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diff --git a/old/sbmea10.txt b/old/sbmea10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..642f54c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/sbmea10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14981 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Stories by Modern English Authors +#3 in our series edited by Julian Hawthorne + + +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. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Stories by Modern English Authors + +CLASSIC MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE STORIES + +EDITED BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE + +January, 2000 [Etext #2038] + +MODERN ENGLISH +Table of Contents + + +RUDYARD KIPLING (1865-) + My Own True Ghost Story + The Sending of Dana Da + In the House of Suddhoo + His Wedded Wife + +A. CONAN DOYLE (1859-) + A Case of Identity + A Scandal in Bohemia + The Red-Headed League + +EGERTON CASTLE (1858-) + The Baron's Quarry + +STANLEY J. WEYMAN (1855-) + The Fowl in the Pot + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-94) + The Pavilion on the Links + +WILKIE COLLINS (1824-89) + The Dream Woman + +ANONYMOUS + The Lost Duchess + The Minor Canon + The Pipe + The Puzzle + The Great Valdez Sapphire + + + +Modern English Mystery Stories + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Stories by Modern English Authors +******This file should be named sbmea10.txt or sbmea10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, sbmea11.txt. +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, sbmea10a.txt. + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, for time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + + + + + +THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY + +CLASSIC MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE STORIES + +EDITED BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE + + +MODERN ENGLISH + + + +Table of Contents + + +RUDYARD KIPLING (1865-) + + My Own True Ghost Story + + The Sending of Dana Da + + In the House of Suddhoo + + His Wedded Wife + + +A. CONAN DOYLE (1859-) + + A Case of Identity + + A Scandal in Bohemia + + The Red-Headed League + + +EGERTON CASTLE (1858-) + + The Baron's Quarry + + +STANLEY J. WEYMAN (1855-) + + The Fowl in the Pot + + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-94) + + The Pavilion on the Links + + +WILKIE COLLINS (1824-89) + + The Dream Woman + + +ANONYMOUS + + The Lost Duchess + + The Minor Canon + + The Pipe + + The Puzzle + + The Great Valdez Sapphire + + + +Modern English Mystery Stories + + +Rudyard Kipling + +My Own True Ghost Story + + +As I came through the Desert thus it was-- +As I came through the Desert. + The City of Dreadful Night. + + +Somewhere in the Other World, where there are books and pictures +and plays and shop windows to look at, and thousands of men who +spend their lives in building up all four, lives a gentleman who +writes real stories about the real insides of people; and his name +is Mr. Walter Besant. But he will insist upon treating his ghosts-- +he has published half a workshopful of them--with levity. He +makes his ghost-seers talk familiarly, and, in some cases, flirt +outrageously, with the phantoms. You may treat anything, from a +Viceroy to a Vernacular Paper, with levity; but you must behave +reverently toward a ghost, and particularly an Indian one. + +There are, in this land, ghosts who take the form of fat, cold, +pobby corpses, and hide in trees near the roadside till a traveler +passes. Then they drop upon his neck and remain. There are also +terrible ghosts of women who have died in child-bed. These wander +along the pathways at dusk, or hide in the crops near a village, +and call seductively. But to answer their call is death in this +world and the next. Their feet are turned backward that all sober +men may recognize them. There are ghosts of little children who +have been thrown into wells. These haunt well curbs and the +fringes of jungles, and wail under the stars, or catch women by the +wrist and beg to be taken up and carried. These and the corpse +ghosts, however, are only vernacular articles and do not attack +Sahibs. No native ghost has yet been authentically reported to +have frightened an Englishman; but many English ghosts have scared +the life out of both white and black. + +Nearly every other Station owns a ghost. There are said to be two +at Simla, not counting the woman who blows the bellows at Syree +dak-bungalow on the Old Road; Mussoorie has a house haunted of a +very lively Thing; a White Lady is supposed to do night-watchman +round a house in Lahore; Dalhousie says that one of her houses +"repeats" on autumn evenings all the incidents of a horrible horse- +and-precipice accident; Murree has a merry ghost, and, now that she +has been swept by cholera, will have room for a sorrowful one; +there are Officers' Quarters in Mian Mir whose doors open without +reason, and whose furniture is guaranteed to creak, not with the +heat of June but with the weight of Invisibles who come to lounge +in the chairs; Peshawur possesses houses that none will willingly +rent; and there is something--not fever--wrong with a big bungalow +in Allahabad. The older Provinces simply bristle with haunted +houses, and march phantom armies along their main thoroughfares. + +Some of the dak-bungalows on the Grand Trunk Road have handy little +cemeteries in their compound--witnesses to the "changes and chances +of this mortal life" in the days when men drove from Calcutta to +the Northwest. These bungalows are objectionable places to put up +in. They are generally very old, always dirty, while the khansamah +is as ancient as the bungalow. He either chatters senilely, or +falls into the long trances of age. In both moods he is useless. +If you get angry with him, he refers to some Sahib dead and buried +these thirty years, and says that when he was in that Sahib's +service not a khansamah in the Province could touch him. Then he +jabbers and mows and trembles and fidgets among the dishes, and you +repent of your irritation. + +In these dak-bungalows, ghosts are most likely to be found, and +when found, they should be made a note of. Not long ago it was my +business to live in dak-bungalows. I never inhabited the same +house for three nights running, and grew to be learned in the +breed. I lived in Government-built ones with red brick walls and +rail ceilings, an inventory of the furniture posted in every room, +and an excited snake at the threshold to give welcome. I lived in +"converted" ones--old houses officiating as dak-bungalows--where +nothing was in its proper place and there wasn't even a fowl for +dinner. I lived in second-hand palaces where the wind blew through +open-work marble tracery just as uncomfortably as through a broken +pane. I lived in dak-bungalows where the last entry in the +visitors' book was fifteen months old, and where they slashed off +the curry-kid's head with a sword. It was my good luck to meet all +sorts of men, from sober traveling missionaries and deserters +flying from British Regiments, to drunken loafers who threw whisky +bottles at all who passed; and my still greater good fortune just +to escape a maternity case. Seeing that a fair proportion of the +tragedy of our lives out here acted itself in dak-bungalows, I +wondered that I had met no ghosts. A ghost that would voluntarily +hang about a dak-bungalow would be mad of course; but so many men +have died mad in dak-bungalows that there must be a fair percentage +of lunatic ghosts. + +In due time I found my ghost, or ghosts rather, for there were two +of them. Up till that hour I had sympathized with Mr. Besant's +method of handling them, as shown in "The Strange Case of Mr. +Lucraft and Other Stories." I am now in the Opposition. + +We will call the bungalow Katmal dak-bungalow. But THAT was the +smallest part of the horror. A man with a sensitive hide has no +right to sleep in dak-bungalows. He should marry. Katmal dak- +bungalow was old and rotten and unrepaired. The floor was of worn +brick, the walls were filthy, and the windows were nearly black +with grime. It stood on a bypath largely used by native Sub-Deputy +Assistants of all kinds, from Finance to Forests; but real Sahibs +were rare. The khansamah, who was nearly bent double with old age, +said so. + +When I arrived, there was a fitful, undecided rain on the face of +the land, accompanied by a restless wind, and every gust made a +noise like the rattling of dry bones in the stiff toddy palms +outside. The khansamah completely lost his head on my arrival. He +had served a Sahib once. Did I know that Sahib? He gave me the +name of a well-known man who has been buried for more than a +quarter of a century, and showed me an ancient daguerreotype of +that man in his prehistoric youth. I had seen a steel engraving of +him at the head of a double volume of Memoirs a month before, and I +felt ancient beyond telling. + +The day shut in and the khansamah went to get me food. He did not +go through the pretense of calling it "khana"--man's victuals. He +said "ratub," and that means, among other things, "grub"--dog's +rations. There was no insult in his choice of the term. He had +forgotten the other word, I suppose. + +While he was cutting up the dead bodies of animals, I settled +myself down, after exploring the dak-bungalow. There were three +rooms, beside my own, which was a corner kennel, each giving into +the other through dingy white doors fastened with long iron bars. +The bungalow was a very solid one, but the partition walls of the +rooms were almost jerry-built in their flimsiness. Every step or +bang of a trunk echoed from my room down the other three, and every +footfall came back tremulously from the far walls. For this reason +I shut the door. There were no lamps--only candles in long glass +shades. An oil wick was set in the bathroom. + +For bleak, unadulterated misery that dak-bungalow was the worst of +the many that I had ever set foot in. There was no fireplace, and +the windows would not open; so a brazier of charcoal would have +been useless. The rain and the wind splashed and gurgled and +moaned round the house, and the toddy palms rattled and roared. +Half a dozen jackals went through the compound singing, and a hyena +stood afar off and mocked them. A hyena would convince a Sadducee +of the Resurrection of the Dead--the worst sort of Dead. Then came +the ratub--a curious meal, half native and half English in +composition--with the old khansamah babbling behind my chair about +dead and gone English people, and the wind-blown candles playing +shadow-bo-peep with the bed and the mosquito-curtains. It was just +the sort of dinner and evening to make a man think of every single +one of his past sins, and of all the others that he intended to +commit if he lived. + +Sleep, for several hundred reasons, was not easy. The lamp in the +bath-room threw the most absurd shadows into the room, and the wind +was beginning to talk nonsense. + +Just when the reasons were drowsy with blood-sucking I heard the +regular--"Let--us--take--and--heave--him--over" grunt of doolie- +bearers in the compound. First one doolie came in, then a second, +and then a third. I heard the doolies dumped on the ground, and +the shutter in front of my door shook. "That's some one trying to +come in," I said. But no one spoke, and I persuaded myself that it +was the gusty wind. The shutter of the room next to mine was +attacked, flung back, and the inner door opened. "That's some Sub- +Deputy Assistant," I said, "and he has brought his friends with +him. Now they'll talk and spit and smoke for an hour." + +But there were no voices and no footsteps. No one was putting his +luggage into the next room. The door shut, and I thanked +Providence that I was to be left in peace. But I was curious to +know where the doolies had gone. I got out of bed and looked into +the darkness. There was never a sign of a doolie. Just as I was +getting into bed again, I heard, in the next room, the sound that +no man in his senses can possibly mistake--the whir of a billiard +ball down the length of the slates when the striker is stringing +for break. No other sound is like it. A minute afterwards there +was another whir, and I got into bed. I was not frightened--indeed +I was not. I was very curious to know what had become of the +doolies. I jumped into bed for that reason. + +Next minute I heard the double click of a cannon and my hair sat +up. It is a mistake to say that hair stands up. The skin of the +head tightens and you can feel a faint, prickly, bristling all over +the scalp. That is the hair sitting up. + +There was a whir and a click, and both sounds could only have been +made by one thing--a billiard ball. I argued the matter out at +great length with myself; and the more I argued the less probable +it seemed that one bed, one table, and two chairs--all the +furniture of the room next to mine--could so exactly duplicate the +sounds of a game of billiards. After another cannon, a three- +cushion one to judge by the whir, I argued no more. I had found my +ghost and would have given worlds to have escaped from that dak- +bungalow. I listened, and with each listen the game grew clearer. +There was whir on whir and click on click. Sometimes there was a +double click and a whir and another click. Beyond any sort of +doubt, people were playing billiards in the next room. And the +next room was not big enough to hold a billiard table! + +Between the pauses of the wind I heard the game go forward--stroke +after stroke. I tried to believe that I could not hear voices; but +that attempt was a failure. + +Do you know what fear is? Not ordinary fear of insult, injury or +death, but abject, quivering dread of something that you cannot +see--fear that dries the inside of the mouth and half of the +throat--fear that makes you sweat on the palms of the hands, and +gulp in order to keep the uvula at work? This is a fine Fear--a +great cowardice, and must be felt to be appreciated. The very +improbability of billiards in a dak-bungalow proved the reality of +the thing. No man--drunk or sober--could imagine a game at +billiards, or invent the spitting crack of a "screw-cannon." + +A severe course of dak-bungalows has this disadvantage--it breeds +infinite credulity. If a man said to a confirmed dak-bungalow- +haunter:--"There is a corpse in the next room, and there's a mad +girl in the next but one, and the woman and man on that camel have +just eloped from a place sixty miles away," the hearer would not +disbelieve because he would know that nothing is too wild, +grotesque, or horrible to happen in a dak-bungalow. + +This credulity, unfortunately, extends to ghosts. A rational +person fresh from his own house would have turned on his side and +slept. I did not. So surely as I was given up as a bad carcass by +the scores of things in the bed because the bulk of my blood was in +my heart, so surely did I hear every stroke of a long game at +billiards played in the echoing room behind the iron-barred door. +My dominant fear was that the players might want a marker. It was +an absurd fear; because creatures who could play in the dark would +be above such superfluities. I only know that that was my terror; +and it was real. + +After a long, long while the game stopped, and the door banged. I +slept because I was dead tired. Otherwise I should have preferred +to have kept awake. Not for everything in Asia would I have +dropped the door-bar and peered into the dark of the next room. + +When the morning came, I considered that I had done well and +wisely, and inquired for the means of departure. + +"By the way, khansamah," I said, "what were those three doolies +doing in my compound in the night?" + +"There were no doolies," said the khansamah. + +I went into the next room and the daylight streamed through the +open door. I was immensely brave. I would, at that hour, have +played Black Pool with the owner of the big Black Pool down below. + +"Has this place always been a dak-bungalow?" I asked. + +"No," said the khansamah. "Ten or twenty years ago, I have +forgotten how long, it was a billiard room." + +"A how much?" + +"A billiard room for the Sahibs who built the Railway. I was +khansamah then in the big house where all the Railway-Sahibs lived, +and I used to come across with brandy-shrab. These three rooms +were all one, and they held a big table on which the Sahibs played +every evening. But the Sahibs are all dead now, and the Railway +runs, you say, nearly to Kabul." + +"Do you remember anything about the Sahibs?" + +"It is long ago, but I remember that one Sahib, a fat man and +always angry, was playing here one night, and he said to me:-- +'Mangal Khan, brandy-pani do,' and I filled the glass, and he bent +over the table to strike, and his head fell lower and lower till it +hit the table, and his spectacles came off, and when we--the Sahibs +and I myself--ran to lift him he was dead. I helped to carry him +out. Aha, he was a strong Sahib! But he is dead and I, old Mangal +Khan, am still living, by your favor." + +That was more than enough! I had my ghost--a firsthand, +authenticated article. I would write to the Society for Psychical +Research--I would paralyze the Empire with the news! But I would, +first of all, put eighty miles of assessed crop land between myself +and that dak-bungalow before nightfall. The Society might send +their regular agent to investigate later on. + +I went into my own room and prepared to pack after noting down the +facts of the case. As I smoked I heard the game begin again,--with +a miss in balk this time, for the whir was a short one. + +The door was open and I could see into the room. Click--c1ick! +That was a cannon. I entered the room without fear, for there was +sunlight within and a fresh breeze without. The unseen game was +going on at a tremendous rate. And well it might, when a restless +little rat was running to and fro inside the dingy ceiling-cloth, +and a piece of loose window-sash was making fifty breaks off the +window-bolt as it shook in the breeze! + +Impossible to mistake the sound of billiard balls! Impossible to +mistake the whir of a ball over the slate! But I was to be +excused. Even when I shut my enlightened eyes the sound was +marvelously like that of a fast game. + +Entered angrily the faithful partner of my sorrows, Kadir Baksh. + +"This bungalow is very bad and low-caste! No wonder the Presence +was disturbed and is speckled. Three sets of doolie-bearers came +to the bungalow late last night when I was sleeping outside, and +said that it was their custom to rest in the rooms set apart for +the English people! What honor has the khansamah? They tried to +enter, but I told them to go. No wonder, if these Oorias have been +here, that the Presence is sorely spotted. It is shame, and the +work of a dirty man!" + +Kadir Baksh did not say that he had taken from each gang two annas +for rent in advance, and then, beyond my earshot, had beaten them +with the big green umbrella whose use I could never before divine. +But Kadir Baksh has no notions of morality. + +There was an interview with the khansamah, but as he promptly lost +his head, wrath gave place to pity, and pity led to a long +conversation, in the course of which he put the fat Engineer- +Sahib's tragic death in three separate stations--two of them fifty +miles away. The third shift was to Calcutta, and there the Sahib +died while driving a dogcart. + +If I had encouraged him the khansamah would have wandered all +through Bengal with his corpse. + +I did not go away as soon as I intended. I stayed for the night, +while the wind and the rat and the sash and the window-bolt played +a ding-dong "hundred and fifty up." Then the wind ran out and the +billiards stopped, and I felt that I had ruined my one genuine, +hall-marked ghost story. + +Had I only stopped at the proper time, I could have made ANYTHING +out of it. + +That was the bitterest thought of all! + + + +The Sending of Dana Da + + +When the Devil rides on your chest, remember the chamar. + --Native Proverb. + + +Once upon a time some people in India made a new heaven and a new +earth out of broken teacups, a missing brooch or two, and a hair +brush. These were hidden under bushes, or stuffed into holes in +the hillside, and an entire civil service of subordinate gods used +to find or mend them again; and everyone said: "There are more +things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy." +Several other things happened also, but the religion never seemed +to get much beyond its first manifestations; though it added an +air-line postal dak, and orchestral effects in order to keep +abreast of the times, and stall off competition. + +This religion was too elastic for ordinary use. It stretched +itself and embraced pieces of everything that medicine men of all +ages have manufactured. It approved and stole from Freemasonry; +looted the Latter-day Rosicrucians of half their pet words; took +any fragments of Egyptian philosophy that it found in the +Encyclopaedia Britannica; annexed as many of the Vedas as had been +translated into French or English, and talked of all the rest; +built in the German versions of what is left of the Zend Avesta; +encouraged white, gray, and black magic, including Spiritualism, +palmistry, fortune-telling by cards, hot chestnuts, double-kerneled +nuts and tallow droppings; would have adopted Voodoo and Oboe had +it known anything about them, and showed itself, in every way, one +of the most accommodating arrangements that had ever been invented +since the birth of the sea. + +When it was in thorough working order, with all the machinery down +to the subscriptions complete, Dana Da came from nowhere, with +nothing in his hands, and wrote a chapter in its history which has +hitherto been unpublished. He said that his first name was Dana, +and his second was Da. Now, setting aside Dana of the New York +Sun, Dana is a Bhil name, and Da fits no native of India unless you +accept the Bengali De as the original spelling. Da is Lap or +Finnish; and Dana Da was neither Finn, Chin, Bhil, Bengali, Lap, +Nair, Gond, Romaney, Magh, Bokhariot, Kurd, Armenian, Levantine, +Jew, Persian, Punjabi, Madrasi, Parsee, nor anything else known to +ethnologists. He was simply Dana Da, and declined to give further +information. For the sake of brevity, and as roughly indicating +his origin, he was called "The Native." He might have been the +original Old Man of the Mountains, who is said to be the only +authorized head of the Teacup Creed. Some, people said that he +was; but Dana Da used to smile and deny any connection with the +cult; explaining that he was an "independent experimenter." + +As I have said, he came from nowhere, with his hands behind his +back, and studied the creed for three weeks; sitting at the feet of +those best competent to explain its mysteries. Then he laughed +aloud and went away, but the laugh might have been either of +devotion or derision. + +When he returned he was without money, but his pride was unabated. +He declared that he knew more about the things in heaven and earth +than those who taught him, and for this contumacy was abandoned +altogether. + +His next appearance in public life was at a big cantonment in Upper +India, and he was then telling fortunes with the help of three +leaden dice, a very dirty old cloth, and a little tin box of opium +pills. He told better fortunes when he was allowed half a bottle +of whisky; but the things which he invented on the opium were quite +worth the money. He was in reduced circumstances. Among other +people's he told the fortune of an Englishman who had once been +interested in the Simla creed, but who, later on, had married and +forgotten all his old knowledge in the study of babies and +Exchange. The Englishman allowed Dana Da to tell a fortune for +charity's sake, and gave him five rupees, a dinner, and some old +clothes. When he had eaten, Dana Da professed gratitude, and asked +if there were anything he could do for his host--in the esoteric +line. + +"Is there anyone that you love?" said Dana Da. The Englishman +loved his wife, but had no desire to drag her name into the +conversation. He therefore shook his head. + +"Is there anyone that you hate?" said Dana Da. The Englishman said +that there were several men whom he hated deeply. + +"Very good," said Dana Da, upon whom the whisky and the opium were +beginning to tell. "Only give me their names, and I will dispatch +a Sending to them and kill them." + +Now a Sending is a horrible arrangement, first invented, they say, +in Iceland. It is a thing sent by a wizard, and may take any form, +but most generally wanders about the land in the shape of a little +purple cloud till it finds the sendee, and him it kills by changing +into the form of a horse, or a cat, or a man without a face. It is +not strictly a native patent, though chamars can, if irritated, +dispatch a Sending which sits on the breast of their enemy by night +and nearly kills him. Very few natives care to irritate chamars +for this reason. + +"Let me dispatch a Sending," said Dana Da; "I am nearly dead now +with want, and drink, and opium; but I should like to kill a man +before I die. I can send a Sending anywhere you choose, and in any +form except in the shape of a man." + +The Englishman had no friends that he wished to kill, but partly to +soothe Dana Da, whose eyes were rolling, and partly to see what +would be done, he asked whether a modified Sending could not be +arranged for--such a Sending as should make a man's life a burden +to him, and yet do him no harm. If this were possible, he notified +his willingness to give Dana Da ten rupees for the job. + +"I am not what I was once," said Dana Da, "and I must take the +money because I am poor. To what Englishman shall I send it?" + +"Send a Sending to Lone Sahib," said the Englishman, naming a man +who had been most bitter in rebuking him for his apostasy from the +Teacup Creed. Dana Da laughed and nodded. + +"I could have chosen no better man myself," said he. "I will see +that he finds the Sending about his path and about his bed." + +He lay down on the hearthrug, turned up the whites of his eyes, +shivered all over, and began to snort. This was magic, or opium, +or the Sending, or all three. When he opened his eyes he vowed +that the Sending had started upon the warpath, and was at that +moment flying up to the town where Lone Sahib lives. + +"Give me my ten rupees," said Dana Da, wearily, "and write a letter +to Lone Sahib, telling him, and all who believe with him, that you +and a friend are using a power greater than theirs. They will see +that you are speaking the truth." + +He departed unsteadily, with the promise of some more rupees if +anything came of the Sending. + +The Englishman sent a letter to Lone Sahib, couched in what he +remembered of the terminology of the creed. He wrote: "I also, in +the days of what you held to be my backsliding, have obtained +enlightenment, and with enlightenment has come power." Then he +grew so deeply mysterious that the recipient of the letter could +make neither head nor tail of it, and was proportionately +impressed; for he fancied that his friend had become a "fifth +rounder." When a man is a "fifth rounder" he can do more than +Slade and Houdin combined. + +Lone Sahib read the letter in five different fashions, and was +beginning a sixth interpretation, when his bearer dashed in with +the news that there was a cat on the bed. Now, if there was one +thing that Lone Sahib hated more than another it was a cat. He +rated the bearer for not turning it out of the house. The bearer +said that he was afraid. All the doors of the bedroom had been +shut throughout the morning, and no real cat could possibly have +entered the room. He would prefer not to meddle with the creature. + +Lone Sahib entered the room gingerly, and there, on the pillow of +his bed, sprawled and whimpered a wee white kitten, not a jumpsome, +frisky little beast, but a sluglike crawler with its eyes barely +opened and its paws lacking strength or direction--a kitten that +ought to have been in a basket with its mamma. Lone Sahib caught +it by the scruff of its neck, handed it over to the sweeper to be +drowned, and fined the bearer four annas. + +That evening, as he was reading in his room, he fancied that he saw +something moving about on the hearthrug, outside the circle of +light from his reading lamp. When the thing began to myowl, he +realized that it was a kitten--a wee white kitten, nearly blind and +very miserable. He was seriously angry, and spoke bitterly to his +bearer, who said that there was no kitten in the room when he +brought in the lamp, and real kittens of tender age generally had +mother cats in attendance. + +"If the Presence will go out into the veranda and listen," said the +bearer, "he will hear no cats. How, therefore, can the kitten on +the bed and the kitten on the hearthrug be real kittens?" + +Lone Sahib went out to listen, and the bearer followed him, but +there was no sound of Rachel mewing for her children. He returned +to his room, having hurled the kitten down the hillside, and wrote +out the incidents of the day for the benefit of his coreligionists. +Those people were so absolutely free from superstition that they +ascribed anything a little out of the common to agencies. As it +was their business to know all about the agencies, they were on +terms of almost indecent familiarity with manifestations of every +kind. Their letters dropped from the ceiling--un-stamped--and +spirits used to squatter up and down their staircases all night. +But they had never come into contact with kittens. Lone Sahib +wrote out the facts, noting the hour and the minute, as every +psychical observer is bound to do, and appending the Englishman's +letter because it was the most mysterious document and might have +had a bearing upon anything in this world or the next. An outsider +would have translated all the tangle thus: "Look out! You laughed +at me once, and now I am going to make you sit up." + +Lone Sahib's coreligionists found that meaning in it; but their +translation was refined and full of four-syllable words. They held +a sederunt, and were filled with tremulous joy, for, in spite of +their familiarity with all the other worlds and cycles, they had a +very human awe of things sent from ghostland. They met in Lone +Sahib's room in shrouded and sepulchral gloom, and their conclave +was broken up by a clinking among the photo frames on the +mantelpiece. A wee white kitten, nearly blind, was looping and +writhing itself between the clock and the candlesticks. That +stopped all investigations or doubtings. Here was the +manifestation in the flesh. It was, so far as could be seen, +devoid of purpose, but it was a manifestation of undoubted +authenticity. + +They drafted a round robin to the Englishman, the backslider of old +days, adjuring him in the interests of the creed to explain whether +there was any connection between the embodiment of some Egyptian +god or other (I have forgotten the name) and his communication. +They called the kitten Ra, or Toth, or Shem, or Noah, or something; +and when Lone Sahib confessed that the first one had, at his most +misguided instance, been drowned by the sweeper, they said +consolingly that in his next life he would be a "bounder," and not +even a "rounder" of the lowest grade. These words may not be quite +correct, but they express the sense of the house accurately. + +When the Englishman received the round robin--it came by post--he +was startled and bewildered. He sent into the bazaar for Dana Da, +who read the letter and laughed. "That is my Sending," said he. +"I told you I would work well. Now give me another ten rupees." + +"But what in the world is this gibberish about Egyptian gods?" +asked the Englishman. + +"Cats," said Dana Da, with a hiccough, for he had discovered the +Englishman's whisky bottle. "Cats and cats and cats! Never was +such a Sending. A hundred of cats. Now give me ten more rupees +and write as I dictate." + +Dana Da's letter was a curiosity. It bore the Englishman's +signature, and hinted at cats--at a Sending of cats. The mere +words on paper were creepy and uncanny to behold. + +"What have you done, though?" said the Englishman; "I am as much in +the dark as ever. Do you mean to say that you can actually send +this absurd Sending you talk about?" + +"Judge for yourself," said Dana Da. "What does that letter mean? +In a little time they will all be at my feet and yours, and I, oh, +glory! will be drugged or drunk all day long." + +Dana Da knew his people. + +When a man who hates cats wakes up in the morning and finds a +little squirming kitten on his breast, or puts his hand into his +ulster pocket and finds a little half-dead kitten where his gloves +should be, or opens his trunk and finds a vile kitten among his +dress shirts, or goes for a long ride with his mackintosh strapped +on his saddle-bow and shakes a little sprawling kitten from its +folds when he opens it, or goes out to dinner and finds a little +blind kitten under his chair, or stays at home and finds a writhing +kitten under the quilt, or wriggling among his boots, or hanging, +head downward, in his tobacco jar, or being mangled by his terrier +in the veranda--when such a man finds one kitten, neither more nor +less, once a day in a place where no kitten rightly could or should +be, he is naturally upset. When he dare not murder his daily trove +because he believes it to be a manifestation, an emissary, an +embodiment, and half a dozen other things all out of the regular +course of nature, he is more than upset. He is actually +distressed. Some of Lone Sahib's coreligionists thought that he +was a highly favored individual; but many said that if he had +treated the first kitten with proper respect--as suited a Toth-Ra +Tum-Sennacherib Embodiment--all his trouble would have been +averted. They compared him to the Ancient Mariner, but none the +less they were proud of him and proud of the Englishman who had +sent the manifestation. They did not call it a Sending because +Icelandic magic was not in their programme. + +After sixteen kittens--that is to say, after one fortnight, for +there were three kittens on the first day to impress the fact of +the Sending, the whole camp was uplifted by a letter--it came +flying through a window--from the Old Man of the Mountains--the +head of all the creed--explaining the manifestation in the most +beautiful language and soaking up all the credit of it for himself. +The Englishman, said the letter, was not there at all. He was a +backslider without power or asceticism, who couldn't even raise a +table by force of volition, much less project an army of kittens +through space. The entire arrangement, said the letter, was +strictly orthodox, worked and sanctioned by the highest authorities +within the pale of the creed. There was great joy at this, for +some of the weaker brethren seeing that an outsider who had been +working on independent lines could create kittens, whereas their +own rulers had never gone beyond crockery--and broken at that--were +showing a desire to break line on their own trail. In fact, there +was the promise of a schism. A second round robin was drafted to +the Englishman, beginning: "Oh, Scoffer," and ending with a +selection of curses from the rites of Mizraim and Memphis and the +Commination of Jugana; who was a "fifth rounder," upon whose name +an upstart "third rounder" once traded. A papal excommunication is +a billet-doux compared to the Commination of Jugana. The +Englishman had been proved under the hand and seal of the Old Man +of the Mountains to have appropriated virtue and pretended to have +power which, in reality, belonged only to the supreme head. +Naturally the round robin did not spare him. + +He handed the letter to Dana Da to translate into decent English. +The effect on Dana Da was curious. At first he was furiously +angry, and then he laughed for five minutes. + +"I had thought," he said, "that they would have come to me. In +another week I would have shown that I sent the Sending, and they +would have discrowned the Old Man of the Mountains who has sent +this Sending of mine. Do you do nothing. The time has come for me +to act. Write as I dictate, and I will put them to shame. But +give me ten more rupees." + +At Dana Da's dictation the Englishman wrote nothing less than a +formal challenge to the Old Man of the Mountains. It wound up: +"And if this manifestation be from your hand, then let it go +forward; but if it be from my hand, I will that the Sending shall +cease in two days' time. On that day there shall be twelve kittens +and thenceforward none at all. The people shall judge between us." +This was signed by Dana Da, who added pentacles and pentagrams, and +a crux ansata, and half a dozen swastikas, and a Triple Tau to his +name, just to show that he was all he laid claim to be. + +The challenge was read out to the gentlemen and ladies, and they +remembered then that Dana Da had laughed at them some years ago. +It was officially announced that the Old Man of the Mountains would +treat the matter with contempt; Dana Da being an independent +investigator without a single "round" at the back of him. But this +did not soothe his people. They wanted to see a fight. They were +very human for all their spirituality. Lone Sahib, who was really +being worn out with kittens, submitted meekly to his fate. He felt +that he was being "kittened to prove the power of Dana Da," as the +poet says. + +When the stated day dawned, the shower of kittens began. Some were +white and some were tabby, and all were about the same loathsome +age. Three were on his hearth-rug, three in his bathroom, and the +other six turned up at intervals among the visitors who came to see +the prophecy break down. Never was a more satisfactory Sending. +On the next day there were no kittens, and the next day and all the +other days were kittenless and quiet. The people murmured and +looked to the Old Man of the Mountains for an explanation. A +letter, written on a palm leaf, dropped from the ceiling, but +everyone except Lone Sahib felt that letters were not what the +occasion demanded. There should have been cats, there should have +been cats--full-grown ones. The letter proved conclusively that +there had been a hitch in the psychic current which, colliding with +a dual identity, had interfered with the percipient activity all +along the main line. The kittens were still going on, but owing to +some failure in the developing fluid, they were not materialized. +The air was thick with letters for a few days afterwards. Unseen +hands played Gluck and Beethoven on finger-bowls and clock shades; +but all men felt that psychic life was a mockery without +materialized kittens. Even Lone Sahib shouted with the majority on +this head. Dana Da's letters were very insulting, and if he had +then offered to lead a new departure, there is no knowing what +might not have happened. + +But Dana Da was dying of whisky and opium in the Englishman's go- +down, and had small heart for new creeds. + +"They have been put to shame," said he. "Never was such a Sending. +It has killed me." + +"Nonsense," said the Englishman, "you are going to die, Dana Da, +and that sort of stuff must be left behind. I'll admit that you +have made some queer things come about. Tell me honestly, now, how +was it done?" + +"Give me ten more rupees," said Dana Da, faintly, "and if I die +before I spend them, bury them with me." The silver was counted +out while Dana Da was fighting with death. His hand closed upon +the money and he smiled a grim smile. + +"Bend low," he whispered. The Englishman bent. + +"Bunnia--mission school--expelled--box-wallah (peddler)--Ceylon +pearl merchant--all mine English education--outcasted, and made up +name Dana Da--England with American thought-reading man and--and-- +you gave me ten rupees several times--I gave the Sahib's bearer +two-eight a month for cats--little, little cats. I wrote, and he +put them about--very clever man. Very few kittens now in the +bazaar. Ask Lone Sahib's sweeper's wife." + +So saying, Dana Da gasped and passed away into a land where, if all +be true, there are no materializations and the making of new creeds +is discouraged. + +But consider the gorgeous simplicity of it all! + + + +IN THE HOUSE OF SUDDHOO + + +A stone's throw out on either hand +From that well-ordered road we tread, + And all the world is wild and strange; +Churel and ghoul and Djinn and sprite +Shall bear us company to-night, +For we have reached the Oldest Land + Wherein the Powers of Darkness range. + + From the Dusk to the Dawn. + + +The house of Suddhoo, near the Taksali Gate, is two-storied, with +four carved windows of old brown wood, and a flat roof. You may +recognize it by five red hand-prints arranged like the Five of +Diamonds on the whitewash between the upper windows. Bhagwan Dass, +the bunnia, and a man who says he gets his living by seal-cutting, +live in the lower story with a troop of wives, servants, friends, +and retainers. The two upper rooms used to be occupied by Janoo +and Azizun and a little black-and-tan terrier that was stolen from +an Englishman's house and given to Janoo by a soldier. To-day, +only Janoo lives in the upper rooms. Suddhoo sleeps on the roof +generally, except when he sleeps in the street. He used to go to +Peshawar in the cold weather to visit his son, who sells +curiosities near the Edwardes' Gate, and then he slept under a real +mud roof. Suddhoo is a great friend of mine, because his cousin had +a son who secured, thanks to my recommendation, the post of head- +messenger to a big firm in the Station. Suddhoo says that God will +make me a Lieutenant-Governor one of these days. I daresay his +prophecy will come true. He is very, very old, with white hair and +no teeth worth showing, and he has outlived his wits--outlived +nearly everything except his fondness for his son at Peshawar. +Janoo and Azizun are Kashmiris, Ladies of the City, and theirs was +an ancient and more or less honorable profession; but Azizun has +since married a medical student from the North-West and has settled +down to a most respectable life somewhere near Bareilly. Bhagwan +Dass is an extortionate and an adulterator. He is very rich. The +man who is supposed to get his living by seal-cutting pretends to +be very poor. This lets you know as much as is necessary of the +four principal tenants in the house of Suddhoo. Then there is Me, +of course; but I am only the chorus that comes in at the end to +explain things. So I do not count. + +Suddhoo was not clever. The man who pretended to cut seals was the +cleverest of them all--Bhagwan Dass only knew how to lie--except +Janoo. She was also beautiful, but that was her own affair. + +Suddhoo's son at Peshawar was attacked by pleurisy, and old Suddhoo +was troubled. The seal-cutter man heard of Suddhoo's anxiety and +made capital out of it. He was abreast of the times. He got a +friend in Peshawar to telegraph daily accounts of the son's health. +And here the story begins. + +Suddhoo's cousin's son told me, one evening, that Suddhoo wanted to +see me; that he was too old and feeble to come personally, and that +I should be conferring an everlasting honor on the House of Suddhoo +if I went to him. I went; but I think, seeing how well-off Suddhoo +was then, that he might have sent something better than an ekka, +which jolted fearfully, to haul out a future Lieutenant-Governor to +the City on a muggy April evening. The ekka did not run quickly. +It was full dark when we pulled up opposite the door of Ranjit +Singh's Tomb near the main gate of the Fort. Here was Suddhoo and +he said that, by reason of my condescension, it was absolutely +certain that I should become a Lieutenant-Governor while my hair +was yet black. Then we talked about the weather and the state of +my health, and the wheat crops, for fifteen minutes, in the Huzuri +Bagh, under the stars. + +Suddhoo came to the point at last. He said that Janoo had told him +that there was an order of the Sirkar against magic, because it was +feared that magic might one day kill the Empress of India. I +didn't know anything about the state of the law; but I fancied that +something interesting was going to happen. I said that so far from +magic being discouraged by the Government it was highly commended. +The greatest officials of the State practiced it themselves. (If +the Financial Statement isn't magic, I don't know what is.) Then, +to encourage him further, I said that, if there was any jadoo +afoot, I had not the least objection to giving it my countenance +and sanction, and to seeing that it was clean jadoo--white magic, +as distinguished from the unclean jadoo which kills folk. It took +a long time before Suddhoo admitted that this was just what he had +asked me to come for. Then he told me, in jerks and quavers, that +the man who said he cut seals was a sorcerer of the cleanest kind; +that every day he gave Suddhoo news of the sick son in Peshawar +more quickly than the lightning could fly, and that this news was +always corroborated by the letters. Further, that he had told +Suddhoo how a great danger was threatening his son, which could be +removed by clean jadoo; and, of course, heavy payment. I began to +see how the land lay, and told Suddhoo that I also understood a +little jadoo in the Western line, and would go to his house to see +that everything was done decently and in order. We set off +together; and on the way Suddhoo told me he had paid the seal- +cutter between one hundred and two hundred rupees already; and the +jadoo of that night would cost two hundred more. Which was cheap, +he said, considering the greatness of his son's danger; but I do +not think he meant it. + +The lights were all cloaked in the front of the house when we +arrived. I could hear awful noises from behind the seal-cutter's +shop-front, as if some one were groaning his soul out. Suddhoo +shook all over, and while we groped our way upstairs told me that +the jadoo had begun. Janoo and Azizun met us at the stair-head, +and told us that the jadoo-work was coming off in their rooms, +because there was more space there. Janoo is a lady of a +freethinking turn of mind. She whispered that the jadoo was an +invention to get money out of Suddhoo, and that the seal-cutter +would go to a hot place when he died. Suddhoo was nearly crying +with fear and old age. He kept walking up and down the room in the +half light, repeating his son's name over and over again, and +asking Azizun if the seal-cutter ought not to make a reduction in +the case of his own landlord. Janoo pulled me over to the shadow in +the recess of the carved bow- windows. The boards were up, and the +rooms were only lit by one tiny lamp. There was no chance of my +being seen if I stayed still. + +Presently, the groans below ceased, and we heard steps on the +staircase. That was the seal-cutter. He stopped outside the door +as the terrier barked and Azizun fumbled at the chain, and he told +Suddhoo to blow out the lamp. This left the place in jet darkness, +except for the red glow from the two huqas that belonged to Janoo +and Azizun. The seal-cutter came in, and I heard Suddhoo throw +himself down on the floor and groan. Azizun caught her breath, and +Janoo backed to one of the beds with a shudder. There was a clink +of something metallic, and then shot up a pale blue-green flame +near the ground. The light was just enough to show Azizun, pressed +against one corner of the room with the terrier between her knees; +Janoo, with her hands clasped, leaning forward as she sat on the +bed; Suddhoo, face down, quivering, and the seal-cutter. + +I hope I may never see another man like that seal-cutter. He was +stripped to the waist, with a wreath of white jasmine as thick as +my wrist round his forehead, a salmon-colored loin-cloth round his +middle, and a steel bangle on each ankle. This was not awe- +inspiring. It was the face of the man that turned me cold. It was +blue-gray in the first place. In the second, the eyes were rolled +back till you could only see the whites of them; and, in the third, +the face was the face of a demon--a ghoul--anything you please +except of the sleek, oily old ruffian who sat in the day-time over +his turning-lathe downstairs. He was lying on his stomach, with +his arms turned and crossed behind him, as if he had been thrown +down pinioned. His head and neck were the only parts of him off +the floor. They were nearly at right angles to the body, like the +head of a cobra at spring. It was ghastly. In the centre of the +room, on the bare earth floor, stood a big, deep, brass basin, with +a pale blue-green light floating in the centre like a night-light. +Round that basin the man on the floor wriggled himself three times. +How he did it I do not know. I could see the muscles ripple along +his spine and fall smooth again; but I could not see any other +motion. The head seemed the only thing alive about him, except that +slow curl and uncurl of the laboring back-muscles. Janoo from the +bed was breathing seventy to the minute; Azizun held her hands +before her eyes; and old Suddhoo, fingering at the dirt that had +got into his white beard, was crying to himself. The horror of it +was that the creeping, crawly thing made no sound--only crawled! +And, remember, this lasted for ten minutes, while the terrier +whined, and Azizun shuddered, and Janoo gasped, and Suddhoo cried. + +I felt the hair lift at the back of my head, and my heart thump +like a thermantidote paddle. Luckily, the seal-cutter betrayed +himself by his most impressive trick and made me calm again. After +he had finished that unspeakable triple crawl, he stretched his +head away from the floor as high as he could, and sent out a jet of +fire from his nostrils. Now, I knew how fire-spouting is done--I +can do it myself--so I felt at ease. The business was a fraud. If +he had only kept to that crawl without trying to raise the effect, +goodness knows what I might not have thought. Both the girls +shrieked at the jet of fire and the head dropped, chin down, on the +floor with a thud; the whole body lying then like a corpse with its +arms trussed. There was a pause of five full minutes after this, +and the blue- green flame died down. Janoo stooped to settle one +of her anklets, while Azizun turned her face to the wall and took +the terrier in her arms. Suddhoo put out an arm mechanically to +Janoo's huqa, and she slid it across the floor with her foot. +Directly above the body and on the wall, were a couple of flaming +portraits, in stamped paper frames, of the Queen and the Prince of +Wales. They looked down on the performance, and, to my thinking, +seemed to heighten the grotesqueness of it all. + +Just when the silence was getting unendurable, the body turned over +and rolled away from the basin to the side of the room, where it +lay stomach up. There was a faint "plop" from the basin--exactly +like the noise a fish makes when it takes a fly--and the green +light in the centre revived. + +I looked at the basin, and saw, bobbing in the water, the dried, +shrivelled, black head of a native baby--open eyes, open mouth and +shaved scalp. It was worse, being so very sudden, than the +crawling exhibition. We had no time to say anything before it +began to speak. + +Read Poe's account of the voice that came from the mesmerized dying +man, and you will realize less than one-half of the horror of that +head's voice. + +There was an interval of a second or two between each word, and a +sort of "ring, ring, ring," in the note of the voice, like the +timbre of a bell. It pealed slowly, as if talking to itself, for +several minutes before I got rid of my cold sweat. Then the +blessed solution struck me. I looked at the body lying near the +doorway, and saw, just where the hollow of the throat joins on the +shoulders, a muscle that had nothing to do with any man's regular +breathing, twitching away steadily. The whole thing was a careful +reproduction of the Egyptian teraphin that one read about sometimes +and the voice was as clever and as appalling a piece of +ventriloquism as one could wish to hear. All this time the head +was "lip-lip-lapping" against the side of the basin, and speaking. +It told Suddhoo, on his face again whining, of his son's illness +and of the state of the illness up to the evening of that very +night. I always shall respect the seal-cutter for keeping so +faithfully to the time of the Peshawar telegrams. It went on to +say that skilled doctors were night and day watching over the man's +life; and that he would eventually recover if the fee to the potent +sorcerer, whose servant was the head in the basin, were doubled. + +Here the mistake from the artistic point of view came in. To ask +for twice your stipulated fee in a voice that Lazarus might have +used when he rose from the dead, is absurd. Janoo, who is really a +woman of masculine intellect, saw this as quickly as I did. I +heard her say "Asli nahin! Fareib!" scornfully under her breath; +and just as she said so, the light in the basin died out, the head +stopped talking, and we heard the room door creak on its hinges. +Then Janoo struck a match, lit the lamp, and we saw that head, +basin, and seal- cutter were gone. Suddhoo was wringing his hands +and explaining to any one who cared to listen, that, if his chances +of eternal salvation depended on it, he could not raise another two +hundred rupees. Azizun was nearly in hysterics in the corner; +while Janoo sat down composedly on one of the beds to discuss the +probabilities of the whole thing being a bunao, or "make-up." + +I explained as much as I knew of the seal-cutter's way of jadoo; +but her argument was much more simple:--"The magic that is always +demanding gifts is no true magic," said she. "My mother told me +that the only potent love-spells are those which are told you for +love. This seal-cutter man is a liar and a devil. I dare not +tell, do anything, or get anything done, because I am in debt to +Bhagwan Dass the bunnia for two gold rings and a heavy anklet. I +must get my food from his shop. The seal-cutter is the friend of +Bhagwan Dass, and he would poison my food. A fool's jadoo has been +going on for ten days, and has cost Suddhoo many rupees each night. +The seal-cutter used black hens and lemons and mantras before. He +never showed us anything like this till to-night. Azizun is a +fool, and will be a pur dahnashin soon. Suddhoo has lost his +strength and his wits. See now! I had hoped to get from Suddhoo +many rupees while he lived, and many more after his death; and +behold, he is spending everything on that offspring of a devil and +a she-ass, the seal- cutter!" + +Here I said:--"But what induced Suddhoo to drag me into the +business? Of course I can speak to the seal-cutter, and he shall +refund. The whole thing is child's talk--shame--and senseless." + +"Suddhoo IS an old child," said Janoo. "He has lived on the roofs +these seventy years and is as senseless as a milch-goat. He +brought you here to assure himself that he was not breaking any law +of the Sirkar, whose salt he ate many years ago. He worships the +dust off the feet of the seal-cutter, and that cow-devourer has +forbidden him to go and see his son. What does Suddhoo know of +your laws or the lightning-post? I have to watch his money going +day by day to that lying beast below." + +Janoo stamped her foot on the floor and nearly cried with vexation; +while Suddhoo was whimpering under a blanket in the corner, and +Azizun was trying to guide the pipe-stem to his foolish old mouth. + + . . . . . . . . . + +Now the case stands thus. Unthinkingly, I have laid myself open to +the charge of aiding and abetting the seal-cutter in obtaining +money under false pretences, which is forbidden by Section 420 of +the Indian Penal Code. I am helpless in the matter for these +reasons, I cannot inform the Police. What witnesses would support +my statements? Janoo refuses flatly, Azizun is a veiled woman +somewhere near Bareilly--lost in this big India of ours. I cannot +again take the law into my own hands, and speak to the seal-cutter; +for certain am I that, not only would Suddhoo disbelieve me, but +this step would end in the poisoning of Janoo, who is bound hand +and foot by her debt to the bunnia. Suddhoo is an old dotard; and +whenever we meet mumbles my idiotic joke that the Sirkar rather +patronizes the Black Art than otherwise. His son is well now; but +Suddhoo is completely under the influence of the seal-cutter, by +whose advice he regulates the affairs of his life. Janoo watches +daily the money that she hoped to wheedle out of Suddhoo taken by +the seal-cutter, and becomes daily more furious and sullen. + +She will never tell, because she dare not; but, unless something +happens to prevent her, I am afraid that the seal-cutter will die +of cholera--the white arsenic kind--about the middle of May. And +thus I shall have to be privy to a murder in the House of Suddhoo. + + +HIS WEDDED WIFE. + + +Cry "Murder!" in the market-place, and each +Will turn upon his neighbor anxious eyes +That ask:--"Art thou the man?" We hunted Cain, +Some centuries ago, across the world, +That bred the fear our own misdeeds maintain +To-day. + + Vibart's Moralities. + + +Shakespeare says something about worms, or it may be giants or +beetles, turning if you tread on them too severely. The safest +plan is never to tread on a worm--not even on the last new +subaltern from Home, with his buttons hardly out of their tissue +paper, and the red of sappy English beef in his cheeks. This is +the story of the worm that turned. For the sake of brevity, we +will call Henry Augustus Ramsay Faizanne, "The Worm," although he +really was an exceedingly pretty boy, without a hair on his face, +and with a waist like a girl's when he came out to the Second +"Shikarris" and was made unhappy in several ways. The "Shikarris" +are a high-caste regiment, and you must be able to do things well-- +play a banjo or ride more than a little, or sing, or act--to get on +with them. + +The Worm did nothing except fall off his pony, and knock chips out +of gate-posts with his trap. Even that became monotonous after a +time. He objected to whist, cut the cloth at billiards, sang out +of tune, kept very much to himself, and wrote to his Mamma and +sisters at Home. Four of these five things were vices which the +"Shikarris" objected to and set themselves to eradicate. Every one +knows how subalterns are, by brother subalterns, softened and not +permitted to be ferocious. It is good and wholesome, and does no +one any harm, unless tempers are lost; and then there is trouble. +There was a man once--but that is another story. + +The "Shikarris" shikarred The Worm very much, and he bore +everything without winking. He was so good and so anxious to +learn, and flushed so pink, that his education was cut short, and +he was left to his own devices by every one except the Senior +Subaltern, who continued to make life a burden to The Worm. The +Senior Subaltern meant no harm; but his chaff was coarse, and he +didn't quite understand where to stop. He had been waiting too +long for his company; and that always sours a man. Also he was in +love, which made him worse. + +One day, after he had borrowed The Worm's trap for a lady who never +existed, had used it himself all the afternoon, had sent a note to +The Worm purporting to come from the lady, and was telling the Mess +all about it, The Worm rose in his place and said, in his quiet, +ladylike voice: "That was a very pretty sell; but I'll lay you a +month's pay to a month's pay when you get your step, that I work a +sell on you that you'll remember for the rest of your days, and the +Regiment after you when you're dead or broke." The Worm wasn't +angry in the least, and the rest of the Mess shouted. Then the +Senior Subaltern looked at The Worm from the boots upwards, and +down again, and said, "Done, Baby." The Worm took the rest of the +Mess to witness that the bet had been taken, and retired into a +book with a sweet smile. + +Two months passed, and the Senior Subaltern still educated The +Worm, who began to move about a little more as the hot weather came +on. I have said that the Senior Subaltern was in love. The +curious thing is that a girl was in love with the Senior Subaltern. +Though the Colonel said awful things, and the Majors snorted, and +married Captains looked unutterable wisdom, and the juniors +scoffed, those two were engaged. + +The Senior Subaltern was so pleased with getting his Company and +his acceptance at the same time that he forgot to bother The Worm. +The girl was a pretty girl, and had money of her own. She does not +come into this story at all. + +One night, at the beginning of the hot weather, all the Mess, +except The Worm, who had gone to his own room to write Home +letters, were sitting on the platform outside the Mess House. The +Band had finished playing, but no one wanted to go in. And the +Captains' wives were there also. The folly of a man in love is +unlimited. The Senior Subaltern had been holding forth on the +merits of the girl he was engaged to, and the ladies were purring +approval, while the men yawned, when there was a rustle of skirts +in the dark, and a tired, faint voice lifted itself: + +"Where's my husband?" + +I do not wish in the least to reflect on the morality of the +"Shikarris;" but it is on record that four men jumped up as if they +had been shot. Three of them were married men. Perhaps they were +afraid that their wives had come from Home unbeknownst. The fourth +said that he had acted on the impulse of the moment. He explained +this afterwards. + +Then the voice cried:--"Oh, Lionel!" Lionel was the Senior +Subaltern's name. A woman came into the little circle of light by +the candles on the peg-tables, stretching out her hands to the dark +where the Senior Subaltern was, and sobbing. We rose to our feet, +feeling that things were going to happen and ready to believe the +worst. In this bad, small world of ours, one knows so little of +the life of the next man--which, after all, is entirely his own +concern-- that one is not surprised when a crash comes. Anything +might turn up any day for any one. Perhaps the Senior Subaltern +had been trapped in his youth. Men are crippled that way +occasionally. We didn't know; we wanted to hear; and the Captains' +wives were as anxious as we. If he HAD been trapped, he was to be +excused; for the woman from nowhere, in the dusty shoes, and gray +travelling dress, was very lovely, with black hair and great eyes +full of tears. She was tall, with a fine figure, and her voice had +a running sob in it pitiful to hear. As soon as the Senior +Subaltern stood up, she threw her arms round his neck, and called +him "my darling," and said she could not bear waiting alone in +England, and his letters were so short and cold, and she was his to +the end of the world, and would he forgive her. This did not sound +quite like a lady's way of speaking. It was too demonstrative. + +Things seemed black indeed, and the Captains' wives peered under +their eyebrows at the Senior Subaltern, and the Colonel's face set +like the Day of Judgment framed in gray bristles, and no one spoke +for a while. + +Next the Colonel said, very shortly:--"Well, Sir?" and the woman +sobbed afresh. The Senior Subaltern was half choked with the arms +round his neck, but he gasped out:--"It's a d----d lie! I never +had a wife in my life!" "Don't swear," said the Colonel. "Come +into the Mess. We must sift this clear somehow," and he sighed to +himself, for he believed in his "Shikarris," did the Colonel. + +We trooped into the ante-room, under the full lights, and there we +saw how beautiful the woman was. She stood up in the middle of us +all, sometimes choking with crying, then hard and proud, and then +holding out her arms to the Senior Subaltern. It was like the +fourth act of a tragedy. She told us how the Senior Subaltern had +married her when he was Home on leave eighteen months before; and +she seemed to know all that we knew, and more too, of his people +and his past life. He was white and ashy gray, trying now and +again to break into the torrent of her words; and we, noting how +lovely she was and what a criminal he looked, esteemed him a beast +of the worst kind. We felt sorry for him, though. + +I shall never forget the indictment of the Senior Subaltern by his +wife. Nor will he. It was so sudden, rushing out of the dark, +unannounced, into our dull lives. The Captains' wives stood back; +but their eyes were alight, and you could see that they had already +convicted and sentenced the Senior Subaltern. The Colonel seemed +five years older. One Major was shading his eyes with his hand and +watching the woman from underneath it. Another was chewing his +moustache and smiling quietly as if he were witnessing a play. +Full in the open space in the centre, by the whist-tables, the +Senior Subaltern's terrier was hunting for fleas. I remember all +this as clearly as though a photograph were in my hand. I remember +the look of horror on the Senior Subaltern's face. It was rather +like seeing a man hanged; but much more interesting. Finally, the +woman wound up by saying that the Senior Subaltern carried a double +F. M. in tattoo on his left shoulder. We all knew that, and to our +innocent minds it seemed to clinch the matter. But one of the +Bachelor Majors said very politely:--"I presume that your marriage +certificate would be more to the purpose?" + +That roused the woman. She stood up and sneered at the Senior +Subaltern for a cur, and abused the Major and the Colonel and all +the rest. Then she wept, and then she pulled a paper from her +breast, saying imperially:--"Take that! And let my husband--my +lawfully wedded husband--read it aloud--if he dare!" + +There was a hush, and the men looked into each other's eyes as the +Senior Subaltern came forward in a dazed and dizzy way, and took +the paper. We were wondering as we stared, whether there was +anything against any one of us that might turn up later on. The +Senior Subaltern's throat was dry; but, as he ran his eye over the +paper, he broke out into a hoarse cackle of relief, and said to the +woman:--"You young blackguard!" + +But the woman had fled through a door, and on the paper was +written:--"This is to certify that I, The Worm, have paid in full +my debts to the Senior Subaltern, and, further, that the Senior +Subaltern is my debtor, by agreement on the 23d of February, as by +the Mess attested, to the extent of one month's Captain's pay, in +the lawful currency of the India Empire." + +Then a deputation set off for The Worm's quarters and found him, +betwixt and between, unlacing his stays, with the hat, wig, serge +dress, etc., on the bed. He came over as he was, and the +"Shikarris" shouted till the Gunners' Mess sent over to know if +they might have a share of the fun. I think we were all, except +the Colonel and the Senior Subaltern, a little disappointed that +the scandal had come to nothing. But that is human nature. There +could be no two words about The Worm's acting. It leaned as near +to a nasty tragedy as anything this side of a joke can. When most +of the Subalterns sat upon him with sofa-cushions to find out why +he had not said that acting was his strong point, he answered very +quietly:--"I don't think you ever asked me. I used to act at Home +with my sisters." But no acting with girls could account for The +Worm's display that night. Personally, I think it was in bad +taste. Besides being dangerous. There is no sort of use in playing +with fire, even for fun. + +The "Shikarris" made him President of the Regimental Dramatic Club; +and, when the Senior Subaltern paid up his debt, which he did at +once, The Worm sank the money in scenery and dresses. He was a +good Worm; and the "Shikarris" are proud of him. The only drawback +is that he has been christened "Mrs. Senior Subaltern;" and as +there are now two Mrs. Senior Subalterns in the Station, this is +sometimes confusing to strangers. + +Later on, I will tell you of a case something like, this, but with +all the jest left out and nothing in it but real trouble. + + + +A. Conan Doyle + +A Case of Identity + + +"My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of +the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely +stranger than anything which the mind of man can invent. We would +not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces +of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, +hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at +the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the +plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, +working through generations, and leading to the most outre results, +it would make all fiction, with its conventionalities and foreseen +conclusions, most stale and unprofitable." + +"And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which +come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vulgar +enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its +extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, +neither fascinating nor artistic." + +"A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a +realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the police +report, where more stress is laid perhaps upon the platitudes of +the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain +the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend upon it, there is +nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." + +I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking +so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser +and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout three +continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange and +bizarre. But here,"--I picked up the morning paper from the +ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the first +heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his wife.' +There is half a column of print, but I know without reading it that +it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course, the other +woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the unsympathetic +sister or landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing +more crude." + +"Indeed your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," said +Holmes, taking the paper, and glancing his eye down it. "This is +the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in +clearing up some small points in connection with it. The husband +was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct +complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding up +every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his +wife, which you will allow is not an action likely to occur to the +imagination of the average story teller. Take a pinch of snuff, +doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your +example." + +He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the +center of the lid. Its splendor was in such contrast to his homely +ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon it. + +"Ah!" said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. +It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia, in return for my +assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." + +"And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which +sparkled upon his finger. + +"It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in +which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it +even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of +my little problems." + +"And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. + +"Some ten or twelve, but none which present any features of +interest. They are important, you understand, without being +interesting. Indeed I have found that it is usually in unimportant +matters that there is a field for the observation, and for the +quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the charm to an +investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for +the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. +In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter which has been +referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing which presents any +features of interest. It is possible, however, that I may have +something better before very many minutes are over, for this is one +of my clients, or I am much mistaken." + +He had risen from his chair, and was standing between the parted +blinds, gazing down into the dull, neutral-tinted London street. +Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite +there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and +a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted +in a coquettish Duchess-of-Devonshire fashion over her ear. + +From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, +hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated +backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove +buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the +bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang of +the bell. + +"I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his +cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always +means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure +that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet +even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously +wronged by a man, she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom +is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love +matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed or +grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." + +As he spoke, there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons +entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself +loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed merchantman +behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with the +easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and having closed the +door, and bowed her into an armchair, he looked her over in the +minute and yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him. + +"Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a +little trying to do so much typewriting?" + +"I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters +are without looking." Then, suddenly realizing the full purport of +his words, she gave a violent start, and looked up with fear and +astonishment upon her broad, good-humored face. "You've heard +about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know all +that?" + +"Never mind," said Holmes, laughing, "it is my business to know +things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. +If not, why should you come to consult me?" + +"I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, +whose husband you found so easily when the police and everyone had +given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as much +for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my own +right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and I would +give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." + +"Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked +Sherlock Holmes, with his finger tips together, and his eyes to the +ceiling. + +Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss +Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, +"for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Windibank-- +that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to the police, +and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he would do nothing, +and kept on saying that there was no harm done, it made me mad, and +I just on with my things and came right away to you." + +"Your father?" said Holmes. "Your stepfather, surely, since the +name is different." + +"Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, +too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." + +"And your mother is alive?" + +"Oh, yes; mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. +Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and a +man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father was +a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy business +behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the foreman; +but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the business, for he +was very superior, being a traveler in wines. They got four +thousand seven hundred for the good-will and interest, which wasn't +near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." + +I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this rambling +and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had +listened with the greatest concentration of attention. + +"Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the +business?" + +"Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate, and was left me by my Uncle +Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying four and half +per cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I +can only touch the interest." + +"You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so +large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the +bargain, you no doubt travel a little, and indulge yourself in +every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely +upon an income of about sixty pounds." + +"I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you +understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a +burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while I +am staying with them. Of course that is only just for the time. +Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter, and pays it over to +mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I earn at +typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can often do +from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." + +"You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "This +is my friend, Doctor Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as +before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection with +Mr. Hosmer Angel." + +A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked nervously +at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the gasfitters' +ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets when he was +alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them to +mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He never did wish us +to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as to +join a Sunday School treat. But this time I was set on going, and +I would go, for what right had he to prevent? He said the folk +were not fit for us to know, when all father's friends were to be +there. And he said that I had nothing fit to wear, when I had my +purple plush that I had never so much as taken out of the drawer. +At last, when nothing else would do, he went off to France upon the +business of the firm; but we went, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, +who used to be our foreman, and it was there I met Mr. Hosmer +Angel." + +"I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from +France, he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball?" + +"Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and +shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying anything +to a woman, for she would have her way." + +"I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a +gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel?" + +"Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if +we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to +say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father +came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house +any more." + +"No?" + +"Well, you know, father didn't like anything of the sort. He +wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to say +that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But then, +as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to begin +with, and I had not got mine yet." + +"But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see +you?" + +"Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer +wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each +other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he +used to write every day. I took the letters in the morning, so +there was no need for father to know." + +"Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" + +"Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that we +took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Leadenhall +Street--and--" + +"What office?" + +"That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes; I don't know." + +"Where did he live, then?" + +"He slept on the premises." + +"And you don't know his address?" + +"No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." + +"Where did you address your letters, then?" + +"To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called for. +He said that if they were sent to the office he would be chaffed by +all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, so I offered +to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have that, for +he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come from me, but +when they were typewritten he always felt that the machine had come +between us. That will just show you how fond he was of me, Mr. +Holmes, and the little things that he would think of." + +"It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom +of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. +Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" + +"He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me +in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to +be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his +voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he +was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat and a +hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always well +dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as mine +are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." + +"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, +returned to France?" + +"Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again, and proposed that we +should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest, +and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever +happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite +right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. +Mother was all in his favor from the first, and was even fonder of +him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the +week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to mind +about father, but just to tell him afterwards and mother said she +would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like that, Mr. +Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as he was +only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do anything on +the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the company has +its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the very +morning of the wedding." + +"It missed him, then?" + +"Yes, sir, for he had started to England just before it arrived." + +"Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for +the Friday. Was it to be in church?" + +"Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near +King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. +Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were +two of us, he put us both into it, and stepped himself into a four- +wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the street. We +got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler drove up we +waited for him to step out, but he never did, and when the cabman +got down from the box and looked, there was no one there! The +cabman said that he could not imagine what had become of him, for +he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was last Friday, +Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything since then to +throw any light upon what became of him." + +"It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said +Holmes. + +"Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all +the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to +be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to +separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, +and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed +strange talk for a wedding morning, but what has happened since +gives a meaning to it." + +"Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some +unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" + +"Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he would +not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw +happened." + +"But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" + +"None." + +"One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" + +"She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter +again." + +"And your father? Did you tell him?" + +"Yes, and he seemed to think, with me, that something had happened, +and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, what interest +could anyone have in bringing me to the door of the church, and +then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my money, or if he had +married me and got my money settled on him, there might be some +reason; but Hosmer was very independent about money, and never +would look at a shilling of mine. And yet what could have +happened? And why could he not write? Oh! it drives me half mad +to think of, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She pulled a +little handkerchief out of her muff, and began to sob heavily into +it. + +"I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and I +have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the +weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind +dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel +vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." + +"Then you don't think I'll see him again?" + +"I fear not." + +"Then what has happened to him?" + +"You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an +accurate description of him, and any letters of his which you can +spare." + +"I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. +"Here is the slip, and here are four letters from him." + +"Thank you. And your address?" + +"No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." + +"Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your +father's place of business?" + +"He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers of +Fenchurch Street." + +"Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will +leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given +you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it +to affect your life." + +"You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be +true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." + +For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was +something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which compelled +our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the table, +and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever she might +be summoned. + +Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his finger tips +still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, and +his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down from +the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a +counselor, and, having lighted it, he leaned back in his chair, +with thick blue cloud wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of +infinite languor in his face. + +"Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found +her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, is +rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you consult +my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the sort at +The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, there were one +or two details which were new to me. But the maiden herself was +most instructive." + +"You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite +invisible to me," I remarked. + +"Not invisible, but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to +look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring +you to realize the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of +thumb nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot lace. +Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe +it." + +"Well, she had a slate-colored, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a +feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads +sewed upon it and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her +dress was brown, rather darker than coffee color, with a little +purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were grayish, and +were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't +observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a general +air of being fairly well-to-do, in a vulgar, comfortable, easygoing +way." + +Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. + +"'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have +really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed +everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and you +have a quick eye for color. Never trust to general impressions, my +boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My first glance is +always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is perhaps better first to +take the knee of the trouser. As you observe, this woman had plush +upon her sleeve, which is a most useful material for showing +traces. The double line a little above the wrist, where the +typewritist presses against the table, was beautifully defined. +The sewing machine, of the hand type, leaves a similar mark, but +only on the left arm, and on the side of it farthest from the +thumb, instead of being right across the broadest part, as this +was. I then glanced at her face, and observing the dint of a +pince-nez at either side of her nose, I ventured a remark upon +short sight and typewriting, which seemed to surprise her." + +"It surprised me." + +"But, surely, it was very obvious. I was then much surprised and +interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots which +she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were really odd +ones, the one having a slightly decorated toe cap and the other a +plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower buttons out of +five, and the other at the first, third, and fifth. Now, when you +see that a young lady, otherwise neatly dressed, has come away from +home with odd boots, half-buttoned, it is no great deduction to say +that she came away in a hurry." + +"And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by my +friend's incisive reasoning. + +"I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving +home, but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right +glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not, apparently, see +that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had +written in a hurry, and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been +this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. +All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back +to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised +description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" + +I held the little printed slip to the light. "Missing," it said, +"on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman named Hosmer Angel. +About five feet seven inches in height; strongly built, sallow +complexion, black hair, a little bald in the center, bushy black +side-whiskers and mustache; tinted glasses; slight infirmity of +speech. Was dressed, when last seen, in black frock-coat faced +with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain, and gray Harris +tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over elastic-sided boots. Known +to have been employed in an office in Leadenhall Street. Anybody +bringing," etc., etc. + +"That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, +glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no clew +in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There is +one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike you." + +"They are typewritten," I remarked. + +"Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the neat +little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you see, but +no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is rather vague. +The point about the signature is very suggestive--in fact, we may +call it conclusive." + +"Of what?" + +"My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it +bears upon the case?" + +"I cannot say that I do, unless it were that he wished to be able +to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were +instituted." + +"No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters +which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the +other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking him +whether he could meet us here at six o'clock to-morrow evening. It +is just as well that we should do business with the male relatives. +And now, doctor, we can do nothing until the answers to those +letters come, so we may put our little problem upon the shelf for +the interim." + +I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers +of reasoning, and extraordinary energy in action, that I felt that +he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy demeanor +with which he treated the singular mystery which he had been called +upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the case of +the King of Bohemia and the Irene Adler photograph, but when I +looked back to the weird business of the "Sign of the Four," and +the extraordinary circumstances connected with the "Study in +Scarlet," I felt that it would be a strange tangle indeed which he +could not unravel. + +I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the +conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would find +that he held in his hands all the clews which would lead up to the +identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Sutherland. + +A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own attention +at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the bedside of +the sufferer. It was not until close upon six o'clock that I found +myself free, and was able to spring into a hansom and drive to +Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too late to assist at the +denouement of the little mystery. I found Sherlock Holmes alone, +however, half asleep, with his long, thin form curled up in the +recesses of his armchair. A formidable array of bottles and test- +tubes, with the pungent, cleanly smell of hydrochloric acid, told +me that he had spent his day in the chemical work which was so dear +to him. + +"Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. + +"Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." + +"No, no; the mystery!" I cried. + +"Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. +There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said +yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback +is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." + +"Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss +Sutherland?" + +The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet +opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the +passage, and a tap at the door. + +"This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. +"He has written to me to say that he would be here at six. Come +in!" + +The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some thirty +years of age, clean shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a bland, +insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and penetrating +gray eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of us, placed his +shiny top hat upon the sideboard, and, with a slight bow, sidled +down into the nearest chair. + +"Good evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think this +typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an appointment +with me for six o'clock?" + +"Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not quite +my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland has +troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far better +not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite against my +wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, impulsive girl, +as you may have noticed, and she is not easily controlled when she +has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I did not mind you so +much, as you are not connected with the official police, but it is +not pleasant to have a family misfortune like this noised abroad. +Besides, it is a useless expense, for how could you possibly find +this Hosmer Angel?" + +"On the contrary," said Holmes, quietly, "I have every reason to +believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." + +Mr. Windibank gave a violent start, and dropped his gloves. "I am +delighted to hear it," he said. + +"It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has +really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless +they are quite new no two of them write exactly alike. Some +letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one side. +Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that in every +case there is some little slurring over the e, and a slight defect +in the tail of the r. There are fourteen other characteristics, +but those are the more obvious." + +"We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and +no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing +keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. + +"And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, +Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another +little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its +relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some +little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come +from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not +only are the e's slurred and the r's tailless, but you will +observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen +other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." + +Mr. Windibank sprung out of his chair, and picked up his hat. "I +cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," he +said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know when +you have done it." + +"Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the +door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" + +"What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips, +and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. + +"Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes, suavely. "There +is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too +transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it +was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's right! +Sit down, and let us talk it over." + +Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face, and a +glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he +stammered. + +"I am very much afraid that it is not; but between ourselves, +Windibank, it was as cruel, and selfish, and heartless a trick in a +petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the +course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." + +The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his +breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up +on the corner of the mantelpiece, and, leaning back with his hands +in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, +than to us. + +"The man married a woman very much older than himself for her +money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the +daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable +sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have +made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. +The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate +and warmhearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with her +fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would not be +allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would mean, of +course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her stepfather +do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of keeping her at +home, and forbidding her to seek the company of people of her own +age. But soon he found that that would not answer forever. She +became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced her +positive intention of going to a certain ball. What does her +clever stepfather do then? He conceives an idea more creditable to +his head than to his heart. With the connivance and assistance of +his wife, he disguised himself, covered those keen eyes with tinted +glasses, masked the face with a mustache and a pair of bushy +whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an insinuating whisper, and +doubly secure on account of the girl's short sight, he appears as +Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other lovers by making love +himself." + +"It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never +thought that she would have been so carried away." + +"Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very +decidedly carried away, and having quite made up her mind that her +stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for an +instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman's +attentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly expressed +admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began to call, for it was +obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as if would go, if +a real effect were to be produced. There were meetings, and an +engagement, which would finally secure the girl's affections from +turning toward anyone else. But the deception could not be kept up +forever. These pretended journeys to France were rather cumbrous. +The thing to do was clearly to bring the business to an end in such +a dramatic manner that it would leave a permanent impression upon +the young lady's mind, and prevent her from looking upon any other +suitor for some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted +upon a Testament, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of +something happening on the very morning of the wedding. James +Windibank wished Miss Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, +and so uncertain as to his fate, that for ten years to come, at any +rate, she would not listen to another man. As far as the church +door he brought her, and then, as he could go no farther, he +conveniently vanished away by the old trick of stepping in at one +door of a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that that was +the chain of events, Mr. Windibank!" + +Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes +had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer +upon his pale face. + +"It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he; "but if you are +so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is you +who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing +actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door locked +you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal +constraint." + +"The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking and +throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who deserved +punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he +ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" he continued, +flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's face, +"it is not part of my duties to my client, but here's a hunting +crop handy, and I think I shall just treat myself to--" He took +two swift steps to the whip, but before he could grasp it there was +a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy hall door +banged, and from the window we could see Mr. James Windibank +running at the top of his speed down the road. + +"There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing as he +threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will +rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad and ends +on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not entirely +devoid of interest." + +"I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I +remarked. + +"Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Hosmer +Angel must have some strong object for his curious conduct, and it +was equally clear that the only man who really profited by the +incident, as far as we could see, was the stepfather. Then the +fact that the two men were never together, but that the one always +appeared when the other was away, was suggestive. So were the +tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted at a +disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My suspicions were all +confirmed by his peculiar action in typewriting his signature, +which, of course, inferred that his handwriting was so familiar to +her that she would recognize even the smallest sample of it. You +see all these isolated facts, together with many minor ones, all +pointed in the same direction." + +"And how did you verify them?" + +"Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I +knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed +description, I eliminated everything from it which could be the +result of a disguise,--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice,--and I +sent it to the firm with a request that they would inform me +whether it answered to the description of any of their travelers. +I had already noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter, and I +wrote to the man himself at his business address, asking him if he +would come here. As I expected, his reply was typewritten, and +revealed the same trivial but characteristic defects. The same +post brought me a letter from Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch +Street, to say that the description tallied in every respect with +that of their employee, James Windibank. Voila tout!" + +"And Miss Sutherland?" + +"If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old +Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, +and danger also for whoso snatcheth a delusion from a woman.' +There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge +of the world." + + + +A Scandal in Bohemia + +I + + +To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard +him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and +predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any +emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one +particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably +balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and +observing machine that the world has seen; but as a lover, he would +have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the +softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable +things for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from men's +motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such +intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament +was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt +upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a +crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more +disturbing that a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet +there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene +Adler, of dubious and questionable memory. + +I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us +away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the home- +centered interests which rise up around the man who first finds +himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb +all my attention; while Holmes, who loathed every form of society +with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker +Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to +week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug and +the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, as ever, +deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense +faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out +those clews, and clearing up those mysteries, which had been +abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to time I +heard some vague account of his doings; of his summons to Odessa in +the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of the singular +tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, and finally of the +mission which he had accomplished so delicately and successfully +for the reigning family of Holland. Beyond these signs of his +activity, however, which I merely shared with all the readers of +the daily press, I knew little of my former friend and companion. + +One night--it was on the 20th of March, 1888--I was returning from +a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil practice), +when my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the well- +remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with my +wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Study in Scarlet, I was +seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and to know how he +was employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were brilliantly +lighted, and even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass +twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the +room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest, and his +hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and +habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at +work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams, and was +hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell, and was +shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own. + +His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I +think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly +eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, +and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he +stood before the fire, and looked me over in his singular +introspective fashion. + +"Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have +put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." + +"Seven," I answered. + +"Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, +I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not +tell me that you intended to go into harness." + +"Then how do you know?" + +"I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting +yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and +careless servant girl?" + +"My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly +have been burned had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true +that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful +mess; but as I have changed my clothes, I can't imagine how you +deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has +given her notice; but there again I fail to see how you work it +out." + +He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long nervous hands together. + +"It is simplicity itself," said he, "my eyes tell me that on the +inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the +leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have +been caused by some one who has very carelessly scraped round the +edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, +you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, +and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slicking specimen of +the London slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into +my rooms, smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of +silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the side of his +top hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be +dull indeed if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the +medical profession." + +I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his +process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I +remarked, "the thing always appears to me so ridiculously simple +that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive +instance of your reasoning I am baffled, until you explain your +process. And yet, I believe that my eyes are as good as yours." + +"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself +down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. The +distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the +steps which lead up from the hall to this room." + +"Frequently." + +"How often?" + +"Well, some hundreds of times." + +"Then how many are there?" + +"How many? I don't know." + +"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is +just my point. Now, I know there are seventeen steps, because I +have both seen and observed. By the way, since you are interested +in these little problems, and since you are good enough to +chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be +interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick pink-tinted +note paper which had been lying open upon the table. "It came by +the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." + +The note was undated, and without either signature or address. + +"There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o'clock," +it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of +the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the royal +houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be +trusted with matters which are of an importance which can hardly be +exaggerated. This account of you we have from all quarters +received. Be in your chamber, then, at that hour, and do not take +it amiss if your visitor wears a mask." + +"This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that +it means?" + +"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before +one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit +theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself-- +what do you deduce from it?" + +I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was +written. + +"The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, +endeavoring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper could +not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong +and stiff." + +"Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an +English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." + +I did so, and saw a large E with a small g, a P and a large G with +a small t woven into the texture of the paper. + +"What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. + +"The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." + +"Not all. The G with the small t stands for 'Gesellschaft,' which +is the German for 'Company.' It is a customary contraction like +our 'Co.' P, of course, stands for 'Papier.' Now for the Eg. Let +us glance at our 'Continental Gazetteer." He took down a heavy +brown volume from his shelves. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, +Egria. It is in a German-speaking country--in Bohemia, not far +from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being the scene of the death of +Wallenstein, and for its numerous glass factories and paper mills.' +Ha! ha! my boy, what do you make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and +he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette. + +"The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. + +"Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you +note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of +you we have from all quarters received'? A Frenchman or Russian +could not have written that. It is the German who is so +uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover +what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper, and +prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if +I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." + +As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and grating +wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the bell. +Holmes whistled. + +"A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing out +of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of beauties. A +hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in this case, +Watson, if there is nothing else." + +"I think I had better go, Holmes." + +"Not a bit, doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my +Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity +to miss it." + +"But your client--" + +"Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he +comes. Sit down in that armchair, doctor, and give us your best +attention." + +A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in +the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was a +loud and authoritative tap. + +"Come in!" said Holmes. + +A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six +inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His +dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked +upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed +across the sleeves and front of his double-breasted coat, while the +deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined with +flame-colored silk, and secured at the neck with a brooch which +consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended halfway +up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with rich brown +fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence which was +suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a broad-brimmed hat +in his hand, while he wore across the upper part of his face, +extending down past the cheek-bones, a black visard mask, which he +had apparently adjusted that very moment, for his hand was still +raised to it as he entered. From the lower part of the face he +appeared to be a man of strong character, with a thick, hanging +lip, and a long, straight chin, suggestive of resolution pushed to +the length of obstinacy. + +"You had my note?" he asked, with a deep, harsh voice and a +strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He +looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to +address. + +"Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and colleague, +Doctor Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me in my +cases. Whom have I the honor to address?" + +"You may address me as the Count von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. I +understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honor and +discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most extreme +importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate with you +alone." + +I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me back +into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say +before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." + +The count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said +he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the +end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At present +it is not too much to say that it is of such weight that it may +have an influence upon European history." + +"I promise," said Holmes. + +"And I." + +"You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The +august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to you, +and I may confess at once that the title by which I have just +called myself is not exactly my own." + +"I was aware of it," said Holmes, dryly. + +"The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution has +to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense scandal, and +seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Europe. To +speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House of Ormstein, +hereditary kings of Bohemia." + +"I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself down +in his armchair, and closing his eyes. + +Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, +lounging figure of the man who had been, no doubt, depicted to him +as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. +Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his +gigantic client. + +"If your majesty would condescend to state your case," he remarked, +"I should be better able to advise you." + +The man sprung from his chair, and paced up and down the room in +uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he +tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. + +"You are right," he cried, "I am the king. Why should I attempt to +conceal it?" + +"Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your majesty had not spoken +before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich +Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and +hereditary King of Bohemia." + +"But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down +once more and passing his hand over his high, white forehead, "you +can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in +my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not +confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I have +come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting you." + +"Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. + +"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lengthy +visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known +adventuress Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." + +"Kindly look her up in my index, doctor," murmured Holmes, without +opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system for +docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it was +difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not at +once furnish information. In this case I found her biography +sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a staff +commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea fishes. + +"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year +1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala--hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera +of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in +London--quite so! Your majesty, as I understand, became entangled +with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and is +now desirous of getting those letters back." + +"Precisely so. But how--" + +"Was there a secret marriage?" + +"None." + +"No legal papers or certificates?" + +"None." + +"Then I fail to follow your majesty. If this young person should +produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is she +to prove their authenticity?" + +"There is the writing." + +"Pooh-pooh! Forgery." + +"My private note paper." + +"Stolen." + +"My own seal." + +"Imitated." + +"My photograph." + +"Bought." + +"We were both in the photograph." + +"Oh, dear! That is very bad. Your majesty has indeed committed an +indiscretion." + +"I was mad--insane." + +"You have compromised yourself seriously." + +"I was only crown prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." + +"It must be recovered." + +"We have tried and failed." + +"Your majesty must pay. It must be bought." + +"She will not sell." + +"Stolen, then." + +"Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked +her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she traveled. Twice +she has been waylaid. There has been no result." + +"No sign of it?" + +"Absolutely none." + +Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. + +"But a very serious one to me," returned the king, reproachfully. + +"Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the +photograph?" + +"To ruin me." + +"But how?" + +"I am about to be married." + +"So I have heard." + +"To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meiningen, second daughter of the +King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her +family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a +doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." + +"And Irene Adler?" + +"Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I +know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul +of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women and the +mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry +another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not go-- +none." + +"You are sure she has not sent it yet?" + +"I am sure." + +"And why?" + +"Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the +betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." + +"Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes, with a yawn. "That +is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to +look into just at present. Your majesty will, of course, stay in +London for the present?" + +"Certainly. You will find me at the Langham, under the name of the +Count von Kramm." + +"Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." + +"Pray do so; I shall be all anxiety." + +"Then, as to money?" + + "You have carte blanche." + +"Absolutely?" + +"I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to +have that photograph." + +"And for present expenses?" + +The king took a heavy chamois-leather bag from under his cloak, and +laid it on the table. + +"There are three hundred pounds in gold, and seven hundred in +notes," he said. + +Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his notebook, and handed +it to him. + +"And mademoiselle's address?" he asked. + +"Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." + +Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he, +thoughtfully. "Was the photograph a cabinet?" + +"It was." + +"Then, good-night, your majesty, and I trust that we shall soon +have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, as +the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If you +will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon, at three o'clock, +I should like to chat this little matter over with you." + + +II + + +At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had +not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the +house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down +beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, +however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his +inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and +strange features which were associated with the two crimes which I +have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the +exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. +Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my friend +had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a +situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a +pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the +quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most +inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable +success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to +enter into my head. + +It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken- +looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face +and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as I +was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of disguises, I had to +look three times before I was certain that it was indeed he. With +a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he emerged in five +minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Putting his hands +into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire, +and laughed heartily for some minutes. + +"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked, and laughed again +until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair. + +"What is it?" + +"It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I +employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." + +"I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the +habits, and, perhaps, the house, of Miss Irene Adler." + +"Quite so, but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, +however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this +morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a +wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of +them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found +Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but +built out in the front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb +lock to the door. Large sitting room on the right side, well +furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those +preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. +Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window +could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round +it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without +noting anything else of interest. + +"I then lounged down the street, and found, as I expected, that +there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the +garden. I lent the hostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, +and I received in exchange two-pence, a glass of half and half, two +fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire +about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in +the neighborhood, in whom I was not in the least interested, but +whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." + +"And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. + +"Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is +the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the +Serpentine Mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, +drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for +dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. +Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, +handsome, and dashing; never calls less than once a day, and often +twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton of the Inner Temple. See the +advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him home a +dozen times from Serpentine Mews, and knew all about him. When I +had listened to all that they had to tell, I began to walk up and +down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan of +campaign. + +"This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the +matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the +relation between them, and what the object of his repeated visits? +Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the former, +she had probably transferred the photograph to his keeping. If the +latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this question depended +whether I should continue my work at Briony Lodge, or turn my +attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Temple. It was a +delicate point, and it widened the field of my inquiry. I fear +that I bore you with these details, but I have to let you see my +little difficulties, if you are to understand the situation." + +"I am following you closely," I answered. + +"I was still balancing the matter in my mind, when a hansom cab +drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprung out. He was a +remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and mustached--evidently +the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a great hurry, +shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the maid who opened +the door, with the air of a man who was thoroughly at home. + +"He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch glimpses +of him in the windows of the sitting room, pacing up and down, +talking excitedly and waving his arms. Of her I could see nothing. +Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than before. As +he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his pocket +and looked at it earnestly. 'Drive like the devil!' he shouted, +'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the Church +of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if you do it in +twenty minutes!' + +"Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do +well to follow them, when up the lane came a neat little landau, +the coachman with his coat only half buttoned, and his tie under +his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the +buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall door +and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but she +was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. + +"'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried; 'and half a sovereign +if you reach it in twenty minutes.' + +"This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing +whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her +landau, when a cab came through the street. The driver looked +twice at such a shabby fare; but I jumped in before he could +object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign +if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to +twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. + +"My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the +others were there before us. The cab and landau with their +steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid +the man, and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there +save the two whom I had followed, and a surpliced clergyman, who +seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three standing +in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side aisle like +any other idler who has dropped into a church. Suddenly, to my +surprise, the three at the altar faced round to me, and Godfrey +Norton came running as hard as he could toward me. + +"'Thank God!' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' + +"'What then?' I asked. + +"'Come, man, come; only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' + +"I was half dragged up to the altar, and, before I knew where I +was, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my +ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally +assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to +Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and there +was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady on the +other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the most +preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my life, and +it was the thought of it that started me laughing just now. It +seems that there had been some informality about their license; +that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without a +witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the +bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in search of a +best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear it on +my watch chain in memory of the occasion." + +"This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what +then?" + +"Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if +the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate very +prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church door, +however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and she to +her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as usual,' +she said, as she left him. I heard no more. They drove away in +different directions, and I went off to make my own arrangements." + +"Which are?" + +"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the +bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to +be busier still this evening. By the way, doctor, I shall want +your cooperation." + +"I shall be delighted." + +"You don't mind breaking the law?" + +"Not in the least." + +"Nor running a chance of arrest?" + +"Not in a good cause." + +"Oh, the cause is excellent!" + +"Then I am your man." + +"I was sure that I might rely on you." + +"But what is it you wish?" + +"When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to +you. Now," he said, as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that +our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I +have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must +be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns +from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." + +"And what then?" + +"You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to +occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must +not interfere, come what may. You understand?" + +"I am to be neutral?" + +"To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small +unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being +conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the +sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close +to that open window." + +"Yes." + +"You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." + +"Yes." + +"And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what I +give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of +fire. You quite follow me?" + +"Entirely." + +"It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long, cigar- +shaped roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke- +rocket, fitted with a cap at either end, to make it self-lighting. +Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, it +will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then walk to +the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. I +hope that I have made myself clear?" + +"I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, and, +at the signal, to throw in this object, then to raise the cry of +fire and to wait you at the corner of the street." + +"Precisely." + +"Then you may entirely rely on me." + +"That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I +prepared for the new role I have to play." + +He disappeared into his bedroom, and returned in a few minutes in +the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist +clergyman. His broad, black hat, his baggy trousers, his white +tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and +benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have +equaled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His +expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every +fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as +science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in +crime. + +It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still +wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in +Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just +being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, +waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such as +I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes's succinct description, but +the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the +contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighborhood, it was +remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men +smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors grinder with his +wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse girl, and +several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with +cigars in their mouths. + +"You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the +house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph +becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that she would +be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Norton as our client +is to its coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question is-- +where are we to find the photograph?" + +"Where, indeed?" + +"It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is +cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's +dress. She knows that the king is capable of having her waylaid +and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We +may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." + +"Where, then?" + +"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But +I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and +they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it over +to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but she +could not tell what indirect or political influence might be +brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she +had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she can +lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." + +"But it has twice been burglarized." + +"Pshaw! They did not know how to look." + +"But how will you look?" + +"I will not look." + +"What then?" + +"I will get her to show me." + +"But she will refuse." + +"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is +her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." + +As he spoke, the gleam of the sidelights of a carriage came round +the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which +rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up one of the +loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the +hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another loafer +who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce quarrel broke +out which was increased by the two guardsmen, who took sides with +one of the loungers, and by the scissors grinder, who was equally +hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and in an instant the +lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the center of a little +knot of struggling men who struck savagely at each other with their +fists and sticks. Holmes dashed into the crowd to protect the +lady; but, just as he reached her, he gave a cry and dropped to the +ground, with the blood running freely down his face. At his fall +the guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the loungers +in the other, while a number of better-dressed people who had +watched the scuffle without taking part in it crowded in to help +the lady and to attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will +still call her, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top, +with her superb figure outlined against the lights of the ball, +looking back into the street. + +"Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. + +"He is dead," cried several voices. + +"No, no, there's life in him," shouted another. "But he'll be gone +before you can get him to the hospital." + +"He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the +lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a +gang, and a rough one, too. Ah! he's breathing now." + +"He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" + +"Surely. Bring him into the sitting room. There is a comfortable +sofa. This way, please." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into +Briony Lodge, and laid out in the principal room, while I still +observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had +been lighted, but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could +see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I do not know whether he was +seized with compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, +but I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my +life than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was +conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited upon +the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery to +Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to me. +I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my +ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are but +preventing her from injuring another. + +Holmes had sat upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man who +is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the window. +At the same instant I saw him raise his hand, and at the signal I +tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The word was +no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well +dressed and ill--gentlemen, hostlers, and servant maids--joined in +a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds of smoke curled through +the room, and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of +rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes from within +assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping through the +shouting crowd, I made my way to the corner of the street, and in +ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend's arm in mine, and to +get away from the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in +silence for some few minutes, until we had turned down one of the +quiet streets which led toward the Edgeware Road. + +"You did it very nicely, doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could have +been better. It is all right." + +"You have the photograph?" + +"I know where it is." + +"And how did you find out?" + +"She showed me, as I told you that she would." + +"I am still in the dark." + +"I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter +was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the +street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." + +"I guessed as much." + +"Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in +the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand +to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." + +"That also I could fathom." + +"Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else +could she do? And into her sitting room, which was the very room +which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was +determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for +air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your +chance." + +"How did that help you?" + +"It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on +fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values +most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than +once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington +Substitution Scandal it was of use to me, and also in the Arnsworth +Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby--an unmarried +one reaches for her jewel box. Now it was clear to me that our +lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to her than +what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The alarm +of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were enough to +shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The photograph +is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell- +pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it as +she drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, she +replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room, and I +have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my excuses, escaped +from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the +photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and as he was +watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little over- +precipitance may ruin all." + +"And now?" I asked. + +"Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the king to- +morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be +shown into the sitting room to wait for the lady, but it is +probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the +photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his majesty to regain it +with his own hands." + +"And when will you call?" + +"At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall +have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage +may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to +the king without delay." + +We had reached Baker Street, and had stopped at the door. He was +searching his pockets for the key, when some one passing said: + +"Good night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." + +There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the +greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had +hurried by. + +"I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the dimly +lighted street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have +been?" + + +III + + +I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our +toast and coffee in the morning, when the King of Bohemia rushed +into the room. + +"You have really got it?" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by +either shoulder, and looking eagerly into his face. + +"Not yet." + +"But you have hopes?" + +"I have hopes." + +"Then come. I am all impatience to be gone." + +"We must have a cab." + +"No, my brougham is waiting." + +"Then that will simplify matters." We descended, and started off +once more for Briony Lodge. + +"Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. + +"Married! When?" + +"Yesterday." + +"But to whom?" + +"To an English lawyer named Norton." + +"But she could not love him." + +"I am in hopes that she does." + +"And why in hopes?" + +"Because it would spare your majesty all fear of future annoyance. +If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your majesty. If +she does not love your majesty, there is no reason why she should +interfere with your majesty's plan." + +"It is true. And yet-- Well, I wish she had been of my own +station. What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a +moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Serpentine +Avenue. + +The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood upon +the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped from +the brougham. + +"Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. + +"I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a +questioning and rather startled gaze. + +"Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She +left this morning, with her husband, by the 5:15 train from Charing +Cross, for the Continent." + +"What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and +surprise. + +"Do you mean that she has left England?" + +"Never to return." + +"And the papers?" asked the king hoarsely. "All is lost!" + +"We shall see." He pushed past the servant, and rushed into the +drawing-room, followed by the king and myself. The furniture was +scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves, and +open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before +her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small +sliding shutter, and plunging in his hand, pulled out a photograph +and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in evening +dress; the letter was superscribed to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be +left till called for." My friend tore it open, and we all three +read it together. It was dated at midnight of the preceding night, +and ran in this way: + + +"MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You +took me in completely. Until after the alarm of the fire, I had +not a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, +I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had +been told that if the king employed an agent, it would certainly be +you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, you +made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became +suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind old +clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress +myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage +of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch +you, ran upstairs, got into my walking clothes, as I call them, and +came down just as you departed. + +"Well, I followed you to the door, and so made sure that I was +really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes. +Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good night, and started for +the Temple to see my husband. + +"We both thought the best resource was flight when pursued by so +formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when you +call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in +peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The king may +do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly +wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and preserve a weapon +which will always secure me from any steps which he might take in +the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to possess; +and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, very truly yours, + +"IRENE NORTON, nee ADLER." + + +"What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when +we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick +and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? +Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" + +"From what I have seen of the lady, she seems indeed to be on a +very different level to your majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am +sorry that I have not been able to bring your majesty's business to +a more successful conclusion." + +"On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the king, "nothing could be +more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The +photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." + +"I am glad to hear your majesty say so." + +"I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can +reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from +his finger, and held it out upon the palm of his hand. + +"Your majesty has something which I should value even more highly," +said Holmes. + +"You have but to name it." + +"This photograph!" + +The king stared at him in amazement. + +"Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." + +"I thank your majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the +matter. I have the honor to wish you a very good morning." He +bowed, and turning away without observing the hand which the king +had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his +chambers. + +And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom +of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were +beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the cleverness +of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And when he +speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is +always under the honorable title of THE woman. + + + +The Red-Headed League + + +I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the +autumn of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very +stout, florid-faced elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. With +an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw, when Holmes +pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me. + +"You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear +Watson," he said, cordially. + +"I was afraid that you were engaged." + +"So I am. Very much so." + +"Then I can wait in the next room." + +"Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and +helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt +that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." + +The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of +greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small, +fat-encircled eyes. + +"Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair, and +putting his finger tips together, as was his custom when in +judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of +all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine +of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the +enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will +excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little +adventures." + +"Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I +observed. + +"You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we +went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary +Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary combinations +we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any +effort of the imagination." + +"A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." + +"You did, doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view, +for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you, until +your reason breaks down under them and acknowledge me to be right. +Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me +this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of +the most singular which I have listened to for some time. You have +heard me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very +often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes, +and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any +positive crime has been committed. As far as I have heard, it is +impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of +crime or not, but the course of events is certainly among the most +singular that I have ever listened to. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you +would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask +you, not merely because my friend, Dr. Watson, has not heard the +opening part, but also because the peculiar nature of the story +makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. As +a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of +events I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar +cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am +forced to admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, +unique." + +The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some +little pride, and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the +inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the +advertisement column, with his head thrust forward, and the paper +flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man, and +endeavored, after the fashion of my companion, to read the +indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. + +I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor +bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, +obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy gray shepherd's +check trousers, a not over-clean black frock coat, unbuttoned in +the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, +and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A +frayed top hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet +collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look as I would, +there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red +head and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his +features. + +Sherlock Holmes's quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his +head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Beyond +the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labor, that +he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, +and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can +deduce nothing else." + +Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon +the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. + +How, in the name of good fortune, did you know all that, Mr. +Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did +manual labor? It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's +carpenter." + +"Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger +than your left. You have worked with it and the muscles are more +developed." + +"Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" + +"I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, +especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you +use an arc and compass breastpin." + +"Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" + +"What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for +five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow +where you rest it upon the desk." + +"Well, but China?" + +"The fish which you have tattooed immediately above your wrist +could only have been done in China. I have made a small study of +tattoo marks, and have even contributed to the literature of the +subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a delicate +pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I see a +Chinese coin hanging from your watch chain, the matter becomes even +more simple." + +Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I +thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that +there was nothing in it after all." + +"I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake in +explaining. 'Omne ignotom pro magnifico,' you know, and my poor +little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so +candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" + +"Yes, I have got it now," he answered, with his thick, red finger +planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began +it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." + +I took the paper from him and read as follows: + + +"TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late +Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pa., U. S. A., there is now another +vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a salary of +four pounds a week for purely nominal services. All red-headed men +who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one +years are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at eleven o'clock, +to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Pope's Court, Fleet +Street." + + +"What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated, after I had twice +read over the extraordinary announcement. + +Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in +high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" +said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch, and tell us +all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this +advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, +doctor, of the paper and the date." + +"It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months +ago." + +"Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson." + +"Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," +said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead, "I have a small +pawnbroker's business at Saxe-Coburg Square, near the City. It's +not a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more +than just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two +assistants, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay +him but that he is willing to come for half wages, so as to learn +the business." + +"What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. + +"His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth either. +It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter assistant, +Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better himself, and +earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after all, if he is +satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" + +"Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employee who +comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience +among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is +not as remarkable as your advertisement." + +"Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a +fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought +to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar like +a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his main +fault; but, on the whole, he's a good worker. There's no vice in +him." + +"He is still with you, I presume?" + +"Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple +cooking, and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the house, +for I am a widower, and never had any family. We live very +quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads, +and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. + +"The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. +Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight weeks, +with this very paper in his hand, and he says: + +"'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a redheaded man.' + +"'Why that?' I asks. + +"'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the Red- +headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets +it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are +men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to do with +the money. If my hair would only change color here's a nice little +crib all ready for me to step into.' + +"'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a +very stay-at-home man, and, as my business came to me instead of my +having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting my +foot over the door mat. In that way I didn't know much of what was +going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. + +"'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he +asked, with his eyes open. + +"'Never.' + +"'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of +the vacancies.' + +"'And what are they worth?' I asked. + +"'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, +and it need not interfere very much with one's other occupations.' + +"Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, for +the business has not been over good for some years, and an extra +couple of hundred would have been very handy. + +"'Tell me all about it,' said I. + +"'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for +yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address +where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, +the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, +who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, and +he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; so, when he died, +it was found that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of +trustees, with instructions to apply the interest to the providing +of easy berths to men whose hair is of that color. From all I hear +it is splendid pay, and very little to do.' + +"'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who +would apply.' + +"'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is +really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had +started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the old +town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is of no use your +applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but +real, bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. +Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be +worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a +few hundred pounds.' + +"Now it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that +my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to me +that, if there was to be any competition in the matter, I stood as +good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Spaulding +seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might prove +useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the day, +and to come right away with me. He was very willing to have a +holiday, so we shut the business up, and started off for the +address that was given us in the advertisement. + +"I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From +north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in +his hair had tramped into the City to answer the advertisement. +Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court +looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought +there were so many in the whole country as were brought together by +that single advertisement. Every shade of color they were--straw, +lemon, orange, brick, Irish setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding +said, there were not many who had the real vivid flame-colored +tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I would have given it up +in despair; but Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did it I +could not imagine, but he pushed and pulled and butted until he got +me through the crowd, and right up to the steps which led to the +office. There was a double stream upon the stair, some going up in +hope, and some coming back dejected; but we wedged in as well as we +could, and soon found ourselves in the office." + +"Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked +Holmes, as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge +pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." + +"There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and +a deal table, behind which sat a small man, with a head that was +even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he +came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them +which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to be +such a very easy matter after all. However, when our turn came, +the little man was much more favorable to me than to any of the +others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he might have +a private word with us. + +"'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is willing +to fill a vacancy in the League.' + +"'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has +every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so +fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and +gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he +plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my +success. + +"'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, however, +I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' With that +he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled with +the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he, as he released +me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we have to be +careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint. +I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which would disgust you +with human nature.' He stepped over to the window and shouted +through it at the top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. A +groan of disappointment came up from below, and the folk all +trooped away in different directions, until there was not a red +head to be seen except my own and that of the manager. + +"'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of +the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are you +a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' + +"I answered that I had not. + +"His face fell immediately. + +"'Dear me!' he said, gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am +sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the +propagation and spread of the red heads as well as for their +maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a +bachelor.' + +"My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was +not to have the vacancy after all; but, after thinking it over for +a few minutes, he said that it would be all right. + +"'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be fatal, +but we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such a head of +hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new +duties?' + +"'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' +said I. + +"'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. +'I shall be able to look after that for you.' + +"'What would be the hours?' I asked. + +"'Ten to two.' + +"Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. +Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evenings, which is just +before pay day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in +the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, +and that he would see to anything that turned up. + +"'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' + +"'Is four pounds a week.' + +"'And the work?' + +"'Is purely nominal.' + +"'What do you call purely nominal?' + +"'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building, +the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole position +forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You don't comply +with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.' + +"'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' +said I. + +"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross, 'neither sickness, +nor business, nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose +your billet.' + +"'And the work?' + +"'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the +first volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, +pens, and blotting paper, but we provide this table and chair. +Will you be ready to-morrow?' + +"'Certainly,' I answered. + +"'Then, good-by, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you once +more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough +to gain.' He bowed me out of the room, and I went home with my +assistant hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my +own good fortune. + +"Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in +low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole +affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object +might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief +that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay such a +sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the 'Encyclopaedia +Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, +but by bed time I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. +However, in the morning I determined to have a look at it anyhow, +so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill pen and seven +sheets of foolscap paper I started off for Pope's Court. + +"Well, to my surprise and delight everything was as right as +possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross +was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off upon +the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from time +to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he bade +me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had written, +and locked the door of the office after me. + +"This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the +manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my +week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week +after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I +left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only +once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at +all. Still, of course. I never dared to leave the room for an +instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet was +such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk the +loss of it. + +"Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots, +and Archery, and Armor, and Architecture, and Attica, and hoped +with diligence that I might get on to the Bs before very long. It +cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a +shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole business came +to an end." + +"To an end?" + +"Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as +usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a +little square of cardboard hammered onto the middle of the panel +with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." + +He held up a piece of white cardboard, about the size of a sheet of +note paper. It read in this fashion: + + +"THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. + +Oct. 9, 1890." + + +Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the +rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so +completely overtopped every consideration that we both burst out +into a roar of laughter. + +"I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our client, +flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can do +nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." + +"No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from which +he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the +world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you will +excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Pray +what steps did you take when you found the card upon the door?" + +"I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called +at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything +about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant +living on the ground floor, and I asked him if he could tell me +what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had +never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Ross +was. He answered that the name was new to him. + +"'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' + +"'What, the red-headed man?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor, +and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new +premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' + +"'Where could I find him?' + +"'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 +King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' + +"I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was a +manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever +heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." + +"And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. + +"I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my +assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say +that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite +good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place +without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough to +give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right away +to you." + +"And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an +exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. +From what you have told me I think that it is possible that graver +issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." + +"Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four +pound a week." + +"As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do +not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary +league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some +thirty pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you +have gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You +have lost nothing by them." + +"No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and +what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a prank-- +upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost them +two-and-thirty pounds." + +"We shall endeavor to clear up these points for you. And, first, +one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who +first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he +been with you?" + +"About a month then." + +"How did he come?" + +"In answer to an advertisement." + +"Was he the only applicant?" + +"No, I had a dozen." + +"Why did you pick him?" + +"Because he was handy and would come cheap." + +"At half wages, in fact." + +"Yes." + +"What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" + +"Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, +though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon +his forehead." + +Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. I thought +as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are +pierced for earrings?" + +"Yes, sir. He told me that a gypsy had done it for him when he was +a lad." + +"Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still +with you?" + +"Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." + +"And has your business been attended to in your absence?" + +"Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a +morning." + +"That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an opinion +upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is +Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." + +"Well, Watson," said Holmes, when our visitor had left us, "what do +you make of it all?" + +"I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most +mysterious business." + +"As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less +mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless +crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the +most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this +matter." + +"What are you going to do, then?" I asked. + +"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three-pipe problem, and I +beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled +himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his +hawklike nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black +clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I had +come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and indeed was +nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with the +gesture of a man who has made up his mind, and put his pipe down +upon the mantelpiece. + +"Sarasate plays at St. James's Hall this afternoon," he remarked. +"What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you for a +few hours?" + +"I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very +absorbing." + +"Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City first, +and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is a +good deal of German music on the programme, which is rather more to +my taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want +to introspect. Come along!" + +We traveled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short +walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story +which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, little, +shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy, two-storied brick +houses looked out into a small railed-in inclosure, where a lawn of +weedy grass, and a few clumps of faded laurel bushes made a hard +fight against a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt +balls and a brown board with JABEZ WILSON in white letters, upon a +corner house, announced the place where our red-headed client +carried on his business. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it +with his head on one side, and looked it all over, with his eyes +shining brightly between puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up +the street, and then down again to the corner, still looking keenly +at the houses. Finally he returned to the pawnbroker's and, having +thumped vigorously upon the pavement with his stick two or three +times, he went up to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened +by a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to +step in. + +"Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would +go from here to the Strand." + +"Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant, promptly, +closing the door. + +"Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, +in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring I +am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known +something of him before." + +"Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good deal +in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you +inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." + +"Not him." + +"What then?" + +"The knees of his trousers." + +"And what did you see?" + +"What I expected to see." + +"Why did you beat the pavement?" + +"My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We +are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg +Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." + +The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the corner +from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a contrast +to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one of +the main arteries which convey the traffic of the City to the north +and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of +commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, while the +footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians. It +was difficult to realize, as we looked at the line of fine shops +and stately business premises, that they really abutted on the +other side upon the faded and stagnant square which we had just +quitted. + +"Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner, and glancing +along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the +houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of +London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist; the little newspaper +shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the +Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building depot. +That carries us right on to the other block. And now, doctor, +we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A sandwich and +a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is +sweetness, and delicacy, and harmony, and there are no red-headed +clients to vex us with their conundrums." + +My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a +very capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary merit. All +the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect +happiness, gently waving his long thin fingers in time to the +music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes +were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the +relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was +possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature +alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and +astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction +against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally +predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from extreme +languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was never so +truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been lounging in +his armchair amid his improvisations and his black-letter editions. +Then it was that the lust of the chase would suddenly come upon +him, and that his brilliant reasoning power would rise to the level +of intuition, until those who were unacquainted with his methods +would look askance at him as on a man whose knowledge was not that +of other mortals. When I saw him that afternoon so enwrapped in +the music at St. James's Hall, I felt that an evil time might be +coming upon those whom he had set himself to hunt down. + +"You want to go home, no doubt, doctor," he remarked, as we +emerged. + +"Yes, it would be as well." + +"And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This +business at Saxe-Coburg Square is serious." + +"Why serious?" + +"A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to +believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being +Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help to- +night." + +"At what time?" + +"Ten will be early enough." + +I shall be at Baker Street at ten." + +"Very well. And, I say, doctor! there may be some little danger, +so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his +hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the +crowd. + +I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbors, but I was +always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings +with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had +seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that +he saw clearly not only what had happened, but what was about to +happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and +grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought +over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed copier +of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Square, and +the ominous words with which he had parted from me. What was this +nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? Where were we +going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Holmes that +this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a formidable man--a +man who might play a deep game. I tried to puzzle it out, but gave +it up in despair, and set the matter aside until night should bring +an explanation. + +It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my way +across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street. Two +hansoms were standing at the door, and, as I entered the passage, I +heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his room, I +found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I +recognized as Peter Jones, the official police agent; while the +other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat and +oppressively respectable frock coat. + +"Ha! our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his pea- +jacket, and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Watson, +I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me introduce you +to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in to-night's +adventure." + +"We're hunting in couples again, doctor, you see," said Jones, in +his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for +starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him do the +running down." + +"I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," +observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. + +"You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said +the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which +are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical +and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It is +not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the +Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly +correct than the official force." + +"Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right!" said the stranger, +with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is +the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not +had my rubber." + +"I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will play +for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that +the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the +stake will be some thirty thousand pounds; and for you, Jones, it +will be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." + +"John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a young +man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession, and +I would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in +London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His +grandfather was a Royal Duke, and he himself has been to Eton and +Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and though we meet +signs of him at every turn, we never know where to find the man +himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising +money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. I've been on his +track for years, and have never set eyes on him yet." + +"I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. +I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I +agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is +past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two will +take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the second." + +Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive, +and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the +afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gaslit +streets until we emerged into Farringdon Street. + +"We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow +Merryweather is a bank director and personally interested in the +matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is +not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. +He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog, and as +tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we +are, and they are waiting for us." + +We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had found +ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and following +the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a narrow passage, +and through a side door which he opened for us. Within there was a +small corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate. This also +was opened, and led down a flight of winding stone steps, which +terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Merryweather stopped to +light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling +passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or +cellar, which was piled all round with crates and massive boxes. + +"You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked, as he +held up the lantern and gazed about him. + +"Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon +the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite +hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. + +"I must really ask you to be a little more quiet," said Holmes +severely. "You have already imperiled the whole success of our +expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit +down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" + +The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a +very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his +knees upon the floor, and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, +began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few +seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again, +and put his glass in his pocket. + +"We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can +hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. +Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their work +the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at +present, doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of the +City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Merryweather +is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to you that there +are reasons why the more daring criminals of London should take a +considerable interest in this cellar at present." + +"It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had +several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." + +"Your French gold?" + +"Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources, +and borrowed, for that purpose, thirty thousand napoleons from the +Bank of France. It has become known that we have never had +occasion to unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our +cellar. The crate upon which I sit contains two thousand napoleons +packed between layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much +larger at present than is usually kept in a single branch office, +and the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." + +"Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is +time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an +hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime, Mr. +Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." + +"And sit in the dark?" + +"I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I +thought that, as we were a partie carree, you might have your +rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have +gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, +first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, +and, though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us +some harm, unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, +and do you conceal yourself behind those. Then, when I flash a +light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no +compunction about shooting them down." + +I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case +behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of +his lantern, and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute +darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot +metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready +to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked up +to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and +subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold, dank air of the +vault. + +"They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back +through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have +done what I asked you, Jones?" + +"I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." + +"Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and +wait." + +What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards, it was but +an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must +have almost gone, and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs were +weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position, yet my nerves +were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hearing was +so acute that I could not only hear the gentle breathing of my +companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, heavier inbreath of +the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note of the bank director. +From my position I could look over the case in the direction of the +floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light. + +At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then it +lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, without any +warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand appeared, a +white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the center of the +little area of light. For a minute or more the hand, with its +writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then it was +withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark again save +the single lurid spark, which marked a chink between the stones. + +Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, +tearing sound, one of the broad white stones turned over upon its +side, and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the +light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, boyish +face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on either +side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and waist-high, +until one knee rested upon the edge. In another instant he stood +at the side of the hole, and was hauling after him a companion, +lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and a shock of very +red hair. + +"It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the bags? +Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" + +Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the +collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of +rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed +upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes's hunting crop came down +on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor. + +"It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly, "you have no chance +at all." + +"So I see," the other answered, with the utmost coolness. "I fancy +that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat- +tails." + +"There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. + +"Oh, indeed. You seem to have done the thing very completely. I +must compliment you." + +"And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new +and effective." + +"You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker +at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the +derbies." + +"I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," remarked +our prisoner, as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "You may +not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the +goodness also, when you address me, always to say 'sir' and +'please.'" + +"All right," said Jones, with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would +you please, sir, march upstairs where we can get a cab to carry +your highness to the police station?" + +"That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow +to the three of us, and walked quietly off in the custody of the +detective. + +"Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather, as we followed them +from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay +you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in the +most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank +robbery that have ever come within my experience." + +"I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. +John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over +this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond +that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in many +ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the +Red-headed League." + + +"You see, Watson," he explained, in the early hours of the morning, +as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it was +perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of +this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League, +and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get this not +over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every +day. It was a curious way of managing it, but really it would be +difficult to suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested +to Clay's ingenious mind by the color of his accomplice's hair. +The four pounds a week was a lure which must draw him, and what was +it to them, who were playing for thousands? They put in the +advertisement, one rogue has the temporary office, the other rogue +incites the man to apply for it, and together they manage to secure +his absence every morning in the week. From the time that I heard +of the assistant having come for half wages, it was obvious to me +that he had some strong motive for securing the situation." + +"But how could you guess what the motive was?" + +"Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a mere +vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The +man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his house +which could account for such elaborate preparations, and such an +expenditure as they were at. It must then be something out of the +house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's fondness +for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The +cellar! There was the end of this tangled clew. Then I made +inquiries as to this mysterious assistant, and found that I had to +deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in London. +He was doing something in the cellar--something which took many +hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once more? I +could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to some +other building. + +"So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I +surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was +ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. +It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the +assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had +never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his +face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have +remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of +those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they +were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw that the City +and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I +had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I +called upon Scotland Yard, and upon the chairman of the bank +directors, with the result that you have seen." + +"And how could you tell that they would make their attempt to- +night?" I asked. + +"Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that +they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence; in other +words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential +that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the +bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than any +other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. For +all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." + +"You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed, in unfeigned +admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings +true." + +"It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already +feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to +escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems +help me to do so." + +"And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. He shrugged his +shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of some little use," +he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre c'est tout,' as +Gustave Flaubert wrote to Georges Sands." + + + +Egerton Castle + +The Baron's Quarry + + +"Oh, no, I assure you, you are not boring Mr. Marshfield," said +this personage himself in his gentle voice--that curious voice that +could flow on for hours, promulgating profound and startling +theories on every department of human knowledge or conducting +paradoxical arguments without a single inflection or pause of +hesitation. "I am, on the contrary, much interested in your +hunting talk. To paraphrase a well-worn quotation somewhat widely, +nihil humanum a me alienum est. Even hunting stories may have +their point of biological interest; the philologist sometimes +pricks his ear to the jargon of the chase; moreover, I am not +incapable of appreciating the subject matter itself. This seems to +excite some derision. I admit I am not much of a sportsman to look +at, nor, indeed, by instinct, yet I have had some out-of-the-way +experiences in that line--generally when intent on other pursuits. +I doubt, for instance, if even you, Major Travers, notwithstanding +your well-known exploits against man and beast, notwithstanding +that doubtful smile of yours, could match the strangeness of a +certain hunting adventure in which I played an important part." + +The speaker's small, deep-set, black eyes, that never warmed to +anything more human than a purely speculative scientific interest +in his surroundings, here wandered round the skeptical yet +expectant circle with bland amusement. He stretched out his +bloodless fingers for another of his host's superfine cigars and +proceeded, with only such interruptions as were occasioned by the +lighting and careful smoking of the latter. + +"I was returning home after my prolonged stay in Petersburg, +intending to linger on my way and test with mine own ears certain +among the many dialects of Eastern Europe--anent which there is a +symmetrical little cluster of philological knotty points it is my +modest intention one day to unravel. However, that is neither here +nor there. On the road to Hungary I bethought myself opportunely +of proving the once pressingly offered hospitality of the Baron +Kossowski. + +"You may have met the man, Major Travers; he was a tremendous +sportsman, if you like. I first came across him at McNeil's place +in remote Ireland. Now, being in Bukowina, within measurable +distance of his Carpathian abode, and curious to see a Polish lord +at home, I remembered his invitation. It was already of long +standing, but it had been warm, born in fact of a sudden fit of +enthusiasm for me"--here a half-mocking smile quivered an instant +under the speaker's black mustache--"which, as it was +characteristic, I may as well tell you about. + +"It was on the day of, or, rather, to be accurate, on the day after +my arrival, toward the small hours of the morning, in the smoking +room at Rathdrum. Our host was peacefully snoring over his empty +pipe and his seventh glass of whisky, also empty. The rest of the +men had slunk off to bed. The baron, who all unknown to himself +had been a subject of most interesting observation to me the whole +evening, being now practically alone with me, condescended to turn +an eye, as wide awake as a fox's, albeit slightly bloodshot, upon +the contemptible white-faced person who had preferred spending the +raw hours over his papers, within the radius of a glorious fire's +warmth, to creeping slyly over treacherous quagmires in the pursuit +of timid bog creatures (snipe shooting had been the order of the +day)--the baron, I say, became aware of my existence and entered +into conversation with me. + +"He would no doubt have been much surprised could he have known +that he was already mapped out, craniologically and +physiognomically, catalogued with care and neatly laid by in his +proper ethnological box, in my private type museum; that, as I sat +and examined him from my different coigns of vantage in library, in +dining and smoking room that evening, not a look of his, not a +gesture went forth but had significance for me. + +"You, I had thought, with your broad shoulders and deep chest; your +massive head that should have gone with a tall stature, not with +those short sturdy limbs; with your thick red hair, that should +have been black for that matter, as should your wide-set yellow +eyes--you would be a real puzzle to one who did not recognize in +you equal mixtures of the fair, stalwart and muscular Slav with the +bilious-sanguine, thick-set, wiry Turanian. Your pedigree would no +doubt bear me out: there is as much of the Magyar as of the Pole in +your anatomy. Athlete, and yet a tangle of nerves; a ferocious +brute at bottom, I dare say, for your broad forehead inclines to +flatness; under your bristling beard your jaw must protrude, and +the base of your skull is ominously thick. And, with all that, +capable of ideal transports: when that girl played and sang to- +night I saw the swelling of your eyelid veins, and how that small, +tenacious, claw-like hand of yours twitched! You would be a fine +leader of men--but God help the wretches in your power! + +"So had I mused upon him. Yet I confess that when we came in +closer contact with each other, even I was not proof against the +singular courtesy of his manner and his unaccountable personal +charm. + +"Our conversation soon grew interesting; to me as a matter of +course, and evidently to him also. A few general words led to +interchange of remarks upon the country we were both visitors in +and so to national characteristics--Pole and Irishman have not a +few in common, both in their nature and history. An observation +which he made, not without a certain flash in his light eyes and a +transient uncovering of the teeth, on the Irish type of female +beauty suddenly suggested to me a stanza of an ancient Polish +ballad, very full of milk-and-blood imagery, of alternating +ferocity and voluptuousness. This I quoted to the astounded +foreigner in the vernacular, and this it was that metamorphosed his +mere perfection of civility into sudden warmth, and, in fact, +procured me the invitation in question. + +"When I left Rathdrum the baron's last words to me were that if I +ever thought of visiting his country otherwise than in books, he +held me bound to make Yany, his Galician seat, my headquarters of +study. + +"From Czernowicz, therefore, where I stopped some time, I wrote, +received in due time a few lines of prettily worded reply, and +ultimately entered my sled in the nearest town to, yet at a most +forbidding distance from, Yany, and started on my journey thither. + +"The undertaking meant many long hours of undulation and skidding +over the November snow, to the somniferous bell jangle of my dirty +little horses, the only impression of interest being a weird gypsy +concert I came in for at a miserable drinking-booth half buried in +the snow where we halted for the refreshment of man and beast. +Here, I remember, I discovered a very definite connection between +the characteristic run of the tsimbol, the peculiar bite of the +Zigeuner's bow on his fiddle-string, and some distinctive points of +Turanian tongues. In other countries, in Spain, for instance, your +gypsy speaks differently on his instrument. But, oddly enough, +when I later attempted to put this observation on paper I could +find no word to express it." + +A few of our company evinced signs of sleepiness, but most of us +who knew Marshfield, and that he could, unless he had something +novel to say, be as silent and retiring as he now evinced signs of +being copious, awaited further developments with patience. He has +his own deliberate way of speaking, which he evidently enjoys +greatly, though it be occasionally trying to his listeners. + +"On the afternoon of my second day's drive, the snow, which till +then had fallen fine and continuous, ceased, and my Jehu, suddenly +interrupting himself in the midst of some exciting wolf story quite +in keeping with the time of year and the wild surroundings, pointed +to a distant spot against the gray sky to the northwest, between +two wood-covered folds of ground--the first eastern spurs of the +great Carpathian chain. + +"'There stands Yany,' said he. I looked at my far-off goal with +interest. As we drew nearer, the sinking sun, just dipping behind +the hills, tinged the now distinct frontage with a cold copper-like +gleam, but it was only for a minute; the next the building became +nothing more to the eye than a black irregular silhouette against +the crimson sky. + +"Before we entered the long, steep avenue of poplars, the early +winter darkness was upon us, rendered all the more depressing by +gray mists which gave a ghostly aspect to such objects as the sheen +of the snow rendered visible. Once or twice there were feeble +flashes of light looming in iridescent halos as we passed little +clusters of hovels, but for which I should have been induced to +fancy that the great Hof stood alone in the wilderness, such was +the deathly stillness around. But even as the tall, square +building rose before us above the vapor, yellow lighted in various +stories, and mighty in height and breadth, there broke upon my ear +a deep-mouthed, menacing bay, which gave at once almost alarming +reality to the eerie surroundings. 'His lordship's boar and wolf +hounds,' quoth my charioteer calmly, unmindful of the regular +pandemonium of howls and barks which ensued as he skillfully turned +his horses through the gateway and flogged the tired beasts into a +sort of shambling canter that we might land with glory before the +house door: a weakness common, I believe, to drivers of all +nations. + +"I alighted in the court of honor, and while awaiting an answer to +my tug at the bell, stood, broken with fatigue, depressed, chilled +and aching, questioning the wisdom of my proceedings and the amount +of comfort, physical and moral, that was likely to await me in a +tete-a-tete visit with a well-mannered savage in his own home. + +"The unkempt tribe of stable retainers who began to gather round me +and my rough vehicle in the gloom, with their evil-smelling +sheepskins and their resigned, battered visages, were not +calculated to reassure me. Yet when the door opened, there stood a +smart chasseur and a solemn major-domo who might but just have +stepped out of Mayfair; and there was displayed a spreading vista +of warm, deep-colored halls, with here a statue and there a stuffed +bear, and under foot pile carpets strewn with rarest skins. + +"Marveling, yet comforted withal, I followed the solemn butler, who +received me with the deference due to an expected guest and +expressed the master's regret for his enforced absence till dinner +time. I traversed vast rooms, each more sumptuous than the last, +feeling the strangeness of the contrast between the outer +desolation and this sybaritic excess of luxury growing ever more +strongly upon me; caught a glimpse of a picture gallery, where +peculiar yet admirably executed latter-day French pictures hung +side by side with ferocious boar hunts of Snyder and such kin; and, +at length, was ushered into a most cheerful room, modern to excess +in its comfortable promise, where, in addition to the tall stove +necessary for warmth, there burned on an open hearth a vastly +pleasant fire of resinous logs, and where, on a low table, awaited +me a dainty service of fragrant Russian tea. + +"My impression of utter novelty seemed somehow enhanced by this +unexpected refinement in the heart of the solitudes and in such a +rugged shell, and yet, when I came to reflect, it was only +characteristic of my cosmopolitan host. But another surprise was +in store for me. + +"When I had recovered bodily warmth and mental equilibrium in my +downy armchair, before the roaring logs, and during the delicious +absorption of my second glass of tea, I turned my attention to the +French valet, evidently the baron's own man, who was deftly +unpacking my portmanteau, and who, unless my practiced eye deceived +me, asked for nothing better than to entertain me with agreeable +conversation the while. + +"'Your master is out, then?' quoth I, knowing that the most trivial +remark would suffice to start him. + +"True, Monseigneur was out; he was desolated in despair (this with +the national amiable and imaginative instinct); 'but it was +doubtless important business. M. le Baron had the visit of his +factor during the midday meal; had left the table hurriedly, and +had not been seen since. Madame la Baronne had been a little +suffering, but she would receive monsieur!' + +"'Madame!' exclaimed I, astounded, 'is your master then married?-- +since when?'--visions of a fair Tartar, fit mate for my baron, +immediately springing somewhat alluringly before my mental vision. +But the answer dispelled the picturesque fancy. + +"'Oh, yes,' said the man, with a somewhat peculiar expression. +Yes, Monseigneur is married. Did Monsieur not know? And yet it +was from England that Monseigneur brought back his wife.' + +"'An Englishwoman!' + +"My first thought was one of pity; an Englishwoman alone in this +wilderness--two days' drive from even a railway station--and at the +mercy of Kossowski! But the next minute I reversed my judgment. +Probably she adored her rufous lord, took his veneer of courtesy--a +veneer of the most exquisite polish, I grant you, but perilously +thin--for the very perfection of chivalry. Or perchance it was his +inner savageness itself that charmed her; the most refined women +often amaze one by the fascination which the preponderance of the +brute in the opposite sex seems to have for them. + +"I was anxious to hear more. + +"'Is it not dull for the lady here at this time of the year?' + +"The valet raised his shoulders with a gesture of despair that was +almost passionate. + +"Dull! Ah, monsieur could not conceive to himself the dullness of +it. That poor Madame la Baronne! not even a little child to keep +her company on the long, long days when there was nothing but snow +in the heaven and on the earth and the howling of the wind and the +dogs to cheer her. At the beginning, indeed, it had been +different; when the master first brought home his bride the house +was gay enough. It was all redecorated and refurnished to receive +her (monsieur should have seen it before, a mere rendezvous-de- +chasse--for the matter of that so were all the country houses in +these parts). Ah, that was the good time! There were visits month +after month; parties, sleighing, dancing, trips to St. Petersburg +and Vienna. But this year it seemed they were to have nothing but +boars and wolves. How madame could stand it--well, it was not for +him to speak--and heaving a deep sigh he delicately inserted my +white tie round my collar, and with a flourish twisted it into an +irreproachable bow beneath my chin. I did not think it right to +cross-examine the willing talker any further, especially as, +despite his last asseveration, there were evidently volumes he +still wished to pour forth; but I confess that, as I made my way +slowly out of my room along the noiseless length of passage, I was +conscious of an unwonted, not to say vulgar, curiosity concerning +the woman who had captivated such a man as the Baron Kossowski. + +"In a fit of speculative abstraction I must have taken the wrong +turning, for I presently found myself in a long, narrow passage. I +did not remember. I was retracing my steps when there came the +sound of rapid footfalls upon stone flags; a little door flew open +in the wall close to me, and a small, thick-set man, huddled in the +rough sheepskin of the Galician peasant, with a mangy fur cap on +his head, nearly ran headlong into my arms. I was about +condescendingly to interpellate him in my best Polish, when I +caught the gleam of an angry yellow eye and noted the bristle of a +red beard--Kossowski! + +"Amazed, I fell back a step in silence. With a growl like an +uncouth animal disturbed, he drew his filthy cap over his brow with +a savage gesture and pursued his way down the corridor at a sort of +wild-boar trot. + +"This first meeting between host and guest was so odd, so +incongruous, that it afforded me plenty of food for a fresh line of +conjecture as I traced my way back to the picture gallery, and from +thence successfully to the drawing-room, which, as the door was +ajar, I could not this time mistake. + +"It was large and lofty and dimly lit by shaded lamps; through the +rosy gloom I could at first only just make out a slender figure by +the hearth; but as I advanced, this was resolved into a singularly +graceful woman in clinging, fur-trimmed velvet gown, who, with one +hand resting on the high mantelpiece, the other banging listlessly +by her side, stood gazing down at the crumbling wood fire as if in +a dream. + +"My friends are kind enough to say that I have a catlike tread; I +know not how that may be; at any rate the carpet I was walking upon +was thick enough to smother a heavier footfall: not until I was +quite close to her did my hostess become aware of my presence. +Then she started violently and looked over her shoulder at me with +dilating eyes. Evidently a nervous creature, I saw the pulse in +her throat, strained by her attitude, flutter like a terrified +bird. + +"The next instant she had stretched out her hand with sweet English +words of welcome, and the face, which I had been comparing in my +mind to that of Guido's Cenci, became transformed by the arch and +exquisite smile of a Greuse. For more than two years I had had no +intercourse with any of my nationality. I could conceive the sound +of his native tongue under such circumstances moving a man in a +curious unexpected fashion. + +"I babbled some commonplace reply, after which there was silence +while we stood opposite each other, she looking at me expectantly. +At length, with a sigh checked by a smile and an overtone of +sadness in a voice that yet tried to be sprightly: + +"'Am I then so changed, Mr. Marshfield?' she asked. And all at +once I knew her: the girl whose nightingale throat had redeemed the +desolation of the evenings at Rathdrum, whose sunny beauty had +seemed (even to my celebrated cold-blooded aestheticism) worthy to +haunt a man's dreams. Yes, there was the subtle curve of the +waist, the warm line of throat, the dainty foot, the slender tip- +tilted fingers--witty fingers, as I had classified them--which I +now shook like a true Briton, instead of availing myself of the +privilege the country gave me, and kissing her slender wrist. + +"But she was changed; and I told her so with unconventional +frankness, studying her closely as I spoke. + +"'I am afraid,' I said gravely, 'that this place does not agree +with you.' + +"She shrank from my scrutiny with a nervous movement and flushed to +the roots of her red-brown hair. Then she answered coldly that I +was wrong, that she was in excellent health, but that she could not +expect any more than other people to preserve perennial youth (I +rapidly calculated she might be two-and-twenty), though, indeed, +with a little forced laugh, it was scarcely flattering to hear one +had altered out of all recognition. Then, without allowing me time +to reply, she plunged into a general topic of conversation which, +as I should have been obtuse indeed not to take the hint, I did my +best to keep up. + +"But while she talked of Vienna and Warsaw, of her distant +neighbors, and last year's visitors, it was evident that her mind +was elsewhere; her eye wandered, she lost the thread of her +discourse, answered me at random, and smiled her piteous smile +incongruously. + +"However lonely she might be in her solitary splendor, the company +of a countryman was evidently no such welcome diversion. + +"After a little while she seemed to feel herself that she was +lacking in cordiality, and, bringing her absent gaze to bear upon +me with a puzzled strained look: 'I fear you will find it very +dull,' she said, 'my husband is so wrapped up this winter in his +country life and his sport. You are the first visitor we have had. +There is nothing but guns and horses here, and you do not care for +these things.' + +"The door creaked behind us; and the baron entered, in faultless +evening dress. Before she turned toward him I was sharp enough to +catch again the upleaping of a quick dread in her eyes, not even so +much dread perhaps, I thought afterwards, as horror--the horror we +notice in some animals at the nearing of a beast of prey. It was +gone in a second, and she was smiling. But it was a revelation. + +"Perhaps he beat her in Russian fashion, and she, as an +Englishwoman, was narrow-minded enough to resent this; or perhaps, +merely, I had the misfortune to arrive during a matrimonial +misunderstanding. + +"The baron would not give me leisure to reflect; he was so very +effusive in his greeting--not a hint of our previous meeting-- +unlike my hostess, all in all to me; eager to listen, to reply; +almost affectionate, full of references to old times and genial +allusions. No doubt when he chose he could be the most charming of +men; there were moments when, looking at him in his quiet smile and +restrained gesture, the almost exaggerated politeness of his manner +to his wife, whose fingers he had kissed with pretty, old-fashioned +gallantry upon his entrance, I asked myself, Could that encounter +in the passage have been a dream? Could that savage in the +sheepskin be my courteous entertainer? + +"'Just as I came in, did I hear my wife say there was nothing for +you to do in this place?' he said presently to me. Then, turning +to her: + + "'You do not seem to know Mr. Marshfield. Wherever he can open +his eyes there is for him something to see which might not interest +other men. He will find things in my library which I have no +notion of. He will discover objects for scientific observation in +all the members of my household, not only in the good-looking +maids--though he could, I have no doubt, tell their points as I +could those of a horse. We have maidens here of several distinct +races, Marshfield. We have also witches, and Jew leeches, and holy +daft people. In any case, Yany, with all its dependencies, +material, male and female, are at your disposal, for what you can +make out of them. + +"'It is good,' he went on gayly, 'that you should happen to have +this happy disposition, for I fear that, no later than to-morrow, I +may have to absent myself from home. I have heard that there are +news of wolves--they threaten to be a greater pest than usual this +winter, but I am going to drive them on quite a new plan, and it +will go hard with me if I don't come even with them. Well for you, +by the way, Marshfield, that you did not pass within their scent +today.' Then, musingly: 'I should not give much for the life of a +traveler who happened to wander in these parts just now.' Here he +interrupted himself hastily and went over to his wife, who had sunk +back on her chair, livid, seemingly on the point of swooning. + +"His gaze was devouring; so might a man look at the woman he +adored, in his anxiety. + +"'What! faint, Violet, alarmed!' His voice was subdued, yet there +was an unmistakable thrill of emotion in it. + +"'Pshaw!' thought I to myself, 'the man is a model husband.' + +"She clinched her hands, and by sheer force of will seemed to pull +herself together. These nervous women have often an unexpected +fund of strength. + +"'Come, that is well,' said the baron with a flickering smile; 'Mr. +Marshfield will think you but badly acclimatized to Poland if a +little wolf scare can upset you. My dear wife is so soft-hearted,' +he went on to me, 'that she is capable of making herself quite ill +over the sad fate that might have, but has not, overcome you. Or, +perhaps,' he added, in a still gentler voice, 'her fear is that I +may expose myself to danger for the public weal.' + +"She turned her head away, but I saw her set her teeth as if to +choke a sob. The baron chuckled in his throat and seemed to +luxuriate in the pleasant thought. + +"At this moment folding doors were thrown open, and supper was +announced. I offered my arm, she rose and took it in silence. +This silence she maintained during the first part of the meal, +despite her husband's brilliant conversation and almost uproarious +spirits. But by and by a bright color mounted to her cheeks and +luster to her eyes. I suppose you will think me horribly +unpoetical if I add that she drank several glasses of champagne one +after the other, a fact which perhaps may account for the change. + +"At any rate she spoke and laughed and looked lovely, and I did not +wonder that the baron could hardly keep his eyes off her. But +whether it was her wifely anxiety or not--it was evident her mind +was not at ease through it all, and I fancied that her brightness +was feverish, her merriment slightly hysterical. + +"After supper--an exquisite one it was--we adjourned together, in +foreign fashion, to the drawing-room; the baron threw himself into +a chair and, somewhat with the air of a pasha, demanded music. He +was flushed; the veins of his forehead were swollen and stood out +like cords; the wine drunk at table was potent: even through my +phlegmatic frame it ran hotly. + +"She hesitated a moment or two, then docilely sat down to the +piano. That she could sing I have already made clear: how she +could sing, with what pathos, passion, as well as perfect art, I +had never realized before. + +"When the song was ended she remained for a while, with eyes lost +in distance, very still, save for her quick breathing. It was +clear she was moved by the music; indeed she must have thrown her +whole soul into it. + +"At first we, the audience, paid her the rare compliment of +silence. Then the baron broke forth into loud applause. 'Brava, +brava! that was really said con amore. A delicious love song, +delicious--but French! You must sing one of our Slav melodies for +Marshfield before you allow us to go and smoke.' + +"She started from her reverie with a flush, and after a pause +struck slowly a few simple chords, then began one of those +strangely sweet, yet intensely pathetic Russian airs, which give +one a curious revelation of the profound, endless melancholy +lurking in the national mind. + +"'What do you think of it?' asked the baron of me when it ceased. + +"'What I have always thought of such music--it is that of a +hopeless people; poetical, crushed, and resigned.' + +"He gave a loud laugh. 'Hear the analyst, the psychologue--why, +man, it is a love song! Is it possible that we, uncivilized, are +truer realists than our hypercultured Western neighbors? Have we +gone to the root of the matter, in our simple way?' + +"The baroness got up abruptly. She looked white and spent; there +were bister circles round her eyes. + +"'I am tired,' she said, with dry lips. 'You will excuse me, Mr. +Marshfield, I must really go to bed.' + +"'Go to bed, go to bed,' cried her husband gayly. Then, quoting in +Russian from the song she had just sung: 'Sleep, my little soft +white dove: my little innocent tender lamb!' She hurried from the +room. The baron laughed again, and, taking me familiarly by the +arm, led me to his own set of apartments for the promised smoke. +He ensconced me in an armchair, placed cigars of every description +and a Turkish pipe ready to my hand, and a little table on which +stood cut-glass flasks and beakers in tempting array. + +"After I had selected my cigar with some precautions, I glanced at +him over a careless remark, and was startled to see a sudden +alteration in his whole look and attitude. + +"'You will forgive me, Marshfield,' he said, as he caught my eye, +speaking with spasmodic politeness. 'It is more than probable that +I shall have to set out upon this chase I spoke of to-night, and I +must now go and change my clothes, that I may be ready to start at +any moment. This is the hour when it is most likely these hell +beasts are to be got at. You have all you want, I hope,' +interrupting an outbreak of ferocity by an effort after his former +courtesy. + +"It was curious to watch the man of the world struggling with the +primitive man. + +"'But, baron,' said I, 'I do not at all see the fun of sticking at +home like this. You know my passion for witnessing everything new, +strange, and outlandish. You will surely not refuse me such an +opportunity for observation as a midnight wolf raid. I will do my +best not to be in the way if you will take me with you.' + +"At first it seemed as if he had some difficulty in realizing the +drift of my words, he was so engrossed by some inner thought. But +as I repeated them, he gave vent to a loud cachinnation. + +"'By heaven! I like your spirit,' he exclaimed, clapping me +strongly on the shoulder. 'Of course you shall come. You shall,' +he repeated, 'and I promise you a sight, a hunt such as you never +heard or dreamed of--you will be able to tell them in England the +sort of thing we can do here in that line--such wolves are rare +quarry,' he added, looking slyly at me, 'and I have a new plan for +getting at them.' + +"There was a long pause, and then there rose in the stillness the +unearthly howling of the baron's hounds, a cheerful sound which +only their owner's somewhat loud converse of the evening had kept +from becoming excessively obtrusive. + +"'Hark at them--the beauties!' cried he, showing his short, strong +teeth, pointed like a dog's in a wide grin of anticipative delight. +'They have been kept on pretty short commons, poor things! They +are hungry. By the way, Marshfield, you can sit tight to a horse, +I trust? If you were to roll off, you know, these splendid +fellows--they would chop you up in a second. They would chop you +up,' he repeated unctuously, 'snap, crunch, gobble, and there would +be an end of you!' + +"'If I could not ride a decent horse without being thrown,' I +retorted, a little stung by his manner, 'after my recent three +months' torture with the Guard Cossacks, I should indeed be a +hopeless subject. Do not think of frightening me from the exploit, +but say frankly if my company would be displeasing.' + +"'Tut!' he said, waving his hand impatiently, 'it is your affair. +I have warned you. Go and get ready if you want to come. Time +presses.' + +"I was determined to be of the fray; my blood was up. I have +hinted that the baron's Tokay had stirred it. + +"I went to my room and hurriedly donned clothes more suitable for +rough night work. My last care was to slip into my pockets a brace +of double-barreled pistols which formed part of my traveling kit. +When I returned I found the baron already booted and spurred; this +without metaphor. He was stretched full length on the divan, and +did not speak as I came in, or even look at me. Chewing an unlit +cigar, with eyes fixed on the ceiling, he was evidently following +some absorbing train of ideas. + +"The silence was profound; time went by; it grew oppressive; at +length, wearied out, I fell, over my chibouque, into a doze filled +with puzzling visions, out of which I was awakened with a start. +My companion had sprung up, very lightly, to his feet. In his +throat was an odd, half-suppressed cry, grewsome to hear. He stood +on tiptoe, with eyes fixed, as though looking through the wall, and +I distinctly saw his ears point in the intensity of his listening. + +"After a moment, with hasty, noiseless energy, and without the +slightest ceremony, he blew the lamps out, drew back the heavy +curtains and threw the tall window wide open. A rush of icy air, +and the bright rays of the moon--gibbous, I remember, in her third +quarter--filled the room. Outside the mist had condensed, and the +view was unrestricted over the white plains at the foot of the +hill. + +"The baron stood motionless in the open window, callous to the cold +in which, after a minute, I could hardly keep my teeth from +chattering, his head bent forward, still listening. I listened +too, with 'all my ears,' but could not catch a sound; indeed the +silence over the great expanse of snow might have been called +awful; even the dogs were mute. + +"Presently, far, far away, came a faint tinkle of bells; so faint, +at first, that I thought it was but fancy, then distincter. It was +even more eerie than the silence, I thought, though I knew it could +come but from some passing sleigh. All at once that ceased, and +again my duller senses could perceive nothing, though I saw by my +host's craning neck that he was more on the alert than ever. But +at last I too heard once more, this time not bells, but as it were +the tread of horses muffled by the snow, intermittent and dull, yet +drawing nearer. And then in the inner silence of the great house +it seemed to me I caught the noise of closing doors; but here the +hounds, as if suddenly becoming alive to some disturbance, raised +the same fearsome concert of yells and barks with which they had +greeted my arrival, and listening became useless. + +"I had risen to my feet. My host, turning from the window, seized +my shoulder with a fierce grip, and bade me 'hold my noise'; for a +second or two I stood motionless under his iron talons, then he +released me with an exultant whisper: "Now for our chase!" and made +for the door with a spring. Hastily gulping down a mouthful of +arrack from one of the bottles on the table, I followed him, and, +guided by the sound of his footsteps before me, groped my way +through passages as black as Erebus. + +"After a time, which seemed a long one, a small door was flung open +in front, and I saw Kossowski glide into the moonlit courtyard and +cross the square. When I too came out he was disappearing into the +gaping darkness of the open stable door, and there I overtook him. + +"A man who seemed to have been sleeping in a corner jumped up at +our entrance, and led out a horse ready saddled. In obedience to a +gruff order from his master, as the latter mounted, he then brought +forward another which he had evidently thought to ride himself and +held the stirrup for me. + +"We came delicately forth, and the Cossack hurriedly barred the +great door behind us. I caught a glimpse of his worn, scarred face +by the moonlight, as he peeped after us for a second before +shutting himself in; it was stricken with terror. + +"The baron trotted briskly toward the kennels, from whence there +was now issuing a truly infernal clangor, and, as my steed followed +suit of his own accord, I could see how he proceeded dexterously to +unbolt the gates without dismounting, while the beasts within +dashed themselves against them and tore the ground in their fury of +impatience. + +"He smiled, as he swung back the barriers at last, and his +'beauties' came forth. Seven or eight monstrous brutes, hounds of +a kind unknown to me: fulvous and sleek of coat, tall on their +legs, square-headed, long-tailed, deep-chested; with terrible jaws +slobbering in eagerness. They leaped around and up at us, much to +our horses' distaste. Kossowski, still smiling, lashed at them +unsparingly with his hunting whip, and they responded, not with +yells of pain, but with snarls of fury. + +"Managing his restless steed and his cruel whip with consummate +ease, my host drove the unruly crew before him out of the +precincts, then halted and bent down from his saddle to examine +some slight prints in the snow which led, not the way I had come, +but toward what seemed another avenue. In a second or two the +hounds were gathered round this spot, their great snake-like tails +quivering, nose to earth, yelping with excitement. I had some ado +to manage my horse, and my eyesight was far from being as keen as +the baron's, but I had then no doubt he had come already upon wolf +tracks, and I shuddered mentally, thinking of the sleigh bells. + +"Suddenly Kossowski raised himself from his strained position; +under his low fur cap his face, with its fixed smile, looked +scarcely human in the white light: and then we broke into a hand +canter just as the hounds dashed, in a compact body, along the +trail. + +"But we had not gone more than a few hundred yards before they +began to falter, then straggled, stopped and ran back and about +with dismal cries. It was clear to me they had lost the scent. My +companion reined in his horse, and mine, luckily a well-trained +brute, halted of himself. + +"We had reached a bend in a broad avenue of firs and larches, and +just where we stood, and where the hounds ever returned and met +nose to nose in frantic conclave, the snow was trampled and soiled, +and a little farther on planed in a great sweep, as if by a turning +sleigh. Beyond was a double-furrowed track of skaits and regular +hoof prints leading far away. + +"Before I had time to reflect upon the bearing of this unexpected +interruption, Kossowski, as if suddenly possessed by a devil, fell +upon the hounds with his whip, flogging them upon the new track, +uttering the while the most savage cries I have ever heard issue +from human throat. The disappointed beasts were nothing loath to +seize upon another trail; after a second of hesitation they had +understood, and were off upon it at a tearing pace, we after them +at the best speed of our horses. + +"Some unformed idea that we were going to escort, or rescue, +benighted travelers flickered dimly in my mind as I galloped +through the night air; but when I managed to approach my companion +and called out to him for explanation, he only turned half round +and grinned at me. + +"Before us lay now the white plain, scintillating under the high +moon's rays. That light is deceptive; I could be sure of nothing +upon the wide expanse but of the dark, leaping figures of the +hounds already spread out in a straggling line, some right ahead, +others just in front of us. In a short time also the icy wind, +cutting my face mercilessly as we increased our pace, well nigh +blinded me with tears of cold. + +"I can hardly realize how long this pursuit after an unseen prey +lasted; I can only remember that I was getting rather faint with +fatigue, and ignominiously held on to my pommel, when all of a +sudden the black outline of a sleigh merged into sight in front of +us. + +"I rubbed my smarting eyes with my benumbed hand; we were gaining +upon it second by second; two of those hell hounds of the baron's +were already within a few leaps of it. + +"Soon I was able to make out two figures, one standing up and +urging the horses on with whip and voice, the other clinging to the +back seat and looking toward us in an attitude of terror. A great +fear crept into my half-frozen brain--were we not bringing deadly +danger instead of help to these travelers? Great God! did the +baron mean to use them as a bait for his new method of wolf +hunting? + +"I would have turned upon Kossowski with a cry of expostulation or +warning, but he, urging on his hounds as he galloped on their +flank, howling and gesticulating like a veritable Hun, passed me by +like a flash--and all at once I knew." + +Marshfield paused for a moment and sent his pale smile round upon +his listeners, who now showed no signs of sleepiness; he knocked +the ash from his cigar, twisted the latter round in his mouth, and +added dryly: + +"And I confess it seemed to me a little strong even for a baron in +the Carpathians. The travelers were our quarry. But the reason +why the Lord of Yany had turned man-hunter I was yet to learn. +Just then I had to direct my energies to frustrating his plans. I +used my spurs mercilessly. While I drew up even with him I saw the +two figures in the sleigh change places; he who had hitherto driven +now faced back, while his companion took the reins; there was the +pale blue sheen of a revolver barrel under the moonlight, followed +by a yellow flash, and the nearest hound rolled over in the snow. + +"With an oath the baron twisted round in his saddle to call up and +urge on the remainder. My horse had taken fright at the report and +dashed irresistibly forward, bringing me at once almost level with +the fugitives, and the next instant the revolver was turned +menacingly toward me. There was no time to explain; my pistol was +already drawn, and as another of the brutes bounded up, almost +under my horse's feet, I loosed it upon him. I must have let off +both barrels at once, for the weapon flew out of my hand, but the +hound's back was broken. I presume the traveler understood; at any +rate, he did not fire at me. + +"In moments of intense excitement like these, strangely enough, the +mind is extraordinarily open to impressions. I shall never forget +that man's countenance in the sledge, as he stood upright and +defied us in his mortal danger; it was young, very handsome, the +features not distorted, but set into a sort of desperate, stony +calm, and I knew it, beyond all doubt, for that of an Englishman. +And then I saw his companion--it was the baron's wife. And I +understood why the bells had been removed. + +"It takes a long time to say this; it only required an instant to +see it. The loud explosion of my pistol had hardly ceased to ring +before the baron, with a fearful imprecation, was upon me. First +he lashed at me with his whip as we tore along side by side, and +then I saw him wind the reins round his off arm and bend over, and +I felt his angry fingers close tightly on my right foot. The next +instant I should have been lifted out of my saddle, but there came +another shot from the sledge. The baron's horse plunged and +stumbled, and the baron, hanging on to my foot with a fierce grip, +was wrenched from his seat. His horse, however, was up again +immediately, and I was released, and then I caught a confused +glimpse of the frightened and wounded animal galloping wildly away +to the right, leaving a black track of blood behind him in the +snow, his master, entangled in the reins, running with incredible +swiftness by his side and endeavoring to vault back into the +saddle. + +"And now came to pass a terrible thing which, in his savage plans, +my host had doubtless never anticipated. + +"One of the hounds that had during this short check recovered lost +ground, coming across this hot trail of blood, turned away from his +course, and with a joyous yell darted after the running man. In +another instant the remainder of the pack was upon the new scent. + +"As soon as I could stop my horse, I tried to turn him in the +direction the new chase had taken, but just then, through the night +air, over the receding sound of the horse's scamper and the sobbing +of the pack in full cry, there came a long scream, and after that a +sickening silence. And I knew that somewhere yonder, under the +beautiful moonlight, the Baron Kossowski was being devoured by his +starving dogs. + +"I looked round, with the sweat on my face, vaguely, for some human +being to share the horror of the moment, and I saw, gliding away, +far away in the white distance, the black silhouette of the +sledge." + +"Well?" said we, in divers tones of impatience, curiosity, or +horror, according to our divers temperaments, as the speaker +uncrossed his legs and gazed at us in mild triumph, with all the +air of having said his say, and satisfactorily proved his point. + +"Well," repeated he, "what more do you want to know? It will +interest you but slightly, I am sure, to hear how I found my way +back to the Hof; or how I told as much as I deemed prudent of the +evening's grewsome work to the baron's servants, who, by the way, +to my amazement, displayed the profoundest and most unmistakable +sorrow at the tidings, and sallied forth (at their head the Cossack +who had seen us depart) to seek for his remains. Excuse the +unpleasantness of the remark: I fear the dogs must have left very +little of him, he had dieted them so carefully. However, since it +was to have been a case of 'chop, crunch, and gobble,' as the baron +had it, I preferred that that particular fate should have overtaken +him rather than me--or, for that matter, either of those two +country people of ours in the sledge. + +"Nor am I going to inflict upon you," continued Marshfield, after +draining his glass, "a full account of my impressions when I found +myself once more in that immense, deserted, and stricken house, so +luxuriously prepared for the mistress who had fled from it; how I +philosophized over all this, according to my wont; the conjectures +I made as to the first acts of the drama; the untold sufferings my +countrywoman must have endured from the moment her husband first +grew jealous till she determined on this desperate step; as to how +and when she had met her lover, how they communicated, and how the +baron had discovered the intended flitting in time to concoct his +characteristic revenge. + +"One thing you may be sure of, I had no mind to remain at Yany an +hour longer than necessary. I even contrived to get well clear of +the neighborhood before the lady's absence was discovered. Luckily +for me--or I might have been taxed with connivance, though indeed +the simple household did not seem to know what suspicion was, and +accepted my account with childlike credence--very typical, and very +convenient to me at the same time." + +"But how do you know," said one of us, "that the man was her lover? +He might have been her brother or some other relative." + +"That," said Marshfield, with his little flat laugh, "I happen to +have ascertained--and, curiously enough, only a few weeks ago. It +was at the play, between the acts, from my comfortable seat (the +first row in the pit). I was looking leisurely round the house +when I caught sight of a woman, in a box close by, whose head was +turned from me, and who presented the somewhat unusual spectacle of +a young neck and shoulders of the most exquisite contour--and +perfectly gray hair; and not dull gray, but rather of a pleasing +tint like frosted silver. This aroused my curiosity. I brought my +glasses to a focus on her and waited patiently till she turned +round. Then I recognized the Baroness Kassowski, and I no longer +wondered at the young hair being white. + +"Yet she looked placid and happy; strangely so, it seemed to me, +under the sudden reviving in my memory of such scenes as I have now +described. But presently I understood further: beside her, in +close attendance, was the man of the sledge, a handsome fellow with +much of a military air about him. + +"During the course of the evening, as I watched, I saw a friend of +mine come into the box, and at the end I slipped out into the +passage to catch him as he came out. + +"'Who is the woman with the white hair?' I asked. Then, in the +fragmentary style approved of by ultra-fashionable young men--this +earnest-languid mode of speech presents curious similarities in all +languages--he told me: 'Most charming couple in London--awfully +pretty, wasn't she?--he had been in the Guards--attache at Vienna +once--they adored each other. White hair, devilish queer, wasn't +it? Suited her, somehow. And then she had been married to a +Russian, or something, somewhere in the wilds, and their names +were--' But do you know," said Marshfield, interrupting himself, +"I think I had better let you find that out for yourselves, if you +care." + + + +Stanley J. Weyman + +The Fowl in the Pot + +An Episode Adapted from the Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke +of Sully + + +What I am going to relate may seem to some merely to be curious and +on a party with the diverting story of M. Boisrose, which I have +set down in an earlier part of my memoirs. But among the calumnies +of those who have never ceased to attack me since the death of the +late king, the statement that I kept from his majesty things which +should have reached his ears has always had a prominent place, +though a thousand times refuted by my friends, and those who from +an intimate acquaintance with events could judge how faithfully I +labored to deserve the confidence with which my master honored me. +Therefore, I take it in hand to show by an example, trifling in +itself, the full knowledge of affairs which the king had, and to +prove that in many matters, which were never permitted to become +known to the idlers of the court, he took a personal share, worthy +as much of Haroun as of Alexander. + +It was my custom, before I entered upon those negotiations with the +Prince of Conde which terminated in the recovery of the estate of +Villebon, where I now principally reside, to spend a part of the +autumn and winter at Rosny. On these occasions I was in the habit +of leaving Paris with a considerable train of Swiss, pages, valets, +and grooms, together with the maids of honor and waiting women of +the duchess. We halted to take dinner at Poissy, and generally +contrived to reach Rosny toward nightfall, so as to sup by the +light of flambeaux in a manner enjoyable enough, though devoid of +that state which I have ever maintained, and enjoined upon my +children, as at once the privilege and burden of rank. + +At the time of which I am speaking I had for my favorite charger +the sorrel horse which the Duke of Mercoeur presented to me with a +view to my good offices at the time of the king's entry into Paris; +and which I honestly transferred to his majesty in accordance with +a principle laid down in another place. The king insisted on +returning it to me, and for several years I rode it on these annual +visits to Rosny. What was more remarkable was that on each of +these occasions it cast a shoe about the middle of the afternoon, +and always when we were within a short league of the village of +Aubergenville. Though I never had with me less than half a score +of led horses, I had such an affection for the sorrel that I +preferred to wait until it was shod, rather than accommodate myself +to a nag of less easy paces; and would allow my household to +precede me, staying behind myself with at most a guard or two, my +valet, and a page. + +The forge at Aubergenville was kept by a smith of some skill, a +cheerful fellow, whom I always remembered to reward, considering my +own position rather than his services, with a gold livre. His joy +at receiving what was to him the income of a year was great, and +never failed to reimburse me; in addition to which I took some +pleasure in unbending, and learning from this simple peasant and +loyal man, what the taxpayers were saying of me and my reforms--a +duty I always felt I owed to the king my master. + +As a man of breeding it would ill become me to set down the homely +truths I thus learned. The conversations of the vulgar are little +suited to a nobleman's memoirs; but in this I distinguish between +the Duke of Sully and the king's minister, and it is in the latter +capacity that I relate what passed on these diverting occasions. +"Ho, Simon," I would say, encouraging the poor man as he came +bowing and trembling before me, "how goes it, my friend?" + +"Badly," he would answer, "very badly until your lordship came this +way." + +"And how is that, little man?" + +"Oh, it is the roads," he always replied, shaking his bald head as +he began to set about his business. "The roads since your lordship +became surveyor-general are so good that not one horse in a hundred +casts a shoe; and then there are so few highwaymen now that not one +robber's plates do I replace in a twelvemonth. There is where it +is." + +At this I was highly delighted. + +"Still, since I began to pass this way times have not been so bad +with you, Simon," I would answer. + +Thereto he had one invariable reply. + +"No; thanks to Ste. Genevieve and your lordship, whom we call in +this village the poor man's friend, I have a fowl in the pot." + +This phrase so pleased me that I repeated it to the king. It +tickled his fancy also, and for some years it was a very common +remark of that good and great ruler, that he hoped to live to see +every peasant with a fowl in his pot. + +"But why," I remember I once asked this honest fellow--it was on +the last occasion of the sorrel falling lame there--"do you thank +Ste. Genevieve?" + +"She is my patron saint," he answered. + +"Then you are a Parisian?" + +"Your lordship is always right." + +"But does her saintship do you any good?" I asked curiously. + +"Certainly, by your lordship's leave. My wife prays to her and she +loosens the nails in the sorrel's shoes." + +"In fact she pays off an old grudge," I answered, "for there was a +time when Paris liked me little; but hark ye, master smith, I am +not sure that this is not an act of treason to conspire with Madame +Genevieve against the comfort of the king's minister. What think +you, you rascal; can you pass the justice elm without a shiver?" + +This threw the simple fellow into a great fear, which the sight of +the livre of gold speedily converted into joy as stupendous. +Leaving him still staring at his fortune I rode away; but when we +had gone some little distance, the aspect of his face, when I +charged him with treason, or my own unassisted discrimination +suggested a clew to the phenomenon. + +"La Trape," I said to my valet--the same who was with me at Cahors-- +"what is the name of the innkeeper at Poissy, at whose house we +are accustomed to dine?" + +"Andrew, may it please your lordship." + +"Andrew! I thought so!" I exclaimed, smiting my thigh. "Simon and +Andrew his brother! Answer, knave, and, if you have permitted me +to be robbed these many times, tremble for your ears. Is he not +brother to the smith at Aubergenville who has just shod my horse?" + +La Trape professed to be ignorant on this point, but a groom who +had stayed behind with me, having sought my permission to speak, +said it was so, adding that Master Andrew had risen in the world +through large dealings in hay, which he was wont to take daily into +Paris and sell, and that he did not now acknowledge or see anything +of his brother the smith, though it was believed that he retained a +sneaking liking for him. + +On receiving this confirmation of my suspicions, my vanity as well +as my sense of justice led me to act with the promptitude which I +have exhibited in greater emergencies. I rated La Trape for his +carelessness of my interests in permitting this deception to be +practiced on me; and the main body of my attendants being now in +sight, I ordered him to take two Swiss and arrest both brothers +without delay. It wanted yet three hours of sunset, and I judged +that, by hard riding, they might reach Rosny with their prisoners +before bedtime. + +I spent some time while still on the road in considering what +punishment I should inflict on the culprits; and finally laid aside +the purpose I had at first conceived of putting them to death--an +infliction they had richly deserved--in favor of a plan which I +thought might offer me some amusement. For the execution of this I +depended upon Maignan, my equerry, who was a man of lively +imagination, being the same who had of his own motion arranged and +carried out the triumphal procession, in which I was borne to Rosny +after the battle of Ivry. Before I sat down to supper I gave him +his directions; and as I had expected, news was brought to me while +I was at table that the prisoners had arrived. + +Thereupon I informed the duchess and the company generally, for, as +was usual, a number of my country neighbors had come to compliment +me on my return, that there was some sport of a rare kind on foot; +and we adjourned, Maignan, followed by four pages bearing lights, +leading the way to that end of the terrace which abuts on the +linden avenue. Here, a score of grooms holding torches aloft had +been arranged in a circle so that the impromptu theater thus +formed, which Maignan had ordered with much taste, was as light as +in the day. On a sloping bank at one end seats had been placed for +those who had supped at my table, while the rest of the company +found such places of vantage as they could; their number, indeed, +amounting, with my household, to two hundred persons. In the +center of the open space a small forge fire had been kindled, the +red glow of which added much to the strangeness of the scene; and +on the anvil beside it were ranged a number of horses' and donkeys' +shoes, with a full complement of the tools used by smiths. All +being ready I gave the word to bring in the prisoners, and escorted +by La Trape and six of my guards, they were marched into the arena. +In their pale and terrified faces, and the shaking limbs which +could scarce support them to their appointed stations, I read both +the consciousness of guilt and the apprehension of immediate death; +it was plain that they expected nothing less. I was very willing +to play with their fears, and for some time looked at them in +silence, while all wondered with lively curiosity what would ensue. +I then addressed them gravely, telling the innkeeper that I knew +well he had loosened each year a shoe of my horse, in order that +his brother might profit by the job of replacing it; and went on to +reprove the smith for the ingratitude which had led him to return +my bounty by the conception of so knavish a trick. + +Upon this they confessed their guilt, and flinging themselves upon +their knees with many tears and prayers begged for mercy. This, +after a decent interval, I permitted myself to grant. "Your lives, +which are forfeited, shall be spared," I pronounced. "But punished +you must be. I therefore ordain that Simon, the smith, at once +fit, nail, and properly secure a pair of iron shoes to Andrew's +heels, and that then Andrew, who by that time will have picked up +something of the smith's art, do the same to Simon. So will you +both learn to avoid such shoeing tricks for the future." + +It may well be imagined that a judgment so whimsical, and so justly +adapted to the offense, charmed all save the culprits; and in a +hundred ways the pleasure of those present was evinced, to such a +degree, indeed, that Maignan had some difficulty in restoring +silence and gravity to the assemblage. This done, however, Master +Andrew was taken in hand and his wooden shoes removed. The tools +of his trade were placed before the smith, who cast glances so +piteous, first at his brother's feet and then at the shoes on the +anvil, as again gave rise to a prodigious amount of merriment, my +pages in particular well-nigh forgetting my presence, and rolling +about in a manner unpardonable at another time. However, I rebuked +them sharply, and was about to order the sentence to be carried +into effect, when the remembrance of the many pleasant simplicities +which the smith had uttered to me, acting upon a natural +disposition to mercy, which the most calumnious of my enemies have +never questioned, induced me to give the prisoners a chance of +escape. "Listen," I said, "Simon and Andrew. Your sentence has +been pronounced, and will certainly be executed unless you can +avail yourself of the condition I now offer. You shall have three +minutes; if in that time either of you can make a good joke, he +shall go free. If not, let a man attend to the bellows, La Trape!" + +This added a fresh satisfaction to my neighbors, who were well +assured now that I had not promised them a novel entertainment +without good grounds; for the grimaces of the two knaves thus +bidden to jest if they would save their skins, were so diverting +they would have made a nun laugh. They looked at me with their +eyes as wide as plates, and for the whole of the time of grace +never a word could they utter save howls for mercy. "Simon," I +said gravely, when the time was up, "have you a joke? No. Andrew, +my friend, have you a joke? No. Then--" + +I was going on to order the sentence to be carried out, when the +innkeeper flung himself again upon his knees, and cried out loudly-- +as much to my astonishment as to the regret of the bystanders, who +were bent on seeing so strange a shoeing feat--"One word, my lord; +I can give you no joke, but I can do a service, an eminent service +to the king. I can disclose a conspiracy!" + +I was somewhat taken aback by this sudden and public announcement. +But I had been too long in the king's employment not to have +remarked how strangely things are brought to light. On hearing the +man's words therefore--which were followed by a stricken silence--I +looked sharply at the faces of such of those present as it was +possible to suspect, but failed to observe any sign of confusion or +dismay, or anything more particular than so abrupt a statement was +calculated to produce. Doubting much whether the man was not +playing with me, I addressed him sternly, warning him to beware, +lest in his anxiety to save his heels by falsely accusing others, +he should lose his head. For that if his conspiracy should prove +to be an invention of his own, I should certainly consider it my +duty to hang him forthwith. + +He heard me out, but nevertheless persisted in his story, adding +desperately, "It is a plot, my lord, to assassinate you and the +king on the same day." + +This statement struck me a blow; for I had good reason to know that +at that time the king had alienated many by his infatuation for +Madame de Verneuil; while I had always to reckon firstly with all +who hated him, and secondly with all whom my pursuit of his +interests injured, either in reality or appearance. I therefore +immediately directed that the prisoners should be led in close +custody to the chamber adjoining my private closet, and taking the +precaution to call my guards about me, since I knew not what +attempt despair might not breed, I withdrew myself, making such +apologies to the company as the nature of the case permitted. + +I ordered Simon the smith to be first brought to me, and in the +presence of Maignan only, I severely examined him as to his +knowledge of any conspiracy. He denied, however, that he had ever +heard of the matters referred to by his brother, and persisted so +firmly in the denial that I was inclined to believe him. In the +end he was taken out and Andrew was brought in. The innkeeper's +demeanor was such as I have often observed in intriguers brought +suddenly to book. He averred the existence of the conspiracy, and +that its objects were those which he had stated. He also offered +to give up his associates, but conditioned that he should do this +in his own way; undertaking to conduct me and one other person--but +no more, lest the alarm should be given--to a place in Paris on the +following night, where we could hear the plotters state their plans +and designs. In this way only, he urged, could proof positive be +obtained. + +I was much startled by this proposal, and inclined to think it a +trap; but further consideration dispelled my fears. The innkeeper +had held no parley with anyone save his guards and myself since his +arrest, and could neither have warned his accomplices, nor +acquainted them with any design the execution of which should +depend on his confession to me. I therefore accepted his terms-- +with a private reservation that I should have help at hand--and +before daybreak next morning left Rosny, which I had only seen by +torchlight, with my prisoner and a select body of Swiss. We +entered Paris in the afternoon in three parties, with as little +parade as possible, and went straight to the Arsenal, whence, as +soon as evening fell, I hurried with only two armed attendants to +the Louvre. + +A return so sudden and unexpected was as great a surprise to the +court as to the king, and I was not slow to mark with an inward +smile the discomposure which appeared very clearly, on the faces of +several, as the crowd in the chamber fell back for me to approach +my master. I was careful, however, to remember that this might +arise from other causes than guilt. The king received me with his +wonted affection; and divining at once that I must have something +important to communicate, withdrew with me to the farther end of +the chamber, where we were out of earshot of the court. I there +related the story to his majesty, keeping back nothing. + +He shook his head, saying merely: "The fish to escape the frying +pan, grand master, will jump into the fire. And human nature, save +in the case of you and me, who can trust one another, is very +fishy." + +I was touched by this gracious compliment, but not convinced. "You +have not seen the man, sire," I said, "and I have had that +advantage." + +"And believe him?" + +"In part," I answered with caution. "So far at least as to be +assured that he thinks to save his skin, which he will only do if +he be telling the truth. May I beg you, sire," I added hastily, +seeing the direction of his glance, "not to look so fixedly at the +Duke of Epernon? He grows uneasy." + +"Conscience makes--you know the rest." + +"Nay, sire, with submission," I replied, "I will answer for him; if +he be not driven by fear to do something reckless." + +"Good! I take your warranty, Duke of Sully," the king said, with +the easy grace which came so natural to him. "But now in this +matter what would you have me do?" + +"Double your guards, sire, for to-night--that is all. I will +answer for the Bastile and the Arsenal; and holding these we hold +Paris." + +But thereupon I found that the king had come to a decision, which I +felt it to be my duty to combat with all my influence. He had +conceived the idea of being the one to accompany me to the +rendezvous. "I am tired of the dice," he complained, "and sick of +tennis, at which I know everybody's strength. Madame de Verneuil +is at Fontainebleau, the queen is unwell. Ah, Sully, I would the +old days were back when we had Nerac for our Paris, and knew the +saddle better than the armchair!" + +"A king must think of his people," I reminded him. + +"The fowl in the pot? To be sure. So I will--to-morrow," he +replied. And in the end he would be obeyed. I took my leave of +him as if for the night, and retired, leaving him at play with the +Duke of Epernon. But an hour later, toward eight o'clock, his +majesty, who had made an excuse to withdraw to his closet, met me +outside the eastern gate of the Louvre. + +He was masked, and attended only by Coquet, his master of the +household. I too wore a mask and was esquired by Maignan, under +whose orders were four Swiss--whom I had chosen because they were +unable to speak French--guarding the prisoner Andrew. I bade +Maignan follow the innkeeper's directions, and we proceeded in two +parties through the streets on the left bank of the river, past the +Chatelet and Bastile, until we reached an obscure street near the +water, so narrow that the decrepit wooden houses shut out well-nigh +all view of the sky. Here the prisoner halted and called upon me +to fulfill the terms of my agreement. I bade Maignan therefore to +keep with the Swiss at a distance of fifty paces, but to come up +should I whistle or otherwise give the alarm; and myself with the +king and Andrew proceeded onward in the deep shadow of the houses. +I kept my hand on my pistol, which I had previously shown to the +prisoner, intimating that on the first sign of treachery I should +blow out his brains. However, despite precaution, I felt +uncomfortable to the last degree. I blamed myself severely for +allowing the king to expose himself and the country to this +unnecessary danger; while the meanness of the locality, the fetid +air, the darkness of the night, which was wet and tempestuous, and +the uncertainty of the event lowered my spirits, and made every +splash in the kennel and stumble on the reeking, slippery +pavements--matters over which the king grew merry--seem no light +troubles to me. + +Arriving at a house, which, if we might judge in the darkness, +seemed to be of rather greater pretensions than its fellows, our +guide stopped, and whispered to us to mount some steps to a raised +wooden gallery, which intervened between the lane and the doorway. +On this, besides the door, a couple of unglazed windows looked out. +The shutter of one was ajar, and showed us a large, bare room, +lighted by a couple of rushlights. Directing us to place ourselves +close to this shutter, the innkeeper knocked at the door in a +peculiar fashion, and almost immediately entered, going at once +into the lighted room. Peering cautiously through the window we +were surprised to find that the only person within, save the +newcomer, was a young woman, who, crouching over a smoldering fire, +was crooning a lullaby while she attended to a large black pot. + +"Good evening, mistress!" said the innkeeper, advancing to the fire +with a fair show of nonchalance. + +"Good evening, Master Andrew," the girl replied, looking up and +nodding, but showing no sign of surprise at his appearance. +"Martin is away, but he may return at any moment." + +"Is he still of the same mind?" + +"Quite." + +"And what of Sully? Is he to die then?" he asked. + +"They have decided he must," the girl answered gloomily. It may be +believed that I listened with all my ears, while the king by a +nudge in my side seemed to rally me on the destiny so coolly +arranged for me. "Martin says it is no good killing the other +unless he goes too--they have been so long together. But it vexes +me sadly, Master Andrew," she added with a sudden break in her +voice. "Sadly it vexes me. I could not sleep last night for +thinking of it, and the risk Martin runs. And I shall sleep less +when it is done." + +"Pooh-pooh!" said that rascally innkeeper. "Think less about it. +Things will grow worse and worse if they are let live. The King +has done harm enough already. And he grows old besides." + +"That is true!" said the girl. "And no doubt the sooner he is put +out of the way the better. He is changed sadly. I do not say a +word for him. Let him die. It is killing Sully that troubles me-- +that and the risk Martin runs." + +At this I took the liberty of gently touching the king. He +answered by an amused grimace; then by a motion of his hand he +enjoined silence. We stooped still farther forward so as better to +command the room. The girl was rocking herself to and fro in +evident distress of mind. "If we killed the King," she continued, +"Martin declares we should be no better off, as long as Sully +lives. Both or neither, he says. But I do not know. I cannot +bear to think of it. It was a sad day when we brought Epernon +here, Master Andrew; and one I fear we shall rue as long as we +live." + +It was now the king's turn to be moved. He grasped my wrist so +forcibly that I restrained a cry with difficulty. "Epernon!" he +whispered harshly in my ear. "They are Epernon's tools! Where is +your guaranty now, Rosny?" + +I confess that I trembled. I knew well that the king, particular +in small courtesies, never forgot to call his servants by their +correct titles, save in two cases; when he indicated by the seeming +error, as once in Marshal Biron's affair, his intention to promote +or degrade them; or when he was moved to the depths of his nature +and fell into an old habit. I did not dare to reply, but listened +greedily for more information. + +"When is it to be done?" asked the innkeeper, sinking his voice and +glancing round, as if he would call especial attention to this. + +"That depends upon Master la Riviere," the girl answered. "To- +morrow night, I understand, if Master la Riviere can have the stuff +ready." + +I met the king's eyes. They shone fiercely in the faint light, +which issuing from the window fell on him. Of all things he hated +treachery most, and La Riviere was his first body physician, and at +this very time, as I well knew, was treating him for a slight +derangement which the king had brought upon himself by his +imprudence. This doctor had formerly been in the employment of the +Bouillon family, who had surrendered his services to the king. +Neither I nor his majesty had trusted the Duke of Bouillon for the +last year past, so that we were not surprised by this hint that he +was privy to the design. + +Despite our anxiety not to miss a word, an approaching step warned +us at this moment to draw back. More than once before we had done +so to escape the notice of a wayfarer passing up and down. But +this time I had a difficulty in inducing the king to adopt the +precaution. Yet it was well that I succeeded, for the person who +came stumbling along toward us did not pass, but, mounting the +steps, walked by within touch of us and entered the house. + +"The plot thickens," muttered the king. "Who is this?" + +At the moment he asked I was racking my brain to remember. I have +a good eye and a fair recollection for faces, and this was one I +had seen several times. The features were so familiar that I +suspected the man of being a courtier in disguise, and I ran over +the names of several persons whom I knew to be Bouillon's secret +agents. But he was none of these, and obeying the king's gesture, +I bent myself again to the task of listening. + +The girl looked up on the man's entrance, but did not rise. "You +are late, Martin," she said. + +"A little," the newcomer answered. "How do you do, Master Andrew? +What cheer? What, still vexing, mistress?" he added contemptuously +to the girl. "You have too soft a heart for this business!" + +She sighed, but made no answer. + +"You have made up your mind to it, I hear?" said the innkeeper. + +"That is it. Needs must when the devil drives!" replied the man +jauntily. He had a downcast, reckless, luckless air, yet in his +face I thought I still saw traces of a better spirit. + +"The devil in this case was Epernon," quoth Andrew. + +"Aye, curse him! I would I had cut his dainty throat before he +crossed my threshold," cried the desperado. "But there, it is too +late to say that now. What has to be done, has to be done." + +"How are you going about it? Poison, the mistress says." + +"Yes; but if I had my way," the man growled fiercely, "I would out +one of these nights and cut the dogs' throats in the kennel!" + +"You could never escape, Martin!" the girl cried, rising in +excitement. "It would be hopeless. It would merely be throwing +away your own life." + +"Well, it is not to be done that way, so there is an end of it," +quoth the man wearily. "Give me my supper. The devil take the +king and Sully too! He will soon have them." + +On this Master Andrew rose, and I took his movement toward the door +for a signal for us to retire. He came out at once, shutting the +door behind him as he bade the pair within a loud good night. He +found us standing in the street waiting for him and forthwith fell +on his knees in the mud and looked up at me, the perspiration +standing thick on his white face. "My lord," he cried hoarsely, "I +have earned my pardon!" + +"If you go on," I said encouragingly, "as you have begun, have no +fear." Without more ado I whistled up the Swiss and bade Maignan +go with them and arrest the man and woman with as little +disturbance as possible. While this was being done we waited +without, keeping a sharp eye upon the informer, whose terror, I +noted with suspicion, seemed to be in no degree diminished. He did +not, however, try to escape, and Maignan presently came to tell us +that he had executed the arrest without difficulty or resistance. + +The importance of arriving at the truth before Epernon and the +greater conspirators should take the alarm was so vividly present +to the minds of the king and myself, that we did not hesitate to +examine the prisoners in their house, rather than hazard the delay +and observation which their removal to a more fit place must +occasion. Accordingly, taking the precaution to post Coquet in the +street outside, and to plant a burly Swiss in the doorway, the king +and I entered. I removed my mask as I did so, being aware of the +necessity of gaining the prisoners' confidence, but I begged the +king to retain his. As I had expected, the man immediately +recognized me and fell on his knees, a nearer view confirming the +notion I had previously entertained that his features were familiar +to me, though I could not remember his name. I thought this a good +starting-point for my examination, and bidding Maignan withdraw, I +assumed an air of mildness and asked the fellow his name. + +"Martin, only, please your lordship," he answered; adding, "once I +sold you two dogs, sir, for the chase, and to your lady a lapdog +called Ninette no larger than her hand." + +I remembered the knave, then, as a fashionable dog dealer, who had +been much about the court in the reign of Henry the Third and +later; and I saw at once how convenient a tool he might be made, +since he could be seen in converse with people of all ranks without +arousing suspicion. The man's face as he spoke expressed so much +fear and surprise that I determined to try what I had often found +successful in the case of greater criminals, to squeeze him for a +confession while still excited by his arrest, and before he should +have had time to consider what his chances of support at the hands +of his confederates might be. I charged him therefore solemnly to +tell the whole truth as he hoped for the king's mercy. He heard +me, gazing at me piteously; but his only answer, to my surprise, +was that he had nothing to confess. + +"Come, come," I replied sternly, "this will avail you nothing; if +you do not speak quickly, rogue, and to the point, we shall find +means to compel you. Who counseled you to attempt his majesty's +life?" + +On this he stared so stupidly at me, and exclaimed with so real an +appearance of horror: "How? I attempt the king's life? God +forbid!" that I doubted that we had before us a more dangerous +rascal than I had thought, and I hastened to bring him to the +point. + +"What, then," I cried, frowning, "of the stuff Master la Riviere is +to give you to take the king's life to-morrow night? Oh, we know +something, I assure you; bethink you quickly, and find your tongue +if you would have an easy death." + +I expected to see his self-control break down at this proof of our +knowledge of his design, but he only stared at me with the same +look of bewilderment. I was about to bid them bring in the +informer that I might see the two front to front, when the female +prisoner, who had hitherto stood beside her companion in such +distress and terror as might be expected in a woman of that class, +suddenly stopped her tears and lamentations. It occurred to me +that she might make a better witness. I turned to her, but when I +would have questioned her she broke into a wild scream of +hysterical laughter. + +From that I remember that I learned nothing, though it greatly +annoyed me. But there was one present who did--the king. He laid +his hand on my shoulder, gripping it with a force that I read as a +command to be silent. + +"Where," he said to the man, "do you keep the King and Sully and +Epernon, my friend?" + +"The King and Sully--with the lordship's leave," said the man +quickly, with a frightened glance at me--"are in the kennels at the +back of the house, but it is not safe to go near them. The King is +raving mad, and--and the other dog is sickening. Epernon we had to +kill a month back. He brought the disease here, and I have had +such losses through him as have nearly ruined me, please your +lordship." + +"Get up--get up, man!" cried the king, and tearing off his mask he +stamped up and down the room, so torn by paroxysms of laughter that +he choked himself when again and again he attempted to speak. + +I too now saw the mistake, but I could not at first see it in the +same light. Commanding myself as well as I could, I ordered one of +the Swiss to fetch in the innkeeper, but to admit no one else. + +The knave fell on his knees as soon as he saw me, his cheeks +shaking like a jelly. + +"Mercy, mercy!" was all he could say. + +"You have dared to play with me?" I whispered. + +"You bade me joke," he sobbed, "you bade me." + +I was about to say that it would be his last joke in this world-- +for my anger was fully aroused--when the king intervened. + +"Nay," he said, laying his hand softly on my shoulder. "It has +been the most glorious jest. I would not have missed it for a +kingdom. I command you, Sully, to forgive him." + +Thereupon his majesty strictly charged the three that they should +not on peril of their lives mention the circumstances to anyone. +Nor to the best of my belief did they do so, being so shrewdly +scared when they recognized the king that I verily think they never +afterwards so much as spoke of the affair to one another. My +master further gave me on his own part his most gracious promise +that he would not disclose the matter even to Madame de Verneuil or +the queen, and upon these representations he induced me freely to +forgive the innkeeper. So ended this conspiracy, on the diverting +details of which I may seem to have dwelt longer than I should; but +alas! in twenty-one years of power I investigated many, and this +one only can I regard with satisfaction. The rest were so many +warnings and predictions of the fate which, despite all my care and +fidelity, was in store for the great and good master I served. + + + +Robert Louis Stevenson + +The Pavilion on the Links + + +I + + +I was a great solitary when I was young. I made it my pride to +keep aloof and suffice for my own entertainment; and I may say that +I had neither friends nor acquaintances until I met that friend who +became my wife and the mother of my children. With one man only +was I on private terms; this was R. Northmour, Esquire, of Graden +Easter, in Scotland. We had met at college; and though there was +not much liking between us, nor even much intimacy, we were so +nearly of a humor that we could associate with ease to both. +Misanthropes, we believed ourselves to be; but I have thought since +that we were only sulky fellows. It was scarcely a companionship, +but a coexistence in unsociability. Northmour's exceptional +violence of temper made it no easy affair for him to keep the peace +with anyone but me; and as he respected my silent ways, and let me +come and go as I pleased, I could tolerate his presence without +concern. I think we called each other friends. + +When Northmour took his degree and I decided to leave the +university without one, he invited me on a long visit to Graden +Easter; and it was thus that I first became acquainted with the +scene of my adventures. The mansion house of Graden stood in a +bleak stretch of country some three miles from the shore of the +German Ocean. It was as large as a barrack; and as it had been +built of a soft stone, liable to consume in the eager air of the +seaside, it was damp and draughty within and half ruinous without. +It was impossible for two young men to lodge with comfort in such a +dwelling. But there stood in the northern part of the estate, in a +wilderness of links and blowing sand hills, and between a +plantation and the sea, a small pavilion or belvedere, of modern +design, which was exactly suited to our wants; and in this +hermitage, speaking little, reading much, and rarely associating +except at meals, Northmour and I spent four tempestuous winter +months. I might have stayed longer; but one March night there +sprung up between us a dispute, which rendered my departure +necessary. Northmour spoke hotly, I remember, and I suppose I must +have made some tart rejoinder. He leaped from his chair and +grappled me; I had to fight, without exaggeration, for my life; and +it was only with a great effort that I mastered him, for he was +near as strong in body as myself, and seemed filled with the devil. +The next morning, we met on our usual terms; but I judged it more +delicate to withdraw; nor did he attempt to dissuade me. + +It was nine years before I revisited the neighborhood. I traveled +at that time with a tilt-cart, a tent, and a cooking stove, +tramping all day beside the wagon, and at night, whenever it was +possible, gypsying in a cove of the hills, or by the side of a +wood. I believe I visited in this manner most of the wild and +desolate regions both in England and Scotland; and, as I had +neither friends nor relations, I was troubled with no +correspondence, and had nothing in the nature of headquarters, +unless it was the office of my solicitors, from whom I drew my +income twice a year. It was a life in which I delighted; and I +fully thought to have grown old upon the march, and at last died in +a ditch. + +It was my whole business to find desolate corners, where I could +camp without the fear of interruption; and hence, being in another +part of the same shire, I bethought me suddenly of the Pavilion on +the Links. No thoroughfare passed within three miles of it. The +nearest town, and that was but a fisher village, was at a distance +of six or seven. For ten miles of length, and from a depth varying +from three miles to half a mile, this belt of barren country lay +along the sea. The beach, which was the natural approach, was full +of quicksands. Indeed I may say there is hardly a better place of +concealment in the United Kingdom. I determined to pass a week in +the Sea-Wood of Graden Easter, and making a long stage, reached it +about sundown on a wild September day. + +The country, I have said, was mixed sand hill and links, LINKS +being a Scottish name for sand which has ceased drifting and become +more or less solidly covered with turf. The pavilion stood on an +even space: a little behind it, the wood began in a hedge of elders +huddled together by the wind; in front, a few tumbled sand hills +stood between it and the sea. An outcropping of rock had formed a +bastion for the sand, so that there was here a promontory in the +coast line between two shallow bays; and just beyond the tides, the +rock again cropped out and formed an islet of small dimensions but +strikingly designed. The quicksands were of great extent at low +water, and had an infamous reputation in the country. Close in +shore, between the islet and the promontory, it was said they would +swallow a man in four minutes and a half; but there may have been +little ground for this precision. The district was alive with +rabbits, and haunted by gulls which made a continual piping about +the pavilion. On summer days the outlook was bright and even +gladsome; but at sundown in September, with a high wind, and a +heavy surf rolling in close along the links, the place told of +nothing but dead mariners and sea disaster. A ship beating to +windward on the horizon, and a huge truncheon of wreck half buried +in the sands at my feet, completed the innuendo of the scene. + +The pavilion--it had been built by the last proprietor, Northmour's +uncle, a silly and prodigal virtuoso--presented little signs of +age. It was two stories in height, Italian in design, surrounded +by a patch of garden in which nothing had prospered but a few +coarse flowers; and looked, with its shuttered windows, not like a +house that had been deserted, but like one that had never been +tenanted by man. Northmour was plainly from home; whether, as +usual, sulking in the cabin of his yacht, or in one of his fitful +and extravagant appearances in the world of society, I had, of +course, no means of guessing. The place had an air of solitude +that daunted even a solitary like myself; the wind cried in the +chimneys with a strange and wailing note; and it was with a sense +of escape, as if I were going indoors, that I turned away and, +driving my cart before me, entered the skirts of the wood. + +The Sea-Wood of Graden had been planted to shelter the cultivated +fields behind, and check the encroachments of the blowing sand. As +you advanced into it from coastward, elders were succeeded by other +hardy shrubs; but the timber was all stunted and bushy; it led a +life of conflict; the trees were accustomed to swing there all +night long in fierce winter tempests; and even in early spring, the +leaves were already flying, and autumn was beginning, in this +exposed plantation. Inland the ground rose into a little hill, +which, along with the islet, served as a sailing mark for seamen. +When the hill was open of the islet to the north, vessels must bear +well to the eastward to clear Graden Ness and the Graden Bullers. +In the lower ground, a streamlet ran among the trees, and, being +dammed with dead leaves and clay of its own carrying, spread out +every here and there, and lay in stagnant pools. One or two ruined +cottages were dotted about the wood; and, according to Northmour, +these were ecclesiastical foundations, and in their time had +sheltered pious hermits. + +I found a den, or small hollow, where there was a spring of pure +water; and there, clearing away the brambles, I pitched the tent, +and made a fire to cook my supper. My horse I picketed farther in +the wood where there was a patch of sward. The banks of the den +not only concealed the light of my fire, but sheltered me from the +wind, which was cold as well as high. + +The life I was leading made me both hardy and frugal. I never +drank but water, and rarely eat anything more costly than oatmeal; +and I required so little sleep, that, although I rose with the peep +of day, I would often lie long awake in the dark or starry watches +of the night. Thus in Graden Sea-Wood, although I fell thankfully +asleep by eight in the evening I was awake again before eleven with +a full possession of my faculties, and no sense of drowsiness or +fatigue. I rose and sat by the fire, watching the trees and clouds +tumultuously tossing and fleeing overhead, and hearkening to the +wind and the rollers along the shore; till at length, growing weary +of inaction, I quitted the den, and strolled toward the borders of +the wood. A young moon, buried in mist, gave a faint illumination +to my steps; and the light grew brighter as I walked forth into the +links. At the same moment, the wind, smelling salt of the open +ocean and carrying particles of sand, struck me with its full +force, so that I had to bow my head. + +When I raised it again to look about me, I was aware of a light in +the pavilion. It was not stationary; but passed from one window to +another, as though some one were reviewing the different apartments +with a lamp or candle. I watched it for some seconds in great +surprise. When I had arrived in the afternoon the house had been +plainly deserted; now it was as plainly occupied. It was my first +idea that a gang of thieves might have broken in and be now +ransacking Northmour's cupboards, which were many and not ill +supplied. But what should bring thieves at Graden Easter? And, +again, all the shutters had been thrown open, and it would have +been more in the character of such gentry to close them. I +dismissed the notion, and fell back upon another. Northmour +himself must have arrived, and was now airing and inspecting the +pavilion. + +I have said that there was no real affection between this man and +me; but, had I loved him like a brother, I was then so much more in +love with solitude that I should none the less have shunned his +company. As it was, I turned and ran for it; and it was with +genuine satisfaction that I found myself safely back beside the +fire. I had escaped an acquaintance; I should have one more night +in comfort. In the morning, I might either slip away before +Northmour was abroad, or pay him as short a visit as I chose. + +But when morning came, I thought the situation so diverting that I +forgot my shyness. Northmour was at my mercy; I arranged a good +practical jest, though I knew well that my neighbor was not the man +to jest with in security; and, chuckling beforehand over its +success, took my place among the elders at the edge of the wood, +whence I could command the door of the pavilion. The shutters were +all once more closed, which I remember thinking odd; and the house, +with its white walls and green venetians, looked spruce and +habitable in the morning light. Hour after hour passed, and still +no sign of Northmour. I knew him for a sluggard in the morning; +but, as it drew on toward noon, I lost my patience. To say the +truth, I had promised myself to break my fast in the pavilion, and +hunger began to prick me sharply. It was a pity to let the +opportunity go by without some cause for mirth; but the grosser +appetite prevailed, and I relinquished my jest with regret, and +sallied from the wood. + +The appearance of the house affected me, as I drew near; with +disquietude. It seemed unchanged since last evening; and I had +expected it, I scarce knew why, to wear some external signs of +habitation. But no: the windows were all closely shuttered, the +chimneys breathed no smoke, and the front door itself was closely +padlocked. Northmour, therefore, had entered by the back; this was +the natural, and indeed, the necessary conclusion; and you may +judge of my surprise when, on turning the house, I found the back +door similarly secured. + +My mind at once reverted to the original theory of thieves; and I +blamed myself sharply for my last night's inaction. I examined all +the windows on the lower story, but none of them had been tampered +with; I tried the padlocks, but they were both secure. It thus +became a problem how the thieves, if thieves they were, had managed +to enter the house. They must have got, I reasoned, upon the roof +of the outhouse where Northmour used to keep his photographic +battery; and from thence, either by the window of the study or that +of my old bedroom, completed their burglarious entry. + +I followed what I supposed was their example; and, getting on the +roof, tried the shutters of each room. Both were secure; but I was +not to be beaten; and, with a little force, one of them flew open, +grazing, as it did so, the back of my hand. I remember, I put the +wound to my mouth, and stood for perhaps half a minute licking it +like a dog, and mechanically gazing behind me over the waste links +and the sea; and, in that space of time, my eye made note of a +large schooner yacht some miles to the north-east. Then I threw up +the window and climbed in. + +I went over the house, and nothing can express my mystification. +There was no sign of disorder, but, on the contrary, the rooms were +unusually clean and pleasant. I found fires laid, ready for +lighting; three bedrooms prepared with a luxury quite foreign to +Northmour's habits, and with water in the ewers and the beds turned +down; a table set for three in the dining-room; and an ample supply +of cold meats, game, and vegetables on the pantry shelves. There +were guests expected, that was plain; but why guests, when +Northmour hated society? And, above all, why was the house thus +stealthily prepared at dead of night? and why were the shutters +closed and the doors padlocked? + +I effaced all traces of my visit, and came forth from the window +feeling sobered and concerned. + +The schooner yacht was still in the same place; and it flashed for +a moment through my mind that this might be the Red Earl bringing +the owner of the pavilion and his guests. But the vessel's head +was set the other way. + + +II + + +I returned to the den to cook myself a meal, of which I stood in +great need, as well as to care for my horse, whom I had somewhat +neglected in the morning. From time to time I went down to the +edge of the wood; but there was no change in the pavilion, and not +a human creature was seen all day upon the links. The schooner in +the offing was the one touch of life within my range of vision. +She, apparently with no set object, stood off and on or lay to, +hour after hour; but as the evening deepened, she drew steadily +nearer. I became more convinced that she carried Northmour and his +friends, and that they would probably come ashore after dark; not +only because that was of a piece with the secrecy of the +preparations, but because the tide would not have flowed +sufficiently before eleven to cover Graden Floe and the other sea +quags that fortified the shore against invaders. + +All day the wind had been going down, and the sea along with it; +but there was a return towards sunset of the heavy weather of the +day before. The night set in pitch dark. The wind came off the +sea in squalls, like the firing of a battery of cannon; now and +then there was a flaw of rain, and the surf rolled heavier with the +rising tide. I was down at my observatory among the elders, when a +light was run up to the masthead of the schooner, and showed she +was closer in than when I had last seen her by the dying daylight. +I concluded that this must be a signal to Northmour's associates on +shore; and, stepping forth into the links, looked around me for +something in response. + +A small footpath ran along the margin of the wood, and formed the +most direct communication between the pavilion and the mansion- +house; and, as I cast my eyes to that side, I saw a spark of light, +not a quarter of a mile away, and rapidly approaching. From its +uneven course it appeared to be the light of a lantern carried by a +person who followed the windings of the path, and was often +staggered and taken aback by the more violent squalls. I concealed +myself once more among the elders, and waited eagerly for the +newcomer's advance. It proved to be a woman; and, as she passed +within half a rod of my ambush, I was able to recognise the +features. The deaf and silent old dame, who had nursed Northmour +in his childhood, was his associate in this underhand affair. + +I followed her at a little distance, taking advantage of the +innumerable heights and hollows, concealed by the darkness, and +favored not only by the nurse's deafness, but by the uproar of the +wind and surf. She entered the pavilion, and, going at once to the +upper story, opened and set a light in one of the windows that +looked toward the sea. Immediately afterwards the light at the +schooner's masthead was run down and extinguished. Its purpose had +been attained, and those on board were sure that they were +expected. The old woman resumed her preparations; although the +other shutters remained closed, I could see a glimmer going to and +fro about the house; and a gush of sparks from one chimney after +another soon told me that the fires were being kindled. + +Northmour and his guests, I was now persuaded, would come ashore as +soon as there was water on the floe. It was a wild night for boat +service; and I felt some alarm mingle with my curiosity as I +reflected on the danger of the landing. My old acquaintance, it +was true, was the most eccentric of men; but the present +eccentricity was both disquieting and lugubrious to consider. A +variety of feelings thus led me toward the beach, where I lay flat +on my face in a hollow within six feet of the track that led to the +pavilion. Thence, I should have the satisfaction of recognizing +the arrivals, and, if they should prove to be acquaintances, +greeting them as soon as they landed. + +Some time before eleven, while the tide was still dangerously low, +a boat's lantern appeared close in shore; and, my attention being +thus awakened, I could perceive another still far to seaward, +violently tossed, and sometimes hidden by the billows. The +weather, which was getting dirtier as the night went on, and the +perilous situation of the yacht upon a lee shore, had probably +driven them to attempt a landing at the earliest possible moment. + +A little afterwards, four yachtsmen carrying a very heavy chest, +and guided by a fifth with a lantern, passed close in front of me +as I lay, and were admitted to the pavilion by the nurse. They +returned to the beach, and passed me a third time with another +chest, larger but apparently not so heavy as the first. A third +time they made the transit; and on this occasion one of the +yachtsmen carried a leather portmanteau, and the others a lady's +trunk and carriage bag. My curiosity was sharply excited. If a +woman were among the guests of Northmour, it would show a change in +his habits, and an apostasy from his pet theories of life, well +calculated to fill me with surprise. When he and I dwelt there +together, the pavilion had been a temple of misogyny. And now, one +of the detested sex was to be installed under its roof. I +remembered one or two particulars, a few notes of daintiness and +almost of coquetry which had struck me the day before as I surveyed +the preparations in the house; their purpose was now clear, and I +thought myself dull not to have perceived it from the first. + +While I was thus reflecting, a second lantern drew near me from the +beach. It was carried by a yachtsman whom I had not yet seen, and +who was conducting two other persons to the pavilion. These two +persons were unquestionably the guests for whom the house was made +ready; and, straining eye and ear, I set myself to watch them as +they passed. One was an unusually tall man, in a traveling hat +slouched over his eyes, and a highland cape closely buttoned and +turned up so as to conceal his face. You could make out no more of +him than that he was, as I have said, unusually tall, and walked +feebly with a heavy stoop. By his side, and either clinging to him +or giving him support--I could not make out which--was a young, +tall, and slender figure of a woman. She was extremely pale; but +in the light of the lantern her face was so marred by strong and +changing shadows, that she might equally well have been as ugly as +sin or as beautiful as I afterwards found her to be. + +When they were just abreast of me, the girl made some remark which +was drowned by the noise of the wind. + +"Hush!" said her companion; and there was something in the tone +with which the word was uttered that thrilled and rather shook my +spirits. It seemed to breathe from a bosom laboring under the +deadliest terror; I have never heard another syllable so +expressive; and I still hear it again when I am feverish at night, +and my mind runs upon old times. The man turned toward the girl as +he spoke; I had a glimpse of much red beard and a nose which seemed +to have been broken in youth; and his light eyes seemed shining in +his face with some strong and unpleasant emotion. + +But these two passed on and were admitted in their turn to the +pavilion. + +One by one, or in groups, the seamen returned to the beach. The +wind brought me the sound of a rough voice crying, "Shove off!" +Then, after a pause, another lantern drew near. It was Northmour +alone. + +My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed to wonder how a +person could be, at the same time, so handsome and so repulsive as +Northmour. He had the appearance of a finished gentleman; his face +bore every mark of intelligence and courage; but you had only to +look at him, even in his most amiable moment, to see that he had +the temper of a slaver captain. I never knew a character that was +both explosive and revengeful to the same degree; he combined the +vivacity of the south with the sustained and deadly hatreds of the +north; and both traits were plainly written on his face, which was +a sort of danger signal. In person, he was tall, strong, and +active; his hair and complexion very dark; his features handsomely +designed, but spoiled by a menacing expression. + +At that moment he was somewhat paler than by nature; he wore a +heavy frown; and his lips worked, and he looked sharply round him +as he walked, like a man besieged with apprehensions. And yet I +thought he had a look of triumph underlying all, as though he had +already done much, and was near the end of an achievement. + +Partly from a scruple of delicacy--which I dare say came too late-- +partly from the pleasure of startling an acquaintance, I desired to +make my presence known to him without delay. + +I got suddenly to my feet, and stepped forward. + +"Northmour!" said I. + +I have never had so shocking a surprise in all my days. He leaped +on me without a word; something shone in his hand; and he struck +for my heart with a dagger. At the same moment I knocked him head +over heels. Whether it was my quickness, or his own uncertainty, I +know not; but the blade only grazed my shoulder, while the hilt and +his fist struck me violently on the mouth. + +I fled, but not far. I had often and often observed the +capabilities of the sand hills for protracted ambush or stealthy +advances and retreats; and, not ten yards from the scene of the +scuffle, plumped down again upon the grass. The lantern had fallen +and gone out. But what was my astonishment to see Northmour slip +at a bound into the pavilion, and hear him bar the door behind him +with a clang of iron! + +He had not pursued me. He had run away. Northmour, whom I knew +for the most implacable and daring of men, had run away! I could +scarce believe my reason; and yet in this strange business, where +all was incredible, there was nothing to make a work about in an +incredibility more or less. For why was the pavilion secretly +prepared? Why had Northmour landed with his guests at dead of +night, in half a gale of wind, and with the floe scarce covered? +Why had he sought to kill me? Had he not recognized my voice? I +wondered. And, above all, how had he come to have a dagger ready +in his hand? A dagger, or even a sharp knife, seemed out of +keeping with the age in which we lived; and a gentleman landing +from his yacht on the shore of his own estate, even although it was +at night and with some mysterious circumstances, does not usually, +as a matter of fact, walk thus prepared for deadly onslaught. The +more I reflected, the further I felt at sea. I recapitulated the +elements of mystery, counting them on my fingers: the pavilion +secretly prepared for guests; the guests landed at the risk of +their lives and to the imminent peril of the yacht; the guests, or +at least one of them, in undisguised and seemingly causeless +terror; Northmour with a naked weapon; Northmour stabbing his most +intimate acquaintance at a word; last, and not least strange, +Northmour fleeing from the man whom he had sought to murder, and +barricading himself, like a hunted creature, behind the door of the +pavilion. Here were at least six separate causes for extreme +surprise; each part and parcel with the others, and forming all +together one consistent story. I felt almost ashamed to believe my +own senses. + +As I thus stood, transfixed with wonder, I began to grow painfully +conscious of the injuries I had received in the scuffle; skulked +round among the sand hills; and, by a devious path, regained the +shelter of the wood. On the way, the old nurse passed again within +several yards of me, still carrying her lantern, on the return +journey to the mansion house of Graden. This made a seventh +suspicious feature in the case. Northmour and his guests, it +appeared, were to cook and do the cleaning for themselves, while +the old woman continued to inhabit the big empty barrack among the +policies. There must surely be great cause for secrecy, when so +many inconveniences were confronted to preserve it. + +So thinking, I made my way to the den. For greater security, I +trod out the embers of the fire, and lighted my lantern to examine +the wound upon my shoulder. It was a trifling hurt, although it +bled somewhat freely, and I dressed it as well as I could (for its +position made it difficult to reach) with some rag and cold water +from the spring. While I was thus busied, I mentally declared war +against Northmour and his mystery. I am not an angry man by +nature, and I believe there was more curiosity than resentment in +my heart. But war I certainly declared; and, by way of +preparation, I got out my revolver, and, having drawn the charges, +cleaned and reloaded it with scrupulous care. Next I became +preoccupied about my horse. It might break loose, or fall to +neighing, and so betray my camp in the Sea-Wood. I determined to +rid myself of its neighborhood; and long before dawn I was leading +it over the links in the direction of the fisher village. + + +III + + +For two days I skulked round the pavilion, profiting by the uneven +surface of the links. I became an adept in the necessary tactics. +These low hillocks and shallow dells, running one into another, +became a kind of cloak of darkness for my inthralling, but perhaps +dishonorable, pursuit. + +Yet, in spite of this advantage, I could learn but little of +Northmour or his guests. + +Fresh provisions were brought under cover of darkness by the old +woman from the mansion house. Northmour, and the young lady, +sometimes together, but more often singly, would walk for an hour +or two at a time on the beach beside the quicksand. I could not +but conclude that this promenade was chosen with an eye to secrecy; +for the spot was open only to seaward. But it suited me not less +excellently; the highest and most accidented of the sand hills +immediately adjoined; and from these, lying flat in a hollow, I +could overlook Northmour or the young lady as they walked. + +The tall man seemed to have disappeared. Not only did he never +cross the threshold, but he never so much as showed face at a +window; or, at least, not so far as I could see; for I dared not +creep forward beyond a certain distance in the day, since the upper +floors commanded the bottoms of the links; and at night, when I +could venture further, the lower windows were barricaded as if to +stand a siege. Sometimes I thought the tall man must be confined +to bed, for I remembered the feebleness of his gait; and sometimes +I thought he must have gone clear away, and that Northmour and the +young lady remained alone together in the pavilion. The idea, even +then, displeased me. + +Whether or not this pair were man and wife, I had seen abundant +reason to doubt the friendliness of their relation. Although I +could hear nothing of what they said, and rarely so much as glean a +decided expression on the face of either, there was a distance, +almost a stiffness, in their bearing which showed them to be either +unfamiliar or at enmity. The girl walked faster when she was with +Northmour than when she was alone; and I conceived that any +inclination between a man and a woman would rather delay than +accelerate the step. Moreover, she kept a good yard free of him, +and trailed her umbrella, as if it were a barrier, on the side +between them. Northmour kept sidling closer; and, as the girl +retired from his advance, their course lay at a sort of diagonal +across the beach, and would have landed them in the surf had it +been long enough continued. But, when this was imminent, the girl +would unostentatiously change sides and put Northmour between her +and the sea. I watched these maneuvers, for my part, with high +enjoyment and approval, and chuckled to myself at every move. + +On the morning of the third day, she walked alone for some time, +and I perceived, to my great concern, that she was more than once +in tears. You will see that my heart was already interested more +than I supposed. She had a firm yet airy motion of the body, and +carried her head with unimaginable grace; every step was a thing to +look at, and she seemed in my eyes to breathe sweetness and +distinction. + +The day was so agreeable, being calm and sunshiny, with a tranquil +sea, and yet with a healthful piquancy and vigor in the air, that, +contrary to custom, she was tempted forth a second time to walk. +On this occasion she was accompanied by Northmour, and they had +been but a short while on the beach, when I saw him take forcible +possession of her hand. She struggled, and uttered a cry that was +almost a scream. I sprung to my feet, unmindful of my strange +position; but, ere I had taken a step, I saw Northmour bareheaded +and bowing very low, as if to apologize; and dropped again at once +into my ambush. A few words were interchanged; and then, with +another bow, he left the beach to return to the pavilion. He +passed not far from me, and I could see him, flushed and lowering, +and cutting savagely with his cane among the grass. It was not +without satisfaction that I recognized my own handiwork in a great +cut under his right eye, and a considerable discoloration round the +socket. + +For some time the girl remained where he had left her, looking out +past the islet and over the bright sea. Then with a start, as one +who throws off preoccupation and puts energy again upon its mettle, +she broke into a rapid and decisive walk. She also was much +incensed by what had passed. She had forgotten where she was. And +I beheld her walk straight into the borders of the quicksand where +it is most abrupt and dangerous. Two or three steps farther and +her life would have been in serious jeopardy, when I slid down the +face of the sand hill, which is there precipitous, and, running +halfway forward, called to her to stop. + +She did so, and turned round. There was not a tremor of fear in +her behavior, and she marched directly up to me like a queen. I +was barefoot, and clad like a common sailor, save for an Egyptian +scarf round my waist; and she probably took me at first for some +one from the fisher village, straying after bait. As for her, when +I thus saw her face to face, her eyes set steadily and imperiously +upon mine, I was filled with admiration and astonishment, and +thought her even more beautiful than I had looked to find her. Nor +could I think enough of one who, acting with so much boldness, yet +preserved a maidenly air that was both quaint and engaging; for my +wife kept an old-fashioned precision of manner through all her +admirable life--an excellent thing in woman, since it sets another +value on her sweet familiarities. + +"What does this mean?" she asked. + +"You were walking," I told her, "directly into Graden Floe." + +"You do not belong to these parts," she said again. "You speak +like an educated man." + +"I believe I have a right to that name," said I, "although in this +disguise." + +But her woman's eye had already detected the sash. + +"Oh!" she said; "your sash betrays you." + +"You have said the word BETRAY," I resumed. "May I ask you not to +betray me? I was obliged to disclose myself in your interest; but +if Northmour learned my presence it might be worse than +disagreeable for me." + +"Do you know," she asked, "to whom you are speaking?" + +"Not to Mr. Northmour's wife?" I asked, by way of answer. + +She shook her head. All this while she was studying my face with +an embarrassing intentness. Then she broke out-- + +"You have an honest face. Be honest like your face, sir, and tell +me what you want and what you are afraid of. Do you think I could +hurt you? I believe you have far more power to injure me! And yet +you do not look unkind. What do you mean--you, a gentleman--by +skulking like a spy about this desolate place? Tell me," she said, +"who is it you hate?" + +"I hate no one," I answered; "and I fear no one face to face. My +name is Cassilis--Frank Cassilis. I lead the life of a vagabond +for my own good pleasure. I am one of Northmour's oldest friends; +and three nights ago, when I addressed him on these links, he +stabbed me in the shoulder with a knife." + +"It was you!" she said. + +"Why he did so," I continued, disregarding the interruption, "is +more than I can guess, and more than I care to know. I have not +many friends, nor am I very susceptible to friendship; but no man +shall drive me from a place by terror. I had camped in the Graden +Sea-Wood ere he came; I camp in it still. If you think I mean harm +to you or yours, madame, the remedy is in your hand. Tell him that +my camp is in the Hemlock Den, and tonight he can stab me in safety +while I sleep." + +With this I doffed my cap to her, and scrambled up once more among +the sand hills. I do not know why, but I felt a prodigious sense +of injustice, and felt like a hero and a martyr; while as a matter +of fact, I had not a word to say in my defense, nor so much as one +plausible reason to offer for my conduct. I had stayed at Graden +out of a curiosity natural enough, but undignified; and though +there was another motive growing in along with the first, it was +not one which, at that period, I could have properly explained to +the lady of my heart. + +Certainly, that night, I thought of no one else; and, though her +whole conduct and position seemed suspicious, I could not find it +in my heart to entertain a doubt of her integrity. I could have +staked my life that she was clear of blame, and, though all was +dark at the present, that the explanation of the mystery would show +her part in these events to be both right and needful. It was +true, let me cudgel my imagination as I pleased, that I could +invent no theory of her relations to Northmour; but I felt none the +less sure of my conclusion because it was founded on instinct in +place of reason, and, as I may say, went to sleep that night with +the thought of her under my pillow. + +Next day she came out about the same hour alone, and, as soon as +the sand hills concealed her from the pavilion, drew nearer to the +edge, and called me by name in guarded tones. I was astonished to +observe that she was deadly pale, and seemingly under the influence +of strong emotion. + +"Mr. Cassilis!" she cried; "Mr. Cassilis!" + +I appeared at once, and leaped down upon the beach. A remarkable +air of relief overspread her countenance as soon as she saw me. + +"Oh!" she cried, with a hoarse sound, like one whose bosom had been +lightened of a weight. And then, "Thank God you are still safe!" +she added; "I knew, if you were, you would be here." (Was not this +strange? So swiftly and wisely does Nature prepare our hearts for +these great lifelong intimacies, that both my wife and I had been +given a presentiment on this the second day of our acquaintance. I +had even then hoped that she would seek me; she had felt sure that +she would find me.) "Do not," she went on swiftly, "do not stay in +this place. Promise me that you will sleep no longer in that wood. +You do not know how I suffer; all last night I could not sleep for +thinking of your peril." + +"Peril!" I repeated. "Peril from whom? From Northmour?" + +"Not so," she said. "Did you think I would tell him after what you +said?" + +"Not from Northmour?" I repeated. "Then how? From whom? I see +none to be afraid of." + +"You must not ask me," was her reply, "for I am not free to tell +you. Only believe me, and go hence--believe me, and go away +quickly, quickly, for your life!" + +An appeal to his alarm is never a good plan to rid oneself of a +spirited young man. My obstinacy was but increased by what she +said, and I made it a point of honor to remain. And her solicitude +for my safety still more confirmed me in the resolve. + +"You must not think me inquisitive, madame," I replied; "but, if +Graden is so dangerous a place, you yourself perhaps remain here at +some risk." + +She only looked at me reproachfully. + +"You and your father--" I resumed; but she interrupted me almost +with a gasp. + +"My father! How do you know that?" she cried. + +"I saw you together when you landed," was my answer; and I do not +know why, but it seemed satisfactory to both of us, as indeed it +was truth. "But," I continued, "you need have no fear from me. I +see you have some reason to be secret, and, you may believe me, +your secret is as safe with me as if I were in Graden Floe. I have +scarce spoken to anyone for years; my horse is my only companion, +and even he, poor beast, is not beside me. You see, then, you may +count on me for silence. So tell me the truth, my dear young lady, +are you not in danger?" + +"Mr. Northmour says you are an honorable man," she returned, "and I +believe it when I see you. I will tell you so much; you are right; +we are in dreadful, dreadful danger, and you share it by remaining +where you are." + +"Ah!" said I; "you have heard of me from Northmour? And he gives +me a good character?" + +"I asked him about you last night," was her reply. "I pretended," +she hesitated, "I pretended to have met you long ago, and spoken to +you of him. It was not true; but I could not help myself without +betraying you, and you had put me in a difficulty. He praised you +highly." + +"And--you may permit me one question--does this danger come from +Northmour?" I asked. + +"From Mr. Northmour?" she cried. "Oh, no, he stays with us to +share it." + +"While you propose that I should run away?" I said. "You do not +rate me very high." + +"Why should you stay?" she asked. "You are no friend of ours." + +I know not what came over me, for I had not been conscious of a +similar weakness since I was a child, but I was so mortified by +this retort that my eyes pricked and filled with tears, as I +continued to gaze upon her face. + +"No, no," she said, in a changed voice; "I did not mean the words +unkindly." + +"It was I who offended," I said; and I held out my hand with a look +of appeal that somehow touched her, for she gave me hers at once, +and even eagerly. I held it for awhile in mine, and gazed into her +eyes. It was she who first tore her hand away, and, forgetting all +about her request and the promise she had sought to extort, ran at +the top of her speed, and without turning, till she was out of +sight. And then I knew that I loved her, and thought in my glad +heart that she--she herself--was not indifferent to my suit. Many +a time she has denied it in after days, but it was with a smiling +and not a serious denial. For my part, I am sure our hands would +not have lain so closely in each other if she had not begun to melt +to me already. And, when all is said, it is no great contention, +since, by her own avowal, she began to love me on the morrow. + +And yet on the morrow very little took place. She came and called +me down as on the day before, upbraided me for lingering at Graden, +and, when she found I was still obdurate, began to ask me more +particularly as to my arrival. I told her by what series of +accidents I had come to witness their disembarkation, and how I had +determined to remain, partly from the interest which had been +awakened in me by Northmour's guests, and partly because of his own +murderous attack. As to the former, I fear I was disingenuous, and +led her to regard herself as having been an attraction to me from +the first moment that I saw her on the links. It relieves my heart +to make this confession even now, when my wife is with God, and +already knows all things, and the honesty of my purpose even in +this; for while she lived, although it often pricked my conscience, +I had never the hardihood to undeceive her. Even a little secret, +in such a married life as ours, is like the rose leaf which kept +the princess from her sleep. + +From this the talk branched into other subjects, and I told her +much about my lonely and wandering existence; she, for her part, +giving ear, and saying little. Although we spoke very naturally, +and latterly on topics that might seem indifferent, we were both +sweetly agitated. Too soon it was time for her to go; and we +separated, as if by mutual consent, without shaking hands, for both +knew that, between us, it was no idle ceremony. + +The next, and that was the fourth day of our acquaintance, we met +in the same spot, but early in the morning, with much familiarity +and yet much timidity on either side. While she had once more +spoken about my danger--and that, I understood, was her excuse for +coming--I, who had prepared a great deal of talk during the night, +began to tell her how highly I valued her kind interest, and how no +one had ever cared to hear about my life, nor had I ever cared to +relate it, before yesterday. Suddenly she interrupted me, saying +with vehemence-- + +"And yet, if you knew who I was, you would not so much as speak to +me!" + +I told her such a thought was madness, and, little as we had met, I +counted her already a dear friend; but my protestations seemed only +to make her more desperate. + +"My father is in hiding!" she cried. + +"My dear," I said, forgetting for the first time to add "young +lady," "what do I care? If I were in hiding twenty times over, +would it make one thought of change in you?" + +"Ah, but the cause!" she cried, "the cause! It is"--she faltered +for a second--"it is disgraceful to us!" + + +IV + + +This was my wife's story, as I drew it from her among tears and +sobs. Her name was Clara Huddlestone: it sounded very beautiful in +my ears; but not so beautiful as that other name of Clara Cassilis, +which she wore during the longer and, I thank God, the happier +portion of her life. Her father, Bernard Huddlestone, had been a +private banker in a very large way of business. Many years before, +his affairs becoming disordered, he had been led to try dangerous, +and at last criminal, expedients to retrieve himself from ruin. +All was in vain; he became more and more cruelly involved, and +found his honor lost at the same moment with his fortune. About +this period, Northmour had been courting his daughter with great +assiduity, though with small encouragement; and to him, knowing him +thus disposed in his favor, Bernard Huddlestone turned for help in +his extremity. It was not merely ruin and dishonor, nor merely a +legal condemnation, that the unhappy man had brought upon his head. +It seems he could have gone to prison with a light heart. What he +feared, what kept him awake at night or recalled him from slumber +into frenzy, was some secret, sudden, and unlawful attempt upon his +life. Hence, he desired to bury his existence and escape to one of +the islands in the South Pacific, and it was in Northmour's yacht, +the "Red Earl," that he designed to go. The yacht picked them up +clandestinely upon the coast of Wales, and had once more deposited +them at Graden, till she could be refitted and provisioned for the +longer voyage. Nor could Clara doubt that her hand had been +stipulated as the price of passage. For, although Northmour was +neither unkind, nor even discourteous, he had shown himself in +several instances somewhat overbold in speech and manner. + +I listened, I need not say, with fixed attention, and put many +questions as to the more mysterious part. It was in vain. She had +no clear idea of what the blow was, nor of how it was expected to +fall. Her father's alarm was unfeigned and physically prostrating, +and he had thought more than once of making an unconditional +surrender to the police. But the scheme was finally abandoned, for +he was convinced that not even the strength of our English prisons +could shelter him from his pursuers. He had had many affairs in +Italy, and with Italians resident in London, in the latter years of +his business; and these last, as Clara fancied, were somehow +connected with the doom that threatened him. He had shown great +terror at the presence of an Italian seaman on board the "Red +Earl," and had bitterly and repeatedly accused Northmour in +consequence. The latter had protested that Beppo (that was the +seaman's name) was a capital fellow, and could be trusted to the +death; but Mr. Huddlestone had continued ever since to declare that +all was lost, that it was only a question of days, and that Beppo +would be the ruin of him yet. + +I regarded the whole story as the hallucination of a mind shaken by +calamity. He had suffered heavy loss by his Italian transactions; +and hence the sight of an Italian was hateful to him, and the +principal part in his nightmare would naturally enough be played by +one of that nation. + +"What your father wants," I said, "is a good doctor and some +calming medicine." + +"But Mr. Northmour?" objected Clara. "He is untroubled by losses, +and yet he shares in this terror." + +I could not help laughing at what I considered her simplicity. + +"My dear," said I, "you have told me yourself what reward he has to +look for. All is fair in love, you must remember; and if Northmour +foments your father's terrors, it is not at all because he is +afraid of any Italian man, but simply because he is infatuated with +a charming English woman." + +She reminded me of his attack upon myself on the night of the +disembarkation, and this I was unable to explain. In short, and +from one thing to another, it was agreed between us that I should +set out at once for the fisher village, Graden Wester, as it was +called, look up all the newspapers I could find, and see for myself +if there seemed any basis of fact for these continued alarms. The +next morning, at the same hour and place, I was to make my report +to Clara. She said no more on that occasion about my departure; +nor, indeed, did she make it a secret that she clung to the thought +of my proximity as something helpful and pleasant; and, for my +part, I could not have left her, if she had gone upon her knees to +ask it. + +I reached Graden Wester before ten in the forenoon; for in those +days I was an excellent pedestrian, and the distance, as I think I +have said, was little over seven miles; fine walking all the way +upon the springy turf. The village is one of the bleakest on that +coast, which is saying much: there is a church in the hollow; a +miserable haven in the rocks, where many boats have been lost as +they returned from fishing; two or three score of stone houses +arranged along the beach and in two streets, one leading from the +harbor, and another striking out from it at right angles; and, at +the corner of these two, a very dark and cheerless tavern, by way +of principal hotel. + +I had dressed myself somewhat more suitably to my station in life, +and at once called upon the minister in his little manse beside the +graveyard. He knew me, although it was more than nine years since +we had met; and when I told him that I had been long upon a walking +tour, and was behind with the news, readily lent me an armful of +newspapers, dating from a month back to the day before. With these +I sought the tavern, and, ordering some breakfast, sat down to +study the "Huddlestone Failure." + +It had been, it appeared, a very flagrant case. Thousands of +persons were reduced to poverty; and one in particular had blown +out his brains as soon as payment was suspended. It was strange to +myself that, while I read these details, I continued rather to +sympathize with Mr. Huddlestone than with his victims; so complete +already was the empire of my love for my wife. A price was +naturally set upon the banker's head; and, as the case was +inexcusable and the public indignation thoroughly aroused, the +unusual figure of 750 pounds was offered for his capture. He was +reported to have large sums of money in his possession. One day, +he had been heard of in Spain; the next, there was sure +intelligence that he was still lurking between Manchester and +Liverpool, or along the border of Wales; and the day after, a +telegram would announce his arrival in Cuba or Yucatan. But in all +this there was no word of an Italian, nor any sign of mystery. + +In the very last paper, however, there was one item not so clear. +The accountants who were charged to verify the failure had, it +seemed, come upon the traces of a very large number of thousands, +which figured for some time in the transactions of the house of +Huddlestone; but which came from nowhere, and disappeared in the +same mysterious fashion. It was only once referred to by name, and +then under the initials "X. X."; but it had plainly been floated +for the first time into the business at a period of great +depression some six years ago. The name of a distinguished royal +personage had been mentioned by rumor in connection with this sum. +"The cowardly desperado"--such, I remember, was the editorial +expression--was supposed to have escaped with a large part of this +mysterious fund still in his possession. + +I was still brooding over the fact, and trying to torture it into +some connection with Mr. Huddlestone's danger, when a man entered +the tavern and asked for some bread and cheese with a decided +foreign accent. + +"Siete Italiano?" said I. + +"Si, Signor," was his reply. + +I said it was unusually far north to find one of his compatriots; +at which he shrugged his shoulders, and replied that a man would go +anywhere to find work. What work he could hope to find at Graden +Wester, I was totally unable to conceive; and the incident struck +so unpleasantly upon my mind, that I asked the landlord, while he +was counting me some change, whether he had ever before seen an +Italian in the village. He said he had once seen some Norwegians, +who had been shipwrecked on the other side of Graden Ness and +rescued by the lifeboat from Cauldhaven. + +"No!" said I; "but an Italian, like the man who has just had bread +and cheese." + +"What?" cried he, "yon black-avised fellow wi' the teeth? Was he +an I-talian? Weel, yon's the first that ever I saw, an' I dare say +he's like to be the last." + +Even as he was speaking, I raised my eyes, and, casting a glance +into the street, beheld three men in earnest conversation together, +and not thirty yards away. One of them was my recent companion in +the tavern parlor; the other two, by their handsome sallow features +and soft hats, should evidently belong to the same race. A crowd +of village children stood around them, gesticulating and talking +gibberish in imitation. The trio looked singularly foreign to the +bleak dirty street in which they were standing and the dark gray +heaven that overspread them; and I confess my incredulity received +at that moment a shock from which it never recovered. I might +reason with myself as I pleased, but I could not argue down the +effect of what I had seen, and I began to share in the Italian +terror. + +It was already drawing toward the close of the day before I had +returned the newspapers to the manse, and got well forward on to +the links on my way home. I shall never forget that walk. It grew +very cold and boisterous; the wind sung in the short grass about my +feet; thin rain showers came running on the gusts; and an immense +mountain range of clouds began to arise out of the bosom of the +sea. It would be hard to imagine a more dismal evening; and +whether it was from these external influences, or because my nerves +were already affected by what I had heard and seen, my thoughts +were as gloomy as the weather. + +The upper windows of the pavilion commanded a considerable spread +of links in the direction of Graden Wester. To avoid observation, +it was necessary to hug the beach until I had gained cover from the +higher sand hills on the little headland, when I might strike +across, through the hollows, for the margin of the wood. The sun +was about setting; the tide was low, and all the quicksands +uncovered; and I was moving along, lost in unpleasant thought, when +I was suddenly thunderstruck to perceive the prints of human feet. +They ran parallel to my own course, but low down upon the beach, +instead of along the border of the turf; and, when I examined them, +I saw at once, by the size and coarseness of the impression, that +it was a stranger to me and to those of the pavilion who had +recently passed that way. Not only so; but from the recklessness +of the course which he had followed, steering near to the most +formidable portions of the sand, he was evidently a stranger to the +country and to the ill-repute of Graden beach. + +Step by step I followed the prints; until, a quarter of a mile +farther, I beheld them die away into the southeastern boundary of +Graden Floe. There, whoever he was, the miserable man had +perished. One or two gulls, who had, perhaps, seen him disappear, +wheeled over his sepulcher with their usual melancholy piping. The +sun had broken through the clouds by a last effort, and colored the +wide level of quicksands with a dusky purple. I stood for some +time gazing at the spot, chilled and disheartened by my own +reflections, and with a strong and commanding consciousness of +death. I remember wondering how long the tragedy had taken, and +whether his screams had been audible at the pavilion. And then, +making a strong resolution, I was about to tear myself away, when a +gust fiercer than usual fell upon this quarter of the beach, and I +saw, now whirling high in air, now skimming lightly across the +surface of the sands, a soft, black, felt hat, somewhat conical in +shape, such as I had remarked already on the heads of the Italians. + +I believe, but I am not sure, that I uttered a cry. The wind was +driving the hat shoreward, and I ran round the border of the floe +to be ready against its arrival. The gust fell, dropping the hat +for awhile upon the quicksand, and then, once more freshening, +landed it a few yards from where I stood. I seized it with the +interest you may imagine. It had seen some service; indeed, it was +rustier than either of those I had seen that day upon the street. +The lining was red, stamped with the name of the maker, which I +have forgotten, and that of the place of manufacture, Venedig. +This (it is not yet forgotten) was the name given by the Austrians +to the beautiful city of Venice, then, and for long after, a part +of their dominions. + +The shock was complete. I saw imaginary Italians upon every side; +and for the first, and, I may say, for the last time in my +experience, became overpowered by what is called a panic terror. I +knew nothing, that is, to be afraid of, and yet I admit that I was +heartily afraid; and it was with sensible reluctance that I +returned to my exposed and solitary camp in the Sea-Wood. + +There I eat some cold porridge which had been left over from the +night before, for I was disinclined to make a fire; and, feeling +strengthened and reassured, dismissed all these fanciful terrors +from my mind, and lay down to sleep with composure. + +How long I may have slept it is impossible for me to guess; but I +was awakened at last by a sudden, blinding flash of light into my +face. It woke me like a blow. In an instant I was upon my knees. +But the light had gone as suddenly as it came. The darkness was +intense. And, as it was blowing great guns from the sea, and +pouring with rain, the noises of the storm effectually concealed +all others. + +It was, I dare say, half a minute before I regained my self- +possession. But for two circumstances, I should have thought I had +been awakened by some new and vivid form of nightmare. First, the +flap of my tent, which I had shut carefully when I retired, was now +unfastened; and, second, I could still perceive, with a sharpness +that excluded any theory of hallucination, the smell of hot metal +and of burning oil. The conclusion was obvious. I had been +awakened by some one flashing a bull's-eye lantern in my face. It +had been but a flash, and away. He had seen my face, and then +gone. I asked myself the object of so strange a proceeding, and +the answer came pat. The man, whoever he was, had thought to +recognize me, and he had not. There was another question +unresolved; and to this, I may say, I feared to give an answer; if +he had recognized me, what would he have done? + +My fears were immediately diverted from myself, for I saw that I +had been visited in a mistake; and I became persuaded that some +dreadful danger threatened the pavilion. It required some nerve to +issue forth into the black and intricate thicket which surrounded +and overhung the den; but I groped my way to the links, drenched +with rain, beaten upon and deafened by the gusts, and fearing at +every step to lay my hand upon some lurking adversary. The +darkness was so complete that I might have been surrounded by an +army and yet none the wiser, and the uproar of the gale so loud +that my hearing was as useless as my sight. + +For the rest of that night, which seemed interminably long, I +patrolled the vicinity of the pavilion, without seeing a living +creature or hearing any noise but the concert of the wind, the sea, +and the rain. A light in the upper story filtered through a cranny +of the shutter, and kept me company till the approach of dawn. + + +V + + +With the first peep of day, I retired from the open to my old lair +among the sand hills, there to await the coming of my wife. The +morning was gray, wild, and melancholy; the wind moderated before +sunrise, and then went about, and blew in puffs from the shore; the +sea began to go down, but the rain still fell without mercy. Over +all the wilderness of links there was not a creature to be seen. +Yet I felt sure the neighborhood was alive with skulking foes. The +light that had been so suddenly and surprisingly flashed upon my +face as I lay sleeping, and the hat that had been blown ashore by +the wind from over Graden Floe, were two speaking signals of the +peril that environed Clara and the party in the pavilion. + +It was, perhaps, half-past seven, or nearer eight, before I saw the +door open, and that dear figure come toward me in the rain. I was +waiting for her on the beach before she had crossed the sand hills. + +"I have had such trouble to come!" she cried. "They did not wish +me to go walking in the rain." + +"Clara," I said, "you are not frightened!" + +"No," said she, with a simplicity that filled my heart with +confidence. For my wife was the bravest as well as the best of +women; in my experience, I have not found the two go always +together, but with her they did; and she combined the extreme of +fortitude with the most endearing and beautiful virtues. + +I told her what had happened; and, though her cheek grew visibly +paler, she retained perfect control over her senses. + +"You see now that I am safe," said I, in conclusion. "They do not +mean to harm me; for, had they chosen, I was a dead man last +night." + +She laid her hand upon my arm. + +"And I had no presentiment!" she cried. + +Her accent thrilled me with delight. I put my arm about her, and +strained her to my side; and, before either of us was aware, her +hands were on my shoulders and my lips upon her mouth. Yet up to +that moment no word of love had passed between us. To this day I +remember the touch of her cheek, which was wet and cold with the +rain; and many a time since, when she has been washing her face, I +have kissed it again for the sake of that morning on the beach. +Now that she is taken from me, and I finish my pilgrimage alone, I +recall our old loving kindnesses and the deep honesty and affection +which united us, and my present loss seems but a trifle in +comparison. + +We may have thus stood for some seconds--for time passes quickly +with lovers--before we were startled by a peal of laughter close at +hand. It was not natural mirth, but seemed to be affected in order +to conceal an angrier feeling. We both turned, though I still kept +my left arm about Clara's waist; nor did she seek to withdraw +herself; and there, a few paces off upon the beach, stood +Northmour, his head lowered, his hands behind his back, his +nostrils white with passion. + +"Ah! Cassilis!" he said, as I disclosed my face. + +"That same," said I; for I was not at all put about. + +"And so, Miss Huddlestone," he continued slowly but savagely, "this +is how you keep your faith to your father and to me? This is the +value you set upon your father's life? And you are so infatuated +with this young gentleman that you must brave ruin, and decency, +and common human caution--" + +"Miss Huddlestone--" I was beginning to interrupt him, when he, in +his turn, cut in brutally-- + +"You hold your tongue," said he; "I am speaking to that girl." + +"That girl, as you call her, is my wife," said I; and my wife only +leaned a little nearer, so that I knew she had affirmed my words. + +"Your what?" he cried. "You lie!" + +"Northmour," I said, "we all know you have a bad temper, and I am +the last man to be irritated by words. For all that, I propose +that you speak lower, for I am convinced that we are not alone." + +He looked round him, and it was plain my remark had in some degree +sobered his passion. "What do you mean?" he asked. + +I only said one word: "Italians." + +He swore a round oath, and looked at us, from one to the other. + +"Mr. Cassilis knows all that I know," said my wife. + +"What I want to know," he broke out, "is where the devil Mr. +Cassilis comes from, and what the devil Mr. Cassilis is doing here. +You say you are married; that I do not believe. If you were, +Graden Floe would soon divorce you; four minutes and a half, +Cassilis. I keep my private cemetery for my friends." + +"It took somewhat longer," said I, "for that Italian." + +He looked at me for a moment half daunted, and then, almost +civilly, asked me to tell my story. "You have too much the +advantage of me, Cassilis," he added. I complied of course; and he +listened, with several ejaculations, while I told him how I had +come to Graden: that it was I whom he had tried to murder on the +night of landing; and what I had subsequently seen and heard of the +Italians. + +"Well," said he, when I had done, "it is here at last; there is no +mistake about that. And what, may I ask, do you propose to do?" + +"I propose to stay with you and lend a hand," said I. + +"You are a brave man," he returned, with a peculiar intonation. + +"I am not afraid," said I. + +"And so," he continued, "I am to understand that you two are +married? And you stand up to it before my face, Miss Huddlestone?" + +"We are not yet married," said Clara; "but we shall be as soon as +we can." + +"Bravo!" cried Northmour. "And the bargain? D--n it, you're not a +fool, young woman; I may call a spade a spade with you. How about +the bargain? You know as well as I do what your father's life +depends upon. I have only to put my hands under my coat tails and +walk away, and his throat would be cut before the evening." + +"Yes, Mr. Northmour," returned Clara, with great spirit; "but that +is what you will never do. You made a bargain that was unworthy of +a gentleman; but you are a gentleman for all that, and you will +never desert a man whom you have begun to help." + +"Aha!" said he. "You think I will give my yacht for nothing? You +think I will risk my life and liberty for love of the old +gentleman; and then, I suppose, he best man at the wedding, to wind +up? Well," he added, with an odd smile, "perhaps you are not +altogether wrong. But ask Cassilis here. HE knows me. Am I a man +to trust? Am I safe and scrupulous? Am I kind?" + +"I know you talk a great deal, and sometimes, I think, very +foolishly," replied Clara, "but I know you are a gentleman, and I +am not the least afraid." + +He looked at her with a peculiar approval and admiration; then, +turning to me, "Do you think I would give her up without a +struggle, Frank?" said he. "I tell you plainly, you look out. The +next time we come to blows--" + +"Will make the third," I interrupted, smiling. + +"Aye, true; so it will," he said. "I had forgotten. Well, the +third time's lucky." + +"The third time, you mean, you will have the crew of the 'Red Earl' +to help," I said. + +"Do you hear him?" he asked, turning to my wife. + +"I hear two men speaking like cowards," said she. "I should +despise myself either to think or speak like that. And neither of +you believe one word that you are saying, which makes it the more +wicked and silly." + +"She's a trump!" cried Northmour. "But she's not yet Mrs. +Cassilis. I say no more. The present is not for me." + +Then my wife surprised me. + +"I leave you here," she said suddenly. "My father has been too +long alone. But remember this: you are to be friends, for you are +both good friends to me." + +She has since told me her reason for this step. As long as she +remained, she declares that we two would have continued to quarrel; +and I suppose that she was right, for when she was gone we fell at +once into a sort of confidentiality. + +Northmour stared after her as she went away over the sand hill. + +"She is the only woman in the world!" he exclaimed with an oath. +"Look at her action." + +I, for my part, leaped at this opportunity for a little further +light. + +"See here, Northmour," said I; "we are all in a tight place, are we +not?" + +"I believe you, my boy," he answered, looking me in the eyes, and +with great emphasis. "We have all hell upon us, that's the truth. +You may believe me or not, but I'm afraid of my life." + +"Tell me one thing," said I. "What are they after, these Italians? +What do they want with Mr. Huddlestone?" + +"Don't you know?" he cried. "The black old scamp had carbonari +funds on a deposit--two hundred and eighty thousand; and of course +he gambled it away on stocks. There was to have been a revolution +in the Tridentino, or Parma; but the revolution is off, and the +whole wasp's nest is after Huddlestone. We shall all be lucky if +we can save our skins." + +"The carbonari!" I exclaimed; "God help him indeed!" + +"Amen!" said Northmour. "And now, look here: I have said that we +are in a fix; and, frankly, I shall be glad of your help. If I +can't save Huddlestone, I want at least to save the girl. Come and +stay in the pavilion; and, there's my hand on it, I shall act as +your friend until the old man is either clear or dead. But," he +added, "once that is settled, you become my rival once again, and I +warn you--mind yourself." + +"Done!" said I; and we shook hands. + +"And now let us go directly to the fort," said Northmour; and he +began to lead the way through the rain. + + +VI + + +We were admitted to the pavilion by Clara, and I was surprised by +the completeness and security of the defenses. A barricade of +great strength, and yet easy to displace, supported the door +against any violence from without; and the shutters of the dining- +room, into which I was led directly, and which was feebly +illuminated by a lamp, were even more elaborately fortified. The +panels were strengthened by bars and crossbars; and these, in their +turn, were kept in position by a system of braces and struts, some +abutting on the floor, some on the roof, and others, in fine, +against the opposite wall of the apartment. It was at once a solid +and well-designed piece of carpentry; and I did not seek to conceal +my admiration. + +"I am the engineer," said Northmour. "You remember the planks in +the garden? Behold them?" + +"I did not know you had so many talents," said I. + +"Are you armed?" he continued, pointing to an array of guns and +pistols, all in admirable order, which stood in line against the +wall or were displayed upon the sideboard. + +"Thank you," I returned; "I have gone armed since our last +encounter. But, to tell you the truth, I have had nothing to eat +since early yesterday evening." + +Northmour produced some cold meat, to which I eagerly set myself, +and a bottle of good Burgundy, by which, wet as I was, I did not +scruple to profit. I have always been an extreme temperance man on +principle; but it is useless to push principle to excess, and on +this occasion I believe that I finished three quarters of the +bottle. As I eat, I still continued to admire the preparations for +defense. + +"We could stand a siege," I said at length. + +"Ye--es," drawled Northmour; "a very little one, perhaps. It is +not so much the strength of the pavilion I misdoubt; it is the +double danger that kills me. If we get to shooting, wild as the +country is, some one is sure to hear it, and then--why then it's +the same thing, only different, as they say: caged by law, or +killed by carbonari. There's the choice. It is a devilish bad +thing to have the law against you in this world, and so I tell the +old gentleman upstairs. He is quite of my way of thinking." + +"Speaking of that," said I, "what kind of person is he?" + +"Oh, he!" cried the other; "he's a rancid fellow, as far as he +goes. I should like to have his neck wrung to-morrow by all the +devils in Italy. I am not in this affair for him. You take me? I +made a bargain for missy's hand, and I mean to have it too." + +"That, by the way," said I. "I understand. But how will Mr. +Huddlestone take my intrusion?" + +"Leave that to Clara," returned Northmour. + +I could have struck him in the face for his coarse familiarity; but +I respected the truce, as, I am bound to say, did Northmour, and so +long as the danger continued not a cloud arose in our relation. I +bear him this testimony with the most unfeigned satisfaction; nor +am I without pride when I look back upon my own behavior. For +surely no two men were ever left in a position so invidious and +irritating. + +As soon as I had done eating, we proceeded to inspect the lower +floor. Window by window we tried the different supports, now and +then making an inconsiderable change; and the strokes of the hammer +sounded with startling loudness through the house. I proposed, I +remember, to make loopholes; but he told me they were already made +in the windows of the upper story. It was an anxious business, +this inspection, and left me down-hearted. There were two doors +and five windows to protect, and, counting Clara, only four of us +to defend them against an unknown number of foes. I communicated +my doubts to Northmour, who assured me, with unmoved composure, +that he entirely shared them. + +"Before morning," said he, "we shall all be butchered and buried in +Graden Floe. For me, that is written." + +I could not help shuddering at the mention of the quicksand, but +reminded Northmour that our enemies had spared me in the wood. + +"Do not flatter yourself," said he. "Then you were not in the same +boat with the old gentleman; now you are. It's the floe for all of +us, mark my words." + +I trembled for Clara; and just then her dear voice was heard +calling us to come upstairs. Northmour showed me the way, and, +when he had reached the landing, knocked at the door of what used +to be called My Uncle's Bedroom, as the founder of the pavilion had +designed it especially for himself. + +"Come in, Northmour; come in, dear Mr. Cassilis," said a voice from +within. + +Pushing open the door, Northmour admitted me before him into the +apartment. As I came in I could see the daughter slipping out by +the side door into the study, which had been prepared as her +bedroom. In the bed, which was drawn back against the wall, +instead of standing, as I had last seen it, boldly across the +window, sat Bernard Huddlestone, the defaulting banker. Little as +I had seen of him by the shifting light of the lantern on the +links, I had no difficulty in recognizing him for the same. He had +a long and sallow countenance, surrounded by a long red beard and +side-whiskers. His broken nose and high cheek-hones gave him +somewhat the air of a Kalmuck, and his light eyes shone with the +excitement of a high fever. He wore a skull-cap of black silk; a +huge Bible lay open before him on the bed, with a pair of gold +spectacles in the place, and a pile of other books lay on the stand +by his side. The green curtains lent a cadaverous shade to his +cheek; and, as he sat propped on pillows, his great stature was +painfully hunched, and his head protruded till it overhung his +knees. I believe if he had not died otherwise, he must have fallen +a victim to consumption in the course of but a very few weeks. + +He held out to me a hand, long, thin, and disagreeably hairy. + +"Come in, come in, Mr. Cassilis," said he. "Another protector-- +ahem!--another protector. Always welcome as a friend of my +daughter's, Mr. Cassilis. How they have rallied about me, my +daughter's friends! May God in heaven bless and reward them for +it!" + +I gave him my hand, of course, because I could not help it; but the +sympathy I had been prepared to feel for Clara's father was +immediately soured by his appearance, and the wheedling, unreal +tones in which he spoke. + +"Cassilis is a good man," said Northmour; "worth ten." + +"So I hear," cried Mr. Huddlestone eagerly; "so my girl tells me. +Ah, Mr. Cassilis, my sin has found me out, you see! I am very low, +very low; but I hope equally penitent. We must all come to the +throne of grace at last, Mr. Cassilis. For my part, I come late +indeed; but with unfeigned humility, I trust." + +"Fiddle-de-dee!" said Northmour roughly. + +"No, no, dear Northmour!" cried the banker. "You must not say +that; you must not try to shake me. You forget, my dear, good boy, +you forget I may be called this very night before my Maker." + +His excitement was pitiful to behold; and I felt myself grow +indignant with Northmour, whose infidel opinions I well knew, and +heartily despised, as he continued to taunt the poor sinner out of +his humor of repentance. + +"Pooh, my dear Huddlestone!" said he. "You do yourself injustice. +You are a man of the world inside and out, and were up to all kinds +of mischief before I was born. Your conscience is tanned like +South American leather--only you forgot to tan your liver, and +that, if you will believe me, is the seat of the annoyance." + +"Rogue, rogue! bad boy!" said Mr. Huddlestone, shaking his finger. +"I am no precisian, if you come to that; I always hated a +precisian; but I never lost hold of something better through it +all. I have been a bad boy, Mr. Cassilis; I do not seek to deny +that; but it was after my wife's death, and you know, with a +widower, it's a different thing: sinful--I won't say no; but there +is a gradation, we shall hope. And talking of that-- Hark!" he +broke out suddenly, his hand raised, his fingers spread, his face +racked with interest and terror. "Only the rain, bless God!" he +added, after a pause, and with indescribable relief. + +For some seconds he lay back among the pillows like a man near to +fainting; then he gathered himself together, and, in somewhat +tremulous tones, began once more to thank me for the share I was +prepared to take in his defense. + +"One question, sir," said I, when he had paused. "Is it true that +you have money with you?" + +He seemed annoyed by the question, but admitted with reluctance +that he had a little. + +"Well," I continued, "it is their money they are after, is it not? +Why not give it up to them?" + +"Ah!" replied he, shaking his head, "I have tried that already, Mr. +Cassilis; and alas! that it should be so, but it is blood they +want." + +"Huddlestone, that's a little less than fair," said Northmour. +"You should mention that what you offered them was upward of two +hundred thousand short. The deficit is worth a reference; it is +for what they call a cool sum, Frank. Then, you see, the fellows +reason in their clear Italian way; and it seems to them, as indeed +it seems to me, that they may just as well have both while they're +about it--money and blood together, by George, and no more trouble +for the extra pleasure." + +"Is it in the pavilion?" I asked. + +"It is; and I wish it were in the bottom of the sea instead," said +Northmour; and then suddenly--"What are you making faces at me +for?" he cried to Mr. Huddlestone, on whom I had unconsciously +turned my back. "Do you think Cassilis would sell you?" + +Mr. Huddlestone protested that nothing had been further from his +mind. + +"It is a good thing," retorted Northmour in his ugliest manner. +"You might end by wearying us. What were you going to say?" he +added, turning to me. + +"I was going to propose an occupation for the afternoon," said I. +"Let us carry that money out, piece by piece, and lay it down +before the pavilion door. If the carbonari come, why, it's theirs +at any rate." + +"No, no," cried Mr. Huddlestone; "it does not, it cannot, belong to +them! It should be distributed pro rata among all my creditors." + +"Come now, Huddlestone," said Northmour, "none of that." + +"Well, but my daughter," moaned the wretched man. "Your daughter +will do well enough. Here are two suitors, Cassilis and I, neither +of us beggars, between whom she has to choose. And as for +yourself, to make an end of arguments, you have no right to a +farthing, and, unless I'm much mistaken, you are going to die." + +It was certainly very cruelly said; but Mr. Huddlestone was a man +who attracted little sympathy; and, although I saw him wince and +shudder, I mentally indorsed the rebuke; nay, I added a +contribution of my own. + +"Northmour and I," I said, "are willing enough to help you to save +your life, but not to escape with stolen property." + +He struggled for awhile with himself, as though he were on the +point of giving way to anger, but prudence had the best of the +controversy. + +"My dear boys," he said, "do with me or my money what you will. I +leave all in your hands. Let me compose myself." + +And so we left him, gladly enough I am sure. + +The last that I saw, he had once more taken up his great Bible, and +with tremulous hands was adjusting his spectacles to read. + + +VII + + +The recollection of that afternoon will always be graven on my +mind. Northmour and I were persuaded that an attack was imminent; +and if it had been in our power to alter in any way the order of +events, that power would have been used to precipitate rather than +delay the critical moment. The worst was to be anticipated; yet we +could conceive no extremity so miserable as the suspense we were +now suffering. I have never been an eager, though always a great, +reader; but I never knew books so insipid as those which I took up +and cast aside that afternoon in the pavilion. Even talk became +impossible, as the hours went on. One or other was always +listening for some sound, or peering from an upstairs window over +the links. And yet not a sign indicated the presence of our foes. + +We debated over and over again my proposal with regard to the +money; and had we been in complete possession of our faculties, I +am sure we should have condemned it as unwise; but we were +flustered with alarm, grasped at a straw, and determined, although +it was as much as advertising Mr. Huddlestone's presence in the +pavilion, to carry my proposal into effect. + +The sum was part in specie, part in bank paper, and part in +circular notes payable to the name of James Gregory. We took it +out, counted it, inclosed it once more in a dispatch box belonging +to Northmour, and prepared a letter in Italian which he tied to the +handle. It was signed by both of us under oath, and declared that +this was all the money which had escaped the failure of the house +of Huddlestone. This was, perhaps, the maddest action ever +perpetrated by two persons professing to be sane. Had the dispatch +box fallen into other hands than those for which it was intended, +we stood criminally convicted on our own written testimony; but, as +I have said, we were neither of us in a condition to judge soberly, +and had a thirst for action that drove us to do something, right or +wrong, rather than endure the agony of waiting. Moreover, as we +were both convinced that the hollows of the links were alive with +hidden spies upon our movements, we hoped that our appearance with +the box might lead to a parley, and, perhaps, a compromise. + +It was nearly three when we issued from the pavilion. The rain had +taken off; the sun shone quite cheerfully. I had never seen the +gulls fly so close about the house or approach so fearlessly to +human beings. On the very doorstep one flapped heavily past our +heads, and uttered its wild cry in my very ear. + +"There is an omen for you," said Northmour, who like all +freethinkers was much under the influence of superstition. "They +think we are already dead." + +I made some light rejoinder, but it was with half my heart; for the +circumstance had impressed me. + +A yard or two before the gate, on a patch of smooth turf, we set +down the dispatch box; and Northmour waved a white handkerchief +over his head. Nothing replied. We raised our voices, and cried +aloud in Italian that we were there as ambassadors to arrange the +quarrel, but the stillness remained unbroken save by the seagulls +and the surf. I had a weight at my heart when we desisted; and I +saw that even Northmour was unusually pale. He looked over his +shoulder nervously, as though he feared that some one had crept +between him and the pavilion door. + +"By God," he said in a whisper, "this is too much for me!" + +I replied in the same key: "Suppose there should be none, after +all!" + +"Look there," he returned, nodding with his head, as though he had +been afraid to point. + +I glanced in the direction indicated; and there, from the northern +quarter of the Sea-Wood, beheld a thin column of smoke rising +steadily against the now cloudless sky. + +"Northmour," I said (we still continued to talk in whispers), "it +is not possible to endure this suspense. I prefer death fifty +times over. Stay you here to watch the pavilion; I will go forward +and make sure, if I have to walk right into their camp." + +He looked once again all round him with puckered eyes, and then +nodded assentingly to my proposal. + +My heart heat like a sledge hammer as I set out walking rapidly in +the direction of the smoke; and, though up to that moment I had +felt chill and shivering, I was suddenly conscious of a glow of +heat all over my body. The ground in this direction was very +uneven; a hundred men might have lain hidden in as many square +yards about my path. But I who had not practiced the business in +vain, chose such routes as cut at the very root of concealment, +and, by keeping along the most convenient ridges, commanded several +hollows at a time. It was not long before I was rewarded for my +caution. Coming suddenly on to a mound somewhat more elevated than +the surrounding hummocks, I saw, not thirty yards away, a man bent +almost double, and running as fast as his attitude permitted, along +the bottom of a gully. I had dislodged one of the spies from his +ambush. As soon as I sighted him, I called loudly both in English +and Italian; and he, seeing concealment was no longer possible, +straightened himself out, leaped from the gully, and made off as +straight as an arrow for the borders of the wood. It was none of +my business to pursue; I had learned what I wanted--that we were +beleaguered and watched in the pavilion; and I returned at once, +and walked as nearly as possible in my old footsteps, to where +Northmour awaited me beside the dispatch box. He was even paler +than when I had left him, and his voice shook a little. + +"Could you see what he was like?" he asked. + +"He kept his back turned," I replied. + +"Let us get into the house, Frank. I don't think I'm a coward, but +I can stand no more of this," he whispered. + +All was still and sunshiny about the pavilion, as we turned to +reenter it; even the gulls had flown in a wider circuit, and were +seen flickering along the beach and sand hills; and this loneliness +terrified me more than a regiment under arms. It was not until the +door was barricaded that I could draw a full inspiration and +relieve the weight that lay upon my bosom. Northmour and I +exchanged a steady glance; and I suppose each made his own +reflections on the white and startled aspect of the other. + +"You were right," I said. "All is over. Shake hands, old man, for +the last time." + +"Yes," replied he, "I will shake hands; for, as sure as I am here, +I bear no malice. But, remember, if, by some impossible accident, +we should give the slip to these blackguards, I'll take the upper +hand of you by fair or foul." + +"Oh," said I, "you weary me!" + +He seemed hurt, and walked away in silence to the foot of the +stairs, where he paused. + +"You do not understand," said he. "I am not a swindler, and I +guard myself; that is all. I may weary you or not, Mr. Cassilis, I +do not care a rush; I speak for my own satisfaction, and not for +your amusement. You had better go upstairs and court the girl; for +my part, I stay here." + +"And I stay with you," I returned. "Do you think I would steal a +march, even with your permission?" + +"Frank," he said, smiling, "it's a pity you are an ass, for you +have the makings of a man. I think I must be fey to-day; you +cannot irritate me even when you try. Do you know," he continued +softly, "I think we are the two most miserable men in England, you +and I? we have got on to thirty without wife or child, or so much +as a shop to look after--poor, pitiful, lost devils, both! And now +we clash about a girl! As if there were not several millions in +the United Kingdom! Ah, Frank, Frank, the one who loses his throw, +be it you or me, he has my pity! It were better for him--how does +the Bible say?--that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he +were cast into the depth of the sea. Let us take a drink," he +concluded suddenly, but without any levity of tone. + +I was touched by his words, and consented. He sat down on the +table in the dining-room, and held up the glass of sherry to his +eye. + +"If you beat me, Frank," he said, "I shall take to drink. What +will you do, if it goes the other way?" + +"God knows," I returned. + +"Well," said he, "here is a toast in the meantime: 'Italia +irredenta!'" + +The remainder of the day was passed in the same dreadful tedium and +suspense. I laid the table for dinner, while Northmour and Clara +prepared the meal together in the kitchen. I could hear their talk +as I went to and fro, and was surprised to find it ran all the time +upon myself. Northmour again bracketed us together, and rallied +Clara on a choice of husbands; but he continued to speak of me with +some feeling, and uttered nothing to my prejudice unless he +included himself in the condemnation. This awakened a sense of +gratitude in my heart, which combined with the immediateness of our +peril to fill my eyes with tears. After all, I thought--and +perhaps the thought was laughably vain--we were here three very +noble human beings to perish in defense of a thieving banker. + +Before we sat down to table, I looked forth from an upstairs +window. The day was beginning to decline; the links were utterly +deserted; the dispatch box still lay untouched where we had left it +hours before. + +Mr. Huddlestone, in a long yellow dressing gown, took one end of +the table, Clara the other; while Northmour and I faced each other +from the sides. The lamp was brightly trimmed; the wine was good; +the viands, although mostly cold, excellent of their sort. We +seemed to have agreed tacitly; all reference to the impending +catastrophe was carefully avoided; and, considering our tragic +circumstances, we made a merrier party than could have been +expected. From time to time, it is true, Northmour or I would rise +from table and make a round of the defenses; and, on each of these +occasions, Mr. Huddlestone was recalled to a sense of his tragic +predicament, glanced up with ghastly eyes, and bore for an instant +on his countenance the stamp of terror. But he hastened to empty +his glass, wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, and joined +again in the conversation. + +I was astonished at the wit and information he displayed. Mr. +Huddlestone's was certainly no ordinary character; he had read and +observed for himself; his gifts were sound; and, though I could +never have learned to love the man, I began to understand his +success in business, and the great respect in which he had been +held before his failure. He had, above all, the talent of society; +and though I never heard him speak but on this one and most +unfavorable occasion, I set him down among the most brilliant +conversationalists I ever met. + +He was relating with great gusto, and seemingly no feeling of +shame, the maneuvers of a scoundrelly commission merchant whom he +had known and studied in his youth, and we were all listening with +an odd mixture of mirth and embarrassment, when our little party +was brought abruptly to an end in the most startling manner. + +A noise like that of a wet finger on the window pane interrupted +Mr. Huddlestone's tale; and in an instant we were all four as white +as paper, and sat tongue-tied and motionless round the table. + +"A snail," I said at last; for I had heard that these animals make +a noise somewhat similar in character. + +"Snail be d--d!" said Northmour. "Hush!" + +The same sound was repeated twice at regular intervals; and then a +formidable voice shouted through the shutters the Italian word, +"Traditore!" + +Mr. Huddlestone threw his head in the air; his eyelids quivered; +next moment he fell insensible below the table. Northmour and I +had each run to the armory and seized a gun. Clara was on her feet +with her hand at her throat. + +So we stood waiting, for we thought the hour of attack was +certainly come; but second passed after second, and all but the +surf remained silent in the neighborhood of the pavilion. + +"Quick," said Northmour; "upstairs with him before they come." + + +VIII + + +Somehow or other, by hook and crook, and between the three of us, +we got Bernard Huddlestone bundled upstairs and laid upon the bed +in My Uncle's Room. During the whole process, which was rough +enough, he gave no sign of consciousness, and he remained, as we +had thrown him, without changing the position of a finger. His +daughter opened his shirt and began to wet his head and bosom; +while Northmour and I ran to the window. The weather continued +clear; the moon, which was now about full, had risen and shed a +very clear light upon the links; yet, strain our eyes as we might, +we could distinguish nothing moving. A few dark spots, more or +less, on the uneven expanse were not to be identified; they might +be crouching men, they might be shadows; it was impossible to be +sure. + +"Thank God," said Northmour, "Aggie is not coming to-night." + +Aggie was the name of the old nurse; he had not thought of her +until now; but that he should think of her at all was a trait that +surprised me in the man. + +We were again reduced to waiting. Northmour went to the fireplace +and spread his hands before the red embers, as if he were cold. I +followed him mechanically with my eyes, and in so doing turned my +back upon the window. At that moment a very faint report was +audible from without, and a ball shivered a pane of glass, and +buried itself in the shutter two inches from my head. I heard +Clara scream; and though I whipped instantly out of range and into +a corner, she was there, so to speak, before me, beseeching to know +if I were hurt. I felt that I could stand to be shot at every day +and all day long, with such remarks of solicitude for a reward; and +I continued to reassure her, with the tenderest caresses and in +complete forgetfulness of our situation, till the voice of +Northmour recalled me to myself. + +"An air gun," he said. "They wish to make no noise." + +I put Clara aside, and looked at him. He was standing with his +back to the fire and his hands clasped behind him; and I knew by +the black look on his face, that passion was boiling within. I had +seen just such a look before he attacked me, that March night, in +the adjoining chamber; and, though I could make every allowance for +his anger, I confess I trembled for the consequences. He gazed +straight before him; but he could see us with the tail of his eye, +and his temper kept rising like a gale of wind. With regular +battle awaiting us outside, this prospect of an internecine strife +within the walls began to daunt me. + +Suddenly, as I was thus closely watching his expression and +prepared against the worst, I saw a change, a flash, a look of +relief, upon his face. He took up the lamp which stood beside him +on the table, and turned to us with an air of some excitement. + +"There is one point that we must know," said he. "Are they going +to butcher the lot of us, or only Huddlestone? Did they take you +for him, or fire at you for your own beaux yeux?" + +"They took me for him, for certain," I replied. "I am near as +tall, and my head is fair." + +"I am going to make sure," returned Northmour; and he stepped up to +the window, holding the lamp above his head, and stood there, +quietly affronting death, for half a minute. + +Clara sought to rush forward and pull him from the place of danger; +but I had the pardonable selfishness to hold her back by force. + +"Yes," said Northmour, turning coolly from the window, "it's only +Huddlestone they want." + +"Oh, Mr. Northmour!" cried Clara; but found no more to add; the +temerity she had just witnessed seeming beyond the reach of words. + +He, on his part, looked at me, cocking his head, with a fire of +triumph in his eyes; and I understood at once that he had thus +hazarded his life, merely to attract Clara's notice, and depose me +from my position as the hero of the hour. He snapped his fingers. + +"The fire is only beginning," said he. "When they warm up to their +work, they won't be so particular." + +A voice was now heard hailing us from the entrance. From the +window we could see the figure of a man in the moonlight; he stood +motionless, his face uplifted to ours, and a rag of something white +on his extended arm; and as we looked right down upon him, though +he was a good many yards distant on the links, we could see the +moonlight glitter on his eyes. + +He opened his lips again, and spoke for some minutes on end, in a +key so loud that he might have been heard in every corner of the +pavilion, and as far away as the borders of the wood. It was the +same voice that had already shouted, "Traditore!" through the +shutters of the dining-room; this time it made a complete and clear +statement. If the traitor "Oddlestone" were given up, all others +should be spared; if not, no one should escape to tell the tale. + +"Well, Huddlestone, what do you say to that?" asked Northmour, +turning to the bed. + +Up to that moment the banker had given no sign of life, and I, at +least, had supposed him to be still lying in a faint; but he +replied at once, and in such tones as I have never heard elsewhere, +save from a delirious patient, adjured and besought us not to +desert him. It was the most hideous and abject performance that my +imagination can conceive. + +"Enough," cried Northmour; and then he threw open the window, +leaned out into the night, and in a tone of exultation, and with a +total forgetfulness of what was due to the presence of a lady, +poured out upon the ambassador a string of the most abominable +raillery both in English and Italian, and bade him be gone where he +had come from. I believe that nothing so delighted Northmour at +that moment as the thought that we must all infallibly perish +before the night was out. + +Meantime, the Italian put his flag of truce into his pocket, and +disappeared, at a leisurely pace, among the sand hills. + +"They make honorable war," said Northmour. "They are all gentlemen +and soldiers. For the credit of the thing, I wish we could change +sides--you and I, Frank, and you, too, missy, my darling--and leave +that being on the bed to some one else. Tut! Don't look shocked! +We are all going post to what they call eternity, and may as well +be above board while there's time. As far as I am concerned, if I +could first strangle Huddlestone and then get Clara in my arms, I +could die with some pride and satisfaction. And as it is, by God, +I'll have a kiss!" + +Before I could do anything to interfere, he had rudely embraced and +repeatedly kissed the resisting girl. Next moment I had pulled him +away with fury, and flung him heavily against the wall. He laughed +loud and long, and I feared his wits had given way under the +strain; for even in the best of days he had been a sparing and a +quiet laugher. + +"Now, Frank," said he, when his mirth was somewhat appeased, "it's +your turn. Here's my hand. Good-bye, farewell!" Then, seeing me +stand rigid and indignant, and holding Clara to my side--"Man!" he +broke out, "are you angry? Did you think we were going to die with +all the airs and graces of society? I took a kiss; I'm glad I did +it; and now you can take another if you like, and square accounts." + +I turned from him with a feeling of contempt which I did not seek +to dissemble. + +"As you please," said he. "You've been a prig in life; a prig +you'll die." + +And with that he sat down in a chair, a rifle over his knee, and +amused himself with snapping the lock; but I could see that his +ebullition of light spirits (the only one I ever knew him to +display) had already come to an end, and was succeeded by a sullen, +scowling humor. + +All this time our assailants might have been entering the house, +and we been none the wiser; we had in truth almost forgotten the +danger that so imminently overhung our days. But just then Mr. +Huddlestone uttered a cry, and leaped from the bed. + +I asked him what was wrong. + +"Fire!" he cried. "They have set the house on fire!" + +Northmour was on his feet in an instant, and he and I ran through +the door of communication with the study. The room was illuminated +by a red and angry light. Almost at the moment of our entrance, a +tower of flame arose in front of the window, and, with a tingling +report, a pane fell inward on the carpet. They had set fire to the +lean-to outhouse, where Northmour used to nurse his negatives. + +"Hot work," said Northmour. "Let us try in your old room." + +We ran thither in a breath, threw up the casement, and looked +forth. Along the whole back wall of the pavilion piles of fuel had +been arranged and kindled; and it is probable they had been +drenched with mineral oil, for, in spite of the morning's rain, +they all burned bravely. The fire had taken a firm hold already on +the outhouse, which blazed higher and higher every moment; the back +door was in the center of a red-hot bonfire; the eaves we could +see, as we looked upward, were already smoldering, for the roof +overhung, and was supported by considerable beams of wood. At the +same time, hot, pungent, and choking volumes of smoke began to fill +the house. There was not a human being to be seen to right or +left. + +"Ah, well!" said Northmour, "here's the end, thank God!" + +And we returned to My Uncle's Room. Mr. Huddlestone was putting on +his boots, still violently trembling, but with an air of +determination such as I had not hitherto observed. Clara stood +close by him, with her cloak in both hands ready to throw about her +shoulders, and a strange look in her eyes, as if she were half +hopeful, half doubtful of her father. + +"Well, boys and girls," said Northmour, "how about a sally? The +oven is heating; it is not good to stay here and be baked; and, for +my part, I want to come to my hands with them, and be done." + +"There's nothing else left," I replied. + +And both Clara and Mr. Huddlestone, though with a very different +intonation, added, "Nothing." + +As we went downstairs the heat was excessive, and the roaring of +the fire filled our ears; and we had scarce reached the passage +before the stairs window fell in, a branch of flame shot +brandishing through the aperture, and the interior of the pavilion +became lighted up with that dreadful and fluctuating glare. At the +same moment we heard the fall of something heavy and inelastic in +the upper story. The whole pavilion, it was plain, had gone alight +like a box of matches, and now not only flamed sky high to land and +sea, but threatened with every moment to crumble and fall in about +our ears. + +Northmour and I cocked our revolvers. Mr. Huddlestone, who had +already refused a firearm, put us behind him with a manner of +command. + +"Let Clara open the door," said he. "So, if they fire a volley, +she will be protected. And in the meantime stand behind me. I am +the scapegoat; my sins have found me out." + +I heard him, as I stood breathless by his shoulder, with my pistol +ready, pattering off prayers in a tremulous, rapid whisper; and, I +confess, horrid as the thought may seem, I despised him for +thinking of supplications in a moment so critical and thrilling. +In the meantime, Clara, who was dead white but still possessed her +faculties, had displaced the barricade from the front door. +Another moment, and she had pulled it open. Firelight and +moonlight illuminated the links with confused and changeful luster, +and far away against the sky we could see a long trail of glowing +smoke. + +Mr. Huddlestone, filled for the moment with a strength greater than +his own, struck Northmour and myself a back-hander in the chest; +and while we were thus for the moment incapacitated from action, +lifting his arms above his head like one about to dive, he ran +straight forward out of the pavilion. + +"Here am I!" he cried--"Huddlestone! Kill me, and spare the +others!" + +His sudden appearance daunted, I suppose, our hidden enemies; for +Northmour and I had time to recover, to seize Clara between us, one +by each arm, and to rush forth to his assistance, ere anything +further had taken place. But scarce had we passed the threshold +when there came near a dozen reports and flashes from every +direction among the hollows of the links. Mr. Huddlestone +staggered, uttered a weird and freezing cry, threw up his arms over +his head, and fell backward on the turf. + +"Traditore! Traditore!" cried the invisible avengers. + +And just then a part of the roof of the pavilion fell in, so rapid +was the progress of the fire. A loud, vague, and horrible noise +accompanied the collapse, and a vast volume of flame went soaring +up to heaven. It must have been visible at that moment from twenty +miles out at sea, from the shore at Graden Wester, and far inland +from the peak of Graystiel, the most eastern summit of the Caulder +Hills. Bernard Huddlestone, although God knows what were his +obsequies, had a fine pyre at the moment of his death. + + +IX + + +I should have the greatest difficulty to tell you what followed +next after this tragic circumstance. It is all to me, as I look +back upon it, mixed, strenuous, and ineffectual, like the struggles +of a sleeper in a nightmare. Clara, I remember, uttered a broken +sigh and would have fallen forward to earth, had not Northmour and +I supported her insensible body. I do not think we were attacked: +I do not remember even to have seen an assailant; and I believe we +deserted Mr. Huddlestone without a glance. I only remember running +like a man in a panic, now carrying Clara altogether in my own +arms, now sharing her weight with Northmour, now scuffling +confusedly for the possession of that dear burden. Why we should +have made for my camp in the Hemlock Den, or how we reached it, are +points lost forever to my recollection. The first moment at which +I became definitely sure, Clara had been suffered to fall against +the outside of my little tent, Northmour and I were tumbling +together on the ground, and he, with contained ferocity, was +striking for my head with the butt of his revolver. He had already +twice wounded me on the scalp; and it is to the consequent loss of +blood that I am tempted to attribute the sudden clearness of my +mind. + +I caught him by the wrist. + +"Northmour," I remember saying, "you can kill me afterwards. Let +us first attend to Clara." + +He was at that moment uppermost. Scarcely had the words passed my +lips, when he had leaped to his feet and ran toward the tent; and +the next moment, he was straining Clara to his heart and covering +her unconscious hands and face with his caresses. + +"Shame!" I cried. "Shame to you, Northmour!" + +And, giddy though I still was, I struck him repeatedly upon the +head and shoulders. + +He relinquished his grasp, and faced me in the broken moonlight. + +"I had you under, and I let you go," said he; "and now you strike +me! Coward!" + +"You are the coward," I retorted. "Did she wish your kisses while +she was still sensible of what you wanted? Not she! And now she +may be dying; and you waste this precious time, and abuse her +helplessness. Stand aside, and let me help her." + +He confronted me for a moment, white and menacing; then suddenly he +stepped aside. + +"Help her then," said he. + +I threw myself on my knees beside her, and loosened, as well as I +was able, her dress and corset; but while I was thus engaged, a +grasp descended on my shoulder. + +"Keep your hands off her," said Northmour, fiercely. "Do you think +I have no blood in my veins?" + +"Northmour," I cried, "if you will neither help her yourself, nor +let me do so, do you know that I shall have to kill you?" + +"That is better!" he cried. "Let her die also, where's the harm? +Step aside from that girl! and stand up to fight." + +"You will observe," said I, half rising, "that I have not kissed +her yet." + +"I dare you to," he cried. + +I do not know what possessed me; it was one of the things I am most +ashamed of in my life, though, as my wife used to say, I knew that +my kisses would be always welcome were she dead or living; down I +fell again upon my knees, parted the hair from her forehead, and, +with the dearest respect, laid my lips for a moment on that cold +brow. It was such a caress as a father might have given; it was +such a one as was not unbecoming from a man soon to die to a woman +already dead. + +"And now," said I, "I am at your service, Mr. Northmour." + +But I saw, to my surprise, that he had turned his back upon me. + +"Do you hear?" I asked. + +"Yes," said he, "I do. If you wish to fight, I am ready. If not, +go on and save Clara. All is one to me." + +I did not wait to be twice bidden; but, stooping again over Clara, +continued my efforts to revive her. She still lay white and +lifeless; I began to fear that her sweet spirit had indeed fled +beyond recall, and horror and a sense of utter desolation seized +upon my heart. I called her by name with the most endearing +inflections; I chafed and beat her hands; now I laid her head low, +now supported it against my knee; but all seemed to be in vain, and +the lids still lay heavy on her eyes. + +"Northmour," I said, "there is my hat. For God's sake bring some +water from the spring." + +Almost in a moment he was by my side with the water. + +"I have brought it in my own," he said. "You do not grudge me the +privilege?" + +"Northmour," I was beginning to say, as I laved her head and +breast; but he interrupted me savagely. + +"Oh, you hush up!" he said. "The best thing you can do is to say +nothing." + +I had certainly no desire to talk, my mind being swallowed up in +concern for my dear love and her condition; so I continued in +silence to do my best toward her recovery, and, when the hat was +empty, returned it to him, with one word--"More." He had, perhaps, +gone several times upon this errand, when Clara reopened her eyes. + +"Now," said he, "since she is better, you can spare me, can you +not? I wish you a good night, Mr. Cassilis." + +And with that he was gone among the thicket. I made a fire, for I +had now no fear of the Italians, who had even spared all the little +possessions left in my encampment; and, broken as she was by the +excitement and the hideous catastrophe of the evening, I managed, +in one way or another--by persuasion, encouragement, warmth, and +such simple remedies as I could lay my hand on--to bring her back +to some composure of mind and strength of body. + +Day had already come, when a sharp "Hist!" sounded from the +thicket. I started from the ground; but the voice of Northmour was +heard adding, in the most tranquil tones: "Come here, Cassilis, and +alone; I want to show you something." + +I consulted Clara with my eyes, and, receiving her tacit +permission, left her alone, and clambered out of the den. At some +distance off I saw Northmour leaning against an elder; and, as soon +as he perceived me, he began walking seaward. I had almost +overtaken him as he reached the outskirts of the wood. + +"Look," said he, pausing. + +A couple of steps more brought me out of the foliage. The light of +the morning lay cold and clear over that well-known scene. The +pavilion was but a blackened wreck; the roof had fallen in, one of +the gables had fallen out; and, far and near, the face of the links +was cicatrized with little patches of burned furze. Thick smoke +still went straight upward in the windless air of the morning, and +a great pile of ardent cinders filled the bare walls of the house, +like coals in an open grate. Close by the islet a schooner yacht +lay to, and a well-manned boat was pulling vigorously for the +shore. + +"The 'Red Earl'!" I cried. "The 'Red Earl' twelve hours too late!" + +"Feel in your pocket, Frank. Are you armed?" asked Northmour. + +I obeyed him, and I think I must have become deadly pale. My +revolver had been taken from me. + +"You see, I have you in my power," he continued. "I disarmed you +last night while you were nursing Clara; but this morning--here-- +take your pistol. No thanks!" he cried, holding up his hand. "I +do not like them; that is the only way you can annoy me now." + +He began to walk forward across the links to meet the boat, and I +followed a step or two behind. In front of the pavilion I paused +to see where Mr. Huddlestone had fallen; but there was no sign of +him, nor so much as a trace of blood. + +"Graden Floe," said Northmour. + +He continued to advance till we had come to the head of the beach. + +"No farther, please," said he. "Would you like to take her to +Graden House?" + +"Thank you," replied I; "I shall try to get her to the minister at +Graden Wester." + +The prow of the boat here grated on the beach, and a sailor jumped +ashore with a line in his hand. + +"Wait a minute, lads!" cried Northmour; and then lower and to my +private ear, "You had better say nothing of all this to her," he +added. + +"On the contrary!" I broke out, "she shall know everything that I +can tell." + +"You do not understand," he returned, with an air of great dignity. +"It will be nothing to her; she expects it of me. Good-by!" he +added, with a nod. + +I offered him my hand. + +"Excuse me," said he. "It's small, I know; but I can't push things +quite so far as that. I don't wish any sentimental business, to +sit by your hearth a white-haired wanderer, and all that. Quite +the contrary: I hope to God I shall never again clap eyes on either +one of you." + +"Well, God bless you, Northmour!" I said heartily. + +"Oh, yes," he returned. + +He walked down the beach; and the man who was ashore gave him an +arm on board, and then shoved off and leaped into the bows himself. +Northmour took the tiller; the boat rose to the waves, and the oars +between the tholepins sounded crisp and measured in the morning +air. + +They were not yet half way to the "Red Earl," and I was still +watching their progress, when the sun rose out of the sea. + +One word more, and my story is done. Years after, Northmour was +killed fighting under the colors of Garibaldi for the liberation of +the Tyrol. + + + +Wilkie Collins + + +The Dream Woman + +A Mystery in Four Narratives + + +THE FIRST NARRATIVE + +INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT OF THE FACTS BY PERCY FAIRBANK + + +I + + +"Hullo, there! Hostler! Hullo-o-o!" + +"My dear! why don't you look for the bell?" + +"I HAVE looked--there is no bell." + +"And nobody in the yard. How very extraordinary! Call again, +dear." + +"Hostler! Hullo, there! Hostler-r-r!" + +My second call echoes through empty space, and rouses nobody-- +produces, in short, no visible result. I am at the end of my +resources--I don't know what to say or what to do next. Here I +stand in the solitary inn yard of a strange town, with two horses +to hold, and a lady to take care of. By way of adding to my +responsibilities, it so happens that one of the horses is dead +lame, and that the lady is my wife. + +Who am I?--you will ask. + +There is plenty of time to answer the question. Nothing happens; +and nobody appears to receive us. Let me introduce myself and my +wife. + +I am Percy Fairbank--English gentleman--age (let us say) forty--no +profession--moderate politics--middle height--fair complexion--easy +character--plenty of money. + +My wife is a French lady. She was Mademoiselle Clotilde Delorge-- +when I was first presented to her at her father's house in France. +I fell in love with her--I really don't know why. It might have +been because I was perfectly idle, and had nothing else to do at +the time. Or it might have been because all my friends said she +was the very last woman whom I ought to think of marrying. On the +surface, I must own, there is nothing in common between Mrs. +Fairbank and me. She is tall; she is dark; she is nervous, +excitable, romantic; in all her opinions she proceeds to extremes. +What could such a woman see in me? what could I see in her? I know +no more than you do. In some mysterious manner we exactly suit +each other. We have been man and wife for ten years, and our only +regret is, that we have no children. I don't know what YOU may +think; I call that--upon the whole--a happy marriage. + +So much for ourselves. The next question is--what has brought us +into the inn yard? and why am I obliged to turn groom, and hold the +horses? + +We live for the most part in France--at the country house in which +my wife and I first met. Occasionally, by way of variety, we pay +visits to my friends in England. We are paying one of those visits +now. Our host is an old college friend of mine, possessed of a +fine estate in Somersetshire; and we have arrived at his house-- +called Farleigh Hall--toward the close of the hunting season. + +On the day of which I am now writing--destined to be a memorable +day in our calendar--the hounds meet at Farleigh Hall. Mrs. +Fairbank and I are mounted on two of the best horses in my friend's +stables. We are quite unworthy of that distinction; for we know +nothing and care nothing about hunting. On the other hand, we +delight in riding, and we enjoy the breezy Spring morning and the +fair and fertile English landscape surrounding us on every side. +While the hunt prospers, we follow the hunt. But when a check +occurs--when time passes and patience is sorely tried; when the +bewildered dogs run hither and thither, and strong language falls +from the lips of exasperated sportsmen--we fail to take any further +interest in the proceedings. We turn our horses' heads in the +direction of a grassy lane, delightfully shaded by trees. We trot +merrily along the lane, and find ourselves on an open common. We +gallop across the common, and follow the windings of a second lane. +We cross a brook, we pass through a village, we emerge into +pastoral solitude among the hills. The horses toss their heads, +and neigh to each other, and enjoy it as much as we do. The hunt +is forgotten. We are as happy as a couple of children; we are +actually singing a French song--when in one moment our merriment +comes to an end. My wife's horse sets one of his forefeet on a +loose stone, and stumbles. His rider's ready hand saves him from +falling. But, at the first attempt he makes to go on, the sad +truth shows itself--a tendon is strained; the horse is lame. + +What is to be done? We are strangers in a lonely part of the +country. Look where we may, we see no signs of a human habitation. +There is nothing for it but to take the bridle road up the hill, +and try what we can discover on the other side. I transfer the +saddles, and mount my wife on my own horse. He is not used to +carry a lady; he misses the familiar pressure of a man's legs on +either side of him; he fidgets, and starts, and kicks up the dust. +I follow on foot, at a respectful distance from his heels, leading +the lame horse. Is there a more miserable object on the face of +creation than a lame horse? I have seen lame men and lame dogs who +were cheerful creatures; but I never yet saw a lame horse who +didn't look heartbroken over his own misfortune. + +For half an hour my wife capers and curvets sideways along the +bridle road. I trudge on behind her; and the heartbroken horse +halts behind me. Hard by the top of the hill, our melancholy +procession passes a Somersetshire peasant at work in a field. I +summon the man to approach us; and the man looks at me stolidly, +from the middle of the field, without stirring a step. I ask at +the top of my voice how far it is to Farleigh Hall. The +Somersetshire peasant answers at the top of HIS voice: + +"Vourteen mile. Gi' oi a drap o' zyder." + +I translate (for my wife's benefit) from the Somersetshire language +into the English language. We are fourteen miles from Farleigh +Hall; and our friend in the field desires to be rewarded, for +giving us that information, with a drop of cider. There is the +peasant, painted by himself! Quite a bit of character, my dear! +Quite a bit of character! + +Mrs. Fairbank doesn't view the study of agricultural human nature +with my relish. Her fidgety horse will not allow her a moment's +repose; she is beginning to lose her temper. + +"We can't go fourteen miles in this way," she says. "Where is the +nearest inn? Ask that brute in the field!" + +I take a shilling from my pocket and hold it up in the sun. The +shilling exercises magnetic virtues. The shilling draws the +peasant slowly toward me from the middle of the field. I inform +him that we want to put up the horses and to hire a carriage to +take us back to Farleigh Hall. Where can we do that? The peasant +answers (with his eye on the shilling): + +"At Oonderbridge, to be zure." (At Underbridge, to be sure.) + +"Is it far to Underbridge?" + +The peasant repeats, "Var to Oonderbridge?"--and laughs at the +question. "Hoo-hoo-hoo!" (Underbridge is evidently close by--if +we could only find it.) "Will you show us the way, my man?" "Will +you gi' oi a drap of zyder?" I courteously bend my head, and point +to the shilling. The agricultural intelligence exerts itself. The +peasant joins our melancholy procession. My wife is a fine woman, +but he never once looks at my wife--and, more extraordinary still, +he never even looks at the horses. His eyes are with his mind--and +his mind is on the shilling. + +We reach the top of the hill--and, behold on the other side, +nestling in a valley, the shrine of our pilgrimage, the town of +Underbridge! Here our guide claims his shilling, and leaves us to +find out the inn for ourselves. I am constitutionally a polite +man. I say "Good morning" at parting. The guide looks at me with +the shilling between his teeth to make sure that it is a good one. +"Marnin!" he says savagely--and turns his back on us, as if we had +offended him. A curious product, this, of the growth of +civilization. If I didn't see a church spire at Underbridge, I +might suppose that we had lost ourselves on a savage island. + + +II + + +Arriving at the town, we had no difficulty in finding the inn. The +town is composed of one desolate street; and midway in that street +stands the inn--an ancient stone building sadly out of repair. The +painting on the sign-board is obliterated. The shutters over the +long range of front windows are all closed. A cock and his hens +are the only living creatures at the door. Plainly, this is one of +the old inns of the stage-coach period, ruined by the railway. We +pass through the open arched doorway, and find no one to welcome +us. We advance into the stable yard behind; I assist my wife to +dismount--and there we are in the position already disclosed to +view at the opening of this narrative. No bell to ring. No human +creature to answer when I call. I stand helpless, with the bridles +of the horses in my hand. Mrs. Fairbank saunters gracefully down +the length of the yard and does--what all women do, when they find +themselves in a strange place. She opens every door as she passes +it, and peeps in. On my side, I have just recovered my breath, I +am on the point of shouting for the hostler for the third and last +time, when I hear Mrs. Fairbank suddenly call to me: + +"Percy! come here!" + +Her voice is eager and agitated. She has opened a last door at the +end of the yard, and has started back from some sight which has +suddenly met her view. I hitch the horses' bridles on a rusty nail +in the wall near me, and join my wife. She has turned pale, and +catches me nervously by the arm. + +"Good heavens!" she cries; "look at that!" + +I look--and what do I see? I see a dingy little stable, containing +two stalls. In one stall a horse is munching his corn. In the +other a man is lying asleep on the litter. + +A worn, withered, woebegone man in a hostler's dress. His hollow +wrinkled cheeks, his scanty grizzled hair, his dry yellow skin, +tell their own tale of past sorrow or suffering. There is an +ominous frown on his eyebrows--there is a painful nervous +contraction on the side of his mouth. I hear him breathing +convulsively when I first look in; he shudders and sighs in his +sleep. It is not a pleasant sight to see, and I turn round +instinctively to the bright sunlight in the yard. My wife turns me +back again in the direction of the stable door. + +"Wait!" she says. "Wait! he may do it again." + +"Do what again?" + +"He was talking in his sleep, Percy, when I first looked in. He +was dreaming some dreadful dream. Hush! he's beginning again." + +I look and listen. The man stirs on his miserable bed. The man +speaks in a quick, fierce whisper through his clinched teeth. +"Wake up! Wake up, there! Murder!" + +There is an interval of silence. He moves one lean arm slowly +until it rests over his throat; he shudders, and turns on his +straw; he raises his arm from his throat, and feebly stretches it +out; his hand clutches at the straw on the side toward which he has +turned; he seems to fancy that he is grasping at the edge of +something. I see his lips begin to move again; I step softly into +the stable; my wife follows me, with her hand fast clasped in mine. +We both bend over him. He is talking once more in his sleep-- +strange talk, mad talk, this time. + +"Light gray eyes" (we hear him say), "and a droop in the left +eyelid--flaxen hair, with a gold-yellow streak in it--all right, +mother! fair, white arms with a down on them--little, lady's hand, +with a reddish look round the fingernails--the knife--the cursed +knife--first on one side, then on the other--aha, you she-devil! +where is the knife?" + +He stops and grows restless on a sudden. We see him writhing on +the straw. He throws up both his hands and gasps hysterically for +breath. His eyes open suddenly. For a moment they look at +nothing, with a vacant glitter in them--then they close again in +deeper sleep. Is he dreaming still? Yes; but the dream seems to +have taken a new course. When he speaks next, the tone is altered; +the words are few--sadly and imploringly repeated over and over +again. "Say you love me! I am so fond of YOU. Say you love me! +say you love me!" He sinks into deeper and deeper sleep, faintly +repeating those words. They die away on his lips. He speaks no +more. + +By this time Mrs. Fairbank has got over her terror; she is devoured +by curiosity now. The miserable creature on the straw has appealed +to the imaginative side of her character. Her illimitable appetite +for romance hungers and thirsts for more. She shakes me +impatiently by the arm. + +"Do you hear? There is a woman at the bottom of it, Percy! There +is love and murder in it, Percy! Where are the people of the inn? +Go into the yard, and call to them again." + +My wife belongs, on her mother's side, to the South of France. The +South of France breeds fine women with hot tempers. I say no more. +Married men will understand my position. Single men may need to be +told that there are occasions when we must not only love and honor- +-we must also obey--our wives. + +I turn to the door to obey MY wife, and find myself confronted by a +stranger who has stolen on us unawares. The stranger is a tiny, +sleepy, rosy old man, with a vacant pudding-face, and a shining +bald head. He wears drab breeches and gaiters, and a respectable +square-tailed ancient black coat. I feel instinctively that here +is the landlord of the inn. + +"Good morning, sir," says the rosy old man. "I'm a little hard of +hearing. Was it you that was a-calling just now in the yard?" + +Before I can answer, my wife interposes. She insists (in a shrill +voice, adapted to our host's hardness of hearing) on knowing who +that unfortunate person is sleeping on the straw. "Where does he +come from? Why does he say such dreadful things in his sleep? Is +he married or single? Did he ever fall in love with a murderess? +What sort of a looking woman was she? Did she really stab him or +not? In short, dear Mr. Landlord, tell us the whole story!" + +Dear Mr. Landlord waits drowsily until Mrs. Fairbank has quite +done--then delivers himself of his reply as follows: + +"His name's Francis Raven. He's an Independent Methodist. He was +forty-five year old last birthday. And he's my hostler. That's +his story." + +My wife's hot southern temper finds its way to her foot, and +expresses itself by a stamp on the stable yard. + +The landlord turns himself sleepily round, and looks at the horses. +"A fine pair of horses, them two in the yard. Do you want to put +'em in my stables?" I reply in the affirmative by a nod. The +landlord, bent on making himself agreeable to my wife, addresses +her once more. "I'm a-going to wake Francis Raven. He's an +Independent Methodist. He was forty-five year old last birthday. +And he's my hostler. That's his story." + +Having issued this second edition of his interesting narrative, the +landlord enters the stable. We follow him to see how he will wake +Francis Raven, and what will happen upon that. The stable broom +stands in a corner; the landlord takes it--advances toward the +sleeping hostler--and coolly stirs the man up with a broom as if he +was a wild beast in a cage. Francis Raven starts to his feet with +a cry of terror--looks at us wildly, with a horrid glare of +suspicion in his eyes--recovers himself the next moment--and +suddenly changes into a decent, quiet, respectable serving-man. + +"I beg your pardon, ma'am. I beg your pardon, sir." + +The tone and manner in which he makes his apologies are both above +his apparent station in life. I begin to catch the infection of +Mrs. Fairbank's interest in this man. We both follow him out into +the yard to see what he will do with the horses. The manner in +which he lifts the injured leg of the lame horse tells me at once +that he understands his business. Quickly and quietly, he leads +the animal into an empty stable; quickly and quietly, he gets a +bucket of hot water, and puts the lame horse's leg into it. "The +warm water will reduce the swelling, sir. I will bandage the leg +afterwards." All that he does is done intelligently; all that he +says, he says to the purpose. + +Nothing wild, nothing strange about him now. Is this the same man +whom we heard talking in his sleep?--the same man who woke with +that cry of terror and that horrid suspicion in his eyes? I +determine to try him with one or two questions. + + +III + + +"Not much to do here," I say to the hostler. + +"Very little to do, sir," the hostler replies. + +"Anybody staying in the house?" + +"The house is quite empty, sir." + +"I thought you were all dead. I could make nobody hear me." + +"The landlord is very deaf, sir, and the waiter is out on an +errand." + +"Yes; and YOU were fast asleep in the stable. Do you often take a +nap in the daytime?" + +The worn face of the hostler faintly flushes. His eyes look away +from my eyes for the first time. Mrs. Fairbank furtively pinches +my arm. Are we on the eve of a discovery at last? I repeat my +question. The man has no civil alternative but to give me an +answer. The answer is given in these words: + +"I was tired out, sir. You wouldn't have found me asleep in the +daytime but for that." + +"Tired out, eh? You had been hard at work, I suppose?" + +"No, sir." + +"What was it, then?" + +He hesitates again, and answers unwillingly, "I was up all night." + +"Up all night? Anything going on in the town?" + +"Nothing going on, sir." + +"Anybody ill?" + +"Nobody ill, sir." + +That reply is the last. Try as I may, I can extract nothing more +from him. He turns away and busies himself in attending to the +horse's leg. I leave the stable to speak to the landlord about the +carriage which is to take us back to Farleigh Hall. Mrs. Fairbank +remains with the hostler, and favors me with a look at parting. +The look says plainly, "I mean to find out why he was up all night. +Leave him to Me." + +The ordering of the carriage is easily accomplished. The inn +possesses one horse and one chaise. The landlord has a story to +tell of the horse, and a story to tell of the chaise. They +resemble the story of Francis Raven--with this exception, that the +horse and chaise belong to no religious persuasion. "The horse +will be nine year old next birthday. I've had the shay for four- +and-twenty year. Mr. Max, of Underbridge, he bred the horse; and +Mr. Pooley, of Yeovil, he built the shay. It's my horse and my +shay. And that's THEIR story!" Having relieved his mind of these +details, the landlord proceeds to put the harness on the horse. By +way of assisting him, I drag the chaise into the yard. Just as our +preparations are completed, Mrs. Fairbank appears. A moment or two +later the hostler follows her out. He has bandaged the horse's +leg, and is now ready to drive us to Farleigh Hall. I observe +signs of agitation in his face and manner, which suggest that my +wife has found her way into his confidence. I put the question to +her privately in a corner of the yard. "Well? Have you found out +why Francis Raven was up all night?" + +Mrs. Fairbank has an eye to dramatic effect. Instead of answering +plainly, Yes or No, she suspends the interest and excites the +audience by putting a question on her side. + +"What is the day of the month, dear?" + +"The day of the month is the first of March." + +"The first of March, Percy, is Francis Raven's birthday." + +I try to look as if I was interested--and don't succeed. + +"Francis was born," Mrs. Fairbank proceeds gravely, "at two o'clock +in the morning." + +I begin to wonder whether my wife's intellect is going the way of +the landlord's intellect. "Is that all?" I ask. + +"It is NOT all," Mrs. Fairbank answers. "Francis Raven sits up on +the morning of his birthday because he is afraid to go to bed." + +"And why is he afraid to go to bed?" + +"Because he is in peril of his life." + +"On his birthday?" + +"On his birthday. At two o'clock in the morning. As regularly as +the birthday comes round." + +There she stops. Has she discovered no more than that? No more +thus far. I begin to feel really interested by this time. I ask +eagerly what it means? Mrs. Fairbank points mysteriously to the +chaise--with Francis Raven (hitherto our hostler, now our coachman) +waiting for us to get in. The chaise has a seat for two in front, +and a seat for one behind. My wife casts a warning look at me, and +places herself on the seat in front. + +The necessary consequence of this arrangement is that Mrs. Fairhank +sits by the side of the driver during a journey of two hours and +more. Need I state the result? It would be an insult to your +intelligence to state the result. Let me offer you my place in the +chaise. And let Francis Raven tell his terrible story in his own +words. + + +THE SECOND NARRATIVE + +THE HOSTLER'S STORY.--TOLD BY HIMSELF + + +IV + + +It is now ten years ago since I got my first warning of the great +trouble of my life in the Vision of a Dream. + +I shall be better able to tell you about it if you will please +suppose yourselves to be drinking tea along with us in our little +cottage in Cambridgeshire, ten years since. + +The time was the close of day, and there were three of us at the +table, namely, my mother, myself, and my mother's sister, Mrs. +Chance. These two were Scotchwomen by birth, and both were widows. +There was no other resemblance between them that I can call to +mind. My mother had lived all her life in England, and had no more +of the Scotch brogue on her tongue than I have. My aunt Chance had +never been out of Scotland until she came to keep house with my +mother after her husband's death. And when SHE opened her lips you +heard broad Scotch, I can tell you, if you ever heard it yet! + +As it fell out, there was a matter of some consequence in debate +among us that evening. It was this: whether I should do well or +not to take a long journey on foot the next morning. + +Now the next morning happened to be the day before my birthday; and +the purpose of the journey was to offer myself for a situation as +groom at a great house in the neighboring county to ours. The +place was reported as likely to fall vacant in about three weeks' +time. I was as well fitted to fill it as any other man. In the +prosperous days of our family, my father had been manager of a +training stable, and he had kept me employed among the horses from +my boyhood upward. Please to excuse my troubling you with these +small matters. They all fit into my story farther on, as you will +soon find out. My poor mother was dead against my leaving home on +the morrow. + +"You can never walk all the way there and all the way back again by +to-morrow night," she says. "The end of it will be that you will +sleep away from home on your birthday. You have never done that +yet, Francis, since your father's death, I don't like your doing it +now. Wait a day longer, my son--only one day." + +For my own part, I was weary of being idle, and I couldn't abide +the notion of delay. Even one day might make all the difference. +Some other man might take time by the forelock, and get the place. + +"Consider how long I have been out of work," I says, "and don't ask +me to put off the journey. I won't fail you, mother. I'll get +back by to-morrow night, if I have to pay my last sixpence for a +lift in a cart." + +My mother shook her head. "I don't like it, Francis--I don't like +it!" There was no moving her from that view. We argued and +argued, until we were both at a deadlock. It ended in our agreeing +to refer the difference between us to my mother's sister, Mrs. +Chance. + +While we were trying hard to convince each other, my aunt Chance +sat as dumb as a fish, stirring her tea and thinking her own +thoughts. When we made our appeal to her, she seemed as it were to +wake up. "Ye baith refer it to my puir judgment?" she says, in her +broad Scotch. We both answered Yes. Upon that my aunt Chance +first cleared the tea-table, and then pulled out from the pocket of +her gown a pack of cards. + +Don't run away, if you please, with the notion that this was done +lightly, with a view to amuse my mother and me. My aunt Chance +seriously believed that she could look into the future by telling +fortunes on the cards. She did nothing herself without first +consulting the cards. She could give no more serious proof of her +interest in my welfare than the proof which she was offering now. +I don't say it profanely; I only mention the fact--the cards had, +in some incomprehensible way, got themselves jumbled up together +with her religious convictions. You meet with people nowadays who +believe in spirits working by way of tables and chairs. On the +same principle (if there IS any principle in it) my aunt Chance +believed in Providence working by way of the cards. + +"Whether YOU are right, Francie, or your mither--whether ye will do +weel or ill, the morrow, to go or stay--the cairds will tell it. +We are a' in the hands of Proavidence. The cairds will tell it." + +Hearing this, my mother turned her head aside, with something of a +sour look in her face. Her sister's notions about the cards were +little better than flat blasphemy to her mind. But she kept her +opinion to herself. My aunt Chance, to own the truth, had +inherited, through her late husband, a pension of thirty pounds a +year. This was an important contribution to our housekeeping, and +we poor relations were bound to treat her with a certain respect. +As for myself, if my poor father never did anything else for me +before he fell into difficulties, he gave me a good education, and +raised me (thank God) above superstitions of all sorts. However, a +very little amused me in those days; and I waited to have my +fortune told, as patiently as if I believed in it too! + +My aunt began her hocus pocus by throwing out all the cards in the +pack under seven. She shuffled the rest with her left hand for +luck; and then she gave them to me to cut. "Wi' yer left hand, +Francie. Mind that! Pet your trust in Proavidence--but dinna +forget that your luck's in yer left hand!" A long and roundabout +shifting of the cards followed, reducing them in number until there +were just fifteen of them left, laid out neatly before my aunt in a +half circle. The card which happened to lie outermost, at the +right-hand end of the circle, was, according to rule in such cases, +the card chosen to represent Me. By way of being appropriate to my +situation as a poor groom out of employment, the card was--the King +of Diamonds. + +"I tak' up the King o' Diamants," says my aunt. "I count seven +cairds fra' richt to left; and I humbly ask a blessing on what +follows." My aunt shut her eyes as if she was saying grace before +meat, and held up to me the seventh card. I called the seventh +card--the Queen of Spades. My aunt opened her eyes again in a +hurry, and cast a sly look my way. "The Queen o' Spades means a +dairk woman. Ye'll be thinking in secret, Francie, of a dairk +woman?" + +When a man has been out of work for more than three months, his +mind isn't troubled much with thinking of women--light or dark. I +was thinking of the groom's place at the great house, and I tried +to say so. My aunt Chance wouldn't listen. She treated my +interpretation with contempt. "Hoot-toot! there's the caird in +your hand! If ye're no thinking of her the day, ye'll be thinking +of her the morrow. Where's the harm of thinking of a dairk woman! +I was ance a dairk woman myself, before my hair was gray. Haud yer +peace, Francie, and watch the cairds." + +I watched the cards as I was told. There were seven left on the +table. My aunt removed two from one end of the row and two from +the other, and desired me to call the two outermost of the three +cards now left on the table. I called the Ace of Clubs and the Ten +of Diamonds. My aunt Chance lifted her eyes to the ceiling with a +look of devout gratitude which sorely tried my mother's patience. +The Ace of Clubs and the Ten of Diamonds, taken together, +signified--first, good news (evidently the news of the groom's +place); secondly, a journey that lay before me (pointing plainly to +my journey to-morrow!); thirdly and lastly, a sum of money +(probably the groom's wages!) waiting to find its way into my +pockets. Having told my fortune in these encouraging terms, my +aunt declined to carry the experiment any further. "Eh, lad! it's +a clean tempting o' Proavidence to ask mair o' the cairds than the +cairds have tauld us noo. Gae yer ways to-morrow to the great +hoose. A dairk woman will meet ye at the gate; and she'll have a +hand in getting ye the groom's place, wi' a' the gratifications and +pairquisites appertaining to the same. And, mebbe, when yer +poaket's full o' money, ye'll no' be forgetting yer aunt Chance, +maintaining her ain unblemished widowhood--wi' Proavidence +assisting--on thratty punds a year!" + +I promised to remember my aunt Chance (who had the defect, by the +way, of being a terribly greedy person after money) on the next +happy occasion when my poor empty pockets were to be filled at +last. This done, I looked at my mother. She had agreed to take +her sister for umpire between us, and her sister had given it in my +favor. She raised no more objections. Silently, she got on her +feet, and kissed me, and sighed bitterly--and so left the room. My +aunt Chance shook her head. "I doubt, Francie, yer puir mither has +but a heathen notion of the vairtue of the cairds!" + +By daylight the next morning I set forth on my journey. I looked +back at the cottage as I opened the garden gate. At one window was +my mother, with her handkerchief to her eyes. At the other stood +my aunt Chance, holding up the Queen of Spades by way of +encouraging me at starting. I waved my hands to both of them in +token of farewell, and stepped out briskly into the road. It was +then the last day of February. Be pleased to remember, in +connection with this, that the first of March was the day, and two +o'clock in the morning the hour of my birth. + + +V + + +Now you know how I came to leave home. The next thing to tell is, +what happened on the journey. + +I reached the great house in reasonably good time considering the +distance. At the very first trial of it, the prophecy of the cards +turned out to be wrong. The person who met me at the lodge gate +was not a dark woman--in fact, not a woman at all--but a boy. He +directed me on the way to the servants' offices; and there again +the cards were all wrong. I encountered, not one woman, but three- +-and not one of the three was dark. I have stated that I am not +superstitious, and I have told the truth. But I must own that I +did feel a certain fluttering at the heart when I made my bow to +the steward, and told him what business had brought me to the +house. His answer completed the discomfiture of aunt Chance's +fortune-telling. My ill-luck still pursued me. That very morning +another man had applied for the groom's place, and had got it. + +I swallowed my disappointment as well as I could, and thanked the +steward, and went to the inn in the village to get the rest and +food which I sorely needed by this time. + +Before starting on my homeward walk I made some inquiries at the +inn, and ascertained that I might save a few miles, on my return, +by following a new road. Furnished with full instructions, several +times repeated, as to the various turnings I was to take, I set +forth, and walked on till the evening with only one stoppage for +bread and cheese. Just as it was getting toward dark, the rain +came on and the wind began to rise; and I found myself, to make +matters worse, in a part of the country with which I was entirely +unacquainted, though I guessed myself to be some fifteen miles from +home. The first house I found to inquire at, was a lonely roadside +inn, standing on the outskirts of a thick wood. Solitary as the +place looked, it was welcome to a lost man who was also hungry, +thirsty, footsore, and wet. The landlord was civil and +respectable-looking; and the price he asked for a bed was +reasonable enough. I was grieved to disappoint my mother. But +there was no conveyance to be had, and I could go no farther afoot +that night. My weariness fairly forced me to stop at the inn. + +I may say for myself that I am a temperate man. My supper simply +consisted of some rashers of bacon, a slice of home-made bread, and +a pint of ale. I did not go to bed immediately after this moderate +meal, but sat up with the landlord, talking about my bad prospects +and my long run of ill-luck, and diverging from these topics to the +subjects of horse-flesh and racing. Nothing was said, either by +myself, my host, or the few laborers who strayed into the tap-room, +which could, in the slightest degree, excite my mind, or set my +fancy--which is only a small fancy at the best of times--playing +tricks with my common sense. + +At a little after eleven the house was closed. I went round with +the landlord, and held the candle while the doors and lower windows +were being secured. I noticed with surprise the strength of the +bolts, bars, and iron-sheathed shutters. + +"You see, we are rather lonely here," said the landlord. "We never +have had any attempts to break in yet, but it's always as well to +be on the safe side. When nobody is sleeping here, I am the only +man in the house. My wife and daughter are timid, and the servant +girl takes after her missuses. Another glass of ale, before you +turn in?--No!--Well, how such a sober man as you comes to be out of +a place is more than I can understand for one.--Here's where you're +to sleep. You're the only lodger to-night, and I think you'll say +my missus has done her best to make you comfortable. You're quite +sure you won't have another glass of ale?--Very well. Good night." + +It was half-past eleven by the clock in the passage as we went +upstairs to the bedroom. The window looked out on the wood at the +back of the house. + +I locked my door, set my candle on the chest of drawers, and +wearily got me ready for bed. The bleak wind was still blowing, +and the solemn, surging moan of it in the wood was very dreary to +hear through the night silence. Feeling strangely wakeful, I +resolved to keep the candle alight until I began to grow sleepy. +The truth is, I was not quite myself. I was depressed in mind by +my disappointment of the morning; and I was worn out in body by my +long walk. Between the two, I own I couldn't face the prospect of +lying awake in the darkness, listening to the dismal moan of the +wind in the wood. + +Sleep stole on me before I was aware of it; my eyes closed, and I +fell off to rest, without having so much as thought of +extinguishing the candle. + +The next thing that I remember was a faint shivering that ran +through me from head to foot, and a dreadful sinking pain at my +heart, such as I had never felt before. The shivering only +disturbed my slumbers--the pain woke me instantly. In one moment I +passed from a state of sleep to a state of wakefulness--my eyes +wide open--my mind clear on a sudden as if by a miracle. The +candle had burned down nearly to the last morsel of tallow, but the +unsnuffed wick had just fallen off, and the light was, for the +moment, fair and full. + +Between the foot of the bed and the closet door, I saw a person in +my room. The person was a woman, standing looking at me, with a +knife in her hand. It does no credit to my courage to confess it-- +but the truth IS the truth. I was struck speechless with terror. +There I lay with my eyes on the woman; there the woman stood (with +the knife in her hand) with HER eyes on ME. + +She said not a word as we stared each other in the face; but she +moved after a little--moved slowly toward the left-hand side of the +bed. + +The light fell full on her face. A fair, fine woman, with +yellowish flaxen hair, and light gray eyes, with a droop in the +left eyelid. I noticed these things and fixed them in my mind, +before she was quite round at the side of the bed. Without saying +a word; without any change in the stony stillness of her face; +without any noise following her footfall, she came closer and +closer; stopped at the bed-head; and lifted the knife to stab me. +I laid my arm over my throat to save it; but, as I saw the blow +coming, I threw my hand across the bed to the right side, and +jerked my body over that way, just as the knife came down, like +lightning, within a hair's breadth of my shoulder. + +My eyes fixed on her arm and her hand--she gave me time to look at +them as she slowly drew the knife out of the bed. A white, well- +shaped arm, with a pretty down lying lightly over the fair skin. A +delicate lady's hand, with a pink flush round the finger nails. + +She drew the knife out, and passed back again slowly to the foot of +the bed; she stopped there for a moment looking at me; then she +came on without saying a word; without any change in the stony +stillness of her face; without any noise following her footfall-- +came on to the side of the bed where I now lay. + +Getting near me, she lifted the knife again, and I drew myself away +to the left side. She struck, as before right into the mattress, +with a swift downward action of her arm; and she missed me, as +before; by a hair's breadth. This time my eyes wandered from HER +to the knife. It was like the large clasp knives which laboring +men use to cut their bread and bacon with. Her delicate little +fingers did not hide more than two thirds of the handle; I noticed +that it was made of buckhorn, clean and shining as the blade was, +and looking like new. + +For the second time she drew the knife out of the bed, and suddenly +hid it away in the wide sleeve of her gown. That done, she stopped +by the bedside watching me. For an instant I saw her standing in +that position--then the wick of the spent candle fell over into the +socket. The flame dwindled to a little blue point, and the room +grew dark. + +A moment, or less, if possible, passed so--and then the wick flared +up, smokily, for the last time. My eyes were still looking for her +over the right-hand side of the bed when the last flash of light +came. Look as I might, I could see nothing. The woman with the +knife was gone. + +I began to get back to myself again. I could feel my heart +beating; I could hear the woeful moaning of the wind in the wood; I +could leap up in bed, and give the alarm before she escaped from +the house. "Murder! Wake up there! Murder!" + +Nobody answered to the alarm. I rose and groped my way through the +darkness to the door of the room. By that way she must have got +in. By that way she must have gone out. + +The door of the room was fast locked, exactly as I had left it on +going to bed! I looked at the window. Fast locked too! + +Hearing a voice outside, I opened the door. There was the +landlord, coming toward me along the passage, with his burning +candle in one hand, and his gun in the other. + +"What is it?" he says, looking at me in no very friendly way. + +I could only answer in a whisper, "A woman, with a knife in her +hand. In my room. A fair, yellow-haired woman. She jabbed at me +with the knife, twice over." + +He lifted his candle, and looked at me steadily from head to foot. +"She seems to have missed you--twice over." + +"I dodged the knife as it came down. It struck the bed each time. +Go in, and see." + +The landlord took his candle into the bedroom immediately. In less +than a minute he came out again into the passage in a violent +passion. + +"The devil fly away with you and your woman with the knife! There +isn't a mark in the bedclothes anywhere. What do you mean by +coming into a man's place and frightening his family out of their +wits by a dream?" + +A dream? The woman who had tried to stab me, not a living human +being like myself? I began to shake and shiver. The horrors got +hold of me at the bare thought of it. + +"I'll leave the house," I said. "Better be out on the road in the +rain and dark, than back in that room, after what I've seen in it. +Lend me the light to get my clothes by, and tell me what I'm to +pay." + +The landlord led the way back with his light into the bedroom. +"Pay?" says he. "You'll find your score on the slate when you go +downstairs. I wouldn't have taken you in for all the money you've +got about you, if I had known your dreaming, screeching ways +beforehand. Look at the bed--where's the cut of a knife in it? +Look at the window--is the lock bursted? Look at the door (which I +heard you fasten yourself)--is it broke in? A murdering woman with +a knife in my house! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" + +My eyes followed his hand as it pointed first to the bed--then to +the window--then to the door. There was no gainsaying it. The bed +sheet was as sound as on the day it was made. The window was fast. +The door hung on its hinges as steady as ever. I huddled my +clothes on without speaking. We went downstairs together. I +looked at the clock in the bar-room. The time was twenty minutes +past two in the morning. I paid my bill, and the landlord let me +out. The rain had ceased; but the night was dark, and the wind was +bleaker than ever. Little did the darkness, or the cold, or the +doubt about the way home matter to ME. My mind was away from all +these things. My mind was fixed on the vision in the bedroom. +What had I seen trying to murder me? The creature of a dream? Or +that other creature from the world beyond the grave, whom men call +ghost? I could make nothing of it as I walked along in the night; +I had made nothing by it by midday--when I stood at last, after +many times missing my road, on the doorstep of home. + + +VI + + +My mother came out alone to welcome me back. There were no secrets +between us two. I told her all that had happened, just as I have +told it to you. She kept silence till I had done. And then she +put a question to me. + +"What time was it, Francis, when you saw the Woman in your Dream?" + +I had looked at the clock when I left the inn, and I had noticed +that the hands pointed to twenty minutes past two. Allowing for +the time consumed in speaking to the landlord, and in getting on my +clothes, I answered that I must have first seen the Woman at two +o'clock in the morning. In other words, I had not only seen her on +my birthday, but at the hour of my birth. + +My mother still kept silence. Lost in her own thoughts, she took +me by the hand, and led me into the parlor. Her writing-desk was +on the table by the fireplace. She opened it, and signed to me to +take a chair by her side. + +"My son! your memory is a bad one, and mine is fast failing me. +Tell me again what the Woman looked like. I want her to be as well +known to both of us, years hence, as she is now." + +I obeyed; wondering what strange fancy might be working in her +mind. I spoke; and she wrote the words as they fell from my lips: + +"Light gray eyes, with a droop in the left eyelid. Flaxen hair, +with a golden-yellow streak in it. White arms, with a down upon +them. Little, lady's hands, with a rosy-red look about the finger +nails." + +"Did you notice how she was dressed, Francis?" + +"No, mother." + +"Did you notice the knife?" + +"Yes. A large clasp knife, with a buckhorn handle, as good as +new." + +My mother added the description of the knife. Also the year, +month, day of the week, and hour of the day when the Dream-Woman +appeared to me at the inn. That done, she locked up the paper in +her desk. + +"Not a word, Francis, to your aunt. Not a word to any living soul. +Keep your Dream a secret between you and me." + +The weeks passed, and the months passed. My mother never returned +to the subject again. As for me, time, which wears out all things, +wore out my remembrance of the Dream. Little by little, the image +of the Woman grew dimmer and dimmer. Little by little, she faded +out of my mind. + + +VII + + +The story of the warning is now told. Judge for yourself if it was +a true warning or a false, when you hear what happened to me on my +next birthday. + +In the Summer time of the year, the Wheel of Fortune turned the +right way for me at last. I was smoking my pipe one day, near an +old stone quarry at the entrance to our village, when a carriage +accident happened, which gave a new turn, as it were, to my lot in +life. It was an accident of the commonest kind--not worth +mentioning at any length. A lady driving herself; a runaway horse; +a cowardly man-servant in attendance, frightened out of his wits; +and the stone quarry too near to be agreeable--that is what I saw, +all in a few moments, between two whiffs of my pipe. I stopped the +horse at the edge of the quarry, and got myself a little hurt by +the shaft of the chaise. But that didn't matter. The lady +declared I had saved her life; and her husband, coming with her to +our cottage the next day, took me into his service then and there. +The lady happened to be of a dark complexion; and it may amuse you +to hear that my aunt Chance instantly pitched on that circumstance +as a means of saving the credit of the cards. Here was the promise +of the Queen of Spades performed to the very letter, by means of "a +dark woman," just as my aunt had told me. "In the time to come, +Francis, beware o' pettin' yer ain blinded intairpretation on the +cairds. Ye're ower ready, I trow, to murmur under dispensation of +Proavidence that ye canna fathom--like the Eesraelites of auld. +I'll say nae mair to ye. Mebbe when the mony's powering into yer +poakets, ye'll no forget yer aunt Chance, left like a sparrow on +the housetop, wi a sma' annuitee o' thratty punds a year." + +I remained in my situation (at the West-end of London) until the +Spring of the New Year. About that time, my master's health +failed. The doctors ordered him away to foreign parts, and the +establishment was broken up. But the turn in my luck still held +good. When I left my place, I left it--thanks to the generosity of +my kind master--with a yearly allowance granted to me, in +remembrance of the day when I had saved my mistress's life. For +the future, I could go back to service or not, as I pleased; my +little income was enough to support my mother and myself. + +My master and mistress left England toward the end of February. +Certain matters of business to do for them detained me in London +until the last day of the month. I was only able to leave for our +village by the evening train, to keep my birthday with my mother as +usual. It was bedtime when I got to the cottage; and I was sorry +to find that she was far from well. To make matters worse, she had +finished her bottle of medicine on the previous day, and had +omitted to get it replenished, as the doctor had strictly directed. +He dispensed his own medicines, and I offered to go and knock him +up. She refused to let me do this; and, after giving me my supper, +sent me away to my bed. + +I fell asleep for a little, and woke again. My mother's bed- +chamber was next to mine. I heard my aunt Chance's heavy footsteps +going to and fro in the room, and, suspecting something wrong, +knocked at the door. My mother's pains had returned upon her; +there was a serious necessity for relieving her sufferings as +speedily as possible, I put on my clothes, and ran off, with the +medicine bottle in my hand, to the other end of the village, where +the doctor lived. The church clock chimed the quarter to two on my +birthday just as I reached his house. One ring of the night bell +brought him to his bedroom window to speak to me. He told me to +wait, and he would let me in at the surgery door. I noticed, while +I was waiting, that the night was wonderfully fair and warm for the +time of year. The old stone quarry where the carriage accident had +happened was within view. The moon in the clear heavens lit it up +almost as bright as day. + +In a minute or two the doctor let me into the surgery. I closed +the door, noticing that he had left his room very lightly clad. He +kindly pardoned my mother's neglect of his directions, and set to +work at once at compounding the medicine. We were both intent on +the bottle; he filling it, and I holding the light--when we heard +the surgery door suddenly opened from the street. + + +VIII + + +Who could possibly be up and about in our quiet village at the +second hour of the morning? + +The person who opened the door appeared within range of the light +of the candle. To complete our amazement, the person proved to be +a woman! She walked up to the counter, and standing side by side +with me, lifted her veil. At the moment when she showed her face, +I heard the church clock strike two. She was a stranger to me, and +a stranger to the doctor. She was also, beyond all comparison, the +most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. + +"I saw the light under the door," she said. "I want some +medicine." + +She spoke quite composedly, as if there was nothing at all +extraordinary in her being out in the village at two in the +morning, and following me into the surgery to ask for medicine! +The doctor stared at her as if he suspected his own eyes of +deceiving him. "Who are you?" be asked. "How do you come to be +wandering about at this time in the morning?" + +She paid no heed to his questions. She only told him coolly what +she wanted. "I have got a bad toothache. I want a bottle of +laudanum." + +The doctor recovered himself when she asked for the laudanum. He +was on his own ground, you know, when it came to a matter of +laudanum; and he spoke to her smartly enough this time. + +"Oh, you have got the toothache, have you? Let me look at the +tooth." + +She shook her bead, and laid a two-shilling piece on the counter. +"I won't trouble you to look at the tooth," she said. "There is +the money. Let me have the laudanum, if you please." + +The doctor put the two-shilling piece back again in her hand. "I +don't sell laudanum to strangers," he answered. "If you are in any +distress of body or mind, that is another matter. I shall be glad +to help you." + +She put the money back in her pocket. "YOU can't help me," she +said, as quietly as ever. "Good morning." + +With that, she opened the surgery door to go out again into the +street. So far, I had not spoken a word on my side. I had stood +with the candle in my hand (not knowing I was holding it)--with my +eyes fixed on her, with my mind fixed on her like a man bewitched. +Her looks betrayed, even more plainly than her words, her +resolution, in one way or another, to destroy herself. When she +opened the door, in my alarm at what might happen I found the use +of my tongue. + +"Stop!" I cried out. "Wait for me. I want to speak to you before +you go away." She lifted her eyes with a look of careless surprise +and a mocking smile on her lips. + +"What can YOU have to say to me?" She stopped, and laughed to +herself. "Why not?" she said. "I have got nothing to do, and +nowhere to go." She turned back a step, and nodded to me. "You're +a strange man--I think I'll humor you--I'll wait outside." The +door of the surgery closed on her. She was gone. + +I am ashamed to own what happened next. The only excuse for me is +that I was really and truly a man bewitched. I turned me round to +follow her out, without once thinking of my mother. The doctor +stopped me. + +"Don't forget the medicine," he said. "And if you will take my +advice, don't trouble yourself about that woman. Rouse up the +constable. It's his business to look after her--not yours." + +I held out my hand for the medicine in silence: I was afraid I +should fail in respect if I trusted myself to answer him. He must +have seen, as I saw, that she wanted the laudanum to poison +herself. He had, to my mind, taken a very heartless view of the +matter. I just thanked him when he gave me the medicine--and went +out. + +She was waiting for me as she had promised; walking slowly to and +fro--a tall, graceful, solitary figure in the bright moonbeams. +They shed over her fair complexion, her bright golden hair, her +large gray eyes, just the light that suited them best. She looked +hardly mortal when she first turned to speak to me. + +"Well?" she said. "And what do you want?" + +In spite of my pride, or my shyness, or my better sense--whichever +it might be--all my heart went out to her in a moment. I caught +hold of her by the hands, and owned what was in my thoughts, as +freely as if I had known her for half a lifetime. + +"You mean to destroy yourself," I said. "And I mean to prevent you +from doing it. If I follow you about all night, I'll prevent you +from doing it." + +She laughed. "You saw yourself that he wouldn't sell me the +laudanum. Do you really care whether I live or die?" She squeezed +my hands gently as she put the question: her eyes searched mine +with a languid, lingering look in them that ran through me like +fire. My voice died away on my lips; I couldn't answer her. + +She understood, without my answering. "You have given me a fancy +for living, by speaking kindly to me," she said. "Kindness has a +wonderful effect on women, and dogs, and other domestic animals. +It is only men who are superior to kindness. Make your mind easy-- +I promise to take as much care of myself as if I was the happiest +woman living! Don't let me keep you here, out of your bed. Which +way are you going?" + +Miserable wretch that I was, I had forgotten my mother--with the +medicine in my hand! "I am going home," I said. "Where are you +staying? At the inn?" + +She laughed her bitter laugh, and pointed to the stone quarry. +"There is MY inn for to-night," she said. "When I got tired of +walking about, I rested there." + +We walked on together, on my way home. I took the liberty of +asking her if she had any friends. + +"I thought I had one friend left," she said, "or you would never +have met me in this place. It turns out I was wrong. My friend's +door was closed in my face some hours since; my friend's servants +threatened me with the police. I had nowhere else to go, after +trying my luck in your neighborhood; and nothing left but my two- +shilling piece and these rags on my back. What respectable +innkeeper would take ME into his house? I walked about, wondering +how I could find my way out of the world without disfiguring +myself, and without suffering much pain. You have no river in +these parts. I didn't see my way out of the world, till I heard +you ringing at the doctor's house. I got a glimpse at the bottles +in the surgery, when he let you in, and I thought of the laudanum +directly. What were you doing there? Who is that medicine for? +Your wife?" + +"I am not married!" + +She laughed again. "Not married! If I was a little better dressed +there might be a chance for ME. Where do you live? Here?" + +We had arrived, by this time, at my mother's door. She held out +her hand to say good-by. Houseless and homeless as she was, she +never asked me to give her a shelter for the night. It was MY +proposal that she should rest, under my roof, unknown to my mother +and my aunt. Our kitchen was built out at the back of the cottage: +she might remain there unseen and unheard until the household was +astir in the morning. I led her into the kitchen, and set a chair +for her by the dying embers of the fire. I dare say I was to +blame--shamefully to blame, if you like. I only wonder what YOU +would have done in my place. On your word of honor as a man, would +YOU have let that beautiful creature wander back to the shelter of +the stone quarry like a stray dog? God help the woman who is +foolish enough to trust and love you, if you would have done that! + +I left her by the fire, and went to my mother's room. + + +IX + + +If you have ever felt the heartache, you will know what I suffered +in secret when my mother took my hand, and said, "I am sorry, +Francis, that your night's rest has been disturbed through ME." I +gave her the medicine; and I waited by her till the pains abated. +My aunt Chance went back to her bed; and my mother and I were left +alone. I noticed that her writing-desk, moved from its customary +place, was on the bed by her side. She saw me looking at it. +"This is your birthday, Francis," she said. "Have you anything to +tell me?" I had so completely forgotten my Dream, that I had no +notion of what was passing in her mind when she said those words. +For a moment there was a guilty fear in me that she suspected +something. I turned away my face, and said, "No, mother; I have +nothing to tell." She signed to me to stoop down over the pillow +and kiss her. "God bless you, my love!" she said; and many happy +returns of the day." She patted my hand, and closed her weary +eyes, and, little by little, fell off peaceably into sleep. + +I stole downstairs again. I think the good influence of my mother +must have followed me down. At any rate, this is true: I stopped +with my hand on the closed kitchen door, and said to myself: +"Suppose I leave the house, and leave the village, without seeing +her or speaking to her more?" + +Should I really have fled from temptation in this way, if I had +been left to myself to decide? Who can tell? As things were, I +was not left to decide. While my doubt was in my mind, she heard +me, and opened the kitchen door. My eyes and her eyes met. That +ended it. + +We were together, unsuspected and undisturbed, for the next two +hours. Time enough for her to reveal the secret of her wasted +life. Time enough for her to take possession of me as her own, to +do with me as she liked. It is needless to dwell here on the +misfortunes which had brought her low; they are misfortunes too +common to interest anybody. + +Her name was Alicia Warlock. She had been born and bred a lady. +She had lost her station, her character, and her friends. Virtue +shuddered at the sight of her; and Vice had got her for the rest of +her days. Shocking and common, as I told you. It made no +difference to ME. I have said it already--I say it again--I was a +man bewitched. Is there anything so very wonderful in that? Just +remember who I was. Among the honest women in my own station in +life, where could I have found the like of HER? Could THEY walk as +she walked? and look as she looked? When THEY gave me a kiss, did +their lips linger over it as hers did? Had THEY her skin, her +laugh, her foot, her hand, her touch? SHE never had a speck of +dirt on her: I tell you her flesh was a perfume. When she embraced +me, her arms folded round me like the wings of angels; and her +smile covered me softly with its light like the sun in heaven. I +leave you to laugh at me, or to cry over me, just as your temper +may incline. I am not trying to excuse myself--I am trying to +explain. You are gentle-folks; what dazzled and maddened ME, is +everyday experience to YOU. Fallen or not, angel or devil, it came +to this--she was a lady; and I was a groom. + +Before the house was astir, I got her away (by the workmen's train) +to a large manufacturing town in our parts. + +Here--with my savings in money to help her--she could get her +outfit of decent clothes and her lodging among strangers who asked +no questions so long as they were paid. Here--now on one pretense +and now on another--I could visit her, and we could both plan +together what our future lives were to be. I need not tell you +that I stood pledged to make her my wife. A man in my station +always marries a woman of her sort. + +Do you wonder if I was happy at this time? I should have been +perfectly happy but for one little drawback. It was this: I was +never quite at my ease in the presence of my promised wife. + +I don't mean that I was shy with her, or suspicious of her, or +ashamed of her. The uneasiness I am speaking of was caused by a +faint doubt in my mind whether I had not seen her somewhere, before +the morning when we met at the doctor's house. Over and over +again, I found myself wondering whether her face did not remind me +of some other face--what other I never could tell. This strange +feeling, this one question that could never be answered, vexed me +to a degree that you would hardly credit. It came between us at +the strangest times--oftenest, however, at night, when the candles +were lit. You have known what it is to try and remember a +forgotten name--and to fail, search as you may, to find it in your +mind. That was my case. I failed to find my lost face, just as +you failed to find your lost name. + +In three weeks we had talked matters over, and had arranged how I +was to make a clean breast of it at home. By Alicia's advice, I +was to describe her as having been one of my fellow servants during +the time I was employed under my kind master and mistress in +London. There was no fear now of my mother taking any harm from +the shock of a great surprise. Her health had improved during the +three weeks' interval. On the first evening when she was able to +take her old place at tea time, I summoned my courage, and told her +I was going to be married. The poor soul flung her arms round my +neck, and burst out crying for joy. "Oh, Francis!" she says, "I am +so glad you will have somebody to comfort you and care for you when +I am gone!" As for my aunt Chance, you can anticipate what SHE +did, without being told. Ah, me! If there had really been any +prophetic virtue in the cards, what a terrible warning they might +have given us that night! It was arranged that I was to bring my +promised wife to dinner at the cottage on the next day. + + +X + + +I own I was proud of Alicia when I led her into our little parlor +at the appointed time. She had never, to my mind, looked so +beautiful as she looked that day. I never noticed any other +woman's dress--I noticed hers as carefully as if I had been a woman +myself! She wore a black silk gown, with plain collar and cuffs, +and a modest lavender-colored bonnet, with one white rose in it +placed at the side. My mother, dressed in her Sunday best, rose +up, all in a flutter, to welcome her daughter-in-law that was to +be. She walked forward a few steps, half smiling, half in tears-- +she looked Alicia full in the face--and suddenly stood still. Her +cheeks turned white in an instant; her eyes stared in horror; her +hands dropped helplessly at her sides. She staggered back, and +fell into the arms of my aunt, standing behind her. It was no +swoon--she kept her senses. Her eyes turned slowly from Alicia to +me. "Francis," she said, "does that woman's face remind you of +nothing?" + +Before I could answer, she pointed to her writing-desk on the table +at the fireside. "Bring it!" she cried, "bring it!" + +At the same moment I felt Alicia's hand on my shoulder, and saw +Alicia's face red with anger--and no wonder! + +"What does this mean?" she asked. "Does your mother want to insult +me?" + +I said a few words to quiet her; what they were I don't remember--I +was so confused and astonished at the time. Before I had done, I +heard my mother behind me. + +My aunt had fetched her desk. She had opened it; she had taken a +paper from it. Step by step, helping herself along by the wall, +she came nearer and nearer, with the paper in her hand. She looked +at the paper--she looked in Alicia's face--she lifted the long, +loose sleeve of her gown, and examined her hand and arm. I saw +fear suddenly take the place of anger in Alicia's eyes. She shook +herself free of my mother's grasp. "Mad!" she said to herself, +"and Francis never told me!" With those words she ran out of the +room. + +I was hastening out after her, when my mother signed to me to stop. +She read the words written on the paper. While they fell slowly, +one by one, from her lips, she pointed toward the open door. + +"Light gray eyes, with a droop in the left eyelid. Flaxen hair, +with a gold-yellow streak in it. White arms, with a down upon +them. Little, lady's hand, with a rosy-red look about the finger +nails. The Dream Woman, Francis! The Dream Woman!" + +Something darkened the parlor window as those words were spoken. I +looked sidelong at the shadow. Alicia Warlock had come back! She +was peering in at us over the low window blind. There was the +fatal face which had first looked at me in the bedroom of the +lonely inn. There, resting on the window blind, was the lovely +little hand which had held the murderous knife. I HAD seen her +before we met in the village. The Dream Woman! The Dream Woman! + + +XI + + +I expect nobody to approve of what I have next to tell of myself. +In three weeks from the day when my mother had identified her with +the Woman of the Dream, I took Alicia Warlock to church, and made +her my wife. I was a man bewitched. Again and again I say it--I +was a man bewitched! + +During the interval before my marriage, our little household at the +cottage was broken up. My mother and my aunt quarreled. My +mother, believing in the Dream, entreated me to break off my +engagement. My aunt, believing in the cards, urged me to marry. + +This difference of opinion produced a dispute between them, in the +course of which my aunt Chance--quite unconscious of having any +superstitious feelings of her own--actually set out the cards which +prophesied happiness to me in my married life, and asked my mother +how anybody but "a blinded heathen could be fule enough, after +seeing those cairds, to believe in a dream!" This was, naturally, +too much for my mother's patience; hard words followed on either +side; Mrs. Chance returned in dudgeon to her friends in Scotland. +She left me a written statement of my future prospects, as revealed +by the cards, and with it an address at which a post-office order +would reach her. "The day was not that far off," she remarked, +"when Francie might remember what he owed to his aunt Chance, +maintaining her ain unbleemished widowhood on thratty punds a +year." + +Having refused to give her sanction to my marriage, my mother also +refused to be present at the wedding, or to visit Alicia +afterwards. There was no anger at the bottom of this conduct on +her part. Believing as she did in this Dream, she was simply in +mortal fear of my wife. I understood this, and I made allowances +for her. Not a cross word passed between us. My one happy +remembrance now--though I did disobey her in the matter of my +marriage--is this: I loved and respected my good mother to the +last. + +As for my wife, she expressed no regret at the estrangement between +her mother-in-law and herself. By common consent, we never spoke +on that subject. We settled in the manufacturing town which I have +already mentioned, and we kept a lodging-house. My kind master, at +my request, granted me a lump sum in place of my annuity. This put +us into a good house, decently furnished. For a while things went +well enough. I may describe myself at this time of my life as a +happy man. + +My misfortunes began with a return of the complaint with which my +mother had already suffered. The doctor confessed, when I asked +him the question, that there was danger to be dreaded this time. +Naturally, after hearing this, I was a good deal away at the +cottage. Naturally also, I left the business of looking after the +house, in my absence, to my wife. Little by little, I found her +beginning to alter toward me. While my back was turned, she formed +acquaintances with people of the doubtful and dissipated sort. One +day, I observed something in her manner which forced the suspicion +on me that she had been drinking. Before the week was out, my +suspicion was a certainty. From keeping company with drunkards, +she had grown to be a drunkard herself. + +I did all a man could do to reclaim her. Quite useless! She had +never really returned the love I felt for her: I had no influence; +I could do nothing. My mother, hearing of this last worse trouble, +resolved to try what her influence could do. Ill as she was, I +found her one day dressed to go out. + +"I am not long for this world, Francis," she said. "I shall not +feel easy on my deathbed, unless I have done my best to the last to +make you happy. I mean to put my own fears and my own feelings out +of the question, and go with you to your wife, and try what I can +do to reclaim her. Take me home with you, Francis. Let me do all +I can to help my son, before it is too late." + +How could I disobey her? We took the railway to the town: it was +only half an hour's ride. By one o'clock in the afternoon we +reached my house. It was our dinner hour, and Alicia was in the +kitchen. I was able to take my mother quietly into the parlor and +then to prepare my wife for the visit. She had drunk but little at +that early hour; and, luckily, the devil in her was tamed for the +time. + +She followed me into the parlor, and the meeting passed off better +than I had ventured to forecast; with this one drawback, that my +mother--though she tried hard to control herself--shrank from +looking my wife in the face when she spoke to her. It was a relief +to me when Alicia began to prepare the table for dinner. + +She laid the cloth, brought in the bread tray, and cut some slices +for us from the loaf. Then she returned to the kitchen. At that +moment, while I was still anxiously watching my mother, I was +startled by seeing the same ghastly change pass over her face which +had altered it in the morning when Alicia and she first met. +Before I could say a word, she started up with a look of horror. + +"Take me back!--home, home again, Francis! Come with me, and never +go back more!" + +I was afraid to ask for an explanation; I could only sign her to be +silent, and help her quickly to the door. As we passed the bread +tray on the table, she stopped and pointed to it. + +"Did you see what your wife cut your bread with?" she asked. + +"No, mother; I was not noticing. What was it?" + +"Look!" + +I did look. A new clasp knife, with a buckhorn handle, lay with +the loaf in the bread tray. I stretched out my hand to possess +myself of it. At the same moment, there was a noise in the +kitchen, and my mother caught me by the arm. + +"The knife of the Dream! Francis, I'm faint with fear--take me +away before she comes back!" + +I couldn't speak to comfort or even to answer her. Superior as I +was to superstition, the discovery of the knife staggered me. In +silence, I helped my mother out of the house; and took her home. + +I held out my hand to say good-by. She tried to stop me. + +"Don't go back, Francis! don't go back!" + +"I must get the knife, mother. I must go back by the next train." +I held to that resolution. By the next train I went back. + + +XII + + +My wife had, of course, discovered our secret departure from the +house. She had been drinking. She was in a fury of passion. The +dinner in the kitchen was flung under the grate; the cloth was off +the parlor table. Where was the knife? + +I was foolish enough to ask for it. She refused to give it to me. +In the course of the dispute between us which followed, I +discovered that there was a horrible story attached to the knife. +It had been used in a murder--years since--and had been so +skillfully hidden that the authorities had been unable to produce +it at the trial. By help of some of her disreputable friends, my +wife had been able to purchase this relic of a bygone crime. Her +perverted nature set some horrid unacknowledged value on the knife. +Seeing there was no hope of getting it by fair means, I determined +to search for it, later in the day, in secret. The search was +unsuccessful. Night came on, and I left the house to walk about +the streets. You will understand what a broken man I was by this +time, when I tell you I was afraid to sleep in the same room with +her! + +Three weeks passed. Still she refused to give up the knife; and +still that fear of sleeping in the same room with her possessed me. +I walked about at night, or dozed in the parlor, or sat watching by +my mother's bedside. Before the end of the first week in the new +month, the worst misfortune of all befell me--my mother died. It +wanted then but a short time to my birthday. She had longed to +live till that day. I was present at her death. Her last words in +this world were addressed to me. "Don't go back, my son--don't go +back!" + +I was obliged to go back, if it was only to watch my wife. In the +last days of my mother's illness she had spitefully added a sting +to my grief by declaring she would assert her right to attend the +funeral. In spite of all that I could do or say, she held to her +word. On the day appointed for the burial she forced herself, +inflamed and shameless with drink, into my presence, and swore she +would walk in the funeral procession to my mother's grave. + +This last insult--after all I had gone through already--was more +than I could endure. It maddened me. Try to make allowances for a +man beside himself. I struck her. + +The instant the blow was dealt, I repented it. She crouched down, +silent, in a corner of the room, and eyed me steadily. It was a +look that cooled my hot blood in an instant. There was no time now +to think of making atonement. I could only risk the worst, and +make sure of her till the funeral was over. I locked her into her +bedroom. + +When I came back, after laying my mother in the grave, I found her +sitting by the bedside, very much altered in look and bearing, with +a bundle on her lap. She faced me quietly; she spoke with a +curious stillness in her voice--strangely and unnaturally composed +in look and manner. + +"No man has ever struck me yet," she said. "My husband shall have +no second opportunity. Set the door open, and let me go." + +She passed me, and left the room. I saw her walk away up the +street. Was she gone for good? + +All that night I watched and waited. No footstep came near the +house. The next night, overcome with fatigue, I lay down on the +bed in my clothes, with the door locked, the key on the table, and +the candle burning. My slumber was not disturbed. The third +night, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, passed, and nothing +happened. I lay down on the seventh night, still suspicious of +something happening; still in my clothes; still with the door +locked, the key on the table, and the candle burning. + +My rest was disturbed. I awoke twice, without any sensation of +uneasiness. The third time, that horrid shivering of the night at +the lonely inn, that awful sinking pain at the heart, came back +again, and roused me in an instant. My eyes turned to the left- +hand side of the bed. And there stood, looking at me-- + +The Dream Woman again? No! My wife. The living woman, with the +face of the Dream--in the attitude of the Dream--the fair arm up; +the knife clasped in the delicate white hand. + +I sprang upon her on the instant; but not quickly enough to stop +her from hiding the knife. Without a word from me, without a cry +from her, I pinioned her in a chair. With one hand I felt up her +sleeve; and there, where the Dream Woman had hidden the knife, my +wife had hidden it--the knife with the buckhorn handle, that looked +like new. + +What I felt when I made that discovery I could not realize at the +time, and I can't describe now. I took one steady look at her with +the knife in my hand. "You meant to kill me?" I said. + +"Yes," she answered; "I meant to kill you." She crossed her arms +over her bosom, and stared me coolly in the face. "I shall do it +yet," she said. "With that knife." + +I don't know what possessed me--I swear to you I am no coward; and +yet I acted like a coward. The horrors got hold of me. I couldn't +look at her--I couldn't speak to her. I left her (with the knife +in my hand), and went out into the night. + +There was a bleak wind abroad, and the smell of rain was in the +air. The church clocks chimed the quarter as I walked beyond the +last house in the town. I asked the first policeman I met what +hour that was, of which the quarter past had just struck. + +The man looked at his watch, and answered, "Two o'clock." Two in +the morning. What day of the month was this day that had just +begun? I reckoned it up from the date of my mother's funeral. The +horrid parallel between the dream and the reality was complete--it +was my birthday! + +Had I escaped the mortal peril which the dream foretold? or had I +only received a second warning? As that doubt crossed my mind I +stopped on my way out of the town. The air had revived me--I felt +in some degree like my own self again. After a little thinking, I +began to see plainly the mistake I had made in leaving my wife free +to go where she liked and to do as she pleased. + +I turned instantly, and made my way back to the house. It was +still dark. I had left the candle burning in the bedchamber. When +I looked up to the window of the room now, there was no light in +it. I advanced to the house door. On going away, I remembered to +have closed it; on trying it now, I found it open. + +I waited outside, never losing sight of the house till daylight. +Then I ventured indoors--listened, and heard nothing--looked into +the kitchen, scullery, parlor, and found nothing--went up at last +into the bedroom. It was empty. + +A picklock lay on the floor, which told me how she had gained +entrance in the night. And that was the one trace I could find of +the Dream Woman. + + +XIII + + +I waited in the house till the town was astir for the day, and then +I went to consult a lawyer. In the confused state of my mind at +the time, I had one clear notion of what I meant to do: I was +determined to sell my house and leave the neighborhood. There were +obstacles in the way which I had not counted on. I was told I had +creditors to satisfy before I could leave--I, who had given my wife +the money to pay my bills regularly every week! Inquiry showed +that she had embezzled every farthing of the money I had intrusted +to her. I had no choice but to pay over again. + +Placed in this awkward position, my first duty was to set things +right, with the help of my lawyer. During my forced sojourn in the +town I did two foolish things. And, as a consequence that +followed, I heard once more, and heard for the last time, of my +wife. + +In the first place, having got possession of the knife, I was rash +enough to keep it in my pocket. In the second place, having +something of importance to say to my lawyer, at a late hour of the +evening, I went to his house after dark--alone and on foot. I got +there safely enough. Returning, I was seized on from behind by two +men, dragged down a passage and robbed--not only of the little +money I had about me, but also of the knife. It was the lawyer's +opinion (as it was mine) that the thieves were among the +disreputable acquaintances formed by my wife, and that they, had +attacked me at her instigation. To confirm this view I received a +letter the next day, without date or address, written in Alicia's +hand. The first line informed me that the knife was back again in +her possession. The second line reminded me of the day when I +struck her. The third line warned me that she would wash out the +stain of that blow in my blood, and repeated the words, "I shall do +it with the knife!" + +These things happened a year ago. The law laid hands on the men +who had robbed me; but from that time to this, the law has failed +completely to find a trace of my wife. + +My story is told. When I had paid the creditors and paid the legal +expenses, I had barely five pounds left out of the sale of my +house; and I had the world to begin over again. Some months since-- +drifting here and there--I found my way to Underbridge. The +landlord of the inn had known something of my father's family in +times past. He gave me (all he had to give) my food, and shelter +in the yard. Except on market days, there is nothing to do. In +the coming winter the inn is to be shut up, and I shall have to +shift for myself. My old master would help me if I applied to him-- +but I don't like to apply: he has done more for me already than I +deserve. Besides, in another year who knows but my troubles may +all be at an end? Next winter will bring me nigh to my next +birthday, and my next birthday may be the day of my death. Yes! +it's true I sat up all last night; and I heard two in the morning +strike: and nothing happened. Still, allowing for that, the time +to come is a time I don't trust. My wife has got the knife--my +wife is looking for me. I am above superstition, mind! I don't +say I believe in dreams; I only say, Alicia Warlock is looking for +me. It is possible I may be wrong. It is possible I may be right. +Who can tell? + + + +THE THIRD NARRATIVE + +THE STORY CONTINUED BY PERCY FAIRBANK + + +XIV + + +We took leave of Francis Raven at the door of Farleigh Hall, with +the understanding that he might expect to hear from us again. + +The same night Mrs. Fairbank and I had a discussion in the +sanctuary of our own room. The topic was "The Hostler's Story"; +and the question in dispute between us turned on the measure of +charitable duty that we owed to the hostler himself. + +The view I took of the man's narrative was of the purely matter-of- +fact kind. Francis Raven had, in my opinion, brooded over the +misty connection between his strange dream and his vile wife, until +his mind was in a state of partial delusion on that subject. I was +quite willing to help him with a trifle of money, and to recommend +him to the kindness of my lawyer, if he was really in any danger +and wanted advice. There my idea of my duty toward this afflicted +person began and ended. + +Confronted with this sensible view of the matter, Mrs. Fairbank's +romantic temperament rushed, as usual, into extremes. "I should no +more think of losing sight of Francis Raven when his next birthday +comes round," says my wife, "than I should think of laying down a +good story with the last chapters unread. I am positively +determined, Percy, to take him back with us when we return to +France, in the capacity of groom. What does one man more or less +among the horses matter to people as rich as we are?" In this +strain the partner of my joys and sorrows ran on, perfectly +impenetrable to everything that I could say on the side of common +sense. Need I tell my married brethren how it ended? Of course I +allowed my wife to irritate me, and spoke to her sharply. + +Of course my wife turned her face away indignantly on the conjugal +pillow, and burst into tears. Of course upon that, "Mr." made his +excuses, and "Mrs." had her own way. + +Before the week was out we rode over to Underbridge, and duly +offered to Francis Raven a place in our service as supernumerary +groom. + +At first the poor fellow seemed hardly able to realize his own +extraordinary good fortune. Recovering himself, he expressed his +gratitude modestly and becomingly. Mrs. Fairbank's ready +sympathies overflowed, as usual, at her lips. She talked to him +about our home in France, as if the worn, gray-headed hostler had +been a child. "Such a dear old house, Francis; and such pretty +gardens! Stables! Stables ten times as big as your stables here-- +quite a choice of rooms for you. You must learn the name of our +house--Maison Rouge. Our nearest town is Metz. We are within a +walk of the beautiful River Moselle. And when we want a change we +have only to take the railway to the frontier, and find ourselves +in Germany." + +Listening, so far, with a very bewildered face, Francis started and +changed color when my wife reached the end of her last sentence. +"Germany?" he repeated. + +"Yes. Does Germany remind you of anything?" + +The hostler's eyes looked down sadly on the ground. "Germany +reminds me of my wife," he replied. + +"Indeed! How?" + +"She once told me she had lived in Germany--long before I knew her- +-in the time when she was a young girl." + +"Was she living with relations or friends?" + +"She was living as governess in a foreign family." + +"In what part of Germany?" + +"I don't remember, ma'am. I doubt if she told me." + +"Did she tell you the name of the family?" + +"Yes, ma'am. It was a foreign name, and it has slipped my memory +long since. The head of the family was a wine grower in a large +way of business--I remember that." + +"Did you hear what sort of wine he grew? There are wine growers in +our neighborhood. Was it Moselle wine?" + +"I couldn't say, ma'am, I doubt if I ever heard." + +There the conversation dropped. We engaged to communicate with +Francis Raven before we left England, and took our leave. I had +made arrangements to pay our round of visits to English friends, +and to return to Maison Rouge in the summer. On the eve of +departure, certain difficulties in connection with the management +of some landed property of mine in Ireland obliged us to alter our +plans. Instead of getting back to our house in France in the +Summer, we only returned a week or two before Christmas. Francis +Raven accompanied us, and was duly established, in the nominal +capacity of stable keeper, among the servants at Maison Rouge. + +Before long, some of the objections to taking him into our +employment, which I had foreseen and had vainly mentioned to my +wife, forced themselves on our attention in no very agreeable form. +Francis Raven failed (as I had feared he would) to get on smoothly +with his fellow-servants. They were all French; and not one of +them understood English. Francis, on his side, was equally +ignorant of French. His reserved manners, his melancholy +temperament, his solitary ways--all told against him. Our servants +called him "the English Bear." He grew widely known in the +neighborhood under his nickname. Quarrels took place, ending once +or twice in blows. It became plain, even to Mrs. Fairbank herself, +that some wise change must be made. While we were still +considering what the change was to be, the unfortunate hostler was +thrown on our hands for some time to come by an accident in the +stables. Still pursued by his proverbial ill-luck, the poor +wretch's leg was broken by a kick from a horse. + +He was attended to by our own surgeon, in his comfortable bedroom +at the stables. As the date of his birthday drew near, he was +still confined to his bed. + +Physically speaking, he was doing very well. Morally speaking, the +surgeon was not satisfied. Francis Raven was suffering under some +mysterious mental disturbance, which interfered seriously with his +rest at night. Hearing this, I thought it my duty to tell the +medical attendant what was preying on the patient's mind. As a +practical man, he shared my opinion that the hostler was in a state +of delusion on the subject of his Wife and his Dream. "Curable +delusion, in my opinion," the surgeon added, "if the experiment +could be fairly tried." + +"How can it be tried?" I asked. Instead of replying, the surgeon +put a question to me, on his side. + +"Do you happen to know," he said, "that this year is Leap Year?" + +"Mrs. Fairbank reminded me of it yesterday," I answered. +"Otherwise I might NOT have known it." + +"Do you think Francis Raven knows that this year is Leap Year?" + +(I began to see dimly what my friend was driving at.) + +"It depends," I answered, "on whether he has got an English +almanac. Suppose he has NOT got the almanac--what then?" + +"In that case," pursued the surgeon, "Francis Raven is innocent of +all suspicion that there is a twenty-ninth day in February this +year. As a necessary consequence--what will he do? He will +anticipate the appearance of the Woman with the Knife, at two in +the morning of the twenty-ninth of February, instead of the first +of March. Let him suffer all his superstitious terrors on the +wrong day. Leave him, on the day that is really his birthday, to +pass a perfectly quiet night, and to be as sound asleep as other +people at two in the morning. And then, when he wakes comfortably +in time for his breakfast, shame him out of his delusion by telling +him the truth." + +I agreed to try the experiment. Leaving the surgeon to caution +Mrs. Fairbank on the subject of Leap Year, I went to the stables to +see Mr. Raven. + + +XV + + +The poor fellow was full of forebodings of the fate in store for +him on the ominous first of March. He eagerly entreated me to +order one of the men servants to sit up with him on the birthday +morning. In granting his request, I asked him to tell me on which +day of the week his birthday fell. He reckoned the days on his +fingers; and proved his innocence of all suspicion that it was Leap +Year, by fixing on the twenty-ninth of February, in the full +persuasion that it was the first of March. Pledged to try the +surgeon's experiment, I left his error uncorrected, of course. In +so doing, I took my first step blindfold toward the last act in the +drama of the Hostler's Dream. + +The next day brought with it a little domestic difficulty, which +indirectly and strangely associated itself with the coming end. + +My wife received a letter, inviting us to assist in celebrating the +"Silver Wedding" of two worthy German neighbors of ours--Mr. and +Mrs. Beldheimer. Mr. Beldheimer was a large wine grower on the +banks of the Moselle. His house was situated on the frontier line +of France and Germany; and the distance from our house was +sufficiently considerable to make it necessary for us to sleep +under our host's roof. Under these circumstances, if we accepted +the invitation, a comparison of dates showed that we should be away +from home on the morning of the first of March. Mrs. Fairbank-- +holding to her absurd resolution to see with her own eyes what +might, or might not, happen to Francis Raven on his birthday-- +flatly declined to leave Maison Rouge. "It's easy to send an +excuse," she said, in her off-hand manner. + +I failed, for my part, to see any easy way out of the difficulty. +The celebration of a "Silver Wedding" in Germany is the celebration +of twenty-five years of happy married life; and the host's claim +upon the consideration of his friends on such an occasion is +something in the nature of a royal "command." After considerable +discussion, finding my wife's obstinacy invincible, and feeling +that the absence of both of us from the festival would certainly +offend our friends, I left Mrs. Fairbank to make her excuses for +herself, and directed her to accept the invitation so far as I was +concerned. In so doing, I took my second step, blindfold, toward +the last act in the drama of the Hostler's Dream. + +A week elapsed; the last days of February were at hand. Another +domestic difficulty happened; and, again, this event also proved to +be strangely associated with the coming end. + +My head groom at the stables was one Joseph Rigobert. He was an +ill-conditioned fellow, inordinately vain of his personal +appearance, and by no means scrupulous in his conduct with women. +His one virtue consisted of his fondness for horses, and in the +care he took of the animals under his charge. In a word, he was +too good a groom to be easily replaced, or he would have quitted my +service long since. On the occasion of which I am now writing, he +was reported to me by my steward as growing idle and disorderly in +his habits. The principal offense alleged against him was, that he +had been seen that day in the city of Metz, in the company of a +woman (supposed to be an Englishwoman), whom he was entertaining at +a tavern, when he ought to have been on his way back to Maison +Rouge. The man's defense was that "the lady" (as he called her) +was an English stranger, unacquainted with the ways of the place, +and that he had only shown her where she could obtain some +refreshments at her own request. I administered the necessary +reprimand, without troubling myself to inquire further into the +matter. In failing to do this, I took my third step, blindfold, +toward the last act in the drama of the Hostler's Dream. + +On the evening of the twenty-eighth, I informed the servants at the +stables that one of them must watch through the night by the +Englishman's bedside. Joseph Rigobert immediately volunteered for +the duty--as a means, no doubt, of winning his way back to my +favor. I accepted his proposal. + +That day the surgeon dined with us. Toward midnight he and I left +the smoking room, and repaired to Francis Raven's bedside. +Rigobert was at his post, with no very agreeable expression on his +face. The Frenchman and the Englishman had evidently not got on +well together so far. Francis Raven lay helpless on his bed, +waiting silently for two in the morning and the Dream Woman. + +"I have come, Francis, to bid you good night," I said, cheerfully. +"To-morrow morning I shall look in at breakfast time, before I +leave home on a journey." + +"Thank you for all your kindness, sir. You will not see me alive +to-morrow morning. She will find me this time. Mark my words--she +will find me this time." + +"My good fellow! she couldn't find you in England. How in the +world is she to find you in France?" + +"It's borne in on my mind, sir, that she will find me here. At two +in the morning on my birthday I shall see her again, and see her +for the last time." + +"Do you mean that she will kill you?" + +"I mean that, sir, she will kill me--with the knife." + +"And with Rigobert in the room to protect you?" + +"I am a doomed man. Fifty Rigoberts couldn't protect me." + +"And you wanted somebody to sit up with you?" + +"Mere weakness, sir. I don't like to be left alone on my +deathbed." + +I looked at the surgeon. If he had encouraged me, I should +certainly, out of sheer compassion, have confessed to Francis Raven +the trick that we were playing him. The surgeon held to his +experiment; the surgeon's face plainly said--"No." + +The next day (the twenty-ninth of February) was the day of the +"Silver Wedding." The first thing in the morning, I went to +Francis Raven's room. Rigobert met me at the door. + +"How has he passed the night?" I asked. + +"Saying his prayers, and looking for ghosts," Rigobert answered. +"A lunatic asylum is the only proper place for him." + +I approached the bedside. "Well, Francis, here you are, safe and +sound, in spite of what you said to me last night." + +His eyes rested on mine with a vacant, wondering look. + +"I don't understand it," he said. + +"Did you see anything of your wife when the clock struck two?" + +"No, sir." + +"Did anything happen?" + +"Nothing happened, sir." + +"Doesn't THIS satisfy you that you were wrong?" + +His eyes still kept their vacant, wondering look. He only repeated +the words he had spoken already: "I don't understand it." + +I made a last attempt to cheer him. "Come, come, Francis! keep a +good heart. You will be out of bed in a fortnight." + +He shook his head on the pillow. "There's something wrong," he +said. "I don't expect you to believe me, sir. I only say there's +something wrong--and time will show it." + +I left the room. Half an hour later I started for Mr. Beldheimer's +house; leaving the arrangements for the morning of the first of +March in the hands of the doctor and my wife. + + +XVI + + +The one thing which principally struck me when I joined the guests +at the "Silver Wedding" is also the one thing which it is necessary +to mention here. On this joyful occasion a noticeable lady present +was out of spirits. That lady was no other than the heroine of the +festival, the mistress of the house! + +In the course of the evening I spoke to Mr. Beldheimer's eldest son +on the subject of his mother. As an old friend of the family, I +had a claim on his confidence which the young man willingly +recognized. + +"We have had a very disagreeable matter to deal with," he said; +"and my mother has not recovered the painful impression left on her +mind. Many years since, when my sisters were children, we had an +English governess in the house. She left us, as we then +understood, to be married. We heard no more of her until a week or +ten days since, when my mother received a letter, in which our ex- +governess described herself as being in a condition of great +poverty and distress. After much hesitation she had ventured--at +the suggestion of a lady who had been kind to her--to write to her +former employers, and to appeal to their remembrance of old times. +You know my mother she is not only the most kind-headed, but the +most innocent of women--it is impossible to persuade her of the +wickedness that there is in the world. She replied by return of +post, inviting the governess to come here and see her, and +inclosing the money for her traveling expenses. When my father +came home, and heard what had been done, he wrote at once to his +agent in London to make inquiries, inclosing the address on the +governess' letter. Before he could receive the agent's reply the +governess arrived. She produced the worst possible impression on +his mind. The agent's letter, arriving a few days later, confirmed +his suspicions. Since we had lost sight of her, the woman had led +a most disreputable life. My father spoke to her privately: he +offered--on condition of her leaving the house--a sum of money to +take her back to England. If she refused, the alternative would be +an appeal to the authorities and a public scandal. She accepted +the money, and left the house. On her way back to England she +appears to have stopped at Metz. You will understand what sort of +woman she is when I tell you that she was seen the other day in a +tavern with your handsome groom, Joseph Rigobert." + +While my informant was relating these circumstances, my memory was +at work. I recalled what Francis Raven had vaguely told us of his +wife's experience in former days as governess in a German family. +A suspicion of the truth suddenly flashed across my mind. "What +was the woman's name?" I asked. + +Mr. Beldheimer's son answered: "Alicia Warlock." + +I had but one idea when I heard that reply--to get back to my house +without a moment's needless delay. It was then ten o'clock at +night--the last train to Metz had left long since. I arranged with +my young friend--after duly informing him of the circumstances-- +that I should go by the first train in the morning, instead of +staying to breakfast with the other guests who slept in the house. + +At intervals during the night I wondered uneasily how things were +going on at Maison Rouge. Again and again the same question +occurred to me, on my journey home in the early morning--the +morning of the first of March. As the event proved, but one person +in my house knew what really happened at the stables on Francis +Raven's birthday. Let Joseph Rigobert take my place as narrator, +and tell the story of the end to You--as he told it, in times past, +to his lawyer and to Me. + + +FOURTH (AND LAST) NARRATIVE + +STATEMENT OF JOSEPH RIGOBERT: ADDRESSED TO THE ADVOCATE WHO +DEFENDED HIM AT HIS TRIAL + + +RESPECTED SIR,--On the twenty-seventh of February I was sent, on +business connected with the stables at Maison Rouge, to the city of +Metz. On the public promenade I met a magnificent woman. +Complexion, blond. Nationality, English. We mutually admired each +other; we fell into conversation. (She spoke French perfectly-- +with the English accent.) I offered refreshment; my proposal was +accepted. We had a long and interesting interview--we discovered +that we were made for each other. So far, Who is to blame? + +Is it my fault that I am a handsome man--universally agreeable as +such to the fair sex? Is it a criminal offense to be accessible to +the amiable weakness of love? I ask again, Who is to blame? +Clearly, nature. Not the beautiful lady--not my humble self. + +To resume. The most hard-hearted person living will understand +that two beings made for each other could not possibly part without +an appointment to meet again. + +I made arrangements for the accommodation of the lady in the +village near Maison Rouge. She consented to honor me with her +company at supper, in my apartment at the stables, on the night of +the twenty-ninth. The time fixed on was the time when the other +servants were accustomed to retire--eleven o'clock. + +Among the grooms attached to the stables was an Englishman, laid up +with a broken leg. His name was Francis. His manners were +repulsive; he was ignorant of the French language. In the kitchen +he went by the nickname of the "English Bear." Strange to say, he +was a great favorite with my master and my mistress. They even +humored certain superstitious terrors to which this repulsive +person was subject--terrors into the nature of which I, as an +advanced freethinker, never thought it worth my while to inquire. + +On the evening of the twenty-eighth the Englishman, being a prey to +the terrors which I have mentioned, requested that one of his +fellow-servants might sit up with him for that night only. The +wish that he expressed was backed by Mr. Fairbank's authority. +Having already incurred my master's displeasure--in what way, a +proper sense of my own dignity forbids me to relate--I volunteered +to watch by the bedside of the English Bear. My object was to +satisfy Mr. Fairbank that I bore no malice, on my side, after what +had occurred between us. The wretched Englishman passed a night of +delirium. Not understanding his barbarous language, I could only +gather from his gesture that he was in deadly fear of some fancied +apparition at his bedside. From time to time, when this madman +disturbed my slumbers, I quieted him by swearing at him. This is +the shortest and best way of dealing with persons in his condition. + +On the morning of the twenty-ninth, Mr. Fairbank left us on a +journey. Later in the day, to my unspeakable disgust, I found that +I had not done with the Englishman yet. In Mr. Fairbank's absence, +Mrs. Fairbank took an incomprehensible interest in the question of +my delirious fellow-servant's repose at night. Again, one or the +other of us was to watch at his bedside, and report it, if anything +happened. Expecting my fair friend to supper, it was necessary to +make sure that the other servants at the stables would be safe in +their beds that night. Accordingly, I volunteered once more to be +the man who kept watch. Mrs. Fairbank complimented me on my +humanity. I possess great command over my feelings. I accepted +the compliment without a blush. + +Twice, after nightfall, my mistress and the doctor (the last +staying in the house in Mr. Fairbank's absence) came to make +inquiries. Once BEFORE the arrival of my fair friend--and once +AFTER. On the second occasion (my apartment being next door to the +Englishman's) I was obliged to hide my charming guest in the +harness room. She consented, with angelic resignation, to immolate +her dignity to the servile necessities of my position. A more +amiable woman (so far) I never met with! + +After the second visit I was left free. It was then close on +midnight. Up to that time there was nothing in the behavior of the +mad Englishman to reward Mrs. Fairbank and the doctor for +presenting themselves at his bedside. He lay half awake, half +asleep, with an odd wondering kind of look in his face. My +mistress at parting warned me to be particularly watchful of him +toward two in the morning. The doctor (in case anything happened) +left me a large hand bell to ring, which could easily be heard at +the house. + +Restored to the society of my fair friend, I spread the supper +table. A pate, a sausage, and a few bottles of generous Moselle +wine, composed our simple meal. When persons adore each other, the +intoxicating illusion of Love transforms the simplest meal into a +banquet. With immeasurable capacities for enjoyment, we sat down +to table. At the very moment when I placed my fascinating +companion in a chair, the infamous Englishman in the next room took +that occasion, of all others, to become restless and noisy once +more. He struck with his stick on the floor; he cried out, in a +delirious access of terror, "Rigobert! Rigobert!" + +The sound of that lamentable voice, suddenly assailing our ears, +terrified my fair friend. She lost all her charming color in an +instant. "Good heavens!" she exclaimed. "Who is that in the next +room?" + +"A mad Englishman." + +"An Englishman?" + +"Compose yourself, my angel. I will quiet him." The lamentable +voice called out on me again, "Rigobert! Rigobert!" + +My fair friend caught me by the arm. "Who is he?" she cried. +"What is his name?" + +Something in her face struck me as she put that question. A spasm +of jealousy shook me to the soul. "You know him?" I said. + +"His name!" she vehemently repeated; "his name!" + +"Francis," I answered. + +"Francis--WHAT?" + +I shrugged my shoulders. I could neither remember nor pronounce +the barbarous English surname. I could only tell her it began with +an "R." + +She dropped back into the chair. Was she going to faint? No: she +recovered, and more than recovered, her lost color. Her eyes +flashed superbly. What did it mean? Profoundly as I understand +women in general, I was puzzled by THIS woman! + +"You know him?" I repeated. + +She laughed at me. "What nonsense! How should I know him? Go and +quiet the wretch." + +My looking-glass was near. One glance at it satisfied me that no +woman in her senses could prefer the Englishman to Me. I recovered +my self-respect. I hastened to the Englishman's bedside. + +The moment I appeared he pointed eagerly toward my room. He +overwhelmed me with a torrent of words in his own language. I made +out, from his gestures and his looks, that he had, in some +incomprehensible manner, discovered the presence of my guest; and, +stranger still, that he was scared by the idea of a person in my +room. I endeavored to compose him on the system which I have +already mentioned--that is to say, I swore at him in MY language. +The result not proving satisfactory, I own I shook my fist in his +face, and left the bedchamber. + +Returning to my fair friend, I found her walking backward and +forward in a state of excitement wonderful to behold. She had not +waited for me to fill her glass--she had begun the generous Moselle +in my absence. I prevailed on her with difficulty to place herself +at the table. Nothing would induce her to eat. "My appetite is +gone," she said. "Give me wine." + +The generous Moselle deserves its name--delicate on the palate, +with prodigious "body." The strength of this fine wine produced no +stupefying effect on my remarkable guest. It appeared to +strengthen and exhilarate her--nothing more. She always spoke in +the same low tone, and always, turn the conversation as I might, +brought it back with the same dexterity to the subject of the +Englishman in the next room. In any other woman this persistency +would have offended me. My lovely guest was irresistible; I +answered her questions with the docility of a child. She possessed +all the amusing eccentricity of her nation. When I told her of the +accident which confined the Englishman to his bed, she sprang to +her feet. An extraordinary smile irradiated her countenance. She +said, "Show me the horse who broke the Englishman's leg! I must +see that horse!" I took her to the stables. She kissed the horse- +-on my word of honor, she kissed the horse! That struck me. I +said. "You DO know the man; and he has wronged you in some way." +No! she would not admit it, even then. "I kiss all beautiful +animals," she said. "Haven't I kissed YOU?" With that charming +explanation of her conduct, she ran back up the stairs. I only +remained behind to lock the stable door again. When I rejoined +her, I made a startling discovery. I caught her coming out of the +Englishman's room. + +"I was just going downstairs again to call you," she said. "The +man in there is getting noisy once more." + +The mad Englishman's voice assailed our ears once again. +"Rigobert! Rigobert!" + +He was a frightful object to look at when I saw him this time. His +eyes were staring wildly; the perspiration was pouring over his +face. In a panic of terror he clasped his hands; he pointed up to +heaven. By every sign and gesture that a man can make, he +entreated me not to leave him again. I really could not help +smiling. The idea of my staying with HIM, and leaving my fair +friend by herself in the next room! + +I turned to the door. When the mad wretch saw me leaving him he +burst out into a screech of despair--so shrill that I feared it +might awaken the sleeping servants. + +My presence of mind in emergencies is proverbial among those who +know me. I tore open the cupboard in which he kept his linen-- +seized a handful of his handkerchief's--gagged him with one of +them, and secured his hands with the others. There was now no +danger of his alarming the servants. After tying the last knot, I +looked up. + +The door between the Englishman's room and mine was open. My fair +friend was standing on the threshold--watching HIM as he lay +helpless on the bed; watching ME as I tied the last knot. + +"What are you doing there?" I asked. "Why did you open the door?" + +She stepped up to me, and whispered her answer in my ear, with her +eyes all the time upon the man on the bed: + +"I heard him scream." + +"Well?" + +"I thought you had killed him." + +I drew back from her in horror. The suspicion of me which her +words implied was sufficiently detestable in itself. But her +manner when she uttered the words was more revolting still. It so +powerfully affected me that I started back from that beautiful +creature as I might have recoiled from a reptile crawling over my +flesh. + +Before I had recovered myself sufficiently to reply, my nerves were +assailed by another shock. I suddenly heard my mistress's voice +calling to me from the stable yard. + +There was no time to think--there was only time to act. The one +thing needed was to keep Mrs. Fairbank from ascending the stairs, +and discovering--not my lady guest only--but the Englishman also, +gagged and bound on his bed. I instantly hurried to the yard. As +I ran down the stairs I heard the stable clock strike the quarter +to two in the morning. + +My mistress was eager and agitated. The doctor (in attendance on +her) was smiling to himself, like a man amused at his own thoughts. + +"Is Francis awake or asleep?" Mrs. Fairbank inquired. + +"He has been a little restless, madam. But he is now quiet again. +If he is not disturbed" (I added those words to prevent her from +ascending the stairs), "he will soon fall off into a quiet sleep." + +"Has nothing happened since I was here last?" + +"Nothing, madam." + +The doctor lifted his eyebrows with a comical look of distress. +"Alas, alas, Mrs. Fairbank!" he said. "Nothing has happened! The +days of romance are over!" + +"It is not two o'clock yet," my mistress answered, a little +irritably. + +The smell of the stables was strong on the morning air. She put +her handkerchief to her nose and led the way out of the yard by the +north entrance--the entrance communicating with the gardens and the +house. I was ordered to follow her, along with the doctor. Once +out of the smell of the stables she began to question me again. +She was unwilling to believe that nothing had occurred in her +absence. I invented the best answers I could think of on the spur +of the moment; and the doctor stood by laughing. So the minutes +passed till the clock struck two. Upon that, Mrs. Fairbank +announced her intention of personally visiting the Englishman in +his room. To my great relief, the doctor interfered to stop her +from doing this. + +"You have heard that Francis is just falling asleep," he said. "If +you enter his room you may disturb him. It is essential to the +success of my experiment that he should have a good night's rest, +and that he should own it himself, before I tell him the truth. I +must request, madam, that you will not disturb the man. Rigobert +will ring the alarm bell if anything happens." + +My mistress was unwilling to yield. For the next five minutes, at +least, there was a warm discussion between the two. In the end +Mrs. Fairbank was obliged to give way--for the time. "In half an +hour," she said, "Francis will either be sound asleep, or awake +again. In half an hour I shall come back." She took the doctor's +arm. They returned together to the house. + +Left by myself, with half an hour before me, I resolved to take the +Englishwoman back to the village--then, returning to the stables, +to remove the gag and the bindings from Francis, and to let him +screech to his heart's content. What would his alarming the whole +establishment matter to ME after I had got rid of the compromising +presence of my guest? + +Returning to the yard I heard a sound like the creaking of an open +door on its hinges. The gate of the north entrance I had just +closed with my own hand. I went round to the west entrance, at the +back of the stables. It opened on a field crossed by two footpaths +in Mr. Fairbank's grounds. The nearest footpath led to the +village. The other led to the highroad and the river. + +Arriving at the west entrance I found the door open--swinging to +and fro slowly in the fresh morning breeze. I had myself locked +and bolted that door after admitting my fair friend at eleven +o'clock. A vague dread of something wrong stole its way into my +mind. I hurried back to the stables. + +I looked into my own room. It was empty. I went to the harness +room. Not a sign of the woman was there. I returned to my room, +and approached the door of the Englishman's bedchamber. Was it +possible that she had remained there during my absence? An +unaccountable reluctance to open the door made me hesitate, with my +hand on the lock. I listened. There was not a sound inside. I +called softly. There was no answer. I drew back a step, still +hesitating. I noticed something dark moving slowly in the crevice +between the bottom of the door and the boarded floor. Snatching up +the candle from the table, I held it low, and looked. The dark, +slowly moving object was a stream of blood! + +That horrid sight roused me. I opened the door. The Englishman +lay on his bed--alone in the room. He was stabbed in two places-- +in the throat and in the heart. The weapon was left in the second +wound. It was a knife of English manufacture, with a handle of +buckhorn as good as new. + +I instantly gave the alarm. Witnesses can speak to what followed. +It is monstrous to suppose that I am guilty of the murder. I admit +that I am capable of committing follies: but I shrink from the bare +idea of a crime. Besides, I had no motive for killing the man. +The woman murdered him in my absence. The woman escaped by the +west entrance while I was talking to my mistress. I have no more +to say. I swear to you what I have here written is a true +statement of all that happened on the morning of the first of +March. + +Accept, sir, the assurance of my sentiments of profound gratitude +and respect. + +JOSEPH RIGOBERT. + + +LAST LINES--ADDED BY PERCY FAIRBANK + + +Tried for the murder of Francis Raven, Joseph Rigobert was found +Not Guilty; the papers of the assassinated man presented ample +evidence of the deadly animosity felt toward him by his wife. + +The investigations pursued on the morning when the crime was +committed showed that the murderess, after leaving the stable, had +taken the footpath which led to the river. The river was dragged-- +without result. It remains doubtful to this day whether she died +by drowning or not. The one thing certain is--that Alicia Warlock +was never seen again. + +So--beginning in mystery, ending in mystery--the Dream Woman passes +from your view. Ghost; demon; or living human creature--say for +yourselves which she is. Or, knowing what unfathomed wonders are +around you, what unfathomed wonders are IN you, let the wise words +of the greatest of all poets be explanation enough: + + + "We are such stuff + As dreams are made of, and our little life + Is rounded with a sleep." + + + +Anonymous + +The Lost Duchess + + +I + + +"Has the duchess returned?" + +"No, your grace." + +Knowles came farther into the room. He had a letter on a salver. +When the duke had taken it, Knowles still lingered. The duke +glanced at him. + +"Is an answer required?" + +"No, your grace." Still Knowles lingered. "Something a little +singular has happened. The carriage has returned without the +duchess, and the men say that they thought her grace was in it." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I hardly understand myself, your grace. Perhaps you would like to +see Barnes." + +Barnes was the coachman. + +"Send him up." When Knowles had gone, and he was alone, his grace +showed signs of being slightly annoyed. He looked at his watch. +"I told her she'd better be in by four. She says that she's not +feeling well, and yet one would think that she was not aware of the +fatigue entailed in having the prince come to dinner, and a mob of +people to follow. I particularly wished her to lie down for a +couple of hours." + +Knowles ushered in not only Barnes, the coachman, but Moysey, the +footman, too. Both these persons seemed to be ill at ease. The +duke glanced at them sharply. In his voice there was a suggestion +of impatience. + +"What is the matter?" + +Barnes explained as best he could. + +"If you please, your grace, we waited for the duchess outside Cane +and Wilson's, the drapers. The duchess came out, got into the +carriage, and Moysey shut the door, and her grace said, 'Home!' and +yet when we got home she wasn't there." + +"She wasn't where?" + +"Her grace wasn't in the carriage, your grace." + +"What on earth do you mean?" + +"Her grace did get into the carriage; you shut the door, didn't +you?" + +Barnes turned to Moysey. Moysey brought his hand up to his brow in +a sort of military salute--he had been a soldier in the regiment in +which, once upon a time, the duke had been a subaltern. + +"She did. The duchess came out of the shop. She seemed rather in +a hurry, I thought. She got into the carriage, and she said, +'Home, Moysey!' I shut the door, and Barnes drove straight home. +We never stopped anywhere, and we never noticed nothing happen on +the way; and yet when we got home the carriage was empty." + +The duke started. + +"Do you mean to tell me that the duchess got out of the carriage +while you were driving full pelt through the streets without saying +anything to you, and without you noticing it?" + +"The carriage was empty when we got home, your grace." + +"Was either of the doors open?" + +"No, your grace." + +"You fellows have been up to some infernal mischief. You have made +a mess of it. You never picked up the duchess, and you're trying +to palm this tale off on me to save yourselves." + +Barnes was moved to adjuration: + +"I'll take my Bible oath, your grace, that the duchess got into the +carriage outside Cane and Wilson's." + +Moysey seconded his colleague. + +"I will swear to that, your grace. She got into that carriage, and +I shut the door, and she said, 'Home, Moysey!'" + +The duke looked as if he did not know what to make of the story and +its tellers. + +"What carriage did you have?" + +"Her grace's brougham, your grace." + +Knowles interposed: + +"The brougham was ordered because I understood that the duchess was +not feeling very well, and there's rather a high wind, your grace." + +The duke snapped at him: + +"What has that to do with it? Are you suggesting that the duchess +was more likely to jump out of a brougham while it was dashing +through the streets than out of any other kind of vehicle?" + +The duke's glance fell on the letter which Knowles had brought him +when he first had entered. He had placed it on his writing table. +Now he took it up. It was, addressed: + + +"To His Grace the Duke of Datchet. + + Private! + + VERY PRESSING! ! !" + + +The name was written in a fine, clear, almost feminine hand. The +words in the left-hand corner of the envelope were written in a +different hand. They were large and bold; almost as though they +had been painted with the end of the penholder instead of being +written with the pen. The envelope itself was of an unusual size, +and bulged out as though it contained something else besides a +letter. + +The duke tore the envelope open. As he did so something fell out +of it on to the writing table. It looked as though it was a lock +of a woman's hair. As he glanced at it the duke seemed to be a +trifle startled. The duke read the letter: + + +"Your grace will be so good as to bring five hundred pounds in gold +to the Piccadilly end of the Burlington Arcade within an hour of +the receipt of this. The Duchess of Datchet has been kidnaped. An +imitation duchess got into the carriage, which was waiting outside +Cane and Wilson's, and she alighted on the road. Unless your grace +does as you are requested, the Duchess of Datchet's left-hand +little finger will be at once cut off, and sent home in time to +receive the prince to dinner. Other portions of her grace will +follow. A lock of her grace's hair is inclosed with this as an +earnest of our good intentions. + +"BEFORE 5:30 P.M. your grace is requested to be at the Piccadilly +end of the Burlington Arcade with five hundred pounds in gold. You +will there be accosted by an individual in a white top hat, and +with a gardenia in his buttonhole. You will be entirely at liberty +to give him into custody, or to have him followed by the police, in +which case the duchess's left arm, cut off at the shoulder, will be +sent home for dinner--not to mention other extremely possible +contingencies. But you are ADVISED to give the individual in +question the five hundred pounds in gold, because in that case the +duchess herself will he home in time to receive the prince to +dinner, and with one of the best stories with which to entertain +your distinguished guests they ever heard. + +"Remember! NOT LATER THAN 5:30, unless you wish to receive her +grace's little finger." + + +The duke stared at this amazing epistle when he had read it as +though he found it difficult to believe the evidence of his eyes. +He was not a demonstrative person, as a rule, but this little +communication astonished even him. He read it again. Then his +hands dropped to his sides, and he swore. + +He took up the lock of hair which had fallen out of the envelope. +Was it possible that it could be his wife's, the duchess? Was it +possible that a Duchess of Datchet could be kidnaped, in broad +daylight, in the heart of London, and be sent home, as it were, in +pieces? Had sacrilegious hands already been playing pranks with +that great lady's hair? Certainly, THAT hair was so like HER hair +that the mere resemblance made his grace's blood run cold. He +turned on Messrs. Barnes and Moysey as though he would have liked +to rend them. + +"You scoundrels!" + +He moved forward as though the intention had entered his ducal +heart to knock his servants down. But, if that were so, he did not +act quite up to his intention. Instead, he stretched out his arm, +pointing at them as if he were an accusing spirit: + +"Will you swear that it was the duchess who got into the carriage +outside Cane and Wilson's?" + +Barnes began to stammer: + +"I'll swear, your grace, that I--I thought--" + +The duke stormed an interruption: + +"I don't ask what you thought. I ask you, will you swear it was?" + +The duke's anger was more than Barnes could face. He was silent. +Moysey showed a larger courage. + +"I could have sworn that it was at the time, your grace. But now +it seems to me that it's a rummy go." + +"A rummy go!" The peculiarity of the phrase did not seem to strike +the duke just then--at least, he echoed it as if it didn't. "You +call it a rummy go! Do you know that I am told in this letter that +the woman who entered the carriage was not the duchess? What you +were thinking about, or what case you will be able to make out for +yourselves, you know better than I; but I can tell you this--that +in an hour you will leave my service, and you may esteem yourselves +fortunate if, to-night, you are not both of you sleeping in jail." + +One might almost have suspected that the words were spoken in +irony. But before they could answer, another servant entered, who +also brought a letter for the duke. When his grace's glance fell +on it he uttered an exclamation. The writing on the envelope was +the same writing that had been on the envelope which had contained +the very singular communication--like it in all respects, down to +the broomstick-end thickness of the "Private!" and "Very +pressing!!!" in the corner. + +"Who brought this?" stormed the duke. + +The servant appeared to be a little startled by the violence of his +grace's manner. + +"A lady--or, at least, your grace, she seemed to be a lady." + +"Where is she?" + +"She came in a hansom, your grace. She gave me that letter, and +said, 'Give that to the Duke of Datchet at once--without a moment's +delay!' Then she got into the hansom again, and drove away." + +"Why didn't you stop her?" + +"Your grace!" + +The man seemed surprised, as though the idea of stopping chance +visitors to the ducal mansion vi et armis had not, until that +moment, entered into his philosophy. The duke continued to regard +the man as if he could say a good deal, if he chose. Then he +pointed to the door. His lips said nothing, but his gesture much. +The servant vanished. + +"Another hoax!" the duke said grimly, as he tore the envelope open. + +This time the envelope contained a sheet of paper, and in the sheet +of paper another envelope. The duke unfolded the sheet of paper. +On it some words were written. These: + +"The duchess appears so particularly anxious to drop you a line, +that one really hasn't the heart to refuse her. + +"Her grace's communication--written amidst blinding tears!--you +will find inclosed with this." + +"Knowles," said the duke, in a voice which actually trembled, +"Knowles, hoax or no hoax, I will be even with the gentleman who +wrote that." + +Handing the sheet of paper to Mr. Knowles, his grace turned his +attention to the envelope which had been inclosed. It was a small, +square envelope, of the finest quality, and it reeked with perfume. +The duke's countenance assumed an added frown--he had no fondness +for envelopes which were scented. In the center of the envelope +were the words, "To the Duke of Datchet," written in the big, bold, +sprawling hand which he knew so well. + +"Mabel's writing," he said, half to himself, as, with shaking +fingers, he tore the envelope open. + +The sheet of paper which he took out was almost as stiff as +cardboard. It, too, emitted what his grace deemed the nauseous +odors of the perfumer's shop. On it was written this letter: + + +"MY DEAR HEREWARD--For Heaven's sake do what these people require! +I don't know what has happened or where I am, but I am nearly +distracted! They have already cut off some of my hair, and they +tell me that, if you don't let them have five hundred pounds in +gold by half-past five, they will cut off my little finger too. I +would sooner die than lose my little finger--and--I don't know what +else besides. + +"By the token which I send you, and which has never, until now, +been off my breast, I conjure you to help me. + +"Hereward--HELP ME!" + + +When he read that letter the duke turned white--very white, as +white as the paper on which it was written. He passed the epistle +on to Knowles. + +"I suppose that also is a hoax?" + +Mr. Knowles was silent. He still yielded to his constitutional +disrelish to commit himself. At last he asked: + +"What is it that your grace proposes to do?" + +The duke spoke with a bitterness which almost suggested a personal +animosity toward the inoffensive Mr. Knowles. + +"I propose, with your permission, to release the duchess from the +custody of my estimable correspondent. I propose--always with your +permission--to comply with his modest request, and to take him his +five hundred pounds in gold." He paused, then continued in a tone +which, coming from him, meant volumes: "Afterwards, I propose to +cry quits with the concocter of this pretty little hoax, even if it +costs me every penny I possess. He shall pay more for that five +hundred pounds than he supposes." + + +II + + +The Duke of Datchet, coming out of the bank, lingered for a moment +on the steps. In one hand he carried a canvas bag which seemed +well weighted. On his countenance there was an expression which to +a casual observer might have suggested that his grace was not +completely at his ease. That casual observer happened to come +strolling by. It took the form of Ivor Dacre. + +Mr. Dacre looked the Duke of Datchet up and down in that languid +way he has. He perceived the canvas bag. Then he remarked, +possibly intending to be facetious: + +"Been robbing the bank? Shall I call a cart?" + +Nobody minds what Ivor Dacre says. Besides, he is the duke's own +cousin. Perhaps a little removed; still, there it is. So the duke +smiled a sickly smile, as if Mr. Dacre's delicate wit had given him +a passing touch of indigestion. + +Mr. Dacre noticed that the duke looked sallow, so he gave his +pretty sense of humor another airing. + +"Kitchen boiler burst? When I saw the duchess just now I wondered +if it had." + +His grace distinctly started. He almost dropped the canvas bag. + +"You saw the duchess just now, Ivor! When?" + +The duke was evidently moved. Mr. Dacre was stirred to languid +curiosity. "I can't say I clocked it. Perhaps half an hour ago; +perhaps a little more." + +"Half an hour ago! Are you sure? Where did you see her?" + +Mr. Dacre wondered. The Duchess of Datchet could scarcely have +been eloping in broad daylight. Moreover, she had not yet been +married a year. Everyone knew that she and the duke were still as +fond of each other as if they were not man and wife. So, although +the duke, for some cause or other, was evidently in an odd state of +agitation, Mr. Dacre saw no reason why he should not make a clean +breast of all he knew. + +"She was going like blazes in a hansom cab." + +"In a hansom cab? Where?" + +"Down Waterloo Place." + +"Was she alone?" + +Mr. Dacre reflected. He glanced at the duke out of the corners of +his eyes. His languid utterance became a positive drawl. + +"I rather fancy that she wasn't." + +"Who was with her?" + +"My dear fellow, if you were to offer me the bank I couldn't tell +you." + +"Was it a man?" + +Mr. Dacre's drawl became still more pronounced. + +"I rather fancy that it was." + +Mr. Dacre expected something. The duke was so excited. But he by +no means expected what actually came. + +"Ivor, she's been kidnaped!" + +Mr. Dacre did what he had never been known to do before within the +memory of man--he dropped his eyeglass. + +"Datchet!" + +"She has! Some scoundrel has decoyed her away, and trapped her. +He's already sent me a lock of her hair, and he tells me that if I +don't let him have five hundred pounds in gold by half-past five +he'll let me have her little finger." + +Mr. Dacre did not know what to make of his grace at all. He was a +sober man--it COULDN'T be that! Mr. Dacre felt really concerned. + +"I'll call a cab, old man, and you'd better let me see you home." + +Mr. Dacre half raised his stick to hail a passing hansom. The duke +caught him by the arm. + +"You ass! What do you mean? I am telling you the simple truth. +My wife's been kidnaped." + +Mr. Dacre's countenance was a thing to be seen--and remembered. + +"Oh! I hadn't heard that there was much of that sort of thing about +just now. They talk of poodles being kidnaped, but as for +duchesses-- You'd really better let me call that cab." + +"Ivor, do you want me to kick you? Don't you see that to me it's a +question of life and death? I've been in there to get the money." +His grace motioned toward the bank. "I'm going to take it to the +scoundrel who has my darling at his mercy. Let me but have her +hand in mine again, and he shall continue to pay for every +sovereign with tears of blood until he dies." + +"Look here, Datchet, I don't know if you're having a joke with me, +or if you're not well--" + +The duke stepped impatiently into the roadway. + +"Ivor, you're a fool! Can't you tell jest from earnest, health +from disease? I'm off! Are you coming with me? It would be as +well that I should have a witness." + +"Where are you off to?" + +"To the other end of the Arcade." + +"Who is the gentleman you expect to have the pleasure of meeting +there?" + +"How should I know?" The duke took a letter from his pocket--it +was the letter which had just arrived. "The fellow is to wear a +white top hat, and a gardenia in his buttonhole." + +"What is it you have there?" + +"It's the letter which brought the news--look for yourself and see; +but, for God's sake, make haste!" His grace glanced at his watch. +"It's already twenty after five." + +"And do you mean to say that on the strength of a letter such as +this you are going to hand over five hundred pounds to--" + +The duke cut Mr. Dacre short. + +"What are five hundred pounds to me? Besides, you don't know all. +There is another letter. And I have heard from Mabel. But I will +tell you all about it later. If you are coming, come!" + +Folding up the letter, Mr. Dacre returned it to the duke. + +"As you say, what are five hundred pounds to you? It's as well +they are not as much to you as they are to me, or I'm afraid--" + +"Hang it, Ivor, do prose afterwards!" + +The duke hurried across the road. Mr. Dacre hastened after him. +As they entered the Arcade they passed a constable. Mr. Dacre +touched his companion's arm. + +"Don't you think we'd better ask our friend in blue to walk behind +us? His neighborhood might be handy." + +"Nonsense!" The duke stopped short. "Ivor, this is my affair, not +yours. If you are not content to play the part of silent witness, +be so good as to leave me." + +"My dear Datchet, I'm entirely at your service. I can be every +whit as insane as you, I do assure you." + +Side by side they moved rapidly down the Burlington Arcade. The +duke was obviously in a state of the extremest nervous tension. +Mr. Dacre was equally obviously in a state of the most supreme +enjoyment. People stared as they rushed past. The duke saw +nothing. Mr. Dacre saw everything, and smiled. + +When they reached the Piccadilly end of the Arcade the duke pulled +up. He looked about him. Mr. Dacre also looked about him. + +"I see nothing of your white-hatted and gardenia-buttonholed +friend," said Ivor. + +The duke referred to his watch. + +"It's not yet half-past five. I'm up to time." + +Mr. Dacre held his stick in front of him and leaned on it. He +indulged himself with a beatific smile. + +"It strikes me, my dear Datchet, that you've been the victim of one +of the finest things in hoaxes--" + +"I hope I haven't kept you waiting." + +The voice which interrupted Mr. Dacre came from the rear. While +they were looking in front of them some one approached them from +behind, apparently coming out of the shop which was at their backs. + +The speaker looked a gentleman. He sounded like one, too. +Costume, appearance, manner, were beyond reproach--even beyond the +criticism of two such keen critics as were these. The glorious +attire of a London dandy was surmounted with a beautiful white top +hat. In his buttonhole was a magnificent gardenia. + +In age the stranger was scarcely more than a boy, and a sunny- +faced, handsome boy at that. His cheeks were hairless, his eyes +were blue. His smile was not only innocent, it was bland. Never +was there a more conspicuous illustration of that repose which +stamps the caste of Vere de Vere. + +The duke looked at him and glowered. Mr. Dacre looked at him and +smiled. + +"Who are you?" asked the duke. + +"Ah--that is the question!" The newcomer's refined and musical +voice breathed the very soul of affability. "I am an individual +who is so unfortunate as to be in want of five hundred pounds." + +"Are you the scoundrel who sent me that infamous letter?" + +The charming stranger never turned a hair. + +"I am the scoundrel mentioned in that infamous letter who wants to +accost you at the Piccadilly end of the Burlington Arcade before +half-past five--as witness my white hat and my gardenia." + +"Where's my wife?" + +The stranger gently swung his stick in front of him with his two +hands. He regarded the duke as a merry-hearted son might regard +his father. The thing was beautiful! + +"Her grace will be home almost as soon as you are--when you have +given me the money which I perceive you have all ready for me in +that scarcely elegant-looking canvas bag." He shrugged his +shoulders quite gracefully. "Unfortunately, in these matters one +has no choice--one is forced to ask for gold." + +"And suppose, instead of giving you what is in this canvas bag, I +take you by the throat and choke the life right out of you?" + +"Or suppose," amended Mr. Dacre, "that you do better, and commend +this gentleman to the tender mercies of the first policeman we +encounter." + +The stranger turned to Mr. Dacre. He condescended to become +conscious of his presence. + +"Is this gentleman your grace's friend? Ah--Mr. Dacre, I perceive! +I have the honor of knowing Mr. Dacre, though, possibly, I am +unknown to him." + +"You were--until this moment." + +With an airy little laugh the stranger returned to the duke. He +brushed an invisible speck of dust off the sleeve of his coat. + +"As has been intimated in that infamous letter, his grace is at +perfect liberty to give me into custody--why not? Only"--he said +it with his boyish smile--"if a particular communication is not +received from me in certain quarters within a certain time the +Duchess of Datchet's beautiful white arm will be hacked off at the +shoulder." + +"You hound!" + +The duke would have taken the stranger by the throat, and have done +his best to choke the life right out of him then and there, if Mr. +Dacre had not intervened. + +"Steady, old man!" Mr. Dacre turned to the stranger. "You appear +to be a pretty sort of a scoundrel." + +The stranger gave his shoulders that almost imperceptible shrug. + +"Oh, my dear Dacre, I am in want of money! I believe that you +sometimes are in want of money, too." + +Everybody knows that nobody knows where Ivor Dacre gets his money +from, so the allusion must have tickled him immensely. + +"You're a cool hand," he said. + +"Some men are born that way." + +"So I should imagine. Men like you must be born, not made." + +"Precisely--as you say!" The stranger turned, with his graceful +smile, to the duke: "But are we not wasting precious time? I can +assure your grace that, in this particular matter, moments are of +value." + +Mr. Dacre interposed before the duke could answer. + +"If you take my strongly urged advice, Datchet, you will summon +this constable who is now coming down the Arcade, and hand this +gentleman over to his keeping. I do not think that you need fear +that the duchess will lose her arm, or even her little finger. +Scoundrels of this one's kidney are most amenable to reason when +they have handcuffs on their wrists." + +The duke plainly hesitated. He would--and he would not. The +stranger, as he eyed him, seemed much amused. + +"My dear duke, by all means act on Mr. Dacre's valuable suggestion. +As I said before, why not? It would at least be interesting to see +if the duchess does or does not lose her arm--almost as interesting +to you as to Mr. Dacre. Those blackmailing, kidnaping scoundrels +do use such empty menaces. Besides, you would have the pleasure of +seeing me locked up. My imprisonment for life would recompense you +even for the loss of her grace's arm. And five hundred pounds is +such a sum to have to pay--merely for a wife! Why not, therefore, +act on Mr. Dacre's suggestion? Here comes the constable." The +constable referred to was advancing toward them--he was not a dozen +yards away. "Let me beckon to him--I will with pleasure." He took +out his watch--a gold chronograph repeater. "There are scarcely +ten minutes left during which it will be possible for me to send +the communication which I spoke of, so that it may arrive in time. +As it will then be too late, and the instruments are already +prepared for the little operation which her grace is eagerly +anticipating, it would, perhaps, be as well, after all, that you +should give me into charge. You would have saved your five hundred +pounds, and you would, at any rate, have something in exchange for +her grace's mutilated limb. Ah, here is the constable! Officer!" + +The stranger spoke with such a pleasant little air of easy +geniality that it was impossible to tell if he were in jest or in +earnest. This fact impressed the duke much more than if he had +gone in for a liberal indulgence of the--under the circumstances-- +orthodox melodramatic scowling. And, indeed, in the face of his +own common sense, it impressed Mr. Ivor Dacre too. + +This well-bred, well-groomed youth was just the being to realize-- +aux bouts des ongles--a modern type of the devil, the type which +depicts him as a perfect gentleman, who keeps smiling all the time. + +The constable whom this audacious rogue had signaled approached the +little group. He addressed the stranger: + +"Do you want me, sir?" + +"No, I do not want you. I think it is the Duke of Datchet." + +The constable, who knew the duke very well by sight, saluted him as +he turned to receive instructions. + +The duke looked white, even savage. There was not a pleasant look +in his eyes and about his lips. He appeared to be endeavoring to +put a great restraint upon himself. There was a momentary silence. +Mr. Dacre made a movement as if to interpose. The duke caught him +by the arm. + +He spoke: "No, constable, I do not want you. This person is +mistaken." + +The constable looked as if he could not quite make out how such a +mistake could have arisen, hesitated, then, with another salute, he +moved away. + +The stranger was still holding his watch in his hand. + +"Only eight minutes," he said. + +The duke seemed to experience some difficulty in giving utterance +to what he had to say. + +"If I give you this five hundred pounds, you--you--" + +As the duke paused, as if at a loss for language which was strong +enough to convey his meaning, the stranger laughed. + +"Let us take the adjectives for granted. Besides, it is only boys +who call each other names--men do things. If you give me the five +hundred sovereigns, which you have in that bag, at once--in five +minutes it will be too late--I will promise--I will not swear; if +you do not credit my simple promise, you will not believe my solemn +affirmation--I will promise that, possibly within an hour, +certainly within an hour and a half, the Duchess of Datchet shall +return to you absolutely uninjured--except, of course, as you are +already aware, with regard to a few of the hairs of her head. I +will promise this on the understanding that you do not yourself +attempt to see where I go, and that you will allow no one else to +do so." This with a glance at Ivor Dacre. "I shall know at once +if I am followed. If you entertain such intentions, you had +better, on all accounts, remain in possession of your five hundred +pounds." + +The duke eyed him very grimly. + +"I entertain no such intentions--until the duchess returns." + +Again the stranger indulged in that musical laugh of his. + +"Ah, until the duchess returns! Of course, then the bargain's at +an end. When you are once more in the enjoyment of her grace's +society, you will be at liberty to set all the dogs in Europe at my +heels. I assure you I fully expect that you will do so--why not?" +The duke raised the canvas bag. "My dear duke, ten thousand +thanks! You shall see her grace at Datchet House, 'pon my honor, +probably within the hour." + +"Well," commented Ivor Dacre, when the stranger had vanished, with +the bag, into Piccadilly, and as the duke and himself moved toward +Burlington Gardens, "if a gentleman is to be robbed, it is as well +that he should have another gentleman rob him." + + +III + + +Mr. Dacre eyed his companion covertly as they progressed. His +Grace of Datchet appeared to have some fresh cause for uneasiness. +All at once he gave it utterance, in a tone of voice which was +extremely somber: + +"Ivor, do you think that scoundrel will dare to play me false?" + +"I think," murmured Mr. Dacre, "that he has dared to play you +pretty false already." + +"I don't mean that. But I mean how am I to know, now that he has +his money, that he will still not keep Mabel in his clutches?" + +There came an echo from Mr. Dacre. + +"Just so--how are you to know?" + +"I believe that something of this sort has been done in the +States." + +"I thought that there they were content to kidnap them after they +were dead. I was not aware that they had, as yet, got quite so far +as the living." + +"I believe that I have heard of something just like this." + +"Possibly; they are giants over there." + +"And in that case the scoundrels, when their demands were met, +refused to keep to the letter of their bargain and asked for more." + +The duke stood still. He clinched his fists, and swore: + +"Ivor, if that ---- villain doesn't keep his word, and Mabel isn't +home within the hour, by ---- I shall go mad!" + +"My dear Datchet"--Mr. Dacre loved strong language as little as he +loved a scene--"let us trust to time and, a little, to your white- +hatted and gardenia-buttonholed friend's word of honor. You should +have thought of possible eventualities before you showed your +confidence--really. Suppose, instead of going mad, we first of all +go home?" + +A hansom stood waiting for a fare at the end of the Arcade. Mr. +Dacre had handed the duke into it before his grace had quite +realized that the vehicle was there. + +"Tell the fellow to drive faster." That was what the duke said +when the cab had started. + +"My dear Datchet, the man's already driving his geerage off its +legs. If a bobby catches sight of him he'll take his number." + +A moment later, a murmur from the duke: + +"I don't know if you're aware that the prince is coming to dinner?" + +"I am perfectly aware of it." + +"You take it uncommonly cool. How easy it is to bear our brother's +burdens! Ivor, if Mabel doesn't turn up I shall feel like murder." + +"I sympathize with you, Datchet, with all my heart, though, I may +observe, parenthetically, that I very far from realize the +situation even yet. Take my advice. If the duchess does not show +quite as soon as we both of us desire, don't make a scene; just let +me see what I can do." + +Judging from the expression of his countenance, the duke was +conscious of no overwhelming desire to witness an exhibition of Mr. +Dacre's prowess. + +When the cab reached Datchet House his grace dashed up the steps +three at a time. The door flew open. + +"Has the duchess returned?" + +"Hereward!" + +A voice floated downward from above. Some one came running down +the stairs. It was her Grace of Datchet. + +"Mabel!" + +She actually rushed into the duke's extended arms. And he kissed +her, and she kissed him--before the servants. + +"So you're not quite dead?" she cried. + +"I am almost," he said. + +She drew herself a little away from him. + +"Hereward, were you seriously hurt?" + +"Do you suppose that I could have been otherwise than seriously +hurt?" + +"My darling! Was it a Pickford's van?" + +The duke stared. + +"A Pickford's van? I don't understand. But come in here. Come +along, Ivor. Mabel, you don't see Ivor." + +"How do you do, Mr. Dacre?" + +Then the trio withdrew into a little anteroom; it was really time. +Even then the pair conducted themselves as if Mr. Dacre had been +nothing and no one. The duke took the lady's two hands in his. He +eyed her fondly. + +"So you are uninjured, with the exception of that lock of hair. +Where did the villain take it from?" + +The lady looked a little puzzled. + +"What lock of hair?" + +From an envelope which he took from his pocket the duke produced a +shining tress. It was the lock of hair which had arrived in the +first communication. "I will have it framed." + +"You will have what framed?" The duchess glanced at what the duke +was so tenderly caressing, almost, as it seemed, a little +dubiously. "Whatever is it you have there?" + +"It is the lock of hair which that scoundrel sent me." Something +in the lady's face caused him to ask a question: + +"Didn't he tell you he had sent it to me?" + +"Hereward!" + +"Did the brute tell you that he meant to cut off your little +finger?" + +A very curious look came into the lady's face. She glanced at the +duke as if she, all at once, was half afraid of him. She cast at +Mr. Dacre what really seemed to be a look of inquiry. Her voice +was tremulously anxious. + +"Hereward, did--did the accident affect you mentally?" + +"How could it not have affected me mentally? Do you think that my +mental organization is of steel?" + +"But you look so well." + +"Of course I look well, now that I have you back again. Tell me, +darling, did that hound actually threaten you with cutting off your +arm? If he did, I shall feel half inclined to kill him yet." + +The duchess seemed positively to shrink from her better half's near +neighborhood. + +"Hereward, was it a Pickford's van?" + +The duke seemed puzzled. Well he might be. + +"Was what a Pickford's van?" + +The lady turned to Mr. Dacre. In her voice there was a ring of +anguish. + +"Mr. Dacre, tell me, was it a Pickford's van?" Ivor could only +imitate his relative's repetition of her inquiry. + +"I don't quite catch you--was what a Pickford's van?" + +The duchess clasped her hands in front of her. + +"What is it you are keeping from me? What is it you are trying to +hide? I implore you to tell me the worst, whatever it may be! Do +not keep me any longer in suspense; you do not know what I already +have endured. Mr. Dacre, is my husband mad?" + +One need scarcely observe that the lady's amazing appeal to Mr. +Dacre as to her husband's sanity was received with something like +surprise. As the duke continued to stare at her, a dreadful fear +began to loom in his brain. + +"My darling, your brain is unhinged!" + +He advanced to take her two hands again in his; but, to his +unmistakable distress, she shrank away from him. + +"Hereward--don't touch me. How is it that I missed you? Why did +you not wait until I came?" + +"Wait until you came?" + +The duke's bewilderment increased. + +"Surely, if your injuries turned out, after all, to be slight, that +was all the more reason why you should have waited, after sending +for me like that." + +"I sent for you--I?" The duke's tone was grave. "My darling, +perhaps you had better come upstairs." + +"Not until we have had an explanation. You must have known that I +should come. Why did you not wait for me after you had sent me +that?" + +The duchess held out something to the duke. He took it. It was a +card--his own visiting card. Something was written on the back of +it. He read aloud what was written. + +"'Mabel, come to me at once with the bearer. They tell me that +they cannot take me home.' It looks like my own writing." + +"Looks like it! It IS your writing." + +"It looks like it--and written with a shaky pen." + +"My dear child, one's hand would shake at such a moment as that." + +"Mabel, where did you get this?" + +"It was brought to me in Cane and Wilson's." + +"Who brought it?" + +"Who brought it? Why, the man you sent." + +"The man I sent!" A light burst upon the duke's brain. He fell +back a pace. "It's the decoy!" + +Her grace echoed the words: + +"The decoy?" + +"The scoundrel! To set a trap with such a bait! My poor innocent +darling, did you think it came from me? Tell me, Mabel, where did +he cut off your hair?" + +"Cut off my hair?" + +Her grace put her hand to her head as if to make sure that her hair +was there. + +"Where did he take you to?" + +"He took me to Draper's Buildings." + +"Draper's Buildings?" + +"I have never been in the City before, but he told me it was +Draper's Buildings. Isn't that near the Stock Exchange?" + +"Near the Stock Exchange?" + +It seemed rather a curious place to which to take a kidnaped +victim. The man's audacity! + +"He told me that you were coming out of the Stock Exchange when a +van knocked you over. He said that he thought it was a Pickford's +van--was it a Pickford's van?" + +"No, it was not a Pickford's van. Mabel, were you in Draper's +Buildings when you wrote that letter?" + +"Wrote what letter?" + +"Have you forgotten it already? I do not believe that there is a +word in it which will not be branded on my brain until I die." + +"Hereward! What do you mean?" + +"Surely you cannot have written me such a letter as that, and then +have forgotten it already?" + +He handed her the letter which had arrived in the second +communication. She glanced at it, askance. Then she took it with +a little gasp. + +"Hereward, if you don't mind, I think I'll take a chair." She took +a chair. "Whatever--whatever's this?" As she read the letter the +varying expressions which passed across her face were, in +themselves, a study in psychology. "Is it possible that you can +imagine that, under any conceivable circumstances, I could have +written such a letter as this?" + +"Mabel!" + +She rose to her feet with emphasis. + +"Hereward, don't say that you thought this came from me!" + +"Not from you?" He remembered Knowles's diplomatic reception of +the epistle on its first appearance. "I suppose that you will say +next that this is not a lock of your hair?" + +"My dear child, what bee have you got in your bonnet? This a lock +of my hair! Why, it's not in the least bit like my hair!" + +Which was certainly inaccurate. As far as color was concerned it +was an almost perfect match. The duke turned to Mr. Dacre. + +"Ivor, I've had to go through a good deal this afternoon. If I +have to go through much more, something will crack!" He touched +his forehead. "I think it's my turn to take a chair." Not the one +which the duchess had vacated, but one which faced it. He +stretched out his legs in front of him; he thrust his hands into +his trousers pockets; he said, in a tone which was not gloomy but +absolutely grewsome: + +"Might I ask, Mabel, if you have been kidnaped?" + +"Kidnaped?" + +"The word I used was 'kidnaped.' But I will spell it if you like. +Or I will get a dictionary, that you may see its meaning." + +The duchess looked as if she was beginning to be not quite sure if +she was awake or sleeping. She turned to Ivor. + +"Mr. Dacre, has the accident affected Hereward's brain?" + +The duke took the words out of his cousin's mouth. + +"On that point, my dear, let me ease your mind. I don't know if +you are under the impression that I should be the same shape after +a Pickford's van had run over me as I was before; but, in any case, +I have not been run over by a Pickford's van. So far as I am +concerned there has been no accident. Dismiss that delusion from +your mind." + +"Oh!" + +"You appear surprised. One might even think that you were sorry. +But may I now ask what you did when you arrived at Draper's +Buildings?" + +"Did! I looked for you!" + +"Indeed! And when you had looked in vain, what was the next item +in your programme?" + +The lady shrank still farther from him. + +"Hereward, have you been having a jest at my expense? Can you have +been so cruel?" Tears stood in her eyes. + +Rising, the duke laid his hand upon her arm. + +"Mabel, tell me--what did you do when you had looked for me in +vain?" + +"I looked for you upstairs and downstairs and everywhere. It was +quite a large place, it took me ever such a time. I thought that I +should go distracted. Nobody seemed to know anything about you, or +even that there had been an accident at all--it was all offices. I +couldn't make it out in the least, and the people didn't seem to be +able to make me out either. So when I couldn't find you anywhere I +came straight home again." + +The duke was silent for a moment. Then with funereal gravity he +turned to Mr. Dacre. He put to him this question: + +"Ivor, what are you laughing at?" + +Mr. Dacre drew his hand across his mouth with rather a suspicious +gesture. + +"My dear fellow, only a smile!" + +The duchess looked from one to the other. + +"What have you two been doing? What is the joke?" + +With an air of preternatural solemnity the duke took two letters +from the breast pocket of his coat. + +"Mabel, you have already seen your letter. You have already seen +the lock of your hair. Just look at this--and that." + +He gave her the two very singular communications which had arrived +in such a mysterious manner, and so quickly one after the other. +She read them with wide-open eyes. + +"Hereward! Wherever did these come from?" + +The duke was standing with his legs apart, and his hands in his +trousers pockets. "I would give--I would give another five hundred +pounds to know. Shall I tell you, madam, what I have been doing? +I have been presenting five hundred golden sovereigns to a perfect +stranger, with a top hat, and a gardenia in his buttonhole." + +"Whatever for?" + +"If you have perused those documents which you have in your hand, +you will have some faint idea. Ivor, when it's your funeral, I'LL +smile. Mabel, Duchess of Datchet, it is beginning to dawn upon the +vacuum which represents my brain that I've been the victim of one +of the prettiest things in practical jokes that ever yet was +planned. When that fellow brought you that card at Cane and +Wilson's--which, I need scarcely tell you, never came from me--some +one walked out of the front entrance who was so exactly like you +that both Barnes and Moysey took her for you. Moysey showed her +into the carriage, and Barnes drove her home. But when the +carriage reached home it was empty. Your double had got out upon +the road." + +The duchess uttered a sound which was half gasp, half sigh. + +"Hereward!" + +"Barnes and Moysey, with beautiful and childlike innocence, when +they found that they had brought the thing home empty, came +straightway and told me that YOU had jumped out of the brougham +while it had been driving full pelt through the streets. While I +was digesting that piece of information there came the first +epistle, with the lock of your hair. Before I had time to digest +that there came the second epistle, with yours inside." + +"It seems incredible!" + +"It sounds incredible; but unfathomable is the folly of man, +especially of a man who loves his wife." The duke crossed to Mr. +Dacre. "I don't want, Ivor, to suggest anything in the way of +bribery and corruption, but if you could keep this matter to +yourself, and not mention it to your friends, our white-hatted and +gardenia-buttonholed acquaintance is welcome to his five hundred +pounds, and--Mabel, what on earth are you laughing at?" + +The duchess appeared, all at once, to be seized with +inextinguishable laughter. + +"Hereward," she cried, "just think how that man must be laughing at +you!" + +And the Duke of Datchet thought of it. + + + +The Minor Canon + + +It was Monday, and in the afternoon, as I was walking along the +High Street of Marchbury, I was met by a distinguished-looking +person whom I had observed at the services in the cathedral on the +previous day. Now it chanced on that Sunday that I was singing the +service. Properly speaking, it was not my turn; but, as my brother +minor canons were either away from Marchbury or ill in bed, I was +the only one left to perform the necessary duty. The +distinguished-looking person was a tall, big man with a round fat +face and small features. His eyes, his hair and mustache (his face +was bare but for a small mustache) were quite black, and he had a +very pleasant and genial expression. He wore a tall hat, set +rather jauntily on his head, and he was dressed in black with a +long frock coat buttoned across the chest and fitting him close to +the body. As he came, with a half saunter, half swagger, along the +street, I knew him again at once by his appearance; and, as he came +nearer, I saw from his manner that he was intending to stop and +speak to me, for he slightly raised his hat and in a soft, +melodious voice with a colonial "twang" which was far from being +disagreeable, and which, indeed, to my ear gave a certain +additional interest to his remarks, he saluted me with "Good day, +sir!" + +"Good day," I answered, with just a little reserve in my tone. + +"I hope, sir," he began, "you will excuse my stopping you in the +street, but I wish to tell you how very much I enjoyed the music at +your cathedral yesterday. I am an Australian, sir, and we have no +such music in my country." + +"I suppose not," I said. + +"No, sir," he went on, "nothing nearly so fine. I am very fond of +music, and as my business brought me in this direction, I thought I +would stop at your city and take the opportunity of paying a visit +to your grand cathedral. And I am delighted I came; so pleased, +indeed, that I should like to leave some memorial of my visit +behind me. I should like, sir, to do something for your choir." + +"I am sure it is very kind of you," I replied. + +"Yes, I should certainly be glad if you could suggest to me +something I might do in this way. As regards money, I may say that +I have plenty of it. I am the owner of a most valuable property. +My business relations extend throughout the world, and if I am as +fortunate in the projects of the future as I have been in the past, +I shall probably one day achieve the proud position of being the +richest man in the world." + +I did not like to undertake myself the responsibility of advising +or suggesting, so I simply said: + +"I cannot venture to say, offhand, what would be the most +acceptable way of showing your great kindness and generosity, but I +should certainly recommend you to put yourself in communication +with the dean." + +"Thank you, sir," said my Australian friend, "I will do so. And +now, sir," he continued, "let me say how much I admire your voice. +It is, without exception, the very finest and clearest voice I have +ever heard." + +"Really," I answered, quite overcome with such unqualified praise, +"really it is very good of you to say so." + +"Ah, but I feel it, my dear sir. I have been round the world, from +Sydney to Frisco, across the continent of America" (he called it +Amerrker) "to New York City, then on to England, and to-morrow I +shall leave your city to continue my travels. But in all my +experience I have never heard so grand a voice as your own." + +This and a great deal more he said in the same strain, which +modesty forbids me to reproduce. + +Now I am not without some knowledge of the world outside the close +of Marchbury Cathedral, and I could not listen to such a +"flattering tale" without having my suspicions aroused. Who and +what is this man? thought I. I looked at him narrowly. At first +the thought flashed across me that he might be a "swell mobsman." +But no, his face was too good for that; besides, no man with that +huge frame, that personality so marked and so easily recognizable, +could be a swindler; he could not escape detection a single hour. +I dismissed the ungenerous thought. Perhaps he is rich, as he +says. We do hear of munificent donations by benevolent +millionaires now and then. What if this Australian, attracted by +the glories of the old cathedral, should now appear as a deus ex +machina to reendow the choir, or to found a musical professoriate +in connection with the choir, appointing me the first occupant of +the professorial chair? + +These thoughts flashed across my mind in the momentary pause of his +fluent tongue. + +"As for yourself, sir," he began again, "I have something to +propose which I trust may not prove unwelcome. But the public +street is hardly a suitable place to discuss my proposal. May I +call upon you this evening at your house in the close? I know +which it is, for I happened to see you go into it yesterday after +the morning service." + +"I shall be very pleased to see you," I replied. "We are going out +to dinner this evening, but I shall be at home and disengaged till +about seven." + +"Thank you very much. Then I shall do myself the pleasure of +calling upon you about six o'clock. Till then, farewell!" A +graceful wave of the hand, and my unknown friend had disappeared +round the corner of the street. + +Now at last, I thought, something is going to happen in my +uneventful life--something to break the monotony of existence. Of +course, he must have inquired my name--he could get that from any +of the cathedral vergers--and, as he said, he had observed +whereabouts in the close I lived. What is he coming to see me for? +I wondered. I spent the rest of the afternoon in making the +wildest surmises. I was castle-building in Spain at a furious +rate. At one time I imagined that this faithful son of the church-- +as he appeared to me--was going to build and endow a grand +cathedral in Australia on condition that I should be appointed dean +at a yearly stipend of, say, ten thousand pounds. Or perhaps, I +said to myself, he will beg me to accept a sum of money--I never +thought of it as less than a thousand pounds--as a slight +recognition of and tribute to my remarkable vocal ability. + +I took a long, lonely walk into the country to correct these +ridiculous fancies and to steady my mind, and when I reached home +and had refreshed myself with a quiet cup of afternoon tea, I felt +I was morally and physically prepared for my interview with the +opulent stranger. + +Punctually as the cathedral clock struck six there was a ring at +the visitor's bell. In a moment or two my unknown friend was shown +into the drawing-room, which he entered with the easy air of a man +of the world. I noticed he was carrying a small black bag. + +"How do you do again, Mr. Dale?" he said as though we were old +acquaintances; "you see I have come sharp to my time." + +"Yes," I answered, "and I am pleased to see you; do sit down." He +sank into my best armchair, and placed his bag on the floor beside +him. + +"Since we met in the afternoon," he said, "I have written a letter +to your dean, expressing the great pleasure I felt in listening to +your choir, and at the same time I inclosed a five-pound note, +which I begged him to divide among the choir boys and men, from +Alexander Poulter, Esq., of Poulter's Pills. You have of course +heard of the world-renowned Poulter's Pills. I am Poulter!" + +Poulter of Poulter's Pills! My heart sank within me! A five-pound +note! My airy castles were tottering! + +"I also sent him a couple of hundred of my pamphlets, which I said +I trusted he would be so kind as to distribute in the close." + +I was aghast! + +"And now, with regard to the special object of my call, Mr. Dale. +If you will allow me to say so, you are not making the most of that +grand voice of yours; you are hidden under an ecclesiastical bushel +here--lost to the world. You are wasting your vocal strength and +sweetness on the desert air, so to speak. Why, if I may hazard a +guess, I don't suppose you make five hundred a year here, at the +outside? + +I could say nothing. + +"Well, now, I can put you into the way of making at least three or +four times as much as that. Listen! I am Alexander Poulter, of +Poulter's Pills. I have a proposal to make to you. The scheme is +bound to succeed, but I want your help. Accept my proposal and +your fortune's made. Did you ever hear Moody and Sankey?" he asked +abruptly. + +The man is an idiot, thought I; he is now fairly carried away with +his particular mania. Will it last long? Shall I ring? + +"Novelty, my dear sir," he went on, "is the rule of the day; and +there must be novelty in advertising, as in everything else, to +catch the public interest. So I intend to go on a tour, lecturing +on the merits of Poulter's Pills in all the principal halls of all +the principal towns all over the world. But I have been delayed in +carrying out my idea till I could associate myself with a gentleman +such as yourself. Will you join me? I should be the Moody of the +tour; you would be its Sankey. I would speak my patter, and you +would intersperse my orations with melodious ballads bearing upon +the virtues of Poulter's Pills. The ballads are all ready!" + +So saying, he opened that bag and drew forth from its recesses +nothing more alarming than a thick roll of manuscript music. + +"The verses are my own," he said, with a little touch of pride; +"and as for the music, I thought it better to make use of popular +melodies, so as to enable an audience to join in the chorus. See, +here is one of the ballads: 'Darling, I am better now.' It +describes the woes of a fond lover, or rather his physical +ailments, until he went through a course of Poulter. Here's +another: 'I'm ninety-five! I'm ninety-five!' You catch the drift +of that, of course--a healthy old age, secured by taking Poulter's +Pills. Ah! what's this? 'Little sister's last request.' I fancy +the idea of that is to beg the family never to be without Poulter's +Pills. Here again: 'Then you'll remember me!' I'm afraid that +title is not original; never mind, the song is. And here is--but +there are many more, and I won't detain you with them now." He +saw, perhaps, I was getting impatient. Thank Heaven, however, he +was no escaped lunatic. I was safe! + +"Mr. Poulter," said I, "I took you this afternoon for a +disinterested and philanthropic millionaire; you take me for--for-- +something different from what I am. We have both made mistakes. +In a word, it is impossible for me to accept your offer!" + +"Is that final?" asked Poulter. + +"Certainly," said I. + +Poulter gathered his manuscripts together and replaced them in the +bag, and got up to leave the room. + +"Good evening, Mr. Dale," he said mournfully, as I opened the door +of the room. "Good evening"--he kept on talking till he was fairly +out of the house--"mark my words, you'll be sorry--very sorry--one +day that you did not fall in with my scheme. Offers like mine +don't come every day, and you will one day regret having refused +it." + +With these words he left the house. + +I had little appetite for my dinner that evening. + + + +The Pipe + + +"RANDOLPH CRESCENT, N. W. + +MY DEAR PUGH--I hope you will like the pipe which I send with this. +It is rather a curious example of a certain school of Indian +carving. And is a present from + +"Yours truly, JOSEPH TRESS." + + +It was really very handsome of Tress--very handsome! The more +especially as I was aware that to give presents was not exactly in +Tress's line. The truth is that when I saw what manner of pipe it +was I was amazed. It was contained in a sandalwood box, which was +itself illustrated with some remarkable specimens of carving. I +use the word "remarkable" advisedly, because, although the +workmanship was undoubtedly, in its way, artistic, the result could +not be described as beautiful. The carver had thought proper to +ornament the box with some of the ugliest figures I remember to +have seen. They appeared to me to be devils. Or perhaps they were +intended to represent deities appertaining to some mythological +system with which, thank goodness, I am unacquainted. The pipe +itself was worthy of the case in which it was contained. It was of +meerschaum, with an amber mouthpiece. It was rather too large for +ordinary smoking. But then, of course, one doesn't smoke a pipe +like that. There are pipes in my collection which I should as soon +think of smoking as I should of eating. Ask a china maniac to let +you have afternoon tea out of his Old Chelsea, and you will learn +some home truths as to the durability of human friendships. The +glory of the pipe, as Tress had suggested, lay in its carving. Not +that I claim that it was beautiful, any more than I make such a +claim for the carving on the box, but, as Tress said in his note, +it was curious. + +The stem and the bowl were quite plain, but on the edge of the bowl +was perched some kind of lizard. I told myself it was an octopus +when I first saw it, but I have since had reason to believe that it +was some almost unique member of the lizard tribe. The creature +was represented as climbing over the edge of the bowl down toward +the stem, and its legs, or feelers, or tentacula, or whatever the +things are called, were, if I may use a vulgarism, sprawling about +"all over the place." For instance, two or three of them were +twined about the bowl, two or three of them were twisted round the +stem, and one, a particularly horrible one, was uplifted in the +air, so that if you put the pipe in your mouth the thing was +pointing straight at your nose. + +Not the least agreeable feature about the creature was that it was +hideously lifelike. It appeared to have been carved in amber, but +some coloring matter must have been introduced, for inside the +amber the creature was of a peculiarly ghastly green. The more I +examined the pipe the more amazed I was at Tress's generosity. He +and I are rival collectors. I am not going to say, in so many +words, that his collection of pipes contains nothing but rubbish, +because, as a matter of fact, he has two or three rather decent +specimens. But to compare his collection to mine would be absurd. +Tress is conscious of this, and he resents it. He resents it to +such an extent that he has been known, at least on one occasion, to +declare that one single pipe of his--I believe he alluded to the +Brummagem relic preposterously attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh-- +was worth the whole of my collection put together. Although I have +forgotten this, as I hope I always shall forgive remarks made when +envious passions get the better of our nobler nature, even of a +Joseph Tress, it is not to be supposed that I have forgotten it. +He was, therefore, not at all the sort of person from whom I +expected to receive a present. And such a present! I do not +believe that he himself had a finer pipe in his collection. And to +have given it to me! I had misjudged the man. I wondered where he +had got it from. I had seen his pipes; I knew them off by heart-- +and some nice trumpery he has among them, too! but I had never seen +THAT pipe before. The more I looked at it, the more my amazement +grew. The beast perched upon the edge of the bowl was so lifelike. +Its two bead-like eyes seemed to gleam at me with positively human +intelligence. The pipe fascinated me to such an extent that I +actually resolved to--smoke it! + +I filled it with Perique. Ordinarily I use Birdseye, but on those +very rare occasions on which I use a specimen I smoke Perique. I +lit up with quite a small sensation of excitement. As I did so I +kept my eyes perforce fixed upon the beast. The beast pointed its +upraised tentacle directly at me. As I inhaled the pungent tobacco +that tentacle impressed me with a feeling of actual uncanniness. +It was broad daylight, and I was smoking in front of the window, +yet to such an extent was I affected that it seemed to me that the +tentacle was not only vibrating, which, owing to the peculiarity of +its position, was quite within the range of probability, but +actually moving, elongating--stretching forward, that is, farther +toward me, and toward the tip of my nose. So impressed was I by +this idea that I took the pipe out of my mouth and minutely +examined the beast. Really, the delusion was excusable. So +cunningly had the artist wrought that he succeeded in producing a +creature which, such was its uncanniness, I could only hope had no +original in nature. + +Replacing the pipe between my lips I took several whiffs. Never +had smoking had such an effect on me before. Either the pipe, or +the creature on it, exercised some singular fascination. I seemed, +without an instant's warning, to be passing into some land of +dreams. I saw the beast, which was perched upon the bowl, writhe +and twist. I saw it lift itself bodily from the meerschaum. + + +II + + +"Feeling better now?" + +I looked up. Joseph Tress was speaking. + +"What's the matter? Have I been ill?" + +"You appear to have been in some kind of swoon." Tress's tone was +peculiar, even a little dry. + +"Swoon! I never was guilty of such a thing in my life." + +"Nor was I, until I smoked that pipe." + +I sat up. The act of sitting up made me conscious of the fact that +I had been lying down. Conscious, too, that I was feeling more +than a little dazed. It seemed as though I was waking out of some +strange, lethargic sleep--a kind of feeling which I have read of +and heard about, but never before experienced. + +"Where am I?" + +"You're on the couch in your own room. You WERE on the floor; but +I thought it would be better to pick you up and place you on the +couch--though no one performed the same kind office to me when I +was on the floor." + +Again Tress's tone was distinctly dry. + +"How came YOU here?" + +"Ah, that's the question." He rubbed his chin--a habit of his +which has annoyed me more than once before. "Do you think you're +sufficiently recovered to enable you to understand a little simple +explanation?" I stared at him, amazed. He went on stroking his +chin. "The truth is that when I sent you the pipe I made a slight +omission." + +"An omission?" + +"I omitted to advise you not to smoke it." + +"And why?" + +"Because--well, I've reason to believe the thing is drugged." + +"Drugged!" + +"Or poisoned." + +"Poisoned!" I was wide awake enough then. I jumped off the couch +with a celerity which proved it. + +"It is this way. I became its owner in rather a singular manner." +He paused, as if for me to make a remark; but I was silent. "It is +not often that I smoke a specimen, but, for some reason, I did +smoke this. I commenced to smoke it, that is. How long I +continued to smoke it is more than I can say. It had on me the +same peculiar effect which it appears to have had on you. When I +recovered consciousness I was lying on the floor." + +"On the floor?" + +"On the floor. In about as uncomfortable a position as you can +easily conceive. I was lying face downward, with my legs bent +under me. I was never so surprised in my life as I was when I +found myself WHERE I was. At first I supposed that I had had a +stroke. But by degrees it dawned upon me that I didn't FEEL as +though I had had a stroke." Tress, by the way, has been an army +surgeon. "I was conscious of distinct nausea. Looking about, I +saw the pipe. With me it had fallen on to the floor. I took it +for granted, considering the delicacy of the carving, that the fall +had broken it. But when I picked it up I found it quite uninjured. +While I was examining it a thought flashed to my brain. Might it +not be answerable for what had happened to me? Suppose, for +instance, it was drugged? I had heard of such things. Besides, in +my case were present all the symptoms of drug poisoning, though +what drug had been used I couldn't in the least conceive. I +resolved that I would give the pipe another trial." + +"On yourself? or on another party, meaning me?" + +"On myself, my dear Pugh--on myself! At that point of my +investigations I had not begun to think of you. I lit up and had +another smoke." + +"With what result?" + +"Well, that depends on the standpoint from which you regard the +thing. From one point of view the result was wholly satisfactory-- +I proved that the thing was drugged, and more." + +"Did you have another fall?" + +"I did. And something else besides." + +"On that account, I presume, you resolved to pass the treasure on +to me?" + +"Partly on that account, and partly on another." + +"On my word, I appreciate your generosity. You might have labeled +the thing as poison." + +"Exactly. But then you must remember how often you have told me +that you NEVER smoke your specimens." + +"That was no reason why you shouldn't have given me a hint that the +thing was more dangerous than dynamite." + +"That did occur to me afterwards. Therefore I called to supply the +slight omission." + +"SLIGHT omission, you call it! I wonder what you would have called +it if you had found me dead." + +"If I had known that you INTENDED smoking it I should not have been +at all surprised if I had." + +"Really, Tress, I appreciate your kindness more and more! And +where is this example of your splendid benevolence? Have you +pocketed it, regretting your lapse into the unaccustomed paths of +generosity? Or is it smashed to atoms?" + +"Neither the one nor the other. You will find the pipe upon the +table. I neither desire its restoration nor is it in any way +injured. It is merely an expression of personal opinion when I say +that I don't believe that it COULD be injured. Of course, having +discovered its deleterious properties, you will not want to smoke +it again. You will therefore be able to enjoy the consciousness of +being the possessor of what I honestly believe to be the most +remarkable pipe in existence. Good day, Pugh." + +He was gone before I could say a word. I immediately concluded, +from the precipitancy of his flight, that the pipe WAS injured. +But when I subjected it to close examination I could discover no +signs of damage. While I was still eying it with jealous scrutiny +the door reopened, and Tress came in again. + +"By the way, Pugh, there is one thing I might mention, especially +as I know it won't make any difference to you." + +"That depends on what it is. If you have changed your mind, and +want the pipe back again, I tell you frankly that it won't. In my +opinion, a thing once given is given for good." + +"Quite so; I don't want it back again. You may make your mind easy +on that point. I merely wanted to tell you WHY I gave it you." + +"You have told me that already." + +"Only partly, my dear Pugh--only partly. You don't suppose I +should have given you such a pipe as that merely because it +happened to be drugged? Scarcely! I gave it you because I +discovered from indisputable evidence, and to my cost, that it was +haunted." + +"Haunted?" + +"Yes, haunted. Good day." + +He was gone again. I ran out of the room, and shouted after him +down the stairs. He was already at the bottom of the flight. + +"Tress! Come back! What do you mean by talking such nonsense?" + +"Of course it's only nonsense. We know that that sort of thing +always is nonsense. But if you should have reason to suppose that +there is something in it besides nonsense, you may think it worth +your while to make inquiries of me, But I won't have that pipe back +again in my possession on any terms--mind that!" + +The bang of the front door told me that he had gone out into the +street. I let him go. I laughed to myself as I reentered the +room. Haunted! That was not a bad idea of his. I saw the whole +position at a glance. The truth of the matter was that he did +regret his generosity, and he was ready to go any lengths if he +could only succeed in cajoling me into restoring his gift. He was +aware that I have views upon certain matters which are not wholly +in accordance with those which are popularly supposed to be the +views of the day, and particularly that on the question of what are +commonly called supernatural visitations I have a standpoint of my +own. Therefore, it was not a bad move on his part to try to make +me believe that about the pipe on which he knew I had set my heart +there was something which could not be accounted for by ordinary +laws. Yet, as his own sense would have told him it would do, if he +had only allowed himself to reflect for a moment, the move failed. +Because I am not yet so far gone as to suppose that a pipe, a thing +of meerschaum and of amber, in the sense in which I understand the +word, COULD be haunted--a pipe, a mere pipe. + +"Hollo! I thought the creature's legs were twined right round the +bowl!" + +I was holding the pipe in my hand, regarding it with the +affectionate eyes with which a connoisseur does regard a curio, +when I was induced to make this exclamation. I was certainly under +the impression that, when I first took the pipe out of the box, +two, if not three of the feelers had been twined about the bowl-- +twined TIGHTLY, so that you could not see daylight between them and +it. Now they were almost entirely detached, only the tips touching +the meerschaum, and those particular feelers were gathered up as +though the creature were in the act of taking a spring. Of course +I was under a misapprehension: the feelers COULDN'T have been +twined; a moment before I should have been ready to bet a thousand +to one that they were. Still, one does make mistakes, and very +egregious mistakes, at times. At the same time, I confess that +when I saw that dreadful-looking animal poised on the extreme edge +of the bowl, for all the world as though it were just going to +spring at me, I was a little startled. I remembered that when I +was smoking the pipe I did think I saw the uplifted tentacle +moving, as though it were reaching out to me. And I had a clear +recollection that just as I had been sinking into that strange +state of unconsciousness, I had been under the impression that the +creature was writhing and twisting, as though it had suddenly +become instinct with life. Under the circumstances, these +reflections were not pleasant. I wished Tress had not talked that +nonsense about the thing being haunted. It was surely sufficient +to know that it was drugged and poisonous, without anything else. + +I replaced it in the sandalwood box. I locked the box in a +cabinet. Quite apart from the question as to whether that pipe was +or was not haunted, I know it haunted me. It was with me in a +figurative--which was worse than actual--sense all the day. Still +worse, it was with me all the night. It was with me in my dreams. +Such dreams! Possibly I had not yet wholly recovered from the +effects of that insidious drug, but, whether or no, it was very +wrong of Tress to set my thoughts into such a channel. He knows +that I am of a highly imaginative temperament, and that it is +easier to get morbid thoughts into my mind than to get them out +again. Before that night was through I wished very heartily that I +had never seen the pipe! I woke from one nightmare to fall into +another. One dreadful dream was with me all the time--of a +hideous, green reptile which advanced toward me out of some awful +darkness, slowly, inch by inch, until it clutched me round the +neck, and, gluing its lips to mine, sucked the life's blood out of +my veins as it embraced me with a slimy kiss. Such dreams are not +restful. I woke anything but refreshed when the morning came. And +when I got up and dressed I felt that, on the whole, it would +perhaps have been better if I never had gone to bed. My nerves +were unstrung, and I had that generally tremulous feeling which is, +I believe, an inseparable companion of the more advanced stages of +dipsomania. I ate no breakfast. I am no breakfast eater as a +rule, but that morning I ate absolutely nothing. + +"If this sort of thing is to continue, I will let Tress have his +pipe again. He may have the laugh of me, but anything is better +than this." + +It was with almost funereal forebodings that I went to the cabinet +in which I had placed the sandalwood box. But when I opened it my +feelings of gloom partially vanished. Of what phantasies had I +been guilty! It must have been an entire delusion on my part to +have supposed that those tentacula had ever been twined about the +bowl. The creature was in exactly the same position in which I had +left it the day before--as, of course, I knew it would be--poised, +as if about to spring. I was telling myself how foolish I had been +to allow myself to dwell for a moment on Tress's words, when Martin +Brasher was shown in. + +Brasher is an old friend of mine. We have a common ground--ghosts. +Only we approach them from different points of view. He takes the +scientific--psychological--inquiry side. He is always anxious to +hear of a ghost, so that he may have an opportunity of "showing it +up." + +"I've something in your line here," I observed, as he came in. + +"In my line? How so? I'M not pipe mad." + +"No; but you're ghost mad. And this is a haunted pipe." + +"A haunted pipe! I think you're rather more mad about ghosts, my +dear Pugh, than I am." + +Then I told him all about it. He was deeply interested, especially +when I told him that the pipe was drugged. But when I repeated +Tress's words about its being haunted, and mentioned my own +delusion about the creature moving, he took a more serious view of +the case than I had expected he would do. + +"I propose that we act on Tress's suggestion, and go and make +inquiries of him." + +"But you don't really think that there is anything in it?" + +"On these subjects I never allow myself to think at all. There are +Tress's words, and there is your story. It is agreed on all hands +that the pipe has peculiar properties. It seems to me that there +is a sufficient case here to merit inquiry." + +He persuaded me. I went with him. The pipe, in the sandalwood +box, went too. Tress received us with a grin--a grin which was +accentuated when I placed the sandalwood box on the table. + +"You understand," he said, "that a gift is a gift. On no terms +will I consent to receive that pipe back in my possession." + +I was rather nettled by his tone. + +"You need be under no alarm. I have no intention of suggesting +anything of the kind." + +"Our business here," began Brasher--I must own that his manner is a +little ponderous--"is of a scientific, I may say also, and at the +same time, of a judicial nature. Our object is the Pursuit of +Truth and the Advancement of Inquiry." + +"Have you been trying another smoke?" inquired Tress, nodding his +head toward me. + +Before I had time to answer, Brasher went droning on: + +"Our friend here tells me that you say this pipe is haunted." + +"I say it is haunted because it IS haunted." + +I looked at Tress. I half suspected that he was poking fun at us. +But he appeared to be serious enough. + +"In these matters," remarked Brasher, as though he were giving +utterance to a new and important truth, "there is a scientific and +nonscientific method of inquiry. The scientific method is to begin +at the beginning. May I ask how this pipe came into your +possession?" + +Tress paused before he answered. + +"You may ask." He paused again. "Oh, you certainly may ask. But +it doesn't follow that I shall tell you." + +"Surely your object, like ours, can be but the Spreading About of +the Truth?" + +"I don't see it at all. It is possible to imagine a case in which +the spreading about of the truth might make me look a little +awkward." + +"Indeed!" Brasher pursed up his lips. "Your words would almost +lead one to suppose that there was something about your method of +acquiring the pipe which you have good and weighty reasons for +concealing." + +"I don't know why I should conceal the thing from you. I don't +suppose either of you is any better than I am. I don't mind +telling you how I got the pipe. I stole it." + +"Stole it!" + +Brasher seemed both amazed and shocked. But I, who had previous +experience of Tress's methods of adding to his collection, was not +at all surprised. Some of the pipes which he calls his, if only +the whole truth about them were publicly known, would send him to +jail. + +"That's nothing!" he continued. "All collectors steal! The eighth +commandment was not intended to apply to them. Why, Pugh there has +'conveyed' three fourths of the pipes which he flatters himself are +his." + +I was so dumfoundered by the charge that it took my breath away. I +sat in astounded silence. Tress went raving on: + +"I was so shy of this particular pipe when I had obtained it, that +I put it away for quite three months. When I took it out to have a +look at it something about the thing so tickled me that I resolved +to smoke it. Owing to peculiar circumstances attending the manner +in which the thing came into my possession, and on which I need not +dwell--you don't like to dwell on those sort of things, do you, +Pugh?--I knew really nothing about the pipe. As was the case with +Pugh, one peculiarity I learned from actual experience. It was +also from actual experience that I learned that the thing was-- +well, I said haunted, but you may use any other word you like." + +"Tell us, as briefly as possible, what it was you really did +discover." + +"Take the pipe out of the box!" Brasher took the pipe out of the +box and held it in his hand. "You see that creature on it. Well, +when I first had it it was underneath the pipe." + +"How do you mean that it was underneath the pipe?" + +"It was bunched together underneath the stem, just at the end of +the mouthpiece, in the same way in which a fly might be suspended +from the ceiling. When I began to smoke the pipe I saw the +creature move." + +"But I thought that unconsciousness immediately followed." + +"It did follow, but not before I saw that the thing was moving. It +was because I thought that I had been, in a way, a victim of +delirium that I tried the second smoke. Suspecting that the thing +was drugged I swallowed what I believed would prove a powerful +antidote. It enabled me to resist the influence of the narcotic +much longer than before, and while I still retained my senses I saw +the creature crawl along under the stem and over the bowl. It was +that sight, I believe, as much as anything else, which sent me +silly. When I came to I then and there decided to present the pipe +to Pugh. There is one more thing I would remark. When the pipe +left me the creature's legs were twined about the bowl. Now they +are withdrawn. Possibly you, Pugh, are able to cap my story with a +little one which is all your own." + +"I certainly did imagine that I saw the creature move. But I +supposed that while I was under the influence of the drug +imagination had played me a trick." + +"Not a bit of it! Depend upon it, the beast is bewitched. Even to +my eye it looks as though it were, and to a trained eye like yours, +Pugh! You've been looking for the devil a long time, and you've +got him at last." + +"I--I wish you wouldn't make those remarks, Tress. They jar on +me." + +"I confess," interpolated Brasher--I noticed that he had put the +pipe down on the table as though he were tired of holding it-- +"that, to MY thinking, such remarks are not appropriate. At the +same time what you have told us is, I am bound to allow, a little +curious. But of course what I require is ocular demonstration. I +haven't seen the movement myself." + +"No, but you very soon will do if you care to have a pull at the +pipe on your own account. Do, Brasher, to oblige me! There's a +dear!" + +"It appears, then, that the movement is only observable when the +pipe is smoked. We have at least arrived at step No. 1." + +"Here's a match, Brasher! Light up, and we shall have arrived at +step No. 2." + +Tress lit a match and held it out to Brasher. Brasher retreated +from its neighborhood. + +"Thank you, Mr. Tress, I am no smoker, as you are aware. And I +have no desire to acquire the art of smoking by means of a poisoned +pipe." + +Tress laughed. He blew out the match and threw it into the grate. + +"Then I tell you what I'll do--I'll have up Bob." + +"Bob--why Bob?" + +"Bob"--whose real name was Robert Haines, though I should think he +must have forgotten the fact, so seldom was he addressed by it--was +Tress's servant. He had been an old soldier, and had accompanied +his master when he left the service. He was as depraved a +character as Tress himself. I am not sure even that he was not +worse than his master. I shall never forget how he once behaved +toward myself. He actually had the assurance to accuse me of +attempting to steal the Wardour Street relic which Tress fondly +deludes himself was once the property of Sir Walter Raleigh. The +truth is that I had slipped it with my handkerchief into my pocket +in a fit of absence of mind. A man who could accuse ME of such a +thing would be guilty of anything. I was therefore quite at one +with Brasher when he asked what Bob could possibly be wanted for. +Tress explained. + +"I'll get him to smoke the pipe," he said. + +Brasher and I exchanged glances, but we refrained from speech. + +"It won't do him any harm," said Tress. + +"What--not a poisoned pipe?" asked Brasher. + +"It's not poisoned--it's only drugged." + +"ONLY drugged!" + +"Nothing hurts Bob. He is like an ostrich. He has digestive +organs which are peculiarly his own. It will only serve him as it +served me--and Pugh--it will knock him over. It is all done in the +Pursuit of Truth and for the Advancement of Inquiry." + +I could see that Brasher did not altogether like the tone in which +Tress repeated his words. As for me, it was not to be supposed +that I should put myself out in a matter which in no way concerned +me. If Tress chose to poison the man, it was his affair, not mine. +He went to the door and shouted: + +"Bob! Come here, you scoundrel!" + +That is the way in which he speaks to him. No really decent +servant would stand it. I shouldn't care to address Nalder, my +servant, in such a way. He would give me notice on the spot. Bob +came in. He is a great hulking fellow who is always on the grin. +Tress had a decanter of brandy in his hand. He filled a tumbler +with the neat spirit. + +"Bob, what would you say to a glassful of brandy--the real thing-- +my boy?" + +"Thank you, sir." + +"And what would you say to a pull at a pipe when the brandy is +drunk!" + +"A pipe?" The fellow is sharp enough when he likes. I saw him +look at the pipe upon the table, and then at us, and then a gleam +of intelligence came into his eyes. "I'd do it for a dollar, sir." + +"A dollar, you thief?" + +"I meant ten shillings, sir." + +"Ten shillings, you brazen vagabond?" + +"I should have said a pound." + +"A pound! Was ever the like of that! Do I understand you to ask a +pound for taking a pull at your master's pipe?" + +"I'm thinking that I'll have to make it two." + +"The deuce you are! Here, Pugh, lend me a pound." + +"I'm afraid I've left my purse behind." + +"Then lend me ten shillings--Ananias!" + +"I doubt if I have more than five." + +"Then give me the five. And, Brasher, lend me the other fifteen." + +Brasher lent him the fifteen. I doubt if we shall either of us +ever see our money again. He handed the pound to Bob. + +"Here's the brandy--drink it up!" Bob drank it without a word, +draining the glass of every drop. "And here's the pipe." + +"Is it poisoned, sir?" + +"Poisoned, you villain! What do you mean?" + +"It isn't the first time I've seen your tricks, sir--is it now? +And you're not the one to give a pound for nothing at all. If it +kills me you'll send my body to my mother--she'd like to know that +I was dead." + +"Send your body to your grandmother! You idiot, sit down and +smoke!" + +Bob sat down. Tress had filled the pipe, and handed it, with a +lighted match, to Bob. The fellow declined the match. He handled +the pipe very gingerly, turning it over and over, eying it with all +his eyes. + +"Thank you, sir--I'll light up myself if it's the same to you. I +carry matches of my own. It's a beautiful pipe, entirely. I never +see the like of it for ugliness. And what's the slimy-looking +varmint that looks as though it would like to have my life? Is it +living, or is it dead?" + +"Come, we don't want to sit here all day, my man!" + +"Well, sir, the look of this here pipe has quite upset my stomach. +I'd like another drop of liquor, if it's the same to you." + +"Another drop! Why, you've had a tumblerful already! Here's +another tumblerful to put on top of that. You won't want the pipe +to kill you--you'll be killed before you get to it." + +"And isn't it better to die a natural death?" + +Bob emptied the second tumbler of brandy as though it were water. +I believe he would empty a hogshead without turning a hair! Then +he gave another look at the pipe. Then, taking a match from his +waistcoat pocket, he drew a long breath, as though he were +resigning himself to fate. Striking the match on the seat of his +trousers, while, shaded by his hand, the flame was gathering +strength, he looked at each of us in turn. When he looked at Tress +I distinctly saw him wink his eye. What my feelings would have +been if a servant of mine had winked his eye at me I am unable to +imagine! The match was applied to the tobacco, a puff of smoke +came through his lips--the pipe was alight! + +During this process of lighting the pipe we had sat--I do not wish +to use exaggerated language, but we had sat and watched that +alcoholic scamp's proceedings as though we were witnessing an +action which would leave its mark upon the age. When we saw the +pipe was lighted we gave a simultaneous start. Brasher put his +hands under his coat tails and gave a kind of hop. I raised myself +a good six inches from my chair, and Tress rubbed his palms +together with a chuckle. Bob alone was calm. + +"Now," cried Tress, "you'll see the devil moving." + +Bob took the pipe from between his lips. + +"See what?" he said. + +"Bob, you rascal, put that pipe back into your mouth, and smoke it +for your life!" + +Bob was eying the pipe askance. + +"I dare say, but what I want to know is whether this here varmint's +dead or whether he isn't. I don't want to have him flying at my +nose--and he looks vicious enough for anything." + +"Give me back that pound, you thief, and get out of my house, and +bundle." + +"I ain't going to give you back no pound." + +"Then smoke that pipe!" + +"I am smoking it, ain't I?" + +With the utmost deliberation Bob returned the pipe to his mouth. +He emitted another whiff or two of smoke. + +"Now--now!" cried Tress, all excitement, and wagging his hand in +the air. + +We gathered round. As we did so Bob again withdrew the pipe. + +"What is the meaning of all this here? I ain't going to have you +playing none of your larks on me. I know there's something up, but +I ain't going to throw my life away for twenty shillings--not quite +I ain't." + +Tress, whose temper is not at any time one of the best, was seized +with quite a spasm of rage. + +"As I live, my lad, if you try to cheat me by taking that pipe from +between your lips until I tell you, you leave this room that +instant, never again to be a servant of mine." + +I presume the fellow knew from long experience when his master +meant what he said, and when he didn't. Without an attempt at +remonstrance he replaced the pipe. He continued stolidly to puff +away. Tress caught me by the arm. + +"What did I tell you? There--there! That tentacle is moving." + +The uplifted tentacle WAS moving. It was doing what I had seen it +do, as I supposed, in my distorted imagination--it was reaching +forward. Undoubtedly Bob saw what it was doing; but, whether in +obedience to his master's commands, or whether because the drug was +already beginning to take effect, he made no movement to withdraw +the pipe. He watched the slowly advancing tentacle, coming closer +and closer toward his nose, with an expression of such intense +horror on his countenance that it became quite shocking. Farther +and farther the creature reached forward, until on a sudden, with a +sort of jerk, the movement assumed a downward direction, and the +tentacle was slowly lowered until the tip rested on the stem of the +pipe. For a moment the creature remained motionless. I was +quieting my nerves with the reflection that this thing was but some +trick of the carver's art, and that what we had seen we had seen in +a sort of nightmare, when the whole hideous reptile was seized with +what seemed to be a fit of convulsive shuddering. It seemed to be +in agony. It trembled so violently that I expected to see it +loosen its hold of the stem and fall to the ground. I was +sufficiently master of myself to steal a glance at Bob. We had had +an inkling of what might happen. He was wholly unprepared. As he +saw that dreadful, human-looking creature, coming to life, as it +seemed, within an inch or two of his nose, his eyes dilated to +twice their usual size. I hoped, for his sake, that +unconsciousness would supervene, through the action of the drug, +before through sheer fright his senses left him. Perhaps +mechanically he puffed steadily on. + +The creature's shuddering became more violent. It appeared to +swell before our eyes. Then, just as suddenly as it began, the +shuddering ceased. There was another instant of quiescence. Then +the creature began to crawl along the stem of the pipe! It moved +with marvelous caution, the merest fraction of an inch at a time. +But still it moved! Our eyes were riveted on it with a fascination +which was absolutely nauseous. I am unpleasantly affected even as +I think of it now. My dreams of the night before had been nothing +to this. + +Slowly, slowly, it went, nearer and nearer to the smoker's nose. +Its mode of progression was in the highest degree unsightly. It +glided, never, so far as I could see, removing its tentacles from +the stem of the pipe. It slipped its hindmost feelers onward until +they came up to those which were in advance. Then, in their turn, +it advanced those which were in front. It seemed, too, to move +with the utmost labor, shuddering as though it were in pain. + +We were all, for our parts, speechless. I was momentarily hoping +that the drug would take effect on Bob. Either his constitution +enabled him to offer a strong resistance to narcotics, or else the +large quantity of neat spirit which he had drunk acted--as Tress +had malevolently intended that it should--as an antidote. It +seemed to me that he would NEVER succumb. On went the creature-- +on, and on, in its infinitesimal progression. I was spellbound. I +would have given the world to scream, to have been able to utter a +sound. I could do nothing else but watch. + +The creature had reached the end of the stem. It had gained the +amber mouthpiece. It was within an inch of the smoker's nose. +Still on it went. It seemed to move with greater freedom on the +amber. It increased its rate of progress. It was actually +touching the foremost feature on the smoker's countenance. I +expected to see it grip the wretched Bob, when it began to +oscillate from side to side. Its oscillations increased in +violence. It fell to the floor. That same instant the narcotic +prevailed. Bob slipped sideways from the chair, the pipe still +held tightly between his rigid jaws. + +We were silent. There lay Bob. Close beside him lay the creature. +A few more inches to the left, and he would have fallen on and +squashed it flat. It had fallen on its back. Its feelers were +extended upward. They were writhing and twisting and turning in +the air. + +Tress was the first to speak. + +"I think a little brandy won't be amiss." Emptying the remainder +of the brandy into a glass, he swallowed it at a draught. "Now for +a closer examination of our friend." Taking a pair of tongs from +the grate he nipped the creature between them. He deposited it +upon the table. "I rather fancy that this is a case for +dissection." + +He took a penknife from his waistcoat pocket. Opening the large +blade, he thrust its point into the object on the table. Little or +no resistance seemed to be offered to the passage of the blade, but +as it was inserted the tentacula simultaneously began to writhe and +twist. Tress withdrew the knife. + +"I thought so!" He held the blade out for our inspection. The +point was covered with some viscid-looking matter. "That's blood! +The thing's alive!" + +"Alive!" + +"Alive! That's the secret of the whole performance!" + +"But--" + +"But me no buts, my Pugh! The mystery's exploded! One more ghost +is lost to the world! The person from whom I OBTAINED that pipe +was an Indian juggler--up to many tricks of the trade. He, or some +one for him, got hold of this sweet thing in reptiles--and a +sweeter thing would, I imagine, be hard to find--and covered it +with some preparation of, possibly, gum arabic. He allowed this to +harden. Then he stuck the thing--still living, for those sort of +gentry are hard to kill--to the pipe. The consequence was that +when anyone lit up, the warmth was communicated to the adhesive +agent--again some preparation of gum, no doubt--it moistened it, +and the creature, with infinite difficulty, was able to move. But +I am open to lay odds with any gentleman of sporting tastes that +THIS time the creature's traveling days ARE done. It has given me +rather a larger taste of the horrors than is good for my +digestion." + +With the aid of the tongs he removed the creature from the table. +He placed it on the hearth. Before Brasher or I had a notion of +what it was he intended to do he covered it with a heavy marble +paper weight. Then he stood upon the weight, and between the +marble and the hearth he ground the creature flat. + +While the execution was still proceeding, Bob sat up upon the +floor. + +"Hollo!" he asked, "what's happened?" + +"We've emptied the bottle, Bob," said Tress. "But there's another +where that came from. Perhaps you could drink another tumblerful, +my boy?" + +Bob drank it! + + +FOOTNOTE + +"Those gentry are hard to kill." Here is fact, not fantasy. +Lizard yarns no less sensational than this Mystery Story can be +found between the covers of solemn, zoological textbooks. + +Reptiles, indeed, are far from finicky in the matters of air, +space, and especially warmth. Frogs and other such sluggish- +blooded creatures have lived after being frozen fast in ice. Their +blood is little warmer than air or water, enjoying no extra casing +of fur or feathers. + +Air and food seem held in light esteem by lizards. Their blood +need not be highly oxygenated; it nourishes just as well when +impure. In temperate climes lizards lie torpid and buried all +winter; some species of the tropic deserts sleep peacefully all +summer. Their anatomy includes no means for the continuous +introduction and expulsion of air; reptilian lungs are little more +than closed sacs, without cell structure. + +If any further zoological fact were needed to verify the denouement +of "The Pipe," it might be the general statement that lizards are +abnormal brutes anyhow. Consider the chameleons of unsettled hue. +And what is one to think of an animal which, when captured by the +tail, is able to make its escape by willfully shuffling off that +appendage?--EDITOR. + + + +The Puzzle + +I + + +Pugh came into my room holding something wrapped in a piece of +brown paper. + +"Tress, I have brought you something on which you may exercise your +ingenuity." He began, with exasperating deliberation, to untie the +string which bound his parcel; he is one of those persons who would +not cut a knot to save their lives. The process occupied him the +better part of a quarter of an hour. Then he held out the contents +of the paper. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked. I thought nothing of it, +and I told him so. "I was prepared for that confession. I have +noticed, Tress, that you generally do think nothing of an article +which really deserves the attention of a truly thoughtful mind. +Possibly, as you think so little of it, you will be able to solve +the puzzle." + +I took what he held out to me. It was an oblong box, perhaps seven +inches long by three inches broad. + +"Where's the puzzle?" I asked. + +"If you will examine the lid of the box, you will see." I turned +it over and over; it was difficult to see which was the lid. Then +I perceived that on one side were printed these words: + + + "PUZZLE: TO OPEN THE BOX" + + +The words were so faintly printed that it was not surprising that I +had not noticed them at first. Pugh explained. + +"I observed that box on a tray outside a second-hand furniture +shop. It struck my eye. I took it up. I examined it. I inquired +of the proprietor of the shop in what the puzzle lay. He replied +that that was more than he could tell me. He himself had made +several attempts to open the box, and all of them had failed. I +purchased it. I took it home. I have tried, and I have failed. I +am aware, Tress, of how you pride yourself upon your ingenuity. I +cannot doubt that, if you try, you will not fail." + +While Pugh was prosing, I was examining the box. It was at least +well made. It weighed certainly under two ounces. I struck it +with my knuckles; it sounded hollow. There was no hinge; nothing +of any kind to show that it ever had been opened, or, for the +matter of that, that it ever could be opened. The more I examined +the thing, the more it whetted my curiosity. That it could be +opened, and in some ingenious manner, I made no doubt--but how? + +The box was not a new one. At a rough guess I should say that it +had been a box for a good half century; there were certain signs of +age about it which could not escape a practiced eye. Had it +remained unopened all that time? When opened, what would be found +inside? It SOUNDED hollow; probably nothing at all--who could +tell? + +It was formed of small pieces of inlaid wood. Several woods had +been used; some of them were strange to me. They were of different +colors; it was pretty obvious that they must all of them have been +hard woods. The pieces were of various shapes--hexagonal, +octagonal, triangular, square, oblong, and even circular. The +process of inlaying them had been beautifully done. So nicely had +the parts been joined that the lines of meeting were difficult to +discover with the naked eye; they had been joined solid, so to +speak. It was an excellent example of marquetry. I had been over- +hasty in my deprecation; I owed as much to Pugh. + +"This box of yours is better worth looking at than I first +supposed. Is it to be sold?" + +"No, it is not to be sold. Nor"--he "fixed" me with his +spectacles--"is it to be given away. I have brought it to you for +the simple purpose of ascertaining if you have ingenuity enough to +open it." + +"I will engage to open it in two seconds--with a hammer." + +"I dare say. I will open it with a hammer. The thing is to open +it without." + +"Let me see." I began, with the aid of a microscope, to examine +the box more closely. "I will give you one piece of information, +Pugh. Unless I am mistaken, the secret lies in one of these little +pieces of inlaid wood. You push it, or you press it, or something, +and the whole affair flies open." + +"Such was my own first conviction. I am not so sure of it now. I +have pressed every separate piece of wood; I have tried to move +each piece in every direction. No result has followed. My theory +was a hidden spring." + +"But there must be a hidden spring of some sort, unless you are to +open it by a mere exercise of force. I suppose the box is empty." + +"I thought it was at first, but now I am not so sure of that +either. It all depends on the position in which you hold it. Hold +it in this position--like this--close to your ear. Have you a +small hammer?" I took a small hammer. "Tap it softly, with the +hammer. Don't you notice a sort of reverberation within?" + +Pugh was right, there certainly was something within; something +which seemed to echo back my tapping, almost as if it were a living +thing. I mentioned this, to Pugh. + +"But you don't think that there is something alive inside the box? +There can't be. The box must be airtight, probably as much air- +tight as an exhausted receiver." + +"How do we know that? How can we tell that no minute interstices +have been left for the express purpose of ventilation?" I +continued tapping with the hammer. I noticed one peculiarity, that +it was only when I held the box in a particular position, and +tapped at a certain spot, there came the answering taps from +within. "I tell you what it is, Pugh, what I hear is the +reverberation of some machinery." + +"Do you think so?" + +"I'm sure of it." + +"Give the box to me." Pugh put the box to his ear. He tapped. +"It sounds to me like the echoing tick, tick of some great beetle; +like the sort of noise which a deathwatch makes, you know." + +Trust Pugh to find a remarkable explanation for a simple fact; if +the explanation leans toward the supernatural, so much the more +satisfactory to Pugh. I knew better. + +"The sound which you hear is merely the throbbing or the trembling +of the mechanism with which it is intended that the box should be +opened. The mechanism is placed just where you are tapping it with +the hammer. Every tap causes it to jar." + +"It sounds to me like the ticking of a deathwatch. However, on +such subjects, Tress, I know what you are." + +"My dear Pugh, give it an extra hard tap, and you will see." + +He gave it an extra hard tap. The moment he had done so, he +started. + +"I've done it now." + +"What have you done?" + +"Broken something, I fancy." He listened intently, with his ear to +the box. "No--it seems all right. And yet I could have sworn I +had damaged something; I heard it smash." + +"Give me the box." He gave it me. In my turn, I listened. I +shook the box. Pugh must have been mistaken. Nothing rattled; +there was not a sound; the box was as empty as before. I gave a +smart tap with the hammer, as Pugh had done. Then there certainly +was a curious sound. To my ear, it sounded like the smashing of +glass. "I wonder if there is anything fragile inside your precious +puzzle, Pugh, and, if so, if we are shivering it by degrees?" + + +II + + +"What IS that noise?" + +I lay in bed in that curious condition which is between sleep and +waking. When, at last, I KNEW that I was awake, I asked myself +what it was that had woke me. Suddenly I became conscious that +something was making itself audible in the silence of the night. +For some seconds I lay and listened. Then I sat up in bed. + +"What IS that noise?" + +It was like the tick, tick of some large and unusually clear-toned +clock. It might have been a clock, had it not been that the sound +was varied, every half dozen ticks or so, by a sort of stifled +screech, such as might have been uttered by some small creature in +an extremity of anguish. I got out of bed; it was ridiculous to +think of sleep during the continuation of that uncanny shrieking. +I struck a light. The sound seemed to come from the neighborhood +of my dressing-table. I went to the dressing-table, the lighted +match in my hand, and, as I did so, my eyes fell on Pugh's +mysterious box. That same instant there issued, from the bowels of +the box, a more uncomfortable screech than any I had previously +heard. It took me so completely by surprise that I let the match +fall from my hand to the floor. The room was in darkness. I +stood, I will not say trembling, listening--considering their +volume--to the EERIEST shrieks I ever heard. All at once they +ceased. Then came the tick, tick, tick again. I struck another +match and lit the gas. + +Pugh had left his puzzle box behind him. We had done all we could, +together, to solve the puzzle. He had left it behind to see what I +could do with it alone. So much had it engrossed my attention that +I had even brought it into my bedroom, in order that I might, +before retiring to rest, make a final attempt at the solution of +the mystery. NOW what possessed the thing? + +As I stood, and looked, and listened, one thing began to be clear +to me, that some sort of machinery had been set in motion inside +the box. How it had been set in motion was another matter. But +the box had been subjected to so much handling, to such pressing +and such hammering, that it was not strange if, after all, Pugh or +I had unconsciously hit upon the spring which set the whole thing +going. Possibly the mechanism had got so rusty that it had refused +to act at once. It had hung fire, and only after some hours had +something or other set the imprisoned motive power free. + +But what about the screeching? Could there be some living creature +concealed within the box? Was I listening to the cries of some +small animal in agony? Momentary reflection suggested that the +explanation of the one thing was the explanation of the other. +Rust!--there was the mystery. The same rust which had prevented +the mechanism from acting at once was causing the screeching now. +The uncanny sounds were caused by nothing more nor less than the +want of a drop or two of oil. Such an explanation would not have +satisfied Pugh, it satisfied me. + +Picking up the box, I placed it to my ear. + +"I wonder how long this little performance is going to continue. +And what is going to happen when it is good enough to cease? I +hope"--an uncomfortable thought occurred to me--"I hope Pugh hasn't +picked up some pleasant little novelty in the way of an infernal +machine. It would be a first-rate joke if he and I had been +endeavoring to solve the puzzle of how to set it going." + +I don't mind owning that as this reflection crossed my mind I +replaced Pugh's puzzle on the dressing-table. The idea did not +commend itself to me at all. The box evidently contained some +curious mechanism. It might be more curious than comfortable. +Possibly some agreeable little device in clockwork. The tick, +tick, tick suggested clockwork which had been planned to go a +certain time, and then--then, for all I knew, ignite an explosive, +and--blow up. It would be a charming solution to the puzzle if it +were to explode while I stood there, in my nightshirt, looking on. +It is true that the box weighed very little. Probably, as I have +said, the whole affair would not have turned the scale at a couple +of ounces. But then its very lightness might have been part of the +ingenious inventor's little game. There are explosives with which +one can work a very satisfactory amount of damage with considerably +less than a couple of ounces. + +While I was hesitating--I own it!--whether I had not better immerse +Pugh's puzzle in a can of water, or throw it out of the window, or +call down Bob with a request to at once remove it to his apartment, +both the tick, tick, tick, and the screeching ceased, and all +within the box was still. If it WAS going to explode, it was now +or never. Instinctively I moved in the direction of the door. + +I waited with a certain sense of anxiety. I waited in vain. +Nothing happened, not even a renewal of the sound. + +"I wish Pugh had kept his precious puzzle at home. This sort of +thing tries one's nerves." + +When I thought that I perceived that nothing seemed likely to +happen, I returned to the neighborhood of the table. I looked at +the box askance. I took it up gingerly. Something might go off at +any moment for all I knew. It would be too much of a joke if +Pugh's precious puzzle exploded in my hand. I shook it doubtfully; +nothing rattled. I held it to my ear. There was not a sound. +What had taken place? Had the clockwork run down, and was the +machine arranged with such a diabolical ingenuity that a certain +interval was required, after the clockwork had run down, before an +explosion could occur? Or had rust caused the mechanism to again +hang fire? + +"After making all that commotion the thing might at least come +open." I banged the box viciously against the corner of the table. +I felt that I would almost rather that an explosion should take +place than that nothing should occur. One does not care to be +disturbed from one's sound slumber in the small hours of the +morning for a trifle. + +"I've half a mind to get a hammer, and try, as they say in the +cookery books, another way." + +Unfortunately I had promised Pugh to abstain from using force. I +might have shivered the box open with my hammer, and then explained +that it had fallen, or got trod upon, or sat upon, or something, +and so got shattered, only I was afraid that Pugh would not believe +me. The man is himself such an untruthful man that he is in a +chronic state of suspicion about the truthfulness of others. + +"Well, if you're not going to blow up, or open, or something, I'll +say good night." + +I gave the box a final rap with my knuckles and a final shake, +replaced it on the table, put out the gas, and returned to bed. + +I was just sinking again into slumber, when that box began again. +It was true that Pugh had purchased the puzzle, but it was evident +that the whole enjoyment of the purchase was destined to be mine. +It was useless to think of sleep while that performance was going +on. I sat up in bed once more. + +"It strikes me that the puzzle consists in finding out how it is +possible to go to sleep with Pugh's purchase in your bedroom. This +is far better than the old-fashioned prescription of cats on the +tiles." + +It struck me the noise was distinctly louder than before; this +applied both to the tick, tick, tick, and the screeching. + +"Possibly," I told myself, as I relighted the gas, "the explosion +is to come off this time." + +I turned to look at the box. There could be no doubt about it; the +noise was louder. And, if I could trust my eyes, the box was +moving--giving a series of little jumps. This might have been an +optical delusion, but it seemed to me that at each tick the box +gave a little bound. During the screeches--which sounded more like +the cries of an animal in an agony of pain even than before--if it +did not tilt itself first on one end, and then on another, I shall +never be willing to trust the evidence of my own eyes again. And +surely the box had increased in size; I could have sworn not only +that it had increased, but that it was increasing, even as I stood +there looking on. It had grown, and still was growing, both +broader, and longer, and deeper. Pugh, of course, would have +attributed it to supernatural agency; there never was a man with +such a nose for a ghost. I could picture him occupying my +position, shivering in his nightshirt, as he beheld that miracle +taking place before his eyes. The solution which at once suggested +itself to me--and which would NEVER have suggested itself to Pugh!-- +was that the box was fashioned, as it were, in layers, and that +the ingenious mechanism it contained was forcing the sides at once +both upward and outward. I took it in my hand. I could feel +something striking against the bottom of the box, like the tap, +tap, tapping of a tiny hammer. + +"This is a pretty puzzle of Pugh's. He would say that that is the +tapping of a deathwatch. For my part I have not much faith in +deathwatches, et hoc genus omne, but it certainly is a curious +tapping; I wonder what is going to happen next?" + +Apparently nothing, except a continuation of those mysterious +sounds. That the box had increased in size I had, and have, no +doubt whatever. I should say that it had increased a good inch in +every direction, at least half an inch while I had been looking on. +But while I stood looking its growth was suddenly and perceptibly +stayed; it ceased to move. Only the noise continued. + +"I wonder how long it will be before anything worth happening does +happen! I suppose something is going to happen; there can't be all +this to-do for nothing. If it is anything in the infernal machine +line, and there is going to be an explosion, I might as well be +here to see it. I think I'll have a pipe." + +I put on my dressing-gown. I lit my pipe. I sat and stared at the +box. I dare say I sat there for quite twenty minutes when, as +before, without any sort of warning, the sound was stilled. Its +sudden cessation rather startled me. + +"Has the mechanism again hung fire? Or, this time, is the +explosion coming off?" It did not come off; nothing came off. +"Isn't the box even going to open?" + +It did not open. There was simply silence all at once, and that +was all. I sat there in expectation for some moments longer. But +I sat for nothing. I rose. I took the box in my hand. I shook +it. + +"This puzzle IS a puzzle." I held the box first to one ear, then +to the other. I gave it several sharp raps with my knuckles. +There was not an answering sound, not even the sort of +reverberation which Pugh and I had noticed at first. It seemed +hollower than ever. It was as though the soul of the box was dead. +"I suppose if I put you down, and extinguish the gas and return to +bed, in about half an hour or so, just as I am dropping off to +sleep, the performance will be recommenced. Perhaps the third time +will be lucky." + +But I was mistaken--there was no third time. When I returned to +bed that time I returned to sleep, and I was allowed to sleep; +there was no continuation of the performance, at least so far as I +know. For no sooner was I once more between the sheets than I was +seized with an irresistible drowsiness, a drowsiness which so +mastered me that I--I imagine it must have been instantly--sank +into slumber which lasted till long after day had dawned. Whether +or not any more mysterious sounds issued from the bowels of Pugh's +puzzle is more than I can tell. If they did, they did not succeed +in rousing me. + +And yet, when at last I did awake, I had a sort of consciousness +that my waking had been caused by something strange. What it was I +could not surmise. My own impression was that I had been awakened +by the touch of a person's hand. But that impression must have +been a mistaken one, because, as I could easily see by looking +round the room, there was no one in the room to touch me. + +It was broad daylight. I looked at my watch; it was nearly eleven +o'clock. I am a pretty late sleeper as a rule, but I do not +usually sleep as late as that. That scoundrel Bob would let me +sleep all day without thinking it necessary to call me. I was just +about to spring out of bed with the intention of ringing the bell +so that I might give Bob a piece of my mind for allowing me to +sleep so late, when my glance fell on the dressing-table on which, +the night before, I had placed Pugh's puzzle. It had gone! + +Its absence so took me by surprise that I ran to the table. It HAD +gone. But it had not gone far; it had gone to pieces! There were +the pieces lying where the box had been. The puzzle had solved +itself. The box was open, open with a vengeance, one might say. +Like that unfortunate Humpty Dumpty, who, so the chroniclers tell +us, sat on a wall, surely "all the king's horses and all the king's +men" never could put Pugh's puzzle together again! + +The marquetry had resolved itself into its component parts. How +those parts had ever been joined was a mystery. They had been laid +upon no foundation, as is the case with ordinary inlaid work. The +several pieces of wood were not only of different shapes and sizes, +but they were as thin as the thinnest veneer; yet the box had been +formed by simply joining them together. The man who made that box +must have been possessed of ingenuity worthy of a better cause. + +I perceived how the puzzle had been worked. The box had contained +an arrangement of springs, which, on being released, had expanded +themselves in different directions until their mere expansion had +rent the box to pieces. There were the springs, lying amid the +ruin they had caused. + +There was something else amid that ruin besides those springs; +there was a small piece of writing paper. I took it up. On the +reverse side of it was written in a minute, crabbed hand: "A +Present For You." What was a present for me? I looked, and, not +for the first time since I had caught sight of Pugh's precious +puzzle, could scarcely believe my eyes. + +There, poised between two upright wires, the bent ends of which +held it aloft in the air, was either a piece of glass or--a +crystal. The scrap of writing paper had exactly covered it. I +understood what it was, when Pugh and I had tapped with the hammer, +had caused the answering taps to proceed from within. Our taps +caused the wires to oscillate, and in these oscillations the +crystal, which they held suspended, had touched the side of the +box. + +I looked again at the piece of paper. "A Present For You." Was +THIS the present--this crystal? I regarded it intently. + +"It CAN'T be a diamond." + +The idea was ridiculous, absurd. No man in his senses would place +a diamond inside a twopenny-halfpenny puzzle box. The thing was as +big as a walnut! And yet--I am a pretty good judge of precious +stones--if it was not an uncut diamond it was the best imitation I +had seen. I took it up. I examined it closely. The more closely +I examined it, the more my wonder grew. + +"It IS a diamond!" + +And yet the idea was too preposterous for credence. Who would +present a diamond as big as a walnut with a trumpery puzzle? +Besides, all the diamonds which the world contains of that size are +almost as well known as the Koh-i-noor. + +"If it is a diamond, it is worth--it is worth--Heaven only knows +what it isn't worth if it's a diamond." + +I regarded it through a strong pocket lens. As I did so I could +not restrain an exclamation. + +"The world to a China orange, it IS a diamond!" + +The words had scarcely escaped my lips than there came a tapping at +the door. + +"Come in!" I cried, supposing it was Bob. It was not Bob, it was +Pugh. Instinctively I put the lens and the crystal behind my back. +At sight of me in my nightshirt Pugh began to shake his head. + +"What hours, Tress, what hours! Why, my dear Tress, I've +breakfasted, read the papers and my letters, came all the way from +my house here, and you're not up!" + +"Don't I look as though I were up?" + +"Ah, Tress! Tress!" He approached the dressing-table. His eye +fell upon the ruins. "What's this?" + +"That's the solution to the puzzle." + +"Have you--have you solved it fairly, Tress?" + +"It has solved itself. Our handling, and tapping, and hammering +must have freed the springs which the box contained, and during the +night, while I slept, they have caused it to come open." + +"While you slept? Dear me! How strange! And--what are these?" + +He had discovered the two upright wires on which the crystal had +been poised. + +"I suppose they're part of the puzzle." + +"And was there anything in the box? What's this?" he picked up the +scrap of paper; I had left it on the table. He read what was +written on it: "'A Present For You.' What's it mean? Tress, was +this in the box?" + +"It was." + +"What's it mean about a present? Was there anything in the box +besides?" + +"Pugh, if you will leave the room I shall be able to dress; I am +not in the habit of receiving quite such early calls, or I should +have been prepared to receive you. If you will wait in the next +room, I will be with you as soon as I'm dressed. There is a little +subject in connection with the box which I wish to discuss with +you." + +"A subject in connection with the box? What is the subject?" + +"I will tell you, Pugh, when I have performed my toilet." + +"Why can't you tell me now?" + +"Do you propose, then, that I should stand here shivering in my +shirt while you are prosing at your ease? Thank you; I am obliged, +but I decline. May I ask you once more, Pugh, to wait for me in +the adjoining apartment?" + +He moved toward the door. When he had taken a couple of steps, he +halted. + +"I--I hope, Tress, that you're--you're going to play no tricks on +me?" + +"Tricks on you! Is it likely that I am going to play tricks upon +my oldest friend?" + +When he had gone--he vanished, it seemed to me, with a somewhat +doubtful visage--I took the crystal to the window. I drew the +blind. I let the sunshine fall on it. I examined it again, +closely and minutely, with the aid of my pocket lens. It WAS a +diamond; there could not be a doubt of it. If, with my knowledge +of stones, I was deceived, then I was deceived as never man had +been deceived before. My heart beat faster as I recognized the +fact that I was holding in my hand what was, in all probability, a +fortune for a man of moderate desires. Of course, Pugh knew +nothing of what I had discovered, and there was no reason why he +should know. Not the least! The only difficulty was that if I +kept my own counsel, and sold the stone and utilized the proceeds +of the sale, I should have to invent a story which would account +for my sudden accession to fortune. Pugh knows almost as much of +my affairs as I do myself. That is the worst of these old friends! + +When I joined Pugh I found him dancing up and down the floor like a +bear upon hot plates. He scarcely allowed me to put my nose inside +the door before attacking me. + +"Tress, give me what was in the box." + +"My dear Pugh, how do you know that there was something in the box +to give you?" + +"I know there was!" + +"Indeed! If you know that there was something in the box, perhaps +you will tell me what that something was." + +He eyed me doubtfully. Then, advancing, he laid upon my arm a hand +which positively trembled. + +"Tress, you--you wouldn't play tricks on an old friend." + +"You are right, Pugh, I wouldn't, though I believe there have been +occasions on which you have had doubts upon the subject. By the +way, Pugh, I believe that I am the oldest friend you have." + +"I--I don't know about that. There's--there's Brasher." + +"Brasher! Who's Brasher? You wouldn't compare my friendship to +the friendship of such a man as Brasher? Think of the tastes we +have in common, you and I. We're both collectors." + +"Ye-es, we're both collectors." + +"I make my interests yours, and you make your interests mine. +Isn't that so, Pugh?" + +"Tress, what--what was in the box?" + +"I will be frank with you, Pugh. If there had been something in +the box, would you have been willing to go halves with me in my +discovery?" + +"Go halves! In your discovery, Tress! Give me what is mine!" + +"With pleasure, Pugh, if you will tell me what is yours." + +"If--if you don't give me what was in the box I'll--I'll send for +the police." + +"Do! Then I shall be able to hand to them what was in the box in +order that it may be restored to its proper owner." + +"Its proper owner! I'm its proper owner!" + +"Excuse me, but I don't understand how that can be; at least, until +the police have made inquiries. I should say that the proper owner +was the person from whom you purchased the box, or, more probably, +the person from whom he purchased it, and by whom, doubtless, it +was sold in ignorance, or by mistake. Thus, Pugh, if you will only +send for the police, we shall earn the gratitude of a person of +whom we never heard in our lives--I for discovering the contents of +the box, and you for returning them." + +As I said this, Pugh's face was a study. He gasped for breath. He +actually took out his handkerchief to wipe his brow. + +"Tress, I--I don't think you need to use a tone like that to me. +It isn't friendly. What--what was in the box?" + +"Let us understand each other, Pugh. If you don't hand over what +was in the box to the police, I go halves." + +Pugh began to dance about the floor. + +"What a fool I was to trust you with the box! I knew I couldn't +trust you." I said nothing. I turned and rang the bell. "What's +that for?" + +"That, my dear Pugh, is for breakfast, and, if you desire it, for +the police. You know, although you have breakfasted, I haven't. +Perhaps while I am breaking my fast, you would like to summon the +representatives of law and order." Bob came in. I ordered +breakfast. Then I turned to Pugh. "Is there anything you would +like?" + +"No, I--I've breakfasted." + +"It wasn't of breakfast I was thinking. It was of--something else. +Bob is at your service, if, for instance, you wish to send him on +an errand." + +"No, I want nothing. Bob can go." Bob went. Directly he was +gone, Pugh turned to me. "You shall have half. What was in the +box?" + +"I shall have half?" + +"You shall!" + +"I don't think it is necessary that the terms of our little +understanding should be expressly embodied in black and white. I +fancy that, under the circumstance, I can trust you, Pugh. I +believe that I am capable of seeing that, in this matter, you don't +do me. That was in the box." + +I held out the crystal between my finger and thumb. + +"What is it?" + +"That is what I desire to learn." + +"Let me look at it." + +"You are welcome to look at it where it is. Look at it as long as +you like, and as closely." + +Pugh leaned over my hand. His eyes began to gleam. He is himself +not a bad judge of precious stones, is Pugh. + +"It's--it's--Tress!--is it a diamond?" + +"That question I have already asked myself." + +"Let me look at it! It will be safe with me! It's mine!" + +I immediately put the thing behind my back. + +"Pardon me, it belongs neither to you nor to me. It belongs, in +all probability, to the person who sold that puzzle to the man from +whom you bought it--perhaps some weeping widow, Pugh, or hopeless +orphan--think of it. Let us have no further misunderstanding upon +that point, my dear old friend. Still, because you are my dear old +friend, I am willing to trust you with this discovery of mine, on +condition that you don't attempt to remove it from my sight, and +that you return it to me the moment I require you." + +"You're--you're very hard on me." I made a movement toward my +waistcoat pocket. "I'll return it to you!" + +I handed him the crystal, and with it I handed him my pocket lens. + +"With the aid of that glass I imagine that you will be able to +subject it to a more acute examination, Pugh." + +He began to examine it through the lens. Directly he did so, he +gave an exclamation. In a few moments he looked up at me. His +eyes were glistening behind his spectacles. I could see he +trembled. + +"Tress, it's--it's a diamond, a Brazil diamond. It's worth a +fortune!" + +"I'm glad you think so." + +"Glad I think so! Don't you think that it's a diamond?" + +"It appears to be a diamond. Under ordinary conditions I should +say, without hesitation, that it was a diamond. But when I +consider the circumstances of its discovery, I am driven to doubts. +How much did you give for that puzzle, Pugh?" + +"Ninepence; the fellow wanted a shilling, but I gave him ninepence. +He seemed content." + +"Ninepence! Does it seem reasonable that we should find a diamond, +which, if it is a diamond, is the finest stone I ever saw and +handled, in a ninepenny puzzle? It is not as though it had got +into the thing by accident, it had evidently been placed there to +be found, and, apparently, by anyone who chanced to solve the +puzzle; witness the writing on the scrap of paper." + +Pugh re-examined the crystal. + +"It is a diamond! I'll stake my life that it's a diamond!" + +"Still, though it be a diamond, I smell a rat!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I strongly suspect that the person who placed that diamond inside +that puzzle intended to have a joke at the expense of the person +who discovered it. What was to be the nature of the joke is more +than I can say at present, but I should like to have a bet with you +that the man who compounded that puzzle was an ingenious practical +joker. I may be wrong, Pugh; we shall see. But, until I have +proved the contrary, I don't believe that the maddest man that ever +lived would throw away a diamond worth, apparently, shall we say a +thousand pounds?" + +"A thousand pounds! This diamond is worth a good deal more than a +thousand pounds." + +"Well, that only makes my case the stronger; I don't believe that +the maddest man that ever lived would throw away a diamond worth +more than a thousand pounds with such utter wantonness as seems to +have characterized the action of the original owner of the stone +which I found in your ninepenny puzzle, Pugh." + +"There have been some eccentric characters in the world, some very +eccentric characters. However, as you say, we shall see. I fancy +that I know somebody who would be quite willing to have such a +diamond as this, and who, moreover, would be willing to pay a fair +price for its possession; I will take it to him and see what he +says." + +"Pugh, hand me back that diamond." + +"My dear Tress, I was only going--" + +Bob came in with the breakfast tray. + +"Pugh, you will either hand me that at once, or Bob shall summon +the representatives of law and order." + +He handed me the diamond. I sat down to breakfast with a hearty +appetite. Pugh stood and scowled at me. + +"Joseph Tress, it is my solemn conviction, and I have no hesitation +in saying so in plain English, that you're a thief." + +"My dear Pugh, it seems to me that we show every promise of +becoming a couple of thieves." + +"Don't bracket me with you!" + +"Not at all, you are worse than I. It is you who decline to return +the contents of the box to its proper owner. Put it to yourself, +you have SOME common sense, my dear old friend I--do you suppose +that a diamond worth more than a thousand pounds is to be HONESTLY +bought for ninepence?" + +He resumed his old trick of dancing about the room. + +"I was a fool ever to let you have the box! I ought to have known +better than to have trusted you; goodness knows you have given me +sufficient cause to mistrust you! Over and over again! Your +character is only too notorious! You have plundered friend and foe +alike--friend and foe alike! As for the rubbish which you call +your collection, nine tenths of it, I know as a positive fact, you +have stolen out and out." + +"Who stole my Sir Walter Raleigh pipe? Wasn't it a man named +Pugh?" + +"Look here, Joseph Tress!" + +"I'm looking." + +"Oh, it's no good talking to you, not the least! You're--you're +dead to all the promptings of conscience! May I inquire, Mr. +Tress, what it is you propose to do?" + +"I PROPOSE to do nothing, except summon the representatives of law +and order. Failing that, my dear Pugh, I had some faint, vague, +very vague idea of taking the contents of your ninepenny puzzle to +a certain firm in Hatton Garden, who are dealers in precious +stones, and to learn from them if they are disposed to give +anything for it, and if so, what." + +"I shall come with you." + +"With pleasure, on condition that you pay the cab." + +"I pay the cab! I will pay half." + +"Not at all. You will either pay the whole fare, or else I will +have one cab and you shall have another. It is a three-shilling +cab fare from here to Hatton Garden. If you propose to share my +cab, you will be so good as to hand over that three shillings +before we start." + +He gasped, but he handed over the three shillings. There are few +things I enjoy so much as getting money out of Pugh! + +On the road to Hatton Garden we wrangled nearly all the way. I own +that I feel a certain satisfaction in irritating Pugh, he is such +an irritable man. He wanted to know what I thought we should get +for the diamond. + +"You can't expect to get much for the contents of a ninepenny +puzzle, not even the price of a cab fare, Pugh." + +He eyed me, but for some minutes he was silent. Then he began +again. + +"Tress, I don't think we ought to let it go for less than--than +five thousand pounds." + +"Seriously, Pugh, I doubt whether, when the whole affair is ended, +we shall get five thousand pence for it, or, for the matter of +that, five thousand farthings." + +"But why not? Why not? It's a magnificent stone--magnificent! +I'll stake my life on it." + +I tapped my breast with the tips of my fingers. + +"There's a warning voice within my breast that ought to be in +yours, Pugh! Something tells me, perhaps it is the unusually +strong vein of common sense which I possess, that the contents of +your ninepenny puzzle will be found to be a magnificent do--an +ingenious practical joke, my friend." + +"I don't believe it." + +But I think he did; at any rate, I had unsettled the foundations of +his faith. + +We entered the Hatton Garden office side by side; in his anxiety +not to let me get before him, Pugh actually clung to my arm. The +office was divided into two parts by a counter which ran from wall +to wall. I advanced to a man who stood on the other side of this +counter. + +"I want to sell you a diamond." + +"WE want to sell you a diamond," interpolated Pugh. + +I turned to Pugh. I "fixed" him with my glance. + +"I want to sell you a diamond. Here it is. What will you give me +for it?" + +Taking the crystal from my waistcoat pocket I handed it to the man +on the other side of the counter. Directly he got it between his +fingers, and saw that it was that he had got, I noticed a sudden +gleam come into his eyes. + +"This is--this is rather a fine stone." + +Pugh nudged my arm. + +"I told you so." I paid no attention to Pugh. "What will you give +me for it?" + +"Do you mean, what will I give you for it cash down upon the nail?" + +"Just so--what will you give me for it cash down upon the nail?" + +The man turned the crystal over and over in his fingers. "Well, +that's rather a large order. We don't often get a chance of buying +such a stone as this across the counter. What do you say to--well-- +to ten thousand pounds?" + +Ten thousand pounds! It was beyond my wildest imaginings. Pugh +gasped. He lurched against the counter. + +"Ten thousand pounds!" he echoed. + +The man on the other side glanced at him, I thought, a little +curiously. + +"If you can give me references, or satisfy me in any way as to your +bona fides, I am prepared to give you for this diamond an open +check for ten thousand pounds, or if you prefer it, the cash +instead." + +I stared; I was not accustomed to see business transacted on quite +such lines as those. + +"We'll take it," murmured Pugh; I believe he was too much overcome +by his feelings to do more than murmur. I interposed. + +"My dear sir, you will excuse my saying that you arrive very +rapidly at your conclusions. In the first place, how can you make +sure that it is a diamond?" + +The man behind the counter smiled. + +"I should be very ill-fitted for the position which I hold if I +could not tell a diamond directly I get a sight of it, especially +such a stone as this." + +"But have you no tests you can apply?" + +"We have tests which we apply in cases in which doubt exists, but +in this case there is no doubt whatever. I am as sure that this is +a diamond as I am sure that it is air I breathe. However, here is +a test." + +There was a wheel close by the speaker. It was worked by a +treadle. It was more like a superior sort of traveling-tinker's +grindstone than anything else. The man behind the counter put his +foot upon the treadle. The wheel began to revolve. He brought the +crystal into contact with the swiftly revolving wheel. There was a +s--s--sh! And, in an instant, his hand was empty; the crystal had +vanished into air. + +"Good heavens!" he gasped. I never saw such a look of amazement on +a human countenance before. "It's splintered!" + + +POSTSCRIPT + + +It WAS a diamond, although it HAD splintered. In that fact lay the +point of the joke. The man behind the counter had not been wrong; +examination of such dust as could be collected proved that fact +beyond a doubt. It was declared by experts that the diamond, at +some period of its history, had been subjected to intense and +continuing heat. The result had been to make it as brittle as +glass. + +There could be no doubt that its original owner had been an expert +too. He knew where he got it from, and he probably knew what it +had endured. He was aware that, from a mercantile point of view, +it was worthless; it could never have been cut. So, having a turn +for humor of a peculiar kind, he had devoted days, and weeks, and +possibly months, to the construction of that puzzle. He had placed +the diamond inside, and he had enjoyed, in anticipation and in +imagination, the Alnaschar visions of the lucky finder. + +Pugh blamed me for the catastrophe. He said, and still says, that +if I had not, in a measure, and quite gratuitously, insisted on a +test, the man behind the counter would have been satisfied with the +evidence of his organs of vision, and we should have been richer by +ten thousand pounds. But I satisfy my conscience with the +reflection that what I did at any rate was honest, though, at the +same time, I am perfectly well aware that such a reflection gives +Pugh no sort of satisfaction. + + + +The Great Valdez Sapphire + + +I know more about it than anyone else in the world, its present +owner not excepted. I can give its whole history, from the +Cingalese who found it, the Spanish adventurer who stole it, the +cardinal who bought it, the Pope who graciously accepted it, the +favored son of the Church who received it, the gay and giddy +duchess who pawned it, down to the eminent prelate who now holds it +in trust as a family heirloom. + +It will occupy a chapter to itself in my forthcoming work on +"Historic Stones," where full details of its weight, size, color, +and value may be found. At present I am going to relate an +incident in its history which, for obvious reasons, will not be +published--which, in fact, I trust the reader will consider related +in strict confidence. + +I had never seen the stone itself when I began to write about it, +and it was not till one evening last spring, while staying with my +nephew, Sir Thomas Acton, that I came within measurable distance of +it. A dinner party was impending, and, at my instigation, the +Bishop of Northchurch and Miss Panton, his daughter and heiress, +were among the invited guests. + +The dinner was a particularly good one, I remember that distinctly. +In fact, I felt myself partly responsible for it, having engaged +the new cook--a talented young Italian, pupil of the admirable old +chef at my club. We had gone over the menu carefully together, +with a result refreshing in its novelty, but not so daring as to +disturb the minds of the innocent country guests who were bidden +thereto. + +The first spoonful of soup was reassuring, and I looked to the end +of the table to exchange a congratulatory glance with Leta. What +was amiss? No response. Her pretty face was flushed, her smile +constrained, she was talking with quite unnecessary empressement to +her neighbor, Sir Harry Landor, though Leta is one of those few +women who understand the importance of letting a man settle down +tranquilly and with an undisturbed mind to the business of dining, +allowing no topic of serious interest to come on before the +releves, and reserving mere conversational brilliancy for the +entremets. + +Guests all right? No disappointments? I had gone through the list +with her, selecting just the right people to be asked to meet the +Landors, our new neighbors. Not a mere cumbrous county gathering, +nor yet a showy imported party from town, but a skillful blending +of both. Had anything happened already? I had been late for +dinner and missed the arrivals in the drawing-room. It was Leta's +fault. She has got into a way of coming into my room and putting +the last touches to my toilet. I let her, for I am doubtful of +myself nowadays after many years' dependence on the best of valets. +Her taste is generally beyond dispute, but to-day she had indulged +in a feminine vagary that provoked me and made me late for dinner. + +"Are you going to wear your sapphire, Uncle Paul!" she cried in a +tone of dismay. "Oh, why not the ruby?" + +"You WOULD have your way about the table decorations," I gently +reminded her. "with that service of Crown Derby repousse and +orchids, the ruby would look absolutely barbaric. Now if you would +have had the Limoges set, white candles, and a yellow silk center--" + +"Oh, but--I'm SO disappointed--I wanted the bishop to see your +ruby--or one of your engraved gems--" + +"My dear, it is on the bishop's account I put this on. You know +his daughter is heiress of the great Valdez sapphire--" + +"Of course she is, and when he has the charge of a stone three +times as big as yours, what's the use of wearing it? The ruby, +dear Uncle Paul, PLEASE!" + +She was desperately in earnest I could see, and considering the +obligations which I am supposed to be under to her and Tom, it was +but a little matter to yield, but it involved a good deal of extra +trouble. Studs, sleeve-links, watch-guard, all carefully selected +to go with the sapphire, had to be changed, the emerald which I +chose as a compromise requiring more florid accompaniments of a +deeper tone of gold; and the dinner hour struck as I replaced my +jewel case, the one relic left me of a once handsome fortune, in my +fireproof safe. + +The emerald looked very well that evening, however. I kept my eyes +upon it for comfort when Miss Panton proved trying. + +She was a lean, yellow, dictatorial young person with no +conversation. I spoke of her father's celebrated sapphires. "MY +sapphires," she amended sourly; "though I am legally debarred from +making any profitable use of them." She furthermore informed me +that she viewed them as useless gauds, which ought to be disposed +of for the benefit of the heathen. I gave the subject up, and +while she discoursed of the work of the Blue Ribbon Army among the +Bosjesmans I tried to understand a certain dislocation in the +arrangement of the table. Surely we were more or less in number +than we should be? Opposite side all right. Who was extra on +ours? I leaned forward. Lady Landor on one side of Tom, on the +other who? I caught glimpses of plumes pink and green nodding over +a dinner plate, and beneath them a pink nose in a green visage with +a nutcracker chin altogether unknown to me. A sharp gray eye shot +a sideway glance down the table and caught me peeping, and I +retreated, having only marked in addition two clawlike hands, with +pointed ruffles and a mass of brilliant rings, making good play +with a knife and fork. Who was she? At intervals a high acid +voice could be heard addressing Tom, and a laugh that made me +shudder; it had the quality of the scream of a bird of prey or the +yell of a jackal. I had heard that sort of laugh before, and it +always made me feel like a defenseless rabbit. + +Every time it sounded I saw Leta's fan flutter more furiously and +her manner grow more nervously animated. Poor dear girl! I never +in all my recollection wished a dinner at an end so earnestly so as +to assure her of my support and sympathy, though without the +faintest conception why either should be required. + +The ices at last. A menu card folded in two was laid beside me. I +read it unobserved. "Keep the B. from joining us in the drawing- +room." The B.? The bishop, of course. With pleasure. But why? +And how? THAT'S the question, never mind "why." Could I lure him +into the library--the billiard room--the conservatory? I doubted +it, and I doubted still more what I should do with him when I got +him there. + +The bishop is a grand and stately ecclesiastic of the mediaeval +type, broad-chested, deep-voiced, martial of bearing. I could +picture him charging mace in hand at the head of his vassals, or +delivering over a dissenter of the period to the rack and +thumbscrew, but not pottering among rare editions, tall copies and +Grolier bindings, nor condescending to a quiet cigar among the tree +ferns and orchids. Leta must and should be obeyed, I swore, +nevertheless, even if I were driven to lock the door in the +fearless old fashion of a bygone day, and declare I'd shoot any man +who left while a drop remained in the bottles. + +The ladies were rising. The lady at the head of the line smirked +and nodded her pink plumes coquettishly at Tom, while her hawk's +eyes roved keen and predatory over us all. She stopped suddenly, +creating a block and confusion. + +"Ah, the dear bishop! YOU there, and I never saw you! You must +come and have a nice long chat presently. By-by--!" She shook her +fan at him over my shoulder and tripped off. Leta, passing me +last, gave me a look of profound despair. + +"Lady Carwitchet!" somebody exclaimed. "I couldn't believe my +eyes." + +"Thought she was dead or in penal servitude. Never should have +expected to see her HERE," said some one else behind me +confidentially. + +"What Carwitchet? Not the mother of the Carwitchet who--" + +"Just so. The Carwitchet who---" Tom assented with a shrug. "We +needn't go farther, as she's my guest. Just my luck. I met them +at Buxton, thought them uncommonly good company--in fact, +Carwitchet laid me under a great obligation about a horse I was +nearly let in for buying--and gave them a general invitation here, +as one does, you know. Never expected her to turn up with her +luggage this afternoon just before dinner, to stay a week, or a +fortnight if Carwitchet can join her." A groan of sympathy ran +round the table. "It can't be helped. I've told you this just to +show that I shouldn't have asked you here to meet this sort of +people of my own free will; but, as it is, please say no more about +them." The subject was not dropped by any means, and I took care +that it should not be. At our end of the table one story after +another went buzzing round--sotto voce, out of deference to Tom-- +but perfectly audible. + +"Carwitchet? Ah, yes. Mixed up in that Rawlings divorce case, +wasn't he? A bad lot. Turned out of the Dragoon Guards for +cheating at cards, or picking pockets, or something--remember the +row at the Cerulean Club? Scandalous exposure--and that forged +letter business--oh, that was the mother--prosecution hushed up +somehow. Ought to be serving her fourteen years--and that business +of poor Farrars, the banker--got hold of some of his secrets and +blackmailed him till he blew his brains out--" + +It was so exciting that I clean forgot the bishop, till a low gasp +at my elbow startled me. He was lying back in his chair, his +mighty shaven jowl a ghastly white, his fierce imperious eyebrows +drooping limp over his fishlike eyes, his splendid figure shrunk +and contracted. He was trying with a shaken hand to pour out wine. +The decanter clattered against the glass and the wine spilled on +the cloth. + +"I'm afraid you find the room too warm. Shall we go into the +library?" + +He rose hastily and followed me like a lamb. + +He recovered himself once we got into the hall, and affably +rejected all my proffers of brandy and soda--medical advice-- +everything else my limited experience could suggest. He only +demanded his carriage "directly" and that Miss Panton should be +summoned forthwith. + +I made the best use I could of the time left me. + +"I'm uncommonly sorry you do not feel equal to staying a little +longer, my lord. I counted on showing you my few trifles of +precious stones, the salvage from the wreck of my possessions. +Nothing in comparison with your own collection." + +The bishop clasped his hand over his heart. His breath came short +and quick. + +"A return of that dizziness," he explained with a faint smile. +"You are thinking of the Valdez sapphire, are you not? Some day," +he went on with forced composure, "I may have the pleasure of +showing it to you. It is at my banker's just now." + +Miss Panton's steps were heard in the ball. "You are well known as +a connoisseur, Mr. Acton," he went on hurriedly. "Is your +collection valuable? If so, keep it safe; don't trust a ring off +your hand, or the key of your jewel case out of your pocket till +the house is clear again." The words rushed from his lips in an +impetuous whisper, he gave me a meaning glance, and departed with +his daughter. I went back to the drawing-room, my head swimming +with bewilderment. + +"What! The dear bishop gone!" screamed Lady Carwitchet from the +central ottoman where she sat, surrounded by most of the gentlemen, +all apparently well entertained by her conversation. "And I wanted +to talk over old times with him so badly. His poor wife was my +greatest friend. Mira Montanaro, daughter of the great banker, you +know. It's not possible that that miserable little prig is my poor +Mira's girl. The heiress of all the Montanaros in a black lace +gown worth twopence! When I think of her mother's beauty and her +toilets! Does she ever wear the sapphires? Has anyone ever seen +her in them? Eleven large stones in a lovely antique setting, and +the great Valdez sapphire--worth thousands and thousands--for the +pendant." No one replied. "I wanted to get a rise out of the +bishop to-night. It used to make him so mad when I wore this." + +She fumbled among the laces at her throat, and clawed out a pendant +that hung to a velvet band around her neck. I fairly gasped when +she removed her hand. A sapphire of irregular shape flashed out +its blue lightning on us. Such a stone! A true, rich, cornflower +blue even by that wretched artificial light, with soft velvety +depths of color and dazzling clearness of tint in its lights and +shades--a stone to remember! I stretched out my hand +involuntarily, but Lady Carwitchet drew back with a coquettish +squeal. "No! no! You mustn't look any closer. Tell me what you +think of it now. Isn't it pretty?" + +"Superb!" was all I could ejaculate, staring at the azure splendor +of that miraculous jewel in a sort of trance. + +She gave a shrill cackling laugh of mockery. + +"The great Mr. Acton taken in by a bit of Palais Royal gimcrackery! +What an advertisement for Bogaerts et Cie! They are perfect +artists in frauds. Don't you remember their stand at the first +Paris Exhibition? They had imitations there of every celebrated +stone; but I never expected anything made by man could delude Mr. +Acton, never!" And she went off into another mocking cackle, and +all the idiots round her haw-hawed knowingly, as if they had seen +the joke all along. I was too bewildered to reply, which was on +the whole lucky. "I suppose I mustn't tell why I came to give +quite a big sum in francs for this?" she went on, tapping her +closed lips with her closed fan, and cocking her eye at us all like +a parrot wanting to be coaxed to talk. "It's a queer story." + +I didn't want to hear her anecdote, especially as I saw she wanted +to tell it. What I DID want was to see that pendant again. She +had thrust it back among her laces, only the loop which held it to +the velvet being visible. It was set with three small sapphires, +and even from a distance I clearly made them out to be imitations, +and poor ones. I felt a queer thrill of self-mistrust. Was the +large stone no better? Could I, even for an instant, have been +dazzled by a sham, and a sham of that quality? The events of the +evening had flurried and confused me. I wished to think them over +in quiet. I would go to bed. + +My rooms at the Manor are the best in the house. Leta will have it +so. I must explain their position for a reason to be understood +later. My bedroom is in the southeast angle of the house; it opens +on one side into a sitting-room in the east corridor, the rest of +which is taken up by the suite of rooms occupied by Tom and Leta; +and on the other side into my bathroom, the first room in the south +corridor, where the principal guest chambers are, to one of which +it was originally the dressing-room. Passing this room I noticed a +couple of housemaids preparing it for the night, and discovered +with a shiver that Lady Carwitchet was to be my next-door neighbor. +It gave me a turn. + +The bishop's strange warning must have unnerved me. I was +perfectly safe from her ladyship. The disused door into her room +was locked, and the key safe on the housekeeper's bunch. It was +also undiscoverable on her side, the recess in which it stood being +completely filled by a large wardrobe. On my side hung a thick +sound-proof portiere. Nevertheless, I resolved not to use that +room while she inhabited the next one. I removed my possessions, +fastened the door of communication with my bedroom, and dragged a +heavy ottoman across it. + +Then I stowed away my emerald in my strong-box. It is built into +the wall of my sitting-room, and masked by the lower part of an old +carved oak bureau. I put away even the rings I wore habitually, +keeping out only an inferior cat's-eye for workaday wear. I had +just made all safe when Leta tapped at the door and came in to wish +me good night. She looked flushed and harassed and ready to cry. +"Uncle Paul," she began, "I want you to go up to town at once, and +stay away till I send for you." + +"My dear--!" I was too amazed to expostulate. + +"We've got a--a pestilence among us," she declared, her foot +tapping the ground angrily, "and the least we can do is to go into +quarantine. Oh, I'm so sorry and so ashamed! The poor bishop! +I'll take good care that no one else shall meet that woman here. +You did your best for me, Uncle Paul, and managed admirably, but it +was all no use. I hoped against hope that what between the dusk of +the drawing-room before dinner, and being put at opposite ends of +the table, we might get through without a meeting--" + +"But, my dear, explain. Why shouldn't the bishop and Lady +Carwitchet meet? Why is it worse for him than anyone else?" + +"Why? I thought everybody had heard of that dreadful wife of his +who nearly broke his heart. If he married her for her money it +served him right, but Lady Landor says she was very handsome and +really in love with him at first. Then Lady Carwitchet got hold of +her and led her into all sorts of mischief. She left her husband-- +he was only a rector with a country living in those days--and went +to live in town, got into a horrid fast set, and made herself +notorious. You MUST have heard of her." + +"I heard of her sapphires, my dear. But I was in Brazil at the +time." + +"I wish you had been at home. You might have found her out. She +was furious because her husband refused to let her wear the great +Valdez sapphire. It had been in the Montanaro family for some +generations, and her father settled it first on her and then on her +little girl--the bishop being trustee. He felt obliged to take +away the little girl, and send her off to be brought up by some old +aunts in the country, and he locked up the sapphire. Lady +Carwitchet tells as a splendid joke how they got the copy made in +Paris, and it did just as well for the people to stare at. No +wonder the bishop hates the very name of the stone." + +"How long will she stay here?" I asked dismally. + +"Till Lord Carwitchet can come and escort her to Paris to visit +some American friends. Goodness knows when that will be! Do go up +to town, Uncle Paul!" + +I refused indignantly. The very least I could do was to stand by +my poor young relatives in their troubles and help them through. I +did so. I wore that inferior cat's eye for six weeks! + +It is a time I cannot think of even now without a shudder. The +more I saw of that terrible old woman the more I detested her, and +we saw a very great deal of her. Leta kept her word, and neither +accepted nor gave invitations all that time. We were cut off from +all society but that of old General Fairford, who would go anywhere +and meet anyone to get a rubber after dinner; the doctor, a +sporting widower; and the Duberlys, a giddy, rather rackety young +couple who had taken the Dower House for a year. Lady Carwitchet +seemed perfectly content. She reveled in the soft living and good +fare of the Manor House, the drives in Leta's big barouche, and +Domenico's dinners, as one to whom short commons were not unknown. +She had a hungry way of grabbing and grasping at everything she +could--the shillings she won at whist, the best fruit at dessert, +the postage stamps in the library inkstand--that was infinitely +suggestive. Sometimes I could have pitied her, she was so greedy, +so spiteful, so friendless. She always made me think of some +wicked old pirate putting into a peaceful port to provision and +repair his battered old hulk, obliged to live on friendly terms +with the natives, but his piratical old nostrils asniff for plunder +and his piratical old soul longing to be off marauding once more. +When would that be? Not till the arrival in Paris of her +distinguished American friends, of whom we heard a great deal. +"Charming people, the Bokums of Chicago, the American branch of the +English Beauchamps, you know!" They seemed to be taking an +unconscionable time to get there. She would have insisted on being +driven over to Northchurch to call at the palace, but that the +bishop was understood to be holding confirmations at the other end +of the diocese. + +I was alone in the house one afternoon sitting by my window, toying +with the key of my safe, and wondering whether I dare treat myself +to a peep at my treasures, when a suspicious movement in the park +below caught my attention. A black figure certainly dodged from +behind one tree to the next, and then into the shadow of the park +paling instead of keeping to the footpath. It looked queer. I +caught up my field glass and marked him at one point where he was +bound to come into the open for a few steps. He crossed the strip +of turf with giant strides and got into cover again, but not quick +enough to prevent me recognizing him. It was--great heavens!--the +bishop! In a soft hat pulled over his forehead, with a long cloak +and a big stick, he looked like a poacher. + +Guided by some mysterious instinct I hurried to meet him. I opened +the conservatory door, and in he rushed like a hunted rabbit. +Without explanation I led him up the wide staircase to my room, +where he dropped into a chair and wiped his face. + +"You are astonished, Mr. Acton," he panted. "I will explain +directly. Thanks." He tossed off the glass of brandy I had poured +out without waiting for the qualifying soda, and looked better. + +"I am in serious trouble. You can help me. I've had a shock to- +day--a grievous shock." He stopped and tried to pull himself +together. "I must trust you implicitly, Mr. Acton, I have no +choice. Tell me what you think of this." He drew a case from his +breast pocket and opened it. "I promised you should see the Valdez +sapphire. Look there!" + +The Valdez sapphire! A great big shining lump of blue crystal-- +flawless and of perfect color--that was all. I took it up, +breathed on it, drew out my magnifier, looked at it in one light +and another. What was wrong with it? I could not say. Nine +experts out of ten would undoubtedly have pronounced the stone +genuine. I, by virtue of some mysterious instinct that has +hitherto always guided me aright, was the unlucky tenth. I looked +at the bishop. His eyes met mine. There was no need of spoken +word between us. + +"Has Lady Carwitchet shown you her sapphire?" was his most +unexpected question. "She has? Now, Mr. Acton, on your honor as a +connoisseur and a gentleman, which of the two is the Valdez?" + +"Not this one." I could say naught else. + +"You were my last hope." He broke off, and dropped his face on his +folded arms with a groan that shook the table on which he rested, +while I stood dismayed at myself for having let so hasty a judgment +escape me. He lifted a ghastly countenance to me. "She vowed she +would see me ruined and disgraced. I made her my enemy by crossing +some of her schemes once, and she never forgives. She will keep +her word. I shall appear before the world as a fraudulent trustee. +I can neither produce the valuable confided to my charge nor make +the loss good. I have only an incredible story to tell," be +dropped his head and groaned again. "Who will believe me?" + +"I will, for one." + +"Ah, you? Yes, you know her. She took my wife from me, Mr. Acton. +Heaven only knows what the hold was that she had over poor Mira. +She encouraged her to set me at defiance and eventually to leave +me. She was answerable for all the scandalous folly and +extravagance of poor Mira's life in Paris--spare me the telling of +the story. She left her at last to die alone and uncared for. I +reached my wife to find her dying of a fever from which Lady +Carwitchet and her crew had fled. She was raving in delirium, and +died without recognizing me. Some trouble she had been in which I +must never know oppressed her. At the very last she roused from a +long stupor and spoke to the nurse. 'Tell him to get the sapphire +back--she stole it. She has robbed my child.' Those were her last +words. The nurse understood no English, and treated them as +wandering; but I heard them, and knew she was sane when she spoke." + +"What did you do?" + +"What could I? I saw Lady Carwitchet, who laughed at me, and +defied me to make her confess or disgorge. I took the pendant to +more than one eminent jeweler on pretense of having the setting +seen to, and all have examined and admired without giving a hint of +there being anything wrong. I allowed a celebrated mineralogist to +see it; he gave no sign--" + +"Perhaps they are right and we are wrong." + +"No, no. Listen. I heard of an old Dutchman celebrated for his +imitations. I went to him, and he told me at once that he had been +allowed by Montanaro to copy the Valdez--setting and all--for the +Paris Exhibition. I showed him this, and he claimed it for his own +work at once, and pointed out his private mark upon it. You must +take your magnifier to find it; a Greek Beta. He also told me that +he had sold it to Lady Carwitchet more than a year ago. + +"It is a terrible position." + +"It is. My co-trustee died lately. I have never dared to have +another appointed. I am bound to hand over the sapphire to my +daughter on her marriage, if her husband consents to take the name +of Montanaro." + +The bishop's face was ghastly pale, and the moisture started on his +brow. I racked my brain for some word of comfort. + +"Miss Panton may never marry." + +"But she will!" he shouted. "That is the blow that has been dealt +me to-day. My chaplain--actually, my chaplain--tells me that he is +going out as a temperance missionary to equatorial Africa, and has +the assurance to add that he believes my daughter is not indisposed +to accompany him!" His consummating wrath acted as a momentary +stimulant. He sat upright, his eyes flashing and his brow +thunderous. I felt for that chaplain. Then he collapsed +miserably. "The sapphires will have to be produced, identified, +revalued. How shall I come out of it? Think of the disgrace, the +ripping up of old scandals! Even if I were to compound with Lady +Carwitchet, the sum she hinted at was too monstrous. She wants +more than my money. Help me, Mr. Acton! For the sake of your own +family interests, help me!" + +"I beg your pardon--family interests? I don't understand." + +"If my daughter is childless, her next of kin is poor Marmaduke +Panton, who is dying at Cannes, not married, or likely to marry; +and failing him, your nephew, Sir Thomas Acton, succeeds." + +My nephew Tom! Leta, or Leta's baby, might come to be the possible +inheritor of the great Valdez sapphire! The blood rushed to my +head as I looked at the great shining swindle before me. "What +diabolic jugglery was at work when the exchange was made?" I +demanded fiercely. + +"It must have been on the last occasion of her wearing the +sapphires in London. I ought never to have let her out of my +sight" + +"You must put a stop to Miss Panton's marriage in the first place," +I pronounced as autocratically as he could have done himself. + +"Not to be thought of," he admitted helplessly. "Mira has my force +of character. She knows her rights, and she will have her jewels. +I want you to take charge of the--thing for me. If it's in the +house she'll make me produce it. She'll inquire at the banker's. +If YOU have it we can gain time, if but for a day or two." He +broke off. Carriage wheels were crashing on the gravel outside. +We looked at one another in consternation. Flight was imperative. +I hurried him downstairs and out of the conservatory just as the +door bell rang. I think we both lost our heads in the confusion. +He shoved the case into my hands, and I pocketed it, without a +thought of the awful responsibility I was incurring, and saw him +disappear into the shelter of the friendly night. + +When I think of what my feelings were that evening--of my murderous +hatred of that smirking, jesting Jezebel who sat opposite me at +dinner, my wrathful indignation at the thought of the poor little +expected heir defrauded ere his birth; of the crushing contempt I +felt for myself and the bishop as a pair of witless idiots unable +to see our way out of the dilemma; all this boiling and surging +through my soul, I can only wonder--Domenico having given himself a +holiday, and the kitchen maid doing her worst and wickedest--that +gout or jaundice did not put an end to this story at once. + +"Uncle Paul!" Leta was looking her sweetest when she tripped into +my room next morning. "I've news for you. She," pointing a +delicate forefinger in the direction of the corridor, "is going! +Her Bokums have reached Paris at last, and sent for her to join +them at the Grand Hotel." + +I was thunderstruck. The longed-for deliverance had but come to +remove hopelessly and forever out of my reach Lady Carwitchet and +the great Valdez sapphire. + +"Why, aren't you overjoyed? I am. We are going to celebrate the +event by a dinner party. Tom's hospitable soul is vexed by the +lack of entertainment we had provided her. We must ask the +Brownleys some day or other, and they will be delighted to meet +anything in the way of a ladyship, or such smart folks as the +Duberly-Parkers. Then we may as well have the Blomfields, and air +that awful modern Sevres dessert service she gave us when we were +married." I had no objection to make, and she went on, rubbing her +soft cheek against my shoulder like the purring little cat she was: +"Now I want you to do something to please me--and Mrs. Blomfield. +She has set her heart on seeing your rubies, and though I know you +hate her about as much as you do that Sevres china--" + +"What! Wear my rubies with that! I won't. I'll tell you what I +will do, though. I've got some carbuncles as big as prize +gooseberries, a whole set. Then you have only to put those +Bohemian glass vases and candelabra on the table, and let your +gardener do his worst with his great forced, scentless, vulgar +blooms, and we shall all be in keeping." Leta pouted. An idea +struck me. "Or I'll do as you wish, on one condition. You get +Lady Carwitchet to wear her big sapphire, and don't tell her I wish +it." + +I lived through the next few days as one in some evil dream. The +sapphires, like twin specters, haunted me day and night. Was ever +man so tantalized? To hold the shadow and see the substance +dangled temptingly within reach. The bishop made no sign of +ridding me of my unwelcome charge, and the thought of what might +happen in a case of burglary--fire--earthquake--made me start and +tremble at all sorts of inopportune moments. + +I kept faith with Leta, and reluctantly produced my beautiful +rubies on the night of her dinner party. Emerging from my room I +came full upon Lady Carwitchet in the corridor. She was dressed +for dinner, and at her throat I caught the blue gleam of the great +sapphire. Leta had kept faith with me. I don't know what I +stammered in reply to her ladyship's remarks; my whole soul was +absorbed in the contemplation of the intoxicating loveliness of the +gem. THAT a Palais Royal deception! Incredible! My fingers +twitched, my breath came short and fierce with the lust of +possession. She must have seen the covetous glare in my eyes. A +look of gratified spiteful complacency overspread her features, as +she swept on ahead and descended the stairs before me. I followed +her to the drawing-room door. She stopped suddenly, and murmuring +something unintelligible hurried back again. + +Everybody was assembled there that I expected to see, with an +addition. Not a welcome one by the look on Tom's face. He stood +on the hearthrug conversing with a great hulking, high-shouldered +fellow, sallow-faced, with a heavy mustache and drooping eyelids, +from the corners of which flashed out a sudden suspicious look as I +approached, which lighted up into a greedy one as it rested on my +rubies, and seemed unaccountably familiar to me, till Lady +Carwitchet tripping past me exclaimed: + +"He has come at last! My naughty, naughty boy! Mr. Acton, this is +my son, Lord Carwitchet!" + +I broke off short in the midst of my polite acknowledgments to +stare blankly at her. The sapphire was gone! A great gilt cross, +with a Scotch pebble like an acid drop, was her sole decoration. + +"I had to put my pendant away," she explained confidentially; "the +clasp had got broken somehow." I didn't believe a word. + +Lord Carwitchet contributed little to the general entertainment at +dinner, but fell into confidential talk with Mrs. Duberly-Parker. +I caught a few unintelligible remarks across the table. They +referred, I subsequently discovered, to the lady's little book on +Northchurch races, and I recollected that the Spring Meeting was +on, and to-morrow "Cup Day." After dinner there was great talk +about getting up a party to go on General Fairford's drag. Lady +Carwitchet was in ecstasies and tried to coax me into joining. +Leta declined positively. Tom accepted sulkily. + +The look in Lord Carwitchet's eye returned to my mind as I locked +up my rubies that night. It made him look so like his mother! I +went round my fastenings with unusual care. Safe and closets and +desk and doors, I tried them all. Coming at last to the bathroom, +it opened at once. It was the housemaid's doing. She had +evidently taken advantage of my having abandoned the room to give +it "a thorough spring cleaning," and I anathematized her. The +furniture was all piled together and veiled with sheets, the carpet +and felt curtain were gone, there were new brooms about. As I +peered around, a voice close at my ear made me jump--Lady +Carwitchet's! + +"I tell you I have nothing, not a penny! I shall have to borrow my +train fare before I can leave this. They'll be glad enough to lend +it." + +Not only had the portiere been removed, but the door behind it had +been unlocked and left open for convenience of dusting behind the +wardrobe. I might as well have been in the bedroom. + +"Don't tell me," I recognized Carwitchet's growl. "You've not been +here all this time for nothing. You've been collecting for a +Kilburn cot or getting subscriptions for the distressed Irish +landlords. I know you. Now I'm not going to see myself ruined for +the want of a paltry hundred or so. I tell you the colt is a dead +certainty. If I could have got a thousand or two on him last week, +we might have ended our dog days millionaires. Hand over what you +can. You've money's worth, if not money. Where's that sapphire +you stole?" + +"I didn't. I can show you the receipted bill. All I possess is +honestly come by. What could you do with it, even if I gave it +you? You couldn't sell it as the Valdez, and you can't get it cut +up as you might if it were real." + +"If it's only bogus, why are you always in such a flutter about it? +I'll do something with it, never fear. Hand over." + +"I can't. I haven't got it. I had to raise something on it before +I left town." + +"Will you swear it's not in that wardrobe? I dare say you will. I +mean to see. Give me those keys." + +I heard a struggle and a jingle, then the wardrobe door must have +been flung open, for a streak of light struck through a crack in +the wood of the back. Creeping close and peeping through, I could +see an awful sight. Lady Carwitchet in a flannel wrapper, minus +hair, teeth, complexion, pointing a skinny forefinger that quivered +with rage at her son, who was out of the range of my vision. + +"Stop that, and throw those keys down here directly, or I'll rouse +the house. Sir Thomas is a magistrate, and will lock you up as +soon as look at you." She clutched at the bell rope as she spoke. +"I'll swear I'm in danger of my life from you and give you in +charge. Yes, and when you're in prison I'll keep you there till +you die. I've often thought I'd do it. How about the hotel +robberies last summer at Cowes, eh? Mightn't the police be +grateful for a hint or two? And how about--" + +The keys fell with a crash on the bed, accompanied by some bad +language in an apologetic tone, and the door slammed to. I crept +trembling to bed. + +This new and horrible complication of the situation filled me with +dismay. Lord Carwitchet's wolfish glance at my rubies took a new +meaning. They were safe enough, I believed--but the sapphire! If +he disbelieved his mother, how long would she be able to keep it +from his clutches? That she had some plot of her own of which the +bishop would eventually be the victim I did not doubt, or why had +she not made her bargain with him long ago? But supposing she took +fright, lost her head, allowed her son to wrest the jewel from her, +or gave consent to its being mutilated, divided! I lay in a cold +perspiration till morning. + +My terrors haunted me all day. They were with me at breakfast time +when Lady Carwitchet, tripping in smiling, made a last attempt to +induce me to accompany her and keep her "bad, bad boy" from getting +among "those horrid betting men." + +They haunted me through the long peaceful day with Leta and the +tete-a-tete dinner, but they swarmed around and beset me sorest +when, sitting alone over my sitting-room fire, I listened for the +return of the drag party. I read my newspaper and brewed myself +some hot strong drink, but there comes a time of night when no fire +can warm and no drink can cheer. The bishop's despairing face kept +me company, and his troubles and the wrongs of the future heir took +possession of me. Then the uncanny noises that make all old houses +ghostly during the small hours began to make themselves heard. +Muffled footsteps trod the corridor, stopping to listen at every +door, door latches gently clicked, boards creaked unreasonably, +sounds of stealthy movements came from the locked-up bathroom. The +welcome crash of wheels at last, and the sound of the front-door +bell. I could hear Lady Carwitchet making her shrill adieux to her +friends and her steps in the corridor. She was softly humming a +little song as she approached. I heard her unlock her bedroom door +before she entered--an odd thing to do. Tom came sleepily +stumbling to his room later. I put my head out. "Where is Lord +Carwitchet?" + +"Haven't you seen him? He left us hours ago. Not come home, eh? +Well, he's welcome to stay away. I don't want to see more of him." +Tom's brow was dark and his voice surly. "I gave him to understand +as much." Whatever had happened, Tom was evidently too disgusted +to explain just then. + +I went back to my fire unaccountably relieved, and brewed myself +another and a stronger brew. It warmed me this time, but excited +me foolishly. There must be some way out of the difficulty. I +felt now as if I could almost see it if I gave my mind to it. Why-- +suppose--there might be no difficulty after all! The bishop was a +nervous old gentleman. He might have been mistaken all through, +Bogaerts might have been mistaken, I might--no. I could not have +been mistaken--or I thought not. I fidgeted and fumed and argued +with myself till I found I should have no peace of mind without a +look at the stone in my possession, and I actually went to the safe +and took the case out. + +The sapphire certainly looked different by lamplight. I sat and +stared, and all but over-persuaded my better judgment into giving +it a verdict. Bogaerts's mark--I suddenly remembered it. I took +my magnifier and held the pendant to the light. There, scratched +upon the stone, was the Greek Beta! There came a tap on my door, +and before I could answer, the handle turned softly and Lord +Carwitchet stood before me. I whipped the case into my dressing- +gown pocket and stared at him. He was not pleasant to look at, +especially at that time of night. He had a disheveled, desperate +air, his voice was hoarse, his red-rimmed eyes wild. + +"I beg your pardon," he began civilly enough. "I saw your light +burning, and thought, as we go by the early train to-morrow, you +might allow me to consult you now on a little business of my +mother's." His eyes roved about the room. Was he trying to find +the whereabouts of my safe? "You know a lot about precious stones, +don't you?" + +"So my friends are kind enough to say. Won't you sit down? I have +unluckily little chance of indulging the taste on my own account," +was my cautious reply. + +"But you've written a book about them, and know them when you see +them, don't you? Now my mother has given me something, and would +like you to give a guess at its value. Perhaps you can put me in +the way of disposing of it?" + +"I certainly can do so if it is worth anything. Is that it?" I +was in a fever of excitement, for I guessed what was clutched in +his palm. He held out to me the Valdez sapphire. + +How it shone and sparkled like a great blue star! I made myself a +deprecating smile as I took it from him, but how dare I call it +false to its face? As well accuse the sun in heaven of being a +cheap imitation. I faltered and prevaricated feebly. Where was my +moral courage, and where was the good, honest, thumping lie that +should have aided me? "I have the best authority for recognizing +this as a very good copy of a famous stone in the possession of the +Bishop of Northchurch." His scowl grew so black that I saw he +believed me, and I went on more cheerily: "This was manufactured by +Johannes Bogaerts--I can give you his address, and you can make +inquiries yourself--by special permission of the then owner, the +late Leone Montanaro." + +"Hand it back!" he interrupted (his other remarks were outrageous, +but satisfactory to hear); but I waved him off. I couldn't give it +up. It fascinated me. I toyed with it, I caressed it. I made it +display its different tones of color. I must see the two stones +together. I must see it outshine its paltry rival. It was a +whimsical frenzy that seized me--I can call it by no other name. + +"Would you like to see the original? Curiously enough, I have it +here. The bishop has left it in my charge." + +The wolfish light flamed up in Carwitchet's eyes as I drew forth +the case. He laid the Valdez down on a sheet of paper, and I +placed the other, still in its case, beside it. In that moment +they looked identical, except for the little loop of sham stones, +replaced by a plain gold band in the bishop's jewel. Carwitchet +leaned across the table eagerly, the table gave a lurch, the lamp +tottered, crashed over, and we were left in semidarkness. + +"Don't stir!" Carwitchet shouted. "The paraffin is all over the +place!" He seized my sofa blanket, and flung it over the table +while I stood helpless. "There, that's safe now. Have you candles +on the chimney-piece? I've got matches." + +He looked very white and excited as he lit up. "Might have been an +awkward job with all that burning paraffin running about," he said +quite pleasantly. "I hope no real harm is done." I was lifting +the rug with shaking hands. The two stones lay as I had placed +them. No! I nearly dropped it back again. It was the stone in +the case that had the loop with the three sham sapphires! + +Carwitchet picked the other up hastily. "So you say this is +rubbish?" he asked, his eyes sparkling wickedly, and an attempt at +mortification in his tone. + +"Utter rubbish!" I pronounced, with truth and decision, snapping up +the case and pocketing it. "Lady Carwitchet must have known it." + +"Ah, well, it's disappointing, isn't it? Good-by, we shall not +meet again." + +I shook hands with him most cordially. "Good-by, Lord Carwitchet. +SO glad to have met you and your mother. It has been a source of +the GREATEST pleasure, I assure you." + +I have never seen the Carwitchets since. The bishop drove over +next day in rather better spirits. Miss Panton had refused the +chaplain. + +"It doesn't matter, my lord," I said to him heartily. "We've all +been under some strange misconception. The stone in your +possession is the veritable one. I could swear to that anywhere. +The sapphire Lady Carwitchet wears is only an excellent imitation, +and--I have seen it with my own eyes--is the one bearing Bogaerts's +mark, the Greek Beta." + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Stories by Modern English Authors + diff --git a/old/sbmea10.zip b/old/sbmea10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..32cfd1f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/sbmea10.zip diff --git a/old/sbmea10h.htm b/old/sbmea10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e127a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/sbmea10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,23583 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>Stories by Modern English Authors</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +</head> + + +<body> + + +<pre> +Project Gutenberg's The Lock and Key Library, by Edited by Julian Hawthorne +#4 in our series by Edited by Julian Hawthorne + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Lock and Key Library + Classic Mystery and Detective Stories + +Author: Edited by Julian Hawthorne + +Release Date: January, 2000 [EBook #2038] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This htm conversion was first posted on March 21, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY *** + + + +This htm conversion was produced by Walter Debeuf from the +etext prepared by Donald Lainson + + + + +</pre> + + +<p> </p> + +<p>THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY</p> + +<p>CLASSIC MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE STORIES</p> + +<p>EDITED BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE</p> + +<p><br> + MODERN ENGLISH</p> + +<p>Table of Contents</p> + +<p><br> + RUDYARD KIPLING (1865-)</p> + +<p>My Own True Ghost Story</p> + +<p>The Sending of Dana Da</p> + +<p>In the House of Suddhoo</p> + +<p>His Wedded Wife</p> + +<p><br> + A. CONAN DOYLE (1859-)</p> + +<p>A Case of Identity</p> + +<p>A Scandal in Bohemia</p> + +<p>The Red-Headed League</p> + +<p><br> + EGERTON CASTLE (1858-)</p> + +<p>The Baron's Quarry</p> + +<p><br> + STANLEY J. WEYMAN (1855-)</p> + +<p>The Fowl in the Pot</p> + +<p><br> + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-94)</p> + +<p>The Pavilion on the Links</p> + +<p><br> + WILKIE COLLINS (1824-89)</p> + +<p>The Dream Woman</p> + +<p><br> + ANONYMOUS</p> + +<p>The Lost Duchess</p> + +<p>The Minor Canon</p> + +<p>The Pipe</p> + +<p>The Puzzle</p> + +<p>The Great Valdez Sapphire</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h1>Modern English Mystery Stories</h1> + +<h3><br> + Rudyard Kipling</h3> + +<h3> </h3> + +<h2>My Own True Ghost Story</h2> + +<p><br> + As I came through the Desert thus it was--<br> + As I came through the Desert.<br> + The City of Dreadful Night.</p> + +<p><br> + Somewhere in the Other World, where there are books and +pictures<br> + and plays and shop windows to look at, and thousands of men +who<br> + spend their lives in building up all four, lives a gentleman +who<br> + writes real stories about the real insides of people; and his +name<br> + is Mr. Walter Besant. But he will insist upon treating his +ghosts--<br> + he has published half a workshopful of them--with levity. He<br> + makes his ghost-seers talk familiarly, and, in some cases, +flirt<br> + outrageously, with the phantoms. You may treat anything, from +a<br> + Viceroy to a Vernacular Paper, with levity; but you must +behave<br> + reverently toward a ghost, and particularly an Indian one.</p> + +<p><br> + There are, in this land, ghosts who take the form of fat, +cold,<br> + pobby corpses, and hide in trees near the roadside till a +traveler<br> + passes. Then they drop upon his neck and remain. There are +also<br> + terrible ghosts of women who have died in child-bed. These +wander<br> + along the pathways at dusk, or hide in the crops near a +village,<br> + and call seductively. But to answer their call is death in +this<br> + world and the next. Their feet are turned backward that all +sober<br> + men may recognize them. There are ghosts of little children +who<br> + have been thrown into wells. These haunt well curbs and the<br> + fringes of jungles, and wail under the stars, or catch women by +the<br> + wrist and beg to be taken up and carried. These and the +corpse<br> + ghosts, however, are only vernacular articles and do not +attack<br> + Sahibs. No native ghost has yet been authentically reported +to<br> + have frightened an Englishman; but many English ghosts have +scared<br> + the life out of both white and black.</p> + +<p>Nearly every other Station owns a ghost. There are said to be +two<br> + at Simla, not counting the woman who blows the bellows at +Syree<br> + dak-bungalow on the Old Road; Mussoorie has a house haunted of +a<br> + very lively Thing; a White Lady is supposed to do +night-watchman<br> + round a house in Lahore; Dalhousie says that one of her +houses<br> + "repeats" on autumn evenings all the incidents of a horrible +horse-<br> + and-precipice accident; Murree has a merry ghost, and, now that +she<br> + has been swept by cholera, will have room for a sorrowful +one;<br> + there are Officers' Quarters in Mian Mir whose doors open +without<br> + reason, and whose furniture is guaranteed to creak, not with +the<br> + heat of June but with the weight of Invisibles who come to +lounge<br> + in the chairs; Peshawur possesses houses that none will +willingly<br> + rent; and there is something--not fever--wrong with a big +bungalow<br> + in Allahabad. The older Provinces simply bristle with +haunted<br> + houses, and march phantom armies along their main +thoroughfares.</p> + +<p>Some of the dak-bungalows on the Grand Trunk Road have handy +little<br> + cemeteries in their compound--witnesses to the "changes and +chances<br> + of this mortal life" in the days when men drove from Calcutta +to<br> + the Northwest. These bungalows are objectionable places to put +up<br> + in. They are generally very old, always dirty, while the +khansamah<br> + is as ancient as the bungalow. He either chatters senilely, +or<br> + falls into the long trances of age. In both moods he is +useless.<br> + If you get angry with him, he refers to some Sahib dead and +buried<br> + these thirty years, and says that when he was in that +Sahib's<br> + service not a khansamah in the Province could touch him. Then +he<br> + jabbers and mows and trembles and fidgets among the dishes, and +you<br> + repent of your irritation.</p> + +<p>In these dak-bungalows, ghosts are most likely to be found, +and<br> + when found, they should be made a note of. Not long ago it was +my<br> + business to live in dak-bungalows. I never inhabited the +same<br> + house for three nights running, and grew to be learned in +the<br> + breed. I lived in Government-built ones with red brick walls +and<br> + rail ceilings, an inventory of the furniture posted in every +room,<br> + and an excited snake at the threshold to give welcome. I lived +in<br> + "converted" ones--old houses officiating as +dak-bungalows--where<br> + nothing was in its proper place and there wasn't even a fowl +for<br> + dinner. I lived in second-hand palaces where the wind blew +through<br> + open-work marble tracery just as uncomfortably as through a +broken<br> + pane. I lived in dak-bungalows where the last entry in the<br> + visitors' book was fifteen months old, and where they slashed +off<br> + the curry-kid's head with a sword. It was my good luck to meet +all<br> + sorts of men, from sober traveling missionaries and +deserters<br> + flying from British Regiments, to drunken loafers who threw +whisky<br> + bottles at all who passed; and my still greater good fortune +just<br> + to escape a maternity case. Seeing that a fair proportion of +the<br> + tragedy of our lives out here acted itself in dak-bungalows, +I<br> + wondered that I had met no ghosts. A ghost that would +voluntarily<br> + hang about a dak-bungalow would be mad of course; but so many +men<br> + have died mad in dak-bungalows that there must be a fair +percentage<br> + of lunatic ghosts.</p> + +<p>In due time I found my ghost, or ghosts rather, for there were +two<br> + of them. Up till that hour I had sympathized with Mr. +Besant's<br> + method of handling them, as shown in "The Strange Case of +Mr.<br> + Lucraft and Other Stories." I am now in the Opposition.</p> + +<p>We will call the bungalow Katmal dak-bungalow. But THAT was +the<br> + smallest part of the horror. A man with a sensitive hide has +no<br> + right to sleep in dak-bungalows. He should marry. Katmal +dak-<br> + bungalow was old and rotten and unrepaired. The floor was of +worn<br> + brick, the walls were filthy, and the windows were nearly +black<br> + with grime. It stood on a bypath largely used by native +Sub-Deputy<br> + Assistants of all kinds, from Finance to Forests; but real +Sahibs<br> + were rare. The khansamah, who was nearly bent double with old +age,<br> + said so.</p> + +<p>When I arrived, there was a fitful, undecided rain on the face +of<br> + the land, accompanied by a restless wind, and every gust made +a<br> + noise like the rattling of dry bones in the stiff toddy +palms<br> + outside. The khansamah completely lost his head on my arrival. +He<br> + had served a Sahib once. Did I know that Sahib? He gave me +the<br> + name of a well-known man who has been buried for more than a<br> + quarter of a century, and showed me an ancient daguerreotype +of<br> + that man in his prehistoric youth. I had seen a steel engraving +of<br> + him at the head of a double volume of Memoirs a month before, +and I<br> + felt ancient beyond telling.</p> + +<p>The day shut in and the khansamah went to get me food. He did +not<br> + go through the pretense of calling it "khana"--man's victuals. +He<br> + said "ratub," and that means, among other things, +"grub"--dog's<br> + rations. There was no insult in his choice of the term. He +had<br> + forgotten the other word, I suppose.</p> + +<p>While he was cutting up the dead bodies of animals, I +settled<br> + myself down, after exploring the dak-bungalow. There were +three<br> + rooms, beside my own, which was a corner kennel, each giving +into<br> + the other through dingy white doors fastened with long iron +bars.<br> + The bungalow was a very solid one, but the partition walls of +the<br> + rooms were almost jerry-built in their flimsiness. Every step +or<br> + bang of a trunk echoed from my room down the other three, and +every<br> + footfall came back tremulously from the far walls. For this +reason<br> + I shut the door. There were no lamps--only candles in long +glass<br> + shades. An oil wick was set in the bathroom.</p> + +<p>For bleak, unadulterated misery that dak-bungalow was the +worst of<br> + the many that I had ever set foot in. There was no fireplace, +and<br> + the windows would not open; so a brazier of charcoal would +have<br> + been useless. The rain and the wind splashed and gurgled and<br> + moaned round the house, and the toddy palms rattled and +roared.<br> + Half a dozen jackals went through the compound singing, and a +hyena<br> + stood afar off and mocked them. A hyena would convince a +Sadducee<br> + of the Resurrection of the Dead--the worst sort of Dead. Then +came<br> + the ratub--a curious meal, half native and half English in<br> + composition--with the old khansamah babbling behind my chair +about<br> + dead and gone English people, and the wind-blown candles +playing<br> + shadow-bo-peep with the bed and the mosquito-curtains. It was +just<br> + the sort of dinner and evening to make a man think of every +single<br> + one of his past sins, and of all the others that he intended +to<br> + commit if he lived.</p> + +<p>Sleep, for several hundred reasons, was not easy. The lamp in +the<br> + bath-room threw the most absurd shadows into the room, and the +wind<br> + was beginning to talk nonsense.</p> + +<p>Just when the reasons were drowsy with blood-sucking I heard +the<br> + regular--"Let--us--take--and--heave--him--over" grunt of +doolie-<br> + bearers in the compound. First one doolie came in, then a +second,<br> + and then a third. I heard the doolies dumped on the ground, +and<br> + the shutter in front of my door shook. "That's some one trying +to<br> + come in," I said. But no one spoke, and I persuaded myself that +it<br> + was the gusty wind. The shutter of the room next to mine was<br> + attacked, flung back, and the inner door opened. "That's some +Sub-<br> + Deputy Assistant," I said, "and he has brought his friends +with<br> + him. Now they'll talk and spit and smoke for an hour."</p> + +<p>But there were no voices and no footsteps. No one was putting +his<br> + luggage into the next room. The door shut, and I thanked<br> + Providence that I was to be left in peace. But I was curious +to<br> + know where the doolies had gone. I got out of bed and looked +into<br> + the darkness. There was never a sign of a doolie. Just as I +was<br> + getting into bed again, I heard, in the next room, the sound +that<br> + no man in his senses can possibly mistake--the whir of a +billiard<br> + ball down the length of the slates when the striker is +stringing<br> + for break. No other sound is like it. A minute afterwards +there<br> + was another whir, and I got into bed. I was not +frightened--indeed<br> + I was not. I was very curious to know what had become of the<br> + doolies. I jumped into bed for that reason.</p> + +<p><br> + Next minute I heard the double click of a cannon and my hair +sat<br> + up. It is a mistake to say that hair stands up. The skin of +the<br> + head tightens and you can feel a faint, prickly, bristling all +over<br> + the scalp. That is the hair sitting up.</p> + +<p>There was a whir and a click, and both sounds could only have +been<br> + made by one thing--a billiard ball. I argued the matter out +at<br> + great length with myself; and the more I argued the less +probable<br> + it seemed that one bed, one table, and two chairs--all the<br> + furniture of the room next to mine--could so exactly duplicate +the<br> + sounds of a game of billiards. After another cannon, a +three-<br> + cushion one to judge by the whir, I argued no more. I had found +my<br> + ghost and would have given worlds to have escaped from that +dak-<br> + bungalow. I listened, and with each listen the game grew +clearer.<br> + There was whir on whir and click on click. Sometimes there was +a<br> + double click and a whir and another click. Beyond any sort +of<br> + doubt, people were playing billiards in the next room. And +the<br> + next room was not big enough to hold a billiard table!</p> + +<p>Between the pauses of the wind I heard the game go +forward--stroke<br> + after stroke. I tried to believe that I could not hear voices; +but<br> + that attempt was a failure.</p> + +<p>Do you know what fear is? Not ordinary fear of insult, injury +or<br> + death, but abject, quivering dread of something that you +cannot<br> + see--fear that dries the inside of the mouth and half of the<br> + throat--fear that makes you sweat on the palms of the hands, +and<br> + gulp in order to keep the uvula at work? This is a fine +Fear--a<br> + great cowardice, and must be felt to be appreciated. The +very<br> + improbability of billiards in a dak-bungalow proved the reality +of<br> + the thing. No man--drunk or sober--could imagine a game at<br> + billiards, or invent the spitting crack of a "screw-cannon."</p> + +<p>A severe course of dak-bungalows has this disadvantage--it +breeds<br> + infinite credulity. If a man said to a confirmed +dak-bungalow-<br> + haunter:--"There is a corpse in the next room, and there's a +mad<br> + girl in the next but one, and the woman and man on that camel +have<br> + just eloped from a place sixty miles away," the hearer would +not<br> + disbelieve because he would know that nothing is too wild,<br> + grotesque, or horrible to happen in a dak-bungalow.</p> + +<p>This credulity, unfortunately, extends to ghosts. A +rational<br> + person fresh from his own house would have turned on his side +and<br> + slept. I did not. So surely as I was given up as a bad carcass +by<br> + the scores of things in the bed because the bulk of my blood was +in<br> + my heart, so surely did I hear every stroke of a long game +at<br> + billiards played in the echoing room behind the iron-barred +door.<br> + My dominant fear was that the players might want a marker. It +was<br> + an absurd fear; because creatures who could play in the dark +would<br> + be above such superfluities. I only know that that was my +terror;<br> + and it was real.</p> + +<p>After a long, long while the game stopped, and the door +banged. I<br> + slept because I was dead tired. Otherwise I should have +preferred<br> + to have kept awake. Not for everything in Asia would I have<br> + dropped the door-bar and peered into the dark of the next +room.</p> + +<p>When the morning came, I considered that I had done well +and<br> + wisely, and inquired for the means of departure.</p> + +<p>"By the way, khansamah," I said, "what were those three +doolies<br> + doing in my compound in the night?"</p> + +<p>"There were no doolies," said the khansamah.</p> + +<p>I went into the next room and the daylight streamed through +the<br> + open door. I was immensely brave. I would, at that hour, +have<br> + played Black Pool with the owner of the big Black Pool down +below.</p> + +<p>"Has this place always been a dak-bungalow?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said the khansamah. "Ten or twenty years ago, I have<br> + forgotten how long, it was a billiard room."</p> + +<p>"A how much?"</p> + +<p>"A billiard room for the Sahibs who built the Railway. I +was<br> + khansamah then in the big house where all the Railway-Sahibs +lived,<br> + and I used to come across with brandy-shrab. These three +rooms<br> + were all one, and they held a big table on which the Sahibs +played<br> + every evening. But the Sahibs are all dead now, and the +Railway<br> + runs, you say, nearly to Kabul."</p> + +<p>"Do you remember anything about the Sahibs?"</p> + +<p>"It is long ago, but I remember that one Sahib, a fat man +and<br> + always angry, was playing here one night, and he said to +me:--<br> + 'Mangal Khan, brandy-pani do,' and I filled the glass, and he +bent<br> + over the table to strike, and his head fell lower and lower till +it<br> + hit the table, and his spectacles came off, and when we--the +Sahibs<br> + and I myself--ran to lift him he was dead. I helped to carry +him<br> + out. Aha, he was a strong Sahib! But he is dead and I, old +Mangal<br> + Khan, am still living, by your favor."</p> + +<p>That was more than enough! I had my ghost--a firsthand,<br> + authenticated article. I would write to the Society for +Psychical<br> + Research--I would paralyze the Empire with the news! But I +would,<br> + first of all, put eighty miles of assessed crop land between +myself<br> + and that dak-bungalow before nightfall. The Society might +send<br> + their regular agent to investigate later on.</p> + +<p>I went into my own room and prepared to pack after noting down +the<br> + facts of the case. As I smoked I heard the game begin +again,--with<br> + a miss in balk this time, for the whir was a short one.</p> + +<p>The door was open and I could see into the room. +Click--c1ick!<br> + That was a cannon. I entered the room without fear, for there +was<br> + sunlight within and a fresh breeze without. The unseen game +was<br> + going on at a tremendous rate. And well it might, when a +restless<br> + little rat was running to and fro inside the dingy +ceiling-cloth,<br> + and a piece of loose window-sash was making fifty breaks off +the<br> + window-bolt as it shook in the breeze!</p> + +<p>Impossible to mistake the sound of billiard balls! Impossible +to<br> + mistake the whir of a ball over the slate! But I was to be<br> + excused. Even when I shut my enlightened eyes the sound was<br> + marvelously like that of a fast game.</p> + +<p>Entered angrily the faithful partner of my sorrows, Kadir +Baksh.</p> + +<p>"This bungalow is very bad and low-caste! No wonder the +Presence<br> + was disturbed and is speckled. Three sets of doolie-bearers +came<br> + to the bungalow late last night when I was sleeping outside, +and<br> + said that it was their custom to rest in the rooms set apart +for<br> + the English people! What honor has the khansamah? They tried +to<br> + enter, but I told them to go. No wonder, if these Oorias have +been<br> + here, that the Presence is sorely spotted. It is shame, and +the<br> + work of a dirty man!"</p> + +<p>Kadir Baksh did not say that he had taken from each gang two +annas<br> + for rent in advance, and then, beyond my earshot, had beaten +them<br> + with the big green umbrella whose use I could never before +divine.<br> + But Kadir Baksh has no notions of morality.</p> + +<p>There was an interview with the khansamah, but as he promptly +lost<br> + his head, wrath gave place to pity, and pity led to a long<br> + conversation, in the course of which he put the fat +Engineer-<br> + Sahib's tragic death in three separate stations--two of them +fifty<br> + miles away. The third shift was to Calcutta, and there the +Sahib<br> + died while driving a dogcart.</p> + +<p>If I had encouraged him the khansamah would have wandered +all<br> + through Bengal with his corpse.</p> + +<p>I did not go away as soon as I intended. I stayed for the +night,<br> + while the wind and the rat and the sash and the window-bolt +played<br> + a ding-dong "hundred and fifty up." Then the wind ran out and +the<br> + billiards stopped, and I felt that I had ruined my one +genuine,<br> + hall-marked ghost story.</p> + +<p>Had I only stopped at the proper time, I could have made +ANYTHING<br> + out of it.</p> + +<p>That was the bitterest thought of all!</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>THE SENDING OF DANA DA</h2> + +<p><br> + When the Devil rides on your chest, remember the chamar.<br> + --Native Proverb.</p> + +<p><br> + Once upon a time some people in India made a new heaven and a +new<br> + earth out of broken teacups, a missing brooch or two, and a +hair<br> + brush. These were hidden under bushes, or stuffed into holes +in<br> + the hillside, and an entire civil service of subordinate gods +used<br> + to find or mend them again; and everyone said: "There are +more<br> + things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our +philosophy."<br> + Several other things happened also, but the religion never +seemed<br> + to get much beyond its first manifestations; though it added +an<br> + air-line postal dak, and orchestral effects in order to keep<br> + abreast of the times, and stall off competition.</p> + +<p><br> + This religion was too elastic for ordinary use. It stretched<br> + itself and embraced pieces of everything that medicine men of +all<br> + ages have manufactured. It approved and stole from +Freemasonry;<br> + looted the Latter-day Rosicrucians of half their pet words; +took<br> + any fragments of Egyptian philosophy that it found in the<br> + Encyclopaedia Britannica; annexed as many of the Vedas as had +been<br> + translated into French or English, and talked of all the +rest;<br> + built in the German versions of what is left of the Zend +Avesta;<br> + encouraged white, gray, and black magic, including +Spiritualism,<br> + palmistry, fortune-telling by cards, hot chestnuts, +double-kerneled<br> + nuts and tallow droppings; would have adopted Voodoo and Oboe +had<br> + it known anything about them, and showed itself, in every way, +one<br> + of the most accommodating arrangements that had ever been +invented<br> + since the birth of the sea.</p> + +<p>When it was in thorough working order, with all the machinery +down<br> + to the subscriptions complete, Dana Da came from nowhere, +with<br> + nothing in his hands, and wrote a chapter in its history which +has<br> + hitherto been unpublished. He said that his first name was +Dana,<br> + and his second was Da. Now, setting aside Dana of the New +York<br> + Sun, Dana is a Bhil name, and Da fits no native of India unless +you<br> + accept the Bengali De as the original spelling. Da is Lap or<br> + Finnish; and Dana Da was neither Finn, Chin, Bhil, Bengali, +Lap,<br> + Nair, Gond, Romaney, Magh, Bokhariot, Kurd, Armenian, +Levantine,<br> + Jew, Persian, Punjabi, Madrasi, Parsee, nor anything else known +to<br> + ethnologists. He was simply Dana Da, and declined to give +further<br> + information. For the sake of brevity, and as roughly +indicating<br> + his origin, he was called "The Native." He might have been +the<br> + original Old Man of the Mountains, who is said to be the +only<br> + authorized head of the Teacup Creed. Some, people said that +he<br> + was; but Dana Da used to smile and deny any connection with +the<br> + cult; explaining that he was an "independent experimenter."</p> + +<p>As I have said, he came from nowhere, with his hands behind +his<br> + back, and studied the creed for three weeks; sitting at the feet +of<br> + those best competent to explain its mysteries. Then he +laughed<br> + aloud and went away, but the laugh might have been either of<br> + devotion or derision.</p> + +<p>When he returned he was without money, but his pride was +unabated.<br> + He declared that he knew more about the things in heaven and +earth<br> + than those who taught him, and for this contumacy was +abandoned<br> + altogether.</p> + +<p>His next appearance in public life was at a big cantonment in +Upper<br> + India, and he was then telling fortunes with the help of +three<br> + leaden dice, a very dirty old cloth, and a little tin box of +opium<br> + pills. He told better fortunes when he was allowed half a +bottle<br> + of whisky; but the things which he invented on the opium were +quite<br> + worth the money. He was in reduced circumstances. Among +other<br> + people's he told the fortune of an Englishman who had once +been<br> + interested in the Simla creed, but who, later on, had married +and<br> + forgotten all his old knowledge in the study of babies and<br> + Exchange. The Englishman allowed Dana Da to tell a fortune +for<br> + charity's sake, and gave him five rupees, a dinner, and some +old<br> + clothes. When he had eaten, Dana Da professed gratitude, and +asked<br> + if there were anything he could do for his host--in the +esoteric<br> + line.</p> + +<p>"Is there anyone that you love?" said Dana Da. The +Englishman<br> + loved his wife, but had no desire to drag her name into the<br> + conversation. He therefore shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Is there anyone that you hate?" said Dana Da. The Englishman +said<br> + that there were several men whom he hated deeply.</p> + +<p>"Very good," said Dana Da, upon whom the whisky and the opium +were<br> + beginning to tell. "Only give me their names, and I will +dispatch<br> + a Sending to them and kill them."</p> + +<p>Now a Sending is a horrible arrangement, first invented, they +say,<br> + in Iceland. It is a thing sent by a wizard, and may take any +form,<br> + but most generally wanders about the land in the shape of a +little<br> + purple cloud till it finds the sendee, and him it kills by +changing<br> + into the form of a horse, or a cat, or a man without a face. It +is<br> + not strictly a native patent, though chamars can, if +irritated,<br> + dispatch a Sending which sits on the breast of their enemy by +night<br> + and nearly kills him. Very few natives care to irritate +chamars<br> + for this reason.</p> + +<p>"Let me dispatch a Sending," said Dana Da; "I am nearly dead +now<br> + with want, and drink, and opium; but I should like to kill a +man<br> + before I die. I can send a Sending anywhere you choose, and in +any<br> + form except in the shape of a man."</p> + +<p>The Englishman had no friends that he wished to kill, but +partly to<br> + soothe Dana Da, whose eyes were rolling, and partly to see +what<br> + would be done, he asked whether a modified Sending could not +be<br> + arranged for--such a Sending as should make a man's life a +burden<br> + to him, and yet do him no harm. If this were possible, he +notified<br> + his willingness to give Dana Da ten rupees for the job.</p> + +<p>"I am not what I was once," said Dana Da, "and I must take +the<br> + money because I am poor. To what Englishman shall I send +it?"</p> + +<p>"Send a Sending to Lone Sahib," said the Englishman, naming a +man<br> + who had been most bitter in rebuking him for his apostasy from +the<br> + Teacup Creed. Dana Da laughed and nodded.</p> + +<p>"I could have chosen no better man myself," said he. "I will +see<br> + that he finds the Sending about his path and about his bed."</p> + +<p>He lay down on the hearthrug, turned up the whites of his +eyes,<br> + shivered all over, and began to snort. This was magic, or +opium,<br> + or the Sending, or all three. When he opened his eyes he +vowed<br> + that the Sending had started upon the warpath, and was at +that<br> + moment flying up to the town where Lone Sahib lives.</p> + +<p>"Give me my ten rupees," said Dana Da, wearily, "and write a +letter<br> + to Lone Sahib, telling him, and all who believe with him, that +you<br> + and a friend are using a power greater than theirs. They will +see<br> + that you are speaking the truth."</p> + +<p>He departed unsteadily, with the promise of some more rupees +if<br> + anything came of the Sending.</p> + +<p>The Englishman sent a letter to Lone Sahib, couched in what +he<br> + remembered of the terminology of the creed. He wrote: "I also, +in<br> + the days of what you held to be my backsliding, have +obtained<br> + enlightenment, and with enlightenment has come power." Then +he<br> + grew so deeply mysterious that the recipient of the letter +could<br> + make neither head nor tail of it, and was proportionately<br> + impressed; for he fancied that his friend had become a +"fifth<br> + rounder." When a man is a "fifth rounder" he can do more +than<br> + Slade and Houdin combined.</p> + +<p>Lone Sahib read the letter in five different fashions, and +was<br> + beginning a sixth interpretation, when his bearer dashed in +with<br> + the news that there was a cat on the bed. Now, if there was +one<br> + thing that Lone Sahib hated more than another it was a cat. +He<br> + rated the bearer for not turning it out of the house. The +bearer<br> + said that he was afraid. All the doors of the bedroom had +been<br> + shut throughout the morning, and no real cat could possibly +have<br> + entered the room. He would prefer not to meddle with the +creature.</p> + +<p>Lone Sahib entered the room gingerly, and there, on the pillow +of<br> + his bed, sprawled and whimpered a wee white kitten, not a +jumpsome,<br> + frisky little beast, but a sluglike crawler with its eyes +barely<br> + opened and its paws lacking strength or direction--a kitten +that<br> + ought to have been in a basket with its mamma. Lone Sahib +caught<br> + it by the scruff of its neck, handed it over to the sweeper to +be<br> + drowned, and fined the bearer four annas.</p> + +<p>That evening, as he was reading in his room, he fancied that +he saw<br> + something moving about on the hearthrug, outside the circle +of<br> + light from his reading lamp. When the thing began to myowl, +he<br> + realized that it was a kitten--a wee white kitten, nearly blind +and<br> + very miserable. He was seriously angry, and spoke bitterly to +his<br> + bearer, who said that there was no kitten in the room when +he<br> + brought in the lamp, and real kittens of tender age generally +had<br> + mother cats in attendance.</p> + +<p>"If the Presence will go out into the veranda and listen," +said the<br> + bearer, "he will hear no cats. How, therefore, can the kitten +on<br> + the bed and the kitten on the hearthrug be real kittens?"</p> + +<p>Lone Sahib went out to listen, and the bearer followed him, +but<br> + there was no sound of Rachel mewing for her children. He +returned<br> + to his room, having hurled the kitten down the hillside, and +wrote<br> + out the incidents of the day for the benefit of his +coreligionists.<br> + Those people were so absolutely free from superstition that +they<br> + ascribed anything a little out of the common to agencies. As +it<br> + was their business to know all about the agencies, they were +on<br> + terms of almost indecent familiarity with manifestations of +every<br> + kind. Their letters dropped from the +ceiling--un-stamped--and<br> + spirits used to squatter up and down their staircases all +night.<br> + But they had never come into contact with kittens. Lone +Sahib<br> + wrote out the facts, noting the hour and the minute, as +every<br> + psychical observer is bound to do, and appending the +Englishman's<br> + letter because it was the most mysterious document and might +have<br> + had a bearing upon anything in this world or the next. An +outsider<br> + would have translated all the tangle thus: "Look out! You +laughed<br> + at me once, and now I am going to make you sit up."</p> + +<p>Lone Sahib's coreligionists found that meaning in it; but +their<br> + translation was refined and full of four-syllable words. They +held<br> + a sederunt, and were filled with tremulous joy, for, in spite +of<br> + their familiarity with all the other worlds and cycles, they had +a<br> + very human awe of things sent from ghostland. They met in +Lone<br> + Sahib's room in shrouded and sepulchral gloom, and their +conclave<br> + was broken up by a clinking among the photo frames on the<br> + mantelpiece. A wee white kitten, nearly blind, was looping +and<br> + writhing itself between the clock and the candlesticks. That<br> + stopped all investigations or doubtings. Here was the<br> + manifestation in the flesh. It was, so far as could be seen,<br> + devoid of purpose, but it was a manifestation of undoubted<br> + authenticity.</p> + +<p>They drafted a round robin to the Englishman, the backslider +of old<br> + days, adjuring him in the interests of the creed to explain +whether<br> + there was any connection between the embodiment of some +Egyptian<br> + god or other (I have forgotten the name) and his +communication.<br> + They called the kitten Ra, or Toth, or Shem, or Noah, or +something;<br> + and when Lone Sahib confessed that the first one had, at his +most<br> + misguided instance, been drowned by the sweeper, they said<br> + consolingly that in his next life he would be a "bounder," and +not<br> + even a "rounder" of the lowest grade. These words may not be +quite<br> + correct, but they express the sense of the house accurately.</p> + +<p>When the Englishman received the round robin--it came by +post--he<br> + was startled and bewildered. He sent into the bazaar for Dana +Da,<br> + who read the letter and laughed. "That is my Sending," said +he.<br> + "I told you I would work well. Now give me another ten +rupees."</p> + +<p>"But what in the world is this gibberish about Egyptian +gods?"<br> + asked the Englishman.</p> + +<p>"Cats," said Dana Da, with a hiccough, for he had discovered +the<br> + Englishman's whisky bottle. "Cats and cats and cats! Never +was<br> + such a Sending. A hundred of cats. Now give me ten more +rupees<br> + and write as I dictate."</p> + +<p>Dana Da's letter was a curiosity. It bore the Englishman's<br> + signature, and hinted at cats--at a Sending of cats. The +mere<br> + words on paper were creepy and uncanny to behold.</p> + +<p>"What have you done, though?" said the Englishman; "I am as +much in<br> + the dark as ever. Do you mean to say that you can actually +send<br> + this absurd Sending you talk about?"</p> + +<p>"Judge for yourself," said Dana Da. "What does that letter +mean?<br> + In a little time they will all be at my feet and yours, and I, +oh,<br> + glory! will be drugged or drunk all day long."</p> + +<p>Dana Da knew his people.</p> + +<p>When a man who hates cats wakes up in the morning and finds +a<br> + little squirming kitten on his breast, or puts his hand into +his<br> + ulster pocket and finds a little half-dead kitten where his +gloves<br> + should be, or opens his trunk and finds a vile kitten among +his<br> + dress shirts, or goes for a long ride with his mackintosh +strapped<br> + on his saddle-bow and shakes a little sprawling kitten from +its<br> + folds when he opens it, or goes out to dinner and finds a +little<br> + blind kitten under his chair, or stays at home and finds a +writhing<br> + kitten under the quilt, or wriggling among his boots, or +hanging,<br> + head downward, in his tobacco jar, or being mangled by his +terrier<br> + in the veranda--when such a man finds one kitten, neither more +nor<br> + less, once a day in a place where no kitten rightly could or +should<br> + be, he is naturally upset. When he dare not murder his daily +trove<br> + because he believes it to be a manifestation, an emissary, +an<br> + embodiment, and half a dozen other things all out of the +regular<br> + course of nature, he is more than upset. He is actually<br> + distressed. Some of Lone Sahib's coreligionists thought that +he<br> + was a highly favored individual; but many said that if he +had<br> + treated the first kitten with proper respect--as suited a +Toth-Ra<br> + Tum-Sennacherib Embodiment--all his trouble would have been<br> + averted. They compared him to the Ancient Mariner, but none +the<br> + less they were proud of him and proud of the Englishman who +had<br> + sent the manifestation. They did not call it a Sending +because<br> + Icelandic magic was not in their programme.</p> + +<p>After sixteen kittens--that is to say, after one fortnight, +for<br> + there were three kittens on the first day to impress the fact +of<br> + the Sending, the whole camp was uplifted by a letter--it +came<br> + flying through a window--from the Old Man of the +Mountains--the<br> + head of all the creed--explaining the manifestation in the +most<br> + beautiful language and soaking up all the credit of it for +himself.<br> + The Englishman, said the letter, was not there at all. He was +a<br> + backslider without power or asceticism, who couldn't even raise +a<br> + table by force of volition, much less project an army of +kittens<br> + through space. The entire arrangement, said the letter, was<br> + strictly orthodox, worked and sanctioned by the highest +authorities<br> + within the pale of the creed. There was great joy at this, +for<br> + some of the weaker brethren seeing that an outsider who had +been<br> + working on independent lines could create kittens, whereas +their<br> + own rulers had never gone beyond crockery--and broken at +that--were<br> + showing a desire to break line on their own trail. In fact, +there<br> + was the promise of a schism. A second round robin was drafted +to<br> + the Englishman, beginning: "Oh, Scoffer," and ending with a<br> + selection of curses from the rites of Mizraim and Memphis and +the<br> + Commination of Jugana; who was a "fifth rounder," upon whose +name<br> + an upstart "third rounder" once traded. A papal excommunication +is<br> + a billet-doux compared to the Commination of Jugana. The<br> + Englishman had been proved under the hand and seal of the Old +Man<br> + of the Mountains to have appropriated virtue and pretended to +have<br> + power which, in reality, belonged only to the supreme head.<br> + Naturally the round robin did not spare him.</p> + +<p>He handed the letter to Dana Da to translate into decent +English.<br> + The effect on Dana Da was curious. At first he was furiously<br> + angry, and then he laughed for five minutes.</p> + +<p>"I had thought," he said, "that they would have come to me. +In<br> + another week I would have shown that I sent the Sending, and +they<br> + would have discrowned the Old Man of the Mountains who has +sent<br> + this Sending of mine. Do you do nothing. The time has come for +me<br> + to act. Write as I dictate, and I will put them to shame. +But<br> + give me ten more rupees."</p> + +<p>At Dana Da's dictation the Englishman wrote nothing less than +a<br> + formal challenge to the Old Man of the Mountains. It wound +up:<br> + "And if this manifestation be from your hand, then let it go<br> + forward; but if it be from my hand, I will that the Sending +shall<br> + cease in two days' time. On that day there shall be twelve +kittens<br> + and thenceforward none at all. The people shall judge between +us."<br> + This was signed by Dana Da, who added pentacles and pentagrams, +and<br> + a crux ansata, and half a dozen swastikas, and a Triple Tau to +his<br> + name, just to show that he was all he laid claim to be.</p> + +<p>The challenge was read out to the gentlemen and ladies, and +they<br> + remembered then that Dana Da had laughed at them some years +ago.<br> + It was officially announced that the Old Man of the Mountains +would<br> + treat the matter with contempt; Dana Da being an independent<br> + investigator without a single "round" at the back of him. But +this<br> + did not soothe his people. They wanted to see a fight. They +were<br> + very human for all their spirituality. Lone Sahib, who was +really<br> + being worn out with kittens, submitted meekly to his fate. He +felt<br> + that he was being "kittened to prove the power of Dana Da," as +the<br> + poet says.</p> + +<p>When the stated day dawned, the shower of kittens began. Some +were<br> + white and some were tabby, and all were about the same +loathsome<br> + age. Three were on his hearth-rug, three in his bathroom, and +the<br> + other six turned up at intervals among the visitors who came to +see<br> + the prophecy break down. Never was a more satisfactory +Sending.<br> + On the next day there were no kittens, and the next day and all +the<br> + other days were kittenless and quiet. The people murmured +and<br> + looked to the Old Man of the Mountains for an explanation. A<br> + letter, written on a palm leaf, dropped from the ceiling, +but<br> + everyone except Lone Sahib felt that letters were not what +the<br> + occasion demanded. There should have been cats, there should +have<br> + been cats--full-grown ones. The letter proved conclusively +that<br> + there had been a hitch in the psychic current which, colliding +with<br> + a dual identity, had interfered with the percipient activity +all<br> + along the main line. The kittens were still going on, but owing +to<br> + some failure in the developing fluid, they were not +materialized.<br> + The air was thick with letters for a few days afterwards. +Unseen<br> + hands played Gluck and Beethoven on finger-bowls and clock +shades;<br> + but all men felt that psychic life was a mockery without<br> + materialized kittens. Even Lone Sahib shouted with the majority +on<br> + this head. Dana Da's letters were very insulting, and if he +had<br> + then offered to lead a new departure, there is no knowing +what<br> + might not have happened.</p> + +<p>But Dana Da was dying of whisky and opium in the Englishman's +go-<br> + down, and had small heart for new creeds.</p> + +<p>"They have been put to shame," said he. "Never was such a +Sending.<br> + It has killed me."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said the Englishman, "you are going to die, Dana +Da,<br> + and that sort of stuff must be left behind. I'll admit that +you<br> + have made some queer things come about. Tell me honestly, now, +how<br> + was it done?"</p> + +<p>"Give me ten more rupees," said Dana Da, faintly, "and if I +die<br> + before I spend them, bury them with me." The silver was +counted<br> + out while Dana Da was fighting with death. His hand closed +upon<br> + the money and he smiled a grim smile.</p> + +<p>"Bend low," he whispered. The Englishman bent.</p> + +<p>"Bunnia--mission school--expelled--box-wallah +(peddler)--Ceylon<br> + pearl merchant--all mine English education--outcasted, and made +up<br> + name Dana Da--England with American thought-reading man +and--and--<br> + you gave me ten rupees several times--I gave the Sahib's +bearer<br> + two-eight a month for cats--little, little cats. I wrote, and +he<br> + put them about--very clever man. Very few kittens now in the<br> + bazaar. Ask Lone Sahib's sweeper's wife."</p> + +<p>So saying, Dana Da gasped and passed away into a land where, +if all<br> + be true, there are no materializations and the making of new +creeds<br> + is discouraged.</p> + +<p>But consider the gorgeous simplicity of it all!</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>IN THE HOUSE OF SUDDHOO</h2> + +<p><br> + A stone's throw out on either hand<br> + From that well-ordered road we tread,<br> + And all the world is wild and strange;<br> + Churel and ghoul and Djinn and sprite<br> + Shall bear us company to-night,<br> + For we have reached the Oldest Land<br> + Wherein the Powers of Darkness range.</p> + +<p>From the Dusk to the Dawn.</p> + +<p><br> + The house of Suddhoo, near the Taksali Gate, is two-storied, +with<br> + four carved windows of old brown wood, and a flat roof. You +may<br> + recognize it by five red hand-prints arranged like the Five +of<br> + Diamonds on the whitewash between the upper windows. Bhagwan +Dass,<br> + the bunnia, and a man who says he gets his living by +seal-cutting,<br> + live in the lower story with a troop of wives, servants, +friends,<br> + and retainers. The two upper rooms used to be occupied by +Janoo<br> + and Azizun and a little black-and-tan terrier that was stolen +from<br> + an Englishman's house and given to Janoo by a soldier. +To-day,<br> + only Janoo lives in the upper rooms. Suddhoo sleeps on the +roof<br> + generally, except when he sleeps in the street. He used to go +to<br> + Peshawar in the cold weather to visit his son, who sells<br> + curiosities near the Edwardes' Gate, and then he slept under a +real<br> + mud roof. Suddhoo is a great friend of mine, because his cousin +had<br> + a son who secured, thanks to my recommendation, the post of +head-<br> + messenger to a big firm in the Station. Suddhoo says that God +will<br> + make me a Lieutenant-Governor one of these days. I daresay +his<br> + prophecy will come true. He is very, very old, with white hair +and<br> + no teeth worth showing, and he has outlived his +wits--outlived<br> + nearly everything except his fondness for his son at +Peshawar.<br> + Janoo and Azizun are Kashmiris, Ladies of the City, and theirs +was<br> + an ancient and more or less honorable profession; but Azizun +has<br> + since married a medical student from the North-West and has +settled<br> + down to a most respectable life somewhere near Bareilly. +Bhagwan<br> + Dass is an extortionate and an adulterator. He is very rich. +The<br> + man who is supposed to get his living by seal-cutting pretends +to<br> + be very poor. This lets you know as much as is necessary of +the<br> + four principal tenants in the house of Suddhoo. Then there is +Me,<br> + of course; but I am only the chorus that comes in at the end +to<br> + explain things. So I do not count.</p> + +<p><br> + Suddhoo was not clever. The man who pretended to cut seals was +the<br> + cleverest of them all--Bhagwan Dass only knew how to +lie--except<br> + Janoo. She was also beautiful, but that was her own affair.</p> + +<p>Suddhoo's son at Peshawar was attacked by pleurisy, and old +Suddhoo<br> + was troubled. The seal-cutter man heard of Suddhoo's anxiety +and<br> + made capital out of it. He was abreast of the times. He got +a<br> + friend in Peshawar to telegraph daily accounts of the son's +health.<br> + And here the story begins.</p> + +<p>Suddhoo's cousin's son told me, one evening, that Suddhoo +wanted to<br> + see me; that he was too old and feeble to come personally, and +that<br> + I should be conferring an everlasting honor on the House of +Suddhoo<br> + if I went to him. I went; but I think, seeing how well-off +Suddhoo<br> + was then, that he might have sent something better than an +ekka,<br> + which jolted fearfully, to haul out a future Lieutenant-Governor +to<br> + the City on a muggy April evening. The ekka did not run +quickly.<br> + It was full dark when we pulled up opposite the door of +Ranjit<br> + Singh's Tomb near the main gate of the Fort. Here was Suddhoo +and<br> + he said that, by reason of my condescension, it was +absolutely<br> + certain that I should become a Lieutenant-Governor while my +hair<br> + was yet black. Then we talked about the weather and the state +of<br> + my health, and the wheat crops, for fifteen minutes, in the +Huzuri<br> + Bagh, under the stars.</p> + +<p>Suddhoo came to the point at last. He said that Janoo had told +him<br> + that there was an order of the Sirkar against magic, because it +was<br> + feared that magic might one day kill the Empress of India. I<br> + didn't know anything about the state of the law; but I fancied +that<br> + something interesting was going to happen. I said that so far +from<br> + magic being discouraged by the Government it was highly +commended.<br> + The greatest officials of the State practiced it themselves. +(If<br> + the Financial Statement isn't magic, I don't know what is.) +Then,<br> + to encourage him further, I said that, if there was any +jadoo<br> + afoot, I had not the least objection to giving it my +countenance<br> + and sanction, and to seeing that it was clean jadoo--white +magic,<br> + as distinguished from the unclean jadoo which kills folk. It +took<br> + a long time before Suddhoo admitted that this was just what he +had<br> + asked me to come for. Then he told me, in jerks and quavers, +that<br> + the man who said he cut seals was a sorcerer of the cleanest +kind;<br> + that every day he gave Suddhoo news of the sick son in +Peshawar<br> + more quickly than the lightning could fly, and that this news +was<br> + always corroborated by the letters. Further, that he had +told<br> + Suddhoo how a great danger was threatening his son, which could +be<br> + removed by clean jadoo; and, of course, heavy payment. I began +to<br> + see how the land lay, and told Suddhoo that I also understood +a<br> + little jadoo in the Western line, and would go to his house to +see<br> + that everything was done decently and in order. We set off<br> + together; and on the way Suddhoo told me he had paid the +seal-<br> + cutter between one hundred and two hundred rupees already; and +the<br> + jadoo of that night would cost two hundred more. Which was +cheap,<br> + he said, considering the greatness of his son's danger; but I +do<br> + not think he meant it.</p> + +<p>The lights were all cloaked in the front of the house when +we<br> + arrived. I could hear awful noises from behind the +seal-cutter's<br> + shop-front, as if some one were groaning his soul out. +Suddhoo<br> + shook all over, and while we groped our way upstairs told me +that<br> + the jadoo had begun. Janoo and Azizun met us at the +stair-head,<br> + and told us that the jadoo-work was coming off in their +rooms,<br> + because there was more space there. Janoo is a lady of a<br> + freethinking turn of mind. She whispered that the jadoo was +an<br> + invention to get money out of Suddhoo, and that the +seal-cutter<br> + would go to a hot place when he died. Suddhoo was nearly +crying<br> + with fear and old age. He kept walking up and down the room in +the<br> + half light, repeating his son's name over and over again, +and<br> + asking Azizun if the seal-cutter ought not to make a reduction +in<br> + the case of his own landlord. Janoo pulled me over to the shadow +in<br> + the recess of the carved bow- windows. The boards were up, and +the<br> + rooms were only lit by one tiny lamp. There was no chance of +my<br> + being seen if I stayed still.</p> + +<p>Presently, the groans below ceased, and we heard steps on +the<br> + staircase. That was the seal-cutter. He stopped outside the +door<br> + as the terrier barked and Azizun fumbled at the chain, and he +told<br> + Suddhoo to blow out the lamp. This left the place in jet +darkness,<br> + except for the red glow from the two huqas that belonged to +Janoo<br> + and Azizun. The seal-cutter came in, and I heard Suddhoo +throw<br> + himself down on the floor and groan. Azizun caught her breath, +and<br> + Janoo backed to one of the beds with a shudder. There was a +clink<br> + of something metallic, and then shot up a pale blue-green +flame<br> + near the ground. The light was just enough to show Azizun, +pressed<br> + against one corner of the room with the terrier between her +knees;<br> + Janoo, with her hands clasped, leaning forward as she sat on +the<br> + bed; Suddhoo, face down, quivering, and the seal-cutter.</p> + +<p>I hope I may never see another man like that seal-cutter. He +was<br> + stripped to the waist, with a wreath of white jasmine as thick +as<br> + my wrist round his forehead, a salmon-colored loin-cloth round +his<br> + middle, and a steel bangle on each ankle. This was not awe-<br> + inspiring. It was the face of the man that turned me cold. It +was<br> + blue-gray in the first place. In the second, the eyes were +rolled<br> + back till you could only see the whites of them; and, in the +third,<br> + the face was the face of a demon--a ghoul--anything you +please<br> + except of the sleek, oily old ruffian who sat in the day-time +over<br> + his turning-lathe downstairs. He was lying on his stomach, +with<br> + his arms turned and crossed behind him, as if he had been +thrown<br> + down pinioned. His head and neck were the only parts of him +off<br> + the floor. They were nearly at right angles to the body, like +the<br> + head of a cobra at spring. It was ghastly. In the centre of +the<br> + room, on the bare earth floor, stood a big, deep, brass basin, +with<br> + a pale blue-green light floating in the centre like a +night-light.<br> + Round that basin the man on the floor wriggled himself three +times.<br> + How he did it I do not know. I could see the muscles ripple +along<br> + his spine and fall smooth again; but I could not see any +other<br> + motion. The head seemed the only thing alive about him, except +that<br> + slow curl and uncurl of the laboring back-muscles. Janoo from +the<br> + bed was breathing seventy to the minute; Azizun held her +hands<br> + before her eyes; and old Suddhoo, fingering at the dirt that +had<br> + got into his white beard, was crying to himself. The horror of +it<br> + was that the creeping, crawly thing made no sound--only +crawled!<br> + And, remember, this lasted for ten minutes, while the +terrier<br> + whined, and Azizun shuddered, and Janoo gasped, and Suddhoo +cried.</p> + +<p>I felt the hair lift at the back of my head, and my heart +thump<br> + like a thermantidote paddle. Luckily, the seal-cutter +betrayed<br> + himself by his most impressive trick and made me calm again. +After<br> + he had finished that unspeakable triple crawl, he stretched +his<br> + head away from the floor as high as he could, and sent out a jet +of<br> + fire from his nostrils. Now, I knew how fire-spouting is +done--I<br> + can do it myself--so I felt at ease. The business was a fraud. +If<br> + he had only kept to that crawl without trying to raise the +effect,<br> + goodness knows what I might not have thought. Both the girls<br> + shrieked at the jet of fire and the head dropped, chin down, on +the<br> + floor with a thud; the whole body lying then like a corpse with +its<br> + arms trussed. There was a pause of five full minutes after +this,<br> + and the blue- green flame died down. Janoo stooped to settle +one<br> + of her anklets, while Azizun turned her face to the wall and +took<br> + the terrier in her arms. Suddhoo put out an arm mechanically +to<br> + Janoo's huqa, and she slid it across the floor with her +foot.<br> + Directly above the body and on the wall, were a couple of +flaming<br> + portraits, in stamped paper frames, of the Queen and the Prince +of<br> + Wales. They looked down on the performance, and, to my +thinking,<br> + seemed to heighten the grotesqueness of it all.</p> + +<p>Just when the silence was getting unendurable, the body turned +over<br> + and rolled away from the basin to the side of the room, where +it<br> + lay stomach up. There was a faint "plop" from the +basin--exactly<br> + like the noise a fish makes when it takes a fly--and the +green<br> + light in the centre revived.</p> + +<p>I looked at the basin, and saw, bobbing in the water, the +dried,<br> + shrivelled, black head of a native baby--open eyes, open mouth +and<br> + shaved scalp. It was worse, being so very sudden, than the<br> + crawling exhibition. We had no time to say anything before +it<br> + began to speak.</p> + +<p>Read Poe's account of the voice that came from the mesmerized +dying<br> + man, and you will realize less than one-half of the horror of +that<br> + head's voice.</p> + +<p>There was an interval of a second or two between each word, +and a<br> + sort of "ring, ring, ring," in the note of the voice, like +the<br> + timbre of a bell. It pealed slowly, as if talking to itself, +for<br> + several minutes before I got rid of my cold sweat. Then the<br> + blessed solution struck me. I looked at the body lying near +the<br> + doorway, and saw, just where the hollow of the throat joins on +the<br> + shoulders, a muscle that had nothing to do with any man's +regular<br> + breathing, twitching away steadily. The whole thing was a +careful<br> + reproduction of the Egyptian teraphin that one read about +sometimes<br> + and the voice was as clever and as appalling a piece of<br> + ventriloquism as one could wish to hear. All this time the +head<br> + was "lip-lip-lapping" against the side of the basin, and +speaking.<br> + It told Suddhoo, on his face again whining, of his son's +illness<br> + and of the state of the illness up to the evening of that +very<br> + night. I always shall respect the seal-cutter for keeping so<br> + faithfully to the time of the Peshawar telegrams. It went on +to<br> + say that skilled doctors were night and day watching over the +man's<br> + life; and that he would eventually recover if the fee to the +potent<br> + sorcerer, whose servant was the head in the basin, were +doubled.</p> + +<p>Here the mistake from the artistic point of view came in. To +ask<br> + for twice your stipulated fee in a voice that Lazarus might +have<br> + used when he rose from the dead, is absurd. Janoo, who is really +a<br> + woman of masculine intellect, saw this as quickly as I did. +I<br> + heard her say "Asli nahin! Fareib!" scornfully under her +breath;<br> + and just as she said so, the light in the basin died out, the +head<br> + stopped talking, and we heard the room door creak on its +hinges.<br> + Then Janoo struck a match, lit the lamp, and we saw that +head,<br> + basin, and seal- cutter were gone. Suddhoo was wringing his +hands<br> + and explaining to any one who cared to listen, that, if his +chances<br> + of eternal salvation depended on it, he could not raise another +two<br> + hundred rupees. Azizun was nearly in hysterics in the +corner;<br> + while Janoo sat down composedly on one of the beds to discuss +the<br> + probabilities of the whole thing being a bunao, or +"make-up."</p> + +<p>I explained as much as I knew of the seal-cutter's way of +jadoo;<br> + but her argument was much more simple:--"The magic that is +always<br> + demanding gifts is no true magic," said she. "My mother told +me<br> + that the only potent love-spells are those which are told you +for<br> + love. This seal-cutter man is a liar and a devil. I dare not<br> + tell, do anything, or get anything done, because I am in debt +to<br> + Bhagwan Dass the bunnia for two gold rings and a heavy anklet. +I<br> + must get my food from his shop. The seal-cutter is the friend +of<br> + Bhagwan Dass, and he would poison my food. A fool's jadoo has +been<br> + going on for ten days, and has cost Suddhoo many rupees each +night.<br> + The seal-cutter used black hens and lemons and mantras before. +He<br> + never showed us anything like this till to-night. Azizun is +a<br> + fool, and will be a pur dahnashin soon. Suddhoo has lost his<br> + strength and his wits. See now! I had hoped to get from +Suddhoo<br> + many rupees while he lived, and many more after his death; +and<br> + behold, he is spending everything on that offspring of a devil +and<br> + a she-ass, the seal- cutter!"</p> + +<p>Here I said:--"But what induced Suddhoo to drag me into +the<br> + business? Of course I can speak to the seal-cutter, and he +shall<br> + refund. The whole thing is child's talk--shame--and +senseless."</p> + +<p>"Suddhoo IS an old child," said Janoo. "He has lived on the +roofs<br> + these seventy years and is as senseless as a milch-goat. He<br> + brought you here to assure himself that he was not breaking any +law<br> + of the Sirkar, whose salt he ate many years ago. He worships +the<br> + dust off the feet of the seal-cutter, and that cow-devourer +has<br> + forbidden him to go and see his son. What does Suddhoo know +of<br> + your laws or the lightning-post? I have to watch his money +going<br> + day by day to that lying beast below."</p> + +<p>Janoo stamped her foot on the floor and nearly cried with +vexation;<br> + while Suddhoo was whimpering under a blanket in the corner, +and<br> + Azizun was trying to guide the pipe-stem to his foolish old +mouth.</p> + +<p>. . . . . . . . .</p> + +<p>Now the case stands thus. Unthinkingly, I have laid myself +open to<br> + the charge of aiding and abetting the seal-cutter in +obtaining<br> + money under false pretences, which is forbidden by Section 420 +of<br> + the Indian Penal Code. I am helpless in the matter for these<br> + reasons, I cannot inform the Police. What witnesses would +support<br> + my statements? Janoo refuses flatly, Azizun is a veiled +woman<br> + somewhere near Bareilly--lost in this big India of ours. I +cannot<br> + again take the law into my own hands, and speak to the +seal-cutter;<br> + for certain am I that, not only would Suddhoo disbelieve me, +but<br> + this step would end in the poisoning of Janoo, who is bound +hand<br> + and foot by her debt to the bunnia. Suddhoo is an old dotard; +and<br> + whenever we meet mumbles my idiotic joke that the Sirkar +rather<br> + patronizes the Black Art than otherwise. His son is well now; +but<br> + Suddhoo is completely under the influence of the seal-cutter, +by<br> + whose advice he regulates the affairs of his life. Janoo +watches<br> + daily the money that she hoped to wheedle out of Suddhoo taken +by<br> + the seal-cutter, and becomes daily more furious and sullen.</p> + +<p>She will never tell, because she dare not; but, unless +something<br> + happens to prevent her, I am afraid that the seal-cutter will +die<br> + of cholera--the white arsenic kind--about the middle of May. +And<br> + thus I shall have to be privy to a murder in the House of +Suddhoo.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2><br> + HIS WEDDED WIFE.</h2> + +<p><br> + Cry "Murder!" in the market-place, and each<br> + Will turn upon his neighbor anxious eyes<br> + That ask:--"Art thou the man?" We hunted Cain,<br> + Some centuries ago, across the world,<br> + That bred the fear our own misdeeds maintain<br> + To-day.</p> + +<p>Vibart's Moralities.</p> + +<p><br> + Shakespeare says something about worms, or it may be giants +or<br> + beetles, turning if you tread on them too severely. The +safest<br> + plan is never to tread on a worm--not even on the last new<br> + subaltern from Home, with his buttons hardly out of their +tissue<br> + paper, and the red of sappy English beef in his cheeks. This +is<br> + the story of the worm that turned. For the sake of brevity, +we<br> + will call Henry Augustus Ramsay Faizanne, "The Worm," although +he<br> + really was an exceedingly pretty boy, without a hair on his +face,<br> + and with a waist like a girl's when he came out to the +Second<br> + "Shikarris" and was made unhappy in several ways. The +"Shikarris"<br> + are a high-caste regiment, and you must be able to do things +well--<br> + play a banjo or ride more than a little, or sing, or act--to get +on<br> + with them.</p> + +<p><br> + The Worm did nothing except fall off his pony, and knock chips +out<br> + of gate-posts with his trap. Even that became monotonous after +a<br> + time. He objected to whist, cut the cloth at billiards, sang +out<br> + of tune, kept very much to himself, and wrote to his Mamma +and<br> + sisters at Home. Four of these five things were vices which +the<br> + "Shikarris" objected to and set themselves to eradicate. Every +one<br> + knows how subalterns are, by brother subalterns, softened and +not<br> + permitted to be ferocious. It is good and wholesome, and does +no<br> + one any harm, unless tempers are lost; and then there is +trouble.<br> + There was a man once--but that is another story.</p> + +<p>The "Shikarris" shikarred The Worm very much, and he bore<br> + everything without winking. He was so good and so anxious to<br> + learn, and flushed so pink, that his education was cut short, +and<br> + he was left to his own devices by every one except the +Senior<br> + Subaltern, who continued to make life a burden to The Worm. +The<br> + Senior Subaltern meant no harm; but his chaff was coarse, and +he<br> + didn't quite understand where to stop. He had been waiting +too<br> + long for his company; and that always sours a man. Also he was +in<br> + love, which made him worse.</p> + +<p>One day, after he had borrowed The Worm's trap for a lady who +never<br> + existed, had used it himself all the afternoon, had sent a note +to<br> + The Worm purporting to come from the lady, and was telling the +Mess<br> + all about it, The Worm rose in his place and said, in his +quiet,<br> + ladylike voice: "That was a very pretty sell; but I'll lay you +a<br> + month's pay to a month's pay when you get your step, that I work +a<br> + sell on you that you'll remember for the rest of your days, and +the<br> + Regiment after you when you're dead or broke." The Worm +wasn't<br> + angry in the least, and the rest of the Mess shouted. Then +the<br> + Senior Subaltern looked at The Worm from the boots upwards, +and<br> + down again, and said, "Done, Baby." The Worm took the rest of +the<br> + Mess to witness that the bet had been taken, and retired into +a<br> + book with a sweet smile.</p> + +<p>Two months passed, and the Senior Subaltern still educated +The<br> + Worm, who began to move about a little more as the hot weather +came<br> + on. I have said that the Senior Subaltern was in love. The<br> + curious thing is that a girl was in love with the Senior +Subaltern.<br> + Though the Colonel said awful things, and the Majors snorted, +and<br> + married Captains looked unutterable wisdom, and the juniors<br> + scoffed, those two were engaged.</p> + +<p>The Senior Subaltern was so pleased with getting his Company +and<br> + his acceptance at the same time that he forgot to bother The +Worm.<br> + The girl was a pretty girl, and had money of her own. She does +not<br> + come into this story at all.</p> + +<p>One night, at the beginning of the hot weather, all the +Mess,<br> + except The Worm, who had gone to his own room to write Home<br> + letters, were sitting on the platform outside the Mess House. +The<br> + Band had finished playing, but no one wanted to go in. And +the<br> + Captains' wives were there also. The folly of a man in love +is<br> + unlimited. The Senior Subaltern had been holding forth on +the<br> + merits of the girl he was engaged to, and the ladies were +purring<br> + approval, while the men yawned, when there was a rustle of +skirts<br> + in the dark, and a tired, faint voice lifted itself:</p> + +<p>"Where's my husband?"</p> + +<p>I do not wish in the least to reflect on the morality of +the<br> + "Shikarris;" but it is on record that four men jumped up as if +they<br> + had been shot. Three of them were married men. Perhaps they +were<br> + afraid that their wives had come from Home unbeknownst. The +fourth<br> + said that he had acted on the impulse of the moment. He +explained<br> + this afterwards.</p> + +<p>Then the voice cried:--"Oh, Lionel!" Lionel was the Senior<br> + Subaltern's name. A woman came into the little circle of light +by<br> + the candles on the peg-tables, stretching out her hands to the +dark<br> + where the Senior Subaltern was, and sobbing. We rose to our +feet,<br> + feeling that things were going to happen and ready to believe +the<br> + worst. In this bad, small world of ours, one knows so little +of<br> + the life of the next man--which, after all, is entirely his +own<br> + concern-- that one is not surprised when a crash comes. +Anything<br> + might turn up any day for any one. Perhaps the Senior +Subaltern<br> + had been trapped in his youth. Men are crippled that way<br> + occasionally. We didn't know; we wanted to hear; and the +Captains'<br> + wives were as anxious as we. If he HAD been trapped, he was to +be<br> + excused; for the woman from nowhere, in the dusty shoes, and +gray<br> + travelling dress, was very lovely, with black hair and great +eyes<br> + full of tears. She was tall, with a fine figure, and her voice +had<br> + a running sob in it pitiful to hear. As soon as the Senior<br> + Subaltern stood up, she threw her arms round his neck, and +called<br> + him "my darling," and said she could not bear waiting alone +in<br> + England, and his letters were so short and cold, and she was his +to<br> + the end of the world, and would he forgive her. This did not +sound<br> + quite like a lady's way of speaking. It was too +demonstrative.</p> + +<p>Things seemed black indeed, and the Captains' wives peered +under<br> + their eyebrows at the Senior Subaltern, and the Colonel's face +set<br> + like the Day of Judgment framed in gray bristles, and no one +spoke<br> + for a while.</p> + +<p>Next the Colonel said, very shortly:--"Well, Sir?" and the +woman<br> + sobbed afresh. The Senior Subaltern was half choked with the +arms<br> + round his neck, but he gasped out:--"It's a d----d lie! I +never<br> + had a wife in my life!" "Don't swear," said the Colonel. +"Come<br> + into the Mess. We must sift this clear somehow," and he sighed +to<br> + himself, for he believed in his "Shikarris," did the +Colonel.</p> + +<p>We trooped into the ante-room, under the full lights, and +there we<br> + saw how beautiful the woman was. She stood up in the middle of +us<br> + all, sometimes choking with crying, then hard and proud, and +then<br> + holding out her arms to the Senior Subaltern. It was like +the<br> + fourth act of a tragedy. She told us how the Senior Subaltern +had<br> + married her when he was Home on leave eighteen months before; +and<br> + she seemed to know all that we knew, and more too, of his +people<br> + and his past life. He was white and ashy gray, trying now +and<br> + again to break into the torrent of her words; and we, noting +how<br> + lovely she was and what a criminal he looked, esteemed him a +beast<br> + of the worst kind. We felt sorry for him, though.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget the indictment of the Senior Subaltern by +his<br> + wife. Nor will he. It was so sudden, rushing out of the +dark,<br> + unannounced, into our dull lives. The Captains' wives stood +back;<br> + but their eyes were alight, and you could see that they had +already<br> + convicted and sentenced the Senior Subaltern. The Colonel +seemed<br> + five years older. One Major was shading his eyes with his hand +and<br> + watching the woman from underneath it. Another was chewing +his<br> + moustache and smiling quietly as if he were witnessing a +play.<br> + Full in the open space in the centre, by the whist-tables, +the<br> + Senior Subaltern's terrier was hunting for fleas. I remember +all<br> + this as clearly as though a photograph were in my hand. I +remember<br> + the look of horror on the Senior Subaltern's face. It was +rather<br> + like seeing a man hanged; but much more interesting. Finally, +the<br> + woman wound up by saying that the Senior Subaltern carried a +double<br> + F. M. in tattoo on his left shoulder. We all knew that, and to +our<br> + innocent minds it seemed to clinch the matter. But one of +the<br> + Bachelor Majors said very politely:--"I presume that your +marriage<br> + certificate would be more to the purpose?"</p> + +<p>That roused the woman. She stood up and sneered at the +Senior<br> + Subaltern for a cur, and abused the Major and the Colonel and +all<br> + the rest. Then she wept, and then she pulled a paper from +her<br> + breast, saying imperially:--"Take that! And let my +husband--my<br> + lawfully wedded husband--read it aloud--if he dare!"</p> + +<p>There was a hush, and the men looked into each other's eyes as +the<br> + Senior Subaltern came forward in a dazed and dizzy way, and +took<br> + the paper. We were wondering as we stared, whether there was<br> + anything against any one of us that might turn up later on. +The<br> + Senior Subaltern's throat was dry; but, as he ran his eye over +the<br> + paper, he broke out into a hoarse cackle of relief, and said to +the<br> + woman:--"You young blackguard!"</p> + +<p>But the woman had fled through a door, and on the paper +was<br> + written:--"This is to certify that I, The Worm, have paid in +full<br> + my debts to the Senior Subaltern, and, further, that the +Senior<br> + Subaltern is my debtor, by agreement on the 23d of February, as +by<br> + the Mess attested, to the extent of one month's Captain's pay, +in<br> + the lawful currency of the India Empire."</p> + +<p>Then a deputation set off for The Worm's quarters and found +him,<br> + betwixt and between, unlacing his stays, with the hat, wig, +serge<br> + dress, etc., on the bed. He came over as he was, and the<br> + "Shikarris" shouted till the Gunners' Mess sent over to know +if<br> + they might have a share of the fun. I think we were all, +except<br> + the Colonel and the Senior Subaltern, a little disappointed +that<br> + the scandal had come to nothing. But that is human nature. +There<br> + could be no two words about The Worm's acting. It leaned as +near<br> + to a nasty tragedy as anything this side of a joke can. When +most<br> + of the Subalterns sat upon him with sofa-cushions to find out +why<br> + he had not said that acting was his strong point, he answered +very<br> + quietly:--"I don't think you ever asked me. I used to act at +Home<br> + with my sisters." But no acting with girls could account for +The<br> + Worm's display that night. Personally, I think it was in bad<br> + taste. Besides being dangerous. There is no sort of use in +playing<br> + with fire, even for fun.</p> + +<p>The "Shikarris" made him President of the Regimental Dramatic +Club;<br> + and, when the Senior Subaltern paid up his debt, which he did +at<br> + once, The Worm sank the money in scenery and dresses. He was +a<br> + good Worm; and the "Shikarris" are proud of him. The only +drawback<br> + is that he has been christened "Mrs. Senior Subaltern;" and +as<br> + there are now two Mrs. Senior Subalterns in the Station, this +is<br> + sometimes confusing to strangers.</p> + +<p>Later on, I will tell you of a case something like, this, but +with<br> + all the jest left out and nothing in it but real trouble.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>A. Conan Doyle</h3> + +<h2>A Case of Identity</h2> + +<p><br> + "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side +of<br> + the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is +infinitely<br> + stranger than anything which the mind of man can invent. We +would<br> + not dare to conceive the things which are really mere +commonplaces<br> + of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in +hand,<br> + hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in +at<br> + the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, +the<br> + plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of +events,<br> + working through generations, and leading to the most outre +results,<br> + it would make all fiction, with its conventionalities and +foreseen<br> + conclusions, most stale and unprofitable."</p> + +<p><br> + "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases +which<br> + come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and +vulgar<br> + enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its<br> + extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed,<br> + neither fascinating nor artistic."</p> + +<p>"A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing +a<br> + realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the +police<br> + report, where more stress is laid perhaps upon the platitudes +of<br> + the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer +contain<br> + the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend upon it, there +is<br> + nothing so unnatural as the commonplace."</p> + +<p>I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your +thinking<br> + so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial +adviser<br> + and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout +three<br> + continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange +and<br> + bizarre. But here,"--I picked up the morning paper from the<br> + ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the +first<br> + heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his +wife.'<br> + There is half a column of print, but I know without reading it +that<br> + it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course, the +other<br> + woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the +unsympathetic<br> + sister or landlady. The crudest of writers could invent +nothing<br> + more crude."</p> + +<p>"Indeed your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," +said<br> + Holmes, taking the paper, and glancing his eye down it. "This +is<br> + the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged +in<br> + clearing up some small points in connection with it. The +husband<br> + was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct<br> + complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding +up<br> + every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at +his<br> + wife, which you will allow is not an action likely to occur to +the<br> + imagination of the average story teller. Take a pinch of +snuff,<br> + doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your<br> + example."</p> + +<p>He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in +the<br> + center of the lid. Its splendor was in such contrast to his +homely<br> + ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon +it.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some +weeks.<br> + It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia, in return for +my<br> + assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers."</p> + +<p>"And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant +which<br> + sparkled upon his finger.</p> + +<p>"It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter +in<br> + which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide +it<br> + even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two +of<br> + my little problems."</p> + +<p>"And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with +interest.</p> + +<p>"Some ten or twelve, but none which present any features +of<br> + interest. They are important, you understand, without being<br> + interesting. Indeed I have found that it is usually in +unimportant<br> + matters that there is a field for the observation, and for +the<br> + quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the charm to +an<br> + investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, +for<br> + the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, is the +motive.<br> + In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter which has +been<br> + referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing which presents +any<br> + features of interest. It is possible, however, that I may +have<br> + something better before very many minutes are over, for this is +one<br> + of my clients, or I am much mistaken."</p> + +<p>He had risen from his chair, and was standing between the +parted<br> + blinds, gazing down into the dull, neutral-tinted London +street.<br> + Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement +opposite<br> + there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, +and<br> + a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was +tilted<br> + in a coquettish Duchess-of-Devonshire fashion over her ear.</p> + +<p>From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous,<br> + hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated<br> + backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her +glove<br> + buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves +the<br> + bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang +of<br> + the bell.</p> + +<p>"I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing +his<br> + cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement +always<br> + means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not +sure<br> + that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And +yet<br> + even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been +seriously<br> + wronged by a man, she no longer oscillates, and the usual +symptom<br> + is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a +love<br> + matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed +or<br> + grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our +doubts."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, there was a tap at the door, and the boy in +buttons<br> + entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady +herself<br> + loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed +merchantman<br> + behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with +the<br> + easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and having closed +the<br> + door, and bowed her into an armchair, he looked her over in +the<br> + minute and yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him.</p> + +<p>"Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is +a<br> + little trying to do so much typewriting?"</p> + +<p>"I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the +letters<br> + are without looking." Then, suddenly realizing the full purport +of<br> + his words, she gave a violent start, and looked up with fear +and<br> + astonishment upon her broad, good-humored face. "You've +heard<br> + about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know +all<br> + that?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Holmes, laughing, "it is my business to +know<br> + things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others +overlook.<br> + If not, why should you come to consult me?"</p> + +<p>"I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. +Etherege,<br> + whose husband you found so easily when the police and everyone +had<br> + given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as +much<br> + for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my +own<br> + right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and I +would<br> + give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel."</p> + +<p>"Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" +asked<br> + Sherlock Holmes, with his finger tips together, and his eyes to +the<br> + ceiling.</p> + +<p>Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of +Miss<br> + Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she +said,<br> + "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. +Windibank--<br> + that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to the +police,<br> + and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he would do +nothing,<br> + and kept on saying that there was no harm done, it made me mad, +and<br> + I just on with my things and came right away to you."</p> + +<p>"Your father?" said Holmes. "Your stepfather, surely, since +the<br> + name is different."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds +funny,<br> + too, for he is only five years and two months older than +myself."</p> + +<p>"And your mother is alive?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, +Mr.<br> + Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and +a<br> + man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father +was<br> + a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy +business<br> + behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the +foreman;<br> + but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the business, for +he<br> + was very superior, being a traveler in wines. They got four<br> + thousand seven hundred for the good-will and interest, which +wasn't<br> + near as much as father could have got if he had been alive."</p> + +<p>I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this +rambling<br> + and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had<br> + listened with the greatest concentration of attention.</p> + +<p>"Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of +the<br> + business?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate, and was left me by my +Uncle<br> + Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying four and +half<br> + per cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but +I<br> + can only touch the interest."</p> + +<p>"You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw +so<br> + large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the<br> + bargain, you no doubt travel a little, and indulge yourself +in<br> + every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very +nicely<br> + upon an income of about sixty pounds."</p> + +<p>"I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you<br> + understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be +a<br> + burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while +I<br> + am staying with them. Of course that is only just for the +time.<br> + Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter, and pays it over +to<br> + mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I earn +at<br> + typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can often +do<br> + from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day."</p> + +<p>"You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. +"This<br> + is my friend, Doctor Watson, before whom you can speak as freely +as<br> + before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection +with<br> + Mr. Hosmer Angel."</p> + +<p>A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked +nervously<br> + at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the +gasfitters'<br> + ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets when he +was<br> + alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them +to<br> + mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He never did wish +us<br> + to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as +to<br> + join a Sunday School treat. But this time I was set on going, +and<br> + I would go, for what right had he to prevent? He said the +folk<br> + were not fit for us to know, when all father's friends were to +be<br> + there. And he said that I had nothing fit to wear, when I had +my<br> + purple plush that I had never so much as taken out of the +drawer.<br> + At last, when nothing else would do, he went off to France upon +the<br> + business of the firm; but we went, mother and I, with Mr. +Hardy,<br> + who used to be our foreman, and it was there I met Mr. +Hosmer<br> + Angel."</p> + +<p><br> + "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back +from<br> + France, he was very annoyed at your having gone to the +ball?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, +and<br> + shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying +anything<br> + to a woman, for she would have her way."</p> + +<p>"I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, +a<br> + gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask +if<br> + we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is +to<br> + say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that +father<br> + came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the +house<br> + any more."</p> + +<p>"No?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you know, father didn't like anything of the sort. +He<br> + wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to +say<br> + that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But +then,<br> + as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to +begin<br> + with, and I had not got mine yet."</p> + +<p>"But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to +see<br> + you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and +Hosmer<br> + wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see +each<br> + other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and +he<br> + used to write every day. I took the letters in the morning, +so<br> + there was no need for father to know."</p> + +<p>"Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk +that we<br> + took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in +Leadenhall<br> + Street--and--"</p> + +<p>"What office?"</p> + +<p>"That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes; I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Where did he live, then?"</p> + +<p>"He slept on the premises."</p> + +<p>"And you don't know his address?"</p> + +<p>"No--except that it was Leadenhall Street."</p> + +<p>"Where did you address your letters, then?"</p> + +<p>"To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called +for.<br> + He said that if they were sent to the office he would be chaffed +by<br> + all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, so I +offered<br> + to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have that, +for<br> + he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come from me, +but<br> + when they were typewritten he always felt that the machine had +come<br> + between us. That will just show you how fond he was of me, +Mr.<br> + Holmes, and the little things that he would think of."</p> + +<p>"It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an +axiom<br> + of mine that the little things are infinitely the most +important.<br> + Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer +Angel?"</p> + +<p>"He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with +me<br> + in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated +to<br> + be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even +his<br> + voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when +he<br> + was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat +and a<br> + hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always well<br> + dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as +mine<br> + are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare."</p> + +<p>"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your +stepfather,<br> + returned to France?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again, and proposed that +we<br> + should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful +earnest,<br> + and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that +whatever<br> + happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was +quite<br> + right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his +passion.<br> + Mother was all in his favor from the first, and was even fonder +of<br> + him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within +the<br> + week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to +mind<br> + about father, but just to tell him afterwards and mother said +she<br> + would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like that, +Mr.<br> + Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as he +was<br> + only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do anything +on<br> + the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the company +has<br> + its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the +very<br> + morning of the wedding."</p> + +<p>"It missed him, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, for he had started to England just before it +arrived."</p> + +<p>"Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, +for<br> + the Friday. Was it to be in church?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, +near<br> + King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the +St.<br> + Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there +were<br> + two of us, he put us both into it, and stepped himself into a +four-<br> + wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the street. +We<br> + got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler drove up +we<br> + waited for him to step out, but he never did, and when the +cabman<br> + got down from the box and looked, there was no one there! +The<br> + cabman said that he could not imagine what had become of him, +for<br> + he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was last +Friday,<br> + Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything since then +to<br> + throw any light upon what became of him."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," +said<br> + Holmes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, +all<br> + the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was +to<br> + be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred +to<br> + separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to +him,<br> + and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It +seemed<br> + strange talk for a wedding morning, but what has happened +since<br> + gives a meaning to it."</p> + +<p>"Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that +some<br> + unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he +would<br> + not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw<br> + happened."</p> + +<p>"But you have no notion as to what it could have been?"</p> + +<p>"None."</p> + +<p>"One more question. How did your mother take the matter?"</p> + +<p>"She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the +matter<br> + again."</p> + +<p>"And your father? Did you tell him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and he seemed to think, with me, that something had +happened,<br> + and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, what +interest<br> + could anyone have in bringing me to the door of the church, +and<br> + then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my money, or if he +had<br> + married me and got my money settled on him, there might be +some<br> + reason; but Hosmer was very independent about money, and +never<br> + would look at a shilling of mine. And yet what could have<br> + happened? And why could he not write? Oh! it drives me half +mad<br> + to think of, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She pulled +a<br> + little handkerchief out of her muff, and began to sob heavily +into<br> + it.</p> + +<p>"I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, +"and I<br> + have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let +the<br> + weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your +mind<br> + dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer +Angel<br> + vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life."</p> + +<p>"Then you don't think I'll see him again?"</p> + +<p>"I fear not."</p> + +<p>"Then what has happened to him?"</p> + +<p>"You will leave that question in my hands. I should like +an<br> + accurate description of him, and any letters of his which you +can<br> + spare."</p> + +<p>"I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said +she.<br> + "Here is the slip, and here are four letters from him."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. And your address?"</p> + +<p>"No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is +your<br> + father's place of business?"</p> + +<p>"He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret +importers of<br> + Fenchurch Street."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You +will<br> + leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have +given<br> + you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow +it<br> + to affect your life."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall +be<br> + true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back."</p> + +<p>For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there +was<br> + something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which +compelled<br> + our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the +table,<br> + and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever she +might<br> + be summoned.</p> + +<p>Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his finger +tips<br> + still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, +and<br> + his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down +from<br> + the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a<br> + counselor, and, having lighted it, he leaned back in his +chair,<br> + with thick blue cloud wreaths spinning up from him, and a look +of<br> + infinite languor in his face.</p> + +<p>"Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I +found<br> + her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, +is<br> + rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you +consult<br> + my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the sort +at<br> + The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, there were +one<br> + or two details which were new to me. But the maiden herself +was<br> + most instructive."</p> + +<p>"You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite<br> + invisible to me," I remarked.</p> + +<p>"Not invisible, but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where +to<br> + look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never +bring<br> + you to realize the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness +of<br> + thumb nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot +lace.<br> + Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? +Describe<br> + it."</p> + +<p>"Well, she had a slate-colored, broad-brimmed straw hat, with +a<br> + feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black +beads<br> + sewed upon it and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. +Her<br> + dress was brown, rather darker than coffee color, with a +little<br> + purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were grayish, +and<br> + were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I +didn't<br> + observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a +general<br> + air of being fairly well-to-do, in a vulgar, comfortable, +easygoing<br> + way."</p> + +<p>Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and +chuckled.</p> + +<p>"'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You +have<br> + really done very well indeed. It is true that you have +missed<br> + everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and +you<br> + have a quick eye for color. Never trust to general impressions, +my<br> + boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My first glance +is<br> + always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is perhaps better first +to<br> + take the knee of the trouser. As you observe, this woman had +plush<br> + upon her sleeve, which is a most useful material for showing<br> + traces. The double line a little above the wrist, where the<br> + typewritist presses against the table, was beautifully +defined.<br> + The sewing machine, of the hand type, leaves a similar mark, +but<br> + only on the left arm, and on the side of it farthest from +the<br> + thumb, instead of being right across the broadest part, as +this<br> + was. I then glanced at her face, and observing the dint of a<br> + pince-nez at either side of her nose, I ventured a remark +upon<br> + short sight and typewriting, which seemed to surprise her."</p> + +<p>"It surprised me."</p> + +<p>"But, surely, it was very obvious. I was then much surprised +and<br> + interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots +which<br> + she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were really +odd<br> + ones, the one having a slightly decorated toe cap and the other +a<br> + plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower buttons out +of<br> + five, and the other at the first, third, and fifth. Now, when +you<br> + see that a young lady, otherwise neatly dressed, has come away +from<br> + home with odd boots, half-buttoned, it is no great deduction to +say<br> + that she came away in a hurry."</p> + +<p><br> + "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by +my<br> + friend's incisive reasoning.</p> + +<p>"I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before +leaving<br> + home, but after being fully dressed. You observed that her +right<br> + glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not, apparently, +see<br> + that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She +had<br> + written in a hurry, and dipped her pen too deep. It must have +been<br> + this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the +finger.<br> + All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go +back<br> + to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the +advertised<br> + description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?"</p> + +<p>I held the little printed slip to the light. "Missing," it +said,<br> + "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman named Hosmer +Angel.<br> + About five feet seven inches in height; strongly built, +sallow<br> + complexion, black hair, a little bald in the center, bushy +black<br> + side-whiskers and mustache; tinted glasses; slight infirmity +of<br> + speech. Was dressed, when last seen, in black frock-coat +faced<br> + with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain, and gray +Harris<br> + tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over elastic-sided boots. +Known<br> + to have been employed in an office in Leadenhall Street. +Anybody<br> + bringing," etc., etc.</p> + +<p>"That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he +continued,<br> + glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no +clew<br> + in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There +is<br> + one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike +you."</p> + +<p>"They are typewritten," I remarked.</p> + +<p>"Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the +neat<br> + little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you see, +but<br> + no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is rather +vague.<br> + The point about the signature is very suggestive--in fact, we +may<br> + call it conclusive."</p> + +<p>"Of what?"</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly +it<br> + bears upon the case?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot say that I do, unless it were that he wished to be +able<br> + to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise +were<br> + instituted."</p> + +<p>"No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two +letters<br> + which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, +the<br> + other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking +him<br> + whether he could meet us here at six o'clock to-morrow evening. +It<br> + is just as well that we should do business with the male +relatives.<br> + And now, doctor, we can do nothing until the answers to +those<br> + letters come, so we may put our little problem upon the shelf +for<br> + the interim."</p> + +<p>I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle +powers<br> + of reasoning, and extraordinary energy in action, that I felt +that<br> + he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy +demeanor<br> + with which he treated the singular mystery which he had been +called<br> + upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the case +of<br> + the King of Bohemia and the Irene Adler photograph, but when +I<br> + looked back to the weird business of the "Sign of the Four," +and<br> + the extraordinary circumstances connected with the "Study in<br> + Scarlet," I felt that it would be a strange tangle indeed which +he<br> + could not unravel.</p> + +<p>I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with +the<br> + conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would +find<br> + that he held in his hands all the clews which would lead up to +the<br> + identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary +Sutherland.</p> + +<p>A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own +attention<br> + at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the bedside +of<br> + the sufferer. It was not until close upon six o'clock that I +found<br> + myself free, and was able to spring into a hansom and drive +to<br> + Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too late to assist at +the<br> + denouement of the little mystery. I found Sherlock Holmes +alone,<br> + however, half asleep, with his long, thin form curled up in +the<br> + recesses of his armchair. A formidable array of bottles and +test-<br> + tubes, with the pungent, cleanly smell of hydrochloric acid, +told<br> + me that he had spent his day in the chemical work which was so +dear<br> + to him.</p> + +<p>"Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered.</p> + +<p>"Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta."</p> + +<p>"No, no; the mystery!" I cried.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working +upon.<br> + There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said<br> + yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only +drawback<br> + is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the +scoundrel."</p> + +<p>"Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting +Miss<br> + Sutherland?"</p> + +<p>The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not +yet<br> + opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in +the<br> + passage, and a tap at the door.</p> + +<p>"This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said +Holmes.<br> + "He has written to me to say that he would be here at six. +Come<br> + in!"</p> + +<p>The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some +thirty<br> + years of age, clean shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a +bland,<br> + insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and +penetrating<br> + gray eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of us, placed +his<br> + shiny top hat upon the sideboard, and, with a slight bow, +sidled<br> + down into the nearest chair.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think +this<br> + typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an +appointment<br> + with me for six o'clock?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not +quite<br> + my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland has<br> + troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far +better<br> + not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite against +my<br> + wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, impulsive +girl,<br> + as you may have noticed, and she is not easily controlled when +she<br> + has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I did not mind you +so<br> + much, as you are not connected with the official police, but it +is<br> + not pleasant to have a family misfortune like this noised +abroad.<br> + Besides, it is a useless expense, for how could you possibly +find<br> + this Hosmer Angel?"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," said Holmes, quietly, "I have every reason +to<br> + believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer +Angel."</p> + +<p>Mr. Windibank gave a violent start, and dropped his gloves. "I +am<br> + delighted to hear it," he said.</p> + +<p>"It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter +has<br> + really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. +Unless<br> + they are quite new no two of them write exactly alike. Some<br> + letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one +side.<br> + Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that in +every<br> + case there is some little slurring over the e, and a slight +defect<br> + in the tail of the r. There are fourteen other +characteristics,<br> + but those are the more obvious."</p> + +<p>"We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, +and<br> + no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, +glancing<br> + keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes.</p> + +<p>"And now I will show you what is really a very interesting +study,<br> + Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing +another<br> + little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and +its<br> + relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted +some<br> + little attention. I have here four letters which purport to +come<br> + from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, +not<br> + only are the e's slurred and the r's tailless, but you will<br> + observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the +fourteen<br> + other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as +well."</p> + +<p>Mr. Windibank sprung out of his chair, and picked up his hat. +"I<br> + cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," +he<br> + said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know +when<br> + you have done it."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in +the<br> + door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!"</p> + +<p>"What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his +lips,<br> + and glancing about him like a rat in a trap.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes, suavely. +"There<br> + is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite +too<br> + transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that +it<br> + was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's +right!<br> + Sit down, and let us talk it over."</p> + +<p>Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face, and +a<br> + glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," +he<br> + stammered.</p> + +<p>"I am very much afraid that it is not; but between +ourselves,<br> + Windibank, it was as cruel, and selfish, and heartless a trick +in a<br> + petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over +the<br> + course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong."</p> + +<p>The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon +his<br> + breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet +up<br> + on the corner of the mantelpiece, and, leaning back with his +hands<br> + in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it +seemed,<br> + than to us.</p> + +<p>"The man married a woman very much older than himself for +her<br> + money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the<br> + daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a +considerable<br> + sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would +have<br> + made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve +it.<br> + The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but +affectionate<br> + and warmhearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with +her<br> + fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would not +be<br> + allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would mean, +of<br> + course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her +stepfather<br> + do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of keeping her +at<br> + home, and forbidding her to seek the company of people of her +own<br> + age. But soon he found that that would not answer forever. +She<br> + became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced +her<br> + positive intention of going to a certain ball. What does her<br> + clever stepfather do then? He conceives an idea more creditable +to<br> + his head than to his heart. With the connivance and assistance +of<br> + his wife, he disguised himself, covered those keen eyes with +tinted<br> + glasses, masked the face with a mustache and a pair of bushy<br> + whiskers, sunk that clear voice into an insinuating whisper, +and<br> + doubly secure on account of the girl's short sight, he appears +as<br> + Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other lovers by making love<br> + himself."</p> + +<p>"It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We +never<br> + thought that she would have been so carried away."</p> + +<p>"Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was +very<br> + decidedly carried away, and having quite made up her mind that +her<br> + stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for +an<br> + instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the +gentleman's<br> + attentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly +expressed<br> + admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began to call, for it +was<br> + obvious that the matter should be pushed as far as if would go, +if<br> + a real effect were to be produced. There were meetings, and +an<br> + engagement, which would finally secure the girl's affections +from<br> + turning toward anyone else. But the deception could not be kept +up<br> + forever. These pretended journeys to France were rather +cumbrous.<br> + The thing to do was clearly to bring the business to an end in +such<br> + a dramatic manner that it would leave a permanent impression +upon<br> + the young lady's mind, and prevent her from looking upon any +other<br> + suitor for some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity +exacted<br> + upon a Testament, and hence also the allusions to a possibility +of<br> + something happening on the very morning of the wedding. +James<br> + Windibank wished Miss Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer +Angel,<br> + and so uncertain as to his fate, that for ten years to come, at +any<br> + rate, she would not listen to another man. As far as the +church<br> + door he brought her, and then, as he could go no farther, he<br> + conveniently vanished away by the old trick of stepping in at +one<br> + door of a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that that +was<br> + the chain of events, Mr. Windibank!"</p> + +<br> +Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while +Holmes<br> +had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold +sneer<br> +upon his pale face. + +<p>"It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he; "but if +you are<br> + so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is +you<br> + who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done +nothing<br> + actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door +locked<br> + you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal<br> + constraint."</p> + +<p>"The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, +unlocking and<br> + throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who +deserved<br> + punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, +he<br> + ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" he +continued,<br> + flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's +face,<br> + "it is not part of my duties to my client, but here's a +hunting<br> + crop handy, and I think I shall just treat myself to--" He +took<br> + two swift steps to the whip, but before he could grasp it there +was<br> + a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy hall door<br> + banged, and from the window we could see Mr. James Windibank<br> + running at the top of his speed down the road.</p> + +<p>"There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing as +he<br> + threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow +will<br> + rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad and +ends<br> + on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not +entirely<br> + devoid of interest."</p> + +<p>"I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," +I<br> + remarked.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. +Hosmer<br> + Angel must have some strong object for his curious conduct, and +it<br> + was equally clear that the only man who really profited by +the<br> + incident, as far as we could see, was the stepfather. Then +the<br> + fact that the two men were never together, but that the one +always<br> + appeared when the other was away, was suggestive. So were +the<br> + tinted spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted at +a<br> + disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My suspicions were all<br> + confirmed by his peculiar action in typewriting his +signature,<br> + which, of course, inferred that his handwriting was so familiar +to<br> + her that she would recognize even the smallest sample of it. +You<br> + see all these isolated facts, together with many minor ones, +all<br> + pointed in the same direction."</p> + +<p>"And how did you verify them?"</p> + +<p>"Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. +I<br> + knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the +printed<br> + description, I eliminated everything from it which could be +the<br> + result of a disguise,--the whiskers, the glasses, the +voice,--and I<br> + sent it to the firm with a request that they would inform me<br> + whether it answered to the description of any of their +travelers.<br> + I had already noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter, and +I<br> + wrote to the man himself at his business address, asking him if +he<br> + would come here. As I expected, his reply was typewritten, +and<br> + revealed the same trivial but characteristic defects. The +same<br> + post brought me a letter from Westhouse & Marbank, of +Fenchurch<br> + Street, to say that the description tallied in every respect +with<br> + that of their employee, James Windibank. Voila tout!"</p> + +<p>"And Miss Sutherland?"</p> + +<p>"If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the +old<br> + Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger +cub,<br> + and danger also for whoso snatcheth a delusion from a +woman.'<br> + There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much +knowledge<br> + of the world."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>A Scandal in Bohemia</h2> + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p><br> + To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom +heard<br> + him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses +and<br> + predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt +any<br> + emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that +one<br> + particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but +admirably<br> + balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning +and<br> + observing machine that the world has seen; but as a lover, he +would<br> + have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of +the<br> + softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were +admirable<br> + things for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from +men's<br> + motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit +such<br> + intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted +temperament<br> + was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a +doubt<br> + upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or +a<br> + crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more<br> + disturbing that a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And +yet<br> + there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late +Irene<br> + Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.</p> + +<p><br> + I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted +us<br> + away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the +home-<br> + centered interests which rise up around the man who first +finds<br> + himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to +absorb<br> + all my attention; while Holmes, who loathed every form of +society<br> + with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in +Baker<br> + Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week +to<br> + week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug +and<br> + the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, as +ever,<br> + deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his +immense<br> + faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following +out<br> + those clews, and clearing up those mysteries, which had been<br> + abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to time +I<br> + heard some vague account of his doings; of his summons to Odessa +in<br> + the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of the +singular<br> + tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, and finally of +the<br> + mission which he had accomplished so delicately and +successfully<br> + for the reigning family of Holland. Beyond these signs of +his<br> + activity, however, which I merely shared with all the readers +of<br> + the daily press, I knew little of my former friend and +companion.</p> + +<p>One night--it was on the 20th of March, 1888--I was returning +from<br> + a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil +practice),<br> + when my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the +well-<br> + remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with +my<br> + wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Study in Scarlet, I +was<br> + seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and to know how +he<br> + was employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were +brilliantly<br> + lighted, and even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure +pass<br> + twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing +the<br> + room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest, and +his<br> + hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and<br> + habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was +at<br> + work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams, and +was<br> + hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell, and +was<br> + shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my +own.</p> + +<p>His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, +I<br> + think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a +kindly<br> + eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of +cigars,<br> + and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then +he<br> + stood before the fire, and looked me over in his singular<br> + introspective fashion.</p> + +<p>"Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you +have<br> + put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you."</p> + +<p>"Seven," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle +more,<br> + I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did +not<br> + tell me that you intended to go into harness."</p> + +<p>"Then how do you know?"</p> + +<p>"I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been +getting<br> + yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy +and<br> + careless servant girl?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would +certainly<br> + have been burned had you lived a few centuries ago. It is +true<br> + that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a +dreadful<br> + mess; but as I have changed my clothes, I can't imagine how +you<br> + deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife +has<br> + given her notice; but there again I fail to see how you work +it<br> + out."</p> + +<p>He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long nervous hands +together.</p> + +<p>"It is simplicity itself," said he, "my eyes tell me that on +the<br> + inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, +the<br> + leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they +have<br> + been caused by some one who has very carelessly scraped round +the<br> + edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. +Hence,<br> + you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile +weather,<br> + and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slicking specimen +of<br> + the London slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks +into<br> + my rooms, smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate +of<br> + silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the side of +his<br> + top hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must +be<br> + dull indeed if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of +the<br> + medical profession."</p> + +<p>I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained +his<br> + process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I<br> + remarked, "the thing always appears to me so ridiculously +simple<br> + that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive<br> + instance of your reasoning I am baffled, until you explain +your<br> + process. And yet, I believe that my eyes are as good as +yours."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing +himself<br> + down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. The<br> + distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen +the<br> + steps which lead up from the hall to this room."</p> + +<p>"Frequently."</p> + +<p>"How often?"</p> + +<p>"Well, some hundreds of times."</p> + +<p>"Then how many are there?"</p> + +<p>"How many? I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That +is<br> + just my point. Now, I know there are seventeen steps, because +I<br> + have both seen and observed. By the way, since you are +interested<br> + in these little problems, and since you are good enough to<br> + chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be<br> + interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick +pink-tinted<br> + note paper which had been lying open upon the table. "It came +by<br> + the last post," said he. "Read it aloud."</p> + +<p>The note was undated, and without either signature or +address.</p> + +<p>"There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight +o'clock,"<br> + it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter +of<br> + the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the +royal<br> + houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely +be<br> + trusted with matters which are of an importance which can hardly +be<br> + exaggerated. This account of you we have from all quarters<br> + received. Be in your chamber, then, at that hour, and do not +take<br> + it amiss if your visitor wears a mask."</p> + +<p>"This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine +that<br> + it means?"</p> + +<p>"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize +before<br> + one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit<br> + theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note +itself--<br> + what do you deduce from it?"</p> + +<p>I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it +was<br> + written.</p> + +<p>"The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I +remarked,<br> + endeavoring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper +could<br> + not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly +strong<br> + and stiff."</p> + +<p>"Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not +an<br> + English paper at all. Hold it up to the light."</p> + +<p>I did so, and saw a large E with a small g, a P and a large G +with<br> + a small t woven into the texture of the paper.</p> + +<p>"What do you make of that?" asked Holmes.</p> + +<p>"The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, +rather."</p> + +<p>"Not all. The G with the small t stands for 'Gesellschaft,' +which<br> + is the German for 'Company.' It is a customary contraction +like<br> + our 'Co.' P, of course, stands for 'Papier.' Now for the Eg. +Let<br> + us glance at our 'Continental Gazetteer." He took down a +heavy<br> + brown volume from his shelves. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we +are,<br> + Egria. It is in a German-speaking country--in Bohemia, not +far<br> + from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being the scene of the death +of<br> + Wallenstein, and for its numerous glass factories and paper +mills.'<br> + Ha! ha! my boy, what do you make of that?" His eyes sparkled, +and<br> + he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette.</p> + +<p>"The paper was made in Bohemia," I said.</p> + +<p>"Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do +you<br> + note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account +of<br> + you we have from all quarters received'? A Frenchman or +Russian<br> + could not have written that. It is the German who is so<br> + uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to +discover<br> + what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper, +and<br> + prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, +if<br> + I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts."</p> + +<p>As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and +grating<br> + wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the +bell.<br> + Holmes whistled.</p> + +<p>"A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing +out<br> + of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of beauties. +A<br> + hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in this +case,<br> + Watson, if there is nothing else."</p> + +<p>"I think I had better go, Holmes."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit, doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without +my<br> + Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a +pity<br> + to miss it."</p> + +<p>"But your client--"</p> + +<p>"Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here +he<br> + comes. Sit down in that armchair, doctor, and give us your +best<br> + attention."</p> + +<p>A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs +and in<br> + the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was +a<br> + loud and authoritative tap.</p> + +<p>"Come in!" said Holmes.</p> + +<p>A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet +six<br> + inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. +His<br> + dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be +looked<br> + upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were +slashed<br> + across the sleeves and front of his double-breasted coat, while +the<br> + deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined +with<br> + flame-colored silk, and secured at the neck with a brooch +which<br> + consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended +halfway<br> + up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with rich +brown<br> + fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence which was<br> + suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a broad-brimmed +hat<br> + in his hand, while he wore across the upper part of his +face,<br> + extending down past the cheek-bones, a black visard mask, which +he<br> + had apparently adjusted that very moment, for his hand was +still<br> + raised to it as he entered. From the lower part of the face +he<br> + appeared to be a man of strong character, with a thick, +hanging<br> + lip, and a long, straight chin, suggestive of resolution pushed +to<br> + the length of obstinacy.</p> + +<p>"You had my note?" he asked, with a deep, harsh voice and +a<br> + strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." +He<br> + looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to<br> + address.</p> + +<p><br> + "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and +colleague,<br> + Doctor Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me in +my<br> + cases. Whom have I the honor to address?"</p> + +<p>"You may address me as the Count von Kramm, a Bohemian +nobleman. I<br> + understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honor +and<br> + discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most +extreme<br> + importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate with +you<br> + alone."</p> + +<p>I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me +back<br> + into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say<br> + before this gentleman anything which you may say to me."</p> + +<p>The count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," +said<br> + he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at +the<br> + end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At +present<br> + it is not too much to say that it is of such weight that it +may<br> + have an influence upon European history."</p> + +<p>"I promise," said Holmes.</p> + +<p>"And I."</p> + +<p>"You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. +"The<br> + august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to +you,<br> + and I may confess at once that the title by which I have +just<br> + called myself is not exactly my own."</p> + +<p>"I was aware of it," said Holmes, dryly.</p> + +<p>"The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution +has<br> + to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense scandal, +and<br> + seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Europe. +To<br> + speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House of +Ormstein,<br> + hereditary kings of Bohemia."</p> + +<p>"I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself +down<br> + in his armchair, and closing his eyes.</p> + +<p>Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the +languid,<br> + lounging figure of the man who had been, no doubt, depicted to +him<br> + as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in +Europe.<br> + Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at +his<br> + gigantic client.</p> + +<p>"If your majesty would condescend to state your case," he +remarked,<br> + "I should be better able to advise you."</p> + +<p>The man sprung from his chair, and paced up and down the room +in<br> + uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, +he<br> + tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground.</p> + +<p>"You are right," he cried, "I am the king. Why should I +attempt to<br> + conceal it?"</p> + +<p>"Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your majesty had not +spoken<br> + before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich<br> + Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and<br> + hereditary King of Bohemia."</p> + +<p>"But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting +down<br> + once more and passing his hand over his high, white forehead, +"you<br> + can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business +in<br> + my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could +not<br> + confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I +have<br> + come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting +you."</p> + +<p>"Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once +more.</p> + +<p>"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a +lengthy<br> + visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known<br> + adventuress Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to +you."</p> + +<p>"Kindly look her up in my index, doctor," murmured Holmes, +without<br> + opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system for<br> + docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it +was<br> + difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not +at<br> + once furnish information. In this case I found her biography<br> + sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a +staff<br> + commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea +fishes.</p> + +<p>"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the +year<br> + 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala--hum! Prima donna Imperial +Opera<br> + of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in<br> + London--quite so! Your majesty, as I understand, became +entangled<br> + with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and +is<br> + now desirous of getting those letters back."</p> + +<p>"Precisely so. But how--"</p> + +<p>"Was there a secret marriage?"</p> + +<p>"None."</p> + +<p>"No legal papers or certificates?"</p> + +<p>"None."</p> + +<p>"Then I fail to follow your majesty. If this young person +should<br> + produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is +she<br> + to prove their authenticity?"</p> + +<p>"There is the writing."</p> + +<p>"Pooh-pooh! Forgery."</p> + +<p>"My private note paper."</p> + +<p>"Stolen."</p> + +<p>"My own seal."</p> + +<p>"Imitated."</p> + +<p>"My photograph."</p> + +<p>"Bought."</p> + +<p>"We were both in the photograph."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! That is very bad. Your majesty has indeed committed +an<br> + indiscretion."</p> + +<p>"I was mad--insane."</p> + +<p>"You have compromised yourself seriously."</p> + +<p>"I was only crown prince then. I was young. I am but thirty +now."</p> + +<p>"It must be recovered."</p> + +<p>"We have tried and failed."</p> + +<p>"Your majesty must pay. It must be bought."</p> + +<p>"She will not sell."</p> + +<p>"Stolen, then."</p> + +<p>"Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay +ransacked<br> + her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she traveled. +Twice<br> + she has been waylaid. There has been no result."</p> + +<p>"No sign of it?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely none."</p> + +<p>Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said +he.</p> + +<p>"But a very serious one to me," returned the king, +reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the<br> + photograph?"</p> + +<p>"To ruin me."</p> + +<p>"But how?"</p> + +<p>"I am about to be married."</p> + +<p>"So I have heard."</p> + +<p>"To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meiningen, second daughter of +the<br> + King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of +her<br> + family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of +a<br> + doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end."</p> + +<p>"And Irene Adler?"</p> + +<p>"Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. +I<br> + know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a +soul<br> + of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women and +the<br> + mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry<br> + another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not +go--<br> + none."</p> + +<p>"You are sure she has not sent it yet?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure."</p> + +<p>"And why?"</p> + +<p>"Because she has said that she would send it on the day when +the<br> + betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next +Monday."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes, with a yawn. +"That<br> + is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance +to<br> + look into just at present. Your majesty will, of course, stay +in<br> + London for the present?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. You will find me at the Langham, under the name of +the<br> + Count von Kramm."</p> + +<p>"Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we +progress."</p> + +<p>"Pray do so; I shall be all anxiety."</p> + +<p>"Then, as to money?"</p> + +<p>"You have carte blanche."</p> + +<p>"Absolutely?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my +kingdom to<br> + have that photograph."</p> + +<p>"And for present expenses?"</p> + +<p>The king took a heavy chamois-leather bag from under his +cloak, and<br> + laid it on the table.</p> + +<p>"There are three hundred pounds in gold, and seven hundred +in<br> + notes," he said.</p> + +<p>Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his notebook, and +handed<br> + it to him.</p> + +<p>"And mademoiselle's address?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood."</p> + +<p>Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he,<br> + thoughtfully. "Was the photograph a cabinet?"</p> + +<p>"It was."</p> + +<p>"Then, good-night, your majesty, and I trust that we shall +soon<br> + have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, +as<br> + the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If +you<br> + will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon, at three +o'clock,<br> + I should like to chat this little matter over with you."</p> + +<h3><br> + II</h3> + +<p><br> + At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes +had<br> + not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left +the<br> + house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down<br> + beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting +him,<br> + however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in +his<br> + inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim +and<br> + strange features which were associated with the two crimes which +I<br> + have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the<br> + exalted station of his client gave it a character of its +own.<br> + Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my +friend<br> + had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a<br> + situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a<br> + pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow +the<br> + quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most<br> + inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his +invariable<br> + success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased +to<br> + enter into my head.</p> + +<p><br> + It was close upon four before the door opened, and a +drunken-<br> + looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed +face<br> + and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as +I<br> + was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of disguises, I had +to<br> + look three times before I was certain that it was indeed he. +With<br> + a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he emerged in +five<br> + minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Putting his +hands<br> + into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the +fire,<br> + and laughed heartily for some minutes.</p> + +<p>"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked, and laughed +again<br> + until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the +chair.</p> + +<p>"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how +I<br> + employed my morning, or what I ended by doing."</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching +the<br> + habits, and, perhaps, the house, of Miss Irene Adler."</p> + +<p>"Quite so, but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell +you,<br> + however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this<br> + morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a<br> + wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one +of<br> + them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon +found<br> + Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, +but<br> + built out in the front right up to the road, two stories. +Chubb<br> + lock to the door. Large sitting room on the right side, well<br> + furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those<br> + preposterous English window fasteners which a child could +open.<br> + Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage +window<br> + could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked +round<br> + it and examined it closely from every point of view, but +without<br> + noting anything else of interest.</p> + +<p>"I then lounged down the street, and found, as I expected, +that<br> + there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of +the<br> + garden. I lent the hostlers a hand in rubbing down their +horses,<br> + and I received in exchange two-pence, a glass of half and half, +two<br> + fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could +desire<br> + about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people +in<br> + the neighborhood, in whom I was not in the least interested, +but<br> + whose biographies I was compelled to listen to."</p> + +<p>"And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She +is<br> + the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say +the<br> + Serpentine Mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at +concerts,<br> + drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for<br> + dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she +sings.<br> + Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is +dark,<br> + handsome, and dashing; never calls less than once a day, and +often<br> + twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton of the Inner Temple. See +the<br> + advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him home +a<br> + dozen times from Serpentine Mews, and knew all about him. When +I<br> + had listened to all that they had to tell, I began to walk up +and<br> + down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan +of<br> + campaign.</p> + +<p>"This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in +the<br> + matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the<br> + relation between them, and what the object of his repeated +visits?<br> + Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the +former,<br> + she had probably transferred the photograph to his keeping. If +the<br> + latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this question +depended<br> + whether I should continue my work at Briony Lodge, or turn +my<br> + attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Temple. It was +a<br> + delicate point, and it widened the field of my inquiry. I +fear<br> + that I bore you with these details, but I have to let you see +my<br> + little difficulties, if you are to understand the +situation."</p> + +<p>"I am following you closely," I answered.</p> + +<p>"I was still balancing the matter in my mind, when a hansom +cab<br> + drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprung out. He was +a<br> + remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and +mustached--evidently<br> + the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a great +hurry,<br> + shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the maid who +opened<br> + the door, with the air of a man who was thoroughly at home.</p> + +<p>"He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch +glimpses<br> + of him in the windows of the sitting room, pacing up and +down,<br> + talking excitedly and waving his arms. Of her I could see +nothing.<br> + Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than before. +As<br> + he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his +pocket<br> + and looked at it earnestly. 'Drive like the devil!' he +shouted,<br> + 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the +Church<br> + of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if you do it +in<br> + twenty minutes!'</p> + +<p>"Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not +do<br> + well to follow them, when up the lane came a neat little +landau,<br> + the coachman with his coat only half buttoned, and his tie +under<br> + his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of +the<br> + buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall +door<br> + and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but +she<br> + was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.</p> + +<p>"'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried; 'and half a +sovereign<br> + if you reach it in twenty minutes.'</p> + +<p>"This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just +balancing<br> + whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind +her<br> + landau, when a cab came through the street. The driver +looked<br> + twice at such a shabby fare; but I jumped in before he could<br> + object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a +sovereign<br> + if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes +to<br> + twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the +wind.</p> + +<p>"My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but +the<br> + others were there before us. The cab and landau with their<br> + steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I +paid<br> + the man, and hurried into the church. There was not a soul +there<br> + save the two whom I had followed, and a surpliced clergyman, +who<br> + seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three +standing<br> + in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side aisle +like<br> + any other idler who has dropped into a church. Suddenly, to +my<br> + surprise, the three at the altar faced round to me, and +Godfrey<br> + Norton came running as hard as he could toward me.</p> + +<p>"'Thank God!' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!'</p> + +<p>"'What then?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Come, man, come; only three minutes, or it won't be +legal.'</p> + +<p>"I was half dragged up to the altar, and, before I knew where +I<br> + was, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in +my<br> + ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and +generally<br> + assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, +to<br> + Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and +there<br> + was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady on +the<br> + other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the +most<br> + preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my life, +and<br> + it was the thought of it that started me laughing just now. +It<br> + seems that there had been some informality about their +license;<br> + that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without +a<br> + witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved the<br> + bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in search +of a<br> + best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to wear it +on<br> + my watch chain in memory of the occasion."</p> + +<p>"This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and +what<br> + then?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as +if<br> + the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate +very<br> + prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church +door,<br> + however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and she +to<br> + her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as +usual,'<br> + she said, as she left him. I heard no more. They drove away +in<br> + different directions, and I went off to make my own +arrangements."</p> + +<p>"Which are?"</p> + +<p>"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing +the<br> + bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely +to<br> + be busier still this evening. By the way, doctor, I shall +want<br> + your cooperation."</p> + +<p>"I shall be delighted."</p> + +<p>"You don't mind breaking the law?"</p> + +<p>"Not in the least."</p> + +<p>"Nor running a chance of arrest?"</p> + +<p>"Not in a good cause."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the cause is excellent!"</p> + +<p>"Then I am your man."</p> + +<p>"I was sure that I might rely on you."</p> + +<p>"But what is it you wish?"</p> + +<p>"When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear +to<br> + you. Now," he said, as he turned hungrily on the simple fare +that<br> + our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for +I<br> + have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we +must<br> + be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, +returns<br> + from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet +her."</p> + +<p>"And what then?"</p> + +<p>"You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is +to<br> + occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You +must<br> + not interfere, come what may. You understand?"</p> + +<p>"I am to be neutral?"</p> + +<p>"To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small<br> + unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being<br> + conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the<br> + sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself +close<br> + to that open window."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room +what I<br> + give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry +of<br> + fire. You quite follow me?"</p> + +<p>"Entirely."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long, +cigar-<br> + shaped roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's +smoke-<br> + rocket, fitted with a cap at either end, to make it +self-lighting.<br> + Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, +it<br> + will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then walk +to<br> + the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. +I<br> + hope that I have made myself clear?"</p> + +<p>"I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, +and,<br> + at the signal, to throw in this object, then to raise the cry +of<br> + fire and to wait you at the corner of the street."</p> + +<p>"Precisely."</p> + +<p>"Then you may entirely rely on me."</p> + +<p>"That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that +I<br> + prepared for the new role I have to play."</p> + +<p>He disappeared into his bedroom, and returned in a few minutes +in<br> + the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist<br> + clergyman. His broad, black hat, his baggy trousers, his +white<br> + tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and<br> + benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could +have<br> + equaled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. +His<br> + expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with +every<br> + fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even +as<br> + science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist +in<br> + crime.</p> + +<p>It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it +still<br> + wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in<br> + Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were +just<br> + being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony +Lodge,<br> + waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such +as<br> + I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes's succinct description, +but<br> + the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On +the<br> + contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighborhood, it was<br> + remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed +men<br> + smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors grinder with +his<br> + wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse girl, +and<br> + several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down +with<br> + cigars in their mouths.</p> + +<p>"You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of +the<br> + house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The +photograph<br> + becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that she +would<br> + be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Norton as our +client<br> + is to its coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question +is--<br> + where are we to find the photograph?"</p> + +<p>"Where, indeed?"</p> + +<p>"It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It +is<br> + cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's<br> + dress. She knows that the king is capable of having her +waylaid<br> + and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. +We<br> + may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with +her."</p> + +<p>"Where, then?"</p> + +<p>"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. +But<br> + I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, +and<br> + they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it +over<br> + to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but +she<br> + could not tell what indirect or political influence might be<br> + brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that +she<br> + had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she +can<br> + lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house."</p> + +<p>"But it has twice been burglarized."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! They did not know how to look."</p> + +<p>"But how will you look?"</p> + +<p>"I will not look."</p> + +<p>"What then?"</p> + +<p>"I will get her to show me."</p> + +<p>"But she will refuse."</p> + +<p>"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It +is<br> + her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the gleam of the sidelights of a carriage came +round<br> + the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which<br> + rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up one of +the<br> + loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in +the<br> + hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another +loafer<br> + who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce quarrel +broke<br> + out which was increased by the two guardsmen, who took sides +with<br> + one of the loungers, and by the scissors grinder, who was +equally<br> + hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and in an instant +the<br> + lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the center of a +little<br> + knot of struggling men who struck savagely at each other with +their<br> + fists and sticks. Holmes dashed into the crowd to protect +the<br> + lady; but, just as he reached her, he gave a cry and dropped to +the<br> + ground, with the blood running freely down his face. At his +fall<br> + the guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the +loungers<br> + in the other, while a number of better-dressed people who +had<br> + watched the scuffle without taking part in it crowded in to +help<br> + the lady and to attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I +will<br> + still call her, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the +top,<br> + with her superb figure outlined against the lights of the +ball,<br> + looking back into the street.</p> + +<p><br> + "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"He is dead," cried several voices.</p> + +<p>"No, no, there's life in him," shouted another. "But he'll be +gone<br> + before you can get him to the hospital."</p> + +<p>"He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had +the<br> + lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were +a<br> + gang, and a rough one, too. Ah! he's breathing now."</p> + +<p>"He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?"</p> + +<p>"Surely. Bring him into the sitting room. There is a +comfortable<br> + sofa. This way, please." Slowly and solemnly he was borne +into<br> + Briony Lodge, and laid out in the principal room, while I +still<br> + observed the proceedings from my post by the window. The lamps +had<br> + been lighted, but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I +could<br> + see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I do not know whether he +was<br> + seized with compunction at that moment for the part he was +playing,<br> + but I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in +my<br> + life than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I +was<br> + conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited +upon<br> + the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery +to<br> + Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to +me.<br> + I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my<br> + ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are +but<br> + preventing her from injuring another.</p> + +<p>Holmes had sat upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man +who<br> + is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the +window.<br> + At the same instant I saw him raise his hand, and at the signal +I<br> + tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The word +was<br> + no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, +well<br> + dressed and ill--gentlemen, hostlers, and servant maids--joined +in<br> + a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds of smoke curled +through<br> + the room, and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of<br> + rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes from +within<br> + assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping through +the<br> + shouting crowd, I made my way to the corner of the street, and +in<br> + ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend's arm in mine, and +to<br> + get away from the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in<br> + silence for some few minutes, until we had turned down one of +the<br> + quiet streets which led toward the Edgeware Road.</p> + +<p>"You did it very nicely, doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could +have<br> + been better. It is all right."</p> + +<p>"You have the photograph?"</p> + +<p>"I know where it is."</p> + +<p>"And how did you find out?"</p> + +<p>"She showed me, as I told you that she would."</p> + +<p>"I am still in the dark."</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The +matter<br> + was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in +the<br> + street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the +evening."</p> + +<p>"I guessed as much."</p> + +<p>"Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint +in<br> + the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my +hand<br> + to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old +trick."</p> + +<p>"That also I could fathom."</p> + +<p>"Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What +else<br> + could she do? And into her sitting room, which was the very +room<br> + which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I +was<br> + determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned +for<br> + air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had +your<br> + chance."</p> + +<p>"How did that help you?"</p> + +<p>"It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is +on<br> + fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she +values<br> + most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more +than<br> + once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington<br> + Substitution Scandal it was of use to me, and also in the +Arnsworth<br> + Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby--an +unmarried<br> + one reaches for her jewel box. Now it was clear to me that +our<br> + lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to her +than<br> + what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The +alarm<br> + of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were enough +to<br> + shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The +photograph<br> + is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right +bell-<br> + pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a glimpse of it +as<br> + she drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, +she<br> + replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed from the room, and +I<br> + have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my excuses, +escaped<br> + from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt to secure the<br> + photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and as he +was<br> + watching me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little +over-<br> + precipitance may ruin all."</p> + +<p>"And now?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the king +to-<br> + morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will +be<br> + shown into the sitting room to wait for the lady, but it is<br> + probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the<br> + photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his majesty to regain +it<br> + with his own hands."</p> + +<p>"And when will you call?"</p> + +<p>"At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we +shall<br> + have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this +marriage<br> + may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire +to<br> + the king without delay."</p> + +<p>We had reached Baker Street, and had stopped at the door. He +was<br> + searching his pockets for the key, when some one passing +said:</p> + +<p>"Good night, Mister Sherlock Holmes."</p> + +<p>There were several people on the pavement at the time, but +the<br> + greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who +had<br> + hurried by.</p> + +<p>"I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the +dimly<br> + lighted street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have<br> + been?"</p> + +<h3><br> + III</h3> + +<p><br> + I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon +our<br> + toast and coffee in the morning, when the King of Bohemia +rushed<br> + into the room.</p> + +<p>"You have really got it?" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes +by<br> + either shoulder, and looking eagerly into his face.</p> + +<p>"Not yet."</p> + +<p>"But you have hopes?"</p> + +<p>"I have hopes."</p> + +<p>"Then come. I am all impatience to be gone."</p> + +<p>"We must have a cab."</p> + +<p>"No, my brougham is waiting."</p> + +<p>"Then that will simplify matters." We descended, and started +off<br> + once more for Briony Lodge.</p> + +<p><br> + "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes.</p> + +<p>"Married! When?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday."</p> + +<p>"But to whom?"</p> + +<p>"To an English lawyer named Norton."</p> + +<p>"But she could not love him."</p> + +<p>"I am in hopes that she does."</p> + +<p>"And why in hopes?"</p> + +<p>"Because it would spare your majesty all fear of future +annoyance.<br> + If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your majesty. +If<br> + she does not love your majesty, there is no reason why she +should<br> + interfere with your majesty's plan."</p> + +<p>"It is true. And yet-- Well, I wish she had been of my own<br> + station. What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into +a<br> + moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in +Serpentine<br> + Avenue.</p> + +<p>The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood +upon<br> + the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped +from<br> + the brougham.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she.</p> + +<p>"I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with +a<br> + questioning and rather startled gaze.</p> + +<p>"Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. +She<br> + left this morning, with her husband, by the 5:15 train from +Charing<br> + Cross, for the Continent."</p> + +<p>"What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin +and<br> + surprise.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that she has left England?"</p> + +<p>"Never to return."</p> + +<p>"And the papers?" asked the king hoarsely. "All is lost!"</p> + +<p>"We shall see." He pushed past the servant, and rushed into +the<br> + drawing-room, followed by the king and myself. The furniture +was<br> + scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves, +and<br> + open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them +before<br> + her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a +small<br> + sliding shutter, and plunging in his hand, pulled out a +photograph<br> + and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in +evening<br> + dress; the letter was superscribed to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To +be<br> + left till called for." My friend tore it open, and we all +three<br> + read it together. It was dated at midnight of the preceding +night,<br> + and ran in this way:</p> + +<p><br> + "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. +You<br> + took me in completely. Until after the alarm of the fire, I +had<br> + not a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed +myself,<br> + I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I +had<br> + been told that if the king employed an agent, it would certainly +be<br> + you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, +you<br> + made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became<br> + suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind +old<br> + clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress<br> + myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take +advantage<br> + of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to +watch<br> + you, ran upstairs, got into my walking clothes, as I call them, +and<br> + came down just as you departed.</p> + +<p>"Well, I followed you to the door, and so made sure that I +was<br> + really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock +Holmes.<br> + Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good night, and started +for<br> + the Temple to see my husband.</p> + +<p>"We both thought the best resource was flight when pursued by +so<br> + formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when +you<br> + call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest +in<br> + peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The king +may<br> + do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has +cruelly<br> + wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and preserve a +weapon<br> + which will always secure me from any steps which he might take +in<br> + the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to +possess;<br> + and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, very truly yours,</p> + +<p>"IRENE NORTON, nee ADLER."</p> + +<p><br> + "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, +when<br> + we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how +quick<br> + and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable +queen?<br> + Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?"</p> + +<p>"From what I have seen of the lady, she seems indeed to be on +a<br> + very different level to your majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I +am<br> + sorry that I have not been able to bring your majesty's business +to<br> + a more successful conclusion."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the king, "nothing could +be<br> + more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The<br> + photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear your majesty say so."</p> + +<p>"I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I +can<br> + reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring +from<br> + his finger, and held it out upon the palm of his hand.</p> + +<p>"Your majesty has something which I should value even more +highly,"<br> + said Holmes.</p> + +<p>"You have but to name it."</p> + +<p>"This photograph!"</p> + +<p>The king stared at him in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish +it."</p> + +<p>"I thank your majesty. Then there is no more to be done in +the<br> + matter. I have the honor to wish you a very good morning." +He<br> + bowed, and turning away without observing the hand which the +king<br> + had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his<br> + chambers.</p> + +<p>And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the +kingdom<br> + of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes +were<br> + beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the +cleverness<br> + of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And when +he<br> + speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it +is<br> + always under the honorable title of THE woman.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>The Red-Headed League</h2> + +<p><br> + I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in +the<br> + autumn of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a +very<br> + stout, florid-faced elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. +With<br> + an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw, when +Holmes<br> + pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind +me.</p> + +<p><br> + "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear<br> + Watson," he said, cordially.</p> + +<p>"I was afraid that you were engaged."</p> + +<p>"So I am. Very much so."</p> + +<p>"Then I can wait in the next room."</p> + +<p>"Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner +and<br> + helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no +doubt<br> + that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also."</p> + +<p>The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob +of<br> + greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his +small,<br> + fat-encircled eyes.</p> + +<p>"Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair, +and<br> + putting his finger tips together, as was his custom when in<br> + judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love +of<br> + all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum +routine<br> + of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the<br> + enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you +will<br> + excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own +little<br> + adventures."</p> + +<p>"Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," +I<br> + observed.</p> + +<p>"You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before +we<br> + went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary<br> + Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary +combinations<br> + we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than +any<br> + effort of the imagination."</p> + +<p>"A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting."</p> + +<p>"You did, doctor, but none the less you must come round to my +view,<br> + for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you, +until<br> + your reason breaks down under them and acknowledge me to be +right.<br> + Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon +me<br> + this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one +of<br> + the most singular which I have listened to for some time. You +have<br> + heard me remark that the strangest and most unique things are +very<br> + often connected not with the larger but with the smaller +crimes,<br> + and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether +any<br> + positive crime has been committed. As far as I have heard, it +is<br> + impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance +of<br> + crime or not, but the course of events is certainly among the +most<br> + singular that I have ever listened to. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, +you<br> + would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I +ask<br> + you, not merely because my friend, Dr. Watson, has not heard +the<br> + opening part, but also because the peculiar nature of the +story<br> + makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. +As<br> + a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course +of<br> + events I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other +similar<br> + cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am<br> + forced to admit that the facts are, to the best of my +belief,<br> + unique."</p> + +<p>The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of +some<br> + little pride, and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from +the<br> + inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the<br> + advertisement column, with his head thrust forward, and the +paper<br> + flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man, +and<br> + endeavored, after the fashion of my companion, to read the<br> + indications which might be presented by his dress or +appearance.</p> + +<p>I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our +visitor<br> + bore every mark of being an average commonplace British +tradesman,<br> + obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy gray +shepherd's<br> + check trousers, a not over-clean black frock coat, unbuttoned +in<br> + the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert +chain,<br> + and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. +A<br> + frayed top hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled +velvet<br> + collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look as I +would,<br> + there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing +red<br> + head and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon +his<br> + features.</p> + +<p>Sherlock Holmes's quick eye took in my occupation, and he +shook his<br> + head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. +"Beyond<br> + the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labor, +that<br> + he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in +China,<br> + and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I +can<br> + deduce nothing else."</p> + +<p>Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger +upon<br> + the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.</p> + +<p>How, in the name of good fortune, did you know all that, +Mr.<br> + Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I +did<br> + manual labor? It's as true as gospel, for I began as a +ship's<br> + carpenter."</p> + +<p>"Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size +larger<br> + than your left. You have worked with it and the muscles are +more<br> + developed."</p> + +<p>"Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?"</p> + +<p>"I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read +that,<br> + especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, +you<br> + use an arc and compass breastpin."</p> + +<p>"Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?"</p> + +<p>"What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny +for<br> + five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the +elbow<br> + where you rest it upon the desk."</p> + +<p>"Well, but China?"</p> + +<p>"The fish which you have tattooed immediately above your +wrist<br> + could only have been done in China. I have made a small study +of<br> + tattoo marks, and have even contributed to the literature of +the<br> + subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a +delicate<br> + pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I see a<br> + Chinese coin hanging from your watch chain, the matter becomes +even<br> + more simple."</p> + +<p>Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. +"I<br> + thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see +that<br> + there was nothing in it after all."</p> + +<p>"I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a +mistake in<br> + explaining. 'Omne ignotom pro magnifico,' you know, and my +poor<br> + little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am +so<br> + candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have got it now," he answered, with his thick, red +finger<br> + planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what +began<br> + it all. You just read it for yourself, sir."</p> + +<p>I took the paper from him and read as follows:</p> + +<p><br> + "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the +late<br> + Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pa., U. S. A., there is now +another<br> + vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a salary +of<br> + four pounds a week for purely nominal services. All red-headed +men<br> + who are sound in body and mind and above the age of +twenty-one<br> + years are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at eleven +o'clock,<br> + to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Pope's Court, +Fleet<br> + Street."</p> + +<p><br> + "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated, after I had +twice<br> + read over the extraordinary announcement.</p> + +<p>Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit +when in<br> + high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't +it?"<br> + said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch, and tell +us<br> + all about yourself, your household, and the effect which +this<br> + advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a +note,<br> + doctor, of the paper and the date."</p> + +<p>"It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two +months<br> + ago."</p> + +<p>"Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock +Holmes,"<br> + said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead, "I have a small<br> + pawnbroker's business at Saxe-Coburg Square, near the City. +It's<br> + not a very large affair, and of late years it has not done +more<br> + than just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two<br> + assistants, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to +pay<br> + him but that he is willing to come for half wages, so as to +learn<br> + the business."</p> + +<p>"What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock +Holmes.</p> + +<p>"His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth +either.<br> + It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter +assistant,<br> + Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better himself, +and<br> + earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after all, if he +is<br> + satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?"</p> + +<p>"Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employee +who<br> + comes under the full market price. It is not a common +experience<br> + among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant +is<br> + not as remarkable as your advertisement."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such +a<br> + fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he +ought<br> + to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar +like<br> + a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his +main<br> + fault; but, on the whole, he's a good worker. There's no vice +in<br> + him."</p> + +<p>"He is still with you, I presume?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of +simple<br> + cooking, and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the +house,<br> + for I am a widower, and never had any family. We live very<br> + quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our +heads,<br> + and pay our debts, if we do nothing more.</p> + +<p>"The first thing that put us out was that advertisement.<br> + Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight +weeks,<br> + with this very paper in his hand, and he says:</p> + +<p>"'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a redheaded +man.'</p> + +<p>"'Why that?' I asks.</p> + +<p>"'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the +Red-<br> + headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who +gets<br> + it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there +are<br> + men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to do +with<br> + the money. If my hair would only change color here's a nice +little<br> + crib all ready for me to step into.'</p> + +<p>"'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am +a<br> + very stay-at-home man, and, as my business came to me instead of +my<br> + having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting +my<br> + foot over the door mat. In that way I didn't know much of what +was<br> + going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.</p> + +<p>"'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' +he<br> + asked, with his eyes open.</p> + +<p>"'Never.'</p> + +<p>"'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one +of<br> + the vacancies.'</p> + +<p>"'And what are they worth?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is +slight,<br> + and it need not interfere very much with one's other +occupations.'</p> + +<p>"Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my +ears, for<br> + the business has not been over good for some years, and an +extra<br> + couple of hundred would have been very handy.</p> + +<p>"'Tell me all about it,' said I.</p> + +<p>"'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see +for<br> + yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the +address<br> + where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make +out,<br> + the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah +Hopkins,<br> + who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, +and<br> + he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; so, when he +died,<br> + it was found that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands +of<br> + trustees, with instructions to apply the interest to the +providing<br> + of easy berths to men whose hair is of that color. From all I +hear<br> + it is splendid pay, and very little to do.'</p> + +<p>"'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men +who<br> + would apply.'</p> + +<p>"'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it +is<br> + really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American +had<br> + started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the +old<br> + town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is of no use +your<br> + applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything +but<br> + real, bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, +Mr.<br> + Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly +be<br> + worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of +a<br> + few hundred pounds.'</p> + +<p>"Now it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, +that<br> + my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to +me<br> + that, if there was to be any competition in the matter, I stood +as<br> + good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent +Spaulding<br> + seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might +prove<br> + useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the +day,<br> + and to come right away with me. He was very willing to have +a<br> + holiday, so we shut the business up, and started off for the<br> + address that was given us in the advertisement.</p> + +<p>"I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. +From<br> + north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red +in<br> + his hair had tramped into the City to answer the +advertisement.<br> + Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's +Court<br> + looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have +thought<br> + there were so many in the whole country as were brought together +by<br> + that single advertisement. Every shade of color they +were--straw,<br> + lemon, orange, brick, Irish setter, liver, clay; but, as +Spaulding<br> + said, there were not many who had the real vivid +flame-colored<br> + tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I would have given it +up<br> + in despair; but Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did it +I<br> + could not imagine, but he pushed and pulled and butted until he +got<br> + me through the crowd, and right up to the steps which led to +the<br> + office. There was a double stream upon the stair, some going up +in<br> + hope, and some coming back dejected; but we wedged in as well as +we<br> + could, and soon found ourselves in the office."</p> + +<p>"Your experience has been a most entertaining one," +remarked<br> + Holmes, as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a +huge<br> + pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting +statement."</p> + +<p>"There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs +and<br> + a deal table, behind which sat a small man, with a head that +was<br> + even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as +he<br> + came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in +them<br> + which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to +be<br> + such a very easy matter after all. However, when our turn +came,<br> + the little man was much more favorable to me than to any of +the<br> + others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he might +have<br> + a private word with us.</p> + +<p>"'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is +willing<br> + to fill a vacancy in the League.'</p> + +<p>"'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He +has<br> + every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything +so<br> + fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, +and<br> + gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly +he<br> + plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on +my<br> + success.</p> + +<p>"'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, +however,<br> + I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' With +that<br> + he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled +with<br> + the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he, as he +released<br> + me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we have to +be<br> + careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by +paint.<br> + I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which would disgust +you<br> + with human nature.' He stepped over to the window and +shouted<br> + through it at the top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. +A<br> + groan of disappointment came up from below, and the folk all<br> + trooped away in different directions, until there was not a +red<br> + head to be seen except my own and that of the manager.</p> + +<p>"'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one +of<br> + the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are +you<br> + a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?'</p> + +<p>"I answered that I had not.</p> + +<p>"His face fell immediately.</p> + +<p>"'Dear me!' he said, gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I +am<br> + sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the<br> + propagation and spread of the red heads as well as for their<br> + maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be +a<br> + bachelor.'</p> + +<p>"My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I +was<br> + not to have the vacancy after all; but, after thinking it over +for<br> + a few minutes, he said that it would be all right.</p> + +<p>"'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be +fatal,<br> + but we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such a head +of<br> + hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new<br> + duties?'</p> + +<p>"'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business +already,'<br> + said I.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent +Spaulding.<br> + 'I shall be able to look after that for you.'</p> + +<p>"'What would be the hours?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Ten to two.'</p> + +<p>"Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, +Mr.<br> + Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evenings, which is +just<br> + before pay day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little +in<br> + the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good +man,<br> + and that he would see to anything that turned up.</p> + +<p>"'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'</p> + +<p>"'Is four pounds a week.'</p> + +<p>"'And the work?'</p> + +<p>"'Is purely nominal.'</p> + +<p>"'What do you call purely nominal?'</p> + +<p>"'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the +building,<br> + the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole +position<br> + forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You don't +comply<br> + with the conditions if you budge from the office during that +time.'</p> + +<p>"'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of +leaving,'<br> + said I.</p> + +<p>"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross, 'neither +sickness,<br> + nor business, nor anything else. There you must stay, or you +lose<br> + your billet.'</p> + +<p>"'And the work?'</p> + +<p>"'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is +the<br> + first volume of it in that press. You must find your own +ink,<br> + pens, and blotting paper, but we provide this table and +chair.<br> + Will you be ready to-morrow?'</p> + +<p><br> + "'Certainly,' I answered.</p> + +<p>"'Then, good-by, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you +once<br> + more on the important position which you have been fortunate +enough<br> + to gain.' He bowed me out of the room, and I went home with +my<br> + assistant hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at +my<br> + own good fortune.</p> + +<p>"Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was +in<br> + low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the +whole<br> + affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its +object<br> + might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past +belief<br> + that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay such +a<br> + sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the +'Encyclopaedia<br> + Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me +up,<br> + but by bed time I had reasoned myself out of the whole +thing.<br> + However, in the morning I determined to have a look at it +anyhow,<br> + so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill pen and +seven<br> + sheets of foolscap paper I started off for Pope's Court.</p> + +<p>"Well, to my surprise and delight everything was as right +as<br> + possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan +Ross<br> + was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off +upon<br> + the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from +time<br> + to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he +bade<br> + me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had +written,<br> + and locked the door of the office after me.</p> + +<p>"This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday +the<br> + manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for +my<br> + week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the +week<br> + after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon +I<br> + left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in +only<br> + once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in +at<br> + all. Still, of course. I never dared to leave the room for +an<br> + instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet +was<br> + such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk +the<br> + loss of it.</p> + +<p>"Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about +Abbots,<br> + and Archery, and Armor, and Architecture, and Attica, and +hoped<br> + with diligence that I might get on to the Bs before very long. +It<br> + cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled +a<br> + shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole business +came<br> + to an end."</p> + +<p>"To an end?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work +as<br> + usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with +a<br> + little square of cardboard hammered onto the middle of the +panel<br> + with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself."</p> + +<p>He held up a piece of white cardboard, about the size of a +sheet of<br> + note paper. It read in this fashion:</p> + +<p><br> + "THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED.</p> + +<p>Oct. 9, 1890."</p> + +<p><br> + Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and +the<br> + rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair +so<br> + completely overtopped every consideration that we both burst +out<br> + into a roar of laughter.</p> + +<p>"I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our +client,<br> + flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can do<br> + nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from +which<br> + he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the<br> + world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you +will<br> + excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. +Pray<br> + what steps did you take when you found the card upon the +door?"</p> + +<p>"I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I +called<br> + at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know +anything<br> + about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an +accountant<br> + living on the ground floor, and I asked him if he could tell +me<br> + what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he +had<br> + never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan +Ross<br> + was. He answered that the name was new to him.</p> + +<p>"'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.'</p> + +<p>"'What, the red-headed man?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a +solicitor,<br> + and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his +new<br> + premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.'</p> + +<p>"'Where could I find him?'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, +17<br> + King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.'</p> + +<p>"I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it +was a<br> + manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had +ever<br> + heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross."</p> + +<p>"And what did you do then?" asked Holmes.</p> + +<p>"I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of +my<br> + assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only +say<br> + that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not +quite<br> + good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place<br> + without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough +to<br> + give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right +away<br> + to you."</p> + +<p>"And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an<br> + exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into +it.<br> + From what you have told me I think that it is possible that +graver<br> + issues hang from it than might at first sight appear."</p> + +<p>"Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost +four<br> + pound a week."</p> + +<p>"As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I +do<br> + not see that you have any grievance against this +extraordinary<br> + league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by +some<br> + thirty pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which +you<br> + have gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. +You<br> + have lost nothing by them."</p> + +<p>"No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, +and<br> + what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a +prank--<br> + upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost +them<br> + two-and-thirty pounds."</p> + +<p>"We shall endeavor to clear up these points for you. And, +first,<br> + one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours +who<br> + first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had +he<br> + been with you?"</p> + +<p>"About a month then."</p> + +<p>"How did he come?"</p> + +<p>"In answer to an advertisement."</p> + +<p>"Was he the only applicant?"</p> + +<p>"No, I had a dozen."</p> + +<p>"Why did you pick him?"</p> + +<p>"Because he was handy and would come cheap."</p> + +<p>"At half wages, in fact."</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?"</p> + +<p>"Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his +face,<br> + though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid +upon<br> + his forehead."</p> + +<p>Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. I +thought<br> + as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are<br> + pierced for earrings?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. He told me that a gypsy had done it for him when he +was<br> + a lad."</p> + +<p>"Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is +still<br> + with you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him."</p> + +<p>"And has your business been attended to in your absence?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of +a<br> + morning."</p> + +<p>"That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an +opinion<br> + upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is<br> + Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a +conclusion."</p> + +<p>"Well, Watson," said Holmes, when our visitor had left us, +"what do<br> + you make of it all?"</p> + +<p>"I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most<br> + mysterious business."</p> + +<p>"As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the +less<br> + mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, +featureless<br> + crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is +the<br> + most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this<br> + matter."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do, then?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three-pipe problem, +and I<br> + beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled<br> + himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his<br> + hawklike nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his +black<br> + clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I +had<br> + come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and indeed +was<br> + nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with +the<br> + gesture of a man who has made up his mind, and put his pipe +down<br> + upon the mantelpiece.</p> + +<p>"Sarasate plays at St. James's Hall this afternoon," he +remarked.<br> + "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you for +a<br> + few hours?"</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very<br> + absorbing."</p> + +<p>"Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City +first,<br> + and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is +a<br> + good deal of German music on the programme, which is rather more +to<br> + my taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I +want<br> + to introspect. Come along!"</p> + +<p>We traveled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a +short<br> + walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular +story<br> + which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, +little,<br> + shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy, two-storied +brick<br> + houses looked out into a small railed-in inclosure, where a lawn +of<br> + weedy grass, and a few clumps of faded laurel bushes made a +hard<br> + fight against a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three +gilt<br> + balls and a brown board with JABEZ WILSON in white letters, upon +a<br> + corner house, announced the place where our red-headed +client<br> + carried on his business. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of +it<br> + with his head on one side, and looked it all over, with his +eyes<br> + shining brightly between puckered lids. Then he walked slowly +up<br> + the street, and then down again to the corner, still looking +keenly<br> + at the houses. Finally he returned to the pawnbroker's and, +having<br> + thumped vigorously upon the pavement with his stick two or +three<br> + times, he went up to the door and knocked. It was instantly +opened<br> + by a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him +to<br> + step in.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you +would<br> + go from here to the Strand."</p> + +<p>"Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant, +promptly,<br> + closing the door.</p> + +<p>"Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He +is,<br> + in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for +daring I<br> + am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have +known<br> + something of him before."</p> + +<p>"Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good +deal<br> + in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you<br> + inquired your way merely in order that you might see him."</p> + +<p>"Not him."</p> + +<p>"What then?"</p> + +<p>"The knees of his trousers."</p> + +<p>"And what did you see?"</p> + +<p>"What I expected to see."</p> + +<p>"Why did you beat the pavement?"</p> + +<p>"My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. +We<br> + are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of +Saxe-Coburg<br> + Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it."</p> + +<p>The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the +corner<br> + from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a +contrast<br> + to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one +of<br> + the main arteries which convey the traffic of the City to the +north<br> + and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of<br> + commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, while +the<br> + footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians. +It<br> + was difficult to realize, as we looked at the line of fine +shops<br> + and stately business premises, that they really abutted on +the<br> + other side upon the faded and stagnant square which we had +just<br> + quitted.</p> + +<p>"Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner, and +glancing<br> + along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of +the<br> + houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge +of<br> + London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist; the little +newspaper<br> + shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the<br> + Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building +depot.<br> + That carries us right on to the other block. And now, +doctor,<br> + we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A sandwich +and<br> + a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is<br> + sweetness, and delicacy, and harmony, and there are no +red-headed<br> + clients to vex us with their conundrums."</p> + +<p>My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only +a<br> + very capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary merit. +All<br> + the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most +perfect<br> + happiness, gently waving his long thin fingers in time to +the<br> + music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy +eyes<br> + were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the<br> + relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it +was<br> + possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual +nature<br> + alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and<br> + astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the +reaction<br> + against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally<br> + predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from +extreme<br> + languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was never +so<br> + truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been lounging +in<br> + his armchair amid his improvisations and his black-letter +editions.<br> + Then it was that the lust of the chase would suddenly come +upon<br> + him, and that his brilliant reasoning power would rise to the +level<br> + of intuition, until those who were unacquainted with his +methods<br> + would look askance at him as on a man whose knowledge was not +that<br> + of other mortals. When I saw him that afternoon so enwrapped +in<br> + the music at St. James's Hall, I felt that an evil time might +be<br> + coming upon those whom he had set himself to hunt down.</p> + +<p>"You want to go home, no doubt, doctor," he remarked, as +we<br> + emerged.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it would be as well."</p> + +<p>"And I have some business to do which will take some hours. +This<br> + business at Saxe-Coburg Square is serious."</p> + +<p>"Why serious?"</p> + +<p>"A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason +to<br> + believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day +being<br> + Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help +to-<br> + night."</p> + +<p>"At what time?"</p> + +<p>"Ten will be early enough."</p> + +<p>I shall be at Baker Street at ten."</p> + +<p>"Very well. And, I say, doctor! there may be some little +danger,<br> + so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved +his<br> + hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among +the<br> + crowd.</p> + +<p>I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbors, but I +was<br> + always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my +dealings<br> + with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I +had<br> + seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident +that<br> + he saw clearly not only what had happened, but what was about +to<br> + happen, while to me the whole business was still confused +and<br> + grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I +thought<br> + over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed +copier<br> + of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Square, +and<br> + the ominous words with which he had parted from me. What was +this<br> + nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? Where were +we<br> + going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Holmes +that<br> + this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a formidable +man--a<br> + man who might play a deep game. I tried to puzzle it out, but +gave<br> + it up in despair, and set the matter aside until night should +bring<br> + an explanation.</p> + +<p>It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made +my way<br> + across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street. +Two<br> + hansoms were standing at the door, and, as I entered the +passage, I<br> + heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his room, +I<br> + found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom +I<br> + recognized as Peter Jones, the official police agent; while +the<br> + other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat +and<br> + oppressively respectable frock coat.</p> + +<p>"Ha! our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his +pea-<br> + jacket, and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. +"Watson,<br> + I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me introduce +you<br> + to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in +to-night's<br> + adventure."</p> + +<p>"We're hunting in couples again, doctor, you see," said Jones, +in<br> + his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man +for<br> + starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him do +the<br> + running down."</p> + +<p>"I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our +chase,"<br> + observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily.</p> + +<p>"You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," +said<br> + the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, +which<br> + are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too +theoretical<br> + and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It +is<br> + not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of +the<br> + Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly<br> + correct than the official force."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right!" said the +stranger,<br> + with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It +is<br> + the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have +not<br> + had my rubber."</p> + +<p>"I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will +play<br> + for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and +that<br> + the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, +the<br> + stake will be some thirty thousand pounds; and for you, Jones, +it<br> + will be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands."</p> + +<p>"John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a +young<br> + man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession, +and<br> + I would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal +in<br> + London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His<br> + grandfather was a Royal Duke, and he himself has been to Eton +and<br> + Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and though we +meet<br> + signs of him at every turn, we never know where to find the +man<br> + himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be +raising<br> + money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. I've been on +his<br> + track for years, and have never set eyes on him yet."</p> + +<p>"I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you +to-night.<br> + I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and +I<br> + agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It +is<br> + past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two +will<br> + take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the +second."</p> + +<p>Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long +drive,<br> + and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in +the<br> + afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gaslit<br> + streets until we emerged into Farringdon Street.</p> + +<p>"We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow<br> + Merryweather is a bank director and personally interested in +the<br> + matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He +is<br> + not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his +profession.<br> + He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog, and +as<br> + tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here +we<br> + are, and they are waiting for us."</p> + +<p>We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had +found<br> + ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and +following<br> + the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a narrow +passage,<br> + and through a side door which he opened for us. Within there was +a<br> + small corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate. This +also<br> + was opened, and led down a flight of winding stone steps, +which<br> + terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Merryweather stopped +to<br> + light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, +earth-smelling<br> + passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault +or<br> + cellar, which was piled all round with crates and massive +boxes.</p> + +<p>"You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked, as +he<br> + held up the lantern and gazed about him.</p> + +<p>"Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick +upon<br> + the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds +quite<br> + hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise.</p> + +<p>"I must really ask you to be a little more quiet," said +Holmes<br> + severely. "You have already imperiled the whole success of +our<br> + expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to +sit<br> + down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?"</p> + +<p>The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with +a<br> + very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon +his<br> + knees upon the floor, and, with the lantern and a magnifying +lens,<br> + began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A +few<br> + seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet +again,<br> + and put his glass in his pocket.</p> + +<p>"We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they +can<br> + hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in +bed.<br> + Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their +work<br> + the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at<br> + present, doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of +the<br> + City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. +Merryweather<br> + is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to you that +there<br> + are reasons why the more daring criminals of London should take +a<br> + considerable interest in this cellar at present."</p> + +<p><br> + "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have +had<br> + several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it."</p> + +<p>"Your French gold?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our +resources,<br> + and borrowed, for that purpose, thirty thousand napoleons from +the<br> + Bank of France. It has become known that we have never had<br> + occasion to unpack the money, and that it is still lying in +our<br> + cellar. The crate upon which I sit contains two thousand +napoleons<br> + packed between layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is +much<br> + larger at present than is usually kept in a single branch +office,<br> + and the directors have had misgivings upon the subject."</p> + +<p>"Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it +is<br> + time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within +an<br> + hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime, Mr.<br> + Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark +lantern."</p> + +<p>"And sit in the dark?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, +and I<br> + thought that, as we were a partie carree, you might have +your<br> + rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations +have<br> + gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. +And,<br> + first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring +men,<br> + and, though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do +us<br> + some harm, unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this +crate,<br> + and do you conceal yourself behind those. Then, when I flash +a<br> + light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have +no<br> + compunction about shooting them down."</p> + +<p>I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden +case<br> + behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front +of<br> + his lantern, and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute<br> + darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of +hot<br> + metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, +ready<br> + to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked +up<br> + to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and<br> + subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold, dank air of +the<br> + vault.</p> + +<p>"They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is +back<br> + through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you +have<br> + done what I asked you, Jones?"</p> + +<p>"I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front +door."</p> + +<p>"Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent +and<br> + wait."</p> + +<p>What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards, it was +but<br> + an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night +must<br> + have almost gone, and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs +were<br> + weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position, yet my +nerves<br> + were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hearing +was<br> + so acute that I could not only hear the gentle breathing of +my<br> + companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, heavier inbreath +of<br> + the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note of the bank +director.<br> + From my position I could look over the case in the direction of +the<br> + floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light.</p> + +<p>At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. +Then it<br> + lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, without +any<br> + warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand appeared, +a<br> + white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the center of +the<br> + little area of light. For a minute or more the hand, with +its<br> + writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then it was<br> + withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark again +save<br> + the single lurid spark, which marked a chink between the +stones.</p> + +<p>Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a +rending,<br> + tearing sound, one of the broad white stones turned over upon +its<br> + side, and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed +the<br> + light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, +boyish<br> + face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on +either<br> + side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and +waist-high,<br> + until one knee rested upon the edge. In another instant he +stood<br> + at the side of the hole, and was hauling after him a +companion,<br> + lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and a shock of +very<br> + red hair.</p> + +<p>"It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the +bags?<br> + Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!"</p> + +<p>Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by +the<br> + collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound +of<br> + rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light +flashed<br> + upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes's hunting crop came +down<br> + on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone +floor.</p> + +<p>"It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly, "you have no +chance<br> + at all."</p> + +<p>"So I see," the other answered, with the utmost coolness. "I +fancy<br> + that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his +coat-<br> + tails."</p> + +<p>"There are three men waiting for him at the door," said +Holmes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed. You seem to have done the thing very completely. +I<br> + must compliment you."</p> + +<p>"And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very +new<br> + and effective."</p> + +<p>"You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's +quicker<br> + at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix +the<br> + derbies."</p> + +<p>"I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," +remarked<br> + our prisoner, as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "You +may<br> + not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the<br> + goodness also, when you address me, always to say 'sir' and<br> + 'please.'"</p> + +<p>"All right," said Jones, with a stare and a snigger. "Well, +would<br> + you please, sir, march upstairs where we can get a cab to +carry<br> + your highness to the police station?"</p> + +<p>"That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping +bow<br> + to the three of us, and walked quietly off in the custody of +the<br> + detective.</p> + +<p>"Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather, as we followed +them<br> + from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or +repay<br> + you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in +the<br> + most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at +bank<br> + robbery that have ever come within my experience."</p> + +<p>"I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with +Mr.<br> + John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense +over<br> + this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but +beyond<br> + that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in +many<br> + ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of +the<br> + Red-headed League."</p> + +<p><br> + "You see, Watson," he explained, in the early hours of the +morning,<br> + as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it +was<br> + perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object +of<br> + this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the +League,<br> + and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get this +not<br> + over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours +every<br> + day. It was a curious way of managing it, but really it would +be<br> + difficult to suggest a better. The method was no doubt +suggested<br> + to Clay's ingenious mind by the color of his accomplice's +hair.<br> + The four pounds a week was a lure which must draw him, and what +was<br> + it to them, who were playing for thousands? They put in the<br> + advertisement, one rogue has the temporary office, the other +rogue<br> + incites the man to apply for it, and together they manage to +secure<br> + his absence every morning in the week. From the time that I +heard<br> + of the assistant having come for half wages, it was obvious to +me<br> + that he had some strong motive for securing the situation."</p> + +<p>"But how could you guess what the motive was?"</p> + +<p>"Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a +mere<br> + vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The<br> + man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his +house<br> + which could account for such elaborate preparations, and such +an<br> + expenditure as they were at. It must then be something out of +the<br> + house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's +fondness<br> + for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. +The<br> + cellar! There was the end of this tangled clew. Then I made<br> + inquiries as to this mysterious assistant, and found that I had +to<br> + deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in +London.<br> + He was doing something in the cellar--something which took +many<br> + hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once more? +I<br> + could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to +some<br> + other building.</p> + +<p>"So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. +I<br> + surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I +was<br> + ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or +behind.<br> + It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, +the<br> + assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we +had<br> + never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at +his<br> + face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself +have<br> + remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke +of<br> + those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what +they<br> + were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw that the +City<br> + and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt +that I<br> + had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert +I<br> + called upon Scotland Yard, and upon the chairman of the bank<br> + directors, with the result that you have seen."</p> + +<p>"And how could you tell that they would make their attempt +to-<br> + night?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign +that<br> + they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence; in +other<br> + words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was +essential<br> + that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or +the<br> + bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than +any<br> + other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. +For<br> + all these reasons I expected them to come to-night."</p> + +<p>"You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed, in +unfeigned<br> + admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings<br> + true."</p> + +<p>"It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I +already<br> + feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort +to<br> + escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little +problems<br> + help me to do so."</p> + +<p>"And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. He shrugged +his<br> + shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of some little +use,"<br> + he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre c'est tout,' as<br> + Gustave Flaubert wrote to Georges Sands."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3><br> + Egerton Castle</h3> + +<h2>The Baron's Quarry</h2> + +<p><br> + "Oh, no, I assure you, you are not boring Mr. Marshfield," +said<br> + this personage himself in his gentle voice--that curious voice +that<br> + could flow on for hours, promulgating profound and startling<br> + theories on every department of human knowledge or +conducting<br> + paradoxical arguments without a single inflection or pause +of<br> + hesitation. "I am, on the contrary, much interested in your<br> + hunting talk. To paraphrase a well-worn quotation somewhat +widely,<br> + nihil humanum a me alienum est. Even hunting stories may +have<br> + their point of biological interest; the philologist +sometimes<br> + pricks his ear to the jargon of the chase; moreover, I am +not<br> + incapable of appreciating the subject matter itself. This seems +to<br> + excite some derision. I admit I am not much of a sportsman to +look<br> + at, nor, indeed, by instinct, yet I have had some +out-of-the-way<br> + experiences in that line--generally when intent on other +pursuits.<br> + I doubt, for instance, if even you, Major Travers, +notwithstanding<br> + your well-known exploits against man and beast, +notwithstanding<br> + that doubtful smile of yours, could match the strangeness of +a<br> + certain hunting adventure in which I played an important +part."</p> + +<p><br> + The speaker's small, deep-set, black eyes, that never warmed +to<br> + anything more human than a purely speculative scientific +interest<br> + in his surroundings, here wandered round the skeptical yet<br> + expectant circle with bland amusement. He stretched out his<br> + bloodless fingers for another of his host's superfine cigars +and<br> + proceeded, with only such interruptions as were occasioned by +the<br> + lighting and careful smoking of the latter.</p> + +<p>"I was returning home after my prolonged stay in +Petersburg,<br> + intending to linger on my way and test with mine own ears +certain<br> + among the many dialects of Eastern Europe--anent which there is +a<br> + symmetrical little cluster of philological knotty points it is +my<br> + modest intention one day to unravel. However, that is neither +here<br> + nor there. On the road to Hungary I bethought myself +opportunely<br> + of proving the once pressingly offered hospitality of the +Baron<br> + Kossowski.</p> + +<p>"You may have met the man, Major Travers; he was a +tremendous<br> + sportsman, if you like. I first came across him at McNeil's +place<br> + in remote Ireland. Now, being in Bukowina, within measurable<br> + distance of his Carpathian abode, and curious to see a Polish +lord<br> + at home, I remembered his invitation. It was already of long<br> + standing, but it had been warm, born in fact of a sudden fit +of<br> + enthusiasm for me"--here a half-mocking smile quivered an +instant<br> + under the speaker's black mustache--"which, as it was<br> + characteristic, I may as well tell you about.</p> + +<p>"It was on the day of, or, rather, to be accurate, on the day +after<br> + my arrival, toward the small hours of the morning, in the +smoking<br> + room at Rathdrum. Our host was peacefully snoring over his +empty<br> + pipe and his seventh glass of whisky, also empty. The rest of +the<br> + men had slunk off to bed. The baron, who all unknown to +himself<br> + had been a subject of most interesting observation to me the +whole<br> + evening, being now practically alone with me, condescended to +turn<br> + an eye, as wide awake as a fox's, albeit slightly bloodshot, +upon<br> + the contemptible white-faced person who had preferred spending +the<br> + raw hours over his papers, within the radius of a glorious +fire's<br> + warmth, to creeping slyly over treacherous quagmires in the +pursuit<br> + of timid bog creatures (snipe shooting had been the order of +the<br> + day)--the baron, I say, became aware of my existence and +entered<br> + into conversation with me.</p> + +<p>"He would no doubt have been much surprised could he have +known<br> + that he was already mapped out, craniologically and<br> + physiognomically, catalogued with care and neatly laid by in +his<br> + proper ethnological box, in my private type museum; that, as I +sat<br> + and examined him from my different coigns of vantage in library, +in<br> + dining and smoking room that evening, not a look of his, not +a<br> + gesture went forth but had significance for me.</p> + +<p>"You, I had thought, with your broad shoulders and deep chest; +your<br> + massive head that should have gone with a tall stature, not +with<br> + those short sturdy limbs; with your thick red hair, that +should<br> + have been black for that matter, as should your wide-set +yellow<br> + eyes--you would be a real puzzle to one who did not recognize +in<br> + you equal mixtures of the fair, stalwart and muscular Slav with +the<br> + bilious-sanguine, thick-set, wiry Turanian. Your pedigree would +no<br> + doubt bear me out: there is as much of the Magyar as of the Pole +in<br> + your anatomy. Athlete, and yet a tangle of nerves; a +ferocious<br> + brute at bottom, I dare say, for your broad forehead inclines +to<br> + flatness; under your bristling beard your jaw must protrude, +and<br> + the base of your skull is ominously thick. And, with all +that,<br> + capable of ideal transports: when that girl played and sang +to-<br> + night I saw the swelling of your eyelid veins, and how that +small,<br> + tenacious, claw-like hand of yours twitched! You would be a +fine<br> + leader of men--but God help the wretches in your power!</p> + +<p>"So had I mused upon him. Yet I confess that when we came +in<br> + closer contact with each other, even I was not proof against +the<br> + singular courtesy of his manner and his unaccountable +personal<br> + charm.</p> + +<p>"Our conversation soon grew interesting; to me as a matter +of<br> + course, and evidently to him also. A few general words led +to<br> + interchange of remarks upon the country we were both visitors +in<br> + and so to national characteristics--Pole and Irishman have not +a<br> + few in common, both in their nature and history. An +observation<br> + which he made, not without a certain flash in his light eyes and +a<br> + transient uncovering of the teeth, on the Irish type of +female<br> + beauty suddenly suggested to me a stanza of an ancient +Polish<br> + ballad, very full of milk-and-blood imagery, of alternating<br> + ferocity and voluptuousness. This I quoted to the astounded<br> + foreigner in the vernacular, and this it was that metamorphosed +his<br> + mere perfection of civility into sudden warmth, and, in +fact,<br> + procured me the invitation in question.</p> + +<p>"When I left Rathdrum the baron's last words to me were that +if I<br> + ever thought of visiting his country otherwise than in books, +he<br> + held me bound to make Yany, his Galician seat, my headquarters +of<br> + study.</p> + +<p>"From Czernowicz, therefore, where I stopped some time, I +wrote,<br> + received in due time a few lines of prettily worded reply, +and<br> + ultimately entered my sled in the nearest town to, yet at a +most<br> + forbidding distance from, Yany, and started on my journey +thither.</p> + +<p>"The undertaking meant many long hours of undulation and +skidding<br> + over the November snow, to the somniferous bell jangle of my +dirty<br> + little horses, the only impression of interest being a weird +gypsy<br> + concert I came in for at a miserable drinking-booth half buried +in<br> + the snow where we halted for the refreshment of man and +beast.<br> + Here, I remember, I discovered a very definite connection +between<br> + the characteristic run of the tsimbol, the peculiar bite of +the<br> + Zigeuner's bow on his fiddle-string, and some distinctive points +of<br> + Turanian tongues. In other countries, in Spain, for instance, +your<br> + gypsy speaks differently on his instrument. But, oddly +enough,<br> + when I later attempted to put this observation on paper I +could<br> + find no word to express it."</p> + +<p>A few of our company evinced signs of sleepiness, but most of +us<br> + who knew Marshfield, and that he could, unless he had +something<br> + novel to say, be as silent and retiring as he now evinced signs +of<br> + being copious, awaited further developments with patience. He +has<br> + his own deliberate way of speaking, which he evidently +enjoys<br> + greatly, though it be occasionally trying to his listeners.</p> + +<p>"On the afternoon of my second day's drive, the snow, which +till<br> + then had fallen fine and continuous, ceased, and my Jehu, +suddenly<br> + interrupting himself in the midst of some exciting wolf story +quite<br> + in keeping with the time of year and the wild surroundings, +pointed<br> + to a distant spot against the gray sky to the northwest, +between<br> + two wood-covered folds of ground--the first eastern spurs of +the<br> + great Carpathian chain.</p> + +<p>"'There stands Yany,' said he. I looked at my far-off goal +with<br> + interest. As we drew nearer, the sinking sun, just dipping +behind<br> + the hills, tinged the now distinct frontage with a cold +copper-like<br> + gleam, but it was only for a minute; the next the building +became<br> + nothing more to the eye than a black irregular silhouette +against<br> + the crimson sky.</p> + +<p>"Before we entered the long, steep avenue of poplars, the +early<br> + winter darkness was upon us, rendered all the more depressing +by<br> + gray mists which gave a ghostly aspect to such objects as the +sheen<br> + of the snow rendered visible. Once or twice there were +feeble<br> + flashes of light looming in iridescent halos as we passed +little<br> + clusters of hovels, but for which I should have been induced +to<br> + fancy that the great Hof stood alone in the wilderness, such +was<br> + the deathly stillness around. But even as the tall, square<br> + building rose before us above the vapor, yellow lighted in +various<br> + stories, and mighty in height and breadth, there broke upon my +ear<br> + a deep-mouthed, menacing bay, which gave at once almost +alarming<br> + reality to the eerie surroundings. 'His lordship's boar and +wolf<br> + hounds,' quoth my charioteer calmly, unmindful of the +regular<br> + pandemonium of howls and barks which ensued as he skillfully +turned<br> + his horses through the gateway and flogged the tired beasts into +a<br> + sort of shambling canter that we might land with glory before +the<br> + house door: a weakness common, I believe, to drivers of all<br> + nations.</p> + +<p>"I alighted in the court of honor, and while awaiting an +answer to<br> + my tug at the bell, stood, broken with fatigue, depressed, +chilled<br> + and aching, questioning the wisdom of my proceedings and the +amount<br> + of comfort, physical and moral, that was likely to await me in +a<br> + tete-a-tete visit with a well-mannered savage in his own +home.</p> + +<p>"The unkempt tribe of stable retainers who began to gather +round me<br> + and my rough vehicle in the gloom, with their evil-smelling<br> + sheepskins and their resigned, battered visages, were not<br> + calculated to reassure me. Yet when the door opened, there stood +a<br> + smart chasseur and a solemn major-domo who might but just +have<br> + stepped out of Mayfair; and there was displayed a spreading +vista<br> + of warm, deep-colored halls, with here a statue and there a +stuffed<br> + bear, and under foot pile carpets strewn with rarest skins.</p> + +<p>"Marveling, yet comforted withal, I followed the solemn +butler, who<br> + received me with the deference due to an expected guest and<br> + expressed the master's regret for his enforced absence till +dinner<br> + time. I traversed vast rooms, each more sumptuous than the +last,<br> + feeling the strangeness of the contrast between the outer<br> + desolation and this sybaritic excess of luxury growing ever +more<br> + strongly upon me; caught a glimpse of a picture gallery, +where<br> + peculiar yet admirably executed latter-day French pictures +hung<br> + side by side with ferocious boar hunts of Snyder and such kin; +and,<br> + at length, was ushered into a most cheerful room, modern to +excess<br> + in its comfortable promise, where, in addition to the tall +stove<br> + necessary for warmth, there burned on an open hearth a +vastly<br> + pleasant fire of resinous logs, and where, on a low table, +awaited<br> + me a dainty service of fragrant Russian tea.</p> + +<p>"My impression of utter novelty seemed somehow enhanced by +this<br> + unexpected refinement in the heart of the solitudes and in such +a<br> + rugged shell, and yet, when I came to reflect, it was only<br> + characteristic of my cosmopolitan host. But another surprise +was<br> + in store for me.</p> + +<p>"When I had recovered bodily warmth and mental equilibrium in +my<br> + downy armchair, before the roaring logs, and during the +delicious<br> + absorption of my second glass of tea, I turned my attention to +the<br> + French valet, evidently the baron's own man, who was deftly<br> + unpacking my portmanteau, and who, unless my practiced eye +deceived<br> + me, asked for nothing better than to entertain me with +agreeable<br> + conversation the while.</p> + +<p>"'Your master is out, then?' quoth I, knowing that the most +trivial<br> + remark would suffice to start him.</p> + +<p>"True, Monseigneur was out; he was desolated in despair (this +with<br> + the national amiable and imaginative instinct); 'but it was<br> + doubtless important business. M. le Baron had the visit of +his<br> + factor during the midday meal; had left the table hurriedly, +and<br> + had not been seen since. Madame la Baronne had been a little<br> + suffering, but she would receive monsieur!'</p> + +<p>"'Madame!' exclaimed I, astounded, 'is your master then +married?--<br> + since when?'--visions of a fair Tartar, fit mate for my +baron,<br> + immediately springing somewhat alluringly before my mental +vision.<br> + But the answer dispelled the picturesque fancy.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, yes,' said the man, with a somewhat peculiar +expression.<br> + Yes, Monseigneur is married. Did Monsieur not know? And yet +it<br> + was from England that Monseigneur brought back his wife.'</p> + +<p>"'An Englishwoman!'</p> + +<p>"My first thought was one of pity; an Englishwoman alone in +this<br> + wilderness--two days' drive from even a railway station--and at +the<br> + mercy of Kossowski! But the next minute I reversed my +judgment.<br> + Probably she adored her rufous lord, took his veneer of +courtesy--a<br> + veneer of the most exquisite polish, I grant you, but +perilously<br> + thin--for the very perfection of chivalry. Or perchance it was +his<br> + inner savageness itself that charmed her; the most refined +women<br> + often amaze one by the fascination which the preponderance of +the<br> + brute in the opposite sex seems to have for them.</p> + +<p>"I was anxious to hear more.</p> + +<p>"'Is it not dull for the lady here at this time of the +year?'</p> + +<p>"The valet raised his shoulders with a gesture of despair that +was<br> + almost passionate.</p> + +<p>"Dull! Ah, monsieur could not conceive to himself the dullness +of<br> + it. That poor Madame la Baronne! not even a little child to +keep<br> + her company on the long, long days when there was nothing but +snow<br> + in the heaven and on the earth and the howling of the wind and +the<br> + dogs to cheer her. At the beginning, indeed, it had been<br> + different; when the master first brought home his bride the +house<br> + was gay enough. It was all redecorated and refurnished to +receive<br> + her (monsieur should have seen it before, a mere +rendezvous-de-<br> + chasse--for the matter of that so were all the country houses +in<br> + these parts). Ah, that was the good time! There were visits +month<br> + after month; parties, sleighing, dancing, trips to St. +Petersburg<br> + and Vienna. But this year it seemed they were to have nothing +but<br> + boars and wolves. How madame could stand it--well, it was not +for<br> + him to speak--and heaving a deep sigh he delicately inserted +my<br> + white tie round my collar, and with a flourish twisted it into +an<br> + irreproachable bow beneath my chin. I did not think it right +to<br> + cross-examine the willing talker any further, especially as,<br> + despite his last asseveration, there were evidently volumes +he<br> + still wished to pour forth; but I confess that, as I made my +way<br> + slowly out of my room along the noiseless length of passage, I +was<br> + conscious of an unwonted, not to say vulgar, curiosity +concerning<br> + the woman who had captivated such a man as the Baron +Kossowski.</p> + +<p>"In a fit of speculative abstraction I must have taken the +wrong<br> + turning, for I presently found myself in a long, narrow passage. +I<br> + did not remember. I was retracing my steps when there came +the<br> + sound of rapid footfalls upon stone flags; a little door flew +open<br> + in the wall close to me, and a small, thick-set man, huddled in +the<br> + rough sheepskin of the Galician peasant, with a mangy fur cap +on<br> + his head, nearly ran headlong into my arms. I was about<br> + condescendingly to interpellate him in my best Polish, when +I<br> + caught the gleam of an angry yellow eye and noted the bristle of +a<br> + red beard--Kossowski!</p> + +<p>"Amazed, I fell back a step in silence. With a growl like +an<br> + uncouth animal disturbed, he drew his filthy cap over his brow +with<br> + a savage gesture and pursued his way down the corridor at a sort +of<br> + wild-boar trot.</p> + +<p>"This first meeting between host and guest was so odd, so<br> + incongruous, that it afforded me plenty of food for a fresh line +of<br> + conjecture as I traced my way back to the picture gallery, and +from<br> + thence successfully to the drawing-room, which, as the door +was<br> + ajar, I could not this time mistake.</p> + +<p>"It was large and lofty and dimly lit by shaded lamps; through +the<br> + rosy gloom I could at first only just make out a slender figure +by<br> + the hearth; but as I advanced, this was resolved into a +singularly<br> + graceful woman in clinging, fur-trimmed velvet gown, who, with +one<br> + hand resting on the high mantelpiece, the other banging +listlessly<br> + by her side, stood gazing down at the crumbling wood fire as if +in<br> + a dream.</p> + +<p>"My friends are kind enough to say that I have a catlike +tread; I<br> + know not how that may be; at any rate the carpet I was walking +upon<br> + was thick enough to smother a heavier footfall: not until I +was<br> + quite close to her did my hostess become aware of my +presence.<br> + Then she started violently and looked over her shoulder at me +with<br> + dilating eyes. Evidently a nervous creature, I saw the pulse +in<br> + her throat, strained by her attitude, flutter like a +terrified<br> + bird.</p> + +<p>"The next instant she had stretched out her hand with sweet +English<br> + words of welcome, and the face, which I had been comparing in +my<br> + mind to that of Guido's Cenci, became transformed by the arch +and<br> + exquisite smile of a Greuse. For more than two years I had had +no<br> + intercourse with any of my nationality. I could conceive the +sound<br> + of his native tongue under such circumstances moving a man in +a<br> + curious unexpected fashion.</p> + +<p>"I babbled some commonplace reply, after which there was +silence<br> + while we stood opposite each other, she looking at me +expectantly.<br> + At length, with a sigh checked by a smile and an overtone of<br> + sadness in a voice that yet tried to be sprightly:</p> + +<p>"'Am I then so changed, Mr. Marshfield?' she asked. And all +at<br> + once I knew her: the girl whose nightingale throat had redeemed +the<br> + desolation of the evenings at Rathdrum, whose sunny beauty +had<br> + seemed (even to my celebrated cold-blooded aestheticism) worthy +to<br> + haunt a man's dreams. Yes, there was the subtle curve of the<br> + waist, the warm line of throat, the dainty foot, the slender +tip-<br> + tilted fingers--witty fingers, as I had classified them--which +I<br> + now shook like a true Briton, instead of availing myself of +the<br> + privilege the country gave me, and kissing her slender +wrist.</p> + +<p>"But she was changed; and I told her so with +unconventional<br> + frankness, studying her closely as I spoke.</p> + +<p>"'I am afraid,' I said gravely, 'that this place does not +agree<br> + with you.'</p> + +<p>"She shrank from my scrutiny with a nervous movement and +flushed to<br> + the roots of her red-brown hair. Then she answered coldly that +I<br> + was wrong, that she was in excellent health, but that she could +not<br> + expect any more than other people to preserve perennial youth +(I<br> + rapidly calculated she might be two-and-twenty), though, +indeed,<br> + with a little forced laugh, it was scarcely flattering to hear +one<br> + had altered out of all recognition. Then, without allowing me +time<br> + to reply, she plunged into a general topic of conversation +which,<br> + as I should have been obtuse indeed not to take the hint, I did +my<br> + best to keep up.</p> + +<p><br> + "But while she talked of Vienna and Warsaw, of her distant<br> + neighbors, and last year's visitors, it was evident that her +mind<br> + was elsewhere; her eye wandered, she lost the thread of her<br> + discourse, answered me at random, and smiled her piteous +smile<br> + incongruously.</p> + +<p>"However lonely she might be in her solitary splendor, the +company<br> + of a countryman was evidently no such welcome diversion.</p> + +<p>"After a little while she seemed to feel herself that she +was<br> + lacking in cordiality, and, bringing her absent gaze to bear +upon<br> + me with a puzzled strained look: 'I fear you will find it +very<br> + dull,' she said, 'my husband is so wrapped up this winter in +his<br> + country life and his sport. You are the first visitor we have +had.<br> + There is nothing but guns and horses here, and you do not care +for<br> + these things.'</p> + +<p>"The door creaked behind us; and the baron entered, in +faultless<br> + evening dress. Before she turned toward him I was sharp enough +to<br> + catch again the upleaping of a quick dread in her eyes, not even +so<br> + much dread perhaps, I thought afterwards, as horror--the horror +we<br> + notice in some animals at the nearing of a beast of prey. It +was<br> + gone in a second, and she was smiling. But it was a +revelation.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he beat her in Russian fashion, and she, as an<br> + Englishwoman, was narrow-minded enough to resent this; or +perhaps,<br> + merely, I had the misfortune to arrive during a matrimonial<br> + misunderstanding.</p> + +<p>"The baron would not give me leisure to reflect; he was so +very<br> + effusive in his greeting--not a hint of our previous +meeting--<br> + unlike my hostess, all in all to me; eager to listen, to +reply;<br> + almost affectionate, full of references to old times and +genial<br> + allusions. No doubt when he chose he could be the most charming +of<br> + men; there were moments when, looking at him in his quiet smile +and<br> + restrained gesture, the almost exaggerated politeness of his +manner<br> + to his wife, whose fingers he had kissed with pretty, +old-fashioned<br> + gallantry upon his entrance, I asked myself, Could that +encounter<br> + in the passage have been a dream? Could that savage in the<br> + sheepskin be my courteous entertainer?</p> + +<p>"'Just as I came in, did I hear my wife say there was nothing +for<br> + you to do in this place?' he said presently to me. Then, +turning<br> + to her:</p> + +<p>"'You do not seem to know Mr. Marshfield. Wherever he can +open<br> + his eyes there is for him something to see which might not +interest<br> + other men. He will find things in my library which I have no<br> + notion of. He will discover objects for scientific observation +in<br> + all the members of my household, not only in the +good-looking<br> + maids--though he could, I have no doubt, tell their points as +I<br> + could those of a horse. We have maidens here of several +distinct<br> + races, Marshfield. We have also witches, and Jew leeches, and +holy<br> + daft people. In any case, Yany, with all its dependencies,<br> + material, male and female, are at your disposal, for what you +can<br> + make out of them.</p> + +<p>"'It is good,' he went on gayly, 'that you should happen to +have<br> + this happy disposition, for I fear that, no later than +to-morrow, I<br> + may have to absent myself from home. I have heard that there +are<br> + news of wolves--they threaten to be a greater pest than usual +this<br> + winter, but I am going to drive them on quite a new plan, and +it<br> + will go hard with me if I don't come even with them. Well for +you,<br> + by the way, Marshfield, that you did not pass within their +scent<br> + today.' Then, musingly: 'I should not give much for the life of +a<br> + traveler who happened to wander in these parts just now.' Here +he<br> + interrupted himself hastily and went over to his wife, who had +sunk<br> + back on her chair, livid, seemingly on the point of +swooning.</p> + +<p>"His gaze was devouring; so might a man look at the woman +he<br> + adored, in his anxiety.</p> + +<p>"'What! faint, Violet, alarmed!' His voice was subdued, yet +there<br> + was an unmistakable thrill of emotion in it.</p> + +<p>"'Pshaw!' thought I to myself, 'the man is a model +husband.'</p> + +<p>"She clinched her hands, and by sheer force of will seemed to +pull<br> + herself together. These nervous women have often an +unexpected<br> + fund of strength.</p> + +<p>"'Come, that is well,' said the baron with a flickering smile; +'Mr.<br> + Marshfield will think you but badly acclimatized to Poland if +a<br> + little wolf scare can upset you. My dear wife is so +soft-hearted,'<br> + he went on to me, 'that she is capable of making herself quite +ill<br> + over the sad fate that might have, but has not, overcome you. +Or,<br> + perhaps,' he added, in a still gentler voice, 'her fear is that +I<br> + may expose myself to danger for the public weal.'</p> + +<p>"She turned her head away, but I saw her set her teeth as if +to<br> + choke a sob. The baron chuckled in his throat and seemed to<br> + luxuriate in the pleasant thought.</p> + +<p>"At this moment folding doors were thrown open, and supper +was<br> + announced. I offered my arm, she rose and took it in +silence.<br> + This silence she maintained during the first part of the +meal,<br> + despite her husband's brilliant conversation and almost +uproarious<br> + spirits. But by and by a bright color mounted to her cheeks +and<br> + luster to her eyes. I suppose you will think me horribly<br> + unpoetical if I add that she drank several glasses of champagne +one<br> + after the other, a fact which perhaps may account for the +change.</p> + +<p>"At any rate she spoke and laughed and looked lovely, and I +did not<br> + wonder that the baron could hardly keep his eyes off her. +But<br> + whether it was her wifely anxiety or not--it was evident her +mind<br> + was not at ease through it all, and I fancied that her +brightness<br> + was feverish, her merriment slightly hysterical.</p> + +<p>"After supper--an exquisite one it was--we adjourned together, +in<br> + foreign fashion, to the drawing-room; the baron threw himself +into<br> + a chair and, somewhat with the air of a pasha, demanded music. +He<br> + was flushed; the veins of his forehead were swollen and stood +out<br> + like cords; the wine drunk at table was potent: even through +my<br> + phlegmatic frame it ran hotly.</p> + +<p>"She hesitated a moment or two, then docilely sat down to +the<br> + piano. That she could sing I have already made clear: how +she<br> + could sing, with what pathos, passion, as well as perfect art, +I<br> + had never realized before.</p> + +<p>"When the song was ended she remained for a while, with eyes +lost<br> + in distance, very still, save for her quick breathing. It +was<br> + clear she was moved by the music; indeed she must have thrown +her<br> + whole soul into it.</p> + +<p>"At first we, the audience, paid her the rare compliment +of<br> + silence. Then the baron broke forth into loud applause. +'Brava,<br> + brava! that was really said con amore. A delicious love +song,<br> + delicious--but French! You must sing one of our Slav melodies +for<br> + Marshfield before you allow us to go and smoke.'</p> + +<p>"She started from her reverie with a flush, and after a +pause<br> + struck slowly a few simple chords, then began one of those<br> + strangely sweet, yet intensely pathetic Russian airs, which +give<br> + one a curious revelation of the profound, endless melancholy<br> + lurking in the national mind.</p> + +<p>"'What do you think of it?' asked the baron of me when it +ceased.</p> + +<p>"'What I have always thought of such music--it is that of +a<br> + hopeless people; poetical, crushed, and resigned.'</p> + +<p>"He gave a loud laugh. 'Hear the analyst, the +psychologue--why,<br> + man, it is a love song! Is it possible that we, uncivilized, +are<br> + truer realists than our hypercultured Western neighbors? Have +we<br> + gone to the root of the matter, in our simple way?'</p> + +<p>"The baroness got up abruptly. She looked white and spent; +there<br> + were bister circles round her eyes.</p> + +<p>"'I am tired,' she said, with dry lips. 'You will excuse me, +Mr.<br> + Marshfield, I must really go to bed.'</p> + +<p>"'Go to bed, go to bed,' cried her husband gayly. Then, +quoting in<br> + Russian from the song she had just sung: 'Sleep, my little +soft<br> + white dove: my little innocent tender lamb!' She hurried from +the<br> + room. The baron laughed again, and, taking me familiarly by +the<br> + arm, led me to his own set of apartments for the promised +smoke.<br> + He ensconced me in an armchair, placed cigars of every +description<br> + and a Turkish pipe ready to my hand, and a little table on +which<br> + stood cut-glass flasks and beakers in tempting array.</p> + +<p>"After I had selected my cigar with some precautions, I +glanced at<br> + him over a careless remark, and was startled to see a sudden<br> + alteration in his whole look and attitude.</p> + +<p>"'You will forgive me, Marshfield,' he said, as he caught my +eye,<br> + speaking with spasmodic politeness. 'It is more than probable +that<br> + I shall have to set out upon this chase I spoke of to-night, and +I<br> + must now go and change my clothes, that I may be ready to start +at<br> + any moment. This is the hour when it is most likely these +hell<br> + beasts are to be got at. You have all you want, I hope,'<br> + interrupting an outbreak of ferocity by an effort after his +former<br> + courtesy.</p> + +<p>"It was curious to watch the man of the world struggling with +the<br> + primitive man.</p> + +<p>"'But, baron,' said I, 'I do not at all see the fun of +sticking at<br> + home like this. You know my passion for witnessing everything +new,<br> + strange, and outlandish. You will surely not refuse me such +an<br> + opportunity for observation as a midnight wolf raid. I will do +my<br> + best not to be in the way if you will take me with you.'</p> + +<p>"At first it seemed as if he had some difficulty in realizing +the<br> + drift of my words, he was so engrossed by some inner thought. +But<br> + as I repeated them, he gave vent to a loud cachinnation.</p> + +<p>"'By heaven! I like your spirit,' he exclaimed, clapping +me<br> + strongly on the shoulder. 'Of course you shall come. You +shall,'<br> + he repeated, 'and I promise you a sight, a hunt such as you +never<br> + heard or dreamed of--you will be able to tell them in England +the<br> + sort of thing we can do here in that line--such wolves are +rare<br> + quarry,' he added, looking slyly at me, 'and I have a new plan +for<br> + getting at them.'</p> + +<p>"There was a long pause, and then there rose in the stillness +the<br> + unearthly howling of the baron's hounds, a cheerful sound +which<br> + only their owner's somewhat loud converse of the evening had +kept<br> + from becoming excessively obtrusive.</p> + +<p>"'Hark at them--the beauties!' cried he, showing his short, +strong<br> + teeth, pointed like a dog's in a wide grin of anticipative +delight.<br> + 'They have been kept on pretty short commons, poor things! +They<br> + are hungry. By the way, Marshfield, you can sit tight to a +horse,<br> + I trust? If you were to roll off, you know, these splendid<br> + fellows--they would chop you up in a second. They would chop +you<br> + up,' he repeated unctuously, 'snap, crunch, gobble, and there +would<br> + be an end of you!'</p> + +<p>"'If I could not ride a decent horse without being thrown,' +I<br> + retorted, a little stung by his manner, 'after my recent +three<br> + months' torture with the Guard Cossacks, I should indeed be +a<br> + hopeless subject. Do not think of frightening me from the +exploit,<br> + but say frankly if my company would be displeasing.'</p> + +<p>"'Tut!' he said, waving his hand impatiently, 'it is your +affair.<br> + I have warned you. Go and get ready if you want to come. +Time<br> + presses.'</p> + +<p>"I was determined to be of the fray; my blood was up. I +have<br> + hinted that the baron's Tokay had stirred it.</p> + +<p>"I went to my room and hurriedly donned clothes more suitable +for<br> + rough night work. My last care was to slip into my pockets a +brace<br> + of double-barreled pistols which formed part of my traveling +kit.<br> + When I returned I found the baron already booted and spurred; +this<br> + without metaphor. He was stretched full length on the divan, +and<br> + did not speak as I came in, or even look at me. Chewing an +unlit<br> + cigar, with eyes fixed on the ceiling, he was evidently +following<br> + some absorbing train of ideas.</p> + +<p>"The silence was profound; time went by; it grew oppressive; +at<br> + length, wearied out, I fell, over my chibouque, into a doze +filled<br> + with puzzling visions, out of which I was awakened with a +start.<br> + My companion had sprung up, very lightly, to his feet. In +his<br> + throat was an odd, half-suppressed cry, grewsome to hear. He +stood<br> + on tiptoe, with eyes fixed, as though looking through the wall, +and<br> + I distinctly saw his ears point in the intensity of his +listening.</p> + +<p>"After a moment, with hasty, noiseless energy, and without +the<br> + slightest ceremony, he blew the lamps out, drew back the +heavy<br> + curtains and threw the tall window wide open. A rush of icy +air,<br> + and the bright rays of the moon--gibbous, I remember, in her +third<br> + quarter--filled the room. Outside the mist had condensed, and +the<br> + view was unrestricted over the white plains at the foot of +the<br> + hill.</p> + +<p>"The baron stood motionless in the open window, callous to the +cold<br> + in which, after a minute, I could hardly keep my teeth from<br> + chattering, his head bent forward, still listening. I +listened<br> + too, with 'all my ears,' but could not catch a sound; indeed +the<br> + silence over the great expanse of snow might have been +called<br> + awful; even the dogs were mute.</p> + +<p>"Presently, far, far away, came a faint tinkle of bells; so +faint,<br> + at first, that I thought it was but fancy, then distincter. It +was<br> + even more eerie than the silence, I thought, though I knew it +could<br> + come but from some passing sleigh. All at once that ceased, +and<br> + again my duller senses could perceive nothing, though I saw by +my<br> + host's craning neck that he was more on the alert than ever. +But<br> + at last I too heard once more, this time not bells, but as it +were<br> + the tread of horses muffled by the snow, intermittent and dull, +yet<br> + drawing nearer. And then in the inner silence of the great +house<br> + it seemed to me I caught the noise of closing doors; but here +the<br> + hounds, as if suddenly becoming alive to some disturbance, +raised<br> + the same fearsome concert of yells and barks with which they +had<br> + greeted my arrival, and listening became useless.</p> + +<p>"I had risen to my feet. My host, turning from the window, +seized<br> + my shoulder with a fierce grip, and bade me 'hold my noise'; for +a<br> + second or two I stood motionless under his iron talons, then +he<br> + released me with an exultant whisper: "Now for our chase!" and +made<br> + for the door with a spring. Hastily gulping down a mouthful +of<br> + arrack from one of the bottles on the table, I followed him, +and,<br> + guided by the sound of his footsteps before me, groped my +way<br> + through passages as black as Erebus.</p> + +<p>"After a time, which seemed a long one, a small door was flung +open<br> + in front, and I saw Kossowski glide into the moonlit courtyard +and<br> + cross the square. When I too came out he was disappearing into +the<br> + gaping darkness of the open stable door, and there I overtook +him.</p> + +<p>"A man who seemed to have been sleeping in a corner jumped up +at<br> + our entrance, and led out a horse ready saddled. In obedience to +a<br> + gruff order from his master, as the latter mounted, he then +brought<br> + forward another which he had evidently thought to ride himself +and<br> + held the stirrup for me.</p> + +<p>"We came delicately forth, and the Cossack hurriedly barred +the<br> + great door behind us. I caught a glimpse of his worn, scarred +face<br> + by the moonlight, as he peeped after us for a second before<br> + shutting himself in; it was stricken with terror.</p> + +<p>"The baron trotted briskly toward the kennels, from whence +there<br> + was now issuing a truly infernal clangor, and, as my steed +followed<br> + suit of his own accord, I could see how he proceeded dexterously +to<br> + unbolt the gates without dismounting, while the beasts +within<br> + dashed themselves against them and tore the ground in their fury +of<br> + impatience.</p> + +<p>"He smiled, as he swung back the barriers at last, and his<br> + 'beauties' came forth. Seven or eight monstrous brutes, hounds +of<br> + a kind unknown to me: fulvous and sleek of coat, tall on +their<br> + legs, square-headed, long-tailed, deep-chested; with terrible +jaws<br> + slobbering in eagerness. They leaped around and up at us, much +to<br> + our horses' distaste. Kossowski, still smiling, lashed at +them<br> + unsparingly with his hunting whip, and they responded, not +with<br> + yells of pain, but with snarls of fury.</p> + +<p>"Managing his restless steed and his cruel whip with +consummate<br> + ease, my host drove the unruly crew before him out of the<br> + precincts, then halted and bent down from his saddle to +examine<br> + some slight prints in the snow which led, not the way I had +come,<br> + but toward what seemed another avenue. In a second or two +the<br> + hounds were gathered round this spot, their great snake-like +tails<br> + quivering, nose to earth, yelping with excitement. I had some +ado<br> + to manage my horse, and my eyesight was far from being as keen +as<br> + the baron's, but I had then no doubt he had come already upon +wolf<br> + tracks, and I shuddered mentally, thinking of the sleigh +bells.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly Kossowski raised himself from his strained +position;<br> + under his low fur cap his face, with its fixed smile, looked<br> + scarcely human in the white light: and then we broke into a +hand<br> + canter just as the hounds dashed, in a compact body, along +the<br> + trail.</p> + +<p>"But we had not gone more than a few hundred yards before +they<br> + began to falter, then straggled, stopped and ran back and +about<br> + with dismal cries. It was clear to me they had lost the scent. +My<br> + companion reined in his horse, and mine, luckily a +well-trained<br> + brute, halted of himself.</p> + +<p>"We had reached a bend in a broad avenue of firs and larches, +and<br> + just where we stood, and where the hounds ever returned and +met<br> + nose to nose in frantic conclave, the snow was trampled and +soiled,<br> + and a little farther on planed in a great sweep, as if by a +turning<br> + sleigh. Beyond was a double-furrowed track of skaits and +regular<br> + hoof prints leading far away.</p> + +<p>"Before I had time to reflect upon the bearing of this +unexpected<br> + interruption, Kossowski, as if suddenly possessed by a devil, +fell<br> + upon the hounds with his whip, flogging them upon the new +track,<br> + uttering the while the most savage cries I have ever heard +issue<br> + from human throat. The disappointed beasts were nothing loath +to<br> + seize upon another trail; after a second of hesitation they +had<br> + understood, and were off upon it at a tearing pace, we after +them<br> + at the best speed of our horses.</p> + +<p>"Some unformed idea that we were going to escort, or +rescue,<br> + benighted travelers flickered dimly in my mind as I galloped<br> + through the night air; but when I managed to approach my +companion<br> + and called out to him for explanation, he only turned half +round<br> + and grinned at me.</p> + +<p>"Before us lay now the white plain, scintillating under the +high<br> + moon's rays. That light is deceptive; I could be sure of +nothing<br> + upon the wide expanse but of the dark, leaping figures of +the<br> + hounds already spread out in a straggling line, some right +ahead,<br> + others just in front of us. In a short time also the icy +wind,<br> + cutting my face mercilessly as we increased our pace, well +nigh<br> + blinded me with tears of cold.</p> + +<p>"I can hardly realize how long this pursuit after an unseen +prey<br> + lasted; I can only remember that I was getting rather faint +with<br> + fatigue, and ignominiously held on to my pommel, when all of +a<br> + sudden the black outline of a sleigh merged into sight in front +of<br> + us.</p> + +<p>"I rubbed my smarting eyes with my benumbed hand; we were +gaining<br> + upon it second by second; two of those hell hounds of the +baron's<br> + were already within a few leaps of it.</p> + +<p>"Soon I was able to make out two figures, one standing up +and<br> + urging the horses on with whip and voice, the other clinging to +the<br> + back seat and looking toward us in an attitude of terror. A +great<br> + fear crept into my half-frozen brain--were we not bringing +deadly<br> + danger instead of help to these travelers? Great God! did +the<br> + baron mean to use them as a bait for his new method of wolf<br> + hunting?</p> + +<p>"I would have turned upon Kossowski with a cry of +expostulation or<br> + warning, but he, urging on his hounds as he galloped on +their<br> + flank, howling and gesticulating like a veritable Hun, passed me +by<br> + like a flash--and all at once I knew."</p> + +<p>Marshfield paused for a moment and sent his pale smile round +upon<br> + his listeners, who now showed no signs of sleepiness; he +knocked<br> + the ash from his cigar, twisted the latter round in his mouth, +and<br> + added dryly:</p> + +<p>"And I confess it seemed to me a little strong even for a +baron in<br> + the Carpathians. The travelers were our quarry. But the +reason<br> + why the Lord of Yany had turned man-hunter I was yet to +learn.<br> + Just then I had to direct my energies to frustrating his plans. +I<br> + used my spurs mercilessly. While I drew up even with him I saw +the<br> + two figures in the sleigh change places; he who had hitherto +driven<br> + now faced back, while his companion took the reins; there was +the<br> + pale blue sheen of a revolver barrel under the moonlight, +followed<br> + by a yellow flash, and the nearest hound rolled over in the +snow.</p> + +<p>"With an oath the baron twisted round in his saddle to call up +and<br> + urge on the remainder. My horse had taken fright at the report +and<br> + dashed irresistibly forward, bringing me at once almost level +with<br> + the fugitives, and the next instant the revolver was turned<br> + menacingly toward me. There was no time to explain; my pistol +was<br> + already drawn, and as another of the brutes bounded up, +almost<br> + under my horse's feet, I loosed it upon him. I must have let +off<br> + both barrels at once, for the weapon flew out of my hand, but +the<br> + hound's back was broken. I presume the traveler understood; at +any<br> + rate, he did not fire at me.</p> + +<p>"In moments of intense excitement like these, strangely +enough, the<br> + mind is extraordinarily open to impressions. I shall never +forget<br> + that man's countenance in the sledge, as he stood upright +and<br> + defied us in his mortal danger; it was young, very handsome, +the<br> + features not distorted, but set into a sort of desperate, +stony<br> + calm, and I knew it, beyond all doubt, for that of an +Englishman.<br> + And then I saw his companion--it was the baron's wife. And I<br> + understood why the bells had been removed.</p> + +<p>"It takes a long time to say this; it only required an instant +to<br> + see it. The loud explosion of my pistol had hardly ceased to +ring<br> + before the baron, with a fearful imprecation, was upon me. +First<br> + he lashed at me with his whip as we tore along side by side, +and<br> + then I saw him wind the reins round his off arm and bend over, +and<br> + I felt his angry fingers close tightly on my right foot. The +next<br> + instant I should have been lifted out of my saddle, but there +came<br> + another shot from the sledge. The baron's horse plunged and<br> + stumbled, and the baron, hanging on to my foot with a fierce +grip,<br> + was wrenched from his seat. His horse, however, was up again<br> + immediately, and I was released, and then I caught a +confused<br> + glimpse of the frightened and wounded animal galloping wildly +away<br> + to the right, leaving a black track of blood behind him in +the<br> + snow, his master, entangled in the reins, running with +incredible<br> + swiftness by his side and endeavoring to vault back into the<br> + saddle.</p> + +<p>"And now came to pass a terrible thing which, in his savage +plans,<br> + my host had doubtless never anticipated.</p> + +<p>"One of the hounds that had during this short check recovered +lost<br> + ground, coming across this hot trail of blood, turned away from +his<br> + course, and with a joyous yell darted after the running man. +In<br> + another instant the remainder of the pack was upon the new +scent.</p> + +<p>"As soon as I could stop my horse, I tried to turn him in +the<br> + direction the new chase had taken, but just then, through the +night<br> + air, over the receding sound of the horse's scamper and the +sobbing<br> + of the pack in full cry, there came a long scream, and after +that a<br> + sickening silence. And I knew that somewhere yonder, under +the<br> + beautiful moonlight, the Baron Kossowski was being devoured by +his<br> + starving dogs.</p> + +<p>"I looked round, with the sweat on my face, vaguely, for some +human<br> + being to share the horror of the moment, and I saw, gliding +away,<br> + far away in the white distance, the black silhouette of the<br> + sledge."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said we, in divers tones of impatience, curiosity, +or<br> + horror, according to our divers temperaments, as the speaker<br> + uncrossed his legs and gazed at us in mild triumph, with all +the<br> + air of having said his say, and satisfactorily proved his +point.</p> + +<p>"Well," repeated he, "what more do you want to know? It +will<br> + interest you but slightly, I am sure, to hear how I found my +way<br> + back to the Hof; or how I told as much as I deemed prudent of +the<br> + evening's grewsome work to the baron's servants, who, by the +way,<br> + to my amazement, displayed the profoundest and most +unmistakable<br> + sorrow at the tidings, and sallied forth (at their head the +Cossack<br> + who had seen us depart) to seek for his remains. Excuse the<br> + unpleasantness of the remark: I fear the dogs must have left +very<br> + little of him, he had dieted them so carefully. However, since +it<br> + was to have been a case of 'chop, crunch, and gobble,' as the +baron<br> + had it, I preferred that that particular fate should have +overtaken<br> + him rather than me--or, for that matter, either of those two<br> + country people of ours in the sledge.</p> + +<p>"Nor am I going to inflict upon you," continued Marshfield, +after<br> + draining his glass, "a full account of my impressions when I +found<br> + myself once more in that immense, deserted, and stricken house, +so<br> + luxuriously prepared for the mistress who had fled from it; how +I<br> + philosophized over all this, according to my wont; the +conjectures<br> + I made as to the first acts of the drama; the untold sufferings +my<br> + countrywoman must have endured from the moment her husband +first<br> + grew jealous till she determined on this desperate step; as to +how<br> + and when she had met her lover, how they communicated, and how +the<br> + baron had discovered the intended flitting in time to concoct +his<br> + characteristic revenge.</p> + +<p>"One thing you may be sure of, I had no mind to remain at Yany +an<br> + hour longer than necessary. I even contrived to get well clear +of<br> + the neighborhood before the lady's absence was discovered. +Luckily<br> + for me--or I might have been taxed with connivance, though +indeed<br> + the simple household did not seem to know what suspicion was, +and<br> + accepted my account with childlike credence--very typical, and +very<br> + convenient to me at the same time."</p> + +<p>"But how do you know," said one of us, "that the man was her +lover?<br> + He might have been her brother or some other relative."</p> + +<p>"That," said Marshfield, with his little flat laugh, "I happen +to<br> + have ascertained--and, curiously enough, only a few weeks ago. +It<br> + was at the play, between the acts, from my comfortable seat +(the<br> + first row in the pit). I was looking leisurely round the +house<br> + when I caught sight of a woman, in a box close by, whose head +was<br> + turned from me, and who presented the somewhat unusual spectacle +of<br> + a young neck and shoulders of the most exquisite +contour--and<br> + perfectly gray hair; and not dull gray, but rather of a +pleasing<br> + tint like frosted silver. This aroused my curiosity. I brought +my<br> + glasses to a focus on her and waited patiently till she +turned<br> + round. Then I recognized the Baroness Kassowski, and I no +longer<br> + wondered at the young hair being white.</p> + +<p><br> + "Yet she looked placid and happy; strangely so, it seemed to +me,<br> + under the sudden reviving in my memory of such scenes as I have +now<br> + described. But presently I understood further: beside her, +in<br> + close attendance, was the man of the sledge, a handsome fellow +with<br> + much of a military air about him.</p> + +<p>"During the course of the evening, as I watched, I saw a +friend of<br> + mine come into the box, and at the end I slipped out into +the<br> + passage to catch him as he came out.</p> + +<p>"'Who is the woman with the white hair?' I asked. Then, in +the<br> + fragmentary style approved of by ultra-fashionable young +men--this<br> + earnest-languid mode of speech presents curious similarities in +all<br> + languages--he told me: 'Most charming couple in +London--awfully<br> + pretty, wasn't she?--he had been in the Guards--attache at +Vienna<br> + once--they adored each other. White hair, devilish queer, +wasn't<br> + it? Suited her, somehow. And then she had been married to a<br> + Russian, or something, somewhere in the wilds, and their +names<br> + were--' But do you know," said Marshfield, interrupting +himself,<br> + "I think I had better let you find that out for yourselves, if +you<br> + care."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>Stanley J. Weyman</h3> + +<h2>The Fowl in the Pot</h2> + +<h4>An Episode Adapted from the Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, +Duke<br> + of Sully</h4> + +<p><br> + What I am going to relate may seem to some merely to be curious +and<br> + on a party with the diverting story of M. Boisrose, which I +have<br> + set down in an earlier part of my memoirs. But among the +calumnies<br> + of those who have never ceased to attack me since the death of +the<br> + late king, the statement that I kept from his majesty things +which<br> + should have reached his ears has always had a prominent +place,<br> + though a thousand times refuted by my friends, and those who +from<br> + an intimate acquaintance with events could judge how faithfully +I<br> + labored to deserve the confidence with which my master honored +me.<br> + Therefore, I take it in hand to show by an example, trifling +in<br> + itself, the full knowledge of affairs which the king had, and +to<br> + prove that in many matters, which were never permitted to +become<br> + known to the idlers of the court, he took a personal share, +worthy<br> + as much of Haroun as of Alexander.</p> + +<p><br> + It was my custom, before I entered upon those negotiations with +the<br> + Prince of Conde which terminated in the recovery of the estate +of<br> + Villebon, where I now principally reside, to spend a part of +the<br> + autumn and winter at Rosny. On these occasions I was in the +habit<br> + of leaving Paris with a considerable train of Swiss, pages, +valets,<br> + and grooms, together with the maids of honor and waiting women +of<br> + the duchess. We halted to take dinner at Poissy, and +generally<br> + contrived to reach Rosny toward nightfall, so as to sup by +the<br> + light of flambeaux in a manner enjoyable enough, though devoid +of<br> + that state which I have ever maintained, and enjoined upon +my<br> + children, as at once the privilege and burden of rank.</p> + +<p>At the time of which I am speaking I had for my favorite +charger<br> + the sorrel horse which the Duke of Mercoeur presented to me with +a<br> + view to my good offices at the time of the king's entry into +Paris;<br> + and which I honestly transferred to his majesty in accordance +with<br> + a principle laid down in another place. The king insisted on<br> + returning it to me, and for several years I rode it on these +annual<br> + visits to Rosny. What was more remarkable was that on each +of<br> + these occasions it cast a shoe about the middle of the +afternoon,<br> + and always when we were within a short league of the village +of<br> + Aubergenville. Though I never had with me less than half a +score<br> + of led horses, I had such an affection for the sorrel that I<br> + preferred to wait until it was shod, rather than accommodate +myself<br> + to a nag of less easy paces; and would allow my household to<br> + precede me, staying behind myself with at most a guard or two, +my<br> + valet, and a page.</p> + +<p>The forge at Aubergenville was kept by a smith of some skill, +a<br> + cheerful fellow, whom I always remembered to reward, considering +my<br> + own position rather than his services, with a gold livre. His +joy<br> + at receiving what was to him the income of a year was great, +and<br> + never failed to reimburse me; in addition to which I took +some<br> + pleasure in unbending, and learning from this simple peasant +and<br> + loyal man, what the taxpayers were saying of me and my +reforms--a<br> + duty I always felt I owed to the king my master.</p> + +<p>As a man of breeding it would ill become me to set down the +homely<br> + truths I thus learned. The conversations of the vulgar are +little<br> + suited to a nobleman's memoirs; but in this I distinguish +between<br> + the Duke of Sully and the king's minister, and it is in the +latter<br> + capacity that I relate what passed on these diverting +occasions.<br> + "Ho, Simon," I would say, encouraging the poor man as he +came<br> + bowing and trembling before me, "how goes it, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Badly," he would answer, "very badly until your lordship came +this<br> + way."</p> + +<p>"And how is that, little man?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is the roads," he always replied, shaking his bald +head as<br> + he began to set about his business. "The roads since your +lordship<br> + became surveyor-general are so good that not one horse in a +hundred<br> + casts a shoe; and then there are so few highwaymen now that not +one<br> + robber's plates do I replace in a twelvemonth. There is where +it<br> + is."</p> + +<p>At this I was highly delighted.</p> + +<p>"Still, since I began to pass this way times have not been so +bad<br> + with you, Simon," I would answer.</p> + +<p>Thereto he had one invariable reply.</p> + +<p>"No; thanks to Ste. Genevieve and your lordship, whom we call +in<br> + this village the poor man's friend, I have a fowl in the +pot."</p> + +<p>This phrase so pleased me that I repeated it to the king. +It<br> + tickled his fancy also, and for some years it was a very +common<br> + remark of that good and great ruler, that he hoped to live to +see<br> + every peasant with a fowl in his pot.</p> + +<p>"But why," I remember I once asked this honest fellow--it was +on<br> + the last occasion of the sorrel falling lame there--"do you +thank<br> + Ste. Genevieve?"</p> + +<p>"She is my patron saint," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Then you are a Parisian?"</p> + +<p>"Your lordship is always right."</p> + +<p>"But does her saintship do you any good?" I asked +curiously.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, by your lordship's leave. My wife prays to her and +she<br> + loosens the nails in the sorrel's shoes."</p> + +<p>"In fact she pays off an old grudge," I answered, "for there +was a<br> + time when Paris liked me little; but hark ye, master smith, I +am<br> + not sure that this is not an act of treason to conspire with +Madame<br> + Genevieve against the comfort of the king's minister. What +think<br> + you, you rascal; can you pass the justice elm without a +shiver?"</p> + +<p>This threw the simple fellow into a great fear, which the +sight of<br> + the livre of gold speedily converted into joy as stupendous.<br> + Leaving him still staring at his fortune I rode away; but when +we<br> + had gone some little distance, the aspect of his face, when +I<br> + charged him with treason, or my own unassisted +discrimination<br> + suggested a clew to the phenomenon.</p> + +<p>"La Trape," I said to my valet--the same who was with me at +Cahors--<br> + "what is the name of the innkeeper at Poissy, at whose house +we<br> + are accustomed to dine?"</p> + +<p>"Andrew, may it please your lordship."</p> + +<p>"Andrew! I thought so!" I exclaimed, smiting my thigh. "Simon +and<br> + Andrew his brother! Answer, knave, and, if you have permitted +me<br> + to be robbed these many times, tremble for your ears. Is he +not<br> + brother to the smith at Aubergenville who has just shod my +horse?"</p> + +<p>La Trape professed to be ignorant on this point, but a groom +who<br> + had stayed behind with me, having sought my permission to +speak,<br> + said it was so, adding that Master Andrew had risen in the +world<br> + through large dealings in hay, which he was wont to take daily +into<br> + Paris and sell, and that he did not now acknowledge or see +anything<br> + of his brother the smith, though it was believed that he +retained a<br> + sneaking liking for him.</p> + +<p>On receiving this confirmation of my suspicions, my vanity as +well<br> + as my sense of justice led me to act with the promptitude which +I<br> + have exhibited in greater emergencies. I rated La Trape for +his<br> + carelessness of my interests in permitting this deception to +be<br> + practiced on me; and the main body of my attendants being now +in<br> + sight, I ordered him to take two Swiss and arrest both +brothers<br> + without delay. It wanted yet three hours of sunset, and I +judged<br> + that, by hard riding, they might reach Rosny with their +prisoners<br> + before bedtime.</p> + +<p>I spent some time while still on the road in considering +what<br> + punishment I should inflict on the culprits; and finally laid +aside<br> + the purpose I had at first conceived of putting them to +death--an<br> + infliction they had richly deserved--in favor of a plan which +I<br> + thought might offer me some amusement. For the execution of this +I<br> + depended upon Maignan, my equerry, who was a man of lively<br> + imagination, being the same who had of his own motion arranged +and<br> + carried out the triumphal procession, in which I was borne to +Rosny<br> + after the battle of Ivry. Before I sat down to supper I gave +him<br> + his directions; and as I had expected, news was brought to me +while<br> + I was at table that the prisoners had arrived.</p> + +<p>Thereupon I informed the duchess and the company generally, +for, as<br> + was usual, a number of my country neighbors had come to +compliment<br> + me on my return, that there was some sport of a rare kind on +foot;<br> + and we adjourned, Maignan, followed by four pages bearing +lights,<br> + leading the way to that end of the terrace which abuts on +the<br> + linden avenue. Here, a score of grooms holding torches aloft +had<br> + been arranged in a circle so that the impromptu theater thus<br> + formed, which Maignan had ordered with much taste, was as light +as<br> + in the day. On a sloping bank at one end seats had been placed +for<br> + those who had supped at my table, while the rest of the +company<br> + found such places of vantage as they could; their number, +indeed,<br> + amounting, with my household, to two hundred persons. In the<br> + center of the open space a small forge fire had been kindled, +the<br> + red glow of which added much to the strangeness of the scene; +and<br> + on the anvil beside it were ranged a number of horses' and +donkeys'<br> + shoes, with a full complement of the tools used by smiths. +All<br> + being ready I gave the word to bring in the prisoners, and +escorted<br> + by La Trape and six of my guards, they were marched into the +arena.<br> + In their pale and terrified faces, and the shaking limbs +which<br> + could scarce support them to their appointed stations, I read +both<br> + the consciousness of guilt and the apprehension of immediate +death;<br> + it was plain that they expected nothing less. I was very +willing<br> + to play with their fears, and for some time looked at them +in<br> + silence, while all wondered with lively curiosity what would +ensue.<br> + I then addressed them gravely, telling the innkeeper that I +knew<br> + well he had loosened each year a shoe of my horse, in order +that<br> + his brother might profit by the job of replacing it; and went on +to<br> + reprove the smith for the ingratitude which had led him to +return<br> + my bounty by the conception of so knavish a trick.</p> + +<p>Upon this they confessed their guilt, and flinging themselves +upon<br> + their knees with many tears and prayers begged for mercy. +This,<br> + after a decent interval, I permitted myself to grant. "Your +lives,<br> + which are forfeited, shall be spared," I pronounced. "But +punished<br> + you must be. I therefore ordain that Simon, the smith, at +once<br> + fit, nail, and properly secure a pair of iron shoes to +Andrew's<br> + heels, and that then Andrew, who by that time will have picked +up<br> + something of the smith's art, do the same to Simon. So will +you<br> + both learn to avoid such shoeing tricks for the future."</p> + +<p>It may well be imagined that a judgment so whimsical, and so +justly<br> + adapted to the offense, charmed all save the culprits; and in +a<br> + hundred ways the pleasure of those present was evinced, to such +a<br> + degree, indeed, that Maignan had some difficulty in +restoring<br> + silence and gravity to the assemblage. This done, however, +Master<br> + Andrew was taken in hand and his wooden shoes removed. The +tools<br> + of his trade were placed before the smith, who cast glances +so<br> + piteous, first at his brother's feet and then at the shoes on +the<br> + anvil, as again gave rise to a prodigious amount of merriment, +my<br> + pages in particular well-nigh forgetting my presence, and +rolling<br> + about in a manner unpardonable at another time. However, I +rebuked<br> + them sharply, and was about to order the sentence to be +carried<br> + into effect, when the remembrance of the many pleasant +simplicities<br> + which the smith had uttered to me, acting upon a natural<br> + disposition to mercy, which the most calumnious of my enemies +have<br> + never questioned, induced me to give the prisoners a chance +of<br> + escape. "Listen," I said, "Simon and Andrew. Your sentence +has<br> + been pronounced, and will certainly be executed unless you +can<br> + avail yourself of the condition I now offer. You shall have +three<br> + minutes; if in that time either of you can make a good joke, +he<br> + shall go free. If not, let a man attend to the bellows, La +Trape!"</p> + +<p>This added a fresh satisfaction to my neighbors, who were +well<br> + assured now that I had not promised them a novel +entertainment<br> + without good grounds; for the grimaces of the two knaves +thus<br> + bidden to jest if they would save their skins, were so +diverting<br> + they would have made a nun laugh. They looked at me with +their<br> + eyes as wide as plates, and for the whole of the time of +grace<br> + never a word could they utter save howls for mercy. "Simon," +I<br> + said gravely, when the time was up, "have you a joke? No. +Andrew,<br> + my friend, have you a joke? No. Then--"</p> + +<p>I was going on to order the sentence to be carried out, when +the<br> + innkeeper flung himself again upon his knees, and cried out +loudly--<br> + as much to my astonishment as to the regret of the bystanders, +who<br> + were bent on seeing so strange a shoeing feat--"One word, my +lord;<br> + I can give you no joke, but I can do a service, an eminent +service<br> + to the king. I can disclose a conspiracy!"</p> + +<p>I was somewhat taken aback by this sudden and public +announcement.<br> + But I had been too long in the king's employment not to have<br> + remarked how strangely things are brought to light. On hearing +the<br> + man's words therefore--which were followed by a stricken +silence--I<br> + looked sharply at the faces of such of those present as it +was<br> + possible to suspect, but failed to observe any sign of confusion +or<br> + dismay, or anything more particular than so abrupt a statement +was<br> + calculated to produce. Doubting much whether the man was not<br> + playing with me, I addressed him sternly, warning him to +beware,<br> + lest in his anxiety to save his heels by falsely accusing +others,<br> + he should lose his head. For that if his conspiracy should +prove<br> + to be an invention of his own, I should certainly consider it +my<br> + duty to hang him forthwith.</p> + +<p>He heard me out, but nevertheless persisted in his story, +adding<br> + desperately, "It is a plot, my lord, to assassinate you and +the<br> + king on the same day."</p> + +<p>This statement struck me a blow; for I had good reason to know +that<br> + at that time the king had alienated many by his infatuation +for<br> + Madame de Verneuil; while I had always to reckon firstly with +all<br> + who hated him, and secondly with all whom my pursuit of his<br> + interests injured, either in reality or appearance. I +therefore<br> + immediately directed that the prisoners should be led in +close<br> + custody to the chamber adjoining my private closet, and taking +the<br> + precaution to call my guards about me, since I knew not what<br> + attempt despair might not breed, I withdrew myself, making +such<br> + apologies to the company as the nature of the case +permitted.</p> + +<p>I ordered Simon the smith to be first brought to me, and in +the<br> + presence of Maignan only, I severely examined him as to his<br> + knowledge of any conspiracy. He denied, however, that he had +ever<br> + heard of the matters referred to by his brother, and persisted +so<br> + firmly in the denial that I was inclined to believe him. In +the<br> + end he was taken out and Andrew was brought in. The +innkeeper's<br> + demeanor was such as I have often observed in intriguers +brought<br> + suddenly to book. He averred the existence of the conspiracy, +and<br> + that its objects were those which he had stated. He also +offered<br> + to give up his associates, but conditioned that he should do +this<br> + in his own way; undertaking to conduct me and one other +person--but<br> + no more, lest the alarm should be given--to a place in Paris on +the<br> + following night, where we could hear the plotters state their +plans<br> + and designs. In this way only, he urged, could proof positive +be<br> + obtained.</p> + +<p>I was much startled by this proposal, and inclined to think it +a<br> + trap; but further consideration dispelled my fears. The +innkeeper<br> + had held no parley with anyone save his guards and myself since +his<br> + arrest, and could neither have warned his accomplices, nor<br> + acquainted them with any design the execution of which +should<br> + depend on his confession to me. I therefore accepted his +terms--<br> + with a private reservation that I should have help at +hand--and<br> + before daybreak next morning left Rosny, which I had only seen +by<br> + torchlight, with my prisoner and a select body of Swiss. We<br> + entered Paris in the afternoon in three parties, with as +little<br> + parade as possible, and went straight to the Arsenal, whence, +as<br> + soon as evening fell, I hurried with only two armed attendants +to<br> + the Louvre.</p> + +<p>A return so sudden and unexpected was as great a surprise to +the<br> + court as to the king, and I was not slow to mark with an +inward<br> + smile the discomposure which appeared very clearly, on the faces +of<br> + several, as the crowd in the chamber fell back for me to +approach<br> + my master. I was careful, however, to remember that this +might<br> + arise from other causes than guilt. The king received me with +his<br> + wonted affection; and divining at once that I must have +something<br> + important to communicate, withdrew with me to the farther end +of<br> + the chamber, where we were out of earshot of the court. I +there<br> + related the story to his majesty, keeping back nothing.</p> + +<p>He shook his head, saying merely: "The fish to escape the +frying<br> + pan, grand master, will jump into the fire. And human nature, +save<br> + in the case of you and me, who can trust one another, is +very<br> + fishy."</p> + +<p>I was touched by this gracious compliment, but not convinced. +"You<br> + have not seen the man, sire," I said, "and I have had that<br> + advantage."</p> + +<p>"And believe him?"</p> + +<p>"In part," I answered with caution. "So far at least as to +be<br> + assured that he thinks to save his skin, which he will only do +if<br> + he be telling the truth. May I beg you, sire," I added +hastily,<br> + seeing the direction of his glance, "not to look so fixedly at +the<br> + Duke of Epernon? He grows uneasy."</p> + +<p>"Conscience makes--you know the rest."</p> + +<p>"Nay, sire, with submission," I replied, "I will answer for +him; if<br> + he be not driven by fear to do something reckless."</p> + +<p>"Good! I take your warranty, Duke of Sully," the king said, +with<br> + the easy grace which came so natural to him. "But now in +this<br> + matter what would you have me do?"</p> + +<p>"Double your guards, sire, for to-night--that is all. I +will<br> + answer for the Bastile and the Arsenal; and holding these we +hold<br> + Paris."</p> + +<p>But thereupon I found that the king had come to a decision, +which I<br> + felt it to be my duty to combat with all my influence. He +had<br> + conceived the idea of being the one to accompany me to the<br> + rendezvous. "I am tired of the dice," he complained, "and sick +of<br> + tennis, at which I know everybody's strength. Madame de +Verneuil<br> + is at Fontainebleau, the queen is unwell. Ah, Sully, I would +the<br> + old days were back when we had Nerac for our Paris, and knew +the<br> + saddle better than the armchair!"</p> + +<p>"A king must think of his people," I reminded him.</p> + +<p>"The fowl in the pot? To be sure. So I will--to-morrow," +he<br> + replied. And in the end he would be obeyed. I took my leave +of<br> + him as if for the night, and retired, leaving him at play with +the<br> + Duke of Epernon. But an hour later, toward eight o'clock, +his<br> + majesty, who had made an excuse to withdraw to his closet, met +me<br> + outside the eastern gate of the Louvre.</p> + +<p>He was masked, and attended only by Coquet, his master of +the<br> + household. I too wore a mask and was esquired by Maignan, +under<br> + whose orders were four Swiss--whom I had chosen because they +were<br> + unable to speak French--guarding the prisoner Andrew. I bade<br> + Maignan follow the innkeeper's directions, and we proceeded in +two<br> + parties through the streets on the left bank of the river, past +the<br> + Chatelet and Bastile, until we reached an obscure street near +the<br> + water, so narrow that the decrepit wooden houses shut out +well-nigh<br> + all view of the sky. Here the prisoner halted and called upon +me<br> + to fulfill the terms of my agreement. I bade Maignan therefore +to<br> + keep with the Swiss at a distance of fifty paces, but to come +up<br> + should I whistle or otherwise give the alarm; and myself with +the<br> + king and Andrew proceeded onward in the deep shadow of the +houses.<br> + I kept my hand on my pistol, which I had previously shown to +the<br> + prisoner, intimating that on the first sign of treachery I +should<br> + blow out his brains. However, despite precaution, I felt<br> + uncomfortable to the last degree. I blamed myself severely +for<br> + allowing the king to expose himself and the country to this<br> + unnecessary danger; while the meanness of the locality, the +fetid<br> + air, the darkness of the night, which was wet and tempestuous, +and<br> + the uncertainty of the event lowered my spirits, and made +every<br> + splash in the kennel and stumble on the reeking, slippery<br> + pavements--matters over which the king grew merry--seem no +light<br> + troubles to me.</p> + +<p>Arriving at a house, which, if we might judge in the +darkness,<br> + seemed to be of rather greater pretensions than its fellows, +our<br> + guide stopped, and whispered to us to mount some steps to a +raised<br> + wooden gallery, which intervened between the lane and the +doorway.<br> + On this, besides the door, a couple of unglazed windows looked +out.<br> + The shutter of one was ajar, and showed us a large, bare +room,<br> + lighted by a couple of rushlights. Directing us to place +ourselves<br> + close to this shutter, the innkeeper knocked at the door in +a<br> + peculiar fashion, and almost immediately entered, going at +once<br> + into the lighted room. Peering cautiously through the window +we<br> + were surprised to find that the only person within, save the<br> + newcomer, was a young woman, who, crouching over a smoldering +fire,<br> + was crooning a lullaby while she attended to a large black +pot.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, mistress!" said the innkeeper, advancing to the +fire<br> + with a fair show of nonchalance.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Master Andrew," the girl replied, looking up +and<br> + nodding, but showing no sign of surprise at his appearance.<br> + "Martin is away, but he may return at any moment."</p> + +<p>"Is he still of the same mind?"</p> + +<p>"Quite."</p> + +<p>"And what of Sully? Is he to die then?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"They have decided he must," the girl answered gloomily. It +may be<br> + believed that I listened with all my ears, while the king by +a<br> + nudge in my side seemed to rally me on the destiny so coolly<br> + arranged for me. "Martin says it is no good killing the +other<br> + unless he goes too--they have been so long together. But it +vexes<br> + me sadly, Master Andrew," she added with a sudden break in +her<br> + voice. "Sadly it vexes me. I could not sleep last night for<br> + thinking of it, and the risk Martin runs. And I shall sleep +less<br> + when it is done."</p> + +<p>"Pooh-pooh!" said that rascally innkeeper. "Think less about +it.<br> + Things will grow worse and worse if they are let live. The +King<br> + has done harm enough already. And he grows old besides."</p> + +<p>"That is true!" said the girl. "And no doubt the sooner he is +put<br> + out of the way the better. He is changed sadly. I do not say +a<br> + word for him. Let him die. It is killing Sully that troubles +me--<br> + that and the risk Martin runs."</p> + +<p>At this I took the liberty of gently touching the king. He<br> + answered by an amused grimace; then by a motion of his hand +he<br> + enjoined silence. We stooped still farther forward so as better +to<br> + command the room. The girl was rocking herself to and fro in<br> + evident distress of mind. "If we killed the King," she +continued,<br> + "Martin declares we should be no better off, as long as +Sully<br> + lives. Both or neither, he says. But I do not know. I cannot<br> + bear to think of it. It was a sad day when we brought +Epernon<br> + here, Master Andrew; and one I fear we shall rue as long as +we<br> + live."</p> + +<p>It was now the king's turn to be moved. He grasped my wrist +so<br> + forcibly that I restrained a cry with difficulty. "Epernon!" +he<br> + whispered harshly in my ear. "They are Epernon's tools! Where +is<br> + your guaranty now, Rosny?"</p> + +<p>I confess that I trembled. I knew well that the king, +particular<br> + in small courtesies, never forgot to call his servants by +their<br> + correct titles, save in two cases; when he indicated by the +seeming<br> + error, as once in Marshal Biron's affair, his intention to +promote<br> + or degrade them; or when he was moved to the depths of his +nature<br> + and fell into an old habit. I did not dare to reply, but +listened<br> + greedily for more information.</p> + +<p>"When is it to be done?" asked the innkeeper, sinking his +voice and<br> + glancing round, as if he would call especial attention to +this.</p> + +<p>"That depends upon Master la Riviere," the girl answered. +"To-<br> + morrow night, I understand, if Master la Riviere can have the +stuff<br> + ready."</p> + +<p>I met the king's eyes. They shone fiercely in the faint +light,<br> + which issuing from the window fell on him. Of all things he +hated<br> + treachery most, and La Riviere was his first body physician, and +at<br> + this very time, as I well knew, was treating him for a +slight<br> + derangement which the king had brought upon himself by his<br> + imprudence. This doctor had formerly been in the employment of +the<br> + Bouillon family, who had surrendered his services to the +king.<br> + Neither I nor his majesty had trusted the Duke of Bouillon for +the<br> + last year past, so that we were not surprised by this hint that +he<br> + was privy to the design.</p> + +<p><br> + Despite our anxiety not to miss a word, an approaching step +warned<br> + us at this moment to draw back. More than once before we had +done<br> + so to escape the notice of a wayfarer passing up and down. +But<br> + this time I had a difficulty in inducing the king to adopt +the<br> + precaution. Yet it was well that I succeeded, for the person +who<br> + came stumbling along toward us did not pass, but, mounting +the<br> + steps, walked by within touch of us and entered the house.</p> + +<p>"The plot thickens," muttered the king. "Who is this?"</p> + +<p>At the moment he asked I was racking my brain to remember. I +have<br> + a good eye and a fair recollection for faces, and this was one +I<br> + had seen several times. The features were so familiar that I<br> + suspected the man of being a courtier in disguise, and I ran +over<br> + the names of several persons whom I knew to be Bouillon's +secret<br> + agents. But he was none of these, and obeying the king's +gesture,<br> + I bent myself again to the task of listening.</p> + +<p>The girl looked up on the man's entrance, but did not rise. +"You<br> + are late, Martin," she said.</p> + +<p>"A little," the newcomer answered. "How do you do, Master +Andrew?<br> + What cheer? What, still vexing, mistress?" he added +contemptuously<br> + to the girl. "You have too soft a heart for this business!"</p> + +<p>She sighed, but made no answer.</p> + +<p>"You have made up your mind to it, I hear?" said the +innkeeper.</p> + +<p>"That is it. Needs must when the devil drives!" replied the +man<br> + jauntily. He had a downcast, reckless, luckless air, yet in +his<br> + face I thought I still saw traces of a better spirit.</p> + +<p>"The devil in this case was Epernon," quoth Andrew.</p> + +<p>"Aye, curse him! I would I had cut his dainty throat before +he<br> + crossed my threshold," cried the desperado. "But there, it is +too<br> + late to say that now. What has to be done, has to be done."</p> + +<p>"How are you going about it? Poison, the mistress says."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but if I had my way," the man growled fiercely, "I would +out<br> + one of these nights and cut the dogs' throats in the +kennel!"</p> + +<p>"You could never escape, Martin!" the girl cried, rising +in<br> + excitement. "It would be hopeless. It would merely be +throwing<br> + away your own life."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is not to be done that way, so there is an end of +it,"<br> + quoth the man wearily. "Give me my supper. The devil take +the<br> + king and Sully too! He will soon have them."</p> + +<p>On this Master Andrew rose, and I took his movement toward the +door<br> + for a signal for us to retire. He came out at once, shutting +the<br> + door behind him as he bade the pair within a loud good night. +He<br> + found us standing in the street waiting for him and forthwith +fell<br> + on his knees in the mud and looked up at me, the +perspiration<br> + standing thick on his white face. "My lord," he cried hoarsely, +"I<br> + have earned my pardon!"</p> + +<p>"If you go on," I said encouragingly, "as you have begun, have +no<br> + fear." Without more ado I whistled up the Swiss and bade +Maignan<br> + go with them and arrest the man and woman with as little<br> + disturbance as possible. While this was being done we waited<br> + without, keeping a sharp eye upon the informer, whose terror, +I<br> + noted with suspicion, seemed to be in no degree diminished. He +did<br> + not, however, try to escape, and Maignan presently came to tell +us<br> + that he had executed the arrest without difficulty or +resistance.</p> + +<p>The importance of arriving at the truth before Epernon and +the<br> + greater conspirators should take the alarm was so vividly +present<br> + to the minds of the king and myself, that we did not hesitate +to<br> + examine the prisoners in their house, rather than hazard the +delay<br> + and observation which their removal to a more fit place must<br> + occasion. Accordingly, taking the precaution to post Coquet in +the<br> + street outside, and to plant a burly Swiss in the doorway, the +king<br> + and I entered. I removed my mask as I did so, being aware of +the<br> + necessity of gaining the prisoners' confidence, but I begged +the<br> + king to retain his. As I had expected, the man immediately<br> + recognized me and fell on his knees, a nearer view confirming +the<br> + notion I had previously entertained that his features were +familiar<br> + to me, though I could not remember his name. I thought this a +good<br> + starting-point for my examination, and bidding Maignan withdraw, +I<br> + assumed an air of mildness and asked the fellow his name.</p> + +<p>"Martin, only, please your lordship," he answered; adding, +"once I<br> + sold you two dogs, sir, for the chase, and to your lady a +lapdog<br> + called Ninette no larger than her hand."</p> + +<p>I remembered the knave, then, as a fashionable dog dealer, who +had<br> + been much about the court in the reign of Henry the Third +and<br> + later; and I saw at once how convenient a tool he might be +made,<br> + since he could be seen in converse with people of all ranks +without<br> + arousing suspicion. The man's face as he spoke expressed so +much<br> + fear and surprise that I determined to try what I had often +found<br> + successful in the case of greater criminals, to squeeze him for +a<br> + confession while still excited by his arrest, and before he +should<br> + have had time to consider what his chances of support at the +hands<br> + of his confederates might be. I charged him therefore solemnly +to<br> + tell the whole truth as he hoped for the king's mercy. He +heard<br> + me, gazing at me piteously; but his only answer, to my +surprise,<br> + was that he had nothing to confess.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," I replied sternly, "this will avail you nothing; +if<br> + you do not speak quickly, rogue, and to the point, we shall +find<br> + means to compel you. Who counseled you to attempt his +majesty's<br> + life?"</p> + +<p>On this he stared so stupidly at me, and exclaimed with so +real an<br> + appearance of horror: "How? I attempt the king's life? God<br> + forbid!" that I doubted that we had before us a more +dangerous<br> + rascal than I had thought, and I hastened to bring him to +the<br> + point.</p> + +<p>"What, then," I cried, frowning, "of the stuff Master la +Riviere is<br> + to give you to take the king's life to-morrow night? Oh, we +know<br> + something, I assure you; bethink you quickly, and find your +tongue<br> + if you would have an easy death."</p> + +<p>I expected to see his self-control break down at this proof of +our<br> + knowledge of his design, but he only stared at me with the +same<br> + look of bewilderment. I was about to bid them bring in the<br> + informer that I might see the two front to front, when the +female<br> + prisoner, who had hitherto stood beside her companion in +such<br> + distress and terror as might be expected in a woman of that +class,<br> + suddenly stopped her tears and lamentations. It occurred to +me<br> + that she might make a better witness. I turned to her, but when +I<br> + would have questioned her she broke into a wild scream of<br> + hysterical laughter.</p> + +<p>From that I remember that I learned nothing, though it +greatly<br> + annoyed me. But there was one present who did--the king. He +laid<br> + his hand on my shoulder, gripping it with a force that I read as +a<br> + command to be silent.</p> + +<p>"Where," he said to the man, "do you keep the King and Sully +and<br> + Epernon, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"The King and Sully--with the lordship's leave," said the +man<br> + quickly, with a frightened glance at me--"are in the kennels at +the<br> + back of the house, but it is not safe to go near them. The King +is<br> + raving mad, and--and the other dog is sickening. Epernon we had +to<br> + kill a month back. He brought the disease here, and I have +had<br> + such losses through him as have nearly ruined me, please +your<br> + lordship."</p> + +<p>"Get up--get up, man!" cried the king, and tearing off his +mask he<br> + stamped up and down the room, so torn by paroxysms of laughter +that<br> + he choked himself when again and again he attempted to +speak.</p> + +<p>I too now saw the mistake, but I could not at first see it in +the<br> + same light. Commanding myself as well as I could, I ordered one +of<br> + the Swiss to fetch in the innkeeper, but to admit no one +else.</p> + +<p>The knave fell on his knees as soon as he saw me, his +cheeks<br> + shaking like a jelly.</p> + +<p>"Mercy, mercy!" was all he could say.</p> + +<p>"You have dared to play with me?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"You bade me joke," he sobbed, "you bade me."</p> + +<p>I was about to say that it would be his last joke in this +world--<br> + for my anger was fully aroused--when the king intervened.</p> + +<p>"Nay," he said, laying his hand softly on my shoulder. "It +has<br> + been the most glorious jest. I would not have missed it for +a<br> + kingdom. I command you, Sully, to forgive him."</p> + +<p>Thereupon his majesty strictly charged the three that they +should<br> + not on peril of their lives mention the circumstances to +anyone.<br> + Nor to the best of my belief did they do so, being so +shrewdly<br> + scared when they recognized the king that I verily think they +never<br> + afterwards so much as spoke of the affair to one another. My<br> + master further gave me on his own part his most gracious +promise<br> + that he would not disclose the matter even to Madame de Verneuil +or<br> + the queen, and upon these representations he induced me freely +to<br> + forgive the innkeeper. So ended this conspiracy, on the +diverting<br> + details of which I may seem to have dwelt longer than I should; +but<br> + alas! in twenty-one years of power I investigated many, and +this<br> + one only can I regard with satisfaction. The rest were so +many<br> + warnings and predictions of the fate which, despite all my care +and<br> + fidelity, was in store for the great and good master I +served.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>Robert Louis Stevenson</h3> + +<h2>The Pavilion on the Links</h2> + +<h3><br> + I</h3> + +<p><br> + I was a great solitary when I was young. I made it my pride +to<br> + keep aloof and suffice for my own entertainment; and I may say +that<br> + I had neither friends nor acquaintances until I met that friend +who<br> + became my wife and the mother of my children. With one man +only<br> + was I on private terms; this was R. Northmour, Esquire, of +Graden<br> + Easter, in Scotland. We had met at college; and though there +was<br> + not much liking between us, nor even much intimacy, we were +so<br> + nearly of a humor that we could associate with ease to both.<br> + Misanthropes, we believed ourselves to be; but I have thought +since<br> + that we were only sulky fellows. It was scarcely a +companionship,<br> + but a coexistence in unsociability. Northmour's exceptional<br> + violence of temper made it no easy affair for him to keep the +peace<br> + with anyone but me; and as he respected my silent ways, and let +me<br> + come and go as I pleased, I could tolerate his presence +without<br> + concern. I think we called each other friends.</p> + +<p><br> + When Northmour took his degree and I decided to leave the<br> + university without one, he invited me on a long visit to +Graden<br> + Easter; and it was thus that I first became acquainted with +the<br> + scene of my adventures. The mansion house of Graden stood in +a<br> + bleak stretch of country some three miles from the shore of +the<br> + German Ocean. It was as large as a barrack; and as it had +been<br> + built of a soft stone, liable to consume in the eager air of +the<br> + seaside, it was damp and draughty within and half ruinous +without.<br> + It was impossible for two young men to lodge with comfort in +such a<br> + dwelling. But there stood in the northern part of the estate, in +a<br> + wilderness of links and blowing sand hills, and between a<br> + plantation and the sea, a small pavilion or belvedere, of +modern<br> + design, which was exactly suited to our wants; and in this<br> + hermitage, speaking little, reading much, and rarely +associating<br> + except at meals, Northmour and I spent four tempestuous +winter<br> + months. I might have stayed longer; but one March night +there<br> + sprung up between us a dispute, which rendered my departure<br> + necessary. Northmour spoke hotly, I remember, and I suppose I +must<br> + have made some tart rejoinder. He leaped from his chair and<br> + grappled me; I had to fight, without exaggeration, for my life; +and<br> + it was only with a great effort that I mastered him, for he +was<br> + near as strong in body as myself, and seemed filled with the +devil.<br> + The next morning, we met on our usual terms; but I judged it +more<br> + delicate to withdraw; nor did he attempt to dissuade me.</p> + +<p>It was nine years before I revisited the neighborhood. I +traveled<br> + at that time with a tilt-cart, a tent, and a cooking stove,<br> + tramping all day beside the wagon, and at night, whenever it +was<br> + possible, gypsying in a cove of the hills, or by the side of +a<br> + wood. I believe I visited in this manner most of the wild +and<br> + desolate regions both in England and Scotland; and, as I had<br> + neither friends nor relations, I was troubled with no<br> + correspondence, and had nothing in the nature of +headquarters,<br> + unless it was the office of my solicitors, from whom I drew +my<br> + income twice a year. It was a life in which I delighted; and +I<br> + fully thought to have grown old upon the march, and at last died +in<br> + a ditch.</p> + +<p>It was my whole business to find desolate corners, where I +could<br> + camp without the fear of interruption; and hence, being in +another<br> + part of the same shire, I bethought me suddenly of the Pavilion +on<br> + the Links. No thoroughfare passed within three miles of it. +The<br> + nearest town, and that was but a fisher village, was at a +distance<br> + of six or seven. For ten miles of length, and from a depth +varying<br> + from three miles to half a mile, this belt of barren country +lay<br> + along the sea. The beach, which was the natural approach, was +full<br> + of quicksands. Indeed I may say there is hardly a better place +of<br> + concealment in the United Kingdom. I determined to pass a week +in<br> + the Sea-Wood of Graden Easter, and making a long stage, reached +it<br> + about sundown on a wild September day.</p> + +<p>The country, I have said, was mixed sand hill and links, +LINKS<br> + being a Scottish name for sand which has ceased drifting and +become<br> + more or less solidly covered with turf. The pavilion stood on +an<br> + even space: a little behind it, the wood began in a hedge of +elders<br> + huddled together by the wind; in front, a few tumbled sand +hills<br> + stood between it and the sea. An outcropping of rock had formed +a<br> + bastion for the sand, so that there was here a promontory in +the<br> + coast line between two shallow bays; and just beyond the tides, +the<br> + rock again cropped out and formed an islet of small dimensions +but<br> + strikingly designed. The quicksands were of great extent at +low<br> + water, and had an infamous reputation in the country. Close +in<br> + shore, between the islet and the promontory, it was said they +would<br> + swallow a man in four minutes and a half; but there may have +been<br> + little ground for this precision. The district was alive +with<br> + rabbits, and haunted by gulls which made a continual piping +about<br> + the pavilion. On summer days the outlook was bright and even<br> + gladsome; but at sundown in September, with a high wind, and +a<br> + heavy surf rolling in close along the links, the place told +of<br> + nothing but dead mariners and sea disaster. A ship beating +to<br> + windward on the horizon, and a huge truncheon of wreck half +buried<br> + in the sands at my feet, completed the innuendo of the +scene.</p> + +<p>The pavilion--it had been built by the last proprietor, +Northmour's<br> + uncle, a silly and prodigal virtuoso--presented little signs +of<br> + age. It was two stories in height, Italian in design, +surrounded<br> + by a patch of garden in which nothing had prospered but a +few<br> + coarse flowers; and looked, with its shuttered windows, not like +a<br> + house that had been deserted, but like one that had never +been<br> + tenanted by man. Northmour was plainly from home; whether, +as<br> + usual, sulking in the cabin of his yacht, or in one of his +fitful<br> + and extravagant appearances in the world of society, I had, +of<br> + course, no means of guessing. The place had an air of +solitude<br> + that daunted even a solitary like myself; the wind cried in +the<br> + chimneys with a strange and wailing note; and it was with a +sense<br> + of escape, as if I were going indoors, that I turned away +and,<br> + driving my cart before me, entered the skirts of the wood.</p> + +<p>The Sea-Wood of Graden had been planted to shelter the +cultivated<br> + fields behind, and check the encroachments of the blowing sand. +As<br> + you advanced into it from coastward, elders were succeeded by +other<br> + hardy shrubs; but the timber was all stunted and bushy; it led +a<br> + life of conflict; the trees were accustomed to swing there +all<br> + night long in fierce winter tempests; and even in early spring, +the<br> + leaves were already flying, and autumn was beginning, in +this<br> + exposed plantation. Inland the ground rose into a little +hill,<br> + which, along with the islet, served as a sailing mark for +seamen.<br> + When the hill was open of the islet to the north, vessels must +bear<br> + well to the eastward to clear Graden Ness and the Graden +Bullers.<br> + In the lower ground, a streamlet ran among the trees, and, +being<br> + dammed with dead leaves and clay of its own carrying, spread +out<br> + every here and there, and lay in stagnant pools. One or two +ruined<br> + cottages were dotted about the wood; and, according to +Northmour,<br> + these were ecclesiastical foundations, and in their time had<br> + sheltered pious hermits.</p> + +<p>I found a den, or small hollow, where there was a spring of +pure<br> + water; and there, clearing away the brambles, I pitched the +tent,<br> + and made a fire to cook my supper. My horse I picketed farther +in<br> + the wood where there was a patch of sward. The banks of the +den<br> + not only concealed the light of my fire, but sheltered me from +the<br> + wind, which was cold as well as high.</p> + +<p>The life I was leading made me both hardy and frugal. I +never<br> + drank but water, and rarely eat anything more costly than +oatmeal;<br> + and I required so little sleep, that, although I rose with the +peep<br> + of day, I would often lie long awake in the dark or starry +watches<br> + of the night. Thus in Graden Sea-Wood, although I fell +thankfully<br> + asleep by eight in the evening I was awake again before eleven +with<br> + a full possession of my faculties, and no sense of drowsiness +or<br> + fatigue. I rose and sat by the fire, watching the trees and +clouds<br> + tumultuously tossing and fleeing overhead, and hearkening to +the<br> + wind and the rollers along the shore; till at length, growing +weary<br> + of inaction, I quitted the den, and strolled toward the borders +of<br> + the wood. A young moon, buried in mist, gave a faint +illumination<br> + to my steps; and the light grew brighter as I walked forth into +the<br> + links. At the same moment, the wind, smelling salt of the +open<br> + ocean and carrying particles of sand, struck me with its +full<br> + force, so that I had to bow my head.</p> + +<p>When I raised it again to look about me, I was aware of a +light in<br> + the pavilion. It was not stationary; but passed from one window +to<br> + another, as though some one were reviewing the different +apartments<br> + with a lamp or candle. I watched it for some seconds in +great<br> + surprise. When I had arrived in the afternoon the house had +been<br> + plainly deserted; now it was as plainly occupied. It was my +first<br> + idea that a gang of thieves might have broken in and be now<br> + ransacking Northmour's cupboards, which were many and not +ill<br> + supplied. But what should bring thieves at Graden Easter? +And,<br> + again, all the shutters had been thrown open, and it would +have<br> + been more in the character of such gentry to close them. I<br> + dismissed the notion, and fell back upon another. Northmour<br> + himself must have arrived, and was now airing and inspecting +the<br> + pavilion.</p> + +<p>I have said that there was no real affection between this man +and<br> + me; but, had I loved him like a brother, I was then so much more +in<br> + love with solitude that I should none the less have shunned +his<br> + company. As it was, I turned and ran for it; and it was with<br> + genuine satisfaction that I found myself safely back beside +the<br> + fire. I had escaped an acquaintance; I should have one more +night<br> + in comfort. In the morning, I might either slip away before<br> + Northmour was abroad, or pay him as short a visit as I +chose.</p> + +<p>But when morning came, I thought the situation so diverting +that I<br> + forgot my shyness. Northmour was at my mercy; I arranged a +good<br> + practical jest, though I knew well that my neighbor was not the +man<br> + to jest with in security; and, chuckling beforehand over its<br> + success, took my place among the elders at the edge of the +wood,<br> + whence I could command the door of the pavilion. The shutters +were<br> + all once more closed, which I remember thinking odd; and the +house,<br> + with its white walls and green venetians, looked spruce and<br> + habitable in the morning light. Hour after hour passed, and +still<br> + no sign of Northmour. I knew him for a sluggard in the +morning;<br> + but, as it drew on toward noon, I lost my patience. To say +the<br> + truth, I had promised myself to break my fast in the pavilion, +and<br> + hunger began to prick me sharply. It was a pity to let the<br> + opportunity go by without some cause for mirth; but the +grosser<br> + appetite prevailed, and I relinquished my jest with regret, +and<br> + sallied from the wood.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the house affected me, as I drew near; +with<br> + disquietude. It seemed unchanged since last evening; and I +had<br> + expected it, I scarce knew why, to wear some external signs +of<br> + habitation. But no: the windows were all closely shuttered, +the<br> + chimneys breathed no smoke, and the front door itself was +closely<br> + padlocked. Northmour, therefore, had entered by the back; this +was<br> + the natural, and indeed, the necessary conclusion; and you +may<br> + judge of my surprise when, on turning the house, I found the +back<br> + door similarly secured.</p> + +<p>My mind at once reverted to the original theory of thieves; +and I<br> + blamed myself sharply for my last night's inaction. I examined +all<br> + the windows on the lower story, but none of them had been +tampered<br> + with; I tried the padlocks, but they were both secure. It +thus<br> + became a problem how the thieves, if thieves they were, had +managed<br> + to enter the house. They must have got, I reasoned, upon the +roof<br> + of the outhouse where Northmour used to keep his +photographic<br> + battery; and from thence, either by the window of the study or +that<br> + of my old bedroom, completed their burglarious entry.</p> + +<p>I followed what I supposed was their example; and, getting on +the<br> + roof, tried the shutters of each room. Both were secure; but I +was<br> + not to be beaten; and, with a little force, one of them flew +open,<br> + grazing, as it did so, the back of my hand. I remember, I put +the<br> + wound to my mouth, and stood for perhaps half a minute licking +it<br> + like a dog, and mechanically gazing behind me over the waste +links<br> + and the sea; and, in that space of time, my eye made note of +a<br> + large schooner yacht some miles to the north-east. Then I threw +up<br> + the window and climbed in.</p> + +<p>I went over the house, and nothing can express my +mystification.<br> + There was no sign of disorder, but, on the contrary, the rooms +were<br> + unusually clean and pleasant. I found fires laid, ready for<br> + lighting; three bedrooms prepared with a luxury quite foreign +to<br> + Northmour's habits, and with water in the ewers and the beds +turned<br> + down; a table set for three in the dining-room; and an ample +supply<br> + of cold meats, game, and vegetables on the pantry shelves. +There<br> + were guests expected, that was plain; but why guests, when<br> + Northmour hated society? And, above all, why was the house +thus<br> + stealthily prepared at dead of night? and why were the +shutters<br> + closed and the doors padlocked?</p> + +<p>I effaced all traces of my visit, and came forth from the +window<br> + feeling sobered and concerned.</p> + +<p>The schooner yacht was still in the same place; and it flashed +for<br> + a moment through my mind that this might be the Red Earl +bringing<br> + the owner of the pavilion and his guests. But the vessel's +head<br> + was set the other way.</p> + +<h3><br> + II</h3> + +<p><br> + I returned to the den to cook myself a meal, of which I stood +in<br> + great need, as well as to care for my horse, whom I had +somewhat<br> + neglected in the morning. From time to time I went down to +the<br> + edge of the wood; but there was no change in the pavilion, and +not<br> + a human creature was seen all day upon the links. The schooner +in<br> + the offing was the one touch of life within my range of +vision.<br> + She, apparently with no set object, stood off and on or lay +to,<br> + hour after hour; but as the evening deepened, she drew +steadily<br> + nearer. I became more convinced that she carried Northmour and +his<br> + friends, and that they would probably come ashore after dark; +not<br> + only because that was of a piece with the secrecy of the<br> + preparations, but because the tide would not have flowed<br> + sufficiently before eleven to cover Graden Floe and the other +sea<br> + quags that fortified the shore against invaders.</p> + +<p><br> + All day the wind had been going down, and the sea along with +it;<br> + but there was a return towards sunset of the heavy weather of +the<br> + day before. The night set in pitch dark. The wind came off +the<br> + sea in squalls, like the firing of a battery of cannon; now +and<br> + then there was a flaw of rain, and the surf rolled heavier with +the<br> + rising tide. I was down at my observatory among the elders, when +a<br> + light was run up to the masthead of the schooner, and showed +she<br> + was closer in than when I had last seen her by the dying +daylight.<br> + I concluded that this must be a signal to Northmour's associates +on<br> + shore; and, stepping forth into the links, looked around me +for<br> + something in response.</p> + +<p>A small footpath ran along the margin of the wood, and formed +the<br> + most direct communication between the pavilion and the +mansion-<br> + house; and, as I cast my eyes to that side, I saw a spark of +light,<br> + not a quarter of a mile away, and rapidly approaching. From +its<br> + uneven course it appeared to be the light of a lantern carried +by a<br> + person who followed the windings of the path, and was often<br> + staggered and taken aback by the more violent squalls. I +concealed<br> + myself once more among the elders, and waited eagerly for +the<br> + newcomer's advance. It proved to be a woman; and, as she +passed<br> + within half a rod of my ambush, I was able to recognise the<br> + features. The deaf and silent old dame, who had nursed +Northmour<br> + in his childhood, was his associate in this underhand +affair.</p> + +<p>I followed her at a little distance, taking advantage of +the<br> + innumerable heights and hollows, concealed by the darkness, +and<br> + favored not only by the nurse's deafness, but by the uproar of +the<br> + wind and surf. She entered the pavilion, and, going at once to +the<br> + upper story, opened and set a light in one of the windows +that<br> + looked toward the sea. Immediately afterwards the light at +the<br> + schooner's masthead was run down and extinguished. Its purpose +had<br> + been attained, and those on board were sure that they were<br> + expected. The old woman resumed her preparations; although +the<br> + other shutters remained closed, I could see a glimmer going to +and<br> + fro about the house; and a gush of sparks from one chimney +after<br> + another soon told me that the fires were being kindled.</p> + +<p>Northmour and his guests, I was now persuaded, would come +ashore as<br> + soon as there was water on the floe. It was a wild night for +boat<br> + service; and I felt some alarm mingle with my curiosity as I<br> + reflected on the danger of the landing. My old acquaintance, +it<br> + was true, was the most eccentric of men; but the present<br> + eccentricity was both disquieting and lugubrious to consider. +A<br> + variety of feelings thus led me toward the beach, where I lay +flat<br> + on my face in a hollow within six feet of the track that led to +the<br> + pavilion. Thence, I should have the satisfaction of +recognizing<br> + the arrivals, and, if they should prove to be acquaintances,<br> + greeting them as soon as they landed.</p> + +<p>Some time before eleven, while the tide was still dangerously +low,<br> + a boat's lantern appeared close in shore; and, my attention +being<br> + thus awakened, I could perceive another still far to +seaward,<br> + violently tossed, and sometimes hidden by the billows. The<br> + weather, which was getting dirtier as the night went on, and +the<br> + perilous situation of the yacht upon a lee shore, had +probably<br> + driven them to attempt a landing at the earliest possible +moment.</p> + +<p>A little afterwards, four yachtsmen carrying a very heavy +chest,<br> + and guided by a fifth with a lantern, passed close in front of +me<br> + as I lay, and were admitted to the pavilion by the nurse. +They<br> + returned to the beach, and passed me a third time with +another<br> + chest, larger but apparently not so heavy as the first. A +third<br> + time they made the transit; and on this occasion one of the<br> + yachtsmen carried a leather portmanteau, and the others a +lady's<br> + trunk and carriage bag. My curiosity was sharply excited. If +a<br> + woman were among the guests of Northmour, it would show a change +in<br> + his habits, and an apostasy from his pet theories of life, +well<br> + calculated to fill me with surprise. When he and I dwelt +there<br> + together, the pavilion had been a temple of misogyny. And now, +one<br> + of the detested sex was to be installed under its roof. I<br> + remembered one or two particulars, a few notes of daintiness +and<br> + almost of coquetry which had struck me the day before as I +surveyed<br> + the preparations in the house; their purpose was now clear, and +I<br> + thought myself dull not to have perceived it from the first.</p> + +<p>While I was thus reflecting, a second lantern drew near me +from the<br> + beach. It was carried by a yachtsman whom I had not yet seen, +and<br> + who was conducting two other persons to the pavilion. These +two<br> + persons were unquestionably the guests for whom the house was +made<br> + ready; and, straining eye and ear, I set myself to watch them +as<br> + they passed. One was an unusually tall man, in a traveling +hat<br> + slouched over his eyes, and a highland cape closely buttoned +and<br> + turned up so as to conceal his face. You could make out no more +of<br> + him than that he was, as I have said, unusually tall, and +walked<br> + feebly with a heavy stoop. By his side, and either clinging to +him<br> + or giving him support--I could not make out which--was a +young,<br> + tall, and slender figure of a woman. She was extremely pale; +but<br> + in the light of the lantern her face was so marred by strong +and<br> + changing shadows, that she might equally well have been as ugly +as<br> + sin or as beautiful as I afterwards found her to be.</p> + +<p>When they were just abreast of me, the girl made some remark +which<br> + was drowned by the noise of the wind.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" said her companion; and there was something in the +tone<br> + with which the word was uttered that thrilled and rather shook +my<br> + spirits. It seemed to breathe from a bosom laboring under +the<br> + deadliest terror; I have never heard another syllable so<br> + expressive; and I still hear it again when I am feverish at +night,<br> + and my mind runs upon old times. The man turned toward the girl +as<br> + he spoke; I had a glimpse of much red beard and a nose which +seemed<br> + to have been broken in youth; and his light eyes seemed shining +in<br> + his face with some strong and unpleasant emotion.</p> + +<p>But these two passed on and were admitted in their turn to +the<br> + pavilion.</p> + +<p>One by one, or in groups, the seamen returned to the beach. +The<br> + wind brought me the sound of a rough voice crying, "Shove +off!"<br> + Then, after a pause, another lantern drew near. It was +Northmour<br> + alone.</p> + +<p>My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed to wonder +how a<br> + person could be, at the same time, so handsome and so repulsive +as<br> + Northmour. He had the appearance of a finished gentleman; his +face<br> + bore every mark of intelligence and courage; but you had only +to<br> + look at him, even in his most amiable moment, to see that he +had<br> + the temper of a slaver captain. I never knew a character that +was<br> + both explosive and revengeful to the same degree; he combined +the<br> + vivacity of the south with the sustained and deadly hatreds of +the<br> + north; and both traits were plainly written on his face, which +was<br> + a sort of danger signal. In person, he was tall, strong, and<br> + active; his hair and complexion very dark; his features +handsomely<br> + designed, but spoiled by a menacing expression.</p> + +<p>At that moment he was somewhat paler than by nature; he wore +a<br> + heavy frown; and his lips worked, and he looked sharply round +him<br> + as he walked, like a man besieged with apprehensions. And yet +I<br> + thought he had a look of triumph underlying all, as though he +had<br> + already done much, and was near the end of an achievement.</p> + +<p>Partly from a scruple of delicacy--which I dare say came too +late--<br> + partly from the pleasure of startling an acquaintance, I desired +to<br> + make my presence known to him without delay.</p> + +<p>I got suddenly to my feet, and stepped forward.</p> + +<p>"Northmour!" said I.</p> + +<p>I have never had so shocking a surprise in all my days. He +leaped<br> + on me without a word; something shone in his hand; and he +struck<br> + for my heart with a dagger. At the same moment I knocked him +head<br> + over heels. Whether it was my quickness, or his own uncertainty, +I<br> + know not; but the blade only grazed my shoulder, while the hilt +and<br> + his fist struck me violently on the mouth.</p> + +<p>I fled, but not far. I had often and often observed the<br> + capabilities of the sand hills for protracted ambush or +stealthy<br> + advances and retreats; and, not ten yards from the scene of +the<br> + scuffle, plumped down again upon the grass. The lantern had +fallen<br> + and gone out. But what was my astonishment to see Northmour +slip<br> + at a bound into the pavilion, and hear him bar the door behind +him<br> + with a clang of iron!</p> + +<p>He had not pursued me. He had run away. Northmour, whom I +knew<br> + for the most implacable and daring of men, had run away! I +could<br> + scarce believe my reason; and yet in this strange business, +where<br> + all was incredible, there was nothing to make a work about in +an<br> + incredibility more or less. For why was the pavilion +secretly<br> + prepared? Why had Northmour landed with his guests at dead +of<br> + night, in half a gale of wind, and with the floe scarce +covered?<br> + Why had he sought to kill me? Had he not recognized my voice? +I<br> + wondered. And, above all, how had he come to have a dagger +ready<br> + in his hand? A dagger, or even a sharp knife, seemed out of<br> + keeping with the age in which we lived; and a gentleman +landing<br> + from his yacht on the shore of his own estate, even although it +was<br> + at night and with some mysterious circumstances, does not +usually,<br> + as a matter of fact, walk thus prepared for deadly onslaught. +The<br> + more I reflected, the further I felt at sea. I recapitulated +the<br> + elements of mystery, counting them on my fingers: the +pavilion<br> + secretly prepared for guests; the guests landed at the risk +of<br> + their lives and to the imminent peril of the yacht; the guests, +or<br> + at least one of them, in undisguised and seemingly causeless<br> + terror; Northmour with a naked weapon; Northmour stabbing his +most<br> + intimate acquaintance at a word; last, and not least +strange,<br> + Northmour fleeing from the man whom he had sought to murder, +and<br> + barricading himself, like a hunted creature, behind the door of +the<br> + pavilion. Here were at least six separate causes for extreme<br> + surprise; each part and parcel with the others, and forming +all<br> + together one consistent story. I felt almost ashamed to believe +my<br> + own senses.</p> + +<p>As I thus stood, transfixed with wonder, I began to grow +painfully<br> + conscious of the injuries I had received in the scuffle; +skulked<br> + round among the sand hills; and, by a devious path, regained +the<br> + shelter of the wood. On the way, the old nurse passed again +within<br> + several yards of me, still carrying her lantern, on the +return<br> + journey to the mansion house of Graden. This made a seventh<br> + suspicious feature in the case. Northmour and his guests, it<br> + appeared, were to cook and do the cleaning for themselves, +while<br> + the old woman continued to inhabit the big empty barrack among +the<br> + policies. There must surely be great cause for secrecy, when +so<br> + many inconveniences were confronted to preserve it.</p> + +<p>So thinking, I made my way to the den. For greater security, +I<br> + trod out the embers of the fire, and lighted my lantern to +examine<br> + the wound upon my shoulder. It was a trifling hurt, although +it<br> + bled somewhat freely, and I dressed it as well as I could (for +its<br> + position made it difficult to reach) with some rag and cold +water<br> + from the spring. While I was thus busied, I mentally declared +war<br> + against Northmour and his mystery. I am not an angry man by<br> + nature, and I believe there was more curiosity than resentment +in<br> + my heart. But war I certainly declared; and, by way of<br> + preparation, I got out my revolver, and, having drawn the +charges,<br> + cleaned and reloaded it with scrupulous care. Next I became<br> + preoccupied about my horse. It might break loose, or fall to<br> + neighing, and so betray my camp in the Sea-Wood. I determined +to<br> + rid myself of its neighborhood; and long before dawn I was +leading<br> + it over the links in the direction of the fisher village.</p> + +<h3><br> + III</h3> + +<p><br> + For two days I skulked round the pavilion, profiting by the +uneven<br> + surface of the links. I became an adept in the necessary +tactics.<br> + These low hillocks and shallow dells, running one into +another,<br> + became a kind of cloak of darkness for my inthralling, but +perhaps<br> + dishonorable, pursuit.</p> + +<p>Yet, in spite of this advantage, I could learn but little +of<br> + Northmour or his guests.</p> + +<p>Fresh provisions were brought under cover of darkness by the +old<br> + woman from the mansion house. Northmour, and the young lady,<br> + sometimes together, but more often singly, would walk for an +hour<br> + or two at a time on the beach beside the quicksand. I could +not<br> + but conclude that this promenade was chosen with an eye to +secrecy;<br> + for the spot was open only to seaward. But it suited me not +less<br> + excellently; the highest and most accidented of the sand +hills<br> + immediately adjoined; and from these, lying flat in a hollow, +I<br> + could overlook Northmour or the young lady as they walked.</p> + +<p><br> + The tall man seemed to have disappeared. Not only did he +never<br> + cross the threshold, but he never so much as showed face at +a<br> + window; or, at least, not so far as I could see; for I dared +not<br> + creep forward beyond a certain distance in the day, since the +upper<br> + floors commanded the bottoms of the links; and at night, when +I<br> + could venture further, the lower windows were barricaded as if +to<br> + stand a siege. Sometimes I thought the tall man must be +confined<br> + to bed, for I remembered the feebleness of his gait; and +sometimes<br> + I thought he must have gone clear away, and that Northmour and +the<br> + young lady remained alone together in the pavilion. The idea, +even<br> + then, displeased me.</p> + +<p>Whether or not this pair were man and wife, I had seen +abundant<br> + reason to doubt the friendliness of their relation. Although +I<br> + could hear nothing of what they said, and rarely so much as +glean a<br> + decided expression on the face of either, there was a +distance,<br> + almost a stiffness, in their bearing which showed them to be +either<br> + unfamiliar or at enmity. The girl walked faster when she was +with<br> + Northmour than when she was alone; and I conceived that any<br> + inclination between a man and a woman would rather delay +than<br> + accelerate the step. Moreover, she kept a good yard free of +him,<br> + and trailed her umbrella, as if it were a barrier, on the +side<br> + between them. Northmour kept sidling closer; and, as the +girl<br> + retired from his advance, their course lay at a sort of +diagonal<br> + across the beach, and would have landed them in the surf had +it<br> + been long enough continued. But, when this was imminent, the +girl<br> + would unostentatiously change sides and put Northmour between +her<br> + and the sea. I watched these maneuvers, for my part, with +high<br> + enjoyment and approval, and chuckled to myself at every +move.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the third day, she walked alone for some +time,<br> + and I perceived, to my great concern, that she was more than +once<br> + in tears. You will see that my heart was already interested +more<br> + than I supposed. She had a firm yet airy motion of the body, +and<br> + carried her head with unimaginable grace; every step was a thing +to<br> + look at, and she seemed in my eyes to breathe sweetness and<br> + distinction.</p> + +<p>The day was so agreeable, being calm and sunshiny, with a +tranquil<br> + sea, and yet with a healthful piquancy and vigor in the air, +that,<br> + contrary to custom, she was tempted forth a second time to +walk.<br> + On this occasion she was accompanied by Northmour, and they +had<br> + been but a short while on the beach, when I saw him take +forcible<br> + possession of her hand. She struggled, and uttered a cry that +was<br> + almost a scream. I sprung to my feet, unmindful of my +strange<br> + position; but, ere I had taken a step, I saw Northmour +bareheaded<br> + and bowing very low, as if to apologize; and dropped again at +once<br> + into my ambush. A few words were interchanged; and then, +with<br> + another bow, he left the beach to return to the pavilion. He<br> + passed not far from me, and I could see him, flushed and +lowering,<br> + and cutting savagely with his cane among the grass. It was +not<br> + without satisfaction that I recognized my own handiwork in a +great<br> + cut under his right eye, and a considerable discoloration round +the<br> + socket.</p> + +<p>For some time the girl remained where he had left her, looking +out<br> + past the islet and over the bright sea. Then with a start, as +one<br> + who throws off preoccupation and puts energy again upon its +mettle,<br> + she broke into a rapid and decisive walk. She also was much<br> + incensed by what had passed. She had forgotten where she was. +And<br> + I beheld her walk straight into the borders of the quicksand +where<br> + it is most abrupt and dangerous. Two or three steps farther +and<br> + her life would have been in serious jeopardy, when I slid down +the<br> + face of the sand hill, which is there precipitous, and, +running<br> + halfway forward, called to her to stop.</p> + +<p>She did so, and turned round. There was not a tremor of fear +in<br> + her behavior, and she marched directly up to me like a queen. +I<br> + was barefoot, and clad like a common sailor, save for an +Egyptian<br> + scarf round my waist; and she probably took me at first for +some<br> + one from the fisher village, straying after bait. As for her, +when<br> + I thus saw her face to face, her eyes set steadily and +imperiously<br> + upon mine, I was filled with admiration and astonishment, +and<br> + thought her even more beautiful than I had looked to find her. +Nor<br> + could I think enough of one who, acting with so much boldness, +yet<br> + preserved a maidenly air that was both quaint and engaging; for +my<br> + wife kept an old-fashioned precision of manner through all +her<br> + admirable life--an excellent thing in woman, since it sets +another<br> + value on her sweet familiarities.</p> + +<p>"What does this mean?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"You were walking," I told her, "directly into Graden +Floe."</p> + +<p>"You do not belong to these parts," she said again. "You +speak<br> + like an educated man."</p> + +<p>"I believe I have a right to that name," said I, "although in +this<br> + disguise."</p> + +<p>But her woman's eye had already detected the sash.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she said; "your sash betrays you."</p> + +<p>"You have said the word BETRAY," I resumed. "May I ask you not +to<br> + betray me? I was obliged to disclose myself in your interest; +but<br> + if Northmour learned my presence it might be worse than<br> + disagreeable for me."</p> + +<p>"Do you know," she asked, "to whom you are speaking?"</p> + +<p>"Not to Mr. Northmour's wife?" I asked, by way of answer.</p> + +<p>She shook her head. All this while she was studying my face +with<br> + an embarrassing intentness. Then she broke out--</p> + +<p>"You have an honest face. Be honest like your face, sir, and +tell<br> + me what you want and what you are afraid of. Do you think I +could<br> + hurt you? I believe you have far more power to injure me! And +yet<br> + you do not look unkind. What do you mean--you, a +gentleman--by<br> + skulking like a spy about this desolate place? Tell me," she +said,<br> + "who is it you hate?"</p> + +<p>"I hate no one," I answered; "and I fear no one face to face. +My<br> + name is Cassilis--Frank Cassilis. I lead the life of a +vagabond<br> + for my own good pleasure. I am one of Northmour's oldest +friends;<br> + and three nights ago, when I addressed him on these links, +he<br> + stabbed me in the shoulder with a knife."</p> + +<p>"It was you!" she said.</p> + +<p>"Why he did so," I continued, disregarding the interruption, +"is<br> + more than I can guess, and more than I care to know. I have +not<br> + many friends, nor am I very susceptible to friendship; but no +man<br> + shall drive me from a place by terror. I had camped in the +Graden<br> + Sea-Wood ere he came; I camp in it still. If you think I mean +harm<br> + to you or yours, madame, the remedy is in your hand. Tell him +that<br> + my camp is in the Hemlock Den, and tonight he can stab me in +safety<br> + while I sleep."</p> + +<p>With this I doffed my cap to her, and scrambled up once more +among<br> + the sand hills. I do not know why, but I felt a prodigious +sense<br> + of injustice, and felt like a hero and a martyr; while as a +matter<br> + of fact, I had not a word to say in my defense, nor so much as +one<br> + plausible reason to offer for my conduct. I had stayed at +Graden<br> + out of a curiosity natural enough, but undignified; and +though<br> + there was another motive growing in along with the first, it +was<br> + not one which, at that period, I could have properly explained +to<br> + the lady of my heart.</p> + +<p>Certainly, that night, I thought of no one else; and, though +her<br> + whole conduct and position seemed suspicious, I could not find +it<br> + in my heart to entertain a doubt of her integrity. I could +have<br> + staked my life that she was clear of blame, and, though all +was<br> + dark at the present, that the explanation of the mystery would +show<br> + her part in these events to be both right and needful. It +was<br> + true, let me cudgel my imagination as I pleased, that I +could<br> + invent no theory of her relations to Northmour; but I felt none +the<br> + less sure of my conclusion because it was founded on instinct +in<br> + place of reason, and, as I may say, went to sleep that night +with<br> + the thought of her under my pillow.</p> + +<p>Next day she came out about the same hour alone, and, as soon +as<br> + the sand hills concealed her from the pavilion, drew nearer to +the<br> + edge, and called me by name in guarded tones. I was astonished +to<br> + observe that she was deadly pale, and seemingly under the +influence<br> + of strong emotion.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cassilis!" she cried; "Mr. Cassilis!"</p> + +<p>I appeared at once, and leaped down upon the beach. A +remarkable<br> + air of relief overspread her countenance as soon as she saw +me.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she cried, with a hoarse sound, like one whose bosom had +been<br> + lightened of a weight. And then, "Thank God you are still +safe!"<br> + she added; "I knew, if you were, you would be here." (Was not +this<br> + strange? So swiftly and wisely does Nature prepare our hearts +for<br> + these great lifelong intimacies, that both my wife and I had +been<br> + given a presentiment on this the second day of our acquaintance. +I<br> + had even then hoped that she would seek me; she had felt sure +that<br> + she would find me.) "Do not," she went on swiftly, "do not stay +in<br> + this place. Promise me that you will sleep no longer in that +wood.<br> + You do not know how I suffer; all last night I could not sleep +for<br> + thinking of your peril."</p> + +<p>"Peril!" I repeated. "Peril from whom? From Northmour?"</p> + +<p>"Not so," she said. "Did you think I would tell him after what +you<br> + said?"</p> + +<p>"Not from Northmour?" I repeated. "Then how? From whom? I +see<br> + none to be afraid of."</p> + +<p>"You must not ask me," was her reply, "for I am not free to +tell<br> + you. Only believe me, and go hence--believe me, and go away<br> + quickly, quickly, for your life!"</p> + +<p>An appeal to his alarm is never a good plan to rid oneself of +a<br> + spirited young man. My obstinacy was but increased by what +she<br> + said, and I made it a point of honor to remain. And her +solicitude<br> + for my safety still more confirmed me in the resolve.</p> + +<p>"You must not think me inquisitive, madame," I replied; "but, +if<br> + Graden is so dangerous a place, you yourself perhaps remain here +at<br> + some risk."</p> + +<p>She only looked at me reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"You and your father--" I resumed; but she interrupted me +almost<br> + with a gasp.</p> + +<p>"My father! How do you know that?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"I saw you together when you landed," was my answer; and I do +not<br> + know why, but it seemed satisfactory to both of us, as indeed +it<br> + was truth. "But," I continued, "you need have no fear from me. +I<br> + see you have some reason to be secret, and, you may believe +me,<br> + your secret is as safe with me as if I were in Graden Floe. I +have<br> + scarce spoken to anyone for years; my horse is my only +companion,<br> + and even he, poor beast, is not beside me. You see, then, you +may<br> + count on me for silence. So tell me the truth, my dear young +lady,<br> + are you not in danger?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Northmour says you are an honorable man," she returned, +"and I<br> + believe it when I see you. I will tell you so much; you are +right;<br> + we are in dreadful, dreadful danger, and you share it by +remaining<br> + where you are."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said I; "you have heard of me from Northmour? And he +gives<br> + me a good character?"</p> + +<p>"I asked him about you last night," was her reply. "I +pretended,"<br> + she hesitated, "I pretended to have met you long ago, and spoken +to<br> + you of him. It was not true; but I could not help myself +without<br> + betraying you, and you had put me in a difficulty. He praised +you<br> + highly."</p> + +<p>"And--you may permit me one question--does this danger come +from<br> + Northmour?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"From Mr. Northmour?" she cried. "Oh, no, he stays with us +to<br> + share it."</p> + +<p>"While you propose that I should run away?" I said. "You do +not<br> + rate me very high."</p> + +<p>"Why should you stay?" she asked. "You are no friend of +ours."</p> + +<p>I know not what came over me, for I had not been conscious of +a<br> + similar weakness since I was a child, but I was so mortified +by<br> + this retort that my eyes pricked and filled with tears, as I<br> + continued to gaze upon her face.</p> + +<p>"No, no," she said, in a changed voice; "I did not mean the +words<br> + unkindly."</p> + +<p>"It was I who offended," I said; and I held out my hand with a +look<br> + of appeal that somehow touched her, for she gave me hers at +once,<br> + and even eagerly. I held it for awhile in mine, and gazed into +her<br> + eyes. It was she who first tore her hand away, and, forgetting +all<br> + about her request and the promise she had sought to extort, ran +at<br> + the top of her speed, and without turning, till she was out +of<br> + sight. And then I knew that I loved her, and thought in my +glad<br> + heart that she--she herself--was not indifferent to my suit. +Many<br> + a time she has denied it in after days, but it was with a +smiling<br> + and not a serious denial. For my part, I am sure our hands +would<br> + not have lain so closely in each other if she had not begun to +melt<br> + to me already. And, when all is said, it is no great +contention,<br> + since, by her own avowal, she began to love me on the +morrow.</p> + +<p>And yet on the morrow very little took place. She came and +called<br> + me down as on the day before, upbraided me for lingering at +Graden,<br> + and, when she found I was still obdurate, began to ask me +more<br> + particularly as to my arrival. I told her by what series of<br> + accidents I had come to witness their disembarkation, and how I +had<br> + determined to remain, partly from the interest which had +been<br> + awakened in me by Northmour's guests, and partly because of his +own<br> + murderous attack. As to the former, I fear I was disingenuous, +and<br> + led her to regard herself as having been an attraction to me +from<br> + the first moment that I saw her on the links. It relieves my +heart<br> + to make this confession even now, when my wife is with God, +and<br> + already knows all things, and the honesty of my purpose even +in<br> + this; for while she lived, although it often pricked my +conscience,<br> + I had never the hardihood to undeceive her. Even a little +secret,<br> + in such a married life as ours, is like the rose leaf which +kept<br> + the princess from her sleep.</p> + +<p>From this the talk branched into other subjects, and I told +her<br> + much about my lonely and wandering existence; she, for her +part,<br> + giving ear, and saying little. Although we spoke very +naturally,<br> + and latterly on topics that might seem indifferent, we were +both<br> + sweetly agitated. Too soon it was time for her to go; and we<br> + separated, as if by mutual consent, without shaking hands, for +both<br> + knew that, between us, it was no idle ceremony.</p> + +<p>The next, and that was the fourth day of our acquaintance, we +met<br> + in the same spot, but early in the morning, with much +familiarity<br> + and yet much timidity on either side. While she had once +more<br> + spoken about my danger--and that, I understood, was her excuse +for<br> + coming--I, who had prepared a great deal of talk during the +night,<br> + began to tell her how highly I valued her kind interest, and how +no<br> + one had ever cared to hear about my life, nor had I ever cared +to<br> + relate it, before yesterday. Suddenly she interrupted me, +saying<br> + with vehemence--</p> + +<p>"And yet, if you knew who I was, you would not so much as +speak to<br> + me!"</p> + +<p>I told her such a thought was madness, and, little as we had +met, I<br> + counted her already a dear friend; but my protestations seemed +only<br> + to make her more desperate.</p> + +<p>"My father is in hiding!" she cried.</p> + +<p>"My dear," I said, forgetting for the first time to add +"young<br> + lady," "what do I care? If I were in hiding twenty times +over,<br> + would it make one thought of change in you?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, but the cause!" she cried, "the cause! It is"--she +faltered<br> + for a second--"it is disgraceful to us!"</p> + +<h3><br> + IV</h3> + +<p><br> + This was my wife's story, as I drew it from her among tears +and<br> + sobs. Her name was Clara Huddlestone: it sounded very beautiful +in<br> + my ears; but not so beautiful as that other name of Clara +Cassilis,<br> + which she wore during the longer and, I thank God, the +happier<br> + portion of her life. Her father, Bernard Huddlestone, had been +a<br> + private banker in a very large way of business. Many years +before,<br> + his affairs becoming disordered, he had been led to try +dangerous,<br> + and at last criminal, expedients to retrieve himself from +ruin.<br> + All was in vain; he became more and more cruelly involved, +and<br> + found his honor lost at the same moment with his fortune. +About<br> + this period, Northmour had been courting his daughter with +great<br> + assiduity, though with small encouragement; and to him, knowing +him<br> + thus disposed in his favor, Bernard Huddlestone turned for help +in<br> + his extremity. It was not merely ruin and dishonor, nor merely +a<br> + legal condemnation, that the unhappy man had brought upon his +head.<br> + It seems he could have gone to prison with a light heart. What +he<br> + feared, what kept him awake at night or recalled him from +slumber<br> + into frenzy, was some secret, sudden, and unlawful attempt upon +his<br> + life. Hence, he desired to bury his existence and escape to one +of<br> + the islands in the South Pacific, and it was in Northmour's +yacht,<br> + the "Red Earl," that he designed to go. The yacht picked them +up<br> + clandestinely upon the coast of Wales, and had once more +deposited<br> + them at Graden, till she could be refitted and provisioned for +the<br> + longer voyage. Nor could Clara doubt that her hand had been<br> + stipulated as the price of passage. For, although Northmour +was<br> + neither unkind, nor even discourteous, he had shown himself +in<br> + several instances somewhat overbold in speech and manner.</p> + +<p><br> + I listened, I need not say, with fixed attention, and put +many<br> + questions as to the more mysterious part. It was in vain. She +had<br> + no clear idea of what the blow was, nor of how it was expected +to<br> + fall. Her father's alarm was unfeigned and physically +prostrating,<br> + and he had thought more than once of making an unconditional<br> + surrender to the police. But the scheme was finally abandoned, +for<br> + he was convinced that not even the strength of our English +prisons<br> + could shelter him from his pursuers. He had had many affairs +in<br> + Italy, and with Italians resident in London, in the latter years +of<br> + his business; and these last, as Clara fancied, were somehow<br> + connected with the doom that threatened him. He had shown +great<br> + terror at the presence of an Italian seaman on board the +"Red<br> + Earl," and had bitterly and repeatedly accused Northmour in<br> + consequence. The latter had protested that Beppo (that was +the<br> + seaman's name) was a capital fellow, and could be trusted to +the<br> + death; but Mr. Huddlestone had continued ever since to declare +that<br> + all was lost, that it was only a question of days, and that +Beppo<br> + would be the ruin of him yet.</p> + +<p>I regarded the whole story as the hallucination of a mind +shaken by<br> + calamity. He had suffered heavy loss by his Italian +transactions;<br> + and hence the sight of an Italian was hateful to him, and +the<br> + principal part in his nightmare would naturally enough be played +by<br> + one of that nation.</p> + +<p>"What your father wants," I said, "is a good doctor and +some<br> + calming medicine."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Northmour?" objected Clara. "He is untroubled by +losses,<br> + and yet he shares in this terror."</p> + +<p>I could not help laughing at what I considered her +simplicity.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said I, "you have told me yourself what reward he +has to<br> + look for. All is fair in love, you must remember; and if +Northmour<br> + foments your father's terrors, it is not at all because he +is<br> + afraid of any Italian man, but simply because he is infatuated +with<br> + a charming English woman."</p> + +<p>She reminded me of his attack upon myself on the night of +the<br> + disembarkation, and this I was unable to explain. In short, +and<br> + from one thing to another, it was agreed between us that I +should<br> + set out at once for the fisher village, Graden Wester, as it +was<br> + called, look up all the newspapers I could find, and see for +myself<br> + if there seemed any basis of fact for these continued alarms. +The<br> + next morning, at the same hour and place, I was to make my +report<br> + to Clara. She said no more on that occasion about my +departure;<br> + nor, indeed, did she make it a secret that she clung to the +thought<br> + of my proximity as something helpful and pleasant; and, for +my<br> + part, I could not have left her, if she had gone upon her knees +to<br> + ask it.</p> + +<p>I reached Graden Wester before ten in the forenoon; for in +those<br> + days I was an excellent pedestrian, and the distance, as I think +I<br> + have said, was little over seven miles; fine walking all the +way<br> + upon the springy turf. The village is one of the bleakest on +that<br> + coast, which is saying much: there is a church in the hollow; +a<br> + miserable haven in the rocks, where many boats have been lost +as<br> + they returned from fishing; two or three score of stone +houses<br> + arranged along the beach and in two streets, one leading from +the<br> + harbor, and another striking out from it at right angles; and, +at<br> + the corner of these two, a very dark and cheerless tavern, by +way<br> + of principal hotel.</p> + +<p>I had dressed myself somewhat more suitably to my station in +life,<br> + and at once called upon the minister in his little manse beside +the<br> + graveyard. He knew me, although it was more than nine years +since<br> + we had met; and when I told him that I had been long upon a +walking<br> + tour, and was behind with the news, readily lent me an armful +of<br> + newspapers, dating from a month back to the day before. With +these<br> + I sought the tavern, and, ordering some breakfast, sat down +to<br> + study the "Huddlestone Failure."</p> + +<p>It had been, it appeared, a very flagrant case. Thousands +of<br> + persons were reduced to poverty; and one in particular had +blown<br> + out his brains as soon as payment was suspended. It was strange +to<br> + myself that, while I read these details, I continued rather +to<br> + sympathize with Mr. Huddlestone than with his victims; so +complete<br> + already was the empire of my love for my wife. A price was<br> + naturally set upon the banker's head; and, as the case was<br> + inexcusable and the public indignation thoroughly aroused, +the<br> + unusual figure of 750 pounds was offered for his capture. He +was<br> + reported to have large sums of money in his possession. One +day,<br> + he had been heard of in Spain; the next, there was sure<br> + intelligence that he was still lurking between Manchester +and<br> + Liverpool, or along the border of Wales; and the day after, +a<br> + telegram would announce his arrival in Cuba or Yucatan. But in +all<br> + this there was no word of an Italian, nor any sign of +mystery.</p> + +<p>In the very last paper, however, there was one item not so +clear.<br> + The accountants who were charged to verify the failure had, +it<br> + seemed, come upon the traces of a very large number of +thousands,<br> + which figured for some time in the transactions of the house +of<br> + Huddlestone; but which came from nowhere, and disappeared in +the<br> + same mysterious fashion. It was only once referred to by name, +and<br> + then under the initials "X. X."; but it had plainly been +floated<br> + for the first time into the business at a period of great<br> + depression some six years ago. The name of a distinguished +royal<br> + personage had been mentioned by rumor in connection with this +sum.<br> + "The cowardly desperado"--such, I remember, was the +editorial<br> + expression--was supposed to have escaped with a large part of +this<br> + mysterious fund still in his possession.</p> + +<p>I was still brooding over the fact, and trying to torture it +into<br> + some connection with Mr. Huddlestone's danger, when a man +entered<br> + the tavern and asked for some bread and cheese with a +decided<br> + foreign accent.</p> + +<p>"Siete Italiano?" said I.</p> + +<p>"Si, Signor," was his reply.</p> + +<p>I said it was unusually far north to find one of his +compatriots;<br> + at which he shrugged his shoulders, and replied that a man would +go<br> + anywhere to find work. What work he could hope to find at +Graden<br> + Wester, I was totally unable to conceive; and the incident +struck<br> + so unpleasantly upon my mind, that I asked the landlord, while +he<br> + was counting me some change, whether he had ever before seen +an<br> + Italian in the village. He said he had once seen some +Norwegians,<br> + who had been shipwrecked on the other side of Graden Ness +and<br> + rescued by the lifeboat from Cauldhaven.</p> + +<p>"No!" said I; "but an Italian, like the man who has just had +bread<br> + and cheese."</p> + +<p>"What?" cried he, "yon black-avised fellow wi' the teeth? Was +he<br> + an I-talian? Weel, yon's the first that ever I saw, an' I dare +say<br> + he's like to be the last."</p> + +<p>Even as he was speaking, I raised my eyes, and, casting a +glance<br> + into the street, beheld three men in earnest conversation +together,<br> + and not thirty yards away. One of them was my recent companion +in<br> + the tavern parlor; the other two, by their handsome sallow +features<br> + and soft hats, should evidently belong to the same race. A +crowd<br> + of village children stood around them, gesticulating and +talking<br> + gibberish in imitation. The trio looked singularly foreign to +the<br> + bleak dirty street in which they were standing and the dark +gray<br> + heaven that overspread them; and I confess my incredulity +received<br> + at that moment a shock from which it never recovered. I +might<br> + reason with myself as I pleased, but I could not argue down +the<br> + effect of what I had seen, and I began to share in the +Italian<br> + terror.</p> + +<p>It was already drawing toward the close of the day before I +had<br> + returned the newspapers to the manse, and got well forward on +to<br> + the links on my way home. I shall never forget that walk. It +grew<br> + very cold and boisterous; the wind sung in the short grass about +my<br> + feet; thin rain showers came running on the gusts; and an +immense<br> + mountain range of clouds began to arise out of the bosom of +the<br> + sea. It would be hard to imagine a more dismal evening; and<br> + whether it was from these external influences, or because my +nerves<br> + were already affected by what I had heard and seen, my +thoughts<br> + were as gloomy as the weather.</p> + +<p>The upper windows of the pavilion commanded a considerable +spread<br> + of links in the direction of Graden Wester. To avoid +observation,<br> + it was necessary to hug the beach until I had gained cover from +the<br> + higher sand hills on the little headland, when I might +strike<br> + across, through the hollows, for the margin of the wood. The +sun<br> + was about setting; the tide was low, and all the quicksands<br> + uncovered; and I was moving along, lost in unpleasant thought, +when<br> + I was suddenly thunderstruck to perceive the prints of human +feet.<br> + They ran parallel to my own course, but low down upon the +beach,<br> + instead of along the border of the turf; and, when I examined +them,<br> + I saw at once, by the size and coarseness of the impression, +that<br> + it was a stranger to me and to those of the pavilion who had<br> + recently passed that way. Not only so; but from the +recklessness<br> + of the course which he had followed, steering near to the +most<br> + formidable portions of the sand, he was evidently a stranger to +the<br> + country and to the ill-repute of Graden beach.</p> + +<p>Step by step I followed the prints; until, a quarter of a +mile<br> + farther, I beheld them die away into the southeastern boundary +of<br> + Graden Floe. There, whoever he was, the miserable man had<br> + perished. One or two gulls, who had, perhaps, seen him +disappear,<br> + wheeled over his sepulcher with their usual melancholy piping. +The<br> + sun had broken through the clouds by a last effort, and colored +the<br> + wide level of quicksands with a dusky purple. I stood for +some<br> + time gazing at the spot, chilled and disheartened by my own<br> + reflections, and with a strong and commanding consciousness +of<br> + death. I remember wondering how long the tragedy had taken, +and<br> + whether his screams had been audible at the pavilion. And +then,<br> + making a strong resolution, I was about to tear myself away, +when a<br> + gust fiercer than usual fell upon this quarter of the beach, and +I<br> + saw, now whirling high in air, now skimming lightly across +the<br> + surface of the sands, a soft, black, felt hat, somewhat conical +in<br> + shape, such as I had remarked already on the heads of the +Italians.</p> + +<p>I believe, but I am not sure, that I uttered a cry. The wind +was<br> + driving the hat shoreward, and I ran round the border of the +floe<br> + to be ready against its arrival. The gust fell, dropping the +hat<br> + for awhile upon the quicksand, and then, once more +freshening,<br> + landed it a few yards from where I stood. I seized it with +the<br> + interest you may imagine. It had seen some service; indeed, it +was<br> + rustier than either of those I had seen that day upon the +street.<br> + The lining was red, stamped with the name of the maker, which +I<br> + have forgotten, and that of the place of manufacture, +Venedig.<br> + This (it is not yet forgotten) was the name given by the +Austrians<br> + to the beautiful city of Venice, then, and for long after, a +part<br> + of their dominions.</p> + +<p>The shock was complete. I saw imaginary Italians upon every +side;<br> + and for the first, and, I may say, for the last time in my<br> + experience, became overpowered by what is called a panic terror. +I<br> + knew nothing, that is, to be afraid of, and yet I admit that I +was<br> + heartily afraid; and it was with sensible reluctance that I<br> + returned to my exposed and solitary camp in the Sea-Wood.</p> + +<p>There I eat some cold porridge which had been left over from +the<br> + night before, for I was disinclined to make a fire; and, +feeling<br> + strengthened and reassured, dismissed all these fanciful +terrors<br> + from my mind, and lay down to sleep with composure.</p> + +<p>How long I may have slept it is impossible for me to guess; +but I<br> + was awakened at last by a sudden, blinding flash of light into +my<br> + face. It woke me like a blow. In an instant I was upon my +knees.<br> + But the light had gone as suddenly as it came. The darkness +was<br> + intense. And, as it was blowing great guns from the sea, and<br> + pouring with rain, the noises of the storm effectually +concealed<br> + all others.</p> + +<p>It was, I dare say, half a minute before I regained my +self-<br> + possession. But for two circumstances, I should have thought I +had<br> + been awakened by some new and vivid form of nightmare. First, +the<br> + flap of my tent, which I had shut carefully when I retired, was +now<br> + unfastened; and, second, I could still perceive, with a +sharpness<br> + that excluded any theory of hallucination, the smell of hot +metal<br> + and of burning oil. The conclusion was obvious. I had been<br> + awakened by some one flashing a bull's-eye lantern in my face. +It<br> + had been but a flash, and away. He had seen my face, and +then<br> + gone. I asked myself the object of so strange a proceeding, +and<br> + the answer came pat. The man, whoever he was, had thought to<br> + recognize me, and he had not. There was another question<br> + unresolved; and to this, I may say, I feared to give an answer; +if<br> + he had recognized me, what would he have done?</p> + +<p>My fears were immediately diverted from myself, for I saw that +I<br> + had been visited in a mistake; and I became persuaded that +some<br> + dreadful danger threatened the pavilion. It required some nerve +to<br> + issue forth into the black and intricate thicket which +surrounded<br> + and overhung the den; but I groped my way to the links, +drenched<br> + with rain, beaten upon and deafened by the gusts, and fearing +at<br> + every step to lay my hand upon some lurking adversary. The<br> + darkness was so complete that I might have been surrounded by +an<br> + army and yet none the wiser, and the uproar of the gale so +loud<br> + that my hearing was as useless as my sight.</p> + +<p>For the rest of that night, which seemed interminably long, +I<br> + patrolled the vicinity of the pavilion, without seeing a +living<br> + creature or hearing any noise but the concert of the wind, the +sea,<br> + and the rain. A light in the upper story filtered through a +cranny<br> + of the shutter, and kept me company till the approach of +dawn.</p> + +<h3><br> + V</h3> + +<p><br> + With the first peep of day, I retired from the open to my old +lair<br> + among the sand hills, there to await the coming of my wife. +The<br> + morning was gray, wild, and melancholy; the wind moderated +before<br> + sunrise, and then went about, and blew in puffs from the shore; +the<br> + sea began to go down, but the rain still fell without mercy. +Over<br> + all the wilderness of links there was not a creature to be +seen.<br> + Yet I felt sure the neighborhood was alive with skulking foes. +The<br> + light that had been so suddenly and surprisingly flashed upon +my<br> + face as I lay sleeping, and the hat that had been blown ashore +by<br> + the wind from over Graden Floe, were two speaking signals of +the<br> + peril that environed Clara and the party in the pavilion.</p> + +<p><br> + It was, perhaps, half-past seven, or nearer eight, before I saw +the<br> + door open, and that dear figure come toward me in the rain. I +was<br> + waiting for her on the beach before she had crossed the sand +hills.</p> + +<p>"I have had such trouble to come!" she cried. "They did not +wish<br> + me to go walking in the rain."</p> + +<p>"Clara," I said, "you are not frightened!"</p> + +<p>"No," said she, with a simplicity that filled my heart +with<br> + confidence. For my wife was the bravest as well as the best +of<br> + women; in my experience, I have not found the two go always<br> + together, but with her they did; and she combined the extreme +of<br> + fortitude with the most endearing and beautiful virtues.</p> + +<p>I told her what had happened; and, though her cheek grew +visibly<br> + paler, she retained perfect control over her senses.</p> + +<p>"You see now that I am safe," said I, in conclusion. "They do +not<br> + mean to harm me; for, had they chosen, I was a dead man last<br> + night."</p> + +<p>She laid her hand upon my arm.</p> + +<p>"And I had no presentiment!" she cried.</p> + +<p>Her accent thrilled me with delight. I put my arm about her, +and<br> + strained her to my side; and, before either of us was aware, +her<br> + hands were on my shoulders and my lips upon her mouth. Yet up +to<br> + that moment no word of love had passed between us. To this day +I<br> + remember the touch of her cheek, which was wet and cold with +the<br> + rain; and many a time since, when she has been washing her face, +I<br> + have kissed it again for the sake of that morning on the +beach.<br> + Now that she is taken from me, and I finish my pilgrimage alone, +I<br> + recall our old loving kindnesses and the deep honesty and +affection<br> + which united us, and my present loss seems but a trifle in<br> + comparison.</p> + +<p>We may have thus stood for some seconds--for time passes +quickly<br> + with lovers--before we were startled by a peal of laughter close +at<br> + hand. It was not natural mirth, but seemed to be affected in +order<br> + to conceal an angrier feeling. We both turned, though I still +kept<br> + my left arm about Clara's waist; nor did she seek to +withdraw<br> + herself; and there, a few paces off upon the beach, stood<br> + Northmour, his head lowered, his hands behind his back, his<br> + nostrils white with passion.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Cassilis!" he said, as I disclosed my face.</p> + +<p>"That same," said I; for I was not at all put about.</p> + +<p>"And so, Miss Huddlestone," he continued slowly but savagely, +"this<br> + is how you keep your faith to your father and to me? This is +the<br> + value you set upon your father's life? And you are so +infatuated<br> + with this young gentleman that you must brave ruin, and +decency,<br> + and common human caution--"</p> + +<p>"Miss Huddlestone--" I was beginning to interrupt him, when +he, in<br> + his turn, cut in brutally--</p> + +<p>"You hold your tongue," said he; "I am speaking to that +girl."</p> + +<p>"That girl, as you call her, is my wife," said I; and my wife +only<br> + leaned a little nearer, so that I knew she had affirmed my +words.</p> + +<p>"Your what?" he cried. "You lie!"</p> + +<p>"Northmour," I said, "we all know you have a bad temper, and I +am<br> + the last man to be irritated by words. For all that, I +propose<br> + that you speak lower, for I am convinced that we are not +alone."</p> + +<p>He looked round him, and it was plain my remark had in some +degree<br> + sobered his passion. "What do you mean?" he asked.</p> + +<p>I only said one word: "Italians."</p> + +<p>He swore a round oath, and looked at us, from one to the +other.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cassilis knows all that I know," said my wife.</p> + +<p>"What I want to know," he broke out, "is where the devil +Mr.<br> + Cassilis comes from, and what the devil Mr. Cassilis is doing +here.<br> + You say you are married; that I do not believe. If you were,<br> + Graden Floe would soon divorce you; four minutes and a half,<br> + Cassilis. I keep my private cemetery for my friends."</p> + +<p>"It took somewhat longer," said I, "for that Italian."</p> + +<p>He looked at me for a moment half daunted, and then, +almost<br> + civilly, asked me to tell my story. "You have too much the<br> + advantage of me, Cassilis," he added. I complied of course; and +he<br> + listened, with several ejaculations, while I told him how I +had<br> + come to Graden: that it was I whom he had tried to murder on +the<br> + night of landing; and what I had subsequently seen and heard of +the<br> + Italians.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, when I had done, "it is here at last; there +is no<br> + mistake about that. And what, may I ask, do you propose to +do?"</p> + +<p>"I propose to stay with you and lend a hand," said I.</p> + +<p>"You are a brave man," he returned, with a peculiar +intonation.</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid," said I.</p> + +<p>"And so," he continued, "I am to understand that you two +are<br> + married? And you stand up to it before my face, Miss +Huddlestone?"</p> + +<p>"We are not yet married," said Clara; "but we shall be as soon +as<br> + we can."</p> + +<p>"Bravo!" cried Northmour. "And the bargain? D--n it, you're +not a<br> + fool, young woman; I may call a spade a spade with you. How +about<br> + the bargain? You know as well as I do what your father's +life<br> + depends upon. I have only to put my hands under my coat tails +and<br> + walk away, and his throat would be cut before the evening."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Northmour," returned Clara, with great spirit; "but +that<br> + is what you will never do. You made a bargain that was unworthy +of<br> + a gentleman; but you are a gentleman for all that, and you +will<br> + never desert a man whom you have begun to help."</p> + +<p>"Aha!" said he. "You think I will give my yacht for nothing? +You<br> + think I will risk my life and liberty for love of the old<br> + gentleman; and then, I suppose, he best man at the wedding, to +wind<br> + up? Well," he added, with an odd smile, "perhaps you are not<br> + altogether wrong. But ask Cassilis here. HE knows me. Am I a +man<br> + to trust? Am I safe and scrupulous? Am I kind?"</p> + +<p>"I know you talk a great deal, and sometimes, I think, +very<br> + foolishly," replied Clara, "but I know you are a gentleman, and +I<br> + am not the least afraid."</p> + +<p>He looked at her with a peculiar approval and admiration; +then,<br> + turning to me, "Do you think I would give her up without a<br> + struggle, Frank?" said he. "I tell you plainly, you look out. +The<br> + next time we come to blows--"</p> + +<p>"Will make the third," I interrupted, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Aye, true; so it will," he said. "I had forgotten. Well, +the<br> + third time's lucky."</p> + +<p>"The third time, you mean, you will have the crew of the 'Red +Earl'<br> + to help," I said.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear him?" he asked, turning to my wife.</p> + +<p>"I hear two men speaking like cowards," said she. "I +should<br> + despise myself either to think or speak like that. And neither +of<br> + you believe one word that you are saying, which makes it the +more<br> + wicked and silly."</p> + +<p>"She's a trump!" cried Northmour. "But she's not yet Mrs.<br> + Cassilis. I say no more. The present is not for me."</p> + +<p>Then my wife surprised me.</p> + +<p>"I leave you here," she said suddenly. "My father has been +too<br> + long alone. But remember this: you are to be friends, for you +are<br> + both good friends to me."</p> + +<p>She has since told me her reason for this step. As long as +she<br> + remained, she declares that we two would have continued to +quarrel;<br> + and I suppose that she was right, for when she was gone we fell +at<br> + once into a sort of confidentiality.</p> + +<p>Northmour stared after her as she went away over the sand +hill.</p> + +<p>"She is the only woman in the world!" he exclaimed with an +oath.<br> + "Look at her action."</p> + +<p>I, for my part, leaped at this opportunity for a little +further<br> + light.</p> + +<p>"See here, Northmour," said I; "we are all in a tight place, +are we<br> + not?"</p> + +<p>"I believe you, my boy," he answered, looking me in the eyes, +and<br> + with great emphasis. "We have all hell upon us, that's the +truth.<br> + You may believe me or not, but I'm afraid of my life."</p> + +<p>"Tell me one thing," said I. "What are they after, these +Italians?<br> + What do they want with Mr. Huddlestone?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you know?" he cried. "The black old scamp had +carbonari<br> + funds on a deposit--two hundred and eighty thousand; and of +course<br> + he gambled it away on stocks. There was to have been a +revolution<br> + in the Tridentino, or Parma; but the revolution is off, and +the<br> + whole wasp's nest is after Huddlestone. We shall all be lucky +if<br> + we can save our skins."</p> + +<p>"The carbonari!" I exclaimed; "God help him indeed!"</p> + +<p>"Amen!" said Northmour. "And now, look here: I have said that +we<br> + are in a fix; and, frankly, I shall be glad of your help. If +I<br> + can't save Huddlestone, I want at least to save the girl. Come +and<br> + stay in the pavilion; and, there's my hand on it, I shall act +as<br> + your friend until the old man is either clear or dead. But," +he<br> + added, "once that is settled, you become my rival once again, +and I<br> + warn you--mind yourself."</p> + +<p>"Done!" said I; and we shook hands.</p> + +<p>"And now let us go directly to the fort," said Northmour; and +he<br> + began to lead the way through the rain.</p> + +<h3><br> + VI</h3> + +<p><br> + We were admitted to the pavilion by Clara, and I was surprised +by<br> + the completeness and security of the defenses. A barricade +of<br> + great strength, and yet easy to displace, supported the door<br> + against any violence from without; and the shutters of the +dining-<br> + room, into which I was led directly, and which was feebly<br> + illuminated by a lamp, were even more elaborately fortified. +The<br> + panels were strengthened by bars and crossbars; and these, in +their<br> + turn, were kept in position by a system of braces and struts, +some<br> + abutting on the floor, some on the roof, and others, in +fine,<br> + against the opposite wall of the apartment. It was at once a +solid<br> + and well-designed piece of carpentry; and I did not seek to +conceal<br> + my admiration.</p> + +<p><br> + "I am the engineer," said Northmour. "You remember the planks +in<br> + the garden? Behold them?"</p> + +<p>"I did not know you had so many talents," said I.</p> + +<p>"Are you armed?" he continued, pointing to an array of guns +and<br> + pistols, all in admirable order, which stood in line against +the<br> + wall or were displayed upon the sideboard.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," I returned; "I have gone armed since our last<br> + encounter. But, to tell you the truth, I have had nothing to +eat<br> + since early yesterday evening."</p> + +<p>Northmour produced some cold meat, to which I eagerly set +myself,<br> + and a bottle of good Burgundy, by which, wet as I was, I did +not<br> + scruple to profit. I have always been an extreme temperance man +on<br> + principle; but it is useless to push principle to excess, and +on<br> + this occasion I believe that I finished three quarters of +the<br> + bottle. As I eat, I still continued to admire the preparations +for<br> + defense.</p> + +<p>"We could stand a siege," I said at length.</p> + +<p>"Ye--es," drawled Northmour; "a very little one, perhaps. It +is<br> + not so much the strength of the pavilion I misdoubt; it is +the<br> + double danger that kills me. If we get to shooting, wild as +the<br> + country is, some one is sure to hear it, and then--why then +it's<br> + the same thing, only different, as they say: caged by law, +or<br> + killed by carbonari. There's the choice. It is a devilish +bad<br> + thing to have the law against you in this world, and so I tell +the<br> + old gentleman upstairs. He is quite of my way of thinking."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of that," said I, "what kind of person is he?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he!" cried the other; "he's a rancid fellow, as far as +he<br> + goes. I should like to have his neck wrung to-morrow by all +the<br> + devils in Italy. I am not in this affair for him. You take me? +I<br> + made a bargain for missy's hand, and I mean to have it too."</p> + +<p>"That, by the way," said I. "I understand. But how will +Mr.<br> + Huddlestone take my intrusion?"</p> + +<p>"Leave that to Clara," returned Northmour.</p> + +<p>I could have struck him in the face for his coarse +familiarity; but<br> + I respected the truce, as, I am bound to say, did Northmour, and +so<br> + long as the danger continued not a cloud arose in our relation. +I<br> + bear him this testimony with the most unfeigned satisfaction; +nor<br> + am I without pride when I look back upon my own behavior. +For<br> + surely no two men were ever left in a position so invidious +and<br> + irritating.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had done eating, we proceeded to inspect the +lower<br> + floor. Window by window we tried the different supports, now +and<br> + then making an inconsiderable change; and the strokes of the +hammer<br> + sounded with startling loudness through the house. I proposed, +I<br> + remember, to make loopholes; but he told me they were already +made<br> + in the windows of the upper story. It was an anxious +business,<br> + this inspection, and left me down-hearted. There were two +doors<br> + and five windows to protect, and, counting Clara, only four of +us<br> + to defend them against an unknown number of foes. I +communicated<br> + my doubts to Northmour, who assured me, with unmoved +composure,<br> + that he entirely shared them.</p> + +<p>"Before morning," said he, "we shall all be butchered and +buried in<br> + Graden Floe. For me, that is written."</p> + +<p>I could not help shuddering at the mention of the quicksand, +but<br> + reminded Northmour that our enemies had spared me in the +wood.</p> + +<p>"Do not flatter yourself," said he. "Then you were not in the +same<br> + boat with the old gentleman; now you are. It's the floe for all +of<br> + us, mark my words."</p> + +<p>I trembled for Clara; and just then her dear voice was +heard<br> + calling us to come upstairs. Northmour showed me the way, +and,<br> + when he had reached the landing, knocked at the door of what +used<br> + to be called My Uncle's Bedroom, as the founder of the pavilion +had<br> + designed it especially for himself.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Northmour; come in, dear Mr. Cassilis," said a voice +from<br> + within.</p> + +<p>Pushing open the door, Northmour admitted me before him into +the<br> + apartment. As I came in I could see the daughter slipping out +by<br> + the side door into the study, which had been prepared as her<br> + bedroom. In the bed, which was drawn back against the wall,<br> + instead of standing, as I had last seen it, boldly across +the<br> + window, sat Bernard Huddlestone, the defaulting banker. Little +as<br> + I had seen of him by the shifting light of the lantern on +the<br> + links, I had no difficulty in recognizing him for the same. He +had<br> + a long and sallow countenance, surrounded by a long red beard +and<br> + side-whiskers. His broken nose and high cheek-hones gave him<br> + somewhat the air of a Kalmuck, and his light eyes shone with +the<br> + excitement of a high fever. He wore a skull-cap of black silk; +a<br> + huge Bible lay open before him on the bed, with a pair of +gold<br> + spectacles in the place, and a pile of other books lay on the +stand<br> + by his side. The green curtains lent a cadaverous shade to +his<br> + cheek; and, as he sat propped on pillows, his great stature +was<br> + painfully hunched, and his head protruded till it overhung +his<br> + knees. I believe if he had not died otherwise, he must have +fallen<br> + a victim to consumption in the course of but a very few +weeks.</p> + +<p>He held out to me a hand, long, thin, and disagreeably +hairy.</p> + +<p>"Come in, come in, Mr. Cassilis," said he. "Another +protector--<br> + ahem!--another protector. Always welcome as a friend of my<br> + daughter's, Mr. Cassilis. How they have rallied about me, my<br> + daughter's friends! May God in heaven bless and reward them +for<br> + it!"</p> + +<p>I gave him my hand, of course, because I could not help it; +but the<br> + sympathy I had been prepared to feel for Clara's father was<br> + immediately soured by his appearance, and the wheedling, +unreal<br> + tones in which he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Cassilis is a good man," said Northmour; "worth ten."</p> + +<p>"So I hear," cried Mr. Huddlestone eagerly; "so my girl tells +me.<br> + Ah, Mr. Cassilis, my sin has found me out, you see! I am very +low,<br> + very low; but I hope equally penitent. We must all come to +the<br> + throne of grace at last, Mr. Cassilis. For my part, I come +late<br> + indeed; but with unfeigned humility, I trust."</p> + +<p>"Fiddle-de-dee!" said Northmour roughly.</p> + +<p>"No, no, dear Northmour!" cried the banker. "You must not +say<br> + that; you must not try to shake me. You forget, my dear, good +boy,<br> + you forget I may be called this very night before my Maker."</p> + +<p>His excitement was pitiful to behold; and I felt myself +grow<br> + indignant with Northmour, whose infidel opinions I well knew, +and<br> + heartily despised, as he continued to taunt the poor sinner out +of<br> + his humor of repentance.</p> + +<p>"Pooh, my dear Huddlestone!" said he. "You do yourself +injustice.<br> + You are a man of the world inside and out, and were up to all +kinds<br> + of mischief before I was born. Your conscience is tanned +like<br> + South American leather--only you forgot to tan your liver, +and<br> + that, if you will believe me, is the seat of the annoyance."</p> + +<p>"Rogue, rogue! bad boy!" said Mr. Huddlestone, shaking his +finger.<br> + "I am no precisian, if you come to that; I always hated a<br> + precisian; but I never lost hold of something better through +it<br> + all. I have been a bad boy, Mr. Cassilis; I do not seek to +deny<br> + that; but it was after my wife's death, and you know, with a<br> + widower, it's a different thing: sinful--I won't say no; but +there<br> + is a gradation, we shall hope. And talking of that-- Hark!" +he<br> + broke out suddenly, his hand raised, his fingers spread, his +face<br> + racked with interest and terror. "Only the rain, bless God!" +he<br> + added, after a pause, and with indescribable relief.</p> + +<p>For some seconds he lay back among the pillows like a man near +to<br> + fainting; then he gathered himself together, and, in +somewhat<br> + tremulous tones, began once more to thank me for the share I +was<br> + prepared to take in his defense.</p> + +<p>"One question, sir," said I, when he had paused. "Is it true +that<br> + you have money with you?"</p> + +<p>He seemed annoyed by the question, but admitted with +reluctance<br> + that he had a little.</p> + +<p>"Well," I continued, "it is their money they are after, is it +not?<br> + Why not give it up to them?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" replied he, shaking his head, "I have tried that +already, Mr.<br> + Cassilis; and alas! that it should be so, but it is blood +they<br> + want."</p> + +<p>"Huddlestone, that's a little less than fair," said +Northmour.<br> + "You should mention that what you offered them was upward of +two<br> + hundred thousand short. The deficit is worth a reference; it +is<br> + for what they call a cool sum, Frank. Then, you see, the +fellows<br> + reason in their clear Italian way; and it seems to them, as +indeed<br> + it seems to me, that they may just as well have both while +they're<br> + about it--money and blood together, by George, and no more +trouble<br> + for the extra pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Is it in the pavilion?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It is; and I wish it were in the bottom of the sea instead," +said<br> + Northmour; and then suddenly--"What are you making faces at +me<br> + for?" he cried to Mr. Huddlestone, on whom I had +unconsciously<br> + turned my back. "Do you think Cassilis would sell you?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Huddlestone protested that nothing had been further from +his<br> + mind.</p> + +<p>"It is a good thing," retorted Northmour in his ugliest +manner.<br> + "You might end by wearying us. What were you going to say?" +he<br> + added, turning to me.</p> + +<p>"I was going to propose an occupation for the afternoon," said +I.<br> + "Let us carry that money out, piece by piece, and lay it +down<br> + before the pavilion door. If the carbonari come, why, it's +theirs<br> + at any rate."</p> + +<p>"No, no," cried Mr. Huddlestone; "it does not, it cannot, +belong to<br> + them! It should be distributed pro rata among all my +creditors."</p> + +<p>"Come now, Huddlestone," said Northmour, "none of that."</p> + +<p>"Well, but my daughter," moaned the wretched man. "Your +daughter<br> + will do well enough. Here are two suitors, Cassilis and I, +neither<br> + of us beggars, between whom she has to choose. And as for<br> + yourself, to make an end of arguments, you have no right to +a<br> + farthing, and, unless I'm much mistaken, you are going to +die."</p> + +<p>It was certainly very cruelly said; but Mr. Huddlestone was a +man<br> + who attracted little sympathy; and, although I saw him wince +and<br> + shudder, I mentally indorsed the rebuke; nay, I added a<br> + contribution of my own.</p> + +<p>"Northmour and I," I said, "are willing enough to help you to +save<br> + your life, but not to escape with stolen property."</p> + +<p>He struggled for awhile with himself, as though he were on +the<br> + point of giving way to anger, but prudence had the best of +the<br> + controversy.</p> + +<p>"My dear boys," he said, "do with me or my money what you +will. I<br> + leave all in your hands. Let me compose myself."</p> + +<p>And so we left him, gladly enough I am sure.</p> + +<p>The last that I saw, he had once more taken up his great +Bible, and<br> + with tremulous hands was adjusting his spectacles to read.</p> + +<h3><br> + VII</h3> + +<p><br> + The recollection of that afternoon will always be graven on +my<br> + mind. Northmour and I were persuaded that an attack was +imminent;<br> + and if it had been in our power to alter in any way the order +of<br> + events, that power would have been used to precipitate rather +than<br> + delay the critical moment. The worst was to be anticipated; yet +we<br> + could conceive no extremity so miserable as the suspense we +were<br> + now suffering. I have never been an eager, though always a +great,<br> + reader; but I never knew books so insipid as those which I took +up<br> + and cast aside that afternoon in the pavilion. Even talk +became<br> + impossible, as the hours went on. One or other was always<br> + listening for some sound, or peering from an upstairs window +over<br> + the links. And yet not a sign indicated the presence of our +foes.</p> + +<p><br> + We debated over and over again my proposal with regard to +the<br> + money; and had we been in complete possession of our faculties, +I<br> + am sure we should have condemned it as unwise; but we were<br> + flustered with alarm, grasped at a straw, and determined, +although<br> + it was as much as advertising Mr. Huddlestone's presence in +the<br> + pavilion, to carry my proposal into effect.</p> + +<p>The sum was part in specie, part in bank paper, and part +in<br> + circular notes payable to the name of James Gregory. We took +it<br> + out, counted it, inclosed it once more in a dispatch box +belonging<br> + to Northmour, and prepared a letter in Italian which he tied to +the<br> + handle. It was signed by both of us under oath, and declared +that<br> + this was all the money which had escaped the failure of the +house<br> + of Huddlestone. This was, perhaps, the maddest action ever<br> + perpetrated by two persons professing to be sane. Had the +dispatch<br> + box fallen into other hands than those for which it was +intended,<br> + we stood criminally convicted on our own written testimony; but, +as<br> + I have said, we were neither of us in a condition to judge +soberly,<br> + and had a thirst for action that drove us to do something, right +or<br> + wrong, rather than endure the agony of waiting. Moreover, as +we<br> + were both convinced that the hollows of the links were alive +with<br> + hidden spies upon our movements, we hoped that our appearance +with<br> + the box might lead to a parley, and, perhaps, a compromise.</p> + +<p>It was nearly three when we issued from the pavilion. The rain +had<br> + taken off; the sun shone quite cheerfully. I had never seen +the<br> + gulls fly so close about the house or approach so fearlessly +to<br> + human beings. On the very doorstep one flapped heavily past +our<br> + heads, and uttered its wild cry in my very ear.</p> + +<p>"There is an omen for you," said Northmour, who like all<br> + freethinkers was much under the influence of superstition. +"They<br> + think we are already dead."</p> + +<p>I made some light rejoinder, but it was with half my heart; +for the<br> + circumstance had impressed me.</p> + +<p>A yard or two before the gate, on a patch of smooth turf, we +set<br> + down the dispatch box; and Northmour waved a white +handkerchief<br> + over his head. Nothing replied. We raised our voices, and +cried<br> + aloud in Italian that we were there as ambassadors to arrange +the<br> + quarrel, but the stillness remained unbroken save by the +seagulls<br> + and the surf. I had a weight at my heart when we desisted; and +I<br> + saw that even Northmour was unusually pale. He looked over +his<br> + shoulder nervously, as though he feared that some one had +crept<br> + between him and the pavilion door.</p> + +<p>"By God," he said in a whisper, "this is too much for me!"</p> + +<p>I replied in the same key: "Suppose there should be none, +after<br> + all!"</p> + +<p>"Look there," he returned, nodding with his head, as though he +had<br> + been afraid to point.</p> + +<p>I glanced in the direction indicated; and there, from the +northern<br> + quarter of the Sea-Wood, beheld a thin column of smoke +rising<br> + steadily against the now cloudless sky.</p> + +<p>"Northmour," I said (we still continued to talk in whispers), +"it<br> + is not possible to endure this suspense. I prefer death +fifty<br> + times over. Stay you here to watch the pavilion; I will go +forward<br> + and make sure, if I have to walk right into their camp."</p> + +<p>He looked once again all round him with puckered eyes, and +then<br> + nodded assentingly to my proposal.</p> + +<p>My heart heat like a sledge hammer as I set out walking +rapidly in<br> + the direction of the smoke; and, though up to that moment I +had<br> + felt chill and shivering, I was suddenly conscious of a glow +of<br> + heat all over my body. The ground in this direction was very<br> + uneven; a hundred men might have lain hidden in as many +square<br> + yards about my path. But I who had not practiced the business +in<br> + vain, chose such routes as cut at the very root of +concealment,<br> + and, by keeping along the most convenient ridges, commanded +several<br> + hollows at a time. It was not long before I was rewarded for +my<br> + caution. Coming suddenly on to a mound somewhat more elevated +than<br> + the surrounding hummocks, I saw, not thirty yards away, a man +bent<br> + almost double, and running as fast as his attitude permitted, +along<br> + the bottom of a gully. I had dislodged one of the spies from +his<br> + ambush. As soon as I sighted him, I called loudly both in +English<br> + and Italian; and he, seeing concealment was no longer +possible,<br> + straightened himself out, leaped from the gully, and made off +as<br> + straight as an arrow for the borders of the wood. It was none +of<br> + my business to pursue; I had learned what I wanted--that we +were<br> + beleaguered and watched in the pavilion; and I returned at +once,<br> + and walked as nearly as possible in my old footsteps, to +where<br> + Northmour awaited me beside the dispatch box. He was even +paler<br> + than when I had left him, and his voice shook a little.</p> + +<p>"Could you see what he was like?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"He kept his back turned," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Let us get into the house, Frank. I don't think I'm a coward, +but<br> + I can stand no more of this," he whispered.</p> + +<p>All was still and sunshiny about the pavilion, as we turned +to<br> + reenter it; even the gulls had flown in a wider circuit, and +were<br> + seen flickering along the beach and sand hills; and this +loneliness<br> + terrified me more than a regiment under arms. It was not until +the<br> + door was barricaded that I could draw a full inspiration and<br> + relieve the weight that lay upon my bosom. Northmour and I<br> + exchanged a steady glance; and I suppose each made his own<br> + reflections on the white and startled aspect of the other.</p> + +<p>"You were right," I said. "All is over. Shake hands, old man, +for<br> + the last time."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied he, "I will shake hands; for, as sure as I am +here,<br> + I bear no malice. But, remember, if, by some impossible +accident,<br> + we should give the slip to these blackguards, I'll take the +upper<br> + hand of you by fair or foul."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said I, "you weary me!"</p> + +<p>He seemed hurt, and walked away in silence to the foot of +the<br> + stairs, where he paused.</p> + +<p>"You do not understand," said he. "I am not a swindler, and +I<br> + guard myself; that is all. I may weary you or not, Mr. Cassilis, +I<br> + do not care a rush; I speak for my own satisfaction, and not +for<br> + your amusement. You had better go upstairs and court the girl; +for<br> + my part, I stay here."</p> + +<p>"And I stay with you," I returned. "Do you think I would steal +a<br> + march, even with your permission?"</p> + +<p>"Frank," he said, smiling, "it's a pity you are an ass, for +you<br> + have the makings of a man. I think I must be fey to-day; you<br> + cannot irritate me even when you try. Do you know," he +continued<br> + softly, "I think we are the two most miserable men in England, +you<br> + and I? we have got on to thirty without wife or child, or so +much<br> + as a shop to look after--poor, pitiful, lost devils, both! And +now<br> + we clash about a girl! As if there were not several millions +in<br> + the United Kingdom! Ah, Frank, Frank, the one who loses his +throw,<br> + be it you or me, he has my pity! It were better for him--how +does<br> + the Bible say?--that a millstone were hanged about his neck and +he<br> + were cast into the depth of the sea. Let us take a drink," +he<br> + concluded suddenly, but without any levity of tone.</p> + +<p>I was touched by his words, and consented. He sat down on +the<br> + table in the dining-room, and held up the glass of sherry to +his<br> + eye.</p> + +<p>"If you beat me, Frank," he said, "I shall take to drink. +What<br> + will you do, if it goes the other way?"</p> + +<p>"God knows," I returned.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "here is a toast in the meantime: 'Italia<br> + irredenta!'"</p> + +<p>The remainder of the day was passed in the same dreadful +tedium and<br> + suspense. I laid the table for dinner, while Northmour and +Clara<br> + prepared the meal together in the kitchen. I could hear their +talk<br> + as I went to and fro, and was surprised to find it ran all the +time<br> + upon myself. Northmour again bracketed us together, and +rallied<br> + Clara on a choice of husbands; but he continued to speak of me +with<br> + some feeling, and uttered nothing to my prejudice unless he<br> + included himself in the condemnation. This awakened a sense +of<br> + gratitude in my heart, which combined with the immediateness of +our<br> + peril to fill my eyes with tears. After all, I thought--and<br> + perhaps the thought was laughably vain--we were here three +very<br> + noble human beings to perish in defense of a thieving +banker.</p> + +<p>Before we sat down to table, I looked forth from an +upstairs<br> + window. The day was beginning to decline; the links were +utterly<br> + deserted; the dispatch box still lay untouched where we had left +it<br> + hours before.</p> + +<p>Mr. Huddlestone, in a long yellow dressing gown, took one end +of<br> + the table, Clara the other; while Northmour and I faced each +other<br> + from the sides. The lamp was brightly trimmed; the wine was +good;<br> + the viands, although mostly cold, excellent of their sort. +We<br> + seemed to have agreed tacitly; all reference to the +impending<br> + catastrophe was carefully avoided; and, considering our +tragic<br> + circumstances, we made a merrier party than could have been<br> + expected. From time to time, it is true, Northmour or I would +rise<br> + from table and make a round of the defenses; and, on each of +these<br> + occasions, Mr. Huddlestone was recalled to a sense of his +tragic<br> + predicament, glanced up with ghastly eyes, and bore for an +instant<br> + on his countenance the stamp of terror. But he hastened to +empty<br> + his glass, wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, and +joined<br> + again in the conversation.</p> + +<p>I was astonished at the wit and information he displayed. +Mr.<br> + Huddlestone's was certainly no ordinary character; he had read +and<br> + observed for himself; his gifts were sound; and, though I +could<br> + never have learned to love the man, I began to understand +his<br> + success in business, and the great respect in which he had +been<br> + held before his failure. He had, above all, the talent of +society;<br> + and though I never heard him speak but on this one and most<br> + unfavorable occasion, I set him down among the most +brilliant<br> + conversationalists I ever met.</p> + +<p>He was relating with great gusto, and seemingly no feeling +of<br> + shame, the maneuvers of a scoundrelly commission merchant whom +he<br> + had known and studied in his youth, and we were all listening +with<br> + an odd mixture of mirth and embarrassment, when our little +party<br> + was brought abruptly to an end in the most startling manner.</p> + +<p>A noise like that of a wet finger on the window pane +interrupted<br> + Mr. Huddlestone's tale; and in an instant we were all four as +white<br> + as paper, and sat tongue-tied and motionless round the +table.</p> + +<p>"A snail," I said at last; for I had heard that these animals +make<br> + a noise somewhat similar in character.</p> + +<p>"Snail be d--d!" said Northmour. "Hush!"</p> + +<p>The same sound was repeated twice at regular intervals; and +then a<br> + formidable voice shouted through the shutters the Italian +word,<br> + "Traditore!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Huddlestone threw his head in the air; his eyelids +quivered;<br> + next moment he fell insensible below the table. Northmour and +I<br> + had each run to the armory and seized a gun. Clara was on her +feet<br> + with her hand at her throat.</p> + +<p>So we stood waiting, for we thought the hour of attack was<br> + certainly come; but second passed after second, and all but +the<br> + surf remained silent in the neighborhood of the pavilion.</p> + +<p>"Quick," said Northmour; "upstairs with him before they +come."</p> + +<h3><br> + VIII</h3> + +<p><br> + Somehow or other, by hook and crook, and between the three of +us,<br> + we got Bernard Huddlestone bundled upstairs and laid upon the +bed<br> + in My Uncle's Room. During the whole process, which was +rough<br> + enough, he gave no sign of consciousness, and he remained, as +we<br> + had thrown him, without changing the position of a finger. +His<br> + daughter opened his shirt and began to wet his head and +bosom;<br> + while Northmour and I ran to the window. The weather +continued<br> + clear; the moon, which was now about full, had risen and shed +a<br> + very clear light upon the links; yet, strain our eyes as we +might,<br> + we could distinguish nothing moving. A few dark spots, more +or<br> + less, on the uneven expanse were not to be identified; they +might<br> + be crouching men, they might be shadows; it was impossible to +be<br> + sure.</p> + +<p><br> + "Thank God," said Northmour, "Aggie is not coming to-night."</p> + +<p>Aggie was the name of the old nurse; he had not thought of +her<br> + until now; but that he should think of her at all was a trait +that<br> + surprised me in the man.</p> + +<p>We were again reduced to waiting. Northmour went to the +fireplace<br> + and spread his hands before the red embers, as if he were cold. +I<br> + followed him mechanically with my eyes, and in so doing turned +my<br> + back upon the window. At that moment a very faint report was<br> + audible from without, and a ball shivered a pane of glass, +and<br> + buried itself in the shutter two inches from my head. I +heard<br> + Clara scream; and though I whipped instantly out of range and +into<br> + a corner, she was there, so to speak, before me, beseeching to +know<br> + if I were hurt. I felt that I could stand to be shot at every +day<br> + and all day long, with such remarks of solicitude for a reward; +and<br> + I continued to reassure her, with the tenderest caresses and +in<br> + complete forgetfulness of our situation, till the voice of<br> + Northmour recalled me to myself.</p> + +<p>"An air gun," he said. "They wish to make no noise."</p> + +<p>I put Clara aside, and looked at him. He was standing with +his<br> + back to the fire and his hands clasped behind him; and I knew +by<br> + the black look on his face, that passion was boiling within. I +had<br> + seen just such a look before he attacked me, that March night, +in<br> + the adjoining chamber; and, though I could make every allowance +for<br> + his anger, I confess I trembled for the consequences. He +gazed<br> + straight before him; but he could see us with the tail of his +eye,<br> + and his temper kept rising like a gale of wind. With regular<br> + battle awaiting us outside, this prospect of an internecine +strife<br> + within the walls began to daunt me.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as I was thus closely watching his expression +and<br> + prepared against the worst, I saw a change, a flash, a look +of<br> + relief, upon his face. He took up the lamp which stood beside +him<br> + on the table, and turned to us with an air of some +excitement.</p> + +<p>"There is one point that we must know," said he. "Are they +going<br> + to butcher the lot of us, or only Huddlestone? Did they take +you<br> + for him, or fire at you for your own beaux yeux?"</p> + +<p>"They took me for him, for certain," I replied. "I am near +as<br> + tall, and my head is fair."</p> + +<p>"I am going to make sure," returned Northmour; and he stepped +up to<br> + the window, holding the lamp above his head, and stood +there,<br> + quietly affronting death, for half a minute.</p> + +<p>Clara sought to rush forward and pull him from the place of +danger;<br> + but I had the pardonable selfishness to hold her back by +force.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Northmour, turning coolly from the window, "it's +only<br> + Huddlestone they want."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Northmour!" cried Clara; but found no more to add; +the<br> + temerity she had just witnessed seeming beyond the reach of +words.</p> + +<p>He, on his part, looked at me, cocking his head, with a fire +of<br> + triumph in his eyes; and I understood at once that he had +thus<br> + hazarded his life, merely to attract Clara's notice, and depose +me<br> + from my position as the hero of the hour. He snapped his +fingers.</p> + +<p>"The fire is only beginning," said he. "When they warm up to +their<br> + work, they won't be so particular."</p> + +<p>A voice was now heard hailing us from the entrance. From +the<br> + window we could see the figure of a man in the moonlight; he +stood<br> + motionless, his face uplifted to ours, and a rag of something +white<br> + on his extended arm; and as we looked right down upon him, +though<br> + he was a good many yards distant on the links, we could see +the<br> + moonlight glitter on his eyes.</p> + +<p>He opened his lips again, and spoke for some minutes on end, +in a<br> + key so loud that he might have been heard in every corner of +the<br> + pavilion, and as far away as the borders of the wood. It was +the<br> + same voice that had already shouted, "Traditore!" through +the<br> + shutters of the dining-room; this time it made a complete and +clear<br> + statement. If the traitor "Oddlestone" were given up, all +others<br> + should be spared; if not, no one should escape to tell the +tale.</p> + +<p>"Well, Huddlestone, what do you say to that?" asked +Northmour,<br> + turning to the bed.</p> + +<p>Up to that moment the banker had given no sign of life, and I, +at<br> + least, had supposed him to be still lying in a faint; but he<br> + replied at once, and in such tones as I have never heard +elsewhere,<br> + save from a delirious patient, adjured and besought us not +to<br> + desert him. It was the most hideous and abject performance that +my<br> + imagination can conceive.</p> + +<p>"Enough," cried Northmour; and then he threw open the +window,<br> + leaned out into the night, and in a tone of exultation, and with +a<br> + total forgetfulness of what was due to the presence of a +lady,<br> + poured out upon the ambassador a string of the most +abominable<br> + raillery both in English and Italian, and bade him be gone where +he<br> + had come from. I believe that nothing so delighted Northmour +at<br> + that moment as the thought that we must all infallibly +perish<br> + before the night was out.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the Italian put his flag of truce into his pocket, +and<br> + disappeared, at a leisurely pace, among the sand hills.</p> + +<p>"They make honorable war," said Northmour. "They are all +gentlemen<br> + and soldiers. For the credit of the thing, I wish we could +change<br> + sides--you and I, Frank, and you, too, missy, my darling--and +leave<br> + that being on the bed to some one else. Tut! Don't look +shocked!<br> + We are all going post to what they call eternity, and may as +well<br> + be above board while there's time. As far as I am concerned, if +I<br> + could first strangle Huddlestone and then get Clara in my arms, +I<br> + could die with some pride and satisfaction. And as it is, by +God,<br> + I'll have a kiss!"</p> + +<p>Before I could do anything to interfere, he had rudely +embraced and<br> + repeatedly kissed the resisting girl. Next moment I had pulled +him<br> + away with fury, and flung him heavily against the wall. He +laughed<br> + loud and long, and I feared his wits had given way under the<br> + strain; for even in the best of days he had been a sparing and +a<br> + quiet laugher.</p> + +<p>"Now, Frank," said he, when his mirth was somewhat appeased, +"it's<br> + your turn. Here's my hand. Good-bye, farewell!" Then, seeing +me<br> + stand rigid and indignant, and holding Clara to my side--"Man!" +he<br> + broke out, "are you angry? Did you think we were going to die +with<br> + all the airs and graces of society? I took a kiss; I'm glad I +did<br> + it; and now you can take another if you like, and square +accounts."</p> + +<p>I turned from him with a feeling of contempt which I did not +seek<br> + to dissemble.</p> + +<p>"As you please," said he. "You've been a prig in life; a +prig<br> + you'll die."</p> + +<p>And with that he sat down in a chair, a rifle over his knee, +and<br> + amused himself with snapping the lock; but I could see that +his<br> + ebullition of light spirits (the only one I ever knew him to<br> + display) had already come to an end, and was succeeded by a +sullen,<br> + scowling humor.</p> + +<p>All this time our assailants might have been entering the +house,<br> + and we been none the wiser; we had in truth almost forgotten +the<br> + danger that so imminently overhung our days. But just then +Mr.<br> + Huddlestone uttered a cry, and leaped from the bed.</p> + +<p>I asked him what was wrong.</p> + +<p>"Fire!" he cried. "They have set the house on fire!"</p> + +<p>Northmour was on his feet in an instant, and he and I ran +through<br> + the door of communication with the study. The room was +illuminated<br> + by a red and angry light. Almost at the moment of our entrance, +a<br> + tower of flame arose in front of the window, and, with a +tingling<br> + report, a pane fell inward on the carpet. They had set fire to +the<br> + lean-to outhouse, where Northmour used to nurse his +negatives.</p> + +<p>"Hot work," said Northmour. "Let us try in your old room."</p> + +<p>We ran thither in a breath, threw up the casement, and +looked<br> + forth. Along the whole back wall of the pavilion piles of fuel +had<br> + been arranged and kindled; and it is probable they had been<br> + drenched with mineral oil, for, in spite of the morning's +rain,<br> + they all burned bravely. The fire had taken a firm hold already +on<br> + the outhouse, which blazed higher and higher every moment; the +back<br> + door was in the center of a red-hot bonfire; the eaves we +could<br> + see, as we looked upward, were already smoldering, for the +roof<br> + overhung, and was supported by considerable beams of wood. At +the<br> + same time, hot, pungent, and choking volumes of smoke began to +fill<br> + the house. There was not a human being to be seen to right +or<br> + left.</p> + +<p>"Ah, well!" said Northmour, "here's the end, thank God!"</p> + +<p>And we returned to My Uncle's Room. Mr. Huddlestone was +putting on<br> + his boots, still violently trembling, but with an air of<br> + determination such as I had not hitherto observed. Clara +stood<br> + close by him, with her cloak in both hands ready to throw about +her<br> + shoulders, and a strange look in her eyes, as if she were +half<br> + hopeful, half doubtful of her father.</p> + +<p>"Well, boys and girls," said Northmour, "how about a sally? +The<br> + oven is heating; it is not good to stay here and be baked; and, +for<br> + my part, I want to come to my hands with them, and be done."</p> + +<p>"There's nothing else left," I replied.</p> + +<p>And both Clara and Mr. Huddlestone, though with a very +different<br> + intonation, added, "Nothing."</p> + +<p>As we went downstairs the heat was excessive, and the roaring +of<br> + the fire filled our ears; and we had scarce reached the +passage<br> + before the stairs window fell in, a branch of flame shot<br> + brandishing through the aperture, and the interior of the +pavilion<br> + became lighted up with that dreadful and fluctuating glare. At +the<br> + same moment we heard the fall of something heavy and inelastic +in<br> + the upper story. The whole pavilion, it was plain, had gone +alight<br> + like a box of matches, and now not only flamed sky high to land +and<br> + sea, but threatened with every moment to crumble and fall in +about<br> + our ears.</p> + +<p>Northmour and I cocked our revolvers. Mr. Huddlestone, who +had<br> + already refused a firearm, put us behind him with a manner +of<br> + command.</p> + +<p>"Let Clara open the door," said he. "So, if they fire a +volley,<br> + she will be protected. And in the meantime stand behind me. I +am<br> + the scapegoat; my sins have found me out."</p> + +<p>I heard him, as I stood breathless by his shoulder, with my +pistol<br> + ready, pattering off prayers in a tremulous, rapid whisper; and, +I<br> + confess, horrid as the thought may seem, I despised him for<br> + thinking of supplications in a moment so critical and +thrilling.<br> + In the meantime, Clara, who was dead white but still possessed +her<br> + faculties, had displaced the barricade from the front door.<br> + Another moment, and she had pulled it open. Firelight and<br> + moonlight illuminated the links with confused and changeful +luster,<br> + and far away against the sky we could see a long trail of +glowing<br> + smoke.</p> + +<p>Mr. Huddlestone, filled for the moment with a strength greater +than<br> + his own, struck Northmour and myself a back-hander in the +chest;<br> + and while we were thus for the moment incapacitated from +action,<br> + lifting his arms above his head like one about to dive, he +ran<br> + straight forward out of the pavilion.</p> + +<p>"Here am I!" he cried--"Huddlestone! Kill me, and spare +the<br> + others!"</p> + +<p>His sudden appearance daunted, I suppose, our hidden enemies; +for<br> + Northmour and I had time to recover, to seize Clara between us, +one<br> + by each arm, and to rush forth to his assistance, ere +anything<br> + further had taken place. But scarce had we passed the +threshold<br> + when there came near a dozen reports and flashes from every<br> + direction among the hollows of the links. Mr. Huddlestone<br> + staggered, uttered a weird and freezing cry, threw up his arms +over<br> + his head, and fell backward on the turf.</p> + +<p>"Traditore! Traditore!" cried the invisible avengers.</p> + +<p>And just then a part of the roof of the pavilion fell in, so +rapid<br> + was the progress of the fire. A loud, vague, and horrible +noise<br> + accompanied the collapse, and a vast volume of flame went +soaring<br> + up to heaven. It must have been visible at that moment from +twenty<br> + miles out at sea, from the shore at Graden Wester, and far +inland<br> + from the peak of Graystiel, the most eastern summit of the +Caulder<br> + Hills. Bernard Huddlestone, although God knows what were his<br> + obsequies, had a fine pyre at the moment of his death.</p> + +<h3><br> + IX</h3> + +<p><br> + I should have the greatest difficulty to tell you what +followed<br> + next after this tragic circumstance. It is all to me, as I +look<br> + back upon it, mixed, strenuous, and ineffectual, like the +struggles<br> + of a sleeper in a nightmare. Clara, I remember, uttered a +broken<br> + sigh and would have fallen forward to earth, had not Northmour +and<br> + I supported her insensible body. I do not think we were +attacked:<br> + I do not remember even to have seen an assailant; and I believe +we<br> + deserted Mr. Huddlestone without a glance. I only remember +running<br> + like a man in a panic, now carrying Clara altogether in my +own<br> + arms, now sharing her weight with Northmour, now scuffling<br> + confusedly for the possession of that dear burden. Why we +should<br> + have made for my camp in the Hemlock Den, or how we reached it, +are<br> + points lost forever to my recollection. The first moment at +which<br> + I became definitely sure, Clara had been suffered to fall +against<br> + the outside of my little tent, Northmour and I were tumbling<br> + together on the ground, and he, with contained ferocity, was<br> + striking for my head with the butt of his revolver. He had +already<br> + twice wounded me on the scalp; and it is to the consequent loss +of<br> + blood that I am tempted to attribute the sudden clearness of +my<br> + mind.</p> + +<p><br> + I caught him by the wrist.</p> + +<p>"Northmour," I remember saying, "you can kill me afterwards. +Let<br> + us first attend to Clara."</p> + +<p>He was at that moment uppermost. Scarcely had the words passed +my<br> + lips, when he had leaped to his feet and ran toward the tent; +and<br> + the next moment, he was straining Clara to his heart and +covering<br> + her unconscious hands and face with his caresses.</p> + +<p>"Shame!" I cried. "Shame to you, Northmour!"</p> + +<p>And, giddy though I still was, I struck him repeatedly upon +the<br> + head and shoulders.</p> + +<p>He relinquished his grasp, and faced me in the broken +moonlight.</p> + +<p>"I had you under, and I let you go," said he; "and now you +strike<br> + me! Coward!"</p> + +<p>"You are the coward," I retorted. "Did she wish your kisses +while<br> + she was still sensible of what you wanted? Not she! And now +she<br> + may be dying; and you waste this precious time, and abuse +her<br> + helplessness. Stand aside, and let me help her."</p> + +<p>He confronted me for a moment, white and menacing; then +suddenly he<br> + stepped aside.</p> + +<p>"Help her then," said he.</p> + +<p>I threw myself on my knees beside her, and loosened, as well +as I<br> + was able, her dress and corset; but while I was thus engaged, +a<br> + grasp descended on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Keep your hands off her," said Northmour, fiercely. "Do you +think<br> + I have no blood in my veins?"</p> + +<p>"Northmour," I cried, "if you will neither help her yourself, +nor<br> + let me do so, do you know that I shall have to kill you?"</p> + +<p>"That is better!" he cried. "Let her die also, where's the +harm?<br> + Step aside from that girl! and stand up to fight."</p> + +<p>"You will observe," said I, half rising, "that I have not +kissed<br> + her yet."</p> + +<p>"I dare you to," he cried.</p> + +<p>I do not know what possessed me; it was one of the things I am +most<br> + ashamed of in my life, though, as my wife used to say, I knew +that<br> + my kisses would be always welcome were she dead or living; down +I<br> + fell again upon my knees, parted the hair from her forehead, +and,<br> + with the dearest respect, laid my lips for a moment on that +cold<br> + brow. It was such a caress as a father might have given; it +was<br> + such a one as was not unbecoming from a man soon to die to a +woman<br> + already dead.</p> + +<p>"And now," said I, "I am at your service, Mr. Northmour."</p> + +<p>But I saw, to my surprise, that he had turned his back upon +me.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he, "I do. If you wish to fight, I am ready. If +not,<br> + go on and save Clara. All is one to me."</p> + +<p>I did not wait to be twice bidden; but, stooping again over +Clara,<br> + continued my efforts to revive her. She still lay white and<br> + lifeless; I began to fear that her sweet spirit had indeed +fled<br> + beyond recall, and horror and a sense of utter desolation +seized<br> + upon my heart. I called her by name with the most endearing<br> + inflections; I chafed and beat her hands; now I laid her head +low,<br> + now supported it against my knee; but all seemed to be in vain, +and<br> + the lids still lay heavy on her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Northmour," I said, "there is my hat. For God's sake bring +some<br> + water from the spring."</p> + +<p>Almost in a moment he was by my side with the water.</p> + +<p>"I have brought it in my own," he said. "You do not grudge me +the<br> + privilege?"</p> + +<p>"Northmour," I was beginning to say, as I laved her head +and<br> + breast; but he interrupted me savagely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you hush up!" he said. "The best thing you can do is to +say<br> + nothing."</p> + +<p>I had certainly no desire to talk, my mind being swallowed up +in<br> + concern for my dear love and her condition; so I continued +in<br> + silence to do my best toward her recovery, and, when the hat +was<br> + empty, returned it to him, with one word--"More." He had, +perhaps,<br> + gone several times upon this errand, when Clara reopened her +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, "since she is better, you can spare me, can +you<br> + not? I wish you a good night, Mr. Cassilis."</p> + +<p>And with that he was gone among the thicket. I made a fire, +for I<br> + had now no fear of the Italians, who had even spared all the +little<br> + possessions left in my encampment; and, broken as she was by +the<br> + excitement and the hideous catastrophe of the evening, I +managed,<br> + in one way or another--by persuasion, encouragement, warmth, +and<br> + such simple remedies as I could lay my hand on--to bring her +back<br> + to some composure of mind and strength of body.</p> + +<p>Day had already come, when a sharp "Hist!" sounded from +the<br> + thicket. I started from the ground; but the voice of Northmour +was<br> + heard adding, in the most tranquil tones: "Come here, Cassilis, +and<br> + alone; I want to show you something."</p> + +<p>I consulted Clara with my eyes, and, receiving her tacit<br> + permission, left her alone, and clambered out of the den. At +some<br> + distance off I saw Northmour leaning against an elder; and, as +soon<br> + as he perceived me, he began walking seaward. I had almost<br> + overtaken him as he reached the outskirts of the wood.</p> + +<p>"Look," said he, pausing.</p> + +<p>A couple of steps more brought me out of the foliage. The +light of<br> + the morning lay cold and clear over that well-known scene. +The<br> + pavilion was but a blackened wreck; the roof had fallen in, one +of<br> + the gables had fallen out; and, far and near, the face of the +links<br> + was cicatrized with little patches of burned furze. Thick +smoke<br> + still went straight upward in the windless air of the morning, +and<br> + a great pile of ardent cinders filled the bare walls of the +house,<br> + like coals in an open grate. Close by the islet a schooner +yacht<br> + lay to, and a well-manned boat was pulling vigorously for +the<br> + shore.</p> + +<p>"The 'Red Earl'!" I cried. "The 'Red Earl' twelve hours too +late!"</p> + +<p>"Feel in your pocket, Frank. Are you armed?" asked +Northmour.</p> + +<p>I obeyed him, and I think I must have become deadly pale. +My<br> + revolver had been taken from me.</p> + +<p>"You see, I have you in my power," he continued. "I disarmed +you<br> + last night while you were nursing Clara; but this +morning--here--<br> + take your pistol. No thanks!" he cried, holding up his hand. +"I<br> + do not like them; that is the only way you can annoy me +now."</p> + +<p>He began to walk forward across the links to meet the boat, +and I<br> + followed a step or two behind. In front of the pavilion I +paused<br> + to see where Mr. Huddlestone had fallen; but there was no sign +of<br> + him, nor so much as a trace of blood.</p> + +<p>"Graden Floe," said Northmour.</p> + +<p>He continued to advance till we had come to the head of the +beach.</p> + +<p>"No farther, please," said he. "Would you like to take her +to<br> + Graden House?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you," replied I; "I shall try to get her to the +minister at<br> + Graden Wester."</p> + +<p>The prow of the boat here grated on the beach, and a sailor +jumped<br> + ashore with a line in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute, lads!" cried Northmour; and then lower and to +my<br> + private ear, "You had better say nothing of all this to her," +he<br> + added.</p> + +<p>"On the contrary!" I broke out, "she shall know everything +that I<br> + can tell."</p> + +<p>"You do not understand," he returned, with an air of great +dignity.<br> + "It will be nothing to her; she expects it of me. Good-by!" +he<br> + added, with a nod.</p> + +<p>I offered him my hand.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," said he. "It's small, I know; but I can't push +things<br> + quite so far as that. I don't wish any sentimental business, +to<br> + sit by your hearth a white-haired wanderer, and all that. +Quite<br> + the contrary: I hope to God I shall never again clap eyes on +either<br> + one of you."</p> + +<p>"Well, God bless you, Northmour!" I said heartily.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," he returned.</p> + +<p>He walked down the beach; and the man who was ashore gave him +an<br> + arm on board, and then shoved off and leaped into the bows +himself.<br> + Northmour took the tiller; the boat rose to the waves, and the +oars<br> + between the tholepins sounded crisp and measured in the +morning<br> + air.</p> + +<p>They were not yet half way to the "Red Earl," and I was +still<br> + watching their progress, when the sun rose out of the sea.</p> + +<p>One word more, and my story is done. Years after, Northmour +was<br> + killed fighting under the colors of Garibaldi for the liberation +of<br> + the Tyrol.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>Wilkie Collins</h3> + +<h2><br> + The Dream Woman</h2> + +<h3>A Mystery in Four Narratives</h3> + +<h4><br> + THE FIRST NARRATIVE</h4> + +<h4>INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT OF THE FACTS BY PERCY FAIRBANK</h4> + +<h3><br> + I</h3> + +<p><br> + "Hullo, there! Hostler! Hullo-o-o!"</p> + +<p>"My dear! why don't you look for the bell?"</p> + +<p>"I HAVE looked--there is no bell."</p> + +<p>"And nobody in the yard. How very extraordinary! Call +again,<br> + dear."</p> + +<p>"Hostler! Hullo, there! Hostler-r-r!"</p> + +<p><br> + My second call echoes through empty space, and rouses +nobody--<br> + produces, in short, no visible result. I am at the end of my<br> + resources--I don't know what to say or what to do next. Here +I<br> + stand in the solitary inn yard of a strange town, with two +horses<br> + to hold, and a lady to take care of. By way of adding to my<br> + responsibilities, it so happens that one of the horses is +dead<br> + lame, and that the lady is my wife.</p> + +<p>Who am I?--you will ask.</p> + +<p>There is plenty of time to answer the question. Nothing +happens;<br> + and nobody appears to receive us. Let me introduce myself and +my<br> + wife.</p> + +<p>I am Percy Fairbank--English gentleman--age (let us say) +forty--no<br> + profession--moderate politics--middle height--fair +complexion--easy<br> + character--plenty of money.</p> + +<p>My wife is a French lady. She was Mademoiselle Clotilde +Delorge--<br> + when I was first presented to her at her father's house in +France.<br> + I fell in love with her--I really don't know why. It might +have<br> + been because I was perfectly idle, and had nothing else to do +at<br> + the time. Or it might have been because all my friends said +she<br> + was the very last woman whom I ought to think of marrying. On +the<br> + surface, I must own, there is nothing in common between Mrs.<br> + Fairbank and me. She is tall; she is dark; she is nervous,<br> + excitable, romantic; in all her opinions she proceeds to +extremes.<br> + What could such a woman see in me? what could I see in her? I +know<br> + no more than you do. In some mysterious manner we exactly +suit<br> + each other. We have been man and wife for ten years, and our +only<br> + regret is, that we have no children. I don't know what YOU +may<br> + think; I call that--upon the whole--a happy marriage.</p> + +<p>So much for ourselves. The next question is--what has brought +us<br> + into the inn yard? and why am I obliged to turn groom, and hold +the<br> + horses?</p> + +<p>We live for the most part in France--at the country house in +which<br> + my wife and I first met. Occasionally, by way of variety, we +pay<br> + visits to my friends in England. We are paying one of those +visits<br> + now. Our host is an old college friend of mine, possessed of +a<br> + fine estate in Somersetshire; and we have arrived at his +house--<br> + called Farleigh Hall--toward the close of the hunting +season.</p> + +<p>On the day of which I am now writing--destined to be a +memorable<br> + day in our calendar--the hounds meet at Farleigh Hall. Mrs.<br> + Fairbank and I are mounted on two of the best horses in my +friend's<br> + stables. We are quite unworthy of that distinction; for we +know<br> + nothing and care nothing about hunting. On the other hand, +we<br> + delight in riding, and we enjoy the breezy Spring morning and +the<br> + fair and fertile English landscape surrounding us on every +side.<br> + While the hunt prospers, we follow the hunt. But when a +check<br> + occurs--when time passes and patience is sorely tried; when +the<br> + bewildered dogs run hither and thither, and strong language +falls<br> + from the lips of exasperated sportsmen--we fail to take any +further<br> + interest in the proceedings. We turn our horses' heads in +the<br> + direction of a grassy lane, delightfully shaded by trees. We +trot<br> + merrily along the lane, and find ourselves on an open common. +We<br> + gallop across the common, and follow the windings of a second +lane.<br> + We cross a brook, we pass through a village, we emerge into<br> + pastoral solitude among the hills. The horses toss their +heads,<br> + and neigh to each other, and enjoy it as much as we do. The +hunt<br> + is forgotten. We are as happy as a couple of children; we +are<br> + actually singing a French song--when in one moment our +merriment<br> + comes to an end. My wife's horse sets one of his forefeet on +a<br> + loose stone, and stumbles. His rider's ready hand saves him +from<br> + falling. But, at the first attempt he makes to go on, the +sad<br> + truth shows itself--a tendon is strained; the horse is lame.</p> + +<p>What is to be done? We are strangers in a lonely part of +the<br> + country. Look where we may, we see no signs of a human +habitation.<br> + There is nothing for it but to take the bridle road up the +hill,<br> + and try what we can discover on the other side. I transfer +the<br> + saddles, and mount my wife on my own horse. He is not used +to<br> + carry a lady; he misses the familiar pressure of a man's legs +on<br> + either side of him; he fidgets, and starts, and kicks up the +dust.<br> + I follow on foot, at a respectful distance from his heels, +leading<br> + the lame horse. Is there a more miserable object on the face +of<br> + creation than a lame horse? I have seen lame men and lame dogs +who<br> + were cheerful creatures; but I never yet saw a lame horse +who<br> + didn't look heartbroken over his own misfortune.</p> + +<p>For half an hour my wife capers and curvets sideways along +the<br> + bridle road. I trudge on behind her; and the heartbroken +horse<br> + halts behind me. Hard by the top of the hill, our melancholy<br> + procession passes a Somersetshire peasant at work in a field. +I<br> + summon the man to approach us; and the man looks at me +stolidly,<br> + from the middle of the field, without stirring a step. I ask +at<br> + the top of my voice how far it is to Farleigh Hall. The<br> + Somersetshire peasant answers at the top of HIS voice:</p> + +<p>"Vourteen mile. Gi' oi a drap o' zyder."</p> + +<p>I translate (for my wife's benefit) from the Somersetshire +language<br> + into the English language. We are fourteen miles from +Farleigh<br> + Hall; and our friend in the field desires to be rewarded, +for<br> + giving us that information, with a drop of cider. There is +the<br> + peasant, painted by himself! Quite a bit of character, my +dear!<br> + Quite a bit of character!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairbank doesn't view the study of agricultural human +nature<br> + with my relish. Her fidgety horse will not allow her a +moment's<br> + repose; she is beginning to lose her temper.</p> + +<p>"We can't go fourteen miles in this way," she says. "Where is +the<br> + nearest inn? Ask that brute in the field!"</p> + +<p>I take a shilling from my pocket and hold it up in the sun. +The<br> + shilling exercises magnetic virtues. The shilling draws the<br> + peasant slowly toward me from the middle of the field. I +inform<br> + him that we want to put up the horses and to hire a carriage +to<br> + take us back to Farleigh Hall. Where can we do that? The +peasant<br> + answers (with his eye on the shilling):</p> + +<p>"At Oonderbridge, to be zure." (At Underbridge, to be +sure.)</p> + +<p>"Is it far to Underbridge?"</p> + +<p>The peasant repeats, "Var to Oonderbridge?"--and laughs at +the<br> + question. "Hoo-hoo-hoo!" (Underbridge is evidently close +by--if<br> + we could only find it.) "Will you show us the way, my man?" +"Will<br> + you gi' oi a drap of zyder?" I courteously bend my head, and +point<br> + to the shilling. The agricultural intelligence exerts itself. +The<br> + peasant joins our melancholy procession. My wife is a fine +woman,<br> + but he never once looks at my wife--and, more extraordinary +still,<br> + he never even looks at the horses. His eyes are with his +mind--and<br> + his mind is on the shilling.</p> + +<p>We reach the top of the hill--and, behold on the other +side,<br> + nestling in a valley, the shrine of our pilgrimage, the town +of<br> + Underbridge! Here our guide claims his shilling, and leaves us +to<br> + find out the inn for ourselves. I am constitutionally a +polite<br> + man. I say "Good morning" at parting. The guide looks at me +with<br> + the shilling between his teeth to make sure that it is a good +one.<br> + "Marnin!" he says savagely--and turns his back on us, as if we +had<br> + offended him. A curious product, this, of the growth of<br> + civilization. If I didn't see a church spire at Underbridge, +I<br> + might suppose that we had lost ourselves on a savage island.</p> + +<h3><br> + II</h3> + +<p><br> + Arriving at the town, we had no difficulty in finding the inn. +The<br> + town is composed of one desolate street; and midway in that +street<br> + stands the inn--an ancient stone building sadly out of repair. +The<br> + painting on the sign-board is obliterated. The shutters over +the<br> + long range of front windows are all closed. A cock and his +hens<br> + are the only living creatures at the door. Plainly, this is one +of<br> + the old inns of the stage-coach period, ruined by the railway. +We<br> + pass through the open arched doorway, and find no one to +welcome<br> + us. We advance into the stable yard behind; I assist my wife +to<br> + dismount--and there we are in the position already disclosed +to<br> + view at the opening of this narrative. No bell to ring. No +human<br> + creature to answer when I call. I stand helpless, with the +bridles<br> + of the horses in my hand. Mrs. Fairbank saunters gracefully +down<br> + the length of the yard and does--what all women do, when they +find<br> + themselves in a strange place. She opens every door as she +passes<br> + it, and peeps in. On my side, I have just recovered my breath, +I<br> + am on the point of shouting for the hostler for the third and +last<br> + time, when I hear Mrs. Fairbank suddenly call to me:</p> + +<p><br> + "Percy! come here!"</p> + +<p>Her voice is eager and agitated. She has opened a last door at +the<br> + end of the yard, and has started back from some sight which +has<br> + suddenly met her view. I hitch the horses' bridles on a rusty +nail<br> + in the wall near me, and join my wife. She has turned pale, +and<br> + catches me nervously by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" she cries; "look at that!"</p> + +<p>I look--and what do I see? I see a dingy little stable, +containing<br> + two stalls. In one stall a horse is munching his corn. In +the<br> + other a man is lying asleep on the litter.</p> + +<p>A worn, withered, woebegone man in a hostler's dress. His +hollow<br> + wrinkled cheeks, his scanty grizzled hair, his dry yellow +skin,<br> + tell their own tale of past sorrow or suffering. There is an<br> + ominous frown on his eyebrows--there is a painful nervous<br> + contraction on the side of his mouth. I hear him breathing<br> + convulsively when I first look in; he shudders and sighs in +his<br> + sleep. It is not a pleasant sight to see, and I turn round<br> + instinctively to the bright sunlight in the yard. My wife turns +me<br> + back again in the direction of the stable door.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" she says. "Wait! he may do it again."</p> + +<p>"Do what again?"</p> + +<p>"He was talking in his sleep, Percy, when I first looked in. +He<br> + was dreaming some dreadful dream. Hush! he's beginning +again."</p> + +<p>I look and listen. The man stirs on his miserable bed. The +man<br> + speaks in a quick, fierce whisper through his clinched +teeth.<br> + "Wake up! Wake up, there! Murder!"</p> + +<p>There is an interval of silence. He moves one lean arm +slowly<br> + until it rests over his throat; he shudders, and turns on +his<br> + straw; he raises his arm from his throat, and feebly stretches +it<br> + out; his hand clutches at the straw on the side toward which he +has<br> + turned; he seems to fancy that he is grasping at the edge of<br> + something. I see his lips begin to move again; I step softly +into<br> + the stable; my wife follows me, with her hand fast clasped in +mine.<br> + We both bend over him. He is talking once more in his +sleep--<br> + strange talk, mad talk, this time.</p> + +<p>"Light gray eyes" (we hear him say), "and a droop in the +left<br> + eyelid--flaxen hair, with a gold-yellow streak in it--all +right,<br> + mother! fair, white arms with a down on them--little, lady's +hand,<br> + with a reddish look round the fingernails--the knife--the +cursed<br> + knife--first on one side, then on the other--aha, you +she-devil!<br> + where is the knife?"</p> + +<p>He stops and grows restless on a sudden. We see him writhing +on<br> + the straw. He throws up both his hands and gasps hysterically +for<br> + breath. His eyes open suddenly. For a moment they look at<br> + nothing, with a vacant glitter in them--then they close again +in<br> + deeper sleep. Is he dreaming still? Yes; but the dream seems +to<br> + have taken a new course. When he speaks next, the tone is +altered;<br> + the words are few--sadly and imploringly repeated over and +over<br> + again. "Say you love me! I am so fond of YOU. Say you love +me!<br> + say you love me!" He sinks into deeper and deeper sleep, +faintly<br> + repeating those words. They die away on his lips. He speaks +no<br> + more.</p> + +<p>By this time Mrs. Fairbank has got over her terror; she is +devoured<br> + by curiosity now. The miserable creature on the straw has +appealed<br> + to the imaginative side of her character. Her illimitable +appetite<br> + for romance hungers and thirsts for more. She shakes me<br> + impatiently by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear? There is a woman at the bottom of it, Percy! +There<br> + is love and murder in it, Percy! Where are the people of the +inn?<br> + Go into the yard, and call to them again."</p> + +<p>My wife belongs, on her mother's side, to the South of France. +The<br> + South of France breeds fine women with hot tempers. I say no +more.<br> + Married men will understand my position. Single men may need to +be<br> + told that there are occasions when we must not only love and +honor-<br> + -we must also obey--our wives.</p> + +<p>I turn to the door to obey MY wife, and find myself confronted +by a<br> + stranger who has stolen on us unawares. The stranger is a +tiny,<br> + sleepy, rosy old man, with a vacant pudding-face, and a +shining<br> + bald head. He wears drab breeches and gaiters, and a +respectable<br> + square-tailed ancient black coat. I feel instinctively that +here<br> + is the landlord of the inn.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, sir," says the rosy old man. "I'm a little hard +of<br> + hearing. Was it you that was a-calling just now in the +yard?"</p> + +<p>Before I can answer, my wife interposes. She insists (in a +shrill<br> + voice, adapted to our host's hardness of hearing) on knowing +who<br> + that unfortunate person is sleeping on the straw. "Where does +he<br> + come from? Why does he say such dreadful things in his sleep? +Is<br> + he married or single? Did he ever fall in love with a +murderess?<br> + What sort of a looking woman was she? Did she really stab him +or<br> + not? In short, dear Mr. Landlord, tell us the whole story!"</p> + +<p>Dear Mr. Landlord waits drowsily until Mrs. Fairbank has +quite<br> + done--then delivers himself of his reply as follows:</p> + +<p>"His name's Francis Raven. He's an Independent Methodist. He +was<br> + forty-five year old last birthday. And he's my hostler. +That's<br> + his story."</p> + +<p>My wife's hot southern temper finds its way to her foot, +and<br> + expresses itself by a stamp on the stable yard.</p> + +<p>The landlord turns himself sleepily round, and looks at the +horses.<br> + "A fine pair of horses, them two in the yard. Do you want to +put<br> + 'em in my stables?" I reply in the affirmative by a nod. The<br> + landlord, bent on making himself agreeable to my wife, +addresses<br> + her once more. "I'm a-going to wake Francis Raven. He's an<br> + Independent Methodist. He was forty-five year old last +birthday.<br> + And he's my hostler. That's his story."</p> + +<p>Having issued this second edition of his interesting +narrative, the<br> + landlord enters the stable. We follow him to see how he will +wake<br> + Francis Raven, and what will happen upon that. The stable +broom<br> + stands in a corner; the landlord takes it--advances toward +the<br> + sleeping hostler--and coolly stirs the man up with a broom as if +he<br> + was a wild beast in a cage. Francis Raven starts to his feet +with<br> + a cry of terror--looks at us wildly, with a horrid glare of<br> + suspicion in his eyes--recovers himself the next moment--and<br> + suddenly changes into a decent, quiet, respectable +serving-man.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, ma'am. I beg your pardon, sir."</p> + +<p>The tone and manner in which he makes his apologies are both +above<br> + his apparent station in life. I begin to catch the infection +of<br> + Mrs. Fairbank's interest in this man. We both follow him out +into<br> + the yard to see what he will do with the horses. The manner +in<br> + which he lifts the injured leg of the lame horse tells me at +once<br> + that he understands his business. Quickly and quietly, he +leads<br> + the animal into an empty stable; quickly and quietly, he gets +a<br> + bucket of hot water, and puts the lame horse's leg into it. +"The<br> + warm water will reduce the swelling, sir. I will bandage the +leg<br> + afterwards." All that he does is done intelligently; all that +he<br> + says, he says to the purpose.</p> + +<p>Nothing wild, nothing strange about him now. Is this the same +man<br> + whom we heard talking in his sleep?--the same man who woke +with<br> + that cry of terror and that horrid suspicion in his eyes? I<br> + determine to try him with one or two questions.</p> + +<h3><br> + III</h3> + +<p><br> + "Not much to do here," I say to the hostler.</p> + +<p>"Very little to do, sir," the hostler replies.</p> + +<p>"Anybody staying in the house?"</p> + +<p>"The house is quite empty, sir."</p> + +<p>"I thought you were all dead. I could make nobody hear +me."</p> + +<p>"The landlord is very deaf, sir, and the waiter is out on +an<br> + errand."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and YOU were fast asleep in the stable. Do you often +take a<br> + nap in the daytime?"</p> + +<p>The worn face of the hostler faintly flushes. His eyes look +away<br> + from my eyes for the first time. Mrs. Fairbank furtively +pinches<br> + my arm. Are we on the eve of a discovery at last? I repeat +my<br> + question. The man has no civil alternative but to give me an<br> + answer. The answer is given in these words:</p> + +<p><br> + "I was tired out, sir. You wouldn't have found me asleep in +the<br> + daytime but for that."</p> + +<p>"Tired out, eh? You had been hard at work, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"What was it, then?"</p> + +<p>He hesitates again, and answers unwillingly, "I was up all +night."</p> + +<p>"Up all night? Anything going on in the town?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing going on, sir."</p> + +<p>"Anybody ill?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody ill, sir."</p> + +<p>That reply is the last. Try as I may, I can extract nothing +more<br> + from him. He turns away and busies himself in attending to +the<br> + horse's leg. I leave the stable to speak to the landlord about +the<br> + carriage which is to take us back to Farleigh Hall. Mrs. +Fairbank<br> + remains with the hostler, and favors me with a look at +parting.<br> + The look says plainly, "I mean to find out why he was up all +night.<br> + Leave him to Me."</p> + +<p>The ordering of the carriage is easily accomplished. The +inn<br> + possesses one horse and one chaise. The landlord has a story +to<br> + tell of the horse, and a story to tell of the chaise. They<br> + resemble the story of Francis Raven--with this exception, that +the<br> + horse and chaise belong to no religious persuasion. "The +horse<br> + will be nine year old next birthday. I've had the shay for +four-<br> + and-twenty year. Mr. Max, of Underbridge, he bred the horse; +and<br> + Mr. Pooley, of Yeovil, he built the shay. It's my horse and +my<br> + shay. And that's THEIR story!" Having relieved his mind of +these<br> + details, the landlord proceeds to put the harness on the horse. +By<br> + way of assisting him, I drag the chaise into the yard. Just as +our<br> + preparations are completed, Mrs. Fairbank appears. A moment or +two<br> + later the hostler follows her out. He has bandaged the +horse's<br> + leg, and is now ready to drive us to Farleigh Hall. I +observe<br> + signs of agitation in his face and manner, which suggest that +my<br> + wife has found her way into his confidence. I put the question +to<br> + her privately in a corner of the yard. "Well? Have you found +out<br> + why Francis Raven was up all night?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairbank has an eye to dramatic effect. Instead of +answering<br> + plainly, Yes or No, she suspends the interest and excites +the<br> + audience by putting a question on her side.</p> + +<p>"What is the day of the month, dear?"</p> + +<p>"The day of the month is the first of March."</p> + +<p>"The first of March, Percy, is Francis Raven's birthday."</p> + +<p>I try to look as if I was interested--and don't succeed.</p> + +<p>"Francis was born," Mrs. Fairbank proceeds gravely, "at two +o'clock<br> + in the morning."</p> + +<p>I begin to wonder whether my wife's intellect is going the way +of<br> + the landlord's intellect. "Is that all?" I ask.</p> + +<p>"It is NOT all," Mrs. Fairbank answers. "Francis Raven sits up +on<br> + the morning of his birthday because he is afraid to go to +bed."</p> + +<p>"And why is he afraid to go to bed?"</p> + +<p>"Because he is in peril of his life."</p> + +<p>"On his birthday?"</p> + +<p>"On his birthday. At two o'clock in the morning. As regularly +as<br> + the birthday comes round."</p> + +<p>There she stops. Has she discovered no more than that? No +more<br> + thus far. I begin to feel really interested by this time. I +ask<br> + eagerly what it means? Mrs. Fairbank points mysteriously to +the<br> + chaise--with Francis Raven (hitherto our hostler, now our +coachman)<br> + waiting for us to get in. The chaise has a seat for two in +front,<br> + and a seat for one behind. My wife casts a warning look at me, +and<br> + places herself on the seat in front.</p> + +<p>The necessary consequence of this arrangement is that Mrs. +Fairhank<br> + sits by the side of the driver during a journey of two hours +and<br> + more. Need I state the result? It would be an insult to your<br> + intelligence to state the result. Let me offer you my place in +the<br> + chaise. And let Francis Raven tell his terrible story in his +own<br> + words.</p> + +<h4><br> + THE SECOND NARRATIVE</h4> + +<h4>THE HOSTLER'S STORY.--TOLD BY HIMSELF</h4> + +<h3><br> + IV</h3> + +<p><br> + It is now ten years ago since I got my first warning of the +great<br> + trouble of my life in the Vision of a Dream.</p> + +<p>I shall be better able to tell you about it if you will +please<br> + suppose yourselves to be drinking tea along with us in our +little<br> + cottage in Cambridgeshire, ten years since.</p> + +<p><br> + The time was the close of day, and there were three of us at +the<br> + table, namely, my mother, myself, and my mother's sister, +Mrs.<br> + Chance. These two were Scotchwomen by birth, and both were +widows.<br> + There was no other resemblance between them that I can call +to<br> + mind. My mother had lived all her life in England, and had no +more<br> + of the Scotch brogue on her tongue than I have. My aunt Chance +had<br> + never been out of Scotland until she came to keep house with +my<br> + mother after her husband's death. And when SHE opened her lips +you<br> + heard broad Scotch, I can tell you, if you ever heard it +yet!</p> + +<p>As it fell out, there was a matter of some consequence in +debate<br> + among us that evening. It was this: whether I should do well +or<br> + not to take a long journey on foot the next morning.</p> + +<p>Now the next morning happened to be the day before my +birthday; and<br> + the purpose of the journey was to offer myself for a situation +as<br> + groom at a great house in the neighboring county to ours. +The<br> + place was reported as likely to fall vacant in about three +weeks'<br> + time. I was as well fitted to fill it as any other man. In +the<br> + prosperous days of our family, my father had been manager of +a<br> + training stable, and he had kept me employed among the horses +from<br> + my boyhood upward. Please to excuse my troubling you with +these<br> + small matters. They all fit into my story farther on, as you +will<br> + soon find out. My poor mother was dead against my leaving home +on<br> + the morrow.</p> + +<p>"You can never walk all the way there and all the way back +again by<br> + to-morrow night," she says. "The end of it will be that you +will<br> + sleep away from home on your birthday. You have never done +that<br> + yet, Francis, since your father's death, I don't like your doing +it<br> + now. Wait a day longer, my son--only one day."</p> + +<p>For my own part, I was weary of being idle, and I couldn't +abide<br> + the notion of delay. Even one day might make all the +difference.<br> + Some other man might take time by the forelock, and get the +place.</p> + +<p>"Consider how long I have been out of work," I says, "and +don't ask<br> + me to put off the journey. I won't fail you, mother. I'll +get<br> + back by to-morrow night, if I have to pay my last sixpence for +a<br> + lift in a cart."</p> + +<p>My mother shook her head. "I don't like it, Francis--I don't +like<br> + it!" There was no moving her from that view. We argued and<br> + argued, until we were both at a deadlock. It ended in our +agreeing<br> + to refer the difference between us to my mother's sister, +Mrs.<br> + Chance.</p> + +<p>While we were trying hard to convince each other, my aunt +Chance<br> + sat as dumb as a fish, stirring her tea and thinking her own<br> + thoughts. When we made our appeal to her, she seemed as it were +to<br> + wake up. "Ye baith refer it to my puir judgment?" she says, in +her<br> + broad Scotch. We both answered Yes. Upon that my aunt Chance<br> + first cleared the tea-table, and then pulled out from the pocket +of<br> + her gown a pack of cards.</p> + +<p>Don't run away, if you please, with the notion that this was +done<br> + lightly, with a view to amuse my mother and me. My aunt +Chance<br> + seriously believed that she could look into the future by +telling<br> + fortunes on the cards. She did nothing herself without first<br> + consulting the cards. She could give no more serious proof of +her<br> + interest in my welfare than the proof which she was offering +now.<br> + I don't say it profanely; I only mention the fact--the cards +had,<br> + in some incomprehensible way, got themselves jumbled up +together<br> + with her religious convictions. You meet with people nowadays +who<br> + believe in spirits working by way of tables and chairs. On +the<br> + same principle (if there IS any principle in it) my aunt +Chance<br> + believed in Providence working by way of the cards.</p> + +<p>"Whether YOU are right, Francie, or your mither--whether ye +will do<br> + weel or ill, the morrow, to go or stay--the cairds will tell +it.<br> + We are a' in the hands of Proavidence. The cairds will tell +it."</p> + +<p>Hearing this, my mother turned her head aside, with something +of a<br> + sour look in her face. Her sister's notions about the cards +were<br> + little better than flat blasphemy to her mind. But she kept +her<br> + opinion to herself. My aunt Chance, to own the truth, had<br> + inherited, through her late husband, a pension of thirty pounds +a<br> + year. This was an important contribution to our housekeeping, +and<br> + we poor relations were bound to treat her with a certain +respect.<br> + As for myself, if my poor father never did anything else for +me<br> + before he fell into difficulties, he gave me a good education, +and<br> + raised me (thank God) above superstitions of all sorts. However, +a<br> + very little amused me in those days; and I waited to have my<br> + fortune told, as patiently as if I believed in it too!</p> + +<p>My aunt began her hocus pocus by throwing out all the cards in +the<br> + pack under seven. She shuffled the rest with her left hand +for<br> + luck; and then she gave them to me to cut. "Wi' yer left +hand,<br> + Francie. Mind that! Pet your trust in Proavidence--but dinna<br> + forget that your luck's in yer left hand!" A long and +roundabout<br> + shifting of the cards followed, reducing them in number until +there<br> + were just fifteen of them left, laid out neatly before my aunt +in a<br> + half circle. The card which happened to lie outermost, at +the<br> + right-hand end of the circle, was, according to rule in such +cases,<br> + the card chosen to represent Me. By way of being appropriate to +my<br> + situation as a poor groom out of employment, the card was--the +King<br> + of Diamonds.</p> + +<p>"I tak' up the King o' Diamants," says my aunt. "I count +seven<br> + cairds fra' richt to left; and I humbly ask a blessing on +what<br> + follows." My aunt shut her eyes as if she was saying grace +before<br> + meat, and held up to me the seventh card. I called the +seventh<br> + card--the Queen of Spades. My aunt opened her eyes again in +a<br> + hurry, and cast a sly look my way. "The Queen o' Spades means +a<br> + dairk woman. Ye'll be thinking in secret, Francie, of a +dairk<br> + woman?"</p> + +<p>When a man has been out of work for more than three months, +his<br> + mind isn't troubled much with thinking of women--light or dark. +I<br> + was thinking of the groom's place at the great house, and I +tried<br> + to say so. My aunt Chance wouldn't listen. She treated my<br> + interpretation with contempt. "Hoot-toot! there's the caird +in<br> + your hand! If ye're no thinking of her the day, ye'll be +thinking<br> + of her the morrow. Where's the harm of thinking of a dairk +woman!<br> + I was ance a dairk woman myself, before my hair was gray. Haud +yer<br> + peace, Francie, and watch the cairds."</p> + +<p>I watched the cards as I was told. There were seven left on +the<br> + table. My aunt removed two from one end of the row and two +from<br> + the other, and desired me to call the two outermost of the +three<br> + cards now left on the table. I called the Ace of Clubs and the +Ten<br> + of Diamonds. My aunt Chance lifted her eyes to the ceiling with +a<br> + look of devout gratitude which sorely tried my mother's +patience.<br> + The Ace of Clubs and the Ten of Diamonds, taken together,<br> + signified--first, good news (evidently the news of the +groom's<br> + place); secondly, a journey that lay before me (pointing plainly +to<br> + my journey to-morrow!); thirdly and lastly, a sum of money<br> + (probably the groom's wages!) waiting to find its way into +my<br> + pockets. Having told my fortune in these encouraging terms, +my<br> + aunt declined to carry the experiment any further. "Eh, lad! +it's<br> + a clean tempting o' Proavidence to ask mair o' the cairds than +the<br> + cairds have tauld us noo. Gae yer ways to-morrow to the +great<br> + hoose. A dairk woman will meet ye at the gate; and she'll have +a<br> + hand in getting ye the groom's place, wi' a' the gratifications +and<br> + pairquisites appertaining to the same. And, mebbe, when yer<br> + poaket's full o' money, ye'll no' be forgetting yer aunt +Chance,<br> + maintaining her ain unblemished widowhood--wi' Proavidence<br> + assisting--on thratty punds a year!"</p> + +<p>I promised to remember my aunt Chance (who had the defect, by +the<br> + way, of being a terribly greedy person after money) on the +next<br> + happy occasion when my poor empty pockets were to be filled +at<br> + last. This done, I looked at my mother. She had agreed to +take<br> + her sister for umpire between us, and her sister had given it in +my<br> + favor. She raised no more objections. Silently, she got on +her<br> + feet, and kissed me, and sighed bitterly--and so left the room. +My<br> + aunt Chance shook her head. "I doubt, Francie, yer puir mither +has<br> + but a heathen notion of the vairtue of the cairds!"</p> + +<p>By daylight the next morning I set forth on my journey. I +looked<br> + back at the cottage as I opened the garden gate. At one window +was<br> + my mother, with her handkerchief to her eyes. At the other +stood<br> + my aunt Chance, holding up the Queen of Spades by way of<br> + encouraging me at starting. I waved my hands to both of them +in<br> + token of farewell, and stepped out briskly into the road. It +was<br> + then the last day of February. Be pleased to remember, in<br> + connection with this, that the first of March was the day, and +two<br> + o'clock in the morning the hour of my birth.</p> + +<h3><br> + V</h3> + +<p><br> + Now you know how I came to leave home. The next thing to tell +is,<br> + what happened on the journey.</p> + +<p>I reached the great house in reasonably good time considering +the<br> + distance. At the very first trial of it, the prophecy of the +cards<br> + turned out to be wrong. The person who met me at the lodge +gate<br> + was not a dark woman--in fact, not a woman at all--but a boy. +He<br> + directed me on the way to the servants' offices; and there +again<br> + the cards were all wrong. I encountered, not one woman, but +three-<br> + -and not one of the three was dark. I have stated that I am +not<br> + superstitious, and I have told the truth. But I must own that +I<br> + did feel a certain fluttering at the heart when I made my bow +to<br> + the steward, and told him what business had brought me to +the<br> + house. His answer completed the discomfiture of aunt +Chance's<br> + fortune-telling. My ill-luck still pursued me. That very +morning<br> + another man had applied for the groom's place, and had got +it.</p> + +<p><br> + I swallowed my disappointment as well as I could, and thanked +the<br> + steward, and went to the inn in the village to get the rest +and<br> + food which I sorely needed by this time.</p> + +<p>Before starting on my homeward walk I made some inquiries at +the<br> + inn, and ascertained that I might save a few miles, on my +return,<br> + by following a new road. Furnished with full instructions, +several<br> + times repeated, as to the various turnings I was to take, I +set<br> + forth, and walked on till the evening with only one stoppage +for<br> + bread and cheese. Just as it was getting toward dark, the +rain<br> + came on and the wind began to rise; and I found myself, to +make<br> + matters worse, in a part of the country with which I was +entirely<br> + unacquainted, though I guessed myself to be some fifteen miles +from<br> + home. The first house I found to inquire at, was a lonely +roadside<br> + inn, standing on the outskirts of a thick wood. Solitary as +the<br> + place looked, it was welcome to a lost man who was also +hungry,<br> + thirsty, footsore, and wet. The landlord was civil and<br> + respectable-looking; and the price he asked for a bed was<br> + reasonable enough. I was grieved to disappoint my mother. +But<br> + there was no conveyance to be had, and I could go no farther +afoot<br> + that night. My weariness fairly forced me to stop at the +inn.</p> + +<p>I may say for myself that I am a temperate man. My supper +simply<br> + consisted of some rashers of bacon, a slice of home-made bread, +and<br> + a pint of ale. I did not go to bed immediately after this +moderate<br> + meal, but sat up with the landlord, talking about my bad +prospects<br> + and my long run of ill-luck, and diverging from these topics to +the<br> + subjects of horse-flesh and racing. Nothing was said, either +by<br> + myself, my host, or the few laborers who strayed into the +tap-room,<br> + which could, in the slightest degree, excite my mind, or set +my<br> + fancy--which is only a small fancy at the best of +times--playing<br> + tricks with my common sense.</p> + +<p>At a little after eleven the house was closed. I went round +with<br> + the landlord, and held the candle while the doors and lower +windows<br> + were being secured. I noticed with surprise the strength of +the<br> + bolts, bars, and iron-sheathed shutters.</p> + +<p>"You see, we are rather lonely here," said the landlord. "We +never<br> + have had any attempts to break in yet, but it's always as well +to<br> + be on the safe side. When nobody is sleeping here, I am the +only<br> + man in the house. My wife and daughter are timid, and the +servant<br> + girl takes after her missuses. Another glass of ale, before +you<br> + turn in?--No!--Well, how such a sober man as you comes to be out +of<br> + a place is more than I can understand for one.--Here's where +you're<br> + to sleep. You're the only lodger to-night, and I think you'll +say<br> + my missus has done her best to make you comfortable. You're +quite<br> + sure you won't have another glass of ale?--Very well. Good +night."</p> + +<p>It was half-past eleven by the clock in the passage as we +went<br> + upstairs to the bedroom. The window looked out on the wood at +the<br> + back of the house.</p> + +<p>I locked my door, set my candle on the chest of drawers, +and<br> + wearily got me ready for bed. The bleak wind was still +blowing,<br> + and the solemn, surging moan of it in the wood was very dreary +to<br> + hear through the night silence. Feeling strangely wakeful, I<br> + resolved to keep the candle alight until I began to grow +sleepy.<br> + The truth is, I was not quite myself. I was depressed in mind +by<br> + my disappointment of the morning; and I was worn out in body by +my<br> + long walk. Between the two, I own I couldn't face the prospect +of<br> + lying awake in the darkness, listening to the dismal moan of +the<br> + wind in the wood.</p> + +<p>Sleep stole on me before I was aware of it; my eyes closed, +and I<br> + fell off to rest, without having so much as thought of<br> + extinguishing the candle.</p> + +<p>The next thing that I remember was a faint shivering that +ran<br> + through me from head to foot, and a dreadful sinking pain at +my<br> + heart, such as I had never felt before. The shivering only<br> + disturbed my slumbers--the pain woke me instantly. In one moment +I<br> + passed from a state of sleep to a state of wakefulness--my +eyes<br> + wide open--my mind clear on a sudden as if by a miracle. The<br> + candle had burned down nearly to the last morsel of tallow, but +the<br> + unsnuffed wick had just fallen off, and the light was, for +the<br> + moment, fair and full.</p> + +<p>Between the foot of the bed and the closet door, I saw a +person in<br> + my room. The person was a woman, standing looking at me, with +a<br> + knife in her hand. It does no credit to my courage to confess +it--<br> + but the truth IS the truth. I was struck speechless with +terror.<br> + There I lay with my eyes on the woman; there the woman stood +(with<br> + the knife in her hand) with HER eyes on ME.</p> + +<p>She said not a word as we stared each other in the face; but +she<br> + moved after a little--moved slowly toward the left-hand side of +the<br> + bed.</p> + +<p>The light fell full on her face. A fair, fine woman, with<br> + yellowish flaxen hair, and light gray eyes, with a droop in +the<br> + left eyelid. I noticed these things and fixed them in my +mind,<br> + before she was quite round at the side of the bed. Without +saying<br> + a word; without any change in the stony stillness of her +face;<br> + without any noise following her footfall, she came closer +and<br> + closer; stopped at the bed-head; and lifted the knife to stab +me.<br> + I laid my arm over my throat to save it; but, as I saw the +blow<br> + coming, I threw my hand across the bed to the right side, +and<br> + jerked my body over that way, just as the knife came down, +like<br> + lightning, within a hair's breadth of my shoulder.</p> + +<p>My eyes fixed on her arm and her hand--she gave me time to +look at<br> + them as she slowly drew the knife out of the bed. A white, +well-<br> + shaped arm, with a pretty down lying lightly over the fair skin. +A<br> + delicate lady's hand, with a pink flush round the finger +nails.</p> + +<p>She drew the knife out, and passed back again slowly to the +foot of<br> + the bed; she stopped there for a moment looking at me; then +she<br> + came on without saying a word; without any change in the +stony<br> + stillness of her face; without any noise following her +footfall--<br> + came on to the side of the bed where I now lay.</p> + +<p>Getting near me, she lifted the knife again, and I drew myself +away<br> + to the left side. She struck, as before right into the +mattress,<br> + with a swift downward action of her arm; and she missed me, +as<br> + before; by a hair's breadth. This time my eyes wandered from +HER<br> + to the knife. It was like the large clasp knives which +laboring<br> + men use to cut their bread and bacon with. Her delicate +little<br> + fingers did not hide more than two thirds of the handle; I +noticed<br> + that it was made of buckhorn, clean and shining as the blade +was,<br> + and looking like new.</p> + +<p>For the second time she drew the knife out of the bed, and +suddenly<br> + hid it away in the wide sleeve of her gown. That done, she +stopped<br> + by the bedside watching me. For an instant I saw her standing +in<br> + that position--then the wick of the spent candle fell over into +the<br> + socket. The flame dwindled to a little blue point, and the +room<br> + grew dark.</p> + +<p>A moment, or less, if possible, passed so--and then the wick +flared<br> + up, smokily, for the last time. My eyes were still looking for +her<br> + over the right-hand side of the bed when the last flash of +light<br> + came. Look as I might, I could see nothing. The woman with +the<br> + knife was gone.</p> + +<p>I began to get back to myself again. I could feel my heart<br> + beating; I could hear the woeful moaning of the wind in the +wood; I<br> + could leap up in bed, and give the alarm before she escaped +from<br> + the house. "Murder! Wake up there! Murder!"</p> + +<p>Nobody answered to the alarm. I rose and groped my way through +the<br> + darkness to the door of the room. By that way she must have +got<br> + in. By that way she must have gone out.</p> + +<p>The door of the room was fast locked, exactly as I had left it +on<br> + going to bed! I looked at the window. Fast locked too!</p> + +<p>Hearing a voice outside, I opened the door. There was the<br> + landlord, coming toward me along the passage, with his +burning<br> + candle in one hand, and his gun in the other.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he says, looking at me in no very friendly +way.</p> + +<p>I could only answer in a whisper, "A woman, with a knife in +her<br> + hand. In my room. A fair, yellow-haired woman. She jabbed at +me<br> + with the knife, twice over."</p> + +<p>He lifted his candle, and looked at me steadily from head to +foot.<br> + "She seems to have missed you--twice over."</p> + +<p>"I dodged the knife as it came down. It struck the bed each +time.<br> + Go in, and see."</p> + +<p>The landlord took his candle into the bedroom immediately. In +less<br> + than a minute he came out again into the passage in a +violent<br> + passion.</p> + +<p>"The devil fly away with you and your woman with the knife! +There<br> + isn't a mark in the bedclothes anywhere. What do you mean by<br> + coming into a man's place and frightening his family out of +their<br> + wits by a dream?"</p> + +<p>A dream? The woman who had tried to stab me, not a living +human<br> + being like myself? I began to shake and shiver. The horrors +got<br> + hold of me at the bare thought of it.</p> + +<p>"I'll leave the house," I said. "Better be out on the road in +the<br> + rain and dark, than back in that room, after what I've seen in +it.<br> + Lend me the light to get my clothes by, and tell me what I'm +to<br> + pay."</p> + +<p>The landlord led the way back with his light into the +bedroom.<br> + "Pay?" says he. "You'll find your score on the slate when you +go<br> + downstairs. I wouldn't have taken you in for all the money +you've<br> + got about you, if I had known your dreaming, screeching ways<br> + beforehand. Look at the bed--where's the cut of a knife in +it?<br> + Look at the window--is the lock bursted? Look at the door (which +I<br> + heard you fasten yourself)--is it broke in? A murdering woman +with<br> + a knife in my house! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"</p> + +<p>My eyes followed his hand as it pointed first to the bed--then +to<br> + the window--then to the door. There was no gainsaying it. The +bed<br> + sheet was as sound as on the day it was made. The window was +fast.<br> + The door hung on its hinges as steady as ever. I huddled my<br> + clothes on without speaking. We went downstairs together. I<br> + looked at the clock in the bar-room. The time was twenty +minutes<br> + past two in the morning. I paid my bill, and the landlord let +me<br> + out. The rain had ceased; but the night was dark, and the wind +was<br> + bleaker than ever. Little did the darkness, or the cold, or +the<br> + doubt about the way home matter to ME. My mind was away from +all<br> + these things. My mind was fixed on the vision in the +bedroom.<br> + What had I seen trying to murder me? The creature of a dream? +Or<br> + that other creature from the world beyond the grave, whom men +call<br> + ghost? I could make nothing of it as I walked along in the +night;<br> + I had made nothing by it by midday--when I stood at last, +after<br> + many times missing my road, on the doorstep of home.</p> + +<h3><br> + VI</h3> + +<p><br> + My mother came out alone to welcome me back. There were no +secrets<br> + between us two. I told her all that had happened, just as I +have<br> + told it to you. She kept silence till I had done. And then +she<br> + put a question to me.</p> + +<p>"What time was it, Francis, when you saw the Woman in your +Dream?"</p> + +<p>I had looked at the clock when I left the inn, and I had +noticed<br> + that the hands pointed to twenty minutes past two. Allowing +for<br> + the time consumed in speaking to the landlord, and in getting on +my<br> + clothes, I answered that I must have first seen the Woman at +two<br> + o'clock in the morning. In other words, I had not only seen her +on<br> + my birthday, but at the hour of my birth.</p> + +<p><br> + My mother still kept silence. Lost in her own thoughts, she +took<br> + me by the hand, and led me into the parlor. Her writing-desk +was<br> + on the table by the fireplace. She opened it, and signed to me +to<br> + take a chair by her side.</p> + +<p>"My son! your memory is a bad one, and mine is fast failing +me.<br> + Tell me again what the Woman looked like. I want her to be as +well<br> + known to both of us, years hence, as she is now."</p> + +<p>I obeyed; wondering what strange fancy might be working in +her<br> + mind. I spoke; and she wrote the words as they fell from my +lips:</p> + +<p>"Light gray eyes, with a droop in the left eyelid. Flaxen +hair,<br> + with a golden-yellow streak in it. White arms, with a down +upon<br> + them. Little, lady's hands, with a rosy-red look about the +finger<br> + nails."</p> + +<p>"Did you notice how she was dressed, Francis?"</p> + +<p>"No, mother."</p> + +<p>"Did you notice the knife?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. A large clasp knife, with a buckhorn handle, as good +as<br> + new."</p> + +<p>My mother added the description of the knife. Also the +year,<br> + month, day of the week, and hour of the day when the +Dream-Woman<br> + appeared to me at the inn. That done, she locked up the paper +in<br> + her desk.</p> + +<p>"Not a word, Francis, to your aunt. Not a word to any living +soul.<br> + Keep your Dream a secret between you and me."</p> + +<p>The weeks passed, and the months passed. My mother never +returned<br> + to the subject again. As for me, time, which wears out all +things,<br> + wore out my remembrance of the Dream. Little by little, the +image<br> + of the Woman grew dimmer and dimmer. Little by little, she +faded<br> + out of my mind.</p> + +<h3><br> + VII</h3> + +<p><br> + The story of the warning is now told. Judge for yourself if it +was<br> + a true warning or a false, when you hear what happened to me on +my<br> + next birthday.</p> + +<p>In the Summer time of the year, the Wheel of Fortune turned +the<br> + right way for me at last. I was smoking my pipe one day, near +an<br> + old stone quarry at the entrance to our village, when a +carriage<br> + accident happened, which gave a new turn, as it were, to my lot +in<br> + life. It was an accident of the commonest kind--not worth<br> + mentioning at any length. A lady driving herself; a runaway +horse;<br> + a cowardly man-servant in attendance, frightened out of his +wits;<br> + and the stone quarry too near to be agreeable--that is what I +saw,<br> + all in a few moments, between two whiffs of my pipe. I stopped +the<br> + horse at the edge of the quarry, and got myself a little hurt +by<br> + the shaft of the chaise. But that didn't matter. The lady<br> + declared I had saved her life; and her husband, coming with her +to<br> + our cottage the next day, took me into his service then and +there.<br> + The lady happened to be of a dark complexion; and it may amuse +you<br> + to hear that my aunt Chance instantly pitched on that +circumstance<br> + as a means of saving the credit of the cards. Here was the +promise<br> + of the Queen of Spades performed to the very letter, by means of +"a<br> + dark woman," just as my aunt had told me. "In the time to +come,<br> + Francis, beware o' pettin' yer ain blinded intairpretation on +the<br> + cairds. Ye're ower ready, I trow, to murmur under dispensation +of<br> + Proavidence that ye canna fathom--like the Eesraelites of +auld.<br> + I'll say nae mair to ye. Mebbe when the mony's powering into +yer<br> + poakets, ye'll no forget yer aunt Chance, left like a sparrow +on<br> + the housetop, wi a sma' annuitee o' thratty punds a year."</p> + +<p><br> + I remained in my situation (at the West-end of London) until +the<br> + Spring of the New Year. About that time, my master's health<br> + failed. The doctors ordered him away to foreign parts, and +the<br> + establishment was broken up. But the turn in my luck still +held<br> + good. When I left my place, I left it--thanks to the generosity +of<br> + my kind master--with a yearly allowance granted to me, in<br> + remembrance of the day when I had saved my mistress's life. +For<br> + the future, I could go back to service or not, as I pleased; +my<br> + little income was enough to support my mother and myself.</p> + +<p>My master and mistress left England toward the end of +February.<br> + Certain matters of business to do for them detained me in +London<br> + until the last day of the month. I was only able to leave for +our<br> + village by the evening train, to keep my birthday with my mother +as<br> + usual. It was bedtime when I got to the cottage; and I was +sorry<br> + to find that she was far from well. To make matters worse, she +had<br> + finished her bottle of medicine on the previous day, and had<br> + omitted to get it replenished, as the doctor had strictly +directed.<br> + He dispensed his own medicines, and I offered to go and knock +him<br> + up. She refused to let me do this; and, after giving me my +supper,<br> + sent me away to my bed.</p> + +<p>I fell asleep for a little, and woke again. My mother's +bed-<br> + chamber was next to mine. I heard my aunt Chance's heavy +footsteps<br> + going to and fro in the room, and, suspecting something +wrong,<br> + knocked at the door. My mother's pains had returned upon +her;<br> + there was a serious necessity for relieving her sufferings +as<br> + speedily as possible, I put on my clothes, and ran off, with +the<br> + medicine bottle in my hand, to the other end of the village, +where<br> + the doctor lived. The church clock chimed the quarter to two on +my<br> + birthday just as I reached his house. One ring of the night +bell<br> + brought him to his bedroom window to speak to me. He told me +to<br> + wait, and he would let me in at the surgery door. I noticed, +while<br> + I was waiting, that the night was wonderfully fair and warm for +the<br> + time of year. The old stone quarry where the carriage accident +had<br> + happened was within view. The moon in the clear heavens lit it +up<br> + almost as bright as day.</p> + +<p>In a minute or two the doctor let me into the surgery. I +closed<br> + the door, noticing that he had left his room very lightly clad. +He<br> + kindly pardoned my mother's neglect of his directions, and set +to<br> + work at once at compounding the medicine. We were both intent +on<br> + the bottle; he filling it, and I holding the light--when we +heard<br> + the surgery door suddenly opened from the street.</p> + +<h3><br> + VIII</h3> + +<p><br> + Who could possibly be up and about in our quiet village at +the<br> + second hour of the morning?</p> + +<p>The person who opened the door appeared within range of the +light<br> + of the candle. To complete our amazement, the person proved to +be<br> + a woman! She walked up to the counter, and standing side by +side<br> + with me, lifted her veil. At the moment when she showed her +face,<br> + I heard the church clock strike two. She was a stranger to me, +and<br> + a stranger to the doctor. She was also, beyond all comparison, +the<br> + most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life.</p> + +<p>"I saw the light under the door," she said. "I want some<br> + medicine."</p> + +<p><br> + She spoke quite composedly, as if there was nothing at all<br> + extraordinary in her being out in the village at two in the<br> + morning, and following me into the surgery to ask for +medicine!<br> + The doctor stared at her as if he suspected his own eyes of<br> + deceiving him. "Who are you?" be asked. "How do you come to +be<br> + wandering about at this time in the morning?"</p> + +<p>She paid no heed to his questions. She only told him coolly +what<br> + she wanted. "I have got a bad toothache. I want a bottle of<br> + laudanum."</p> + +<p>The doctor recovered himself when she asked for the laudanum. +He<br> + was on his own ground, you know, when it came to a matter of<br> + laudanum; and he spoke to her smartly enough this time.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you have got the toothache, have you? Let me look at +the<br> + tooth."</p> + +<p>She shook her bead, and laid a two-shilling piece on the +counter.<br> + "I won't trouble you to look at the tooth," she said. "There +is<br> + the money. Let me have the laudanum, if you please."</p> + +<p>The doctor put the two-shilling piece back again in her hand. +"I<br> + don't sell laudanum to strangers," he answered. "If you are in +any<br> + distress of body or mind, that is another matter. I shall be +glad<br> + to help you."</p> + +<p>She put the money back in her pocket. "YOU can't help me," +she<br> + said, as quietly as ever. "Good morning."</p> + +<p>With that, she opened the surgery door to go out again into +the<br> + street. So far, I had not spoken a word on my side. I had +stood<br> + with the candle in my hand (not knowing I was holding it)--with +my<br> + eyes fixed on her, with my mind fixed on her like a man +bewitched.<br> + Her looks betrayed, even more plainly than her words, her<br> + resolution, in one way or another, to destroy herself. When +she<br> + opened the door, in my alarm at what might happen I found the +use<br> + of my tongue.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" I cried out. "Wait for me. I want to speak to you +before<br> + you go away." She lifted her eyes with a look of careless +surprise<br> + and a mocking smile on her lips.</p> + +<p>"What can YOU have to say to me?" She stopped, and laughed +to<br> + herself. "Why not?" she said. "I have got nothing to do, and<br> + nowhere to go." She turned back a step, and nodded to me. +"You're<br> + a strange man--I think I'll humor you--I'll wait outside." +The<br> + door of the surgery closed on her. She was gone.</p> + +<p>I am ashamed to own what happened next. The only excuse for me +is<br> + that I was really and truly a man bewitched. I turned me round +to<br> + follow her out, without once thinking of my mother. The +doctor<br> + stopped me.</p> + +<p>"Don't forget the medicine," he said. "And if you will take +my<br> + advice, don't trouble yourself about that woman. Rouse up +the<br> + constable. It's his business to look after her--not yours."</p> + +<p>I held out my hand for the medicine in silence: I was afraid +I<br> + should fail in respect if I trusted myself to answer him. He +must<br> + have seen, as I saw, that she wanted the laudanum to poison<br> + herself. He had, to my mind, taken a very heartless view of +the<br> + matter. I just thanked him when he gave me the medicine--and +went<br> + out.</p> + +<p>She was waiting for me as she had promised; walking slowly to +and<br> + fro--a tall, graceful, solitary figure in the bright +moonbeams.<br> + They shed over her fair complexion, her bright golden hair, +her<br> + large gray eyes, just the light that suited them best. She +looked<br> + hardly mortal when she first turned to speak to me.</p> + +<p>"Well?" she said. "And what do you want?"</p> + +<p>In spite of my pride, or my shyness, or my better +sense--whichever<br> + it might be--all my heart went out to her in a moment. I +caught<br> + hold of her by the hands, and owned what was in my thoughts, +as<br> + freely as if I had known her for half a lifetime.</p> + +<p>"You mean to destroy yourself," I said. "And I mean to prevent +you<br> + from doing it. If I follow you about all night, I'll prevent +you<br> + from doing it."</p> + +<p>She laughed. "You saw yourself that he wouldn't sell me +the<br> + laudanum. Do you really care whether I live or die?" She +squeezed<br> + my hands gently as she put the question: her eyes searched +mine<br> + with a languid, lingering look in them that ran through me +like<br> + fire. My voice died away on my lips; I couldn't answer her.</p> + +<p>She understood, without my answering. "You have given me a +fancy<br> + for living, by speaking kindly to me," she said. "Kindness has +a<br> + wonderful effect on women, and dogs, and other domestic +animals.<br> + It is only men who are superior to kindness. Make your mind +easy--<br> + I promise to take as much care of myself as if I was the +happiest<br> + woman living! Don't let me keep you here, out of your bed. +Which<br> + way are you going?"</p> + +<p>Miserable wretch that I was, I had forgotten my mother--with +the<br> + medicine in my hand! "I am going home," I said. "Where are +you<br> + staying? At the inn?"</p> + +<p>She laughed her bitter laugh, and pointed to the stone +quarry.<br> + "There is MY inn for to-night," she said. "When I got tired +of<br> + walking about, I rested there."</p> + +<p>We walked on together, on my way home. I took the liberty +of<br> + asking her if she had any friends.</p> + +<p>"I thought I had one friend left," she said, "or you would +never<br> + have met me in this place. It turns out I was wrong. My +friend's<br> + door was closed in my face some hours since; my friend's +servants<br> + threatened me with the police. I had nowhere else to go, +after<br> + trying my luck in your neighborhood; and nothing left but my +two-<br> + shilling piece and these rags on my back. What respectable<br> + innkeeper would take ME into his house? I walked about, +wondering<br> + how I could find my way out of the world without disfiguring<br> + myself, and without suffering much pain. You have no river +in<br> + these parts. I didn't see my way out of the world, till I +heard<br> + you ringing at the doctor's house. I got a glimpse at the +bottles<br> + in the surgery, when he let you in, and I thought of the +laudanum<br> + directly. What were you doing there? Who is that medicine +for?<br> + Your wife?"</p> + +<p>"I am not married!"</p> + +<p>She laughed again. "Not married! If I was a little better +dressed<br> + there might be a chance for ME. Where do you live? Here?"</p> + +<p>We had arrived, by this time, at my mother's door. She held +out<br> + her hand to say good-by. Houseless and homeless as she was, +she<br> + never asked me to give her a shelter for the night. It was +MY<br> + proposal that she should rest, under my roof, unknown to my +mother<br> + and my aunt. Our kitchen was built out at the back of the +cottage:<br> + she might remain there unseen and unheard until the household +was<br> + astir in the morning. I led her into the kitchen, and set a +chair<br> + for her by the dying embers of the fire. I dare say I was to<br> + blame--shamefully to blame, if you like. I only wonder what +YOU<br> + would have done in my place. On your word of honor as a man, +would<br> + YOU have let that beautiful creature wander back to the shelter +of<br> + the stone quarry like a stray dog? God help the woman who is<br> + foolish enough to trust and love you, if you would have done +that!</p> + +<p>I left her by the fire, and went to my mother's room.</p> + +<h3><br> + IX</h3> + +<p><br> + If you have ever felt the heartache, you will know what I +suffered<br> + in secret when my mother took my hand, and said, "I am +sorry,<br> + Francis, that your night's rest has been disturbed through ME." +I<br> + gave her the medicine; and I waited by her till the pains +abated.<br> + My aunt Chance went back to her bed; and my mother and I were +left<br> + alone. I noticed that her writing-desk, moved from its +customary<br> + place, was on the bed by her side. She saw me looking at it.<br> + "This is your birthday, Francis," she said. "Have you anything +to<br> + tell me?" I had so completely forgotten my Dream, that I had +no<br> + notion of what was passing in her mind when she said those +words.<br> + For a moment there was a guilty fear in me that she +suspected<br> + something. I turned away my face, and said, "No, mother; I +have<br> + nothing to tell." She signed to me to stoop down over the +pillow<br> + and kiss her. "God bless you, my love!" she said; and many +happy<br> + returns of the day." She patted my hand, and closed her +weary<br> + eyes, and, little by little, fell off peaceably into sleep.</p> + +<p><br> + I stole downstairs again. I think the good influence of my +mother<br> + must have followed me down. At any rate, this is true: I +stopped<br> + with my hand on the closed kitchen door, and said to myself:<br> + "Suppose I leave the house, and leave the village, without +seeing<br> + her or speaking to her more?"</p> + +<p>Should I really have fled from temptation in this way, if I +had<br> + been left to myself to decide? Who can tell? As things were, +I<br> + was not left to decide. While my doubt was in my mind, she +heard<br> + me, and opened the kitchen door. My eyes and her eyes met. +That<br> + ended it.</p> + +<p>We were together, unsuspected and undisturbed, for the next +two<br> + hours. Time enough for her to reveal the secret of her +wasted<br> + life. Time enough for her to take possession of me as her own, +to<br> + do with me as she liked. It is needless to dwell here on the<br> + misfortunes which had brought her low; they are misfortunes +too<br> + common to interest anybody.</p> + +<p>Her name was Alicia Warlock. She had been born and bred a +lady.<br> + She had lost her station, her character, and her friends. +Virtue<br> + shuddered at the sight of her; and Vice had got her for the rest +of<br> + her days. Shocking and common, as I told you. It made no<br> + difference to ME. I have said it already--I say it again--I was +a<br> + man bewitched. Is there anything so very wonderful in that? +Just<br> + remember who I was. Among the honest women in my own station +in<br> + life, where could I have found the like of HER? Could THEY walk +as<br> + she walked? and look as she looked? When THEY gave me a kiss, +did<br> + their lips linger over it as hers did? Had THEY her skin, +her<br> + laugh, her foot, her hand, her touch? SHE never had a speck +of<br> + dirt on her: I tell you her flesh was a perfume. When she +embraced<br> + me, her arms folded round me like the wings of angels; and +her<br> + smile covered me softly with its light like the sun in heaven. +I<br> + leave you to laugh at me, or to cry over me, just as your +temper<br> + may incline. I am not trying to excuse myself--I am trying +to<br> + explain. You are gentle-folks; what dazzled and maddened ME, +is<br> + everyday experience to YOU. Fallen or not, angel or devil, it +came<br> + to this--she was a lady; and I was a groom.</p> + +<p>Before the house was astir, I got her away (by the workmen's +train)<br> + to a large manufacturing town in our parts.</p> + +<p>Here--with my savings in money to help her--she could get +her<br> + outfit of decent clothes and her lodging among strangers who +asked<br> + no questions so long as they were paid. Here--now on one +pretense<br> + and now on another--I could visit her, and we could both +plan<br> + together what our future lives were to be. I need not tell +you<br> + that I stood pledged to make her my wife. A man in my +station<br> + always marries a woman of her sort.</p> + +<p>Do you wonder if I was happy at this time? I should have +been<br> + perfectly happy but for one little drawback. It was this: I +was<br> + never quite at my ease in the presence of my promised wife.</p> + +<p>I don't mean that I was shy with her, or suspicious of her, +or<br> + ashamed of her. The uneasiness I am speaking of was caused by +a<br> + faint doubt in my mind whether I had not seen her somewhere, +before<br> + the morning when we met at the doctor's house. Over and over<br> + again, I found myself wondering whether her face did not remind +me<br> + of some other face--what other I never could tell. This +strange<br> + feeling, this one question that could never be answered, vexed +me<br> + to a degree that you would hardly credit. It came between us +at<br> + the strangest times--oftenest, however, at night, when the +candles<br> + were lit. You have known what it is to try and remember a<br> + forgotten name--and to fail, search as you may, to find it in +your<br> + mind. That was my case. I failed to find my lost face, just +as<br> + you failed to find your lost name.</p> + +<p>In three weeks we had talked matters over, and had arranged +how I<br> + was to make a clean breast of it at home. By Alicia's advice, +I<br> + was to describe her as having been one of my fellow servants +during<br> + the time I was employed under my kind master and mistress in<br> + London. There was no fear now of my mother taking any harm +from<br> + the shock of a great surprise. Her health had improved during +the<br> + three weeks' interval. On the first evening when she was able +to<br> + take her old place at tea time, I summoned my courage, and told +her<br> + I was going to be married. The poor soul flung her arms round +my<br> + neck, and burst out crying for joy. "Oh, Francis!" she says, "I +am<br> + so glad you will have somebody to comfort you and care for you +when<br> + I am gone!" As for my aunt Chance, you can anticipate what +SHE<br> + did, without being told. Ah, me! If there had really been +any<br> + prophetic virtue in the cards, what a terrible warning they +might<br> + have given us that night! It was arranged that I was to bring +my<br> + promised wife to dinner at the cottage on the next day.</p> + +<h3><br> + X</h3> + +<p><br> + I own I was proud of Alicia when I led her into our little +parlor<br> + at the appointed time. She had never, to my mind, looked so<br> + beautiful as she looked that day. I never noticed any other<br> + woman's dress--I noticed hers as carefully as if I had been a +woman<br> + myself! She wore a black silk gown, with plain collar and +cuffs,<br> + and a modest lavender-colored bonnet, with one white rose in +it<br> + placed at the side. My mother, dressed in her Sunday best, +rose<br> + up, all in a flutter, to welcome her daughter-in-law that was +to<br> + be. She walked forward a few steps, half smiling, half in +tears--<br> + she looked Alicia full in the face--and suddenly stood still. +Her<br> + cheeks turned white in an instant; her eyes stared in horror; +her<br> + hands dropped helplessly at her sides. She staggered back, +and<br> + fell into the arms of my aunt, standing behind her. It was +no<br> + swoon--she kept her senses. Her eyes turned slowly from Alicia +to<br> + me. "Francis," she said, "does that woman's face remind you +of<br> + nothing?"</p> + +<p><br> + Before I could answer, she pointed to her writing-desk on the +table<br> + at the fireside. "Bring it!" she cried, "bring it!"</p> + +<p>At the same moment I felt Alicia's hand on my shoulder, and +saw<br> + Alicia's face red with anger--and no wonder!</p> + +<p>"What does this mean?" she asked. "Does your mother want to +insult<br> + me?"</p> + +<p>I said a few words to quiet her; what they were I don't +remember--I<br> + was so confused and astonished at the time. Before I had done, +I<br> + heard my mother behind me.</p> + +<p>My aunt had fetched her desk. She had opened it; she had taken +a<br> + paper from it. Step by step, helping herself along by the +wall,<br> + she came nearer and nearer, with the paper in her hand. She +looked<br> + at the paper--she looked in Alicia's face--she lifted the +long,<br> + loose sleeve of her gown, and examined her hand and arm. I +saw<br> + fear suddenly take the place of anger in Alicia's eyes. She +shook<br> + herself free of my mother's grasp. "Mad!" she said to +herself,<br> + "and Francis never told me!" With those words she ran out of +the<br> + room.</p> + +<p>I was hastening out after her, when my mother signed to me to +stop.<br> + She read the words written on the paper. While they fell +slowly,<br> + one by one, from her lips, she pointed toward the open door.</p> + +<p>"Light gray eyes, with a droop in the left eyelid. Flaxen +hair,<br> + with a gold-yellow streak in it. White arms, with a down +upon<br> + them. Little, lady's hand, with a rosy-red look about the +finger<br> + nails. The Dream Woman, Francis! The Dream Woman!"</p> + +<p>Something darkened the parlor window as those words were +spoken. I<br> + looked sidelong at the shadow. Alicia Warlock had come back! +She<br> + was peering in at us over the low window blind. There was +the<br> + fatal face which had first looked at me in the bedroom of +the<br> + lonely inn. There, resting on the window blind, was the +lovely<br> + little hand which had held the murderous knife. I HAD seen +her<br> + before we met in the village. The Dream Woman! The Dream +Woman!</p> + +<h3><br> + XI</h3> + +<p><br> + I expect nobody to approve of what I have next to tell of +myself.<br> + In three weeks from the day when my mother had identified her +with<br> + the Woman of the Dream, I took Alicia Warlock to church, and +made<br> + her my wife. I was a man bewitched. Again and again I say +it--I<br> + was a man bewitched!</p> + +<p>During the interval before my marriage, our little household +at the<br> + cottage was broken up. My mother and my aunt quarreled. My<br> + mother, believing in the Dream, entreated me to break off my<br> + engagement. My aunt, believing in the cards, urged me to +marry.</p> + +<p>This difference of opinion produced a dispute between them, in +the<br> + course of which my aunt Chance--quite unconscious of having +any<br> + superstitious feelings of her own--actually set out the cards +which<br> + prophesied happiness to me in my married life, and asked my +mother<br> + how anybody but "a blinded heathen could be fule enough, +after<br> + seeing those cairds, to believe in a dream!" This was, +naturally,<br> + too much for my mother's patience; hard words followed on +either<br> + side; Mrs. Chance returned in dudgeon to her friends in +Scotland.<br> + She left me a written statement of my future prospects, as +revealed<br> + by the cards, and with it an address at which a post-office +order<br> + would reach her. "The day was not that far off," she +remarked,<br> + "when Francie might remember what he owed to his aunt +Chance,<br> + maintaining her ain unbleemished widowhood on thratty punds +a<br> + year."</p> + +<p><br> + Having refused to give her sanction to my marriage, my mother +also<br> + refused to be present at the wedding, or to visit Alicia<br> + afterwards. There was no anger at the bottom of this conduct +on<br> + her part. Believing as she did in this Dream, she was simply +in<br> + mortal fear of my wife. I understood this, and I made +allowances<br> + for her. Not a cross word passed between us. My one happy<br> + remembrance now--though I did disobey her in the matter of +my<br> + marriage--is this: I loved and respected my good mother to +the<br> + last.</p> + +<p>As for my wife, she expressed no regret at the estrangement +between<br> + her mother-in-law and herself. By common consent, we never +spoke<br> + on that subject. We settled in the manufacturing town which I +have<br> + already mentioned, and we kept a lodging-house. My kind master, +at<br> + my request, granted me a lump sum in place of my annuity. This +put<br> + us into a good house, decently furnished. For a while things +went<br> + well enough. I may describe myself at this time of my life as +a<br> + happy man.</p> + +<p>My misfortunes began with a return of the complaint with which +my<br> + mother had already suffered. The doctor confessed, when I +asked<br> + him the question, that there was danger to be dreaded this +time.<br> + Naturally, after hearing this, I was a good deal away at the<br> + cottage. Naturally also, I left the business of looking after +the<br> + house, in my absence, to my wife. Little by little, I found +her<br> + beginning to alter toward me. While my back was turned, she +formed<br> + acquaintances with people of the doubtful and dissipated sort. +One<br> + day, I observed something in her manner which forced the +suspicion<br> + on me that she had been drinking. Before the week was out, +my<br> + suspicion was a certainty. From keeping company with +drunkards,<br> + she had grown to be a drunkard herself.</p> + +<p>I did all a man could do to reclaim her. Quite useless! She +had<br> + never really returned the love I felt for her: I had no +influence;<br> + I could do nothing. My mother, hearing of this last worse +trouble,<br> + resolved to try what her influence could do. Ill as she was, +I<br> + found her one day dressed to go out.</p> + +<p>"I am not long for this world, Francis," she said. "I shall +not<br> + feel easy on my deathbed, unless I have done my best to the last +to<br> + make you happy. I mean to put my own fears and my own feelings +out<br> + of the question, and go with you to your wife, and try what I +can<br> + do to reclaim her. Take me home with you, Francis. Let me do +all<br> + I can to help my son, before it is too late."</p> + +<p>How could I disobey her? We took the railway to the town: it +was<br> + only half an hour's ride. By one o'clock in the afternoon we<br> + reached my house. It was our dinner hour, and Alicia was in +the<br> + kitchen. I was able to take my mother quietly into the parlor +and<br> + then to prepare my wife for the visit. She had drunk but little +at<br> + that early hour; and, luckily, the devil in her was tamed for +the<br> + time.</p> + +<p>She followed me into the parlor, and the meeting passed off +better<br> + than I had ventured to forecast; with this one drawback, that +my<br> + mother--though she tried hard to control herself--shrank +from<br> + looking my wife in the face when she spoke to her. It was a +relief<br> + to me when Alicia began to prepare the table for dinner.</p> + +<p>She laid the cloth, brought in the bread tray, and cut some +slices<br> + for us from the loaf. Then she returned to the kitchen. At +that<br> + moment, while I was still anxiously watching my mother, I +was<br> + startled by seeing the same ghastly change pass over her face +which<br> + had altered it in the morning when Alicia and she first met.<br> + Before I could say a word, she started up with a look of +horror.</p> + +<p>"Take me back!--home, home again, Francis! Come with me, and +never<br> + go back more!"</p> + +<p>I was afraid to ask for an explanation; I could only sign her +to be<br> + silent, and help her quickly to the door. As we passed the +bread<br> + tray on the table, she stopped and pointed to it.</p> + +<p>"Did you see what your wife cut your bread with?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>"No, mother; I was not noticing. What was it?"</p> + +<p>"Look!"</p> + +<p>I did look. A new clasp knife, with a buckhorn handle, lay +with<br> + the loaf in the bread tray. I stretched out my hand to +possess<br> + myself of it. At the same moment, there was a noise in the<br> + kitchen, and my mother caught me by the arm.</p> + +<p>"The knife of the Dream! Francis, I'm faint with fear--take +me<br> + away before she comes back!"</p> + +<p>I couldn't speak to comfort or even to answer her. Superior as +I<br> + was to superstition, the discovery of the knife staggered me. +In<br> + silence, I helped my mother out of the house; and took her +home.</p> + +<p>I held out my hand to say good-by. She tried to stop me.</p> + +<p>"Don't go back, Francis! don't go back!"</p> + +<p>"I must get the knife, mother. I must go back by the next +train."<br> + I held to that resolution. By the next train I went back.</p> + +<h3><br> + XII</h3> + +<p><br> + My wife had, of course, discovered our secret departure from +the<br> + house. She had been drinking. She was in a fury of passion. +The<br> + dinner in the kitchen was flung under the grate; the cloth was +off<br> + the parlor table. Where was the knife?</p> + +<p>I was foolish enough to ask for it. She refused to give it to +me.<br> + In the course of the dispute between us which followed, I<br> + discovered that there was a horrible story attached to the +knife.<br> + It had been used in a murder--years since--and had been so<br> + skillfully hidden that the authorities had been unable to +produce<br> + it at the trial. By help of some of her disreputable friends, +my<br> + wife had been able to purchase this relic of a bygone crime. +Her<br> + perverted nature set some horrid unacknowledged value on the +knife.<br> + Seeing there was no hope of getting it by fair means, I +determined<br> + to search for it, later in the day, in secret. The search +was<br> + unsuccessful. Night came on, and I left the house to walk +about<br> + the streets. You will understand what a broken man I was by +this<br> + time, when I tell you I was afraid to sleep in the same room +with<br> + her!</p> + +<p><br> + Three weeks passed. Still she refused to give up the knife; +and<br> + still that fear of sleeping in the same room with her possessed +me.<br> + I walked about at night, or dozed in the parlor, or sat watching +by<br> + my mother's bedside. Before the end of the first week in the +new<br> + month, the worst misfortune of all befell me--my mother died. +It<br> + wanted then but a short time to my birthday. She had longed +to<br> + live till that day. I was present at her death. Her last words +in<br> + this world were addressed to me. "Don't go back, my son--don't +go<br> + back!"</p> + +<p>I was obliged to go back, if it was only to watch my wife. In +the<br> + last days of my mother's illness she had spitefully added a +sting<br> + to my grief by declaring she would assert her right to attend +the<br> + funeral. In spite of all that I could do or say, she held to +her<br> + word. On the day appointed for the burial she forced +herself,<br> + inflamed and shameless with drink, into my presence, and swore +she<br> + would walk in the funeral procession to my mother's grave.</p> + +<p>This last insult--after all I had gone through already--was +more<br> + than I could endure. It maddened me. Try to make allowances for +a<br> + man beside himself. I struck her.</p> + +<p>The instant the blow was dealt, I repented it. She crouched +down,<br> + silent, in a corner of the room, and eyed me steadily. It was +a<br> + look that cooled my hot blood in an instant. There was no time +now<br> + to think of making atonement. I could only risk the worst, +and<br> + make sure of her till the funeral was over. I locked her into +her<br> + bedroom.</p> + +<p>When I came back, after laying my mother in the grave, I found +her<br> + sitting by the bedside, very much altered in look and bearing, +with<br> + a bundle on her lap. She faced me quietly; she spoke with a<br> + curious stillness in her voice--strangely and unnaturally +composed<br> + in look and manner.</p> + +<p>"No man has ever struck me yet," she said. "My husband shall +have<br> + no second opportunity. Set the door open, and let me go."</p> + +<p>She passed me, and left the room. I saw her walk away up +the<br> + street. Was she gone for good?</p> + +<p>All that night I watched and waited. No footstep came near +the<br> + house. The next night, overcome with fatigue, I lay down on +the<br> + bed in my clothes, with the door locked, the key on the table, +and<br> + the candle burning. My slumber was not disturbed. The third<br> + night, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, passed, and nothing<br> + happened. I lay down on the seventh night, still suspicious +of<br> + something happening; still in my clothes; still with the +door<br> + locked, the key on the table, and the candle burning.</p> + +<p>My rest was disturbed. I awoke twice, without any sensation +of<br> + uneasiness. The third time, that horrid shivering of the night +at<br> + the lonely inn, that awful sinking pain at the heart, came +back<br> + again, and roused me in an instant. My eyes turned to the +left-<br> + hand side of the bed. And there stood, looking at me--</p> + +<p>The Dream Woman again? No! My wife. The living woman, with +the<br> + face of the Dream--in the attitude of the Dream--the fair arm +up;<br> + the knife clasped in the delicate white hand.</p> + +<p>I sprang upon her on the instant; but not quickly enough to +stop<br> + her from hiding the knife. Without a word from me, without a +cry<br> + from her, I pinioned her in a chair. With one hand I felt up +her<br> + sleeve; and there, where the Dream Woman had hidden the knife, +my<br> + wife had hidden it--the knife with the buckhorn handle, that +looked<br> + like new.</p> + +<p>What I felt when I made that discovery I could not realize at +the<br> + time, and I can't describe now. I took one steady look at her +with<br> + the knife in my hand. "You meant to kill me?" I said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered; "I meant to kill you." She crossed her +arms<br> + over her bosom, and stared me coolly in the face. "I shall do +it<br> + yet," she said. "With that knife."</p> + +<p>I don't know what possessed me--I swear to you I am no coward; +and<br> + yet I acted like a coward. The horrors got hold of me. I +couldn't<br> + look at her--I couldn't speak to her. I left her (with the +knife<br> + in my hand), and went out into the night.</p> + +<p>There was a bleak wind abroad, and the smell of rain was in +the<br> + air. The church clocks chimed the quarter as I walked beyond +the<br> + last house in the town. I asked the first policeman I met +what<br> + hour that was, of which the quarter past had just struck.</p> + +<p>The man looked at his watch, and answered, "Two o'clock." Two +in<br> + the morning. What day of the month was this day that had +just<br> + begun? I reckoned it up from the date of my mother's funeral. +The<br> + horrid parallel between the dream and the reality was +complete--it<br> + was my birthday!</p> + +<p>Had I escaped the mortal peril which the dream foretold? or +had I<br> + only received a second warning? As that doubt crossed my mind +I<br> + stopped on my way out of the town. The air had revived me--I +felt<br> + in some degree like my own self again. After a little thinking, +I<br> + began to see plainly the mistake I had made in leaving my wife +free<br> + to go where she liked and to do as she pleased.</p> + +<p>I turned instantly, and made my way back to the house. It +was<br> + still dark. I had left the candle burning in the bedchamber. +When<br> + I looked up to the window of the room now, there was no light +in<br> + it. I advanced to the house door. On going away, I remembered +to<br> + have closed it; on trying it now, I found it open.</p> + +<p>I waited outside, never losing sight of the house till +daylight.<br> + Then I ventured indoors--listened, and heard nothing--looked +into<br> + the kitchen, scullery, parlor, and found nothing--went up at +last<br> + into the bedroom. It was empty.</p> + +<p>A picklock lay on the floor, which told me how she had +gained<br> + entrance in the night. And that was the one trace I could find +of<br> + the Dream Woman.</p> + +<h3><br> + XIII</h3> + +<p><br> + I waited in the house till the town was astir for the day, and +then<br> + I went to consult a lawyer. In the confused state of my mind +at<br> + the time, I had one clear notion of what I meant to do: I +was<br> + determined to sell my house and leave the neighborhood. There +were<br> + obstacles in the way which I had not counted on. I was told I +had<br> + creditors to satisfy before I could leave--I, who had given my +wife<br> + the money to pay my bills regularly every week! Inquiry +showed<br> + that she had embezzled every farthing of the money I had +intrusted<br> + to her. I had no choice but to pay over again.</p> + +<p><br> + Placed in this awkward position, my first duty was to set +things<br> + right, with the help of my lawyer. During my forced sojourn in +the<br> + town I did two foolish things. And, as a consequence that<br> + followed, I heard once more, and heard for the last time, of +my<br> + wife.</p> + +<p>In the first place, having got possession of the knife, I was +rash<br> + enough to keep it in my pocket. In the second place, having<br> + something of importance to say to my lawyer, at a late hour of +the<br> + evening, I went to his house after dark--alone and on foot. I +got<br> + there safely enough. Returning, I was seized on from behind by +two<br> + men, dragged down a passage and robbed--not only of the +little<br> + money I had about me, but also of the knife. It was the +lawyer's<br> + opinion (as it was mine) that the thieves were among the<br> + disreputable acquaintances formed by my wife, and that they, +had<br> + attacked me at her instigation. To confirm this view I received +a<br> + letter the next day, without date or address, written in +Alicia's<br> + hand. The first line informed me that the knife was back again +in<br> + her possession. The second line reminded me of the day when +I<br> + struck her. The third line warned me that she would wash out +the<br> + stain of that blow in my blood, and repeated the words, "I shall +do<br> + it with the knife!"</p> + +<p>These things happened a year ago. The law laid hands on the +men<br> + who had robbed me; but from that time to this, the law has +failed<br> + completely to find a trace of my wife.</p> + +<p>My story is told. When I had paid the creditors and paid the +legal<br> + expenses, I had barely five pounds left out of the sale of +my<br> + house; and I had the world to begin over again. Some months +since--<br> + drifting here and there--I found my way to Underbridge. The<br> + landlord of the inn had known something of my father's family +in<br> + times past. He gave me (all he had to give) my food, and +shelter<br> + in the yard. Except on market days, there is nothing to do. +In<br> + the coming winter the inn is to be shut up, and I shall have +to<br> + shift for myself. My old master would help me if I applied to +him--<br> + but I don't like to apply: he has done more for me already than +I<br> + deserve. Besides, in another year who knows but my troubles +may<br> + all be at an end? Next winter will bring me nigh to my next<br> + birthday, and my next birthday may be the day of my death. +Yes!<br> + it's true I sat up all last night; and I heard two in the +morning<br> + strike: and nothing happened. Still, allowing for that, the +time<br> + to come is a time I don't trust. My wife has got the +knife--my<br> + wife is looking for me. I am above superstition, mind! I +don't<br> + say I believe in dreams; I only say, Alicia Warlock is looking +for<br> + me. It is possible I may be wrong. It is possible I may be +right.<br> + Who can tell?</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>THE THIRD NARRATIVE</h2> + +<h3>THE STORY CONTINUED BY PERCY FAIRBANK</h3> + +<h3><br> + XIV</h3> + +<p><br> + We took leave of Francis Raven at the door of Farleigh Hall, +with<br> + the understanding that he might expect to hear from us +again.</p> + +<p>The same night Mrs. Fairbank and I had a discussion in the<br> + sanctuary of our own room. The topic was "The Hostler's +Story";<br> + and the question in dispute between us turned on the measure +of<br> + charitable duty that we owed to the hostler himself.</p> + +<p>The view I took of the man's narrative was of the purely +matter-of-<br> + fact kind. Francis Raven had, in my opinion, brooded over +the<br> + misty connection between his strange dream and his vile wife, +until<br> + his mind was in a state of partial delusion on that subject. I +was<br> + quite willing to help him with a trifle of money, and to +recommend<br> + him to the kindness of my lawyer, if he was really in any +danger<br> + and wanted advice. There my idea of my duty toward this +afflicted<br> + person began and ended.</p> + +<p><br> + Confronted with this sensible view of the matter, Mrs. +Fairbank's<br> + romantic temperament rushed, as usual, into extremes. "I should +no<br> + more think of losing sight of Francis Raven when his next +birthday<br> + comes round," says my wife, "than I should think of laying down +a<br> + good story with the last chapters unread. I am positively<br> + determined, Percy, to take him back with us when we return +to<br> + France, in the capacity of groom. What does one man more or +less<br> + among the horses matter to people as rich as we are?" In +this<br> + strain the partner of my joys and sorrows ran on, perfectly<br> + impenetrable to everything that I could say on the side of +common<br> + sense. Need I tell my married brethren how it ended? Of course +I<br> + allowed my wife to irritate me, and spoke to her sharply.</p> + +<p>Of course my wife turned her face away indignantly on the +conjugal<br> + pillow, and burst into tears. Of course upon that, "Mr." made +his<br> + excuses, and "Mrs." had her own way.</p> + +<p>Before the week was out we rode over to Underbridge, and +duly<br> + offered to Francis Raven a place in our service as +supernumerary<br> + groom.</p> + +<p>At first the poor fellow seemed hardly able to realize his +own<br> + extraordinary good fortune. Recovering himself, he expressed +his<br> + gratitude modestly and becomingly. Mrs. Fairbank's ready<br> + sympathies overflowed, as usual, at her lips. She talked to +him<br> + about our home in France, as if the worn, gray-headed hostler +had<br> + been a child. "Such a dear old house, Francis; and such +pretty<br> + gardens! Stables! Stables ten times as big as your stables +here--<br> + quite a choice of rooms for you. You must learn the name of +our<br> + house--Maison Rouge. Our nearest town is Metz. We are within +a<br> + walk of the beautiful River Moselle. And when we want a change +we<br> + have only to take the railway to the frontier, and find +ourselves<br> + in Germany."</p> + +<p>Listening, so far, with a very bewildered face, Francis +started and<br> + changed color when my wife reached the end of her last +sentence.<br> + "Germany?" he repeated.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Does Germany remind you of anything?"</p> + +<p>The hostler's eyes looked down sadly on the ground. +"Germany<br> + reminds me of my wife," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Indeed! How?"</p> + +<p>"She once told me she had lived in Germany--long before I knew +her-<br> + -in the time when she was a young girl."</p> + +<p>"Was she living with relations or friends?"</p> + +<p>"She was living as governess in a foreign family."</p> + +<p>"In what part of Germany?"</p> + +<p>"I don't remember, ma'am. I doubt if she told me."</p> + +<p>"Did she tell you the name of the family?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am. It was a foreign name, and it has slipped my +memory<br> + long since. The head of the family was a wine grower in a +large<br> + way of business--I remember that."</p> + +<p>"Did you hear what sort of wine he grew? There are wine +growers in<br> + our neighborhood. Was it Moselle wine?"</p> + +<p>"I couldn't say, ma'am, I doubt if I ever heard."</p> + +<p>There the conversation dropped. We engaged to communicate +with<br> + Francis Raven before we left England, and took our leave. I +had<br> + made arrangements to pay our round of visits to English +friends,<br> + and to return to Maison Rouge in the summer. On the eve of<br> + departure, certain difficulties in connection with the +management<br> + of some landed property of mine in Ireland obliged us to alter +our<br> + plans. Instead of getting back to our house in France in the<br> + Summer, we only returned a week or two before Christmas. +Francis<br> + Raven accompanied us, and was duly established, in the +nominal<br> + capacity of stable keeper, among the servants at Maison +Rouge.</p> + +<p>Before long, some of the objections to taking him into our<br> + employment, which I had foreseen and had vainly mentioned to +my<br> + wife, forced themselves on our attention in no very agreeable +form.<br> + Francis Raven failed (as I had feared he would) to get on +smoothly<br> + with his fellow-servants. They were all French; and not one +of<br> + them understood English. Francis, on his side, was equally<br> + ignorant of French. His reserved manners, his melancholy<br> + temperament, his solitary ways--all told against him. Our +servants<br> + called him "the English Bear." He grew widely known in the<br> + neighborhood under his nickname. Quarrels took place, ending +once<br> + or twice in blows. It became plain, even to Mrs. Fairbank +herself,<br> + that some wise change must be made. While we were still<br> + considering what the change was to be, the unfortunate hostler +was<br> + thrown on our hands for some time to come by an accident in +the<br> + stables. Still pursued by his proverbial ill-luck, the poor<br> + wretch's leg was broken by a kick from a horse.</p> + +<p>He was attended to by our own surgeon, in his comfortable +bedroom<br> + at the stables. As the date of his birthday drew near, he +was<br> + still confined to his bed.</p> + +<p>Physically speaking, he was doing very well. Morally speaking, +the<br> + surgeon was not satisfied. Francis Raven was suffering under +some<br> + mysterious mental disturbance, which interfered seriously with +his<br> + rest at night. Hearing this, I thought it my duty to tell +the<br> + medical attendant what was preying on the patient's mind. As +a<br> + practical man, he shared my opinion that the hostler was in a +state<br> + of delusion on the subject of his Wife and his Dream. +"Curable<br> + delusion, in my opinion," the surgeon added, "if the +experiment<br> + could be fairly tried."</p> + +<p>"How can it be tried?" I asked. Instead of replying, the +surgeon<br> + put a question to me, on his side.</p> + +<p>"Do you happen to know," he said, "that this year is Leap +Year?"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Fairbank reminded me of it yesterday," I answered.<br> + "Otherwise I might NOT have known it."</p> + +<p>"Do you think Francis Raven knows that this year is Leap +Year?"</p> + +<p>(I began to see dimly what my friend was driving at.)</p> + +<p>"It depends," I answered, "on whether he has got an +English<br> + almanac. Suppose he has NOT got the almanac--what then?"</p> + +<p>"In that case," pursued the surgeon, "Francis Raven is +innocent of<br> + all suspicion that there is a twenty-ninth day in February +this<br> + year. As a necessary consequence--what will he do? He will<br> + anticipate the appearance of the Woman with the Knife, at two +in<br> + the morning of the twenty-ninth of February, instead of the +first<br> + of March. Let him suffer all his superstitious terrors on +the<br> + wrong day. Leave him, on the day that is really his birthday, +to<br> + pass a perfectly quiet night, and to be as sound asleep as +other<br> + people at two in the morning. And then, when he wakes +comfortably<br> + in time for his breakfast, shame him out of his delusion by +telling<br> + him the truth."</p> + +<p>I agreed to try the experiment. Leaving the surgeon to +caution<br> + Mrs. Fairbank on the subject of Leap Year, I went to the stables +to<br> + see Mr. Raven.</p> + +<h3><br> + XV</h3> + +<p><br> + The poor fellow was full of forebodings of the fate in store +for<br> + him on the ominous first of March. He eagerly entreated me +to<br> + order one of the men servants to sit up with him on the +birthday<br> + morning. In granting his request, I asked him to tell me on +which<br> + day of the week his birthday fell. He reckoned the days on +his<br> + fingers; and proved his innocence of all suspicion that it was +Leap<br> + Year, by fixing on the twenty-ninth of February, in the full<br> + persuasion that it was the first of March. Pledged to try +the<br> + surgeon's experiment, I left his error uncorrected, of course. +In<br> + so doing, I took my first step blindfold toward the last act in +the<br> + drama of the Hostler's Dream.</p> + +<p><br> + The next day brought with it a little domestic difficulty, +which<br> + indirectly and strangely associated itself with the coming +end.</p> + +<p>My wife received a letter, inviting us to assist in +celebrating the<br> + "Silver Wedding" of two worthy German neighbors of ours--Mr. +and<br> + Mrs. Beldheimer. Mr. Beldheimer was a large wine grower on +the<br> + banks of the Moselle. His house was situated on the frontier +line<br> + of France and Germany; and the distance from our house was<br> + sufficiently considerable to make it necessary for us to +sleep<br> + under our host's roof. Under these circumstances, if we +accepted<br> + the invitation, a comparison of dates showed that we should be +away<br> + from home on the morning of the first of March. Mrs. +Fairbank--<br> + holding to her absurd resolution to see with her own eyes +what<br> + might, or might not, happen to Francis Raven on his +birthday--<br> + flatly declined to leave Maison Rouge. "It's easy to send an<br> + excuse," she said, in her off-hand manner.</p> + +<p>I failed, for my part, to see any easy way out of the +difficulty.<br> + The celebration of a "Silver Wedding" in Germany is the +celebration<br> + of twenty-five years of happy married life; and the host's +claim<br> + upon the consideration of his friends on such an occasion is<br> + something in the nature of a royal "command." After +considerable<br> + discussion, finding my wife's obstinacy invincible, and +feeling<br> + that the absence of both of us from the festival would +certainly<br> + offend our friends, I left Mrs. Fairbank to make her excuses +for<br> + herself, and directed her to accept the invitation so far as I +was<br> + concerned. In so doing, I took my second step, blindfold, +toward<br> + the last act in the drama of the Hostler's Dream.</p> + +<p>A week elapsed; the last days of February were at hand. +Another<br> + domestic difficulty happened; and, again, this event also proved +to<br> + be strangely associated with the coming end.</p> + +<p>My head groom at the stables was one Joseph Rigobert. He was +an<br> + ill-conditioned fellow, inordinately vain of his personal<br> + appearance, and by no means scrupulous in his conduct with +women.<br> + His one virtue consisted of his fondness for horses, and in +the<br> + care he took of the animals under his charge. In a word, he +was<br> + too good a groom to be easily replaced, or he would have quitted +my<br> + service long since. On the occasion of which I am now writing, +he<br> + was reported to me by my steward as growing idle and disorderly +in<br> + his habits. The principal offense alleged against him was, that +he<br> + had been seen that day in the city of Metz, in the company of +a<br> + woman (supposed to be an Englishwoman), whom he was entertaining +at<br> + a tavern, when he ought to have been on his way back to +Maison<br> + Rouge. The man's defense was that "the lady" (as he called +her)<br> + was an English stranger, unacquainted with the ways of the +place,<br> + and that he had only shown her where she could obtain some<br> + refreshments at her own request. I administered the +necessary<br> + reprimand, without troubling myself to inquire further into +the<br> + matter. In failing to do this, I took my third step, +blindfold,<br> + toward the last act in the drama of the Hostler's Dream.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the twenty-eighth, I informed the servants +at the<br> + stables that one of them must watch through the night by the<br> + Englishman's bedside. Joseph Rigobert immediately volunteered +for<br> + the duty--as a means, no doubt, of winning his way back to +my<br> + favor. I accepted his proposal.</p> + +<p>That day the surgeon dined with us. Toward midnight he and I +left<br> + the smoking room, and repaired to Francis Raven's bedside.<br> + Rigobert was at his post, with no very agreeable expression on +his<br> + face. The Frenchman and the Englishman had evidently not got +on<br> + well together so far. Francis Raven lay helpless on his bed,<br> + waiting silently for two in the morning and the Dream Woman.</p> + +<p>"I have come, Francis, to bid you good night," I said, +cheerfully.<br> + "To-morrow morning I shall look in at breakfast time, before +I<br> + leave home on a journey."</p> + +<p>"Thank you for all your kindness, sir. You will not see me +alive<br> + to-morrow morning. She will find me this time. Mark my +words--she<br> + will find me this time."</p> + +<p>"My good fellow! she couldn't find you in England. How in +the<br> + world is she to find you in France?"</p> + +<p>"It's borne in on my mind, sir, that she will find me here. At +two<br> + in the morning on my birthday I shall see her again, and see +her<br> + for the last time."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that she will kill you?"</p> + +<p>"I mean that, sir, she will kill me--with the knife."</p> + +<p>"And with Rigobert in the room to protect you?"</p> + +<p>"I am a doomed man. Fifty Rigoberts couldn't protect me."</p> + +<p>"And you wanted somebody to sit up with you?"</p> + +<p>"Mere weakness, sir. I don't like to be left alone on my<br> + deathbed."</p> + +<p>I looked at the surgeon. If he had encouraged me, I should<br> + certainly, out of sheer compassion, have confessed to Francis +Raven<br> + the trick that we were playing him. The surgeon held to his<br> + experiment; the surgeon's face plainly said--"No."</p> + +<p>The next day (the twenty-ninth of February) was the day of +the<br> + "Silver Wedding." The first thing in the morning, I went to<br> + Francis Raven's room. Rigobert met me at the door.</p> + +<p>"How has he passed the night?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Saying his prayers, and looking for ghosts," Rigobert +answered.<br> + "A lunatic asylum is the only proper place for him."</p> + +<p>I approached the bedside. "Well, Francis, here you are, safe +and<br> + sound, in spite of what you said to me last night."</p> + +<p>His eyes rested on mine with a vacant, wondering look.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand it," he said.</p> + +<p>"Did you see anything of your wife when the clock struck +two?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"Did anything happen?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing happened, sir."</p> + +<p>"Doesn't THIS satisfy you that you were wrong?"</p> + +<p>His eyes still kept their vacant, wondering look. He only +repeated<br> + the words he had spoken already: "I don't understand it."</p> + +<p>I made a last attempt to cheer him. "Come, come, Francis! keep +a<br> + good heart. You will be out of bed in a fortnight."</p> + +<p>He shook his head on the pillow. "There's something wrong," +he<br> + said. "I don't expect you to believe me, sir. I only say +there's<br> + something wrong--and time will show it."</p> + +<p>I left the room. Half an hour later I started for Mr. +Beldheimer's<br> + house; leaving the arrangements for the morning of the first +of<br> + March in the hands of the doctor and my wife.</p> + +<h3><br> + XVI</h3> + +<p><br> + The one thing which principally struck me when I joined the +guests<br> + at the "Silver Wedding" is also the one thing which it is +necessary<br> + to mention here. On this joyful occasion a noticeable lady +present<br> + was out of spirits. That lady was no other than the heroine of +the<br> + festival, the mistress of the house!</p> + +<p>In the course of the evening I spoke to Mr. Beldheimer's +eldest son<br> + on the subject of his mother. As an old friend of the family, +I<br> + had a claim on his confidence which the young man willingly<br> + recognized.</p> + +<p><br> + "We have had a very disagreeable matter to deal with," he +said;<br> + "and my mother has not recovered the painful impression left on +her<br> + mind. Many years since, when my sisters were children, we had +an<br> + English governess in the house. She left us, as we then<br> + understood, to be married. We heard no more of her until a week +or<br> + ten days since, when my mother received a letter, in which our +ex-<br> + governess described herself as being in a condition of great<br> + poverty and distress. After much hesitation she had +ventured--at<br> + the suggestion of a lady who had been kind to her--to write to +her<br> + former employers, and to appeal to their remembrance of old +times.<br> + You know my mother she is not only the most kind-headed, but +the<br> + most innocent of women--it is impossible to persuade her of +the<br> + wickedness that there is in the world. She replied by return +of<br> + post, inviting the governess to come here and see her, and<br> + inclosing the money for her traveling expenses. When my +father<br> + came home, and heard what had been done, he wrote at once to +his<br> + agent in London to make inquiries, inclosing the address on +the<br> + governess' letter. Before he could receive the agent's reply +the<br> + governess arrived. She produced the worst possible impression +on<br> + his mind. The agent's letter, arriving a few days later, +confirmed<br> + his suspicions. Since we had lost sight of her, the woman had +led<br> + a most disreputable life. My father spoke to her privately: +he<br> + offered--on condition of her leaving the house--a sum of money +to<br> + take her back to England. If she refused, the alternative would +be<br> + an appeal to the authorities and a public scandal. She +accepted<br> + the money, and left the house. On her way back to England +she<br> + appears to have stopped at Metz. You will understand what sort +of<br> + woman she is when I tell you that she was seen the other day in +a<br> + tavern with your handsome groom, Joseph Rigobert."</p> + +<p>While my informant was relating these circumstances, my memory +was<br> + at work. I recalled what Francis Raven had vaguely told us of +his<br> + wife's experience in former days as governess in a German +family.<br> + A suspicion of the truth suddenly flashed across my mind. +"What<br> + was the woman's name?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Mr. Beldheimer's son answered: "Alicia Warlock."</p> + +<p>I had but one idea when I heard that reply--to get back to my +house<br> + without a moment's needless delay. It was then ten o'clock +at<br> + night--the last train to Metz had left long since. I arranged +with<br> + my young friend--after duly informing him of the +circumstances--<br> + that I should go by the first train in the morning, instead +of<br> + staying to breakfast with the other guests who slept in the +house.</p> + +<p>At intervals during the night I wondered uneasily how things +were<br> + going on at Maison Rouge. Again and again the same question<br> + occurred to me, on my journey home in the early morning--the<br> + morning of the first of March. As the event proved, but one +person<br> + in my house knew what really happened at the stables on +Francis<br> + Raven's birthday. Let Joseph Rigobert take my place as +narrator,<br> + and tell the story of the end to You--as he told it, in times +past,<br> + to his lawyer and to Me.</p> + +<h2><br> + FOURTH (AND LAST) NARRATIVE</h2> + +<h3>STATEMENT OF JOSEPH RIGOBERT: ADDRESSED TO THE ADVOCATE +WHO<br> + DEFENDED HIM AT HIS TRIAL</h3> + +<p><br> + RESPECTED SIR,--On the twenty-seventh of February I was sent, +on<br> + business connected with the stables at Maison Rouge, to the city +of<br> + Metz. On the public promenade I met a magnificent woman.<br> + Complexion, blond. Nationality, English. We mutually admired +each<br> + other; we fell into conversation. (She spoke French +perfectly--<br> + with the English accent.) I offered refreshment; my proposal +was<br> + accepted. We had a long and interesting interview--we +discovered<br> + that we were made for each other. So far, Who is to blame?</p> + +<p>Is it my fault that I am a handsome man--universally agreeable +as<br> + such to the fair sex? Is it a criminal offense to be accessible +to<br> + the amiable weakness of love? I ask again, Who is to blame?<br> + Clearly, nature. Not the beautiful lady--not my humble self.</p> + +<p><br> + To resume. The most hard-hearted person living will +understand<br> + that two beings made for each other could not possibly part +without<br> + an appointment to meet again.</p> + +<p>I made arrangements for the accommodation of the lady in +the<br> + village near Maison Rouge. She consented to honor me with +her<br> + company at supper, in my apartment at the stables, on the night +of<br> + the twenty-ninth. The time fixed on was the time when the +other<br> + servants were accustomed to retire--eleven o'clock.</p> + +<p>Among the grooms attached to the stables was an Englishman, +laid up<br> + with a broken leg. His name was Francis. His manners were<br> + repulsive; he was ignorant of the French language. In the +kitchen<br> + he went by the nickname of the "English Bear." Strange to say, +he<br> + was a great favorite with my master and my mistress. They +even<br> + humored certain superstitious terrors to which this +repulsive<br> + person was subject--terrors into the nature of which I, as +an<br> + advanced freethinker, never thought it worth my while to +inquire.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the twenty-eighth the Englishman, being a +prey to<br> + the terrors which I have mentioned, requested that one of +his<br> + fellow-servants might sit up with him for that night only. +The<br> + wish that he expressed was backed by Mr. Fairbank's +authority.<br> + Having already incurred my master's displeasure--in what way, +a<br> + proper sense of my own dignity forbids me to relate--I +volunteered<br> + to watch by the bedside of the English Bear. My object was +to<br> + satisfy Mr. Fairbank that I bore no malice, on my side, after +what<br> + had occurred between us. The wretched Englishman passed a night +of<br> + delirium. Not understanding his barbarous language, I could +only<br> + gather from his gesture that he was in deadly fear of some +fancied<br> + apparition at his bedside. From time to time, when this +madman<br> + disturbed my slumbers, I quieted him by swearing at him. This +is<br> + the shortest and best way of dealing with persons in his +condition.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the twenty-ninth, Mr. Fairbank left us on +a<br> + journey. Later in the day, to my unspeakable disgust, I found +that<br> + I had not done with the Englishman yet. In Mr. Fairbank's +absence,<br> + Mrs. Fairbank took an incomprehensible interest in the question +of<br> + my delirious fellow-servant's repose at night. Again, one or +the<br> + other of us was to watch at his bedside, and report it, if +anything<br> + happened. Expecting my fair friend to supper, it was necessary +to<br> + make sure that the other servants at the stables would be safe +in<br> + their beds that night. Accordingly, I volunteered once more to +be<br> + the man who kept watch. Mrs. Fairbank complimented me on my<br> + humanity. I possess great command over my feelings. I +accepted<br> + the compliment without a blush.</p> + +<p>Twice, after nightfall, my mistress and the doctor (the +last<br> + staying in the house in Mr. Fairbank's absence) came to make<br> + inquiries. Once BEFORE the arrival of my fair friend--and +once<br> + AFTER. On the second occasion (my apartment being next door to +the<br> + Englishman's) I was obliged to hide my charming guest in the<br> + harness room. She consented, with angelic resignation, to +immolate<br> + her dignity to the servile necessities of my position. A +more<br> + amiable woman (so far) I never met with!</p> + +<p>After the second visit I was left free. It was then close +on<br> + midnight. Up to that time there was nothing in the behavior of +the<br> + mad Englishman to reward Mrs. Fairbank and the doctor for<br> + presenting themselves at his bedside. He lay half awake, +half<br> + asleep, with an odd wondering kind of look in his face. My<br> + mistress at parting warned me to be particularly watchful of +him<br> + toward two in the morning. The doctor (in case anything +happened)<br> + left me a large hand bell to ring, which could easily be heard +at<br> + the house.</p> + +<p>Restored to the society of my fair friend, I spread the +supper<br> + table. A pate, a sausage, and a few bottles of generous +Moselle<br> + wine, composed our simple meal. When persons adore each other, +the<br> + intoxicating illusion of Love transforms the simplest meal into +a<br> + banquet. With immeasurable capacities for enjoyment, we sat +down<br> + to table. At the very moment when I placed my fascinating<br> + companion in a chair, the infamous Englishman in the next room +took<br> + that occasion, of all others, to become restless and noisy +once<br> + more. He struck with his stick on the floor; he cried out, in +a<br> + delirious access of terror, "Rigobert! Rigobert!"</p> + +<p>The sound of that lamentable voice, suddenly assailing our +ears,<br> + terrified my fair friend. She lost all her charming color in +an<br> + instant. "Good heavens!" she exclaimed. "Who is that in the +next<br> + room?"</p> + +<p>"A mad Englishman."</p> + +<p>"An Englishman?"</p> + +<p>"Compose yourself, my angel. I will quiet him." The +lamentable<br> + voice called out on me again, "Rigobert! Rigobert!"</p> + +<p>My fair friend caught me by the arm. "Who is he?" she +cried.<br> + "What is his name?"</p> + +<p>Something in her face struck me as she put that question. A +spasm<br> + of jealousy shook me to the soul. "You know him?" I said.</p> + +<p>"His name!" she vehemently repeated; "his name!"</p> + +<p>"Francis," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Francis--WHAT?"</p> + +<p>I shrugged my shoulders. I could neither remember nor +pronounce<br> + the barbarous English surname. I could only tell her it began +with<br> + an "R."</p> + +<p>She dropped back into the chair. Was she going to faint? No: +she<br> + recovered, and more than recovered, her lost color. Her eyes<br> + flashed superbly. What did it mean? Profoundly as I +understand<br> + women in general, I was puzzled by THIS woman!</p> + +<p>"You know him?" I repeated.</p> + +<p>She laughed at me. "What nonsense! How should I know him? Go +and<br> + quiet the wretch."</p> + +<p>My looking-glass was near. One glance at it satisfied me that +no<br> + woman in her senses could prefer the Englishman to Me. I +recovered<br> + my self-respect. I hastened to the Englishman's bedside.</p> + +<p>The moment I appeared he pointed eagerly toward my room. +He<br> + overwhelmed me with a torrent of words in his own language. I +made<br> + out, from his gestures and his looks, that he had, in some<br> + incomprehensible manner, discovered the presence of my guest; +and,<br> + stranger still, that he was scared by the idea of a person in +my<br> + room. I endeavored to compose him on the system which I have<br> + already mentioned--that is to say, I swore at him in MY +language.<br> + The result not proving satisfactory, I own I shook my fist in +his<br> + face, and left the bedchamber.</p> + +<p>Returning to my fair friend, I found her walking backward +and<br> + forward in a state of excitement wonderful to behold. She had +not<br> + waited for me to fill her glass--she had begun the generous +Moselle<br> + in my absence. I prevailed on her with difficulty to place +herself<br> + at the table. Nothing would induce her to eat. "My appetite +is<br> + gone," she said. "Give me wine."</p> + +<p>The generous Moselle deserves its name--delicate on the +palate,<br> + with prodigious "body." The strength of this fine wine produced +no<br> + stupefying effect on my remarkable guest. It appeared to<br> + strengthen and exhilarate her--nothing more. She always spoke +in<br> + the same low tone, and always, turn the conversation as I +might,<br> + brought it back with the same dexterity to the subject of +the<br> + Englishman in the next room. In any other woman this +persistency<br> + would have offended me. My lovely guest was irresistible; I<br> + answered her questions with the docility of a child. She +possessed<br> + all the amusing eccentricity of her nation. When I told her of +the<br> + accident which confined the Englishman to his bed, she sprang +to<br> + her feet. An extraordinary smile irradiated her countenance. +She<br> + said, "Show me the horse who broke the Englishman's leg! I +must<br> + see that horse!" I took her to the stables. She kissed the +horse-<br> + -on my word of honor, she kissed the horse! That struck me. +I<br> + said. "You DO know the man; and he has wronged you in some +way."<br> + No! she would not admit it, even then. "I kiss all beautiful<br> + animals," she said. "Haven't I kissed YOU?" With that +charming<br> + explanation of her conduct, she ran back up the stairs. I +only<br> + remained behind to lock the stable door again. When I +rejoined<br> + her, I made a startling discovery. I caught her coming out of +the<br> + Englishman's room.</p> + +<p>"I was just going downstairs again to call you," she said. +"The<br> + man in there is getting noisy once more."</p> + +<p>The mad Englishman's voice assailed our ears once again.<br> + "Rigobert! Rigobert!"</p> + +<p>He was a frightful object to look at when I saw him this time. +His<br> + eyes were staring wildly; the perspiration was pouring over +his<br> + face. In a panic of terror he clasped his hands; he pointed up +to<br> + heaven. By every sign and gesture that a man can make, he<br> + entreated me not to leave him again. I really could not help<br> + smiling. The idea of my staying with HIM, and leaving my +fair<br> + friend by herself in the next room!</p> + +<p>I turned to the door. When the mad wretch saw me leaving him +he<br> + burst out into a screech of despair--so shrill that I feared +it<br> + might awaken the sleeping servants.</p> + +<p>My presence of mind in emergencies is proverbial among those +who<br> + know me. I tore open the cupboard in which he kept his +linen--<br> + seized a handful of his handkerchief's--gagged him with one +of<br> + them, and secured his hands with the others. There was now +no<br> + danger of his alarming the servants. After tying the last knot, +I<br> + looked up.</p> + +<p>The door between the Englishman's room and mine was open. My +fair<br> + friend was standing on the threshold--watching HIM as he lay<br> + helpless on the bed; watching ME as I tied the last knot.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing there?" I asked. "Why did you open the +door?"</p> + +<p>She stepped up to me, and whispered her answer in my ear, with +her<br> + eyes all the time upon the man on the bed:</p> + +<p>"I heard him scream."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"I thought you had killed him."</p> + +<p>I drew back from her in horror. The suspicion of me which +her<br> + words implied was sufficiently detestable in itself. But her<br> + manner when she uttered the words was more revolting still. It +so<br> + powerfully affected me that I started back from that +beautiful<br> + creature as I might have recoiled from a reptile crawling over +my<br> + flesh.</p> + +<p>Before I had recovered myself sufficiently to reply, my nerves +were<br> + assailed by another shock. I suddenly heard my mistress's +voice<br> + calling to me from the stable yard.</p> + +<p>There was no time to think--there was only time to act. The +one<br> + thing needed was to keep Mrs. Fairbank from ascending the +stairs,<br> + and discovering--not my lady guest only--but the Englishman +also,<br> + gagged and bound on his bed. I instantly hurried to the yard. +As<br> + I ran down the stairs I heard the stable clock strike the +quarter<br> + to two in the morning.</p> + +<p>My mistress was eager and agitated. The doctor (in attendance +on<br> + her) was smiling to himself, like a man amused at his own +thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Is Francis awake or asleep?" Mrs. Fairbank inquired.</p> + +<p>"He has been a little restless, madam. But he is now quiet +again.<br> + If he is not disturbed" (I added those words to prevent her +from<br> + ascending the stairs), "he will soon fall off into a quiet +sleep."</p> + +<p>"Has nothing happened since I was here last?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, madam."</p> + +<p>The doctor lifted his eyebrows with a comical look of +distress.<br> + "Alas, alas, Mrs. Fairbank!" he said. "Nothing has happened! +The<br> + days of romance are over!"</p> + +<p>"It is not two o'clock yet," my mistress answered, a +little<br> + irritably.</p> + +<p>The smell of the stables was strong on the morning air. She +put<br> + her handkerchief to her nose and led the way out of the yard by +the<br> + north entrance--the entrance communicating with the gardens and +the<br> + house. I was ordered to follow her, along with the doctor. +Once<br> + out of the smell of the stables she began to question me +again.<br> + She was unwilling to believe that nothing had occurred in +her<br> + absence. I invented the best answers I could think of on the +spur<br> + of the moment; and the doctor stood by laughing. So the +minutes<br> + passed till the clock struck two. Upon that, Mrs. Fairbank<br> + announced her intention of personally visiting the Englishman +in<br> + his room. To my great relief, the doctor interfered to stop +her<br> + from doing this.</p> + +<p>"You have heard that Francis is just falling asleep," he said. +"If<br> + you enter his room you may disturb him. It is essential to +the<br> + success of my experiment that he should have a good night's +rest,<br> + and that he should own it himself, before I tell him the truth. +I<br> + must request, madam, that you will not disturb the man. +Rigobert<br> + will ring the alarm bell if anything happens."</p> + +<p>My mistress was unwilling to yield. For the next five minutes, +at<br> + least, there was a warm discussion between the two. In the +end<br> + Mrs. Fairbank was obliged to give way--for the time. "In half +an<br> + hour," she said, "Francis will either be sound asleep, or +awake<br> + again. In half an hour I shall come back." She took the +doctor's<br> + arm. They returned together to the house.</p> + +<p>Left by myself, with half an hour before me, I resolved to +take the<br> + Englishwoman back to the village--then, returning to the +stables,<br> + to remove the gag and the bindings from Francis, and to let +him<br> + screech to his heart's content. What would his alarming the +whole<br> + establishment matter to ME after I had got rid of the +compromising<br> + presence of my guest?</p> + +<p>Returning to the yard I heard a sound like the creaking of an +open<br> + door on its hinges. The gate of the north entrance I had +just<br> + closed with my own hand. I went round to the west entrance, at +the<br> + back of the stables. It opened on a field crossed by two +footpaths<br> + in Mr. Fairbank's grounds. The nearest footpath led to the<br> + village. The other led to the highroad and the river.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the west entrance I found the door open--swinging +to<br> + and fro slowly in the fresh morning breeze. I had myself +locked<br> + and bolted that door after admitting my fair friend at +eleven<br> + o'clock. A vague dread of something wrong stole its way into +my<br> + mind. I hurried back to the stables.</p> + +<p>I looked into my own room. It was empty. I went to the +harness<br> + room. Not a sign of the woman was there. I returned to my +room,<br> + and approached the door of the Englishman's bedchamber. Was +it<br> + possible that she had remained there during my absence? An<br> + unaccountable reluctance to open the door made me hesitate, with +my<br> + hand on the lock. I listened. There was not a sound inside. +I<br> + called softly. There was no answer. I drew back a step, +still<br> + hesitating. I noticed something dark moving slowly in the +crevice<br> + between the bottom of the door and the boarded floor. Snatching +up<br> + the candle from the table, I held it low, and looked. The +dark,<br> + slowly moving object was a stream of blood!</p> + +<p><br> + That horrid sight roused me. I opened the door. The +Englishman<br> + lay on his bed--alone in the room. He was stabbed in two +places--<br> + in the throat and in the heart. The weapon was left in the +second<br> + wound. It was a knife of English manufacture, with a handle +of<br> + buckhorn as good as new.</p> + +<p>I instantly gave the alarm. Witnesses can speak to what +followed.<br> + It is monstrous to suppose that I am guilty of the murder. I +admit<br> + that I am capable of committing follies: but I shrink from the +bare<br> + idea of a crime. Besides, I had no motive for killing the +man.<br> + The woman murdered him in my absence. The woman escaped by +the<br> + west entrance while I was talking to my mistress. I have no +more<br> + to say. I swear to you what I have here written is a true<br> + statement of all that happened on the morning of the first +of<br> + March.</p> + +<p>Accept, sir, the assurance of my sentiments of profound +gratitude<br> + and respect.</p> + +<p>JOSEPH RIGOBERT.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2><br> + LAST LINES--ADDED BY PERCY FAIRBANK</h2> + +<p><br> + Tried for the murder of Francis Raven, Joseph Rigobert was +found<br> + Not Guilty; the papers of the assassinated man presented +ample<br> + evidence of the deadly animosity felt toward him by his +wife.</p> + +<p>The investigations pursued on the morning when the crime +was<br> + committed showed that the murderess, after leaving the stable, +had<br> + taken the footpath which led to the river. The river was +dragged--<br> + without result. It remains doubtful to this day whether she +died<br> + by drowning or not. The one thing certain is--that Alicia +Warlock<br> + was never seen again.</p> + +<p><br> + So--beginning in mystery, ending in mystery--the Dream Woman +passes<br> + from your view. Ghost; demon; or living human creature--say +for<br> + yourselves which she is. Or, knowing what unfathomed wonders +are<br> + around you, what unfathomed wonders are IN you, let the wise +words<br> + of the greatest of all poets be explanation enough:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><br> + "We are such stuff<br> + As dreams are made of, and our little life<br> + Is rounded with a sleep."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Anonymous</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>The Lost Duchess</h2> + +<h3><br> + I</h3> + +<p><br> + "Has the duchess returned?"</p> + +<p>"No, your grace."</p> + +<p>Knowles came farther into the room. He had a letter on a +salver.<br> + When the duke had taken it, Knowles still lingered. The duke<br> + glanced at him.</p> + +<p><br> + "Is an answer required?"</p> + +<p>"No, your grace." Still Knowles lingered. "Something a +little<br> + singular has happened. The carriage has returned without the<br> + duchess, and the men say that they thought her grace was in +it."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly understand myself, your grace. Perhaps you would +like to<br> + see Barnes."</p> + +<p>Barnes was the coachman.</p> + +<p>"Send him up." When Knowles had gone, and he was alone, his +grace<br> + showed signs of being slightly annoyed. He looked at his +watch.<br> + "I told her she'd better be in by four. She says that she's +not<br> + feeling well, and yet one would think that she was not aware of +the<br> + fatigue entailed in having the prince come to dinner, and a mob +of<br> + people to follow. I particularly wished her to lie down for +a<br> + couple of hours."</p> + +<p>Knowles ushered in not only Barnes, the coachman, but Moysey, +the<br> + footman, too. Both these persons seemed to be ill at ease. +The<br> + duke glanced at them sharply. In his voice there was a +suggestion<br> + of impatience.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?"</p> + +<p>Barnes explained as best he could.</p> + +<p>"If you please, your grace, we waited for the duchess outside +Cane<br> + and Wilson's, the drapers. The duchess came out, got into +the<br> + carriage, and Moysey shut the door, and her grace said, 'Home!' +and<br> + yet when we got home she wasn't there."</p> + +<p>"She wasn't where?"</p> + +<p>"Her grace wasn't in the carriage, your grace."</p> + +<p>"What on earth do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Her grace did get into the carriage; you shut the door, +didn't<br> + you?"</p> + +<p>Barnes turned to Moysey. Moysey brought his hand up to his +brow in<br> + a sort of military salute--he had been a soldier in the regiment +in<br> + which, once upon a time, the duke had been a subaltern.</p> + +<p>"She did. The duchess came out of the shop. She seemed rather +in<br> + a hurry, I thought. She got into the carriage, and she said,<br> + 'Home, Moysey!' I shut the door, and Barnes drove straight +home.<br> + We never stopped anywhere, and we never noticed nothing happen +on<br> + the way; and yet when we got home the carriage was empty."</p> + +<p>The duke started.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to tell me that the duchess got out of the +carriage<br> + while you were driving full pelt through the streets without +saying<br> + anything to you, and without you noticing it?"</p> + +<p>"The carriage was empty when we got home, your grace."</p> + +<p>"Was either of the doors open?"</p> + +<p>"No, your grace."</p> + +<p>"You fellows have been up to some infernal mischief. You have +made<br> + a mess of it. You never picked up the duchess, and you're +trying<br> + to palm this tale off on me to save yourselves."</p> + +<p>Barnes was moved to adjuration:</p> + +<p>"I'll take my Bible oath, your grace, that the duchess got +into the<br> + carriage outside Cane and Wilson's."</p> + +<p>Moysey seconded his colleague.</p> + +<p>"I will swear to that, your grace. She got into that carriage, +and<br> + I shut the door, and she said, 'Home, Moysey!'"</p> + +<p>The duke looked as if he did not know what to make of the +story and<br> + its tellers.</p> + +<p>"What carriage did you have?"</p> + +<p>"Her grace's brougham, your grace."</p> + +<p>Knowles interposed:</p> + +<p>"The brougham was ordered because I understood that the +duchess was<br> + not feeling very well, and there's rather a high wind, your +grace."</p> + +<p>The duke snapped at him:</p> + +<p>"What has that to do with it? Are you suggesting that the +duchess<br> + was more likely to jump out of a brougham while it was +dashing<br> + through the streets than out of any other kind of vehicle?"</p> + +<p>The duke's glance fell on the letter which Knowles had brought +him<br> + when he first had entered. He had placed it on his writing +table.<br> + Now he took it up. It was, addressed:</p> + +<p><br> + "To His Grace the Duke of Datchet.</p> + +<p>Private!</p> + +<p>VERY PRESSING! ! !"</p> + +<p><br> + The name was written in a fine, clear, almost feminine hand. +The<br> + words in the left-hand corner of the envelope were written in +a<br> + different hand. They were large and bold; almost as though +they<br> + had been painted with the end of the penholder instead of +being<br> + written with the pen. The envelope itself was of an unusual +size,<br> + and bulged out as though it contained something else besides +a<br> + letter.</p> + +<p><br> + The duke tore the envelope open. As he did so something fell +out<br> + of it on to the writing table. It looked as though it was a +lock<br> + of a woman's hair. As he glanced at it the duke seemed to be +a<br> + trifle startled. The duke read the letter:</p> + +<p><br> + "Your grace will be so good as to bring five hundred pounds in +gold<br> + to the Piccadilly end of the Burlington Arcade within an hour +of<br> + the receipt of this. The Duchess of Datchet has been kidnaped. +An<br> + imitation duchess got into the carriage, which was waiting +outside<br> + Cane and Wilson's, and she alighted on the road. Unless your +grace<br> + does as you are requested, the Duchess of Datchet's +left-hand<br> + little finger will be at once cut off, and sent home in time +to<br> + receive the prince to dinner. Other portions of her grace +will<br> + follow. A lock of her grace's hair is inclosed with this as +an<br> + earnest of our good intentions.</p> + +<p>"BEFORE 5:30 P.M. your grace is requested to be at the +Piccadilly<br> + end of the Burlington Arcade with five hundred pounds in gold. +You<br> + will there be accosted by an individual in a white top hat, +and<br> + with a gardenia in his buttonhole. You will be entirely at +liberty<br> + to give him into custody, or to have him followed by the police, +in<br> + which case the duchess's left arm, cut off at the shoulder, will +be<br> + sent home for dinner--not to mention other extremely +possible<br> + contingencies. But you are ADVISED to give the individual in<br> + question the five hundred pounds in gold, because in that case +the<br> + duchess herself will he home in time to receive the prince +to<br> + dinner, and with one of the best stories with which to +entertain<br> + your distinguished guests they ever heard.</p> + +<p>"Remember! NOT LATER THAN 5:30, unless you wish to receive +her<br> + grace's little finger."</p> + +<p><br> + The duke stared at this amazing epistle when he had read it +as<br> + though he found it difficult to believe the evidence of his +eyes.<br> + He was not a demonstrative person, as a rule, but this +little<br> + communication astonished even him. He read it again. Then +his<br> + hands dropped to his sides, and he swore.</p> + +<p>He took up the lock of hair which had fallen out of the +envelope.<br> + Was it possible that it could be his wife's, the duchess? Was +it<br> + possible that a Duchess of Datchet could be kidnaped, in +broad<br> + daylight, in the heart of London, and be sent home, as it were, +in<br> + pieces? Had sacrilegious hands already been playing pranks +with<br> + that great lady's hair? Certainly, THAT hair was so like HER +hair<br> + that the mere resemblance made his grace's blood run cold. +He<br> + turned on Messrs. Barnes and Moysey as though he would have +liked<br> + to rend them.</p> + +<p>"You scoundrels!"</p> + +<p>He moved forward as though the intention had entered his +ducal<br> + heart to knock his servants down. But, if that were so, he did +not<br> + act quite up to his intention. Instead, he stretched out his +arm,<br> + pointing at them as if he were an accusing spirit:</p> + +<p>"Will you swear that it was the duchess who got into the +carriage<br> + outside Cane and Wilson's?"</p> + +<p>Barnes began to stammer:</p> + +<p>"I'll swear, your grace, that I--I thought--"</p> + +<p>The duke stormed an interruption:</p> + +<p>"I don't ask what you thought. I ask you, will you swear it +was?"</p> + +<p>The duke's anger was more than Barnes could face. He was +silent.<br> + Moysey showed a larger courage.</p> + +<p>"I could have sworn that it was at the time, your grace. But +now<br> + it seems to me that it's a rummy go."</p> + +<p>"A rummy go!" The peculiarity of the phrase did not seem to +strike<br> + the duke just then--at least, he echoed it as if it didn't. +"You<br> + call it a rummy go! Do you know that I am told in this letter +that<br> + the woman who entered the carriage was not the duchess? What +you<br> + were thinking about, or what case you will be able to make out +for<br> + yourselves, you know better than I; but I can tell you +this--that<br> + in an hour you will leave my service, and you may esteem +yourselves<br> + fortunate if, to-night, you are not both of you sleeping in +jail."</p> + +<p>One might almost have suspected that the words were spoken +in<br> + irony. But before they could answer, another servant entered, +who<br> + also brought a letter for the duke. When his grace's glance +fell<br> + on it he uttered an exclamation. The writing on the envelope +was<br> + the same writing that had been on the envelope which had +contained<br> + the very singular communication--like it in all respects, down +to<br> + the broomstick-end thickness of the "Private!" and "Very<br> + pressing!!!" in the corner.</p> + +<p>"Who brought this?" stormed the duke.</p> + +<p>The servant appeared to be a little startled by the violence +of his<br> + grace's manner.</p> + +<p>"A lady--or, at least, your grace, she seemed to be a +lady."</p> + +<p>"Where is she?"</p> + +<p>"She came in a hansom, your grace. She gave me that letter, +and<br> + said, 'Give that to the Duke of Datchet at once--without a +moment's<br> + delay!' Then she got into the hansom again, and drove away."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you stop her?"</p> + +<p>"Your grace!"</p> + +<p>The man seemed surprised, as though the idea of stopping +chance<br> + visitors to the ducal mansion vi et armis had not, until +that<br> + moment, entered into his philosophy. The duke continued to +regard<br> + the man as if he could say a good deal, if he chose. Then he<br> + pointed to the door. His lips said nothing, but his gesture +much.<br> + The servant vanished.</p> + +<p>"Another hoax!" the duke said grimly, as he tore the envelope +open.</p> + +<p>This time the envelope contained a sheet of paper, and in the +sheet<br> + of paper another envelope. The duke unfolded the sheet of +paper.<br> + On it some words were written. These:</p> + +<p>"The duchess appears so particularly anxious to drop you a +line,<br> + that one really hasn't the heart to refuse her.</p> + +<p>"Her grace's communication--written amidst blinding +tears!--you<br> + will find inclosed with this."</p> + +<p>"Knowles," said the duke, in a voice which actually +trembled,<br> + "Knowles, hoax or no hoax, I will be even with the gentleman +who<br> + wrote that."</p> + +<p>Handing the sheet of paper to Mr. Knowles, his grace turned +his<br> + attention to the envelope which had been inclosed. It was a +small,<br> + square envelope, of the finest quality, and it reeked with +perfume.<br> + The duke's countenance assumed an added frown--he had no +fondness<br> + for envelopes which were scented. In the center of the +envelope<br> + were the words, "To the Duke of Datchet," written in the big, +bold,<br> + sprawling hand which he knew so well.</p> + +<p>"Mabel's writing," he said, half to himself, as, with +shaking<br> + fingers, he tore the envelope open.</p> + +<p>The sheet of paper which he took out was almost as stiff +as<br> + cardboard. It, too, emitted what his grace deemed the +nauseous<br> + odors of the perfumer's shop. On it was written this letter:</p> + +<p><br> + "MY DEAR HEREWARD--For Heaven's sake do what these people +require!<br> + I don't know what has happened or where I am, but I am +nearly<br> + distracted! They have already cut off some of my hair, and +they<br> + tell me that, if you don't let them have five hundred pounds +in<br> + gold by half-past five, they will cut off my little finger too. +I<br> + would sooner die than lose my little finger--and--I don't know +what<br> + else besides.</p> + +<p>"By the token which I send you, and which has never, until +now,<br> + been off my breast, I conjure you to help me.</p> + +<p>"Hereward--HELP ME!"</p> + +<p><br> + When he read that letter the duke turned white--very white, +as<br> + white as the paper on which it was written. He passed the +epistle<br> + on to Knowles.</p> + +<p>"I suppose that also is a hoax?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Knowles was silent. He still yielded to his +constitutional<br> + disrelish to commit himself. At last he asked:</p> + +<p>"What is it that your grace proposes to do?"</p> + +<p>The duke spoke with a bitterness which almost suggested a +personal<br> + animosity toward the inoffensive Mr. Knowles.</p> + +<p>"I propose, with your permission, to release the duchess from +the<br> + custody of my estimable correspondent. I propose--always with +your<br> + permission--to comply with his modest request, and to take him +his<br> + five hundred pounds in gold." He paused, then continued in a +tone<br> + which, coming from him, meant volumes: "Afterwards, I propose +to<br> + cry quits with the concocter of this pretty little hoax, even if +it<br> + costs me every penny I possess. He shall pay more for that +five<br> + hundred pounds than he supposes."</p> + +<h3><br> + II</h3> + +<p><br> + The Duke of Datchet, coming out of the bank, lingered for a +moment<br> + on the steps. In one hand he carried a canvas bag which +seemed<br> + well weighted. On his countenance there was an expression which +to<br> + a casual observer might have suggested that his grace was +not<br> + completely at his ease. That casual observer happened to +come<br> + strolling by. It took the form of Ivor Dacre.</p> + +<p><br> + Mr. Dacre looked the Duke of Datchet up and down in that +languid<br> + way he has. He perceived the canvas bag. Then he remarked,<br> + possibly intending to be facetious:</p> + +<p>"Been robbing the bank? Shall I call a cart?"</p> + +<p>Nobody minds what Ivor Dacre says. Besides, he is the duke's +own<br> + cousin. Perhaps a little removed; still, there it is. So the +duke<br> + smiled a sickly smile, as if Mr. Dacre's delicate wit had given +him<br> + a passing touch of indigestion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre noticed that the duke looked sallow, so he gave +his<br> + pretty sense of humor another airing.</p> + +<p>"Kitchen boiler burst? When I saw the duchess just now I +wondered<br> + if it had."</p> + +<p>His grace distinctly started. He almost dropped the canvas +bag.</p> + +<p>"You saw the duchess just now, Ivor! When?"</p> + +<p>The duke was evidently moved. Mr. Dacre was stirred to +languid<br> + curiosity. "I can't say I clocked it. Perhaps half an hour +ago;<br> + perhaps a little more."</p> + +<p>"Half an hour ago! Are you sure? Where did you see her?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre wondered. The Duchess of Datchet could scarcely +have<br> + been eloping in broad daylight. Moreover, she had not yet +been<br> + married a year. Everyone knew that she and the duke were still +as<br> + fond of each other as if they were not man and wife. So, +although<br> + the duke, for some cause or other, was evidently in an odd state +of<br> + agitation, Mr. Dacre saw no reason why he should not make a +clean<br> + breast of all he knew.</p> + +<p>"She was going like blazes in a hansom cab."</p> + +<p>"In a hansom cab? Where?"</p> + +<p>"Down Waterloo Place."</p> + +<p>"Was she alone?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre reflected. He glanced at the duke out of the corners +of<br> + his eyes. His languid utterance became a positive drawl.</p> + +<p>"I rather fancy that she wasn't."</p> + +<p>"Who was with her?"</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, if you were to offer me the bank I couldn't +tell<br> + you."</p> + +<p>"Was it a man?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre's drawl became still more pronounced.</p> + +<p>"I rather fancy that it was."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre expected something. The duke was so excited. But he +by<br> + no means expected what actually came.</p> + +<p>"Ivor, she's been kidnaped!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre did what he had never been known to do before within +the<br> + memory of man--he dropped his eyeglass.</p> + +<p>"Datchet!"</p> + +<p>"She has! Some scoundrel has decoyed her away, and trapped +her.<br> + He's already sent me a lock of her hair, and he tells me that if +I<br> + don't let him have five hundred pounds in gold by half-past +five<br> + he'll let me have her little finger."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre did not know what to make of his grace at all. He +was a<br> + sober man--it COULDN'T be that! Mr. Dacre felt really +concerned.</p> + +<p>"I'll call a cab, old man, and you'd better let me see you +home."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre half raised his stick to hail a passing hansom. The +duke<br> + caught him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"You ass! What do you mean? I am telling you the simple +truth.<br> + My wife's been kidnaped."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre's countenance was a thing to be seen--and +remembered.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I hadn't heard that there was much of that sort of thing +about<br> + just now. They talk of poodles being kidnaped, but as for<br> + duchesses-- You'd really better let me call that cab."</p> + +<p>"Ivor, do you want me to kick you? Don't you see that to me +it's a<br> + question of life and death? I've been in there to get the +money."<br> + His grace motioned toward the bank. "I'm going to take it to +the<br> + scoundrel who has my darling at his mercy. Let me but have +her<br> + hand in mine again, and he shall continue to pay for every<br> + sovereign with tears of blood until he dies."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Datchet, I don't know if you're having a joke with +me,<br> + or if you're not well--"</p> + +<p>The duke stepped impatiently into the roadway.</p> + +<p>"Ivor, you're a fool! Can't you tell jest from earnest, +health<br> + from disease? I'm off! Are you coming with me? It would be +as<br> + well that I should have a witness."</p> + +<p>"Where are you off to?"</p> + +<p>"To the other end of the Arcade."</p> + +<p>"Who is the gentleman you expect to have the pleasure of +meeting<br> + there?"</p> + +<p>"How should I know?" The duke took a letter from his +pocket--it<br> + was the letter which had just arrived. "The fellow is to wear +a<br> + white top hat, and a gardenia in his buttonhole."</p> + +<p>"What is it you have there?"</p> + +<p>"It's the letter which brought the news--look for yourself and +see;<br> + but, for God's sake, make haste!" His grace glanced at his +watch.<br> + "It's already twenty after five."</p> + +<p>"And do you mean to say that on the strength of a letter such +as<br> + this you are going to hand over five hundred pounds to--"</p> + +<p>The duke cut Mr. Dacre short.</p> + +<p>"What are five hundred pounds to me? Besides, you don't know +all.<br> + There is another letter. And I have heard from Mabel. But I +will<br> + tell you all about it later. If you are coming, come!"</p> + +<p>Folding up the letter, Mr. Dacre returned it to the duke.</p> + +<p>"As you say, what are five hundred pounds to you? It's as +well<br> + they are not as much to you as they are to me, or I'm +afraid--"</p> + +<p>"Hang it, Ivor, do prose afterwards!"</p> + +<p>The duke hurried across the road. Mr. Dacre hastened after +him.<br> + As they entered the Arcade they passed a constable. Mr. +Dacre<br> + touched his companion's arm.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we'd better ask our friend in blue to walk +behind<br> + us? His neighborhood might be handy."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" The duke stopped short. "Ivor, this is my affair, +not<br> + yours. If you are not content to play the part of silent +witness,<br> + be so good as to leave me."</p> + +<p>"My dear Datchet, I'm entirely at your service. I can be +every<br> + whit as insane as you, I do assure you."</p> + +<p>Side by side they moved rapidly down the Burlington Arcade. +The<br> + duke was obviously in a state of the extremest nervous +tension.<br> + Mr. Dacre was equally obviously in a state of the most +supreme<br> + enjoyment. People stared as they rushed past. The duke saw<br> + nothing. Mr. Dacre saw everything, and smiled.</p> + +<p>When they reached the Piccadilly end of the Arcade the duke +pulled<br> + up. He looked about him. Mr. Dacre also looked about him.</p> + +<p>"I see nothing of your white-hatted and +gardenia-buttonholed<br> + friend," said Ivor.</p> + +<p>The duke referred to his watch.</p> + +<p>"It's not yet half-past five. I'm up to time."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre held his stick in front of him and leaned on it. +He<br> + indulged himself with a beatific smile.</p> + +<p>"It strikes me, my dear Datchet, that you've been the victim +of one<br> + of the finest things in hoaxes--"</p> + +<p>"I hope I haven't kept you waiting."</p> + +<p>The voice which interrupted Mr. Dacre came from the rear. +While<br> + they were looking in front of them some one approached them +from<br> + behind, apparently coming out of the shop which was at their +backs.</p> + +<p>The speaker looked a gentleman. He sounded like one, too.<br> + Costume, appearance, manner, were beyond reproach--even beyond +the<br> + criticism of two such keen critics as were these. The +glorious<br> + attire of a London dandy was surmounted with a beautiful white +top<br> + hat. In his buttonhole was a magnificent gardenia.</p> + +<p>In age the stranger was scarcely more than a boy, and a +sunny-<br> + faced, handsome boy at that. His cheeks were hairless, his +eyes<br> + were blue. His smile was not only innocent, it was bland. +Never<br> + was there a more conspicuous illustration of that repose +which<br> + stamps the caste of Vere de Vere.</p> + +<p>The duke looked at him and glowered. Mr. Dacre looked at him +and<br> + smiled.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" asked the duke.</p> + +<p>"Ah--that is the question!" The newcomer's refined and +musical<br> + voice breathed the very soul of affability. "I am an +individual<br> + who is so unfortunate as to be in want of five hundred +pounds."</p> + +<p>"Are you the scoundrel who sent me that infamous letter?"</p> + +<p>The charming stranger never turned a hair.</p> + +<p>"I am the scoundrel mentioned in that infamous letter who +wants to<br> + accost you at the Piccadilly end of the Burlington Arcade +before<br> + half-past five--as witness my white hat and my gardenia."</p> + +<p>"Where's my wife?"</p> + +<p>The stranger gently swung his stick in front of him with his +two<br> + hands. He regarded the duke as a merry-hearted son might +regard<br> + his father. The thing was beautiful!</p> + +<p>"Her grace will be home almost as soon as you are--when you +have<br> + given me the money which I perceive you have all ready for me +in<br> + that scarcely elegant-looking canvas bag." He shrugged his<br> + shoulders quite gracefully. "Unfortunately, in these matters +one<br> + has no choice--one is forced to ask for gold."</p> + +<p>"And suppose, instead of giving you what is in this canvas +bag, I<br> + take you by the throat and choke the life right out of you?"</p> + +<p>"Or suppose," amended Mr. Dacre, "that you do better, and +commend<br> + this gentleman to the tender mercies of the first policeman +we<br> + encounter."</p> + +<p>The stranger turned to Mr. Dacre. He condescended to +become<br> + conscious of his presence.</p> + +<p>"Is this gentleman your grace's friend? Ah--Mr. Dacre, I +perceive!<br> + I have the honor of knowing Mr. Dacre, though, possibly, I +am<br> + unknown to him."</p> + +<p>"You were--until this moment."</p> + +<p>With an airy little laugh the stranger returned to the duke. +He<br> + brushed an invisible speck of dust off the sleeve of his +coat.</p> + +<p>"As has been intimated in that infamous letter, his grace is +at<br> + perfect liberty to give me into custody--why not? Only"--he +said<br> + it with his boyish smile--"if a particular communication is +not<br> + received from me in certain quarters within a certain time +the<br> + Duchess of Datchet's beautiful white arm will be hacked off at +the<br> + shoulder."</p> + +<p>"You hound!"</p> + +<p>The duke would have taken the stranger by the throat, and have +done<br> + his best to choke the life right out of him then and there, if +Mr.<br> + Dacre had not intervened.</p> + +<p>"Steady, old man!" Mr. Dacre turned to the stranger. "You +appear<br> + to be a pretty sort of a scoundrel."</p> + +<p>The stranger gave his shoulders that almost imperceptible +shrug.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear Dacre, I am in want of money! I believe that +you<br> + sometimes are in want of money, too."</p> + +<p>Everybody knows that nobody knows where Ivor Dacre gets his +money<br> + from, so the allusion must have tickled him immensely.</p> + +<p>"You're a cool hand," he said.</p> + +<p>"Some men are born that way."</p> + +<p>"So I should imagine. Men like you must be born, not +made."</p> + +<p>"Precisely--as you say!" The stranger turned, with his +graceful<br> + smile, to the duke: "But are we not wasting precious time? I +can<br> + assure your grace that, in this particular matter, moments are +of<br> + value."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre interposed before the duke could answer.</p> + +<p>"If you take my strongly urged advice, Datchet, you will +summon<br> + this constable who is now coming down the Arcade, and hand +this<br> + gentleman over to his keeping. I do not think that you need +fear<br> + that the duchess will lose her arm, or even her little +finger.<br> + Scoundrels of this one's kidney are most amenable to reason +when<br> + they have handcuffs on their wrists."</p> + +<p>The duke plainly hesitated. He would--and he would not. +The<br> + stranger, as he eyed him, seemed much amused.</p> + +<p>"My dear duke, by all means act on Mr. Dacre's valuable +suggestion.<br> + As I said before, why not? It would at least be interesting to +see<br> + if the duchess does or does not lose her arm--almost as +interesting<br> + to you as to Mr. Dacre. Those blackmailing, kidnaping +scoundrels<br> + do use such empty menaces. Besides, you would have the pleasure +of<br> + seeing me locked up. My imprisonment for life would recompense +you<br> + even for the loss of her grace's arm. And five hundred pounds +is<br> + such a sum to have to pay--merely for a wife! Why not, +therefore,<br> + act on Mr. Dacre's suggestion? Here comes the constable." +The<br> + constable referred to was advancing toward them--he was not a +dozen<br> + yards away. "Let me beckon to him--I will with pleasure." He +took<br> + out his watch--a gold chronograph repeater. "There are +scarcely<br> + ten minutes left during which it will be possible for me to +send<br> + the communication which I spoke of, so that it may arrive in +time.<br> + As it will then be too late, and the instruments are already<br> + prepared for the little operation which her grace is eagerly<br> + anticipating, it would, perhaps, be as well, after all, that +you<br> + should give me into charge. You would have saved your five +hundred<br> + pounds, and you would, at any rate, have something in exchange +for<br> + her grace's mutilated limb. Ah, here is the constable! +Officer!"</p> + +<p>The stranger spoke with such a pleasant little air of easy<br> + geniality that it was impossible to tell if he were in jest or +in<br> + earnest. This fact impressed the duke much more than if he +had<br> + gone in for a liberal indulgence of the--under the +circumstances--<br> + orthodox melodramatic scowling. And, indeed, in the face of +his<br> + own common sense, it impressed Mr. Ivor Dacre too.</p> + +<p><br> + This well-bred, well-groomed youth was just the being to +realize--<br> + aux bouts des ongles--a modern type of the devil, the type +which<br> + depicts him as a perfect gentleman, who keeps smiling all the +time.</p> + +<p>The constable whom this audacious rogue had signaled +approached the<br> + little group. He addressed the stranger:</p> + +<p>"Do you want me, sir?"</p> + +<p>"No, I do not want you. I think it is the Duke of +Datchet."</p> + +<p>The constable, who knew the duke very well by sight, saluted +him as<br> + he turned to receive instructions.</p> + +<p>The duke looked white, even savage. There was not a pleasant +look<br> + in his eyes and about his lips. He appeared to be endeavoring +to<br> + put a great restraint upon himself. There was a momentary +silence.<br> + Mr. Dacre made a movement as if to interpose. The duke caught +him<br> + by the arm.</p> + +<p>He spoke: "No, constable, I do not want you. This person +is<br> + mistaken."</p> + +<p>The constable looked as if he could not quite make out how +such a<br> + mistake could have arisen, hesitated, then, with another salute, +he<br> + moved away.</p> + +<p>The stranger was still holding his watch in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Only eight minutes," he said.</p> + +<p>The duke seemed to experience some difficulty in giving +utterance<br> + to what he had to say.</p> + +<p>"If I give you this five hundred pounds, you--you--"</p> + +<p>As the duke paused, as if at a loss for language which was +strong<br> + enough to convey his meaning, the stranger laughed.</p> + +<p>"Let us take the adjectives for granted. Besides, it is only +boys<br> + who call each other names--men do things. If you give me the +five<br> + hundred sovereigns, which you have in that bag, at once--in +five<br> + minutes it will be too late--I will promise--I will not swear; +if<br> + you do not credit my simple promise, you will not believe my +solemn<br> + affirmation--I will promise that, possibly within an hour,<br> + certainly within an hour and a half, the Duchess of Datchet +shall<br> + return to you absolutely uninjured--except, of course, as you +are<br> + already aware, with regard to a few of the hairs of her head. +I<br> + will promise this on the understanding that you do not +yourself<br> + attempt to see where I go, and that you will allow no one else +to<br> + do so." This with a glance at Ivor Dacre. "I shall know at +once<br> + if I am followed. If you entertain such intentions, you had<br> + better, on all accounts, remain in possession of your five +hundred<br> + pounds."</p> + +<p>The duke eyed him very grimly.</p> + +<p>"I entertain no such intentions--until the duchess +returns."</p> + +<p>Again the stranger indulged in that musical laugh of his.</p> + +<p>"Ah, until the duchess returns! Of course, then the bargain's +at<br> + an end. When you are once more in the enjoyment of her +grace's<br> + society, you will be at liberty to set all the dogs in Europe at +my<br> + heels. I assure you I fully expect that you will do so--why +not?"<br> + The duke raised the canvas bag. "My dear duke, ten thousand<br> + thanks! You shall see her grace at Datchet House, 'pon my +honor,<br> + probably within the hour."</p> + +<p>"Well," commented Ivor Dacre, when the stranger had vanished, +with<br> + the bag, into Piccadilly, and as the duke and himself moved +toward<br> + Burlington Gardens, "if a gentleman is to be robbed, it is as +well<br> + that he should have another gentleman rob him."</p> + +<h3><br> + III</h3> + +<p><br> + Mr. Dacre eyed his companion covertly as they progressed. +His<br> + Grace of Datchet appeared to have some fresh cause for +uneasiness.<br> + All at once he gave it utterance, in a tone of voice which +was<br> + extremely somber:</p> + +<p><br> + "Ivor, do you think that scoundrel will dare to play me +false?"</p> + +<p>"I think," murmured Mr. Dacre, "that he has dared to play +you<br> + pretty false already."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that. But I mean how am I to know, now that he +has<br> + his money, that he will still not keep Mabel in his +clutches?"</p> + +<p>There came an echo from Mr. Dacre.</p> + +<p>"Just so--how are you to know?"</p> + +<p>"I believe that something of this sort has been done in +the<br> + States."</p> + +<p>"I thought that there they were content to kidnap them after +they<br> + were dead. I was not aware that they had, as yet, got quite so +far<br> + as the living."</p> + +<p>"I believe that I have heard of something just like this."</p> + +<p>"Possibly; they are giants over there."</p> + +<p>"And in that case the scoundrels, when their demands were +met,<br> + refused to keep to the letter of their bargain and asked for +more."</p> + +<p>The duke stood still. He clinched his fists, and swore:</p> + +<p>"Ivor, if that ---- villain doesn't keep his word, and Mabel +isn't<br> + home within the hour, by ---- I shall go mad!"</p> + +<p>"My dear Datchet"--Mr. Dacre loved strong language as little +as he<br> + loved a scene--"let us trust to time and, a little, to your +white-<br> + hatted and gardenia-buttonholed friend's word of honor. You +should<br> + have thought of possible eventualities before you showed +your<br> + confidence--really. Suppose, instead of going mad, we first of +all<br> + go home?"</p> + +<p>A hansom stood waiting for a fare at the end of the Arcade. +Mr.<br> + Dacre had handed the duke into it before his grace had quite<br> + realized that the vehicle was there.</p> + +<p>"Tell the fellow to drive faster." That was what the duke +said<br> + when the cab had started.</p> + +<p>"My dear Datchet, the man's already driving his geerage off +its<br> + legs. If a bobby catches sight of him he'll take his +number."</p> + +<p>A moment later, a murmur from the duke:</p> + +<p>"I don't know if you're aware that the prince is coming to +dinner?"</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly aware of it."</p> + +<p>"You take it uncommonly cool. How easy it is to bear our +brother's<br> + burdens! Ivor, if Mabel doesn't turn up I shall feel like +murder."</p> + +<p>"I sympathize with you, Datchet, with all my heart, though, I +may<br> + observe, parenthetically, that I very far from realize the<br> + situation even yet. Take my advice. If the duchess does not +show<br> + quite as soon as we both of us desire, don't make a scene; just +let<br> + me see what I can do."</p> + +<p>Judging from the expression of his countenance, the duke +was<br> + conscious of no overwhelming desire to witness an exhibition of +Mr.<br> + Dacre's prowess.</p> + +<p>When the cab reached Datchet House his grace dashed up the +steps<br> + three at a time. The door flew open.</p> + +<p>"Has the duchess returned?"</p> + +<p>"Hereward!"</p> + +<p>A voice floated downward from above. Some one came running +down<br> + the stairs. It was her Grace of Datchet.</p> + +<p>"Mabel!"</p> + +<p>She actually rushed into the duke's extended arms. And he +kissed<br> + her, and she kissed him--before the servants.</p> + +<p>"So you're not quite dead?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"I am almost," he said.</p> + +<p>She drew herself a little away from him.</p> + +<p>"Hereward, were you seriously hurt?"</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose that I could have been otherwise than +seriously<br> + hurt?"</p> + +<p>"My darling! Was it a Pickford's van?"</p> + +<p>The duke stared.</p> + +<p>"A Pickford's van? I don't understand. But come in here. +Come<br> + along, Ivor. Mabel, you don't see Ivor."</p> + +<p>"How do you do, Mr. Dacre?"</p> + +<p>Then the trio withdrew into a little anteroom; it was really +time.<br> + Even then the pair conducted themselves as if Mr. Dacre had +been<br> + nothing and no one. The duke took the lady's two hands in his. +He<br> + eyed her fondly.</p> + +<p>"So you are uninjured, with the exception of that lock of +hair.<br> + Where did the villain take it from?"</p> + +<p>The lady looked a little puzzled.</p> + +<p>"What lock of hair?"</p> + +<p>From an envelope which he took from his pocket the duke +produced a<br> + shining tress. It was the lock of hair which had arrived in +the<br> + first communication. "I will have it framed."</p> + +<p>"You will have what framed?" The duchess glanced at what the +duke<br> + was so tenderly caressing, almost, as it seemed, a little<br> + dubiously. "Whatever is it you have there?"</p> + +<p>"It is the lock of hair which that scoundrel sent me." +Something<br> + in the lady's face caused him to ask a question:</p> + +<p>"Didn't he tell you he had sent it to me?"</p> + +<p>"Hereward!"</p> + +<p>"Did the brute tell you that he meant to cut off your +little<br> + finger?"</p> + +<p>A very curious look came into the lady's face. She glanced at +the<br> + duke as if she, all at once, was half afraid of him. She cast +at<br> + Mr. Dacre what really seemed to be a look of inquiry. Her +voice<br> + was tremulously anxious.</p> + +<p>"Hereward, did--did the accident affect you mentally?"</p> + +<p>"How could it not have affected me mentally? Do you think that +my<br> + mental organization is of steel?"</p> + +<p>"But you look so well."</p> + +<p>"Of course I look well, now that I have you back again. Tell +me,<br> + darling, did that hound actually threaten you with cutting off +your<br> + arm? If he did, I shall feel half inclined to kill him yet."</p> + +<p>The duchess seemed positively to shrink from her better half's +near<br> + neighborhood.</p> + +<p>"Hereward, was it a Pickford's van?"</p> + +<p>The duke seemed puzzled. Well he might be.</p> + +<p>"Was what a Pickford's van?"</p> + +<p>The lady turned to Mr. Dacre. In her voice there was a ring +of<br> + anguish.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dacre, tell me, was it a Pickford's van?" Ivor could +only<br> + imitate his relative's repetition of her inquiry.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite catch you--was what a Pickford's van?"</p> + +<p>The duchess clasped her hands in front of her.</p> + +<p>"What is it you are keeping from me? What is it you are trying +to<br> + hide? I implore you to tell me the worst, whatever it may be! +Do<br> + not keep me any longer in suspense; you do not know what I +already<br> + have endured. Mr. Dacre, is my husband mad?"</p> + +<p>One need scarcely observe that the lady's amazing appeal to +Mr.<br> + Dacre as to her husband's sanity was received with something +like<br> + surprise. As the duke continued to stare at her, a dreadful +fear<br> + began to loom in his brain.</p> + +<p>"My darling, your brain is unhinged!"</p> + +<p>He advanced to take her two hands again in his; but, to +his<br> + unmistakable distress, she shrank away from him.</p> + +<p>"Hereward--don't touch me. How is it that I missed you? Why +did<br> + you not wait until I came?"</p> + +<p>"Wait until you came?"</p> + +<p>The duke's bewilderment increased.</p> + +<p>"Surely, if your injuries turned out, after all, to be slight, +that<br> + was all the more reason why you should have waited, after +sending<br> + for me like that."</p> + +<p>"I sent for you--I?" The duke's tone was grave. "My +darling,<br> + perhaps you had better come upstairs."</p> + +<p>"Not until we have had an explanation. You must have known +that I<br> + should come. Why did you not wait for me after you had sent +me<br> + that?"</p> + +<p>The duchess held out something to the duke. He took it. It was +a<br> + card--his own visiting card. Something was written on the back +of<br> + it. He read aloud what was written.</p> + +<p>"'Mabel, come to me at once with the bearer. They tell me +that<br> + they cannot take me home.' It looks like my own writing."</p> + +<p>"Looks like it! It IS your writing."</p> + +<p>"It looks like it--and written with a shaky pen."</p> + +<p>"My dear child, one's hand would shake at such a moment as +that."</p> + +<p>"Mabel, where did you get this?"</p> + +<p>"It was brought to me in Cane and Wilson's."</p> + +<p>"Who brought it?"</p> + +<p>"Who brought it? Why, the man you sent."</p> + +<p>"The man I sent!" A light burst upon the duke's brain. He +fell<br> + back a pace. "It's the decoy!"</p> + +<p>Her grace echoed the words:</p> + +<p>"The decoy?"</p> + +<p>"The scoundrel! To set a trap with such a bait! My poor +innocent<br> + darling, did you think it came from me? Tell me, Mabel, where +did<br> + he cut off your hair?"</p> + +<p>"Cut off my hair?"</p> + +<p>Her grace put her hand to her head as if to make sure that her +hair<br> + was there.</p> + +<p>"Where did he take you to?"</p> + +<p>"He took me to Draper's Buildings."</p> + +<p>"Draper's Buildings?"</p> + +<p>"I have never been in the City before, but he told me it +was<br> + Draper's Buildings. Isn't that near the Stock Exchange?"</p> + +<p>"Near the Stock Exchange?"</p> + +<p>It seemed rather a curious place to which to take a +kidnaped<br> + victim. The man's audacity!</p> + +<p>"He told me that you were coming out of the Stock Exchange +when a<br> + van knocked you over. He said that he thought it was a +Pickford's<br> + van--was it a Pickford's van?"</p> + +<p>"No, it was not a Pickford's van. Mabel, were you in +Draper's<br> + Buildings when you wrote that letter?"</p> + +<p>"Wrote what letter?"</p> + +<p>"Have you forgotten it already? I do not believe that there is +a<br> + word in it which will not be branded on my brain until I +die."</p> + +<p>"Hereward! What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Surely you cannot have written me such a letter as that, and +then<br> + have forgotten it already?"</p> + +<p>He handed her the letter which had arrived in the second<br> + communication. She glanced at it, askance. Then she took it +with<br> + a little gasp.</p> + +<p>"Hereward, if you don't mind, I think I'll take a chair." She +took<br> + a chair. "Whatever--whatever's this?" As she read the letter +the<br> + varying expressions which passed across her face were, in<br> + themselves, a study in psychology. "Is it possible that you +can<br> + imagine that, under any conceivable circumstances, I could +have<br> + written such a letter as this?"</p> + +<p><br> + "Mabel!"</p> + +<p>She rose to her feet with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Hereward, don't say that you thought this came from me!"</p> + +<p>"Not from you?" He remembered Knowles's diplomatic reception +of<br> + the epistle on its first appearance. "I suppose that you will +say<br> + next that this is not a lock of your hair?"</p> + +<p>"My dear child, what bee have you got in your bonnet? This a +lock<br> + of my hair! Why, it's not in the least bit like my hair!"</p> + +<p>Which was certainly inaccurate. As far as color was concerned +it<br> + was an almost perfect match. The duke turned to Mr. Dacre.</p> + +<p>"Ivor, I've had to go through a good deal this afternoon. If +I<br> + have to go through much more, something will crack!" He +touched<br> + his forehead. "I think it's my turn to take a chair." Not the +one<br> + which the duchess had vacated, but one which faced it. He<br> + stretched out his legs in front of him; he thrust his hands +into<br> + his trousers pockets; he said, in a tone which was not gloomy +but<br> + absolutely grewsome:</p> + +<p>"Might I ask, Mabel, if you have been kidnaped?"</p> + +<p>"Kidnaped?"</p> + +<p>"The word I used was 'kidnaped.' But I will spell it if you +like.<br> + Or I will get a dictionary, that you may see its meaning."</p> + +<p>The duchess looked as if she was beginning to be not quite +sure if<br> + she was awake or sleeping. She turned to Ivor.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Dacre, has the accident affected Hereward's brain?"</p> + +<p>The duke took the words out of his cousin's mouth.</p> + +<p>"On that point, my dear, let me ease your mind. I don't know +if<br> + you are under the impression that I should be the same shape +after<br> + a Pickford's van had run over me as I was before; but, in any +case,<br> + I have not been run over by a Pickford's van. So far as I am<br> + concerned there has been no accident. Dismiss that delusion +from<br> + your mind."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"You appear surprised. One might even think that you were +sorry.<br> + But may I now ask what you did when you arrived at Draper's<br> + Buildings?"</p> + +<p>"Did! I looked for you!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed! And when you had looked in vain, what was the next +item<br> + in your programme?"</p> + +<p>The lady shrank still farther from him.</p> + +<p>"Hereward, have you been having a jest at my expense? Can you +have<br> + been so cruel?" Tears stood in her eyes.</p> + +<p>Rising, the duke laid his hand upon her arm.</p> + +<p>"Mabel, tell me--what did you do when you had looked for me +in<br> + vain?"</p> + +<p>"I looked for you upstairs and downstairs and everywhere. It +was<br> + quite a large place, it took me ever such a time. I thought that +I<br> + should go distracted. Nobody seemed to know anything about you, +or<br> + even that there had been an accident at all--it was all offices. +I<br> + couldn't make it out in the least, and the people didn't seem to +be<br> + able to make me out either. So when I couldn't find you anywhere +I<br> + came straight home again."</p> + +<p>The duke was silent for a moment. Then with funereal gravity +he<br> + turned to Mr. Dacre. He put to him this question:</p> + +<p>"Ivor, what are you laughing at?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Dacre drew his hand across his mouth with rather a +suspicious<br> + gesture.</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, only a smile!"</p> + +<p>The duchess looked from one to the other.</p> + +<p>"What have you two been doing? What is the joke?"</p> + +<p>With an air of preternatural solemnity the duke took two +letters<br> + from the breast pocket of his coat.</p> + +<p>"Mabel, you have already seen your letter. You have already +seen<br> + the lock of your hair. Just look at this--and that."</p> + +<p>He gave her the two very singular communications which had +arrived<br> + in such a mysterious manner, and so quickly one after the +other.<br> + She read them with wide-open eyes.</p> + +<p>"Hereward! Wherever did these come from?"</p> + +<p>The duke was standing with his legs apart, and his hands in +his<br> + trousers pockets. "I would give--I would give another five +hundred<br> + pounds to know. Shall I tell you, madam, what I have been +doing?<br> + I have been presenting five hundred golden sovereigns to a +perfect<br> + stranger, with a top hat, and a gardenia in his buttonhole."</p> + +<p>"Whatever for?"</p> + +<p>"If you have perused those documents which you have in your +hand,<br> + you will have some faint idea. Ivor, when it's your funeral, +I'LL<br> + smile. Mabel, Duchess of Datchet, it is beginning to dawn upon +the<br> + vacuum which represents my brain that I've been the victim of +one<br> + of the prettiest things in practical jokes that ever yet was<br> + planned. When that fellow brought you that card at Cane and<br> + Wilson's--which, I need scarcely tell you, never came from +me--some<br> + one walked out of the front entrance who was so exactly like +you<br> + that both Barnes and Moysey took her for you. Moysey showed +her<br> + into the carriage, and Barnes drove her home. But when the<br> + carriage reached home it was empty. Your double had got out +upon<br> + the road."</p> + +<p>The duchess uttered a sound which was half gasp, half +sigh.</p> + +<p>"Hereward!"</p> + +<p>"Barnes and Moysey, with beautiful and childlike innocence, +when<br> + they found that they had brought the thing home empty, came<br> + straightway and told me that YOU had jumped out of the +brougham<br> + while it had been driving full pelt through the streets. While +I<br> + was digesting that piece of information there came the first<br> + epistle, with the lock of your hair. Before I had time to +digest<br> + that there came the second epistle, with yours inside."</p> + +<p>"It seems incredible!"</p> + +<p>"It sounds incredible; but unfathomable is the folly of +man,<br> + especially of a man who loves his wife." The duke crossed to +Mr.<br> + Dacre. "I don't want, Ivor, to suggest anything in the way +of<br> + bribery and corruption, but if you could keep this matter to<br> + yourself, and not mention it to your friends, our white-hatted +and<br> + gardenia-buttonholed acquaintance is welcome to his five +hundred<br> + pounds, and--Mabel, what on earth are you laughing at?"</p> + +<p>The duchess appeared, all at once, to be seized with<br> + inextinguishable laughter.</p> + +<p>"Hereward," she cried, "just think how that man must be +laughing at<br> + you!"</p> + +<p>And the Duke of Datchet thought of it.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>The Minor Canon</h2> + +<p><br> + It was Monday, and in the afternoon, as I was walking along +the<br> + High Street of Marchbury, I was met by a +distinguished-looking<br> + person whom I had observed at the services in the cathedral on +the<br> + previous day. Now it chanced on that Sunday that I was singing +the<br> + service. Properly speaking, it was not my turn; but, as my +brother<br> + minor canons were either away from Marchbury or ill in bed, I +was<br> + the only one left to perform the necessary duty. The<br> + distinguished-looking person was a tall, big man with a round +fat<br> + face and small features. His eyes, his hair and mustache (his +face<br> + was bare but for a small mustache) were quite black, and he had +a<br> + very pleasant and genial expression. He wore a tall hat, set<br> + rather jauntily on his head, and he was dressed in black with +a<br> + long frock coat buttoned across the chest and fitting him close +to<br> + the body. As he came, with a half saunter, half swagger, along +the<br> + street, I knew him again at once by his appearance; and, as he +came<br> + nearer, I saw from his manner that he was intending to stop +and<br> + speak to me, for he slightly raised his hat and in a soft,<br> + melodious voice with a colonial "twang" which was far from +being<br> + disagreeable, and which, indeed, to my ear gave a certain<br> + additional interest to his remarks, he saluted me with "Good +day,<br> + sir!"</p> + +<p><br> + "Good day," I answered, with just a little reserve in my +tone.</p> + +<p>"I hope, sir," he began, "you will excuse my stopping you in +the<br> + street, but I wish to tell you how very much I enjoyed the music +at<br> + your cathedral yesterday. I am an Australian, sir, and we have +no<br> + such music in my country."</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," I said.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," he went on, "nothing nearly so fine. I am very fond +of<br> + music, and as my business brought me in this direction, I +thought I<br> + would stop at your city and take the opportunity of paying a +visit<br> + to your grand cathedral. And I am delighted I came; so +pleased,<br> + indeed, that I should like to leave some memorial of my +visit<br> + behind me. I should like, sir, to do something for your +choir."</p> + +<p>"I am sure it is very kind of you," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should certainly be glad if you could suggest to +me<br> + something I might do in this way. As regards money, I may say +that<br> + I have plenty of it. I am the owner of a most valuable +property.<br> + My business relations extend throughout the world, and if I am +as<br> + fortunate in the projects of the future as I have been in the +past,<br> + I shall probably one day achieve the proud position of being +the<br> + richest man in the world."</p> + +<p>I did not like to undertake myself the responsibility of +advising<br> + or suggesting, so I simply said:</p> + +<p>"I cannot venture to say, offhand, what would be the most<br> + acceptable way of showing your great kindness and generosity, +but I<br> + should certainly recommend you to put yourself in +communication<br> + with the dean."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir," said my Australian friend, "I will do so. +And<br> + now, sir," he continued, "let me say how much I admire your +voice.<br> + It is, without exception, the very finest and clearest voice I +have<br> + ever heard."</p> + +<p>"Really," I answered, quite overcome with such unqualified +praise,<br> + "really it is very good of you to say so."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but I feel it, my dear sir. I have been round the world, +from<br> + Sydney to Frisco, across the continent of America" (he called +it<br> + Amerrker) "to New York City, then on to England, and to-morrow +I<br> + shall leave your city to continue my travels. But in all my<br> + experience I have never heard so grand a voice as your own."</p> + +<p>This and a great deal more he said in the same strain, +which<br> + modesty forbids me to reproduce.</p> + +<p>Now I am not without some knowledge of the world outside the +close<br> + of Marchbury Cathedral, and I could not listen to such a<br> + "flattering tale" without having my suspicions aroused. Who +and<br> + what is this man? thought I. I looked at him narrowly. At +first<br> + the thought flashed across me that he might be a "swell +mobsman."<br> + But no, his face was too good for that; besides, no man with +that<br> + huge frame, that personality so marked and so easily +recognizable,<br> + could be a swindler; he could not escape detection a single +hour.<br> + I dismissed the ungenerous thought. Perhaps he is rich, as +he<br> + says. We do hear of munificent donations by benevolent<br> + millionaires now and then. What if this Australian, attracted +by<br> + the glories of the old cathedral, should now appear as a deus +ex<br> + machina to reendow the choir, or to found a musical +professoriate<br> + in connection with the choir, appointing me the first occupant +of<br> + the professorial chair?</p> + +<p>These thoughts flashed across my mind in the momentary pause +of his<br> + fluent tongue.</p> + +<p>"As for yourself, sir," he began again, "I have something +to<br> + propose which I trust may not prove unwelcome. But the +public<br> + street is hardly a suitable place to discuss my proposal. May +I<br> + call upon you this evening at your house in the close? I +know<br> + which it is, for I happened to see you go into it yesterday +after<br> + the morning service."</p> + +<p>"I shall be very pleased to see you," I replied. "We are going +out<br> + to dinner this evening, but I shall be at home and disengaged +till<br> + about seven."</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much. Then I shall do myself the pleasure +of<br> + calling upon you about six o'clock. Till then, farewell!" A<br> + graceful wave of the hand, and my unknown friend had +disappeared<br> + round the corner of the street.</p> + +<p>Now at last, I thought, something is going to happen in my<br> + uneventful life--something to break the monotony of existence. +Of<br> + course, he must have inquired my name--he could get that from +any<br> + of the cathedral vergers--and, as he said, he had observed<br> + whereabouts in the close I lived. What is he coming to see me +for?<br> + I wondered. I spent the rest of the afternoon in making the<br> + wildest surmises. I was castle-building in Spain at a +furious<br> + rate. At one time I imagined that this faithful son of the +church--<br> + as he appeared to me--was going to build and endow a grand<br> + cathedral in Australia on condition that I should be appointed +dean<br> + at a yearly stipend of, say, ten thousand pounds. Or perhaps, +I<br> + said to myself, he will beg me to accept a sum of money--I +never<br> + thought of it as less than a thousand pounds--as a slight<br> + recognition of and tribute to my remarkable vocal ability.</p> + +<p>I took a long, lonely walk into the country to correct +these<br> + ridiculous fancies and to steady my mind, and when I reached +home<br> + and had refreshed myself with a quiet cup of afternoon tea, I +felt<br> + I was morally and physically prepared for my interview with +the<br> + opulent stranger.</p> + +<p>Punctually as the cathedral clock struck six there was a ring +at<br> + the visitor's bell. In a moment or two my unknown friend was +shown<br> + into the drawing-room, which he entered with the easy air of a +man<br> + of the world. I noticed he was carrying a small black bag.</p> + +<p>"How do you do again, Mr. Dale?" he said as though we were +old<br> + acquaintances; "you see I have come sharp to my time."</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered, "and I am pleased to see you; do sit down." +He<br> + sank into my best armchair, and placed his bag on the floor +beside<br> + him.</p> + +<p>"Since we met in the afternoon," he said, "I have written a +letter<br> + to your dean, expressing the great pleasure I felt in listening +to<br> + your choir, and at the same time I inclosed a five-pound +note,<br> + which I begged him to divide among the choir boys and men, +from<br> + Alexander Poulter, Esq., of Poulter's Pills. You have of +course<br> + heard of the world-renowned Poulter's Pills. I am Poulter!"</p> + +<p>Poulter of Poulter's Pills! My heart sank within me! A +five-pound<br> + note! My airy castles were tottering!</p> + +<p>"I also sent him a couple of hundred of my pamphlets, which I +said<br> + I trusted he would be so kind as to distribute in the +close."</p> + +<p>I was aghast!</p> + +<p>"And now, with regard to the special object of my call, Mr. +Dale.<br> + If you will allow me to say so, you are not making the most of +that<br> + grand voice of yours; you are hidden under an ecclesiastical +bushel<br> + here--lost to the world. You are wasting your vocal strength +and<br> + sweetness on the desert air, so to speak. Why, if I may hazard +a<br> + guess, I don't suppose you make five hundred a year here, at +the<br> + outside?</p> + +<p>I could say nothing.</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I can put you into the way of making at least +three or<br> + four times as much as that. Listen! I am Alexander Poulter, +of<br> + Poulter's Pills. I have a proposal to make to you. The scheme +is<br> + bound to succeed, but I want your help. Accept my proposal +and<br> + your fortune's made. Did you ever hear Moody and Sankey?" he +asked<br> + abruptly.</p> + +<p>The man is an idiot, thought I; he is now fairly carried away +with<br> + his particular mania. Will it last long? Shall I ring?</p> + +<p>"Novelty, my dear sir," he went on, "is the rule of the day; +and<br> + there must be novelty in advertising, as in everything else, +to<br> + catch the public interest. So I intend to go on a tour, +lecturing<br> + on the merits of Poulter's Pills in all the principal halls of +all<br> + the principal towns all over the world. But I have been delayed +in<br> + carrying out my idea till I could associate myself with a +gentleman<br> + such as yourself. Will you join me? I should be the Moody of +the<br> + tour; you would be its Sankey. I would speak my patter, and +you<br> + would intersperse my orations with melodious ballads bearing +upon<br> + the virtues of Poulter's Pills. The ballads are all ready!"</p> + +<p>So saying, he opened that bag and drew forth from its +recesses<br> + nothing more alarming than a thick roll of manuscript music.</p> + +<p>"The verses are my own," he said, with a little touch of +pride;<br> + "and as for the music, I thought it better to make use of +popular<br> + melodies, so as to enable an audience to join in the chorus. +See,<br> + here is one of the ballads: 'Darling, I am better now.' It<br> + describes the woes of a fond lover, or rather his physical<br> + ailments, until he went through a course of Poulter. Here's<br> + another: 'I'm ninety-five! I'm ninety-five!' You catch the +drift<br> + of that, of course--a healthy old age, secured by taking +Poulter's<br> + Pills. Ah! what's this? 'Little sister's last request.' I +fancy<br> + the idea of that is to beg the family never to be without +Poulter's<br> + Pills. Here again: 'Then you'll remember me!' I'm afraid +that<br> + title is not original; never mind, the song is. And here +is--but<br> + there are many more, and I won't detain you with them now." +He<br> + saw, perhaps, I was getting impatient. Thank Heaven, however, +he<br> + was no escaped lunatic. I was safe!</p> + +<p>"Mr. Poulter," said I, "I took you this afternoon for a<br> + disinterested and philanthropic millionaire; you take me +for--for--<br> + something different from what I am. We have both made +mistakes.<br> + In a word, it is impossible for me to accept your offer!"</p> + +<p>"Is that final?" asked Poulter.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said I.</p> + +<p>Poulter gathered his manuscripts together and replaced them in +the<br> + bag, and got up to leave the room.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Mr. Dale," he said mournfully, as I opened the +door<br> + of the room. "Good evening"--he kept on talking till he was +fairly<br> + out of the house--"mark my words, you'll be sorry--very +sorry--one<br> + day that you did not fall in with my scheme. Offers like +mine<br> + don't come every day, and you will one day regret having +refused<br> + it."</p> + +<p>With these words he left the house.</p> + +<p>I had little appetite for my dinner that evening.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>The Pipe</h2> + +<p><br> + "RANDOLPH CRESCENT, N. W.</p> + +<p>MY DEAR PUGH--I hope you will like the pipe which I send with +this.<br> + It is rather a curious example of a certain school of Indian<br> + carving. And is a present from</p> + +<p>"Yours truly, JOSEPH TRESS."</p> + +<p><br> + It was really very handsome of Tress--very handsome! The +more<br> + especially as I was aware that to give presents was not exactly +in<br> + Tress's line. The truth is that when I saw what manner of pipe +it<br> + was I was amazed. It was contained in a sandalwood box, which +was<br> + itself illustrated with some remarkable specimens of carving. +I<br> + use the word "remarkable" advisedly, because, although the<br> + workmanship was undoubtedly, in its way, artistic, the result +could<br> + not be described as beautiful. The carver had thought proper +to<br> + ornament the box with some of the ugliest figures I remember +to<br> + have seen. They appeared to me to be devils. Or perhaps they +were<br> + intended to represent deities appertaining to some +mythological<br> + system with which, thank goodness, I am unacquainted. The +pipe<br> + itself was worthy of the case in which it was contained. It was +of<br> + meerschaum, with an amber mouthpiece. It was rather too large +for<br> + ordinary smoking. But then, of course, one doesn't smoke a +pipe<br> + like that. There are pipes in my collection which I should as +soon<br> + think of smoking as I should of eating. Ask a china maniac to +let<br> + you have afternoon tea out of his Old Chelsea, and you will +learn<br> + some home truths as to the durability of human friendships. +The<br> + glory of the pipe, as Tress had suggested, lay in its carving. +Not<br> + that I claim that it was beautiful, any more than I make such +a<br> + claim for the carving on the box, but, as Tress said in his +note,<br> + it was curious.</p> + +<p><br> + The stem and the bowl were quite plain, but on the edge of the +bowl<br> + was perched some kind of lizard. I told myself it was an +octopus<br> + when I first saw it, but I have since had reason to believe that +it<br> + was some almost unique member of the lizard tribe. The +creature<br> + was represented as climbing over the edge of the bowl down +toward<br> + the stem, and its legs, or feelers, or tentacula, or whatever +the<br> + things are called, were, if I may use a vulgarism, sprawling +about<br> + "all over the place." For instance, two or three of them +were<br> + twined about the bowl, two or three of them were twisted round +the<br> + stem, and one, a particularly horrible one, was uplifted in +the<br> + air, so that if you put the pipe in your mouth the thing was<br> + pointing straight at your nose.</p> + +<p>Not the least agreeable feature about the creature was that it +was<br> + hideously lifelike. It appeared to have been carved in amber, +but<br> + some coloring matter must have been introduced, for inside +the<br> + amber the creature was of a peculiarly ghastly green. The more +I<br> + examined the pipe the more amazed I was at Tress's generosity. +He<br> + and I are rival collectors. I am not going to say, in so +many<br> + words, that his collection of pipes contains nothing but +rubbish,<br> + because, as a matter of fact, he has two or three rather +decent<br> + specimens. But to compare his collection to mine would be +absurd.<br> + Tress is conscious of this, and he resents it. He resents it +to<br> + such an extent that he has been known, at least on one occasion, +to<br> + declare that one single pipe of his--I believe he alluded to +the<br> + Brummagem relic preposterously attributed to Sir Walter +Raleigh--<br> + was worth the whole of my collection put together. Although I +have<br> + forgotten this, as I hope I always shall forgive remarks made +when<br> + envious passions get the better of our nobler nature, even of +a<br> + Joseph Tress, it is not to be supposed that I have forgotten +it.<br> + He was, therefore, not at all the sort of person from whom I<br> + expected to receive a present. And such a present! I do not<br> + believe that he himself had a finer pipe in his collection. And +to<br> + have given it to me! I had misjudged the man. I wondered where +he<br> + had got it from. I had seen his pipes; I knew them off by +heart--<br> + and some nice trumpery he has among them, too! but I had never +seen<br> + THAT pipe before. The more I looked at it, the more my +amazement<br> + grew. The beast perched upon the edge of the bowl was so +lifelike.<br> + Its two bead-like eyes seemed to gleam at me with positively +human<br> + intelligence. The pipe fascinated me to such an extent that +I<br> + actually resolved to--smoke it!</p> + +<p>I filled it with Perique. Ordinarily I use Birdseye, but on +those<br> + very rare occasions on which I use a specimen I smoke Perique. +I<br> + lit up with quite a small sensation of excitement. As I did so +I<br> + kept my eyes perforce fixed upon the beast. The beast pointed +its<br> + upraised tentacle directly at me. As I inhaled the pungent +tobacco<br> + that tentacle impressed me with a feeling of actual +uncanniness.<br> + It was broad daylight, and I was smoking in front of the +window,<br> + yet to such an extent was I affected that it seemed to me that +the<br> + tentacle was not only vibrating, which, owing to the peculiarity +of<br> + its position, was quite within the range of probability, but<br> + actually moving, elongating--stretching forward, that is, +farther<br> + toward me, and toward the tip of my nose. So impressed was I +by<br> + this idea that I took the pipe out of my mouth and minutely<br> + examined the beast. Really, the delusion was excusable. So<br> + cunningly had the artist wrought that he succeeded in producing +a<br> + creature which, such was its uncanniness, I could only hope had +no<br> + original in nature.</p> + +<p>Replacing the pipe between my lips I took several whiffs. +Never<br> + had smoking had such an effect on me before. Either the pipe, +or<br> + the creature on it, exercised some singular fascination. I +seemed,<br> + without an instant's warning, to be passing into some land +of<br> + dreams. I saw the beast, which was perched upon the bowl, +writhe<br> + and twist. I saw it lift itself bodily from the meerschaum.</p> + +<h3><br> + II</h3> + +<p><br> + "Feeling better now?"</p> + +<p>I looked up. Joseph Tress was speaking.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter? Have I been ill?"</p> + +<p>"You appear to have been in some kind of swoon." Tress's tone +was<br> + peculiar, even a little dry.</p> + +<p><br> + "Swoon! I never was guilty of such a thing in my life."</p> + +<p>"Nor was I, until I smoked that pipe."</p> + +<p>I sat up. The act of sitting up made me conscious of the fact +that<br> + I had been lying down. Conscious, too, that I was feeling +more<br> + than a little dazed. It seemed as though I was waking out of +some<br> + strange, lethargic sleep--a kind of feeling which I have read +of<br> + and heard about, but never before experienced.</p> + +<p>"Where am I?"</p> + +<p>"You're on the couch in your own room. You WERE on the floor; +but<br> + I thought it would be better to pick you up and place you on +the<br> + couch--though no one performed the same kind office to me when +I<br> + was on the floor."</p> + +<p>Again Tress's tone was distinctly dry.</p> + +<p>"How came YOU here?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's the question." He rubbed his chin--a habit of +his<br> + which has annoyed me more than once before. "Do you think +you're<br> + sufficiently recovered to enable you to understand a little +simple<br> + explanation?" I stared at him, amazed. He went on stroking +his<br> + chin. "The truth is that when I sent you the pipe I made a +slight<br> + omission."</p> + +<p>"An omission?"</p> + +<p>"I omitted to advise you not to smoke it."</p> + +<p>"And why?"</p> + +<p>"Because--well, I've reason to believe the thing is +drugged."</p> + +<p>"Drugged!"</p> + +<p>"Or poisoned."</p> + +<p>"Poisoned!" I was wide awake enough then. I jumped off the +couch<br> + with a celerity which proved it.</p> + +<p>"It is this way. I became its owner in rather a singular +manner."<br> + He paused, as if for me to make a remark; but I was silent. "It +is<br> + not often that I smoke a specimen, but, for some reason, I +did<br> + smoke this. I commenced to smoke it, that is. How long I<br> + continued to smoke it is more than I can say. It had on me +the<br> + same peculiar effect which it appears to have had on you. When +I<br> + recovered consciousness I was lying on the floor."</p> + +<p>"On the floor?"</p> + +<p>"On the floor. In about as uncomfortable a position as you +can<br> + easily conceive. I was lying face downward, with my legs +bent<br> + under me. I was never so surprised in my life as I was when +I<br> + found myself WHERE I was. At first I supposed that I had had +a<br> + stroke. But by degrees it dawned upon me that I didn't FEEL +as<br> + though I had had a stroke." Tress, by the way, has been an +army<br> + surgeon. "I was conscious of distinct nausea. Looking about, +I<br> + saw the pipe. With me it had fallen on to the floor. I took +it<br> + for granted, considering the delicacy of the carving, that the +fall<br> + had broken it. But when I picked it up I found it quite +uninjured.<br> + While I was examining it a thought flashed to my brain. Might +it<br> + not be answerable for what had happened to me? Suppose, for<br> + instance, it was drugged? I had heard of such things. Besides, +in<br> + my case were present all the symptoms of drug poisoning, +though<br> + what drug had been used I couldn't in the least conceive. I<br> + resolved that I would give the pipe another trial."</p> + +<p>"On yourself? or on another party, meaning me?"</p> + +<p>"On myself, my dear Pugh--on myself! At that point of my<br> + investigations I had not begun to think of you. I lit up and +had<br> + another smoke."</p> + +<p>"With what result?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that depends on the standpoint from which you regard +the<br> + thing. From one point of view the result was wholly +satisfactory--<br> + I proved that the thing was drugged, and more."</p> + +<p>"Did you have another fall?"</p> + +<p>"I did. And something else besides."</p> + +<p>"On that account, I presume, you resolved to pass the treasure +on<br> + to me?"</p> + +<p>"Partly on that account, and partly on another."</p> + +<p>"On my word, I appreciate your generosity. You might have +labeled<br> + the thing as poison."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. But then you must remember how often you have told +me<br> + that you NEVER smoke your specimens."</p> + +<p>"That was no reason why you shouldn't have given me a hint +that the<br> + thing was more dangerous than dynamite."</p> + +<p>"That did occur to me afterwards. Therefore I called to supply +the<br> + slight omission."</p> + +<p>"SLIGHT omission, you call it! I wonder what you would have +called<br> + it if you had found me dead."</p> + +<p>"If I had known that you INTENDED smoking it I should not have +been<br> + at all surprised if I had."</p> + +<p>"Really, Tress, I appreciate your kindness more and more! +And<br> + where is this example of your splendid benevolence? Have you<br> + pocketed it, regretting your lapse into the unaccustomed paths +of<br> + generosity? Or is it smashed to atoms?"</p> + +<p>"Neither the one nor the other. You will find the pipe upon +the<br> + table. I neither desire its restoration nor is it in any way<br> + injured. It is merely an expression of personal opinion when I +say<br> + that I don't believe that it COULD be injured. Of course, +having<br> + discovered its deleterious properties, you will not want to +smoke<br> + it again. You will therefore be able to enjoy the consciousness +of<br> + being the possessor of what I honestly believe to be the +most<br> + remarkable pipe in existence. Good day, Pugh."</p> + +<p>He was gone before I could say a word. I immediately +concluded,<br> + from the precipitancy of his flight, that the pipe WAS +injured.<br> + But when I subjected it to close examination I could discover +no<br> + signs of damage. While I was still eying it with jealous +scrutiny<br> + the door reopened, and Tress came in again.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Pugh, there is one thing I might mention, +especially<br> + as I know it won't make any difference to you."</p> + +<p>"That depends on what it is. If you have changed your mind, +and<br> + want the pipe back again, I tell you frankly that it won't. In +my<br> + opinion, a thing once given is given for good."</p> + +<p>"Quite so; I don't want it back again. You may make your mind +easy<br> + on that point. I merely wanted to tell you WHY I gave it +you."</p> + +<p>"You have told me that already."</p> + +<p>"Only partly, my dear Pugh--only partly. You don't suppose +I<br> + should have given you such a pipe as that merely because it<br> + happened to be drugged? Scarcely! I gave it you because I<br> + discovered from indisputable evidence, and to my cost, that it +was<br> + haunted."</p> + +<p>"Haunted?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, haunted. Good day."</p> + +<p>He was gone again. I ran out of the room, and shouted after +him<br> + down the stairs. He was already at the bottom of the flight.</p> + +<p>"Tress! Come back! What do you mean by talking such +nonsense?"</p> + +<p>"Of course it's only nonsense. We know that that sort of +thing<br> + always is nonsense. But if you should have reason to suppose +that<br> + there is something in it besides nonsense, you may think it +worth<br> + your while to make inquiries of me, But I won't have that pipe +back<br> + again in my possession on any terms--mind that!"</p> + +<p>The bang of the front door told me that he had gone out into +the<br> + street. I let him go. I laughed to myself as I reentered the<br> + room. Haunted! That was not a bad idea of his. I saw the +whole<br> + position at a glance. The truth of the matter was that he +did<br> + regret his generosity, and he was ready to go any lengths if +he<br> + could only succeed in cajoling me into restoring his gift. He +was<br> + aware that I have views upon certain matters which are not +wholly<br> + in accordance with those which are popularly supposed to be +the<br> + views of the day, and particularly that on the question of what +are<br> + commonly called supernatural visitations I have a standpoint of +my<br> + own. Therefore, it was not a bad move on his part to try to +make<br> + me believe that about the pipe on which he knew I had set my +heart<br> + there was something which could not be accounted for by +ordinary<br> + laws. Yet, as his own sense would have told him it would do, if +he<br> + had only allowed himself to reflect for a moment, the move +failed.<br> + Because I am not yet so far gone as to suppose that a pipe, a +thing<br> + of meerschaum and of amber, in the sense in which I understand +the<br> + word, COULD be haunted--a pipe, a mere pipe.</p> + +<p>"Hollo! I thought the creature's legs were twined right round +the<br> + bowl!"</p> + +<p>I was holding the pipe in my hand, regarding it with the<br> + affectionate eyes with which a connoisseur does regard a +curio,<br> + when I was induced to make this exclamation. I was certainly +under<br> + the impression that, when I first took the pipe out of the +box,<br> + two, if not three of the feelers had been twined about the +bowl--<br> + twined TIGHTLY, so that you could not see daylight between them +and<br> + it. Now they were almost entirely detached, only the tips +touching<br> + the meerschaum, and those particular feelers were gathered up +as<br> + though the creature were in the act of taking a spring. Of +course<br> + I was under a misapprehension: the feelers COULDN'T have +been<br> + twined; a moment before I should have been ready to bet a +thousand<br> + to one that they were. Still, one does make mistakes, and +very<br> + egregious mistakes, at times. At the same time, I confess +that<br> + when I saw that dreadful-looking animal poised on the extreme +edge<br> + of the bowl, for all the world as though it were just going +to<br> + spring at me, I was a little startled. I remembered that when +I<br> + was smoking the pipe I did think I saw the uplifted tentacle<br> + moving, as though it were reaching out to me. And I had a +clear<br> + recollection that just as I had been sinking into that +strange<br> + state of unconsciousness, I had been under the impression that +the<br> + creature was writhing and twisting, as though it had +suddenly<br> + become instinct with life. Under the circumstances, these<br> + reflections were not pleasant. I wished Tress had not talked +that<br> + nonsense about the thing being haunted. It was surely +sufficient<br> + to know that it was drugged and poisonous, without anything +else.</p> + +<p>I replaced it in the sandalwood box. I locked the box in a<br> + cabinet. Quite apart from the question as to whether that pipe +was<br> + or was not haunted, I know it haunted me. It was with me in +a<br> + figurative--which was worse than actual--sense all the day. +Still<br> + worse, it was with me all the night. It was with me in my +dreams.<br> + Such dreams! Possibly I had not yet wholly recovered from +the<br> + effects of that insidious drug, but, whether or no, it was +very<br> + wrong of Tress to set my thoughts into such a channel. He +knows<br> + that I am of a highly imaginative temperament, and that it +is<br> + easier to get morbid thoughts into my mind than to get them +out<br> + again. Before that night was through I wished very heartily that +I<br> + had never seen the pipe! I woke from one nightmare to fall +into<br> + another. One dreadful dream was with me all the time--of a<br> + hideous, green reptile which advanced toward me out of some +awful<br> + darkness, slowly, inch by inch, until it clutched me round +the<br> + neck, and, gluing its lips to mine, sucked the life's blood out +of<br> + my veins as it embraced me with a slimy kiss. Such dreams are +not<br> + restful. I woke anything but refreshed when the morning came. +And<br> + when I got up and dressed I felt that, on the whole, it +would<br> + perhaps have been better if I never had gone to bed. My +nerves<br> + were unstrung, and I had that generally tremulous feeling which +is,<br> + I believe, an inseparable companion of the more advanced stages +of<br> + dipsomania. I ate no breakfast. I am no breakfast eater as a<br> + rule, but that morning I ate absolutely nothing.</p> + +<p>"If this sort of thing is to continue, I will let Tress have +his<br> + pipe again. He may have the laugh of me, but anything is +better<br> + than this."</p> + +<p>It was with almost funereal forebodings that I went to the +cabinet<br> + in which I had placed the sandalwood box. But when I opened it +my<br> + feelings of gloom partially vanished. Of what phantasies had +I<br> + been guilty! It must have been an entire delusion on my part +to<br> + have supposed that those tentacula had ever been twined about +the<br> + bowl. The creature was in exactly the same position in which I +had<br> + left it the day before--as, of course, I knew it would +be--poised,<br> + as if about to spring. I was telling myself how foolish I had +been<br> + to allow myself to dwell for a moment on Tress's words, when +Martin<br> + Brasher was shown in.</p> + +<p>Brasher is an old friend of mine. We have a common +ground--ghosts.<br> + Only we approach them from different points of view. He takes +the<br> + scientific--psychological--inquiry side. He is always anxious +to<br> + hear of a ghost, so that he may have an opportunity of "showing +it<br> + up."</p> + +<p>"I've something in your line here," I observed, as he came +in.</p> + +<p>"In my line? How so? I'M not pipe mad."</p> + +<p>"No; but you're ghost mad. And this is a haunted pipe."</p> + +<p>"A haunted pipe! I think you're rather more mad about ghosts, +my<br> + dear Pugh, than I am."</p> + +<p>Then I told him all about it. He was deeply interested, +especially<br> + when I told him that the pipe was drugged. But when I +repeated<br> + Tress's words about its being haunted, and mentioned my own<br> + delusion about the creature moving, he took a more serious view +of<br> + the case than I had expected he would do.</p> + +<p>"I propose that we act on Tress's suggestion, and go and +make<br> + inquiries of him."</p> + +<p>"But you don't really think that there is anything in it?"</p> + +<p>"On these subjects I never allow myself to think at all. There +are<br> + Tress's words, and there is your story. It is agreed on all +hands<br> + that the pipe has peculiar properties. It seems to me that +there<br> + is a sufficient case here to merit inquiry."</p> + +<p>He persuaded me. I went with him. The pipe, in the +sandalwood<br> + box, went too. Tress received us with a grin--a grin which +was<br> + accentuated when I placed the sandalwood box on the table.</p> + +<p>"You understand," he said, "that a gift is a gift. On no +terms<br> + will I consent to receive that pipe back in my possession."</p> + +<p>I was rather nettled by his tone.</p> + +<p>"You need be under no alarm. I have no intention of +suggesting<br> + anything of the kind."</p> + +<p>"Our business here," began Brasher--I must own that his manner +is a<br> + little ponderous--"is of a scientific, I may say also, and at +the<br> + same time, of a judicial nature. Our object is the Pursuit +of<br> + Truth and the Advancement of Inquiry."</p> + +<p>"Have you been trying another smoke?" inquired Tress, nodding +his<br> + head toward me.</p> + +<p>Before I had time to answer, Brasher went droning on:</p> + +<p>"Our friend here tells me that you say this pipe is +haunted."</p> + +<p>"I say it is haunted because it IS haunted."</p> + +<p>I looked at Tress. I half suspected that he was poking fun at +us.<br> + But he appeared to be serious enough.</p> + +<p>"In these matters," remarked Brasher, as though he were +giving<br> + utterance to a new and important truth, "there is a scientific +and<br> + nonscientific method of inquiry. The scientific method is to +begin<br> + at the beginning. May I ask how this pipe came into your<br> + possession?"</p> + +<p>Tress paused before he answered.</p> + +<p>"You may ask." He paused again. "Oh, you certainly may ask. +But<br> + it doesn't follow that I shall tell you."</p> + +<p>"Surely your object, like ours, can be but the Spreading About +of<br> + the Truth?"</p> + +<p>"I don't see it at all. It is possible to imagine a case in +which<br> + the spreading about of the truth might make me look a little<br> + awkward."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" Brasher pursed up his lips. "Your words would +almost<br> + lead one to suppose that there was something about your method +of<br> + acquiring the pipe which you have good and weighty reasons +for<br> + concealing."</p> + +<p><br> + "I don't know why I should conceal the thing from you. I +don't<br> + suppose either of you is any better than I am. I don't mind<br> + telling you how I got the pipe. I stole it."</p> + +<p>"Stole it!"</p> + +<p>Brasher seemed both amazed and shocked. But I, who had +previous<br> + experience of Tress's methods of adding to his collection, was +not<br> + at all surprised. Some of the pipes which he calls his, if +only<br> + the whole truth about them were publicly known, would send him +to<br> + jail.</p> + +<p>"That's nothing!" he continued. "All collectors steal! The +eighth<br> + commandment was not intended to apply to them. Why, Pugh there +has<br> + 'conveyed' three fourths of the pipes which he flatters himself +are<br> + his."</p> + +<p>I was so dumfoundered by the charge that it took my breath +away. I<br> + sat in astounded silence. Tress went raving on:</p> + +<p>"I was so shy of this particular pipe when I had obtained it, +that<br> + I put it away for quite three months. When I took it out to have +a<br> + look at it something about the thing so tickled me that I +resolved<br> + to smoke it. Owing to peculiar circumstances attending the +manner<br> + in which the thing came into my possession, and on which I need +not<br> + dwell--you don't like to dwell on those sort of things, do +you,<br> + Pugh?--I knew really nothing about the pipe. As was the case +with<br> + Pugh, one peculiarity I learned from actual experience. It +was<br> + also from actual experience that I learned that the thing +was--<br> + well, I said haunted, but you may use any other word you +like."</p> + +<p>"Tell us, as briefly as possible, what it was you really +did<br> + discover."</p> + +<p>"Take the pipe out of the box!" Brasher took the pipe out of +the<br> + box and held it in his hand. "You see that creature on it. +Well,<br> + when I first had it it was underneath the pipe."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean that it was underneath the pipe?"</p> + +<p>"It was bunched together underneath the stem, just at the end +of<br> + the mouthpiece, in the same way in which a fly might be +suspended<br> + from the ceiling. When I began to smoke the pipe I saw the<br> + creature move."</p> + +<p>"But I thought that unconsciousness immediately followed."</p> + +<p>"It did follow, but not before I saw that the thing was +moving. It<br> + was because I thought that I had been, in a way, a victim of<br> + delirium that I tried the second smoke. Suspecting that the +thing<br> + was drugged I swallowed what I believed would prove a +powerful<br> + antidote. It enabled me to resist the influence of the +narcotic<br> + much longer than before, and while I still retained my senses I +saw<br> + the creature crawl along under the stem and over the bowl. It +was<br> + that sight, I believe, as much as anything else, which sent +me<br> + silly. When I came to I then and there decided to present the +pipe<br> + to Pugh. There is one more thing I would remark. When the +pipe<br> + left me the creature's legs were twined about the bowl. Now +they<br> + are withdrawn. Possibly you, Pugh, are able to cap my story with +a<br> + little one which is all your own."</p> + +<p>"I certainly did imagine that I saw the creature move. But +I<br> + supposed that while I was under the influence of the drug<br> + imagination had played me a trick."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it! Depend upon it, the beast is bewitched. Even +to<br> + my eye it looks as though it were, and to a trained eye like +yours,<br> + Pugh! You've been looking for the devil a long time, and +you've<br> + got him at last."</p> + +<p>"I--I wish you wouldn't make those remarks, Tress. They jar +on<br> + me."</p> + +<p>"I confess," interpolated Brasher--I noticed that he had put +the<br> + pipe down on the table as though he were tired of holding +it--<br> + "that, to MY thinking, such remarks are not appropriate. At +the<br> + same time what you have told us is, I am bound to allow, a +little<br> + curious. But of course what I require is ocular demonstration. +I<br> + haven't seen the movement myself."</p> + +<p>"No, but you very soon will do if you care to have a pull at +the<br> + pipe on your own account. Do, Brasher, to oblige me! There's +a<br> + dear!"</p> + +<p>"It appears, then, that the movement is only observable when +the<br> + pipe is smoked. We have at least arrived at step No. 1."</p> + +<p>"Here's a match, Brasher! Light up, and we shall have arrived +at<br> + step No. 2."</p> + +<p>Tress lit a match and held it out to Brasher. Brasher +retreated<br> + from its neighborhood.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mr. Tress, I am no smoker, as you are aware. And +I<br> + have no desire to acquire the art of smoking by means of a +poisoned<br> + pipe."</p> + +<p>Tress laughed. He blew out the match and threw it into the +grate.</p> + +<p>"Then I tell you what I'll do--I'll have up Bob."</p> + +<p>"Bob--why Bob?"</p> + +<p>"Bob"--whose real name was Robert Haines, though I should +think he<br> + must have forgotten the fact, so seldom was he addressed by +it--was<br> + Tress's servant. He had been an old soldier, and had +accompanied<br> + his master when he left the service. He was as depraved a<br> + character as Tress himself. I am not sure even that he was +not<br> + worse than his master. I shall never forget how he once +behaved<br> + toward myself. He actually had the assurance to accuse me of<br> + attempting to steal the Wardour Street relic which Tress +fondly<br> + deludes himself was once the property of Sir Walter Raleigh. +The<br> + truth is that I had slipped it with my handkerchief into my +pocket<br> + in a fit of absence of mind. A man who could accuse ME of such +a<br> + thing would be guilty of anything. I was therefore quite at +one<br> + with Brasher when he asked what Bob could possibly be wanted +for.<br> + Tress explained.</p> + +<p>"I'll get him to smoke the pipe," he said.</p> + +<p>Brasher and I exchanged glances, but we refrained from +speech.</p> + +<p>"It won't do him any harm," said Tress.</p> + +<p>"What--not a poisoned pipe?" asked Brasher.</p> + +<p>"It's not poisoned--it's only drugged."</p> + +<p>"ONLY drugged!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing hurts Bob. He is like an ostrich. He has +digestive<br> + organs which are peculiarly his own. It will only serve him as +it<br> + served me--and Pugh--it will knock him over. It is all done in +the<br> + Pursuit of Truth and for the Advancement of Inquiry."</p> + +<p>I could see that Brasher did not altogether like the tone in +which<br> + Tress repeated his words. As for me, it was not to be +supposed<br> + that I should put myself out in a matter which in no way +concerned<br> + me. If Tress chose to poison the man, it was his affair, not +mine.<br> + He went to the door and shouted:</p> + +<p>"Bob! Come here, you scoundrel!"</p> + +<p>That is the way in which he speaks to him. No really +decent<br> + servant would stand it. I shouldn't care to address Nalder, +my<br> + servant, in such a way. He would give me notice on the spot. +Bob<br> + came in. He is a great hulking fellow who is always on the +grin.<br> + Tress had a decanter of brandy in his hand. He filled a +tumbler<br> + with the neat spirit.</p> + +<p>"Bob, what would you say to a glassful of brandy--the real +thing--<br> + my boy?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir."</p> + +<p>"And what would you say to a pull at a pipe when the brandy +is<br> + drunk!"</p> + +<p>"A pipe?" The fellow is sharp enough when he likes. I saw +him<br> + look at the pipe upon the table, and then at us, and then a +gleam<br> + of intelligence came into his eyes. "I'd do it for a dollar, +sir."</p> + +<p>"A dollar, you thief?"</p> + +<p>"I meant ten shillings, sir."</p> + +<p>"Ten shillings, you brazen vagabond?"</p> + +<p>"I should have said a pound."</p> + +<p>"A pound! Was ever the like of that! Do I understand you to +ask a<br> + pound for taking a pull at your master's pipe?"</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking that I'll have to make it two."</p> + +<p>"The deuce you are! Here, Pugh, lend me a pound."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I've left my purse behind."</p> + +<p>"Then lend me ten shillings--Ananias!"</p> + +<p>"I doubt if I have more than five."</p> + +<p>"Then give me the five. And, Brasher, lend me the other +fifteen."</p> + +<p>Brasher lent him the fifteen. I doubt if we shall either of +us<br> + ever see our money again. He handed the pound to Bob.</p> + +<p>"Here's the brandy--drink it up!" Bob drank it without a +word,<br> + draining the glass of every drop. "And here's the pipe."</p> + +<p>"Is it poisoned, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Poisoned, you villain! What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't the first time I've seen your tricks, sir--is it +now?<br> + And you're not the one to give a pound for nothing at all. If +it<br> + kills me you'll send my body to my mother--she'd like to know +that<br> + I was dead."</p> + +<p>"Send your body to your grandmother! You idiot, sit down +and<br> + smoke!"</p> + +<p>Bob sat down. Tress had filled the pipe, and handed it, with +a<br> + lighted match, to Bob. The fellow declined the match. He +handled<br> + the pipe very gingerly, turning it over and over, eying it with +all<br> + his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir--I'll light up myself if it's the same to you. +I<br> + carry matches of my own. It's a beautiful pipe, entirely. I +never<br> + see the like of it for ugliness. And what's the +slimy-looking<br> + varmint that looks as though it would like to have my life? Is +it<br> + living, or is it dead?"</p> + +<p>"Come, we don't want to sit here all day, my man!"</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, the look of this here pipe has quite upset my +stomach.<br> + I'd like another drop of liquor, if it's the same to you."</p> + +<p>"Another drop! Why, you've had a tumblerful already! +Here's<br> + another tumblerful to put on top of that. You won't want the +pipe<br> + to kill you--you'll be killed before you get to it."</p> + +<p>"And isn't it better to die a natural death?"</p> + +<p>Bob emptied the second tumbler of brandy as though it were +water.<br> + I believe he would empty a hogshead without turning a hair! +Then<br> + he gave another look at the pipe. Then, taking a match from +his<br> + waistcoat pocket, he drew a long breath, as though he were<br> + resigning himself to fate. Striking the match on the seat of +his<br> + trousers, while, shaded by his hand, the flame was gathering<br> + strength, he looked at each of us in turn. When he looked at +Tress<br> + I distinctly saw him wink his eye. What my feelings would +have<br> + been if a servant of mine had winked his eye at me I am unable +to<br> + imagine! The match was applied to the tobacco, a puff of +smoke<br> + came through his lips--the pipe was alight!</p> + +<p>During this process of lighting the pipe we had sat--I do not +wish<br> + to use exaggerated language, but we had sat and watched that<br> + alcoholic scamp's proceedings as though we were witnessing +an<br> + action which would leave its mark upon the age. When we saw +the<br> + pipe was lighted we gave a simultaneous start. Brasher put +his<br> + hands under his coat tails and gave a kind of hop. I raised +myself<br> + a good six inches from my chair, and Tress rubbed his palms<br> + together with a chuckle. Bob alone was calm.</p> + +<p>"Now," cried Tress, "you'll see the devil moving."</p> + +<p>Bob took the pipe from between his lips.</p> + +<p>"See what?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Bob, you rascal, put that pipe back into your mouth, and +smoke it<br> + for your life!"</p> + +<p>Bob was eying the pipe askance.</p> + +<p>"I dare say, but what I want to know is whether this here +varmint's<br> + dead or whether he isn't. I don't want to have him flying at +my<br> + nose--and he looks vicious enough for anything."</p> + +<p>"Give me back that pound, you thief, and get out of my house, +and<br> + bundle."</p> + +<p>"I ain't going to give you back no pound."</p> + +<p>"Then smoke that pipe!"</p> + +<p>"I am smoking it, ain't I?"</p> + +<p>With the utmost deliberation Bob returned the pipe to his +mouth.<br> + He emitted another whiff or two of smoke.</p> + +<p>"Now--now!" cried Tress, all excitement, and wagging his hand +in<br> + the air.</p> + +<p>We gathered round. As we did so Bob again withdrew the +pipe.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of all this here? I ain't going to have +you<br> + playing none of your larks on me. I know there's something up, +but<br> + I ain't going to throw my life away for twenty shillings--not +quite<br> + I ain't."</p> + +<p>Tress, whose temper is not at any time one of the best, was +seized<br> + with quite a spasm of rage.</p> + +<p>"As I live, my lad, if you try to cheat me by taking that pipe +from<br> + between your lips until I tell you, you leave this room that<br> + instant, never again to be a servant of mine."</p> + +<p>I presume the fellow knew from long experience when his +master<br> + meant what he said, and when he didn't. Without an attempt +at<br> + remonstrance he replaced the pipe. He continued stolidly to +puff<br> + away. Tress caught me by the arm.</p> + +<p>"What did I tell you? There--there! That tentacle is +moving."</p> + +<p>The uplifted tentacle WAS moving. It was doing what I had seen +it<br> + do, as I supposed, in my distorted imagination--it was +reaching<br> + forward. Undoubtedly Bob saw what it was doing; but, whether +in<br> + obedience to his master's commands, or whether because the drug +was<br> + already beginning to take effect, he made no movement to +withdraw<br> + the pipe. He watched the slowly advancing tentacle, coming +closer<br> + and closer toward his nose, with an expression of such +intense<br> + horror on his countenance that it became quite shocking. +Farther<br> + and farther the creature reached forward, until on a sudden, +with a<br> + sort of jerk, the movement assumed a downward direction, and +the<br> + tentacle was slowly lowered until the tip rested on the stem of +the<br> + pipe. For a moment the creature remained motionless. I was<br> + quieting my nerves with the reflection that this thing was but +some<br> + trick of the carver's art, and that what we had seen we had seen +in<br> + a sort of nightmare, when the whole hideous reptile was seized +with<br> + what seemed to be a fit of convulsive shuddering. It seemed to +be<br> + in agony. It trembled so violently that I expected to see it<br> + loosen its hold of the stem and fall to the ground. I was<br> + sufficiently master of myself to steal a glance at Bob. We had +had<br> + an inkling of what might happen. He was wholly unprepared. As +he<br> + saw that dreadful, human-looking creature, coming to life, as +it<br> + seemed, within an inch or two of his nose, his eyes dilated +to<br> + twice their usual size. I hoped, for his sake, that<br> + unconsciousness would supervene, through the action of the +drug,<br> + before through sheer fright his senses left him. Perhaps<br> + mechanically he puffed steadily on.</p> + +<p>The creature's shuddering became more violent. It appeared +to<br> + swell before our eyes. Then, just as suddenly as it began, +the<br> + shuddering ceased. There was another instant of quiescence. +Then<br> + the creature began to crawl along the stem of the pipe! It +moved<br> + with marvelous caution, the merest fraction of an inch at a +time.<br> + But still it moved! Our eyes were riveted on it with a +fascination<br> + which was absolutely nauseous. I am unpleasantly affected even +as<br> + I think of it now. My dreams of the night before had been +nothing<br> + to this.</p> + +<p><br> + Slowly, slowly, it went, nearer and nearer to the smoker's +nose.<br> + Its mode of progression was in the highest degree unsightly. +It<br> + glided, never, so far as I could see, removing its tentacles +from<br> + the stem of the pipe. It slipped its hindmost feelers onward +until<br> + they came up to those which were in advance. Then, in their +turn,<br> + it advanced those which were in front. It seemed, too, to +move<br> + with the utmost labor, shuddering as though it were in pain.</p> + +<p>We were all, for our parts, speechless. I was momentarily +hoping<br> + that the drug would take effect on Bob. Either his +constitution<br> + enabled him to offer a strong resistance to narcotics, or else +the<br> + large quantity of neat spirit which he had drunk acted--as +Tress<br> + had malevolently intended that it should--as an antidote. It<br> + seemed to me that he would NEVER succumb. On went the +creature--<br> + on, and on, in its infinitesimal progression. I was spellbound. +I<br> + would have given the world to scream, to have been able to utter +a<br> + sound. I could do nothing else but watch.</p> + +<p>The creature had reached the end of the stem. It had gained +the<br> + amber mouthpiece. It was within an inch of the smoker's +nose.<br> + Still on it went. It seemed to move with greater freedom on +the<br> + amber. It increased its rate of progress. It was actually<br> + touching the foremost feature on the smoker's countenance. I<br> + expected to see it grip the wretched Bob, when it began to<br> + oscillate from side to side. Its oscillations increased in<br> + violence. It fell to the floor. That same instant the +narcotic<br> + prevailed. Bob slipped sideways from the chair, the pipe +still<br> + held tightly between his rigid jaws.</p> + +<p>We were silent. There lay Bob. Close beside him lay the +creature.<br> + A few more inches to the left, and he would have fallen on +and<br> + squashed it flat. It had fallen on its back. Its feelers +were<br> + extended upward. They were writhing and twisting and turning +in<br> + the air.</p> + +<p>Tress was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"I think a little brandy won't be amiss." Emptying the +remainder<br> + of the brandy into a glass, he swallowed it at a draught. "Now +for<br> + a closer examination of our friend." Taking a pair of tongs +from<br> + the grate he nipped the creature between them. He deposited +it<br> + upon the table. "I rather fancy that this is a case for<br> + dissection."</p> + +<p>He took a penknife from his waistcoat pocket. Opening the +large<br> + blade, he thrust its point into the object on the table. Little +or<br> + no resistance seemed to be offered to the passage of the blade, +but<br> + as it was inserted the tentacula simultaneously began to writhe +and<br> + twist. Tress withdrew the knife.</p> + +<p>"I thought so!" He held the blade out for our inspection. +The<br> + point was covered with some viscid-looking matter. "That's +blood!<br> + The thing's alive!"</p> + +<p>"Alive!"</p> + +<p>"Alive! That's the secret of the whole performance!"</p> + +<p>"But--"</p> + +<p>"But me no buts, my Pugh! The mystery's exploded! One more +ghost<br> + is lost to the world! The person from whom I OBTAINED that +pipe<br> + was an Indian juggler--up to many tricks of the trade. He, or +some<br> + one for him, got hold of this sweet thing in reptiles--and a<br> + sweeter thing would, I imagine, be hard to find--and covered +it<br> + with some preparation of, possibly, gum arabic. He allowed this +to<br> + harden. Then he stuck the thing--still living, for those sort +of<br> + gentry are hard to kill--to the pipe. The consequence was +that<br> + when anyone lit up, the warmth was communicated to the +adhesive<br> + agent--again some preparation of gum, no doubt--it moistened +it,<br> + and the creature, with infinite difficulty, was able to move. +But<br> + I am open to lay odds with any gentleman of sporting tastes +that<br> + THIS time the creature's traveling days ARE done. It has given +me<br> + rather a larger taste of the horrors than is good for my<br> + digestion."</p> + +<p>With the aid of the tongs he removed the creature from the +table.<br> + He placed it on the hearth. Before Brasher or I had a notion +of<br> + what it was he intended to do he covered it with a heavy +marble<br> + paper weight. Then he stood upon the weight, and between the<br> + marble and the hearth he ground the creature flat.</p> + +<p>While the execution was still proceeding, Bob sat up upon +the<br> + floor.</p> + +<p>"Hollo!" he asked, "what's happened?"</p> + +<p>"We've emptied the bottle, Bob," said Tress. "But there's +another<br> + where that came from. Perhaps you could drink another +tumblerful,<br> + my boy?"</p> + +<p>Bob drank it!</p> + +<h4><br> + FOOTNOTE</h4> + +<p>"Those gentry are hard to kill." Here is fact, not +fantasy.<br> + Lizard yarns no less sensational than this Mystery Story can +be<br> + found between the covers of solemn, zoological textbooks.</p> + +<p>Reptiles, indeed, are far from finicky in the matters of +air,<br> + space, and especially warmth. Frogs and other such sluggish-<br> + blooded creatures have lived after being frozen fast in ice. +Their<br> + blood is little warmer than air or water, enjoying no extra +casing<br> + of fur or feathers.</p> + +<p><br> + Air and food seem held in light esteem by lizards. Their +blood<br> + need not be highly oxygenated; it nourishes just as well +when<br> + impure. In temperate climes lizards lie torpid and buried +all<br> + winter; some species of the tropic deserts sleep peacefully +all<br> + summer. Their anatomy includes no means for the continuous<br> + introduction and expulsion of air; reptilian lungs are little +more<br> + than closed sacs, without cell structure.</p> + +<p>If any further zoological fact were needed to verify the +denouement<br> + of "The Pipe," it might be the general statement that lizards +are<br> + abnormal brutes anyhow. Consider the chameleons of unsettled +hue.<br> + And what is one to think of an animal which, when captured by +the<br> + tail, is able to make its escape by willfully shuffling off +that<br> + appendage?--EDITOR.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>The Puzzle</h2> + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p><br> + Pugh came into my room holding something wrapped in a piece +of<br> + brown paper.</p> + +<p>"Tress, I have brought you something on which you may exercise +your<br> + ingenuity." He began, with exasperating deliberation, to untie +the<br> + string which bound his parcel; he is one of those persons who +would<br> + not cut a knot to save their lives. The process occupied him +the<br> + better part of a quarter of an hour. Then he held out the +contents<br> + of the paper.</p> + +<p><br> + "What do you think of that?" he asked. I thought nothing of +it,<br> + and I told him so. "I was prepared for that confession. I +have<br> + noticed, Tress, that you generally do think nothing of an +article<br> + which really deserves the attention of a truly thoughtful +mind.<br> + Possibly, as you think so little of it, you will be able to +solve<br> + the puzzle."</p> + +<p>I took what he held out to me. It was an oblong box, perhaps +seven<br> + inches long by three inches broad.</p> + +<p>"Where's the puzzle?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"If you will examine the lid of the box, you will see." I +turned<br> + it over and over; it was difficult to see which was the lid. +Then<br> + I perceived that on one side were printed these words:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><br> + "PUZZLE: TO OPEN THE BOX"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><br> + The words were so faintly printed that it was not surprising +that I<br> + had not noticed them at first. Pugh explained.</p> + +<p><br> + "I observed that box on a tray outside a second-hand +furniture<br> + shop. It struck my eye. I took it up. I examined it. I +inquired<br> + of the proprietor of the shop in what the puzzle lay. He +replied<br> + that that was more than he could tell me. He himself had +made<br> + several attempts to open the box, and all of them had failed. +I<br> + purchased it. I took it home. I have tried, and I have failed. +I<br> + am aware, Tress, of how you pride yourself upon your ingenuity. +I<br> + cannot doubt that, if you try, you will not fail."</p> + +<p>While Pugh was prosing, I was examining the box. It was at +least<br> + well made. It weighed certainly under two ounces. I struck +it<br> + with my knuckles; it sounded hollow. There was no hinge; +nothing<br> + of any kind to show that it ever had been opened, or, for +the<br> + matter of that, that it ever could be opened. The more I +examined<br> + the thing, the more it whetted my curiosity. That it could +be<br> + opened, and in some ingenious manner, I made no doubt--but +how?</p> + +<p>The box was not a new one. At a rough guess I should say that +it<br> + had been a box for a good half century; there were certain signs +of<br> + age about it which could not escape a practiced eye. Had it<br> + remained unopened all that time? When opened, what would be +found<br> + inside? It SOUNDED hollow; probably nothing at all--who +could<br> + tell?</p> + +<p>It was formed of small pieces of inlaid wood. Several woods +had<br> + been used; some of them were strange to me. They were of +different<br> + colors; it was pretty obvious that they must all of them have +been<br> + hard woods. The pieces were of various shapes--hexagonal,<br> + octagonal, triangular, square, oblong, and even circular. +The<br> + process of inlaying them had been beautifully done. So nicely +had<br> + the parts been joined that the lines of meeting were difficult +to<br> + discover with the naked eye; they had been joined solid, so +to<br> + speak. It was an excellent example of marquetry. I had been +over-<br> + hasty in my deprecation; I owed as much to Pugh.</p> + +<p>"This box of yours is better worth looking at than I first<br> + supposed. Is it to be sold?"</p> + +<p>"No, it is not to be sold. Nor"--he "fixed" me with his<br> + spectacles--"is it to be given away. I have brought it to you +for<br> + the simple purpose of ascertaining if you have ingenuity enough +to<br> + open it."</p> + +<p>"I will engage to open it in two seconds--with a hammer."</p> + +<p>"I dare say. I will open it with a hammer. The thing is to +open<br> + it without."</p> + +<p>"Let me see." I began, with the aid of a microscope, to +examine<br> + the box more closely. "I will give you one piece of +information,<br> + Pugh. Unless I am mistaken, the secret lies in one of these +little<br> + pieces of inlaid wood. You push it, or you press it, or +something,<br> + and the whole affair flies open."</p> + +<p>"Such was my own first conviction. I am not so sure of it now. +I<br> + have pressed every separate piece of wood; I have tried to +move<br> + each piece in every direction. No result has followed. My +theory<br> + was a hidden spring."</p> + +<p>"But there must be a hidden spring of some sort, unless you +are to<br> + open it by a mere exercise of force. I suppose the box is +empty."</p> + +<p>"I thought it was at first, but now I am not so sure of +that<br> + either. It all depends on the position in which you hold it. +Hold<br> + it in this position--like this--close to your ear. Have you +a<br> + small hammer?" I took a small hammer. "Tap it softly, with +the<br> + hammer. Don't you notice a sort of reverberation within?"</p> + +<p>Pugh was right, there certainly was something within; +something<br> + which seemed to echo back my tapping, almost as if it were a +living<br> + thing. I mentioned this, to Pugh.</p> + +<p>"But you don't think that there is something alive inside the +box?<br> + There can't be. The box must be airtight, probably as much +air-<br> + tight as an exhausted receiver."</p> + +<p>"How do we know that? How can we tell that no minute +interstices<br> + have been left for the express purpose of ventilation?" I<br> + continued tapping with the hammer. I noticed one peculiarity, +that<br> + it was only when I held the box in a particular position, +and<br> + tapped at a certain spot, there came the answering taps from<br> + within. "I tell you what it is, Pugh, what I hear is the<br> + reverberation of some machinery."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of it."</p> + +<p>"Give the box to me." Pugh put the box to his ear. He +tapped.<br> + "It sounds to me like the echoing tick, tick of some great +beetle;<br> + like the sort of noise which a deathwatch makes, you know."</p> + +<p>Trust Pugh to find a remarkable explanation for a simple fact; +if<br> + the explanation leans toward the supernatural, so much the +more<br> + satisfactory to Pugh. I knew better.</p> + +<p>"The sound which you hear is merely the throbbing or the +trembling<br> + of the mechanism with which it is intended that the box should +be<br> + opened. The mechanism is placed just where you are tapping it +with<br> + the hammer. Every tap causes it to jar."</p> + +<p>"It sounds to me like the ticking of a deathwatch. However, +on<br> + such subjects, Tress, I know what you are."</p> + +<p>"My dear Pugh, give it an extra hard tap, and you will +see."</p> + +<p>He gave it an extra hard tap. The moment he had done so, +he<br> + started.</p> + +<p>"I've done it now."</p> + +<p>"What have you done?"</p> + +<p>"Broken something, I fancy." He listened intently, with his +ear to<br> + the box. "No--it seems all right. And yet I could have sworn +I<br> + had damaged something; I heard it smash."</p> + +<p>"Give me the box." He gave it me. In my turn, I listened. +I<br> + shook the box. Pugh must have been mistaken. Nothing +rattled;<br> + there was not a sound; the box was as empty as before. I gave +a<br> + smart tap with the hammer, as Pugh had done. Then there +certainly<br> + was a curious sound. To my ear, it sounded like the smashing +of<br> + glass. "I wonder if there is anything fragile inside your +precious<br> + puzzle, Pugh, and, if so, if we are shivering it by +degrees?"</p> + +<h3><br> + II</h3> + +<p><br> + "What IS that noise?"</p> + +<p>I lay in bed in that curious condition which is between sleep +and<br> + waking. When, at last, I KNEW that I was awake, I asked +myself<br> + what it was that had woke me. Suddenly I became conscious +that<br> + something was making itself audible in the silence of the +night.<br> + For some seconds I lay and listened. Then I sat up in bed.</p> + +<p><br> + "What IS that noise?"</p> + +<p>It was like the tick, tick of some large and unusually +clear-toned<br> + clock. It might have been a clock, had it not been that the +sound<br> + was varied, every half dozen ticks or so, by a sort of +stifled<br> + screech, such as might have been uttered by some small creature +in<br> + an extremity of anguish. I got out of bed; it was ridiculous +to<br> + think of sleep during the continuation of that uncanny +shrieking.<br> + I struck a light. The sound seemed to come from the +neighborhood<br> + of my dressing-table. I went to the dressing-table, the +lighted<br> + match in my hand, and, as I did so, my eyes fell on Pugh's<br> + mysterious box. That same instant there issued, from the bowels +of<br> + the box, a more uncomfortable screech than any I had +previously<br> + heard. It took me so completely by surprise that I let the +match<br> + fall from my hand to the floor. The room was in darkness. I<br> + stood, I will not say trembling, listening--considering +their<br> + volume--to the EERIEST shrieks I ever heard. All at once +they<br> + ceased. Then came the tick, tick, tick again. I struck +another<br> + match and lit the gas.</p> + +<p>Pugh had left his puzzle box behind him. We had done all we +could,<br> + together, to solve the puzzle. He had left it behind to see what +I<br> + could do with it alone. So much had it engrossed my attention +that<br> + I had even brought it into my bedroom, in order that I +might,<br> + before retiring to rest, make a final attempt at the solution +of<br> + the mystery. NOW what possessed the thing?</p> + +<p>As I stood, and looked, and listened, one thing began to be +clear<br> + to me, that some sort of machinery had been set in motion +inside<br> + the box. How it had been set in motion was another matter. +But<br> + the box had been subjected to so much handling, to such +pressing<br> + and such hammering, that it was not strange if, after all, Pugh +or<br> + I had unconsciously hit upon the spring which set the whole +thing<br> + going. Possibly the mechanism had got so rusty that it had +refused<br> + to act at once. It had hung fire, and only after some hours +had<br> + something or other set the imprisoned motive power free.</p> + +<p>But what about the screeching? Could there be some living +creature<br> + concealed within the box? Was I listening to the cries of +some<br> + small animal in agony? Momentary reflection suggested that +the<br> + explanation of the one thing was the explanation of the +other.<br> + Rust!--there was the mystery. The same rust which had +prevented<br> + the mechanism from acting at once was causing the screeching +now.<br> + The uncanny sounds were caused by nothing more nor less than +the<br> + want of a drop or two of oil. Such an explanation would not +have<br> + satisfied Pugh, it satisfied me.</p> + +<p>Picking up the box, I placed it to my ear.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how long this little performance is going to +continue.<br> + And what is going to happen when it is good enough to cease? +I<br> + hope"--an uncomfortable thought occurred to me--"I hope Pugh +hasn't<br> + picked up some pleasant little novelty in the way of an +infernal<br> + machine. It would be a first-rate joke if he and I had been<br> + endeavoring to solve the puzzle of how to set it going."</p> + +<p>I don't mind owning that as this reflection crossed my mind +I<br> + replaced Pugh's puzzle on the dressing-table. The idea did +not<br> + commend itself to me at all. The box evidently contained +some<br> + curious mechanism. It might be more curious than +comfortable.<br> + Possibly some agreeable little device in clockwork. The +tick,<br> + tick, tick suggested clockwork which had been planned to go +a<br> + certain time, and then--then, for all I knew, ignite an +explosive,<br> + and--blow up. It would be a charming solution to the puzzle if +it<br> + were to explode while I stood there, in my nightshirt, looking +on.<br> + It is true that the box weighed very little. Probably, as I +have<br> + said, the whole affair would not have turned the scale at a +couple<br> + of ounces. But then its very lightness might have been part of +the<br> + ingenious inventor's little game. There are explosives with +which<br> + one can work a very satisfactory amount of damage with +considerably<br> + less than a couple of ounces.</p> + +<p>While I was hesitating--I own it!--whether I had not better +immerse<br> + Pugh's puzzle in a can of water, or throw it out of the window, +or<br> + call down Bob with a request to at once remove it to his +apartment,<br> + both the tick, tick, tick, and the screeching ceased, and +all<br> + within the box was still. If it WAS going to explode, it was +now<br> + or never. Instinctively I moved in the direction of the +door.</p> + +<p>I waited with a certain sense of anxiety. I waited in +vain.<br> + Nothing happened, not even a renewal of the sound.</p> + +<p>"I wish Pugh had kept his precious puzzle at home. This sort +of<br> + thing tries one's nerves."</p> + +<p>When I thought that I perceived that nothing seemed likely +to<br> + happen, I returned to the neighborhood of the table. I looked +at<br> + the box askance. I took it up gingerly. Something might go off +at<br> + any moment for all I knew. It would be too much of a joke if<br> + Pugh's precious puzzle exploded in my hand. I shook it +doubtfully;<br> + nothing rattled. I held it to my ear. There was not a sound.<br> + What had taken place? Had the clockwork run down, and was +the<br> + machine arranged with such a diabolical ingenuity that a +certain<br> + interval was required, after the clockwork had run down, before +an<br> + explosion could occur? Or had rust caused the mechanism to +again<br> + hang fire?</p> + +<p>"After making all that commotion the thing might at least +come<br> + open." I banged the box viciously against the corner of the +table.<br> + I felt that I would almost rather that an explosion should +take<br> + place than that nothing should occur. One does not care to +be<br> + disturbed from one's sound slumber in the small hours of the<br> + morning for a trifle.</p> + +<p>"I've half a mind to get a hammer, and try, as they say in +the<br> + cookery books, another way."</p> + +<p>Unfortunately I had promised Pugh to abstain from using force. +I<br> + might have shivered the box open with my hammer, and then +explained<br> + that it had fallen, or got trod upon, or sat upon, or +something,<br> + and so got shattered, only I was afraid that Pugh would not +believe<br> + me. The man is himself such an untruthful man that he is in +a<br> + chronic state of suspicion about the truthfulness of others.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you're not going to blow up, or open, or something, +I'll<br> + say good night."</p> + +<p>I gave the box a final rap with my knuckles and a final +shake,<br> + replaced it on the table, put out the gas, and returned to +bed.</p> + +<p>I was just sinking again into slumber, when that box began +again.<br> + It was true that Pugh had purchased the puzzle, but it was +evident<br> + that the whole enjoyment of the purchase was destined to be +mine.<br> + It was useless to think of sleep while that performance was +going<br> + on. I sat up in bed once more.</p> + +<p>"It strikes me that the puzzle consists in finding out how it +is<br> + possible to go to sleep with Pugh's purchase in your bedroom. +This<br> + is far better than the old-fashioned prescription of cats on +the<br> + tiles."</p> + +<p>It struck me the noise was distinctly louder than before; +this<br> + applied both to the tick, tick, tick, and the screeching.</p> + +<p>"Possibly," I told myself, as I relighted the gas, "the +explosion<br> + is to come off this time."</p> + +<p>I turned to look at the box. There could be no doubt about it; +the<br> + noise was louder. And, if I could trust my eyes, the box was<br> + moving--giving a series of little jumps. This might have been +an<br> + optical delusion, but it seemed to me that at each tick the +box<br> + gave a little bound. During the screeches--which sounded more +like<br> + the cries of an animal in an agony of pain even than before--if +it<br> + did not tilt itself first on one end, and then on another, I +shall<br> + never be willing to trust the evidence of my own eyes again. +And<br> + surely the box had increased in size; I could have sworn not +only<br> + that it had increased, but that it was increasing, even as I +stood<br> + there looking on. It had grown, and still was growing, both<br> + broader, and longer, and deeper. Pugh, of course, would have<br> + attributed it to supernatural agency; there never was a man +with<br> + such a nose for a ghost. I could picture him occupying my<br> + position, shivering in his nightshirt, as he beheld that +miracle<br> + taking place before his eyes. The solution which at once +suggested<br> + itself to me--and which would NEVER have suggested itself to +Pugh!--<br> + was that the box was fashioned, as it were, in layers, and +that<br> + the ingenious mechanism it contained was forcing the sides at +once<br> + both upward and outward. I took it in my hand. I could feel<br> + something striking against the bottom of the box, like the +tap,<br> + tap, tapping of a tiny hammer.</p> + +<p>"This is a pretty puzzle of Pugh's. He would say that that is +the<br> + tapping of a deathwatch. For my part I have not much faith +in<br> + deathwatches, et hoc genus omne, but it certainly is a +curious<br> + tapping; I wonder what is going to happen next?"</p> + +<p>Apparently nothing, except a continuation of those +mysterious<br> + sounds. That the box had increased in size I had, and have, +no<br> + doubt whatever. I should say that it had increased a good inch +in<br> + every direction, at least half an inch while I had been looking +on.<br> + But while I stood looking its growth was suddenly and +perceptibly<br> + stayed; it ceased to move. Only the noise continued.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how long it will be before anything worth happening +does<br> + happen! I suppose something is going to happen; there can't be +all<br> + this to-do for nothing. If it is anything in the infernal +machine<br> + line, and there is going to be an explosion, I might as well +be<br> + here to see it. I think I'll have a pipe."</p> + +<p>I put on my dressing-gown. I lit my pipe. I sat and stared at +the<br> + box. I dare say I sat there for quite twenty minutes when, +as<br> + before, without any sort of warning, the sound was stilled. +Its<br> + sudden cessation rather startled me.</p> + +<p>"Has the mechanism again hung fire? Or, this time, is the<br> + explosion coming off?" It did not come off; nothing came +off.<br> + "Isn't the box even going to open?"</p> + +<p>It did not open. There was simply silence all at once, and +that<br> + was all. I sat there in expectation for some moments longer. +But<br> + I sat for nothing. I rose. I took the box in my hand. I +shook<br> + it.</p> + +<p>"This puzzle IS a puzzle." I held the box first to one ear, +then<br> + to the other. I gave it several sharp raps with my knuckles.<br> + There was not an answering sound, not even the sort of<br> + reverberation which Pugh and I had noticed at first. It +seemed<br> + hollower than ever. It was as though the soul of the box was +dead.<br> + "I suppose if I put you down, and extinguish the gas and return +to<br> + bed, in about half an hour or so, just as I am dropping off +to<br> + sleep, the performance will be recommenced. Perhaps the third +time<br> + will be lucky."</p> + +<p>But I was mistaken--there was no third time. When I returned +to<br> + bed that time I returned to sleep, and I was allowed to +sleep;<br> + there was no continuation of the performance, at least so far as +I<br> + know. For no sooner was I once more between the sheets than I +was<br> + seized with an irresistible drowsiness, a drowsiness which +so<br> + mastered me that I--I imagine it must have been +instantly--sank<br> + into slumber which lasted till long after day had dawned. +Whether<br> + or not any more mysterious sounds issued from the bowels of +Pugh's<br> + puzzle is more than I can tell. If they did, they did not +succeed<br> + in rousing me.</p> + +<p>And yet, when at last I did awake, I had a sort of +consciousness<br> + that my waking had been caused by something strange. What it was +I<br> + could not surmise. My own impression was that I had been +awakened<br> + by the touch of a person's hand. But that impression must +have<br> + been a mistaken one, because, as I could easily see by +looking<br> + round the room, there was no one in the room to touch me.</p> + +<p>It was broad daylight. I looked at my watch; it was nearly +eleven<br> + o'clock. I am a pretty late sleeper as a rule, but I do not<br> + usually sleep as late as that. That scoundrel Bob would let +me<br> + sleep all day without thinking it necessary to call me. I was +just<br> + about to spring out of bed with the intention of ringing the +bell<br> + so that I might give Bob a piece of my mind for allowing me +to<br> + sleep so late, when my glance fell on the dressing-table on +which,<br> + the night before, I had placed Pugh's puzzle. It had gone!</p> + +<p>Its absence so took me by surprise that I ran to the table. It +HAD<br> + gone. But it had not gone far; it had gone to pieces! There +were<br> + the pieces lying where the box had been. The puzzle had +solved<br> + itself. The box was open, open with a vengeance, one might +say.<br> + Like that unfortunate Humpty Dumpty, who, so the chroniclers +tell<br> + us, sat on a wall, surely "all the king's horses and all the +king's<br> + men" never could put Pugh's puzzle together again!</p> + +<p>The marquetry had resolved itself into its component parts. +How<br> + those parts had ever been joined was a mystery. They had been +laid<br> + upon no foundation, as is the case with ordinary inlaid work. +The<br> + several pieces of wood were not only of different shapes and +sizes,<br> + but they were as thin as the thinnest veneer; yet the box had +been<br> + formed by simply joining them together. The man who made that +box<br> + must have been possessed of ingenuity worthy of a better +cause.</p> + +<p>I perceived how the puzzle had been worked. The box had +contained<br> + an arrangement of springs, which, on being released, had +expanded<br> + themselves in different directions until their mere expansion +had<br> + rent the box to pieces. There were the springs, lying amid +the<br> + ruin they had caused.</p> + +<p>There was something else amid that ruin besides those +springs;<br> + there was a small piece of writing paper. I took it up. On +the<br> + reverse side of it was written in a minute, crabbed hand: "A<br> + Present For You." What was a present for me? I looked, and, +not<br> + for the first time since I had caught sight of Pugh's +precious<br> + puzzle, could scarcely believe my eyes.</p> + +<p>There, poised between two upright wires, the bent ends of +which<br> + held it aloft in the air, was either a piece of glass or--a<br> + crystal. The scrap of writing paper had exactly covered it. +I<br> + understood what it was, when Pugh and I had tapped with the +hammer,<br> + had caused the answering taps to proceed from within. Our +taps<br> + caused the wires to oscillate, and in these oscillations the<br> + crystal, which they held suspended, had touched the side of +the<br> + box.</p> + +<p>I looked again at the piece of paper. "A Present For You." +Was<br> + THIS the present--this crystal? I regarded it intently.</p> + +<p>"It CAN'T be a diamond."</p> + +<p>The idea was ridiculous, absurd. No man in his senses would +place<br> + a diamond inside a twopenny-halfpenny puzzle box. The thing was +as<br> + big as a walnut! And yet--I am a pretty good judge of +precious<br> + stones--if it was not an uncut diamond it was the best imitation +I<br> + had seen. I took it up. I examined it closely. The more +closely<br> + I examined it, the more my wonder grew.</p> + +<p>"It IS a diamond!"</p> + +<p>And yet the idea was too preposterous for credence. Who +would<br> + present a diamond as big as a walnut with a trumpery puzzle?<br> + Besides, all the diamonds which the world contains of that size +are<br> + almost as well known as the Koh-i-noor.</p> + +<p>"If it is a diamond, it is worth--it is worth--Heaven only +knows<br> + what it isn't worth if it's a diamond."</p> + +<p>I regarded it through a strong pocket lens. As I did so I +could<br> + not restrain an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"The world to a China orange, it IS a diamond!"</p> + +<p>The words had scarcely escaped my lips than there came a +tapping at<br> + the door.</p> + +<p>"Come in!" I cried, supposing it was Bob. It was not Bob, it +was<br> + Pugh. Instinctively I put the lens and the crystal behind my +back.<br> + At sight of me in my nightshirt Pugh began to shake his +head.</p> + +<p>"What hours, Tress, what hours! Why, my dear Tress, I've<br> + breakfasted, read the papers and my letters, came all the way +from<br> + my house here, and you're not up!"</p> + +<p>"Don't I look as though I were up?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Tress! Tress!" He approached the dressing-table. His +eye<br> + fell upon the ruins. "What's this?"</p> + +<p>"That's the solution to the puzzle."</p> + +<p>"Have you--have you solved it fairly, Tress?"</p> + +<p>"It has solved itself. Our handling, and tapping, and +hammering<br> + must have freed the springs which the box contained, and during +the<br> + night, while I slept, they have caused it to come open."</p> + +<p>"While you slept? Dear me! How strange! And--what are +these?"</p> + +<p>He had discovered the two upright wires on which the crystal +had<br> + been poised.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they're part of the puzzle."</p> + +<p>"And was there anything in the box? What's this?" he picked up +the<br> + scrap of paper; I had left it on the table. He read what was<br> + written on it: "'A Present For You.' What's it mean? Tress, +was<br> + this in the box?"</p> + +<p>"It was."</p> + +<p>"What's it mean about a present? Was there anything in the +box<br> + besides?"</p> + +<p>"Pugh, if you will leave the room I shall be able to dress; I +am<br> + not in the habit of receiving quite such early calls, or I +should<br> + have been prepared to receive you. If you will wait in the +next<br> + room, I will be with you as soon as I'm dressed. There is a +little<br> + subject in connection with the box which I wish to discuss +with<br> + you."</p> + +<p>"A subject in connection with the box? What is the +subject?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you, Pugh, when I have performed my toilet."</p> + +<p>"Why can't you tell me now?"</p> + +<p>"Do you propose, then, that I should stand here shivering in +my<br> + shirt while you are prosing at your ease? Thank you; I am +obliged,<br> + but I decline. May I ask you once more, Pugh, to wait for me +in<br> + the adjoining apartment?"</p> + +<p>He moved toward the door. When he had taken a couple of steps, +he<br> + halted.</p> + +<p>"I--I hope, Tress, that you're--you're going to play no tricks +on<br> + me?"</p> + +<p>"Tricks on you! Is it likely that I am going to play tricks +upon<br> + my oldest friend?"</p> + +<p>When he had gone--he vanished, it seemed to me, with a +somewhat<br> + doubtful visage--I took the crystal to the window. I drew +the<br> + blind. I let the sunshine fall on it. I examined it again,<br> + closely and minutely, with the aid of my pocket lens. It WAS +a<br> + diamond; there could not be a doubt of it. If, with my +knowledge<br> + of stones, I was deceived, then I was deceived as never man +had<br> + been deceived before. My heart beat faster as I recognized +the<br> + fact that I was holding in my hand what was, in all probability, +a<br> + fortune for a man of moderate desires. Of course, Pugh knew<br> + nothing of what I had discovered, and there was no reason why +he<br> + should know. Not the least! The only difficulty was that if +I<br> + kept my own counsel, and sold the stone and utilized the +proceeds<br> + of the sale, I should have to invent a story which would +account<br> + for my sudden accession to fortune. Pugh knows almost as much +of<br> + my affairs as I do myself. That is the worst of these old +friends!</p> + +<p><br> + When I joined Pugh I found him dancing up and down the floor +like a<br> + bear upon hot plates. He scarcely allowed me to put my nose +inside<br> + the door before attacking me.</p> + +<p>"Tress, give me what was in the box."</p> + +<p>"My dear Pugh, how do you know that there was something in the +box<br> + to give you?"</p> + +<p>"I know there was!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed! If you know that there was something in the box, +perhaps<br> + you will tell me what that something was."</p> + +<p>He eyed me doubtfully. Then, advancing, he laid upon my arm a +hand<br> + which positively trembled.</p> + +<p>"Tress, you--you wouldn't play tricks on an old friend."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Pugh, I wouldn't, though I believe there have +been<br> + occasions on which you have had doubts upon the subject. By +the<br> + way, Pugh, I believe that I am the oldest friend you have."</p> + +<p>"I--I don't know about that. There's--there's Brasher."</p> + +<p>"Brasher! Who's Brasher? You wouldn't compare my friendship +to<br> + the friendship of such a man as Brasher? Think of the tastes +we<br> + have in common, you and I. We're both collectors."</p> + +<p>"Ye-es, we're both collectors."</p> + +<p>"I make my interests yours, and you make your interests +mine.<br> + Isn't that so, Pugh?"</p> + +<p>"Tress, what--what was in the box?"</p> + +<p>"I will be frank with you, Pugh. If there had been something +in<br> + the box, would you have been willing to go halves with me in +my<br> + discovery?"</p> + +<p>"Go halves! In your discovery, Tress! Give me what is +mine!"</p> + +<p>"With pleasure, Pugh, if you will tell me what is yours."</p> + +<p>"If--if you don't give me what was in the box I'll--I'll send +for<br> + the police."</p> + +<p>"Do! Then I shall be able to hand to them what was in the box +in<br> + order that it may be restored to its proper owner."</p> + +<p>"Its proper owner! I'm its proper owner!"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, but I don't understand how that can be; at least, +until<br> + the police have made inquiries. I should say that the proper +owner<br> + was the person from whom you purchased the box, or, more +probably,<br> + the person from whom he purchased it, and by whom, doubtless, +it<br> + was sold in ignorance, or by mistake. Thus, Pugh, if you will +only<br> + send for the police, we shall earn the gratitude of a person +of<br> + whom we never heard in our lives--I for discovering the contents +of<br> + the box, and you for returning them."</p> + +<p>As I said this, Pugh's face was a study. He gasped for breath. +He<br> + actually took out his handkerchief to wipe his brow.</p> + +<p>"Tress, I--I don't think you need to use a tone like that to +me.<br> + It isn't friendly. What--what was in the box?"</p> + +<p>"Let us understand each other, Pugh. If you don't hand over +what<br> + was in the box to the police, I go halves."</p> + +<p>Pugh began to dance about the floor.</p> + +<p>"What a fool I was to trust you with the box! I knew I +couldn't<br> + trust you." I said nothing. I turned and rang the bell. +"What's<br> + that for?"</p> + +<p>"That, my dear Pugh, is for breakfast, and, if you desire it, +for<br> + the police. You know, although you have breakfasted, I +haven't.<br> + Perhaps while I am breaking my fast, you would like to summon +the<br> + representatives of law and order." Bob came in. I ordered<br> + breakfast. Then I turned to Pugh. "Is there anything you +would<br> + like?"</p> + +<p>"No, I--I've breakfasted."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't of breakfast I was thinking. It was of--something +else.<br> + Bob is at your service, if, for instance, you wish to send him +on<br> + an errand."</p> + +<p>"No, I want nothing. Bob can go." Bob went. Directly he +was<br> + gone, Pugh turned to me. "You shall have half. What was in +the<br> + box?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have half?"</p> + +<p>"You shall!"</p> + +<p>"I don't think it is necessary that the terms of our +little<br> + understanding should be expressly embodied in black and white. +I<br> + fancy that, under the circumstance, I can trust you, Pugh. I<br> + believe that I am capable of seeing that, in this matter, you +don't<br> + do me. That was in the box."</p> + +<p>I held out the crystal between my finger and thumb.</p> + +<p>"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"That is what I desire to learn."</p> + +<p>"Let me look at it."</p> + +<p>"You are welcome to look at it where it is. Look at it as long +as<br> + you like, and as closely."</p> + +<p>Pugh leaned over my hand. His eyes began to gleam. He is +himself<br> + not a bad judge of precious stones, is Pugh.</p> + +<p>"It's--it's--Tress!--is it a diamond?"</p> + +<p>"That question I have already asked myself."</p> + +<p>"Let me look at it! It will be safe with me! It's mine!"</p> + +<p>I immediately put the thing behind my back.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, it belongs neither to you nor to me. It belongs, +in<br> + all probability, to the person who sold that puzzle to the man +from<br> + whom you bought it--perhaps some weeping widow, Pugh, or +hopeless<br> + orphan--think of it. Let us have no further misunderstanding +upon<br> + that point, my dear old friend. Still, because you are my dear +old<br> + friend, I am willing to trust you with this discovery of mine, +on<br> + condition that you don't attempt to remove it from my sight, +and<br> + that you return it to me the moment I require you."</p> + +<p>"You're--you're very hard on me." I made a movement toward +my<br> + waistcoat pocket. "I'll return it to you!"</p> + +<p>I handed him the crystal, and with it I handed him my pocket +lens.</p> + +<p>"With the aid of that glass I imagine that you will be able +to<br> + subject it to a more acute examination, Pugh."</p> + +<p>He began to examine it through the lens. Directly he did so, +he<br> + gave an exclamation. In a few moments he looked up at me. +His<br> + eyes were glistening behind his spectacles. I could see he<br> + trembled.</p> + +<p>"Tress, it's--it's a diamond, a Brazil diamond. It's worth +a<br> + fortune!"</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you think so."</p> + +<p>"Glad I think so! Don't you think that it's a diamond?"</p> + +<p>"It appears to be a diamond. Under ordinary conditions I +should<br> + say, without hesitation, that it was a diamond. But when I<br> + consider the circumstances of its discovery, I am driven to +doubts.<br> + How much did you give for that puzzle, Pugh?"</p> + +<p>"Ninepence; the fellow wanted a shilling, but I gave him +ninepence.<br> + He seemed content."</p> + +<p>"Ninepence! Does it seem reasonable that we should find a +diamond,<br> + which, if it is a diamond, is the finest stone I ever saw +and<br> + handled, in a ninepenny puzzle? It is not as though it had +got<br> + into the thing by accident, it had evidently been placed there +to<br> + be found, and, apparently, by anyone who chanced to solve +the<br> + puzzle; witness the writing on the scrap of paper."</p> + +<p>Pugh re-examined the crystal.</p> + +<p>"It is a diamond! I'll stake my life that it's a diamond!"</p> + +<p>"Still, though it be a diamond, I smell a rat!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I strongly suspect that the person who placed that diamond +inside<br> + that puzzle intended to have a joke at the expense of the +person<br> + who discovered it. What was to be the nature of the joke is +more<br> + than I can say at present, but I should like to have a bet with +you<br> + that the man who compounded that puzzle was an ingenious +practical<br> + joker. I may be wrong, Pugh; we shall see. But, until I have<br> + proved the contrary, I don't believe that the maddest man that +ever<br> + lived would throw away a diamond worth, apparently, shall we say +a<br> + thousand pounds?"</p> + +<p>"A thousand pounds! This diamond is worth a good deal more +than a<br> + thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"Well, that only makes my case the stronger; I don't believe +that<br> + the maddest man that ever lived would throw away a diamond +worth<br> + more than a thousand pounds with such utter wantonness as seems +to<br> + have characterized the action of the original owner of the +stone<br> + which I found in your ninepenny puzzle, Pugh."</p> + +<p>"There have been some eccentric characters in the world, some +very<br> + eccentric characters. However, as you say, we shall see. I +fancy<br> + that I know somebody who would be quite willing to have such +a<br> + diamond as this, and who, moreover, would be willing to pay a +fair<br> + price for its possession; I will take it to him and see what +he<br> + says."</p> + +<p>"Pugh, hand me back that diamond."</p> + +<p>"My dear Tress, I was only going--"</p> + +<p>Bob came in with the breakfast tray.</p> + +<p>"Pugh, you will either hand me that at once, or Bob shall +summon<br> + the representatives of law and order."</p> + +<p>He handed me the diamond. I sat down to breakfast with a +hearty<br> + appetite. Pugh stood and scowled at me.</p> + +<p>"Joseph Tress, it is my solemn conviction, and I have no +hesitation<br> + in saying so in plain English, that you're a thief."</p> + +<p>"My dear Pugh, it seems to me that we show every promise +of<br> + becoming a couple of thieves."</p> + +<p>"Don't bracket me with you!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, you are worse than I. It is you who decline to +return<br> + the contents of the box to its proper owner. Put it to +yourself,<br> + you have SOME common sense, my dear old friend I--do you +suppose<br> + that a diamond worth more than a thousand pounds is to be +HONESTLY<br> + bought for ninepence?"</p> + +<p>He resumed his old trick of dancing about the room.</p> + +<p>"I was a fool ever to let you have the box! I ought to have +known<br> + better than to have trusted you; goodness knows you have given +me<br> + sufficient cause to mistrust you! Over and over again! Your<br> + character is only too notorious! You have plundered friend and +foe<br> + alike--friend and foe alike! As for the rubbish which you +call<br> + your collection, nine tenths of it, I know as a positive fact, +you<br> + have stolen out and out."</p> + +<p>"Who stole my Sir Walter Raleigh pipe? Wasn't it a man +named<br> + Pugh?"</p> + +<p>"Look here, Joseph Tress!"</p> + +<p>"I'm looking."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's no good talking to you, not the least! +You're--you're<br> + dead to all the promptings of conscience! May I inquire, Mr.<br> + Tress, what it is you propose to do?"</p> + +<p>"I PROPOSE to do nothing, except summon the representatives of +law<br> + and order. Failing that, my dear Pugh, I had some faint, +vague,<br> + very vague idea of taking the contents of your ninepenny puzzle +to<br> + a certain firm in Hatton Garden, who are dealers in precious<br> + stones, and to learn from them if they are disposed to give<br> + anything for it, and if so, what."</p> + +<p>"I shall come with you."</p> + +<p>"With pleasure, on condition that you pay the cab."</p> + +<p>"I pay the cab! I will pay half."</p> + +<p>"Not at all. You will either pay the whole fare, or else I +will<br> + have one cab and you shall have another. It is a +three-shilling<br> + cab fare from here to Hatton Garden. If you propose to share +my<br> + cab, you will be so good as to hand over that three +shillings<br> + before we start."</p> + +<p>He gasped, but he handed over the three shillings. There are +few<br> + things I enjoy so much as getting money out of Pugh!</p> + +<p>On the road to Hatton Garden we wrangled nearly all the way. I +own<br> + that I feel a certain satisfaction in irritating Pugh, he is +such<br> + an irritable man. He wanted to know what I thought we should +get<br> + for the diamond.</p> + +<p>"You can't expect to get much for the contents of a +ninepenny<br> + puzzle, not even the price of a cab fare, Pugh."</p> + +<p>He eyed me, but for some minutes he was silent. Then he +began<br> + again.</p> + +<p>"Tress, I don't think we ought to let it go for less +than--than<br> + five thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"Seriously, Pugh, I doubt whether, when the whole affair is +ended,<br> + we shall get five thousand pence for it, or, for the matter +of<br> + that, five thousand farthings."</p> + +<p>"But why not? Why not? It's a magnificent +stone--magnificent!<br> + I'll stake my life on it."</p> + +<p>I tapped my breast with the tips of my fingers.</p> + +<p>"There's a warning voice within my breast that ought to be +in<br> + yours, Pugh! Something tells me, perhaps it is the unusually<br> + strong vein of common sense which I possess, that the contents +of<br> + your ninepenny puzzle will be found to be a magnificent +do--an<br> + ingenious practical joke, my friend."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it."</p> + +<p>But I think he did; at any rate, I had unsettled the +foundations of<br> + his faith.</p> + +<p>We entered the Hatton Garden office side by side; in his +anxiety<br> + not to let me get before him, Pugh actually clung to my arm. +The<br> + office was divided into two parts by a counter which ran from +wall<br> + to wall. I advanced to a man who stood on the other side of +this<br> + counter.</p> + +<p><br> + "I want to sell you a diamond."</p> + +<p>"WE want to sell you a diamond," interpolated Pugh.</p> + +<p>I turned to Pugh. I "fixed" him with my glance.</p> + +<p>"I want to sell you a diamond. Here it is. What will you give +me<br> + for it?"</p> + +<p>Taking the crystal from my waistcoat pocket I handed it to the +man<br> + on the other side of the counter. Directly he got it between +his<br> + fingers, and saw that it was that he had got, I noticed a +sudden<br> + gleam come into his eyes.</p> + +<p>"This is--this is rather a fine stone."</p> + +<p>Pugh nudged my arm.</p> + +<p>"I told you so." I paid no attention to Pugh. "What will you +give<br> + me for it?"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean, what will I give you for it cash down upon the +nail?"</p> + +<p>"Just so--what will you give me for it cash down upon the +nail?"</p> + +<p>The man turned the crystal over and over in his fingers. +"Well,<br> + that's rather a large order. We don't often get a chance of +buying<br> + such a stone as this across the counter. What do you say +to--well--<br> + to ten thousand pounds?"</p> + +<p>Ten thousand pounds! It was beyond my wildest imaginings. +Pugh<br> + gasped. He lurched against the counter.</p> + +<p>"Ten thousand pounds!" he echoed.</p> + +<p>The man on the other side glanced at him, I thought, a +little<br> + curiously.</p> + +<p>"If you can give me references, or satisfy me in any way as to +your<br> + bona fides, I am prepared to give you for this diamond an +open<br> + check for ten thousand pounds, or if you prefer it, the cash<br> + instead."</p> + +<p>I stared; I was not accustomed to see business transacted on +quite<br> + such lines as those.</p> + +<p>"We'll take it," murmured Pugh; I believe he was too much +overcome<br> + by his feelings to do more than murmur. I interposed.</p> + +<p>"My dear sir, you will excuse my saying that you arrive +very<br> + rapidly at your conclusions. In the first place, how can you +make<br> + sure that it is a diamond?"</p> + +<p>The man behind the counter smiled.</p> + +<p>"I should be very ill-fitted for the position which I hold if +I<br> + could not tell a diamond directly I get a sight of it, +especially<br> + such a stone as this."</p> + +<p>"But have you no tests you can apply?"</p> + +<p>"We have tests which we apply in cases in which doubt exists, +but<br> + in this case there is no doubt whatever. I am as sure that this +is<br> + a diamond as I am sure that it is air I breathe. However, here +is<br> + a test."</p> + +<p>There was a wheel close by the speaker. It was worked by a<br> + treadle. It was more like a superior sort of +traveling-tinker's<br> + grindstone than anything else. The man behind the counter put +his<br> + foot upon the treadle. The wheel began to revolve. He brought +the<br> + crystal into contact with the swiftly revolving wheel. There was +a<br> + s--s--sh! And, in an instant, his hand was empty; the crystal +had<br> + vanished into air.</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" he gasped. I never saw such a look of +amazement on<br> + a human countenance before. "It's splintered!"</p> + +<h3><br> + POSTSCRIPT</h3> + +<p><br> + It WAS a diamond, although it HAD splintered. In that fact lay +the<br> + point of the joke. The man behind the counter had not been +wrong;<br> + examination of such dust as could be collected proved that +fact<br> + beyond a doubt. It was declared by experts that the diamond, +at<br> + some period of its history, had been subjected to intense +and<br> + continuing heat. The result had been to make it as brittle +as<br> + glass.</p> + +<p><br> + There could be no doubt that its original owner had been an +expert<br> + too. He knew where he got it from, and he probably knew what +it<br> + had endured. He was aware that, from a mercantile point of +view,<br> + it was worthless; it could never have been cut. So, having a +turn<br> + for humor of a peculiar kind, he had devoted days, and weeks, +and<br> + possibly months, to the construction of that puzzle. He had +placed<br> + the diamond inside, and he had enjoyed, in anticipation and +in<br> + imagination, the Alnaschar visions of the lucky finder.</p> + +<p>Pugh blamed me for the catastrophe. He said, and still says, +that<br> + if I had not, in a measure, and quite gratuitously, insisted on +a<br> + test, the man behind the counter would have been satisfied with +the<br> + evidence of his organs of vision, and we should have been richer +by<br> + ten thousand pounds. But I satisfy my conscience with the<br> + reflection that what I did at any rate was honest, though, at +the<br> + same time, I am perfectly well aware that such a reflection +gives<br> + Pugh no sort of satisfaction.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>The Great Valdez Sapphire</h2> + +<p><br> + I know more about it than anyone else in the world, its +present<br> + owner not excepted. I can give its whole history, from the<br> + Cingalese who found it, the Spanish adventurer who stole it, +the<br> + cardinal who bought it, the Pope who graciously accepted it, +the<br> + favored son of the Church who received it, the gay and giddy<br> + duchess who pawned it, down to the eminent prelate who now holds +it<br> + in trust as a family heirloom.</p> + +<p><br> + It will occupy a chapter to itself in my forthcoming work on<br> + "Historic Stones," where full details of its weight, size, +color,<br> + and value may be found. At present I am going to relate an<br> + incident in its history which, for obvious reasons, will not +be<br> + published--which, in fact, I trust the reader will consider +related<br> + in strict confidence.</p> + +<p>I had never seen the stone itself when I began to write about +it,<br> + and it was not till one evening last spring, while staying with +my<br> + nephew, Sir Thomas Acton, that I came within measurable distance +of<br> + it. A dinner party was impending, and, at my instigation, +the<br> + Bishop of Northchurch and Miss Panton, his daughter and +heiress,<br> + were among the invited guests.</p> + +<p>The dinner was a particularly good one, I remember that +distinctly.<br> + In fact, I felt myself partly responsible for it, having +engaged<br> + the new cook--a talented young Italian, pupil of the admirable +old<br> + chef at my club. We had gone over the menu carefully +together,<br> + with a result refreshing in its novelty, but not so daring as +to<br> + disturb the minds of the innocent country guests who were +bidden<br> + thereto.</p> + +<p>The first spoonful of soup was reassuring, and I looked to the +end<br> + of the table to exchange a congratulatory glance with Leta. +What<br> + was amiss? No response. Her pretty face was flushed, her +smile<br> + constrained, she was talking with quite unnecessary empressement +to<br> + her neighbor, Sir Harry Landor, though Leta is one of those +few<br> + women who understand the importance of letting a man settle +down<br> + tranquilly and with an undisturbed mind to the business of +dining,<br> + allowing no topic of serious interest to come on before the<br> + releves, and reserving mere conversational brilliancy for +the<br> + entremets.</p> + +<p>Guests all right? No disappointments? I had gone through the +list<br> + with her, selecting just the right people to be asked to meet +the<br> + Landors, our new neighbors. Not a mere cumbrous county +gathering,<br> + nor yet a showy imported party from town, but a skillful +blending<br> + of both. Had anything happened already? I had been late for<br> + dinner and missed the arrivals in the drawing-room. It was +Leta's<br> + fault. She has got into a way of coming into my room and +putting<br> + the last touches to my toilet. I let her, for I am doubtful +of<br> + myself nowadays after many years' dependence on the best of +valets.<br> + Her taste is generally beyond dispute, but to-day she had +indulged<br> + in a feminine vagary that provoked me and made me late for +dinner.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to wear your sapphire, Uncle Paul!" she cried +in a<br> + tone of dismay. "Oh, why not the ruby?"</p> + +<p>"You WOULD have your way about the table decorations," I +gently<br> + reminded her. "with that service of Crown Derby repousse and<br> + orchids, the ruby would look absolutely barbaric. Now if you +would<br> + have had the Limoges set, white candles, and a yellow silk +center--"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but--I'm SO disappointed--I wanted the bishop to see +your<br> + ruby--or one of your engraved gems--"</p> + +<p>"My dear, it is on the bishop's account I put this on. You +know<br> + his daughter is heiress of the great Valdez sapphire--"</p> + +<p>"Of course she is, and when he has the charge of a stone +three<br> + times as big as yours, what's the use of wearing it? The +ruby,<br> + dear Uncle Paul, PLEASE!"</p> + +<p>She was desperately in earnest I could see, and considering +the<br> + obligations which I am supposed to be under to her and Tom, it +was<br> + but a little matter to yield, but it involved a good deal of +extra<br> + trouble. Studs, sleeve-links, watch-guard, all carefully +selected<br> + to go with the sapphire, had to be changed, the emerald which +I<br> + chose as a compromise requiring more florid accompaniments of +a<br> + deeper tone of gold; and the dinner hour struck as I replaced +my<br> + jewel case, the one relic left me of a once handsome fortune, in +my<br> + fireproof safe.</p> + +<p>The emerald looked very well that evening, however. I kept my +eyes<br> + upon it for comfort when Miss Panton proved trying.</p> + +<p>She was a lean, yellow, dictatorial young person with no<br> + conversation. I spoke of her father's celebrated sapphires. +"MY<br> + sapphires," she amended sourly; "though I am legally debarred +from<br> + making any profitable use of them." She furthermore informed +me<br> + that she viewed them as useless gauds, which ought to be +disposed<br> + of for the benefit of the heathen. I gave the subject up, +and<br> + while she discoursed of the work of the Blue Ribbon Army among +the<br> + Bosjesmans I tried to understand a certain dislocation in +the<br> + arrangement of the table. Surely we were more or less in +number<br> + than we should be? Opposite side all right. Who was extra on<br> + ours? I leaned forward. Lady Landor on one side of Tom, on +the<br> + other who? I caught glimpses of plumes pink and green nodding +over<br> + a dinner plate, and beneath them a pink nose in a green visage +with<br> + a nutcracker chin altogether unknown to me. A sharp gray eye +shot<br> + a sideway glance down the table and caught me peeping, and I<br> + retreated, having only marked in addition two clawlike hands, +with<br> + pointed ruffles and a mass of brilliant rings, making good +play<br> + with a knife and fork. Who was she? At intervals a high acid<br> + voice could be heard addressing Tom, and a laugh that made +me<br> + shudder; it had the quality of the scream of a bird of prey or +the<br> + yell of a jackal. I had heard that sort of laugh before, and +it<br> + always made me feel like a defenseless rabbit.</p> + +<p>Every time it sounded I saw Leta's fan flutter more furiously +and<br> + her manner grow more nervously animated. Poor dear girl! I +never<br> + in all my recollection wished a dinner at an end so earnestly so +as<br> + to assure her of my support and sympathy, though without the<br> + faintest conception why either should be required.</p> + +<p>The ices at last. A menu card folded in two was laid beside +me. I<br> + read it unobserved. "Keep the B. from joining us in the +drawing-<br> + room." The B.? The bishop, of course. With pleasure. But +why?<br> + And how? THAT'S the question, never mind "why." Could I lure +him<br> + into the library--the billiard room--the conservatory? I +doubted<br> + it, and I doubted still more what I should do with him when I +got<br> + him there.</p> + +<p>The bishop is a grand and stately ecclesiastic of the +mediaeval<br> + type, broad-chested, deep-voiced, martial of bearing. I +could<br> + picture him charging mace in hand at the head of his vassals, +or<br> + delivering over a dissenter of the period to the rack and<br> + thumbscrew, but not pottering among rare editions, tall copies +and<br> + Grolier bindings, nor condescending to a quiet cigar among the +tree<br> + ferns and orchids. Leta must and should be obeyed, I swore,<br> + nevertheless, even if I were driven to lock the door in the<br> + fearless old fashion of a bygone day, and declare I'd shoot any +man<br> + who left while a drop remained in the bottles.</p> + +<p>The ladies were rising. The lady at the head of the line +smirked<br> + and nodded her pink plumes coquettishly at Tom, while her +hawk's<br> + eyes roved keen and predatory over us all. She stopped +suddenly,<br> + creating a block and confusion.</p> + +<p>"Ah, the dear bishop! YOU there, and I never saw you! You +must<br> + come and have a nice long chat presently. By-by--!" She shook +her<br> + fan at him over my shoulder and tripped off. Leta, passing +me<br> + last, gave me a look of profound despair.</p> + +<p>"Lady Carwitchet!" somebody exclaimed. "I couldn't believe +my<br> + eyes."</p> + +<p>"Thought she was dead or in penal servitude. Never should +have<br> + expected to see her HERE," said some one else behind me<br> + confidentially.</p> + +<p>"What Carwitchet? Not the mother of the Carwitchet who--"</p> + +<p>"Just so. The Carwitchet who---" Tom assented with a shrug. +"We<br> + needn't go farther, as she's my guest. Just my luck. I met +them<br> + at Buxton, thought them uncommonly good company--in fact,<br> + Carwitchet laid me under a great obligation about a horse I +was<br> + nearly let in for buying--and gave them a general invitation +here,<br> + as one does, you know. Never expected her to turn up with +her<br> + luggage this afternoon just before dinner, to stay a week, or +a<br> + fortnight if Carwitchet can join her." A groan of sympathy +ran<br> + round the table. "It can't be helped. I've told you this just +to<br> + show that I shouldn't have asked you here to meet this sort +of<br> + people of my own free will; but, as it is, please say no more +about<br> + them." The subject was not dropped by any means, and I took +care<br> + that it should not be. At our end of the table one story +after<br> + another went buzzing round--sotto voce, out of deference to +Tom--<br> + but perfectly audible.</p> + +<p>"Carwitchet? Ah, yes. Mixed up in that Rawlings divorce +case,<br> + wasn't he? A bad lot. Turned out of the Dragoon Guards for<br> + cheating at cards, or picking pockets, or something--remember +the<br> + row at the Cerulean Club? Scandalous exposure--and that +forged<br> + letter business--oh, that was the mother--prosecution hushed +up<br> + somehow. Ought to be serving her fourteen years--and that +business<br> + of poor Farrars, the banker--got hold of some of his secrets +and<br> + blackmailed him till he blew his brains out--"</p> + +<p>It was so exciting that I clean forgot the bishop, till a low +gasp<br> + at my elbow startled me. He was lying back in his chair, his<br> + mighty shaven jowl a ghastly white, his fierce imperious +eyebrows<br> + drooping limp over his fishlike eyes, his splendid figure +shrunk<br> + and contracted. He was trying with a shaken hand to pour out +wine.<br> + The decanter clattered against the glass and the wine spilled +on<br> + the cloth.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you find the room too warm. Shall we go into +the<br> + library?"</p> + +<p>He rose hastily and followed me like a lamb.</p> + +<p>He recovered himself once we got into the hall, and +affably<br> + rejected all my proffers of brandy and soda--medical +advice--<br> + everything else my limited experience could suggest. He only<br> + demanded his carriage "directly" and that Miss Panton should +be<br> + summoned forthwith.</p> + +<p>I made the best use I could of the time left me.</p> + +<p>"I'm uncommonly sorry you do not feel equal to staying a +little<br> + longer, my lord. I counted on showing you my few trifles of<br> + precious stones, the salvage from the wreck of my +possessions.<br> + Nothing in comparison with your own collection."</p> + +<p>The bishop clasped his hand over his heart. His breath came +short<br> + and quick.</p> + +<p>"A return of that dizziness," he explained with a faint +smile.<br> + "You are thinking of the Valdez sapphire, are you not? Some +day,"<br> + he went on with forced composure, "I may have the pleasure +of<br> + showing it to you. It is at my banker's just now."</p> + +<p>Miss Panton's steps were heard in the ball. "You are well +known as<br> + a connoisseur, Mr. Acton," he went on hurriedly. "Is your<br> + collection valuable? If so, keep it safe; don't trust a ring +off<br> + your hand, or the key of your jewel case out of your pocket +till<br> + the house is clear again." The words rushed from his lips in +an<br> + impetuous whisper, he gave me a meaning glance, and departed +with<br> + his daughter. I went back to the drawing-room, my head +swimming<br> + with bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"What! The dear bishop gone!" screamed Lady Carwitchet from +the<br> + central ottoman where she sat, surrounded by most of the +gentlemen,<br> + all apparently well entertained by her conversation. "And I +wanted<br> + to talk over old times with him so badly. His poor wife was +my<br> + greatest friend. Mira Montanaro, daughter of the great banker, +you<br> + know. It's not possible that that miserable little prig is my +poor<br> + Mira's girl. The heiress of all the Montanaros in a black +lace<br> + gown worth twopence! When I think of her mother's beauty and +her<br> + toilets! Does she ever wear the sapphires? Has anyone ever +seen<br> + her in them? Eleven large stones in a lovely antique setting, +and<br> + the great Valdez sapphire--worth thousands and thousands--for +the<br> + pendant." No one replied. "I wanted to get a rise out of the<br> + bishop to-night. It used to make him so mad when I wore +this."</p> + +<p>She fumbled among the laces at her throat, and clawed out a +pendant<br> + that hung to a velvet band around her neck. I fairly gasped +when<br> + she removed her hand. A sapphire of irregular shape flashed +out<br> + its blue lightning on us. Such a stone! A true, rich, +cornflower<br> + blue even by that wretched artificial light, with soft +velvety<br> + depths of color and dazzling clearness of tint in its lights +and<br> + shades--a stone to remember! I stretched out my hand<br> + involuntarily, but Lady Carwitchet drew back with a +coquettish<br> + squeal. "No! no! You mustn't look any closer. Tell me what +you<br> + think of it now. Isn't it pretty?"</p> + +<p>"Superb!" was all I could ejaculate, staring at the azure +splendor<br> + of that miraculous jewel in a sort of trance.</p> + +<p>She gave a shrill cackling laugh of mockery.</p> + +<p>"The great Mr. Acton taken in by a bit of Palais Royal +gimcrackery!<br> + What an advertisement for Bogaerts et Cie! They are perfect<br> + artists in frauds. Don't you remember their stand at the +first<br> + Paris Exhibition? They had imitations there of every +celebrated<br> + stone; but I never expected anything made by man could delude +Mr.<br> + Acton, never!" And she went off into another mocking cackle, +and<br> + all the idiots round her haw-hawed knowingly, as if they had +seen<br> + the joke all along. I was too bewildered to reply, which was +on<br> + the whole lucky. "I suppose I mustn't tell why I came to +give<br> + quite a big sum in francs for this?" she went on, tapping +her<br> + closed lips with her closed fan, and cocking her eye at us all +like<br> + a parrot wanting to be coaxed to talk. "It's a queer story."</p> + +<p>I didn't want to hear her anecdote, especially as I saw she +wanted<br> + to tell it. What I DID want was to see that pendant again. +She<br> + had thrust it back among her laces, only the loop which held it +to<br> + the velvet being visible. It was set with three small +sapphires,<br> + and even from a distance I clearly made them out to be +imitations,<br> + and poor ones. I felt a queer thrill of self-mistrust. Was +the<br> + large stone no better? Could I, even for an instant, have +been<br> + dazzled by a sham, and a sham of that quality? The events of +the<br> + evening had flurried and confused me. I wished to think them +over<br> + in quiet. I would go to bed.</p> + +<p>My rooms at the Manor are the best in the house. Leta will +have it<br> + so. I must explain their position for a reason to be +understood<br> + later. My bedroom is in the southeast angle of the house; it +opens<br> + on one side into a sitting-room in the east corridor, the rest +of<br> + which is taken up by the suite of rooms occupied by Tom and +Leta;<br> + and on the other side into my bathroom, the first room in the +south<br> + corridor, where the principal guest chambers are, to one of +which<br> + it was originally the dressing-room. Passing this room I noticed +a<br> + couple of housemaids preparing it for the night, and +discovered<br> + with a shiver that Lady Carwitchet was to be my next-door +neighbor.<br> + It gave me a turn.</p> + +<p>The bishop's strange warning must have unnerved me. I was<br> + perfectly safe from her ladyship. The disused door into her +room<br> + was locked, and the key safe on the housekeeper's bunch. It +was<br> + also undiscoverable on her side, the recess in which it stood +being<br> + completely filled by a large wardrobe. On my side hung a +thick<br> + sound-proof portiere. Nevertheless, I resolved not to use +that<br> + room while she inhabited the next one. I removed my +possessions,<br> + fastened the door of communication with my bedroom, and dragged +a<br> + heavy ottoman across it.</p> + +<p>Then I stowed away my emerald in my strong-box. It is built +into<br> + the wall of my sitting-room, and masked by the lower part of an +old<br> + carved oak bureau. I put away even the rings I wore +habitually,<br> + keeping out only an inferior cat's-eye for workaday wear. I +had<br> + just made all safe when Leta tapped at the door and came in to +wish<br> + me good night. She looked flushed and harassed and ready to +cry.<br> + "Uncle Paul," she began, "I want you to go up to town at once, +and<br> + stay away till I send for you."</p> + +<p>"My dear--!" I was too amazed to expostulate.</p> + +<p>"We've got a--a pestilence among us," she declared, her +foot<br> + tapping the ground angrily, "and the least we can do is to go +into<br> + quarantine. Oh, I'm so sorry and so ashamed! The poor +bishop!<br> + I'll take good care that no one else shall meet that woman +here.<br> + You did your best for me, Uncle Paul, and managed admirably, but +it<br> + was all no use. I hoped against hope that what between the dusk +of<br> + the drawing-room before dinner, and being put at opposite ends +of<br> + the table, we might get through without a meeting--"</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, explain. Why shouldn't the bishop and Lady<br> + Carwitchet meet? Why is it worse for him than anyone else?"</p> + +<p>"Why? I thought everybody had heard of that dreadful wife of +his<br> + who nearly broke his heart. If he married her for her money +it<br> + served him right, but Lady Landor says she was very handsome +and<br> + really in love with him at first. Then Lady Carwitchet got hold +of<br> + her and led her into all sorts of mischief. She left her +husband--<br> + he was only a rector with a country living in those days--and +went<br> + to live in town, got into a horrid fast set, and made +herself<br> + notorious. You MUST have heard of her."</p> + +<p>"I heard of her sapphires, my dear. But I was in Brazil at +the<br> + time."</p> + +<p>"I wish you had been at home. You might have found her out. +She<br> + was furious because her husband refused to let her wear the +great<br> + Valdez sapphire. It had been in the Montanaro family for +some<br> + generations, and her father settled it first on her and then on +her<br> + little girl--the bishop being trustee. He felt obliged to +take<br> + away the little girl, and send her off to be brought up by some +old<br> + aunts in the country, and he locked up the sapphire. Lady<br> + Carwitchet tells as a splendid joke how they got the copy made +in<br> + Paris, and it did just as well for the people to stare at. +No<br> + wonder the bishop hates the very name of the stone."</p> + +<p><br> + "How long will she stay here?" I asked dismally.</p> + +<p>"Till Lord Carwitchet can come and escort her to Paris to +visit<br> + some American friends. Goodness knows when that will be! Do go +up<br> + to town, Uncle Paul!"</p> + +<p>I refused indignantly. The very least I could do was to stand +by<br> + my poor young relatives in their troubles and help them through. +I<br> + did so. I wore that inferior cat's eye for six weeks!</p> + +<p>It is a time I cannot think of even now without a shudder. +The<br> + more I saw of that terrible old woman the more I detested her, +and<br> + we saw a very great deal of her. Leta kept her word, and +neither<br> + accepted nor gave invitations all that time. We were cut off +from<br> + all society but that of old General Fairford, who would go +anywhere<br> + and meet anyone to get a rubber after dinner; the doctor, a<br> + sporting widower; and the Duberlys, a giddy, rather rackety +young<br> + couple who had taken the Dower House for a year. Lady +Carwitchet<br> + seemed perfectly content. She reveled in the soft living and +good<br> + fare of the Manor House, the drives in Leta's big barouche, +and<br> + Domenico's dinners, as one to whom short commons were not +unknown.<br> + She had a hungry way of grabbing and grasping at everything +she<br> + could--the shillings she won at whist, the best fruit at +dessert,<br> + the postage stamps in the library inkstand--that was +infinitely<br> + suggestive. Sometimes I could have pitied her, she was so +greedy,<br> + so spiteful, so friendless. She always made me think of some<br> + wicked old pirate putting into a peaceful port to provision +and<br> + repair his battered old hulk, obliged to live on friendly +terms<br> + with the natives, but his piratical old nostrils asniff for +plunder<br> + and his piratical old soul longing to be off marauding once +more.<br> + When would that be? Not till the arrival in Paris of her<br> + distinguished American friends, of whom we heard a great +deal.<br> + "Charming people, the Bokums of Chicago, the American branch of +the<br> + English Beauchamps, you know!" They seemed to be taking an<br> + unconscionable time to get there. She would have insisted on +being<br> + driven over to Northchurch to call at the palace, but that +the<br> + bishop was understood to be holding confirmations at the other +end<br> + of the diocese.</p> + +<p>I was alone in the house one afternoon sitting by my window, +toying<br> + with the key of my safe, and wondering whether I dare treat +myself<br> + to a peep at my treasures, when a suspicious movement in the +park<br> + below caught my attention. A black figure certainly dodged +from<br> + behind one tree to the next, and then into the shadow of the +park<br> + paling instead of keeping to the footpath. It looked queer. +I<br> + caught up my field glass and marked him at one point where he +was<br> + bound to come into the open for a few steps. He crossed the +strip<br> + of turf with giant strides and got into cover again, but not +quick<br> + enough to prevent me recognizing him. It was--great +heavens!--the<br> + bishop! In a soft hat pulled over his forehead, with a long +cloak<br> + and a big stick, he looked like a poacher.</p> + +<p>Guided by some mysterious instinct I hurried to meet him. I +opened<br> + the conservatory door, and in he rushed like a hunted +rabbit.<br> + Without explanation I led him up the wide staircase to my +room,<br> + where he dropped into a chair and wiped his face.</p> + +<p>"You are astonished, Mr. Acton," he panted. "I will +explain<br> + directly. Thanks." He tossed off the glass of brandy I had +poured<br> + out without waiting for the qualifying soda, and looked +better.</p> + +<p>"I am in serious trouble. You can help me. I've had a shock +to-<br> + day--a grievous shock." He stopped and tried to pull himself<br> + together. "I must trust you implicitly, Mr. Acton, I have no<br> + choice. Tell me what you think of this." He drew a case from +his<br> + breast pocket and opened it. "I promised you should see the +Valdez<br> + sapphire. Look there!"</p> + +<p>The Valdez sapphire! A great big shining lump of blue +crystal--<br> + flawless and of perfect color--that was all. I took it up,<br> + breathed on it, drew out my magnifier, looked at it in one +light<br> + and another. What was wrong with it? I could not say. Nine<br> + experts out of ten would undoubtedly have pronounced the +stone<br> + genuine. I, by virtue of some mysterious instinct that has<br> + hitherto always guided me aright, was the unlucky tenth. I +looked<br> + at the bishop. His eyes met mine. There was no need of +spoken<br> + word between us.</p> + +<p>"Has Lady Carwitchet shown you her sapphire?" was his most<br> + unexpected question. "She has? Now, Mr. Acton, on your honor as +a<br> + connoisseur and a gentleman, which of the two is the +Valdez?"</p> + +<p>"Not this one." I could say naught else.</p> + +<p>"You were my last hope." He broke off, and dropped his face on +his<br> + folded arms with a groan that shook the table on which he +rested,<br> + while I stood dismayed at myself for having let so hasty a +judgment<br> + escape me. He lifted a ghastly countenance to me. "She vowed +she<br> + would see me ruined and disgraced. I made her my enemy by +crossing<br> + some of her schemes once, and she never forgives. She will +keep<br> + her word. I shall appear before the world as a fraudulent +trustee.<br> + I can neither produce the valuable confided to my charge nor +make<br> + the loss good. I have only an incredible story to tell," be<br> + dropped his head and groaned again. "Who will believe me?"</p> + +<p>"I will, for one."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you? Yes, you know her. She took my wife from me, Mr. +Acton.<br> + Heaven only knows what the hold was that she had over poor +Mira.<br> + She encouraged her to set me at defiance and eventually to +leave<br> + me. She was answerable for all the scandalous folly and<br> + extravagance of poor Mira's life in Paris--spare me the telling +of<br> + the story. She left her at last to die alone and uncared for. +I<br> + reached my wife to find her dying of a fever from which Lady<br> + Carwitchet and her crew had fled. She was raving in delirium, +and<br> + died without recognizing me. Some trouble she had been in which +I<br> + must never know oppressed her. At the very last she roused from +a<br> + long stupor and spoke to the nurse. 'Tell him to get the +sapphire<br> + back--she stole it. She has robbed my child.' Those were her +last<br> + words. The nurse understood no English, and treated them as<br> + wandering; but I heard them, and knew she was sane when she +spoke."</p> + +<p>"What did you do?"</p> + +<p>"What could I? I saw Lady Carwitchet, who laughed at me, +and<br> + defied me to make her confess or disgorge. I took the pendant +to<br> + more than one eminent jeweler on pretense of having the +setting<br> + seen to, and all have examined and admired without giving a hint +of<br> + there being anything wrong. I allowed a celebrated mineralogist +to<br> + see it; he gave no sign--"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they are right and we are wrong."</p> + +<p>"No, no. Listen. I heard of an old Dutchman celebrated for +his<br> + imitations. I went to him, and he told me at once that he had +been<br> + allowed by Montanaro to copy the Valdez--setting and all--for +the<br> + Paris Exhibition. I showed him this, and he claimed it for his +own<br> + work at once, and pointed out his private mark upon it. You +must<br> + take your magnifier to find it; a Greek Beta. He also told me +that<br> + he had sold it to Lady Carwitchet more than a year ago.</p> + +<p>"It is a terrible position."</p> + +<p>"It is. My co-trustee died lately. I have never dared to +have<br> + another appointed. I am bound to hand over the sapphire to +my<br> + daughter on her marriage, if her husband consents to take the +name<br> + of Montanaro."</p> + +<p>The bishop's face was ghastly pale, and the moisture started +on his<br> + brow. I racked my brain for some word of comfort.</p> + +<p>"Miss Panton may never marry."</p> + +<p>"But she will!" he shouted. "That is the blow that has been +dealt<br> + me to-day. My chaplain--actually, my chaplain--tells me that he +is<br> + going out as a temperance missionary to equatorial Africa, and +has<br> + the assurance to add that he believes my daughter is not +indisposed<br> + to accompany him!" His consummating wrath acted as a +momentary<br> + stimulant. He sat upright, his eyes flashing and his brow<br> + thunderous. I felt for that chaplain. Then he collapsed<br> + miserably. "The sapphires will have to be produced, +identified,<br> + revalued. How shall I come out of it? Think of the disgrace, +the<br> + ripping up of old scandals! Even if I were to compound with +Lady<br> + Carwitchet, the sum she hinted at was too monstrous. She +wants<br> + more than my money. Help me, Mr. Acton! For the sake of your +own<br> + family interests, help me!"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon--family interests? I don't understand."</p> + +<p>"If my daughter is childless, her next of kin is poor +Marmaduke<br> + Panton, who is dying at Cannes, not married, or likely to +marry;<br> + and failing him, your nephew, Sir Thomas Acton, succeeds."</p> + +<p>My nephew Tom! Leta, or Leta's baby, might come to be the +possible<br> + inheritor of the great Valdez sapphire! The blood rushed to +my<br> + head as I looked at the great shining swindle before me. +"What<br> + diabolic jugglery was at work when the exchange was made?" I<br> + demanded fiercely.</p> + +<p>"It must have been on the last occasion of her wearing the<br> + sapphires in London. I ought never to have let her out of my<br> + sight"</p> + +<p>"You must put a stop to Miss Panton's marriage in the first +place,"<br> + I pronounced as autocratically as he could have done +himself.</p> + +<p>"Not to be thought of," he admitted helplessly. "Mira has my +force<br> + of character. She knows her rights, and she will have her +jewels.<br> + I want you to take charge of the--thing for me. If it's in +the<br> + house she'll make me produce it. She'll inquire at the +banker's.<br> + If YOU have it we can gain time, if but for a day or two." +He<br> + broke off. Carriage wheels were crashing on the gravel +outside.<br> + We looked at one another in consternation. Flight was +imperative.<br> + I hurried him downstairs and out of the conservatory just as +the<br> + door bell rang. I think we both lost our heads in the +confusion.<br> + He shoved the case into my hands, and I pocketed it, without +a<br> + thought of the awful responsibility I was incurring, and saw +him<br> + disappear into the shelter of the friendly night.</p> + +<p>When I think of what my feelings were that evening--of my +murderous<br> + hatred of that smirking, jesting Jezebel who sat opposite me +at<br> + dinner, my wrathful indignation at the thought of the poor +little<br> + expected heir defrauded ere his birth; of the crushing contempt +I<br> + felt for myself and the bishop as a pair of witless idiots +unable<br> + to see our way out of the dilemma; all this boiling and +surging<br> + through my soul, I can only wonder--Domenico having given +himself a<br> + holiday, and the kitchen maid doing her worst and +wickedest--that<br> + gout or jaundice did not put an end to this story at once.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Paul!" Leta was looking her sweetest when she tripped +into<br> + my room next morning. "I've news for you. She," pointing a<br> + delicate forefinger in the direction of the corridor, "is +going!<br> + Her Bokums have reached Paris at last, and sent for her to +join<br> + them at the Grand Hotel."</p> + +<p>I was thunderstruck. The longed-for deliverance had but come +to<br> + remove hopelessly and forever out of my reach Lady Carwitchet +and<br> + the great Valdez sapphire.</p> + +<p>"Why, aren't you overjoyed? I am. We are going to celebrate +the<br> + event by a dinner party. Tom's hospitable soul is vexed by +the<br> + lack of entertainment we had provided her. We must ask the<br> + Brownleys some day or other, and they will be delighted to +meet<br> + anything in the way of a ladyship, or such smart folks as +the<br> + Duberly-Parkers. Then we may as well have the Blomfields, and +air<br> + that awful modern Sevres dessert service she gave us when we +were<br> + married." I had no objection to make, and she went on, rubbing +her<br> + soft cheek against my shoulder like the purring little cat she +was:<br> + "Now I want you to do something to please me--and Mrs. +Blomfield.<br> + She has set her heart on seeing your rubies, and though I know +you<br> + hate her about as much as you do that Sevres china--"</p> + +<p>"What! Wear my rubies with that! I won't. I'll tell you what +I<br> + will do, though. I've got some carbuncles as big as prize<br> + gooseberries, a whole set. Then you have only to put those<br> + Bohemian glass vases and candelabra on the table, and let +your<br> + gardener do his worst with his great forced, scentless, +vulgar<br> + blooms, and we shall all be in keeping." Leta pouted. An +idea<br> + struck me. "Or I'll do as you wish, on one condition. You +get<br> + Lady Carwitchet to wear her big sapphire, and don't tell her I +wish<br> + it."</p> + +<p>I lived through the next few days as one in some evil dream. +The<br> + sapphires, like twin specters, haunted me day and night. Was +ever<br> + man so tantalized? To hold the shadow and see the substance<br> + dangled temptingly within reach. The bishop made no sign of<br> + ridding me of my unwelcome charge, and the thought of what +might<br> + happen in a case of burglary--fire--earthquake--made me start +and<br> + tremble at all sorts of inopportune moments.</p> + +<p>I kept faith with Leta, and reluctantly produced my +beautiful<br> + rubies on the night of her dinner party. Emerging from my room +I<br> + came full upon Lady Carwitchet in the corridor. She was +dressed<br> + for dinner, and at her throat I caught the blue gleam of the +great<br> + sapphire. Leta had kept faith with me. I don't know what I<br> + stammered in reply to her ladyship's remarks; my whole soul +was<br> + absorbed in the contemplation of the intoxicating loveliness of +the<br> + gem. THAT a Palais Royal deception! Incredible! My fingers<br> + twitched, my breath came short and fierce with the lust of<br> + possession. She must have seen the covetous glare in my eyes. +A<br> + look of gratified spiteful complacency overspread her features, +as<br> + she swept on ahead and descended the stairs before me. I +followed<br> + her to the drawing-room door. She stopped suddenly, and +murmuring<br> + something unintelligible hurried back again.</p> + +<p>Everybody was assembled there that I expected to see, with +an<br> + addition. Not a welcome one by the look on Tom's face. He +stood<br> + on the hearthrug conversing with a great hulking, +high-shouldered<br> + fellow, sallow-faced, with a heavy mustache and drooping +eyelids,<br> + from the corners of which flashed out a sudden suspicious look +as I<br> + approached, which lighted up into a greedy one as it rested on +my<br> + rubies, and seemed unaccountably familiar to me, till Lady<br> + Carwitchet tripping past me exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"He has come at last! My naughty, naughty boy! Mr. Acton, this +is<br> + my son, Lord Carwitchet!"</p> + +<p>I broke off short in the midst of my polite acknowledgments +to<br> + stare blankly at her. The sapphire was gone! A great gilt +cross,<br> + with a Scotch pebble like an acid drop, was her sole +decoration.</p> + +<p>"I had to put my pendant away," she explained confidentially; +"the<br> + clasp had got broken somehow." I didn't believe a word.</p> + +<p>Lord Carwitchet contributed little to the general +entertainment at<br> + dinner, but fell into confidential talk with Mrs. +Duberly-Parker.<br> + I caught a few unintelligible remarks across the table. They<br> + referred, I subsequently discovered, to the lady's little book +on<br> + Northchurch races, and I recollected that the Spring Meeting +was<br> + on, and to-morrow "Cup Day." After dinner there was great +talk<br> + about getting up a party to go on General Fairford's drag. +Lady<br> + Carwitchet was in ecstasies and tried to coax me into +joining.<br> + Leta declined positively. Tom accepted sulkily.</p> + +<p>The look in Lord Carwitchet's eye returned to my mind as I +locked<br> + up my rubies that night. It made him look so like his mother! +I<br> + went round my fastenings with unusual care. Safe and closets +and<br> + desk and doors, I tried them all. Coming at last to the +bathroom,<br> + it opened at once. It was the housemaid's doing. She had<br> + evidently taken advantage of my having abandoned the room to +give<br> + it "a thorough spring cleaning," and I anathematized her. +The<br> + furniture was all piled together and veiled with sheets, the +carpet<br> + and felt curtain were gone, there were new brooms about. As +I<br> + peered around, a voice close at my ear made me jump--Lady<br> + Carwitchet's!</p> + +<p><br> + "I tell you I have nothing, not a penny! I shall have to borrow +my<br> + train fare before I can leave this. They'll be glad enough to +lend<br> + it."</p> + +<p>Not only had the portiere been removed, but the door behind it +had<br> + been unlocked and left open for convenience of dusting behind +the<br> + wardrobe. I might as well have been in the bedroom.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell me," I recognized Carwitchet's growl. "You've not +been<br> + here all this time for nothing. You've been collecting for a<br> + Kilburn cot or getting subscriptions for the distressed +Irish<br> + landlords. I know you. Now I'm not going to see myself ruined +for<br> + the want of a paltry hundred or so. I tell you the colt is a +dead<br> + certainty. If I could have got a thousand or two on him last +week,<br> + we might have ended our dog days millionaires. Hand over what +you<br> + can. You've money's worth, if not money. Where's that +sapphire<br> + you stole?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't. I can show you the receipted bill. All I possess +is<br> + honestly come by. What could you do with it, even if I gave +it<br> + you? You couldn't sell it as the Valdez, and you can't get it +cut<br> + up as you might if it were real."</p> + +<p>"If it's only bogus, why are you always in such a flutter +about it?<br> + I'll do something with it, never fear. Hand over."</p> + +<p>"I can't. I haven't got it. I had to raise something on it +before<br> + I left town."</p> + +<p>"Will you swear it's not in that wardrobe? I dare say you +will. I<br> + mean to see. Give me those keys."</p> + +<p>I heard a struggle and a jingle, then the wardrobe door must +have<br> + been flung open, for a streak of light struck through a crack +in<br> + the wood of the back. Creeping close and peeping through, I +could<br> + see an awful sight. Lady Carwitchet in a flannel wrapper, +minus<br> + hair, teeth, complexion, pointing a skinny forefinger that +quivered<br> + with rage at her son, who was out of the range of my vision.</p> + +<p>"Stop that, and throw those keys down here directly, or I'll +rouse<br> + the house. Sir Thomas is a magistrate, and will lock you up +as<br> + soon as look at you." She clutched at the bell rope as she +spoke.<br> + "I'll swear I'm in danger of my life from you and give you +in<br> + charge. Yes, and when you're in prison I'll keep you there +till<br> + you die. I've often thought I'd do it. How about the hotel<br> + robberies last summer at Cowes, eh? Mightn't the police be<br> + grateful for a hint or two? And how about--"</p> + +<p>The keys fell with a crash on the bed, accompanied by some +bad<br> + language in an apologetic tone, and the door slammed to. I +crept<br> + trembling to bed.</p> + +<p>This new and horrible complication of the situation filled me +with<br> + dismay. Lord Carwitchet's wolfish glance at my rubies took a +new<br> + meaning. They were safe enough, I believed--but the sapphire! +If<br> + he disbelieved his mother, how long would she be able to keep +it<br> + from his clutches? That she had some plot of her own of which +the<br> + bishop would eventually be the victim I did not doubt, or why +had<br> + she not made her bargain with him long ago? But supposing she +took<br> + fright, lost her head, allowed her son to wrest the jewel from +her,<br> + or gave consent to its being mutilated, divided! I lay in a +cold<br> + perspiration till morning.</p> + +<p>My terrors haunted me all day. They were with me at breakfast +time<br> + when Lady Carwitchet, tripping in smiling, made a last attempt +to<br> + induce me to accompany her and keep her "bad, bad boy" from +getting<br> + among "those horrid betting men."</p> + +<p>They haunted me through the long peaceful day with Leta and +the<br> + tete-a-tete dinner, but they swarmed around and beset me +sorest<br> + when, sitting alone over my sitting-room fire, I listened for +the<br> + return of the drag party. I read my newspaper and brewed +myself<br> + some hot strong drink, but there comes a time of night when no +fire<br> + can warm and no drink can cheer. The bishop's despairing face +kept<br> + me company, and his troubles and the wrongs of the future heir +took<br> + possession of me. Then the uncanny noises that make all old +houses<br> + ghostly during the small hours began to make themselves +heard.<br> + Muffled footsteps trod the corridor, stopping to listen at +every<br> + door, door latches gently clicked, boards creaked +unreasonably,<br> + sounds of stealthy movements came from the locked-up bathroom. +The<br> + welcome crash of wheels at last, and the sound of the +front-door<br> + bell. I could hear Lady Carwitchet making her shrill adieux to +her<br> + friends and her steps in the corridor. She was softly humming +a<br> + little song as she approached. I heard her unlock her bedroom +door<br> + before she entered--an odd thing to do. Tom came sleepily<br> + stumbling to his room later. I put my head out. "Where is +Lord<br> + Carwitchet?"</p> + +<p>"Haven't you seen him? He left us hours ago. Not come home, +eh?<br> + Well, he's welcome to stay away. I don't want to see more of +him."<br> + Tom's brow was dark and his voice surly. "I gave him to +understand<br> + as much." Whatever had happened, Tom was evidently too +disgusted<br> + to explain just then.</p> + +<p>I went back to my fire unaccountably relieved, and brewed +myself<br> + another and a stronger brew. It warmed me this time, but +excited<br> + me foolishly. There must be some way out of the difficulty. +I<br> + felt now as if I could almost see it if I gave my mind to it. +Why--<br> + suppose--there might be no difficulty after all! The bishop was +a<br> + nervous old gentleman. He might have been mistaken all +through,<br> + Bogaerts might have been mistaken, I might--no. I could not +have<br> + been mistaken--or I thought not. I fidgeted and fumed and +argued<br> + with myself till I found I should have no peace of mind without +a<br> + look at the stone in my possession, and I actually went to the +safe<br> + and took the case out.</p> + +<p>The sapphire certainly looked different by lamplight. I sat +and<br> + stared, and all but over-persuaded my better judgment into +giving<br> + it a verdict. Bogaerts's mark--I suddenly remembered it. I +took<br> + my magnifier and held the pendant to the light. There, +scratched<br> + upon the stone, was the Greek Beta! There came a tap on my +door,<br> + and before I could answer, the handle turned softly and Lord<br> + Carwitchet stood before me. I whipped the case into my +dressing-<br> + gown pocket and stared at him. He was not pleasant to look +at,<br> + especially at that time of night. He had a disheveled, +desperate<br> + air, his voice was hoarse, his red-rimmed eyes wild.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," he began civilly enough. "I saw your +light<br> + burning, and thought, as we go by the early train to-morrow, +you<br> + might allow me to consult you now on a little business of my<br> + mother's." His eyes roved about the room. Was he trying to +find<br> + the whereabouts of my safe? "You know a lot about precious +stones,<br> + don't you?"</p> + +<p>"So my friends are kind enough to say. Won't you sit down? I +have<br> + unluckily little chance of indulging the taste on my own +account,"<br> + was my cautious reply.</p> + +<p>"But you've written a book about them, and know them when you +see<br> + them, don't you? Now my mother has given me something, and +would<br> + like you to give a guess at its value. Perhaps you can put me +in<br> + the way of disposing of it?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly can do so if it is worth anything. Is that it?" +I<br> + was in a fever of excitement, for I guessed what was clutched +in<br> + his palm. He held out to me the Valdez sapphire.</p> + +<p>How it shone and sparkled like a great blue star! I made +myself a<br> + deprecating smile as I took it from him, but how dare I call +it<br> + false to its face? As well accuse the sun in heaven of being +a<br> + cheap imitation. I faltered and prevaricated feebly. Where was +my<br> + moral courage, and where was the good, honest, thumping lie +that<br> + should have aided me? "I have the best authority for +recognizing<br> + this as a very good copy of a famous stone in the possession of +the<br> + Bishop of Northchurch." His scowl grew so black that I saw +he<br> + believed me, and I went on more cheerily: "This was manufactured +by<br> + Johannes Bogaerts--I can give you his address, and you can +make<br> + inquiries yourself--by special permission of the then owner, +the<br> + late Leone Montanaro."</p> + +<p>"Hand it back!" he interrupted (his other remarks were +outrageous,<br> + but satisfactory to hear); but I waved him off. I couldn't give +it<br> + up. It fascinated me. I toyed with it, I caressed it. I made +it<br> + display its different tones of color. I must see the two +stones<br> + together. I must see it outshine its paltry rival. It was a<br> + whimsical frenzy that seized me--I can call it by no other +name.</p> + +<p>"Would you like to see the original? Curiously enough, I have +it<br> + here. The bishop has left it in my charge."</p> + +<p>The wolfish light flamed up in Carwitchet's eyes as I drew +forth<br> + the case. He laid the Valdez down on a sheet of paper, and I<br> + placed the other, still in its case, beside it. In that +moment<br> + they looked identical, except for the little loop of sham +stones,<br> + replaced by a plain gold band in the bishop's jewel. +Carwitchet<br> + leaned across the table eagerly, the table gave a lurch, the +lamp<br> + tottered, crashed over, and we were left in semidarkness.</p> + +<p>"Don't stir!" Carwitchet shouted. "The paraffin is all over +the<br> + place!" He seized my sofa blanket, and flung it over the +table<br> + while I stood helpless. "There, that's safe now. Have you +candles<br> + on the chimney-piece? I've got matches."</p> + +<p>He looked very white and excited as he lit up. "Might have +been an<br> + awkward job with all that burning paraffin running about," he +said<br> + quite pleasantly. "I hope no real harm is done." I was +lifting<br> + the rug with shaking hands. The two stones lay as I had +placed<br> + them. No! I nearly dropped it back again. It was the stone +in<br> + the case that had the loop with the three sham sapphires!</p> + +<p>Carwitchet picked the other up hastily. "So you say this +is<br> + rubbish?" he asked, his eyes sparkling wickedly, and an attempt +at<br> + mortification in his tone.</p> + +<p>"Utter rubbish!" I pronounced, with truth and decision, +snapping up<br> + the case and pocketing it. "Lady Carwitchet must have known +it."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, it's disappointing, isn't it? Good-by, we shall +not<br> + meet again."</p> + +<p>I shook hands with him most cordially. "Good-by, Lord +Carwitchet.<br> + SO glad to have met you and your mother. It has been a source +of<br> + the GREATEST pleasure, I assure you."</p> + +<p>I have never seen the Carwitchets since. The bishop drove +over<br> + next day in rather better spirits. Miss Panton had refused +the<br> + chaplain.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter, my lord," I said to him heartily. "We've +all<br> + been under some strange misconception. The stone in your<br> + possession is the veritable one. I could swear to that +anywhere.<br> + The sapphire Lady Carwitchet wears is only an excellent +imitation,<br> + and--I have seen it with my own eyes--is the one bearing +Bogaerts's<br> + mark, the Greek Beta."</p> + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lock and Key Library +Edited by Julian Hawthorne + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY *** + +This file should be named sbmea10h.htm or sbmea10h.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, sbmea11h.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, sbmea10ha.txt + +This htm conversion was produced by Walter Debeuf from the etext +prepared by Donald Lainson + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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