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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dead Man's Rock, by Sir Arthur Thomas
+Quiller-Couch
+
+
+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: Dead Man's Rock
+
+
+Author: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 23, 2006  [eBook #17842]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MAN'S ROCK***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Lionel Sear
+
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S ROCK.
+
+A Romance.
+
+by
+
+Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (Q).
+
+1887
+
+[This e-text prepared from an edition published in 1894]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+To the Memory of My Father I dedicate this book.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+BOOK I.--THE QUEST OF THE GREAT RUBY.
+
+Chapter.
+
+I.       TELLS OF THE STRANGE WILL OF MY GRANDFATHER, AMOS TRENOWETH.
+
+II.      TELLS HOW MY FATHER WENT TO SEEK THE TREASURE; AND HOW MY
+         MOTHER HEARD A CRY IN THE NIGHT.
+
+III.     TELLS OF TWO STRANGE MEN THAT WATCHED THE SEA UPON POLKIMBRA
+         BEACH.
+
+IV.      TELLS HOW A SONG WAS SUNG AND A KNIFE DRAWN UPON DEAD MAN'S
+         ROCK.
+
+V.       TELLS HOW THE SAILOR GEORGIO RHODOJANI GAVE EVIDENCE AT THE
+        "LUGGER INN"
+
+VI.      TELLS HOW A FACE LOOKED IN AT THE WINDOW OF LANTRIG; AND IN
+         WHAT MANNER MY FATHER CAME HOME TO US.
+
+VII.     TELLS HOW UNCLE LOVEDAY MADE A DISCOVERY; AND WHAT THE TIN
+         BOX CONTAINED.
+
+VIII.    CONTAINS THE FIRST PART OF MY FATHER'S JOURNAL: SETTING FORTH
+         HIS MEETING WITH MR. ELIHU SANDERSON, OF BOMBAY; AND MY
+         GRANDFATHER'S MANUSCRIPT.
+
+IX.      CONTAINS THE SECOND PART OF MY FATHER'S JOURNAL: SETTING
+         FORTH HIS ADVENTURES IN THE ISLAND OF CELON.
+
+X.       CONTAINS THE THIRD AND LAST PART OF MY FATHER'S JOURNAL:
+         SETTING FORTH THE MUTINY ON BOARD THE _BELLE FORTUNE_
+
+XI.      TELLS OF THE WRITING UPON THE GOLDEN CLASP; AND HOW I TOOK
+         DOWN THE GREAT KEY.
+
+
+
+BOOK II--THE FINDING OF THE GREAT RUBY.
+
+Chapter.
+
+I.       TELLS HOW THOMAS LOVEDAY AND I WENT IN SEARCH OF FORTUNE.
+
+II.      TELLS OF THE LUCK OF THE GOLDEN CLASP.
+
+III.     TELLS AN OLD STORY IN A TRADITIONAL MANNER.
+
+IV.      TELLS HOW I SAW THE SHADOW OF THE ROCK; AND HOW I TOLD AND
+         HEARD NEWS.
+
+V.       TELLS HOW THE CURTAIN ROSE UPON "FRANCESCA: A TRAGEDY"
+
+VI.      TELLS HOW THE BLACK AND YELLOW FAN SENT A MESSAGE; AND HOW I
+         SAW A FACE IN THE FOG.
+
+VII.     TELLS HOW CLAIRE WENT TO THE PLAY; AND HOW SHE SAW THE
+         GOLDEN CLASP.
+
+VIII.    TELLS HOW THE CURTAIN FELL UPON "FRANCESCA: A TRAGEDY"
+
+IX.      TELLS HOW TWO VOICES LED ME TO BOARD A SCHOONER; AND WHAT
+         BEFELL THERE.
+
+X.       TELLS IN WHAT MANNER I LEARNT THE SECRET OF THE GREAT KEY.
+
+XI.      TELLS HOW AT LAST I FOUND MY REVENGE AND THE GREAT RUBY.
+
+
+
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S ROCK.
+
+
+
+BOOK I.
+
+
+
+THE QUEST OF THE GREAT RUBY.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+
+TELLS OF THE STRANGE WILL OF MY GRANDFATHER, AMOS TRENOWETH.
+
+Whatever claims this story may have upon the notice of the world,
+they will rest on no niceties of style or aptness of illustration.
+It is a plain tale, plainly told: nor, as I conceive, does its native
+horror need any ingenious embellishment.  There are many books that
+I, though a man of no great erudition, can remember, which gain much
+of interest from the pertinent and appropriate comments with which
+the writer has seen fit to illustrate any striking situation.
+From such books an observing man may often draw the exactest rules
+for the regulation of life and conduct, and their authors may
+therefore be esteemed public benefactors.  Among these I, Jasper
+Trenoweth, can claim no place; yet I venture to think my history will
+not altogether lack interest--and this for two reasons.  It deals
+with the last chapter (I pray Heaven it be the last) in the
+adventures of a very remarkable gem--none other, in fact, than the
+Great Ruby of Ceylon; and it lifts, at least in part, the veil which
+for some years has hidden a certain mystery of the sea.  For the
+moral, it must be sought by the reader himself in the following
+pages.
+
+To make all clear, I must go back half a century, and begin with the
+strange and unaccountable Will made in the year of Grace 1837 by my
+grandfather, Amos Trenoweth, of Lantrig in the County of Cornwall.
+The old farm-house of Lantrig, heritage and home of the Trenoweths as
+far as tradition can reach, and Heaven knows how much longer, stands
+some few miles N.W. of the Lizard, facing the Atlantic gales from
+behind a scanty veil of tamarisks, on Pedn-glas, the northern point
+of a small sandy cove, much haunted of old by smugglers, but now left
+to the peaceful boats of the Polkimbra fishermen.  In my
+grandfather's time however, if tales be true, Ready-Money Cove saw
+many a midnight cargo run, and many a prize of cognac and lace found
+its way to the cellars and store-room of Lantrig.  Nay, there is a
+story (but for its truth I will not vouch) of a struggle between my
+grandfather's lugger, the _Pride of Heart_, and a certain Revenue
+cutter, and of an unowned shot that found a Preventive Officer's
+heart.  But the whole tale remains to this day full of mystery, nor
+would I mention it save that it may be held to throw some light on my
+grandfather's sudden disappearance no long time after.  Whither he
+went, none clearly knew.  Folks said, to fight the French; but when
+he returned suddenly some twenty years later, he said little about
+sea-fights, or indeed on any other subject; nor did many care to
+question him, for he came back a stern, taciturn man, apparently with
+no great wealth, but also without seeming to want for much, and at
+any rate indisposed to take the world into his confidence.
+His father had died meanwhile, so he quietly assumed the mastership
+at Lantrig, nursed his failing mother tenderly until her death, and
+then married one of the Triggs of Mullyon, of whom was born my
+father, Ezekiel Trenoweth.
+
+I have hinted, what I fear is but the truth, that my grandfather had
+led a hot and riotous youth, fearing neither God, man, nor devil.
+Before his return, however, he had "got religion" from some quarter,
+and was confirmed in it by the preaching of one Jonathan Wilkins, as
+I have heard, a Methodist from "up the country," and a powerful mover
+of souls.  As might have been expected in such a man as my
+grandfather, this religion was of a joyless and gloomy order, full of
+anticipations of hell-fire and conviction of the sinfulness of
+ordinary folk.  But it undoubtedly was sincere, for his wife Philippa
+believed in it, and the master and mistress of Lantrig were alike the
+glory and strong support of the meeting-house at Polkimbra until her
+death.  After this event, her husband shut himself up with the
+tortures of his own stern conscience, and was seen by few.  In this
+dismal self-communing he died on the 27th of October, 1837, leaving
+behind him one mourner, his son Ezekiel, then a strong and comely
+youth of twenty-two.
+
+This brings me to my grandfather's Will, discovered amongst his
+papers after his death; and surely no stranger or more perplexing
+document was ever penned, especially as in this case any will was
+unnecessary, seeing that only one son was left to claim the
+inheritance.  Men guessed that those dark years of seclusion and
+self-repression had been spent in wrestling with memories of a sinful
+and perhaps a criminal past, and predicted that Amos Trenoweth could
+not die without confession.  They were partly right, from knowledge
+of human nature; and partly wrong, from ignorance of my grandfather's
+character.
+
+The Will was dated "June 15th, 1837," and ran as follows:--
+
+    "I, Amos Trenoweth, of Lantrig, in the Parish of Polkimbra and
+     County of Cornwall, feeling, in this year of Grace Eighteen
+     hundred and thirty-seven, that my Bodily Powers are failing and
+     the Hour drawing near when I shall be called to account for my
+     Many and Grievous Sins, do hereby make Provision for my Death
+     and also for my son Ezekiel, together with such Descendants as
+     may hereafter be born to him.  To this my son Ezekiel I give and
+     bequeath the Farm and House of Lantrig, with all my Worldly
+     Goods, and add my earnest hope that this may suffice to support
+     both him and his Descendants in Godliness and Contentment,
+     knowing how greatly these excell the Wealth of this World and
+     the Lusts of the Flesh.  But, knowing also the mutability of
+     earthly things, I do hereby command and enjoin that, if at any
+     time He or his Descendants be in stress and tribulation of
+     poverty, the Head of our Family of Trenoweth shall strictly and
+     faithfully obey these my Latest Directions.  He shall take ship
+     and go unto Bombay in India, to the house of Elihu Sanderson,
+     Esquire, or his Heirs, and there, presenting in person this my
+     last Will and Testament, together with the Holy Bible now lying
+     in the third drawer of my Writing Desk, shall duly and
+     scrupulously execute such instructions as the said Elihu
+     Sanderson or his Heirs shall lay upon him.
+
+    "Also I command and enjoin, under pain of my Dying Curse, that
+     the Iron Key now hanging from the Middle Beam in the Front
+     Parlour be not touched or moved, until he who undertakes this
+     Task shall have returned and have crossed the threshold of
+     Lantrig, having duly performed all the said Instructions.
+     And furthermore that the said Task be not undertaken lightly or
+     except in direst Need, under pain of Grievous and Sore
+     Affliction.  This I say, knowing well the Spiritual and worldly
+     Perils that shall beset such an one, and having myself been
+     brought near to Destruction of Body and Soul, which latter may
+     Christ in His Mercy avert.
+
+    "Thus, having eased my mind of great and pressing Anguish, I
+     commend my soul to God, before Whose Judgment Bar I shall be
+     presently summoned to stand, the greatest of sinners, yet not
+     without hope of Everlasting Redemption, for Christ's sake.
+     Amen.
+
+    "AMOS TRENOWETH."
+
+Such was the Will, written on stiff parchment in crabbed and
+unscholarly characters, without legal forms or witnesses; but all
+such were needless, as I have pointed out.  And, indeed, my father
+was wise, as I think, to show it to nobody, but go his way quietly as
+before, managing the farm as he had managed it during the old man's
+last years.  Only by degrees he broke from the seclusion which had
+been natural to him during his parents' lifetime, so far as to look
+about for a wife--shyly enough at first--until he caught the dark
+eyes of Margery Freethy one Sunday morning in Polkimbra Church,
+whither he had gone of late for freedom, to the no small tribulation
+of the meeting-house.  Now, whether this tribulation arose from the
+backsliding of a promising member, or the loss of the owner of
+Lantrig (who was at the same time unmarried), I need not pause here
+to discuss.  Nor is it necessary to tell how regularly Margery and
+Ezekiel found themselves in church, nor how often they caught each
+other's eyes straying from the prayer-book.  It is enough that at the
+year's end Margery answered Ezekiel's question, and shortly after
+came to Lantrig "for good."
+
+The first years of their married life must have been very happy, as I
+gather from the hushed joy with which my mother always spoke of them.
+I gather also that my first appearance in this world caused more
+delight than I have ever given since--God forgive me for it!
+But shortly after I was four years old everything began to go wrong.
+First of all, two ships in which my father had many shares were lost
+at sea; then the cattle were seized with plague, and the stock
+gradually dwindled away to nothing.  Finally, my father's bank
+broke--or, as we say in the West, "went scat!"--and we were left all
+but penniless, with the prospect of having to sell Lantrig, being
+without stock and lacking means to replenish it.  It was at this
+time, I have since learnt from my mother, that Amos Trenoweth's Will
+was first thought about.  She, poor soul! had never heard of the
+parchment before, and her heart misgave her as she read of peril to
+soul and body sternly hinted at therein.  Also, her best-beloved
+brother had gone down in a squall off the Cape of Good Hope, so that
+she always looked upon the sea as a cruel and treacherous foe, and
+shuddered to think of it as lying in wait for her Ezekiel's life.
+It came to pass, therefore, that for two years the young wife's tears
+and entreaties prevailed; but at the end of this time, matters
+growing worse and worse, and also because it seemed hard that Lantrig
+should pass away from the Trenoweths while, for aught we knew,
+treasure was to be had for the looking, poverty and my father's wish
+prevailed, and it was determined, with the tearful assent of my
+mother, that he should start to seek this Elihu Sanderson, of Bombay,
+and, with good fortune, save the failing house of the Trenoweths.
+Only he waited until the worst of the winter was over, and then,
+having commended us both to the care of his aunt, Elizabeth Loveday,
+of Lizard Town, and provided us with the largest sum he could scrape
+together (and small indeed it was), he started for the port of
+Plymouth one woeful morning in February, and thence sailed away in
+the good ship _Golden Wave_ to win his inheritance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+TELLS HOW MY FATHER WENT TO SEEK THE TREASURE; AND HOW MY MOTHER
+HEARD A CRY IN THE NIGHT.
+
+So my father sailed away, carrying with him--sewn for safety in his
+jersey's side--the Will and the small clasped Bible; nor can I think
+of stranger equipment for the hunting of earthly treasure.  And the
+great iron key hung untouched from the beam, while the spiders
+outvied one another in wreathing it with their webs, knowing it to be
+the only spot in Lantrig where they were safe from my mother's broom.
+It is with these spiders that my recollections begin, for of my
+father, before he sailed away, remembrance is dim and scanty, being
+confined to the picture of a tall fair man, with huge shoulders and
+wonderful grey eyes, that changed in a moment from the stern look he
+must have inherited from Amos to an extraordinary depth of love and
+sympathy.  Also I have some faint memories of a pig, named Eleazar
+(for no well-explained reason), which fell over the cliff one night
+and awoke the household with its cries.  But this I mention only
+because it happened, as I learn, before my father's going, and not
+for any connection with my story.   We must have lived a very quiet
+life at Lantrig, even as lives go on our Western coast.  I remember
+my mother now as she went softly about the house contriving and
+scheming to make the two ends of our small possessions meet.  She was
+a woman who always walked softly, and, indeed, talked so, with a low
+musical voice such as I shall never hear again, nor can ever hope to.
+But I remember her best in church, as she knelt and prayed for her
+absent husband, and also in the meeting-house, which she sometimes
+attended, more to please Aunt Elizabeth than for any good it did her.
+For the religion there was too sombre for her quiet sorrow; and often
+I have seen a look of awful terror possess her eyes when the young
+minister gave out the hymn and the fervid congregation wailed forth--
+
+    "In midst of life we are in death.
+        Oh! stretch Thine arm to save.
+     Amid the storm's tumultuous breath
+        And roaring of the wave."
+
+Which, among a fishing population, was considered a particularly
+appropriate hymn; and, truly, to hear the unction with which the word
+"tu-mult-u-ous" was rendered, with all strength of lung and rolling
+of syllables, was moving enough.  But my mother would grow all white
+and trembling, and clutch my hand sometimes, as though to save
+herself from shipwreck; whilst I too often would be taken with the
+passion of the chant, and join lustily in the shouting, only half
+comprehending her mortal anguish.  It was this, perhaps, and many
+another such scene, which drew upon me her gentle reproof for
+pointing one day to the text above the pulpit and repeating,
+"How dreadful is this place!"  But that was after I had learned to
+spell.
+
+It had always been my father's wish that I should grow up
+"a scholar," which, in those days, meant amongst us one who could
+read and write with no more than ordinary difficulty.  So one of my
+mother's chief cares was to teach me my letters, which I learnt from
+big A to "Ampusand" in the old hornbook at Lantrig.  I have that
+hornbook still:--
+
+                      "Covered with pellucid horn,
+     To save from fingers wet the letters fair."
+
+The horn, alas! is no longer pellucid, but dim, as if with the
+tears of the many generations that have struggled through the
+alphabet and the first ten numerals and reached in due course the
+haven of the Lord's Prayer and Doxology.  I had passed the Doxology,
+and was already deep in the "Pilgrim's Progress" and the "Holy War"
+(which latter book, with the rude taste of childhood, I greatly
+preferred, so that I quickly knew the mottoes and standards of its
+bewildering hosts by heart), when my father's first letter came home.
+In those days, before the great canal was cut, a voyage to the East
+Indies was no light matter, lying as it did around the treacherous
+Cape and through seas where a ship may lie becalmed for weeks.
+So it was little wonder that my father's letter, written from Bombay,
+was some time on its way.  Still, when the news came it was good.
+He had seen Mr. Elihu Sanderson, son of the Elihu mentioned in my
+grandfather's Will, had presented his parchment and Testament, and
+received some notes (most of which he sent home), together with a
+sealed packet, directed in Amos Trenoweth's handwriting: "To the Son
+of my House, who, having Counted all the Perils, is Resolute."
+This packet, my father went on to say, contained much mysterious
+matter, which would keep until he and his dear wife met.  He added
+that, for himself, he could divine no peril, nor any cause for his
+dear wife to trouble, seeing that he had but to go to the island of
+Ceylon, whence, having accomplished the commands contained in the
+packet, he purposed to take ship and return with all speed to
+England.  This was the substance of the letter, wrapped around with
+many endearing words, and much tender solicitude for Margery and the
+little one, as that he hoped Jasper was tackling his letters like a
+real scholar, and comforting his mother's heart, with more to this
+effect; which made us weep very sorrowfully when the letter was read,
+although we could not well have told why.  As to the sealed packet,
+my father would have been doubtless more explicit had he been without
+a certain distrust of letters and letter-carriers, which, amid much
+faith in the miraculous powers of the Post Office, I have known to
+exist among us even in these later days.
+
+Than this blessed letter surely no written sheet was ever more read
+and re-read; read to me every night before prayers were said, read to
+Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Loveday, read (in extracts) to all the
+neighbours of Polkimbra, for none knew certainly why Ezekiel had gone
+to India except that, somewhat vaguely, it was to "better hisself."
+How many times my mother read it, and kissed it, and cried over it,
+God alone knows; I only know that her step, which had been failing of
+late, grew firmer, and she went about the house with a light in her
+face like "the face of an angel," as the vicar said.  It may have
+been: I have never since seen its like upon earth.
+
+After this came the great joy of sending an answer, which I wrote
+(with infinite pains as to the capital letters) at my mother's
+dictation.  And then it was read over and corrected, and added to,
+and finally directed, as my father had instructed us, to "Mr. Ezekiel
+Trenoweth; care of John P. Eversleigh, Esq., of the East India
+Company's Service, Colombo, Ceylon."  I remember that my mother
+sealed it with the red cornelian Ezekiel had given her when he asked
+her to be his wife, and took it with her own hands to Penzance to
+post, having, for the occasion, harnessed old Pleasure in the cart
+for the first time since we had been alone.
+
+Then we had to wait again, and the little store of money grew small
+indeed.  But Aunt Elizabeth was a wonderful contriver, and tender of
+heart besides, although in most things to be called a "hard" woman.
+She had married, during my grandfather's long absence, Dr. Loveday,
+of Lizard Town--a mild little man with a prodigious vanity in brass
+buttons, and the most terrific religious beliefs, which did not in
+the least alter his natural sweetness of temper.  My aunt and uncle
+(it was impossible to think of them except in this order) would often
+drive or walk over to Lantrig, seldom without some little present,
+which, together with my aunt's cap-box, would emerge from the back
+seat, amid a _duetto_ something after this fashion:--
+
+  _My Aunt_.   "So, my dear, we thought as we were driving in this
+                direction we would see how you were getting on; and
+                by great good fortune, or rather as I should say
+                (Jasper, do not hang your head so; it looks so
+                deceitful) by the will of Heaven (and Heaven's will
+                be done, you know, my dear, which must be a great
+                comfort to you in your sore affliction), as Cyrus was
+                driving into Cadgwith yesterday--were you not,
+                Cyrus?"
+
+  _My Uncle_.  "To be sure, my dear."
+
+  _My Aunt_.   "Well, as I was saying, as Cyrus was driving into
+                Cadgwith yesterday to see Martha George's husband,
+                who was run over by the Helston coach, and she such a
+                regular attendant at the Prayer-meeting, but in the
+                midst of life (Jasper, don't fidget)--well, whom
+                should he see but Jane Ann Collins, with the finest
+                pair of ducks, too, and costing a mere nothing.
+                Cyrus will bear me out."
+
+  _My Uncle_.  "Nothing at all, my dear.  Jasper, come here and talk
+                to me.  Do you know, Jasper, what happens to little
+                boys that tell lies?  You do?  Something terrible,
+                eh?  Soul's perdition, my boy; soul's ev-er-last-ing
+                perdition.  There, come and show me the pig."
+
+What agonies of conscience it must have cost these two good souls
+thus to conspire together for benevolence, none ever knew.  Nor was
+it less pathetic that the fraud was so hollow and transparent.
+I doubt not that the sin of it was washed out with self-reproving
+tears, and cannot think that they were shed in vain.
+
+So the seasons passed, and we waited, till in the late summer of 1849
+(my father having been away nineteen months) there came another
+letter to say that he was about to start for home.  He had found what
+he sought, so he said, but could not rightly understand its value,
+or, indeed, make head or tail of it by himself, and dared not ask
+strangers to help him.  Perhaps, however, when he came home, Jasper
+(who was such a scholar) would help him; and maybe the key would be
+some aid.  For the rest, he had been stricken with a fever--a malady
+common enough in those parts--but was better, and would start in
+something over a week, in the _Belle Fortune_, a barque of some 650
+tons register, homeward bound with a cargo of sugar, spices, and
+coffee, and having a crew of about eighteen hands, with, he thought,
+one or two passengers.  The letter was full of strong hope and love,
+so that my mother, who trembled a little when she read about the
+fever, plucked up courage to smile again towards the close.  The ship
+would be due about October, or perhaps November.  So once more we had
+to resume our weary waiting, but this time with glad hearts, for we
+knew that before Christmas the days of anxiety and yearning would be
+over.
+
+The long summer drew to a glorious and golden September, and so
+faded away in a veil of grey sky; and the time of watching was nearly
+done.  Through September the skies had been without cloud, and the
+sea almost breathless, but with the coming of October came dirty
+weather and a strong sou'-westerly wind, that gathered day by day,
+until at last, upon the evening of October 11th, it broke into a
+gale.  My mother for days had been growing more restless and anxious
+with the growing wind, and this evening had much ado to sit quietly
+and endure.  I remembered that as the storm raged without and tore at
+the door-hinges, while the rain lashed and smote the tamarisk
+branches against the panes, I sat by her knee before the kitchen fire
+and read bits from my favourite "Holy War," which, in the pauses of
+the storm, she would explain to me.
+
+I was much put to it that night, I recollect, by the questionable
+morality at one point of Captain Credence, who in general was my
+favourite hero, dividing that honour with General Boanerges for
+the most part, but exciting more sympathy by reason of his wound--so
+grievously I misread the allegory, or rather saw no allegory at
+all.  So my mother explained it to me, though all the while, poor
+creature, her heart was racked with terror for _her_ Mansoul, beaten,
+perhaps, at that moment from its body by the fury of that awful
+night.  Then when the fable's meaning was explained, and my
+difficulty smoothed away, we fell to talking of father's home-coming,
+in vain endeavours to cheat ourselves of the fears that rose again
+with every angry bellow of the tempest, and agreed that his ship
+could not possibly be due yet (rejoicing at this for the first time),
+but must, we feigned, be lying in a dead calm off the West Coast of
+Africa; until we almost laughed--God pardon us!--at the picture of
+his anxiety to be home while such a storm was raging at the doors of
+Lantrig.  And then I listened to wonderful stories of the East Indies
+and the marvels that men found there, and wondered whether father
+would bring home a parrot, and if it would be as like Aunt Loveday as
+the parrot down at the "Lugger Inn," at Polkimbra, and so crept
+upstairs to bed to dream of Captain Credence and parrots, and the
+"Lugger Inn" in the city of Mansoul, as though no fiends were
+shouting without and whirling sea and sky together in one devil's
+cauldron.
+
+How long I slept I know not; but I woke with the glare of a candle in
+my eyes, to see my mother, all in white, standing by the bed, and in
+her eyes an awful and soul-sickening horror.
+
+"Jasper, Jasper! wake up and listen!"
+
+I suppose I must have been still half asleep, for I lay looking at
+her with dazzled sight, not rightly knowing whether this vision were
+real or part of my strange dreams.
+
+"Jasper, for the love of God wake up!"
+
+At this, so full were her words of mortal fear, I shook off my
+drowsiness and sat up in bed, wide awake now and staring at the
+strange apparition.  My mother was white as death, and trembling so
+that the candle in her hand shook to and fro, casting wild dancing
+shadows on the wall behind.
+
+"Oh, Jasper, listen, listen!"
+
+I listened, but could hear nothing save the splashing of spray and
+rain upon my window, and above it the voice of the storm; now moaning
+as a creature in pain, now rising and growing into an angry roar
+whereat the whole house from chimney to base shook and shuddered, and
+anon sinking slowly with loud sobbings and sighings as though the
+anguish of a million tortured souls were borne down the blast.
+
+"Mother, I hear nothing but the storm."
+
+"Nothing but the storm!  Oh, Jasper, are you sure you hear nothing
+but the storm?"
+
+"Nothing else, mother, though that is bad enough."
+
+She seemed relieved a little, but still trembled sadly, and caught
+her breath with every fresh roar.  The tempest had gathered fury, and
+was now raging as though Judgment Day were come, and earth about to
+be blotted out.  For some minutes we listened almost motionless, but
+heard nothing save the furious elements; and, indeed, it was hard to
+believe that any sound on earth could be audible above such a din.
+At last I turned to my mother and said--
+
+"Mother dear, it is nothing but the storm.  You were thinking of
+father, and that made you nervous.  Go back to bed--it is so cold
+here--and try to go to sleep.  What was it you thought you heard?"
+
+"Dear Jasper, you are a good boy, and I suppose you are right, for
+you can hear nothing, and I can hear nothing now.  But, oh, Jasper!
+it was so terrible, and I seemed to hear it so plainly; though I
+daresay it was only my--Oh, God! there it is again! listen! listen!"
+
+This time I heard--heard clearly and unmistakably, and, hearing, felt
+the blood in my veins turn to very ice.
+
+Shrill and distinct above the roar of the storm, which at the moment
+had somewhat lulled, there rose a prolonged wail, or rather shriek,
+as of many human voices rising slowly in one passionate appeal to the
+mercy of Heaven, and dying away in sobbing, shuddering despair as the
+wild blast broke out again with the mocking laughter of all the
+fiends in the pit--a cry without similitude on earth, yet surely and
+awfully human; a cry that rings in my ears even now, and will
+continue to ring until I die.
+
+I sprang from bed, forced the window open and looked out.  The wind
+flung a drenching shower of spray over my face and thin night-dress,
+then tore past up the hill.  I looked and listened, but nothing could
+be seen or heard; no blue light, nor indeed any light at all; no cry,
+nor gun, nor signal of distress--nothing but the howling of the wind
+as it swept up from the sea, the thundering of the surf upon the
+beach below; and all around, black darkness and impenetrable night.
+The blast caught the lattice from my hand as I closed the window, and
+banged it furiously.  I turned to look at my mother.  She had fallen
+forward on her knees, with her arms flung across the bed, speechless
+and motionless, in such sort that I speedily grew possessed with an
+awful fear lest she should be dead.  As it was, I could do nothing
+but call her name and try to raise the dear head that hung so heavily
+down.  Remember that I was at this time not eight years old, and had
+never before seen a fainting fit, so that if a sight so like to death
+bewildered me it was but natural.  How long the fit lasted I cannot
+say, but at last, to my great joy, my mother raised her head and
+looked at me with a puzzled stare that gradually froze again to
+horror as recollection came back.
+
+"Oh, Jasper, what could it be?--what could it be?"
+
+Alas! I knew not, and yet seemed to know too well.  The cry still
+rang in my ears and clamoured at my heart; while all the time a dull
+sense told me that it must have been a dream, and a dull desire bade
+me believe it so.
+
+"Jasper, tell me--it cannot have been--"
+
+She stopped as our eyes met, and the terrible suspicion grew and
+mastered us, numbing, freezing, paralysing the life within us.
+I tried to answer, but turned my head away.  My mother sank once more
+upon her knees, weeping, praying, despairing, wailing, while the
+storm outside continued to moan and sob its passionate litany.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+TELLS OF TWO STRANGE MEN THAT WATCHED THE SEA UPON POLKIMBRA BEACH.
+
+Morning came at last, and with the first grey light the storm had
+spent its fury.  By degrees my mother had grown calmer, and was now
+sleeping peacefully upon her bed, worn out with the passion of her
+terror.  I had long ago dressed; but even had I wished to sleep
+again, curiosity to know the meaning of that awful cry would have
+been too strong for me.  So, as soon as I saw that my mother was
+asleep, I took my boots in my hand and crept downstairs.  The kitchen
+looked so ghostly in the dim light, that I had almost resolved to
+give up my plan and go back, but reflected that it behoved me to play
+the man, if only to be able to cheer mother when I came back.
+So, albeit with my heart in my mouth, I drew back the bolt--that
+surely, for all my care, never creaked so loudly before or since--and
+stepped out into the cool air.  The fresh breeze that smote my cheeks
+as I sat down outside to put on my boots brought me back to the
+everyday world--a world that seemed to make the events of the night
+unreal and baseless, so that I had, with boyish elasticity of temper,
+almost forgotten all fear as I began to descend the cliff towards
+Ready-Money Cove.
+
+Before I go any further, it will be necessary to describe in a few
+words that part of the coast which is the scene of my story.
+Lantrig, as I have said, looks down upon Ready-Money Cove from the
+summit of Pedn-glas, its northern arm.  The cove itself is narrow,
+running in between two scarred and rugged walls of serpentine, and
+terminating in a little beach of whitest sand beneath a frowning and
+precipitous cliff.  It is easy to see its value in the eyes of
+smugglers, for not only is the cove difficult of observation from the
+sea, by reason of its straitness and the protection of its projecting
+arms, but the height and abruptness of its cliffs also give it
+seclusion from the land side.  For Pedn-glas on the north rises sheer
+from the sea, sloping downwards a little as it runs in to join the
+mainland, but only enough to admit of a rough and winding path at its
+inmost point, while to the south the cove is guarded by a strange
+mass of rock that demands a somewhat longer description.
+
+For some distance the cliff ran out as on the north side, but,
+suddenly breaking off as if cleft by some gigantic stroke, left a
+gloomy column of rock, attached to it only by an isthmus that stood
+some six or seven feet above high-water mark.  This separate mass
+went by the name of Dead Man's Rock--a name dark and dreadful enough,
+but in its derivation innocent, having been but Dodmen, or "the stony
+headland," until common speech perverted it.  For this reason I
+suppose I ought not to call it Dead Man's Rock, the "Rock" being
+superfluous, but I give it the name by which it has always been
+known, being to a certain extent suspicious of those antiquarian
+gentlemen that sometimes, in their eagerness to restore a name, would
+deface a tradition.
+
+Let me return to the rock.  Under the neck that joins it to the main
+cliff there runs a natural tunnel, which at low water leads to the
+long expanse of Polkimbra Beach, with the village itself lying snugly
+at its further end; so that, standing at the entrance of this curious
+arch, one may see the little town, with the purple cliffs behind
+framed between walls of glistening serpentine.  The rock is always
+washed by the sea, except at low water during the spring tides,
+though not reaching out so far as Pedn-glas.  In colour it is mainly
+black as night, but is streaked with red stains that bear an awful
+likeness to blood; and, though it may be climbed--and I myself have
+done it more than once in search of eggs--it has no scrap of
+vegetation save where, upon its summit, the gulls build their nests
+on a scanty patch of grass and wild asparagus.
+
+By the time I had crossed the cove, the western sky was brilliant
+with the reflected dawn.  Above the cliffs behind, morning had edged
+the flying wrack of indigo clouds with a glittering line of gold,
+while the sea in front still heaved beneath the pale yellow light, as
+a child sobs at intervals after the first gust of passion is
+over-past.  The tide was at the ebb, and the fresh breeze dropped as
+I got under the shadow of Dead Man's Rock and looked through the
+archway on to Polkimbra Sands.
+
+Not a soul was to be seen.  The long stretch of beach had scarcely
+yet caught the distinctness of day, but was already beginning to
+glisten with the gathering light, and, as far as I could see, was
+desolate.  I passed through and clambered out towards the south side
+of the rock to watch the sea, if perchance some bit of floating
+wreckage might explain the mystery of last night.  I could see
+nothing.
+
+Stay!  What was that on the ledge below me, lying on the brink just
+above the receding wave?  A sailor's cap!  Somehow, the sight made me
+sick with horror.  It must have been a full minute before I dared to
+open my eyes and look again.  Yes, it was there!  The cry of last
+night rang again in my ears with all its supreme agony as I stood in
+the presence of this silent witness of the dead--this rag of clothing
+that told so terrible a history.
+
+Child as I was, the silent terror of it made me faint and giddy.
+I shut my eyes again, and clung, all trembling, to the ledge.
+Not for untold bribes could I have gone down and touched that
+terrible thing, but, as soon as the first spasm of fear was over, I
+clambered desperately back and on to the sands again, as though all
+the souls of the drowned were pursuing me.
+
+Once safe upon the beach, I recovered my scattered wits a little.
+I felt that I could not repass that dreadful rock, so determined to
+go across the sands to Polkimbra, and homewards around the cliffs.
+Still gazing at the sea as one fascinated, I made along the length of
+the beach.  The storm had thrown up vast quantities of weed, that
+lined the water's edge in straggling lines and heaps, and every heap
+in turn chained and riveted my shuddering eyes, that half expected to
+see in each some new or nameless horror.
+
+I was half across the beach, when suddenly I looked up towards
+Polkimbra, and saw a man advancing towards me along the edge of the
+tide.
+
+He was about two hundred yards from me when I first looked.  Heartily
+glad to see any human being after my great terror, I ran towards him
+eagerly, thinking to recognise one of my friends among the Polkimbra
+fishermen.  As I drew nearer, however, without attracting his
+attention--for the soft sand muffled all sound of footsteps--two
+things struck me.  The first was that I had never seen a fisherman
+dressed as this man was; the second, that he seemed to watch the sea
+with an absorbed and eager gaze, as if expecting to find or see
+something in the breakers.  At last I was near enough to catch the
+outline of his face, and knew him to be a stranger.
+
+He wore no hat, and was dressed in a red shirt and trousers that
+ended in rags at the knee.  His feet were bare, and his clothes clung
+dripping to his skin.  In height he could not have been much above
+five feet six inches, but his shoulders were broad, and his whole
+appearance, cold and exhausted as he seemed, gave evidence of great
+strength.  His tangled hair hung over a somewhat weak face, but the
+most curious feature about the man was the air of nervous expectation
+that marked, not only his face, but every movement of his body.
+Altogether, under most circumstances, I should have shunned him, but
+fear had made me desperate.  At the distance of about twenty yards I
+stopped and called to him.
+
+I had advanced somewhat obliquely from behind, so that at the sound
+of my voice he turned sharply round and faced me, but with a
+terrified start that was hard to account for.  On seeing only a
+child, however, the hesitation faded out of his eyes, and he advanced
+towards me.  As he approached, I could see that he was shivering with
+cold and hunger.
+
+"Boy," he said, in an eager and expectant voice, "what are you doing
+out on the beach so early?"
+
+"Oh, sir!" I answered, "there was such a dreadful storm last night,
+and we--that is, mother and I--heard a cry, we thought; and oh!
+I have seen--"
+
+"What have you seen?"--and he caught me by the arm with a nervous
+grip.
+
+"Only a cap, sir," I said, shrinking--"only a cap; but I climbed up
+on Dead Man's Rock just now--the rock at the end of the beach--and I
+saw a cap lying there, and it seemed--"
+
+"Come along and show it to me!" and he began to run over the sands
+towards the rock, dragging me helpless after him.
+
+Suddenly he stopped.
+
+"You saw nothing else?" he asked, facing round and looking into my
+eyes.
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Nor anybody?"
+
+"Nobody, sir."
+
+"You are sure you saw nobody but me?  You didn't happen to see a tall
+man with black hair, and rings in his ears?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir."
+
+"You'll swear you saw no such man?  Swear it now; say, 'So help me,
+God, I haven't seen anybody on the beach but you.'"
+
+I swore it.
+
+"Say, 'Strike me blind if I have!'"
+
+I repeated the words after him, and, with a hurried look around, he
+set off running again towards the rock.  I had much ado to keep from
+tumbling, and even from crying aloud with pain, so tight was his
+grip.  Fast as we went, the man's teeth chattered and his limbs
+shook; his wet clothes flapped and fluttered in the cold morning
+breeze; his face was drawn and pinched with exhaustion, but he never
+slackened his pace until we reached Dead Man's Rock.  Here he stopped
+and looked around again.
+
+"Is there any place to hide in hereabouts?"  he suddenly asked.
+
+The oddness of the question took me aback: and, indeed, the whole
+conduct of the man was so strange that I was heartily frightened, and
+longed greatly to run away.  There was no help for it, however, so I
+made shift to answer--
+
+"There is a nice cave in Ready-Money Cove, which is the next cove to
+this, sir.  The smugglers used to use it because it was hidden so,
+but--"
+
+I suppose my eyes told him that I was wondering why he should want to
+hide, for he broke in again--
+
+"Well, show me this cap.  Out on the face of this rock, you say--
+what's the name?  Dead Man's Rock, eh?  Well, it's an ugly name
+enough, and an ugly rock enough!" he added, with a shiver.
+
+I climbed up the rock, and he after me, until we gained the ledge
+where I had stood before.  I looked down.  The cap was still lying
+there, and the tide had ebbed still further.
+
+My companion looked for a moment, then, with a short cry, scrambled
+quickly down and picked it up.  To me it had looked like any ordinary
+sailor's cap, but he examined it, fingered it, and pulled it about,
+muttering all the time, so that I imagined it must be his own, though
+at a loss to know why he made so much of recovering it.  At last he
+climbed up again, holding it in his hands, and still muttering to
+himself--
+
+"His cap, sure enough; nothing in it, though.  But he was much too
+clever a devil.  However, he's gone right enough; I knew he must, and
+this proves it, curse him!  Well, I'll wear it.  He's not left behind
+as much as he thought, but mad enough he'd be to think I was his
+heir.  I'll wear it for old acquaintance' sake.  Sit down, boy," he
+said aloud to me; "we're safe here, and can't be seen.  I want to
+talk with you."
+
+The rocky ledge on which we stood was about seven feet long and three
+or four in breadth.  On one side of it ran down the path by which we
+had ascended; the other end broke off with a sheer descent into the
+sea of some forty feet in the present state of the tide.  High above
+us rose an unscaleable cliff; at our feet lay a short descent to the
+ledge on which the cap had rested, and after that another precipice.
+It was not a pleasant position in which to be left alone with this
+strange companion, but I was helpless, and perhaps the trace of
+weakness and a something not altogether evil in his face, gave me
+some courage.  Little enough it was, however, and in mere desperation
+I sat down on the side by the path.  My companion flung himself down
+on the other side, with his legs dangling over the ledge, and so sat
+for a minute or two watching the sea.
+
+The early sun was now up, and its oblique rays set the waves dancing
+with a myriad points of fire.  Above us the rock cast its shadow into
+the green depths below, making them seem still greener and deeper.
+To my left I could see the shining sands of Polkimbra, still
+desolate, and, beyond, the purple line of cliffs towards Kynance; on
+my right the rock hid everything from view, except the open sea and
+the gulls returning after the tempest to inspect and pry into the
+fresh masses of weed and wreckage.  I looked timidly at my companion.
+He was still gazing out towards the sea, apparently deep in thought.
+The cap was on his head, and his legs still dangled, while he
+muttered to himself as if unconscious of my presence.  Presently,
+however, he turned towards me.
+
+"Got anything to eat?"
+
+I had forgotten it in my terror, but I had, as I crossed the kitchen,
+picked up a hunch of bread to serve me for breakfast.  This, with a
+half-apologetic air, as if to deprecate its smallness, I produced
+from my pocket and handed to him.  He snatched it without a word, and
+ate it ravenously, keeping his eye fixed upon me in the most
+embarrassing way.
+
+"Got any more?"
+
+I was obliged to confess I had not, though sorely afraid of
+displeasing him.  He turned still further towards me, and stared
+without a word, then suddenly spoke again.
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+Truly this man had the strangest manner of questioning.  However, I
+answered him duly--
+
+"Jasper Trenoweth."
+
+"God in heaven!  What?"
+
+He had started forward, and was staring at me with a wild surprise.
+Unable to comprehend why my name should have this effect on him, but
+hopeless of understanding this extraordinary man's behaviour, I
+repeated the two words.
+
+His face had turned to an ashy white, but he slowly took his eyes off
+me and turned them upon the sea, almost as though afraid to meet
+mine.  There was a pause.
+
+"Father by any chance answering to the name of Ezekiel--Ezekiel
+Trenoweth?"
+
+Even in my fright I can remember being struck with this strange way
+of speaking, as though my father were a dog; but a new fear had
+gained possession of me.  Dreading to hear the answer, yet wildly
+anxious, I cried--
+
+"Oh, yes.  Do you know him?  He was coming home from Ceylon, and
+mother was so anxious; and then, what with the storm last night and
+the cry that we heard, we were so frightened!  Oh! do you know
+--do you think--"
+
+My words died away in terrified entreaty; but he seemed not to hear
+me.  Still gazing out on the sea, he said--
+
+"Sailed in the _Belle Fortune_, barque of 600 tons, or thereabouts,
+bound for Port of Bristol?  Oh, ay, I knew him--knew him well.
+And might this here place be Lantrig?"
+
+"Our house is on the cliff above the next cove," I replied.
+"But, oh! please tell me if anything has happened to him!"
+
+"And why should anything have happened to Ezekiel Trenoweth?
+That's what I want to know.  Why should anything have happened to
+him?"
+
+He was still watching the waves as they danced and twinkled in the
+sun.  He never looked towards me, but plucked with nervous fingers at
+his torn trousers.  The gulls hovered around us with melancholy
+cries, as they wheeled in graceful circles and swooped down to their
+prey in the depths at our feet.  Presently he spoke again in a
+meditative, far-away voice--
+
+"Ezekiel Trenoweth, fair, broad, and six foot two in his socks; why
+should anything have happened to him?"
+
+"But you seem to know him, and know the ship he sailed in.  Tell me--
+please tell me what has happened.  Did you sail in the same ship?
+And, if so, what has become of it?"
+
+"I sailed," said my companion, still examining the horizon, "from
+Ceylon on the 12th of July, in the ship _Mary Jane_, bound for
+Liverpool.  Consequently, if Ezekiel Trenoweth sailed in the _Belle
+Fortune_ we couldn't very well have been in the same ship, and that's
+logic," said he, turning to me for the first time with a watery and
+uncertain smile, but quickly withdrawing his eyes to their old
+occupation.
+
+But he had lifted a great load from my heart, so that for very joy at
+knowing my father was not among the crew of the _Mary Jane_ I could
+not speak for a time, but sat watching his face, and thinking how I
+should question him next.
+
+"Sailed in the _Mary Jane_, bound for Liverpool," he repeated, his
+face twitching slightly, and his hands still plucking at his
+trousers, "sailed along with--never mind who.  And this boy's Ezekiel
+Trenoweth's son, and I knew him; knew him well."  His voice was
+husky, and he seemed to have something in his throat, but he went on:
+"Well, it's a strange world.  To think of him being dead!" looking at
+the cap--which he had taken off his head.
+
+"What!  Father dead?"
+
+"No, my lad, t'other chap: him as this cap belonged to.  Ah, he was a
+devil, he was.  Can't fancy him dead, somehow; seemed as though the
+water wasn't made as could have drowned him; always said he was born
+for the gallows, and joked about it.  But he's gone this time, and
+I've got his cap.  'Tis a hard thought that I should outlive him;
+but, curse him, I've done it, and here's his cap for proof--why, what
+the devil is the lad staring at?"
+
+During his muttered soliloquy I had turned for a moment to look
+across Polkimbra Beach, when suddenly my eyes were arrested and my
+heart again set violently beating by a sight that almost made me
+doubt whether the events of the morning were not still part of a wild
+and disordered dream.  For there, at about fifty yards' distance, and
+advancing along the breakers' edge, was another man, dressed like my
+companion, and also watching the sea.
+
+"What's the matter, boy?  Speak, can't you?"
+
+"It's a man."
+
+"A man!  Where?"
+
+He made a motion forwards to look over the edge, but checked himself,
+and crouched down close against the rock.
+
+"Lie down!" he murmured in a hoarse whisper.  "Lie down low and look
+over."
+
+My arm was clutched as though by a vice.  I sank down flat, and
+peered over the edge.
+
+"It's a man," I said, "not fifty yards off, and coming this way.
+He has on a red shirt, and is watching the sea just as you did.
+I don't think that he saw us."
+
+"For the Lord's sake don't move.  Look; is he tall and dark?"
+
+His terrified excitement was dreadful.  I thought I should have had
+to shriek with pain, so tightly he clutched me, but found voice to
+answer--
+
+"Yes, he seems tall, and dark too, though I can't well see at--"
+
+"Has he got earrings?"
+
+"I can't see; but he walks with a stoop, and seems to have a sword or
+something slung round his waist."
+
+"God defend us! that's he!  Curse him, curse him!  Lie down--lie
+down, I say!  It's death if he catches sight of us."
+
+We cowered against the rock.  My companion's face was livid, and his
+lips worked as though fingers were plucking at them, but made no
+sound.  I never saw such abject, hopeless terror.  We waited thus for
+a full minute, and then I peered over the ledge again.
+
+He was almost directly beneath us now, and was still watching the
+sea.  At his side hung a short sheath, empty.  I could not well see
+his face, but the rings in his ears glistened in the sunlight.
+
+I drew back cautiously, for my companion was plucking at my jacket.
+
+"Listen," he said--and his hoarse voice was sunk so low that I could
+scarcely catch his words--"Listen.  If he catches us it's death--
+death to me, but perhaps he may let you off, though he's a
+cold-blooded, murderous devil.  However, there's no saying but you
+might get off.  Any way, it'll be safest for you to have this.
+Here, take it quick, and stow it away in your jacket, so as he can't
+see it.  For the love of God, look sharp!"
+
+He took something out of a pocket inside his shirt, and forced it
+into my hands.  What it was I could not see, so quickly he made me
+hide it in my jacket.  But I caught a glimpse of something that
+looked like brass, and the packet was hard and heavy.
+
+"It's death, I say; but you may be lucky.  If he does for me, swear
+you'll never give it up to him.  Take your Bible oath you'll never do
+that.  And look here: if I'm lucky enough to get off, swear you'll
+give it back.  Swear it.  Say, 'Strike me blind!'"
+
+He clutched me again.  Shaking and trembling, I gave the promise.
+
+"And look, here's a letter; put it away and read it after.  If he
+does for me--curse him!--you keep what I've given you.  Yes, keep it;
+it's my last Will and Testament, upon my soul.  But you ought to go
+half shares with little Jenny; you ought, you know.  You'll find out
+where she lives in that there letter.  But you'll never give it up to
+him.  Swear it.  Swear it again."
+
+Again I promised.
+
+"Mind you, if you do, I'll haunt you.  I'll curse you dying, and
+that's an awful thing to happen to a man.  Look over again.
+He mayn't be coming--perhaps he'll go through to the next beach, and
+then we'll run for it."
+
+Again I peered over, but drew back as if shot; for just below me was
+a black head with glittering earrings, and its owner was steadily
+coming up the path towards us.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+TELLS HOW A SONG WAS SUNG AND A KNIFE DRAWN UPON DEAD MAN'S ROCK.
+
+There was no escape.  I have said that the ascent of Dead Man's Rock
+was possible, but that was upon the northern side, from which we were
+now utterly cut off.  Hemmed in as we were between the sheer cliff
+and the precipice, we could only sit still and await the man's
+coming.  Utter fear had apparently robbed my companion of all his
+faculties, for he sat, a stony image of despair, looking with
+staring, vacant eyes at the spot where his enemy would appear; while
+as for me, dreading I knew not what, I clung to the rock and listened
+breathlessly to the sound of the footsteps as they came nearer and
+nearer.  Presently, within about fifteen feet, as I guess, of our
+hiding-place, they suddenly ceased, and a full, rich voice broke out
+in song--
+
+    "Sing hey! for the dead man's eyes, my lads;
+        Sing ho! for the dead man's hand;
+     For his glittering eyes are the salt sea's prize,
+     And his fingers clutch the sand, my lads--
+        Sing ho! how they grip the land!
+
+    "Sing hey! for the dead man's lips, my lads;
+        Sing ho! for the dead man's soul.
+     At his red, red lips the merrymaid sips
+     For the kiss that his sweetheart stole, my lads--
+        Sing ho! for the bell shall toll!"
+
+The words were full and clear upon the morning air--so clear that
+their weird horror, together with the strangeness of the tune (which
+had a curious catch in the last line but one) and, above all, the
+sweetness of the voice, held me spellbound.  I glanced again at my
+companion.  He had not changed his position, but still sat
+motionless, save that his dry lips were again working and twitching
+as though they tried to follow the words of the song.  Presently the
+footsteps again began to advance, and again the voice broke out--
+
+    "So it's hey! for the homeward bound, my lads,
+        And ho! for the drunken crew.
+     For his messmates round lie dead and drowned,
+     And the devil has got his due, my Lads--
+        Sing ho! but he--"
+
+He saw us.  He had turned the corner, and stood facing us; and as he
+faced us, I understood my companion's horror.  The new-comer wore a
+shirt of the same red colour as my comrade, and trousers of the same
+stuff, but less cut and torn with the rocks.  At his side hung an
+empty sheath, that must once have held a short knife, and the handle
+of another knife glittered above his waistband.  But it was his face
+that fascinated all my gaze.  Even had I no other cause to remember
+it, I could never forget the lines of that wicked mouth, or the
+glitter in those cruel eyes as their first sharp flash of surprise
+faded into a mocking and evil smile.
+
+For a minute or so he stood tranquilly watching our confusion, while
+the smile grew more and more devilishly bland.  Not a word was
+spoken.  What my comrade did I know not, but, for myself, I could not
+take my eyes from that fiendish face.
+
+At last he spoke: in a sweet and silvery voice, that in company with
+such eyes was an awful and fantastic lie, he spoke--
+
+"Well, this is pleasant indeed.  To run across an old comrade in
+flesh and blood when you thought him five fathom deep in the salt
+water is one of the pleasantest things in life, isn't it, lad?
+To put on sackcloth and ashes, to go about refusing to be comforted,
+to find no joy in living because an old shipmate is dead and drowned,
+and then suddenly to come upon him doing the very same for you--why,
+there's nothing that compares with it for real, hearty pleasure; is
+there, John?  You seem a bit dazed, John: it's too good to be true,
+you think?  Well, it shows your good heart; shows what I call real
+feeling.  But you always were a true friend, always the one to depend
+upon, eh, John?  Why don't you speak, John, and say how glad you are
+to see your old friend back, alive and hearty?"
+
+John's lips were trembling, and something seemed working in his
+throat, but no sound came.
+
+"Ah, John, you were always the one for feeling a thing, and now the
+joy is too much for you.  Considerate, too, it was of you, and really
+kind--but that's you, John, all over--to wear an old shipmate's cap
+in affectionate memory.  No, John, don't deprive yourself of it."
+
+The wretched man felt with quivering fingers for the cap, took it
+off and laid it on the rock beside me, but never spoke.
+
+"And who is the boy, John?  But, there, you were always one to
+make friends.  Everybody loves you; they can't help themselves.
+Lucy loved you when she wouldn't look at me, would she?  You were
+always so gentle and quiet, John, except perhaps when the drink was
+in you: and even then you didn't mean any harm; it was only your
+play, wasn't it, John?"
+
+John's face was a shade whiter, and again something worked in his
+throat, but still he uttered no word.
+
+"Well, anyhow, John, it's a real treat to see you--and looking so
+well, too.  To think that we two, of all men, should have been on the
+jib-boom when she struck!  By the way, John, wasn't there another
+with us?  Now I come to think of it, there must have been another.
+What became of him?  Did he jump too, John?"
+
+John found speech at last.  "No; I don't think he jumped."  The words
+came hoarsely and with difficulty.  I looked at him; cold and
+shivering as he was, the sweat was streaming down his face.
+
+"No?  I wonder why."
+
+No answer.
+
+"You're quite sure about it, John? Because, you know, it would be a
+thousand pities if he were thrown up on this desolate shore without
+seeing the faces of his old friends.  So I hope you are quite sure,
+John; think again."
+
+"He didn't jump."
+
+"No?"
+
+"He fell."
+
+"Poor fellow, poor fellow!"  The words came in the softest, sweetest
+tones of pity.  "I suppose there is no mistake about his melancholy
+end?"
+
+"I saw him fall.  He just let go and fell; it's Bible oath, Captain--
+it's Bible oath.  That's how it happened; he just--let go--and fell.
+I saw it with my very eyes, and--Captain, it was your knife."
+To this effect John, with great difficulty and a nervous shifting
+stare that wandered from the Captain to me until it finally rested
+somewhere out at sea.
+
+The Captain gave a sharp keen glance, smiled softly, set his thin
+lips together as though whistling inaudibly, and turned to me.
+
+"So you know John, my boy?  He's a good fellow, is John; just the
+sort of quiet, steady, Christian man to make a good companion for the
+young.  No swearing, drinking, or vice about John Railton; and so
+truthful, too--the very soul of truth!  Couldn't tell a lie for all
+the riches of the Indies.  Ah, you are in luck to have such a friend!
+It's not often a good companion is such good company."
+
+I looked helplessly at the model of truth to see how he took this
+tribute; but his eyes were still fixed in that eternal stare at the
+sea.
+
+"And so, John, you saw him fall?  'Who saw him die?'--'I,' said the
+soul of truth, 'with my little eye'--and you have very sharp eyes,
+John.  However, the poor fellow's gone; 'fell off,' you say?  I don't
+wonder you feel it so; but, John, with all our sympathy for the
+unfortunate dead, don't you think this is a good opportunity for
+reading the Will?  We three, you know, may possibly never meet again,
+and I am sure our young friend--what name did you say?  Jasper?--I am
+sure that our young friend Mr. Jasper would like the melancholy
+satisfaction of hearing the Will."
+
+The man's eyes were devilish.  John, as he faced about and caught
+their gaze, looked round like a wild beast at bay.
+
+"Will?  What do you mean? I don't know--I haven't got no Will."
+
+"None of your own, John, none of your own; but maybe you might know
+something of the last Will and Testament of--shall we say--another
+party?  Think, John; don't hurry, think a bit."
+
+"Lord, strike me--"
+
+"Hush, John, hush!  Think of our young friend Mr. Jasper.  Besides,
+you know, you were such a friend of the deceased--such a real
+friend--and knew all his secrets so thoroughly, John, that I am sure
+if you only consider quietly, you must remember; you who watched his
+last moments, who saw him--'fall,' did you say?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Come, come, John; I'm sorry to press you, but really our young
+friend and I must insist on an answer.  For consider, John, if you
+refuse to join in our conversation, we shall have to go--reluctantly,
+of course, but still we shall have to go--and talk somewhere else.
+Just think how very awkward that would be."
+
+"You devil--you devil!"
+
+John's voice was still hoarse and low, but it had a something in it
+now that sounded neither of hope nor fear.
+
+"Well, yes; devil if you like: but the devil must have his due, you
+know--
+
+    "And the devil has got his due, my lads--
+        Sing hey! but he waits for you!
+
+"Yes, John, devil or no devil, _I'm_  waiting for you.  As to
+having my due, why, a lucky fellow like you shouldn't grudge it.
+Why, you've got Lucy, John: what more can you want?  We both wanted
+Lucy, but you got her, and now she's waiting at home for you.
+It would be awkward if I turned up with the news that you were
+languishing in gaol--I merely put a case, John--and little Jenny
+wouldn't have many sweethearts if it got about that her father--and I
+suppose you are her father--"
+
+Before the words were well out of his mouth John had him by the
+throat.  There was a short, fierce struggle, an oath, a gleam of
+light--and then, with a screech of mortal pain and a wild clutch at
+the air, my companion fell backwards over the cliff.
+
+
+It was all the work of a moment--a shriek, a splash, and then
+silence.  How long the silence lasted I cannot tell.  What happened
+next--whether I cried or fainted, looked or shut my eyes--is to me an
+absolute blank.  Only I remember gradually waking up to the fact that
+the Captain was standing over me, wiping his knife on a piece of weed
+he had picked up on the rock, and regarding me with a steady stare.
+
+I now suppose that during those few moments my life hung in the
+balance: but at the time I was too dazed and stunned to comprehend
+anything.  The Captain slowly replaced his knife, hesitated, went to
+the ledge and peered over, and then finally came back to me.
+
+"Are you the kind of boy that's talkative?" His voice was as sweet as
+ever, but his eyes were scorching me like live coals.
+
+I suppose I must have signified my denial, for he went on--
+
+"You heard what he called me?  He called me a devil; a devil, mark
+you; and that's what I am."
+
+In my state of mind I could believe anything; so I easily believed
+this.
+
+"Being a devil, naturally I can hear what little boys say, no matter
+where I am; and when little boys are talkative I can reach them, no
+matter how they hide.  I come on them in bed sometimes, and sometimes
+from behind when they are not looking; there's no escaping me.
+You've heard of Apollyon perhaps?  Well, that's who I am."
+
+I had heard of Apollyon in Bunyan; and I had no doubt he was speaking
+the truth.
+
+"I catch little boys when they are not looking, and carry them off,
+and then their fathers and mothers don't see any more of them.
+But they die very slowly, very slowly indeed--you will find out how
+if ever I catch you talking."
+
+But I did not at all want to know; I was quite satisfied, and
+apparently he was also; for, after staring at me a little longer, he
+told me to get up and go down the rock in front of him.
+
+The agonies I suffered during that descent no pen can describe.
+Every moment I expected to feel my shoulder gripped from behind, or
+to feel the hands of some mysterious and infernal power around my
+neck.  Close behind me followed my companion, humming--
+
+    "And the devil has got his due, my lads--
+        Sing hey! but he waits for you!"
+
+And though I was far from singing hey! at the prospect, I felt that
+he meant what he said.
+
+Arrived at the foot of the rock, we passed through the archway on to
+Ready-Money Cove.  Turning down to the edge of the sea, the Captain
+scanned the water narrowly, but there was no trace of the hapless
+John.  With a muttered curse, he began quickly to climb out along the
+north side of the rock, just above the sea-level, and looked again
+into the depths.  Once more he was disappointed.  Flinging off his
+clothes, he dived again and again, until from sheer exhaustion he
+crept out, bundled on his shirt and trousers, and climbed back to me.
+
+"Curse him! where can he be?"
+
+I now saw for the first time how terribly worn and famished the man
+was: he looked like a wolf, and his white teeth were bare in his
+rage.  He had cut his foot on the rock.  Still keeping his evil eye
+upon me, he knelt down by the water's edge and began slowly to bathe
+the wound.
+
+"By the way, boy, what did you say your name was?  Jasper?  Jasper
+what?"
+
+"Trenoweth."
+
+"Ten thousand devils!"
+
+He was on his feet, and had gripped me by the shoulder with a furious
+clutch.  I turned sick and cold with terror.  The blue sky swam and
+circled around me: then came mist and black darkness, lit only by the
+gleam of two terrible eyes: a shout--and I knew no more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+TELLS HOW THE SAILOR GEORGIO RHODOJANI GAVE EVIDENCE AT THE
+"LUGGER INN."
+
+I came gradually back to consciousness amid a buzz of voices.
+Uncle Loveday was bending over me, his every button glistening with
+sympathy, and his face full of kindly anxiety.  What had happened, or
+how I came to be lying thus upon the sand, I could not at first
+remember, until my gaze, wandering over my uncle's shoulder, met the
+Captain's eyes regarding me with a keen and curious stare.
+
+He was standing in the midst of a small knot of fishermen, every now
+and then answering their questions with a gesture, a shrug of the
+shoulders, or shake of the head; but chiefly regarding my recovery
+and waiting, as I could see, for me to speak.
+
+"Poor boy!" said Uncle Loveday.  "Poor boy! I suppose the sight of
+this man frightened him."
+
+I caught the Captain's eye, and nodded feebly.
+
+"Ah, yes, yes.  You see," he explained, turning to the shipwrecked
+man, "your sudden appearance upset him: and to tell you the honest
+truth, my friend, in your present condition--in your present
+condition, mind you--your appearance is perhaps somewhat--startling.
+Shall we say, startling?"
+
+In answer to my uncle's apologetic hesitation the stranger merely
+spread out his palms and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Ah, yes.  A foreigner evidently.  Well, well, although our coast is
+not precisely hospitable, I believe its inhabitants are at any rate
+free from that reproach.  Jasper, my boy, can you walk now?  If so,
+Joseph here will see you home, and we will do our best for the--the--
+foreign gentleman thus unceremoniously cast on our shores."
+
+My uncle seemed to regard magnificence of speech as the natural due
+of a foreigner: whether from some hazy conception of "foreign
+politeness," or a hasty deduction that what was not the language of
+one part of the world must be that of another, I cannot say.  At any
+rate, the fishermen regarded him approvingly as the one man who
+could--if human powers were equal to it--extricate them from the
+present deadlock.
+
+"You do not happen, my friend, to be in a position to inform us
+whether any--pardon the expression--any corpses are now lying on the
+rocks to bear witness to this sad catastrophe?"
+
+Again the stranger made a gesture of perplexity.
+
+"Dear, dear! I forgot.  Jasper, when you get home, read very
+carefully that passage about the Tower of Babel.  Whatever the cause
+of that melancholy confusion, its reality is impressed upon us when
+we stand face to face with one whom I may perhaps be allowed to call,
+metaphorically, a dweller in Mesopotamia."
+
+As no one answered, my uncle took silence for consent, and called him
+so twice--to his own great satisfaction and the obvious awe of the
+fishermen.
+
+"It is evident," he continued, "that this gentleman (call him by what
+name you will) is in immediate need of food and raiment.  If such, as
+I do not doubt, can be obtained at Polkimbra, our best course is to
+accompany him thither.  I trust my proposition meets with his
+approval."
+
+It met, at any rate, with the approval of the fishermen, who
+translated Uncle Loveday's speech into gestures.  Being answered with
+a nod of the head and a few hasty foreign words, they began to lead
+the stranger away in their midst.  As he turned to go, he glanced for
+the last time at me with a strange flickering smile, at which my
+heart grew sick.  Uncle Loveday lingered behind to adjure Joe to be
+careful of me as we went up the cliff, and then, with a promise that
+he would run in to see mother later in the day, trotted after the
+rest.  They passed out of sight through the archway of Dead Man's
+Rock.
+
+For a minute or so we plodded across the sand in silence.  Joe
+Roscorla was Uncle Loveday's "man," a word in our parts connoting
+ability to look after a horse, a garden, a pig or two, or, indeed,
+anything that came in the way of being looked after.  At the present
+moment I came in that way; consequently, after some time spent in
+reflective silence, Joe began to speak.
+
+"You'm looking wisht."
+
+"Am I, Joe?"
+
+"Mortal."
+
+There was a pause: then Joe continued--
+
+"I don't hold by furriners: let alone they be so hard to get
+along with in the way of convarsing, they be but a heathen lot.
+But, Jasper, warn't it beautiful?"
+
+"What, Joe?"
+
+"Why, to see the doctor tackle the lingo.  Beautiful, I culls it; but
+there, he's a scholard, and no mistake, and 'tain't no good for to
+say he ain't.  Not as ever I've heerd it said."
+
+"But, Joe, the man didn't seem to understand him."
+
+"Durn all furriners, say I; they be so cursed pigheaded.  Understand?
+I'll go bail he understood fast enough."
+
+Joe's opinions coincided so fatally with my certainty that I held my
+tongue.
+
+"A dweller in--what did he call the spot, Jasper?"
+
+"Mesopotamia."
+
+"Well, I can't azacly say as I've seen any from them parts, but they
+be all of a piece.  Thicky chap warn't in the way when prettiness was
+sarved out, anyhow.  Of all the cut-throat chaps as ever I see--Mark
+my words, 'tain't no music as he's come after."
+
+This seemed so indisputable that I did not venture to contradict it.
+
+"I bain't clear about thicky wreck.  Likely as not 'twas the one I
+seed all yesterday tacking about: and if so be as I be right, a
+pretty lot of lubbers she must have had aboard.  Jonathan, the
+coast-guard, came down to Lizard Town this morning, and said he seed
+a big vessel nigh under the cliffs toward midnight, or fancied he
+seed her: but fustly Jonathan's a buffle-head, and secondly 'twas
+pitch-dark; so if as he swears there weren't no blue light, 'tain't
+likely any man could see, let alone a daft fule like Jonathan.
+But, there, 'tain't no good for to blame he; durn Government! say I,
+for settin' one man, and him a born fule, to mind seven mile o' coast
+on a night when an airey mouse cou'dn' see his hand afore his face."
+
+"What was the vessel like, Joe, that you saw?"
+
+"East Indyman, by the looks of her; and a passel of lubberin'
+furriners aboard, by the way she was worked.  I seed her miss stays
+twice myself: so when Jonathan turns up wi' this tale, I says to
+myself, 'tis the very same.  Though 'tis terrible queer he never
+heard nowt; but he ain't got a ha'porth o' gumption, let alone that
+by time he's been cloppin' round his seven mile o' beat half a dozen
+ships might go to kingdom come."
+
+With this, for we had come to the door of Lantrig, Joe bid me
+good-bye, and turned along the cliffs to seek fresh news at
+Polkimbra.
+
+Instead of going indoors at once I watched his short, oddly-shaped
+figure stride away, and then sat down on the edge of the cliff for a
+minute to collect my thoughts.  The day was ripening into that mellow
+glory which is the peculiar grace of autumn.  Below me the sea, still
+flaked with spume, was gradually heaving to rest; the morning light
+outlined the cliffs in glistening prominence, and clothed them, as
+well as the billowy clouds above, with a reality which gave the lie
+to my morning's adventure.  The old doorway, too, looked so familiar
+and peaceful, the old house so reassuring, that I half wondered if I
+had not two lives, and were not coming back to the old quiet everyday
+experience again.
+
+Suddenly I remembered the packet and the letter.  I put my hand into
+my pocket and drew them out.  The packet was a tin box, strapped
+around with a leathern band: on the top, between the band and the
+box, was a curious piece of yellow metal that looked like the half of
+a waist-buckle, having a socket but without any corresponding hook.
+On the metal were traced some characters which I could not read.
+The tin box was heavy and plain, and the strap soaking with salt
+water.
+
+I turned to the letter; it was all but a pulp, and in its present
+state illegible.  Carefully smoothing it out, I slipped it inside the
+strap and turned to hide my prize; for such was my fear of the man
+who called himself Apollyon, that I could know no peace of mind
+whilst it remained about me.  How should I hide it?  After some
+thought, I remembered that a stone or two in the now empty cow-house
+had fallen loose.  With a hasty glance over my shoulder, I crept
+around and into the shed.  The stones came away easily in my hand.
+With another hurried look, I slipped the packet into the opening,
+stole out of the shed, and entered the house by the back door.
+
+My mother had been up for some time--it was now about nine o'clock--
+and had prepared our breakfast.  Her face was still pale, but some of
+its anxiety left it as I entered.  She was evidently waiting for me
+to speak.  Something in my looks, however, must have frightened her,
+for, as I said nothing, she began to question me.
+
+"Well, Jasper, is there any news?"
+
+"There was a ship wrecked on Dead Man's Rock last night, but they've
+not found anything except--"
+
+"What was it called?"
+
+"The _Mary Jane_--that is--I don't quite know."
+
+Up to this time I had forgotten that mother would want to know about
+my doings that morning.  As an ordinary thing, of course I should
+have told her whatever I had seen or heard, but my terror of the
+Captain and the awful consequences of saying too much now flashed
+upon me with hideous force.  I had heard about the _Mary Jane_ from
+the unhappy John.  What if I had already said too much?  I bent over
+my breakfast in confusion.
+
+After a dreadful pause, during which I felt, though I could not see,
+the astonishment in my mother's eyes, she said--
+
+"You don't quite know?"
+
+"No; I think it must have been the _Mary Jane_, but there was a
+strange sailor picked up.  Uncle Loveday found him, and he seemed to
+be a foreigner, and he said--I mean--I thought--it was the name,
+but--"
+
+This was worse and worse.  Again at my wits' end, I tried to go on
+with my breakfast.  After awhile I looked up, and saw my mother
+watching me with a look of mingled surprise and reproach.
+
+"Was this sailor the only one saved?"
+
+"No--that is, I mean--yes; they only found one."
+
+I had never lied to my mother before, and almost broke down with the
+effort.  Words seemed to choke me, and her saddening eyes filled me
+with torment.
+
+"Jasper dear, what is the matter with you?  Why are you so strange?"
+
+I tried to look astonished, but broke down miserably.  Do what I
+would, my eyes seemed to be beyond my control; they would not meet
+her steady gaze.
+
+"Uncle Loveday is coming up later on.  He's looking after the Cap--I
+mean the sailor, and said he would run in afterwards."
+
+"What is this sailor like?"
+
+This question fairly broke me down.  Between my dread of the Captain
+and her pained astonishment, I could only sit stammering and longing
+for the earth to gape and swallow me up.  Suddenly a dreadful
+suspicion struck my mother.
+
+"Jasper!  Jasper! it cannot be--you cannot mean--that it was _his_
+ship?"
+
+"No, mother, no!  Father is all right.  He said--I mean--it was not
+his ship."
+
+"Oh! thank God! But you are hiding something from me!  What is it?
+Jasper dear, what are you hiding?"
+
+"Mother, I think it was the _Mary Jane_.  But it was not father's
+ship.  Father's all right.  And, mother, don't ask me any more; Uncle
+Loveday will tell all about it.  And--I'm not very well, mother.  I
+think--"
+
+Want of sleep, indeed, and the excitement of the morning, had broken
+me down.  My mother stifled her desire to hear more, and tenderly saw
+me to bed, guessing my fatigue, but only dimly apprehensive of
+anything beyond.  In bed I lay all that morning, but could get no
+sleep.  The vengeance of that dreadful man seemed to fill the little
+room and charge the atmosphere with horror.  "I come on them in bed
+sometimes, and sometimes from behind when they're not looking"--the
+words rang in my ears, and could not be muffled by the bed-clothes;
+whilst, if I began to doze, the dreadful burthen of his song--
+
+    "And the devil has got his due, my lads--
+        Sing ho! but he waits for you!"--
+
+With the peculiar catch of its lilt, would suddenly make me start up,
+wide awake, with every nerve in my body dancing to its grisly
+measure.
+
+At last, towards noon, I dozed off into a restless slumber, but only
+to see each sight and hear each sound repeated with every grotesque
+and fantastic variation.  Dead Man's Rock rose out of a sea of blood,
+peopled with hundreds of ghastly faces, each face the distorted
+likeness of John or the Captain.  Blood was everywhere--on their
+shirts, their hands, their faces, in splashes across the rock itself,
+in vivid streaks across the spume of the sea.  The very sun peered
+through a blood-red fog, and the waves, the mournful gulls, the
+echoes from the cliff, took up the everlasting chorus, led by one
+silvery demoniac voice--
+
+    "Sing ho! but he waits for you!"
+
+Finally, as I lay tossing and tormented with this phantom horror in
+my eyes and ears, the sound died imperceptibly away into the soft
+hush of two well-known voices, and I opened my eyes to see mother
+with Uncle Loveday standing at my bedside.
+
+"The boy's a bit feverish," said my uncle's voice; "he has not got
+over his fright just yet."
+
+"Hush! he's waking!" replied my mother; and as I opened my eyes she
+bent down and kissed me.  How inexpressibly sweet was that kiss after
+the nightmare of my dream!
+
+"Jasper dear, are you better now?  Try to lie down and get some more
+sleep."
+
+But I was eager to know what news Uncle Loveday had to tell, so I sat
+up and questioned him.  There was little enough; though, delivered
+with much pomp, it took some time in telling.  Roughly, it came to
+this:--
+
+A body had been discovered--the body of a small infant--washed up on
+the Polkimbra Beach.  This would give an opportunity for an inquest;
+and, in fact, the coroner was to arrive that afternoon from Penzance
+with an interpreter for the evidence of the strange sailor, who, it
+seemed, was a Greek.  Little enough had been got from him, but he
+seemed to imply that the vessel had struck upon Dead Man's Rock from
+the south-west, breaking her back upon its sunken base, and then
+slipping out and subsiding in the deep water.  It must have happened
+at high tide, for much coffee and basket-work was found upon
+high-water line.  This fixed the time of the disaster at about
+4 a.m., and my mother's eyes met mine, as we both remembered that it
+was about that hour when we heard the wild despairing cry.  For the
+rest, it was hopeless to seek information from the Greek sailor
+without an interpreter; nor were there any clothes or identifying
+marks on the child's body.  The stranger had been clothed and fed at
+the Vicarage, and would give his evidence that afternoon.  Hitherto,
+the name of the vessel was unknown.
+
+At this point my mother's eyes again sought mine, and I feared fresh
+inquiries about the _Mary Jane_; but, luckily, Uncle Loveday had
+recurred to the question of the Tower of Babel, on which he delivered
+several profound reflections.  Seeing me still disinclined to
+explain, she merely sighed, and was silent.
+
+But when Uncle Loveday had broken his fast and, rising, announced
+that he must drive down to be present at the inquest, to our
+amazement, mother insisted upon going with him.  Having no suspicion
+of her deadly fear, he laughed a little at first, and quoted Solomon
+on the infirmities of women to an extent that made me wonder what
+Aunt Loveday would have said had he dared broach such a subject to
+that strong-minded woman.  Seeing, however, that my mother was set
+upon going, he desisted at last, and put his cart at her service.
+Somewhat to her astonishment, as I could see, I asked to be allowed
+to go also, and, after some entreaty, prevailed.  So we all set out
+behind Uncle Loveday's over-fed pony for Polkimbra.
+
+There was a small crowd around the door of the "Lugger Inn" when we
+drove up.  It appeared that the coroner had just arrived, and the
+inquest was to begin at once.  Meanwhile, the folk were busy with
+conjecture.  They made way, however, for my uncle, who, being on such
+occasions a person of no little importance, easily gained us entry
+into the Red Room where the inquiry was about to be held.  As we
+stepped along the passage, the landlord's parrot, looking more than
+ever like Aunt Elizabeth, almost frightened me out of my wits by
+crying, "All hands lost! All hands lost! Lord ha' mercy on us!" Its
+hoarse note still sounded in my ears, when the door opened, and we
+stood in presence of the "crowner's quest."
+
+I suppose the Red Room of the "Lugger" was full; and, indeed, as the
+smallest inquest involves at least twelve men and a coroner, to say
+nothing of witnesses, it must have been very full.  But for me, as
+soon as my foot crossed the threshold, there was only one face, only
+one pair of eyes, only one terrible presence, to be conscious of and
+fear.  I saw him at once, and he saw me; but, unless it were that his
+cruel eye glinted and his lips grew for the moment white and fixed,
+he betrayed no consciousness of my presence there.
+
+The coroner was speaking as we entered, but his voice sounded as
+though far away and faint.  Uncle Loveday gave evidence, and I have a
+dim recollection of two rows of gleaming buttons, but nothing more.
+Then Jonathan, the coast-guardsman, was called.  He had seen, or
+fancied he saw, a ship in distress near Gue Graze; had noticed no
+light nor heard any signal of distress; had given information at
+Lizard Town.  The rocket apparatus had been got out, and searchers
+had scoured the cliffs as far as Porth Pyg, but nothing was to be
+seen.  The search-party were returning, when they found a shipwrecked
+sailor in company with a small boy, one Jasper Trenoweth, in
+Ready-Money Cove.
+
+At the sound of my own name I started, and for the second time since
+our entry felt the eyes of the stranger question me.  At the same
+time I felt my mother's clasp of my hand tighten, and knew that she
+saw that look.
+
+The air grew closer and the walls seemed to draw nearer as Jonathan's
+voice continued its drowsy tale.  The afternoon sun poured in at the
+window until it made the little wainscoted parlour like an oven, but
+still for me it only lit up one pair of eyes.  The voices sounded
+more and more like those of a dream; the scratching of pens and
+shuffling of feet were, to my ears, as distant murmurs of the sea,
+until the coroner's voice called--"Georgio Rhodojani."
+
+Instantly I was wide awake, with every nerve on the stretch.  Again I
+felt his eyes question me, again my mother's hand tightened upon
+mine, as the stranger stood up and in softest, most musical tones
+gave his evidence.  And the evidence of Georgio Rhodojani, Greek
+sailor, as translated by Jacopo Rousapoulos, interpreter, of
+Penzance, was this:--
+
+"My name is Georgio Rhodojani.  I am a Greek by birth, and have been
+a sailor all my life.  I was seaman on board the ship which was
+wrecked last night on your horrible coast.  The ship belonged to
+Bristol, and was homeward bound, but I know neither her name nor the
+name of her captain."
+
+At this strange opening, amazement fell upon all.  For myself, the
+wild incongruity of this foreign tongue from lips which I had heard
+utter such fluent and flute-like English swallowed up all other
+wonder.
+
+After a pause, seeing the marvelling looks of his audience, the
+witness quietly explained--
+
+"You wonder at this; but I am Greek, and cannot master your hard
+names.  I joined the ship at Colombo as the captain was short of
+hands.  I was wrecked in a Dutch vessel belonging to Dordrecht, off
+Java, and worked my passage to Ceylon, seeking employment.  It is
+not, therefore, extraordinary that I am so ignorant, and my mouth
+cannot pronounce your English language, but show me your list of
+ships and I will point her out to you."
+
+There was a rustling of papers, and a list of East Indiamen was
+handed up to him: he hastily ran his finger over the pages.  Suddenly
+his face lighted up.
+
+"Ah! this is she!--this is the ship that was wrecked last night!"
+
+The coroner took the paper and slowly read out--"The _James and
+Elizabeth_, of Bristol.  Captain--Antonius Merrydew."
+
+"Ah, yes, that is she.  The babe here was the captain's child, born
+on the voyage.  There were eighteen men on board, an English boy, and
+the captain's wife.  The child was born off the African coast.
+We sailed from Colombo on the 22nd of July last, with a cargo of
+coffee and sugar.  Two days ago we were off a big harbour, of which I
+do not know the name; but early yesterday morning were abreast of
+what you call, I think, the Lizard.  The wind was S.W., and took us
+into your terrible bay.  All yesterday we were tacking to get out.
+Towards evening it blew a gale.  The captain had been ill ever since
+we passed the Bay of Biscay.  We hoisted no signal, and knew not what
+to do, for the captain was sick, and the mate drunk.  The mate began
+to cry when we struck.  I alone got on to the jib-boom and jumped.
+What became of the others I know not, but I jumped on to the rock by
+which you found me this morning.  The vessel broke up in a very short
+time.  I heard the men crying bitterly, but the mate's voice was
+louder than any.  The captain of course was below, and so, when last
+I saw them, were his wife and child, but she might have rushed upon
+deck.  I was almost sucked back twice, but managed to scramble up.
+It was not until daylight that I knew I was on the mainland, and
+climbed down to the sands."
+
+As this strange history proceeded, I know not who in that little
+audience was most affected.  The jury, fascinated by the sweet voice
+of the speaker, as well as the mystery about the vessel and its
+unwitnessed disappearance, leant forward in their seats with strained
+and breathless attention.  My mother could not take her eyes off the
+stranger's face.  As he hesitated over the name of the ship, her very
+lips grew white in agonised suspense, but when the coroner read "the
+_James and Elizabeth_," she sank back in her seat with a low
+"Thank God!" that told me what she had dreaded, and how terribly.
+I myself knew not what to think, nor if my ears had heard aright.
+Part of the tale I knew to be a lie; but how much?  And what of the
+_Mary Jane?_ I looked round about.  A hush had succeeded the closing
+words of Rhodojani.  Even the coroner was puzzled for a moment; but
+improbable as the evidence might seem, there was none to gainsay it.
+I alone, had they but known it, could give this demon the lie--I, an
+unnoticed child.
+
+The coroner put a question or two and then summed up.  Again the old
+drowsy insensibility fell upon me.  I heard the jury return the
+usual verdict of "Accidental Death," and, as my mother led me from
+the room, the voice of Joe Roscorla (who had been on the jury)
+saying, "Durn all foreigners! I don't hold by none of 'em."  As the
+door slammed behind us, shutting out at last those piercing eyes, a
+shrill screech from the landlord's parrot echoed through the house--
+
+"All hands lost!  Lord ha' mercy on us!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+TELLS HOW A FACE LOOKED IN AT THE WINDOW OF LANTRIG; AND IN WHAT
+MANNER MY FATHER CAME HOME TO US.
+
+My mother and I walked homeward together by way of the cliffs.
+We were both silent.  My heart ached to tell the whole story, and
+prove that my tale of the _Mary Jane_ was no wanton lie; but fear
+restrained me.  My mother was busy with her own thoughts.  She had
+seen, I knew, the glance of intelligence which the stranger gave me;
+she guessed that his story was a lie and that I knew it.  What she
+could not guess was the horror that held my tongue fastened as with a
+padlock.  So, both busy with bitter thoughts, we walked in silence to
+Lantrig.
+
+The evening meal was no better.  My food choked me, and after a
+struggle I was forced to let it lie almost untouched.  But when the
+fire was stirred, the candles lit, and I drew my footstool as usual
+to her feet by the hearth, the old room looked so warm and cosy that
+my pale fears began to vanish in its genial glow.  I had possessed
+myself of the "Pilgrim's Progress," and the volume, a dumpy octavo,
+lay on my knee.  As I read the story of Christian and Apollyon to its
+end, a new courage fought in me with my morning fears.
+
+"In this combat no man can imagine, unless he has seen and heard as I
+did, what yelling and hideous roaring Apollyon made all the time of
+the fight: he _spake like a dragon_; and, on the other side, what
+sighs and groans burst from Christian's heart.  I never saw him all
+the while give so much as one pleasant look, till he perceived that
+he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged sword; then indeed he did
+smile and look upward! but it was the dreadfullest sight that ever I
+saw."
+
+I glanced up at my mother, half resolved.  She was leaning forward a
+little and gazing into the fire, that lit up her pale face and
+wonderful eyes with a sympathetic softness.  I can remember now how
+sweet she looked and how weary--that tender figure outlined in warm
+glow against the stern, dark room.  And all the time her heart was
+slowly breaking with yearning for him that came not.  I did not know
+it then; but when does childhood know or understand the suffering of
+later life?  I looked down upon the page once more, turned back a
+leaf or two, and read:
+
+"Then did Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast in his mind
+whether to go back or stand his ground.  But he considered again that
+he had no armour for his back, and therefore thought that to turn his
+back to him might give him greater advantage, with ease to pierce him
+with his darts; therefore he resolved to venture and stand his
+ground."
+
+"I come on them in bed sometimes, and sometimes from behind."
+The words of my Apollyon came across my mind.  Should I speak and
+seek counsel?--What was that?
+
+It was a tear that fell upon my hand as it lay across my mother's
+lap.  Since the day when father left us I had never seen her weep.
+Was it for my deceit?  I looked up again and saw that her eyes were
+brimming with sorrow.  My fears and doubts were forgotten.  I would
+speak and tell her all my tale.
+
+"Mother."
+
+Somewhat ashamed at being discovered, she dried her eyes and tried to
+smile--a poor pitiful smile, with the veriest ghost of joy in it.
+
+"Yes, Jasper."
+
+"Is Apollyon still alive?"
+
+"He stands for the powers of evil, Jasper, and they are always
+alive."
+
+"But, I mean, does he walk about the world like a man?  Is he
+_really_ alive?"
+
+"Why, no, Jasper.  What nonsense has got into your head now?"
+
+"Because, mother, I met him to-day.  That is, he said he was
+Apollyon, and that he would come and carry me off if--"
+
+Half apprehensive at my boldness, I cast an anxious look around as I
+spoke.  Nothing met my eyes but the familiar furniture and the
+dancing shadows on the wall, until their gaze fell upon the window,
+and rested there, whilst my heart grew suddenly stiff with terror,
+and my tongue clave to my mouth.
+
+As my voice broke off suddenly, mother glanced at me in expectation.
+Seeing my fixed stare and dropped jaw, she too looked at the window,
+then started to her feet with a shriek.
+
+For there, looking in upon us with a wicked smile, was the white face
+of the sailor Rhodojani.
+
+For a second or two, petrified with horror, we stood staring at it.
+The evil smile flickered for a moment, baring the white teeth and
+lighting the depths of those wolfish eyes; then, with a fiendish
+laugh, vanished in the darkness.
+
+He had, then, told the truth when he promised to haunt me.
+Beyond the shock of mortal terror, I was but little amazed.
+It seemed but natural that he should come as he had threatened.
+Only I was filled with awful expectation of his vengeance, and stood
+aghast at the consequences of my rashness.  By instinct I turned to
+my mother for protection.
+
+But what ailed her?  She had fallen back in her chair and was still
+staring with parted lips at the dark pane that a minute ago had
+framed the horrid countenance.  When at last she spoke, her words
+were wild and meaningless, with a dreadful mockery of laughter that
+sent a swift pang of apprehension to my heart.
+
+"Mother, it is gone.  What is the matter?"
+
+Again a few meaningless syllables and that awful laugh.
+
+And so throughout that second awful night did she mutter and laugh,
+whilst I, helpless and terror-stricken, strove to soothe her and
+recall her to speech and sense.  The slow hours dragged by, and still
+I knelt before her waiting for the light.  The slow clock sounded the
+hours, and still she gave no sign of understanding.  The mice crept
+out of their accustomed holes and jumped back startled at her laugh.
+The fire died low and the candles died out; the wind moaned outside,
+the tamarisk branches swished against the pane; the hush of night,
+with its intervals of mysterious sound, held the house; but all the
+time she never ceased to gaze upon the window, and every now and
+then to mutter words that were no echo of her mind or voice.
+Daylight, with its premonitory chill, crept upon us at last, but oh,
+how slowly!  Daylight looked in and found us as that cruel sight had
+left us, helpless and alone.
+
+But with daylight came some courage.  Had there been neighbours near
+Lantrig I should have run to summon them before, but Polkimbra was
+the nearest habitation, and Polkimbra was almost two miles off,
+across a road possessed by horrors and perhaps tenanted by that
+devilish face.  And how could I leave my mother alone?  But now that
+day had come I would run to Lizard Town and see Uncle Loveday.
+I slipped on my boots, unbolted the door, cast a last look at my
+mother still sitting helpless and vacant of soul, and rushed from the
+house.  The sound of her laughter rang in my ears as the door closed
+behind me.
+
+Weak, haggard and wild of aspect, I ran and stumbled along the
+cliffs.  Dead Man's Rock lay below wrapped in a curtain of mist.
+Thick clouds were rolling up from seaward; the grey light of
+returning day made sea, sky and land seem colourless and wan.
+But for me there was no sight but Polkimbra ahead.  As I gained the
+little village I ran down the hill to the "Lugger" and knocked upon
+the door.  Heavens! how long it was before I was answered.  At last
+the landlady's head appeared at an upper window.  With a few words to
+Mrs. Busvargus, which caused that worthy soul to dress in haste with
+many ejaculations, I raced up the hill again and across the downs for
+Lizard Town.  My strength was giving way; my head swam, my sides
+ached terribly, my legs almost refused to obey my will, and a
+thousand lights danced and sparkled before my eyes, but still I kept
+on, now staggering, now stumbling, but still onward, nor stopped
+until I stood before Uncle Loveday's door.
+
+There at last I fell; but luckily against the door, so that in a
+moment or two I became conscious of Aunt Elizabeth standing over me
+and regarding me as a culprit caught red-handed in some atrocious
+crime.
+
+"Hoity-toity!  What's the matter now?  Why, it's Jasper!  Well, of
+all the freaks, to come knocking us up!  What's the matter with the
+boy?  Jasper, what ails you?"
+
+Incoherently I told my story, at first to Aunt Elizabeth alone, but
+presently, in answer to her call, Uncle Loveday came down to hear.
+The pair stood silent and wondering.
+
+They were not elaborately dressed.  Aunt Elizabeth, it is true, was
+smothered from head to foot in a gigantic Inverness cape, that might
+have been my uncle's were it not obviously too large for that little
+man.  Her nightcap, on the other hand, was ostentatiously her own.
+No other woman would have had strength of mind to wear such a
+head-dress.  Uncle Loveday's costume was even more singular; for the
+first time I saw him without a single brass button, and for the first
+time I understood how much he owed to those decorations.  His first
+words were--
+
+"Jasper, I hope you are telling me the truth.  Your mother told me
+yesterday of some cock-and-bull story concerning the _Anna Maria_ or
+some such vessel.  I hope this is not another such case.  I have told
+you often enough where little boys who tell falsehoods go to."
+
+My white face must have been voucher for my truth on this occasion;
+for Aunt Elizabeth cut him short with the single word "Breakfast,"
+and haled me into the little parlour whilst the pair went to dress.
+
+As I waited, I heard the sound of the pony without, and presently
+Aunt Elizabeth returned in her ordinary costume to worry the small
+servant who laid breakfast.  Whether Uncle Loveday ever had that meal
+I do not know to this day, for whilst it was being prepared I saw him
+get into the little carriage and drive off towards Lantrig.  I was
+told that I could not go until I had eaten; and so with a sore heart,
+but no thought of disobedience, I turned to breakfast.
+
+The meal had scarcely begun when the door opened and Master Thomas
+Loveday sauntered into the room.  Master Thomas Loveday, a youth of
+some eight summers, was, in default of a home of his own, quartered
+permanently upon my uncle, whose brother's son he was.  His early
+days had been spent in India.  After, however, both father and mother
+had succumbed to the climate of Madras, he was sent home to England,
+and had taken root in Lizard Town.  Hitherto, his life had been one
+long lazy slumber.  Whenever we were sent, on his rare visits to
+Lantrig, to "play together," as old age always rudely puts it, his
+invariable rule had been to go to sleep on the first convenient spot.
+Consequently his presence embarrassed me not a little.  He was a
+handsome boy, with blue eyes, long lashes, fair hair, and a gentle
+habit of speech.  When I came to know him better, I learnt the quick
+wit and subtle power that lay beneath his laziness of manner; but at
+present the soul of Thomas Loveday slept.
+
+He was certainly not wide awake when he entered the room.  With a
+sleepy nod at me, and no trace of surprise at my presence, he pursued
+his meal.  Occasionally, as Aunt Elizabeth put a fresh question, he
+would regard her with a long stare, but otherwise gave no sign of
+animation.  This finally so exasperated my aunt that she addressed
+him--
+
+"Thomas, do not stare."
+
+Thomas looked mildly surprised for a moment, and then inquired, "Why
+not?"
+
+"Does the boy think I'm a wild Indian?"  The question was addressed
+to me, but I could not say, so kept a discreet silence.  Thomas
+relieved me from my difficulty by answering, "No," thoughtfully.
+
+"Then why stare so?  I'm sure I don't know what boys are made of,
+nowadays."
+
+"Slugs and snails and puppy-dogs' tails," was the dreamy answer.
+
+"Thomas, how dare you?  I should like to catch the person who taught
+you such nonsense.  I'd teach him!"
+
+"It was Uncle Loveday," remarked the innocent Thomas.
+
+There was an awful pause; which I broke at length by asking to be
+allowed to go.  Aunt Elizabeth saw her way to getting rid of the
+offender.
+
+"Thomas, you might walk with Jasper over the downs to Lantrig.
+It will be nice exercise for you."
+
+"It may be exercise, aunt, but--"
+
+"Do not answer me, but go.  Where do you expect little boys will go
+to, who are always idle?"
+
+"Sleep?" hazarded Thomas.
+
+"Thomas, you shall learn the whole of Dr. Watts's poem on the
+sluggard before you go to bed this night."
+
+At this the boy slowly rose, took his cap, stood before her, and
+solemnly repeated the whole of that melancholy tale, finishing the
+last line at the door and gravely bowing himself out.  I followed,
+awestruck, and we set out in silence.
+
+At first, anxiety for my mother possessed all my thoughts, but
+presently I ventured to congratulate Tom on his performance.
+
+"She has read it to me so often," replied he, "that I can't help
+knowing it.  I hate Dr. Watts, and I love to go to sleep.  I dream
+such jolly things.  Sleep is ever so much nicer than being awake,
+isn't it?"
+
+I wanted sleep, having had but little for two nights, and could
+therefore agree with him.
+
+"You get such jolly adventures when you dream," said Tom,
+reflectively.
+
+I had been rather surfeited with adventures lately, so held my peace.
+
+"Now, real life is so dull.  If one could only meet with
+adventures--"
+
+I caught the sound of wheels behind us, and turned round.  We had
+struck off the downs on to the high road.  A light gig with one
+occupant was approaching us.  As it drew near the driver hailed us.
+
+"Hullo! lads, is this the road for Polkimbra?"
+
+The speaker was a short, grizzled, seafaring man, with a kind face
+and good-humoured mouth.  He drove execrably, and pulled his quiet
+mare right back upon her haunches.
+
+I answered that it was.
+
+"Are you bound for there?  Yes?  Jump up then.  I'll give you a
+lift."
+
+I looked at Tom; he, of course, was ready for anything that would
+save trouble, so we clambered up beside the stranger.
+
+"There was a wreck there yesterday, I've heard," said he, after we
+had gone a few yards, "and an inquest, and, by the tale I heard, a
+lot of lies told."
+
+I started.  The man did not notice it, but continued--
+
+"Maybe you've heard of it.  Well, it's a rum world, and a fine lot of
+lies gets told every day, but you don't often get so accomplished a
+liar as that chap--what's his name?  Blessed if I can tackle it; not
+but what it's another lie, I'll wager."
+
+I was listening intently.  He continued more to himself than to us--
+
+"An amazing liar, though I wonder what his game was.  It beats me;
+beats me altogether.  The '_James and Elizabeth_,' says he, as large
+as life.  I take it the fellow couldn't 'a been fooling who brought
+the news to Falmouth.  Didn't know me from Adam, and was fairly put
+about when he saw how I took it, and, says he, ''twas the _James and
+Elizabeth_ the chap said, as sure as I stand here.'  Boy, do you
+happen to know the name of the vessel that ran ashore here, night
+afore last?"
+
+I had grown accustomed to being asked this dreadful question, and
+therefore answered as bravely as I could.  "The _James and
+Elizabeth_, sir."
+
+"Captain's name?"
+
+"Captain Antonius Merrydew."
+
+"Ah, poor chap! He was lying sick below when she struck, wasn't he?
+And he had a wife aboard, and a child born at sea, hadn't he?
+Fell sick in the Bay o' Biscay, like any land-lubber, didn't he?
+Why, 'tis like play-actin'; damme! 'tis better than that."
+
+With this the man burst into a shout of laughter and slapped his
+thigh until his face grew purple with merriment.
+
+"What d'ye think of it, boy, for a rare farce?  Was ever the likes of
+it heard?  Captain Antonius Merrydew sick in the Bay o' Biscay!
+Ho, ho! Where's play-actin' beside it?"
+
+"Wasn't it true, sir?"
+
+"True?  God bless the boy!   Look me in the face: look me in the
+face, and then ask me if it's true."
+
+"But why should it not be true, sir?"
+
+"Because I am Captain Antonius Merrydew!"
+
+For the rest of the journey I sat stunned.  Thomas beside me was wide
+awake and staring, seeing his way to an adventure at last.  It was I
+that dreamed--I heard without comprehension the rest of the captain's
+tale:--how he had come, after a quick passage from Ceylon, to
+Falmouth with the barque _James and Elizabeth_, just in time to hear
+of this monstrous lie; how he was unmarried, and never had a day's
+illness in his life; how, suspecting foul play, he had hired a horse
+and gig with a determination to drive over to Polkimbra and learn the
+truth; how a horse and gig were the most cursedly obstinate of
+created things; with much besides in the way of oaths and
+ejaculations.  All this I must have heard, for memory brought them
+back later; but I did not listen.  My life and circumstances had got
+the upper hand of me, and were dancing a devil's riot.
+
+At last, after much tacking and porting of helm, we navigated
+Polkimbra Hill and cast anchor before the "Lugger."  There we
+alighted, thanked the captain, and left him piping all hands to the
+horse's head.  His cheery voice followed us down to the sands.
+
+We had determined to cut across Polkimbra Beach and climb up to
+Lantrig by Ready-Money Cliffs, as in order to go along the path above
+the cliffs we should have to ascend Polkimbra Hill again.  The beach
+was so full of horror to me that without a companion I could not have
+crossed it; but Tom's presence lent me courage.  Tom was nearer to
+excitement than I had ever seen him; he grew voluble; praised the
+captain, admired his talk, and declared adventure to be abroad in the
+air--in fact, threw up his head as though he scented it.
+
+Yes, adventure was in the air.  It was not exactly to my taste,
+however, nor did the thought of my poor mother at home make me more
+sympathetic with Tom's ecstasy; so whilst he chattered I strode
+gloomily forward over the beach.
+
+The day was drawing towards noon.  October was revelling in an
+after-taste of summer, and smiled in broad glory over beach and sea.
+A light breeze bore eastward a few fleecy clouds, and the waves
+danced and murmured before its breath.  Their salt scent was in
+our nostrils, and the glitter of the sand in our eyes.  Black and
+sombre in the clear air, Dead Man's Rock rose in gloomy isolation
+from the sea, while the sea-birds swept in glistening circles round
+its summit.  But what was that at its base?
+
+Seemingly, a little knot of men stood at the water's edge.  As we
+drew nearer I could distinguish their forms but not their occupation,
+for they stood in a circle, intent on some object in their midst
+concealed from our view.  Presently, however, they fell into a rough
+line as though making for the archway to Ready-Money Cove.  Something
+they carried among them, and continually stooped over; but what it
+was I could not see.  Their pace was very slow, but they turned into
+the arch and were disappearing, when I caught sight of the uncouth
+little figure of Joe Roscorla among the last, and ran forward,
+hailing him by name.
+
+At the sound of my voice Joe started, turned round and made a slow
+pause; then, with a few words to his neighbour, came quickly towards
+me.  As he drew near, I saw that his face was white and his manner
+full of embarrassment; but he put on a smile, and spoke first--
+
+"Why, Jasper, what be doin' along here?"
+
+"I'm going home.  Has Uncle Loveday seen mother? And is she better?"
+
+"Aw iss, he've a seen her an' she be quieter: leastways, he be bound
+to do her a power o' good.  But what be goin' back for?  'Tain't no
+use botherin' indoors wi' your mother in thicky wisht state.
+Run about an' get some play."
+
+"What were you doing down by the Rock just now, Joe?"
+
+Joe hesitated for a while; stammered, and then said, "Nuthin."
+
+"But, Joe, you were doing something: what were you carrying over to
+Ready-Money?"
+
+"Look-ee here, my lad, run an' play, an' doan't ax no questions.
+'Tain't for little boys to ax questions.  Now I comes to think of it,
+Doctor said as you was to stay over to Lizard Town, 'cos there ain't
+no need of a passel of boys in a sick house: so run along back."
+
+Joe's voice had a curious break in it, and his whole bearing was so
+unaccountable that I did not wonder when Tom quietly said--
+
+"Joe, you're telling lies."
+
+Now Joe was, in an ordinary way, the soul of truth: so I looked for
+an explosion.  To my surprise, however, he took no notice of the
+insult, but turned again to me--
+
+"Jasper, lad, run along back: do'ee now."
+
+His voice was so full of entreaty that a sudden suspicion took hold
+of me.
+
+"Joe, is--has anything happened to mother?"
+
+"Noa, to be sure: she'll be gettin' well fast enough, if so be as you
+let her be."
+
+"Then I'll go and see Uncle Loveday, and find out if I am really to
+go back."
+
+I made a motion to go, but he caught me quickly by the arm.
+
+"Now, Jasper, doan't-'ee go: run back, I tell'ee--run back--I tell'ee
+you _must_ go back."
+
+His words were so earnest and full of command that I turned round and
+faced him.  Something in his eyes filled me with sickening fear.
+
+"Joe, what were you carrying?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Joe, what were you carrying?"
+
+Still no answer; but an appealing motion of the hand.
+
+"Joe, what was it?"
+
+"Go back!" he said, hoarsely.  "Go back!"
+
+"I will not, until I have seen what you were carrying."
+
+"Go back, boy: for God's sake go back!"
+
+I wrenched myself from his grasp, and ran with all speed.  Joe and
+Tom followed me, but fear gave me fleetness.  Behind I could hear
+Joe's panting voice, crying, "Come back!" but the agony in his tone
+set me running faster.  I flew through the archway, and saw the small
+procession half-way across the cove.  At my shout they halted,
+paused, and one or two advanced as if to stop me.  But I dashed
+through their hands into their midst, and saw--God in heaven!
+What?  The drowned face of my father!
+
+Tenderly as women they lifted me from the body.  Gently and with
+tear-stained faces, they stood around and tried to comfort me.
+Reverently, while Joe Roscorla held me in his arms behind, they took
+up the corpse of him they had known and loved so well, and carried it
+up the cliffs to Lantrig.  As they lifted the latch and bore the body
+across the threshold, a yell of maniac laughter echoed through the
+house to the very roof.
+
+And this was my father's "Welcome Home!"
+
+Nay, not all; for as Uncle Loveday started to his feet, the door
+behind him flew open, and my mother, all in white, with very madness
+in her eyes, rushed to the corpse, knelt, caught the dead hand,
+kissed and fondled the dead face, cooing and softly laughing the
+while with a tender rapture that would have moved hell itself to
+pity.
+
+In this manner it was that these two fond lovers met.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+TELLS HOW UNCLE LOVEDAY MADE A DISCOVERY; AND WHAT THE TIN BOX
+CONTAINED.
+
+An hour afterwards I was sitting at the bedside of my dying mother.
+The shock of that terrible meeting had brought her understanding--and
+death: for as her mind returned her life ebbed away.  White and
+placid she lay upon her last bed, and spoke no word; but in her eyes
+could be read her death-warrant, and by me that which was yet more
+full of anguish, a tender but unfading reproach.  This world is full
+of misunderstandings, but seldom is met one so desperate.  How could
+I tell her now?  And how could she ever understand?  It was all too
+late.  "Too late! too late!" the words haunted me there as the bright
+sun struggled through the drawn blind and illumined her saintly face.
+They and the look in her sweet eyes have haunted me many a day since
+then, and would be with me yet, did I not believe she knows the truth
+at last.  There are too many ghosts in my memories for Heaven to
+lightly add this one more.
+
+She was dying--slowly and peacefully dying, and this was the end of
+her waiting.  He had returned at last, this husband for whose coming
+she had watched so long.  He had returned at last, after all his
+labour, and had been laid at her feet a dead man.  She was free to go
+and join her love.  To me, child as I was, this was sorely cruel.
+Death, as I know now, is very merciful even when he seems most
+merciless, but as I sat and watched the dear life slowly drift away
+from me, it was a hard matter to understand.
+
+The pale sunlight came, and flickered, and went; but she lay to all
+seeming unchanged.  Her pulse's beat was failing--failing; the broken
+heart feebly struggling to its rest; but her sad eyes were still the
+same, appealing, questioning, rebuking--all without hope of answer or
+explanation.  So were they when the sobbing fishermen lifted her from
+the body, so would they be until closed for the last sleep.  It was
+very cruel.
+
+My father's body lay in the room below, with Uncle Loveday and Mrs.
+Busvargus for watchers.  Now and again my uncle would steal softly
+upstairs, and as softly return with hopelessness upon his face.
+The clock downstairs gave the only sound I heard, as it marked the
+footsteps of the dark angel coming nearer and nearer.  Twice my
+mother's lips parted as if to speak; but though I bent down to catch
+her words, I could hear no sound.
+
+So, as I sat and watched her waxen face, all the sweet memories of
+her came back in a sad, reproachful train.  Once more we sat together
+by the widowed hearth, reading: once more we stood upon the rocky
+edge of Pedn-glas and looked into the splendours of the summer sunset
+"for father's ship:" once more we knelt together in Polkimbra Church,
+and prayed for his safe return: once more I heard that sweet, low
+voice--once more?  Ah, never, never more!
+
+Uncle Loveday stole into the room on tip-toe, and looked at her; then
+turned and asked--
+
+"Has she spoken yet?"
+
+"No."
+
+He was about to leave when the lips parted again, and this time she
+spoke--
+
+"He is coming, coming.  Hush! that is his step!"
+
+The dark eyes were ablaze with expectation: the pale cheek aglow with
+hope.  I bent down over the bed, for her voice was very low.
+
+"He is coming, I know it.  Listen!  Oh, husband, come quicker,
+quicker!"
+
+Alas! poor saint, the step you listen for has gone before, and is
+already at the gate of heaven.
+
+"He is here! Oh, husband, husband, you have come for me!"
+
+A moment she sat up with arms outstretched, and glory in her face;
+then fell back, and the arms that caught her were the arms of God.
+
+
+After the first pang of bereavement had spent itself, Uncle Loveday
+got me to bed, and there at last I slept.  The very bewilderment of
+so much sorrow enforced sleep, and sleep was needed: so that, worn
+out with watching and excitement, I had not so much as a dream to
+trouble me.  It was ten o'clock in the morning when I awoke, and saw
+my uncle sitting beside the bed.  Another sun was bright in the
+heavens outside: the whole world looked so calm and happy that my
+first impulse was to leap up and run, as was my custom, to mother's
+room.  Then my eyes fell on Uncle Loveday, and the whole dreadful
+truth came surging into my awakened brain.  I sank back with a low
+moan upon the pillow.
+
+Uncle Loveday, who had been watching me, stepped to the bed and took
+my hand.
+
+"Jasper, boy, are you better?"
+
+After a short struggle with my grief, I plucked up heart to answer
+that I was.
+
+"That's a brave boy.  I asked, because I have yet to tell you
+something.  I am a doctor, you know, Jasper, and so you may take my
+word when I say there is no good in what is called 'breaking news.'
+It is always best to have the pain over and done with; at least,
+that's my experience.  Now, my dear boy, though God knows you have
+sorrow enough, there is still something to tell: and if you are the
+boy I take you for, it is best to let you know at once."
+
+Dimly wondering what new blow fortune could deal me, I sat up in bed
+and looked at my uncle helplessly.
+
+"Jasper, you think--do you not--that your father was drowned?"
+
+"Of course, uncle."
+
+"He was not drowned."
+
+"Not drowned!"
+
+"No, Jasper, he was murdered."
+
+The words came slowly and solemnly, and even with the first shock of
+surprise the whole truth dawned upon me.  This, then, explained the
+effect my name had wrought upon those two strange men.  This was the
+reason why, as we sat together upon Dead Man's Rock, the eyes of John
+Railton had refused to meet mine: this was the reason why his
+murderer had gripped me so viciously upon Ready-Money Beach.
+These few words of my uncle's began slowly to piece together the
+scattered puzzle of the last two days, so that I half guessed the
+answer as I asked--
+
+"Murdered!  How?"
+
+"He was stabbed to death."
+
+I knew it, for I remembered the empty sheath that hung at Rhodojani's
+waist, and heard again Railton's words, "Captain, it was your knife."
+As certainly as if I had fitted the weapon to its case, I knew that
+man had prompted father's murder.  Even as I knew it my terror of him
+faded away, and a blind and helpless hate sprang up in its stead:
+helpless now, but some day to be masterful and worthy of heed.
+That the man who called himself Georgio Rhodojani was guilty of one
+death, I knew from the witness of my own eyes: that he had two more
+lives upon his black account--for the hand that struck my father had
+also slain my mother--I knew as surely.
+
+    "And the devil has got his due, my lads!"
+
+No, not yet: there was still one priceless soul for him to wait for.
+
+"He was stabbed," repeated Uncle Loveday, "stabbed to the heart, and
+from behind.  I found this blade as I examined your poor father's
+body.  It was broken off close to the hilt, and left in the wound,
+which can hardly have bled at all.  Death must have been immediate.
+It's a strange business, Jasper, and a strange blade by the look of
+it."
+
+I took the blade from his hand.  It was about four inches in length,
+sharp, and curiously worked: one side was quite plain, but the other
+was covered with intricate tracery, and down the centre, bordered
+with delicate fruit and flowers, I spelt out the legend "Ricordati."
+
+"What does that word mean?" I asked, as I handed back the steel.
+My voice was so calm and steady that Uncle Loveday glanced at me for
+a moment in amazement before he answered--
+
+"It's not Latin, Jasper, but it's like Latin, and I should think must
+mean 'Remember,' or something of the sort."
+
+"'Remember,'" I repeated.  "I will, uncle.  As surely as father was
+murdered, I will remember--when the time comes."
+
+They were strange words from a boy.  My uncle looked at me again, but
+doubtless thinking my brain turned with grief, said nothing.
+
+"Have you told anybody?" I asked at length.
+
+"I have seen nobody.  There will be an inquest, of course, but in
+this case an inquest can do nothing.  Murderer and murdered have both
+gone to their account.  By the way, I suppose nothing has been seen
+of the man who gave evidence.  It was an unlikely tale; and this
+makes it the more suspicious.  Bless my soul!" said my uncle,
+suddenly, "to think it never struck me before!  Your father was to
+sail in the _Belle Fortune_, and this man gave the name of the ship
+as the _James and Elizabeth_."
+
+"It was the _Belle Fortune_, and the man told a falsehood."
+
+"I suppose it must have been."
+
+"I know it was."
+
+"Know?  How do you know?"
+
+"Because the _James and Elizabeth_ is lying at this moment in
+Falmouth Harbour, and her captain is down at the 'Lugger.'"
+
+Thereupon I told how I had met with Captain Antonius Merrydew.
+Nay, more, for my heart ached for confidence, I recounted the whole
+story of my meeting with John Railton, and the struggle upon Dead
+Man's Rock.  Every word I told, down to the dead man's legacy--the
+packet and letter which I hid in the cow-house.  As the tale
+proceeded my uncle's eyes grew wider and wider with astonishment.
+But I held on calmly and resolutely to the end, nor after the first
+shock of wonderment did he doubt my sanity or truthfulness, but grew
+more and more gravely interested.
+
+When I had finished my narrative there was a long silence.  Finally
+Uncle Loveday spoke--
+
+"It's a remarkable story--a very remarkable story," he said, slowly
+and thoughtfully.  "In all my life I have never heard so strange a
+tale.  But the man must be caught.  He cannot have gone far, if, as
+you say, he was here at Lantrig only the night before last.  I expect
+they are on the look-out for him down at Polkimbra since they have
+heard the captain's statement; but all the same I will send off Joe
+Roscorla, who is below, to make sure.  I must have a pipe, Jasper, to
+think this over.  As a general rule I am not a smoker: your aunt does
+not--ahem!--exactly like the smell.  But it collects the thoughts,
+and this wants thinking over.  Meanwhile, you might dress if you feel
+well enough.  Run to the shed and get the packet; we will read it
+over together when I have finished my pipe.  It is a remarkable
+story," he repeated, as he slowly opened the door, "a most marvellous
+story.  I must have a pipe.  A most--remarkable--tale."
+
+With this he went downstairs and left me to dress.
+
+I did so, and ran downstairs to the cow-shed.  No one had been there.
+With eager fingers I tore away the bricks from the crumbling mortar,
+and drew out my prize.  The buckle glittered in the light that stole
+through the gaping door.  All was safe, and as I left it.
+
+Clutching my treasure, I ran back to the house and found Mrs.
+Busvargus spreading the midday meal.  Until that was over, I knew
+that Uncle Loveday would not attack the mystery.  He was sitting
+outside in the front garden smoking solemnly, and the wreaths of his
+pipe, curling in through the open door, filled the house with
+fragrance.
+
+I crept upstairs to my mother's door, and reverently entered the
+dim-lit room.  They had laid the two dead lovers side by side upon
+the bed.  Very peacefully they slept the sleep that was their
+meeting--peacefully as though no wickedness had marred their lives or
+wrought their death.  I could look upon them calmly now.  My father
+had left his heritage--a heritage far different from that which he
+went forth to win; but I accepted it nevertheless.  Had they known,
+in heaven, the full extent of that inheritance, would they not, as I
+kissed their dead lips in token of my acceptance, have given some
+sign to stay me?  Had I known, as I bent over them, to what the oath
+in my heart would bring me, would I even then have renounced it?
+I cannot say.  The dead lips were silent, and only the dead know what
+will be.
+
+Uncle Loveday was already at table when I descended.  But small was
+our pretence of eating.  Mrs. Busvargus, it is true, had lost no
+appetite through sorrow; but Mrs. Busvargus was accustomed to such
+scenes, and in her calling treated Death with no more to-do than she
+would a fresh customer at her husband's inn.  Long attendance at
+death-beds seemed to have given that good woman a perennial youth,
+and certainly that day she seemed to have lost the years which I had
+gained.  Uncle Loveday made some faint display of heartiness; but it
+was the most transparent feigning.  He covered his defection by
+pressing huge helpings upon me, so that my plate was bidding fair to
+become a new Tower of Babel, when Mrs. Busvargus interposed and swept
+the meal away; after which she disappeared into the back kitchen to
+"wash up," and was no more seen; but we heard loud splashings at
+intervals as if she had found a fountain, and were renewing her youth
+in it.
+
+Left to ourselves, we sat silent for a while, during which Uncle
+Loveday refilled and lit his pipe and plunged again into thought,
+with his eyes fixed on the rafters.  Whether because his cogitations
+led to something, or the tobacco had soothed him sufficiently, he
+finally turned to me and asked--
+
+"Have you got that packet?"
+
+I produced it.  He took his big red handkerchief from his pocket,
+spread it on the table, and began slowly to undo the strap.
+Then after arranging apart the buckle, the letter, and the tin box,
+he inquired--
+
+"Was it like this when the man gave it to you?"
+
+"No, the letter was separate.  I slipped it under the strap to keep
+it safe."
+
+"It seems to me," said my uncle, adjusting his spectacles and
+unfolding the paper, "illegible, or almost so.  It has evidently been
+thoroughly soaked with salt water.  Come here and see if your young
+eyes can help me to decipher it."
+
+We bent together over the blurred handwriting.  The letter was
+evidently in a feminine hand; but the characters were rudely and
+inartistically formed, while every here and there a heavy down-stroke
+or flourish marred the beauty of the page.  Wherever such thick lines
+occurred the ink had run and formed an illegible smear.  Such as it
+was, with great difficulty, and after frequent trials, we spelt out
+the letter as follows:--
+
+                    "The Welc . . . Home, Barbican, Plymo."
+    "My Deerest Jack,--This to hope it will find You quite well, as
+     it leaves Me at present.  Also to say that I hope this voyage
+      . . . _new Leaf_ with Simon as Companny, who is a _Good
+     Friend_, though, as you well know, I did not think . . . came
+     _courting me_.  But it is for the best, and . . . liquor . . .
+     which I pray to Heaven may begin happier Days.  Trade is very
+     poor, and I do not know . . . little Jenny, who is getting on
+     _Famously_ with her Schooling.  She keaps the Books already,
+     which is a great saving . . . looks in often and sits in the
+     parlour.  He says as you have Done Well to be . . . _Wave_, but
+     misdoubts Simon, which I tell him must be wrong, for it was him
+     that advised . . . the fuss and warned against liquor, which he
+     never took Himself.  Jenny is so Fond of her Books, and says she
+     will _teech you to write_ when you come home, which will be a
+     great _Comfort_, you being away so long and never a word.  And I
+     am doing wonders under her teaching, which I dare say she will
+     let you know of it all in the letter she is writing to go along
+     with this . . . Simon to write for you, who is a . . . scholar,
+     which is natural . . . in the office.  So that I wonder he left
+     it, having no taste for the sea that ever I heard . . . be the
+     making of you both.  I forgot to tell . . . very strange when he
+     left, but what with the hurry and bussle it _slipped my mind_
+     . . . wonderful to me to think of, my talking to you so natural
+     . . . distance.  And so no more at present from your loving
+     wife,"
+              "LUCY RAILTON."
+
+    "Jenny says . . . will not alter, being more like as if it came
+     from me.  Munny is very scarce.  I wish you could get . . ."
+
+This was all, and small enough, as I thought, was the light it threw
+on the problem before us.  Uncle Loveday read it over three or four
+times; then folded up the letter and looked at me over his
+spectacles.
+
+"You say this cut-throat fellow--this Rhodojani, as he called
+himself--spoke English?"
+
+"As well as we do.  He and the other spoke English all the time."
+
+"H'm!  And he talked about a Jenny, did he?"
+
+"He was saying something about 'Jenny not finding a husband' when
+John Railton struck him."
+
+"Then it's clear as daylight that he's called Simon, and not Georgio.
+Also if I ever bet (though far be it from me) I would bet my buttons
+that his name is no more Rhodojani than mine is Methuselah."
+
+He paused for a moment, absorbed in thought; then resumed--
+
+"This Lucy Railton is John Railton's wife and keeps a public-house
+called the 'Welcome Home!' on the Barbican, Plymouth.  Simon, that is
+to say Rhodojani, was in love with Lucy Railton, and his conduct,
+says she, was strange before leaving; but he pretended to be John
+Railton's friend, and, from what you say, must have had an
+astonishing influence over the unhappy man.  Simon, we learn, is a
+scholar," pursued my uncle, after again consulting the letter, "and I
+see the word 'office' here, which makes it likely that he was a clerk
+of some kind, who took to the sea for some purpose of his own, and
+induced Railton to go with him, perhaps for the same purpose, perhaps
+for another.  Anyhow, it seems it was high time for Railton to go
+somewhere, for besides the references to liquor, which tally with
+Simon's words upon Dead Man's Rock, we also meet with the ominous
+words 'the fuss,' wherein, Jasper, I find the definite article not
+without meaning."
+
+Uncle Loveday was beaming with conscious pride in his own powers of
+penetration.  He acknowledged my admiring attention with a modest
+wave of the hand, and then proceeded to clear his throat
+ostentatiously, as one about to play a trump card.
+
+"As I say, Jasper, this fellow must have had some purpose to drag him
+off to sea from an office stool--some strong purpose, and, from what
+we know of the man, some ungodly purpose.  Now, the question is, What
+was it?  On the Rock, as you say, he charged John Railton with having
+a certain Will in his possession.  Your father started from England
+with a Will in his possession.  This is curious, to say the
+least--very curious; but I do not see how we are to connect this with
+the man Simon's sudden taste for the sea, for, you know, he could not
+possibly have heard of Amos Trenoweth's Will."
+
+"You and aunt were the only people father told of it."
+
+"Quite so; and your father (excuse me, Jasper) not being a born fool,
+naturally didn't cry his purpose about the streets of Plymouth when
+he took his passage.  Still, it's curious.  Your father sailed from
+Plymouth and this pair of rascals sailed from Plymouth--not that
+there's anything in that; hundreds sail out of the Sound every week,
+and we have nothing to show when Simon and John started--it may have
+been before your father.  But look here, Jasper, what do you make of
+that?"
+
+I bent over the letter, and where my uncle's finger pointed, read,
+"He says as you have Done Well to be . . . _Wave_."
+
+"Well, uncle?"
+
+"Well, my boy; what do you make of it?"
+
+"I can make nothing of it."
+
+"No?  You see that solitary word '_Wave_'?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What was the ship called in which your father sailed?"
+
+"The _Golden Wave_."
+
+"That's it, the _Golden Wave_.  Now, what do you make of it?"
+
+My uncle leaned back in his chair and looked at me over his
+spectacles, with the air of one who has played his trump card and
+watches for its effect.   A certain consciousness of merit and
+expectancy of approbation animated his person; his reasoning
+staggered me, and he saw it, nor was wholly displeased.
+After waiting some time for my reply, he added--
+
+"Of course I may be wrong, but it's curious.  I do not think I am
+wrong, when I mark what it proves.  It proves, first, that these two
+ruffians--for ruffians they both were, as we must conclude, in spite
+of John Railton's melancholy end--it proves, I say, that these two
+sailed along with your father.  They come home with him, are wrecked,
+and your father's body is found--murdered.  Evidence, slight
+evidence, but still worthy of attention, points to them.  Now, if it
+could be proved that they knew, at starting or before, of your
+father's purpose, it would help us; and, to my mind, this letter goes
+far to prove that wickedness of some sort was the cause of their
+going.  What do you think?"
+
+Uncle Loveday cleared his throat and looked at me again with
+professional pride in his diagnosis.  There was a pause, broken only
+by Mrs. Busvargus splashing in the back kitchen.
+
+"Good heavens!" said my uncle, "is that woman taking headers?
+Come, Jasper, what do you think?"
+
+"I think," I replied, "we had better look at the tin box."
+
+"Bless my soul!  There's something in the boy, after all.  I had
+clean forgotten it."
+
+The box was about six inches by four, and some four inches in depth.
+The tin was tarnished by the sea, but the cover had been tightly
+fastened down and secured with a hasp and pin.  Uncle Loveday drew
+out the pin, and with some difficulty raised the lid.  Inside lay a
+tightly-rolled bundle of papers, seemingly uninjured.  These he drew
+out, smoothed, and carefully opened.
+
+As his eyes met the writing, his hand dropped, and he sank back--a
+very picture of amazement--in his chair.
+
+"My God!"
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"It's your father's handwriting!"
+
+I looked at this last witness cast up by the sea and read, "The
+Journal of Ezekiel Trenoweth, of Lantrig."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+CONTAINS THE FIRST PART OF MY FATHER'S JOURNAL; SETTING FORTH HIS
+MEETING WITH MR. ELIHU SANDERSON, OF BOMBAY; AND MY GRANDFATHER'S
+MANUSCRIPT.
+
+It was indeed my father's Journal, thus miraculously preserved to us
+from the sea.  As we sat and gazed at this inanimate witness, I
+doubt not the same awe of an all-seeing Providence possessed the
+hearts of both of us.  Little more than twenty-four hours ago had my
+dead father crossed the threshold of his home, and now his voice had
+come from the silence of another world to declare the mystery of his
+death.  It was some minutes before Uncle Loveday could so far control
+his speech as to read aloud this precious manuscript.  And thus, in
+my father's simple language, embellished with no art, and tricked out
+in no niceties of expression, the surprising story ran:--
+
+"May 23rd, 1848.--Having, in obedience to the instructions of my
+father's Will, waited upon Mr. Elihu Sanderson, of the East India
+Company's Service, in their chief office at Bombay, and having from
+him received a somewhat singular communication in my father's
+handwriting, I have thought fit briefly to put together some record
+of the same, as well as of the more important events of my voyage,
+not only to refresh my own memory hereafter, if I am spared to end my
+days in peace at Lantrig, but also being impelled thereto by certain
+strange hints conveyed in this same communication.  These hints,
+though I myself can see no ground for them, would seem to point
+towards some grave bodily or spiritual peril; and therefore it is my
+plain duty, seeing that I leave a beloved wife and young son at home,
+to make such provision that, in case of misadventure or disaster,
+Divine Providence may at least have at my hands some means whereby to
+inform them of my fate.  For this reason I regret the want of
+foresight which prevented my beginning some such record at the
+outset; but as far as I can reasonably judge, my voyage has hitherto
+been prosperous and without event.  Nevertheless, I will shortly set
+down what I can remember as worthy of remark before I landed at this
+city of Bombay, and trust that nothing of importance has slipped my
+notice.
+
+"On the 3rd of February last I left my home at Lantrig, travelling by
+coach to Plymouth, where I slept at the 'One and All' in Old Town
+Street, being attracted thither by the name, which is our Cornish
+motto.  The following day I took passage for Bombay in the _Golden
+Wave_, East Indiaman, Captain Jack Carey, which, as I learnt, was due
+to sail in two days.  It had been my intention, had no suitable
+vessel been found at Plymouth, to proceed to Bristol, where the
+trade is much greater; but on the Barbican--a most evil-smelling
+neighbourhood--it was my luck to fall in with a very entertaining
+stranger, who, on hearing my case, immediately declared it to be a
+most fortunate meeting, as he himself had been making inquiries to
+the same purpose, and had found a ship which would start almost
+immediately.  He had been, it appeared, a lawyer's clerk, but on the
+death of his old employer (whose name escapes my memory), finding his
+successor a man of difficult temper, and having saved sufficient
+money to be idle for a year or two, had conceived the wish to travel,
+and chosen Bombay, partly from a desire to behold the wonders of the
+Indies, and partly to see his brother, who held a post there in the
+East India Company's service.  Having at the time much leisure, he
+kindly offered to show me the vessel, protesting that should I find
+it to my taste he was anxious for the sake of the company to secure a
+passage for himself.  So very agreeable was his conversation that I
+embraced the opportunity which fortune thus threw in my way.
+The ship, on inspection, proved much to our liking, and Captain Carey
+of so honest a countenance, that the bargain was struck without more
+ado.  I was for returning to the 'One and All,' but first thought it
+right to acquaint myself with the name of this new friend.  He was
+called Simon Colliver, and lived, as he told me, in Stoke, whither he
+had to go to make preparation for this somewhat hasty departure, but
+first advised me to move my luggage from the 'One and All' (the
+comfort of which fell indeed short of the promise of so fair a name)
+to the 'Welcome Home,' a small but orderly house of entertainment in
+the Barbican, where, he said, I should be within easy distance of
+the _Golden Wave_.  The walk to Old Town Street was not far in
+itself, but a good step when traversed five or six times a day; and,
+moreover, I was led to make the change on hearing that the landlord
+of the 'Welcome Home' was also intending to sail as seaman in
+this same ship.  My new acquaintance led me to the house, an
+ill-favoured-looking den, but clean inside, and after a short
+consultation with John Railton, the landlord, arranged for my
+entertainment until the _Golden Wave_ should weigh anchor.
+This done, and a friendly glass taken to seal the engagement, he
+departed, congratulating himself warmly on his good fortune in
+finding a fellow-traveller so much, as he protested, to his taste.
+
+"I must own I was not over-pleased with John Railton, who seemed a
+sulky sort of man, and too much given to liquor.  But I saw little of
+him after he brought my box from the 'One and All.'  His wife waited
+upon me--a singularly sweet woman, though sorely vexed, as I could
+perceive, with her husband's infirmity.  She loved him nevertheless,
+as a woman will sometimes love a brute, and was sorry to lose him.
+Indeed, when I noticed that evening that her eyes were red with
+weeping, and said a word about her husband's departure, she stared at
+me for a moment in amazement, and could not guess how I came to hear
+of it, 'for,' said she, 'the resolution had been so suddenly taken
+that even she could scarce account for it.'  She admitted, however,
+that it was for the best, and added that 'Jack was a good seaman, and
+she always expected that he would leave her some day.'  Her chief
+anxiety was for her little daughter, aged seven, whom it was hard to
+have exposed to the rough language and manners of a public-house.
+I comforted her as best I could, and doubt not she has found her
+husband's absence a less misfortune than she anticipated.
+
+"The _Golden Wave_ weighed anchor on the 6th of February, and reached
+Bombay after a tedious voyage of 103 days, on the 21st of May, having
+been detained by contrary winds in doubling the Cape.  I saw little
+of Simon Colliver before starting, though he came twice, as I heard,
+to the 'Welcome Home' to inquire for me, and each time found me
+absent.  On board, however, being the only other passenger, I was
+naturally thrown much into his society, and confess that I found him
+a most diverting companion.  Often of a clear moonlight night would
+we pace the deck together, or watch in a darker sky the innumerable
+stars, on which Colliver had an amazing amount of information.
+Sometimes, too, he would sing--quaint songs which I had never heard
+before, to airs which I suspect, without well knowing why, were of
+his own composition.  His voice was of large compass--a silvery tenor
+of surpassing' purity and sweetness, inasmuch as I have seen the
+sailors stand spellbound, and even with tears in their eyes, at some
+sweet song of love and home.  Often, again, the words would be weird
+and mysterious, but the voice was always delicious whether he spoke
+or sang.  I asked him once why with such a gift he had not tried his
+fortune on the stage.  At which he laughed, and replied that he could
+never be bound by rules of art, or forced to sing, whatever his
+humour, to an audience for which he cared nothing.  I do not know why
+I dwell so long upon this extraordinary man.  His path of life has
+chanced to run side by side with my own for a short space, and the
+two have now branched off, nor in all likelihood will ever meet
+again.  My life has been a quiet one, and has not lain much in the
+way of extraordinary men, but I doubt if many such as Simon Colliver
+exist.  He is a perfect enigma to me.  That such a man, with such
+attainments (for besides his wonderful conversation and power of
+singing, he has an amazing knowledge of foreign tongues), that such a
+man, I say, should be a mere attorney's clerk is little short of
+marvellous.  But as regards his past he told me nothing, though an
+apt and ready listener when I spoke of Lantrig and of Margery and
+Jasper at home.  But he showed no curiosity as to the purpose of my
+voyage, and in fact seemed altogether careless as well of the fate as
+of the opinions of his fellow-men.  He has passed out of my life; but
+when I shook hands with him at parting I left with regret the most
+fascinating companion it has been ever my lot to meet.
+
+"Our voyage, as I have said, was without event, though full of
+wonders to me who had seldom before sailed far out of sight of
+Pedn-glas.  But on these I need not here dwell.  Only I cannot pass
+without mention the exceeding marvels of this city of Bombay.  As I
+stood upon deck on the evening before last and watched the Bhor
+Ghauts (as they are called) rise gradually on the dim horizon, whilst
+the long ridge of the Malabar Hill with its clustered lights grew
+swiftly dyed in delicate pink and gold, and as swiftly sank back into
+night, I confess that my heart was strangely fluttered to think that
+the wonders of this strange country lay at my feet, and I slept but
+badly for the excitement.  But when, yesterday morning, I disembarked
+upon the Apollo Bund, I knew not at first whither to turn for very
+dismay.  It was like the play-acting we saw, my dear Margery, one
+Christmas at Plymouth.  Every sight in the strange crowd was
+unfamiliar to my Cornish eyes, and I felt sorely tempted to laugh
+when I thought what a figure some of them would cut in Polkimbra, and
+not less when I reflected that after all I was just as much out of
+place in Bombay, though of course less noticed because of the great
+traffic.  As I strolled through the Bazaar, Hindoos, Europeans, Jews,
+Arabs, Malays, and Negro men passed me by.  Mr. Elihu Sanderson has
+kindly taught me to distinguish some of these nations, but at the
+time I did not know one from another, fancying them indeed all
+Indians, though at a loss to account for their diversity.  Also the
+gaudy houses of red, blue, and yellow, the number of beautiful trees
+that grew in the very streets, and the swarms of birds that crowded
+every roof-top and ventured down quite fearlessly among the
+passers-by, all made me gasp with wonder.  Nor was I less amazed to
+watch the habits of this marvellous folk, many of them to me
+shocking, and to see the cows that abound everywhere and do the work
+of horses.  But of all this I will tell if Heaven be pleased to grant
+me a safe return to Lantrig.  Let me now recount my business with Mr.
+Elihu Sanderson.
+
+"I said farewell to the captain of the _Golden Wave_ and my friend
+Colliver upon the quay, meaning to ask Mr. Sanderson to recommend a
+good lodging for the short time I intended to stay in Bombay.
+Captain Carey had already directed me to the East India Company's
+office, and hither I tried to make my way at once.  Easy as it was,
+however, I missed it, being lost in admiration of the crowd.  When at
+last I arrived at the doors I was surprised to see Colliver coming
+out, until I remembered that his brother was in the Company's employ.
+It seems, however, that he had been transferred to Trichinopoly some
+months before, and my friend's labour was in vain.  I am bound to say
+that he took his disappointment with great good-humour, and made very
+merry over our meeting again so soon, protesting that for the future
+we had better hunt in couples among this outlandish folk; and so I
+lost him again.
+
+"After some difficulty and delay I found myself at length in the
+presence of this Mr. Elihu Sanderson, on whom I had speculated so
+often.  I was ushered by a clerk into his private office, and as he
+rose to meet me, judged him directly to be the son of the Elihu
+Sanderson mentioned in my father's Will--as indeed is the case.
+A spare, dry, shrivelled man, with a mouth full of determination and
+acuteness, and a habit of measuring his words as though they were for
+sale, he is in everything but height the essence of every Scotchman I
+remember to have seen.
+
+"'Good day,' said he, 'Mr.--I fancy I did not catch your name.'
+
+"'Trenoweth,' said I.
+
+"'Indeed!  Trenoweth!' he repeated, and I fancy I saw a glimmer of
+surprise in his eyes.  'Do I guess your business?'
+
+"'Maybe you do,' I replied, 'for I take it to be somewhat unusual.'
+
+"'Ah, yes; just so; somewhat unusual!'--and he chuckled drily--
+'somewhat unusual!  Very good indeed!  I suppose--eh?--you have some
+credentials--some proof that you really are called Trenoweth?'--Here
+Mr. Sanderson looked at me sharply.
+
+"In reply I produced my father's Will and the little Bible from my
+jersey's side.  As I did so, I felt the Scotchman's eyes examining me
+narrowly.  I handed him the packet.  The Will he read with great
+attention, glanced at the Bible, pondered awhile, and then said--
+
+"'I suppose you guess that this was a piece of private business
+between Amos Trenoweth, deceased, and my father, also deceased.
+I tell ye frankly, Mr. Trenoweth--by the way, what is your Christian
+name, eh?  So you are the Ezekiel mentioned in the Will?  Are you a
+bold man, eh?  Well, you look it, at any rate.  As I was saying, I
+tell ye frankly it is not the sort of business I would have
+undertaken myself.  But my father had his crotchets--which is odd, as
+I'm supposed to resemble him--he had his crotchets, and among them
+was an affection for your father.  It may have been based on profit,
+for your father, Mr. Trenoweth, as far as I have heard, was not
+exactly a lovable man, if ye'll excuse me.  If it was, I've never
+seen those profits, and I've examined my father's papers pretty
+thoroughly.  But this is a family matter, and had better not be
+discussed in office hours.  Can you dine with me this evening?'
+
+"I replied that I should be greatly obliged; but, in the first place,
+as a stranger, would count it a favour to be told of some decent
+lodging for such time as I should be detained in Bombay.
+
+"Mr. Sanderson pondered again, tapped the floor with his foot, pulled
+his short crop of sandy whiskers, and said--
+
+"'Our business may detain us, for aught I know, long into the night,
+Mr. Trenoweth.  Ye would be doing me a favour if ye stayed with me
+for a day or two.  I am a bachelor, and live as one.  So much the
+better, eh?  If you will get your boxes sent up to Craigie Cottage,
+Malabar Hill--any one will tell ye where Elihu Sanderson lives--I
+will try to make you comfortable.  You are wondering at the name
+'Craigie Cottage'--another crotchet of my father's.  He was a
+Scotchman, I'd have ye know; and so am I, for that matter, though I
+never saw Scotch soil, being that prodigious phenomenon, a British
+child successfully reared in India.  But I hope to set foot there
+some day, please God!  Save us! how I am talking, and in office
+hours, too!  Good-bye, Mr. Trenoweth, and'--once more his eyes
+twinkled as I thanked him and made for the door--'I would to Heaven
+ye were a Scotchman!'
+
+"Although verily broiled with the heat, I spent the rest of the day
+in sauntering about the city and drinking in its marvels until the
+time when I was due to present myself at Craigie Cottage.  Following
+the men who carried my box, I discovered it without difficulty,
+though very unlike any cottage that came within my recollection.
+Indeed, it is a large villa, most richly furnished, and crowded with
+such numbers of black servants, that it must go hard with them to
+find enough to do.  That, however, is none of my business, and Mr.
+Sanderson does not seem the man to spend his money wastefully; so I
+suppose wages to be very low here.
+
+"Mr. Sanderson received me hospitably, and entertained me to a most
+agreeable meal, though the dishes were somewhat hotly seasoned, and
+the number of servants again gave me some uneasiness.  But when,
+after dinner, we sat and smoked out on the balcony and watched the
+still gardens, the glimmering houses and, above all, the noble bay
+sleeping beneath the gentle shadow of the night, I confess to a
+feeling that, after all, man is at home wherever Nature smiles so
+kindly.  The hush of the hour was upon me, and made me disinclined to
+speak lest its spell should be broken--disinclined to do anything but
+watch the smoke-wreaths as they floated out upon the tranquil air."
+
+"Mr. Sanderson broke the silence.
+
+"'You have not been long in coming.'
+
+"'Did you not expect me so soon?'
+
+"'Why, you see, I had not read your father's Will.'
+
+"I explained to him as briefly as I could the reasons which drove me
+to leave Lantrig.  He listened in silence, and then said, after a
+pause--
+
+"'You have not, then, undertaken this lightly?'
+
+"'As Heaven is my witness, no, whether there be anything in this
+business or not.'
+
+"'I think,' said he, slowly, 'there is something in it.  My father
+had his crotchets, it is true; but he was no fool.  He never opened
+his lips to me on the matter, but left me to hear the first of it in
+his last Will and Testament.  Oddly enough, our fathers seem both to
+have found religion in their old age.  Mine took his comfort in the
+Presbyterian shape.  But it is all the same.  There was some reason
+for your father to repent, if rumours were true; but why mine, a
+respectable servant of the East India Company, should want
+consolation, is not so clear.  Maybe 'twas only another form of
+egotism.  Religion, even, is spelt with an I, ye'll observe.
+
+"'An odd couple,' he continued, musing, 'to be mixed up together!
+But we'll let them rest in peace.  I'd better let you have what was
+entrusted to me, and then, mayhap, ye'll be better able to form an
+opinion.'
+
+"With this he rose and stepped back into the lighted room, whilst I
+followed.  Drawing a bunch of keys from his pocket, he opened a heavy
+chest of some dark wood, intricately carved, which stood in one
+corner, drew out one by one a whole pile of tin boxes, bundles of
+papers and heavy books, until, almost at the very bottom of the
+chest, he seemed to find the box he wanted; then, carefully replacing
+the rest, closed and fastened the chest, and, after some search among
+his keys, opened the tin box and handed me two envelopes, one much
+larger than the other, but both bulky.
+
+"And here, my dear Margery, with my hand upon the secret which had
+cost us so much anxious thought and such a grievous parting, I could
+not help breathing to myself a prayer that Heaven had seen fit to
+grant me at last some means of comforting my wife and little one and
+restoring our fallen house; nor do I doubt, dear wife, you were at
+that moment praying on your knees for me.  I did not speak aloud, but
+Mr. Sanderson must have divined my thoughts, for I fancied I heard
+him utter 'Amen' beneath his breath, and when I looked up he seemed
+prodigiously red and ashamed of himself.
+
+"The small envelope was without address, and contained 50 pounds in
+Bank of England notes.  These were enclosed without letter or hint as
+to their purpose, and sealed with a plain black seal.
+
+"The larger envelope was addressed in my father's handwriting--"
+
+'TO THE SON OF MY HOUSE WHO, HAVING COUNTED ALL THE PERILS, IS
+RESOLUTE.
+
+'_Mem.--To be burned in one hundred years from this date, May 4th, in
+the year of our Lord MDCCCV._'
+
+"It likewise was sealed with a plain black seal, and contained the
+manuscript which I herewith pin to this leaf of my Journal."
+
+[Here Uncle Loveday, who had hitherto read without comment, save an
+occasional interjection, turned the page and revealed, in faded ink
+on a large sheet of parchment, the veritable writing of my
+grandfather, Amos Trenoweth.  We both unconsciously leaned further
+forward over the relic, and my uncle, still without comment,
+proceeded to read aloud as follows:--]
+
+    "From Amos Trenoweth, of Lantrig, in the Parish of Polkimbra and
+     County of Cornwall; to such descendant of mine as may inherit my
+     wealth.
+
+    "Be it known to you, my son, that though in this parchment
+     mention is made of great and surpassing Wealth, seemingly but to
+     be won for the asking, yet beyond doubt the dangers which beset
+     him who would lay his hand upon this accursed store are in
+     nature so deadly, that almost am I resolved to fling the Secret
+     from me, and so go to my Grave a Beggar.  For that I not only
+     believe, but am well assured, that not with out much Spilling
+     of Blood and Loss of Human Life shall they be enjoyed, I myself
+     having looked in the Face of Death thrice before ever I might
+     set Hand upon them, escaping each time by a Miracle and by
+     forfeit of my Soul's Peace.  Yet, considering that the Anger of
+     Heaven is quick and not revengeful unduly, I have determined not
+     to do so wholly, but in part, abandoning myself the Treasure
+     unrighteously won, if perchance the Curse may so be appeased,
+     but committing it to the enterprise of another, who may escape,
+     and so raise a falling House.
+
+    "You then, my Son who may read this Message, I entreat to
+     consider well the Perils of your Course, though to you unknown.
+     But to me they are known well, who have lived a Sinful Life for
+     the sake of this gain, and now find it but as the fruit of
+     Gomorrah to my lips.  For the rest, my Secret is with God, from
+     whom I humbly hope to obtain Pardon, but not yet.  And even as
+     the Building of the Temple was withheld from David, as being a
+     Shedder of Blood, but not from Solomon his son, so may you lay
+     your Hand to much Treasure in Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones,
+     but chiefly the GREAT RUBY OF CEYLON, whose beauty excels all
+     the jewels of the Earth, I myself having looked upon it, and
+     knowing it to be, as an Ancient Writer saith, 'a Spectacle
+     Glorious and without Compare.'
+
+    "Of this Ruby the Traveller Marco Polo speaks, saying, 'The King
+     of Seilan hath a Ruby the Greatest and most Beautiful that ever
+     was or can be in the World.  In length it is a palm, and in
+     thickness the thickness of a man's arm.  In Splendour it
+     exceedeth the things of Earth, and gloweth like unto Fire.
+     Money cannot purchase it.'  Likewise Maundevile tells of it, and
+     how the Great Khan would have it, but was refused; and so
+     Odoric, the two giving various Sizes, and both placing it
+     falsely in the Island of Nacumera or Nicoveran.  But this I
+     know, that in the Island of Ceylon it was found, being lost for
+     many Centuries, and though less in size than these Writers
+     would have it, yet far exceeding all imagination for Beauty and
+     colour.
+
+    "Now this Ruby, together with much Treasure beside, you may gain
+     with the Grace of Heaven and by following my plain words.
+     You will go from this place unto the Island of Ceylon, and there
+     proceed to Samanala or Adam's Peak, the same being the most
+     notable mountain of the Island.  From the Resting House at the
+     foot of the Peak you will then ascend, following the track of
+     the Pilgrims, until you have passed the First Set of Chains.
+     Between these and the Second there lies a stretch of Forest, in
+     which, still following the track, you will come to a Tree, the
+     trunk of which branches into seven parts and again unites.
+     This Tree is noticeable and cannot be missed.  From its base you
+     must proceed at a right angle to the left-hand edge of the track
+     for thirty-two paces, and you will come to a Stone shaped like a
+     Man's Head, of great size, but easily moved.  Beneath this Stone
+     lies the Secret of the Great Ruby; and yet not all, for the rest
+     is graven on the Key, of which mention shall already have been
+     made to you.
+
+    "These precautions I have taken that none may surprise this
+     Secret but its right possessor; and also that none may without
+     due reflection undertake this task, inasmuch as it is
+     prophesied that 'Even as the Heart of the Ruby is Blood and its
+     Eyes a Flaming Fire, so shall it be for them that would possess
+     it: Fire shall be their portion and Blood their inheritance for
+     ever.'
+
+    "This prophecy I had from an aged priest, whose bones lie
+     beneath the Stone, and upon whose Sacred clasp is the Secret
+     written.  This and all else may God pardon.  Amen.
+
+    "A. T."
+
+    "He visiteth the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto
+     the third and fourth generation."
+
+[To this extraordinary document was appended a note in another
+handwriting.]
+
+    "There is little doubt that the Ruby now in the possession of
+     Mr. Amos Trenoweth is the veritable Great Ruby of which the
+     traveller Marco Polo speaks.  But, however this may be, I know
+     from the testimony of my own eyes that the stone is of
+     inestimable worth, being of the rarest colour, and in size
+     greatly beyond any Ruby that ever I saw.  The stone is spoken
+     of, in addition to such writers as Mr. Trenoweth quotes, by
+     Friar Jordanus (in the fourteenth century), who mentions it as
+     'so large that it cannot be grasped in the closed hand'; and
+     Ibn Batuta reckons it as great as the palm of a man's hand.
+     Cosmos, as far back as 550, had heard tell of it from Sopater,
+     and its fame extended to the sixteenth century, wherein Corsali
+     wrote of 'two rubies so lustrous and shining that they seem a
+     flame of fire.'  Also Hayton, in the thirteenth century,
+     mentions it, telling much the same story as Sir John Maundevile,
+     to the effect that it was the especial symbol of sovereignty,
+     and when held in the hand of the newly-chosen king, enforced the
+     recognition of his majesty.  But, whereas Hayton simply calls
+     it the greatest and finest Ruby in existence, Maundevile puts it
+     at afoot in length and five fingers in girth.  Also--for I have
+     made much inquiry concerning this stone--it was well known to
+     the Chinese from the days of Hwen T'sang downward.
+
+    "Mr. Trenoweth has wisely forborne for safety from showing it to
+     any of the jewellers here; but on the one occasion when I saw
+     the gem I measured it, and found it to be, roughly, some three
+     and a half inches square and two inches in depth; of its weight
+     I cannot speak.  But that it truly is the Great Ruby of Ceylon,
+     the account of the Buddhist priest from, whom Mr. Trenoweth
+     got the stone puts out of all doubt."
+
+     "E. S."
+
+"As I finished my reading, I looked up and saw Mr. Sanderson watching
+me across the table.  'Well?' said he.
+
+"I pushed the parchment across to him, and filled a pipe.  He read
+the whole through very slowly, and without the movement of a muscle;
+then handed it back, but said never a word.
+
+"'Well,' I asked, after a pause; 'what do you think of it?'
+
+"'Why, in the first place, that my father was a marvellously honest
+man, and yours, Mr. Trenoweth, a very indiscreet one.  And secondly,
+that ye're just as indiscreet as he, and it will be lucky for ye if
+I'm as honest as my father.'
+
+"I laughed.
+
+"'Aye, ye may laugh; but mark my words, Mr. Trenoweth.  Ye've a
+trustful way with ye that takes my liking; but it would surprise me
+very much, sir, did ye ever lay hands on that Ruby.'"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+CONTAINS THE SECOND PART OF MY FATHER'S JOURNAL: SETTING FORTH HIS
+ADVENTURES IN THE ISLAND OF CEYLON.
+
+"Sept. 29th, 1848.--It is a strange thing that on the very next day
+after reading my father's message I should have been struck down and
+reduced to my present condition.  But so it is, and now, four months
+after my first entry in this Journal, I am barely able to use the pen
+to add to my account.  As far as I remember--for my head wanders
+sadly at times--it happened thus: On the 23rd of May last, after
+spending the greater part of the day in writing my Journal, and also
+my first letter to my dear wife, I walked down in the cool of the
+evening to the city, intending to post the latter; which I did, and
+was returning to Mr. Sanderson's house, when I stopped to watch the
+sun setting in this glorious Bay of Bengal.  I was leaning over a low
+wall, looking out on the open sea with its palm-fringed shores, when
+suddenly the sun shot out a jagged flame; the sky heaved and turned
+to blood--and I knew no more.  I had been murderously struck from
+behind.  That I was found, lying to all appearance dead, with a
+hideous zig-zag wound upon the scalp; that my pockets had been to all
+appearance rifled (whether by the assassin or the natives that found
+me is uncertain); that I was finally claimed and carried home by Mr.
+Sanderson, who, growing uneasy at my absence, had set out to look for
+me; that for more than a month, and then again for almost two months,
+my life hung in the balance; and that I owe my recovery to Mr.
+Sanderson's unceasing kindness--all this I have learnt but lately.
+I can write no more at present.
+
+"Oct. 3rd.--I am slightly better.  My mental powers are slowly coming
+back after the fever that followed the wound.  I pass my days mostly
+in speculating on the reason of this murderous attack, but am still
+unable to account for it.  It cannot have been for plunder, for I do
+not look like a rich man.  Mr. Sanderson has his theory, but I cannot
+agree with him, for nobody but ourselves knew of my father's
+manuscript.  At any rate, it is fortunate that I left it in my chest,
+together with this Journal, before I went down to Bombay.  Margery
+must have had my letter by this time; Mr. Sanderson very wisely
+decided to wait the result of my illness before troubling her.  As it
+is she need know nothing about it until we meet.
+
+"Oct. 14th.--Mr. Sanderson is everything that is good; indeed, had I
+been a brother he could not have shown me more solicitude.  But he is
+obstinate in connecting my attack with the Great Ruby of Ceylon; it
+is certainly a curious coincidence that this dark chapter of my life
+should immediately follow my father's warning, but that is all one
+can say.  I shall give up trying to convince him.
+
+"Oct. 31st.--I am now considerably better.  My strength is slowly
+returning, and with it, I am glad to say, my memory.  At first it
+seemed as though I could remember nothing of my past life, but now my
+recollection is good on every point up to the moment of my attack.
+Since then, for at least the space of three months, I can recall
+nothing.  I am able to creep about a little, and Mr. Sanderson has
+taken me for one or two excursions.  Curiously enough, I thought I
+saw John Railton yesterday upon the Apollo Bund.  I was probably
+mistaken, but at the time it caused me no surprise that he should
+still be here, since I forgot the interval of three months in my
+memory.  If it were really Railton, he has, I suppose, found
+employment of some kind in Bombay; but it seems a cruel shame for him
+to desert his poor wife at home.  I, alas! am doing little better,
+but God knows I am anxious to be gone; however, Mr. Sanderson will
+not hear a word on the subject at present.  He has promised to find a
+ship for me as soon as he thinks I am able to continue my travels.
+
+"Nov. 4th.--I was not mistaken.  It was John Railton that I saw on
+the Apollo Bund.  I met him hovering about the same spot to-day, and
+spoke to him; but apparently he did not hear me.  I intended to ask
+him some news of my friend Colliver, but I daresay he knows as little
+of his doings as I do.  Mr. Sanderson says that in a week's time I
+shall be recovered sufficiently to start.  I hope so, indeed, for
+this delay is chafing me sorely.
+
+"Nov. 21st.--Mr. Sanderson has found a ship for me at last.  I am to
+sail in five days for Colombo in the schooner _Campaspe_, whose
+captain is a friend--a business friend, that is--of my host.  I shall
+be the only passenger, and Mr. Sanderson has given Captain Dodge full
+instructions to take care of me.  But I am feeling strong enough now,
+and fit for anything.
+
+"Nov. 23rd.--I have been down to look at the vessel, and find that a
+most comfortable little cabin has been set apart for me.  But the
+strangest thing is that I met Colliver also inspecting the ship.
+He was most surprised at seeing me, and evidently imagined me home in
+England by this time.  I told him of my meeting with John Railton,
+and he replied--
+
+"'Oh, yes; I have taken him into my service.  We are going together
+to Ceylon, as I have travelled about India enough for the present.
+I went to visit my brother at Trichinopoly, and have only just
+returned to Bombay.  Unfortunately the captain of the _Campaspe_
+declares he is unable to take me, so I shall have to wait.'
+
+"I explained the reasons of the captain's reluctance, and offered him
+a share of my cabin if Captain Dodge would consent to be burdened
+with Railton's company.
+
+"'Oh, for that matter,' replied he, 'Railton can follow; but he's a
+handy fellow, and I daresay would make himself useful without
+payment.'
+
+"We consulted Captain Dodge, who admitted himself ready to take
+another passenger, and even to accommodate Railton, if that were my
+wish.  Only, he explained, Mr. Sanderson had especially told him that
+I should wish to be alone, being an invalid.  So the bargain was
+struck.
+
+"Mr. Sanderson did not seem altogether pleased when I informed him
+that I intended to take a companion.  He asked many questions about
+Colliver, and was especially anxious to know if I had confided
+anything of my plans to him.  So far was this from being the case
+that Colliver, as I informed my host, had never betrayed the least
+interest in my movements.  At this Mr. Sanderson merely grunted, and
+asked me when I intended to learn prudence, adding that one crack in
+the head was enough for most men, but he supposed I wanted more.
+I admit that, pleasant companion as Colliver is, I should prefer to
+be entirely alone upon this adventure.  But I could not deny the
+invitation without appearing unnecessarily rude, and I owe him much
+gratitude for having made the outward voyage so pleasant.  Besides,
+we shall part at Colombo.
+
+"Nov. 25th.--I make this entry (my last upon Indian soil) just before
+retiring to rest.  To-morrow I sail for Colombo in the _Campaspe_.
+But I cannot leave Bombay without dwelling once more on Mr.
+Sanderson's great kindness.  To-night, as we sat together for the
+last time upon the balcony of Craigie Cottage, I declare that my
+heart was too full for words.  My host apparently was revolving other
+thoughts, for when he spoke it was to say--
+
+"'Visited his brother in Trichinopoly, eh?  Only just returned, too--
+h'm!  What I want to know is, why the devil he returned at all?
+There are plenty of vessels at Madras.'
+
+"'But Colliver is not the man who cares to follow the shortest
+distance between two points,' I answered.  'Why should he not return
+to Bombay?'
+
+"'I'll beg ye to observe,' said Mr. Sanderson, 'that the question is
+not 'why shouldn't he?' but 'why should he?''
+
+"'At any rate,' said I, 'I'll be on my guard.'
+
+"This suspicion on my behalf has become quite a mania with my host.
+I thought it best to let him grumble his fill, and then endeavoured
+to thank him for his great kindness.
+
+"'Don't say another word,' he interrupted.  'I owe ye some reparation
+for being mixed up in this at all.  It's a serious matter, mark ye,
+for a respectable clerk like myself to be aiding and abetting in this
+mad chase; and, to tell the truth, Trenoweth, I took a fancy to ye
+when first I set eyes on your face, and--Don't say another word, I'll
+ask ye.'
+
+"My friend's eyes were full of tears.  I arose, shook him silently by
+the hand, and went to my room.
+
+"Nov. 26th.--I am off.  I write this in my cabin, alone--Colliver
+having had another assigned to him by Mr. Sanderson's express wish.
+He saw Colliver for the first time to-day on the quay, and drew me
+aside at the last moment to warn me against 'that fellow with the
+devilish eyes.'  As I stood on deck and watched his stiff little
+figure waving me farewell until it melted into the crowd, and Bombay
+sank behind me as the city of a dream, I wondered with sadness on the
+little chance we had of ever meeting on this earth again.  Colliver's
+voice at my elbow aroused me.
+
+"'Odd man, that friend of yours--made up of emotion, and afraid of
+his life to show it.  Has he done you a favour?'
+
+"'He has,' I replied, 'as great a favour as one man can do for
+another.'
+
+"'Ah,' said he, 'I thought as much.  That's why he is so full of
+gratitude.'
+
+"Dec. 6th.--Never shall I forget the dawn out of which Ceylon, the
+land of my promise, arose into view.  I was early on deck to catch
+the first sight of land.  Very slowly, as I stood gazing into the
+east, the pitch-black darkness turned to a pale grey, and discovered
+a long, narrow streak, shaped like the shields one sees in Bible
+prints, and rising to a point in the centre.  Then, as it seemed to
+me, in a moment, the sun was up and as if by magic the shield had
+changed into a coast fringed with palms and swelling upwards in green
+and gradual slopes to a chain of mighty hills.  Around these some
+light, fleecy clouds had gathered, but sea and coast were radiant
+with summer.  So clear was the air that I could distinguish the red
+sand of the beaches and the white trunks of the palms that crowded to
+the shore; and then before us arose Colombo, its white houses
+gleaming out one by one.
+
+"The sun was high by the time our pilot came on board, and as we
+entered the harbour the town lay deep in the stillness of the
+afternoon.  We had cast anchor, and I was reflecting on my next
+course of action when I heard my name called from under the ship's
+side.  Looking down, I spied a tall, grave gentleman seated in a
+boat.  I replied as well as I could for the noise, and presently the
+stranger clambered up on deck and announced himself as Mr.
+Eversleigh, to whom Mr. Sanderson had recommended me.  I had no
+notion until this moment--and I state it in proof of Mr. Sanderson's
+kindness--that any arrangement had been made for entertaining me at
+Colombo.  It is true that Mr. Sanderson had told me, on the night
+when our acquaintance began, to send this gentleman's address to
+Margery, that her letter might safely reach me; but beyond this I
+knew nothing.  Mr. Eversleigh shook me by the hand, and, to my
+unspeakable joy, handed me my dear wife's letter.
+
+"I say to my unspeakable joy, for no words can tell, dear wife, with
+what feelings I read your letter as the little boat carried me up to
+the quay.  How often during the idle days of my recovery have I lain
+wondering how you and Jasper were passing this weary time, and cried
+out on the weakness that kept me so long dallying.  Patience, dear
+heart, it is but a little time now.
+
+"I have forgotten to speak of Colliver.  He has been as delightful
+and indifferent as ever throughout the voyage.  Certainly I can find
+no reason for crediting Mr. Sanderson's suspicions.  In the hurry of
+landing I missed him, not even having opportunity to ask about his
+plans.  Doubtless I shall see him in a day or two.
+
+"Dec. 10th.--What an entrancing country is this Ceylon!  The monsoon
+is upon us, and hinders my journey: indeed, Mr. Eversleigh advises me
+not to start for some weeks.  He promises to accompany me to the Peak
+if I can wait, but the suspense is hard to bear.  Meantime I am
+drinking in the marvels of Colombo.  The quaint names over the shops,
+the bright dresses of white and red, the priests with their robes of
+flaming yellow--all these are diverting enough, but words cannot tell
+of the beauty of the country here.  The roads are all of some strange
+red soil, and run for miles beneath the most beautiful trees
+imaginable--bamboos, palms, and others unknown to me, but covered
+with crimson and yellow blossom.  Then the long stretches of rice
+fields, and again more avenues of palms, with here and there a lovely
+pool by the wayside--all this I cannot here describe.  But most
+wonderful of all is the monsoon which rages over the country,
+wrapping the earth sometimes in sheets of lightning which turn sea,
+sky and earth to one vivid world of flame.  The wind is dry and
+parching, so that all windows are kept carefully closed at night;
+but, indeed, the mosquitoes are sufficient excuse for that.  I have
+seen nothing of Colliver and Railton.
+
+"Dec. 31st.--New Year's Eve, and, as I hope, the dawn of brighter
+days for us, dear wife.  Mr. Eversleigh has to-night, been describing
+Adam's Peak to me.  Truly this is a most marvellous mountain, and its
+effect upon me I find hard to put into words.  To-day I watched it
+standing solitary and royal from the low hills that surround it.
+At its feet waved a very sea of green forest, around its summit were
+gathered black clouds charged with lightning.  Mr. Eversleigh tells
+me of the worship here paid to it, and the thousands of pilgrims that
+wear its crags with their patient feet.  Can I hope to succeed when
+so many with prayers so much more holy have failed?  Even as I write,
+its unmoved face is mocking the fire of heaven.  I dream of the
+mountain; night and day it has come to fill my life with dark terror.
+I am not by nature timid or despondent, but it is hard to have to
+wait here day after day and watch this goal of my hopes--so near, yet
+seemingly so forbidding of access.
+
+"On looking back I find I have said nothing about the house where I
+am now staying.  It lies in the Kolpetty suburb, in the midst of most
+lovely gardens, and is called Blue Bungalow, from the colour in which
+it is painted.  I have made many excursions with Mr. Eversleigh on
+the lagoon; but for me the only object in this land of beauty is the
+great Peak.  I cannot endure this idleness much longer.  Colliver
+seems to have vanished: at least, I have not seen him.
+
+"Jan. 25th, 1849.--I have been in no mood lately to make any fresh
+entry in my Journal.  But to-morrow I start for Adam's Peak.  At the
+last moment my host finds himself unable to go with me, much as he
+protests he desires it; but two of his servants will act as my
+guides.  It is about sixty miles from Colombo to the foot of the
+Peak, so that in four days from this time I hope to lay my hand upon
+the secret.  The two natives (their real names I do not know, but Mr.
+Eversleigh has christened them Peter and Paul, which I shall
+doubtless find more easy of mastery than their true outlandish
+titles) are, as I am assured, trusty, and have visited the mountain
+before.  We take little baggage beyond the necessary food and one of
+my host's guns.  I cannot tell how impatient I am feeling.
+
+"Feb. 1st.--My journey to the Peak is over.  Whether from fatigue or
+excitement I am feeling strangely light-headed to-day; but let me
+attempt to describe as briefly as I can my adventure.  We set out
+from Colombo in the early morning of Jan. 26th.  For about two-thirds
+of our journey the road lies along the coast, stretching through
+swampy rice-fields and interminable cocoanut avenues until Ratnapoora
+is reached.  So far the scenery does not greatly differ from that of
+Colombo.  But it was after we left Ratnapoora that I first realised
+the true wonders of this land.  Our road rose almost continuously by
+narrow tracks, which in some places, owing to the late heavy rains,
+were almost impassable; but Peter and Paul worked hard, and so
+reduced the delay.  We had not left Ratnapoora far behind when we
+plunged into a tangled forest, so dense as almost to blot out the
+light of day.  On either hand deep ravines plunged precipitately
+down, or giant trees enclosed us in black shadow.  Where the sun's
+rays penetrated, myriads of brilliant insects flashed like jewels;
+yellow butterflies, beetles with wings of ruby-red or gold, and
+dragonflies that picked out the undergrowth with fire.  In the shadow
+overhead flew and chattered crowds of green paroquets and glossy
+crows, while here and there we could see a Bird of Paradise drooping
+its smart tail-feathers amid the foliage.  A little further, and deep
+in the forest the ear caught the busy tap-tap of the woodpecker, the
+snap of the toucan's beak, or far away the deep trumpeting of the
+elephant.  Once we startled a leopard that gazed a moment at us with
+flaming eyes, and then was gone with a wild bound into the thicket.
+From tree to tree trailed hosts of gorgeous creepers, blossoming in
+orange, white and crimson, or wreathing round some hapless monarch of
+the forest and strangling it with their rank growth.  Still we
+climbed.
+
+"The bridle-track now skirted a torrent, now wound dizzily round
+the edge of a stupendous cliff, and again plunged into obscurity.
+Here and there the ruins of some ancient and abandoned shrine
+confronted us, its graceful columns entwined and matted with
+vegetation; or, again, where the forest broke off and allowed our
+eyes to sweep over the far prospect, the guides would point to the
+place where stood, hardly to be descried, the relics of some dead
+city, desolate and shrined in desolation.  Even I, who knew nothing
+of the past glories of Ceylon, could not help being possessed with
+melancholy thoughts as I passed now a mass of deserted masonry, now a
+broken column, the sole witnesses of generations gone for ever.
+Some were very richly carved, but Nature's tracery was rapidly
+blotting out the handiwork of man, the twining convolvulus usurping
+the glories of the patient chisel.  Still up we climbed, where hosts
+of chattering monkeys swung from branch to branch, or poised
+screaming overhead, or a frightened serpent rose with hissing mouth,
+and then glided in a flash back through the undergrowth.  One, that
+seemed to me of a pure silver-white, started almost from under my
+feet, and darted away before I could recover myself.  We hardly
+spoke; the vastness of Nature hushed our tongues.  It seemed
+presumption to raise my gun against any of the inhabitants of this
+spot where man seemed so mean, so strangely out of place.  Once I
+paused to cut back with my knife the creepers that hid in
+inextricable tangle a solitary and exquisitely carved archway.
+But the archway led nowhere, its god and temple alike had perished,
+and already the plants have begun their tireless work again.
+
+"Between the stretches of wilderness our road often led us across
+rushing streams, difficult to ford at this season, or up rocky
+ravines, that shut in with their towering walls all but a patch of
+blue overhead.  Emerging from these we would find ourselves on naked
+ledges where the sun's rays beat until the air seemed that of an
+oven.  At such spots the plain below spread itself out as a crumpled
+chart, whilst always above us, domed in the blue of a sapphire-stone,
+towered the goal of our hopes, serene and relentless.  But such
+places were not many.  More often a threatening cliff faced us, or an
+endless slope closed in the view, only to give way to another and yet
+another as we climbed their weary length.
+
+"Yet our speed was not trifling.  We had passed a train of
+white-clothed pilgrims in the morning soon after leaving Ratnapoora.
+Since then we had seen no man except one poor old priest at the
+ruined resting-house where we ate our mid-day meal.  The shadow of
+the forest allowed us to travel through the heat of the day, and the
+thirst of discovery would have hurried me on even had the guides
+protested.  But they were both sturdy, well-built men, and suffered
+from the heat far less than I did.  So we hardly paused until, in the
+first swift gloom of sunset, we emerged on the grassy lawn of
+Diabetne, beneath the very face of the cone.
+
+"We had to rest for the night in the ruined _Ambulam_, as it is
+called; and here, thoroughly tired but sleepless, I lay for some
+hours and watched the innumerable stars creep out and crown that
+sublime head which rose at first into a fathomless blue that was
+almost black, and then as the moon swept up, flashed into unutterable
+radiance.  Nothing, I am told, can compare with the moonlight of
+Ceylon, and I can well believe it.  That night I read clearly once
+again by the light of its rays my father's manuscript, that no point
+in it should escape my memory; then sank down upon my rugs and slept
+an uneasy sleep.
+
+"In an hour or two, as it seemed, I was awakened by Peter, who shook
+me and proclaimed it time to be stirring if we meant to see the
+sunrise from the summit.  The moon was still resplendent as we
+started across the three miles or 'league of heaven' that still lay
+between us and the actual cone.  This league traversed, we plunged
+down a gully and crossed a stream whose waters danced in the silver
+moonlight until the eyes were dazzled, then swept in a pearly shower
+down numberless ledges of rock.  After this the climb began in good
+earnest.  After a stretch of black forest, we issued on a narrow
+track that grew steeper at every step.  The moon presently ceased to
+help us here, so that my guides lit torches, which flared and cast
+long shadows on the rocky wall.  By degrees the track became a mere
+watercourse, up which we could only scramble one by one.  So narrow
+was it that two men could scarcely pass, yet so richly clothed in
+vegetation that our torches scorched the overhanging ferns.
+Peter led the way, and I followed close at his heels, for fear of
+loose stones; but every now and then a crash and a startled cry from
+Paul behind us told us that we had sent a boulder flying down into
+the depths.  Beyond this and the noise of our footsteps there was no
+sound.  We went but slowly, for the labour of the day before had
+nearly exhausted us, but at length we scrambled out into the
+moonlight again upon a rocky ledge half-way up the mountainside.
+
+"Here a strong breeze was blowing, that made our heated bodies
+shiver until we were fain to go on.  Casting one look into the gulf
+below, deepened without limit in the moonlight, we lit fresh torches
+and again took to the path.  Before we had scrambled, now we
+climbed.  We had left vegetation behind us, and were face to face
+with the naked rock that forms the actual Peak.  At the foot of this
+Peter called a halt, and pointed out the first set of chains.
+Without these, in my weak state I could never have attempted the
+ascent.  Even as it was, my eye was dazed and my head swam and reeled
+as I hung like a fly upon the dizzy side.  But clutching with
+desperation the chains riveted in the living rock, I hauled myself up
+after Peter, and sank down thoroughly worn out upon the brink.
+
+"It now wanted but little before daybreak would be upon us.  As I
+gathered myself up for a last effort, I remembered that amid the
+growth into which we were now to plunge, stood the tree of seven
+trunks which was to be my mark.  But my chance was small of noting it
+by the light of these flaring torches that distorted every object,
+and wreathed each tree into a thousand fantastic shapes.  Plainly I
+must stake my hopes on the descent next day; at any rate, I would
+scale the summit before I began my search.
+
+"We had plunged into the thicket of rhododendrons, whose crimson
+flowers showed oddly against the torches' gleam, and I was busy with
+these thoughts, when suddenly my ankle gave way, and I fell heavily
+forward.  My two guides were beside me in an instant, and had me on
+my feet again.
+
+"'All's good,' said Peter, 'but lucky it not happen otherwhere.
+Only take care for last chain.  But what bad with him?'
+
+"He might well ask; for there, full in front of my eyes that strained
+and doubted, glimmered a huge trunk cleft into seven--yes, seven--
+branches that met again and disappeared in a mass of black foliage.
+It was my father's tree.
+
+"So far then the parchment had not lied.  Here was the tree,
+'noticeable and not to be missed,' and barely thirty-two paces from
+the spot where I was standing lay the key to the treasure which I had
+travelled this weary distance to seek.  But the time for search had
+not yet come.  By the clear light of day and alone I must explore the
+secret.  It would keep for a few hours longer.
+
+"Dismissing my pre-occupied manner which had caused no small
+astonishment to Peter and Paul, I fixed the position of the tree as
+firmly as I could in my mind, and gave the word to advance.
+
+"We then continued in the same order as before, whilst, to make
+matters sure, I counted our steps.  I had reached six hundred and
+twenty-though when I considered the darkness and the rough path I
+reflected that this was but little help--when we arrived at the
+second set of chains.  My foot was already beginning to give me pain,
+but under any circumstances this would have been by far the worst of
+the ascent.  All around us stretched darkness void and horrible,
+leading, for all that we could see, down through veils of curling
+mist into illimitable depths.  In front the rock was almost
+perpendicular.  The fascination of gazing down was wellnigh
+resistless, but Peter ahead continually cried 'Hurry!' and the voice
+of Paul behind repeated 'Hurry!' so that panting, gasping, and fit to
+faint, with fingers clinging to the chain until the skin was
+blistered, with every nerve throbbing and every muscle strained to
+its utmost tension, I clambered, clambered, until with one supreme
+effort I swung myself up to the brink, staggered rather than ran up
+the last few feet of rock, and as my guides bent and with
+outstretched palms raised the cry '_Saadoo! Saadoo!_' I fell
+exhausted before the very steps of Buddha's shrine.
+
+"When I recovered, I saw just above me the open shrine perched on a
+tiny terrace and surrounded by low walls of stone; a yard or two from
+me the tiny hut in which its guardians live; and all around the
+expanse of sky.  Dawn was stealing on; already its pale light was
+creeping up the east, and a bar or two of vivid fire proclaimed the
+coming of the sun.  The priests were astir to receive the early
+pilgrims, and as Paul led me to the edge of the parapet I could see
+far away below the torches of the new-comers dotted in thin lines of
+fire down the mountain-side.  Some pilgrims had arrived before us,
+and stood shivering in their thin white garments about the summit.
+
+"Presently the distant sound of measured chanting came floating up on
+the tranquil air, sank and died away, and rose again more loudly.
+Paler and paler grew the heavens, nearer and nearer swept the
+chanting; and now the first pilgrim swung himself up into our view,
+quenched his torch and bowed in homage.  Others following did the
+same, all adoring, until the terrace was crowded with worshippers
+gazing eager and breathless into the far east, where brighter and
+brighter the crimson bars of morning were widening.
+
+"Then with a leap flashed up the sun, the dazzling centre of a flood
+of golden light.  Godlike and resplendent he rode up on wreaths of
+twirling-mist, and with one stroke sent the shadows quivering back to
+the very corners of heaven.  As the blazing orb topped the horizon,
+every head bent in worship, every hand arose in welcome, every voice
+broke out in trembling adoration, '_Saadoo! Saadoo!_'  Even I, the
+only European there, could not forbear from bowing my head and
+lifting up my hands, so carried away was I with the aching fervour of
+this crowd.  There they stood and bent until the whole fiery ball was
+clear, then turning, paced to the sound of chanting up the rough
+steps and laid their offerings on the shrine.  Thrice at each new
+offering rang out a clattering gong, and the worshipper stepped
+reverently back to make way for another; while all the time the
+newly-risen sun blazed aslant on their robes of dazzling whiteness.
+
+"As I stood watching this strange scene, Peter plucked me by the
+sleeve and pointed westward.  I looked, and all the wonders I had yet
+viewed became as nothing.  For there, disregarded by the crowd, but
+plain and manifest, rose another Peak, graven in shadow upon the
+western sky.  Bold and confronting, it soared into heaven and, whilst
+I gazed in silent awe, came striding nearer through the void air,
+until it seemed to sweep down upon me--and was gone!  For many a day
+had the shadow of this mighty cone lain upon my soul; here, on the
+very summit, that shadow took visible form and shape, then paled into
+the clear blue.  Has its invisible horror left me now at last?
+I doubt it.
+
+"But by this time the sun was high, and the last pilgrim with a
+lingering cry of '_Saadoo!_' was leaving the summit.  So, although
+my ankle was now beginning to give me exquisite pain, I gave the
+order to return.  Before leaving, however, I looked for a moment at
+the sacred footprint, to my mind the least of the wonders of the
+Peak, and resembling no foot that ever I saw.  We had gone but a few
+steps when I plainly guessed from the state of my ankle that our
+descent would be full of danger, but the guides assured me of their
+carefulness; so once more we attacked the chains.
+
+"How we got down I shall never fully know; but at last and after
+infinite pain we stood at the foot of the cliff and entered the
+forest of rhododendrons.  And here, to the wild astonishment of my
+guides who plainly thought me mad, I bade them leave me and proceed
+ahead, remaining within call.  They were full of protestations and
+dismay, but I was firm.  Trusty they might be, but it was well in
+this matter to distrust everything and everybody.  Finally,
+therefore, they obeyed, and I sat watching until their white-clad
+forms disappeared in the thicket.
+
+"As soon as I judged them to have gone a sufficient distance, I arose
+and followed, cautiously counting my footsteps.  But this was
+needless; my father had described the tree as 'noticeable and not to
+be missed,' nor was he wrong.  Barely had I counted five hundred
+paces when it rose into view, uncouth and monstrous.  All around it
+spread the crimson blossoms of huge rhododendrons; but this strange
+tree was at once unlike any of its fellows and of a kind altogether
+unknown to me.  Its roots were partly bare, and writhed in fantastic
+coils across the track.  Above these rose and spread its seven trunks
+matted with creepers, and then united about four feet below the point
+where the branches began.  Its foliage was of a dark, glossy green,
+particularly dense, and its height, as I should judge, some sixty
+feet.
+
+"Taking out my compass, I started from the left-hand side of the
+narrow track, and at a right angle to it.  The undergrowth gave me
+much trouble, and once I had to make a circuit round a huge
+rhododendron; but I fought my way through, and after going, as I
+reckoned, thirty-two paces, pulled up full in front of--another
+rhododendron.
+
+"There must be some mistake.  My father had spoken of a 'stone shaped
+like a man's head,' but said nothing of a rhododendron tree, and
+indeed this particular tree was in nowise different from its
+companions.  I looked around; took a few steps to the right, then to
+the left; went round the tree; walked back a few paces; returned to
+the tree to see if it concealed anything; then sought the track to
+begin my measurement afresh.
+
+"I was just starting again in a very discomposed mood, when a thought
+struck me.  I had been behaving like a fool.  The parchment said
+'at a right angle to the left-hand edge of the track.'  I had started
+from my left hand, but I was descending the mountain, whereas the
+directions of course supposed the explorer to be ascending.
+Almost ready to laugh at my stupidity, I tried again.
+
+"Facing round, I got the needle at an angle of ninety degrees, and
+once more began counting.  My heart was beginning to beat quickly by
+this time, and I felt myself trembling with excitement.  The course
+was now more easily followed.  True, the growth was as thick as ever,
+but no rhododendrons blocked my passage.  Beating down the creepers
+that swung across my face, twined around my legs, and caught at my
+cap, I measured thirty-two paces as nearly as I could, and then
+stopped.
+
+"Before me was a patch of velvet grass, some twelve feet square and
+bare of the undergrowth that crowded elsewhere; but not a trace of a
+stone.  I looked right and left, crossed the tiny lawn, peered all
+about, but still saw nothing at all resembling what I sought.
+
+"As it began to dawn on me that all my hopes had been duped, my
+journey vain, and my father's words an empty cheat, a sickening
+despair got hold of me.  My knees shook together, and big drops of
+sweat gathered on my forehead.  I roused myself and searched again;
+again I was baffled.  Distractedly I beat the bushes round and round
+the tiny lawn, then flung myself down on the turf and gave way to my
+despair.  To this, then, it had all come; this was the end for which
+I had abandoned my wife and child; this the treasure that had dangled
+so long before my eyes.  Fool that I had been!  I cursed my madness
+and the hour when I was born; never before had I heartily despised
+myself, never until now did I know how the lust for this treasure had
+eaten into my soul.  The secret, if secret indeed there were, and all
+were not a lie, was in the keeping of the silent Peak.
+
+"I almost wept with wrath.  I tore the turf in my frenzy, and felt as
+one who would fain curse God and die.  But after a while my passion
+spent itself.  I sat up and reflected that after all my first
+direction might have been the right one; at any rate, I would try it
+again and explore it thoroughly.  The instructions were precise, and
+had been confirmed in the matter of the tree.  Evidently the person
+that wrote them had been upon the Peak, and what, if they were lies,
+was to be gained by the cheat?
+
+"I pulled out the parchment again and read it through; then started
+to my feet with fresh energy.  I was just leaving the little lawn and
+returning down my path, when it struck me that the bush on my left
+hand was of a curious shape.  It seemed a mere tangled knot of
+creepers covered with large white blossom, and rose to about my own
+height.  Carelessly I thrust my stick into the mass, when its point
+jarred upon--stone!
+
+"Yes, stone!  In a moment my knife was out and I was down on hands
+and knees cutting and tearing at the tendrils.  Some of them were
+full three inches thick, but I slashed and tugged, with breath that
+came and went immoderately fast, with bleeding hands and thumping
+heart, until little by little the stone was bared and its outlines
+revealed themselves.
+
+"But as they grew distinct and I saw what I had uncovered, I fell
+back in terror.  The stone was about five feet ten inches in height,
+and was roughly shaped to represent a human head and neck.  But the
+face it was that froze my heated blood in horror.  Never until I die
+shall I forget that hellish expression.  It was the smoothly-shaven
+face of a man of about fifty years of age, roughly carved after the
+fashion of many of the ruins on this mountain.  But whoever fashioned
+it, the artist must have been a fiend.  If ever malignant hate was
+expressed in form, it stood before me.  Even the blank pupils made
+the malevolence seem but the more undying.  Every feature, every line
+was horrible, every touch of the chisel had added a fresh grace of
+devilish spite.  It was simply Evil petrified.
+
+"As this awful face, bared of the innocent creeper that for years had
+shrouded its ugliness from the light of day, confronted me, a feeling
+of such repulsion overcame me that for several minutes I could not
+touch it.  The neck was loosely set in a sort of socket fixed in the
+earth; this was all the monster's pedestal.  I saw that it barely
+needed a man's strength to send it toppling over.  Yet for a moment I
+could summon up none.  At length I put my hands to it and with an
+effort sent it crashing over amid the brushwood.
+
+"The trough in which this colossal head had rested was about four
+feet in depth, and narrowed towards the bottom.  I put down my hand
+and drew out--a human thigh-bone.  The touch of this would have
+turned me sick again, had not the statue's face already surfeited me
+with horror.  As it was, I was nerved for any sight.  The passion of
+my discovery was upon me, and I tossed the mouldering bones out to
+right and left.
+
+"But stay.  There seemed a great many in the trough.  Surely this was
+the third thigh-bone that I held now in my hand.  Yes, and below,
+close to the bottom of the trough, lay two skulls side by side.
+There were two, then, buried here.  The parchment had only spoken of
+one.  But I had no time to consider about this.  What I sought now
+was the Secret, and as I took up the second skull I caught the gleam
+of metal underneath it.  I put in my hand and drew out a Buckle of
+Gold.
+
+"This buckle is formed of two pieces, bound to either end of a thin
+belt of rotten linen, and united by hook and socket.  Its whole
+dimensions are but 3 inches by 2 inches, but inside its curiously
+carved border it is entirely covered with writing in rude English
+character.  The narrowing funnel of the trough had kept it from being
+crushed by the statue, which fitted into a rim running round the
+interior.  Beyond the buckle and the two skeletons there was nothing
+in the trough; but I looked for nothing else.  Here, in my hands, lay
+the secret of the Great Ruby of Ceylon; my fingers clutched the
+wealth of princes.  My journey had ended and the riches of the earth
+were in my grasp.
+
+"Forgetful of my guides, forgetful of the flight of time, mindful of
+nothing but the Golden Buckle, I sat down by the rim of the trough
+and began to decipher the writing.  The inscription, as far as I
+could gather, ran right across the clasp.  It could be read easily
+enough and contained accurate directions for searching in some spot,
+but where that spot was it did not reveal.  It might be close to the
+statue; and I was about to start up and make the attempt when I
+thought again of the parchment.  Pulling it from my pocket, I read:
+'_ . . . beneath this stone lies the secret of the Great Ruby; and
+yet not all, for the rest is graven on the Key which shall be already
+entrusted to you.  These precautions have I taken that none may
+surprise this Secret but its right possessor. . . ._'
+
+"Now my father's Will had expressly enjoined, on pain of his dying
+curse, that this key should not be moved from its place until the
+Trenoweth who went to seek the treasure should have returned and
+crossed the threshold of Lantrig.  Consequently the ruby was not
+buried on Adam's Peak, or to return for the key would have been so
+much labour wasted.  Consequently, also, the Golden Buckle was
+valueless to anybody but him who knew the rest of my father's
+injunctions.  Although not yet in my hand, the Great Ruby was mine.
+I was folding up the buckle with the parchment before rejoining the
+guides, when a curious thing happened.
+
+"The sun had climbed high into heaven whilst I was absorbed in my
+search, and was now flooding the little lawn with light.  In my
+excitement I had heard and seen nothing, nor noted that the heat was
+growing unbearable beneath the vertical rays.  But as I was folding
+up the parchment a black shadow suddenly fell across the page.
+I started and looked up.
+
+"Above me stood Simon Colliver.
+
+"He was standing in the broad light of the sun and watching me
+intently, with a curious smile which grew as our eyes met.  How long
+he had been there I could not guess, but the strangeness of meeting
+him on this spot, and the occupation in which I was surprised,
+discomposed me not a little.  Hastily thrusting back the buckle and
+the parchment into my pocket, I scrambled to my feet and stood facing
+him.  Even as I did so, all Mr. Sanderson's warnings came flashing
+into my mind.
+
+"For full a minute we stood confronting each other without a word.
+He was still standing in the full blaze of the sunlight, with the
+same odd smile upon his face, and a peculiar light in his dark eyes
+that never swerved for a moment.  Finally he gave a low laugh and
+nodding lightly, said--
+
+"'Odd thing our meeting like this, eh?  Hand of Fate or some such
+thing might be mixed up in it from the way we run across each other's
+path.'
+
+"I assented.
+
+"'Queer too, you'll allow, that we should both be struck with the
+fancy for ascending this mountain.  Very few Europeans do it, so I'm
+told.  I'm on my way up, are you?  No?  Coming down and taking things
+easily, to judge by the way I found you occupied.'
+
+"Was the man mocking me?  Or had he, after all, no suspicions?
+His voice was soft and pleasant as ever, nor could I detect a trace
+of irony in its tone.  But I was on my guard.
+
+"'This Peak seems strewn with the handiwork of the heathen,' he
+continued.  'But really you seem to be in luck's way.  I congratulate
+you.  What's this?  Skeletons, eh?  Upon my word, Trenoweth, you've
+unearthed a treasure.  And this?  A statue?  Well, it's a queer place
+to come hunting for statues, but you've picked up an ugly-looking
+beggar in all conscience!'
+
+"He had advanced to the head, which lay in the rank herbage staring
+up in hideous spite to heaven.  Presently he turned to me and said--
+
+"'Well, this is very remarkable.  The fellow who carved this seems to
+have borrowed my features--not very complimentary of him, I must say.
+Don't you see the likeness?'
+
+"It was solemn truth.  Feature by feature that atrocious face was
+simply a reproduction of Colliver's.  As I stared in amazement, it
+seemed more and more marvellous that I had not noticed the
+resemblance before.  True, each feature was distorted and exaggerated
+to produce the utter malignity of its expression.  But the face was
+the face of Colliver.  Nobody could have called him a handsome man,
+but before this I had found Colliver not unpleasant to look upon.
+Now the hate of the statue's face seemed to have reflected itself
+upon him.  I leant against a tree for support and passed my hand
+across my brow as if to banish a fearful dream.  But it was no dream,
+and when he turned to speak again I could see lurking beneath the
+assumed expression of the man all the evil passions and foul
+wickedness engraved upon the stone.
+
+"'Well,' he remarked, 'stranger things than this have happened, but
+not much.  You seem distressed, Trenoweth.  Surely I, if any one,
+have the right to be annoyed.  But you let your antiquarian zeal
+carry you too far.  It's hardly fair to dig these poor remains from
+their sepulchre and leave them to bleach beneath this tropical sun,
+even in the interest of science.'
+
+"With this he knelt down and began to gather--very reverently, as I
+thought--the bones into a heap, and replace them in their tomb.
+This done, he kicked up a lump or two of turf from the little lawn
+and pressed it down upon them, humming to himself all the while.
+Finally he rose and turned again towards me--
+
+"'You'll excuse me, Trenoweth.  It's sentimental, no doubt, but I
+have conceived a kind of respect for these remains.   Suppose, for
+example, this face was really a portrait of one of this buried pair.
+Why, then the deceased was very like me.  I forgive him for
+caricaturing my features now; were he alive, it might be different.
+But this place is sufficiently out of the way to prevent the
+resemblance being noted by many.  By the way, I forgot to ask how you
+chanced on this spot.  For my part, I thought that I heard something
+moving in the thicket, so I followed the sound out of pure curiosity,
+and came upon you.  Well, well! it's a strange world; and it's a
+wonderful thought too, that this may be the grave of some primaeval
+ancestor of mine who roamed this Peak for his daily food--an ancestor
+of some importance too, in his day, to judge by the magnificence of
+his tomb.  A poet might make something out of this: to-day face to
+face with the day before yesterday.  But that's the beauty of
+archaeology.  I did not know it was a pursuit of yours, and am glad
+to see you are sufficiently recovered of your illness to take it up
+again.  Good-bye for the present.  I am obliged to be cautious in
+taking farewell of you, for we have such a habit of meeting
+unexpectedly.  So, as I have to be up and moving for the summit, I'll
+say 'Good-bye for the present.'  We may as well leave this image
+where it is; the dead won't miss it, and it's handy by, at any rate.
+_Addio_, Trenoweth, and best of luck to your future researches.'
+
+"He was gone.  I could hear him singing as he went a strange song
+which he had often sung on the outward voyage--
+
+    "'Sing hey! for the dead man's lips, my lads;
+      Sing ho! for the dead man's soul.
+      At his red, red lips. . . .'
+
+"The song died away in the distance before I moved.  I had hardly
+opened my lips during the interview, and now had much ado to believe
+it a reality.  But the newly-turfed grave was voucher enough for
+this.  A horror of the place seized me; I cast one shuddering look at
+the giant face and rushed from the spot, leaving the silent creepers
+to veil once more that awful likeness from the eyes of day.
+
+"As I emerged upon the track again I came upon Peter and Paul, who
+were seeking me high and low, with dismay written upon their faces.
+Excusing my absence as best I could, I declared myself ready, in
+spite of my ankle, to make all haste in the descent.  Of our journey
+down the Peak I need say little, except that, lame as I was, I
+surprised and exhausted my guides in my hurry.  Of the dangers and
+difficulties which had embarrassed our ascent I seemed to feel
+nothing.  Except in the cool of the forest, the heat was almost
+insufferable; but I would hear of no delay until we reached
+Ratnapoora.  Here, instead of returning as we had come, we took a
+boat down the Kalu-ganga river to Cattura, and thence travelled along
+the coast by Pantura to Colombo.
+
+"The object of my journey is now accomplished: and it only remains to
+hasten home with all speed.  But I am feeling strangely unwell as I
+write this.  My head has never fully recovered that blow at Bombay,
+and I think the hours during which I remained exposed to the sun's
+rays, by the side of that awful image, must have affected it.
+Or perhaps the fatigue of the journey has worn me out.  If I am going
+to sicken I must hide my secret.  It would be safer to bury it with
+the Journal, at any rate for the time, somewhere in the garden here.
+I have a tin box that will just answer the purpose.  My head is
+giving me agony.  I can write no more."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+CONTAINS THE THIRD AND LAST PART OF MY FATHER'S JOURNAL: SETTING
+FORTH THE MUTINY ON BOARD THE _BELLE FORTUNE_.
+
+"June 19th.--Strange that wherever I am hospitably entertained I
+recompense my host by falling ill in his house.  Since my last entry
+in this Journal I have been lying at the gate of death, smitten down
+with a sore sickness.  It seems that the long exposure and weariness
+of my journey to the Peak threw me into a fever: but of this I should
+soon have recovered, were it not for my head, which I fear will never
+be wholly right again.  That cowardly blow upon Malabar Hill has made
+a sad wreck of me; twice, when I seemed in a fair way to recovery,
+has my mind entirely given way.  Mr. Eversleigh, indeed, assures me
+that my life has more than once been despaired of--and then what
+would have become of poor Margery?  I hope I am thankful to God for
+so mercifully sparing my poor life, the more so because conscious how
+unworthy I am to appear before Him.
+
+"I trust I did not betray my secret in my wanderings.  Mr. Eversleigh
+tells me I talked the strangest stuff at times--about rubies and
+skeletons, and a certain dreadful face from which I was struggling to
+escape.  But the security of my Journal and the golden clasp, which I
+recovered to-day, somewhat reassures me.  I am allowed to walk in the
+garden for a short space every day, but not until to-day have I found
+strength to dig for my hoard.  I can hardly describe my emotions on
+finding it safe and sound.
+
+"Poor Margery!  How anxious she must be getting at my silence.
+I will write her to-morrow--at least I will begin my letter
+to-morrow, for I shall not have strength to finish it in one day.
+Even now I ought not to be writing, but I cannot forbear making an
+entry in my recovered Journal, if only to record my thankfulness to
+Heaven for my great deliverance.
+
+"June 22nd.--I have written to Margery, but torn the letter up on
+second thoughts, as I had better wait until I hear news of a vessel
+in which I can safely travel home.  Mr. Eversleigh (who is very kind
+to me, though not so hearty as Mr. Sanderson) will not hear of my
+starting in my present condition.  I wonder in what part of the world
+Colliver is travelling now.
+
+"July 1st.--Oh, this weary waiting!  Shall I never see the shores of
+England again?  The doctor says that I only make myself worse with
+fretting; but it is hard to linger so--when at my journey's end lies
+wealth almost beyond the imagination, and (what is far more to me)
+the sight of my dear ones.
+
+"July 4th.--In answer to my entreaties, Mr. Eversleigh has consented
+to make inquiries about the homeward-bound vessels starting from
+Colombo.  The result is that he has at once allayed my impatience,
+and compassed his end of keeping me a little longer, by selecting--
+upon condition that I approve his choice--an East Indiaman due to
+sail in about a fortnight's time.  The name of the ship is the _Belle
+Fortune_, and of the captain, Cyrus Holding.  In spite of the name
+the ship is English, and is a barque of about 600 tons register.
+Her cargo consists of sugar and coffee, and her crew numbers some
+eighteen hands.  To-morrow I am going down with Mr. Eversleigh to
+inspect her, but I am prepared beforehand to find her to my liking.
+The only pity is that she does not start earlier.
+
+"July 6th.--Weak as I am, even yesterday's short excursion exhausted
+me, so that I felt unable to write a word last night.  I have been
+over the _Belle Fortune_, and am more than pleased, especially with
+her captain, whose honest face took my fancy at once.  I have a most
+comfortable cabin next to his set apart for me, at little cost, since
+it had been fitted up for a lady on the outward voyage: so that I
+shall still have a little money in pocket on my return, as my living,
+both here and at Bombay, has cost me nothing, and the doctor's bills
+have not exhausted my store.  I wrote to Margery to-day, making as
+light of my illness as I could, and saying nothing of the business on
+Malabar Hill.  That will best be told her when she has me home again,
+and can hold my hand feeling that I am secure.
+
+"July 8th.--I have been down again to-day to see the _Belle Fortune_.
+I forgot to say that she belongs to Messrs. Vincent and Hext, of
+Bristol, and is bound for that port.  The only other passengers are a
+Dr. Concanen and his wife, who are acquaintances of Mr. Eversleigh.
+Dr. Concanen is a physician with a good practice in Colombo, or was--
+as his wife's delicate health has forced him to throw up his
+employment here and return to England.  Mr. Eversleigh introduced me
+to them this morning on the _Belle Fortune_.  The husband is almost
+as tall as my host, and looks a man of great strength: Mrs. Concanen
+is frail and worn, but very lovely.  To-day she seemed so ill that I
+offered to give up my cabin, which is really much more comfortable
+than theirs.  But she would not hear of it, insisting that I was by
+far the greater invalid, and that a sailing vessel would quickly set
+her right again--especially a vessel bound for England.  Altogether
+they promise to be most pleasant companions.  I forgot to say that
+Mrs. Concanen is taking a native maid home to act as her nurse.
+
+"July 11th.--We start in a week's time.  I had a long talk with
+Captain Holding to-day; he hopes to make a fairly quick passage, but
+says he is short of hands.  I have not seen the Concanens since.
+
+"July 16th.--We sail to-morrow afternoon.  I have been down to make
+my final preparations, and find my cabin much to my liking.
+Captain Holding is still short of hands.
+
+"July 17th., 7.30 p.m.--We cast off our warps shortly after four
+o'clock, and were quickly running homeward at about seven knots an
+hour.  The Concanens stood on deck with me watching Ceylon grow dim
+on the horizon.  As the proud cone of Adam's Peak faded softly and
+slowly into the evening mist, and so vanished, as I hope, for ever
+out of my life, I could not forbear returning thanks to Providence,
+which has thus far watched over me so wonderfully.  There is a fair
+breeze, and the hands, though short, do their work well to all
+appearances.  There were only fifteen yesterday, three having been
+missed for about a week before we sailed; but I have not yet seen
+Captain Holding to ask him if he made up his number of hands at the
+last moment.  Mrs. Concanen has invited me to their cabin to have a
+chat about England.
+
+"July 18th.--I am more disturbed than I care to own by a very curious
+discovery which I made this morning.  As I issued on deck I saw a man
+standing by the forecastle, whose back seemed familiar to me.
+Presently he turned, and I saw him to be Simon Colliver.  He has most
+strangely altered his appearance, being dressed now as a common
+sailor, and wearing rings in his ears as the custom is.  Catching
+sight of me, he came forward with a pleasant smile and explained
+himself.
+
+"'It is no manner of use, Trenoweth; we're fated to meet.  You did
+not expect to see me here in this get-up; but I learnt last night you
+were on board.  You look as though you had seen a ghost!  Don't stare
+so, man--I should say 'sir' now, I suppose--it's only another of
+fortune's rubs.  I fell ill after that journey to the Peak, and
+although Railton nursed me like a woman--he's a good fellow, Railton,
+and not as rough as you would expect--I woke up out of my fever at
+last to find all the money gone.  I'm a fellow of resource,
+Trenoweth, so I hit on the idea of working my passage home; by good
+luck found the _Belle Fortune_ was short of hands, offered my
+services, was accepted--having been to sea before, you know--sold my
+old clothes for this costume--must dress when one is acting a part--
+and here I am.'
+
+"'Is Railton with you?' I asked.
+
+"'Oh, yes, similarly attired.  I did not see you yesterday, being
+busy with the cargo, so that it's all the more pleasant to meet here.
+But work is the order of the day now.  You'll give me a good
+character to the captain, won't you?  Good-bye for the present.'
+
+"I cannot tell how much this meeting has depressed me.  Certainly I
+have no reason for disbelieving the man's story, but the frequency
+and strangeness of our meetings make it hard to believe them
+altogether accidental.  I saw Railton in the afternoon: he is greatly
+altered for the worse, and, I should think, had been drinking heavily
+before he shipped; but the captain was evidently too short of hands
+to be particular.  I think I will give the Concanens my tin box to
+hide in their cabin.  Of course I can trust them, and this will
+baffle theft; the clasp I will wear about me.  This is a happy idea;
+I will go to their cabin now and ask them.  It is 9.30 p.m., and the
+wind is still fair, I believe.
+
+"July 20th.--We have so far kept up an average speed of seven and a
+half knots an hour, and Captain Holding thinks we shall make even
+better sailing when the hands are more accustomed to their work.
+I spend my time mostly with the Concanens--who readily, by the way,
+undertook the care of my tin box--and find them the most agreeable of
+fellow-travellers.  Mrs. Concanen has a very sweet voice, and her
+husband has learnt to accompany it on the guitar, so that altogether
+we spend very pleasant evenings.
+
+"July 21st, 22nd, 23rd.--The weather is still beautiful, and the
+breeze steady.  Last night, at about six in the evening, it freshened
+up, and we ran all night under reefed topsails in expectation of a
+squall; but nothing came of it.  I trust the wind will last, not only
+because it brings me nearer home, but also because without it the
+heat would be intolerable.  The mention of home leads me to say that
+Mrs. Concanen was most sympathetic when I spoke of Margery.  It is
+good to be able to talk of my wife to this kind creature, and she is
+so devoted to her husband that she plainly finds it easy to
+sympathise.  They are a most happy couple.
+
+"July 24th.--Our voyage, hitherto so prosperous, has been marred
+to-day by a sad accident.  Mr. Wilkins, the mate, was standing almost
+directly under the mainmast at about 4.30 this afternoon, when
+Railton, who was aloft, let slip a block, which descended on the
+mate's head, striking it with fearful force and killing him
+instantly.  He was an honest, kindly man, to judge from the little I
+have seen of him, and, as Captain Holding assures me, an excellent
+navigator.  Poor Railton was dreadfully upset by the effects of his
+clumsiness; although I dislike the man, I have not the heart to blame
+him when I see the contrition upon his face.
+
+"July 25th, midnight.--We buried Wilkins to-day.  Captain Holding
+read the burial service, and was much affected, for Wilkins was a
+great friend of his; we then lowered the body into the sea.  I spent
+the evening with the Concanens, the captain being on deck and too
+depressed to receive consolation.  Nor was it much better with us in
+the cabin.  Although we tried to talk we were all depressed and
+melancholy, and I retired earlier than usual to write my Journal.
+
+"July 26th to August 4th.--There has been nothing to record.
+The wind has been fair as yet throughout, though it dropped yesterday
+(Aug. 3rd), and we lay for some hours in a dead calm.  We have
+recovered our spirits altogether by this time.
+
+"August 5th.--One of our hands, Griffiths, fell overboard to-day and
+was drowned.  He and Colliver were out upon the fore-yard when
+Griffiths slipped, and missing the deck, fell clear into the sea.
+The captain was below at the time, but rushed upon deck on hearing
+Colliver's alarm of 'Man overboard!'  It was too late, however.
+The vessel was making eight knots an hour at the time, and although
+it was immediately put about, there was not the slightest hope of
+finding the poor fellow.  Indeed, we never saw him again."
+
+[At this point the Journal becomes strangely meagre, consisting
+almost entirely of disconnected jottings about the weather, while
+here and there occurs merely a date with the latitude and longitude
+entered opposite.  Only two entries seem of any importance: one of
+August 20th, noting that they had doubled the Cape, and a second
+written two days later and running as follows:--]
+
+"August 22nd.--Dr. Concanen came into my cabin early this morning and
+told me that his wife had just given birth to a son.  He seemed
+prodigiously elated; and I congratulated him heartily, as this is the
+first child born to them.  He stayed but a moment or so with me, and
+then went back to attend to his wife.  I spent most of the day on
+deck with Captain Holding, who is unceasingly vigilant now.
+Wind continues steadily S.E."
+
+[After this the record is again scanty, but among less important
+entries we found the following:--]
+
+"August 29th.--Mrs. Concanen rapidly recovering The child is a fine
+boy: so, at least, the doctor says, though I confess I should have
+thought it rather small.  However, it seems able to cry lustily.
+
+"Sept. 6th.--Sighted Ascension Island.
+
+"Sept. 8th, 9th.--Wind dropping off and heat positively stifling.
+A curious circumstance occurred today (the 9th), which shows that I
+did well to be careful of my Journal.  I was sitting on deck with the
+Concanens, beneath an awning which the doctor has rigged up to
+protect us from the heat, when our supply of tobacco ran short.
+As I was descending for more I met Colliver coming out of my cabin.
+He was rather disconcerted at seeing me, but invented some trivial
+excuse about fetching a thermometer which Captain Holding had lent
+me.  I am confident now that he was on the look-out for my papers,
+the more so as I had myself restored the thermometer to the captain's
+cabin two days ago.  It is lucky that I confided my papers to the
+Concanens.  As for Railton, the hangdog look on that man's face has
+increased with his travels.  He seems quite unable to meet my eye,
+and returns short, surly answers if questioned.  I cannot think his
+dejection is solely due to poor Wilkins' death, for I noticed
+something very like it on the outward voyage."
+
+[Here follow a few jottings on weather and speed, which latter--with
+the exception of five days during which the vessel lay becalmed--
+seems to have been very satisfactory.  On the 17th they caught a
+light breeze from N.E., and on the 19th passed Cape Verde.
+Soon after this the Journal becomes connected again, and so
+continues.]
+
+"Sept. 24th.--Just after daybreak, went on deck, and found Captain
+Holding already there.  This man seems positively to require no
+sleep.  Since Wilkins' death he has managed the navigation almost
+entirely alone.  He seemed unusually grave this morning, and told me
+that four of the hands had been taken ill during the night with
+violent attacks of vomiting, and were lying below in great danger.
+He had not seen the doctor yet, but suspected that something was
+wrong with the food.  At this point the doctor joined us and took the
+captain aside.  They conversed earnestly for about three minutes, and
+presently I heard the captain exclaiming in a louder tone, 'Well,
+doctor, of course you know best, but I can't believe it for all
+that.'  Shortly after the doctor went below again to look after his
+patients.  He was very silent when we met again at dinner, and I have
+not seen him since.
+
+"Sept. 25th.--One of the hands, Walters, died during the night in
+great agony.  We sighted the Peak of Teneriffe early in the
+afternoon, and I remained on deck with Mrs. Concanen, watching it.
+The doctor is below, analysing the food.  I believe he is completely
+puzzled by this curious epidemic.
+
+"Sept. 26th.--Wind N.E., but somewhat lighter.  Three more men seized
+last night with precisely the same symptoms.  With three deaths and
+five men ill, we are now left with but nine hands (not counting the
+captain) to work the ship.  Walters was buried to-day.  I learned
+from Mrs. Concanen that her husband has made a _post mortem_
+examination of the body.  I do not know what his conclusions are.
+
+"I open my Journal again to record another disquieting accident.
+It is odd, but I have missed one of the pieces of my father's clasp.
+I am positive it was in my pocket last night.  I now have an
+indistinct recollection of hearing something fall whilst I was
+dressing this morning, but although I have searched both cabin and
+state-room thoroughly, I can find nothing.  However, even if it has
+fallen into Colliver's hands, which is unlikely, he can make nothing
+of it, and luckily I know the words written upon it by heart.
+Still the loss has vexed me not a little.  I will have another search
+before turning in to-night.
+
+"Sept. 27th.--Wind has shifted to N.W.  The doctor was summoned
+during the night to visit one of the men taken ill two nights before.
+The poor fellow died before daybreak, and I hear that another is not
+expected to live until night.  The doctor has only been on deck for a
+few minutes to-day, and these he occupied in talk with the captain,
+who seems to have caught the prevailing depression, for he has been
+going about in a state of nervous disquietude all the afternoon.
+I expect that want of sleep is telling upon him at last.  The clasp
+is still missing.
+
+"Sept. 28th.--A rough day, and all hands busily engaged.  Wind mostly
+S.W., but shifted to due W. before nightfall.  Three of the invalids
+are better, but the other is still lying in a very critical state.
+
+"Sept. 29th, 30th, Oct. 1st, 2nd.--Weather squally, so that we may
+expect heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay.  All the invalids are by this
+time in a fair way of recovery, and one of them will be strong enough
+to return to work in a couple of days.  Doctor Concanen is still
+strangely silent, however, and the captain's cheerfulness seems quite
+to have left him.  Oh, that this gloomy voyage were over!
+
+"Oct. 3rd.--Weather clearer.  Light breeze from S.S.W.
+
+"Oct. 5th.--Let me roughly put down in few words what has happened,
+not that I see at present any chance of leaving this accursed ship
+alive, but in the hope that Providence may thus be aided--as far as
+human aid may go--in bringing these villains to justice, if this
+Journal should by any means survive me.
+
+"Last night, shortly before ten, I went at Doctor Concanen's
+invitation to chat in his cabin.  The doctor himself was busily
+occupied with some medical works, to which, as his wife assured me,
+he had been giving his whole attention of late.  But Mrs. Concanen
+and I sat talking together of home until close upon midnight, when
+the baby, who was lying asleep at her side, awoke and began to cry.
+Upon this she broke off her conversation and began to sing the little
+fellow to sleep.  'Home, Sweet Home' was the song, and at the end of
+the first verse--so sweetly touching, however hackneyed, to all
+situated as we--the doctor left his books, came over, and was
+standing behind her, running his hands, after a trick of his,
+affectionately through her hair, when the native nurse, who slept in
+the next cabin and had heard the baby crying, came in and offered to
+take him.  Mrs. Concanen, however, assured her that it was not
+necessary, and the girl was just going out of the door when suddenly
+we heard a scream and then the captain's voice calling, 'Trenoweth!
+Doctor!  Help, help!'
+
+"The doctor immediately rushed past the maid and up the companion.
+I was just following at his heels when I heard two shots fired in
+rapid succession, and then a heavy crash.  Immediately the girl fell
+with a shriek, and the doctor came staggering heavily back on top of
+her.  Quick as thought, I pulled them inside, locked the cabin door,
+and began to examine their wounds.  The girl was quite dead, being
+shot through the breast, while Concanen was bleeding terribly from a
+wound just below the shoulder: the bullet must have grazed his upper
+arm, tearing open the flesh and cutting an artery, passed on and
+struck the nurse, who was just behind.  Mrs. Concanen was kneeling
+beside him and vainly endeavouring to staunch the flow of blood.
+
+"Oddly enough, the attack, from whatever quarter it came, was not
+followed up; but I heard two more shots fired on deck, and then a
+loud crashing and stamping in the fore part of the vessel, and judged
+that the mutineers were battening and barricading the forecastle.
+I unlocked the door and was going out to explore the situation, when
+the doctor spoke in a weak voice--
+
+"'Quick, Trenoweth! never mind me.  I've got the main artery torn to
+pieces and can't last many more minutes--but quick for the captain's
+cabin and get the guns.  They'll be down presently, as soon as
+they've finished up there.'
+
+"Opening the door and telling Mrs. Concanen--who although white as a
+sheet never lost her presence of mind for a moment--to lock it after
+me, I stole along the passage, gained the captain's cabin, found two
+guns, a small keg of powder (to get at which I had to smash in a
+locker with the butt-end of one of the guns), and some large shot,
+brought I suppose for shooting gulls.
+
+"I found also a large packet of revolver cartridges, but no revolver;
+and it suddenly struck me that the shots already fired must have been
+from the captain's revolver, taken probably from his dead body.
+Yes, as I remembered the sound of the shots I was sure of it.
+The mutineers had probably no other ammunition, and so far I was
+their master.
+
+"Fearful that by smashing the locker I had made noise enough to be
+heard above the turmoil on deck, I returned swiftly and had just
+reached the door of Concanen's cabin, when I heard a shout above, and
+a man whom I recognised by the voice as Johnston, the carpenter, came
+rushing down the steps crying, 'Hide me, doctor, hide me!'  As Mrs.
+Concanen opened the door in answer to my call, another shot was
+fired, the man suddenly threw up his hands and we tumbled into the
+cabin together.  I turned as soon as I had locked and barricaded the
+door, and saw him lying on his face--quite dead.  He had been shot in
+the back, just below the shoulder-blades.
+
+"The doctor also was at his last gasp, and the floor literally swam
+with blood.  As we bent over him to catch his words he whispered,
+'It was Railton--that--I saw.  Good-bye, Alice,' and fell back a
+corpse.  I carried the body to a corner of the cabin, took off my
+jacket and covered up his face, and turned to Mrs. Concanen.  She was
+dry-eyed, but dreadfully white.
+
+"'Give me the guns,' she said quietly, 'and show me how to load
+them.'
+
+"I was doing so when I heard footsteps coming slowly down the
+companion.  A moment after, two crashing blows were struck upon the
+door-panel and Colliver's voice cried--
+
+"'Trenoweth, you dog, are you hiding there?  Give me up those papers
+and come out.'
+
+"For answer I sent a charge of shot through the cabin door, and in an
+instant heard him scrambling back with all speed up the stairs.
+
+"By this time it was about 3 a.m., and to add to the horrors of our
+plight the lamp suddenly went out and left us in utter darkness.
+I drew Mrs. Concanen aside--after strengthening the barricade about
+the door--put her and the child in a corner where she would be safe
+if they attempted to fire through the skylight, and then sat down
+beside her to consider.
+
+"If, as I suspected, the mutineers had only the revolver which they
+had taken from the captain, they had but one shot left, for I had
+already counted five, and it was not likely that Holding--who always,
+as I knew, carried some weapon with him--would have any loose
+cartridges upon him at a time when no one suspected the least danger.
+
+"Next, as to numbers.  Excluding Captain Holding--now dead--and
+including the cook I reckoned that there were fourteen hands on
+board.  Of these, five were sick and probably at this moment
+barricaded in the forecastle.  One, the carpenter, was lying here
+dead, and from the shriek which preceded the captain's cry, another
+had already been accounted for by the mutineers.
+
+"This reduced the number to eight.  The next question was, how many
+were the mutineers?  I had guessed at once that Colliver and Railton
+had a hand in the business, for (in addition to my previous distrust
+of the men) it was just upon midnight when we heard the first cry,
+that is to say, the time when the watch was changed, and I knew that
+these two belonged to the captain's watch.  But could they be alone?
+
+"It seemed impossible, and yet I knew no others among the crew to
+distrust, and certainly Davis, who was acting as mate at present,
+was, although an indifferent navigator, as true as steel.  Moreover,
+the fact that the mutineers' success in shooting the doctor had not
+been followed up, made my guess seem more likely.  Certainly Colliver
+and Railton were the only two of whom we could be sure as yet.
+Nevertheless the supposition was amazing.
+
+"I had arrived at this point in my calculations when a yell which I
+recognised, told me that they had caught Cox the helmsman and were
+murdering him.  After this came dead silence, which lasted all
+through the night.
+
+"I must hasten to conclude this, for we have no light in the cabin,
+and I am writing now by the faint evening rays that struggle in
+through the sky-light.  As soon as morning broke I determined to
+reconnoitre.  Cautiously removing the barricade, I opened the cabin
+door and stole up the companion ladder.  Arrived at the top I peered
+cautiously over and saw the mutineers sitting by the forward hatch,
+drinking.  They were altogether four in number--Colliver, Railton, a
+seaman called Rogerson, who had lately been punished by Captain
+Holding for sleeping when on watch, and the cook, a Chinaman.
+Rogerson was not with the rest, but had hold of the wheel and was
+steering.  The vessel at the time was sailing under crowded canvas
+before a stiff sou'-westerly breeze.  I kept low lest Rogerson should
+see me, but he was obviously more than half drunk, and was chiefly
+occupied in regarding his comrades with anything but a pleasant air.
+Just as I was drawing a beautiful bead however, and had well covered
+Colliver, he saw me and gave the alarm; and immediately the three
+sprang to their feet and made for me, the Chinaman first.  Altering
+my aim I waited until he came close and then fired.  I must have hit
+him, I think in the ankle, for he staggered and fell with a loud cry
+about ten paces from me.  Seeing this, I made all speed again down
+the ladder, turning at the cabin door for a hasty shot with the
+second barrel, which, I think, missed.  The other two pursued me
+until I gained the cabin, and then went back to their comrade.
+The rest of the day has been quite quiet.  Luckily we have a large
+tin of biscuits in the cabin, so as far as food goes we can hold out
+for some time.  Mrs. Concanen and I are going to take turns at
+watching to-night.
+
+"Oct. 6th, 4 p.m.--At about 1.30 a.m.  I was sleeping when Mrs.
+Concanen woke me on hearing a noise by the skylight.  The mutineers,
+finding this to be the only point from which they could attack us
+with any safety, had hit upon the plan of lashing knives to the end
+of long sticks and were attempting to stab us with these clumsy
+weapons.  It was so dark that I could hardly see to aim, but a couple
+of shots fired in rapid succession drove them quickly away.  The rest
+of the night was passed quietly enough, except for the cries of the
+infant, which are very pitiable.  The day, too, has been without
+event, except that I have heard occasional sounds in the
+neighbourhood of the forecastle, which I think must come from the
+sick men imprisoned there, and attempting to cut their way out.
+
+"Oct. 7th.--We are still let alone.  Doubtless the mutineers think to
+starve us out or to lull us into a false security and catch us
+unawares.  As for starvation, the box of biscuits will last us both
+for a week or more; and they stand little chance of taking us by
+surprise, for one of us is always on the watch whilst the other
+sleeps.  They spent last night in drinking.  Railton's voice was very
+loud at times, and I could hear Colliver singing his infernal song--
+
+    "'Sing hey! for the dead man's lips, my lads.'
+
+"That man must be a fiend incarnate.  I have but little time to write,
+and between every word have to look about for signs of the mutineers.
+I wonder whither they are steering us.
+
+"Oct. 8th.--A rough day evidently, by the way in which the vessel is
+pitching, but I expect the crew are for the most part drunk.  We must
+find some way of getting rid of the dead bodies soon.  I hardly like
+to speak to Mrs. Concanen about it.  Words cannot express the
+admiration I feel for the pluck of this delicate woman.  She asked me
+to-day to show her how to use a gun, and I believe will fight to the
+end.  Her child is ailing fast, poor little man!  And yet he is
+happier than we, being unconscious of all these horrors.
+
+"Oct. 9th, 3.30 p.m.--Sick of this inaction I made another expedition
+up the companion to-day.  Rogerson was steering, and Railton standing
+by the wheel talking to him.  He had a bottle in his hand and seemed
+very excited.  I could not see Colliver at first, but on glancing up
+at the rigging saw a most curious sight.  There was a man on the
+main-top, the boatswain, Kelly, apparently asleep.  Below him
+Colliver was climbing up, knife in mouth, and was already within a
+couple of yards of him.  I fired and missed, but alarmed Kelly, who
+jumped up and seized a block which he had cut off to defend himself
+with.  At the same moment Railton and Rogerson made for me.  As I
+retreated down the ladder I stumbled, the gun went off and I think
+hit Rogerson, who was first.  We rolled down the stairs together, he
+on top and hacking at me furiously with a knife.  At this moment I
+heard the report of a gun, and my assailant's grasp suddenly relaxed.
+He fell back, tripping up Railton who was following unsteadily, and
+so giving me time to gain the cabin door, where Mrs. Concanen was
+standing, a smoking gun in her hand.  Before we could shut the door,
+however, Colliver, who by this time had gained the head of the
+stairs, fired, and she dropped backwards inside the cabin.
+Locking the door, I found her lying with a wound just below the
+heart.  She had just time to point to her child before she died.
+Was ever so ghastly a tragedy?
+
+"Oct. 10th.--Awake all night, trying to soothe the cries of the
+child, and at the same time keeping a good look-out for the
+mutineers.  The sea is terribly rough, and the poor corpses are being
+pitched from side to side of the cabin.  At midday I heard a cry on
+deck, and judged that Kelly had dropped from the rigging in pure
+exhaustion.  The noise in the forecastle is awful.  I think some of
+the men there must be dead.
+
+"Oct. 11th, 5 p.m.--The child is dying.  There is a fearful storm
+raging, and with this crew the vessel has no chance if we are
+anywhere near land.  God help--"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+TELLS OF THE WRITING UPON THE GOLDEN CLASP; AND HOW I TOOK DOWN THE
+GREAT KEY.
+
+So ended my father's Journal--in a silence full of tragedy, a silence
+filled in with the echo of that awful cry borne landwards on the
+wings of the storm; and now, in the presence of this mute witness,
+shaping itself into the single word "Murder."  Of the effect of the
+reading upon us, I need not speak at any length.  For the most part
+it had passed without comment; but the occasional choking of Uncle
+Loveday's voice, my own quickening breath as the narrative continued,
+and the tears that poured down the cheeks of both of us as we heard
+the simple loving messages for Margery--messages so vainly tender, so
+pitifully fond--were evidence enough of our emotion.
+
+I say that we both wept, and it is true.  But though, do what I
+could, my young heart would swell and ache until the tears came at
+times, yet for the most part I sat with cold and gathering hate.
+It was mournful enough when I consider it.  That the hand which
+penned these anxious lines should be cold and stiff, the ear for
+which they were so lovingly intended for ever deaf: that all the warm
+hopes should end beside that bed where husband and wife lay dead--
+surely this was tragic enough.  But I did not think of this at the
+time--or but dimly if at all.  Hate, impotent hate, was consuming my
+young heart as the story drew to its end; hate and no other feeling
+possessed me as Uncle Loveday broke abruptly off, turned the page in
+search of more, found none, and was silent.
+
+Once he had stopped for a moment to call for a candle.
+Mrs. Busvargus brought it, trimmed the wick, and again retired.
+This was our only interruption.  Joe Roscorla had not returned from
+Polkimbra; so we were left alone to the gathering shadows and the
+horror of the tale.
+
+When my uncle finished there was a long pause.  Finally he reached
+out his hand for his pipe, filled it, and looked up.  His kindly face
+was furrowed with the marks of weeping, and big tears were yet
+standing in his eyes.
+
+"Murdered," he said, "murdered, if ever man was murdered."
+
+"Yes," I echoed, "murdered."
+
+"But we'll have the villain," he exclaimed, bringing his fist down on
+the table with sudden energy.  "We'll have him for all his cunning,
+eh, boy?"
+
+"Not yet," I answered; "he is far away by this time.  But we'll have
+him: oh, yes, we'll have him."
+
+Uncle Loveday looked at me oddly for a moment, and then repeated--
+
+"Yes, yes, we'll have him safe enough.  Joe Roscorla must have given
+the alarm before he had time to go far.  And to think," he added,
+throwing up his hand, "that I talked to the villain only yesterday
+morning as though he were some unfortunate victim of the sea!"
+
+I am sure that my uncle was regretting the vast deal of very fine
+language he had wasted: and, indeed, he had seldom more nobly risen
+to an occasion.
+
+"Pearls, pearls before swine!  Swine did I say?  Snakes, if it's not
+an insult to a snake to give its name to such as Colliver.  What did
+you say, Jasper?"
+
+"We'll have him."
+
+"Jasper, my boy," said he, scanning me for a second time oddly,
+"maybe you'll be better in bed.  Try to sleep again, my poor lad--
+what do you think?"
+
+"I think," I answered, "that we have not yet looked at the clasp."
+
+"My dear boy, you're right: you're right again.  Let us look at it."
+
+The piece of metal resembled, as I have said, the half of a
+waist-buckle, having a socket but no corresponding hook.  In shape it
+was slightly oblong, being about 2 inches by one and a half inches.
+It glittered brightly in the candle's ray as Uncle Loveday polished
+it with his handkerchief, readjusted his spectacles, and bent over
+it.
+
+At the end of a minute he looked up, and said--
+
+"I cannot make head or tail of it.  It seems plain enough to read,
+but makes nonsense.  Come over here and see for yourself."
+
+I bent over his shoulder, and this is what I saw--
+
+The edge of the clasp was engraved with a border of flowers and
+beasts, all exquisitely small.  Within this was cut, by a much
+rougher hand, an inscription which was plain enough to read, though
+making no sense whatever.  The writing was arranged in five lines of
+three words apiece, and ran thus:--
+
+              MOON      END      SOUTH.
+              N.N.W.    22       FEET.
+              NORTH     SIDE     4.
+              DEEP      AT       POINT.
+              WATER     1.5      HOURS.
+
+I read the words a full dozen times, and then, failing of any
+interpretation, turned to Uncle Loveday--
+
+"Jasper," said he, "to my mind those words make nonsense."
+
+"And to mine, uncle."
+
+"Now attend to me, Jasper.  This is evidently but one half of the
+clasp which your father discovered.  That's as plain as daylight.
+The question is, what has become of the other half, of the hook that
+should fit into this eye? Now, what I want you to do is to try and
+remember if this was all that the man Railton gave you."
+
+"This was all."
+
+"You are quite certain?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"You did not leave the other piece behind in the cow-shed by any
+chance?"
+
+"No, for I looked at the packet before I hid it, and there was only
+one piece of metal."
+
+"Very well.  One half of the golden clasp being lost, the next
+question is, what has become of it?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"To this," said Uncle Loveday, bending forward over the table, "two
+answers are possible.  Either it lies at the bottom of the sea with
+the rest of the freight of the _Belle Fortune_, or it is in
+Colliver's possession."
+
+"It may lie beneath Dead Man's Rock, in John Railton's pocket," I
+suggested.
+
+"True, my boy, true; you put another case.  But anyhow it makes no
+difference.  If it lies at the bottom of the sea, whether in
+Railton's pocket or not, the secret is safe.  If it is in Colliver's
+possession the secret is safe, unless he has seen and learnt by heart
+this half of the inscription.  In any case, I am sorry to tell you--
+and this is what I was coming to--the secret is closed against us for
+the time."
+
+"That is not certain," said I.
+
+"Excuse me, Jasper, it is quite certain.  You admit yourself that
+this writing is nonsense.  Well and good.  But besides this, I would
+have you remember," pursued Uncle Loveday, turning once more to my
+father's Journal, "that Ezekiel expressly says, 'The inscription ran
+right across the clasp.'  It could be read easily enough and
+contained accurate directions for searching in some spot, but where
+that spot was it did not reveal--"
+
+"Quite so," I interrupted, "and that is just what we have to
+discover."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Why, by means of the key, as the parchment and the Will plainly
+show.  We may still be beaten, but even so, we shall know whereabouts
+to look, if we can only catch Colliver."
+
+"Bless the boy!" said Uncle Loveday, "he certainly has a head."
+
+"Uncle," continued I, rising to my feet, "the secret of the Great
+Ruby is written upon my grandfather's key.  That key was to be taken
+down when he that undertook the task of discovering the secret should
+have returned and crossed the threshold of Lantrig.  Uncle, my father
+has crossed the threshold of Lantrig--"
+
+"Feet foremost, feet foremost, my boy.  Oh, poor Ezekiel!"
+
+"Feet foremost, yes," I continued--"dead and murdered, yes.  But he
+has come: come to find my mother dead, but still he has come.
+Uncle, I am the only Trenoweth left to Lantrig; think of it, the only
+one left--"
+
+"Poor Ezekiel!  Poor Margery!"
+
+"Yes, uncle, and all I inherit is the knife that murdered my father,
+and this key.  I have the knife, and I will take down the key.
+We are not beaten yet."
+
+I drew a chair under the great beam, and mounted it.  When first my
+grandfather returned he had hung the iron key upon its hook, giving
+strict injunctions that no one should touch it.  There ever since it
+had hung, the centre of a host of spiders' webs.  Even my poor
+mother's brush, so diligent elsewhere, had never invaded this sacred
+relic, and often during our lonely winter evenings had she told me
+the story of it: how that Amos Trenoweth's dying curse was laid upon
+the person that should touch it, and how the spiders' days were
+numbered with every day that brought my father nearer home.
+
+There it hung now, scarcely to be seen for cobwebs.  Its hour had
+come at last.  Even as I stretched out my hand a dozen horrid things
+hurried tumultuously back into darkness.  Even as I laid my hand on
+it, a big ungainly spider, scared but half incredulous, started in
+alarm, hesitated, and finally made off at full speed for shelter.
+
+This, then, was the key that should unlock the treasure--this,
+that had from the first hung over us, the one uncleansed spot in
+Lantrig: this was the talisman--this grimy thing lying in my hand.
+The spiders had been jealous in their watch.
+
+Stepping down, I got a cloth and brushed away the cobwebs.  The key
+was covered thickly with rust, but even so I could see that something
+was written upon it.  For about a minute I stood polishing it, and
+then carried it forward to the light.
+
+Yes, there was writing upon it, both on the handle and along the
+shaft--writing that, as it shaped itself before my eyes, caused them
+to stare in wrathful incredulity, caused my heart to sink at first in
+dismay and then to swell in mad indignation, caused my blood to turn
+to gall and my thoughts to very bitterness.  For this was what I
+read:--
+
+On the handle were engraved in large capitals the initials A. T.
+with the date MDCCCXII.  Alone the shaft, from handle to wards, ran
+on either side the following sentence in old English lettering:--
+
+THY HOUSE IS SET UPON THE SANDS AND THY HOPES BY A DEAD MAN.
+
+This was all.  This short sentence was the sum of all the vain quest
+on which my father had met his end.  "Thy house is set upon the
+sands," and even now had crumbled away beneath Amos Trenoweth's curse
+"Thy hopes by a dead man," and even now he on whom our hopes had
+rested, lay upstairs a pitiful corpse.  Was ever mockery more
+fiendish?  As the full cruelty of the words broke in upon me, once
+again I seemed to hear the awful cry from the sea, but now among its
+voices rang a fearful laugh as though Amos Trenoweth's soul were
+making merry in hell over his grim jest--the slaughter of his son and
+his son's wife.
+
+White with desperate passion, I turned and hurled the accursed key
+across the room into the blazing hearth.
+
+END OF BOOK I.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II.
+
+
+
+
+THE FINDING OF THE GREAT RUBY.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+
+TELLS HOW THOMAS LOVEDAY AND I WENT IN SEARCH OF FORTUNE.
+
+Seeing that these pages do not profess to be an autobiography, but
+rather the plain chronicle of certain events connected with the Great
+Ruby of Ceylon, I conceive myself entitled to the reader's pardon if
+I do some violence to the art of the narrator, and here ask leave to
+pass by, with but slight allusion, some fourteen years.  This I do
+because the influence of this mysterious jewel, although it has
+indelibly coloured my life, has been sensibly exercised during two
+periods alone--periods short in themselves, but nevertheless long
+enough to determine between them every current of my destiny, and to
+supply an interpretation for my every action.
+
+I am the more concerned with advertising the reader of this, as on
+looking back upon what I have written with an eye as far as may be
+impartial, I have not failed to note one obvious criticism that will
+be passed upon me.  "How," it will be asked, "could any boy barely
+eight years of age conceive the thoughts and entertain the emotions
+there attributed to Jasper Trenoweth?"
+
+The criticism is just as well as obvious.  As a solitary man for ever
+brooding on the past, I will not deny that I may have been led to
+paint that past in colours other than its own.  Indeed, it would be
+little short of a miracle were this not so.  A morbid soul--and I
+will admit that mine is morbid--preying upon its recollections, and
+nourished on that food alone, cannot hope to attain the sense of
+proportion which is the proper gift of varied experience.  I readily
+grant, therefore, that the lights and shades on this picture may be
+wrong, as judged by the ordinary eye, but I do claim them to be a
+faithful reproduction of my own vision.  As I look back I find them
+absolutely truthful, nor can I give the lie to my own impressions in
+the endeavour to write what shall seem true to the rest of the world.
+
+This must be, therefore, my excuse for asking the reader to pass by
+fourteen years and take up the tale far from Lantrig.  But before I
+plunge again into my story, it is right that I should briefly touch
+on the chief events that occurred during this interval in my life.
+
+They buried my father and mother in the same grave in Polkimbra
+Churchyard.  I remember now that crowds of fisher-folk lined the way
+to their last resting-place, and a host, as it seemed to me, of
+tear-stained faces watched the coffins laid in the earth.  But all
+else is a blurred picture to me, as, indeed, is the time for many a
+long day after.
+
+Colliver was never found.  Captain Merrydew raised the hue and cry,
+but the sailor Georgio Rhodojani was never seen again from the moment
+when his evil face leered in through the window of Lantrig.  A reward
+was offered, and more than once Polkimbra was excited with the news
+of his arrest, but it all came to nothing.  Failing his capture,
+Uncle Loveday was wisely silent on the subject of my father's Journal
+and the secret of the Great Ruby.  He had not been idle, however.
+After long consultation with Aunt Elizabeth he posted off to Plymouth
+to gain news of Lucy Railton and her daughter, but without success.
+The "Welcome Home" still stood upon the Barbican, but the house was
+in possession of new tenants, and neither they nor their landlord
+could tell anything of the Railtons except that they had left
+suddenly about two months before (that being the date of the wreck of
+the _Belle Fortune_) after paying their rent to the end of the
+Christmas quarter.  The landlord could give no reasons for their
+departure--for the house had a fair trade--but supposed that the
+husband must have returned from sea and taken them away.
+Uncle Loveday, of course, knew better, but on this point held his
+peace.  The one result of all his inquiries was the certainty that
+the Railtons had vanished utterly.
+
+So Lantrig, for the preservation of which my father had given his
+life, was sold to strangers, and I went to live with Aunt and Uncle
+Loveday at Lizard Town.  The proceeds of the sale (and they were
+small indeed) Uncle Loveday put carefully by until such time as I
+should be cast upon the world to seek my fortune.  For twelve
+uneventful years my aunt fed me, and uncle taught me--being no mean
+scholar, especially in Latin, which tongue he took great pains to
+make me perfect in.  Thomas Loveday was my only companion, and soon
+became my dear friend.  Poor Tom!  I can see his handsome face before
+me now as it was in those old days--the dreamy eyes, the rare smile
+with its faint suggestion of mockery, the fair curls in which a
+breeze seemed for ever blowing, the pursed lips that had a habit of
+saying such wonderful things.  In my dreams--those few dreams of mine
+that are happy--we are always boys together, climbing the cliffs for
+eggs, or risking our lives in Uncle Loveday's boat--always boys
+together.  Poor Tom!  Poor Tom!
+
+So the unmarked time rolled on, until there came a memorable day in
+July on which I must touch for a moment.  It was evening.  I was
+returning with Tom to Lizard Town from Dead Man's Rock, where we had
+been basking all the sunny afternoon, Tom reading, and I simply
+staring vacantly into the heavens and wondering when the time would
+come that should set me free to unravel the mystery of this
+ill-omened spot.  Finally, after taking our fill of idleness, we
+bathed as the sun was setting; and I remember wondering, as I dived
+off the black ledge, whether beneath me there lay any relic of the
+_Belle Fortune_, any fragment that might preserve some record of her
+end.  I had dived here often enough, but found nothing, nor could I
+see anything to-day but the clean sand twinkling beneath its veil of
+blue, though here, as I guessed, must still lie the bones of John
+Railton.  But I must hasten.  We were returning over the Downs when
+suddenly I spied a small figure running towards us, and making
+frantic signals of distress.
+
+"That," said I, "from the shape of it, must be Joe Roscorla."
+
+And Joe Roscorla it was, only by no means the Joe Roscorla of
+ordinary life, but a galvanised and gesticulating Joe, whereas the
+Joe that we knew was of a lethargic bearing and slow habit of speech.
+Still, it was he, and as he came up to us he stayed all questioning
+by gasping out the word "Missus!" and then falling into a violent fit
+of coughing.
+
+"Well, what is amiss?" asked Tom.
+
+"Took wi' a seizure, an' maister like a thing mazed," blurted Joe,
+and then fell to panting and coughing worse than ever.
+
+"What! a seizure? paralysis do you mean?" I asked, while Tom turned
+white.
+
+"Just a seizure, and I ha'n't got time for no longer name.  But run
+if 'ee want to see her alive."
+
+We ran without further speech, Joe keeping at our side for a minute,
+but soon dropping behind and fading into distance.  As we entered the
+door Uncle Loveday met us, and I saw by his face that Aunt Elizabeth
+was dead.
+
+She had been in the kitchen busied with our supper, when she suddenly
+fell down and died in a few minutes.  Heart disease was the cause,
+but in our part people only die of three complaints--a seizure, an
+inflammation, or a decline.  The difference between these is purely
+one of time, so that Joe Roscorla, learning the suddenness of the
+attack, judged it forthwith a case of "seizure," and had so reported.
+
+My poor aunt was dead; and until now we had never known how we loved
+her.  Like so many of the Trenoweths she seemed hard and reserved to
+many, but we who had lived with her had learnt the goodness of her
+soul and the sincerity of her religion.  The grief of her husband was
+her noblest epitaph.
+
+He, poor man, was inconsolable.  Without his wife he seemed as one
+deprived of most of his limbs, and moved helplessly about, as though
+life were now without purpose.  Accustomed to be ruled by her at
+every turn, he missed her in every action of the day.  Very swiftly
+he sank, of no assigned complaint, and within six months was laid
+beside her.
+
+On his death-bed my uncle seemed strangely troubled about us.
+Tom was to be a doctor.  My destiny was not so certain; but already I
+had renounced in my heart an inglorious life in Lizard Town.
+I longed to go with Tom; in London, too, I thought I should be free
+to follow the purpose of my life.  But the question was, how should I
+find the money?  For I knew that the sum obtained by the sale of
+Lantrig was miserably insufficient.  So I sat with idle hands and
+waited for destiny; nor did I realise my helplessness until I stood
+in the room where Uncle Loveday lay dying.
+
+"Tom," said my uncle, "Tom, come closer."
+
+Tom bent over the bed.
+
+"I am leaving you two boys without friends in this world.  You have
+friends in Lizard Town, but Lizard Town is a small world, Tom.
+I ought to have sent you to London before, but kept putting off the
+parting.  If one could only foresee--could only foresee."
+
+He raised himself slightly on his elbow, and continued with pain--
+
+"You will go to Guy's, and Jasper, I hope, may go with you.
+Be friends, boys; you will want friendship in this world.  It will be
+a struggle, for there is barely enough for both.  But it is best to
+share equally; _she_ would have wished that.  She was always planning
+that.  I am doing it badly, I know, but she would have done it
+better."
+
+The chill December sun came stealing in and illumined the sick man's
+face with a light that was the shadow of heaven.  The strange doctor
+moved to the blind.  My uncle's voice arrested him--
+
+"No, no.  Leave it up.  You will have to pull it down very soon--only
+a few moments now.  Tom, come closer.  You have been a good boy, Tom,
+a good boy, though"--with a faint smile--"a little trying at times.
+Ah, but she forgave you, Tom.  She loved you dearly; she will tell me
+so--when we meet."
+
+My uncle's gaze began to wander, as though anticipating that meeting;
+but he roused himself and said--
+
+"Kiss me, Tom, and send Jasper to me."
+
+Bitterly weeping, Tom made room, and I bent over the bed.
+
+"Ah, Jasper, it is you.  Kiss me, boy.  I have been telling Tom that
+you must share alike.  God has been stern with you, Jasper, to His
+own good ends--His own good ends.  Only be patient, it will come
+right at the last.  How dark it is getting; pull up the blind."
+
+"The blind is up, uncle."
+
+"Ah, yes, I forgot.  I have often thought--do you remember that day--
+reading your father's paper--and the key?"
+
+"Yes, uncle."
+
+"I have often thought--about that key--which you flung into the
+fire--and I picked out--your father Ezekiel's key--keep it.
+Closer, Jasper, closer--"
+
+I bent down until my ear almost touched his lips.
+
+"I have--often--thought--we were wrong that night--and perhaps--
+meant--search--in . . ."
+
+For quite a minute I bent to catch the next word, then looking on his
+face withdrew my arm and laid the grey head back upon the pillow.
+
+My uncle was dead.
+
+
+So it happened that a few weeks after Tom and I, having found Uncle
+Loveday's savings equally divided between us, started from Lizard
+Town by coach to seek our fortunes in London.  In London it is that I
+must resume my tale.  Of our early mishaps and misadventures I need
+not speak, the result being discernible as the story progresses.
+We did not find our fortunes, but we found some wisdom.  Neither Tom
+nor I ever confessed to disappointment at finding the pavements of
+mere stone, but certainly two more absolute Whittingtons never trod
+the streets of the great city.
+
+But before I resume I must say a few words of myself.  No reader can
+gather the true moral of this narrative who does not take into
+account the effect which the cruel death of my parents had wrought on
+me.  From the day of the wreck hate had been my constant companion,
+cherished and nursed in my heart until it held complete mastery over
+all other passions.  I lived, so I told myself over and over again,
+but to avenge, to seek Simon Colliver high and low until I held him
+at my mercy.  Thousands of times I rehearsed the scene of our
+meeting, and always I held the knife which stabbed my father.  In my
+waking thoughts, in my dreams, I was always pursuing, and Colliver
+for ever fleeing before me.  In every crowd I seemed to watch for his
+face alone, at every street-corner to listen for his voice--that
+face, that voice, which I should know among thousands.  I had read
+De Quincey's "Opium-Eater," and the picture of his unresting search
+for his lost Ann somehow seized upon my imagination.  Night after
+night it was to Oxford Street that my devil drove me: night after
+night I paced the "never-ending terraces," as did the opium-eater, on
+my tireless quest--but with feelings how different!  To me it was but
+one long thirst of hatred, the long avenues of gaslight vistas of an
+avenging hell, all the multitudinous sounds of life but the chorus of
+that song to which my footsteps trod--
+
+    "Sing ho! but he waits for you."
+
+To London had Simon Colliver come, and somewhere, some day, he would
+be mine.  Until that day I sought a living face in a city of dead
+men, and down that illimitable slope to Holborn, and back again, I
+would tramp until the pavements were silent and deserted, then seek
+my lodging and throw myself exhausted on the bed.
+
+In a dingy garret, looking out, when its grimy panes allowed, above
+one of the many squalid streets that feed the main artery of the
+Strand, my story begins anew.  The furniture of the room relieves me
+of the task of word-painting, being more effectively described by
+catalogue, after the manner of the ships at Troy.  It consisted of
+two small beds, one rickety washstand, one wooden chair, and one tin
+candlestick.  At the present moment this last held a flickering dip,
+for it was ten o'clock on the night of May the ninth, eighteen
+hundred and sixty-three.  On the chair sat Tom, turning excitedly the
+leaves of a prodigiously imposing manuscript.  I was sitting on the
+edge of the bed nearest the candle, brooding on my hate as usual.
+
+Fortune had evidently dealt us some rough knocks.  We were dressed,
+as Tom put it, to suit the furniture, and did it to a nicety.
+We were fed, according to the same authority, above our income; but
+not often.  I also quote Tom in saying that we were living rather
+fast: we certainly saw no long prospect before us.  In short, matters
+had reached a crisis.
+
+Tom looked up from his reading.
+
+"Do you know, Jasper, I could wish that our wash-stand had not a
+hole cut in it to receive the basin.  It sounds hyper-critical.
+But really it prejudices me in the eyes of the managers.  There's a
+suspicious bulge in the middle of the paper that is damning."
+
+I was absorbed in my own thoughts, and took no notice.  Presently he
+continued--
+
+"Whittington is an overrated character, don't you think?  After all
+he owed his success to his name.  It's a great thing for struggling
+youth to have a three-syllabled name with a proparoxyton accent.
+I've been listening to the bells to-night and they can make nothing
+of Loveday, while as for Trenoweth, it's hopeless."
+
+As I still remained silent, Tom proceeded to announce--
+
+"The House will now go into the Question of Supply."
+
+"The Exchequer," I reported, "contains exactly sixteen and eightpence
+halfpenny."
+
+"Rent having been duly paid to-day and receipt given."
+
+"Receipt given," I echoed.
+
+"Really, when one comes to think of it, the situation is striking.
+Here are you, Jasper Trenoweth, inheritor of the Great Ruby of
+Ceylon, besides other treasure too paltry to mention, in danger of
+starving in a garret.  Here am I, Thomas Loveday, author of
+'Francesca: a Tragedy,' and other masterpieces too numerous to
+catalogue, with every prospect of sharing your fate.  The situation
+is striking, Jasper, you'll allow."
+
+"What did the manager say about it?" I asked.
+
+"Only just enough to show he had not looked at it.  He was more
+occupied with my appearance; and yet we agreed before I set out that
+your trousers might have been made for me.  They are the most
+specious articles in our joint wardrobe: I thought to myself as
+walked along to-day, Jasper, that after all it is not the coat that
+makes the gentleman--it's the trousers.  Now, in the matter of boots,
+I surpass you.  If yours decay at their present rate, your walks in
+Oxford Street will become a luxury."
+
+I was silent again.
+
+"I do not recollect any case in fiction of a man being baulked of his
+revenge for the want of a pair of boots.  Cheer up, Jasper, boy," he
+continued, rising and placing a hand on my shoulder.  "We have been
+fools, and have paid for it.  You thought you could find your enemy
+in London, and find the hiding-place too big.  I thought I could
+write, and find I cannot.  As for legitimate work, sixteen and
+eightpence halfpenny, even with economy, will hardly carry us on for
+three years."
+
+I rose.  "I will have one more walk in Oxford Street," I said,
+"and then come home and see this miserable farce of starvation out."
+
+"Don't be a fool, Jasper.  It is difficult, I know, to perish with
+dignity on sixteen and eightpence halfpenny: the odd coppers spoil
+the effect.  Still we might bestow them on a less squeamish beggar
+and redeem our pride."
+
+"Tom," I said, suddenly, "you lost a lot of money once over
+_rouge-et-noir_."
+
+"Don't remind me of that, Jasper."
+
+"No, no; but where did you lose it?"
+
+"At a gambling hell off Leicester Square.  But why--"
+
+"Should you know the place again?  Could you find it?"
+
+"Easily."
+
+"Then let us go and try our luck with this miserable sum."
+
+"Don't be a fool, Jasper.  What mad notion has taken you now?"
+
+"I have never gambled in my life," I answered, "and may as well have
+a little excitement before the end comes.  It's not much of a sum, as
+you say; but the thought that we are playing for life or death may
+make up for that.  Let us start at once."
+
+"It is the maddest folly."
+
+"Very well, Tom, we will share this.  There may be some little
+difficulty over the halfpenny, but I don't mind throwing that in.
+We will take half each, and you can hoard whilst I tempt fortune."
+
+"Jasper," said Tom, his eyes filling with tears, "you have said a
+hard thing, but I know you don't mean it.  If you are absolutely set
+on this silly freak, we will stand or fall together."
+
+"Very well," said I, "we will stand or fall together, for I am
+perfectly serious.  The six and eightpence halfpenny, no more and no
+less, I propose to spend in supper.  After that we shall be better
+prepared to face our chance.  Do you agree?"
+
+"I agree," said Tom, sadly.
+
+We took our hats, extinguished the candle, and stumbled down the
+stairs into the night.
+
+We ordered supper at an eating-house in the Strand, and in all my
+life I cannot recall a merrier meal than this, which, for all we
+knew, would be our last.  The very thought lent a touch of bravado to
+my humour, and presently Tom caught the infection.  It was not a
+sumptuous meal in itself, but princely to our ordinary fare; and the
+unaccustomed taste of beer loosened our tongues, until our mirth
+fairly astonished our fellow-diners.  At length the waiter came with
+the news that it was time for closing.  Tom called for the bill, and
+finding that it came to half-a-crown apiece, ordered two sixpenny
+cigars, and tossed the odd eightpence halfpenny to the waiter,
+announcing at the same time that this was our last meal on earth.
+This done, he gravely handed me four half-crowns, and rose to leave.
+I rose also, and once more we stepped into the night.
+
+Since the days of which I write, Leicester Square has greatly
+changed.  Then it was an intricate, and, by night, even a dangerous
+quarter, chiefly given over to foreigners.  As we trudged through
+innumerable by-streets and squalid alleys, I wondered if Tom had
+not forgotten his way.  At length, however, we turned up a blind
+alley, lit by one struggling gas-jet, and knocked at a low door.
+It was opened almost immediately, and we groped our way up another
+black passage to a second door.  Here Tom gave three knocks very loud
+and distinct.  A voice cried, "Open," the door swung back before us,
+and a blaze of light flashed in our faces.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+TELLS OF THE LUCK OF THE GOLDEN CLASP.
+
+As the door swung back I became conscious first of a flood of light
+that completely dazzled my eyes, next of the buzz of many voices that
+confused my hearing.  By slow degrees, however, the noise and glare
+grew familiar and my senses were able to take in the strange scene.
+
+I stood in a large room furnished after the fashion of a
+drawing-room, and resplendent with candles and gilding.  The carpet
+was rich, the walls were hung with pictures, which if garish in
+colour were not tasteless in design, and between these glittered a
+quantity of gilded mirrors that caught and reflected the rays of a
+huge candelabrum depending from the centre of the ceiling.
+Innumerable wax candles also shone in various parts of the room,
+while here and there rich chairs and sofas were disposed; but these
+were for the most part unoccupied, for the guests were clustered
+together beneath the great candelabrum.
+
+They were about thirty in number, and from their appearance I judged
+them to belong to very different classes of society.  Some were
+poorly and even miserably attired, others adorned with gorgeous, and
+not a few with valuable, jewellery.  Here stood one who from his
+clothes seemed to be a poor artisan; there lounged a fop in evening
+dress.  There was also a sprinkling of women, and not a few wore
+masks of some black stuff concealing the upper part of their faces.
+
+But the strangest feature of the company was that one and all were
+entirely and even breathlessly watching the table in their midst.
+Even the idlest scarcely raised his eyes to greet us as we entered,
+and for a moment or two I paused at the door as one who had no
+business with this strange assemblage.  During these few moments I
+was able to grasp the main points of what I saw.
+
+The guests were grouped around the table, some sitting and others
+standing behind their chairs.  The table itself was oblong in shape,
+and at its head sat the most extraordinary woman it had ever been my
+lot to behold.  She was of immense age, and so wrinkled that her face
+seemed a very network of deeply-printed lines.  Her complexion, even
+in the candle-light, was of a deep yellow, such as is rarely seen in
+the most jaundiced faces.  Despite her age, her features were bold
+and bore traces of a rare beauty outlived; her eyes were of a deep
+yet glittering black, and as they flashed from the table to the faces
+of her guests, seemed never to wink or change for an instant their
+look of intense alertness.
+
+But what was most noteworthy in this strange woman was neither her
+eyes, her wrinkles, nor her curious colour, but the amazing quantity
+of jewels that she wore.  As she sat there beneath the glare of the
+candelabrum she positively blazed with gems.  With every motion of
+her quick hands a hundred points of fire leapt out from the diamonds
+on her fingers; with every turn of her wrinkled neck the light played
+upon innumerable facets; and all the time those cold, lustrous eyes
+scintillated as brightly as the stones.  She was engaged in the game
+as we entered, and turned her gaze upon us for an instant only, but
+that momentary flash was so cold, so absolutely un-human, that I
+doubted if I looked upon reality.  The whole assembly seemed rather
+like a room full of condemned spirits, with this woman sitting as
+presiding judge.
+
+As we still stood by the door a hush fell on the company; men and
+women seemed to catch their breath and bend more intently over the
+table.  There was a pause; then someone called the number
+"Thirty-one," and the buzz of voices broke out again--a mixture of
+exclamations and disappointed murmurs.  Then, and not till then, did
+the woman at the head of the table speak, and when she spoke her
+words were addressed to us.
+
+"Come in, gentlemen, come in.  You have not chosen your moment well,
+for the Bank is winning; but you are none the less welcome."
+
+Her eyes as she turned them again upon us did not alter their
+expression.  They were--though I can scarcely hope that this
+description will be understood--at once perfectly vigilant and
+absolutely impassive.  But even more amazing was the voice that
+contradicted both these impressions, being most sweetly and
+delicately modulated, with a musical ring that charmed the ear as the
+notes of a well-sung song.  The others, hearing us addressed, turned
+an incurious gaze upon us for a moment, and then fastened their
+attention anew upon the table.
+
+Thus welcomed, we too stepped forward to the centre of the room and
+began to watch the game.  I have never seen roulette played
+elsewhere, so do not know if its accessories greatly vary, but this
+is what I saw.
+
+The table, which I have described as oblong, was lined to the width
+of about a foot around the edge with green baize, and on this were
+piled heaps of gold and silver, some greater, some less.  Sunk in the
+centre was a well, in which a large needle revolved upon a pivot at a
+turn of the hand.  The whole looked like a large ship's compass, but
+instead of north, south, east, and west, the table around the well,
+and at a level with the compass, was marked out into alternate spaces
+of red and black, bearing--one on each space--the figures from 1 to
+36, and ending in 0, so that in all there were thirty-seven spaces,
+the one bearing the cipher being opposite to the strange woman who
+presided.  As the game began again the players staked their money on
+one or another of these spaces.  I also gathered that they could
+stake on either black or red, or again on one of the three dozens--
+1 to 12, 13 to 24, 25 to 36.  When all the money was staked, the
+woman bent forward, and with a sweep of her arm sent the needle
+spinning round upon its mission.
+
+Thrice she did this, thrice the eager faces bent over the revolving
+needle, and each time I gathered from the murmurs around me that the
+bank had won heavily.  At the end of the third round the hostess
+looked up and said to Loveday--
+
+"You have been here before, and, if I remember rightly, were
+unfortunate.  Come and sit near me when you have a chance, and
+perhaps you may break this run of luck.  Even I am tiring of it.
+Or better still, get that dark handsome friend of yours to stake for
+you.  Have you ever played before?" she asked, turning to me.
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"All the better.  Fortune always favours beginners, and if it does I
+shall be well recompensed to have so handsome a youth beside me," and
+with this she turned to the game again.
+
+At her right sat a grey-headed man with worn face and wolfish eyes,
+who might have been expected to take this as a hint to make way.
+But he never heard a word.  All his sense was concentrated on the
+board before him, and his only motion was to bend more closely and
+eagerly over the play.  Tom whispered in my ear--
+
+"You have the money, Jasper; take her advice if you really mean to
+play this farce out.  Take the seat if you get a chance, and play
+your own game."
+
+"You have been here before," I answered, "and know more about the
+game."
+
+"Here before!  Yes, to my cost. No, no, the idea of play is your own
+and you shall carry it out.  I am always unlucky, and as for
+knowledge of the game, you can pick that up by watching a round or
+two; it's perfectly simple."
+
+Again the bank had won.  At the left hand of our hostess stood a
+stolid man holding a small shovel with which he gathered in the
+winnings.  All around were faces as of souls in torture; even the
+features of the winners (and these were few enough) scarcely
+expressed a trace of satisfaction, but seemed rather cast into some
+horrible trance in which they saw nothing but the piles of coin, the
+spinning needle, and the flashing hands of the woman that turned it.
+She all the while sat passionless and cold, looking on the scene as
+might some glittering and bejewelled sphinx.
+
+As I gazed, as the needle whirled and stopped and once more whirled,
+the mad excitement of the place came creeping upon me.  The
+glittering fingers of our hostess fascinated me as a serpent holds
+its prey.  The stifling heat, the glare, the confused murmurs mounted
+like strong wine into my brain.  The clink and gleam of the gold as
+it passed to and fro, the harsh voice of the man with the shovel
+calling at intervals, "Put on your money, gentlemen," the mechanical
+progress of the play, confused and staggered my senses.  I forgot
+Tom, forgot the reason of our coming, forgot even where I was, so
+absorbed was I, and craned forward over the hurrying wheel, as intent
+as the veriest gambler present.
+
+I was aroused from my stupor by a muttered curse, as the grey-headed
+man before me staggered up from his chair, and left the table with
+desperate eyes and stupid gait.  As he rose the jewelled fingers made
+a slight motion, and I dropped into the vacant seat.
+
+The bank was still winning.  At our hostess' left hand rose a
+swelling pile of gold and silver that time after time absorbed all
+the smaller heaps upon the black and red spaces.  Meanwhile the woman
+had scarcely spoken, but as the needle went round once more,
+slackened and stopped--this time amid deep and desperate
+execrations--she turned to me and said--
+
+"Now is your time to break the bank if you wish.  Play boldly; I
+should like to lose to so proper a man."
+
+I looked back at Tom, who merely nodded, and put my first half-crown
+upon the red space marked 19.  My neighbour, without seeming to
+notice the smallness of the sum, bent over the table and sent the
+wheel spinning on its errand.  I, too, bent forward to watch, and as
+the wheel halted, saw the coin swept, with many more valuable, into
+the great pile.
+
+"A bad beginning," said the sweet voice beside me.  "Try again."
+
+I tried again, and a third time, and two more half-crowns went to
+join their fellow.
+
+There was one more chance.  White with desperation I drew out my last
+half-crown, and laid it on the black.  A flash, and my neighbour's
+hand sent the needle whirling.  Round and round it went, as though it
+would never cease; round and round, then slackened, slackened,
+hesitated and stopped--where?
+
+Where but over the red square opposite me?
+
+For a moment all things seemed to whirl and dance before me.
+The candles shot out a million glancing rays, the table heaved, the
+rings upon the woman's fingers glittered and sparkled, while opposite
+me the devilish finger of Fortune pointed at the ruin of my hopes,
+and as it pointed past them and at me, called me very fool.
+
+I clutched the table's green border and sank back in my seat.
+As I did so I heard a low curse from Tom behind me.  The overwhelming
+truth broke in upon my senses, chasing the blood from my face, the
+hope from my heart.  Ruined! Ruined!  The faces around me grew
+blurred and misty, the room and all my surrounding seemed to fade
+further and yet further away, leaving me face to face with the
+consequences of my folly.  Scarce knowing what I did, I turned to
+look at Tom, and saw that his face was white and set.  As I did so
+the musical voice beside me murmured--
+
+"The game is waiting: are you going to stake this time?"
+
+I stammered out a negative.
+
+"What? already tired?  A faint heart should not go with such a face,"
+and again she swept the pointer round.
+
+"Is it," she whispered in my ear, "is it that you cannot?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"Ah, it is hard with half-a-sovereign to break the bank.  But see,
+have you nothing--nothing?  For I feel as if my luck were going to
+leave me."
+
+"Nothing," I answered, "nothing in the world."
+
+"Poor boy!"
+
+Her voice was tender and sympathetic, but in her eyes there glanced
+not the faintest spark of mercy.  I sat for a moment stunned and
+helpless, and then she resumed.
+
+"Can I lend to you?"
+
+"No, for I have no chance of repaying.  This was my all, and it has
+gone.  I have not one penny left in the world."
+
+"Poor boy!"
+
+"I thank you.  I could not expect you to pity me, but--"
+
+"Ah, but you are wrong.  I pity you: I pity you all.  Fools, fools, I
+call you all, and yet I make my living out of you.  So you cannot
+play," she added, as she set the game going once again.  "What will
+you do?"
+
+"Go, first of all."
+
+"And after?"
+
+I shrugged my shoulders.
+
+"No, do not go yet.  Sit beside me for a while and watch: it is only
+Fortune that makes me your enemy.  I would willingly have lost to
+you."
+
+She looked so curious, sitting there with her yellow face, her
+wrinkles and her innumerable diamonds, that I could only sit and
+stare.
+
+"I have seen many a desperate boy," continued this extraordinary
+woman, "sitting beside me in that very chair.  Ah, many a young life
+have I murdered in this way.  I am old, you see, very old; older even
+than you could guess, but I triumph over youth none the less.
+Sometimes I feel as if I fed on the young lives of others."
+
+She delivered these confidences without a change in her emotionless
+face, and still I stared fascinated.
+
+"Ah, yes, they sit here for a moment, and then they go--who knows
+where?  You will be going presently, and then I shall lose you for
+ever, without a thought of what happens to you.  Money is my blood:
+you see its colour in my face.  Here they all come, and I suck their
+blood and fling them aside.  They win sometimes; but I can wait.
+I wait and wait, and they come back here as surely as there is a
+destiny.  They come back, and I win in the end.  I always win in the
+end."
+
+She turned her attention to the game for a moment and then went on:--
+
+"It is a rare drink, this yellow blood: and all the sweeter when it
+comes from youth.  I have had but a drop from you, but I like you
+nevertheless.  Oh, yes, I can pity, my heart is always full of pity
+as I sit here drinking gold.  Your friend is a charming boy, but I
+like you better: and now you will go.  These partings are very cruel,
+are they not?"
+
+There was not a trace of mockery in her voice, and her eyes were the
+same as ever.  I merely looked up in reply, but she divined my
+thoughts.
+
+"No, I am not mocking you.  I should like you to win--once: I say it,
+and am perfectly honest about it.  You would be beaten in the end,
+but it would please me while it lasted.  Has your friend no money?"
+
+"No, this was all we had between us."
+
+"So he came back and got you to play with your money.  That was
+strange friendship."
+
+"You are wrong," I answered, "he was set against coming; but I
+persuaded him--or rather, I insisted.  It is all my own fault."
+
+"Well," she said, musingly, "I suppose you must, go; but it is a
+pity.  You are too handsome a boy to--to do what you will probably
+do: but the game does not regard good looks, or it would fare badly
+with me.  Good-bye."
+
+Still there was no shadow of pity in those unfathomable eyes.
+I looked into them for a moment, but their shining jet revealed
+nothing below the surface--nothing but inexorable calm.
+
+"Good-bye," I said, and rose to go, for Tom's hand was already on my
+shoulder.  I dared not look in his face.  All hope was gone now, all
+wealth, all--Stay!  I put my fingers in my waistcoat-pocket and drew
+out the Golden Clasp.  Worthless to me as any sign of the
+hiding-place of the Great Ruby, it might yet be worth something as
+metal.  I had carried it ever since the day when Uncle Loveday and I
+read my father's Journal.  But what did it matter now?  In a few
+hours I should be beyond the hope of treasure.  Might I not just as
+well fling this accursed clasp after the rest?  For aught I knew it
+might yet win something back to me--that is, if anyone would accept
+it as money.  At least I would try.
+
+I sank back into my chair again.  The woman turned her eyes upon me
+carelessly, and said--
+
+"What, back again so soon?"
+
+"Yes," said I, somewhat taken aback by her coldness, "if you will
+give me another chance."
+
+"I give nothing, least of all chance," she replied.
+
+"Well, can you tell me if this is worth anything?"
+
+As I said this I held out the clasp, which flashed brightly as it
+caught the rays of the large candelabrum overhead.  She turned her
+eyes upon it, and as she did so, for the first time I fancied I
+caught a gleam of interest within them.  It was but a gleam, however,
+and died out instantly as she said--
+
+"Let me look at it."
+
+I handed it to her.  She bent over it for a moment, then turned to me
+and asked--
+
+"Is this all of it?  I mean that it seems only one half of a clasp.
+Have you not the other part?"
+
+I shook my head, and she continued--
+
+"It is beautifully worked, and seems valuable.  Do you wish me to buy
+it?"
+
+"Not exactly that," I explained; "but if you think it worth anything
+I should like to stake it against an equivalent."
+
+"Very well; it might be worth three pounds--perhaps more: but you can
+stake it for that if you will.  Shall it be all at once?"
+
+"Yes, let me have it over at once," I said, and placed it on the red
+square marked 13.
+
+She nodded, and bending over the table, set the pointer on its round.
+
+This time I felt quite calm and cool.  All the intoxication of play
+had gone from me and left my nerves steady as iron.  As the needle
+swung round I scarcely looked at it, but fell to watching the faces
+of my fellow-gamblers with idle interest.  This stake would decide
+between life and death for me, but I did not feel it.  My passion had
+fallen upon an anti-climax, and I was even yawning when the murmur of
+many voices, and a small pile of gold and silver at my side,
+announced that I had won.
+
+"So the luck was changed at last," said the woman.  "Be brave whilst
+it is with you."
+
+In answer I again placed the clasp upon the number 13.
+
+Once more I won, and this time heavily.  Tom laid his hand upon my
+shoulder and said, "Let us go," but I shook my head and went on.
+
+Time after time I won now, until the pile beside me became immense.
+Again and again Tom whispered in my ear that we had won enough and
+that luck would change shortly, but I held on.  And now the others
+surrounded me in a small crowd and began to stake on the numbers I
+chose.  Put the clasp where I would the needle stopped in front of
+it.  They brought a magnet to see if this curious piece of metal had
+any power of attraction, but our hostess only laughed and assured
+them at any rate there was no steel in the pointer, as (she added)
+some of them ought to know by this time.  When eight times I had put
+the buckle down and eight times had found a fresh heap of coin at my
+side, she turned to me and said--
+
+"You play bravely, young man.  What is your name?"
+
+"Jasper Trenoweth."
+
+Again I fancied I caught the gleam in her eyes; and this time it
+even seemed as though her teeth shut tight as she heard the words.
+But she simply laughed a tranquil laugh and said--
+
+"A queer-sounding name, that Trenoweth.  Is it a lucky one?"
+
+"Never, until now," said I.
+
+"Well, play on.  It does my heart good, this fight between us.
+But you are careful, I see; why don't you stake your pile as well
+while this wonderful run lasts?"
+
+Again Tom's hand was laid upon my shoulder, and this time his voice
+was urgent.  But I was completely deaf.
+
+"As you please," said I, coldly, and laid the whole pile down upon
+the black.
+
+It was madness.  It was worse than madness.  But I won again; and now
+the heap of my winnings was enormous.  I glanced at the strange
+woman; she sat as impassive as ever.
+
+"Play," said she.
+
+Thrice more I won, and now the pile beside her had to be replenished.
+Yet she moved not a muscle of her face, not a lash of her mysterious
+eyes.
+
+At last, sick of success, I turned and said--
+
+"I have had enough of this.  Will it satisfy you if I stake it all
+once more?"
+
+Again she laughed.  "You are brave, Mr. Trenoweth, and indeed worth
+the fighting.  You may win to-night, but I shall win in the end.
+I told you that I would readily lose to you, and so I will; but you
+take me at my word with a vengeance.  Still, I should like to possess
+that clasp of yours, so let it be once more."
+
+I laid the whole of my winnings on the red.  By this time all the
+guests had gathered round to see the issue of this conflict.  Not a
+soul put any money on this turn of the wheel, so engrossed were they
+in the duel.  Every face was white with excitement, every lip
+quivered.  Only we, the combatants, sat unmoved--I and the strange
+woman with the unfathomable eyes.
+
+"Red stands for many things," said she, as she lightly twirled the
+needle round, "blood and rubies and lovers' lips.  But black is the
+livery of Death, and Death shall win them all in the end."
+
+As the pointer of fortune circled on its last errand, I could catch
+the stifled breath of the crowd about me, so deep was the hush that
+fell upon us all.  I felt Tom's hand tighten its clutch upon my
+shoulder.  I heard, or fancied I heard, the heart of the man upon my
+right thump against his ribs.  I could feel my own pulse beating all
+the while with steady and regular stroke.  Somehow I knew that I
+should win, and somehow it flashed upon me that she knew it too.
+Even as the idea came darting across my brain, a multitude of pent-up
+cries broke forth from thirty pairs of white lips.  I scarcely looked
+to see the cause, but as I turned to our hostess her eyes looked
+straight into mine and her sweet voice rose above the din--
+
+"Gentlemen, we have played enough to-night.  The game is over."
+
+I had broken the bank.
+
+
+I stood with Tom gathering up my winnings as the crowd slowly melted
+from the room, and as I did so, cast a glance at the woman whom I had
+thus defeated.  She was leaning back in her chair, apparently
+indifferent to her losses as to her gains.  Only her eyes were
+steadily fixed upon me as I shovelled the coin into my pockets.
+As she caught my eye she pulled out a scrap of paper and a pencil,
+scribbled a few words, tossed the note to the man with the shovel,
+who instantly left the room, and said--
+
+"Is it far from this place to your home?"
+
+"Not very."
+
+"That's well; but be careful.  To win such a sum is only less
+dangerous than to lose it.  I shall see you again--you and your
+talisman.  By the way, may I look at it for a moment?"
+
+We were alone in the room, we three.  She took the clasp, looked at
+it intently for a full minute, and then returned it.  Already the
+dawn of another day was peering in through the chinks in the blinds,
+giving a ghastly faintness to the expiring candles, throwing a grey
+and sickening reality over the scene--the disordered chairs, the
+floor strewn with scraps of paper, the signs and relics of the
+debauchery of play.  Ghastlier than all was the yellow face of the
+woman in the pitiless light.  But there she sat, seemingly untired,
+in all the splendour of her flashing gems, as we left her--a very
+goddess of the gaming-table.
+
+We had reached the door and were stepping into the darkness of the
+outer passage, when Tom whispered--
+
+"Be on your guard; that note meant mischief."
+
+I nodded, swung open the door, and stepped out into the darkness.
+Even as I did so, I heard one quick step at my left side, saw a faint
+gleam, and felt myself violently struck upon the chest.  For a moment
+I staggered back, and then heard Tom rush past me and deal one
+crashing blow.
+
+"Run, run!  Down the passage, quick!"
+
+In an instant we were tearing through the black darkness to the outer
+door, but in that instant I could see, through the open door behind,
+in the glare of all the candles, the figure of the yellow woman still
+sitting motionless and calm.
+
+We gained the door, and plunged into the bright daylight.  Up the
+alley we tore, out into the street, across it and down another, then
+through a perfect maze of by-lanes.  Tom led and I followed behind,
+panting and clutching my bursting pockets lest the coin should tumble
+out.  Still we tore on, although not a footstep followed us, nor had
+we seen a soul since Tom struck my assailant down.  Spent and
+breathless at last we emerged upon the Strand, and here Tom pulled
+up.
+
+"The streets are wonderfully quiet," said he.
+
+I thought for a moment and then said, "It is Sunday morning."
+
+Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when I heard something ring
+upon the pavement beside me.  I stooped, and picked up--the Golden
+Clasp.
+
+"Well," said I, "this is strange."
+
+"Not at all," said Tom.  "Look at your breast-pocket."
+
+I looked and saw a short slit across my breast just above the heart.
+As I put my hand up, a sovereign, and then another, rolled clinking
+on to the pavement.
+
+Tom picked them up, and handing them to me, remarked--
+
+"Jasper, you may thank Heaven to-day, if you are in a mood for it.
+You have had a narrow escape."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Why, that you would be a dead man now had you not carried that piece
+of metal in your breast-pocket.  Let me see it for a moment."
+
+We looked at it together, and there surely enough, almost in the
+centre of the clasp, was a deep dent.  We were silent for a minute or
+so, and then Tom said--
+
+"Let us get home.  It would not do for us to be seen with this money
+about us."
+
+We crossed the Strand, and turned off it to the door of our lodgings.
+There I stopped.
+
+"Tom, I am not coming in.  I shall take a long walk and a bathe to
+get this fearful night out of my head.  You can take the money
+upstairs, and put it away somewhere in hiding.  Stay, I will keep a
+coin or two.  Take the rest with you."
+
+Tom looked up at the gleam of sunshine that touched the chimney-pots
+above, and decided.
+
+"Well, for my part, I am going to bed; and so will you if you are
+wise."
+
+"No.  I will be back this evening, so let the fatted calf be
+prepared.  I must get out of this for a while."
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Oh, anywhere.  I don't care.  Up the river, perhaps."
+
+"You don't wish me to go with you?"
+
+"No, I had rather be alone.  Tom, I have been a fool.  I led you into
+a hole whence nothing but a marvellous chance has delivered us, and I
+owe you an apology.  And--Tom, I also owe you my life."
+
+"Not to me, Jasper; to the Clasp."
+
+"To you," I insisted.  "Tom, I have been a thoughtless fool, and--
+Tom, that was a splendid blow of yours."
+
+He laughed, and ran upstairs, while I turned and gloomily sauntered
+down the deserted street.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+TELLS AN OLD STORY IN THE TRADITIONAL MANNER.
+
+When Tom asked me where I was going, I had suggested an excursion up
+the river; though, to tell the truth, this answer had come with the
+question.  Be that as it may, the afternoon of that same Sunday found
+me on the left bank of the Thames between Streatley and Pangbourne;
+found me, with my boat moored idly by, stretched on my back amid the
+undergrowth, and easefully staring upward through a trellis-work of
+branches into the heavens.  I had been lying there a full hour
+wondering vaguely of my last night's adventure, listening to the
+spring-time chorus of the birds, lazily and listlessly watching a
+bough that bent and waved its fan of foliage across my face, or the
+twinkle of the tireless kingfisher flashing down-stream in loops of
+light, when a blackbird lit on a branch hard by my left hand, and,
+all unconscious of an audience, began to pour forth his rapture to
+the day.
+
+Lying there I could spy his black body and yellow bill, and drink in
+his song with dreamy content.  So sweetly and delicately was he
+fluting, that by degrees slumber crept gently and unperceived upon my
+tired brain; and as the health-giving distillation of the melody
+stole upon my parched senses, I fell into a deep sleep.
+
+
+What was that?  Music?  Yes, but not the song of my friend the
+black-bird, not the mellow note that had wooed me to slumber and
+haunted my dreams.  Music?  Yes, but the voice was human, and the
+song articulate.  I started, and rose upon my elbow to listen.
+The voice was human beyond a doubt--sweetly human: it was that of a
+girl singing.  But where?  I looked around and saw nobody.  Yet the
+singer could not be far off, for the words, though softly and gently
+sung, dwelt clearly and distinctly upon my ear.  Still half asleep, I
+sank back again and listened.
+
+    "Flower of the May,
+       Saw ye one pass?
+     'Love passed to-day
+       While the dawn was,
+       O, but the eyes of him shone as a glass.'"
+
+The low, delicate notes came tremulous through the thicket.
+The blackbird was hushed, the trees overhead swayed soundlessly, and
+when the voice fell and paused, so deep was the silence that
+involuntarily I held my breath and waited.  Presently it broke out
+again--
+
+    "Bird of the thorn,
+       What his attire?
+     'Lo! it was torn,
+       Marred with the mire,
+       And but the eyes of him sparkled with fire.'"
+
+Again the voice died away in soft cadences, and again all was
+silence.  I rose once more upon my elbow, and gazed into the green
+depths of the wood; but saw only the blackbird perched upon a twig
+and listening with head askew.
+
+    "Flower of the May,
+       Bird of the--"
+
+The voice quivered, trailed off and stopped.  I heard a rustling of
+leaves to the right, and then the same voice broke out in prose, in
+very agitated and piteous prose--"Oh, my boat! my boat!  What shall I
+do?"
+
+I jumped to my feet, caught a glimpse of something white, and of
+two startled but appealing eyes, then tore down to the bank.
+There, already twenty yards downstream, placidly floated the boat,
+its painter trailing from the bows, and its whole behaviour pointing
+to a leisurely but firm resolve to visit Pangbourne.
+
+My own boat was close at hand.  But when did hot youth behave with
+thought in a like case?  I did as ninety-nine in a hundred would do.
+I took off my coat, kicked off my shoes, and as the voice cried,
+"Oh, please, do not trouble," plunged into the water.  The refractory
+boat, once on its way, was in no great hurry, and allowed itself to
+be overtaken with great good-humour.  I clambered in over the stern,
+caught up the sculls which lay across the thwarts, and, dripping but
+triumphant, brought my captive back to shore.
+
+"How can I thank you?"
+
+If my face was red as I looked up, it must be remembered that I had
+to stoop to make the boat fast.  If my eyes had a tendency to look
+down again, it must be borne in mind that the water from my hair was
+dripping into them.  They gazed for a moment, however, and this was
+what they saw:--
+
+At first only another pair of eyes, of dark grey eyes twinkling with
+a touch of merriment, though full at the same time of honest
+gratitude.  It was some time before I clearly understood that these
+eyes belonged to a face, and that face the fairest that ever looked
+on a summer day.  First, as my gaze dropped before that vision of
+radiant beauty, it saw only an exquisite figure draped in a dress of
+some white and filmy stuff, and swathed around the shoulders with a
+downy shawl, white also, across which fell one ravishing lock of
+waving brown, shining golden in the kiss of the now drooping sun.
+Then the gaze fell lower, lighted upon a little foot thrust slightly
+forward for steadiness on the bank's verge, and there rested.
+
+So we stood facing one another--Hero and Leander, save that Leander
+found the effects of his bath more discomposing than the poets give
+any hint of.  So we stood, she smiling and I dripping, while the
+blackbird, robbed of the song's ending, took up his own tale anew,
+and, being now on his mettle, tried a few variations.  So, for all
+power I had of speech, might we have stood until to-day had not the
+voice repeated--
+
+"How can I thank you?"
+
+I looked up.  Yes, she was beautiful, past all criticism--not tall,
+but in pose and figure queenly beyond words.  Under the brim of her
+straw hat the waving hair fell loosely, but not so loosely as to hide
+the broad brow arching over lashes of deepest brown.  Into the eyes I
+dared not look again, but the lips were full and curling with humour,
+the chin delicately poised over the most perfect of necks.  In her
+right hand she held a carelessly-plucked creeper that strayed down
+the white of her dress and drooped over the high firm instep.  And so
+my gaze dropped to earth again.  Pity me.  I had scarcely spoken to
+woman before, never to beauty.  Tongue-tied and dripping I stood
+there, yet was half inclined to run away.
+
+"And yet, why did you make yourself so wet?  Have you no boat?
+Is not that your boat lying there under the bank?"  There was an
+amused tremor in the speech.
+
+Somehow I felt absurdly guilty.  She must have mistaken my glance,
+for she went on:--"Is it that you wish--?" and began to search in the
+pocket of her gown.
+
+"No, no," I cried, "not that."
+
+I had forgotten the raggedness of my clothes, now hideously
+emphasised by my bath.  Of course she took me for a beggar.  Why not?
+I looked like one.  But as the thought flashed upon me it brought
+unutterable humiliation.  She must have divined something of the
+agony in my eyes, for a tiny hand was suddenly laid on my arm and the
+voice said--
+
+"Please, forgive me; I was stupid, and am so sorry."
+
+Forgive her?  I looked up for an instant and now her lids drooped in
+their turn.  There was a silence between us for a moment or two,
+broken only by the blackbird, by this time entangled in a maze of
+difficult variations.  Presently she glanced up again, and the grey
+eyes were now chastely merry.
+
+"But it was odd to swim when your boat was close at hand, was it
+not?"
+
+I looked, faltered, met her honest glance, and we both broke out into
+shy laughter.  A mad desire to seize the little hand that for a
+moment had rested on my arm caught hold of me.
+
+"Yes, it was odd," I answered slowly and with difficulty; "but it
+seemed--the only thing to do at the time."
+
+She laughed a low laugh again.
+
+"Do you generally behave like that?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+There was a pause and then I added--
+
+"You see, you took me by surprise."
+
+"Where were you when I first called?" she asked.
+
+"Lying in the grass close by."
+
+"Then"--with a vivid blush--"you must have--"
+
+"Heard you singing?  Yes."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+Again there was a pause, and this time the blackbird executed an
+elaborate exercise with much delicacy and finish.  The brown lashes
+drooped, the lovely eyes were bent on the grass, and the little hand
+swung the creeper nervously backward and forward.
+
+"Why did you not warn me that I had an audience?"
+
+"Because, in the first place, I was too late.  When you began I
+was--"
+
+"What?" she asked as I hesitated.
+
+"Asleep."
+
+"And I disturbed you.  I am so sorry."
+
+"I am not."
+
+I was growing bolder as she became more embarrassed.  I looked down
+upon her now from my superior height, and my heart went out to
+worship the grace of God's handiwork.  With a touch of resentment she
+drew herself up, held out her hand, and said somewhat proudly--
+
+"I thank you, sir, for this service."
+
+I took the hand, but not the hint.  It was an infinitesimal hand as
+it lay in my big brown one, and yet it stung my frame as with some
+delicious and electric shock.  My heart beat wildly and my eyes
+remained fixed upon hers.
+
+The colour on the fair face deepened a shade: the little chin was
+raised a full inch, and the voice became perceptibly icy.
+
+"I must go, sir.  I hope I have thanked you as far as I can, and--"
+
+"And what?"
+
+"Forgive me that I was about to offer you money."
+
+The hat's brim bent now, but under it I could see the honest eyes
+full of pain.
+
+"Forgive you!" I cried.  "Who am I to forgive you?  You were right:
+I am no better than a beggar."
+
+The red lips quivered and broke into a smile; a tiny dimple appeared,
+vanished and reappeared; the hat's brim nodded again, and then the
+eyes sparkled into laughter--
+
+"A sturdy beggar, at any rate."
+
+It was the poorest little joke, but love is not exacting of wit.
+Again we both laughed, but this time with more relief, and yet the
+embarrassment that followed was greater.
+
+"Must you go?" I asked as I bent down to pull the boat in.
+
+"I really must," she answered shyly; and then as she pulled out a
+tiny watch at her waist--"Oh! I am late--so late.  I shall keep
+mother waiting and make her lose the train.  What shall I do?
+Oh, pray, sir, be quick!"
+
+A mad hope coursed through me; I pointed to the boat and said--
+
+"I have made it so wet.  If you are late, better let me row you.
+Where are you going?"
+
+"To Streatley; but I cannot--"
+
+"I also am going to Streatley.  Please let me row you: I will not
+speak if you wish it."
+
+Over her face, now so beautifully agitated, swept the rarest of
+blushes.  "Oh no, it is not that, but I can manage quite well"--her
+manner gave the lie to her brave words--"and I shall not mind the
+wet."
+
+"If I have not offended you, let me row."
+
+"No, no."
+
+"Then I have offended."
+
+"Please do not think so."
+
+"I shall if you will not let me row."
+
+Before my persistency she wavered and was conquered.  "But my boat?"
+she said.
+
+"I will tow it behind"--and in the glad success of my hopes I allowed
+her no time for further parley, but ran off for my own boat, tied the
+two together, and gently helped her to her seat.  Was ever moment so
+sweet?  Did ever little palm rest in more eager hand than hers in
+mine during that one heavenly moment?  Did ever heart beat so
+tumultuously as mine, as I pushed the boat from under the boughs and
+began to row?
+
+Somehow, as we floated up the still river, a hush fell upon us.
+She was idly trailing her hand in the stream and watching the ripple
+as it broke and sparkled through her fingers.  Her long lashes
+drooped down upon her cheek and veiled her eyes, whilst I sat
+drinking in her beauty and afraid by a word to break the spell.
+
+Presently she glanced up, met my burning eyes, and looked down
+abashed.
+
+"Forgive me, I could not help it."
+
+She tried to meet the meaning of that sentence with a steady look,
+but broke down, and as the warm blood surged across her face, bent
+her eyes to the water again.  For myself, I knew of nothing to say in
+extenuation of my speech.  My lips would have cried her mercy, but no
+words came.  I fell to rowing harder, and the silence that fell upon
+us was unbroken.  The sun sank and suddenly the earth grew cold and
+grey, the piping of the birds died wholly out, the water-flags
+shivered and whispered before the footsteps of night.  Slowly, very
+slowly the twilight hung its curtains around us.  Swiftly, too
+swiftly the quiet village drew near, but my thoughts were neither of
+the village nor the night.  As I sat and pulled silently upwards,
+life was entirely changing for me.  Old thoughts, old passions, old
+aims and musings slipped from me and swept off my soul as the
+darkening river swept down into further night.
+
+"Streatley!  So soon!  We are in time, then."
+
+Humbly my heart thanked her for those words, "So soon."  I gave her
+my hand to help her ashore, and, as I did so, said--
+
+"You will forgive me?"
+
+"For getting wet in my service?  What is there to forgive?"
+
+Oh, cruelly kind!  The moon was up now and threw its full radiance on
+her face as she turned to go.  My eyes were speaking imploringly, but
+she persisted in ignoring their appeal.
+
+"You often come here?"
+
+"Oh, no! Sunday is my holiday; I am not so idle always.  But mother
+loves to come here on Sundays.  Ah, how I have neglected her to-day!"
+There was a world of self-reproach in her speech, and again she would
+have withdrawn her hand and gone.
+
+"One moment," said I, hoarsely.  "Will you--can you--tell me your
+name?"
+
+There was a demure smile on her face as the moon kissed it, and--
+
+"They call me Claire," she said.
+
+"Claire," I murmured, half to myself.
+
+"And yours?" she asked.
+
+"Jasper--Jasper Trenoweth."
+
+"Then good-bye, Mr. Jasper Trenoweth.  Goodbye, and once more I thank
+you."
+
+She was gone; and standing stupid and alone I watched her graceful
+figure fade into the shadow and take with it the light and joy of my
+life.
+
+
+"Jasper," said Tom, as I lounged into our wretched garret, "have you
+ever known what it is to suffer from the responsibility of wealth?
+I do not mean a few paltry sovereigns; but do you know what it is to
+live with, say, three thousand four hundred and sixty-five pounds
+thirteen and sixpence on your conscience?"
+
+"No," I said; "I cannot say that I have.  But why that extraordinary
+sum?"
+
+"Because that is the sum which has been hanging all day around me as
+a mill-stone.  Because that is the exact amount which at present
+makes me fear to look my fellow-man in the face."
+
+I simply stared.
+
+"Jasper, you are singularly dense, or much success has turned your
+brain.  Say, Jasper, that success has not turned your brain."
+
+"Not that I know of," I replied.
+
+"Very well, then," said Tom, stepping to the bed and pulling back the
+counterpane with much mystery.  "Oblige me by counting this sum,
+first the notes, then the gold, and finally the silver.  Or, if that
+is too much trouble, reflect that on this modest couch recline
+bank-notes for three thousand one hundred and twenty pounds, gold
+sovereigns to the number of three hundred and forty-two, whence by an
+easy subtraction sum we obtain a remainder of silver, in value three
+pounds thirteen and sixpence."
+
+"But, Tom, surely we never won all that?"
+
+"We did though, and may for the rest of our days settle down as
+comparatively honest medical students.  So that I propose we have
+supper, and drink--for I have provided drink--to the Luck of the
+Golden Clasp."
+
+Stunned with the events of the last twenty-four hours, I sat down to
+table, but could scarcely touch my food.  Tom's tongue went
+ceaselessly, now apologising for the fare, now entertaining imaginary
+guests, and always addressing me as a man of great wealth and
+property.
+
+"Jasper," he remarked at length, "either you are ill, or you must
+have been eating to excess all day."
+
+"Neither."
+
+"Do I gather that you wish to leave the table, and pursue your mortal
+foe up and down Oxford Street?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"What! no revenge to-night?  No thirst for blood?"
+
+"Tom," I replied, solemnly, "neither to-night nor any other night.
+My revenge is dead."
+
+"Dear me! when did it take place?  It must have been very sudden."
+
+"It died to-day."
+
+"Jasper," said Tom, laying his hand on my shoulder, "either wealth
+has turned your brain, or most remarkably given you sanity."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+TELLS HOW I SAW THE SHADOW OF THE ROCK; AND HOW I TOLD AND HEARD
+NEWS.
+
+A week passed, and in the interval Tom and I made several
+discoveries.  In the first place, to our great relief, we discovered
+that the bank-notes were received in Threadneedle Street without
+question or demur.  Secondly, we found our present lodgings narrow,
+and therefore moved westward to St. James's.  Further, it struck us
+that our clothes would have to conform to the "demands of more
+Occidental civilisation," as Tom put it, and also that unless we
+intended to be medical students for ever it was necessary to become
+medical men.  Lastly, it began to dawn upon Tom that "Francesca: a
+Tragedy" was a somewhat turgid performance, and on me that a holiday
+on Sunday was demanded by six days of work.
+
+I do not know that we displayed any remarkable interest in the
+_Materia Medica_, or that the authorities of Guy's looked upon us as
+likely to do them any singular credit.  But Tom, who had now a
+writing-desk, made great alterations in "Francesca," while I consumed
+vast quantities of tobacco in the endeavour to reproduce a certain
+face in my note-book; and I am certain that the resolution to take a
+holiday on Sunday was as strong at the end of the first week as
+though I had wrought my faculties to the verge of brain fever.
+
+I did not see her on that Sunday, or the next, though twice my boat
+explored the river between Goring and Pangbourne from early morning
+until nightfall.  But let me hasten over heart-aching and bitterness,
+and come to the blessed Sunday when for a second time I saw my love.
+
+Again the day was radiant with summer.  Above, the vaulted blue
+arched to a capstone of noonday gold.  Hardly a fleecy cloud troubled
+the height of heaven, or blotted the stream's clear mirror; save here
+and there where the warm air danced and quivered over the still
+meadows, the season's colour lay equal upon earth.  Before me the
+river wound silently into the sunny solitude of space untroubled by
+sight of human form.
+
+But what was that speck of white far down the bank--that brighter
+spot upon the universal brightness, moving, advancing?  My heart gave
+one great leap; in a moment my boat's bows were high upon the
+crumbling bank, and I was gazing down the tow-path.
+
+Yes, it was she!  From a thousand thousand I could tell that
+perfect form as it loitered--how slowly--up the river's verge.
+Along heaven's boundary the day was lit with glory for me, and all
+the glory but a golden frame for that white speck so carelessly
+approaching.  Still and mute I stood as it drew nearer--so still, so
+mute, that a lazy pike thrust out its wolfish jaws just under my feet
+and, seeing me, splashed under again in great discomposure; so
+motionless that a blundering swallow all but darted against me, then
+swept curving to the water, and vanished down the stream.
+
+She had been gathering May-blossom, and held a cluster in one hand.
+As before, her gown was purest white, and, as before, a nodding hat
+guarded her fair face jealously.
+
+Nearer and nearer she came, glanced carelessly at me who stood
+bare-headed in the sun's glare, was passing, and glanced again,
+hesitated for one agonising moment, and then, as our eyes met, shot
+out a kindly flash of remembrance, followed by the sweetest of little
+blushes.
+
+"So you are here again," she said, as she gave her hand, and her
+voice made exquisite music in my ear.
+
+"Again?" I said, slowly releasing her fingers as a miser might part
+with treasure.  "Again? I have been here every Sunday since."
+
+"Dear me! is it so long ago?  Only three weeks after all.
+I remember, because--"
+
+The fleeting hope possessed me that it might be some recollection in
+which I had place, but my illusion was swiftly shattered.
+
+"Because," the pitiless sentence continued, "mother was not well that
+evening; in fact, she has been ill ever since.  So it is only three
+weeks."
+
+"Only three weeks!" I echoed.
+
+"Yes," she nodded.  "I have not seen the river for all that time.
+Is it changed?"
+
+"Sadly changed."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Perhaps I have changed."
+
+"Well, I hope so," she laughed, "after that wetting;" then, seeing an
+indignant flash in my eyes, she added quickly, "which you got by so
+kindly bringing back my boat."
+
+"You have not been rowing to-day?"
+
+"No; see, I have been gathering the last of the May-blossom.  May is
+all but dead."
+
+"And 'Flower of the May'?"
+
+"Please do not remind me of that foolish song.  Had I known, I would
+not have sung it for worlds."
+
+"I would not for worlds have missed it."
+
+Again she frowned and now turned to go.  "And you, too, must make
+these speeches!"
+
+The world of reproach in her tone was at once gall and honey to me.
+Gall, because the "you too" conjured up a host of jealous imaginings;
+honey, because it was revealed that of me she had hoped for better.
+And now like a fool I had flung her good opinion away and she was
+leaving me.
+
+I made a half-step forward.
+
+"I must go now," she said, and the little hand was held out in token
+of farewell.
+
+"No! no! I have offended you."
+
+No answer.
+
+"I have offended you," I insisted, still holding her hand.
+
+"I forgive you.  But, indeed, I must go."  The hand made a faint
+struggle to be free.
+
+"Why?"
+
+My voice came hard and unnatural.  I still held the fingers, and as I
+did so, felt the embarrassment of utter shyness pass over the bridge
+of our two hands and settle chokingly upon my heart.
+
+"Why?" I repeated, more hoarsely yet.
+
+"Because--because I must not neglect mother again.  She is waiting."
+
+"Then let me go with you."
+
+"Oh, no! Some day--if we meet--I will introduce you."
+
+"Why not now?"
+
+"Because she is not well."
+
+Even my lately-acquired knowledge of the _Materia Medico_, scarcely
+warranted me in offering to cure her.  But I did.
+
+She laughed shyly and said, "How, sir; are you a doctor?"
+
+"Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, gentleman, apothecary,"  I said
+lightly, "neither one nor the other, but that curious compound of the
+two last--a medical student."
+
+"Then I will not trust you," she answered, smiling.
+
+"Better trust me," I said; and something in my words again made her
+look down.
+
+"You will trust me?" I pleaded, and the something in my words grew
+plainer.
+
+Still no answer.
+
+"Oh, trust me!"
+
+The hand quivered in mine an instant, the eyes looked up and laughed
+once more.  "I will trust you," she said--"not to move from this spot
+until I am out of sight."
+
+Then with a light "Good-bye" she was gone, and I was left to vaguely
+comprehend my loss.
+
+Before long I had seen her a third time and yet once again.  I had
+learnt her name to be Luttrell--Claire Luttrell; how often did I not
+say the words over to myself?  I had also confided in Tom and
+received his hearty condolence, Tom being in that stage of youth
+which despises all of which it knows nothing--love especially, as a
+thing contrary to nature's uniformity.  So Tom was youthfully
+cynical, and therefore by strange inference put on the airs of
+superior age; was also sceptical of my description, especially a
+certain comparison of her eyes to stars, though a very similar trope
+occurred somewhere in the tragedy.  Indeed therein Francesca's eyes
+were likened to the Pleiads, being apparently (as I pointed out with
+some asperity) seven in number, and one of them lost.
+
+I had also seen Mrs. Luttrell, a worn and timid woman, with weak blue
+eyes and all the manner of the professional invalid.  I say this now,
+but in those days she was in my eyes a celestial being mysteriously
+clothed in earth's infirmities--as how should the mother of Claire be
+anything else?  Somehow I won the favour of this faded creature--
+chiefly, I suspect, because she liked so well to be left alone.
+All day long she would sit contentedly watching the river and waiting
+for Claire, yet only anxious that Claire should be happy.  All her
+heart centred on her child, and often, in spite of our friendliness,
+I caught her glancing from Claire to me with a jealous look, as
+though the mother guessed what the child suspected but dimly, if at
+all.
+
+So the summer slipped away, all too fleetly--to me, as I look back
+after these weary years, in a day.  But nevertheless much happened:
+not much that need be written down in bald and pitiless prose, but
+much to me who counted and treasured every moment that held my
+darling near me.  So the Loves through that golden season wound us
+round with their invisible chains and hovered smiling and waiting.
+So we drifted week after week upon the river, each time nearer and
+nearer to the harbour of confession.  The end was surely coming, and
+at last it came.
+
+It was a gorgeous August evening.  A week before she had told me that
+Saturday would be a holiday for her, and had, when pressed, admitted
+a design of spending it upon the river.  Need it be confessed that
+Saturday saw me also in my boat, expectant?  And when she came and
+feigned pretty astonishment at meeting me, and scepticism as to my
+doing any work throughout the week, need I say the explanation took
+time and seemed to me best delivered in a boat?  At any rate, so it
+was; and somehow, the explanation took such a vast amount of time,
+that the sun was already plunging down the western slope of heaven
+when we stepped ashore almost on the very spot where first I had
+heard her voice.
+
+As the first film of evening came creeping over earth, there fell a
+hush between us.  A blackbird--the same, I verily believe--took the
+opportunity to welcome us.  His note was no longer full and unstudied
+as in May.  The summer was nearly over, and with it his voice was
+failing; but he did his best, and something in the hospitality of his
+song prompted me to break the silence.
+
+"This is the very spot on which we met for the first time--do you
+remember?"
+
+"Of course I remember," was the simple answer.
+
+"You do?"  I foolishly burned to hear the assurance again.
+
+"Of course--it was such a lovely day."
+
+"A blessed day," I answered, "the most blessed of my life."
+
+There was a long pause here, and even the blackbird could hardly fill
+it up.
+
+"Do you regret it?"
+
+(Why does man on these occasions ask such a heap of questions?)
+
+"Why should I?"
+
+(Why does woman invariably answer his query with another?)
+
+"I hope there is no reason," I answered, "and yet--oh, can you not
+see of what that day was the beginning?  Can you not see whither
+these last four months have carried me?"
+
+The sun struck slanting on the water and ran in tapering lustre to
+our feet.  The gilded ripple slipped and murmured below us; the
+bronzed leaves overhead bent carefully to veil her answer.  The bird
+within the covert uttered an anxious note.
+
+"They have carried you, it seems," she answered, with eyes gently
+lowered, "back to the same place."
+
+"They have carried me," I echoed, "from spring to summer.  If they
+have brought me back to this spot, it is because the place and I have
+changed--Claire!"
+
+As I called her by her Christian name she gave one quick glance, and
+then turned her eyes away again.  I could see the soft rose creeping
+over her white neck and cheek.  Had I offended?  Between hope and
+desperation, I continued--
+
+"Claire--I will call you Claire, for that was the name you told me
+just four months ago--I am changed, oh, changed past all remembrance!
+Are you not changed at all?  Am I still nothing to you?"
+
+She put up her hand as if to ward off further speech, but spoke no
+word herself.
+
+"Answer me, Claire; give me some answer if only a word.  Am I still
+no more than the beggar who rescued your boat that day?"
+
+"Of course, you are my friend--now.  Please forget that I took you
+for a beggar."
+
+The words came with effort.  Within the bushes the blackbird still
+chirped expectant, and the ripple below murmured to the bank,
+"The old story--the old story."
+
+"But I am a beggar," I broke out.  "Claire, I am always a beggar on
+my knees before you.  Oh, Claire!"
+
+Her face was yet more averted--the sun kissed her waving locks with
+soft lips of gold, the breeze half stirred the delicate draperies
+around her.  The blackbird's note was broken and halting as my own
+speech.
+
+"Claire, have you not guessed? will you never guess?  Oh, have pity
+on me!"
+
+I could see the soft bosom heaving now.  The little hand was pulling
+at the gown.  Her whole sweet shape drooped away from me in vague
+alarm--but still no answer came.
+
+"Courage! Courage!" chirped the bird, and the river murmured
+responsive, "Courage!"
+
+"Claire!"--and now there was a ring of agony in the voice; the tones
+came alien and scarcely recognised--"Claire, I have watched and
+waited for this day, and now that it has come, for good or for evil,
+answer me--I love you!"
+
+O time-honoured and most simple of propositions! "I love you!"  Night
+after night had I lain upon my bed rehearsing speeches, tender,
+passionate and florid, and lo! to this had it all come--to these
+three words, which, as my lips uttered them, made my heart leap in
+awe of their crude and naked daring.
+
+And she?  The words, as though they smote her, chased for an instant
+the rich blood from her cheek.  For a moment the bosom heaved wildly,
+then the colour came slowly back, and ebbed again.  A soft tremor
+shook the bending form, the little hand clutched the gown, but she
+made no answer.
+
+"Speak to me, Claire!  I love you!  With my life and soul I love you.
+Can you not care for me?"  I took the little hand.  "Claire, my heart
+is in your hands--do with it what you will, but speak to me.  Can you
+not--do you not--care for me?"
+
+The head drooped lower yet, the warm fingers quivered within mine,
+then tightened, and--
+
+What was that whisper, that less than whisper, for which I bent my
+head?  Had I heard aright?  Or why was it that the figure drooped
+closer, and the bird's note sprang up jubilant?
+
+"Claire!"
+
+A moment--one tremulous, heart-shaking moment--and then her form bent
+to me, abandoned, conquered; her face looked up, then sank upon my
+breast; but before it sank I read upon it a tenderness and a passion
+infinite, and caught in her eyes the perfect light of love.
+
+As the glory of delight came flooding on my soul, the sun's disc
+dropped, and the first cold shadow of night fell upon earth.
+The blackbird uttered a broken "Amen," and was gone no man knew
+whither.  The golden ripple passed up the river, and vanished in a
+leaden grey.  One low shuddering sigh swept through the trees, then
+all was dumb.  I looked westward.  Towards the horizon the blue of
+day was fading downwards through indistinguishable zones of purple,
+amethyst, and palest rose, the whole heaven arching in one perfect
+rainbow of love.
+
+But while I looked and listened to the beating of that beloved heart
+girdled with my arm, there grew a something on the western sky that
+well-nigh turned my own heart to marble.  At first, a lightest
+shadow--a mere breath upon heaven's mirror, no more.  Then as I
+gazed, it deepened, gathering all shadows from around the pole,
+heaping, massing, wreathing them around one spot in the troubled
+west--a shape that grew and threatened and still grew, until I looked
+on--what?
+
+Up from the calm sea of air rose one solitary island, black and
+looming, rose and took shape and stood out--the very form and
+semblance of Dead Man's Rock!  Sable and real as death it towered
+there against the pale evening, until its shadow, falling on my heart
+itself and on the soft brown head that bent and nestled there, lay
+round us clasped so, and with its frown cursed the morning of our
+love.
+
+Something in my heart's beat, or in the stiffening of my arm, must
+have startled my darling, for as I gazed I felt her stir, and,
+looking down, caught her eyes turned wistfully upwards.  My lips bent
+to hers.
+
+"Mine, Claire!  Mine for ever!"
+
+And there, beneath the shadow of the Rock, our lips drew closer, met,
+and were locked in their first kiss.
+
+When I looked up again the shadow had vanished, and the west was grey
+and clear.
+
+
+So in the tranquil evening we rowed homewards, our hearts too full
+for speech.  The wan moon rose and trod the waters, but we had no
+thoughts, no eyes for her.  Our eyes were looking into each other's
+depths, our thoughts no thoughts at all, but rather a dazzled and
+wondering awe.
+
+Only as a light or two gleamed out, and Streatley twinkled in the
+distance, Claire said--
+
+"Can it be true?  You know nothing of me."
+
+"I know you love me.  What more should I know, or wish to know?"
+
+The red lips were pursed in a manner that spoke whole tomes of
+wisdom.
+
+"You do not know that I work for my living all the week?"
+
+"When you are mine you shall work no more."
+
+"'But sit on a cushion and sew a gold seam'?  Ah, no; I have to work.
+It is strange," she said, musingly, "so strange."
+
+"What is strange, Claire?"
+
+"That you have never seen me except on my holidays--that we have
+never met.  What have you done since you have been in London?"
+
+I thought of my walks and tireless quest in Oxford Street with a kind
+of shame.  That old life was severed from the present by whole
+worlds.
+
+"I have lived very quietly," I answered.  "But is it so strange that
+we have never met?"
+
+She laughed a low and musical laugh, and as the boat drew shoreward
+and grounded, replied--
+
+"Perhaps not.  Come, let us go to mother--Jasper."
+
+O sweet sound from sweetest lips!  We stepped ashore, and
+hand-in-hand entered the room where her mother sat.
+
+As she looked up and saw us standing there together, she knew the
+truth in a moment.  Her blue eyes filled with sudden fear, her worn
+hand went upwards to her heart.  Until that instant she had not known
+of my presence there that day, and in a flash divined its meaning.
+
+"I feared it," she answered at length, as I told my story and stood
+waiting for an answer.  "I feared it, and for long have been
+expecting it.  Claire, my love, are you sure?  Oh, be quite sure
+before you leave me."
+
+For answer, Claire only knelt and flung her white arms round her
+mother's neck, and hid her face upon her mother's bosom.
+
+"You love him now, you think; but, oh, be careful.  Search your heart
+before you rob me of it.  I have known love, too, Claire, or thought
+I did; and indeed it can fade--and then, what anguish, what anguish!"
+
+"Mother, mother! I will never leave you."
+
+Mrs. Luttrell sighed.
+
+"Ah, child, it is your happiness I am thinking of."
+
+"I will never leave you, mother."
+
+"And you, sir," continued Mrs. Luttrell, "are you sure?  I am giving
+you what is dearer than life itself; and as you value her now, treat
+her worthily hereafter.  Swear this to me, if my gift is worth so
+much in your eyes.  Sir, do you know--"
+
+"Mother!"
+
+Claire drew her mother's head down towards her and whispered in her
+ear.  Mrs. Luttrell frowned, hesitated, and finally said--
+
+"Well, it shall be as you wish--though I doubt if it be wise.
+God bless you, Claire--and you, sir; but oh, be certain, be certain!"
+
+What incoherent speech I made in answer I know not, but my heart was
+sore for this poor soul.  Claire turned her eyes to me and rose,
+smoothing her mother's grey locks.
+
+"We will not leave her, will we?  Tell her that we will not."
+
+I echoed her words, and stepping to Mrs. Luttrell, took the frail,
+white hand.
+
+"Sir," she said, "you who take her from me should be my bitterest
+foe.  Yet see, I take you for a son."
+
+
+Still rapt with the glory of my great triumph, and drunk with the
+passion of that farewell kiss, I walked into our lodgings and laid my
+hand on Tom's shoulder.
+
+"Tom, I have news for you."
+
+Tom started up.  "And so have I for you."
+
+"Great news."
+
+"Glorious news!"
+
+"Tom, listen: I am accepted."
+
+"Bless my soul!  Jasper, so am I."
+
+"You?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When?  Where?"
+
+"This afternoon.  Jasper, our success has come at last: for you the
+Loves, for me the Muses; for you the rose, for me the bay.  Jasper,
+dear boy, they have learnt her worth at last."
+
+"Her!  Who?"
+
+"Francesca.  Jasper, in three months I shall be famous; for next
+November 'Francesca: a Tragedy' will be produced at the Coliseum."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+TELLS HOW THE CURTAIN ROSE UPON  "FRANCESCA: A TRAGEDY."
+
+Again my story may hurry, for on the enchanted weeks that followed it
+would weary all but lovers to dwell, and lovers for the most part
+find their own matters sufficient food for pondering.  Tom was busy
+with the rehearsals at the Coliseum, and I, being left alone, had
+little taste for the _Materia Medica_.  On Sundays only did I see
+Claire; for this Mrs. Luttrell had stipulated, and my love, too, most
+mysteriously professed herself busy during the week.  As for me, it
+was clear that before marriage could be talked of I must at least
+have gained my diplomas, so that the more work I did during the week
+the better.  The result of this was a goodly sowing of resolutions
+and very little harvest.  In the evenings, Tom and I would sit
+together--he tirelessly polishing and pruning the tragedy, and I for
+the most part smoking and giving advice which I am bound to say in
+duty to the author ("Francesca" having gained some considerable fame
+since those days) was invariably rejected.
+
+Tom had been growing silent and moody of late--a change for which I
+could find no cause.  He would answer my questions at random, pause
+in his work to gaze long and intently on the ceiling, and altogether
+behave in ways unaccountable and strange.  The play had been written
+at white-hot speed: the corrections proceeded at a snail's pace.
+The author had also fallen into a habit of bolting his meals in
+silence, and, when rebuked, of slowly bringing his eyes to bear upon
+me as a person whose presence was until the moment unsuspected.
+All this I saw in mild wonder, but I reflected on certain moods of my
+own of late, and held my peace.
+
+The explanation came without my seeking.  We were seated together one
+evening, he over his everlasting corrections, and I in some
+especially herbaceous nook of the _Materia Medica_, when Tom looked
+up and said--
+
+"Jasper, I want your opinion on a passage.  Listen to this."
+
+Sick of my flowery solitude, I gave him my attention while he read:--
+
+    "She is no violet to veil and hide
+     Before the lusty sun, but as the flower,
+     His best-named bride, that leaneth to the light
+     And images his look of lordly love--
+     Yet how I wrong her.  She is more a queen
+     Than he a king; and whoso looks must kneel
+     And worship, conscious of a Sovranty
+     Undreamt in nature, save it be the Heaven
+     That minist'ring to all is queen of all,
+     And wears the proud sun's self but as a gem
+     To grace her girdle, one among the stars.
+     Heaven is Francesca, and Francesca Heaven.
+     Without her, Heaven is dispossessed of Heaven,
+     And Earth, discrowned and disinherited,
+     Shall beg in black eclipse, until her eyes--"
+
+"Stay," I interrupted, "unless I am mistaken her eyes are like the
+Pleiads, a simile to which I have more than once objected."
+
+"If you would only listen you would find those lines cut out," said
+Tom, pettishly.
+
+"In that case I apologise: nevertheless, if that is your idea of a
+Francesca, I confess she seems to me a trifle--shall we say?--
+massive."
+
+"Your Claire, I suppose, is stumpy?"
+
+"My Claire,"  I replied with dignity, "is neither stumpy nor
+stupendous."
+
+"In fact, just the right height."
+
+"Well, yes, just the right height."
+
+Tom paid no attention, but went on in full career--
+
+"I hate your Griseldas, your Jessamys, your Mary Anns; give me
+Semiramis, Dido, Joan of--"
+
+"My dear Tom, not all at once, I hope."
+
+"Bah! you are so taken up with your own choice, that you must needs
+scoff at anyone who happens to differ.  I tell you, woman should be
+imperial, majestic; should walk as a queen and talk as a goddess.
+You scoff because you have never seen such; you shut your eyes and go
+about saying, 'There is no such woman.'  By heaven, Jasper, if you
+could only see--"
+
+At this point Tom suddenly pulled up and blushed like any child.
+
+"Go on--whom shall I see?"
+
+Tom's blush was beautiful to look upon.
+
+"The Lambert, for instance; I meant--"
+
+"Who is the Lambert?"
+
+"Do you mean to say you have never heard of Clarissa Lambert, the
+most glorious actress in London?"
+
+"Never.  Is she acting at the Coliseum?"
+
+"Of course she is.  She takes Francesca.  Oh, Jasper, you should see
+her, she is divine!"
+
+Here another blush succeeded.
+
+"So," I said after a pause, "you have taken upon yourself to fall in
+love with this Clarissa Lambert."
+
+Tom looked unutterably sheepish.
+
+"Is the passion returned?"
+
+"Jasper, don't talk like that and don't be a fool.  Of course I have
+never breathed a word to her.  Why, she hardly knows me, has hardly
+spoken to me beyond a few simple sentences.  How should I, a
+miserable author without even a name, speak to her?  Jasper, do you
+like the name Clarissa?"
+
+"Not half so well as Claire."
+
+"Nonsense; Claire is well enough as names go, but nothing to
+Clarissa.  Mark how the ending gives it grace and quaintness; what a
+grand eighteenth-century ring it has!  It is superb--so sweet, and at
+the same time so stately."
+
+"And replaces Francesca so well in scansion."
+
+Tom's face was confession.
+
+"You should see her, Jasper--her eyes.  What colour are Claire's?"
+
+"Deep grey."
+
+"Clarissa's are hazel brown: I prefer brown; in fact I always thought
+a woman should have brown eyes: we won't quarrel about inches, but
+you will give way in the matter of eyes, will you not?"
+
+"Not an inch."
+
+"It really is wonderful," said Tom, "how the mere fact of being in
+love is apt to corrupt a man's taste.  Now in the matter of voice--I
+dare wager that your Claire speaks in soft and gentle numbers."
+
+"As an Aeolian harp," said I, and I spoke truth.
+
+"Of course, unrelieved tenderness and not a high note in the gamut.
+But you should hear Clarissa; I only ask you to hear her once, and
+let those glorious accents play upon your crass heart for a moment or
+two.  O Jasper, Jasper, it shakes the very soul!"
+
+Tom was evidently in a very advanced stage of the sickness; I could
+not find it in my heart to return his flouts of a month before, so I
+said--
+
+"Very well, my dear Tom, I shall look upon your divinity in November.
+I do not promise you she will have the effect that you look forward
+to, but I am glad your Francesca will be worthily played; and, Tom, I
+am glad you are in love; I think it improves you."
+
+"It is hopeless--absolutely hopeless; she is cold as ice."
+
+"What, with that voice and those eyes?  Nonsense, man."
+
+"She is cold as ice," groaned poor Tom; "everyone says so."
+
+"Of course everyone says so; you ought to be glad of that, for this
+is the one point on which what everyone says must from the nature of
+things be false.  Why, man, if she beamed on the whole world, then I
+might believe you."
+
+From which it will be gathered that I had learned something from
+being in love.
+
+
+So sad did I consider Tom's case, that I spoke to Claire about it
+when I saw her next.
+
+"Claire," I said, "you have often heard me speak of Tom."
+
+"Really, Jasper, you seldom speak of anybody else.  In fact I am
+growing quite jealous of this friend."
+
+After the diversion caused by this speech, I resumed--
+
+"But really Tom is the best of fellows, and if I talk much of him it
+is because he is my only friend.  You must see him, Claire, and you
+will be sure to like him.  He is so clever!"
+
+"What is the name of this genius--I mean the other name?"
+
+"Why, Loveday, of course--Thomas Loveday.  Do you mean to say I have
+never told you?"
+
+"Never," said Claire, meditatively.  "Loveday--Thomas Loveday--is it
+a common name?"
+
+"No, I should think not very common.  Don't you like it?"
+
+"It--begins well."
+
+Here followed another diversion.
+
+"But what I was going to say about Tom," I continued, "is this--he
+has fallen in love; in fact, I have never seen a man so deeply in
+love."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Anyone else," I corrected, "for of course I was quite as bad; you
+understand that."
+
+"We were talking of Thomas Loveday."
+
+"Oh, yes, of Tom.  Well, Tom, you know--or perhaps you do not.
+At any rate, Tom has written a tragedy."
+
+"All about love?"
+
+"Well, not quite all; though there is a good deal in it, considering
+it was written when the author had no idea of what the passion was
+like.  But that is not the point.  This tragedy is coming out at the
+Coliseum in November.  Are you not well, Claire?"
+
+"Yes, yes; go on.  What has all this to do with Tom's love?"
+
+"I am coming to that.  Tom, of course, has been attending the
+rehearsals lately.  He will not let me come until the piece is ready,
+for he is wonderfully nervous.  I am to come and see it on the first
+night.  Well, as I was saying, Tom has been going to rehearsals, and
+has fallen in love with--guess with whom."
+
+Claire was certainly getting very white.
+
+"Are you sure you are well, Claire?" I asked, anxiously.
+
+"Oh, yes; quite sure.  But tell me with whom--how should I guess?"
+
+"Why, with the leading actress; one Clarissa Lambert, is it not?"
+
+"Clarissa--Lambert!"
+
+"Why, Claire, what is the matter?  Are you faint?"  For my love had
+turned deathly pale, and seemed as though she would faint indeed.
+
+We were in the old spot so often revisited, though the leaves were
+yellowing fast, and the blackbird's note had long ceased utterly.
+I placed my arm around her for support, but my darling unlocked it
+after a moment, struggled with her pallor, and said--
+
+"No, no; I am better.  It was a little faintness, but is passing off.
+Go on, and tell me about Mr. Loveday."
+
+"I am afraid I bored you.  But that is all.  Do you know this
+Clarissa Lambert?  Have you seen her?"
+
+"Yes--I have seen her."
+
+"I suppose she is very famous; at least, Tom says so.  He also says
+she is divine; but I expect, from his description, that she is of the
+usual stamp of Tragedy Queen, tall and loud, with a big voice."
+
+"Did he tell you that?"
+
+"No, of course Tom raves about her.  But there is no accounting for
+what a lover will say."  This statement was made with all the sublime
+assurance of an accepted man.  "But you have seen her," I went on,
+"and can tell me how far his description is true.  I suppose she is
+much the same as other actresses, is she not?"
+
+"Jasper," said Claire, very gently, after a pause, "do you ever go to
+a theatre?"
+
+"Very seldom; in fact, about twice only since I have been in London."
+
+"I suppose you were taught as a boy to hate such things?"
+
+"Well," I laughed, "I do not expect Uncle Loveday would have approved
+of Tom's choice, if that is what you mean.  But that does not matter,
+I fear, as Tom swears that his case is hopeless.  He worships from
+afar, and says that she is as cold as ice.  In fact, he has never
+told his love, but lets concealment like a--"
+
+"That is not what I meant.  Do you--do you think all actors and
+actresses wicked?"
+
+"Of course not.  Why should I?"
+
+"You are going to see--"
+
+"'Francesca'?  Oh, yes, on the opening night."
+
+"Then possibly we shall meet.  Will you look out for me?"
+
+"Let me take you, Claire.  Oh, I am glad indeed!  You will see Tom
+there, and, I hope, be able to congratulate him on his triumph.
+So let me take you."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"No, no."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because that is impossible--really.  I shall see you there, and you
+will see me.  Is not that enough?"
+
+"If you say so, it must be,"  I answered sadly.  "But--"
+
+"'But me no buts,'" she quoted.  "See, it is getting late; we must be
+going."
+
+A most strange silence fell upon us on the way back to Streatley.
+Claire's face had not yet wholly regained its colour, and she seemed
+disinclined to talk.  So I had to solace myself by drinking in long
+draughts of her loveliness, and by whispering to my soul how poorly
+Tom's Queen of Tragedy would show beside my sweetheart.
+
+O fool and blind!
+
+Presently my love asked musingly--
+
+"Jasper, do you think that you could cease to love me?"
+
+"Claire, how can you ask it?"
+
+"You are quite sure?  You remember what mother said?"
+
+"Claire, love is strong as death.  How does the text run?
+'Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if
+a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would
+utterly be contemned.'  Claire, you must believe that!"
+
+"'Strong as death,'" she murmured.  "Yes, I believe it.  What a
+lovely text that is!"
+
+The boat touched shore at Streatley, and we stepped out.
+
+"Jasper," she said again at parting that night, "you have no
+doubt, no grain of doubt, about my question, and the answer?
+'Strong as death,' you are sure?"
+
+For answer I strained her to my heart.
+
+O fool and blind!  O fool and blind!
+
+
+The night that was big with Tom's fate had come.  The Coliseum was
+crowded as we entered.  In those days the theatre had no stalls, so
+we sat in the front row of the dress circle, Tom having in his
+modesty refused a box.  He was behind the scenes until some five
+minutes before the play began, so that before he joined me I had
+ample time to study the house and look about for some sign of Claire.
+
+Certainly, the sedulous manner in which the new tragedy had been
+advertised was not without result.  To me, unused as I was to
+theatre-going, the host of people, the hot air, the glare of the
+gas-lights were intoxicating.  In a flutter of anxiety for Tom's
+success, of sweet perturbation at the prospect of meeting Claire, at
+first I could grasp but a confused image of the scene.  By degrees,
+however, I began to look about me, and then to scan the audience
+narrowly for sight of my love.
+
+Surely I should note her at once among thousands.  Yet my first
+glance was fruitless.  I looked again, examined the house slowly face
+by face, and again was baffled.  I could see all but a small portion
+of the pit, the upper boxes and gallery.  Pit and gallery were out of
+the question.  She might, though it was hardly likely, be in the tier
+just above, and I determined to satisfy myself after the end of Act
+I.  Meantime I scanned the boxes.  There were twelve on either side
+of the house, and all were full.  By degrees I satisfied myself that
+strangers occupied all of them, except the box nearest the stage on
+the right of the tier where I was sitting.  The occupants of this
+were out of sight.  Only a large yellow and black fan was swaying
+slowly backwards and forwards to tell me that somebody sat there.
+
+Somehow, the slow, ceaseless motion of this pricked my curiosity.
+Its pace, as it waved to and fro, was unaltered; the hand that moved
+it seemingly tireless; but even the hand was hidden.  Not a finger
+could I gain a glimpse of.  By some silly freak of fancy I was
+positively burning with eagerness to see the fan's owner, when Tom
+returned and took his seat beside me.
+
+"It begins in five minutes; everything is ready," said he, and his
+voice had a nervous tremor which he sought in vain to hide.
+
+"Courage!" I said; "at least the numbers here should flatter you."
+
+"They frighten me!  What shall I do if it fails?"
+
+The overture was drawing to its close.  Tom looked anxiously around
+the house.
+
+"Yes," he said, "it is crowded, indeed.  By the way, was not Claire
+to have been here?  Point her out to me."
+
+"She was; but I cannot see her anywhere.  Perhaps she is late."
+
+"If so, I cannot see where she is to find a place.  Hush! they are
+ending."
+
+As he spoke, the last strains of the orchestra died slowly and
+mournfully away, and the curtain rose upon "Francesca: a Tragedy."
+
+This play has since gained such a name, not only from its own merits
+(which are considerable), but in consequence also of certain
+circumstances which this story will relate, that it would be not only
+tedious but unnecessary to follow its action in detail.  For the
+benefit, however, of those who did not see it at the Coliseum, I here
+subjoin a short sketch of the plot, which the better-informed reader
+may omit.
+
+Francesca is the daughter of Sebastian, at one time Duke of Bologna,
+but deposed and driven from his palace by the intrigues of his
+younger brother Charles.  At the time when the action begins,
+Sebastian is chief of a band of brigands, the remains of his faithful
+adherents, whom he has taken with him to the fastnesses of the
+Apennines.  Charles, who has already usurped the duchy for some
+sixteen years, is travelling with his son Valentine, a youth of
+twenty, near the haunt of his injured brother.  Separated from their
+escort, they are wandering up a pass, when Valentine stops to admire
+the view, promising his father to join him at the summit.  While thus
+occupied, he is startled by the entrance of Francesca, and, struck
+with her beauty, accosts her.  She, sympathising for so noble a
+youth, warns him of the banditti, and he hastens on only to find his
+father lying at the foot of a precipitous rock, dead.  He supposes
+him to have fallen, has the body conveyed back to Bologna, and having
+by this time fallen deeply in love with Francesca, prevails on her to
+leave her father and come with him.  She consents, and flies with
+him, but after some time finds that he is deserting her for Julia,
+daughter of the Duke of Ferrara.  Slighted and driven to desperation,
+she makes her way back to her father, is forgiven, and learns that
+Charles' death was due to no accident, but to her father's hand.
+No sooner is this discovery made than Valentine and Julia are brought
+in by the banditti, who have surprised and captured them, but do not
+know their rank.  The deposed duke, Sebastian, does not recognise
+Valentine, and consigns him, with his wife, to a cave, under guard of
+the brigands.  It is settled by Sebastian that on the morrow
+Valentine is to go and fetch a ransom, leaving his wife behind.
+Francesca, having plied the guards with drink, enters by night into
+the cave where they lie captive, is recognised by them, and offers to
+change dresses with Julia in order that husband and wife may escape.
+A fine scene follows of insistence and self-reproach, but ultimately
+Francesca prevails.  Valentine and Julia pass out in the grey dawn,
+and Francesca, left alone, stabs herself.  The play concludes as her
+father enters the cave and discovers his daughter's corpse.
+
+The first scene (which is placed at the court of Bologna) passed
+without disaster, and the curtain fell for a moment before it rose
+upon the mountain pass.  Hitherto the audience had been chilly.
+They did not hiss, but neither did they applaud; and I could feel,
+without being able to give any definite reason for the impression,
+that so far the play had failed.  Tom saw it too.  I did not dare to
+look in his face, but could tell his agony by his short and laboured
+breathing.  Luckily his torture did not last long, for the curtain
+quickly rose for Scene 2.
+
+The scene was beautifully painted and awakened a momentary enthusiasm
+in the audience.  It died away, however, as Sebastian and Valentine
+entered.  The dialogue between them was short, and Valentine was very
+soon left alone to a rather dull soliloquy (since shortened) which
+began to weary the audience most unmistakably.  I caught the sound of
+a faint hiss, saw one or two people yawning; and then--
+
+Stealing, rising, swelling, gathering as it thrilled the ear all
+graces and delights of perfect sound; sweeping the awed heart with
+touch that set the strings quivering to an ecstasy that was almost
+pain; breathing through them in passionate whispering; hovering,
+swaying, soaring upward to the very roof, then shivering down again
+in celestial shower of silver--there came a voice that trod all
+conceptions, all comparisons, all dreams to scorn; a voice beyond
+hope, beyond belief; a voice that in its unimaginable beauty seemed
+to compel the very heaven to listen.
+
+And yet--surely I knew--surely it could not be--
+
+I must be dreaming--mad!  The bare notion was incredible--and even as
+my heart spoke the words, the theatre grew dim and shadowy; the vast
+sea of faces heaved, melted, swam in confusion; all sound came dull
+and hoarse upon my ear; while there--there--
+
+There, in the blaze of light, radiant, lovely, a glorified and
+triumphant queen, stepped forward before the eyes of that vast
+multitude--my love, my Claire!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+TELLS HOW THE BLACK AND YELLOW FAN SENT A MESSAGE; AND HOW I SAW A
+FACE IN THE FOG.
+
+As I sat stupefied our eyes met.  It was but for an instant, but in
+that instant I saw that she recognised me and mutely challenged my
+verdict.  Then she turned to Valentine.
+
+The theatre rang with tumultuous plaudits as her song ended.  I could
+feel Tom's grasp at my elbow, but I could neither echo the applause
+nor answer him.  It was all so wildly, grotesquely improbable.
+
+This then was my love, this the Claire whom I had wooed and won in
+the shy covert of Pangbourne Woods--this deified and transfigured
+being before whom thousands were hushed in awe.  Those were the lips
+that had faltered in sweet confession--those before which the breath
+of thousands came and went in agitated wonder.  It was incredible.
+
+And then, as Tom's hand was laid upon my arm, it flashed upon me that
+the woman he loved was my plighted bride--and he knew nothing of it.
+As this broke upon me there swept over me an awful dread lest he
+should see my face and guess the truth.  How could I tell him?
+Poor Tom!  Poor Tom!
+
+I turned my eyes upon Claire again.  Yes, she was superb: beyond all
+challenge glorious.  And all the more I felt as one who has betrayed
+his friend and is angry with fate for sealing such betrayal beyond
+revoke.
+
+Whether Claire misinterpreted my look of utter stupefaction or not, I
+do not know; but as she turned and recognised Valentine there was a
+tremor in her voice which the audience mistook for art, though I knew
+it to be but too real.  I tried to smile and to applaud, but neither
+eyes nor hand would obey my will; and so even Claire's acting became
+a reproach and an appeal to me, pleading forgiveness to which my soul
+cried assent though my voice denied it.  Minute after minute I sat
+beneath an agonising spell I could not hope to break.
+
+
+"Congratulate me, Jasper.  What do you think of her?"
+
+It was Tom's voice beside me.  Congratulate him!  I felt the meanest
+among men.
+
+"She is--glorious," I stammered.
+
+"I knew you would say so.  Unbeliever, did ever man see such eyes?
+Confess now, what are Claire's beside them?"
+
+"Claire's--are--much the same."
+
+"Why, man, Claire's were deep grey but a day or two ago, and
+Clarissa's are the brownest of brown; but of course you cannot see
+from here."
+
+Alas!  I knew too surely the colour of Claire's eyes, so like brown
+in the blaze of the foot-lights.  And her height--Tom had only seen
+her walk in tragic buskin.  How fatally easy had the mistake been!
+
+"Tom, your success is certain now."
+
+"Yes, thanks to her.  They were going to damn the play before she
+entered.  I could see it.  Did you see, Jasper?  She looked this way
+for a moment.  Do you think she meant to encourage me?  By the way,
+have you caught sight of Claire yet?"
+
+Oh, Tom, Tom, let me spare you for this night!  My heart throbbed and
+something in my throat seemed choking me as I muttered, "Yes."
+
+"Then do not stay congratulating me, but fly.  Success spoils the
+lover.  Ah, Jasper, if only Clarissa had summoned me!  Hasten: I will
+keep my eye upon you and smile approval on your taste.  Where is
+she?"
+
+Again something seemed to catch me by the throat; I was struggling to
+answer when I heard a voice behind me say, "For you, sir," and a note
+was thrust into my hand.  With beating heart I opened it, expecting
+to see Claire's handwriting.  But the note was not from her.  It was
+scribbled hastily with pencil in a bold hand, and ran thus:--
+
+    "An old friend wishes to see you.  Come, if you have time.
+     Box No. 7."
+
+At first I thought the message must have reached me by mistake, but
+it was very plainly directed to "J. Trenoweth, Esq."  I looked around
+for the messenger but found him gone, and fell to scanning the boxes
+once more.
+
+As before, they were filled with strangers; and, as before, the black
+and yellow fan was waving slowly to and fro, as though the hand that
+wielded it was no hand at all, but rather some untiring machine.
+Still the owner remained invisible.  I hesitated, reflected a moment,
+and decided that even a fool's errand was better than enduring the
+agony of Tom's rapture.  I rose.
+
+"I will be back again directly," I said, and then left him.
+
+Still pondering on the meaning of this message, I made my way down
+the passages until I came to the doors of the boxes, and stopped
+opposite that labelled "No. 7."  As I did so, it struck me that this,
+from its position, must be the one which contained the black and
+yellow fan.  By this time thoroughly curious, I knocked.
+
+"Come in," said a low voice which I seemed to remember.
+
+I entered and found myself face to face with the yellow woman--the
+mistress of the gambling-hell.
+
+She was seated there alone, slightly retired from the view of the
+house and in the shadow; but her arm, as it rested on the cushion,
+still swayed the black and yellow fan, and her diamonds sparkled
+lustrously as ever in the glare that beat into the box.  Her dress,
+as if to emphasise the hideousness of her skin and form a staring
+contrast with her wrinkled face and white hair, was of black and
+yellow, in which she seemed some grisly corpse masquerading as youth.
+
+Struck dumb by this apparition, I took the seat into which she
+motioned me, while her wonderful eyes regarded my face with stony
+impassiveness.  I could hear the hoarse murmurs of the house and feel
+the stifling heat as it swept upwards from the pit.  The strange
+woman did not stir except to keep up the ceaseless motion of her
+wrist.
+
+For a full five minutes, as it seemed to me, we sat there silently
+regarding each other.  Then at last she spoke, and the soft voice was
+as musically sympathetic as ever.
+
+"You seem astonished to see me, Mr. Trenoweth, and yet I have been
+looking for you for a long time."
+
+I bowed.
+
+"I have been expecting you to give me a chance of redeeming my
+defeat."
+
+"I am sorry," stammered I, not fully recovered from my surprise,
+"but that is not likely."
+
+"No?  From my point of view it was extremely likely.  But somehow
+I had a suspicion that you would be different from the rest.
+Perhaps it was because I had set my heart upon your coming."
+
+"I hope," said I, "that the money--"
+
+She smiled and waved her hand slightly.
+
+"Do not trouble about that.  Had I chosen, I could have gone on
+losing to you until this moment.  No, perhaps it was simply because
+you were least likely to do so, that I wished you to come back as all
+other young men would come back.  I hope you reached home safely with
+what you won; but I need not ask that."
+
+"Indeed you need.  I was attacked as I left the room, and but for a
+lucky accident, should now be dead."
+
+"Ah," she said placidly; "you suspect me.  Don't say 'no,' for
+I can see you do.  Nevertheless you are entirely wrong.
+Why, Mr. Trenoweth, had I chosen, do you think I could not have had
+you robbed before you had gone three paces from the house?"
+
+This was said with such composure, and her eyes were so absolutely
+void of emotion, that I could but sit and gasp.  Once more I recalled
+the moment when, as I fled down the dark passage, I had seen her
+sitting motionless and calm in the light of her countless candles.
+
+"But do you think I sent for you to tell you that?" she continued.
+"I sent for you because you interested me, and because I want a talk
+with you.  Hush! the curtain is rising for the second act.  Let us
+resume when it has finished; you will not deny me that favour at
+least."
+
+I bowed again, and was silent as the curtain rose--and once more
+Claire's superb voice thrilled the house.  Surely man was seldom more
+strangely placed than was I, between the speech of my love and the
+eyes of this extraordinary woman.  As I sat in the shadow and
+listened, I felt those blazing fires burning into my very soul; yet
+whenever I looked up and met them, their icy glitter baffled all
+interpretation.  Still as I sat there, the voice of Claire came to me
+as though beseeching and praying for my judgment, and rising with the
+blaze of light and heated atmosphere of the house, swept into the box
+until I could bear the oppression no longer.  She must have looked
+for me, and seeing my place empty, have guessed that I condemned her.
+Mad with the thought, I rose to my feet and stood for a minute full
+in the light of the theatre.  It may not have been even a minute, but
+she saw me, and once more, as our gaze met, faltered for an instant.
+Then the voice rang out clear and true again, and I knew that all was
+well between us.  Yet in her look there was something which I could
+not well interpret.
+
+As I sank back in my seat, I met the eyes of my companion still
+impenetrably regarding me.  But as the curtain fell she said
+quietly--
+
+"So you know Clarissa Lambert?"
+
+I stammered an affirmative.
+
+"Well?  You admire her acting?"
+
+"I never saw it until to-night."
+
+"That is strange; and yet you know her?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"She is a great success--on which I congratulate myself, for I
+discovered her."
+
+"You!"  I could only exclaim.
+
+"Yes, I.  Is it so extraordinary?  She and I are connected, so to
+speak; which makes it the more odd that she should never have
+mentioned you."
+
+The eyes seemed now to be reading me as a book.  I summoned all my
+courage and tried to return their steady stare.  There was a pause,
+broken only by the light_ frou-frou_ of the fan, as it still waved
+slowly backwards and forwards.  Among all the discoveries of this
+night, it was hard enough to summon reason, harder to utter speech.
+
+"But you will be leaving me again if I do not explain why I sent for
+you.  You are wondering now on my reasons.  They are very simple--
+professional even, in part.  In the first place, I wished to have a
+good look at you.  Do you wonder why an old woman should wish to look
+upon a comely youth?  Do not blush; but listen to my other and
+professional reason.  I should greatly like, if I may, to look upon
+your talisman--that golden buckle or whatever it was that brought
+such marvellous luck.  Is it on you to-night?"
+
+I wore it, as a matter of fact, in my waistcoat pocket, attached to
+one end of my chain; but I hesitated for a moment.
+
+"You need not be afraid," she said, and there was a suspicion of
+mockery in her tone.  "I will return it, as I returned it before.
+But if you are reluctant to let me see it (and remember, I have seen
+it once), do not hesitate to refuse.  I shall not be annoyed."
+
+Reflecting that, after all, her curiosity was certain to be baffled,
+I handed her the Golden Clasp, with the chain, in silence.
+
+"It is a curious relic," said she, as she slowly examined it and laid
+it on her lap for a moment.  "If the question be allowed, how did you
+become possessed of it?"
+
+"It belonged to my father," I answered.
+
+"Excuse me," she said, deliberately, "that is hardly an answer to my
+question."
+
+During the silence that followed, she took up the clasp again, and
+studied the writing.  As she did so she used her right hand only;
+indeed, during the whole time, her left had been occupied with her
+tireless fan.  I fancied, though I could not be certain, that it was
+waving slightly faster than before.
+
+"The writing seems to be nonsense.  What is this--'Moon  end
+South--deep  at  point'?  I can make no meaning of it.  I suppose
+there is a meaning?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge," said I, and immediately repented, for once
+more I seemed to catch that gleam in her eyes which had so baffled me
+when first she saw the Clasp.  The curtain rose upon the third act of
+"Francesca," and we sat in silence, she with the Clasp lying upon her
+lap, I wondering by what possibility she could know anything about my
+father's secret.  She could not, I determined.  The whole history of
+the Golden Clasp made it impossible.  And yet I repented my rashness.
+It was too late now, however; so, when the act was over I waited for
+her to speak.
+
+"So this belonged to your father.  Tell me, was he at all like you?"
+
+"He was about my height, I should guess," said I, wondering at this
+new question; "but otherwise quite unlike.  He was a fair man, I am
+dark."
+
+"But your grandfather--was he not dark?"
+
+"I believe so," I answered, "but really--"
+
+"You wonder at my questions, of course.  Never mind me; think me a
+witch, if you like.  Do I not look a witch?"
+
+Indeed she did, as she sat there.  The diamonds flashed and gleamed,
+lighting up the awful colour of her skin until she seemed a very
+"Death-in-Life."
+
+"I see that I puzzle you; but your looks, Mr. Trenoweth, are hardly
+complimentary.  However, you are forgiven.  Here, take your talisman,
+and guard it jealously; I thank you for showing it to me, but if I
+were you I should keep it secret.  Shall I see you again?  I suppose
+not.  I am afraid I have made you miss some of the tragedy.  You must
+pardon me for that, as I have waited long to see you.  At any rate,
+there is the last act to come.  Good-bye, and be careful of your
+talisman."
+
+As she spoke, she shut her fan with a sharp click, and then it
+flashed upon me that it had never ceased its pendulous motion until
+that instant.  It was a strange idea to strike me then, but a
+stranger yet succeeded.  Was it that I heard a low mocking laugh
+within the box as I stepped out into the passage?  I cannot clearly
+tell; perhaps it is but a fancy conjured up by later reflection on
+that meeting and its consequences.  I only know that as I bowed and
+left her, the vision that I bore away was not of the gleaming gems,
+the yellow face, the white hair, or waving fan, but of two coal-black
+and impenetrable eyes.
+
+I sought my place, and dropped into the seat beside Tom.  The fourth
+act was beginning, so that I had time to speculate upon my interview,
+but could find no hope of solution.  Finally, I abandoned guessing,
+to admire Claire.  As the play went on, her acting grew more and more
+transcendent.  Lines which I had heard from Tom's lips and scoffed
+at, were now fused with subtle meaning and passion.  Scenes which I
+had condemned as awkward and heavy, became instinct with exquisite
+pathos.  There comes a point in acting at which criticism ceases,
+content to wonder; this point it was clear that my love had touched.
+The new play was a triumphant success.
+
+"So," said Tom, before the last act, "Claire carries a yellow fan,
+does she?  I looked everywhere for you at first, and only caught
+sight of you for an instant by the merest chance.  You behaved rather
+shabbily in giving me no chance of criticism, for I never caught a
+glimpse of her.  I hope she admired--Hallo! she's gone!"
+
+I followed his gaze, and saw that Box No. 7 was no longer occupied by
+the fan.
+
+"I suppose you saw her off?  Well, I do not admire your taste, I must
+confess--nor Claire's--to go when Francesca was beginning to touch
+her grandest height.  Whew! you lovers make me blush for you."
+
+"Tom." I said, anxious to lead him from all mention of Claire,
+"you must forgive me for having laughed at your play."
+
+"Forgive you!  I will forgive you if you weep during the next act;
+only on that condition."
+
+How shall I describe the last act?  Those who read "Francesca" in its
+published form can form no adequate idea of the enthusiasm in the
+Coliseum that night.  To them it is a skeleton; then it was clothed
+with passionate flesh and blood, breathed, sobbed and wept in purest
+pathos; to me, even now, as I read it again, it is charged with the
+inspiration of that wonderful art, so true, so tender, that made its
+last act a miracle.  I saw old men sob, and young men bow their heads
+to hide the emotion which they could not check.  I saw that audience
+which had come to criticise, tremble and break into tumultuous
+weeping.  Beside me, a greyheaded man was crying as any child.
+Yet why do I go on?  No one who saw Clarissa Lambert can ever
+forget--no one who saw her not can ever imagine.
+
+Tom had bowed his acknowledgments, the last flower had been flung,
+the last cheer had died away as we stepped out into the Strand
+together.  The street was wrapped in the densest of November fogs.
+So thick was it that the lamps, the shop windows, came into sight,
+stared at us in ghostly weakness for a moment, and then were gone,
+leaving us in Egyptian gloom.  I could not hope to see Claire
+to-night, and Tom was too modest to offer his congratulations until
+the morning.  Both he and I were too shaken by the scene just past
+for many words, and outside the black fog caught and held us by the
+throat.
+
+Even in the pitchy gloom I could feel that Tom's step was buoyant.
+He was treading already in imagination the path of love and fame.
+How should I have the heart to tell him?  How wither the chaplet that
+already seemed to bind his brow?
+
+Tom was the first to break the silence which had fallen upon us.
+
+"Jasper, did you ever see or hear the like?  Can a man help
+worshipping her?  But for her, 'Francesca' would have been hissed.
+I know it, I could see it, and now, I suppose, I shall be famous.
+
+"Famous!" continued he, soliloquising.  "Three months ago I would
+have given the last drop of my blood for fame; and now, without
+Clarissa, fame will be a mockery.  Do you think I might have any
+chance, the least chance?"
+
+How could I answer him?  The fog caught my breath as I tried to
+stammer a reply, and Tom, misinterpreting my want of words, read his
+condemnation.
+
+"You do not?  Of course, you do not; and you are right.  Success has
+intoxicated me, I suppose.  I am not used to the drink!" and he
+laughed a joyless laugh.
+
+Then, with a change of mood, he caught my hat from off my head, and
+set his own in its place.
+
+"We will change characters for the nonce," he said, "after the
+fashion of Falstaff and Prince Hal, and I will read myself a
+chastening discourse on the vanity of human wishes.  'Do thou stand
+for me, and I'll play my father.'  Eh, Jasper?"
+
+"'Well, here I am set,'" quoted I, content to humour him.
+
+"Well, then, I know thee; thou art Thomas Loveday, a beggarly Grub
+Street author, i' faith, a man of literature, and wouldst set eyes
+upon one to whom princes fling bouquets; a low Endymion puffing a
+scrannel pipe, and wouldst call therewith a queen to be thy bride.
+Out upon thee for such monstrous folly!"
+
+In his voice, as it came to me through the dense gloom, there rang,
+for all its summoned gaiety, a desperate mockery hideous to hear.
+
+"Behold, success hath turned thy weak brain.  But an hour agone
+enfranchised from Grub Street, thou must sing 'I'd be a butterfly.'
+Thou art vanity absolute, conceit beyond measure, and presumption out
+of all whooping.  Yea, and but as a fool Pygmalion, not content with
+loving thine own handiwork, thou must needs fall in love with the
+goddess that breathed life into its stiff limbs; must yearn, not for
+Galatea, but for Aphrodite; not for Francesca, but for--Ah!"
+
+What was that?  I saw a figure start up as if from below our feet,
+and Tom's hand go up to his breast.  There was a scuffle, a curse,
+and as I dashed forward, a dull, dim gleam--and Tom, with a groan,
+sank back into my arms.
+
+That was all.  A moment, and all had happened.  Yet not all; for as I
+caught the body of my friend, and saw his face turn ashy white in the
+gloom, I saw also, saw unmistakably framed for an instant in the
+blackness of the fog, a face I knew; a face I should know until death
+robbed my eyes of sight and my brain of remembrance--the face of
+Simon Colliver.
+
+A moment, and before I could pursue, before I could even shout or
+utter its name, it had faded into the darkness, and was gone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+TELLS HOW CLAIRE WENT TO THE PLAY; AND HOW SHE SAW THE GOLDEN CLASP.
+
+Tom was dying.  His depositions had been taken and signed with his
+failing hand; the surgeon had given his judgment, and my friend was
+lying upon his bed, face to face with the supreme struggle.
+
+The knife had missed his heart by little more than an inch, but the
+inward bleeding was killing him and there was no hope.  He knew it,
+and though the reason of that cowardly blow was a mystery to him, he
+asked few questions, but faced his fate with the old boyish pluck.
+His eyes as they turned to mine were lit with the old boyish love.
+
+Once only since his evidence was taken had his lips moved, and then
+to murmur _her_ name.  I had sent for her: a short note with only the
+words "Tom is dying and wants to speak with you."  So, while we
+waited, I sat holding my friend's hand and busy with my own black
+thoughts.
+
+I knew that he had received the blow meant for me, and that
+the secret of this too, as well as that other assault in the
+gambling-den, hung on the Golden Clasp and the Great Ruby.
+Whatever that secret was, the yellow woman knew of it, and held it
+beneath the glitter of her awful eyes.  She it was that had directed
+the murderous knife in the hands of Simon Colliver.  Bitterly I
+cursed the folly which had prompted my rash words in the theatre, and
+so sacrificed my friend.  With what passion, even in my despair, I
+thanked Heaven that the act which led to Colliver's mistake had been
+Tom's and not mine!  Yet, what consolation was it?  It was I, not he,
+that should be lying there.  He had given his life for his friend--a
+friend who had already robbed him of his love.  O false and
+traitorous friend!
+
+In my humiliation I would have taken my hand from his, but a feeble
+pressure and a look of faint reproach restrained me.  So he lay there
+and I sat beside him, and both counted the moments until Claire
+should come--or death.
+
+A knock at the door outside.  Tom heard it and in his eyes shone a
+light of ineffable joy.  In answer to his look I dropped his hand and
+went to meet her.
+
+"Claire, how can I thank you for this speed?"
+
+"How did it happen?"
+
+"Murdered!" said I.  "Foully struck down last night as he left the
+theatre."
+
+Her eyes looked for a moment as though they would have questioned me
+further, but she simply asked--
+
+"Does he want to see me?"
+
+"When he heard he was to die he asked for you.  Claire, if you only
+knew how he longs to see you; had you only seen his eyes when he
+heard you come!  You know why--"
+
+She nodded gravely.
+
+"I suppose," she said slowly, "we had better say nothing of--"
+
+"Nothing," I answered; "it is better so.  If there be any knowledge
+beyond the grave he will know all soon."
+
+Claire was silent.
+
+"Yes," she assented at length, "it is better so.  Take me to him."
+
+I drew back as Claire approached the bed, dreading to meet Tom's
+eyes; but I saw them welcome her in a flash of thankful rapture, then
+slowly close as though unable wholly to bear this glad vision.
+
+Altogether lovely she was as she bent and lifted his nerveless hand,
+with the light of purest compassion on her face.
+
+"You have come then," said the dying man.  "God bless you for that!"
+
+"I am come, and oh! I am so very, very sorry."
+
+"I saw Jasper write and knew he had sent, but I hardly dared to hope.
+I am--very weak--and am going--fast."
+
+For answer, a tear of infinite pity dropped on the white hand.
+
+"Don't weep--I can't bear to see you weeping.  It is all for the
+best.  I can see that I have had hopes and visions, but I should
+never have attained them--never.  Now I shall not have to strive.
+Better so--better so."
+
+For a moment or two the lips moved inaudibly; then they spoke again--
+
+"It was so good of you--to come; I was afraid--afraid--but you are
+good.  You saved my play last night, but you cannot save--me."
+A wan smile played over the white face and was gone.
+
+"Better so, for I can speak now and be pardoned.  Do you know why I
+sent for you?  I wanted to tell something--before I died.  Do not be
+angry--I shall be dead soon, and in the grave, they say, there is no
+knowledge.  Clarissa! oh, pity me--pity me, if I speak!"
+
+The eyes looked up imploringly and met their pardon.
+
+"I have loved you--yes, loved you.  Can you forgive?  It need not
+distress--you--now.  It was mad--mad--but I loved you.  Jasper, come
+here."
+
+I stepped to the bed.
+
+"Tell her I loved her, and ask her--to forgive me.  Tell her I knew
+it was hopeless.  Tell her so, Jasper."
+
+Powerless to meet those trustful eyes, weary with the anguish of my
+remorse, I stood there helpless.
+
+"Jasper is too much--upset just now to speak.  Never mind, he will
+tell you later.  He is in love himself.  I have never seen her, but I
+hope he may be happier than I.  Forgive me for saying that.  I am
+happy now--happy now.
+
+"You do not know Jasper," continued the dying man after a pause; "but
+he saw you last night--and admired--how could he help it?  I hope you
+will be friends--for my sake.  Jasper is my only friend."
+
+There was a grey shadow on his face now--the shadow of death.
+Tom must have felt it draw near, for suddenly raising himself upon
+his elbow, he cried--
+
+"Ah, I was selfish--I did not think.  They are waiting at the
+theatre--go to them.  You will act your best--for my sake.
+Forget what I have said, if you cannot forgive."
+
+"Oh, why will you think that?"
+
+"You do forgive?  Oh, God bless you, God bless you for it!  Clarissa,
+if that be so, grant one thing more of your infinite mercy.  Kiss me
+once--once only--on the lips.  I shall die happier so.  Will you--can
+you--do this?"
+
+The film was gathering fast upon those eyes once so full of laughter;
+but through it they gazed in passionate appeal.  For answer, my love
+bent gravely over the bed and with her lips met his; then, still
+clasping his hand, sank on her knees beside the bed.
+
+"Thank God! My love--oh, let me call you that--you cannot--help--my
+loving you.  Do not pray--I am happy now and--they are waiting for
+you."
+
+Slowly Claire arose to her feet and stood waiting for his last word--
+
+"They are waiting--waiting.  Good-bye, Jasper--old friend--and
+Clarissa--Clarissa--my love--they are waiting--I cannot come--Clar--"
+
+Slowly Claire bent and once more touched his lips, then without a
+word passed slowly out.  As she went Death entered and found on its
+victim's face a changeless, rapturous smile.
+
+So "Francesca" was played a second time and, as the papers said next
+morning, with even more perfect art and amid more awed enthusiasm
+than on the first night.  But as the piece went on, a rumour passed
+through the house that its young author was dead--suddenly and
+mysteriously dead while the dawn of his fame was yet breaking--struck
+down, some said, outside the theatre by a rival, while others
+whispered that he had taken poison, but none knew for certain.
+Only, as Claire passed from one heart-shaking scene to another, the
+rumour grew and grew, so that when the curtain fell the audience
+parted in awed and murmured speculations.
+
+And all the while I was kneeling beside the body of my murdered
+friend.
+
+
+A week had passed and I was standing with Claire beside Tom's grave.
+We had met and spoken at the funeral, but some restraint had lain
+upon our tongues.  For myself, I was still as one who had sold his
+brother for a price, and Claire had forborne from questioning my
+grief.
+
+The coroner's jury had brought in a verdict of "Murder by a certain
+person unknown," and now the police were occupied in following such
+clues as I could give them.  All the daily papers assigned robbery as
+the motive, and the disappearance of Tom's watch-chain gave
+plausibility to the theory.  But I knew too well why that chain had
+disappeared, and even in my grief found consolation in the thought of
+Colliver's impotent rage when he should come to examine his prize.
+I had described the face and figure of my enemy and had even
+identified him with the long-missing sailor Georgio Rhodojani, so
+that they promised to lay hands on him in a very short space.
+But the public knew nothing of this.  The only effect of the
+newspapers' version of the murder was to send the town crowding in
+greater numbers than ever to see the dead man's play.
+
+Since the first night of "Francesca," Claire and I had only met by
+Tom's bedside and at his funeral.  But as I entered the gloomy
+cemetery that afternoon I spied a figure draped in black beside the
+yet unsettled mound, and as I drew near knew it to be Claire.
+
+So we stood there facing one another for a full minute, at a loss for
+words.  A wreath of _immortelles_ lay upon the grave.  In my heart I
+thanked her for the gift, but could not speak.  It seemed as though
+the hillock that parted us were some impassable barrier to words.
+Had I but guessed the truth I should have known that, unseen and
+unsuspected, across that foot or two of turf was stretched a gulf we
+were never more to cross: between our lives lay the body of my
+friend; and not his only, but many a pallid corpse that with its mute
+lips cursed our loves.
+
+Presently Claire raised her head and spoke.
+
+"Jasper, you have much to forgive me, and I hardly dare ask your
+forgiveness.  It is too late to ask forgiveness of a dead man, but
+could he hear now I would entreat him to pardon the folly that
+wrought this cruel mistake."
+
+"Claire, you could not know.  How was it possible to guess?"
+
+"That is true, but it is no less cruel.  And I deceived you.  Can you
+ever forgive?"
+
+"Forgive! forgive what?  That I found my love peerless among women?
+Oh, Claire, Claire, 'forgive'?"
+
+"Yes; what matters it that for the moment I have what is called fame?
+I deceived you--yet, believe me, it was only because I thought to
+make the surprise more pleasant.  I thought--but it is too late.
+Only believe I had no other thought, no other wish.  My poor scheme
+seemed so harmless at first: then as the days went on I began to
+doubt.  But until you told me, as we stood beside the river, of--
+_him_, I never guessed;--oh, believe me, I never guessed!"
+
+"Love, do not accuse yourself in this way.  It hurts me to hear you
+speak so.  If there was any fault it was mine; but the Fates blinded
+us.  If you had known Tom, you would know that he would forgive could
+he hear us now.  For me, Claire, what have I to pardon?"
+
+Claire did not answer for a moment.  There was still a trouble in her
+face, as though something yet remained to be said and she had not the
+courage to utter it.
+
+"Jasper, there is something besides, which you have to pardon if you
+can."
+
+"My love!"
+
+"Do you remember what I asked you that night, when you first told me
+about _him_?"
+
+"You asked me a foolish question, if I remember rightly.  You asked
+if I could ever cease to love you."
+
+"No, not foolish; I really meant it seriously, and I believed you
+when you answered me.  Are you of the same mind now?  Believe me, I
+am not asking lightly."
+
+"I answer you as I answered you then: 'Love is strong as death.'
+My love, put away these thoughts and be sure that I love you as my
+own soul."
+
+"But perhaps, even so, you might be so angry that--Oh, Jasper, how
+can I tell you?"
+
+"Tell me all, Claire."
+
+"I told you I was called, or that they called me Claire.  Were you
+not surprised when you saw my name as Clarissa Lambert?"
+
+"Is that all?" I cried.  "Why, of course, I knew how common it is for
+actresses to take another name.  I was even glad of it; for the name
+I know, your own name, is now a secret, and all the sweeter so.
+All the world admires Clarissa Lambert, but I alone love Claire
+Luttrell, and know that Claire Luttrell loves me."
+
+"But that is not all," she expostulated, whilst the trouble in her
+eyes grew deeper.  "Oh, why will you make it so hard for me to
+explain?  I never thought, when I told you so carelessly on that
+night when we met for the first time, that you would grow to care for
+me at all.  And it was the same afterwards, when I introduced you to
+my mother; I gave you the name Luttrell, without ever dreaming--"
+
+"Was Luttrell not your mother's name?" I asked, perplexed.
+
+"That is the name by which she is always called now; and I am always
+called Claire; in fact, it is my name, but I have another, and I
+ought to have told you."
+
+"Why, as Claire I know you, and as Claire I shall always love you.
+What does it matter if your real name be Lambert?  You will change
+it, love, soon, I trust."
+
+But my poor little jest woke no mirth in her eyes.
+
+"No, it is not Lambert.  That is only the name I took when I went on
+the stage.  Nor am I called Luttrell.  It is a sad story; but let me
+tell it now, and put an end to all deception.  I meant to do so long
+ago; but lately I thought I would wait until after you had seen me on
+the stage; I thought I would explain all together, not knowing
+that _he_--but it has all gone wrong.  Jasper, I know you will pity
+poor mother, even though she had allowed you to be deceived.  She has
+been so unhappy.  But let me tell it first, and then you will judge.
+She calls herself Luttrell to avoid persecution; to avoid a man who
+is--"
+
+"A villain, I am sure."
+
+"A villain, yes; but worse.  He is her husband; not my father, but a
+second husband.  My father died when I was quite a little child, and
+she married again.  Ever since that day she has been miserable.
+I remember her face--oh, so well! when she first discovered the real
+character of the man.  For years she suffered--we were abroad then--
+until at last she could bear it no longer, so she fled--fled back to
+England, and took me with her.  I think, but I am not sure, that her
+husband did not dare to follow her to England, because he had done
+something against the laws.  I only guess this, for I never dare to
+ask mother about him.  I did so once, and shall never forget the look
+of terror that came into her eyes.  I only guess he has some strong
+reason for avoiding England, for I remember we went abroad hastily,
+almost directly after that night when mother first discovered that
+she had been deceived.  However that may be, we came to England,
+mother and I, and changed our name to Luttrell, which was her maiden
+name.  After this, our life became one perpetual dread of discovery.
+We were miserably poor, of course, and I was unable to do anything to
+help for many years.  Mother was so careful; why, she even called me
+by my second name, so desperately anxious was she to hide all traces
+from that man.  Then suddenly we were discovered--not by him, but by
+his mother, whom he set to search for us, and she--for she was not
+wholly bad--promised to make my fortune on the single condition that
+half my earnings were sent to him.  Otherwise, she threatened that
+mother should have no rest.  What could I do?  It was the only way to
+save ourselves.  Well, I promised to go upon the stage, for this
+woman fancied she discovered some talent in me.  Why, Jasper, how
+strangely you are looking!"
+
+"Tell me--tell me," I cried, "who is this woman?"
+
+"You ought to know that, for you were in the box with her during most
+of the first night of 'Francesca.'"
+
+A horrible, paralysing dread had seized me.
+
+"Her name, and his?  Quick--tell me, for God's sake!"
+
+"Colliver.  He is called Simon Colliver.  But, Jasper, what is it?
+What--"
+
+I took the chain and Golden Clasp and handed them to Claire without
+speech.
+
+"Why, what is this?" she cried.  "He has a piece exactly like this,
+the fellow to it; I remember seeing it when I was quite small.
+Oh, speak! what new mystery, what new trouble is this?"
+
+"Claire, Colliver is here in London, or was but a week ago."
+
+"Here!"
+
+"Yes, Claire; and it was he that murdered Thomas Loveday."
+
+"Murdered Thomas Loveday!  I do not understand."  She had turned
+a deathly white, and spread out her hands as if for support.
+"Tell me--"
+
+"Yes, Claire," I said, as I stepped to her, and put my arm about her;
+"it is truth, as I stand here.  Colliver, your mother's husband,
+foully murdered my innocent friend for the sake of that piece of
+gold; and more, Simon Colliver, for the sake of this same accursed
+token, murdered my father!"
+
+"Your father!"
+
+She shook off my arm, and stood facing me there, by Tom's grave, with
+a look of utter horror that froze my blood.
+
+"Yes, my father; or stay, I am wrong.  Though Colliver prompted, his
+was not the hand that did the deed.  That he left to a poor wretch
+whom he afterwards slew himself--one Railton--John Railton."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Why, Claire, Claire!  What is it?  Speak!"
+
+"I am Janet Railton!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+TELLS HOW THE CURTAIN FELL UPON "FRANCESCA: A TRAGEDY."
+
+For a moment I staggered back as though buffeted in the face, then,
+as our eyes met and read in each other the desperate truth, I sprang
+forward just in time to catch her as she fell.  Blindly, as if in
+some hideous trance, reeling and stumbling over the graves, I carried
+her in my arms to the cemetery gate and stood there panting and
+bewildered.
+
+Cold and white as marble she lay in my arms, so that for one terrible
+moment I thought her dead.  "Better so," my heart had cried, and then
+I laughed aloud (God forgive me!) at the utter cruelty of it all.
+But she was not dead.  As I watched the lovely ashen face, the slow
+blood came trickling back and throbbed faintly at her temples, the
+light breath flickered and went and came once more.  Feebly and with
+wonder the dark eyes opened to the light of day, then closed again as
+the lips parted in a moaning whisper.
+
+"Claire!" I cried, and my voice seemed to come from far away, so
+hollow and unnatural was it, "I must take you to your home; are you
+well enough to go?"
+
+I had laid her on the stone upon which the bearers were used to set
+down the coffins when weary.  Scarcely a week ago, poor Tom's corpse
+had rested for a moment upon this grim stone.  As I bent to catch the
+answer, and saw how like to death her face was, I thought how well it
+were for both of us, should we be resting there so together; not
+leaving the acre of the dead, but entering it as rightful heirs of
+its oblivion.
+
+After a while, as I repeated my question, the lips again parted and I
+heard.
+
+I looked down the road.  The cemetery lay far out in one of the
+northern suburbs, and just now the neighbourhood seemed utterly
+deserted.  By good chance, however, I spied an old four-wheeler
+crawling along in the distance.  I ran after it, hailed it, brought
+it back, and with the help of the wondering driver, placed my love
+inside; then I gave the man the address, and bidding him drive with
+all speed, sprang in beside Claire.
+
+Still faint, she was lying back against the cushion.  The cab crawled
+along at a snail's pace, but long as the journey was, it was passed
+in utter silence.  She never opened her eyes, and as for me, what
+comfortable words could I speak?  Yet as I saw the soft rise and fall
+of her breast, I longed for words, Heaven knows how madly!  But none
+came, and in silence we drew up at length before a modest doorway in
+Old Kensington.
+
+Here Claire summoned all her strength lest her mother should be
+frightened.  Still keeping her eyes averted, she stepped as bravely
+as she could from the cab, and laid her hand upon the door-handle.
+
+I made as if to follow.
+
+"No, no," she said hastily, "leave me to myself--I will write
+to-morrow and perhaps see you; but, oh, pray, not to-day!"
+
+Before I could answer she had passed into the house.
+
+
+Twenty-four hours had passed and left me as they found me, in
+torture.  Despite my doubt, I swore she should not cast me off; then
+knelt and prayed as I had never prayed before, that Heaven would deny
+some of its cruelty to my darling.  In the abandonment of my
+supplication, I was ready to fling the secret from me and forgive
+all, to forgive my father's murderer, my life-long enemy, and let him
+go unsought, rather than give up Claire.  Yet as I prayed, my
+entreaties and my tears went up to no compassionate God, but beat
+themselves upon the adamantine face of Dead Man's Rock that still
+rose inexorable between me and Heaven.
+
+That night the crowd that gathered in the Coliseum to see the new
+play, went away angry and disappointed; for Clarissa Lambert was not
+acting.  Another actress took her part--but how differently!  And all
+the while she, for whose sake they had come, was on her knees
+wrestling with a grimmer tragedy than "Francesca," with no other
+audience than the angels of pity.
+
+Twenty-four hours had passed, and found me hastening towards Old
+Kensington; for in my pocket lay a note bearing only the words
+"Come at 3.30--Claire," and on my heart rested a load of suspense
+unbearable.  For many minutes beforehand, I paced up and down outside
+the house in an agony, and as my watch pointed to the half-hour,
+knocked and was admitted.
+
+Mrs. Luttrell met me in the passage.  She seemed most terribly white
+and worn, so that I was astonished when she simply said, "Claire is
+slightly unwell, and in fact could not act last night, but she wishes
+to see you for some reason."
+
+Wondering why Claire's mother should look so strangely if she guessed
+nothing of what had happened, but supposing illness to be the reason,
+I stopped for an instant to ask.
+
+"Am I pale?" she answered.  "It is nothing--nothing--do not take any
+notice of it.  I am rather weaker than usual to-day, that is all--a
+mere nothing.  You will find Claire in the drawing-room there."
+And so she left me.
+
+I knocked at the drawing-room door, and hearing a faint voice inside,
+entered.  As I did so, Claire rose to meet me.  She was very pale,
+and the dark circles around her eyes told of a long vigil; but her
+manner at first was composed and even cold.
+
+"Claire!"  I cried, and stretched out my hands.
+
+"Not yet," she said, and motioned me to a chair.  "I sent for you
+because I have been thinking of--of--what happened yesterday, and I
+want you to tell me all; the whole story from beginning to end."
+
+"But--"
+
+"There is no 'but' in the case, Jasper.  I am Janet Railton, and you
+say that my father killed yours.  Tell me how it was."
+
+Her manner was so calm that I hesitated at first, bewildered.
+Then, finding that she waited for me to speak, I sat down facing her
+and began my story.
+
+I told it through, without suppression or concealment, from the time
+when my father started to seek the treasure, down to the cowardly
+blow that had taken my friend's life.  During the whole narrative she
+never took her eyes from my face for more than a moment.  Her very
+lips were bloodless, but her manner was as quiet as though I were
+reading her some story of people who had never lived.  Once only she
+interrupted me.  I was repeating the conversation between her father
+and Simon Colliver upon Dead Man's Rock.
+
+"You are quite sure," she asked, "of the words?  You are positive he
+said, 'Captain, it was your knife'?"
+
+"Certain," I answered sadly.
+
+"You are giving the very words they both used?"
+
+"As well as I can remember; and I have cause for a good memory."
+
+"Go on," she replied simply.
+
+So I unrolled the whole chronicle of our unhappy fates, and even read
+to her Lucy Railton's letter which I had brought with me.  Then, as I
+ceased, for full a minute we sat in absolute silence, reading each
+other's gaze.
+
+"Let me see the letter," she said, and held out her hand for it.
+
+I gave it to her.  She read it slowly through and handed it back.
+
+"Yes, it is my mother's letter," she said, slowly.
+
+Then again silence fell upon us.  I could hear the clock tick slowly
+on the mantelpiece, and the beating of my own heart that raced and
+outstripped it.  That was all; until at length the slow, measured
+footfall of the timepiece grew maddening to hear; it seemed a symbol
+of the unrelenting doom pursuing us, and I longed to rise and break
+it to atoms.
+
+I could stand it no longer.
+
+"Claire, tell me that this will not--cannot alter you--that you are
+mine yet, as you were before."
+
+"This is impossible," she said, very gravely and quietly.
+
+"Impossible?  Oh, no, no, do not say that!  You cannot, you must not
+say that!"
+
+"Yes, Jasper," she repeated, and her face was pallid as snow; "it is
+impossible."
+
+But as I heard my doom, I arose and fought it with blind despair.
+
+"Claire, you do not know what you are saying.  You love me, Claire;
+you have told me so, and I love you as my very soul.  Surely, then,
+you will not say this thing.  How were we to know?  How could you
+have told?  Oh, Claire! is it that you do not love me?"
+
+Her eyes were full of infinite compassion and tenderness, but her
+lips were firm and cold.
+
+"You know that I love you."
+
+"Then, oh, my love! how can this come between us?  What does it
+matter that our fathers fought and killed each other, if only we
+love?  Surely, surely Heaven cannot fix the seal of this crime upon
+us for ever?  Speak, Claire, and tell me that you will be mine in
+spite of all!"
+
+"It cannot be," she answered, very gently.
+
+"Cannot be!" I echoed.  "Then I was right, and you do not love, but
+fancied that you did for a while.  Love, love, was that fair?
+No power on earth--no, nor in heaven--should have made me cast you
+off so."
+
+My rage died out before the mute reproach of those lovely eyes.
+I caught the white hand.
+
+"Forgive me, Claire; I was desperate, and knew not what I was saying.
+I know you love me--you have said so, and you are truth itself; truth
+and all goodness.  But if you have loved, then you can love me still.
+Remember our text, Claire, 'Love is strong as death.'  Strong as
+death, and can it be overcome so easily?"
+
+She was trembling terribly, and from the little hand within mine I
+could feel her agitation.  But though the soft eyes spoke appealingly
+as they were raised in answer, I could see, behind all their anguish,
+an immutable resolve.
+
+"No, Jasper; it can never be--never.  Do you think I am not
+suffering--that it is nothing to me to lose you?  Try to think better
+of me.  Oh, Jasper, it is hard indeed for me, and--I love you so."
+
+"No, no," she went on; "do not make the task harder for me.  Why can
+you not curse me?  It would be easier then.  Why can you not hate me
+as you ought?  Oh, if you would but strike me and go, I could better
+bear this hour!"
+
+There was such abandonment of entreaty in her tones that my heart
+bled for her; yet I could only answer--
+
+"Claire, I will not give you up; not though you went on your knees
+and implored it.  Death alone can divide us now; and even death will
+never kill my love."
+
+"Death!" she answered.  "Think, then, that I am dead; think of me as
+under the mould.  Ah, love, hearts do not break so easily.  You would
+grieve at first, but in a little while I should be forgotten."
+
+"Claire!"
+
+"Forgive me, love; not forgotten.  I wronged you when I said the
+word.  Believe me, Jasper, that if there be any gleam of day in the
+blackness that surrounds me it is the thought that you so love me;
+and yet it would have been far easier otherwise--far easier."
+
+Little by little my hope was slipping from me; but still I strove
+with her as a man battles for his life.  I raved, protested, called
+earth and heaven to witness her cruelty; but all in vain.
+
+"It would be a sin--a horrible sin!" she kept saying.  "God would
+never forgive it.  No, no; do not try to persuade me--it is
+horrible!" and she shuddered.
+
+Utterly beaten at last by her obstinacy, I said--
+
+"I will leave you now to think it over.  Let me call again and hear
+that you repent."
+
+"No, love; we must never meet again.  This must be our last good-bye.
+Stay!" and she smiled for the first time since that meeting in the
+cemetery.  "Come to 'Francesca' to-night; I am going to act."
+
+"What! to-night?"
+
+"Yes.  One must live, you see, even though one suffers.  See, I have
+a ticket for you--for a box.  You will come?  Promise me."
+
+"Never, Claire."
+
+"Yes, promise me.  Do me this last favour; I shall never ask
+another."
+
+I took the card in silence.
+
+"And now," she said, "you may kiss me.  Kiss me on the lips for the
+last time, and may God bless you, my love."
+
+Quite calmly and gently she lifted her lips to mine, and on her face
+was the glory of unutterable tenderness.
+
+"Claire!  My love, my love!" My arms were round her, her whole form
+yielded helplessly to mine, and as our lips met in that one
+passionate, shuddering caress, sank on my breast.
+
+"You will not leave me?" I cried.
+
+And through her sobs came the answer--
+
+"Yes, yes; it must be, it must be."
+
+Then drawing herself up, she held out her hand and said--
+
+"To-night, remember, and so--farewell."
+
+And so, in the fading light of that grey December afternoon I left
+her standing there.
+
+
+Mad and distraught with the passion of that parting, I sat that
+evening in the shadow of my box and waited for the curtain to rise
+upon "Francesca."  The Coliseum was crowded to the roof, for it was
+known that Clarissa Lambert's illness had been merely a slight
+indisposition, and to-night she would again be acting.  I was too
+busy with my own hard thoughts to pay much attention at first, but I
+noticed that my box was the one nearest to the stage, in the tier
+next above it.  So that once more I should hear my darling's voice,
+and see her form close to me.  Once or twice I vaguely scanned the
+audience.  The boxes opposite were full; but, of course, I could see
+nothing of my own side of the theatre.  After a moment's listless
+glance, I leaned back in the shadow and waited.
+
+I do not know who composed the overture.  It is haunted by one
+exquisite air, repeated, fading into variations, then rising once
+more only to sink into the tender sorrow of a minor key.  I have
+heard it but twice in my life, but the music of it is with me to this
+day.  Then, as I heard it, it carried me back to the hour when Tom
+and I sat expectant in this same theatre, he trembling for his play's
+success, I for the sight of my love.  Poor Tom!  The sad melody
+wailed upwards as though it were the voice of the wind playing about
+his grave, every note breathing pathos or suspiring in tremulous
+anguish.  Poor Tom!  Yet your love was happier than mine; better to
+die with Claire's kiss warm upon the lips than to live with but the
+memory of it.
+
+The throbbing music had ended, and the play began.  As before, the
+audience were without enthusiasm at first, but to-night they knew
+they had but to wait, and they did so patiently; so that when at last
+Claire's voice died softly away at the close of her opening song, the
+hushed house was suddenly shaken to its roof with the storm and
+tumult of applause.
+
+There she stood, serene and glowing, as one that had never known
+pain.  My very eyes doubted.  On her face was no sign of suffering,
+no trace of a tear.  Was she, then, utterly without heart?  In my
+memory I retraced the scene of that afternoon, and all my reason
+acquitted her.  Yet, as she stood there in her glorious epiphany,
+illumined with the blazing lights, and radiant in the joy and
+freshness of youth, I could have doubted whether, after all, Clarissa
+Lambert and Claire Luttrell were one and the same.
+
+There was one thing which I did not fail, however, to note as
+strange.  She did not once glance in the direction of my box, but
+kept her eyes steadily averted.  And it then suddenly dawned upon me
+that she must be playing with a purpose; but what that purpose was I
+could not guess.
+
+Whatever it was, she was acting magnificently and had for the present
+completely surrendered herself to her art.  Grand as that art had
+been on the first night of "Francesca," the power of that performance
+was utterly eclipsed to-night.  Once between the acts I heard two
+voices in the passage outside my box--
+
+"What do you think of it?" said the first.
+
+"What can I?" answered the other.  "And how can I tell you?  It is
+altogether above words."
+
+He was right.  It was not so much admiration as awe and worship that
+held the house that night.  I have heard a man say since that he
+wonders how the play could ever have raised anything beyond a laugh.
+He should have heard the sobs that every now and then would break
+uncontrollably forth, even whilst Claire was speaking.  He should
+have felt the hush that followed every scene before the audience
+could recollect itself and pay its thunderous tribute.
+
+Still she never looked towards me, though all the while my eyes were
+following my lost love.  Her purpose--and somehow in my heart I grew
+more and more convinced that some purpose lay beneath this
+transcendent display--was waiting for its accomplishment, and in the
+ringing triumph of her voice I felt it coming nearer--nearer--until
+at last it came.
+
+The tragedy was nearly over.  Francesca had dismissed her old lover
+and his new bride from their captivity and was now left alone upon
+the stage.  The last expectant hush had fallen upon the house.
+Then she stepped slowly forward in the dead silence, and as she spoke
+the opening lines, for the first time our eyes met.
+
+    "Here then all ends:--all love, all hate, all vows,
+     All vain reproaches.  Aye, 'tis better so.
+     So shall he best forgive and I forget,
+     Who else had chained him to a life-long curse,
+     Who else had sought forgiveness, given in vain
+     While life remained that made forgiveness dear.
+     Far better to release him--loving more
+     Now love denies its love and he is free,
+     Than should it by enjoyment wreck his joy.
+     Blighting his life for whom alone I lived.
+
+    "No, no.  As God is just, it could not be.
+     Yet, oh, my love, be happy in the days
+     I may not share, with her whose present lips
+     Usurp the rights of my lost sovranty.
+     I would not have thee think--save now and then
+     As in a dream that is not all a dream--
+     On her whose love was sunshine for an hour,
+     Then died or e'er its beams could blast thy life.
+     Be happy and forget what might have been,
+     Forget my dear embraces in her arms,
+     My lips in hers, my children in her sons,
+     While I--
+                Dear love, it is not hard to die
+     Now once the path is plain.  See, I accept
+     And step as gladly to the sacrifice
+     As any maid upon her bridal morn--
+     One little stroke--one tiny touch of pain
+     And I am quit of pain for evermore.
+     It needs no bravery.  Wert thou here to see,
+     I would not have thee weep, but look--one stroke,
+     And thus--"
+
+What was that shriek far back there in the house?  What was that at
+sight of which the audience rose white and aghast from their seats?
+What was it that made Sebastian as he entered rush suddenly forward
+and fall with awful cry before Francesca's body?  What was that
+trickling down the folds of her white dress?  Blood?
+
+Yes, blood!  In an instant I put my hand upon the cushion of the box,
+vaulted down to the stage and was kneeling beside my dying love.
+But as the clamorous bell rang down the curtain, I heard above its
+noise a light and silvery laugh, and looking up saw in the box next
+to mine the coal-black devilish eyes of the yellow woman.
+
+Then the curtain fell.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+TELLS HOW TWO VOICES LED ME TO BOARD A SCHOONER; AND WHAT BEFELL
+THERE.
+
+She died without speech.  Only, as I knelt beside her and strove to
+staunch that cruel stream of blood, her beautiful eyes sought mine in
+utter love and, as the last agony shook her frame, strove to rend the
+filmy veil of death and speak to me still.  Then, with one long,
+contented sigh, my love was dead.  It was scarcely a minute before
+all was over.  I pressed one last kiss upon the yet warm lips,
+tenderly drew her white mantle across the pallid face, and staggered
+from the theatre.
+
+I had not raved or protested as I had done that same afternoon.
+Fate had no power to make me feel now; the point of anguish was
+passed, and in its place succeeded a numb stupidity more terrible by
+far, though far more blessed.
+
+My love was dead.  Then I was dead for any sensibility to suffering
+that I possessed.  Hatless and cloak-less I stepped out into the
+freezing night air, and regardless of the curious looks of the
+passing throng I turned and walked rapidly westward up the Strand.
+There was a large and eager crowd outside the Coliseum, for already
+the news was spreading; but something in my face made them give room,
+and I passed through them as a man in a trance.
+
+The white orb of the moon was high in heaven; the frozen pavement
+sounded hollow under-foot; the long street stood out, for all its
+yellow gas-light, white and distinct against the clear air; but I
+marked nothing of this.  I went westward because my home lay
+westward, and some instinct took my hurrying feet thither.  I had no
+purpose, no sensation.  For aught I knew, that night London might
+have been a city of the dead.
+
+Suddenly I halted beneath a lamp-post and began dimly to think.
+My love was dead:--that was the one fact that filled my thoughts at
+first, and so I strove to image it upon my brain, but could not.
+But as I stood there feebly struggling with the thought another took
+its place.  Why should I live?  Of course not; better end it all at
+once--and possessed with this idea I started off once more.
+
+By degrees, as I walked, a plan shaped itself before me.  I would go
+home, get my grandfather's key, together with the tin box containing
+my father's Journal, and then make for the river.  That would be an
+easy death, and I could sink for ever, before I perished, all trace
+of the black secret which had pursued my life.  I and the mystery
+would end together--so best.  Then, without pain, almost with ghastly
+merriment, I thought that this was the same river which had murmured
+so sweetly to my love.  Well, no doubt its voice would be just as
+musical over my grave.  The same river:--but nearer the sea now--
+nearer the infinite sea.
+
+As I reflected, the idea took yet stronger possession of me.  Yes, it
+was in all respects the best.  The curse should end now.  "Even as
+the Heart of the Ruby is Blood and its Eyes a Flaming Fire, so shall
+it be for them that would possess it: Fire shall be their portion and
+Blood their inheritance for ever."  For ever?  No: the river should
+wash the blood away and quench the fire.  Then arose another text and
+hammered at the door of my remembrance.  "Many waters cannot quench
+love, neither can the floods drown it."  "Many waters"--"many
+waters":--the words whispered appealingly, invitingly, in my ears.
+"Many waters."  My feet beat a tune to the words.
+
+I reached my lodgings, ran upstairs, took out the key and the tin
+box, and descended again into the hall.  My landlord was slipping
+down the latch.  He stared at seeing me.
+
+"Do not latch the door just yet: I am going out again," I said
+simply.
+
+"Going out!  I thought, sir, it was you as just now come in."
+
+"Yes, but I must go out again:--it is important."
+
+He evidently thought me mad; and so indeed I was.
+
+"What, sir, in that dress?  You've got no hat--no--"
+
+I had forgotten.  "True," I said; "get me a hat and coat."
+
+He stared and then ran upstairs for them.  Returning he said, "I have
+got you these, sir; but I can't find them as you usually wears."
+
+"Those will do," I answered.  "I must have left the others at the
+theatre."
+
+This reduced him to utter speechlessness.  Mutely he helped me to don
+the cloak over my thin evening dress.  I slipped the tin box and the
+key into the pockets.  As I stepped out once more into the night, my
+landlord found his speech.
+
+"When will you be back, sir?"
+
+The question startled me for a moment; for a second or two I
+hesitated.
+
+"I asked because you have no latch-key, as I suppose you left it in
+your other coat.  So that--"
+
+"It does not matter," I answered.  "Do not sit up.  I shall not be
+back before morning;" and with that I left him still standing at the
+door, and listening to my footsteps as they hurried down the street.
+
+"Before morning!"  Before morning I should be in another world, if
+there were another world.  And then it struck me that Claire and I
+might meet.  She had taken her own life and so should I.  But no,
+no--Heaven would forgive her that; it could not condemn my saint to
+the pit where I should lie: it could not be so kindly cruel; and then
+I laughed a loud and bitter laugh.
+
+Still in my dull stupor I found myself nearing the river.  I have not
+mentioned it before, but I must explain now, that during the summer I
+had purchased a boat, in which my Claire and I were used to row idly
+between Streatley and Pangbourne, or whithersoever love guided our
+oars.  This boat, with the approach of winter, I had caused to be
+brought down the river and had housed in a waterman's shed just above
+Westminster, until the return of spring should bring back once more
+the happy days of its employment.
+
+In my heart I blessed the chance that had stored it ready to my hand.
+
+Stumbling through dark and tortuous streets where the moon's frosty
+brilliance was almost completely hidden, I came at last to the
+waterman's door and knocked.  He was in bed and for some time my
+summons was in vain.  At last I heard a sound in the room above, the
+window was let down and a sulky voice said, "Who's there?"
+
+"Is that you, Bagnell?"  I answered.  "Come down.  It is I, Mr.
+Trenoweth, and I want you."
+
+There was a low cursing, a long pause broken by a muttered dispute
+upstairs, and then the street door opened and Bagnell appeared with a
+lantern.
+
+"Bagnell, I want my boat."
+
+"To-night, sir?  And at this hour?"
+
+"Yes, to-night.  I want it particularly."
+
+"But it is put away behind a dozen others, and can't be got."
+
+"Never mind.  I will help if you want assistance, but I must have
+it."
+
+Bagnell looked at me for a minute and I could see that he was cursing
+under his breath.
+
+"Is it serious, sir?  You're not--"
+
+"I am not drunk, if that is what you mean, but perfectly serious, and
+I must have my boat."
+
+"Won't another do as well?"
+
+"No, it will not."  I felt in my pockets and found two sovereigns and
+a few shillings.  "Look here," I said, "I will give you two pounds if
+you get this boat out for me."
+
+This conquered his reluctance.  He stared for a moment as I mentioned
+the amount, and then hastily deciding that I was stark mad, but that
+it was none of his business, put on his hat and led the way down to
+his boat-yard.
+
+Stumbling in the uncertain light over innumerable timbers, spars, and
+old oars, we reached the shed at length and together managed, after
+much delay, to get out the light boat and let her down to the water.
+I gave him the two sovereigns as well as the few shillings that
+remained in my pocket, and as I descended, reflected grimly that
+after all they were better in his possession; the man who should find
+my body would have so much the less spoil.  We had scarcely spoken
+whilst we were getting the boat out, and what words we used were
+uttered in that whisper which night always enforces; but as I
+clambered down (for the tide was now far out) and Bagnell passed down
+the sculls, he asked--
+
+"When will you be back, sir?"
+
+The same question!  I gave it the same answer.  "Not before morning,"
+I said, and with a few strokes was out upon the tide and pulling down
+the river.  I saw him standing there above in the moonlight, still
+wondering, until he faded in the dim haze behind.  My boat was a
+light Thames dingey, so that although I felt the tide running up
+against me, it nevertheless made fair progress.  What decided me to
+pull against the tide rather than float quietly upwards I do not know
+to this day.  So deadened and vague was all my thought, that it
+probably never occurred to me to correct the direction in which the
+first few strokes had taken me.  I was conscious of nothing but a row
+of lights gliding past me on either hand, of here and there a tower
+or tall building, that stood up for an instant against the sky and
+then swam slowly out of sight, of the creaking of my sculls in the
+ungreased rowlocks, and, above all, the white shimmer of the moon
+following my boat as it swung downwards.
+
+I remember now that, in a childish way, I tried to escape this
+persistent brilliance that still clung to my boat's side with every
+stroke I took; that somehow a dull triumph possessed me when for a
+moment I slipped beneath the shadow of a bridge, or crept behind a
+black and silent hull.  All this I can recall now, and wonder at the
+trivial nature of the thought.  Then I caught the scent of white
+rose, and fell to wondering how it came there.  There had been the
+same scent in the drawing-room that afternoon, I remembered, when
+Claire had said good-bye for ever.  How had it followed me?
+After this I set myself aimlessly to count the lights that passed,
+lost count, and began again.  And all the time the white glimmer hung
+at my side.
+
+I was still wrapped up in my cloak, though the cape was flung back to
+give my arms free play.  Rowing so, I must quickly have been warm;
+but I felt it no more than I had felt the cold as I walked home from
+the theatre.  My boat was creeping along the Middlesex shore, by the
+old Temple stairs, and presently threaded its way through more
+crowded channels, and passed under the blackness of London Bridge.
+
+How far below this I went, I cannot clearly call to mind; of
+distance, as well as of time, I had lost all calculation.
+I recollect making a circuit to avoid the press of boats waiting for
+the early dawn by Billingsgate Market, and have a vision of the White
+Tower against the heavens.  But my next impression of any clearness
+is that of rowing under the shadow of a black three-masted schooner
+that lay close under shore, tilted over on her port side in the low
+water.  As my dingey floated out again from beneath the overhanging
+hull, I looked up and saw the words, _Water-Witch_, painted in white
+upon her pitch-dark bows.
+
+By this time I was among the tiers of shipping.  I looked back over
+my shoulder, and saw their countless masts looming up as far as eye
+could see in the dim light, and their lamps flickering and wavering
+upon the water.  I rowed about a score of strokes, and then stopped.
+Why go further?  This place would serve as well as any other.  No one
+was likely to hear my splash as I went overboard, and even if heard
+it would not be interpreted.  I was still near enough to the
+Middlesex bank to be out of the broad moonlight that lit up the
+middle of the river.  I took the tin box out of my cloak and stowed
+it for a moment in the stern.  I would sink it with the key before I
+flung myself in.  So, pulling the key out of the other pocket, I took
+off the cloak, then my dress-coat and waistcoat, folded them
+carefully, and placed them on the stern seat.  This done, I slipped
+the key into one pocket of my trousers, my watch and chain into the
+other.  I would do all quietly and in order, I reflected.  I was
+silently kicking off my shoes, when a thought struck me.  In my last
+struggles it was possible that the desire of life would master me,
+and almost unconsciously I might take to swimming.  In the old days
+at Lizard Town swimming had been as natural to me as walking, and I
+had no doubt that as soon as in the water I should begin to strike
+out.  Could I count upon determination enough to withhold my arms and
+let myself slowly drown?
+
+Here was a difficulty; but I resolved to make everything sure.
+I took my handkerchief out of the coat pocket, and bent down to tie
+my feet firmly together.  All this I did quite calmly and
+mechanically.  As far as one can be certain of anything at this
+distance of time, I am certain of this, that no thought of hesitation
+came into my head.  It was not that I overcame any doubts; they never
+occurred to me.
+
+I was stooping down, and had already bound the handkerchief once
+around my ankles, when my boat grated softly against something.
+I looked up, and saw once more above me a dark ship's hull, and right
+above my head the white letters, _Water-Witch_.
+
+This would never do.  My boat had drifted up the river again with the
+tide, stern foremost, but a little aslant, and had run against the
+warp by the schooner's bows.  I must pull out again, for otherwise
+the people on board would hear me.  I pushed gently off from the warp
+and took the sculls, when suddenly I heard voices back towards the
+stern.
+
+My first impulse was to get away with all speed, and I had already
+taken half a stroke, when something caused my hands to drop and my
+heart to give one wild leap.
+
+What was it?  Something in the voices?  Yes; something that brushed
+my stupor from me as though it were a cobweb; something that made me
+hush my breath, and strain with all my ears to listen.
+
+The two voices were those of man and woman, They were slightly
+raised, as if in a quarrel; the woman's pleading and entreating, the
+man's threatening and stern.  But that was not the reason that
+suddenly set my heart uncontrollably beating and all the blood
+rushing and surging to my temples.
+
+For in those two voices I recognised Mrs. Luttrell and Simon
+Colliver!
+
+"Have you not done enough?" the woman's voice was saying.  "Has your
+cruelty no end, that you must pursue me so?  Take this money, and let
+me go."
+
+"I must have more," was the answer.
+
+"Indeed, I have no more just now.  Go, only go, and I will send you
+some.  I swear it."
+
+"I cannot go," said the man.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Never mind.  I am watched."  Here the voice muttered some words
+which I could not catch.  "So that unless you wish to see your
+husband swing--and believe me, my confession and last dying speech
+would not omit to mention the kind aid I had received from you and
+Clar-"
+
+"Hush! oh, hush!  If I get you this money, will you leave us in peace
+for a time?  Knowing your nature, I will not ask for pity--only for a
+short respite.  I must tell Claire, poor girl; she does not know
+yet--"
+
+Quite softly my boat had drifted once more across the schooner's
+bows.  I pulled it round until its nose touched the anchor chain, and
+made the painter fast.  Then slipping my hand up the chain, I stood
+with my shoeless feet upon the gunwale by the bows.  Still grasping
+the chain, I sprang and swung myself out to the jib-boom that, with
+the cant of the vessel, was not far above the water: then pressed my
+left foot in between the stay and the brace, while I hung for a
+moment to listen.
+
+They had not heard, for I could still catch the murmur of their
+voices.  The creak of the jib-boom and the swish of my own boat
+beneath had frightened me at first.  It seemed impossible that it
+should not disturb them.  But after a moment my courage returned, and
+I pulled myself up on to the bowsprit, and lying almost at full
+length along it, for fear of being spied, crawled slowly along, and
+dropped noiselessly on to the deck.
+
+They were standing together by the mizzen-mast, he with his back
+turned full towards me, she less entirely averted, so that I could
+see a part of her face in the moonlight, and the silvery gleam of her
+grey hair.  Yes, it was they, surely enough; and they had not seen
+me.  My revenge, long waited for, was in my grasp at last.
+
+Suddenly, as I stood there watching them, I remembered my knife--the
+blade which had slain my father.  I had left it below--fool that I
+was!--in the tin box.  Could I creep back again, and return without
+attracting their attention?  Should I hazard the attempt for the sake
+of planting that piece of steel in Simon Colliver's black heart?
+
+It was a foolish thought, but my whole soul was set upon murder now,
+and the chance of slaying him with the very knife left in my father's
+wound seemed too dear to be lightly given up.  Most likely he was
+armed now, whilst I had no weapon but the naked hand.  Yet I did not
+think of this.  It never even occurred to me that he would defend
+himself.  Still, the thought of that knife was sweet to me as I
+crouched there beneath the shadow of the bulwarks.  Should I go, or
+not?  I paused for a moment, undecided; then rose slowly erect.
+
+As I did so Mrs. Luttrell turned for an instant and saw me.
+
+As I stood there, bareheaded, with the moonlight shining full upon my
+white shirt-sleeves, I must have seemed a very ghost; for a look of
+abject terror swept across her face; her voice broke off and both her
+hands were flung up for mercy--
+
+"Oh, God!  Look! look!"
+
+As I rushed forward he turned, and then, with the spring of a wild
+cat, was upon me.  Even as he leapt, my foot slipped upon the greasy
+deck; I staggered backward one step--two steps--and then fell with a
+crash down the unguarded forecastle ladder.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+TELLS IN WHAT MANNER I LEARNT THE SECRET OF THE GREAT KEY.
+
+As my senses came gradually back I could distinguish a narrow, dingy
+cabin, dimly lit by one flickering oil-lamp which swung from a rafter
+above.  Its faint ray just revealed the furniture of the room, which
+consisted of a seaman's chest standing in the middle, and two gaunt
+stools.  On one of these I was seated, propped against the cabin
+wall, or rather partition, and as I attempted to move I learnt that I
+was bound hand and foot.
+
+On the other stool opposite me and beside the chest, sat Simon
+Colliver, silently eyeing me.  The lamplight as it flared and
+wavered cast grotesque and dancing shadows of the man upon the wall
+behind, made of his matted hair black eaves under which his eyes
+gleamed red as fire, and glinted lastly upon something bright lying
+on the chest before him.
+
+For a minute or so after my eyes first opened no word was said.
+Still dizzy with my fall, I stared for a moment at the man, then at
+the chest, and saw that the bright objects gleaming there were my
+grandfather's key and my watch-chain, at the end of which hung the
+Golden Clasp.  But now the clasp was fitted to its fellow and the
+whole buckle lay united upon the board.
+
+Though the bonds around my arms, wrists, and ankles caused me
+intolerable pain, yet my first feeling was rather of abject
+humiliation.  To be caught thus easily, to be lying here like any
+rat in a gin! this was the agonising thought.  Nor was this all.
+There on the chest lay the Golden Clasp united at last--the work
+completed which was begun with that unholy massacre on board the
+_Belle Fortune_.  I had played straight into Colliver's hand.
+
+He was in no hurry, but sat and watched me there with those
+intolerably evil eyes.  His left hand was thrust carelessly into his
+pocket, and as he tilted back upon the stool and surveyed me, his
+right was playing with the clasp upon the chest.  As I painfully
+turned my head a drop of blood came trickling down into my eyes from
+a cut in my forehead; I saw, however, that the door was bolted.
+An empty bottle and a plate of broken victuals lay carelessly thrust
+in a corner, and a villainous smell from the lamp filled the whole
+room and almost choked me; but the only sound in the dead stillness
+of the place was the monotonous tick-tick of my watch as it lay upon
+the chest.
+
+How long I had lain there I could not guess, but I noticed that the
+floor slanted much less than when I first scrambled on deck, so
+guessed that the tide must have risen considerably.  Then having
+exhausted my wonder I looked again at Colliver, and began to
+speculate how he would kill me and how long he would take about it.
+
+I found his wolfish eyes still regarding me, and for a minute or two
+we studied each other in silence.  Then without removing his gaze he
+tilted his stool forward, slowly drew a short heavy knife from his
+waist-band, slipped it out of its sheath--still without taking his
+left hand from his pocket--laid it on the table and leant back again.
+
+"I suppose," he said at last and very deliberately as if chewing his
+words, "you know that if you attempt to cry out or summon help, you
+are a dead man that instant."
+
+"Well, well," he continued, after waiting a moment for my reply,
+"as long as you understand that, it does not matter.  I confess I
+should have preferred to talk with you and not merely to you.
+However, before I kill you--and I suppose you guess that I am going
+to kill you as soon as I've done with you--I wish to have just a
+word, Master Jasper Trenoweth."
+
+From the tone in which he said the words he might have been
+congratulating me on some great good fortune.  He paused awhile as if
+to allow the full force of them to sink in, and then took up the
+Golden Clasp.  Holding the pieces together with the fore-finger and
+thumb of his right hand, he advanced and thrust it right under my
+sight--
+
+"Do you see that?  Can you read it?"
+
+As I was still mute he walked back to the chest and laid the clasp
+down again.
+
+"Aha!" he exclaimed with a short laugh horrible to hear, "you won't
+speak.  But there have been times, Mr. Jasper Trenoweth, when you
+would have given your soul to lay hands upon this piece of gold and
+read what is written upon it.  It is a pity your hands are tied--a
+thousand pities.  But I do not wish to be hard on you, and so I don't
+mind reading out what is written here.  The secret will be safe with
+you, don't you see?  Quite--safe--with--you."
+
+He rolled out these last words, one by one, with infinite relish; and
+the mockery in the depths of those eyes seared me far more than my
+bonds.  After watching the effect of his taunt he resumed his seat
+upon the stool, pulled the clasp towards him and said--
+
+"People might call me rash for entrusting these confidences to you.
+But I do not mind admitting that I owe you some reparation--some
+anterior reparation.  So, as I don't wish you to die cursing me, I
+will be generous.  Listen!"
+
+He held the buckle down upon the table and read out the inscription
+as follows:--
+
+
+    START      AT      FULL      MOON      END      SOUTH.
+
+    POINT      27      FEET      N.N.W.    22       FEET.
+
+    W.         OF      RING      NORTH     SIDE     4.
+
+    FEET       6       INCHES    DEEP      AT       POINT.
+
+    OF         MEETING LOW       WATER     1.5      HOURS.
+
+He read it through twice very slowly, and each time as he ceased
+looked up to see how I took it.
+
+"It does not seem to make much sense, does it?" he asked.  "But wait
+a moment and let me parcel it out into sentences.  I should not like
+you to miss any of its meaning.  Listen again."  He divided the
+writing up thus:--
+
+    "Start at full moon.
+     End South Point 27 feet N.N.W.
+     22 feet W. of Ring.  North Side.
+     4 feet 6 inches deep at point of meeting.
+     Low water 1.5 hours."
+
+"You still seem puzzled, Mr. Trenoweth.  Very well, I will even go on
+to explain further.  The person who engraved this clasp meant to tell
+us that something--let us say treasure, for sake of argument--could
+be found by anyone who drew two lines from some place unknown: one 27
+feet in length in direction N.N.W.  from the South Point of that
+place; the other 22 feet due West of a certain Ring on the North
+side of that same place.  So far I trust I make my meaning clear.
+That which we have agreed to call the treasure lies buried at a depth
+of 4 feet 6 inches on the spot where these two lines intersect.
+But the person (you or I, for the sake of argument) who seeks this
+treasure must start at full moon.  Why?  Obviously because the spring
+tides occur with a full moon, consequently the low ebb.  We must
+expect, then, to find our treasure buried in a spot which is only
+uncovered at dead low water; and to this conclusion I am also helped
+by the last sentence, which says, 'Low water 1.5 hours.'  It is then,
+I submit, Mr. Trenoweth, in some such place that we must look for our
+treasure; the only question being, 'Where is that place?'"
+
+I was waiting for this, and a great tide of joy swept over me as I
+reflected that after all he had not solved the mystery.  The clasp
+told nothing, the key told nothing.  The secret was safe as yet.
+
+He must have read my thoughts, for he looked steadily at me out of
+those dark eyes of his, and then said very slowly and deliberately--
+
+"Mr. Trenoweth, it grieves me to taunt your miserable case; but do
+you mind my saying that you are a fool?"
+
+I simply stared in answer.
+
+"Your father was a fool--a pitiful fool; and you are a fool.
+Which would lead me, did I not know better, to believe that your
+grandfather, Amos Trenoweth, was a fool also.  I should wrong him if
+I called him that.  He was a villain, a black-hearted, murderous,
+cold-blooded, damnable villain; but he was only a fool for once in
+his life, and that was when he trusted in the sense of his
+descendants."
+
+His voice, as he spoke of my grandfather, grew suddenly shrill and
+discordant, while his eyes blazed up in furious wrath.  In a second
+or two, however, he calmed himself again and went on quietly as
+before.
+
+"You wonder, perhaps, why I call you a fool.  It is because you have
+lived for fourteen years with your hand upon riches that would make a
+king jealous, and have never had the sense to grasp them; it is
+because you have shut your eyes when you might have seen, have been a
+beggar when you might have ridden in a carriage.  Upon my word, Mr.
+Jasper Trenoweth, when I think of your folly I have half a mind to be
+dog-sick with you myself."
+
+What could the man mean? What was this clue which I had never found?
+
+"And all the time it was written upon this key here, as large as
+life; not only that, but, to leave you no excuse, Amos Trenoweth
+actually told you that it was written here."
+
+"What do you mean?" stammered I, forced into speech at last.
+
+"Ah! so you have found your voice, have you?  What do I mean?  Do you
+mean to say you do not guess even now?  Upon my word, I am loth to
+kill so fair a fool."  He regarded me for a moment with pitying
+contempt, then stretched out his hand and took up my grandfather's
+key.
+
+"I read here," he said, "written very clearly and distinctly, certain
+words.  You must know those words; but I will repeat them to you to
+refresh your memory:--"
+
+    "THY HOUSE IS SET UPON THE SANDS.  AND THY HOPES BY A DEAD MAN."
+
+"Well?" I asked, for--fool that I was--even yet I did not understand.
+
+"Mr. Jasper Trenoweth, did you ever hear tell of such a place as Dead
+Man's Rock?"
+
+The truth, the whole horrible certainty of it, struck me as one great
+wave, and rushed over my bent head as with the whirl and roar of many
+waters.  "Dead Man's Rock!"  "Dead Man's Rock!" it sang in my ears as
+it swept me off my feet for a moment and passed, leaving me to sink
+and battle in the gulf of bottomless despair.  And then, as if I
+really drowned, my past life with all its follies, mistakes, wrecked
+hopes and baseless dreams, shot swiftly past in one long train.
+Again I saw my mother's patient, anxious smile, my father's drowned
+face with the salt drops trickling from his golden hair, the struggle
+on the rock, the inquest, the awful face at the window, the corpses
+of my parents stretched side by side upon the bed, the scene in the
+gambling-hell with all its white and desperate faces, Claire, my lost
+love, the river, the theatre, Tom's death, and that last dreadful
+scene, Francesca with the dark blood soaking her white dress and
+trickling down upon the boards.  I tried to put my hands before my
+eyes, but the cords held and cut my arms like burning steel.  Then in
+a flash I seemed to be striding madly up and down Oxford Street,
+while still in front of me danced and flew the yellow woman, her
+every diamond flashing in the gas-light, her cold black eyes, as they
+turned and mocked me, blazing marsh-lights of doom.  Then came the
+ringing of many bells in my ears, mingled with silvery laughter, as
+though the fiends were ringing jubilant peals within the pit.
+
+Presently the sights grew dim and died away, but the chiming laughter
+still continued.
+
+I looked up.  It was Colliver laughing, and his face was that of an
+arch-devil.
+
+"It does me good to see you," he explained; "oh, yes, it is honey to
+my soul.  Fool! and a thousand times fool! that ever I should have
+lived to triumph thus over you and your accursed house!"
+
+Once more his voice grew shrill and his eyes flashed; once more he
+collected himself.
+
+"You shall hear it out," he said.  "Look here!" and he pulled a
+greasy book from his pocket.  "Here is a nautical almanack.  What day
+is it?  December 23rd, or rather some time in the morning of December
+24th, Christmas Eve.  On the evening of December 24th it is full
+moon, and dead low water at Falmouth about 11.30 p.m.  Fate (do you
+believe in fate, Mr. Trenoweth?) could not have chosen the time
+better.  In something under twenty hours one of us will have his
+hands upon the treasure.  Which will it be, eh?  Which will it be?"
+
+Well I knew which it would be, and the knowledge was bitter as gall.
+
+"A merry Christmas, Mr. Jasper Trenoweth!  Peace on earth and
+good-will--You will bear no malice by that time.  So a merry
+Christmas, and a merry Christmas-box! likewise the compliments of the
+season, and a happy New Year to you!  Where are you going to spend
+Christmas, Mr. Trenoweth--eh?  I am thinking of passing it by the
+sea.  You will, perhaps, try the sea too, only you will be _in_ it.
+Thames runs swiftly when it has a corpse for cargo.  Oho!
+
+    "At his red, red lips the merrymaid sips
+     For the kiss that his sweetheart stole, my lads--
+        Sing ho! for the bell shall toll!
+
+"I'm afraid no bell will toll for you, Mr. Trenoweth; not yet awhile
+at any rate.  Not till your sweetheart is weary of waiting--
+
+    "And the devil has got his due, my lads--
+        Sing ho! but he waits for you!
+
+"Both waiting for you, Mr. Trenoweth, your sweetheart and the devil--
+which shall have you?  'Ladies first,' you would say.  Aha! I am not
+so sure.  By the way, might I give a guess at your sweetheart's name?
+Might it begin with a C?  Might she be a famous actress?  Claire
+perhaps she calls herself?  Aha!  Claire's pretty eyes will go red
+with watching before she sets them on you again.  Fie on you to keep
+so sweet a maiden waiting!  And where will you be all the time, Mr.
+Jasper Trenoweth?"
+
+He stopped at last, mastered by his ferocity and almost panting.  But
+I, for the sound of Claire's name had maddened me, broke out in
+fury--
+
+"Dog and devil! I shall be lying with all the other victims of your
+accursed life; dead as my father whom you foully murdered within
+sight of his home; dead as those other poor creatures you slew upon
+the _Belle Fortune_; dead as my mother whose pure mind fled at sight
+of your infernal face, whose very life fled at sight of your
+handiwork; dead as John Railton whom you stabbed to death upon--"
+
+"Hush, Mr. Trenoweth! As for your ravings, I love to hear them, and
+could listen by the hour, did not time press.  But I cannot have you
+talking so loudly, you understand;" and he toyed gently with his
+knife; "also remember I must be at Dead Man's Rock by half-past
+eleven to-night."
+
+"Fiend!" I continued, "you can kill me if you like, but I will count
+your crimes with my last breath.  Take my life as you took my friend
+Tom Loveday's life--Tom whom you knifed in the dark, mistaking him
+for me.  Take it as you took Claire's, if ever man--"
+
+"Claire--Claire dead!"  He staggered back a step, and almost at the
+same moment I thought I caught a sound on the other side of the
+partition at my back.  I listened for a moment, then concluding that
+my ears had played me some trick, went on again--
+
+"Yes, dead--she killed herself to-night at the theatre--stabbed
+herself--oh, God!  Do you think I care for your knife now?
+Why, I was going to kill myself, to drown myself, at the very moment
+when I heard your voice and came on board.  I came to kill you.
+Make the most of it--show me no mercy, for as there is a God in
+heaven I would have shown you none!"
+
+What was that sound again on the other side of the partition?
+Whatever it was, Colliver had not heard, for he was musing darkly and
+looking fixedly at me.
+
+"No, I will show you no mercy," he answered quietly, "for I have
+sworn to show no mercy to your race, and you are the last of it.
+But listen, that for a few moments before you die you may shake off
+your smug complacency and learn what this wealth is, and what kind of
+brood you Trenoweths are.  Dog!  The treasure that lies by Dead Man's
+Rock is treasure weighted with dead men's curses and stained with
+dead men's blood--wealth won by black piracy upon the high seas--gold
+for which many a poor soul walked the plank and found his end in the
+deep waters.  It is treasure sacked from many a gallant ship,
+stripped from many a rotting corpse by that black hound your
+grandfather, Amos Trenoweth.  You guessed that?  Let me tell you
+more.
+
+"There is many a soul crying in heaven and hell for vengeance on your
+race; but your death to-night, Jasper Trenoweth, shall be the
+peculiar joy of one.  You guessed that your grandfather had crimes
+upon his soul; but you did not guess the blackest crime on his
+account--the murder of his dearest friend.  Listen.  I will be brief
+with you, but I cannot spare myself the joy of letting you know this
+much before you die.  Know then that when your grandfather was a rich
+man by this friend's aid--after, with this friend's help, he had laid
+hands on the secret of the Great Ruby for which for many a year he
+had thirsted, in the moment of his triumph he turned and slew that
+friend in order to keep the Ruby to himself.
+
+"That fool, your father, kept a Journal--which no doubt you have read
+over and over again.  Did he tell you how I caught him upon Adam's
+Peak, sitting with this clasp in his hands before a hideous, graven
+stone?  That stone was cut in ghastly mockery of that friend's face;
+the bones that lay beneath it were the bones of that friend.
+There, on that very spot where I met your father face to face, did
+his father, Amos Trenoweth, strike down my father Ralph Colliver.
+
+"Ah, light is beginning to dawn on your silly brain at last!
+Yes, pretending to protect the old priest who had the Ruby, he
+stabbed my father with the very knife found in your father's heart,
+stabbed him before his wife's eyes on that little lawn upon the
+mountain-side; and, when my helpless mother called vengeance upon
+him, handed the still reeking knife to her and bade her do her worst.
+Ah, but she kept that knife.  Did you mark what was engraved upon the
+blade?  That knife had a good memory, Mr. Jasper Trenoweth.
+
+"Let me go on.  As if that deed were not foul enough, he caused the
+old priest to carve--being skilful with the chisel--that vile
+distortion of his dead friend's face out of a huge boulder lying by,
+and then murdered him too for the Ruby's sake, and tumbled their
+bodies into the trough together.  Such was Amos Trenoweth.  Are you
+proud of your descent?
+
+"I never saw my father.  I was not born until three months after
+this, and not until I was ten years old did my mother tell me of his
+fate.
+
+"Your grandfather was a fool, Jasper Trenoweth, to despise her; for
+she was young then and she could wait.  She was beautiful then, and
+Amos Trenoweth himself had loved her.  What is she now?  Speak, for
+you have seen her."
+
+As he spoke I seemed to see again that yellow face, those awful,
+soulless eyes, and hear her laugh as she gazed down from the box upon
+my dying love.
+
+"Ah, beauty goes.  It went for ever on that day when Amos Trenoweth
+spat in her face and taunted her as she clung to the body of her
+husband.  Beauty goes, but revenge can wait; to-night it has come;
+to-night a thousand dead men's ghosts shall be glad, and point at
+your body as it goes tossing out to sea.  To-night--but let me tell
+the rest in a word or two, for time presses.  How I was brought up,
+how my mad mother--for she is mad on every point but one--trained me
+to the sea, how I left it at length and became an attorney's clerk,
+all this I need not dwell upon.  But all this time the thought of
+revenge never left me for an hour; and if it had, my mother would
+have recalled it.
+
+"Well, we settled in Plymouth and I was bound a clerk to your
+grandfather's attorney, still with the same purpose.  There I learnt
+of Amos Trenoweth's affairs, but only to a certain extent; for of the
+wealth which he had so bloodily won I could discover nothing; and yet
+I knew he possessed riches which make the heart faint even to think
+upon.  Yet for all I could discover, his possessions were simply
+those of a struggling farmer, his business absolutely nothing.
+I was almost desperate, when one day a tall, gaunt and aged man
+stepped into the office, asked for my employer, and gave the name of
+Amos Trenoweth.  Oh, how I longed to kill him as he stood there!
+And how little did he guess that the clerk of whom he took no more
+notice than of a stone, would one day strike his descendants off the
+face of the earth and inherit the wealth for which he had sold his
+soul--the great Ruby of Ceylon!
+
+"My voice trembled with hate as I announced him and showed him into
+the inner room.  Then I closed the door and listened.  He was uneasy
+about his Will--the fool--and did not know that all his possessions
+would necessarily become his son's.  In my heart I laughed at his
+ignorance; but I learnt enough--enough to wait patiently for years
+and finally to track Ezekiel Trenoweth to his death.
+
+"It was about this time that I fell in love.  In this as in
+everything through life I have been cursed with the foulest luck, but
+in this as in everything else my patience has won in the end.  Lucy
+Luttrell loved another man called Railton--John Railton.  He was
+another fool--you are all fools--but she married him and had a
+daughter.  I wonder if you can guess who that daughter was?"
+
+He broke off and looked at me with fiendish malice.
+
+"You hound!" I cried, "she was Janet Railton--Claire Luttrell; and
+you murdered her father as you say Amos Trenoweth murdered yours."
+
+"Right," he answered coolly.  "Quite right.  Oh, the arts by which I
+enticed that man to drink and then to crime!  Even now I could sit
+and laugh over them by the hour.  Why, man, there was not a touch of
+guile in the fellow when I took him in hand, and yet it was he that
+afterwards took your father's life.  He tried it once in Bombay and
+bungled it sadly: he did it neatly enough, though, on the jib-boom of
+the _Belle Fortune_.  I lent him the knife: I would have done it
+myself, but Railton was nearer; and besides it is always better to be
+a witness."
+
+What _was_ that rustling sound behind the partition?  Colliver did
+not hear it, at any rate, but went on with his tale, and though his
+eyes were dancing flames of hate his voice was calm now as ever.
+
+"I had stolen half the clasp beforehand from the cabin floor where
+that stupendous idiot, Ezekiel Trenoweth, had dropped it.  Railton
+caught him before he dropped, but I did not know he had time to get
+the box away, for just then a huge wave broke over us and before the
+next we both jumped for the Rock.  I thought that Railton must have
+been sucked back, for I only clung on myself by the luckiest chance.
+It was pitch-dark and impossible to see.  I called his name, but he
+either could not hear for the roar, or did not choose to answer, so
+after a bit I stopped.  I thought him dead, and he no doubt thought
+me dead, until we met upon Dead Man's Rock.
+
+"Shall I finish?  Oh, yes, you shall hear the whole story.  After the
+inquest I escaped back to Plymouth, told Lucy that her husband had
+been drowned at sea, and finally persuaded her to leave Plymouth and
+marry me.  So I triumphed there, too: oh, yes, I have triumphed
+throughout."
+
+"You hound!" I cried.
+
+He laughed a low musical laugh and went on again--
+
+"Ah, yes, you are angry of course; but I let that pass.  I have one
+account to settle with you Trenoweths, and that is enough for me.
+Three times have I had you in my power, Mr. Jasper Trenoweth--three
+times or four--and let you escape.  Once beneath Dead Man's Rock when
+I had my fingers on your young weasand and was stopped by those
+cursed fishermen.  Idiots that they were, they thought the sight of
+me had frightened you and made you faint.  Faint!  You would have
+been dead in another half-minute.  How I laughed in my sleeve while
+that uncle of yours was trying to make me understand--me--what was my
+name then?--oh, ay, Georgio Rhodojani.  However, you escaped that
+time: and once more you hardly guessed how near you were to death,
+when I looked in at the window on the night after the inquest.
+Why, in my mind I was tossing up whether or not I should murder you
+and your white-faced mother.  I should have done so, but thought you
+might hold some knowledge of the secret after your meeting with
+Railton, so that it seemed better to bide my time."
+
+"If it be any satisfaction to you," I interrupted, "to know that had
+you killed me then you would never have laid hands on that clasp
+yonder, you are welcome to it."
+
+"It is," he answered.  "I am glad I did not kill you both: it left
+your mother time to see her dead husband, and has given me the
+pleasure of killing you now: the treat improves with keeping.
+Well, let me go on.  After that I was forced to leave the country for
+some time--"
+
+"For another piece of villainy, which your wife discovered."
+
+"How do you know that?  Oh, from Claire, I suppose: however, it does
+not matter.  When I came back I found you: found you, and struck
+again.  But again my cursed luck stood in my way and that damned
+friend of yours knocked me senseless.  Look at this mark on my
+cheek."
+
+"Look at the clasp and you will see where your blow was struck."
+
+"Ah, that was it, was it?" he said, examining the clasp slowly.
+"I suppose you thought it lucky at the time.  So it was--for me.
+For, though I made another mistake in the fog that night, I got quits
+with your friend at any rate.  I have chafed often enough at these
+failures, but it has all come right in the end.  I ought to have
+killed your father upon Adam's Peak; but he was a big man, while I
+had no pistol and could not afford to risk a mistake.  Everything,
+they say, comes to the man who can wait.  Your father did not escape,
+neither will you, and when I think of the joy it was to me to know
+that you and Claire, of all people--"
+
+But I would hear no more.  Mad as I was with shame and horror for my
+grandfather's cruelty, I knew this man, notwithstanding his talk of
+revenge, to be a vile and treacherous scoundrel.  So when he spoke of
+Claire I burst forth--
+
+"Dog, this is enough!  I have listened to your tale.  But when you
+talk of Claire--Claire whom you killed to-night--then, dog, I spit
+upon you; kill me, and I hope the treasure may curse you as it has
+cursed me; kill me; use your knife, for I _will_ shout--"
+
+With a dreadful snarl he was on me and smote me across the face.
+Then as I continued to call and shout, struck me one fearful blow
+behind the ear.  I remember that the dim lamp shot out a streak of
+blood-red flame, the cabin was lit for one brief instant with a flash
+of fire, a thousand lights darted out, and then--then came utter
+blackness--a vague sensation of being caught up and carried, of
+plunging down--down--
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.  AND LAST.
+
+
+TELLS HOW AT LAST I FOUND MY REVENGE AND THE GREAT RUBY.
+
+"Speak--speak to me!  Oh, look up and tell me you are not dead!"
+
+Down through the misty defiles and dark gates of the Valley of the
+Shadow of Death came these words faintly as though spoken far away.
+So distant did they seem that my eyes opened with vague expectation
+of another world; opened and then wearily closed again.
+
+For at first they stared into a heaven of dull grey, with but a
+shadow between them and colourless space.  Then they opened once
+more, and the shadow caught their attention.  What was it?  Who was
+I, and how came I to be staring upward so? I let the problem be and
+fell back into the easeful lap of unconsciousness.
+
+Then the voice spoke again.  "He is living yet," it said.  "Oh, if he
+would but speak!"
+
+This time I saw more distinctly.  Two eyes were looking into mine--a
+woman's eyes.  Where had I seen that face before?  Surely I had known
+it once, in some other world.  Then somehow over my weary mind stole
+the knowledge that this was Mrs. Luttrell--or was it Claire?
+No, Claire was dead.  "Claire--dead," I seemed to repeat to myself;
+but how dead or where I could not recall.  "Claire--dead;" then this
+must be her mother, and I, Jasper Trenoweth, was lying here with
+Claire's mother bending over me.  How came we so?  What had happened,
+that--and once more the shadow of oblivion swept down and enfolded
+me.
+
+She was still there, kneeling beside me, chafing my hands and every
+now and then speaking words of tender solicitude.  How white her hair
+was!  It used not to be so white as this.  And where was I lying?
+In a boat?  How my head was aching!
+
+Then remembrance came back.  Strange to tell, it began with Claire's
+death in the theatre, and thence led downwards in broken and
+interrupted train until Colliver's face suddenly started up before
+me, and I knew all.
+
+I raised myself on my elbow.  My brain was throbbing intolerably, and
+every pulsation seemed to shoot fire into my temples.  Also other
+bands of fire were clasped about my arms and wrists.  So acutely did
+they burn that I fell back with a low moan and looked helplessly at
+Mrs. Luttrell.
+
+Although it had been snowing, her bonnet was thrust back from her
+face and hung by its ribbons which were tied beneath her chin.
+The breeze was playing with her disordered hair--hair now white as
+the snow-flakes upon it, though grey when last I had seen it--but it
+brought no colour to her face.  As she bent over me to place her
+shawl beneath my head, I saw that her blue eyes were strangely bright
+and prominent.
+
+"Thank God, you are alive!  Does the bandage pain you?  Can you
+move?"
+
+I feebly put my hand up and felt a handkerchief bound round my head.
+
+"I was afraid--oh, so afraid!--that I had been too late.  Yet God
+only knows how I got down into your boat--in time--and without his
+seeing me.  I knew what he would do--I was listening behind the
+partition all the time; but I was afraid he would kill you first."
+
+"Then--you heard?"
+
+"I heard all.  Oh, if I were only a man--but can you stand?  Are you
+better now?  For we must lose no time."
+
+I weakly stared at her in answer.
+
+"Don't you see?  If you can stand and walk, as I pray you can, there
+is no time to be lost.  Morning is already breaking, and by this
+evening you must catch him."
+
+"Catch him?"
+
+"Yes, yes.  He has gone--gone to catch the first train for Cornwall,
+and will be at Dead Man's Rock to-night.  Quick! see if you cannot
+rise."
+
+I sat up.  The water had dripped from me, forming a great pool at our
+end of the boat.  In it she was kneeling, and beside her lay a heavy
+knife and the cords with which Simon Colliver had bound me.
+
+"Yes," I said, "I will follow.  When does the first train leave
+Paddington?"
+
+"At a quarter past nine," she answered, "and it is now about
+half-past five.  You have time to catch it; but must disguise
+yourself first.  He will travel by it, there is no train before.
+Come, let me row you ashore."
+
+With this she untied the painter, got out the sculls, sat down upon
+the thwart opposite, and began to pull desperately for shore.
+I wondered at her strength and skill with the oar.
+
+"Ah," she said, "I see at what you are wondering.  Remember that I
+was a sailor's wife once, and without strength how should I have
+dragged you on board this boat?"
+
+"How did you manage it?"
+
+"I cannot tell.  I only know that I heard a splash as I waited under
+the bows there, and then began with my hands to fend the boat around
+the schooner for dear life.  I had to be very silent.  At first I
+could see nothing, for it was dark towards the shore; but I cried to
+Heaven to spare you for vengeance on that man, and then I saw
+something black lying across the warp, and knew it was you.  I gave a
+strong push, then rushed to the bows and caught you by the hair.
+I got you round by the stern as gently as I could, and then pulled
+you on board somehow--I cannot remember exactly how I did it."
+
+"Did he see you?"
+
+"No, for he must have gone below directly.  I rowed under the shadow
+of the lighter to which we were tied just now, and as I did so,
+thought I heard him calling me by name.  He must have forgotten me,
+and then suddenly remembered that as yet I had not given him the
+money.  However, presently I heard him getting into his boat and
+rowing ashore.  He came quite close to us--so close that I could hear
+him cursing, and crouched down in the shadow for fear of my life.
+But he passed on, and got out at the steps yonder.  It was snowing at
+the time and that helped me."
+
+She pulled a stroke or two in silence, and then continued--
+
+"When you were in the cabin together I was listening.  At one point I
+think I must have fainted; but it cannot have been for long, for when
+I came to myself you were still talking about--about John Railton."
+
+I remembered the sound which I had heard, and almost in spite of
+myself asked, "You heard about--"
+
+"Claire? Yes, I heard."  She nodded simply; but her eyes sought mine,
+and in them was a gleam that made me start.
+
+Just then the boat touched at a mouldering flight of stairs, crusted
+with green ooze to high-water mark, and covered now with snow.
+She made fast the boat.
+
+"This was the way he went," she muttered.  "Track him, track him to
+his death; spare him no single pang to make that death miserable!"
+Her low voice positively trembled with concentrated hate.
+"Stay," she said, "have you money?"
+
+I suddenly remembered that I had given all the money on me to Bagnell
+for getting out my boat, and told her so.  At the same moment, too,
+I thought upon the tin box still lying under the boat's stern.
+I stepped aft and pulled it out.
+
+"Here is money," she said; "money that I was to have given him.
+Fifty pounds it is, in notes--take it all."
+
+"But you?"  I hesitated.
+
+"Never mind me.  Take it--take it all.  What do I want with money if
+only you kill him?"
+
+I bent and kissed her hand.
+
+"As Heaven is my witness," I said, "it shall be his life or mine.
+The soul of one of us shall never see to-morrow."
+
+Her hand was as cold as ice, and her pale face never changed.
+
+"Kill him!" she said, simply.
+
+I turned, and climbed the steps.  By this time day had broken, and
+the east was streaked with angry flushes of crimson.  The wind swept
+through my dripping clothes and froze my aching limbs to the marrow.
+Up the river came floating a heavy pall of fog, out of which the
+masts showed like grisly skeletons.  The snow-storm had not quite
+ceased, and a stray flake or two came brushing across my face.
+So dawned my Christmas Eve!
+
+As I gained the top, I turned to look down.  She was still standing
+there, watching me.  Seeing me look, she waved her arms, and I heard
+her hoarse whisper, "Kill him!  Kill him!  Kill him!"
+
+I left her standing so, and turned away; but in the many ghosts that
+haunt my solitary days, not the least vivid is the phantom of this
+white-haired woman on the black and silent river, eternally
+beckoning, "Kill him!"
+
+I found myself in a yard strewn with timber, spars and refuse, half
+hidden beneath the snow.  From it a flight of rickety stone steps led
+to a rotting door, and thence into the street.  Here I stood for a
+moment, pondering on my next step.  Not a soul was abroad so early;
+but I must quickly get a change of clothes somewhere; at present I
+stood in my torn dress trousers and soaked shirt.  I passed up the
+street, my shoeless feet making the first prints in the newly-fallen
+snow.  The first?  No; for when I looked more closely I saw other
+footprints, already half obliterated, leading up the street.
+These must be Simon Colliver's.  I followed them for about a hundred
+yards past the shuttered windows.
+
+Suddenly they turned into a shop door, and then seemed to leave it
+again.  The shop was closed, and above it hung three brass balls,
+each covered now with a snowy cap.  Above, the blinds were drawn
+down, but on looking again, I saw a chink of light between the
+shutters.  I knocked.
+
+After a short pause, the door was opened.  A red-eyed, villainous
+face peered out, and seeing me, grew blank with wonder.
+
+"What do you want?" inquired at length the voice belonging to it.
+
+"To buy a fresh suit of clothes.  See, I have fallen into the river."
+
+Muttering something beneath his breath, the pawnbroker opened his
+door, and let me into the shop.
+
+It was a dingy nest, fitted up with the usual furniture of such a
+place.  The one dim candle threw a ghostly light on chairs, clocks,
+compasses, trinkets, saucepans, watches, piles of china, and suits of
+left-off clothes arrayed like rows of suicides along the wall.
+A general air of decay hung over the den.  Immediately opposite me,
+as I entered, a stuffed parrot, dropping slowly into dust, glared at
+me with one malevolent eye of glass, while a hideous Chinese idol,
+behind the counter, poked out his tongue in a very frenzy of
+malignity.  But my eye wandered past these, and was fixed in a moment
+upon something that glittered upon the counter.  That something was
+my own watch.
+
+Following my gaze, the man gave me a quick, suspicious glance,
+hastily caught up the watch, and was bestowing it on one of his
+shelves, when I said--
+
+"Where did you get that?"
+
+"Quite innocently, sir, I swear.  I bought it of a gentleman who came
+in just now, and would not pawn it.  I thought it was his, so that if
+you belong to the Force, I hope--"
+
+"Gently, my friend," said I; "I am not in the police, so you need not
+be in such a fright.  Nevertheless, that watch is mine; I can tell
+you the number, if you don't believe it."
+
+He pushed the watch across to me and said, still greatly frightened--
+
+"I am sure you may see it, sir, with all my heart.  I wouldn't for
+worlds--"
+
+"What did you give for it?"
+
+He hesitated a moment, and then, as greed overmastered fear,
+replied--
+
+"Fifteen pounds, sir; and the man would not take a penny less.
+Fifteen good pounds!  I swear it, as I am alive!"
+
+Although I saw that the man lied, I drew out three five-pound notes,
+laid them on the table, and took my watch.  This done, I said--
+
+"Now I want you to sell me a suit of clothes, and aid me to disguise
+myself.  Otherwise--"
+
+"Don't talk, sir, about 'otherwise.'  I'm sure I shall only be too
+glad to rig you out to catch the thief.  You can take your pick of
+the suits here; they are mostly seamen's, to be sure; but you'll find
+others as well.  While as for disguises, I flatter myself that for
+getting up a face--"
+
+Here he stopped suddenly.
+
+"How long has he been gone?"
+
+"About half an hour, sir, before you came.  But no doubt you know
+where he'd be likely to go; and I won't be more than twenty minutes
+setting you completely to rights."
+
+In less than half an hour afterwards, I stepped out into the street
+so completely disguised that none of my friends--that is, if I had
+possessed a friend in the world--would have recognised me.  I had
+chosen a sailor's suit, that being the character I knew myself best
+able to sustain.  My pale face had turned to a bronze red, while over
+its smoothly-shaven surface now grew the roughest of untrimmed
+beards.  Snow was falling still, so that Colliver's footprints were
+entirely obliterated.  But I wanted them no longer.  He would be at
+Paddington, I knew; and accordingly I turned my feet in that
+direction, and walked rapidly westward.
+
+My chase had begun.  I had before me plenty of time in which to reach
+Paddington, and the exercise of walking did me good, relaxing my
+stiffened limbs until at length I scarcely felt the pain of the weals
+where the cords had cut me.  It was snowing persistently, but I
+hardly noticed it.  Through the chill and sullen morning I held
+doggedly on my way, past St. Katharine's Wharf, the Tower, through
+Gracechurch Street, and out into St. Paul's Churchyard.  Traffic was
+already beginning here, and thickened as I passed down Ludgate Hill
+and climbed up to Holborn.  Already the white snow was being churned
+and trodden into hideous slush in which my feet slipped and stumbled.
+My coat and sailor's cap were covered with powdery flakes, and I had
+to hold my head down for fear lest the drifting moisture should wash
+any of the colouring off my face.  So my feet carried me once more
+into Oxford Street.  How well remembered was every house, every
+lamp-post, every flag of the pavement almost!  I was on my last quest
+now.
+
+"To-night! to-night!" whispered my heart: then came back the words of
+Claire's mother--"Kill him! Kill him!" and still I tramped westward,
+as westward lay my revenge.
+
+Suddenly a hansom cab shot past me.  It came up silently on the
+slushy street, and it was only when it was close behind that I heard
+the muffled sound of its wheels.  It was early yet for cabs, so that
+I turned my head at the sound.  It passed in a flash, and gave me but
+a glimpse of the occupant: but in that moment I had time to catch
+sight of a pair of eyes, and knew now that my journey would not be in
+vain.  They were the eyes of Simon Colliver.
+
+So then in Oxford Street, after all, I had met him.  He was cleverly
+disguised--as I guessed, by the same hands that had painted my own
+face--and looked to the casual eye but an ordinary bagman.  But art
+could not change those marvellous eyes, and I knew him in an instant.
+My heart leapt wildly for a moment--my hands were clenched and my
+teeth shut tight; but the next, I was plodding after him as before.
+I could wait now.
+
+Before I reached Paddington I met the cab returning empty, and on
+gaining the station at first saw nothing of my man.  Though as yet it
+was early, the platform was already crowded with holiday-makers: a
+few country dames laden with countless bundles, careworn workers
+preparing to spend Christmas with friends or parents in their village
+home, a sprinkling of schoolboys chafing at the slowness of the
+clock.  After a minute or so, I spied Simon Colliver moving among
+this happy and innocent crowd like an evil spirit.  I flung myself
+down upon a bench, and under pretence of sleeping, quietly observed
+him.  Once or twice, as he passed to and fro before me, he almost
+brushed my knee, so close was he--so close that I had to clutch the
+bench tightly for fear I should leap up and throttle him.  He did not
+notice me.  Doubtless he thought me already tossing out to sea with
+the gulls swooping over me, and the waves merrily dashing over my
+dead face.  The waiting game had changed hands now.
+
+I heard him demand a ticket for Penryn, and, after waiting until he
+had left the booking office, took one myself for the same station.
+I watched him as he chose his compartment, and then entered the next.
+It was crowded, of course, with holiday-seekers; but the only person
+that I noticed at first was the man sitting directly opposite to me--
+an honest, red-faced countryman, evidently on his way home from town,
+and at present deeply occupied with a morning paper which seemed to
+have a peculiar fascination for him, for as he raised his face his
+round eyes were full of horror.  I paid little attention to him,
+however, but, having the corner seat facing the engine, watched to
+see that Colliver did not change his compartment.  He did not appear
+again, and in a minute or two the whistle shrieked and we were off.
+
+At first the countryman opposite made such a prodigious to-do with
+his piece of news that I could not help watching him.  Then my
+attention wandered from him to the country through which we were
+flying.  Slowly I pondered over the many events that had passed
+since, not many months before, I had travelled up from Cornwall to
+win my fortune.  My fortune!  To what had it all come?  I had won a
+golden month or two of love, and lo! my darling was dead.  Dead also
+was the friend who had travelled up with me, so full of boyish hope:
+both dead; the one in the full blaze of her triumph, the other in the
+first dawn of his young success: both dead--and, but for me, both
+living yet and happy.
+
+Suddenly the countryman looked up and spoke.
+
+"Hav'ee seen this bit o' news?  Astonishin'!  And her so pretty too!"
+
+"What is it?" I asked vacantly.
+
+For answer he pushed the paper into my hands, and with his thumb-nail
+pointed to a column headed "TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IN A THEATRE."
+
+"An' to think," he continued reflectively, "as how I saw her wi' my
+own eyes but three nights back--an' actin' so pretty, too! Lord!
+It made me cry like any sucking child: beautiful it was--just
+beau-ti-ful! Here's a story to tell my missus!"
+
+I took the paper and read--
+
+    "TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IN A THEATRE.  SUICIDE OF A FAMOUS ACTRESS.--
+     Last evening, the performance of the new and popular tragedy,
+     _Francesca_, at the Coliseum, was interrupted by a scene
+     perhaps the most awful that has ever been presented to the
+     play-going public.  A sinister fate seems to have pursued this
+     play from the outset.  It will be within the memory of all that
+     its young and gifted author was, on the very night of its
+     production, struck down suddenly in the street by an unknown
+     hand which the police have not yet succeeded in tracing.
+     Last night's tragedy was even more terrible.  Clarissa Lambert,
+     whose name--"
+
+But I wanted to read no more.  To the countryman's astonishment the
+paper slipped from my listless fingers, and once more my gaze turned
+to the carriage window.  On we tore through the snow that raced
+horizontally by the pane, through the white and peaceful country--
+homeward.  Homeward to welcome whom?  Whom but the man now sitting,
+it might be, within a foot of me?  To my heart I hugged the thought
+of him, sitting there and gloating over the morrow.
+
+The morrow!  Somehow my own horizon did not stretch as far: it was
+bounded by to-night.  Before to-morrow one of us two should be a dead
+man; perhaps both.  So best: the world with its loves and hatreds
+would end to-night.  So westward we sped in the grey light beneath
+which the snowy fields gleamed unnaturally--westward while the sun
+above showed only as a crimson ball, an orb of blood, travelling
+westward too.  At Bristol it glared through a murky veil of smoke, at
+Exeter and through the frozen pastures and leafless woodlands of
+Devon dropped swiftly towards my goal, beckoning with blood-stained
+hand across the sky.  Past the angry sea we tore, and then again into
+the whitened fields now growing dim in the twilight.  In the carriage
+the talk was unceasing--talk of home, of expectant friends, of
+Christmas meetings and festivities.  Every station was thronged, and
+many a happy welcome I witnessed as I sat there with no friend but
+hate.  Friends!  What had I to do with such?  I had a friend once,
+but he was dead.  Friend, parents, love--all dead by one man's hand,
+and he--But a little while now; but a little while!
+
+We reached Plymouth shortly after five--the train being late--and
+here the crowd in the carriages grew greater.  It was dark, but the
+moon was not yet up--the full moon by which the treasure was to be
+sought.  How slowly the train dragged through Cornwall!  It would be
+eight before we reached Penryn, and low water was at half-past
+eleven.  Should we be in time?
+
+The snow had ceased to fall: a clear north-east wind had chased the
+clouds from heaven, and scarcely had we passed Saltash before a
+silver rim came slowly rising above the black woods on the river's
+opposite bank.  Clear into the frosty night it rose, and I fell to
+wondering savagely with what thoughts Colliver saluted it.
+
+It was already half-past eight as we changed our train at Truro, and
+here again more time was wasted.  Upon the platform I saw him again.
+He was heavily cloaked and muffled now, for it was freezing hard; but
+beneath the low brim of his hat I saw the deep, black eyes gleaming
+with impatience.  So at last once more we started.
+
+"Penryn!"
+
+I looked at my watch.  It was nine o'clock; more than an hour and a
+half late.  By the light from the carriage window I saw him step out
+into the shadow of the platform.  I followed.  Here also was a large
+crowd bound for Helston, and the coach that waited outside was
+quickly thronged inside and out.  Colliver was outside the station in
+a moment, and in another had jumped into a carriage waiting there
+with two horses, and was gone up the hill beneath the shadow of the
+bridge.  In my folly I had forgotten that he might have telegraphed
+for horses to meet him.  However, the coach was fast and I could post
+from Helston.  I clambered up to the top, where for want of a better
+seat I propped myself up on a pile of luggage, and waited whilst box
+after box, amid vociferous cursing, was piled up beside me.
+At length, just as I was beginning to despair of ever starting at
+all, with a few final curses directed at the bystanders generally,
+the driver mounted the box, shook his reins, and we were off.
+
+The load was so heavy that at first five horses were used, but we
+left one with his postillion at the top of the hill and swung down at
+a canter into the level country.  The snow lay fairly deep, and the
+horses' hoofs were soundless as we plunged through the crisp and
+tingling air.  The wind raced past me as I sat perched on my rickety
+seat, swaying wildly with every lurch of the coach.  With every gust
+I seemed to drink in fresh strength and felt the very motion and
+swiftness enter into my blood.  Across the white waste we tore, up a
+stiff ascent and down across the moorland again--still westward; and
+now across the stretches of the moor I could catch the strong scent
+of the sea upon the wind.  Along the level we sped, silent and swift
+beneath the moon.  Here a white house by the roadside glimmered out
+and was gone; there a mine-chimney shot up against the sky and faded
+back again.  We were going now at a gallop, and from my perch I could
+see the yellow light of the lamps on the sweating necks of the
+leaders.
+
+There was a company of sailors with me on the coach-top--smoking,
+talking, and shouting.  Once or twice one of them would address a
+word or two to me, but got scanty answers.  I was looking intently
+along the road for a sign of Colliver's carriage.  He must have
+ordered good horses, for I saw no sign of him as yet.  Stay!  As we
+swept round a sharp corner and swung on to the straight road again, I
+thought I spied far in front a black object moving on the universal
+white.  Yes, it must be he: and again on the wings of the wind I
+heard the call, "To-night! to-night!  Kill him! kill him! kill--"
+
+Crash!  With a heavy and sickening lurch sideways, the coach hung for
+an instant, tottered, and then plunged over on its side, flinging me
+clear of the luggage which pounded and rattled after.  As I struggled
+to my feet, half dazed, I saw a confused medley of struggling horses,
+frightened passengers and scattered boxes.  Collecting my senses I
+rushed to help those inside the coach and then amid the moaning,
+cursing and general dismay, sought out my bundle, grasped it tightly
+and set off at a run down the heavy road.  I could wait now for no
+man.
+
+Panting, spent, my sore limbs weighted with snow, I gained the top of
+the hill and plunged down the steep street into Helston.  There, at
+"the Angel" I got a post-chaise and pair, and set off once more.
+At first, seeing my dress and wondering what a sailor could want with
+post-chaises at that hour, they demurred, but the money quickly
+persuaded them.  They told me also that a gentleman had changed
+horses there about half an hour before and gone towards the Lizard,
+after borrowing a pickaxe and spade.  Half an hour: should I yet be
+in time?
+
+I leant back in the chaise and pondered.  I knew by heart the
+shortest cuts across the downs.  When I reached them I would stop
+the carriage and take to my feet once more.  The fresh horses
+were travelling fast, and as we drew near the sea I dimly noted a
+hundred familiar landmarks, and in each a fresh memory of Tom.
+How affectionately we had taken leave of them, one by one, on our
+journey to London!  Now each seemed to cry, "What have you done with
+your friend?"  This was my home-coming.
+
+At the beginning of the downs I stopped the carriage, paid and
+dismissed the astonished post-boy and started off alone at a swinging
+trot across the snow.  Southward hung the white moon, now high in
+heaven.  It must be almost time.  Along the old track I ran, still
+clutching my bundle, over the frozen ruts, stumbling, slipping, but
+with set teeth and straining muscles, skirted the hill above
+Polkimbra with just a glimpse of the cottage roofs shining in the
+hollow below, and raced along the cliffs towards Lantrig.  I guessed
+that Colliver would come across Polkimbra Beach, so had determined to
+approach the rock from the northern side, over Ready-Money Cove.
+
+Lantrig, my old home, was merrily lit up this Christmas Eve, and the
+sight of it gave me one swift, sharp pang of anguish as I stole
+cautiously downwards to the sands.  At the cliff's foot I paused and
+looked across the Cove.
+
+Sable and gloomy as ever, Dead Man's Rock soared up against the moon,
+the grim reality of that dark shadow which had lain upon all my
+life.  From it had my hate started; to it was I now at the last
+returning.  There it stood, the stern warder of that treasure for
+which my grandfather had sold his soul, my father had given his life,
+and I had lost all that made both life and soul worth having.
+"Blood shall be their inheritance, and Fire their portion for ever."
+The curse had lain upon us all.
+
+Creeping along the shadow, I crossed the little Cove and peered
+through the archway on to Polkimbra Sands, now sparkling in the
+moonlight.
+
+Not a soul in sight!  As far as eye could see the beach was utterly
+deserted and peaceful.  I stepped down to a small pool, left by the
+receding tide in the rock's shadow, removed my false hair and beard,
+and carefully washed away all traces of paint from my face.
+This done, I slipped off my shoes and holding them with the bundle in
+my right hand, began softly and carefully to ascend the rock.
+I gained the first ledge; crept out along it as far as the ring
+mentioned on the clasp, and then began to climb again.  This needed
+care, for the ascent on the north side was harder at first than on
+the other, and I could use but one hand with ease.  Slowly, however,
+and with effort I pulled myself up and then stole out towards the
+face until I could command a view of Polkimbra Beach.  Still I could
+see nobody, only the lights of the little church-town twinkling
+across the beach and, far beyond, the shadowy cliffs of Kynance.
+I pulled out my watch.  It was close on half-past eleven, the hour of
+dead low water.
+
+As I looked up again I thought I saw a speck approaching over the
+sands.  Yes, I was not mistaken.  I set my teeth and crouched down
+nearer to the rock.  Over the sands, beneath the shadow of the cliffs
+he came, and as he drew nearer, I saw that he carried something on
+his shoulder, doubtless the spade and pickaxe.  A moment more and he
+turned to see that no one was following.  As he did so, the moon
+shone full in his face, and I saw, stripped now of all disguises, the
+features of my enemy.
+
+I opened the tin box and took out my knife.  I had caused the thin
+sharp blade, found in my dead father's heart, to be fitted to a horn
+handle into which it shut with an ordinary spring-clasp.  As I opened
+it, the moonlight glittered down the steel and lit up the letters
+"Ricordati."
+
+Still in the shadow, he crept down by the rock, and once more looked
+about him.  No single soul was abroad at that hour to see; none but
+the witness crouching there above.  I gripped the knife tighter as he
+disappeared beneath the ledge on which I hung.
+
+A low curse or two, and then silence.  I held my breath and waited.
+Presently he reappeared, with compass in one hand and measuring-tape
+in the other, and stood there for a moment looking about him.
+Still I waited.
+
+About forty feet from the breakers now crisply splashing on the sand,
+Dead Man's Rock suddenly ended on the southern side in a thin black
+ridge that broke off with a drop of some ten feet.  This ridge was,
+of course, covered at high water, and upon it the _Belle Fortune_ had
+doubtless struck before she reeled back and settled in deep water.
+This was the "south point" mentioned on the clasp.  Fixing his
+compass carefully, he drew out the tape, and slowly began to measure
+towards the north-west.  "End South Point, 27 feet," I remembered
+that the clasp said.  He measured it out to the end, and then,
+digging with his heel a small hole in the sand, began to walk back
+towards the rock, this time to the north side.  And still I waited.
+
+Again I could hear him searching for the mark--an old iron ring, once
+used for mooring boats--and cursing because he could not find it.
+After a minute or two, however, he came into sight again, drawing his
+line now straight out from the cliff, due west.  He was very slow,
+and every now and then, as he bent over his task, would look swiftly
+about him with a hunted air, and then set to work again.  Still there
+was no sight but the round moon overhead, the sparkling stretch of
+sand, and the gleam of the waves as they broke in curving lines of
+silver: no sound but the sigh of the night breeze.
+
+Apparently his measurements were successful, for the tape led him
+once more to the hole he had marked in the sand.  He paused for a
+moment or two, drew out the clasp, which shot out a sudden gleam as
+he turned it in his hand, and consulted it carefully.  Presumably
+satisfied, he walked back to the rock to fetch his tools.  And still
+I crouched, waiting, with knife in hand.
+
+Arrived once more at the point where the two lines met, he threw a
+hasty glance around, and began to dig rapidly.  He faced the sea now,
+and had his back turned to me, so that I could straighten myself up,
+and watch at greater ease.  He dug rapidly, and the pit, as his spade
+threw out heap after heap of soft sand, grew quickly bigger.
+If treasure really lay there, it would soon be disclosed.
+
+Presently I heard his spade strike against something hard.  Surely he
+had not yet dug deeply enough.  The clasp had said "four feet six
+inches," and the pit could not yet be more than three feet in depth.
+Colliver bent down and drew something out, then examined it intently.
+As I strained forward to look, he half turned, and I saw between his
+hands--a human skull.  Whose?  Doubtless, some victim's of those many
+that went down in the _Belle Fortune_; or perhaps the skull of John
+Railton, sunk here above the treasure to gain which he had taken the
+lives of other men and lost in the end his own.  It was a grisly
+thought, but apparently troubled Colliver little, for with a jerk of
+his arm he sent it bowling down the sands towards the breakers.
+A bound or two, a splash, and it was swallowed up once more by the
+insatiate sea.
+
+With this he fell to digging anew, and I to watching.  For a full
+twenty minutes he laboured, flinging out the sand to right and left,
+and every now and then stopping for a moment to measure his progress.
+By this time, I judged, he must have dug below the depth pointed out
+upon the clasp, for once or twice he drew it out and paused in his
+work to consult it.
+
+He was just resuming, after one of these rests, when his spade grated
+against something.  He bent low to examine it, and then began to
+shovel out the sand with inconceivable rapidity.
+
+The treasure was found!
+
+Like a madman he worked: so that even from where I stood I could hear
+his breath coming hard and fast.  At length, with one last glance
+around, he knelt down and disappeared from my view.  My time was
+come.
+
+Knife in hand, I softly clambered down the south side of the rock,
+and dropped upon the sand.
+
+The pit lay rather to the north, so that by creeping behind the ridge
+on the south side I could get close up to him unobserved, even should
+he look.  But he was absorbed now in his prize, so that I stole
+noiselessly out across the strip of sand between us until within
+about ten feet of him; then, on hands and knees, I crawled and pulled
+myself to the trench's lip and peered over.
+
+There, below me, within grasp, he sat, his back still turned towards
+me.  The moon was full in front, so that it cast no shadow of me
+across him.  There he sat, and in front of him lay, imbedded in the
+sand, a huge iron chest, bound round with a broad band of iron, and
+secured with an enormous padlock.  On the rusty top I could even
+trace the rudely-cut initials A. T.
+
+I held my breath as he drew from his pocket my grandfather's key and
+inserted it in the lock, after first carefully clearing away the
+sand.  The stubborn lock creaked heavily as at last and with
+difficulty he managed to turn the key.  And still I knelt above him,
+knife in hand.
+
+Then, with a long, shuddering sigh, he lifted and threw back the
+groaning lid.  We both gazed, and as we gazed were well-nigh blinded.
+
+For this is what we saw:--
+
+At first, only a blaze of darting rays that beneath the moon gleamed,
+sparkled and shot out a myriad scintillations of colour--red, violet,
+orange, green and deepest crimson.  Then by degrees I saw that all
+these flashing hues came from one jumbled heap of gems--some large,
+some small, but together in value beyond a king's ransom.
+
+I caught my breath and looked again.  Diamonds, rubies, sapphires,
+amethysts, opals, emeralds, turquoises, and innumerable other stones
+lay thus roughly heaped together and glittering as though for joy to
+see the light of heaven once more.  Some polished, some uncut, some
+strung on necklaces and chains, others gleaming in rings and
+bracelets and barbaric ornaments; there they lay--wealth beyond the
+hope of man, the dreams of princes.
+
+The chest measured some five feet by three, and these jewels
+evidently lay in a kind of sunken drawer, or tray, of iron.  In the
+corner of this was a small space of about four inches square, covered
+with an iron lid.  As we gazed with straining eyes, Colliver drew one
+more long sigh of satisfied avarice, and lifted this smaller lid.
+
+Instantly a full rich flood of crimson light welled up, serene and
+glorious, with luminous shafts of splendour, that, as we looked, met
+and concentred in one glowing heart of flame--met in one translucent,
+ineffable depth of purple-red.  Calm and radiant it lay there, as
+though no curse lay in its deep hollows, no passion had ever fed its
+flames with blood; stronger than the centuries, imperishably and
+triumphantly cruel--the Great Ruby of Ceylon!
+
+With a short gasp of delight, Colliver was stretching out his hand
+towards it, when I laid mine heavily on his shoulder, then sprang to
+my feet.  My waiting was over.
+
+He gave one start of uttermost terror, leapt to his feet, and in an
+instant was facing me.  Already his knife was half out of his
+waist-band; already he had taken half a leap forwards, when he saw me
+standing there above him.
+
+Bareheaded I stood in the moonlight, the white ray glittering
+up my knife and lighting up my bared chest and set stern face.
+Bareheaded, with the light breeze fanning my curls, I stood there and
+waited for his leap.  But that leap never came.
+
+One step forward he took and then looked, and looking, staggered back
+with hands thrown up before his face.  Slowly, as he cowered back
+with hands upraised and straining eyeballs, I saw those eyeballs grow
+rigid, freeze and turn to stone, while through his gaping, bloodless
+lips came a hoarse and gasping sound that had neither words nor
+meaning.
+
+Then as I still watched, with murderous purpose on my face, there
+came one awful cry, a scream that startled the gulls from slumber and
+awoke echo after echo along the shore--a scream like no sound in
+earth or heaven--a scream inhuman and appalling.
+
+Then followed silence, and as the last echo died away, he fell.
+
+As he collapsed within the pit, I made a step forward to the brink
+and looked.  He was now upon his hands and knees before the chest,
+bathing his hands in the gleaming heap of gems, catching them up in
+handfuls, and as they ran like sparkling rain through his fingers,
+muttering incoherently to himself and humming wild snatches of song.
+
+"Colliver--Simon Colliver!" I called.
+
+He paid no attention, but went on tossing up the diamonds and rubies
+in his hands and watching them as they rattled down again upon the
+heap.
+
+"Simon Colliver!"
+
+I leapt down into the pit beside him, and laid my hand upon his
+shoulder.  He paused for a moment, and looked up with a vacant gleam
+in his deep eyes.
+
+"Colliver, I have to speak a word with you."
+
+"Oh, yes, I know you.  Trenoweth, of course: Ezekiel Trenoweth come
+back again after the treasure.  But you are too late, too late, too
+late!  You are dead now--ha, ha! dead and rotting.
+
+    "For his glittering eyes are the salt sea's prize,
+        And his fingers clutch the sand, my lads.
+
+"Aha! his fingers clutch the sand.  Here's pretty sand for you! sand
+of all colours; look, look, there's a brave sparkle!"  And again he
+ran the priceless shower through his fingers.
+
+"Oh, yes," he continued after a moment, looking up, "oh, yes, I know
+you--Ezekiel Trenoweth, of course; or is it Amos, or Jasper?
+No matter, you are all dead.  I killed the last of you last year--no,
+last night; all dead.
+
+    "And the devil has got his due, my lads!
+
+"His due, his due!  Look at it! look again! I had a skull just now.
+John Railton's skull, no eyes in it though,
+
+    "For his glittering eyes are the salt sea's--
+
+"Where is the skull?  Let me fit it with a bonny pair of eyes here--
+here they are, or here, look, here's a pair that change colour when
+they move.  Where is the skull?  Give it me.  Oh, I forgot, I lost
+it.  Never mind, find it, find it.  Here's plenty of eyes when you
+find it.  Or give it this big, red one.  Here's a flaming, fiery
+eye!"
+
+As he stretched out his hand over the Great Ruby, I caught him by the
+wrist.  But he was too quick for me, and with a sharp snarl and click
+of his teeth, had whipped his hand round to his back.
+
+Then in a flash, as I grappled with him, he thrust me back with his
+left palm, and, with a sweep of his right, hurled the great jewel far
+out into the sea.  I saw it rise and curve in one long, sparkling
+arch of flame, then fall with a dropping line of fire down into the
+billows.  A splash--a jet of light, and it was gone:--gone perhaps to
+hide amid the rotting timbers of what was once the _Belle Fortune_,
+or among the bones of her drowned crew to watch with its blood-red
+tireless eye the extremity of its handiwork.  There, for aught I
+know, it lies to-day, and there, for aught I care, beneath the waters
+it shall treasure its infernal loveliness for ever.
+
+Into its red heart I have looked once, and this was what I read:--of
+treachery, lust and rapine; of battle and murder and sudden death; of
+midnight outcries, and poison in the guest-cup; of a curse that said,
+"Even as the Heart of the Ruby is Blood and its Eyes a Flaming Fire,
+so shall it be for them that would possess it: Fire shall be their
+portion, and Blood their inheritance for ever."  Of that quest and
+that curse we were the two survivors.  And what were we, that night,
+as we stood upon the sands with that last hellish glitter still
+dancing in our eyes?  The one, a lonely and broken man; the other--
+
+I turned to look at Colliver.  He was huddled against the pit's side,
+with his dark eyes gazing wistfully up at me.  In their shining
+depths there lurked no more sanity than in the heart of the Great
+Ruby.  As I looked, I knew him to be a hopeless madman, and knew also
+that my revenge had slipped from me for ever.
+
+We were still standing so when a soft wave came stealing up the beach
+and flung the lip of its foam over the pit's edge into the chest.
+I turned round.  The tide was rising fast, and in a minute or so
+would be upon us.  Catching Colliver by the shoulder, I pointed and
+tried to make him understand; but the maniac had again fallen to
+playing with the jewels.  I shook him; he did not stir, only sat
+there jabbering and singing.  And now wave after wave came splashing
+over us, soaking us through, and hissing in phosphorescent pools
+among the gems.
+
+There was no time to be lost.  I tore the madman back, stamped down
+the lid, locked it, and took out the key; then caught Colliver in my
+arms and heaved him bodily out of the trench.  Jumping out beside
+him, I caught up the spade and shovelled back the wet sand as fast as
+I could, until the tide drove us back.  Colliver stood quite tamely
+beside me all this while and watched the treasure disappearing from
+his view; only every now and then he would chatter a few wild words,
+and with that break off again in vacant wonder at my work.
+
+When all was done that could be, I took my companion's hand, led him
+up the sands beyond high-water mark, and then sat down beside him,
+waiting for the dawn.
+
+And there, next morning, by Dead Man's Rock they found us, while
+across the beach came the faint music of Polkimbra bells as they rang
+their Christmas peal, "Peace on earth and goodwill toward men."
+
+
+There is little more to tell.  Next day, at low ebb, with the aid of
+Joe Roscorla  (still hale and hearty) and a few Polkimbra fishermen
+whom I knew, the rest of my grandfather's treasure was secured and
+carried up from the sea.  In the iron chest, besides the gems already
+spoken of, and beneath the iron tray containing them, was a
+prodigious quantity of gold and silver, partly in ingots, partly in
+coinage.  This last was of all nationalities: moidores, dollars,
+rupees, doubloons, guineas, crown-pieces, louis, besides an amount of
+coins which I could not trace, the whole proving a most catholic
+taste in buccaneering.  So much did it all weigh, that we found it
+impossible to stir the chest as it stood, and therefore secured the
+prize piecemeal.  Strangest of all, however, was a folded parchment
+which, we discovered beneath the tray of gems and above the coins.
+It contained but few words, which ran as follows--
+
+     FAIR FORTUNE WRECKED, FAIR FORTUNE FOUND,
+     AND ALL BUT THE FINDER UNDERGROUND.--A.T.
+
+This, as, far as I know, was my grandfather's one and only attempt at
+verse; and its apparent application to the wreck of the _Belle
+Fortune_ is a coincidence which puzzles me to this day.
+
+The reader will search the chronicles of wrecks in vain for the story
+of that ill-fated ship.  But if he comes upon the record of a certain
+vessel, the _James and Elizabeth_, wrecked upon the Cornish coast on
+the night of October 11th, 1849, he may know it to be the same.
+For that was the name given by the only survivor, one Georgio
+Rhodojani, a Greek sailor, and as the _James and Elizabeth_ she
+stands entered to this day.
+
+If, however, his curiosity lead him further to inquire into the
+after-history of this same Georgio Rhodojani, let him go on a fine
+summer day to the County Lunatic Asylum at Bodmin, and, with
+permission, enter the grounds set apart for private patients.
+There he may chance to see a strange sight.
+
+On a garden seat against the sunny wall sit two persons--a man and a
+woman.  The man is decrepit and worn, being apparently about
+sixty-seven or eight years old; but the woman, as the keepers will
+tell, is ninety.  She is his mother, and as they sit together, she
+feeds him with sweets and fruit as tenderly as though he were a
+child.  He takes them, but never notices her, and when he has had
+enough, rises abruptly and walks away humming a song which runs--
+
+    "So it's hey! for the homeward bound, my lads!
+        And ho! for the drunken crew,
+     For his mess-mates round lie dead and drowned,
+     And the devil has got his due, my lads--
+        Sing ho! but he waits for you!"
+
+This is his only song now, and he will walk round the gravel paths by
+the hour, singing it softly and muttering.  Sometimes, however, he
+will sit for long beside his mother and let her pat his hand.
+They never speak.
+
+Folks say that she is as mad as her son, but she lodges in the town
+outside the walls and comes to see him every day.  Certainly she is
+as remarkable to look upon, for her skin is of a brilliant and
+startling yellow, and her withered hands are loaded with diamonds.
+As you pass, she will stare at you with eyes absolutely passionless
+and vague; but see them as she sighs and turns to go, see them as she
+watches for a responsive touch of love on her son's face, and you may
+find some meaning in them then.
+
+Mrs. Luttrell was never seen again from the hour when she stood below
+the river steps and waved her white arms to me, crying "Kill him!
+kill him!"  I made every inquiry but could learn nothing, save that
+my boat had been found floating below Gravesend, quite empty.
+She can scarcely be alive, so that is yet one soul more added to the
+account of the Great Ruby.
+
+Failing to find her mother, I had Claire's body conveyed to
+Polkimbra.  She lies buried beside my father and mother in the
+little churchyard there.  Above her head stands a white stone with
+the simple words, "In memory of C. L., died Dec. 23rd, 1863.
+'Love is strong as death.'"
+
+The folk at Polkimbra have many a fable about this grave, but if
+pressed will shake their heads sagely and refer you to "Master
+Trenoweth up yonder at Lantrig.  Folks say she was a play-actor and
+he loved her.  Anyway you may see him up in the churchyard most days,
+but dont'ee go nigh him then, unless you baint afeard of th'evil
+eye."
+
+And I?  After the treasure was divided with Government, I still had
+for my share what I suppose would be called a considerable fortune.
+The only use to which I put it, however, was to buy back Lantrig, the
+home of a stock that will die out with me.  There again from the
+middle beam in the front parlour hangs my grandfather's key, covered
+with cobwebs as thickly as on the day when my father went forth to
+seek the treasure.  There I live a solitary life--an old man, though
+scarcely yet past middle age.  For all my hopes are buried in the
+grave where sleeps my lost love, and my soul shall lie for ever under
+the curse, engulfed and hidden as deeply as the Great Ruby beneath
+the shadow of Dead Man's Rock.
+
+
+
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