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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1831.txt b/1831.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e2c545 --- /dev/null +++ b/1831.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14067 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext The Lock and Key Library, Hawthorne, Ed. + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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It can be found +in 3ghst10.txt or 3ghst10.zip, 1998, "Three Ghost Stories by +Charles Dickens." + + + + + +The Lock and Key Library + +Classic Mystery and Detective Stories - Old Time English + +Edited by Julian Hawthorne + + + + +Table of Contents + + +CHARLES DICKENS (1812-70) + +The Haunted House +No. I Branch Line: The Signal Man + + +BULWER-LYTTON (1803-73) + +The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain +The Incantation + + +THOMAS DE QUINCEY (1785-1859) + +The Avenger + + +CHARLES ROBERT MATURIN (1782-1824) + +Melmoth the Wanderer + + +LAURENCE STERNE (1713-68) + +A Mystery with a Moral + + +WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811-63) + +On Being Found Out +The Notch on the Ax + + +ANONYMOUS + +Bourgonef +The Closed Cabinet + + + + +THE HAUNTED HOUSE + +IN TWO CHAPTERS + + +THE MORTALS IN THE HOUSE + + +Under none of the accredited ghostly circumstances, and environed +by none of the conventional ghostly surroundings, did I first make +acquaintance with the house which is the subject of this Christmas +piece. I saw it in the daylight, with the sun upon it. There was +no wind, no rain, no lightning, no thunder, no awful or unwonted +circumstance, of any kind, to heighten its effect. More than that: +I had come to it direct from a railway station: it was not more +than a mile distant from the railway station; and, as I stood +outside the house, looking back upon the way I had come, I could +see the goods train running smoothly along the embankment in the +valley. I will not say that everything was utterly commonplace, +because I doubt if anything can be that, except to utterly +commonplace people--and there my vanity steps in; but, I will take +it on myself to say that anybody might see the house as I saw it, +any fine autumn morning. + +The manner of my lighting on it was this. + +I was travelling towards London out of the North, intending to stop +by the way, to look at the house. My health required a temporary +residence in the country; and a friend of mine who knew that, and +who had happened to drive past the house, had written to me to +suggest it as a likely place. I had got into the train at +midnight, and had fallen asleep, and had woke up and had sat +looking out of window at the brilliant Northern Lights in the sky, +and had fallen asleep again, and had woke up again to find the +night gone, with the usual discontented conviction on me that I +hadn't been to sleep at all;--upon which question, in the first +imbecility of that condition, I am ashamed to believe that I would +have done wager by battle with the man who sat opposite me. That +opposite man had had, through the night--as that opposite man +always has--several legs too many, and all of them too long. In +addition to this unreasonable conduct (which was only to be +expected of him), he had had a pencil and a pocket-book, and had +been perpetually listening and taking notes. It had appeared to me +that these aggravating notes related to the jolts and bumps of the +carriage, and I should have resigned myself to his taking them, +under a general supposition that he was in the civil-engineering +way of life, if he had not sat staring straight over my head +whenever he listened. He was a goggle-eyed gentleman of a +perplexed aspect, and his demeanor became unbearable. + +It was a cold, dead morning (the sun not being up yet), and when I +had out-watched the paling light of the fires of the iron country, +and the curtain of heavy smoke that hung at once between me and the +stars and between me and the day, I turned to my fellow-traveller +and said: + +"I BEG your pardon, sir, but do you observe anything particular in +me?" For, really, he appeared to be taking down, either my +travelling-cap or my hair, with a minuteness that was a liberty. + +The goggle-eyed gentleman withdrew his eyes from behind me, as if +the back of the carriage were a hundred miles off, and said, with a +lofty look of compassion for my insignificance: + +"In you, sir?--B." + +"B, sir?" said I, growing warm. + +"I have nothing to do with you, sir," returned the gentleman; "pray +let me listen--O." + +He enunciated this vowel after a pause, and noted it down. + +At first I was alarmed, for an Express lunatic and no communication +with the guard, is a serious position. The thought came to my +relief that the gentleman might be what is popularly called a +Rapper: one of a sect for (some of) whom I have the highest +respect, but whom I don't believe in. I was going to ask him the +question, when he took the bread out of my mouth. + +"You will excuse me," said the gentleman contemptuously, "if I am +too much in advance of common humanity to trouble myself at all +about it. I have passed the night--as indeed I pass the whole of +my time now--in spiritual intercourse." + +"O!" said I, somewhat snappishly. + +"The conferences of the night began," continued the gentleman, +turning several leaves of his note-book, "with this message: 'Evil +communications corrupt good manners.'" + +"Sound," said I; "but, absolutely new?" + +"New from spirits," returned the gentleman. + +I could only repeat my rather snappish "O!" and ask if I might be +favored with the last communication. + +"'A bird in the hand,'" said the gentleman, reading his last entry +with great solemnity, "'is worth two in the Bosh.'" + +"Truly I am of the same opinion," said I; "but shouldn't it be +Bush?" + +"It came to me, Bosh," returned the gentleman. + +The gentleman then informed me that the spirit of Socrates had +delivered this special revelation in the course of the night. "My +friend, I hope you are pretty well. There are two in this railway +carriage. How do you do? There are seventeen thousand four +hundred and seventy-nine spirits here, but you cannot see them. +Pythagoras is here. He is not at liberty to mention it, but hopes +you like travelling." Galileo likewise had dropped in, with this +scientific intelligence. "I am glad to see you, amico. Come sta? +Water will freeze when it is cold enough. Addio!" In the course +of the night, also, the following phenomena had occurred. Bishop +Butler had insisted on spelling his name, "Bubler," for which +offence against orthography and good manners he had been dismissed +as out of temper. John Milton (suspected of wilful mystification) +had repudiated the authorship of Paradise Lost, and had introduced, +as joint authors of that poem, two Unknown gentlemen, respectively +named Grungers and Scadgingtone. And Prince Arthur, nephew of King +John of England, had described himself as tolerably comfortable in +the seventh circle, where he was learning to paint on velvet, under +the direction of Mrs. Trimmer and Mary Queen of Scots. + +If this should meet the eye of the gentleman who favored me with +these disclosures, I trust he will excuse my confessing that the +sight of the rising sun, and the contemplation of the magnificent +Order of the vast Universe, made me impatient of them. In a word, +I was so impatient of them, that I was mightily glad to get out at +the next station, and to exchange these clouds and vapors for the +free air of Heaven. + +By that time it was a beautiful morning. As I walked away among +such leaves as had already fallen from the golden, brown, and +russet trees; and as I looked around me on the wonders of Creation, +and thought of the steady, unchanging, and harmonious laws by which +they are sustained; the gentleman's spiritual intercourse seemed to +me as poor a piece of journey-work as ever this world saw. In +which heathen state of mind, I came within view of the house, and +stopped to examine it attentively. + +It was a solitary house, standing in a sadly neglected garden: a +pretty even square of some two acres. It was a house of about the +time of George the Second; as stiff, as cold, as formal, and in as +bad taste, as could possibly be desired by the most loyal admirer +of the whole quartet of Georges. It was uninhabited, but had, +within a year or two, been cheaply repaired to render it habitable; +I say cheaply, because the work had been done in a surface manner, +and was already decaying as to the paint and plaster, though the +colors were fresh. A lop-sided board drooped over the garden wall, +announcing that it was "to let on very reasonable terms, well +furnished." It was much too closely and heavily shadowed by trees, +and, in particular, there were six tall poplars before the front +windows, which were excessively melancholy, and the site of which +had been extremely ill chosen. + +It was easy to see that it was an avoided house--a house that was +shunned by the village, to which my eye was guided by a church +spire some half a mile off--a house that nobody would take. And +the natural inference was, that it had the reputation of being a +haunted house. + +No period within the four-and-twenty hours of day and night is so +solemn to me, as the early morning. In the summer-time, I often +rise very early, and repair to my room to do a day's work before +breakfast, and I am always on those occasions deeply impressed by +the stillness and solitude around me. Besides that there is +something awful in the being surrounded by familiar faces asleep-- +in the knowledge that those who are dearest to us and to whom we +are dearest, are profoundly unconscious of us, in an impassive +state, anticipative of that mysterious condition to which we are +all tending--the stopped life, the broken threads of yesterday, the +deserted seat, the closed book, the unfinished but abandoned +occupation, all are images of Death. The tranquillity of the hour +is the tranquillity of Death. The color and the chill have the +same association. Even a certain air that familiar household +objects take upon them when they first emerge from the shadows of +the night into the morning, of being newer, and as they used to be +long ago, has its counterpart in the subsidence of the worn face of +maturity or age, in death, into the old youthful look. Moreover, I +once saw the apparition of my father, at this hour. He was alive +and well, and nothing ever came of it, but I saw him in the +daylight, sitting with his back towards me, on a seat that stood +beside my bed. His head was resting on his hand, and whether he +was slumbering or grieving, I could not discern. Amazed to see him +there, I sat up, moved my position, leaned out of bed, and watched +him. As he did not move, I spoke to him more than once. As he did +not move then, I became alarmed and laid my hand upon his shoulder, +as I thought--and there was no such thing. + +For all these reasons, and for others less easily and briefly +statable, I find the early morning to be my most ghostly time. Any +house would be more or less haunted, to me, in the early morning; +and a haunted house could scarcely address me to greater advantage +than then. + +I walked on into the village, with the desertion of this house upon +my mind, and I found the landlord of the little inn, sanding his +door-step. I bespoke breakfast, and broached the subject of the +house. + +"Is it haunted?" I asked. + +The landlord looked at me, shook his head, and answered, "I say +nothing." + +"Then it IS haunted?" + +"Well!" cried the landlord, in an outburst of frankness that had +the appearance of desperation--"I wouldn't sleep in it." + +"Why not?" + +"If I wanted to have all the bells in a house ring, with nobody to +ring 'em; and all the doors in a house bang, with nobody to bang +'em; and all sorts of feet treading about, with no feet there; why, +then," said the landlord, "I'd sleep in that house." + +"Is anything seen there?" + +The landlord looked at me again, and then, with his former +appearance of desperation, called down his stable-yard for "Ikey!" + +The call produced a high-shouldered young fellow, with a round red +face, a short crop of sandy hair, a very broad humorous mouth, a +turned-up nose, and a great sleeved waistcoat of purple bars, with +mother-of-pearl buttons, that seemed to be growing upon him, and to +be in a fair way--if it were not pruned--of covering his head and +overrunning his boots. + +"This gentleman wants to know," said the landlord, "if anything's +seen at the Poplars." + +"'Ooded woman with a howl," said Ikey, in a state of great +freshness. + +"Do you mean a cry?" + +"I mean a bird, sir." + +"A hooded woman with an owl. Dear me! Did you ever see her?" + +"I seen the howl." + +"Never the woman?" + +"Not so plain as the howl, but they always keeps together." + +"Has anybody ever seen the woman as plainly as the owl?" + +"Lord bless you, sir! Lots." + +"Who?" + +"Lord bless you, sir! Lots." + +"The general-dealer opposite, for instance, who is opening his +shop?" + +"Perkins? Bless you, Perkins wouldn't go a-nigh the place. No!" +observed the young man, with considerable feeling; "he an't +overwise, an't Perkins, but he an't such a fool as THAT." + +(Here, the landlord murmured his confidence in Perkins's knowing +better.) + +"Who is--or who was--the hooded woman with the owl? Do you know?" + +"Well!" said Ikey, holding up his cap with one hand while he +scratched his head with the other, "they say, in general, that she +was murdered, and the howl he 'ooted the while." + +This very concise summary of the facts was all I could learn, +except that a young man, as hearty and likely a young man as ever I +see, had been took with fits and held down in 'em, after seeing the +hooded woman. Also, that a personage, dimly described as "a hold +chap, a sort of one-eyed tramp, answering to the name of Joby, +unless you challenged him as Greenwood, and then he said, 'Why not? +and even if so, mind your own business,'" had encountered the +hooded woman, a matter of five or six times. But, I was not +materially assisted by these witnesses: inasmuch as the first was +in California, and the last was, as Ikey said (and he was confirmed +by the landlord), Anywheres. + +Now, although I regard with a hushed and solemn fear, the +mysteries, between which and this state of existence is interposed +the barrier of the great trial and change that fall on all the +things that live; and although I have not the audacity to pretend +that I know anything of them; I can no more reconcile the mere +banging of doors, ringing of bells, creaking of boards, and such- +like insignificances, with the majestic beauty and pervading +analogy of all the Divine rules that I am permitted to understand, +than I had been able, a little while before, to yoke the spiritual +intercourse of my fellow- traveller to the chariot of the rising +sun. Moreover, I had lived in two haunted houses--both abroad. In +one of these, an old Italian palace, which bore the reputation of +being very badly haunted indeed, and which had recently been twice +abandoned on that account, I lived eight months, most tranquilly +and pleasantly: notwithstanding that the house had a score of +mysterious bedrooms, which were never used, and possessed, in one +large room in which I sat reading, times out of number at all +hours, and next to which I slept, a haunted chamber of the first +pretensions. I gently hinted these considerations to the landlord. +And as to this particular house having a bad name, I reasoned with +him, Why, how many things had bad names undeservedly, and how easy +it was to give bad names, and did he not think that if he and I +were persistently to whisper in the village that any weird-looking +old drunken tinker of the neighborhood had sold himself to the +Devil, he would come in time to be suspected of that commercial +venture! All this wise talk was perfectly ineffective with the +landlord, I am bound to confess, and was as dead a failure as ever +I made in my life. + +To cut this part of the story short, I was piqued about the haunted +house, and was already half resolved to take it. So, after +breakfast, I got the keys from Perkins's brother-in-law (a whip and +harness maker, who keeps the Post Office, and is under submission +to a most rigorous wife of the Doubly Seceding Little Emmanuel +persuasion), and went up to the house, attended by my landlord and +by Ikey. + +Within, I found it, as I had expected, transcendently dismal. The +slowly changing shadows waved on it from the heavy trees, were +doleful in the last degree; the house was ill-placed, ill-built, +ill-planned, and ill-fitted. It was damp, it was not free from dry +rot, there was a flavor of rats in it, and it was the gloomy victim +of that indescribable decay which settles on all the work of man's +hands whenever it's not turned to man's account. The kitchens and +offices were too large, and too remote from each other. Above +stairs and below, waste tracts of passage intervened between +patches of fertility represented by rooms; and there was a mouldy +old well with a green growth upon it, hiding like a murderous trap, +near the bottom of the back-stairs, under the double row of bells. +One of these bells was labelled, on a black ground in faded white +letters, MASTER B. This, they told me, was the bell that rang the +most. + +"Who was Master B.?" I asked. "Is it known what he did while the +owl hooted?" + +"Rang the bell," said Ikey. + +I was rather struck by the prompt dexterity with which this young +man pitched his fur cap at the bell, and rang it himself. It was a +loud, unpleasant bell, and made a very disagreeable sound. The +other bells were inscribed according to the names of the rooms to +which their wires were conducted: as "Picture Room," "Double Room," +"Clock Room," and the like. Following Master B.'s bell to its +source I found that young gentleman to have had but indifferent +third-class accommodation in a triangular cabin under the cock- +loft, with a corner fireplace which Master B. must have been +exceedingly small if he were ever able to warm himself at, and a +corner chimney-piece like a pyramidal staircase to the ceiling for +Tom Thumb. The papering of one side of the room had dropped down +bodily, with fragments of plaster adhering to it, and almost +blocked up the door. It appeared that Master B., in his spiritual +condition, always made a point of pulling the paper down. Neither +the landlord nor Ikey could suggest why he made such a fool of +himself. + +Except that the house had an immensely large rambling loft at top, +I made no other discoveries. It was moderately well furnished, but +sparely. Some of the furniture--say, a third--was as old as the +house; the rest was of various periods within the last half- +century. I was referred to a corn-chandler in the market-place of +the county town to treat for the house. I went that day, and I +took it for six months. + +It was just the middle of October when I moved in with my maiden +sister (I venture to call her eight-and-thirty, she is so very +handsome, sensible, and engaging). We took with us, a deaf stable- +man, my bloodhound Turk, two women servants, and a young person +called an Odd Girl. I have reason to record of the attendant last +enumerated, who was one of the Saint Lawrence's Union Female +Orphans, that she was a fatal mistake and a disastrous engagement. + +The year was dying early, the leaves were falling fast, it was a +raw cold day when we took possession, and the gloom of the house +was most depressing. The cook (an amiable woman, but of a weak +turn of intellect) burst into tears on beholding the kitchen, and +requested that her silver watch might be delivered over to her +sister (2 Tuppintock's Gardens, Liggs's Walk, Clapham Rise), in the +event of anything happening to her from the damp. Streaker, the +housemaid, feigned cheerfulness, but was the greater martyr. The +Odd Girl, who had never been in the country, alone was pleased, and +made arrangements for sowing an acorn in the garden outside the +scullery window, and rearing an oak. + +We went, before dark, through all the natural--as opposed to +supernatural--miseries incidental to our state. Dispiriting +reports ascended (like the smoke) from the basement in volumes, and +descended from the upper rooms. There was no rolling-pin, there +was no salamander (which failed to surprise me, for I don't know +what it is), there was nothing in the house; what there was, was +broken, the last people must have lived like pigs, what could the +meaning of the landlord be? Through these distresses, the Odd Girl +was cheerful and exemplary. But within four hours after dark we +had got into a supernatural groove, and the Odd Girl had seen +"Eyes," and was in hysterics. + +My sister and I had agreed to keep the haunting strictly to +ourselves, and my impression was, and still is, that I had not left +Ikey, when he helped to unload the cart, alone with the women, or +any one of them, for one minute. Nevertheless, as I say, the Odd +Girl had "seen Eyes" (no other explanation could ever be drawn from +her), before nine, and by ten o'clock had had as much vinegar +applied to her as would pickle a handsome salmon. + +I leave a discerning public to judge of my feelings, when, under +these untoward circumstances, at about half-past ten o'clock Master +B.'s bell began to ring in a most infuriated manner, and Turk +howled until the house resounded with his lamentations! + +I hope I may never again be in a state of mind so unchristian as +the mental frame in which I lived for some weeks, respecting the +memory of Master B. Whether his bell was rung by rats, or mice, or +bats, or wind, or what other accidental vibration, or sometimes by +one cause, sometimes another, and sometimes by collusion, I don't +know; but, certain it is, that it did ring two nights out of three, +until I conceived the happy idea of twisting Master B.'s neck--in +other words, breaking his bell short off--and silencing that young +gentleman, as to my experience and belief, for ever. + +But, by that time, the Odd Girl had developed such improving powers +of catalepsy, that she had become a shining example of that very +inconvenient disorder. She would stiffen, like a Guy Fawkes +endowed with unreason, on the most irrelevant occasions. I would +address the servants in a lucid manner, pointing out to them that I +had painted Master B.'s room and balked the paper, and taken Master +B.'s bell away and balked the ringing, and if they could suppose +that that confounded boy had lived and died, to clothe himself with +no better behavior than would most unquestionably have brought him +and the sharpest particles of a birch-broom into close acquaintance +in the present imperfect state of existence, could they also +suppose a mere poor human being, such as I was, capable by those +contemptible means of counteracting and limiting the powers of the +disembodied spirits of the dead, or of any spirits?--I say I would +become emphatic and cogent, not to say rather complacent, in such +an address, when it would all go for nothing by reason of the Odd +Girl's suddenly stiffening from the toes upward, and glaring among +us like a parochial petrifaction. + +Streaker, the housemaid, too, had an attribute of a most +discomfiting nature. I am unable to say whether she was of an +usually lymphatic temperament, or what else was the matter with +her, but this young woman became a mere Distillery for the +production of the largest and most transparent tears I ever met +with. Combined with these characteristics, was a peculiar tenacity +of hold in those specimens, so that they didn't fall, but hung upon +her face and nose. In this condition, and mildly and deplorably +shaking her head, her silence would throw me more heavily than the +Admirable Crichton could have done in a verbal disputation for a +purse of money. Cook, likewise, always covered me with confusion +as with a garment, by neatly winding up the session with the +protest that the Ouse was wearing her out, and by meekly repeating +her last wishes regarding her silver watch. + +As to our nightly life, the contagion of suspicion and fear was +among us, and there is no such contagion under the sky. Hooded +woman? According to the accounts, we were in a perfect Convent of +hooded women. Noises? With that contagion downstairs, I myself +have sat in the dismal parlor, listening, until I have heard so +many and such strange noises, that they would have chilled my blood +if I had not warmed it by dashing out to make discoveries. Try +this in bed, in the dead of the night: try this at your own +comfortable fire-side, in the life of the night. You can fill any +house with noises, if you will, until you have a noise for every +nerve in your nervous system. + +I repeat; the contagion of suspicion and fear was among us, and +there is no such contagion under the sky. The women (their noses +in a chronic state of excoriation from smelling-salts) were always +primed and loaded for a swoon, and ready to go off with hair- +triggers. The two elder detached the Odd Girl on all expeditions +that were considered doubly hazardous, and she always established +the reputation of such adventures by coming back cataleptic. If +Cook or Streaker went overhead after dark, we knew we should +presently hear a bump on the ceiling; and this took place so +constantly, that it was as if a fighting man were engaged to go +about the house, administering a touch of his art which I believe +is called The Auctioneer, to every domestic he met with. + +It was in vain to do anything. It was in vain to be frightened, +for the moment in one's own person, by a real owl, and then to show +the owl. It was in vain to discover, by striking an accidental +discord on the piano, that Turk always howled at particular notes +and combinations. It was in vain to be a Rhadamanthus with the +bells, and if an unfortunate bell rang without leave, to have it +down inexorably and silence it. It was in vain to fire up +chimneys, let torches down the well, charge furiously into +suspected rooms and recesses. We changed servants, and it was no +better. The new set ran away, and a third set came, and it was no +better. At last, our comfortable housekeeping got to be so +disorganised and wretched, that I one night dejectedly said to my +sister: "Patty, I begin to despair of our getting people to go on +with us here, and I think we must give this up." + +My sister, who is a woman of immense spirit, replied, "No, John, +don't give it up. Don't be beaten, John. There is another way." + +"And what is that?" said I. + +"John," returned my sister, "if we are not to be driven out of this +house, and that for no reason whatever, that is apparent to you or +me, we must help ourselves and take the house wholly and solely +into our own hands." + +"But, the servants," said I. + +"Have no servants," said my sister, boldly. + +Like most people in my grade of life, I had never thought of the +possibility of going on without those faithful obstructions. The +notion was so new to me when suggested, that I looked very +doubtful. + +"We know they come here to be frightened and infect one another, +and we know they are frightened and do infect one another," said my +sister. + +"With the exception of Bottles," I observed, in a meditative tone. + +(The deaf stable-man. I kept him in my service, and still keep +him, as a phenomenon of moroseness not to be matched in England.) + +"To be sure, John," assented my sister; "except Bottles. And what +does that go to prove? Bottles talks to nobody, and hears nobody +unless he is absolutely roared at, and what alarm has Bottles ever +given, or taken? None." + +This was perfectly true; the individual in question having retired, +every night at ten o'clock, to his bed over the coach-house, with +no other company than a pitchfork and a pail of water. That the +pail of water would have been over me, and the pitchfork through +me, if I had put myself without announcement in Bottles's way after +that minute, I had deposited in my own mind as a fact worth +remembering. Neither had Bottles ever taken the least notice of +any of our many uproars. An imperturbable and speechless man, he +had sat at his supper, with Streaker present in a swoon, and the +Odd Girl marble, and had only put another potato in his cheek, or +profited by the general misery to help himself to beefsteak pie. + +"And so," continued my sister, "I exempt Bottles. And considering, +John, that the house is too large, and perhaps too lonely, to be +kept well in hand by Bottles, you, and me, I propose that we cast +about among our friends for a certain selected number of the most +reliable and willing--form a Society here for three months--wait +upon ourselves and one another--live cheerfully and socially--and +see what happens." + +I was so charmed with my sister, that I embraced her on the spot, +and went into her plan with the greatest ardor. + +We were then in the third week of November; but, we took our +measures so vigorously, and were so well seconded by the friends in +whom we confided, that there was still a week of the month +unexpired, when our party all came down together merrily, and +mustered in the haunted house. + +I will mention, in this place, two small changes that I made while +my sister and I were yet alone. It occurring to me as not +improbable that Turk howled in the house at night, partly because +he wanted to get out of it, I stationed him in his kennel outside, +but unchained; and I seriously warned the village that any man who +came in his way must not expect to leave him without a rip in his +own throat. I then casually asked Ikey if he were a judge of a +gun? On his saying, "Yes, sir, I knows a good gun when I sees +her," I begged the favor of his stepping up to the house and +looking at mine. + +"SHE'S a true one, sir," said Ikey, after inspecting a double- +barrelled rifle that I bought in New York a few years ago. "No +mistake about HER, sir." + +"Ikey," said I, "don't mention it; I have seen something in this +house." + +"No, sir?" he whispered, greedily opening his eyes. "'Ooded lady, +sir?" + +"Don't be frightened," said I. "It was a figure rather like you." + +"Lord, sir?" + +"Ikey!" said I, shaking hands with him warmly, I may say +affectionately; "if there is any truth in these ghost-stories, the +greatest service I can do you, is, to fire at that figure. And I +promise you, by Heaven and earth, I will do it with this gun if I +see it again!" + +The young man thanked me, and took his leave with some little +precipitation, after declining a glass of liquor. I imparted my +secret to him, because I had never quite forgotten his throwing his +cap at the bell; because I had, on another occasion, noticed +something very like a fur cap, lying not far from the bell, one +night when it had burst out ringing; and because I had remarked +that we were at our ghostliest whenever he came up in the evening +to comfort the servants. Let me do Ikey no injustice. He was +afraid of the house, and believed in its being haunted; and yet he +would play false on the haunting side, so surely as he got an +opportunity. The Odd Girl's case was exactly similar. She went +about the house in a state of real terror, and yet lied monstrously +and wilfully, and invented many of the alarms she spread, and made +many of the sounds we heard. I had had my eye on the two, and I +know it. It is not necessary for me, here, to account for this +preposterous state of mind; I content myself with remarking that it +is familiarly known to every intelligent man who has had fair +medical, legal, or other watchful experience; that it is as well +established and as common a state of mind as any with which +observers are acquainted; and that it is one of the first elements, +above all others, rationally to be suspected in, and strictly +looked for, and separated from, any question of this kind. + +To return to our party. The first thing we did when we were all +assembled, was, to draw lots for bedrooms. That done, and every +bedroom, and, indeed, the whole house, having been minutely +examined by the whole body, we allotted the various household +duties, as if we had been on a gipsy party, or a yachting party, or +a hunting party, or were shipwrecked. I then recounted the +floating rumors concerning the hooded lady, the owl, and Master B.: +with others, still more filmy, which had floated about during our +occupation, relative to some ridiculous old ghost of the female +gender who went up and down, carrying the ghost of a round table; +and also to an impalpable Jackass, whom nobody was ever able to +catch. Some of these ideas I really believe our people below had +communicated to one another in some diseased way, without conveying +them in words. We then gravely called one another to witness, that +we were not there to be deceived, or to deceive--which we +considered pretty much the same thing--and that, with a serious +sense of responsibility, we would be strictly true to one another, +and would strictly follow out the truth. The understanding was +established, that any one who heard unusual noises in the night, +and who wished to trace them, should knock at my door; lastly, that +on Twelfth Night, the last night of holy Christmas, all our +individual experiences since that then present hour of our coming +together in the haunted house, should be brought to light for the +good of all; and that we would hold our peace on the subject till +then, unless on some remarkable provocation to break silence. + +We were, in number and in character, as follows: + +First--to get my sister and myself out of the way--there were we +two. In the drawing of lots, my sister drew her own room, and I +drew Master B.'s. Next, there was our first cousin John Herschel, +so called after the great astronomer: than whom I suppose a better +man at a telescope does not breathe. With him, was his wife: a +charming creature to whom he had been married in the previous +spring. I thought it (under the circumstances) rather imprudent to +bring her, because there is no knowing what even a false alarm may +do at such a time; but I suppose he knew his own business best, and +I must say that if she had been MY wife, I never could have left +her endearing and bright face behind. They drew the Clock Room. +Alfred Starling, an uncommonly agreeable young fellow of eight-and- +twenty for whom I have the greatest liking, was in the Double Room; +mine, usually, and designated by that name from having a dressing- +room within it, with two large and cumbersome windows, which no +wedges I was ever able to make, would keep from shaking, in any +weather, wind or no wind. Alfred is a young fellow who pretends to +be "fast" (another word for loose, as I understand the term), but +who is much too good and sensible for that nonsense, and who would +have distinguished himself before now, if his father had not +unfortunately left him a small independence of two hundred a year, +on the strength of which his only occupation in life has been to +spend six. I am in hopes, however, that his Banker may break, or +that he may enter into some speculation guaranteed to pay twenty +per cent.; for, I am convinced that if he could only be ruined, his +fortune is made. Belinda Bates, bosom friend of my sister, and a +most intellectual, amiable, and delightful girl, got the Picture +Room. She has a fine genius for poetry, combined with real +business earnestness, and "goes in"--to use an expression of +Alfred's--for Woman's mission, Woman's rights, Woman's wrongs, and +everything that is woman's with a capital W, or is not and ought to +be, or is and ought not to be. "Most praiseworthy, my dear, and +Heaven prosper you!" I whispered to her on the first night of my +taking leave of her at the Picture-Room door, "but don't overdo it. +And in respect of the great necessity there is, my darling, for +more employments being within the reach of Woman than our +civilisation has as yet assigned to her, don't fly at the +unfortunate men, even those men who are at first sight in your way, +as if they were the natural oppressors of your sex; for, trust me, +Belinda, they do sometimes spend their wages among wives and +daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, and grandmothers; and the play +is, really, not ALL Wolf and Red Riding-Hood, but has other parts +in it." However, I digress. + +Belinda, as I have mentioned, occupied the Picture Room. We had +but three other chambers: the Corner Room, the Cupboard Room, and +the Garden Room. My old friend, Jack Governor, "slung his +hammock," as he called it, in the Corner Room. I have always +regarded Jack as the finest-looking sailor that ever sailed. He is +gray now, but as handsome as he was a quarter of a century ago-- +nay, handsomer. A portly, cheery, well-built figure of a broad- +shouldered man, with a frank smile, a brilliant dark eye, and a +rich dark eyebrow. I remember those under darker hair, and they +look all the better for their silver setting. He has been wherever +his Union namesake flies, has Jack, and I have met old shipmates of +his, away in the Mediterranean and on the other side of the +Atlantic, who have beamed and brightened at the casual mention of +his name, and have cried, "You know Jack Governor? Then you know a +prince of men!" That he is! And so unmistakably a naval officer, +that if you were to meet him coming out of an Esquimaux snow-hut in +seal's skin, you would be vaguely persuaded he was in full naval +uniform. + +Jack once had that bright clear eye of his on my sister; but, it +fell out that he married another lady and took her to South +America, where she died. This was a dozen years ago or more. He +brought down with him to our haunted house a little cask of salt +beef; for, he is always convinced that all salt beef not of his own +pickling, is mere carrion, and invariably, when he goes to London, +packs a piece in his portmanteau. He had also volunteered to bring +with him one "Nat Beaver," an old comrade of his, captain of a +merchantman. Mr. Beaver, with a thick-set wooden face and figure, +and apparently as hard as a block all over, proved to be an +intelligent man, with a world of watery experiences in him, and +great practical knowledge. At times, there was a curious +nervousness about him, apparently the lingering result of some old +illness; but, it seldom lasted many minutes. He got the Cupboard +Room, and lay there next to Mr. Undery, my friend and solicitor: +who came down, in an amateur capacity, "to go through with it," as +he said, and who plays whist better than the whole Law List, from +the red cover at the beginning to the red cover at the end. + +I never was happier in my life, and I believe it was the universal +feeling among us. Jack Governor, always a man of wonderful +resources, was Chief Cook, and made some of the best dishes I ever +ate, including unapproachable curries. My sister was pastry cook +and confectioner. Starling and I were Cook's Mate, turn and turn +about, and on special occasions the chief cook "pressed" Mr. +Beaver. We had a great deal of outdoor sport and exercise, but +nothing was neglected within, and there was no ill-humor or +misunderstanding among us, and our evenings were so delightful that +we had at least one good reason for being reluctant to go to bed. + +We had a few night alarms in the beginning. On the first night, I +was knocked up by Jack with a most wonderful ship's lantern in his +hand, like the gills of some monster of the deep, who informed me +that he "was going aloft to the main truck," to have the +weathercock down. It was a stormy night and I remonstrated; but +Jack called my attention to its making a sound like a cry of +despair, and said somebody would be "hailing a ghost" presently, if +it wasn't done. So, up to the top of the house, where I could +hardly stand for the wind, we went, accompanied by Mr. Beaver; and +there Jack, lantern and all, with Mr. Beaver after him, swarmed up +to the top of a cupola, some two dozen feet above the chimneys, and +stood upon nothing particular, coolly knocking the weathercock off, +until they both got into such good spirits with the wind and the +height, that I thought they would never come down. Another night, +they turned out again, and had a chimney-cowl off. Another night, +they cut a sobbing and gulping water-pipe away. Another night, +they found out something else. On several occasions, they both, in +the coolest manner, simultaneously dropped out of their respective +bedroom windows, hand over hand by their counterpanes, to +"overhaul" something mysterious in the garden. + +The engagement among us was faithfully kept, and nobody revealed +anything. All we knew was, if any one's room were haunted, no one +looked the worse for it. + + + +The foregoing story is particularly interesting as illustrating the +leaning of Dickens's mind toward the spiritualistic and mystical +fancies current in his time, and the counterbalance of his common +sense and fun. + +"He probably never made up his own mind," Mr. Andrew Lang declares +in a discussion of this Haunted House story. Mr. Lang says he once +took part in a similar quest, and "can recognize the accuracy of +most of Dickens's remarks. Indeed, even to persons not on the +level of the Odd Girl in education, the temptation to produce +'phenomena' for fun is all but overwhelming. That people +communicate hallucinations to each other 'in some diseased way +without words,' is a modern theory perhaps first formulated here by +Dickens." + +"The Signal Man's Story," which follows, is likewise, Mr. Lang +believes, "probably based on some real story of the kind, some +anecdote of premonitions. There are scores in the records of the +Society for Psychical Research."--The Editor. + + + +NO. 1 BRANCH LINE: THE SIGNAL-MAN + + +"Halloa! Below there!" + +When he heard a voice thus calling to him, he was standing at the +door of his box, with a flag in his hand, furled round its short +pole. One would have thought, considering the nature of the +ground, that he could not have doubted from what quarter the voice +came; but instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the +steep cutting nearly over his head, he turned himself about, and +looked down the Line. There was something remarkable in his manner +of doing so, though I could not have said for my life what. But I +know it was remarkable enough to attract my notice, even though his +figure was foreshortened and shadowed, down in the deep trench, and +mine was high above him, so steeped in the glow of an angry sunset, +that I had shaded my eyes with my hand before I saw him at all. + +"Halloa! Below!" + +From looking down the Line, he turned himself about again, and, +raising his eyes, saw my figure high above him. + +"Is there any path by which I can come down and speak to you?" + +He looked up at me without replying, and I looked down at him +without pressing him too soon with a repetition of my idle +question. Just then there came a vague vibration in the earth and +air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation, and an oncoming +rush that caused me to start back, as though it had a force to draw +me down. When such vapor as rose to my height from this rapid +train had passed me, and was skimming away over the landscape, I +looked down again, and saw him refurling the flag he had shown +while the train went by. + +I repeated my inquiry. After a pause, during which he seemed to +regard me with fixed attention, he motioned with his rolled-up flag +towards a point on my level, some two or three hundred yards +distant. I called down to him, "All right!" and made for that +point. There, by dint of looking closely about me, I found a rough +zigzag descending path notched out, which I followed. + +The cutting was extremely deep, and unusually precipitate. It was +made through a clammy stone, that became oozier and wetter as I +went down. For these reasons, I found the way long enough to give +me time to recall a singular air of reluctance or compulsion with +which he had pointed out the path. + +When I came down low enough upon the zigzag descent to see him +again, I saw that he was standing between the rails on the way by +which the train had lately passed, in an attitude as if he were +waiting for me to appear. He had his left hand at his chin, and +that left elbow rested on his right hand, crossed over his breast. +His attitude was one of such expectation and watchfulness that I +stopped a moment, wondering at it. + +I resumed my downward way, and stepping out upon the level of the +railroad, and drawing nearer to him, saw that he was a dark, sallow +man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows. His post was in +as solitary and dismal a place as ever I saw. On either side, a +dripping-wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all view but a strip +of sky; the perspective one way only a crooked prolongation of this +great dungeon; the shorter perspective in the other direction +terminating in a gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a +black tunnel, in whose massive architecture there was a barbarous, +depressing, and forbidding air. So little sunlight ever found its +way to this spot, that it had an earthy, deadly smell; and so much +cold wind rushed through it, that it struck chill to me, as if I +had left the natural world. + +Before he stirred, I was near enough to him to have touched him. +Not even then removing his eyes from mine, he stepped back one +step, and lifted his hand. + +This was a lonesome post to occupy (I said), and it had riveted my +attention when I looked down from up yonder. A visitor was a +rarity, I should suppose; not an unwelcome rarity, I hoped? In me, +he merely saw a man who had been shut up within narrow limits all +his life, and who, being at last set free, had a newly-awakened +interest in these great works. To such purpose I spoke to him; but +I am far from sure of the terms I used; for, besides that I am not +happy in opening any conversation, there was something in the man +that daunted me. + +He directed a most curious look towards the red light near the +tunnel's mouth, and looked all about it, as if something were +missing from it, and then looked it me. + +That light was part of his charge? Was it not? + +He answered in a low voice,--"Don't you know it is?" + +The monstrous thought came into my mind, as I perused the fixed +eyes and the saturnine face, that this was a spirit, not a man. I +have speculated since, whether there may have been infection in his +mind. + +In my turn, I stepped back. But in making the action, I detected +in his eyes some latent fear of me. This put the monstrous thought +to flight. + +"You look at me," I said, forcing a smile, "as if you had a dread +of me." + +"I was doubtful," he returned, "whether I had seen you before." + +"Where?" + +He pointed to the red light he had looked at. + +"There?" I said. + +Intently watchful of me, he replied (but without sound), "Yes." + +"My good fellow, what should I do there? However, be that as it +may, I never was there, you may swear." + +"I think I may," he rejoined. "Yes; I am sure I may." + +His manner cleared, like my own. He replied to my remarks with +readiness, and in well-chosen words. Had he much to do there? +Yes; that was to say, he had enough responsibility to bear; but +exactness and watchfulness were what was required of him, and of +actual work--manual labor--he had next to none. To change that +signal, to trim those lights, and to turn this iron handle now and +then, was all he had to do under that head. Regarding those many +long and lonely hours of which I seemed to make so much, he could +only say that the routine of his life had shaped itself into that +form, and he had grown used to it. He had taught himself a +language down here,--if only to know it by sight, and to have +formed his own crude ideas of its pronunciation, could be called +learning it. He had also worked at fractions and decimals, and +tried a little algebra; but he was, and had been as a boy, a poor +hand at figures. Was it necessary for him when on duty always to +remain in that channel of damp air, and could he never rise into +the sunshine from between those high stone walls? Why, that +depended upon times and circumstances. Under some conditions there +would be less upon the Line than under others, and the same held +good as to certain hours of the day and night. In bright weather, +he did choose occasions for getting a little above these lower +shadows; but, being at all times liable to be called by his +electric bell, and at such times listening for it with redoubled +anxiety, the relief was less than I would suppose. + +He took me into his box, where there was a fire, a desk for an +official book in which he had to make certain entries, a +telegraphic instrument with its dial, face, and needles, and the +little bell of which he had spoken. On my trusting that he would +excuse the remark that he had been well educated, and (I hoped I +might say without offence) perhaps educated above that station, he +observed that instances of slight incongruity in such wise would +rarely be found wanting among large bodies of men; that he had +heard it was so in workhouses, in the police force, even in that +last desperate resource, the army; and that he knew it was so, more +or less, in any great railway staff. He had been, when young (if I +could believe it, sitting in that hut,--he scarcely could), a +student of natural philosophy, and had attended lectures; but he +had run wild, misused his opportunities, gone down, and never risen +again. He had no complaint to offer about that. He had made his +bed, and he lay upon it. It was far too late to make another. + +All that I have here condensed he said in a quiet manner, with his +grave dark regards divided between me and the fire. He threw in +the word, "Sir," from time to time, and especially when he referred +to his youth,--as though to request me to understand that he +claimed to be nothing but what I found him. He was several times +interrupted by the little bell, and had to read off messages, and +send replies. Once he had to stand without the door, and display a +flag as a train passed, and make some verbal communication to the +driver. In the discharge of his duties, I observed him to be +remarkably exact and vigilant, breaking off his discourse at a +syllable, and remaining silent until what he had to do was done. + +In a word, I should have set this man down as one of the safest of +men to be employed in that capacity, but for the circumstance that +while he was speaking to me he twice broke off with a fallen color, +turned his face towards the little bell when it did NOT ring, +opened the door of the hut (which was kept shut to exclude the +unhealthy damp), and looked out towards the red light near the +mouth of the tunnel. On both of those occasions, he came back to +the fire with the inexplicable air upon him which I had remarked, +without being able to define, when we were so far asunder. + +Said I, when I rose to leave him, "You almost make me think that I +have met with a contented man." + +(I am afraid I must acknowledge that I said it to lead him on.) + +"I believe I used to be so," he rejoined, in the low voice in which +he had first spoken; "but I am troubled, sir, I am troubled." + +He would have recalled the words if he could. He had said them, +however, and I took them up quickly. + +"With what? What is your trouble?" + +"It is very difficult to impart, sir. It is very, very difficult +to speak of. If ever you make me another visit, I will try to tell +you." + +"But I expressly intend to make you another visit. Say, when shall +it be?" + +"I go off early in the morning, and I shall be on again at ten to- +morrow night, sir." + +"I will come at eleven." + +He thanked me, and went out at the door with me. "I'll show my +white light, sir," he said, in his peculiar low voice, "till you +have found the way up. When you have found it, don't call out! +And when you are at the top, don't call out!" + +His manner seemed to make the place strike colder to me, but I said +no more than, "Very well." + +"And when you come down to-morrow night, don't call out! Let me +ask you a parting question. What made you cry, 'Halloa! Below +there!' to-night?" + +"Heaven knows," said I. "I cried something to that effect--" + +"Not to that effect, sir. Those were the very words. I know them +well." + +"Admit those were the very words. I said them, no doubt, because I +saw you below." + +"For no other reason?" + +"What other reason could I possibly have?" + +"You had no feeling that they were conveyed to you in any +supernatural way?" + +"No." + +He wished me good-night, and held up his light. I walked by the +side of the down Line of rails (with a very disagreeable sensation +of a train coming behind me) until I found the path. It was easier +to mount than to descend, and I got back to my inn without any +adventure. + +Punctual to my appointment, I placed my foot on the first notch of +the zigzag next night, as the distant clocks were striking eleven. +He was waiting for me at the bottom, with his white light on. "I +have not called out," I said, when we came close together; "may I +speak now?" "By all means, sir." "Good-night, then, and here's my +hand." "Good-night, sir, and here's mine." With that we walked +side by side to his box, entered it, closed the door, and sat down +by the fire. + +"I have made up my mind, sir," he began, bending forward as soon as +we were seated, and speaking in a tone but a little above a +whisper, "that you shall not have to ask me twice what troubles me. +I took you for some one else yesterday evening. That troubles me." + +"That mistake?" + +"No. That some one else." + +"Who is it?" + +"I don't know." + +"Like me?" + +"I don't know. I never saw the face. The left arm is across the +face, and the right arm is waved,--violently waved. This way." + +I followed his action with my eyes, and it was the action of an arm +gesticulating, with the utmost passion and vehemence, "For God's +sake, clear the way!" + +"One moonlight night," said the man, "I was sitting here, when I +heard a voice cry, 'Halloa! Below there!' I started up, looked +from that door, and saw this Someone else standing by the red light +near the tunnel, waving as I just now showed you. The voice seemed +hoarse with shouting, and it cried, 'Look out! Look out!' And +then attain, 'Halloa! Below there! Look out!' I caught up my +lamp, turned it on red, and ran towards the figure, calling, +'What's wrong? What has happened? Where?' It stood just outside +the blackness of the tunnel. I advanced so close upon it that I +wondered at its keeping the sleeve across its eyes. I ran right up +at it, and had my hand stretched out to pull the sleeve away, when +it was gone." + +"Into the tunnel?" said I. + +"No. I ran on into the tunnel, five hundred yards. I stopped, and +held my lamp above my head, and saw the figures of the measured +distance, and saw the wet stains stealing down the walls and +trickling through the arch. I ran out again faster than I had run +in (for I had a mortal abhorrence of the place upon me), and I +looked all round the red light with my own red light, and I went up +the iron ladder to the gallery atop of it, and I came down again, +and ran back here. I telegraphed both ways, 'An alarm has been +given. Is anything wrong?' The answer came back, both ways, 'All +well.'" + +Resisting the slow touch of a frozen finger tracing out my spine, I +showed him how that this figure must be a deception of his sense of +sight; and how that figures, originating in disease of the delicate +nerves that minister to the functions of the eye, were known to +have often troubled patients, some of whom had become conscious of +the nature of their affliction, and had even proved it by +experiments upon themselves. "As to an imaginary cry," said I, "do +but listen for a moment to the wind in this unnatural valley while +we speak so low, and to the wild harp it makes of the telegraph +wires." + +That was all very well, he returned, after we had sat listening for +a while, and he ought to know something of the wind and the wires,-- +he who so often passed long winter nights there, alone and +watching. But he would beg to remark that he had not finished. + +I asked his pardon, and he slowly added these words, touching my +arm-- + +"Within six hours after the Appearance, the memorable accident on +this Line happened, and within ten hours the dead and wounded were +brought along through the tunnel over the spot where the figure had +stood." + +A disagreeable shudder crept over me, but I did my best against it. +It was not to be denied, I rejoined, that this was a remarkable +coincidence, calculated deeply to impress his mind. But it was +unquestionable that remarkable coincidences did continually occur, +and they must be taken into account in dealing with such a subject. +Though to be sure I must admit, I added (for I thought I saw that +he was going to bring the objection to bear upon me), men of common +sense did not allow much for coincidences in making the ordinary +calculations of life. + +He again begged to remark that he had not finished. + +I again begged his pardon for being betrayed into interruptions. + +"This," he said, again laying his hand upon my arm, and glancing +over his shoulder with hollow eyes, "was just a year ago. Six or +seven months passed, and I had recovered from the surprise and +shock, when one morning, as the day was breaking, I, standing at +the door, looked towards the red light, and saw the spectre again." +He stopped, with a fixed look at me. + +"Did it cry out?" + +"No. It was silent." + +"Did it wave its arm?" + +"No. It leaned against the shaft of the light, with both hands +before the face. Like this." + +Once more I followed his action with my eyes. It was an action of +mourning. I have seen such an attitude in stone figures on tombs. + +"Did you go up to it?" + +"I came in and sat down, partly to collect my thoughts, partly +because it had turned me faint. When I went to the door again, +daylight was above me, and the ghost was gone." + +"But nothing followed? Nothing came of this?" + +He touched me on the arm with his forefinger twice or thrice giving +a ghastly nod each time:- + +"That very day, as a train came out of the tunnel, I noticed, at a +carriage window on my side, what looked like a confusion of hands +and heads, and something waved. I saw it just in time to signal +the driver, Stop! He shut off, and put his brake on, but the train +drifted past here a hundred and fifty yards or more. I ran after +it, and, as I went along, heard terrible screams and cries. A +beautiful young lady had died instantaneously in one of the +compartments, and was brought in here, and laid down on this floor +between us." + +Involuntarily I pushed my chair back, as I looked from the boards +at which he pointed to himself. + +"True, sir. True. Precisely as it happened, so I tell it you." + +I could think of nothing to say, to any purpose, and my mouth was +very dry. The wind and the wires took up the story with a long +lamenting wail. + +He resumed. "Now, sir, mark this, and judge how my mind is +troubled. The spectre came back a week ago. Ever since, it has +been there, now and again, by fits and starts." + +"At the light?" + +"At the Danger-light." + +"What does it seem to do?" + +He repeated, if possible with increased passion and vehemence, that +former gesticulation of, "For God's sake, clear the way!" + +Then he went on. "I have no peace or rest for it. It calls to me, +for many minutes together, in an agonised manner, 'Below there! +Look out! Look out!' It stands waving to me. It rings my little +bell--" + +I caught at that. "Did it ring your bell yesterday evening when I +was here, and you went to the door?" + +"Twice." + +"Why, see," said I, "how your imagination misleads you. My eyes +were on the bell, and my ears were open to the bell, and if I am a +living man, it did NOT ring at those times. No, nor at any other +time, except when it was rung in the natural course of physical +things by the station communicating with you." + +He shook his head. "I have never made a mistake as to that yet, +sir. I have never confused the spectre's ring with the man's. The +ghost's ring is a strange vibration in the bell that it derives +from nothing else, and I have not asserted that the bell stirs to +the eye. I don't wonder that you failed to hear it. But I heard +it." + +"And did the spectre seem to be there, when you looked out?" + +"It WAS there." + +"Both times?" + +He repeated firmly: "Both times." + +"Will you come to the door with me, and look for it now?" + +He bit his under lip as though he were somewhat unwilling, but +arose. I opened the door, and stood on the step, while he stood in +the doorway. There was the Danger-light. There was the dismal +mouth of the tunnel. There were the high, wet stone walls of the +cutting. There were the stars above them. + +"Do you see it?" I asked him, taking particular note of his face. +His eyes were prominent and strained, but not very much more so, +perhaps, than my own had been when I had directed them earnestly +towards the same spot. + +"No," he answered. "It is not there." + +"Agreed," said I. + +We went in again, shut the door, and resumed our seats. I was +thinking how best to improve this advantage, if it might be called +one, when he took up the conversation in such a matter-of-course +way, so assuming that there could be no serious question of fact +between us, that I felt myself placed in the weakest of positions. + +"By this time you will fully understand, sir," he said, "that what +troubles me so dreadfully is the question, What does the spectre +mean?" + +I was not sure, I told him, that I did fully understand. + +"What is its warning against?" he said, ruminating, with his eyes +on the fire, and only by times turning them on me. "What is the +danger? Where is the danger? There is danger overhanging +somewhere on the Line. Some dreadful calamity will happen. It is +not to be doubted this third time, after what has gone before. But +surely this is a cruel haunting of ME. What can I do?" + +He pulled out his handkerchief, and wiped the drops from his heated +forehead. + +"If I telegraph Danger, on either side of me, or on both, I can +give no reason for it," he went on, wiping the palms of his hands. +"I should get into trouble, and do no good. They would think I was +mad. This is the way it would work,--Message: 'Danger! Take +care!' Answer: 'What Danger? Where?' Message: 'Don't know. +But, for God's sake, take care!' They would displace me. What +else could they do?" + +His pain of mind was most pitiable to see. It was the mental +torture of a conscientious man, oppressed beyond endurance by an +unintelligible responsibility involving life. + +"When it first stood under the Danger-light," he went on, putting +his dark hair back from his head, and drawing his hands outward +across and across his temples in an extremity of feverish distress, +"why not tell me where that accident was to happen,--if it must +happen? Why not tell me how it could be averted,--if it could have +been averted? When on its second coming it hid its face, why not +tell me, instead, 'She is going to die. Let them keep her at +home'? If it came, on those two occasions, only to show me that +its warnings were true, and so to prepare me for the third, why not +warn me plainly now? And I, Lord help me! A mere poor signal-man +on this solitary station! Why not go to somebody with credit to be +believed, and power to act?" + +When I saw him in this state, I saw that for the poor man's sake, +as well as for the public safety, what I had to do for the time was +to compose his mind. Therefore, setting aside all question of +reality or unreality between us, I represented to him that whoever +thoroughly discharged his duty must do well, and that at least it +was his comfort that he understood his duty, though he did not +understand these confounding Appearances. In this effort I +succeeded far better than in the attempt to reason him out of his +conviction. He became calm; the occupations incidental to his post +as the night advanced began to make larger demands on his +attention: and I left him at two in the morning. I had offered to +stay through the night, but he would not hear of it. + +That I more than once looked back at the red light as I ascended +the pathway, that I did not like the red light, and that I should +have slept but poorly if my bed had been under it, I see no reason +to conceal. Nor did I like the two sequences of the accident and +the dead girl. I see no reason to conceal that either. + +But what ran most in my thoughts was the consideration how ought I +to act, having become the recipient of this disclosure? I had +proved the man to be intelligent, vigilant, painstaking, and exact; +but how long might he remain so, in his state of mind? Though in a +subordinate position, still he held a most important trust, and +would I (for instance) like to stake my own life on the chances of +his continuing to execute it with precision? + +Unable to overcome a feeling that there would be something +treacherous in my communicating what he had told me to his +superiors in the Company, without first being plain with himself +and proposing a middle course to him, I ultimately resolved to +offer to accompany him (otherwise keeping his secret for the +present) to the wisest medical practitioner we could hear of in +those parts, and to take his opinion. A change in his time of duty +would come round next night, he had apprised me, and he would be +off an hour or two after sunrise, and on again soon after sunset. +I had appointed to return accordingly. + +Next evening was a lovely evening, and I walked out early to enjoy +it. The sun was not yet quite down when I traversed the field-path +near the top of the deep cutting. I would extend my walk for an +hour, I said to myself, half an hour on and half an hour back, and +it would then be time to go to my signal-man's box. + +Before pursuing my stroll, I stepped to the brink, and mechanically +looked down, from the point from which I had first seen him. I +cannot describe the thrill that seized upon me, when, close at the +mouth of the tunnel, I saw the appearance of a man, with his left +sleeve across his eyes, passionately waving his right arm. + +The nameless horror that oppressed me passed in a moment, for in a +moment I saw that this appearance of a man was a man indeed, and +that there was a little group of other men, standing at a short +distance, to whom he seemed to be rehearsing the gesture he made. +The Danger-light was not yet lighted. Against its shaft, a little +low hut, entirely new to me, had been made of some wooden supports +and tarpaulin. It looked no bigger than a bed. + +With an irresistible sense that something was wrong,--with a +flashing self-reproachful fear that fatal mischief had come of my +leaving the man there, and causing no one to be sent to overlook or +correct what he did,--I descended the notched path with all the +speed I could make. + +"What is the matter?" I asked the men. + +"Signal-man killed this morning, sir." + +"Not the man belonging to that box?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Not the man I know?" + +"You will recognise him, sir, if you knew him," said the man who +spoke for the others, solemnly uncovering his own head, and raising +an end of the tarpaulin, "for his face is quite composed." + +"Oh, how did this happen, how did this happen?" I asked, turning +from one to another as the hut closed in again. + +"He was cut down by an engine, sir. No man in England knew his +work better. But somehow he was not clear of the outer rail. It +was just at broad day. He had struck the light, and had the lamp +in his hand. As the engine came out of the tunnel, his back was +towards her, and she cut him down. That man drove her, and was +showing how it happened. Show the gentleman, Tom." + +The man, who wore a rough dark dress, stepped back to his former +place at the mouth of the tunnel. + +"Coming round the curve in the tunnel, sir," he said, "I saw him at +the end, like as if I saw him down a perspective-glass. There was +no time to check speed, and I knew him to be very careful. As he +didn't seem to take heed of the whistle, I shut it off when we were +running down upon him, and called to him as loud as I could call." + +"What did you say?" + +"I said, 'Below there! Look out! Look out! For God's sake, clear +the way!'" + +I started. + +"Ah! it was a dreadful time, sir. I never left off calling to him. +I put this arm before my eyes not to see, and I waved this arm to +the last; but it was no use." + + +Without prolonging the narrative to dwell on any one of its curious +circumstances more than on any other, I may, in closing it, point +out the coincidence that the warning of the Engine-Driver included, +not only the words which the unfortunate Signal-man had repeated to +me as haunting him, but also the words which I myself--not he--had +attached, and that only in my own mind, to the gesticulation he had +imitated. + + + +Bulwer Lytton + + +The Haunted and the Haunters; +Or, The House and the Brain + + +A friend of mine, who is a man of letters and a philosopher, said +to me one day, as if between jest and earnest, "Fancy! since we +last met I have discovered a haunted house in the midst of London." + +"Really haunted,--and by what?--ghosts?" + +"Well, I can't answer that question; all I know is this: six weeks +ago my wife and I were in search of a furnished apartment. Passing +a quiet street, we saw on the window of one of the houses a bill, +'Apartments, Furnished.' The situation suited us; we entered the +house, liked the rooms, engaged them by the week,--and left them +the third day. No power on earth could have reconciled my wife to +stay longer; and I don't wonder at it." + +"What did you see?" + +"Excuse me; I have no desire to be ridiculed as a superstitious +dreamer,--nor, on the other hand, could I ask you to accept on my +affirmation what you would hold to be incredible without the +evidence of your own senses. Let me only say this, it was not so +much what we saw or heard (in which you might fairly suppose that +we were the dupes of our own excited fancy, or the victims of +imposture in others) that drove us away, as it was an indefinable +terror which seized both of us whenever we passed by the door of a +certain unfurnished room, in which we neither saw nor heard +anything. And the strangest marvel of all was, that for once in my +life I agreed with my wife, silly woman though she be,--and +allowed, after the third night, that it was impossible to stay a +fourth in that house. Accordingly, on the fourth morning I +summoned the woman who kept the house and attended on us, and told +her that the rooms did not quite suit us, and we would not stay out +our week. She said dryly, 'I know why; you have stayed longer than +any other lodger. Few ever stayed a second night; none before you +a third. But I take it they have been very kind to you.' + +"'They,--who?' I asked, affecting to smile. + +"'Why, they who haunt the house, whoever they are. I don't mind +them. I remember them many years ago, when I lived in this house, +not as a servant; but I know they will be the death of me some day. +I don't care,--I'm old, and must die soon anyhow; and then I shall +be with them, and in this house still.' The woman spoke with so +dreary a calmness that really it was a sort of awe that prevented +my conversing with her further. I paid for my week, and too happy +were my wife and I to get off so cheaply." + +"You excite my curiosity," said I; "nothing I should like better +than to sleep in a haunted house. Pray give me the address of the +one which you left so ignominiously." + +My friend gave me the address; and when we parted, I walked +straight toward the house thus indicated. + +It is situated on the north side of Oxford Street, in a dull but +respectable thoroughfare. I found the house shut up,--no bill at +the window, and no response to my knock. As I was turning away, a +beer-boy, collecting pewter pots at the neighboring areas, said to +me, "Do you want any one at that house, sir?" + +"Yes, I heard it was to be let." + +"Let!--why, the woman who kept it is dead,--has been dead these +three weeks, and no one can be found to stay there, though Mr. J---- +offered ever so much. He offered mother, who chars for him, one +pound a week just to open and shut the windows, and she would not." + +"Would not!--and why?" + +"The house is haunted; and the old woman who kept it was found dead +in her bed, with her eyes wide open. They say the devil strangled +her." + +"Pooh! You speak of Mr. J----. Is he the owner of the house?" + +"Yes." + +"Where does he live?" + +"In G---- Street, No. --." + +"What is he? In any business?" + +"No, sir,--nothing particular; a single gentleman." + +I gave the potboy the gratuity earned by his liberal information, +and proceeded to Mr. J---- , in G---- Street, which was close by +the street that boasted the haunted house. I was lucky enough to +find Mr. J---- at home,--an elderly man with intelligent +countenance and prepossessing manners. + +I communicated my name and my business frankly. I said I heard the +house was considered to be haunted, that I had a strong desire to +examine a house with so equivocal a reputation; that I should be +greatly obliged if he would allow me to hire it, though only for a +night. I was willing to pay for that privilege whatever he might +be inclined to ask. "Sir," said Mr. J----, with great courtesy, +"the house is at your service, for as short or as long a time as +you please. Rent is out of the question,--the obligation will be +on my side should you be able to discover the cause of the strange +phenomena which at present deprive it of all value. I cannot let +it, for I cannot even get a servant to keep it in order or answer +the door. Unluckily the house is haunted, if I may use that +expression, not only by night, but by day; though at night the +disturbances are of a more unpleasant and sometimes of a more +alarming character. The poor old woman who died in it three weeks +ago was a pauper whom I took out of a workhouse; for in her +childhood she had been known to some of my family, and had once +been in such good circumstances that she had rented that house of +my uncle. She was a woman of superior education and strong mind, +and was the only person I could ever induce to remain in the house. +Indeed, since her death, which was sudden, and the coroner's +inquest, which gave it a notoriety in the neighborhood, I have so +despaired of finding any person to take charge of the house, much +more a tenant, that I would willingly let it rent free for a year +to anyone who would pay its rates and taxes." + +"How long is it since the house acquired this sinister character?" + +"That I can scarcely tell you, but very many years since. The old +woman I spoke of, said it was haunted when she rented it between +thirty and forty years ago. The fact is, that my life has been +spent in the East Indies, and in the civil service of the Company. +I returned to England last year, on inheriting the fortune of an +uncle, among whose possessions was the house in question. I found +it shut up and uninhabited. I was told that it was haunted, that +no one would inhabit it. I smiled at what seemed to me so idle a +story. I spent some money in repairing it, added to its old- +fashioned furniture a few modern articles,--advertised it, and +obtained a lodger for a year. He was a colonel on half pay. He +came in with his family, a son and a daughter, and four or five +servants: they all left the house the next day; and, although each +of them declared that he had seen something different from that +which had scared the others, a something still was equally terrible +to all. I really could not in conscience sue, nor even blame, the +colonel for breach of agreement. Then I put in the old woman I +have spoken of, and she was empowered to let the house in +apartments. I never had one lodger who stayed more than three +days. I do not tell you their stories,--to no two lodgers have +there been exactly the same phenomena repeated. It is better that +you should judge for yourself, than enter the house with an +imagination influenced by previous narratives; only be prepared to +see and to hear something or other, and take whatever precautions +you yourself please." + +"Have you never had a curiosity yourself to pass a night in that +house?" + +"Yes. I passed not a night, but three hours in broad daylight +alone in that house. My curiosity is not satisfied, but it is +quenched. I have no desire to renew the experiment. You cannot +complain, you see, sir, that I am not sufficiently candid; and +unless your interest be exceedingly eager and your nerves unusually +strong, I honestly add, that I advise you NOT to pass a night in +that house. + +"My interest IS exceedingly keen," said I; "and though only a +coward will boast of his nerves in situations wholly unfamiliar to +him, yet my nerves have been seasoned in such variety of danger +that I have the right to rely on them,--even in a haunted house." + +Mr. J---- said very little more; he took the keys of the house out +of his bureau, gave them to me,--and, thanking him cordially for +his frankness, and his urbane concession to my wish, I carried off +my prize. + +Impatient for the experiment, as soon as I reached home, I summoned +my confidential servant,--a young man of gay spirits, fearless +temper, and as free from superstitious prejudice as anyone I could +think of. + +F----," said I, "you remember in Germany how disappointed we were +at not finding a ghost in that old castle, which was said to be +haunted by a headless apparition? Well, I have heard of a house in +London which, I have reason to hope, is decidedly haunted. I mean +to sleep there to-night. From what I hear, there is no doubt that +something will allow itself to be seen or to be heard,--something, +perhaps, excessively horrible. Do you think if I take you with me, +I may rely on your presence of mind, whatever may happen?" + +"Oh, sir, pray trust me," answered F----, grinning with delight. + +"Very well; then here are the keys of the house,--this is the +address. Go now,--select for me any bedroom you please; and since +the house has not been inhabited for weeks, make up a good fire, +air the bed well,--see, of course, that there are candles as well +as fuel. Take with you my revolver and my dagger,--so much for my +weapons; arm yourself equally well; and if we are not a match for a +dozen ghosts, we shall be but a sorry couple of Englishmen. + +I was engaged for the rest of the day on business so urgent that I +had not leisure to think much on the nocturnal adventure to which I +had plighted my honor. I dined alone, and very late, and while +dining, read, as is my habit. I selected one of the volumes of +Macaulay's Essays. I thought to myself that I would take the book +with me; there was so much of healthfulness in the style, and +practical life in the subjects, that it would serve as an antidote +against the influences of superstitious fancy. + +Accordingly, about half-past nine, I put the book into my pocket, +and strolled leisurely toward the haunted house. I took with me a +favorite dog: an exceedingly sharp, bold, and vigilant bull +terrier,--a dog fond of prowling about strange, ghostly corners and +passages at night in search of rats; a dog of dogs for a ghost. + +I reached the house, knocked, and my servant opened with a cheerful +smile. + +We did not stay long in the drawing-rooms,--in fact, they felt so +damp and so chilly that I was glad to get to the fire upstairs. We +locked the doors of the drawing-rooms,--a precaution which, I +should observe, we had taken with all the rooms we had searched +below. The bedroom my servant had selected for me was the best on +the floor,--a large one, with two windows fronting the street. The +four-posted bed, which took up no inconsiderable space, was +opposite to the fire, which burned clear and bright; a door in the +wall to the left, between the bed and the window, communicated with +the room which my servant appropriated to himself. This last was a +small room with a sofa bed, and had no communication with the +landing place,--no other door but that which conducted to the +bedroom I was to occupy. On either side of my fireplace was a +cupboard without locks, flush with the wall, and covered with the +same dull-brown paper. We examined these cupboards,--only hooks to +suspend female dresses, nothing else; we sounded the walls,-- +evidently solid, the outer walls of the building. Having finished +the survey of these apartments, warmed myself a few moments, and +lighted my cigar, I then, still accompanied by F----, went forth to +complete my reconnoiter. In the landing place there was another +door; it was closed firmly. "Sir," said my servant, in surprise, +"I unlocked this door with all the others when I first came; it +cannot have got locked from the inside, for--" + +Before he had finished his sentence, the door, which neither of us +then was touching, opened quietly of itself. We looked at each +other a single instant. The same thought seized both,--some human +agency might be detected here. I rushed in first, my servant +followed. A small, blank, dreary room without furniture; a few +empty boxes and hampers in a corner; a small window; the shutters +closed; not even a fireplace; no other door but that by which we +had entered; no carpet on the floor, and the floor seemed very old, +uneven, worm-eaten, mended here and there, as was shown by the +whiter patches on the wood; but no living being, and no visible +place in which a living being could have hidden. As we stood +gazing round, the door by which we had entered closed as quietly as +it had before opened; we were imprisoned. + +For the first time I felt a creep of indefinable horror. Not so my +servant. "Why, they don't think to trap us, sir; I could break +that trumpery door with a kick of my foot." + +"Try first if it will open to your hand," said I, shaking off the +vague apprehension that had seized me, "while I unclose the +shutters and see what is without." + +I unbarred the shutters,--the window looked on the little back yard +I have before described; there was no ledge without,--nothing to +break the sheer descent of the wall. No man getting out of that +window would have found any footing till he had fallen on the +stones below. + +F----, meanwhile, was vainly attempting to open the door. He now +turned round to me and asked my permission to use force. And I +should here state, in justice to the servant, that, far from +evincing any superstitious terrors, his nerve, composure, and even +gayety amidst circumstances so extraordinary, compelled my +admiration, and made me congratulate myself on having secured a +companion in every way fitted to the occasion. I willingly gave +him the permission he required. But though he was a remarkably +strong man, his force was as idle as his milder efforts; the door +did not even shake to his stoutest kick. Breathless and panting, +he desisted. I then tried the door myself, equally in vain. As I +ceased from the effort, again that creep of horror came over me; +but this time it was more cold and stubborn. I felt as if some +strange and ghastly exhalation were rising up from the chinks of +that rugged floor, and filling the atmosphere with a venomous +influence hostile to human life. The door now very slowly and +quietly opened as of its own accord. We precipitated ourselves +into the landing place. We both saw a large, pale light--as large +as the human figure, but shapeless and unsubstantial--move before +us, and ascend the stairs that led from the landing into the +attics. I followed the light, and my servant followed me. It +entered, to the right of the landing, a small garret, of which the +door stood open. I entered in the same instant. The light then +collapsed into a small globule, exceedingly brilliant and vivid, +rested a moment on a bed in the corner, quivered, and vanished. We +approached the bed and examined it,--a half-tester, such as is +commonly found in attics devoted to servants. On the drawers that +stood near it we perceived an old faded silk kerchief, with the +needle still left in a rent half repaired. The kerchief was +covered with dust; probably it had belonged to the old woman who +had last died in that house, and this might have been her sleeping +room. I had sufficient curiosity to open the drawers: there were a +few odds and ends of female dress, and two letters tied round with +a narrow ribbon of faded yellow. I took the liberty to possess +myself of the letters. We found nothing else in the room worth +noticing,--nor did the light reappear; but we distinctly heard, as +we turned to go, a pattering footfall on the floor, just before us. +We went through the other attics (in all four), the footfall still +preceding us. Nothing to be seen,--nothing but the footfall heard. +I had the letters in my hand; just as I was descending the stairs I +distinctly felt my wrist seized, and a faint, soft effort made to +draw the letters from my clasp. I only held them the more tightly, +and the effort ceased. + +We regained the bedchamber appropriated to myself, and I then +remarked that my dog had not followed us when we had left it. He +was thrusting himself close to the fire, and trembling. I was +impatient to examine the letters; and while I read them, my servant +opened a little box in which he had deposited the weapons I had +ordered him to bring, took them out, placed them on a table close +at my bed head, and then occupied himself in soothing the dog, who, +however, seemed to heed him very little. + +The letters were short,--they were dated; the dates exactly thirty- +five years ago. They were evidently from a lover to his mistress, +or a husband to some young wife. Not only the terms of expression, +but a distinct reference to a former voyage, indicated the writer +to have been a seafarer. The spelling and handwriting were those +of a man imperfectly educated, but still the language itself was +forcible. In the expressions of endearment there was a kind of +rough, wild love; but here and there were dark unintelligible hints +at some secret not of love,--some secret that seemed of crime. "We +ought to love each other," was one of the sentences I remember, +"for how everyone else would execrate us if all was known." Again: +"Don't let anyone be in the same room with you at night,--you talk +in your sleep." And again: "What's done can't be undone; and I +tell you there's nothing against us unless the dead could come to +life." Here there was underlined in a better handwriting (a +female's), "They do!" At the end of the letter latest in date the +same female hand had written these words: "Lost at sea the 4th of +June, the same day as--" + +I put down the letters, and began to muse over their contents. + +Fearing, however, that the train of thought into which I fell might +unsteady my nerves, I fully determined to keep my mind in a fit +state to cope with whatever of marvelous the advancing night might +bring forth. I roused myself; laid the letters on the table; +stirred up the fire, which was still bright and cheering; and +opened my volume of Macaulay. I read quietly enough till about +half past eleven. I then threw myself dressed upon the bed, and +told my servant he might retire to his own room, but must keep +himself awake. I bade him leave open the door between the two +rooms. Thus alone, I kept two candles burning on the table by my +bed head. I placed my watch beside the weapons, and calmly resumed +my Macaulay. Opposite to me the fire burned clear; and on the +hearth rug, seemingly asleep, lay the dog. In about twenty minutes +I felt an exceedingly cold air pass by my cheek, like a sudden +draught. I fancied the door to my right, communicating with the +landing place, must have got open; but no,--it was closed. I then +turned my glance to my left, and saw the flame of the candles +violently swayed as by a wind. At the same moment the watch beside +the revolver softly slid from the table,--softly, softly; no +visible hand,--it was gone. I sprang up, seizing the revolver with +the one hand, the dagger with the other; I was not willing that my +weapons should share the fate of the watch. Thus armed, I looked +round the floor,--no sign of the watch. Three slow, loud, distinct +knocks were now heard at the bed head; my servant called out, "Is +that you, sir?" + +"No; be on your guard." + +The dog now roused himself and sat on his haunches, his ears moving +quickly backward and forward. He kept his eyes fixed on me with a +look so strange that he concentered all my attention on himself. +Slowly he rose up, all his hair bristling, and stood perfectly +rigid, and with the same wild stare. I had no time, however, to +examine the dog. Presently my servant emerged from his room; and +if ever I saw horror in the human face, it was then. I should not +have recognized him had we met in the street, so altered was every +lineament. He passed by me quickly, saying, in a whisper that +seemed scarcely to come from his lips, "Run, run! it is after me!" +He gained the door to the landing, pulled it open, and rushed +forth. I followed him into the landing involuntarily, calling him +to stop; but, without heeding me, he bounded down the stairs, +clinging to the balusters, and taking several steps at a time. I +heard, where I stood, the street door open,--heard it again clap +to. I was left alone in the haunted house. + +It was but for a moment that I remained undecided whether or not to +follow my servant; pride and curiosity alike forbade so dastardly a +flight. I re-entered my room, closing the door after me, and +proceeded cautiously into the interior chamber. I encountered +nothing to justify my servant's terror. I again carefully examined +the walls, to see if there were any concealed door. I could find +no trace of one,--not even a seam in the dull-brown paper with +which the room was hung. How, then, had the THING, whatever it +was, which had so scared him, obtained ingress except though my own +chamber? + +I returned to my room, shut and locked the door that opened upon +the interior one, and stood on the hearth, expectant and prepared. +I now perceived that the dog had slunk into an angle of the wall, +and was pressing himself close against it, as if literally striving +to force his way into it. I approached the animal and spoke to it; +the poor brute was evidently beside itself with terror. It showed +all its teeth, the slaver dropping from its jaws, and would +certainly have bitten me if I had touched it. It did not seem to +recognize me. Whoever has seen at the Zoological Gardens a rabbit, +fascinated by a serpent, cowering in a corner, may form some idea +of the anguish which the dog exhibited. Finding all efforts to +soothe the animal in vain, and fearing that his bite might be as +venomous in that state as in the madness of hydrophobia, I left him +alone, placed my weapons on the table beside the fire, seated +myself, and recommenced my Macaulay. + +Perhaps, in order not to appear seeking credit for a courage, or +rather a coolness, which the reader may conceive I exaggerate, I +may be pardoned if I pause to indulge in one or two egotistical +remarks. + +As I hold presence of mind, or what is called courage, to be +precisely proportioned to familiarity with the circumstances that +lead to it, so I should say that I had been long sufficiently +familiar with all experiments that appertain to the marvelous. I +had witnessed many very extraordinary phenomena in various parts of +the world,--phenomena that would be either totally disbelieved if I +stated them, or ascribed to supernatural agencies. Now, my theory +is that the supernatural is the impossible, and that what is called +supernatural is only a something in the laws of Nature of which we +have been hitherto ignorant. Therefore, if a ghost rise before me, +I have not the right to say, "So, then, the supernatural is +possible;" but rather, "So, then, the apparition of a ghost is, +contrary to received opinion, within the laws of Nature,--that is, +not supernatural." + +Now, in all that I had hitherto witnessed, and indeed in all the +wonders which the amateurs of mystery in our age record as facts, a +material living agency is always required. On the Continent you +will find still magicians who assert that they can raise spirits. +Assume for the moment that they assert truly, still the living +material form of the magician is present; and he is the material +agency by which, from some constitutional peculiarities, certain +strange phenomena are represented to your natural senses. + +Accept, again, as truthful, the tales of spirit manifestation in +America,--musical or other sounds; writings on paper, produced by +no discernible hand; articles of furniture moved without apparent +human agency; or the actual sight and touch of hands, to which no +bodies seem to belong,--still there must be found the MEDIUM, or +living being, with constitutional peculiarities capable of +obtaining these signs. In fine, in all such marvels, supposing +even that there is no imposture, there must be a human being like +ourselves by whom, or through whom, the effects presented to human +beings are produced. It is so with the now familiar phenomena of +mesmerism or electro-biology; the mind of the person operated on is +affected through a material living agent. Nor, supposing it true +that a mesmerized patient can respond to the will or passes of a +mesmerizer a hundred miles distant, is the response less occasioned +by a material being; it may be through a material fluid--call it +Electric, call it Odic, call it what you will--which has the power +of traversing space and passing obstacles, that the material effect +is communicated from one to the other. Hence, all that I had +hitherto witnessed, or expected to witness, in this strange house, +I believed to be occasioned through some agency or medium as mortal +as myself; and this idea necessarily prevented the awe with which +those who regard as supernatural things that are not within the +ordinary operations of Nature, might have been impressed by the +adventures of that memorable night. + +As, then, it was my conjecture that all that was presented, or +would be presented to my senses, must originate in some human being +gifted by constitution with the power so to present them, and +having some motive so to do, I felt an interest in my theory which, +in its way, was rather philosophical than superstitious. And I can +sincerely say that I was in as tranquil a temper for observation as +any practical experimentalist could be in awaiting the effects of +some rare, though perhaps perilous, chemical combination. Of +course, the more I kept my mind detached from fancy, the more the +temper fitted for observation would be obtained; and I therefore +riveted eye and thought on the strong daylight sense in the page of +my Macaulay. + +I now became aware that something interposed between the page and +the light,--the page was overshadowed. I looked up, and I saw what +I shall find it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to describe. + +It was a Darkness shaping itself forth from the air in very +undefined outline. I cannot say it was of a human form, and yet it +had more resemblance to a human form, or rather shadow, than to +anything else. As it stood, wholly apart and distinct from the air +and the light around it, its dimensions seemed gigantic, the summit +nearly touching the ceiling. While I gazed, a feeling of intense +cold seized me. An iceberg before me could not more have chilled +me; nor could the cold of an iceberg have been more purely +physical. I feel convinced that it was not the cold caused by +fear. As I continued to gaze, I thought--but this I cannot say +with precision--that I distinguished two eyes looking down on me +from the height. One moment I fancied that I distinguished them +clearly, the next they seemed gone; but still two rays of a pale- +blue light frequently shot through the darkness, as from the height +on which I half believed, half doubted, that I had encountered the +eyes. + +I strove to speak,--my voice utterly failed me; I could only think +to myself, "Is this fear? It is NOT fear!" I strove to rise,--in +vain; I felt as if weighed down by an irresistible force. Indeed, +my impression was that of an immense and overwhelming Power opposed +to my volition,--that sense of utter inadequacy to cope with a +force beyond man's, which one may feel PHYSICALLY in a storm at +sea, in a conflagration, or when confronting some terrible wild +beast, or rather, perhaps, the shark of the ocean, I felt MORALLY. +Opposed to my will was another will, as far superior to its +strength as storm, fire, and shark are superior in material force +to the force of man. + +And now, as this impression grew on me,--now came, at last, horror, +horror to a degree that no words can convey. Still I retained +pride, if not courage; and in my own mind I said, "This is horror; +but it is not fear; unless I fear I cannot be harmed; my reason +rejects this thing; it is an illusion,--I do not fear." With a +violent effort I succeeded at last in stretching out my hand toward +the weapon on the table; as I did so, on the arm and shoulder I +received a strange shock, and my arm fell to my side powerless. +And now, to add to my horror, the light began slowly to wane from +the candles,--they were not, as it were, extinguished, but their +flame seemed very gradually withdrawn; it was the same with the +fire,--the light was extracted from the fuel; in a few minutes the +room was in utter darkness. The dread that came over me, to be +thus in the dark with that dark Thing, whose power was so intensely +felt, brought a reaction of nerve. In fact, terror had reached +that climax, that either my senses must have deserted me, or I must +have burst through the spell. I did burst through it. I found +voice, though the voice was a shriek. I remember that I broke +forth with words like these, "I do not fear, my soul does not +fear"; and at the same time I found strength to rise. Still in +that profound gloom I rushed to one of the windows; tore aside the +curtain; flung open the shutters; my first thought was--LIGHT. And +when I saw the moon high, clear, and calm, I felt a joy that almost +compensated for the previous terror. There was the moon, there was +also the light from the gas lamps in the deserted slumberous +street. I turned to look back into the room; the moon penetrated +its shadow very palely and partially--but still there was light. +The dark Thing, whatever it might be, was gone,--except that I +could yet see a dim shadow, which seemed the shadow of that shade, +against the opposite wall. + +My eye now rested on the table, and from under the table (which was +without cloth or cover,--an old mahogany round table) there rose a +hand, visible as far as the wrist. It was a hand, seemingly, as +much of flesh and blood as my own, but the hand of an aged person, +lean, wrinkled, small too,--a woman's hand. That hand very softly +closed on the two letters that lay on the table; hand and letters +both vanished. There then came the same three loud, measured +knocks I had heard at the bed head before this extraordinary drama +had commenced. + +As those sounds slowly ceased, I felt the whole room vibrate +sensibly; and at the far end there rose, as from the floor, sparks +or globules like bubbles of light, many colored,--green, yellow, +fire-red, azure. Up and down, to and fro, hither, thither as tiny +Will-o'-the-Wisps, the sparks moved, slow or swift, each at its own +caprice. A chair (as in the drawing-room below) was now advanced +from the wall without apparent agency, and placed at the opposite +side of the table. Suddenly, as forth from the chair, there grew a +shape,--a woman's shape. It was distinct as a shape of life,-- +ghastly as a shape of death. The face was that of youth, with a +strange, mournful beauty; the throat and shoulders were bare, the +rest of the form in a loose robe of cloudy white. It began +sleeking its long, yellow hair, which fell over its shoulders; its +eyes were not turned toward me, but to the door; it seemed +listening, watching, waiting. The shadow of the shade in the +background grew darker; and again I thought I beheld the eyes +gleaming out from the summit of the shadow,--eyes fixed upon that +shape. + +As if from the door, though it did not open, there grew out another +shape, equally distinct, equally ghastly,--a man's shape, a young +man's. It was in the dress of the last century, or rather in a +likeness of such dress (for both the male shape and the female, +though defined, were evidently unsubstantial, impalpable,-- +simulacra, phantasms); and there was something incongruous, +grotesque, yet fearful, in the contrast between the elaborate +finery, the courtly precision of that old-fashioned garb, with its +ruffles and lace and buckles, and the corpselike aspect and +ghostlike stillness of the flitting wearer. Just as the male shape +approached the female, the dark Shadow started from the wall, all +three for a moment wrapped in darkness. When the pale light +returned, the two phantoms were as if in the grasp of the Shadow +that towered between them; and there was a blood stain on the +breast of the female; and the phantom male was leaning on its +phantom sword, and blood seemed trickling fast from the ruffles +from the lace; and the darkness of the intermediate Shadow +swallowed them up,--they were gone. And again the bubbles of light +shot, and sailed, and undulated, growing thicker and thicker and +more wildly confused in their movements. + +The closet door to the right of the fireplace now opened, and from +the aperture there came the form of an aged woman. In her hand she +held letters,--the very letters over which I had seen THE Hand +close; and behind her I heard a footstep. She turned round as if +to listen, and then she opened the letters and seemed to read; and +over her shoulder I saw a livid face, the face as of a man long +drowned,--bloated, bleached, seaweed tangled in its dripping hair; +and at her feet lay a form as of a corpse; and beside the corpse +there cowered a child, a miserable, squalid child, with famine in +its cheeks and fear in its eyes. And as I looked in the old +woman's face, the wrinkles and lines vanished, and it became a face +of youth,--hard-eyed, stony, but still youth; and the Shadow darted +forth, and darkened over these phantoms as it had darkened over the +last. + +Nothing now was left but the Shadow, and on that my eyes were +intently fixed, till again eyes grew out of the Shadow,--malignant, +serpent eyes. And the bubbles of light again rose and fell, and in +their disordered, irregular, turbulent maze, mingled with the wan +moonlight. And now from these globules themselves, as from the +shell of an egg, monstrous things burst out; the air grew filled +with them: larvae so bloodless and so hideous that I can in no way +describe them except to remind the reader of the swarming life +which the solar microscope brings before his eyes in a drop of +water,--things transparent, supple, agile, chasing each other, +devouring each other; forms like naught ever beheld by the naked +eye. As the shapes were without symmetry, so their movements were +without order. In their very vagrancies there was no sport; they +came round me and round, thicker and faster and swifter, swarming +over my head, crawling over my right arm, which was outstretched in +involuntary command against all evil beings. Sometimes I felt +myself touched, but not by them; invisible hands touched me. Once +I felt the clutch as of cold, soft fingers at my throat. I was +still equally conscious that if I gave way to fear I should be in +bodily peril; and I concentered all my faculties in the single +focus of resisting stubborn will. And I turned my sight from the +Shadow; above all, from those strange serpent eyes,--eyes that had +now become distinctly visible. For there, though in naught else +around me, I was aware that there was a WILL, and will of intense, +creative, working evil, which might crush down my own. + +The pale atmosphere in the room began now to redden as if in the +air of some near conflagration. The larvae grew lurid as things +that live in fire. Again the room vibrated; again were heard the +three measured knocks; and again all things were swallowed up in +the darkness of the dark Shadow, as if out of that darkness all had +come, into that darkness all returned. + +As the gloom receded, the Shadow was wholly gone. Slowly, as it +had been withdrawn, the flame grew again into the candles on the +table, again into the fuel in the grate. The whole room came once +more calmly, healthfully into sight. + +The two doors were still closed, the door communicating with the +servant's room still locked. In the corner of the wall, into which +he had so convulsively niched himself, lay the dog. I called to +him,--no movement; I approached,--the animal was dead: his eyes +protruded; his tongue out of his mouth; the froth gathered round +his jaws. I took him in my arms; I brought him to the fire. I +felt acute grief for the loss of my poor favorite,--acute self- +reproach; I accused myself of his death; I imagined he had died of +fright. But what was my surprise on finding that his neck was +actually broken. Had this been done in the dark? Must it not have +been by a hand human as mine; must there not have been a human +agency all the while in that room? Good cause to suspect it. I +cannot tell. I cannot do more than state the fact fairly; the +reader may draw his own inference. + +Another surprising circumstance,--my watch was restored to the +table from which it had been so mysteriously withdrawn; but it had +stopped at the very moment it was so withdrawn, nor, despite all +the skill of the watchmaker, has it ever gone since,--that is, it +will go in a strange, erratic way for a few hours, and then come to +a dead stop; it is worthless. + +Nothing more chanced for the rest of the night. Nor, indeed, had I +long to wait before the dawn broke. Not till it was broad daylight +did I quit the haunted house. Before I did so, I revisited the +little blind room in which my servant and myself had been for a +time imprisoned. I had a strong impression--for which I could not +account--that from that room had originated the mechanism of the +phenomena, if I may use the term, which had been experienced in my +chamber. And though I entered it now in the clear day, with the +sun peering through the filmy window, I still felt, as I stood on +its floors, the creep of the horror which I had first there +experienced the night before, and which had been so aggravated by +what had passed in my own chamber. I could not, indeed, bear to +stay more than half a minute within those walls. I descended the +stairs, and again I heard the footfall before me; and when I opened +the street door, I thought I could distinguish a very low laugh. I +gained my own home, expecting to find my runaway servant there; but +he had not presented himself, nor did I hear more of him for three +days, when I received a letter from him, dated from Liverpool to +this effect:-- + + +"HONORED SIR,--I humbly entreat your pardon, though I can scarcely +hope that you will think that I deserve it, unless--which Heaven +forbid!--you saw what I did. I feel that it will be years before I +can recover myself; and as to being fit for service, it is out of +the question. I am therefore going to my brother-in-law at +Melbourne. The ship sails to-morrow. Perhaps the long voyage may +set me up. I do nothing now but start and tremble, and fancy it is +behind me. I humbly beg you, honored sir, to order my clothes, and +whatever wages are due to me, to be sent to my mother's, at +Walworth,--John knows her address." + + +The letter ended with additional apologies, somewhat incoherent, +and explanatory details as to effects that had been under the +writer's charge. + +This flight may perhaps warrant a suspicion that the man wished to +go to Australia, and had been somehow or other fraudulently mixed +up with the events of the night. I say nothing in refutation of +that conjecture; rather, I suggest it as one that would seem to +many persons the most probable solution of improbable occurrences. +My belief in my own theory remained unshaken. I returned in the +evening to the house, to bring away in a hack cab the things I had +left there, with my poor dog's body. In this task I was not +disturbed, nor did any incident worth note befall me, except that +still, on ascending and descending the stairs, I heard the same +footfall in advance. On leaving the house, I went to Mr. J----'s. +He was at home. I returned him the keys, told him that my +curiosity was sufficiently gratified, and was about to relate +quickly what had passed, when he stopped me, and said, though with +much politeness, that he had no longer any interest in a mystery +which none had ever solved. + +I determined at least to tell him of the two letters I had read, as +well as of the extraordinary manner in which they had disappeared; +and I then inquired if he thought they had been addressed to the +woman who had died in the house, and if there were anything in her +early history which could possibly confirm the dark suspicions to +which the letters gave rise. Mr. J---- seemed startled, and, after +musing a few moments, answered, "I am but little acquainted with +the woman's earlier history, except as I before told you, that her +family were known to mine. But you revive some vague reminiscences +to her prejudice. I will make inquiries, and inform you of their +result. Still, even if we could admit the popular superstition +that a person who had been either the perpetrator or the victim of +dark crimes in life could revisit, as a restless spirit, the scene +in which those crimes had been committed, I should observe that the +house was infested by strange sights and sounds before the old +woman died--you smile--what would you say?" + +"I would say this, that I am convinced, if we could get to the +bottom of these mysteries, we should find a living human agency." + +"What! you believe it is all an imposture? For what object?" + +"Not an imposture in the ordinary sense of the word. If suddenly I +were to sink into a deep sleep, from which you could not awake me, +but in that sleep could answer questions with an accuracy which I +could not pretend to when awake,--tell you what money you had in +your pocket, nay, describe your very thoughts,--it is not +necessarily an imposture, any more than it is necessarily +supernatural. I should be, unconsciously to myself, under a +mesmeric influence, conveyed to me from a distance by a human being +who had acquired power over me by previous rapport." + +"But if a mesmerizer could so affect another living being, can you +suppose that a mesmerizer could also affect inanimate objects: move +chairs,--open and shut doors?" + +"Or impress our senses with the belief in such effects,--we never +having been en rapport with the person acting on us? No. What is +commonly called mesmerism could not do this; but there may be a +power akin to mesmerism, and superior to it,--the power that in the +old days was called Magic. That such a power may extend to all +inanimate objects of matter, I do not say; but if so, it would not +be against Nature,--it would be only a rare power in Nature which +might be given to constitutions with certain peculiarities, and +cultivated by practice to an extraordinary degree. That such a +power might extend over the dead,--that is, over certain thoughts +and memories that the dead may still retain,--and compel, not that +which ought properly to be called the SOUL, and which is far beyond +human reach, but rather a phantom of what has been most earth- +stained on earth, to make itself apparent to our senses, is a very +ancient though obsolete theory upon which I will hazard no opinion. +But I do not conceive the power would be supernatural. Let me +illustrate what I mean from an experiment which Paracelsus +describes as not difficult, and which the author of the +'Curiosities of Literature' cites as credible: A flower perishes; +you burn it. Whatever were the elements of that flower while it +lived are gone, dispersed, you know not whither; you can never +discover nor re-collect them. But you can, by chemistry, out of +the burned dust of that flower, raise a spectrum of the flower, +just as it seemed in life. It may be the same with the human +being. The soul has as much escaped you as the essence or elements +of the flower. Still you may make a spectrum of it. And this +phantom, though in the popular superstition it is held to be the +soul of the departed, must not be confounded with the true soul; it +is but the eidolon of the dead form. Hence, like the best-attested +stories of ghosts or spirits, the thing that most strikes us is the +absence of what we hold to be soul,--that is, of superior +emancipated intelligence. These apparitions come for little or no +object,--they seldom speak when they do come; if they speak, they +utter no ideas above those of an ordinary person on earth. +American spirit seers have published volumes of communications, in +prose and verse, which they assert to be given in the names of the +most illustrious dead: Shakespeare, Bacon,--Heaven knows whom. +Those communications, taking the best, are certainly not a whit of +higher order than would be communications from living persons of +fair talent and education; they are wondrously inferior to what +Bacon, Shakespeare, and Plato said and wrote when on earth. Nor, +what is more noticeable, do they ever contain an idea that was not +on the earth before. Wonderful, therefore, as such phenomena may +be (granting them to be truthful), I see much that philosophy may +question, nothing that it is incumbent on philosophy to deny,-- +namely, nothing supernatural. They are but ideas conveyed somehow +or other (we have not yet discovered the means) from one mortal +brain to another. Whether, in so doing, tables walk of their own +accord, or fiendlike shapes appear in a magic circle, or bodiless +hands rise and remove material objects, or a Thing of Darkness, +such as presented itself to me, freeze our blood,--still am I +persuaded that these are but agencies conveyed, as by electric +wires, to my own brain from the brain of another. In some +constitutions there is a natural chemistry, and those constitutions +may produce chemic wonders,--in others a natural fluid, call it +electricity, and these may produce electric wonders. But the +wonders differ from Normal Science in this,--they are alike +objectless, purposeless, puerile, frivolous. They lead on to no +grand results; and therefore the world does not heed, and true +sages have not cultivated them. But sure I am, that of all I saw +or heard, a man, human as myself, was the remote originator; and I +believe unconsciously to himself as to the exact effects produced, +for this reason: no two persons, you say, have ever told you that +they experienced exactly the same thing. Well, observe, no two +persons ever experience exactly the same dream. If this were an +ordinary imposture, the machinery would be arranged for results +that would but little vary; if it were a supernatural agency +permitted by the Almighty, it would surely be for some definite +end. These phenomena belong to neither class; my persuasion is, +that they originate in some brain now far distant; that that brain +had no distinct volition in anything that occurred; that what does +occur reflects but its devious, motley, ever-shifting, half-formed +thoughts; in short, that it has been but the dreams of such a brain +put into action and invested with a semisubstance. That this brain +is of immense power, that it can set matter into movement, that it +is malignant and destructive, I believe; some material force must +have killed my dog; the same force might, for aught I know, have +sufficed to kill myself, had I been as subjugated by terror as the +dog,--had my intellect or my spirit given me no countervailing +resistance in my will." + +"It killed your dog,--that is fearful! Indeed it is strange that +no animal can be induced to stay in that house; not even a cat. +Rats and mice are never found in it." + +"The instincts of the brute creation detect influences deadly to +their existence. Man's reason has a sense less subtle, because it +has a resisting power more supreme. But enough; do you comprehend +my theory?" + +"Yes, though imperfectly,--and I accept any crotchet (pardon the +word), however odd, rather than embrace at once the notion of +ghosts and hobgoblins we imbibed in our nurseries. Still, to my +unfortunate house, the evil is the same. What on earth can I do +with the house?" + +"I will tell you what I would do. I am convinced from my own +internal feelings that the small, unfurnished room at right angles +to the door of the bedroom which I occupied, forms a starting point +or receptacle for the influences which haunt the house; and I +strongly advise you to have the walls opened, the floor removed,-- +nay, the whole room pulled down. I observe that it is detached +from the body of the house, built over the small backyard, and +could be removed without injury to the rest of the building." + +"And you think, if I did that--" + +"You would cut off the telegraph wires. Try it. I am so persuaded +that I am right, that I will pay half the expense if you will allow +me to direct the operations." + +"Nay, I am well able to afford the cost; for the rest allow me to +write to you." + +About ten days after I received a letter from Mr. J---- telling me +that he had visited the house since I had seen him; that he had +found the two letters I had described, replaced in the drawer from +which I had taken them; that he had read them with misgivings like +my own; that he had instituted a cautious inquiry about the woman +to whom I rightly conjectured they had been written. It seemed +that thirty-six years ago (a year before the date of the letters) +she had married, against the wish of her relations, an American of +very suspicions character; in fact, he was generally believed to +have been a pirate. She herself was the daughter of very +respectable tradespeople, and had served in the capacity of a +nursery governess before her marriage. She had a brother, a +widower, who was considered wealthy, and who had one child of about +six years old. A month after the marriage the body of this brother +was found in the Thames, near London Bridge; there seemed some +marks of violence about his throat, but they were not deemed +sufficient to warrant the inquest in any other verdict that that of +"found drowned." + +The American and his wife took charge of the little boy, the +deceased brother having by his will left his sister the guardian of +his only child,--and in event of the child's death the sister +inherited. The child died about six months afterwards,--it was +supposed to have been neglected and ill-treated. The neighbors +deposed to have heard it shriek at night. The surgeon who had +examined it after death said that it was emaciated as if from want +of nourishment, and the body was covered with livid bruises. It +seemed that one winter night the child had sought to escape; crept +out into the back yard; tried to scale the wall; fallen back +exhausted; and been found at morning on the stones in a dying +state. But though there was some evidence of cruelty, there was +none of murder; and the aunt and her husband had sought to palliate +cruelty by alleging the exceeding stubbornness and perversity of +the child, who was declared to be half-witted. Be that as it may, +at the orphan's death the aunt inherited her brother's fortune. +Before the first wedded year was out, the American quitted England +abruptly, and never returned to it. He obtained a cruising vessel, +which was lost in the Atlantic two years afterwards. The widow was +left in affluence, but reverses of various kinds had befallen her: +a bank broke; an investment failed; she went into a small business +and became insolvent; then she entered into service, sinking lower +and lower, from housekeeper down to maid-of-all-work,--never long +retaining a place, though nothing decided against her character was +ever alleged. She was considered sober, honest, and peculiarly +quiet in her ways; still nothing prospered with her. And so she +had dropped into the workhouse, from which Mr. J---- had taken her, +to be placed in charge of the very house which she had rented as +mistress in the first year of her wedded life. + +Mr. J---- added that he had passed an hour alone in the unfurnished +room which I had urged him to destroy, and that his impressions of +dread while there were so great, though he had neither heard nor +seen anything, that he was eager to have the walls bared and the +floors removed as I had suggested. He had engaged persons for the +work, and would commence any day I would name. + +The day was accordingly fixed. I repaired to the haunted house,-- +we went into the blind, dreary room, took up the skirting, and then +the floors. Under the rafters, covered with rubbish, was found a +trapdoor, quite large enough to admit a man. It was closely nailed +down, with clamps and rivets of iron. On removing these we +descended into a room below, the existence of which had never been +suspected. In this room there had been a window and a flue, but +they had been bricked over, evidently for many years. By the help +of candles we examined this place; it still retained some moldering +furniture,--three chairs, an oak settle, a table,--all of the +fashion of about eighty years ago. There was a chest of drawers +against the wall, in which we found, half rotted away, old- +fashioned articles of a man's dress, such as might have been worn +eighty or a hundred years ago by a gentleman of some rank; costly +steel buckles and buttons, like those yet worn in court dresses, a +handsome court sword; in a waistcoat which had once been rich with +gold lace, but which was now blackened and foul with damp, we found +five guineas, a few silver coins, and an ivory ticket, probably for +some place of entertainment long since passed away. But our main +discovery was in a kind of iron safe fixed to the wall, the lock of +which it cost us much trouble to get picked. + +In this safe were three shelves and two small drawers. Ranged on +the shelves were several small bottles of crystal, hermetically +stopped. They contained colorless, volatile essences, of the +nature of which I shall only say that they were not poisons,-- +phosphor and ammonia entered into some of them. There were also +some very curious glass tubes, and a small pointed rod of iron, +with a large lump of rock crystal, and another of amber,--also a +loadstone of great power. + +In one of the drawers we found a miniature portrait set in gold, +and retaining the freshness of its colors most remarkably, +considering the length of time it had probably been there. The +portrait was that of a man who might be somewhat advanced in middle +life, perhaps forty-seven or forty-eight. It was a remarkable +face,--a most impressive face. If you could fancy some mighty +serpent transformed into man, preserving in the human lineaments +the old serpent type, you would have a better idea of that +countenance than long descriptions can convey: the width and +flatness of frontal; the tapering elegance of contour disguising +the strength of the deadly jaw; the long, large, terrible eye, +glittering and green as the emerald,--and withal a certain ruthless +calm, as if from the consciousness of an immense power. + +Mechanically I turned round the miniature to examine the back of +it, and on the back was engraved a pentacle; in the middle of the +pentacle a ladder, and the third step of the ladder was formed by +the date 1765. Examining still more minutely, I detected a spring; +this, on being pressed, opened the back of the miniature as a lid. +Within-side the lid were engraved, "Marianna to thee. Be faithful +in life and in death to ----." Here follows a name that I will not +mention, but it was not unfamiliar to me. I had heard it spoken of +by old men in my childhood as the name borne by a dazzling +charlatan who had made a great sensation in London for a year or +so, and had fled the country on the charge of a double murder +within his own house,--that of his mistress and his rival. I said +nothing of this to Mr. J----, to whom reluctantly I resigned the +miniature. + +We had found no difficulty in opening the first drawer within the +iron safe; we found great difficulty in opening the second: it was +not locked, but it resisted all efforts, till we inserted in the +chinks the edge of a chisel. When we had thus drawn it forth, we +found a very singular apparatus in the nicest order. Upon a small, +thin book, or rather tablet, was placed a saucer of crystal; this +saucer was filled with a clear liquid,--on that liquid floated a +kind of compass, with a needle shifting rapidly round; but instead +of the usual points of a compass were seven strange characters, not +very unlike those used by astrologers to denote the planets. A +peculiar but not strong nor displeasing odor came from this drawer, +which was lined with a wood that we afterwards discovered to be +hazel. Whatever the cause of this odor, it produced a material +effect on the nerves. We all felt it, even the two workmen who +were in the room,--a creeping, tingling sensation from the tips of +the fingers to the roots of the hair. Impatient to examine the +tablet, I removed the saucer. As I did so the needle of the +compass went round and round with exceeding swiftness, and I felt a +shock that ran through my whole frame, so that I dropped the saucer +on the floor. The liquid was spilled; the saucer was broken; the +compass rolled to the end of the room, and at that instant the +walls shook to and fro, as if a giant had swayed and rocked them. + +The two workmen were so frightened that they ran up the ladder by +which we had descended from the trapdoor; but seeing that nothing +more happened, they were easily induced to return. + +Meanwhile I had opened the tablet: it was bound in plain red +leather, with a silver clasp; it contained but one sheet of thick +vellum, and on that sheet were inscribed, within a double pentacle, +words in old monkish Latin, which are literally to be translated +thus: "On all that it can reach within these walls, sentient or +inanimate, living or dead, as moves the needle, so works my will! +Accursed be the house, and restless be the dwellers therein." + +We found no more. Mr. J---- burned the tablet and its anathema. +He razed to the foundations the part of the building containing the +secret room with the chamber over it. He had then the courage to +inhabit the house himself for a month, and a quieter, better- +conditioned house could not be found in all London. Subsequently +he let it to advantage, and his tenant has made no complaints. + + + +A drowning man clutching at a straw--such is Dr. Fenwick, hero of +Bulwer-Lytton's "Strange Story" when he determines to lend himself +to alleged "magic" in the hope of saving his suffering wife from +the physical dangers which have succeeded her mental disease. The +proposition has been made to him by Margrave, a wanderer in many +countries, who has followed the Fenwicks from England to Australia. +Margrave declares that he needs an accomplice to secure an "elixir +of life" which his own failing strength demands. His mysterious +mesmeric or hypnotic influence over Mrs. Fenwick had in former days +been marked; and on the basis of this undeniable fact, he has +endeavored to show that his own welfare and Mrs. Fenwick's are, in +some occult fashion, knit together, and that only by aiding him in +some extraordinary experiment can the physician snatch his beloved +Lilian from her impending doom. + +As the first chapter opens, Fenwick is learning his wife's +condition from his friend, Dr. Faber. + + + +Bulwer-Lytton + + +The Incantation + + +I + + +"I believe that for at least twelve hours there will be no change +in her state. I believe also that if she recover from it, calm and +refreshed, as from a sleep, the danger of death will have passed +away." + +"And for twelve hours my presence would be hurtful?" + +"Rather say fatal, if my diagnosis be right." + +I wrung my friend's hand, and we parted. + +Oh, to lose her now; now that her love and her reason had both +returned, each more vivid than before! Futile, indeed, might be +Margrave's boasted secret; but at least in that secret was hope. +In recognized science I saw only despair. + +And at that thought all dread of this mysterious visitor vanished-- +all anxiety to question more of his attributes or his history. His +life itself became to me dear and precious. What if it should fail +me in the steps of the process, whatever that was, by which the +life of my Lilian might be saved! + +The shades of evening were now closing in. I remembered that I had +left Margrave without even food for many hours. I stole round to +the back of the house, filled a basket with elements more generous +than those of the former day; extracted fresh drugs from my stores, +and, thus laden, hurried back to the hut. I found Margrave in the +room below, seated on his mysterious coffer, leaning his face on +his hand. When I entered, he looked up, and said: + +"You have neglected me. My strength is waning. Give me more of +the cordial, for we have work before us tonight, and I need +support." + +He took for granted my assent to his wild experiment; and he was +right. + +I administered the cordial. I placed food before him, and this +time he did not eat with repugnance. I poured out wine, and he +drank it sparingly, but with ready compliance, saying, "In perfect +health, I looked upon wine as poison; now it is like a foretaste of +the glorious elixir." + +After he had thus recruited himself, he seemed to acquire an energy +that startlingly contrasted with his languor the day before; the +effort of breathing was scarcely perceptible; the color came back +to his cheeks; his bended frame rose elastic and erect. + +"If I understood you rightly," said I, "the experiment you ask me +to aid can be accomplished in a single night?" + +"In a single night--this night." + +"Command me. Why not begin at once? What apparatus or chemical +agencies do you need?" + +"Ah!" said Margrave. "Formerly, how I was misled! Formerly, how +my conjectures blundered! I thought, when I asked you to give a +month to the experiment I wish to make, that I should need the +subtlest skill of the chemist. I then believed, with Van Helmont, +that the principle of life is a gas, and that the secret was but in +the mode by which the gas might be rightly administered. But now, +all that I need is contained in this coffer, save one very simple +material--fuel sufficient for a steady fire for six hours. I see +even that is at hand, piled up in your outhouse. And now for the +substance itself--to that you must guide me." + +"Explain." + +"Near this very spot is there not gold--in mines yet undiscovered-- +and gold of the purest metal?" + +"There is. What then? Do you, with the alchemists, blend in one +discovery, gold and life?" + +"No. But it is only where the chemistry of earth or of man +produces gold, that the substance from which the great pabulum of +life is extracted by ferment can be found. Possibly, in the +attempts at that transmutation of metals, which I think your own +great chemist, Sir Humphry Davy, allowed might be possible, but +held not to be worth the cost of the process--possibly, in those +attempts, some scanty grains of this substance were found by the +alchemists, in the crucible, with grains of the metal as niggardly +yielded by pitiful mimicry of Nature's stupendous laboratory; and +from such grains enough of the essence might, perhaps, have been +drawn forth, to add a few years of existence to some feeble +graybeard--granting, what rests on no proofs, that some of the +alchemists reached an age rarely given to man. But it is not in +the miserly crucible, it is in the matrix of Nature herself, that +we must seek in prolific abundance Nature's grand principle--life. +As the loadstone is rife with the magnetic virtue, as amber +contains the electric, so in this substance, to which we yet want a +name, is found the bright life-giving fluid. In the old gold mines +of Asia and Europe the substance exists, but can rarely be met +with. The soil for its nutriment may there be well nigh exhausted. +It is here, where Nature herself is all vital with youth, that the +nutriment of youth must be sought. Near this spot is gold; guide +me to it." + +"You cannot come with me. The place which I know as auriferous is +some miles distant, the way rugged. You cannot walk to it. It is +true I have horses, but--" + +"Do you think I have come this distance and not foreseen and +forestalled all that I want for my object? Trouble yourself not +with conjectures how I can arrive at the place. I have provided +the means to arrive at and leave it. My litter and its bearers are +in reach of my call. Give me your arm to the rising ground, fifty +yards from your door." + +I obeyed mechanically, stifling all surprise. I had made my +resolve, and admitted no thought that could shake it. + +When we reached the summit of the grassy hillock, which sloped from +the road that led to the seaport, Margrave, after pausing to +recover breath, lifted up his voice, in a key, not loud, but shrill +and slow and prolonged, half cry and half chant, like the +nighthawk's. Through the air--so limpid and still, bringing near +far objects, far sounds--the voice pierced its way, artfully +pausing, till wave after wave of the atmosphere bore and +transmitted it on. + +In a few minutes the call seemed re-echoed, so exactly, so +cheerily, that for the moment I thought that the note was the +mimicry of the shy mocking lyre bird, which mimics so merrily all +that it hears in its coverts, from the whir of the locust to the +howl of the wild dog. + +"What king," said the mystical charmer, and as he spoke he +carelessly rested his hand on my shoulder, so that I trembled to +feel that this dread son of Nature, Godless and soulless, who had +been--and, my heart whispered, who still could be--my bane and mind +darkener, leaned upon me for support, as the spoiled younger-born +on his brother--"what king," said this cynical mocker, with his +beautiful boyish face--"what king in your civilized Europe has the +sway of a chief of the East? What link is so strong between mortal +and mortal as that between lord and slave? I transport you poor +fools from the land of their birth; they preserve here their old +habits--obedience and awe. They would wait till they starved in +the solitude--wait to hearken and answer my call. And I, who thus +rule them, or charm them--I use and despise them. They know that, +and yet serve me! Between you and me, my philosopher, there is but +one thing worth living for--life for oneself." + +Is it age, is it youth, that thus shocks all my sense, in my solemn +completeness of man? Perhaps, in great capitals, young men of +pleasure will answer, "It is youth; and we think what he says!" +Young friends, I do not believe you. + + +II + + +Along the grass track I saw now, under the moon, just risen, a +strange procession--never seen before in Australian pastures. It +moved on, noiselessly but quickly. We descended the hillock, and +met it on the way; a sable litter, borne by four men, in unfamiliar +Eastern garments; two other servitors, more bravely dressed, with +yataghans and silver-hilted pistols in their belts, preceded this +somber equipage. Perhaps Margrave divined the disdainful thought +that passed through my mind, vaguely and half-unconsciously; for he +said with a hollow, bitter laugh that had replaced the lively peal +of his once melodious mirth: + +"A little leisure and a little gold, and your raw colonist, too, +will have the tastes of a pasha." + +I made no answer. I had ceased to care who and what was my +tempter. To me his whole being was resolved into one problem: had +he a secret by which death could be turned from Lilian? + +But now, as the litter halted, from the long, dark shadow which it +cast upon the turf, the figure of a woman emerged and stood before +us. The outlines of her shape were lost in the loose folds of a +black mantle, and the features of her face were hidden by a black +veil, except only the dark-bright, solemn eyes. Her stature was +lofty, her bearing majestic, whether in movement or repose. + +Margrave accosted her in some language unknown to me. She replied +in what seemed to me the same tongue. The tones of her voice were +sweet, but inexpressibly mournful. The words that they uttered +appeared intended to warn, or deprecate, or dissuade; but they +called to Margrave's brow a lowering frown, and drew from his lips +a burst of unmistakable anger. The woman rejoined, in the same +melancholy music of voice. And Margrave then, leaning his arm upon +her shoulder, as he had leaned it on mine, drew her away from the +group into a neighboring copse of the flowering eucalypti--mystic +trees, never changing the hues of their pale-green leaves, ever +shifting the tints of their ash-gray, shedding bark. For some +moments I gazed on the two human forms, dimly seen by the glinting +moonlight through the gaps in the foliage. Then turning away my +eyes, I saw, standing close at my side, a man whom I had not +noticed before. His footstep, as it stole to me, had fallen on the +sward without sound. His dress, though Oriental, differed from +that of his companions, both in shape and color--fitting close to +the breast, leaving the arms bare to the elbow, and of a uniform +ghastly white, as are the cerements of the grave. His visage was +even darker than those of the Syrians or Arabs behind him, and his +features were those of a bird of prey: the beak of the eagle, but +the eye of the vulture. His cheeks were hollow; the arms, crossed +on his breast, were long and fleshless. Yet in that skeleton form +there was a something which conveyed the idea of a serpent's +suppleness and strength; and as the hungry, watchful eyes met my +own startled gaze, I recoiled impulsively with that inward warning +of danger which is conveyed to man, as to inferior animals, in the +very aspect of the creatures that sting or devour. At my movement +the man inclined his head in the submissive Eastern salutation, and +spoke in his foreign tongue, softly, humbly, fawningly, to judge by +his tone and his gesture. + +I moved yet farther away from him with loathing, and now the human +thought flashed upon me: was I, in truth, exposed to no danger in +trusting myself to the mercy of the weird and remorseless master of +those hirelings from the East--seven men in number, two at least of +them formidably armed, and docile as bloodhounds to the hunter, who +has only to show them their prey? But fear of man like myself is +not my weakness; where fear found its way to my heart, it was +through the doubts or the fancies in which man like myself +disappeared in the attributes, dark and unknown, which we give to a +fiend or a specter. And, perhaps, if I could have paused to +analyze my own sensations, the very presence of this escort-- +creatures of flesh and blood--lessened the dread of my +incomprehensible tempter. Rather, a hundred times, front and defy +those seven Eastern slaves--I, haughty son of the Anglo-Saxon who +conquers all races because he fears no odds--than have seen again +on the walls of my threshold the luminous, bodiless shadow! +Besides: Lilian--Lilian! for one chance of saving her life, however +wild and chimerical that chance might be, I would have shrunk not a +foot from the march of an army. + +Thus reassured and thus resolved, I advanced, with a smile of +disdain, to meet Margrave and his veiled companion, as they now +came from the moonlit copse. + +"Well," I said to him, with an irony that unconsciously mimicked +his own, "have you taken advice with your nurse? I assume that the +dark form by your side is that of Ayesha!"* + + +* Margrave's former nurse and attendant. + + +The woman looked at me from her sable veil, with her steadfast, +solemn eyes, and said, in English, though with a foreign accent: +"The nurse born in Asia is but wise through her love; the pale son +of Europe is wise through his art. The nurse says, 'Forbear!' Do +you say, 'Adventure'?" + +"Peace!" exclaimed Margrave, stamping his foot on the ground. "I +take no counsel from either; it is for me to resolve, for you to +obey, and for him to aid. Night is come, and we waste it; move +on." + +The woman made no reply, nor did I. He took my arm and walked back +to the hut. The barbaric escort followed. When we reached the +door of the building, Margrave said a few words to the woman and to +the litter bearers. They entered the hut with us. Margrave +pointed out to the woman his coffer, to the men the fuel stowed in +the outhouse. Both were borne away and placed within the litter. +Meanwhile I took from the table, on which it was carelessly thrown, +the light hatchet that I habitually carried with me in my rambles. + +"Do you think that you need that idle weapon?" said Margrave. "Do +you fear the good faith of my swarthy attendants?" + +"Nay, take the hatchet yourself; its use is to sever the gold from +the quartz in which we may find it imbedded, or to clear, as this +shovel, which will also be needed, from the slight soil above it, +the ore that the mine in the mountain flings forth, as the sea +casts its waifs on the sands." + +"Give me your hand, fellow laborer!" said Margrave, joyfully. "Ah, +there is no faltering terror in this pulse! I was not mistaken in +the man. What rests, but the place and the hour?--I shall live, I +shall live!" + + +III + + +Margrave now entered the litter, and the Veiled Woman drew the +black curtains round him. I walked on, as the guide, some yards in +advance. The air was still, heavy, and parched with the breath of +the Australasian sirocco. + +We passed through the meadow lands, studded with slumbering flocks; +we followed the branch of the creek, which was linked to its source +in the mountains by many a trickling waterfall; we threaded the +gloom of stunted, misshapen trees, gnarled with the stringy bark +which makes one of the signs of the strata that nourish gold; and +at length the moon, now in all her pomp of light, mid-heaven among +her subject stars, gleamed through the fissures of the cave, on +whose floor lay the relics of antediluvian races, and rested in one +flood of silvery splendor upon the hollows of the extinct volcano, +with tufts of dank herbage, and wide spaces of paler sward, +covering the gold below--gold, the dumb symbol of organized +Matter's great mystery, storing in itself, according as Mind, the +informer of Matter, can distinguish its uses, evil and good, bane +and blessing. + +Hitherto the Veiled Woman had remained in the rear, with the white- +robed, skeletonlike image that had crept to my side unawares with +its noiseless step. Thus, in each winding turn of the difficult +path at which the convoy following behind me came into sight, I had +seen, first, the two gayly dressed, armed men, next the black, +bierlike litter, and last the Black-veiled Woman and the White- +robed Skeleton. + +But now, as I halted on the tableland, backed by the mountain and +fronting the valley, the woman left her companion, passed by the +litter and the armed men, and paused by my side, at the mouth of +the moonlit cavern. + +There for a moment she stood, silent, the procession below mounting +upward laboriously and slow; then she turned to me, and her veil +was withdrawn. + +The face on which I gazed was wondrously beautiful, and severely +awful. There was neither youth nor age, but beauty, mature and +majestic as that of a marble Demeter. + +"Do you believe in that which you seek?" she asked in her foreign, +melodious, melancholy accents. + +"I have no belief," was my answer. "True science has none. True +science questions all things, takes nothing upon credit. It knows +but three states of the mind--denial, conviction, and that vast +interval between the two which is not belief but suspense of +judgment." + +The woman let fall her veil, moved from me, and seated herself on a +crag above that cleft between mountain and creek, to which, when I +had first discovered the gold that the land nourished, the rain +from the clouds had given the rushing life of the cataract; but +which now, in the drought and the hush of the skies, was but a dead +pile of stones. + +The litter now ascended the height: its bearers halted; a lean hand +tore the curtains aside, and Margrave descended leaning, this time, +not on the Black-veiled Woman, but on the White-robed Skeleton. + +There, as he stood, the moon shone full on his wasted form; on his +face, resolute, cheerful, and proud, despite its hollowed outlines +and sicklied hues. He raised his head, spoke in the language +unknown to me, and the armed men and the litter bearers grouped +round him, bending low, their eyes fixed on the ground. The Veiled +Woman rose slowly and came to his side, motioning away, with a mute +sign, the ghastly form on which he leaned, and passing round him +silently, instead, her own sustaining arm. Margrave spoke again a +few sentences, of which I could not even guess the meaning. When +he had concluded, the armed men and the litter bearers came nearer +to his feet, knelt down, and kissed his hand. They then rose, and +took from the bierlike vehicle the coffer and the fuel. This done, +they lifted again the litter, and again, preceded by the armed men, +the procession descended down the sloping hillside, down into the +valley below. + +Margrave now whispered, for some moments, into the ear of the +hideous creature who had made way for the Veiled Woman. The grim +skeleton bowed his head submissively, and strode noiselessly away +through the long grasses--the slender stems, trampled under his +stealthy feet, relifting themselves as after a passing wind. And +thus he, too, sank out of sight down into the valley below. On the +tableland of the hill remained only we three--Margrave, myself, and +the Veiled Woman. + +She had reseated herself apart, on the gray crag above the dried +torrent. He stood at the entrance of the cavern, round the sides +of which clustered parasital plants, with flowers of all colors, +some among them opening their petals and exhaling their fragrance +only in the hours of night; so that, as his form filled up the jaws +of the dull arch, obscuring the moonbeam that strove to pierce the +shadows that slept within, it stood now--wan and blighted--as I had +seen it first, radiant and joyous, literally "framed in blooms." + + +IV + + +"So," said Margrave, turning to me, "under the soil that spreads +around us lies the gold which to you and to me is at this moment of +no value, except as a guide to its twin-born--the regenerator of +life!" + +"You have not yet described to me the nature of the substance which +we are to explore, nor the process by which the virtues you impute +to it are to be extracted." + +"Let us first find the gold, and instead of describing the life- +amber, so let me call it, I will point it out to your own eyes. As +to the process, your share in it is so simple that you will ask me +why I seek aid from a chemist. The life-amber, when found, has but +to be subjected to heat and fermentation for six hours; it will be +placed in a small caldron which that coffer contains, over the fire +which that fuel will feed. To give effect to the process, certain +alkalies and other ingredients are required; but these are +prepared, and mine is the task to commingle them. From your +science as chemist I need and ask naught. In you I have sought +only the aid of a man." + +"If that be so, why, indeed, seek me at all? Why not confide in +those swarthy attendants, who doubtless are slaves to your orders?" + +"Confide in slaves, when the first task enjoined to them would be +to discover, and refrain from purloining gold! Seven such +unscrupulous knaves, or even one such, and I, thus defenseless and +feeble! Such is not the work that wise masters confide to fierce +slaves. But that is the least of the reasons which exclude them +from my choice, and fix my choice of assistant on you. Do you +forget what I told you of the danger which the Dervish declared no +bribe I could offer could tempt him a second time to brave?" + +"I remember now; those words had passed away from my mind." + +"And because they had passed away from your mind, I chose you for +my comrade. I need a man by whom danger is scorned." + +"But in the process of which you tell me I see no possible danger +unless the ingredients you mix in your caldron have poisonous +fumes." + +"It is not that. The ingredients I use are not poisons." + +"What other danger, except you dread your own Eastern slaves? But, +if so, why lead them to these solitudes; and, if so, why not bid me +be armed?" + +"The Eastern slaves, fulfilling my commands, wait for my summons, +where their eyes cannot see what we do. The danger is of a kind in +which the boldest son of the East would be more craven, perhaps, +that the daintiest Sybarite of Europe, who would shrink from a +panther and laugh at a ghost. In the creed of the Dervish, and of +all who adventure into that realm of Nature which is closed to +philosophy and open to magic, there are races in the magnitude of +space unseen as animalcules in the world of a drop. For the tribes +of the drop science has its microscope. Of the host of yon azure +Infinite magic gains sight, and through them gains command over +fluid conductors that link all the parts of creation. Of these +races, some are wholly indifferent to man, some benign to him, and +some deadly hostile. In all the regular and prescribed conditions +of mortal being, this magic realm seems as blank and tenantless as +yon vacant air. But when a seeker of powers beyond the rude +functions by which man plies the clockwork that measures his hours, +and stops when its chain reaches the end of its coil, strives to +pass over those boundaries at which philosophy says, 'Knowledge +ends'--then, he is like all other travelers in regions unknown; he +must propitiate or brave the tribes that are hostile--must depend +for his life on the tribes that are friendly. Though your science +discredits the alchemist's dogmas, your learning informs you that +all alchemists were not ignorant impostors; yet those whose +discoveries prove them to have been the nearest allies to your +practical knowledge, ever hint in their mystical works at the +reality of that realm which is open to magic--ever hint that some +means less familiar than furnace and bellows are essential to him +who explores the elixir of life. He who once quaffs that elixir, +obtains in his very veins the bright fluid by which he transmits +the force of his will to agencies dormant in Nature, to giants +unseen in the space. And here, as he passes the boundary which +divides his allotted and normal mortality from the regions and +races that magic alone can explore, so, here, he breaks down the +safeguard between himself and the tribes that are hostile. Is it +not ever thus between man and man? Let a race the most gentle and +timid and civilized dwell on one side a river or mountain, and +another have home in the region beyond, each, if it pass not the +intervening barrier, may with each live in peace. But if ambitious +adventurers scale the mountain, or cross the river, with design to +subdue and enslave the population they boldly invade, then all the +invaded arise in wrath and defiance--the neighbors are changed into +foes. And therefore this process--by which a simple though rare +material of Nature is made to yield to a mortal the boon of a life +which brings, with its glorious resistance to Time, desires and +faculties to subject to its service beings that dwell in the earth +and the air and the deep--has ever been one of the same peril which +an invader must brave when he crosses the bounds of his nation. By +this key alone you unlock all the cells of the alchemist's lore; by +this alone understand how a labor, which a chemist's crudest +apprentice could perform, has baffled the giant fathers of all your +dwarfed children of science. Nature, that stores this priceless +boon, seems to shrink from conceding it to man--the invisible +tribes that abhor him oppose themselves to the gain that might give +them a master. The duller of those who were the life-seekers of +old would have told you how some chance, trivial, unlooked-for, +foiled their grand hope at the very point of fruition; some doltish +mistake, some improvident oversight, a defect in the sulphur, a +wild overflow in the quicksilver, or a flaw in the bellows, or a +pupil who failed to replenish the fuel, by falling asleep by the +furnace. The invisible foes seldom vouchsafe to make themselves +visible where they can frustrate the bungler as they mock at his +toils from their ambush. But the mightier adventurers, equally +foiled in despite of their patience and skill, would have said, +'Not with us rests the fault; we neglected no caution, we failed +from no oversight. But out from the caldron dread faces arose, and +the specters or demons dismayed and baffled us.' Such, then, is +the danger which seems so appalling to a son of the East, as it +seemed to a seer in the dark age of Europe. But we can deride all +its threats, you and I. For myself, I own frankly I take all the +safety that the charms and resources of magic bestow. You, for +your safety, have the cultured and disciplined reason which reduces +all fantasies to nervous impressions; and I rely on the courage of +one who has questioned, unquailing, the Luminous Shadow, and +wrested from the hand of the magician himself the wand which +concentered the wonders of will!" + +To this strange and long discourse I listened without interruption, +and now quietly answered: + +"I do not merit the trust you affect in my courage; but I am now on +my guard against the cheats of the fancy, and the fumes of a vapor +can scarcely bewilder the brain in the open air of this mountain +land. I believe in no races like those which you tell me lie +viewless in space, as do gases. I believe not in magic; I ask not +its aids, and I dread not its terrors. For the rest, I am +confident of one mournful courage--the courage that comes from +despair. I submit to your guidance, whatever it be, as a sufferer +whom colleges doom to the grave submits to the quack who says, +'Take my specific and live!' My life is naught in itself; my life +lives in another. You and I are both brave from despair; you would +turn death from yourself--I would turn death from one I love more +than myself. Both know how little aid we can win from the +colleges, and both, therefore, turn to the promises most +audaciously cheering. Dervish or magician, alchemist or phantom, +what care you and I? And if they fail us, what then? They cannot +fail us more than the colleges do!" + + +V + + +The gold has been gained with an easy labor. I knew where to seek +for it, whether under the turf or in the bed of the creek. But +Margrave's eyes, hungrily gazing round every spot from which the +ore was disburied, could not detect the substance of which he alone +knew the outward appearance. I had begun to believe that, even in +the description given to him of this material, he had been +credulously duped, and that no such material existed, when, coming +back from the bed of the watercourse, I saw a faint, yellow gleam +amidst the roots of a giant parasite plant, the leaves and blossoms +of which climbed up the sides of the cave with its antediluvian +relics. The gleam was the gleam of gold, and on removing the loose +earth round the roots of the plant, we came on-- No, I will not, I +dare not, describe it. The gold digger would cast it aside; the +naturalist would pause not to heed it; and did I describe it, and +chemistry deign to subject it to analysis, could chemistry alone +detach or discover its boasted virtues? + +Its particles, indeed, are very minute, not seeming readily to +crystallize with each other; each in itself of uniform shape and +size, spherical as the egg which contains the germ of life, and +small as the egg from which the life of an insect may quicken. + +But Margrave's keen eye caught sight of the atoms upcast by the +light of the moon. He exclaimed to me, "Found! I shall live!" +And then, as he gathered up the grains with tremulous hands, he +called out to the Veiled Woman, hitherto still seated motionless on +the crag. At his word she rose and went to the place hard by, +where the fuel was piled, busying herself there. I had no leisure +to heed her. I continued my search in the soft and yielding soil +that time and the decay of vegetable life had accumulated over the +pre-Adamite strata on which the arch of the cave rested its mighty +keystone. + +When we had collected of these particles about thrice as much as a +man might hold in his hand, we seemed to have exhausted their bed. +We continued still to find gold, but no more of the delicate +substance to which, in our sight, gold was as dross. + +"Enough," then said Margrave, reluctantly desisting. "What we have +gained already will suffice for a life thrice as long as legend +attributes to Haroun. I shall live--I shall live through the +centuries." + +"Forget not that I claim my share." + +"Your share--yours! True--your half of my life! It is true." He +paused with a low, ironical, malignant laugh, and then added, as he +rose and turned away, "But the work is yet to be done." + + +VI + + +While we had thus labored and found, Ayesha had placed the fuel +where the moonlight fell fullest on the sward of the tableland--a +part of it already piled as for a fire, the rest of it heaped +confusedly close at hand; and by the pile she had placed the +coffer. And, there she stood, her arms folded under her mantle, +her dark image seeming darker still as the moonlight whitened all +the ground from which the image rose motionless. Margrave opened +his coffer, the Veiled Woman did not aid him, and I watched in +silence, while he as silently made his weird and wizard-like +preparations. + + +VII + + +On the ground a wide circle was traced by a small rod, tipped +apparently with sponge saturated with some combustible naphtha-like +fluid, so that a pale, lambent flame followed the course of the rod +as Margrave guided it, burning up the herbage over which it played, +and leaving a distinct ring, like that which, in our lovely native +fable talk, we call the "Fairy's ring," but yet more visible +because marked in phosphorescent light. On the ring thus formed +were placed twelve small lamps, fed with the fluid from the same +vessel, and lighted by the same rod. The light emitted by the +lamps was more vivid and brilliant than that which circled round +the ring. + +Within the circumference, and immediately round the woodpile, +Margrave traced certain geometrical figures, in which--not without +a shudder, that I overcame at once by a strong effort of will in +murmuring to myself the name of "Lilian"--I recognized the +interlaced triangles which my own hand, in the spell enforced on a +sleepwalker, had described on the floor of the wizard's pavilion. +The figures were traced like the circle, in flame, and at the point +of each triangle (four in number) was placed a lamp, brilliant as +those on the ring. This task performed, the caldron, based on an +iron tripod, was placed on the woodpile. And then the woman, +before inactive and unheeding, slowly advanced, knelt by the pile +and lighted it. The dry wood crackled and the flame burst forth, +licking the rims of the caldron with tongues of fire. + +Margrave flung into the caldron the particles we had collected, +poured over them first a liquid, colorless as water, from the +largest of the vessels drawn from his coffer, and then, more +sparingly, drops from small crystal phials, like the phials I had +seen in the hand of Philip Derval. + +Having surmounted my first impulse of awe, I watched these +proceedings, curious yet disdainful, as one who watches the +mummeries of an enchanter on the stage. + +"If," thought I, "these are but artful devices to inebriate and +fool my own imagination, my imagination is on its guard, and reason +shall not, this time, sleep at her post!" + +"And now," said Margrave, "I consign to you the easy task by which +you are to merit your share of the elixir. It is my task to feed +and replenish the caldron; it is Ayesha's to feed the fire, which +must not for a moment relax in its measured and steady heat. Your +task is the lightest of all: it is but to renew from this vessel +the fluid that burns in the lamps, and on the ring. Observe, the +contents of the vessel must be thriftily husbanded; there is +enough, but not more than enough, to sustain the light in the +lamps, on the lines traced round the caldron, and on the farther +ring, for six hours. The compounds dissolved in this fluid are +scarce--only obtainable in the East, and even in the East months +might have passed before I could have increased my supply. I had +no months to waste. Replenish, then, the light only when it begins +to flicker or fade. Take heed, above all, that no part of the +outer ring--no, not an inch--and no lamp of the twelve, that are to +its zodiac like stars, fade for one moment in darkness." + +I took the crystal vessel from his hand. + +"The vessel is small," said I, "and what is yet left of its +contents is but scanty; whether its drops suffice to replenish the +lights I cannot guess--I can but obey your instructions. But, more +important by far than the light to the lamps and the circle, which +in Asia or Africa might scare away the wild beasts unknown to this +land--more important than light to a lamp is the strength to your +frame, weak magician! What will support you through six weary +hours of night watch?" + +"Hope," answered Margrave, with a ray of his old dazzling style. +"Hope! I shall live--I shall live through the centuries!" + + +VIII + + +One hour passed away; the fagots under the caldron burned clear in +the sullen, sultry air. The materials within began to seethe, and +their color, at first dull and turbid, changed into a pale-rose +hue; from time to time the Veiled Woman replenished the fire, after +she had done so reseating herself close by the pyre, with her head +bowed over her knees, and her face hid under her veil. + +The lights in the lamps and along the ring and the triangles now +began to pale. I resupplied their nutriment from the crystal +vessel. As yet nothing strange startled my eye or my ear beyond +the rim of the circle--nothing audible, save, at a distance, the +musical wheel-like click of the locusts, and, farther still, in the +forest, the howl of the wild dogs that never bark; nothing visible, +but the trees and the mountain range girding the plains silvered by +the moon, and the arch of the cavern, the flush of wild blooms on +its sides, and the gleam of dry bones on its floor, where the +moonlight shot into the gloom. + +The second hour passed like the first. I had taken my stand by the +side of Margrave, watching with him the process at work in the +caldron, when I felt the ground slightly vibrate beneath my feet, +and looking up, it seemed as if all the plains beyond the circle +were heaving like the swell of the sea, and as if in the air itself +there was a perceptible tremor. + +I placed my hand on Margrave's shoulder and whispered, "To me earth +and air seem to vibrate. Do they seem to vibrate to you?" + +"I know not, I care not," he answered impetuously. "The essence is +bursting the shell that confined it. Here are my air and my earth! +Trouble me not. Look to the circle--feed the lamps if they fail!" + +I passed by the Veiled Woman as I walked toward a place in the ring +in which the flame was waning dim; and I whispered to her the same +question which I had whispered to Margrave. She looked slowly +around and answered, "So is it before the Invisible make themselves +visible! Did I not bid him forbear?" Her head again drooped on +her breast, and her watch was again fixed on the fire. + +I advanced to the circle and stooped to replenish the light where +it waned. As I did so, on my arm, which stretched somewhat beyond +the line of the ring, I felt a shock like that of electricity. The +arm fell to my side numbed and nerveless, and from my hand dropped, +but within the ring, the vessel that contained the fluid. +Recovering my surprise or my stun, hastily with the other hand I +caught up the vessel, but some of the scanty liquid was already +spilled on the sward; and I saw with a thrill of dismay, that +contrasted indeed the tranquil indifference with which I had first +undertaken my charge, how small a supply was now left. + +I went back to Margrave, and told him of the shock, and of its +consequence in the waste of the liquid. + +"Beware," said he, that not a motion of the arm, not an inch of the +foot, pass the verge of the ring; and if the fluid be thus +unhappily stinted, reserve all that is left for the protecting +circle and the twelve outer lamps! See how the Grand Work +advances, how the hues in the caldron are glowing blood-red through +the film on the surface! + +And now four hours of the six were gone; my arm had gradually +recovered its strength. Neither the ring nor the lamps had again +required replenishing; perhaps their light was exhausted less +quickly, as it was no longer to be exposed to the rays of the +intense Australian moon. Clouds had gathered over the sky, and +though the moon gleamed at times in the gaps that they left in blue +air, her beam was more hazy and dulled. The locusts no longer were +heard in the grass, nor the howl of the dogs in the forest. Out of +the circle, the stillness was profound. + +And about this time I saw distinctly in the distance a vast Eye. +It drew nearer and nearer, seeming to move from the ground at the +height of some lofty giant. Its gaze riveted mine; my blood +curdled in the blaze from its angry ball; and now as it advanced +larger and larger, other Eyes, as if of giants in its train, grew +out from the space in its rear--numbers on numbers, like the +spearheads of some Eastern army, seen afar by pale warders of +battlements doomed to the dust. My voice long refused an utterance +to my awe; at length it burst forth shrill and loud: + +"Look, look! Those terrible Eyes! Legions on legions. And hark! +that tramp of numberless feet; THEY are not seen, but the hollows +of earth echo the sound of their march!" + +Margrave, more than ever intent on the caldron, in which, from time +to time, he kept dropping powders or essences drawn forth from his +coffer, looked up, defyingly, fiercely: + +"Ye come," he said in a low mutter, his once mighty voice sounding +hollow and laboring, but fearless and firm--"ye come--not to +conquer, vain rebels!--ye whose dark chief I struck down at my feet +in the tomb where my spell had raised up the ghost of your first +human master, the Chaldee! Earth and air have their armies still +faithful to me, and still I remember the war song that summons them +up to confront you! Ayesha, Ayesha! recall the wild troth that we +pledged among the roses; recall the dread bond by which we united +our sway over hosts that yet own thee as queen, though my scepter +is broken, my diadem reft from my brows!" + +The Veiled Woman rose at this adjuration. Her veil now was +withdrawn, and the blaze of the fire between Margrave and herself +flushed, as with the rosy bloom of youth, the grand beauty of her +softened face. It was seen, detached, as it were, from her dark- +mantled form; seen through the mist of the vapors which rose from +the caldron, framing it round like the clouds that are yieldingly +pierced by the light of the evening star. + +Through the haze of the vapor came her voice, more musical, more +plaintive than I had heard it before, but far softer, more tender: +still in her foreign tongue; the words unknown to me, and yet their +sense, perhaps, made intelligible by the love, which has one common +language and one common look to all who have loved--the love +unmistakably heard in the loving tone, unmistakably seen in the +loving face. + +A moment or so more and she had come round from the opposite side +of the fire pile, and bending over Margrave's upturned brow, kissed +it quietly, solemnly; and then her countenance grew fierce, her +crest rose erect: it was the lioness protecting her young. She +stretched forth her arm from the black mantle, athwart the pale +front that now again bent over the caldron--stretched it toward the +haunted and hollow-sounding space beyond, in the gesture of one +whose right hand has the sway of the scepter. And then her voice +stole on the air in the music of a chant, not loud yet far- +reaching; so thrilling, so sweet and yet so solemn that I could at +once comprehend how legend united of old the spell of enchantment +with the power of song. All that I recalled of the effects which, +in the former time, Margrave's strange chants had produced on the +ear that they ravished and the thoughts they confused, was but as +the wild bird's imitative carol, compared to the depth and the art +and the soul of the singer, whose voice seemed endowed with a charm +to inthrall all the tribes of creation, though the language it used +for that charm might to them, as to me, be unknown. As the song +ceased, I heard from behind sounds like those I had heard in the +spaces before me--the tramp of invisible feet, the whir of +invisible wings, as if armies were marching to aid against armies +in march to destroy. + +"Look not in front nor around," said Ayesha. "Look, like him, on +the caldron below. The circle and the lamps are yet bright; I will +tell you when the light again fails." + +I dropped my eyes on the caldron. + +"See," whispered Margrave, "the sparkles at last begin to arise, +and the rose hues to deepen--signs that we near the last process." + + +IX + + +The fifth hour had passed away, when Ayesha said to me, "Lo! the +circle is fading; the lamps grow dim. Look now without fear on the +space beyond; the eyes that appalled thee are again lost in air, as +lightnings that fleet back into cloud." + +I looked up, and the specters had vanished. The sky was tinged +with sulphurous hues, the red and the black intermixed. I +replenished the lamps and the ring in front, thriftily, heedfully; +but when I came to the sixth lamp, not a drop in the vessel that +fed them was left. In a vague dismay, I now looked round the half +of the wide circle in rear of the two bended figures intent on the +caldron. All along that disk the light was already broken, here +and there flickering up, here and there dying down; the six lamps +in that half of the circle still twinkled, but faintly, as stars +shrinking fast from the dawn of day. But it was not the fading +shine in that half of the magical ring which daunted my eye and +quickened with terror the pulse of my heart; the Bush-land beyond +was on fire. From the background of the forest rose the flame and +the smoke--the smoke, there, still half smothering the flame. But +along the width of the grasses and herbage, between the verge of +the forest and the bed of the water creek just below the raised +platform from which I beheld the dread conflagration, the fire was +advancing--wave upon wave, clear and red against the columns of +rock behind; as the rush of a flood through the mists of some Alp +crowned with lightnings. + +Roused from my stun at the first sight of a danger not foreseen by +the mind I had steeled against far rarer portents of Nature, I +cared no more for the lamps and the circle. Hurrying hack to +Ayesha I exclaimed: "The phantoms have gone from the spaces in +front; but what incantation or spell can arrest the red march of +the foe speeding on in the rear! While we gazed on the caldron of +life, behind us, unheeded, behold the Destroyer!" + +Ayesha looked and made no reply, but, as by involuntary instinct, +bowed her majestic head, then rearing it erect, placed herself yet +more immediately before the wasted form of the young magician (he +still, bending over the caldron, and hearing me not in the +absorption and hope of his watch)--placed herself before him, as +the bird whose first care is her fledgling. + +As we two there stood, fronting the deluge of fire, we heard +Margrave behind us, murmuring low, "See the bubbles of light, how +they sparkle and dance--I shall live, I shall live!" And his words +scarcely died in our ears before, crash upon crash, came the fall +of the age-long trees in the forest, and nearer, all near us, +through the blazing grasses, the hiss of the serpents, the scream +of the birds, and the bellow and tramp of the herds plunging wild +through the billowy red of their pastures. + +Ayesha now wound her arms around Margrave, and wrenched him, +reluctant and struggling, from his watch over the seething caldron. +In rebuke of his angry exclamations, she pointed to the march of +the fire, spoke in sorrowful tones a few words in her own language, +and then, appealing to me in English, said: + +"I tell him that, here, the Spirits who oppose us have summoned a +foe that is deaf to my voice, and--" + +"And," exclaimed Margrave, no longer with gasp and effort, but with +the swell of a voice which drowned all the discords of terror and +of agony sent forth from the Phlegethon burning below--"and this +witch, whom I trusted, is a vile slave and impostor, more desiring +my death than my life. She thinks that in life I should scorn and +forsake her, that in death I should die in her arms! Sorceress, +avaunt! Art thou useless and powerless now when I need thee most? +Go! Let the world be one funeral pyre! What to ME is the world? +My world is my life! Thou knowest that my last hope is here--that +all the strength left me this night will die down, like the lamps +in the circle, unless the elixir restore it. Bold friend, spurn +that sorceress away. Hours yet ere those flames can assail us! A +few minutes more, and life to your Lilian and me!" + +Thus having said, Margrave turned from us, and cast into the +caldron the last essence yet left in his empty coffer. + +Ayesha silently drew her black veil over her face, and turned, with +the being she loved, from the terror he scorned, to share in the +hope that he cherished. + +Thus left alone, with my reason disinthralled, disenchanted, I +surveyed more calmly the extent of the actual peril with which we +were threatened, and the peril seemed less, so surveyed. + +It is true all the Bush-land behind, almost up to the bed of the +creek, was on fire; but the grasses, through which the flame spread +so rapidly, ceased at the opposite marge of the creek. Watery +pools were still, at intervals, left in the bed of the creek, +shining tremulous, like waves of fire, in the glare reflected from +the burning land; and even where the water failed, the stony course +of the exhausted rivulet was a barrier against the march of the +conflagration. Thus, unless the wind, now still, should rise, and +waft some sparks to the parched combustible herbage immediately +around us, we were saved from the fire, and our work might yet be +achieved. + +I whispered to Ayesha the conclusion to which I came. + +"Thinkest thou," she answered without raising her mournful head, +"that the Agencies of Nature are the movements of chance? The +Spirits I invoked to his aid are leagued with the hosts that +assail. A mightier than I am has doomed him!" + +Scarcely had she uttered these words before Margrave exclaimed, +"Behold how the Rose of the alchemist's dream enlarges its blooms +from the folds of its petals! I shall live, I shall live!" + +I looked, and the liquid which glowed in the caldron had now taken +a splendor that mocked all comparisons borrowed from the luster of +gems. In its prevalent color it had, indeed, the dazzle and flash +of the ruby; but out from the mass of the molten red, broke +coruscations of all prismal hues, shooting, shifting, in a play +that made the wavelets themselves seem living things, sensible of +their joy. No longer was there scum or film upon the surface; only +ever and anon a light, rosy vapor floating up, and quick lost in +the haggard, heavy, sulphurous air, hot with the conflagration +rushing toward us from behind. And these coruscations formed, on +the surface of the molten ruby, literally the shape of a rose, its +leaves made distinct in their outlines by sparks of emerald and +diamond and sapphire. + +Even while gazing on this animated liquid luster, a buoyant delight +seemed infused into my senses; all terrors conceived before were +annulled; the phantoms, whose armies had filled the wide spaces in +front, were forgotten; the crash of the forest behind was unheard. +In the reflection of that glory, Margrave's wan cheek seemed +already restored to the radiance it wore when I saw it first in the +framework of blooms. + +As I gazed, thus enchanted, a cold hand touched my own. + +"Hush!" whispered Ayesha, from the black veil, against which the +rays of the caldron fell blunt, and absorbed into Dark. "Behind +us, the light of the circle is extinct; but there, we are guarded +from all save the brutal and soulless destroyers. But, before!-- +but, before!--see, two of the lamps have died out!--see the blank +of the gap in the ring! Guard that breach--there the demons will +enter." + +"Not a drop is there left in this vessel by which to replenish the +lamps on the ring." + +"Advance, then; thou hast still the light of the soul, and the +demons may recoil before a soul that is dauntless and guiltless. +If not, Three are lost!--as it is, One is doomed." + +Thus adjured, silently, involuntarily, I passed from the Veiled +Woman's side, over the sear lines on the turf which had been traced +by the triangles of light long since extinguished, and toward the +verge of the circle. As I advanced, overhead rushed a dark cloud +of wings--birds dislodged from the forest on fire, and screaming, +in dissonant terror, as they flew toward the farthermost mountains; +close by my feet hissed and glided the snakes, driven forth from +their blazing coverts, and glancing through the ring, unscared by +its waning lamps; all undulating by me, bright-eyed, and hissing, +all made innocuous by fear--even the terrible Death-adder, which I +trampled on as I halted at the verge of the circle, did not turn to +bite, but crept harmless away. I halted at the gap between the two +dead lamps, and bowed my head to look again into the crystal +vessel. Were there, indeed, no lingering drops yet left, if but to +recruit the lamps for some priceless minutes more? As I thus +stood, right into the gap between the two dead lamps strode a +gigantic Foot. All the rest of the form was unseen; only, as +volume after volume of smoke poured on from the burning land +behind, it seemed as if one great column of vapor, eddying round, +settled itself aloft from the circle, and that out from that column +strode the giant Foot. And, as strode the Foot, so with it came, +like the sound of its tread, a roll of muttered thunder. + +I recoiled, with a cry that rang loud through the lurid air. + +"Courage!" said the voice of Ayesha. "Trembling soul, yield not an +inch to the demon!" + +At the charm, the wonderful charm, in the tone of the Veiled +Woman's voice, my will seemed to take a force more sublime than its +own. I folded my arms on my breast, and stood as if rooted to the +spot, confronting the column of smoke and the stride of the giant +Foot. And the Foot halted, mute. + +Again, in the momentary hush of that suspense, I heard a voice--it +was Margrave's. + +"The last hour expires--the work is accomplished! Come! come! Aid +me to take the caldron from the fire; and, quick!--or a drop may be +wasted in vapor--the Elixir of Life from the caldron!" + +At that cry I receded, and the Foot advanced. + +And at that moment, suddenly, unawares, from behind, I was stricken +down. Over me, as I lay, swept a whirlwind of trampling hoofs and +glancing horns. The herds, in their flight from the burning +pastures, had rushed over the bed of the water course, scaled the +slopes of the banks. Snorting and bellowing, they plunged their +blind way to the mountains. One cry alone, more wild than their +own savage blare, pierced the reek through which the Brute +Hurricane swept. At that cry of wrath and despair I struggled to +rise, again dashed to earth by the hoofs and the horns. But was it +the dreamlike deceit of my reeling senses, or did I see that giant +Foot stride past through the close-serried ranks of the maddening +herds? Did I hear, distinct through all the huge uproar of animal +terror, the roll of low thunder which followed the stride of that +Foot? + + +X + + +When my sense had recovered its shock, and my eyes looked dizzily +round, the charge of the beasts had swept by; and of all the wild +tribes which had invaded the magical circle, the only lingerer was +the brown Death-adder, coiled close by the spot where my head had +rested. Beside the extinguished lamps which the hoofs had +confusedly scattered, the fire, arrested by the water course, had +consumed the grasses that fed it, and there the plains stretched +black and desert as the Phlegraean Field of the Poet's Hell. But +the fire still raged in the forest beyond--white flames, soaring up +from the trunks of the tallest trees, and forming, through the +sullen dark of the smoke reck, innumerable pillars of fire, like +the halls in the city of fiends. + +Gathering myself up, I turned my eyes from the terrible pomp of the +lurid forest, and looked fearfully down on the hoof-trampled sward +for my two companions. + +I saw the dark image of Ayesha still seated, still bending, as I +had seen it last. I saw a pale hand feebly grasping the rim of the +magical caldron, which lay, hurled down from its tripod by the rush +of the beasts, yards away from the dim, fading embers of the +scattered wood pyre. I saw the faint writhings of a frail, wasted +frame, over which the Veiled Woman was bending. I saw, as I moved +with bruised limbs to the place, close by the lips of the dying +magician, the flash of the rubylike essence spilled on the sward, +and, meteor-like, sparkling up from the torn tufts of herbage. + +I now reached Margrave's side. Bending over him as the Veiled +Woman bent, and as I sought gently to raise him, he turned his +face, fiercely faltering out, "Touch me not, rob me not! YOU share +with me! Never, never! These glorious drops are all mine! Die +all else! I will live, I will live!" Writhing himself from my +pitying arms, he plunged his face amidst the beautiful, playful +flame of the essence, as if to lap the elixir with lips scorched +away from its intolerable burning. Suddenly, with a low shriek, he +fell back, his face upturned to mine, and on that face unmistakably +reigned Death. + +Then Ayesha tenderly, silently, drew the young head to her lap, and +it vanished from my sight behind her black veil. + +I knelt beside her, murmuring some trite words of comfort; but she +heeded me not, rocking herself to and fro as the mother who cradles +a child to sleep. Soon the fast-flickering sparkles of the lost +elixir died out on the grass; and with their last sportive diamond- +like tremble of light, up, in all the suddenness of Australian day, +rose the sun, lifting himself royally above the mountain tops, and +fronting the meaner blaze of the forest as a young king fronts his +rebels. And as there, where the bush fires had ravaged, all was a +desert, so there, where their fury had not spread, all was a +garden. Afar, at the foot of the mountains, the fugitive herds +were grazing; the cranes, flocking back to the pools, renewed the +strange grace of their gambols; and the great kingfisher, whose +laugh, half in mirth, half in mockery, leads the choir that welcome +the morn--which in Europe is night--alighted bold on the roof of +the cavern, whose floors were still white with the bones of races, +extinct before--so helpless through instincts, so royal through +Soul--rose MAN! + +But there, on the ground where the dazzling elixir had wasted its +virtues--there the herbage already had a freshness of verdure +which, amid the duller sward round it, was like an oasis of green +in a desert. And, there, wild flowers, whose chill hues the eye +would have scarcely distinguished the day before, now glittered +forth in blooms of unfamiliar beauty. Toward that spot were +attracted myriads of happy insects, whose hum of intense joy was +musically loud. But the form of the life-seeking sorcerer lay +rigid and stark; blind to the bloom of the wild flowers, deaf to +the glee of the insects--one hand still resting heavily on the rim +of the emptied caldron, and the face still hid behind the Black +Veil. What! the wondrous elixir, sought with such hope and well- +nigh achieved through such dread, fleeting back to the earth from +which its material was drawn to give bloom, indeed--but to herbs; +joy indeed--but to insects! + +And now, in the flash of the sun, slowly wound up the slopes that +led to the circle, the same barbaric procession which had sunk into +the valley under the ray of the moon. The armed men came first, +stalwart and tall, their vests brave with crimson and golden lace, +their weapons gayly gleaming with holiday silver. After them, the +Black Litter. As they came to the place, Ayesha, not raising her +head, spoke to them in her own Eastern tongue. A wail was her +answer. The armed men bounded forward, and the bearers left the +litter. + +All gathered round the dead form with the face concealed under the +Black Veil; all knelt, and all wept. Far in the distance, at the +foot of the blue mountains, a crowd of the savage natives had risen +up as if from the earth; they stood motionless leaning on their +clubs and spears, and looking toward the spot on which we were-- +strangely thus brought into the landscape, as if they too, the wild +dwellers on the verge which Humanity guards from the Brute, were +among the mourners for the mysterious Child of mysterious Nature! +And still, in the herbage, hummed the small insects, and still, +from the cavern, laughed the great kingfisher. I said to Ayesha, +"Farewell! your love mourns the dead, mine calls me to the living. +You are now with your own people, they may console you--say if I +can assist." + +"There is no consolation for me! What mourner can be consoled if +the dead die forever? Nothing for him is left but a grave; that +grave shall be in the land where the song of Ayesha first lulled +him to sleep. Thou assist ME--thou, the wise man of Europe! From +me ask assistance. What road wilt thou take to thy home?" + +"There is but one road known to me through the maze of the +solitude--that which we took to this upland." + +"On that road Death lurks, and awaits thee! Blind dupe, couldst +thou think that if the grand secret of life had been won, he whose +head rests on my lap would have yielded thee one petty drop of the +essence which had filched from his store of life but a moment? Me, +who so loved and so cherished him--me he would have doomed to the +pitiless cord of my servant, the Strangler, if my death could have +lengthened a hairbreadth the span of his being. But what matters +to me his crime or his madness? I loved him, I loved him!" + +She bowed her veiled head lower and lower; perhaps under the veil +her lips kissed the lips of the dead. Then she said whisperingly: + +"Juma the Strangler, whose word never failed to his master, whose +prey never slipped from his snare, waits thy step on the road to +thy home! But thy death cannot now profit the dead, the beloved. +And thou hast had pity for him who took but thine aid to design thy +destruction. His life is lost, thine is saved!" + +She spoke no more in the tongue that I could interpret. She spoke, +in the language unknown, a few murmured words to her swarthy +attendants; then the armed men, still weeping, rose, and made a +dumb sign to me to go with them. I understood by the sign that +Ayesha had told them to guard me on my way; but she gave no reply +to my parting thanks. + + +XI + + +I descended into the valley; the armed men followed. The path, on +that side of the water course not reached by the flames, wound +through meadows still green, or amidst groves still unscathed. As +a turning in the way brought in front of my sight the place I had +left behind, I beheld the black litter creeping down the descent, +with its curtains closed, and the Veiled Woman walking by its side. +But soon the funeral procession was lost to my eyes, and the +thoughts that it roused were erased. The waves in man's brain are +like those of the sea, rushing on, rushing over the wrecks of the +vessels that rode on their surface, to sink, after storm, in their +deeps. One thought cast forth into the future now mastered all in +the past: "Was Lilian living still?" Absorbed in the gloom of that +thought, hurried on by the goad that my heart, in its tortured +impatience, gave to my footstep, I outstripped the slow stride of +the armed men, and, midway between the place I had left and the +home which I sped to, came, far in advance of my guards, into the +thicket in which the Bushmen had started up in my path on the night +that Lilian had watched for my coming. The earth at my feet was +rife with creeping plants and many-colored flowers, the sky +overhead was half hid by motionless pines. Suddenly, whether +crawling out from the herbage or dropping down from the trees, by +my side stood the white-robed and skeleton form--Ayesha's attendant +the Strangler. + +I sprang from him shuddering, then halted and faced him. The +hideous creature crept toward me, cringing and fawning, making +signs of humble goodwill and servile obeisance. Again I recoiled-- +wrathfully, loathingly, turned my face homeward, and fled on. I +thought I had baffled his chase, when, just at the mouth of the +thicket, he dropped from a bough in my path close behind me. +Before I could turn, some dark muffling substance fell between my +sight and the sun, and I felt a fierce strain at my throat. But +the words of Ayesha had warned me; with one rapid hand I seized the +noose before it could tighten too closely, with the other I tore +the bandage away from my eyes, and, wheeling round on the dastardly +foe, struck him down with one spurn of my foot. His hand, as he +fell, relaxed its hold on the noose; I freed my throat from the +knot, and sprang from the copse into the broad sunlit plain. I saw +no more of the armed men or the Strangler. Panting and breathless, +I paused at last before the fence, fragrant with blossoms, that +divided my home from the solitude. + +The windows of Lilian's room were darkened; all within the house +seemed still. + +Darkened and silenced home, with the light and sounds of the jocund +day all around it. Was there yet hope in the Universe for me? All +to which I had trusted Hope had broken down; the anchors I had +forged for her hold in the beds of the ocean, her stay from the +drifts of the storm, had snapped like the reeds which pierce the +side that leans on the barb of their points, and confides in the +strength of their stems. No hope in the baffled resources of +recognized knowledge! No hope in the daring adventures of Mind +into regions unknown; vain alike the calm lore of the practiced +physician, and the magical arts of the fated Enchanter! I had fled +from the commonplace teachings of Nature, to explore in her +Shadowland marvels at variance with reason. Made brave by the +grandeur of love, I had opposed without quailing the stride of the +Demon, and my hope, when fruition seemed nearest, had been trodden +into dust by the hoofs of the beast! And yet, all the while, I had +scorned, as a dream, more wild than the word of a sorcerer, the +hope that the old man and the child, the wise and the ignorant, +took from their souls as inborn. Man and fiend had alike failed a +mind, not ignoble, not skill-less, not abjectly craven; alike +failed a heart not feeble and selfish, not dead to the hero's +devotion, willing to shed every drop of its blood for a something +more dear than an animal's life for itself! What remained--what +remained for man's hope?--man's mind and man's heart thus +exhausting their all with no other result but despair! What +remained but the mystery of mysteries, so clear to the sunrise of +childhood, the sunset of age, only dimmed by the clouds which +collect round the noon of our manhood? Where yet was Hope found? +In the soul; in its every-day impulse to supplicate comfort and +light, from the Giver of soul, wherever the heart is afflicted, the +mind is obscured. + +Then the words of Ayesha rushed over me: "What mourner can be +consoled, if the dead die forever?" Through every pulse of my +frame throbbed that dread question; all Nature around seemed to +murmur it. And suddenly, as by a flash from heaven, the grand +truth in Faber's grand reasoning shone on me, and lighted up all, +within and without. Man alone, of all earthly creatures, asks, +"Can the dead die forever?" and the instinct that urges the +question is God's answer to man. No instinct is given in vain. + +And born with the instinct of soul is the instinct that leads the +soul from the seen to the unseen, from time to eternity, from the +torrent that foams toward the Ocean of Death, to the source of its +stream, far aloft from the Ocean. + +"Know thyself," said the Pythian of old. "That precept descended +from Heaven." Know thyself! Is that maxim wise? If so, know thy +soul. But never yet did man come to the thorough conviction of +soul but what he acknowledged the sovereign necessity of prayer. +In my awe, in my rapture, all my thoughts seemed enlarged and +illumed and exalted. I prayed--all my soul seemed one prayer. All +my past, with its pride and presumption and folly, grew distinct as +the form of a penitent, kneeling for pardon before setting forth on +the pilgrimage vowed to a shrine. And, sure now, in the deeps of a +soul first revealed to myself, that the Dead do not die forever, my +human love soared beyond its brief trial of terror and sorrow. +Daring not to ask from Heaven's wisdom that Lilian, for my sake, +might not yet pass away from the earth, I prayed that my soul might +be fitted to bear with submission whatever my Maker might ordain. +And if surviving her--without whom no beam from yon material sun +could ever warm into joy a morrow in human life--so to guide my +steps that they might rejoin her at last, and in rejoining, regain +forever! + +How trivial now became the weird riddle, that, a little while +before, had been clothed in so solemn an awe! What mattered it to +the vast interests involved in the clear recognition of Soul and +Hereafter, whether or not my bodily sense, for a moment, obscured +the face of the Nature I should one day behold as a spirit? +Doubtless the sights and the sounds which had haunted the last +gloomy night, the calm reason of Faber would strip of their magical +seemings; the Eyes in the space and the Foot in the circle might be +those of no terrible Demons, but of the wild's savage children whom +I had seen, halting, curious and mute, in the light of the morning. +The tremor of the ground (if not, as heretofore, explicable by the +illusory impression of my own treacherous senses) might be but the +natural effect of elements struggling yet under a soil unmistakably +charred by volcanoes. The luminous atoms dissolved in the caldron +might as little be fraught with a vital elixir as are the splendors +of naphtha or phosphor. As it was, the weird rite had no magic +result. The magician was not rent limb from limb by the fiends. +By causes as natural as ever extinguished life's spark in the frail +lamp of clay, he had died out of sight--under the black veil. + +What mattered henceforth to Faith, in its far grander questions and +answers, whether Reason, in Faber, or Fancy, in me, supplied the +more probable guess at a hieroglyph which, if construed aright, was +but a word of small mark in the mystical language of Nature? If +all the arts of enchantment recorded by Fable were attested by +facts which Sages were forced to acknowledge, Sages would sooner or +later find some cause for such portents--not supernatural. But +what Sage, without cause supernatural, both without and within him, +can guess at the wonders he views in the growth of a blade of +grass, or the tints on an insect's wing? Whatever art Man can +achieve in his progress through time, Man's reason, in time, can +suffice to explain. But the wonders of God? These belong to the +Infinite; and these, O Immortal! will but develop new wonder on +wonder, though thy sight be a spirit's, and thy leisure to track +and to solve an eternity. + +As I raised my face from my clasped hands, my eyes fell full upon a +form standing in the open doorway. There, where on the night in +which Lilian's long struggle for reason and life had begun, the +Luminous Shadow had been beheld in the doubtful light of a dying +moon and a yet hazy dawn; there, on the threshold, gathering round +her bright locks the aureole of the glorious sun, stood Amy, the +blessed child! And as I gazed, drawing nearer and nearer to the +silenced house, and that Image of Peace on its threshold, I felt +that Hope met me at the door--Hope in the child's steadfast eyes, +Hope in the child's welcoming smile! + +"I was at watch for you," whispered Amy. "All is well." + +"She lives still--she lives! Thank God, thank God!" + +"She lives--she will recover!" said another voice, as my head sunk +on Faber's shoulder. "For some hours in the night her sleep was +disturbed, convulsed. I feared, then, the worst. Suddenly, just +before the dawn, she called out aloud, still in sleep: + +"'The cold and dark shadow has passed away from me and from Allen-- +passed away from us both forever!' + +"And from that moment the fever left her; the breathing became +soft, the pulse steady, and the color stole gradually back to her +cheek. The crisis is past. Nature's benign Disposer has permitted +Nature to restore your life's gentle partner, heart to heart, mind +to mind--" + +"And soul to soul," I cried in my solemn joy. "Above as below, +soul to soul!" Then, at a sign from Faber, the child took me by +the hand and led me up the stairs into Lilian's room. + +Again those dear arms closed around me in wifelike and holy love, +and those true lips kissed away my tears--even as now, at the +distance of years from that happy morn, while I write the last +words of this Strange Story, the same faithful arms close around +me, the same tender lips kiss away my tears. + + + +Thomas De Quincey + + +The Avenger + + +"Why callest thou me murderer, and not rather the wrath of God +burning after the steps of the oppressor, and cleansing the earth +when it is wet with blood?" + + +That series of terrific events by which our quiet city and +university in the northeastern quarter of Germany were convulsed +during the year 1816, has in itself, and considered merely as a +blind movement of human tiger-passion ranging unchained among men, +something too memorable to be forgotten or left without its own +separate record; but the moral lesson impressed by these events is +yet more memorable, and deserves the deep attention of coming +generations in their struggle after human improvement, not merely +in its own limited field of interest directly awakened, but in all +analogous fields of interest; as in fact already, and more than +once, in connection with these very events, this lesson has +obtained the effectual attention of Christian kings and princes +assembled in congress. No tragedy, indeed, among all the sad ones +by which the charities of the human heart or of the fireside have +ever been outraged, can better merit a separate chapter in the +private history of German manners or social life than this +unparalleled case. And, on the other hand, no one can put in a +better claim to be the historian than myself. + +I was at the time, and still am, a professor in that city and +university which had the melancholy distinction of being its +theater. I knew familiarly all the parties who were concerned in +it, either as sufferers or as agents. I was present from first to +last, and watched the whole course of the mysterious storm which +fell upon our devoted city in a strength like that of a West Indian +hurricane, and which did seriously threaten at one time to +depopulate our university, through the dark suspicions which +settled upon its members, and the natural reaction of generous +indignation in repelling them; while the city in its more +stationary and native classes would very soon have manifested THEIR +awful sense of things, of the hideous insecurity for life, and of +the unfathomable dangers which had undermined their hearths below +their very feet, by sacrificing, whenever circumstances allowed +them, their houses and beautiful gardens in exchange for days +uncursed by panic, and nights unpolluted by blood. Nothing, I can +take upon myself to assert, was left undone of all that human +foresight could suggest, or human ingenuity could accomplish. But +observe the melancholy result: the more certain did these +arrangements strike people as remedies for the evil, so much the +more effectually did they aid the terror, but, above all, the awe, +the sense of mystery, when ten cases of total extermination, +applied to separate households, had occurred, in every one of which +these precautionary aids had failed to yield the slightest +assistance. The horror, the perfect frenzy of fear, which seized +upon the town after that experience, baffles all attempt at +description. Had these various contrivances failed merely in some +human and intelligible way, as by bringing the aid too tardily-- +still, in such cases, though the danger would no less have been +evidently deepened, nobody would have felt any further mystery than +what, from the very first, rested upon the persons and the motives +of the murderers. But, as it was, when, in ten separate cases of +exterminating carnage, the astounded police, after an examination +the most searching, pursued from day to day, and almost exhausting +the patience by the minuteness of the investigation, had finally +pronounced that no attempt apparently had been made to benefit by +any of the signals preconcerted, that no footstep apparently had +moved in that direction--then, and after that result, a blind +misery of fear fell upon the population, so much the worse than any +anguish of a beleaguered city that is awaiting the storming fury of +a victorious enemy, by how much the shadowy, the uncertain, the +infinite, is at all times more potent in mastering the mind than a +danger that is known, measurable, palpable, and human. The very +police, instead of offering protection or encouragement, were +seized with terror for themselves. And the general feeling, as it +was described to me by a grave citizen whom I met in a morning walk +(for the overmastering sense of a public calamity broke down every +barrier of reserve, and all men talked freely to all men in the +streets, as they would have done during the rockings of an +earthquake), was, even among the boldest, like that which sometimes +takes possession of the mind in dreams--when one feels oneself +sleeping alone, utterly divided from all call or hearing of +friends, doors open that should be shut, or unlocked that should be +triply secured, the very walls gone, barriers swallowed up by +unknown abysses, nothing around one but frail curtains, and a world +of illimitable night, whisperings at a distance, correspondence +going on between darkness and darkness, like one deep calling to +another, and the dreamer's own heart the center from which the +whole network of this unimaginable chaos radiates, by means of +which the blank PRIVATIONS of silence and darkness become powers +the most POSITIVE and awful. + +Agencies of fear, as of any other passion, and, above all, of +passion felt in communion with thousands, and in which the heart +beats in conscious sympathy with an entire city, through all its +regions of high and low, young and old, strong and weak; such +agencies avail to raise and transfigure the natures of men; mean +minds become elevated; dull men become eloquent; and when matters +came to this crisis, the public feeling, as made known by voice, +gesture, manner, or words, was such that no stranger could +represent it to his fancy. In that respect, therefore, I had an +advantage, being upon the spot through the whole course of the +affair, for giving a faithful narrative; as I had still more +eminently, from the sort of central station which I occupied, with +respect to all the movements of the case. I may add that I had +another advantage, not possessed, or not in the same degree, by any +other inhabitant of the town. I was personally acquainted with +every family of the slightest account belonging to the resident +population; whether among the old local gentry, or the new settlers +whom the late wars had driven to take refuge within our walls. + +It was in September, 1815, that I received a letter from the chief +secretary to the Prince of M----, a nobleman connected with the +diplomacy of Russia, from which I quote an extract: "I wish, in +short, to recommend to your attentions, and in terms stronger than +I know how to devise, a young man on whose behalf the czar himself +is privately known to have expressed the very strongest interest. +He was at the battle of Waterloo as an aide-de-camp to a Dutch +general officer, and is decorated with distinctions won upon that +awful day. However, though serving in that instance under English +orders, and although an Englishman of rank, he does not belong to +the English military service. He has served, young as he is, under +VARIOUS banners, and under ours, in particular, in the cavalry of +our imperial guard. He is English by birth, nephew to the Earl of +E., and heir presumptive to his immense estates. There is a wild +story current, that his mother was a gypsy of transcendent beauty, +which may account for his somewhat Moorish complexion, though, +after all, THAT is not of a deeper tinge than I have seen among +many an Englishman. He is himself one of the noblest looking of +God's creatures. Both father and mother, however, are now dead. +Since then he has become the favorite of his uncle, who detained +him in England after the emperor had departed--and, as this uncle +is now in the last stage of infirmity, Mr. Wyndham's succession to +the vast family estates is inevitable, and probably near at hand. +Meantime, he is anxious for some assistance in his studies. +Intellectually he stands in the very first rank of men, as I am +sure you will not be slow to discover; but his long military +service, and the unparalleled tumult of our European history since +1805, have interfered (as you may suppose) with the cultivation of +his mind; for he entered the cavalry service of a German power when +a mere boy, and shifted about from service to service as the +hurricane of war blew from this point or from that. During the +French anabasis to Moscow he entered our service, made himself a +prodigious favorite with the whole imperial family, and even now is +only in his twenty-second year. As to his accomplishments, they +will speak for themselves; they are infinite, and applicable to +every situation of life. Greek is what he wants from you;--never +ask about terms. He will acknowledge any trouble he may give you, +as he acknowledges all trouble, en prince. And ten years hence you +will look back with pride upon having contributed your part to the +formation of one whom all here at St. Petersburg, not soldiers +only, but we diplomates, look upon as certain to prove a great man, +and a leader among the intellects of Christendom." + +Two or three other letters followed; and at length it was arranged +that Mr. Maximilian Wyndham should take up his residence at my +monastic abode for one year. He was to keep a table, and an +establishment of servants, at his own cost; was to have an +apartment of some dozen or so of rooms; the unrestricted use of the +library; with some other public privileges willingly conceded by +the magistracy of the town; in return for all which he was to pay +me a thousand guineas; and already beforehand, by way of +acknowledgment for the public civilities of the town, he sent, +through my hands, a contribution of three hundred guineas to the +various local institutions for education of the poor, or for +charity. + +The Russian secretary had latterly corresponded with me from a +little German town, not more than ninety miles distant; and, as he +had special couriers at his service, the negotiations advanced so +rapidly that all was closed before the end of September. And, when +once that consummation was attained, I, that previously had +breathed no syllable of what was stirring, now gave loose to the +interesting tidings, and suffered them to spread through the whole +compass of the town. It will be easily imagined that such a story, +already romantic enough in its first outline, would lose nothing in +the telling. An Englishman to begin with, which name of itself, +and at all times, is a passport into German favor, but much more +since the late memorable wars that but for Englishmen would have +drooped into disconnected efforts--next, an Englishman of rank and +of the haute noblesse--then a soldier covered with brilliant +distinctions, and in the most brilliant arm of the service; young, +moreover, and yet a veteran by his experience--fresh from the most +awful battle of this planet since the day of Pharsalia,--radiant +with the favor of courts and of imperial ladies; finally (which +alone would have given him an interest in all female hearts), an +Antinous of faultless beauty, a Grecian statue, as it were, into +which the breath of life had been breathed by some modern +Pygmalion;--such a pomp of gifts and endowments settling upon one +man's head, should not have required for its effect the vulgar +consummation (and yet to many it WAS the consummation and crest of +the whole) that he was reputed to be rich beyond the dreams of +romance or the necessities of a fairy tale. Unparalleled was the +impression made upon our stagnant society; every tongue was busy in +discussing the marvelous young Englishman from morning to night; +every female fancy was busy in depicting the personal appearance of +this gay apparition. + +On his arrival at my house, I became sensible of a truth which I +had observed some years before. The commonplace maxim is, that it +is dangerous to raise expectations too high. This, which is thus +generally expressed, and without limitation, is true only +conditionally; it is true then and there only where there is but +little merit to sustain and justify the expectation. But in any +case where the merit is transcendent of its kind, it is always +useful to rack the expectation up to the highest point. In +anything which partakes of the infinite, the most unlimited +expectations will find ample room for gratification; while it is +certain that ordinary observers, possessing little sensibility, +unless where they have been warned to expect, will often fail to +see what exists in the most conspicuous splendor. In this instance +it certainly did no harm to the subject of expectation that I had +been warned to look for so much. The warning, at any rate, put me +on the lookout for whatever eminence there might be of grandeur in +his personal appearance; while, on the other hand, this existed in +such excess, so far transcending anything I had ever met with in my +experience, that no expectation which it is in words to raise could +have been disappointed. + +These thoughts traveled with the rapidity of light through my +brain, as at one glance my eye took in the supremacy of beauty and +power which seemed to have alighted from the clouds before me. +Power, and the contemplation of power, in any absolute incarnation +of grandeur or excess, necessarily have the instantaneous effect of +quelling all perturbation. My composure was restored in a moment. +I looked steadily at him. We both bowed. And, at the moment when +he raised his head from that inclination, I caught the glance of +his eye; an eye such as might have been looked for in a face of +such noble lineaments-- + + + "Blending the nature of the star + With that of summer skies;" + + +and, therefore, meant by nature for the residence and organ of +serene and gentle emotions; but it surprised, and at the same time +filled me more almost with consternation than with pity, to observe +that in those eyes a light of sadness had settled more profound +than seemed possible for youth, or almost commensurate to a human +sorrow; a sadness that might have become a Jewish prophet, when +laden with inspirations of woe. + +Two months had now passed away since the arrival of Mr. Wyndham. +He had been universally introduced to the superior society of the +place; and, as I need hardly say, universally received with favor +and distinction. In reality, his wealth and importance, his +military honors, and the dignity of his character, as expressed in +his manners and deportment, were too eminent to allow of his being +treated with less than the highest attention in any society +whatever. But the effect of these various advantages, enforced and +recommended as they were by a personal beauty so rare, was somewhat +too potent for the comfort and self-possession of ordinary people; +and really exceeded in a painful degree the standard of pretensions +under which such people could feel themselves at their ease. He +was not naturally of a reserved turn; far from it. His disposition +had been open, frank, and confiding, originally; and his roving, +adventurous life, of which considerably more than one half had been +passed in camps, had communicated to his manners a more than +military frankness. But the profound melancholy which possessed +him, from whatever cause it arose, necessarily chilled the native +freedom of his demeanor, unless when it was revived by strength of +friendship or of love. The effect was awkward and embarrassing to +all parties. Every voice paused or faltered when he entered a +room--dead silence ensued--not an eye but was directed upon him, or +else, sunk in timidity, settled upon the floor; and young ladies +seriously lost the power, for a time, of doing more than murmuring +a few confused, half-inarticulate syllables, or half-inarticulate +sounds. The solemnity, in fact, of a first presentation, and the +utter impossibility of soon recovering a free, unembarrassed +movement of conversation, made such scenes really distressing to +all who participated in them, either as actors or spectators. +Certainly this result was not a pure effect of manly beauty, +however heroic, and in whatever excess; it arose in part from the +many and extraordinary endowments which had centered in his person, +not less from fortune than from nature; in part also, as I have +said, from the profound sadness and freezing gravity of Mr. +Wyndham's manner; but still more from the perplexing mystery which +surrounded that sadness. + +Were there, then, no exceptions to this condition of awestruck +admiration? Yes; one at least there was in whose bosom the spell +of all-conquering passion soon thawed every trace of icy reserve. +While the rest of the world retained a dim sentiment of awe toward +Mr. Wyndham, Margaret Liebenheim only heard of such a feeling to +wonder that it could exist toward HIM. Never was there so +victorious a conquest interchanged between two youthful hearts-- +never before such a rapture of instantaneous sympathy. I did not +witness the first meeting of this mysterious Maximilian and this +magnificent Margaret, and do not know whether Margaret manifested +that trepidation and embarrassment which distressed so many of her +youthful co-rivals; but, if she did, it must have fled before the +first glance of the young man's eye, which would interpret, past +all misunderstanding, the homage of his soul and the surrender of +his heart. Their third meeting I DID see; and there all shadow of +embarrassment had vanished, except, indeed, of that delicate +embarrassment which clings to impassioned admiration. On the part +of Margaret, it seemed as if a new world had dawned upon her that +she had not so much as suspected among the capacities of human +experience. Like some bird she seemed, with powers unexercised for +soaring and flying, not understood even as yet, and that never +until now had found an element of air capable of sustaining her +wings, or tempting her to put forth her buoyant instincts. He, on +the other hand, now first found the realization of his dreams, and +for a mere possibility which he had long too deeply contemplated, +fearing, however, that in his own case it might prove a chimera, or +that he might never meet a woman answering the demands of his +heart, he now found a corresponding reality that left nothing to +seek. + +Here, then, and thus far, nothing but happiness had resulted from +the new arrangement. But, if this had been little anticipated by +many, far less had I, for my part, anticipated the unhappy +revolution which was wrought in the whole nature of Ferdinand von +Harrelstein. He was the son of a German baron; a man of good +family, but of small estate who had been pretty nearly a soldier of +fortune in the Prussian service, and had, late in life, won +sufficient favor with the king and other military superiors, to +have an early prospect of obtaining a commission, under flattering +auspices, for this only son--a son endeared to him as the companion +of unprosperous years, and as a dutifully affectionate child. +Ferdinand had yet another hold upon his father's affections: his +features preserved to the baron's unclouded remembrance a most +faithful and living memorial of that angelic wife who had died in +giving birth to this third child--the only one who had long +survived her. Anxious that his son should go through a regular +course of mathematical instruction, now becoming annually more +important in all the artillery services throughout Europe, and that +he should receive a tincture of other liberal studies which he had +painfully missed in his own military career, the baron chose to +keep his son for the last seven years at our college, until he was +now entering upon his twenty-third year. For the four last he had +lived with me as the sole pupil whom I had, or meant to have, had +not the brilliant proposals of the young Russian guardsman +persuaded me to break my resolution. Ferdinand von Harrelstein had +good talents, not dazzling but respectable; and so amiable were his +temper and manners that I had introduced him everywhere, and +everywhere he was a favorite; and everywhere, indeed, except +exactly there where only in this world he cared for favor. +Margaret Liebenheim, she it was whom he loved, and had loved for +years, with the whole ardor of his ardent soul; she it was for +whom, or at whose command, he would willingly have died. Early he +had felt that in her hands lay his destiny; that she it was who +must be his good or his evil genius. + +At first, and perhaps to the last, I pitied him exceedingly. But +my pity soon ceased to be mingled with respect. Before the arrival +of Mr. Wyndham he had shown himself generous, indeed magnanimous. +But never was there so painful an overthrow of a noble nature as +manifested itself in him. I believe that he had not himself +suspected the strength of his passion; and the sole resource for +him, as I said often, was to quit the city--to engage in active +pursuits of enterprise, of ambition, or of science. But he heard +me as a somnambulist might have heard me--dreaming with his eyes +open. Sometimes he had fits of reverie, starting, fearful, +agitated; sometimes he broke out into maniacal movements of wrath, +invoking some absent person, praying, beseeching, menacing some +air-wove phantom; sometimes he slunk into solitary corners, +muttering to himself, and with gestures sorrowfully significant, or +with tones and fragments of expostulation that moved the most +callous to compassion. Still he turned a deaf ear to the only +practical counsel that had a chance for reaching his ears. Like a +bird under the fascination of a rattlesnake, he would not summon up +the energies of his nature to make an effort at flying away. +"Begone, while it is time!" said others, as well as myself; for +more than I saw enough to fear some fearful catastrophe. "Lead us +not into temptation!" said his confessor to him in my hearing (for, +though Prussians, the Von Harrelsteins were Roman Catholics), "lead +us not into temptation!--that is our daily prayer to God. Then, my +son, being led into temptation, do not you persist in courting, +nay, almost tempting temptation. Try the effects of absence, +though but for a month." The good father even made an overture +toward imposing a penance upon him, that would have involved an +absence of some duration. But he was obliged to desist; for he saw +that, without effecting any good, he would merely add spiritual +disobedience to the other offenses of the young man. Ferdinand +himself drew his attention to THIS; for he said: "Reverend father! +do not you, with the purpose of removing me from temptation, be +yourself the instrument for tempting me into a rebellion against +the church. Do not you weave snares about my steps; snares there +are already, and but too many." The old man sighed, and desisted. + +Then came--But enough! From pity, from sympathy, from counsel, and +from consolation, and from scorn--from each of these alike the poor +stricken deer "recoiled into the wilderness;" he fled for days +together into solitary parts of the forest; fled, as I still hoped +and prayed, in good earnest and for a long farewell; but, alas! no: +still he returned to the haunts of his ruined happiness and his +buried hopes, at each return looking more like the wreck of his +former self; and once I heard a penetrating monk observe, whose +convent stood near the city gates: "There goes one ready equally +for doing or suffering, and of whom we shall soon hear that he is +involved in some great catastrophe--it may be of deep calamity--it +may be of memorable guilt." + +So stood matters among us. January was drawing to its close; the +weather was growing more and more winterly; high winds, piercingly +cold, were raving through our narrow streets; and still the spirit +of social festivity bade defiance to the storms which sang through +our ancient forests. From the accident of our magistracy being +selected from the tradesmen of the city, the hospitalities of the +place were far more extensive than would otherwise have happened; +for every member of the corporation gave two annual entertainments +in his official character. And such was the rivalship which +prevailed, that often one quarter of the year's income was spent +upon these galas. Nor was any ridicule thus incurred; for the +costliness of the entertainment was understood to be an expression +of OFFICIAL pride, done in honor of the city, not as an effort of +personal display. It followed, from the spirit in which these +half-yearly dances originated, that, being given on the part of the +city, every stranger of rank was marked out as a privileged guest, +and the hospitality of the community would have been equally +affronted by failing to offer or by failing to accept the +invitation. + +Hence it had happened that the Russian guardsman had been +introduced into many a family which otherwise could not have hoped +for such a distinction. Upon the evening at which I am now +arrived, the twenty-second of January, 1816, the whole city, in its +wealthier classes, was assembled beneath the roof of a tradesman +who had the heart of a prince. In every point our entertainment +was superb; and I remarked that the music was the finest I had +heard for years. Our host was in joyous spirits; proud to survey +the splendid company he had gathered under his roof; happy to +witness their happiness; elated in their elation. Joyous was the +dance--joyous were all faces that I saw--up to midnight, very soon +after which time supper was announced; and that also, I think, was +the most joyous of all the banquets I ever witnessed. The +accomplished guardsman outshone himself in brilliancy; even his +melancholy relaxed. In fact, how could it be otherwise? near to +him sat Margaret Liebenheim--hanging upon his words--more lustrous +and bewitching than ever I had beheld her. There she had been +placed by the host; and everybody knew why. That is one of the +luxuries attached to love; all men cede their places with pleasure; +women make way. Even she herself knew, though not obliged to know, +why she was seated in that neighborhood; and took her place, if +with a rosy suffusion upon her cheeks, yet with fullness of +happiness at her heart. + +The guardsman pressed forward to claim Miss Liebenheim's hand for +the next dance; a movement which she was quick to favor, by +retreating behind one or two parties from a person who seemed +coming toward her. The music again began to pour its voluptuous +tides through the bounding pulses of the youthful company; again +the flying feet of the dancers began to respond to the measures; +again the mounting spirit of delight began to fill the sails of the +hurrying night with steady inspiration. All went happily. Already +had one dance finished; some were pacing up and down, leaning on +the arms of their partners; some were reposing from their +exertions; when--O heavens! what a shriek! what a gathering tumult! + +Every eye was bent toward the doors--every eye strained forward to +discover what was passing. But there, every moment, less and less +could be seen, for the gathering crowd more and more intercepted +the view;--so much the more was the ear at leisure for the shrieks +redoubled upon shrieks. Miss Liebenheim had moved downward to the +crowd. From her superior height she overlooked all the ladies at +the point where she stood. In the center stood a rustic girl, +whose features had been familiar to her for some months. She had +recently come into the city, and had lived with her uncle, a +tradesman, not ten doors from Margaret's own residence, partly on +the terms of a kinswoman, partly as a servant on trial. At this +moment she was exhausted with excitement, and the nature of the +shock she had sustained. Mere panic seemed to have mastered her; +and she was leaning, unconscious and weeping, upon the shoulder of +some gentleman, who was endeavoring to soothe her. A silence of +horror seemed to possess the company, most of whom were still +unacquainted with the cause of the alarming interruption. A few, +however, who had heard her first agitated words, finding that they +waited in vain for a fuller explanation, now rushed tumultuously +out of the ballroom to satisfy themselves on the spot. The +distance was not great; and within five minutes several persons +returned hastily, and cried out to the crowd of ladies that all was +true which the young girl had said. "What was true?" That her +uncle Mr. Weishaupt's family had been murdered; that not one member +of the family had been spared--namely, Mr. Weishaupt himself and +his wife, neither of them much above sixty, but both infirm beyond +their years; two maiden sisters of Mr. Weishaupt, from forty to +forty-six years of age, and an elderly female domestic. + +An incident happened during the recital of these horrors, and of +the details which followed, that furnished matter for conversation +even in these hours when so thrilling an interest had possession of +all minds. Many ladies fainted; among them Miss Liebenheim--and +she would have fallen to the ground but for Maximilian, who sprang +forward and caught her in his arms. She was long of returning to +herself; and, during the agony of his suspense, he stooped and +kissed her pallid lips. That sight was more than could be borne by +one who stood a little behind the group. He rushed forward, with +eyes glaring like a tiger's, and leveled a blow at Maximilian. It +was poor, maniacal Von Harrelstein, who had been absent in the +forest for a week. Many people stepped forward and checked his +arm, uplifted for a repetition of this outrage. One or two had +some influence with him, and led him away from the spot; while as +to Maximilian, so absorbed was he that he had not so much as +perceived the affront offered to himself. Margaret, on reviving, +was confounded at finding herself so situated amid a great crowd; +and yet the prudes complained that there was a look of love +exchanged between herself and Maximilian, that ought not to have +escaped her in such a situation. If they meant by such a +situation, one so public, it must be also recollected that it was a +situation of excessive agitation; but, if they alluded to the +horrors of the moment, no situation more naturally opens the heart +to affection and confiding love than the recoil from scenes of +exquisite terror. + +An examination went on that night before the magistrates, but all +was dark; although suspicion attached to a negro named Aaron, who +had occasionally been employed in menial services by the family, +and had been in the house immediately before the murder. The +circumstances were such as to leave every man in utter perplexity +as to the presumption for and against him. His mode of defending +himself, and his general deportment, were marked by the coolest, +nay, the most sneering indifference. The first thing he did, on +being acquainted with the suspicions against himself, was to laugh +ferociously, and to all appearance most cordially and unaffectedly. +He demanded whether a poor man like himself would have left so much +wealth as lay scattered abroad in that house--gold repeaters, massy +plate, gold snuff boxes--untouched? That argument certainly +weighed much in his favor. And yet again it was turned against +him; for a magistrate asked him how HE happened to know already +that nothing had been touched. True it was, and a fact which had +puzzled no less than it had awed the magistrates, that, upon their +examination of the premises, many rich articles of bijouterie, +jewelry, and personal ornaments, had been found lying underanged, +and apparently in their usual situations; articles so portable that +in the very hastiest flight some might have been carried off. In +particular, there was a crucifix of gold, enriched with jewels so +large and rare, that of itself it would have constituted a prize of +great magnitude. Yet this was left untouched, though suspended in +a little oratory that had been magnificently adorned by the elder +of the maiden sisters. There was an altar, in itself a splendid +object, furnished with every article of the most costly material +and workmanship, for the private celebration of mass. This +crucifix, as well as everything else in the little closet, must +have been seen by one at least of the murderous party; for hither +had one of the ladies fled; hither had one of the murderers +pursued. She had clasped the golden pillars which supported the +altar--had turned perhaps her dying looks upon the crucifix; for +there, with one arm still wreathed about the altar foot, though in +her agony she had turned round upon her face, did the elder sister +lie when the magistrates first broke open the street door. And +upon the beautiful parquet, or inlaid floor which ran round the +room, were still impressed the footsteps of the murderer. These, +it was hoped, might furnish a clew to the discovery of one at least +among the murderous band. They were rather difficult to trace +accurately; those parts of the traces which lay upon the black +tessellae being less distinct in the outline than the others upon +the white or colored. Most unquestionably, so far as this went, it +furnished a negative circumstance in favor of the negro, for the +footsteps were very different in outline from his, and smaller, for +Aaron was a man of colossal build. And as to his knowledge of the +state in which the premises had been found, and his having so +familiarly relied upon the fact of no robbery having taken place as +an argument on his own behalf, he contended that he had himself +been among the crowd that pushed into the house along with the +magistrates; that, from his previous acquaintance with the rooms +and their ordinary condition, a glance of the eye had been +sufficient for him to ascertain the undisturbed condition of all +the valuable property most obvious to the grasp of a robber that, +in fact, he had seen enough for his argument before he and the rest +of the mob had been ejected by the magistrates; but, finally, that +independently of all this, he had heard both the officers, as they +conducted him, and all the tumultuous gatherings of people in the +street, arguing for the mysteriousness of the bloody transaction +upon that very circumstance of so much gold, silver, and jewels, +being left behind untouched. + +In six weeks or less from the date of this terrific event, the +negro was set at liberty by a majority of voices among the +magistrates. In that short interval other events had occurred no +less terrific and mysterious. In this first murder, though the +motive was dark and unintelligible, yet the agency was not so; +ordinary assassins apparently, and with ordinary means, had +assailed a helpless and unprepared family; had separated them; +attacked them singly in flight (for in this first case all but one +of the murdered persons appeared to have been making for the street +door); and in all this there was no subject for wonder, except the +original one as to the motive. But now came a series of cases +destined to fling this earliest murder into the shade. Nobody +could now be unprepared; and yet the tragedies, henceforward, which +passed before us, one by one, in sad, leisurely, or in terrific +groups, seemed to argue a lethargy like that of apoplexy in the +victims, one and all. The very midnight of mysterious awe fell +upon all minds. + +Three weeks had passed since the murder at Mr. Weishaupt's--three +weeks the most agitated that had been known in this sequestered +city. We felt ourselves solitary, and thrown upon our own +resources; all combination with other towns being unavailing from +their great distance. Our situation was no ordinary one. Had +there been some mysterious robbers among us, the chances of a +visit, divided among so many, would have been too small to distress +the most timid; while to young and high-spirited people, with +courage to spare for ordinary trials, such a state of expectation +would have sent pulses of pleasurable anxiety among the nerves. +But murderers! exterminating murderers!--clothed in mystery and +utter darkness--these were objects too terrific for any family to +contemplate with fortitude. Had these very murderers added to +their functions those of robbery, they would have become less +terrific; nine out of every ten would have found themselves +discharged, as it were, from the roll of those who were liable to a +visit; while such as knew themselves liable would have had warning +of their danger in the fact of being rich; and would, from the very +riches which constituted that danger, have derived the means of +repelling it. But, as things were, no man could guess what it was +that must make him obnoxious to the murderers. Imagination +exhausted itself in vain guesses at the causes which could by +possibility have made the poor Weishaupts objects of such hatred to +any man. True, they were bigoted in a degree which indicated +feebleness of intellect; but THAT wounded no man in particular, +while to many it recommended them. True, their charity was narrow +and exclusive, but to those of their own religious body it expanded +munificently; and, being rich beyond their wants, or any means of +employing wealth which their gloomy asceticism allowed, they had +the power of doing a great deal of good among the indigent papists +of the suburbs. As to the old gentleman and his wife, their +infirmities confined them to the house. Nobody remembered to have +seen them abroad for years. How, therefore, or when could they +have made an enemy? And, with respect to the maiden sisters of Mr. +Weishaupt, they were simply weak-minded persons, now and then too +censorious, but not placed in a situation to incur serious anger +from any quarter, and too little heard of in society to occupy much +of anybody's attention. + +Conceive, then, that three weeks have passed away, that the poor +Weishaupts have been laid in that narrow sanctuary which no +murderer's voice will ever violate. Quiet has not returned to us, +but the first flutterings of panic have subsided. People are +beginning to respire freely again; and such another space of time +would have cicatrized our wounds--when, hark! a church bell rings +out a loud alarm;--the night is starlight and frosty--the iron +notes are heard clear, solemn, but agitated. What could this mean? +I hurried to a room over the porter's lodge, and, opening the +window, I cried out to a man passing hastily below, "What, in God's +name, is the meaning of this?" It was a watchman belonging to our +district. I knew his voice, he knew mine, and he replied in great +agitation: + +"It is another murder, sir, at the old town councilor's, Albernass; +and this time they have made a clear house of it." + +"God preserve us! Has a curse been pronounced upon this city? +What can be done? What are the magistrates going to do?" + +"I don't know, sir. I have orders to run to the Black Friars, +where another meeting is gathering. Shall I say you will attend, +sir?" + +"Yes--no--stop a little. No matter, you may go on; I'll follow +immediately." + +I went instantly to Maximilian's room. He was lying asleep on a +sofa, at which I was not surprised, for there had been a severe +stag chase in the morning. Even at this moment I found myself +arrested by two objects, and I paused to survey them. One was +Maximilian himself. A person so mysterious took precedency of +other interests even at a time like this; and especially by his +features, which, composed in profound sleep, as sometimes happens, +assumed a new expression, which arrested me chiefly by awaking some +confused remembrance of the same features seen under other +circumstances and in times long past; but where? This was what I +could not recollect, though once before a thought of the same sort +had crossed my mind. The other object of my interest was a +miniature, which Maximilian was holding in his hand. He had gone +to sleep apparently looking at this picture; and the hand which +held it had slipped down upon the sofa, so that it was in danger of +falling. I released the miniature from his hand, and surveyed it +attentively. It represented a lady of sunny, oriental complexion, +and features the most noble that it is possible to conceive. One +might have imagined such a lady, with her raven locks and imperial +eyes, to be the favorite sultana of some Amurath or Mohammed. What +was she to Maximilian, or what HAD she been? For, by the tear +which I had once seen him drop upon this miniature when he believed +himself unobserved, I conjectured that her dark tresses were +already laid low, and her name among the list of vanished things. +Probably she was his mother, for the dress was rich with pearls, +and evidently that of a person in the highest rank of court +beauties. I sighed as I thought of the stern melancholy of her +son, if Maximilian were he, as connected, probably, with the fate +and fortunes of this majestic beauty; somewhat haughty, perhaps, in +the expression of her fine features, but still noble--generous-- +confiding. Laying the picture on the table, I awoke Maximilian, +and told him of the dreadful news. He listened attentively, made +no remark, but proposed that we should go together to the meeting +of our quarter at the Black Friars. He colored upon observing the +miniature on the table; and, therefore, I frankly told him in what +situation I had found it, and that I had taken the liberty of +admiring it for a few moments. He pressed it tenderly to his lips, +sighed heavily, and we walked away together. + +I pass over the frenzied state of feeling in which we found the +meeting. Fear, or rather horror, did not promote harmony; many +quarreled with each other in discussing the suggestions brought +forward, and Maximilian was the only person attended to. He +proposed a nightly mounted patrol for every district. And in +particular he offered, as being himself a member of the university, +that the students should form themselves into a guard, and go out +by rotation to keep watch and ward from sunset to sunrise. +Arrangements were made toward that object by the few people who +retained possession of their senses, and for the present we +separated. + +Never, in fact, did any events so keenly try the difference between +man and man. Some started up into heroes under the excitement. +Some, alas for the dignity of man! drooped into helpless +imbecility. Women, in some cases, rose superior to men, but yet +not so often as might have happened under a less mysterious danger. +A woman is not unwomanly because she confronts danger boldly. But +I have remarked, with respect to female courage, that it requires, +more than that of men, to be sustained by hope; and that it droops +more certainly in the presence of a MYSTERIOUS danger. The fancy +of women is more active, if not stronger, and it influences more +directly the physical nature. In this case few were the women who +made even a show of defying the danger. On the contrary, with THEM +fear took the form of sadness, while with many of the men it took +that of wrath. + +And how did the Russian guardsman conduct himself amidst this +panic? Many were surprised at his behavior; some complained of it; +I did neither. He took a reasonable interest in each separate +case, listened to the details with attention, and, in the +examination of persons able to furnish evidence, never failed to +suggest judicious questions. But still he manifested a coolness +almost amounting to carelessness, which to many appeared revolting. +But these people I desired to notice that all the other military +students, who had been long in the army, felt exactly in the same +way. In fact, the military service of Christendom, for the last +ten years, had been anything but a parade service; and to those, +therefore, who were familiar with every form of horrid butchery, +the mere outside horrors of death had lost much of their terror. +In the recent murder there had not been much to call forth +sympathy. The family consisted of two old bachelors, two sisters, +and one grandniece. The niece was absent on a visit, and the two +old men were cynical misers, to whom little personal interest +attached. Still, in this case as in that of the Weishaupts, the +same twofold mystery confounded the public mind--the mystery of the +HOW, and the profounder mystery of the WHY. Here, again, no atom +of property was taken, though both the misers had hordes of ducats +and English guineas in the very room where they died. Their bias, +again, though of an unpopular character, had rather availed to make +them unknown than to make them hateful. In one point this case +differed memorably from the other--that, instead of falling +helpless, or flying victims (as the Weishaupts had done), these old +men, strong, resolute, and not so much taken by surprise, left +proofs that they had made a desperate defense. The furniture was +partly smashed to pieces, and the other details furnished evidence +still more revolting of the acharnement with which the struggle had +been maintained. In fact, with THEM a surprise must have been +impracticable, as they admitted nobody into their house on visiting +terms. It was thought singular that from each of these domestic +tragedies a benefit of the same sort should result to young persons +standing in nearly the same relation. The girl who gave the alarm +at the ball, with two little sisters, and a little orphan nephew, +their cousin, divided the very large inheritance of the Weishaupts; +and in this latter case the accumulated savings of two long lives +all vested in the person of the amiable grandniece. + +But now, as if in mockery of all our anxious consultations and +elaborate devices, three fresh murders took place on the two +consecutive nights succeeding these new arrangements. And in one +case, as nearly as time could be noted, the mounted patrol must +have been within call at the very moment when the awful work was +going on. I shall not dwell much upon them; but a few +circumstances are too interesting to be passed over. The earliest +case on the first of the two nights was that of a currier. He was +fifty years old; not rich, but well off. His first wife was dead, +and his daughters by her were married away from their father's +house. He had married a second wife, but, having no children by +her, and keeping no servants, it is probable that, but for an +accident, no third person would have been in the house at the time +when the murderers got admittance. About seven o'clock, a +wayfaring man, a journeyman currier, who, according to our German +system, was now in his wanderjahre, entered the city from the +forest. At the gate he made some inquiries about the curriers and +tanners of our town; and, agreeably to the information he received, +made his way to this Mr. Heinberg. Mr. Heinberg refused to admit +him, until he mentioned his errand, and pushed below the door a +letter of recommendation from a Silesian correspondent, describing +him as an excellent and steady workman. Wanting such a man, and +satisfied by the answers returned that he was what he represented +himself, Mr. Heinberg unbolted his door and admitted him. Then, +after slipping the bolt into its place, he bade him sit to the +fire, brought him a glass of beer, conversed with him for ten +minutes, and said: "You had better stay here to-night; I'll tell +you why afterwards; but now I'll step upstairs, and ask my wife +whether she can make up a bed for you; and do you mind the door +while I'm away." So saying, he went out of the room. Not one +minute had he been gone when there came a gentle knock at the door. +It was raining heavily, and, being a stranger to the city, not +dreaming that in any crowded town such a state of things could +exist as really did in this, the young man, without hesitation, +admitted the person knocking. He has declared since--but, perhaps, +confounding the feelings gained from better knowledge with the +feelings of the moment--that from the moment he drew the bolt he +had a misgiving that he had done wrong. A man entered in a +horseman's cloak, and so muffled up that the journeyman could +discover none of his features. In a low tone the stranger said, +"Where's Heinberg?"--"Upstairs."--"Call him down, then." The +journeyman went to the door by which Mr. Heinberg had left him, and +called, "Mr. Heinberg, here's one wanting you!" Mr. Heinberg heard +him, for the man could distinctly catch these words: "God bless me! +has the man opened the door? O, the traitor! I see it." Upon +this he felt more and more consternation, though not knowing why. +Just then he heard a sound of feet behind him. On turning round, +he beheld three more men in the room; one was fastening the outer +door; one was drawing some arms from a cupboard, and two others +were whispering together. He himself was disturbed and perplexed, +and felt that all was not right. Such was his confusion, that +either all the men's faces must have been muffled up, or at least +he remembered nothing distinctly but one fierce pair of eyes +glaring upon him. Then, before he could look round, came a man +from behind and threw a sack over his head, which was drawn tight +about his waist, so as to confine his arms, as well as to impede +his hearing in part, and his voice altogether. He was then pushed +into a room; but previously he had heard a rush upstairs, and words +like those of a person exulting, and then a door closed. Once it +opened, and he could distinguish the words, in one voice, "And for +THAT!" to which another voice replied, in tones that made his heart +quake, "Aye, for THAT, sir." And then the same voice went on +rapidly to say, "O dog! could you hope"--at which word the door +closed again. Once he thought that he heard a scuffle, and he was +sure that he heard the sound of feet, as if rushing from one corner +of a room to another. But then all was hushed and still for about +six or seven minutes, until a voice close to his ear said, "Now, +wait quietly till some persons come in to release you. This will +happen within half an hour." Accordingly, in less than that time, +he again heard the sound of feet within the house, his own bandages +were liberated, and he was brought to tell his story at the police +office. Mr. Heinberg was found in his bedroom. He had died by +strangulation, and the cord was still tightened about his neck. +During the whole dreadful scene his youthful wife had been locked +into a closet, where she heard or saw nothing. + +In the second case, the object of vengeance was again an elderly +man. Of the ordinary family, all were absent at a country house, +except the master and a female servant. She was a woman of +courage, and blessed with the firmest nerves; so that she might +have been relied on for reporting accurately everything seen or +heard. But things took another course. The first warning that she +had of the murderers' presence was from their steps and voices +already in the hall. She heard her master run hastily into the +hall, crying out, "Lord Jesus!--Mary, Mary, save me!" The servant +resolved to give what aid she could, seized a large poker, and was +hurrying to his assistance, when she found that they had nailed up +the door of communication at the head of the stairs. What passed +after this she could not tell; for, when the impulse of intrepid +fidelity had been balked, and she found that her own safety was +provided for by means which made it impossible to aid a poor fellow +creature who had just invoked her name, the generous-hearted +creature was overcome by anguish of mind, and sank down on the +stair, where she lay, unconscious of all that succeeded, until she +found herself raised in the arms of a mob who had entered the +house. And how came they to have entered? In a way +characteristically dreadful. The night was starlit; the patrols +had perambulated the street without noticing anything suspicious, +when two foot passengers, who were following in their rear, +observed a dark-colored stream traversing the causeway. One of +them, at the same instant tracing the stream backward with his +eyes, observed that it flowed from under the door of Mr. Munzer, +and, dipping his finger in the trickling fluid, he held it up to +the lamplight, yelling out at the moment, "Why, this is blood!" It +was so, indeed, and it was yet warm. The other saw, heard, and +like an arrow flew after the horse patrol, then in the act of +turning the corner. One cry, full of meaning, was sufficient for +ears full of expectation. The horsemen pulled up, wheeled, and in +another moment reined up at Mr. Munzer's door. The crowd, +gathering like the drifting of snow, supplied implements which soon +forced the chains of the door and all other obstacles. But the +murderous party had escaped, and all traces of their persons had +vanished, as usual. + +Rarely did any case occur without some peculiarity more or less +interesting. In that which happened on the following night, making +the fifth in the series, an impressive incident varied the monotony +of horrors. In this case the parties aimed at were two elderly +ladies, who conducted a female boarding school. None of the pupils +had as yet returned to school from their vacation; but two sisters, +young girls of thirteen and sixteen, coming from a distance, had +stayed at school throughout the Christmas holidays. It was the +youngest of these who gave the only evidence of any value, and one +which added a new feature of alarm to the existing panic. Thus it +was that her testimony was given: On the day before the murder, she +and her sister were sitting with the old ladies in a room fronting +to the street; the elder ladies were reading, the younger ones +drawing. Louisa, the youngest, never had her ear inattentive to +the slightest sound, and once it struck her that she heard the +creaking of a foot upon the stairs. She said nothing, but, +slipping out of the room, she ascertained that the two female +servants were in the kitchen, and could not have been absent; that +all the doors and windows, by which ingress was possible, were not +only locked, but bolted and barred--a fact which excluded all +possibility of invasion by means of false keys. Still she felt +persuaded that she had heard the sound of a heavy foot upon the +stairs. It was, however, daylight, and this gave her confidence; +so that, without communicating her alarm to anybody, she found +courage to traverse the house in every direction; and, as nothing +was either seen or heard, she concluded that her ears had been too +sensitively awake. Yet that night, as she lay in bed, dim terrors +assailed her, especially because she considered that, in so large a +house, some closet or other might have been overlooked, and, in +particular, she did not remember to have examined one or two +chests, in which a man could have lain concealed. Through the +greater part of the night she lay awake; but as one of the town +clocks struck four, she dismissed her anxieties, and fell asleep. +The next day, wearied with this unusual watching, she proposed to +her sister that they should go to bed earlier than usual. This +they did; and, on their way upstairs, Louisa happened to think +suddenly of a heavy cloak, which would improve the coverings of her +bed against the severity of the night. The cloak was hanging up in +a closet within a closet, both leading off from a large room used +as the young ladies' dancing school. These closets she had +examined on the previous day, and therefore she felt no particular +alarm at this moment. The cloak was the first article which met +her sight; it was suspended from a hook in the wall, and close to +the door. She took it down, but, in doing so, exposed part of the +wall and of the floor, which its folds had previously concealed. +Turning away hastily, the chances were that she had gone without +making any discovery. In the act of turning, however, her light +fell brightly on a man's foot and leg. Matchless was her presence +of mind; having previously been humming an air, she continued to do +so. But now came the trial; her sister was bending her steps to +the same closet. If she suffered her to do so, Lottchen would +stumble on the same discovery, and expire of fright. On the other +hand, if she gave her a hint, Lottchen would either fail to +understand her, or, gaining but a glimpse of her meaning, would +shriek aloud, or by some equally decisive expression convey the +fatal news to the assassin that he had been discovered. In this +torturing dilemma fear prompted an expedient, which to Lottchen +appeared madness, and to Louisa herself the act of a sibyl instinct +with blind inspiration. "Here," said she, "is our dancing room. +When shall we all meet and dance again together?" Saying which, +she commenced a wild dance, whirling her candle round her head +until the motion extinguished it; then, eddying round her sister in +narrowing circles, she seized Lottchen's candle also, blew it out, +and then interrupted her own singing to attempt a laugh. But the +laugh was hysterical. The darkness, however, favored her; and, +seizing her sister's arm, she forced her along, whispering, "Come, +come, come!" Lottchen could not be so dull as entirely to +misunderstand her. She suffered herself to be led up the first +flight of stairs, at the head of which was a room looking into the +street. In this they would have gained an asylum, for the door had +a strong bolt. But, as they were on the last steps of the landing, +they could hear the hard breathing and long strides of the murderer +ascending behind them. He had watched them through a crevice, and +had been satisfied by the hysterical laugh of Louisa that she had +seen him. In the darkness he could not follow fast, from ignorance +of the localities, until he found himself upon the stairs. Louisa, +dragging her sister along, felt strong as with the strength of +lunacy, but Lottchen hung like a weight of lead upon her. She +rushed into the room, but at the very entrance Lottchen fell. At +that moment the assassin exchanged his stealthy pace for a loud +clattering ascent. Already he was on the topmost stair; already he +was throwing himself at a bound against the door, when Louisa, +having dragged her sister into the room, closed the door and sent +the bolt home in the very instant that the murderer's hand came +into contact with the handle. Then, from the violence of her +emotions, she fell down in a fit, with her arm around the sister +whom she had saved. + +How long they lay in this state neither ever knew. The two old +ladies had rushed upstairs on hearing the tumult. Other persons +had been concealed in other parts of the house. The servants found +themselves suddenly locked in, and were not sorry to be saved from +a collision which involved so awful a danger. The old ladies had +rushed, side by side, into the very center of those who were +seeking them. Retreat was impossible; two persons at least were +heard following them upstairs. Something like a shrieking +expostulation and counter-expostulation went on between the ladies +and the murderers; then came louder voices--then one heart-piercing +shriek, and then another--and then a slow moaning and a dead +silence. Shortly afterwards was heard the first crashing of the +door inward by the mob; but the murderers had fled upon the first +alarm, and, to the astonishment of the servants, had fled upward. +Examination, however, explained this: from a window in the roof +they had passed to an adjoining house recently left empty; and +here, as in other cases, we had proof how apt people are, in the +midst of elaborate provisions against remote dangers, to neglect +those which are obvious. + +The reign of terror, it may be supposed, had now reached its acme. +The two old ladies were both lying dead at different points on the +staircase, and, as usual, no conjecture could be made as to the +nature of the offense which they had given; but that the murder WAS +a vindictive one, the usual evidence remained behind, in the proofs +that no robbery had been attempted. Two new features, however, +were now brought forward in this system of horrors, one of which +riveted the sense of their insecurity to all families occupying +extensive houses, and the other raised ill blood between the city +and the university, such as required years to allay. The first +arose out of the experience, now first obtained, that these +assassins pursued the plan of secreting themselves within the house +where they meditated a murder. All the care, therefore, previously +directed to the securing of doors and windows after nightfall +appeared nugatory. The other feature brought to light on this +occasion was vouched for by one of the servants, who declared that, +the moment before the door of the kitchen was fastened upon herself +and fellow servant, she saw two men in the hall, one on the point +of ascending the stairs, the other making toward the kitchen; that +she could not distinguish the faces of either, but that both were +dressed in the academic costume belonging to the students of the +university. The consequences of such a declaration need scarcely +be mentioned. Suspicion settled upon the students, who were more +numerous since the general peace, in a much larger proportion +military, and less select or respectable than heretofore. Still, +no part of the mystery was cleared up by this discovery. Many of +the students were poor enough to feel the temptation that might be +offered by any LUCRATIVE system of outrage. Jealous and painful +collusions were, in the meantime, produced; and, during the latter +two months of this winter, it may be said that our city exhibited +the very anarchy of evil passions. This condition of things lasted +until the dawning of another spring. + +It will be supposed that communications were made to the supreme +government of the land as soon as the murders in our city were +understood to be no casual occurrences, but links in a systematic +series. Perhaps it might happen from some other business, of a +higher kind, just then engaging the attention of our governors, +that our representations did not make the impression we had +expected. We could not, indeed, complain of absolute neglect from +the government. They sent down one or two of their most +accomplished police officers, and they suggested some counsels, +especially that we should examine more strictly into the quality of +the miscellaneous population who occupied our large suburb. But +they more than hinted that no necessity was seen either for +quartering troops upon us, or for arming our local magistracy with +ampler powers. + +This correspondence with the central government occupied the month +of March, and, before that time, the bloody system had ceased as +abruptly as it began. The new police officer flattered himself +that the terror of his name had wrought this effect; but judicious +people thought otherwise. All, however, was quiet until the depth +of summer, when, by way of hinting to us, perhaps, that the +dreadful power which clothed itself with darkness had not expired, +but was only reposing from its labors, all at once the chief jailer +of the city was missing. He had been in the habit of taking long +rides in the forest, his present situation being much of a +sinecure. It was on the first of July that he was missed. In +riding through the city gates that morning, he had mentioned the +direction which he meant to pursue; and the last time he was seen +alive was in one of the forest avenues, about eight miles from the +city, leading toward the point he had indicated. This jailer was +not a man to be regretted on his own account; his life had been a +tissue of cruelty and brutal abuse of his powers, in which he had +been too much supported by the magistrates, partly on the plea that +it was their duty to back their own officers against all +complainers, partly also from the necessities created by the +turbulent times for a more summary exercise of their magisterial +authority. No man, therefore, on his own separate account, could +more willingly have been spared than this brutal jailer; and it was +a general remark that, had the murderous band within our walls +swept away this man only, they would have merited the public +gratitude as purifiers from a public nuisance. But was it certain +that the jailer had died by the same hands as had so deeply +afflicted the peace of our city during the winter--or, indeed, that +he had been murdered at all? The forest was too extensive to be +searched; and it was possible that he might have met with some +fatal accident. His horse had returned to the city gates in the +night, and was found there in the morning. Nobody, however, for +months could give information about his rider; and it seemed +probable that he would not be discovered until the autumn and the +winter should again carry the sportsman into every thicket and +dingle of this sylvan tract. One person only seemed to have more +knowledge on this subject than others, and that was poor Ferdinand +von Harrelstein. He was now a mere ruin of what he had once been, +both as to intellect and moral feeling; and I observed him +frequently smile when the jailer was mentioned. "Wait," he would +say, "till the leaves begin to drop; then you will see what fine +fruit our forest bears." I did not repeat these expressions to +anybody except one friend, who agreed with me that the jailer had +probably been hanged in some recess of the forest, which summer +veiled with its luxuriant umbrage; and that Ferdinand, constantly +wandering in the forest, had discovered the body; but we both +acquitted him of having been an accomplice in the murder. + +Meantime the marriage between Margaret Liebenheim and Maximilian +was understood to be drawing near. Yet one thing struck everybody +with astonishment. As far as the young people were concerned, +nobody could doubt that all was arranged; for never was happiness +more perfect than that which seemed to unite them. Margaret was +the impersonation of May-time and youthful rapture; even Maximilian +in her presence seemed to forget his gloom, and the worm which +gnawed at his heart was charmed asleep by the music of her voice, +and the paradise of her smiles. But, until the autumn came, +Margaret's grandfather had never ceased to frown upon this +connection, and to support the pretensions of Ferdinand. The +dislike, indeed, seemed reciprocal between him and Maximilian. +Each avoided the other's company and as to the old man, he went so +far as to speak sneeringly of Maximilian. Maximilian despised him +too heartily to speak of him at all. When he could not avoid +meeting him, he treated him with a stern courtesy, which distressed +Margaret as often as she witnessed it. She felt that her +grandfather had been the aggressor; and she felt also that he did +injustice to the merits of her lover. But she had a filial +tenderness for the old man, as the father of her sainted mother, +and on his own account, continually making more claims on her pity, +as the decay of his memory, and a childish fretfulness growing upon +him from day to day, marked his increasing imbecility. + +Equally mysterious it seemed, that about this time Miss Liebenheim +began to receive anonymous letters, written in the darkest and most +menacing terms. Some of them she showed to me. I could not guess +at their drift. Evidently they glanced at Maximilian, and bade her +beware of connection with him; and dreadful things were insinuated +about him. Could these letters be written by Ferdinand? Written +they were not, but could they be dictated by him? Much I feared +that they were; and the more so for one reason. + +All at once, and most inexplicably, Margaret's grandfather showed a +total change of opinion in his views as to her marriage. Instead +of favoring Harrelstein's pretensions, as he had hitherto done, he +now threw the feeble weight of his encouragement into Maximilian's +scale; though, from the situation of all the parties, nobody +attached any PRACTICAL importance to the change in Mr. Liebenheim's +way of thinking. Nobody? Is that true? No; one person DID attach +the greatest weight to the change--poor, ruined Ferdinand. He, so +long as there was one person to take his part, so long as the +grandfather of Margaret showed countenance to himself, had still +felt his situation not utterly desperate. + +Thus were things situated, when in November, all the leaves daily +blowing off from the woods, and leaving bare the most secret haunts +of the thickets, the body of the jailer was left exposed in the +forest; but not, as I and my friend had conjectured, hanged. No; +he had died apparently by a more horrid death--by that of +crucifixion. The tree, a remarkable one, bore upon a part of its +trunk this brief but savage inscription:--"T. H., jailer at -----; +Crucified July 1, 1816." + +A great deal of talk went on throughout the city upon this +discovery; nobody uttered one word of regret on account of the +wretched jailer; on the contrary, the voice of vengeance, rising up +in many a cottage, reached my ears in every direction as I walked +abroad. The hatred in itself seemed horrid and unchristian, and +still more so after the man's death; but, though horrid and +fiendish for itself, it was much more impressive, considered as the +measure and exponent of the damnable oppression which must have +existed to produce it. + +At first, when the absence of the jailer was a recent occurrence, +and the presence of the murderers among us was, in consequence, +revived to our anxious thoughts, it was an event which few alluded +to without fear. But matters were changed now; the jailer had been +dead for months, and this interval, during which the murderer's +hand had slept, encouraged everybody to hope that the storm had +passed over our city; that peace had returned to our hearths; and +that henceforth weakness might sleep in safety, and innocence +without anxiety. Once more we had peace within our walls, and +tranquillity by our firesides. Again the child went to bed in +cheerfulness, and the old man said his prayers in serenity. +Confidence was restored; peace was re-established; and once again +the sanctity of human life became the rule and the principle for +all human hands among us. Great was the joy; the happiness was +universal. + +O heavens! by what a thunderbolt were we awakened from our +security! On the night of the twenty-seventh of December, half an +hour, it might be, after twelve o'clock, an alarm was given that +all was not right in the house of Mr. Liebenheim. Vast was the +crowd which soon collected in breathless agitation. In two minutes +a man who had gone round by the back of the house was heard +unbarring Mr. Liebenheim's door: he was incapable of uttering a +word; but his gestures, as he threw the door open and beckoned to +the crowd, were quite enough. In the hall, at the further +extremity, and as if arrested in the act of making for the back +door, lay the bodies of old Mr. Liebenheim and one of his sisters, +an aged widow; on the stair lay another sister, younger and +unmarried, but upward of sixty. The hall and lower flight of +stairs were floating with blood. Where, then, was Miss Liebenheim, +the granddaughter? That was the universal cry; for she was beloved +as generally as she was admired. Had the infernal murderers been +devilish enough to break into that temple of innocent and happy +life? Everyone asked the question, and everyone held his breath to +listen; but for a few moments no one dared to advance; for the +silence of the house was ominous. At length some one cried out +that Miss Liebenheim had that day gone upon a visit to a friend, +whose house was forty miles distant in the forest. "Aye," replied +another," she had settled to go; but I heard that something had +stopped her." The suspense was now at its height, and the crowd +passed from room to room, but found no traces of Miss Liebenheim. +At length they ascended the stair, and in the very first room, a +small closet, or boudoir, lay Margaret, with her dress soiled +hideously with blood. The first impression was that she also had +been murdered; but, on a nearer approach, she appeared to be +unwounded, and was manifestly alive. Life had not departed, for +her breath sent a haze over a mirror, but it was suspended, and she +was laboring in some kind of fit. The first act of the crowd was +to carry her into the house of a friend on the opposite side of the +street, by which time medical assistance had crowded to the spot. +Their attentions to Miss Liebenheim had naturally deranged the +condition of things in the little room, but not before many people +found time to remark that one of the murderers must have carried +her with his bloody hands to the sofa on which she lay, for water +had been sprinkled profusely over her face and throat, and water +was even placed ready to her hand, when she might happen to +recover, upon a low foot-stool by the side of the sofa. + +On the following morning, Maximilian, who had been upon a hunting +party in the forest, returned to the city, and immediately learned +the news. I did not see him for some hours after, but he then +appeared to me thoroughly agitated, for the first time I had known +him to be so. In the evening another perplexing piece of +intelligence transpired with regard to Miss Liebenheim, which at +first afflicted every friend of that young lady. It was that she +had been seized with the pains of childbirth, and delivered of a +son, who, however, being born prematurely, did not live many hours. +Scandal, however, was not allowed long to batten upon this +imaginary triumph, for within two hours after the circulation of +this first rumor, followed a second, authenticated, announcing that +Maximilian had appeared with the confessor of the Liebenheim +family, at the residence of the chief magistrate, and there +produced satisfactory proofs of his marriage with Miss Liebenheim, +which had been duly celebrated, though with great secrecy, nearly +eight months before. In our city, as in all the cities of our +country, clandestine marriages, witnessed, perhaps, by two friends +only of the parties, besides the officiating priest, are +exceedingly common. In the mere fact, therefore, taken separately, +there was nothing to surprise us, but, taken in connection with the +general position of the parties, it DID surprise us all; nor could +we conjecture the reason for a step apparently so needless. For, +that Maximilian could have thought it any point of prudence or +necessity to secure the hand of Margaret Liebenheim by a private +marriage, against the final opposition of her grandfather, nobody +who knew the parties, who knew the perfect love which possessed +Miss Liebenbeim, the growing imbecility of her grandfather, or the +utter contempt with which Maximilian regarded him, could for a +moment believe. Altogether, the matter was one of profound +mystery. + +Meantime, it rejoiced me that poor Margaret's name had been thus +rescued from the fangs of the scandalmongers. These harpies had +their prey torn from them at the very moment when they were sitting +down to the unhallowed banquet. For this I rejoiced, but else +there was little subject for rejoicing in anything which concerned +poor Margaret. Long she lay in deep insensibility, taking no +notice of anything, rarely opening her eyes, and apparently +unconscious of the revolutions, as they succeeded, of morning or +evening, light or darkness, yesterday or to-day. Great was the +agitation which convulsed the heart of Maximilian during this +period; he walked up and down in the cathedral nearly all day long, +and the ravages which anxiety was working in his physical system +might be read in his face. People felt it an intrusion upon the +sanctity of his grief to look at him too narrowly, and the whole +town sympathized with his situation. + +At length a change took place in Margaret, but one which the +medical men announced to Maximilian as boding ill for her recovery. +The wanderings of her mind did not depart, but they altered their +character. She became more agitated; she would start up suddenly, +and strain her eye-sight after some figure which she seemed to see; +then she would apostrophize some person in the most piteous terms, +beseeching him, with streaming eyes, to spare her old grandfather. +"Look, look," she would cry out, "look at his gray hairs! O, sir! +he is but a child; he does not know what he says; and he will soon +be out of the way and in his grave; and very soon, sir, he will +give you no more trouble." Then, again, she would mutter +indistinctly for hours together; sometimes she would cry out +frantically, and say things which terrified the bystanders, and +which the physicians would solemnly caution them how they repeated; +then she would weep, and invoke Maximilian to come and aid her. +But seldom, indeed, did that name pass her lips that she did not +again begin to strain her eyeballs, and start up in bed to watch +some phantom of her poor, fevered heart, as if it seemed vanishing +into some mighty distance. + +After nearly seven weeks passed in this agitating state, suddenly, +on one morning, the earliest and the loveliest of dawning spring, a +change was announced to us all as having taken place in Margaret; +but it was a change, alas! that ushered in the last great change of +all. The conflict, which had for so long a period raged within +her, and overthrown her reason, was at an end; the strife was over, +and nature was settling into an everlasting rest. In the course of +the night she had recovered her senses. When the morning light +penetrated through her curtain, she recognized her attendants, made +inquiries as to the month and the day of the month, and then, +sensible that she could not outlive the day, she requested that her +confessor might be summoned. + +About an hour and a half the confessor remained alone with her. At +the end of that time he came out, and hastily summoned the +attendants, for Margaret, he said, was sinking into a fainting fit. +The confessor himself might have passed through many a fit, so much +was he changed by the results of this interview. I crossed him +coming out of the house. I spoke to him--I called to him; but he +heard me not--he saw me not. He saw nobody. Onward he strode to +the cathedral, where Maximilian was sure to be found, pacing about +upon the graves. Him he seized by the arm, whispered something +into his ear, and then both retired into one of the many +sequestered chapels in which lights are continually burning. There +they had some conversation, but not very long, for within five +minutes Maximilian strode away to the house in which his young wife +was dying. One step seemed to carry him upstairs. The attendants, +according to the directions they had received from the physicians, +mustered at the head of the stairs to oppose him. But that was +idle: before the rights which he held as a lover and a husband-- +before the still more sacred rights of grief, which he carried in +his countenance, all opposition fled like a dream. There was, +besides, a fury in his eye. A motion of his hand waved them off +like summer flies; he entered the room, and once again, for the +last time, he was in company with his beloved. + +What passed who could pretend to guess? Something more than two +hours had elapsed, during which Margaret had been able to talk +occasionally, which was known, because at times the attendants +heard the sound of Maximilian's voice evidently in tones of reply +to something which she had said. At the end of that time, a little +bell, placed near the bedside, was rung hastily. A fainting fit +had seized Margaret; but she recovered almost before her women +applied the usual remedies. They lingered, however, a little, +looking at the youthful couple with an interest which no restraints +availed to check. Their hands were locked together, and in +Margaret's eyes there gleamed a farewell light of love, which +settled upon Maximilian, and seemed to indicate that she was +becoming speechless. Just at this moment she made a feeble effort +to draw Maximilian toward her; he bent forward and kissed her with +an anguish that made the most callous weep, and then he whispered +something into her ear, upon which the attendants retired, taking +this as a proof that their presence was a hindrance to a free +communication. But they heard no more talking, and in less than +ten minutes they returned. Maximilian and Margaret still retained +their former position. Their hands were fast locked together; the +same parting ray of affection, the same farewell light of love, was +in the eye of Margaret, and still it settled upon Maximilian. But +her eyes were beginning to grow dim; mists were rapidly stealing +over them. Maximilian, who sat stupefied and like one not in his +right mind, now, at the gentle request of the women, resigned his +seat, for the hand which had clasped his had already relaxed its +hold; the farewell gleam of love had departed. One of the women +closed her eyelids; and there fell asleep forever the loveliest +flower that our city had reared for generations. + +The funeral took place on the fourth day after her death. In the +morning of that day, from strong affection--having known her from +an infant--I begged permission to see the corpse. She was in her +coffin; snowdrops and crocuses were laid upon her innocent bosom, +and roses, of that sort which the season allowed, over her person. +These and other lovely symbols of youth, of springtime, and of +resurrection, caught my eye for the first moment; but in the next +it fell upon her face. Mighty God! what a change! what a +transfiguration! Still, indeed, there was the same innocent +sweetness; still there was something of the same loveliness; the +expression still remained; but for the features--all trace of flesh +seemed to have vanished; mere outline of bony structure remained; +mere pencilings and shadowings of what she once had been. This is, +indeed, I exclaimed, "dust to dust--ashes to ashes!" + +Maximilian, to the astonishment of everybody, attended the funeral. +It was celebrated in the cathedral. All made way for him, and at +times he seemed collected; at times he reeled like one who was +drunk. He heard as one who hears not; he saw as one in a dream. +The whole ceremony went on by torchlight, and toward the close he +stood like a pillar, motionless, torpid, frozen. But the great +burst of the choir, and the mighty blare ascending from our vast +organ at the closing of the grave, recalled him to himself, and he +strode rapidly homeward. Half an hour after I returned, I was +summoned to his bedroom. He was in bed, calm and collected. What +he said to me I remember as if it had been yesterday, and the very +tone with which he said it, although more than twenty years have +passed since then. He began thus: "I have not long to live"; and +when he saw me start, suddenly awakened into a consciousness that +perhaps he had taken poison, and meant to intimate as much, he +continued: "You fancy I have taken poison;--no matter whether I +have or not; if I have, the poison is such that no antidote will +now avail; or, if they would, you well know that some griefs are of +a kind which leave no opening to any hope. What difference, +therefore, can it make whether I leave this earth to-day, to- +morrow, or the next day? Be assured of this--that whatever I have +determined to do is past all power of being affected by a human +opposition. Occupy yourself not with any fruitless attempts, but +calmly listen to me, else I know what to do." Seeing a suppressed +fury in his eye, notwithstanding I saw also some change stealing +over his features as if from some subtle poison beginning to work +upon his frame, awestruck I consented to listen, and sat still. +"It is well that you do so, for my time is short. Here is my will, +legally drawn up, and you will see that I have committed an immense +property to your discretion. Here, again, is a paper still more +important in my eyes; it is also testamentary, and binds you to +duties which may not be so easy to execute as the disposal of my +property. But now listen to something else, which concerns neither +of these papers. Promise me, in the first place, solemnly, that +whenever I die you will see me buried in the same grave as my wife, +from whose funeral we are just returned. Promise."--I promised.-- +"Swear."--I swore.--"Finally, promise me that, when you read this +second paper which I have put into your hands, whatsoever you may +think of it, you will say nothing--publish nothing to the world +until three years shall have passed."--I promised.--"And now +farewell for three hours. Come to me again about ten o'clock, and +take a glass of wine in memory of old times." This he said +laughingly; but even then a dark spasm crossed his face. Yet, +thinking that this might be the mere working of mental anguish +within him, I complied with his desire, and retired. Feeling, +however, but little at ease, I devised an excuse for looking in +upon him about one hour and a half after I had left him. I knocked +gently at his door; there was no answer. I knocked louder; still +no answer. I went in. The light of day was gone, and I could see +nothing. But I was alarmed by the utter stillness of the room. I +listened earnestly, but not a breath could be heard. I rushed back +hastily into the hall for a lamp; I returned; I looked in upon this +marvel of manly beauty, and the first glance informed me that he +and all his splendid endowments had departed forever. He had died, +probably, soon after I left him, and had dismissed me from some +growing instinct which informed him that his last agonies were at +hand. + +I took up his two testamentary documents; both were addressed in +the shape of letters to myself. The first was a rapid though +distinct appropriation of his enormous property. General rules +were laid down, upon which the property was to be distributed, but +the details were left to my discretion, and to the guidance of +circumstances as they should happen to emerge from the various +inquiries which it would become necessary to set on foot. This +first document I soon laid aside, both because I found that its +provisions were dependent for their meaning upon the second, and +because to this second document I looked with confidence for a +solution of many mysteries;--of the profound sadness which had, +from the first of my acquaintance with him, possessed a man so +gorgeously endowed as the favorite of nature and fortune; of his +motives for huddling up, in a clandestine manner, that connection +which formed the glory of his life; and possibly (but then I +hesitated) of the late unintelligible murders, which still lay +under as profound a cloud as ever. Much of this WOULD be unveiled-- +all might be: and there and then, with the corpse lying beside me +of the gifted and mysterious writer, I seated myself, and read the +following statement: + + +"MARCH 26, 1817. + +"My trial is finished; my conscience, my duty, my honor, are +liberated; my 'warfare is accomplished.' Margaret, my innocent +young wife, I have seen for the last time. Her, the crown that +might have been of my earthly felicity--her, the one temptation to +put aside the bitter cup which awaited me--her, sole seductress (O +innocent seductress!) from the stern duties which my fate had +imposed upon me--her, even her, I have sacrificed. + +"Before I go, partly lest the innocent should be brought into +question for acts almost exclusively mine, but still more lest the +lesson and the warning which God, by my hand, has written in blood +upon your guilty walls, should perish for want of its authentic +exposition, hear my last dying avowal, that the murders which have +desolated so many families within your walls, and made the +household hearth no sanctuary, age no charter of protection, are +all due originally to my head, if not always to my hand, as the +minister of a dreadful retribution. + +"That account of my history, and my prospects, which you received +from the Russian diplomatist, among some errors of little +importance, is essentially correct. My father was not so +immediately connected with English blood as is there represented. +However, it is true that he claimed descent from an English family +of even higher distinction than that which is assigned in the +Russian statement. He was proud of this English descent, and the +more so as the war with revolutionary France brought out more +prominently than ever the moral and civil grandeur of England. +This pride was generous, but it was imprudent in his situation. +His immediate progenitors had been settled in Italy--at Rome first, +but latterly at Milan; and his whole property, large and scattered, +came, by the progress of the revolution, to stand under French +domination. Many spoliations he suffered; but still he was too +rich to be seriously injured. But he foresaw, in the progress of +events, still greater perils menacing his most capital resources. +Many of the states or princes in Italy were deeply in his debt; +and, in the great convulsions which threatened his country, he saw +that both the contending parties would find a colorable excuse for +absolving themselves from engagements which pressed unpleasantly +upon their finances. In this embarrassment he formed an intimacy +with a French officer of high rank and high principle. My father's +friend saw his danger, and advised him to enter the French service. +In his younger days, my father had served extensively under many +princes, and had found in every other military service a spirit of +honor governing the conduct of the officers. Here only, and for +the first time, he found ruffian manners and universal rapacity. +He could not draw his sword in company with such men, nor in such a +cause. But at length, under the pressure of necessity, he accepted +(or rather bought with an immense bribe) the place of a commissary +to the French forces in Italy. With this one resource, eventually +he succeeded in making good the whole of his public claims upon the +Italian states. These vast sums he remitted, through various +channels, to England, where he became proprietor in the funds to an +immense amount. Incautiously, however, something of this +transpired, and the result was doubly unfortunate; for, while his +intentions were thus made known as finally pointing to England, +which of itself made him an object of hatred and suspicion, it also +diminished his means of bribery. These considerations, along with +another, made some French officers of high rank and influence the +bitter enemies of my father. My mother, whom he had married when +holding a brigadier-general's commission in the Austrian service, +was, by birth and by religion, a Jewess. She was of exquisite +beauty, and had been sought in Morganatic marriage by an archduke +of the Austrian family; but she had relied upon this plea, that +hers was the purest and noblest blood among all Jewish families-- +that her family traced themselves, by tradition and a vast series +of attestations under the hands of the Jewish high priests, to the +Maccabees, and to the royal houses of Judea; and that for her it +would be a degradation to accept even of a sovereign prince on the +terms of such marriage. This was no vain pretension of +ostentatious vanity. It was one which had been admitted as valid +for time immemorial in Transylvania and adjacent countries, where +my mother's family were rich and honored, and took their seat among +the dignitaries of the land. The French officers I have alluded +to, without capacity for anything so dignified as a deep passion, +but merely in pursuit of a vagrant fancy that would, on the next +day, have given place to another equally fleeting, had dared to +insult my mother with proposals the most licentious--proposals as +much below her rank and birth, as, at any rate, they would have +been below her dignity of mind and her purity. These she had +communicated to my father, who bitterly resented the chains of +subordination which tied up his hands from avenging his injuries. +Still his eye told a tale which his superiors could brook as little +as they could the disdainful neglect of his wife. More than one +had been concerned in the injuries to my father and mother; more +than one were interested in obtaining revenge. Things could be +done in German towns, and by favor of old German laws or usages, +which even in France could not have been tolerated. This my +father's enemies well knew, but this my father also knew; and he +endeavored to lay down his office of commissary. That, however, +was a favor which he could not obtain. He was compelled to serve +on the German campaign then commencing, and on the subsequent one +of Friedland and Eylau. Here he was caught in some one of the +snares laid for him; first trepanned into an act which violated +some rule of the service; and then provoked into a breach of +discipline against the general officer who had thus trepanned him. +Now was the long-sought opportunity gained, and in that very +quarter of Germany best fitted for improving it. My father was +thrown into prison in your city, subjected to the atrocious +oppression of your jailer, and the more detestable oppression of +your local laws. The charges against him were thought even to +affect his life, and he was humbled into suing for permission to +send for his wife and children. Already, to his proud spirit, it +was punishment enough that he should be reduced to sue for favor to +one of his bitterest foes. But it was no part of their plan to +refuse THAT. By way of expediting my mother's arrival, a military +courier, with every facility for the journey, was forwarded to her +without delay. My mother, her two daughters, and myself, were then +residing in Venice. I had, through the aid of my father's +connections in Austria, been appointed in the imperial service, and +held a high commission for my age. But, on my father's marching +northward with the French army, I had been recalled as an +indispensable support to my mother. Not that my years could have +made me such, for I had barely accomplished my twelfth year; but my +premature growth, and my military station, had given me +considerable knowledge of the world and presence of mind. + +"Our journey I pass over; but as I approach your city, that +sepulcher of honor and happiness to my poor family, my heart beats +with frantic emotions. Never do I see that venerable dome of your +minster from the forest, but I curse its form, which reminds me of +what we then surveyed for many a mile as we traversed the forest. +For leagues before we approached the city, this object lay before +us in relief upon the frosty blue sky; and still it seemed never to +increase. Such was the complaint of my little sister Mariamne. +Most innocent child! would that it never had increased for thy +eyes, but remained forever at a distance! That same hour began the +series of monstrous indignities which terminated the career of my +ill-fated family. As we drew up to the city gates, the officer who +inspected the passports, finding my mother and sisters described as +Jewesses, which in my mother's ears (reared in a region where Jews +are not dishonored) always sounded a title of distinction, summoned +a subordinate agent, who in coarse terms demanded his toll. We +presumed this to be a road tax for the carriage and horses, but we +were quickly undeceived; a small sum was demanded for each of my +sisters and my mother, as for so many head of cattle. I, fancying +some mistake, spoke to the man temperately, and, to do him justice, +he did not seem desirous of insulting us; but he produced a printed +board, on which, along with the vilest animals, Jews and Jewesses +were rated at so much a head. While we were debating the point, +the officers of the gate wore a sneering smile upon their faces-- +the postilions were laughing together; and this, too, in the +presence of three creatures whose exquisite beauty, in different +styles, agreeably to their different ages, would have caused +noblemen to have fallen down and worshiped. My mother, who had +never yet met with any flagrant insult on account of her national +distinctions, was too much shocked to be capable of speaking. I +whispered to her a few words, recalling her to her native dignity +of mind, paid the money, and we drove to the prison. But the hour +was past at which we could be admitted, and, as Jewesses, my mother +and sisters could not be allowed to stay in the city; they were to +go into the Jewish quarter, a part of the suburb set apart for +Jews, in which it was scarcely possible to obtain a lodging +tolerably clean. My father, on the next day, we found, to our +horror, at the point of death. To my mother he did not tell the +worst of what he had endured. To me he told that, driven to +madness by the insults offered to him, he had upbraided the court- +martial with their corrupt propensities, and had even mentioned +that overtures had been made to him for quashing the proceedings in +return for a sum of two millions of francs; and that his sole +reason for not entertaining the proposal was his distrust of those +who made it. 'They would have taken my money,' said he, 'and then +found a pretext for putting me to death, that I might tell no +secrets.' This was too near the truth to be tolerated; in concert +with the local authorities, the military enemies of my father +conspired against him--witnesses were suborned; and, finally, under +some antiquated law of the place, he was subjected, in secret, to a +mode of torture which still lingers in the east of Europe. + +"He sank under the torture and the degradation. I, too, +thoughtlessly, but by a natural movement of filial indignation, +suffered the truth to escape me in conversing with my mother. And +she--;but I will preserve the regular succession of things. My +father died; but he had taken such measures, in concert with me, +that his enemies should never benefit by his property. Meantime my +mother and sisters had closed my father's eyes; had attended his +remains to the grave; and in every act connected with this last sad +rite had met with insults and degradations too mighty for human +patience. My mother, now become incapable of self-command, in the +fury of her righteous grief, publicly and in court denounced the +conduct of the magistracy--taxed some of them with the vilest +proposals to herself--taxed them as a body with having used +instruments of torture upon my father; and, finally, accused them +of collusion with the French military oppressors of the district. +This last was a charge under which they quailed; for by that time +the French had made themselves odious to all who retained a spark +of patriotic feeling. My heart sank within me when I looked up at +the bench, this tribunal of tyrants, all purple or livid with rage; +when I looked at them alternately and at my noble mother with her +weeping daughters--these so powerless, those so basely vindictive, +and locally so omnipotent. Willingly I would have sacrificed all +my wealth for a simple permission to quit this infernal city with +my poor female relations safe and undishonored. But far other were +the intentions of that incensed magistracy. My mother was +arrested, charged with some offense equal to petty treason, or +scandalum magnatum, or the sowing of sedition; and, though what she +said was true, where, alas! was she to look for evidence? Here was +seen the want of gentlemen. Gentlemen, had they been even equally +tyrannical, would have recoiled with shame from taking vengeance on +a woman. And what a vengeance! O heavenly powers! that I should +live to mention such a thing! Man that is born of woman, to +inflict upon woman personal scourging on the bare back, and through +the streets at noonday! Even for Christian women the punishment +was severe which the laws assigned to the offense in question. But +for Jewesses, by one of the ancient laws against that persecuted +people, far heavier and more degrading punishments were annexed to +almost every offense. What else could be looked for in a city +which welcomed its Jewish guests by valuing them at its gates as +brute beasts? Sentence was passed, and the punishment was to be +inflicted on two separate days, with an interval between each-- +doubtless to prolong the tortures of mind, but under a vile +pretense of alleviating the physical torture. Three days after +would come the first day of punishment. My mother spent the time +in reading her native Scriptures; she spent it in prayer and in +musing; while her daughters clung and wept around her day and +night--groveling on the ground at the feet of any people in +authority that entered their mother's cell. That same interval-- +how was it passed by me? Now mark, my friend. Every man in +office, or that could be presumed to bear the slightest influence, +every wife, mother, sister, daughter of such men, I besieged +morning, noon, and night. I wearied them with my supplications. I +humbled myself to the dust; I, the haughtiest of God's creatures, +knelt and prayed to them for the sake of my mother. I besought +them that I might undergo the punishment ten times over in her +stead. And once or twice I DID obtain the encouragement of a few +natural tears--given more, however, as I was told, to my piety than +to my mother's deserts. But rarely was I heard out with patience; +and from some houses repelled with personal indignities. The day +came: I saw my mother half undressed by the base officials; I heard +the prison gates expand; I heard the trumpets of the magistracy +sound. She had warned me what to do; I had warned myself. Would I +sacrifice a retribution sacred and comprehensive, for the momentary +triumph over an individual? If not, let me forbear to look out of +doors; for I felt that in the selfsame moment in which I saw the +dog of an executioner raise his accursed hand against my mother, +swifter than the lightning would my dagger search his heart. When +I heard the roar of the cruel mob, I paused--endured--forbore. I +stole out by by-lanes of the city from my poor exhausted sisters, +whom I left sleeping in each other's innocent arms, into the +forest. There I listened to the shouting populace; there even I +fancied that I could trace my poor mother's route by the course of +the triumphant cries. There, even then, even then, I made--O +silent forest! thou heardst me when I made--a vow that I have kept +too faithfully. Mother, thou art avenged: sleep, daughter of +Jerusalem! for at length the oppressor sleeps with thee. And thy +poor son has paid, in discharge of his vow, the forfeit of his own +happiness, of a paradise opening upon earth, of a heart as innocent +as thine, and a face as fair. + +"I returned, and found my mother returned. She slept by starts, +but she was feverish and agitated; and when she awoke and first saw +me, she blushed, as if I could think that real degradation had +settled upon her. Then it was that I told her of my vow. Her eyes +were lambent with fierce light for a moment; but, when I went on +more eagerly to speak of my hopes and projects, she called me to +her--kissed me, and whispered: 'Oh, not so, my son! think not of +me--think not of vengeance--think only of poor Berenice and +Mariamne.' Aye, that thought WAS startling. Yet this magnanimous +and forbearing mother, as I knew by the report of our one faithful +female servant, had, in the morning, during her bitter trial, +behaved as might have become a daughter of Judas Maccabaeus: she +had looked serenely upon the vile mob, and awed even them by her +serenity; she had disdained to utter a shriek when the cruel lash +fell upon her fair skin. There is a point that makes the triumph +over natural feelings of pain easy or not easy--the degree in which +we count upon the sympathy of the bystanders. My mother had it not +in the beginning; but, long before the end, her celestial beauty, +the divinity of injured innocence, the pleading of common womanhood +in the minds of the lowest class, and the reaction of manly feeling +in the men, had worked a great change in the mob. Some began now +to threaten those who had been active in insulting her. The +silence of awe and respect succeeded to noise and uproar; and +feelings which they scarcely understood, mastered the rude rabble +as they witnessed more and more the patient fortitude of the +sufferer. Menaces began to rise toward the executioner. Things +wore such an aspect that the magistrates put a sudden end to the +scene. + +"That day we received permission to go home to our poor house in +the Jewish quarter. I know not whether you are learned enough in +Jewish usages to be aware that in every Jewish house, where old +traditions are kept up, there is one room consecrated to confusion; +a room always locked up and sequestered from vulgar use, except on +occasions of memorable affliction, where everything is purposely in +disorder--broken--shattered--mutilated: to typify, by symbols +appalling to the eye, that desolation which has so long trampled on +Jerusalem, and the ravages of the boar within the vineyards of +Judea. My mother, as a Hebrew princess, maintained all traditional +customs. Even in this wretched suburb she had her 'chamber of +desolation.' There it was that I and my sisters heard her last +words. The rest of her sentence was to be carried into effect +within a week. She, meantime, had disdained to utter any word of +fear; but that energy of self-control had made the suffering but +the more bitter. Fever and dreadful agitation had succeeded. Her +dreams showed sufficiently to us, who watched her couch, that +terror for the future mingled with the sense of degradation for the +past. Nature asserted her rights. But the more she shrank from +the suffering, the more did she proclaim how severe it had been, +and consequently how noble the self-conquest. Yet, as her weakness +increased, so did her terror; until I besought her to take comfort, +assuring her that, in case any attempt should be made to force her +out again to public exposure, I would kill the man who came to +execute the order--that we would all die together--and there would +be a common end to her injuries and her fears. She was reassured +by what I told her of my belief that no future attempt would be +made upon her. She slept more tranquilly--but her fever increased; +and slowly she slept away into the everlasting sleep which knows of +no to-morrow. + +"Here came a crisis in my fate. Should I stay and attempt to +protect my sisters? But, alas! what power had I to do so among our +enemies? Rachael and I consulted; and many a scheme we planned. +Even while we consulted, and the very night after my mother had +been committed to the Jewish burying ground, came an officer, +bearing an order for me to repair to Vienna. Some officer in the +French army, having watched the transaction respecting my parents, +was filled with shame and grief. He wrote a statement of the whole +to an Austrian officer of rank, my father's friend, who obtained +from the emperor an order, claiming me as a page of his own, and an +officer in the household service. O heavens! what a neglect that +it did not include my sisters! However, the next best thing was +that I should use my influence at the imperial court to get them +passed to Vienna. This I did, to the utmost of my power. But +seven months elapsed before I saw the emperor. If my applications +ever met his eye he might readily suppose that your city, my +friend, was as safe a place as another for my sisters. Nor did I +myself know all its dangers. At length, with the emperor's leave +of absence, I returned. And what did I find? Eight months had +passed, and the faithful Rachael had died. The poor sisters, +clinging together, but now utterly bereft of friends, knew not +which way to turn. In this abandonment they fell into the +insidious hands of the ruffian jailer. My eldest sister, Berenice, +the stateliest and noblest of beauties, had attracted this +ruffian's admiration while she was in the prison with her mother. +And when I returned to your city, armed with the imperial passports +for all, I found that Berenice had died in the villain's custody; +nor could I obtain anything beyond a legal certificate of her +death. And, finally, the blooming, laughing Mariamne, she also had +died--and of affliction for the loss of her sister. You, my +friend, had been absent upon your travels during the calamitous +history I have recited. You had seen neither my father nor my +mother. But you came in time to take under your protection, from +the abhorred wretch the jailer, my little broken-hearted Mariamne. +And when sometimes you fancied that you had seen me under other +circumstances, in her it was, my dear friend, and in her features +that you saw mine. + +"Now was the world a desert to me. I cared little, in the way of +love, which way I turned. But in the way of hatred I cared +everything. I transferred myself to the Russian service, with the +view of gaining some appointment on the Polish frontier, which +might put it in my power to execute my vow of destroying all the +magistrates of your city. War, however, raged, and carried me into +far other regions. It ceased, and there was little prospect that +another generation would see it relighted; for the disturber of +peace was a prisoner forever, and all nations were exhausted. Now, +then, it became necessary that I should adopt some new mode for +executing my vengeance; and the more so, because annually some were +dying of those whom it was my mission to punish. A voice ascended +to me, day and night, from the graves of my father and mother, +calling for vengeance before it should be too late. + +I took my measures thus: Many Jews were present at Waterloo. From +among these, all irritated against Napoleon for the expectations he +had raised, only to disappoint, by his great assembly of Jews at +Paris, I selected eight, whom I knew familiarly as men hardened by +military experience against the movements of pity. With these as +my beagles, I hunted for some time in your forest before opening my +regular campaign; and I am surprised that you did not hear of the +death which met the executioner--him I mean who dared to lift his +hand against my mother. This man I met by accident in the forest; +and I slew him. I talked with the wretch, as a stranger at first, +upon the memorable case of the Jewish lady. Had he relented, had +he expressed compunction, I might have relented. But far +otherwise: the dog, not dreaming to whom he spoke, exulted; he-- +But why repeat the villain's words? I cut him to pieces. Next I +did this: My agents I caused to matriculate separately at the +college. They assumed the college dress. And now mark the +solution of that mystery which caused such perplexity. Simply as +students we all had an unsuspected admission at any house. Just +then there was a common practice, as you will remember, among the +younger students, of going out a masking--that is, of entering +houses in the academic dress, and with the face masked. This +practice subsisted even during the most intense alarm from the +murderers; for the dress of the students was supposed to bring +protection along with it. But, even after suspicion had connected +itself with this dress, it was sufficient that I should appear +unmasked at the head of the maskers, to insure them a friendly +reception. Hence the facility with which death was inflicted, and +that unaccountable absence of any motion toward an alarm. I took +hold of my victim, and he looked at me with smiling security. Our +weapons were hid under our academic robes; and even when we drew +them out, and at the moment of applying them to the threat, they +still supposed our gestures to be part of the pantomime we were +performing. Did I relish this abuse of personal confidence in +myself? No--I loathed it, and I grieved for its necessity; but my +mother, a phantom not seen with bodily eyes, but ever present to my +mind, continually ascended before me; and still I shouted aloud to +my astounded victim, 'This comes from the Jewess! Hound of hounds! +Do you remember the Jewess whom you dishonored, and the oaths which +you broke in order that you might dishonor her, and the righteous +law which you violated, and the cry of anguish from her son which +you scoffed at?' Who I was, what I avenged, and whom, I made every +man aware, and every woman, before I punished them. The details of +the cases I need not repeat. One or two I was obliged, at the +beginning, to commit to my Jews. The suspicion was thus, from the +first, turned aside by the notoriety of my presence elsewhere; but +I took care that none suffered who had not either been upon the +guilty list of magistrates who condemned the mother, or of those +who turned away with mockery from the supplication of the son. + +"It pleased God, however, to place a mighty temptation in my path, +which might have persuaded me to forego all thoughts of vengeance, +to forget my vow, to forget the voices which invoked me from the +grave. This was Margaret Liebenheim. Ah! how terrific appeared my +duty of bloody retribution, after her angel's face and angel's +voice had calmed me. With respect to her grandfather, strange it +is to mention, that never did my innocent wife appear so lovely as +precisely in the relation of granddaughter. So beautiful was her +goodness to the old man, and so divine was the childlike innocence +on her part, contrasted with the guilty recollections associated +with him--for he was among the guiltiest toward my mother--still I +delayed HIS punishment to the last; and, for his child's sake, I +would have pardoned him--nay, I had resolved to do so, when a +fierce Jew, who had a deep malignity toward this man, swore that he +would accomplish HIS vengeance at all events, and perhaps might be +obliged to include Margaret in the ruin, unless I adhered to the +original scheme. Then I yielded; for circumstances armed this man +with momentary power. But the night fixed on was one in which I +had reason to know that my wife would be absent; for so I had +myself arranged with her, and the unhappy counter-arrangement I do +not yet understand. Let me add, that the sole purpose of my +clandestine marriage was to sting her grandfather's mind with the +belief that HIS family had been dishonored, even as he had +dishonored mine. He learned, as I took care that he should, that +his granddaughter carried about with her the promises of a mother, +and did not know that she had the sanction of a wife. This +discovery made him, in one day, become eager for the marriage he +had previously opposed; and this discovery also embittered the +misery of his death. At that moment I attempted to think only of +my mother's wrongs; but, in spite of all I could do, this old man +appeared to me in the light of Margaret's grandfather--and, had I +been left to myself, he would have been saved. As it was, never +was horror equal to mine when I met her flying to his succor. I +had relied upon her absence; and the misery of that moment, when +her eye fell upon me in the very act of seizing her grandfather, +far transcended all else that I have suffered in these terrific +scenes. She fainted in my arms, and I and another carried her +upstairs and procured water. Meantime her grandfather had been +murdered, even while Margaret fainted. I had, however, under the +fear of discovery, though never anticipating a reencounter with +herself, forestalled the explanation requisite in such a case to +make my conduct intelligible. I had told her, under feigned names, +the story of my mother and my sisters. She knew their wrongs: she +had heard me contend for the right of vengeance. Consequently, in +our parting interview, one word only was required to place myself +in a new position to her thoughts. I needed only to say I was that +son; that unhappy mother, so miserably degraded and outraged, was +mine. + +"As to the jailer, he was met by a party of us. Not suspecting +that any of us could be connected with the family, he was led to +talk of the most hideous details with regard to my poor Berenice. +The child had not, as had been insinuated, aided her own +degradation, but had nobly sustained the dignity of her sex and her +family. Such advantages as the monster pretended to have gained +over her--sick, desolate, and latterly delirious--were, by his own +confession, not obtained without violence. This was too much. +Forty thousand lives, had he possessed them, could not have +gratified my thirst for revenge. Yet, had he but showed courage, +he should have died the death of a soldier. But the wretch showed +cowardice the most abject, and--,but you know his fate. + +"Now, then, all is finished, and human nature is avenged. Yet, if +you complain of the bloodshed and the terror, think of the wrongs +which created my rights; think of the sacrifice by which I gave a +tenfold strength to those rights; think of the necessity for a +dreadful concussion and shock to society, in order to carry my +lesson into the councils of princes. + +"This will now have been effected. And ye, victims of dishonor, +will be glorified in your deaths; ye will not have suffered in +vain, nor died without a monument. Sleep, therefore, sister +Berenice--sleep, gentle Mariamne, in peace. And thou, noble +mother, let the outrages sown in thy dishonor, rise again and +blossom in wide harvests of honor for the women of thy afflicted +race. Sleep, daughters of Jerusalem, in the sanctity of your +sufferings. And thou, if it be possible, even more beloved +daughter of a Christian fold, whose company was too soon denied to +him in life, open thy grave to receive HIM, who, in the hour of +death, wishes to remember no title which he wore on earth but that +of thy chosen and adoring lover, + +"MAXIMILIAN." + + + +Introduction to Melmoth the Wanderer + + +Balzac likens the hero of one of his short stories to "Moliere's +Don Juan, Goethe's Faust, Byron's Manfred, Maturin's Melmoth--great +allegorical figures drawn by the greatest men of genius in Europe." + +"But what is 'Melmoth'? Why is HE classed as 'a great allegorical +figure'?" exclaimed many a surprised reader. Few had perused--few +know at this day--the terrible story of Melmoth the Wanderer, half +man, half devil, who has bartered away his soul for the glory of +power and knowledge, and, repenting of his bargain, tries again and +again to persuade some desperate human to change places with him-- +penetrates to the refuge of misery, the death chamber, even the +madhouse, seeking one in such utter agony as to accept his help, +and take his curse--but ever fails. + +Why this extraordinary tale, told with wild and compelling sweep, +has remained so deep in oblivion, appears immediately on a glance +at the original. The author, Charles Robert Maturin, a needy, +eccentric Irish clergyman of 1780-1824, could cause intense +suspense and horror--could read keenly into human motives--could +teach an awful moral lesson in the guise of fascinating fiction, +but he could not stick to a long story with simplicity. His dozens +of shifting scenes, his fantastic coils of "tales within tales" +sadly perplex the reader of "Melmoth" in the first version. It is +hoped, however, that the present selection, by its directness and +the clearness of the story thread, may please the modern reader +better than the involved original, and bring before a wider public +some of the most gripping descriptions ever penned in English. + +In Volume IV of these stories comes a tale, "Melmoth Reconciled," +which Balzac himself wrote, while under the spell of Maturin's +"great allegorical figure." Here the unhappy being succeeds in his +purpose. The story takes place in mocking, careless Paris, "that +branch establishment of hell"; a cashier, on the eve of +embezzlement and detection, cynically accedes to Melmoth's terms, +and accepts his help--with what unlooked-for results, the reader +may see. + + + +Charles Robert Maturin + + +Melmoth the Wanderer + + +John Melmoth, student at Trinity College, Dublin, having journeyed +to County Wicklow for attendance at the deathbed of his miserly +uncle, finds the old man, even in his last moments, tortured by +avarice, and by suspicion of all around him. He whispers to John: + + +"I want a glass of wine, it would keep me alive for some hours, but +there is not one I can trust to get it for me,--they'd steal a +bottle, and ruin me." John was greatly shocked. "Sir, for God's +sake, let ME get a glass of wine for you." "Do you know where?" +said the old man, with an expression in his face John could not +understand. "No, Sir; you know I have been rather a stranger here, +Sir." "Take this key," said old Melmoth, after a violent spasm; +"take this key, there is wine in that closet,--Madeira. I always +told them there was nothing there, but they did not believe me, or +I should not have been robbed as I have been. At one time I said +it was whisky, and then I fared worse than ever, for they drank +twice as much of it." + +John took the key from his uncle's hand; the dying man pressed it +as he did so, and John, interpreting this as a mark of kindness, +returned the pressure. He was undeceived by the whisper that +followed,--"John, my lad, don't drink any of that wine while you +are there." "Good God!" said John, indignantly throwing the key on +the bed; then, recollecting that the miserable being before him was +no object of resentment, he gave the promise required, and entered +the closet, which no foot but that of old Melmoth had entered for +nearly sixty years. He had some difficulty in finding out the +wine, and indeed stayed long enough to justify his uncle's +suspicions,--but his mind was agitated, and his hand unsteady. He +could not but remark his uncle's extraordinary look, that had the +ghastliness of fear superadded to that of death, as he gave him +permission to enter his closet. He could not but see the looks of +horror which the women exchanged as he approached it. And, +finally, when he was in it, his memory was malicious enough to +suggest some faint traces of a story, too horrible for imagination, +connected with it. He remembered in one moment most distinctly, +that no one but his uncle had ever been known to enter it for many +years. + +Before he quitted it, he held up the dim light, and looked around +him with a mixture of terror and curiosity. There was a great deal +of decayed and useless lumber, such as might be supposed to be +heaped up to rot in a miser's closet; but John's eyes were in a +moment, and as if by magic, riveted on a portrait that hung on the +wall, and appeared, even to his untaught eye, far superior to the +tribe of family pictures that are left to molder on the walls of a +family mansion. It represented a man of middle age. There was +nothing remarkable in the costume, or in the countenance, but THE +EYES, John felt, were such as one feels they wish they had never +seen, and feels they can never forget. Had he been acquainted with +the poetry of Southey, he might have often exclaimed in his after- +life, + + + "Only the eyes had life, + They gleamed with demon light."--THALABA. + + +From an impulse equally resistless and painful, he approached the +portrait, held the candle toward it, and could distinguish the +words on the border of the painting,--Jno. Melmoth, anno 1646. +John was neither timid by nature, nor nervous by constitution, nor +superstitious from habit, yet he continued to gaze in stupid horror +on this singular picture, till, aroused by his uncle's cough, he +hurried into his room. The old man swallowed the wine. He +appeared a little revived; it was long since he had tasted such a +cordial,--his heart appeared to expand to a momentary confidence. +"John, what did you see in that room?" "Nothing, Sir." "That's a +lie; everyone wants to cheat or to rob me." "Sir, I don't want to +do either." "Well, what did you see that you--you took notice of?" +"Only a picture, Sir." "A picture, Sir!--the original is still +alive." John, though under the impression of his recent feelings, +could not but look incredulous. "John," whispered his uncle;-- +"John, they say I am dying of this and that; and one says it is for +want of nourishment, and one says it is for want of medicine,--but, +John," and his face looked hideously ghastly, "I am dying of a +fright. That man," and he extended his meager arm toward the +closet, as if he was pointing to a living being; "that man, I have +good reason to know, is alive still." "How is that possible, Sir?" +said John involuntarily, "the date on the picture is 1646." "You +have seen it,--you have noticed it," said his uncle. "Well,"--he +rocked and nodded on his bolster for a moment, then, grasping +John's hand with an unutterable look, he exclaimed, "You will see +him again, he is alive." Then, sinking back on his bolster, he +fell into a kind of sleep or stupor, his eyes still open, and fixed +on John. + +The house was now perfectly silent, and John had time and space for +reflection. More thoughts came crowding on him than he wished to +welcome, but they would not be repulsed. He thought of his uncle's +habits and character, turned the matter over and over again in his +mind, and he said to himself, "The last man on earth to be +superstitious. He never thought of anything but the price of +stocks, and the rate of exchange, and my college expenses, that +hung heavier at his heart than all; and such a man to die of a +fright,--a ridiculous fright, that a man living 150 years ago is +alive still, and yet--he is dying." John paused, for facts will +confute the most stubborn logician. "With all his hardness of +mind, and of heart, he is dying of a fright. I heard it in the +kitchen, I have heard it from himself,--he could not be deceived. +If I had ever heard he was nervous, or fanciful, or superstitious, +but a character so contrary to all these impressions;--a man that, +as poor Butler says, in his 'Remains of the Antiquarian,' would +have 'sold Christ over again for the numerical piece of silver +which Judas got for him,'--such a man to die of fear! Yet he IS +dying," said John, glancing his fearful eye on the contracted +nostril, the glazed eye, the drooping jaw, the whole horrible +apparatus of the facies Hippocraticae displayed, and soon to cease +its display. + +Old Melmoth at this moment seemed to be in a deep stupor; his eyes +lost that little expression they had before, and his hands, that +had convulsively been catching at the blankets, let go their short +and quivering grasp, and lay extended on the bed like the claws of +some bird that had died of hunger,--so meager, so yellow, so +spread. John, unaccustomed to the sight of death, believed this to +be only a sign that he was going to sleep; and, urged by an impulse +for which he did not attempt to account to himself, caught up the +miserable light, and once more ventured into the forbidden room,-- +the BLUE CHAMBER of the dwelling. The motion roused the dying +man;--he sat bolt upright in his bed. This John could not see, for +he was now in the closet; but he heard the groan, or rather the +choked and gurgling rattle of the throat, that announces the +horrible conflict between muscular and mental convulsion. He +started, turned away; but, as he turned away, he thought he saw the +eyes of the portrait, on which his own was fixed, MOVE, and hurried +back to his uncle's bedside. + +Old Melmoth died in the course of that night, and died as he had +lived, in a kind of avaricious delirium. John could not have +imagined a scene so horrible as his last hours presented. He +cursed and blasphemed about three halfpence, missing, as he said, +some weeks before, in an account of change with his groom, about +hay to a starved horse that he kept. Then he grasped John's hand, +and asked him to give him the sacrament. "If I send to the +clergyman, he will charge me something for it, which I cannot pay,-- +I cannot. They say I am rich,--look at this blanket;--but I would +not mind that, if I could save my soul." And, raving, he added, +"Indeed, Doctor, I am a very poor man. I never troubled a +clergyman before, and all I want is, that you will grant me two +trifling requests, very little matters in your way,--save my soul, +and (whispering) make interest to get me a parish coffin,--I have +not enough left to bury me. I always told everyone I was poor, but +the more I told them so, the less they believed me." + +John, greatly shocked, retired from the bedside, and sat down in a +distant corner of the room. The women were again in the room, +which was very dark. Melmoth was silent from exhaustion, and there +was a deathlike pause for some time. At this moment John saw the +door open, and a figure appear at it, who looked round the room, +and then quietly and deliberately retired, but not before John had +discovered in his face the living original of the portrait. His +first impulse was to utter an exclamation of terror, but his breath +felt stopped. He was then rising to pursue the figure, but a +moment's reflection checked him. What could be more absurd, than +to be alarmed or amazed at a resemblance between a living man and +the portrait of a dead one! The likeness was doubtless strong +enough to strike him even in that darkened room, but it was +doubtless only a likeness; and though it might be imposing enough +to terrify an old man of gloomy and retired habits, and with a +broken constitution, John resolved it should not produce the same +effect on him. + +But while he was applauding himself for this resolution, the door +opened, and the figure appeared at it, beckoning and nodding to +him, with a familiarity somewhat terrifying. John now started up, +determined to pursue it; but the pursuit was stopped by the weak +but shrill cries of his uncle, who was struggling at once with the +agonies of death and his housekeeper. The poor woman, anxious for +her master's reputation and her own, was trying to put on him a +clean shirt and nightcap, and Melmoth, who had just sensation +enough to perceive they were taking something from him, continued +exclaiming feebly, "They are robbing me,--robbing me in my last +moments,--robbing a dying man. John, won't you assist me,--I shall +die a beggar; they are taking my last shirt,--I shall die a +beggar."--And the miser died. + + . . . . . + +A few days after the funeral, the will was opened before proper +witnesses, and John was found to be left sole heir to his uncle's +property, which, though originally moderate, had, by his grasping +habits, and parsimonious life, become very considerable. + +As the attorney who read the will concluded, he added, "There are +some words here, at the corner of the parchment, which do not +appear to be part of the will, as they are neither in the form of a +codicil, nor is the signature of the testator affixed to them; but, +to the best of my belief, they are in the handwriting of the +deceased." As he spoke he showed the lines to Melmoth, who +immediately recognized his uncle's hand (that perpendicular and +penurious hand, that seems determined to make the most of the very +paper, thriftily abridging every word, and leaving scarce an atom +of margin), and read, not without some emotion, the following +words: "I enjoin my nephew and heir, John Melmoth, to remove, +destroy, or cause to be destroyed, the portrait inscribed J. +Melmoth, 1646, hanging in my closet. I also enjoin him to search +for a manuscript, which I think he will find in the third and +lowest left-hand drawer of the mahogany chest standing under that +portrait,--it is among some papers of no value, such as manuscript +sermons, and pamphlets on the improvement of Ireland, and such +stuff; he will distinguish it by its being tied round with a black +tape, and the paper being very moldy and discolored. He may read +it if he will;--I think he had better not. At all events, I adjure +him, if there be any power in the adjuration of a dying man, to +burn it." + +After reading this singular memorandum, the business of the meeting +was again resumed; and as old Melmoth's will was very clear and +legally worded, all was soon settled, the party dispersed, and John +Melmoth was left alone. + + . . . . . + +He resolutely entered the closet, shut the door, and proceeded to +search for the manuscript. It was soon found, for the directions +of old Melmoth were forcibly written, and strongly remembered. The +manuscript, old, tattered, and discolored, was taken from the very +drawer in which it was mentioned to be laid. Melmoth's hands felt +as cold as those of his dead uncle, when he drew the blotted pages +from their nook. He sat down to read,--there was a dead silence +through the house. Melmoth looked wistfully at the candles, +snuffed them, and still thought they looked dim, (perchance he +thought they burned blue, but such thought he kept to himself). +Certain it is, he often changed his posture, and would have changed +his chair, had there been more than one in the apartment. + +He sank for a few moments into a fit of gloomy abstraction, till +the sound of the clock striking twelve made him start,--it was the +only sound he had heard for some hours, and the sounds produced by +inanimate things, while all living beings around are as dead, have +at such an hour an effect indescribably awful. John looked at his +manuscript with some reluctance, opened it, paused over the first +lines, and as the wind sighed round the desolate apartment, and the +rain pattered with a mournful sound against the dismantled window, +wished--what did he wish for?--he wished the sound of the wind less +dismal, and the dash of the rain less monotonous.--He may be +forgiven, it was past midnight, and there was not a human being +awake but himself within ten miles when he began to read. + + . . . . . + +The manuscript was discolored, obliterated, and mutilated beyond +any that had ever before exercised the patience of a reader. +Michaelis himself, scrutinizing into the pretended autograph of St. +Mark at Venice, never had a harder time of it.--Melmoth could make +out only a sentence here and there. The writer, it appeared, was +an Englishman of the name of Stanton, who had traveled abroad +shortly after the Restoration. Traveling was not then attended +with the facilities which modern improvement has introduced, and +scholars and literati, the intelligent, the idle, and the curious, +wandered over the Continent for years, like Tom Corvat, though they +had the modesty, on their return, to entitle the result of their +multiplied observations and labors only "crudities." + +Stanton, about the year 1676, was in Spain; he was, like most of +the travelers of that age, a man of literature, intelligence, and +curiosity, but ignorant of the language of the country, and +fighting his way at times from convent to convent, in quest of what +was called "Hospitality," that is, obtaining board and lodging on +the condition of holding a debate in Latin, on some point +theological or metaphysical, with any monk who would become the +champion of the strife. Now, as the theology was Catholic, and the +metaphysics Aristotelian, Stanton sometimes wished himself at the +miserable Posada from whose filth and famine he had been fighting +his escape; but though his reverend antagonists always denounced +his creed, and comforted themselves, even in defeat, with the +assurance that he must be damned, on the double score of his being +a heretic and an Englishman, they were obliged to confess that his +Latin was good, and his logic unanswerable; and he was allowed, in +most cases, to sup and sleep in peace. This was not doomed to be +his fate on the night of the 17th August 1677, when he found +himself in the plains of Valencia, deserted by a cowardly guide, +who had been terrified by the sight of a cross erected as a +memorial of a murder, had slipped off his mule unperceived, +crossing himself every step he took on his retreat from the +heretic, and left Stanton amid the terrors of an approaching storm, +and the dangers of an unknown country. The sublime and yet +softened beauty of the scenery around, had filled the soul of +Stanton with delight, and he enjoyed that delight as Englishmen +generally do, silently. + +The magnificent remains of two dynasties that had passed away, the +ruins of Roman palaces, and of Moorish fortresses, were around and +above him;--the dark and heavy thunder clouds that advanced slowly, +seemed like the shrouds of these specters of departed greatness; +they approached, but did not yet overwhelm or conceal them, as if +Nature herself was for once awed by the power of man; and far +below, the lovely valley of Valencia blushed and burned in all the +glory of sunset, like a bride receiving the last glowing kiss of +the bridegroom before the approach of night. Stanton gazed around. +The difference between the architecture of the Roman and Moorish +ruins struck him. Among the former are the remains of a theater, +and something like a public place; the latter present only the +remains of fortresses, embattled, castellated, and fortified from +top to bottom,--not a loophole for pleasure to get in by,--the +loopholes were only for arrows; all denoted military power and +despotic subjugation a l'outrance. The contrast might have pleased +a philosopher, and he might have indulged in the reflection, that +though the ancient Greeks and Romans were savages (as Dr. Johnson +says all people who want a press must be, and he says truly), yet +they were wonderful savages for their time, for they alone have +left traces of their taste for pleasure in the countries they +conquered, in their superb theaters, temples (which were also +dedicated to pleasure one way or another), and baths, while other +conquering bands of savages never left anything behind them but +traces of their rage for power. So thought Stanton, as he still +saw strongly defined, though darkened by the darkening clouds, the +huge skeleton of a Roman amphitheater, its arched and gigantic +colonnades now admitting a gleam of light, and now commingling with +the purple thunder cloud; and now the solid and heavy mass of a +Moorish fortress, no light playing between its impermeable walls,-- +the image of power, dark, isolated, impenetrable. Stanton forgot +his cowardly guide, his loneliness, his danger amid an approaching +storm and an inhospitable country, where his name and country would +shut every door against him, and every peal of thunder would be +supposed justified by the daring intrusion of a heretic in the +dwelling of an old Christian, as the Spanish Catholics absurdly +term themselves, to mark the distinction between them and the +baptized Moors. + +All this was forgot in contemplating the glorious and awful scenery +before him,--light struggling with darkness,--and darkness menacing +a light still more terrible, and announcing its menace in the blue +and livid mass of cloud that hovered like a destroying angel in the +air, its arrows aimed, but their direction awfully indefinite. But +he ceased to forget these local and petty dangers, as the sublimity +of romance would term them, when he saw the first flash of the +lightning, broad and red as the banners of an insulting army whose +motto is Vae victis, shatter to atoms the remains of a Roman +tower;--the rifted stones rolled down the hill, and fell at the +feet of Stanton. He stood appalled, and, awaiting his summons from +the Power in whose eye pyramids, palaces, and the worms whose toil +has formed them, and the worms who toil out their existence under +their shadow or their pressure, are perhaps all alike contemptible, +he stood collected, and for a moment felt that defiance of danger +which danger itself excites, and we love to encounter it as a +physical enemy, to bid it "do its worst," and feel that its worst +will perhaps be ultimately its best for us. He stood and saw +another flash dart its bright, brief, and malignant glance over the +ruins of ancient power, and the luxuriance of recent fertility. +Singular contrast! The relics of art forever decaying,--the +productions of nature forever renewed.--(Alas! for what purpose are +they renewed, better than to mock at the perishable monuments which +men try in vain to rival them by.) The pyramids themselves must +perish, but the grass that grows between their disjointed stones +will be renewed from year to year. + +Stanton was thinking thus, when all power of thought was suspended, +by seeing two persons bearing between them the body of a young, and +apparently very lovely girl, who had been struck dead by the +lightning. Stanton approached, and heard the voices of the bearers +repeating, "There is none who will mourn for her!" "There is none +who will mourn for her!" said other voices, as two more bore in +their arms the blasted and blackened figure of what had once been a +man, comely and graceful;--"there is not ONE to mourn for her now!" +They were lovers, and he had been consumed by the flash that had +destroyed her, while in the act of endeavoring to defend her. As +they were about to remove the bodies, a person approached with a +calmness of step and demeanor, as if he were alone unconscious of +danger, and incapable of fear; and after looking on them for some +time, burst into a laugh so loud, wild, and protracted, that the +peasants, starting with as much horror at the sound as at that of +the storm, hurried away, bearing the corpses with them. Even +Stanton's fears were subdued by his astonishment, and, turning to +the stranger, who remained standing on the same spot, he asked the +reason of such an outrage on humanity. The stranger, slowly +turning round, and disclosing a countenance which--(Here the +manuscript was illegible for a few lines), said in English--(A long +hiatus followed here, and the next passage that was legible, though +it proved to be a continuation of the narrative, was but a +fragment.) + + . . . . . + +The terrors of the night rendered Stanton a sturdy and unappeasable +applicant; and the shrill voice of the old woman, repeating, "no +heretic--no English--Mother of God protect us--avaunt Satan!"-- +combined with the clatter of the wooden casement (peculiar to the +houses in Valencia) which she opened to discharge her volley of +anathematization, and shut again as the lightning glanced through +the aperture, were unable to repel his importunate request for +admittance, in a night whose terrors ought to soften all the +miserable petty local passions into one awful feeling of fear for +the Power who caused it, and compassion for those who were exposed +to it.--But Stanton felt there was something more than national +bigotry in the exclamations of the old woman; there was a peculiar +and personal horror of the English.--And he was right; but this did +not diminish the eagerness of his. . . . + + . . . . . + +The house was handsome and spacious, but the melancholy appearance +of desertion . . . . + + . . . . . + +--The benches were by the wall, but there were none to sit there; +the tables were spread in what had been the hall, but it seemed as +if none had gathered round them for many years;--the clock struck +audibly, there was no voice of mirth or of occupation to drown its +sound; time told his awful lesson to silence alone;--the hearths +were black with fuel long since consumed;--the family portraits +looked as if they were the only tenants of the mansion; they seemed +to say, from their moldering frames, "there are none to gaze on +us;" and the echo of the steps of Stanton and his feeble guide, was +the only sound audible between the peals of thunder that rolled +still awfully, but more distantly,--every peal like the exhausted +murmurs of a spent heart. As they passed on, a shriek was heard. +Stanton paused, and fearful images of the dangers to which +travelers on the Continent are exposed in deserted and remote +habitations, came into his mind. "Don't heed it," said the old +woman, lighting him on with a miserable lamp;--"it is only he. . . . + + . . . . . + +The old woman having now satisfied herself, by ocular +demonstration, that her English guest, even if he was the devil, +had neither horn, hoof, nor tail, that he could bear the sign of +the cross without changing his form, and that, when he spoke, not a +puff of sulphur came out of his mouth, began to take courage, and +at length commenced her story, which, weary and comfortless as +Stanton was, . . . . + + . . . . . + +Every obstacle was now removed; parents and relations at last gave +up all opposition, and the young pair were united. Never was there +a lovelier,--they seemed like angels who had only anticipated by a +few years their celestial and eternal union. The marriage was +solemnized with much pomp, and a few days after there was a feast +in that very wainscoted chamber which you paused to remark was so +gloomy. It was that night hung with rich tapestry, representing +the exploits of the Cid, particularly that of his burning a few +Moors who refused to renounce their accursed religion. They were +represented beautifully tortured, writhing and howling, and +"Mahomet! Mahomet!" issuing out of their mouths, as they called on +him in their burning agonies;--you could almost hear them scream. +At the upper end of the room, under a splendid estrade, over which +was an image of the blessed Virgin, sat Donna Isabella de Cardoza, +mother to the bride, and near her Donna Ines, the bride, on rich +almohadas; the bridegroom sat opposite to her, and though they +never spoke to each other, their eyes, slowly raised, but suddenly +withdrawn (those eyes that blushed), told to each other the +delicious secret of their happiness. Don Pedro de Cardoza had +assembled a large party in honor of his daughter's nuptials; among +them was an Englishman of the name of MELMOTH, a traveler; no one +knew who had brought him there. He sat silent like the rest, while +the iced waters and the sugared wafers were presented to the +company. The night was intensely hot, and the moon glowed like a +sun over the ruins of Saguntum; the embroidered blinds flapped +heavily, as if the wind made an effort to raise them in vain, and +then desisted. + +(Another defect in the manuscript occurred here, but it was soon +supplied.) + + . . . . . + +The company were dispersed through various alleys of the garden; +the bridegroom and bride wandered through one where the delicious +perfume of the orange trees mingled itself with that of the myrtles +in blow. On their return to the ball, both of them asked, Had the +company heard the exquisite sounds that floated through the garden +just before they quitted it? No one had heard them. They +expressed their surprise. The Englishman had never quitted the +hall; it was said he smiled with a most particular and +extraordinary expression as the remark was made. His silence had +been noticed before, but it was ascribed to his ignorance of the +Spanish language, an ignorance that Spaniards are not anxious +either to expose or remove by speaking to a stranger. The subject +of the music was not again reverted to till the guests were seated +at supper, when Donna Ines and her young husband, exchanging a +smile of delighted surprise, exclaimed they heard the same +delicious sounds floating round them. The guests listened, but no +one else could hear it;--everyone felt there was something +extraordinary in this. Hush! was uttered by every voice almost at +the same moment. A dead silence followed,--you would think, from +their intent looks, that they listened with their very eyes. This +deep silence, contrasted with the splendor of the feast, and the +light effused from torches held by the domestics, produced a +singular effect,--it seemed for some moments like an assembly of +the dead. The silence was interrupted, though the cause of wonder +had not ceased, by the entrance of Father Olavida, the Confessor of +Donna Isabella, who had been called away previous to the feast, to +administer extreme unction to a dying man in the neighborhood. He +was a priest of uncommon sanctity, beloved in the family, and +respected in the neighborhood, where he had displayed uncommon +taste and talents for exorcism;--in fact, this was the good +Father's forte, and he piqued himself on it accordingly. The devil +never fell into worse hands than Father Olavida's, for when he was +so contumacious as to resist Latin, and even the first verses of +the Gospel of St. John in Greek, which the good Father never had +recourse to but in cases of extreme stubbornness and difficulty,-- +(here Stanton recollected the English story of the Boy of Bilson, +and blushed even in Spain for his countrymen),--then he always +applied to the Inquisition; and if the devils were ever so +obstinate before, they were always seen to fly out of the +possessed, just as, in the midst of their cries (no doubt of +blasphemy), they were tied to the stake. Some held out even till +the flames surrounded them; but even the most stubborn must have +been dislodged when the operation was over, for the devil himself +could no longer tenant a crisp and glutinous lump of cinders. Thus +Father Olavida's fame spread far and wide, and the Cardoza family +had made uncommon interest to procure him for a Confessor, and +happily succeeded. The ceremony he had just been performing had +cast a shade over the good Father's countenance, but it dispersed +as he mingled among the guests, and was introduced to them. Room +was soon made for him, and he happened accidentally to be seated +opposite the Englishman. As the wine was presented to him, Father +Olavida (who, as I observed, was a man of singular sanctity) +prepared to utter a short internal prayer. He hesitated,-- +trembled,--desisted; and, putting down the wine, wiped the drops +from his forehead with the sleeve of his habit. Donna Isabella +gave a sign to a domestic, and other wine of a higher quality was +offered to him. His lips moved, as if in the effort to pronounce a +benediction on it and the company, but the effort again failed; and +the change in his countenance was so extraordinary, that it was +perceived by all the guests. He felt the sensation that his +extraordinary appearance excited, and attempted to remove it by +again endeavoring to lift the cup to his lips. So strong was the +anxiety with which the company watched him, that the only sound +heard in that spacious and crowded hall was the rustling of his +habit as he attempted to lift the cup to his lips once more--in +vain. The guests sat in astonished silence. Father Olavida alone +remained standing; but at that moment the Englishman rose, and +appeared determined to fix Olavida's regards by a gaze like that of +fascination. Olavida rocked, reeled, grasped the arm of a page, +and at last, closing his eyes for a moment, as if to escape the +horrible fascination of that unearthly glare (the Englishman's eyes +were observed by all the guests, from the moment of his entrance, +to effuse a most fearful and preternatural luster), exclaimed, "Who +is among us?--Who?--I cannot utter a blessing while he is here. I +cannot feel one. Where he treads, the earth is parched!--Where he +breathes, the air is fire!--Where he feeds, the food is poison!-- +Where he turns his glance is lightning!--WHO IS AMONG US?--WHO?" +repeated the priest in the agony of adjuration, while his cowl +fallen back, his few thin hairs around the scalp instinct and alive +with terrible emotion, his outspread arms protruded from the +sleeves of his habit, and extended toward the awful stranger, +suggested the idea of an inspired being in the dreadful rapture of +prophetic denunciation. He stood--still stood, and the Englishman +stood calmly opposite to him. There was an agitated irregularity +in the attitudes of those around them, which contrasted strongly +the fixed and stern postures of those two, who remained gazing +silently at each other. "Who knows him?" exclaimed Olavida, +starting apparently from a trance; "who knows him? who brought him +here?" + +The guests severally disclaimed all knowledge of the Englishman, +and each asked the other in whispers, "who HAD brought him there?" +Father Olavida then pointed his arm to each of the company, and +asked each individually, "Do you know him?" No! no! no!" was +uttered with vehement emphasis by every individual. "But I know +him," said Olavida, "by these cold drops!" and he wiped them off;-- +"by these convulsed joints!" and he attempted to sign the cross, +but could not. He raised his voice, and evidently speaking with +increased difficulty,--"By this bread and wine, which the faithful +receive as the body and blood of Christ, but which HIS presence +converts into matter as viperous as the suicide foam of the dying +Judas,--by all these--I know him, and command him to be gone!--He +is--he is--" and he bent forward as he spoke, and gazed on the +Englishman with an expression which the mixture of rage, hatred, +and fear rendered terrible. All the guests rose at these words,-- +the whole company now presented two singular groups, that of the +amazed guests all collected together, and repeating, "Who, what is +he?" and that of the Englishman, who stood unmoved, and Olavida, +who dropped dead in the attitude of pointing to him. + + . . . . . + +The body was removed into another room, and the departure of the +Englishman was not noticed till the company returned to the hall. +They sat late together, conversing on this extraordinary +circumstance, and finally agreed to remain in the house, lest the +evil spirit (for they believed the Englishman no better) should +take certain liberties with the corse by no means agreeable to a +Catholic, particularly as he had manifestly died without the +benefit of the last sacraments. Just as this laudable resolution +was formed, they were roused by cries of horror and agony from the +bridal chamber, where the young pair had retired. + +They hurried to the door, but the father was first. They burst it +open, and found the bride a corse in the arms of her husband. + + . . . . . + +He never recovered his reason; the family deserted the mansion +rendered terrible by so many misfortunes. One apartment is still +tenanted by the unhappy maniac; his were the cries you heard as you +traversed the deserted rooms. He is for the most part silent +during the day, but at midnight he always exclaims, in a voice +frightfully piercing, and hardly human, "They are coming! they are +coming!" and relapses into profound silence. + +The funeral of Father Olavida was attended by an extraordinary +circumstance. He was interred in a neighboring convent; and the +reputation of his sanctity, joined to the interest caused by his +extraordinary death, collected vast numbers at the ceremony. His +funeral sermon was preached by a monk of distinguished eloquence, +appointed for the purpose. To render the effect of his discourse +more powerful, the corse, extended on a bier, with its face +uncovered, was placed in the aisle. The monk took his text from +one of the prophets,--"Death is gone up into our palaces." He +expatiated on mortality, whose approach, whether abrupt or +lingering, is alike awful to man.--He spoke of the vicisstudes of +empires with much eloquence and learning, but his audience were not +observed to be much affected.--He cited various passages from the +lives of the saints, descriptive of the glories of martyrdom, and +the heroism of those who had bled and blazed for Christ and his +blessed mother, but they appeared still waiting for something to +touch them more deeply. When he inveighed against the tyrants +under whose bloody persecution those holy men suffered, his hearers +were roused for a moment, for it is always easier to excite a +passion than a moral feeling. But when he spoke of the dead, and +pointed with emphatic gesture to the corse, as it lay before them +cold and motionless, every eye was fixed, and every ear became +attentive. Even the lovers, who, under pretense of dipping their +fingers into the holy water, were contriving to exchange amorous +billets, forbore for one moment this interesting intercourse, to +listen to the preacher. He dwelt with much energy on the virtues +of the deceased, whom he declared to be a particular favorite of +the Virgin; and enumerating the various losses that would be caused +by his departure to the community to which he belonged, to society, +and to religion at large; he at last worked up himself to a +vehement expostulation with the Deity on the occasion. "Why hast +thou," he exclaimed, "why hast thou, Oh God! thus dealt with us? +Why hast thou snatched from our sight this glorious saint, whose +merits, if properly applied, doubtless would have been sufficient +to atone for the apostasy of St. Peter, the opposition of St. Paul +(previous to his conversion), and even the treachery of Judas +himself? Why hast thou, Oh God! snatched him from us?"--and a deep +and hollow voice from among the congregation answered,--"Because he +deserved his fate." The murmurs of approbation with which the +congregation honored this apostrophe half drowned this +extraordinary interruption; and though there was some little +commotion in the immediate vicinity of the speaker, the rest of the +audience continued to listen intently. "What," proceeded the +preacher, pointing to the corse, "what hath laid thee there, +servant of God?"--"Pride, ignorance, and fear," answered the same +voice, in accents still more thrilling. The disturbance now became +universal. The preacher paused, and a circle opening, disclosed +the figure of a monk belonging to the convent, who stood among +them. + + . . . . . + +After all the usual modes of admonition, exhortation, and +discipline had been employed, and the bishop of the diocese, who, +under the report of these extraordinary circumstances, had visited +the convent in person to obtain some explanation from the +contumacious monk in vain, it was agreed, in a chapter +extraordinary, to surrender him to the power of the Inquisition. +He testified great horror when this determination was made known to +him,--and offered to tell over and over again all that he COULD +relate of the cause of Father Olavida's death. His humiliation, +and repeated offers of confession, came too late. He was conveyed +to the Inquisition. The proceedings of that tribunal are rarely +disclosed, but there is a secret report (I cannot answer for its +truth) of what he said and suffered there. On his first +examination, he said he would relate all he COULD. He was told +that was not enough, he must relate all he knew. + + . . . . . + +"Why did you testify such horror at the funeral of Father +Olavida?"--"Everyone testified horror and grief at the death of +that venerable ecclesiastic, who died in the odor of sanctity. Had +I done otherwise, it might have been reckoned a proof of my guilt." +"Why did you interrupt the preacher with such extraordinary +exclamations?"--To this no answer. "Why do you refuse to explain +the meaning of those exclamations?"--No answer. "Why do you +persist in this obstinate and dangerous silence? Look, I beseech +you, brother, at the cross that is suspended against this wall," +and the Inquisitor pointed to the large black crucifix at the back +of the chair where he sat; "one drop of the blood shed there can +purify you from all the sin you have ever committed; but all that +blood, combined with the intercession of the Queen of Heaven, and +the merits of all its martyrs, nay, even the absolution of the +Pope, cannot deliver you from the curse of dying in unrepented +sin."--"What sin, then, have I committed?"--"The greatest of all +possible sins; you refuse answering the questions put to you at the +tribunal of the most holy and merciful Inquisition;--you will not +tell us what you know concerning the death of Father Olavida."--"I +have told you that I believe he perished in consequence of his +ignorance and presumption." "What proof can you produce of that?"-- +"He sought the knowledge of a secret withheld from man." "What +was that?"--"The secret of discovering the presence or agency of +the evil power." "Do you possess that secret?"--After much +agitation on the part of the prisoner, he said distinctly, but very +faintly, "My master forbids me to disclose it." "If your master +were Jesus Christ, he would not forbid you to obey the commands, or +answer the questions of the Inquisition."--"I am not sure of that." +There was a general outcry of horror at these words. The +examination then went on. "If you believed Olavida to be guilty of +any pursuits or studies condemned by our mother the church, why did +you not denounce him to the Inquisition?"--"Because I believed him +not likely to be injured by such pursuits; his mind was too weak,-- +he died in the struggle," said the prisoner with great emphasis. +"You believe, then, it requires strength of mind to keep those +abominable secrets, when examined as to their nature and +tendency?"--"No, I rather imagine strength of body." "We shall try +that presently," said an Inquisitor, giving a signal for the +torture. + + . . . . . + +The prisoner underwent the first and second applications with +unshrinking courage, but on the infliction of the water-torture, +which is indeed insupportable to humanity, either to suffer or +relate, he exclaimed in the gasping interval, he would disclose +everything. He was released, refreshed, restored, and the +following day uttered the following remarkable confession. . . . + + . . . . . + +The old Spanish woman further confessed to Stanton, that. . . . + + . . . . . + +and that the Englishman certainly had been seen in the neighborhood +since;--seen, as she had heard, that very night. "Great G--d!" +exclaimed Stanton, as he recollected the stranger whose demoniac +laugh had so appalled him, while gazing on the lifeless bodies of +the lovers, whom the lightning had struck and blasted. + + +As the manuscript, after a few blotted and illegible pages, became +more distinct, Melmoth read on, perplexed and unsatisfied, not +knowing what connection this Spanish story could have with his +ancestor, whom, however, he recognized under the title of the +Englishman; and wondering how Stanton could have thought it worth +his while to follow him to Ireland, write a long manuscript about +an event that occurred in Spain, and leave it in the hands of his +family, to "verify untrue things," in the language of Dogberry,-- +his wonder was diminished, though his curiosity was still more +inflamed, by the perusal of the next lines, which he made out with +some difficulty. It seems Stanton was now in England. + + . . . . . + +About the year 1677, Stanton was in London, his mind still full of +his mysterious countryman. This constant subject of his +contemplations had produced a visible change in his exterior,--his +walk was what Sallust tells us of Catiline's,--his were, too, the +"faedi oculi." He said to himself every moment, "If I could but +trace that being, I will not call him man,"--and the next moment he +said, "and what if I could?" In this state of mind, it is singular +enough that he mixed constantly in public amusements, but it is +true. When one fierce passion is devouring the soul, we feel more +than ever the necessity of external excitement; and our dependence +on the world for temporary relief increases in direct proportion to +our contempt of the world and all its works. He went frequently to +the theaters, THEN fashionable, when + + + "The fair sat panting at a courtier's play, + And not a mask went unimproved away." + + + . . . . . + +It was that memorable night, when, according to the history of the +veteran Betterton,* Mrs. Barry, who personated Roxana, had a green- +room squabble with Mrs. Bowtell, the representative of Statira, +about a veil, which the partiality of the property man adjudged to +the latter. Roxana suppressed her rage till the fifth act, when, +stabbing Statira, she aimed the blow with such force as to pierce +through her stays, and inflict a severe though not dangerous wound. +Mrs. Bowtell fainted, the performance was suspended, and, in the +commotion which this incident caused in the house, many of the +audience rose, and Stanton among them. It was at this moment that, +in a seat opposite to him, he discovered the object of his search +for four years,--the Englishman whom he had met in the plains of +Valencia, and whom he believed the same with the subject of the +extraordinary narrative he had heard there. + + +* Vide Betterton's History of the Stage. + + +He was standing up. There was nothing particular or remarkable in +his appearance, but the expression of his eyes could never be +mistaken or forgotten. The heart of Stanton palpitated with +violence,--a mist overspread his eye,--a nameless and deadly +sickness, accompanied with a creeping sensation in every pore, from +which cold drops were gushing, announced the. . . . + + . . . . . + +Before he had well recovered, a strain of music, soft, solemn, and +delicious, breathed round him, audibly ascending from the ground, +and increasing in sweetness and power till it seemed to fill the +whole building. Under the sudden impulse of amazement and +pleasure, he inquired of some around him from whence those +exquisite sounds arose. But, by the manner in which he was +answered, it was plain that those he addressed considered him +insane; and, indeed, the remarkable change in his expression might +well justify the suspicion. He then remembered that night in +Spain, when the same sweet and mysterious sounds were heard only by +the young bridegroom and bride, of whom the latter perished on that +very night. "And am I then to be the next victim?" thought +Stanton; "and are those celestial sounds, that seem to prepare us +for heaven, only intended to announce the presence of an incarnate +fiend, who mocks the devoted with 'airs from heaven,' while he +prepares to surround them with 'blasts from hell'?" It is very +singular that at this moment, when his imagination had reached its +highest pitch of elevation,--when the object he had pursued so long +and fruitlessly, had in one moment become as it were tangible to +the grasp both of mind and body,--when this spirit, with whom he +had wrestled in darkness, was at last about to declare its name, +that Stanton began to feel a kind of disappointment at the futility +of his pursuits, like Bruce at discovering the source of the Nile, +or Gibbon on concluding his History. The feeling which he had +dwelt on so long, that he had actually converted it into a duty, +was after all mere curiosity; but what passion is more insatiable, +or more capable of giving a kind of romantic grandeur to all its +wanderings and eccentricities? Curiosity is in one respect like +love, it always compromises between the object and the feeling; and +provided the latter possesses sufficient energy, no matter how +contemptible the former may be. A child might have smiled at the +agitation of Stanton, caused as it was by the accidental appearance +of a stranger; but no man, in the full energy of his passions, was +there, but must have trembled at the horrible agony of emotion with +which he felt approaching, with sudden and irresistible velocity, +the crisis of his destiny. + +When the play was over, he stood for some moments in the deserted +streets. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and he saw near him a +figure, whose shadow, projected half across the street (there were +no flagged ways then, chains and posts were the only defense of the +foot passenger), appeared to him of gigantic magnitude. He had +been so long accustomed to contend with these phantoms of the +imagination, that he took a kind of stubborn delight in subduing +them. He walked up to the object, and observing the shadow only +was magnified, and the figure was the ordinary height of man, he +approached it, and discovered the very object of his search,--the +man whom he had seen for a moment in Valencia, and, after a search +of four years, recognized at the theater. + + . . . . . + +"You were in quest of me?"--"I was." "Have you anything to inquire +of me?"--"Much." "Speak, then."--"This is no place." "No place! +poor wretch, I am independent of time and place. Speak, if you +have anything to ask or to learn."--"I have many things to ask, but +nothing to learn, I hope, from you." "You deceive yourself, but +you will be undeceived when next we meet."--"And when shall that +be?" said Stanton, grasping his arm; "name your hour and your +place." "The hour shall be midday," answered the stranger, with a +horrid and unintelligible smile; "and the place shall be the bare +walls of a madhouse, where you shall rise rattling in your chains, +and rustling from your straw, to greet me,--yet still you shall +have THE CURSE OF SANITY, and of memory. My voice shall ring in +your ears till then, and the glance of these eyes shall be +reflected from every object, animate or inanimate, till you behold +them again."--"Is it under circumstances so horrible we are to meet +again?" said Stanton, shrinking under the full-lighted blaze of +those demon eyes. "I never," said the stranger, in an emphatic +tone,--"I never desert my friends in misfortune. When they are +plunged in the lowest abyss of human calamity, they are sure to be +visited by me." + + . . . . . + +The narrative, when Melmoth was again able to trace its +continuation, described Stanton, some years after, plunged in a +state the most deplorable. + +He had been always reckoned of a singular turn of mind, and the +belief of this, aggravated by his constant talk of Melmoth, his +wild pursuit of him, his strange behavior at the theater, and his +dwelling on the various particulars of their extraordinary +meetings, with all the intensity of the deepest conviction (while +he never could impress them on any one's conviction but his own), +suggested to some prudent people the idea that he was deranged. +Their malignity probably took part with their prudence. The +selfish Frenchman* says, we feel a pleasure even in the misfortunes +of our friends,--a plus forte in those of our enemies; and as +everyone is an enemy to a man of genius of course, the report of +Stanton's malady was propagated with infernal and successful +industry. Stanton's next relative, a needy unprincipled man, +watched the report in its circulation, and saw the snares closing +round his victim. He waited on him one morning, accompanied by a +person of a grave, though somewhat repulsive appearance. Stanton +was as usual abstracted and restless, and, after a few moments' +conversation, he proposed a drive a few miles out of London, which +he said would revive and refresh him. Stanton objected, on account +of the difficulty of getting a hackney coach (for it is singular +that at this period the number of private equipages, though +infinitely fewer than they are now, exceeded the number of hired +ones), and proposed going by water. This, however, did not suit +the kinsman's views; and, after pretending to send for a carriage +(which was in waiting at the end of the street), Stanton and his +companions entered it, and drove about two miles out of London. + + +* Rochefoucauld. + + +The carriage then stopped. Come, Cousin," said the younger +Stanton,--"come and view a purchase I have made." Stanton absently +alighted, and followed him across a small paved court; the other +person followed. "In troth, Cousin," said Stanton, "your choice +appears not to have been discreetly made; your house has somewhat +of a gloomy aspect."--"Hold you content, Cousin," replied the +other; "I shall take order that you like it better, when you have +been some time a dweller therein." Some attendants of a mean +appearance, and with most suspicious visages, awaited them on their +entrance, and they ascended a narrow staircase, which led to a room +meanly furnished. "Wait here," said the kinsman, to the man who +accompanied them, "till I go for company to divertise my cousin in +his loneliness." They were left alone. Stanton took no notice of +his companion, but as usual seized the first book near him, and +began to read. It was a volume in manuscript,--they were then much +more common than now. + +The first lines struck him as indicating insanity in the writer. +It was a wild proposal (written apparently after the great fire of +London) to rebuild it with stone, and attempting to prove, on a +calculation wild, false, and yet sometimes plausible, that this +could be done out of the colossal fragments of Stonehenge, which +the writer proposed to remove for that purpose. Subjoined were +several grotesque drawings of engines designed to remove those +massive blocks, and in a corner of the page was a note,--"I would +have drawn these more accurately, but was not allowed a KNIFE to +mend my pen." + +The next was entitled, "A modest proposal for the spreading of +Christianity in foreign parts, whereby it is hoped its +entertainment will become general all over the world."--This modest +proposal was, to convert the Turkish ambassadors (who had been in +London a few years before), by offering them their choice of being +strangled on the spot, or becoming Christians. Of course the +writer reckoned on their embracing the easier alternative, but even +this was to be clogged with a heavy condition,--namely, that they +must be bound before a magistrate to convert twenty Mussulmans a +day, on their return to Turkey. The rest of the pamphlet was +reasoned very much in the conclusive style of Captain Bobadil,-- +these twenty will convert twenty more apiece, and these two hundred +converts, converting their due number in the same time, all Turkey +would be converted before the Grand Signior knew where he was. +Then comes the coup d'eclat,--one fine morning, every minaret in +Constantinople was to ring out with bells, instead of the cry of +the Muezzins; and the Imaum, coming out to see what was the matter, +was to be encountered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in +pontificalibus, performing Cathedral service in the church of St. +Sophia, which was to finish the business. Here an objection +appeared to arise, which the ingenuity of the writer had +anticipated.--"It may be redargued," saith he, "by those who have +more spleen than brain, that forasmuch as the Archbishop preacheth +in English, he will not thereby much edify the Turkish folk, who do +altogether hold in a vain gabble of their own." But this (to use +his own language) he "evites," by judiciously observing, that where +service was performed in an unknown tongue, the devotion of the +people was always observed to be much increased thereby; as, for +instance, in the church of Rome,--that St. Augustine, with his +monks, advanced to meet King Ethelbert singing litanies (in a +language his majesty could not possibly have understood), and +converted him and his whole court on the spot;--that the sybilline +books. . . . + + . . . . . + +Cum multis aliis. + +Between the pages were cut most exquisitely in paper the likenesses +of some of these Turkish ambassadors; the hair of the beards, in +particular, was feathered with a delicacy of touch that seemed the +work of fairy fingers,--but the pages ended with a complaint of the +operator, that his scissors had been taken from him. However, he +consoled himself and the reader with the assurance, that he would +that night catch a moonbeam as it entered through the grating, and, +when he had whetted it on the iron knobs of his door, would do +wonders with it. In the next page was found a melancholy proof of +powerful but prostrated intellect. It contained some insane lines, +ascribed to Lee the dramatic poet, commencing, + + + "O that my lungs could bleat like buttered pease," &c. + + +There is no proof whatever that these miserable lines were really +written by Lee, except that the measure is the fashionable quatrain +of the period. It is singular that Stanton read on without +suspicion of his own danger, quite absorbed in the album of a +madhouse, without ever reflecting on the place where he was, and +which such compositions too manifestly designated. + +It was after a long interval that he looked round, and perceived +that his companion was gone. Bells were unusual then. He +proceeded to the door,--it was fastened. He called aloud,--his +voice was echoed in a moment by many others, but in tones so wild +and discordant, that he desisted in involuntary terror. As the day +advanced, and no one approached, he tried the window, and then +perceived for the first time it was grated. It looked out on the +narrow flagged yard, in which no human being was; and if there had, +from such a being no human feeling could have been extracted. + +Sickening with unspeakable horror, he sunk rather than sat down +beside the miserable window, and "wished for day." + + . . . . . + +At midnight he started from a doze, half a swoon, half a sleep, +which probably the hardness of his seat, and of the deal table on +which he leaned, had not contributed to prolong. + +He was in complete darkness; the horror of his situation struck him +at once, and for a moment he was indeed almost qualified for an +inmate of that dreadful mansion. He felt his way to the door, +shook it with desperate strength, and uttered the most frightful +cries, mixed with expostulations and commands. His cries were in a +moment echoed by a hundred voices. In maniacs there is a peculiar +malignity, accompanied by an extraordinary acuteness of some of the +senses, particularly in distinguishing the voice of a stranger. +The cries that he heard on every side seemed like a wild and +infernal yell of joy, that their mansion of misery had obtained +another tenant. + +He paused, exhausted,--a quick and thundering step was heard in the +passage. The door was opened, and a man of savage appearance stood +at the entrance,--two more were seen indistinctly in the passage. +"Release me, villain!"--"Stop, my fine fellow, what's all this +noise for?" "Where am I?" "Where you ought to be." "Will you +dare to detain me?"--"Yes, and a little more than that," answered +the ruffian, applying a loaded horsewhip to his back and shoulders, +till the patient soon fell to the ground convulsed with rage and +pain. "Now you see you are where you ought to be," repeated the +ruffian, brandishing the horsewhip over him, "and now take the +advice of a friend, and make no more noise. The lads are ready for +you with the darbies, and they'll clink them on in the crack of +this whip, unless you prefer another touch of it first." They then +were advancing into the room as he spoke, with fetters in their +hands (strait waistcoats being then little known or used), and +showed, by their frightful countenances and gestures, no +unwillingness to apply them. Their harsh rattle on the stone +pavement made Stanton's blood run cold; the effect, however, was +useful. He had the presence of mind to acknowledge his (supposed) +miserable condition, to supplicate the forbearance of the ruthless +keeper, and promise complete submission to his orders. This +pacified the ruffian, and he retired. + +Stanton collected all his resolution to encounter the horrible +night; he saw all that was before him, and summoned himself to meet +it. After much agitated deliberation, he conceived it best to +continue the same appearance of submission and tranquillity, hoping +that thus he might in time either propitiate the wretches in whose +hands he was, or, by his apparent inoffensiveness, procure such +opportunities of indulgence, as might perhaps ultimately facilitate +his escape. He therefore determined to conduct himself with the +utmost tranquillity, and never to let his voice be heard in the +house; and he laid down several other resolutions with a degree of +prudence which he already shuddered to think might be the cunning +of incipient madness, or the beginning result of the horrid habits +of the place. + +These resolutions were put to desperate trial that very night. +Just next to Stanton's apartment were lodged two most uncongenial +neighbors. One of them was a puritanical weaver, who had been +driven mad by a single sermon from the celebrated Hugh Peters, and +was sent to the madhouse as full of election and reprobation as he +could hold,--and fuller. He regularly repeated over the five +points while daylight lasted, and imagined himself preaching in a +conventicle with distinguished success; toward twilight his visions +were more gloomy, and at midnight his blasphemies became horrible. +In the opposite cell was lodged a loyalist tailor, who had been +ruined by giving credit to the cavaliers and their ladies,--(for at +this time, and much later, down to the reign of Anne, tailors were +employed by females even to make and fit on their stays),--who had +run mad with drink and loyalty on the burning of the Rump, and ever +since had made the cells of the madhouse echo with fragments of the +ill-fated Colonel Lovelace's song, scraps from Cowley's "Cutter of +Coleman street," and some curious specimens from Mrs. Aphra Behn's +plays, where the cavaliers are denominated the heroicks, and Lady +Lambert and Lady Desborough represented as going to meeting, their +large Bibles carried before them by their pages, and falling in +love with two banished cavaliers by the way. The voice in which he +shrieked out such words was powerfully horrible, but it was like +the moan of an infant compared to the voice which took up and +reechoed the cry, in a tone that made the building shake. It was +the voice of a maniac, who had lost her husband, children, +subsistence, and finally her reason, in the dreadful fire of +London. The cry of fire never failed to operate with terrible +punctuality on her associations. She had been in a disturbed +sleep, and now started from it as suddenly as on that dreadful +night. It was Saturday night too, and she was always observed to +be particularly violent on that night,--it was the terrible weekly +festival of insanity with her. She was awake, and busy in a moment +escaping from the flames; and she dramatized the whole scene with +such hideous fidelity, that Stanton's resolution was far more in +danger from her than from the battle between his neighbors +Testimony and Hothead. She began exclaiming she was suffocated by +the smoke; then she sprung from her bed, calling for a light, and +appeared to be struck by the sudden glare that burst through her +casement.--"The last day," she shrieked, "The last day! The very +heavens are on fire!"--"That will not come till the Man of Sin be +first destroyed," cried the weaver; "thou ravest of light and fire, +and yet thou art in utter darkness.--I pity thee, poor mad soul, I +pity thee!" The maniac never heeded him; she appeared to be +scrambling up a staircase to her children's room. She exclaimed +she was scorched, singed, suffocated; her courage appeared to fail, +and she retreated. "But my children are there!" she cried in a +voice of unspeakable agony, as she seemed to make another effort; +"here I am--here I am come to save you.--Oh God! They are all +blazing!--Take this arm--no, not that, it is scorched and disabled-- +well, any arm--take hold of my clothes--no, they are blazing too!-- +Well, take me all on fire as I am!--And their hair, how it +hisses!--Water, one drop of water for my youngest--he is but an +infant--for my youngest, and let me burn!" She paused in horrid +silence, to watch the fall of a blazing rafter that was about to +shatter the staircase on which she stood.--"The roof has fallen on +my head!" she exclaimed. "The earth is weak, and all the +inhabitants thereof," chanted the weaver; "I bear up the pillars of +it." + +The maniac marked the destruction of the spot where she thought she +stood by one desperate bound, accompanied by a wild shriek, and +then calmly gazed on her infants as they rolled over the scorching +fragments, and sunk into the abyss of fire below. "There they go,-- +one--two--three--all!" and her voice sunk into low mutterings, and +her convulsions into faint, cold shudderings, like the sobbings of +a spent storm, as she imagined herself to "stand in safety and +despair," amid the thousand houseless wretches assembled in the +suburbs of London on the dreadful nights after the fire, without +food, roof, or raiment, all gazing on the burning ruins of their +dwellings and their property. She seemed to listen to their +complaints, and even repeated some of them very affectingly, but +invariably answered them with the same words, "But I have lost all +my children--all!" It was remarkable, that when this sufferer +began to rave, all the others became silent. The cry of nature +hushed every other cry,--she was the only patient in the house who +was not mad from politics, religion, ebriety, or some perverted +passion; and terrifying as the outbreak of her frenzy always was, +Stanton used to await it as a kind of relief from the dissonant, +melancholy, and ludicrous ravings of the others. + +But the utmost efforts of his resolution began to sink under the +continued horrors of the place. The impression on his senses began +to defy the power of reason to resist them. He could not shut out +these frightful cries nightly repeated, nor the frightful sound of +the whip employed to still them. Hope began to fail him, as he +observed, that the submissive tranquillity (which he had imagined, +by obtaining increased indulgence, might contribute to his escape, +or perhaps convince the keeper of his sanity) was interpreted by +the callous ruffian, who was acquainted only with the varieties of +MADNESS, as a more refined species of that cunning which he was +well accustomed to watch and baffle. + +On his first discovery of his situation, he had determined to take +the utmost care of his health and intellect that the place allowed, +as the sole basis of his hope of deliverance. But as that hope +declined, he neglected the means of realizing it. He had at first +risen early, walked incessantly about his cell, and availed himself +of every opportunity of being in the open air. He took the +strictest care of his person in point of cleanliness, and with or +without appetite, regularly forced down his miserable meals; and +all these efforts were even pleasant, as long as hope prompted +them. But now he began to relax them all. He passed half the day +in his wretched bed, in which he frequently took his meals, +declined shaving or changing his linen, and, when the sun shone +into his cell, he turned from it on his straw with a sigh of +heartbroken despondency. Formerly, when the air breathed through +his grating, he used to say, "Blessed air of heaven, I shall +breathe you once more in freedom!--Reserve all your freshness for +that delicious evening when I shall inhale you, and be as free as +you myself." Now when he felt it, he sighed and said nothing. The +twitter of the sparrows, the pattering of rain, or the moan of the +wind, sounds that he used to sit up in his bed to catch with +delight, as reminding him of nature, were now unheeded. + +He began at times to listen with sullen and horrible pleasure to +the cries of his miserable companions. He became squalid, +listless, torpid, and disgusting in his appearance. + + . . . . . + +It was one of those dismal nights, that, as he tossed on his +loathsome bed,--more loathsome from the impossibility to quit it +without feeling more "unrest,"--he perceived the miserable light +that burned in the hearth was obscured by the intervention of some +dark object. He turned feebly toward the light, without curiosity, +without excitement, but with a wish to diversify the monotony of +his misery, by observing the slightest change made even +accidentally in the dusky atmosphere of his cell. Between him and +the light stood the figure of Melmoth, just as he had seen him from +the first; the figure was the same; the expression of the face was +the same,--cold, stony, and rigid; the eyes, with their infernal +and dazzling luster, were still the same. + +Stanton's ruling passion rushed on his soul; he felt this +apparition like a summons to a high and fearful encounter. He +heard his heart beat audibly, and could have exclaimed with Lee's +unfortunate heroine,--"It pants as cowards do before a battle; Oh +the great march has sounded!" + +Melmoth approached him with that frightful calmness that mocks the +terror it excites. "My prophecy has been fulfilled;--you rise to +meet me rattling from your chains, and rustling from your straw--am +I not a true prophet?" Stanton was silent. "Is not your situation +very miserable?"--Still Stanton was silent; for he was beginning to +believe this an illusion of madness. He thought to himself, "How +could he have gained entrance here?"--"Would you not wish to be +delivered from it?" Stanton tossed on his straw, and its rustling +seemed to answer the question. "I have the power to deliver you +from it." Melmoth spoke very slowly and very softly, and the +melodious smoothness of his voice made a frightful contrast to the +stony rigor of his features, and the fiendlike brilliancy of his +eyes. "Who are you, and whence come you?" said Stanton, in a tone +that was meant to be interrogatory and imperative, but which, from +his habits of squalid debility, was at once feeble and querulous. +His intellect had become affected by the gloom of his miserable +habitation, as the wretched inmate of a similar mansion, when +produced before a medical examiner, was reported to be a complete +Albino.--His skin was bleached, his eyes turned white; he could not +bear the light; and, when exposed to it, he turned away with a +mixture of weakness and restlessness, more like the writhings of a +sick infant than the struggles of a man. + +Such was Stanton's situation. He was enfeebled now, and the power +of the enemy seemed without a possibility of opposition from either +his intellectual or corporeal powers. + + . . . . . + +Of all their horrible dialogue, only these words were legible in +the manuscript, "You know me now."--"I always knew you."--"That is +false; you imagined you did, and that has been the cause of all the +wild . of the . . . . . +. of your finally being lodged in this mansion of misery, where +only I would seek, where only I can succor you."--"You, demon!"-- +"Demon!--Harsh words!--Was it a demon or a human being placed you +here?--Listen to me, Stanton; nay, wrap not yourself in that +miserable blanket,--that cannot shut out my words. Believe me, +were you folded in thunder clouds, you must hear ME! Stanton, +think of your misery. These bare walls--what do they present to +the intellect or to the senses?--Whitewash, diversified with the +scrawls of charcoal or red chalk, that your happy predecessors have +left for you to trace over. You have a taste for drawing--I trust +it will improve. And here's a grating, through which the sun +squints on you like a stepdame, and the breeze blows, as if it +meant to tantalize you with a sigh from that sweet mouth, whose +kiss you must never enjoy. And where's your library,--intellectual +man,--traveled man?" he repeated in a tone of bitter derision; +"where be your companions, your peaked men of countries, as your +favorite Shakespeare has it? You must be content with the spider +and the rat, to crawl and scratch round your flock bed! I have +known prisoners in the Bastille to feed them for companions,--why +don't you begin your task? I have known a spider to descend at the +tap of a finger, and a rat to come forth when the daily meal was +brought, to share it with his fellow prisoner!--How delightful to +have vermin for your guests! Aye, and when the feast fails them, +they make a meal of their entertainer!--You shudder.--Are you, +then, the first prisoner who has been devoured alive by the vermin +that infested his cell?--Delightful banquet, not 'where you eat, +but where you are eaten'! Your guests, however, will give you one +token of repentance while they feed; there will be gnashing of +teeth, and you shall hear it, and feel it too perchance!--And then +for meals--Oh you are daintily off!--The soup that the cat has +lapped; and (as her progeny has probably contributed to the hell +broth) why not? Then your hours of solitude, deliciously +diversified by the yell of famine, the howl of madness, the crash +of whips, and the broken-hearted sob of those who, like you, are +supposed, or DRIVEN mad by the crimes of others!--Stanton, do you +imagine your reason can possibly hold out amid such scenes?-- +Supposing your reason was unimpaired, your health not destroyed,-- +suppose all this, which is, after all, more than fair supposition +can grant, guess the effect of the continuance of these scenes on +your senses alone. A time will come, and soon, when, from mere +habit, you will echo the scream of every delirious wretch that +harbors near you; then you will pause, clasp your hands on your +throbbing head, and listen with horrible anxiety whether the scream +proceeded from YOU or THEM. The time will come, when, from the +want of occupation, the listless and horrible vacancy of your +hours, you will feel as anxious to hear those shrieks, as you were +at first terrified to hear them,--when you will watch for the +ravings of your next neighbor, as you would for a scene on the +stage. All humanity will be extinguished in you. The ravings of +these wretches will become at once your sport and your torture. +You will watch for the sounds, to mock them with the grimaces and +bellowings of a fiend. The mind has a power of accommodating +itself to its situation, that you will experience in its most +frightful and deplorable efficacy. Then comes the dreadful doubt +of one's own sanity, the terrible announcer that THAT doubt will +soon become fear, and THAT fear certainty. Perhaps (still more +dreadful) the FEAR will at last become a HOPE,--shut out from +society, watched by a brutal keeper, writhing with all the impotent +agony of an incarcerated mind, without communication and without +sympathy, unable to exchange ideas but with those whose ideas are +only the hideous specters of departed intellect, or even to hear +the welcome sound of the human voice, except to mistake it for the +howl of a fiend, and stop the ear desecrated by its intrusion,-- +then at last your fear will become a more fearful hope; you will +wish to become one of them, to escape the agony of consciousness. +As those who have long leaned over a precipice, have at last felt a +desire to plunge below, to relieve the intolerable temptation of +their giddiness,* you will hear them laugh amid their wildest +paroxysms; you will say, 'Doubtless those wretches have some +consolation, but I have none; my sanity is my greatest curse in +this abode of horrors. They greedily devour their miserable meals, +while I loathe mine. They sleep sometimes soundly, while my sleep +is--worse than their waking. They are revived every morning by +some delicious illusion of cunning madness, soothing them with the +hope of escaping, baffling or tormenting their keeper; my sanity +precludes all such hope. I KNOW I NEVER CAN ESCAPE, and the +preservation of my faculties is only an aggravation of my +sufferings. I have all their miseries,--I have none of their +consolations. They laugh,--I hear them; would I could laugh like +them.' You will try, and the very effort will be an invocation to +the demon of insanity to come and take full possession of you from +that moment forever." + + +* A fact, related to me by a person who was near committing suicide +in a similar situation, to escape what he called "the excruciating +torture of giddiness." + + +(There were other details, both of the menaces and temptations +employed by Melmoth, which are too horrible for insertion. One of +them may serve for an instance.) + +"You think that the intellectual power is something distinct from +the vitality of the soul, or, in other words, that if even your +reason should be destroyed (which it nearly is), your soul might +yet enjoy beatitude in the full exercise of its enlarged and +exalted faculties, and all the clouds which obscured them be +dispelled by the Sun of Righteousness, in whose beams you hope to +bask forever and ever. Now, without going into any metaphysical +subtleties about the distinction between mind and soul, experience +must teach you, that there can be no crime into which madmen would +not, and do not, precipitate themselves; mischief is their +occupation, malice their habit, murder their sport, and blasphemy +their delight. Whether a soul in this state can be in a hopeful +one, it is for you to judge; but it seems to me, that with the loss +of reason (and reason cannot long be retained in this place) you +lose also the hope of immortality.--Listen," said the tempter, +pausing, "listen to the wretch who is raving near you, and whose +blasphemies might make a demon start.--He was once an eminent +puritanical preacher. Half the day he imagines himself in a +pulpit, denouncing damnation against Papists, Arminians, and even +Sublapsarians (he being a Supra-lapsarian himself). He foams, he +writhes, he gnashes his teeth; you would imagine him in the hell he +was painting, and that the fire and brimstone he is so lavish of +were actually exhaling from his jaws. At night his creed +retaliates on him; he believes himself one of the reprobates he has +been all day denouncing, and curses God for the very decree he has +all day been glorifying Him for. + +"He, whom he has for twelve hours been vociferating 'is the +loveliest among ten thousand,' becomes the object of demoniac +hostility and execration. He grapples with the iron posts of his +bed, and says he is rooting out the cross from the very foundations +of Calvary; and it is remarkable, that in proportion as his morning +exercises are intense, vivid, and eloquent, his nightly blasphemies +are outrageous and horrible.--Hark! Now he believes himself a +demon; listen to his diabolical eloquence of horror!" + +Stanton listened, and shuddered . . + + . . . . . + +"Escape--escape for your life," cried the tempter; "break forth +into life, liberty, and sanity. Your social happiness, your +intellectual powers, your immortal interests, perhaps, depend on +the choice of this moment.--There is the door, and the key is in my +hand.--Choose--choose!"--"And how comes the key in your hand? and +what is the condition of my liberation?" said Stanton. + + . . . . . + +The explanation occupied several pages, which, to the torture of +young Melmoth, were wholly illegible. It seemed, however, to have +been rejected by Stanton with the utmost rage and horror, for +Melmoth at last made out,--"Begone, monster, demon!--begone to your +native place. Even this mansion of horror trembles to contain you; +its walls sweat, and its floors quiver, while you tread them." + + . . . . . + +The conclusion of this extraordinary manuscript was in such a +state, that, in fifteen moldy and crumbling pages, Melmoth could +hardly make out that number of lines. No antiquarian, unfolding +with trembling hand the calcined leaves of an Herculaneum +manuscript, and hoping to discover some lost lines of the Aeneis in +Virgil's own autograph, or at least some unutterable abomination of +Petronius or Martial, happily elucidatory of the mysteries of the +Spintriae, or the orgies of the Phallic worshipers, ever pored with +more luckless diligence, or shook a head of more hopeless +despondency over his task. He could but just make out what tended +rather to excite than assuage that feverish thirst of curiosity +which was consuming his inmost soul. The manuscript told no more +of Melmoth, but mentioned that Stanton was finally liberated from +his confinement,--that his pursuit of Melmoth was incessant and +indefatigable,--that he himself allowed it to be a species of +insanity,--that while he acknowledged it to be the master passion, +he also felt it the master torment of his life. He again visited +the Continent, returned to England,--pursued, inquired, traced, +bribed, but in vain. The being whom he had met thrice, under +circumstances so extraordinary, he was fated never to encounter +again IN HIS LIFETIME. At length, discovering that he had been +born in Ireland, he resolved to go there,--went, and found his +pursuit again fruitless, and his inquiries unanswered. The family +knew nothing of him, or at least what they knew or imagined, they +prudently refused to disclose to a stranger, and Stanton departed +unsatisfied. It is remarkable, that he too, as appeared from many +half-obliterated pages of the manuscript, never disclosed to mortal +the particulars of their conversation in the madhouse; and the +slightest allusion to it threw him into fits of rage and gloom +equally singular and alarming. He left the manuscript, however, in +the hands of the family, possibly deeming, from their incuriosity, +their apparent indifference to their relative, or their obvious +unacquaintance with reading of any kind, manuscript or books, his +deposit would be safe. He seems, in fact, to have acted like men, +who, in distress at sea, intrust their letters and dispatches to a +bottle sealed, and commit it to the waves. The last lines of the +manuscript that were legible, were sufficiently extraordinary. . . +. + + . . . . . + +"I have sought him everywhere.--The desire of meeting him once more +is become as a burning fire within me,--it is the necessary +condition of my existence. I have vainly sought him at last in +Ireland, of which I find he is a native.--Perhaps our final meeting +will be in. . . . + + . . . . . + +Such was the conclusion of the manuscript which Melmoth found in +his uncle's closet. When he had finished it, he sunk down on the +table near which he had been reading it, his face hid in his folded +arms, his senses reeling, his mind in a mingled state of stupor and +excitement. After a few moments, he raised himself with an +involuntary start, and saw the picture gazing at him from its +canvas. He was within ten inches of it as he sat, and the +proximity appeared increased by the strong light that was +accidentally thrown on it, and its being the only representation of +a human figure in the room. Melmoth felt for a moment as if he +were about to receive an explanation from its lips. + +He gazed on it in return,--all was silent in the house,--they were +alone together. The illusion subsided at length: and as the mind +rapidly passes to opposite extremes, he remembered the injunction +of his uncle to destroy the portrait. He seized it;--his hand +shook at first, but the moldering canvas appeared to assist him in +the effort. He tore it from the frame with a cry half terrific, +half triumphant,--it fell at his feet, and he shuddered as it fell. +He expected to hear some fearful sounds, some unimaginable +breathings of prophetic horror, follow this act of sacrilege, for +such he felt it, to tear the portrait of his ancestor from his +native walls. He paused and listened:--"There was no voice, nor +any that answered;"--but as the wrinkled and torn canvas fell to +the floor, its undulations gave the portrait the appearance of +smiling. Melmoth felt horror indescribable at this transient and +imaginary resuscitation of the figure. He caught it up, rushed +into the next room, tore, cut, and hacked it in every direction, +and eagerly watched the fragments that burned like tinder in the +turf fire which had been lit in his room. As Melmoth saw the last +blaze, he threw himself into bed, in hope of a deep and intense +sleep. He had done what was required of him, and felt exhausted +both in mind and body; but his slumber was not so sound as he had +hoped for. The sullen light of the turf fire, burning but never +blazing, disturbed him every moment. He turned and turned, but +still there was the same red light glaring on, but not +illuminating, the dusky furniture of the apartment. The wind was +high that night, and as the creaking door swung on its hinges, +every noise seemed like the sound of a hand struggling with the +lock, or of a foot pausing on the threshold. But (for Melmoth +never could decide) was it in a dream or not, that he saw the +figure of his ancestor appear at the door?--hesitatingly as he saw +him at first on the night of his uncle's death,--saw him enter the +room, approach his bed, and heard him whisper, "You have burned me, +then; but those are flames I can survive.--I am alive,--I am beside +you." Melmoth started, sprung from his bed,--it was broad +daylight. He looked round,--there was no human being in the room +but himself. He felt a slight pain in the wrist of his right arm. +He looked at it, it was black and blue, as from the recent gripe of +a strong hand. + + +Balzac's tale, Melmoth Reconciled, in Vol. IV., furnishes a +solution to the terrible problem which Maturin has stated in this +story.--EDITOR'S NOTE. + + + +Introduction to "A Mystery with a Moral" + + +The next Mystery Story is like no other in these volumes. The +editor's defense lies in the plea that Laurence Sterne is not like +other writers of English. He is certainly one of the very +greatest. Yet nowadays he is generally unknown. His rollicking +frankness, his audacious unconventionality, are enough to account +for the neglect. Even the easy mannered England of 1760 opened its +eyes in horror when "Tristram Shandy" appeared. "A most unclerical +clergyman," the public pronounced the rector of Sutton and +prebendary of York. + +Besides, his style was rambling to the last degree. Plot concerned +him least of all authors of fiction. + +For instance, it is more than doubtful that the whimsical parson +really INTENDED a moral to be read into the adventures of his +"Sentimental Journey" that follow in these pages. He used to +declare that he never intended anything--he never knew whither his +pen was leading--the rash implement, once in hand, was likely to +fly with him from Yorkshire to Italy--or to Paris--or across the +road to Uncle Toby's; and what could the helpless author do but +improve each occasion? + +So here is one such "occasion" thus "improved" by disjointed +sequels--heedless, one would say, and yet glittering with the +unreturnable thrust of subtle wit, or softening with simple +emotion, like a thousand immortal passages of this random +philosopher. + +Even the slightest turns of Sterne's pen bear inspiration. No less +a critic than the severe Hazlitt was satisfied that "his works +consist only of brilliant passages." + +And because the editors of the present volumes found added to "The +Mystery" not only a "Solution" but an "Application" of worldly +wisdom, and a "Contrast" in Sterne's best vein of quiet happiness-- +they have felt emboldened to ascribe the passage "A Mystery with a +Moral." + +As regards the "Application": Sterne knew whereof he wrote. He +sought the South of France for health in 1762, and was run after +and feted by the most brilliant circles of Parisian litterateurs. +This foreign sojourn failed to cure his lung complaint, but +suggested the idea to him of the rambling and charming "Sentimental +Journey." Only three weeks after its publication, on March 18, +1768, Sterne died alone in his London lodgings. + +Spite of all that marred his genius, his work has lived and wil1 +live, if only for the exquisite literary art which ever made great +things out of little.--The EDITOR. + + + +Laurence Sterne + + +A Mystery with a Moral + +Parisian Experience of Parson Yorick, on his "Sentimental Journey" + + +A RIDDLE + + +I remained at the gate of the hotel for some time, looking at +everyone who passed by, and forming conjectures upon them, till my +attention got fixed upon a single object, which confounded all kind +of reasoning upon him. + +It was a tall figure of a philosophic, serious adult look, which +passed and repassed sedately along the street, making a turn of +about sixty paces on each side of the gate of the hotel. The man +was about fifty-two, had a small cane under his arm, was dressed in +a dark drab-colored coat, waistcoat, and breeches, which seemed to +have seen some years' service. They were still clean, and there +was a little air of frugal propriete throughout him. By his +pulling off his hat, and his attitude of accosting a good many in +his way, I saw he was asking charity; so I got a sous or two out of +my pocket, ready to give him as he took me in his turn. He passed +by me without asking anything, and yet he did not go five steps +farther before he asked charity of a little woman. I was much more +likely to have given of the two. He had scarce done with the +woman, when he pulled his hat off to another who was coming the +same way. An ancient gentleman came slowly, and after him a young +smart one. He let them both pass and asked nothing. I stood +observing him half an hour, in which time he had made a dozen turns +backward and forward, and found that he invariably pursued the same +plan. + +There were two things very singular in this which set my brain to +work, and to no purpose; the first was, why the man should only +tell his story to the sex; and secondly, what kind of a story it +was and what species of eloquence it could be which softened the +hearts of the women which he knew it was to no purpose to practice +upon the men. + +There were two other circumstances which entangled this mystery. +The one was, he told every woman what he had to say in her ear, and +in a way which had much more the air of a secret than a petition; +the other was, it was always successful--he never stopped a woman +but she pulled out her purse and immediately gave him something. + +I could form no system to explain the phenomenon. + +I had got a riddle to amuse me for the rest of the evening, so I +walked upstairs to my chamber. + + +OVERHEARD + + +The man who either disdains or fears to walk up a dark entry may be +an excellent, good man, and fit for a hundred things, but he will +not do to make a sentimental traveler. I count little of the many +things I see pass at broad noonday, in large and open streets; +Nature is shy, and hates to act before spectators; but in such an +unobservable corner you sometimes see a single short scene of hers +worth all the sentiments of a dozen French plays compounded +together; and yet they are ABSOLUTELY fine, and whenever I have a +more brilliant affair upon my hands than common, as they suit a +preacher just as well as a hero, I generally make my sermon out of +them, and for the text, "Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and +Pamphilia," is as good as anyone in the Bible. + +There is a long, dark passage issuing out from the Opera Comique +into a narrow street. It is trod by a few who humbly wait for a +fiacre* or wish to get off quietly o' foot when the opera is done. +At the end of it, toward the theater, 'tis lighted by a small +candle, the light of which is almost lost before you get halfway +down, but near the door--it is more for ornament than use--you see +it as a fixed star of the least magnitude; it burns, but does +little good to the world that we know of. + + +*Hackney coach. + + +In returning [from the opera] along this passage, I discerned, as I +approached within five or six paces of the door, two ladies +standing arm in arm with their backs against the wall, waiting, as +I imagined, for a fiacre. As they were next the door, I thought +they had a prior right, so I edged myself up within a yard or +little more of them, and quietly took my stand. I was in black and +scarce seen. + +The lady next me was a tall, lean figure of a woman of about +thirty-six; the other, of the same size and make of about forty. +There was no mark of wife or widow in any one part of either of +them. They seemed to be two upright vestal sisters, unsapped by +caresses, unbroke in upon by tender salutations. I could have +wished to have made them happy. Their happiness was destined, that +night, to come from another quarter. + +A low voice with a good turn of expression and sweet cadence at the +end of it, begged for a twelve-sous piece between them for the love +of heaven. I thought it singular that a beggar should fix the +quota of an alms, and that the sum should be twelve times as much +as what is usually given in the dark. They both seemed astonished +at it as much as myself. "Twelve sous," said one. "A twelve-sous +piece," said the other, and made no reply. + +The poor man said he knew not how to ask less of ladies of their +rank, and bowed down his head to the ground. + +"Pooh!" said they, "we have no money." + +The beggar remained silent for a moment or two, and renewed his +supplication. + +"Do not, my fair young ladies," said he, "stop your good ears +against me." + +"Upon my word, honest man," said the younger, "we have no change." + +"Then God bless you," said the poor man, "and multiply those joys +which you can give to others without change." + +I observed the older sister put her hand into her pocket. "I will +see," said she, "if I have a sous." + +"A sous! Give twelve," said the suppliant. "Nature has been +bountiful to you; be bountiful to a poor man." + +"I would, friend, with all my heart," said the younger, "if I had +it." + +"My fair charitable," said he, addressing himself to the elder, +"what is it but your goodness and humanity which make your bright +eyes so sweet that they outshine the morning even in this dark +passage? And what was it which made the Marquis de Santerre and +his brother say so much of you both, as they just passed by?" + +The two ladies seemed much affected, and impulsively at the same +time they put their hands into their pockets and each took out a +twelve-sous piece. + +The contest between them and the poor suppliant was no more. It +was continued between themselves which of the two should give the +twelve-sous piece in charity, and, to end the dispute, they both +gave it together, and the man went away. + + +SOLUTION + + +I stepped hastily after him; it was the very man whose success in +asking charity of the woman before the door of the hotel had so +puzzled me, and I found at once his secret, or at least the basis +of it: it was flattery. + +Delicious essence! how refreshing art thou to Nature! How strongly +are all its powers and all its weaknesses on thy side! How sweetly +dost thou mix with the blood, and help it through the most +difficult and tortuous passages to the heart! + +The poor man, as he was not straitened for time, had given it here +in a larger dose. It is certain he had a way of bringing it into +less form for the many sudden causes he had to do with in the +streets; but how he contrived to correct, sweeten, concenter, and +qualify it--I vex not my spirit with the inquiry. It is enough, +the beggar gained two twelve-sous pieces, and they can best tell +the rest who have gained much greater matters by it. + + +APPLICATION + + +We get forward in the world not so much by doing services as +receiving them. You take a withering twig and put it in the +ground, and then you water it because you have planted it. + +Monsieur le Comte de B----, merely because he had done me one +kindness in the affair of my passport, would go on and do me +another the few days he was at Paris, in making me known to a few +people of rank; and they were to present me to others, and so on. + +I had got master of my SECRET just in time to turn these honors to +some little account; otherwise, as is commonly the case, I should +have dined or supped a single time or two round, and then by +TRANSLATING French looks and attitudes into plain English, I should +presently have seen that I had got hold of the couvert* of some +more entertaining guest; and in course of time should have resigned +all my places one after another, merely upon the principle that I +could not keep them. As it was, things did not go much amiss. + + +* Plate, napkin, knife, fork, and spoon. + + +I had the honor of being introduced to the old Marquis de B----. +In days of yore he had signalized himself by some small feats of +chivalry in the Cour d'Amour, and had dressed himself out to the +idea of tilts and tournaments ever since. The Marquis de B---- +wished to have it thought the affair was somewhere else than in his +brain. "He could like to take a trip to England," and asked much +of the English ladies. "Stay where you are, I beseech you, +Monsieur le Marquis," said I. "Les Messieurs Anglais can scarce +get a kind look from them as it is." The marquis invited me to +supper. + +M. P----, the farmer-general, was just as inquisitive about our +taxes. They were very considerable, he heard. "If we knew but how +to collect them," said I, making him a low bow. + +I could never have been invited to M. P----'s concerts upon any +other terms. + +I had been misrepresented to Mme. de Q---- as an esprit--Mme. de Q---- +was an esprit herself; she burned with impatience to see me and +hear me talk. I had not taken my seat before I saw she did not +care a sou whether I had any wit or no. I was let in to be +convinced she had. I call Heaven to witness I never once opened +the door of my lips. + +Mme. de V---- vowed to every creature she met, "She had never had a +more improving conversation with a man in her life." + +There are three epochs in the empire of a Frenchwoman--she is +coquette, then deist, then devote. The empire during these is +never lost--she only changes her subjects. When thirty-five years +and more have unpeopled her dominion of the slaves of love she +repeoples it with slaves of infidelity, and, then with the slaves +of the church. + +Mme. de V---- was vibrating between the first of these epochs; the +color of the rose was fading fast away; she ought to have been a +deist five years before the time I had the honor to pay my first +visit. + +She placed me upon the same sofa with her for the sake of disputing +the point of religion more closely. In short, Mme. de V---- told +me she believed nothing. + +I told Mme. de V---- it might be her principle, but I was sure it +could not be her interest, to level the outworks, without which I +could not conceive how such a citadel as hers could be defended; +that there was not a more dangerous thing in the world than for a +beauty to be a deist; that it was a debt I owed my creed not to +conceal it from her; that I had not been five minutes upon the sofa +beside her before I had begun to form designs; and what is it but +the sentiments of religion, and the persuasion they had existed in +her breast, which could have checked them as they rose up? + +"We are not adamant," said I, taking hold of her hand, "and there +is need of all restraints till age in her own time steals in and +lays them on us; but, my dear lady," said I, kissing her hand, "it +is too--too soon." + +I declare I had the credit all over Paris of unperverting Mme. de +V----. She affirmed to M. D---- and the Abbe M---- that in one +half hour I had said more for revealed religion than all their +encyclopaedia had said against it. I was listed directly into Mme. +de V----o's coterie, and she put off the epoch of deism for two +years. + +I remember it was in this coterie, in the middle of a discourse, in +which I was showing the necessity of a first cause, that the young +Count de Faineant took me by the hand to the farthest corner of the +room, to tell me that my solitaire was pinned too strait about my +neck. "It should be plus badinant," said the count, looking down +upon his own; "but a word, M. Yorick, to the wise--" + +"And from the wise, M. le Comte," replied I, making him a bow, "is +enough." + +The Count de Faineant embraced me with more ardor than ever I was +embraced by mortal man. + +For three weeks together I was of every man's opinion I met. +"Pardi! ce M. Yorick a autant d'esprit que nous autres." + +"Il raisonne bien," said another. + +"C'est un bon enfant," said a third. + +And at this price I could have eaten and drunk and been merry all +the days of my life at Paris; but it was a dishonest reckoning. I +grew ashamed of it; it was the gain of a slave; every sentiment of +honor revolted against it; the higher I got, the more was I forced +upon my beggarly system; the better the coterie, the more children +of Art, I languished for those of Nature. And one night, after a +most vile prostitution of myself to half a dozen different people, +I grew sick, went to bed, and ordered horses in the morning to set +out for Italy. + + +CONTRAST + + +A shoe coming loose from the forefoot of the thill horse at the +beginning of the ascent of Mount Taurira, the postilion dismounted, +twisted the shoe off, and put it in his pocket; as the ascent was +of five or six miles, and that horse our main dependence I made a +point of having the shoe fastened on again as well as we could, but +the postilion had thrown away the nails, and the hammer in the +chaise box being of no great use without them, I submitted to go +on. + +He had not mounted half a mile higher when, coming to a flinty +piece of road, the poor devil lost a second shoe, and from off his +other forefoot. I then got out of the chaise in good earnest, and +seeing a house about a quarter of a mile to the left hand, with a +great deal to do I prevailed upon the postilion to turn up to it. +The look of the house, and of everything about it, as we drew +nearer, soon reconciled me to the disaster. It was a little +farmhouse surrounded with about twenty acres of vineyard, about as +much corn, and close to the house on one side was a potagerie of an +acre and a half, full of everything which could make plenty in a +French peasant's house, and on the other side was a little wood +which furnished wherewithal to dress it. It was about eight in the +evening when I got to the house, so I left the postilion to manage +his point as he could, and for mine I walked directly into the +house. + +The family consisted of an old gray-headed man and his wife, with +five or six sons and sons-in-laws, and their several wives, and a +joyous genealogy out of them. + +They were all sitting down together to their lentil soup. A large +wheaten loaf was in the middle of the table, and a flagon of wine +at each end of it promised joy through the stages of the repast-- +'twas a feast of love. + +The old man rose up to meet me, and with a respectful cordiality +would have me sit down at the table. My heart was sat down the +moment I entered the room, so I sat down at once like a son of the +family, and to invest myself in the character as speedily as I +could, I instantly borrowed the old man's knife, and taking up the +loaf cut myself a hearty luncheon; and, as I did it, I saw a +testimony in every eye, not only of an honest welcome, but of a +welcome mixed with thanks that I had not seemed to doubt it. + +Was it this, or tell me, Nature, what else it was that made this +morsel so sweet, and to what magic I owe it that the draught I took +of their flagon was so delicious with it that they remain upon my +palate to this hour? + +If the supper was to my taste, the grace which followed it was much +more so. + +When supper was over, the old man gave a knock upon the table with +the haft of his knife to bid them prepare for the dance. The +moment the signal was given, the women and girls ran all together +into a back apartment to tie up their hair, and the young men to +the door to wash their faces and change their sabots, and in three +minutes every soul was ready upon a little esplanade before the +house to begin. The old man and his wife came out last, and, +placing me betwixt them, sat down upon a sofa of turf by the door. + +The old man had some fifty years ago been no mean performer upon +the vielle,* and at the age he was then of, touched well enough for +the purpose. His wife sung now and then a little to the tune, then +intermitted, and joined her old man again, as their children and +grandchildren danced before them. + + +* A small violin, such as was used by the wandering jongleurs of +the Middle Ages.--EDITOR. + + +It was not till the middle of the second dance when, from some +pauses in the movement wherein they all seemed to look up, I +fancied I could distinguish an elevation of spirit different from +that which is the cause or the effect of simple jollity. In a +word, I thought I beheld RELIGION mixing in the dance; but, as I +had never seen her so engaged, I should have looked upon it now as +one of the illusions of an imagination, which is eternally +misleading me, had not the old man, as soon as the dance ended, +said that this was their constant way, and that all his life long +he had made it a rule, after supper was over, to call out his +family to dance and rejoice, believing, he said, that a cheerful +and contented mind was the best sort of thanks to heaven that an +illiterate peasant could pay-- + +"Or a learned prelate either," said I. + +When you have gained the top of Mount Taurira, you run presently +down to Lyons. Adieu then to all rapid movements! It is a journey +of caution, and it fares better with sentiments not to be in a +hurry with them, so I contracted with a volturin to take his time +with a couple of mules and convey me in my own chaise safe to Turin +through Savoy. + +Poor, patient, quiet, honest people, fear not! Your poverty, the +treasury of your simple virtues, will not be envied you by the +world, nor will your values be invaded by it. Nature, in the midst +of thy disorders, thou art still friendly to the scantiness thou +hast created; with all thy great works about thee little hast thou +left to give, either to the scythe or to the sickle, but to that +little thou grantest safety and protection, and sweet are the +dwellings which stand so sheltered! + + + +William Makepeace Thackeray + + +On Being Found Out + + +At the close (let us say) of Queen Anne's reign, when I was a boy +at a private and preparatory school for young gentlemen, I remember +the wiseacre of a master ordering us all, one night, to march into +a little garden at the back of the house, and thence to proceed one +by one into a tool or hen house (I was but a tender little thing +just put into short clothes, and can't exactly say whether the +house was for tools or hens), and in that house to put our hands +into a sack which stood on a bench, a candle burning beside it. I +put my hand into the sack. My hand came out quite black. I went +and joined the other boys in the schoolroom; and all their hands +were black too. + +By reason of my tender age (and there are some critics who, I hope, +will be satisfied by my acknowledging that I am a hundred and +fifty-six next birthday) I could not understand what was the +meaning of this night excursion--this candle, this tool house, this +bag of soot. I think we little boys were taken out of our sleep to +be brought to the ordeal. We came, then, and showed our little +hands to the master; washed them or not--most probably, I should +say, not--and so went bewildered back to bed. + +Something had been stolen in the school that day; and Mr. Wiseacre +having read in a book of an ingenious method of finding out a thief +by making him put his hand into a sack (which, if guilty, the rogue +would shirk from doing), all we boys were subjected to the trial. +Goodness knows what the lost object was, or who stole it. We all +had black hands to show the master. And the thief, whoever he was, +was not Found Out that time. + +I wonder if the rascal is alive--an elderly scoundrel he must be by +this time; and a hoary old hypocrite, to whom an old schoolfellow +presents his kindest regards--parenthetically remarking what a +dreadful place that private school was; cold, chilblains, bad +dinners, not enough victuals, and caning awful!--Are you alive +still, I say, you nameless villain, who escaped discovery on that +day of crime? I hope you have escaped often since, old sinner. +Ah, what a lucky thing it is, for you and me, my man, that we are +NOT found out in all our peccadilloes; and that our backs can slip +away from the master and the cane! + +Just consider what life would be, if every rogue was found out, and +flogged coram populo! What a butchery, what an indecency, what an +endless swishing of the rod! Don't cry out about my misanthropy. +My good friend Mealymouth, I will trouble you to tell me, do you go +to church? When there, do you say, or do you not, that you are a +miserable sinner, and saying so do you believe or disbelieve it? +If you are a M. S., don't you deserve correction, and aren't you +grateful if you are to be let off? I say again what a blessed +thing it is that we are not all found out! + +Just picture to yourself everybody who does wrong being found out, +and punished accordingly. Fancy all the boys in all the school +being whipped; and then the assistants, and then the headmaster +(Dr. Badford let us call him). Fancy the provost marshal being +tied up, having previously superintended the correction of the +whole army. After the young gentlemen have had their turn for the +faulty exercises, fancy Dr. Lincolnsinn being taken up for certain +faults in HIS Essay and Review. After the clergyman has cried his +peccavi, suppose we hoist up a bishop, and give him a couple of +dozen! (I see my Lord Bishop of Double-Gloucester sitting in a +very uneasy posture on his right reverend bench.) After we have +cast off the bishop, what are we to say to the Minister who +appointed him? My Lord Cinqwarden, it is painful to have to use +personal correction to a boy of your age; but really . . . Siste +tandem carnifex! The butchery is too horrible. The hand drops +powerless, appalled at the quantity of birch which it must cut and +brandish. I am glad we are not all found out, I say again; and +protest, my dear brethren, against our having our deserts. + +To fancy all men found out and punished is bad enough; but imagine +all the women found out in the distinguished social circle in which +you and I have the honor to move. Is it not a mercy that a many of +these fair criminals remain unpunished and undiscovered! There is +Mrs. Longbow, who is forever practicing, and who shoots poisoned +arrows, too; when you meet her you don't call her liar, and charge +her with the wickedness she has done and is doing. There is Mrs. +Painter, who passes for a most respectable woman, and a model in +society. There is no use in saying what you really know regarding +her and her goings on. There is Diana Hunter--what a little +haughty prude it is; and yet WE know stories about her which are +not altogether edifying. I say it is best for the sake of the +good, that the bad should not all be found out. You don't want +your children to know the history of that lady in the next box, who +is so handsome, and whom they admire so. Ah me, what would life be +if we were all found out and punished for all our faults? Jack +Ketch would be in permanence; and then who would hang Jack Ketch? + +They talk of murderers being pretty certainly found out. Psha! I +have heard an authority awfully competent vow and declare that +scores and hundreds of murders are committed, and nobody is the +wiser. That terrible man mentioned one or two ways of committing +murder, which he maintained were quite common, and were scarcely +ever found out. A man, for instance, comes home to his wife, +and . . . but I pause--I know that this Magazine has a very large +circulation.* Hundreds and hundreds of thousands--why not say a +million of people at once?--well, say a million, read it. And +among these countless readers, I might be teaching some monster how +to make away with his wife without being found out, some fiend of a +woman how to destroy her dear husband. I will NOT then tell this +easy and simple way of murder, as communicated to me by a most +respectable party in the confidence of private intercourse. +Suppose some gentle reader were to try this most simple and easy +receipt--it seems to me almost infallible--and come to grief in +consequence, and be found out and hanged? Should I ever pardon +myself for having been the means of doing injury to a single one of +our esteemed subscribers? The prescription whereof I speak--that +is to say, whereof I DON'T speak--shall be buried in this bosom. +No, I am a humane man. I am not one of your Bluebeards to go and +say to my wife, "My dear! I am going away for a few days to +Brighton. Here are all the keys of the house. You may open every +door and closet, except the one at the end of the oak room opposite +the fireplace, with the little bronze Shakespeare on the +mantelpiece (or what not)." I don't say this to a woman--unless, +to be sure, I want to get rid of her--because, after such a +caution, I know she'll peep into the closet. I say nothing about +the closet at all. I keep the key in my pocket, and a being whom I +love, but who, as I know, has many weaknesses, out of harm's way. +You toss up your head, dear angel, drub on the ground with your +lovely little feet, on the table with your sweet rosy fingers, and +cry, "Oh, sneerer! You don't know the depth of woman's feeling, +the lofty scorn of all deceit, the entire absence of mean curiosity +in the sex, or never, never would you libel us so!" Ah, Delia! +dear, dear Delia! It is because I fancy I DO know something about +you (not all, mind--no, no; no man knows that).--Ah, my bride, my +ringdove, my rose, my poppet--choose, in fact, whatever name you +like--bulbul of my grove, fountain of my desert, sunshine of my +darkling life, and joy of my dungeoned existence, it is because I +DO know a little about you that I conclude to say nothing of that +private closet, and keep my key in my pocket. You take away that +closet key then, and the house key. You lock Delia in. You keep +her out of harm's way and gadding, and so she never CAN be found +out. + + +* The Cornhill.--editor. + + +And yet by little strange accidents and coincidents how we are +being found out every day. You remember that old story of the Abbe +Kakatoes, who told the company at supper one night how the first +confession he ever received was--from a murderer, let us say. +Presently enters to supper the Marquis de Croquemitaine. +"Palsambleu, abbe!" says the brilliant marquis, taking a pinch of +snuff, "are you here? Gentlemen and ladies! I was the abbe's +first penitent, and I made him a confession, which I promise you +astonished him." + +To be sure how queerly things are found out! Here is an instance. +Only the other day I was writing in these Roundabout Papers about a +certain man, whom I facetiously called Baggs, and who had abused me +to my friends, who of course told me. Shortly after that paper was +published another friend--Sacks let us call him--scowls fiercely at +me as I am sitting in perfect good humor at the club, and passes on +without speaking. A cut. A quarrel. Sacks thinks it is about him +that I was writing: whereas, upon my honor and conscience, I never +had him once in my mind, and was pointing my moral from quite +another man. But don't you see, by this wrath of the guilty- +conscienced Sacks, that he had been abusing me too? He has owned +himself guilty, never having been accused. He has winced when +nobody thought of hitting him. I did but put the cap out, and +madly butting and chafing, behold my friend rushes out to put his +head into it! Never mind, Sacks, you are found out; but I bear you +no malice, my man. + +And yet to be found out, I know from my own experience, must be +painful and odious, and cruelly mortifying to the inward vanity. +Suppose I am a poltroon, let us say. With fierce mustache, loud +talk, plentiful oaths, and an immense stick, I keep up nevertheless +a character for courage. I swear fearfully at cabmen and women; +brandish my bludgeon, and perhaps knock down a little man or two +with it: brag of the images which I break at the shooting gallery, +and pass among my friends for a whiskery fire-eater, afraid of +neither man nor dragon. Ah me! Suppose some brisk little chap +steps up and gives me a caning in St. James's Street, with all the +heads of my friends looking out of all the club windows. My +reputation is gone. I frighten no man more. My nose is pulled by +whipper-snappers, who jump up on a chair to reach it. I am found +out. And in the days of my triumphs, when people were yet afraid +of me, and were taken in by my swagger, I always knew that I was a +lily liver, and expected that I should be found out some day. + +That certainty of being found out must haunt and depress many a +bold braggadocio spirit. Let us say it is a clergyman, who can +pump copious floods of tears out of his own eyes and those of his +audience. He thinks to himself, "I am but a poor swindling, +chattering rogue. My bills are unpaid. I have jilted several +women whom I have promised to marry. I don't know whether I +believe what I preach, and I know I have stolen the very sermon +over which I have been sniveling. Have they found me out?" says +he, as his head drops down on the cushion. + +Then your writer, poet, historian, novelist, or what not? The +Beacon says that "Jones's work is one of the first order." The +Lamp declares that Jones's tragedy surpasses every work since the +days of Him of Avon." The Comet asserts that "J's 'Life of Goody +Twoshoes' is a [Greek text omitted], a noble and enduring monument +to the fame of that admirable Englishwoman," and so forth. But +then Jones knows that he has lent the critic of the Beacon five +pounds; that his publisher has a half share in the Lamp; and that +the Cornet comes repeatedly to dine with him. It is all very well. +Jones is immortal until he is found out; and then down comes the +extinguisher, and the immortal is dead and buried. The idea (dies +irae!) of discovery must haunt many a man, and make him uneasy, as +the trumpets are puffing in his triumph. Brown, who has a higher +place than he deserves, cowers before Smith, who has found him out. +What is the chorus of critics shouting "Bravo"?--a public clapping +hands and flinging garlands? Brown knows that Smith has found him +out. Puff, trumpets! Wave, banners! Huzza, boys, for the +immortal Brown! This is all very well," B. thinks (bowing the +while, smiling, laying his hand to his heart); "but there stands +Smith at the window: HE has measured me; and some day the others +will find me out too." It is a very curious sensation to sit by a +man who has found you out, and who, as you know, has found you out; +or, vice versa, to sit with a man whom YOU have found out. His +talent? Bah! His virtue? We know a little story or two about his +virtue, and he knows we know it. We are thinking over friend +Robinson's antecedents, as we grin, bow and talk; and we are both +humbugs together. Robinson a good fellow, is he? You know how he +behaved to Hicks? A good-natured man, is he? Pray do you remember +that little story of Mrs. Robinson's black eye? How men have to +work, to talk, to smile, to go to bed, and try and sleep, with this +dread of being found out on their consciences! Bardolph, who has +robbed a church, and Nym, who has taken a purse, go to their usual +haunts, and smoke their pipes with their companions. Mr. Detective +Bullseye appears, and says, "Oh, Bardolph! I want you about that +there pyx business!" Mr. Bardolph knocks the ashes out of his +pipe, puts out his hands to the little steel cuffs, and walks away +quite meekly. He is found out. He must go. "Good-by, 'Doll +Tearsheet! Good-by, Mrs. Quickly, ma'am!" The other gentlemen and +ladies de la societe look on and exchange mute adieux with the +departing friends. And an assured time will come when the other +gentlemen and ladies will be found out too. + +What a wonderful and beautiful provision of nature it has been +that, for the most part, our womankind are not endowed with the +faculty of finding us out! THEY don't doubt, and probe, and weigh, +and take your measure. Lay down this paper, my benevolent friend +and reader, go into your drawing-room now, and utter a joke ever so +old, and I wager sixpence the ladies there will all begin to laugh. +Go to Brown's house, and tell Mrs. Brown and the young ladies what +you think of him, and see what a welcome you will get! In like +manner, let him come to your house, and tell YOUR good lady his +candid opinion of you, and fancy how she will receive him! Would +you have your wife and children know you exactly for what you are, +and esteem you precisely at your worth? If so, my friend, you will +live in a dreary house, and you will have but a chilly fireside. +Do you suppose the people round it don't see your homely face as +under a glamour, and, as it were, with a halo of love round it? +You don't fancy you ARE as you seem to them? No such thing, my +man. Put away that monstrous conceit, and be thankful that THEY +have not found you out. + + + +The Notch on the Ax + +A Story a la Mode* + + +* (Here Thackeray reduces to an absurdity the literary fashion of +the day--the vogue for startling stories and "Tales of Terror," +which was high in his time, and which influenced several of the +stories which precede in this volume. But while Dickens made fun, +with mental reservations; while Bulwer Lytton tried to explain by +rising to the heights of natural philosophy, and Maturin did not +explain at all, but let his extravagant genius roam between heaven +and earth--Thackeray's keen wit saw mainly one chance for exquisite +literary satire and parody. At one point or another in this skit, +the style of each principal sensational novelist of the day is +delightfully imitated.--EDITOR.) + + +I + + +Every one remembers in the Fourth Book of the immortal poem of your +Blind Bard (to whose sightless orbs no doubt Glorious Shapes were +apparent, and Visions Celestial), how Adam discourses to Eve of the +Bright Visitors who hovered round their Eden-- + + + 'Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth, + Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.' + + +"'How often,' says Father Adam, 'from the steep of echoing hill or +thicket, have we heard celestial voices to the midnight air, sole, +or responsive to each other's notes, singing!' After the Act of +Disobedience, when the erring pair from Eden took their solitary +way, and went forth to toil and trouble on common earth--though the +Glorious Ones no longer were visible, you cannot say they were +gone. It was not that the Bright Ones were absent, but that the +dim eyes of rebel man no longer could see them. In your chamber +hangs a picture of one whom you never knew, but whom you have long +held in tenderest regard, and who was painted for you by a friend +of mine, the Knight of Plympton. She communes with you. She +smiles on you. When your spirits are low, her bright eyes shine on +you and cheer you. Her innocent sweet smile is a caress to you. +She never fails to soothe you with her speechless prattle. You +love her. She is alive with you. As you extinguish your candle +and turn to sleep, though your eyes see her not, is she not there +still smiling? As you lie in the night awake, and thinking of your +duties, and the morrow's inevitable toil oppressing the busy, +weary, wakeful brain as with a remorse, the crackling fire flashes +up for a moment in the grate, and she is there, your little +Beauteous Maiden, smiling with her sweet eyes! When moon is down, +when fire is out, when curtains are drawn, when lids are closed, is +she not there, the little Beautiful One, though invisible, present +and smiling still? Friend, the Unseen Ones are round about us. +Does it not seem as if the time were drawing near when it shall be +given to men to behold them?" + +The print of which my friend spoke, and which, indeed, hangs in my +room, though he has never been there, is that charming little +winter piece of Sir Joshua, representing the little Lady Caroline +Montague, afterwards Duchess of Buccleuch. She is represented as +standing in the midst of a winter landscape, wrapped in muff and +cloak; and she looks out of her picture with a smile so exquisite +that a Herod could not see her without being charmed. + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. PINTO," I said to the person with whom I +was conversing. (I wonder, by the way, that I was not surprised at +his knowing how fond I am of this print.) "You spoke of the Knight +of Plympton. Sir Joshua died 1792: and you say he was your dear +friend?" + +As I spoke I chanced to look at Mr. Pinto; and then it suddenly +struck me: Gracious powers! Perhaps you ARE a hundred years old, +now I think of it. You look more than a hundred. Yes, you may be +a thousand years old for what I know. Your teeth are false. One +eye is evidently false. Can I say that the other is not? If a +man's age may be calculated by the rings round his eyes, this man +may be as old as Methuselah. He has no beard. He wears a large +curly glossy brown wig, and his eyebrows are painted a deep olive- +green. It was odd to hear this man, this walking mummy, talking +sentiment, in these queer old chambers in Shepherd's Inn. + +Pinto passed a yellow bandanna handkerchief over his awful white +teeth, and kept his glass eye steadily fixed on me. "Sir Joshua's +friend?" said he (you perceive, eluding my direct question). "Is +not everyone that knows his pictures Reynolds's friend? Suppose I +tell you that I have been in his painting room scores of times, and +that his sister The has made me tea, and his sister Toffy has made +coffee for me? You will only say I am an old ombog." (Mr. Pinto, +I remarked, spoke all languages with an accent equally foreign.) +"Suppose I tell you that I knew Mr. Sam Johnson, and did not like +him? that I was at that very ball at Madame Cornelis', which you +have mentioned in one of your little--what do you call them?--bah! +my memory begins to fail me--in one of your little Whirligig +Papers? Suppose I tell you that Sir Joshua has been here, in this +very room?" + +"Have you, then, had these apartments for--more--than--seventy +years?" I asked. + +"They look as if they had not been swept for that time--don't they? +Hey? I did not say that I had them for seventy years, but that Sir +Joshua has visited me here." + +"When?" I asked, eying the man sternly, for I began to think he was +an impostor. + +He answered me with a glance still more stern: "Sir Joshua Reynolds +was here this very morning, with Angelica Kaufmann and Mr. Oliver +Goldschmidt. He is still very much attached to Angelica, who still +does not care for him. Because he is dead (and I was in the fourth +mourning coach at his funeral) is that any reason why he should not +come back to earth again? My good sir, you are laughing at me. He +has sat many a time on that very chair which you are now occupying. +There are several spirits in the room now, whom you cannot see. +Excuse me." Here he turned round as if he was addressing somebody, +and began rapidly speaking a language unknown to me. "It is +Arabic," he said; "a bad patois, I own. I learned it in Barbary, +when I was a prisoner among the Moors. In anno 1609, bin ick aldus +ghekledt gheghaen. Ha! you doubt me: look at me well. At least I +am like--" + +Perhaps some of my readers remember a paper of which the figure of +a man carrying a barrel formed the initial letter, and which I +copied from an old spoon now in my possession. As I looked at Mr. +Pinto I do declare he looked so like the figure on that old piece +of plate that I started and felt very uneasy. "Ha!" said he, +laughing through his false teeth (I declare they were false--I +could see utterly toothless gums working up and down behind the +pink coral), "you see I wore a beard den; I am shafed now; perhaps +you tink I am A SPOON. Ha, ha!" And as he laughed he gave a cough +which I thought would have coughed his teeth out, his glass eye +out, his wig off, his very head off; but he stopped this convulsion +by stumping across the room and seizing a little bottle of bright +pink medicine, which, being opened, spread a singular acrid +aromatic odor through the apartment; and I thought I saw--but of +this I cannot take an affirmation--a light green and violet flame +flickering round the neck of the vial as he opened it. By the way, +from the peculiar stumping noise which he made in crossing the +bare-boarded apartment, I knew at once that my strange entertainer +had a wooden leg. Over the dust which lay quite thick on the +boards, you could see the mark of one foot very neat and pretty, +and then a round O, which was naturally the impression made by the +wooden stump. I own I had a queer thrill as I saw that mark, and +felt a secret comfort that it was not CLOVEN. + +In this desolate apartment in which Mr. Pinto had invited me to see +him, there were three chairs, one bottomless, a little table on +which you might put a breakfast tray, and not a single other +article of furniture. In the next room, the door of which was +open, I could see a magnificent gilt dressing case, with some +splendid diamond and ruby shirt studs lying by it, and a chest of +drawers, and a cupboard apparently full of clothes. + +Remembering him in Baden-Baden in great magnificence I wondered at +his present denuded state. "You have a house elsewhere, Mr. +Pinto?" I said. + +"Many," says he. "I have apartments in many cities. I lock dem +up, and do not carry mosh logish." + +I then remembered that his apartment at Baden, where I first met +him, was bare, and had no bed in it. + +"There is, then, a sleeping room beyond?" + +"This is the sleeping room." (He pronounces it DIS. Can this, by +the way, give any clew to the nationality of this singular man?) + +"If you sleep on these two old chairs you have a rickety couch; if +on the floor, a dusty one." + +"Suppose I sleep up dere?" said this strange man, and he actually +pointed up to the ceiling. I thought him mad or what he himself +called "an ombog." "I know. You do not believe me; for why should +I deceive you? I came but to propose a matter of business to you. +I told you I could give you the clew to the mystery of the Two +Children in Black, whom you met at Baden, and you came to see me. +If I told you you would not believe me. What for try and convinz +you? Ha hey?" And he shook his hand once, twice, thrice, at me, +and glared at me out of his eye in a peculiar way. + +Of what happened now I protest I cannot give an accurate account. +It seemed to me that there shot a flame from his eye into my brain, +while behind his GLASS eye there was a green illumination as if a +candle had been lit in it. It seemed to me that from his long +fingers two quivering flames issued, sputtering, as it were, which +penetrated me, and forced me back into one of the chairs--the +broken one--out of which I had much difficulty in scrambling, when +the strange glamour was ended. It seemed to me that, when I was so +fixed, so transfixed in the broken chair, the man floated up to the +ceiling, crossed his legs, folded his arms as if he was lying on a +sofa, and grinned down at me. When I came to myself he was down +from the ceiling, and, taking me out of the broken cane-bottomed +chair, kindly enough--"Bah!" said he, "it is the smell of my +medicine. It often gives the vertigo. I thought you would have +had a little fit. Come into the open air." And we went down the +steps, and into Shepherd's Inn, where the setting sun was just +shining on the statue of Shepherd; the laundresses were traipsing +about; the porters were leaning against the railings; and the +clerks were playing at marbles, to my inexpressible consolation. + +"You said you were going to dine at the 'Gray's-Inn Coffee-House,'" +he said. I was. I often dine there. There is excellent wine at +the "Gray's-Inn Coffee-House"; but I declare I NEVER SAID so. I +was not astonished at his remark; no more astonished than if I was +in a dream. Perhaps I WAS in a dream. Is life a dream? Are +dreams facts? Is sleeping being really awake? I don't know. I +tell you I am puzzled. I have read "The Woman in White," "The +Strange Story"--not to mention that story "Stranger than Fiction" +in the Cornhill Magazine--that story for which THREE credible +witnesses are ready to vouch. I have had messages from the dead; +and not only from the dead, but from people who never existed at +all. I own I am in a state of much bewilderment: but, if you +please, will proceed with my simple, my artless story. + +Well, then. We passed from Shepherd's Inn into Holborn, and looked +for a while at Woodgate's bric-a-brac shop, which I never can pass +without delaying at the windows--indeed, if I were going to be +hung, I would beg the cart to stop, and let me have one look more +at that delightful omnium gatherum. And passing Woodgate's, we +come to Gale's little shop, "No. 47," which is also a favorite +haunt of mine. + +Mr. Gale happened to be at his door, and as we exchanged +salutations, "Mr. Pinto," I said, "will you like to see a real +curiosity in this curiosity shop? Step into Mr. Gale's little back +room." + +In that little back parlor there are Chinese gongs; there are old +Saxe and Sevres plates; there is Furstenberg, Carl Theodor, +Worcester, Amstel, Nankin and other jimcrockery. And in the corner +what do you think there is? There is an actual GUILLOTINE. If you +doubt me, go and see--Gale, High Holborn, No. 47. It is a slim +instrument, much slighter than those which they make now;--some +nine feet high, narrow, a pretty piece of upholstery enough. There +is the hook over which the rope used to play which unloosened the +dreadful ax above; and look! dropped into the orifice where the +head used to go--there is THE AX itself, all rusty, with A GREAT +NOTCH IN THE BLADE. + +As Pinto looked at it--Mr. Gale was not in the room, I recollect; +happening to have been just called out by a customer who offered +him three pound fourteen and sixpence for a blue Shepherd in pate +tendre,--Mr. Pinto gave a little start, and seemed crispe for a +moment. Then he looked steadily toward one of those great +porcelain stools which you see in gardens--and--it seemed to me--I +tell you I won't take my affidavit--I may have been maddened by the +six glasses I took of that pink elixir--I may have been sleep- +walking: perhaps am as I write now--I may have been under the +influence of that astounding MEDIUM into whose hands I had fallen-- +but I vow I heard Pinto say, with rather a ghastly grin at the +porcelain stool, + + + "Nay, nefer shague your gory locks at me, + Dou canst not say I did it." + + +(He pronounced it, by the way, I DIT it, by which I KNOW that Pinto +was a German.) + +I heard Pinto say those very words, and sitting on the porcelain +stool I saw, dimly at first, then with an awful distinctness--a +ghost--an EIDOLON--a form--A HEADLESS MAN seated with his head in +his lap, which wore an expression of piteous surprise. + +At this minute, Mr. Gale entered from the front shop to show a +customer some Delft plates; and he did not see--but WE DID--the +figure rise up from the porcelain stool, shake its head, which it +held in its hand, and which kept its eyes fixed sadly on us, and +disappear behind the guillotine. + +"Come to the 'Gray's-Inn Coffee-House,'" Pinto said, "and I will +tell you how the notch came to the ax." And we walked down Holborn +at about thirty-seven minutes past six o'clock. + +If there is anything in the above statement which astonishes the +reader, I promise him that in the next chapter of this little story +he will be astonished still more. + + +II + + +"You will excuse me," I said to my companion, "for remarking that +when you addressed the individual sitting on the porcelain stool, +with his head in his lap, your ordinarily benevolent features"-- +(this I confess was a bouncer, for between ourselves a more +sinister and ill-looking rascal than Mons. P. I have seldom set +eyes on)--"your ordinarily handsome face wore an expression that +was by no means pleasing. You grinned at the individual just as +you did at me when you went up to the cei--, pardon me, as I +THOUGHT you did, when I fell down in a fit in your chambers"; and I +qualified my words in a great flutter and tremble; I did not care +to offend the man--I did not DARE to offend the man. I thought +once or twice of jumping into a cab, and flying; of taking refuge +in Day and Martin's Blacking Warehouse; of speaking to a policeman, +but not one would come. I was this man's slave. I followed him +like his dog. I COULD not get away from him. So, you see, I went +on meanly conversing with him, and affecting a simpering +confidence. I remember, when I was a little boy at school, going +up fawning and smiling in this way to some great hulking bully of a +sixth-form boy. So I said in a word, "Your ordinarily handsome +face wore a disagreeable expression," &c. + +"It is ordinarily VERY handsome," said he, with such a leer at a +couple of passers-by, that one of them cried, "Oh, crickey, here's +a precious guy!" and a child, in its nurse's arms, screamed itself +into convulsions. "Oh, oui, che suis tres-choli garcon, bien peau, +cerdainement," continued Mr. Pinto; "but you were right. That-- +that person was not very well pleased when he saw me. There was no +love lost between us, as you say: and the world never knew a more +worthless miscreant. I hate him, voyez-vous? I hated him alife; I +hate him dead. I hate him man; I hate him ghost: and he know it, +and tremble before me. If I see him twenty tausend years hence-- +and why not?--I shall hate him still. You remarked how he was +dressed?" + +"In black satin breeches and striped stockings; a white pique +waistcoat, a gray coat, with large metal buttons, and his hair in +powder. He must have worn a pigtail--only--" + +"Only it was CUT OFF! Ha, ha, ha!" Mr. Pinto cried, yelling a +laugh, which I observed made the policeman stare very much. "Yes. +It was cut off by the same blow which took off the scoundrel's +head--ho, ho, ho!" And he made a circle with his hook-nailed +finger round his own yellow neck, and grinned with a horrible +triumph. "I promise you that fellow was surprised when he found +his head in the pannier. Ha! ha! Do you ever cease to hate those +whom you hate?"--fire flashed terrifically from his glass eye as he +spoke--"or to love dose whom you once loved? Oh, never, never!" +And here his natural eye was bedewed with tears. "But here we are +at the 'Gray's-Inn CoffeeHouse.' James, what is the joint?" + +That very respectful and efficient waiter brought in the bill of +fare, and I, for my part, chose boiled leg of pork, and pease +pudding, which my acquaintance said would do as well as anything +else; though I remarked he only trifled with the pease pudding, and +left all the pork on the plate. In fact, he scarcely ate anything. +But he drank a prodigious quantity of wine; and I must say that my +friend Mr. Hart's port wine is so good that I myself took--well, I +should think, I took three glasses. Yes, three, certainly. HE--I +mean Mr. P.--the old rogue, was insatiable: for we had to call for +a second bottle in no time. When that was gone, my companion +wanted another. A little red mounted up to his yellow cheeks as he +drank the wine, and he winked at it in a strange manner. "I +remember," said he, musing, "when port wine was scarcely drunk in +this country--though the Queen liked it, and so did Hurley; but +Bolingbroke didn't--he drank Florence and Champagne. Dr. Swift put +water to his wine. 'Jonathan,' I once said to him--but bah! autres +temps, autres moeurs. Another magnum, James." + +This was all very well. "My good sir," I said, "it may suit YOU to +order bottles of '20 port, at a guinea a bottle; but that kind of +price does not suit me. I only happen to have thirty-four and +sixpence in my pocket, of which I want a shilling for the waiter, +and eighteen pence for my cab. You rich foreigners and SWELLS may +spend what you like" (I had him there: for my friend's dress was as +shabby as an old-clothes man's); "but a man with a family, Mr. +Whatd'you-call'im, cannot afford to spend seven or eight hundred a +year on his dinner alone." + +"Bah!" he said. "Nunkey pays for all, as you say. I will what you +call stant the dinner, if you are SO POOR!" and again he gave that +disagreeable grin, and placed an odious crook-nailed and by no +means clean finger to his nose. But I was not so afraid of him +now, for we were in a public place; and the three glasses of port +wine had, you see, given me courage. + +"What a pretty snuff-box!" he remarked, as I handed him mine, which +I am still old-fashioned enough to carry. It is a pretty old gold +box enough, but valuable to me especially as a relic of an old, old +relative, whom I can just remember as a child, when she was very +kind to me. "Yes; a pretty box. I can remember when many ladies-- +most ladies, carried a box--nay, two boxes--tabatiere and +bonbonniere. What lady carries snuff-box now, hey? Suppose your +astonishment if a lady in an assembly were to offer you a prise? I +can remember a lady with such a box as this, with a tour, as we +used to call it then; with paniers, with a tortoise-shell cane, +with the prettiest little high-heeled velvet shoes in the world!-- +ah! that was a time, that was a time! Ah, Eliza, Eliza, I have +thee now in my mind's eye! At Bungay on the Waveney, did I not +walk with thee, Eliza? Aha, did I not love thee? Did I not walk +with thee then? Do I not see thee still?" + +This was passing strange. My ancestress--but there is no need to +publish her revered name--did indeed live at Bungay St. Mary's, +where she lies buried. She used to walk with a tortoise-shell +cane. She used to wear little black velvet shoes, with the +prettiest high heels in the world. + +"Did you--did you--know, then, my great-gr-nd-m-ther?" I said. + +He pulled up his coat sleeve--"Is that her name?" he said. + +"Eliza--" + +There, I declare, was the very name of the kind old creature +written in red on his arm. + +"YOU knew her old," he said, divining my thoughts (with his strange +knack); "I knew her young and lovely. I danced with her at the +Bury ball. Did I not, dear, dear Miss ----?" + +As I live, he here mentioned dear gr-nny's MAIDEN name. Her maiden +name was ----. Her honored married name was ----. + +"She married your great-gr-ndf-th-r the year Poseidon won the +Newmarket Plate," Mr. Pinto dryly remarked. + +Merciful powers! I remember, over the old shagreen knife and spoon +case on the sideboard in my gr-nny's parlor, a print by Stubbs of +that very horse. My grandsire, in a red coat, and his fair hair +flowing over his shoulders, was over the mantelpiece, and Poseidon +won the Newmarket Cup in the year 1783! + +"Yes; you are right. I danced a minuet with her at Bury that very +night, before I lost my poor leg. And I quarreled with your +grandf--, ha!" + +As he said "Ha!" there came three quiet little taps on the table-- +it is the middle table in the "Gray's-Inn CoffeeHouse," under the +bust of the late Duke of W-ll-ngt-n. + +"I fired in the air," he continued; "did I not?" (Tap, tap, tap.) +"Your grandfather hit me in the leg. He married three months +afterwards. 'Captain Brown,' I said 'who could see Miss Sm-th +without loving her?' She is there! She is there!" (Tap, tap, +tap.) "Yes, my first love--" + +But here there came tap, tap, which everybody knows means "No." + +"I forgot," he said, with a faint blush stealing over his wan +features, "she was not my first love. In Germ--in my own country-- +there WAS a young woman--" + +Tap, tap, tap. There was here quite a lively little treble knock; +and when the old man said, "But I loved thee better than all the +world, Eliza," the affirmative signal was briskly repeated. + +And this I declare UPON MY HONOR. There was, I have said, a bottle +of port wine before us--I should say a decanter. That decanter was +LIFTED UP, and out of it into our respective glasses two bumpers of +wine were poured. I appeal to Mr. Hart, the landlord--I appeal to +James, the respectful and intelligent waiter, if this statement is +not true? And when we had finished that magnum, and I said--for I +did not now in the least doubt her presence--"Dear gr-nny, may we +have another magnum?" the table DISTINCTLY rapped "No.". + +"Now, my good sir," Mr. Pinto said, who really began to be affected +by the wine, "you understand the interest I have taken in you. I +loved Eliza ----" (of course I don't mention family names). "I +knew you had that box which belonged to her--I will give you what +you like for that box. Name your price at once, and I pay you on +the spot." + +"Why, when you came out, you said you had not six-pence in your +pocket." + +"Bah! give you anything you like--fifty--a hundred--a tausend +pound." + +"Come, come," said I, "the gold of the box may be worth nine +guineas, and the facon we will put at six more." + +"One tausend guineas!" he screeched. "One tausend and fifty pound +dere!" and he sank back in his chair--no, by the way, on his bench, +for he was sitting with his back to one of the partitions of the +boxes, as I dare say James remembers. + +"DON'T go on in this way," I continued rather weakly, for I did not +know whether I was in a dream. "If you offer me a thousand guineas +for this box I MUST take it. Mustn't I, dear gr-nny?" + +The table most distinctly said "Yes"; and putting out his claws to +seize the box, Mr. Pinto plunged his hooked nose into it, and +eagerly inhaled some of my 47 with a dash of Hardman. + +"But stay, you old harpy!" I exclaimed, being now in a sort of +rage, and quite familiar with him. "Where is the money? Where is +the check?" + +"James, a piece of note paper and a receipt stamp!" + +"This is all mighty well, sir," I said, "but I don't know you; I +never saw you before. I will trouble you to hand me that box back +again, or give me a check with some known signature." + +"Whose? Ha, Ha, HA!" + +The room happened to be very dark. Indeed all the waiters were +gone to supper, and there were only two gentlemen snoring in their +respective boxes. I saw a hand come quivering down from the +ceiling--a very pretty hand, on which was a ring with a coronet, +with a lion rampant gules for a crest. I saw that hand take a dip +of ink and write across the paper. Mr. Pinto, then, taking a gray +receipt stamp out of his blue leather pocketbook, fastened it on to +the paper by the usual process; and the hand then wrote across the +receipt stamp, went across the table and shook hands with Pinto, +and then, as if waving him an adieu, vanished in the direction of +the ceiling. + +There was the paper before me, wet with the ink. There was the pen +which THE HAND had used. Does anybody doubt me? I have that pen +now,--a cedar stick of a not uncommon sort, and holding one of +Gillott's pens. It is in my inkstand now, I tell you. Anybody may +see it. The handwriting on the check, for such the document was, +was the writing of a female. It ran thus:--"London, midnight, +March 31, 1862. Pay the bearer one thousand and fifty pounds. +Rachel Sidonia. To Messrs. Sidonia, Pozzosanto and Co., London." + +"Noblest and best of women!" said Pinto, kissing the sheet of paper +with much reverence. "My good Mr. Roundabout, I suppose you do not +question THAT signature?" + +Indeed the house of Sidonia, Pozzosanto and Co., is known to be one +of the richest in Europe, and as for the Countess Rachel, she was +known to be the chief manager of that enormously wealthy +establishment. There was only one little difficulty, the Countess +Rachel died last October. + +I pointed out this circumstance, and tossed over the paper to Pinto +with a sneer. + +"C'est a brandre ou a laisser," he said with some heat. "You +literary men are all imbrudent; but I did not tink you such a fool +wie dis. Your box is not worth twenty pound, and I offer you a +tausend because I know you want money to pay dat rascal Tom's +college bills." (This strange man actually knew that my scapegrace +Tom had been a source of great expense and annoyance to me.) "You +see money costs me nothing, and you refuse to take it! Once, +twice; will you take this check in exchange for your trumpery +snuff-box?" + +What could I do? My poor granny's legacy was valuable and dear to +me, but after all a thousand guineas are not to be had every day. +"Be it a bargain," said I. "Shall we have a glass of wine on it?" +says Pinto; and to this proposal I also unwillingly acceded, +reminding him, by the way, that he had not yet told me the story of +the headless man. + +"Your poor gr-ndm-ther was right just now, when she said she was +not my first love. 'Twas one of those banale expressions" (here +Mr. P. blushed once more) "which we use to women. We tell each she +is our first passion. They reply with a similar illusory formula. +No man is any woman's first love; no woman any man's. We are in +love in our nurse's arms, and women coquette with their eyes before +their tongue can form a word. How could your lovely relative love +me? I was far, far too old for her. I am older than I look. I am +so old that you would not believe my age were I to tell you. I +have loved many and many a woman before your relative. It has not +always been fortunate for them to love me. Ah, Sophronia! Round +the dreadful circus where you fell, and whence I was dragged +corpselike by the heels, there sat multitudes more savage than the +lions which mangled your sweet form! Ah, tenez! when we marched to +the terrible stake together at Valladolid--the Protestant and the +J-- But away with memory! Boy! it was happy for thy grandam that +she loved me not. + +"During that strange period," he went on, "when the teeming Time +was great with the revolution that was speedily to be born, I was +on a mission in Paris with my excellent, my maligned friend, +Cagliostro. Mesmer was one of our band. I seemed to occupy but an +obscure rank in it: though, as you know, in secret societies the +humble man may be a chief and director--the ostensible leader but a +puppet moved by unseen hands. Never mind who was chief, or who was +second. Never mind my age. It boots not to tell it: why shall I +expose myself to your scornful incredulity--or reply to your +questions in words that are familiar to you, but which you cannot +understand? Words are symbols of things which you know, or of +things which you don't know. If you don't know them, to speak is +idle." (Here I confess Mr. P. spoke for exactly thirty-eight +minutes, about physics, metaphysics, language, the origin and +destiny of man, during which time I was rather bored, and to +relieve my ennui, drank a half glass or so of wine.) "LOVE, +friend, is the fountain of youth! It may not happen to me once-- +once in an age: but when I love then I am young. I loved when I +was in Paris. Bathilde, Bathilde, I loved thee--ah, how fondly! +Wine, I say, more wine! Love is ever young. I was a boy at the +little feet of Bathilde de Bechamel--the fair, the fond, the +fickle, ah, the false!" The strange old man's agony was here +really terrific, and he showed himself much more agitated than when +he had been speaking about my gr-ndm-th-r. + +"I thought Blanche might love me. I could speak to her in the +language of all countries, and tell her the lore of all ages. I +could trace the nursery legends which she loved up to their +Sanscrit source, and whisper to her the darkling mysteries of the +Egyptian Magi. I could chant for her the wild chorus that rang in +the disheveled Eleusinian revel: I could tell her and I would, the +watchword never known but to one woman, the Saban Queen, which +Hiram breathed in the abysmal ear of Solomon--You don't attend. +Psha! you have drunk too much wine!" Perhaps I may as well own +that I was NOT attending, for he had been carrying on for about +fifty-seven minutes; and I don't like a man to have ALL the talk to +himself. + +"Blanche de Bechamel was wild, then, about this secret of Masonry. +In early, early days I loved, I married a girl fair as Blanche, +who, too, was tormented by curiosity, who, too, would peep into my +closet, into the only secret guarded from her. A dreadful fate +befell poor Fatima. An ACCIDENT shortened her life. Poor thing! +she had a foolish sister who urged her on. I always told her to +beware of Ann. She died. They said her brothers killed me. A +gross falsehood. AM I dead? If I were, could I pledge you in this +wine?" + +"Was your name," I asked, quite bewildered, "was your name, pray, +then, ever Blueb----?" + +"Hush! the waiter will overhear you. Methought we were speaking of +Blanche de Bechamel. I loved her, young man. My pearls, and +diamonds, and treasure, my wit, my wisdom, my passion, I flung them +all into the child's lap. I was a fool. Was strong Samson not as +weak as I? Was Solomon the Wise much better when Balkis wheedled +him? I said to the king--But enough of that, I spake of Blanche de +Bechamel. + +"Curiosity was the poor child's foible. I could see, as I talked +to her, that her thoughts were elsewhere (as yours, my friend, have +been absent once or twice to-night). To know the secret of Masonry +was the wretched child's mad desire. With a thousand wiles, +smiles, caresses, she strove to coax it from me--from ME--ha! ha! + +"I had an apprentice--the son of a dear friend, who died by my side +at Rossbach, when Soubise, with whose army I happened to be, +suffered a dreadful defeat for neglecting my advice. The Young +Chevalier Goby de Mouchy was glad enough to serve as my clerk, and +help in some chemical experiments in which I was engaged with my +friend Dr. Mesmer. Bathilde saw this young man. Since women were, +has it not been their business to smile and deceive, to fondle and +lure? Away! From the very first it has been so!" And as my +companion spoke, he looked as wicked as the serpent that coiled +round the tree, and hissed a poisoned counsel to the first woman. + +"One evening I went, as was my wont, to see Blanche. She was +radiant: she was wild with spirits: a saucy triumph blazed in her +blue eyes. She talked, she rattled in her childish way. She +uttered, in the course of her rhapsody, a hint--an intimation--so +terrible that the truth flashed across me in a moment. Did I ask +her? She would lie to me. But I knew how to make falsehood +impossible. And I ordered her to go to sleep." + +At this moment the clock (after its previous convulsions) sounded +TWELVE. And as the new Editor* of the Cornhill Magazine--and HE, I +promise you, won't stand any nonsense--will only allow seven pages, +I am obliged to leave off at THE VERY MOST INTERESTING POINT OF THE +STORY. + + +* Mr. Thackeray retired from the Editorship of the Cornhill +Magazine in March, 1862 + + +III + + +"Are you of our fraternity? I see you are not. The secret which +Mademoiselle de Bechamel confided to me in her mad triumph and wild +hoyden spirits--she was but a child, poor thing, poor thing, scarce +fifteen;--but I love them young--a folly not unusual with the old!" +(Here Mr. Pinto thrust his knuckles into his hollow eyes; and, I am +sorry to say, so little regardful was he of personal cleanliness, +that his tears made streaks of white over his guarled dark hands.) +"Ah, at fifteen, poor child, thy fate was terrible! Go to! It is +not good to love me, friend. They prosper not who do. I divine +you. You need not say what you are thinking--" + +In truth, I was thinking, if girls fall in love with this sallow, +hook-nosed, glass-eyed, wooden-legged, dirty, hideous old man, with +the sham teeth, they have a queer taste. THAT is what I was +thinking. + +"Jack Wilkes said the handsomest man in London had but half an +hour's start of him. And, without vanity, I am scarcely uglier +than Jack Wilkes. We were members of the same club at Medenham +Abbey, Jack and I, and had many a merry night together. Well, sir, +I--Mary of Scotland knew me but as a little hunchbacked music +master; and yet, and yet, I think she was not indifferent to her +David Riz--and SHE came to misfortune. They all do--they all do!" + +"Sir, you are wandering from your point!" I said, with some +severity. For, really, for this old humbug to hint that he had +been the baboon who frightened the club at Medenham, that he had +been in the Inquisition at Valladolid--that under the name of D. +Riz, as he called it, he had known the lovely Queen of Scots--was a +LITTLE too much. "Sir," then I said, "you were speaking about a +Miss Bechamel. I really have not time to hear all of your +biography." + +"Faith, the good wine gets into my head." (I should think so, the +old toper! Four bottles all but two glasses.) "To return to poor +Blanche. As I sat laughing, joking with her, she let slip a word, +a little word, which filled me with dismay. Some one had told her +a part of the Secret--the secret which has been divulged scarce +thrice in three thousand years--the Secret of the Freemasons. Do +you know what happens to those uninitiate who learn that secret? to +those wretched men, the initiate who reveal it?" + +As Pinto spoke to me, he looked through and through me with his +horrible piercing glance, so that I sat quite uneasily on my bench. +He continued: "Did I question her awake? I knew she would lie to +me. Poor child! I loved her no less because I did not believe a +word she said. I loved her blue eye, her golden hair, her +delicious voice, that was true in song, though when she spoke, +false as Eblis! You are aware that I possess in rather a +remarkable degree what we have agreed to call the mesmeric power. +I set the unhappy girl to sleep. THEN she was obliged to tell me +all. It was as I had surmised. Goby de Mouchy, my wretched, +besotted miserable secretary, in his visits to the chateau of the +Marquis de Bechamel, who was one of our society, had seen Blanche. +I suppose it was because she had been warned that he was worthless, +and poor, artful and a coward, she loved him. She wormed out of +the besotted wretch the secrets of our Order. 'Did he tell you the +NUMBER ONE?' I asked. + +"She said, 'Yes.' + +"'Did he,' I further inquired, 'tell you the--' + +"'Oh, don't ask me, don't ask me!' she said, writhing on the sofa, +where she lay in the presence of the Marquis de Bechamel, her most +unhappy father. Poor Bechamel, poor Bechamel! How pale he looked +as I spoke! 'Did he tell you,' I repeated with a dreadful calm, +'the NUMBER TWO?' She said, 'Yes.' + +"The poor old marquis rose up, and clasping his hands, fell on his +knees before Count Cagl---- Bah! I went by a different name then. +Vat's in a name? Dat vich ye call a Rosicrucian by any other name +vil smell as sveet. 'Monsieur,' he said, 'I am old--I am rich. I +have five hundred thousand livres of rentes in Picardy. I have +half as much in Artois. I have two hundred and eighty thousand on +the Grand Livre. I am promised by my Sovereign a dukedom and his +orders with a reversion to my heir. I am a Grandee of Spain of the +First Class, and Duke of Volovento. Take my titles, my ready +money, my life, my honor, everything I have in the world, but don't +ask the THIRD QUESTION.' + +"'Godfroid de Bouillon, Comte de Bechamel, Grandee of Spain and +Prince of Volovento, in our Assembly what was the oath you swore?' +The old man writhed as he remembered its terrific purport. + +"Though my heart was racked with agony, and I would have died, aye, +cheerfully" (died, indeed, as if THAT were a penalty!) "to spare +yonder lovely child a pang, I said to her calmly, 'Blanche de +Bechamel, did Goby de Mouchy tell you secret NUMBER THREE?' + +"She whispered a oui that was quite faint, faint and small. But +her poor father fell in convulsions at her feet. + +"She died suddenly that night. Did I not tell you those I love +come to no good? When General Bonaparte crossed the Saint Bernard, +he saw in the convent an old monk with a white beard, wandering +about the corridors, cheerful and rather stout, but mad--mad as a +March hare. 'General,' I said to him, 'did you ever see that face +before?' He had not. He had not mingled much with the higher +classes of our society before the Revolution. I knew the poor old +man well enough; he was the last of a noble race, and I loved his +child." + +"And did she die by--?" + +"Man! did I say so? Do I whisper the secrets of the Vehmgericht? +I say she died that night: and he--he, the heartless, the villain, +the betrayer,--you saw him seated in yonder curiosity shop, by +yonder guillotine, with his scoundrelly head in his lap. + +"You saw how slight that instrument was? It was one of the first +which Guillotin made, and which he showed to private friends in a +hangar in the Rue Picpus, where he lived. The invention created +some little conversation among scientific men at the time, though I +remember a machine in Edinburgh of a very similar construction, two +hundred--well, many, many years ago--and at a breakfast which +Guillotin gave he showed us the instrument, and much talk arose +among us as to whether people suffered under it. + +"And now I must tell you what befell the traitor who had caused all +this suffering. Did he know that the poor child's death was a +SENTENCE? He felt a cowardly satisfaction that with her was gone +the secret of his treason. Then he began to doubt. I had MEANS to +penetrate all his thoughts, as well as to know his acts. Then he +became a slave to a horrible fear. He fled in abject terror to a +convent. They still existed in Paris; and behind the walls of +Jacobins the wretch thought himself secure. Poor fool! I had but +to set one of my somnambulists to sleep. Her spirit went forth and +spied the shuddering wretch in his cell. She described the street, +the gate, the convent, the very dress which he wore, and which you +saw to-day. + +"And now THIS is what happened. In his chamber in the Rue St. +Honore, at Paris, sat a man ALONE--a man who has been maligned, a +man who has been called a knave and charlatan, a man who has been +persecuted even to the death, it is said, in Roman Inquisitions, +forsooth, and elsewhere. Ha! ha! A man who has a mighty will. + +"And looking toward the Jacobins Convent (of which, from his +chamber, he could see the spires and trees), this man WILLED. And +it was not yet dawn. And he willed; and one who was lying in his +cell in the convent of Jacobins, awake and shuddering with terror +for a crime which he had committed, fell asleep. + +"But though he was asleep his eyes were open. + +"And after tossing and writhing, and clinging to the pallet, and +saying 'No, I will not go,' he rose up and donned his clothes--a +gray coat, a vest of white pique, black satin small-clothes, ribbed +silk stockings, and a white stock with a steel buckle; and he +arranged his hair, and he tied his queue, all the while being in +that strange somnolence which walks, which moves, which FLIES +sometimes, which sees, which is indifferent to pain, which OBEYS. +And he put on his hat, and he went forth from his cell: and though +the dawn was not yet, he trod the corridors as seeing them. And he +passed into the cloister, and then into the garden where lie the +ancient dead. And he came to the wicket, which Brother Jerome was +opening just at the dawning. And the crowd was already waiting +with their cans and bowls to receive the alms of the good brethren. + +"And he passed through the crowd and went on his way, and the few +people then abroad who marked him, said, 'Tiens! How very odd he +looks! He looks like a man walking in his sleep!' This was said +by various persons:-- + +"By milk women, with their cans and carts, coming into the town. + +"By roysterers who had been drinking at the taverns of the Barrier, +for it was Mid-Lent. + +"By the sergeants of the watch, who eyed him sternly as he passed +near their halberds. + +"But he passed on unmoved by their halberds, + +"Unmoved by the cries of the roysterers, + +"By the market women coming with their milk and eggs. + +"He walked through the Rue St. Honore, I say:-- + +"By the Rue Rambuteau, + +"By the Rue St. Antoine, + +"By the King's Chateau of the Bastille, + +"By the Faubourg St. Antoine. + +"And he came to No. 29 in the Rue Picpus--a house which then stood +between a court and garden-- + +"That is, there was a building of one story, with a great coach +door. + +"Then there was a court, around which were stables, coach-houses, +offices. + +"Then there was a house--a two-storied house, with a perron in +front. + +"Behind the house was a garden--a garden of two hundred and fifty +French feet in length. + +"And as one hundred feet of France equal one hundred and six feet +of England, this garden, my friend, equaled exactly two hundred and +sixty-five feet of British measure. + +"In the center of the garden was a fountain and a statue--or, to +speak more correctly, two statues. One was recumbent,--a man. +Over him, saber in hand, stood a Woman. + +"The man was Olofernes. The woman was Judith. From the head, from +the trunk, the water gushed. It was the taste of the doctor:--was +it not a droll of taste? + +"At the end of the garden was the doctor's cabinet of study. My +faith, a singular cabinet, and singular pictures!-- + +"Decapitation of Charles Premier at Vitehall. + +"Decapitation of Montrose at Edimbourg. + +"Decapitation of Cinq Mars. When I tell you that he was a man of +taste, charming! + +"Through this garden, by these statues, up these stairs, went the +pale figure of him who, the porter said, knew the way of the house. +He did. Turning neither right nor left, he seemed to walk THROUGH +the statues, the obstacles, the flower beds, the stairs, the door, +the tables, the chairs. + +"In the corner of the room was THAT INSTRUMENT, which Guillotin had +just invented and perfected. One day he was to lay his own head +under his own ax. Peace be to his name! With him I deal not! + +"In a frame of mahogany, neatly worked, was a board with a half +circle in it, over which another board fitted. Above was a heavy +ax, which fell--you know how. It was held up by a rope, and when +this rope was untied, or cut, the steel fell. + +"To the story which I now have to relate, you may give credence, or +not, as you will. The sleeping man went up to that instrument. + +"He laid his head in it, asleep." + +"Asleep?" + +"He then took a little penknife out of the pocket of his white +dimity waistcoat. + +"He cut the rope asleep. + +"The ax descended on the head of the traitor and villain. The +notch in it was made by the steel buckle of his stock, which was +cut through. + +"A strange legend has got abroad that after the deed was done, the +figure rose, took the head from the basket, walked forth through +the garden, and by the screaming porters at the gate, and went and +laid itself down at the Morgue. But for this I will not vouch. +Only of this be sure. 'There are more things in heaven and earth, +Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy.' More and more +the light peeps through the chinks. Soon, amidst music ravishing, +the curtain will rise, and the glorious scene be displayed. Adieu! +Remember me. Ha! 'tis dawn," Pinto said. And he was gone. + +I am ashamed to say that my first movement was to clutch the check +which he had left with me, and which I was determined to present +the very moment the bank opened. I know the importance of these +things, and that men change their mind sometimes. I sprang through +the streets to the great banking house of Manasseh in Duke Street. +It seemed to me as if I actually flew as I walked. As the clock +struck ten I was at the counter and laid down my check. + +The gentleman who received it, who was one of the Hebrew +persuasion, as were the other two hundred clerks of the +establishment, having looked at the draft with terror in his +countenance, then looked at me, then called to himself two of his +fellow clerks, and queer it was to see all their aquiline beaks +over the paper. + +"Come, come!" said I, "don't keep me here all day. Hand me over +the money, short, if you please!" for I was, you see, a little +alarmed, and so determined to assume some extra bluster. + +"Will you have the kindness to step into the parlor to the +partners?" the clerk said, and I followed him. + +"What, AGAIN?" shrieked a bald-headed, red-whiskered gentleman, +whom I knew to be Mr. Manasseh. "Mr. Salathiel, this is too bad! +Leave me with this gentleman, S." And the clerk disappeared. + +"Sir," he said, "I know how you came by this: the Count de Pinto +gave it you. It is too bad! I honor my parents; I honor THEIR +parents; I honor their bills! But this one of grandma's is too +bad--it is, upon my word, now! She've been dead these five-and- +thirty years. And this last four months she has left her burial +place and took to drawing on our 'ouse! It's too bad, grandma; it +is too bad!" and he appealed to me, and tears actually trickled +down his nose. + +"Is it the Countess Sidonia's check or not?" I asked, haughtily. + +"But, I tell you, she's dead! It's a shame!--it's a shame!--it is, +grandmamma!" and he cried, and wiped his great nose in his yellow +pocket handkerchief. "Look year--will you take pounds instead of +guineas? She's dead, I tell you! It's no go! Take the pounds-- +one tausend pound!--ten nice, neat, crisp hundred-pound notes, and +go away vid you, do!" + +"I will have my bond, sir, or nothing," I said; and I put on an +attitude of resolution which I confess surprised even myself. + +"Wery veil," he shrieked, with many oaths, "then you shall have +noting--ha, ha, ha!--noting but a policeman! Mr. Abednego, call a +policeman! Take that, you humbug and impostor!" and here with an +abundance of frightful language which I dare not repeat, the +wealthy banker abused and defied me. + +Au bout du compte, what was I to do, if a banker did not choose to +honor a check drawn by his dead grandmother? I began to wish I had +my snuff-box back. I began to think I was a fool for changing that +little old-fashioned gold for +this slip of strange paper. + +Meanwhile the banker had passed from his fit of anger to a paroxysm +of despair. He seemed to be addressing some person invisible, but +in the room: "Look here, ma'am, you've really been coming it too +strong. A hundred thousand in six months, and now a thousand more! +The 'ouse can't stand it; it WON'T stand it, I say! What? Oh! +mercy, mercy! + +As he uttered these words, A HAND fluttered over the table in the +air! It was a female hand: that which I had seen the night before. +That female hand took a pen from the green baize table, dipped it +in a silver inkstand, and wrote on a quarter of a sheet of foolscap +on the blotting book, "How about the diamond robbery? If you do +not pay, I will tell him where they are." + +What diamonds? what robbery? what was this mystery? That will +never be ascertained, for the wretched man's demeanor instantly +changed. "Certainly, sir;--oh, certainly," he said, forcing a +grin. "How will you have the money, sir? All right, Mr. Abednego. +This way out." + +"I hope I shall often see you again," I said; on which I own poor +Manasseh gave a dreadful grin, and shot back into his parlor. + +I ran home, clutching the ten delicious, crisp hundred pounds, and +the dear little fifty which made up the account. I flew through +the streets again. I got to my chambers. I bolted the outer +doors. I sank back in my great chair, and slept. . . . + +My first thing on waking was to feel for my money. Perdition! +Where was I? Ha!--on the table before me was my grandmother's +snuff-box, and by its side one of those awful--those admirable-- +sensation novels, which I had been reading, and which are full of +delicious wonder. + +But that the guillotine is still to be seen at Mr. Gale's, No. 47, +High Holborn, I give you MY HONOR. I suppose I was dreaming about +it. I don't know. What is dreaming? What is life? Why shouldn't +I sleep on the ceiling?--and am I sitting on it now, or on the +floor? I am puzzled. But enough. If the fashion for sensation +novels goes on, I tell you I will write one in fifty volumes. For +the present, DIXI. But between ourselves, this Pinto, who fought +at the Colosseum, who was nearly being roasted by the Inquisition, +and sang duets at Holyrood, I am rather sorry to lose him after +three little bits of Roundabout Papers. Et vous? + + + +Bourgonef + + +I + +AT A TABLE D'HOTE + + +At the close of February, 1848, I was in Nuremberg. My original +intention had been to pass a couple of days there on my way to +Munich, that being, I thought, as much time as could reasonably be +spared for so small a city, beckoned as my footsteps were to the +Bavarian Athens, of whose glories of ancient art and German +Renaissance I had formed expectations the most exaggerated-- +expectations fatal to any perfect enjoyment, and certain to be +disappointed, however great the actual merit of Munich might be. +But after two days at Nuremberg I was so deeply interested in its +antique sequestered life, the charms of which had not been deadened +by previous anticipations, that I resolved to remain there until I +had mastered every detail and knew the place by heart. + +I have a story to tell which will move amidst tragic circumstances +of too engrossing a nature to be disturbed by archaeological +interests, and shall not, therefore, minutely describe here what I +observed in Nuremberg, although no adequate description of that +wonderful city has yet fallen in my way. To readers unacquainted +with this antique place, it will be enough to say that in it the +old German life seems still to a great extent rescued from the all- +devouring, all-equalizing tendencies of European civilization. The +houses are either of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, or are +constructed after those ancient models. The citizens have +preserved much of the simple manners and customs of their +ancestors. The hurrying feet of commerce and curiosity pass +rapidly by, leaving it sequestered from the agitations and the +turmoils of metropolitan existence. It is as quiet as a village. +During my stay there rose in its quiet streets the startled echoes +of horror at a crime unparalleled in its annals, which, gathering +increased horror from the very peacefulness and serenity of the +scene, arrested the attention and the sympathy in a degree seldom +experienced. Before narrating that, it will be necessary to go +back a little, that my own connection with it may be intelligible, +especially in the fanciful weaving together of remote conjectures +which strangely involved me in the story. + +The table d'hote at the Bayerischer Hof had about thirty visitors-- +all, with one exception, of that local commonplace which escapes +remark. Indeed this may almost always be said of tables d'hote; +though there is a current belief, which I cannot share, of a table +d'hote being very delightful--of one being certain to meet pleasant +people there." It may be so. For many years I believed it was so. +The general verdict received my assent. I had never met those +delightful people, but was always expecting to meet them. Hitherto +they had been conspicuous by their absence. According to my +experience in Spain, France, and Germany, such dinners had been +dreary or noisy and vapid. If the guests were English, they were +chillingly silent, or surlily monosyllabic: to their neighbors they +were frigid; amongst each other they spoke in low undertones. And +if the guests were foreigners, they were noisy, clattering, and +chattering, foolish for the most part, and vivaciously commonplace. +I don't know which made me feel most dreary. The predominance of +my countrymen gave the dinner the gayety of a funeral; the +predominance of the Mossoo gave it the fatigue of got-up +enthusiasm, of trivial expansiveness. To hear strangers imparting +the scraps of erudition and connoisseurship which they had that +morning gathered from their valets de place and guide-books, or +describing the sights they had just seen, to you, who either saw +them yesterday, or would see them to-morrow, could not be +permanently attractive. My mind refuses to pasture on such food +with gusto. I cannot be made to care what the Herr Baron's +sentiments about Albert Durer or Lucas Cranach may be. I can +digest my rindfleisch without the aid of the commis voyageur's +criticisms on Gothic architecture. This may be my misfortune. In +spite of the Italian blood which I inherit, I am a shy man--shy as +the purest Briton. But, like other shy men, I make up in obstinacy +what may be deficient in expansiveness. I can be frightened into +silence, but I won't be dictated to. You might as well attempt the +persuasive effect of your eloquence upon a snail who has withdrawn +into his shell at your approach, and will not emerge till his +confidence is restored. To be told that I MUST see this, and ought +to go there, because my casual neighbor was charme, has never +presented itself to me as an adequate motive. + +From this you readily gather that I am severely taciturn at a table +d'hote. I refrain from joining in the "delightful conversation" +which flies across the table, and know that my reticence is +attributed to "insular pride." It is really and truly nothing but +impatience of commonplace. I thoroughly enjoy good talk; but, ask +yourself, what are the probabilities of hearing that rare thing in +the casual assemblage of forty or fifty people, not brought +together by any natural affinities or interests, but thrown +together by the accident of being in the same district, and in the +same hotel? They are not "forty feeding like one," but like forty. +They have no community, except the community of commonplace. No, +tables d'hote are not delightful, and do not gather interesting +people together. + +Such has been my extensive experience. But this at Nuremberg is a +conspicuous exception. At that table there was one guest who, on +various grounds, personal and incidental, remains the most +memorable man I ever met. From the first he riveted my attention +in an unusual degree. He had not, as yet, induced me to emerge +from my habitual reserve, for in truth, although he riveted my +attention, he inspired me with a strange feeling of repulsion. I +could scarcely keep my eyes from him; yet, except the formal bow on +sitting down and rising from the table, I had interchanged no sign +of fellowship with him. He was a young Russian, named Bourgonef, +as I at once learned; rather handsome, and peculiarly arresting to +the eye, partly from an air of settled melancholy, especially in +his smile, the amiability of which seemed breaking from under +clouds of grief, and still more so from the mute appeal to sympathy +in the empty sleeve of his right arm, which was looped to the +breast-button of his coat. His eyes were large and soft. He had +no beard or whisker, and only delicate moustaches. The sorrow, +quiet but profound, the amiable smile and the lost arm, were +appealing details which at once arrested attention and excited +sympathy. But to me this sympathy was mingled with a vague +repulsion, occasioned by a certain falseness in the amiable smile, +and a furtiveness in the eyes, which I saw--or fancied--and which, +with an inexplicable reserve, forming as it were the impregnable +citadel in the center of his outwardly polite and engaging manner, +gave me something of that vague impression which we express by the +words "instinctive antipathy." + +It was, when calmly considered, eminently absurd. To see one so +young, and by his conversation so highly cultured and intelligent, +condemned to early helplessness, his food cut up for him by a +servant, as if he were a child, naturally engaged pity, and, on the +first day, I cudgeled my brains during the greater part of dinner +in the effort to account for his lost arm. He was obviously not a +military man; the unmistakable look and stoop of a student told +that plainly enough. Nor was the loss one dating from early life: +he used his left arm too awkwardly for the event not to have had a +recent date. Had it anything to do with his melancholy? Here was +a topic for my vagabond imagination, and endless were the romances +woven by it during my silent dinner. For the reader must be told +of one peculiarity in me, because to it much of the strange +complications of my story are due; complications into which a mind +less active in weaving imaginary hypotheses to interpret casual and +trifling facts would never have been drawn. From my childhood I +have been the victim of my constructive imagination, which has led +me into many mistakes and some scrapes; because, instead of +contenting myself with plain, obvious evidence, I have allowed +myself to frame hypothetical interpretations, which, to acts simple +in themselves, and explicable on ordinary motives, render the +simple-seeming acts portentous. With bitter pangs of self-reproach +I have at times discovered that a long and plausible history +constructed by me, relating to personal friends, has crumpled into +a ruin of absurdity, by the disclosure of the primary misconception +on which the whole history was based. I have gone, let us say, on +the supposition that two people were secretly lovers; on this +supposition my imagination has constructed a whole scheme to +explain certain acts, and one fine day I have discovered +indubitably that the supposed lovers were not lovers, but +confidants of their passions in other directions, and, of course, +all my conjectures have been utterly false. The secret flush of +shame at failure has not, however, prevented my falling into +similar mistakes immediately after. + +When, therefore, I hereafter speak of my "constructive +imagination," the reader will know to what I am alluding. It was +already busy with Bourgonef. To it must be added that vague +repulsion, previously mentioned. This feeling abated on the second +day; but, although lessened, it remained powerful enough to prevent +my speaking to him. Whether it would have continued to abate until +it disappeared, as such antipathies often disappear, under the +familiarities of prolonged intercourse, without any immediate +appeal to my amour propre, I know not; but every reflective mind, +conscious of being accessible to antipathies, will remember that +one certain method of stifling them is for the object to make some +appeal to our interest or our vanity: in the engagement of these +more powerful feelings, the antipathy is quickly strangled. At any +rate it is so in my case, and was so now. + +On the third day, the conversation at table happening to turn, as +it often turned, upon St. Sebald's Church, a young Frenchman, who +was criticising its architecture with fluent dogmatism, drew +Bourgonef into the discussion, and thereby elicited such a display +of accurate and extensive knowledge, no less than delicacy of +appreciation, that we were all listening spellbound. In the midst +of this triumphant exposition the irritated vanity of the Frenchman +could do nothing to regain his position but oppose a flat denial to +a historical statement made by Bourgonef, backing his denial by the +confident assertion that "all the competent authorities" held with +him. At this point Bourgonef appealed to me, and in that tone of +deference so exquisitely flattering from one we already know to be +superior he requested my decision; observing that, from the manner +in which he had seen me examine the details of the architecture, he +could not be mistaken in his confidence that I was a connoisseur. +All eyes were turned upon me. As a shy man, this made me blush; as +a vain man, the blush was accompanied with delight. It might +easily have happened that such an appeal, acting at once upon +shyness and ignorance, would have inflamed my wrath; but the appeal +happening to be directed on a point which I had recently +investigated and thoroughly mastered, I was flattered at the +opportunity of a victorious display. + +The pleasure of my triumph diffused itself over my feelings towards +him who had been the occasion of it. The Frenchman was silenced; +the general verdict of the company was too obviously on our side. +From this time the conversation continued between Bourgonef and +myself; and he not only succeeded in entirely dissipating my absurd +antipathy--which I now saw to have been founded on purely imaginary +grounds, for neither the falseness nor the furtiveness could now be +detected--but he succeeded in captivating all my sympathy. Long +after dinner was over, and the salle empty, we sat smoking our +cigars, and discussing politics, literature, and art in that +suggestive desultory manner which often gives a charm to casual +acquaintances. + +It was a stirring epoch, that of February, 1848. The Revolution, +at first so hopeful, and soon to manifest itself in failure so +disastrous, was hurrying to an outburst. France had been for many +months agitated by cries of electoral reform, and by indignation at +the corruption and scandals in high places. The Praslin murder, +and the dishonor of M. Teste, terminated by suicide, had been +interpreted as signs of the coming destruction. The political +banquets given in various important cities had been occasions for +inflaming the public mind, and to the far-seeing, these banquets +were interpreted as the sounds of the tocsin. Louis Philippe had +become odious to France, and contemptible to Europe. Guizot and +Duchatel, the ministers of that day, although backed by a +parliamentary majority on which they blindly relied, were +unpopular, and were regarded as infatuated even by their admirers +in Europe. The Spanish marriages had all but led to a war with +England. The Opposition, headed by Thiers and Odillon Barrot, was +strengthened by united action with the republican party, headed by +Ledru Rollin, Marrast, Flocon, and Louis Blanc. + +Bourgonef was an ardent republican. So was I; but my color was of +a different shade from his. He belonged to the Reds. My own +dominant tendencies being artistic and literary, my dream was of a +republic in which intelligence would be the archon or ruler; and, +of course, in such a republic, art and literature, as the highest +manifestation of mind, would have the supreme direction. Do you +smile, reader? I smile now; but it was serious earnest with me +then. It is unnecessary to say more on this point. I have said so +much to render intelligible the stray link of communion which +riveted the charm of my new acquaintance's conversation; there was +both agreement enough and difference enough in our views to render +our society mutually fascinating. + +On retiring to my room that afternoon I could not help laughing at +my absurd antipathy against Bourgonef. All his remarks had +disclosed a generous, ardent, and refined nature. While my +antipathy had specially fastened upon a certain falseness in his +smile--a falseness the more poignantly hideous if it were +falseness, because hidden amidst the wreaths of amiability--my +delight in his conversation had specially justified itself by the +truthfulness of his mode of looking at things. He seemed to be +sincerity itself. There was, indeed, a certain central reserve; +but that might only he an integrity of pride; or it might be +connected with painful circumstances in his history, of which the +melancholy in his face was the outward sign. + +That very evening my constructive imagination was furnished with a +detail on which it was soon to be actively set to work. I had been +rambling about the old fortifications, and was returning at +nightfall through the old archway near Albert Durer's house, when a +man passed by me. We looked at each other in that automatic way in +which men look when they meet in narrow places, and I felt, so to +speak, a start of recognition in the eyes of the man who passed. +Nothing else, in features or gestures, betrayed recognition or +surprise. But although there was only that, it flashed from his +eyes to mine like an electric shock. He passed. I looked back. +He continued his way without turning. The face was certainly known +to me; but it floated in a mist of confused memories. + +I walked on slowly, pestering my memory with fruitless calls upon +it, hopelessly trying to recover the place where I could have seen +the stranger before. In vain memory traveled over Europe in +concert-rooms, theaters, shops, and railway carriages. I could not +recall the occasion on which those eyes had previously met mine. +That they had met them I had no doubt. I went to bed with the +riddle undiscovered. + + +II + +THE ECHOES OF MURDER + + +Next morning Nuremberg was agitated with a horror such as can +seldom have disturbed its quiet; a young and lovely girl had been +murdered. Her corpse was discovered at daybreak under the archway +leading to the old fortifications. She had been stabbed to the +heart. No other signs of violence were visible; no robbery had +been attempted. + +In great cities, necessarily great centers of crime, we daily hear +of murders; their frequency and remoteness leave us undisturbed. +Our sympathies can only be deeply moved either by some scenic +peculiarities investing the crime with unusual romance or unusual +atrocity, or else by the more immediate appeal of direct neighborly +interest. The murder which is read of in the Times as having +occurred in Westminster, has seldom any special horror to the +inhabitants of Islington or Oxford Street; but to the inhabitants +of Westminster, and especially to the inhabitants of the particular +street in which it was perpetrated, the crime assumes heart-shaking +proportions. Every detail is asked for, and every surmise listened +to, with feverish eagerness is repeated and diffused through the +crowd with growing interest. The family of the victim; the +antecedents of the assassin, if he is known; or the conjectures +pointing to the unknown assassin,--are eagerly discussed. All the +trivial details of household care or domestic fortunes, all the +items of personal gossip, become invested with a solemn and +affecting interest. Pity for the victim and survivors mingle and +alternate with fierce cries for vengeance on the guilty. The whole +street becomes one family, commingled by an energetic sympathy, +united by one common feeling of compassion and wrath. + +In villages, and in cities so small as Nuremberg, the same +community of feeling is manifested. The town became as one street. +The horror spread like a conflagration, the sympathy surged and +swelled like a tide. Everyone felt a personal interest in the +event, as if the murder had been committed at his own door. Never +shall I forget that wail of passionate pity, and that cry for the +vengeance of justice, which rose from all sides of the startled +city. Never shall I forget the hurry, the agitation, the feverish +restlessness, the universal communicativeness, the volunteered +services, the eager suggestion, surging round the house of the +unhappy parents. Herr Lehfeldt, the father of the unhappy girl, +was a respected burgher known to almost every one. His mercer's +shop was the leading one of the city. A worthy, pious man, +somewhat strict, but of irreproachable character; his virtues, no +less than those of his wife, and of his only daughter, Lieschen-- +now, alas; for ever snatched from their yearning eyes--were +canvassed everywhere, and served to intensify the general grief. +That such a calamity should have fallen on a household so +estimable, seemed to add fuel to the people's wrath. Poor +Lieschen! her pretty, playful ways--her opening prospects, as the +only daughter of parents so well to do and so kind--her youth and +abounding life--these were detailed with impassioned fervor by +friends, and repeated by strangers who caught the tone of friends, +as if they, too, had known and loved her. But amidst the surging +uproar of this sea of many voices no one clear voice of direction +could be heard; no clue given to the clamorous bloodhounds to run +down the assassin. + +Cries had been heard in the streets that night at various parts of +the town, which, although then interpreted as the quarrels of +drunken brawlers, and the conflicts of cats, were now confidently +asserted to have proceeded from the unhappy girl in her death- +struggle. But none of these cries had been heard in the immediate +neighborhood of the archway. All the inhabitants of that part of +the town agreed that in their waking hours the streets had been +perfectly still. Nor were there any traces visible of a struggle +having taken place. Lieschen might have been murdered elsewhere, +and her corpse quietly deposited where it was found, as far as any +evidence went. + +Wild and vague were the conjectures. All were baffled in the +attempt to give them a definite direction. The crime was +apparently prompted by revenge--certainly not by lust, or desire of +money. But she was not known to stand in any one's way. In this +utter blank as to the assignable motive, I, perhaps alone among the +furious crowd, had a distinct suspicion of the assassin. No sooner +had the news reached me, than with the specification of the theater +of the crime there at once flashed upon me the intellectual vision +of the criminal: the stranger with the dark beard and startled eyes +stood confessed before me! I held my breath for a few moments, and +then there came a tide of objections rushing over my mind, +revealing the inadequacy of the grounds on which rested my +suspicions. What were the grounds? I had seen a man in a +particular spot, not an unfrequented spot, on the evening of the +night when the crime had been committed there; that man had seemed +to recognize me, and wished to avoid being recognized. Obviously +these grounds were too slender to bear any weight of construction +such as I had based on them. Mere presence on the spot could no +more inculpate him than it could inculpate me; if I had met him +there, equally had he met me there. Nor even if my suspicion were +correct that he knew me, and refused to recognize me, could that be +any argument tending to criminate him in an affair wholly +disconnected with me. Besides, he was walking peaceably, openly, +and he looked like a gentleman. All these objections pressed +themselves upon me, and kept me silent. But in spite of their +force I could not prevent the suspicion from continually arising. +Ashamed to mention it, because it may have sounded too absurd, I +could not prevent my constructive imagination indulging in its +vagaries, and with this secret conviction I resolved to await +events, and in case suspicion from other quarters should ever +designate the probable assassin, I might then come forward with my +bit of corroborative evidence, should the suspected assassin be the +stranger of the archway. + +By twelve o'clock a new direction was given to rumor. Hitherto the +stories, when carefully sifted of all exaggerations of flying +conjecture, had settled themselves into something like this: The +Lehfeldts had retired to rest at a quarter before ten, as was their +custom. They had seen Lieschen go into her bedroom for the night, +and had themselves gone to sleep with unclouded minds. From this +peaceful security they were startled early in the morning by the +appalling news of the calamity which had fallen on them. +Incredulous at first, as well they might be, and incapable of +believing in a ruin so unexpected and so overwhelming, they +imagined some mistake, asserting that Lieschen was in her own room. +Into that room they rushed, and there the undisturbed bed, and the +open window, but a few feet from the garden, silently and +pathetically disclosed the fatal truth. The bereaved parents +turned a revealing look upon each other's whitened faces, and then +slowly retired from the room, followed in affecting silence by the +others. Back into their own room they went. The father knelt +beside the bed, and, sobbing, prayed. The mother sat staring with +a stupefied stare, her lips faintly moving. In a short while the +flood of grief, awakened to a thorough consciousness, burst from +their laboring hearts. When the first paroxysms were over they +questioned others, and gave incoherent replies to the questions +addressed to them. From all which it resulted that Lieschen's +absence, though obviously voluntary, was wholly inexplicable to +them; and no clew whatever could be given as to the motives of the +crime. When these details became known, conjecture naturally +interpreted Lieschen's absence at night as an assignation. But +with whom? She was not known to have a lover. Her father, on +being questioned, passionately affirmed that she had none; she +loved no one but her parents, poor child! Her mother, on being +questioned, told the same story--adding, however, that about +seventeen months before, she had fancied that Lieschen was a little +disposed to favor Franz Kerkel, their shopman; but on being spoken +to on the subject with some seriousness, and warned of the distance +between them, she had laughed heartily at the idea, and since then +had treated Franz with so much indifference that only a week ago +she had drawn from her mother a reproof on the subject. + +"I told her Franz was a good lad, though not good enough for her, +and that she ought to treat him kindly. But she said my lecture +had given her an alarm, lest Franz should have got the same maggot +into his head." + +This was the story now passing through the curious crowds in every +street. After hearing it I had turned into a tobacconist's in the +Adlergrasse, to restock my cigar-case, and found there, as +everywhere, a group discussing the one topic of the hour. Herr +Fischer, the tobacconist, with a long porcelain pipe pendent from +his screwed-up lips, was solemnly listening to the particulars +volubly communicated by a stout Bavarian priest; while behind the +counter, in a corner, swiftly knitting, sat his wife, her black +bead-like eyes also fixed on the orator. Of course I was dragged +into the conversation. Instead of attending to commercial +interests, they looked upon me as the possible bearer of fresh +news. Nor was it without a secret satisfaction that I found I +could gratify them in that respect. They had not heard of Franz +Kerkel in the matter. No sooner had I told what I had heard than +the knitting-needles of the vivacious little woman were at once +suspended. + +"Ach Je!" she exclaimed, "I see it all. He's the wretch!" + +"Who?" we all simultaneously inquired. + +"Who? Why, Kerkel, of course. If she changed, and treated him +with indifference, it was because she loved him; and he has +murdered the poor thing." + +"How you run on, wife!" remonstrated Fischer; while the priest +shook a dubious head. + +"I tell you it is so. I'm positive." + +"If she loved him." + +"She did, I tell you. Trust a woman for seeing through such +things." + +"Well, say she did," continued Fischer, "and I won't deny that it +may be so; but then that makes against the idea of his having done +her any harm." + +"Don't tell me," retorted the convinced woman. "She loved him. +She went out to meet him in secret, and he murdered her--the +villain did. I'm as sure of it as if these eyes had seen him do +it." + +The husband winked at us, as much as to say, "You hear these +women!" and the priest and I endeavored to reason her out of her +illogical position. But she was immovable. Kerkel had murdered +her; she knew it; she couldn't tell why, but she knew it. Perhaps +he was jealous, who knows? At any rate, he ought to be arrested. + +And by twelve o'clock, as I said, a new rumor ran through the +crowd, which seemed to confirm the little woman in her rash logic. +Kerkel had been arrested, and a waistcoat stained with blood had +been found in his room! By half-past twelve the rumor ran that he +had confessed the crime. This, however, proved on inquiry to be +the hasty anticipation of public indignation. He had been +arrested; the waistcoat had been found: so much was authentic; and +the suspicions gathered ominously over him. + +When first Frau Fischer had started the suggestion it flew like +wildfire. Then people suddenly noticed, as very surprising, that +Kerkel had not that day made his appearance at the shop. His +absence had not been noticed in the tumult of grief and inquiry; +but it became suddenly invested with a dreadful significance, now +that it was rumored that he had been Lieschen's lover. Of all men +he would be the most affected by the tragic news; of all men he +would have been the first to tender sympathy and aid to the +afflicted parents, and the most clamorous in the search for the +undiscovered culprit. Yet, while all Nuremberg was crowding round +the house of sorrow, which was also his house of business, he alone +remained away. This naturally pointed suspicion at him. When the +messengers had gone to seek him, his mother refused them admission, +declaring in incoherent phrases, betraying great agitation, that +her son was gone distracted with grief and could see no one. On +this it was determined to order his arrest. The police went, the +house was searched, and the waistcoat found. + +The testimony of the girl who lived as servant in Kerkel's house +was also criminatory. She deposed that on the night in question +she awoke about half-past eleven with a violent toothache; she was +certain as to the hour, because she heard the clock afterwards +strike twelve. She felt some alarm at hearing voices in the rooms +at an hour when her mistress and young master must long ago have +gone to bed; but as the voices were seemingly in quiet +conversation, her alarm subsided, and she concluded that instead of +having gone to bed her mistress was still up. In her pain she +heard the door gently open, and then she heard footsteps in the +garden. This surprised her very much. She couldn't think what the +young master could want going out at that hour. She became +terrified without knowing exactly at what. Fear quite drove away +the toothache, which had not since returned. After lying there +quaking for some time, again she heard footsteps in the garden; the +door opened and closed gently; voices were heard; and she at last +distinctly heard her mistress say, "Be a man, Franz. Good-night-- +sleep well;" upon which Franz replied in a tone of great agony, +"There's no chance of sleep for me." Then all was silent. Next +morning her mistress seemed "very queer." Her young master went +out very early, but soon came back again; and there were dreadful +scenes going on in his room, as she heard, but she didn't know what +it was all about. She heard of the murder from a neighbor, but +never thought of its having any particular interest for Mr. Franz, +though, of course, he would be very sorry for the Lehfeldts. + +The facts testified to by the servant, especially the going out at +that late hour, and the "dreadful scenes" of the morning, seemed to +bear but one interpretation. Moreover, she identified the +waistcoat as the one worn by Franz on the day preceding the fatal +night. + + +III + +THE ACCUSED + + +Now at last the pent-up wrath found a vent. From the distracting +condition of wandering uncertain suspicion, it had been recalled +into the glad security of individual hate. Although up to this +time Kerkel had borne an exemplary reputation, it was now +remembered that he had always been of a morose and violent temper, +a hypocrite in religion, a selfish sensualist. Several sagacious +critics had long "seen through him"; others had "never liked him"; +others had wondered how it was he kept his place so long in +Lehfeldt's shop. Poor fellow! his life and actions, like those of +every one else when illuminated by a light thrown back upon them, +seemed so conspicuously despicable, although when illuminated in +their own light they had seemed innocent enough. His mother's +frantic protestations of her son's innocence--her assertions that +Franz loved Lieschen more than his own soul--only served to envelop +her in the silent accusation of being an accomplice, or at least of +being an accessory after the fact. + +I cannot say why it was, but I did not share the universal belief. +The logic seemed to me forced; the evidence trivial. On first +hearing of Kerkel's arrest, I eagerly questioned my informant +respecting his personal appearance; and on hearing that he was +fair, with blue eyes and flaxen hair, my conviction of his +innocence was fixed. Looking back on these days, I am often amused +at this characteristic of my constructive imagination. While +rejecting the disjointed logic of the mob, which interpreted his +guilt, I was myself deluded by a logic infinitely less rational. +Had Kerkel been dark, with dark eyes and beard, I should probably +have sworn to his guilt, simply because the idea of that stranger +had firmly fixed itself in my mind. + +All that afternoon, and all the next day, the busy hum of voices +was raised by the one topic of commanding interest. Kerkel had +been examined. He at once admitted that a secret betrothal had for +some time existed between him and Lieschen. They had been led to +take this improper step by fear of her parents, who, had the +attachment been discovered, would, it was thought, have separated +them for ever. Herr Lehfeldt's sternness, no less than his +superior position, seemed an invincible obstacle, and the good +mother, although doting upon her only daughter, was led by the very +intensity of her affection to form ambitious hopes of her +daughter's future. It was barely possible that some turn in events +might one day yield an opening for their consent; but meanwhile +prudence dictated secrecy, in order to avert the most pressing +danger, that of separation. + +And so the pretty Lieschen, with feminine instinct of ruse, had +affected to treat her lover with indifference; and to compensate +him and herself for this restraint, she had been in the habit of +escaping from home once or twice a week, and spending a delicious +hour or two at night in the company of her lover and his mother. +Kerkel and his mother lived in a cottage a little way outside the +town. Lehfeldt's shop stood not many yards from the archway. Now, +as in Nuremberg no one was abroad after ten o'clock, except a few +loungers at the cafes and beer-houses, and these were only to be +met inside the town, not outside it, Lieschen ran extremely little +risk of being observed in her rapid transit from her father's to +her lover's house. Nor, indeed, had she ever met anyone in the +course of these visits. + +On the fatal night Lieschen was expected at the cottage. Mother +and son waited at first hopefully, then anxiously, at last with +some vague uneasiness at her non-appearance. It was now a quarter +past eleven--nearly an hour later than her usual time. They +occasionally went to the door to look for her; then they walked a +few yards down the road, as if to catch an earlier glimpse of her +advancing steps. But in vain. The half-hour struck. They came +back into the cottage, discussing the various probabilities of +delay. Three-quarters struck. Perhaps she had been detected; +perhaps she was ill; perhaps--but this was his mother's suggestion, +and took little hold of him--there had been visitors who had stayed +later than usual, and Lieschen, finding the night so advanced, had +postponed her visit to the morrow. Franz, who interpreted +Lieschen's feelings by his own, was assured that no postponement of +a voluntary kind was credible of her. Twelve o'clock struck. +Again Franz went out into the road, and walked nearly up to the +archway; he returned with heavy sadness and foreboding at his +heart, reluctantly admitting that now all hope of seeing her that +night was over. That night? Poor sorrowing heart, the night was +to be eternal! The anguish of the desolate "never more" was +awaiting him. + +There is something intensely pathetic in being thus, as it were, +spectators of a tragic drama which is being acted on two separate +stages at once--the dreadful link of connection, which is unseen to +the separate actors, being only too vividly seen by the spectators. +It was with some interest that I, who believed in Kerkel's +innocence, heard this story; and in imagination followed its +unfolding stage. He went to bed, not, as may be expected, to +sleep; tossing restlessly in feverish agitation, conjuring up many +imaginary terrors--but all of them trifles compared with the dread +reality which he was so soon to face. He pictured her weeping--and +she was lying dead on the cold pavement of the dark archway. He +saw her in agitated eloquence pleading with offended parents--and +she was removed for ever from all agitations, with the peace of +death upon her young face. + +At an early hour he started, that he might put an end to his +suspense. He had not yet reached the archway before the shattering +news burst upon him. From that moment he remembered nothing. But +his mother described his ghastly agitation, as, throwing himself +upon her neck, he told her, through dreadful sobs, the calamity +which had fallen. She did her best to comfort him; but he grew +wilder and wilder, and rolled upon the ground in the agony of an +immeasurable despair. She trembled for his reason and his life. +And when the messengers came to seek him, she spoke but the simple +truth in saying that he was like one distracted. Yet no sooner had +a glimpse of light dawned on him that some vague suspicion rested +on him in reference to the murder, than he started up, flung away +his agitation, and, with a calmness which was awful, answered every +question, and seemed nerved for every trial. From that moment not +a sob escaped him until, in the narrative of the night's events, he +came to that part which told of the sudden disclosure of his +bereavement. And the simple, straightforward manner in which he +told this tale, with a face entirely bloodless, and eyes that +seemed to have withdrawn all their light inwards, made a great +impression on the audience, which was heightened into sympathy when +the final sob, breaking through the forced calmness, told of the +agony which was eating its fiery way through the heart. + +The story was not only plausible in itself, but accurately tallied +with what before had seemed like the criminating evidence of the +maid; tallied, moreover, precisely as to time, which would hardly +have been the case had the story been an invention. As to the +waistcoat which had figured so conspicuously in all the rumors, it +appeared that suspicion had monstrously exaggerated the facts. +Instead of a waistcoat plashed with blood--as popular imagination +pictured it--it was a gray waistcoat, with one spot and a slight +smear of blood, which admitted of a very simple explanation. Three +days before, Franz had cut his left hand in cutting some bread; and +to this the maid testified, because she was present when the +accident occurred. He had not noticed that his waistcoat was +marked by it until the next day, and had forgotten to wash out the +stains. + +People outside shook skeptical heads at this story of the cut hand. +The bloody waistcoat was not to be disposed of in that easy way. +It had fixed itself too strongly in their imagination. Indeed, my +belief is that even could they have seen the waistcoat, its +insignificant marks would have appeared murderous patches to their +eyes. I had seen it, and my report was listened to with ill- +concealed disbelief, when not with open protestation. And when +Kerkel was discharged as free from all suspicion, there was a low +growl of disappointed wrath heard from numerous groups. + +This may sympathetically be understood by whomsoever remembers the +painful uneasiness of the mind under a great stress of excitement +with no definite issue. The lust for a vengeance, demanded by the +aroused sensibilities of compassion, makes men credulous in their +impatience; they easily believe anyone is guilty, because they feel +an imperious need for fastening the guilt upon some definite head. +Few verdicts of "Not Guilty" are well received, unless another +victim is at hand upon whom the verdict of guilty is likely to +fall. It was demonstrable to all judicial minds that Kerkel was +wholly, pathetically innocent. In a few days this gradually became +clear to the majority, but at first it was resisted as an attempt +to balk justice; and to the last there were some obstinate +doubters, who shook their heads mysteriously, and said, with a +certain incisiveness, "Somebody must have done it; I should very +much like to know who." + +Suspicion once more was drifting aimlessly. None had pointed in +any new direction. No mention of anyone whom I could identify with +the stranger had yet been made; but, although silent on the +subject, I kept firm in my conviction, and I sometimes laughed at +the pertinacity with which I scrutinized the face of every man I +met, if he happened to have a black beard; and as black beards are +excessively common, my curiosity, though never gratified, was never +allowed repose. + +Meanwhile Lieschen's funeral had been emphatically a public +mourning. Nay, so great was the emotion, that it almost deadened +the interest which otherwise would have been so powerful, in the +news now daily reaching us from Paris. Blood had flowed upon her +streets--in consequence of that pistol-shot, which, either by +accident or criminal intent, had converted the demonstration before +the hotel of the Minister of Foreign Affairs into an insurrection. +Paris had risen; barricades were erected. The troops were under +arms. This was agitating news. + +Such is the solidarity of all European nations, and so quick are +all to vibrate in unison with the vibrations of each, that events +like those transacted in Paris necessarily stirred every city, no +matter how remote, nor politically how secure. And it says much +for the intense interest excited by the Lehfeldt tragedy that +Nuremberg was capable of sustaining that interest even amid the +tremendous pressure of the February Revolution. It is true that +Nuremberg is at all times somewhat sequestered from the great +movements of the day, following slowly in the rear of great waves; +it is true, moreover, that some politicians showed remarkable +eagerness in canvassing the characters and hopes of Louis Philippe +and Guizot; but although such events would at another period have +formed the universal interest, the impenetrable mystery hanging +over Lieschen's death threw the Revolution into the background of +their thoughts. If when a storm is raging over the dreary +moorland, a human cry of suffering is heard at the door, at once +the thunders and the tumult sink into insignificance, and are not +even heard by the ear which is pierced with the feeble human voice: +the grandeurs of storm and tempest, the uproar of surging seas, the +clamorous wail of sea-birds amid the volleying artillery of heaven, +in vain assail the ear that has once caught even the distant cry of +a human agony, or serve only as scenical accompaniments to the +tragedy which is foreshadowed by that cry. And so it was amid the +uproar of 1848. A kingdom was in convulsions; but here, at our +door, a young girl had been murdered, and two hearths made +desolate. Rumors continued to fly about. The assassin was always +about to be discovered; but he remained shrouded in impenetrable +darkness. A remark made by Bourgonef struck me much. Our host, +Zum Bayerischen Hof, one day announced with great satisfaction that +he had himself heard from the syndic that the police were on the +traces of the assassin. + +"I am sorry to hear it," said Bourgonef. + +The guests paused from eating, and looked at him with astonishment. + +"It is a proof," he added, "that even the police now give it up as +hopeless. I always notice that whenever the police are said to be +on the traces the malefactor is never tracked. When they are on +his traces they wisely say nothing about it; they allow it to be +believed that they are baffled, in order to lull their victim into +a dangerous security. When they know themselves to be baffled, +there is no danger in quieting the public mind, and saving their +own credit, by announcing that they are about to be successful." + + +IV + +A DISCOVERY + + +Bourgonef's remark had been but too sagacious. The police were +hoplessly baffled. In all such cases possible success depends upon +the initial suggestion either of a motive which leads to a +suspicion of the person, or of some person which leads to a +suspicion of the motive. Once set suspicion on the right track, +and evidence is suddenly alight in all quarters. But, unhappily, +in the present case there was no assignable motive, no shadow +darkening any person. + +An episode now came to our knowledge in which Bourgonef manifested +an unusual depth of interest. I was led to notice this interest, +because it had seemed to me that in the crime itself, and the +discussions which arose out of it, he shared but little of the +universal excitement. I do not mean that he was indifferent--by no +means; but the horror of the crime did not seem to fascinate his +imagination as it fascinated ours. He could talk quite as readily +of other things, and far more readily of the French affairs. But +on the contrary, in this new episode he showed peculiar interest. +It appeared that Lehfeldt, moved, perhaps, partly by a sense of the +injustice which had been done to Kerkel in even suspecting him of +the crime, and in submitting him to an examination more poignantly +affecting to him under such circumstances than a public trial would +have been under others; and moved partly by the sense that +Lieschen's love had practically drawn Kerkel within the family--for +her choice of him as a husband had made him morally, if not +legally, a son-in-law; and moved partly by the sense of loneliness +which had now settled on their childless home,--Lehfeldt had in the +most pathetic and considerate terms begged Kerkel to take the place +of his adopted son, and become joint partner with him in the +business. This, however, Kerkel had gently yet firmly declined. +He averred that he felt no injury, though great pain had been +inflicted on him by the examination. He himself in such a case +would not have shrunk from demanding that his own brother should be +tried, under suspicions of similar urgency. It was simple justice +that all who were suspected should be examined; justice also to +them that they might for ever clear themselves of doubtful +appearances. But for the rest, while he felt his old affectionate +respect for his master, he could recognize no claim to be removed +from his present position. Had she lived, said the heartbroken +youth, he would gladly have consented to accept any fortune which +her love might bestow, because he felt that his own love and the +devotion of a life might repay it. But there was nothing now that +he could give in exchange. For his services he was amply paid; his +feelings towards Lieschen's parents must continue what they had +ever been. In vain Lehfeldt pleaded, in vain many friends argued. +Franz remained respectfully firm in his refusal. + +This, as I said, interested Bourgonef immensely. He seemed to +enter completely into the minds of the sorrowing, pleading parents, +and the sorrowing, denying lover. He appreciated and expounded +their motives with a subtlety and delicacy of perception which +surprised and delighted me. It showed the refinement of his moral +nature. But, at the same time, it rendered his minor degree of +interest in the other episodes of the story, those which had a more +direct and overpowering appeal to the heart, a greater paradox. + +Human nature is troubled in the presence of all mystery which has +not by long familiarity lost its power of soliciting attention; and +for my own part, I have always been uneasy in the presence of moral +problems. Puzzled by the contradictions which I noticed in +Bourgonef, I tried to discover whether he had any general +repugnance to stories of crimes, or any special repugnance to +murders, or, finally, any strange repugnance to this particular +case now everywhere discussed. And it is not a little remarkable +that during three separate interviews, in the course of which I +severally, and as I thought artfully, introduced these topics, +making them seem to arise naturally out of the suggestion of our +talk, I totally failed to arrive at any distinct conclusion. I was +afraid to put the direct question: Do you not share the common +feeling of interest in criminal stories? This question would +doubtless have elicited a categorical reply; but somehow, the +consciousness of an arriere-pensee made me shrink from putting such +a question. + +Reflecting on this indifference on a special point, and on the +numerous manifestations I had noticed of his sensibility, I came at +last to the conclusion that he must be a man of tender heart, whose +delicate sensibilities easily shrank from the horrible under every +form; and no more permitted him to dwell unnecessarily upon painful +facts, than they permit imaginative minds to dwell on the details +of an operation. + +I had not long settled this in my mind before an accident suddenly +threw a lurid light upon many details noticed previously, and +painfully revived that inexplicable repulsion with which I had at +first regarded him. A new suspicion filled my mind, or rather, let +me say, a distinct shape was impressed upon many fluctuating +suspicions. It scarcely admitted of argument, and at times seemed +preposterous, nevertheless it persisted. The mind which in broad +daylight assents to all that can be alleged against the absurdities +of the belief in apparitions, will often acknowledge the dim +terrors of darkness and loneliness--terrors at possibilities of +supernatural visitations. In like manner, in the clear daylight of +reason I could see the absurdity of my suspicion, but the vague +stirrings of feeling remained unsilenced. I was haunted by the dim +horrors of a possibility. + +Thus it arose. We were both going to Munich, and Bourgonef had +shortened his contemplated stay at Nuremberg that he might have the +pleasure of accompanying me; adding also that he, too, should be +glad to reach Munich, not only for its art, but for its greater +command of papers and intelligence respecting what was then going +on in France. On the night preceding the morning of our departure, +I was seated in his room, smoking and discussing as usual, while +Ivan, his servant, packed up his things in two large portmanteaus. + +Ivan was a serf who spoke no word of any language but his own. +Although of a brutal, almost idiotic type, he was loudly eulogized +by his master as the model of fidelity and usefulness. Bourgonef +treated him with gentleness, though with a certain imperiousness; +much as one might treat a savage mastiff which it was necessary to +dominate without exasperating. He more than once spoke of Ivan as +a living satire on physiognomists and phrenologists; and as I am a +phrenologist, I listened with some incredulity. + +"Look at him," he would say. "Observe the low, retreating brow, +the flat face, the surly mouth, the broad base of the head, and the +huge bull-like neck. Would not anyone say Ivan was as destructive +as a panther, as tenacious as a bull-dog, as brutal as a bull? Yet +he is the gentlest of sluggish creatures, and as tender-hearted as +a girl! That thick-set muscular frame shrouds a hare's heart. He +is so faithful and so attached that I believe for me he would risk +his life; but on no account could you get him to place himself in +danger on his own account. Part of his love for me is gratitude +for having rescued him from the conscription: the dangers incident +to a military life had no charm for him!" + +Now, although Bourgonef, who was not a phrenologist, might be +convinced of the absence of ferocious instincts in Ivan, to me, as +a phrenologist, the statement was eminently incredible. All the +appearances of his manner were such as to confirm his master's +opinion. He was quiet, even tender in his attentions. But the +tyrannous influence of ideas and physical impressions cannot be set +aside; and no evidence would permanently have kept down my distrust +of this man. When women shriek at the sight of a gun, it is in +vain that you solemnly assure them that the gun is not loaded. "I +don't know," they reply,--"at any rate, I don't like it." I was +much in this attitude with regard to Ivan. He might be harmless. +I didn't know that; what I did know was--that I didn't like his +looks. + +On this night he was moving noiselessly about the room, employed in +packing. Bourgonef's talk rambled over the old themes; and I +thought I had never before met with one of my own age whose society +was so perfectly delightful. He was not so conspicuously my +superior on all points that I felt the restraints inevitably +imposed by superiority; yet he was in many respects sufficiently +above me in knowledge and power to make me eager to have his assent +to my views where we differed, and to have him enlighten me where I +knew myself to be weak. + +In the very moment of my most cordial admiration came a shock. +Ivan, on passing from one part of the room to the other, caught his +foot in the strap of the portmanteau and fell. The small wooden +box, something of a glove-box, which he held in his hand at the +time, fell on the floor, and falling over, discharged its contents +close to Bourgonef's feet. The objects which caught my eyes were +several pairs of gloves, a rouge-pot and hare's foot, and a black +beard! + +By what caprice of imagination was it that the sight of this false +beard lying at Bourgonef's feet thrilled me with horror? In one +lightning-flash I beheld the archway--the stranger with the +startled eyes--this stranger no longer unknown to me, but too +fatally recognized as Bourgonef--and at his feet the murdered girl! + +Moved by what subtle springs of suggestion I know not, but there +before me stood that dreadful vision, seen in a lurid light, but +seen as clearly as if the actual presence of the objects were +obtruding itself upon my eyes. In the inexpressible horror of this +vision my heart seemed clutched with an icy hand. + +Fortunately Bourgonef's attention was called away from me. He +spoke angrily some short sentence, which of course was in Russian, +and therefore unintelligible to me. He then stooped, and picking +up the rouge-pot, held it towards me with his melancholy smile. He +was very red in the face; but that may have been either anger or +the effect of sudden stooping. "I see you are surprised at these +masquerading follies," he said in a tone which, though low, was +perfectly calm. "You must not suppose that I beautify my sallow +cheeks on ordinary occasions." + +He then quietly handed the pot to Ivan, who replaced it with the +gloves and the beard in the box; and after making an inquiry which +sounded like a growl, to which Bourgonef answered negatively, he +continued his packing. + +Bourgonef resumed his cigar and his argument as if nothing had +happened. + +The vision had disappeared, but a confused mass of moving figures +took its place. My heart throbbed so violently that it seemed to +me as if its tumult must be heard by others. Yet my face must have +been tolerably calm, since Bourgonef made no comment on it. + +I answered his remarks in vague fragments, for, in truth, my +thoughts were flying from conjecture to conjecture. I remembered +that the stranger had a florid complexion; was this rouge? It is +true that I fancied the stranger carried a walking-stick in his +right hand; if so, this was enough to crush all suspicions of his +identity with Bourgonef; but then I was rather hazy on this point, +and probably did not observe a walking-stick. + +After a while my inattention struck him, and looking at me with +some concern, he inquired if there was anything the matter. I +pleaded a colic, which I attributed to the imprudence of having +indulged in sauerkraut at dinner. He advised me to take a little +brandy; but, affecting a fresh access of pain, I bade him good- +night. He hoped I should be all right on the morrow--if not, he +added, we can postpone our journey till the day after. + +Once in my own room I bolted the door, and sat down on the edge of +the bed in a tumult of excitement. + + +V + +FLUCTUATIONS + + +Alone with my thoughts, and capable of pursuing conjectures and +conclusions without external interruption, I quickly exhausted all +the hypothetical possibilities of the case, and, from having +started with the idea that Bourgonef was the assassin, I came at +last to the more sensible conclusion that I was a constructive +blockhead. My suspicions were simply outrageous in their defect of +evidence, and could never for one moment have seemed otherwise to +any imagination less riotously active than mine. + +I bathed my heated head, undressed myself, and got into bed, +considering what I should say to the police when I went next +morning to communicate my suspicions. And it is worthy of remark, +as well as somewhat ludicrously self-betraying, that no sooner did +I mentally see myself in the presence of the police, and was thus +forced to confront my suspicions with some appearance of evidence, +than the whole fabric of my vision rattled to the ground. What had +I to say to the police? Simply that, on the evening of the night +when Lieschen was murdered, I had passed in a public thoroughfare a +man whom I could not identify, but who as I could not help +fancying, seemed to recognize me. This man, I had persuaded +myself, was the murderer; for which persuasion I was unable to +adduce a tittle of evidence. It was uncolored by the remotest +possibility. It was truly and simply the suggestion of my vagrant +fancy, which had mysteriously settled itself into a conviction; and +having thus capriciously identified the stranger with Lieschen's +murderer, I now, upon evidence quite as preposterous, identified +Bourgonef with the stranger. + +The folly became apparent even to myself. If Bourgonef had in his +possession a rouge-pot and false beard, I could not but acknowledge +that he made no attempt to conceal them, nor had he manifested any +confusion on their appearance. He had quietly characterized them +as masquerading follies. Moreover, I now began to remember +distinctly that the stranger did carry a walking-stick in his right +hand; and as Bourgonef had lost his right arm, that settled the +point. + +Into such complications, would the tricks of imagination lead me! +I blushed mentally, and resolved to let it serve as a lesson in +future. It is needless, however, to say that the lesson was lost, +as such lessons always are lost; a strong tendency in any direction +soon disregards all the teachings of experience. I am still not +the less the victim of my constructive imagination, because I have +frequently had to be ashamed of its vagaries. + +The next morning I awoke with a lighter breast, rejoicing in the +caution which had delayed me from any rash manifestation of +suspicions now seen to be absurd. I smiled as the thought arose: +what if this suspected stranger should also be pestered by an +active imagination, and should entertain similar suspicions of me? +He must have seen in my eyes the look of recognition which I saw in +his. On hearing of the murder, our meeting may also have recurred +to him; and his suspicions would have this color, wanting to mine, +that I happen to inherit with my Italian blood a somewhat truculent +appearance, which has gained for me among my friends the playful +sobriquet of "the brigand." + +Anxious to atone at once for my folly, and to remove from my mind +any misgiving--if it existed--at my quitting him so soon after the +disclosures of the masquerading details, I went to Bourgonef as +soon as I was dressed and proposed a ramble till the diligence +started for Munich. He was sympathetic in his inquiries about my +colic, which I assured him had quite passed away, and out we went. +The sharp morning air of March made us walk briskly, and gave a +pleasant animation to our thoughts. As he discussed the acts of +the provisional government, so wise, temperate, and energetic, the +fervor and generosity of his sentiments stood out in such striking +contrast with the deed I had last night recklessly imputed to him +that I felt deeply ashamed, and was nearly carried away by mingled +admiration and self-reproach to confess the absurd vagrancy of my +thoughts and humbly ask his pardon. But you can understand the +reluctance at a confession so insulting to him, so degrading to me. +It is at all times difficult to tell a man, face to face, eye to +eye, the evil you have thought of him, unless the recklessness of +anger seizes on it as a weapon with which to strike; and I had now +so completely unsaid to myself all that I once had thought of evil, +that to put it in words seemed a gratuitous injury to me and insult +to him. + +A day or two after our arrival in Munich a reaction began steadily +to set in. Ashamed as I was of my suspicions, I could not +altogether banish from my mind the incident which had awakened +them. The image of that false beard would mingle with my thoughts. +I was vaguely uncomfortable at the idea of Bourgonef's carrying +about with him obvious materials of disguise. In itself this would +have had little significance; but coupled with the fact that his +devoted servant was--in spite of all Bourgonef's eulogies-- +repulsively ferocious in aspect, capable, as I could not help +believing, of any brutality,--the suggestion was unpleasant. You +will understand that having emphatically acquitted Bourgonef in my +mind, I did not again distinctly charge him with any complicity in +the mysterious murder; on the contrary, I should indignantly have +repelled such a thought; but the uneasy sense of some mystery about +him, coupled with the accessories of disguise, and the aspect of +the servant, gave rise to dim, shadowy forebodings which ever and +anon passed across my mind. + +Did it ever occur to you, reader, to reflect on the depths of +deceit which lie still and dark even in the honestest minds? +Society reposes on a thin crust of convention, underneath which lie +fathomless possibilities of crime, and consequently suspicions of +crime. Friendship, however close and dear, is not free from its +reserves, unspoken beliefs, more or less suppressed opinions. The +man whom you would indignantly defend against any accusation +brought by another, so confident are you in his unshakable +integrity, you may yourself momentarily suspect of crimes far +exceeding those which you repudiate. Indeed, I have known +sagacious men hold that perfect frankness in expressing the +thoughts is a sure sign of imperfect friendship; something is +always suppressed; and it is not he who loves you that "tells you +candidly what he thinks" of your person, your pretensions, your +children, or your poems. Perfect candor is dictated by envy, or +some other unfriendly feeling, making friendship a stalking-horse, +under cover of which it shoots the arrow which will rankle. +Friendship is candid only when the candor is urgent--meant to avert +impending danger or to rectify an error. The candor which is an +impertinence never springs from friendship. Love is sympathetic. + +I do not, of course, mean to intimate that my feeling for Bourgonef +was of that deep kind which justifies the name of friendship. I +only want to say that in our social relations we are constantly +hiding from each other, under the smiles and courtesies of friendly +interest, thoughts which, if expressed, would destroy all possible +communion--and that, nevertheless, we are not insincere in our +smiles and courtesies; and therefore there is nothing paradoxical +in my having felt great admiration for Bourgonef, and great +pleasure in his society, while all the time there was deep down in +the recesses of my thoughts an uneasy sense of a dark mystery which +possibly connected him with a dreadful crime. + +This feeling was roused into greater activity by an incident which +now occurred. One morning I went to Bourgonef's room, which was at +some distance from mine on the same floor, intending to propose a +visit to the sculpture at the Glyptothek. To my surprise I found +Ivan the serf standing before the closed door. He looked at me +like a mastiff about to spring; and intimated by significant +gestures that I was not allowed to enter the room. Concluding that +his master was occupied in some way, and desired not to be +disturbed, I merely signified by a nod that my visit was of no +consequence, and went out. On returning about an hour afterwards I +saw Ivan putting three pink letters into the letter-box of the +hotel. I attached no significance to this very ordinary fact at +the time, but went up to my room and began writing my letters, one +of which was to my lawyer, sending him an important receipt. The +dinner-bell sounded before I had half finished this letter; but I +wrote on, determined to have done with it at once, in case the +afternoon should offer any expedition with Bourgonef. + +At dinner he quietly intimated that Ivan had informed him of my +visit, and apologized for not having been able to see me. I, of +course, assured him that no apology was necessary, and that we had +plenty of time to visit sculpture together without intruding on his +private hours. He informed me that he was that afternoon going to +pay a visit to Schwanthaler, the sculptor, and if I desired it, he +would ask permission on another occasion to take me with him. I +jumped at the proposal, as may be supposed. + +Dinner over, I strolled into the Englische Garten, and had my +coffee and cigar there. On my return I was vexed to find that in +the hurry of finishing my letters I had sealed the one to my +lawyer, and had not enclosed the receipt which had been the object +of writing. Fortunately it was not too late. Descending to the +bureau of the hotel, I explained my mistake to the head-waiter, who +unlocked the letter-box to search for my letter. It was found at +once, for there were only seven or eight in the box. Among these +my eye naturally caught the three pink letters which I had that +morning seen Ivan drop into the box; but although they were SEEN by +me they were not NOTICED at the time, my mind being solely occupied +with rectifying the stupid blunder I had made. + +Once more in my own room a sudden revelation startled me. Everyone +knows what it is to have details come under the eye which the mind +first interprets long after the eye ceases to rest upon them. The +impressions are received passively; but they are registered, and +can be calmly read whenever the mind is in activity. It was so +now. I suddenly, as if now for the first time, saw that the +addresses on Bourgonef's letters were written in a fluent, masterly +hand, bold in character, and with a certain sweep which might have +come from a painter. The thrill which this vision gave will be +intelligible when you remember that Bourgonef had lost or pretended +to have lost his right arm, and was, as I before intimated, far +from dexterous with his left. That no man recently thrown upon the +use of a left hand could have written those addresses was too +evident. What, then, was the alternative? The empty sleeve was an +imposture! At once the old horrible suspicion returned, and this +time with tenfold violence, and with damnatory confirmation. + +Pressing my temples between my hands, I tried to be calm and to +survey the evidence without precipitation; but for some time the +conflict of thoughts was too violent. Whatever might be the +explanation, clear it was that Bourgonef, for some purposes, was +practising a deception, and had, as I knew, other means of +disguising his appearance. This, on the most favorable +interpretation, branded him with suspicion. This excluded him from +the circle of honest men. + +But did it connect him with the murder of Lieschen Lehfeldt? In my +thought it did so indubitably; but I was aware of the difficulty of +making this clear to anyone else. + + +VI + +FIRST LOVE + + +If the reader feels that my suspicions were not wholly unwarranted, +were indeed inevitable, he will not laugh at me on learning that +once more these suspicions were set aside, and the fact--the +damnatory fact, as I regarded it--discovered by me so accidentally, +and, I thought, providentially, was robbed of all its significance +by Bourgonef himself casually and carelessly avowing it in +conversation, just as one may avow a secret infirmity, with some +bitterness, but without any implication of deceit in its +concealment. + +I was the more prepared for this revulsion of feeling, by the +difficulty I felt in maintaining my suspicions in the presence of +one so gentle and so refined. He had come into my room that +evening to tell me of his visit to Schwanthaler, and of the +sculptor's flattering desire to make my personal acquaintance. He +spoke of Schwanthaler, and his earnest efforts in art, with so much +enthusiasm, and was altogether so charming, that I felt abashed +before him, incapable of ridding myself of the dreadful suspicions, +yet incapable of firmly believing him to be what I thought. But +more than this, there came the new interest awakened in me by his +story; and when, in the course of his story, he accidentally +disclosed the fact that he had not lost his arm, all my suspicions +vanished at once. + +We had got, as usual, upon politics, and were differing more than +usual, because he gave greater prominence to his sympathy with the +Red Republicans. He accused me of not being "thorough-going," +which I admitted. This he attributed to the fact of my giving a +divided heart to politics--a condition natural enough at my age, +and with my hopes. "Well," said I, laughing, "you don't mean to +take a lofty stand upon your few years' seniority. If my age +renders it natural, does yours profoundly alter such a conviction?" + +"My age, no. But you have the hopes of youth. I have none. I am +banished for ever from the joys and sorrows of domestic life; and +therefore, to live at all, must consecrate my soul to great +abstractions and public affairs." + +"But why banished, unless self-banished?" + +"Woman's love is impossible. You look incredulous. I do not +allude to this," he said, taking up the empty sleeve, and by so +doing sending a shiver through me. + +"The loss of your arm," I said--and my voice trembled slightly, for +I felt that a crisis was at hand--"although a misfortune to you, +would really be an advantage in gaining a woman's affections. +Women are so romantic, and their imaginations are so easily +touched!" + +"Yes," he replied bitterly; "but the trouble is that I have not +lost my arm." + +I started. He spoke bitterly, yet calmly. I awaited his +explanation in great suspense. + +"To have lost my arm in battle, or even by an accident, would +perhaps have lent me a charm in woman's eyes. But, as I said, my +arm hangs by my side--withered, unpresentable." + +I breathed again. He continued in the same tone, and without +noticing my looks. + +"But it is not this which banishes me. Woman's love might be hoped +for, had I far worse infirmities. The cause lies deeper. It lies +in my history. A wall of granite has grown up between me and the +sex." + +"But, my dear fellow, do you--wounded, as I presume to guess, by +some unworthy woman--extend the fault of one to the whole sex? Do +you despair of finding another true, because a first was false?" + +"They are all false," he exclaimed with energy. "Not, perhaps, all +false from inherent viciousness, though many are that, but false +because their inherent weakness renders them incapable of truth. +Oh! I know the catalogue of their good qualities. They are often +pitiful, self-devoting, generous; but they are so by fits and +starts, just as they are cruel, remorseless, exacting, by fits and +starts. They have no constancy--they are too weak to be constant +even in evil; their minds are all impressions; their actions are +all the issue of immediate promptings. Swayed by the fleeting +impulses of the hour, they have only one persistent, calculable +motive on which reliance can always be placed--that motive is +vanity; you are always sure of them there. It is from vanity they +are good--from vanity they are evil; their devotion and their +desertion equally vanity. I know them. To me they have disclosed +the shallows of their natures. God! how I have suffered from +them!" + +A deep, low exclamation, half sob, half curse, closed his tirade. +He remained silent for a few minutes, looking on the floor, then, +suddenly turning his eyes upon me, said: + +"Were you ever in Heidelberg?" + +"Never." + +"I thought all your countrymen went there? Then you will never +have heard anything of my story. Shall I tell you how my youth was +blighted? Will you care to listen?" + +"It would interest me much." + +"I had reached the age of seven-and-twenty," he began, "without +having once known even the vague stirrings of the passion of love. +I admired many women, and courted the admiration of them all; but I +was as yet not only heart-whole, but, to use your Shakespeare's +phrase, Cupid had not tapped me on the shoulder. + +"This detail is not unimportant in my story. You may possibly have +observed that in those passionate natures which reserve their +force, and do not fritter away their feelings in scattered +flirtations or trivial love-affairs, there is a velocity and +momentum, when the movement of passion is once excited, greatly +transcending all that is ever felt by expansive and expressive +natures. Slow to be moved, when they do move it is with the whole +mass of the heart. So it was with me. I purchased my immunity +from earlier entanglements by the price of my whole life. I am not +what I was. Between my past and present self there is a gulf; that +gulf is dark, stormy, and profound. On the far side stands a youth +of hope, energy, ambition, and unclouded happiness, with great +capacities for loving; on this side a blighted manhood, with no +prospects but suffering and storm." + +He paused. With an effort he seemed to master the suggestions +which crowded upon his memory, and continued his narrative in an +equable tone. + +"I had been for several weeks at Heidelberg. One of my intimate +companions was Kestner, the architect, and he one day proposed to +introduce me to his sister-in-law, Ottilie, of whom he had +repeatedly spoken to me in terms of great affection and esteem. + +"We went, and we were most cordially received. Ottilie justified +Kestner's praises. Pretty, but not strikingly so--clever, but not +obtrusively so; her soft dark eyes were frank and winning; her +manner was gentle and retiring, with that dash of sentimentalism +which seems native to all German girls, but without any of the +ridiculous extravagance too often seen in them. I liked her all +the more because I was perfectly at my ease with her, and this was +rarely the case in my relations to young women. I don't enjoy +their society. + +"You leap at once to the conclusion that we fell in love. Your +conclusion is precipitate. Seeing her continually, I grew to +admire and respect her; but the significant smiles, winks, and +hints of friends, pointing unmistakably at a supposed understanding +existing between us, only made me more seriously examine the state +of my feelings, and assured me that I was not in love. It is true +that I felt a serene pleasure in her society, and that when away +from her she occupied much of my thoughts. It is true that I often +thought of her as a wife; and in these meditations she appeared as +one eminently calculated to make a happy home. But it is no less +true that during a temporary absence of hers of a few weeks I felt +no sort of uneasiness, no yearning for her presence, no vacancy in +my life. I knew, therefore, that it was not love which I felt. + +"So much for my feelings. What of hers? They seemed very like my +own. That she admired me, and was pleased to be with me, was +certain. That she had a particle of fiery love for me I did not, +could not believe. And it was probably this very sense of her +calmness which kept my feelings quiet. For love is a flame which +often can be kindled only by contact with flame. Certainly this is +so in proud, reserved natures, which are chilled by any contact +with temperature not higher than their own. + +"On her return, however, from that absence I have mentioned, I was +not a little fluttered by an obvious change in her manner; an +impression which subsequent meetings only served to confirm. +Although still very quiet, her manner had become more tender, and +it had that delicious shyness which is the most exquisite of +flatteries, as it is one of the most enchanting of graces. I saw +her tremble slightly beneath my voice, and blush beneath my gaze. + +"There was no mistaking these signs. It was clear that she loved +me; and it was no less clear that I, taking fire at this discovery, +was myself rapidly falling in love. I will not keep you from my +story by idle reflections. Take another cigar." He rose and paced +up and down the room in silence. + + +VII + +AGALMA + + +"At this juncture there arrived from Paris the woman to whom the +great sorrow of my life is due. A fatalist might read in her +appearance at this particular moment the signs of a prearranged +doom. A few weeks later, and her arrival would have been harmless; +I should have been shielded from all external influence by the +absorbing force of love. But, alas! this was not to be. My fate +had taken another direction. The woman had arrived whose shadow +was to darken the rest of my existence. That woman was Agalma +Liebenstein. + +"How is it that the head which we can only see surrounded with a +halo, or a shadow, when the splendors of achievement or the infamy +of shame instruct our eyes, is by the uninstructed eye observed as +wholly vulgar? We all profess to be physiognomists; how is it we +are so lamentably mistaken in our judgments? Here was a woman in +whom my ignorant eyes saw nothing at all remarkable except golden +hair of unusual beauty. When I say golden, I am not speaking +loosely. I do not mean red or flaxen hair, but hair actually +resembling burnished gold more than anything else. Its ripples on +her brow caught the light like a coronet. This was her one beauty, +and it was superb. For the rest, her features were characterless. +Her figure was tall and full; not graceful, but sweepingly +imposing. At first I noticed nothing about her except the braided +splendor of her glorious hair." + +He rose, and went into his bedroom, from which he returned with a +small trinket-box in his hand. This he laid open on the table, +disclosing a long strand of exquisite fair hair lying on a cushion +of dark-blue velvet. + +"Look at that," he said. "Might it not have been cut from an +angel's head?" + +"It is certainly wonderful." + +"It must have been hair like this which crowned the infamous head +of Lucrezia Borgia," he said, bitterly. "She, too, had golden +hair; but hers must have been of paler tint, like her nature." + +He resumed his seat, and, fixing his eyes upon the lock, continued: + +"She was one of Ottilie's friends--dear friends, they called each +other,--which meant that they kissed each other profusely, and told +each other all their secrets, or as much as the lying nature of the +sex permitted and suggested. It is, of course, impossible for me +to disentangle my present knowledge from my past impressions so as +to give you a clear description of what I then thought of Agalma. +Enough that, as a matter of fact, I distinctly remember not to have +admired her, and to have told Ottilie so; and when Ottilie, in +surprise at my insensibility, assured me that men were in general +wonderfully charmed with her (though, for her part, she had never +understood why), I answered, and answered sincerely, that it might +be true with the less refined order of men, but men of taste would +certainly be rather repelled from her. + +"This opinion of mine, or some report of it, reached Agalma. + +"It may have been the proximate cause of my sorrows. Without this +stimulus to her vanity, she might have left me undisturbed. I +don't know. All I know is, that over many men Agalma exercised +great influence, and that over me she exercised the spell of +fascination. No other word will explain her influence; for it was +not based on excellences such as the mind could recognize to be +attractions; it was based on a mysterious personal power, something +awful in its mysteriousness, as all demoniac powers are. One +source of her influence over men I think I can explain: she at once +captivated and repelled them. By artful appeals to their vanity, +she made them interested in her and in her opinion of them, and yet +kept herself inaccessible by a pride which was the more fascinating +because it always seemed about to give way. Her instinct fastened +upon the weak point in those she approached. This made her +seductive to men, because she flattered their weak points; and +hateful to women, because she flouted and disclosed their weak +points. + +"Her influence over me began in the following way. One day, at a +picnic, having been led by her into a conversation respecting the +relative inferiority of the feminine intellect, I was forced to +speak rather more earnestly than usual, when suddenly she turned to +me and exclaimed in a lower voice: + +"'I am willing to credit anything you say; only pray don't continue +talking to me so earnestly.' + +"'Why not?' I asked, surprised. + +"She looked at me with peculiar significance, but remained silent. + +"'May I ask why not?' I asked. + +"'Because, if you do, somebody may be jealous.' There was a +laughing defiance in her eye as she spoke. + +"'And pray, who has a right to be jealous of me?' + +"'Oh! you know well enough.' + +"It was true; I did know; and she knew that I knew it. To my shame +be it said that I was weak enough to yield to an equivocation which +I now see to have been disloyal, but which I then pretended to have +been no more than delicacy to Ottilie. As, in point of fact, there +had never been a word passed between us respecting our mutual +feelings, I considered myself bound in honor to assume that there +was nothing tacitly acknowledged. + +"Piqued by her tone and look, I disavowed the existence of any +claims upon my attention; and to prove the sincerity of my words, I +persisted in addressing my attentions to her. Once or twice I +fancied I caught flying glances, in which some of the company +criticised my conduct, and Ottilie also seemed to me unusually +quiet. But her manner, though quiet, was untroubled and unchanged. +I talked less to her than usual, partly because I talked so much to +Agalma, and partly because I felt that Agalma's eyes were on us. +But no shadow of 'temper' or reserve darkened our interchange of +speech. + +"On our way back, I know not what devil prompted me to ask Agalma +whether she had really been in earnest in her former allusion to +'somebody.' + +"'Yes,' she said, 'I was in earnest then.' + +"'And now?' + +"'Now I have doubts. I may have been misinformed. It's no concern +of mine, anyway; but I had been given to understand. However, I +admit that my own eyes have not confirmed what my ears heard.' + +"This speech was irritating on two separate grounds. It implied +that people were talking freely of my attachment, which, until I +had formally acknowledged it, I resented as an impertinence; and it +implied that, from personal observation, Agalma doubted Ottilie's +feelings for me. This alarmed my quick-retreating pride! I, too, +began to doubt. Once let loose on that field, imagination soon saw +shapes enough to confirm any doubt. Ottilie's manner certainly had +seemed less tender--nay, somewhat indifferent--during the last few +days. Had the arrival of that heavy lout, her cousin, anything to +do with this change? + +"Not to weary you by recalling all the unfolding stages of this +miserable story with the minuteness of detail which my own memory +morbidly lingers on, I will hurry to the catastrophe. I grew more +and more doubtful of the existence in Ottilie's mind of any feeling +stronger than friendship for me; and as this doubt strengthened, +there arose the flattering suspicion that I was becoming an object +of greater interest to Agalma, who had quite changed her tone +towards me, and had become serious in her speech and manner. Weeks +passed. Ottilie had fallen from her pedestal, and had taken her +place among agreeable acquaintances. One day I suddenly learned +that Ottilie was engaged to her cousin. + +"You will not wonder that Agalma, who before this had exercised +great fascination over me, now doubly became an object of the most +tender interest. I fell madly in love. Hitherto I had never known +that passion. My feeling for Ottilie I saw was but the +inarticulate stammerings of the mighty voice which now sounded +throught the depths of my nature. The phrase, madly in love, is no +exaggeration; madness alone knows such a fever of the brain, such a +tumult of the heart. It was not that reason was overpowered; on +the contrary, reason was intensely active, but active with that +logic of flames which lights up the vision of maniacs. + +"Although, of course, my passion was but too evident to every one, +I dreaded its premature avowal, lest I should lose her; and almost +equally dreaded delay, lest I should suffer from that also. At +length the avowal was extorted from me by jealousy of a brilliant +Pole--Korinski--who had recently appeared in our circle, and was +obviously casting me in the shade by his superior advantages of +novelty, of personal attraction, and of a romantic history. She +accepted me; and now, for a time, I was the happiest of mortals. +The fever of the last few weeks was abating; it gave place to a +deep tide of hopeful joy. Could I have died then! Could I have +even died shortly afterwards, when I knew the delicious mystery of +a jealousy not too absorbing! For you must know that my happiness +was brief. Jealousy, to which all passion of a deep and exacting +power is inevitably allied, soon began to disturb my content. +Agalma had no tenderness. She permitted caresses, never returned +them. She was ready enough to listen to all my plans for the +future, so long as the recital moved amid details of fortune and +her position in society--that is, so long as her vanity was +interested; but I began to observe with pain that her thoughts +never rested on tender domesticities and poetic anticipations. +This vexed me more and more. The very spell which she exercised +over me made her want of tenderness more intolerable. I yearned +for her love--for some sympathy with the vehement passion which was +burning within me; and she was as marble. + +"You will not be surprised to hear that I reproached her bitterly +for her indifference. That is the invariable and fatal folly of +lovers--they seem to imagine that a heart can be scolded into +tenderness! To my reproaches she at first answered impatiently +that they were unjust; that it was not her fault if her nature was +less expansive than mine; and that it was insulting to be told she +was indifferent to the man whom she had consented to marry. Later +she answered my reproaches with haughty defiance, one day +intimating that if I really thought what I said, and repented our +engagement, it would be most prudent for us to separate ere it was +too late. This quieted me for a while. But it brought no balm to +my wounds. + +"And now fresh tortures were added. Korinski became quite marked +in his attentions to Agalma. These she received with evident +delight; so much so, that I saw by the glances of others that they +were scandalized at it; and this, of course, increased my pain. My +renewed reproaches only made her manner colder to me; to Korinski +it became what I would gladly have seen towards myself. + +"The stress and agitation of those days were too much for me. I +fell ill, and for seven weeks lay utterly prostrate. On +recovering, this note was handed to me. It was from Agalma." + +Bourgonef here held out to me a crumpled letter, and motioned that +I should open it and read. It ran thus: + + +"I have thought much of what you have so often said, that it would +be for the happiness of both if our unfortunate engagement were set +aside. That you have a real affection for me I believe, and be +assured that I once had a real affection for you; not, perhaps, the +passionate love which a nature so exacting as yours demands, and +which I earnestly hope it may one day find, but a genuine affection +nevertheless, which would have made me proud to share your lot. +But it would be uncandid in me to pretend that this now exists. +Your incessant jealousy, the angry feelings excited by your +reproaches, the fretful irritation in which for some time we have +lived together, has completely killed what love I had, and I no +longer feel prepared to risk the happiness of both of us by a +marriage. What you said the other night convinces me that it is +even your desire our engagement should cease. It is certainly +mine. Let us try to think kindly of each other and meet again as +friends. + +AGALMA LIEBENSTEIN." + + +When I had read this and returned it to him, he said: + +"You see that this was written on the day I was taken ill. Whether +she knew that I was helpless I know not. At any rate, she never +sent to inquire after me. She went off to Paris; Korinski followed +her; and--as I quickly learned on going once more into society-- +they were married! Did you ever, in the whole course of your +experience, hear of such heartless conduct?" + +Bourgonef asked this with a ferocity which quite startled me. I +did not answer him; for, in truth, I could not see that Agalma had +been very much to blame, even as he told the story, and felt sure +that could I have heard her version it would have worn a very +different aspect. That she was cold, and disappointed him, might +be true enough, but there was no crime; and I perfectly understood +how thoroughly odious he must have made himself to her by his +exactions and reproaches. I understood this, perhaps, all the +better, because in the course of his narrative Bourgonef had +revealed to me aspects of his nature which were somewhat repulsive. +Especially was I struck with his morbid vanity, and his readiness +to impute low motives to others. This unpleasant view of his +character--a character in many respects so admirable for its +generosity and refinement--was deepened as he went on, instead of +awaiting my reply to his question. + +"For a wrong so measureless, you will naturally ask what +measureless revenge I sought." + +The idea had not occurred to me; indeed I could see no wrong, and +this notion of revenge was somewhat startling in such a case. + +"I debated it long," he continued. "I felt that since I was +prevented from arresting any of the evil to myself, I could at +least mature my plans for an adequate discharge of just +retributions on her. It reveals the impotence resulting from the +trammels of modern civilization, that while the possibilities of +wrong are infinite, the openings for vengeance are few and +contemptible. Only when a man is thrown upon the necessities of +this 'wild justice' does he discover how difficult vengeance really +is. Had Agalma been my wife, I could have wreaked my wrath upon +her, with assurance that some of the torture she inflicted on me +was to fall on her. Not having this power what was I to do? Kill +her? That would have afforded one moment of exquisite +satisfaction--but to her it would have been simply death--and I +wanted to kill the heart." + +He seemed working with an insane passion, so that I regarded him +with disgust, mingled with some doubts as to what horrors he was +about to relate. + +"My plan was chosen. The only way to reach her heart was to strike +through her husband. For several hours daily I practised with the +pistol, until--in spite of only having a left hand--I acquired +fatal skill. But this was not enough. Firing at a mark is simple +work. Firing at a man--especially one holding a pistol pointed at +you--is altogether different. I had too often heard of 'crack +shots' missing their men, to rely confidently on my skill in the +shooting gallery. It was necessary that my eye and hand should be +educated to familiarity with the real object. Part of the cause +why duelists miss their man is from the trepidation of fear. I was +without fear. At no moment in my life have I been afraid; and the +chance of being shot by Korinski I counted as nothing. The other +cause is unfamiliarity with the mark. This I secured myself +against by getting a lay figure of Korinski's height, dressing it +to resemble him, placing a pistol in its hand, and then practising +at this mark in the woods. After a short time I could send a +bullet through the thorax without taking more than a hasty glance +at the figure. + +"Thus prepared, I started for Paris. But you will feel for me when +you learn that my hungry heart was baffled of its vengeance, and +baffled for ever. Agalma had been carried off by scarlet fever. +Korinski had left Paris, and I felt no strong promptings to follow +him, and wreak on him a futile vengeance. It was on HER my wrath +had been concentrated, and I gnashed my teeth at the thought that +she had escaped me. + +"My story is ended. The months of gloomy depression which +succeeded, now that I was no longer sustained by the hope of +vengeance, I need not speak of. My existence was desolate, and +even now the desolation continues over the whole region of the +emotions. I carry a dead heart within me." + + +VIII + +A SECOND VICTIM + + +Bourgonef's story has been narrated with some fullness, though in +less detail than he told it, in order that the reader may +understand its real bearings on MY story. Without it, the motives +which impelled the strange pertinacity of my pursuit would have +been unintelligible. I have said that a very disagreeable +impression remained on my mind respecting certain aspects of his +character, and I felt somewhat ashamed of my imperfect sagacity in +having up to this period been entirely blind to those aspects. The +truth is, every human being is a mystery, and remains so to the +last. We fancy we know a character; we form a distinct conception +of it; for years that conception remains unmodified, and suddenly +the strain of some emergency, of the incidental stimulus of new +circumstances, reveals qualities not simply unexpected, but flatly +contradictory of our previous conception. We judge of a man by the +angle he subtends to our eye--only thus CAN we judge of him; and +this angle depends on the relation his qualities and circumstances +bear to our interests and sympathies. Bourgonef had charmed me +intellectually; morally I had never come closer to him than in the +sympathies of public questions and abstract theories. His story +had disclosed hidden depths. + +My old suspicions reappeared, and a conversation we had two days +afterwards helped to strengthen them. + +We had gone on a visit to Schwanthaler, the sculptor, at his tiny +little castle of Schwaneck, a few miles from Munich. The artist +was out for a walk, but we were invited to come in and await his +return, which would be shortly; and meanwhile Bourgonef undertook +to show me over the castle, interesting as a bit of modern Gothic, +realizing on a diminutive scale a youthful dream of the sculptor's. +When our survey was completed--and it did not take long--we sat at +one of the windows and enjoyed a magnificent prospect. "It is +curious," said Bourgonef, "to be shut up here in this imitation of +medieval masonry, where every detail speaks of the dead past, and +to think of the events now going on in Paris which must find +imitators all over Europe, and which open to the mind such vistas +of the future. What a grotesque anachronism is this Gothic castle, +built in the same age as that which sees a reforming pope!" + +"Yes; but is not the reforming pope himself an anachronism?" + +"As a Catholic," here he smiled, intimating that his orthodoxy was +not very stringent, "I cannot admit that; as a Protestant, you must +admit that if there must be a pope, he must in these days be a +reformer, or--give up his temporal power. Not that I look on Pio +Nono as more than a precursor; he may break ground, and point the +way, but he is not the man to lead Europe out of its present slough +of despond, and under the headship of the Church found a new and +lasting republic. We want a Hildebrand, one who will be to the +nineteenth century as Gregory was to the eleventh." + +"Do you believe in such a possibility? Do you think the Roman +pontiff can ever again sway the destinies of Europe?" + +"I can hardly say I believe it; yet I see the possibility of such +an opening if the right man were to arise. But I fear he will not +arise; or if he should, the Conclave will stifle him. Yet there is +but one alternative: either Europe must once more join in a crusade +with a pope at the head, or it must hoist the red flag. There is +no other issue." + +"Heaven preserve us from both! And I think we shall be preserved +from the Pope by the rottenness of the Church; from the drapeau +rouge by the indignation and horror of all honest men. You see how +the Provisional Government has resisted the insane attempt of the +fanatics to make the red flag accepted as the national banner?" + +"Yes; and it is the one thing which dashes my pleasure in the new +revolution. It is the one act of weakness which the Government has +exhibited; a concession which will be fatal unless it be happily +set aside by the energetic party of action." + +"An act of weakness? say rather an act of strength. A concession? +say rather the repudiation of anarchy, the assertion of law and +justice." + +"Not a bit. It was concession to the fears of the timid, and to +the vanity of the French people. The tricolor is a French flag-- +not the banner of humanity. It is because the tricolor has been +identified with the victories of France that it appeals to the +vanity of the vainest of people. They forget that it is the flag +of a revolution which failed, and of an empire which was one +perpetual outrage to humanity. Whereas the red is new; it is the +symbol of an energetic, thorough-going creed. If it carries terror +with it, so much the better. The tyrants and the timid should be +made to tremble." + +"I had no idea you were so bloodthirsty," said I, laughing at his +vehemence. + +"I am not bloodthirsty at all; I am only logical and consistent. +There is a mass of sophistry current in the world which sickens me. +People talk of Robespierre and St. Just, two of the most virtuous +men that ever lived--and of Dominic and Torquemada, two of the most +single-minded--as if they were cruel and bloodthirsty, whereas they +were only convinced." + +"Is it from love of paradox that you defend these tigers?" + +"Tigers, again--how those beasts are calumniated!" + +He said this with a seriousness which was irresistibly comic. I +shouted with laughter; but he continued gravely: + +"You think I am joking. But let me ask you why you consider the +tiger more bloodthirsty than yourself? He springs upon his food-- +you buy yours from the butcher. He cannot live without animal +food: it is a primal necessity, and he obeys the ordained instinct. +You can live on vegetables; yet you slaughter beasts of the field +and birds of the air (or buy them when slaughtered), and consider +yourself a model of virtue. The tiger only kills his food or his +enemies; you not only kill both, but you kill one animal to make +gravy for another! The tiger is less bloodthirsty than the +Christian!" + +"I don't know how much of that tirade is meant to be serious; but +to waive the question of the tiger's morality, do you really--I +will not say sympathize,--but justify Robespierre, Dominic, St. +Just, and the rest of the fanatics who have waded to their ends +through blood." + +"He who wills the END, wills the MEANS." + +"A devil's maxim." + +"But a truth. What the foolish world shrinks at as +bloodthirstiness and cruelty is very often mere force and constancy +of intellect. It is not that fanatics thirst for blood--far from +it,--but they thirst for the triumph of their cause. Whatever +obstacle lies on their path must be removed; if a torrent of blood +is the only thing that will sweep it away--the torrent must sweep." + +"And sweep with it all the sentiments of pity, mercy, charity, +love?" + +"No; these sentiments may give a sadness to the necessity; they +make the deed a sacrifice, but they cannot prevent the soul from +seeing the aim to which it tends." + +"This is detestable doctrine! It is the sophism which has +destroyed families, devastated cities, and retarded the moral +progress of the world more than anything else. No single act of +injustice is ever done on this earth but it tends to perpetuate the +reign of iniquity. By the feelings it calls forth it keeps up the +native savagery of the heart. It breeds injustice, partly by +hardening the minds of those who assent, and partly by exciting the +passion of revenge in those who resist." + +"You are wrong. The great drag-chain on the car of progress is the +faltering inconsistency of man. Weakness is more cruel than +sternness. Sentiment is more destructive than logic." + +The arrival of Schwanthaler was timely, for my indignation was +rising. The sculptor received us with great cordiality, and in the +pleasure of the subsequent hour I got over to some extent the +irritation Bourgonef's talk had excited. + +The next day I left Munich for the Tyrol. My parting with +Bourgonef was many degrees less friendly than it would have been a +week before. I had no wish to see him again, and therefore gave +him no address or invitation in case he should come to England. As +I rolled away in the Malleposte, my busy thoughts reviewed all the +details of our acquaintance, and the farther I was carried from his +presence, the more obtrusive became the suspicions which connected +him with the murder of Lieschen Lehfeldt. How, or upon what +motive, was indeed an utter mystery. He had not mentioned the name +of Lehfeldt. He had not mentioned having before been at Nuremberg. +At Heidelberg the tragedy occurred--or was Heidelberg only a mask? +It occurred to me that he had first ascertained that I had never +been at Heidelberg before he placed the scene of his story there. + +Thoughts such as these tormented me. Imagine, then, the horror +with which I heard, soon after my arrival at Salzburg, that a +murder had been committed at Grosshesslohe--one of the pretty +environs of Munich much resorted to by holiday folk--corresponding +in all essential features with the murder at Nuremberg! In both +cases the victim was young and pretty. In both cases she was found +quietly lying on the ground, stabbed to the heart, without any +other traces of violence. In both cases she was a betrothed bride, +and the motive of the unknown assassin a mystery. + +Such a correspondence in the essential features inevitably +suggested an appalling mystery of unity in these crimes,--either as +the crimes of one man, committed under some impulse of motiveless +malignity and thirst for innocent blood--or as the equally +appalling effect of IMITATION acting contagiously upon a criminal +imagination; of which contagion there have been, unfortunately, too +many examples--horrible crimes prompting certain weak and feverish +imaginations, by the very horror they inspire, first to dwell on, +and finally to realize their imitations. + +It was this latter hypothesis which found general acceptance. +Indeed it was the only one which rested upon any ground of +experience. The disastrous influence of imitation, especially +under the fascination of horror, was well known. The idea of any +diabolical malice moving one man to pass from city to city, and +there quietly single out his victims--both of them, by the very +hypothesis, unrelated to him, both of them at the epoch of their +lives, when + + + "The bosom's lord sits lightly on its throne," + + +when the peace of the heart is assured, and the future is radiantly +beckoning to them,--that any man should choose such victims for +such crimes was too preposterous an idea long to be entertained. +Unless the man were mad, the idea was inconceivable; and even a +monomaniac must betray himself in such a course, because he would +necessarily conceive himself to be accomplishing some supreme act +of justice. + +It was thus I argued; and indeed I should much have preferred to +believe that one maniac were involved, rather than the contagion of +crime,--since one maniac must inevitably be soon detected; whereas +there were no assignable limits to the contagion of imitation. And +this it was which so profoundly agitated German society. In every +family in which there happened to be a bride, vague tremors could +not be allayed; and the absolute powerlessness which resulted from +the utter uncertainty as to the quarter in which this dreaded +phantom might next appear, justified and intensified those tremors. +Against such an apparition there was no conceivable safeguard. +From a city stricken with the plague, from a district so stricken, +flight is possible, and there are the resources of medical aid. +But from a moral plague like this, what escape was possible? + +So passionate and profound became the terror, that I began to share +the opinion which I heard expressed, regretting the widespread +publicity of the modern press, since, with many undeniable +benefits, it carried also the fatal curse of distributing through +households, and keeping constantly under the excitement of +discussion, images of crime and horror which would tend to +perpetuate and extend the excesses of individual passion. The mere +dwelling long on such a topic as this was fraught with evil. + +This and more I heard discussed as I hurried back to Munich. To +Munich? Yes; thither I was posting with all speed. Not a shadow +of doubt now remained in my mind. I knew the assassin, and was +resolved to track and convict him. Do not suppose that THIS time I +was led away by the vagrant activity of my constructive +imagination. I had something like positive proof. No sooner had I +learned that the murder had been committed at Grosshesslohe, than +my thoughts at once carried me to a now memorable visit I had made +there in company with Bourgonef and two young Bavarians. At the +hotel where we dined, we were waited on by the niece of the +landlord, a girl of remarkable beauty, who naturally excited the +attention of four young men, and furnished them with a topic of +conversation. One of the Bavarians had told us that she would one +day be perhaps one of the wealthiest women in the country, for she +was engaged to be married to a young farmer who had recently found +himself, by a rapid succession of deaths, sole heir to a great +brewer, whose wealth was known to be enormous. + +At this moment Sophie entered bringing wine, and I saw Bourgonef +slowly turn his eyes upon her with a look which then was mysterious +to me, but which now spoke too plainly its dreadful meaning. + +What is there in a look, you will say? Perhaps nothing; or it may +be everything. To my unsuspecting, unenlightened perception, +Bourgonef's gaze was simply the melancholy and half-curious gaze +which such a man might be supposed to cast upon a young woman who +had been made the topic of an interesting discourse. But to my +mind, enlightened as to his character, and instructed as to his +peculiar feelings arising from his own story, the gaze was charged +with horror. It marked a victim. The whole succession of events +rose before me in vivid distinctness; the separate details of +suspicion gathered into unity. + +Great as was Bourgonef's command over his features, he could not +conceal uneasiness as well as surprise at my appearance at the +table d'hote in Munich. I shook hands with him, putting on as +friendly a mask as I could, and replied to his question about my +sudden return by attributing it to unexpected intelligence received +at Salzburg. + +"Nothing serious, I hope?" + +"Well, I'm afraid it will prove very serious," I said. "But we +shall see. Meanwhile my visit to the Tyrol must be given up or +postponed." + +"Do you remain here, then?" + +"I don't know what my movements will be." + +Thus I had prepared him for any reserve or strangeness in my +manner; and I had concealed from him the course of my movements; +for at whatever cost, I was resolved to follow him and bring him to +justice. + +But how? Evidence I had none that could satisfy any one else, +however convincing it might be to my own mind. Nor did there seem +any evidence forthcoming from Grosshesslohe. Sophie's body had +been found in the afternoon lying as if asleep in one of the by- +paths of the wood. No marks of a struggle; no traces of the +murderer. Her affianced lover, who was at Augsburg, on hearing of +her fate, hurried to Grosshesslohe, but could throw no light on the +murder, could give no hint as to a possible motive for the deed. +But this entire absence of evidence, or even ground of suspicion, +only made MY case the stronger. It was the motiveless malignity of +the deed which fastened it on Bourgonef; or rather, it was the +absence of any known motive elsewhere which assured me that I had +detected the motive in him. + +Should I communicate my conviction to the police? It was possible +that I might impress them with at least sufficient suspicion to +warrant his examination--and in that case the truth might be +elicited; for among the many barbarities and iniquities of the +criminal procedure in Continental States which often press heavily +on the innocent, there is this compensating advantage, that the +pressure on the guilty is tenfold heavier. If the innocent are +often unjustly punished--imprisoned and maltreated before their +innocence can be established--the guilty seldom escape. In England +we give the criminal not only every chance of escape, but many +advantages. The love of fair-play is carried to excess. It seems +at times as if the whole arrangements of our procedure were +established with a view to giving a criminal not only the benefit +of every doubt, but of every loophole through which he can slip. +Instead of this, the Continental procedure goes on the principle of +closing up every loophole, and of inventing endless traps into +which the accused may fall. We warn the accused not to say +anything that may be prejudicial to him. They entangle him in +contradictions and confessions which disclose his guilt. + +Knowing this, I thought it very likely that, however artful +Bourgonef might be, a severe examination might extort from him +sufficient confirmation of my suspicion to warrant further +procedure. But knowing also that THIS resort was open to me when +all others had failed, I resolved to wait and watch. + + +IX + +FINALE + + +Two days passed, and nothing occurred. My watching seemed +hopeless, and I resolved to try the effect of a disguised +interrogatory. It might help to confirm my already settled +conviction, if it did not elicit any new evidence. + +Seated in Bourgonef's room, in the old place, each with a cigar, +and chatting as of old on public affairs, I gradually approached +the subject of the recent murder. + +"Is it not strange," I said, "that both these crimes should have +happened while we were casually staying in both places?" + +"Perhaps we are the criminals," he replied, laughing. I shivered +slightly at this audacity. He laughed as he spoke, but there was a +hard, metallic, and almost defiant tone in his voice which +exasperated me. + +"Perhaps we are," I answered, quietly. He looked full at me; but I +was prepared, and my face told nothing. I added, as in +explanation, "The crime being apparently contagious, we may have +brought the infection from Nuremberg." + +"Do you believe in that hypothesis of imitation?" + +"I don't know what to believe. Do you believe in there being only +one murderer? It seems such a preposterous idea. We must suppose +him, at any rate, to be a maniac." + +"Not necessarily. Indeed there seems to have been too much artful +contrivance in both affairs, not only in the selection of the +victims, but in the execution of the schemes. Cunning as maniacs +often are they are still maniacs, and betray themselves." + +"If not a maniac," said I, hoping to pique him, "he must be a man +of stupendous and pitiable vanity,--perhaps one of your constant- +minded friends, whom you refuse to call bloodthirsty." + +"Constant-minded, perhaps; but why pitiably vain?" + +"Why? Because only a diseased atrocity of imagination, stimulating +a nature essentially base and weak in its desire to make itself +conspicuous, would or could suggest such things. The silly youth +who 'fired the Ephesian dome,' the vain idiot who set fire to York +Minster, the miserable Frenchmen who have committed murder and +suicide with a view of making their exit striking from a world in +which their appearance had been contemptible, would all sink into +insignificance beside the towering infamy of baseness which--for +the mere love of producing an effect on the minds of men, and thus +drawing their attention upon him, which otherwise would never have +marked him at all--could scheme and execute crimes so horrible and +inexcusable. In common charity to human nature, let us suppose the +wretch is mad; because otherwise his miserable vanity would be too +loathsome." I spoke with warmth and bitterness, which increased as +I perceived him wincing under the degradation of my contempt. + +"If his motive WERE vanity," he said, "no doubt it would be +horrible; but may it not have been revenge?" + +"Revenge!" I exclaimed; "what! on innocent women?" + +"You assume their innocence." + +"Good God! do you know anything to the contrary?" + +"Not I. But as we are conjecturing, I may as well conjecture it to +have been the desire to produce a startling effect." + +"How do you justify your conjecture?" + +"Simply enough. We have to suppose a motive; let us say it was +revenge, and see whether that will furnish a clue." + +"But it can't. The two victims were wholly unconnected with each +other by any intermediate acquaintances, consequently there can +have been no common wrong or common enmity in existence to furnish +food for vengeance." + +"That may be so; it may also be that the avenger made them +vicarious victims." + +"How so?" + +"It is human nature. Did you ever observe a thwarted child +striking in its anger the unoffending nurse, destroying its toys to +discharge its wrath? Did you ever see a schoolboy, unable to wreak +his anger on the bigger boy who has just struck him, turn against +the nearest smaller boy and beat him? Did you ever know a +schoolmaster, angered by one of the boy's parents, vent his pent-up +spleen upon the unoffending class? Did you ever see a subaltern +punished because an officer had been reprimanded? These are +familiar examples of vicarious vengeance. When the soul is stung +to fury, it must solace itself by the discharge of that fury--it +must relieve its pain by the sight of pain in others. We are so +constituted. We need sympathy above all things. In joy we cannot +bear to see others in distress; in distress we see the joy of +others with dismal envy which sharpens our pain. That is human +nature." + +"And," I exclaimed, carried away by my indignation, "you suppose +that the sight of these two happy girls, beaming with the quiet joy +of brides, was torture to some miserable wretch who had lost his +bride." + +I had gone too far. His eyes looked into mine. I read in his that +he divined the whole drift of my suspicion--the allusion made to +himself. There often passes into a look more than words can +venture to express. In that look he read that he was discovered, +and I read that he had recognized it. With perfect calmness, but +with a metallic ring in his voice which was like the clash of +swords, he said: + +"I did not say that I supposed this; but as we were on the wide +field of conjecture--utterly without evidence one way or the other, +having no clue either to the man or his motives--I drew from the +general principles of human nature a conclusion which was just as +plausible--or absurd if you like--as the conclusion that the motive +must have been vanity." + +"As you say, we are utterly without evidence, and conjecture drifts +aimlessly from one thing to another. After all, the most plausible +explanation is that of a contagion of imitation." + +I said this in order to cover my previous imprudence. He was not +deceived--though for a few moments I fancied he was--but replied: + +"I am not persuaded of that either. The whole thing is a mystery, +and I shall stay here some time in the hope of seeing it cleared +up. Meanwhile, for a subject of conjecture, let me show you +something on which your ingenuity may profitably be employed." + +He rose and passed into his bedroom. I heard him unlocking and +rummaging the drawers, and was silently reproaching myself for my +want of caution in having spoken as I had done, though it was now +beyond all doubt that he was the murderer, and that his motive had +been rightly guessed; but with this self-reproach there was mingled +a self-gratulation at the way I had got out of the difficulty, as I +fancied. + +He returned, and as he sat down I noticed that the lower part of +his surtout was open. He always wore a long frogged and braided +coat reaching to the knees--as I now know, for the purpose of +concealing the arm which hung (as he said, withered) at his side. +The two last fastenings were now undone. + +He held in his hand a tiny chain made of very delicate wire. This +he gave me, saying: + +"Now what would you conjecture that to be?" + +"Had it come into my hands without any remark, I should have said +it was simply a very exquisite bit of ironwork; but your question +points to something more out of the way." + +"It IS iron-work," he said. + +Could I be deceived? A third fastening of his surtout was undone! +I had seen but two a moment ago. + +"And what am I to conjecture?" I asked. + +"Where that iron came from? It was NOT from a mine." I looked at +it again, and examined it attentively. On raising my eyes in +inquiry--fortunately with an expression of surprise, since what met +my eyes would have startled a cooler man--I saw the fourth +fastening undone! + +"You look surprised," he continued, "and will be more surprised +when I tell you that the iron in your hands once floated in the +circulation of a man. It is made from human blood." + +"Human blood!" I murmured. + +He went on expounding the physiological wonders of the blood,--how +it carried, dissolved in its currents, a proportion of iron and +earths; how this iron was extracted by chemists and exhibited as a +curiosity; and how this chain had been manufactured from such +extracts. I heard every word, but my thoughts were hurrying to and +fro in the agitation of a supreme moment. That there was a dagger +underneath that coat--that in a few moments it would flash forth-- +that a death-struggle was at hand,--I knew well. My safety +depended on presence of mind. That incalculable rapidity with +which, in critical moments, the mind surveys all the openings and +resources of an emergency, had assured me that there was no weapon +within reach--that before I could give an alarm the tiger would be +at my throat, and that my only chance was to keep my eyes fixed +upon him, ready to spring on him the moment the next fastening was +undone, and before he could use his arm. + +At last the idea occurred to me, that as, with a wild beast, safety +lies in attacking him just before he attacks you, so with this +beast my best chance was audacity. Looking steadily into his face, +I said slowly: + +"And you would like to have such a chain made from my blood." I +rose as I spoke. He remained sitting, but was evidently taken +aback. + +"What do you mean?" he said. + +"I mean," said I, sternly, "that your coat is unfastened, and that +if another fastening is loosened in my presence, I fell you to the +earth." + +"You're a fool!" he exclaimed. + +I moved towards the door, keeping my eye fixed upon him as he sat +pale and glaring at me. + +"YOU are a fool," I said--" and worse, if you stir." + +At this moment, I know not by what sense, as if I had eyes at the +back of my head, I was aware of some one moving behind me, yet I +dared not look aside. Suddenly two mighty folds of darkness seemed +to envelop me like arms. A powerful scent ascended my nostrils. +There was a ringing in my ears, a beating at my heart. Darkness +came on, deeper and deeper, like huge waves. I seemed growing to +gigantic stature. The waves rolled on faster and faster. The +ringing became a roaring. The beating became a throbbing. Lights +flashed across the darkness. Forms moved before me. On came the +waves hurrying like a tide, and I sank deeper and deeper into this +mighty sea of darkness. Then all was silent. Consciousness was +still. + + . . . . . . + +How long I remained unconscious, I cannot tell. But it must have +been some considerable time. When consciousness once more began to +dawn within me, I found myself lying on a bed surrounded by a group +of eager, watching faces, and became aware of a confused murmur of +whispering going on around me. "Er Lebt" (he lives) were the words +which greeted my opening eyes--words which I recognized as coming +from my landlord. + +I had had a very narrow escape. Another moment and I should not +have lived to tell the tale. The dagger that had already immolated +two of Bourgonef's objects of vengeance would have been in my +breast. As it was, at the very moment when the terrible Ivan had +thrown his arms around me and was stifling me with chloroform, one +of the servants of the hotel, alarmed or attracted by curiosity at +the sound of high words within the room, had ventured to open the +door to see what was going on. The alarm had been given, and +Bourgonef had been arrested and handed over to the police. Ivan, +however, had disappeared; nor were the police ever able to find +him. This mattered comparatively little. Ivan without his master +was no more redoubtable than any other noxious animal. As an +accomplice, as an instrument to execute the will of a man like +Bourgonef, he was a danger to society. The directing intelligence +withdrawn, he sank to the level of the brute. I was not uneasy, +therefore, at his having escaped. Sufficient for me that the real +criminal, the mind that had conceived and directed those fearful +murders, was at last in the hands of justice. I felt that my task +had been fully accomplished when Bourgonef's head fell on the +scaffold. + + + +The Closed Cabinet + + +I + + +It was with a little alarm and a good deal of pleasurable +excitement that I looked forward to my first grown-up visit to +Mervyn Grange. I had been there several times as a child, but +never since I was twelve years old, and now I was over eighteen. +We were all of us very proud of our cousins the Mervyns: it is not +everybody that can claim kinship with a family who are in full and +admitted possession of a secret, a curse, and a mysterious cabinet, +in addition to the usual surplusage of horrors supplied in such +cases by popular imagination. Some declared that a Mervyn of the +days of Henry VIII had been cursed by an injured abbot from the +foot of the gallows. Others affirmed that a dissipated Mervyn of +the Georgian era was still playing cards for his soul in some +remote region of the Grange. There were stories of white ladies +and black imps, of bloodstained passages and magic stones. We, +proud of our more intimate acquaintance with the family, naturally +gave no credence to these wild inventions. The Mervyns, indeed, +followed the accepted precedent in such cases, and greatly disliked +any reference to the reputed mystery being made in their presence; +with the inevitable result that there was no subject so +pertinaciously discussed by their friends in their absence. My +father's sister had married the late Baronet, Sir Henry Mervyn, and +we always felt that she ought to have been the means of imparting +to us a very complete knowledge of the family secret. But in this +connection she undoubtedly failed of her duty. We knew that there +had been a terrible tragedy in the family some two or three hundred +years ago--that a peculiarly wicked owner of Mervyn, who flourished +in the latter part of the sixteenth century, had been murdered by +his wife who subsequently committed suicide. We knew that the +mysterious curse had some connection with this crime, but what the +curse exactly was we had never been able to discover. The history +of the family since that time had indeed in one sense been full of +misfortune. Not in every sense. A coal mine had been discovered +in one part of the estate, and a populous city had grown over the +corner of another part; and the Mervyns of to-day, in spite of the +usual percentage of extravagant heirs and political mistakes, were +three times as rich as their ancestors had been. But still their +story was full of bloodshed and shame, of tales of duels and +suicides, broken hearts and broken honor. Only these calamities +seemed to have little or no relation to each other, and what the +precise curse was that was supposed to connect or account for them +we could not learn. When she first married, my aunt was told +nothing about it. Later on in life, when my father asked her for +the story, she begged him to talk upon a pleasanter subject; and +being unluckily a man of much courtesy and little curiosity, he +complied with her request. This, however, was the only part of the +ghostly traditions of her husband's home upon which she was so +reticent. The haunted chamber, for instance--which, of course, +existed at the Grange--she treated with the greatest contempt. +Various friends and relations had slept in it at different times, +and no approach to any kind of authenticated ghost-story, even of +the most trivial description, had they been able to supply. Its +only claim to respect, indeed, was that it contained the famous +Mervyn cabinet, a fascinating puzzle of which I will speak later, +but which certainly had nothing haunting or horrible about its +appearance. + +My uncle's family consisted of three sons. The eldest, George, the +present baronet, was now in his thirties, married, and with +children of his own. The second, Jack, was the black-sheep of the +family. He had been in the Guards, but, about five years back, had +got into some very disgraceful scrape, and had been obliged to +leave the country. The sorrow and the shame of this had killed his +unhappy mother, and her husband had not long afterwards followed +her to the grave. Alan, the youngest son, probably because he was +the nearest to us in age, had been our special favorite in earlier +years. George was grown up before I had well left the nursery, and +his hot, quick temper had always kept us youngsters somewhat in awe +of him. Jack was four years older than Alan, and, besides, his +profession had, in a way, cut his boyhood short. When my uncle and +aunt were abroad, as they frequently were for months together on +account of her health, it was Alan, chiefly, who had to spend his +holidays with us, both as school-boy and as undergraduate. And a +brighter, sweeter-tempered comrade, or one possessed of more +diversified talents for the invention of games or the telling of +stories, it would have been difficult to find. + +For five years together now our ancient custom of an annual visit +to Mervyn had been broken. First there had been the seclusion of +mourning for my aunt, and a year later for my uncle; then George +and his wife, Lucy,--she was a connection of our own on our +mother's side, and very intimate with us all,--had been away for +nearly two years on a voyage round the world; and since then +sickness in our own family had kept us in our turn a good deal +abroad. So that I had not seen my cousins since all the calamities +which had befallen them in the interval, and as I steamed +northwards I wondered a good deal as to the changes I should find. +I was to have come out that year in London, but ill-health had +prevented me; and as a sort of consolation Lucy had kindly asked me +to spend a fortnight at Mervyn, and be present at a shooting-party, +which was to assemble there in the first week of October. + +I had started early, and there was still an hour of the short +autumn day left when I descended at the little wayside station, +from which a six-mile drive brought me to the Grange. A dreary +drive I found it--the round, gray, treeless outline of the fells +stretching around me on every side beneath the leaden, changeless +sky. The night had nearly fallen as we drove along the narrow +valley in which the Grange stood: it was too dark to see the autumn +tints of the woods which clothed and brightened its sides, almost +too dark to distinguish the old tower,--Dame Alice's tower as it +was called,--which stood some half a mile farther on at its head. +But the light shone brightly from the Grange windows, and all +feeling of dreariness departed as I drove up to the door. Leaving +maid and boxes to their fate, I ran up the steps into the old, +well-remembered hall, and was informed by the dignified man-servant +that her ladyship and the tea were awaiting me in the morning-room. + +I found that there was nobody staying in the house except Alan, who +was finishing the long vacation there: he had been called to the +Bar a couple of years before. The guests were not to arrive for +another week, so that I had plenty of opportunity in the interval +to make up for lost time with my cousins. I began my observations +that evening as we sat down to dinner, a cozy party of four. Lucy +was quite unchanged--pretty, foolish, and gentle as ever. George +showed the full five years' increase of age, and seemed to have +acquired a somewhat painful control of his temper. Instead of the +old petulant outbursts, there was at times an air of nervous, +irritable self-restraint, which I found the less pleasant of the +two. But it was in Alan that the most striking alteration +appeared. I felt it the moment I shook hands with him, and the +impression deepened that evening with every hour. I told myself +that it was only the natural difference between boy and man, +between twenty and twenty-five, but I don't think that I believed +it. Superficially the change was not great. The slight-built, +graceful figure; the deep gray eyes, too small for beauty; the +clear-cut features, the delicate, sensitive lips, close shaven now, +as they had been hairless then,--all were as I remembered them. +But the face was paler and thinner than it had been, and there were +lines round the eyes and at the corners of the mouth which were no +more natural to twenty-five than they would have been to twenty. +The old charm indeed--the sweet friendliness of manner, which was +his own peculiar possession--was still there. He talked and +laughed almost as much as formerly, but the talk was manufactured +for our entertainment, and the laughter came from his head and not +from his heart. And it was when he was taking no part in the +conversation that the change showed most. Then the face, on which +in the old time every passing emotion had expressed itself in a +constant, living current, became cold and impassive--without +interest, and without desire. It was at such times that I knew +most certainly that here was something which had been living and +was dead. Was it only his boyhood? This question I was unable to +answer. + +Still, in spite of all, that week was one of the happiest in my +life. The brothers were both men of enough ability and cultivation +to be pleasant talkers, and Lucy could perform adequately the part +of conversational accompanist, which, socially speaking, is all +that is required of a woman. The meals and evenings passed quickly +and agreeably; the mornings I spent in unending gossips with Lucy, +or in games with the children, two bright boys of five and six +years old. But the afternoons were the best part of the day. +George was a thorough squire in all his tastes and habits, and +every afternoon his wife dutifully accompanied him round farms and +coverts, inspecting new buildings, trudging along half-made roads, +or marking unoffending trees for destruction. Then Alan and I +would ride by the hour together over moor and meadowland, often +picking our way homewards down the glen-side long after the autumn +evenings had closed in. During these rides I had glimpses many a +time into depths in Alan's nature of which I doubt whether in the +old days he had himself been aware. To me certainly they were as a +revelation. A prevailing sadness, occasionally a painful tone of +bitterness, characterized these more serious moods of his, but I do +not think that, at the end of that week, I would, if I could, have +changed the man, whom I was learning to revere and to pity, for the +light-hearted playmate whom I felt was lost to me for ever. + + +II + + +The only feature of the family life which jarred on me was the +attitude of the two brothers towards the children. I did not +notice this much at first, and at all times it was a thing to be +felt rather than to be seen. George himself never seemed quite at +ease with them. The boys were strong and well grown, healthy in +mind and body; and one would have thought that the existence of two +such representatives to carry on his name and inherit his fortune +would have been the very crown of pride and happiness to their +father. But it was not so. Lucy indeed was devoted to them, and +in all practical matters no one could have been kinder to them than +was George. They were free of the whole house, and every +indulgence that money could buy for them they had. I never heard +him give them a harsh word. But there was something wrong. A +constraint in their presence, a relief in their absence, an evident +dislike of discussing them and their affairs, a total want of that +enjoyment of love and possession which in such a case one might +have expected to find. Alan's state of mind was even more marked. +Never did I hear him willingly address his nephews, or in any way +allude to their existence. I should have said that he simply +ignored it, but for the heavy gloom which always overspread his +spirits in their company, and for the glances which he would now +and again cast in their direction--glances full of some hidden +painful emotion, though of what nature it would have been hard to +define. Indeed, Alan's attitude towards her children I soon found +to be the only source of friction between Lucy and this otherwise +much-loved member of her husband's family. I asked her one day why +the boys never appeared at luncheon. + +"Oh, they come when Alan is away," she answered; "but they seem to +annoy him so much that George thinks it is better to keep them out +of sight when he is here. It is very tiresome. I know that it is +the fashion to say that George has got the temper of the family; +but I assure you that Alan's nervous moods and fancies are much +more difficult to live with." + +That was on the morning--a Friday it was--of the last day which we +were to spend alone. The guests were to arrive soon after tea; and +I think that with the knowledge of their approach Alan and I +prolonged our ride that afternoon beyond its usual limits. We were +on our way home, and it was already dusk, when a turn of the path +brought us face to face with the old ruined tower, of which I have +already spoken as standing at the head of the valley. I had not +been close up to it yet during this visit at Mervyn. It had been a +very favorite haunt of ours as children, and partly on that +account, partly perhaps in order to defer the dreaded close of our +ride to the last possible moment, I proposed an inspection of it. +The only portion of the old building left standing in any kind of +entirety was two rooms, one above the other. The tower room, level +with the bottom of the moat, was dark and damp, and it was the +upper one, reached by a little outside staircase, which had been +our rendezvous of old. Alan showed no disposition to enter, and +said that he would stay outside and hold my horse, so I dismounted +and ran up alone. + +The room seemed in no way changed. A mere stone shell, littered +with fragments of wood and mortar. There was the rough wooden +block on which Alan used to sit while he first frightened us with +bogey-stories, and then calmed our excited nerves by rapid sallies +of wild nonsense. There was the plank from behind which, erected +as a barrier across the doorway, he would defend the castle against +our united assault, pelting us with fir-cones and sods of earth. +This and many a bygone scene thronged on me as I stood there, and +the room filled again with the memories of childish mirth. And +following close came those of childish terrors. Horrors which had +oppressed me then, wholly imagined or dimly apprehended from half- +heard traditions, and never thought of since, flitted around me in +the gathering dusk. And with them it seemed to me as if there came +other memories too,--memories which had never been my own, of +scenes whose actors had long been with the dead, but which, +immortal as the spirit before whose eyes they had dwelt, still +lingered in the spot where their victim had first learnt to shudder +at their presence. Once the ghastly notion came to me, it seized +on my imagination with irresistible force. It seemed as if from +the darkened corners of the room vague, ill-defined shapes were +actually peering out at me. When night came they would show +themselves in that form, livid and terrible, in which they had been +burnt into the brain and heart of the long ago dead. + +I turned and glanced towards where I had left Alan. I could see +his figure framed in by the window, a black shadow against the gray +twilight of the sky behind. Erect and perfectly motionless he sat, +so motionless as to look almost lifeless, gazing before him down +the valley into the illimitable distance beyond. There was +something in that stern immobility of look and attitude which +struck me with a curious sense of congruity. It was right that he +should be thus--right that he should be no longer the laughing boy +who a moment before had been in my memory. The haunting horrors of +that place seemed to demand it, and for the first time I felt that +I understood the change. With an effort I shook myself free from +these fancies, and turned to go. As I did so, my eye fell upon a +queer-shaped painted board, leaning up against the wall, which I +well recollected in old times. Many a discussion had we had about +the legend inscribed upon it, which in our wisdom we had finally +pronounced to be German, chiefly because it was illegible. Though +I had loudly professed my faith in this theory at the time, I had +always had uneasy doubts on the subject, and now half smiling I +bent down to verify or remove them. The language was English, not +German; but the badly painted, faded Gothic letters in which it was +written made the mistake excusable. In the dim light I had +difficulty even now in deciphering the words, and felt when I had +done so that neither the information conveyed nor the style of the +composition was sufficient reward for the trouble I had taken. +This is what I read: + + + "Where the woman sinned the maid shall win; + But God help the maid that sleeps within." + + +What the lines could refer to I neither had any notion nor did I +pause then even in my own mind to inquire. I only remember vaguely +wondering whether they were intended for a tombstone or for a +doorway. Then, continuing my way, I rapidly descended the steps +and remounted my horse, glad to find myself once again in the open +air and by my cousin's side. + +The train of thought into which he had sunk during my absence was +apparently an absorbing one, for to my first question as to the +painted board he could hardly rouse himself to answer. + +"A board with a legend written on it? Yes, he remembered something +of the kind there. It had always been there, he thought. He knew +nothing about it,"--and so the subject was not continued. + +The weird feelings which had haunted me in the tower still +oppressed me, and I proceeded to ask Alan about that old Dame Alice +whom the traditions of my childhood represented as the last +occupant of the ruined building. Alan roused himself now, but did +not seem anxious to impart information on the subject. She had +lived there, he admitted, and no one had lived there since. "Had +she not," I inquired, "something to do with the mysterious cabinet +at the house? I remember hearing it spoken of as 'Dame Alice's +cabinet.' + +"So they say," he assented; "she and an Italian artificer who was +in her service, and who, chiefly I imagine on account of his skill, +shared with her the honor of reputed witchcraft." + +"She was the mother of Hugh Mervyn, the man who was murdered by his +wife, was she not?" I asked. + +"Yes," said Alan, briefly. + +"And had she not something to do with the curse?" I inquired after +a short pause, and nervously I remembered my father's experience on +that subject, and I had never before dared to allude to it in the +presence of any member of the family. My nervousness was fully +warranted. The gloom on Alan's brow deepened, and after a very +short "They say so" he turned full upon me, and inquired with some +asperity why on earth I had developed this sudden curiosity about +his ancestress. + +I hesitated a moment, for I was a little ashamed of my fancies; but +the darkness gave me courage, and besides I was not afraid of +telling Alan--he would understand. I told him of the strange +sensations I had had while in the tower--sensations which had +struck me with all that force and clearness which we usually +associate with a direct experience of fact. "Of course it was a +trick of imagination," I commented; "but I could not get rid of the +feeling that the person who had dwelt there last must have had +terrible thoughts for the companions of her life." + +Alan listened in silence, and the silence continued for some time +after I had ceased speaking. + +"It is strange," he said at last; "instincts which we do not +understand form the motive-power of most of our life's actions, and +yet we refuse to admit them as evidence of any external truth. I +suppose it is because we MUST act somehow, rightly or wrongly; and +there are a great many things which we need not believe unless we +choose. As for this old lady, she lived long--long enough, like +most of us, to do evil; unlike most of us, long enough to witness +some of the results of that evil. To say that, is to say that the +last years of her life must have been weighted heavily enough with +tragic thought." + +I gave a little shudder of repulsion. + +"That is a depressing view of life, Alan," I said. "Does our peace +of mind depend only upon death coming early enough to hide from us +the truth? And, after all, can it? Our spirits do not die. From +another world they may witness the fruits of our lives in this +one." + +"If they do," he answered with sudden violence, "it is absurd to +doubt the existence of a purgatory. There must in such a case be a +terrible one in store for the best among us." + +I was silent. The shadow that lay on his soul did not penetrate to +mine, but it hung round me nevertheless, a cloud which I felt +powerless to disperse. + +After a moment he went on,--"Provided that they are distant enough, +how little, after all, do we think of the results of our actions! +There are few men who would deliberately instill into a child a +love of drink, or wilfully deprive him of his reason; and yet a man +with drunkenness or madness in his blood thinks nothing of bringing +children into the world tainted as deeply with the curse as if he +had inoculated them with it directly. There is no responsibility +so completely ignored as this one of marriage and fatherhood, and +yet how heavy it is and far-reaching." + +"Well," I said, smiling, "let us console ourselves with the thought +that we are not all lunatics and drunkards." + +"No," he answered; "but there are other evils besides these, moral +taints as well as physical, curses which have their roots in worlds +beyond our own,--sins of the fathers which are visited upon the +children." + +He had lost all violence and bitterness of tone now; but the weary +dejection which had taken their place communicated itself to my +spirit with more subtle power than his previous mood had owned. + +"That is why," he went on, and his manner seemed to give more +purpose to his speech than hitherto,--"that is why, so far as I am +concerned, I mean to shirk the responsibility and remain +unmarried." + +I was hardly surprised at his words. I felt that I had expected +them, but their utterance seemed to intensify the gloom which +rested upon us. Alan was the first to arouse himself from its +influence. + +"After all," he said, turning round to me and speaking lightly, +"without looking so far and so deep, I think my resolve is a +prudent one. Above all things, let us take life easily, and you +know what St. Paul says about 'trouble in the flesh,'--a remark +which I am sure is specially applicable to briefless barristers, +even though possessed of a modest competence of their own. Perhaps +one of these days, when I am a fat old judge, I shall give my cook +a chance if she is satisfactory in her clear soups; but till then I +shall expect you, Evie, to work me one pair of carpet-slippers per +annum, as tribute due to a bachelor cousin." + +I don't quite know what I answered,--my heart was heavy and +aching,--but I tried with true feminine docility to follow the lead +he had set me. He continued for some time in the same vein; but as +we approached the house the effort seemed to become too much for +him, and we relapsed again into silence. + +This time I was the first to break it. "I suppose," I said, +drearily, "all those horrid people will have come by now." + +"Horrid people," he repeated, with rather an uncertain laugh, and +through the darkness I saw his figure bend forward as he stretched +out his hand to caress my horse's neck. "Why, Evie, I thought you +were pining for gayety, and that it was, in fact, for the purpose +of meeting these 'horrid people' that you came here." + +"Yes, I know," I said, wistfully; "but somehow the last week has +been so pleasant that I cannot believe that anything will ever be +quite so nice again." + +We had arrived at the house as I spoke, and the groom was standing +at our horses' heads. Alan got off and came round to help me to +dismount; but instead of putting up his arm as usual as a support +for me to spring from, he laid his hand on mine. "Yes, Evie," he +said, "it has been indeed a pleasant time. God bless you for it." +For an instant he stood there looking up at me, his face full in +the light which streamed from the open door, his gray eyes shining +with a radiance which was not wholly from thence. Then he +straightened his arm, I sprang to the ground, and as if to preclude +the possibility of any answer on my part, he turned sharply on his +heel, and began giving some orders to the groom. I went on alone +into the house, feeling, I knew not and cared not to know why, that +the gloom had fled from my spirit, and that the last ride had not +after all been such a melancholy failure as it had bid fair at one +time to become. + + +III + + +In the hall I was met by the housekeeper, who informed me that, +owing to a misunderstanding about dates, a gentleman had arrived +whom Lucy had not expected at that time, and that in consequence my +room had been changed. My things had been put into the East Room,-- +the haunted room,--the room of the Closed Cabinet, as I remembered +with a certain sense of pleased importance, though without any +surprise. It stood apart from the other guest-rooms, at the end of +the passage from which opened George and Lucy's private apartment; +and as it was consequently disagreeable to have a stranger there, +it was always used when the house was full for a member of the +family. My father and mother had often slept there: there was a +little room next to it, though not communicating with it, which +served for a dressing-room. Though I had never passed the night +there myself, I knew it as well as any room in the house. I went +there at once, and found Lucy superintending the last arrangements +for my comfort. + +She was full of apologies for the trouble she was giving me. I +told her that the apologies were due to my maid and to her own +servants rather than to me; "and besides," I added, glancing round, +"I am distinctly a gainer by the change." + +"You know, of course," she said, lightly, "that this is the haunted +room of the house, and that you have no right to be here?" + +"I know it is the haunted room," I answered; "but why have I no +right to be here?" + +"Oh, I don't know," she said. "There is one of those tiresome +Mervyn traditions against allowing unmarried girls to sleep in this +room. I believe two girls died in it a hundred and fifty years +ago, or something of that sort." + +"But I should think that people, married or unmarried, must have +died in nearly every room in the house," I objected. + +"Oh, yes, of course they have," said Lucy; "but once you come +across a bit of superstition in this family, it is of no use to ask +for reasons. However, this particular bit is too ridiculous even +for George. Owing to Mr. Leslie having come to-day, we must use +every room in the house: it is intolerable having a stranger here, +and you are the only relation staying with us. I pointed all that +out to George, and he agreed that, under the circumstances, it +would be absurd not to put you here." + +"I am quite agreeable," I answered; "and, indeed, I think I am +rather favored in having a room where the last recorded death +appears to have taken place a hundred and fifty years ago, +particularly as I should think that there can be scarcely anything +now left in it which was here then, except, of course, the +cabinet." + +The room had, in fact, been entirely done up and refurnished by my +uncle, and was as bright and modern-looking an apartment as you +could wish to see. It was large, and the walls were covered with +one of those white and gold papers which were fashionable thirty +years ago. Opposite us, as we stood warming our backs before the +fire, was the bed--a large double one, hung with a pretty shade of +pale blue. Material of the same color covered the comfortable +modern furniture, and hung from gilded cornices before the two +windows which pierced the side of the room on our left. Between +them stood the toilet-table, all muslin, blue ribbons, and silver. +The carpet was a gray and blue Brussels one. The whole effect was +cheerful, though I fear inartistic, and sadly out of keeping with +the character of the house. The exception to these remarks was, as +I had observed, the famous closed cabinet, to which I have more +than once alluded. It stood against the same wall of the room as +that in which the fireplace was, and on our right--that is, on that +side of the fireplace which was farthest from the windows. As I +spoke, I turned to go and look at it, and Lucy followed me. Many +an hour as a child had I passed in front of it, fingering the seven +carved brass handles, or rather buttons, which were ranged down its +center. They all slid, twisted, or screwed with the greatest ease, +and apparently like many another ingeniously contrived lock; but +neither I nor any one else had ever yet succeeded in sliding, +twisting, or screwing them after such a fashion as to open the +closed doors of the cabinet. No one yet had robbed them of their +secret since first it was placed there three hundred years ago by +the old lady and her faithful Italian. It was a beautiful piece of +workmanship, was this tantalizing cabinet. Carved out of some dark +foreign wood, the doors and panels were richly inlaid with lapis- +lazuli, ivory, and mother-of-pearl, among which were twisted +delicately chased threads of gold and silver. Above the doors, +between them and the cornice, lay another mystery, fully as +tormenting as was the first. In a smooth strip of wood about an +inch wide, and extending along the whole breadth of the cabinet, +was inlaid a fine pattern in gold wire. This at first sight seemed +to consist of a legend or motto. On looking closer, however, +though the pattern still looked as if it was formed out of +characters of the alphabet curiously entwined together, you found +yourself unable to fix upon any definite word, or even letter. You +looked again and again, and the longer that you looked the more +certain became your belief that you were on the verge of discovery. +If you could approach the mysterious legend from a slightly +different point of view, or look at it from another distance, the +clew to the puzzle would be seized, and the words would stand forth +clear and legible in your sight. But the clew never had been +discovered, and the motto, if there was one, remained unread. + +For a few minutes we stood looking at the cabinet in silence, and +then Lucy gave a discontented little sigh. "There's another +tiresome piece of superstition," she exclaimed; "by far the +handsomest piece of furniture in the house stuck away here in a +bedroom which is hardly ever used. Again and again have I asked +George to let me have it moved downstairs, but he won't hear of +it." + +"Was it not placed here by Dame Alice herself?" I inquired a little +reproachfully, for I felt that Lucy was not treating the cabinet +with the respect which it really deserved. + +"Yes, so they say," she answered; and the tone of light contempt in +which she spoke was now pierced by a not unnatural pride in the +romantic mysteries of her husband's family. "She placed it here, +and it is said, you know, that when the closed cabinet is opened, +and the mysterious motto is read, the curse will depart from the +Mervyn family." + +"But why don't they break it open?" I asked, impatiently. "I am +sure that I would never have remained all my life in a house with a +thing like that, and not found out in some way or another what was +inside it." + +"Oh, but that would be quite fatal," answered she. "The curse can +only be removed when the cabinet is opened as Dame Alice intended +it to be, in an orthodox fashion. If you were to force it open, +that could never happen, and the curse would therefore remain for +ever." + +"And what is the curse?" I asked, with very different feelings to +those with which I had timidly approached the same subject with +Alan. Lucy was not a Mervyn, and not a person to inspire awe under +any circumstances. My instincts were right again, for she turned +away with a slight shrug of her shoulders. + +"I have no idea," she said. "George and Alan always look +portentously solemn and gloomy whenever one mentions the subject, +so I don't. If you ask me for the truth, I believe it to be a pure +invention, devised by the Mervyns for the purpose of delicately +accounting for some of the disreputable actions of their ancestors. +For you know, Evie," she added, with a little laugh, "the less said +about the character of the family into which your aunt and I have +married the better." + +The remark made me angry, I don't know why, and I answered stiffly, +that as far as I was acquainted with them, I at least saw nothing +to complain of. + +"Oh, as regards the present generation, no,--except for that poor, +wretched Jack," acquiesced Lucy, with her usual imperturbable good- +humor. + +"And as regards the next?" I suggested, smiling, and already +ashamed of my little temper. + +"The next is perfect, of course,--poor dear boys." She sighed as +she spoke, and I wondered whether she was really as unconscious as +she generally appeared to be of the strange dissatisfaction with +which her husband seemed to regard his children. Anyhow the +mention of them had evidently changed her mood, and almost directly +afterwards, with the remark that she must go and look after her +guests, who had all arrived by now, she left me to myself. + +For some minutes I sat by the bright fire, lost in aimless, +wandering thought, which began with Dame Alice and her cabinet, and +which ended somehow with Alan's face, as I had last seen it looking +up at me in front of the hall-door. When I had reached that point, +I roused myself to decide that I had dreamt long enough, and that +it was quite time to go down to the guests and to tea. I +accordingly donned my best teagown, arranged my hair, and proceeded +towards the drawing-room. My way there lay through the great +central hall. This apartment was approached from most of the +bedrooms in the house through a large, arched doorway at one end of +it, which communicated directly with the great staircase. My +bedroom, however, which, as I have said, lay among the private +apartments of the house, opened into a passage which led into a +broad gallery, or upper chamber, stretching right across the end of +the hall. From this you descended by means of a small staircase in +oak, whose carved balustrade, bending round the corner of the hall, +formed one of the prettiest features of the picturesque old room. +The barrier which ran along the front of the gallery was in solid +oak, and of such a height that, unless standing close up to it, you +could neither see nor be seen by the occupants of the room below. +On approaching this gallery I heard voices in the hall. They were +George's and Alan's, evidently in hot discussion. As I issued from +the passage, George was speaking, and his voice had that +exasperated tone in which an angry man tries to bring to a close an +argument in which he has lost his temper. "For heaven's sake leave +it alone, Alan; I neither can nor will interfere. We have enough +to bear from these cursed traditions as it is, without adding one +which has no foundation whatever to justify it--a mere contemptible +piece of superstition." + +"No member of our family has a right to call any tradition +contemptible which is connected with that place, and you know it," +answered Alan; and though he spoke low, his voice trembled with +some strong emotion. A first impulse of hesitation which I had had +I checked, feeling that as I had heard so much it was fairer to go +on, and I advanced to the top of the staircase. Alan stood by the +fireplace facing me, but far too occupied to see me. His last +speech had seemingly aroused George to fury, for the latter turned +on him now with savage passion. + +"Damn it all, Alan!" he cried, "can't you be quiet? I will be +master in my own house. Take care, I tell you; the curse may not +be quite fulfilled yet after all." + +As George uttered these words, Alan lifted his eyes to him with a +glance of awful horror: his face turned ghastly white; his lips +trembled for a moment; and then he answered back with one half- +whispered word of supreme appeal--"George!" There was a long- +drawn, unutterable anguish in his tone, and his voice, though +scarcely audible, penetrated to every corner of the room, and +seemed to hang quivering in the air around one after the sound had +ceased. Then there was a terrible stillness. Alan stood trembling +in every limb, incapable apparently of speech or action, and George +faced him, as silent and motionless as he was. For an instant they +remained thus, while I looked breathlessly on. Then George, with a +muttered imprecation, turned on his heel and left the room. Alan +followed him as he went with dull lifeless eyes; and as the door +closed he breathed deeply, with a breath that was almost a groan. + +Taking my courage in both hands, I now descended the stairs, and at +the sound of my footfall he glanced up, started, and then came +rapidly to meet me. + +"Evie! you here," he said; "I did not notice you. How long have +you been here?" He was still quite white, and I noticed that he +panted for breath as he spoke. + +"Not long," I answered, timidly, and rather spasmodically; "I only +heard a sentence or two. You wanted George to do something about +some tradition or other,--and he was angry,--and he said something +about the curse." + +While I spoke Alan kept his eyes fixed on mine, reading through +them, as I knew, into my mind. When I had finished he turned his +gaze away satisfied, and answered very quietly, "Yes, that was it." +Then he went back to the fireplace, rested his arm against the high +mantelpiece above it, and leaning his forehead on his arm, remained +silently looking into the fire. I could see by his bent brow and +compressed lips that he was engaged upon some earnest train of +thought or reasoning, and I stood waiting--worried, puzzled, +curious, but above all things, pitiful, and oh! longing so +intensely to help him if I could. Presently he straightened +himself a little, and addressed me more in his ordinary tone of +voice, though without looking round. "So I hear they have changed +your room." + +"Yes," I answered. And then, flushing rather, "Is that what you +and George have been quarreling about?" I received no reply, and +taking this silence for assent, I went on deprecatingly, "Because +you know, if it was, I think you are rather foolish, Alan. As I +understand, two girls are said to have died in that room more than +a hundred years ago, and for that reason there is a prejudice +against putting a girl to sleep there. That is all. Merely a +vague, unreasonable tradition." + +Alan took a moment to answer. + +"Yes," he said at length, speaking slowly, and as if replying to +arguments in his own mind as much as to those which I had uttered. +"Yes, it is nothing but a tradition after all, and that of the very +vaguest and most unsupported kind." + +"Is there even any proof that girls have not slept there since +those two died?" I asked. I think that the suggestion conveyed in +this question was a relief to him, for after a moment's pause, as +if to search his memory, he turned round. + +"No," he answered, "I don't think that there is any such proof; and +I have no doubt that you are right, and that it is a mere prejudice +that makes me dislike your sleeping there." + +"Then," I said, with a little assumption of sisterly superiority, +"I think George was right, and that you were wrong." + +Alan smiled,--a smiled which sat oddly on the still pale face, and +in the wearied, worn-looking eyes. "Very likely," he said; "I +daresay that I am superstitious. I have had things to make me so." +Then coming nearer to me, and laying his hands on my shoulders, he +went on, smiling more brightly, "We are a queer-tempered, bad- +nerved race, we Mervyns, and you must not take us too seriously, +Evie. The best thing that you can do with our odd ways is to +ignore them." + +"Oh, I don't mind," I answered, laughing, too glad to have won him +back to even temporary brightness, "as long as you and George don't +come to blows over the question of where I am to sleep; which after +all is chiefly my concern,--and Lucy's." + +"Well, perhaps it is," he replied, in the same tone; "and now be +off to the drawing-room, where Lucy is defending the tea-table +single-handed all this time." + +I obeyed, and should have gone more cheerfully had I not turned at +the doorway to look back at him, and caught one glimpse of his face +as he sank heavily down into the large arm-chair by the fireside. + +However, by dinner-time he appeared to have dismissed all painful +reflections from his mind, or to have buried them too deep for +discovery. The people staying in the house were, in spite of my +sense of grievance at their arrival, individually pleasant, and +after dinner I discovered them to be socially well assorted. For +the first hour or two, indeed, after their arrival, each glared at +the other across those triple lines of moral fortification behind +which every well-bred Briton takes refuge on appearing at a +friend's country-house. But flags of truce were interchanged over +the soup, an armistice was agreed upon during the roast, and the +terms of a treaty of peace and amity were finally ratified under +the sympathetic influence of George's best champagne. For the +achievement of this happy result Alan certainly worked hard, and +received therefor many a grateful glance from his sister-in-law. +He was more excited than I had ever seen him before, and talked +brilliantly and well--though perhaps not as exclusively to his +neighbors as they may have wished. His eyes and his attention +seemed everywhere at once: one moment he was throwing remarks +across to some despairing couple opposite, and the next he was +breaking an embarrassing pause in the conversation by some rapid +sally of nonsense addressed to the table in general. He formed a +great contrast to his brother, who sat gloomy and dejected, making +little or no response to the advances of the two dowagers between +whom he was placed. After dinner the younger members of the party +spent the evening by Alan's initiative, and chiefly under his +direction, in a series of lively and rather riotous games such as +my nursery days had delighted in, and my schoolroom ones had +disdained. It was a great and happy surprise to discover that, +grown up, I might again enjoy them. I did so, hugely, and when +bedtime came all memories more serious than those of "musical +chairs" or "follow my leader" had vanished from my mind. I think, +from Alan's glance as he handed me my bed candle, that the pleasure +and excitement must have improved my looks. + +"I hope you have enjoyed your first evening of gayety, Evie," he +said. + +"I have," I answered, with happy conviction; "and really I believe +that it is chiefly owing to you, Alan." He met my smile by +another; but I think that there must have been something in his +look which recalled other thoughts, for as I started up the stairs +I threw a mischievous glance back at him and whispered, "Now for +the horrors of the haunted chamber." + +He laughed rather loudly, and saying "Good-night, and good-luck," +turned to attend to the other ladies. + +His wishes were certainly fulfilled. I got to bed quickly, and--as +soon as my happy excitement was sufficiently calmed to admit of it-- +to sleep. The only thing which disturbed me was the wind, which +blew fiercely and loudly all the earlier portion of the night, half +arousing me more than once. I spoke of it at breakfast the next +morning; but the rest of the world seemed to have slept too heavily +to have been aware of it. + + +IV + + +The men went out shooting directly after breakfast, and we women +passed the day in orthodox country-house fashion,--working and +eating; walking and riding; driving and playing croquet; and above, +beyond, and through all things, chattering. Beyond a passing sigh +while I was washing my hands, or a moment of mournful remembrance +while I changed my dress, I had scarcely time even to regret the +quiet happiness of the week that was past. In the evening we +danced in the great hall. I had two valses with Alan. During a +pause for breath, I found that we were standing near the fireplace, +on the very spot where he and George had stood on the previous +afternoon. The recollection made me involuntarily glance up at his +face. It looked sad and worried, and the thought suddenly struck +me that his extravagant spirits of the night before, and even his +quieter, careful cheerfulness of to-night, had been but artificial +moods at best. He turned, and finding my eyes fixed on him, at +once plunged into conversation, discussed the peculiarities of one +of the guests, good-humoredly enough, but with so much fun as to +make me laugh in spite of myself. Then we danced again. The +plaintive music, the smooth floor, and the partner were all alike +perfect, and I experienced that entire delight of physical +enjoyment which I believe nothing but a valse under such +circumstances can give. When it was over I turned to Alan, and +exclaimed with impulsive appeal, "Oh, I am so happy,--you must be +happy too!" He smiled rather uncertainly, and answered, "Don't +bother yourself about me, Evie, I am all right. I told you that we +Mervyns had bad nerves; and I am rather tired. That's all." I was +too passionately determined just then upon happiness, and his was +too necessary to mine for me not to believe that he was speaking +the truth. + +We kept up the dancing till Lucy discovered with a shock that +midnight had struck, and that Sunday had begun, and we were all +sent off to bed. I was not long in making my nightly preparations, +and had scarcely inserted myself between the sheets when, with a +few long moans, the wind began again, more violently even than the +night before. It had been a calm, fine day, and I made wise +reflections as I listened upon the uncertainty of the north-country +climate. What a tempest it was! How it moaned, and howled, and +shrieked! Where had I heard the superstition which now came to my +mind, that borne upon the wind come the spirits of the drowned, +wailing and crying for the sepulture which had been denied them? +But there were other sounds in that wind, too. Evil, murderous +thoughts, perhaps, which had never taken body in deeds, but which, +caught up in the air, now hurled themselves in impotent fury +through the world. How I wished the wind would stop. It seemed +full of horrible fancies, and it kept knocking them into my head, +and it wouldn't leave off. Fancies, or memories--which?--and my +mind reverted with a flash to the fearful thoughts which had +haunted it the day before in Dame Alice's tower. It was dark now. +Those ghastly intangible shapes must have taken full form and +color, peopling the old ruin with their ageless hideousness. And +the storm had found them there and borne them along with it as it +blew through the creviced walls. That was why the wind's sound +struck so strangely on my brain. Ah! I could hear them now, those +still living memories of dead horror. Through the window crannies +they came shrieking and wailing. They filled the chimney with +spirit sobs, and now they were pressing on, crowding through the +room,--eager, eager to reach their prey. Nearer they came;--nearer +still! They were round my bed now! Through my closed eyelids I +could almost see their dreadful shapes; in all my quivering flesh I +felt their terrors as they bent over me,--lower, lower. . . . + +With a start I aroused myself and sat up. Was I asleep or awake? +I was trembling all over still, and it required the greatest effort +of courage I had ever made to enable me to spring from my bed and +strike a light. What a state my nerves or my digestion must be in! +From my childhood the wind had always affected me strangely, and I +blamed myself now for allowing my imagination to run away with me +at the first. I found a novel which I had brought up to my room +with me, one of the modern, Chinese-American school, where human +nature is analyzed with the patient, industrious indifference of +the true Celestial. I took the book to bed with me, and soon under +its soothing influences fell asleep. I dreamt a good deal,-- +nightmares, the definite recollection of which, as is so often the +case, vanished from my mind as soon as I awoke, leaving only a +vague impression of horror. They had been connected with the wind, +of that alone I was conscious, and I went down to breakfast, +maliciously hoping that others' rest had been as much disturbed as +my own. + +To my surprise, however, I found that I had again been the only +sufferer. Indeed, so impressed were most of the party with the +quiet in which their night had been passed, that they boldly +declared my storm to have been the creature of my dreams. There is +nothing more annoying when you feel yourself aggrieved by fate than +to be told that your troubles have originated in your own fancy; so +I dropped the subject. Though the discussion spread for a few +minutes round the whole table, Alan took no part in it. Neither +did George, except for what I thought a rather unnecessarily rough +expression of his disbelief in the cause of my night's disturbance. +As we rose from breakfast I saw Alan glance towards his brother, +and make a movement, evidently with the purpose of speaking to him. +Whether or not George was aware of the look or action, I cannot +say; but at the same moment he made rapidly across the room to +where one of his principal guests was standing, and at once engaged +him in conversation. So earnestly and so volubly was he borne on, +that they were still talking together when we ladies appeared again +some minutes later, prepared for our walk to church. That was not +the only occasion during the day on which I witnessed as I thought +the same by-play going on. Again and again Alan appeared to be +making efforts to engage George in private conversation, and again +and again the latter successfully eluded him. + +The church was about a mile away from the house, and as Lucy did +not like having the carriages out on a Sunday, one service a week +as a rule contented the household. In the afternoon we took the +usual Sunday walk. On returning from it, I had just taken off my +outdoor things, and was issuing from my bedroom, when I found +myself face to face with Alan. He was coming out of George's +study, and had succeeded apparently in obtaining that interview for +which he had been all day seeking. One glance at his face told me +what its nature had been. We paused opposite each other for a +moment, and he looked at me earnestly. + +"Are you going to church?" he inquired at last, abruptly. + +"No," I answered, with some surprise. "I did not know that any one +was going this evening." + +"Will you come with me?" + +"Yes, certainly; if you don't mind waiting a moment for me to put +my things on." + +"There's plenty of time," he answered; "meet me in the hall." + +A few minutes later we started. + +It was a calm, cloudless night, and although the moon was not yet +half-full, and already past her meridian, she filled the clear air +with gentle light. Not a word broke our silence. Alan walked +hurriedly, looking straight before him, his head upright, his lips +twitching nervously, while every now and then a half-uttered moan +escaped unconsciously from between them. At last I could bear it +no longer, and burst forth with the first remark which occurred to +me. We were passing a big, black, queer-shaped stone standing in +rather a lonely uncultivated spot at one end of the garden. It was +an old acquaintance of my childhood; but my thoughts had been +turned towards it now from the fact that I could see it from my +bedroom window, and had been struck afresh by its uncouth, +incongruous appearance. + +"Isn't there some story connected with that stone?" I asked. "I +remember that we always called it the Dead Stone as children." + +Alan cast a quick, sidelong glance in that direction, and his brows +contracted in an irritable frown. "I don't know," he answered +shortly; "they say that there is a woman buried beneath it, I +believe." + +"A woman buried there!" I exclaimed in surprise; "but who?" + +"How should I know? They know nothing whatever about it. The +place is full of stupid traditions of that kind." Then, looking +suspiciously round at me, "Why do you ask?" + +"I don't know; it was just something to say," I answered +plaintively. His strange mood so worked upon my nerves, that it +was all that I could do to restrain my tears. I think that my tone +struck his conscience, for he made a few feverish attempts at +conversation after that. But they were so entirely abortive that +he soon abandoned the effort, and we finished our walk to church as +speechlessly as we had begun it. + +The service was bright, and the sermon perhaps a little +commonplace, but sensible as it seemed to me in matter, and +adequate in style. The peaceful evening hymn which followed, the +short solemn pause of silent prayer at the end, soothed and +refreshed my spirit. A hasty glance at my companion's face as he +stood waiting for me in the porch, with the full light from the +church streaming round him, assured me that the same influence had +touched him too. Haggard and sad he still looked, it is true; but +his features were composed, and the expression of actual pain had +left his eyes. + +Silent as we had come we started homeward through the waning +moonlight, but this silence was of a very different nature to the +other, and after a minute or two I did not hesitate to break it. + +"It was a good sermon?" I observed, interrogatively. + +"Yes," he assented, "I suppose you would call it so; but I confess +that I should have found the text more impressive without its +exposition." + +"Poor man!" + +"But don't you often find it so?" he asked. "Do you not often +wish, to take this evening's instance, that clergymen would infuse +themselves with something of St. Paul's own spirit? Then perhaps +they would not water all the strength out of his words in their +efforts to explain them." + +"That is rather a large demand to make upon them, is it not?" + +"Is it?" he questioned. "I don't ask them to be inspired saints. +I don't expect St. Paul's breadth and depth of thought. But could +they not have something of his vigorous completeness, something of +the intensity of his feeling and belief? Look at the text of to- +night. Did not the preacher's examples and applications take +something from its awful unqualified strength?" + +"Awful!" I exclaimed, in surprise; "that is hardly the expression I +should have used in connection with those words." + +"Why not?" + +"Oh, I don't know. The text is very beautiful, of course, and at +times, when people are tiresome and one ought to be nice to them, +it is very difficult to act up to. But--" + +"But you think that 'awful' is rather a big adjective to use for so +small a duty," interposed Alan, and the moonlight showed the +flicker of a smile upon his face. Then he continued, gravely, "I +doubt whether you yourself realize the full import of the words. +The precept of charity is not merely a code of rules by which to +order our conduct to our neighbors; it is the picture of a +spiritual condition, and such, where it exists in us, must by its +very nature be roused into activity by anything that affects us. +So with this particular injunction, every circumstance in our lives +is a challenge to it, and in presence of all alike it admits of one +attitude only: 'Beareth all things, endureth all things.' I hope +it will be long before that 'all' sticks in your gizzard, Evie,-- +before you come face to face with things which nature cannot bear, +and yet which must be borne." + +He stopped, his voice quivering; and then after a pause went on +again more calmly, "And throughout it is the same. Moral precepts +everywhere, which will admit of no compromise, no limitation, and +yet which are at war with our strongest passions. If one could +only interpose some 'unless,' some 'except,' even an 'until,' which +should be short of the grave. But we cannot. The law is infinite, +universal, eternal; there is no escape, no repose. Resist, strive, +endure, that is the recurring cry; that is existence." + +"And peace," I exclaimed, appealingly. "Where is there room for +peace, if that be true?" + +He sighed for answer, and then in a changed and lower tone added, +"However thickly the clouds mass, however vainly we search for a +coming glimmer in their midst, we never doubt that the sky IS still +beyond--beyond and around us, infinite and infinitely restful." + +He raised his eyes as he spoke, and mine followed his. We had +entered the wooded glen. Through the scanty autumn foliage we +could see the stars shining faintly in the dim moonlight, and +beyond them the deep illimitable blue. A dark world it looked, +distant and mysterious, and my young spirit rebelled at the +consolation offered me. + +"Peace seems a long way off," I whispered. + +"It is for me," he answered, gently; "not necessarily for you." + +"Oh, but I am worse and weaker than you are. If life is to be all +warfare, I must be beaten. I cannot always be fighting." + +"Cannot you? Evie, what I have been saying is true of every moral +law worth having, of every ideal of life worth striving after, that +men have yet conceived. But it is only half the truth of +Christianity. You know that. We must strive, for the promise is +to him that overcometh; but though our aim be even higher than is +that of others, we cannot in the end fail to reach it. The victory +of the Cross is ours. You know that? You believe that?" + +"Yes" I answered, softly, too surprised to say more. In speaking +of religion he, as a rule, showed to the full the reserve which is +characteristic of his class and country, and this sudden outburst +was in itself astonishing; but the eager anxiety with which he +emphasized the last words of appeal impressed and bewildered me +still further. We walked on for some minutes in silence. Then +suddenly Alan stopped, and turning, took my hand in his. In what +direction his mind had been working in the interval I could not +divine; but the moment he began to speak I felt that he was now for +the first time giving utterance to what had been really at the +bottom of his thoughts the whole evening. Even in that dim light I +could see the anxious look upon his face, and his voice shook with +restrained emotion. + +"Evie," he said, "have you ever thought of the world in which our +spirits dwell, as our bodies do in this one of matter and sense, +and of how it may be peopled? I know," he went on hurriedly, "that +it is the fashion nowadays to laugh at such ideas. I envy those +who have never had cause to be convinced of their reality, and I +hope that you may long remain among the number. But should that +not be so, should those unseen influences ever touch your life, I +want you to remember then, that, as one of the race for whom Christ +died, you have as high a citizenship in that spirit land as any +creature there: that you are your own soul's warden, and that +neither principalities nor powers can rob you of that your +birthright." + +I think my face must have shown my bewilderment, for he dropped my +hand, and walked on with an impatient sigh. + +"You don't understand me. Why should you? I dare-say that I am +talking nonsense--only--only--" + +His voice expressed such an agony of doubt and hesitation that I +burst out-- + +"I think that I do understand you a little, Alan. You mean that +even from unearthly enemies there is nothing that we need really +fear--at least, that is, I suppose, nothing worse than death. But +that is surely enough!" + +"Why should you fear death?" he said, abruptly; "your soul will +live." + +"Yes, I know that, but still--" I stopped with a shudder. + +"What is life after all but one long death?" he went on, with +sudden violence. "Our pleasures, our hopes, our youth are all +dying; ambition dies, and even desire at last; our passions and +tastes will die, or will live only to mourn their dead opportunity. +The happiness of love dies with the loss of the loved, and, worst +of all, love itself grows old in our hearts and dies. Why should +we shrink only from the one death which can free us from all the +others?" + +"It is not true, Alan!" I cried, hotly. "What you say is not true. +There are many things even here which are living and shall live; +and if it were otherwise, in everything, life that ends in death is +better than no life at all." + +"You say that," he answered, "because for you these things are yet +living. To leave life now, therefore, while it is full and sweet, +untainted by death, surely that is not a fate to fear. Better, a +thousand times better, to see the cord cut with one blow while it +is still whole and strong, and to launch out straight into the +great ocean, than to sit watching through the slow years, while +strand after strand, thread by thread, loosens and unwinds itself,-- +each with its own separate pang breaking, bringing the bitterness +of death without its release. + +His manner, the despairing ring in his voice, alarmed me even more +than his words. Clinging to his arm with both hands, while the +tears sprang to my eyes-- + +"Alan," I cried, "don't say such things,--don't talk like that. +You are making me miserable." + +He stopped short at my words, with bent head, his features hidden +in the shadow thus cast upon them,--nothing in his motionless form +to show what was passing within him. Then he looked up, and turned +his face to the moonlight and to me, laying his hand on one of +mine. + +"Don't be afraid," he said; "it is all right, my little David. You +have driven the evil spirit away." And lifting my hand, he pressed +it gently to his lips. Then drawing it within his arm, he went on, +as he walked forward, "And even when it was on me at its worst, I +was not meditating suicide, as I think you imagine. I am a very +average specimen of humanity,--neither brave enough to defy the +possibilities of eternity nor cowardly enough to shirk those of +time. No, I was only trying idiotically to persuade a girl of +eighteen that life was not worth living; and more futilely still, +myself, that I did not wish her to live. I am afraid, that in my +mind philosophy and fact have but small connection with each other; +and though my theorizing for your welfare may be true enough, yet,-- +I cannot help it, Evie,--it would go terribly hard with me if +anything were to happen to you." + +His voice trembled as he finished. My fear had gone with his +return to his natural manner, but my bewilderment remained. + +"Why SHOULD there anything happen to me?" I asked. + +"That is just it," he answered, after a pause, looking straight in +front of him and drawing his hand wearily over his brow. "I know +of no reason why there should." Then giving a sigh, as if finally +to dismiss from his mind a worrying subject--"I have acted for the +best," he said, "and may God forgive me if I have done wrong." + +There was a little silence after that, and then he began to talk +again, steadily and quietly. The subject was deep enough still, as +deep as any that we had touched upon, but both voice and sentiment +were calm, bringing peace to my spirit, and soon making me forget +the wonder and fear of a few moments before. Very openly did he +talk as we passed on across the long trunk shadows and through the +glades of silver light; and I saw farther then into the most sacred +recesses of his soul than I have ever done before or since. + +When we reached home the moon had already set; but some of her +beams seemed to have been left behind within my heart, so pure and +peaceful was the light which filled it. + +The same feeling continued with me all through that evening. After +dinner some of the party played and sang. As it was Sunday, and +Lucy was rigid in her views, the music was of a sacred character. +I sat in a low armchair in a dark corner of the room, my mind too +dreamy to think, and too passive to dream. I hardly interchanged +three words with Alan, who remained in a still darker spot, +invisible and silent the whole time. Only as we left the room to +go to bed, I heard Lucy ask him if he had a headache. I did not +hear his answer, and before I could see his face he had turned back +again into the drawing-room. + + +V + + +It was early, and when first I got to my room I felt little +inclined for sleep. I wandered to the window, and drawing aside +the curtains, looked out upon the still, starlit sky. At least I +should rest quiet to-night. The air was very clear, and the sky +seemed full of stars. As I stood there scraps of schoolroom +learning came back to my mind. That the stars were all suns, +surrounded perhaps in their turn by worlds as large or larger than +our own. Worlds beyond worlds, and others farther still, which no +man might number or even descry. And about the distance of those +wonderful suns too,--that one, for instance, at which I was +looking,--what was it that I had been told? That our world was not +yet peopled, perhaps not yet formed, when the actual spot of light +which now struck my sight first started from the star's surface! +While it flashed along, itself the very symbol of speed, the whole +of mankind had had time to be born, and live, and die! + +My gaze dropped, and fell upon the dim, half-seen outline of the +Dead Stone. That woman too. While that one ray speeded towards me +her life had been lived and ended, and her body had rotted away +into the ground. How close together we all were! Her life and +mine; our joys, sufferings, deaths--all crowded together into the +space of one flash of light! And yet there was nothing there but a +horrible skeleton of dead bones, while I--! + +I stopped with a shudder, and turned back into the room. I wished +that Alan had not told me what lay under the stone; I wished that I +had never asked him. It was a ghastly thing to think about, and +spoilt all the beauty of the night to me. + +I got quickly into bed, and soon dropped asleep. I do not know how +long I slept; but when I woke it was with the consciousness again +of that haunting wind. + +It was worse than ever. The world seemed filled with its din. +Hurling itself passionately against the house, it gathered strength +with every gust, till it seemed as if the old walls must soon crash +in ruins round me. Gust upon gust; blow upon blow; swelling, +lessening, never ceasing. The noise surrounded me; it penetrated +my inmost being, as all-pervading as silence itself, and wrapping +me in a solitude even more complete. There was nothing left in the +world but the wind and I, and then a weird intangible doubt as to +my own identity seized me. The wind was real, the wind with its +echoes of passion and misery from the eternal abyss; but was there +anything else? What was, and what had been, the world of sense and +of knowledge, my own consciousness, my very self,--all seemed +gathered up and swept away in that one sole-existent fury of sound. + +I pulled myself together, and getting out of bed, groped my way to +the table which stood between the bed and the fireplace. The +matches were there, and my half-burnt candle, which I lit. The +wind penetrating the rattling casement circled round the room, and +the flame of my candle bent and flared and shrank before it, +throwing strange moving lights and shadows in every corner. I +stood there shivering in my thin nightdress, half stunned by the +cataract of noise beating on the walls outside, and peered +anxiously around me. The room was not the same. Something was +changed. What was it? How the shadows leaped and fell, dancing in +time to the wind's music. Everything seemed alive. I turned my +head slowly to the left, and then to the right, and then round--and +stopped with a sudden gasp of fear. + +The cabinet was open! + +I looked away, and back, and again. There was no room for doubt. +The doors were thrown back, and were waving gently in the draught. +One of the lower drawers was pulled out, and in a sudden flare of +the candle-light I could see something glistening at its bottom. +Then the light dwindled again, the candle was almost out, and the +cabinet showed a dim black mass in the darkness. Up and down went +the flame, and each returning brightness flashed back at me from +the thing inside the drawer. I stood fascinated, my eyes fixed +upon the spot, waiting for the fitful glitter as it came and went. +What was there there? I knew that I must go and see, but I did not +want to. If only the cabinet would close again before I looked, +before I knew what was inside it. But it stood open, and the +glittering thing lay there, dragging me towards itself. + +Slowly at last, and with infinite reluctance, I went. The drawer +was lined with soft white satin, and upon the satin lay a long, +slender knife, hilted and sheathed in antique silver, richly set +with jewels. I took it up and turned back to the table to examine +it. It was Italian in workmanship, and I knew that the carving and +chasing of the silver were more precious even than the jewels which +studded it, and whose rough setting gave so firm a grasp to my +hand. Was the blade as fair as the covering, I wondered? A little +resistance at first, and then the long thin steel slid easily out. +Sharp, and bright, and finely tempered it looked with its deadly, +tapering point. Stains, dull and irregular, crossed the fine +engraving on its surface and dimmed its polish. I bent to examine +them more closely, and as I did so a sudden stronger gust of wind +blew out the candle. I shuddered a little at the darkness and +looked up. But it did not matter: the curtain was still drawn away +from the window opposite my bedside, and through it a flood of +moonlight was pouring in upon floor and bed. + +Putting the sheath down upon the table, I walked to the window to +examine the knife more closely by that pale light. How gloriously +brilliant it was! darkened now and again by the quickly passing +shadows of wind-driven clouds. At least so I thought, and I +glanced up and out of the window to see them. A black world met my +gaze. Neither moon was there nor moonlight: the broad silver beam +in which I stood stretched no farther than the window. I caught my +breath, and my limbs stiffened as I looked. No moon, no cloud, no +movement in the clear, calm, starlit sky; while still the ghastly +light stretched round me, and the spectral shadows drifted across +the room. + +But it was not all dark outside: one spot caught my eye, bright +with a livid unearthly brightness--the Dead Stone shining out into +the night like an ember from hell's furnace! There was a horrid +semblance of life in the light,--a palpitating, breathing glow,-- +and my pulses beat in time to it, till I seemed to be drawing it +into my veins. It had no warmth, and as it entered my blood my +heart grew colder, and my muscles more rigid. My fingers clutched +the dagger-hilt till its jeweled roughness pressed painfully into +my palm. All the strength of my strained powers seemed gathered in +that grasp, and the more tightly I held the more vividly did the +rock gleam and quiver with infernal life. The dead woman! The +dead woman! What had I to do with her? Let her bones rest in the +filth of their own decay,--out there under the accursed stone. + +And now the noise of the wind lessens in my ears. Let it go on,-- +yes, louder and wilder, drowning my senses in its tumult. What is +there with me in the room--the great empty room behind me? +Nothing; only the cabinet with its waving doors. They are waving +to and fro, to and fro--I know it. But there is no other life in +the room but that--no, no; no other life in the room but that. + +Oh! don't let the wind stop. I can't hear anything while it goes +on;--but if it stops! Ah! the gusts grow weaker, struggling, +forced into rest. Now--now--they have ceased. + +Silence! + +A fearful pause. + +What is that that I hear? There, behind me in the room? + +Do I hear it? Is there anything? + +The throbbing of my own blood in my ears. + +No, no! There is something as well,--something outside myself. + +What is it? + +Low; heavy; regular. + +God! it is--it is the breath of a living creature! A living +creature! here--close to me--alone with me! + +The numbness of terror conquers me. I can neither stir nor speak. +Only my whole soul strains at my ears to listen. + +Where does the sound come from? + +Close behind me--close. + +Ah-h! + +It is from there--from the bed where I was lying a moment ago! . . . + +I try to shriek, but the sound gurgles unuttered in my throat. I +clutch the stone mullions of the window, and press myself against +the panes. If I could but throw myself out!--anywhere, anywhere-- +away from that dreadful sound--from that thing close behind me in +the bed! But I can do nothing. The wind has broken forth again +now; the storm crashes round me. And still through it all I hear +the ghastly breathing--even, low, scarcely audible--but I hear it. +I shall hear it as long as I live! . . . + +Is the thing moving? + +Is it coming nearer? + +No, no; not that,--that was but a fancy to freeze me dead. + +But to stand here, with that creature behind me, listening, waiting +for the warm horror of its breath to touch my neck! Ah! I cannot. +I will look. I will see it face to face. Better any agony than +this one. + +Slowly, with held breath, and eyes aching in their stretched +fixity, I turn. There it is! Clear in the moonlight I see the +monstrous form within the bed,--the dark coverlet rises and falls +with its heaving breath. . . . Ah! heaven have mercy! Is there +none to help, none to save me from this awful presence? . . . + +And the knife-hilt draws my fingers round it, while my flesh +quivers, and my soul grows sick with loathing. The wind howls, the +shadows chase through the room, hunting with fearful darkness more +fearful light; and I stand looking, . . . listening. . . . + + . . . . . . + +I must not stand here for ever; I must be up and doing. What a +noise the wind makes, and the rattling of the windows and the +doors. If he sleeps through this he will sleep through all. +Noiselessly my bare feet tread the carpet as I approach the bed; +noiselessly my left arm raises the heavy curtain. What does it +hide? Do I not know? The bestial features, half-hidden in coarse, +black growth; the muddy, blotched skin, oozing foulness at every +pore. Oh, I know them too well! What a monster it is! How the +rank breath gurgles through his throat in his drunken sleep. The +eyes are closed now, but I know them too; their odious leer, and +the venomous hatred with which they can glare at me from their +bloodshot setting. But the time has come at last. Never again +shall their passion insult me, or their fury degrade me in slavish +terror. There he lies; there at my mercy, the man who for fifteen +years has made God's light a shame to me, and His darkness a +terror. The end has come at last,--the only end possible, the only +end left me. On his head be the blood and the crime! God +almighty, I am not guilty! The end has come; I can bear my burden +no farther. + +"Beareth all things, endureth all things." + +Where have I heard those words? They are in the Bible; the precept +of charity. What has that to do with me? Nothing. I heard the +words in my dreams somewhere. A white-faced man said them, a +white-faced man with pure eyes. To me?--no, no, not to me; to a +girl it was--an ignorant, innocent girl, and she accepted them as +an eternal, unqualified law. Let her bear but half that I have +borne, let her endure but one-tenth of what I have endured, and +then if she dare let her speak in judgment against me. + +Softly now; I must draw the heavy coverings away, and bare his +breast to the stroke,--the stroke that shall free me. I know well +where to plant it; I have learned that from the old lady's Italian. +Did he guess why I questioned him so closely of the surest, +straightest road to a man's heart? No matter, he cannot hinder me +now. Gently! Ah! I have disturbed him. He moves, mutters in his +sleep, throws out his arm. Down; down; crouching behind the +curtain. Heavens! if he wakes and sees me, he will kill me. No! +alas! if only he would. I would kiss the hand that he struck me +with; but he is too cruel for that. He will imagine some new and +more hellish torture to punish me with. But the knife! I have got +that; he shall never touch me living again. . . . He is quieter +now. I hear his breath, hoarse and heavy as a wild beast's +panting. He draws it more evenly, more deeply. The danger is +past. Thank God! + +God! What have I to do with Him? A God of Judgment. Ha, ha! +Hell cannot frighten me; it will not be worse than earth. Only he +will be there too. Not with him, not with him,--send me to the +lowest circle of torment, but not with him. There, his breast is +bare now. Is the knife sharp? Yes; and the blade is strong +enough. Now let me strike--myself afterwards if need be, but him +first. Is it the devil that prompts me? Then the devil is my +friend, and the friend of the world. No. God is a God of love. +He cannot wish such a man to live. He made him, but the devil +spoilt him; and let the devil have his handiwork back again. It +has served him long enough here; and its last service shall be to +make me a murderess. + +How the moonlight gleams from the blade as my arm swings up and +back: with how close a grasp the rough hilt draws my fingers round +it. Now. + +A murderess? + +Wait a moment. A moment may make me free; a moment may make me-- +that! + +Wait. + +Hand and dagger droop again. His life has dragged its slime over +my soul; shall his death poison it with a fouler corruption still? + +"My own soul's warden." + +What was that? Dream memories again. + +"Resist, strive, endure." + +Easy words. What do they mean for me? To creep back now to bed by +his side, and to begin living again to-morrow the life which I have +lived to-day? No, no; I cannot do it. Heaven cannot ask it of me. +And there is no other way. That or this; this or that. Which +shall it be? Ah! I have striven, God knows. I have endured so +long that I hoped even to do so to the end. But to-day! Oh! the +torment and the outrage: body and soul still bear the stain of it. +I thought that my heart and my pride were dead together, but he has +stung them again into aching, shameful life. Yesterday I might +have spared him, to save my own cold soul from sin; but now it is +cold no longer. It burns, it burns and the fire must be slaked. + +Ay, I will kill him, and have done with it. Why should I pause any +longer? The knife drags my hand back for the stroke. Only the +dream surrounds me; the pure man's face is there, white, +beseeching, and God's voice rings in my heart-- + +"To him that overcometh." + +But I cannot overcome. Evil has governed my life, and evil is +stronger than I am. What shall I do? what shall I do? God, if +Thou art stronger than evil, fight for me. + +"The victory of the Cross is ours." + +Yes, I know it. It is true, it is true. But the knife? I cannot +loose the knife if I would. How to wrench it from my own hold? +Thou God of Victory be with me! Christ help me! + +I seize the blade with my left hand; the two-edged steel slides +through my grasp; a sharp pain in fingers and palm; and then-- +nothing. . . . + + . . . . . . + + +VI + + +When I again became conscious, I found myself half kneeling, half +lying across the bed, my arms stretched out in front of me, my face +buried in the clothes. Body and mind were alike numbed. A +smarting pain in my left hand, a dreadful terror in my heart, were +at first the only sensations of which I was aware. Slowly, very +slowly, sense and memory returned to me, and with them a more vivid +intensity of mental anguish, as detail by detail I recalled the +weird horror of the night. Had it really happened,--was the thing +still there,--or was it all a ghastly nightmare? It was some +minutes before I dared either to move or look up, and then +fearfully I raised my head. Before me stretched the smooth white +coverlet, faintly bright with yellow sunshine. Weak and giddy, I +struggled to my feet, and, steadying myself against the foot of the +bed, with clenched teeth and bursting heart, forced my gaze round +to the other end. The pillow lay there, bare and unmarked save for +what might well have been the pressure of my own head. My breath +came more freely, and I turned to the window. The sun had just +risen, the golden tree-tops were touched with light, faint threads +of mist hung here and there across the sky, and the twittering of +birds sounded clearly through the crisp autumn air. + +It was nothing but a bad dream then, after all, this horror which +still hung round me, leaving me incapable of effort, almost of +thought. I remembered the cabinet, and looked swiftly in that +direction. There it stood, closed as usual, closed as it had been +the evening before, as it had been for the last three hundred +years, except in my dreams. + +Yes, that was it; nothing but a dream,--a gruesome, haunting dream. +With an instinct of wiping out the dreadful memory, I raised my +hand wearily to my forehead. As I did so, I became conscious again +of how it hurt me. I looked at it. It was covered with half-dried +blood, and two straight clean cuts appeared, one across the palm +and one across the inside of the fingers just below the knuckles. +I looked again towards the bed, and, in the place where my hand had +rested during my faint, a small patch of red blood was to be seen. + +Then it was true! Then it had all happened! With a low shuddering +sob I threw myself down upon the couch at the foot of the bed, and +lay there for some minutes, my limbs trembling, and my soul +shrinking within me. A mist of evil, fearful and loathsome, had +descended upon my girlhood's life, sullying its ignorant innocence, +saddening its brightness, as I felt, for ever. I lay there till my +teeth began to chatter, and I realized that I was bitterly cold. +To return to that accursed bed was impossible, so I pulled a rug +which hung at one end of the sofa over me, and, utterly worn out in +mind and body, fell uneasily asleep. + +I was roused by the entrance of my maid. I stopped her +exclamations and questions by shortly stating that I had had a bad +night, had been unable to rest in bed, and had had an accident with +my hand,--without further specifying of what description. + +"I didn't know that you had been feeling unwell when you went to +bed last night, miss," she said. + +"When I went to bed last night? Unwell? What do you mean?" + +"Only Mr. Alan has just asked me to let him know how you find +yourself this morning," she answered. + +Then he expected something, dreaded something. Ah! why had he +yielded and allowed me to sleep here, I asked myself bitterly, as +the incidents of the day before flashed through my mind. + +"Tell him," I said, "what I have told you; and say that I wish to +speak to him directly after breakfast." I could not confide my +story to any one else, but speak of it I must to some one or go +mad. + +Every moment passed in that place was an added misery. Much to my +maid's surprise I said that I would dress in her room--the little +one which, as I have said, was close to my own. I felt better +there; but my utter fatigue and my wounded hand combined to make my +toilet slow, and I found that most of the party had finished +breakfast when I reached the dining-room. I was glad of this, for +even as it was I found it difficult enough to give coherent answers +to the questions which my white face and bandaged hand called +forth. Alan helped me by giving a resolute turn to the +conversation. Once only our eyes met across the table. He looked +as haggard and worn as I did: I learned afterwards that he had +passed most of that fearful night pacing the passage outside my +door, though he listened in vain for any indication of what was +going on within the room. + +The moment I had finished breakfast he was by my side. "You wish +to speak to me? now?" he asked in a low tone. + +"Yes; now," I answered, breathlessly, and without raising my eyes +from the ground. + +"Where shall we go? Outside? It is a bright day, and we shall be +freer there from interruption." + +I assented; and then looking up at him appealingly, "Will you fetch +my things for me? I CANNOT go up to that room again." + +He seemed to understand me, nodded, and was gone. A few minutes +later we left the house, and made our way in silence towards a +grassy spot on the side of the ravine where we had already indulged +in more than one friendly talk. + +As we went, the Dead Stone came for a moment into view. I seized +Alan's arm in an almost convulsive grip. "Tell me," I whispered,-- +"you refused to tell me yesterday, but you must now,--who is buried +beneath that rock?" + +There was now neither timidity nor embarrassment in my tone. The +horrors of that house had become part of my life for ever, and +their secrets were mine by right. Alan, after a moment's pause, a +questioning glance at my face, tacitly accepted the position. + +"I told you the truth," he replied, "when I said that I did not +know; but I can tell you the popular tradition on the subject, if +you like. They say that Margaret Mervyn, the woman who murdered +her husband, is buried there, and that Dame Alice had the rock +placed over her grave,--whether to save it from insult or to mark +it out for opprobrium, I never heard. The poor people about here +do not care to go near the place after dark, and among the older +ones there are still some, I believe, who spit at the suicide's +grave as they pass." + +"Poor woman, poor woman!" I exclaimed, in a burst of uncontrollable +compassion. + +"Why should you pity her?" demanded he with sudden sternness; "she +WAS a suicide and a murderess too. It would be better for the +public conscience, I believe, if such were still hung in chains, or +buried at the cross-roads with a stake through their bodies." + +"Hush, Alan, hush!" I cried hysterically, as I clung to him; "don't +speak harshly of her: you do not know, you cannot tell, how +terribly she was tempted. How can you?" + +He looked down at me in bewildered surprise. "How can I?" he +repeated. "You speak as if YOU could. What do you mean?" + +"Don't ask me," I answered, turning towards him my face,--white, +quivering, tear-stained. "Don't ask me. Not now. You must answer +my questions first, and after that I will tell you. But I cannot +talk of it now. Not yet." + +We had reached the place we were in search of as I spoke. There, +where the spreading roots of a great beech-tree formed a natural +resting place upon the steep side of the ravine, I took my seat, +and Alan stretched himself upon the grass beside me. Then looking +up at me--"I do not know what questions you would ask," he said, +quietly; "but I will answer them, whatever they may be." + +But I did not ask them yet. I sat instead with my hands clasping +my knee, looking opposite at the glory of harmonious color, or down +the glen at the vista of far-off, dream-like loveliness, on which +it opened out. The yellow autumn sunshine made everything golden, +the fresh autumn breezes filled the air with life; but to me a +loathsome shadow seemed to rest upon all, and to stretch itself out +far beyond where my eyes could reach, befouling the beauty of the +whole wide world. At last I spoke. "You have known of it all, I +suppose; of this curse that is in the world,--sin and suffering, +and what such words mean." + +"Yes," he said, looking at me with wondering pity, "I am afraid +so." + +"But have you known them as they are known to some,--agonized, +hopeless suffering, and sin that is all but inevitable? Some time +in your life probably you have realized that such things are: it +has come home to you, and to every one else, no doubt, except a few +ignorant girls such as I was yesterday. But there are some,--yes, +thousands and thousands,--who even now, at this moment, are feeling +sorrow like that, are sinking deep, deeper into the bottomless pit +of their soul's degradation. And yet men who know this, who have +seen it, laugh, talk, are happy, amuse themselves--how can they, +how can they?" I stopped with a catch in my voice, and then +stretching out my arms in front of me--"And it is not only men. +Look how beautiful the earth is, and God has made it, and lets the +sun crown it every day with a new glory, while this horror of evil +broods over and poisons it all. Oh, why is it so? I cannot +understand it." + +My arms drooped again as I finished, and my eyes sought Alan's. +His were full of tears, but there was almost a smile quivering at +the corners of his lips as he replied: "When you have found an +answer to that question, Evie, come and tell me and mankind at +large: it will be news to us all." Then he continued--"But, after +all, the earth is beautiful, and the sun does shine: we have our +own happiness to rejoice in, our own sorrows to bear, the suffering +that is near to us to grapple with. For the rest, for this +blackness of evil which surrounds us, and which we can do nothing +to lighten, it will soon, thank God, become vague and far off to +you as it is to others: your feeling of it will be dulled, and, +except at moments, you too will forget." + +"But that is horrible," I exclaimed, passionately; "the evil will +be there all the same, whether I feel it or not. Men and women +will be struggling in their misery and sin, only I shall be too +selfish to care." + +"We cannot go outside the limits of our own nature," he replied; +"our knowledge is shallow and our spiritual insight dark, and God +in His mercy has made our hearts shallow too, and our imagination +dull. If, knowing and trusting only as men do, we were to feel as +angels feel, earth would be hell indeed." + +It was cold comfort, but at that moment anything warmer or brighter +would have been unreal and utterly repellent to me. I hardly took +in the meaning of his words, but it was as if a hand had been +stretched out to me, struggling in the deep mire, by one who +himself felt solid ground beneath him. Where he stood I also might +some day stand, and that thought seemed to make patience possible. + +It was he who first broke the silence which followed. "You were +saying that you had questions to ask me. I am impatient to put +mine in return, so please go on." + +It had been a relief to me to turn even to generalizations of +despair from the actual horror which had inspired them, and to +which my mind was thus recalled. With an effort I replied, "Yes, I +want to ask you about that room--the room in which I slept, and-- +and the murder which was committed there." In spite of all that I +could do, my voice sank almost to a whisper as I concluded, and I +was trembling from head to foot. + +"Who told you that a murder was committed there?" Something in my +face as he asked the question made him add quickly, "Never mind. +You are right. That is the room in which Hugh Mervyn was murdered +by his wife. I was surprised at your question, for I did not know +that anyone but my brothers and myself were aware of the fact. The +subject is never mentioned: it is closely connected with one +intensely painful to our family, and besides, if spoken of, there +would be inconveniences arising from the superstitious terrors of +servants, and the natural dislike of guests to sleep in a room +where such a thing had happened. Indeed it was largely with the +view of wiping out the last memory of the crime's locality, that my +father renewed the interior of the room some twenty years ago. The +only tradition which has been adhered to in connection with it is +the one which has now been violated in your person--the one which +precludes any unmarried woman from sleeping there. Except for +that, the room has, as you know, lost all sinister reputation, and +its title of 'haunted' has become purely conventional. +Nevertheless, as I said, you are right--that is undoubtedly the +room in which the murder was committed." + +He stopped and looked up at me, waiting for more. + +"Go on; tell me about it, and what followed." My lips formed the +words; my heart beat too faintly for my breath to utter them. + +"About the murder itself there is not much to tell. The man, I +believe, was an inhuman scoundrel, and the woman first killed him +in desperation, and afterwards herself in despair. The only detail +connected with the actual crime of which I have ever heard, was the +gale that was blowing that night--the fiercest known to this +countryside in that generation; and it has always been said since +that any misfortune to the Mervyns--especially any misfortune +connected with the curse--comes with a storm of wind. That was why +I so disliked your story of the imaginary tempests which have +disturbed your nights since you slept there. As to what +followed,"--he gave a sigh,--"that story is long enough and full of +incident. On the morning after the murder, so runs the tale, Dame +Alice came down to the Grange from the tower to which she had +retired when her son's wickednesses had driven her from his house, +and there in the presence of the two corpses she foretold the curse +which should rest upon their descendants for generations to come. +A clergyman who was present, horrified, it is said at her words, +adjured her by the mercy of Heaven to place some term to the doom +which she had pronounced. She replied that no mortal might reckon +the fruit of a plant which drew its life from hell; that a term +there should be, but as it passed the wisdom of man to fix it, so +it should pass the wit of man to discover it. She then placed in +the room this cabinet, constructed by herself and her Italian +follower, and said that the curse should not depart from the family +until the day when its doors were unlocked and its legend read. + +"Such is the story. I tell it to you as it was told to me. One +thing only is certain, that the doom thus traditionally foretold +has been only too amply fulfilled." + +"And what was the doom?" + +Alan hesitated a little, and when he spoke his voice was almost +awful in its passionless sternness, in its despairing finality; it +seemed to echo the irrevocable judgment which his words pronounced: +"That the crimes against God and each other which had destroyed the +parents' life should enter into the children's blood, and that +never thereafter should there fail a Mervyn to bring shame or death +upon one generation of his father's house. + +"There were two sons of that ill-fated marriage," he went on after +a pause, "boys at the time of their parents' death. When they grew +up they both fell in love with the same woman, and one killed the +other in a duel. The story of the next generation was a peculiarly +sad one. Two brothers took opposite sides during the civil +troubles; but so fearful were they of the curse which lay upon the +family, that they chiefly made use of their mutual position in +order to protect and guard each other. After the wars were over, +the younger brother, while traveling upon some parliamentary +commission, stopped a night at the Grange. There, through a +mistake, he exchanged the report which he was bringing to London +for a packet of papers implicating his brother and several besides +in a royalist plot. He only discovered his error as he handed the +papers to his superior, and was but just able to warn his brother +in time for him to save his life by flight. The other men involved +were taken and executed, and as it was known by what means +information had reached the Government, the elder Mervyn was +universally charged with the vilest treachery. It is said that +when after the Restoration his return home was rumored the +neighboring gentry assembled, armed with riding whips, to flog him +out of the country if he should dare to show his face there. He +died abroad, shame-stricken and broken-hearted. It was his son, +brought up by his uncle in the sternest tenets of Puritanism, who, +coming home after a lengthened journey, found that during his +absence his sister had been shamefully seduced. He turned her out +of doors, then and there, in the midst of a bitter January night, +and the next morning her dead body and that of her new-born infant +were found half buried in the fresh-fallen snow on the top of the +wolds. The 'white lady' is still supposed by the villagers to +haunt that side of the glen. And so it went on. A beautiful, +heartless Mervyn in Queen Anne's time enticed away the affections +of her sister's betrothed, and on the day of her own wedding with +him, her forsaken sister was found drowned by her own act in the +pond at the bottom of the garden. Two brothers were soldiers +together in some Continental war, and one was involuntarily the +means of discovering and exposing the treason of the other. A girl +was betrayed into a false marriage, and her life ruined by a man +who came into the house as her brother's friend, and whose infamous +designs were forwarded and finally accomplished by that same +brother's active though unsuspecting assistance. Generation after +generation, men or women, guilty or innocent, through the action of +their own will or in spite of it, the curse has never yet failed of +its victims." + +"Never yet? But surely in our own time--your father?" I did not +dare to put the question which was burning my lips. + +"Have you never heard of the tragic end of my poor young uncles?" +he replied. "They were several years older than my father. When +boys of fourteen and fifteen they were sent out with the keeper for +their first shooting lesson, and the elder shot his brother through +the heart. He himself was delicate, and they say that he never +entirely recovered from the shock. He died before he was twenty, +and my father, then a child of seven years old, became the heir. +It was partly, no doubt, owing to this calamity having thus +occurred before he was old enough to feel it, that his comparative +skepticism on the whole subject was due. To that I suppose, and to +the fact that he grew up in an age of railways and liberal +culture." + +"He didn't believe, then, in the curse?" + +"Well, rather, he thought nothing about it. Until, that is, the +time came when it took effect, to break his heart and end his +life." + +"How do you mean?" + +There was silence for a little. Alan had turned away his head, so +that I could not see his face. Then-- + +"I suppose you have never been told the true story of why Jack left +the country?" + +"No. Was he--is he--?" + +"He is one victim of the curse in this generation, and I, God help +me, am the other, and perhaps more wretched one." + +His voice trembled and broke, and for the first time that day I +almost forgot the mysterious horror of the night before, in my pity +for the actual, tangible suffering before me. I stretched out my +hand to his, and his fingers closed on mine with a sudden, painful +grip. Then quietly-- + +"I will tell you the story," he said, "though since that miserable +time I have spoken of it to no one." + +There was a pause before he began. He lay there by my side, his +gaze turned across me up the sunbright, autumn-tinted glen, but his +eyes shadowed by the memories which he was striving to recall and +arrange in due order in his mind. And when he did speak it was not +directly to begin the promised recital. + +"You never knew Jack," he said, abruptly. + +"Hardly," I acquiesced. "I remember thinking him very handsome." + +"There could not be two opinions as to that," he answered. "And a +man who could have done anything he liked with life, had things +gone differently. His abilities were fine, but his strength lay +above all in his character: he was strong,--strong in his likes and +in his dislikes, resolute, fearless, incapable of half measures--a +man, every inch of him. He was not generally popular--stiff, hard, +unsympathetic, people called him. From one point of view, and one +only, he perhaps deserved the epithets. If a woman lost his +respect she seemed to lose his pity too. Like a mediaeval monk, he +looked upon such rather as the cause than the result of male +depravity, and his contempt for them mingled with anger, almost, as +I sometimes thought, with hatred. And this attitude was, I have no +doubt, resented by the men of his own class and set, who shared +neither his faults nor his virtues. But in other ways he was not +hard. He could love; I, at least, have cause to know it. If you +would hear his story rightly from my lips, Evie, you must try and +see him with my eyes. The friend who loved me, and whom I loved +with the passion which, if not the strongest, is certainly, I +believe, the most enduring of which men are capable,--that perfect +brother's love, which so grows into our being that when it is at +peace we are scarcely conscious of its existence, and when it is +wounded our very life-blood seems to flow at the stroke. Brothers +do not always love like that: I can only wish that we had not done +so. + + +VII + + +"Well, about five years ago, before I had taken my degree, I became +acquainted with a woman whom I will call 'Delia,'--it is near +enough to the name by which she went. She was a few years older +than myself, very beautiful, and I believed her to be what she +described herself--the innocent victim of circumstance and false +appearance, a helpless prey to the vile calumnies of worldlings. +In sober fact, I am afraid that, whatever her life may have been +actually at the time that I knew her--a subject which I have never +cared to investigate--her past had been not only bad enough +irretrievably to fix her position in society, but bad enough to +leave her without an ideal in the world, though still retaining +within her heart the possibilities of a passion which, from the +moment that it came to life, was strong enough to turn her whole +existence into one desperate reckless straining after an object +hopelessly beyond her reach. That was the woman with whom, at the +age of twenty, I fancied myself in love. She wanted to get a +husband, and she thought me--rightly--ass enough to accept the +post. I was very young then even for my years,--a student, an +idealist, with an imagination highly developed, and no knowledge +whatever of the world as it actually is. Anyhow, before I had +known her a month, I had determined to make her my wife. My +parents were abroad at the time, George and Lucy here, so that it +was to Jack that I imparted the news of my resolve. As you may +imagine, he did all that he could to shake it. But I was +immovable. I disbelieved his facts, and despised his contempt from +the standpoint of my own superior morality. This state of things +continued for several weeks, during the greater part of which time +I was at Oxford. I only knew that while I was there, Jack had made +Delia's acquaintance, and was apparently cultivating it +assiduously. + +"One day, during the Easter vacation, I got a note from her asking +me to supper at her house. Jack was invited too: we lodged +together while my people were away. + +"There is no need to dwell upon that supper. There were two or +three women there of her own sort, or worse, and a dozen men from +among the most profligate in London. The conversation was, I +should think, bad even for that class; and she, the goddess of my +idolatry, outstripped them all by the foul, coarse shamelessness of +her language and behavior. Before the entertainment was half over, +I rose and took my leave, accompanied by Jack and another man,-- +Legard was his name,--who I presume was bored. Just as we had +passed through into the anteroom, which lay beyond the one in which +we had been eating, Delia followed us, and laying her hand on +Jack's arm, said that she must speak with him. Legard and I went +into the outer hall, and we had not been there more than a minute +when the door from the anteroom opened, and we heard Delia's voice. +I remember the words well,--that was not the only occasion on which +I was to hear them. 'I will keep the ring as a record of my love,' +she said, 'and understand, that though you may forget, I never +shall.' Jack came through, the door closed, and as we went out I +glanced towards his left hand, and saw, as I expected to see, the +absence of the ring which he usually wore there. It contained a +gem which my mother had picked up in the East, and I knew that he +valued it quite peculiarly. We always called it Jack's talisman. + +"A miserable time followed, a time for me of agonizing wonder and +doubt, during which regret for my dead illusion was entirely +swallowed up in the terrible dread of my brother's degradation. +Then came the announcement of his engagement to Lady Sylvia Grey; +and a week later, the very day after I had finally returned to +London from Oxford, I received a summons from Delia to come and see +her. Curiosity, and the haunting fear about Jack, which still hung +round me, induced me to consent to what otherwise would have been +intolerably repellent to me, and I went. I found her in a mad +passion of fury. Jack had refused to see her or to answer her +letters, and she had sent for me, that I might give him her +message,--tell him that he belonged to her and her only, and that +he never should marry another woman. Angry at my interference, +Jack disdained even to repudiate her claims, only sending back a +threat of appealing to the police if she ventured upon any further +annoyance. I wrote as she told me, and she emphasized my silence +on the subject by writing back to me a more definite and explicit +assertion of her rights. Beyond that for some weeks she made no +sign. I have no doubt that she had means of keeping watch upon +both his movements and mine; and during that time, as she +relinquished gradually all hopes of inducing him to abandon his +purpose, she was being driven to her last despairing resolve. + +"Later, when all was over, Jack told me the story of that spring +and summer. He told me how, when he found me immovable on the +subject, he had resolved to stop the marriage somehow through Delia +herself. He had made her acquaintance, and sought her society +frequently. She had taken a fancy to him, and he admitted that he +had availed himself of this fact to increase his intimacy with her, +and, as he hoped ultimately, his power over her. But he was not +conscious of ever having varied in his manner towards her of +contemptuous indifference. This contradictory behavior,--his being +constantly near her, yet always beyond her reach,--was probably the +very thing which excited her fancy into passion, the one strong +passion of the poor woman's life. Then came his deliberate demand +that she should by her own act unmask herself in my sight. The +unfortunate woman tried to bargain for some proof of affection in +return, and on this occasion had first openly declared her feelings +towards him. He did not believe her; he refused her terms; but +when as her payment she asked for the ring which was so especially +associated with himself, he agreed to give it to her. Otherwise +hoping, no doubt against hope, dreading above all things a quarrel +and final separation, she submitted unconditionally. And from the +time of that evening, when Legard and I had overheard her parting +words, Jack never saw her again until the last and final +catastrophe. + +"It was in July. My parents had returned to England, but had come +straight on here. Jack and I were dining together with Lady Sylvia +at her father's house--her brother, young Grey, making the fourth +at dinner. I had arranged to go to a party with your mother, and I +told the servants that a lady would call for me early in the +evening. The house stood in Park Lane, and after dinner we all +went out on to the broad balcony which opened from the drawing- +room. There was a strong wind blowing that night, and I remember +well the vague, disquieted feeling of unreality that possessed me,-- +sweeping through me, as it were, with each gust of wind. Then, +suddenly, a servant stood behind me, saying that the lady had come +for me, and was in the drawing-room. Shocked that my aunt should +have troubled herself to come so far, I turned quickly, stepped +back into the room, and found myself face to face with Delia. She +was fully dressed for the evening, with a long silk opera-cloak +over her shoulders, her face as white as her gown, her splendid +eyes strangely wide open and shining. I don't know what I said or +did; I tried to get her away, but it was too late. The others had +heard us, and appeared at the open window. Jack came forward at +once, speaking rapidly, fiercely; telling her to leave the house at +once; promising desperately that he would see her in his own rooms +on the morrow. Well I remember how her answer rang out,-- + +"'Neither to-morrow nor another day: I will never leave you again +while I live.' + +"At the same instant she drew something swiftly from under her +cloak, there was the sound of a pistol shot and she lay dead at our +feet, her blood splashing upon Jack's shirt and hands as she fell." + +Alan paused in his recital. He was trembling from head to foot; +but he kept his eyes turned steadily downwards, and both face and +voice were cold--almost expressionless. + +"Of course there was an inquest," he resumed, "which, as usual, +exercised its very ill-defined powers in inquiring into all +possible motives for the suicide. Young Grey, who had stepped into +the room just before the shot had been fired, swore to the last +words Delia had uttered; Legard to those he had overheard the night +of that dreadful supper: there were scores of men to bear witness +to the intimate relations which had existed between her and Jack +during the whole of the previous spring. I had to give evidence. +A skillful lawyer had been retained by one of her sisters, and had +been instructed by her on points which no doubt she had originally +learnt from Delia herself. In his hands, I had not only to +corroborate Grey and Legard, and to give full details of that last +interview, but also to swear to the peculiar value which Jack +attached to the talisman ring which he had given Delia; to the +language she had held when I saw her after my return from Oxford; +to her subsequent letter, and Jack's fatal silence on the occasion. +The story by which Jack and I strove to account for the facts was +laughed at as a clumsy invention, and my undisguised reluctance in +giving evidence added greatly to its weight against my brother's +character. + +"The jury returned a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind, the +result of desertion by her lover. You may imagine how that verdict +was commented upon by every Radical newspaper in the kingdom, and +for once society more than corroborated the opinions of the press. +The larger public regarded the story as an extreme case of the +innocent victim and the cowardly society villain. It was only +among a comparatively small set that Delia's reputation was known, +and there, in view of Jack's notorious and peculiar intimacy, his +repudiation of all relations with her was received with +contemptuous incredulity. That he should have first entered upon +such relations at the very time when he was already courting Lady +Sylvia was regarded even in those circles as a 'strong order,' and +they looked upon his present attitude with great indignation, as a +cowardly attempt to save his own character by casting upon the dead +woman's memory all the odium of a false accusation. With an entire +absence of logic, too, he was made responsible for the suicide +having taken place in Lady Sylvia's presence. She had broken off +the engagement the day after the catastrophe, and her family, a +clan powerful in the London world, furious at the mud through which +her name had been dragged, did all that they could to intensify the +feeling already existing against Jack. + +"Not a voice was raised in his defense. He was advised to leave +the army; he was requested to withdraw from some of his clubs, +turned out of others, avoided by his fast acquaintances, cut by his +respectable ones. It was enough to kill a weaker man. + +"He showed no resentment at the measure thus dealt out to him. +Indeed, at the first, except for Sylvia's desertion of him, he +seemed dully indifferent to it all. It was as if his soul had been +stunned, from the moment that that wretched woman's blood had +splashed upon his fingers, and her dead eyes had looked up into his +own. + +"But it was not long before he realized the full extent of the +social damnation which had been inflicted upon him, and he then +resolved to leave the country and go to America. The night before +he started he came down here to take leave. I was here looking +after my parents--George, whose mind was almost unhinged by the +family disgrace, having gone abroad with his wife. My mother at +the first news of what had happened had taken to her bed, never to +leave it again; and thus it was in my presence alone, up there in +my father's little study, that Jack gave him that night the whole +story. He told it quietly enough; but when he had finished, with a +sudden outburst of feeling he turned upon me. It was I who had +been the cause of it all. My insensate folly had induced him to +make the unhappy woman's acquaintance, to allow and even encourage +her fatal love, to commit all the blunders and sins which had +brought about her miserable ending and his final overthrow. It was +by means of me that she had obtained access to him on that dreadful +night; my evidence which most utterly damned him in public opinion; +through me he had lost his reputation, his friends, his career, his +country, the woman he loved, his hopes for the future; through me, +above all, that the burden of that horrible death would lie for +ever on his soul. He was lashing himself to fury with his own +words as he spoke; and I stood leaning against the wall opposite to +him, cold, dumb, unresisting, when suddenly my father interrupted. +I think that both Jack and I had forgotten his presence; but at the +sound of his voice, changed from what we had ever heard it, we +turned to him, and I then for the first time saw in his face the +death-look which never afterwards quitted it. + +"'Stop, Jack,' he said; 'Alan is not to blame; and if it had not +been in this way, it would have been in some other. I only am +guilty, who brought you both into existence with my own hell- +stained blood in your veins. If you wish to curse anyone, curse +your family, your name, me if you will, and may God forgive me that +you were ever born into the world!'" + +Alan stopped with a shudder, and then continued, dully, "It was +when I heard those words, the most terrible that a father could +have uttered, that I first understood all that that old sixteenth- +century tale might mean to me and mine,--I have realized it vividly +enough since. Early the next morning, when the dawn was just +breaking, Jack came to the door of my room to bid me good-by. All +his passion was gone. His looks and tones seemed part and parcel +of the dim gray morning light. He freely withdrew all the charges +he had made against me the night before; forgave me all the share +that I had had in his misfortunes; and then begged that I would +never come near him, or let him hear from me again. 'The curse is +heavy upon us both,' he said, 'and it is the only favor which you +can do me.' I have never seen him since." + +"But you have heard of him!" I exclaimed; "what has become of him?" + +Alan raised himself to a sitting posture. "The last that I heard," +he said, with a catch in his voice, "was that in his misery and +hopelessness he was taking to drink. George writes to him, and +does what he can; but I--I dare not say a word, for fear it should +turn to poison on my lips,--I dare not lift a hand to help him, for +fear it should have power to strike him to the ground. The worst +may be yet to come; I am still living, still living: there are +depths of shame to which he has not sunk. And oh, Evie, Evie, he +is my own, my best-loved brother!" + +All his composure was gone now. His voice rose to a kind of wail +with the last words, and folding his arms on his raised knee, he +let his head fall upon them, while his figure quivered with +scarcely restrained emotion. There was a silence for some moments +while he sat thus, I looking on in wretched helplessness beside +him. Then he raised his head, and, without looking round at me, +went on in a low tone: "And what is in the future? I pray that +death instead of shame may be the portion of the next generation, +and I look at George's boys only to wonder which of them is the +happy one who shall some day lie dead at his brother's feet. Are +you surprised at my resolution never to marry? The fatal prophecy +is rich in its fulfillment; none of our name and blood are safe; +and the day might come when I too should have to call upon my +children to curse me for their birth,--should have to watch while +the burden which I could no longer bear alone pressed the life from +their mother's heart." + +Through the tragedy of this speech I was conscious of a faint +suggestion of comfort, a far-off glimmer, as of unseen home-lights +on a midnight sky. I was in no mood then to understand, or to seek +to understand, what it was; but I know now that his words had +removed the weight of helpless banishment from my spirit--that his +heart, speaking through them to my own, had made me for life the +sharer of his grief. + + +VIII + + +Presently he drew his shoulders together with a slight determined +jerk, threw himself back upon the grass, and turning to me, with +that tremulous, haggard smile upon his lips which I knew so well, +but which had never before struck me with such infinite pathos, +"Luckily," he said, "there are other things to do in life besides +being happy. Only perhaps you understand now what I meant last +night when I spoke of things which flesh and blood cannot bear, and +yet which must be borne." + +Suddenly and sharply his words roused again into activity the +loathsome memory which my interest in his story had partially +deadened. He noticed the quick involuntary contraction of my +muscles, and read it aright. "That reminds me," he went on; "I +must claim your promise. I have told you my story. Now, tell me +yours." + +I told him; not as I have set it down here, though perhaps even in +greater detail, but incoherently, bit by bit, while he helped me +out with gentle questions, quickly comprehending gestures, and +patient waiting during the pauses of exhaustion which perforce +interposed themselves. As my story approached its climax, his +agitation grew almost equal to my own, and he listened to the +close, his teeth clenched, his brows bent, as if passing again with +me through that awful conflict. When I had finished, it was some +moments before either of us could speak; and then he burst forth +into bitter self-reproach for having so far yielded to his +brother's angry obstinacy as to allow me to sleep the third night +in that fatal room. + +"It was cowardice," he said, "sheer cowardice! After all that has +happened, I dared not have a quarrel with one of my own blood. And +yet if I had not hardened my heart, I had reason to know what I was +risking." + +"How do you mean?" I asked. + +"Those other two girls who slept there," he said, breathlessly; "it +was in each case after the third night there that they were found +dead--dead, Evie, so runs the story, with a mark upon their necks +similar in shape and position to the death-wound which Margaret +Mervyn inflicted upon herself." + +I could not speak, but I clutched his hand with an almost +convulsive grip. + +"And I knew the story,--I knew it!" he cried. "As boys we were not +allowed to hear much of our family traditions, but this one I knew. +When my father redid the interior of the east room, he removed at +the same time a board from above the doorway outside, on which had +been written--it is said by Dame Alice herself--a warning upon this +very subject. I happened to be present when our old housekeeper, +who had been his nurse, remonstrated with him warmly upon this act; +and I asked her afterwards what the board was, and why she cared +about it so much. In her excitement she told me the story of those +unhappy girls, repeating again and again that, if the warning were +taken away, evil would come of it." + +"And she was right," I said, dully. "Oh, if only your father had +left it there!" + +"I suppose," he answered, speaking more quietly, "that he was +impatient of traditions which, as I told you, he at that time more +than half despised. Indeed he altered the shape of the doorway, +raising it, and making it flat and square, so that the old +inscription could not have been replaced, even had it been wished. +I remember it was fitted round the low Tudor arch which was +previously there." + +My mind, too worn with many emotions for deliberate thought, +wandered on languidly, and as it were mechanically, upon these last +trivial words. The doorway presented itself to my view as it had +originally stood, with the discarded warning above it; and then, by +a spontaneous comparison of mental vision, I recalled the painted +board which I had noticed three days before in Dame Alice's tower. +I suggested to Alan that it might have been the identical one--its +shape was as he described. "Very likely," he answered, absently. +"Do you remember what the words were?" + +"Yes, I think so," I replied. "Let me see." And I repeated them +slowly, dragging them out as it were one by one from my memory: + + + "Where the woman sinned the maid shall win; + But God help the maid that sleeps within." + + +"You see," I said, turning towards him slowly, "the last line is a +warning such as you spoke of." + +But to my surprise Alan had sprung to his feet, and was looking +down at me, his whole body quivering with excitement. "Yes, Evie," +he cried, "and the first line is a prophecy;--where the woman +sinned the maid HAS won." He seized the hand which I instinctively +reached out to him. "We have not seen the end of this yet," he +went on, speaking rapidly, and as if articulation had become +difficult to him. "Come, Evie, we must go back to the house and +look at the cabinet--now, at once." + +I had risen to my feet by this time, but I shrank away at those +words. "To that room? Oh, Alan--no, I cannot." + +He had hold of my hand still, and he tightened his grasp upon it. +"I shall be with you; you will not be afraid with me," he said. +"Come." His eyes were burning, his face flushed and paled in rapid +alternation, and his hand held mine like a vice of iron. + +I turned with him, and we walked back to the Grange, Alan +quickening his pace as he went, till I almost had to run by his +side. As we approached the dreaded room my sense of repulsion +became almost unbearable; but I was now infected by his excitement, +though I but dimly comprehended its cause. We met no one on our +way, and in a moment he had hurried me into the house, up the +stairs, and along the narrow passage, and I was once more in the +east room, and in the presence of all the memories of that accursed +night. For an instant I stood strengthless, helpless, on the +threshold, my gaze fixed panic-stricken on the spot where I had +taken such awful part in that phantom tragedy of evil; then Alan +threw his arm round me, and drew me hastily on in front of the +cabinet. Without a pause, giving himself time neither to speak nor +think, he stretched out his left hand and moved the buttons one +after another. How or in what direction he moved them I know not; +but as the last turned with a click, the doors, which no mortal +hand had unclosed for three hundred years, flew back, and the +cabinet stood open. I gave a little gasp of fear. Alan pressed +his lips closely together, and turned to me with eager questioning +in his eyes. I pointed in answer tremblingly at the drawer which I +had seen open the night before. He drew it out, and there on its +satin bed lay the dagger in its silver sheath. Still without a +word he took it up, and reaching his right hand round me, for I +could not now have stood had he withdrawn his support, with a swift +strong jerk he unsheathed the blade. There in the clear autumn +sunshine I could see the same dull stains I had marked in the +flickering candle-light, and over them, still ruddy and moist, were +the drops of my own half-dried blood. I grasped the lapel of his +coat with both my hands, and clung to him like a child in terror, +while the eyes of both of us remained fixed as if fascinated upon +the knife-blade. Then, with a sudden start of memory, Alan raised +his to the cornice of the cabinet, and mine followed. No change +that I could detect had taken place in that twisted goldwork; but +there, clear in the sight of us both, stood forth the words of the +magic motto: + + + "Pure blood shed by the blood-stained knife + Ends Mervyn shame, heals Mervyn strife." + + +In low steady tones Alan read out the lines, and then there was +silence--on my part of stunned bewilderment, the bewilderment of a +spirit overwhelmed beyond the power of comprehension by rushing, +conflicting emotions. Alan pressed me closer to him, while the +silence seemed to throb with the beating of his heart and the +panting of his breath. But except for that he remained motionless, +gazing at the golden message before him. At length I felt a +movement, and looking up saw his face turned down towards mine, the +lips quivering, the cheeks flushed, the eyes soft with passionate +feeling. "We are saved, my darling," he whispered; "saved, and +through you." Then he bent his head lower, and there in that room +of horror, I received the first long lover's kiss from my own dear +husband's lips. + + . . . . . . + +My husband, yes; but not till some time after that. Alan's first +act, when he had once fully realized that the curse was indeed +removed, was--throwing his budding practice to the winds--to set +sail for America. There he sought out Jack, and labored hard to +impart to him some of his own newfound hope. It was slow work, but +he succeeded at last; and only left him when, two years later, he +had handed him over to the charge of a bright-eyed Western girl, to +whom the whole story had been told, and who showed herself ready +and anxious to help in building up again the broken life of her +English lover. To judge from the letters that we have since +received, she has shown herself well fitted for the task. Among +other things she has money, and Jack's worldly affairs have so +prospered that George declares that he can well afford now to waste +some of his superfluous cash upon farming a few of his elder +brother's acres. The idea seems to smile upon Jack, and I have +every hope this winter of being able to institute an actual +comparison between our small boy, his namesake, and his own three- +year-old Alan. The comparison, by the way, will have to be +conditional, for Jacket--the name by which my son and heir is +familiarly known--is but a little more than two. + +I turn my eyes for a moment, and they fall upon the northern corner +of the East Room, which shows round the edge of the house. Then +the skeleton leaps from the cupboard of my memory; the icy hand +which lies ever near my soul grips it suddenly with a chill +shudder. Not for nothing was that wretched woman's life interwoven +with my own, if only for an hour; not for nothing did my spirit +harbor a conflict and an agony, which, thank God, are far from its +own story. Though Margaret Mervyn's dagger failed to pierce my +flesh, the wound in my soul may never wholly be healed. I know +that that is so; and yet as I turn to start through the sunshine to +the cedar shade and its laughing occupants, I whisper to myself +with fervent conviction, "It was worth it." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext The Lock and Key Library, Hawthorne, Ed. + diff --git a/1831.zip b/1831.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b828154 --- /dev/null +++ b/1831.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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