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diff --git a/2038.txt b/2038.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9285d83 --- /dev/null +++ b/2038.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14051 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lock And Key Library, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lock And Key Library + Classic Mystery And Detective Stories, Modern English + +Author: Various + +Editor: Julian Hawthorne + +Release Date: June 4, 2005 [EBook #2038] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY *** + + + + +Produced by Don Lainson. Text file originally posted in +January, 2000 with an html conversion added by Walter +Deboeuf in 2003. The present text and html files were +produced by Suzanne Shell, M, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net; + + + + + + + +THE +LOCK AND KEY +LIBRARY + +CLASSIC MYSTERY AND +DETECTIVE STORIES + +_EDITED BY_ +JULIAN HAWTHORNE + +MODERN ENGLISH + + Rudyard Kipling A. Conan Doyle + + Egerton Castle + + Stanley J. Weyman Wilkie Collins + + Robert Louis Stevenson + + + NEW YORK + THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO. + 1909 + +[Illustration: "And Sent out a Jet of Fire from His Nostrils" + +Drawing by Power O'Malley. To illustrate "In the House of Suddhoo," by +Rudyard Kipling] + + + + +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 bathroom +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 first-hand, 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--click!_ 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 dog-cart. + +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--unstamped--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 hearthrug, 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 Glueck 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 handprints 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 Northwest 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 his 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 exactly 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 that 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 oil 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 on 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 daytime 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 center of the room, on the bare +earth floor, stood a big, deep, brass basin, with a pale blue-green light +floating in the center 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 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 center revived. + +I looked at the basin, and saw, bobbing in the water the dried, shriveled, +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 reads 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 "_Ash 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 anyone 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 pretenses, 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, +and Azizun is a veiled woman somewhere near Bareilly--lost in this big +India of ours. I dare not 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 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. Everyone 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 everyone 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 +upward, 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 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 anyone. 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 traveling 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 anteroom, 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 mustache and smiling quietly as if he were +witnessing a play. Full in the open space in the center, 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, +easy-going 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 warm-hearted 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 +twopence, 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 +hall, 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 overclean 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 red-headed 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 hanging 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 cat-like 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 to-day.' 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 co-existence 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 +northeast. 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 toward 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 recognize 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 to-night 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 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 L750 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, be 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, per--haps. 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 +loop-holes; 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-bones 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 beat 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. Fairbank 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?" he 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 head, 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 me--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-hearted, 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 handkerchiefs--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 be 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 forgiven +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 air-tight, 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 reexamined 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!--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 hall. "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 +imitation 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," he 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 overpersuaded 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." + + + + THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY + + + CLASSIC MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE + STORIES OF ALL NATIONS + + + TEN VOLUMES + + + NORTH EUROPE MEDITERRANEAN GERMAN CLASSIC FRENCH + + MODERN FRENCH FRENCH NOVELS OLD TIME ENGLISH + + MODERN ENGLISH AMERICAN REAL LIFE + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lock And Key Library, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY *** + +***** This file should be named 2038.txt or 2038.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/3/2038/ + +Produced by Don Lainson. Text file originally posted in +January, 2000 with an html conversion added by Walter +Deboeuf in 2003. 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