers as of cattle, he was a prize
+creature. A certain degree of comfort he firmly exacted; he might be a
+trifle fastidious about cooking; he stood upon his dignity; but no one
+could say that he grudged reward for service rendered. It was his
+practice to pay more than the landlady asked. Twenty-five shillings a
+week, you say? I shall give you twenty-eight. _But_--' and with raised
+forefinger he went through the catalogue of his demands. Everything must
+be done precisely as he directed; even in the laying of his table he
+insisted upon certain minute peculiarities, and to forget one of them
+was to earn that gaze of awful reprimand which Mr. Jordan found (or
+thought) more efficacious than any spoken word. Against this precision
+might be set his strange indulgence in the matter of bills; he merely
+regarded the total, was never known to dispute an item. Only twice in
+his long experience had he quitted a lodging because of exorbitant
+charges, and on these occasions he sternly refused to discuss the
+matter. 'Mrs. Hawker, I am paying your account with the addition of one
+week's rent. Your rooms will be vacant at eleven o'clock tomorrow
+morning.' And until the hour of departure no entreaty, no prostration,
+could induce him to utter a syllable.
+
+It was on the 1st of June, 1889, his forty-fifth birthday, that Mr.
+Jordan removed from quarters he had occupied for ten months, and became
+a lodger in the house of Mrs. Elderfield.
+
+Mrs. Elderfield, a widow, aged three-and-thirty, with one little girl,
+was but a casual resident in Islington; she knew nothing of Mr. Jordan,
+and made no inquiries about him. Strongly impressed, as every woman must
+needs be, by his air and tone of mild authority, she congratulated
+herself on the arrival of such an inmate; but no subservience appeared
+in her demeanour; she behaved with studious civility, nothing more. Her
+words were few and well chosen. Always neatly dressed, yet always busy,
+she moved about the house with quick, silent step, and cleanliness
+marked her path. The meals were well cooked, well served. Mr. Jordan
+being her only lodger, she could devote to him an undivided attention.
+At the end of his first week the critical gentleman felt greater
+satisfaction than he had ever known.
+
+The bill lay upon his table at breakfast-time. He perused the items,
+and, much against his habit, reflected upon them. Having breakfasted, he
+rang the bell.
+
+'Mrs. Elderfield--'
+
+He paused, and looked gravely at the widow. She had a plain, honest,
+healthy face, with resolute lips, and an eye that brightened when she
+spoke; her well-knit figure, motionless in its respectful attitude,
+declared a thoroughly sound condition of the nerves.
+
+'Mrs. Elderfield, your bill is so very moderate that I think you must
+have forgotten something.'
+
+'Have you looked it over, sir?'
+
+'I never trouble with the details. Please examine it.'
+
+'There is no need, sir. I never make a mistake.'
+
+'I said, Mrs. Elderfield, please _examine_ it.'
+
+She seemed to hesitate, but obeyed.
+
+'The bill is quite correct, sir.'
+
+'Thank you.'
+
+He paid it at once and said no more.
+
+The weeks went on. To Mr. Jordan's surprise, his landlady's zeal and
+efficiency showed no diminution, a thing unprecedented in his long and
+varied experience. After the first day or two he had found nothing to
+correct; every smallest instruction was faithfully carried out.
+Moreover, he knew for the first time in his life the comfort of
+absolutely clean rooms. The best of his landladies hitherto had not
+risen above that conception of cleanliness which is relative to London
+soot and fog. His palate, too, was receiving an education. Probably he
+had never eaten of a joint rightly cooked, or tasted a potato boiled as
+it should be; more often than not, the food set before him had undergone
+a process which left it masticable indeed, but void of savour and
+nourishment. Many little attentions of which he had never dreamed kept
+him in a wondering cheerfulness. And at length he said to himself: 'Here
+I shall stay.'
+
+Not that his constant removals had been solely due to discomfort and a
+hope of better things. The secret--perhaps not entirely revealed even to
+himself--lay in Mr. Jordan's sense of his own importance, and his
+uneasiness whenever he felt that, in the eyes of a landlady, he was
+becoming a mere everyday person--an ordinary lodger. No sooner did he
+detect a sign of this than he made up his mind to move. It gave him the
+keenest pleasure of which he was capable when, on abruptly announcing
+his immediate departure, he perceived the landlady's profound
+mortification. To make the blow heavier he had even resorted to
+artifice, seeming to express a most lively contentment during the very
+days when he had decided to leave and was asking himself where he should
+next abide. One of his delights was to return to a house which he had
+quitted years ago, to behold the excitement and bustle occasioned by his
+appearance, and play the good-natured autocrat over grovelling
+dependents. In every case, save the two already mentioned, he had parted
+with his landlady on terms of friendliness, never vouchsafing a reason
+for his going away, genially eluding every attempt to obtain an
+explanation, and at the last abounding in graceful recognition of all
+that had been done for him. Mr. Jordan shrank from dispute, hated every
+sort of contention; this characteristic gave a certain refinement to his
+otherwise commonplace existence. Vulgar vanity would have displayed
+itself in precisely the acts and words from which his self-esteem
+nervously shrank. And of late he had been thinking over the list of
+landladies, with a half-formed desire to settle down, to make himself a
+permanent home. Doubtless as a result of this state of mind, he betook
+himself to a strange house, where, as from neutral ground, he might
+reflect upon the lodgings he knew, and judge between their merits. He
+could not foresee what awaited him under Mrs. Elderfield's roof; the
+event impressed him as providential; he felt, with singular emotion,
+that choice was taken out of his hands. Lodgings could not be more than
+perfect, and such he had found.
+
+It was not his habit to chat with landladies. At times he held forth to
+them on some topic of interest, suavely, instructively; if he gave in to
+their ordinary talk, it was with a half-absent smile of condescension.
+Mrs. Elderfield seeming as little disposed to gossip as himself, a month
+elapsed before he knew anything of her history; but one evening the
+reserve on both sides was broken. His landlady modestly inquired whether
+she was giving satisfaction, and Mr. Jordan replied with altogether
+unwonted fervour. In the dialogue that ensued, they exchanged personal
+confidences. The widow had lost her husband four years ago; she came
+from the Midlands, but had long dwelt in London. Then fell from her lips
+a casual remark which made the hearer uneasy.
+
+'I don't think I shall always stay here. The neighbourhood is too
+crowded. I should like to have a house somewhere further out.'
+
+Mr. Jordan did not comment on this, but it kept a place in his daily
+thoughts, and became at length so much of an anxiety that he invited
+a renewal of the subject.
+
+'You have no intention of moving just yet, Mrs. Elderfield?'
+
+'I was going to tell you, sir,' replied the landlady, with her
+respectful calm, 'that I have decided to make a change next spring. Some
+friends of mine have gone to live at Wood Green, and I shall look for a
+house in the same neighbourhood.'
+
+Mr. Jordan was, in private, gravely disturbed. He who had flitted from
+house to house for many years, distressing the souls of landladies, now
+lamented the prospect of a forced removal. It was open to him to
+accompany Mrs. Elderfield, but he shrank from the thought of living in
+so remote a district. Wood Green! The very name appalled him, for he had
+never been able to endure the country. He betook himself one dreary
+autumn afternoon to that northern suburb, and what he saw did not at all
+reassure him. On his way back he began once more to review the list of
+old lodgings.
+
+But from that day his conversations with Mrs. Elderfield grew more
+frequent, more intimate. In the evening he occasionally made an excuse
+for knocking at her parlour door, and lingered for a talk which ended
+only at supper time. He spoke of his own affairs, and grew more ready to
+do so as his hearer manifested a genuine interest, without impertinent
+curiosity. Little by little he imparted to Mrs. Elderfield a complete
+knowledge of his commercial history, of his pecuniary standing--matters
+of which he had never before spoken to a mere acquaintance. A change was
+coming over him; the foundations of habit crumbled beneath his feet; he
+lost his look of complacence, his self-confident and superior tone.
+Bar-parlours and billiard-rooms saw him but rarely and flittingly. He
+seemed to have lost his pleasure in the streets of Islington, and spent
+all his spare time by the fireside, perpetually musing.
+
+On a day in March one of his old landladies, Mrs. Higdon, sped to the
+house of another, Mrs. Evans, panting under a burden of strange news.
+Could it be believed! Mr. Jordan was going to marry--to marry that woman
+in whose house he was living! Mrs. Higdon had it on the very best
+authority--that of Mr. Jordan's partner, who spoke of the affair without
+reserve. A new house had already been taken--at Wood Green. Well! After
+all these years, after so many excellent opportunities, to marry a mere
+stranger and forsake Islington! In a moment Mr. Jordan's character was
+gone; had he figured in the police-court under some disgraceful charge,
+these landladies could hardly have felt more shocked and professed
+themselves more disgusted. The intelligence spread. Women went out of
+their way to have a sight of Mrs. Elderfield's house; they hung about
+for a glimpse of that sinister person herself. She had robbed them,
+every one, of a possible share in Islington's prize lodger. Had it been
+one of themselves they could have borne the chagrin; but a woman whom
+not one of them knew, an alien! What base arts had she practised? Ah,
+it was better not to inquire too closely into the secrets of that
+lodging-house.
+
+Though every effort was made to learn the time and place of the
+ceremony, Mr. Jordan's landladies had the mortification to hear of his
+wedding only when it was over. Of course, this showed that he felt the
+disgracefulness of his behaviour; he was not utterly lost to shame. It
+could only be hoped that he would not know the bitterness of repentance.
+
+Not till he found himself actually living in the house at Wood Green did
+Mr. Jordan realize how little his own will had had to do with the recent
+course of events. Certainly, he had made love to the widow, and had
+asked her to marry him; but from that point onward he seemed to have put
+himself entirely in Mrs. Elderfield's hands, granting every request,
+meeting half-way every suggestion she offered, becoming, in short, quite
+a different kind of man from his former self. He had not been sensible
+of a moment's reluctance; he enjoyed the novel sense of yielding himself
+to affectionate guidance. His wits had gone wool-gathering; they
+returned to him only after the short honeymoon at Brighton, when he
+stood upon his own hearth-rug, and looked round at the new furniture
+and ornaments which symbolized a new beginning of life.
+
+The admirable landlady had shown herself energetic, clear-headed, and
+full of resource; it was she who chose the house, and transacted all the
+business in connection with it; Mr. Jordan had merely run about in her
+company from place to place, smiling approval and signing cheques. No
+one could have gone to work more prudently, or obtained what she wanted
+at smaller outlay; for all that, Mr. Jordan, having recovered something
+like his normal frame of mind, viewed the results with consternation.
+Left to himself, he would have taken a very small house, and furnished
+it much in the style of Islington lodgings; as it was, he occupied a
+ten-roomed 'villa', with appointments which seemed to him luxurious,
+aristocratic. True, the expenditure was of no moment to a man in his
+position, and there was no fear that Mrs. Jordan would involve him in
+dangerous extravagance; but he had always lived with such excessive
+economy that the sudden change to a life correspondent with his income
+could not but make him uncomfortable.
+
+Mrs. Jordan had, of course, seen to it that her personal appearance
+harmonized with the new surroundings. She dressed herself and her young
+daughter with careful appropriateness. There was no display, no purchase
+of gewgaws--merely garments of good quality, such as became people in
+easy circumstances. She impressed upon her husband that this was nothing
+more than a return to the habits of her earlier life. Her first marriage
+had been a sad mistake; it had brought her down in the world. Now she
+felt restored to her natural position.
+
+After a week of restlessness, Mr. Jordan resumed his daily visits to
+the shop in Upper Street, where he sat as usual among the books and the
+correspondence, and tried to assure himself that all would henceforth
+be well with him. No more changing from house to house; a really
+comfortable home in which to spend the rest of his days; a kind and most
+capable wife to look after all his needs, to humour all his little
+habits. He could not have taken a wiser step.
+
+For all that, he had lost something, though he did not yet understand
+what it was. The first perception of a change not for the better flashed
+upon him one evening in the second week, when he came home an hour
+later than his wont. Mrs. Jordan, who always stood waiting for him at
+the window, had no smile as he entered.
+
+'Why are you late?' she asked, in her clear, restrained voice.
+
+'Oh--something or other kept me.'
+
+This would not do. Mrs. Jordan quietly insisted on a full explanation of
+the delay, and it seemed to her unsatisfactory.
+
+'I hope you won't be irregular in your habits, Archibald,' said his
+wife, with gentle admonition. 'What I always liked in you was your
+methodical way of living. I shall be very uncomfortable if I never
+know when to expect you.'
+
+'Yes, my dear, but--business, you see--'
+
+'But you have explained that you _could_ have been back at the usual
+time.'
+
+'Yes--that's true--but--'
+
+'Well, well, you won't let it happen again. Oh really, Archibald!' she
+suddenly exclaimed. 'The idea of you coming into the room with muddy
+boots! Why, look! There's a patch of mud on the carpet--'
+
+'It was my hurry to speak to you,' murmured Mr. Jordan, in confusion.
+
+'Please go at once and take your boots off. And you left your slippers
+in the bedroom this morning. You must always bring them down, and put
+them in the dining-room cupboard; then they're ready for you when you
+come into the house.'
+
+Mr. Jordan had but a moderate appetite for his dinner, and he did not
+talk so pleasantly as usual. This was but the beginning of troubles such
+as he had not for a moment foreseen. His wife, having since their
+engagement taken the upper hand, began to show her determination to keep
+it, and day by day her rule grew more galling to the ex-bachelor. He
+himself, in the old days, had plagued his landladies by insisting upon
+method and routine, by his faddish attention to domestic minutiae; he
+now learnt what it was to be subjected to the same kind of despotism,
+exercised with much more exasperating persistence. Whereas Mrs.
+Elderfield had scrupulously obeyed every direction given by her lodger,
+Mrs. Jordan was evidently resolved that her husband should live, move,
+and have his being in the strictest accordance with her own ideal. Not
+in any spirit of nagging, or ill-tempered unreasonableness; it was
+merely that she had her favourite way of doing every conceivable thing,
+and felt so sure it was the best of all possible ways that she could not
+endure any other. The first serious disagreement between them had
+reference to conduct at the breakfast-table. After a broken night,
+feeling headachy and worried, Mr. Jordan took up his newspaper, folded
+it conveniently, and set it against the bread so that he could read
+while eating. Without a word, his wife gently removed it, and laid it
+aside on a chair.
+
+'What are you doing?' he asked gruffly.
+
+'You mustn't read at meals, Archibald. It's bad manners, and bad for your
+digestion.'
+
+'I've read the news at breakfast all my life, and I shall do so still,'
+exclaimed the husband, starting up and recovering his paper.
+
+'Then you will have breakfast by yourself. Nelly, we must go into the
+other room till papa has finished.'
+
+Mr. Jordan ate mechanically, and stared at the newspaper with just as
+little consciousness. Prompted by the underlying weakness of his
+character to yield for the sake of peace, wrath made him dogged, and the
+more steadily he regarded his position, the more was he appalled by the
+outlook. Why, this meant downright slavery! He had married a woman so
+horribly like himself in several points that his only hope lay in
+overcoming her by sheer violence. A thoroughly good and well-meaning
+woman, an excellent housekeeper, the kind of wife to do him credit and
+improve his social position; but self-willed, pertinacious, and probably
+thinking herself his superior in every respect. He had nothing to fear
+but subjection--the one thing he had never anticipated, the one thing he
+could never endure.
+
+He went off to business without seeing his wife again, and passed a
+lamentable day. At his ordinary hour of return, instead of setting off
+homeward, he strayed about the by-streets of Islington and Pentonville.
+Not till this moment had he felt how dear they were to him, the familiar
+streets; their very odours fell sweet upon his nostrils. Never again
+could he go hither and thither, among the old friends, the old places,
+to his heart's content. What had possessed him to abandon this precious
+liberty! The thought of Wood Green revolted him; live there as long as
+he might, he would never be at home. He thought of his wife (now waiting
+for him) with fear, and then with a reaction of rage. Let her wait!
+He--Archibald Jordan--before whom women had bowed and trembled for
+five-and-twenty years--was _he_ to come and go at a wife's bidding? And
+at length the thought seemed so utterly preposterous that he sped
+northward as fast as possible, determined to right himself this very
+evening.
+
+Mrs. Jordan sat alone. He marched into the room with muddy boots, flung
+his hat and overcoat into a chair, and poked the fire violently. His
+wife's eye was fixed on him, and she first spoke--in the quiet voice
+that he dreaded.
+
+'What do you mean by carrying on like this, Archibald?'
+
+'I shall carry on as I like in my own house--hear that?'
+
+'I do hear it, and I'm very sorry too. It gives me a very bad opinion
+of you. You will _not_ do as you like in your own house. Rage as you
+please. You will _not_ do as you like in your own house.'
+
+There was a contemptuous anger in her eye which the man could not face.
+He lost all control of himself, uttered coarse oaths, and stood
+quivering. Then the woman began to lecture him; she talked steadily,
+acrimoniously, for more than an hour, regardless of his interruptions.
+Nervously exhausted, he fled at length from the room. A couple of hours
+later they met again in the nuptial chamber, and again Mrs. Jordan began
+to talk. Her point, as before, was that he had begun married life about
+as badly as possible. Why had he married her at all? What fault had she
+committed to incur such outrageous usage? But, thank goodness, she had a
+will of her own, and a proper self-respect; behave as he might, _she_
+would still persevere in the path of womanly duty. If he thought to make
+her life unbearable he would find his mistake; she simply should not
+heed him; perhaps he would return to his senses before long--and in this
+vein Mrs. Jordan continued until night was at odds with morning, only
+becoming silent when her partner had sunk into the oblivion of uttermost
+fatigue.
+
+The next day Mr. Jordan's demeanour showed him, for the moment at all
+events, defeated. He made no attempt to read at breakfast; he moved
+about very quietly. And in the afternoon he came home at the regulation
+hour.
+
+Mrs. Jordan had friends in the neighbourhood, but she saw little of
+them. She was not a woman of ordinary tastes. Everything proved that,
+to her mind, the possession of a nice house, with the prospects of a
+comfortable life, was an end in itself; she had no desire to exhibit her
+well-furnished rooms, or to gad about talking of her advantages. Every
+moment of her day was taken up in the superintendence of servants, the
+discharge of an infinitude of housewifely tasks. She had no assistance
+from her daughter; the girl went to school, and was encouraged to study
+with the utmost application. The husband's presence in the house seemed
+a mere accident--save in the still nocturnal season, when Mrs. Jordan
+bestowed upon him her counsel and her admonitions.
+
+After the lapse of a few days Mr. Jordan again offered combat, and threw
+himself into it with a frenzy.
+
+'Look here!' he shouted at length, 'either you or I are going to leave
+this house. I can't live with you--understand? I hate the sight of you!'
+
+'Go on!' retorted the other, with mild bitterness. 'Abuse me as much as
+you like, I can bear it. I shall continue to do my duty, and unless you
+have recourse to personal violence, here I remain. If you go too far, of
+course the law must defend me!'
+
+This was precisely what Mr. Jordan knew and dreaded; the law was on his
+wife's side, and by applying at a police-court for protection she could
+overwhelm him with shame and ridicule, which would make life
+intolerable. Impossible to argue with this woman. Say what he might, the
+fault always seemed his. His wife was simply doing her duty--in a spirit
+of admirable thoroughness; he, in the eyes of a third person, would
+appear an unreasonable and violent curmudgeon. Had it not all sprung out
+of his obstinacy with regard to reading at breakfast? How explain to
+anyone what he suffered in his nerves, in his pride, in the outraged
+habitudes of a lifetime?
+
+That evening he did not return to Wood Green. Afraid of questions
+if he showed himself in the old resorts, he spent some hours in a
+billiard-room near King's Cross, and towards midnight took a bedroom
+under the same roof. On going to business next day, he awaited with
+tremors either a telegram or a visit from his wife; but the whole day
+passed, and he heard nothing. After dark he walked once more about the
+beloved streets, pausing now and then to look up at the windows of this
+or that well remembered house. Ah, if he durst but enter and engage a
+lodging! Impossible--for ever impossible!
+
+He slept in the same place as on the night before. And again a day
+passed without any sort of inquiry from Wood Green. When evening came
+he went home.
+
+Mrs. Jordan behaved as though he had returned from business in the usual
+way. 'Is it raining?' she asked, with a half-smile. And her husband
+replied, in as matter-of-fact a tone as he could command, 'No, it
+isn't.' There was no mention between them of his absence. That night,
+Mrs. Jordan talked for an hour or two of his bad habit of stepping on
+the paint when he went up and down stairs, then fell calmly asleep.
+
+But Mr. Jordan did not sleep for a long time. What! was he, after all,
+to be allowed his liberty _out_ of doors, provided he relinquished it
+within? Was it really the case that his wife, satisfied with her house
+and furniture and income, did not care a jot whether he stayed away or
+came home? There, indeed, gleamed a hope. When Mr. Jordan slept, he
+dreamed that he was back again in lodgings at Islington, tasting an
+extraordinary bliss. Day dissipated the vision, but still Mrs. Jordan
+spoke not a word of his absence, and with trembling still he hoped.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VICTORIAN SHORT STORIES OF TROUBLED
+MARRIAGES***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 15466-8.txt or 15466-8.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/6/15466
+
+
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/15466-8.zip b/15466-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..205afa6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15466-8.zip
diff --git a/15466.txt b/15466.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93c8122
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15466.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3014 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Victorian Short Stories of Troubled
+Marriages, by Rudyard Kipling, Ella D'Arcy, Arthur Morrison, Arthur Conan
+Doyle, and George Gissing
+
+
+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: Victorian Short Stories of Troubled Marriages
+       The Bronckhorst Divorce-Case, by Rudyard Kipling; Irremediable, by Ella D'Arcy; "A Poor Stick," by Arthur Morrison; The Adventure of the Abbey Grange, by Arthur Conan Doyle; The Prize Lodger, by George Gissing
+
+
+Author: Rudyard Kipling, Ella D'Arcy, Arthur Morrison, Arthur Conan Doyle,
+and George Gissing
+
+Release Date: March 26, 2005  [eBook #15466]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VICTORIAN SHORT STORIES OF
+TROUBLED MARRIAGES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+VICTORIAN SHORT STORIES OF TROUBLED MARRIAGES
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+   THE BRONCKHORST DIVORCE-CASE by Rudyard Kipling
+
+   IRREMEDIABLE by Ella D'Arcy
+
+   'A POOR STICK' by Arthur Morrison
+
+   THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBEY GRANGE by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+   THE PRIZE LODGER by George Gissing
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BRONCKHORST DIVORCE-CASE
+
+By Rudyard Kipling
+
+(_Civil and Military Gazette_, 26 September 1884)
+
+In the daytime, when she moved about me,
+    In the night, when she was sleeping at my side,--
+I was wearied, I was wearied of her presence,
+Day by day and night by night I grew to hate her--
+    Would God that she or I had died!
+
+--CONFESSIONS
+
+
+There was a man called Bronckhorst--a three-cornered, middle-aged man in
+the Army--grey as a badger, and, some people said, with a touch of
+country-blood in him. That, however, cannot be proved. Mrs. Bronckhorst
+was not exactly young, though fifteen years younger than her husband.
+She was a large, pale, quiet woman, with heavy eyelids over weak eyes,
+and hair that turned red or yellow as the lights fell on it.
+
+Bronckhorst was not nice in any way. He had no respect for the pretty
+public and private lies that make life a little less nasty than it is.
+His manner towards his wife was coarse. There are many things--including
+actual assault with the clenched fist--that a wife will endure; but
+seldom a wife can bear--as Mrs. Bronckhorst bore--with a long course of
+brutal, hard chaff, making light of her weaknesses, her headaches, her
+small fits of gaiety, her dresses, her queer little attempts to make
+herself attractive to her husband when she knows that she is not what
+she has been, and--worst of all--the love that she spends on her
+children. That particular sort of heavy-handed jest was specially dear
+to Bronckhorst. I suppose that he had first slipped into it, meaning no
+harm, in the honeymoon, when folk find their ordinary stock of
+endearments run short, and so go to the other extreme to express their
+feelings. A similar impulse makes a man say, '_Hutt_, you old beast!'
+when a favourite horse nuzzles his coat-front. Unluckily, when the
+reaction of marriage sets in, the form of speech remains, and, the
+tenderness having died out, hurts the wife more than she cares to say.
+But Mrs. Bronckhorst was devoted to her 'Teddy' as she called him.
+Perhaps that was why he objected to her. Perhaps--this is only a theory
+to account for his infamous behaviour later on--he gave way to the
+queer, savage feeling that sometimes takes by the throat a husband
+twenty years married, when he sees, across the table, the same, same
+face of his wedded wife, and knows that, as he has sat facing it, so
+must he continue to sit until the day of its death or his own. Most men
+and all women know the spasm. It only lasts for three breaths as a rule,
+must be a 'throw-back' to times when men and women were rather worse
+than they are now, and is too unpleasant to be discussed.
+
+Dinner at the Bronckhorsts' was an infliction few men cared to undergo.
+Bronckhorst took a pleasure in saying things that made his wife wince.
+When their little boy came in at dessert Bronckhorst used to give him
+half a glass of wine, and, naturally enough, the poor little mite got
+first riotous, next miserable, and was removed screaming. Bronckhorst
+asked if that was the way Teddy usually behaved, and whether Mrs.
+Bronckhorst could not spare some of her time 'to teach the little beggar
+decency'. Mrs. Bronckhorst, who loved the boy more than her own life,
+tried not to cry--her spirit seemed to have been broken by her marriage.
+Lastly, Bronckhorst used to say, 'There! That'll do, that'll do. For
+God's sake try to behave like a rational woman. Go into the
+drawing-room.' Mrs. Bronckhorst would go, trying to carry it all off
+with a smile; and the guest of the evening would feel angry and
+uncomfortable.
+
+After three years of this cheerful life--for Mrs. Bronckhorst had no
+women-friends to talk to--the station was startled by the news that
+Bronckhorst had instituted proceedings _on the criminal count_, against
+a man called Biel, who certainly had been rather attentive to Mrs.
+Bronckhorst whenever she had appeared in public. The utter want of
+reserve with which Bronckhorst treated his own dishonour helped us to
+know that the evidence against Biel would be entirely circumstantial and
+native. There were no letters; but Bronckhorst said openly that he would
+rack Heaven and Earth until he saw Biel superintending the manufacture
+of carpets in the Central Jail. Mrs. Bronckhorst kept entirely to her
+house, and let charitable folks say what they pleased. Opinions were
+divided. Some two-thirds of the station jumped at once to the conclusion
+that Biel was guilty; but a dozen men who knew and liked him held by
+him. Biel was furious and surprised. He denied the whole thing, and
+vowed that he would thrash Bronckhorst within an inch of his life. No
+jury, we knew, would convict a man on the criminal count on native
+evidence in a land where you can buy a murder-charge, including the
+corpse, all complete for fifty-four rupees; but Biel did not care to
+scrape through by the benefit of a doubt. He wanted the whole thing
+cleared; but, as he said one night, 'He can prove anything with
+servants' evidence, and I've only my bare word.' This was almost a month
+before the case came on; and beyond agreeing with Biel, we could do
+little. All that we could be sure of was that the native evidence would
+be bad enough to blast Biel's character for the rest of his service; for
+when a native begins perjury he perjures himself thoroughly. He does not
+boggle over details.
+
+Some genius at the end of the table whereat the affair was being talked
+over, said, 'Look here! I don't believe lawyers are any good. Get a man
+to wire to Strickland, and beg him to come down and pull us through.'
+
+Strickland was about a hundred and eighty miles up the line. He had not
+long been married to Miss Youghal, but he scented in the telegram a
+chance of return to the old detective work that his soul lusted after,
+and next time he came in and heard our story. He finished his pipe and
+said oracularly, 'We must get at the evidence. Oorya bearer, Mussulman
+_khit_ and sweeper _ayah_, I suppose, are the pillars of the charge. I
+am on in this piece; but I'm afraid I'm getting rusty in my talk.'
+
+He rose and went into Biel's bedroom, where his trunk had been put, and
+shut the door. An hour later, we heard him say, 'I hadn't the heart to
+part with my old make-ups when I married. Will this do?' There was a
+loathly _fakir_ salaaming in the doorway.
+
+'Now lend me fifty rupees,' said Strickland, 'and give me your Words of
+Honour that you won't tell my wife.'
+
+He got all that he asked for, and left the house while the table drank
+his health. What he did only he himself knows. A _fakir_ hung about
+Bronckhorst's compound for twelve days. Then a sweeper appeared, and
+when Biel heard of _him_, he said that Strickland was an angel
+full-fledged. Whether the sweeper made love to Janki, Mrs. Bronckhorst's
+_ayah_, is a question which concerns Strickland exclusively.
+
+He came back at the end of three weeks, and said quietly, 'You spoke the
+truth, Biel. The whole business is put up from beginning to end. Jove!
+It almost astonishes _me_! That Bronckhorst beast isn't fit to live.'
+
+There was uproar and shouting, and Biel said, 'How are you going to
+prove it? You can't say that you've been trespassing on Bronckhorst's
+compound in disguise!'
+
+'No,' said Strickland. 'Tell your lawyer-fool, whoever he is, to get up
+something strong about "inherent improbabilities" and "discrepancies of
+evidence". He won't have to speak, but it will make him happy, _I_'m
+going to run this business.'
+
+Biel held his tongue, and the other men waited to see what would happen.
+They trusted Strickland as men trust quiet men. When the case came off
+the Court was crowded. Strickland hung about in the veranda of the
+Court, till he met the Mohammedan _khitmutgar_. Then he murmured a
+_fakir's_ blessing in his ear, and asked him how his second wife did.
+The man spun round, and, as he looked into the eyes of 'Estreekin
+Sahib', his jaw dropped. You must remember that before Strickland was
+married, he was, as I have told you already, a power among natives.
+Strickland whispered a rather coarse vernacular proverb to the effect
+that he was abreast of all that was going on, and went into the Court
+armed with a gut trainer's-whip.
+
+The Mohammedan was the first witness, and Strickland beamed upon him
+from the back of the Court. The man moistened his lips with his tongue
+and, in his abject fear of 'Estreekin Sahib', the _fakir_ went back on
+every detail of his evidence--said he was a poor man, and God was his
+witness that he had forgotten everything that Bronckhorst Sahib had told
+him to say. Between his terror of Strickland, the Judge, and Bronckhorst
+he collapsed weeping.
+
+Then began the panic among the witnesses. Janki, the _ayah_, leering
+chastely behind her veil, turned grey, and the bearer left the Court. He
+said that his Mamma was dying, and that it was not wholesome for any man
+to lie unthriftily in the presence of 'Estreekin Sahib'.
+
+Biel said politely to Bronckhorst, 'Your witnesses don't seem to work.
+Haven't you any forged letters to produce?' But Bronckhorst was swaying
+to and fro in his chair, and there was a dead pause after Biel had been
+called to order.
+
+Bronckhorst's Counsel saw the look on his client's face, and without
+more ado pitched his papers on the little green-baize table, and mumbled
+something about having been misinformed. The whole Court applauded
+wildly, like soldiers at a theatre, and the Judge began to say what he
+thought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Biel came out of the Court, and Strickland dropped a gut trainer's-whip
+in the veranda. Ten minutes later, Biel was cutting Bronckhorst into
+ribbons behind the old Court cells, quietly and without scandal. What
+was left of Bronckhorst was sent home in a carriage; and his wife wept
+over it and nursed it into a man again. Later on, after Biel had managed
+to hush up the counter-charge against Bronckhorst of fabricating false
+evidence, Mrs. Bronckhorst, with her faint, watery smile, said that
+there had been a mistake, but it wasn't her Teddy's fault altogether.
+She would wait till her Teddy came back to her. Perhaps he had grown
+tired of her, or she had tried his patience, and perhaps we wouldn't cut
+her any more, and perhaps the mothers would let their children play with
+'little Teddy' again. He was so lonely. Then the station invited Mrs.
+Bronckhorst everywhere, until Bronckhorst was fit to appear in public,
+when he went Home and took his wife with him. According to latest
+advices, her Teddy did come back to her, and they are moderately happy.
+Though, of course, he can never forgive her the thrashing that she was
+the indirect means of getting for him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What Biel wants to know is, 'Why didn't I press home the charge against
+the Bronckhorst brute, and have him run in?'
+
+What Mrs. Strickland wants to know is, 'How _did_ my husband bring such
+a lovely, lovely Waler from your station? I know _all_ his money
+affairs; and I'm _certain_ he didn't _buy_ it.'
+
+What I want to know is, 'How do women like Mrs. Bronckhorst come to
+marry men like Bronckhorst?'
+
+And my conundrum is the most unanswerable of the three.
+
+
+
+
+IRREMEDIABLE
+
+By Ella D'Arcy
+
+(_Monochromes_, London: John Lane, 1893)
+
+
+A young man strolled along a country road one August evening after a
+long delicious day--a day of that blessed idleness the man of leisure
+never knows: one must be a bank clerk forty-nine weeks out of the
+fifty-two before one can really appreciate the exquisite enjoyment of
+doing nothing for twelve hours at a stretch. Willoughby had spent the
+morning lounging about a sunny rickyard; then, when the heat grew
+unbearable, he had retreated to an orchard, where, lying on his back in
+the long cool grass, he had traced the pattern of the apple-leaves
+diapered above him upon the summer sky; now that the heat of the day was
+over he had come to roam whither sweet fancy led him, to lean over
+gates, view the prospect, and meditate upon the pleasures of a
+well-spent day. Five such days had already passed over his head, fifteen
+more remained to him. Then farewell to freedom and clean country air!
+Back again to London and another year's toil.
+
+He came to a gate on the right of the road. Behind it a footpath
+meandered up over a grassy slope. The sheep nibbling on its summit cast
+long shadows down the hill almost to his feet. Road and fieldpath were
+equally new to him, but the latter offered greener attractions; he
+vaulted lightly over the gate and had so little idea he was taking thus
+the first step towards ruin that he began to whistle 'White Wings' from
+pure joy of life.
+
+The sheep stopped feeding and raised their heads to stare at him from
+pale-lashed eyes; first one and then another broke into a startled run,
+until there was a sudden woolly stampede of the entire flock. When
+Willoughby gained the ridge from which they had just scattered, he came
+in sight of a woman sitting on a stile at the further end of the field.
+As he advanced towards her he saw that she was young, and that she was
+not what is called 'a lady'--of which he was glad: an earlier episode in
+his career having indissolubly associated in his mind ideas of feminine
+refinement with those of feminine treachery.
+
+He thought it probable this girl would be willing to dispense with the
+formalities of an introduction, and that he might venture with her on
+some pleasant foolish chat.
+
+As she made no movement to let him pass he stood still, and, looking at
+her, began to smile.
+
+She returned his gaze from unabashed dark eyes, and then laughed,
+showing teeth white, sound, and smooth as split hazelnuts.
+
+'Do you wanter get over?' she remarked familiarly.
+
+'I'm afraid I can't without disturbing you.'
+
+'Dontcher think you're much better where you are?' said the girl, on
+which Willoughby hazarded:
+
+'You mean to say looking at you? Well, perhaps I am!'
+
+The girl at this laughed again, but nevertheless dropped herself down
+into the further field; then, leaning her arms upon the cross-bar, she
+informed the young man: 'No, I don't wanter spoil your walk. You were
+goin' p'raps ter Beacon Point? It's very pretty that wye.'
+
+'I was going nowhere in particular,' he replied; 'just exploring, so to
+speak. I'm a stranger in these parts.'
+
+'How funny! Imer stranger here too. I only come down larse Friday to
+stye with a Naunter mine in Horton. Are you stying in Horton?'
+
+Willoughby told her he was not in Orton, but at Povey Cross Farm out in
+the other direction.
+
+'Oh, Mrs. Payne's, ain't it? I've heard aunt speak ovver. She takes
+summer boarders, don't chee? I egspeck you come from London, heh?'
+
+'And I expect you come from London too?' said Willoughby, recognizing
+the familiar accent.
+
+'You're as sharp as a needle,' cried the girl with her unrestrained
+laugh; 'so I do. I'm here for a hollerday 'cos I was so done up with the
+work and the hot weather. I don't look as though I'd bin ill, do I? But
+I was, though: for it was just stiflin' hot up in our workrooms all
+larse month, an' tailorin's awful hard work at the bester times.'
+
+Willoughby felt a sudden accession of interest in her. Like many
+intelligent young men, he had dabbled a little in Socialism, and at one
+time had wandered among the dispossessed; but since then, had caught up
+and held loosely the new doctrine--it is a good and fitting thing that
+woman also should earn her bread by the sweat of her brow. Always in
+reference to the woman who, fifteen months before, had treated him ill;
+he had said to himself that even the breaking of stones in the road
+should be considered a more feminine employment than the breaking of
+hearts.
+
+He gave way therefore to a movement of friendliness for this working
+daughter of the people, and joined her on the other side of the stile in
+token of his approval. She, twisting round to face him, leaned now with
+her back against the bar, and the sunset fires lent a fleeting glory to
+her face. Perhaps she guessed how becoming the light was, for she took
+off her hat and let it touch to gold the ends and fringes of her rough
+abundant hair. Thus and at this moment she made an agreeable picture, to
+which stood as background all the beautiful, wooded Southshire view.
+
+'You don't really mean to say you are a tailoress?' said Willoughby,
+with a sort of eager compassion.
+
+'I do, though! An' I've bin one ever since I was fourteen. Look at my
+fingers if you don't b'lieve me.'
+
+She put out her right hand, and he took hold of it, as he was expected
+to do. The finger-ends were frayed and blackened by needle-pricks, but
+the hand itself was plump, moist, and not unshapely. She meanwhile
+examined Willoughby's fingers enclosing hers.
+
+'It's easy ter see you've never done no work!' she said, half admiring,
+half envious. 'I s'pose you're a tip-top swell, ain't you?'
+
+'Oh, yes! I'm a tremendous swell indeed!' said Willoughby, ironically.
+He thought of his hundred and thirty pounds' salary; and he mentioned
+his position in the British and Colonial Banking house, without shedding
+much illumination on her mind, for she insisted:
+
+'Well, anyhow, you're a gentleman. I've often wished I was a lady. It
+must be so nice ter wear fine clo'es an' never have ter do any work all
+day long.'
+
+Willoughby thought it innocent of the girl to say this; it reminded him
+of his own notion as a child--that kings and queens put on their crowns
+the first thing on rising in the morning. His cordiality rose another
+degree.
+
+'If being a gentleman means having nothing to do,' said he, smiling,
+'I can certainly lay no claim to the title. Life isn't all beer and
+skittles with me, any more than it is with you. Which is the better
+reason for enjoying the present moment, don't you think? Suppose, now,
+like a kind little girl, you were to show me the way to Beacon Point,
+which you say is so pretty?'
+
+She required no further persuasion. As he walked beside her through the
+upland fields where the dusk was beginning to fall, and the white
+evening moths to emerge from their daytime hiding-places, she asked him
+many personal questions, most of which he thought fit to parry. Taking
+no offence thereat, she told him, instead, much concerning herself and
+her family. Thus he learned her name was Esther Stables, that she and
+her people lived Whitechapel way; that her father was seldom sober, and
+her mother always ill; and that the aunt with whom she was staying kept
+the post-office and general shop in Orton village. He learned, too, that
+Esther was discontented with life in general; that, though she hated
+being at home, she found the country dreadfully dull; and that,
+consequently, she was extremely glad to have made his acquaintance. But
+what he chiefly realized when they parted was that he had spent a couple
+of pleasant hours talking nonsense with a girl who was natural,
+simple-minded, and entirely free from that repellently protective
+atmosphere with which a woman of the 'classes' so carefully surrounds
+herself. He and Esther had 'made friends' with the ease and rapidity of
+children before they have learned the dread meaning of 'etiquette', and
+they said good night, not without some talk of meeting each other again.
+
+Obliged to breakfast at a quarter to eight in town, Willoughby was
+always luxuriously late when in the country, where he took his meals
+also in leisurely fashion, often reading from a book propped up on the
+table before him. But the morning after his meeting with Esther Stables
+found him less disposed to read than usual. Her image obtruded itself
+upon the printed page, and at length grew so importunate he came to the
+conclusion the only way to lay it was to confront it with the girl
+herself.
+
+Wanting some tobacco, he saw a good reason for going into Orton. Esther
+had told him he could get tobacco and everything else at her aunt's. He
+found the post-office to be one of the first houses in the widely spaced
+village street. In front of the cottage was a small garden ablaze with
+old-fashioned flowers; and in a large garden at one side were
+apple-trees, raspberry and currant bushes, and six thatched beehives on
+a bench. The bowed windows of the little shop were partly screened by
+sunblinds; nevertheless the lower panes still displayed a heterogeneous
+collection of goods--lemons, hanks of yarn, white linen buttons upon
+blue cards, sugar cones, churchwarden pipes, and tobacco jars. A
+letter-box opened its narrow mouth low down in one wall, and over the
+door swung the sign, 'Stamps and money-order office', in black letters
+on white enamelled iron.
+
+The interior of the shop was cool and dark. A second glass-door at the
+back permitted Willoughby to see into a small sitting-room, and out
+again through a low and square-paned window to the sunny landscape
+beyond. Silhouetted against the light were the heads of two women; the
+rough young head of yesterday's Esther, the lean outline and bugled cap
+of Esther's aunt.
+
+It was the latter who at the jingling of the doorbell rose from her work
+and came forward to serve the customer; but the girl, with much mute
+meaning in her eyes, and a finger laid upon her smiling mouth, followed
+behind. Her aunt heard her footfall. 'What do you want here, Esther?'
+she said with thin disapproval; 'get back to your sewing.'
+
+Esther gave the young man a signal seen only by him and slipped out into
+the side-garden, where he found her when his purchases were made. She
+leaned over the privet-hedge to intercept him as he passed.
+
+'Aunt's an awful ole maid,' she remarked apologetically; 'I b'lieve
+she'd never let me say a word to enny one if she could help it.'
+
+'So you got home all right last night?' Willoughby inquired; 'what did
+your aunt say to you?'
+
+'Oh, she arst me where I'd been, and I tolder a lotter lies.' Then, with
+a woman's intuition, perceiving that this speech jarred, Esther made
+haste to add, 'She's so dreadful hard on me. I dursn't tell her I'd been
+with a gentleman or she'd never have let me out alone again.'
+
+'And at present I suppose you'll be found somewhere about that same
+stile every evening?' said Willoughby foolishly, for he really did not
+much care whether he met her again or not. Now he was actually in her
+company, he was surprised at himself for having given her a whole
+morning's thought; yet the eagerness of her answer flattered him, too.
+
+'Tonight I can't come, worse luck! It's Thursday, and the shops here
+close of a Thursday at five. I'll havter keep aunt company. But
+tomorrer? I can be there tomorrer. You'll come, say?'
+
+'Esther!' cried a vexed voice, and the precise, right-minded aunt
+emerged through a row of raspberry-bushes; 'whatever are you thinking
+about, delayin' the gentleman in this fashion?' She was full of rustic
+and official civility for 'the gentleman', but indignant with her niece.
+'I don't want none of your London manners down here,' Willoughby heard
+her say as she marched the girl off.
+
+He himself was not sorry to be released from Esther's too friendly eyes,
+and he spent an agreeable evening over a book, and this time managed to
+forget her completely.
+
+Though he remembered her first thing next morning, it was to smile
+wisely and determine he would not meet her again. Yet by dinner-time the
+day seemed long; why, after all, should he not meet her? By tea-time
+prudence triumphed anew--no, he would not go. Then he drank his tea
+hastily and set off for the stile.
+
+Esther was waiting for him. Expectation had given an additional colour
+to her cheeks, and her red-brown hair showed here and there a beautiful
+glint of gold. He could not help admiring the vigorous way in which it
+waved and twisted, or the little curls which grew at the nape of her
+neck, tight and close as those of a young lamb's fleece. Her neck here
+was admirable, too, in its smooth creaminess; and when her eyes lighted
+up with such evident pleasure at his coming, how avoid the conviction
+she was a good and nice girl after all?
+
+He proposed they should go down into the little copse on the right,
+where they would be less disturbed by the occasional passer-by. Here,
+seated on a felled tree-trunk, Willoughby began that bantering, silly,
+meaningless form of conversation known among the 'classes' as flirting.
+He had but the wish to make himself agreeable, and to while away the
+time. Esther, however, misunderstood him.
+
+Willoughby's hand lay palm downwards on his knee, and she, noticing a
+ring which he wore on his little finger, took hold of it.
+
+'What a funny ring!' she said; 'let's look?'
+
+To disembarrass himself of her touch, he pulled the ring off and gave
+it her to examine.
+
+'What's that ugly dark green stone?' she asked.
+
+'It's called a sardonyx.'
+
+'What's it for?' she said, turning it about.
+
+'It's a signet ring, to seal letters with.'
+
+'An' there's a sorter king's head scratched on it, an' some writin' too,
+only I carnt make it out?'
+
+'It isn't the head of a king, although it wears a crown,' Willoughby
+explained, 'but the head and bust of a Saracen against whom my ancestor
+of many hundred years ago went to fight in the Holy Land. And the words
+cut round it are our motto, "Vertue vauncet", which means virtue
+prevails.'
+
+Willoughby may have displayed some accession of dignity in giving this
+bit of family history, for Esther fell into uncontrolled laughter, at
+which he was much displeased. And when the girl made as though she would
+put the ring on her own finger, asking, 'Shall I keep it?' he coloured
+up with sudden annoyance.
+
+'It was only my fun!' said Esther hastily, and gave him the ring back,
+but his cordiality was gone. He felt no inclination to renew the
+idle-word pastime, said it was time to go, and, swinging his cane
+vexedly, struck off the heads of the flowers and the weeds as he went.
+Esther walked by his side in complete silence, a phenomenon of which he
+presently became conscious. He felt rather ashamed of having shown
+temper.
+
+'Well, here's your way home,' said he with an effort at friendliness.
+'Goodbye; we've had a nice evening anyhow. It was pleasant down there
+in the woods, eh?'
+
+He was astonished to see her eyes soften with tears, and to hear the
+real emotion in her voice as she answered, 'It was just heaven down
+there with you until you turned so funny-like. What had I done to make
+you cross? Say you forgive me, do!'
+
+'Silly child!' said Willoughby, completely mollified, 'I'm not the least
+angry. There, goodbye!' and like a fool he kissed her.
+
+He anathematized his folly in the white light of next morning, and,
+remembering the kiss he had given her, repented it very sincerely. He
+had an uncomfortable suspicion she had not received it in the same
+spirit in which it had been bestowed, but, attaching more serious
+meaning to it, would build expectations thereon which must be left
+unfulfilled. It was best indeed not to meet her again; for he
+acknowledged to himself that, though he only half liked, and even
+slightly feared her, there was a certain attraction about her--was it in
+her dark unflinching eyes or in her very red lips?--which might lead him
+into greater follies still.
+
+Thus it came about that for two successive evenings Esther waited for
+him in vain, and on the third evening he said to himself, with a
+grudging relief, that by this time she had probably transferred her
+affections to someone else.
+
+It was Saturday, the second Saturday since he left town. He spent the
+day about the farm, contemplated the pigs, inspected the feeding of the
+stock, and assisted at the afternoon milking. Then at evening, with a
+refilled pipe, he went for a long lean over the west gate, while he
+traced fantastic pictures and wove romances in the glories of the sunset
+clouds.
+
+He watched the colours glow from gold to scarlet, change to crimson,
+sink at last to sad purple reefs and isles, when the sudden
+consciousness of someone being near him made him turn round. There
+stood Esther, and her eyes were full of eagerness and anger.
+
+'Why have you never been to the stile again?' she asked him. 'You
+promised to come faithful, and you never came. Why have you not kep'
+your promise? Why? Why?' she persisted, stamping her foot because
+Willoughby remained silent.
+
+What could he say? Tell her she had no business to follow him like this;
+or own, what was, unfortunately, the truth, he was just a little glad to
+see her?
+
+'Praps you don't care for me any more?' she said. 'Well, why did you
+kiss me, then?'
+
+Why, indeed! thought Willoughby, marvelling at his own idiocy, and
+yet--such is the inconsistency of man--not wholly without the desire to
+kiss her again. And while he looked at her she suddenly flung herself
+down on the hedge-bank at his feet and burst into tears. She did not
+cover up her face, but simply pressed one cheek down upon the grass
+while the water poured from her eyes with astonishing abundance.
+Willoughby saw the dry earth turn dark and moist as it drank the tears
+in. This, his first experience of Esther's powers of weeping, distressed
+him horribly; never in his life before had he seen anyone weep like
+that, he should not have believed such a thing possible; he was alarmed,
+too, lest she should be noticed from the house. He opened the gate;
+'Esther!' he begged, 'don't cry. Come out here, like a dear girl, and
+let us talk sensibly.'
+
+Because she stumbled, unable to see her way through wet eyes, he gave
+her his hand, and they found themselves in a field of corn, walking
+along the narrow grass-path that skirted it, in the shadow of the
+hedgerow.
+
+'What is there to cry about because you have not seen me for two days?'
+he began; 'why, Esther, we are only strangers, after all. When we have
+been at home a week or two we shall scarcely remember each other's
+names.'
+
+Esther sobbed at intervals, but her tears had ceased. 'It's fine for you
+to talk of home,' she said to this. 'You've got something that is a
+home, I s'pose? But me! my home's like hell, with nothing but
+quarrellin' and cursin', and a father who beats us whether sober or
+drunk. Yes!' she repeated shrewdly, seeing the lively disgust on
+Willoughby's face, 'he beat me, all ill as I was, jus' before I come
+away. I could show you the bruises on my arms still. And now to go back
+there after knowin' you! It'll be worse than ever. I can't endure it,
+and I won't! I'll put an end to it or myself somehow, I swear!'
+
+'But my poor Esther, how can I help it? what can I do?' said Willoughby.
+He was greatly moved, full of wrath with her father, with all the world
+which makes women suffer. He had suffered himself at the hands of a
+woman and severely, but this, instead of hardening his heart, had only
+rendered it the more supple. And yet he had a vivid perception of the
+peril in which he stood. An interior voice urged him to break away, to
+seek safety in flight even at the cost of appearing cruel or ridiculous;
+so, coming to a point in the field where an elm-hole jutted out across
+the path, he saw with relief he could now withdraw his hand from the
+girl's, since they must walk singly to skirt round it.
+
+Esther took a step in advance, stopped and suddenly turned to face him;
+she held out her two hands and her face was very near his own.
+
+'Don't you care for me one little bit?' she said wistfully, and surely
+sudden madness fell upon him. For he kissed her again, he kissed her
+many times, he took her in his arms, and pushed all thoughts of the
+consequences far from him.
+
+But when, an hour later, he and Esther stood by the last gate on the
+road to Orton, some of these consequences were already calling loudly to
+him.
+
+'You know I have only L130 a year?' he told her; 'it's no very brilliant
+prospect for you to marry me on that.'
+
+For he had actually offered her marriage, although to the mediocre
+man such a proceeding must appear incredible, uncalled for. But to
+Willoughby, overwhelmed with sadness and remorse, it seemed the only
+atonement possible.
+
+Sudden exultation leaped at Esther's heart.
+
+'Oh! I'm used to managing' she told him confidently, and mentally
+resolved to buy herself, so soon as she was married, a black feather
+boa, such as she had coveted last winter.
+
+Willoughby spent the remaining days of his holiday in thinking out and
+planning with Esther the details of his return to London and her own,
+the secrecy to be observed, the necessary legal steps to be taken, and
+the quiet suburb in which they would set up housekeeping. And, so
+successfully did he carry out his arrangements, that within five weeks
+from the day on which he had first met Esther Stables, he and she came
+out one morning from a church in Highbury, husband and wife. It was a
+mellow September day, the streets were filled with sunshine, and
+Willoughby, in reckless high spirits, imagined he saw a reflection of
+his own gaiety on the indifferent faces of the passersby. There being no
+one else to perform the office, he congratulated himself very warmly,
+and Esther's frequent laughter filled in the pauses of the day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Three months later Willoughby was dining with a friend, and the
+hour-hand of the clock nearing ten, the host no longer resisted the
+guest's growing anxiety to be gone. He arose and exchanged with him
+good wishes and goodbyes.
+
+'Marriage is evidently a most successful institution,' said he,
+half-jesting, half-sincere; 'you almost make me inclined to go and get
+married myself. Confess now your thoughts have been at home the whole
+evening.'
+
+Willoughby thus addressed turned red to the roots of his hair, but did
+not deny it.
+
+The other laughed. 'And very commendable they should be,' he continued,
+'since you are scarcely, so to speak, out of your honeymoon.'
+
+With a social smile on his lips, Willoughby calculated a moment before
+replying, 'I have been married exactly three months and three days.'
+Then, after a few words respecting their next meeting, the two shook
+hands and parted--the young host to finish the evening with books and
+pipe, the young husband to set out on a twenty minutes' walk to his
+home.
+
+It was a cold, clear December night following a day of rain. A touch of
+frost in the air had dried the pavements, and Willoughby's footfall
+ringing upon the stones re-echoed down the empty suburban street. Above
+his head was a dark, remote sky thickly powdered with stars, and as he
+turned westward Alpherat hung for a moment 'comme le point sur un _i_',
+over the slender spire of St John's. But he was insensible to the worlds
+about him; he was absorbed in his own thoughts, and these, as his friend
+had surmised, were entirely with his wife. For Esther's face was always
+before his eyes, her voice was always in his ears, she filled the
+universe for him; yet only four months ago he had never seen her, had
+never heard her name. This was the curious part of it--here in December
+he found himself the husband of a girl who was completely dependent upon
+him not only for food, clothes, and lodging, but for her present
+happiness, her whole future life; and last July he had been scarcely
+more than a boy himself, with no greater care on his mind than the
+pleasant difficulty of deciding where he should spend his annual three
+weeks' holiday.
+
+But it is events, not months or years, which age. Willoughby, who
+was only twenty-six, remembered his youth as a sometime companion
+irrevocably lost to him; its vague, delightful hopes were now
+crystallized into definite ties, and its happy irresponsibilities
+displaced by a sense of care, inseparable perhaps from the most
+fortunate of marriages.
+
+As he reached the street in which he lodged his pace involuntarily
+slackened. While still some distance off, his eye sought out and
+distinguished the windows of the room in which Esther awaited him.
+Through the broken slats of the Venetian blinds he could see the yellow
+gaslight within. The parlour beneath was in darkness; his landlady had
+evidently gone to bed, there being no light over the hall-door either.
+In some apprehension he consulted his watch under the last street-lamp
+he passed, to find comfort in assuring himself it was only ten minutes
+after ten. He let himself in with his latch-key, hung up his hat and
+overcoat by the sense of touch, and, groping his way upstairs, opened
+the door of the first floor sitting-room.
+
+At the table in the centre of the room sat his wife, leaning upon her
+elbows, her two hands thrust up into her ruffled hair; spread out before
+her was a crumpled yesterday's newspaper, and so interested was she to
+all appearance in its contents that she neither spoke nor looked up as
+Willoughby entered. Around her were the still uncleared tokens of her
+last meal: tea-slops, bread-crumbs, and an egg-shell crushed to
+fragments upon a plate, which was one of those trifles that set
+Willoughby's teeth on edge--whenever his wife ate an egg she persisted
+in turning the egg-cup upside down upon the tablecloth, and pounding the
+shell to pieces in her plate with her spoon.
+
+The room was repulsive in its disorder. The one lighted burner of the
+gaselier, turned too high, hissed up into a long tongue of flame. The
+fire smoked feebly under a newly administered shovelful of 'slack', and
+a heap of ashes and cinders littered the grate. A pair of walking boots,
+caked in dry mud, lay on the hearth-rug just where they had been thrown
+off. On the mantelpiece, amidst a dozen other articles which had no
+business there, was a bedroom-candlestick; and every single article of
+furniture stood crookedly out of its place.
+
+Willoughby took in the whole intolerable picture, and yet spoke with
+kindliness. 'Well, Esther! I'm not so late, after all. I hope you did
+not find the time dull by yourself?' Then he explained the reason of his
+absence. He had met a friend he had not seen for a couple of years, who
+had insisted on taking him home to dine.
+
+His wife gave no sign of having heard him; she kept her eyes riveted on
+the paper before her.
+
+'You received my wire, of course,' Willoughby went on, 'and did not
+wait?'
+
+Now she crushed the newspaper up with a passionate movement, and threw
+it from her. She raised her head, showing cheeks blazing with anger, and
+dark, sullen, unflinching eyes.
+
+'I did wyte then!' she cried 'I wyted till near eight before I got
+your old telegraph! I s'pose that's what you call the manners of a
+"gentleman", to keep your wife mewed up here, while you go gallivantin'
+off with your fine friends?'
+
+Whenever Esther was angry, which was often, she taunted Willoughby with
+being 'a gentleman', although this was the precise point about him which
+at other times found most favour in her eyes. But tonight she was
+envenomed by the idea he had been enjoying himself without her, stung
+by fear lest he should have been in company with some other woman.
+
+Willoughby, hearing the taunt, resigned himself to the inevitable.
+Nothing that he could do might now avert the breaking storm; all his
+words would only be twisted into fresh griefs. But sad experience had
+taught him that to take refuge in silence was more fatal still. When
+Esther was in such a mood as this it was best to supply the fire with
+fuel, that, through the very violence of the conflagration, it might
+the sooner burn itself out.
+
+So he said what soothing things he could, and Esther caught them up,
+disfigured them, and flung them back at him with scorn. She reproached
+him with no longer caring for her; she vituperated the conduct of his
+family in never taking the smallest notice of her marriage; and she
+detailed the insolence of the landlady who had told her that morning she
+pitied 'poor Mr. Willoughby', and had refused to go out and buy herrings
+for Esther's early dinner.
+
+Every affront or grievance, real or imaginary, since the day she and
+Willoughby had first met, she poured forth with a fluency due to
+frequent repetition, for, with the exception of today's added injuries,
+Willoughby had heard the whole litany many times before.
+
+While she raged and he looked at her, he remembered he had once thought
+her pretty. He had seen beauty in her rough brown hair, her strong
+colouring, her full red mouth. He fell into musing ... a woman may lack
+beauty, he told himself, and yet be loved....
+
+Meanwhile Esther reached white heats of passion, and the strain could no
+longer be sustained. She broke into sobs and began to shed tears with
+the facility peculiar to her. In a moment her face was all wet with the
+big drops which rolled down her cheeks faster and faster, and fell with
+audible splashes on to the table, on to her lap, on to the floor. To
+this tearful abundance, formerly a surprising spectacle, Willoughby
+was now acclimatized; but the remnant of chivalrous feeling not yet
+extinguished in his bosom forbade him to sit stolidly by while a woman
+wept, without seeking to console her. As on previous occasions, his
+peace-overtures were eventually accepted. Esther's tears gradually
+ceased to flow, she began to exhibit a sort of compunction, she wished
+to be forgiven, and, with the kiss of reconciliation, passed into a
+phase of demonstrative affection perhaps more trying to Willoughby's
+patience than all that had preceded it. 'You don't love me?' she
+questioned, 'I'm sure you don't love me?' she reiterated; and he
+asseverated that he loved her until he despised himself. Then at last,
+only half satisfied, but wearied out with vexation--possibly, too, with
+a movement of pity at the sight of his haggard face--she consented to
+leave him. Only, what was he going to do? she asked suspiciously; write
+those rubbishing stories of his? Well, he must promise not to stay up
+more than half-an-hour at the latest--only until he had smoked one pipe.
+
+Willoughby promised, as he would have promised anything on earth to
+secure to himself a half-hour's peace and solitude. Esther groped for
+her slippers, which were kicked off under the table; scratched four or
+five matches along the box and threw them away before she succeeded in
+lighting her candle; set it down again to contemplate her tear-swollen
+reflection in the chimney-glass, and burst out laughing.
+
+'What a fright I do look, to be sure!' she remarked complacently, and
+again thrust her two hands up through her disordered curls. Then,
+holding the candle at such an angle that the grease ran over on to the
+carpet, she gave Willoughby another vehement kiss and trailed out of the
+room with an ineffectual attempt to close the door behind her.
+
+Willoughby got up to shut it himself, and wondered why it was that
+Esther never did any one mortal thing efficiently or well. Good God! how
+irritable he felt. It was impossible to write. He must find an outlet
+for his impatience, rend or mend something. He began to straighten the
+room, but a wave of disgust came over him before the task was fairly
+commenced. What was the use? Tomorrow all would be bad as before. What
+was the use of doing anything? He sat down by the table and leaned his
+head upon his hands.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The past came back to him in pictures: his boyhood's past first of all.
+He saw again the old home, every inch of which was familiar to him as
+his own name; he reconstructed in his thought all the old well-known
+furniture, and replaced it precisely as it had stood long ago. He passed
+again a childish finger over the rough surface of the faded Utrecht
+velvet chairs, and smelled again the strong fragrance of the white lilac
+tree, blowing in through the open parlour-window. He savoured anew the
+pleasant mental atmosphere produced by the dainty neatness of cultured
+women, the companionship of a few good pictures, of a few good books.
+Yet this home had been broken up years ago, the dear familiar things had
+been scattered far and wide, never to find themselves under the same
+roof again; and from those near relatives who still remained to him he
+lived now hopelessly estranged.
+
+Then came the past of his first love-dream, when he worshipped at the
+feet of Nora Beresford, and, with the whole-heartedness of the true
+fanatic, clothed his idol with every imaginable attribute of virtue and
+tenderness. To this day there remained a secret shrine in his heart
+wherein the Lady of his young ideal was still enthroned, although it was
+long since he had come to perceive she had nothing whatever in common
+with the Nora of reality. For the real Nora he had no longer any
+sentiment, she had passed altogether out of his life and thoughts; and
+yet, so permanent is all influence, whether good or evil, that the
+effect she wrought upon his character remained. He recognized tonight
+that her treatment of him in the past did not count for nothing among
+the various factors which had determined his fate.
+
+Now, the past of only last year returned, and, strangely enough, this
+seemed farther removed from him than all the rest. He had been
+particularly strong, well, and happy this time last year. Nora was
+dismissed from his mind, and he had thrown all his energies into his
+work. His tastes were sane and simple, and his dingy, furnished rooms
+had become through habit very pleasant to him. In being his own, they
+were invested with a greater charm than another man's castle. Here he
+had smoked and studied, here he had made many a glorious voyage into the
+land of books. Many a homecoming, too, rose up before him out of the
+dark ungenial streets, to a clear blazing fire, a neatly laid cloth, an
+evening of ideal enjoyment; many a summer twilight when he mused at the
+open window, plunging his gaze deep into the recesses of his neighbour's
+lime-tree, where the unseen sparrows chattered with such unflagging
+gaiety.
+
+He had always been given to much daydreaming, and it was in the silence
+of his rooms of an evening that he turned his phantasmal adventures into
+stories for the magazines; here had come to him many an editorial
+refusal, but here, too, he had received the news of his first unexpected
+success. All his happiest memories were embalmed in those shabby,
+badly-furnished rooms.
+
+Now all was changed. Now might there be no longer any soft indulgence
+of the hour's mood. His rooms and everything he owned belonged now to
+Esther, too. She had objected to most of his photographs, and had
+removed them. She hated books, and were he ever so ill-advised as to
+open one in her presence, she immediately began to talk, no matter how
+silent or how sullen her previous mood had been. If he read aloud to her
+she either yawned despairingly, or was tickled into laughter where there
+was no reasonable cause. At first Willoughby had tried to educate her,
+and had gone hopefully to the task. It is so natural to think you may
+make what you will of the woman who loves you. But Esther had no wish to
+improve. She evinced all the self-satisfaction of an illiterate mind. To
+her husband's gentle admonitions she replied with brevity that she
+thought her way quite as good as his; or, if he didn't approve of her
+pronunciation, he might do the other thing, she was too old to go to
+school again. He gave up the attempt, and, with humiliation at his
+previous fatuity, perceived that it was folly to expect that a few weeks
+of his companionship could alter or pull up the impressions of years, or
+rather of generations.
+
+Yet here he paused to admit a curious thing: it was not only Esther's
+bad habits which vexed him, but habits quite unblameworthy in themselves
+which he never would have noticed in another, irritated him in her. He
+disliked her manner of standing, of walking, of sitting in a chair, of
+folding her hands. Like a lover, he was conscious of her proximity
+without seeing her. Like a lover, too, his eyes followed her every
+movement, his ear noted every change in her voice. But then, instead of
+being charmed by everything as the lover is, everything jarred upon him.
+
+What was the meaning of this? Tonight the anomaly pressed upon him: he
+reviewed his position. Here was he, quite a young man, just twenty-six
+years of age, married to Esther, and bound to live with her so long as
+life should last--twenty, forty, perhaps fifty years more. Every day of
+those years to be spent in her society; he and she face to face, soul to
+soul; they two alone amid all the whirling, busy, indifferent world. So
+near together in semblance; in truth, so far apart as regards all that
+makes life dear.
+
+Willoughby groaned. From the woman he did not love, whom he had never
+loved, he might not again go free; so much he recognized. The feeling he
+had once entertained for Esther, strange compound of mistaken chivalry
+and flattered vanity, was long since extinct; but what, then, was the
+sentiment with which she inspired him? For he was not indifferent to
+her--no, never for one instant could he persuade himself he was
+indifferent, never for one instant could he banish her from his
+thoughts. His mind's eye followed her during his hours of absence as
+pertinaciously as his bodily eye dwelt upon her actual presence. She was
+the principal object of the universe to him, the centre around which his
+wheel of life revolved with an appalling fidelity.
+
+What did it mean? What could it mean? he asked himself with anguish.
+
+And the sweat broke out upon his forehead and his hands grew cold, for
+on a sudden the truth lay there like a written word upon the tablecloth
+before him. This woman, whom he had taken to himself for better, for
+worse, inspired him with a passion, intense indeed, all-masterful,
+soul-subduing as Love itself.... But when he understood the terror of
+his Hatred, he laid his head upon his arms and wept, not facile tears
+like Esther's, but tears wrung out from his agonizing, unavailing
+regret.
+
+
+
+
+'A POOR STICK'
+
+By Arthur Morrison
+
+(_Tales of Mean Streets_, London: Methuen and Co., 1894) Published by
+permission of Methuen and Co.
+
+
+Mrs. Jennings (or Jinnins, as the neighbours would have it) ruled
+absolutely at home, when she took so much trouble as to do anything at
+all there--which was less often than might have been. As for Robert her
+husband, he was a poor stick, said the neighbours. And yet he was a man
+with enough of hardihood to remain a non-unionist in the erectors' shop
+at Maidment's all the years of his service; no mean test of a man's
+fortitude and resolution, as many a sufferer for independent opinion
+might testify. The truth was that Bob never grew out of his
+courtship-blindness. Mrs. Jennings governed as she pleased, stayed out
+or came home as she chose, and cooked a dinner or didn't, as her
+inclination stood. Thus it was for ten years, during which time there
+were no children, and Bob bore all things uncomplaining: cooking his own
+dinner when he found none cooked, and sewing on his own buttons. Then of
+a sudden came children, till in three years there were three; and Bob
+Jennings had to nurse and to wash them as often as not.
+
+Mrs. Jennings at this time was what is called rather a fine woman: a
+woman of large scale and full development; whose slatternly habit left
+her coarse black hair to tumble in snake-locks about her face and
+shoulders half the day; who, clad in half-hooked clothes, bore herself
+notoriously and unabashed in her fullness; and of whom ill things were
+said regarding the lodger. The gossips had their excuse. The lodger was
+an irregular young cabinet-maker, who lost quarters and halves and whole
+days; who had been seen abroad with his landlady, what time Bob Jennings
+was putting the children to bed at home; who on his frequent holidays
+brought in much beer, which he and the woman shared, while Bob was at
+work. To carry the tale to Bob would have been a thankless errand, for
+he would have none of anybody's sympathy, even in regard to miseries
+plain to his eye. But the thing got about in the workshop, and there
+his days were made bitter.
+
+At home things grew worse. To return at half-past five, and find the
+children still undressed, screaming, hungry and dirty, was a matter of
+habit: to get them food, to wash them, to tend the cuts and bumps
+sustained through the day of neglect, before lighting a fire and getting
+tea for himself, were matters of daily duty. 'Ah,' he said to his
+sister, who came at intervals to say plain things about Mrs. Jennings,
+'you shouldn't go for to set a man agin 'is wife, Jin. Melier do'n' like
+work, I know, but that's nach'ral to 'er. She ought to married a swell
+'stead o' me; she might 'a' done easy if she liked, bein' sich a fine
+gal; but she's good-'arted, is Melier; an' she can't 'elp bein' a bit
+thoughtless.' Whereat his sister called him a fool (it was her customary
+goodbye at such times), and took herself off.
+
+Bob Jennings's intelligence was sufficient for his common needs, but it
+was never a vast intelligence. Now, under a daily burden of dull misery,
+it clouded and stooped. The base wit of the workshop he comprehended
+less, and realized more slowly, than before; and the gaffer cursed him
+for a sleepy dolt.
+
+Mrs. Jennings ceased from any pretence of housewifery, and would
+sometimes sit--perchance not quite sober--while Bob washed the children
+in the evening, opening her mouth only to express her contempt for him
+and his establishment, and to make him understand that she was sick of
+both. Once, exasperated by his quietness, she struck at him, and for a
+moment he was another man. 'Don't do that, Melier,' he said, 'else I
+might forget myself.' His manner surprised his wife: and it was such
+that she never did do that again.
+
+So was Bob Jennings: without a friend in the world, except his sister,
+who chid him, and the children, who squalled at him: when his wife
+vanished with the lodger, the clock, a shade of wax flowers, Bob's best
+boots (which fitted the lodger), and his silver watch. Bob had returned,
+as usual, to the dirt and the children, and it was only when he struck a
+light that he found the clock was gone.
+
+'Mummy tooked ve t'ock,' said Milly, the eldest child, who had followed
+him in from the door, and now gravely observed his movements. 'She
+tooked ve t'ock an' went ta-ta. An' she tooked ve fyowers.'
+
+Bob lit the paraffin lamp with the green glass reservoir, and carried
+it and its evil smell about the house. Some things had been turned over
+and others had gone, plainly. All Melier's clothes were gone. The lodger
+was not in, and under his bedroom window, where his box had stood, there
+was naught but an oblong patch of conspicuously clean wallpaper. In a
+muddle of doubt and perplexity, Bob found himself at the front door,
+staring up and down the street. Divers women-neighbours stood at their
+doors, and eyed him curiously; for Mrs. Webster, moralist, opposite, had
+not watched the day's proceedings (nor those of many other days) for
+nothing, nor had she kept her story to herself.
+
+He turned back into the house, a vague notion of what had befallen
+percolating feebly through his bewilderment. 'I dunno--I dunno,' he
+faltered, rubbing his ear. His mouth was dry, and he moved his lips
+uneasily, as he gazed with aimless looks about the walls and ceiling.
+Presently his eyes rested on the child, and 'Milly,' he said decisively,
+'come an 'ave yer face washed.'
+
+He put the children to bed early, and went out. In the morning, when his
+sister came, because she had heard the news in common with everybody
+else, he had not returned. Bob Jennings had never lost more than two
+quarters in his life, but he was not seen at the workshop all this day.
+His sister stayed in the house, and in the evening, at his regular
+homing-time, he appeared, haggard and dusty, and began his preparations
+for washing the children. When he was made to understand that they had
+been already attended to, he looked doubtful and troubled for a moment.
+Presently he said: 'I ain't found 'er yet, Jin; I was in 'opes she might
+'a' bin back by this. I--I don't expect she'll be very long. She was
+alwis a bit larky, was Melier; but very good-'arted.'
+
+His sister had prepared a strenuous lecture on the theme of 'I told you
+so'; but the man was so broken, so meek, and so plainly unhinged in his
+faculties, that she suppressed it. Instead, she gave him comfortable
+talk, and made him promise in the end to sleep that night, and take up
+his customary work in the morning.
+
+He did these things, and could have worked placidly enough had he but
+been alone; but the tale had reached the workshop, and there was no lack
+of brutish chaff to disorder him. This the decenter men would have no
+part in, and even protested against. But the ill-conditioned kept their
+way, till, at the cry of 'Bell O!' when all were starting for dinner,
+one of the worst shouted the cruellest gibe of all. Bob Jennings turned
+on him and knocked him over a scrap-heap.
+
+A shout went up from the hurrying workmen, with a chorus of 'Serve ye
+right,' and the fallen joker found himself awkwardly confronted by the
+shop bruiser. But Bob had turned to a corner, and buried his eyes in the
+bend of his arm, while his shoulders heaved and shook.
+
+He slunk away home, and stayed there: walking restlessly to and fro, and
+often peeping down the street from the window. When, at twilight, his
+sister came again, he had become almost cheerful, and said with some
+briskness: 'I'm agoin' to meet 'er, Jin, at seven. I know where she'll
+be waitin'.'
+
+He went upstairs, and after a little while came down again in his best
+black coat, carefully smoothing a tall hat of obsolete shape with his
+pocket-handkerchief. 'I ain't wore it for years,' he said. 'I ought to
+'a' wore it--it might 'a' pleased 'er. She used to say she wouldn't walk
+with me in no other--when I used to meet 'er in the evenin', at seven
+o'clock.' He brushed assiduously, and put the hat on. 'I'd better 'ave
+a shave round the corner as I go along,' he added, fingering his stubbly
+chin.
+
+He received as one not comprehending his sister's persuasion to remain
+at home; but when he went she followed at a little distance. After his
+penny shave he made for the main road, where company-keeping couples
+walked up and down all evening. He stopped at a church, and began pacing
+slowly to and fro before it, eagerly looking out each way as he went.
+
+His sister watched him for nearly half an hour, and then went home. In
+two hours more she came back with her husband. Bob was still there,
+walking to and fro.
+
+''Ullo, Bob,' said his brother-in-law; 'come along 'ome an' get to bed,
+there's a good chap. You'll be awright in the mornin'.'
+
+'She ain't turned up,' Bob complained, 'or else I've missed 'er. This
+is the reg'lar place--where I alwis used to meet 'er. But she'll come
+tomorrer. She used to leave me in the lurch sometimes, bein' nach'rally
+larky. But very good-'arted, mindjer; very good-'arted.'
+
+She did not come the next evening, nor the next, nor the evening after,
+nor the one after that. But Bob Jennings, howbeit depressed and anxious,
+was always confident. 'Somethink's prevented 'er tonight,' he would say,
+'but she'll come tomorrer.... I'll buy a blue tie tomorrer--she used to
+like me in a blue tie. I won't miss 'er tomorrer. I'll come a little
+earlier.'
+
+So it went. The black coat grew ragged in the service, and hobbledehoys,
+finding him safe sport, smashed the tall hat over his eyes time after
+time. He wept over the hat, and straightened it as best he might. Was
+she coming? Night after night, and night and night. But tomorrow....
+
+
+
+
+THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBEY GRANGE
+
+By Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+(_The Strand Magazine_, 23 January 1897)
+
+
+It was on a bitterly cold night and frosty morning, towards the end of
+the winter of '97, that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It
+was Holmes. The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face,
+and told me at a glance that something was amiss.
+
+'Come, Watson, come!' he cried. The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your
+clothes and come!'
+
+Ten minutes later we were both in a cab, and rattling through the silent
+streets on our way to Charing Cross Station. The first faint winter's
+dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional
+figure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in
+the opalescent London reek. Holmes nestled in silence into his heavy
+coat, and I was glad to do the same, for the air was most bitter, and
+neither of us had broken our fast.
+
+It was not until we had consumed some hot tea at the station and taken
+our places in the Kentish train that we were sufficiently thawed, he to
+speak and I to listen. Holmes drew a note from his pocket, and read
+aloud:
+
+Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent
+
+3:30 A.M.
+
+My Dear Mr. Holmes:
+
+I should be very glad of your immediate assistance in what promises to
+be a most remarkable case. It is something quite in your line. Except
+for releasing the lady I will see that everything is kept exactly as I
+have found it, but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult
+to leave Sir Eustace there.
+
+Yours faithfully,
+
+STANLEY HOPKINS
+
+'Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons
+has been entirely justified,' said Holmes. 'I fancy that every one of
+his cases has found its way into your collection, and I must admit,
+Watson, that you have some power of selection, which atones for much
+which I deplore in your narratives. Your fatal habit of looking at
+everything from the point of view of a story instead of as a scientific
+exercise has ruined what might have been an instructive and even
+classical series of demonstrations. You slur over work of the utmost
+finesse and delicacy, in order to dwell upon sensational details which
+may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader.'
+
+'Why do you not write them yourself?' I said, with some bitterness.
+
+'I will, my dear Watson, I will. At present I am, as you know, fairly
+busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the composition of
+a textbook, which shall focus the whole art of detection into one volume.
+Our present research appears to be a case of murder.'
+
+'You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?'
+
+'I should say so. Hopkins's writing shows considerable agitation, and he
+is not an emotional man. Yes, I gather there has been violence, and that
+the body is left for our inspection. A mere suicide would not have
+caused him to send for me. As to the release of the lady, it would
+appear that she has been locked in her room during the tragedy. We are
+moving in high life, Watson, crackling paper, 'E.B.' monogram,
+coat-of-arms, picturesque address. I think that friend Hopkins will live
+up to his reputation, and that we shall have an interesting morning. The
+crime was committed before twelve last night.'
+
+'How can you possibly tell?'
+
+'By an inspection of the trains, and by reckoning the time. The local
+police had to be called in, they had to communicate with Scotland Yard,
+Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had to send for me. All that makes
+a fair night's work. Well, here we are at Chislehurst Station, and we
+shall soon set our doubts at rest.'
+
+A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes brought us
+to a park gate, which was opened for us by an old lodge-keeper, whose
+haggard face bore the reflection of some great disaster. The avenue ran
+through a noble park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in a
+low, widespread house, pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio.
+The central part was evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but
+the large windows showed that modern changes had been carried out, and
+one wing of the house appeared to be entirely new. The youthful figure
+and alert, eager face of Inspector Stanley Hopkins confronted us in the
+open doorway.
+
+'I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes. And you, too, Dr. Watson. But,
+indeed, if I had my time over again, I should not have troubled you, for
+since the lady has come to herself, she has given so clear an account of
+the affair that there is not much left for us to do. You remember that
+Lewisham gang of burglars?'
+
+'What, the three Randalls?'
+
+'Exactly; the father and two sons. It's their work. I have not a doubt
+of it. They did a job at Sydenham a fortnight ago and were seen and
+described. Rather cool to do another so soon and so near, but it is
+they, beyond all doubt. It's a hanging matter this time.'
+
+'Sir Eustace is dead, then?'
+
+'Yes, his head was knocked in with his own poker.'
+
+'Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me.'
+
+'Exactly--one of the richest men in Kent--Lady Brackenstall is in the
+morning-room. Poor lady, she has had a most dreadful experience. She
+seemed half dead when I saw her first. I think you had best see her and
+hear her account of the facts. Then we will examine the dining-room
+together.'
+
+Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person. Seldom have I seen so graceful
+a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face. She was a
+blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would no doubt have had the
+perfect complexion which goes with such colouring, had not her recent
+experience left her drawn and haggard. Her sufferings were physical as
+well as mental, for over one eye rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling,
+which her maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with
+vinegar and water. The lady lay back exhausted upon a couch, but her
+quick, observant gaze, as we entered the room, and the alert expression
+of her beautiful features, showed that neither her wits nor her courage
+had been shaken by her terrible experience. She was enveloped in a loose
+dressing-gown of blue and silver, but a black sequin-covered
+dinner-dress lay upon the couch beside her.
+
+'I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins,' she said, wearily.
+'Could you not repeat it for me? Well, if you think it necessary, I will
+tell these gentlemen what occurred. Have they been in the dining-room
+yet?'
+
+'I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first.'
+
+'I shall be glad when you can arrange matters. It is horrible to me to
+think of him still lying there.' She shuddered and buried her face in
+her hands. As she did so, the loose gown fell back from her forearms.
+Holmes uttered an exclamation.
+
+'You have other injuries, madam! What is this?' Two vivid red spots
+stood out on one of the white, round limbs. She hastily covered it.
+
+'It is nothing. It has no connection with this hideous business tonight.
+If you and your friend will sit down, I will tell you all I can.
+
+'I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall. I have been married about
+a year. I suppose that it is no use my attempting to conceal that our
+marriage has not been a happy one. I fear that all our neighbours would
+tell you that, even if I were to attempt to deny it. Perhaps the fault
+may be partly mine. I was brought up in the freer, less conventional
+atmosphere of South Australia, and this English life, with its
+proprieties and its primness, is not congenial to me. But the main
+reason lies in the one fact, which is notorious to everyone, and that is
+that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard. To be with such a man for an
+hour is unpleasant. Can you imagine what it means for a sensitive and
+high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and night? It is a
+sacrilege, a crime, a villany to hold that such a marriage is binding.
+I say that these monstrous laws of yours will bring a curse upon the
+land--God will not let such wickedness endure.' For an instant she sat
+up, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes blazing from under the terrible
+mark upon her brow. Then the strong, soothing hand of the austere maid
+drew her head down on to the cushion, and the wild anger died away into
+passionate sobbing. At last she continued:
+
+'I will tell you about last night. You are aware, perhaps, that in this
+house all the servants sleep in the modern wing. This central block is
+made up of the dwelling-rooms, with the kitchen behind and our bedroom
+above. My maid, Theresa, sleeps above my room. There is no one else,
+and no sound could alarm those who are in the farther wing. This must
+have been well known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as
+they did.
+
+'Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten. The servants had already gone
+to their quarters. Only my maid was up, and she had remained in her room
+at the top of the house until I needed her services. I sat until after
+eleven in this room, absorbed in a book. Then I walked round to see that
+all was right before I went upstairs. It was my custom to do this
+myself, for, as I have explained, Sir Eustace was not always to be
+trusted. I went into the kitchen, the butler's pantry, the gun-room, the
+billiard-room, the drawing-room, and finally the dining-room. As I
+approached the window, which is covered with thick curtains, I suddenly
+felt the wind blow upon my face and realized that it was open. I flung
+the curtain aside and found myself face to face with a broad shouldered
+elderly man, who had just stepped into the room. The window is a long
+French one, which really forms a door leading to the lawn. I held my
+bedroom candle lit in my hand, and, by its light, behind the first man I
+saw two others, who were in the act of entering. I stepped back, but the
+fellow was on me in an instant. He caught me first by the wrist and then
+by the throat. I opened my mouth to scream, but he struck me a savage
+blow with his fist over the eye, and felled me to the ground. I must
+have been unconscious for a few minutes, for when I came to myself, I
+found that they had torn down the bell-rope, and had secured me tightly
+to the oaken chair which stands at the head of the dining-table. I was
+so firmly bound that I could not move, and a handkerchief round my mouth
+prevented me from uttering a sound. It was at this instant that my
+unfortunate husband entered the room. He had evidently heard some
+suspicious sounds, and he came prepared for such a scene as he found. He
+was dressed in nightshirt and trousers, with his favourite blackthorn
+cudgel in his hand. He rushed at the burglars, but another--it was an
+elderly man--stooped, picked the poker out of the grate and struck him a
+horrible blow as he passed. He fell with a groan and never moved again.
+I fainted once more, but again it could only have been for a very few
+minutes during which I was insensible. When I opened my eyes I found
+that they had collected the silver from the sideboard, and they had
+drawn a bottle of wine which stood there. Each of them had a glass in
+his hand. I have already told you, have I not, that one was elderly,
+with a beard, and the others young, hairless lads. They might have been
+a father and his two sons. They talked together in whispers. Then they
+came over and made sure that I was securely bound. Finally they
+withdrew, closing the window after them. It was quite a quarter of an
+hour before I got my mouth free. When I did so, my screams brought the
+maid to my assistance. The other servants were soon alarmed, and we sent
+for the local police, who instantly communicated with London. That is
+really all that I can tell you, gentlemen, and I trust that it will not
+be necessary for me to go over so painful a story again.'
+
+'Any questions, Mr. Holmes?' asked Hopkins.
+
+'I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's patience and
+time,' said Holmes. 'Before I go into the dining-room, I should like to
+hear your experience.' He looked at the maid.
+
+'I saw the men before ever they came into the house,' said she. 'As I
+sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the
+lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time. It was more
+than an hour after that I heard my mistress scream, and down I ran, to
+find her, poor lamb, just as she says, and him on the floor, with his
+blood and brains over the room. It was enough to drive a woman out of
+her wits, tied there, and her very dress spotted with him, but she never
+wanted courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide and Lady Brackenstall
+of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new ways. You've questioned her long
+enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming to her own room, just with
+her old Theresa, to get the rest that she badly needs.'
+
+With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her
+mistress and led her from the room.
+
+'She had been with her all her life,' said Hopkins. 'Nursed her as
+a baby, and came with her to England when they first left Australia,
+eighteen months ago. Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid
+you don't pick up nowadays. This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!'
+
+The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face, and I knew
+that with the mystery all the charm of the case had departed. There
+still remained an arrest to be effected, but what were these commonplace
+rogues that he should soil his hands with them? An abstruse and learned
+specialist who finds that he has been called in for a case of measles
+would experience something of the annoyance which I read in my friend's
+eyes. Yet the scene in the dining-room of the Abbey Grange was
+sufficiently strange to arrest his attention and to recall his waning
+interest.
+
+It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling, oaken
+panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient weapons around
+the walls. At the further end from the door was the high French window
+of which we had heard. Three smaller windows on the right-hand side
+filled the apartment with cold winter sunshine. On the left was a large,
+deep fireplace, with a massive, overhanging oak mantelpiece. Beside the
+fireplace was a heavy oaken chair with arms and crossbars at the bottom.
+In and out through the open woodwork was woven a crimson cord, which was
+secured at each side to the crosspiece below. In releasing the lady, the
+cord had been slipped off her, but the knots with which it had been
+secured still remained. These details only struck our attention
+afterwards, for our thoughts were entirely absorbed by the terrible
+object which lay upon the tiger-skin heathrug in front of the fire.
+
+It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of age. He
+lay upon his back, his face upturned, with his white teeth grinning
+through his short, black beard. His two clenched hands were raised above
+his head, and a heavy, blackthorn stick lay across them. His dark,
+handsome, aquiline features were convulsed into a spasm of vindictive
+hatred, which had set his dead face in a terribly fiendish expression.
+He had evidently been in his bed when the alarm had broken out, for he
+wore a foppish, embroidered nightshirt, and his bare feet projected from
+his trousers. His head was horribly injured, and the whole room bore
+witness to the savage ferocity of the blow which had struck him down.
+Beside him lay the heavy poker, bent into a curve by the concussion.
+Holmes examined both it and the indescribable wreck which it had
+wrought.
+
+'He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall,' he remarked.
+
+'Yes,' said Hopkins. 'I have some record of the fellow, and he is a
+rough customer.'
+
+'You should have no difficulty in getting him.'
+
+'Not the slightest. We have been on the look-out for him, and there was
+some idea that he had got away to America. Now that we know that the
+gang are here, I don't see how they can escape. We have the news at
+every seaport already, and a reward will be offered before evening. What
+beats me is how they could have done so mad a thing, knowing that the
+lady could describe them and that we could not fail to recognize the
+description.'
+
+'Exactly. One would have expected that they would silence Lady
+Brackenstall as well.'
+
+'They may not have realized,' I suggested, 'that she had recovered from
+her faint.'
+
+'That is likely enough. If she seemed to be senseless, they would not
+take her life. What about this poor fellow, Hopkins? I seem to have
+heard some queer stories about him.'
+
+'He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect fiend when
+he was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk, for he seldom really
+went the whole way. The devil seemed to be in him at such times, and he
+was capable of anything. From what I hear, in spite of all his wealth
+and his title, he very nearly came our way once or twice. There was a
+scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum and setting it on
+fire--her ladyship's dog, to make the matter worse--and that was only
+hushed up with difficulty. Then he threw a decanter at that maid,
+Theresa Wright--there was trouble about that. On the whole, and between
+ourselves, it will be a brighter house without him. What are you looking
+at now?'
+
+Holmes was down on his knees, examining with great attention the knots
+upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured. Then he
+carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped
+off when the burglar had dragged it down.
+
+'When this was pulled down, the bell in the kitchen must have rung
+loudly,' he remarked.
+
+'No one could hear it. The kitchen stands right at the back of the
+house.'
+
+'How did the burglar know no one would hear it? How dared he pull at a
+bell-rope in that reckless fashion?'
+
+'Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly. You put the very question which I have
+asked myself again and again. There can be no doubt that this fellow
+must have known the house and its habits. He must have perfectly
+understood that the servants would all be in bed at that comparatively
+early hour, and that no one could possibly hear a bell ring in the
+kitchen. Therefore, he must have been in close league with one of the
+servants. Surely that is evident. But there are eight servants, and all
+of good character.'
+
+'Other things being equal,' said Holmes, 'one would suspect the one
+at whose head the master threw a decanter. And yet that would involve
+treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman seems devoted. Well,
+well, the point is a minor one, and when you have Randall you will
+probably find no difficulty in securing his accomplice. The lady's story
+certainly seems to be corroborated, if it needed corroboration, by every
+detail which we see before us.' He walked to the French window and threw
+it open. 'There are no signs here, but the ground is iron hard, and one
+would not expect them. I see that these candles in the mantelpiece have
+been lighted.'
+
+'Yes, it was by their light, and that of the lady's bedroom candle, that
+the burglars saw their way about.'
+
+'And what did they take?'
+
+'Well, they did not take much--only half a dozen articles of plate off
+the sideboard. Lady Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves so
+disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the
+house, as they would otherwise have done.'
+
+'No doubt that is true, and yet they drank some wine, I understand.'
+
+To steady their nerves.'
+
+'Exactly. These three glasses upon the sideboard have been untouched, I
+suppose?'
+
+'Yes, and the bottle stands as they left it.'
+
+'Let us look at it. Halloa, halloa! What is this?'
+
+The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with wine,
+and one of them containing some dregs of beeswing. The bottle stood near
+them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long, deeply stained cork.
+Its appearance and the dust upon the bottle showed that it was no common
+vintage which the murderers had enjoyed.
+
+A change had come over Holmes's manner. He had lost his listless
+expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen,
+deepset eyes. He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
+
+'How did they draw it?' he asked.
+
+Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer. In it lay some table linen and
+a large corkscrew.
+
+'Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?'
+
+'No, you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the bottle
+was opened.'
+
+'Quite so. As a matter of fact, that screw was _not_ used. This bottle
+was opened by a pocket screw, probably contained in a knife, and not
+more than an inch and a half long. If you will examine the top of the
+cork, you will observe that the screw was driven in three times before
+the cork was extracted. It has never been transfixed. This long screw
+would have transfixed it and drawn it up with a single pull. When you
+catch this fellow, you will find that he has one of these multiplex
+knives in his possession.'
+
+'Excellent!' said Hopkins.
+
+'But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess. Lady Brackenstall actually
+_saw_ the three men drinking, did she not?'
+
+'Yes; she was clear about that.'
+
+'Then there is an end of it. What more is to be said? And yet, you must
+admit, that the three glasses are very remarkable, Hopkins. What? You
+see nothing remarkable? Well, well, let it pass. Perhaps, when a man has
+special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages
+him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand. Of
+course, it must be a mere chance about the glasses. Well, good-morning,
+Hopkins. I don't see that I can be of any use to you, and you appear to
+have your case very clear. You will let me know when Randall is
+arrested, and any further developments which may occur. I trust that I
+shall soon have to congratulate you upon a successful conclusion. Come,
+Watson, I fancy that we may employ ourselves more profitably at home.'
+
+During our return journey, I could see by Holmes's face that he was much
+puzzled by something which he had observed. Every now and then, by an
+effort, he would throw off the impression, and talk as if the matter
+were clear, but then his doubts would settle down upon him again, and
+his knitted brows and abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had
+gone back once more to the great dining-room of the Abbey Grange, in
+which this midnight tragedy had been enacted. At last, by a sudden
+impulse, just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station, he
+sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him.
+
+'Excuse me, my dear fellow,' said he, as we watched the rear carriages
+of our train disappearing round a curve, 'I am sorry to make you the
+victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my life, Watson, I simply
+_can't_ leave that case in this condition. Every instinct that I possess
+cries out against it. It's wrong--it's all wrong--I'll swear that it's
+wrong. And yet the lady's story was complete, the maid's corroboration
+was sufficient, the detail was fairly exact. What have I to put up
+against that? Three wineglasses, that is all. But if I had not taken
+things for granted, if I had examined everything with care which I
+should have shown had we approached the case _de novo_ and had no
+cut-and-dried story to warp my mind, should I not then have found
+something more definite to go upon? Of course I should. Sit down on this
+bench, Watson, until a train for Chislehurst arrives, and allow me to
+lay the evidence before you, imploring you in the first instance to
+dismiss from your mind the idea that anything which the maid or her
+mistress may have said must necessarily be true. The lady's charming
+personality must not be permitted to warp our judgment.
+
+'Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at in cold
+blood, would excite our suspicion. These burglars made a considerable
+haul at Sydenham a fortnight ago. Some account of them and of their
+appearance was in the papers, and would naturally occur to anyone who
+wished to invent a story in which imaginary robbers should play a part.
+As a matter of fact, burglars who have done a good stroke of business
+are, as a rule, only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet
+without embarking on another perilous undertaking. Again, it is unusual
+for burglars to operate at so early an hour, it is unusual for burglars
+to strike a lady to prevent her screaming, since one would imagine that
+was the sure way to make her scream, it is unusual for them to commit
+murder when their numbers are sufficient to overpower one man, it is
+unusual for them to be content with a limited plunder when there was
+much more within their reach, and finally, I should say, that it was
+very unusual for such men to leave a bottle half empty. How do all these
+unusuals strike you, Watson?'
+
+'Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each of them
+is quite possible in itself. The most unusual thing of all, as it seems
+to me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair.'
+
+'Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson, for it is evident that
+they must either kill her or else secure her in such a way that she
+could not give immediate notice of their escape. But at any rate I have
+shown, have I not, that there is a certain element of improbability
+about the lady's story? And now, on the top of this, comes the incident
+of the wineglasses.'
+
+'What about the wineglasses?'
+
+'Can you see them in your mind's eye?'
+
+'I see them clearly.'
+
+'We are told that three men drank from them. Does that strike you as
+likely?'
+
+'Why not? There was wine in each glass.'
+
+'Exactly, but there was beeswing only in one glass. You must have
+noticed that fact. What does that suggest to your mind?'
+
+'The last glass filled would be most likely to contain beeswing.'
+
+'Not at all. The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable that the
+first two glasses were clear and the third heavily charged with it.
+There are two possible explanations, and only two. One is that after the
+second glass was filled the bottle was violently agitated, and so the
+third glass received the beeswing. That does not appear probable. No,
+no, I am sure that I am right.'
+
+'What, then, do you suppose?'
+
+'That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of both were poured
+into a third glass, so as to give the false impression that three people
+had been here. In that way all the beeswing would be in the last glass,
+would it not? Yes, I am convinced that this is so. But if I have hit
+upon the true explanation of this one small phenomenon, then in an
+instant the case rises from the commonplace to the exceedingly
+remarkable, for it can only mean that Lady Brackenstall and her maid
+have deliberately lied to us, that not one word of their story is to be
+believed, that they have some very strong reason for covering the real
+criminal, and that we must construct our case for ourselves without any
+help from them. That is the mission which now lies before us, and here,
+Watson, is the Sydenham train.'
+
+The household at the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our return, but
+Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had gone off to report to
+headquarters, took possession of the dining-room, locked the door upon
+the inside, and devoted himself for two hours to one of those minute
+and laborious investigations which form the solid basis on which his
+brilliant edifices of deduction were reared. Seated in a corner like an
+interested student who observes the demonstration of his professor, I
+followed every step of that remarkable research. The window, the
+curtains, the carpet, the chair, the rope--each in turn was minutely
+examined and duly pondered. The body of the unfortunate baronet had been
+removed, and all else remained as we had seen it in the morning.
+Finally, to my astonishment, Holmes climbed up on to the massive
+mantelpiece. Far above his head hung the few inches of red cord which
+were still attached to the wire. For a long time he gazed upward at it,
+and then in an attempt to get nearer to it he rested his knee upon a
+wooden bracket on the wall. This brought his hand within a few inches of
+the broken end of the rope, but it was not this so much as the bracket
+itself which seemed to engage his attention. Finally, he sprang down
+with an ejaculation of satisfaction.
+
+'It's all right, Watson,' said he. 'We have got our case--one of the
+most remarkable in our collection. But, dear me, how slow-witted I have
+been, and how nearly I have committed the blunder of my lifetime! Now, I
+think that, with a few missing links, my chain is almost complete.'
+
+'You have got your men?'
+
+'Man, Watson, man. Only one, but a very formidable person. Strong as a
+lion--witness the blow that bent that poker! Six foot three in height,
+active as a squirrel, dexterous with his fingers, finally, remarkably
+quick-witted, for this whole ingenious story is of his concoction. Yes,
+Watson, we have come upon the handiwork of a very remarkable individual.
+And yet, in that bell-rope, he has given us a clue which should not have
+left us a doubt.'
+
+'Where was the clue?'
+
+'Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would you
+expect it to break? Surely at the spot where it is attached to the wire.
+Why should it break three inches from the top, as this one has done?'
+
+'Because it is frayed there?'
+
+'Exactly. This end, which we can examine, is frayed. He was cunning
+enough to do that with his knife. But the other end is not frayed. You
+could not observe that from here, but if you were on the mantelpiece
+you would see that it is cut clean off without any mark of fraying
+whatever. You can reconstruct what occurred. The man needed the rope. He
+would not tear it down for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell.
+What did he do? He sprang up on the mantelpiece, could not quite reach
+it, put his knee on the bracket--you will see the impression in the
+dust--and so got his knife to bear upon the cord. I could not reach the
+place by at least three inches--from which I infer that he is at least
+three inches a bigger man than I. Look at that mark upon the seat of the
+oaken chair! What is it?'
+
+'Blood.'
+
+'Undoubtedly it is blood. This alone puts the lady's story out of court.
+If she were seated on the chair when the crime was done, how comes that
+mark? No, no, she was placed in the chair _after_ the death of her
+husband. I'll wager that the black dress shows a corresponding mark to
+this. We have not yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo,
+for it begins in defeat and ends in victory. I should like now to have
+a few words with the nurse, Theresa. We must be wary for a while, if we
+are to get the information which we want.'
+
+She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse--taciturn,
+suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before Holmes's pleasant
+manner and frank acceptance of all that she said thawed her into a
+corresponding amiability. She did not attempt to conceal her hatred for
+her late employer.
+
+'Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me. I heard him call
+my mistress a name, and I told him that he would not dare to speak so if
+her brother had been there. Then it was that he threw it at me. He might
+have thrown a dozen if he had but left my bonny bird alone. He was
+forever ill-treating her, and she too proud to complain. She will not
+even tell me all that he has done to her. She never told me of those
+marks on her arm that you saw this morning, but I know very well that
+they come from a stab with a hatpin. The sly devil--God forgive me that
+I should speak of him so, now that he is dead! But a devil he was, if
+ever one walked the earth. He was all honey when first we met him--only
+eighteen months ago, and we both feel as if it were eighteen years. She
+had only just arrived in London. Yes, it was her first voyage--she had
+never been from home before. He won her with his title and his money
+and his false London ways. If she made a mistake she has paid for it,
+if ever a woman did. What month did we meet him? Well, I tell you it was
+just after we arrived. We arrived in June, and it was July. They were
+married in January of last year. Yes, she is down in the morning-room
+again, and I have no doubt she will see you, but you must not ask too
+much of her, for she has gone through all that flesh and blood will
+stand.'
+
+Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked brighter
+than before. The maid had entered with us, and began once more to foment
+the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
+
+'I hope,' said the lady, 'that you have not come to cross-examine me
+again?'
+
+'No,' Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice. 'I will not cause you any
+unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole desire is to make
+things easy for you, for I am convinced that you are a much-tried woman.
+If you will treat me as a friend and trust me, you may find that I will
+justify your trust.'
+
+'What do you want me to do?'
+
+'To tell me the truth.'
+
+'Mr. Holmes!'
+
+'No, no, Lady Brackenstall--it is no use. You may have heard of any
+little reputation which I possess. I will stake it all on the fact that
+your story is an absolute fabrication.'
+
+Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces and
+frightened eyes.
+
+'You are an impudent fellow!' cried Theresa. 'Do you mean to say that my
+mistress has told a lie?'
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+'Have you nothing to tell me?'
+
+'I have told you everything.'
+
+'Think once more, Lady Brackenstall. Would it not be better to be
+frank?'
+
+For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face. Then some new
+strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
+
+'I have told you all I know.'
+
+Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders. 'I am sorry,' he said,
+and without another word we left the room and the house. There was a
+pond in the park, and to this my friend led the way. It was frozen over,
+but a single hole was left for the convenience of a solitary swan.
+Holmes gazed at it, and then passed on to the lodge gate. There he
+scribbled a short note for Stanley Hopkins, and left it with the
+lodge-keeper.
+
+'It may be a hit, or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do something
+for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit,' said he. 'I will
+not quite take him into my confidence yet. I think our next scene of
+operations must be the shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton line,
+which stands at the end of Pall Mall, if I remember right. There is a
+second line of steamers which connect South Australia with England, but
+we will draw the larger cover first.'
+
+Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and he
+was not long in acquiring all the information he needed. In June of '95,
+only one of their line had reached a home port. It was the _Rock of
+Gibraltar_, their largest and best boat. A reference to the passenger
+list showed that Miss Fraser, of Adelaide, with her maid had made the
+voyage in her. The boat was now somewhere south of the Suez Canal on her
+way to Australia. Her officers were the same as in '95, with one
+exception. The first officer, Mr. Jack Crocker, had been made a captain
+and was to take charge of their new ship, the _Bass Rock_, sailing in
+two days' time from Southampton. He lived at Sydenham, but he was likely
+to be in that morning for instructions, if we cared to wait for him.
+
+No, Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know more
+about his record and character.
+
+His record was magnificent. There was not an officer in the fleet to
+touch him. As to his character, he was reliable on duty, but a wild,
+desperate fellow off the deck of his ship--hot-headed, excitable, but
+loyal, honest, and kind-hearted. That was the pith of the information
+with which Holmes left the office of the Adelaide-Southampton company.
+Thence he drove to Scotland Yard, but, instead of entering, he sat in
+his cab with his brows drawn down, lost in profound thought. Finally he
+drove round to the Charing Cross telegraph office, sent off a message,
+and then, at last, we made for Baker Street once more.
+
+'No, I couldn't do it, Watson,' said he, as we re-entered our room.
+'Once that warrant was made out, nothing on earth would save him. Once
+or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my
+discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have
+learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of
+England than with my own conscience. Let us know a little more before
+We act.'
+
+Before evening, we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins. Things
+were not going very well with him.
+
+'I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes. I really do sometimes
+think that you have powers that are not human. Now, how on earth could
+you know that the stolen silver was at the bottom of that pond?'
+
+'I didn't know it.'
+
+'But you told me to examine it.'
+
+'You got it, then?'
+
+'Yes, I got it.'
+
+'I am very glad if I have helped you.'
+
+'But you haven't helped me. You have made the affair far more difficult.
+What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and then throw it into
+the nearest pond?'
+
+'It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour. I was merely going on
+the idea that if the silver had been taken by persons who did not want
+it--who merely took it for a blind, as it were--then they would
+naturally be anxious to get rid of it.'
+
+'But why should such an idea cross your mind?'
+
+'Well, I thought it was possible. When they came out through the French
+window, there was the pond with one tempting little hole in the ice,
+right in front of their noses. Could there be a better hiding-place?'
+
+'Ah, a hiding-place--that is better!' cried Stanley Hopkins. 'Yes, yes,
+I see it all now! It was early, there were folk upon the roads, they
+were afraid of being seen with the silver, so they sank it in the pond,
+intending to return for it when the coast was clear. Excellent, Mr.
+Holmes--that is better than your idea of a blind.'
+
+'Quite so, you have got an admirable theory. I have no doubt that my own
+ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they have ended in
+discovering the silver.'
+
+'Yes, sir--yes. It was all your doing. But I have had a bad setback.'
+
+'A setback?'
+
+'Yes, Mr. Holmes. The Randall gang were arrested in New York this
+morning.'
+
+'Dear me, Hopkins! That is certainly rather against your theory that
+they committed a murder in Kent last night.'
+
+'It is fatal, Mr. Holmes--absolutely fatal. Still, there are other gangs
+of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some new gang of which the
+police have never heard,'
+
+'Quite so, it is perfectly possible. What, are you off?'
+
+'Yes, Mr. Holmes, there is no rest for me until I have got to the bottom
+of the business. I suppose you have no hint to give me?'
+
+'I have given you one.'
+
+'Which?'
+
+'Well, I suggested a blind.'
+
+'But why, Mr. Holmes, why?'
+
+'Ah, that's the question, of course. But I commend the idea to your
+mind. You might possibly find that there was something in it. You won't
+stop for dinner? Well, goodbye, and let us know how you get on.'
+
+Dinner was over, and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to the
+matter again. He had lit his pipe and held his slippered feet to the
+cheerful blaze of the fire. Suddenly he looked at his watch.
+
+'I expect developments, Watson.'
+
+'When?'
+
+'Now--within a few minutes. I dare say you thought I acted rather badly
+to Stanley Hopkins just now.'
+
+'I trust your judgment.'
+
+'A very sensible reply, Watson. You must look at it this way: what
+I know is unofficial, what he knows is official. I have the right to
+private judgment, but he has none. He must disclose all, or he is a
+traitor to his service. In a doubtful case I would not put him in so
+painful a position, and so I reserve my information until my own mind
+is clear upon the matter.'
+
+'But when will that be?'
+
+'The time has come. You will now be present at the last scene of a
+remarkable little drama.'
+
+There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to admit as
+fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it. He was a very tall
+young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed, with a skin which had been
+burned by tropical suns, and a springy step, which showed that the huge
+frame was as active as it was strong. He closed the door behind him, and
+then he stood with clenched hands and heaving breast, choking down some
+overmastering emotion.
+
+'Sit down, Captain Crocker. You got my telegram?'
+
+Our visitor sank into an armchair and looked from one to the other of us
+with questioning eyes.
+
+'I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said. I heard that you
+had been down to the office. There was no getting away from you. Let's
+hear the worst. What are you going to do with me? Arrest me? Speak out,
+man! You can't sit there and play with me like a cat with a mouse.'
+
+'Give him a cigar,' said Holmes. 'Bite on that, Captain Crocker, and
+don't let your nerves run away with you. I should not sit here smoking
+with you if I thought that you were a common criminal, you may be sure
+of that. Be frank with me and we may do some good. Play tricks with me,
+and I'll crush you.'
+
+'What do you wish me to do?'
+
+To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey Grange last
+night--a _true_ account, mind you, with nothing added and nothing taken
+off. I know so much already that if you go one inch off the straight,
+I'll blow this police whistle from my window and the affair goes out of
+my hands forever.'
+
+The sailor thought for a little. Then he struck his leg with his great
+sunburned hand.
+
+'I'll chance it,' he cried. 'I believe you are a man of your word, and a
+white man, and I'll tell you the whole story. But one thing I will say
+first. So far as I am concerned, I regret nothing and I fear nothing,
+and I would do it all again and be proud of the job. Damn the beast, if
+he had as many lives as a cat, he would owe them all to me! But it's the
+lady, Mary--Mary Fraser--for never will I call her by that accursed
+name. When I think of getting her into trouble, I who would give my life
+just to bring one smile to her dear face, it's that that turns my soul
+into water. And yet--and yet--what less could I do? I'll tell you my
+story gentlemen, and then I'll ask you, as man to man, what less could
+I do?
+
+'I must go back a bit. You seem to know everything, so I expect that you
+know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was first officer of
+the _Rock of Gibraltar_. From the first day I met her, she was the only
+woman to me. Every day of that voyage I loved her more, and many a time
+since have I kneeled down in the darkness of the night watch and kissed
+the deck of that ship because I knew her dear feet had trod it. She was
+never engaged to me. She treated me as fairly as ever a woman treated a
+man. I have no complaint to make. It was all love on my side, and all
+good comradeship and friendship on hers. When we parted she was a free
+woman, but I could never again be a free man.
+
+'Next time I came back from sea, I heard of her marriage. Well, why
+shouldn't she marry whom she liked? Title and money--who could carry
+them better than she? She was born for all that is beautiful and dainty.
+I didn't grieve over her marriage. I was not such a selfish hound as
+that. I just rejoiced that good luck had come her way, and that she had
+not thrown herself away on a penniless sailor. That's how I loved Mary
+Fraser.
+
+'Well, I never thought to see her again, but last voyage I was promoted,
+and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to wait for a couple of
+months with my people at Sydenham. One day out in a country lane I met
+Theresa Wright, her old maid. She told me all about her, about him,
+about everything. I tell you, gentlemen, it nearly drove me mad. This
+drunken hound, that he should dare to raise his hand to her, whose boots
+he was not worthy to lick! I met Theresa again. Then I met Mary
+herself--and met her again. Then she would meet me no more. But the
+other day I had a notice that I was to start on my voyage within a week,
+and I determined that I would see her once before I left. Theresa was
+always my friend, for she loved Mary and hated this villain almost as
+much as I did. From her I learned the ways of the house. Mary used to
+sit up reading in her own little room downstairs. I crept round there
+last night and scratched at the window. At first she would not open to
+me, but in her heart I know that now she loves me, and she could not
+leave me in the frosty night. She whispered to me to come round to the
+big front window, and I found it open before me, so as to let me into
+the dining-room. Again I heard from her own lips things that made my
+blood boil, and again I cursed this brute who mishandled the woman I
+loved. Well, gentlemen, I was standing with her just inside the window,
+in all innocence, as God is my judge, when he rushed like a madman into
+the room, called her the vilest name that a man could use to a woman,
+and welted her across the face with the stick he had in his hand. I had
+sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight between us. See here, on
+my arm, where his first blow fell. Then it was my turn, and I went
+through him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin. Do you think I was
+sorry? Not I! It was his life or mine, but far more than that, it was
+his life or hers, for how could I leave her in the power of this madman?
+That was how I killed him. Was I wrong? well, then, what would either of
+you gentlemen have done, if you had been in my position?
+
+'She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old Theresa down
+from the room above. There was a bottle of wine on the sideboard, and I
+opened it and poured a little between Mary's lips, for she was half dead
+with shock. Then I took a drop myself. Theresa was as cool as ice, and
+it was her plot as much as mine. We must make it appear that burglars
+had done the thing. Theresa kept on repeating our story to her mistress,
+while I swarmed up and cut the rope of the bell. Then I lashed her in
+her chair, and frayed out the end of the rope to make it look natural,
+else they would wonder how in the world a burglar could have got up
+there to cut it. Then I gathered up a few plates and pots of silver, to
+carry out the idea of the robbery, and there I left them, with orders to
+give the alarm when I had a quarter of an hour's start. I dropped the
+silver into the pond, and made off for Sydenham, feeling that for once
+in my life I had done a real good night's work. And that's the truth and
+the whole truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck.'
+
+Holmes smoked for some time in silence. Then he crossed the room, and
+shook our visitor by the hand.
+
+'That's what I think,' said he. 'I know that every word is true, for you
+have hardly said a word which I did not know. No one but an acrobat or a
+sailor could have got up to that bell-rope from the bracket, and no one
+but a sailor could have made the knots with which the cord was fastened
+to the chair. Only once had this lady been brought into contact with
+sailors, and that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class
+of life, since she was trying hard to shield him, and so showing that
+she loved him. You see how easy it was for me to lay my hands upon you
+when once I started upon the right trail.'
+
+'I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge.'
+
+'And the police haven't, nor will they, to the best of my belief. Now,
+look here, Captain Crocker, this is a very serious matter, though I am
+willing to admit that you acted under the most extreme provocation to
+which any man could be subjected. I am not sure that in defence of your
+own life your action will not be pronounced legitimate. However, that is
+for a British jury to decide. Meanwhile I have so much sympathy for you
+that, if you choose to disappear in the next twenty-four hours, I will
+promise you that no one will hinder you.'
+
+'And then it will all come out?'
+
+'Certainly it will come out.'
+
+The sailor flushed with anger.
+
+'What sort of proposal is that to make a man? I know enough of law to
+understand that Mary would be held as accomplice. Do you think I would
+leave her alone to face the music while I slunk away? No, sir, let them
+do their worst upon me, but for heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find some way
+of keeping my poor Mary out of the courts.'
+
+Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
+
+'I was only testing you, and you ring true every time. Well, it is a
+great responsibility that I take upon myself, but I have given Hopkins
+an excellent hint, and if he can't avail himself of it I can do no more.
+See here, Captain Crocker, we'll do this in due form of law. You are the
+prisoner. Watson, you are a British jury, and I never met a man who was
+more eminently fitted to represent one. I am the judge. Now, gentleman
+of the jury, you have heard the evidence. Do you find the prisoner
+guilty or not guilty?'
+
+'Not guilty, my lord,' said I.
+
+'_Vox populi, vox Dei._ You are acquitted, Captain Crocker. So long as
+the law does not find some other victim you are safe from me. Come back
+to this lady in a year, and may her future and yours justify us in the
+judgment which we have pronounced this night!'
+
+
+
+
+THE PRIZE LODGER
+
+By George Gissing
+
+(_Human Odds and Ends/Stories and Sketches_, London: Lawrence and Bullen
+Ltd, 1898)
+
+
+The ordinary West-End Londoner--who is a citizen of no city at all, but
+dwells amid a mere conglomerate of houses at a certain distance from
+Charing Cross--has known a fleeting surprise when, by rare chance, his
+eye fell upon the name of some such newspaper as the _Battersea Times_,
+the _Camberwell Mercury_, or the _Islington Gazette_. To him, these and
+the like districts are nothing more than compass points of the huge
+metropolis. He may be in practice acquainted with them; if historically
+inclined, he may think of them as old-time villages swallowed up by
+insatiable London; but he has never grasped the fact that in Battersea,
+Camberwell, Islington, there are people living who name these places as
+their home; who are born, subsist, and die there as though in a distinct
+town, and practically without consciousness of its obliteration in the
+map of a world capital.
+
+The stable element of this population consists of more or less
+old-fashioned people. Round about them is the ceaseless coming and going
+of nomads who keep abreast with the time, who take their lodgings by the
+week, their houses by the month; who camp indifferently in regions old
+and new, learning their geography in train and tram-car. Abiding
+parishioners are wont to be either very poor or established in a
+moderate prosperity; they lack enterprise, either for good or ill: if
+comfortably off, they owe it, as a rule, to some predecessor's exertion.
+And for the most part, though little enough endowed with the civic
+spirit, they abundantly pride themselves on their local permanence.
+
+Representative of this class was Mr. Archibald Jordan, a native of
+Islington, and, at the age of five-and-forty, still faithful to the
+streets which he had trodden as a child. His father started a small
+grocery business in Upper Street; Archibald succeeded to the shop,
+advanced soberly, and at length admitted a partner, by whose capital and
+energy the business was much increased. After his thirtieth year Mr.
+Jordan ceased to stand behind the counter. Of no very active
+disposition, and but moderately set on gain, he found it pleasant to
+spend a few hours daily over the books and the correspondence, and for
+the rest of his time to enjoy a gossipy leisure, straying among the
+acquaintances of a lifetime, or making new in the decorous bar-parlours,
+billiard-rooms, and other such retreats which allured his bachelor
+liberty. His dress and bearing were unpretentious, but impressively
+respectable; he never allowed his garments (made by an Islington tailor,
+an old schoolfellow) to exhibit the least sign of wear, but fashion
+affected their style as little as possible. Of middle height, and
+tending to portliness, he walked at an unvarying pace, as a man who had
+never known undignified hurry; in his familiar thoroughfares he glanced
+about him with a good-humoured air of proprietorship, or with a look of
+thoughtful criticism for any changes that might be going forward. No one
+had ever spoken flatteringly of his visage; he knew himself a very
+homely-featured man, and accepted the fact, as something that had
+neither favoured nor hindered him in life. But it was his conviction
+that no man's eye had a greater power of solemn and overwhelming rebuke,
+and this gift he took a pleasure in exercising, however trivial the
+occasion.
+
+For five-and-twenty years he had lived in lodgings; always within the
+narrow range of Islington respectability, yet never for more than a
+twelvemonth under the same roof. This peculiar feature of Mr. Jordan's
+life had made him a subject of continual interest to local landladies,
+among whom were several lifelong residents, on friendly terms of old
+time with the Jordan family. To them it seemed an astonishing thing that
+a man in such circumstances had not yet married; granting this
+eccentricity, they could not imagine what made him change his abode so
+often. Not a landlady in Islington but would welcome Mr. Jordan in her
+rooms, and, having got him, do her utmost to prolong the connection. He
+had been known to quit a house on the paltriest excuse, removing to
+another in which he could not expect equally good treatment. There was
+no accounting for it: it must be taken as an ultimate mystery of life,
+and made the most of as a perennial topic of neighbourly conversation.
+
+As to the desirability of having Mr. Jordan for a lodger there could be
+no difference of opinion among rational womankind. Mrs. Wiggins, indeed,
+had taken his sudden departure from her house so ill that she always
+spoke of him abusively; but who heeded Mrs. Wiggins? Even in the sadness
+of hope deferred, those ladies who had entertained him once, and
+speculated on his possible return, declared Mr. Jordan a 'thorough
+gentleman'. Lodgers, as a class, do not recommend themselves in
+Islington; Mr. Jordan shone against the dusky background with almost
+dazzling splendour. To speak of lodgers as of cattle, he was a prize
+creature. A certain degree of comfort he firmly exacted; he might be a
+trifle fastidious about cooking; he stood upon his dignity; but no one
+could say that he grudged reward for service rendered. It was his
+practice to pay more than the landlady asked. Twenty-five shillings a
+week, you say? I shall give you twenty-eight. _But_--' and with raised
+forefinger he went through the catalogue of his demands. Everything must
+be done precisely as he directed; even in the laying of his table he
+insisted upon certain minute peculiarities, and to forget one of them
+was to earn that gaze of awful reprimand which Mr. Jordan found (or
+thought) more efficacious than any spoken word. Against this precision
+might be set his strange indulgence in the matter of bills; he merely
+regarded the total, was never known to dispute an item. Only twice in
+his long experience had he quitted a lodging because of exorbitant
+charges, and on these occasions he sternly refused to discuss the
+matter. 'Mrs. Hawker, I am paying your account with the addition of one
+week's rent. Your rooms will be vacant at eleven o'clock tomorrow
+morning.' And until the hour of departure no entreaty, no prostration,
+could induce him to utter a syllable.
+
+It was on the 1st of June, 1889, his forty-fifth birthday, that Mr.
+Jordan removed from quarters he had occupied for ten months, and became
+a lodger in the house of Mrs. Elderfield.
+
+Mrs. Elderfield, a widow, aged three-and-thirty, with one little girl,
+was but a casual resident in Islington; she knew nothing of Mr. Jordan,
+and made no inquiries about him. Strongly impressed, as every woman must
+needs be, by his air and tone of mild authority, she congratulated
+herself on the arrival of such an inmate; but no subservience appeared
+in her demeanour; she behaved with studious civility, nothing more. Her
+words were few and well chosen. Always neatly dressed, yet always busy,
+she moved about the house with quick, silent step, and cleanliness
+marked her path. The meals were well cooked, well served. Mr. Jordan
+being her only lodger, she could devote to him an undivided attention.
+At the end of his first week the critical gentleman felt greater
+satisfaction than he had ever known.
+
+The bill lay upon his table at breakfast-time. He perused the items,
+and, much against his habit, reflected upon them. Having breakfasted, he
+rang the bell.
+
+'Mrs. Elderfield--'
+
+He paused, and looked gravely at the widow. She had a plain, honest,
+healthy face, with resolute lips, and an eye that brightened when she
+spoke; her well-knit figure, motionless in its respectful attitude,
+declared a thoroughly sound condition of the nerves.
+
+'Mrs. Elderfield, your bill is so very moderate that I think you must
+have forgotten something.'
+
+'Have you looked it over, sir?'
+
+'I never trouble with the details. Please examine it.'
+
+'There is no need, sir. I never make a mistake.'
+
+'I said, Mrs. Elderfield, please _examine_ it.'
+
+She seemed to hesitate, but obeyed.
+
+'The bill is quite correct, sir.'
+
+'Thank you.'
+
+He paid it at once and said no more.
+
+The weeks went on. To Mr. Jordan's surprise, his landlady's zeal and
+efficiency showed no diminution, a thing unprecedented in his long and
+varied experience. After the first day or two he had found nothing to
+correct; every smallest instruction was faithfully carried out.
+Moreover, he knew for the first time in his life the comfort of
+absolutely clean rooms. The best of his landladies hitherto had not
+risen above that conception of cleanliness which is relative to London
+soot and fog. His palate, too, was receiving an education. Probably he
+had never eaten of a joint rightly cooked, or tasted a potato boiled as
+it should be; more often than not, the food set before him had undergone
+a process which left it masticable indeed, but void of savour and
+nourishment. Many little attentions of which he had never dreamed kept
+him in a wondering cheerfulness. And at length he said to himself: 'Here
+I shall stay.'
+
+Not that his constant removals had been solely due to discomfort and a
+hope of better things. The secret--perhaps not entirely revealed even to
+himself--lay in Mr. Jordan's sense of his own importance, and his
+uneasiness whenever he felt that, in the eyes of a landlady, he was
+becoming a mere everyday person--an ordinary lodger. No sooner did he
+detect a sign of this than he made up his mind to move. It gave him the
+keenest pleasure of which he was capable when, on abruptly announcing
+his immediate departure, he perceived the landlady's profound
+mortification. To make the blow heavier he had even resorted to
+artifice, seeming to express a most lively contentment during the very
+days when he had decided to leave and was asking himself where he should
+next abide. One of his delights was to return to a house which he had
+quitted years ago, to behold the excitement and bustle occasioned by his
+appearance, and play the good-natured autocrat over grovelling
+dependents. In every case, save the two already mentioned, he had parted
+with his landlady on terms of friendliness, never vouchsafing a reason
+for his going away, genially eluding every attempt to obtain an
+explanation, and at the last abounding in graceful recognition of all
+that had been done for him. Mr. Jordan shrank from dispute, hated every
+sort of contention; this characteristic gave a certain refinement to his
+otherwise commonplace existence. Vulgar vanity would have displayed
+itself in precisely the acts and words from which his self-esteem
+nervously shrank. And of late he had been thinking over the list of
+landladies, with a half-formed desire to settle down, to make himself a
+permanent home. Doubtless as a result of this state of mind, he betook
+himself to a strange house, where, as from neutral ground, he might
+reflect upon the lodgings he knew, and judge between their merits. He
+could not foresee what awaited him under Mrs. Elderfield's roof; the
+event impressed him as providential; he felt, with singular emotion,
+that choice was taken out of his hands. Lodgings could not be more than
+perfect, and such he had found.
+
+It was not his habit to chat with landladies. At times he held forth to
+them on some topic of interest, suavely, instructively; if he gave in to
+their ordinary talk, it was with a half-absent smile of condescension.
+Mrs. Elderfield seeming as little disposed to gossip as himself, a month
+elapsed before he knew anything of her history; but one evening the
+reserve on both sides was broken. His landlady modestly inquired whether
+she was giving satisfaction, and Mr. Jordan replied with altogether
+unwonted fervour. In the dialogue that ensued, they exchanged personal
+confidences. The widow had lost her husband four years ago; she came
+from the Midlands, but had long dwelt in London. Then fell from her lips
+a casual remark which made the hearer uneasy.
+
+'I don't think I shall always stay here. The neighbourhood is too
+crowded. I should like to have a house somewhere further out.'
+
+Mr. Jordan did not comment on this, but it kept a place in his daily
+thoughts, and became at length so much of an anxiety that he invited
+a renewal of the subject.
+
+'You have no intention of moving just yet, Mrs. Elderfield?'
+
+'I was going to tell you, sir,' replied the landlady, with her
+respectful calm, 'that I have decided to make a change next spring. Some
+friends of mine have gone to live at Wood Green, and I shall look for a
+house in the same neighbourhood.'
+
+Mr. Jordan was, in private, gravely disturbed. He who had flitted from
+house to house for many years, distressing the souls of landladies, now
+lamented the prospect of a forced removal. It was open to him to
+accompany Mrs. Elderfield, but he shrank from the thought of living in
+so remote a district. Wood Green! The very name appalled him, for he had
+never been able to endure the country. He betook himself one dreary
+autumn afternoon to that northern suburb, and what he saw did not at all
+reassure him. On his way back he began once more to review the list of
+old lodgings.
+
+But from that day his conversations with Mrs. Elderfield grew more
+frequent, more intimate. In the evening he occasionally made an excuse
+for knocking at her parlour door, and lingered for a talk which ended
+only at supper time. He spoke of his own affairs, and grew more ready to
+do so as his hearer manifested a genuine interest, without impertinent
+curiosity. Little by little he imparted to Mrs. Elderfield a complete
+knowledge of his commercial history, of his pecuniary standing--matters
+of which he had never before spoken to a mere acquaintance. A change was
+coming over him; the foundations of habit crumbled beneath his feet; he
+lost his look of complacence, his self-confident and superior tone.
+Bar-parlours and billiard-rooms saw him but rarely and flittingly. He
+seemed to have lost his pleasure in the streets of Islington, and spent
+all his spare time by the fireside, perpetually musing.
+
+On a day in March one of his old landladies, Mrs. Higdon, sped to the
+house of another, Mrs. Evans, panting under a burden of strange news.
+Could it be believed! Mr. Jordan was going to marry--to marry that woman
+in whose house he was living! Mrs. Higdon had it on the very best
+authority--that of Mr. Jordan's partner, who spoke of the affair without
+reserve. A new house had already been taken--at Wood Green. Well! After
+all these years, after so many excellent opportunities, to marry a mere
+stranger and forsake Islington! In a moment Mr. Jordan's character was
+gone; had he figured in the police-court under some disgraceful charge,
+these landladies could hardly have felt more shocked and professed
+themselves more disgusted. The intelligence spread. Women went out of
+their way to have a sight of Mrs. Elderfield's house; they hung about
+for a glimpse of that sinister person herself. She had robbed them,
+every one, of a possible share in Islington's prize lodger. Had it been
+one of themselves they could have borne the chagrin; but a woman whom
+not one of them knew, an alien! What base arts had she practised? Ah,
+it was better not to inquire too closely into the secrets of that
+lodging-house.
+
+Though every effort was made to learn the time and place of the
+ceremony, Mr. Jordan's landladies had the mortification to hear of his
+wedding only when it was over. Of course, this showed that he felt the
+disgracefulness of his behaviour; he was not utterly lost to shame. It
+could only be hoped that he would not know the bitterness of repentance.
+
+Not till he found himself actually living in the house at Wood Green did
+Mr. Jordan realize how little his own will had had to do with the recent
+course of events. Certainly, he had made love to the widow, and had
+asked her to marry him; but from that point onward he seemed to have put
+himself entirely in Mrs. Elderfield's hands, granting every request,
+meeting half-way every suggestion she offered, becoming, in short, quite
+a different kind of man from his former self. He had not been sensible
+of a moment's reluctance; he enjoyed the novel sense of yielding himself
+to affectionate guidance. His wits had gone wool-gathering; they
+returned to him only after the short honeymoon at Brighton, when he
+stood upon his own hearth-rug, and looked round at the new furniture
+and ornaments which symbolized a new beginning of life.
+
+The admirable landlady had shown herself energetic, clear-headed, and
+full of resource; it was she who chose the house, and transacted all the
+business in connection with it; Mr. Jordan had merely run about in her
+company from place to place, smiling approval and signing cheques. No
+one could have gone to work more prudently, or obtained what she wanted
+at smaller outlay; for all that, Mr. Jordan, having recovered something
+like his normal frame of mind, viewed the results with consternation.
+Left to himself, he would have taken a very small house, and furnished
+it much in the style of Islington lodgings; as it was, he occupied a
+ten-roomed 'villa', with appointments which seemed to him luxurious,
+aristocratic. True, the expenditure was of no moment to a man in his
+position, and there was no fear that Mrs. Jordan would involve him in
+dangerous extravagance; but he had always lived with such excessive
+economy that the sudden change to a life correspondent with his income
+could not but make him uncomfortable.
+
+Mrs. Jordan had, of course, seen to it that her personal appearance
+harmonized with the new surroundings. She dressed herself and her young
+daughter with careful appropriateness. There was no display, no purchase
+of gewgaws--merely garments of good quality, such as became people in
+easy circumstances. She impressed upon her husband that this was nothing
+more than a return to the habits of her earlier life. Her first marriage
+had been a sad mistake; it had brought her down in the world. Now she
+felt restored to her natural position.
+
+After a week of restlessness, Mr. Jordan resumed his daily visits to
+the shop in Upper Street, where he sat as usual among the books and the
+correspondence, and tried to assure himself that all would henceforth
+be well with him. No more changing from house to house; a really
+comfortable home in which to spend the rest of his days; a kind and most
+capable wife to look after all his needs, to humour all his little
+habits. He could not have taken a wiser step.
+
+For all that, he had lost something, though he did not yet understand
+what it was. The first perception of a change not for the better flashed
+upon him one evening in the second week, when he came home an hour
+later than his wont. Mrs. Jordan, who always stood waiting for him at
+the window, had no smile as he entered.
+
+'Why are you late?' she asked, in her clear, restrained voice.
+
+'Oh--something or other kept me.'
+
+This would not do. Mrs. Jordan quietly insisted on a full explanation of
+the delay, and it seemed to her unsatisfactory.
+
+'I hope you won't be irregular in your habits, Archibald,' said his
+wife, with gentle admonition. 'What I always liked in you was your
+methodical way of living. I shall be very uncomfortable if I never
+know when to expect you.'
+
+'Yes, my dear, but--business, you see--'
+
+'But you have explained that you _could_ have been back at the usual
+time.'
+
+'Yes--that's true--but--'
+
+'Well, well, you won't let it happen again. Oh really, Archibald!' she
+suddenly exclaimed. 'The idea of you coming into the room with muddy
+boots! Why, look! There's a patch of mud on the carpet--'
+
+'It was my hurry to speak to you,' murmured Mr. Jordan, in confusion.
+
+'Please go at once and take your boots off. And you left your slippers
+in the bedroom this morning. You must always bring them down, and put
+them in the dining-room cupboard; then they're ready for you when you
+come into the house.'
+
+Mr. Jordan had but a moderate appetite for his dinner, and he did not
+talk so pleasantly as usual. This was but the beginning of troubles such
+as he had not for a moment foreseen. His wife, having since their
+engagement taken the upper hand, began to show her determination to keep
+it, and day by day her rule grew more galling to the ex-bachelor. He
+himself, in the old days, had plagued his landladies by insisting upon
+method and routine, by his faddish attention to domestic minutiae; he
+now learnt what it was to be subjected to the same kind of despotism,
+exercised with much more exasperating persistence. Whereas Mrs.
+Elderfield had scrupulously obeyed every direction given by her lodger,
+Mrs. Jordan was evidently resolved that her husband should live, move,
+and have his being in the strictest accordance with her own ideal. Not
+in any spirit of nagging, or ill-tempered unreasonableness; it was
+merely that she had her favourite way of doing every conceivable thing,
+and felt so sure it was the best of all possible ways that she could not
+endure any other. The first serious disagreement between them had
+reference to conduct at the breakfast-table. After a broken night,
+feeling headachy and worried, Mr. Jordan took up his newspaper, folded
+it conveniently, and set it against the bread so that he could read
+while eating. Without a word, his wife gently removed it, and laid it
+aside on a chair.
+
+'What are you doing?' he asked gruffly.
+
+'You mustn't read at meals, Archibald. It's bad manners, and bad for your
+digestion.'
+
+'I've read the news at breakfast all my life, and I shall do so still,'
+exclaimed the husband, starting up and recovering his paper.
+
+'Then you will have breakfast by yourself. Nelly, we must go into the
+other room till papa has finished.'
+
+Mr. Jordan ate mechanically, and stared at the newspaper with just as
+little consciousness. Prompted by the underlying weakness of his
+character to yield for the sake of peace, wrath made him dogged, and the
+more steadily he regarded his position, the more was he appalled by the
+outlook. Why, this meant downright slavery! He had married a woman so
+horribly like himself in several points that his only hope lay in
+overcoming her by sheer violence. A thoroughly good and well-meaning
+woman, an excellent housekeeper, the kind of wife to do him credit and
+improve his social position; but self-willed, pertinacious, and probably
+thinking herself his superior in every respect. He had nothing to fear
+but subjection--the one thing he had never anticipated, the one thing he
+could never endure.
+
+He went off to business without seeing his wife again, and passed a
+lamentable day. At his ordinary hour of return, instead of setting off
+homeward, he strayed about the by-streets of Islington and Pentonville.
+Not till this moment had he felt how dear they were to him, the familiar
+streets; their very odours fell sweet upon his nostrils. Never again
+could he go hither and thither, among the old friends, the old places,
+to his heart's content. What had possessed him to abandon this precious
+liberty! The thought of Wood Green revolted him; live there as long as
+he might, he would never be at home. He thought of his wife (now waiting
+for him) with fear, and then with a reaction of rage. Let her wait!
+He--Archibald Jordan--before whom women had bowed and trembled for
+five-and-twenty years--was _he_ to come and go at a wife's bidding? And
+at length the thought seemed so utterly preposterous that he sped
+northward as fast as possible, determined to right himself this very
+evening.
+
+Mrs. Jordan sat alone. He marched into the room with muddy boots, flung
+his hat and overcoat into a chair, and poked the fire violently. His
+wife's eye was fixed on him, and she first spoke--in the quiet voice
+that he dreaded.
+
+'What do you mean by carrying on like this, Archibald?'
+
+'I shall carry on as I like in my own house--hear that?'
+
+'I do hear it, and I'm very sorry too. It gives me a very bad opinion
+of you. You will _not_ do as you like in your own house. Rage as you
+please. You will _not_ do as you like in your own house.'
+
+There was a contemptuous anger in her eye which the man could not face.
+He lost all control of himself, uttered coarse oaths, and stood
+quivering. Then the woman began to lecture him; she talked steadily,
+acrimoniously, for more than an hour, regardless of his interruptions.
+Nervously exhausted, he fled at length from the room. A couple of hours
+later they met again in the nuptial chamber, and again Mrs. Jordan began
+to talk. Her point, as before, was that he had begun married life about
+as badly as possible. Why had he married her at all? What fault had she
+committed to incur such outrageous usage? But, thank goodness, she had a
+will of her own, and a proper self-respect; behave as he might, _she_
+would still persevere in the path of womanly duty. If he thought to make
+her life unbearable he would find his mistake; she simply should not
+heed him; perhaps he would return to his senses before long--and in this
+vein Mrs. Jordan continued until night was at odds with morning, only
+becoming silent when her partner had sunk into the oblivion of uttermost
+fatigue.
+
+The next day Mr. Jordan's demeanour showed him, for the moment at all
+events, defeated. He made no attempt to read at breakfast; he moved
+about very quietly. And in the afternoon he came home at the regulation
+hour.
+
+Mrs. Jordan had friends in the neighbourhood, but she saw little of
+them. She was not a woman of ordinary tastes. Everything proved that,
+to her mind, the possession of a nice house, with the prospects of a
+comfortable life, was an end in itself; she had no desire to exhibit her
+well-furnished rooms, or to gad about talking of her advantages. Every
+moment of her day was taken up in the superintendence of servants, the
+discharge of an infinitude of housewifely tasks. She had no assistance
+from her daughter; the girl went to school, and was encouraged to study
+with the utmost application. The husband's presence in the house seemed
+a mere accident--save in the still nocturnal season, when Mrs. Jordan
+bestowed upon him her counsel and her admonitions.
+
+After the lapse of a few days Mr. Jordan again offered combat, and threw
+himself into it with a frenzy.
+
+'Look here!' he shouted at length, 'either you or I are going to leave
+this house. I can't live with you--understand? I hate the sight of you!'
+
+'Go on!' retorted the other, with mild bitterness. 'Abuse me as much as
+you like, I can bear it. I shall continue to do my duty, and unless you
+have recourse to personal violence, here I remain. If you go too far, of
+course the law must defend me!'
+
+This was precisely what Mr. Jordan knew and dreaded; the law was on his
+wife's side, and by applying at a police-court for protection she could
+overwhelm him with shame and ridicule, which would make life
+intolerable. Impossible to argue with this woman. Say what he might, the
+fault always seemed his. His wife was simply doing her duty--in a spirit
+of admirable thoroughness; he, in the eyes of a third person, would
+appear an unreasonable and violent curmudgeon. Had it not all sprung out
+of his obstinacy with regard to reading at breakfast? How explain to
+anyone what he suffered in his nerves, in his pride, in the outraged
+habitudes of a lifetime?
+
+That evening he did not return to Wood Green. Afraid of questions
+if he showed himself in the old resorts, he spent some hours in a
+billiard-room near King's Cross, and towards midnight took a bedroom
+under the same roof. On going to business next day, he awaited with
+tremors either a telegram or a visit from his wife; but the whole day
+passed, and he heard nothing. After dark he walked once more about the
+beloved streets, pausing now and then to look up at the windows of this
+or that well remembered house. Ah, if he durst but enter and engage a
+lodging! Impossible--for ever impossible!
+
+He slept in the same place as on the night before. And again a day
+passed without any sort of inquiry from Wood Green. When evening came
+he went home.
+
+Mrs. Jordan behaved as though he had returned from business in the usual
+way. 'Is it raining?' she asked, with a half-smile. And her husband
+replied, in as matter-of-fact a tone as he could command, 'No, it
+isn't.' There was no mention between them of his absence. That night,
+Mrs. Jordan talked for an hour or two of his bad habit of stepping on
+the paint when he went up and down stairs, then fell calmly asleep.
+
+But Mr. Jordan did not sleep for a long time. What! was he, after all,
+to be allowed his liberty _out_ of doors, provided he relinquished it
+within? Was it really the case that his wife, satisfied with her house
+and furniture and income, did not care a jot whether he stayed away or
+came home? There, indeed, gleamed a hope. When Mr. Jordan slept, he
+dreamed that he was back again in lodgings at Islington, tasting an
+extraordinary bliss. Day dissipated the vision, but still Mrs. Jordan
+spoke not a word of his absence, and with trembling still he hoped.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VICTORIAN SHORT STORIES OF TROUBLED
+MARRIAGES***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 15466.txt or 15466.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/4/6/15466
+
+
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/15466.zip b/15466.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c824ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15466.zip
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..3da3326
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #15466 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15466)